bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cryptococcosis in HIV/AIDS patients in northern Brazil: Clinical aspects, molecular types and isolation of agents from environmental samples associated with patients
Authors: Alves Marla Jalene , do Nascimento Izabella Sadalla , Cruz Katia Santana , Menescal Victoria Violeta Fernandes , Menescal Lizandra Stephanny Fernandes , Silva Larissa Svetlana Cavalcante , Pinheiro Silviane Bezerra , Gómez Aline Stephanie Pérez , de Souza João Vicente Braga , Lazera Marcia dos Santos , Jackisch‐Matsuura Ani Beatriz
Published: February 2022

Objectives

In the state of Amazonas, northern Brazil, cryptococcosis is endemic, with a predominance of Cryptococcus neoformans in individuals with HIV/AIDS, and Cryptococcus gattii VGII in non‐HIV individuals. This study analysed the clinical isolates and clinical–epidemiological characteristics of HIV/AIDS patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis in a tertiary healthcare facility in Manaus, Amazonas and investigated the presence of agents of cryptococcosis in environmental samples.

Methods

A survey was made of data from HIV/AIDS patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis between January 2017 and December 2019, and environmental samples were collected at the patients’ and their neighbours’ homes. The isolates were submitted to morphophysiological analysis and PCR‐RFLP typing to determine the molecular types.

Results

Clinical–epidemiological characteristics of 55 patients and 75 clinical isolates were analysed. Neurocriptococcosis was the clinical form observed in 98.2% (n = 54/55) of patients. A total of 38.1% (n = 21/55) of patients died within 100 weeks, of which 21.8% (n = 12/55) died less than a month after the diagnosis of cryptococcosis. C. neoformans VNI (n = 68/75), C. neoformans VNII (n = 1/75), C. gattii VGI (n = 3/75) and C. gattii VGII (n = 3/75) were identified. Mixed infection was observed in two patients, one by C. neoformans VNI and VNII and the other by C. neoformans VNI and C. gattii VGI. Cryptococcus VNI was detected in three (n = 3/51) households, one of a patient (n = 1/17) and two households that neighbour patients’ houses (n = 2/34).

Conclusions

This study demonstrated the prevalence of C. neoformans VNI, which is a cause of cryptococcosis in patients with HIV/AIDS in the state of Amazonas, and revealed a greater diversity of molecular types affecting these patients in the region than in previous studies. In the studied group, a high mortality rate was observed, which reflects the importance of early diagnosis, and evidences cryptococcosis as an AIDS‐defining disease and an important public health problem in the region. The home environment proved to be a potential source of infection/reinfection by C. neoformans VNI.
Can money buy friendship?—Evidence from the US and China’s competition for influence through foreign aid
Authors: Zheng Huanhuan , Li Chen
Published: February 2022

Using bilateral aid data from 47 donors to 194 recipients, we find that while donors reward good relationship with more foreign aid, recipients sweeten their political relations with donors only after aid cuts. The negative impact of aid on political relations is more pronounced after the Cold War, in politically stable regions, and in countries where China and the United States are both donors. We provide evidence that the competition for influence among donors with distinct political pursuits and the conflicts between donors and recipients in aid implementation are driving the results.
The effect of natural infection with differentLeptospira interrogansserovars on oxidative stress biomarkers and acute‐phase responses in horses and cattle
Authors: Niroomandi Ehsan , Maleki Shahram , Abdollahpour Gholamreza , Zakian Amir , Ahmadvand Hasan
Published: February 2022

Leptospirosis is one of the important zoonotic bacterial diseases with a worldwide distribution that is often subclinical. We aimed to investigate the oxidant/antioxidant balance and acute‐phase response in naturally infected horses and cattle withLeptospira interrogans. A total of 600 serum samples from horses and cattle were examined forL. interrogansantibodies using the microscopic agglutination test to determine anti‐LeptospiraIgG antibodies against a panel of eight importantLeptospiraantigens in Iran. Then, serum total antioxidant capacity, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and malondialdehyde activities, and nitric oxide, total protein, serum amyloid A, haptoglobin, and albumin concentrations were measured in seropositive and seronegative samples. Serum catalase activities and malondialdehyde, serum amyloid A, and haptoglobin ‌concentrations in seropositive cattle and horses were significantly higher (P < .05) than in those that were seronegative. Antibody titers increased from 1:100 to 1:200 in cattle withL. interrogansinfection, resulting in a decrease in the serum total antioxidant capacity (P < .05), an increase in serum glutathione peroxidase (P < .01) activity and nitric oxide (P < .05) , serum amyloid A (P < .01), and haptoglobin (P < .05) concentrations. Following the increase in the agglutinating antibody titers in horses infected withL. interrogans, the serum total antioxidant capacity (P < .01) decreased, and serum nitric oxide (P < .05), malondialdehyde (P < .05), and serum amyloid A (P < .01) concentrations were increased. In this study, horses and cattle had extensive changes in oxidant/antioxidant equilibrium and acute‐phase protein concentrations when infected withL. interrogans. We also demonstrated a direct link between antibody titers and the type of leptospiral serovar using serum oxidative and inflammatory markers.
Online Engagement Gaps among Adult Learners of Higher Education in the Post-Covid-19-Era
Authors: Law Mei Yuan
Published: February 2022

The purpose of this study is to discover the factors behind the online engagement gaps among adult learners in their postgraduate educational studies in the post-COVID-19 era. The qualitative approach was conducted on postgraduate adult students from an open university in Malaysia, using interviews, observations, and document analysis techniques. The findings of this study show three main themes of factors that influence the online engagement gaps among adult learners; personal conditions, institutional conditions, and external digital technology conditions. The small sample size only involved participants from a similar postgraduate course. The results are accurate only for this group of participants, limiting the transferability of the findings. There is no rich data to affirm on the internet connection of all students since the data can only be collected via interviews of participants and observation of participative students during live sessions. The study revealed that the factors influencing online engagement among adult learners could be helpful for future conceptual framework development and ensure continued success in online learning engagement in the post-COVID-19 era.
Gate offset and emitter design effects of triode cold cathode electron beams on focal spot sizes for x-ray imaging techniques
Authors: Yu Yi Yin , Park Kyu Chang
Published: February 2022

We report on the structural effects of a carbon nanotube based cold cathode electron beam (C-beam) module on focal spot sizes (FSSs) for high resolution x-ray imaging applications without additional focusing components. A simple combination of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes and gate mesh structure achieved FSS of 252 and 410 μm for longitudinal and transverse directions, respectively. As design parameters of the modules, gate offsets, gate hole pitch, and emitter area effects of C-beam modules on FSS were optimized. We expect that our simple but sophisticated C-beam module structure will pave next generation x-ray devices not only for high quality x-ray imaging but cost-effective ways for mass production.
Experimental study on sound absorption of hollow glass beads with inner closed cavities under low-frequency vertical vibration
Authors: Tsuruha Takumasa , Otani Makoto , Takano Yasushi
Published: February 2022

Normal incidence sound absorption coefficients α of hollow glass beads were measured under a sinusoidal vertical vibration of 10 Hz. It was found that α depends on the vibrational displacement amplitude. As the displacement amplitude increased, the frequency width of the peak extended toward low frequencies. In addition, different evolutions of α were observed for the time periods during which the displacement of the sinusoidal vibration was positive or negative. It seems that the variation in packing state, which is caused by the inertial forces due to vibration, causes the different evolutions of α.
An IL-9–pulmonary macrophage axis defines the allergic lung inflammatory environment
Authors: Fu Yongyao , Wang Jocelyn , Zhou Baohua , Pajulas Abigail , Gao Hongyu , Ramdas Baskar , Koh Byunghee , Ulrich Benjamin J. , Yang Shuangshuang , Kapur Reuben , Renauld Jean-Christophe , Paczesny Sophie , Liu Yunlong , Tighe Robert M. , Licona-Limón Paula , Flavell Richard A. , Takatsuka Shogo , Kitamura Daisuke , Tepper Robert S. , Sun Jie , Kaplan Mark H.
Published: February 2022

Despite IL-9 functioning as a pleiotropic cytokine in mucosal environments, the IL-9–responsive cell repertoire is still not well defined. Here, we found that IL-9 mediates proallergic activities in the lungs by targeting lung macrophages. IL-9 inhibits alveolar macrophage expansion and promotes recruitment of monocytes that develop into CD11c
+
and CD11c
−
interstitial macrophage populations. Interstitial macrophages were required for IL-9–dependent allergic responses. Mechanistically, IL-9 affected the function of lung macrophages by inducing Arg1 activity. Compared with Arg1-deficient lung macrophages, Arg1-expressing macrophages expressed greater amounts of CCL5. Adoptive transfer of Arg1
+
lung macrophages but not Arg1
−
lung macrophages promoted allergic inflammation that

Il9r
−/−

mice were protected against. In parallel, the elevated expression of IL-9, IL-9R, Arg1, and CCL5 was correlated with disease in patients with asthma. Thus, our study uncovers an IL-9/macrophage/Arg1 axis as a potential therapeutic target for allergic airway inflammation.
Essential oil content of Rhododendron tomentosum responds strongly to manipulation of ecosystem resources in Arctic Alaska
Authors: Baldwin Tracey A. , Oberbauer Steven F.
Published: February 2022

The essential oils of the widely distributed boreal/Arctic dwarf shrub, Rhododendron tomentosum ssp. subarcticum (Harmaja) G.D. Wallace, have important ecological, cultural, medicinal, and commercial roles. To understand the relationship between resource limitation and essential oil content of this species we measured the amount and diversity of terpenes from shoots of plants exposed to a 14-year ecosystem resource manipulation experiment in Arctic Alaska. Treatments tested interactive effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition, warming and N + P fertilization, and shading and N + P fertilization. The controls and NP fertilization had the highest essential oil content, whereas shading and P addition had less than 20% of the control content. Warming reduced essential oil content to <65% of that of the controls. Essential oil components varied greatly among the treatments, with significant differences in the expression of specific essential oil components. Large changes in plant community composition and ecosystem structure in response to treatments likely played a large role in the response of R. tomentosum. Our data suggest that resource changes in response to climate warming and its secondary effects on light and nutrient availability have the potential to change the profiles of essential oils in R. tomentosum, with important ecological and cultural impacts.
Endothelial colony forming cells’ tetrahydrobiopterin level in coronary artery disease patients and its association with circulating endothelial progenitor cells
Authors: Sen Atanu , Thakkar Himani , Vincent Vinnyfred , Rai Sandeep , Singh Archna , Mohanty Sujata , Roy Ambuj , Ramakrishnan Lakshmy
Published: February 2022

Endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) participate in neovascularization. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) derived NO· helps in homing of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) at the site of vascular injury. The enzyme cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) stabilizes the catalytic active state of eNOS. Association of intracellular ECFCs biopterins and ratio of reduced to oxidized biopterin (BH4:BH2) with circulatory EPCs and ECFCs functionality have not been studied. We investigated ECFCs biopterin levels and its association with circulatory EPCs as well as ECFCs proliferative potential in terms of day of appearance in culture. Circulatory EPCs were enumerated by flowcytometry in 53 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and 42 controls. ECFCs were cultured, characterized, and biopterin levels assessed by high performance liquid chromatography. Appearance of ECFCs’ colony and their number were recorded. Circulatory EPCs were significantly lower in CAD and ECFCs appeared in 56% and 33% of CAD and control subjects, respectively. Intracellular BH4 and BH4:BH2 were significantly reduced in CAD. BH4:BH2 was positively correlated with circulatory EPCs (p = 0.01), and negatively with day of appearance of ECFCs (p = 0.04). Circulatory EPCs negatively correlated with ECFCs appearance (p = 0.02). These findings suggest the role of biopterins in maintaining circulatory EPCs and functional integrity of ECFCs.
A comparative analysis of the in-plane energy absorption capacities of auxetic structures
Authors: Tatlıer Mehmet Seha
Published: February 2022

In-plane dynamic behaviors of the double arrowhead, re-entrant honeycomb, chiral, missing rip, and star-shaped auxetic cellular structures were investigated using finite element analyses. An analytical model available in the literature was employed to validate the proposed finite element models. The finite element model was used to investigate the energy absorption capacities of the auxetic cellular structures, in addition to the mean and peak dynamic crushing forces. The results indicated that the chiral auxetic structure not only absorbed the most energy but also exhibited the largest mean crushing force under the same dynamic crushing conditions. In contrast, re-entrant honeycomb structures absorb the least energy, owing to the smallest mean crushing forces among all the cellular structures. This study provides insights into the dynamic deformation behavior and energy absorption capabilities of various auxetic cellular structures.
Jet shape and redistribution of the lost energy from jets in Pb + Pb collisions at the LHC in a multiphase transport model
Authors: Luo Ao , Mao Ya-Xian , Qin Guang-You , Wang En-Ke , Zhang Han-Zhong
Published: February 2022

Jet-medium interaction involves two important effects: jet energy loss and medium response. The search for jet-induced medium excitations is one of the hot topics in jet quenching study in relativistic nuclear collisions. In this work, we perform a systematic study on how the lost energy from hard jets evolves with the bulk medium and redistributes in the final state of heavy-ion collisions via a multi-phase transport model. In particular, the ($$\Delta \eta , \Delta \phi $$

Δ
η
,
Δ
ϕ

) distribution of charged particles with respect to the jet axis and jet shape function are studied for various Pb + Pb collision centralities and for different transverse momentum intervals of charged particles. Our numerical result shows a strong enhancement of soft particles at large angles for Pb + Pb collisions relative to p + p collisions at the LHC, qualitatively consistent with recent CMS data. This indicates that a significant fraction of the lost energy from hard jets is carried by soft particles at large angles away from the jet axis.
Kinematic N-expansive continuous dynamical systems
Authors: Lee Manseob , Oh Jumi , Park Junmi
Published: February 2022

Expansiveness has been used to study dynamic systems and has been developed for various forms of expansiveness. In this paper, we introduce the concept of kinematic N-expansiveness for flows on a C∞ compact connected manifold M, which is an extension of N-expansive homeomorphisms. We prove that if a vector field X on M is C1 robustly kinematic N-expansive, then it is quasi-Anosov. Furthermore, we consider the divergence-free vector fields and Hamiltonian systems with the kinematic N-expansive property; then, we study their robustness.
Triple top quark production in standard model
Authors: Boos E. , Dudko L.
Published: February 2022

In this paper, the triple top quark production processes have been investigated and calculated in the scope of the Standard Model. The cross-sections for different channels are provided for the proton–proton collision energies of [Formula: see text] and 100 TeV. The importance of the electroweak contribution has been demonstrated. For the main channels, the interference between the gluon and the weak bosons mediated contributions is negative and significant, therefore the complete set of diagrams has to be taken into account. Estimated total rates are about 1.9 fb for [Formula: see text] TeV and 530 fb for [Formula: see text] TeV. A simple estimation of the uncertainty of the calculated cross-sections gives about 20%. The integrated luminosity of 3 ab[Formula: see text] at HL-LHC allows expecting about 5700 events, giving a chance to detect this rare process.
Replicas for random matrices
Authors: Raman Madhusudhan
Published: February 2022

We discuss the use of the replica ansatz in computing free energies in random matrix theory and confirm a conjectured condition on analytic continuation in the replica index at large-[Formula: see text].
Can BERT Dig It? Named Entity Recognition for Information Retrieval in the Archaeology Domain
Authors: Brandsen Alex , Verberne Suzan , Lambers Karsten , Wansleeben Milco
Published: February 2022

The amount of archaeological literature is growing rapidly. Until recently, these data were only accessible through metadata search. We implemented a text retrieval engine for a large archaeological text collection (~658 million words). In archaeological IR, domain-specific entities such as locations, time periods and artefacts play a central role. This motivated the development of a named entity recognition (NER) model to annotate the full collection with archaeological named entities. In this article, we present ArcheoBERTje, a BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) model pre-trained on Dutch archaeological texts. We compare the model’s quality and output on an NER task to a generic multilingual model and a generic Dutch model. We also investigate ensemble methods for combining multiple BERT models, and combining the best BERT model with a domain thesaurus using conditional random fields. We find that ArcheoBERTje outperforms both the multilingual and Dutch model significantly with a smaller standard deviation between runs, reaching an average F1 score of 0.735. The model also outperforms ensemble methods combining the three models. Combining ArcheoBERTje predictions and explicit domain knowledge from the thesaurus did not increase the F1 score. We quantitatively and qualitatively analyse the differences between the vocabulary and output of the BERT models on the full collection and provide some valuable insights in the effect of fine-tuning for specific domains. Our results indicate that for a highly specific text domain such as archaeology, further pre-training on domain-specific data increases the model’s quality on NER by a much larger margin than shown for other domains in the literature, and that domain-specific pre-training makes the addition of domain knowledge from a thesaurus unnecessary.
A Study of the Ethanol Oxidation Kinetics and Product Distribution using a Pt/TOMS Electrocatalyst
Authors: Black-Araujo Keenan , Alqdeimat Diala A. , Esfahani Reza Alipour Moghadam , Moghaddam Reza B. , Pickup Peter G. , Easton E. Bradley
Published: February 2022

Ethanol is an abundant and sustainable fuel that power direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs). In a DEFC, the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) proceeds at the anode while the oxygen reduction reaction occurs at the cathode. Conventional DEFC electrocatalysts are composed of platinum nanoparticles deposited onto a carbon support (Pt/C). The slow kinetics of the EOR on Pt/C ultimately limits cell performance. Thus, researchers have been looking to develop new catalyst materials that are more stable and active than Pt/C. Here we present a carbon-free catalyst composed of platinum nanoparticles deposited onto a Ti3O5Mo0.2Si0.4 support (Pt/TOMS). The unique metal oxide support is highly conductive and has a strong electronic interaction with the platinum nanoparticles which leads to excellent activity towards the EOR. In comparison to a Pt/C catalyst, Pt/TOMS exhibits earlier onset potentials and a higher current density. Pt/TOMS also shows smaller charge transfer resistance values of 778Ω − 90Ω compared to 818Ω − 206Ω for Pt/C, over a range of temperatures. Activation energies were also lower for Pt/TOMS, ranging from 11.1 J mol−1 to 28.6 J mol−1 compared to 14.5 J mol−1–33.7 J mol−1 for Pt/C. For these reasons, Pt/TOMS is proposed as a more suitable catalyst material for use in DEFCs.
Geo-Based Mixed Reality Gaming Market Analysis
Authors: Kerdvibulvech Chutisant
Published: February 2022

Mixed reality has constantly been a symbol of the future for many years because it integrates many related areas of art and science to produce superior interactive experiences. Recently, it has become tremendously popular with location-based features that allow a new immersive interaction between people. In this paper, we present a novel research of pioneering geo-based mixed reality games, including our own research, to explore the evolution of mixed reality games using location-based features. Five major geo-based mixed reality games are selected for analysis based on the periods built: Human Pacman, AR Car Game, Ingress, Pokémon Go, and AR Mario Kart Live. The geo-based mixed reality gaming market analysis is explored extensively using the semiqualitative method to discover the relationships between the independent variable (year built) and the dependent variables (number of academic paper downloads, Google Trends, revenues, and number of downloads). We then compare each game based on the year built, the devices used in the game, the game purposes, the number of academic paper downloads, the revenues, the number of downloads, and the types of virtual items in the game, to deeply understand the evolution of geo-based mixed reality games. Finally, recommendations for future directions are included.
Investigation on Broadening Compressor Surge Margin by Using Active Magnetic Bearing
Authors: Lin Yingzhe , Bai Gen , Huang Yunkai , Zhou Jin , Guan Xudong , Dong Jiyong
Published: February 2022

The impeller design usually expects to achieve high efficiency and a wide working range while they are influenced by tip clearance in different ways. In this study, a blower with a controllable magnetic suspension bearing was studied. The magnetic bearing enables the impeller to adjust the tip clearance during operation to optimize the efficiency of the blower at the design point and significantly expand the surge margin when it deviates from the design point. The clearance ratio (CR) is defined as the ratio of tip clearance over impeller outlet width. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to study the performance of a centrifugal impeller under CR = 2.61%∼7.83% and verified by experiments. The results show that the pressure ratio and efficiency of the impeller at the design point decreased linearly with the increase of the gap. For each 1% increment in CR, the pressure ratio reduces by 0.02 and the polytropic compression efficiency declines by 0.5%. Conversely, the surge margin increases with the expansion of CR. For every 1% rise in CR, the surge margin would improve by 7.8%. A control method of changing the reference suspension position according to the optimal efficiency fitting model is proposed. It realizes the real-time control of the axial suspension position of the impeller according to the changes of pressure and flow rate signals to obtain the optimal work efficiency with a broad surge margin. Experimental results show that using an impeller equipped with a controllable magnetic suspension bearing could minimize the gap stably in the nonsurge area to obtain high efficiency, and when necessary, it could enlarge the gap to meet the low flow rate condition.
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Cryptosporidium Infection in Calves in and around Nekemte Town, East Wollega Zone of Ethiopia
Authors: Ebiyo Adinew , Haile Geremew
Published: February 2022

Purpose. Cryptosporidiosis, caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Cryptosporidium, is a zoonotic disease that affects young animals and humans. The study was conducted from October 2020 to May 2021, with the objectives of estimating the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in calves and assessing the associated risk factors in Nekemte town, Ethiopia. Methods. A cross-sectional study was adopted during the study period. Initially, 35 dairy farms were selected using a systematic study approach from which a total of 384 calves under the age of 12 months (75 calves from intensive, 51 from semi-intensive, and 258 from extensive dairy farms) were selected purposively for fecal sample collection. Fecal samples were collected directly from the rectum of each calf and tested for Cryptosporidium oocysts using Sheather’s flotation and a modified Ziehl–Neelsen staining procedure. The data were analyzed using STATA statistical software version 13. Results. Cryptosporidium infection was found in 53 of the 384 calves investigated, with an overall prevalence of 13.8% (95% CI = 8.1–17.6). Logistic regression analysis on the risk factors showed that types of farm, age, body condition scores, fecal consistency, types of feed, source of water, and farm hygiene were found to have a statistically significant influence on the shedding of Cryptosporidium oocysts by the calves (

p
<
0.05

). Calves under the age of six months had a higher likelihood (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.0–4.2,

p
<
0.001

) of shedding the oocysts than the calves of 6 to 12 months of age. It was also confirmed that calves with poor body condition scores had a higher likelihood (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.2–3.7,

p
=
0.024

) of shedding the Cryptosporidium oocysts than other ones. The likelihood of shedding a Cryptosporidium oocyst by the diarrheic calves was higher than by the nondiarrheic ones (OR = 3.1,

p
<
0.001

). The infection was 2.6 times highest (16.8%, 31/185, 95% CI = 14.5–19.1, OR = 2.6,

p
=
0.028

) in calves feeding on grass alone, followed by milk and grass (15%) and milk (4.2%). Similarly, it was 2.2 times higher (18.5%, OR = 2.2, and

p
=
0.002

) in calves drinking river water than in calves drinking tap water. Moreover, calves kept under poor hygiene were more likely to shed Cryptosporidium oocysts (OR = 2.8,

p
=
0.001

) than calves kept under good hygiene. Conclusion. In conclusion, cryptosporidiosis is one of the health problems of calves in and around Nekemte town, East Wollega zone. Our findings confirmed that risk factors such as types of farm, age, body condition scores, fecal consistency, types of feed, water source, and farm hygienic status were found to have a significant effect on the occurrence of Cryptosporidium infection in the calves. While the molecular-based study is required to be carried out aiming at species identification and the epidemiology of the parasite, particular attention should be paid to the control of the disease in the study area.
Operating Room Planning for Emergency Surgery: Optimization in Multiobjective Modeling and Management from the Latest Developments in Computational Intelligence Techniques
Authors: Li Qiqian , Liu Yali , Sipahi Döngül Esra , Yang Yufen , Ruan Xiaoyuan , Enbeyle Wegayehu
Published: February 2022

This study presents an optimization approach for scheduling the operation room for emergency surgeries, considering the priority of surgeries. This optimization model aims to minimize the costs associated with elective and emergency surgeries and maximize the number of scheduled surgeries. In this study, surgeon assistants to perform each surgery are considered in order to achieve the goals. Since the time of each surgery varies according to the conditions of the patient, this parameter is considered as an uncertain one, and a robust optimization method is applied to deal with uncertainty. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a case study in one of the East Asian hospitals is presented and analyzed using GAMS software. Moreover, hybrid simulation and gray wolf optimization algorithm (GWO) have been implemented to solve the optimization model in different scenarios. The results show that increasing the risk parameters in the robust optimization model will increase the system costs. Moreover, in case of uncertainty, the solutions obtained from the GWO simulation method are on average 73.75% better than the solutions obtained from the GWO algorithm.
An Episodic Process Model of After-Hour ICT-Related Interruptions at Home
Authors: Grotto Angela R.
Published: February 2022

As remote and hybrid work become mainstream, after-hour interruptions from work into personal life (i.e., boundary violations) via information communicative technology will become even more prevalent. These interruptions trigger employees to suddenly disengage from their nonwork roles and reengage in work (i.e., interrole transitions), which can translate into adverse work and well-being outcomes for employees. It is critical to study after-hour ICT-related interruptions to ensure employees can effectively perform in both their work and nonwork spheres. Although there is a substantial knowledge base for boundary violations and interrole transitions, we have limited understanding of the mechanisms through which these experiences affect individuals on a daily basis. The present study builds on boundary theory with a comprehensive qualitative investigation of the boundary violation-interrole transition process and development of an episodic process model grounded in data. Using the event reconstruction method, employee experiences with after-hour ICT-related interruptions were deeply explored. Content analysis revealed defining features and underlying mechanisms of the boundary violation-interrole transition process and the interrelationships of these mechanisms, facilitating the development of an episodic model with testable propositions for future boundary research. The results suggest that after-hour ICT-related interruptions are a particular type of perceived work-family incompatibility that can be problematic for employees, thereby advancing work-family theory. As these interruptions cannot be eliminated and will increase as more employees work remotely, the results and proposed model can inform the design of organizational interventions intended to mitigate the negative effects of interruptions on employees’ daily lives.
The Impact of Dividend Policies and Financing Strategies on the Speed of Firms’ Capital Structure Adjustment
Authors: Zou Yan , Bai Qinghui
Published: February 2022

Based on the framework of the dynamic adjustment model, this paper examines the impact of dividend policies and financing strategies on the speed of capital structure adjustment and explores the relationship between dividend distribution and financing behavior. The empirical results show that if the firm pays less cash dividends, the capital structure adjustment speed is faster, and the dividend distribution behavior conflicts with financing needs. If the firm pays more cash dividends, the capital structure adjustment speed is slower, and the high dividend policy conflicts with market timing financing strategies. In a word, the behavior of dividend distribution has a significant impact on the speed of capital structure adjustment, and the conflict between dividend distribution and financing strategy affects the speed of capital structure adjustment. This paper provides a new perspective for optimizing capital structure, regulating dividend distribution, and evaluating the rationality of financing behavior.
Nrf2 Deficiency Attenuates Testosterone Efficiency in Ameliorating Mitochondrial Function of the Substantia Nigra in Aged Male Mice
Authors: Ren Baoliang , Zhang Tianyun , Guo Qiqing , Che Jing , Kang Yunxiao , Cui Rui , Wang Yu , Ji Xiaoming , Zhang Guoliang , Shi Geming
Published: February 2022

Reduced testosterone level is a common feature of aging in men. Aging, as a risk factor for several neurodegenerative disorders, shows declined mitochondrial function and downregulated mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics are crucial in maintaining proper mitochondrial function. Supplementation with testosterone is conducive to improving mitochondrial function of males during aging. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a regulator of redox homeostasis, is involved in the ameliorative effects of testosterone supplementation upon aging. To explore Nrf2 role in the effects of testosterone supplementation on mitochondrial function during aging, we studied the efficiency of testosterone supplementation in improving mitochondrial function of Nrf2 knockout- (KO-) aged male mice by analyzing the changes of mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics. It was found that wild-type- (WT-) aged male mice showed low mitochondrial function and expression levels of PGC-1α, NRF-1\NRF-2, and TFAM regulating mitochondrial biogenesis, as well as Drp1, Mfn1, and OPA1 controlling mitochondrial dynamics in the substantia nigra (SN). Nrf2 KO aggravated the defects above in SN of aged male mice. Testosterone supplementation to WT-aged male mice significantly ameliorated mitochondrial function and upregulated mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics, which were not shown in Nrf2 KO-aged male mice due to Nrf2 deficiency. Testosterone deficiency by gonadectomy (GDX) decreased mitochondrial function, downregulated mitochondrial biogenesis, and altered mitochondrial dynamics balance in young male mice. Supplementation with testosterone to Nrf2 KO-GDX mice only ameliorated the alterations above but did not reverse them to sham level. Nrf2 deficiency attenuated testosterone efficiency in ameliorating mitochondrial function in the SN of aged male mice through mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics to some extent. Activation of Nrf2 might contribute to testosterone-upregulating mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial dynamics in the SN during aging to produce efficient mitochondria for ATP production.
Clinicopathological Analysis and Surgical Outcome of Eyelid Malignancies: A Study of 332 Cases
Authors: Ul Kadir Syeed Mehbub , Rani Mitra Mukti , Rashid Riffat , Nuruddin Murtuza , Hassan Khan Md. Kamrul , Haider Golam , Nessa Mst. Sayedatun
Published: February 2022

Background. Eyelid tumours are common in our ophthalmic practice. Malignancy cases account only for one-fourth of all eyelid tumours. The most aggressive eyelid malignancy is sebaceous gland carcinoma, but its occurrences are rare in western countries. We found sebaceous gland carcinoma is as common as basal cell carcinoma in our clinical practices. Hence, it is essential to build awareness about the more aggressive eyelid malignancies to reduce morbidity and mortality. Aim. To assess the relative frequency of eyelid malignancies in the Bangladesh population, state their clinical features and outcome of management strategies and build awareness about the more aggressive eyelid malignancies to reduce morbidity and mortality. Methods. This was a retrospective case series study of 332 patients in Bangladesh. This study analyzed all the recorded data of the histologically proven primary eyelid malignancies and followed them up for at least six months from 2014 to 2019 (6 years). All patients were managed by surgical excision with tumor-free margins verified on histopathology, either the frozen section or excision biopsy with 2–3 mm microscopic view of normal tissue followed by eyelid reconstruction. Computer-based statistical software SPSS was used for the analysis, and an appropriate test of significance (chi-square) was used for the statistical analysis. Results. Sebaceous gland carcinoma (SGC) was the highest in occurrence, at 42%, followed by 38% basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 18% squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), and 02% malignant melanoma (MM). The mean age at presentation of SGC, BCC, SqCC, and MM were 57.41 years, 62.56 years, 64.73 years, and 59.28 years, respectively. Female (59%) was slightly more preponderance over the male (41%) for SGC than other malignancies. Pigmentation was associated with malignant melanoma (100%) and BCC (81%). Statistically, a significant difference was found between eyelid malignancies, including location, size, pigmentation, recurrence, and invasiveness. The recurrence rate was low lower in the patients who underwent frozen section biopsy (3%) for margin clearance than those who underwent excision biopsy (21.5%) in the follow-up time. Conjunctival map biopsy (8%) was performed as an essential tool for excluding the pagetoid spread of SGC. A new reconstruction method named triangular-shaped musculocutaneous tail flap was performed in 33 (11%) patients to reconstruct the moderate eyelid defect following local resection. Conclusion. Sebaceous gland carcinoma (SGC) was the highest occurrence found to be the highest occurrence among all eyelid malignancies in Bangladesh. SGC is more aggressive and the recurrence rate was higher than BCC and SqCC.
An Investigation into the Evolution Law of Young’s Modulus of Polyurethane Coatings with Diluent Contents by Microstructure-Based Tests
Authors: Xie Chao , Lin Xiaoxu , Wang Qicai , Yu Bentian , Li Sheng
Published: February 2022

Recent studies have indicated that the addition of a diluent significantly affect its mechanical properties and performance of a coating, but no works have been reported on the influence of diluent content on the Young’s modulus of a coating, and the evolution law between them is also not clear. To address the deficiency, polyurethane coatings (paint samples) with different diluent contents were prepared. Force-displacement curves and microscan images of the coatings were obtained by atomic force microscopy, and the Young’s modulus of the coatings was calculated on the basis of the indentation method, and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy was used to test the microstructure of the coatings. The results reveal that: (i) Young’s modulus of the coating initially increase and then decreases with diluent content increasing; (ii) the free-volume aperture size had a greater effect on Young’s modulus by grey correlation analysis.
4-Octyl Itaconate Prevents Free Fatty Acid-Induced Lipid Metabolism Disorder through Activating Nrf2-AMPK Signaling Pathway in Hepatocytes
Authors: Chu Xu , Li Longlong , Yan Weiyuan , Ma Haitian
Published: February 2022

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized with oxidative stress and hepatic steatosis, is a serious threat to human health. As a specific activator of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), the 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI) has the beneficial effects in antioxidant and anti-inflammation; however, whether 4-OI can alleviate hepatic steatosis and its mechanism is still unknown. The present study was aimed at investigating the protective effects of 4-OI on free fat acid- (FFA-) induced lipid metabolism disorder and its potential molecular mechanism in hepatocytes. The results showed that 4-OI treatment markedly alleviated FFA-induced oxidative stress and excessive lipid accumulation in hepatocytes. Mechanistically, 4-OI significantly suppressed the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through activation of Nrf2; the downregulation of ROS level induced a downregulation of AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation level which finally ameliorated excessive lipid accumulation in FFA-stimulated hepatocytes. In general, our data demonstrated that 4-OI relieves the oxidative stress and lipid metabolism disorder in FFA-stimulated hepatocytes; and these beneficial effects were achieved by activating the Nrf2-AMPK signaling pathway. These data not only expand the new biological function of 4-OI but also provide a theoretical basis for 4-OI to protect against lipid metabolism disorders and related diseases, such as NAFLD.
An Orthogonal Wavelet Transform-Based K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm to Detect Faults in Bearings
Authors: Li Weipeng , Cao Yan , Li Lijuan , Hou Siyu
Published: February 2022

We aim to address the issues of difficult acquisition of bearing fault data, few feature data sets, and low efficiency of intelligent diagnosis. In this paper, an orthogonal wavelet transform K-nearest neighbor (OWTKNN) diagnosis method has been proposed. The (OWT) method extracts the peaks of each detail signal as training samples and uses the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) method for fault classification. The classification results of the multiple fault test data obtained through rolling bearing tests show that the method can reach a fault recognition rate of 100%, and compared with KNN without extracted eigenvalues, it significantly improves the classification effects from various unknown fault data of the bearing inner ring and ball, shortens classification time, and improves the intelligent diagnosis efficiency. In addition, it achieves an overall recognition rate exceeding 95%, Comparing OWT, EMD, and VMD feature extraction methods, both the OWTKNN and k-center point clustering algorithm do not exceed 80% (KCA), also bearing testimony of the effectiveness of this method.
Construction of Mobile Screening Movie Recommendation Model Based on Artificial Immune Algorithm
Authors: Ren Tianzhi
Published: February 2022

The mobile screening of digital movies can fully take into account the viewing experience of scattered areas. As a public cultural service system, it is playing a pivotal role. The consistency of the film screened with the tastes of the audience in the service area of the screening team has largely affected the quality of rural public culture services. Traditional recommendation algorithms directly use raw data to make predictions, leading to deviations in predictions. This article draws on the principles of immune recognition, clone selection, immune mutation, and self-adaptation of the artificial immune system to improve the recommendation effect of single-type data, the recommendation effect of sparse data, and the recommendation effect of project cold start problems and discusses the recommendation based on artificial immunity. For the single type of data, there are only positive samples, which leads to the problem that the training results are all positive. This paper proposes a single-class recommendation algorithm based on artificial immunity. The algorithm uses the positive and negative sample addition method proposed in this paper to add positive and negative samples related to user selection, so as to effectively solve the problem of difficult definition of data negative samples. Then, the artificial immune network is used to cluster the users of various activities, reduce the size of the candidate neighbor set, calculate the user’s nearest neighbor set, and give recommendations.
The Efficacy of Psychological Care and Chinese Herbal Decoction in Postoperative Chemotherapy Patients with Endometrial Cancer
Authors: Liu Jinjie , Wang Juan , Guo Yang , Zhang Hongmei
Published: February 2022

Background. In recent years, the incidence of endometrial cancer (EC) has been on the rise worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of psychological care and Chinese herbal decoction in EC patients with postoperative chemotherapy. Methods. 80 EC patients with postoperative chemotherapy were randomly divided into the observation group and control group. The control group was given psychotherapy. The observation group was given psychological care plus Chinese herbal decoction treatment. HE4, CA125, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome scores, toxic and side effects, and quality of life scores before and after treatment were observed. Results. After treatment, the total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group. After treatment, serum HE4 and CA125 levels in the observation group were lower than those in the control group. In addition, CD3+ and CD4+ levels in the observation group were higher than those in the control group. Meanwhile, the CD8+ level in the observation group was lower than that in the control group. Compared with the control group, the quality of life in the observation group was significantly improved, and the incidence of adverse reactions was reduced. Conclusion. Chinese herbal decoction combined with psychological care can improve the clinical symptoms, alleviate the toxic and side effects, and improve the life quality of EC patients with postoperative chemotherapy.
Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, and Preparedness of Dental Professionals in Prescribing Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Authors: Taneja Pratibha , Kashyap Parul , Marya Charu Mohan , Nagpal Ruchi , Kataria Sakshi , Mahapatra Soumya , Marya Anand
Published: February 2022

Objective. To assess the knowledge, practice, attitude, and preparedness of dental professionals in prescribing nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Methodology. A prevalidated voluntary web‐based questionnaire was generated as a link through Google Drive and was sent to 117 dental professionals in North India using Whatsapp, Messenger, and Instagram social media platforms. A total of 94 responses were received and out of which 76 responses were analyzed (18 forms were excluded due to incomplete or duplicate responses). Frequency analysis was done using SPSS software version 21. Result. The participation rate was found to be 80.3%. More than half of the study population were familiar with the term NRT (77.6%) and its uses (67.1%), but approximately less than half of the total study subjects knew the duration (32.9%), cost (27.6%), dosage (25%), and contraindications (36.8%) of the NRT. Approximately 56.6% of the study participants showed a positive attitude towards helping patients to quit smoking through tobacco cessation counseling. Nearly one‐fourth of the study population, i.e., 27.6%, were confident in explaining the negative impacts of tobacco, while 22.4% knew about the tobacco cessation protocol. Among the participants, only 27.6% reported that they practice NRT and out of which approximately less than 20% of the study participants were prescribing correct dose of NRT. Conclusion. Though study subjects had an ample knowledge regarding NRT use in tobacco cessation, it does not reflect their current attitude and preparedness. Thus, there is a need for continuing education to further train dental professionals for prescribing NRT.
Practice and Key Technologies of Integration and Sharing of Water Resources and Data Resources Based on Cloud Computing
Authors: Li Fang , Xie Luofeng , Huang Weidong
Published: February 2022

The study of how to construct the integration mode of water conservancy information resources for water conservancy applications is extremely practical. This paper discusses the history of cloud computing and data centers, as well as the development paths of related technologies, and proposes the use of cloud computing to integrate and share water conservation data resources. The current state of water conservation informatization, as well as its characteristics and future development trends, is investigated. The regional water conservancy integrated management system is analyzed in detail according to the process and ideas of software project design and development, and the overall architecture model based on cloud computing is determined by analyzing relevant regulations of water conservancy informatization infrastructure and the actual situation of water conservancy informatization construction in sample areas. And the system’s specific functions are designed and presented. This method has changed the traditional concept and mode of water conservation business management, and it can achieve service value-added and efficient and low-cost development and utilization of information resources, according to practice.