bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
First Light Preparations of the 4m ILMT
Authors: Kumar Brajesh , Kumar Hitesh , Dangwal Khushal Singh , Rawat Himanshu , Misra Kuntal , Negi Vibhore , Jaiswar Mukesh Kumar , Dukiya Naveen , Ailawadhi Bhavya , Hickson Paul , Surdej Jean
Published: February 2023

The 4[Formula: see text]m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is a zenith-pointing optical observing facility at ARIES Devasthal observatory (Uttarakhand, India). The first light preparatory activities of the ILMT were accomplished in April 2022 followed by on-sky tests that were carried out at the beginning of May 2022. This telescope will perform a multi-band optical (SDSS [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) imaging of a narrow strip ([Formula: see text]) of sky utilizing the time-delayed integration technique. Single-scan ILMT images have an integration time of 102[Formula: see text]s and consecutive-night images can be co-added to further improve the signal-to-noise ratio. An image subtraction technique will also be applied to the nightly recorded observations in order to detect transients, objects exhibiting variations in flux or position. Presently, the facility is in the commissioning phase and regular operation will commence in March 2023. This paper presents a discussion of the main preparation activities before first light, along with preliminary results obtained.
Hf isotopes in detrital zircon grains of the Sierra Albarrana Domain (SW Iberian Massif): Eburnean v. Archean basement signatures
Authors: Solís-Alulima Byron , Abati Jacobo , López-Carmona Alicia , Gutiérrez-Alonso Gabriel , Fernández-Suárez Javier , Stockli Daniel F.
Published: February 2023

This study presents Lu–Hf data on detrital zircon grains from the Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary successions of the Sierra Albarrana Domain (SW Iberian Massif). We provide new information about their origin, record of continental crustal evolution and geological affinity. Previous detrital zircon U–Pb data in this terrane reveal two main age populations, with age peaks at
c.
595 Ma and
c.
1.90 Ga. The Ediacaran events are interpreted to represent a magmatic arc with input of juvenile magmas intruding into the Eburnean basement of Gondwana, and probably mixing with it. The different evolutionary stages of the arc were probably linked to the Cadomian Orogeny during Neoproterozoic–earliest Cambrian times. The Paleoproterozoic zircon population corresponds to the Eburnean Orogeny. The magmas derived from an Eburnean depleted mantle partly intruded an older basement, leading to an incipient mixing process.

ε

Hf isotopic compositions indicate a possible affinity with the Central Iberian Zone, suggesting a common geological setting during Ediacaran–Cambrian times but different settings during the Paleoproterozoic.

Supplementary material:
A dataset of Lu/Hf analyses and a regional comparison of the

ε

Hf(
t
) dataset with published data for metasedimentary rocks of the Iberian Massif are available at
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6420215
Groundwater level monitoring of Danish chalk and limestone aquifers to survey trends in quantitative status and groundwater resources
Authors: Henriksen H. J. , Nilsson B. , Ditlefsen C. , Troldborg L. , Thorling L.
Published: February 2023

Chalk and limestone aquifers contribute one-third of the drinking water supply in Denmark, and one-sixth of that national groundwater resource is assessed as having a ‘Poor’ status in terms of the quantitative Water Framework Directive due to intensive abstraction. This paper describes the national groundwater level monitoring network with regard to the following three applications: (1) when used for the annual surveying and reporting of groundwater resources and impacts from climate and groundwater abstraction; (2) as part of real-time monitoring and modelling for daily and seasonal forecasting; and (3) for tracking long-term climate change impacts on groundwater levels. Groundwater level monitoring provides a particularly important indicator of abstraction pressure and sustainable balance compared with recharge.

Many larger chalk and limestone groundwater bodies in Denmark are only monitored by local water companies and not represented in the national groundwater level network. This raises the concern that current national groundwater level monitoring does not fully support integrated modelling and assessment purposes for chalk and limestone groundwater bodies. This also implies that, for tracking long-term climate change and anthropogenic impacts on groundwater levels, the national groundwater monitoring network especially lacks long-term records with complete 30-year time-series for many intensively exploited large chalk and limestone aquifers.
Research on pattern recognition of different music types in the context of AI with the help of multimedia information processing
Authors: Sun Wei , Sundarasekar Revathi
Published: February 2023

Music is a form of art in which the sounds are timed and organized. Music is a kind of entertainment that mixes sounds in a way that people like, find fascinating, or to which they desire to dance. Most music is created via one or more people's vocal or instrumental efforts. By the dictionary, music is defined as having at least one of the following three elements: rhythm, melody, and harmony. Music is utilized in therapy because of its apparent benefits on behavior. Various physiological circumstances have different metabolite expression patterns that can be studied using pattern recognition in multimedia information processing. Music therapy includes various activities, including singing, playing instruments, dancing, and listening to music. Music-making with artificial intelligence (AI) uses neural networks, which are massive collections of computer bits that aim to stimulate brain activity. The neural network (NN) may be bombarded with music to see if it picks up on patterns the way the human brain does when repeatedly exposed to new stimuli. It will get the hang of them eventually. Experts believed that AI would be unable to generate music unless it first mimics a human-created data collection. By providing a conceptual paradigm for multimedia information processing. The end effect will be entirely different depending on how many hours of music are placed into it. For AI to learn from patterns or features in data on its own, it needs big data (BD), fast, repeated processing, and complex algorithms. The use of technology makes the process of creating analytical models much faster. A new AI-BD tool is an opportunity, not a danger for people currently working as artists. People are beginning to ask what constitutes acceptable work as AI grows more prominent in the music and art industries to gain efficiency of 97.8%. Future music will be heavily impacted by listeners' bodies and emotions all the time. For example, wearable technology may detect a person's mood and play the music that matches it. It is the next step in personalization. The AI-BD methodology improves the efficiency, accuracy, etc., compared to other existing models by gaining 97.8%, performance analysis 97.2%, reliability ratio 95.6%, and survivability analysis 98.2%.
Tracing Participation Beyond Computing Careers: How Women Reflect on Their Experiences in Computing Programs
Authors: Perez Melissa , Garcia Patricia
Published: February 2023

Norms and values in computing education are constantly changing as dominant narratives about the role of computing in society evolve over time. Within the current evolving landscape of computing education, researchers and practitioners have advocated for ensuring people from all backgrounds, and particularly women, non-binary, and Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people, are able to participate equitably within the field of computing. Yet, the values of computing educational experiences are narrowly framed within career outcomes, such as securing a career in computing, leaving many important experiences and ways of participating in the field out of the picture. To address this, we conducted reflective interviews with women who participated in broadening participation in computing (BPC) programs to understand their perceptions of computing and how it aligns (or not) with what they value about their experiences in computing learning environments. We investigate the following research questions: (1) How do women who participated in BPC programs describe their perceptions of computing? (2) How do those perceptions align or misalign with the program outcomes they valued? The findings from our study call attention to tensions arising from centering “computing careers” in BPC work and highlight the outcomes of participation valued by the women in our study, such as developing communities and relationships, gaining communication skills, and expanding perspectives on skills computer scientists should possess.
TriCache: A User-Transparent Block Cache Enabling High-Performance Out-of-Core Processing with In-Memory Programs
Authors: Feng Guanyu , Cao Huanqi , Zhu Xiaowei , Yu Bowen , Wang Yuanwei , Ma Zixuan , Chen Shengqi , Chen Wenguang
Published: February 2023

Out-of-core systems rely on high-performance cache sub-systems to reduce the number of I/O operations. Although the page cache in modern operating systems enables transparent access to memory and storage devices, it suffers from efficiency and scalability issues on cache misses, forcing out-of-core systems to design and implement their own cache components, which is a non-trivial task.

This study proposes TriCache, a cache mechanism that enables in-memory programs to efficiently process out-of-core datasets without requiring any code rewrite. It provides a virtual memory interface on top of the conventional block interface to simultaneously achieve user transparency and sufficient out-of-core performance. A multi-level block cache design is proposed to address the challenge of per-access address translations required by a memory interface. It can exploit spatial and temporal localities in memory or storage accesses to render storage-to-memory address translation and page-level concurrency control adequately efficient for the virtual memory interface.

Our evaluation shows that in-memory systems operating on top of TriCache can outperform Linux OS page cache by more than one order of magnitude, and can deliver performance comparable to or even better than that of corresponding counterparts designed specifically for out-of-core scenarios.
Content-based and Knowledge-enriched Representations for Classification Across Modalities: A Survey
Authors: Pittaras Nikiforos , Giannakopoulos George , Stamatopoulos Panagiotis , Karkaletsis Vangelis
Published: February 2023

This survey documents representation approaches for classification across different modalities, from purely content-based methods to techniques utilizing external sources of structured knowledge. We present studies related to three paradigms used for representation, namely (a) low-level template-matching methods, (b) aggregation-based approaches, and (c) deep representation learning systems. We then describe existing resources of structure knowledge and elaborate on the need for enriching representations with such information. Approaches that utilize knowledge resources are presented next, organized with respect to how external information is exploited, i.e., (a) input enrichment and modification, (b) knowledge-based refinement and (c) end-to-end knowledge-aware systems. We subsequently provide a high-level discussion to summarize and compare strengths/weaknesses of the representation/enrichment paradigms proposed, and conclude the survey with an overview of relevant research findings and possible directions for future work.
Intelligence at the Extreme Edge: A Survey on Reformable TinyML
Authors: Rajapakse Visal , Karunanayake Ishan , Ahmed Nadeem
Published: February 2023

Machine Learning (TinyML) is an upsurging research field that proposes to democratize the use of Machine Learning and Deep Learning on highly energy-efficient frugal Microcontroller Units (MCUs). Considering the general assumption that TinyML can only run inference, growing interest in the domain has led to work that makes them reformable, i.e., solutions that permit models to improve once deployed. This work presents a survey on reformable TinyML solutions with the proposal of a novel taxonomy. Here, the suitability of each hierarchical layer for reformability is discussed. Furthermore, we explore the workflow of TinyML and analyze the identified deployment schemes, available tools, and the scarcely available benchmarking tools. Finally, we discuss how reformable TinyML can impact a few selected industrial areas and discuss the challenges, and future directions, and its fusion with next-generation AI.
Approximating to the Real Translation Quality for Neural Machine Translation via Causal Motivated Methods
Authors: Shi Xuewen , Huang Heyan , Jian Ping , Tang Yi-Kun
Published: February 2023

It is hard to evaluate translations objectively and accurately, which limits the applications of machine translation. In this article, we assume that the above phenomenon is caused by noise interference during translation evaluation, and we handle the problem through a perspective of causal inference. We assume that the observable translation score is affected by the unobservable true translation quality and some noise simultaneously. If there is a variable that is related to the noise and independent to the true translation quality, the related noise can be eliminated by removing the effect of that variable from the observed score. Based on the above causality hypothesis, this article studies the length bias problem of beam search for neural machine translation (NMT) and the input related noise problem of translation quality estimation (QE). For the NMT length bias problem, we conduct the experiments on four typical NMT tasks (Uyghur–Chinese, Chinese–English, English–German, and English–French) with different scales of datasets. Comparing with previous approaches, the proposed causal motivated method is model-agnostic and does not require supervised training. For QE tasks, we conduct the experiments on the WMT’20 submissions. Experimental results show that the denoised QE results gain better Pearson’s correlation scores with human assessed scores compared to the original submissions. Further analyses on the NMT and QE tasks also demonstrate the rationality of the empirical assumptions made on our methods.
Dynamic Personalized POI Sequence Recommendation with Fine-Grained Contexts
Authors: Chen Jing , Jiang Wenjun , Wu Jie , Li Kenli , Li Keqin
Published: February 2023

The Point Of Interest (POI) sequence recommendation is the key task in itinerary and travel route planning. Existing works usually consider the temporal and spatial factors in travel planning. However, the external environment, such as the weather, is usually overlooked. In fact, the weather is an important factor because it can affect a user’s check-in behaviors. Furthermore, most of the existing research is based on a static environment for POI sequence recommendation. While the external environment (e.g., the weather) may change during travel, it is difficult for existing works to adjust the POI sequence in time. What’s more, people usually prefer the attractive routes when traveling. To address these issues, we first conduct comprehensive data analysis on two real-world check-in datasets to study the effects of weather and time, as well as the features of the POI sequence. Based on this, we propose a model of Dynamic Personalized POI Sequence Recommendation with fine-grained contexts (
DPSR
for short). It extracts user interest and POI popularity with fine-grained contexts and captures the attractiveness of the POI sequence. Next, we apply the Monte Carlo Tree Search model (MCTS for short) to simulate the process of recommending POI sequence in the dynamic environment, i.e., the weather and time change after visiting a POI. What’s more, we consider different speeds to reflect the fact that people may take different transportation to transfer between POIs. To validate the efficacy of
DPSR
, we conduct extensive experiments. The results show that our model can improve the accuracy of the recommendation significantly. Furthermore, it can better meet user preferences and enhance experiences.
Towards Informative and Diverse Dialogue Systems Over Hierarchical Crowd Intelligence Knowledge Graph
Authors: Wang Hao , Guo Bin , Liu Jiaqi , Ding Yasan , Yu Zhiwen
Published: February 2023

Knowledge-enhanced dialogue systems aim at generating factually correct and coherent responses by reasoning over knowledge sources, which is a promising research trend. The truly harmonious human-agent dialogue systems need to conduct engaging conversations from three aspects as humans, namely (1) stating factual contents (e.g., records in Wikipedia), (2) conveying subjective and informative opinions about objects (e.g., user discussions on Twitter), and (3) impressing interlocutors with diverse expression styles (e.g., personalized expression habits). The existing knowledge base is a standardized and unified coding for factual knowledge, which could not portray the other two kinds of knowledge to make responses more informative and expressive diverse. To address this, we present
CrowdDialog
, a crowd intelligence knowledge-enhanced dialogue system, which takes advantage of “crowd intelligence knowledge” extracted from social media (with rich subjective descriptions and diversified expression styles) to promote the performance of dialogue systems. Firstly, to thoroughly mine and organize the crowd intelligence knowledge underlying large-scale and unstructured online contents, we elaborately design the
C
rowd
I
ntelligence
K
nowledge
G
raph (
CIKG
) structure, including the domain commonsense subgraph, descriptive subgraph, and expressive subgraph. Secondly, to reasonably integrate heterogeneous crowd intelligence knowledge into responses while ensuring logicality and fluency, we propose the
G
ated
F
usion with
D
ynamic Knowledge-
D
ependent (
GFDD
) model, which generates responses from the semantic and syntactic perspective with the context-aware knowledge gate and dynamic knowledge decoding. Finally, extensive experiments over both Chinese and English dialogue datasets demonstrate that our approach GFDD outperforms competitive baselines in terms of both automatic evaluation and human judgments. Besides, ablation studies indicate that the proposed CIKG has the potential to promote dialogue systems to generate fluent, informative, and diverse dialogue responses.
Electrochemical Noise of SCC Inhibition of a Supermartensitic Stainless Steel in Sour Solution
Authors: Carmona-Hernandez Andrés , Contreras A. , Uruchurtu Chavarín Jorge , Gonzalez Rodriguez Jose Gonzalo , Orozco Cruz Ricardo , Galván Martínez R.
Published: February 2023

In this work, the inhibition effect of a non-ionic gemini surfactant, named bis(2-((2-palmitoamidoethyl)amino)ethyl)1H-imidazole4,5-dicarboxylate, on the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of a supermartensitic stainless steel (SMSS) was studied in sour environment. The slow strain rate stress tests (SSRT) results and fractographic analysis revealed that the corrosion inhibitor was able to inhibit the SCC process using a concentration above than 5ppm. At concentrations of 0 and 5 ppm, the steel showed a brittle fracture with susceptibility to SCC, whereas at concentrations of 25 and 100 ppm, the fracture was ductile, and the steel was practically immune to SCC. The EN measurements showed transients associated with pits and microcracks, which were confirmed by SEM examination. The EN analysis using the shot noise theory indicated that localized corrosion was the dominant corrosion process at the concentrations of inhibitor in which the SMSS was susceptible to SCC.
Protection of the Bluing of a Class 25 Iron with Microcrystalline Wax
Authors: Zapata Valdez Delia María , Molina Eric Fernando , Roncagliolo-Barrera Paola , Espinoza Vazquez Araceli , Rodríguez Gómez Francisco Javier
Published: February 2023

A piece of iron is characterized chemically and metallographically, by nominal composition it is classified as Iron A48 class 25. Later, by hot immersion, a coating similar to a commercial blued coating is generated, which refers to an oxide layer that serves as an anchor for treatment with microcrystalline ozokerite wax. Through this wax it is possible to seal the oxide pores and have an effective protection against corrosion in 3% saline solution. The treatment is carried out in a 5M NaOH solution mixed with 3M potassium chloride KNO3, for one hour at 90°C in order to generate an oxide film (bluing process), stabilized with tannic acid and covered with ozokerite microcrystalline wax. The sample was electrochemically evaluated in 3% m/m saline. The results of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy EIS, and Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM are analyzed.
Citric Acid as an Alternative to Sulfuric Acid for Hard Anodizing in Aluminum Alloys Used in the Aeronautical Industry
Authors: Cabral Carlos , Gaona Tiburcio Citlalli , Estupiñán López Francisco , Zambrano Robledo Patricia , Olguín Coca Francisco , López León Luis , Almeraya Calderon Facundo , Cabral Miramontes José Ángel
Published: February 2023

In the aircraft industry, Al-Cu alloys are widely used as a structural material in the manufacture of commercial aircraft due to their high mechanical properties and low density. Al-Cu alloy have low resistance to corrosion in aggressive substances; as a result, these alloys are surface treated to increase their resistance to corrosion. Anodizing was done hard in aluminum alloy AA 2024 in a solution composed of citric and sulfuric acid for 60 minutes with constant agitation using current densities of 3 and 4.5 A/dm2. Afterwards, a sealing procedure was performed for 60 minutes in water at 95 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the microstructure and Vickers microhardness (HV) as a mechanical test of the material. The electrochemical evaluation was carried out using cyclic potentiodynamic polarization curves (CPP). The results indicate that the corrosion resistance in citric acid solutions with a current density of 4.5 A/dm2 was the best, with corrosion current densities of 2 x 10-8 and 2 x 10-9 A/cm2.
Electrochemical Study of a Hydrophobic Film of γ-Al2O3/Hdtms on Low Carbon Steel
Authors: Torres Martínez Luis Jesús , Arceo David Enrique , Galván Martínez Ricardo , Vargas Colorado Alejandro , Márquez Domínguez Sergio , Orozco Cruz Ricardo
Published: February 2023

The corrosion phenomenon affects several low carbon steel structures leading to excessive expenditure on coatings and other alternatives. However, the coatings used usually contain compounds that pollute the environment. Therefore, environmentally friendly, economical and transparent coatings or films have been developed. The sol-gel method is a reliable way for the development of anticorrosive films, as is the case of alumina or silica films. In this work, the protective capacity of an alumina/HDTMS film was studied. The alumina film was sintered at 350, 450 and 550 °C and then the 1% HDTMS film was deposited. The protective ability of the γ-Al2O3/HDTMS film was evaluated by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Potenciodynamic Polarization Curves (PDP). The electrochemical results showed that the Al2O3/HDTMS film provided better protection compared to the metallic substrate. The contact angle degree was measured and determined that the sintered alumina/HDTMS films showed hydrophobic and superhydrophobic properties.
Electrodeposition of Bimetallic Pd-Zn Nanoparticles from Reline
Authors: Landa-Castro Midori , García-Plata Elisa , Romero-Romo Mario , Arce-Estrada E. M. , Palomar-Pardavé Manuel , Montes de Oca Yemha Maria Guadalupe
Published: February 2023

The Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) reline have as relevant advantage that it is indeed economical, and that the urea as a separate component displays little toxicity or citotoxicity that makes it usable in numerous applications. For instance, in the study of monometallic and bimetallic systems where the reline served as the electrolyte, the electrochemical techniques: Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Chronoamperometry (CA) were used. Presently, the main aim is to obtain the reduction and oxidation potentials of Pd, Zn and Pd-Zn and to characterize the deposits to establish the resulting morphologies, size and composition, using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS).
Statins inhibit protein kinase D (PKD) activation in intestinal cells and prevent PKD1-induced growth of murine enteroids
Authors: Sinnett-Smith James , Torres-Marquez M. Eugenia , Chang Jen-Kuan , Shimizu Yuki , Hao Fang , Martin Martin G. , Rozengurt Enrique
Published: February 2023

We examined the impact of statins on protein kinase D (PKD) activation by G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) agonists. Treatment of intestinal IEC-18 cells with cerivastatin inhibited PKD autophosphorylation at Ser916 induced by angiotensin II (ANG II) or vasopressin in a dose-dependent manner with half-maximal inhibition at 0.2 µM. Cerivastatin treatment inhibited PKD activation stimulated by these agonists for different times (5–60 min) and blunted HDAC5 phosphorylation, a substrate of PKD. Other lipophilic statins, including simvastatin, atorvastatin, and fluvastatin also prevented PKD activation in a dose-dependent manner. Using IEC-18 cell lines expressing PKD1 tagged with EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein), cerivastatin or simvastatin blocked GPCR-mediated PKD1-EGFP translocation to the plasma membrane and its subsequent nuclear accumulation. Similar results were obtained in IEC-18 cells expressing PKD3-EGFP. Mechanistically, statins inhibited agonist-dependent PKD activation rather than acting directly on PKD catalytic activity since exposure to cerivastatin or simvastatin did not impair PKD autophosphorylation or PKD1-EGFP membrane translocation in response to phorbol dibutyrate, which bypasses GPCRs and directly stimulates PKC and PKD. Furthermore, cerivastatin did not inhibit recombinant PKD activity determined via an in vitro kinase assay. Using enteroids generated from intestinal crypt-derived epithelial cells from PKD1 transgenic mice as a model of intestinal regeneration, we show that statins oppose PKD1-mediated increase in enteroid area, complexity (number of crypt-like buds), and DNA synthesis. Our results revealed a previously unappreciated inhibitory effect of statins on receptor-mediated PKD activation and in opposing the growth-promoting effects of PKD1 on intestinal epithelial cells.
Renoprotective effects of empagliflozin are linked to activation of the tubuloglomerular feedback mechanism and blunting of the complement system
Authors: Chen Xin , Delić Denis , Cao Yaochen , Shen Linghong , Shao Qin , Zhang Zheyu , Wu Hongwei , Hasan Ahmed A. , Reichetzeder Christoph , Gaballa Mohamed M. S. , Krämer Bernhard K. , Klein Thomas , Yin Lianghong , He Ben , Morgera Stanislao , Hocher Berthold
Published: February 2023

The mechanisms of nephroprotection in nondiabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) models by sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are not well defined. Five groups were established: sham-operated rats, placebo-treated rats with 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6Nx), 5/6Nx + telmisartan (5 mg/kg/day), 5/6Nx + empagliflozin (3 mg/kg/day), and 5/6Nx + empagliflozin (15 mg/kg/day). Treatment duration was 95 days. Empagliflozin showed a dose-dependent beneficial effect on the change from baseline of creatinine clearance (Ccr). The urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio likewise improved in a dose-dependent manner. Both dosages of empagliflozin improved morphological kidney damage parameters such as renal interstitial fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis. 5/6 nephrectomy led to a substantial reduction of urinary adenosine excretion, a surrogate parameter of the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) mechanism. Empagliflozin caused a dose-dependent increase in urinary adenosine excretion. The urinary adenosine excretion was negatively correlated with renal interstitial fibrosis and positively correlated with Ccr. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that empagliflozin had no effect on CD8+ and CD4+ T cells as well as on CD68+ cells (macrophages). To further explore potential mechanisms, a nonhypothesis-driven approach was used. RNA sequencing followed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that complement component 1Q subcomponent A chain ( C1QA) as well as complement component 1Q subcomponent C chain ( C1QC) gene expression were upregulated in the placebo-treated 5/6Nx rats and this upregulation was blunted by treatment with empagliflozin. In conclusion, empagliflozin-mediated nephroprotection in nondiabetic CKD is due to a dose-dependent activation of the TGF as well as empagliflozin-mediated effects on the complement system.
Exaggerated renal sympathetic nerve and pressor responses during spontaneously occurring motor activity in hypertensive rats
Authors: Matsukawa Kanji , Iwamoto Gary A. , Mitchell Jere H. , Mizuno Masaki , Kim Han-Kyul , Williamson Jon W. , Smith Scott A.
Published: February 2023

Stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region elicits exaggerated sympathetic nerve and pressor responses in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). This suggests that central command or its influence on vasomotor centers is augmented in hypertension. The decerebrate animal model possesses an ability to evoke intermittent bouts of spontaneously occurring motor activity (SpMA) and generates cardiovascular responses associated with the SpMA. It remains unknown whether the changes in sympathetic nerve activity and hemodynamics during SpMA are altered by hypertension. To test the hypothesis that the responses in renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) during SpMA are exaggerated with hypertension, this study aimed to compare the responses in decerebrate, paralyzed SHR, WKY, and normotensive Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. In all strains, an abrupt increase in RSNA occurred in synchronization with tibial motor discharge (an index of motor activity) and was followed by rises in MAP and heart rate. The centrally evoked increase in RSNA and MAP during SpMA was much greater (306 ± 110%) in SHR than WKY (187 ± 146%) and SD (165 ± 44%). Although resting baroreflex-mediated changes in RSNA were not different across strains, mechanically or pharmacologically induced elevations in MAP attenuated or abolished the RSNA increase during SpMA in WKY and SD but had no effect in SHR. It is likely that the exaggerated sympathetic nerve and pressor responses during SpMA in SHR are induced along a central command pathway independent of the arterial baroreflex and/or result from central command-induced inhibition of the baroreflex.
Baicalin Inhibits Airway Smooth Muscle Cells Proliferation through the RAS Signaling Pathway in Murine Asthmatic Airway Remodeling Model
Authors: Hu Lingli , Li Lulu , Yan Chen , Cao Yuxue , Duan Xiaohong , Sun Jing
Published: February 2023

Background. Studies that looked at asthma airway remodeling pathogenesis and prevention have led to the discovery of the rat sarcoma viral oncogene (RAS) signaling pathway as a key mechanism that controls airway smooth muscle cell (ASMC) proliferation. Baicalin has great anti-inflammatory, proliferation-inhibited, and respiratory disease-relieving properties. However, the inhibitory effects and mechanisms of baicalin on ASMC-mediated airway remodeling in mice are still poorly understood. Methods. After establishing the asthmatic mice model by ovalbumin (OVA) and interfering with baicalin, airway remodeling characteristics such as airway resistance, mRNA, and protein expression levels of remodeling-related cytokines were measured by histopathological assessment, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blot. Further efforts on detailed mechanisms were used antibody arrays to compare the expression and activation of proteins involved in the RAS signaling pathway. In addition, validation experiments were performed in ASMC proliferation model and low-expression cells of the target gene by using shRNA. Results. In OVA-induced asthmatic mice model, baicalin significantly reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells in lung tissue, attenuated airway resistance, and decreased mRNA and protein expression levels of remodeling-related cytokines such as interleukin-13 (IL-13), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1). The results of antibody arrays involved in RAS signaling pathway revealed that OVA and baicalin administration altered the activation of protein kinase C alpha type (PKC-α), A-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (A-RAF), mitogen-activated protein kinase 2 (MEK2), extracellular regulated MAP kinase (ERK), MAPK interacting serine/threonine kinase 1 (MNK1), and ETS transcription factor 1 (ELK1). The above results were further verified in the ASMC proliferation model. A-RAF silencing (shA-RAF) could promote ASMC proliferation and downregulate p-MEK2, p-ERK, p-MNK1, and p-ELK1 expression. Conclusion. The effects of baicalin against airway remodeling and ASMC proliferation might partially be achieved by suppressing the RAS signaling pathway. Baicalin may be a new therapeutic option for managing airway remodeling in asthma patients.
Provably Secure and Lightweight Patient Monitoring Protocol for Wireless Body Area Network in IoHT
Authors: Xie Qi , Liu Dongnan , Ding Zixuan , Tan Xiao , Han Lidong
Published: February 2023

As one of the important applications of Internet of Health Things (IoHT) technology in the field of healthcare, wireless body area network (WBAN) has been widely used in medical therapy, and it can not only monitor and record physiological information but also transmit the data collected by sensor devices to the server in time. However, due to the unreliability and vulnerability of wireless network communication, as well as the limited storage and computing resources of sensor nodes in WBAN, a lot of authentication protocols for WBAN have been devised. In 2021, Alzahrani et al. designed an anonymous medical monitoring protocol, which uses lightweight cryptographic primitives for WBAN. However, we find that their protocol is defenseless to off‐line identity guessing attacks, known‐key attacks, and stolen‐verifier attacks and has no perfect forward secrecy. Therefore, a patient monitoring protocol for WBAN in IoHT is proposed. We use security proof under the random oracle model (ROM) and automatic verification tool ProVerif to demonstrate that our protocol is secure. According to comparisons with related protocols, our protocol can achieve both high computational efficiency and security.
Knowledge Regarding Mechanical Ventilation and Practice of Ventilatory Care among Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units in Selected Governmental Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Descriptive Cross‐Sectional Study
Authors: Hassen Kedir Abdureman , Nemera Micheal Alemayehu , Aniley Andualem Wubetie , Olani Ararso Baru , Bedane Sofoniyas Getaneh
Published: February 2023

Introduction. Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a backbone and major supportive modality in intensive care units (ICUs) even though it has side effects and complications. Knowledge of nurses about mechanical ventilators and good practice of nursing care for the ventilated patient plays a crucial role in improving the effectiveness of mechanical ventilation, preventing harm, and optimizing the patient outcome. This study intended to assess the knowledge regarding MV and the practice of ventilator care among nurses working in the ICU. Method. A descriptive cross‐sectional study design was conducted. All nurses working in the intensive care unit of selected governmental hospitals were included in the study. The data were collected from March 1 to 30, 2021 with structured and pretested self‐administered questionnaires. The collected data were evaluated with SPSS version 26 software. The variables, which have an independent association with poor outcomes, were identified based on OR, with 95% CI and a p value less than 0.05. Results. Of 146 nurses who participated in the study, 51.4% were males. About 71.4% had a BSc in nursing and 57.5% of them had training related to MV. More than half (51.4%) of nurses had poor knowledge regarding MV and the majority (58.9%) of them had poor practice in ventilatory care. The educational level (AOR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.190–22.002) was positively associated with knowledge. Likewise, the educational level (AOR 5.0 (1.011–24.971)) and work experience (AOR 4.543 (1.430–14.435)) were positively associated with the practice of nurses. Conclusions. Knowledge regarding mechanical ventilators and the practice of ventilatory care among nurses in the selected public hospitals was poor. The educational levels were found statistically associated with both the knowledge and practice of nurses. To improve nursing care offered for MV patients, upgrading the educational level of intensive care nurses plays a vital role.
Gadoxetic Acid‐Enhanced MRI‐Based Radiomics Signature: A Potential Imaging Biomarker for Identifying Cytokeratin 19‐Positive Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Hu Xiaojun , Wang Qiang , Huang Guobing , He Xiang , Sparrelid Ernesto , Brismar Torkel B. , Fan Yingfang
Published: February 2023

Purpose. One subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with cytokeratin 19 expression (CK19+), has shown to be more aggressive and has a poor prognosis. However, CK19+ is determined by immunohistochemical examination using a surgically resected specimen. This study is aimed at establishing a radiomics signature based on preoperative gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI for predicting CK19 status in HCC. Patients and Methods. Clinicopathological and imaging data were retrospectively collected from patients who underwent hepatectomy between February 2015 and December 2020. Patients who underwent gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI and had CK19 results of histopathological examination were included. Radiomics features of the manually segmented lesion during the arterial, portal venous, and hepatobiliary phases were extracted. The 10 most reproducible and robust features at each phase were selected for construction of radiomics signatures, and their performance was evaluated by analyzing the area under the curve (AUC). The goodness of fit of the model was assessed by the Hosmer‐Lemeshow test. Results. A total of 110 patients were included. The incidence of CK19(+) HCC was 17% (19/110). Alpha fetoprotein was the only significant clinicopathological variable different between CK19(‐) and CK19(+) groups. A majority of the selected radiomics features were wavelet filter‐derived features. The AUCs of the three radiomics signatures based on arterial, portal venous, and hepatobiliary phases were 0.70 (95% CI: 0.56‐0.83), 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73‐0.92), and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.82‐0.96), respectively. The three radiomics signatures were integrated, and the fusion signature yielded an AUC of 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86‐0.98) and was used as the final model for CK19(+) prediction. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the fusion signature was 0.84, 0.89, 0.88, 0.62, and 0.96, respectively. The Hosmer‐Lemeshow test showed a good fit of the fusion signature (p > 0.05). Conclusion. The established radiomics signature based on preoperative gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI could be an accurate and potential imaging biomarker for HCC CK19(+) prediction.
Influence of Axle Load on the Wear of Railway Wheel Material
Authors: Yenealem Hewan Getachew , Redda Daniel T. , Mohammedseid Awel
Published: February 2023

This study investigated the influence of axle load on the wear rate of railway wheel material. Excessive wear of wheel/rail materials and reduced service life of the wheel/rail system might be caused by the increase in axle load and traffic volume. Two kinds of rail and wheel steels have been studied against different axle load steps, simulating them for wear performance analysis using multibody simulation software (SIMPACK) and MATLAB programming. The simulation model results are validated against the vehicle’s specifications and wear depth measured on Ethiopia—Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit (LRT), and experimental results from the literature. The result shows that the wear rate increases proportionally with the increasing of applied load and that the proportionality coefficient is 0.1393, which has a very good agreement with the experimental results from the works of literature. Likewise, the estimated total tread wear amount after a mileage of 52,000 km is 2% larger than the measured one in LRT, which is indeed an excellent result taking into account the inaccuracy of the wheel diameter gauge used to measure the wheel transversal profile. In normalized UIC 50 kg/m rail and S1002 wheel profile, the wear rate increases linearly from 5110.02, 9997.87, and 18990.17 mm3/km on 11, 21, and 30 tones applied load, respectively. Apparently, on the hardened UIC 60 kg/m and S1002 wheel profiles, the wear rate has been improved by 14.5%, 10.8%, and 7.5% on 11, 21, and 30 tones applied load, respectively, in comparison to normalized rail/wheel match. Briefly, the wheel wear rate is highly influenced by the increasing applied load, referring proportionality coefficient of 0.1393.
A Prognostic Signature for Colon Adenocarcinoma Patients Based on m6A-Related lncRNAs
Authors: Zhou Su-Zhe , Pan Ying-Lian , Deng Qing-Chun , Yin Chang-Jun , Zhou De-Jiang , Liu Ming-Liang , Zhou Jun , Wu Xiao-Jing
Published: February 2023

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is a common epigenetic modification. It is reported that lncRNA can be regulated by m6A modification. Previous studies have shown that lncRNAs associated with m6A regulation (m6A-lncRNAs) serve as ideal prognostic biomarkers. However, whether lncRNAs are involved in m6A modification in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) needs further exploration. The objective of this study was to construct an m6A-lncRNAs-based signature for patients with COAD. We obtained the RNA sequencing data and clinical information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Pearson correlation analysis was employed to recognize lncRNAs associated with m6A regulation (m6A-lncRNAs). 24 prognostic m6A-lncRNAs was identified by univariate Cox regression analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSAE) was used to investigate the potential cellular pathways and biological processes. We have also explored the relationship between immune infiltrate levels and m6A-lncRNAs. Then, a predictive signature based on the expression of 13 m6A-lncRNAs was constructed by the Lasso regression algorithm, including UBA6-AS1, AC139149.1, U91328.1, AC138207.5, AC025171.4, AC008760.1, ITGB1-DT, AP001619.1, AL391422.4, AC104532.2, ZEB1-AS1, AC156455.1, and AC104819.3. ROC curves and K M survival curves have shown that the risk score has a well-predictive ability. We also set up a quantitative nomogram on the basis of risk score and prognosis-related clinical characteristics. In summary, we have identified some m6A-lncRNAs that correlated with prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment in COAD. In addition, a potential alternative signature based on the expression of m6A-lncRNAs was provided for the management of COAD patients.
On Characterizations of Weighted Harmonic Bloch Mappings and Its Carleson Measure Criteria
Authors: Aljuaid Munirah , Bakhit M. A.
Published: February 2023

For

α
>
0

, several characterizations of the

α

-Bloch spaces of harmonic mappings are given. We also obtain several similar characterizations for the closed separable subspace. As an application, we give relations between

B

H

α

and Carleson’s measure.
Experimental Investigations on Erosion-Corrosion Characteristics of HVOF-Sprayed WC-10% Ni Coatings Deposited on Aluminum Alloy
Authors: Kumar G. S. Pradeep , Sunkad Sampreeth , Jogeshwar R. , Keshavamurthy R. , Tambrallimath Vijay , Jangam Sasidhar , Basheer Dadapeer
Published: February 2023

The current work investigates the erosion-corrosion behaviour of thermally sprayed tungsten carbide-10% nickel (WC-10% Ni) coatings placed on the AA6061 aluminum alloy. The AA6061 aluminum alloy was coated with tungsten carbide –10% nickel coatings utilising a high-velocityoxy-fuel (HVOF) spray method. The microstructure and hardness of thermally sprayed coatings were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a Vickers hardness tester. The slurry erosion-corrosion wear tests were carried out by varying the parameters of the slurry erosion process, such as testing time, slurry content, slurry speed, and impinging particle size, on the erosion testing equipment. The data demonstrated that when slurry concentration, slurry speed, and impinging particle size increased, so did the slurry erosion-corrosion wear loss. The wear processes of uncoated and thermally sprayed tungsten carbide –10% nickel have been examined using SEM and a 3-D confocal microscope.
Hydraulic Stimulation of Enhanced Geothermal System: A Case Study at Patuha Geothermal Field, Indonesia
Authors: Lee Sangdon , Bae Wisup , Permadi Asep K. , Park Changhyup
Published: February 2023

This paper discusses a case study on the enhanced geothermal system (EGS), which entails a hydraulic stimulation at Patuha geothermal field, West Java, Indonesia. Patuha field is a volcano-hosted vapor-dominated geothermal system. A hydraulic stimulation was designed with 6,360 m3 (=40,000 barrels) of water injection to evaluate the enhancement in steam production. The water injection was conducted in three phases: a step-up period, a plateau period with a constant rate, and a step-down period, which raised the bottom hole pressure effectively and positively influenced formation. In addition, in EGS, rapid restorations of pressure and temperature to their pretest values near the bottom hole were observed, unlike in a typical nonvolcanic system. Hall plots, i.e., the Hall integral and Hall derivative, confirmed that the geothermal reservoir was stimulated, and thus, the hydraulic stimulation increased the steam production up to 11.4% at other production wells that were located near the cold-water injector.
A Systematic Review and Multilevel Regression Analysis Reveals the Comorbidity Prevalence in Cancer
Authors: Vrinzen Cilla E.J. , Delfgou Linn , Stadhouders Niek , Hermens Rosella P.M.G. , Merkx Matthias A.W. , Bloemendal Haiko J. , Jeurissen Patrick P.T.
Published: February 2023

Comorbidities can have major implications for cancer care, as they might impact the timing of cancer diagnosis, compromise optimal care, affect treatment outcomes, and increase healthcare costs. Thus, it is important to comprehensively evaluate cancer comorbidities and examine trends over time. Here, we performed a systematic literature review on the prevalence and types of comorbidities for the five most common forms of cancer. Observational studies from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries published between 1990 and 2020 in English or Dutch that used routinely collected data from a representative population were included. The search yielded 3,070 articles, of which, 161 were eligible for data analyses. Multilevel analyses were performed to evaluate determinants of variation in comorbidity prevalence and trends over time. The weighted average comorbidity prevalence was 33.4%, and comorbidities were the most common in lung cancer (46.7%) and colorectal cancer (40.0%), followed by prostate cancer (28.5%), melanoma cancer (28.3%), and breast cancer (22.4%). The most common types of comorbidities were hypertension (29.7%), pulmonary diseases (15.9%), and diabetes (13.5%). After adjusting for gender, type of comorbidity index, age, data source (patient records vs. claims), and country, a significant increase in comorbidities of 0.54% per year was observed. Overall, a large and increasing proportion of the oncologic population is dealing with comorbidities, which could be used to inform and adapt treatment options to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

Significance:

Comorbidities are frequent and increasing in patients with cancer, emphasizing the importance of exploring optimal ways for uniform comorbidity registration and incorporating comorbidity management into cancer care.