bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Common causation and offset effects in human visual-inertial heading direction integration
Authors: Rodriguez Raul , Crane Benjamin T.
Published: March 2020

Movement direction can be determined from a combination of visual and inertial cues. Visual motion (optic flow) can represent self-motion through a fixed environment or environmental motion relative to an observer. Simultaneous visual and inertial heading cues present the question of whether the cues have a common cause (i.e., should be integrated) or whether they should be considered independent. This was studied in eight healthy human subjects who experienced 12 visual and inertial headings in the horizontal plane divided in 30° increments. The headings were estimated in two unisensory and six multisensory trial blocks. Each unisensory block included 72 stimulus presentations, while each multisensory block included 144 stimulus presentations, including every possible combination of visual and inertial headings in random order. After each multisensory stimulus, subjects reported their perception of visual and inertial headings as congruous (i.e., having common causation) or not. In the multisensory trial blocks, subjects also reported visual or inertial heading direction (3 trial blocks for each). For aligned visual-inertial headings, the rate of common causation was higher during alignment in cardinal than noncardinal directions. When visual and inertial stimuli were separated by 30°, the rate of reported common causation remained >50%, but it decreased to 15% or less for separation of ≥90°. The inertial heading was biased toward the visual heading by 11–20° for separations of 30–120°. Thus there was sensory integration even in conditions without reported common causation. The visual heading was minimally influenced by inertial direction. When trials with common causation perception were compared with those without, inertial heading perception had a stronger bias toward visual stimulus direction.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Optic flow ambiguously represents self-motion or environmental motion. When these are in different directions, it is uncertain whether these are integrated into a common perception or not. This study looks at that issue by determining whether the two modalities are consistent and by measuring their perceived directions to get a degree of influence. The visual stimulus can have significant influence on the inertial stimulus even when they are perceived as inconsistent.
Study on Fracture Morphological Characteristics of Refracturing for Longmaxi Shale Formation
Authors: Guo Yintong , Wang Lei , Chang Xin , Zhou Jun , Zhang Xiaoyu
Published: March 2020

Refracturing technology has become an important means for the regeneration of old wells reconstruction. It is of great significance to understand the formation mechanism of hydraulic fracturing fracture for the design of hydraulic fracturing. In order to accurately evaluate and improve fracturing volume after refracturing, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of refracturing fracture in shale formation. In this paper, a true triaxial refracturing test method was established. A series of large-scale true triaxial fracturing experiments were carried out to characterize the refracturing fracture initiation and propagation. The results show that for shale reservoirs with weak bedding planes and natural fractures, hydraulic fracturing can not only form the main fracturing fracture, which is perpendicular to horizontal minimum principal stress, but it can also open weak bedding plane or natural fractures. The characteristics of fracturing pump curve indicated that the evolution of fracturing fractures, including initiation and propagation and communication of multiple fractures. The violent fluctuation of fracturing pump pressure curve indicates that the sample has undergone multiple fracturing fractures. The result of refracturing shows that initial fracturing fracture channels can be effectively closed by temporary plugging. The refracturing breakdown pressure is generally slightly higher than that of initial fracturing. After temporary plugging, under the influence of stress induced by the initial fracturing fracture, the propagation path of the refracturing fracture is deviated. When the new fracturing fracture communicates with the initial fracturing fracture, the original fracturing fracture can continue to expand and extend, increasing the range of the fracturing modifications. The refracturing test results was shown that for shale reservoir with simple initial fracturing fractures, the complexity fracturing fracture can be increased by refracturing after temporary plugging initial fractures. The effect of refracturing is not obvious for the reservoir with complex initial fracturing fractures. This research results can provide a reliable basis for optimizing refracturing design in shale gas reservoir.
Evaluation of the Role of hsa‐mir‐124 in Predicting Clinical Outcome in Breast Invasive Carcinoma Based on Bioinformatics Analysis
Authors: Feng Tongbao , Zhang Ping , Sun Yingxin , Han Xiu , Tong Jichun , Hua Zichun
Published: March 2020

Purpose. Breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA) is the most common malignant tumor. MiR‐124 plays a tumor‐suppressive role in human cancer. However, the clinical significance of miR‐124 in BRCA remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of hsa‐mir‐124 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics in BRCA using database analysis. Methods. The clinical data and expression profiles of hsa‐mir‐124 were obtained from the cancer genome atlas for BRCA (TCGA_BRCA). Then, the prognostic value of hsa‐mir‐124 in BRCA was investigated using the Cox Regression test, and the association of hsa‐mir‐124 and pathology TNM stages and pathologic stages were measured by the Kruskal–Wallis test and Wilcox. test. In addition, the association of hsa‐mir‐124 and tumor molecular phenotypes was performed using the Chi‐Square test. Results. We found that the overall survival of patients with high expression of hsa‐mir‐124‐1 and hsa‐mir‐124‐2 was better than that of patients with low expression of hsa‐mir‐124‐1 and hsa‐mir‐124‐2. And the expression of hsa‐mir‐124‐1, hsa‐mir‐124‐2, and hsa‐mir‐124‐3 was mainly enriched in T1/T2 stages, NO/N1 stages, and M0 stages. Then, the expression of hsa‐mir‐124‐1, hsa‐mir‐124‐2, and hsa‐mir‐124‐3 was negatively associated with tumor lymph node metastasis. Moreover, the expression of hsa‐mir‐124 was associated with tumor molecular phenotype in breast invasive carcinoma. Conclusion. Our findings indicated that hsa‐mir‐124 expressions were associated with overall survival, TNM stages, pathologic characteristics, and tumor molecular phenotype in BRCA via TCGA_BRCA database, providing a new biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for BRCA patients.
Mechanism of Antibacterial Activity of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens C‐1 Lipopeptide toward Anaerobic Clostridium difficile
Authors: Lv Jia , Da Rong , Cheng Yue , Tuo Xiaohong , Wei Jie , Jiang Kaichong , Monisayo Adediji Omolade , Han Bei
Published: March 2020

Probiotics may offer an attractive alternative for standard antibiotic therapy to treat Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). In this study, the antibacterial mechanism in vitro of newly isolated B. amyloliquefaciens C‐1 against C. difficile was investigated. The lipopeptides surfactin, iturin, and fengycin produced by C‐1 strongly inhibited C. difficile growth and viability. Systematic research of the bacteriostatic mechanism showed that the C‐1 lipopeptides damage the integrity of the C. difficile cell wall and cell membrane. In addition, the lipopeptide binds to C. difficile genomic DNA, leading to cell death. Genome resequencing revealed many important antimicrobial compound‐encoding clusters, including six nonribosomal peptides (surfactins (srfABCD), iturins (ituABCD), fengycins (fenABCDE), bacillibactin (bmyABC), teichuronic, and bacilysin) and three polyketides (bacillaene (baeEDLMNJRS), difficidin (difABCDEFGHIJ), and macrolactin (mlnABCDEFGHI)). In addition, there were other beneficial genes, such as phospholipase and seven siderophore biosynthesis gene clusters, which may contribute synergistically to the antibacterial activity of B. amyloliquefaciens C‐1. We suggest that proper application of antimicrobial peptides may be effective in C. difficile control.
Fringing Field Capacitive Smart Sensor Based on PCB Technology for Measuring Water Content in Paper Pulp
Authors: Morais Flávio , Carvalhaes-Dias Pedro , Duarte Luís , Costa Eduardo , Ferreira Alexandre , Dias José Siqueira
Published: March 2020

We present a capacitive smart sensor based on printed circuit board (PCB) technology to measure the amount of water content in a paper pulp at the wet end of a paper machine. The developed sensor incorporates in the same PCB the signal processing circuits. It is a handheld portable device, and its output is sent to the reading equipment using a Bluetooth wireless connection, providing to the sensor’s operator ease of mobility around the wet end of a paper machine. The prototype was tested in a laboratory, using a wire mesh to emulate the end of a paper machine, and we were able to measure and easily detect when it reaches the water content in the range of 90% to 92%, as required in the paper fabrication process. Standard deviation of the capacitance measurements at various moisture levels is four orders of magnitude smaller than the mean. The smart sensor was tested in the 20°C to 40°C temperature range, in a paper pulp with a gravimetric water content of 91%. Since the variation of capacitance with temperature is practically linear, we propose a simple linear compensation equation to correct the observed sensitivity with the temperature. To keep the signal processing circuits small, low cost, simple, and robust, a novel direct interface sensor to microcontroller circuit technique was used to make the capacitive measurement, allowing for measuring small capacitance deviations without high-frequency oscillators. It was shown that it is possible to integrate the signal processing circuits in the top layer of the PCB interdigitated sensor without adding noise or degrading the performance of the capacitive sensor.
Friend or Foe? Essential Roles of Osteoclast in Maintaining Skeletal Health
Authors: Wang Haixing , Yang Guangpu , Xiao Yinbo , Luo Guotian , Li Gang , Li Ziqing
Published: March 2020

Heightened activity of osteoclast is considered to be the culprit in breaking the balance during bone remodeling in pathological conditions, such as osteoporosis. As a “foe” of skeletal health, many antiosteoporosis therapies aim to inhibit osteoclastogenesis. However, bone remodeling is a dynamic process that requires the subtle coordination of osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Severe suppression of osteoclast differentiation will impair bone formation because of the coupling effect. Thus, understanding the complex roles of osteoclast in maintaining proper bone remodeling is highly warranted to develop better management of osteoporosis. This review aimed to determine the varied roles of osteoclasts in maintaining skeletal health and to highlight the positive roles of osteoclasts in maintaining normal bone remodeling. Generally, osteoclasts interact with osteocytes to initiate targeted bone remodeling and have crosstalk with mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblasts via secreted factors or cell‐cell contact to promote bone formation. We believe that a better outcome of bone remodeling disorders will be achieved when proper strategies are made to coordinate osteoclasts and osteoblasts in managing such disorders.
An Experimental Study on Settlement due to the Mutual Embedding of Miscellaneous Fill and Soft Soil
Authors: Zhang Fuhai , Zhang Lei , Zhou Tianbao , Duan Lijun , Shi Chong
Published: March 2020

Settlement deformation in the foundation with miscellaneous fill and soft soil was typically calculated by summing up the settlement in each individual layer. However, this calculation method did not involve settlement deformation by embedding miscellaneous fill particles into soft soils under external loads, thus inducing significant settlement prediction error. To solve this problem, a laboratory testing device was developed to study the mutual embedding for specimens with different miscellaneous fill particle sizes, external loads, and particle materials. Testing results indicate that a larger particle size and subsequently the smaller specific surface resulted in greater mutual embedding settlement due to the smaller resistance. In addition, higher external loads and smaller interface friction both induced larger settlement. Based on these results, a theoretical calculation equation of settlement due to the mutual embedding of miscellaneous fill and soft soil was proposed. The calculated settlements were found to be well matching with the experimental results.
A Nonlinear Dynamic Foundation Model for Dynamic Response of Track-Train Interaction
Authors: Nguyen Phuoc T. , Pham Trung D. , Hoang Hoa P.
Published: March 2020

The paper studies the dynamic response of track-train interaction on a nonlinear dynamic foundation model with special things such as (i) the nonlinear dynamic foundation model includes a nonlinear elastic spring, shear layer, viscous damping, and foundation mass; (ii) the process of the finite-element method of nonlinear dynamic response of the foundation and track-train interaction is established clearly; (iii) the numerical results show that the foundation mass has a significant effect on the dynamic characteristic of the structure system and dynamic response of track-train interaction under a moving vehicle and almost have more increasing dynamic displacements than others without the effect of the foundation mass. Therefore, it can be seen that the study has meaning practice, and the foundation quite agrees to describe the true behaviour of soil in the problems of the dynamic response of structures on the foundation.
Proteomic Analysis of Exosomes from Adipose‐Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Tissue Injury
Authors: Xing Xin , Han Shuang , Cheng Gu , Ni Yifeng , Li Zhi , Li Zubing
Published: March 2020

Exosomes are extracellular membranous nanovesicles that mediate local and systemic cell‐to‐cell communication by transporting functional molecules, such as proteins, into target cells, thereby affecting the behavior of receptor cells. Exosomes originating from adipose‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are considered a multipotent and abundant therapeutic tool for tissue injury. To investigate ADSC‐secreted exosomes and their potential function in tissue repair, we isolated exosomes from the supernatants of ADSCs via ultracentrifugation, characterized them via transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, and Western blot analysis. Then, we determined their protein profile via proteomic analysis. Results showed that extracellular vesicles, which have an average diameter of 116 nm, exhibit a cup‐shaped morphology and express exosomal markers. A total of 1,185 protein groups were identified in the exosomes. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that exosomal proteins are mostly derived from cells mainly involved in protein binding. Protein annotation via the Cluster of Orthologous Groups system indicated that most proteins were involved in general function prediction, posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperoning. Further, pathway analysis revealed that most of the proteins obtained participated in metabolic pathways, focal adhesion, regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, and microbial metabolism. Some tissue repair‐related signaling pathways were also discovered. The identified molecules might serve as potential therapeutic targets for future studies.
Safety Assessment in Road Construction Work System Based on Group AHP-PCA
Authors: Zhang Xianyong , Huang Shifeng , Yang Shenjun , Tu Renfang , Jin Lianghai
Published: March 2020

The effectiveness and the safety of road construction depend on many factors that pose the greatest risk to system safety. The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive assessment for these risk factors to contribute to the safety performance of road construction. To achieve this goal, this study constructs a hierarchical safety assessment framework comprising comprehensive risk indicators according to rich work experience and a relevant literature review and then proposes a group AHP-PCA (group analytic hierarchy process-principal component analysis) to calculate the weights of relevant risk factors. The important rankings of a case study using GAHP-PCA show that professional skill, safety education, and work attitude are the most important factors, which are consistent with the experience and knowledge of road construction safety management. The results also demonstrate that judgment dispersion naturally existing in classical AHP can be effectively reduced when combined with PCA, which is the innovation point of the method given in this article.
Metabolite Profiling of Sorghum Seeds of Different Colors from Different Sweet Sorghum Cultivars Using a Widely Targeted Metabolomics Approach
Authors: Zhou Yaxing , Wang Zhenguo , Li Yan , Li Zhigang , Liu Hui , Zhou Wei
Published: March 2020

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world with colorful seeds. To study the diversity and cultivar-specificity of phytochemicals in sweet sorghum seeds, widely targeted metabolomics was used to analyze the metabolic profiles of the white, red, and purple seeds from three sweet sorghum cultivars Z6, Z27, and HC4. We identified 651 metabolites that were divided into 24 categories, including fatty acids, glycerolipids, flavonoids, benzoic acid derivatives, anthocyanins, and nucleotides and its derivatives. Among them, 217 metabolites were selected as significantly differential metabolites which could be related to the seed color by clustering analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and orthogonal signal correction and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). A significant difference was shown between the red seed and purple seed samples, Z27 and HC4, in which 106 were downregulated and 111 were upregulated. The result indicated that 240 metabolites were significantly different, which could be related to the purple color with 58 metabolites downregulated and 182 metabolites upregulated. And 199 metabolites might be involved in the red phenotype with 54 downregulated and 135 upregulated. There were 45 metabolites that were common to all three cultivars, while cyanidin O-malonyl-malonyl hexoside, cyanidin O-acetylhexoside, and cyanidin 3-O-glucosyl-malonylglucoside were significantly upregulated red seeds, which could be the basis for the variety of seed colors. Generally, our findings provide a comprehensive comparison of the metabolites between the three phenotypes of S. bicolor and an interpretation of phenotypic differences from the point of metabolomics.
3D Culture System for Liver Tissue Mimicking Hepatic Plates for Improvement of Human Hepatocyte (C3A) Function and Polarity
Authors: Jia Zhidong , Cheng Yuan , Jiang Xinan , Zhang Chengyan , Wang Gaoshang , Xu Jiecheng , Li Yang , Peng Qing , Gao Yi
Published: March 2020

In vitro 3D hepatocyte culture constitutes a core aspect of liver tissue engineering. However, conventional 3D cultures are unable to maintain hepatocyte polarity, functional phenotype, or viability. Here, we employed microfluidic chip technology combined with natural alginate hydrogels to construct 3D liver tissues mimicking hepatic plates. We comprehensively evaluated cultured hepatocyte viability, function, and polarity. Transcriptome sequencing was used to analyze changes in hepatocyte polarity pathways. The data indicate that, as culture duration increases, the viability, function, polarity, mRNA expression, and ultrastructure of the hepatic plate mimetic 3D hepatocytes are enhanced. Furthermore, hepatic plate mimetic 3D cultures can promote changes in the bile secretion pathway via effector mechanisms associated with nuclear receptors, bile uptake, and efflux transporters. This study provides a scientific basis and strong evidence for the physiological structures of bionic livers prepared using 3D cultures. The systems and cultured liver tissues described here may serve as a better in vitro 3D culture platform and basic unit for varied applications, including drug development, hepatocyte polarity research, bioartificial liver bioreactor design, and tissue and organ construction for liver tissue engineering or cholestatic liver injury.
Equilibrium, Kinetics, and Thermodynamic Studies of Malachite Green Adsorption onto Fig (Ficus cartia) Leaves
Authors: Gebreslassie Yemane Tadesse
Published: March 2020

The release of dyes from dying industries such as leather, paper, and textiles is an important cause of environmental pollution. In the present study, the batch adsorption measurements were carried out using stimulated aqueous solutions and the effect of operating variables such as initial malachite green concentration, amount of adsorbent, solution pH, contact time, and solution temperature, were investigated. The experimental result showed that the percentage removal decreased with an increase in initial dye concentration but increased as pH of the solution, contact time, and adsorbent dose increased. The equilibrium data were analyzed using Langmuir adsorption isotherm, Freundlich adsorption isotherm, and Tempkin isotherm models, and it was observed that the Langmuir adsorption isotherm better described the adsorption process. The monolayer adsorption capacity of activated carbon prepared from fig leaves for malachite green adsorption was found to be 51.79 mg/g at 298 K. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetics of the dye was investigated, and the rate of adsorption was found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetic model with intraparticle diffusion as one of the rate-determining steps. The negative value of ΔG0 and the positive values of ΔH0 indicate the spontaneous and endothermic nature of the adsorption process, respectively. The experimental result obtained in the present study and comparison with other reported adsorbents indicate that activated carbon prepared from fig leaves could be used as a low-cost alternative adsorbent for the removal of malachite green from aqueous solution.
Prediction of Chemical Gas Emissions Based on Ecological Environment
Authors: Chen Guobin , Li Shijin
Published: March 2020

With the serious pollution of the ecological environment, there are a large number of harmful gases in the chemical gases emitted by the industry. Relevant intelligent chemical algorithms control the emission of chemical gases, which can effectively reduce emissions and predict emissions more accurately. This paper proposes a gray wolf optimization algorithm based on chaotic search strategy combined with extreme learning machine to predict chemical emission gases, taking a 330 MW pulverized coal-fired boiler as a test object and establishing chemical emissions of CNGWO-ELM. The prediction model, by using the relevant data collected by DCS as training samples and test samples, trains and tests the model. Simulation experiments show that the chemical emission prediction model of CNGWO-ELM has better accuracy and stronger generalization ability, with higher practical value.
Pharmacokinetics after Periocular Methylprednisolone Sodium Succinate Injection in Rabbit Eyes
Authors: Lu Hua-Yi , Wang Rui-Qing , Li Xin , Li Xu
Published: March 2020

The present study aimed to determine the pharmacokinetics and distribution of methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) and its metabolic product methylprednisolone (MP) in plasma and ocular tissues after periocular injection of MPSS in rabbit eyes. Forty‐eight healthy New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into 12 groups, including the control group and 11 MPSS‐treated groups sampling at different time points. Rabbits in the MPSS‐treated groups underwent left eye periocular injection of MPSS (10 mg). The pharmacokinetics of MPSS and MP in plasma and ocular tissues (including aqueous humor, vitreous, iris, lens, sclera, optic nerve, and choroid and retina) were investigated by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS). After periocular injection, the time of maximum concentration (Tmax) of MPSS ranged from 0.25 h to 1 h in ocular tissues and was 0.25 h in plasma. Tmax of MP in ocular tissues ranged from 0.5 h to 6 h, and Tmax of MP in plasma was 0.5 h. The maximum concentration (Cmax) of MPSS and MP and the area under the curve (AUC0-t) in ocular tissues from high to low was sclera, optic nerve, choroid and retina, iris, and lens. Especially, the concentrations of MPSS and MP in the lens were much lower when compared with the other ocular tissues. After periocular administration, MPSS could be rapidly metabolized to its active constituent MP in the ocular tissues. Also, the MPSS can be delivered effectively into the posterior segment of the eye (choroid and retina), while not easily be absorbed by the lens.
On the Unlinkability of Fingerprint Shell
Authors: Lee Sanghoon , Jeong Ik Rae
Published: March 2020

To prevent the leakage of original biometric information of a user, it may be transformed into a cancelable form. A cancelable biometric transformation should satisfy four requirements: unlinkability, revocability, noninvertibility, and performance. In 2014, Moujahdi et al. proposed a new cancelable fingerprint transformation called fingerprint shell, which was also later discussed by Ali et al. In this paper, we show that all of the shell fingerprint schemes presented by Moujahdi et al. and Ali et al. do not satisfy the condition of unlinkability.
Hepcidin-regulating Iron-metabolism Genes and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Pathway Analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies
Authors: Julián-Serrano S , Yuan F , Benyamin B , Wheeler W , Amundadottir L , Jacobs E , Kraft P , Li D , Petersen GM , Risch HA , Wolpin B , Yu K , Klein AP , Stolzenberg-Solomon R
Published: March 2020

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal cancer, and epidemiological studies have suggested positive associations with iron and red meat intake. Rare mutations in genes involved in the hepcidin-regulating pathway are known to cause iron overload and hemochromatosis. We hypothesize that the hepcidin-regulating pathway as characterized by common variants from genome-wide association studies will be associated with PDAC. Methods: We conducted a large pathway-based meta-analysis of the hepcidin-regulating genes using the summary based adaptive rank truncated product (sARTP) method in 9,253 PDAC cases and 12,525 controls of European descent from the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort (PanScan) and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control (PANC4) consortia. Our analysis included 11 hepcidin-regulating genes (BMP2, BMP6, FTH1, FTL, HAMP, HFE, HJV, NRF2, SLC40A1, TFR1, TFR2) and adjacent genomic regions (20 kb upstream and downstream) with a total of 412 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also conducted the sARTP with four iron status biomarkers (serum iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, and ferritin, n = 23,986) using summary statistics from previous GWAS studies (Benyamin, et al. 2014) to examine if the hepcidin-regulating genes were also associated with these iron traits. The sARTP method combines SNP-level associations across variants in a gene or a pathway. Signals from up to five of the most associated SNPs for each gene studied were accumulated. Results: The hepcidin-regulating pathway was significantly associated with PDAC (P-value = 0.002) with the HJV, TFR2, and TFR1 genes contributing the most to the association (gene level P-values = 0.001, 0.014, and 0.019, respectively). The pathway associations were more significant in women than men. This pathway was also significantly associated with the four biomarkers of iron metabolism (P-values <1.5 × 10–7). Conclusions: Our results support that genetic susceptibility related to the hepcidin-regulating pathway is associated with PDAC and a potential role of iron metabolism in pancreatic carcinogenesis. Further studies are needed to evaluate the modifying effect of iron-rich foods and genetic susceptibility of this pathway and PDAC risk.
A Retrospective Study of Administrative Data to Identify Factors Associated with Future Disability Status among Older Colorectal Cancer Survivors
Authors: Swartz MC , Chou LN , Swartz MD , Lyons EJ , Mehta H , Karmarkar A , Middleton A , Basen-Engquist K , Giordano SH , Goodwin J
Published: March 2020

Disability is associated with loss of independence and early mortality. Currently, only 1–2% of cancer survivors who reported physical limitations received rehabilitation services. It is critical to identify factors associated with the development of disability to guide clinical practice given treatment changes. We aimed to 1) identify demographic and cancer-related characteristics associated with future disability status among older colorectal cancer survivors, and 2) compared the future disability status among cancer and matched non-cancer cohorts. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Texas Cancer Registry-national Medicare linked database. The cancer cohort included Medicare beneficiaries with a primary colorectal cancer diagnosis between 2005 and 2013 (n = 13,229). The non-cancer cohort was identified from a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries (n = 11,416). Diagnosis dates from the cancer cohort were used as the index date for the non-cancer cohort. Cohorts were matched 1:1 based on index date, age, and gender. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals. Disability status was defined according to Davidoff and colleagues using inpatient, outpatient and durable medical equipment claims files, and assessed monthly, beginning 1 month after cancer diagnosis (or index date), continuing until disability, death, end of Medicare continuous enrollment, or end of study. Results: Factors that were significantly associated with disability status in the cancer cohort were age (HR = 3.50 for >80 years old), female gender (HR = 1.50), race/ethnicity (HR = 1.34 for Hispanic and 1.21 for Black), stage (HR = 2.26 for distant stage), comorbidity (HR = 2.18 for >1), and radiation (HR = 1.21). When compared to the non-cancer cohort, having a cancer diagnosis (HR = 1.07) and comorbidity (HR = 2.09 for >1) were associated with developing disability. Conclusions: Colorectal diagnosis is an independent risk for disability status. Beyond well-known risk factors “age and mortality” subsets of survivors (Hispanic and Black survivors and those with comorbidity) are found to be at higher risk for developing disability. This warrants further investigation and may indicate targeted intervention to prevent future disability.
Race, Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, and Gut Microbiome
Authors: Sun X , Chen Z , Yuan F , Chan R , Cooper G , Li L
Published: March 2020

Gut microbiome plays an increasingly recognized important role in human health. This study aims to evaluate the association among race, neighborhood disadvantage index (NDI), and gut microbiome in patients undergoing screening colonoscopy. Methods: The study includes 689 patients aged 50–80 years undergoing screening colonoscopy at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Each patient donated a stool sample 1–4 weeks prior to their colonoscopy examination. 16S ribosomal RNA genes in stools were sequenced and classified into 236 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) to species level. Neighborhood Disadvantage Index (NDI) was derived from 17 variables reflecting neighborhood contextual environment. We first examined the association of race with microbiota, and race with NDI. We then examined further the association between NDI and each microbiota by linear mixed effect model to account for the correlation within census tract, with adjustment of age, sex, BMI, smoking, and sequencing batch. The significance of associations between microbiota and NDI are evaluated by likelihood ratio tests. Q-value was estimated for False Discovery Rate (FDR)-based multiple testing correction. For the microbiota associated with NDI with Q-value ⇐ 0.05, we additionally adjusted for genetic ancestry in the model in a subset of 222 patients who have available genome-wide ancestry informative SNP genotype data. Results: Of all the 172 microbiota that have minimum relative abundances >0.005, 13 microbiota were significantly associated with race. We speculate that such association with race could be at least partially driven by neighborhood socioeconomic environment, i.e., racialized neighborhood environment - given the high correlation of race and NDI (corr = 0.60, P = 3.38E-56). Multivariate-adjusted regression models showed that 5 microbiota were positively associated with NDI (Q-value < 0.05). Subset analysis of 222 patients with further controlling for genetic ethnicity shows that two microbiotas remain significantly associated with NDI. Conclusions: Residential neighborhood disadvantage was found to impact gut microbiota. Further studies to validate our findings and to delineate the functionality of these NDI-associated microbiota are warranted.
Dementia Cafés as Hubs to Promote Community-Integrated Care for Dementia through Enhancement of the Competence of Citizen Volunteer Staff Using a New Assessment Tool
Authors: Takechi Hajime , Yamamoto Fumika , Matsunagaa Shinji , Yoshino Hiroshi , Suzuki Yoshifumi
Published: March 2020

Introduction: Dementia cafés have recently been attracting attention. The increased involvement of citizen volunteers and the competence of dementia café staff could enhance the potential of dementia cafés. The aim of the present study was to examine enhancement of the competence of citizen volunteers using a new assessment tool. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 433 dementia café staff members, including medical and care professionals and citizen volunteers. A 20-item dementia café staff self-assessment (DCSA) instrument was newly developed. After confirmation of the reliability and validity of the instrument, DCSA scores among citizen volunteers were evaluated. Results: DCSA showed very good psychometric properties. The mean (±SD) DCSA score was significantly higher for café staff with a medical and care professional background (n = 267) than for citizen volunteers (n = 166) (2.2±0.5 vs. 1.7±0.7, respectively; p < 0.001). The DCSA scores of citizen volunteers became significantly higher with increasing attendance (minimum: n = 24; 1.3±0.7; intermediate: n = 65; 1.6±0.6; and frequent: n = 77; 1.8±0.7; p < 0.01). Conclusion: Assessment of the competence of dementia café staff using the DCSA revealed the potential of citizen volunteers. This tool could also enhance the potential of dementia cafés.
Radiotherapy of Parasellar Tumours
Authors: Albano Luigi , Losa Marco , Flickinger John , Mortini Pietro , Minniti Giuseppe
Published: March 2020

Parasellar tumours represent a wide group of intracranial lesions, both benign and malignant. They may arise from several structures located within the parasellar area or they may infiltrate or metastasize this region. The treatment of the tumours located in these areas is challenging because of their complex anatomical location and their heterogenous histology. It often requires a multimodal approach, including surgery, radiation therapy (RT), and medical therapy. Due to the proximity of critical structures and the risks of side effects related to the procedure, a successful surgical resection is often not achievable. Thus, RT plays a crucial role in the treatment of several parasellar tumours. Conventional fractionated RT and modern radiation techniques, like stereotactic radiosurgery and proton beam RT, have become a standard management option, in particular for cases with residual or recurrent tumours after surgery and for those cases where surgery is contraindicated. This review examines the role of RT in parasellar tumours analysing several techniques, outcomes and side effects.
Biological Behaviour of Craniopharyngiomas
Authors: Martinez-Barbera Juan Pedro , Andoniadou Cynthia Lilian
Published: March 2020

Jakob Erdheim (1874–1937) first described craniopharyn­giomas (CPs) as “hypophyseal duct tumours” and postulated the existence of two tumour types based on their histological features: (1) an aggressive type showing similarities to adamantinomas (tumours of the jaw) and (2) a more benign form characterised by the presence of papillary structures. More than a century later, these initial observations have been confirmed; based on their distinct genetic, epigenetic, and histological features, the WHO classifies CPs into two types: adamantinomatous CPs (ACPs) and papillary CPs (PCPs). Considerable knowledge has been generated on the biology of CPs in the last 20 years. Mutations in CTNNB1 (encoding β-catenin) are prevalent in ACP, whilst PCPs frequently harbour mutations in BRAF (p.BRAF-V600E). The consequence of these mutations is the activation of either the WNT/β-catenin (ACP) or the MAPK/ERK (PCP) pathway. Murine models support a critical role for these mutations in tumour formation and have provided important insights into tumour pathogenesis, mostly in ACP. A critical role for cellular senescence has been uncovered in murine models of ACP with relevance to human tumours. Several gene profiling studies of human and murine ACP tumours have identified potential targetable pathways, and novel therapeutic agents are being used in clinical and pre-clinical research, in some cases with excellent results. In this review, we will present the accumulated knowledge on the biological features of these tumours and summarise how these advances are being translated into potential novel treatments.
Critical Impact Energy of Flat Nose Hard Projectile Causing Early Scabbing in Concrete Slab
Authors: Imran Latif Dr. Qadir Bux Alias , Nuaimi Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Al , Rahman Prof. Dr. Ismail Abdul , Ahmad Zaidi Prof. Dr. Ahmad Mujahid
Published: March 2020

In this paper, 2D numerical simulation finite element analysis has been carried out for critical impact energy of flat nose hard projectile causing early scabbing in concrete slab, based on reflected stress wave propagation with elastic assumption of the classic wave equation, using ABAQUS software. Numerical simulation predictions were compared with experimental data and with the well established UMIST, NDRC, Li and Reid formulae and found comparable and reliable. The influence of hard projectile diameter with flat nose, and concrete wall thickness on critical impact energy was also investigated. It was found that the effect of critical impact energy is directly proportional to the thickness of concrete target and inversely proportional to the diameter of flat nose hard projectile.
Intelligent Framework for Web-Service Testing
Authors: RajivKrishna L S , Prasanth Y
Published: March 2020

Web services provides a distributed computing architecture, with an emerging way of service oriented architecture (SQA). Here service oriented architecture is an interface to both computer systems and web services. Which implements an interaction with each other in new and different ways. According to service oriented architecture it virtually provides a platform for web services to communicate with each other. As it was an easy way for communicating with both clients and services. Many organizations and companies are either evaluating themselves into an enterprise information architectures, or they are in the process of getting adopt to the web services technology. As web services are platform independent it is playing a major role in the enterprise environment, and currently web services are widely accepted by many companies and organizations. So commonly web services possess some challenges to the enterprise environment. As a part of it web service must be tested before publish into a service oriented architecture. It involves large number of test cases, test scenarios that takes more time and effort. Testing management is needed so that it should control the time effort and should reduce the complexity of web service in a large software system, also in a real time world. Automation testing faces these challenges and fixes these issues. Automation testing has an ability to handle the complexities which are experiencing by the web services in a current environment. This paper presents the automatic testing strategies of a web service and detect the problems between both manual and automation testing. Finally results shows the proper effective report on improving the visibility of testing process based on the web approach to enhance the critical communication among multiple testing groups.
Audio Encryption and Digital Image Watermarking in an Uncompress Video
Authors: Dengre Amit , Gawande A.D.
Published: March 2020

The growth of high speed computer networks and that of the Internet, in particular, has increased the ease of Information Communication. Ironically, the cause for the development is also of the apprehension - use of digital formatted data. In comparison with Analog media, Digital media offers several distinct advantages such as high quality, easy editing, high fidelity copying, compression etc. But this type advancement in the field of data communication in other sense has hiked the fear of getting the data snooped at the time of sending it from the sender to the receiver. So, Information Security is becoming an inseparable part of Data Communication. In order to address this Information Security, Steganography plays an important role. Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the sender and intended recipient even realizes there is a hidden message. In the current internet community, secure data transfer is limited due to its attack made on data communication. So more robust methods are chosen so that they ensure secured data transfer. One of the solutions which came to the rescue is the audio Steganography. But existing audio steganographic systems have poor interface, very low level implementation, difficult to understand and valid only for certain audio formats with restricted message size. Enhanced Audio Steganography (EAS) is one proposed system which is based on audio Steganography and cryptography & watermarking, ensures secure data transfer between the source and destination.
Song Recommendation System Using Maximal b-Matching
Authors: S Deepa , R Varsha , R Parvathi
Published: March 2020

The last decade has witnessed a fundamental paradigm shift on how information content is distributed among people. Nowadays, an increasing number of platforms allow everyone to participate both in information production and information consumption. The phenomenon has been coined as democratization of content. However, as the opportunities to find relevant information and relevant audience increases, so does the complexity of a system that would allow suppliers and consumers to meet in the most efficient way. Our motivation is building a “featured item” component for social-media applications. Such a component would provide recommendations to consumers each time they login the system. The existing system follows either collaborative filtering or content based filtering. Collaborative filtering methods are based on collecting and analyzing a large amount of information on user’s behaviours, activities or preferences and predicting what users will like based on their similarity to other users. Content-based filtering methods are based on a description of the item and a profile of the user's preference. Both of these methods require input from the user in the form of ratings or other user's likes. But social content matching takes into account only the user's preferences and also the capacity constraints. For each item 't' and each user 'u', consider constraints on the maximum number of edges that t and u can participate in the matching. These capacity constraints can be estimated by the activity of each user and the relative frequency with which items need to be delivered. Here we introduce the concept called b-matching goal is to find a matching that satisfies all capacity constraints and maximizes the total weight of the edges in the matching. The result of b-matching is the set of songs that are to be recommended to the user based on his likes.
An Optimal Replenishment Policy for the EPQ Model with Permissible Delay in Payments
Authors: Ou Shih-Ming , Chang Kuo-Kuang
Published: March 2020

Most of the past researches on economic replenishment quantity did not consider the trade credit period. In practice, however, companies in Taiwan have shown that taking the trade credit period into account when they are making inventory decisions decreases costs substantially. The aim of this paper is to develop an inventory model that incorporates a delay in payments to minimize the total inventory-relevant cost. The optimal replenishment policy of the proposed model is identified by utilizing the global optimum conditions and non-constrained quadratic nonlinear programming. The results show that the existence of global optimal inventory cycle under the condition of total cost function is convex. Accordingly, the proposed model can assist managers in effectively addressing EPQ issue under competitive market.
Identification of the Inrush Current of the Internal Faults of Power Transformers Based on the Differential Relay Function
Authors: Salimi Majid
Published: March 2020

The inrush current of transformer is one of the most important factors in the damaging of power transformers and reducing their useful life. Differential relays are one of the main and primary protections of power transformers. Therefore, the correct and fast operation of these devices is so important. In this paper, an inrush flow detection method is proposed in order to prevent the inaccurate performance of differential relay. In the proposed method, the analysis of the wavelet transform frequency time is used based on the extracted characteristics. Also, a criterion called correlation coefficient is used in order to create a suitable pattern and use it in the proposed algorithm. The simulation of the proposed algorithm is performed by the PSCAD software and implemented in the MATLAB environment. The results of the simulation confirm the accuracy of the proposed method.
Human, the Electric Machine
Authors: Pandey Anurag
Published: March 2020

In modern time we are using lot of electronic devices but to run an electronic unit power generation is taking place. Major issue is it also generating problem of pollution. So, an effort has been made to harvest energy from human body for power supply. In this paper different method of energy harvesting from human body such as thermo electric power, power from heartbeat, angular knee and footsteps motion are briefly reviewed and showed that how principle of thermo electric power may be helpful to reduce abnormal level of β brain wave, caused due excessive stress and/or anxiety. An automation system can be used to control these generated power. This paper also presents a ladder logic algorithm to control for human generated power using PLC programming, with RS-232 DF1interface.
Improving Voltage Profile and Reducing Network Losses by Integration of Wind Farm and Thyristor-Switched Series Capacitors
Authors: Gheydi Milad , Baroogh Farshid Abdolahnejad
Published: March 2020

This paper aims at improving voltage profile and reducing the losses of active and reactive powers. The impact of wind turbines on voltage profile and power losses in critical buses is evaluated. Wind turbines, reactive power resources, i.e. thyristor-switched series capacitors, are connected to the network in mentioned states. In this study different conditions are individually and simultaneously considered with/without the wind turbines and thyristor-switched series capacitors in normal states of the network. Next, voltage profile, active power, reactive power, and the network losses are dealt with in the presence/absence of wind turbines and thyristor-switched series capacitors considering a sudden fault occurred in one power line, and the simulation results are compared with each other. The results indicate that using thyristor-switched capacitors together with the wind farm can provide enough active and reactive power for the network which increases the network capacity and decreases its losses using genetic algorithms.