bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managers’ Perception on the IT Audit Recommendations: The Effect of Risk Significance, Ease of Implementation and Added Value on Implementation of Recommendations
Authors: Salihu Armend , Hoti Hamdi
Published: June 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of the risk significance of audit results, the quality of the recommendations given on how easy it is to implement them, and the added benefit to the organization in implementing the recommendations. After a comprehensive literature review, the study provides a statistical analysis through a questionnaire that has been distributed to investigate the effect of Risk Significance, Ease of Implementation, and the Added Value on the implementation of the recommendations within organizations. Regarding the results obtained from the questionnaire, all Cronbach’s Alpha values are within the acceptable level, whereas the first three variables (Implementation of Recommendations, Risk Significance and Ease of Implementation) have a strong positive correlation between each other. There is a weak positive correlation between Added Value of Recommendations with other variables. In the regression analysis was found that all independent variables have a positive effect on the depended variable.
Diabetes Prediction Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Ontology
Authors: Massari Hakim El , Sabouri Zineb , Mhammedi Sajida , Gherabi Noreddine
Published: June 2022

Diabetes is one of the chronic diseases, which is increasing from year to year. The problems begin when diabetes is not detected at an early phase and diagnosed properly at the appropriate time. Different machine learning techniques, as well as ontology-based ML techniques, have recently played an important role in medical science by developing an automated system that can detect diabetes patients. This paper provides a comparative study and review of the most popular machine learning techniques and ontology-based Machine Learning classification. Various types of classification algorithms were considered namely: SVM, KNN, ANN, Naive Bayes, Logistic regression, and Decision Tree. The results are evaluated based on performance metrics like Recall, Accuracy, Precision, and F-Measure that are derived from the confusion matrix. The experimental results showed that the best accuracy goes for ontology classifiers and SVM.
Sentence-Level Sentiment Classification A Comparative Study Between Deep Learning Models
Authors: Mifrah Sara , Benlahmar El Habib
Published: June 2022

Sentiment classification provides a means of analysing the subjective information in the text and subsequently extracting the opinion. Sentiment analysis is the method by which people extract information from their opinions, judgments and emotions about entities. In this paper we propose a comparative study between the most deep learning models used in the field of sentiment analysis; L-NFS (Linguistique Neuro Fuzzy System), GRU (Gated Recurrent Unit), BiGRU (Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit), LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory), BiLSTM (Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory) and BERT(Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers), we used for this study a large Corpus contain 1.6 Million tweets, as devices we train our models with GPU (graphics processing unit) processor. As result we obtain the best Accuracy and F1-Score respectively 87.36% and 0.87 for the BERT Model.
Data Profiling and Machine Learning to Identify Influencers from Social Media Platforms
Authors: Elbaghazaoui Bahaa Eddine , Amnai Mohamed , Fakhri Youssef
Published: June 2022

Because of the numerous applications domains in which social media networks can be used, the huge volume of data and information uploaded by them is gaining significant interest. Publishing allows consumers to express their thoughts on products and services. Some feedbacks could also influence other users on those things. Therefore, extracting and identifying influencers from social media networks, also profiling their product perceptions and preferences, is critical for marketers to use efficient viral marketing and recommendation strategies. Our major goal in this research is to find the best machine learning model for characterizing influencers on social media networks. However, to achieve this objective, our strategy revolves around applying the PageRank algorithm to profile influential nodes throughout the social media network graph. The results of our experiment showed that the correlation is always different when adding a new parameter to machine learning models, also to determine the suitable model for our needs. In any event, the experiment outcomes are critical and significant to profiling influencers from social media platforms.
Basic Activity Recognition from Wearable Sensors Using a Lightweight Deep Neural Network
Authors: Benhaili Zakaria , Abouqora Youness , Balouki Youssef , Moumoun Lahcen
Published: June 2022

The field of human activity recognition has undergone a great development, making its presence felt in various sectors such as healthcare and supervision. The identification of fundamental behaviours that occur regularly in our everyday lives can be extremely useful in the development of systems that aid the elderly, as well as opening the door to the detection of more complicated activities in a Smart home environment. Recently, the use of deep learning techniques allowed the extraction of features from sensor’s readings automatically, in a hierarchical way through non-linear transformations. In this study, we propose a deep learning model that can work with raw data without any pre-processing. Several human activities can be recognized by our stacked LSTM network. We demonstrate that our outcomes are comparable to or better than those obtained by traditional feature engineering approaches. Furthermore, our model is lightweight and can be applied on edge devices. Based on our expertise with two datasets, we obtained an accuracy of 97.15% on the UCI HAR dataset and 99% on WISDM dataset.
Semantic Web and Internet of Things: Challenges, Applications and Perspectives
Authors: Amara Fatima Zahra , Hemam Mounir , Djezzar Meriem , Maimor Moufida
Published: June 2022

The apparent growth of the internet of things (IoT) has allowed its deployment in many domains. The IoT devices sense their surroundings and transmit the data via the Web. According to statistics, due to the proliferation of smart devices, the number of active IoT devices is expected to exceed 25.4 billion by 2030.1 A large number of IoT objects gather an enormous amount of raw data. The data generated by various IoT objects and sensors are heterogeneous, with varying types and formats. Therefore, it is difficult for IoT systems to share and reuse raw IoT data, which causes the problem of lack of interoperability. The lack of interoperability in IoT systems creates a problematic issue that prevents IoT systems from performing well. To address this issue, data modeling and knowledge representation using semantic web technologies may be an appropriate solution to give meaning to raw IoT data and convert it to an enriched data format. The primary goal of this research section is to highlight the best outcomes for semantic interoperability among IoT systems, which can serve as a guideline for future studies via the presentation of a literature review on semantic interoperability for Internet of Things systems, including challenges, prospects, and recent work. The paper also provides an overview of the application of semantic web technologies in IoT systems, such as specific ontologies, frameworks, and application domains that use semantic technologies in the IoT areas to solve interoperability and heterogeneity problems.
Carbon storage potential of Eucalyptus urophylla at several density levels and forest management types in dry land ecosystems
Authors: MARIMPAN LUSIA SULO , PURWANTO RIS HADI , WARDHANA WAHYU , SUMARDI SUMARDI
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Marimpan LS, Purwanto RH, Wardhana W, Sumardi. 2022. Carbon storage potential of Eucalyptus urophylla at several density levels and forest management types in dry land ecosystems. Biodiversitas 23: 2830-2837. Tropical forests can store high amounts of carbon because they have suitable environmental factors. Furthermore, they are different from others that grow in dry areas, which tend to experience limited rainfall. Ampupu (Eucalyptus urophylla) is an endemic tree in East Nusa Tenggara, which is continuously damaged. This is caused by various anthropogenic activities, which increase along with the population around the forest. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the carbon content stored in natural forest areas of E. urophylla at different density levels and land use types. Field inventory was carried out in the study location using the stratified sampling method, after which the density levels were divided into three groups, viz. high, medium, and low. Sampling was then carried out in 3 different land-use areas, including production, protection, and conservation forests. Furthermore, a total of 90 plots were used, where each land-use type consists of 30 plots with a size of 25 m × 40 m. The results showed that the carbon content at the low, medium and high-density levels were 108.20, 185.24, and 291.33 MgCha-1, respectively. Values of 211.91, 214.69, and 221.14 MgCha-1 were also obtained from the production, protection, and conservation forests, respectively. Based on the results, the natural forests of E. urophylla have a significant effect on carbon sequestration in East Nusa Tenggara.
Phytochemical test and optimization of transdermal patches of Carica papaya extract: Formulation design of candidate drug for wound healing
Authors: SANTI TAHARA DILLA , SIREGAR TONGKU NIZWAN , SUTRIANA AMALIA , ANDINI RITA , CANDRA ADITYA
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Santi TD, Siregar TN, Sutriana A, Andini R, Candra A. 2022. Phytochemical test and optimization of transdermal patches of Carica papaya extract: Formulation design of transdermal patch as candidate drug for wound healing. Biodiversitas 23: 2904-2913. Papaya leaves contain metabolite compounds thathave anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties. This leaf extract as a transdermal patch allows easy application for wound healing. This study aimed to examine the phytochemicals of papaya leaves and determine the formulation of the transdermal patch. This study employed qualitative methods with color testing and quantitative methods with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry (GC-MS) to determine the phytochemical profiles of papaya leaves. The optimization test of patches used Response Surface Methodology with Box-Behnken design on Expert Version 12 software. There were three factors (x) tested in the study, namely PVP, ethyl cellulose, and Ethanol Extract of Papaya Leaves (EECP). There were also three responses (y) investigated, namely thickness, weight, and moisture content. The phytochemical color testingresults revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroid, terpenoid, saponins, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and the GC-MS analysis showed six compounds with the widest areas. From an ANOVA analysist, the p-value was significant (<0.5) while the match value was less significant (p-value >5%). The optimal patch found in this study was the one containing PVP (0.3 mg), ethyl cellulose (0.4 mg), and EECP (0.3 mg). In terms of response values (y), the patch had a ??thickness of 0.25 mm, a weight of 82 mg, and a moisture content of 4.39%.
Selection of tomato breeding lines based on morphological traits associated with high yield potential in double-cross population
Authors: ANISA WITRI NUR , AFIFAH ENIK NURLAILI , MURTI RUDI HARI
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Anisa WN, Afifah EN, Murti RH. 2022. Selection of tomato breeding lines based on morphological traits associated with high yield potential in double-cross population. Biodiversitas 23: 2973-2980. Low tomato production is a global problem. Plant breeding has been intensified to develop high-yield varieties and meet the high production of vegetable crops. Selection is an essential part of plant breeding to evaluate desirable traits of breeding lines. This study aimed to identify tomato breeding lines with high yield potential from 13 breeding lines and 2 commercial tomatoes. Collected data were analyzed using analysis of variance, post hoc, path, and principal component analysis. Results showed that 9 tomato lines, namely, BV-1, BV-2, BV-3, BV-6, BV-7, BV-9, BV-11, BV-12, and BV-13 had a high yield potential based on the number of fruits per plant and fruit weight. Given their high path coefficient value and significant correlation (P<0.05) with the yield potential, these two characteristics are highly recommended to be used as selection criteria for the high yield potential of tomato plants. The following characteristics had a high value of heritability: fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit firmness, fruit locules, fruit pericarp thickness, total soluble solid, number of flowers per bunch, number of fruits per bunch, number of fruits per plant, and harvesting age.
Biosurfactant activity of phylloplane bacteria from an ornamental plant, Colocasia esculenta L.
Authors: BUKHORI ALPINA , SURYANTO DWI , NURTJAHJA KIKI
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Bukhori A, Suryanto D, Nurtjahja K. 2022. Biosurfactant activity of phylloplane bacteria from an ornamental plant, Colocasia esculenta L. Biodiversitas 23: 3108-3114. Biosurfactants are surface-active molecules produced by living organisms predominantly by microorganisms with amphiphilic properties. Exploration of biosurfactant-producing bacteria has been promoted to find the suitable agent for mass production in the laboratory following its biochemical and genetic modification. Leaf-colonizing bacteria or phyllosphere bacteria are of great interest, including those colonizing the surface of ornamental plants which are still understudied. This study aimed to isolate the biosurfactant-producing bacteria from an ornamental plant, Colocasia esculenta L and to determine their physical characteristics. Four bacterial isolates coded as IC1, IC3, IC4 and IC5 were recovered from the surface of C. esculenta and were tested positive for their growth under Bushnell-Haas agar + 1% olive oil (v/v) as the sole carbon source. Two isolates, namely IC3 and IC5, later molecularly identified as Bacillus cereus and Alcaligenes faecalis produced the highest biosurfactant concentration (IC3 = 157 ppm, IC5 = 106 ppm) on 10th day incubation based on a colorimetric test using rhamnolipid as a standard solution. Crude biosurfactants produced by A. faecalis IC5 showed better physical attributes than B. cereus IC3 in terms of surface tension, emulsification index, and oil spreading capability on four different hydrophobic compounds i.e., kerosene, solar fuel, octane fuel (Pertalite, Pertamax). The results of this study confirmed the existence of biosurfactant-producing bacteria in C. esculenta and the possibility of developing prominent strains for the treatment of hydrocarbon pollution in the environment.
Callus induction with 6-BAP and IBA as a way to preserve Prunus ledebouriana (Rosaceae), and endemic plant of Altai and Tarbagatai, East Kazakhstan
Authors: ORAZOV AIDYN , MYRZAGALIYEVA ANAR , MUKHITDINOV NASHTAI , TUSTUBAYEVA SHYNAR
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Orazov A, Myrzagaliyeva A, Mukhitdinov N, Tustubayeva S. 2022. Callus induction with 6-BAP and IBA as a way to preserve Prunus ledebouriana (Rosaceae), and endemic plant of Altai and Tarbagatai, East Kazakhstan. Biodiversitas 23: 3178-3184. This article presents the results of the study of in vitro conditions for the cultivation and induction of callus tissues of a rare plant species Prunus ledebouriana(Schlecht.) Y.Y.Yao (Ledebour's almond), endemic plant to East Kazakhstan. For the first time, protocol and optimal composition of Murashige & Skoog (MS) were developed for obtaining calendemiclus tissues. The main indicator of successful introduction was the frequency of callus tissue formation in vitro. Two types of explants were used: the whole embryos and embryos with a removed root part. The removal of the root part inhibited the organogenesis of the embryonic root and the first shoot, which allowed the accumulation of nutrients for the growth of the callus mass and increased the frequency by 7.79±0.46%. Various exogenous phytohormones such as Kinetin, 6-BAP, GA, IBA were added to the MS culture medium. A decrease in Kinetin concentrations of 0.04 mg/L resulted in a lower intensity, but a higher frequency of formation (72.00±5.66%) and mass gain. The average concentration up to 0.5 mg/L of exogenous phytoregulators, such as GA and 6-BAP, resulted in frequency from 65.38±5.44% to 72.00±5.66%, the concentration of IBA up to 1 mg/L increased the frequency from 46.00±2.83 to 72.00±5.66%. The protocol for obtaining callus from an embryonic explant and the composition of the optimal nutrient medium for the induction of callusogenesis made it possible to obtain P. ledebouriana meristem tissues for further use in the development of callus cryopreservation technology.
Biological control of Sclerotinia minor attack on pyrethrum plants by Trichoderma harzianum in glasshouse experiment
Authors: Ramona Yan , Darmayasa Ida Bagus Gede , Line Martin A
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Ramona Y, Darmayasa IBG, Line MA. 2022. Biological control of Sclerotinia minor attack on pyrethrum plants by Trichoderma harzianum in glasshouse experiment. Biodiversitas 23: 3264-3269. The aim of this research was to elucidate the efficacy of Trichoderma harzianum (isolate Td22) grown in a ratio of 2:8 millet seeds and wood fiber waste (WFW) compost mixture to suppress Sclerotinia minor infection in pot trails on the pyrethrum plants (in 0.5 L pots). The pots were filled with soil and mixed with Td22-grown WFW compost to obtain a concentration of 5% v/v. The S. minor (fungal pathogen) previously grown in millet seeds amounted at 2.0 g per pot, was then evenly inoculated at 2 cm below the surface of potting mix. Soil without compost amendment, amended with pathogen only, or without pathogen inoculation served as controls. All pots were acclimatized for 4 days in a shade house prior to transplanting (4 seedlings per pot) of pyrethrum seedlings (aged of 3 weeks). Eight replications per treatment were run for 8 weeks. The results showed that 5% v/v compost-grown Td22 provided 78% protection to pyrethrum plants at week 8. Each surviving plant in Td22-treated pots also showed significantly higher average dry weight (p<0.05) than those planted in S. minor control treatment, indicating that Td22 has a potential to be developed as a novel fungal antagonist or a plant growth-promoting fungus.
Quality and storage time of traditional dangke cheese inoculated with indigenous lactic acid bacteria isolated from Enrekang District, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Authors: MUHAMMAD ASKARI ZAKARIAH MUHAMMAD ASKARI x , MALAKA RATMAWATI , LAGA AMRAN , AKO AMBO , ZAKARIAH MUHAMMAD , MAULIAH FAILAL ULFI
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Zakariah MA, Malaka R, Laga A, Ako A, Zakariah M, Mauliah FU. 2022. Quality and storage time of traditional dangke cheese inoculated with indigenous lactic acid bacteria isolated from Enrekang District, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 3270-3276. Dangke is a traditional cheese from Enrekang District. Many research on the isolation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from dangke has been done without knowing the type of LAB species. This study aimed to find out the type of LAB species that have been successfully isolated and applied to dangke again. The design of this study was conducted in two stages: 1) isolated LAB species were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing; 2) effect of inoculated LAB on the quality and storage time of traditional dangke cheese. The molecular results showed that LAB from dangke included Streptococcus lutetiensis, Weissella confusa and Streptococcus equinus. Isolates type and ripening time have affected pH, organic matter, and dangke crude fat. The type of isolate can partially affect the dry matter content, and dangke crude protein. Weissella confusa can improve the quality of dangke with a ripening time of 6 days and a storage time of 3 days.
Inequalities in Access to Land and Strategies of Resilience in the Burkinabe Migrants in Northern Côte d’Ivoire
Authors: Soumahoro Kando Amédée , Bi Sylvestre Tchan
Published: June 2022

This article analyzes the socio-cultural constraints in the host areas which are sources of the inequality of access to land in connection with the strategies for reducing said inequality. The article is based on research being carried out in the department of Korhogo, in the north of Côte d’Ivoire. These burdens are revealing socio-cultural barriers experienced by migrant Fulani ethnic group in their Burkinabe’s relationship with their Senufo tutors. It shows that despite an apparent social cohesion between Burkinabe Peulh herders and Senufo farmers, inequalities persist in access to land capital. This makes it possible to identify the poverty of living conditions and existence among Burkinabe migrants in certain rural localities in the north. Through a qualitative approach glazed maintenance s individual and focus group with community leaders and local populations, structured around a sample of 50 people, the study finds that the religious institution embodied by the Poro, capital of autochthony and the inheritance system in the Senufo culture, underpins the production of inequalities between Fulani herders and native farmers in access to land. Consequently, mentoring and the transfer of skills and knowledge are mobilized by migrants as strategies to reduce these inequalities and improve income.
In Between Escapade and Peril
Authors: Kunwar Karan , Dhungana Indu
Published: June 2022

The outbreak of COVID-19 has damaged the world economy, resulting in the termination of thousands of jobs which affects migrants and their families who have both economic and other investments in migration. This article explores the experiences and challenges of Nepali migrant workers who returned from Malaysia and their wives who were left behind when they originally migrated. We discuss the aspirations of returnee workers, their life and experiences in Malaysia during the pandemic and their experiences of tackling the bureaucratic challenges of the return process in Malaysia and Nepal. We find that any problems in migration also affects those family members who are left behind and discuss the experiences of husbands affect migrants’ wives, including their understanding of the foreign employment situation of the husbands and their involvement in different decisions related to foreign employment and the return of their husbands. The study follows a qualitative methodology. Phone interviews were conducted with ten returnee migrants from Malaysia and ten as well as three informants who have knowledge and experience of the sector. The article argues that both migrants and their family members face the consequences of any failures and challenges in migration and that policies should encourage joint discussion among governments of source and host countries on coping with the challenges of migration including in the context of a global pandemic.
Efficient calculation of optical properties of suspended-core fiber via a machine learning algorithm
Authors: Yuan Shuyu , Chen Shengchao , Yang Jianli , Yang Qian , Ren Sufen , Wang Guanjun , Yu Benguo
Published: June 2022

Growing nonlinearity demands in mid-infrared applications place more outstanding requirements on fiber structure design. Chalcogenide suspended-core fibers (SCFs) are considered excellent candidates for mid-infrared applications due to their significant advantages in nonlinearity and dispersion management. However, traditional numerical methods for accurate modeling and optimization of SCFs often rely on the performance of computing devices and have many limitations when dealing with complex models. A machine learning algorithm is applied to calculate the optical properties of chalcogenide SCFs, including effective mode area, nonlinear coefficient, and dispersion. The established artificial neural network (ANN) model enables accurate prediction of the above optical properties of

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SCF, for which in the wavelength range of 1.0 to 4.0 µm, the radius of the fiber core is 0.4 to 0.6 µm, and width of the cantilever is 0.06 to 0.09 µm. We demonstrate that this simple ANN model has considerable advantages over the traditional numerical calculation model in computational speed and resource utilization. In summary, the proposed model can quickly provide more accurate optical property predictions, providing a cost-effective solution for precise modeling and optimization of chalcogenide SCFs.
Performing tomographic reconstructions from a satellite looking toward Earth. Part 2: analysis of image quality
Authors: Hinton Garrett W. , Latvakoski Harri , Taylor Michael , Clarkson Eric , Kupinski Matthew A. , Hancock Jed
Published: June 2022

This paper is part 2 of two papers that explore performing tomographic reconstructions from a space platform. A simplified model of short-wave infrared emissions in the atmosphere is given. Simulations were performed that tested the effectiveness of reconstructions given signal amplitude, frequency, signal-to-noise ratio, number of iterations run, and others. Maximum likelihood expectation maximization is shown to be effective for reconstructing low signal cases.
Green and wide acceptance angle solar concentrators
Authors: Morales-Vidal Marta , Lloret Tomás , Ramírez Manuel G. , Beléndez Augusto , Pascual Inmaculada
Published: June 2022

A low-toxicity photopolymer was employed to prepare holographic solar concentrators (HSCs). The main aim of this study is to obtain a versatile holographic element to concentrate the sunlight from different relative positions of the Sun during the day, avoiding the need of expensive tracking systems. Multiplexed holographic elements that combine symmetric and asymmetric holographic lenses of low frequency (545 l/mm) have been recorded in the same plate to concentrate the sunlight from sunrise to sunset. The holographic behavior of HSCs has been studied by measuring the angular diffraction efficiency at 633 nm (close to the maximum response of silicon cells). The efficiency of the complete system “HSC-solar cell” has been evaluated by measuring the short-circuit current (Isc) under solar illumination at different incident angles. This study overcomes the trade-off between good efficiency and high incident acceptance angle, showing an important breakthrough to obtain wide acceptance angle systems.
Transmission performance of multimode W-type microstructured polymer optical fibers
Authors: Drljača Branko , Savović Svetislav , Kovačević Milan S. , Simović Ana , Kuzmanović Ljubica , Djordjevich Alexandar , Min Rui
Published: June 2022

By solving the time-independent power flow equation (TI PFE), we study mode coupling in a multimode W-type microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) with a solid-core. The multimode W-type mPOF is created by modifying the cladding layer and reducing the core of a multimode singly clad (SC) mPOF. For such optical fiber, the angular power distributions, the length Lc at which an equilibrium mode distribution (EMD) is achieved, and the length zs for establishing a steady state distribution (SSD) are determined for various arrangements of the inner cladding’s air-holes and different launch excitations. This information is useful for the implement of multimode W-type mPOFs in telecommunications and optical fiber sensors.
Explainable detection of adverse drug reaction with imbalanced data distribution
Authors: Wang Jin , Yu Liang-Chih , Zhang Xuejie
Published: June 2022

Analysis of health-related texts can be used to detect adverse drug reactions (ADR). The greatest challenge for ADR detection lies in imbalanced data distributions where words related to ADR symptoms are often minority classes. As a result, trained models tend to converge to a point that strongly biases towards the majority class and then ignores the minority class. Since the most used cross-entropy criteria is an approximation to accuracy, the model focuses more readily on the majority class to achieve high accuracy. To address this issue, existing methods apply either oversampling or down-sampling strategies to balance the data distribution and exploit the most difficult samples of the minority class. However, increasing or reducing the number of individual tokens alone in sequence labeling tasks will result in the loss of the syntactic relations of the sentence. This paper proposes a weighted variant of conditional random field (CRF) for data-imbalanced sequence labeling tasks. Such a weighting strategy can alleviate data distribution imbalances between majority and minority classes. Instead of using softmax in the output layer, the CRF can capture the relationship of labels between tokens. The locally interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) algorithm was applied to investigate performance differences between models with and without the weighted loss function. Experimental results on two different ADR tasks show that the proposed model outperforms previously proposed sequence labeling methods.
Designing school reopening in the COVID-19 pre-vaccination period in Bogotá, Colombia: A modeling study
Authors: España Guido , Cucunubá Zulma M. , Diaz Hernando , Cavany Sean , Castañeda Nelson , Rodriguez Laura
Published: June 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people around the world. In Colombia, 1.65 million cases and 43,495 deaths were reported in 2020. Schools were closed in many places around the world to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In Bogotá, Colombia, most of the public schools were closed from March 2020 until the end of the year. School closures can exacerbate poverty, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. To reconcile these two priorities in health and fighting poverty, we estimated the impact of school reopening for in-person instruction in 2021. We used an agent-based model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission calibrated to the daily number of deaths. The model includes schools that represent private and public schools in terms of age, enrollment, location, and size. We simulated school reopening at different capacities, assuming a high level of face-mask use, and evaluated the impact on the number of deaths in the city. We also evaluated the impact of reopening schools based on grade and multidimensional poverty index. We found that school at 35% capacity, assuming face-mask adherence at 75% in>8 years of age, had a small impact on the number of deaths reported in the city during a third wave. The increase in deaths was smallest when only pre-kinder was opened, and largest when secondary school was opened. At larger capacities, the impact on the number of deaths of opening pre-kinder was below 10%. In contrast, reopening other grades above 50% capacity substantially increased the number of deaths. Reopening schools based on their multidimensional poverty index resulted in a similar impact, irrespective of the level of poverty of the schools that were reopened. The impact of schools reopening was lower for pre-kinder grades and the magnitude of additional deaths associated with school reopening can be minimized by adjusting capacity in older grades.
Prevalence of microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in low-and-middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Aikaeli Faith , Njim Tsi , Gissing Stefanie , Moyo Faith , Alam Uazman , Mfinanga Sayoki G. , Okebe Joseph , Ramaiya Kaushik , Webb Emily L. , Jaffar Shabbar , Garrib Anupam
Published: June 2022

There is an excessive burden of diabetes complications in low-resource settings. We conducted a systematic review to determine the nature and frequency of diabetes complications in newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. A systematic search was performed using Medline, CINAHL and Global Health online databases from inception to July 2020. Articles reporting prevalence of microvascular or macrovascular complications within six months of type 2 diabetes diagnosis and published in English or French from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were eligible for analysis. Data were extracted using a standardized data extraction tool. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the prevalence of micro and macrovascular complications in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Assessment of heterogeneity was conducted using the inconsistency index (I2) and Cochran-Q chi2statistical tests. Publication bias was assessed by the Funnel plot and Egger test. A total of 3 292 records underwent title or abstract screening and 95 articles underwent full text review. Thirty-three studies describing 13 283 participants (aged 20 years and older) met the inclusion criteria. The eligible studies were from Asia (n = 24), Africa (n = 4), Oceania (n = 2), South America (n = 2) and the Caribbean (n = 1). For microvascular complications, the median prevalence (interquartile range) of retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy were 12% (6%-15%), 15% (7%-35%) and 16% (10%25%) respectively. For macrovascular complications, the median prevalence (interquartile range) was 10% (7%-17%) for ischaemic heart disease, 6% (1%-20%) for peripheral arterial disease and 2% (1%-4%) for stroke. There was evidence of substantial heterogeneity between studies for all outcomes (I2> 90%. We found a high prevalence of complications in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in LMICs. Findings suggest that many people live with diabetes and are only diagnosed when they present with complications in LMICs. Research is needed to guide timely and effective identification of people living with diabetes in these settings.
Misleading graphs in context: Less misleading than expected
Authors: Driessen Jannetje E. P. , Vos Daniël A. C. , Smeets Ionica , Albers Casper J.
Published: June 2022

Misleading graphs are a source of misinformation that worry many experts. Especially people with a low graph literacy are thought to be persuaded by graphs that misrepresent the underlying data. But we know little about how people interpret misleading graphs and how these graphs influence their opinions. In this study we focus on the effect of truncating the y-axis for a line chart which exaggerates an upgoing trend. In a randomized controlled trial, we showed participants either a normal or a misleading chart, and we did so in two different contexts. After they had seen the graphs, we asked participants their opinion on the trend and to give an estimation of the increase. Finally we measured their graph literacy. Our results show that context is the only significant factor in opinion-forming; the misleading graph and graph literacy had no effect. None of these factors had a significant impact on estimations for the increase. These results show that people might be less susceptible to misleading graphs than we thought and that context has more impact than a misleading y-axis.
A closer look reveals hidden diversity in the intertidal Caribbean Fortuyniidae (Acari, Oribatida)
Authors: Pfingstl Tobias , Schäffer Sylvia , Bardel-Kahr Iris , Baumann Julia
Published: June 2022

A molecular genetic and morphometric investigation revealed the supposedly widespread Caribbean and Western Atlantic intertidal oribatid mite species Fortuynia atlantica to comprise at least two different species. Although there are no distinct morphological differences separating these taxa, COI and 18S sequence divergence data, as well as different species delimitation analyses, clearly identify the two species. Fortuynia atlantica is distributed in the northern Caribbean and the Western Atlantic and the new Fortuynia antillea sp. nov. is presently endemic to Barbados. Vicariance is supposed to be responsible for their genetic diversification and stabilizing selection caused by the extreme intertidal environment is suggested to be the reason for the found morphological stasis. The genetic structure of Fortuynia atlantica indicates that Bermudian populations are derived from the northern Caribbean and thus support the theory of dispersal by drifting on the Gulf Stream. Haplotype network data suggest that Bermudian and Bahamian populations were largely shaped by colonization, expansion and extinction events caused by dramatic sea level changes during the Pleistocene. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis based on 18S gene sequences indicates that the globally distributed genus Fortuynia may be a monophyletic group, whereas Caribbean and Western Atlantic members are distinctly separated from the Indo-Pacific and Western Pacific species.
Associations between healthcare utilization and access and diabetic retinopathy complications using All of Us nationwide survey data
Authors: Chan Alison X. , McDermott IV John J. , Lee Terrence C. , Ye Gordon Y. , Shahrvini Bita , Radha Saseendrakumar Bharanidharan , Baxter Sally L.
Published: June 2022

Purpose

Inadequacies in healthcare access and utilization substantially impact outcomes for diabetic patients. The All of Us database offers extensive survey data pertaining to social determinants that is not routinely available in electronic health records. This study assesses whether social determinants were associated with an increased risk of developing proliferative diabetic retinopathy or related complications (e.g. related diagnoses or procedures).

Methods

We identified 729 adult participants in the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program data repository with diabetic retinopathy (DR) who answered survey questions pertaining to healthcare access and utilization. Electronic health record data regarding co-morbidities, laboratory values, and procedures were extracted. Multivariable logistic regression with bi-directional stepwise variable selection was performed from a wide range of predictors. Statistical significance was defined as p<0.05.

Results

The mean (standard deviation) age of our cohort was 64.9 (11.4) years. 15.2% identified as Hispanic or Latino, 20.4% identified as Black, 60.6% identified as White, and 19.3% identified as Other. 10–20% of patients endorsed several reasons for avoiding or delaying care, including financial concerns and lack of access to transportation. Additional significant social determinants included race and religion discordance between healthcare provider and patient (odds ratio [OR] 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.41, p = 0.03) and caregiver responsibilities toward others (OR 3.14, 95% CI 1.01–9.50, p = 0.04).

Conclusions

Nationwide data demonstrate substantial barriers to healthcare access among DR patients. In addition to financial and social determinants, race and religion discordance between providers and patients may increase the likelihood of PDR and related complications.
Lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on language processing
Authors: Kleinman Daniel , Morgan Adam M. , Ostrand Rachel , Wittenberg Eva
Published: June 2022

A central question in understanding human language is how people store, access, and comprehend words. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presented a natural experiment to investigate whether language comprehension can be changed in a lasting way by external experiences. We leveraged the sudden increase in the frequency of certain words (mask, isolation, lockdown) to investigate the effects of rapid contextual changes on word comprehension, measured over 10 months within the first year of the pandemic. Using the phonemic restoration paradigm, in which listeners are presented with ambiguous auditory input and report which word they hear, we conducted four online experiments with adult participants across the United States (combined N = 899). We find that the pandemic has reshaped language processing for the long term, changing how listeners process speech and what they expect from ambiguous input. These results show that abrupt changes in linguistic exposure can cause enduring changes to the language system.
Decolorization of azo dyes by a novel aerobic bacterial strain Bacillus cereus strain ROC
Authors: Fareed Anum , Zaffar Habiba , Bilal Muhammad , Hussain Jamshaid , Jackson Colin , Naqvi Tatheer Alam
Published: June 2022

Synthetic dyes are widely used as colorant compounds in various industries for different purposes. Among all the dyestuffs, azo dyes constitute the largest and the most used class of dyes. These dyes and their intermediate products are common contaminants of ground water and soil in developing countries. Biological methods have been found to be promising for the treatment and degradation of these compounds. In the present study, we focused on the biological removal of azo dyes (Reactive orange 16 and Reactive black 5) under aerobic conditions using an indigenous bacterial strain isolated from contaminated industrial areas. The bacterial isolate was identified as Bacillus cereus strain ROC. Degradation experiments under agitation with both free and immobilized cells indicates that this strain degrades both azo- dyes in 5 days. The immobilized cells were more proficient than their free cell counterparts. The toxicity of the biotransformation products formed after decolorization were assessed by conducting bacteriotoxic and phytotoxic assays. All the toxicity assays indicate that the dyes’ degraded products were non-toxic in nature, as compared to the dyes themselves. The kinetics of the azo dyes’ degradation was also studied at various initial concentration ranges from 50 mg/L to 250 mg/L by growth independent kinetic models. Zero-order kinetics were fit to the experimental data, producing values of least squares regression (R2) greater than 0.98, which indicates that the bacterial strain degrades both dyes by co-metabolism rather than utilizing them as sole energy source. These results indicate that the Bacillus cereus ROC strain has great potential to degrade dye-contaminated water and soil.
Glucose-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles prepared by metal vapor synthesis can target GLUT1 overexpressing tumors: In vitro tests and in vivo preliminary assessment
Authors: Barbaro Daniele , Di Bari Lorenzo , Gandin Valentina , Marzano Cristina , Ciaramella Andrea , Malventi Michele , Evangelisti Claudio
Published: June 2022

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) coated with glucose (Glc-SPIONs) were prepared by a new approach called Metal Vapor Synthesis (MVS) and their morphological/structural features were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering. TEM analysis revealed the presence of small roundish crystalline iron oxide nanoparticles in the organic amorphous phase of glucose, The particles were distributed in a narrow range (1.5 nm—3.5 nm) with a mean diameter of 2.7 nm. The hydrodynamic mean diameter of the Glc-SPIONs, was 15.5 nm. From 4 mg/mL onwards, there was a constant level of positive contrast in a T1-weighted sequence. In vitro experiments were performed in three cell lines: pancreatic cancer (PSN-1), human thyroid cancer (BCPAP), and human embryonic kidney non-tumor cells. We evaluated GLUT1 expression in each cell line and demonstrated that the exposure time and concentration of the Glc-SPIONs we used did not affect cell viability. PSN-1 cells were the most effective at internalizing Glc-SPIONs. Although significantly higher than the control cells, a lower Fe content was detected BCPAP cells treated with Glc-SPIONs. To confirm the involvement of GLUT1 in Glc-SPIONs internalization, cellular uptake experiments were also conducted by pre-treating cancer cells with specific GLUT1 inhibitors, All the inhibitors reduced the cancer cell uptake of Glc-SPIONs In vivo tests were performed on mice inoculated with Lewis lung carcinoma. Mice were treated with a single i.v. injection of Glc-SPION and our results showed a great bioavailability to the malignant tissue by the i.v. administration of Glc-SPIONs. Glc-SPIONs were efficiently eliminated by the kidney. To the best of our knowledge, our study demonstrates for the first time that Glc-SPIONs prepared with MVS can be electively internalized by tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo by exploiting one of the most universal metabolic anomalies of cancer.
Patterns of health service utilisation of mothers experiencing mental health problems and intimate partner violence: Ten-year follow-up of an Australian prospective mother and child cohort
Authors: Gartland Deirdre , Hegarty Kelsey , Papadopoullos Sandra , Brown Stephanie
Published: June 2022

Objectives

Few studies have investigated health service use of mothers experiencing mental health problems or intimate partner violence (IPV). The aim of this study was to investigate health service utilisation of mothers experiencing mental health problems and intimate partner violence ten years after having a first baby.

Methods

Prospective cohort of 1507 first-time mothers recruited in Melbourne, Australia. Follow-up at ten years incorporated: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Composite Abuse Scale.

Results

At ten years postpartum, one in four mothers (26.1%) reported depressive, anxiety or posttraumatic stress symptoms, and almost one in five (19.4%) reported recent IPV. Two-fifths of mothers reporting clinically significant mental health symptoms had experienced recent IPV (Odds Ratio = 5.6, 95% CI 3.9–8.1). Less than half of mothers experiencing mental health problems at ten-year follow-up had discussed their mental health with a general practitioner and around one in three had talked to a mental health professional. Two-thirds of mothers experiencing recent IPV had not disclosed this to a general practitioner or mental health professional.

Conclusions

The findings highlight the extent to which many women deal with IPV and mental health problems without the support that primary health care and mental health care could provide and point to the need for more concerted efforts to strengthen health system responses to these frequently related issues.