bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigation on the Usefulness of Sulfamethoxazole Trimethoprim Combination Small Tablets in Pediatric Pharmacotherapy: A Single Center Observational Study Using a Questionnaire
Authors: Saito Jumpei , Yamaguchi Miho , Shimizu Seiichi , Chiba Kyoko , Utano Tomoyuki , Fukuda Akinari , Sakamoto Seisuke , Kasahara Mureo , Yamatani Akimasa
Published: October 2022

Sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim (ST) combinations are used to prevent infection in immunocompromised patients. In pediatric patients, conventional ST combination tablets (cTab) are large and granules are not preferred due to their rough and bitter taste in the mouth. Since a new formulation of smaller tablets (sTab, 1 cTab = 1-gram granules = 4 sTab) was approved, a study regarding the usability of sTab in pediatric patients was conducted. Children who started taking sTab of the ST combination at our hospital between August 2021 and August 2022 were included. Using an anonymous questionnaire, the dosage of ST combinations, the child’s response (3-point visual scale: positive, neutral, or negative), preparation and administration time, and method of taking the drug were asked. Twenty-two patients (median age: 11.0 years) receiving cTab. Median (range) number of tablets per dose was 1 (0.5–1.5) tablet, and was 4 tablets (1.0–4.0) after switching to sTab. Twenty patients (median age: 5.0 years) receiving granules. Median (range) single dose was 0.75 (0.2–2.0) gram, and was 2.0 (1.0–4.0) tablets after switching to sTab. Post-dose reactions were positive in 5, neutral in 7, and negative in 10 cases for cTab, and positive in 1, neutral in 7, and negative in 12 cases for granules. After switching to sTab, 9, 13 and 0 cases, and 10, 9 and 1 cases were positive, neutral, and negative, respectively. Median preparation and administration times were decreased after switching to sTab in both cTab and granules groups. The frequency of dosage manipulations was also decreased. The switch to sTab improved acceptability, and decreased burden of administration, suggesting that sTab is a user-friendly formulation in pediatric medications.
A Randomized, Controlled Animal Study: 21% or 100% Oxygen during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Asphyxiated Infant Piglets
Authors: Nyame Solomon , Cheung Po-Yin , Lee Tez-Fun , O’Reilly Megan , Schmölzer Georg M.
Published: October 2022

Background: During pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), resuscitation guidelines recommend 100% oxygen (O2); however, the most effective O2 concentration for infants unknown. Aim: We aimed to determine if 21% O2 during CPR with either chest compression (CC) during sustained inflation (SI) (CC + SI) or continuous chest compression with asynchronized ventilation (CCaV) will reduce time to return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) compared to 100% O2 in infant piglets with asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest. Methods: Piglets (20–23 days of age, weighing 6.2–10.2 kg) were anesthetized, intubated, instrumented, and exposed to asphyxia. Cardiac arrest was defined as mean arterial blood pressure < 25 mmHg with bradycardia. After cardiac arrest, piglets were randomized to CC + SI or CCaV with either 21% or 100% O2 or the sham. Heart rate, arterial blood pressure, carotid blood flow, and respiratory parameters were continuously recorded. Main results: Baseline parameters, duration, and degree of asphyxiation were not different. Median (interquartile range) time to ROSC was 107 (90–440) and 140 (105–200) s with CC + SI 21% and 100% O2, and 600 (50–600) and 600 (95–600) s with CCaV 21% and 100% O2 (p = 0.27). Overall, six (86%) and six (86%) piglets with CC + SI 21% and 100% O2, and three (43%) and three (43%) piglets achieved ROSC with CCaV 21% and 100% O2 (p = 0.13). Conclusions: In infant piglets resuscitated with CC + SI, time to ROSC reduced and survival improved compared to CCaV. The use of 21% O2 had similar time to ROSC, short-term survival, and hemodynamic recovery compared to 100% oxygen. Clinical studies comparing 21% with 100% O2 during infant CPR are warranted.
Prevention of Tracheo-Innominate Artery Fistula Formation as a Complication of Tracheostomy: Two Case Reports
Authors: Yoo Byungsun , Lee Bongjin , Park June Dong , Kwon Seong Keun , Kwak Jae Gun
Published: October 2022

Tracheo-innominate artery fistula (TIF) is a rare complication of tracheostomy and refers to the formation of a fistula between the trachea and innominate artery. Because TIF is fatal, prevention rather than treatment is very important. Here we report the cases of two high-risk patients who underwent tracheostomy, and in whose cases attempts were made to lower the risk of TIF. In the first patient who developed a chest deformity with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a tracheostomy was performed with a high-level (cricothyroid level) approach compared with the standard tracheostomy. In the second patient, the thoracic cage was relatively small due to a giant omphalocele, and the risk of a fistula forming was decreased by wrapping the innominate artery with an opened polytetrafluoroethylene vascular graft after resolving crowding of the intrathoracic cavity by total thymectomy. There was no TIF occurrence at the outpatient follow-up in either case. We expect that our approaches may be effective intervention measures for preventing TIF.
Mechanical and Morphological Changes of the Plantar Flexor Musculotendinous Unit in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy Following 12 Weeks of Plyometric Exercise: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Elnaggar Ragab K. , Alghamdi Mohammed S. , Alenazi Aqeel M. , Alghadier Mshari , Mahmoud Mustafa Z. , Elsayed Abbas Elbakry A. , Hassan Ismail Abdelfattah M. , Abonour Asmaa A.
Published: October 2022

To investigate how plyometric exercise (PLYO-Ex) affects mechanics and morphometrics of the plantar flexor musculotendinous unit in children with unilateral cerebral palsy, 38 participants (aged 10–16 years) were allocated at random to either the PLYO-Ex group (n = 19; received 24 sessions of plyometric muscle loading, conducted 2 times a week for 3 months in succession) or the control group (n = 19; underwent traditional physical therapy for the same frequency and duration). Measurements were taken pre- and post-intervention. Standard ultrasound imaging was applied to evaluate morphometrics of the gastrocnemius muscle and Achilles tendon unit and an isokinetic dynamometer was used to evaluate maximum voluntary isometric plantar flexors contraction (IVCmax). With controlling for pre-treatment values, significant post-treatment changes favoring the PLYO-Ex group were observed for morphological (tendon (p = 0.003, η2p = 0.23) length; belly length (p = 0.001, η2p = 0.27); tendon thickness (p = 0.035, η2p = 0.35); muscle thickness (p = 0.013, η2p = 0.17); fascicle length (p = 0.009, η2p = 0.18); pennation angle (p = 0.015, η2p = 0.16)) and mechanical and material properties (IVCmax (p = 0.009, η2p = 0.18); tendon’s elongation (p = 0.012, η2p = 0.17), stiffness (p = 0.027, η2p = 0.13); stress (p = 0.006, η2p = 0.20); strain (p = 0.004, η2p = 0.21)). In conclusion, plyometric exercise induces significant adaptations within the musculotendinous unit of the plantar flexors in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. These adaptations could improve muscular efficiency and consequently optimize physical/functional performance.
Increased Risk of Tourette Syndrome with Leukotriene Modifier Use in Children with Allergic Diseases and Asthma: A Nationwide Population-Based Study
Authors: Tsai Min-Lan , Lin Hsiu-Chen , Yen Chiung-Hui , Ku Jung-Tzu , Sung Shian-Ying , Chang Hsi
Published: October 2022

(1) Background: Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs), including montelukast and zafirlukast, are FDA-approved for treating pediatric asthma and allergic diseases. Tourette syndrome (TS), a common neuropsychiatric disorder in children, is associated with allergic diseases and asthma. In this study, we investigated the risk of TS following an LTRA prescription for pediatric allergic diseases. (2) Methods: Children younger than 18 years of age who were newly diagnosed with asthma, allergic rhinitis, or atopic dermatitis between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2018 and who were registered in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, which comprises the medical records of nearly 23 million Taiwanese population, were enrolled. LTRA users were matched with randomly selected LTRA non-users by sex, age, asthma-diagnosis year, and urbanization level. In total, 26,984 participants with allergic disease and TS were enrolled and included in the Cox proportional hazards model analysis. (3) Results: Children with allergic disease and asthma treated with LTRAs had a higher risk for TS than LTRA non-users (adjusted hazard ratio 1.376 [95% CI: 1.232–1.536], p < 0.001). LTRA users had a significantly higher risk for TS than LTRA non-users with allergic disease. The cumulative incidence of TS was significantly higher in LTRA users than in non-users with allergic diseases and asthma (log-rank test, p < 0.0001). (4) Conclusion: A prescription of LTRAs, mainly montelukast, increased the risk of TS among children with asthma, allergic rhinitis, or atopic dermatitis. The mechanism underlying the neuropsychiatric effect of LTRAs needs further investigation.
Deaf Children Need Rich Language Input from the Start: Support in Advising Parents
Authors: Humphries Tom , Mathur Gaurav , Napoli Donna Jo , Padden Carol , Rathmann Christian
Published: October 2022

Bilingual bimodalism is a great benefit to deaf children at home and in schooling. Deaf signing children perform better overall than non-signing deaf children, regardless of whether they use a cochlear implant. Raising a deaf child in a speech-only environment can carry cognitive and psycho-social risks that may have lifelong adverse effects. For children born deaf, or who become deaf in early childhood, we recommend comprehensible multimodal language exposure and engagement in joint activity with parents and friends to assure age-appropriate first-language acquisition. Accessible visual language input should begin as close to birth as possible. Hearing parents will need timely and extensive support; thus, we propose that, upon the birth of a deaf child and through the preschool years, among other things, the family needs an adult deaf presence in the home for several hours every day to be a linguistic model, to guide the family in taking sign language lessons, to show the family how to make spoken language accessible to their deaf child, and to be an encouraging liaison to deaf communities. While such a support program will be complicated and challenging to implement, it is far less costly than the harm of linguistic deprivation.
Downscaled Climate Change Projections in Urban Centers of Southwest Ethiopia Using CORDEX Africa Simulations
Authors: Geleta Tesfaye Dessu , Dadi Diriba Korecha , Funk Chris , Garedew Weyessa , Eyelade Damilola , Worku Adefires
Published: October 2022

Projections of future climate change trends in four urban centers of southwest Ethiopia were examined under a high Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP8.5) scenario for near- (2030), mid- (2050), and long-term (2080) periods based on high-resolution (0.220) Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) for Africa data. The multi-model ensemble projects annual maximum and minimum temperatures increasing by 0.047 °C per year (R2 > 0.3) and 0.038 °C per year (R2 > 0.7), respectively, with the rates increased by a factor of 10 for decadal projections between the 2030s and 2080s. The monthly maximum temperature increase is projected to be 1.41 °C and 2.82 °C by 2050 and 2080, respectively. In contrast, the monthly minimum temperature increase is projected to reach +3.2 °C in 2080. The overall seasonal multi-model ensemble average shows an increment in maximum temperature by +1.1 °C and +1.9 °C in 2050 and 2080, with the highest change in the winter, followed by spring, summer, and autumn. Similarly, the future minimum temperature is projected to increase across all seasons by 2080, with increases ranging from 0.4 °C (2030s) to 3.2 °C (2080s). All models consistently project increasing trends in maximum and minimum temperatures, while the majority of the models projected declining future precipitation compared to the base period of 1971–2005. A two-tailed T-test (alpha = 0.05) shows a significant change in future temperature patterns, but no significant changes in precipitation were identified. Changes in daily temperature extremes were found in spring, summer, and autumn, with the largest increases in extreme heat in winter. Therefore, our results support proactive urban planning that considers suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies against increasing air temperatures in urban centers in southwest Ethiopia. Future work will examine the likely changes in temperature and precipitation extremes.
Double-Layer Superhydrophobic Anti-Icing Coating Based on Carbon Nanoparticles
Authors: Kapustin Sergey , Zabolotny Sergey , Eseev Marat , Tsykareva Yuliana
Published: October 2022

The previous article introduced the idea of a superhydrophobic coating from carbon nanoparticles that can combine the lotus effect, the slip effect and electric current heating. A further development of this idea was suggested. The article demonstrated the possibility of a practical implementation of the suggested approach using two coating layers—the electro-thermal layer from carbon nanotubes and the water-repellent layer from onion-like carbons. This coating allows to conserve energy during periods of slight cooling simply due to the use of the lotus effect. The heating is used to prevent icing at lower temperatures. The best contact angle achieved equals 155.9 ± 0.5 degrees at a slip start angle of 1.2 ± 0.5 degrees.
Complete Crystal Structures and Elastic Properties of the Uranyl Minerals Johannite, Pseudojohannite and Derriksite
Authors: Colmenero Francisco , Plášil Jakub , Sejkora Jiří
Published: October 2022

Due to the high solubility of uranyl sulfate and selenite minerals, the investigation involving the determination of the crystal structures and physical properties of these minerals is essential in actinide environmental chemistry for the simulation of uranium migration from uraninite deposits and nuclear waste repositories. However, the determination of the complete crystal structures of the uranyl sulfate minerals johannite (Cu(UO2)2(SO4)2(OH)2 ·8H2O) and pseudojohannite (Cu3(UO2)4(SO4)2O4(OH)2 ·12H2O) and the uranyl selenite mineral derriksite (Cu4[((UO2)(SeO3)2(OH)6]) has not been feasible so far. In this work, the crystal structures of these minerals, including the positions of the hydrogen atoms, are determined using first principles solid-state methods based on periodic density functional theory using plane wave basis sets and pseudopotentials. The lattice parameters and associated geometrical variables as well as the corresponding X-ray diffraction patterns derived from the computed crystal structures are in excellent agreement with their experimental counterparts, derived from the corresponding experimental structures lacking the hydrogen atom positions. The complete crystal structure of derriksite is also determined by refinement from X-ray diffraction data, the resulting structure being consistent with the computed one. The knowledge of the positions of H atoms is of fundamental importance not only because they define the corresponding hydrogen bond networks holding together the atoms in the structures, but also because it allows for the efficient, inexpensive and safe determination of the physical properties using first principles methods. This feature is particularly important in the case of uranium-containing minerals due to their radiotoxicity, complicating the handling of the samples and experimental measurements. In this work, from the computed crystal structures, the elasticity tensors of these minerals are computed using the finite displacement method and a rich set of elastic properties including the bulk, Young’s and shear moduli, the Poisson’s ratio, ductility, anisotropy and hardness indices and bulk modulus derivatives with respect to pressure derivatives are determined.
Synthesis, Crystal and Electronic Structures, Nonlinear Optical Properties, and Magnetic Properties of Two Thiophosphates: KInP2S7 and KCrP2S7
Authors: Cropek Craig , Nguyen Vivian , Chhetri Santosh Karki , Hu Jin , Guo Shengping , Wang Jian
Published: October 2022

Two thiophosphates, KInP2S7 and KCrP2S7, were structurally characterized without investigating any optical properties. Herein in this work, KInP2S7 and KCrP2S7 were revisited to investigate their optical and magnetic properties, respectively. Pure polycrystalline samples and crystals of KInP2S7 and KCrP2S7 were grown by high temperature solid state reactions, where mm-sized crystals of KCrP2S7 were collected. KCrP2S7 is isostructural to KInP2S7, which features a layered structure. KInP2S7 and KCrP2S7 possess close relationship to the layered thiophosphate M2P2S6 (M = Fe, Co, Zn, etc.). The bonding pictures of KInP2S7 were studied using the electron localization function (ELF) coupled with crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) calculations. The intrinsically distorted [PS4] tetrahedra and [InS6] octahedra are made by strong covalent P-S interactions and ionic In-S interactions, respectively. Electronic structure analysis confirmed that the optical properties of KInP2S7 are mainly contributed to by [PS4] tetrahedra together with small amounts of the contributions coming from [InS6] octahedra. Magnetic measurement on mm-sized crystals of KCrP2S7 verified that there is an antiferromagnetic transition around 21 K, and the Cr atoms are trivalent. KInP2S7 is predicated to be an indirect bandgap semiconductor of 2.38 eV, which is confirmed by the UV-Vis measurement of 2.4(1) eV. KInP2S7 is not a type-I phase-matching material and exhibits moderate second harmonic generation (SHG) response (0.51 × AgGaS2, sample of particle size of 100 µm). The laser damage threshold (LDT) of KInP2S7 is very high of 5.2 × AgGaS2. Bandgap engineering were undergone to enhance the SHG response of KInP2S7.
Nanocrystalline Materials: Preparation, Structural, Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical, and Thermal Properties and Applications (Volume II)
Authors: Yadav Raghvendra Singh , Anju
Published: October 2022

In this current Special Issue, “Nanocrystalline Materials: Preparation, Structural, Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical, Thermal Properties and Applications (Volume II)”, eight original research articles have been published [...]
Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification
Authors: Davies Simon R. , Macfarlane Richard , Buchanan William J.
Published: October 2022

Ransomware is a malicious class of software that utilises encryption to implement an attack on system availability. The target’s data remains encrypted and is held captive by the attacker until a ransom demand is met. A common approach used by many crypto-ransomware detection techniques is to monitor file system activity and attempt to identify encrypted files being written to disk, often using a file’s entropy as an indicator of encryption. However, often in the description of these techniques, little or no discussion is made as to why a particular entropy calculation technique is selected or any justification given as to why one technique is selected over the alternatives. The Shannon method of entropy calculation is the most commonly-used technique when it comes to file encryption identification in crypto-ransomware detection techniques. Overall, correctly encrypted data should be indistinguishable from random data, so apart from the standard mathematical entropy calculations such as Chi-Square (χ2), Shannon Entropy and Serial Correlation, the test suites used to validate the output from pseudo-random number generators would also be suited to perform this analysis. The hypothesis being that there is a fundamental difference between different entropy methods and that the best methods may be used to better detect ransomware encrypted files. The paper compares the accuracy of 53 distinct tests in being able to differentiate between encrypted data and other file types. The testing is broken down into two phases, the first phase is used to identify potential candidate tests, and a second phase where these candidates are thoroughly evaluated. To ensure that the tests were sufficiently robust, the NapierOne dataset is used. This dataset contains thousands of examples of the most commonly used file types, as well as examples of files that have been encrypted by crypto-ransomware. During the second phase of testing, 11 candidate entropy calculation techniques were tested against more than 270,000 individual files—resulting in nearly three million separate calculations. The overall accuracy of each of the individual test’s ability to differentiate between files encrypted using crypto-ransomware and other file types is then evaluated and each test is compared using this metric in an attempt to identify the entropy method most suited for encrypted file identification. An investigation was also undertaken to determine if a hybrid approach, where the results of multiple tests are combined, to discover if an improvement in accuracy could be achieved.
Unveiling Latent Structure of Venture Capital Syndication Networks
Authors: Gu Weiwei , Yang Ao , Lu Lingyun , Li Ruiqi
Published: October 2022

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by VC institutions to startups with high growth potential due to innovative technology or novel business models but also high risks. To against uncertainties and benefit from mutual complementarity and sharing resources and information, making joint-investments with other VC institutions on the same startup are pervasive, which forms an ever-growing complex syndication network. Attaining objective classifications of VC institutions and revealing the latent structure of joint-investment behaviors between them can deepen our understanding of the VC industry and boost the healthy development of the market and economy. In this work, we devise an iterative Loubar method based on the Lorenz curve to make objective classification of VC institutions automatically, which does not require setting arbitrary thresholds and the number of categories. We further reveal distinct investment behaviors across categories, where the top-ranked group enters more industries and investment stages with a better performance. Through network embedding of joint investment relations, we unveil the existence of possible territories of top-ranked VC institutions, and the hidden structure of relations between VC institutions.
Adaptation of Partial Mutual Information from Mixed Embedding to Discrete-Valued Time Series
Authors: Papapetrou Maria , Siggiridou Elsa , Kugiumtzis Dimitris
Published: October 2022

A causality analysis aims at estimating the interactions of the observed variables and subsequently the connectivity structure of the observed dynamical system or stochastic process. The partial mutual information from mixed embedding (PMIME) is found appropriate for the causality analysis of continuous-valued time series, even of high dimension, as it applies a dimension reduction by selecting the most relevant lag variables of all the observed variables to the response, using conditional mutual information (CMI). The presence of lag components of the driving variable in this vector implies a direct causal (driving-response) effect. In this study, the PMIME is appropriately adapted to discrete-valued multivariate time series, called the discrete PMIME (DPMIME). An appropriate estimation of the discrete probability distributions and CMI for discrete variables is implemented in the DPMIME. Further, the asymptotic distribution of the estimated CMI is derived, allowing for a parametric significance test for the CMI in the DPMIME, whereas for the PMIME, there is no parametric test for the CMI and the test is performed using resampling. Monte Carlo simulations are performed using different generating systems of discrete-valued time series. The simulation suggests that the parametric significance test for the CMI in the progressive algorithm of the DPMIME is compared favorably to the corresponding resampling significance test, and the accuracy of the DPMIME in the estimation of direct causality converges with the time-series length to the accuracy of the PMIME. Further, the DPMIME is used to investigate whether the global financial crisis has an effect on the causality network of the financial world market.
Algebraic Persistent Fault Analysis of SKINNY_64 Based on S_Box Decomposition
Authors: Fang Xing , Zhang Hongxin , Wang Danzhi , Yan Hao , Fan Fan , Shu Lei
Published: October 2022

Algebraic persistent fault analysis (APFA), which combines algebraic analysis with persistent fault attacks, brings new challenges to the security of lightweight block ciphers and has received widespread attention since its introduction. Threshold Implementation (TI) is one of the most widely used countermeasures for side channel attacks. Inspired by this method, the SKINNY block cipher adopts the S_box decomposition to reduce the number of variables in the set of algebraic equations and the number of Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) equations in this paper, thus speeding up the algebraic persistent fault analysis and reducing the number of fault ciphertexts. In our study, we firstly establish algebraic equations for full-round faulty encryption, and then analyze the relationship between the number of fault ciphertexts required and the solving time in different scenarios (decomposed S_boxes and original S_box). By comparing the two sets of experimental results, the success rate and the efficiency of the attack are greatly improved by using S_box decomposition. In this paper, We can recover the master key in a minimum of 2000s using 11 pairs of plaintext and fault ciphertext, while the key recovery cannot be done in effective time using the original S_box expression equations. At the same time, we apply S_box decomposition to another kind of algebraic persistent fault analysis, and the experimental results show that using S_box decomposition can effectively reduce the solving time and solving success rate under the same conditions.
Composite Discordant States and Quantum Darwinism
Authors: Ryan Eoghan , Paternostro Mauro
Published: October 2022

The framework of Quantum Darwinism strives at characterizing the quantum-to-classical transition by introducing the concept of redundancy of information—as measured by Mutual Information—that a set of observers would acquire on the state of a physical system of interest. Further development on this concept, in the form of Strong Quantum Darwinism and Spectrum Broadcast Structures, has recently led to a more fine-grained identification of the nature of such information, which should not involve any quantum correlations between observing and observed systems, while the assessment of information proliferation from individual systems has attracted most of the attention so far, the way such mechanism takes place in more complex states is open to exploration. To this end, we shall consider a two-qubit state, sharing initial quantum correlations in the form of Quantum Discord, and different dephasing-like interactions between them and an observing environment. We will focus on the amount of information regarding the subsystem not involved in the interaction that is proliferated to the environment. We shall refer to this as mediated redundancy. We will show that, in some cases, the channel capacity of the subsystems, given these interactions, can exceed that of the fragments.
Scalable Network Coding for Heterogeneous Devices over Embedded Fields
Authors: Tang Hanqi , Zheng Ruobin , Li Zongpeng , Long Keping , Sun Qifu
Published: October 2022

In complex network environments, there always exist heterogeneous devices with different computational powers. In this work, we propose a novel scalable random linear network coding (RLNC) framework based on embedded fields, so as to endow heterogeneous receivers with different decoding capabilities. In this framework, the source linearly combines the original packets over embedded fields based on a precoding matrix and then encodes the precoded packets over GF(2) before transmission to the network. After justifying the arithmetic compatibility over different finite fields in the encoding process, we derive a sufficient and necessary condition for decodability over different fields. Moreover, we theoretically study the construction of an optimal precoding matrix in terms of decodability. The numerical analysis in classical wireless broadcast networks illustrates that the proposed scalable RLNC not only guarantees a better decoding compatibility over different fields compared with classical RLNC over a single field, but also outperforms Fulcrum RLNC in terms of a better decoding performance over GF(2). Moreover, we take the sparsity of the received binary coding vector into consideration, and demonstrate that for a large enough batch size, this sparsity does not affect the completion delay performance much in a wireless broadcast network.
A Numerical Study of the Dynamics of Vector-Born Viral Plant Disorders Using a Hybrid Artificial Neural Network Approach
Authors: Alhakami Hosam , Umar Muhammad , Sulaiman Muhammad , Alhakami Wajdi , Baz Abdullah
Published: October 2022

Most plant viral infections are vector-borne. There is a latent period of disease inside the vector after obtaining the virus from the infected plant. Thus, after interacting with an infected vector, the plant demonstrates an incubation time before becoming diseased. This paper analyzes a mathematical model for persistent vector-borne viral plant disease dynamics. The backpropagated neural network based on the Levenberg—Marquardt algorithm (NN-BLMA) is used to study approximate solutions for fluctuations in natural plant mortality and vector mortality rates. A state-of-the-art numerical technique is utilized to generate reference data for obtaining surrogate solutions for multiple cases through NN-BLMA. Curve fitting, regression analysis, error histograms, and convergence analysis are used to assess accuracy of the calculated solutions. It is evident from our simulations that NN-BLMA is accurate and reliable.
Relative Entropy, Gaussian Concentration and Uniqueness of Equilibrium States
Authors: Chazottes Jean-René , Redig Frank
Published: October 2022

For a general class of lattice spin systems, we prove that an abstract Gaussian concentration bound implies positivity of the lower relative entropy density. As a consequence, we obtain uniqueness of translation-invariant Gibbs measures from the Gaussian concentration bound in this general setting. This extends earlier results with a different and very short proof.
QAScore—An Unsupervised Unreferenced Metric for the Question Generation Evaluation
Authors: Ji Tianbo , Lyu Chenyang , Jones Gareth , Zhou Liting , Graham Yvette
Published: October 2022

Question Generation (QG) aims to automate the task of composing questions for a passage with a set of chosen answers found within the passage. In recent years, the introduction of neural generation models has resulted in substantial improvements of automatically generated questions in terms of quality, especially compared to traditional approaches that employ manually crafted heuristics. However, current QG evaluation metrics solely rely on the comparison between the generated questions and references, ignoring the passages or answers. Meanwhile, these metrics are generally criticized because of their low agreement with human judgement. We therefore propose a new reference-free evaluation metric called QAScore, which is capable of providing a better mechanism for evaluating QG systems. QAScore evaluates a question by computing the cross entropy according to the probability that the language model can correctly generate the masked words in the answer to that question. Compared to existing metrics such as BLEU and BERTScore, QAScore can obtain a stronger correlation with human judgement according to our human evaluation experiment, meaning that applying QAScore in the QG task benefits to a higher level of evaluation accuracy.
Spatial Information-Theoretic Optimal LPI Radar Waveform Design
Authors: Chen Jun , Wang Jie , Zhang Yidong , Wang Fei , Zhou Jianjiang
Published: October 2022

In this paper, the design of low probability of intercept (LPI) radar waveforms considers not only the performance of passive interception systems (PISs), but also radar detection and resolution performance. Waveform design is an important considerations for the LPI ability of radar. Since information theory has a powerful performance-bound description ability from the perspective of information flow, LPI waveforms are designed in this paper within the constraints of the detection performance metrics of radar and PISs, both of which are measured by the Kullback–Leibler divergence, and the resolution performance metric, which is measured by joint entropy. The designed optimization model of LPI waveforms can be solved using the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. Simulation results verify that the designed LPI waveforms not only have satisfactory target-detecting and resolution performance, but also have a superior low interception performance against PISs.
A Novel Fault Diagnosis Method for Rolling Bearing Based on Hierarchical Refined Composite Multiscale Fluctuation-Based Dispersion Entropy and PSO-ELM
Authors: Chen Yinsheng , Yuan Zichen , Chen Jiahui , Sun Kun
Published: October 2022

This paper proposes a novel fault diagnosis method for rolling bearing based on hierarchical refined composite multiscale fluctuation-based dispersion entropy (HRCMFDE) and particle swarm optimization-based extreme learning machine (PSO-ELM). First, HRCMFDE is used to extract fault features in the vibration signal at different time scales. By introducing the hierarchical theory algorithm into the vibration signal decomposition process, the problem of missing high-frequency signals in the coarse-grained process is solved. Fluctuation-based dispersion entropy (FDE) has the characteristics of insensitivity to noise interference and high computational efficiency based on the consideration of nonlinear time series fluctuations, which makes the extracted feature vectors more effective in describing the fault information embedded in each frequency band of the vibration signal. Then, PSO is used to optimize the input weights and hidden layer neuron thresholds of the ELM model to improve the fault identification capability of the ELM classifier. Finally, the performance of the proposed rolling bearing fault diagnosis method is verified and analyzed by using the CWRU dataset and MFPT dataset as experimental cases, respectively. The results show that the proposed method has high identification accuracy for the fault diagnosis of rolling bearings with varying loads and has a good load migration effect.
Blind Additive Gaussian White Noise Level Estimation from a Single Image by Employing Chi-Square Distribution
Authors: Wang Zhicheng , An Qing , Zhu Zifan , Fang Hao , Huang Zhenghua
Published: October 2022

The additive Gaussian white noise (AGWN) level in real-life images is usually unknown, for which the empirical setting will make the denoising methods over-smooth fine structures or remove noise incompletely. The previous noise level estimation methods are easily lost in accurately estimating them from images with complicated structures. To cope with this issue, we propose a novel noise level estimation scheme based on Chi-square distribution, including the following key points: First, a degraded image is divided into many image patches through a sliding window. Then, flat patches are selected by using a patch selection strategy on the gradient maps of those image patches. Next, the initial noise level is calculated by employing Chi-square distribution on the selected flat patches. Finally, the stable noise level is optimized by an iterative strategy. Quantitative, with association, to qualitative results of experiments on synthetic real-life images validate that the proposed noise level estimation method is effective and even superior to the state-of-the-art methods. Extensive experiments on noise removal using BM3D further illustrate that the proposed noise level estimation method is more beneficial for achieving favorable denoising performance with detail preservation.
Methods of Current Knowledge Teaching on the Cybersecurity Example
Authors: Nyemkova Elena , Justice Connie , Liaskovska Solomiia , Lakh Yuriy
Published: October 2022

Teaching of modern cybersecurity specialists should be up to date and use the newest methods and methodologies in universities as the IT industry is rapidly growing and constantly changing. A good idea is to use methods of management in IT companies as methods for current knowledge teaching of university students. It is also worth engaging students not only in educational international projects but the research projects as well. This work analyzes the method for teaching students, and the Scrum methodology was selected and implemented for educational and research projects. Students participated in both projects, however, Scrum models should be different for them and this is illustrated in the paper. The visualization of collected statistical data of the performed educational project illustrated distributions of students by specialization and by marks. The distributions by marks showed that using the Scrum model for the teaching course significantly increases the marks compared with the average level marks of the students in their specializations.
Emotion-Based Literature Book Classification Using Online Reviews
Authors: Luţan Elena-Ruxandra , Bădică Costin
Published: October 2022

Reading is not only a recreational activity; it also shapes the emotional and cognitive competences of the reader. In this paper, we present a method and tools for the analysis of emotions extracted from online reviews of literature books. We implement a scraper to create a new experimental dataset of reviews gathered from Goodreads, a website dedicated to readers that contains a large database of books and readers’ reviews. We propose a system which extracts the emotions from the reviews and associates them with the reviewed book. Afterwards, this information can be used to find similarities between the books based on readers’ impressions. Lastly, we show the experimental setup, consisting of the user interface developed for the proposed system, together with the experimental results.
TCP Parameters Monitoring of Robotic Stations
Authors: Burghardt Andrzej , Szybicki Dariusz , Gierlak Piotr , Kurc Krzysztof , Muszyńska Magdalena , Ornat Artur , Uliasz Marek
Published: October 2022

The impulse for writing the paper is the observation of the works related to the implementation of robotization of processes such as machining, glue application, welding and painting. The abovementioned processes, in addition to the correct implementation of the trajectory, require the definition of various parameters (e.g., speed) in the robot’s software. In the trajectories where the reconfiguration of the robot arms is observed, there are significant errors in the implementation of the defined speed. Robotic technology suppliers, in the event of speed disturbances, manually increase the defined speed value or experimentally select other parameters. It is a cumbersome process, and the lack of information about the process parameters makes it time-consuming and inaccurate. In this paper, one representative process is selected, namely machining performed with various tools by ABB robots. In order for the robotic process to be controlled, it is necessary to compare the defined path with the speed profile. Then, the speed parameters can be controlled and corrected. The approach proposed in the paper allows for improving the quality of implemented robotic processes. It presents the available IT tools for station monitoring and how to use them. The advantages of the proposed solutions and their limitations are shown in the examples of implementation of robotic stations in the industry.
A Simple and Effective Approach for Scattering Suppression in Multiband Base Station Antennas
Authors: Farasat Madiha , Thalakotuna Dushmantha , Hu Zhonghao , Yang Yang
Published: October 2022

The high band pattern distortions in an 1810–2690 MHz frequency band, introduced due to low band radiators working in 690–960 MHz, are mitigated by a simple yet effective change to the low band-radiating elements. A novel horizontal and vertical radiating element is designed instead of a conventional slant polarized low band-radiating element to reduce the scattering. The slant polarization is achieved from the horizontal and vertical dipoles, using a 180° hybrid coupler. The vertical dipole length is optimized to improve the high band patterns. The experimental results verified that the proposed horizontal and vertical low band dipole result in the reduction of high band pattern distortions. The low band-radiating elements provide >12 dB return loss over the entire frequency band 690–960 MHz and provide comparable pattern performance to a conventional slant low band dipole.
Arrhythmia Detection Based on WGAN-GP and SE-ResNet1D
Authors: Qin Jing , Gao Fujie , Wang Zumin , Liu Lu , Ji Changqing
Published: October 2022

A WGAN-GP-based ECG signal expansion and an SE-ResNet1D-based ECG classification method are proposed to address the problem of poor modeling results due to the imbalanced sample distribution of ECG data sets. The network architectures of WGAN-GP and SE-ResNet1D are designed according to the characteristics of ECG signals so that they can be better applied to the generation and classification of ECG signals. First, ECG data were generated using WGAN-GP on the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database to balance the dataset. Then, the experiments were performed using the AAMI category and inter-patient data partitioning principles, and classification experiments were performed using SE-ResNet1D on the imbalanced and balanced datasets, respectively, and compared with three networks, VGGNet, DenseNet and CNN+Bi-LSTM. The experimental results show that using WGAN-GP to balance the dataset can improve the accuracy and robustness of the model classification, and the proposed SE-ResNet1D outperforms the comparison model, with a precision of 95.80%, recall of 96.75% and an F1 measure of 96.27% on the balanced dataset. Our methods have the potential to be a useful diagnostic tool to assist cardiologists in the diagnosis of arrhythmias.
Non-Thermal Plasma Technology for CO2 Conversion—An Overview of the Most Relevant Experimental Results and Kinetic Models
Authors: Marcantonio Vera , De Falco Marcello , Bocci Enrico
Published: October 2022

Global warming, along with increasing global energy demands, has led to the need for a sustainable and low-carbon-based energy economy. In addition to renewable energy technologies, such as biomass, solar, hydro, and wind, another possible strategy to mitigate climate change is the capture/conversion and recycling of CO2. In recent years, many methods for both CO2 capture (mainly adsorption, absorption, and membrane) and conversion (many electrolysis, catalyst, and plasma) have been investigated. Conversion technology is less studied but seems to be very promising. Within that, non-thermal plasma technology has received much interest because it works at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure, and there is no need for high temperature and high electricity consumption, which are typical of the catalyst and electrolysis conversion processes, respectively. Therefore, in order to optimize this emerging technology, simulative kinetic models have been developed with the aim of maximizing both energy efficiency and CO2 conversion. In the present paper, an overview of the most common non-thermal plasma technologies was carried out to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Then, an overview of the most significant kinetic models available in literature was carried out to point out the main reactions occurring during CO2 conversion and also the parameters that most affect the performance of a plasma reactor during CO2 conversion. Then, a brief recap of the literature available on economic studies of the plasma process is given.
Aerogel Product Applications for High-Temperature Thermal Insulation
Authors: Fedyukhin Alexander V. , Strogonov Konstantin V. , Soloveva Olga V. , Solovev Sergei A. , Akhmetova Irina G. , Berardi Umberto , Zaitsev Mark D. , Grigorev Daniil V.
Published: October 2022

This paper presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies to determine the optimal thickness of thermal insulation from basalt fiber and aerogel products for pipelines at temperatures of 300 and 600 °C. We carried out a comparison of the key thermophysical characteristics of the claimed heat-insulating materials. We performed a thermal imaging survey of the furnace chimney, insulated with basalt fiber and aerogel, while controlling the temperature of the flue gases by establishing the required ratio of the flow rate of natural gas and oxidizer. The temperature gradient along the thickness of the thermal insulation was obtained using a numerical tool developed in ANSYS. The results show that aerogel surpasses basalt fiber in all key thermophysical characteristics. At the same time, the only barrier to widespread industrial production and use of aerogel in the high-temperature thermal insulation segment is its market cost, which is still several times higher than that of basalt fiber in terms of an equivalent performance.
Structural Evolution and Enhanced Piezoelectric Activity in Novel Lead-Free BaTiO3-Ca(Sn1/2Zr1/2)O3 Solid Solutions
Authors: Zhang Ke , Gao Pan , Liu Chang , Chen Xin , Huang Xinye , Pu Yongping , Liu Zenghui
Published: October 2022

In this study, a series of solid solutions of (1−x)BaTiO3-xCa(Sn1/2Zr1/2)O3 (abbreviated as (1−x)BT-xCSZ, x = 0.00–0.15) ceramics have been prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method to search for high performance lead-free piezoelectric materials. The structural evolution, microstructure, and piezoelectric properties are investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate that the phase symmetry strongly depends on the CSZ content. A tetragonal phase is well-maintained in the compositions of 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03, and coexistence of tetragonal and cubic phases is obtained in the range of x = 0.06–0.09, beyond which a pure cubic phase becomes stable. More importantly, a significantly enhanced piezoelectric coefficient of d33 = 388 ± 9 pC/N is attained in the composition of x = 0.06 in the MPB region, where a tetragonal ferroelectric phase and an ergodic relaxor phase with average cubic symmetry coexist. Based on the analysis of crystal structure and dielectric properties, a temperature-composition phase diagram consisting of four phase regions is established. This study indicates that the lead-free BT-CSZ binary system has great potential for use in electromechanical transducer applications.