bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chronic breathlessness and sleep problems: a population-based survey
Authors: Currow David C , Chang Sungwon , Ferreira Diana , Eckert Danny J , Gonzalez-Chica David , Stocks Nigel , Ekström Magnus Per
Published: August 2021

Objectives

This study aimed to explore the relationship (presence and severity) between chronic breathlessness and sleep problems, independently of diagnoses and health service contact by surveying a large, representative sample of the general population.

Setting

Analysis of the 2017 South Australian Health Omnibus Survey, an annual, cross-sectional, face-to-face, multistage, clustered area systematic sampling survey carried out in Spring 2017.

Chronic breathlessness was self-reported using the ordinal modified Medical Research Council (mMRC; scores 0 (none) to 4 (housebound)) where breathlessness has been present for more than 3 of the previous 6 months. ‘Sleep problems—ever’ and ‘sleep problem—current’ were assessed dichotomously. Regression models were adjusted for age; sex and body mass index (BMI).

Results

2900 responses were available (mean age 48.2 years (SD=18.6); 51% were female; mean BMI 27. 1 (SD=5.9)). Prevalence was: 2.7% (n=78) sleep problems—past; 6.8% (n=198) sleep problems—current and breathlessness (mMRC 1–4) was 8.8% (n=254). Respondents with sleep problemspast were more likely to be breathless, older with a higher BMI and sleep problems—present also included a higher likelihood of being female.

After adjusting for age, sex and BMI, respondents with chronic breathlessness had 1.9 (95% CI=1.0 to 3.5) times the odds of sleep problems—past and sleep problems—current (adjusted OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.6 to 3.3).

Conclusions

There is a strong association between the two prevalent conditions. Future work will seek to understand if there is a causal relationship using validated sleep assessment tools and whether better managing one condition improves the other.
Utilisation of district health information system and its associated factors among health professionals working at public health facilities of the southwest of Ethiopia: cross-sectional survey
Authors: Kanfe Shuma Gosha , Debele Gebiso Roba , Berhanu Robera Demissie , Ngusie Habtamu Setegn , Ahmed Mohammedjud Hassen
Published: August 2021

Objectives

To assess utilisation of district health information system and its associated factors among health professionals in the southwest of Ethiopia, 2020.

Setting

Public health facilities in the southwest of Ethiopia.

Participants

A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 260 participants.

Main outcome measures

The main outcome measure was utilisation of the district health information system.

Results

Overall, 149 (57.3%) of study participants had good utilisation of district health information systems (95% CI 50 to 64.2). Sufficient skills (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 3.83, 95% CI 1.92 to 7.64), being trained (AOR 3.90, 95% CI 1.95 to 7.79), high motivation (AOR 3.93, 95% CI 1.99 to 7.76), feedback provided (AOR 2.93, 95% CI 1.53 to 5.77) and regular supervision (AOR 3.06, 95% CI 1.56 to 6.01) were associated with utilisation of district health information systems.

Conclusions

In general, more than half of the respondents had good utilisation of district health information systems. Providing regular supportive supervision and feedback, having good skills on district health information system use, high motivation and being trained on district health information system will help to bring good utilisation of district health information system for decision making.
A phase 3 randomised study of enzalutamide plus leuprolide and enzalutamide monotherapy in high-risk non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer with rising PSA after local therapy: EMBARK study design
Authors: Freedland Stephen J , De Giorgi Ugo , Gleave Martin , Rosbrook Brad , Shen Qi , Sugg Jennifer , Haas Gabriel P , Shore Neal D
Published: August 2021

Introduction

Limited data from controlled clinical trials are available for men who experience biochemical recurrence after definitive therapy for prostate cancer. In the absence of overt metastases, patients with non-metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (nmCSPC) often receive androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). There is no standard-of-care consensus on optimal ADT timing, although most men are treated prior to metastases, especially those with high-risk features (Gleason score 8–10 or prostate-specific antigen doubling time (PSADT) <9–12 months). Given data that ADT plus novel hormonal agents improve survival in men with metastatic CSPC, there is a desire to evaluate these agents earlier in the disease course. The main objective of EMBARK is the comparative assessment of enzalutamide plus leuprolide (luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonist (LHRHa)) or enzalutamide monotherapy versus monotherapy LHRHa to improve metastasis-free survival (MFS) in patients with high-risk nmCSPC PSA recurrence after definitive therapy.

Methods and analysis

EMBARK is a randomised, phase 3 study of high-risk patients with nmCSPC, a PSADT of ≤9 months and a screening PSA of ≥2 ng/mL above the nadir after radiotherapy (RT) or ≥1 ng/mL after radical prostatectomy (RP) with or without postoperative RT. Men (n=1050) are randomised 1:1:1 to enzalutamide 160 mg/day plus LHRHa or placebo plus LHRHa (double-blind arms) or enzalutamide monotherapy (open-label arm). Treatment is suspended at week 37 if PSA concentrations are <0.2 ng/mL and reinstated if levels rise to ≥2.0 ng/mL with RP or ≥5.0 ng/mL without RP. Patients with PSA ≥0.2 ng/mL at week 37 continue until treatment discontinuation criteria are met. The primary endpoint is MFS comparing enzalutamide plus LHRHa versus placebo plus LHRHa.

Ethics and dissemination

The study is conducted under the guiding principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. The results will be disseminated at research conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number

NCT02319837.
Hospitalisation in the last month of life and in-hospital death of nursing home residents: a cross-sectional analysis of six European countries
Authors: Honinx Elisabeth , Piers Ruth D , Onwuteaka-Philipsen Bregje D , Payne Sheila , Szczerbińska Katarzyna , Gambassi Giovanni , Kylänen Marika , Deliens L , Van den Block Lieve , Smets Tinne
Published: August 2021

Objectives

To examine the rate and characteristics of hospitalisation in the last month of life and place of death among nursing home residents and to identify related care processes, facility factors and residents’ characteristics.

Setting

A cross-sectional study (2015) of deceased residents in 322 nursing homes in six European countries.

Participants

The nursing home manager (N=1634), physician (N=1132) and primary nurse (N=1384) completed questionnaires.

Outcome measures

Hospitalisation and place of death were analysed using generalised linear and logistic mixed models. Multivariate analyses were conducted to determine associated factors.

Results

Twelve to 26% of residents were hospitalised in the last month of life, up to 19% died in-hospital (p<0.001). Belgian residents were more likely to be hospitalised than those in Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. For those dying in-hospital, the main reason for admission was acute change in health status. Residents with a better functional status were more likely to be hospitalised or to die in-hospital. The likelihood of hospitalisation and in-hospital death increased if no conversation on preferred care with a relative was held. Not having an advance directive regarding hospitalisations increased the likelihood of hospitalisation.

Conclusions

Although participating countries vary in hospitalisation and in-hospital death rates, between 12% (Italy) and 26% (Belgium) of nursing home residents were hospitalised in the last month of life. Close monitoring of acute changes in health status and adequate equipment seem critical to avoiding unnecessary hospitalisations. Strategies to increase discussion of preferences need to be developed. Our findings can be used by policy-makers at governmental and nursing home level.
Evaluation of a patient and public involvement training programme for researchers at a large biomedical research centre in the UK
Authors: Yu Rosamund , Hanley Bec , Denegri Simon , Ahmed Jaber , McNally Nicholas J
Published: August 2021

Objectives

To design, deliver and evaluate a programme of training workshops for biomedical researchers aimed at building confidence and skills in actively involving patients and the public (PPI) in research.

Design

A bespoke programme of training workshops in PPI aimed at researchers.

Setting

A large National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre in London and several partner organisations.

Participants

721 scientists, clinicians and research managers attending dedicated training in PPI at a major London NHS (National Health Service)–university partnership.

Interventions

A programme of 72 training workshops, designed to build practical skills and confidence for researchers working with patients and the public in research, was delivered at a major research-active NHS:university partnership. An iterative approach was taken to the programme, with the content of the workshops continually reviewed and refreshed to respond to the needs of researchers. Surveys before, immediately following and 6 months after training investigated the impact on researchers’ confidence and skills in PPI work, and the kind of PPI they subsequently carried out.

Results

Training brought about immediate marked increases in researchers’ self-reported confidence to carry out PPI activities within their research, and in their knowledge of good practice. The evaluation indicates that workshop attendees were more likely to involve patients in their research following training. Researchers tended to involve patients and the public in a range of areas, including input to study design and patient information, in particular.

Conclusions

When positioned within a broader organisational strategy for PPI in research, such training has an important role to play in progressing PPI in a major research partnership. Training appeared to provide the confidence needed to carry out PPI which enabled further development of confidence and skills. Involving researchers who have attended the training in the ongoing development of the programme and bringing in patients to the training programme are key next steps.
Relation between otitis media and sensorineural hearing loss: a systematic review
Authors: Elzinga Hester Beatrice Emilie , van Oorschot Hanneke Doremiek , Stegeman Inge , Smit Adriana L
Published: August 2021

Objectives

This systematic review summarises the evidence on the correlation between recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) or chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

Research methods

PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were searched from inception to 15 January 2021. Two authors independently identified articles, extracted data and performed quality assessment for included studies. Studies comparing the sensorineural hearing levels of patients with a history of rAOM/CSOM for >3 months to a control group were included.

Results

Screening of 4168 articles lead to inclusion of two case-control studies (control-group: patients non-OM) and seven cohort-studies (control group: contralateral ear). Quality assessment indicated considerable risk of bias in all studies. Reported populations varied (sample size 13–607, mean age 22–41.5 years, mean duration of disease 6.1–12.4 years). The OR for SNHL in the OM-group was 3.30–7.86 (95% CI 1.16 to 9.40, p<0.05) in cohort studies (n=2), and 0.05 (95% CI 0 to 0.78, p<0.05) in a case-control study. Mean/median bone conduction thresholds were respectively 1.19–32.21/0–10 dB higher on all frequencies (0.5–4 kHz) for the OM-group in four cohort studies (p<0.05). Two other studies reported no statistical test outcomes.

Conclusion

Due to the high risk of bias of included studies, effect estimates heterogeneity and suboptimal research designs, no conclusion on the correlation between OM and SNHL can be made. It emphasises the need for future prognostic studies.
Active commuting and leisure-time physical activity among adults in western Nepal: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Paudel Susan , Subedi Narayan , McLachlan Craig S , Smith Ben J , Kallestrup Per , Neupane Dinesh
Published: August 2021

Objective

To determine the prevalence and sociodemographic factors associated with active commuting and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among adults in western Nepal.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Adults from semiurban areas in western Nepal.

Participants

2815 adults aged 25–65 years who participated in the ‘Community-Based Management of Hypertension in Nepal (COBIN)’ Study. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify the sociodemographic factors associated with active commuting and LTPA.

Outcome

Self-reported participation in active commuting and LTPA.

Results

Most study participants (96%) commuted actively (walked or cycled) from one place to another. Our results showed that only a small proportion (3.7%) of participants engaged in moderate or vigorous LTPA. Compared with those in paid employment, the odds of commuting actively were higher among people working in agriculture or as labourers (OR: 4.57, 95% CI: 2.46 to 8.48), those retired/unemployed (OR: 2.98, 95% CI: 1.42 to 6.25) and those in unpaid employment (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.06 to 3.22). Adults who were overweight or had obesity were less likely to commute actively. Compared with adults aged 25–34 years, older adults were less likely (OR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.72) to engage in LTPA. Women were 0.46 times less likely to engage in LTPA compared with men.

Conclusion

Most adults engaged in active commuting for work or travel. Less than 5% participated in any form of moderate or vigorous LTPA. Longitudinal studies incorporating objective assessment of physical activity and a range of individual, interpersonal, and environmental factors will help understand how to promote active commuting and LTPA among Nepalese adults.

Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.govNCT02428075.
DOES MATERNAL MIGRATION AFFECT SPOUSAL LABOR MARKET DECISIONS? EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKA
Authors: SARMA VENGADESHVARAN J. , PARINDURI RASYAD A.
Published: August 2021

This paper examines Sri Lankan men’s labor market outcomes when their wives emigrate to work, leaving the husbands and their children at home in Sri Lanka — the effects of maternal migration on the husbands’ labor market decisions. We used nationally representative cross-sectional data and historical migration rates at the community level as an instrument for maternal migration in two-stage least squares estimations. We find that maternal migration reduces the husbands’ labor supply. Husbands are more likely to exit the labor market and become unemployed; the employed are less likely to moonlight and have lower wages, and those that exit the labor market are more likely to become stay-at-home dads. Using a second instrument, an indicator of whether a community has foreign-employment agencies, we also confirmed our main results. Our findings indicate that policies that aim to promote female migration as an exogenous income source may fall short if they do not address the effects of the husbands’ labor market decisions.
Resonance Y-shaped soliton and interaction solutions in the (2 + 1)-dimensional B-type Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation
Authors: Wang Miaomiao , Qi Zequn , Chen Junchao , Li Biao
Published: August 2021

The ([Formula: see text])-dimensional B-type Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (BKP) equation is utilized to depict weakly dispersive waves propagating in the fluid mechanics. According to [Formula: see text]-soliton solutions, resonance Y-shaped soliton and its interaction with other local wave solutions of the ([Formula: see text])-dimensional BKP equation are derived by introducing the constraint conditions. These types of hybrid soliton solutions exhibit the complex interaction phenomenon among resonance Y-shaped solitons, breather waves, line solitary waves and high-order lump waves. The dynamic behaviors of such interaction solutions are analyzed and illustrated.
MODELING OF FLAGELLUM BEHAVIOR AND TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPERM CELL MOTILITY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF FLUID–SOLID INTERACTIONS
Authors: RAZAVI SEYED ESMAIL , FARHANGMEHR VAHID , MARANDI ELIAS
Published: August 2021

In this study, the flagellar motility of a swimmer microorganism as a model of a human sperm cell, inside a two-dimensional channel as a model of the female reproductive tract containing a viscous fluid, is numerically investigated. The Navier–Stokes equations governing the fluid are coupled with the equations governing the models flagellum via applying a fluid–solid interaction approach and then solved using the finite element method. To stimulate the flagellum to move, a prescribed sinusoidal waveform is applied to it. The strain induced by this waveform along the flagellum initiates a continuous interaction between the flagellum and the fluid. The simulations are validated using data available in the literature. A very good agreement is seen between them. The results show that by decreasing the Young modulus of the flagellum as well as increasing the fluid viscosity, the swimming velocity of the model significantly decreases. It is found that for lower Young modulus of the flagellum, the effect of the fluid viscosity on the flagellar deformation is stronger. It is also found that for higher amplitude of the waveform applied to stimulate the flagellum, both the swimming velocity of the model and the average work rate are greater. Moreover, it is found that in a channel with a smaller height, the model swims at a higher speed and with a higher average work rate.
A 13-point sampling point scheme for 20-node brick elements
Authors: Johnson Shyjo , Sivakumar S. , Nagarajan D.
Published: August 2021

A new sampling point scheme with 13 evaluation points was introduced in this research study for 20-node brick elements. The new sampling points were located inside the brick element at the edges and the center point of the 20-node brick element. This integration scheme can be assumed to be an imitation of the Gaussian integration scheme. Standard benchmark problems were chosen from the different research works and compared with our proposed scheme. Finally, the proposed integration scheme achieves good results for 20-node brick elements on different performance parameters of finite element analysis.
Efficacy of Intra-Articular Injection of 10 mg and 20 mg Triamcinolone for Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Wrist: A Prospective, Randomized, Pilot Study
Authors: Mochizuki Takeshi , Yano Koichiro , Ikari Katsunori , Okazaki Ken
Published: August 2021

Background: To compare the efficacy of intra-articular injection (IA) with 10 mg and 20 mg triamcinolone for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of the wrist joint.

Methods: We enrolled 20 patients with swelling and pain in wrist due to RA in the present prospective, randomized, pilot study. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either the 20 mg or 10 mg group, and received IA of the appropriate dose of triamcinolone. Efficacy was assessed by recording Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) for pain and improvement in power doppler (PD) scale score at weeks 1, 4, and 12 of treatment compared with baseline. The shortened Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (QuickDASH) was recorded at baseline and week 12.

Results: The NRS was found to be significantly improved at weeks 4 (p = 0.006) and 12 (p = 0.036) among the total study population. Neither the change in NRS nor the improvement PD scale score from baseline were significantly different between the two groups at any week (NRS: week 1, p = 0.617; week 4, p = 0.727; and week 12, p = 0.878; PD scale score: week 1, p = 0.370; week 4, p = 1.000; and week 12, p = 0.179). Among the entire study population, the QuickDASH was not significantly improved at week 12 nor was the change from baseline significantly different between the two groups at week 12 (p = 0.592).

Conclusions: IA of triamcinolone was effective for pain relief in context of RA in the wrist joint. However, in terms of NRS, improvement of PD scale score, and QuickDASH score, the efficacies of 10 mg and 20 mg triamcinolone were not significantly different. Thus, IA of 10 mg triamcinolone may be sufficient for the treatment of RA in the wrist joint.
Mini-Open Reduction and Extension Block Pinning for Irreducible Mallet Fractures: A Minimally Invasive Technique for Anatomical Reduction
Authors: Shin Seung-Han , Cho Joonhyung , Lee Ji-Won , Chung Yang-Guk
Published: August 2021

Background: Dorsal rotation or persistent displacement of the fracture fragment is frequently encountered in extension block pinning for mallet fractures. We reviewed nine irreducible mallet fracture patients treated with mini-open reduction and extension block pinning.

Methods: A small V-shaped incision was made on the fracture gap when there was persistent displacement of fracture fragment despite closed maneuvers and percutaneous procedures while performing extension block pinning. Soft tissue or granulation tissue hampering reduction was removed through the incision. Anatomical reduction was guided with a freer elevator. The incision was closed by distal interphalangeal joint transfixation in extension without any suture. Pin tips were buried under the skin. The incision and pin entry sites were covered with skin adhesive, and the patients were allowed to wash their hands 1–2 days after the surgery. No splint was applied postoperatively. Mean follow-up period was 13 months.

Results: Anatomical reduction was achieved in 7 out of 9 patients. In the rest 2 patients, postoperative step-off of the articular surface at the fracture site was less than 0.5 mm. Solid union was achieved in all cases. The mean extension lag at final follow-up was 0°. No patient developed postoperative external bleeding or other complications in the incision site or the pin site.

Conclusions: Mini-open reduction and extension block pinning appears to be a good option for irreducible mallet fractures, which improves reduction quality and patients’ convenience.
Tabelliscolex
(Cricocosmiidae: Palaeoscolecidomorpha) from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota and the evolution of seriation in Ecdysozoa
Authors: Shi Xiaomei , Howard Richard J. , Edgecombe Gregory D. , Hou Xianguang , Ma Xiaoya
Published: August 2021

Cricocosmiidae is a clade of palaeoscolecid-like worms from the Chengjiang Biota, China (Cambrian Stage 3). In contrast with palaeoscolecids
sensu stricto
, which exhibit tessellating microplate trunk ornamentation, cricocosmiids have larger, serially repeated sets of trunk sclerites bearing a resemblance to lobopodian trunk sclerites (e.g.
Microdictyon
spp.). Cricocosmiidae have therefore been proposed as stem-group Panarthropoda in some studies, but are recovered as stem-group Priapulida in most phylogenetic analyses. The affinity of cricocosmiids within Ecdysozoa is therefore of much interest, as is testing the homology of these seriated structures. We report four new specimens of the rare cricocosmiid
Tabelliscolex hexagonus
, yielding new details of the ventral trunk projections, sclerites and proboscis. New data confirm that
T. hexagonus
had paired ventral trunk projections in a consistent seriated pattern, which is also reported from new material of
Cricocosmia jinningensis
(Cricocosmiidae) and
Mafangscolex yunnanensis
(Palaeoscolecida
sensu stricto
). Even when the seriated sclerites and ventral projections of cricocosmiids are coded as homologous with the seriated trunk sclerites and paired appendages, respectively, of lobopodian panarthropods, our tree searches indicate they are convergent. Cricocosmiidae is nested within a monophyletic ‘Palaeoscolecida
sensu lato
’ clade (Palaeoscolecidomorpha nov.) in stem-group Priapulida. Our study indicates that morphological seriation has independent origins in Scalidophora and Panarthropoda.

Supplementary material:
Phylogenetic character list and matrix are available at
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5551565

Thematic collection:
This article is part of the Advances in the Cambrian Explosion collection available at:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/advances-cambrian-explosion
Semantic Graphical Dependence Parsing Model in Improving English Teaching Abilities
Authors: Wang Erlu , Kumar Priyan Malarvizhi , Dinesh Jackson samuel R.
Published: August 2021

It is a very difficult problem to achieve high-order functionality for graphical dependency parsing without growing decoding difficulties. To solve this problem, this article offers a way for Semantic Graphical Dependence Parsing Model (SGDPM) with a language-dependency model and a beam search to represent high-order functions for computer applications. The first approach is to scan a large amount of unnoticed data using a baseline parser. It will build auto-parsed data to create the Language-dependence Model (LDM). The LDM is based on a set of new features during beam search decoding, where it will incorporate the LDM features into the parsing model and utilize the features in parsing models of bilingual text. Our approach has main benefits, which include rich high-order features that are described given the large size and the additional large crude corpus for increasing the difficulty of decoding.  Further, SGDPM has been evaluated using the suggested method for parsing tasks of mono-parsing text and bi-parsing text to carry out experiments on the English and Chinese data in the mono-parsing text function using computer applications. Experimental results show that the most accurate Chinese data is obtained with the best known English data systems and their comparable accuracy. Furthermore, the lab-scale experiments on the Chinese/General bilingual information in the bitext parsing process outperform the best recorded existing solutions.
Experience: Automated Prediction of Experimental Metadata from Scientific Publications
Authors: Nayak Stuti , Zaveri Amrapali , Serrano Pedro Hernandez , Dumontier Michel
Published: August 2021

While there exists an abundance of open biomedical data, the lack of high-quality metadata makes it challenging for others to find relevant datasets and to reuse them for another purpose. In particular, metadata are useful to understand the nature and provenance of the data. A common approach to improving the quality of metadata relies on expensive human curation, which itself is time-consuming and also prone to error. Towards improving the quality of metadata, we use scientific publications to automatically predict metadata key:value pairs. For prediction, we use a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a Bidirectional Long-short term memory network (BiLSTM). We focus our attention on the NCBI Disease Corpus, which is used for training the CNN and BiLSTM. We perform two different kinds of experiments with these two architectures: (1) we predict the disease names by using their unique ID in the MeSH ontology and (2) we use the tree structures of MeSH ontology to move up in the hierarchy of these disease terms, which reduces the number of labels. We also perform various multi-label classification techniques for the above-mentioned experiments. We find that in both cases CNN achieves the best results in predicting the superclasses for disease with an accuracy of 83%.
A Conditionally Chaotic Physically Unclonable Function Design Framework with High Reliability
Authors: Chattopadhyay Saranyu , Santikellur Pranesh , Chakraborty Rajat Subhra , Mathew Jimson , Ottavi Marco
Published: August 2021

Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) circuits are promising low-overhead hardware security primitives, but are often gravely susceptible to machine learning–based modeling attacks. Recently, chaotic PUF circuits have been proposed that show greater robustness to modeling attacks. However, they often suffer from unacceptable overhead, and their analog components are susceptible to low reliability. In this article, we propose the concept of a
conditionally chaotic PUF
that enhances the reliability of the analog components of a chaotic PUF circuit to a level at par with their digital counterparts. A conditionally chaotic PUF has two modes of operation:
bistable
and
chaotic
, and switching between these two modes is conveniently achieved by setting a mode-control bit (at a secret position) in an applied input challenge. We exemplify our PUF design framework for two different PUF variants—the CMOS Arbiter PUF and a previously proposed hybrid CMOS-memristor PUF, combined with a hardware realization of the
Lorenz system
as the chaotic component. Through detailed circuit simulation and modeling attack experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed PUF circuits are highly robust to modeling and cryptanalytic attacks, without degrading the reliability of the original PUF that was combined with the chaotic circuit, and incurs acceptable hardware footprint.
A Novel Classification Model SA-MPCNN for Power Equipment Defect Text
Authors: Tian Xiuxia , Li Can , Zhao Bo
Published: August 2021

The text classification of power equipment defect is of great significance to equipment health condition evaluation and power equipment maintenance decisions. Most of the existing classification methods do not sufficiently consider the semantic relation between words in the same sentence and cannot extract deep semantic features. To tackle those problems, this article proposes a novel classification method by combining the self-attention mechanism and multi-channel pyramid convolution neural networks. We utilize the bidirectional gated recurrent unit to model the text sequence and, on this basis, improve self-attention layer to dot multiplication on the forward and backward features to obtain the global attention score. Thereby, effective features are enhanced, invalid features are weakened, and important text representation vectors are obtained. To solve the problem that the shallow network structure cannot extract deep semantic features, we design a multi-channel pyramid convolution network, which first extracts deep text features from the channels of different windows and then fuses the text features of each channel. By comparing with the state-of-the-art methods, the model in this article has better performance in text classification of power equipment defects.
Exploration of Effective Attention Strategies for Neural Automatic Post-editing with Transformer
Authors: Shin Jaehun , Lee Wonkee , Go Byung-Hyun , Jung Baikjin , Kim Youngkil , Lee Jong-Hyeok
Published: August 2021

Automatic post-editing (APE) is the study of correcting translation errors in the output of an unknown machine translation (MT) system and has been considered as a method of improving translation quality without any modification to conventional MT systems. Recently, several variants of Transformer that take both the MT output and its corresponding source sentence as inputs have been proposed for APE; and models introducing an additional attention layer into the encoder to jointly encode the MT output with its source sentence recorded a high-rank in the WMT19 APE shared task. We examine the effectiveness of such joint-encoding strategy in a controlled environment and compare four types of decoder multi-source attention strategies that have been introduced into previous APE models. The experimental results indicate that the joint-encoding strategy is effective and that taking the final encoded representation of the source sentence is the more proper strategy than taking such representation within the same encoder stack. Furthermore, among the multi-source attention strategies combined with the joint-encoding, the strategy that applies attention to the concatenated input representation and the strategy that adds up the individual attention to each input improve the quality of APE results over the strategy using the joint-encoding only.
Modeling Customer Experience in a Contact Center through Process Log Mining
Authors: Fu Teng , Zampieri Guido , Hodgson David , Angione Claudio , Zeng Yifeng
Published: August 2021

The use of data mining and modeling methods in service industry is a promising avenue for optimizing current processes in a targeted manner, ultimately reducing costs and improving customer experience. However, the introduction of such tools in already established pipelines often must adapt to the way data is sampled and to its content. In this study, we tackle the challenge of characterizing and predicting customer experience having available only process log data with time-stamp information, without any ground truth feedback from the customers. As a case study, we consider the context of a contact center managed by TeleWare and analyze phone call logs relative to a two months span. We develop an approach to interpret the phone call process events registered in the logs and infer concrete points of improvement in the service management. Our approach is based on latent tree modeling and multi-class Naïve Bayes classification, which jointly allow us to infer a spectrum of customer experiences and test their predictability based on the current data sampling strategy. Moreover, such approach can overcome limitations in customer feedback collection and sharing across organizations, thus having wide applicability and being complementary to tools relying on more heavily constrained data.
TLDS: A Transfer-Learning-Based Delivery Station Location Selection Pipeline
Authors: Hou Chenyu , Cao Bin , Ruan Sijie , Fan Jing
Published: August 2021

Delivery stations play important roles in logistics systems. Well-designed delivery station planning can improve delivery efficiency significantly. However, existing delivery station locations are decided by experts, which requires much preliminary research and data collection work. It is not only time consuming but also expensive for logistics companies. Therefore, in this article, we propose a data-driven pipeline that can transfer expert knowledge among cities and automatically allocate delivery stations. Based on existing well-designed station location planning in the source city, we first train a model to learn the expert knowledge about delivery range selection for each station. Then we transfer the learned knowledge to a new city and design three strategies to select delivery stations for the new city. Due to the differences in characteristics among different cities, we adopt a transfer learning method to eliminate the domain difference so that the model can be adapted to a new city well. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments based on real-world datasets and find the proposed method can solve the problem well.
Parallel Connected LSTM for Matrix Sequence Prediction with Elusive Correlations
Authors: Zhao Qi , Chen Chuqiao , Liu Guangcan , Liu Qingshan , Chen Shengyong
Published: August 2021

This article is about a challenging problem called matrix sequence prediction, which is motivated from the application of taxi order prediction. Remarkably, the problem differs greatly from previous sequence prediction tasks in the sense that the time-wise correlations are quite elusive; namely, distant entries could be strongly correlated and nearby entries are unnecessarily related. Such distinct specifics make prevalent convolution-recurrence-based methods inadequate to apply. To remedy this trouble, we propose a novel architecture called Parallel Connected LSTM (PcLSTM), which integrates two new mechanisms, Multi-channel Linearized Connection (McLC) and Adaptive Parallel Unit (APU), into the framework of LSTM. Benefiting from the strengths of McLC and APU, our PcLSTM is able to handle well both the elusive correlations within each timestamp and the temporal dependencies across different timestamps, achieving state-of-the-art performance in a set of experiments demonstrated on synthetic and real-world datasets.
The Philosopher's Corner
Authors: Fink Lior
Published: August 2021

Theory has become critical in information systems (IS) research. Generally, empirical papers cannot be accepted for publication in IS journals unless the hypotheses or findings are grounded in theory. In this paper, I argue that IS has taken the role of theory too far, up to a point in which insisting on theory to explain observation may be costly to the advancement of IS research. It is suggested that the logic of discovery in scientific inquiry has been completely abandoned in favor of a logic of justification; that important accidental discoveries demonstrate the merit of discovery-oriented research; that the recent emergence of data science amplifies the value of discovery to theory development; and that the increasing length of empirical articles, partially as a consequence of the increasing importance of theory, may shift the limited attention of the community away from the phenomena of interest. Finally, a possible remedy for the overreliance on theory is offered to allow the IS community to open a door to discovery-oriented research that may yield long-term benefits and even strengthen its theoretical foundations.
Habitual side-specific loading leads to structural, mechanical, and compositional changes in the patellar tendon of young and senior lifelong male athletes
Authors: Couppé Christian , Svensson René B. , Skovlund Sebastian V. , Jensen Jacob Kildevang , Eriksen Christian Skou , Malmgaard-Clausen Nikolaj Mølkjær , Nybing Janus Damm , Kjaer Michael , Magnusson S. Peter
Published: August 2021

The present data demonstrate that lifelong side-specific loading yields greater patellar tendon structure on the lead extremity without affecting glycation that is associated with aging. These novel data suggest that lifelong side-specific habitual loading induce structural alterations that may serve to improve the mechanical properties of the tendon.
Quantitative CT image-based structural and functional changes during asthma acute exacerbations
Authors: Park Joonwoo , Kim Sujeong , Lim Jae-Kwang , Jin Kwang Nam , Yang Min Suk , Chae Kum Ju , Jin Gong Yong , Kim Tae-Bum , Kim Hee-Kyoo , Lee Kyeong Eun , Lee Chang Hyun , Choi Sanghun
Published: August 2021

Using two sets of inspiration and expiration images, the difference of segmental airway structure and parenchymal lung function is assessed by comparing the QCT images during asthma acute exacerbations with those in stable asthma. This study also introduces a useful application of an imaging-based metric, estimating the heterogeneity of tissue distribution. This could be a phenotype for the asthma acute exacerbation.
Propofol Ameliorates Microglia Activation by Targeting MicroRNA-221/222-IRF2 Axis
Authors: Xiao Xi , Hou Yuanyuan , Yu Wei , Qi Sihua
Published: August 2021

Background. Propofol is a widely used intravenous anesthetic drug with potential neuroprotective effect in diverse diseases of neuronal injuries such as traumatic brain injury and ischemic stroke. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. Methods. Real-time qPCR, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and Western blotting were used to identify the expression pattern of miR-221/222, inflammatory genes, cytokines, and IRF2. The biological roles and mechanisms of propofol in microglia activation were determined in BV2 cells and primary microglia. Bioinformatic analysis and luciferase reporter assay were used to confirm the regulatory role of miR-221/222 in Irf2 expression. Results. We found that miR-221 and miR-222 were downstream targets of propofol and were consistently upregulated in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) primed BV2 cells. Gain- and loss-of-function studies revealed that miR-221 and miR-222 were profoundly implicated in microglia activation. Then, interferon regulatory factor 2 (Irf2) was identified as a direct target gene of miR-221/222. IRF2 protein levels were reduced by miR-221/222 and increased by propofol treatment. Ectopic expression of IRF2 attenuated the proinflammatory roles induced by LPS in BV2 cells. More importantly, the suppressive effects of propofol on LPS-primed activation of BV2 cells or primary mouse microglia involved the inhibition of miR-221/222-IRF2 axis. Conclusions. Our study highlights the critical function of miR-221/222, which inhibited Irf2 translation, in the anti-inflammatory effects of propofol, and provides a new perspective for the molecular mechanism of propofol-mediated neuroprotective effect.
Clinical Features and Resistance to Entecavir Monotherapy of Patients with Hepatitis B
Authors: Takayama Hideo , Komura Takuya , Kagaya Takashi , Sugimoto Saiho , Orita Noriaki , Asahina Yoshiro , Nishikawa Masashi , Ohta Hajime , Kaneko Shuichi , Unoura Masashi
Published: August 2021

Aim. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health concern worldwide. Entecavir (ETV), a first-line nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) for HBV, has a low risk of resistance. We evaluated the efficacy of ETV monotherapy, ratio of ETV-resistant, and the clinical features of patients with ETV resistance. Methods. A total of 130 patients (72 males, 58 females; mean age, 61 ± 15 years) were divided into a NA-naïve group (n = 108) and NA-experienced group (n = 22). We examined the clinical outcomes of ETV monotherapy and associated factors. We also assessed the clinical features of 15 patients with resistance to ETV (mean, 51.0 ± 27.4 weeks). Results. Among the 130 patients, 94.1% achieved ALT normalization and 63.6% achieved serum HBV DNA negativity after ETV monotherapy for 96 weeks. Of the patients in the NA-naïve group, 93.1% and 60.4% achieved ALT normalization and HBV DNA negativity, respectively. Of the patients in the NA-experienced group, 100% and 74.9% achieved ALT normalization and HBV DNA negativity, respectively. Compared to patients on ETV continuously, 15 ETV-resistant patients had a higher baseline HBV viral load. There was a significant difference in the time to HBV DNA negativity, but not ALT normalization after ETV monotherapy in these groups. Rescue treatment with other NAs led to ALT normalization in all of these patients, but not HBV DNA negativity. Conclusions. ETV monotherapy has a long-term clinical efficacy. While some patients especially with HBV DNA high viral load developed ETV resistance, rescue treatment led to ALT normalization in these patients.
Factors Identification and Prediction for Mind Wandering Driving Using Machine Learning
Authors: Lin Ciyun , Zhang Hongli , Gong Bowen , Wu Dayong
Published: August 2021

Traffic safety is affected by many complex factors. Mind wandering (MW) is a fatal cause affecting driving safety and is hard to be detected and prevented due to its uncertain and complex occurrence mechanism. The aim of this study was to propose a framework for analyzing and predicting MW based on readily available driving status data. The data used in this study are the single-trip information collected by the questionnaire, which includes drivers’ personal characteristics, contextual information in which MW occurs, and in-vehicle environmental factors. After investigating the extent of factors that influence MW, these chosen factors are used to forecast MW. Based on these results, we select factors reliable to be obtained in real life to forecast MW. To verify that the new factors explored are useful in improving the forecast accuracy, the compared analysis is conducted with the results found by our approach and the existing approaches. We compare results obtained by four machine-learning-enabled forecasting approaches on a real-life data set. The result shows that the factors found in this paper can significantly improve forecast accuracy. The confusion matrix, ROC curves, and AUC are conducted, and the performance of the gradient boosting decision tree algorithm is better than other forecast approaches. The importance rankings of most factors obtained by the Gradient Boosting Decision Tree and questionnaire are the same.
Aircraft Detection for Remote Sensing Images Based on Deep Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Zhou Liming , Yan Haoxin , Shan Yingzi , Zheng Chang , Liu Yang , Zuo Xianyu , Qiao Baojun
Published: August 2021

Aircraft detection for remote sensing images, as one of the fields of computer vision, is one of the significant tasks of image processing based on deep learning. Recently, many high-performance algorithms for aircraft detection have been developed and applied in different scenarios. However, the proposed algorithms still have a series of problems; for instance, the algorithms will miss some small-scale aircrafts when applied to the remote sensing image. There are two main reasons for the problem; one reason is that the aircrafts in the remote sensing image are usually small in size, leading to detecting difficulty. The other reason is that the background of the remote sensing image is usually complex, so the algorithms applied to the scenario are easy to be affected by the background. To address the problem of small size, this paper proposes the Multiscale Detection Network (MSDN) which introduces a multiscale detection architecture to detect small-scale aircrafts. With the intention to resist the background noise, this paper proposes the Deeper and Wider Module (DAWM) which increases the perceptual field of the network to alleviate the affection. Besides, to address the two problems simultaneously, this paper introduces the DAWM into the MSDN and names the novel network structure as Multiscale Refined Detection Network (MSRDN). The experimental results show that the MSRDN method has detected the small-scale aircrafts that other algorithms missed and the performance indicators have higher performance than other algorithms.
Influence of NQO1 Polymorphisms on Warfarin Maintenance Dose: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (rs1800566 and rs10517)
Authors: Tian Lihong , Xiao Pingping , Zhou Bingrong , Chen Yishan , Kang Lijuan , Wang Qingqing , Lin Jianfeng , Son Min , Wu Qingxiu
Published: August 2021

This meta-analysis was conducted to analyze the effect of NQO1 polymorphism on the warfarin maintenance dosage. Using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, we searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library for eligible studies published prior to July 7, 2021. The required data were extracted, and experts were consulted when necessary. Review Manager Version 5.4 software was used to analyze the relationship between NQO1 polymorphisms and the warfarin maintenance dosage. Four articles involving 757 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Patients who were NQO1 rs10517 G carriers (AG carriers or GG carriers) required a 48% higher warfarin maintenance dose than those who were AA carriers. Patients with NQO1 rs1800566 CT carriers required a 13% higher warfarin dose than those who were CC carriers, with no associations observed with the other comparisons of the NQO1 rs1800566 genotypes. However, the results obtained by comparing the NQO1 rs1800566 genotypes require confirmation, as significant changes in the results were found in sensitivity analyses. Our meta-analysis suggests that the NQO1 rs10517and NQO1 rs1800566 variant statuses affect the required warfarin maintenance dose.