bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tracheobronchial diverticulum, a potential risk for diving?
Authors: Qing Long , Wang Yan , Zhang Meng , Pu Qinqin , Cai Wanwan , Pan Yaping , Xia Delin
Published: September 2023

Background: Tracheobronchial diverticulum(TBD) is a cystic lesion outside the lumen of the trachea and bronchus. This is the first report case of a SCUBA(Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diver diagnosed with tracheo diverticulum(TD), which is a potential risk to diving. So far no literature or guideline is available on the diving fitness for patients with such a condition.
Case presentation: An asymptomatic 26-year-old male professional diver has a history of SCUBA diving up to depth of 40 m. He did not have any diving-related injuries or symptoms and had no history of smoking, drinking, or other special illnesses except for a COVID-19 infection. A tracheal diverticulum was found by computed tomography(CT), but its communication with the trachea was not clear. Therefore, high-resolution CT and electronic bronchoscopy were used to clarify the situation of diverticulum and identify the diving risk. High-resolution CT showed a possible opening of diverticulum, but this was not seen under electronic bronchoscopy.
Conclusion: Although a potential opening was showed in high-resolution CT, the lack of visual bronchoscopic evidence made it likely to be a dead cavity. As such, there is a higher theoretical risk of barotrauma during decompression, leading to pneumomediastinum, hemorrhage or arterial gas embolism. Take it into consideration, the current clinical consensus is that air-containing tissue should be regarded as relative contraindications to diving. Overall speaking, it is recommended that the diver need to dive carefully and avoid rapid decompression.
Analysis of influencing factors and construction of prediction model for postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: a single-center retrospective cohort study
Authors: Liao Bucheng , Liao Wuhao , Wu Xinhai , Liu Shujuan , Li Yanze , Qin Ruixia , Yin Shuang
Published: September 2023

Background: With the increasing number of bariatric surgeries, the high incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) associated with this surgery has also gradually attracted attention. Among the common bariatric surgery methods, patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy (SG) have the highest incidence of nausea and vomiting. The mechanism of occurrence of PONV is very complex. This study aims to explore the influencing factors of PONV in patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and construct a nomogram prediction model based on these factors.
Methods: With the approval of the Ethics Committee, the electronic medical records of patients who underwent LSG from July 2022 to May 2023 were collected retrospectively.
Results: A total of 114 patients with complete medical records who underwent LSG from July 2022 to May 2023 were included in this study. Among them, 46 patients developed PONV, resulting in a PONV incidence rate of 40.4%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that female gender, the use of inhalation anesthesia, and operation time ≥ 120 minutes were risk factors for PONV in LSG. Additionally, the use of more than two kinds of antiemetic drugs was identified as a protective factor. Based on these factors, a nomogram model was constructed.
Conclusion: PONV in patients undergoing LSG is related to gender, type of anesthesia, duration of surgery, and combination therapy with antiemetic drugs. The nomogram prediction model constructed in this study demonstrates high accuracy and discrimination in predicting the occurrence of PONV in patients undergoing LSG.
Association between Serum Sodium Trajectory and Mortality in Patients with Acute Kidney Injury: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Huang Shanhe , Li Xiaojing , Chen Baorong , Zhong Yaqi , Li Yuewei , Huang Tucheng
Published: September 2023

Introduction:
Dysnatremia is strongly associated with poor prognosis in acute kidney injury (AKI); however, the impact of sodium trajectories on the prognosis of patients with AKI has not yet been well elucidated. This study aimed to assess the association between sodium trajectories in patients with AKI and mortality at 30-day and 1-year follow-up.
Methods
This retrospective cohort study used data from Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database, and patients diagnosed with AKI within 48h after admission were enrolled. Group-based trajectory models (GBTM) were applied to map the developmental course of the serum sodium fluctuations. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to compare differences in mortality in AKI patients with distinct serum sodium trajectories. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated to determine the association between trajectories and prognosis using Cox proportional hazard models.
Results
A total of 9,314 AKI patients were enrolled. Three distinct sodium trajectories were identified including: (i) stable group (ST, in which the serum sodium levels remained relatively stable, n = 4,935; 53.0%), (ii) descending group (DS, in which the serum sodium levels declined, n = 2,994; 32.15%) and (iii) ascending group (AS, in which the serum sodium levels were elevated, n = 1,383; 14.85%). There was no significant difference in age and gender distribution among the groups. The 30-day mortality rates were 7.9% in ST, 9.5% in DS and 16.6% in AS (p < 0.001). The results of 1-year mortality rates were similar (p < 0.001). In adjusted analysis, patients in the DS (HR = 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.43, p = 0.015) and AS (HR = 1.68, 95% CI, 1.42–2.01, p = 0.013) groups had higher risks of 30-day mortality compared to those in the ST group.
Conclusion
In patients with AKI, the serum sodium trajectories were independently associated with 30-day and 1-year mortality. Association between serum sodium level trajectories and prognosis in patients with AKI deserve further study.
Prediction of Personalized Prognosis in Patients with Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure: A Joint Model for Dynamic Risk Profiling
Authors: Li Xiangyong , Yu Mingxue , Xu Qinyao , Liu Ting , Chong Yutian , wang peipei , Jie Yusheng
Published: September 2023

Background: Short-term mortality is high in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), defined by the rapid deterioration of underlying chronic liver diseases. Current prediction models cannot estimate dynamic prognosis adequately. This study used both longitudinal and survival data to develop and validate a dynamic prediction model for ACLF.
Methods: Adult patients with ACLF from a retrospective cohort, including 943 patients from 2014 to 2019 at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, were included. The progression of temporal indices was described using a mixed-effects model, and subject-specific prediction risk models with time-to-event data were constructed using a joint model (JM). The model was validated by testing the data using the area under the curve (AUC) and Brier score.
Results: The AUCs for JM ranged from 0.808 to 0.840 when predicting 28-day mortality and from0.747 to 0.811 when predicting 90-day mortality in patients with ACLF. The linearity of the calibration curves was good, with the Brier scores ranging from 0.083 to 0.205. The performance of the ACLF-JM for 90-day predictions was superior (P < 0.001) to that of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score.
Conclusions: It is possible to construct individualized dynamic event prediction models for patients with ACLF by jointly modeling longitudinal data with time-to-event outcomes. This JM provides a potentially valuable evidence-based tool for liver transplantation in clinical practice.
An Empirical Study on the Comprehensive Evaluation and Countermeasures of the Effectiveness of School-Enterprise Cooperation in Vocational Education in China
Authors: Shao Tianshu , Wu Huabin , Lin Mengyan , Xu Xiangdong
Published: September 2023

School-enterprise cooperation is a crucial strategy in China's vocational education and a vital aspect of vocational education reform. Conducting a comprehensive empirical study and evaluation of the effectiveness of school-enterprise cooperation in China's vocational education can enhance the quality and efficiency of such cooperation. Nevertheless, current evaluations of school-enterprise cooperation are predominantly theoretical, and there is a scarcity of systematic indicators and empirical research methods. To address this gap, the author adopts scientific, systematic, goal-oriented, and operational principles and utilizes stakeholder theory and system contract theory as the theoretical basis and framework. The author constructs three primary indicators, namely,participation, return, and potential, and several secondary indicators from the viewpoints of cooperation objectives, process, and results of vocational education school-enterprise cooperation for both schools and enterprises using factor analysis and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. This evaluation offers precise empirical verification and a theoretical and practical reference for the high-quality practice of school-enterprise cooperation in China's vocational education.
Children Benefit from Gestures to Understand Degraded Speech but to a Lesser Extent than Adults
Authors: Sekine Kazuki , Özyürek Aslı
Published: September 2023

The present study investigated to what extent children, compared to adults, benefit from gestures to disambiguate degraded speech by manipulating speech signals and manual modality. Dutch-speaking adults (N = 20) and 6- and 7-year-old children (N = 15) were presented with a series of video clips in which an actor produced a Dutch action verb with or without an accompanying iconic gesture. Participants were then asked to repeat what they had heard. The speech signal was either clear or altered into 4- or 8-band noise-vocoded speech. Children had more difficulty than adults in disambiguating degraded speech in the speech-only condition. However, when presented with both speech and gestures, children reached a comparable level of accuracy to that of adults in the degraded-speech-only condition. Furthermore, for adults, the enhancement of gestures was greater in the 4-band condition than in the 8-band condition, whereas children showed the opposite pattern.Gestures help children to disambiguate degraded speech, but children need more phonological information than adults to benefit from use of gestures. Children’s multimodal language integration needs to further develop to adapt flexibly to challenging situations such as noisy contexts.
The impact of ageing on SARS-CoV-2 and human coronavirus reactive antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination or infection
Authors: Zhou Fan , Vahokoski Juha , Langeland Nina , Cox Rebecca
Published: September 2023

The endemic human coronavirus (HCoV) circulates worldwide yet remain understudied and unmitigated. The observation of elevated levels of HCoV reactive antibodies in COVID-19 patients highlights the urgent necessity of better understanding of HCoV specific immunity. Here, we characterized in-depth the de novo SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses and the boosting of HCoV-reactive antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and infection in individuals up to 98 years old. The first two vaccine doses elicited potent SARS-CoV-2 spike binding antibodies in individuals up to 80 years old. The third dose largely boosted the previously low S2 domain binding and neutralizing antibodies in elderly 80–90 years old, but less so in those above 90 years. The endemic betacoronavirus (HKU1 and OC43) reactive antibodies were boosted in all vaccinees, although to a lesser extent in those above 80 years old. COVID-19 patients had potent elevation of alpha- and betacoronavirus (229E, NL63, HKU1 and OC43) reactive antibodies. In both patients and vaccinees, S2 domain specific antibody increases correlated with SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing and HCoV-reactive antibody responses in all ages, indicating S2 domain as a candidate for future universal coronavirus vaccine design.
The structure and diversity of denitrifying bacteria mediated by suspended particulate matter in aquaculture water bodies in Higher place pond
Authors: chunyi kuang , sun wei , Mingken Wei , Chunyu Xia , Changxiu Li
Published: September 2023

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was an important part of aquaculture water and provides an important carrier for denitrification. SPM with different particle sizes were collected in the high place pond in Dianbai District of Maoming City. Phylogenetic diversity, community composition and their relationships with environmental factors were studied by high-throughput sequencing、fluorescence quantitative PCR and statistical analysis. The results showed that Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum of microbial community structure in aquaculture environment. The community of denitrifying bacteria mediated by SPM with different particle sizes was different. Low concentration and nutrient concentration made nitrifying archaea distributed in small particle size SPM. Moreover, the abundance of denitrification functional genes showed a trend of 5μm > 1μm > 0.22μm on SPM in the same site. The pH, DO, COD and TSS were the key factors affecting the niche distribution of denitrifying bacteria on SPM in the high place pond. These findings were crucial for deepening our understanding of the microbiology of nitrogen cycle processes such as denitrification and optimizing wastewater treatment strategies.
Comparison of the gene expression profile of testicular tissue before and after sexual maturity in Qianbei Ma goats
Authors: Chen Jiajing , Chen Xiang , Guo Wei , Tang Weng , Zhang Yuan , Tian Xingzhou , Zou Yue
Published: September 2023

Background:In this work that we took 3-month-old (presexual maturity) and 9-month-old (post-sexual maturity) goats as test subjects and observed the changes in the morphology of testicular tissues through HE staining; detected the serum testosterone,luteinizing hormone,follicle stimulating hormone and anti-Müllerianhormone content; analysedthe mRNA expression profiles of Qianbei Ma goat testes before and after sexual maturity by transcriptomics; and screened for differences in the expression of genes before and after sexual maturity.
Results:The results showed that the area and diameter of spermatogenic tubules were larger at age 9 months than at age 3 months, and the number of spermatocytes, interstitial cells, spermatogonia and secondary spermatocytes in the lumen of the tubules was increased compared with that at age 3 months. The appearance of spermatozoa at age 3 months indicated that puberty had begun in Qianbei goats. The Elasa test for testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and anti-Müllerian hormone showed that the levels of these hormones in the serum at age 9 months were all extremely significantly higher than those at age 3 months (p<0.01). we performed RNA-seq analysis 490 were found to be differentially expressed genes（DEGs）at the criteria of |log2(foldchange)| > 1 and pvalue＜0.05. of which 233 genes were upregulated and 257 genes were downregulated. Through GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, the candidate genes, PRSS58, ECM1, WFDC8 and LHCGR.
Conclusions:This work that may be involved in the regulation of testicular development and spermatogenesis in Qianbei Ma goats were identified, providing a theoretical basis and data support for later studies on the influence of testicular development and spermatogenesis before and after sexual maturity in Qianbei Ma goats.
Optimizing the Photocatalytic Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Herbicide from Aqueous Solution
Authors: Mehralipour Jamal , Motie Abolfazl , Kermani Majid
Published: September 2023

This study focuses on the synthesis of a g-C3N4/Fe3O4 nanocomposite and optimization of PCP in degrading 2,4-D in water. The g-C3N4 and the g-C3N4/Fe3O4 were synthesized using a two-step direct calcination approach and co-precipitation respectively. The quality assessment of the synthesized nanocomposite was conducted through the utilization of XRD, DRS, FTIR, FE-SEM, EDS, elemental mapping, TEM and VSM analytical techniques. The quadratic model has a high F-value (152.27) and low P-value (0.0001), indicating its suitability for explaining the amplification relationship between response values. The optimum parameters for PCP to decompose 2,4-D were determined to be pH~6.5, catalyst dose~16.5 mg/L, reaction time~55.5 min, and initial 2,4-D concentration~52 mg/L (96.11% degradation efficacy). The data showed strong correlation with first-order kinetics (R2>0.95). The efficiency of the PCP is boosted by the existence of a catalyst and photolysis, which creates multiple pathways for 2,4-D breakdown. The PCP exhibited a capacity to diminish COD and TOC by 75% and 63%, respectively. The reaction time decreases with higher light intensity and 2,4-D removal is complete in 45 minutes at 60 mW/cm2. Methanol greatly affects the PCP's scavenging ability. In contrast, the impact of sodium azide was observed to be the least significant and the OH● is deemed as the principal ROS in the PCP. The results show that PO43- reduces efficiency to 72%. The PCP's ability to remove 2,4-D, COD, and TOC remained consistent even after the sixth cycle. The EE/O, 17.3 KW/h.m3.order was calculated. The intermediate products were 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, 4,6-dichlororesorcinol, 2-chlorohydroquinone, and 2-chloro-1,4-benzoquinone.
Interatrial conduction block – the phantom menace for patients with severe COVID 19?
Authors: Zawadzki Jacek , Gajek Jacek , Zawadzki Grzegorz , Kudliński Bartosz
Published: September 2023

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for a worldwide pandemic, which has caused nearly 7 million of deaths. The effective treatment of COVID-19 is dependent on multipular risk factors, which are still under clinical research. The presence of interatrial block (IAB) could have an influence on the pulmonary circulation which can contribute to the severity of the disease. Our aim was to prove the IAB results in atrial asynchronous contraction which may contribute to the hemodynamic disorders or higher pressure in pulmonary circulation, and worse prognosis in COVID 19. The study included 50 patients (25F, 26M), aged 69,5+/-13,1 years, under hospitalization due to COVID 19. The study groups were divided dependent on the P wave morphology. 6 patients with AF were excluded from the study. All qualified patients required oxygen therapy (at least HFNO) and pharmacological treatment against SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia. The clinical data included assessment of lungs lesions (CT scan), the lowest measured pO2/fiO2, and the comorbidities. The P wave was measured at 200mm/s, x265. The ECHO included EF, assessment of mitral regurgitation, LA strain, LA volume, the parameters of PVs regurgitation flow. We found that the normal P wave morphology was connected to the higher survival rate (p=0.019) while the full Bachmann bundle block (A-IAB) presented the opposite tendency (p=0,037). LV EF was another relevant variable in this regard (p=0.006). Among statistically relevant comorbidities we can enumerate HF (p=0.033) and arterial hypertension (p=0.006) from which suffered all patients who died in our research group. Interestingly, PACS and LA strain conduit did not correlate with survival. Similarly, the parameters of PVs reverse flow didn’t reveal the correlation with survival. Concluding, the presence of IAB (especially in the form of A-IAB), results in asynchronous LA contraction, which may constitute a risk factor in the course of COVID-19.
In vivo femtosecond laser nanosurgery of cell wall enables patch-clamp on filamentous fungi
Authors: Pajić Tanja , Stevanović Katarina , Todorović Nataša , Krmpot Aleksandar , Živić Miroslav , Savić-Šević Svetlana , Lević Steva , Stanić Marina , Pantelić Dejan , Jelenković Brana , Rabasović Mihailo
Published: September 2023

Studying the membrane physiology of filamentous fungi is key to understanding their interactions with the environment and crucial for developing new therapeutic strategies for disease-causing pathogens. However, their plasma membrane has been inaccessible for micron sized patch-clamp pipette for pA currents recordings due to the rigid chitinous cell wall. We report here the first femtosecond IR laser nanosurgery of the cell wall of filamentous fungi, enabling patch-clamp measurements on protoplasts released from hyphae. A reproducible and highly precise (diffraction limited, sub-micron resolution) method for obtaining viable released protoplasts was developed. Protoplast release from the nanosurgery-generated incisions in cell wall was achieved from different regions of the hyphae. Plasma membrane of obtained protoplasts formed tight and high-resistance (GΩ) contacts with the recording pipette. The entire nanosurgical procedure followed by patch-clamp technique can be completed in less than 1 hour. Compared to previous studies using heterologously expressed channels, this technique provides the opportunity to identify new ionic currents and to study the properties of ion channels in protoplasts of filamentous fungi in their native environment.
Theoretical study on copper adsorption on ZnO surfaces for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol
Authors: Salmi Mustafa Al , Vis Dunaboyina Sri Maha , Al-Harrasi Ahmed
Published: September 2023

The study of Cu on ZnO surfaces is a topic of ongoing research due to the importance of Cu as a promoter in the low-temperature synthesis of methanol, the water-gas shift process, and methanol steam reforming. The role of ZnO in supporting the stabilization of the Cu atoms and promoting the CO2 hydrogenation reaction is multifaceted and involves a range of physical and chemical factors. In this work, we used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to investigate the Cu adsorption on ZnO surfaces on different sites. Bader charge analysis, adsorption energy, and phonon inelastic neutron scattering (INS) associated with most stable systems were calculated and compared with previous theoretical and experimental results. We found that atomic Cu adsorption on hollow site of ZnO(111) is the most stable site and most favorable site for Cu adsorption comparing to other ZnO surfaces. This is due to the strong metal-oxygen interaction between Cu and the ZnO surface. The results suggest that the Cu/ZnO catalyst with Cu atoms at hollow site is most likely to be active for CO2 hydrogenation. We concluded that further studies are needed to investigate the catalytic activity of this catalyst under realistic reaction conditions with realistic models of Cu supported on ZnO.
Clinical Features and Outcomes of Orthopaedic Injuries After the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake: a Retrospective Study From a Hospital Located in the Affected Region
Authors: Gök Murat , Melik Mehmet Ali
Published: September 2023

Background
The purpose of this retrospective, single-institutional study was to report the clinical features and outcomes of orthopaedic injuries after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake.
Methods
An institutional database review was conducted to determine individual causalities among patients admitted to the emergency department of our hospital after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. Trauma patients referred to orthopaedics and traumatology were identified. Patient records were checked for injury type, fracture site, treatment type (conservative or surgical), surgical technique, and outcome. Diagnosis with crush syndrome and the need for haemodialysis were also noted. Bedside fasciotomy was undertaken based on the urgency of the patient’s condition as well as the availability of the operating theatre. A team consisting of a trauma surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a board-certified physician in infectious disease, a reanimation specialist, a general surgeon and a nephrologist followed up with the patients.
Results
Within the first 7 days following the earthquake, 265 patients were admitted to the emergency department, and 112 (42.2%) of them were referred to orthopaedics and traumatology. There were 32 (28.5%) patients diagnosed with acute compartment syndrome. Fasciotomy was performed on 43 extremities of 32 patients. Of these extremities, 5 (11.6%) were upper and 38 (88.4%) were lower extremities, and the risk of acute compartment syndrome was significantly higher for lower extremities (5/43 vs. 38/43, respectively; p = 0.001). A significant relationship was found between the absence of diaphyseal fracture in the extremity and the development of acute compartment syndrome (p = 0.0001). The surgeries of 16 (50%) of the patients who underwent fasciotomy were performed in the emergency department. There was no significant difference in terms of complications and outcomes between performing the fasciotomy at the bedside or in the operating theatre (p = 0.456).
Conclusions
Fasciotomy appears to be a crucial surgical procedure for the care of earthquake causalities. Fasciotomy can be safely performed as a bedside procedure based on the urgency of the patient’s condition as well as the availability of the operating theatre.
Surgical stabilization of rib fractures in patients with open flail chest results in improved clinical outcomes
Authors: WANG Yu-fei , WU Yong-kun , GUO Zhan-lin
Published: September 2023

Background: An open flail chest is a life-threatening injury prone to postoperative hardware infection due to open contaminated wounds. While there is considerable debate on performing surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) or not, few studies substantiate a decision.
Methods: The 3 patients with open flail chest treated with SSRF were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical data were collected, including patient demographics, injury characteristics, surgical details, postoperative recovery, and follow-up.
Results: The described instances of three patients subjected to emergency SSRF following open chest injuries demonstrated positive postoperative recovery. There was no incidence of hardware infections or chest wall deformities detected at 15, 63, and 115 months postoperative follow-ups.
Conclusion: SSRF may yield beneficial long-term results for patients experiencing open chest injuries. The potential risk of hardware infection should not automatically preclude the consideration of SSRF as a viable therapeutic option.
Enhancing Disease Classification in Paddy Fields: A Stratified Cross-Validation Approach
Authors: R Elakya , Manoranjitham T.
Published: September 2023

In India rice (Oryza sativa) is an important food staple. It is the third highest production among worldwide. Rice is highly rich in calorie so morethan one-fifth of the population in world consumed Rice. Abiotic and Biotic factors plays a vital role in production of Rice as it affects and causes more damage. Biotic factors like diseases and pests leads to 70% of loss in crop production. Identifying diseases in early stage is a tedious concern for every farmer. Once the disease is predicted in early stage, solution or necessary steps can be taken to reduce the damage. Agricultural officers or External experts have to check manually and give the remedial solutions for this issue. But, due to lack of available resource external experts cannot visit field for every time. So identifying the correct disease is very difficult. One solution for this concern is by using latest advancement in technology. Convolutional Neural network is mainly used for classifying images. We have taken 10,407 labelled images for training the model and 3,469 images for testing the model. We used transfer learning model namely InceptionV3, ResNet50, VGG16, MobileNetV2, and EfficientNetB0 to obtain the result. Finally CNN model ResNet is applied with Stratified Cross-validation fastai techniques. K-fold cross validation strategy obtained an highest accuracy of 98.81% which is more accurate than traditional Transfer learning models.
Mechanical Fracture Behavior Study and Service Life Prediction of single-notch and double-notch specimens in ABS with internal notches
Authors: Bouhsiss Hassan , Achraf WAHID , Mouradi Houda , En-naji Abderrazak , Gugouch Fatima , Kartouni Abdekarim , ghorba Mohammed El
Published: September 2023

The advancement of polymers continues to expand relentlessly, playing an increasingly significant role in our daily lives. Ongoing developments in polymer science have revolutionized numerous industries and brought about a multitude of applications. From mass-market industries to high-performance sectors, polymers are omnipresent in all aspects of our lives, highlighting the need for a more rigorous understanding of their properties, characteristics, and behavior. In this context, two approaches have been adopted to estimate the critical failure time of ABS specimens: one involving virgin specimens and the other artificially pre-damaged with notches of varying diameters.
The first approach is based on damage mechanics and utilizes a modified damage model, while the second approach relies on fracture mechanics and utilizes the Griffith theory to estimate the critical notch from which the specimens should be rejected.
These two methods allow us to track material degradation and predict the moment when damage acceleration occurs. This technique provides industrial stakeholders with the opportunity to implement a preventive maintenance strategy.
Enhanced virtual machine consolidation : an in-depth look at ANN and BiGRU based virtual machine selection
Authors: alqasmy Esraa , alhafez Nizar
Published: September 2023

The proliferation of cloud computing has been transformative across multiple sectors, enabling unprecedented computational capabilities. With the sheer scale of operations in modern data centers, there is an inevitable surge in energy demands. This exponential growth underscores the need for efficient resource allocation strategies that can ensure sustainability without compromising on performance. Recognizing this challenge, numerous strategies have been introduced in recent years for effective virtual machine (VM) distribution and allocation in data centers. Such strategies strive to strike a balance between maximizing resource utilization and mitigating energy consumption. In pursuit of a more accurate and energy-efficient cloud environment, this research delves into the intricacies of dynamic VM consolidation. We introduce a novel model that marries the prowess of deep learning techniques with traditional machine learning. Specifically, our model harnesses the spatial feature extraction capabilities of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) with Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (BiGRU) and enriches it with an attention mechanism, emphasizing the salient features. Utilizing key metrics such as CPU requests, memory requests, average memory consumption, and average CPU utilization, our approach offers a granular insight into server performance, enabling informed VM migration decisions. Empirical validation on a dataset showcases the potential of our model, achieving superior accuracy rates in VM failure prediction. When compared to benchmark strategies, our approach demonstrates improvements in prediction accuracy, underscoring its value in fostering a more resilient and efficient cloud computing ecosystem. The validity of the proposed model was verified using a dataset from Google, and the results demonstrated an improvement in accuracy by approximately 3.5–27% compared to other algorithms proposed in the reference study.
Is cross-species horizontal gene transfer responsible for gallbladder carcinogenesis
Authors: Rajput Monika , Pandey Manoj , Dixit Ruhi , Shukla Vijay K
Published: September 2023

Background: Cross-species horizontal gene transfer (HGT) involves the transfer of genetic material between different species of organisms. In recent years, mounting evidence has emerged that cross-species HGT does take place and may play a role in the development and progression of diseases.
Methods: Transcriptomic data obtained from patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC)was assessed for the differential expression of antisense RNAs (asRNAs). Cross-species blast analysis was performed with viral, bacterial, fungal, and ancient human genomes to elucidate the evolutionary cross species origins of these differential asRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis and text mining were conducted and a network of asRNAs targeting mRNAs was constructed to understand the function of differential asRNAs better.
Results: A total of 17 differentially expressed antisense RNAs (asRNAs) were identified in gallbladder cancer tissue. BLAST analysis of 15 of these asRNAs (AFAP1-AS1, HMGA2-AS1, MNX1-AS1, SLC2A1-AS1, BBOX1-AS1, ELFN1-AS1, TRPM2-AS, DNAH17-AS1, DCST1-AS1, VPS9D1-AS1, MIR1-1HG-AS1, HAND2-AS1, PGM5P4-AS1, PGM5P3-AS1, and MAGI2-AS) showed varying degree of similarities with bacterial and viral genomes, except for UNC5B-AS1 and SOX21-AS1, which were conserved during evolution. Two of these asRNAs (VPS9D1-AS1 and SLC2A1-AS1) exhibited a high degree of similarity with viral genomes including (Chikungunya virus, Human immunodeficiency virus 1, Stealth virus 1, and Zika virus) and bacterial genomes including (Staphylococcus sp., Bradyrhizobium sp., Pasteurella multocida sp., and, Klebsiella pneumoniae sp.), indicating potential HGT during evolution.
Conclusion: The results provide novel evidence supporting the hypothesis that differentially expressed asRNAs in GBC exhibit varying sequence similarity with bacterial, viral, and ancient human genomes, indicating a potential shared evolutionary origin. These non-coding genes are enriched with methylation and were found to be associated with cancer-related pathways, including the P53 and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways, suggesting their possible involvement in tumor development.
Synergistic V5S8/CoS Nanoparticles-Embedded Carbon Nanofiber as Binder-Free Flexible Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Dai Junjie , Zhu Fangshun , Murugesan Balaji , Zhang Qing , Zhou Xiaochong , Ni Wenbin , Cai Yurong
Published: September 2023

The development of advanced electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) is crucial for the progression of energy storage technologies. In this study, we successfully fabricated V5S8/CoS nanoparticles confined within self-supported carbon nanofibers (CNFs) using a facile electrospinning method followed by a sulfidation process. Extensive characterization of the resulting V5S8/CoS-CNFs revealed their unique structural attributes, featuring a one-dimensional nanofiber morphology with enhanced Na+ transport pathways. These V5S8/CoS-CNFs exhibited a remarkable reversible capacity of 201 mAh g−1 even at a high current density of 5 A g−1, along with a stable cycling performance of 165 mA h g−1 after 300 cycles at 2 A g−1. The incorporation of both V5S8 and CoS within the nanofiber structure substantially enhanced the pseudocapacitance effect, thereby improving sodium storage capabilities. The exceptional electrochemical properties of the binder-free V5S8/CoS-CNFs anode can be attributed to its heterogeneous composition embedded within CNFs. This composition effectively boosts the rate of sodium ion diffusion by generating a built-in electric field (BEF) at the V5S8 and CoS interface, alleviating volume stress during charge-discharge processes and enhancing overall conductivity. Our findings underscore the potential of V5S8/CoS-CNFs as high-performance anode materials for SIBs, offering valuable insights into the design and development of advanced electrode materials for future energy storage applications.
ARPALData: an R package for retrieving and analyzing air quality and weather data from ARPA Lombardia (Italy)
Authors: Maranzano Paolo , Algieri Andrea
Published: September 2023

We present ARPALData, an R package able to help international users in retrieving, handling, and analyzing data for air quality and weather in Lombardy (Northern Italy). The software provides a user-friendly tool that does not require access to institutional platforms and ensures real-time updating of information using a standardized syntax. Also, it provides data according to the standard statistical formats. Eventually, all measurements, metadata and the subsequent analytical tools are provided to the users in the English language, facilitating accessibility to international and domestic users. Data are collected from the open database of the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection for Lombardy, namely ARPA Lombardia. ARPALData returns measurements at several temporal frequencies (infra-hourly to yearly) collected through the air quality and weather ground monitoring networks managed by ARPA Lombardia, as well as estimates of several pollutants at the municipal level. In addition to the data download functions, ARPALData includes several functions to describe, analyze, and graphically represent air quality and weather data. In particular, users are provided with commands to compute key descriptive statistics and maps of input data, to temporally aggregate measurements, to detect outliers, and to study missing value patterns. After discussing the purpose and the functioning of the main commands in detail, the paper presents several examples and case studies in which the software is used to characterize air quality and meteorology in different settings. The examples are designed to provide a step-by-step guide of accomplished analyses using all the tools included in ARPALData.
Astroparticle and particle physics at ultra-high energy: Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory
Authors: Castellina Antonella
Published: September 2023

The scientific achievements of the Pierre Auger Collaboration cover diverse and complementary fields of research. The search for the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is based on the measurement of the energy spectrum and mass composition of the primaries, on studies of multi-messengers, and on extensive anisotropy searches. With the collected data it is also possible to explore the characteristics of hadronic interactions at energies unreachable at human-made accelerators, and to assess the existence of non-standard physics effects. A selection of the latest results is presented and the emerging picture is discussed.
DEMOGRAFİK GEÇİŞ SÜRECİNİN EPİSTEMOLOJİSİ VE NÜFUS YAŞLANMASINA İLİŞKİN GENEL BİR DEĞERLENDİRME
Authors: CAN Burhan
Published: September 2023

Demografik geçiş süreci, ilk olarak İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında, gelişen ülkelerin yüksek nüfus artış hızları dikkate alınarak ABD’de geliştirilen bir teoridir. Demografik geçiş sürecinin aşamaları bulunur. Nüfus yaşlanması, demografik geçiş sürecinin sonucudur. Nüfus yaşlanması, nüfustaki çocukların ve gençlerin payının azalması, yaşlı insanların payının görece artmasıdır. Bu olgu, işgücü açığı ve sağlık giderlerin artmasına, sosyal güvenlik sisteminin zayıflamasına neden olur. Birçok ülke, emeklilik yaşını yükseltmek suretiyle yaşlıları işgücü olarak değerlendirme yoluna gitmiştir. Örneğin OECD ülkelerinde en yüksek emeklilik yaşı 67 ile Norveç’te en düşük emeklilik yaşı 60 civarıyla Türkiye’dedir.

Bu çalışmada demografik geçiş süreci epistemolojik açıdan araştırılmış, sürecin aşamaları ise görece yeni olan beşli modele göre ele alınmıştır. Ayrıca demografik geçiş sürecini yaşamış ülkelerde yeni bir sorun olarak nüfus yaşlanması ortaya çıktığından böylesi ülkelerin yaşlanma sorununun etkilerini hafifletmek için ne gibi politikalar izlediği araştırılmıştır. Ülke, bölge ve dünyaya ilişkin nüfus verileri “Birleşmiş Milletler Ekonomik ve Sosyal İşler Dairesi” (UN-DESA) istatistiklerinden elde edilmiştir. OECD ülkelerinin emekli olma yaşına yönelik veriler, OECD’nin raporlarından derlenmiştir. Türkiye’ye ait veriler Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) istatistiklerine dayanmaktadır. Seçilmiş ülkeler ve dünya geneline ait 2100 yılına kadarki yaşam beklentisi projeksiyonuna Birleşmiş Milletler’in 2017 ile 2022 verilerinden erişilmiştir.
ORTAOKUL ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN AİLE İLİŞKİLERİ İLE SOSYAL BECERİLERİ ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİNİN İNCELENMESİ
Authors: KANTARCIOĞLU Halime Birsel , BEDEL Ahmet
Published: September 2023

Araştırmanın amacı, Ortaokul öğrencilerinin aile ilişkilerinin ve sosyal becerilerinin cinsiyet, okul türü, sınıf düzeyi, anne-baba birliktelik durumu ve aile yapısına göre anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını, aile İlişkileri ve sosyal becerileri arasında anlamlı bir ilişkinin olup olmadığını incelemek ve aile ilişkilerinin sosyal beceri puanı üzerindeki yordama düzeyini belirlemektir.Bu amaçla 840 ortaokul öğrencisine Çocuklar İçin Aile İlişkileri Ölçeği (ÇAİÖ), Matson (MESSY) Sosyal Beceri Derecelendirme ölçeği, Kişisel Bilgi Formu uygulanmıştır. Araştırma ilişkisel tarama modeline göre yapılmıştır. Analiz için Bağımsız Ortalamalar için T-Testi, Tek Yönlü Varyans Analizi (ANOVA), Post Hoc Testi, Pearson Momentler Çarpımı Korelâsyon Analizi, Çoklu Doğrusal Regresyon Analizi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda; aile ilişkileri alt boyutlarında cinsiyet, sınıf düzeyi, değişkenlerinde anlamlı farklılık gözlenirken; okul türü, anne-baba birliktelik durumu ve aile yapısı değişkenlerinde anlamlı bir farklılık gözlenmemiştir. Sosyal beceri alt boyutlarında; sınıf düzeyi, anne-baba birliktelik durumu ve aile yapısı değişkenlerine göre anlamlı bir farklılık gözlenmemiştir. Aile ilişkileri alt boyutları ile sosyal beceri alt boyutları arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur. Aile ilişkileri alt boyutlarının sosyal beceriler ölçeğine ilişkin toplam varyansın yaklaşık olarak %30’unu açıkladığı sonucu elde edilmiştir.
Microbiological Contamination of Food Raw Materials and Ready-To-Eat Foods: Analytical Review
Authors: Khishov Andrei , Balagula Tatiana , Lavrukhina Olga , Tretyakov Aleksey , Ivanova Olga , Kozeicheva Elizaveta
Published: September 2023

Microbiological contamination changes the qualitative and quantitative profile of food, which makes it an important issue of food safety systems. Finished products with components of animal origin or combined vegetable and livestock raw materials are especially prone to microbiological contamination. This review features the most common sources of microbiological contamination and its prevention in finished products.

The review covered 20 years of English and Russian scientific articles and standards indexed in Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and eLIBRARY.RU. The descriptors included microbiological contamination, food raw materials, and ready-to-eat products. The analysis involved some older publications, provided they possessed a high scientific relevance and/or a high citation index. The search criteria concentrated on the detection of microbiological contaminants in food raw materials and food products in Russia and abroad. The percentage of detections for individual groups of microorganisms was calculated as opposed to their total number.

The data obtained can be summarized as follows. Regular industrial monitoring can minimize the risk of microbiological contamination. Complex finished products have a higher risk and require heat treatment. Composite products that cannot be succumbed to additional heat treatment need new technologies that minimize microbiological contamination, e.g., intensive cooling, shock freezing, electromagnetic processing, protective food coatings, etc.

Even a small amount of animal raw materials may cause extra risk of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enteritidis, etc. A mix of different raw materials changes the microbiological profile of the finished product. As a result, finished products have to be monitored throughout the entire shelf-life cycle, regardless of the percentage of animal raw material in the formulation.
Functional Biscuits with Soy Protein
Authors: Statsenko Ekaterina , Shtarberg Mikhail , Borodin Eugene
Published: September 2023

As a rule, modern confectionery products have added nutritional value, which makes them functional products. As a popular snack, biscuits are a promising object for fortification with functional ingredients. This article introduces a new formulation for biscuits fortified with soy protein.

The research featured crushed soy protein obtained using a patented technology (patent No. 2218816). The experimental biscuits included a mix of wheat flour with 2.5–15.0% soy protein. The control sample was represented by commercial biscuits of the Arktika brand. Physicochemical and other quality indicators were determined by standard methods. The isoflavonoid test involved high performance liquid chromatography with methanol:water eluent.

The experimental biscuits had a higher nutritional value; the absorption indicator fell from 196 to 172%. The crude gluten content dropped from 30.7 to 28.4%. The optimal content of soy protein in the new formulation was below 7.5% of the total mass of wheat flour. A higher mass fraction brought the absorption index below the standard value (˂ 170%) and spoiled the porosity and brittleness. Compared with the control sample, the nutritional value of the experimental sample improved as follows: protein – by 21.6%, fat – by 14.1%, minerals – by 11.1%, isoflavones – by 140.8% (from 4.83 to 11.63 mg/100 g). Total carbohydrates dropped by 6.5%.

The formulation demonstrated good prospects for industrial production. The new biscuits with soy protein can be classified as functional food: compared to the conventional biscuits, the recommended daily intake (100 g) for phosphorus increased from 11.7 to 20.1%, vitamin E – from 12.6 to 18.0%, for isoflavones – from 9.6 to 23.2%.
Principle of parsimony in the theology of Isaac Newton and the Socinians
Authors:   HSE University, Regulskiy Ivan T.
Published: September 2023

This article gives a comparative analysis of the principle of parsimony in the theology of Sir Isaac Newton and Polish Brethren, or the Socinians. The author defines the significance of this principle for their approach to the problems in the fields. It includes scriptural hermeneutics, polemics against the doctrine of the Trinity, antimetaphysical theological framework, questions of settling the Christian community, limits of adiaphora, and conditions of salvation and tolerance. The author claims that, regardless of a few discrepancies, in the cases of both Newton and the Socinians two almost identical theological systems are based on the same doctrinal presupposition, i. e. the principle of parsimony. The author shows the similarity between Newton and the Socinians not only at the level of the content of thought but also at the level of the form in which they expressed their ideas. For example, the image of Pantocrator from the “General Scholium” almost verbatim reproduces the formulations of the Socinian John Crell. With this two-fold similarity given, and with the fact that Newton multiple times contacted Socinians, such as Samuel Crell, it is reasonable to conclude that Newton’s thought was, in many respects, shaped by Socinian theology.