bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Crowd Monitoring and Localization Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network: A Review
Authors: Khan Akbar , Ali Shah Jawad , Kadir Kushsairy , Albattah Waleed , Khan Faizullah
Published: July 2020

Crowd management and monitoring is crucial for maintaining public safety and is an important research topic. Developing a robust crowd monitoring system (CMS) is a challenging task as it involves addressing many key issues such as density variation, irregular distribution of objects, occlusions, pose estimation, etc. Crowd gathering at various places like hospitals, parks, stadiums, airports, cultural and religious points are usually monitored by Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. The drawbacks of CCTV cameras are: limited area coverage, installation problems, movability, high power consumption and constant monitoring by the operators. Therefore, many researchers have turned towards computer vision and machine learning that have overcome these issues by minimizing the need of human involvement. This review is aimed to categorize, analyze as well as provide the latest development and performance evolution in crowd monitoring using different machine learning techniques and methods that are published in journals and conferences over the past five years.
Winged Aerial Manipulation Robot with Dual Arm and Tail
Authors: Suarez Alejandro , Grau Pedro , Heredia Guillermo , Ollero Anibal
Published: July 2020

This paper presents the design and development of a winged aerial robot with bimanual manipulation capabilities, motivated by the current limitations of aerial manipulators based on multirotor platforms in terms of safety and range/endurance. Since the combination of gliding and flapping wings is more energy efficient in forward flight, we propose a new morphology that exploits this feature and allows the realization of dexterous manipulation tasks once the aerial robot has landed or perched. The paper describes the design, development, and aerodynamic analysis of this winged aerial manipulation robot (WAMR), consisting of a small-scale dual arm used for manipulating and as a morphing wing. The arms, fuselage, and tail are covered by a nylon cloth that acts as a cap, similar to a kite. The three joints of the arms (shoulder yaw and pitch, elbow pitch) can be used to control the surface area and orientation and thus the aerodynamic wrenches induced over the cloth. The proposed concept design is extended to a flapping-wing aerial robot built with smart servo actuators and a similar frame structure, allowing the generation of different flapping patterns exploiting the embedded servo controller. Experimental and simulation results carried out with these two prototypes evaluate the manipulation capability and the possibility of gliding and flying.
Application of Tooth Gear Impact-Echo System for Repeated and Rapid Data Acquisition
Authors: Hong Jinyoung , Choi Hajin , Oh Tae Keun
Published: July 2020

Developments in air-coupled testing hardware in impact-echo (IE) tests have enabled new levels of scanning tests for concrete bridge decks. A tooth gear IE system has been developed using tooth gears as impactors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Since the tooth gear moves and generates impacts itself, this system collects a large amount of test data across the field continuously. The contact duration of two different tooth gears is evaluated and the contact mechanism is compared to a conventional steel ball impactor by a high-speed camera. The data measurements were carried out on concrete slabs, where artificial delaminations were embedded at different depths. Based on our IE experiments, reducing the pitch or increasing the number of teeth was required to decrease the contact duration and generate the thickness mode frequency from deep delaminations. Rapidly obtained time domain data were transferred to the frequency-time domain using spectrograms to identify the dominant frequency band of the signal set. The results show that the developed system enabled us to acquire high-quality data during air-coupled IE tests and spectrogram analysis provided meaningful frequency information and verified its repeatability.
Jumping Side Volley in Soccer—A Biomechanical Preliminary Study on the Flying Kick and Its Coaching Know-How for Practitioners
Authors: Zhang Xiang , Shan Gongbing , Liu Feng , Yu Yaguang
Published: July 2020

The jumping side volley has created breathtaking moments and cherished memories for soccer fans. Regrettably, scientific studies on the skill cannot be found in the literature. Relying on the talent of athletes to improvise on the fly can hardly be considered a viable learning method. This study targeted to fill this gap by quantifying the factors of the jumping side volley and to contribute to the development of a coaching method for it. Using 3D motion capture (12 cameras, 200 Hz) and full-body biomechanical modeling, our study aimed to identify elements that govern the entrainment of skill execution. Given the rarity of players who have acquired this skill and the low success rate of the kick (even in professional games), we were able to achieve and review 23 successful trials from five college-level subjects and quantify them for the study. The results unveiled the following key elements: (1) the control of trunk rotation during jumping, (2) the angle between thighs upon take-off, (3) the whip-like control of the kicking leg while airborne, (4) timing between ball motion and limb coordination, and (5) damping mechanism during falling. An accurate kick can normally be achieved through repetitive training. This underlines the need for athletes to master a safe landing technique that minimizes risk of injury during practice. Therefore, training should begin with learning a safe falling technique.
Automatic Segmentation and Classification of Heart Sounds Using Modified Empirical Wavelet Transform and Power Features
Authors: Narváez Pedro , Gutierrez Steven , Percybrooks Winston S.
Published: July 2020

A system for the automatic classification of cardiac sounds can be of great help for doctors in the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. Generally speaking, the main stages of such systems are (i) the pre-processing of the heart sound signal, (ii) the segmentation of the cardiac cycles, (iii) feature extraction and (iv) classification. In this paper, we propose methods for each of these stages. The modified empirical wavelet transform (EWT) and the normalized Shannon average energy are used in pre-processing and automatic segmentation to identify the systolic and diastolic intervals in a heart sound recording; then, six power characteristics are extracted (three for the systole and three for the diastole)—the motivation behind using power features is to achieve a low computational cost to facilitate eventual real-time implementations. Finally, different models of machine learning (support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), random forest and multilayer perceptron) are used to determine the classifier with the best performance. The automatic segmentation method was tested with the heart sounds from the Pascal Challenge database. The results indicated an error (computed as the sum of the differences between manual segmentation labels from the database and the segmentation labels obtained by the proposed algorithm) of 843,440.8 for dataset A and 17,074.1 for dataset B, which are better values than those reported with the state-of-the-art methods. For automatic classification, 805 sample recordings from different databases were used. The best accuracy result was 99.26% using the KNN classifier, with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 98.57%. These results compare favorably with similar works using the state-of-the-art methods.
In Vitro Dissolution Study of Acetylsalicylic Acid and Clopidogrel Bisulfate Solid Dispersions: Validation of the RP-HPLC Method for Simultaneous Analysis
Authors: Osmanović Omerdić Ehlimana , Alagić-Džambić Larisa , Krstić Marko , Pašić-Kulenović Maja , Odović Jadranka , Vasiljević Dragana
Published: July 2020

Solid dispersions were prepared via a solvent evaporation method, employing ethanol (96%, v/v) as solvent, with three different polymers as carrier: povidone, copovidone, and poloxamer 407. Previously developed reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) methods were modified and used for the simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel bisulfate and after release from solid dispersions. Chromatography was carried out on a C-18 column, with a mobile phase of acetonitrile–methanol–phosphate buffer pH 3.0, UV detection at 240 nm, and a run time of 6 min. The method was validated according to International Conference of Harmonisation guidelines and validation included specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, robustness, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The method is specific for determination of acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel bisulfate. The linearity was provided in the concentration range 0.0275–0.1375 mg/mL for acetylsalicylic acid and 0.0200–0.1000 mg/mL for clopidogrel bisulfate, with a correlation coefficient (R2 value) of 0.9999 for both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Accuracy was confirmed by calculated recoveries for acetylsalicylic acid (98.6–101.0%) and clopidogrel bisulfate (100.0–101.6%). The intra-day and the inter-day precision-calculated relative standard deviations are less than 1%, which indicates high precision of the method. The limits of detection and quantification for acetylsalicylic acid were 0.0004 and 0.0012 mg/mL, and for clopidogrel bisulfate 0.0002 mg/mL and 0.0007 mg/mL, respectively. Small variations in chromatographic conditions did not significantly affect qualitative and quantitative system responses, which proved robustness of method. The proposed RP-HPLC method was applied for simultaneous determination of clopidogrel bisulfate and acetylsalicylic acid from solid dispersions.
Integrated Field Surveying and Land Surface Quantitative Analysis to Assess Landslide Proneness in the Conero Promontory Rocky Coast (Italy)
Authors: Troiani Francesco , Martino Salvatore , Marmoni Gian Marco , Menichetti Marco , Torre Davide , Iacobucci Giulia , Piacentini Daniela
Published: July 2020

Rock slopes involved in extensive landslide processes are often characterized by complex morphodynamics acting at different scales of space and time, responsible for different evolutionary scenarios. Mass Rock Creep (MRC) is a critical process for long-term geomorphological evolution of slopes and can likewise characterize actively retreating coastal cliffs where, in addition, landslides of different typologies and size superimpose in space and time to marine processes. The rocky coast at the Conero promontory (central Adriatic Sea, Italy) offers a rare opportunity for better understanding the predisposing role of the morphostructural setting on coastal slope instability on a long-time scale. In fact, the area presents several landslides of different typologies and size and state of activity, together with a wide set of landforms and structural features effective for better comprehending the evolution mechanisms of slope instability processes. Different investigation methods were implemented; in particular, traditional geomorphological and structural field surveys were combined with land surface quantitative analysis based on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with ground-resolution of 2 m. The results obtained demonstrate that MRC involves the entire coastal slope, which can be zoned in two distinct sectors as a function of a different morphostructural setting responsible for highly differentiated landslide processes. Therefore, at the long-time scale, two different morphodynamic styles can be depicted along the coastal slopes that correspond to specific evolutionary scenarios. The first scenario is characterized by MRC-driven, time-dependent slope processes involving the entire slope, whereas the second one includes force-driven slope processes acting at smaller space–time scales. The Conero promontory case study highlights that the relationships between slope shape and structural setting of the deforming areas are crucial for reaching critical volumes to induce generalized slope collapse as the final stage of the MRC process. The results from this study stress the importance of understanding the role of morphostructures as predisposing conditions for generalized slope failures along rocky coasts involved in MRC. The findings discussed here suggest the importance of the assessment of the slope instability at the long time scale for a better comprehension of the present-day slope dynamics and its major implications for landslide monitoring strategies and the hazard mitigation strategies.
Correlation of Concurrent Extreme Metocean Hazards Considering Seasonality
Authors: Calderón-Vega Felícitas , García-Soto Adrián-David , Mösso César
Published: July 2020

Simultaneous occurrence of metocean variables can present a multihazard to maritime systems. However, simplified design approaches to assess simultaneous significant wave heights and wind velocities are lacking, especially if seasonality is considered. This is addressed in this study by using extreme significant wave heights and companion wind velocities recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. Time-dependent, generalized extreme value (GEV) models and classical regression are the basis to propose a simplified approach to estimate correlated extreme significant wave heights and wind velocities associated with given return periods, accounting for seasonality and including measures of uncertainty. It is found that the proposed approach is a new but simple method to adequately characterize the concurrent extreme metocean variables and their uncertainty. It is concluded that the method is an effective probabilistic design tool to determine simultaneous extreme significant wave heights and companion wind velocities for desired return periods and seasonality.
Reconfiguration Decision-Making of IoT based Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems
Authors: Han Sumin , Chang Tai-Woo , Hong Yoo Suk , Park Jinwoo
Published: July 2020

With the recent diversification of demands, manufacturing systems that can respond to multiple types of goods have become more important. In this circumstance, reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) that can provide flexible manufacturing with limited machine tools through reconfiguration have gained a lot of attention. As an RMS supports flexibility through layout reconfiguration, reconfiguration decision-making is very important and difficult. The development of IoT technology has made it possible to collect hidden information inside systems. This study focused on the reconfiguration decision-making system with the data acquisition system based on IoT technology. The decision-making system detected a reconfiguration situation and built a reconfiguration plan using the data collected by IoT sensors. The performance of the algorithm proposed in this study was verified in a simulation experiment. It was found that the algorithm had a stable performance under various reconfigurable situations. It is expected that the proposed system will help to improve the performance of RMS.
Multiple-Loop Control Design for a Single-Stage PV-Fed Grid-Tied Differential Boost Inverter
Authors: El Aroudi Abdelali , Haroun Reham , Al-Numay Mohamed , Huang Meng
Published: July 2020

This paper focuses on the control design of a differential boost inverter when used in single-stage grid-tied PV systems. The inverter performs both Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) at the DC side and Power Factor Correction at the AC side. At first, the state-space time-domain averaged model of the inverter is derived and the small signal frequency domain model is obtained using a quasi-static approximation in which the inverter is treated as a DC–DC converter with a slowly varying output voltage. Then, the controllers are designed using a three-loop strategy in which the inverter inductor currents loop is used for suitable compensation, the DC Photovoltaic (PV) voltage loop is used for MPPT and the output grid current loop is used for Power Factor Correction (PFC) and active power control. The selection of the control parameters is based on a compromise among suitable system performances such as settling time of the input PV voltage, the sampling period of the MPPT, total harmonic distortion of the output grid current, power factor as well as suppression of subharmonic oscillation for all the range of the operating duty cycle. The resulting design ensures that the oscillations of the voltage, current and power at the DC side and the grid current at the AC side are effectively controlled. The validity of the proposed control design is verified by numerical simulations performed on the switched model of the system demonstrating its robustness and fast response under irradiance variations and MPPT perturbations despite the nonlinearity and complexity of the system.
W-Band Millimeter Waves Targeted Mortality of H1299 Human Lung Cancer Cells without Affecting Non-Tumorigenic MCF-10A Human Epithelial Cells In Vitro
Authors: Komoshvili Konstantin , Israel Katya , Levitan Jacob , Yahalom Asher , Barbora Ayan , Liberman-Aronov Stella
Published: July 2020

Therapeutically effective treatments of cancer are limited. To calibrate the efficiency of the novel technique we recently discovered to modulate cancer cell viability using tuned electromagnetic fields; H1299 human lung cancer cells were irradiated in a sweeping regime of W-band (75–105 GHz) millimeter waves (MMW) at 0.2 mW/cm2 (2 W/m2). Effects on cell morphology, cell death and senescence were examined and compared to that of non-tumorigenic MCF-10A human epithelial cells. MMW irradiation led to alterations of cell and nucleus morphology of H1299 cells, significantly increasing mortality and senescence over 14 days of observation. Extended irradiation of 10 min duration resulted in complete death of exposed H1299 cell population within two days, while healthy MCF-10A cells remained unaffected even after 16 min of irradiation under the same conditions. Irradiation effects were observed to be specific to MMW treated H1299 cells and absent in the control group of non-irradiated cells. MMW irradiation affected nuclear morphology of H1299 cells only and not of the immortalized MCF-10A cells. Irradiation with low intensity MMW shows an antitumor effect on H1299 lung cancer cells. This method provides a novel treatment modality enabling targeted specificity for various types of cancers.
Optimization of Warehouse Operations with Genetic Algorithms
Authors: Kordos Mirosław , Boryczko Jan , Blachnik Marcin , Golak Sławomir
Published: July 2020

We present a complete, fully automatic solution based on genetic algorithms for the optimization of discrete product placement and of order picking routes in a warehouse. The solution takes as input the warehouse structure and the list of orders and returns the optimized product placement, which minimizes the sum of the order picking times. The order picking routes are optimized mostly by genetic algorithms with multi-parent crossover operator, but for some cases also permutations and local search methods can be used. The product placement is optimized by another genetic algorithm, where the sum of the lengths of the optimized order picking routes is used as the cost of the given product placement. We present several ideas, which improve and accelerate the optimization, as the proper number of parents in crossover, the caching procedure, multiple restart and order grouping. In the presented experiments, in comparison with the random product placement and random product picking order, the optimization of order picking routes allowed the decrease of the total order picking times to 54%, optimization of product placement with the basic version of the method allowed to reduce that time to 26% and optimization of product placement with the methods with the improvements, as multiple restart and multi-parent crossover to 21%.
Open Domain Chinese Triples Hierarchical Extraction Method
Authors: He Chunhui , Tan Zhen , Wang Haoran , Zhang Chong , Hu Yanli , Ge Bin
Published: July 2020

Open domain relation prediction is an important task in triples extraction. When faced with the task of constructing large-scale knowledge graph systems, with the exception of structured data, it is necessary to automatically extract triples from a large amount of unstructured text to expand entities and relations. Although a large number of English open relation prediction methods have achieved good performance, the high-performance system for open domain Chinese triples extraction remains undeveloped due to the lack of large-scale Chinese annotation corpora and the difficulty of Chinese language processing. In this paper, we propose an integrated open domain Chinese triples hierarchical extraction method (CTHE) to solve this problem, considering the advantages of Bi-LSTM-CRF and Att-Bi-GRU models based on the pre-trained BERT encoding model. This method can recognize the named entities from Chinese sentences to establish entity pairs, and implement hierarchical extraction of specific and open relations based on the user-defined schema library and attention mechanism. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method, which achieved stable performance on the test dataset, and better precision and F1-score in comparison with state-of-the-art Chinese open domain triples extraction methods. Furthermore, a large-scale annotated dataset for a Chinese named entity recognition (NER) task is established, which provides support for research on Chinese NER tasks.
Identification of the Dynamic Parameters of a Parallel Kinematics Mechanism with Prismatic Joints by Considering Varying Friction
Authors: Rosyid Abdur , El-Khasawneh Bashar
Published: July 2020

This study proposed a novel approach for the offline dynamic parameter identification of parallel kinematics mechanisms in which the friction is significant and varying. Since the friction is significant, it should be incorporated to provide an accurate dynamic model. Furthermore, the varying normal forces as a result of the changing posture of the mechanism lead to varying friction forces, specifically varying static and Coulomb friction forces. By considering this variation, the static and Coulomb friction parameters are identified as coefficients instead of forces. A bound-constrained optimization technique using an iterative global search tool was employed in this work to minimize the residual errors while maintaining the physical feasibility of the solutions. Moreover, the friction was modeled by using the nonlinear Stribeck friction model since a linear friction model was not sufficient, whereas the variation of the friction followed the variation of the normal forces, which were evaluated through the Lagrange multipliers in the constrained dynamic model of the mechanism. The solutions obtained were verified by using some trajectories that were different from those used in the identification.
Reliability Evaluation of Hinged Slab Bridge Considering Hinge Joints Damage and Member Failure Credibility
Authors: Tan Guojin , Kong Qingwen , Wang Longlin , Wang Xirui , Liu Hanbing
Published: July 2020

The hinged slab bridge is widely used in medium- and small-span bridges because of its simple structure and convenient construction. However, hinge joints damage is the main defect of this kind of bridge, and it is difficult to express the deterministic damage degree of hinge joints in the detection process. A system reliability evaluation method considering fuzzy detection information of hinge joints damage and member failure credibility is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the membership function is used to quantitatively express the fuzzy detection information of hinge joints, and the fuzzy variable is transformed to an equivalent random variable. Secondly, the functional relationship between the transverse distribution coefficient and hinge joints damage is constructed by the modified hinge-jointed plate method and response surface method, and the reliability of the member considering the fuzzy detection information of hinge joints damage is calculated by the first-order second-moment method (FOSM). Then, the failure credibility is introduced to represent the different possibilities of system failure caused by member failure, and a system reliability assessment method of different failure criteria considering member failure credibility is established based on copula theory. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method is verified by taking the reinforced concrete hinged slab bridge as a numerical example.
Temporal and Spatial Diversity of Renewable Groundwater Resources in the River Valley
Authors: Krogulec Ewa , Zabłocki Sebastian , Sawicka Katarzyna
Published: July 2020

Quantitative assessment of the amount of renewable resources allows their evaluation, valorization and protection in terms of the possibility of their environmental management under climate change conditions. The aim of the study was to determine the amount of renewable resources in the Middle Vistula valley, in the region of the Kampinos National Park, central Poland. The amount of renewable resources was calculated on a hydrodynamical model for three variants, as the average, the lowest and the highest infiltration recharge rate for a specified period of 1999–2013. The modelling research was conducted in a strongly differentiated hydrogeological valley unit, in which several geomorphological units could be delineated: the floodplain, over-flood terraces and the plain area. The hydrodynamic modelling results were verified by comparing the obtained data with both the amount of drainage in the valley zone and the underground streamflow. The assessment of renewable groundwater resources in three distinctive variants was the basis for calculating the groundwater footprints, defined as a quantitative assessment of the groundwater use in climate change conditions.
Methods of Predicting the Effectiveness of Hydrochloric Acid Treatment Using Hydrodynamic Simulation
Authors: Putilov Ivan , Krivoshchekov Sergey , Vyatkin Kirill , Kochnev Aleksandr , Ravelev Kirill
Published: July 2020

The article describes the original technique of predicting the effectiveness of hydrochloric acid treatment of the bottom hole zone of a carbonate reservoir. The technique consists in determining the technological effectiveness of the oil recovery stimulation procedure at productive wells using hydrodynamic simulation based on the calculated value of skin factor change. In the course of the study, a number of parameters affecting the intensity of flow coefficient decline in the near-wellbore zone during acid treatment have been established. The paper presents a comparison of data on the actual change of the skin factor after acidizing jobs at the fields of Perm Krai (Russian Federation) and the calculated values obtained using the presented technique. This scientific research includes an example of practical application of the proposed technique for the target well of the Kokuyskoye oil field in Perm Krai, its results with a minor deviation coinciding with the actual values of the flow rate. In the conclusion to the study, it is noted that using the proposed technique, recommendations can be provided on the selection of acid composition and technology of its injection into formation for the preliminary evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the designed procedure.
Stochastic Predictive Energy Management of Multi-Microgrid Systems
Authors: Bazmohammadi Najmeh , Anvari-Moghaddam Amjad , Tahsiri Ahmadreza , Madary Ahmad , Vasquez Juan , Guerrero Josep
Published: July 2020

Next-generation power systems will require innovative control strategies to exploit existing and potential capabilities of developing renewable-based microgrids. Cooperation of interconnected microgrids has been introduced recently as a promising solution to improve the operational and economic performance of distribution networks. In this paper, a hierarchical control structure is proposed for the integrated operation management of a multi-microgrid system. A central energy management entity at the highest control level is responsible for designing a reference trajectory for exchanging power between the multi-microgrid system and the main grid. At the second level, the local energy management system of individual microgrids adopts a two-stage stochastic model predictive control strategy to manage the local operation by following the scheduled power trajectories. An optimal solution strategy is then applied to the local controllers as operating set-points to be implemented in the system. To distribute the penalty costs resulted from any real-time power deviation systematically and fairly, a novel methodology based on the line flow sensitivity factors is proposed. Simulation and experimental analyses are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. According to the simulation results, by adopting the proposed operation management strategy, a reduction of about 47% in the average unplanned daily power exchange of the multi-microgrid system with the main grid can be achieved.
Learning Effective Feature Representation against User Privacy Protection on Social Networks
Authors: Li Cheng-Te , Zeng Zi-Yun
Published: July 2020

Users pay increasing attention to their data privacy in online social networks, resulting in hiding personal information, such as profile attributes and social connections. While network representation learning (NRL) is widely effective in social network analysis (SNA) tasks, it is essential to learn effective node embeddings from privacy-protected sparse and incomplete network data. In this work, we present a novel NRL model to generate node embeddings that can afford data incompleteness coming from user privacy protection. We propose a structure-attribute enhanced matrix (SAEM) to alleviate data sparsity and develop a community-cluster informed NRL method, c2n2v, to further improve the quality of embedding learning. Experiments conducted across three datasets, three simulations of user privacy protection, and three downstream SNA tasks exhibit the promising performance of our NRL model SAEM+c2n2v.
Molecular Assembling in Mixtures of Hydrophilic 1-Butyl-1-Methylpyrrolidinium Dicyanamide Ionic Liquid and Water
Authors: Palumbo Oriele , Trequattrini Francesco , Brubach Jean-Blaise , Roy Pascale , Paolone Annalisa
Published: July 2020

The infrared absorbance spectrum of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide, mixed with water at two different concentrations, was measured between 160 and 300 K in the mid infrared range. Both mixtures do not crystallize on cooling; however, remarkably, the one with an ionic liquid (IL):water composition of 1:3 displays a cold crystallization process on heating in a restricted temperature range between 240 and 250 K. A portion of the water participates to the cold crystallization. On the contrary, with an IL:water composition of 1:6.6 no crystallization takes place. Upon water addition the vibration frequencies of the anion and of some lines of the cation are blue shifted, while the absorption lines of water are red shifted. These facts are interpreted as the evidence of the occurrence of the hydrogen bonding of water, as the hydrogen bonding acceptor with respect to the anion (anion∙∙∙O-H bonds develop) and as hydrogen donor for the cation (C-H∙∙∙O bonds can form). Microscopic inhomogeneities in the samples and their evolution with temperature are discussed.
Workplace Biological Risk Assessment: Review of Existing and Description of a Comprehensive Approach
Authors: Burzoni Sarah , Duquenne Philippe , Mater Gautier , Ferrari Luc
Published: July 2020

Biological risks potentially affect workers in multiple occupational sectors through their exposure to pathogenic agents. These risks must be carefully assessed to prevent adverse health effects. This article identifies and critically analyzes approaches that manage the qualitative evaluation of biological risk (EvBR) as part of occupational health and safety prevention, for which no standard method yet exists. Bibliographic and computing references were searched to identify qualitative EvBR approaches, which were then analyzed based on defined criteria, such as the risks studied and the type of assessment. Approaches proposing the most representative types of assessment were analyzed. EvBR approaches in an occupational setting were identified in 32 sources. “Workstation analysis” combined with “assessment by risk level” were the most common approaches. The predominant risk descriptors (RDs) were defined in a characterized and quantifiable way, and a variety of hazard levels and exposure indices were created. Overall, the risk was determined by summing or multiplying the hazard level and exposure indicators. The results confirmed that no methodological consensus currently exists regarding the EvBR and no approach has yet been described that integrates all the parameters to allow for a full assessment of biological risk. Based on the detailed analysis of the existing data, the present paper proposes a general approach.
Evaluation of a Non-Aqueous Vanadium Redox Flow Battery Using a Deep Eutectic Solvent and Graphene-Modified Carbon Electrodes via Electrophoretic Deposition
Authors: Chakrabarti Barun , Rubio-Garcia Javier , Kalamaras Evangelos , Yufit Vladimir , Tariq Farid , Low Chee Tong John , Kucernak Anthony , Brandon Nigel
Published: July 2020

Common issues aqueous-based vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) face include low cell voltage due to water electrolysis side reactions and highly corrosive and environmentally unfriendly electrolytes (3 to 5 M sulfuric acid). Therefore, this investigation looks into the comparison of a highly conductive ionic liquid with a well-studied deep eutectic solvent (DES) as electrolytes for non-aqueous VRFBs. The latter solvent gives 50% higher efficiency and capacity utilization than the former. These figures of merit increase by 10% when nitrogen-doped graphene (N-G)-modified carbon papers, via a one-step binder-free electrophoretic deposition process, are used as electrodes. X-ray computed tomography confirms the enhancement of electrochemical surface area of the carbon electrodes due to N-G while electrochemical impedance spectra show the effect of its higher conductivity on improving RFB performance. Finally, potential strategies for the scaling-up of DES-based VRFBs using a simple economical model are also briefly discussed. From this study, it is deduced that more investigations on applying DESs as non-aqueous electrolytes to replace the commonly used acetonitrile may be a positive step forward because DESs are not only cheaper but also safer to handle, far less toxic, non-flammable, and less volatile than acetonitrile.
Pulsed Light: Challenges of a Non-Thermal Sanitation Technology in the Winemaking Industry
Authors: Santamera Aitana , Escott Carlos , Loira Iris , del Fresno Juan Manuel , González Carmen , Morata Antonio
Published: July 2020

Pulsed light is an emerging non-thermal technology viable for foodstuff sanitation. The sanitation is produced through the use of high energy pulses during ultra-short periods of time (ns to µs). The pulsed light induces irreversible damages at the DNA level with the formation of pyrimidine dimers, but also produces photo-thermal and photo-physical effects on the microbial membranes that lead to a reduction in the microbial populations. The reduction caused in the microbial populations can reach several fold, up to 4 log CFU/mL decrement. A slight increase of 3 to 4 °C in temperature is observed in treated food; nonetheless, this increase does not modify either the nutritional properties of the product or its sensory profile. The advantages of using pulsed light could be used to a greater extent in the winemaking industry. Experimental trials have shown a positive effect of reducing native yeast and bacteria in grapes to populations below 1–2 log CFU/mL. In this way, pulsed light, a non-thermal technology currently available for the sanitation of foodstuffs, is an alternative for the reduction in native microbiota and the later control of the fermentative process in winemaking. This certainly would allow the use of fermentation biotechnologies such as the use of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in mixed and sequential fermentations to preserve freshness in wines through the production of aroma volatile compounds and organic acids, and the production of wines with less utilization of SO2 in accordance with the consumers’ demand in the market.
Aconitase: To Be or not to Be Inside Plant Glyoxysomes, That Is the Question
Authors: De Bellis Luigi , Luvisi Andrea , Alpi Amedeo
Published: July 2020

After the discovery in 1967 of plant glyoxysomes, aconitase, one the five enzymes involved in the glyoxylate cycle, was thought to be present in the organelles, and although this was found not to be the case around 25 years ago, it is still suggested in some textbooks and recent scientific articles. Genetic research (including the study of mutants and transcriptomic analysis) is becoming increasingly important in plant biology, so metabolic pathways must be presented correctly to avoid misinterpretation and the dissemination of bad science. The focus of our study is therefore aconitase, from its first localization inside the glyoxysomes to its relocation. We also examine data concerning the role of the enzyme malate dehydrogenase in the glyoxylate cycle and data of the expression of aconitase genes in Arabidopsis and other selected higher plants. We then propose a new model concerning the interaction between glyoxysomes, mitochondria and cytosol in cotyledons or endosperm during the germination of oil-rich seeds.
Ampicillin/Sulbactam Treatment Modulates NMDA Receptor NR2B Subunit and Attenuates Neuroinflammation and Alcohol Intake in Male High Alcohol Drinking Rats
Authors: Alasmari Fawaz , Alhaddad Hasan , Wong Woonyen , Bell Richard L. , Sari Youssef
Published: July 2020

Exposure to ethanol commonly manifests neuroinflammation. Beta (β)-lactam antibiotics attenuate ethanol drinking through upregulation of astroglial glutamate transporters, especially glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1), in the mesocorticolimbic brain regions, including the nucleus accumbens (Acb). However, the effect of β-lactam antibiotics on neuroinflammation in animals chronically exposed to ethanol has not been fully investigated. In this study, we evaluated the effects of ampicillin/sulbactam (AMP/SUL, 100 and 200 mg/kg, i.p.) on ethanol consumption in high alcohol drinking (HAD1) rats. Additionally, we investigated the effects of AMP/SUL on GLT-1 and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subtypes (NR2A and NR2B) in the Acb core (AcbCo) and Acb shell (AcbSh). We found that AMP/SUL at both doses attenuated ethanol consumption and restored ethanol-decreased GLT-1 and NR2B expression in the AcbSh and AcbCo, respectively. Moreover, AMP/SUL (200 mg/kg, i.p.) reduced ethanol-increased high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) expression in the AcbSh. Moreover, both doses of AMP/SUL attenuated ethanol-elevated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the AcbSh. Our results suggest that AMP/SUL attenuates ethanol drinking and modulates NMDA receptor NR2B subunits and HMGB1-associated pathways.
Effects of Jasmonic Acid in ER Stress and Unfolded Protein Response in Tomato Plants
Authors: Czékus Zalán , Csíkos Orsolya , Ördög Attila , Tari Irma , Poór Péter
Published: July 2020

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress elicits a protective mechanism called unfolded protein response (UPR) to maintain cellular homeostasis, which can be regulated by defence hormones. In this study, the physiological role of jasmonic acid (JA) in ER stress and UPR signalling has been investigated in intact leaves of tomato plants. Exogenous JA treatments not only induced the transcript accumulation of UPR marker gene SlBiP but also elevated transcript levels of SlIRE1 and SlbZIP60. By the application of JA signalling mutant jai1 plants, the role of JA in ER stress sensing and signalling was further investigated. Treatment with tunicamycin (Tm), the inhibitor of N-glycosylation of secreted glycoproteins, increased the transcript levels of SlBiP. Interestingly, SlIRE1a and SlIRE1b were significantly lower in jai1. In contrast, the transcript accumulation of Bax Inhibitor-1 (SlBI1) and SlbZIP60 was higher in jai1. To evaluate how a chemical chaperone modulates Tm-induced ER stress, plants were treated with sodium 4-phenylbutyrate, which also decreased the Tm-induced increase in SlBiP, SlIRE1a, and SlBI1 transcripts. In addition, it was found that changes in hydrogen peroxide content, proteasomal activity, and lipid peroxidation induced by Tm is regulated by JA, while nitric oxide was not involved in ER stress and UPR signalling in leaves of tomato.
Galectin-3 Stimulates Tyro3 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Erk Signalling, Cell Survival and Migration in Human Cancer Cells
Authors: Al Kafri Nour , Hafizi Sassan
Published: July 2020

The TAM (Tyro3, Axl, MerTK) subfamily of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and their ligands, Gas6 and protein S (ProS1), are implicated in tumorigenesis and chemoresistance in various cancers. The β-galactoside binding protein galectin-3 (Gal-3), which is also implicated in oncogenesis, has previously been shown to be a ligand for MerTK. However, the selectivity of Gal-3 for the other TAM receptors, and its TAM-mediated signalling and functional properties in cancer cells, remain to be explored. The present study was aimed at determining these, including through direct comparison of Gal-3 with the two canonical TAM ligands. Exogenous Gal-3 rapidly stimulated Tyro3 receptor phosphorylation to the same extent as the Tyro3 ligand ProS1, but not Axl, in the cultured human cancer cell lines SCC-25 (express both Tyro3 and Axl) and MGH-U3 (express Tyro3 only). Gal-3 also activated intracellular Erk and Akt kinases in both cell lines and furthermore protected cells from acute apoptosis induced by staurosporine but not from serum-starvation induced apoptosis. In addition, Gal-3 significantly stimulated cancer cell migration rate in the presence of the Axl blocker BGB324. Therefore, these results have shown Gal-3 to be a novel agonist for Tyro3 RTK, activating a Tyro3-Erk signalling axis, as well as Akt signalling, in cancer cells that promotes cell survival, cell cycle progression and cell migration. These data therefore reveal a novel mechanism of Tyro3 RTK activation through the action of Gal-3 that contrasts with those of the known TAM ligands Gas6 and ProS1.
Deoxyribonucleases and Their Applications in Biomedicine
Authors: Lauková Lucia , Konečná Barbora , Janovičová Ľubica , Vlková Barbora , Celec Peter
Published: July 2020

Extracellular DNA, also called cell-free DNA, released from dying cells or activated immune cells can be recognized by the immune system as a danger signal causing or enhancing inflammation. The cleavage of extracellular DNA is crucial for limiting the inflammatory response and maintaining homeostasis. Deoxyribonucleases (DNases) as enzymes that degrade DNA are hypothesized to play a key role in this process as a determinant of the variable concentration of extracellular DNA. DNases are divided into two families—DNase I and DNase II, according to their biochemical and biological properties as well as the tissue-specific production. Studies have shown that low DNase activity is both, a biomarker and a pathogenic factor in systemic lupus erythematosus. Interventional experiments proved that administration of exogenous DNase has beneficial effects in inflammatory diseases. Recombinant human DNase reduces mucus viscosity in lungs and is used for the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis. This review summarizes the currently available published data about DNases, their activity as a potential biomarker and methods used for their assessment. An overview of the experiments with systemic administration of DNase is also included. Whether low-plasma DNase activity is involved in the etiopathogenesis of diseases remains unknown and needs to be elucidated.
Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of Dimeric Polyether Ionophores
Authors: Sulik Michał , Maj Ewa , Wietrzyk Joanna , Huczyński Adam , Antoszczak Michał
Published: July 2020

Polyether ionophores represent a group of natural lipid-soluble biomolecules with a broad spectrum of bioactivity, ranging from antibacterial to anticancer activity. Three seem to be particularly interesting in this context, namely lasalocid acid, monensin, and salinomycin, as they are able to selectively target cancer cells of various origin including cancer stem cells. Due to their potent biological activity and abundant availability, some research groups around the world have successfully followed semi-synthetic approaches to generate original derivatives of ionophores. However, a definitely less explored avenue is the synthesis and functional evaluation of their multivalent structures. Thus, in this paper, we describe the synthetic access to a series of original homo- and heterodimers of polyether ionophores, in which (i) two salinomycin molecules are joined through triazole linkers, or (ii) salinomycin is combined with lasalocid acid, monensin, or betulinic acid partners to form ‘mixed’ dimeric structures. Of note, all 11 products were tested in vitro for their antiproliferative activity against a panel of six cancer cell lines including the doxorubicin resistant colon adenocarcinoma LoVo/DX cell line; five dimers (14–15, 17–18 and 22) were identified to be more potent than the reference agents (i.e., both parent compound(s) and commonly used cytostatic drugs) in selective targeting of various types of cancer. Dimers 16 and 21 were also found to effectively overcome the resistance of the LoVo/DX cancer cell line.
MicroRNAs and Their Influence on the ZEB Family: Mechanistic Aspects and Therapeutic Applications in Cancer Therapy
Authors: Ashrafizadeh Milad , Ang Hui Li , Moghadam Ebrahim Rahmani , Mohammadi Shima , Zarrin Vahideh , Hushmandi Kiavash , Samarghandian Saeed , Zarrabi Ali , Najafi Masoud , Mohammadinejad Reza , Kumar Alan Prem
Published: July 2020

Molecular signaling pathways involved in cancer have been intensively studied due to their crucial role in cancer cell growth and dissemination. Among them, zinc finger E-box binding homeobox-1 (ZEB1) and -2 (ZEB2) are molecules that play vital roles in signaling pathways to ensure the survival of tumor cells, particularly through enhancing cell proliferation, promoting cell migration and invasion, and triggering drug resistance. Importantly, ZEB proteins are regulated by microRNAs (miRs). In this review, we demonstrate the impact that miRs have on cancer therapy, through their targeting of ZEB proteins. MiRs are able to act as onco-suppressor factors and inhibit the malignancy of tumor cells through ZEB1/2 down-regulation. This can lead to an inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mechanism, therefore reducing metastasis. Additionally, miRs are able to inhibit ZEB1/2-mediated drug resistance and immunosuppression. Additionally, we explore the upstream modulators of miRs such as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), as these regulators can influence the inhibitory effect of miRs on ZEB proteins and cancer progression.