bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Additively Manufactured Nonlinearities on the Dynamic Response of Assembled Structures
Authors: Shu Hang , Smith Scott A. , Brake Matthew R. W.
Published: November 2019

Structural dynamic techniques have been proven accurate at predicting the vibrations of single parts (i.e., monolithic specimens), which are widely used in industrial applications. However, vibration analysis of such assemblies often exhibits high variability or nonrepeatability due to jointed interfaces. Inspired by advances in additive manufacturing (AM) and nonlinear vibration absorber theory, this research seeks to redesign jointed structures in an attempt to reduce the nonlinear effects introduced by the jointed interfaces. First, the nonlinear dynamics of a conventionally manufactured beam and an AM beam are measured in both a traditional (flat) lap joint assembly and also a “linearized” lap joint configuration (termed the small pad). Second, the internal structure of the AM beam is varied by printing specimens with internal vibration absorbers. With the two interface geometries studied in this experiment, the flat interface is found to be predominantly nonlinear, and introducing a vibration absorber fails to reduce the nonlinearities from the jointed interface. The small-pad responses are relatively linear in the range of excitation used in the analysis, and the nonlinear effects are further reduced with the presence of a center vibration absorber. Overall, the energy dissipation at the interface is highly dependent on the design of the contact interface and the internal vibration absorber. Adding a nonlinear vibration absorber alone is insufficient to negate the interfacial nonlinearity from the assembly; therefore, future work is needed to study the shape, location, and material for the design and fabrication of nonlinear vibration absorbers.
Minimal Cerebrospinal Fluid Concentration of Miltefosine despite Therapeutic Plasma Levels during the Treatment of Amebic Encephalitis
Authors: Monogue Marguerite L. , Watson Durward , Alexander Julie S. , Cavuoti Dominick , Doyle Laura M. , Wang Michael Zhuo , Prokesch Bonnie C.
Published: November 2019

Miltefosine is an alkylphosphocholine compound that is used primarily for treatment of leishmaniasis and demonstrates
in vitro
and
in vivo
antiamebic activity against
Acanthamoeba
species. Recommendations for treatment of amebic encephalitis generally include miltefosine therapy. Data indicate that treatment with an amebicidal concentration of at least 16 μg/ml of miltefosine is required for most
Acanthamoeba
species.
Antifungal Activity of Mammalian Serum Amyloid A1 against
Candida albicans
Authors: Gong Jiao , Wu Jun , Ikeh Melanie , Tao Li , Zhang Yulong , Bing Jian , Nobile Clarissa J. , Huang Guanghua
Published: November 2019

Mammalian serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein that shows a massive increase in plasma concentration during inflammation. In the present study, we demonstrate that the expression of mouse SAA1 in serum was increased when infected with
Candida albicans
, a major human fungal pathogen, in a systemic infection model. We then set out to investigate the antifungal activity of SAA proteins against
C. albicans
.
Use of High-Resolution Pressure Nephelometry To Measure Gas Vesicle Collapse as a Means of Determining Growth and Turgor Changes in Planktonic Cyanobacteria
Authors: Dyer Stuart W. , Needoba Joseph A.
Published: November 2019

The increased prevalence of bloom-forming cyanobacteria and associated risk of exposure to cyanobacterial toxins through drinking water utilities and recreational waterways are growing public health concerns. Cost-effective, early-detection methodologies specific to cyanobacteria are crucial for mitigating these risks, with a gas vesicle-specific signal offering a number of benefits over photopigment fluorescence, including improved detection limits and discrimination against non-gas-vacuolate phototrophs. Here, we present a multiplexed instrument capable of quantifying the relative abundance of cyanobacteria based on the signal generated from the presence of intracellular gas vesicles specific to bloom-forming cyanobacteria. Additionally, as cell turgor can be measuredin vivovia pressure nephelometry, the measurement furnishes information about the internal osmotic pressure of gas-vacuolate cyanobacteria, which relates to the metabolic state of the cell. Together these advances may improve routine waterway monitoring and the mitigation of human health threats due to cyanobacterial blooms.
Predatory Organisms with Untapped Biosynthetic Potential: Descriptions of Novel
Corallococcus
Species
C. aberystwythensis
sp. nov.,
C. carmarthensis
sp. nov.,
C. exercitus
sp. nov.,
C. interemptor
sp. nov.,
C. llansteffanensis
sp. nov.,
C. praedator
sp. nov.,
C. sicarius
sp. nov., and
C. terminator
sp. nov
Authors: Livingstone Paul G. , Ingleby Oliver , Girdwood Susan , Cookson Alan R. , Morphew Russell M. , Whitworth David E.
Published: November 2019

Corallococcus
is a genus of predators with broad prey ranges, whose genomes contain large numbers of gene clusters for secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The physiology and evolutionary heritage of eight
Corallococcus
species strains were characterized using a range of analyses and assays. Multiple metrics confirmed that each strain belonged to a novel species within the
Corallococcus
genus. The strains exhibited distinct patterns of drug resistance and predatory activity, which mirrored their possession of diverse sets of biosynthetic genes. The breadth of antimicrobial activities observed within the
Corallococcus
genus highlights their potential for drug discovery and suggests a previous underestimation of both their taxonomic diversity and biotechnological potential. Taxonomic assignment of environmental isolates to novel species allows us to begin to characterize the diversity and evolution of members of this bacterial genus with potential biotechnological importance, guiding future bioprospecting efforts for novel biologically active metabolites and antimicrobials.
Evaluation of WASPLab Software To Automatically Read chromID CPS Elite Agar for Reporting of Urine Cultures
Authors: Faron Matthew L. , Buchan Blake W. , Samra Hasan , Ledeboer Nathan A.
Published: November 2019

Urine cultures are among the most common specimens received by clinical laboratories and generate a major share of the laboratory workload. Chromogenic agar can expedite culture results, but technologist review is still needed. In this study, we evaluated the ability of the WASPLab software to interpret urine specimens plated onto chromID CPS Elite (CPSE) agar. Urine specimens submitted for bacterial culture were plated onto CPSE agar with a 1-μl loop using the WASP.
Oral Microbiome Alterations Associated with Early Childhood Caries Highlight the Importance of Carbohydrate Metabolic Activities
Authors: Wang Yuan , Wang Sa , Wu Chunyan , Chen Xi , Duan Zhuhui , Xu Qian , Jiang Wen , Xu Lei , Wang Tingting , Su Lingkai , Wang Ying , Chen Yadong , Zhang Jie , Huang Yun , Tong Suman , Zhou Cheng , Deng Shuli , Qin Nan
Published: November 2019

Dental caries is a highly prevalent oral disease that can lead to severe dental damage and may greatly compromise the quality of life of the affected individuals. Previous studies, including those based on 16S rRNA gene, have revealed that the oral microbiota plays a prominent role in development of the disease. But the approach of those studies was limited in analyzing several key microbiome traits, including species- or strain-level composition and functional profile. Here, we performed metagenomic analyses for a cohort of preschool children with or without caries. Our results showed that caries was associated with extensive microbiota differences at various taxonomic and functional levels. Some caries-associated species had not been previously reported, some of which may have significant clinical implications. A microbiome gene catalogue from children with caries was constructed for the first time. The results demonstrated that caries is associated with alterations of the oral microbiome, including changes in microbial composition and metabolic functional profile.
Molecular Reconstruction of the Diet in Human Stool Samples
Authors: Maixner Frank
Published: November 2019

Understanding dietary effects on the gut microbial composition is one of the key questions in human microbiome research. It is highly important to have reliable dietary data on the stool samples to unambiguously link the microbiome composition to food intake. Often, however, self-reported diet surveys have low accuracy and can be misleading. Thereby, additional molecular biology-based methods could help to revise the diet composition. The article by Reese et al. [A. T. Reese, T. R.
The timing and compositional evolution of volcanism within northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Stelten Mark E. , Downs Drew T. , Champion Duane E. , Dietterich Hannah R. , Calvert Andrew T. , Sisson Thomas W. , Mahood Gail A. , Zahran Hani
Published: November 2019

Harrat Rahat, one of several large, basalt-dominated volcanic fields in western Saudi Arabia, is a prime example of continental, intraplate volcanism. Excellent exposure makes this an outstanding site to investigate changing volcanic flux and composition through time. We present 93 40Ar/39Ar ages and six 36Cl surface-exposure ages for volcanic deposits throughout northern Harrat Rahat that, when integrated with a new geologic map, define 12 eruptive stages. Exposed volcanic deposits in the study area erupted <1.2 Ma, and 214 of 234 eruptions occurred <570 ka. Two eruptions occurred in the Holocene, including a historically described basalt eruption in 1256 C.E. and a trachyte eruption newly recognized as Holocene (4.2 ± 5.2 ka). An estimated ∼82 km3 (dense rock equivalent) of volcanic product have erupted since 1.2 Ma, though this is a lower limit due to concealment of deposits >570 ka. Over the past 570 k.y., the average eruption rate was 0.14 km3/k.y., but volcanism was episodic with periods alternating between low (0.04–0.06 km3/k.y.) and high (0.1–0.3 km3/k.y.) effusion rates. Before 180 ka, eruptions vented from the volcanic field’s dominant eastern vent axis and from a subsidiary, diffuse, western vent axis. After 180 ka, volcanism focused along the eastern vent axis, and the composition of volcanism varied systematically along its length from basalt dominated in the north to trachyte dominated in the south. We hypothesize that these compositional variations <180 ka reflect the growth of a mafic intrusive complex beneath the southern portion of the vent axis, which led to the development of evolved magmas.
Delivering genome sequencing in clinical practice: an interview study with healthcare professionals involved in the 100 000 Genomes Project
Authors: Sanderson Saskia C , Hill Melissa , Patch Christine , Searle Beverly , Lewis Celine , Chitty Lyn S
Published: November 2019

Objectives

Genome sequencing is poised to be incorporated into clinical care for diagnoses of rare diseases and some cancers in many parts of the world. Healthcare professionals are key stakeholders in the clinical delivery of genome sequencing-based services. Our aim was to explore views of healthcare professionals with experience of offering genome sequencing via the 100 000 Genomes Project.

Design

Interview study using thematic analysis.

Setting

Four National Health Service hospitals in London.

Participants

Twenty-three healthcare professionals (five genetic clinicians and eight non-genetic clinicians (all consultants), and 10 ‘consenters’ from a range of backgrounds) involved in identifying or consenting patients for the 100 000 Genomes Project.

Results

Most participants expressed positive attitudes towards genome sequencing in terms of improved ability to diagnose rare diseases, but many also expressed concerns, with some believing its superiority over exome sequencing had not yet been demonstrated, or worrying that non-genetic clinicians are inadequately prepared to discuss genome sequencing results with patients. Several emphasised additional evidence about utility of genome sequencing in terms of both main and secondary findings is needed. Most felt non-genetic clinicians could support patients during consent, as long as they have appropriate training and support from genetic teams. Many stated genetics experts will play a vital role in training and supporting non-genetic clinicians in variant interpretation and results delivery, particularly for more complex cases.

Conclusions

Healthcare professionals responsible for delivering clinical genome sequencing have largely positive views about the potential for genome sequencing to improve diagnostic yield, but also significant concerns about practical aspects of offering these tests. Non-genetic clinicians delivering genome sequencing require guidance and support. Additional empirical evidence is needed to inform policy and practice, including how genome compares to exome sequencing; utility of secondary findings; training, in particular of non-genetic health professionals; and mechanisms whereby genetics teams can offer appropriate support to their non-genetics colleagues.
Women’s satisfaction with midwife-led continuity of care: an observational study in Palestine
Authors: Mortensen Berit , Diep Lien M , Lukasse Mirjam , Lieng Marit , Dwekat Ibtesam , Elias Dalia , Fosse Erik
Published: November 2019

Objectives

A midwife-led continuity model of care had been implemented in the Palestinian governmental health system to improve maternal services in several rural areas. This study investigated if the model influenced women’s satisfaction with care, during antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period.

Design

An observational case-control design was used to compare the midwife-led continuity model of care with regular maternity care.

Participants and setting

Women with singleton pregnancies, who had registered for antenatal care at a rural governmental clinic in the West Bank, were between 1 to 6 months after birth invited to answer a questionnaire rating satisfaction with care in 7-point Likert scales.

Primary outcome

The mean sum-score of satisfaction with care through the continuum of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period, where mean sum-scores range from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest).

Secondary outcome

Exclusive breastfeeding.

Results

Two hundred women answered the questionnaire, 100 who received the midwife-led model and 100 who received regular care. The median time point of interview were 16 weeks postpartum in both groups. The midwife-led model was associated with a statistically significant higher satisfaction with care during antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period, with a mean sum-score of 5.2 versus 4.8 in the group receiving regular care. The adjusted mean difference between the groups’ sum-score of satisfaction with care was 0.6 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.85), p<0.0001. A statistically significant higher proportion of women who received the midwife-led continuity model of care were still exclusively breastfeeding at the time point of interview, 67% versus 46% in the group receiving regular care, an adjusted OR of 2.56 (1.35 to 4.88) p=0.004.

Conclusions

There is an association between receiving midwife-led continuity of care and increased satisfaction with care through the continuum of pregnancy, intrapartum and postpartum period, and an increased duration of exclusive breastfeeding.

Trial registration number

NCT03863600
What is clinician presence? A qualitative interview study comparing physician and non-physician insights about practices of human connection
Authors: Brown-Johnson Cati , Schwartz Rachel , Maitra Amrapali , Haverfield Marie C , Tierney Aaron , Shaw Jonathan G , Zionts Dani L , Safaeinili Nadia , Thadaney Israni Sonoo , Verghese Abraham , Zulman Donna M
Published: November 2019

Objective

We sought to investigate the concept and practices of ‘clinician presence’, exploring how physicians and professionals create connection, engage in interpersonal interaction, and build trust with individuals across different circumstances and contexts.

Design

In 2017–2018, we conducted qualitative semistructured interviews with 10 physicians and 30 non-medical professionals from the fields of protective services, business, management, education, art/design/entertainment, social services, and legal/personal services.

Setting

Physicians were recruited from primary care clinics in an academic medical centre, a Veterans Affairs clinic, and a federally qualified health centre.

Participants

Participants were 55% men and 45% women; 40% were non-white.

Results

Qualitative analyses yielded a definition of presence asa purposeful practice of awareness, focus, and attention with the intent to understand and connect with individuals/patients. For both medical and non-medical professionals, creating presence requires managing and considering time and environmental factors; for physicians in particular, this includes managing and integrating technology. Listening was described as central to creating the state of being present. Within a clinic, presence might manifest as a physician listening without interrupting, focusing intentionally on the patient, taking brief re-centering breaks throughout a clinic day, and informing patients when attention must be redirected to administrative or technological demands.

Conclusions

Clinician presence involves learning to step back, pause, and be prepared to receive a patient’s story. Building on strategies from physicians and non-medical professionals, clinician presence is best enacted through purposeful intention to connect, conscious navigation of time, and proactive management of technology and the environment to focus attention on the patient. Everyday practice or ritual supporting these strategies could support physician self-care as well as physician-patient connection.
Structural brain changes in hyperthyroid Graves’ disease: protocol for an ongoing longitudinal, case-controlled study in Göteborg, Sweden—the CogThy project
Authors: Holmberg Mats Olof , Malmgren Helge , Berglund Peter , Bunketorp-Käll Lina , Heckemann Rolf A , Johansson Birgitta , Klasson Niklas , Olsson Erik , Skau Simon , Nystrom Filipsson Helena
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Cognitive impairment and reduced well-being are common manifestations of Graves’ disease (GD). These symptoms are not only prevalent during the active phase of the disease but also often prevail for a long time after hyperthyroidism is considered cured. The pathogenic mechanisms involved in these brain-derived symptoms are currently unknown. The overall aim of the CogThy study is to identify the mechanism behind cognitive impairment to be able to recognise GD patients at risk.

Methods and analysis

The study is a longitudinal, single-centre, case-controlled study conducted in Göteborg, Sweden on premenopausal women with newly diagnosed GD. The subjects are examined: at referral, at inclusion and then every 3.25 months until 15 months. Examinations include: laboratory measurements; eye evaluation; neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological testing; structural MRI of the whole brain, orbits and medial temporal lobe structures; functional near-infrared spectroscopy of the cerebral prefrontal cortex and self-assessed quality of life questionnaires. The primary outcome measure is the change in medial temporal lobe structure volume. Secondary outcome measures include neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, hormonal and autoantibody variables. The study opened for inclusion in September 2012 and close for inclusion in October 2019. It will provide novel information on the effect of GD on medial temporal lobe structures and cerebral cortex functionality as well as whether these changes are associated with cognitive and affective impairment, hormonal levels and/or autoantibody levels. It should lead to a broader understanding of the underlying pathogenesis and future treatment perspectives.

Ethics and dissemination

The study has been reviewed and approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Göteborg, Sweden. The results will be actively disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, national and international conference presentations and among patient organisations after an appropriate embargo time.

Trial registration number

44321 at the public project database for research and development in Västra Götaland County, Sweden (https://www.researchweb.org/is/vgr/project/44321).
Effect of different types of exercise on health-related quality of life during and after cancer treatment: a protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Authors: Ubago-Guisado Esther , Gracia-Marco Luis , Cavero-Redondo Iván , Martinez-Vizcaino Vicente , Notario-Pacheco Blanca , Pozuelo-Carrascosa Diana P , Adalia Esther G , Álvarez-Bueno Celia
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Cancer (and survival) is known to affect the quality of life. Strategies as physical activity and exercise during and after cancer may improve health-related qualify of life (HRQOL) outcomes and are, therefore, of clinical and public health importance. To the best of our knowledge, comparative evidence of the effect of the different types of exercise on improving HRQOL in cancer patients has not been synthesised thus far. We aim to conduct a systematic review and network meta-analysis in order to synthesise all available evidence regarding the effect of different types of exercise interventions on HRQOL during and after cancer treatment.

Methods and analysis

MEDLINE (via PubMed), Web of Science, Embase, The Cochrane Library and SPORTDiscus will be searched from inception to December 2018 for relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs. Studies assessing physical activity and exercise interventions in cancer patients (during treatment) and survivors (after treatment) will be selected. Two independent reviewers will identify eligible studies. After quality appraisal and data extraction, we will conduct meta-analyses for outcomes of interest, including data from mental and physical dimensions of cancer-specific and/or generic HRQOL questionnaires. Risk of bias assessments will be completed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Study heterogeneity will be measured by the I2statistic. Bayesian (and traditional approach) network meta-analysis will be performed when possible to determine the comparative effect of the different physical activity or exercise interventions.

Ethics and dissemination

This systematic review and network meta-analysis will synthesise evidence on the effect of different types of exercise interventions on HRQOL during and after cancer treatment. The results will be disseminated by publication in a peer-reviewed journal and through scientific conferences and symposia. Ethical approval will not be required because the data used for this work will be exclusively extracted from published studies.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42019125028.
Health outcomes associated with Zika virus infection in humans: a systematic review of systematic reviews
Authors: Ximenes Raphael , Ramsay Lauren C , Miranda Rafael Neves , Morris Shaun K , Murphy Kellie , Sander Beate
Published: November 2019

Objective

With the emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) disease in Central and South America in the mid-2010s and recognition of the teratogenic effects of congenital exposure to ZIKV, there has been a substantial increase in new research published on ZIKV. Our objective is to synthesise the literature on health outcomes associated with ZIKV infection in humans.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review (SR) of SRs following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane and LILACS (Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde) databases from inception to 22 July 2019, and included SRs that reported ZIKV-associated health outcomes. Three independent reviewers selected eligible studies, extracted data and assessed the quality of included SRs using the AMSTAR 2 (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2) tool. Conflicts were resolved by consensus or consultation with a third reviewer.

Results

The search yielded 1382 unique articles, of which 21 SRs met our inclusion criteria. The 21 SRs ranged from descriptive to quantitative data synthesis, including four meta-analyses. The most commonly reported ZIKV-associated manifestations and health outcomes were microcephaly, congenital abnormalities, brain abnormalities, neonatal death and Guillain-Barré syndrome. The included reviews were highly heterogeneous. The overall quality of the SRs was critically low with all studies having more than one critical weakness.

Conclusion

The evolving nature of the literature on ZIKV-associated health outcomes, together with the critically low quality of existing SRs, demonstrates the need for high-quality SRs to guide patient care and inform policy decision making.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42018091087.
Improving end-of-rotation transitions of care among ICU patients
Authors: Denson Joshua Lee , Knoeckel Julie , Kjerengtroen Sara , Johnson Rachel , McNair Bryan , Thornton Olivia , Douglas Ivor S , Wechsler Michael E , Burke Robert E
Published: November 2019

Background

Hospitalised patients whose inpatient teams rotate off service experience increased mortality related to end-of-rotation care transitions, yet standardised handoff practices are lacking.

Objective

Develop and implement a multidisciplinary patient-centred handoff intervention to improve outcomes for patients who are critically ill during end-of-rotation transitions.

Design, setting and participants

Single-centre, controlled pilot study of medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients whose resident team was undergoing end-of-rotation transition at a university hospital from June 2017 to February 2018.

Intervention

A 4-item intervention was implemented over two study periods. Intervention 1 included: (1) in-person bedside handoff between teams rotating off and on service, (2) handoff checklist, (3) nursing involvement in handoff, and (4) 30 min education session. Intervention 2 included the additional option to conduct bedside handoff via videoconferencing.

Main outcome measures

Implementation was measured by repeated clinician surveys and direct observation. Patient outcomes included length of stay (LOS; ICU and hospital) and mortality (ICU, hospital and 30 days). Clinician perceptions were modelled over time using per cent positive responses in logistic regression. Patient outcomes were compared with matched control ‘transition’ patients from 1 year prior to implementation of the intervention.

Results

Among 270 transition patients, 46.3% were female with a mean age of 55.9 years. Mechanical ventilation (64.1%) and in-hospital death (27.6%) rates were prevalent. Despite high implementation rates—handoff participation (93.8%), checklist utilisation (75.0%), videoconferencing (62.5%), nursing involvement (75.0%)—the intervention did not significantly improve LOS or mortality. Multidisciplinary survey data revealed significant improvement in acceptability by nursing staff, while satisfaction significantly declined for resident physicians.

Conclusions

In this controlled pilot study, a structured ICU end-of-rotation care transition strategy was feasible to implement with high fidelity. While mortality and LOS were not affected in a pilot study with limited power, the pragmatic strategy of this intervention holds promise for future trials.
The Finnish Canine Stifle Index: responsiveness to change and intertester reliability
Authors: Hyytiäinen Heli K , Morelius Mikael , Lappalainen Anu K , Bostrom Anna F , Lind Kirsti A , Junnila Jouni J T , Hielm‐Björkman Anna , Laitinen‐Vapaavuori Outi
Published: November 2019

Background

The responsiveness and the intertester reliability of the Finnish Canine Stifle Index (FCSI) were tested, and a cut‐off between compromised and severely compromised performance level was set.

Methods

Three groups of dogs were used, 29 with any stifle dysfunction (STIF), 17 with other musculoskeletal disease except stifle (OTHER) and 11 controls (CTRL). All dogs were tested with the FCSI by the same physiotherapist at three occasions, at baseline, at six weeks and 10 weeks, and once also by another physiotherapist.

Results

Dogs in the STIF group demonstrated significantly higher (P<0.001) FCSI scores than in OTHER or CTRL groups at baseline. Only the STIF group showed a significant (P<0.001) change in FCSI score at all time points, indicating responsiveness to change. There were no significant differences between the evaluators (P=0.736), showing good intertester reliability, supported by moderate to good (0.78) intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The evaluator performing the FCSI did not have a significant effect when comparing the groups of dogs (P=0.214). The 95 per cent confidence intervals of the ICC per group were 0.79 (0.60, 0.91) for STIF, 0.83 (0.53, 0.96) for OTHER 0.78 (0.64, 0.88) for all dogs. A cut‐off differentiating a severely compromised from a compromised performance was set at 120, having sensitivity of 83 per cent and specificity of 89 per cent.

Conclusion

The FCSI is a recommendable measure of dogs’ stifle functionality.
Uplift performance of helical piles with cement injection in residual soils
Authors: Santos Filho João M.S.M. Dos , Tsuha Cristina de Hollanda Cavalcanti
Published: November 2019

Helical piles have been widely used in Brazil to resist uplift forces of transmission line towers due to certain advantages compared with other foundations, such as resistance to both compressive and tensile loads, easy transport to remote sites, possibility of installation at batter angles, rapid installation with small equipment, and no need for concrete and formwork. However, in some sites the appropriate soil layer for the installation of the pile helices is too deep or too hard to be penetrated. In these cases, the use of helical foundations is not economically and (or) technically viable. One possible solution for this problem is to install the pile in a soil with low bearing capacity improved with cement injection. To evaluate the applicability of a soil-treatment method for helical piles, two different procedures of injection were tested in typical Brazilian residual soils of different geologic origin. For this investigation, 41 multi-helix piles (15 conventional piles and 26 with cement injection) were installed and submitted to tensile loading tests. The results reveal that both techniques can improve the tension capacity and produce a stiffer load–displacement response of helical piles under uplift loads.
An enhanced spatial statistical method for continuous monitoring of winter road surface conditions
Authors: Gu Lian , Wu Mingjian , Kwon Tae J.
Published: November 2019

To facilitate more efficient winter maintenance decision support, road weather information systems (RWIS) have been widely used by highway agencies. However, the cost of RWIS stations is high, and they have limited monitoring coverage. To address this challenge, this paper presents an innovative framework that applies regression kriging to integrate stationary and mobile RWIS data to improve the accuracy of road surface temperature (RST) estimation. Furthermore, an optimal RWIS network expansion strategy is introduced by incorporating a modified particle swarm optimization method with the objective of minimizing spatially averaged kriging estimation errors. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to investigate the influence of station densities on model performance. The case study from Alberta, Canada, demonstrates the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method. The findings provide insights for continuous monitoring and visualization of both road weather and surface conditions and for optimizing RWIS network planning.
Bayesian Spatiotemporal Gaussian Process for Short-term Load Forecasting Using Combined Transportation and Electricity Data
Authors: Gilanifar Mostafa , Wang Hui , Ozguven Eren Erman , Zhou Yuxun , Arghandeh Reza
Published: November 2019

Smart cities can be viewed as large-scale Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) where different sensors and devices record the cyber and physical indicators of the city systems. The collected data are used for improving urban life by offering services such as accurate electric load forecasting, and more efficient traffic management. Traditional monitoring for electricity and transportation networks generally do not provide full observability due to their limited coverage as well as high implementation and maintenance costs. For example, continuous traffic data collection is mostly limited to major highways only in big cities, whereas local roadways are usually covered once or twice a year. Also, there are no high-fidelity and real-time electric monitoring systems in all parts of power distribution networks. Combining the limited data from each of the urban systems together (e.g., electricity, transportation, environment, etc.) provides a better picture of the energy flow in a city. Furthermore, a city should be considered as a collection of the layers of tangled infrastructure networks, which connects people, places, and resources. Therefore, the study of traffic or electricity consumption forecasting should go beyond the transportation and electricity networks and merge with each other and even with other city networks such as environmental networks. As such, this article proposes a Bayesian spatiotemporal Gaussian Process model that employs the most informative spatiotemporal interdependency among different interconnected networks (in this case, electricity, transportation, and weather). The proposed load forecasting method is compared with other state-of-the-art methods using real-life data obtained from the City of Tallahassee in Florida. Results show that the proposed Bayesian spatiotemporal Gaussian Process model outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Test Specification and Generation for Connected and Autonomous Vehicle in Virtual Environments
Authors: Kim Baekgyu , Masuda Takato , Shiraishi Shinichi
Published: November 2019

The trend of connected/autonomous features adds significant complexity to the traditional automotive systems to improve driving safety and comfort. Engineers are facing significant challenges in designing test environments that are more complex than ever. We propose a test framework that allows one to automatically generate various virtual road environments from the path and behavior specifications. The path specification intends to characterize geometric paths that an environmental object (e.g., a roadway or a pedestrian) needs to be visualized or move over. We characterize this aspect in the form of constraints of 3-Dimensional (3D) coordinates. Then, we introduce a test coverage, called an area coverage, to quantify the quality of the generated paths in terms of how diverse of an area the generated paths can cover. We propose an algorithm that automatically generates such paths using an SMT (Satisfiability Modulo Theories) solver. However, the behavioral specification intends to characterize how an environmental object changes its mode over time by interacting with other objects (e.g., a pedestrian waits for a signal or starts crossing). We characterize this aspect in the form of timed automata. Then, we introduce a test coverage, called an edge/location coverage, to quantify the quality of the generated mode changes in terms of how many modes or transitions are visited. We propose a method that automatically generates many different mode changes using a model-checking. To demonstrate the test framework, we developed the right-turn pedestrian warning system in intersection scenarios and generated many different types of pedestrian paths and behaviors to analyze the effectiveness of the system.
Modeling Adversarial Physical Movement in a Railway Station
Authors: Cheh Carmen , Chen Binbin , Temple William G. , Sanders William H.
Published: November 2019

Many real-world attacks on cyber-physical systems involve physical intrusions that directly cause damage or facilitate cyber attacks. Hence, in this work, we investigate the security risk of organizations with respect to different adversarial models of physical movement behavior. We study the case in which an intrusion detection mechanism is in place to alert the system administrator when users deviate from their normal movement behavior. We then analyze how different user behaviors may present themselves as different levels of threats in terms of their normal movement behavior within a given building topology. To quantify the differences in movement behavior, we define a
WeightTopo
metric that takes into account the building topology in addition to the movement pattern. We demonstrate our approach on a railway system case study and show how certain user roles, when abused by attackers, are especially vulnerable in terms of the physical intrusion detection probability. We also evaluate quantitatively how the similarity between an attacker’s movement behavior and a user’s movement behavior affects the detection probability of the evaluated intrusion detection system. Certain individual users are found to pose a higher threat, implying the need for customized monitoring.
New Cover Time Bounds for the Coalescing-Branching Random Walk on Graphs
Authors: Cooper Colin , Radzik Tomasz , Rivera Nicolas
Published: November 2019

We present new bounds on the cover time of the
coalescing-branching random walk
process COBRA. The COBRA process, introduced in Dutta et al. [9], can be viewed as spreading a single item of information throughout an undirected graph in synchronised rounds. In each round, each vertex that has received the information in the previous round (possibly simultaneously from more than one neighbour and possibly not for the first time), “pushes” the information to
k
randomly selected neighbours. The COBRA process is typically studied for integer branching rates
k
≥ 2 (with the case
k
=1 corresponding to a random walk). The aim of the process is to propagate the information quickly, but with a limited number of transmissions per vertex per round.

The COBRA cover time is the expected number of rounds until all vertices have received the information at least once. Our main results are bounds of
O
(
m
+ (
d
max
)
2
log
n
) and
O
(
m
log
n
) on the COBRA cover time for arbitrary connected graphs with
n
vertices,
m
edges and maximum graph degree
d
max
, and bounds of
O
((
r
2
+
r
/(1−λ)) log
n
) and
O
((1/(1− λ)
2
)log
n
) for
r
-regular connected graphs with the second largest eigenvalue λ in absolute value. Our bounds for general graphs are always
O
(
n
2
log
n
), decreasing to
O
(
n
) for constant degree graphs, while the best previous bound is
O
(
n
2.75
log
n
). Our first bound for regular graphs applied to the lazy variant of the COBRA process is
O
((
r
2
+
r
/φ
2
)log
n
), where φ is the conductance of the graph. The best previous results for the COBRA process imply for this case only a bound of
O
((
r
4
/φ
2
)log
2
n
).

To derive our bounds, we develop the following new approach to analysing the performance of the COBRA process. We introduce a type of infection process, which we call the
Biased Infection with Persistent Source
(BIPS) process, show that BIPS can be viewed as dual to COBRA, and obtain bounds for COBRA by analysing the convergence of BIPS.
Distributed Graph Clustering and Sparsification
Authors: Sun He , Zanetti Luca
Published: November 2019

Graph clustering is a fundamental computational problem with a number of applications in algorithm design, machine learning, data mining, and analysis of social networks. Over the past decades, researchers have proposed a number of algorithmic design methods for graph clustering. Most of these methods, however, are based on complicated spectral techniques or convex optimisation and cannot be directly applied for clustering many networks that occur in practice, whose information is often collected on different sites. Designing a simple and distributed clustering algorithm is of great interest and has comprehensive applications for processing big datasets.

In this article, we present a simple and distributed algorithm for graph clustering: For a wide class of graphs that are characterised by a strong cluster-structure, our algorithm finishes in a poly-logarithmic number of rounds and recovers a partition of the graph close to optimal. One of the main procedures behind our algorithm is a sampling scheme that, given a dense graph as input, produces a sparse subgraph that provably preserves the cluster-structure of the input. Compared with previous sparsification algorithms that require Laplacian solvers or involve combinatorial constructions, this procedure is easy to implement in a distributed setting and runs fast in practice.
Near Optimal Parallel Algorithms for Dynamic DFS in Undirected Graphs
Authors: Khan Shahbaz
Published: November 2019

Depth first search (DFS) tree is a fundamental data structure for solving various graph problems. The classical algorithm [54] for building a DFS tree requires
O
(
m
+
n
) time for a given undirected graph
G
having
n
vertices and
m
edges. Recently, Baswana et al. [5] presented a simple algorithm for updating the DFS tree of an undirected graph after an edge/vertex update in Õ(
n
)
1
time. However, their algorithm is strictly sequential. We present an algorithm achieving similar bounds that can be easily adopted to the parallel environment.

In the parallel environment, a DFS tree can be computed from scratch in expected Õ(1) time [2] on an EREW PRAM, whereas the best deterministic algorithm takes Õ(√
n
) time [2, 27] on a CRCW PRAM. Our algorithm can be used to develop optimal time (to
poly
log
n
factors) deterministic parallel algorithms for maintaining fully dynamic DFS and fault tolerant DFS of an undirected graph.

(1)
Parallel Fully Dynamic DFS
: Given an arbitrary online sequence of vertex or edge updates, we can maintain a DFS tree of an undirected graph in Õ(1) time per update using
m
processors on an EREW PRAM.

(2)
Parallel Fault tolerant DFS
: An undirected graph can be preprocessed to build a data structure of size
O
(
m
), such that for any set of
k
updates (where
k
is constant) in the graph, a DFS tree of the updated graph can be computed in Õ(1) time using
n
processors on an EREW PRAM. For constant
k
, this is also work optimal (to
poly
log
n
factors).

Moreover, our fully dynamic DFS algorithm provides, in a seamless manner, nearly optimal (to
poly
log
n
factors) algorithms for maintaining a DFS tree in the semi-streaming environment and a restricted distributed model. These are the first parallel, semi-streaming, and distributed algorithms for maintaining a DFS tree in the dynamic setting.
A Time for Everything
Authors: Petter Stacie
Published: November 2019

We find the idea that seasons change or there is a time and place for everything in ancient proverbs, in the Old Testament, or even in a popular song from the 1960s (i.e., "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds). As I reflect on life to date or consider life in the future, I often note the patterns of the changing seasons and how everything (both good and bad) seems to have its own time and place.
Quality Assessment of Peer-Produced Content in Knowledge Repositories Using Big Data and Social Networks
Authors: Velichety Srikar
Published: November 2019

This research provides a method for quality assessment of peer-produced content in knowledge repositories using a complementary view of collaboration. Using the definition of collaboration as the action of working with someone to produce something, we identify the aspects of collaboration that the present research on online communities does not consider. To this end, we introduce and define the concept of implicit collaboration and then identify two dimensions and four possible areas of collaboration. In each area, we identify the relevant social network that captures collaboration. Using customized measures on each of the networks that capture various aspects of collaboration, we quantify the utility of implicit collaboration in assessing article quality. Experiments conducted on the complete population of graded English language Wikipedia articles show that all the identified measures improve the predictive accuracy of the existing models by 11.89 percent while improving the class-wise precision by 9-18 percent and the class-wise recall by 5-26 percent. We also find that our method complements the existing quality assessment approaches well. Our research has implications for developing automated quality assessment methods for peer-produced content using big data and social networks.
Cognitive Bias in the Peer Review Process
Authors: Street Chris , Ward Kerry W.
Published: November 2019

In a recent critique of reviewers, Ralph (2016) stated that "Peer review is prejudiced, capricious, inefficient, ineffective and generally unscientific" (p. 274). Our research proposes that one way the peer review process could appear flawed is if those involved had different beliefs about what was important in evaluating research. We found evidence for a cognitive bias where respondents to a survey asking about the importance of particular validity and reliability method practices gave different answers depending on whether they were asked to answer the survey as a researcher or as a reviewer. Because researchers have higher motivation to publish research than reviewers do to review research, we theorize that motivational differences between researchers and reviewers leads to this bias and contributes to the perception that the review process is flawed. We discuss the implications of our findings for improving the peer review process in MIS.
Can intestinal microbiota and circulating microbial products contribute to pulmonary arterial hypertension?
Authors: Thenappan Thenappan , Khoruts Alexander , Chen Yingjie , Weir E. Kenneth
Published: November 2019

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease with a median survival of only 5–7 yr. PAH is characterized by remodeling of the pulmonary vasculature causing reduced pulmonary arterial compliance (PAC) and increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), ultimately resulting in right ventricular failure and death. Better therapies for PAH will require a paradigm shift in our understanding of the early pathophysiology. PAC decreases before there is an increase in the PVR. Unfortunately, present treatment has little effect on PAC. The loss of compliance correlates with extracellular matrix remodeling and fibrosis in the pulmonary vessels, which have been linked to chronic perivascular inflammation and immune dysregulation. However, what initiates the perivascular inflammation and immune dysregulation in PAH is unclear. Alteration of the gut microbiota composition and function underlies the level of immunopathogenic involvement in several diseases, including atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and depression, among others. In this review, we discuss evidence that raises the possibility of an etiologic role for changes in the gut and circulating microbiome in the initiation of perivascular inflammation in the early pathogenesis of PAH.