bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Determination of technological properties of wood plastic nanocomposites produced by flat press reinforced with nano MgO
Authors: Birinci Emre
Published: March 2023

In this study, wood plastic nanocomposites (WPNC) reinforced with nano magnesium oxide (MgO) were produced in a flat press using the dry blending method. It is aimed to investigate the technological properties of the produced WPNC panels. To achieve this aim, scots pine wood flour, waste polypropylene (PP), maleic anhydride grafted PP (MAPP) and nano MgO were mixed and combined in eight different formulations by dry blending method. The densities, water absorption and thickness swelling, tensile strength, bending strength, modulus of elasticity (MOE), surface roughness and Shore D hardness properties of the obtained WPNC panels were determined. On the other hand, scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs were obtained to determine the morphological properties of WPNCs. Nano MgO and MAPP reinforcement positively affected the technological properties of flat-pressed WPNC panels. It was determined that increasing nano MgO ratio and MAPP reinforcement increased the water resistance of WPNC panels. It has been determined that the use of MAPP and nano MgO significantly improves the mechanical properties of WPNC panels. When the SEM micrographs of WPNC panels were examined, it was observed that large voids were formed especially in WPNC panels that without MAPP and nano MgO, and these voids were largely eliminated with the increase of MAPP reinforcement and nano MgO ratio. Following the technological results obtained within the scope of this study, it is recommended to conduct new studies to investigate the biological resistance of nano MgO reinforced WPNCs due to the known antibacterial, catalytic and photocatalytic properties of nano MgO.
Tough Adhesive Hydrogel for Intraoral Adhesion and Drug Delivery
Authors: Wu D.T. , Freedman B.R. , Vining K.H. , Cuylear D.L. , Guastaldi F.P.S. , Levin Y. , Mooney D.J.
Published: March 2023

Oral lichen planus (OLP) and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) are common chronic inflammatory conditions, manifesting as painful oral lesions that negatively affect patients’ quality of life. Current treatment approaches are mainly palliative and often ineffective due to inadequate contact time of the therapeutic agent with the lesions. Here, we developed the Dental Tough Adhesive (DenTAl), a bioinspired adhesive patch with robust mechanical properties, capable of strong adhesion against diverse wet and dynamically moving intraoral tissues, and extended drug delivery of clobetasol-17-propionate, a first-line drug for treating OLP and RAS. DenTAl was found to have superior physical and adhesive properties compared to existing oral technologies, with ~2 to 100× adhesion to porcine keratinized gingiva and ~3 to 15× stretchability. Clobetasol-17-propionate incorporated into the DenTAl was released in a tunable sustained manner for at least 3 wk and demonstrated immunomodulatory capabilities in vitro, evidenced by reductions in several cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, MCP-5, MIP-2, and TIMP-1. Our findings suggest that DenTAl may be a promising device for intraoral delivery of small-molecule drugs applicable to the management of painful oral lesions associated with chronic inflammatory conditions.
Client Participation and Conditionality: Navigating Conflicting Normative Demands in Employment Services
Authors: Nielsen Mathias Herup , Monrad Merete
Published: March 2023

The further involvement of citizens in the processing of their own cases is attracting attention as a possible strategy for improving the quality of employment services across national borders. However, employment services are characterized by detailed regulation and strong elements of conditionality. This article utilizes Bernardo Zacka’s framework on morality at the street level, drawing on focus group interviews to analyze how caseworkers in Denmark experience and deal with such demands for increased client participation. (1) We map four normative considerations that are emphasized by our informants: legality, authenticity, realism, and resonance. (2) In doing so, we outline two central cross-pressures that arise as they strive to balance client participation with conditionality in practice, namely between legality and authenticity, on the one hand, and between realism and resonance, on the other hand. (3) Finally, we unfold three coping strategies pursued by caseworkers to dampen such tensions: dividing the self, dissolving contradictions, and disassembling clients’ wishes. We add to the literature by studying coping strategies from a perspective that carefully highlights the normative elements of employment service work—the values frontline workers attribute particular importance to and strive to actualize in their work.
Decentralized event-triggered sliding mode scheme for frequency regulation of multi-area power systems under deception attacks
Authors: Xu Kun , Niu Yugang
Published: March 2023

This paper investigates the frequency regulation problem of networked multi-area power systems subject to random deception attacks. Due to the increasing integration of wireless communication devices in power systems, the frequency stability highly relies on the efficiency and security of information transmission. To alleviate the communication burden, a decentralized dynamic event-triggered (ET) scheme is proposed, in which each area transmits the measurement via its own ET rule. Moreover, the coefficients of dynamic variables are designed based on the state variations and the attack probability for different areas. Then, a decentralized ET sliding mode controller is proposed to restore the frequency. Both the mean square exponentially ultimate boundedness of the power systems and reachability of the specified sliding surface are analyzed, and the corresponding conditions are given. Compared with the widely adopted centralized schemes, the proposed decentralized ET control scheme is easier to implement and can ensure more reasonable transmission considering attack probability for different areas; meanwhile, the deception attacks on different areas are considered to occur independently. Finally, simulation results of a three-area power system are provided.
Acoustic detection and localization of gas pipeline leak based on residual connection and one-dimensional separable convolutional neural network
Authors: Yan Wendi , Liu Wei , Bi Hongbo , Jiang Chunlei , Yang Dongfeng , Sun Shuang , Cui Kunyu , Chen Minghu , Sun Yu
Published: March 2023

The leakage of natural gas pipelines may cause significant safety accidents and cause severe economic losses to society. Therefore, timely detection and location of pipeline leak is an effective measure to reduce losses. Traditional methods need to extract the leak features from signals and then input them into convolutional neural networks to realize leakage diagnosis, which is a tedious process. This paper proposes a pipeline leak detection method based on residual connections and one-dimensional separable convolutional neural network (1D-RC-SCNN) and optimizes the structure and parameters of the model. The model uses one-dimensional separable convolution to replace the traditional convolutional neural network, which effectively reduces the number of model parameters. The improved residual connection can prevent the training data from overfitting and speed up the model convergence. The leakage signal after segmentation and preprocessing is directly sent to the 1D-RC-SCNN model, the leakage features are adaptively extracted, and then, the results are output through the Softmax classifier. The method directly performs end-to-end processing on the leaked signal, which improves the data processing speed. Finally, the cross-correlation method is used to locate the pipeline leak. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by building an experimental platform and compared with related models. The experimental results show that the method has high accuracy for the detection and localization of pipeline leak.
Continuous sliding mode control for uncertain linear time-invariant systems with matched and unmatched uncertainties using the Lyapunov-function integral sliding mode
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyu , Liu Xiangbin , Su Hongye
Published: March 2023

In this paper, a novel integral sliding mode (ISM) design was used to deal with the problem of unmatched uncertainty rejection in uncertain linear time-invariant (ULTI) systems. First, a new type of Lyapunov-function integral sliding mode (LFISM) with the ability to suppress unmatched uncertainty and disturbance was introduced. Despite the unmatched uncertainty, the system is robustly stable in ideal sliding mode or ultimate uniform bounded (UUB) stable in non-ideal sliding mode on the proposed LFISM surface. Then, the corresponding sliding mode control (SMC) control was designed based on the augmented system with the added integrator to ensure the reachability of the proposed LFISM, which led to a continuous sliding mode control (CSMC). The proposed method was applied to an academic case and an aircraft attitude control plant, and the comparison simulation results showed that the LFISM has better performance and rejection ability to the unmatched uncertainties.
De-storying Community Narratives: Unimagined Community in Queer Educators’ Small Stories
Authors: Coleman (Josh) James Joshua
Published: March 2023

Background/Context:

Within critical research broadly, scholars increasingly turn to stories and storytelling to pursue equity in educational contexts. Such scholarship does, however, primarily focus on the composition or creation of stories. Expanding the scope of storytelling research, this article turns to queer and trans knowledges to highlight a parallel set of storytelling practices—de-composing practices—and demonstrates their impact on historically marginalized community narratives and the pursuit of equity and justice in the field of education.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question or Focus of Study:

As critical calls for storying, counter-storytelling, and restorying increase within critical research in education, this article theorizes a parallel literacy practice, de-storying, as part of a set of de-composing practices. Defined as the habitual and often subconscious unimagining of community narratives in alignment with dominant narratives, de-storying shows how certain stories of marginalized communities come to be consistently unimagined. This article focuses particularly on queer community narratives and de-storying’s impact in the form of unimagined ancestors, elders, guardians, and peers.

Research Design:

A narrative inquiry project, this research study shares data from an inquiry community of nine queer educators. Gathering together 13 times over the course of an academic year, these educators engaged in a structured restorying process and through speculative storytelling reimagined and rewrote narrativized experiences of queerphobia. In particular, small stories demonstrated how de-storying affected these educators’ storytelling practices and, furthermore, revealed that three dominant community narratives (i.e., heteronormativity, queer fatalism, and homonormativity) compressed the potential small stories these educators told.

Conclusions/Recommendations:

Findings from this project illustrate how de-storying practices resulted in four unimagined community narratives across participants: missing queer ancestors, elders, guardians, and peers. De-storying occurred across various intersections of participants’ identities. Findings from this study advance critical approaches to storytelling by revealing de-storying as one of many potential de-composing practices. This article concludes by inviting the theorization of additional de-composing practices in order to center the most marginalized stories within education—namely, those that are actively unimagined.
Digital subscribers: Between freedom and constraint
Authors: Echauri Guillermo
Published: March 2023

This article addresses the features, affordances, and limitations that emerge when purchasing and using digital subscriptions, particularly streaming entertainment services. Using a qualitative approach through 15 in-depth interviews with European subscribers of digital services such as Netflix or Spotify Premium, the research inquired into the users’ personal experience with digital subscriptions. The results show two scenarios: in one, subscribers enjoy the flexibility and freedom offered with the digital subscription services to customize their media consumption and entertainment preferences; on the other, digital subscriptions limit and restrict the activity of their subscribers, for example, by fragmenting audiovisual content on different platforms.
ICT literacy and community connectedness in a Hispanic-majority community
Authors: Lund Brady D , Agbaji Daniel
Published: March 2023

While many studies have examined information and communication technology (ICT) among digital natives, there has been little investigation of the ICT literacy skills among digital immigrants, individuals who were raised in a time before the widespread use of digital technology. This study examined the ICT literacy skills of Hispanic-majority communities relative to measures of community connectedness, Internet use and demographics of individuals. The researchers made use of a survey method in collecting the data from participants involved in the study. Data collected were later analyzed using regression and correlation analysis techniques with the help of the SPSS tool, to find the relationship and effect among variables under study. The findings suggest that it is exposure to technology, not age, gender, ethnic, or educational factors, that is responsible for the development of greater ICT literacy skills. As discovered in the study, factors like age, ethnicity, educational attainment and political beliefs have no significant effect on ICT literacy.
High School Principals’ Perceptions of Dual Enrollment Policy in Ohio and Texas
Authors: Hornbeck Dustin , Malin Joel R. , Duncheon Julia C. , Tan Jing
Published: March 2023

Dual enrollment policies and programs, where students earn both high school and college credits, have been scaled up across the United States in the last two decades. In this mixed methods study, we survey high school principals in Ohio and Texas, two states with robust dual enrollment policies. The study addressed one broad research question: What are principals’ perceptions of dual enrollment access, participation, and governance? Findings revealed three main themes: (1) economic/credential student motivations for dual enrollment; (2) mixed views about rigor; (3) issues surrounding the loss of principal autonomy.
‘Listen, learn, help’: Parental views on specialist vision impairment provision in the United Kingdom
Authors: Cummins Kelly , Hayton Jessica
Published: March 2023

The presence of childhood vision impairment has cascading effects on educational provision and global development across cognitive, physical, and mental health domains. Effective, appropriate, and targeted support in education is legislated across the United Kingdom, influenced by the ‘access to learning, learning to access’ model. Despite reasonable adjustment and specialist provision legislature, anecdotal parental reports suggest inconsistent and insufficient provision culminating in poor physical and mental health outcomes for school-aged children and young people with vision impairment in the United Kingdom. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of provisional arrangement/specialist support from a parental viewpoint. We examined the questionnaire responses of parents/caregivers of children and young people with vision impairment to harness their views regarding provisional entitlement. An online questionnaire was developed in collaboration with parents/caregivers of children with vision impairment who identified a distinct need for research in this field. Forty-six parents/caregivers completed the questionnaire. Most parents reported their child accessing specialised provision; however, frequency of provision and qualification of staff administering provision was inconsistent. Parents reported that available provision more negatively impacted their child’s mental health, and resultingly, most parents lacked confidence in the arrangements their child received. We concluded that parental perception of provisional arrangements is seemingly influenced by the quality of the team supporting their child in educational domains. Future work triangulating parental views with that of the children receiving the support, and support staff, is needed for corroboration.
Overexpression of complement C5a indicates poor survival and therapeutic response in metastatic renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Yang Changjun , Yang Faying , Chen Xiang , Li Yunpeng , Hu Xiaoyi , Guo Jianming , Yao Jiaxi
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Complement C5a is an important component of the innate immune system. An increasing number of reports have revealed the relevance of C5a in tumor progression; however, its exact role in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) remains unknown.

Methods

We evaluated C5a expression in tumor tissue microarrays of 231 mRCC patients and analyzed the relationship between C5a levels and clinical outcomes, and the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). In-vitro functional experiments using exogenous C5a stimulation and C5a silencing in renal cell carcinoma cells were used to validate the tissue findings.

Results

High C5a expression was associated with poor therapeutic responses, poor overall and progression-free survival, and high expression of EMT-related proteins and PD-1/PD-L1 in mRCC patients. Exogenous C5a promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion of renal cell carcinoma cells, and induced the expression of EMT-related proteins and PD-1/PD-L1. Conversely, C5a silencing inhibited migration and invasion of renal cell carcinoma cells and decreased the expression of EMT-related proteins and PD-1/PD-L1.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that elevated C5a expression is associated with poor outcomes in patients with mRCC, and this effect may be partly attributed to the ability of C5a to promote EMT and PD-1/PD-L1 expression. C5a may be a potential novel target for the treatment of mRCC.
Giving birth to the unborn: Processing the experience of sibling abortion and transgenerational trauma in groups
Authors: Liu Ying
Published: March 2023

In this article, I will present a personal journey of making sense of the experience of sibling abortion under China’s Once-child Policy and transgenerational trauma related to China’s Cultural Revolution in a group analysis training group. The first part of this paper will reflect on and analyse how groups helped me to claim the identity as a mourner, allowed both the presence and absence of my unborn brother to become real, and offered me reparative family relationships when I dealt with my grief. Drawing on the concept of large-group identity and transgenerational transmission, the second part of this paper will explore how experiences in groups enabled me to discover and understand the transgenerational transmission of trauma related to the Cultural Revolution in my family.
Beam element method for mechanical analysis of 2.5D woven composite: Modeling strategy and finite element method simulation
Authors: Liu Chang , Zhang Hualiang , Chen Haisheng , Xu Yujie , Zhu Yangli
Published: March 2023

This work presents a beam element approach for the modeling and high-efficiency simulation of mechanical properties of 2.5D woven composite. For the beam element model, a technical scheme for the parametric modeling of 2.5D woven fabrics was produced. Considering the constraint relationship between the matrix and the fibers, we proposed a method for creating matrix beam elements. Then, a beam element solver was compiled to simulate the mechanical properties of the 2.5D woven composite. Meso-scale analysis of curved shallow-crossing linking 2.5D woven composite using the proposed model obtained the accurate tensile modulus. Full-scale analysis was implemented to simulate bending behavior of straight shallow-crossing linking 2.5D woven composite, and the simulation results agreed well with the experimental results. The above analysis could automatically complete modeling, analysis and post-processing in a relatively short time, reflecting the efficiency advantages of the method in this paper.
The Academy and the Church: Rebuilding A Healthy Relationship
Authors: Lawson Kevin E.
Published: March 2023

While the Church and the Christian Academy share a common mission, the relationship between the two has had challenges. This article, based on plenary sessions offered at the 2022 SPCE Conference in San Diego, CA, addresses three questions regarding why this relationship has suffered in recent years. The article closes with recommendations for ways schools can rebuild a healthy relationship with the church.
Patient-Centred Outcomes Following Tracheostomy in Critical Care
Authors: Mc Mahon A. , Griffin S. , Gorman Emma , Lennon Aoife , Kielthy Stephen , Flannery Andrea , Cherian Bindu Sam , Josy Minu , Marsh B.
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Around 20% of intensive care unit (ICU) patients undergo tracheostomy insertion and expect high-quality care concentrating on patient-centered outcomes including communication, oral intake, and mobilization. The majority of data has focused on timing, mortality, and resource utilization, with a paucity of information on quality of life following tracheostomy.

Methods

Single center retrospective study including all patients requiring tracheostomy from 2017 to 2019. Information collected on demographics, severity of illness, ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), ICU and hospital mortality, discharge disposition, sedation, time to vocalization, swallow and mobilization. Outcomes were compared for early versus late tracheostomy (early = <day 10) and age category (≤ 65 vs ≥ 66 years).

Results

In total, 304 patients were included and 71% male, median age 59, APACHE II score 17. Median ICU and hospital LOS 16 and 56 days, respectively. ICU and hospital mortality 9.9% and 22.4%. Median time to tracheostomy 8 days, 8.55% open. Following tracheostomy, median days of sedation was 0, time to noninvasive ventilation (NIV) 1 day (94% of patients achieving this), ventilator-free breathing (VFB) 5 days (72%), speaking valve 7 days (60%), dynamic sitting 5 days (64%), and swallow assessment 16 days (73%). Early tracheostomy was associated with shorter ICU LOS (13 vs 26 days, P < .0001), reduced sedation (6 vs 12 days, P < .0001), faster transition to level 2 care (6 vs 10 days, P < .003), NIV (1 vs 2 days, P < .003), and VFB (4 vs 7 days, P < .005). Older patients received less sedation, had higher APACHE II scores and mortality (36.1%) and 18.5% were discharged home. Median time to VFB was 6 days (63.9%), speaking valve 7 days (64.7%), swallow assessment 20.5 days (66.7%), and dynamic sitting 5 days (62.2%).

Conclusion

Patient-centered outcomes are a worthy goal to consider when selecting patients for tracheostomy in addition to mortality or timing alone, including in older patients.
Populist Juggling with Fear: The Case of Hungary
Authors: Sik Domonkos
Published: March 2023

In this article, the interrelatedness of contemporary populism and fear is analysed. It is argued that contemporary populism is burdened with the uncertainties and contingencies of late modernity. Therefore, it is not capable of merely “instrumentalizing” fear (i.e., relying on fear as an instrument of ideological goals). Instead, populism is forced to “juggle” with fear in a continuously changing, unpredictable constellation. In the first section, the ideal type of instrumentalizing fear is introduced. In the second section, this ideal type is developed into the model of juggling with fear based on theories of late modernity: the impact of the narrowing of political agency, the reconfiguration of the public sphere, and the interiorization of uncertainty are analysed. In the third section, this ideal type is further explored through a case study of illiberal Hungary: the empirical patterns of juggling with quotidian and virtual fears reveal the micro-mechanisms and the broader consequences.
Biomechanical comparison of porcine mitral leaflets with porcine small intestinal submucosa extracellular matrix
Authors: Islamagič Lejla , Tjørnild Marcell Juan , Carlson Hanse Lisa , Nygaard Jens Vinge , Hasenkam John Michael
Published: March 2023

Porcine small intestinal submucosa extracellular matrix (SIS-ECM) used for cardiac valve repair has shown conflicting clinical outcomes with respect to calcification and failure. This may be related to differences in biomechanical properties of the material compared with the host site. The aim of this study was to compare the biomechanical properties of porcine mitral valve leaflets with SIS-ECM. Fresh porcine anterior and posterior mitral leaflet samples were cut radially and circumferentially. Similarly, 2- and 4-layered SIS-ECM were cut in orthogonal directions: length and width. Samples were subjected to a uniaxial tensile test or a dynamic mechanical analysis. Results show that the load of the porcine anterior circumferential leaflet was 39.5 N (2.4–48.5 N), which was significantly higher compared with the 2-layered length SIS-ECM which was 7.5 N (7–7.9 N), and the 4- layered length SIS-ECM which was 7.5 N (7.1–8.1 N) ( p < 0.001). The load of the posterior circumferential leaflet was 9.7 N (8.3–10.7 N), which is still significantly higher when compared with the two versions of SIS-ECM. The degree of anisotropy (i.e. the ratio between circumferential-radial and width-length properties) was higher for the anterior- (ratio: 19) and posterior leaflet (ratio: 6) than the 2-layered (ratio: 5.1) and 4-layered SIS-ECM (ratio: 1.9). Especially 2-layered SIS-ECM more closely resembles the posterior mitral leaflet than the anterior mitral leaflet tissue and would be more suitable as a repair material in this position. Additionally, the anisotropic properties of mitral leaflets and SIS-ECM underscore the importance of correct orientation of the implant to ensure optimal reconstruction.
Study on the balance force regulation method of multi-stage pump balance drum system
Authors: Chen Qian , Lihuan Yang , Zhipeng Qi , Congxin Yang
Published: March 2023

Balanced drum systems are widely used in high-pressure multi-stage pump axial force balancing mechanisms. When the pump working, the fluid (solid-fluid mixture) collides with each other or rubs against the pump case, and the balance drum is affected by this situation for a long time, so wear of the balance drum gap occurs from time to time. The first is to study how the axial force of the multistage pump changes at different balance drum gap sizes in this paper. Based on the energy equation and momentum equation, and on the basis of maintaining the original balance force unchanged, a new equation of resistance pressure difference relationship is established. The corresponding relationship between balance drum gap and balance pipe orifice plate is obtained by solving this equation. The result shows that the larger the balance drum gap, the greater the balance drum balance force decreases obviously, and the multistage pump residual axial force increases in multiples. The adjustment formula of balance force can be used to obtain the radial size of the balance pipe orifice plate under different balance drum gap, when the gap increases, to keep the balance force constant, the diameter of the orifice plate should be increased gradually. After adjusting the balance force, the fluid velocity uniformity and velocity average angle of balance pipe increases, the flow pattern in the pipe becomes uniform, the gap leakage increases and the pump efficiency decreases. The pump hydraulic properties and balancing the axial force have an opposing relationship, that is, by promoting the drum balance force, the pump hydraulic properties will be reduced. Due to processing balance drum is complex, frequent replacement is time-consuming and costly, so this article provides a handy approach for enhancing the balance force of balance drum, the results of the study can provide guarantees for the balance drum system optimization and long period stable operation of the multistage pump.
Fracture analysis of circular hole edge arbitrary position crack with surface effects in magnetoelectroelastic materials
Authors: Xiao Junhua , Xin Yuyan
Published: March 2023

The mechanical properties of magnetoelectroelastic (MEE) materials are brittle, which is easy to produce nano-defects (hole or crack). The micro-fields of nanoscale cracks and holes are size dependent significantly. Nanoscale cracks and holes interact with each other, and the interference effect is very obvious. In this paper, the Model III fracture behavior of nanoscale circular hole edge arbitrary position radial crack is studied under anti-plane mechanical load, in-plane electric displacement load and in-plane magnetic induction load. Based on the surface elasticity theory, the conformal mapping technique and the MEE elasticity theory, the MEE fields expressions of the nano-hole and nano-crack are obtained, and the analytical solution of generalized intensity factors (stress intensity factor, electric displacement intensity factor and magnetic induction intensity factor) at crack tip is given. The comparison between the present results and the existing research shows the correctness of the present method in this paper. The influences of the microstructure and coupling loads on the generalized intensity factors are discussed.
Delamination of Acuseal arteriovenous graft: Two case reports
Authors: Munemoto Masashi , Mukai Sukemasa , Shoji Shigeichi , Yamakawa Tomoyuki
Published: March 2023

Acuseal arteriovenous graft is an early cannulation graft having a tri-layered structure with an elastomeric middle layer. However, delamination of Acuseal grafts has been reported recently. This article describes two cases with different characteristics of Acuseal delamination. In case 1, the delamination occurred 1 month after a percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA); therefore, the PTA was suspected to be a trigger. The delamination was located between the outer expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) layer and the elastomeric middle layer. On the other hand, in case 2, the delamination was located between the luminal ePTFE layer and the elastomeric middle layer. A surveillance ultrasound examination detected the delamination unexpectedly in the uneventful course; however, the delaminating location corresponded to the cannulation puncture site and the intraoperative findings suggested the involvement of mis-needling as a possible cause. Interestingly, for the purpose of continued use on hemodialysis, specific treatments were required against the delamination itself in both cases. As we identified Acuseal delamination in 5.6% (2/36) of cases, concerns arise that numerous cases of Acuseal delamination may have been overlooked in general. Understanding and recognizing this phenomenon are important for adequate use of Acuseal graft.
Characteristics of Extranodal NK/T-Cell Lymphoma, Nasal Type, Compared with Nasal Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma
Authors: Tanaka Hirotaka , Mori Eri , Akutsu Taisuke , Saito Shota , Tei Masayoshi , Otori Nobuyoshi
Published: March 2023

Background:

Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKL), is an aggressive tumour with poor prognosis. Its early diagnosis may improve the prognosis of patients; however, it is often overlooked in many cases and misdiagnosed as an inflammatory sinus disease during its initial stage. Identifying the clinical characteristics of ENKL may aid otorhinolaryngologists in indicating cases early for a pathologic examination. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of ENKL compared with that of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is the most common nasal malignant lymphoma.

Methods:

The backgrounds, clinical symptoms, blood test results, and computed tomography images of patients with nasal/paranasal malignant lymphoma in our hospital between 2012 and 2017 were investigated. The characteristics of ENKL and nasal DLBCL were compared to differentiate them.

Results:

A total of 27 patients with nasal cavity and/or paranasal sinus lymphoma were included. Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, was diagnosed in 10 patients, while DLBCL was diagnosed in 17 patients. The median age of patients with ENKL was significantly lower than that of patients with DLBCL. All patients with ENKL had a unilateral lesion in the nasal cavity, with most located at the inferior turbinate. They also experienced nasal symptoms with significantly higher incidence of nasal obstruction and tendency of bleeding.

Conclusion:

ENKL was often unilateral and caused nasal obstruction, unlike DLBCL. Those who are younger in age and have sinonasal tumour with unilateral nasal obstruction and bleeding should be considered for early and repeated biopsies at multiple sites, with ENKL taken into consideration.
Effects of damping and helical fillets on galloping vibration of stay cable installed with a rectangular lamp
Authors: An Miao , Li Shouying , Chen Zhengqing
Published: March 2023

Lamps attached on the stay cable can change the stable circular cross-section of the stay cable, which is easy to cause galloping vibration. Stay cables of the Kuipu bridge in the Fuzhou City of China were equipped with damper and helical fillets. After the installation of rectangular lamps on this bridge, no obvious vibration of the stay cables was observed. This is totally different from another bridge, the Kuimen bridge in the Chongqing City of China, which has been recently reported by the authors. The purpose of this study is to clarify the effects of the helical fillets and the structural damping on galloping vibration. The features of galloping vibration of the stay cable attached to a rectangular lamp were carefully studied, and the effectiveness of damping and helical fillets in reducing the galloping vibration was evaluated. First, the force measurement wind tunnel tests on the segmental test model were carried out, and the lift and drag coefficients of the stay cable attached to the rectangular lamp were measured. The dangerous wind attack angle of galloping vibration was predicted by the galloping force coefficient. Second, 3-dimensional vibration measurement wind tunnel tests were carried out to measure the wind-induced response of the cable-lamp test models. The variation of wind-induced response of stay cable with yaw angle and wind velocity was measured for test models with and without helical fillets. In the test, the features of wind-induced vibration were studied at the damping level of 0.1%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, and 1.0%. According to Den Hartog’s theory, the minimum coefficient of galloping force is about −9.8. The experimental results of 3-dimensional vibration measurement wind tunnel tests show that the helical fillets wrapped on the cable surface can enhance the critical wind velocity to a certain extent, but the critical wind velocity is still far lower than the design wind velocity. When the damping ratio of the stay cable is up to 1.0% ( SC = 35.1), the galloping vibration of the stay cable attached to a rectangular lamp on the Kuipu Bridge can be effectively mitigated.
Government interventions and control policies to contain the first COVID-19 outbreak: An analysis of evidence
Authors: Fernández Daniel , Giné-Vázquez Iago , Morena Marianthi , Koyanagi AI , Janko Mark M. , Haro Josep Maria , Panagiotakos Demosthenes , Molassiotis Alex , Pan William K. , Tyrovolas Stefanos
Published: March 2023

Background:

The overarching aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness over time of government interventions and policy restrictions and the impact of determinants on spread and mortality during the first-wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, globally, regionally and by country-income level, up to 18 May 2020.

Methods:

We created a global database merging World Health Organization daily case reports (from 218 countries/territories) with other socio-demographic and population health measures from 21 January to 18 May 2020. A four-level government policy interventions score (low to very high) was created based on the Oxford Stringency Index.

Results:

Our results support the use of very high government interventions to suppress both COVID-19 spread and mortality effectively during wave one globally compared to other policy levels of control. Similar trends in virus propagation and mortality were observed in all country-income levels and specific regions.

Conclusions:

Rapid implementation of government interventions was needed to contain the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and to reduce COVID-19-related mortality.
Inhalation and deposition of gas–droplet contaminant in the human microenvironment in an industrial building
Authors: Yang Yang , Zhu Ningbin , Wang Yi , Wei Yingrong
Published: March 2023

Gas–droplet contaminants such as HCl gas and hydrochloric droplets are typical pollutants in industrial indoor environments. They are harmful to workers. As the transportation modes of the gas and droplet phases are different, they cause different exposure characteristics for human beings. This study numerically investigated the transport of HCl gas and hydrochloric droplets emitted from a pickling tank to a human microenvironment. Meanwhile, inhalation and deposition of hydrochloric acid gas and hydrochloric acid droplets by humans were also studied, which were influenced by the droplet initial diameter (10–100 μm), air draught (0.1–0.5 m/s) and the distance between the source and the manikin (0.5–1.5 m). The results showed that the cases considering an initial droplet diameter of 50 μm could cause the largest droplet deposition on the manikin, which was influenced by the combination of droplet gravity and plume. The velocity of the air draught could significantly enhance the inhalation of HCl gas and droplet deposition on the manikin when the velocity was ≥ 0.3 m/s. Furthermore, when the distance was increased from 1.0 to 1.5 m, the thermal plume enhanced the inhalation of HCl gas.
Translocal networked public spheres: Spatial arrangements of metropolitan Twitter
Authors: Waldherr Annie , Stoltenberg Daniela , Maier Daniel , Keinert Alexa , Pfetsch Barbara
Published: March 2023

In this study, we theoretically conceptualize and empirically investigate translocal spatial arrangements of networked public spheres on social media. In digital communication networks, actors easily connect with others globally, crossing the borders of cities, nations and languages. However, the spatial notions evoked in public sphere research to date remain largely territorial. We propose a theoretical framework drawing on Löw’s sociology of space, which highlights the relational and translocal nature of spatial arrangements. In a case study of the translocal interaction network of Berlin Twitter users, we demonstrate how this framework can be leveraged empirically using network analysis. Despite the overall network of Berlin’s Twittersphere spanning the whole world, we find territorialized as well as deterritorialized translocal communities. This points to the simultaneity of territorial and networked spatial logics in digital public spheres.
The meaning-making in kindergarten children’s visual narrative compositions
Authors: Pantaleo Sylvia
Published: March 2023

During a 10-week classroom-based study in a school in western Canada, 17 Kindergarten children had multiple opportunities to learn about how elements of visual art, design and layout in picturebook artwork are fundamental to meaning-making when transacting with this format of literature. Student application of learning about the concepts under study was explored when the children viewed and discussed wordless or almost wordless picturebooks, and when they created their own artwork or visual compositions. Findings from the content analysis of the Kindergarten children’s visual narrative compositions and individual interviews revealed their understanding of how colour, point of view, framing, line to show action, line to show emotion and implied line can be used purposefully by sign-makers to represent particular meanings. Furthermore, application of Halliday’s metafunctions conceptual framework to analyze three focus students’ visual narrative compositions revealed how their semiotic work concomitantly realized the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions. Consistent with the tenets of social semiotics and sociocultural theory, the descriptions of the instructional procedures and student activities convey how the practices in the classroom shaped the students’ visual narrative compositions. The findings enrich understanding of how young children’s knowledge of various semiotic resources can enhance their understanding and interpretations of the kinds of communicative functions realized or fulfilled by various meaning-making resources, and can inform the design of their visual compositions.
Iterative-AMC: a novel model compression and structure optimization method in mechanical system safety monitoring
Authors: Ji Mengyu , Peng Gaoliang , Li Sijue , Huang Wentao , Li Weihua , Li Zhixiong
Published: March 2023

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, various fault diagnosis methods based on the deep neural networks have made great advances in mechanical system safety monitoring. To get the high accuracy for the fault diagnosis, researchers tend to adopt the deep network layers and amount of neurons or kernels in each layer. This results in a large redundancy and the structure uncertainty of the fault diagnosis networks. Moreover, it is hard to deploy these networks on the embedded platforms because of the large scales of the network parameters. This brings huge challenges to the practical application of the intelligent diagnosis algorithms. To solve the above problems, an iterative automatic machine compression method, named Iterative-AMC, is proposed in this paper. The proposed method aims to automatically compress and optimize the structure of the large-scale neural networks. Experiments are carried out based on two test benches. With the proposed Iterative-AMC method, the problems of the parameter redundancy and the structure uncertainty can be addressed. The scale of the original network can be greatly compressed, and the compressed fault diagnosis network is successfully deployed on a small-scale FPGA chip.
Ethics consultation in patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia
Authors: Makhinson Michael , Gomez-Makhinson Juliana , Jennings Catherine , Huerta Sergio
Published: March 2023

The increasing age of the patient population around the globe and in the United States has resulted in a growing number of patients with dementia. In this manuscript, we examined the role of the ethics consultation service in patients who have dementia and associated cognitive and neuropsychiatric sequelae. We addressed a particularly challenging case presenting with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. We discussed the ethical questions and challenges considered by the ethics consultation service and compared these with current suggestions and expectations from the research literature regarding the role of ethics consultation service in dementia management. We demonstrated two potentially useful approaches of clinical ethical analysis, the principalist theorem and Jonsen's four quadrants approach. While the number of consults in patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia is likely to increase in clinical ethics, the role of the ethics consultation service in this cohort of patients still remains to be determined. There are significant gaps in understanding of the ethics consultation service role in dementia management, and much work remains to be undertaken on the part of regulatory and healthcare systems in clarifying their roles, expectations, and competencies.
Fairness, autonomy, and a right to higher education
Authors: O’Brien David
Published: March 2023

In The Right to Higher Education, Christopher Martin develops a powerful, autonomy-based argument that there is a moral right to access to higher education. I raise three concerns about whether this argument succeeds. The first is a concern about the conception of autonomy at the heart of Martin’s argument; the second is a concern about possible overgeneralizations of the argument; and the third is a concern about whether Martin’s view is consonant with judgments about fairness.
Acute intermittent porphyria: A rare cause of syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion
Authors: Cunningham William , Chilaka Joel , Edwards Nehemiah , Poulton Katherine
Published: March 2023

A 31-year-old female presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. Serum sodium levels were recorded at 110 mmol/L on admission, dropping to 96 mmol/L despite fluid restriction. The patient developed hallucinations and required hypertonic saline administration in critical care. Urinary sodium was detected at 149 mmol/L, consistent with syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SiADH). Urinary porphyrins were also raised, consistent with a diagnosis of acute intermittent porphyria with SiADH as a complication.
Overexpression of miR-7-5p Promoted Fracture Healing Through Inhibiting LRP4 and Activating Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway
Authors: Liu Changtie , Liu Junlin , Chen Hong
Published: March 2023

Background. The bone healing after fracture had a great impact on the patients’ life quality. However, how miR-7-5p participated in fracture healing has not been investigated. Methods. For in vitro studies, the pre-osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 was obtained. The male C57BL/6 mice were purchased for in vivo experiments, and the fracture model was constructed. Cell proliferation was determined by CCK8 assay, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured by commercial kit. Histological status was evaluated using H&E and TRAP staining. The RNA and protein levels were detected via RT-qPCR and western blotting, respectively. Results. Overexpression of miR-7-5p increased cell viability and ALP activity in vitro. Moreover, in vivo studies consistently indicated that transfection of miR-7-5p improved the histological status and increased the proportion of TRAP-positive cells. Overexpression of miR-7-5p suppressed LRP4 expression while upregulated Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Conclusion. MiR-7-5p decreased LRP4 level and further activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling, facilitating the process of fracture healing.