bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ArduHydro: A Low-Cost Device for Water Level Measurement and Monitoring
Authors: Galli Andrea , Peruzzi Cosimo , Gangi Fabiola , Masseroni Daniele
Published: November 2022

ArduHydro is a low-cost device for water level measurement and monitoring designed for a short and long-term employment in controlled and outdoor environments. It measures water level through an ultrasonic sensor and elaborates the signals through an Arduino micro controller. The small size of this device, the low energy required for its operation, its robustness and accuracy make ArduHydro properly versatile for different applications in the field for water control and management. This article describes the design, the components, the costs, and the performance of ArduHydro. Performance was assessed with a laboratory test inside a hydraulic circuit constituted by an open channel flume and comparing ArduHydro measurements with those obtained with a traditional ultrasonic sensor. An example of ArduHydro application for detecting the wavefront evolution during a surface irrigation is presented as well. The results revealed that ArduHydro measurements were on average very consistent with those obtained by the traditional ultrasonic sensor in all different flow conditions (i.e. different flowrate and water depth) demonstrating its reliability and accuracy in the measuring water level. The application of ArduHydro during a surface watering of an agricultural field allowed to obtain important spatio-temporal information about the water depth along the longitudinal direction of the field, paying the way for a real comprehension of the dynamics of wavefront evolution in a real-world case study.
A Linear Heuristic for Multiple Importance Sampling
Authors: Sbert Mateu , Szirmay-Kalos László
Published: November 2022

Multiple Importance Sampling (MIS) combines the probability density functions (pdf) of several sampling techniques into an importance function. The combination weights are the proportion of samples used for the particular techniques. This paper addresses the determination of the optimal combination weights from a few initial samples. Instead of the numerically unstable optimization of the variance, in our solution the quasi-optimal weights are obtained by solving a linear equation, which leads to simpler computations and more robust estimations. The proposed method is validated with 1D numerical examples and with the direct lighting problem of computer graphics.
AMS Subject Classification: Primary Computer Graphics G.3 Mathematics of Computing / PROBABILITY AND STATISTICSProbabilistic algorithms; Computer Graphics G.3 Mathematics of Computing / PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS Probabilistic algorithms ; secondary Computer Graphics G.3 Mathematics of Computing / PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS Probabilistic algorithms
Gut microbiome composition in Lynch syndrome with and without history of colorectal neoplasia and non-Lynch controls
Authors: Rifkin Samara B , Sze Marc A. , Tuck Kirsten , Koeppe Erika , Rifkin Elena M. Stoffel , Schloss Patrick D
Published: November 2022

Background
While Lynch syndrome (LS) is a highly penetrant colorectal cancer (CRC) syndrome, there is considerable variation in penetrance, few studies have investigated the association between microbiome and CRC risk in LS. We analyzed the microbiome composition among individuals with LS with and without personal history of colorectal neoplasia (CRN) and non-LS controls.
Methods
We sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene from the stool of 46 individuals with LS and 53 individuals without LS. We characterized within community and in between community microbiome variation, compared taxon abundance and built machine learning models to investigate differences in microbiome.
Results
There was no difference within or between community variation among LS groups, but there was a statistically significant difference in both within and between community variation comparing LS to non-LS. Streptococcus and Actinomyces were differentially enriched in LS-CRC compared to LS-without CRN. There were numerous differences in taxa abundance comparing LS to non-LS notably Veillonella was enriched and Facaelibacterium and Romboustia were depleted in LS. Finally, machine learning models classifying LS from non-LS controls and LS-CRC from LS-without CRN performed moderately well.
Conclusions
Differences in microbiome composition between LS and non-LS may suggest a microbiome pattern unique to LS formed by underlying differences in epithelial biology and immunology. We found specific taxa differences among LS groups, which may be due to underlying anatomy. Larger prospective studies following for CRN diagnosis and microbiome composition changes are needed to determine if microbiome composition contributes to CRN development in patients with LS.
Experimental Study of the Post-tensioned Unbonded Prestressing UHPC Prefabricated Retaining Blocks for Highway Bridges
Authors: Wu Wenpeng , He Jialong , Li Lifeng , Li Huihui
Published: November 2022

The traditional sacrificial concrete shear keys are generally employed in practical bridges to restrain the excessive transverse displacements of the superstructures and protect the substructures from being seriously damaged under the earthquakes. However, the post-earthquake rehabilitations or reconstructions of the conventional concrete shear keys are difficult and inconvenient. To this end, this paper proposed and designed a novel modified post-tensioned unbonded prestressed ultra-high-performance-concrete (UHPC) prefabricated retaining block (UHPC-PRB) structure with the straight joint connection. The novel UHPC-PRB structure is composed of the prefabricated UHPC retaining block, the prestressing anchorage system, and the cast-in-situ cap beam. The prefabricated UHPC retaining block was installed to the cast-in-situ cap beam using the unbonded prestressing tendons. The proposed UHPC-PRB structure is supposed to be effective in not only providing the same functionality as the traditional concrete shear keys, but also is expected of simplifying the retrofit process and reducing the rehabilitation expense. To investigate the seismic behavior of the proposed UHPC-PRB structure, four specimens were designed and the pseudo-static tests were carried out. The damage process, displacements, strains, and stress states of specimens were studied. In addition, influences of the loading height, thickness of the UHPC retaining block, and the initial prestresses of the prestressing tendons on the seismic performance of the proposed UHPC-PRB structure were also studied. The experimental results indicated that, (i) the proposed UHPC-PRB structures had excellent lateral deformation ability and self-resetting capacity; (ii) the initial prestresses of the prestressing tendons had significant effects on the lateral displacement, critical rotational load, and horizontal bearing capacity of UHPC retaining blocks; (iii) prestress loss of the prestressing tendons had certain effect on the development of the bilinear analytical model of UHPC retaining blocks, but this effect could be ignored in practical bridges; and (iv) increasing the horizontal loading height would reduce the critical rotational load and bearing capacity of UHPC retaining blocks.
Impact of Cataract Surgery on Cognitive Impairment in Older People
Authors: Yoshida Yuto , Ono Koichi , Sekimoto Shinichiro , Umeya Reiko , Hiratsuka Yoshimune
Published: November 2022

Background
While it has been recognized visual impairment is associated with cognitive impairment in older people, the effect of cataract surgery in patients with cognitive impairment is still not clear. Therefore, we examined the impact of cataract surgery on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in older people.
Methods
This prospective observational study included patients aged 75 years and older who underwent cataract surgery between 2019 and 2021. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and MMSE for the visually impaired (MMSE-blind) were measured to evaluate cognitive function before and 3 months after cataract surgery. This study examined associations between improvement in cognitive function and other factors.
Results
Of 132 patients screened for inclusion in the study, 88 met the inclusion criteria; 39 patients were assigned to the dementia group (mean age, 85.7±4.2 years) and 49 to the MCI group (mean age, 84.2±3.4 years). The MCI group showed significant improvement from before to after surgery in the MMSE score (25.65±1.03 vs 27.08 ± 1.99, respectively; P < 0.001) and MMSE-blind score (18.04±1.14 vs 19.41 ±2.01, respectively; P<0.001). Cognitive function improved significantly in the MCI group compared with the dementia group (odds ratio, 2.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-7.97; P=0.046).
Conclusions
Cataract surgery significantly increases cognitive test scores in older patients with MCI. After cataract surgery, the likelihood of improvement in cognitive function may be highly dependent on a patient’s preoperative cognitive state.
A data-driven approach to forecast the length of stay and overall treatment cost for resistant bacterial infections.
Authors: Chandra Prashant , KE Vandana , Mukhopadhyay Chiranjay , U Dinesh Acharya , M Surulivelrajan , V Rajesh
Published: November 2022

The length of stay (LOS) and healthcare expenses for patients are drastically impacted by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In addition to building a prediction model for AMR infection outcomes, the study will examine how AMR influences the attributable cost and length of stay in hospitalized patients. WEKA-ML version 3.8.6 was used to build the models. The discretization of LOS and cost into distinct bins is normalized. Utilizing a number of feature selection techniques, the best characteristics associated with the outcome were selected. The optimal feature selection strategy was selected, and several methods were used to the training (66 percent / 80 percent) and test (34 percent /20 percent) data sets to prevent underfitting and overfitting. Using ROC curves, prediction error, and accuracy metrics, the best-predicted model is selected. In terms of forecasting LOS, RF performed better (accuracy=69.6, ROC=0.852) than bagging (accuracy=69.6, ROC=0.862) while using the cfs subset attribute evaluation+greedy stepwise approach and the Infogain+ranker method. The majority of patients fell between the ranges of 7 and 14 days. With 34% of test data sets, RF outperformed marginally better using the infogain attribute selection+ranker technique (Accuracy=80.8 ROC=0.967) in predicting cost. Most fell into the >$1720 range, then came the $814 range. Effective LOS and treatment cost prediction for resistant infections gives crucial data that helps hospital administration, and the medical staff make crucial decisions. While avoiding a significant loss of resources, hospital administration can provide the appropriate and essential resources and the best medical team for treating the patient.
The influence of NbB inoculation on dendritic spacing and grain size of an aluminum 2017 alloy at different cooling rates
Authors: Silva Argos Soares , Sousa Sarah Maria de Albuquerque , de Gouveia Guilherme Lisboa , Garcia Amauri , Spinelli José
Published: November 2022

The Al-4Cu-Mg 2017 alloy is a significant Al extrusion alloy. As a result, knowing its behavior in terms of grain refining during casting stages becomes critical for the next processing steps. In the face of the shortcomings exhibited by TiB inoculants, the addition of NbB could be tested for this alloy as an alternative. The present article investigates the effects of NbB addition on grain size (GS), on secondary dendrite arm spacing (λ2) and on hardness of centrifugally cast (CC) and directionally solidified (DS) 2017 alloy samples, encompassing a broad range of cooling rates and solidification conditions. The λ2 did not change much as a result of the NbB inoculation, either for DS or CC samples, decreasing from 7.2 µm to 7.0 µm in the case of the 4 mm-thick CC samples and increasing from 17.0 µm to 22.5 µm in the case of the DS samples. The average GS, on the other hand, reduced from 293 µm to 136 µm for the NbB-containing CC samples and from 756 µm to 313 µm for the DS samples associated with cooling rates of 10 K/s. Both processes can achieve nearly the same GS reduction ratio, namely 2.2 for the CC and 2.5 for the DS. This implies that GS reduction ratio was barely affected if similar cooling rates were compared while taking the experimental range for both processes into account. Moreover, Vickers hardness results revealed that GS had little influence on this property for both alloys studied. The experimentally obtained data translated a variety of solidification condition outlines for the 2017 alloy. Through this data, understanding of an alternative inoculant in a significant Al alloy series advanced significantly.
Comprehensive characterization of the senescence gene Klotho in lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Qiao Yating , Liu Fubin , Peng Yu , Wang Peng , Si Changyu , Wang Xixuan , Zhang Ming , Song Fangfang
Published: November 2022

Background
Aging has become an important mechanism and target for lung diseases. We aimed to explore novel aging markers for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) that may partially modulate immune responses.
Methods
Aging-related gene sets were acquired from HAGR and Ageing Atlas databases. We retrieved RNA-seq expression and clinical data of LUAD from TCGA and three GEO cohorts. Candidate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected by univariate COX, LASSO COX and multivariate COX regression to construct the prognostic model and nomogram. The ssGSEA, GO terms and KEGG pathway analysis were employed for functional enrichment. The Wilcoxon test and Kaplan-Meier method were applied for differences in distribution and prognosis, respectively. The Spearman method was performed for the correlations between KL expression and CPG site methylation, m6A modifications and immunological characteristics.
Results
We identified a four-gene prognostic panel of LUAD to construct a nomogram with C-index of 0.721, screening KL out as one prospective senescence gene. Low-expressed KL independently contributed to a poor prognosis for LUAD patients, which may be partially mediated by hypermethylation and m6A modification. Functional enrichment revealed the involvement of immune pathways, further proved by the positive correlation between KL expression and immune scores, abundance of immune infiltrating cells, and immunological characteristics. High-expressed KL gene in decreased immune cell subgroups (CD4 + memory T cells, Eosinophils, NK cells, et al) had a better prognosis.
Conclusion
Immune-related KL gene was a potent predictor of LUAD, suggesting that further exploration of KL as a therapeutic agent may break the bottleneck in LUAD treatment.
Acupuncture alleviates behavioral stereotypies of Tourette Syndrome via CB1 receptors in dopaminergic neurons of nigrostriatal system
Authors: Lin Lixue , Lan Yuye , Yu Lingling , Wang Suixi , Wu Shuang , Wan Wangyixuan , Hou Tengfei , Zhang Hong , Ge Wenqiang , Chen Chao , Zhanmu Ouyang , Ma Yan , Su Wen , Tang Yong , Yin Haiyan , Li Man
Published: November 2022

Objective Tourette syndrome (TS) is a common neurological disorder characterized by behavioral stereotypies. Acupuncture has been found to improve stereotypical behavior in a clinical setting, but its mechanism remains unclear. The main pathogenesis of TS may result from the dysfunction of the dopamine (DA) system in the substantia nigra-striatal network. Moreover, endocannabinoids have therapeutic effects on TS by activating the CB1 receptors (CB1R).
Methods In this study, we determined the optimal acupuncture treatment for TS. Further, we investigated whether CB1R could mediate the effects of acupuncture treatment on behavioral stereotypies of TS and regulate the concentration of DA in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and the dorsal striatum (dSTR).
Results We found that both manual acupuncture and low-frequency electroacupuncture alleviated involuntary behavioral stereotypies in TS model mice, decreased the concentration of DA in the SNpc and dSTR, and increased CB1R expression in dopaminergic neurons in the SNpc. Targeted knockout of CB1R in dopaminergic neurons projecting from SNpc to dSTR reversed the effects of acupuncture.
Conclusion Our results support that CB1R in dopaminergic neurons projecting from SNpc to dSTR is involved in acupuncture treatment to alleviate stereotypical behavior in TS model mice.
Permafrost thawing drives long term changes in plant species composition at the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Yun Hanbo , Chen Anping , Zastruzny Sebastian , Liu Guojun
Published: November 2022

Permafrost soils contain nearly twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. The current observed climate warming will lead to widespread degradation of near-surface permafrost, which may perturb the vertical distribution of nutrition availability in permafrost-affected ecosystems, and the potential ramification is far-reaching to the carbon cycling between vegetation and climate.
Aims: A better understanding of permafrost thawing how to drive plant growth and species composition is crucial for predicting the consequence of climate change for permafrost affected ecosystem response.
Methods: We explored the relationship between permafrost thawing, soil chemistry, soil nutrition, and above-ground biomass, maximum rooting depth and species composition across space, and over four decades of warming at 14 Tibet Plateau sites.
Results: 1) With permafrost thawing, both cation and anion concentration increased at the ground surface layer (0-50cm); 2) Particularly, nitrogen released from permafrost table stimulated maximum root depth, which drove the species composition; 3) Above-ground biomass in the long term (Fourth decades) did not have a statistic change, although in some special-specific years had a significant fluctuant.
Conclusions: Here, we provided suggestions that deep-rooting species have a competitive advantage than shallow-rooting species driver the species composition under climate warming. Whereas, our findings highlight the water-soluble salt (nutrient) concentration and location varieties intense the competitive advantage of deep-rooting species due to short the time of the belowground growing season.
Kinetics Analysis of Ozonation Process of Recovering Manganese Dioxide from Aqueous Phase in the Presence of Manganese Dithionate
Authors: Qu Bing , Li Teng , Yang Zhengzheng , Ren Liping , Long Chengyin , Deng Honglian , Wu Mengqiang , Chen Sibei
Published: November 2022

Manganese sulfate, as preparation of manganese dioxide industrial raw material, is obtained upon desulfurization with manganese ore. However, a byproduct, manganese dithionate (MnS2O6) will debase the purity and spoils the recovery of the product. In order to find out the conversion mechanism of MnS2O6 during the ozonation process, we investigated the factors affecting the decomposition rate of MnS2O6, including ozone content, manganese dithionate concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, and reaction temperature. The results confirmed that the conversion rate of MnS2O6 is increased with the increasing of the four factors. There were two sections of MnS2O6 ozonation: (1) Mn2+ was directly oxidized to MnO2; (2) SO42− was obtained by the catalytic oxidation of S2O62− with O3. Meanwhile, the total activation energy of the ozonation kinetics equation of the ozonation reaction was 177.28 kJ mol− 1 according to kinetics analysis. The oxidation experimental results indicated that the oxidizer (O3) was not only beneficial to enhance the disproportionation of MnS2O6, but also provided a way to prevent the secondary pollution, SO2 gas releasing.
Right or Left moving ? Investigating Asymmetric Energy Dispersion Effects on Charge-Transfer between a Quantum Dot and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube
Authors: Charoenpakdee J. , Suntijitrungruang Ongart , Boonchui S.
Published: November 2022

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms, possess unique mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties. SWCNT can be synthesized in diverse chiral indexes to determine certain attributes. This work theoretically investigates electron transport in different directions along SWCNT. The electron studied in this research transfers from the quantum dot that can possibly move to the right or left direction in SWCNT. Noticeably, the simulation in this work shows the asymmetric electron transport in that the probability to find the electron and the electron’s group velocity is different for each direction. Such a result can be traced theoretically by certain effects. That firstly is the curvature effect on SWCNT in which the hopping integral between π electrons from the flat graphene is altered, and another is curvature-inducing σ − π mixture. Due to these effects, the band structure of SWCNT is asymmetric in certain chiral indexes leading to the asymmetric electron transport. Our results exhibit that the zigzag chiral indexes is the only type making electron transport symmetry that is different to the result from the other chiral index types which are the armchair and chiral. This work also illustrates the characteristic of the electron wave function propagating from the initial point to the tip of the tube over time, and the current density of the probability in specific times. Additionally, our research simulates the result from the dipole interaction between the electron in QD and the tube that impacts the lifetime of the electron being in QD. The simulation portrays that the more dipole interaction encourages the electron transfer to the tube, thereby shortening the lifetime. We as well suggest the reversed electron transfer from the tube to QD that the time duration of such transfer is much less than the opposite transfer owing to the different orbital of the electron’s states. The exploration in this work can be applied to carbon nanotube products, such as solar cells, artificial antennas, quantum computers and other coming technologies, for various advantages.
Complete genome sequence of a novel caulimovirus isolated from Dregea volubilis
Authors: Li Shangyun , Anane Rex Frimpong , Chen Zeli , Duan Chunfang , Wang Zhe , Gao Like , Yu Daihong , Chu Bifan , Yang Zefen , Wen Guosong , Zhao Mingfu
Published: November 2022

The complete genome sequence of a putative novel caulimovirus, tentatively named “Dregea volubilis caulimovirus 1.” (DVCaV1, GenBank accession no. MZ813180), infecting Dregea volubilis in China was determined using high-throughput sequencing (HTS). The complete open circular genomic DNA of DVCaV1 consists of 8,160 nucleotides (nt) and contains seven ORFs that encode a movement protein, an aphid transmission factor, a DNA-binding protein, a coat protein, a polymerase polyprotein, a translational transactivator protein and hypothetical protein, as well as two intergenic regions. This genome structure is typical of viruses of the genus Caulimovirus. Sequence comparisons analyses of the complete genome suggest that DVCaV1 is closely related to strawberry vein banding virus (NC_001725), and shares 43.3-50.3% nt sequence identity with caulimoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed that DVCaV1 clustered with viruses of the genus Caulimovirus,with strawberry vein banding virus being the closely related species. These results suggest that DVCaV1 is a new member of the genus Caulimovirusof the family Caulimoviridae. This is the first report of a caulimovirus infecting Dregea volubilis.
Study on arc characteristics and weld formation in the ultrasonic-magnetic hybrid GTAW
Authors: Li Wenlong , Liu Jin , Zhang Huijing , Chao Chen
Published: November 2022

This paper aim at increasing efficiencies in the uses of arc energy by adding the ultrasonic and magnetic fields. A new welding method is developed and named as Ultrasonic-Magnetic coaxial hybrid gas tungsten arc welding (U-M-GTAW). In this paper, the effect of tungsten extension and welding current on the arc characteristics under different welding methods and the effect of different welding methods on the formation of 304 stainless steel welds were investigated. The arc shape changed significantly with increasing tungsten extension, and the addition of ultrasonic waves can increase the arc energy and stiffness. As the current increases, the arc area increases, and the degree of contraction and rotation of the arc decreases. Compared to the weld penetration of GTAW, U-GTAW and M-GTAW increased by 58.6% and 11.5%, respectively, while the weld penetration of U-M-GTAW decreased slightly. Compared with the weld width of GTAW, U-GTAW increased by 97.1%, M-GTAW increased by 44.5%, and U-M-GTAW increased the most, by 123.8%.
The Role of Race in Deaths of Despair in Brazil: is It a White People Problem?
Authors: Guimarães Raphael Mendonça , Meira Karina Cardoso
Published: November 2022

A new paradigm has been discussed regarding the impact of economic cycles on the mortality pattern from specific causes. These causes are called deaths of despair, and they selectively impact specific demographic groups. Also, low- and middle- income countries are most affected due to their economic and social instability. In this sense, the objective of study was to compare the magnitude of disparity in deaths from despair according to sex, age, and race in Brazil. We performed Poisson regression modeling to estimate the magnitude of the association between sex, age group, race, and deaths from despair. We found an association between mortality from despair and male sex (PR=6.15, 95%CI 6.09 – 6.22); emphasis on the age groups from 40 to 49 years old (PR=2.45, 95% CI 2.41 – 2.48) and 50 to 59 years old (PR=2.39, 95% CI 2.36 – 2.43); and brown (PR=1.21, 95% CI 1.20 – 1.22) and black race (PR=1.36, 95% CI 1.34 – 1.37). The present study preliminarily presents the effect of the economic crisis and mortality in the population, with demographic differences. Association with race was opposite to that verified in the original study in US, which suggests that this variable should be analyzed in the light of structural context.
Effects of Humic acid fertilizers on arsenic and mercury speciation and enzyme activities in soil
Authors: Wang Lanjun , Zhang Yutai , Xu Chonglin , Dong Qun , Lv Yuzhen , Wang Mingxia , Su Xin , Jiang Hao , Xu Yuxin , Sun Fengxia , Yin Xiting , Zhai Rukang
Published: November 2022

Arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) pollution in soils pose a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health. Humic acid is often used for soil improvement and remediation due to its large number of active groups, but how humic acid fertilizers affect the behavior of As and Hg in soils remains to be clarified. Therefore, the effects of ammonium fulvic acid and sodium humate on the speciation of As and Hg in soil and their migration to plants, as well as the enzyme activity in As- and Hg-contaminated soil were studied. The results showed that all concentrations of ammonium fulvic acid decreased the content of the residual fraction As, but increased the the content of specifically sorbed fraction and oxide bound fraction As in the soil. So the passivation effect of ammonium fulvic acid on As in soil was not obvious. Sodium humate promoted the transformation of As in the soil to a more stable residual fraction state. Both ammonium fulvic acid and sodium humate increased the content of the organic bound fraction and the residual fraction Hg in the soil, that is, both humic acid fertilizers promoted the transformation of Hg in the soil to a more stable form. In the As and Hg polluted soil, the application of ammonium fulvic acid had no significant effect on the content of As and Hg in the shoot of pakchoi, but the application of sodium humate could reduce the content of As and Hg in the shoot of pakchoi. The activities of urease, alkaline phosphatase and sucrase in As and Hg polluted soil was increased by ammonium fulvic acid and sodium humate, and the enzyme activities were higher than those in the control group under different fertilizer additions.
MFI2 upregulation promotes malignant progression through EGF/FAK signaling in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Yen Wei-Chen , Chang Kai-Ping , Chen Cheng-Yi , Huang Yenlin , Chen Ting-Wen , Cheng Hsing-Wen , Yi Jui-Shan , Cheng Chun-Chia , Wu Chih-Ching , Wang Chun-I
Published: November 2022

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the predominant histological type of the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). By comparing the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in OSCC-TCGA patients with copy number variations (CNVs) that we identify in OSCC-OncoScan dataset, we herein identified 37 dysregulated candidate genes. Among these potential candidate genes, 26 have been previously reported as dysregulated proteins or genes in HNSCC. Among 11 novel candidates, the overall survival analysis revealed that melanotransferrin (MFI2) is the most significant prognostic molecular in OSCC-TCGA patients. Another independent Taiwanese cohort confirmed that higher MFI2 transcript levels were significantly associated with poor prognosis. Mechanistically, we found that knockdown of MFI2 reduced cell viability, migration and invasion via modulating EGF/FAK signaling in OSCC cells. Collectively, our results support a mechanistic understanding of a novel role for MFI2 in promoting cell invasiveness in OSCC.
Adsorption of radon on silver exchanged zeolites at ambient temperatures
Authors: Heinitz Stephan , Mermans Jasper , Maertens Dominic , Skliarova Hanna , Aerts Alexander , Cardinaels Thomas , Rutten Jos , Gueibe Christophe , Kuznicki Daniel , Ireland Natalie , Kuznicki Steven
Published: November 2022

Since more than 100 years, the adsorption of the radioactive noble gas radon (222Rn) is performed on activated charcoal at cryogenic temperatures. There is little – if any – progress in the field of radon adsorption at ambient conditions to facilitate the development of simple and compact radon adsorption systems. We report here on the truly remarkable property of the synthetic silver-exchanged zeolites Ag-ETS-10 and Ag-ZSM-5 to strongly adsorb radon gas at room temperature. 222Rn breakthrough experiments in nitrogen carrier gas have shown that these materials exhibit radon adsorption coefficients exceeding 3,000 m3/kg at 293 K, more than two orders of magnitude larger than any noble gas adsorbent known to date. Water vapor and carrier gas type were found to strongly influence radon adsorption, practically qualifying these silver exchanged materials as a new class of radon adsorbents. Our results demonstrate that Ag-ETS-10 and Ag-ZSM-5 are materials that show high affinity towards radon gas at ambient temperatures making them candidate materials for environmental and industrial 222Rn mitigation applications. Adsorption systems based on silver loaded zeolites have the potential to replace activated charcoal as material of choice in many radon related research areas by avoiding the necessity of cryogenic cooling.
SPOCD1 accelerates colorectal cancer by increasing the expression of YAP
Authors: Fu Mingyue , Yuan Yifan , Mao Yujuan , Zhu Hua , Ye Mei
Published: November 2022

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a global disease, it is of great significance to discover a novel target for the treatment of CRC. SPOCD1 encodes proteins belonging to the transcription factor S-II (TFIIS) transcription factor family. The expression of SPOCD1 increases in a variety of tumor types, including ovarian cancer, osteosarcoma, glioblastoma, sophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and so on. In this study, we detected the expression of SPOCD1 in CRC tissues and cells. We also evaluated the correlation between the prognosis of CRC and the expression of SPOCD1 and found SPOCD1 was overexpressed in CRC and correlated with a poor prognosis. Meanwhile, the correlations between SPOCD1 expression and drugs were evaluated as well. We observed the genetic alteration status of SPOCD1 in CRC. Immune cell infiltration showed that there is a positive correlation between SPOCD1 expression and immune function. In vitro, SPOCD1 could promote CRC cell proliferation and migration. In the meantime, apoptosis was inhibited. YAP was identified as the target gene of SPOCD1 via qRT-PCR and western blot. Compared to only transfecting siSPOCD1, the proliferation of HT29 cells was partially restored when co-transfected with siSPOCD1 and oeYAP.
Background: CRC is a common digestive tract tumor with the highest incidence in the world. SPOCD1 is a novel gene that encodes proteins belonging to the transcription factor S-II (TFIIS) transcription factor family. Up to now, whether SPOCD1 contributes the pathegenesis of CRC has been poorly defined. The main purpose of our research was to find the association between SPOCD1 and CRC.
Methods: We used CRC datasets from the tumor immune estimation resource, version 2 (TIMER2) database, and immune cell infiltration was created to investigate immune cell dysregulation in CRC. Western blot was used to detect the expression of SPOCD1 in CRC and non-cancerous tissue. The expression of SPOCD1 in CRC cells was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Cell Counting Kit 8 and colony formation assay analysis were conducted to analyze the effect of SPOCD1 on cell proliferation. And cell migration was analyzed by scratch assay. Using apoptotic proteins to assess the apoptotic capacity of cells. The protein expression of SPOCD1 and YAP in CRC cells was measured by Western blot.
Results: SPOCD1 was overexpressed in CRC and correlated with a poor prognosis. The higher the expression of SPOCD1, the shorter the survival rate. The expression of SPOCD1 is increased in colorectal cancer cells such as HT29 and SW480 cells. What’s more, the reduction of SPOCD1 inhibits the proliferation and migration of HT29 and SW480 cells and increases apoptosis in HT29 and SW480 cells. And the Hippo/YAP pathway was inhibited by the knockdown of SPOCD1 in HT29 and SW480 cells.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that SPOCD1 may play an oncogenic role by activating the Hippo/YAP pathway to inhibit apoptosis in CRC and can be a potential target for the treatment of CRC.
Experimental and numerical investigation on temperature field and joints tensile failure for CF/PPS-Al alloy interlocking induction welding
Authors: Qin Xuda , Wang Chenyue , Li Hao , Meng Xianming , Yu Tian , Liu Haitao
Published: November 2022

The induction welding has been recognized as one of potential and high-efficiency joining methods for thermoplastic composite materials. In this study, a numerical simulation model with containing both induction wielding heat transfer and joint tensile failure process for CF/PPS-Al alloy interlocking induction welding was established based on software COMSOL Mulitiphysics and Abaqus/Explicit. The CF/PPS-Al7075 interlocking welding joints with special designed macro-scale interlocking were tested under tensile loads, and the corresponding single lap-shear strength, energy absorption and failure mechanisms were investigated by combining the experimental and numerical approaches. Finally, the influence of macro-scale interlocking geometric parameters on joint tensile strength was also discussed. The results indicate that the proposed model can effectively predict the temperature distribution in the welding process and the tensile failure process of the joint. It is also presented that the addition of macro-scale interlocking features can effectively improve the ultimate load (47%) and energy absorption capacity (48%) of the CF/PPS-Al alloy induction welded joints. Meanwhile, the number of addition PPS films in the welding zone and the inclination angle have greater contribution on the tensile strength of the welded joints.
WITHDRAWN: Acute cerebral infarction patients' 3-month mortality predicted by peripheral tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 mRNA level
Authors: Huang Nana , Zhang Feng , Zhu Tianrui , Wang Dong , Zhao Yanxin , Li Yanshuang , Wang Min , Zhang Guitao , He Yi , Zhang Yue , Zhang Qingchen , Li Zhichao , Tang Xiaosan , Zhang Yuanyuan , Li Xiaohong
Published: November 2022

Background
Tumor necrosis factor-induced protein 3 (A20) is a novel negative regulator of immunological homeostasis. This research aimed to determine whether A20 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) could be used to predict 3-month functional outcome and mortality in individuals with acute cerebral infarction (ACI).
Methods
There were 50 healthy controls and 182 patients with ACI in this study. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect the A20 mRNA expression levels in PBMCs from ACI patients and healthy controls.We also recorded the medical history, score of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on the first day of disease onset (NIHSS1), cranial magnetic resonance imaging findings, and hematological examination index. On day 90 after disease onset, the prognosis was evaluated using a modified Rankin scale.
Results
In comparison to healthy controls, the median A20 mRNA levels in PBMCs of ACI patients were considerably greater (P < 0.001). A20 mRNA expression levels in PBMCs were negatively correlated with lesion volume (r = -0.1678, P < 0.05) and NIHSS1 score (r = -0.2897, P < 0.0001). A20 mRNA expression levels were substantially greater in the survivor group and the groups with favorable outcomes, respectively compared to those in the non-survivor group (P < 0.005) and the groups with unfavorable outcome (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
A20 mRNA is involved in the immune response in ACI and might be a potential biomarker of ACI-related mortality.
Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1 Promotes the Progression of EBV-associated Gastric Cancer and Maintains EBV Latent Infection
Authors: Liang Yue , Liu Wen , Zhao Menghe , Shi Duo , Zhang Yan , Luo Bing
Published: November 2022

Objective
This study aimed to investigate the association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) and the biological function of NRF1 in EBV-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC).
Methods
Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to assess the effect of latent membrane protein 2A (LMP2A) on NRF1 expression after transfection with LMP2A plasmid or siLMP2A. The effects of NRF1 on the migration and apoptosis ability of GC cells were investigated by transwell assay and flow cytometry apoptosis analysis in vitro, respectively. In addition, we determined the regulatory role of NRF1 in EBV latent infection by western blot and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).
Results
LMP2A upregulated NRF1 expression by activating the NF-κB pathway. Moreover, NRF1 upregulated the expression of N-Cadherin and ZEB1 to promote cell migration. NRF1 promoted the expression of Bcl-2 to increase the anti-apoptosis ability of cells. In addition, NRF1 maintained latent infection of EBV by promoting the expression of the latent protein Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) and inhibiting the expression of the lytic proteins.
Conclusions
Our data indicated the role of NRF1 in EBVaGC progression and the maintenance of EBV latent infection. This provided a new theoretical basis for further NRF1-based anti-cancer therapy.
Analyzing Performance of Electric Vehicle Battery Management System by Using ASL Converter Topologies
Authors: Ramakrishnan Agenya , Ramkumar M. Siva
Published: November 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Application of Miedema’s model for the Calculation of thermodynamic properties of Fe-Al-Cr and Fe-Al-Cu ternary systems
Authors: Alsaedi Ali Kadhim , Mraity Hussien Abid Ali Bakir , Al-Temimei Faeq
Published: November 2022

The model of Miedema semi-empirical can be considered as a promising technique for the estimation of the thermodynamic variables of solid solution that classified into binary and ternary Fe-Al-Cr and Fe-Al-Cu based systems. For the latter to be conducted, A recently delevolped software called MAAT (materials Analysis Applying Thermodynamics ) was used in the current work to calculate the thermodynamic characteristics of the "binary and ternary" systems. The results demonstrated that the values of the Gibbs free energy concerning the binary systems of the solid solution of each of Fe-Al, Fe-Cr, Al-Cr, and Al-Cu were seen to be negative and lower than that of the ideal Gibbs free energy, except with Fe-Cu that was positive. For ternary system (Fe-Al-Cr and Fe-Al-Cu), the Gibbs free energy level were noticed to be negative across most of the composition extent. This is suggesting that, there were driving forces to reach the solid solution from pure Fe, Al, Cr and Cu powders lies within the full extent of composition.
Blood-brain barrier rescue by roflumilast after transient global cerebral ischemia in rats
Authors: Bonato Jéssica Mendes , Mattos Bianca Andretto , Oliveira Daniela Velasquez , Milani Humberto , Prickaerts Jos , Oliveira Rúbia Maria Weffort
Published: November 2022

Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitors (PDE4-I), which selectively increase cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, have shown neuroprotective effects after several neurological injuries inducing blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage including local/focal cerebral ischemia. The present investigated whether roflumilast confers BBB neuroprotection in the hippocampus after transient global cerebral ischemia (TGCI) in rats. TGCI resulted in whole BBB disruption as measured by the increase of Evans blue (EB) and IgG extravasation, neurodegeneration, and downregulation of claudin-5 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) levels in the CA1 hippocampal subfield of ischemic rats. Roflumilast attenuated BBB disruption and restored the levels of eNOS in the CA1 hippocampal area. Moreover, roflumilast increased the levels of B2 cell lymphoma (BcL-2) and neuron-glial antigen-2 (NG2) in the CA1 subfield after global ischemia in rats. The protective effects of roflumilast against TGCI-induced BBB breakdown might involve preservation of BBB integrity, vascularization and angiogenesis, and myelin repair.
Associations between social engagement, internalizing symptoms, and delusional ideation in the general population
Authors: Hall Lauren M. , Moussa-Tooks Alexandra B. , Sheffield Julia M.
Published: November 2022

Background: Delusions are a hallmark feature of psychotic disorders and lead to significant clinical and functional impairment. Internalizing symptoms— such as symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma exposure—are commonly cited to be related to delusions and delusional ideation and are often associated with deficits in social functioning. While emerging studies are investigating the impact of low social engagement on psychotic-like experiences, little work has examined the relationship between social engagement, internalizing symptoms, and delusional ideation, specifically.
Methods: Using general population data from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland (NKI-Rockland) database (N=526), we examined the relationships between self-reported delusional ideation, internalizing symptoms, and social engagement and tested four indirect effect models to understand how these factors interrelate.
Results: Delusional ideation was significantly associated with both increased internalizing symptoms (r=0.41, p<0.001) and lower social engagement (r=-0.14, p=0.001). Within aspects of social engagement, perceived emotional support showed the strongest relationship with delusional ideation (r=-0.17, p<0.001). Lower social engagement was also significantly associated with increased internalizing symptoms (r=-0.29, p<0.001). Cross-sectional models suggest that internalizing symptoms have a significant indirect effect on the association between delusional ideation and social engagement.
Conclusions: These findings reveal that elevated delusional ideation in the general population is associated with lower social engagement. Elevated internalizing symptoms appear to play a critical role in reducing engagement, possibly exacerbating delusional thinking. Future work should examine the causal and temporal relationships between these factors.
Chinese Characters and Pinyin: A Model with Two Parallel Feature Extractors for Chinese Entity Recognition
Authors: Zhai Yuhui , Tian Shengwei , Yu Long , Wang Bo , Zhou Tiejun , Wang Yu , Gao Mandeng
Published: November 2022

The purpose of Named Entity Recognition (NER) is to identify and mark entities with specific meanings in a text. Compared with English NER, Chinese NER is blurry about the boundaries of entity classes because there is no clear separator between Chinese characters and Chinese entities are composed of several characters with different lengths. For Chinese NER, traditional methods only focus on Chinese characters, ignoring the important role of pronunciation. But for these models considering pronunciation, they put pronunciation and characters together for feature extraction. In this paper, we propose a Model with Two Parallel Feature Extractors. It uses a new Pinyin embedding layer that can handle characters except Pinyin and it uses Pinyin Encoder and Word Encoder to obtain the features of Pinyin and characters respectively and then features are fused through TextCNN. Compared with the previous model, this model is not as big as BERT, and it can get good results without additional data type training. We used four datasets: Resume, CCKS2019, CLUENER2020 and MSRA to test our model and it showed a good result, which proved the validity of our model.
A Multimodal Biometric Authentication System Using the Exponential Water Wave Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Vensila C , Wesley A. Boyed
Published: November 2022

The biometric system relies on a single biometric identifier which could not meet the desired performance required for personal identification. Hence, identification based on the multimodal biometric system is emerged in the research community to achieve the personal identification process more effective. Owing to the strong binding among user identity and biometric template, the user privacy is revealed and hence the security resulted in a major requirement in the biometric system. An authentication based multimodal biometric system is developed in this research by considering different modalities, such as fingerprint, finger vein, and face. Here, the bit string is generated from the biometric sample in such a way that the bit strings are fused by employing the proposed Exponential Water Wave Optimization (EWWO) algorithm based on the involvement of logic operations. However, the process of fusion is accomplished in such a way that it depends on the random selection of two logic operators by the developed optimization approach. Accordingly, the developed EWWO is derived by the combination of Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Water Wave Optimization (WWO) respectively. The authentication mechanism is achieved by employing the biometric template with the encoder and decoder operation. Moreover, the proposed method achieved the performance for Equal Error rate (EER), False Acceptance Rate (FAR), and False Rejection Rate (FRR) with the value of 0.0717, 0.0745, and 0.0689, respectively.
Improvement of Power Quality for Smart Microgrid Using Fuzzy Based ANN with Microcontroller
Authors: Stanley R. Sam , Pavalarajan S.
Published: November 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.