bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The role of tourism BUM Desa in the Pandemic era in increasing village original income
Authors: Izzalqurny Tomy Rizky , Handayati Puji , Jannah Miftahul , Fitrianingsih Siti Khoiriyatul
Published: September 2021

The purpose of this study was to see the effect of the establishment of village-owned enterprises (BUM Desa) and the support of the local government in increasing the village's original income. This research has a research sample using the purposive sampling method, namely BUM Desa Dukuh Dempok, and BUM Desa Kemiri. Data was obtained by conducting interviews, observations, and documentation. Interviews were conducted with in-depth interviews with the chairman and management of BUM Desa in Jember. Analysis was carried out on the data and information obtained to obtain research results. Tourism BUM Desa Gumuk Watu and Tourism BUM Desa Kemiri have a role in increasing the village's original income can be seen from the function of facilitator and mediator. The two BUM Desa include the role of the community in building and developing tourism. Local government support for BUM Desa tourism is very important. BUM Desa Wisata Gumuk Watu and BUM Desa Wisata Kemiri received full support from the government in the form of capital and socialization of BUM Desa to the community. The difference in income between the BUM Desa Gumuk Watu and the BUM Desa Kemiri. Tourism BUM Desa of Kemiri experienced a decrease in income by more than 50% but Tourism BUM Desa of Gumuk Watu experienced an increase due to the entertainment needs of the community. These results indicate that BUM Desa which is engaged in tourist areas needs the role of the government in helping to increase their income in the pandemic era.
Financial performance mediates the relationship of intellectual capital to firm value in Indonesian banking companies
Authors: Hermawan Sigit , Rokhmania Nisfatur , Rahayu Ruci Arizanda , Qonitah Iffah , Nugraheni Ratna
Published: September 2021

This study was conducted to seek the consistency of the results of previous studies on the influence of Intellectual Capital, with the mediation of financial performance, on the value of banking firms. The quantitative research method used the PLS-SEM analysis technique by using the Smart PLS 3 application. The research subjects were 45 banks listed on the IDX for the period 2015-2019. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. The results showed the consistency of the financial performance of banking companies with ROE and ROA indicators as mediating variables between Intellectual Capital as the dependent variable on the value of conventional banking companies using PER indicator as an independent variable. The type of mediation formed in the PLS-SEM equation model is partial mediation.
The influence of membership program on customer loyalty mediated by customer satisfaction
Authors: Muhammad Fadhil , Rozi Fatkhur , Supriyanto Achmad Sani
Published: September 2021

This research aimed to determine the effect of the membership programs on customer loyalty of “Kartu Aku” users at Alfamart Sunan Kalijaga Street, Malang City by involving customer satisfaction as mediating variable. This research employed a quantitative approach with a sample of 161 respondents determined by the Slovin formula. Data collection methods used a questionnaire. Meanwhile, the data analysis technique used SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) PLS, and the mediation test used bootstrapping with help of SmartPLS 3.3.3 software. The result showed that variable membership program had a significant effect on variable customer loyalty with t-statistics value 15,027, variable membership program had a significant effect on variable customer satisfaction with t-statistics value 14,391, variable customer satisfaction had a significant effect on variable customer loyalty with t-statistic value 2,818 and variable customer satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between variable membership program and variable customer loyalty with t-statistics value 2,772.
Međureligijska vijeća i izazovi vjerskih konsocijacija na Bliskom istoku
Authors: Obućina Vedran
Published: September 2021

Konsocijacijska je demokracija nakon Drugog svjetskog rata postala učestao način za premošćivanje dubokih političkih podjela u vezi s nasilnim ili dugotrajnim sukobima u društvu. Vjerski su identiteti često bili u središtu konsocijacijskih mehanizama, pa su se funkcionalni politički poreci konsocijacijskim mehanizmima nastojali oblikovati podjelom vlasti između vjerskih skupina u društvu. Na Bliskom istoku su vjerski identiteti posebno značajni, a u vrijeme postsekularizma njihova važnost dodatno jača. Podjela vlasti na temelju vjerske pripadnosti može postati oblikom standardizacije državne ili regionalne vlasti te dovesti do perpetuiranja podjela i blokade društva. Ovaj članak u tom smislu kritizira učinke religijske konsocijacije u Libanonu. Nakon kratke komparacije sa slučajevima Iraka i Irana, autor u članku, koji uz politološku perspektivu obilježava i političkoteološka dimenzija, zagovara međureligijska vijeća kao mogući konstruktivni kanal izgradnje mira u vjerski podijeljenim društvima na Bliskom istoku.
Bidirectional Electric-induced Conductance based on GeTe/Sb2Te3 Interfacial Phase Change Memory for Neuro-inspired Computing
Authors: Kang Shin-young , Jin Soo-min , Lee Ju-young , Woo Dae-seong , Shim Tae-hun , Nam In-ho , Park Jea-gun , Sutou Yuji , Song Yun-heub
Published: September 2021

Corresponding to the principles of biological synapses, an essential prerequisite for hardware neural networks using electronics devices is continuous regulation of conductance. We implemented artificial synaptic characteristics in a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM with a superlattice structure under optimized identical pulse trains. Based on atomically controlling the Ge switch in the phase transition that appears in the GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattice structure, multiple conductance states were implemented by applying the appropriate electrical pulses. Furthermore, we found that the bidirectional switching behavior of a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM can achieve a desired resistance level using the pulse width. Therefore, we also fabricated a Ge2Sb2Te5 PCM and designed a pulse scheme based on the phase transition mechanism to compare to the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM. We designed an identical pulse scheme that implements linear and symmetrical LTP and LTD based on the iPCM mechanism. As a result, the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM showed relatively excellent synaptic characteristics by implementing gradual conductance modulation, a nonlinearity value of 0.32, and LTP/LTD 40 conductance states using identical pulses trains. Our results demonstrate the general applicability of the artificial synaptic device for potential use in neuro-inspired computing and next generation non-volatile memory.
Plasmid Curing and Exchange Using a Novel Counter-Selectable Marker Based on Unnatural Amino Acid Incorporation at a Sense Codon
Authors: Kato Yusuke
Published: September 2021

A protocol was designed for plasmid curing using a novel counter-selectable marker, named pylSZK-pylT, in Escherichia coli. The pylSZK-pylT marker consists of the archaeal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS) and its cognate tRNA (tRNApyl) with modification, and incorporates an unnatural amino acid (Uaa), Nε-benzyloxycarbonyl-l-lysine (ZK), at a sense codon in ribosomally synthesized proteins, resulting in bacterial growth inhibition or killing. Plasmid curing is performed by exerting toxicity on pylSZK-pylT located on the target plasmid, and selecting only proliferative bacteria. All tested bacteria obtained using this protocol had lost the target plasmid (64/64), suggesting that plasmid curing was successful. Next, we attempted to exchange plasmids with the identical replication origin and an antibiotic resistance gene without plasmid curing using a modified protocol, assuming substitution of plasmids complementing genomic essential genes. All randomly selected bacteria after screening had only the substitute plasmid and no target plasmid (25/25), suggesting that plasmid exchange was also accomplished. Counter-selectable markers based on PylRS-tRNApyl, such as pylSZK-pylT, may be scalable in application due to their independence from the host genotype, applicability to a wide range of species, and high tunability due to the freedom of choice of target codons and Uaa’s to be incorporated.
Unified Explanation of Big Bang, Inflation, Charged Black Hole Decay, Galaxy Formation, Proton Spin Crisis and Elementary Particle Masses
Authors: Hwang Jae-Kwang
Published: September 2021

Space-time evolution is briefly explained by using the 3-dimensional quantized space model (TQSM) based on the 4-dimensional (4-D) Euclidean space. The energy (E=cDtDV), charges (|q|= cDt) and absolute time (ct) are newly defined based on the 4-D Euclidean space. The big bang is understood by the space-time evolution of the 4-D Euclidean space but not by the sudden 4-D Minkowski space-time creation. The big bang process created the matter universe with the positive energy and the partner anti-matter universe with the negative energy from the CPT symmetry. Our universe is the matter universe with the negative charges of electric charge (EC), lepton charge (LC) and color charge (CC). This first universe is made of three dark matter -, lepton -, and quark - primary black holes with the huge negative charges which cause the Coulomb repulsive forces much bigger than the gravitational forces. The huge Coulomb forces induce the inflation of the primary black holes, that decay to the super-massive black holes. The dark matter super-massive black holes surrounded by the normal matters and dark matters make the galaxies and galaxy clusters. The spiral arms of galaxies are closely related to the decay of the 3-D charged normal matter black holes to the 1-D charged normal matter black holes. The elementary leptons and quarks are created by the decay of the normal matter charged black holes, that is caused by the Coulomb forces much stronger than the gravitational forces. The Coulomb forces are very weak with the very small Coulomb constants (k1(EC) = kdd(EC) ) for the dark matters and very strong with the very big Coulomb constants (k2(EC) = knn(EC)) for the normal matters because of the non-communication of the photons between the dark matters and normal matters. The photons are charge dependent and mass independent. But the dark matters and normal matters have the similar and very weak gravitational forces because of the communication of the gravitons between the dark matters and normal matters. The gravitons are charge independent and mass dependent. Note that the three kinds of charges (EC, LC and CC) and one kind of mass (m) exist in our matter universe. The dark matters, leptons and quarks have the charge configurations of (EC), (EC,LC) and (EC,LC,CC), respectively. Partial masses of elementary fermions are calculated, and the proton spin crisis is explained. The charged black holes are not the singularities.
Построение опорной траектории третьего порядка гладкости углового движения космического аппарата
Authors: Ткачев Степан Сергеевич , Tkachev Stepan Sergeevich , Шестопeров Алексей Игоревич , Shestoperov Aleksei Igorevich
Published: September 2021

Решается задача определения опорной траектории, проходящей через фиксированные значения кватерниона ориентации в заданные моменты времени. Рассмотрены случаи, когда помимо кватернионов в узлах определены значения угловых скоростей, а также - угловых скоростей, ускорений и его рывков одновременно. В основе предлагаемой методики построения опорной траектории между каждой парой узлов лежит идея представления углового движения как последовательности элементарных поворотов. Благодаря этому удовлетворяется условие нормировки, а также обеспечивается третья степень гладкости опорной траектории на всем интервале движения. Последнее условие обеспечивает гладкость управляющего воздействия. Предполагается, что такой подход позволит предотвратить возбуждение колебаний в нежестких элементах космического аппарата, что имеет большое значение в приложениях. Помимо опорной траектории в каждом из рассматриваемых случаев получены вспомогательные кватернионы и полиномы интерполяции, позволяющие траектории пройти через заданные точки, а также явные зависимости угловой скорости и ускорения, необходимые для построения управления как решения обратной задачи динамики.
Модель обнаружения глобул на изображениях новообразований кожи
Authors: Никитаев Валентин Григорьевич , Nikitaev Valentin Grigor'evich , Проничев Александр Николаевич , Pronichev Aleksandr Nikolaevich , Тамразова Ольга Борисовна , Tamrazova Ol'ga Borisovna , Сергеев Василий Юрьевич , Sergeev Vasilii Yur'evich , Лим Алина Олеговна , Lim Alina Olegovna , Козлов Владимир Сергеевич , Kozlov Vladimir Sergeevich
Published: September 2021

Статья посвящена цифровой обработке изображений новообразований кожи для обнаружения значимых при диагностике меланомы структурных элементов - глобул (глыбок, комков). Предложена новая модель обработки, позволяющая в разноконтрастных изображениях устойчиво выделять глобулы без необходимости выполнения ручной подстройки параметров. Представлены результаты эксперимента, подтверждающие адекватность модели. Точность распознавания глобул составила от 81 до 89% в зависимости от контрастности исходных изображений. Экспериментальная выборка изображений содержала 2868 глобул.
Incorporating Sentinel-1 SAR imagery with the MODIS MCD64A1 burned area product to improve burn date estimates and reduce burn date uncertainty in wildland fire mapping
Authors: Lasko Kristofer
Published: September 2021

Wildland fires result in a unique signal detectable by multispectral remote sensing and synthetic aperture radar (SAR). However, in many regions, such as Southeast Asia, persistent cloud cover and aerosols temporarily obstruct multispectral satellite observations of burned area, including the MODIS MCD64A1 Burned Area Product (BAP). Multiple days between cloud free pre- and postburn MODIS observations result in burn date uncertainty. We incorporate cloud-penetrating, C-band SAR-with the MODIS MCD64A BAP in Southeast Asia, to exploit the strengths of each dataset to better estimate the burn date and reduce the potential burn date uncertainty range. We incorporate built-in quality control using MCD64A1 to reduce erroneous pixel updating. We test the method over part of Laos and Thailand during April 2016 and found average uncertainty reduction of 4.5 d, improving 15% of MCD64A1 pixels. A new BAP could improve monitoring temporal trends of wildland fires, air quality studies and monitoring post-fire vegetation dynamics.
Spatio-Temporal Variability of Malaria Infection in Chahbahar County, Iran: Association with the ENSO and Rainfall Variability
Authors: Nazemosadat Seyed Mohammad Jafar , Shafiei Reza , Ghaedamini Habib , Najjari Mohsen , Nazemosadat Zahra , Hatam Gholamreza
Published: September 2021

Malaria is one of the most widespread communicable diseases in the southeast of Iran particularly in Chahbahar County. Comprehensive understanding of the influence of climate on this disease is a key element for success in the environmental-based malaria elimination programs. After analyzing the spatio-temporal distribution of the disease, the relationships between the infection statistics and some important climate indices particularly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and rainfall were investigated.The malaria statistics collected from various health centers were composited with the corresponding data of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), ground-based meteorological records and satellite-based rainfall data. Non-parametric Mann-whitely test was applied to detect the significant difference between patient number between El Niño and La Niña and between the adopted wet and dry episodes. Patient number from highest to lowest was associated to summer, autumn, spring and winter, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and other species were responsible for 22%, 75% and 3% of the sickness, respectively. While the outbreak of P. falciparum is in autumn; P. vivax is erupted in summer. When the epidemic statistics were collected from rural rather than urban areas, the effect of climate on the infection statistic was more obvious. Interpretation: For rural / urban areas, the infection statistics exhibited a significant decline / increase during El Niño episodes. In autumn, spring and winter, patient number has significantly increased / decreased during the dry / wet epochs, respectively. These relationships were, however, reversed during summertime of health indicators are rarely available for every population and period of interest, and available data.
Impact of Initialization Methods on the Predictive skill in NorCPM - An Arctic-Atlantic Case Study
Authors: Passos Leilane , Langehaug Helene , Årthun Marius , Eldevik Tor , Bethke Ingo , Kimmritz Madlen
Published: September 2021

The skilful prediction of climatic conditions on a forecast horizon of months to decades into the future remains a main scientific challenge of large societal benefit. Here we assess the hindcast skill of the Norwegian Climate Prediction Model (NorCPM) – for sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Arctic-Atlantic region – focusing on the impact of different initialization methods. We find the skill to be distinctly larger for the Subpolar North Atlantic than for the Norwegian Sea, and generally for all lead years analyzed. For the Subpolar North Atlantic, there is furthermore consistent benefit in increasing the amount of data assimilated, and also in updating the sea ice based on SST with strongly coupled data assimilation. The predictive skill is furthermore significant for at least two model versions up to 8-10 lead years with the exception for SSS at the longer lead years. For the Norwegian Sea, significant predictive skill is more rare; there is relatively higher skill with respect to SSS than for SST. A systematic benefit from more complex data assimilation approach can not be identified for this region. Somewhat surprisingly, skill deteriorates quite consistently for both the Subpolar North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea when going from CMIP5 to corresponding CMIP6 versions. We find this to relate to change in the regional performance of the underlying physical model that dominates the benefit from initialization.
Urgent Care Study of the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test for Rapid Diagnosis of COVID-19
Authors: Gresh Jared , Kisner Harold , DuChateau Brian
Published: September 2021

BackgroundTesting individuals suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection is essential to reduce the spread of disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the false negativity rate of the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test when utilized for testing individuals suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 12 days of symptom onset. MethodsConcurrent swab samples were collected from patients suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection by their healthcare provider within two different urgent care centers. One swab was tested using the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test. Negative results in patients considered at moderate to high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection were confirmed at a regional reference laboratory by PCR using the additional swab sample. ResultsFrom October 19, 2020 – January 3, 2021, a total of 2241 tests were performed using the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test, with 549 (24.5%) testing positive and 1692 (75.5%) testing negative. A subset (800) of the samples rendering a negative LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test were also tested using a PCR-based test for SARS-CoV-2. Of this subset, 770 (96.3%) tested negative, and 30 (3.8%) tested positive. A cycle threshold (CT) was available for 17 of the 30 specimens that yielded discordant results, with an average CT value of 31.2, an SD of 3.0, and a range of 25.2–36.3. CT was >30.0 in 11/17 specimens (64.7%). ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that negative results obtained with the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test had 96.3% agreement with PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 tests, with a low false negative rate of 3.8% when used in a community-based setting.
Human Weight Compensation with a Backdrivable Upper-Limb Exoskeleton: Identification and Control
Authors: VERDEL Dorian , Bastide Simon , Vignais Nicolas , Bruneau Olivier , Berret Bastien
Published: September 2021

Active exoskeletons are promising devices for improving rehabilitation procedures in patients and preventing musculoskeletal disorders in workers. In particular, exoskeletons implementing human limb’s weight support are interesting to restore some mobility in patients with muscle weakness and help in occupational load carrying tasks. The present study aims at improving weight support of the upper limb by providing a weight model considering joint misalignments and a control law including feedforward terms learned from a prior population-based analysis. Three experiments, for design and validation purposes, are conducted on a total of 65 participants who performed posture maintenance and elbow flexion/extension movements. The introduction of joint misalignments in the weight support model significantly reduced the model errors, in terms of weight estimation, and enhanced the estimation reliability. The introduced control architecture reduced model tracking errors regardless of the condition. Weight support significantly decreased the activity of antigravity muscles, as expected, but increased the activity of elbow extensors because gravity is usually exploited by humans to accelerate a limb downwards. These findings suggest that an adaptive weight support controller could be envisioned to further minimize human effort in certain applications.
Dissolution and Reprecipitation of Sulfur on Carbon Surface
Authors: Liu Jingdong , Zheng Yuanhui
Published: September 2021

Further understanding of the redox process of lithium polysulfides (PSs) on carbon surface is helpful to design Li/S batteries with better performance. “Shuttle mechanism” can explain the low coulomb efficiency and self-discharge of a Li/S battery, but it cannot explain the fact that battery performance is closely affected by electrolyte volume and sulfur load. This paper aims to reveal main redox process of PSs on surface of carbon by examining cathodic behavior with different electrolyte volume and sulfur load. SEM photos and Impedance Spectra of cathode before and after 1st discharge were compared, it was found that the discharge process is the continuous dissolution of sulfur composited with carbon into the electrolyte to form PSs, at the same time, PSs re-precipitates sulfur on the surface of cathode through disproportionation reaction to form a solid film. CV curves showed that the solid film passivates electrode, and the electrode is activated only when potential sweeps negatively and Li2S is generated. When lean electrolyte is used, there is fluctuation in CV curves, which proves that the dissolution-reprecipitation of sulfur is the main process of cathode. The discharge-charge curves of cathodes with different sulfur load were compared, it was found that there is wavy fluctuation in the discharge curve with high sulfur load, which proves again that the sulfur reaction dominates the electrode process.
Comparing the Effects of Mastery Learning and Lectures on Nurses’ Oxygen Therapy Knowledge and Practice: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Southern Iran
Authors: Ahmadidarrehsima Sudabeh , Rafati Shideh , Jabalbarezi Mahnaz , Rafati Foozieh
Published: September 2021

Background and Aim: Improper administration of oxygen as an expensive drug has dangerous side effects. Nurses are responsible for performing this therapy and even prescribing it in emergencies. This study aimed to determine the effect of two methods of mastery learning and lectures on the oxygen therapy knowledge and practice of nurses in a teaching hospital in southern Iran.Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 50 nurses working in a teaching hospital in southern Iran. The participants were selected using convenience sampling and randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The members of the intervention group attended 4 oxygen therapy master learning sessions, while the members of the control group were trained using the lecture method for 4 sessions. The instruments used for data collection were a demographic information questionnaire and the researcher-made nurses’ oxygen therapy knowledge and practice inventories that were completed by the participants in both groups. The data were collected before the intervention and one week and three months after the intervention and analyzed using SPSS software with descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: The findings indicated that the nurses had poor oxygen therapy knowledge and practice before the intervention. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean scores of oxygen therapy knowledge and practice before the intervention. It was also shown that oxygen therapy knowledge and practice were significantly improved one week and three months after the learning mastery intervention in the participants in the intervention group (P < 0.001). In contrast, only the oxygen therapy knowledge of the members of the control group showed a significant increase three months after the intervention compared to the pre-intervention stage (P = 0.04). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the mastery learning model is an effective model for improving and maintaining the nurses’ oxygen therapy knowledge and practice. Since nurses’ optimal practice improves the quality of care and increases patient safety, mastery learning can be used as an effective training technique to improve nurses’ oxygen therapy practice.
Induction Therapy and Outcome of Proliferative Lupus Nephritis in the Top End of Northern Australia – A single centre study retrospective study
Authors: Xu Chi , Goh Kim Ling , Abeyaratne Asanga , Priyadarshana Kelum
Published: September 2021

BackgroundLupus nephritis is a common manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Mycophenolate is recommended by guidelines for induction therapy in patients with proliferative lupus nephritis and nephrotic range proteinuria Class V lupus nephritis. Indigenous Australians suffer disproportionally from systemic lupus erythematosus compared to non-Indigenous Australians. MethodsWe retrospectively identified patients with newly diagnosed biopsy-proven class III lupus nephritis, class IV lupus nephritis and class V lupus nephritis with nephrotic range proteinuria from 1st Jan 2010 to 31st Dec 2019 in our institution and examined for the patterns of prescribed induction therapy and clinical outcome. The primary efficacy outcome of interest was the incidence of complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) at one-year post diagnosis as defined by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcome (KDIGO) guideline. Secondary efficacy outcome was a composite of renal adverse outcome in the follow-up period. Adverse effect outcome of interest was any hospitalisations secondary to infections in the follow-up period. Continuous variables were compared using Student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test. Categorical variables were summarised using frequencies and percentages and assessed by Fisher’s exact test. Time-to-event data was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test. Count data were assessed using the Poisson’s regression method and expressed as incident rate ratio.Results20 of the 23 patients included in the analysis were managed with mycophenolate induction upfront. Indigenous Australian patients (N=15), compared to non-Indigenous patients (N=5) received lower cumulative dose of mycophenolate mofetil over the 24 weeks (375g vs. 256g, p<0.05), had a non-significant lower incidence of complete remission at 12 months (60% vs. 40%, p=0.617), higher incidence of composite renal outcome (0/5 patients vs. 5/15 patients, p=0.20) and higher incidence of infection related hospitalisations, (incident rate ratio 3.66, 95% confidence interval 0.89-15.09, p=0.073). ConclusionMycophenolate as upfront induction in Indigenous Australian patients were associated with lower incidence of remission and higher incidence of adverse outcomes. These observations bring the safety and efficacy profile of mycophenolate in Indigenous Australians into question.
Real-space imaging of phase transitions in bridged artificial kagome spin ice
Authors: Hofhuis Kevin , Skjærvø Sandra , Parchenko Sergii , Arava Hanu , Luo Zhaochu , Kleibert Armin , Derlet Peter , Heyderman Laura
Published: September 2021

In frustrated spin systems, magnetic phase transitions underpin the formation of exotic, frustration-driven magnetic phases. Of great importance is the ability to manipulate these transitions to access specific phases, which in turn provides a means to discover and control novel phenomena. Artificial spin systems, incorporating lithographically-fabricated arrays of dipolar-coupled nanomagnets that allow real-space observation of the magnetic configurations, provide such an opportunity. In particular, the kagome spin ice is predicted to have two phase transitions, one of which is to a low temperature phase whose long-range ground state order has not been observed experimentally. To achieve this order, we change the global symmetry of the artificial kagome system, by selectively tuning the near-field nanomagnet interactions through nanoscale bridges at the vertices. By precisely tuning the interactions, we can quantify the influence of frustration on such a transition, and find that the driving force for spin and charge ordering depends on the degeneracy strength at the vertex. For the first time, we are able to observe the evolution of the magnetic configurations associated with a phase transition in real space and time.
Development and Psychometric Evaluation of an Instrument for Preventing Occupational Neck Pain Behaviors in Teachers
Authors: Moradi Zohre , Tavafian Sedigheh Sadat , Kazemi Seyedeh Somayeh
Published: September 2021

Background: Development and psychometrics of a questionnaire for preventive occupational pain behaviors in teachers.Quantitative and qualitative research plan in tool development and validation.Method: A qualitative study was conducted in December 2020 with 25 participants to obtain the initial information of the questionnaire. Then content validity and face validity were performed. In the next stage, a questionnaire was distributed among the sample of teachers. In total, 146 teachers participated in this study (with a mean age 36.7; SD 8.92 years). Exploratory factor analysis was used to obtain the factor structure of the questionnaire. The correlation matrix in the case scale has been used to evaluate the validity of the structure. Internal stability (Cronbach's alpha) was calculated to assess reliability and internal correlation coefficient to assess stability.Results: Based on analysis of the exploratory factor, 8 factors with 43 substances, that together accounted for 65,25% variances were obtained. Also, the correlation matrix in the case scale to establish the validity of the questionnaire showed satisfactory results. The results of face validity showed that 4 factors were not approved and were removed from the questionnaire. Reliability evaluation with internal consistency method (Cronbach's alpha) showed excellent compatibility (0.87). The Intraclass correlation reliability assessment showed that the questionnaire has satisfactory stability (ICC) (0.92).Conclusion: This study provides the reliability and validity of the Occupational Pain Neck Preventive Behaviors Questionnaire. This study provides an instrument for evaluating occupational neck pain prevention behaviors among teachers. The instrument is useful for teachers and staff of administrative units and healthcare settings to implement appropriate interventions.
Risk Factors and Severity of Keratoconus on the East Coast of China
Authors: Mou Yujie , Qin Qiyu , Huang Xiaodan , Jin Xiuming
Published: September 2021

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the characteristics, potential risk factors and associated severity of keratoconus on the east coast of China. Methods: In this prospective case-control study, patients diagnosed with keratoconus were invited to fill in the online electronic questionnaire designed with the help of the App named WenJuanXing. Several questions like, sex, age of diagnosis and eye care habits were administered to each subject through this e-questionnaire. Corneal topographies at diagnosis taken from Pentacam were also collected. Results: 391 Chinese keratoconus outpatients were enrolled in this study, among which 159 patients were newly diagnosed. Only 3 patients (0.77%) had a positive family history of keratoconus. Atopy could be identified in 66.0% of our patients. A total of 357 patients (91.3%) mentioned the habit of eye rubbing, with 191 patients (48.8%) rubbing their eyes frequently. Patients with younger age at onset (P=0.005), male sex (P=0.042), frequent eye rubbing (P=0.003) and smoke (P=0.002) were found significantly associated with increased risk of acute hydrops. In newly diagnosed patients, 79.9% had the maximum keratometry (Kmax) more than 52D, with males and patients aged 21-30 being even more serious (P=0.009; P=0.005). Besides, in patients aged over 21, frequent eye rubbing was significantly associated with steeper Kmax and more severe astigmatism (all P＜0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that frequent eye rubbing is closely related to the severity of keratoconus in Chinese patients. Chinese keratoconus patients always had much serious disease condition at the time of diagnosis. Thus, increasing the publicity of keratoconus and advocating appropriate eye care habits are needed urgently in China.
SimulaD: A Novel Feature Selection Heuristics For Discrete Data
Authors: Besharati Mohammad Reza , Izadi Mohammad
Published: September 2021

For discrete big data which have a limited range of values, Conventional machine learning methods cannot be applied because we see clutter and overlapping of classes in such data: many data points from different classes overlap. In this paper we introduce a solution for this problem through a novel heuristics method. By applying a running average (with a window-size= d) we could transform Discrete data to broad-range, Continuous values. When we have more than 2 columns and one of them is containing data about the tags of classification (Class Column), we could compare and sort the features (Non-class Columns) based on the R2 coefficient of the regression for running averages. The parameters tuning could help us to select the best features (the non-class columns which have the best correlation with the Class Column). “Window size” and “Ordering” could be tuned to achieve the goal. This optimization problem is hard and we need an Algorithm (or Heuristics) for simplifying this tuning. We demonstrate a novel heuristics, Called Simulated Distillation (SimulaD), which could help us to gain a somehow good results with this optimization problem.
Effectiveness of Interventions to Improve Medication Adherence in Adults With Depressive Disorders: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: de León Beatriz González , Pino-Sedeño Tasmania del , Serrano-Pérez Pedro , Rodríguez-Álvarez Cristobalina , Bejarano-Quisoboni Daniel , Trujillo-Martín María M.
Published: September 2021

Background: Non-adherence to medications is a major obstacle in the treatment of depressive disorders. We systematically reviewed the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving adherence to medications among adults with depressive disorders.Methods: We searched Medline, EMBASE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PsycINFO, Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index for randomized or non-randomized controlled trials up to September 2019. Risk of bias was assessed using the criteria of the Cochrane Collaboration. Meta-analyses, cumulative and meta-regression analyses for adherence were conducted.Results: Forty-five trials (n= 24,413) were included. Pooled estimate indicates an increase in the probability of adherence to antidepressants at 6 months with the different types of interventions (OR 1.28; 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.54). The improvement in adherence is obtained from 3 months (OR 1.57, 95% CI: 1.22 to 2.01) but it is attenuated at 12 months (OR 1.25, 95% CI: 0.99 to 1.53). Selected articles show methodological differences, mainly the diversity of both the severity of the depressive disorder and intervention procedures. Patients with depression and anxiety seem to benefit most from intervention (OR 2.77, 95% CI: 1.74 to 4.42) and collaborative care is the most effective intervention to improve adherence (OR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.17 to 2.40).Conclusions: Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at improving short and medium-term adherence to medications among adults with depressive disorders are effective. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of long-term adherence is insufficient and supports the need for further research efforts.International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) number: CRD42017065723
Impact of COVID-19 on Malaysian Dental Students’ Physical, Mental, Financial and Academic Concerns
Authors: Lestari Widya , Yazid Nur Hazirah , Azhar Zawin Najah , Ismail Azlini , Sukotjo Cortino
Published: September 2021

Background
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the world at unprecedented speed and gained worldwide attention. The pandemic proved to hold an impact to humankind including dental students in all aspects of life. Dental students’ performances may indirectly be affected following the preventive measures in containing the disease. This study aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physical, mental, financial health and academic concern among dental students in Malaysia.
Methods
The current research implemented a cross sectional study among dental students in Malaysia. Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on dental education was done by the distribution of a set of online survey consisting of 28 questions to dental students (n = 353) from public and private universities in Malaysia. The questionnaires include sociodemographic backgrounds and assessment on the 4 main domains.
Results
A total number of 353 respondents was recorded and 76.2% comprised of female. 59.7% were clinical students and 40.3% were preclinical students. 55.8% of the respondents attended hybrid mode of study. 78.0%, 76.5% and 91.8% students were concerned about their own emotional, physical health and the amount of clinical skill they acquire respectively. Year 3 students were found to be more concerned about their mental and financial health concern (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
COVID-19 pandemic had indeed significantly affected Malaysian dental students mainly due to fear of the quality of online learning and the amount of clinical skills acquired.
Overexpressing PLOD Family Genes Predict Poor Prognosis In Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Zhang Jing , Tian Yan Zhang , Mo Shao Jian , Fu Xi Feng
Published: September 2021

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a common malignant tumor of digestive system. It has the characteristics of low early detection rate, large surgical trauma and high mortality. Multiple studies have shown that the PLOD family genes are closely associated with tumor progression and metastasis in many human cancers. However, The prognosis and biological function of PLOD family genes in PAAD have not been deeply discussed.Methods: GEPIA,GEO,HPA,CCLE,Kaplan-Meier Plotter,cBioPortal, LinkedOmics, DAVID6.8, STRING and TIMER were used to determine the prognostic values and biological function of PLOD family members in pancreatic cancer.Results: The mRNA and protein expression patterns of PLOD family members were noticeably upregulated in PAAD compared to normal tissue. In addition, PLOD family gene expression is also upregulated in pancreatic cancer cell lines.PLOD1 was significantly correlated with histological grade and pathological grade of pancreatic cancer. PLOD2 is related to histological grade.The high expression of PLOD1-2 was significantly correlated with the poor overall survival rate and relapse-free survival rate in patients with PAAD. In addition, PLODs has high sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing pancreatic cancer from normal tissues.Through the functional enrichment analysis of PLODs-related genes in pancreatic cancer, we found that PLODs was enriched in collagen fiber tissue structure, lysine degradation and collagen biosynthesis.Pathway analysis was confirmed PLODs regulates the proliferation, migration, and metastasis of pancreatic cancer through the RalGEF-Ral signaling pathway.The expression levels of PLOD1–2 were positively correlated with the activities of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, including CD8+T cells, neutrophils, macrophages and dendritic cells.The expression level of PLOD3 was inversely correlated with the infiltration level of CD8+T cells.The expression levels of PLOD1 were higher in pancreatic cancers with TP53 mutations as compared to pancreatic cancers without mutations.PLOD2 expression levels were increased in KRAS mutant pancreatic cancer.However, the expression level of PLOD3 is elevated in SMAD4 wild-type pancreatic cancer.Conclusion: The findings of this study could propose that individual PLOD genes or PLOD family genes as a whole could be potential prognostic biomarkers for PAAD.
Challenges In Reanalysis Products To Assess Extreme Weather Impacts On Yield Underestimate Drought
Authors: Grusson Youen , Barron Jennie
Published: September 2021

The incidence of dry or wet day sequences has a great influence on crops management and development. The lack of spatialized observed data with appropriate temporal resolution to investigate the changes that has occurred during the last century regarding the length and frequencies of those sequences has led to reliance on reanalysis products. However, the question can be raised about the suitability of those products when evaluating such climate indices and their impacts on crop production. Different products are here investigated to evaluate the way that succession of dry and wet days are depicted. We showed clearly that the frequency and intensity of dry and wet spells returned can differ widely between products. For instance, number of dry spell events can range from 1 to 11 over the same decade for two different products. This divergence in representation of spells could generate substantial differences in impact analysis of crop yields in agricultural modeling.
The Methods and Use of Questionnaires for the Diagnosis of Dental Phobia by Japanese Dental Practitioners Specializing in Special Needs Dentistry and Dental Anesthesiology: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Ogawa Mika , Ayuse Terumi , Fujisawa Toshiaki , Sato Shuntaro , Ayuse Takao
Published: September 2021

Background
Dental phobia is covered by medical insurance; however, the diagnostic methods are not standardized in Japan. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the methods and use of questionnaires for the diagnosis of dental phobia by Japanese dental practitioners specializing in special needs dentistry and dental anesthesiology.
Methods
We conducted an online survey to obtain information from the members of the Japanese Society for Disability and Oral Health (JSDH, n = 5134) and the Japanese Dental Society of Anesthesiology (JDSA, n = 2759). Response items included gender, qualification, affiliation type, methods of diagnosis and management of dental phobia, use of questionnaire, need for new evaluation methods for the diagnosis of dental phobia, and others. The chi-squared test was used to compare answers between the three groups (JSDH only, JDSA only, and both). Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with the use of an assessment questionnaire.
Results
Data were obtained from 614 practitioners (only JSDH: n = 329, only JDSA: n = 195, both JSDH and JDSA: n = 90, response rate: 7.8% [614/7,893], men: n = 364 [58.5%]). Only 9.7% practitioners used questionnaires to quantify the level of dental anxiety. The members of both JSDH and JDSA used questionnaires more frequently than members only of the JSDH (19% and 7.1%, respectively; Bonferroni corrected p < 0.01). Most practitioners (89.1%) diagnosed dental phobia based on patient complaints of fear of treatment. Further, majority of the participants (73.3%) felt the need for a new diagnostic method for “dental phobia”. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that membership of the JSDH only was negatively related (odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] : 0.15—0.68), and use of behavioral therapy was positively related (OR = 2.51, 95% CI : 1.27—5.20) to the use of a questionnaire.
Conclusions
The results of this study showed that the use of questionnaires was very low, patients’ subjective opinions were commonly used to diagnose dental phobia, and a new diagnostic criterion was needed among practitioners. Therefore, it is important to establish standardized methods for diagnosing dental phobia in Japan.
Transition Sandwich Janus Membrane of Cellulose Acetate and Polyurethane Nanofibers For Oil-Water Separation
Authors: Zhang Yong , Yang Mei , Zhou Yuan , Yao Anrong , Han Yanting , Shi Yidong , Cheng Fei , Zhou Mi , Zhu Puxin , Tan Lin
Published: September 2021

Through sequential electrospinning, a sandwich Janus membrane (PU-(CA/PU)-CA) was constructed with hydrophobic polyurethane (PU) nanofiber membrane as the top layer, cellulose acetate/polyurethane (CA/PU) blend nanofiber membrane as the intermediate transition layer and hydrophilic cellulose acetate (CA) nanofiber membrane as the bottom layer. The effects of membrane structure, composition and thickness on the mechanical properties, permeability and separation ability of PU-(CA/PU)-CA nanofiber membrane were studied. The results show that the transition sandwich structure PU-(CA/PU)-CA membrane has good mechanical properties, high permeability and selective separation ability, and can realize the unidirectional transmission of water and efficient oil-water separation. When the membrane thickness is 80 μm, the hydraulic permeability is 3.4×104 L/(m2 h bar), the oil-water separation efficiency reaches 99%, and the tensile strength is 95.8% higher than that of the double-layer PU-CA membrane without intermediate transition layer. The thermal stability and antifouling ability of PU-(CA/PU)-CA nanofiber membrane have also been improved, and the reusability is good. CA/PU transition interlayer improves the interfacial compatibility between CA and PU nanofiber membrane, enhances the performance of PU-(CA/PU)-CA nanofiber Janus membrane, and shows its application prospect in the field of separation and purification.
Novel Dopamine-Modified Cellulose Acetate Ultrafiltration Membranes with Improved Separation and Antifouling Performances
Authors: Ma Xi , Guo Hanxiang , Wang Zhaofeng , Sun Nan , Huo Pengfei , Gu Jiyou , Liu Yang
Published: September 2021

Cellulose derivatives are the earliest and most widely used membrane materials due to its many excellent characteristics, especially chemical activity and biodegradability. However, the hydrophobic properties of cellulose acetate (CA) limited its development to some extent. To improve the inherent hydrophobic and antifouling properties of the CA membrane, CA was successfully modified with dopamine (CA-2,3-DA) through selective oxidation and Schiff base reactions in this work, which was confirmed by 1H NMR and FTIR measurements. And then, the CA-2,3-DA membrane with high water permeability and the excellent antifouling property was prepared by the phase inversion method. Compared with the primordial CA membrane, the CA-2,3-DA membrane maintained a higher rejection rate for BSA (92.5%) while greatly increasing the pure water flux (167.3 L/m2h), which could be overcome the trade-off relationship between selectivity and permeability of the traditional CA membrane to a certain extent. According to the three-cycles dynamic ultrafiltration and static protein adsorption experiments, the CA-2,3-DA membrane showed good long-term performance stability and superior antifouling performance, which was supported by the experiment results including filtration resistance, flux decline ratio and flux recovery ratio. It is expected that this approach can greatly expand the high-value utilization of modified natural organic polysaccharides in separation engineering.