bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is it safe outside? Tales from a home visiting service for families during the COVID pandemic
Authors: Dangerfield Mark , Malberg Norka , Coll Elsa
Published: May 2023

A description of a mentalization informed home‐based project, an adaptation of the ECID project (Equipo Clínico de Intervención a Domicilio), into a time‐limited first aid mental health team in response to heightened mental health needs during the COVID Pandemic in Barcelona, Spain is offered. ECID is a project with a developmental psychodynamic understanding of psychopathology and relational dynamics informing a highly flexible treatment approach. This paper describes a focus on the need for clinicians to take an active role whilst adapting to the specific needs and situation of each child and family, instead of continuing to ask them to adapt to what services can or are prepared to offer. Clinical examples are given to illustrate the value of an integrative community approach informed by both systemic and psychodynamic lenses. Specifically, we reflect on the benefits of a mentalization informed approach to working with families during high levels of psychosocial stress for both families and practitioners. We illustrate how of a mentalization informed clinical service can promote and support the development of a therapeutic alliance when internal safety is impacted by a very real external threat. Finally, preliminary data is presented regarding the impact of parental stress and trauma on children and adolescents' adaptation to a potentially traumatic situation as well as their capacity for returning to a progressive development pathway.
Fractional‐order sliding mode control for a novel magneto‐electro‐elastic microtube robot
Authors: Tofigh Mohamadali , Shah‐Mohammadi‐Azar Ali , Rezazadeh Ghader , Mahjoob Mohammad
Published: May 2023

In this paper, a tracking controller based on a non‐integer sliding surface is proposed for a magneto‐electro‐elastic (MEE) fluid‐conveying microtube robot. The smart/adaptive MEE material enables us to control the robot with no need for external sensors and actuators. The micro‐robot lateral motion is modeled by Euler–Bernoulli beam equations. The governing equation of the robot is derived using the constitutive equations of MEE materials and Maxwell's principle followed by Hamilton's variational method. Based on the extracted dynamic model, a novel non‐integer order sliding mode controller is introduced to suppress the microtube vibration and to provide robust path following for the robot tip. This control approach is compatible with the parameter‐varying nature of the robot dynamics. Theoretical analyses, based on Lyapunov theory, are also conducted to verify the stability of the closed‐loop system. Comparative simulations are finally performed to show the efficiency of the proposed system in comparison with the conventional micro tubes made of smart materials and with an integer order sliding mode controller (SMC). The results demonstrate that the proposed robot properly meets the performance requirements in terms of vibration suppression and trajectory tracking, even in the presence of disturbances.
Emergent control for play responses following instructive feedback for children with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Morton Sofia M. , Campanaro Alexandra M. , Vladescu Jason C. , Sidener Tina M. , Domanski Craig
Published: May 2023

Play provides children learning opportunities in the natural environment to acquire communication skills. While working to establish skills that may lead to additional leisure and social opportunities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), procedures need to be both effective and efficient. One way to increase efficiency of teaching is through the use of instructive feedback (IF). Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to systematically replicate and extend previous research by examining if play behaviors emerge when using IF to teach conceptually related primary (i.e., tacts) and secondary targets (i.e., play skills). The results of the present study extend previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of teaching tacts to individuals with ASD, and that using IF during tact training can help promote the acquisition of play skills.
An empirical evaluation of the formative feedback supported by dashboard in the context of compilation error
Authors: Sanchez‐Santillan Miguel , Fernandez‐Medina Carlos , Perez‐Perez Juan R. , Paule‐Ruiz MPuerto
Published: May 2023

Formative feedback is one of the most recognized types of feedback in academics. However, for feedback to be effective it must be task‐specific, immediate, corrective and positive. At present, automatic feedback is far from these characteristics and leaves the instructor as a fundamental agent in the teaching‐learning process of programming. Faced with this scenario, the lecturer needs support tools that help them to give formative feedback in educational scenarios with many students and little time. In this paper, we have demonstrated that, by using a tool called COLMENA, any lecturer may give students effective formative feedback which is task‐specific, immediate and corrective. COLMENA is a system that combines real‐time Eclipse IDE data retrieval on compilation errors and analytical dashboards in a webapp solution for lecturers and students. In this study, two different approaches have been compared, considering two academic courses with and without COLMENA feedback, respectively. The results indicate that novice students receiving feedback from the lecturer via COLMENA reduced their errors, demonstrating that feedback generated from compilation errors is effective.
Spatially distributed lane planning for navigation in 3D environments
Authors: Sharma Ritesh , Kallmann Marcelo
Published: May 2023

This article introduces the new problem of planning spatially distributed lanes for supporting multi‐agent navigation applications in 3D environments. Our proposed approach computes the max‐flow of a 3D medial axis representation of the environment in order to globally compute collision‐free lanes exploring the entire free space of the volumetric scene. Our method addresses agent clearance and path dispersion in order to provide a comprehensive solution to globally compute lanes to be used by multiple agents in 3D environments. By selecting the desired lane dispersion our approach offers an intuitive and powerful way to explore variations in the computed collections of lanes. Dispersion is addressed with a combination of new techniques based on max flow computation, clearance‐based path separation, and adaptive shortcut‐based smoothing.
Online alignment of human motion using forward plotting‐dynamic time warping
Authors: Randall Mathew , Harvey Carlo , Williams Ian
Published: May 2023

A number of approaches to online time warping have been proposed based on plotting an alignment path backwards from a selected end‐point. When continually updating a time warp to align a time series with a live data source, such as a stream of motion capture data, the use of backwards plotting makes it hard to maintain a monotonic constraint. To solve this problem, a number of time warping approaches based on forward plotting, referred to as FP‐DTW, are proposed and evaluated by applying them to human motions. We demonstrate that forward plotting for temporal alignment is a viable solution when backwards plotting is otherwise not possible.
Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Assessment against Human Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines of Quaternary 8‐Dichloromethyl Protoberberine Alkaloids
Authors: Xu Ling‐Wen , Zhang Xue‐Qian , Yan Zheng , Li Zhi‐Hong , Deng An‐Jun , Qin Hai‐Lin
Published: May 2023

Twenty‐two quaternary 8‐dichloromethylprotoberberine alkaloids were synthesized from unmodified quaternary protoberberine alkaloids (QPAs) to improve their physical and chemical properties and to obtain selectively anticancer derivatives. The synthesized derivatives showed more appropriate octanol/water partition coefficients by up to values 3–4 compared to unmodified QPA substrates. In addition, these compounds exhibited significant antiproliferative activity against colorectal cancer cells and lower toxicity on normal cells, resulting in more significant selectivity indices than unmodified QPA compounds in vitro. The IC50 values of antiproliferative activity of quaternary 8‐dichloromethyl‐pseudoberberine 4‐chlorobenzenesulfonate and quaternary 8‐dichloromethyl‐pseudopalmatine methanesulfonate against colorectal cancer cells are 0.31 μM and 0.41 μM, respectively, significantly stronger than those of other compounds and positive control 5‐fluorouracil. These findings suggest that 8‐dichloromethylation can be used as one of the modification strategies to guide the structural modification and subsequent investigation of anticancer drugs for CRC based on QPAs.
Effectiveness, safety, and patient reported outcomes of a planned investment procedure in higher‐risk chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention: Rationale and design of the invest‐CTO study
Authors: Øksnes Anja , Skaar Elisabeth , Engan Britt , Bleie Øyvind , Løland Kjetil H. , Taoussi Nadia , Maheran Akiko , Norekvål Tone Merete , Rotevatn Svein , McEntegart Margaret B.
Published: May 2023

Background

The anatomical complexity of a chronic total occlusion (CTO) correlates with procedural failure and complication rates. CTO modification after unsuccessful crossing has been associated with subsequent higher technical success rates, but complication rates remain high with this approach. While successful CTO percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been associated with improved angina and quality of life (QOL) this has not been demonstrated in anatomically high‐risk CTOs. Whether a planned CTO modification procedure, hereafter named Investment procedure, could improve patient outcomes has never been investigated.

Study Design

Invest‐CTO is a prospective, single‐arm, international, multicenter study, evaluating the effectiveness and safety of a planned investment procedure, with a subsequent completion CTO PCI (at 8–12 weeks), in anatomically high‐risk CTOs. We will enroll 200 patients with CTOs defined as high‐risk according to our Invest CTO criteria at centers in Norway and United Kingdom. Patients with aorto‐ostial lesions, occlusion within a previous stent, or a prior attempt at target vessel CTO PCI within 6 months will be excluded. The co‐primary endpoints are cumulative procedural success (%) after both procedures, and a composite safety endpoint at 30 days after completion CTO PCI. Patient reported outcomes (PROs), treatment satisfaction, and clinical endpoints will be reported.

Conclusion

This study will prospectively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of a planned two staged PCI procedure in the treatment of high‐risk CTOs and may have the potential to change current clinical practice.
Localized scleroderma with pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary interstitial fibrosis in a patient with positive Th/to antibodies: Case report and review of literature
Authors: Elinkichari Dorsaf , Tabka Mariem , Souissi Asmahane , Alaoui Fatimazahra , Chelly Ines , Haouet Slim , Mokni Mourad
Published: May 2023

Morphea is an auto‐immune disease, and its association with other immune‐mediated diseases should not come as a surprise. Dermatologists should be aware of its possible coexistence with severe systemic involvement.
A severe case of rhabdomyolysis after Moderna mRNA anti‐COVID‐19 vaccine with a literature review
Authors: Sheka Maria , Coattrenec Yann , Lorenzini Kuntheavy Ing , Nendaz Mathieu
Published: May 2023

The identification of rhabdomyolysis as a potential fatal adverse reaction to recent COVID‐19 vaccines is essential. As the symptoms of rhabdomyolysis are not specific, the threshold to actively search for this complication should be low.
Simultaneous prosthodontic treatment for crowns of natural teeth and dental implants using digital technology: A case report
Authors: Tasaka Akinori , Sasaki Hodaka , Harada Atsuro , Ito Kosei , Kobayashi Hiro , Shimizu Takahiro , Yamashita Shuichiro
Published: May 2023

The aim of this clinical report was to describe the improvement of masticatory disorders with the use of digital technology to simultaneously perform prosthodontic treatment of natural teeth and edentulous areas. Computer‐guided implant surgery was performed, and crown prostheses and implant superstructures were fabricated simultaneously using digital technology.
Photothermal‐boosted polaron transport in Fe2O3 photoanodes for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting
Authors: Hu Xiaoqin , Huang Jing , Cao Yu , He Bing , Cui Xun , Zhu Yunhai , Wang Yang , Chen Yihuang , Yang Yingkui , Li Zhen , Liu Xueqin
Published: May 2023

Introduction of the photothermal effect into transition‐metal oxide photoanodes has been proven to be an effective method to improve the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water‐splitting performance. However, the precise role of the photothermal effect on the PEC performance of photoanodes is still not well understood. Herein, spinel‐structured ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles are deposited on the surface of hematite (Fe2O3), and the ZnFe2O4/Fe2O3 photoanode achieves a high photocurrent density of 3.17 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (VRHE) due to the photothermal effect of ZnFe2O4. Considering that the hopping of electron small polarons induced by oxygen vacancies is thermally activated, we clarify that the main reason for the enhanced PEC performance via the photothermal effect is the promoted mobility of electron small polarons that are bound to positively charged oxygen vacancies. Under the synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies and the photothermal effect, the electron conductivity and PEC performance are significantly improved, which provide fundamental insights into the impact of the photothermal effect on the PEC performance of small polaron‐type semiconductor photoanodes.
Defect engineering of ternary Cu–In–Se quantum dots for boosting photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation
Authors: Li Shi , Jung Sung‐Mok , Chung Wookjin , Seo Joo‐Won , Kim Hwapyong , Park Soo Ik , Lee Hyo Cheol , Han Ji Su , Ha Seung Beom , Kim In Young , In Su‐Il , Kim Jae‐Yup , Yang Jiwoong
Published: May 2023

Heavy‐metal‐free ternary Cu–In–Se quantum dots (CISe QDs) are promising for solar fuel production because of their low toxicity, tunable band gap, and high light absorption coefficient. Although defects significantly affect the photophysical properties of QDs, the influence on photoelectrochemical hydrogen production is not well understood. Herein, we present the defect engineering of CISe QDs for efficient solar‐energy conversion. Lewis acid–base reactions between metal halide–oleylamine complexes and oleylammonium selenocarbamate are modulated to achieve CISe QDs with the controlled amount of Cu vacancies without changing their morphology. Among them, CISe QDs with In/Cu = 1.55 show the most outstanding photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation with excellent photocurrent density of up to 10.7 mA cm−2 (at 0.6 VRHE), attributed to the suitable electronic band structures and enhanced carrier concentrations/lifetimes of the QDs. The proposed method, which can effectively control the defects in heavy‐metal‐free ternary QDs, offers a deeper understanding of the effects of the defects and provides a practical approach to enhance photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation.
Kinetic modelling: Regression and validation stages, a compulsory tandem for kinetic model assessment
Authors: Leveneur Sébastien
Published: May 2023

The development of robust and reliable kinetic models is vital to build safe, eco‐friendly, and cost‐competitive chemical processes. Establishing kinetic models for complex chemical systems such as biomass valorization is cumbersome because the kinetic modeller must test different models and fit several experimental observables (or concentrations). Usually, in chemical reaction engineering, kinetic model assessment is based solely on the regression stage outputs. The implementation of a validation stage can aid in choosing the most reliable kinetic models, essentially in the case of complex chemical systems. We studied the solvolysis of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (5‐HMF) to butyl levulinate (BL) as a model reaction constituting several consecutive and parallel reaction steps. From an existing kinetic model, we created 60 synthetic runs in batch conditions. In the first part, we tested four different models with 5 degrees of noise, and we carried out the modelling on the 60 synthetic runs. In the second part, two types of holdout methods were evaluated. In the last part, cross‐validation, namely the k‐fold method, was used. We found that the 10‐fold method allowed more efficient selection results even when the noise level was high. Besides, k‐fold allows for not scarifying experimental runs and selecting the most reliable model.
Application of CytoMatrix for the diagnosis of melanoma metastases on FNA cytology samples: Performance of a novel cell block method
Authors: Montella Marco , Cozzolino Immacolata , Zito Marino Federica , Clery Eduardo , Carraturo Emma , Brancaccio Gabriella , Argenziano Giuseppe , Troiani Teresa , Savarese Giovanni , Berretta Massimiliano , Franco Renato , Ronchi Andrea
Published: May 2023

Background

The management of cytological samples can significantly impact diagnostic interpretation. Cell blocks (CB) are a popular method due to their ability to provide additional morphological information and be used for immunocytochemistry and molecular tests. Recently, a new CB technique called the synthetic matrix CytoMatrix (CM) has been introduced, which can gather and hold cytological material within its three‐dimensional structure.

Methods

In this study, 40 cytological samples from patients with melanoma metastases were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CM compared to another CB method used in the laboratory. The researchers assessed the morphological adequacy of the two techniques, as well as their performance in immunocytochemical analysis and molecular.

Results

This study showed that CM was quicker and equally effective compared to the other method, with the laboratory technician having less of an impact on the CM approach across all passages. Additionally, all CMs were adequate, whereas the other method was adequate in 90% of cases. Immunocytochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of melanoma metastases in all cases, and all 40 CMs and 36 of the other method were adequate for fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis.

Conclusion

CM is a low‐time‐consuming technology that is unaffected by technicians during all setup phases, making it simpler to standardize the procedure. Moreover, a low loss of diagnostic cells ensures greater benefits for morphological analysis, immunocytochemistry, and molecular testing. Overall, the study highlights the potential of CM as a valuable technique for managing cytological samples.
Asymmetric Growth of Monolayer Graphene on Cu Foil by Space‐Confined CVD
Authors: Song Qiyang , Yi Xin , Zhang Youwei , Chen Qiao , Wang Shun
Published: May 2023

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most efficient method for growing graphene while its performance heavily relies on the growth environment. In this work, we examine the growth of continuous monolayer graphene films using CVD in an asymmetric environment by placing the Cu foil substrate on a specially designed semicircular quartz boat with grooves. We find that the asymmetry plays a key role in the growth of graphene and the quality of graphene on the bottom surface of Cu foil is higher than that on the top surface. This difference is attributed to different oxygen and carbon source concentration on the two surfaces of Cu foil, which leads to different nucleation density, grain size, and growth rate. COMSOL simulation confirms this hypothesis and reveals that the lower gas flow velocity on the bottom is responsible for the higher oxygen content and less carbon source supply, promoting higher‐quality graphene. Based on this asymmetric mechanism, we achieve stable and efficient batch production of high‐quality graphene using a special substrate support. Our method has guiding significance for the stable and batch growth of high‐quality graphene or other two dimensional (2D) materials in spatial design strategies.
Cross‐ethnic comparison of the effect of garment color on male perception of female attractiveness
Authors: Luo Zhenhua , Shamey Renzo
Published: May 2023

The present study investigated whether the clothing color of female stimuli and the perceived attractiveness judgments of Caucasian and Chinese male observers for own‐ and other‐ethnicity are correlated. Results indicate that Caucasian observers evaluated stimuli in white and black as the most attractive while giving low ratings for stimuli in orange, yellow, or lime. Results for the Chinese observers were found to depend on the stimulus type, whereby the Caucasian stimulus received significantly lower ratings when dressed in lime, and the Chinese stimulus was rated as the least attractive when in lime, orange, green, or cyan. White was found to have a positive effect on Chinese observers' ratings for both stimuli. A comparison of the general versus the facial attractiveness lends some evidence that red enhanced Caucasian observers' attraction to the Chinese stimulus while findings fail to support the general red‐effect. We propose a potential mechanism underlying the color‐attraction associations.
An adaptive key selection method for the multilevel index model for effective service management in the cloud
Authors: Gu Jiayan , Wu Yan , Anjum Ashiq , Liu Lu , Panneerselvam John , Lu Yao
Published: May 2023

The growing number of services processed and stored in the cloud has led to difficulties in managing and discovering the required services efficiently. Multilevel index model is an efficient method to manage and retrieve services in service repositories. When adding a new service to a multilevel index model, a key needs to be selected for the service, but existing key selection methods cannot adapt to the situation that hot services change over time. To address this problem, this article proposes an adaptive key selection method to improve the efficiency of service retrieval. However, the service addition operation of the adaptive key selection method is inefficient in the multilevel index model. For this reason, this article improves the multilevel index model by introducing local equivalence partition. This indexing model improves the service addition efficiency of the adaptive key selection method without affecting the service retrieval efficiency. It is experimentally demonstrated that the retrieval and addition efficiencies of the adaptive key selection method are close to the ideal state optimum under the multilevel index model with local equivalence partitioning.
A light scatter based model relating erythrocyte vesiculation to lifetime in circulation
Authors: Yastrebova Ekaterina S. , Gisich Alla V. , Nekrasov Vyacheslav M. , Gilev Konstantin V. , Strokotov Dmitry I. , Chernyshev Andrei V. , Karpenko Andrey A. , Maltsev Valeri P.
Published: May 2023

Methods for measuring erythrocyte age distribution are not available as a simple analytical tool. Most of them utilize the fluorescence or radioactive isotopes labeling to construct the age distribution and support physicians with aging indices of donor's erythrocytes. The age distribution of erythrocyte may be a useful snapshot of patient state over 120‐days period of life. Previously, we introduced the enhanced assay of erythrocytes with measurement of 48 indices in four categories: concentration/content, morphology, aging and function (10.1002/cyto.a.24554). The aging category was formed by the indices based on the evaluation of the derived age of individual cells. The derived age does not exactly mean the real age of erythrocytes and its evaluation utilizes changes of cellular morphology during a lifespan. In this study, we are introducing the improved methodological approach that allows us to retrieve the derived age of individual erythrocytes, to construct the aging distribution, and to reform the aging category consisting of eight indices. The approach is based on the analysis of the erythrocyte vesiculation. The erythrocyte morphology is analyzed by scanning flow cytometry that measures the primary characteristics (diameter, thickness, and waist) of individual cells. The surface area (S) and sphericity index (SI) are calculated from the primary characteristics and the scattering diagram SI versus S is used in the evaluation of the derived age of each erythrocyte in a sample. We developed the algorithm to evaluate the derived age that provides eight indices in the aging category based on a model using light scatter features. The novel erythrocyte indices were measured for simulated cells and blood samples of 50 donors. We determined the first‐ever reference intervals for these indices.
Familial Mediterranean fever with colonic lesions: A case report
Authors: Ariga Hiroyuki , Kunisaki Reiko , Ojima Takeshi , Suzuki Satoshi , Okada Kenta , Kashimura Junya
Published: May 2023

A 26‐year‐old man with a history of ulcerative colitis treatment presented to our clinic with abdominal pain and fever. He had a history of bloody stools and abdominal pain at 19 years of age. A thorough examination by a medical practitioner, including lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, resulted in the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. After induction of remission with prednisolone (PSL), the patient was treated with 5‐aminosalicylate. One year ago in September, his symptoms flared up again, and he was administered 30 mg/day of PSL until November of the same year. However, he was transferred to another hospital and referred to his previous doctor. During the follow‐up in December of the same year, flare‐ups of abdominal pain and diarrhea were reported. Upon review of the patient's medical history, familial Mediterranean fever was suspected because the patient had periodic fevers ≥38°C and symptoms that persisted even after oral steroid administration and were sometimes accompanied by joint pain. However, he was transferred again, and PSL was administered once more. The patient was referred to our hospital for further treatment. At the time of arrival, his symptoms did not improve with 40 mg/day of PSL, and endoscopy and computed tomography revealed thickening of the colon, with no abnormality in the small intestine. Suspecting familial Mediterranean fever‐associated enteritis, the patient was administered colchicine, resulting in an improvement in symptoms. Furthermore, an examination of the MEFV gene showed a mutation in Exon5 (S503C), and atypical familial Mediterranean fever was diagnosed. Endoscopy after colchicine treatment revealed that the ulcers improved remarkably.
Robust projections and consequences of an expanding bimodal growing season in the western United States
Authors: Tercek Michael T. , Gross John E. , Thoma David P.
Published: May 2023

Plant growth is restricted to times of the year when actual evapotranspiration (AET) is greater than zero because AET requires both the presence of water in the soil and temperatures warm enough to allow transpiration. Locations where water rather than temperature limits plant growth, such as semi‐arid areas of the southwestern United States, often have a bimodal growing season, such that distinct AET (growth) peaks occur in the spring and late summer, with a period of very limited plant growth occurring during the intervening summer months. We hypothesized that future warming will increase the zone containing bimodal growth seasons, likely resulting in significant changes in the competitive relationships between plant species that differ in their tolerance of a bimodal seasonality. This will likely alter plant distributions. Using climate projections to drive a water balance model, we mapped geographic regions within the continental United States projected to experience bimodal growing seasons in the future. The area containing bimodal seasonality increased under all 13 general circulation models (GCMs) and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) examined. This robust result (seen in all alternative futures examined) nevertheless showed considerable variability depending on the GCM examined. The bimodal zone was projected to increase 13%–212% (49,000–792,000 km2) by the late 21st century relative to 1981–2010 estimates. Climate futures that contained the greatest temperature increases and greatest precipitation decreases projected the greatest expansion in the bimodal zone. For plant species that depend on relatively long, consistent time periods that are favorable to growth each year, the projected shift in seasonality may be an acute disturbance that could cause widespread mortality. These changes will likely have cascading ecological and management implications, including changes in the dominant plant life history strategies that occur in affected areas.
External shading and its effect on the energy efficiency of Tehran's office buildings
Authors: Heidarzadeh Sima , Mahdavinejad Mohammadjavad , Habib Farah
Published: May 2023

Modern office building designers tend to propose highly glazed façades that provide occupants with a view and daylight; however, the use of such façades has consequences, like glare and high energy consumption, especially in warm climates. Shadings affect energy usage for cooling, heating, and artificial lighting, defined as the objectives and output in the optimizer algorithm. The input variables are shading type, WWR, the depth of the shading, the distance between the shading and the window, the distance between fins, the number of fins in shading, and the distance from the top of the window. This research aims to comprehensively study external shadings and window‐to‐wall ratios to reduce the high energy consumption in modern office buildings in Tehran and cities in locations with a similar climate. The results can benefit all scientists researching building science, architects, instructors, and those wanting to buy a low‐energy consumption office. Energy consumption was calculated in Ladybug–Honeybee; the best objectives were obtained for each shading with the optimization process by the Octopus plugin in Grasshopper. Results were analyzed and rated compared with a window without shading. The best scenario was obtained for Egg‐crate with a 14.86% reduction in cooling energy and a 20.04% increase in useful daylight illuminance.
Synthesis and photoelectrochemical performance of Co doped SrTiO3 nanostructures photoanode
Authors: Mishra Arti , Parangusan Hemalatha , Bhadra Jolly , Ahmed Zubair , Mallick Shoaib , Touati Farid , Al‐Thani Noora
Published: May 2023

It is pertinent to realize that scientific research indicates that the most promising method for producing H2 is photo electrochemical water splitting through a photo anode. Cobalt‐doped SrTiO3 (Co‐SrTiO3) composite nanostructures were created in this study via hydrothermal synthesis. The impact of cobalt concentration change on Co‐SrTiO3 has been identified using morphological, structural, and photo electrochemical research. Surface morphology of pure SrTiO3 nanoparticles using SEM and TEM reveals that the particles are intermittently agglomerated. The inclusion of Cobalt lowered the particle size of the nanostructures to 23 nm than pure SrTiO3 (41 nm). In addition, the peak profile has been influenced by cubic phase also identified from the x‐ray diffraction analysis. The purity and composition of the materials were revealed by XPS analysis. The Co‐SrTiO3 composite's produced the best charge transfer and recombination capabilities at 3% Co doping, according to electrochemical chemical impedance (EIS) spectroscopy. At 0.2 V applied potential, the obtained 3% Co‐doped SrTiO3 photoanode system displays a photocurrent density of around 3.45 mA/cm2. The outcomes show that a promising application for the Co‐doped SrTiO3 photoanode in photoelectrochemical water splitting.
Gelastic seizures and “smiling spasms”: A peculiar ictal pattern
Authors: Lo Barco Tommaso , Corona Laura , Solazzi Roberta , Fiorini Elena , Galati Giulia , Cossu Alberto , Proietti Jacopo , Francione Stefano , Dalla Bernardina Bernardo , Darra Francesca , Cantalupo Gaetano
Published: May 2023

Content available: Video
Reducing hysteresis and over‐smoothing in traffic estimation: A multistream spatial‐temporal graph convolutional network
Authors: Yu Haiyang , Liu Shuai , Ren Yilong , Zhao Yanan , Jiang Han , Liu Runkun
Published: May 2023

Accurate traffic estimation contributes to safer route planning for Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). Currently, deep learning methods based on graph convolution networks (GCNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are widely used in traffic estimation. However, such methods suffer from spatial over‐smoothing and temporal hysteresis, which lead to estimation results deviating from the ground truth. Therefore, a multistream spatial‐temporal graph convolutional network (MSGCN) is proposed in this paper to deal with these issues. It integrates local, global and differential spatial‐temporal features which are modeled from multiple dimensions to deal with spatially correlation and time‐varying evolution of traffic states. Experimental results obtained on a real‐world dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MSGCN. Furthermore, we measure the performance in both usual and unusual traffic states. Compared to baseline models, MSGCN is more accurate and robust in the two states.
Sequential spectrum sensing against random Byzantine attack in cognitive radio networks
Authors: Wu Jun , He Jiangtao , Gan Jipeng , Chen Ze , Zhang Jia , Chen Zehao , Zhu Gefei
Published: May 2023

Cognitive radio (CR) technology allows secondary users (SUs) to opportunistically access the licensed spectrum being authorized by the primary users (PUs) and then improves the spectrum utilization. Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is an important component of cognitive radio (CR) technology to detect the PU signal via spatial diversity. However, due to the open facet of CR networks (CRNs), the CSS process may suffer from Byzantine attack where malicious users (MUs) falsify the status information about the PU signal and then cause harmful interference to the PU's communication or selfishly occupy spectrum resources. Otherwise, the cooperative paradigm also results in that multiple SUs need more time to detect the PU signal. The performance and efficiency of CSS will be further degraded due to these two reasons. For this aim, we propose sequential spectrum sensing (SSS) scheme to mitigate the negative impact of Byzantine attack and improve the cooperative efficiency. To this end, encouraged by in‐depth analysis of the blind problem, we formulate a random Byzantine attack model to follow the malicious behaviors from the perspective of MUs. In order to solve the blind problem in the process of the sensing sample fusion, a delivery evaluation mechanism is developed to lay solid foundation for SSS. On this basis, we further evaluate the reputation value (RV) within a sliding window and in order to improve the cooperative efficiency in the reporting stage, we dynamically select the sensing results of the more reliable SUs as the global decision to make a tradeoff between cooperative performance and cooperative efficiency. At last, extensive simulation results show that regardless of the malicious ratio, our proposed SSS only requires 6 samples to provide with 100% detection accuracy in the presence of always attack while also the remarkable performance in the presence of random attack when the malicious ratio exceeds 50%.
Brain‐wide associations between white matter and age highlight the role of fornix microstructure in brain ageing
Authors: Korbmacher Max , de Lange Ann Marie , van der Meer Dennis , Beck Dani , Eikefjord Eli , Lundervold Arvid , Andreassen Ole A. , Westlye Lars T. , Maximov Ivan I.
Published: May 2023

Unveiling the details of white matter (WM) maturation throughout ageing is a fundamental question for understanding the ageing brain. In an extensive comparison of brain age predictions and age‐associations of WM features from different diffusion approaches, we analyzed UK Biobank diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) data across midlife and older age (N = 35,749, 44.6–82.8 years of age). Conventional and advanced dMRI approaches were consistent in predicting brain age. WM‐age associations indicate a steady microstructure degeneration with increasing age from midlife to older ages. Brain age was estimated best when combining diffusion approaches, showing different aspects of WM contributing to brain age. Fornix was found as the central region for brain age predictions across diffusion approaches in complement to forceps minor as another important region. These regions exhibited a general pattern of positive associations with age for intra axonal water fractions, axial, radial diffusivities, and negative relationships with age for mean diffusivities, fractional anisotropy, kurtosis. We encourage the application of multiple dMRI approaches for detailed insights into WM, and the further investigation of fornix and forceps as potential biomarkers of brain age and ageing.
Physical inference of falling objects involves simulation of occluded trajectories in early visual areas
Authors: Zbären Gabrielle Aude , Meissner Sarah Nadine , Kapur Manu , Wenderoth Nicole
Published: May 2023

Humans possess an intuitive understanding of the environment's physical properties and dynamics, which allows them to predict the outcomes of physical scenarios and successfully interact with the physical world. This predictive ability is thought to rely on mental simulations and has been shown to involve frontoparietal areas. Here, we investigate whether such mental simulations may be accompanied by visual imagery of the predicted physical scene. We designed an intuitive physical inference task requiring participants to infer the parabolic trajectory of an occluded ball falling in accordance with Newtonian physics. Participants underwent fMRI while (i) performing the physical inference task alternately with a visually matched control task, and (ii) passively observing falling balls depicting the trajectories that had to be inferred during the physical inference task. We found that performing the physical inference task activates early visual areas together with a frontoparietal network when compared with the control task. Using multivariate pattern analysis, we show that these regions contain information specific to the trajectory of the occluded ball (i.e., fall direction), despite the absence of visual inputs. Using a cross‐classification approach, we further show that in early visual areas, trajectory‐specific activity patterns evoked by the physical inference task resemble those evoked by the passive observation of falling balls. Together, our findings suggest that participants simulated the ball trajectory when solving the task, and that the outcome of these simulations may be represented in form of the perceivable sensory consequences in early visual areas.
The human cost of economic sanctions and strategies for building health system resilience: A scoping review of studies in Iran
Authors: Sajadi Haniye Sadat , Yahyaei Faeze , Ehsani‐Chimeh Elham , Majdzadeh Reza
Published: May 2023

Objectives

This review aimed to analyse the impacts of international economic sanctions on the overall health status of Iranians and the health system performance of Iran, in addition to identifying effective strategies for making the health system resilient to sanctions.

Study design

A scoping review.

Methods

Three databases and grey literature were reviewed, and additional papers were identified in the lists of references. Two authors reviewed papers to check duplications and screen through inclusion/exclusion criteria. Furthermore, a narrative approach was employed to synthesise the findings.

Results

Given overall health impacts, economic sanctions are believed to have adverse effects on Iranian's health and cause significant financial hardships in accessing healthcare services. These hardships mostly affect those in marginalised and vulnerable groups. Economic sanctions degrade Iran's health system by negatively impacting health services' availability. The detrimental effects of sanctions on economic and social circumstances were also documented. Economic sanctions could also adversely affect health research and education. Most strategies identified for health system resilience to sanctions are related to the health system governance.

Conclusions

Even if essential medicines and supplies are exempted from the sanction regime, the impact of economic sanctions on public health is unavoidable. The quantification of the effect economic sanctions on different health‐related areas needs by further research. The measures identified for dealing with sanction can be considered in other countries but more work is needed to explore how health of people can be resilient against negative consequences of sanctions.
Molecular evaluation of aminoglycosides resistance and biofilm formation inKlebsiella pneumoniaeclinical isolates: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Khoshnood Saeed , Akrami Sousan , Saki Morteza , Motahar Moloudsadat , Masihzadeh Sara , Daneshfar Sara , Meghdadi Hossein , Abbasi Montazeri Effat , Abdi Marjan , Farshadzadeh Zahra
Published: May 2023

Background and Aims

Resistance to antibiotics and the capability to develop biofilm as two main virulent determinants ofKlebsiella pneumoniaehave important role in infection persistence. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between the prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance and virulence genes and biofilm formation capacity inK. pneumoniaestrains isolated from hospitalized patients in South‐West of Iran.

Methods

A total of 114 non‐duplicate clinical isolates ofK. pneumoniaecollected from Ahvaz teaching hospitals. Identification of species was performed by biochemical tests and then confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ofrpoBgene. The susceptibility to antibiotics was determined by Kirby−Bauer disk diffusion method. Biofilm formation was assessed by microtiter plate method. Finally, PCR was conducted to detect virulence gene determinants including fimbrial genes, aminoglycoside modifying enzymes‐ and 16S rRNA methylase (RMTase) genes.

Results

Totally, all collected strains were carbapenem resistant and showed multidrug‐ and extensively drug‐resistance phenotype (75% and 25%, respectively). Seventy‐one percent (n = 81) of isolates were non‐susceptible to aminoglycosides. Among aminoglycoside antibiotics,K. pneumoniaeisolates showed the highest and lowest resistance rates to tobramycin (71%) and the amikacin (25%), respectively. All biofilm producer strains were positive for the presence virulence determinants includingecpA, fimA, mrkD, andmrkA. Of 81 aminoglycosides non‐susceptible isolates 33% were positive for the presenceant (2″)‐Iaas the most prevalent gene followed byaac (3′)‐IIaandarmA(27%),aac (6′)‐Ib(18%), andaph (3′)‐Ia(15%).

Conclusion

K. pneumoniaeisolates showed the highest and the lowest aminoglycoside resistance rates to tobramycin and amikacin, respectively. Majority of isolates were biofilm producers and there was significant association between antibiotic resistance pattern and the strength of biofilm production. Theant(2″)‐Ia, aac (3′)‐IIa, andarmAgenes in aminoglycoside‐resistant isolates.
Augmentation of heat transfer through passive techniques
Authors: Nitturi Lalitha Krishna , Kapu Venkata Kusuma Soumya , Gugulothu Ravi , Kaleru Aparna , Vuyyuri Vinay , Farid Ahmed
Published: May 2023

The thermal performance of energy preservation systems is greatly improved by increasing miniaturization and boosting. These are imaginative (or Promethean) techniques to enhance heat transfer. Enhancement methods of heat transfer draw great attention in front of the industrial sector because of their ability to provide energy savings and raise the economic efficiency of thermal systems. Three techniques these methods are categorized; those are active, passive, and compound. Different types of components are used in passive methods because of the transfer/working fluid flow path to the enhancement of the heat transfer rate. In this article, the subject of the review was the passive heat transfer enhancement methods including inserts (conical strips, winglets, twisted tapes, baffles), porous materials, coil/helical/spiral tubes, rough surfaces (corrugated/ribbed surfaces), extended surfaces (fins) and nanofluids (mono and hybrid nanofluid). Recent passive heat transfer enhancement techniques are studied in this article as they are cost‐effective and reliable, and also comparably passive methods do not need any extra power to promote the energy conversion systems' thermal efficiency than active methods. In the passive approaches, various components are applied to the heat transfer/working fluid flow path to improve the heat transfer rate. The passive heat transfer enhancement methods studied in this article include inserts (twisted tapes, conical strips, baffles, winglets), extended surfaces (fins), porous materials, coil/helical/spiral tubes, rough surfaces (corrugated/ribbed surfaces), and nanofluids (mono and hybrid nanofluid). From the pioneers' research work, it is clear that a lower twist ratio and lower pitch, lesser winglet angles can provide more heat transfer rate and a little bit more friction factor. In the case of nanofluids, a little bit of pumping power is enhanced. Finally, heat transfer enhancement is compared with the thermal performance factor, which is more than unity.
Calcium phosphate incorporated in silk fibroin/methylcellulose based injectable hydrogel: Preparation, characterization, and in vitro biological evaluation for bone defect treatment
Authors: Phewchan Premchirakorn , Laoruengthana Artit , Tiyaboonchai Waree
Published: May 2023

Bone defect is still a challenging problem in orthopedic practice. Injectable bone substitutes that can fill different geometry of bone defect and improve biological environment for bone regeneration are attracting attention. Herein, silk fibroin (SF) is noticeable polymer regarding its biocompatible and biodegradable properties. Thus, the calcium phosphate particles incorporated in silk fibroin/methylcellulose (CAPs‐SF/MC) and only methylcellulose (CAPs‐MC) hydrogels are developed and compared their physicochemical properties. Both CAPs‐hydrogels solutions can be administered with a low injectability force of ~6 N, and they require ~40‐min to change to hydrogel at physiological temperature (37°C). The CAPs are evenly distributed throughout the hydrogel matrix and are capable transformed to bioactive hydroxyapatite at pH 7.4. The CAPs in CAPs‐SF/MC have a smaller size than those in CAPs‐MC. Moreover, CAPs‐SF/MC exhibit gradual degradation, as prediction of the degradation mechanism by the Peppas‐Sahlin model and show a greater ability to sustain CAPs release. CAPs‐SF/MC has good biocompatibility with less cytotoxicity in a dose‐dependent manner on mouse preosteoblast cell line (MC3T3‐E1) when compared to CAPs‐MC. CAPs‐SF/MC hydrogels also have better possibility for promoting cell proliferation and differentiation. In conclusion SF incorporated into composite injectable hydrogel potentially improve biological characteristics and may provide clinical advantages.