bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modeling the Initial Growth of the Plasma and Flame Kernel in S.I. Engines
Authors: Willems Hilde , Sierens Roger
Published: March 2020

The initial size and growth of the plasma and flame kernel just after spark discharge in S.I. engines determines if the flame becomes self-sustainable or extinguishes. On the other hand the development of the kernel during the initial phases has non-negligible influences on the further combustion. For example cyclic variations often find their origin in the beginning of combustion and determine the working limits of the engine and the driving behavior of the vehicle. These factors demonstrate the crucial importance of the knowledge of the initial growth of the plasma and flame kernel in S.I. engines.

A complete model is developed for the growth of the initial plasma and flame kernel in S.I. engines, which takes into account the fundamental properties of the ignition system (electrical energy and power, geometry of the spark plug, heat losses to the electrodes and the cylinder wall), the combustible mixture (pressure, temperature, equivalence ratio, fraction of residual gasses, kind of fuel) and the flow (average flow velocity, turbulence intensity, stretch, characteristic time and length scales).

The proposed model distinguishes three phases: the prebreakdown, the plasma and the initial combustion phase. The model of the first two phases is proposed in a previous article of the same authors (Willems and Sierens, 1999), the latter is exposed in this article. A thermodynamic model based on flamelet models and which takes stretch into account, is used to describe the initial combustion phase. The difference between heat losses to the electrodes and the cylinder wall is considered. The burning velocity varies from the order of the laminar velocity to the fully developed burning velocity. The evolution is determined as well by the life time as by the size of the kernel. The stretch (caused by turbulence and by the growth of the kernel), the non-adiabatic character of the flame and instabilities have influence on the laminar burning velocity.

Validation of this model is done using measurements of the expansion in a propane-air mixture executed by Pischinger at M.I.T. The correspondence seems to be very well.
Effects of Tumble and Swirl Flows on the Turbulence Scale Near the TDC in a 4-Valve S.I. Engine
Authors: Lee Ki Hyung , Lee Chang Sik , Park Hyun Jong , Kim Dae Sik
Published: March 2020

It has known that the in-cylinder flow field has a significant effect on the engine combustion. Especially, the turbulence scale at the ignition toning plays an important role in enhancing propagation speed of initial flame. Thus, in this study, various flow fields such as tumble and swirl flows were generated by intake flow control valves. The effects of tumble and swirl flows on the turbulence scale were experimentally investigated in a 4-valve S.I. engine.

For the investigation of the flow field, the single frame PTV and the two color PIV techniques were developed to clarify in-cylinder flow pattern during intake stroke and turbulence intensity near the spark plug during compression stroke, respectively. The flame propagation was visualized by an ICCD camera and its images were analyzed to compare the flow field.
Relative Torsional Vibration Analysis for Crankshaft
Authors: Kimura Jouji , Shibata Satoshi , Ebe Atsushi
Published: March 2020

Crankshaft torsional vibration characteristics have been studied, more often based on the results of measurement at a pulley, rather than in relation to a pulley. The results of the measurement at a pulley, however, include crankshaft torsion assuming that a crankshaft is elastic, as well as rotational speed changes due to cylinder pressure fluctuation assuming that a crankshaft is rigid. The authors recommend that relative torsional amplitude should be used in evaluating torsional vibration characteristics, rather than torsional amplitude at a pulley.
Erratum: “Surface Bonding Graphene-Based Elastomeric Sensor: Preliminary Characterization of Adhesion Strength” [ASME 2019 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, ASME 2019 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, September 9–11, 2019, Conference Sponsors: Aerospace Division, ISBN: 978-0-7918-5913-1, Copyright © 2019 by ASME. Paper No. SMASIS2019-5578, pp. V001T01A002; 7 pages; doi: 10.1115/SMASIS2019-5578]
Authors: Ameduri Salvatore , Ciminello Monica
Published: March 2020

This erratum corrects errors that appeared in the paper “Surface Bonding Graphene-Based Elastomeric Sensor: Preliminary Characterization of Adhesion Strength” which was published in Proceedings of the ASME 2019 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, ASME 2019 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, (V001T01A002), September 2019, SMASIS2019-5578, doi: 10.1115/SMASIS2019-5578.
Predicting Fly-Height Modulation and Contact Forces in Ultra-Low Flying Head-Disk Interfaces Using a Tri-State Switching Dynamic Contact Model
Authors: Lee Sung-Chang , Polycarpou Andreas A.
Published: March 2020

In order to achieve higher recording densities up to 1 Tbit/In2 using conventional recording technologies, the recording slider will need to “fly” within 5 nm or less from the rotating disk. In such ultra-low flying height regimes, intermittent head/disk contact is unavoidable. Head/disk contact can cause large vibrations of the recording slider in the normal and lateral (off-track) directions as well as damage the disk due to large dynamic contact forces. This paper describes a simple continuum mechanics-based model that includes the dynamics of a flying head/disk interface (HDI) as well as the contact dynamics. Specifically, a lumped parameter one degree-of-freedom, three state nonlinear dynamic model representing the normal dynamics of the HDI and an asperity-based contact model are developed. The effects of realistic (dynamic microwaviness) and harmonic input excitations, contact stiffness (surface roughness) and air-bearing force during contact on fly-height modulation (FHM) and contact force are investigated. Based on the tri-state model predictions, design guidelines for reduced FHM and dynamic contact force are suggested.
Polydispersity Effects in Evaporation of Perfluoropolyether Thin Films
Authors: Stirniman Michael , Gui Jing
Published: March 2020

The evaporation rates of bulk liquid and thin films of an alcohol-derivatized perfluoropolyether have been studied experimentally and computationally. We find that the time dependence of the evaporation rate in both cases is dominated by the polydispersity, and can be described very well by a model that incorporates the molecular weight distribution, molecular-weight-dependent Arrhenius parameters of evaporation, and Raoult’s law of vapor pressures. Minor corrections to the model that account for surface interactions are necessary in the case of thin film evaporation.
Ultrathin CNx Overcoats for 1 Tb/in2 Hard Disk Drive Systems
Authors: Li De-Jun , Guruz Murat U. , Chung Yip-Wah
Published: March 2020

Carbon nitride films were grown on silicon and hard disk substrates using pulsed dc magnetron sputtering in a single cathode deposition system. Substrates were mounted on a specially designed rotating holder that allowed 45° tilt angle and substrate rotation about the surface normal up to 20 rpm. AFM scans over 10×10 μm2 showed that 50 nm thick CNx films prepared under optimum substrate bias conditions have r.m.s. surface roughness almost four times lower than those prepared without substrate tilt and rotation. We observed a two-fold reduction in corrosion damage for hard disk substrates with 1 nm CNx overcoats deposited with substrate tilt and rotation. This improved performance is likely a result of more efficient and uniform momentum transfer parallel to the surface during deposition in this configuration.
Tribology of High Density Tape Storage Systems
Authors: Osaki Hiroyuki
Published: March 2020

Decreasing track width and tape thickness to increase the volumetric recording density of tape drive systems will result in the failure of tracking. The decrease in the tape thickness causes the vertical displacement of the tape forwarding position, which is controlled by pressing the lower tape edge against the lead of a stationary drum. The position of the upper tape edge is controlled by the height of the flanges of the roller guides beside the drum. The displacement of tape forwarding position causes the failure of tracking, especially with narrow track. The reduction of the static friction coefficient between the tape and the roller guides in a drive was found to be effective to reduce the excessive force with which the tape edges are pressed to the flanges or the lead, which will cause the displacement of the tape forwarding position.
An investigation of elastic waves producing stone fracture in burst wave lithotripsy
Authors: Maxwell Adam D. , MacConaghy Brian , Bailey Michael R. , Sapozhnikov Oleg A.
Published: March 2020

Burst wave lithotripsy is a method to noninvasively fragment urinary stones by short pulses of focused ultrasound. In this study, physical mechanisms of stone fracture during burst wave lithotripsy were investigated. Photoelasticity imaging was used to visualize elastic wave propagation in model stones and compare results to numerical calculations. Epoxy and glass stone models were made into rectangular, cylindrical, or irregular geometries and exposed in a degassed water bath to focused ultrasound bursts at different frequencies. A high-speed camera was used to record images of the stone during exposure through a circular polariscope backlit by a monochromatic flash source. Imaging showed the development of periodic stresses in the stone body with a pattern dependent on frequency. These patterns were identified as guided wave modes in cylinders and plates, which formed standing waves upon reflection from the distal surfaces of the stone model, producing specific locations of stress concentration in the models. Measured phase velocities compared favorably to numerically calculated modes dependent on frequency and material. Artificial stones exposed to bursts produced cracks at positions anticipated by this mechanism. These results support guided wave generation and reflection as a mechanism of stone fracture in burst wave lithotripsy.
Epigenetic Suppression of HIV in Myeloid Cells by the BRD4-Selective Small Molecule Modulator ZL0580
Authors: Alamer Edrous , Zhong Chaojie , Liu Zhiqing , Niu Qingli , Long Fuquan , Guo Lulu , Gelman Benjamin B. , Soong Lynn , Zhou Jia , Hu Haitao
Published: March 2020

Brain-resident microglia and perivascular macrophages are important HIV reservoirs in the CNS. Persistent viral replication and latent HIV reactivation in the CNS, even under ART, are believed to occur, causing neuroinflammation and neurological disorders in HIV-infected patients. It is critical to identify new approaches that can control residual HIV replication and/or latent HIV reactivation in these reservoirs. We here report that the BRD4-selective small molecule modulator, ZL0580, induces potent and durable suppression of HIV in human microglial and monocytic cell lines. Using an
in vitro
HIV-infected, ART-treated MDM model, we show that ZL0580 also induces suppressive effect on HIV in human primary macrophages. The significance of our research is that it suggests a potential new approach that has utility in combination with ART to suppress residual HIV replication and/or HIV reactivation in CNS reservoirs, thereby reducing neuroinflammation and neurological disorders in HIV-infected individuals.
Autism spectrum disorder and unintentional fatal drowning of children and adolescents in Australia: an epidemiological analysis
Authors: Peden Amy E , Willcox-Pidgeon Stacey
Published: March 2020

Objectives

This study explored unintentional fatal drowning among children and adolescents (0–19 years) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Australia.

Design

This total population, cross-sectional audit used data from the Royal Life Saving National Fatal Drowning Database to explore demographic and causal factors in ASD drowning cases between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2018. Rates and relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for drowning cases with and without ASD, using estimated population-level prevalence data.

Results

Of the 667 cases of drowning among 0–19 year olds with known medical history, 27 children and adolescents (4.0%) who drowned had an ASD diagnosis. Children and adolescents with ASD were three times more likely to drown than those without ASD (RR=2.85; CI 0.61 to 13.24). Among those with ASD, 0–4 year olds record the highest rate (11.60/100 000 diagnosed). Children and adolescents with ASD were significantly more likely to drown when compared with those without ASD: if aged 5–9 years (44.4% of ASD-yes cases; 13.3% of ASD-no cases); in a lake or dam (25.9% vs 10.0%) and during winter (37.0% vs 13.1%).

Conclusion

Heightened awareness of drowning risk for children and adolescents with ASD is required, including adult supervision and barriers restricting water access. Further evaluation of the effectiveness of personal alarms to alert caregivers to an unsupervised child is warranted. Challenges exist regarding accurate estimates of population-level ASD prevalence and identification of ASD in coronial files. As the diagnosis of ASD does not often occur until age five, results may be an underestimate.
Macrophage activation syndrome as an initial presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus with sensorineural hearing loss in a young male patient
Authors: Tan Chou Luan , Yahaya Muhammad Hafizuddin , Ahmad Noor Shahrazat , Lim Chong Hong
Published: March 2020

An 18-year-old male adolescent presented with prolonged high spiking temperature, photosensitive rash, oral ulcers and reduced hearing bilaterally of recent onset. Examination revealed malar rash, vasculitis rash over bilateral palms and soles, oral and buccal ulcers, palpable posterior auricular and inguinal lymph nodes, and reduced hearing bilaterally. His further investigations noted pancytopaenia, elevated transaminases, hyperferritinaemia, low C3 and C4 levels, positive antinuclear antibody, double-stranded DNA and direct Coombs test, while bone marrow aspiration revealed active phagocytic activity suggestive of hemophagocytic syndrome. We made a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus with macrophage activation syndrome. We treated him with pulse intravenous methylprednisolone and his condition improved drastically. Temperature resolved on the next day after intravenous methylprednisolone; bilateral sensorineural hearing loss improved to near-normal hearing after treatment. He remained well during follow-up with a tapering dose of prednisolone.
Intravenous leiomyomatosis: the first reported case of intraoperative intracaval embolisation of tumour to the right atrium
Authors: Corbett Gillian A , O'Gorman Catherine , Kamran Waseem
Published: March 2020

Intravenous leiomyomatosis is extremely rare. This case describes a 42-year-old woman who presented with abdominal distension, cyclical bloating and urinary retention. Preoperative imaging showed a multilobulated uterine mass. Following multidisciplinary team discussion, a complete staging surgery consisting of midline laparotomy, total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophrectomy was performed. Intraoperatively, a large multilobulated uterine mass was noted with engorgement of the infundibulopelvic ligaments due to intravascular extension of tumour. On removal of the uterus, the patient desaturated and became hypotensive. Intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography revealed mass extending from the inferior vena cava (IVC) into the right atrium (RA). The cardiothoracic surgical team retrieved a worm-like mass extending from the IVC into the RA. Histopathological examination diagnosed a large uterine leiomyoma with intravenous leiomyomatosis. The mass from the RA was a bland spindle cell tumour which matched the uterine mass histopathologically. Intravenous leiomyomatosis is a rare variant of uterine leiomyoma. Although intracardiac extension has been described, this is the first case of intraoperative embolisation of pelvic tumour to the RA at hysterectomy.
Rapidly progressive course of pauci-immune pulmonary capillaritis in a 70-year-old Asian male refractory to immunosuppression and plasma exchange
Authors: Jiang Chuan , Martinez Pena Grace Nabila , Xie Meng , Gafoor Khalid
Published: March 2020

A 70-year-old man presented with acute respiratory failure, alveolar infiltrates and haemoptysis requiring supplemental oxygen. Flexible bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage identifies diffuse alveolar haemorrhage. Clinical and serological evaluations do not identify a precise aetiology and histopathology establishes the diagnosis of isolated pauci-immune pulmonary capillaritis. The patient received induction therapy with high dose methylprednisolone at 1000 mg/day for 5 days and weekly rituximab at 375 mg/m2scheduled over 4 weeks. Although the patient demonstrated clinical improvement after the first week, he experienced a rapid relapse requiring mechanical ventilation. His induction rituximab regimen was continued and plasma exchange was initiated. Despite these therapies, the patient’s condition deteriorated and passed away. Our case adds insight to the management of this rare entity and describes the use of plasma exchange as salvage therapy.
Acute adrenal insufficiency as a mysterious cause of shock following percutaneous coronary intervention: a cardiologist’s nightmare
Authors: Kumar Barun , Kodliwadmath Ashwin , Singh Anupam , Duggal Bhanu
Published: March 2020

The differential diagnosis of shock following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is vast. Access site complications and bleeding can cause hypovolemic shock. Peri-procedural myocardial infarction, abrupt closure, stent thrombosis, coronary dissection and coronary perforation have a stormy presentation. Vasovagal shock is manifested by bradycardia and hypotension and quickly responds to atropine. Anaphylactic shock secondary to contrast administration can be stormy but usually responds to steroids or adrenaline. Septicemia due to unsterile techniques can cause a less dramatic shock. Acute adrenal insufficiency causing shock following PCI has not been described to the best of our knowledge. We report the case of a 54-year-old woman who underwent successful multivessel PCI. She had refractory unexplained shock following the PCI with no much response from inotropic or intra-aortic balloon pump. After ruling out all possible causes of shock and clinical suspicion of adrenal insufficiency, she was treated with steroids resulting in dramatic improvement in her hemodynamics.
Sex differences in the efficacy of antihypertensive treatment in preventing cardiovascular outcomes and reducing blood pressure: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Gasbarrino Karina , Labos Christopher , Mastropietro Victoria , Hales Lindsay , Khan Nadia , Rabi Doreen , Daskalopoulou Stella S
Published: March 2020

Introduction

Hypertension is a leading cause of mortality worldwide and its prevalence is expected to rise over the next decade. Sex differences exist in the epidemiology and pathophysiology of hypertension. It is well established that antihypertensive treatment can significantly reduce the risk for stroke and other cardiovascular disease events. However, it remains unclear whether this effect is dependent on sex. In this protocol, we outlined a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of antihypertensive therapy in (1) reducing blood pressure and (2) preventing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality outcomes for each sex separately.

Methods and analysis

The following electronic databases will be searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus, Web of Science, grey literature (Google Scholar) and several trial registries. Search strategies will be designed to identify human adult (≥18) randomised (and non-randomised) controlled trials, prospective and retrospective cohort studies, and case–control studies concerning ‘sex-specific differences associated with the efficacy of antihypertensive treatment’. A preliminary search strategy was developed for Medline (1946—16 September 2019). Two investigators will independently review each article included in the final analysis. Primary outcomes investigated are cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Pooled analyses will be conducted using the random-effects model. Publication bias will be assessed by visual inspection of funnel plots and by Begg’s and Egger’s statistical tests. Between-studies heterogeneity will be measured using the I2test (p<0.10). Sources of heterogeneity will be explored by sensitivity, subgroup and metaregression analyses.

Ethics and dissemination

This is the first meta-analysis that will comprehensively compare the efficacy of antihypertensive treatment regimens between men and women. Findings will be shared through scientific conferences and societies, social media and consumer advocacy groups. Results will be used to inform the current guidelines for management of hypertension in men and women by demonstrating the importance of implementing sex-specific recommendations. Ethical considerations are not applicable for this protocol.
A purified membrane protein from Akkermansia muciniphila or the pasteurised bacterium blunts colitis associated tumourigenesis by modulation of CD8+ T cells in mice
Authors: Wang Lijuan , Tang Lei , Feng Yiming , Zhao Suying , Han Mei , Zhang Chuan , Yuan Gehui , Zhu Jun , Cao Shuyuan , Wu Qian , Li Lei , Zhang Zhan
Published: March 2020

Objective

Gut microbiota have been linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) is a gram-negative anaerobic bacterium that is selectively decreased in the faecal microbiota of patients with IBD, but its causative role and molecular mechanism in blunting colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) remain inconclusive. This study investigates how A. muciniphila engages the immune response in CAC.

Design

Mice were given dextran sulfate sodium to induce colitis, followed by azoxymethane to establish CAC with or without pasteurised A. muciniphila or a specific outer membrane protein (Amuc_1100) treatment. Faeces from mice and patients with IBD or CRC were collected for 16S rRNA sequencing. The effects of A. muciniphila or Amuc_1100 on the immune response in acute colitis and CAC were investigated.

Results

A. muciniphila was significantly reduced in patients with IBD and mice with colitis or CAC. A. muciniphila or Amuc_1100 could improve colitis, with a reduction in infiltrating macrophages and CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the colon. Their treatment also decreased CD16/32+ macrophages in the spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) of colitis mice. Amuc_1100 elevated PD-1+ CTLs in the spleen. Moreover, A. muciniphila and Amuc_1100 blunted tumourigenesis by expanding CTLs in the colon and MLN. Remarkably, they activated CTLs in the MLN, as indicated by TNF-α induction and PD-1downregulation. Amuc_1100 could stimulate and activate CTLs from splenocytes in CT26 cell conditioned medium.

Conclusions

These data indicate that pasteurised A. muciniphila or Amuc_1100 can blunt colitis and CAC through the modulation of CTLs.
Use of health services by preschool-aged children who are developmentally vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged: testing the inverse care law
Authors: Woolfenden Sue , Galea Claire , Badland Hannah , Smithers Sheedy Hayley , Williams Katrina , Kavanagh Anne M , Reddihough Dinah , Goldfeld Sharon , Lingam Raghu , Badawi Nadia , O'Connor Meredith
Published: March 2020

Aim

The inverse care law suggests that those with the greatest need for services are least likely to receive them. Our aim of this study was to test the inverse care law in relation to the use of health services by children aged 4–5 years in Australia who were developmentally vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Method

Cross-sectional data were collected from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children birth cohort when the children were aged 4–5 years. Children were grouped according to the combination of developmental vulnerability (yes, no) and socioeconomic disadvantage (lower, higher), resulting in four groups (reference group: developmentally vulnerable and disadvantaged). Multivariate regression was used to examine the impact of the combination of developmental vulnerability and disadvantage on health service use, adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

3967 (90%) of children had data on developmental vulnerability at 4–5 years. A third of children (32.6%) were classified as developmentally vulnerable, and 10%–25% of these children had used health services. Non-disadvantaged children who were developmentally vulnerable (middle need) had 1.4–2.0 times greater odds of using primary healthcare, specialist and hospital services; and non-disadvantaged children who were not developmentally vulnerable (lowest need) had 1.6–1.8 times greater odds of using primary healthcare services, compared with children who were developmentally vulnerable and disadvantaged (highest need).

Conclusion

We found some evidence of the inverse care law. Equity in service delivery remains a challenge that is critically important to tackle in ensuring a healthy start for children.
Peripheral blood markers of sepsis in foals born from mares with experimentally induced ascending placentitis
Authors: Borba Luciana de Araujo , Nogueira Carlos Eduardo Wayne , Bruhn Fábio Raphael Pascoti , da Silva Gabriela Castro , Feijó Lorena Soares , Canisso Igor F. , Curcio Bruna da Rosa
Published: March 2020

Background

Neonatal sepsis is a leading cause of neonatal death during the first‐week postfoaling. Despite recent advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis in the newborn foal, the non‐specific clinical signs and subtle nature of this disease may result in delayed diagnosis until severe progression of the disease; thus, early detection of sepsis remains critical for a favourable outcome. This study aimed to identify early blood markers as predictive of sepsis on foals.

Methods

Thirty‐five foals were allocated into three groups: healthy control foals (n=7) and foals born from mares with placentitis: septic foals (n=9) and non‐septic foals (n=19). Blood samples were obtained immediately after foaling and at 12, 24 and 48 hours. All samples were assessed for glucose, lactate, triglycerides, total cholesterol, urea, creatinine, total solids, fibrinogen, gamma‐glutamyl transferase (GGT), serum amyloid A (SAA) and alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) concentrations.

Results

At foaling, glucose and GGT concentrations were lower in septic foals (P<0.001). Of interest, SAA, AFP, creatinine and total cholesterol were higher in septic foals at parturition (P<0.05). At 12 hours, lactate, triglycerides and total cholesterol concentrations were higher in septic foals. When evaluated at 24 and 48 hours, higher concentrations of SAA and AFP were found in placentitis foals than in the control group.

Conclusions

Total cholesterol and lactate appear to be suitable markers for sepsis during the first 24 hours postpartum. Septic foals displayed altered energy metabolisms as determined by increased triglycerides and cholesterol concentrations, hypoglycaemia at birth and reduced activity of the GGT and increased lactate and urea concentrations. Sepsis was associated with high concentrations of SAA and AFP.
Countable approximation of topological G-manifolds, II: linear Lie groups G
Authors: Khan Qayum
Published: March 2020

Let [Formula: see text] be a matrix group. Topological [Formula: see text]-manifolds with Palais-proper action have the [Formula: see text]-homotopy type of countable [Formula: see text]-CW complexes (3.2). This generalizes Elfving’s dissertation theorem for locally linear [Formula: see text]-manifolds (1996). Also, we improve the Bredon–Floyd theorem from compact Lie groups [Formula: see text] to arbitrary Lie groups [Formula: see text].
The contribution of publications of the Yorkshire Geological Society to the understanding of the geological development of the Carboniferous Pennine Basin, northern England
Authors: Waters C. N. , Holliday D. W. , Chisholm J. I.
Published: March 2020

The Carboniferous rocks of the Pennine Basin form the topographical spine of the region between the Scottish Border and the Peak District. They provided many of the mineral resources that fuelled the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the great northern English cities. The description of these resources was very much a focus of early papers in the
Proceedings
, but they went beyond the assessment of their economic importance, providing striking early insights into our understanding of deep time when the Bible still had a strong control on scientific thinking. Over a 180 year history of publication, the
Proceedings
and
Occasional Publications
contain an unparalleled description of the rocks of the Pennine Basin of Carboniferous deposition, and they continue to provide great insight into what have been intensively studied successions but of which much still remains to be learned. This review considers the relevance of these publications to our understanding of the sedimentology of Carboniferous strata, the geometries of Carboniferous basins, how these basins constrained the formation of reefs and controlled the movement of rivers and deltas in the process of eventual infill of these basins, and how sea-level variations influenced the development of cyclical successions, the hallmark of much of the Carboniferous succession.
Efficient Ridesharing Framework for Ride-matching via Heterogeneous Network Embedding
Authors: Tang Lei , Liu Zihang , Zhao Yaling , Duan Zongtao , Jia Jingchi
Published: March 2020

Ridesharing has attracted increasing attention in recent years, and combines the flexibility and speed of private cars with the reduced cost of fixed-line systems to benefit alleviating traffic pressure. A major issue in ridesharing is the accurate assignment of passengers to drivers, and how to maximize the number of rides shared between people being assigned to different drivers has become an increasingly popular research topic. There are two major challenges facing ride-matching: scalability and sparsity. Here, we show that network embedding drives the optimal matches between drivers and riders. Contrary to existing approaches that merely depend on the proximity between passengers and drivers, we employ a heterogeneous network to learn the latent semantics from different choices in two types of ridesharing, and extract features in terms of user trajectories and sentiment. A novel framework for ridesharing, RShareForm, which encodes not only the objects but also a variety of semantic relationships between them, is proposed. This article extends the existing skip-gram model to incorporate meta-paths over a proposed heterogeneous network. It allows diverse features to be used to search for similar participants and then ranks them to improve the quality of ride-matching. Extensive experiments on a large-scale dataset from DiDi in Chengdu, China show that by leveraging heterogeneous network embedding with meta paths, RShareForm can significantly improve the accuracy of identifying the participants for ridesharing over existing methods, including both meta-path guided similarity search methods and variants of embedding methods.
MP
2
SDA
Authors: Bian Jiang , Xiong Haoyi , Fu Yanjie , Huan Jun , Guo Zhishan
Published: March 2020

Sparse Discriminant Analysis (SDA) has been widely used to improve the performance of classical Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Analysis in supervised metric learning, feature selection, and classification. With the increasing needs of distributed data collection, storage, and processing, enabling the Sparse Discriminant Learning to embrace the multi-party distributed computing environments becomes an emerging research topic. This article proposes a novel multi-party SDA algorithm, which can learn SDA models effectively without sharing any raw data and basic statistics among machines. The proposed algorithm (1) leverages the direct estimation of SDA to derive a distributed loss function for the discriminant learning, (2) parameterizes the distributed loss function with local/global estimates through bootstrapping, and (3) approximates a global estimation of linear discriminant projection vector by optimizing the “distributed bootstrapping loss function” with gossip-based stochastic gradient descent. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world benchmark datasets show that our algorithm can compete with the aggregated SDA with similar performance, and significantly outperforms the most recent distributed SDA in terms of accuracy and F1-score.
Linearization of Dependency and Sampling for Participation-based Betweenness Centrality in Very Large B-hypergraphs
Authors: Lee Kwang Hee , Kim Myoung Ho
Published: March 2020

A B-hypergraph consisting of nodes and directed hyperedges is a generalization of the directed graph. A directed hyperedge in the B-hypergraph represents a relation from a set of source nodes to a single destination node. We suggest one possible definition of betweenness centrality (BC) in B-hypergraphs, called Participation-based BC (PBC). A PBC score of a node is computed based on the number of the shortest paths in which the node participates. This score can be expressed in terms of dependency on the set of its outgoing hyperedges. In this article, we focus on developing efficient computation algorithms for PBC. We first present an algorithm called ePBC for computing exact PBC scores of nodes, which has a cubic-time complexity. This algorithm, however, can be used for only small-sized B-hypergraphs because of its cubic-time complexity, so we propose linearized PBC (
ℓ
PBC) that is an approximation method of ePBC.
ℓ
PBC that comes with a guaranteed upper bound on its error, uses a linearization of dependency on a set of hyperedges.
ℓ
PBC improves the computing time of ePBC by an order of magnitude (i.e., it requires a quadratic time) while maintaining a high accuracy.
ℓ
PBC works well on small to medium-sized B-hypergraphs, but is not scalable enough for a very large B-hypergraph with more than a million hyperedges. To cope with such a very large B-hypergraph, we propose a very fast heuristic sampling-based method called sampling-based
ℓ
PBC (s
ℓ
PBC). We show through extensive experiments that
ℓ
PBC and s
ℓ
PBC can efficiently estimate PBC scores in various real-world B-hypergraphs with a reasonably good precision@
k
. The experimental results show that s
ℓ
PBC works efficiently even for a very large B-hypergraph.
Chipping Away at Moore’s Law
Authors: Frazelle Jessie
Published: March 2020

Smaller transistors can do more calculations without overheating, which makes them more power efficient. It also allows for smaller die sizes, which reduce costs and can increase density, allowing more cores per chip. The silicon wafers that chips are made of vary in purity, and none are perfect, which means every chip has a chance of having imperfections that differ in effect. Manufacturers can limit the effect of imperfections by using chiplets.
Integrating synapse, muscle contraction, and autonomic nervous system game: effect on learning and evaluation of students’ opinions
Authors: Cardozo Lais Tono , Castro Amicio Pina , Guimarães Alexsandro Ferreira , Gutierrez Lucila Ludmila Paula , Montrezor Luís Henrique , Marcondes Fernanda Klein
Published: March 2020

This work describes the educational game “Integrating Synapse, Muscle Contraction, and Autonomic Nervous System,” which was developed to assist students in understanding and integrating concepts related to the physiology of synapses, muscle contraction, and the autonomic nervous system. Analysis was made of the effect of the game on learning and the students’ opinions about it. Dentistry students were divided into control and game groups. They attended lectures about the topics, after which the control group students were submitted to a test, whereas the game group performed the game activity before undertaking the test. The mean score was significantly higher for the game group, compared with the control group ( P < 0.05). Pharmacy students also attended lectures about these topics; in the next class, the students performed a pretest and the activity with the educational game. After the game, a posttest was applied. The mean scores were significantly higher for the posttest than for the pretest ( P < 0.05). Students of medicine attended the lectures and performed the activity with the educational game, without the learning assessment. All of the students answered a question, using a 5-point Likert-type scale, concerning whether they thought the activity with the game was useful for learning. The mean scores obtained by the dentistry, pharmacy, and medicine students were 4.7 ± 0.6, 4.9 ± 0.3, and 4.3 ± 0.1, respectively. The educational game increased the learning of the undergraduate students, in agreement with their opinions of the strategy.
Novel insights into cardiac regeneration based on differential fetal and adult ovine heart transcriptomic analysis
Authors: Locatelli Paola , Belaich Mariano N. , López Ayelén E. , Olea Fernanda D. , Uranga Vega Martín , Giménez Carlos S. , Simonin Jorge Alejandro , Bauzá María del Rosario , Castillo Marta G. , Cuniberti Luis A. , Crottogini Alberto , Cerrudo Carolina S. , Ghiringhelli Pablo D.
Published: March 2020

The adult mammalian cardiomyocyte has a very limited capacity to reenter the cell cycle and advance into mitosis. Therefore, diseases characterized by lost contractile tissue usually evolve into myocardial remodeling and heart failure. Analyzing the cardiac transcriptome at different developmental stages in a large mammal closer to the human than laboratory rodents may serve to disclose positive and negative cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulators potentially targetable to induce cardiac regeneration in the clinical setting. Thus we aimed at characterizing the transcriptomic profiles of the early fetal, late fetal, and adult sheep heart by employing RNA-seq technique and bioinformatic analysis to detect protein-encoding genes that in some of the stages were turned off, turned on, or differentially expressed. Genes earlier proposed as positive cell cycle regulators such as cyclin A, cdk2, meis2, meis3, and PCNA showed higher expression in fetal hearts and lower in AH, as expected. In contrast, genes previously proposed as cell cycle inhibitors, such as meis1, p16, and sav1, tended to be higher in fetal than in adult hearts, suggesting that these genes are involved in cell processes other than cell cycle regulation. Additionally, we described Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of different sets of genes. GO analysis revealed that differentially expressed gene sets were mainly associated with metabolic and cellular processes. The cell cycle-related genes fam64a, cdc20, and cdk1, and the metabolism-related genes pitx and adipoq showed strong differential expression between fetal and adult hearts, thus being potent candidates to be targeted in human cardiac regeneration strategies.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY We characterized the transcriptomic profiles of the fetal and adult sheep hearts employing RNAseq technique and bioinformatic analyses to provide sets of transcripts whose variation in expression level may link them to a specific role in cell cycle regulation. It is important to remark that this study was performed in a large mammal closer to humans than laboratory rodents. In consequence, the results can be used for further translational studies in cardiac regeneration.
Flow profile characteristics in Fontan circulation are associated with the single ventricle dilation and function: principal component analysis study
Authors: Schäfer Michal , Frank Benjamin S. , Humphries Stephen M. , Hunter Kendall S. , Carmody Katherine L. , Jacobsen Roni , Mitchell Max B. , Jaggers James , Stone Matthew L. , Morgan Gareth J. , Barker Alex J. , Browne Lorna P. , Ivy D. Dunbar , Younoszai Adel , Di Maria Michael V.
Published: March 2020

The Fontan circulation is characterized as a nonpulsatile flow propagation without a pressure-generating ventricle. However, flow through the Fontan circulation still exhibits oscillatory waves as a result of pressure changes generated by the systemic single ventricle. Identification of discrete flow patterns through the Fontan circuit may be important to understand single ventricle performance. Ninety-seven patients with Fontan circulation underwent phase-contrast MRI of the right pulmonary artery, yielding subject-specific flow waveforms. Principal component (PC) analysis was performed on preprocessed flow waveforms. Principal components were then correlated with standard MRI indices of function, volume, and aortopulmonary collateral flow. The first principal component (PC) described systolic versus diastolic-dominant flow through the Fontan circulation, accounting for 31.3% of the variance in all waveforms. The first PC correlated with end-diastolic volume ( R = 0.34, P = 0.001), and end-systolic volume ( R = 0.30, P = 0.003), cardiac index ( R = 0.51, P < 0.001), and the amount of aortopulmonary collateral flow ( R = 0.25, P = 0.027)—lower ventricular volumes and a smaller volume of collateral flow—were associated with diastolic-dominant cavopulmonary flow. The second PC accounted for 19.5% of variance and described late diastolic acceleration versus deceleration and correlated with ejection fraction—diastolic deceleration was associated with higher ejection fraction. Principal components describing the diastolic flow variations in pulmonary arteries are related to the single ventricle function and volumes. Particularly, diastolic-dominant flow without late acceleration appears to be related to preserved ventricular volume and function, respectively.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY The exact physiological significance of flow oscillations of phasic and temporal flow variations in Fontan circulation is unknown. With the use of principal component analysis, we discovered that flow variations in the right pulmonary artery of Fontan patients are related to the single ventricle function and volumes. Particularly, diastolic-dominant flow without late acceleration appears to be related to more ideal ventricular volume and systolic function, respectively.
A Group Identification Protocol with Leakage Resilience of Secret Sharing Scheme
Authors: Li Ping , Li Shengjun , Yan Hongyang , Ke Lishan , Huang Teng , Hassan Alzubair
Published: March 2020

Secret sharing has been study for many years and has had a number of real-word applications. There are several methods to construct the secret-sharing schemes. One of them is based on coding theory. In this work, we construct a secret-sharing scheme that realizes an access structure by using linear codes, in which any element of the access structure can reconstruct the secret key. We prove that our scheme is a multiprover zero-knowledge proof system in the random oracle model, which shows that a passive adversary gains no information about the secret key. Our scheme is also a leakage-resilient secret-sharing scheme (LRSS) in the bounded-leakage model, which remain provably secure even if the adversary learns a bounded amount of leakage information about their secret key. As an application, we propose a new group identification protocol (GID-scheme) from our LRSS. We prove that our GID-scheme is a leakage-resilient scheme. In our leakage-resilient GID-scheme, the verifier believes the validity of qualified group members and tolerates l bits of adversarial leakage in the distribution protocol, whereas for unqualified group members, the verifier cannot believe their valid identifications in the proof protocol.
Dissecting the Interaction Deficiency of a Cartilaginous Fish Digestive Lipase with Pancreatic Colipase: Biochemical and Structural Insights
Authors: Achouri Neila , Tomàs-Gamisans Màrius , Triki Soumaya , Valero Francisco , Miled Nabil , Fendri Ahmed , Smichi Nabil
Published: March 2020

A full‐length cDNA encoding digestive lipase (SmDL) was cloned from the pancreas of the smooth‐hound (Mustelus mustelus). The obtained cDNA was 1350 bp long encoding 451 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence has high similarity with known pancreatic lipases. Catalytic triad and disulphide bond positions are also conserved. According to the established phylogeny, the SmDL was grouped with those of tuna and Sparidae lipases into one fish digestive lipase cluster. The recently purified enzyme shows no dependence for bile salts and colipase. For this, the residue‐level interactions between lipase‐colipase are yet to be clearly understood. The structural model of the SmDL was built, and several dissimilarities were noticed when analyzing the SmDL amino acids corresponding to those involved in HPL binding to colipase. Interestingly, the C‐terminal domain of SmDL which holds the colipase shows a significant role for colipase interaction. This is apt to prevent the interaction between fish lipase and the pancreatic colipase which and can provide more explanation on the fact that the classical colipase is unable to activate the SmDL.
The State of Occupational Health and Safety Management Frameworks (OHSMF) and Occupational Injuries and Accidents in the Ghanaian Oil and Gas Industry: Assessing the Mediating Role of Safety Knowledge
Authors: Liu Suxia , Nkrumah Edmund Nana Kwame , Akoto Linda Serwah , Gyabeng Emmanuel , Nkrumah Erasmus
Published: March 2020

Background. The study examines the mediation effect of safety knowledge in causal the relationship between Occupational Health and Safety Management Frameworks (OHSMF) and occupational injuries and workplace accidents in the Ghanaian Oil and Gas Industry. The study explores different dimensions of occupational health and safety management systems, workplace accidents, and occupational injuries. The study adopted a cross‐sectional survey design. A total of 699 respondents through a convenience and purposive sampling technique were selected in three government‐owned oil and gas organizations for the study. Correlation, multiple regression analysis, and bootstrapping methods were used for data analysis. The findings of both the regression and correlation analysis indicated that there is a moderately strong negative and significant relationship between Occupational Health and Safety Management Frameworks (OHSMF) and workplace accidents and occupational injuries. Safety knowledge significantly mediates the causal relationship between OHSMF and workplace accidents and injuries. Safety training was found to be a significant predictor of safety knowledge, work‐related injuries, and workplace accidents. The negative relationship between OHSMF and workplace accidents and injuries shows that the existing OHSMF are either ineffective or lack the acceptable safety standards to control hazard exposures in the industry. Management must invest in frequent safety training and orientations to improve safety knowledge among workers. The study further recommends government and industry players to extend serious attention towards the promotion and improvement of occupational health and safety management systems in Ghana.