bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sistema de detección de sustancias y partículas contaminantes para el ambiente a través de sensores arduino
Authors: Pinzón Antonio , Castillo Miguel , González Edwin , Araúz José , Villarreal Vladimir
Published: January 2019

Muchas sustancias contaminantes se pueden producir en áreas industriales y domésticas; por esa razón presentamos este proyecto, que tiene como objetivo utilizar sensores para la detección de sustancias y partículas contaminantes en el aire o medio ambiente; específicamente las partes por millón del gas Dióxido de Carbono. El desarrollo se implementará a través del hardware Arduino UNO, con su software propio, para la medición del rango de las partes por millón de dióxido de carbono presentes en una determinada área. Nuestros resultados nos mostraron los rangos normales de dióxido de carbono en un ambiente cerrado y la variación al momento de interactuar con el sensor por medio de emisiones de dióxido de carbono producidos por personas captando distintos datos dentro y fuera del rango aceptable para la salud humana.
Clinical Utilization Pattern of Liquid Biopsies (LB) to Detect Actionable Driver Mutations, Guide Treatment Decisions and Monitor Disease Burden During Treatment of 33 Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC) Patients (pts) at a Fox Chase Cancer Center GI Oncology Subspecialty Clinic
Authors: Ghatalia Pooja , Smith Chad H. , Winer Arthur , Gou Jiangtao , Kiedrowski Lesli A. , Slifker Michael , Saltzberg Patricia D. , Bubes Nicole , Anari Fern M. , Kasireddy Vineela , Varshavsky Asya , Liu Yang , Ross Eric A. , El-Deiry Wafik S.
Published: January 2019

Background: Liquid biopsy (LB) captures dynamic genomic alterations (alts) across metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) therapy and may complement tissue biopsy (TB). We sought to describe the utility of LB and better understand mCRC biology during therapy.

Methods: Thirty-three patients (pts) with mCRC underwent LB. We used permutation-based t-tests to assess associations between alts, and clinical variables and used Kendall's tau to measure correlations.

Results: Of 33 pts, 15 were women; 22 had colon, and the rest rectal cancer. Pts received a median of two lines of therapy before LB. Nineteen pts had limited testing on TB (RAS/RAF/TP53/APC), 11 extended NGS, and 3 no TB. Maxpct and alts correlated with CEA (p < 0.001, respectively). In 3/5 pts with serial LB, CEA correlated with maxpct trend, and CT tumor burden. In 6 pts, mutant RAS was seen in LB and not TB; 5/6 had received anti-EGFR therapy prior to LB, suggesting RAS alts developed post-therapy. In two pts RAS-mutated by TB, no RAS alts were detected on LB; these pts had low disease burden on CT at time of LB that also did not reveal APC or TP53 alts. In six patients who were KRAS wt based on TB, post anti-EGFR LB revealed subclonal KRAS mutations, likely a treatment effect. The median number of alts was higher post anti-EGFR LB (n = 12) vs. anti-EGFR naïve LB (n = 22) (9.5 vs. 5.5, p = 0.059) but not statistically significant. More alts were also noted in post anti-EGFR therapy LB vs. KRAS wt anti-EGFR-naïve LB (n = 6) (9.5 vs. 5) among patients with KRAS wild-type tumors, although the difference was not significant (p = 0.182).

Conclusions: LB across mCRC therapy detects driver mutations, monitors disease burden, and identifies sub-clonal alts that reflect drug resistance, tumor evolution, and heterogeneity. Interpretation of LB results is impacted by clinical context.
A Basic Complete Numerical Toolbox for Picosecond Ultrasonics
Authors: Babilotte Philippe
Published: January 2019

A complete numerical complete toolbox is proposed concerning the simulation of photo-induced propagative mechanical wave, and concerning the optical reflectometric measured response of the material, which is initially exposed to a first pump laser beam that photo-induces the acoustic wavefronts. The deformation field and its propagation into a bulk material are simulated. Based on this field expression, the complex transient reflectivity is given for a medium considered as homogeneous. The real part of this quantity permits afterwards to propose a numerical simulation of the transient reflectivity, which corresponds to the optical signal measured during experimental works. The frequency acoustic spectrum is simulated and successfully compared to the measured frequency spectrum. For the first time, numerical complete developments are explicitly proposed and fully-developed under the SciLab ® environment, related to the simulation of laser-induced picosecond acoustic wavefront photogenerated through an opto-acoustic transduction process (ultrasonics and pretersonics).
Effect of Gradation Segregation on Mechanical Properties of an Asphalt Mixture
Authors: Wu Wenliang , Tu Zhixian , Zhu Zihan , Zhang Zeyu , Lin Yongjie
Published: January 2019

Gradation segregation strongly affects the service performance of asphalt pavement. However, rare studies focus on the influences of segregation on asphalt mixture as it is difficult to simulate segregation in a laboratory. This paper presents a research aiming to evaluate the effects of gradation segregation using the two dimensional (2D) discrete element method (DEM). To achieve this objective, the gradation segregation levels are defined according to the differences between control and segregated gradations. Based on this, asphalt mixtures with three gradations at three segregation levels were selected. The corresponding 2D DEM models were then built using Particle Flow Code 2D (PFC 2D). The aggregate skeletons in the asphalt mixture were determined separately by means of the contact point and contact force. Based on this, the variations on the aggregate skeleton, aggregate distribution, and mechanical properties of the asphalt mixture under vertical load were studied at three different segregation levels. This study indicates that the aggregate skeleton in asphalt mixture can be affected by the gradation segregation. The correlation between gradation segregation and mechanical property is also determined in this study.
Dynamic Parameter Identification of a Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Using RLS-PSO
Authors: Zha Fusheng , Sheng Wentao , Guo Wei , Qiu Shiyin , Deng Jing , Wang Xin
Published: January 2019

The lower extremity exoskeleton is a device for auxiliary assistance of human movement. The interaction performance between the exoskeleton and the human is determined by the lower extremity exoskeleton’s controller. The performance of the controller is affected by the accuracy of the dynamic equation. Therefore, it is necessary to study the dynamic parameter identification of lower extremity exoskeleton. The existing dynamic parameter identification algorithms for lower extremity exoskeletons are generally based on Least Square (LS). There are some internal drawbacks, such as complicated experimental processes and low identification accuracy. A dynamic parameter identification algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with search space defined by Recursive Least Square (RLS) is developed in this investigation. The developed algorithm is named RLS-PSO. By defining the search space of PSO, RLS-PSO not only avoids the convergence of identified parameters to the local minima, but also improves the identification accuracy of exoskeleton dynamic parameters. Under the same experimental conditions, the identification accuracy of RLS-PSO, PSO and LS was quantitatively compared and analyzed. The results demonstrated that the identification accuracy of RLS-PSO is higher than that of LS and PSO.
Nonlinear Refractive Index in Rectangular Graphene Quantum Dots
Authors: Qin Yonggang , Feng Xiaobo , Liu Yu
Published: January 2019

Alongside its other favorable properties, the large refraction nonlinearity of graphene-related material makes it ideal for use in optoelectronics applications. Numerous experimental studies about nonlinear optical refraction have been conducted, but theoretical verification is lacking. In this paper the nonlinear refractive index for rectangular graphene quantum dots (RGQDs) was calculated using the relationship between nonlinear refractive index and the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility for third harmonic generation was derived employing the electronic states obtained from the Dirac equation around K point in RGQDs under hard wall boundary conditions. Results revealed that the calculated nonlinear refractive index, n 2 , was in the magnitude of 10−14 m2/W in the visible region, which is nearly five orders larger than conventional semiconductor quantum dots, while in the infrared region the nonlinear refractive index reached up to the magnitude of 10−11 m2/W for M = 3M0 sized RGQDs where the resonance enhancement occurred. The nonlinear refractive index could be tuned both by the edges and sizes.
Silicon/Mesoporous Carbon (Si/MC) Derived from Phenolic Resin for High Energy Anode Materials for Li-ion Batteries: Role of HF Etching and Vinylene Carbonate (VC) Additive
Authors: Rezqita Arlavinda , Vasilchina Hristina , Hamid Raad , Sauer Markus , Foelske Annette , Täubert Corina , Kronberger Hermann
Published: January 2019

Silicon/mesoporous carbon (Si/MC) composites with optimum Si content, in which the volumetric energy density would be maximized, while volume changes would be minimized, have been developed. The composites were prepared by dispersing Si nanoparticles in a phenolic resin as a carbon source, subsequent carbonization, and etching with hydrofluoric acid (HF). Special attention was paid to understanding the role of HF etching as post-treatment to provide additional void spaces in the composites. The etching process was shown to reduce the SiO2 native layer on the Si nanoparticles, resulting in increased porosity in comparison to the non-etched composite material. For cell optimization, vinylene carbonate (VC) was employed as an electrolyte additive to build a stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on the electrode. The composition of the SEI layer on Si/MC electrodes, cycled with and without VC-containing electrolytes for several cycles, was then comprehensively investigated by using ex-situ XPS. The SEI layers on the electrodes working with VC-containing electrolyte were more stable than those in configurations without VC; this explains why our sample with VC exhibits lower irreversible capacity losses after several cycles. The optimized Si/MC composites exhibit a reversible capacity of ~800 mAhg−1 with an average coulombic efficiency of ~99 % over 400 cycles at C/10.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Cells in 2018
Authors:   Cells Editorial Office
Published: January 2019

Rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Dynamical and Coupling Structure of Pulse-Coupled Networks in Maximum Entropy Analysis
Authors: Xu Zhi-Qin John , Zhou Douglas , Cai David
Published: January 2019

Maximum entropy principle (MEP) analysis with few non-zero effective interactions successfully characterizes the distribution of dynamical states of pulse-coupled networks in many fields, e.g., in neuroscience. To better understand the underlying mechanism, we found a relation between the dynamical structure, i.e., effective interactions in MEP analysis, and the anatomical coupling structure of pulse-coupled networks and it helps to understand how a sparse coupling structure could lead to a sparse coding by effective interactions. This relation quantitatively displays how the dynamical structure is closely related to the anatomical coupling structure.
Logical Structures Underlying Quantum Computing
Authors: Holik Federico , Sergioli Giuseppe , Freytes Hector , Plastino Angel
Published: January 2019

In this work we advance a generalization of quantum computational logics capable of dealing with some important examples of quantum algorithms. We outline an algebraic axiomatization of these structures.
Multiple-Point Voltage Control to Minimize Interaction Effects in Power Systems
Authors: Choi Yun-Hyuk , Cho Yoon-Sung
Published: January 2019

This paper proposes an advanced continuous voltage control method that implements multiple-point control to ensure peak power system performance. Most control schemes utilize generators to regulate the pilot point voltage of a control area. However, exact control of a single pilot point is difficult because of the influence of adjacent areas in a meshed power system. To address this challenge, the proposed method accesses multiple pilot points to mitigate the effects of the neighboring area. In simulations of the Korean power system, the proposed control scheme offered a considerable improvement in performance when compared with the conventional, currently implemented voltage control system.
Correction: Kazmi, S.A.A.; Janjua, A.K.; Shin, D.R. Enhanced Voltage Stability Assessment Index Based Planning Approach for Mesh Distribution Systems. Energies 2018, 11, 1213
Authors: Kazmi Syed , Janjua Abdul , Shin Dong
Published: January 2019

The authors wish to make the following corrections to their paper [...]
Real Time Energy Management and Control of Renewable Energy based Microgrid in Grid Connected and Island Modes
Authors: Worku Muhammed Y. , Hassan Mohamed A. , Abido Mohamed A.
Published: January 2019

An efficient power management control for microgrids with energy storage is presented in this paper. The proposed control scheme increases the reliability and resiliency of the microgrid based on three distributed energy resources (DERs), namely Photovoltaic (PV), battery, and diesel generator with local active loads. Coordination among the DERs with energy storage is essential for microgrid management. The system model and the control strategy were developed in Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS). Decoupled d-q current control strategy is proposed and implemented for voltage source converters (VSCs) used to interface the PV and battery sources to the AC grid. A dc-dc buck converter with a maximum power point tracking function is implemented to maximize the intermittent energy generation from the PV array. A controller is proposed and employed for both grid connected and island modes of operation. In grid connected mode, the system frequency and voltage are regulated by the grid. During a fault in island mode, the diesel generator controls the system frequency and voltage in isochronous mode. Results based on the real time digital simulator are provided to verify the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Input-Output Budgets of Nutrients in Adjacent Norway Spruce and European Beech Monocultures Recovering from Acidification
Authors: Růžek Michal , Myška Oldřich , Kučera Jiří , Oulehle Filip
Published: January 2019

Soil acidification has constituted an important ecological threat to forests in Central Europe since the 1950s. In areas that are sensitive to acid pollution, where the soil buffering capacity is naturally low, tree species can significantly modulate the extent of soil acidification by affecting throughfall deposition and the composition of litter. A principal difference can be expected between coniferous and broadleaf tree species. The aim of our study was to compare long-term trends in element cycling in two stands representing the main types of forest ecosystem in the region (Picea abies vs. Fagus sylvatica). In the period of 2005–2017, we continually measured element concentrations and fluxes in bulk precipitation, throughfall precipitation, and soil leachates. A continuous decline of acid deposition was detected in both bulk precipitation and throughfall. Declining deposition of S and N in both forests has led to the recovery of soil solution chemistry in the mineral soil, manifested by rising pH from 4.25 to 4.47 under spruce and from 4.42 to 4.69 in the beech stand. However, soil water in the spruce stand was more acidic, with higher concentrations of SO42− and Al when compared to the beech stand. While the acidity of soil leachates from organic horizons was driven mainly by organic anions, in lower mineral horizons it was controlled by inorganic acid anions. NO3− concentrations in deeper horizons of the spruce stand have diminished since 2006; however, in the beech plot, episodically elevated NO3− concentrations in mineral horizons are a sign of seasonal processes and of nearby perturbations. Higher output of S when compared to the input of the same element indicates slow S resorption, delaying the recovery of soil chemistry. Our results indicate that, although forest ecosystems are recovering from acidification, soil S retention and the ability to immobilize N is affected by the dominant tree species.
A Reinforcement Learning Based Intercell Interference Coordination in LTE Networks
Authors: Témoa Djorwé , Förster Anna , Kolyang  , Doka Yamigno Serge
Published: January 2019

Long Term Evolution networks, which are cellular networks, are subject to many impairments due to the nature of the transmission channel used, i.e. the air. Intercell interference is the main impairment faced by Long Term Evolution networks as it uses frequency reuse one scheme, where the whole bandwidth is used in each cell. In this paper, we propose a full dynamic intercell interference coordination scheme with no bandwidth partitioning for downlink Long Term Evolution networks. We use a reinforcement learning approach. The proposed scheme is a joint resource allocation and power allocation scheme and its purpose is to minimize intercell interference in Long Term Evolution networks. Performances of proposed scheme shows quality of service improvement in terms of SINR, packet loss and delay compared to other algorithms.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Fractal Fract in 2018
Authors:   Fractal Fract Editorial Office
Published: January 2019

Rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Tuberculosis Genetic Epidemiology: A Latin American Perspective
Authors: Woodman Marc , Haeusler Ilsa L. , Grandjean Louis
Published: January 2019

There are an estimated 10 million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide annually, with 282,000 new or relapsed cases each year reported from the Americas. With improvements in genome sequencing technology, it is now possible to study the genetic diversity of tuberculosis with much greater resolution. Although tuberculosis bacteria do not engage in horizontal gene transfer, the genome is far more variable than previously thought. The study of genome-wide variation in tuberculosis has improved our understanding of the evolutionary origins of tuberculosis, the arrival of tuberculosis in Latin America, the genetic determinants of drug resistance, and lineage-specific associations with important clinical phenotypes. This article reviews what is known about the arrival of tuberculosis in Latin America, the genetic diversity of tuberculosis in Latin America, and the genotypic determinants of clinical phenotypes.
Genomes of Three Closely Related Caribbean Amazons Provide Insight for Species History and Conservation
Authors: Kolchanova Sofiia , Kliver Sergei , Komissarov Aleksei , Dobrinin Pavel , Tamazian Gaik , Grigorev Kirill , Wolfsberger Walter , Majeske Audrey , Velez-Valentin Jafet , Valentin de la Rosa Ricardo , Paul-Murphy Joanne , Guzman David , Court Michael , Rodriguez-Flores Juan , Martínez-Cruzado Juan , Oleksyk Taras
Published: January 2019

Islands have been used as model systems for studies of speciation and extinction since Darwin published his observations about finches found on the Galapagos. Amazon parrots inhabiting the Greater Antillean Islands represent a fascinating model of species diversification. Unfortunately, many of these birds are threatened as a result of human activity and some, like the Puerto Rican parrot, are now critically endangered. In this study we used a combination of de novo and reference-assisted assembly methods, integrating it with information obtained from related genomes to perform genome reconstruction of three amazon species. First, we used whole genome sequencing data to generate a new de novo genome assembly for the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata). We then improved the obtained assembly using transcriptome data from Amazona ventralis and used the resulting sequences as a reference to assemble the genomes Hispaniolan (A. ventralis) and Cuban (Amazona leucocephala) parrots. Finally, we, annotated genes and repetitive elements, estimated genome sizes and current levels of heterozygosity, built models of demographic history and provided interpretation of our findings in the context of parrot evolution in the Caribbean.
The Gene Structure and Expression Level Changes of the GH3 Gene Family in Brassica napus Relative to Its Diploid Ancestors
Authors: Wang Ruihua , Li Mengdi , Wu Xiaoming , Wang Jianbo
Published: January 2019

The GH3 gene family plays a vital role in the phytohormone-related growth and developmental processes. The effects of allopolyploidization on GH3 gene structures and expression levels have not been reported. In this study, a total of 38, 25, and 66 GH3 genes were identified in Brassica rapa (ArAr), Brassica oleracea (CoCo), and Brassica napus (AnACnCn), respectively. BnaGH3 genes were unevenly distributed on chromosomes with 39 on An and 27 on Cn, in which six BnaGH3 genes may appear as new genes. The whole genome triplication allowed the GH3 gene family to expand in diploid ancestors, and allopolyploidization made the GH3 gene family re-expand in B. napus. For most BnaGH3 genes, the exon-intron compositions were similar to diploid ancestors, while the cis-element distributions were obviously different from its ancestors. After allopolyploidization, the expression patterns of GH3 genes from ancestor species changed greatly in B. napus, and the orthologous gene pairs between An/Ar and Cn/Co had diverged expression patterns across four tissues. Our study provides a comprehensive analysis of the GH3 gene family in B. napus, and these results could contribute to identifying genes with vital roles in phytohormone-related growth and developmental processes.
Constrained Full Waveform Inversion for Borehole Multicomponent Seismic Data
Authors: Charara Marwan , Barnes Christophe
Published: January 2019

Full-waveform inversion for borehole seismic data is an ill-posed problem and constraining the problem is crucial. Constraints can be imposed on the data and model space through covariance matrices. Usually, they are set to a diagonal matrix. For the data space, signal polarization information can be used to evaluate the data uncertainties. The inversion forces the synthetic data to fit the polarization of observed data. A synthetic inversion for a 2D-2C data estimating a 1D elastic model shows a clear improvement, especially at the level of the receivers. For the model space, horizontal and vertical spatial correlations using a Laplace distribution can be used to fill the model space covariance matrix. This approach reduces the degree of freedom of the inverse problem, which can be quantitatively evaluated. Strong horizontal spatial correlation distances favor a tabular geological model whenever it does not contradict the data. The relaxation of the spatial correlation distances from large to small during the iterative inversion process allows the recovery of geological objects of the same size, which regularizes the inverse problem. Synthetic constrained and unconstrained inversions for 2D-2C crosswell data show the clear improvement of the inversion results when constraints are used.
Assessing Spatial Accessibility to Medical Resources at the Community Level in Shenzhen, China
Authors: Zhu Lei , Zhong Shuang , Tu Wei , Zheng Jing , He Shenjing , Bao Junzhe , Huang Cunrui
Published: January 2019

Spatial accessibility to medical resources is an integral component of universal health coverage. However, research evaluating the spatial accessibility of healthcare services at the community level in China remains limited. We assessed the community-level spatial access to beds, doctors, and nurses at general hospitals and identified the shortage areas in Shenzhen, one of the fastest growing cities in China. Based on hospital and population data from 2016, spatial accessibility was analyzed using several methods: shortest path analysis, Gini coefficient, and enhanced 2-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA). The study found that 99.9% of the residents in Shenzhen could get to the nearest general hospital within 30 min. Healthcare supply was much more equitable between populations than across communities in the city. E2SFCA scores showed that the communities with the best and worst hospital accessibility were found in the southwest and southeast of the city, respectively. State-owned public hospitals still dominated the medical resources supply market and there was a clear spatial accessibility disparity between private and public healthcare resources. The E2SFCA scores supplement more details about resource disparity over space than do crude provider-to-population ratios (PPR) and can help improve the efficiency of the distribution of medical resources.
Transnational Child Sexual Abuse: Outcomes from a Roundtable Discussion
Authors: Merdian Hannah L. , Perkins Derek E. , Webster Stephen D. , McCashin Darragh
Published: January 2019

The phenomenon of men who travel across international borders to engage in child sexual abuse presents significant public health, legal, diplomatic, cultural, and research challenges. Briefed in the current scope of this issue by relevant stakeholders across legislation, research, and social policy, a roundtable discussion held in London aimed to synthesise plenary discussions from multidisciplinary attendees across law enforcement, academia, non-profit, and industry sectors with direct relevance to the UK. Specifically, the roundtable discussions aimed to gather the central themes relating to attendee discussions on the key challenges, affected countries, response strategies, and knowledge gaps. Four key themes were identified from the data, relating to the definition of Transnational Child Sexual Abuse (TCSA), criminal justice, geographical considerations, and issues surrounding tourism/hospitality. The data highlighted four priorities for future development and research, namely developing offender typologies, victim-centric investigative practice, prevalence and definitions, and collaborations. These themes provide insight into the issue of transnational child sexual abuse from the perspective of different disciplines and offer a strategy to prioritise, and collaborate, in the efforts against transnational child sexual abuse.
Spatial Patterns of Potentially Hazardous Metals in Soils of Lin’an City, Southeastern China
Authors: Yu Shiying , Chen Zhoulun , Zhao Keli , Ye Zhengqian , Zhang Luyao , Dong Jiaqi , Shao Yangfeng , Zhang Chaosheng , Fu Weijun
Published: January 2019

Urban soils are strongly related to human health. In this study, Lin’an city was chosen as a typical small-scale city with which to study the spatial variation of potentially hazardous metals (PHMs) in urban soils and their potential ecological risks using multivariate analysis, geostatistics and GIS techniques. A total of 62 soil samples were collected from the study area. The results showed that the average concentrations of total soil Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd were 439.42, 42.23, 196.80, 62.55, 63.65, 0.22 mg·kg−1, respectively. Compared with the background values and the environmental quality standards, these PHMs were accumulated in urban soils to some extent. The single potential ecological risk indices of PHMs indicated that Pb and Cd had relatively high ecological risks. The pH and most of the PHMs had significant correlations (p < 0.05). The principle components analysis (PCA) showed that Pb, Zn and Cu had similar pollution sources related to the vehicles’ exhaust emission; Mn and Cr were mainly from the parent materials; while Cd was from the emission of industrial manufactories. The spatial structures and distributions of PHMs and their corresponding available fractions had strong/moderate spatial autocorrelation, which were influenced by human activities.
Mindful Learning Improves Positive Feelings of Cancer Patients’ Family Caregivers
Authors: Geng Liuna , Wang Jian , Cheng Liping , Zhang Binbin , Shen Hui
Published: January 2019

Positive feelings are an important health dimension for family caregivers of cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Langerian mindfulness is a valid proactive method to increase the positive feelings of family caregivers for cancer patients. Participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness group or a mindlessness group and completed the Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) as a measure of caregivers’ feelings before the intervention. Subsequently, both groups were given four sessions of mindfulness training using “innovation classification”. Finally, participants completed the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) and the Positive Aspects of Caregiving (PAC) scale as post-intervention measures. The results revealed that participants in the mindfulness and mindlessness groups differed significantly in LMS and PAC scores, with the mindfulness group having higher levels of positive feelings than those in the mindlessness group. The results also indicated that mindfulness level significantly predicted positive feelings of caregivers. Thus mindful interventions may play a meaningful role in promoting family caregivers’ spirituality and faith, improving the willingness of sharing their thoughts, beliefs, and grief, which could be useful for increasing the positive feelings of caregivers.
Deep Learning Algorithms with Demographic Information Help to Detect Tuberculosis in Chest Radiographs in Annual Workers’ Health Examination Data
Authors: Heo Seok-Jae , Kim Yangwook , Yun Sehyun , Lim Sung-Shil , Kim Jihyun , Nam Chung-Mo , Park Eun-Cheol , Jung Inkyung , Yoon Jin-Ha
Published: January 2019

We aimed to use deep learning to detect tuberculosis in chest radiographs in annual workers’ health examination data and compare the performances of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based on images only (I-CNN) and CNNs including demographic variables (D-CNN). The I-CNN and D-CNN models were trained on 1000 chest X-ray images, both positive and negative, for tuberculosis. Feature extraction was conducted using VGG19, InceptionV3, ResNet50, DenseNet121, and InceptionResNetV2. Age, weight, height, and gender were recorded as demographic variables. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was calculated for model comparison. The AUC values of the D-CNN models were greater than that of I-CNN. The AUC values for VGG19 increased by 0.0144 (0.957 to 0.9714) in the training set, and by 0.0138 (0.9075 to 0.9213) in the test set (both p < 0.05). The D-CNN models show greater sensitivity than I-CNN models (0.815 vs. 0.775, respectively) at the same cut-off point for the same specificity of 0.962. The sensitivity of D-CNN does not attenuate as much as that of I-CNN, even when specificity is increased by cut-off points. Conclusion: Our results indicate that machine learning can facilitate the detection of tuberculosis in chest X-rays, and demographic factors can improve this process.
Leasing or Selling? Durable Goods Manufacturer Marketing Model Selection under a Mixed Carbon Trading-and-Tax Policy Scenario
Authors: Zhang Yuxiang , Tan Deqing , Liu Zhi
Published: January 2019

Many carbon reduction policies have been implemented to reduce carbon dioxide in the manufacturing process of products. However, many products emit more carbon dioxide in the consumption process. From the consumer’s utility perspective, this paper firstly analyses the manufacturing and marketing model selection decisions of a monopoly manufacturer under the mixed carbon policy, and then a win-win result that can encourage the manufacturer to choose the marketing model with lower carbon emissions while at the same time obtaining the optimal profit is discussed. The results show that the production activity will proceed only when the carbon trading price is lower than a certain threshold. When the carbon trading price is lower than a certain threshold, leasing represents the manufacturer’s optimal marketing model. When the carbon trading price is higher than the threshold, selling represents the manufacturer’s optimal marketing model. For the carbon cap Q, there are equilibrium intervals in which the government can achieve the aim of controlling carbon emissions, while not overly affecting the manufacturer’s enthusiasm for production. For the carbon trading price and the carbon tax rate, there are two different intervals in which leasing gains more profit for the manufacturer while emitting lower carbon emissions.
For What Illnesses Do Asylum Seekers and Undocumented Migrant Workers in Israel Seek Healthcare? An Analysis of Medical Visits at a Large Urgent Care Clinic for the Uninsured in Tel Aviv
Authors: Moran Elizabeth B. , Katz Mark A. , Ari Orel-Ben , Davidovitch Nadav , Zwang Oren
Published: January 2019

In 2017, there were nearly 80,000 asylum seekers and undocumented migrant workers in Israel, most of whom did not have health insurance. We evaluated trends in medical visits of asylum seekers and undocumented migrant workers who presented to Terem Refugee Clinic (TRC), a large clinic in Tel Aviv available only to uninsured residents of Israel. Data were collected from electronic medical records at TRC from 2013–2017. Diagnoses were grouped into categories using ICD-10-equivalent diagnosis codes. We used a chi-squared test for trends to test the significance of trends 2013 to 2017. There were 99,569 medical visits from 2013 to 2017 at TRC. Visits were lowest in 2013 (11,112), and relatively stable from 2014–2017 (range: 19,712–23,172). Most visits were among adults aged 18–35 (41.2%) and children <2 years old (23.7%). Only 3% of visits were from patients aged >50. The percentage of infectious disease diagnoses decreased over the study period, from 9.4% of all diagnoses in adults in 2014 to 5.2% in 2017, and from 32.0% of all diagnoses in children in 2013 to 19.4% in 2017. The annual percentage of respiratory diagnoses in children and adults 18–35 years of age, musculoskeletal in all adults, and digestive in adults except women ≥35 years old increased. Over time, asylum seekers and undocumented migrant workers visited TRC with fewer infectious diseases diagnoses overall but more respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and more musculoskeletal diseases.
Women’s Quality of Life at 6 Weeks Postpartum: Influence of the Discomfort Present in the Puerperium
Authors: Martínez-Galiano Juan Miguel , Hernández-Martínez Antonio , Rodríguez-Almagro Julián , Delgado-Rodríguez Miguel , Rubio-Alvarez Ana , Gómez-Salgado Juan
Published: January 2019

Background: Discomfort during the puerperium period is very frequent in the lives of women but the influence of this discomfort on the women’s quality of life has been little studied. The objective of this study is to establish the association between discomfort and frequent problems of women in the puerperium and their quality of life score. Methods: A cross-sectional study on postpartum Spanish women was performed. Women older than 18 years and who had had a live birth were included. Less than 1% of women refused to participate in the study. Data were collected on socio-demographic, obstetric and newborn variables, on maternal problems/ discomfort in the postnatal period and on parameters that are quality of life indicators. An ad hoc online questionnaire which included the SF-36 Health Survey was used. Crude mean difference (cMD) and adjusted mean difference (aMD) were calculated through multiple linear regression. Results: 2990 women participated in the study. The greater problems causing quality of life loss were depressive symptoms (aMD = −12.40, CI 95%: −10.79, −14.01), lactation problems (aMD = −4.30, CI 95%: −2.97, −5.63), problems for sexual intercourse after childbirth (aMD = −6.34, CI 95%: −5.07, −7.60) and urinary incontinence (aMD = −4.97, CI 95%: −6.30, −3.65), among others. These have been detected as risk factors that affect the quality of life of the postpartum woman. Conclusions: The discomfort and problems manifested in the 6 weeks after childbirth have an influence that deeply affects the quality of life of postpartum women.
Socioeconomic Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B
Authors: Vu Thuc Thi Minh , Le Thieu Van , Dang Anh Kim , Nguyen Long Hoang , Nguyen Binh Cong , Tran Bach Xuan , Latkin Carl A. , Ho Cyrus S. H. , Ho Roger C. M.
Published: January 2019

Depression is considered one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders among patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver disease and has adverse effects on the disease progression. However, there is a scarcity of studies contributing to the assessement of depression in hepatitis B patients. There is also little research into risk factors, particularly underlying socio-economic factors in Vietnam where the prevalence of hepatitis B is high. This study aimed to examine depression and identify whether differences in socio-economic status is related to the level of depression amongst chronic hepatitis B patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 298 patients with chronic hepatitis B at The Chronic Hepatitis Clinic in the Viet-Tiep Hospital, Hai Phong, Vietnam. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and EuroQol-5 dimensions-5 levels (EQ-5D-5L) were used to assess the severity of depression and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Of chronic hepatitis B patients, 37.5% experienced depressive symptoms and most of them suffered minimal depressive symptoms (31.4%). According to the result of the multivariate logistic regression model, we found that higher age, lower income level, unemployement, living with spouse/partners were positively associated with having depression. Furthermore, having physical health problems and lower health-related quality of life were also related to a higher risk of depression. We recommend family support, financial support and active participation in consultation should be conducted during treatment to improve the quality of life and the emotional state of HBV patients.
Urban Sustainability Evaluation under the Modified TOPSIS Based on Grey Relational Analysis
Authors: Tang Juan , Zhu Hong-lin , Liu Zhi , Jia Fu , Zheng Xiao-xue
Published: January 2019

The evaluation of urban sustainability plays a crucial role in the process of the sustainable development of cities. To decrease subjectivity and attain a comprehensive evaluation, this paper develops an evaluation method using the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). First, an evaluation index system including 39 indices and three categories (economic, social, and ecological development) is established; second, based on the index system, a modified TOPSIS, in which the entropy method is used to assign weights to each index according to its evaluation score and grey relation analysis is used to reduce the uncertainty existing in the process of evaluation, is presented to rank the sustainability level of cities. Finally, an example with the sustainability evaluation of 16 cities in the Anhui province of China is introduced to verify the effectiveness of the model.
A Cross-Sectional Description of Parental Perceptions and Practices Related to Risky Play and Independent Mobility in Children: The New Zealand State of Play Survey
Authors: Jelleyman Charlotte , McPhee Julia , Brussoni Mariana , Bundy Anita , Duncan Scott
Published: January 2019

The potential for risky play and independent mobility to increase children’s physical activity, and enhance cognitive development and emotional wellbeing has been recognised for some time. The aim of this study was to describe the attitudes of New Zealand parents towards such risky play practices and independent mobility, the barriers preventing them from allowing their children to participate, and how often their children engaged in risky play activities. An online survey comprised mostly of validated scales and standardised questions was completed by a nationally representative sample of 2003 parents. We found that parents had neutral feelings about the risk of injury to their child through play, rather they were concerned about road safety and “stranger danger”. There was strong agreement that there are multiple benefits to be gained from exposure to risk and challenge, and that health and safety rules are too strict. However, 73% of respondents stated that their 5–12 year old child seldom or never engaged in four or more risky activities, and only 14.3% engaged in four or more often or always. While parents agree that their child is likely to benefit from risky play, they do not have the confidence to allow their children to engage in such activities. Future research should address barriers and fears when implementing strategies to facilitate risky play.
Particulate Matter Emissions of Four Different Cigarette Types of One Popular Brand: Influence of Tobacco Strength and Additives
Authors: Braun Markus , Koger Friedemann , Klingelhöfer Doris , Müller Ruth , Groneberg David A.
Published: January 2019

The inhalation of particulate matter (PM) in second-hand smoke (SHS) is hazardous to health of smokers and non-smokers. Tobacco strength (amount of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide) and different additives might have an effect on the amount of PM. This study aimed to investigate the influence of tobacco strength or additives on PM. Four cigarette types of the brand Marlboro with different strengths and with or without additives were analyzed in comparison to the 3R4F reference cigarette. SHS was generated by an automatic environmental tobacco smoke emitter (AETSE) in an enclosed space with a volume of 2.88 m³. PM concentrations (PM10, PM2.5, PM1) were measured with a laser aerosol spectrometer followed by statistical analysis. The two strongest Marlboro brands (Red and Red without additives) showed the highest PM concentrations of all tested cigarettes. The measured mean concentrations Cmean of PM10 increased up to 1458 µg/m³ for the Marlboro Red without additives (PM2.5: 1452 µg/m³, PM1: 1263 µg/m³). The similarly strong Marlboro Red showed very similar PM values. The second strongest type Marlboro Gold showed 36% (PM10, PM2.5) and 32% (PM1) lower values, respectively. The “lightest” type Marlboro Silver Blue showed 54% (PM10, PM2.5) or 50% (PM1) lower PM values. The results indicate that the lower the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide amounts, as well as the longer the cigarette filter, the lower are the PM levels. An influence of additives could not be determined.
MT4-MMP: The GPI-Anchored Membrane-Type Matrix Metalloprotease with Multiple Functions in Diseases
Authors: Yip Cassandre , Foidart Pierre , Noël Agnès , Sounni Nor Eddine
Published: January 2019

MT4-MMP (or MMP17) belongs to the Membrane-Type Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT-MMP) family. This family of proteases contributes to extracellular matrix remodeling during several physiological processes, including embryogenesis, organogenesis, tissue regeneration, angiogenesis, wound healing, and inflammation. MT4-MMP (MMP17) presents unique characteristics compared to other members of the family in terms of sequence homology, substrate specificity, and internalization mode, suggesting distinct physiological and pathological functions. While the physiological functions of MT4-MMP are poorly understood, it has been involved in different pathological processes such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer progression. The mt4-mmp transcript has been detected in a large diversity of cancers. The contribution of MT4-MMP to tumor development has been further investigated in gastric cancer, colon cancer, head and neck cancer, and more deeply in breast cancer. Given its contribution to different pathologies, particularly cancers, MT4-MMP represents an interesting therapeutic target. In this review, we examine its biological and structural properties, and we propose an overview of its physiological and pathological functions.
Evaluation of Genomic Prediction for Pasmo Resistance in Flax
Authors: He Liqiang , Xiao Jin , Rashid Khalid Y. , Jia Gaofeng , Li Pingchuan , Yao Zhen , Wang Xiue , Cloutier Sylvie , You Frank M.
Published: January 2019

Pasmo (Septoria linicola) is a fungal disease causing major losses in seed yield and quality and stem fibre quality in flax. Pasmo resistance (PR) is quantitative and has low heritability. To improve PR breeding efficiency, the accuracy of genomic prediction (GP) was evaluated using a diverse worldwide core collection of 370 accessions. Four marker sets, including three defined by 500, 134 and 67 previously identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) and one of 52,347 PR-correlated genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms, were used to build ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction (RR-BLUP) models using pasmo severity (PS) data collected from field experiments performed during five consecutive years. With five-fold random cross-validation, GP accuracy as high as 0.92 was obtained from the models using the 500 QTL when the average PS was used as the training dataset. GP accuracy increased with training population size, reaching values >0.9 with training population size greater than 185. Linear regression of the observed PS with the number of positive-effect QTL in accessions provided an alternative GP approach with an accuracy of 0.86. The results demonstrate the GP models based on marker information from all identified QTL and the 5-year PS average is highly effective for PR prediction.
Dual Role of Triptolide in Interrupting the NLRP3 Inflammasome Pathway to Attenuate Cardiac Fibrosis
Authors: Pan Xi-Chun , Liu Ya , Cen Yan-Yan , Xiong Ya-Lan , Li Jing-Mei , Ding Yuan-Yuan , Tong Yang-Fei , Liu Tao , Chen Xiao-Hong , Zhang Hai-Gang
Published: January 2019

In a previous paper, we reported that triptolide (TP), a commonly used immunomodulator, could attenuate cardiac hypertrophy. This present study aimed to further explore the inhibition of cardiac fibrosis by TP and the possible mechanism from the perspective of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s staining, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence were performed to observe cardiac fibrotic changes in mice and mouse cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). The Western blot, colocalization, and immunoprecipitation were applied to detect protein expression and interactions. Results suggested that TP dose-dependently inhibited cardiac fibrosis induced by isoproterenol and collagen production of CFs induced by angiotensin II. TP exhibited an antifibrotic effect via inhibiting activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which sequentially decreased IL-1β maturation, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)-related phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), and TGF-β1/Smad signaling, and ultimately resulted in less collagen production. Moreover, TP showed no antifibrotic effect in Nlrp3-knockout CFs. Notably, TP inhibited the expression of NLRP3 and apoptosis-associated speck-like proteins containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) as well as inflammasome assembly, by interrupting the NLRP3-ASC interaction to inhibit inflammasome activation. Finally, TP indeed inhibited the NLRP3-TGFβ1-Smad pathway in vivo. Conclusively, TP was found to play a dual role in interrupting the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome to attenuate cardiac fibrosis.