bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experimental Investigation on Effective Distances of Acoustic Emission in Concrete Structures
Authors: Oh Tae-Min , Kim Min-Koan , Lee Jong-Won , Kim Hyunwoo , Kim Min-Jun
Published: September 2020

As one of the non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, acoustic emission (AE) can be widely applied to the field of engineering and applied science owing to its advantageous characteristics. In particular, the AE method is effectively applied to monitor concrete structures in civil engineering. For this technology to be employed in a monitoring system, it is necessary to investigate the propagation characteristics of the AE in structures. Hence, this study investigates the characteristics of AE in concrete structures to evaluate the field applicability of AE monitoring systems. To achieve this goal, experiments employing an AE system are conducted for concrete structures 20 × 0.2 × 1.2 m in length, width, and height, respectively, to explore the AE parameters according to the impact energy. Among all AE parameters, absolute energy is determined to be most sensitive factor with respect to the impact energy. In addition, the attenuation effect of the AE wave is quantitatively evaluated according to the wave propagation distance. Moreover, the concept of effective distance is newly suggested based on the experimental results. The effective distance is shown to increase as the impact energy increases, although the increased effective distance is limited because the damaged AE signal is of high frequency. This study helps improve the field applicability of AE monitoring systems by suggesting suitable AE sensor spacing, which contributes to promote the practice of technology.
Object Detection Using Multi-Scale Balanced Sampling
Authors: Yu Hang , Gong Jiulu , Chen Derong
Published: September 2020

Detecting small objects and objects with large scale variants are always challenging for deep learning based object detection approaches. Many efforts have been made to solve these problems such as adopting more effective network structures, image features, loss functions, etc. However, for both small objects detection and detecting objects with various scale in single image, the first thing should be solve is the matching mechanism between anchor boxes and ground-truths. In this paper, an approach based on multi-scale balanced sampling(MB-RPN) is proposed for the difficult matching of small objects and detecting multi-scale objects. According to the scale of the anchor boxes, different positive and negative sample IOU discriminate thresholds are adopted to improve the probability of matching the small object area with the anchor boxes so that more small object samples are included in the training process. Moreover, the balanced sampling method is proposed for the collected samples, the samples are further divided and uniform sampling to ensure the diversity of samples in training process. Several datasets are adopted to evaluate the MB-RPN, the experimental results show that compare with the similar approach, MB-RPN improves detection performances effectively.
Monitoring Scheme for the Detection of Hydrogen Leakage from a Deep Underground Storage. Part 1: On-Site Validation of an Experimental Protocol via the Combined Injection of Helium and Tracers into an Aquifer
Authors: Lafortune Stéphane , Gombert Philippe , Pokryszka Zbigniew , Lacroix Elodie , Donato Philippe de , Jozja Nevila
Published: September 2020

Massive underground storage of hydrogen could be a way that excess energy is produced in the future, provided that the risks of leakage of this highly flammable gas are managed. The ROSTOCK-H research project plans to simulate a sudden hydrogen leak into an aquifer and to design suitable monitoring, by injecting dissolved hydrogen in the saturated zone of an experimental site. Prior to this, an injection test of tracers and helium-saturated water was carried out to validate the future protocol related to hydrogen. Helium exhibits a comparable physical behavior but is a non-flammable gas which is preferable for a protocol optimization test. The main questions covered the gas saturation conditions of the water, the injection protocol of 5 m3 of gas saturated water, and the monitoring protocol. Due to the low solubility of both helium and hydrogen, it appears that plume dilution will be more important further than 20 m downstream of the injection well and that monitoring must be done close to the well. In the piezometer located 5 m downstream the injection well, the plume peak is intended to arrive about 1 h after injection with a concentration around 1.5 mg·L−1. Taking these results into account should make it possible to complete the next injection of hydrogen.
Performance Improvement of Concentrated-Flux Type IPM PMSM Motor with Flared-Shape Magnet Arrangement
Authors: Yoon Keun-Young , Baek Soo-Whang
Published: September 2020

This study demonstrates that the use of a flared-shape rotor structure in interior permanent magnet (IPM) permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) yields better performance than the basic IPM PMSM motor, using a spoke structure with ferrite magnets. To concentrate the effective magnetic flux, the proposed rotor structure is composed of a number of ferrite magnets, which are inserted in a flared shape in the rotor core. This paper shows the comparison with the analysis results of 2D finite element method (FEM), and it is shown that the proposed IPM PMSM motor can be an effective substitute for the basic IPM PMSM motor, which requires low torque ripple and high efficiency. In particular, the proposed flared IPM PMSM motor has lower pulsation of torque and superior efficiency, as well as lower acoustic noise and vibration, compared to the basic IPM PMSM motor. To verify the performance improvement of the proposed model, a prototype of the proposed model was manufactured. It was experimentally confirmed that the proposed model has lower torque ripple and higher efficiency than the basic model. Based on this performance improvement, the proposed flared IPM PMSM motor is suitable for electric vehicles and home appliances.
Design and Structural Analysis of a Front Single-Sided Swingarm for an Electric Three-Wheel Motorcycle
Authors: Spanoudakis Polychronis , Christenas Evangelos , Tsourveloudis Nikolaos C.
Published: September 2020

This study focuses on the structural analysis of the front single-sided swingarm of a new three-wheel electric motorcycle, recently designed to meet the challenges of the vehicle electrification era. The primary target is to develop a swingarm capable of withstanding the forces applied during motorcycle’s operation and, at the same time, to be as lightweight as possible. Different scenarios of force loadings are considered and emphasis is given to braking forces in emergency braking conditions where higher loads are applied to the front wheels of the vehicle. A dedicated Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software is used for the structural evaluation of different swingarm designs, through a series of finite element analysis simulations. A topology optimization procedure is also implemented to assist the redesign effort and reduce the weight of the final design. Simulation results in the worst-case loading conditions, indicate strongly that the proposed structure is effective and promising for actual prototyping. A direct comparison of results for the initial and final swingarm design revealed that a 23.2% weight reduction was achieved.
Investigation of a Collisional Radiative Model for Laser-Produced Plasmas
Authors: Wong Nicholas L. , O’Reilly Fergal , Sokell Emma
Published: September 2020

Plasmas of a variety of types can be described by the collisional radiative (CR) model developed by Colombant and Tonan. From the CR model, the ion distribution of a plasma at a given electron temperature and density can be found. This information is useful for further simulations, and due to this, the employment of a suitable CR model is important. Specifically, ionization bottlenecks, where there are enhanced populations of certain charge states, can be seen in these ion distributions, which in some applications are important in maintaining large amounts of a specific ion. The present work was done by implementing an accepted CR model, proposed by Colombant and Tonon, in Python and investigating the effects of variations in the ionization energy and outermost electron subshell occupancy term on the positions of ionization bottlenecks. Laser Produced Plasmas created using a Nd:YAG laser with an electron density of ∼ne = 1021 cm−3 were the focus of this work. Plots of the collisional ionization, radiative recombination, and three-body recombination rate coefficients as well as the ion distribution and peak fractional ion population for various elements were examined. From these results, it is evident that using ionization energies from the NIST database and removing the orbital occupancy term in the CR model produced results with ionization bottlenecks in expected locations.
Thermo-Mechanical Properties of a Wood Fiber Insulation Board Using a Bio-Based Adhesive as a Binder
Authors: Segovia Franz , Blanchet Pierre , Auclair Nicolas , Essoua Essoua Gatien
Published: September 2020

The goal of the present study was to develop a low-density thermal insulation board using wood fibers and a bio-based adhesive as a binder, which was prepared from a crude glycerol and citric acid mixture. The physical and mechanical properties of insulation boards manufactured using two ratios of crude glycerol and citric acid (1:0.66 and 1:1 mol/mol) and two adhesive contents (14% and 20%) were evaluated. The results show that the insulation boards with a range of density between 332 to 338 kg m−3 present thermal conductivity values between 0.064 W/m-K and 0.066 W/m-K. The effect of adhesive content was very significant for certain mechanical properties (tensile strength perpendicular to surface and compressive strength). The tensile strength (internal bond) increased between 20% and 36% with the increased adhesive content. In contrast, the compressive strength decreased between 7% and 15%. The thermo-mechanical properties obtained of insulation boards such as thermal conductivity, traverse strength, tensile strength parallel and perpendicular to surface, and compressive strength are in accordance with the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials C208-12 standard for different uses. The results confirm the potential of crude glycerol and citric acid mixture to be used as an adhesive in the wood fiber insulation boards’ manufacturing for sustainability purposes.
Identification of Clinical and Socioeconomic Predictors of Adjuvant Therapy after Trans-Oral Robotic Surgery in Patients with Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Baliga Sujith , Klamer Brett , Jhawar Sachin , Gamez Mauricio , Mitchell Darrion , Blakaj Adriana , Grecula John , Gardner Ulysses , Dibs Khaled , Old Matthew , Seim Nolan , Kang Stephen , Carrau Ricardo , Agrawal Amit , Karivedu Vidhya , Bhateja Priyanka , Ozer Enver , Rocco James , Bonomi Marcelo , Blakaj Dukagjin
Published: September 2020

Trans-oral robotic surgery (TORS) has emerged as an important surgical treatment option in the management of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and -negative oropharynx cancer. However, treatment selection is paramount to ensure that patients will not require multimodality adjuvant therapy. In this study, we determined predictors of adjuvant therapy in TORS-treated patients. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was used to identify patients with newly diagnosed clinical T1-T4, N0-N3 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent TORS between 2010–2016. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was used to estimate overall survival (OS). A total of 2999 patients were studied, and the five-year OS for the entire cohort was 82.5%, and for HPV-positive and -negative cohorts it was 88.3% and 67.9%, respectively (p < 0.001). Among all patients treated with TORS, 35.1% of patients received no additional treatment, 33.5% received adjuvant radiation alone (RT), and 31.3% received adjuvant chemoradiation. The N stage was pathologically upstaged in 629 (20.9%) patients after TORS. Patients treated at higher-volume centers were more likely to have negative surgical margins (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.94, 0.98, p < 0.001), but this did not influence the receipt of adjuvant therapy. The high rate of adjuvant multimodality treatment after TORS suggests a need for improved patient selection. Limitations of this study, including lack of data on loco-regional control, progression free survival, acute and late toxicities, and utilization of pretreatment PET/CT imaging, should be addressed in future studies.
Cancer-Specific Immune Prognostic Signature in Solid Tumors and Its Relation to Immune Checkpoint Therapies
Authors: Das Shaoli , Camphausen Kevin , Shankavaram Uma
Published: September 2020

To elucidate the role of immune cell infiltration as a prognostic signature in solid tumors, we analyzed immune-function-related genes from four publicly available single-cell RNA-Seq data sets and twenty bulk tumor RNA-Seq data sets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Unsupervised clustering of pan-cancer transcriptomic signature showed two major immune function types: one related to NK-, T-, and B-cell functions and the other related to monocyte, macrophage, dendritic cell, and Toll-like receptor functions. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed differential prognosis of these two groups, dependent on the cancer type. Our analysis of TCGA solid tumors with an elastic net model identified 155 genes associated with disease-free survival in different tumor types with varied influence across different cancer types. With this gene set, we computed cancer-specific prognostic immune score models for individual cancer types that predicted disease-free and overall survival. Validation of our model on available published data of immune checkpoint blockade therapies on melanoma, kidney renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer and bladder cancer confirmed that cancer-specific higher immune scores are associated with response to immunotherapy. Our analysis provides a comprehensive map of cancer-specific immune-related prognostic gene sets that are associated with immunotherapy response.
CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: Current Practice and Knowledge
Authors: de Melo Gagliato Debora , C Buzaid Antonio , Perez-Garcia Jose Manuel , Llombart Antonio , Cortes Javier
Published: September 2020

Treatment paradigms in advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer were substantially transformed with cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) approval. The addition of these drugs to endocrine treatment profoundly improved progression-free and overall survival. Additionally, other important endpoints, such as the response rate, time to chemotherapy, and a delay in quality of life deterioration, were positively impacted by CDK4/6 inhibitors’ addition to the treatment of advanced HR-positive breast cancer. This review article will summarize current knowledge on CDK4/6 inhibitors in clinical practice for advanced HR-positive metastatic breast cancer, as well as describe recent efforts to more precisely characterize mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to these drugs, both on the molecular and clinical characterization level.
Counteracting Chemoresistance with Metformin in Breast Cancers: Targeting Cancer Stem Cells
Authors: Samuel Samson Mathews , Varghese Elizabeth , Koklesová Lenka , Líšková Alena , Kubatka Peter , Büsselberg Dietrich
Published: September 2020

Despite the leaps and bounds in achieving success in the management and treatment of breast cancers through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, breast cancer remains the most frequently occurring cancer in women and the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women. Systemic therapeutic approaches, such as chemotherapy, although beneficial in treating and curing breast cancer subjects with localized breast tumors, tend to fail in metastatic cases of the disease due to (a) an acquired resistance to the chemotherapeutic drug and (b) the development of intrinsic resistance to therapy. The existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) plays a crucial role in both acquired and intrinsic chemoresistance. CSCs are less abundant than terminally differentiated cancer cells and confer chemoresistance through a unique altered metabolism and capability to evade the immune response system. Furthermore, CSCs possess active DNA repair systems, transporters that support multidrug resistance (MDR), advanced detoxification processes, and the ability to self-renew and differentiate into tumor progenitor cells, thereby supporting cancer invasion, metastasis, and recurrence/relapse. Hence, current research is focusing on targeting CSCs to overcome resistance and improve the efficacy of the treatment and management of breast cancer. Studies revealed that metformin (1, 1-dimethylbiguanide), a widely used anti-hyperglycemic agent, sensitizes tumor response to various chemotherapeutic drugs. Metformin selectively targets CSCs and improves the hypoxic microenvironment, suppresses the tumor metastasis and inflammation, as well as regulates the metabolic programming, induces apoptosis, and reverses epithelial–mesenchymal transition and MDR. Here, we discuss cancer (breast cancer) and chemoresistance, the molecular mechanisms of chemoresistance in breast cancers, and metformin as a chemo-sensitizing/re-sensitizing agent, with a particular focus on breast CSCs as a critical contributing factor to acquired and intrinsic chemoresistance. The review outlines the prospects and directions for a better understanding and re-purposing of metformin as an anti-cancer/chemo-sensitizing drug in the treatment of breast cancer. It intends to provide a rationale for the use of metformin as a combinatory therapy in a clinical setting.
Eosin Y-Catalyzed Visible-Light-Mediated Aerobic Transformation of Pyrazolidine-3-One Derivatives
Authors: Petek Nejc , Grošelj Uroš , Svete Jurij , Požgan Franc , Kočar Drago , Štefane Bogdan
Published: September 2020

By utilizing an underexplored reactivity of N1-substituted pyrazolidine-3-ones, we developed a visible-light-induced aerobic oxidation of N1-substituted pyrazolidine-3-one derivatives yielding the corresponding azomethine imines. The resulting azomethine imines can be further reacted with ynones in situ under copper catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction conditions yielding the corresponding pyrazolo[1,2-a]pyrazoles in good yields. The methodology can be extended to other 1-aryl-substituted pyrazolidinones which undergo endocyclic oxidation deriving the corresponding pyrazolones as single products.
Photoelectrochemical Studies on Metal-Doped Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanostructures under Visible-Light Illumination
Authors: Reddy I. Neelakanta , Jayashree N. , Manjunath V. , Kim Dongseob , Shim Jaesool
Published: September 2020

Recently, the engineering of optical bandgaps and morphological properties of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted significant research attention for photoelectrodes and environmental remediation owing to its low-cost synthesis, availability of raw materials, and thermal physical–chemical stability. However, the photoelectrochemical activity of g-C3N4-based photoelectrodes is considerably poor due to their high electron–hole recombination rate, poor conductivity, low quantum efficiency, and active catalytic sites. Synthesized Ni metal-doped g-C3N4 nanostructures can improve the light absorption property and considerably increase the electron–hole separation and charge transfer kinetics, thereby initiating exceptionally enhanced photoelectrochemical activity under visible-light irradiation. In the present study, Ni dopant material was found to evince a significant effect on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of g-C3N4 nanostructures. The optical bandgap of the synthesized photoelectrodes was varied from 2.53 to 2.18 eV with increasing Ni dopant concentration. The optimized 0.4 mol% Ni-doped g-C3N4 photoelectrode showed a noticeably improved six-fold photocurrent density compared to pure g-C3N4. The significant improvement in photoanode performance is attributable to the synergistic effects of enriched light absorption, enhanced charge transfer kinetics, photoelectrode/aqueous electrolyte interface, and additional active catalytic sites for photoelectrochemical activity.
Examination of Photocatalyzed Chlorophenols for Sequential Photocatalytic-Biological Treatment Optimization
Authors: Bobirică Liliana , Bobirică Constantin , Orbeci Cristina
Published: September 2020

Given the known adverse effect of chlorophenols for the aquatic environments which they can reach, the development of efficient methods both technically and economically to remove them has gained increasing attention over time. The combination of photocatalytic oxidation with biological treatment can lead to high removal efficiencies of chlorophenols, while reducing the costs associated with the need to treat large volumes of aqueous solutions. Therefore, the present paper had as its main objective the identification of the minimum photocatalytic oxidation period during which the aqueous solutions of 4-chlorophenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol can be considered as readily biodegradable. Thus, the results of photocatalytic oxidation and biodegradability tests showed that, regardless of the concentration of chlorophenol and its type, the working solutions become readily biodegradable after up to 120 min of irradiation in ultraviolet light. At this irradiation time, the maximum organic content of the aqueous solution is less than 40%, and the biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand (BOD/COD) ratio is much higher than 0.4. The maximum specific heterotrophic growth rate of activated sludge has an average value of 4.221 d−1 for 4-chlorophenol, and 3.126 d−1 for 2,4-dichlorophenol. This irradiation period represents at most half of the total irradiation period necessary for the complete mineralization of the working solutions. The results obtained were correlated with the intermediates identified during the photocatalytic oxidation. It seems that, working solutions initially containing 4-chlorophenol can more easily form readily biodegradable intermediates.
A Review of Microwave-Assisted Synthesis-Based Approaches to Reduce Pd-Content in Catalysts
Authors: Kunal Pranaw , Toops Todd J.
Published: September 2020

This review article focuses on the latest advances in the synthesis of inorganic nano-catalysts using microwave heating, which has progressed significantly since its initial implementation in the mid-1980s. Over the years, nanoparticles (NPs), which inherently offer better surface accessibility for heterogeneous catalysis, have been synthesized using a wide array of heating methods. Microwave heating is one such method and employs a unique heating mechanism that can have several benefits for catalysis. When compared to conventional form of heating which relies on inter-layer mixing via convection, microwave heating operates through the chemical polarity in the target chemicals leading to an “inside-out” mode of heating. This heating mechanism is more targeted and therefore results in rapid synthesis of catalytically active NPs. Platinum group metals (PGM) have classically been the focus of nano-catalysis; however, recent efforts have also applied non-PGM group metals with the goals of lower costs, and ideally, improved catalytic reactivity and durability. This is especially of interest with respect to Pd because of its current historically high cost. Investigations into these new materials have primarily focused on new/improved synthetic methods and catalytic compositions, but it is important to note that these approaches must also be economic and scalable to attain practical relevance. With this overarching goal in mind, this review summarizes notable recent findings with a focus on Pd-dilution and microwave heating in a chronological fashion.
Partial Hydrogenation of Palm Oil-Derived Biodiesel over Ni/Electrospun Silica Fiber Catalysts
Authors: Phumpradit Supanut , Reubroycharoen Prasert , Kuchonthara Prapan , Ngamcharussrivichai Chawalit , Hinchiranan Napida
Published: September 2020

Given the high accessibility of reactants to the active metal sites of fibrous catalysts, in this research, an electrospun silica fiber was applied as a support of nickel catalysts (Ni/SF) for the partial hydrogenation of palm oil fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in a fixed-bed reactor. The textural properties, reducibility, Ni dispersion and morphology of Ni/SF catalysts were characterized and compared to those of a Ni/porous silica ball (Ni/SB). Under 1 bar H2 pressure at 140 °C, the 30 wt% Ni/SF catalyst exhibited a high turnover frequency (TOF) of 1396 h−1 to convert methyl linoleate (C18:2) to more saturated structures. On the other hand, the system using Ni/SB catalysts showed a TOF of only 141 h−1. This result was due to the effect of the higher acidity of the silica fiber, which promoted the higher adsorption of polyunsaturated portions in FAME. The non-porous characteristics and open morphology of the Ni/SF catalysts also allowed FAME and H2 molecules to easily access the Ni active sites deposited on the surface of the silica fiber and suppressed the selectivity to cis–trans isomerization. Stability testing of the Ni/SF catalyst showed that the C18:2 conversion decreased from 71% to 60% after long-term operation for 16 h possibly due to the weak metal–support interaction that facilitated Ni particle loss from the catalyst surface.
Polar Head Modified Phospholipids by Phospholipase D-Catalyzed Transformations of Natural Phosphatidylcholine for Targeted Applications: An Overview
Authors: Allegretti Chiara , Denuccio Francesca , Rossato Letizia , D’Arrigo Paola
Published: September 2020

This review describes the use of phospholipase D (PLD) to perform the transphosphatidylation of the most common natural phospholipid (PL), phosphatidylcholine (PC) to obtain polar head modified phospholipids with real targeted applications. The introduction of different polar heads with distinctive physical and chemical properties such as charge, polarity and dimensions allows the obtainment of very different PLs, which can be exploited in very diverse fields of application. Moreover, the inclusions of a bioactive moiety in the PL polar head constitutes a powerful tool for the stabilization and administration of active ingredients. The use of this biocatalytic approach allows the preparation of compounds which cannot be easily obtained by classical chemical methods, by using mild and green reaction conditions. PLD is a very versatile enzyme, able to catalyze both the hydrolysis of PC to choline and phosphatidic acid (PA), and the transphosphatidylation reaction in the presence of an appropriate alcohol. The yield of production of the desired product and the ratio with the collateral PA formation is highly dependent on parameters such as the nature and concentration of the alcohol and the enzymatic source. The application of PLD catalyzed transformations for the production of a great number of PLs with important uses in medical, nutraceutical and cosmetic sectors will be discussed in this work.
The Impact of Natural Dietary Compounds and Food-Borne Mycotoxins on DNA Methylation and Cancer
Authors: Ghazi Terisha , Arumugam Thilona , Foolchand Ashmika , Chuturgoon Anil A.
Published: September 2020

Cancer initiation and progression is an accumulation of genetic and epigenetic modifications. DNA methylation is a common epigenetic modification that regulates gene expression, and aberrant DNA methylation patterns are considered a hallmark of cancer. The human diet is a source of micronutrients, bioactive molecules, and mycotoxins that have the ability to alter DNA methylation patterns and are thus a contributing factor for both the prevention and onset of cancer. Micronutrients such as betaine, choline, folate, and methionine serve as cofactors or methyl donors for one-carbon metabolism and other DNA methylation reactions. Dietary bioactive compounds such as curcumin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, genistein, quercetin, resveratrol, and sulforaphane reactivate essential tumor suppressor genes by reversing aberrant DNA methylation patterns, and therefore, they have shown potential against various cancers. In contrast, fungi-contaminated agricultural foods are a source of potent mycotoxins that induce carcinogenesis. In this review, we summarize the existing literature on dietary micronutrients, bioactive compounds, and food-borne mycotoxins that affect DNA methylation patterns and identify their potential in the onset and treatment of cancer.
Tributyrin Attenuates Metabolic and Inflammatory Changes Associated with Obesity through a GPR109A-Dependent Mechanism
Authors: Sato Fabio Takeo , Yap Yu Anne , Crisma Amanda Rabello , Portovedo Mariana , Murata Gilson Masahiro , Hirabara Sandro Massao , Ribeiro Willian Rodrigues , Marcantonio Ferreira Caroline , Cruz Maysa Mariana , Pereira Joice Naiara Bertaglia , Payolla Tanyara Baliani , Guima Suzana Eiko Sato , Thomas Andrew Maltez , Setubal João Carlos , Alonso-Vale Maria Isabel Cardoso , Santos Marinilce Fagundes , Curi Rui , Marino Eliana , Vinolo Marco A. R.
Published: September 2020

Obesity is linked with altered microbial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are a signature of gut dysbiosis and inflammation. In the present study, we investigated whether tributyrin, a prodrug of the SCFA butyrate, could improve metabolic and inflammatory profiles in diet-induced obese mice. Mice fed a high-fat diet for eight weeks were treated with tributyrin or placebo for another six weeks. We show that obese mice treated with tributyrin had lower body weight gain and an improved insulin responsiveness and glucose metabolism, partly via reduced hepatic triglycerides content. Additionally, tributyrin induced an anti-inflammatory state in the adipose tissue by reduction of Il-1β and Tnf-a and increased Il-10, Tregs cells and M2-macrophages. Moreover, improvement in glucose metabolism and reduction of fat inflammatory states associated with tributyrin treatment were dependent on GPR109A activation. Our results indicate that exogenous targeting of SCFA butyrate attenuates metabolic and inflammatory dysfunction, highlighting a potentially novel approach to tackle obesity.
Trafficking Unconventionally via UPS
Authors: Tang Bor Luen
Published: September 2020

Conventional protein secretion in eukaryotic cells occurs via vesicular trafficking of proteins that are first targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), through the Golgi apparatus, and subsequently routed to the plasma membrane (PM), where membrane proteins take up residence while luminal proteins are released extracellularly [...]
Targeting Oxidative Phosphorylation Reverses Drug Resistance in Cancer Cells by Blocking Autophagy Recycling
Authors: Lee Jae-Seon , Lee Ho , Jang Hyonchol , Woo Sang Myung , Park Jong Bae , Lee Seon-Hyeong , Kang Joon Hee , Kim Hee Yeon , Song Jaewhan , Kim Soo-Youl
Published: September 2020

The greatest challenge in cancer therapy is posed by drug-resistant recurrence following treatment. Anticancer chemotherapy is largely focused on targeting the rapid proliferation and biosynthesis of cancer cells. This strategy has the potential to trigger autophagy, enabling cancer cell survival through the recycling of molecules and energy essential for biosynthesis, leading to drug resistance. Autophagy recycling contributes amino acids and ATP to restore mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activity, which leads to cell survival. However, autophagy with mTORC1 activation can be stalled by reducing the ATP level. We have previously shown that cytosolic NADH production supported by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is critical for supplying ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) in cancer cell mitochondria. Inhibitors of the mitochondrial complex I of the OxPhos electron transfer chain and ALDH significantly reduce the ATP level selectively in cancer cells, terminating autophagy triggered by anticancer drug treatment. With the aim of overcoming drug resistance, we investigated combining the inhibition of mitochondrial complex I, using phenformin, and ALDH, using gossypol, with anticancer drug treatment. Here, we show that OxPhos targeting combined with anticancer drugs acts synergistically to enhance the anticancer effect in mouse xenograft models of various cancers, which suggests a potential therapeutic approach for drug-resistant cancer.
100th Paper Milestone
Authors: Fantozzi Gilbert
Published: September 2020

The Ceramics journal has reached its first milestone with the publication of the 100th paper since its creation in 2018 [...]
ALT Trends through Childhood and Adolescence Associated with Hepatic Steatosis at 24 Years: A Population-Based UK Cohort Study
Authors: Sekkarie Ahlia , Welsh Jean A. , Northstone Kate , Cioffi Catherine E. , Stein Aryeh D. , Figueroa Janet , Ramakrishnan Usha , Vos Miriam B.
Published: September 2020

(1) Background: Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is used to screen for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children; however, the optimal age to commence screening is not determined. Our objective was to describe whether ALT trends from 9–24 years were associated with hepatic steatosis at 24 years in a population-based UK cohort. (2) Methods: The sample included 1156 participants who were assessed for hepatic steatosis at 24 years and had at least two ALT measurements at 9, 15, 17, and/or 24 years. Controlled attenuation parameter scores were used to assess steatosis (low (<248 dB/m), mild/moderate (248–279 dB/m), severe (>279 dB/m)). Sex-stratified mixed-effects models were constructed to assess the liver enzyme trends by steatosis level. (3) Results: The final sample was 41.4% male and 10.4% had severe steatosis. In both sexes, ALT trends from 9 to 24 years differed in those with low vs. severe steatosis at 24 years (p < 0.001). There was no evidence of differences prior to puberty. At 17 years, the low vs. severe geometric mean ratio (GMR) was 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57–0.85 in males and (0.81, 0.65–1.01) females. At 24 years, the GMR was (0.53, 0.42–0.66) in males and (0.67, 0.54–0.84) females. (4) Conclusions: Higher ALT concentration in adolescence was associated with hepatic steatosis at 24 years. The increased screening of adolescents could strengthen NAFLD prevention and treatment efforts.
A Brief Measure of Parental Wellbeing for Use in Evaluations of Family-Centred Interventions for Children with Developmental Disabilities
Authors: McConkey Roy
Published: September 2020

Increasing emphasis is placed on the provision of family-centred interventions when children have developmental disabilities with the aim of supporting parents as well as fostering the child’s development. Although various instruments have been developed to assess parental health, stress and quality of life, these are rarely used by practitioners because of the burden they place on informants. A brief measure, rooted in the concept of subjective wellbeing, was developed and tested with over 400 parents of children with ASD participating in a home-based intervention. Consisting of eight items and using a 10-point rating scale, the measure was readily understood and accepted by parents. The items contributed to one main factor that confirmed the measure’s construct validity. The internal reliability of the scale was reasonable, and there was promising evidence of test–retest reliability. There is evidence too for criterion validity through a significant relationship with a measure of parental mental health. The summary score derived from the measure was sensitive to the predicted differences on wellbeing scores by parent characteristics as well as to features of their engagement with the intervention. This brief assessment tool could help practitioners to evidence the impact of their family-centred interventions.
Recommendations for IUCN Red List Conservation Status of the “Dryophytes immaculatus Group” in North East Asia
Authors: Borzée Amaël
Published: September 2020

Threat assessment is important to prioritize species conservation projects and planning. The taxonomic resolution regarding the status of the “Dryophytes immaculatus group” and the description of a new species in the Republic of Korea resulted in a shift in ranges and population sizes. Thus, reviewing the IUCN Red List status of the three species from the group: D. immaculatus, D. suweonensis and D. flaviventris and recommending an update is needed. While the three species have similar ecological requirements and are distributed around the Yellow Sea, they are under contrasting anthropological pressure and threats. Here, based on the literature available, I have applied all IUCN Red List criterion and tested the fit of each species in each criteria to recommend listing under the appropriate threat level. This resulted in the recommendation of the following categories: Near Threatened for D. immaculatus, Endangered following the criteria C2a(i)b for D. suweonensis and Critically Endangered following the criteria E for D. flaviventris. All three species are declining, mostly because of landscape changes as a result of human activities, but the differences in range, population dynamics and already extirpated subpopulations result in different threat levels for each species. Dryophytes flaviventris is under the highest threat category mostly because of its limited range segregated into two subpopulations; and several known extirpated subpopulations. Immediate actions for the conservation of this species are required. Dryophytes suweonensis is present in both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPR Korea) and is under lower ecological pressure in DPR Korea. Dryophytes immaculatus is present in the People’s Republic of China, over a very large range despite a marked decline. I recommend joint efforts for the conservation of these species.
High Resolution Geospatial Evapotranspiration Mapping of Irrigated Field Crops Using Multispectral and Thermal Infrared Imagery with METRIC Energy Balance Model
Authors: Chandel Abhilash K. , Molaei Behnaz , Khot Lav R. , Peters R. Troy , Stöckle Claudio O.
Published: September 2020

Geospatial crop water use mapping is critical for field-scale site-specific irrigation management. Landsat 7/8 satellite imagery with a widely adopted METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) energy balance model (LM approach) estimates accurate evapotranspiration (ET) but limits field-scale spatiotemporal (30 m pixel−1, ~16 days) mapping. A study was therefore conducted to map actual ET of commercially grown irrigated-field crops (spearmint, potato, and alfalfa) at very high-resolution (7 cm pixel−1). Six small unmanned aerial system (UAS)-based multispectral and thermal infrared imagery campaigns were conducted (two for each crop) at the same time as the Landsat 7/8 overpass. Three variants of METRIC model were used to process the UAS imagery; UAS-METRIC-1, -2, and -3 (UASM-1, -2, and -3) and outputs were compared with the standard LM approach. ET root mean square differences (RMSD) between LM-UASM-1, LM-UASM-2, and LM-UASM-3 were in the ranges of 0.2–2.9, 0.5–0.9, and 0.5–2.7 mm day−1, respectively. Internal calibrations and sensible heat fluxes majorly resulted in such differences. UASM-2 had the highest similarity with the LM approach (RMSD: 0.5–0.9, ETdep,abs (daily ET departures): 2–14%, r (Pearson correlation coefficient) = 0.91). Strong ET correlations between UASM and LM approaches (0.7–0.8, 0.7–0.8, and 0.8–0.9 for spearmint, potato, and alfalfa crops) suggest equal suitability of UASM approaches as LM to map ET for a range of similar crops. UASM approaches (Coefficient of variation, CV: 6.7–24.3%) however outperformed the LM approach (CV: 2.1–11.2%) in mapping spatial ET variations due to large number of pixels. On-demand UAS imagery may thus help in deriving high resolution site-specific ET maps, for growers to aid in timely crop water management.
Strong Coupling and Nonextensive Thermodynamics
Authors: de Miguel Rodrigo , Rubí J. Miguel
Published: September 2020

We propose a Hamiltonian-based approach to the nonextensive thermodynamics of small systems, where small is a relative term comparing the size of the system to the size of the effective interaction region around it. We show that the effective Hamiltonian approach gives easy accessibility to the thermodynamic properties of systems strongly coupled to their surroundings. The theory does not rely on the classical concept of dividing surface to characterize the system’s interaction with the environment. Instead, it defines an effective interaction region over which a system exchanges extensive quantities with its surroundings, easily producing laws recently shown to be valid at the nanoscale.
Making Informal Adult Learning Visible. The Recognition of the Third Sector Professionals’ Key Competences
Authors: Di Rienzo Paolo
Published: September 2020

The third sector represents a vast and heterogeneous universe that has a key role in society from both the social and civil points of view. It also represents an informal learning context where competence and knowledge are acquired, often in a tacit and indirect way. This research focuses on the key competences of the third sector professionals and on the pedagogical methods to make them visible and to encourage their recognition. The quantitative and qualitative data sources include: questionnaires, focus groups, and diaries. The results show that the informal learning of key competences by professionals is a primary result of their activities that should be given greater visibility. Six areas of expertise have been identified in order to classify the range of knowledge and competence. The pedagogical approach has highlighted the importance of the tutor who applies narrative tutoring methods to facilitate the recognition of competences and their enhancement for personal and professional development. The full enhancement of competences, considered as the strengthening of people’s reflection and planning potential, requires policies that can be effectively applied to the national competences certification system.
Gaze-Based Vehicle Driving Evaluation of System with an Actual Vehicle at an Intersection with a Traffic Light
Authors: Shimauchi Takumi , Sakurai Keiko , Tate Lindsey , Tamura Hiroki
Published: September 2020

Due to the population aging in Japan, more elderly people are retaining their driver’s licenses and the increase in the number of car accidents by elderly drivers is a social problem. To address this problem, an objective data-based method to evaluate whether elderly drivers can continue driving is needed. In this paper, we propose a car driving evaluation system based on gaze as calculated by eye and head angles. We used an eye tracking device (TalkEye Lite) made by the Takei Scientific Instruments Cooperation. For our image processing technique, we propose a gaze fixation condition using deep learning (YOLOv2-tiny). By using an eye tracking device and the proposed gaze fixation condition, we built a system where drivers could be evaluated during actual car operation. We describe our system in this paper. In order to evaluate our proposed method, we conducted experiments from November 2017 to November 2018 where elderly people were evaluated by our system while driving an actual car. The subjects were 22 general drivers (two were 80–89 years old, four were 70–79 years old, six were 60–69 years old, three were 50–59 years old, five were 40–49 years old and two were 30–39 years old). We compared the subjects’ gaze information with the subjective evaluation by a professional driving instructor. As a result, we confirm that the subjects’ gaze information is related to the subjective evaluation by the instructor.
Data-Intensive Task Scheduling for Heterogeneous Big Data Analytics in IoT System
Authors: Li Xin , Wang Liangyuan , Abawajy Jemal H. , Qin Xiaolin , Pau Giovanni , You Ilsun
Published: September 2020

Efficient big data analysis is critical to support applications or services in Internet of Things (IoT) system, especially for the time-intensive services. Hence, the data center may host heterogeneous big data analysis tasks for multiple IoT systems. It is a challenging problem since the data centers usually need to schedule a large number of periodic or online tasks in a short time. In this paper, we investigate the heterogeneous task scheduling problem to reduce the global task execution time, which is also an efficient method to reduce energy consumption for data centers. We establish the task execution for heterogeneous tasks respectively based on the data locality feature, which also indicate the relationship among the tasks, data blocks and servers. We propose a heterogeneous task scheduling algorithm with data migration. The core idea of the algorithm is to maximize the efficiency by comparing the cost between remote task execution and data migration, which could improve the data locality and reduce task execution time. We conduct extensive simulations and the experimental results show that our algorithm has better performance than the traditional methods, and data migration actually works to reduce th overall task execution time. The algorithm also shows acceptable fairness for the heterogeneous tasks.
Closed-Form Expressions for the Analysis of Wave Propagation in Overhead Distribution Lines
Authors: Papadopoulos Theofilos A. , Chrysochos Andreas I. , Traianos Christos K. , Papagiannis Grigoris
Published: September 2020

The calculation of the influence of the imperfect earth on overhead conductors is an important issue in power system analysis. Rigorous solutions contain infinite integrals; thus, due to their complex form, different simplified closed-form expressions have been proposed in the literature. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the effect of different closed-form expressions on the investigation of the wave propagation of distribution overhead lines (OHLs). A sensitivity analysis is applied to determine the most important properties influencing the calculation of the OHL parameters. The accuracy of several closed-form earth impedance models is evaluated as well as the influence of the displacement current and imperfect earth on the shunt admittance, which are further employed in the calculation of the propagation characteristics of OHLs. The frequency-dependence of the soil electrical properties, as well as the application of different modal decomposition algorithms, are also investigated. Finally, results on the basis of frequency-domain signal scans and time-domain electromagnetic transient responses are also discussed.