bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A “New Dimension” for the Security of Information
Authors: Stewart Andrew J.
Published: January 2022

This chapter traces the provenance of information security today. The influence of the US military on the development of information security is tightly coupled to the influence that they had over the development of computing itself. Beginning in 1943, the US Army financed the design and development of the ENIAC — the world's first “electronic calculator.” After the end of World War II, the US military was facing a new set of challenges not directly related to war fighting. To assist with these tasks, they looked to employ a successor to the ENIAC named the UNIVAC. Subsequently, the potential dangers to the security of information stored on computers would increase exponentially, and the fear of those dangers was felt by the US military and the defense contractors they employed. They then enlisted the RAND Corporation, which built the machine named the JOHNNIAC. Ultimately, systems analysis, game theory, and the other analytical techniques developed and employed by RAND were perceived to be very successful.
The Wicked Nature of Information Security
Authors: Stewart Andrew J.
Published: January 2022

This chapter studies the wicked nature of information security. It has always been unlikely that there will be a breakthrough in any one specific area of information security that will solve the problems that exist across the entirety of the field. An alternative approach has been to step outside the field of information security and examine information security problems from the perspective of other fields. The security of every computer system depends on a myriad of factors, including the technologies that are employed, the incentives of the users, and the environment in which those technologies and users reside. This means that there is a limit to how much each discipline within the field of information security can contribute to improving the security of any system, whether it be software security, network security, user education, passwords, or cryptography.
A Reckoning in Yugoslavia
Authors: Doder Dusko , Branson Louise
Published: January 2022

This chapter recounts the author's return to Yugoslavia as the Sunday Times gave Louise Branson a contract to be its Balkans correspondent based in Belgrade. However, Yugoslavia's six ethnic republics had just elected non-Communist, nationalist governments. Serbia's leader, Slobodan Milosevic, was whipping up Serb nationalism to roaring crowds. The author became alarmed as the reviving nationalism in Yugoslavia grew, with calls for violence and retribution. In June of 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. But ethnically mixed Croatia was not going to break away so easily. Branson and the author found themselves covering clashes as forces loyal to the government of Croatia were pitted against both the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Croatian Serb forces. The escalating war that they were now covering included sieges of the cities of Vukovar and Dubrovnik. They then headed to England; the job in Yugoslavia was increasingly turning into war reporting.
The Faith in the Future
Authors: Lewis Tom
Published: January 2022

This chapter unfolds the education, family, and early life of Lee de Forest. It emphasizes that de Forest spent the first six years of his life in Congregationalist parsonages in the stern presence of his father and what he remembered as the “sainted presence” of his mother. The chapter also discusses the most important element of de Forest's informal education: his own reading. Lee de Forest, relying on his imagination, powers of close observation, and ingenuity, was beginning to build and invent. With wood gathered from the cellar of his house, he created scale replicas of a locomotive engine, a blast. As he grew older, de Forest increasingly turned from mechanical imitation to invention. The chapter recounts de Forest's final spring in Talladega College, as he prepared to leave for Yale College. It also narrates the arguments he had with his father, Henry Swift De Forest, about education.
The Will to Succeed
Authors: Lewis Tom
Published: January 2022

This chapter chronicles Guglielmo Marconi's life and inventions. It examines how Marconi worked without respite on an idea he had to send telegraph messages through the ether. Guglielmo Marconi was the son of a wealthy Italian businessman, who lived the life of a country gentleman, and of an Anglo-Irish mother, whose family was the Jameson distillers of Belfast. The chapter first looks at how he improved Heinrich Hertz's spark transmitter and loop aerial receiver. It examines the most remarkable change Marconi made in Hertz's apparatus which came from a chance discovery rather than an adaptation or improvement of existing equipment. The chapter then shifts to discuss the race to control wireless communications. Marconi was, as the chapter argues, the first entrant — and thereby the first leader — in what had become a race. It ultimately explicates Lee de Forest's telephone work, his marriage to Lucille Sheardown, and his encounter with Abraham White.
Snapshots From the First Age of Broadcasting
Authors: Lewis Tom
Published: January 2022

This chapter unfolds how the radio and broadcasting became a fully fledged craze by 1923 — noting that this popularity was due to Edwin H. Armstrong's inventions. It describes all kinds of other shows to listen to in US cities and analyzes how it seemed that everyone had gone into broadcasting: newspapers, banks, public utilities, department stores, universities and colleges, cities and towns, pharmacies, creameries, and hospitals, among others. The chapter also discusses the money Armstrong gained from Westinghouse and his own licensing enterprise, as well as his other invention — superregeneration. While his other discoveries were the products of intense thought followed by startling revelation, superregeneration happened entirely by chance. The chapter investigates Lee de Forest's next invention, sound motion pictures, which he named “Phonofilm.” It also reviews one of David Sarnoff's triumphs in the 1920s — the creation of the National Broadcasting Company.
The Wizard War
Authors: Lewis Tom
Published: January 2022

This chapter examines how radio communications and broadcasting became essential to the prosecution of the new war. It argues that the conflict became a chilling “wizard war,” waged with ever more sophisticated scientific instruments of destruction. The chapter investigates the shift from searchlight flashes and semaphore flags to the use of radio and electronics. The Germans began navigating their planes through fog and cloud by fixing them on radio signals transmitted from stations on the continent. The British responded by deflecting the signals with transmissions of their own and sending the planes off course. Radio brought this war into American homes with a vividness and speed never known before. The chapter reveals how radio went across the oceans, too, delivering reports from home to U.S. troops around the world. It then introduces the “alert receiver,” a device that would turn on a radio automatically and ring a bell to summon listeners to hear announcement of an attack.
Epilogue
Authors: Lewis Tom
Published: January 2022

This chapter tracks the future of Radio Corporation of America in the years after David Sarnoff's retirement. It begins by describing the reverence of the founder and director of the huge Japanese electronics empire, Konosuki Matsushita to Sarnoff for the way he commanded his corporation. The chapter then examines how RCA had suffered great reversals after David's son, Robert Sarnoff, was fired as chairman of the RCA board and chief executive officer. Robert was followed by a ruinous succession. The chapter investigates how the empire David had given his life to shaping and expanding, to fortifying and developing, had crumbled. It then shifts to discuss Lee de Forest's creation of a small tube capable of regulating the flow of electrons. It was truly the empire of the air, as Lee de Forest described it. The chapter then delves into how Americans have been shaped by their inventions. Today, the names of de Forest, Armstrong, and Sarnoff have passed into a dim twilight.
Law, Economics, and Conflict
Authors: Basu Kaushik , Hockett Robert C.
Published: January 2022

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the importance of the interface between economics and law. The rise in global conflict, the dramatic technological breakthroughs of the digital age, and the floundering of traditional law and economics has led to some soul searching about the fundamentals of law and economics. The Cornell Research Academy of Law, Development, and Economics (CRADLE) studies these concerns. The book presents a selection of papers presented at the conference organized by CRADLE in New York City in April of 2018. The focus is on law and economics but more specifically the new challenges arising from globalization, technological advancement, and their concomitant — social and political conflict.
The Interim Balance Sheet of Democracy
Authors: Monga Célestin
Published: January 2022

This chapter discusses the “global economy of anger” and the “great discordance” that has been the collateral offshoot of technological progress and globalization. It shows that what is often overlooked is that these “advances” have been slowly eroding the foundations of global democracy, enabling political leaders in big and powerful countries to take actions that have no legitimacy or legal basis and are sanctioned by none other than themselves, which is anathema to the very idea of democracy. Given the long history of democracy, which goes back to Athens and its surrounding territories of sixth century BCE, we often act as though we have an adequate understanding of its structure and modalities. The chapter argues that this is far from the truth. Given the intertwining of democracy with technology and institutions that are continuously evolving, our understanding is quite minimal, and the weaknesses are showing up in a stark fashion in today's globalized world. The chapter then lays out the importance of independent research and suggests a research agenda for law and economics.
Fighting Corruption in China
Authors: Long Cheryl
Published: January 2022

This chapter investigates law and economics in contemporary China. Under Xi Jinping, there has been a bigger effort to control corruption than has been witnessed in a very long time in China. More government officials were arrested on charges of corruption during the four years preceding 2018 than in the four decades before that. However, the number of arrests in itself cannot automatically be treated as an indicator of success. In countries with complex laws and regulations, where virtually everybody, knowingly or unwittingly, infringes some laws, corruption control can easily become an instrument for silencing dissent and opposition. There is the further problem of corruption control damaging legitimate business and trade, because people become overly cautious and desist from making decisions. This can drive some of the corrupt activities deeper underground and create the illusion of greater success than is warranted. It can also slow down growth.
New Technology, Increasing Returns, and the End of the Antitrust Century
Authors: Basu Kaushik
Published: January 2022

This chapter argues that the changing modalities of production, inspired by the digital revolution, are fundamentally altering our capacity to use antitrust laws and nurture competition without severely damaging productivity. It develops the idea of “vertically serrated” markets. The chapter then characterizes the equilibrium of these vertically serrated industries. It shows how there will be a tendency for all surplus to collect in few hands and for a possible exacerbation of price discrimination. The chapter also demonstrates how, thanks to increasing returns to scale, it is difficult to use antitrust laws to curb these inequities. It closes with a discussion of how we may have to use other kinds of laws, including those pertaining to dispersed shareholdings and profit sharing to take on this new challenge of our times.
Why Economics is a Moral Science
Authors: Giraud Gaël
Published: January 2022

This chapter addresses the role our moral preferences play in our choices. Specifically, what is the relation between economics and moral science? At first sight, there seems to be a sharp contrast between the way human beings make moral choices and the way in which homo oeconomicus makes individual choices. The former is meant to be made from behind the veil of ignorance or with the objectivity of impartial spectator and is subject to contestation, whereas the latter is a person's personal preference and not a matter of contestation. However, there are connections between ethical preferences behind the veil of ignorance and personal preferences. The chapter then shows how our ethical preferences can affect our personal preferences and choices. By this intertwining of ethical and personal choices, it focuses on some of the earliest concerns of economics and tries to rehabilitate economics as a moral science.
Temporal network embedding framework with causal anonymous walks representations
Authors: Makarov Ilya , Savchenko Andrey , Korovko Arseny , Sherstyuk Leonid , Severin Nikita , Kiselev Dmitrii , Mikheev Aleksandr , Babaev Dmitrii
Published: January 2022

Many tasks in graph machine learning, such as link prediction and node classification, are typically solved using representation learning. Each node or edge in the network is encoded via an embedding. Though there exists a lot of network embeddings for static graphs, the task becomes much more complicated when the dynamic (i.e.,temporal) network is analyzed. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for dynamic network representation learning based on Temporal Graph Network by using a highly custom message generating function by extracting Causal Anonymous Walks. We provide a benchmark pipeline for the evaluation of temporal network embeddings. This work provides the first comprehensive comparison framework for temporal network representation learning for graph machine learning problems involving node classification and link prediction in every available setting. The proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art baseline models. The work also justifies their difference based on evaluation in various transductive/inductive edge/node classification tasks. In addition, we show the applicability and superior performance of our model in the real-world downstream graph machine learning task provided by one of the top European banks, involving credit scoring based on transaction data.
Knockdown of GmD53a confers strigolactones mediated rhizobia interaction and promotes nodulation in soybean
Authors: Rehman Naveed , Khan Fahim Ullah , Imran Muhammad , Rajput Shahid Ali , Li Yiming , Ullah Ihteram , Akhtar Rana waseem , Imran Muhammad , AL-Huqail Arwa Abdulkreem , Askary Ahmad El , Khalifa Amany Salah , Azhar Muhammad Tehseen
Published: January 2022

Background

Strigolactones (SLs) play a key role in modulating plant root growth, shoot branching, and plant-symbiont interaction. However, despite their significance, the components of SL biosynthesis and signaling in soybean and their role in soybean-rhizobia interaction is unknown.

Methods

In this study, we identified and functionally characterized the GmD53a from soybean. The GmD53a ORFs were amplified from root cDNA using primers for GmD53a RNA interference. To induce transgenic hairy roots of soybean, electric shock was used to transform pB7WG1WG2 vectors containing GmD53a knockdown and GUS into K599 strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The hairy roots and nodules were collected and examined for root nodules ratio and RNA was extracted after 4 weeks of rhizobia inoculation.

Results

A tissue-specific expression assay showed that GmD53a was differentially expressed in plant parts, predominantly in the stem and nodule. Furthermore, its expression was significantly up-regulated during rhizobia infection and varied with nodule formation. The GmD53a-knockdown chimerical plants were produced to further check its role in soybean nodulation in comparison with control GUS. In knockdown lines, the GmD53a (suppressor of strigolactone MAX2) has a higher number of nodules compared to control lines. Furthermore, the expression levels of several nodulation genes essential for initiation and formation of nodules were altered in GmD53a-knockdown lines.

Conclusion

The results revealed that SL biosynthesis and signaling are not conserved but also have close interaction between SL and legume rhizobia.
Convergent molecular evolution of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene family in C4 and crassulacean acid metabolism plants
Authors: Shu Jiang-Ping , Yan Yue-Hong , Wang Rui-Jiang
Published: January 2022

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), as the key enzyme in initial carbon fixation of C4and crassulacean acid mechanism (CAM) pathways, was thought to undergo convergent adaptive changes resulting in the convergent evolution of C4 and CAM photosynthesis in vascular plants. However, the integral evolutionary history and convergence of PEPC in plants remain poorly understood. In the present study, we identified the members of PEPC gene family across green plants with seventeen genomic datasets, found ten conserved motifs and modeled three-dimensional protein structures of 90 plant-type PEPC genes. After reconstructing PEPC gene family tree and reconciled with species tree, we found PEPC genes underwent 71 gene duplication events and 16 gene loss events, which might result from whole-genome duplication events in plants. Based on the phylogenetic tree of the PEPC gene family, we detected four convergent evolution sites of PEPC in C4 species but none in CAM species. The PEPC gene family was ubiquitous and highly conservative in green plants. After originating from gene duplication of ancestral C3-PEPC, C4-PEPC isoforms underwent convergent molecular substitution that might facilitate the convergent evolution of C4 photosynthesis in Angiosperms. However, there was no evidence for convergent molecular evolution of PEPC genes between CAM plants. Our findings help to understand the origin and convergent evolution of C4 and CAM plants and shed light on the adaptation of plants in dry, hot environments.
Discriminant Analysis and It’s Application to the Oil Palm Cultivation in Nigeria
Authors: Saheed Lekan Rasheed
Published: January 2022

There are various environmental factors that need to be considered when assessing the suitability of site for oil palm cultivation some of which are; climate, vegetation, and the soils. Using soil morphology and degree of profile development or the nature of the parent bedrock and the vegetation formed grouped the soil supporting oil palm as generally belonging to five parent materials. The various soil groups includes:- Crystalline metamorphic and Igneous rocks, Shale mixed with sand stone and clay, Coastal plain sand, Coastal alluvium and Fresh water swamp, these groups are presumed to differ on several physiochemical properties and formed the basis on which land is being selected for oil palm cultivation. The classification of soil location in future into any of the five soil types on the basis of the soil characteristics can be facilitated using different approach, but in this study, discriminant analysis will be used to measure the success rate of classifying the soil types by using the physiochemical properties soils in the Raphia growing zone of Nigeria. The research is aimed at applying discriminant analysis thereby satisfying the following objectives: Use discriminant analysis to predict soil group membership in order to correctly classify future unknown observation into any of the five soil groups based on the observed predictors (soil characteristics) in soils supporting Raphia palms of southern Nigeria, Form linear combinations of the discriminating predictor variables that differs significantly in their group means, Identify the soil properties that best discriminates among the soil types. The findings revealed the utility of several multivariate statistical methods for soil research, as well as a better knowledge of soil heterogeneity in Nigeria's oil palm area. This information will be important in measuring soil diversity for crop enhancement and in developing agricultural management strategies, particularly in Nigeria's oil palm area.
Drugs and Substances Reported in Emergency Department Presentations with Acute Recreational Drug / Substance Toxicity
Authors: Emad Aisha , Madah Enas El , Hassan Neven , Saad Khaled
Published: January 2022

Aims: To evaluate the self-reported drugs/substances in the emergency department presentations with acute recreational drug toxicity in a tertiary hospital.

Study Design: Cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Clinical Toxicology Department, Tanta University. Between January 2019 and December 2020.

Methodology: The data regarding the self-reported drug(s) / substance(s) in patients presenting to an Emergency Department in a tertiary hospital were collected and analyzed. The prevalence of each recreational drug/substance reported by the patients was calculated.

Results: There were 373 recreational drugs/substances reported by 248 cases. The most frequently self-reported drug(s)/substance(s) were ethanol (reported by 122 cases), followed by cocaine (94 cases), opiates (36 cases), cannabis (30 cases), and amphetamine-like stimulants (29 cases). Other drugs/substances as spice (synthetic cannabinoids), benzodiazepines, pregabalin, methadone, and  others were reported by the patients as well. In the remaining 16 of the total 264 cases (6.1%), the recreational drug(s) that had been used were unknown to or not reported by the patients.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study revealed that in this tertiary hospital ED, the main recreational drugs leading to the ED presentation with acute recreational drug/substance toxicity as reported by the patients were ethanol followed by cocaine, opiates, cannabis and amphetamine-like stimulants. Other drugs/substances as spice (synthetic cannabinoids), benzodiazepines, pregabalin, methadone, and others were reported by the patients as well.
Influenza Vaccine Hesitancy and Its Determinants Among Rheumatology Patients
Authors: Valerio Valeria , Hudson Marie , Wang Mianbo , Bernatsky Sasha , Hazel Elizabeth M. , Ward Brian , Colmegna Inés
Published: January 2022

Objective

Patients with rheumatic disease (RD) have an increased risk of influenza and its complications. Despite inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) recommendations, IIV uptake in patients with RD is suboptimal, a problem of increasing importance in the COVID‐19 era. We estimated the frequency of IIV hesitancy and associated factors among Canadian patients with RD.

Methods

A cross‐sectional vaccine hesitancy survey was completed by rheumatology clinic patients (November 2019 to January 2020). Patients rated their likelihood of receiving the influenza vaccine (scale of 0‐10). We categorized these as follows: likely to refuse (scale of 0‐2), uncertain (scale of 3‐7), or likely to accept (scale of 8‐10). Multivariate logistical regression was used to evaluate factors associated with vaccine hesitancy.

Results

A total of 282 patients (63.5% of those approached) completed the survey, with 165 (58.5%) being likely to accept, 67 (23.8%) being likely to refuse, and 50 (17.7%) uncertain. Uncertain patients were younger and more likely to be employed than those in the other two groups. No previous influenza vaccination (odds ratio [OR] 36.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.3‐252.9), belief that vaccination should not be mandatory (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.0‐0.7), unwillingness to take time off work to be vaccinated (OR 6.8, 95% CI 1.5‐30.6), and distrust in pharmaceutical companies (OR 41.0, 95% CI 5.6‐301.5) predicted likeliness to refuse. Reluctance to pay for vaccination (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.1‐7.5) and no previous influenza vaccination (OR 18.9, 95% CI 3.3‐109.7) predicted uncertainty.

Conclusion

More than 40% of rheumatology patients are either likely to refuse or uncertain about receiving IIV. This contributes to suboptimal vaccine coverage in this population. Interventions addressing these concerns are needed, particularly in the COVID‐19 era.
Topology‐Induced Chiral Amplification and Inversion in Self‐Assembling Dipeptide Films
Authors: Zhang Jiaxing , Li Qing , Wang Yuefei , Hao Dongzhao , Qi Wei , Su Rongxin , He Zhimin
Published: January 2022

Self‐assembly of peptides into highly ordered chiral nanostructures has great potential applications in optics, sensing, biomedicine, and templated synthesis. However, the detailed mechanism for the chiral amplification and spontaneous ordering during the self‐assembly of peptides remains largely unexplored. Here, it is shown that by topology control of the co‐assembly of a simple dipeptide and a chiral diamine within a confined film, the supramolecular structures can be controlled precisely from hierarchically organized helical bundles to microcrystals and then parallel aligned nanohelices. The peptide and diamines can co‐assemble into aligned microcrystals when the molar ratio (χ = Cdiamine/Cpeptide) of the two components is 0.5. However, by changing the χ value, excess peptides or diamines create topological defects during the self‐assembly process. This leads to chiral amplification and the formation of long‐range‐ordered nanohelical arrays with controlled phase behaviors. Moreover, the formation of right‐ or left‐handed nanohelices can be further inversed by the topological control, without the need to change the chirality of the peptides. These findings provide new insights into the chiral self‐assembly of amyloid‐related peptides and offer a facile strategy to fabricate highly ordered functional materials.
Manipulating Copper Dispersion on Ceria for Enhanced Catalysis: A Nanocrystal‐Based Atom‐Trapping Strategy
Authors: Sun Yifan , Polo‐Garzon Felipe , Bao Zhenghong , Moon Jisue , Huang Zhennan , Chen Hao , Chen Zitao , Yang Zhenzhen , Chi Miaofang , Wu Zili , Liu Jue , Dai Sheng
Published: January 2022

Due to tunable redox properties and cost‐effectiveness, copper‐ceria (Cu‐CeO2) materials have been investigated for a wide scope of catalytic reactions. However, accurately identifying and rationally tuning the local structures in Cu‐CeO2 have remained challenging, especially for nanomaterials with inherent structural complexities involving surfaces, interfaces, and defects. Here, a nanocrystal‐based atom‐trapping strategy to access atomically precise Cu‐CeO2 nanostructures for enhanced catalysis is reported. Driven by the interfacial interactions between the presynthesized Cu and CeO2 nanocrystals, Cu atoms migrate and redisperse onto the CeO2 surface via a solid–solid route. This interfacial restructuring behavior facilitates tuning of the copper dispersion and the associated creation of surface oxygen defects on CeO2, which gives rise to enhanced activities and stabilities catalyzing water–gas shift reaction. Combining soft and solid‐state chemistry of colloidal nanocrystals provide a well‐defined platform to understand, elucidate, and harness metal–support interactions. The dynamic behavior of the supported metal species can be further exploited to realize exquisite control and rational design of multicomponent nanocatalysts.
Prevalence of critical congenital heart defects and selected co‐occurring congenital anomalies, 2014–2018: A U.S. population‐based study
Authors: Stallings Erin Bugenske , Isenburg Jennifer L. , Aggarwal Deepa , Lupo Philip J. , Oster Matthew E. , Shephard Hanna , Liberman Rebecca F. , Kirby Russell S. , Nestoridi Eirini , Hansen Brenda , Shan Xiaoyi , Navarro Sanchez Maria Luisa , Boyce Aubree , Heinke Dominique ,   for the National Birth Defects Prevention Network
Published: January 2022

Background

Critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) are one of the most common types of birth defects and can lead to significant morbidity and mortality along with surgical or catheter interventions within the first year of life. This report updates previously published estimates of CCHD prevalence with the latest population‐based surveillance data from 19 birth defect surveillance programs.

Methods

The U.S. population‐based surveillance programs submitted data on identified cases of 12 CCHDs and co‐occurring cardiovascular and chromosomal birth defects from 2014 to 2018. We estimated prevalence by program type and maternal and infant characteristics. Among nine programs with active case ascertainment that collect more than live births, we estimated the percentage of co‐occurring cardiovascular and chromosomal birth defects for the 12 CCHDs.

Results

We identified 18,587 cases of CCHD among all participating programs. Overall CCHD prevalence was 19.6 per 10,000 live births among all 19 programs and 20.2 per 10,000 live births among active programs. Among maternal racial/ethnic groups, infants/fetuses born to American Indian/Alaska Native mothers showed the highest overall prevalence for all CCHDs (28.3 per 10,000) along with eight of the 12 individual CCHDs. Among 7,726 infants/fetuses with CCHD from active case ascertainment programs, 15.8% had at least one co‐occurring chromosomal birth defect.

Conclusion

Our study provides prevalence estimates for CCHDs by maternal and infant characteristics along with co‐occurrence with cardiovascular and chromosomal birth defects among infants/fetuses with CCHD using one of the largest and most recent cohorts since the implementation of widespread CCHD screening. These data can provide a basis for future research to better understand risk factors for these defects.
Urea Conversion for Low‐Temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction in a Swirled Diesel Exhaust Gas Configuration
Authors: Gierth Sandro , Hartl Sandra , Pollack Martin , Hasse Christian , Hofmann Uwe , Zikoridse Gennadi , Rautenberg Helge , Will Frank , Hahn Christoph , Kureti Sven
Published: January 2022

A novel design of an AdBlue mixing unit to reduce urea deposits at low temperatures in diesel exhaust is described. The main principle of the mixer includes the injection of AdBlue in an axisymmetric swirling flow, which is achieved by splitting the exhaust stream and off‐centred introduction of the sub‐flows. Crucial geometric parameters were analyzed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations towards pressure loss, flow field, and spray morphology. Deposit formation was experimentally investigated on three upscaling levels implying an optical test bench, a diesel engine test bench, and a hydraulic excavator. In particular, the studies with the hydraulic excavator showed neither deposits nor critical back pressure. Overall, the experiments substantiated the working principle of the AdBlue mixer.
Oxygen Vacancy‐Enriched Co3O4 as Efficient Co‐catalyst for Pt Nanoparticles towards Methanol Electrooxidation
Authors: Zhang Yuchao , Gan Mengyu , Ma Li , Zhao Wei , Li Xudong , Hua Xuelian , Wang Ling
Published: January 2022

Herein, a reduced Co3O4/C (rCo3O4/C) composite with rich oxygen vacancies has been fabricated through facile sodium borohydride reduction treatment to act as an effective promoter for Pt nanoparticles (NPs). The Pt NPs are highly dispersed onto the hybrid support with average size of 1.89 nm. Electrochemical measurements show that the Pt−rCo3O4/C‐2 h catalyst with abundant oxygen vacancies possesses better CO tolerance and stability and exhibits a higher mass activity (MA) of 1412 mA ⋅ mg−1(Pt) than that of pristine Co3O4/C supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt−pCo3O4/C) in acidic medium. The enhanced catalytic performance can be attributed to sodium borohydride reduction enriching the oxygen vacancies of Co3O4, which can generate a large amount of −OH species more easily via hydrolysis to oxidize CO species adsorbed on Pt surface to release Pt active sites. Consequently, the construction of oxygen vacancy‐rich materials as co‐catalysts can deliver excellent catalytic performance for Pt‐based electrocatalysts.
The Bioequivalence Between Valsartan Oral Solution and Suspension Formulations Developed for Pediatric Use
Authors: Sivasubramanian Rama , Sunkara Gangadhar , Karan Rajesh , Zhou Wei , Zhang Yiming , Sangana Ramachandra
Published: January 2022

The bioequivalence of valsartan 160 mg oral solution compared to suspension was assessed in a single‐dose, open‐label, randomized, 2‐period, 2‐way crossover study in 82 healthy adults. The participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive a single dose of the solution or suspension formulation in each of the two treatment periods. Serial blood samples for pharmacokinetic evaluation were collected up to 48 hours post‐dose. The pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated by noncompartmental methods and analyzed as per bioequivalence criteria of statistical analysis. The peak plasma concentration of valsartan was reached with median time of 1 and 3 hours with solution and suspension formulation, respectively. Compared to suspension formulation, the mean peak plasma concentration with solution formulation was higher by 32% (90%CI, 1.27‐1.38) while the geometric mean ratios (1.09) and the associated 90%CIs (1.05‐1.13) of both the areas under the concentration time‐curves (from time zero to the last quantifiable concentration and from time zero to infinity) were contained in the required range of 0.80 to 1.25. No new safety signals were observed with either of the formulations.
Environmental policy and corporate sustainability: The mediating role of environmental management systems in circular economy adoption
Authors: Barón Dorado Alexandra , Giménez Leal Gerusa , de Castro Vila Rodolfo
Published: January 2022

Companies see adopting the circular economy (CE) model as an opportunity to become more sustainable and aligned to the growing demand for more environmentally friendly products. Governments, institutions and researchers alike have highlighted the importance of organisations having an environmental policy, and that this policy be implemented though effective environmental management systems (EMSs) as the way to achieving corporate sustainability. However, despite exploring the relationship between EMSs and moving towards the circular model in the business world, research on this increasingly critical issue remains limited. To address this gap, research was carried out on 85 Spanish manufacturing companies. Results show that implementing an EMS has a positive effect as the companies analysed adopted a higher number of CE practices. From a managerial perspective, managers are challenged to show leadership initiative by exploring new, more sustainable ways of operating that engage new stakeholders. Implications for regulators focus on enhancing the circularity of EMS.
Advancements in topical therapy
Authors: Ilyas Muneeb , Logas Christopher M. , Glick Brad P. , Del Rosso James Q.
Published: January 2022

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common dermatologic ailment with a large variety of treatment options ranging from topical to systemic medications. First‐line treatment for AD often involves topical therapy using agents such as emollients, topical corticosteroids, phosphodiesterase‐4 (PDE4) inhibitors, and calcineurin inhibitors. Despite these therapeutic options, there are numerous emerging topical therapies in the pipeline for AD. This review will discuss novel and emerging topical medications for AD including PDE4 inhibitors, janus kinase inhibitors, aryl hydrocarbon receptor modulators, and other miscellaneous agents.
The pathogenesis of hidradenitis suppurativa: Evolving paradigms in a complex disease
Authors: Kozera Emily K. , Frew John W.
Published: January 2022

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a complex inflammatory skin disease with the molecular pathogenesis of disease incompletely understood. Recent observational and experimental insights into disease pathogenesis are challenging long‐held beliefs regarding the causes and mechanisms of disease. The most effective treatments to date are anti‐inflammatory in nature suggesting inflammation is the major driver of disease activity. This study critically evaluates the existing literature regarding the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Specifically, it questions the role of follicular occlusion as the central driver of disease activity and reframes hidradenitis suppurativa as a complex autoinflammatory and autoimmune disorder. Ongoing efforts to understand the mechanisms of disease will no doubt lead to more efficacious therapeutics to control this burdensome disabling disease.
Reaction kinetics of anodic biofilms under changing substrate concentrations: Uncovering shifts in Nernst‐Monod curves via substrate pulses
Authors: Kubannek Fabian , Block Jonathan , Munirathinam Balakrishnan , Krull Rainer
Published: January 2022

In the present study, it is shown that the concentration dependency of undefined mixed culture anodic biofilms does not follow a single kinetic curve, such as the Nernst‐Monod curve. The biofilms adapt to concentration changes, which inevitably have to be applied to record kinetic curves, resulting in strong shifts of the kinetic parameters. The substrate concentration in a continuously operated bioelectrochemical system was changed rapidly via acetate pulses to record Nernst‐Monod curves which are not influenced by biofilm adaptation processes. The values of the maximum current density jmax and apparent half‐saturation rate constant Ks increased from 0.5 to 1 mA cm−2 and from 0.5 to 1.6 mmol L−1, respectively, within approximately 5 h. Double pulse experiments with a starvation phase between the two acetate pulses showed that jmax and Ks decrease reversibly through an adaptation process when no acetate is available. Pseudo‐capacitive charge values estimated from non‐turnover cyclic voltammograms (CV) led to the hypothesis that biofilm adaptation and the observed shift of the Nernst‐Monod curves occurred due to changes in the concentration of active redox proteins in the biofilm. It is argued that concentration‐related parameters of kinetic models for electroactive biofilms are only valid for the operating points where they have been determined and should always be reported with those conditions.
Topographic perturbation of turbulent boundary layers by low‐angle, early‐stage aeolian dunes
Authors: Bristow Nathaniel R. , Best Jim , Wiggs Giles F. S. , Nield Joanna M. , Baddock Matthew C. , Delorme Pauline , Christensen Kenneth T.
Published: January 2022

Decimeter‐scale early‐stage aeolian bedforms represent topographic features that differ notably from their mature dune counterparts, with nascent forms exhibiting more gently sloping lee sides and a reverse asymmetry in their flow‐parallel bed profile compared to mature dunes. Flow associated with the development of these “protodunes,” wherein the crest gradually shifts downstream towards its mature state, was investigated by studying the perturbation of the turbulent boundary layer over a succession of representative bedforms. Rigid, three‐dimensional models were studied in a refractive‐index‐matched experimental flume that enabled near‐surface quantification of mean velocities and Reynolds stresses using particle‐image velocimetry in wall‐normal and wall‐parallel measurement planes. Data indicate strong, topographically induced flow perturbations over the protodunes, to a similar relative degree to that found over mature dunes, despite their low‐angled slopes. The shape of the crest is found to be an important factor in the development of flow perturbations, and only in the case with the flattest crest was maximal speed‐up of flow, and reduction in turbulent stresses, found to occur upstream of the crest. Investigation of the log‐linearity of the boundary layer profile over the stoss sides showed that, although the profile is strongly perturbed, a log‐linear region exists, but is shifted vertically. A streamwise trend in friction velocity is thus present, showing a behavior similar to the trends in mean velocity. Analysis of the growth of the internal boundary layer on the dune stoss sides, beginning at the toe region, reveals a similar development for all dune shapes, despite clear differences in mean velocity and turbulent stress perturbations in their toe regions. The data presented herein provide the first documentation of flow over morphologies broadly characteristic of subtle, low‐angle, aeolian protodunes, and indicate key areas where further study is required to yield a more complete quantitative understanding of flow–form–transport couplings that govern their morphodynamics.
Visual representations of SARS‐CoV‐2, emotions, and risk perception of COVID‐19
Authors: Li Nan , Molder Amanda L. , Yang Shiyu
Published: January 2022

Background and Aims

Before COVID‐19 was declared a global pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and many other organizations published many images of its pathogen (namely SARS‐CoV‐2) to raise public awareness of the disease. Despite their scientific and aesthetic values, such images may convey metaphoric meanings and cause a subsequent impact on viewers' fear and disgust. This study investigated how exposure to the SARS‐CoV‐2 images might shape viewers' fear, disgust, and risk perception of COVID‐19.

Methods

Seventy images depicting the SARS‐CoV‐2 were collected from the websites of CDC, NIAID, and third‐party organizations in early 2020. We first showed the images to a group of 492 adults recruited from the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and asked them to rate their levels of fear and disgust for each image. Results of this pre‐test allowed us to identify images that evoked high, medium, and low levels of fear and disgust, which were then used as treatment stimuli for an online experiment with a national sample of 500 U.S. adults.

Results

Exposure to the selected SARS‐CoV‐2 images caused different levels of disgust, but not fear, among the members of the national sample. Noticeably, the images evoking the highest level of disgust backfired among those who were least concerned about COVID and caused less fear than images evoking the lowest level of disgust. Image exposure was not associated with risk perception of the disease.

Conclusion

This study found that the seemingly objective visualizations of the SARS‐CoV‐2 are not emotionally neutral. Scientists, agencies, and media professionals should be mindful of the potential emotional impact of science visualizations, such as when creating the iconic image for COVID‐19 or other infectious diseases.
Optical properties of human brain and tumour tissue: An ex vivo study spanning the visible range to beyond the second near‐infrared window
Authors: Shapey Jonathan , Xie Yijing , Nabavi Elham , Ebner Michael , Saeed Shakeel R. , Kitchen Neil , Dorward Neil , Grieve Joan , McEvoy Andrew W. , Miserocchi Anna , Grover Patrick , Bradford Robert , Lim Yau‐Mun , Ourselin Sebastien , Brandner Sebastian , Jaunmuktane Zane , Vercauteren Tom
Published: January 2022

Neuro‐oncology surgery would benefit from detailed intraoperative tissue characterization provided by noncontact, contrast‐agent‐free, noninvasive optical imaging methods. In‐depth knowledge of target tissue optical properties across a wide‐wavelength spectrum could inform the design of optical imaging and computational methods to enable robust tissue analysis during surgery. We adapted a dual‐beam integrating sphere to analyse small tissue samples and investigated ex vivo optical properties of five types of human brain tumour (meningioma, pituitary adenoma, schwannoma, low‐ and high‐grade glioma) and nine different types of healthy brain tissue across a wavelength spectrum of 400 to 1800 nm. Fresh and frozen tissue samples were analysed. All tissue types demonstrated similar absorption spectra, but the reduced scattering coefficients of tumours show visible differences in the obtained optical spectrum compared to those of surrounding normal tissue. These results underline the potential of optical imaging technologies for intraoperative tissue characterization.
Addressing epistemic injustice in HIV research: a call for reporting guidelines on meaningful community engagement
Authors: Pantelic Marija , Steinert Janina I. , Ayala George , Sprague Laurel , Chang Judy , Thomas Ruth Morgan , Nininahazwe Cedric , Caswell Georgina , Bach‐Mortensen Anders M. , Bourne Adam
Published: January 2022

Introduction

Despite the widely recognized ethical and practical benefits of community engagement in HIV research, epistemic injustice persists within the field. Namely, the knowledge held by communities disproportionately affected by HIV is systematically afforded less credibility than that of more privileged academic researchers. In order to illustrate what this looks like in practice, we synthesized the extent of reporting on community engagement within recent high‐impact HIV intervention research papers. However, we also posit that the HIV research sector has the potential to devise and showcase world‐leading examples of equitable research‐community partnerships and suggest actionable key steps to achieving this goal.

Discussion

In the absence of reporting requirements within the publishing process, it is difficult to infer whether and how the community have been consulted in the design, implementation, analysis and/or interpretation of findings. As an illustrative exercise, we offer a rapid synthesis of the extent of reporting on community engagement in HIV research from 2017 to 2019, which highlighted sporadic and very low rates of reporting of community engagement in recent high‐impact HIV intervention studies. Of note is that none of the included studies reported on community engagement through all stages of the research process. There were also discrepancies in how community involvement was reported. We provide three actionable recommendations to enhance reporting on community engagement in HIV research: (1) community‐led organizations, researchers and scientific journals should band together to develop, publish and require adherence to standardized guidelines for reporting on community involvement in HIV research; (2) research funders should (continue to) require details about how relevant communities have been engaged prior to the submission of funding requests; and (3) researchers should take proactive measures to describe their engagement with community organizations in a clear and transparent manner.

Conclusions

There is a clear and urgent need for guidelines that facilitate transparent and consistent reporting on community engagement in HIV intervention research. Without standardized reporting requirements and accountability mechanisms within the research sector, the extent of meaningful community engagement cannot be established and may remain a catchphrase rather than reality.