bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bullying victimization among preadolescents in a community-based sample in Canada: a latent class analysis
Authors: Ashrafi Adiba , Feng Cindy Xin , Neudorf Cory , Alphonsus Khrisha B.
Published: March 2020

Objective

Bullying victimization among adolescents has been well-recognized as a behavior associated with adverse psychological and mental health outcomes. Most studies on bullying victimization have focused on adolescents, but research is sparse regarding school victimization among preadolescents before they transition to adolescence. This study sought to identify latent classes of different types of co-occurring bullying victimization, based on a sample of 3829 school students in grades 5–8, ages 9–14 in the year of 2011 from the Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Results

Using a latent class analysis approach, the results uncovered three groups of victimized students, including those who were aggressively victimized (7.2%), moderately victimized (34.6%) and non-victimized (58.2%). Younger age and being overweight was associated with a higher likelihood of bullying victimization. Moderately and aggressively victimized students had greater probabilities of feeling like an outsider, experiencing anxiety, depressed moods, engaging in suicidal ideation and drinking when compared to non-victimized students. Peer and parent supports had significant protective effects against being victimized. Given the negative consequences of recurrent victimization among the preadolescents, it is imperative to address bullying incidents as they occur to prevent repeated transgressions, especially for those who suffer from multiple types of victimization.
Temporal information extraction from mental health records to identify duration of untreated psychosis
Authors: Viani Natalia , Kam Joyce , Yin Lucia , Bittar André , Dutta Rina , Patel Rashmi , Stewart Robert , Velupillai Sumithra
Published: March 2020

Background

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is an important clinical construct in the field of mental health, as longer DUP can be associated with worse intervention outcomes. DUP estimation requires knowledge aboutwhenpsychosis symptoms first started (symptom onset), and when psychosis treatment was initiated. Electronic health records (EHRs) represent a useful resource for retrospective clinical studies on DUP, but the core information underlying this construct is most likely to lie in free text, meaning it is not readily available for clinical research. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a means to addressing this problem by automatically extracting relevant information in a structured form. As a first step, it is important to identify appropriate documents, i.e., those that are likely to include the information of interest. Next, temporal information extraction methods are needed to identify time references for early psychosis symptoms. This NLP challenge requires solving three different tasks: time expression extraction, symptom extraction, and temporal “linking”. In this study, we focus on the first step, using two relevant EHR datasets.

Results

We applied a rule-based NLP system for time expression extraction that we had previously adapted to a corpus of mental health EHRs from patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (first referrals). We extended this work by applying this NLP system to a larger set of documents and patients, to identify additional texts that would be relevant for our long-term goal, and developed a new corpus from a subset of these new texts (early intervention services). Furthermore, we added normalized value annotations (“2011–05”) to the annotated time expressions (“May 2011”) in both corpora. The finalized corpora were used for further NLP development and evaluation, with promising results (normalization accuracy 71–86%). To highlight the specificities of our annotation task, we also applied the final adapted NLP system to a different temporally annotated clinical corpus.

Conclusions

Developing domain-specific methods is crucial to address complex NLP tasks such as symptom onset extraction and retrospective calculation of duration of a preclinical syndrome. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first clinical text resource annotated for temporal entities in the mental health domain.
Children’s and adolescents’ experiences of healthcare professionals: scoping review protocol
Authors: Davison Gail , Kelly Martina Ann , Thompson Andrew , Dornan Tim
Published: March 2020

Background

Children and adolescents form a distinct patient group, whose experiences are relatively under-represented in research. Surveys have shown that healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not always communicate with them well, leaving children and adolescents under-involved and unsure who to ask when concerned. Recent qualitative studies have recognised that HCPs have a major influence on children’s and adolescents’ experiences, where poorer interactions can lead to fear, missed appointments and potentially a worse clinical outcome.

Little is known about how children and adolescents experience the HCPs who play such an integral role in their healthcare. This review aims to explore children’s and adolescents’ lived experience of HCPs, so that a deeper understanding of the interactions between them can equip HCPs to provide care that better aligns with patients’ needs.

Method

This study will use scoping review methodology to map the existing published literature comprehensively and systematically, following a six-step framework. It will extract children’s and adolescents’ experiences, in the form of direct quotations, and thematically analyse them. The consultation exercise with children and adolescents will gather additional insights. Findings will consist of descriptions of each theme along with exemplar quotations and consultation comments.

Discussion

This scoping review is unique, as it will present children’s and adolescents’ lived experiences of HCPs, from synthesis of their direct quotations. Findings will assist HCPs to tailor their interpersonal skills to meet patients’ needs so that better healthcare can be provided. This study will have implications for clinical educators, policy makers and guideline developers and provide suggestions for further research.

Systematic review registration

Not registered
Precarious employment and migrant workers’ mental health: a protocol for a systematic review of observational studies
Authors: Ornek Ozlem Koseoglu , Weinmann Tobias , Waibel Julia , Radon Katja
Published: March 2020

Background

Precarious employment has become an urgent public health issue at a global scale with potential consequences for quality of life and health of employees, especially in vulnerable groups such as migrants. The primary aim of this systematic review is thus to analyze and summarize existing research on the association between precarious employment and migrant workers’ mental health.

Methods

We will search PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science (from January 1970 onwards) for original articles on observational studies (e.g., cohort, case-control and cross-sectional, and qualitative) published in English, German, Turkish, and Spanish. The primary outcome will be depression and anxiety disorders. Secondary outcomes will be burnout, sleeping problems, and occupational stress. Two reviewers will independently screen all citations, full-text articles, and abstract data. Potential conflicts will be resolved through discussion. The methodological quality (or risk of bias) of individual studies will be appraised using an appropriate tool. A narrative synthesis will summarize and explain the characteristics and findings of the studies. If feasible, we will conduct random effects meta-analyses where appropriate.

Discussion

This systematic review will analyze the ways in which precarious employment affects migrant workers’ mental health and the process that underlies this relationship. The results from the systematic review outlined in this protocol will be of interest to labor and health professionals, policy makers, labor unions, and non-governmental organizations. Our findings may encourage and impel related policy makers to establish human-focused, safe and healthy work environments, and workplace conditions.

Systematic review registration

PROSPERO,CRD42019132560
Retraction Note: Matsaev type inequalities on smooth cones
Authors: Pang Sheng , Ychussie Beatriz
Published: March 2020

The Editors-in-Chief have retracted this article [1] because it significantly overlaps with a previously published article [2]. In addition, the identity of the corresponding author could not be verified: Roskilde University have confirmed that Beatriz Ychussie has not been affiliated with their institution. The authors have not responded to correspondence regarding this retraction.
On a Schrödinger–Poisson system with singularity and critical nonlinearities
Authors: Cai Zhipeng , Lei Chunyu , Chu Changmu
Published: March 2020

In this paper, we study the Schrödinger–Poisson system with singularity and critical growth terms. By means of variational methods with an appropriate truncation argument, the existence and multiplicity of positive solutions are obtained.
Hyperinsulinism associated with GLUD1 mutation: allosteric regulation and functional characterization of p.G446V glutamate dehydrogenase
Authors: Luczkowska Karolina , Stekelenburg Caroline , Sloan-Béna Frédérique , Ranza Emmanuelle , Gastaldi Giacomo , Schwitzgebel Valérie , Maechler Pierre
Published: March 2020

Background

Gain-of-function mutations in the GLUD1 gene, encoding for glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), result in the hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia HI/HA syndrome. HI/HA patients present with harmful hypoglycemia secondary to protein-induced HI and elevated plasma ammonia levels. These symptoms may be accompanied by seizures and mental retardation. GDH is a mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of glutamate to α-ketoglutarate, under allosteric regulations mediated by its inhibitor GTP and its activator ADP. The present study investigated the functional properties of the GDH-G446V variant (alias c.1496G > T, p.(Gly499Val) (NM_005271.4)) in patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells.

Results

The calculated energy barrier between the opened and closed state of the enzyme was 41% lower in GDH-G446V compared to wild-type GDH, pointing to altered allosteric regulation. Computational analysis indicated conformational changes of GDH-G446V in the antenna region that is crucial for allosteric regulators. Enzymatic activity measured in patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells showed impaired allosteric responses of GDH-G446V to both regulators GTP and ADP. In particular, as opposed to control lymphoblastoid cells, GDH-G446V cells were not responsive to GTP in the lower range of ADP concentrations. Assessment of the metabolic rate revealed higher mitochondrial respiration in response to GDH-dependent substrates in the GDH-G446V lymphoblastoid cells compared to control cells. This indicates a shift toward glutaminolysis for energy provision in cells carrying the GDH-G446V variant.

Conclusions

Substitution of the small amino acid glycine for the hydrophobic branched-chain valine altered the allosteric sensitivity to both inhibitory action of GTP and activation by ADP, rendering cells metabolically responsive to glutamine.
Enhancement of chondrogenic differentiation supplemented by a novel small compound for chondrocyte-based tissue engineering
Authors: Hamamoto Shuichi , Chijimatsu Ryota , Shimomura Kazunori , Kobayashi Masato , Jacob George , Yano Fumiko , Saito Taku , Chung Ung-il , Tanaka Sakae , Nakamura Norimasa
Published: March 2020

Purpose

Chondrocyte -based tissue engineering has been a promising option for the treatment of cartilage lesions. In previous literature, TD198946 has been shown to promote chondrogenic differentiation which could prove useful in cartilage regeneration therapies. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of TD198946 in generating engineered cartilage using dedifferentiated chondrocyte-seeded collagen scaffolds treated with TD198946.

Methods

Articular chondrocytes were isolated from mini pig knees and expanded in 2-dimensional cell culture and subsequently used in the experiments. 3-D pellets were then cultured for two weeks. Cells were also cultured in a type I collagen scaffolds for four weeks. Specimens were cultured with TD198946, BMP-2, or both in combination. Outcomes were determined by gene expression levels of RUNX1, SOX9, ACAN, COL1A1, COL2A1 and COL10A1, the glycosaminoglycan content, and characteristics of histology and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the maturity of the engineered cartilage cultured for two weeks was evaluated through subcutaneous implantation in nude mice for four weeks.

Results

Addition of TD198946 demonstrated the upregulation of gene expression level except for ACAN, type II collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis in both pellet and 3D scaffold cultures. TD198946 and BMP-2 combination cultures showed higher chondrogenic differentiation than TD198946 or BMP-2 alone. The engineered cartilage maintained its extracellular matrices for four weeks post implantation. In contrast, engineered cartilage treated with either TD198946 or BMP-2 alone was mostly absorbed.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that TD198946 could improve quality of engineered cartilage by redifferentiation of dedifferentiated chondrocytes pre-implantation and promoting collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis.
Modeling bikaverin production by Fusarium oxysporum CCT7620 in shake flask cultures
Authors: Santos Marcela Colombo dos , Mendonça Mayra de Lima , Bicas Juliano Lemos
Published: March 2020

Bikaverin is a fungal red pigment that presents antimicrobial and antitumor activities. Therefore, this substance could be used as an alternative additive in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The aim of this work was to use response surface methodology to optimize the fermentation conditions and maximize the production of bikaverin in shake flasks. The variables investigated were agitation speed (71–289 rpm), temperature (21–35 °C), and substrate (rice) concentration in the culture medium (16.4–83.6 g/L). The agitation speed had a positive effect on red pigment production, while substrate concentration and temperature had the opposite effect. Maximum bikaverin production was predicted to occur using 289 rpm, 24.3 °C, and 16.4 g/L rice concentration. Experimental validation using 289 rpm, 28 °C, and 20 g/L rice concentration was 6.2% higher than predicted by the model. The present investigation was important for defining the best conditions for the production of bikaverin.
Foraging habitat selection of overwintering Black-necked Cranes in the farming area surrounding the Caohai Wetland, Guizhou Province, China
Authors: Wu Dawei , Hu Canshi , Zhang Mingming , Li Zhumei , Su Haijun
Published: March 2020

Background

Understanding how overwintering birds choose foraging habitats is very important for conservation management. The overwintering Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) feeds on crop remains in farmlands; thus, reasonable conservation management of this type of farmland that surrounds wetlands is critical for the overwintering populations of the Black-necked Crane; however, it is not clear how the Black-necked Crane chooses the foraging land in the farmland.

Methods

A thorough field positioning survey of all foraging sites in farmland areas around the Caohai Wetland and a sampling analysis of habitat selection by the Black-necked Crane were conducted during the winters from 2016‒2017 and 2017‒2018.

Results

Multiple factors contributed to the selection of foraging habitat in farmlands, i.e., food factors (crop remains and tillage methods) > human disturbance factors (distance to road and settlement) > topography factors (slope aspect), listed according to the strength of influence. Additionally, Black-necked Cranes tend to choose farmland sites where there was no machine tillage, the crop remains were > 500 g/m2, the distance to residences ranged from 100 to 500 m, the distance to roads ranged from 50 to 100 m, and the slopes exhibited western or eastern aspects. As the winters progressed, the volume of the edible crop remains declined, and the influences of the other main factors also changed, i.e., the factors of human disturbance (distance to road and settlement) became less important, while the effect of the food factor (crop remains) was strengthened. Thus, the foraging sites near the road became more important.

Conclusion

The farming area surrounding the Caohai Wetland is very important for the overwintering Black-necked Crane. Food factors and human disturbance factors are the main factors that influence the choice of feeding ground.
A randomised feasibility study assessing an intervention to keep adults physically active after falls management exercise programmes end
Authors: Audsley Sarah , Kendrick Denise , Logan Pip , Jones Matthew , Orton Elizabeth
Published: March 2020

Background

Physical inactivity contributes to disability and falls in older adults. Falls prevention exercise (FaME) programmes improve physical activity and physical function and reduce falling rates. Improvements in physical function are reduced, and falls rates increase, if physical activity is not maintained. This research investigated the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention that aimed to maintain physical activity in older adults exiting FaME.

Methods

The Keeping Adults Physically Active (KAPA) intervention comprised of six group sessions of motivational interviewing, delivered monthly by trained and mentor-supported postural stability instructor’s after the FaME programme ceased. The KAPA intervention included participant manuals, illustrated exercise books, physical activity diaries and pedometers. A feasibility study was conducted in 8 FaME classes. The study design was a two-arm, cluster randomised, multi-site feasibility study comparing the KAPA intervention with usual care. A sample of 50 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years old or older were recruited. Recruitment, retention and attendance rates, self-reported physical activity and participant interviews were used to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the KAPA intervention.

Results

Fifty of the sixty-seven (74.6%) participants invited into the study agreed to take part, 94.2% of the available KAPA sessions were attended and 92.3% of the recruited participants provided outcome data. The KAPA participants expressed positive views about the venues and postural stability instructors and reported enjoying the group interactions. Intervention participants discussed increasing their physical activity in response to the peer-support, illustrated home exercise booklet, physical activity diaries and pedometers. Most discussed the written tasks to be the least enjoyable element of the KAPA intervention. The proportion of participants reporting at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week rose from 56.3 to 62.5% in the intervention arm and from 41.4 to 52.0% in the usual care arm.

Conclusions

The participants found the KAPA intervention acceptable. Participants reported the exercise booklet, peer support and the physical activity monitoring tools encouraged them to keep active. A full-scale trial is needed to assess whether physical activity can be significantly maintained in response to the KAPA intervention.

Trial registration

Retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03824015).
Nitrobenzene-induced hormonal disruption, alteration of steroidogenic pathway, and oxidative damage in rat: protective effects of Vernonia amygdalina
Authors: Oladele Johnson O. , Oyeleke Oyedotun M. , Oladele Oluwaseun T. , Babatope Oluwafeyisayo D. , Awosanya Olaide O.
Published: March 2020

Background

Infertility is a global health burden which affect more than 15% of couples’ population. An impaired hormonal balance, oxidative stress and alteration in the physiological function of the reproductive organ are factors leading to infertility. The present study investigated the protective role of methanolic leaf extract of Vernonia amygdalina (MLVA) against Nitrobenzene-induced oxidative testicular damage and hormonal imbalance in rats. Thirty sexually active male wistar rats were sorted into five groups, each group containing six rats. Group I received distilled water while 100 mg/kg bw of Nitrobenzene was administered to groups (II, III, IV and V) to induce testicular damage and hormonal imbalance. Group III and IV were treated with oral administration of 200 mg/kg bw and 400 mg/kg bw of MLVA respectively and group V with vitamin E for 14 days.

Results

Nitrobenzene-treated rats showed significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the body weight gain, testis and epididymis weights. However, upon administration of MLVA or vitamin E, these changes were significantly reversed in Nitrobenzene-treated rats. Also, Nitrobenzene significantly (P˂0.05) induced endocrine disruption as shown by decreased activities level of serum Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin, testosterone, triiodothyronine (T3), and tetraiodothyronine (T4). Administration of Nitrobenzene also induced oxidative damage as shown by increased level of testicular lipid peroxidation (MDA), and decreased levels of glutathione (GSH). Histological studies of the testes revealed mild congestion of interstitial vessels and oedema in rats administered Nitrobenzene only.

Conclusion

Taken together, MLVA obliterated the adverse effects of Nitrobenzene on the antioxidant enzymes, markers of testicular oxidative damage, endocrine and testicular structure in rats.
Quantitative Assessment of the Effects of Compression on Deep Learning in Digital Pathology Image Analysis
Authors: Chen Yijiang , Janowczyk Andrew , Madabhushi Anant
Published: March 2020

PURPOSE

Deep learning (DL), a class of approaches involving self-learned discriminative features, is increasingly being applied to digital pathology (DP) images for tasks such as disease identification and segmentation of tissue primitives (eg, nuclei, glands, lymphocytes). One application of DP is in telepathology, which involves digitally transmitting DP slides over the Internet for secondary diagnosis by an expert at a remote location. Unfortunately, the places benefiting most from telepathology often have poor Internet quality, resulting in prohibitive transmission times of DP images. Image compression may help, but the degree to which image compression affects performance of DL algorithms has been largely unexplored.

METHODS

We investigated the effects of image compression on the performance of DL strategies in the context of 3 representative use cases involving segmentation of nuclei (n = 137), segmentation of lymph node metastasis (n = 380), and lymphocyte detection (n = 100). For each use case, test images at various levels of compression (JPEG compression quality score ranging from 1-100 and JPEG2000 compression peak signal-to-noise ratio ranging from 18-100 dB) were evaluated by a DL classifier. Performance metrics including F1 score and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were computed at the various compression levels.

RESULTS

Our results suggest that DP images can be compressed by 85% while still maintaining the performance of the DL algorithms at 95% of what is achievable without any compression. Interestingly, the maximum compression level sustainable by DL algorithms is similar to where pathologists also reported difficulties in providing accurate interpretations.

CONCLUSION

Our findings seem to suggest that in low-resource settings, DP images can be significantly compressed before transmission for DL-based telepathology applications.
5′ tRNA halves are highly expressed in the primate hippocampus and might sequence-specifically regulate gene expression
Authors: Jehn Julia , Treml Jana , Wulsch Svenja , Ottum Benjamin , Erb Verena , Hewel Charlotte , Kooijmans Roxana N. , Wester Laura , Fast Isabel , Rosenkranz David
Published: March 2020

Fragments of mature tRNAs have long been considered as mere degradation products without physiological function. However, recent reports show that tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) play prominent roles in diverse cellular processes across a wide spectrum of species. Contrasting the situation in other small RNA pathways the mechanisms behind these effects appear more diverse, more complex, and are generally less well understood. In addition, surprisingly little is known about the expression profiles of tsRNAs across different tissues and species. Here, we provide an initial overview of tsRNA expression in different species and tissues, revealing very high levels of 5′ tRNA halves (5′ tRHs) particularly in the primate hippocampus. We further modulated the regulation capacity of selected 5′ tRHs in human cells by transfecting synthetic tsRNA mimics (“overexpression”) or antisense-RNAs (“inhibition”) and identified differentially expressed transcripts based on RNA-seq. We then used a novel k-mer mapping approach to dissect the underlying targeting rules, suggesting that 5′ tRHs silence genes in a sequence-specific manner, while the most efficient target sites align to the mid-region of the 5′ tRH and are located within the CDS or 3′ UTR of the target. This amends previous observations that tsRNAs guide Argonaute proteins to silence their targets via a miRNA-like 5′ seed match and suggests a yet unknown mechanism of regulation. Finally, our data suggest that some 5′ tRHs that are also able to sequence-specifically stabilize mRNAs as up-regulated mRNAs are also significantly enriched for 5′ tRH target sites.
Activating spatial inequality: the case of the UK Work Programme
Authors: Whitworth Adam
Published: March 2020

International evidence finds consistent equity concerns in quasi-marketised activation policies in terms of systematically worse experiences and outcomes for service users with greater support needs. However, equivalent risks around spatial inequalities are neglected within policy debates and empirical analyses. This article responds to that ongoing geographical gap through rich spatial analysis of the UK’s Work Programme, a vanguard experiment in aggressively quasi-marketised employment activation policy. Findings show consistent evidence for spatial inequalities in outcomes patterned according to local economic deprivation, with more deprived local authorities losing out on millions of pounds compared to the per capita resourcing in wealthier areas.
Multifunctional laser speckle imaging
Authors: Du E. , Shen Shuhao , Chong Shau Poh , Chen Nanguang
Published: March 2020

We have developed a multi-functional laser speckle imaging system, which can be operated in both the surface illumination laser speckle contrast imaging (SI-LSCI) mode and the line scan laser speckle contrast imaging (LS-LSCI) mode. The system has been applied to imaging the chicken embryos to visualize both the blood flow and morphological details of the vasculature. The experimental results demonstrated that LS-LSCI is capable of detecting and quantifying blood flow in blood vessels smaller and deeper than those detectable by conventional SI-LSCI. Furthermore, the line scan mode is also capable of producing depth-resolved absorption-based morphological images of tissue, augmenting flow-based functional images.
Space-variant point spread function measurement and interpolation at any depth based on single-pixel imaging
Authors: Jiang Hongzhi , Wang Yu , Li Xudong , Zhao Huijie , Li Yuxi
Published: March 2020

Point spread function (PSF) is important for evaluating an optical system and image deblurring. In this paper, we proposed a method to measure space-variant PSF at any depth based on single-pixel imaging (SPI), and we initiated a depth-variant PSF interpolation model. In our method, we regarded space-variant PSF as light transport coefficients from object points to image pixels. By applying SPI to each image pixel to obtain these light transport coefficients at different depths, the PSF of each object point can be extracted. The depth calculation of PSF is based on multi-frequency heterodyne phase-shifting principles and perspective-n-point (PnP) algorithm. In our PSF interpolation model, we interpolated the light transport coefficients from different object points to an image pixel first. We then obtained the interpolated PSF indirectly from the interpolated coefficients. With simple experimental facilities containing a digital camera and a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen to display and capture specific patterns, which relative distance is changed, the proposed method accurately obtained the space-variant PSF at any depth. Without complicated calculation, PSF at a certain depth can be interpolated from the PSF measured data at another depth with our PSF interpolation method. Significant similarities exist between the interpolated PSF and directly measured PSF. Our work is a successful attempt in using SPI to solve traditional optical problems.
Dynamic 3-D measurement based on fringe-to-fringe transformation using deep learning
Authors: Yu Haotian , Chen Xiaoyu , Zhang Zhao , Zuo Chao , Zhang Yi , Zheng Dongliang , Han Jing
Published: March 2020

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) has become increasingly important in dynamic 3-D shape measurement. In FPP, it is necessary to retrieve the phase of the measured object before shape profiling. However, traditional phase retrieval techniques often require a large number of fringes, which may generate motion-induced error for dynamic objects. In this paper, a novel phase retrieval technique based on deep learning is proposed, which uses an end-to-end deep convolution neural network to transform a single or two fringes into the phase retrieval required fringes. When the object’s surface is located in a restricted depth, the presented network only requires a single fringe as the input, which otherwise requires two fringes in an unrestricted depth. The proposed phase retrieval technique is first theoretically analyzed, and then numerically and experimentally verified on its applicability for dynamic 3-D measurement.
Multicolor concentric annular ultrafast vector beams
Authors: Huang Shunlin , Wang Peng , Shen Xiong , Liu Jun
Published: March 2020

Novel multicolor concentric annular ultrafast vector beams (MUCAU-VB) are firstly generated simply by using cascaded four-wave mixing (CFWM) in a glass plate pumped by two intense vector femtosecond pulses. A proof-of-principle experiment shows that up to 10 frequency up-conversion concentric annular radially polarized sidebands are obtained simultaneously based on CFWM process, where the spectra range of the first 7 order sidebands extending from 545 nm to 725 nm. The results prove the polarization transfer property from the pump beam to the signal beams even in the CFWM, a third-order optical parametric process. The pulse duration of the first order sideband is measured to be 74 fs which is according with those of two input beams. These novel MUCAU-VB, which are manipulated in temporal, spectral, spatial domain and polarization state simultaneously, are expected to apply in wide fields, such as manipulating particles and multicolor pump-probe experiments.
Insurgent citizenship: Youth, political activism and citizen cinema in post-2011 Morocco
Authors: Bahmad Jamal
Published: March 2020

The uprisings that swept across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 brought to world attention the revolutionary potential of youth in the face of social injustice and political repression. This article explores how the so-called Arab Spring foregrounded Moroccan youth's alternative conceptions of citizenship and being young in the MENA region today. Using the emergence of citizen cinema as a case study, I will examine the subjective politics of Moroccan youth's alternative to dominant political and social authority. Made, self-produced and distributed online free of charge by a young and self-avowed citizen filmmaker, Nadir Bouhmouch's debut documentary does not pretend to offer an objective account of Morocco's so-called Arab Spring. Instead, the filmmaker focuses on relating his own personal story as a young upper-class Moroccan student in San Diego, who returned to the country in the summer of 2011 armed with a camera as his weapon in the February 20 Movement's battle for democratic citizenship and social justice in Morocco. In this article, I will show how the subjective point of view structuring this documentary offers a unique perspective not only on Morocco's Arab Spring but also on the impossibility of representing citizenship objectively on the documentary camera. The article ultimately argues that because the personal is always already political in North African documentary filmmaking since 2011, the subjective point of view allows for the emergence of the insurgent citizenship of the region's youth.
Tunisians in motion: Performing and narrating the (non-)political in Leyla Bouzid's As I Open My Eyes
Authors: Strohmaier Alena
Published: March 2020

The film À peine j'ouvre les yeux () by Leyla Bouzid condenses performance and narration to create a space alternating between normative discourses prescribed by ruling elites on the one hand and the subjectivity of human agency on the other. Recent developments in the Maghreb have noted that issues previously attributed to the private realm, the cultural or social sphere are being politicized and thus become the focus of public controversy. Following postcolonial, cultural studies and space-theoretical concepts, the epistemological interest of this article is linked to a flexible, media-theoretical notion of the political, so as to discuss specific forms of social/private spheres and discourses of knowledge production in a critical analysis with questions about individual/collective agencies based on examples in the film itself.
Feeling the field: Reflections on embodiment within improvised dance ethnography
Authors: Martin Rose
Published: March 2020

This article shares methodological meanderings that sit at the intersection of embodiment and improvised dance ethnography. Comprised of a series of personal reflections on fieldwork, the query of ‘how does ethnography feel for the researcher?' is explored. While questions pertaining to feelings researchers encounter in the field have been probed with some depth in existing literature, these are not always connected to how the feelings of the researcher are embodied at a somatic level. Through sharing two narratives of challenging moments I have confronted in fieldwork, ideas around notions of embodiment, performing and fear, and violence and vulnerability are illuminated. Through unpacking how improvisational ethnography plays out from an embodied place, from my lived experiences as a dance researcher, there is the potential for fostering a more fully developed somatic understanding of ethnographic dance research as a practice.
Lowering blood sugar levels with kersen leaf stew (muntingia calabura l) and black onion (alium sativum) extract in mice (mus musculus)
Authors: Sumarliyah Eni , Nasrullah Dede , . Sukadiono , Pankyano Desta
Published: March 2020

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by an increase in blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels in patients with DM are mostly challenging to control, and this will threaten the occurrence of complications. Alternative therapies used are active flavonoids in reducing blood glucose. The purpose of this study was to analyze the decrease in blood sugar levels by administering cherry leaves stew and black onions to mice (mus musculus). The design of this study was the Quasy Experimental design (pretest-posttest with control group design). The sample in this study was 32 mice, 16 in the intervention group, and 16 comparison groups. There are independent variables (Kersen Leaf Stew and Black Onion Extract) and the dependent variable (Blood Glucose Level). The data were collected using an observation sheet, then analyzed using the independent sample T-test and Kolmogorov Smirnov test. The results of this study showed that the pre and post administration of cherry leaf decoction was 36.5 mg/dl, and the difference between pre and post administration of black onion extract was 24.3 mg/dl. While the analysis showed p = value 0.98, it showed no difference in the effectiveness of the two extracts in reducing blood sugar levels in mice. Obtained comparative test results from the two extracts were equally effective in lowering blood sugar in mice. Thus further research needs to be done with more samples.Â Â
A PERSPECTIVE ON SEAWATER/FRP REINFORCEMENT IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES
Authors: Younis Adel , Ebead Usama , Nanni Antonio
Published: March 2020

Predictions show that more than half of the world population will lack sufficient freshwater by 2025. Yet, the construction industry uses a considerable amount of freshwater to produce concrete. To save resources of fresh water, using seawater seems to be a valid potential alternative that can replace freshwater for mixing concrete. This paper presents a short review performed on existing literature related to the usage of seawater in concrete structures. As a summary of the work presented: (a) It is noticeable that the current literature, generally, reports little or no negative effect of seawater on the characteristics of plain concrete, both in the short and in the long term; (b) steel corrosion caused by the presence of chloride appears to be the sole reason for not accepting the use of seawater in concrete preparation; (c) Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) is discussed as a promising alternative to steel for seawater-concrete reinforcement, owing to their light weight, high tensile strength, and adequate corrosion resistance; and (d) A future outlook for using seawater accompanied by FRP reinforcement in concrete structures is discussed in terms of achieving sustainability goals.
Does a change in quality control results influence the sensitivity of an anti-HCV test?
Authors: Dimech Wayne J. , Vincini Giuseppe A. , Cabuang Liza M. , Wieringa Megan
Published: March 2020

Background

Laboratories use quality control (QC) testing to monitor the extent of normal variation. Assay lot number changes contribute the greatest amount of variation in infectious disease serology testing. An unexpected change in six lots of an anti-HCV assay allowed the determination of the effect these lot changes made to the assay’s clinical sensitivity.

Methods

Two sets of seroconversion samples comprising of 44 individual samples and 9 external quality assessment scheme (EQAS) samples, all positive to anti-HCV, were tested in affected and unaffected assay lots, and the difference in the quantitative and qualitative results of the samples was analyzed.

Results

Of 44 low-positive seroconversion samples tested in affected and unaffected assay lots, only three samples had results reported below the assay cutoff when tested on two of the six affected assay lot. A further sample had results below the cutoff for only one affected lot. None of the EQAS samples reported false-negative results. Samples having a signal to cutoff value of less than 6.0 generally had lower results in the affected lots compared with the unaffected lots.

Conclusions

Unexpected changes in QC reactivity related to variation, in particular assay lot changes, may affect patient results. This study demonstrated that QConnect Limits facilitated the detection of an unexpectedly large variation in QC test results, allowed for the identification of the root cause of the change, and showed that the risk associated with the change was low but credible. The use of evidence-based QC program is essential to detect changes in test systems.
Full-Scale CFD Modeling of Multiphase Flow Distribution in a Packed-bed Absorber with Structured Packing Mellapak 250Y
Authors: Basha Omar M. , Wang Rui , Gamwo Isaac K. , Siefert Nicholas S. , Morsi Badie I.
Published: March 2020

A full-scale multi-environment Eulerian CFD model for a countercurrent packed-bed absorber with structured packing Mellapak 250Y was built in ANSYS Fluent 2019 R1 in order to model CO2capture using physical solvents. The objective of the model is to predict the overall absorber gas-liquid internal flow profiles within the complex packing geometry, while accurately predicting the hydrodynamic parameters, such as liquid holdup and pressure drop. The gas-solid and gas-liquid drag coefficients were fitted and validated using the following experimental data by Green et al. (2006. “Hydraulic Characterization of Structured Packing via X-ray Computed Tomography”; 2007. “Novel Application of X-ray Computed Tomography: Determination of Gas/liquid Contact Area and Liquid Holdup in Structured Packing.”Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research46: 5734–53.): dry pressure drop, irrigated pressure drop, and liquid holdup. The validated CFD model was used to study the effect of liquid distributor design on the liquid distribution in the absorber using three distributors provided with seven, thirteen, and twenty orifices of 0.2 mm diameter. The CFD model predictions revealed that the distributor with the largest number of orifices resulted in the least liquid maldistribution in the absorber, which led to increasing the overall CO2absorption efficiency in Selexol as a physical solvent. Also, the overall CO2absorption efficiency decreased with increasing the superficial liquid velocity due to the shorter contact times between CO2and Selexol in the absorber at higher superficial liquid velocities.
Large-scale graph generation: Recent results of the SPP 1736 – Part II
Authors: Meyer Ulrich , Penschuck Manuel
Published: March 2020

The selection of input data is a crucial step in virtually every empirical study. Experimental campaigns in algorithm engineering, experimental algorithmics, network analysis, and many other fields often require suited network data. In this context, synthetic graphs play an important role, as data sets of observed networks are typically scarce, biased, not sufficiently understood, and may pose logistic and legal challenges. Just like processing huge graphs becomes challenging in the big data setting, new algorithmic approaches are necessary to generate such massive instances efficiently. Here, we update our previous survey [35] on results for large-scale graph generation obtained within the DFG priority programme SPP 1736 (Algorithms for Big Data); to this end, we broaden the scope and include recently published results.
Economic Implications of Protecting Regional Reputations
Authors: Winfree Jason A. , McCluskey Jill J.
Published: March 2020

This article develops a theoretical model to analyze how policies such as regional labeling, geographic indications, and quality standards affect welfare when firms have a collective reputation corresponding to a region. The tradeoff is between consumer information and protection of the regional names against the effect of supply restriction, which is often considered to be collusive behavior. Regional labeling is found to increase quality for all firms and increases profits for firms in the high-quality producing region, although the effect on profits for firms in the low-quality producing region is ambiguous. Quality standards may also increase quality and profits in all regions, but can also be used as a way to restrict imports if standards are too high. Quotas can also alleviate the collective information problem and increase profits, but does so at the expense of consumers. We argue that clear labeling and achievable standards are preferable to import quotas due to consumer surplus.
Velocity Slip and Entropy Generation Phenomena in Thermal Transport Through Metallic Porous Channel
Authors: Turkyilmazoglu Mustafa
Published: March 2020

Momentum and thermal transport through open-celled metallic foams filled in a channel of small height is studied in the present technical brief. Fully developed momentum and thermal layers via the Brinkman–Darcy model enable us to obtain closed-form solutions regarding the fluid velocity and temperature distributions of metal and fluid, all depending upon a factor related to the wall slip velocity. A comparative study on the pertinent physical parameters helps us conclude that the wall slip cools the porous channel, enhancing the rate of heat transfer. In addition to this, increasing pore density leads to an effective reduction in the entropy generation number, followed by further reduction with the nonzero slip velocity, except the near-wall regions.
Sensing of Illegal Drugs by Using Photonic Crystal Fiber in Terahertz Regime
Authors: Tahhan Shaymaa Riyadh , Aljobouri Hadeel K.
Published: March 2020

Stimulant abuse enhances dopamine release, thereby causing increased excitation. Any extent of stimulant abuse can considerably harm the user. Thus, methods of detecting stimulants must be precise, accurate, and reliable. A novel terahertz (THz) photonic crystal fiber with a Topas substrate is designed and rigorously investigated for detecting liquid amphetamine, cocaine, and ketamine. The fiber structure has a pentagonal shape and comprises circular air holes in the core and cladding spatial extents. As shown in finite element simulation, the proposed fiber yields a high relative sensitivity of approximately 80 % when any of the liquid stimulants is infiltrated in the core air holes. At 1 THz operating frequency, the proposed fiber produces a large effective mode area, negligible confinement loss, and extremely low bending and effective material losses. Other THz waveguiding properties, such as core power fraction and total loss, are also studied. Lastly, a positive and negative 2 % fabrication tolerance is set to ensure seamless potential practical realization of the fiber.
Challenges in the management of an ignored cause of hyperammonemic encephalopathy: pyruvate carboxylase deficiency
Authors: Demir Köse Melis , Colak Ruya , Yangin Ergon Ezgi , Kulali Ferit , Yildiz Meral , Alkan Senem , Atilgan Taner , Aslan Fatma , Brown Ruth , Brown Garry , Serdaroğlu Erkin , Çalkavur Sebnem
Published: March 2020

Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disease and provides clinics in three essential phenotypes. Type B PC deficiency is characterized by lactic acidosis and hyperammonemia. We report a Turkish patient who was diagnosed with type B PC deficiency. Despite the application of anaplerotic treatment with biotin, citrate and arginine-aspartate, continuous veno-venous hemodialysis (CVVHD) treatments were applied due to the failure to keep hyperammonemia and lactic acidosis under control. Ammonia values increasing to 860 μmol/L were observed. A homozygous novel variant was detected in PC gene analyses containing a 12-base pair deletion on exon 8. Although the mutation found was not reported previously, it was accepted as a pathogenic variant due to its presence in a functional region of the protein. In type B PC deficiency, although a high level of ammonia is expected, it rarely exceeds 200 μmol/L. As far as we know, the present case has the highest ammonia values in the literature. This paper has been shared to highlight to keep PC deficiency in mind regarding the differential diagnosis of hyperammonemia, particularly in the presence of lactic acidosis, and to serve as a model for the use of different modalities in the management process of PC deficiency.