bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prioritization on cultivation and climate change adaptation techniques: a potential option in strengthening climate resilience in South Africa
Authors: Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi , Micheal Akwasi Antwi , Sibongile Sylvia Tekana
Published: August 2019

Numerous challenges currently experienced in the world today stemmed from global scientific collaborations that rely mainly on the ecosystem. Impact of climate variability threatens food security and production especially among the rural farming households. The study was conducted in North West Province of South Africa, to identify climate change adaptation techniques and to analyze prioritization of farmers on cultivation, both in the past and present. A total number of 497 rural household maize farmers were selected through a stratified sampling method from two district municipalities. Descriptive statistics were used to compute the mean, frequency and percentages, while Wilcoxon sign rank test established farmers’ prioritization on cultivation. The results show different adaptation strategies used. On the other hand, Wilcoxon sign rank test showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) between the farmers prioritization on cultivation both in the past and present. The study recommends incorporation of conservation agricultural practices to the existing strategies.
La autonomía y la capacidad para ejercerla en el aprendizaje de lenguas
Authors: Llaven Nucamendi María Elena , Chuc Piña Ismael Ignacio
Published: August 2019

La autonomía del estudiante para aprender está relacionada con su motivación, sentimientos de auto-eficacia y competencia y las relaciones positivas que tenga con otros participantes en el proceso de aprendizaje. Este artículo describe un proyecto de investigaciónn con una metodología mixta, que explora aspectos de la motivación del estudiante, los sentimientos de competencia y las relaciones personales en su contexto de aprendizaje de un idioma. Una muestra de 88 estudiantes que participan en un programa de formación de profesores de inglés en una universidad pública mexicana respondió un cuestionario que contiene preguntas cerradas y abiertas, lo que permite un análisis de datos cuantitativos y cualitativos. Se encontró que según los datos cuantitativos, los estudiantes participantes mostraron buenos niveles de auto-eficacia, motivación y sentimientos de competencia para cumplir con el trabajo del programa de estudios. La parte cualitativa del estudio informa de las contribuciones abiertas de los participantes y las relaciona con sus perfiles individuales reveladas en las respuestas de las preguntas cerradas del cuestionario. Si bien el instrumento cuantitativo estáá parcialmente justificado por los datos cualitativos, se muestra que el instrumento cuantitativo no es capaz de detectar diferencias individuales importantes entre los participantes. Los datos individuales recopilados también sugieren que el entorno de aprendizaje creado por los profesores y los estudiantes está estrechamente relacionado con los sentimientos de competencia de aprendizaje en algunos participantes.
Metodologi Kajian Ilmu Dakwah: Analisis Karya Ilmiah pada Fakultas Dakwah dan Komunikasi 1985 – 2015
Authors: Syam Nur
Published: August 2019

This article examines the study design and methodology applied in proselytizing science at the Faculty of Proselytizing (Da'wah) and Communication UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya during the period 1985 to 2015. This study analysed the scientific works of the faculty academic staff and students between 1985 and 2003 through the qualitative methodology. The data collected by observation and documentation and analysed through coding, categorizing, and theming procedure. The study found that the methodology used for studying da'wah science can be categorized into five approaches: factor approach, system model or interpretive approaches or understanding the meaning of da'wah for individuals, communities or society, the developmental approach and participatory approach or Participatory Action Research (PAR).
Strategiczne partnerstwo polsko-ukraińskie i program Partnerstwa Wschodniego w przededniu szczytu w Warszawie we wrześniu 2011 roku
Authors:   Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Mróz Maciej
Published: August 2019

Upon the restitution of Ukrainian independence in 1991, the Polish-Ukrainian relations, next to the relations with Russian Federation, became central to polish foreign policy towards its direct neighbours in the East. In August 1993, for the first time since Ukraine’s definitive emancipation from the tutelage of Moscow, the Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka defined the relation between Warsaw and Kiev as a strategic partnership. Since then it has been treated almost as a magic spell which was usually used to compensate the lack of real content to fill the political declarations at different levels. Warsaw’s special hopes were associated with the Eastern Partnership, the first complete initiative introduced into the European Union’s external relations and addressed to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. A Joint Declaration was adopted in May 2009 in Prague during an official presentation of the new initiative of the European Union. Thus, the Eastern Partnership became an integral part of the European Union’s policy towards the countries addressed in the program. Fulfilment of the assumptions outlined in The Eastern Partnership with a substantive content is in spe will lead to a real integration of the partner countries and national and ethnic minorities residing in their territory with the European Union, and in the longer term lead to full integration. Guided by the EU’s values , standards and norms the writers and animators of the Eastern Partnership built its functioning on three basic principles:, co-ownership, differentiation and conditionality. They also outlined the areas of cooperation with countries covered by the partnership in such fields as human rights, market economy, sustainable development, efficient and effective management, energy security and others. Considering the Eastern Partnership in this form, amongst other, Poland should concentrate its efforts on activities aimed at introducing Ukrainian issues at various forms of international cooperation, determining the relationship between the Eastern Partnership and other regional organizations promoted by the European Union, further institutional placement of the Eastern Partnership within the framework of the European Union, and in purely practical dimension on liberalization of visa regime with the perspective of its abolition.
Współczesny rozbiór państwa. Casus Gruzji
Authors:   Dowództwo Marynarki Wojennej RP, Zawadzki Józef
Published: August 2019

The Article in its content covers the situation in the Caucasus, and describes the geopolitical conflict of Georgia with the autonomous republics of Southern Ossetia and Abkhazia and the Russian Federation. The article gives a brief history of Georgian State from the beginning of its statehood until modern times. The author shows the origin of the conflict. It also presents the policy of the Russian Federation in relation to the Caucasus, and in particular to Georgia. In the summary the author points out that the resolution of conflicts in today’s international relations should be carried out by negotiation. The military violence as a method to achieve political objectives, may only bring negative consequences. Georgia is the best example of such a situation, because there has been a defragmentation of that country-the loss of the territory, thereby reducing its meaning in the Caucasus region and in the international arena.
Polsko-rosyjskie miejsca pamięci
Authors:   Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Chwalba Andrzej
Published: August 2019

Studies on memorials bring an opportunity for both our nations which considerable troubles with history after all irritate one another and neighbours. This is an opportunity to once again, anew lean on a common though usually competitive memory to define relationships, their place in history and their relationship with modernity. We realise that due to considerable degree of complexity, the necessity to carry a number of preliminary preparations and because of the nature of memorials, fast collaboration and unification is not possible. However, the work on memorials itself is necessary. As Austrian historian Csaky suggested, perhaps it is better to explore ambiguity than clarity of memorials. Thus it seems it would be more appropriate to focus on differences and complicated process of remembrance, memory, and on “pushing them out” of memory. This would allow exploring neighbourhing areas, interpenetrating various codes and cultural content of national cultures and their assimilation process, therefore studying memorials from the interaction and interpenetration perspectives. We must not forget the contemporary function of memorials in the construction of national, local and regional identities.
Deep Reactive Policies for Planning in Stochastic Nonlinear Domains
Authors: Bueno Thiago P. , De Barros Leliane N. , Mauá Denis D. , Sanner Scott
Published: August 2019

Recent advances in applying deep learning to planning have shown that Deep Reactive Policies (DRPs) can be powerful for fast decision-making in complex environments. However, an important limitation of current DRP-based approaches is either the need of optimal planners to be used as ground truth in a supervised learning setting or the sample complexity of high-variance policy gradient estimators, which are particularly troublesome in continuous state-action domains. In order to overcome those limitations, we introduce a framework for training DRPs in continuous stochastic spaces via gradient-based policy search. The general approach is to explicitly encode a parametric policy as a deep neural network, and to formulate the probabilistic planning problem as an optimization task in a stochastic computation graph by exploiting the re-parameterization of the transition probability densities; the optimization is then solved by leveraging gradient descent algorithms that are able to handle non-convex objective functions. We benchmark our approach against stochastic planning domains exhibiting arbitrary differentiable nonlinear transition and cost functions (e.g., Reservoir Control, HVAC and Navigation). Results show that DRPs with more than 125,000 continuous action parameters can be optimized by our approach for problems with 30 state fluents and 30 action fluents on inexpensive hardware under 6 minutes. Also, we observed a speedup of 5 orders of magnitude in the average inference time per decision step of DRPs when compared to other state-of-the-art online gradient-based planners when the same level of solution quality is required.
Multi-Agent Path Finding for Large Agents
Authors: Li Jiaoyang , Surynek Pavel , Felner Ariel , Ma Hang , Kumar T. K. Satish , Koenig Sven
Published: August 2019

Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) has been widely studied in the AI community. For example, Conflict-Based Search (CBS) is a state-of-the-art MAPF algorithm based on a twolevel tree-search. However, previous MAPF algorithms assume that an agent occupies only a single location at any given time, e.g., a single cell in a grid. This limits their applicability in many real-world domains that have geometric agents in lieu of point agents. Geometric agents are referred to as “large” agents because they can occupy multiple points at the same time. In this paper, we formalize and study LAMAPF, i.e., MAPF for large agents. We first show how CBS can be adapted to solve LA-MAPF. We then present a generalized version of CBS, called Multi-Constraint CBS (MCCBS), that adds multiple constraints (instead of one constraint) for an agent when it generates a high-level search node. We introduce three different approaches to choose such constraints as well as an approach to compute admissible heuristics for the high-level search. Experimental results show that all MC-CBS variants outperform CBS by up to three orders of magnitude in terms of runtime. The best variant also outperforms EPEA* (a state-of-the-art A*-based MAPF solver) in all cases and MDD-SAT (a state-of-the-art reduction-based MAPF solver) in some cases.
Distribution-Based Semi-Supervised Learning for Activity Recognition
Authors: Qian Hangwei , Pan Sinno Jialin , Miao Chunyan
Published: August 2019

Supervised learning methods have been widely applied to activity recognition. The prevalent success of existing methods, however, has two crucial prerequisites: proper feature extraction and sufficient labeled training data. The former is important to differentiate activities, while the latter is crucial to build a precise learning model. These two prerequisites have become bottlenecks to make existing methods more practical. Most existing feature extraction methods highly depend on domain knowledge, while labeled data requires intensive human annotation effort. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel method, named Distribution-based Semi-Supervised Learning, to tackle the aforementioned limitations. The proposed method is capable of automatically extracting powerful features with no domain knowledge required, meanwhile, alleviating the heavy annotation effort through semi-supervised learning. Specifically, we treat data stream of sensor readings received in a period as a distribution, and map all training distributions, including labeled and unlabeled, into a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) using the kernel mean embedding technique. The RKHS is further altered by exploiting the underlying geometry structure of the unlabeled distributions. Finally, in the altered RKHS, a classifier is trained with the labeled distributions. We conduct extensive experiments on three public datasets to verify the effectiveness of our method compared with state-of-the-art baselines.
An Innovative Genetic Algorithm for the Quantum Circuit Compilation Problem
Authors: Rasconi Riccardo , Oddi Angelo
Published: August 2019

Quantum Computing represents the next big step towards speed boost in computation, which promises major breakthroughs in several disciplines including Artificial Intelligence. This paper investigates the performance of a genetic algorithm to optimize the realization (compilation) of nearest-neighbor compliant quantum circuits. Currrent technological limitations (e.g., decoherence effect) impose that the overall duration (makespan) of the quantum circuit realization be minimized, and therefore the makespanminimization problem of compiling quantum algorithms on present or future quantum machines is dragging increasing attention in the AI community. In our genetic algorithm, a solution is built utilizing a novel chromosome encoding where each gene controls the iterative selection of a quantum gate to be inserted in the solution, over a lexicographic double-key ranking returned by a heuristic function recently published in the literature.Our algorithm has been tested on a set of quantum circuit benchmark instances of increasing sizes available from the recent literature. We demonstrate that our genetic approach obtains very encouraging results that outperform the solutions obtained in previous research against the same benchmark, succeeding in significantly improving the makespan values for a great number of instances.
On Testing of Uniform Samplers
Authors: Chakraborty Sourav , Meel Kuldeep S.
Published: August 2019

Recent years have seen an unprecedented adoption of artificial intelligence in a wide variety of applications ranging from medical diagnosis, automobile industry, security to aircraft collision avoidance. Probabilistic reasoning is a key component of such modern artificial intelligence systems. Sampling techniques form the core of the state of the art probabilistic reasoning systems.

The divide between the existence of sampling techniques that have strong theoretical guarantees but fail to scale and scalable techniques with weak or no theoretical guarantees mirrors the gap in software engineering between poor scalability of classical program synthesis techniques and billions of programs that are routinely used by practitioners. One bridge connecting the two extremes in the context of software engineering has been program testing. In contrast to testing for deterministic programs, where one trace is sufficient to prove the existence of a bug, in case of samplers one sample is typically not sufficient to prove non-conformity of the sampler to the desired distribution. This makes one wonder whether it is possible to design testing methodology to test whether a sampler under test generates samples close to a given distribution.

The primary contribution of this paper is an affirmative answer to the above question when the given distribution is a uniform distribution: We design, to the best of our knowledge, the first algorithmic framework, Barbarik, to test whether the distribution generated is ε−close or η−far from the uniform distribution. In contrast to the sampling techniques that require an exponential or sub-exponential number of samples for sampler whose support can be represented by n bits, Barbarik requires only O(1/(η−ε)4) samples. We present a prototype implementation of Barbarik and use it to test three state of the art uniform samplers over the support defined by combinatorial constraints. Barbarik can provide a certificate of uniformity to one sampler and demonstrate nonuniformity for the other two samplers.

Erratum: This research is supported in part by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its AI Singapore Programme (Award Number: [AISG-RP-2018-005])
Exact and Approximate Weighted Model Integration with Probability Density Functions Using Knowledge Compilation
Authors: Dos Martires Pedro Zuidberg , Dries Anton , De Raedt Luc
Published: August 2019

Weighted model counting has recently been extended to weighted model integration, which can be used to solve hybrid probabilistic reasoning problems. Such problems involve both discrete and continuous probability distributions. We show how standard knowledge compilation techniques (to SDDs and d-DNNFs) apply to weighted model integration, and use it in two novel solvers, one exact and one approximate solver. Furthermore, we extend the class of employable weight functions to actual probability density functions instead of mere polynomial weight functions.
MFBO-SSM: Multi-Fidelity Bayesian Optimization for Fast Inference in State-Space Models
Authors: Imani Mahdi , Ghoreishi Seyede Fatemeh , Allaire Douglas , Braga-Neto Ulisses M.
Published: August 2019

Nonlinear state-space models are ubiquitous in modeling real-world dynamical systems. Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) techniques, also known as particle methods, are a well-known class of parameter estimation methods for this general class of state-space models. Existing SMC-based techniques rely on excessive sampling of the parameter space, which makes their computation intractable for large systems or tall data sets. Bayesian optimization techniques have been used for fast inference in state-space models with intractable likelihoods. These techniques aim to find the maximum of the likelihood function by sequential sampling of the parameter space through a single SMC approximator. Various SMC approximators with different fidelities and computational costs are often available for sample-based likelihood approximation. In this paper, we propose a multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization algorithm for the inference of general nonlinear state-space models (MFBO-SSM), which enables simultaneous sequential selection of parameters and approximators. The accuracy and speed of the algorithm are demonstrated by numerical experiments using synthetic gene expression data from a gene regulatory network model and real data from the VIX stock price index.
Dual Checkpoint Inhibition with Ipilimumab plus Nivolumab After Progression on Sequential PD-1/PDL-1 Inhibitors Pembrolizumab and Atezolizumab in a Patient with Lynch Syndrome, Metastatic Colon, and Localized Urothelial Cancer
Authors: Winer Arthur , Ghatalia Pooja , Bubes Nicole , Anari Fern , Varshavsky Asya , Kasireddy Vineela , Liu Yang , El-Deiry Wafik S.
Published: August 2019

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is an approved therapy for advanced metastatic mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient cancer regardless of tissue of origin. Although therapy is effective initially, recurrence rates are significant, and long-term outcomes remain poor for most patients. It is not currently recommended to give sequential ICB for advanced MMR-deficient colorectal cancer (CRC) or for patients with metastatic cancer from Lynch syndrome. The need for subsequent therapy options in advanced MMR-deficient cancer beyond the first ICB regimen arises in clinical practice, and there are often no effective standard chemotherapies or other targeted therapies. We report the case of a Lynch syndrome patient with metastatic CRC and urothelial cancer who was treated sequentially with pembrolizumab (targeting PD1), atezolizumab (targeting PD-L1), brief rechallenge with pembrolizumab, and finally the combination of ipilimumab (targeting CTLA-4) and nivolumab (targeting PD1). Over a 28-month period the patient experienced prolonged disease control with each different regimen the first time it was given, including metabolic response by positron emission tomography and computed tomography scanning and tumor marker reductions. The case suggests that some patients with advanced MMR-deficient CRC may experience meaningful clinical benefit from multiple sequential ICB regimens, a strategy that can be further tested in clinical trials.

Key Points

The case exemplifies clinical benefit from sequential immune checkpoint blockade in a patient with Lynch syndrome with advanced metastatic colorectal cancer and urothelial cancer. Metabolic response, with decreased fluorodeoxyglucose avidity on positron emission tomography and computed tomography, and reductions in tumor markers, such as carcinoembryonic antigen, were helpful in this case to monitor disease status over a 28-month period of therapy. The concept of sequential immune checkpoint blockade in patients with advanced mismatch repair-deficient cancer merits further study to determine which patients are most likely to benefit.
Polymer-enhanced soil mixtures for potential use as covers or liners in landfill systems
Authors: Piqué Teresa M , Manzanal Diego , Codevilla Mauro , Orlandi Sandra
Published: August 2019

The use of polymers can change the specific properties of natural soils. This study analyses the interaction between a natural fine sand, a clayey soil and anionic polyacrylamide (APAM). The laboratory results show that APAM, a superabsorbent polymer, increases the plasticity and the capacity of water absorption of the clay–APAM and sand–clay–APAM compacted composites. Free swelling and swelling pressure also increase with the addition of APAM. The sand–clay–APAM composite shows a higher unconfined compressive strength and a slight reduction in hydraulic conductivity. Microstructural analysis confirms the aggregation capacity of APAM and a reduction in the accumulated pore volume, which minimise liquid infiltration and soil erosion. Results demonstrate that the clay–APAM and sand–clay–APAM composites can be effective as liners and covers, respectively, in a landfill system.
Effects of organic content on soil-water characteristic curve and soil shrinkage
Authors: Nong Xue Feng , Rahardjo Harianto , Lee Daryl Tsen Tieng , Leong Eng Choon , Fong Yok King
Published: August 2019

Organic matter commonly exists in the subsoil within tree rooting zones. The organic content of soil has been known to affect soil properties. In this study, soil organic contents at various locations around trees were found to be variable due to the ground flora and tree roots. The range of the soil organic content for the current study was between 0·9 and 12·5%. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the organic content on the shrinkage and soil-water characteristic curve of soil during rainy and dry seasons when the water content of the soil changes. Soil samples were collected from two locations on Singapore Island at depths of 0·1 and 0·3 m. A centrifuge was used to measure the water content of the specimens at suctions up to 250 kPa, and chilled-mirror psychrometry was used for higher suction. Shrinkage tests were also conducted. The results show that a higher organic content was associated with a greater shrinkage rate and a higher suction corresponding to the residual water content. For finer soils, a higher organic content comes with a lower air-entry value.
Using non-destructive testing tools to assess the pore structure of slag-blended cement paste under steam curing
Authors: Yan Xiancui , Jiang Linhua , Song Zijian , Chen Yunjie
Published: August 2019

The pore structure is of great concern to the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. This paper investigated the pore structures of slag-blended cement paste under steam curing using two non-destructive testing (NDT) tools: electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and ultrasonic methods. Four different pastes containing 0, 20, 50 and 70% slag were prepared. For the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method, parameters R1 and n fitted from an equivalent circuit model, Re(CR1(QR2)), were used to evaluate the porosity and the fractal dimension, respectively. For the ultrasonic method, ultrasonic pulse velocity was used to determine the porosity. Moreover, X-ray diffraction and mercury intrusion porosimetry were employed to characterise the properties of the cement paste. The results showed a linear relationship between R1 and ultrasonic pulse velocity. It was found that the porosity of the steam-cured paste was lower than that of the standard-cured paste at 3 d. However, an opposite trend was observed at 28 d. In addition, the fractal dimension of the pore structure dropped as the porosity increased during the hydration process. Although the slag-blended cement paste had a lower porosity than the pure cement paste, the fractal dimension increased with the increasing slag replacement ratio due to the complicated slag hydration products.
Contact explosion response of RC columns: experimental and numerical investigation
Authors: Dua Alok , Braimah Abass , Kumar Manish
Published: August 2019

There is limited experimental test data available on the response of concrete columns subjected to contact explosions. Columns are the most vulnerable and critical member in any structure and are at risk of contact explosion attacks using small quantities of explosives. A benchmark study for the response of full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) columns subjected to live contact explosions of varying charge mass is presented in this paper. Quantitative and qualitative assessments of damage profiles and the residual axial load capacity of the columns are presented. The experimental data were used to establish a set of validated numerical LS-Dyna models that were used for parametric studies to establish the influence of various design parameters on the response. The results of the parametric studies showed that the demolition charge mass for an RC column is considerably lower than the breaching charge mass for an RC slab of the same depth and material properties. Concrete strength was found to have a limited influence on the residual axial capacity of blast-damaged columns.
Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells Attenuate Experimental Autoimmune Antimyeloperoxidase Glomerulonephritis
Authors: Odobasic Dragana , Oudin Virginie , Ito Kenji , Gan Poh-Yi , Kitching A. Richard , Holdsworth Stephen R.
Published: August 2019

Significance Statement

Current treatments for autoimmune anti-myeloperoxidase (anti-MPO) GN are only partially effective and have many adverse effects, including broad immunosuppression. Thus, safer, more targeted therapies are needed, ideally ones that induce MPO-specific immunosuppression. Tolerogenic dendritic cells can deliver antigen-specific immunosuppression and have shown efficacy in various disease models. To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of this approach in a mouse model of anti-MPO GN, the authors generated MPO-loaded tolerogenic dendritic cells, induced by ex vivo treatment with an NFκB inhibitor. They demonstrated that these tolerogenic dendritic cells attenuated established anti-MPO autoimmunity and GN in mice in an antigen-specific manner, generating IL-10–expressing regulatory CD4+Foxp3+ T cells via inducible costimulator. These findings suggest that antigen-exposed tolerogenic dendritic cells may offer a novel antigen-specific therapeutic option for anti-MPO GN.

Background

Because of their capacity to induce antigen-specific immunosuppression, tolerogenic dendritic cells are a promising tool for treatment of autoimmune conditions, such as GN caused by autoimmunity against myeloperoxidase (MPO).

Methods

We sought to generate tolerogenic dendritic cells to suppress anti-MPO GN by culturing bone marrow cells with an NFκB inhibitor (BAY 11-7082) and exposing them to a pulse of MPO. After administering these MPO/BAY dendritic cells or saline to mice with established anti-MPO or anti–methylated BSA (mBSA) immunity, we assessed immune responses and GN. We also examined mechanisms of action of MPO/BAY dendritic cells.

Results

MPO/BAY dendritic cells decreased anti-MPO immunity and GN without inhibiting immune responses against mBSA; they also induced IL-10–producing regulatory T cells in MPO-immunized mice without affecting IL-10+ CD4+Foxp3− type 1 regulatory T cells or regulatory B cells. MPO/BAY dendritic cells did not inhibit anti-MPO immunity when CD4+Foxp3+ cells were depleted in vivo, showing that regulatory T cells are required for their effects. Coculture experiments with dendritic cells and CD4+Foxp3− or CD4+Foxp3+ cells showed that MPO/BAY dendritic cells generate Foxp3+ regulatory T cells from CD4+Foxp3− cells through several pathways, and induce IL-10+ regulatory T cells via inducible costimulator (ICOS), which was confirmed in vivo. Transfer of MPO/BAY dendritic cell–induced regulatory T cells in vivo, with or without anti–IL-10 receptor antibody, demonstrated that they suppress anti-MPO immunity and GN via IL-10.

Conclusions

MPO/BAY dendritic cells attenuate established anti-MPO autoimmunity and GN in an antigen-specific manner through ICOS-dependent induction of IL-10–expressing regulatory T cells. This suggests that autoantigen-loaded tolerogenic dendritic cells may represent a novel antigen-specific therapeutic option for anti-MPO GN.
Análise da exposição à vibração de corpo inteiro em harvesters de esteiras e pneus na operação de desbaste
Authors: Martins Alysson Braun , De Oliveira Felipe Martins
Published: August 2019

No Brasil, pouco são os estudos relacionados a exposição ocupacional à vibração de corpo inteiro em postos de trabalho de máquinas florestais e, quando consideradas operações de desbaste, não há estudos relacionados. Este estudo foi realizado na região de Bituruna-Pr, em povoamentos de pinus taeda com 10 anos de idade submetidos ao primeiro desbaste, objetivando quantificar os níveis de vibração a que estão expostos os operadores de dois tipos de harvester – esteiras e pneus – durante a jornada de trabalho. Utilizou-se um medidor integrador triaxial Bruel e kjaer modelo Type 4447 e os resultados analisados conforme os critérios estabelecidos pela NHO 09. O harvester de esteiras apresentou resultados de aren e VDVR equivalentes a 0,6 m/s² e 11,2 m/s1,75 respectivamente, enquanto o harvester de pneus apresentou valores médios de 0,4 m/s² e 9,3 m/s1,75. Os resultados indicaram diferenças significativas pelo teste t (p
Ação fiscalizatória do uso de agrotóxicos em propriedades rurais da Região de Cruz Alta – Rio Grande do Sul
Authors: Erthal Gracieli Manfrin da Silva , Erthal Eduardo Santos , Russini Alexandre , Spengler Gabriel Costa , Farias Marcelo De Silvera
Published: August 2019

Conforme disposto no Art. 10 da Lei Federal nº 7.802/89, cabe aos estados fiscalizarem o uso, o consumo, o comércio, o armazenamento e o transporte interno de agrotóxicos. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho teve por objetivo apresentar a avaliação da ação fiscalizatória do uso de agrotóxicos e afins e o cumprimento da legislação em propriedades rurais da região delimitada pela Regional de Cruz Alta, RS no âmbito da Secretaria da Agricultura, Pecuária e Desenvolvimento Rural. Foram analisados os documentos fiscais emitidos pelos Fiscais Estaduais Agropecuários em fiscalização de uso de agrotóxicos e afins pela Secretaria da Agricultura, Pecuária e Desenvolvimento Rural, no período de 2012 a 2018. Os maiores problemas encontrados nas propriedades rurais da região são: a falta de depósito de agrotóxicos exclusivo para este fim; a falta do hábito de guardar os receituários agronômicos, notas fiscais e comprovantes de devolução das embalagens vazias; e a falta de depósito para armazenar as embalagens vazias de agrotóxicos. A infração de maior incidência foi a de manipular, importar, comercializar ou utilizar agrotóxicos e afins não registrados no Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento (ilegais e banidos). Diante do panorama exposto, justificam-se ações de orientação e fiscalização, assim como atividades frequentes de educação sanitária nas propriedades rurais da região.
Straightening of low-rigid cylindrical details. Part I. Justification of the type of loading and modes at transverse straightening
Authors: Zaides S. A. , Khong Kuang Le
Published: August 2019

For straightening of low-rigid cylindrical details like shaft and axes different types of loadings are considered which form tension different in size and in distribution. As the perspective direction, it is possible to consider correction by a bend at the influence of the distributed loading with the subsequent hardening of a billet by superficial plastic deformation based on a cross cheesing of it by flat plates. Purpose of the work was to define tension of the billet at cross correction for the choice of more effective type of loading and processing rational modes. The mathematical apparatus was used based on laws of the theory of an elastoplastic solid and Ansys Workbench software package. Novelty is the research of effective methods of loading at cross correction of cylindrical details. As a result of analytical calculations, value of the residual tension providing correction of cylindrical details was determined. Residual tension necessary for correction of cylindrical details depends on an initial deflection, material and preparation rate. Tension of cylindrical details was defined depending on a type of the application of cross loadings. Bend tension for correction of a shaft at distributed loading is less, than tension from action of cross force. For correction of a shaft with a diameter of 10 mm, 200  mm long and an initial deflection of 0.5  mm it is necessary to create bend tension equal to about 370  MPa. An effective method of loading at cross correction of cylindrical details is the bend at influence of the distributed loading. The received extreme values of bend coefficients are from 5.3 to 5.5 for all cases of shaft rigidity at correction by cross bend at distributed loading with l/L relation equal to 0.8. The developed mathematical model gives quite reliable values of the residual tension providing correction of cylindrical details. The analytical dependence for determination of the size of general deflections and definition of an effective loading type can be recommended for practical use in production for achievement of precision accuracy of low-rigid details like shaft.
Preparation of PCR amplicons from edited cells for deep sequencing v2
Authors: DeWitt Mark
Published: August 2019

This protocol describes how to extract and amplify DNA from genome-edited cells, and sequence the resulting amplicons using Illumina MiSeq NGS.
Wissensbasiertes Engineering cyber-physischer Prozessanlagen
Authors: Engel Grischan , Greiner Thomas
Published: August 2019

Cyber-physische Prozessanlagen entsprechen verfahrenstechnischen Produktionssystemen, die auf cyber-physischen Systemen basieren. Die resultierenden wandelbaren und flexiblen Anlagentopologien können auf wechselnde Anforderungen angepasst werden. Sie weisen jedoch, bedingt durch die verteilte Architektur, eine hohe Engineering-Komplexität auf. Bestehende Ansätze zur Reduktion des Engineering-Aufwands vernachlässigen vorhandene Freiheitsgrade beim technischen Entwurf dieser Systeme. In diesem Beitrag wird ein wissensbasiertes Verfahren zur teilautomatisierten Synthese von Topologien cyber-physischer Prozessanlagen vorgestellt. Es beruht auf ontologischer Wissensmodellierung in Kombination mit einem vierschrittigen Engineering-Workflow. Darin werden auf Grundlage eines formalisierten verfahrenstechnischen Rezepts Prozessmodule und Dienste ausgewählt und zu Anlagentopologien verknüpft. Die Anwendbarkeit des Ansatzes wird mittels zweier, durch Fachexperten validierten, Fallstudienim Bereich der Lebensmittelproduktion aufgezeigt.
Prognostic role of p53 gene polymorphism in risk assessment of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity
Authors: Shilov S. N. , Teplyakov A. T. , Popova A. A. , Berezikova E. N. , Neupokoeva M. N. , Grakova E. V. , Valeeva A. M. , Tuleutaev Sh. M.
Published: August 2019

Aims. To study the prognostic significance of polymorphism of the p53 gene (polymorphism Arg72Pro exon 4, rs1042522) on the development of cardiotoxic remodeling of the left ventricle and heart failure. Material and methods. A total of 176 women with breast cancer who received anthracycline antibiotics as part of polychemotherapeutic treatment regimens were examined. Based on the results of the survey, 12 months after the end of polychemotherapy, patients in the remission of the underlying disease were divided into 2 groups: patients with cardiotoxic remodeling (52 patients) and women with preserved heart function (124 patients). All patients before the start of the course of chemotherapy, in the dynamics of treatment with anthracyclines and after therapy with such were carried out the study of echocardiographic parameters. All the patients were taken genetic material, followed by typing alleles of the gene for the protein p53 (rs1042522). Results. Analysis of echocardiographic parameters in patients 12 months after the completion of polychemotherapy in comparison with those before treatment showed a significant difference in the final systolic (33 mm [31; 35] and 28 mm [26; 31], p<0.00001) and terminal diastolic dimensions (51 mm [49; 54.5] and 44 mm [42; 48.5], p=0.0003), as well as a significant decrease in the left ventricular ejection fraction (54.5% [51.5; 58] and 65.5% [62; 70], p<0.00001) in the group of women with developed anthracycline cardiotoxicity. The presence of the Arg/Arg genotype was associated with the development of cardiotoxic myocardial damage during polychemotherapy (OR=3.86, 95% C.I.=1.45-10.26, p=0.005). The Pro/Pro genotype has proved to be a protective factor (OR=0.26, 95% C.I.=0.09-0.69, p=0.015). The conclusion. Predicting the cardiotoxicity of chemotherapy using the polymorphism of the p53 gene is an effective measure of early pre-symptom diagnosis of an increased risk of anthracyclineinduced cardiotoxicity.
Study of associations of polymorphism of matrix metalloproteinases genes with the development of arterial hypertension in men
Authors: Moskalenko M. I. , Milanova S. N. , Ponomarenko I. V. , Polonikov A. V. , Churnosov M. I.
Published: August 2019

The aim of research. To study the association of polymorphic loci of matrix metalloproteinases with the development of essential hypertension (EH) in men of the Central Chernozem Region of Russia. Materials and methods. A study of 564 men with EH and 257 control men was performed. Analysis of the polymorphic loci of metalloproteinases rs11568818 MMР7, rs1320632 MMР8, rs11225395 MMР8, rs1799750 MMР1, rs3025058 MMР3 was performed using real-time PCR. The study of associations of SNPs and their haplotypes with the development of arterial hypertension was carried out using logistic regression analysis in the PLINK software (v. 2.050). The regulatory potential of polymorphic loci was analyzed in the HaploReg software (v. 4.1) (http://archive.broadinstitute.org). The effect of SNP on gene expression was studied using the data of the Genotype-Tissue Expression project (http://www.gtexportal.org/). Results. Haplotype including rs11568818 MMP7, rs1320632 MMP8, rs11225395 MMP8 and rs1799750 MMP1 associated with a high risk of disease in men (OR=2,58, pperm=0,04). These polymorphisms located in region of promoter and enhancer histone marks and in the region of hypersensitivity to DNAse-1. They located in sites of proteins bound (TBP, CJUN, CFOS and GATA2) and they associated with the level of gene expression ММР7, ММР27 and RP11-817J15.3 (in peripheral blood, skeletal muscles, nervous tissue and other). Сonclusion. Haplotype G-A-C-1G for polymorphisms rs11568818 MMP7, rs1320632 MMP8, rs11225395 MMP8, rs1799750 MMP1 are associated with the development of essential hypertension in men in the Central Chernozem Region of Russia.
What new will implementation of European Guidelines for managing arterial hypertension introduce into real-life clinical practice?
Authors: Badin Yu. V. , Fomin I. V. , Polyakov D. S.
Published: August 2019

Aim. To analyze the effect of introducing new treatment goals in hypertension stated in the 2018 European Society of Cardiology and European Society of Hypertension Guidelines on prevalence and treatment efficacy of arterial hypertension (AH) in a representative sample of patients in the European part of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. A representative sample of population in the European part of Russia was evaluated in 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2017. The structure of patients with AH was compared in these samples according to the 2013 and 2018 European Guidelines. Results. Introduction of new guidelines for the treatment of AH in 2018 resulted in increasing the prevalence of hypertension from 35.5% to 36.9% in 1998, from 39.1% to 39.9% in 2002, from 451.0% to 41.3% in 2007, and from 43.3% to 43.6% in 2017. Proportion of effectively managed patients decreased from 4.7% to 3.5% in 1998, from 7.5% to 6.2% in 2002, from 17.0 to 14.7% in 2007, and from 30.8% to 26.4%. Proportion of patients who required initiation of antihypertensive therapy increased from 59.6% to 61.1% in 1998, from 47.9% to 49.1% in 2002, from 27.9% to 28.2% in 2007, and from 17.5% to 18.2% in 2017. Conclusion. The new requirements to diagnostic and treatment of AH provided by the 2018 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines insignificantly influenced prevalence and treatment efficacy of AH. At the same time, the new guidelines appeared rather difficult for application due to different values of blood pressure used for diagnostics and treatment goals.
Prevalence of prediabetes in children and its association with risk factors
Authors: Aroor Amitha Rao , Varghese Tharun C. , Soans Santosh T.
Published: August 2019

Background: Type 2 Diabetes is becoming more common at younger age group. It is important to screen children and adolescents for prediabetes to prevent long-term complications of diabetes. This study was conducted to study the prevalence of prediabetes in children and its association with risk factorsMethods: It is a Prospective hospital-based study. Children aged 6 to 18 years admitted in the Pediatric ward of tertiary care hospital were included. Study was done over a period of 2 years November 2015-October 2017. Participants were screened to find out the prevalence of prediabetes. Prediabetes was defined as fasting glucose concentration (FBS)of 100-125 mg/dl or a HbA1c value of between 5.7% and 6.4%, or a two-hour post-glucose tolerance concentration (OGTT) of 140-199mg/dl.Results: 607 children participated in the study.56.3% were males. Prevalence of Prediabetes was 20.4% with a combination of OGTT, FBS and HbA1c tests. Prevalence by OGTT was 5.9%, HbA1c 4.1% and by FBS was 17.1%. Higher prevalence of prediabetes was associated with male gender, frequent consumption of junk foods, decreased physical activities, overweight, obesity and high waist to hip ratio. Combination of FBS with GTT and FBS with  HbA1c had better sensitivity and specificity when compared to combination of OGTT with HbA1c .Conclusion: Screening of children for prediabetes at younger age especially those with risk factors and intervention with lifestyle modification may help in delaying the progression of the disease.
Assessment of serum ferritin levels in transfusion dependent thalassemic children on oral deferiprone in a tertiary care centre
Authors: Chirla Suman , Wadhwa Lalita , Wadhwa Puneet
Published: August 2019

Background: Thalassemic patients require regular blood transfusions to maintain haemoglobin level around between 10gm/dl-15gm/dl, which would result in transfusional iron overload. The treatment of iron overload is carried out by using parenteral desferrioxamine (DFX) therapy or recently introduced oral Deferiprone (DFP,L1,Ferriprox,KELFER,CP20) an oral iron chelator, Oral deferiprone, DFP (3-hydroxy-1,2-dimethylpyridin-4-one) is a synthetic analogue of mimosine, an iron chelator isolated from the legume Mimosa paduca. Our study was undertaken to asses ferritin concentration in transfusion dependent thalassemic children on Deferiprone, attending thalassemia clinic in Anil Neerukonda hospital, Sanghivalasa, Visakhapatnam.Methods: The present study was a hospital based prospective study, 50 transfusion dependent thalassemic children on Deferiprone, attending thalassemia clinic in Anil Neerukonda hospital, Sanghivalasa, Visakhapatnam attached to NRI Medical College, Visakhapatnam were enrolled during the study period October 2017 and September 2018.Results: In our study authors found an increase in Serum ferritin concentration from 3067.99±1520.13 to 4281.10 ±1760.42 ng/ml at the end of 12 months, which was quite significant.Conclusion: Authors concluded that oral Deferiprone is not an effective iron chelation agent and is associated with complications like GI symptoms, joint pains in significant number of children. So, search for an alternative iron chelator or combined chelation therapies which are safe and cost effective should be continued.
Effectiveness of case scenario-based learning over didactic lectures on teaching pediatric infectious diseases to undergraduate medical students
Authors: T. Rehna , Abraham Robin Joseph
Published: August 2019

Background: Case scenario based learning offers an interactive approach in medical education. It can be either as case based or problem based. objectives of  This study compared the effectiveness of Case scenario based learning (CBL) over didactic lectures (DL) among final year part II M.B.B.S students. It also compared the student’s perception between the two methods.Methods: This interventional study was done in the Department of Pediatrics, Al- Azhar Medical College, Kerala for a period of two months. The participants(n=120) were divided into two groups- A and B who had respectively attended three sessions of CBL and DL on Pediatric infectious diseases. A test was conducted at the end of each session and after 2 weeks in the form of SAQs. A questionnaire was given to the participants about their perception. The data was analysed in SPSS 16 using unpaired t test and Mann- Whitney U test.Results: The mean exam scores for immediate tests were 26.04±1.9 and 19.47±2.8 for Batch A and Batch B respectively. The mean exam scores for the test conducted after two weeks showed significant result with 24.0±2.56 and 18.58±4.03 for Batch A and B respectively. Comparison of student’s perception on Likert’s scale about the teaching method yielded significant difference for CBL over DL with p<0.001.Conclusions: Case scenario based learning is an innovative method which is sure to invoke more interest and academic excellence in medical students.