bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elevated MUC5AC expression is associated with mismatch repair deficiency and proximal tumor location but not with cancer progression in colon cancer
Authors: Rico Sebastian Dwertmann , Höflmayer Doris , Büscheck Franziska , Dum David , Luebke Andreas M. , Kluth Martina , Hube-Magg Claudia , Hinsch Andrea , Möller-Koop Christina , Perez Daniel , Izbicki Jakob R. , Neipp Michael , Mofid Hamid , Lárusson Hannes , Daniels Thies , Isbert Christoph , Coerper Stephan , Ditterich Daniel , Rupprecht Holger , Goetz Albert , Fraune Christoph , Möller Katharina , Menz Anne , Bernreuther Christian , Clauditz Till S. , Sauter Guido , Uhlig Ria , Wilczak Waldemar , Simon Ronald , Steurer Stefan , Lebok Patrick , Burandt Eike , Krech Till , Marx Andreas H.
Published: December 2020

Mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) is a secreted gel-forming mucin expressed by several epithelia. In the colon, MUC5AC is expressed in scattered normal epithelial cells but can be abundant in colorectal cancers. To clarify the relationship of MUC5AC expression with parameters of tumor aggressiveness and mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) in colorectal cancer, a tissue microarray containing 1812 colorectal cancers was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. MUC5AC expression was found in 261 (15.7%) of 1,667 analyzable colorectal cancers. MUC5AC expression strongly depended on the tumor location and gradually decreased from proximal (27.4% of cecum cancers) to distal (10.6% of rectal cancers; p < 0.0001). MUC5AC expression was also strongly linked to dMMR. dMMR was found in 21.3% of 169 cancers with MUC5AC positivity but in only 4.6% of 1051 cancers without detectable MUC5AC expression (p < 0.0001). A multivariate analysis showed that dMMR status and tumor localization predicted MUC5AC expression independently (p < 0.0001 each). MUC5AC expression was unrelated to pT and pN status. This also applied to the subgroups of 1136 proficient MMR (pMMR) and of 84 dMMR cancers. The results of our study show a strong association of MUC5AC expression with proximal and dMMR colorectal cancers. However, MUC5AC expression is unrelated to colon cancer aggressiveness.
Mehr Propagation als Lokalisation: Anfälle aus dem posterioren Kortex
Authors: Steinhoff Stephan , Jacobs Julia
Published: December 2020

Epilepsien mit einem Anfallsursprung aus dem Okzipital‑, Parietal- und posterioren Temporallappen werden häufig als Epilepsien des posterioren Kortex zusammengefasst. Gemeinsam haben diese Epilepsien, dass symptomatogene Zone und Anfallsursprung oft nicht oder nur teilweise überlappen. Anfälle aus dem posterioren Kortex können klinisch wie Temporal- oder Frontallappenanfälle imponieren. Diese Übersichtsarbeit diskutiert klinische Merkmale und typische Präsentationen dieser Epilepsien. Ein detailliertes Wissen über Netzwerkverbindung zwischen den okzipitalen und parietalen Strukturen und anderen Hirnregionen ist für eine erfolgreiche chirurgische Behandlung dieser Epilepsien unerlässlich.
Biometric technology in “no-gate border crossing solutions” under consideration of privacy, ethical, regulatory and social acceptance
Authors: Binder Susanne , Iannone Andrea , Leibner Chad
Published: December 2020

Biometric technologies have become the main focus in the design of state-of-the-art border security solutions. While respective research in the field of multimedia vision has been centred around improving quality and accuracy of identity recognition, the impact of such technologies upon society and legal regulations still remains a topic unaddressed, specifically within the engineering community. Research in technology can and in some respect must include collaboration with social sciences and social practice. Building on participation in the EU funded research project PERSONA [18] (Privacy, Ethical, Regulatory and SOcial No-gate crossing point solutions Acceptance), authors of this paper look at the challenges associated with biometrics-based solutions in no-gate border crossing point scenarios. This included the procedures needed for the assessment of their social, ethical, privacy and regulatory acceptance, particularly in view of the impact on both, the passengers and border control authorities as well as the potential pitfalls of biometric technology due to fraudulent activities. In consultation with the collaborating border control authorities, the paper reports on the formal assessment of biometric technologies for real-world acceptance to cope with the increasing demand of global travellers crossing state borders.
Electrochemical top-down synthesis of C-supported Pt nano-particles with controllable shape and size: Mechanistic insights and application
Authors: Garlyyev Batyr , Watzele Sebastian , Fichtner Johannes , Michalička Jan , Schökel Alexander , Senyshyn Anatoliy , Perego Andrea , Pan Dingjie , El-Sayed Hany A. , Macak Jan M. , Atanassov Plamen , Zenyuk Iryna V. , Bandarenka Aliaksandr S.
Published: December 2020

In this work, we demonstrate the power of a simple top-down electrochemical erosion approach to obtain Pt nanoparticle with controlled shapes and sizes (in the range from ~ 2 to ~ 10 nm). Carbon supported nanoparticles with narrow size distributions have been synthesized by applying an alternating voltage to macroscopic bulk platinum structures, such as disks or wires. Without using any surfactants, the size and shape of the particles can be changed by adjusting simple parameters such as the applied potential, frequency and electrolyte composition. For instance, application of a sinusoidal AC voltage with lower frequencies results in cubic nanoparticles; whereas higher frequencies lead to predominantly spherical nanoparticles. On the other hand, the amplitude of the sinusoidal signal was found to affect the particle size; the lower the amplitude of the applied AC signal, the smaller the resulting particle size. Pt/C catalysts prepared by this approach showed 0.76 A/mg mass activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction which is ~ 2 times higher than the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.42 A/mg) from Tanaka. In addition to this, we discussed the mechanistic insights about the nanoparticle formation pathways.
Generic rotation sets
Authors: PAVEZ-MOLINA SEBASTIÁN
Published: December 2020

Let$(X,T)$be a topological dynamical system. Given a continuous vector-valued function$F \in C(X, \mathbb {R}^{d})$called apotential, we define its rotation set$R(F)$as the set of integrals ofFwith respect to allT-invariant probability measures, which is a convex body of$\mathbb {R}^{d}$. In this paper we study the geometry of rotation sets. We prove that ifTis a non-uniquely ergodic topological dynamical system with a dense set of periodic measures, then the map$R(\cdot )$is open with respect to the uniform topologies. As a consequence, we obtain that the rotation set of a generic potential is strictly convex and has$C^{1}$boundary. Furthermore, we prove that the map$R(\cdot )$is surjective, extending a result of Kucherenko and Wolf.
Antimicrobial never events: Objective application of a framework to assess vancomycin appropriateness
Authors: Liu Jiajun , Mercuro Nicholas J. , Davis Susan L. , Palmo Tenzin , Kashyap Shivek , Patel Twisha S. , Petty Lindsay A. , Yarnold Paul R. , Kaye Keith S. , Scheetz Marc H.
Published: December 2020

To address appropriateness of antibiotic use, we implemented an electronic framework to evaluate antibiotic “never events” (NEs) at 2 medical centers. Patient-level vancomycin administration records were classified as NEs or non-NEs. The objective framework allowed capture of true-positive vancomycin NEs in one-third of patients identified by the electronic strategy.
How Predatory Informal Rules Outlast State Reform: Evidence from Postauthoritarian Guatemala
Authors: Schwartz Rachel A.
Published: December 2020

The coexistence of predatory informal rules alongside formal democratic institutions is a defining, if pernicious, feature of Latin America’s political landscape. How do such rules remain so resilient in the face of bureaucratic reforms? This article explicates the mechanisms underlying the persistence of such rules and challenges conventional explanations through process-tracing analysis in one arena: Guatemala’s customs administration. During Guatemala’s period of armed conflict and military rule, military intelligence officers introduced a powerful customs fraud scheme that endured for more than 20 years, despite state reforms. Its survival is best attributed to the ability of the distributional coalition underwriting the predatory rules to capture new political and economic spaces facilitated by political party and market reforms. This illustrates that distributional approaches to institutional change must attend to how those with a stake in the status quo may continue to uphold perverse institutional arrangements on the margins of state power.
The names don't matter but the numbers do: searching for stability in Carboniferous brachiopod paleocommunities from the North American Midcontinent
Authors: Strotz Luke C. , Lieberman Bruce S.
Published: December 2020

A key question in paleoecology and macroevolution is whether assemblages of species (paleocommunities) are persistent entities that endure over millions of years. While community turnover in the face of abiotic change is the presumed norm, paleocommunities have been shown to persist for long time periods and regardless of environmental disruption. It remains an open question, however, as to what processes allow for this. We investigate these questions by analyzing the Carboniferous brachiopod paleocommunities from the Midcontinent of North America. These diverse communities were subjected to repeated and geologically rapid changes in sea level. Using a suite of statistical techniques, we characterize the nature and scope of changes in these paleocommunities over time. We find that, at the paleocommunity scale, there is no evidence for obdurate ecological stasis, with fluctuations in both taxonomic composition and the associated abundance of taxa. However, at a higher ecological scale, stability is manifest, as diversity patterns remain stable across time, with a consistent number of species that can exist in any given paleocommunity. This suggests ecological rules such as taxon packing are in effect, resulting in a form of ecological stability even in the face of constant disequilibrium, and parallels ecological patterns of disruption and recovery previously observed for invertebrate communities from modern marine systems. Based on these results, we advocate for consideration of different hierarchical entities and scales when interpreting the ecological dynamics of fossil assemblages, as focusing exclusively on changes in taxon identity/abundance or diversity levels can lead to very different results.
Beyond National Time: Black Atlantic Temporalities and the Time-Space of Black Canadian Cultural Studies
Authors: Vernon Karina
Published: December 2020

This paper works with methodologies offered by Winfried Siemerling’sThe Black Atlantic Reconsidered(2015) to elaborate the complexities involved in conversations between the fields of Canadian Literature and Black Canadian cultural studies. As Siemerling argues, Black Canadian literature is marked by the transversal time-spaces of the Black Atlantic which run counter to linear national time. What are the implications, then, of the Black Atlantic’s incommensurable time-spaces in the ongoing project of institutionalizing Black Canadian literature?
Approaching the PIDE ‘From Below’: Petitions, Spontaneous Applications and Denunciation Letters to Salazar's Secret Police in 1964
Authors: Simpson Duncan
Published: December 2020

Under the Salazar regime, many Portuguese citizens spontaneously interacted with the secret police (PIDE), sending it letters of denunciation, prospective applications and petitions. The historians of the Estado Novo, by reducing the nature of the relations between the PIDE and society to its mechanisms of top-down repression, have overlooked the significance of the phenomenon. Drawing on the inputs of the international bibliography on accusatory practices and ‘everyday life’ under dictatorship, this article looks at the PIDE through the subjective perspectives of the individual citizens who approached it ‘from below’, thereby nuancing and complementing the established narrative of violence and repression. It focuses on the instrumentalisation of the PIDE by ordinary citizens as: an influential sponsor; an appropriable device of coercion; an instrument of private conflict resolution; a platform for collaborative interaction with the regime; an economic opportunity. The article also puts forward an interpretation of these ‘everyday’ interactions as part of a broader system of governance used by the authorities of the New State.
End-of-life Decisions for Patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness in England and Wales: Time for Neuroscience-informed Improvements
Authors: CATLEY PAUL , PYWELL STEPHANIE , TANNER ADAM
Published: December 2020

This article explores how the law of England and Wales1 has responded thus far to medical and clinical advances that have enabled patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness to survive. The authors argue that, although the courts have taken account of much of the science, they are now lagging behind, with the result that some patients are being denied their legal rights under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The article further argues that English law does not comply with the United Kingdom’s commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Stressing the need for the law to keep in step with advances in science, the article concludes with robust recommendations for improvements, based on the latest research in neuroscience, to the way in which life-sustaining treatment decisions are made. This would mean that the wishes of patients, including those with covert awareness, can be better reflected in best interests assessments.
Human Biobanking in Developed and Developing Countries: An Ethico-Legal Comparative Analysis of the Frameworks in the United Kingdom, Australia, Uganda, and South Africa
Authors: MAHOMED SAFIA
Published: December 2020

Although the concept of biobanking is not new, the open and evolving nature of biobanks has created profound ethical, legal, and social implications, including issues around informed consent, community engagement, secondary uses of materials over time, ownership of materials, data sharing, and privacy. Complexities also emerge because of increasing international collaborations and differing national positions. In addition, the degrees and topics of concern vary as legislative, ethical, and social frameworks differ across developed and developing countries. Implementing national laws in an internationally consistent manner is also problematic. However, these concerns should not cause countries, especially developing countries, to lag behind as this novel wave of research gains momentum, particularly while several biobank initiatives are already underway in the developing world. As the law has always struggled to keep up with the fast-evolving scientific arena, this article seeks to identify the ethico-legal frameworks in place in the United Kingdom, Australia, Uganda, and South Africa, for human biobank research, in an attempt to compare and contextualize the approaches to human biobanking in specific developed and developing countries.
INFLATION TARGETING UNDER INFLATION UNCERTAINTY—MULTI-ECONOMY EVIDENCE FROM A STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY MODEL
Authors: Hartmann Matthias , Herwartz Helmut , Ulm Maren
Published: December 2020

One of the most important advantages of an inflation target is that it helps to reduce uncertainty about future inflation. However, this confidence may be undermined if actual inflation continuously deviates from the target level. We examine how inflation uncertainty relates to the presence of an inflation target and deviations of inflation from the targeted level. Inflation uncertainty is quantified by means of an unobserved components stochastic volatility model that allows to distinguish between permanent and transitory inflation uncertainty. While long-term inflation appears largely stable in most economies, the short-term inflation uncertainty is found to be time-varying. Most notably, short-term inflation uncertainty is high if inflation rates are below the target level. This is particularly relevant for economies which are currently confronted with the presence of persistently low-inflation rates. Our findings suggest that announcing higher inflation targets as it is currently discussed may be costly in terms of provoking higher inflation uncertainty.
Role of Geostrophic Currents in Future Changes of Coastal Upwelling in the California Current System
Authors: Ding Hui , Alexander Michael A. , Jacox Michael G.
Published: December 2020

Given the importance of coastal upwelling in the California Current System (CCS), there is a considerable interest in predicting its response to global warming. However, upwelling changes are often treated as synonymous with changes in upwelling‐favorable winds, while the role of geostrophic transport is unaccounted for. Here, we examine the respective roles of Ekman and geostrophic transports using the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble. In some parts of the CCS, the contribution of geostrophic transport to long‐term changes in upwelling is equal or greater than the contribution from Ekman transport. The combination of the two transports nearly close the momentum budget, and thus reproduce the mean state, interannual variability, and long‐term changes in upwelling. These results highlight the importance of accounting for ocean circulation when quantifying upwelling and its variability and change.
Atmospheric River Lifecycle Responses to the Madden‐Julian Oscillation
Authors: Zhou Yang , Kim Hyemi , Waliser Duane E.
Published: December 2020

We investigate how the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO), the dominant mode of tropical subseasonal variability, modulates the lifecycle of cool‐season North Pacific atmospheric rivers (ARs). When the enhanced (suppressed) convection center is located over the Indian Ocean (western Pacific), more AR events originate over eastern Asia and with fewer over the subtropical northern Pacific. When the enhanced (suppressed) convection is over the western Pacific (Indian Ocean), the opposite changes occur, with more AR events originate over the subtropical northern Pacific and fewer over eastern Asia. Dynamical processes involving anomalous MJO wind and seasonal mean moisture are found to be the dominant factors impacting these variations in AR origins. The MJO‐related anomalous geopotential height patterns are also shown to modulate the propagation of the AR events. These MJO–AR lifecycle relationships are further supported by model simulations.
Statistical Forecasts for the Occurrence of Precipitation Outperform Global Models over Northern Tropical Africa
Authors: Vogel Peter , Knippertz Peter , Gneiting Tilmann , Fink Andreas H. , Klar Manuel , Schlueter Andreas
Published: December 2020

Short‐term global ensemble predictions of rainfall currently have no skill over northern tropical Africa when compared to simple climatology‐based forecasts, even after sophisticated statistical postprocessing. Here, we demonstrate that 1‐day statistical forecasts for the probability of precipitation occurrence based on a simple logistic regression model have considerable potential for improvement. The new approach we present here relies on gridded rainfall estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission for July‐September 1998–2017 and uses rainfall amounts from the pixels that show the highest positive and negative correlations on the previous two days as input. Forecasts using this model are reliable and have a higher resolution and better skill than climatology‐based forecasts. The good performance is related to westward propagating African easterly waves and embedded mesoscale convective systems. The statistical model is outmatched by the postprocessed dynamical forecast in the dry outer tropics only, where extratropical influences are important.
Differing Mechanisms of New Particle Formation at Two Arctic Sites
Authors: Beck Lisa J. , Sarnela Nina , Junninen Heikki , Hoppe Clara J. M. , Garmash Olga , Bianchi Federico , Riva Matthieu , Rose Clemence , Peräkylä Otso , Wimmer Daniela , Kausiala Oskari , Jokinen Tuija , Ahonen Lauri , Mikkilä Jyri , Hakala Jani , He Xu‐Cheng , Kontkanen Jenni , Wolf Klara K. E. , Cappelletti David , Mazzola Mauro , Traversi Rita , Petroselli Chiara , Viola Angelo P. , Vitale Vito , Lange Robert , Massling Andreas , Nøjgaard Jakob K. , Krejci Radovan , Karlsson Linn , Zieger Paul , Jang Sehyun , Lee Kitack , Vakkari Ville , Lampilahti Janne , Thakur Roseline C. , Leino Katri , Kangasluoma Juha , Duplissy Ella‐Maria , Siivola Erkki , Marbouti Marjan , Tham Yee Jun , Saiz‐Lopez Alfonso , Petäjä Tuukka , Ehn Mikael , Worsnop Douglas R. , Skov Henrik , Kulmala Markku , Kerminen Veli‐Matti , Sipilä Mikko
Published: December 2020

New particle formation in the Arctic atmosphere is an important source of aerosol particles. Understanding the processes of Arctic secondary aerosol formation is crucial due to their significant impact on cloud properties and therefore Arctic amplification. We observed the molecular formation of new particles from low‐volatility vapors at two Arctic sites with differing surroundings. In Svalbard, sulfuric acid (SA) and methane sulfonic acid (MSA) contribute to the formation of secondary aerosol and to some extent to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). This occurs via ion‐induced nucleation of SA and NH3 and subsequent growth by mainly SA and MSA condensation during springtime and highly oxygenated organic molecules during summertime. By contrast, in an ice‐covered region around Villum, we observed new particle formation driven by iodic acid but its concentration was insufficient to grow nucleated particles to CCN sizes. Our results provide new insight about sources and precursors of Arctic secondary aerosol particles.
Actionable and incidental neuroradiological findings in twins with neurodevelopmental disorders
Authors: Myers Lynnea , Ho Mai-Lan , Cauvet Elodie , Lundin Karl , Carlsson Torkel , Kuja-Halkola Ralf , Tammimies Kristiina , Bölte Sven
Published: December 2020

While previous research has investigated neuroradiological findings in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the entire range of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) has not yet been well-studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Considering the overlap among NDDs and simultaneous development of the brain and face, guided by molecular signaling, we examined the relationship of actionable and incidental (non-actionable) MRI findings and NDD diagnoses together with facial morphological variants and genetic copy number variants (CNVs). A cross-sectional study was conducted with a twin cohort 8–36 years of age (57% monozygotic, 40% dizygotic), including 372 subjects (46% with NDDs; 47% female) imaged by MRI, 280 with data for facial morphological variants, and 183 for CNVs. Fifty-one percent of participants had MRI findings. Males had a statistically significantly higher percentage of MRI findings (57.7%) compared with females (43.8%, p = 0.03). Twin zygosity was not statistically significantly correlated with incidence or severity of specific MRI findings. No statistically significant association was found between MRI findings and any NDD diagnosis or facial morphological variants; however, MRI findings were statistically significantly associated with the number of CNVs (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.00–1.44, p = 0.05, adjusted OR for sex 1.24, 95% CI 1.03–1.50, p = 0.02). When combining the presence of MRI findings, facial morphological variants, and CNVs, statistically significant relationships were found with ASD and ADHD diagnoses (p = 0.0006 and p = 0.002, respectively). The results of this study demonstrate that the ability to identify NDDs from combined radiology, morphology, and CNV assessments may be possible. Additionally, twins do not appear to be at increased risk for neuroradiological variants.
Photo-energy conversion efficiency of CH3NH3PbI3/C60 heterojunction perovskite solar cells from first-principles
Authors: Chew Khian-Hooi , Kuwahara Riichi , Ohno Kaoru
Published: December 2020

Halide perovskites have emerged as the most potential candidate for the next-generation solar cells.
Structural and chemical characterization of MoO2/MoS2 triple-hybrid materials using electron microscopy in up to three dimensions
Authors: Frank Anna , Gänsler Thomas , Hieke Stefan , Fleischmann Simon , Husmann Samantha , Presser Volker , Scheu Christina
Published: December 2020

In-depth characterization of MoO2/MoS2 core/shell nanoparticles within a network of carbon nanotubes gives insights into the structure of the material and also possible degradation pathways.
Hierarchic distributed stabilization of a class of three‐dimensional formations for underactuated agents
Authors: El‐Hawwary Mohamed I.
Published: December 2020

The paper presents a distributed hierarchic control design solving a formations problem in three dimension. The agents are modelled as thrust‐underactuated rigid bodies. The class of formations addressed encompasses path following of closed convex paths with shape, size, orientation, relative displacements and relative agents' on‐path angular positions all seen as formation parameters. This problem can be seen as a generalization of circular formation problems which acquired particular attention in the field of multi‐agents, and the agents model used is one that usually models certain unmanned aerial vehicles and other autonomous vehicles. The solution relies on reduction‐based set stabilization where the problem is broken down into simpler nested sub‐problems. The results illustrate how addressing complex control problems using hierarchical set stabilization is natural, simplifies the solution, and provides useful properties. The results are illustrated via simulations.
An average consensus‐based power‐sharing among VOC‐based distributed generations in multi‐bus islanded microgrids
Authors: Tran Trung Thai , Sowa Igor , Raisz David , Monti Antonello
Published: December 2020

This study proposes a hierarchical control structure for load power‐sharing among distributed generations (DG) in a multi‐bus microgrid (MG). The proposed control structure uses an average consensus‐based distributed protocol (CDP) for the secondary control layer and virtual oscillator control (VOC) as a primary controller. The proposed method can nullify the power‐sharing inaccuracy caused by the mismatches of the equivalent impedances seen from the outputs of DGs. The eigenvalue‐based small‐signal analysis is used to analyse the secondary controller and communication time‐delay on system stability. The results of the stability analysis are used to design secondary controller and time‐delay compensator. The validity of the proposed method is verified by both offline simulations in Matlab/Simulink and control hardware‐in‐the‐loop (CHiL) using a real‐time Opal‐RT platform.
Optimised CNN in conjunction with efficient pooling strategy for the multi‐classification of breast cancer
Authors: Sharma Shallu , Mehra Rajesh , Kumar Sumit
Published: December 2020

Tissue analysis using histopathological images is the most prevailing as well as a challenging task in the treatment of cancer. The clinical assessment of tissues becomes very tough as high variability in the magnification levels makes the situation worst for any pathologist to deal with the benign and malignant stages of cancer. One of the possible ways to address such a pathetic situation could be an advanced machine learning approach. Hence, a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is proposed to create an automated system for magnification independent multi‐classification of breast cancer histopathological images. This automated system offers high productivity and consistency in diagnosing the eight different classes of breast cancer from a balanced BreakHis dataset. The system utilises an efficient training methodology to learn the discerning features from images of different magnification levels. Data augmentation techniques are also employed to overcome the problem of overfitting. Additionally, the performance of CNN architecture has been improved in a significant manner by adopting an appropriate pooling strategy and optimisation technique. Based on that, we have achieved an accuracy of 80.76%, 76.58%, 79.90%, and 74.21% at the magnification 40X, 100X, 200X, and 400X, respectively. The proposed model outperforms the handcrafted approaches with an average accuracy of 80.47% at 40X magnification level.
Light field editing in the gradient domain
Authors: Sevcenco Ioana , Agathoklis Panajotis
Published: December 2020

This paper presents a new method for light field applications such as content replacement and fusion in the gradient domain. This approach is inspired by successful gradient domain based image and video editing techniques. A necessary and important part of gradient‐based solutions is recovering the signal of interest from artificially generated, and typically non‐integrable, gradient data. As such, a new algorithm is developed to reconstruct a light field from a given gradient data set. In the algorithm, first, the 4D Haar wavelet decomposition of the light field is obtained from the given gradient data. Then, the light field is obtained from a wavelet synthesis step. This algorithm is intended as a building block for gradient‐based light field editing methods, and as such, its performance is analysed on a set of benchmark light field data sets. The proposed reconstruction algorithm is an essential part in developing solutions for two light field problems: light field editing and light field fusion. Results show that processing light fields in the gradient domain offers significant advantages over processing in the intensity domain.
FPGA‐based favourite skin colour restoration using improved histogram equalization with variable enhancement degree and ensemble extreme learning machine
Authors: Sahani Mrutyunjaya , Swain Bhanja Kishor , Dash Pradipta Kishore
Published: December 2020

This paper presents skin color enhancement based on favorite skin color to agree with user‐defined favorite skin color using improved histogram equalization with variable enhancement degree (IHEwVED) and machine learning methods. The skin color to be adjusted in the input image is shifted to favorite skin color by using novel control parameters of the proposed IHEwVED method. Three different novel display device‐dependent color image processing methods are introduced based on hsv and yiq color space to obtain the desired enhanced output images. A reduced convolutional neural network and the novel ensemble extreme learning machine (EELM) architectures are developed and implemented in a field‐programmable gate array to test, synthesize, and validate the recognition capability of the user‐defined favorite skin color. The less computational complex proposed IHEwVED‐EELM method recognizes 45 to 50 favorite skin color per second of test images by consuming 0.035 second training time with training root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.0048 and testing RMSE of 0.01208. Finally, a stand‐alone favorite skin color restoration system is developed using the high‐speed video processor NI‐PXI‐1031 based on the IHEwVED‐EELM method in the Python‐OpenCV environment. The laboratory experimental performances ascertain the real‐time ability of the proposed favorite skin color restoration method.
EP‐LSTM: Novel prediction algorithm for moving object destination
Authors: Li Bingrong , Pi Dechang , Hou Mengru
Published: December 2020

Predicting the destination of a moving object is a popular research subject in location‐based services. By predicting destinations, suggestions can be offered to people regarding their trips. At present, there are problems such as data sparsity and long‐term dependence based on historical trajectory prediction methods, which affect the accuracy of prediction. To solve data sparsity problem, this paper has devised an improved minimum description length method, which incorporates weighting parameters and optimizes the partitioning of trajectories with undirected complete graph. Long–short‐term memory is a trajectory‐prediction model that solves the problem of long‐term dependence, but the model tends to have vanishing gradient issues when used to process longer sequences. This is because the hidden layers of long–short‐term memory is largely affected by the lengths of sequences. Using embedded technology, the authors convert trajectory sequences into embedded vector sequences, and thus propose a deep‐learning prediction model, EP‐LSTM (Embedded Processing ‐ Long Short Term Memory), which integrates embedded technology and long–short‐term memory. The authors have conducted a great amount of testing with real data sets, comparing EP‐LSTM with currently available predicting methods. The results have shown that EP‐LSTM not only effectively solves data sparsity and long‐term dependence but also achieves a high degree of prediction accuracy.
Role of Chronic Alcoholism Causing Cancer in Omnivores and Vegetarians through Epigenetic Modifications
Authors: Syed Javid Hasan Syed Aaquil Hasan , Pawirotaroeno Raisa Arifanie O'Zelian , Syed Javid Hasan Syed Abrar Hasan , Abzianidze Elene
Published: December 2020

One of the significant consequences of alcohol consumption is cancer formation via several contributing factors such as action of alcohol metabolites, vitamin deficiencies, and oxidative stress. All these factors have been shown to cause epigenetic modifications via DNA hypomethylation, thus forming a basis for cancer development. Several published reviews and studies were systematically reviewed. Omnivores and vegetarians differ in terms of nutritional intake and deficiencies. As folate deficiency was found to be common among the omnivores, chronic alcoholism could possibly cause damage and eventually cancer in an omnivorous individual via DNA hypomethylation due to folate deficiency. Furthermore, as niacin was found to be deficient among vegetarians, damage in vegetarian chronic alcoholics could be due to increased NADH/NAD+ ratio, thus slowing alcohol metabolism in liver leading to increased alcohol and acetaldehyde which inhibit methyltransferase enzymes, eventually leading to DNA hypomethylation. Hence correcting the concerned deficiency and supplementation with S-adenosyl methionine could prove to be protective in chronic alcohol use.
Metal-organic framework helps photocatalyst to breakdown antibiotics in nature
Authors: Patrick Chris
Published: December 2020

BiOBr/UiO-66 nanocomposites are an efficient photocatalyst for degrading tetracycline, an antibiotic contaminant found in water systems.
A Comparative Study of Various Artificial Intelligence Based Agents for the Game of Angry Birds With and Without Splitting
Authors: Kumar Ankit , Jani Kunal , Sahu Nabin Kumar
Published: December 2020

In a game of angry birds, birds are fired from a slingshot and are targeted towards stationary pigs located at different fixed distances from the slingshot. The angry birds have to be fired in such a way that it lands as close as possible to the pigs’ location. The goal is to develop an artificial intelligence-based model that would play the angry birds game based on the past human experience. In this game, the user will give the initial velocity and the angle of projection. Based on these parameters, the shot will be played, and the outcome is stored as a tuple consisting of the initial velocity, the angle of projection, and the location of pigs that have not been destroyed in a database. The machine learning-based agent reads the data from the database, trains itself based on the outcome of previous shots stored in the database, and plays the best possible shot according to the data retrieved from the database. Two machine learning models have been proposed, which are the K Nearest Neighbours model and the Naive Bayes model. The third model is the stochastic gradient descent model, which plays a shot based on the minimization of the distance between the angry bird and the pig using an objective function in terms of the initial velocity and splitting angle. The performance of both these agents has been compared with the human agent’s performance in terms of the average number of wins per 100 games.
System analysis and processing of parameters of the test bench
Authors: Zhuravlev A V , Aksyonov K A , Knyazev R O
Published: December 2020

The paper deals with the analysis of complex technical objects – test stands of control systems. A method is proposed for evaluating the effectiveness of the test bench based on the parameters obtained using the “standard” and “automated” test stand model. The objective function for calculating the efficiency of test benches based on their parameters and determining the numerical efficiency coefficient of the testing position relative to the typical one is given. The composition of the software for implementing the proposed method is shown.
Evaluation issues of query result ranking for semantic search
Authors: Kanev A I , Terekhov V I
Published: December 2020

Application of semantic in information retrieval is a dynamically developing area. Nowadays, elements of semantic search are used in popular systems such as Microsoft Azure, Abbyy Intelligent Search, Google Search with BERT. Using sematic search, it is possible to obtain documents that contain exact meaning instead of set of words. But Lucene is still one of the most popular libraries for search purpose and it has its own syntax for fuzzy, wildcard, proximity and other modifiers for queries. To evaluate precision and recall of search the authors have created a list of queries and divided it into groups according to a query type. The article contains results of this investigation for semantic search with metagraph knowledge base in comparison to Lucene with the same morphological analyzer. The quantity of documents for two types of search may be the same but ranking should be different. Ranking of queries is another issue and its evaluation is not a trivial task. In this article the authors applied Levenstein distance but then proposed a new method for comparison of ranking given by different search engines. All results were obtained on Open Corpora text corpus.
Implementation of a Policer-Based Control Loop For The Dynamic Resource Allocation of a Software-Defined Communication Infrastructure
Authors: Klimova A S , Kodolov S D , Filimonov A Yu , Aksyonova O P
Published: December 2020

The use of solutions based on the principles of virtualization is designed to increase the efficiency of using the communication infrastructure due to the dynamic distribution of existing communication and computing resources between their virtual components. The software management of the communication infrastructure components opens up opportunities for applying new approaches to solving the currently very urgent problem of ensuring the required Quality of Service. Taking into account the current trends in the development of communication infrastructures and means of their automation, it seems relevant to build systems that implement a closed cycle of communication infrastructure resource management based on traditional and promising tools for monitoring and managing QoS and studying its behavior. Closing the control loop is achieved by implementing a control script that automatically responds to changes in the transmitted data and makes decisions about changing the current configuration of network devices. One of the approaches to building a closed control loop is to change the physical bandwidth of a virtual communication channel depending on the intensity of its resource use. The paper considers an example of the implementation of a closed control loop based on the rules of the policy for limiting the rate of sending packets of heterogeneous traffic and compares the approach of dynamic bandwidth redistribution with traditional approaches.
Pattern Matching-based scraping of news websites
Authors: Salem Hamza , Mazzara Manuel
Published: December 2020

Web Scraping is the process of extracting content from human-readable websites in order to import it into local storage such as databases or CSV Files. The process of data extraction and its design is time-consuming requiring an analysis of the website, data representation of the objects comprising its structure (DOM), HTML tags, and the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) classes. To support this process we aim at providing automation. In this paper, we propose a pattern mining technique to scrap news and blog websites by recognizing title and body based on a content structure pattern. This approach consists of three steps, i.e.: extracting news website structure, constructing a pattern of HTML content, and implementing the pattern as a set of rules in web scraping. Our approach is a simple, general, and straightforward way to extract articles that consist of the title, the body of any blogs, or news websites.
A virtual laboratory setup for studying the drying process of a wide range of bulk solid fractions in fluidized bed apparatuses
Authors: Purtov V G , Olennikov A A , Babich A V , Olennikov E A
Published: December 2020

The paper presents a software package for the simulation of the processes of gas flow dynamics and bulk solids drying in vertical fluidized bed systems. The fluidized bed system technology processes, mathematical methods, as well as stages of experiments carried out in the virtual laboratory are described in detail. Fluidized bed behaviors in varied heated air flow rates are described. An algorithm for the operation of the virtual unit is presented including modules containing mathematical models of complex heat transfer systems, gas flow dynamics and control of the drying process, as well as interaction with expandable databases with information on the physical and chemical properties of feed materials, purge gases, and ready-made design solutions. The process of comparing the results obtained in the virtual and real low-temperature simulation models is described.
Application of a numerical-analytical approach in the process of modeling differential equations in the Julia language
Authors: Fedorov A V , Masolova A O , Korolkova A V , Kulyabov D S
Published: December 2020

It is known that modeling consists of a few stages. Analytic calculations are made first and afterwards, they are converted into numerical ones. It is a fairly complicated task, but it can easily be solved with the help of programming languages with the support of a numerical–analytical approach. In this case, the program can generate a numerical scheme for the solution based on the given analytical equation. The possibility of high-level work and differential equations’ modeling is obtained through the access to the additional packages. This article overviews one of the approaches, specifically the usage of the different integrated DSL packages in Julia language.
Good practices for the adoption of DataOps in the software industry
Authors: Rodriguez Manuel , de Araújo Luiz Jonatã Pires , Mazzara Manuel
Published: December 2020

The increasing adoption of DevOps, the growing availability of data concerning data development processes gives rise to the need for a systematic process for collecting, processing and using data into companies. Enterprises are making significant investments in data science applications while still struggling to realize the value of this effort. Data science is emerging as a fast-growing practice within enterprises. Several tools and platforms are being continuously introduced that support data science models while managing large data sets used to train data science models. Such a scenario lead to the emergence of DataOps. This paper summarises some of the good practices in the DataOps from the literature, offering guidelines intended to approach an organizational shift towards better data-driven decision making. This study presents a picture of the definition, the steps for adopting and challenges of the adoption of DataOps.
Optical and photoelectric characteristics of the ZnS / por-Si / Si structure performed by different technological routes
Authors: Lizunkova D A , Shishkin I A , Latukhina N V
Published: December 2020

The research object is multilayer photosensitive structures with a porous silicon working layer and a semiconductor zinc sulphide. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of the zinc sulphide coating thickness on the structure optical properties. The reflection and photosensitivity spectral characteristics of structures with various thicknesses zinc sulphide coating were studied. It was shown that the optimal coating thickness is 0.056 micrometers.
Modified silicone rubbers for fabrication and contacting of flexible suspended membranes of n-/p-GaP nanowires with single-walled carbon nanotube transparent contact
Authors: Kochetkov F M , Neplokh V V , Fedorov V V , Bolshakov A D , Cirlin G E , Islamova R M , Mukhin I S
Published: December 2020

This work proposes new chemical and mechanical materials and techniques for III-V semiconductor NW/silicone membrane formation and optoelectronic device fabrication. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-synthesized n-, p- and i-GaP NWs were encapsulated by introduced G-coating method into synthesized polydimethylsiloxane-
graft
-polystyrene and released from the Si growth substrate. The fabricated membranes were contacted with different materials including single-walled carbon nanotubes or ferrocenyl-containing polymethylhydrosiloxane with and without multi-walled carbon nanotubes doping. The electrical connection of the fabricated membranes was verified by electron beam induced current (EBIC) spectroscopy. The developed methods and materials can be applied for fabrication of high quality flexible inorganic optoelectronic devices.
GaAs epitaxial growth on modified on-axis Si(001) substrates
Authors: Eremenko M M , Solodovnik M S , Balakirev S V , Chernenko N E , Kots I N , Ageev O A
Published: December 2020

In this work, the effect of the dose of implantation of Ga atoms into the silicon surface on the epitaxial growth of GaAs was investigated. We demonstrate that the deposition of GaAs occurs mainly on modified areas. Separate crystallites of GaAs with an irregular shape are formed on modified areas at the lowest dose of Ga implantation equal to 1 pC/μm2, whereas an increase in the dose of Ga implantation leads to the coalescence of GaAs areas. At a maximum dose of 21 pC/μm2, degradation of the morphology and a decrease in the degree of filling of the area are observed, which is also confirmed by an increase in the roughness of the structure.
The misfit stresses of dilatation line in semiconductor nanoheterostructures with angular boundaries
Authors: Gudkina Zh V , Gutkin M Yu , Krasnitckii S A , Argunova T S
Published: December 2020

Misfit strains and stresses of a dilatation line in an elastic body with an angular free surface are studied with potential application to semiconductor nanoheterotechnology. The misfit stress fields in a wedge-shaped isotropic elastic space containing a dilatation line are calculated using the method of virtual surface dislocations and a Mellin transformation. Analysis of this solution is carried out numerically by using the misfit stress maps built in a cross section of the system.
Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the growth of In nanostructures by droplet epitaxy on AlGaAs nanopatterned surfaces
Authors: Balakirev S V , Solodovnik M S , Eremenko M M , Chernenko N E , Ageev O A
Published: December 2020

In this paper, the results of the simulation of the In/AlGaAs growth on nanopatterned surfaces using modified analytical–Monte Carlo model are presented. The surface density of nanostructures is demonstrated to slightly decrease with increasing Al content. A decrease of an interhole distance leads to the occupation of a small part of a hole which can be prevented by a decrease of the hole volume. The best localization of In nanostructures on AlGaAs surfaces nanopatterned with holes at a distance of more than 125 nm can be achieved at a temperature of 300°C or higher. A decrease in temperature requires a sufficient decrease of an interhole distance to avoid nucleation beyond predefined positions.