bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Doppler Ultrasound and Computerized Tomographic Angiography in Evaluation of Cervical Arteries Stenosis in Stroke Patients, a Retrospective Single-Center Study
Authors: Simaan Naaem , Jubeh Tamer , Wiegler Karine Beiruti , Sharabi-Nov Adi , Honig Asaf , Shahien Radi
Published: January 2023

There are different diagnostic modalities to investigate atherosclerosis cervical artery disease in suspected stroke patients. We aimed to test the concordance of findings of the two most widely used diagnostic modalities in stroke patients: duplex ultrasound (DUS) and computerized tomographic angiography (CTA). A total of 100 stroke patients were retrospectively included in the study, all of them had DUS followed by CTA. Discrepancies of DUS compared to the CTA results in both the internal carotid and vertebral arteries were found in 44% of the patients. The patients with significant differences in diagnostic results were characterized by older age. Evaluation of the degree of carotid artery stenosis revealed vast differences in patients with 50–69% stenosis found by DUS, in which 45.5% of them had a different percentage of stenosis found by CTA. In studying the degree of stenosis of the vertebral artery, only 47.1% of the patients with more than 50% stenosis found by DUS had the same results with CTA, while the remaining revealed normal or less than 50% stenosis by CTA. The current study emphasizes that CTA is more accurate than DUS in the evaluation of stenosis of the cervical arteries including both the internal carotid and vertebral arteries.
Dissipation + Utilization = Self-Organization
Authors: Crecraft Harrison
Published: January 2023

This article applies the thermocontextual interpretation (TCI) to open dissipative systems. TCI is a generalization of the conceptual frameworks underlying mechanics and thermodynamics. It defines exergy with respect to the positive-temperature surroundings as a property of state, and it defines the dissipation and utilization of exergy as functional properties of process. The Second Law of thermodynamics states that an isolated system maximizes its entropy (by dissipating and minimizing its exergy). TCI’s Postulate Four generalizes the Second Law for non-isolated systems. A non-isolated system minimizes its exergy, but it can do so either by dissipating exergy or utilizing it. A non-isolated dissipator can utilize exergy either by performing external work on the surroundings or by carrying out the internal work of sustaining other dissipators within a dissipative network. TCI defines a dissipative system’s efficiency by the ratio of exergy utilization to exergy input. TCI’s Postulate Five (MaxEff), introduced here, states that a system maximizes its efficiency to the extent allowed by the system’s kinetics and thermocontextual boundary constraints. Two paths of increasing efficiency lead to higher rates of growth and to higher functional complexity for dissipative networks. These are key features for the origin and evolution of life.
Headteachers and Inclusion: Setting the Tone for an Inclusive School
Authors: Neves Cláudia , Almeida Ana Patrícia , Ferreira Marco
Published: January 2023

Inclusion is an unavoidable dimension of education and the school’s mission. Educational organisations must therefore seek approaches and practices that materialise in the effective management of diversity, equity and inclusion, since these are conditions for the involvement of the whole community to achieve the goals of education for all. This study sought to answer (i) How do school leaders conceptualize equity and inclusion? (ii) What guidance and administrative procedures do headteachers use to facilitate inclusion? (iii) What characterises their practices concerning leadership for equity and inclusion? The empirical focus of the research was a set of school principals of Portuguese public schools, where a qualitative methodology was used, namely the interview survey technique. The sample gathered 11 interviewees. The results show that, although from an ideological point of view, headteachers have a broad conception of inclusive education, from an operational point of view, the evidence shows the implementation of normative practices. The data point to a reproduction of Portuguese policies and their priorities, showing a leadership engaged in targets, outcomes and performance indicators. The conclusions of the article point to the need to explore new possibilities for understanding inclusion and leadership, and these understandings may impact the school’s transformation toward successful inclusion.
Development and Assessment of an Indoor Air Quality Control IoT-Based System
Authors: Guerrero-Ulloa Gleiston , Andrango-Catota Alex , Abad-Alay Martín , Hornos Miguel J. , Rodríguez-Domínguez Carlos
Published: January 2023

Good health and well-being are primary goals within the list of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations (UN) in 2015. New technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing, can aid to achieve that goal by enabling people to improve their lifestyles and have a more healthy and comfortable life. Pollution monitoring is especially important in order to avoid exposure to fine particles and to control the impact of human activity on the natural environment. Some of the sources of hazardous gas emissions can be found indoors. For instance, carbon monoxide (CO), which is considered a silent killer because it can cause death, is emitted by water heaters and heaters that rely on fossil fuels. Existing solutions for indoor pollution monitoring suffer from some drawbacks that make their implementation impossible for households with limited financial resources. This paper presents the development of IdeAir, a low-cost IoT-based air quality monitoring system that aims to reduce the disadvantages of existing systems. IdeAir was designed as a proof of concept to capture and determine the concentrations of harmful gases in indoor environments and, depending on their concentration levels, issue alarms and notifications, turn on the fan, and/or open the door. It has been developed following the Test-Driven Development Methodology for IoT-based Systems (TDDM4IoTS), which, together with the tool (based on this methodology) used for the automation of the development of IoT-based systems, has facilitated the work of the developers. Preliminary results on the functioning of IdeAir show a high level of acceptance by potential users.
Data Glove with Bending Sensor and Inertial Sensor Based on Weighted DTW Fusion for Sign Language Recognition
Authors: Lu Chenghong , Amino Shingo , Jing Lei
Published: January 2023

There are numerous communication barriers between people with and without hearing impairments. Writing and sign language are the most common modes of communication. However, written communication takes a long time. Furthermore, because sign language is difficult to learn, few people understand it. It is difficult to communicate between hearing-impaired people and hearing people because of these issues. In this research, we built the Sign-Glove system to recognize sign language, a device that combines a bend sensor and WonderSense (an inertial sensor node). The bending sensor was used to recognize the hand shape, and WonderSense was used to recognize the hand motion. The system collects a more comprehensive sign language feature. Following that, we built a weighted DTW fusion multi-sensor. This algorithm helps us to combine the shape and movement of the hand to recognize sign language. The weight assignment takes into account the feature contributions of the sensors to further improve the recognition rate. In addition, a set of interfaces was created to display the meaning of sign language words. The experiment chose twenty sign language words that are essential for hearing-impaired people in critical situations. The accuracy and recognition rate of the system were also assessed.
Subthreshold Delay Variation Model Considering Transitional Region for Input Slew
Authors: Cao Peng , Xu Weixing , Wu Yuanjie , Liu Wanyu , Wang Yu
Published: January 2023

Subthreshold design provides the promising advantage of low power consumption at the cost of performance variation and even circuit failure. An accurate and efficient statistical timing model is crucial for timing analysis and performance optimization guidance. Prior works lack the consideration of the impact of slew time or the transitional region for input slew due to process variation and efficient approaches considering the impact of load capacitance and multiple process variations in complex gates, resulting in accuracy loss. In this work, an accurate end efficient gate delay variation model is analytically derived for various input slews and load capacitances. The transitional region between fast and slow input slew is efficiently partitioned with an adaptive error tolerance method so as to characterize timing variation by linear interpolation based on that for fast and slow input slew. In order to consider the impact of load capacitance, the relation between the sensitivity of step delay and the dominant threshold voltage variation is analytically derived. For complex gates, the multiple process variations for both parallel and stacking structures are equivalently expressed by threshold voltage variation from each transistor. The proposed model has been validated under advanced TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 12 nm technology at subthreshold region and achieves excellent agreement with Monte Carlo SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) simulation results with the max error less than 6.49% for standard deviation of gate delay and 4.63%/6.40% for max/min delay, demonstrating over 4 times precision improvement compared with competitive analytical models.
Test Platform for Developing Processes of Autonomous Identification in RFID Systems with Proximity-Range Read/Write Devices
Authors: Wilczkiewicz Bartłomiej , Jankowski-Mihułowicz Piotr , Węglarski Mariusz
Published: January 2023

The subject of a distributed RFID system with proximity-range read/write devices (RWD) is considered in this paper. Possible work scenarios were presented in the scope of industrial implementations and were then tested in a dedicated laboratory set. The development system is based on a high-frequency RWD integrated with a Wi-Fi microcontroller unit to create an Internet of things connected with a server (for data exchanging, user interface, etc.) via a wireless local area network. In practical applications, in order to increase the interrogation zone (IZ), there is a tendency to use one RWD with significant output power equipped with a multiplexer for managing several antennas located in the operational space. Such a solution is often economically unprofitable and even impossible to implement, especially in the case of the need to create the large IZ. Responding to market demand, the authors propose a distributed system developed on the basis of several cheap RFID reader modules and a few freely available hardware/software tools. They created the fully functional RFID platform and confirmed its usefulness in static and dynamic systems of object identification.
Intelligent Pick-and-Place System Using MobileNet
Authors: Hong Fan , Tay Donavan Wei Liang , Ang Alfred
Published: January 2023

The current development of a robotic arm solution for the manufacturing industry requires performing pick-and-place operations for work pieces varying in size, shape, and color across different stages of manufacturing processes. It aims to reduce or eliminate the human error and human intervention in order to save manpower costs and enhance safety at the workplace. Machine learning has become more and more prominent for object recognition in these pick-and-place applications with the aid of imaging devices and advances in the image processing hardware. One of the key tasks in object recognition is feature extraction and object classification based on convolutional neural network (CNN) models, which are generally computationally intensive. In this paper, an intelligent object detection and picking system based on MobileNet is developed and integrated into an educational six-axis robotic arm, which requires less computation resources. An experimental test is conducted on six-axis robotic arm called Niryo One to train the model and identify three objects with difference shapes and colors. It is shown by the confusion matrix that the MobileNet model achieves an accuracy of 91%, a dramatic improvement compared to 65% of the Niryo One’s original sequential model. The statistical study also shows the MobileNet can achieve a higher precision with more clustered spread of accuracy.
Measuring Brain Activation Patterns from Raw Single-Channel EEG during Exergaming: A Pilot Study
Authors: Amprimo Gianluca , Rechichi Irene , Ferraris Claudia , Olmo Gabriella
Published: January 2023

Physical and cognitive rehabilitation is deemed crucial to attenuate symptoms and to improve the quality of life in people with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s Disease. Among rehabilitation strategies, a novel and popular approach relies on exergaming: the patient performs a motor or cognitive task within an interactive videogame in a virtual environment. These strategies may widely benefit from being tailored to the patient’s needs and engagement patterns. In this pilot study, we investigated the ability of a low-cost BCI based on single-channel EEG to measure the user’s engagement during an exergame. As a first step, healthy subjects were recruited to assess the system’s capability to distinguish between (1) rest and gaming conditions and (2) gaming at different complexity levels, through Machine Learning supervised models. Both EEG and eye-blink features were employed. The results indicate the ability of the exergame to stimulate engagement and the capability of the supervised classification models to distinguish resting stage from game-play (accuracy > 95%). Finally, different clusters of subject responses throughout the game were identified, which could help define models of engagement trends. This result is a starting point in developing an effectively subject-tailored exergaming system.
Novel Nth/2Nth Order Two-Band Bandpass Filters for Sub-6 GHz 5G Applications
Authors: Karpuz Ceyhun , Özdemir Pınar Öztürk , Unuk Gülfem Balasu Fırat
Published: January 2023

In this paper, a new design method is proposed for multi-mode two-band bandpass filters based on combining a square loop resonator that has a capacitive perturbation element and short-circuited stubs. This concept is a new multi-mode two-band filter design having Nth and 2Nth order for the first and second passbands that appear in f0 and 3f0 center frequencies, respectively. It has been shown that the number of transmission modes in each passband can easily be increased by periodically cascading one unit filter cell including one square loop resonator and two short-circuited stubs. This also provides a reconfigurable filter property, namely the obtaining of two different filtering characteristics in the second passband by means of the reverse and straight placing of the cascaded unit filter cells in the horizontal axis. Two 2nd/4th order two-band bandpass filter prototypes are fabricated and tested to validate the proposed design method. The total surface areas of these fabricated prototypes are 26.0 mm × 9.0 mm and 24.4 mm × 16.8 mm, and the measured insertion losses in the first/second passband are about 0.63 dB/0.96 dB and 0.59 dB/0.83 dB. It is observed that the filter prototypes have the advantages of low insertion loss, compact size, and flexible filtering characteristics. The designed filters are suitable for operation in the 5G spectrum, which includes a range of radio frequencies sub-6 GHz.
Influence of Conduction Drying on the Physical and Combustion Properties of Hazelnut Shell
Authors: Matin Ana , Brandić Ivan , Voća Neven , Bilandžija Nikola , Matin Božidar , Jurišić Vanja , Špelić Karlo , Antonović Alan , Grubor Mateja , Krička Tajana
Published: January 2023

Hazelnut fruit samples were collected over 2 years (2020 and 2021) and subjected to four different drying temperatures (100, 120, 140, and 160 °C) and four different drying times of 15, 30, 45, and 60 min using conduction drying. The analyses performed showed that conduction drying at different temperatures and different drying times had a significant effect on the change in the composition of the hazelnut shell fuel and its mass properties. Comparing the untreated samples over two years and the samples after drying, it can be seen that in 2020, the drying treatment causes a decrease in the percentage of C and H, while in 2021, drying at 160 °C and 45 min causes an increase in C and H values. After treatment, the S content decreased on average, while the value of O increased or remained the same. The greatest increase in heating values (HHV and LHV) was observed at temperatures of 140 °C and 120 °C and the duration of 45 min. When drying was applied, a significant difference in mass change was observed at 120 °C, 100 °C, and 140 °C and 30 and 60 min process durations. The change in heating value is significantly affected by the parameters year of sampling, temperature, and time, while the change in mass of the hazelnut shell is most affected by drying time.
Sizing of Small Hydropower Plants for Highly Variable Flows in Tropical Run-of-River Installations: A Case Study of the Sebeya River
Authors: Gasore Geoffrey , Santos Arthur , Ntagwirumugara Etienne , Zimmerle Daniel
Published: January 2023

Rivers in tropical climates are characterized by highly variable flows which are becoming more variable due to climate change. In tropical conditions, most hydropower plants are designed as run-of-river plants with limited water storage. The aim of this study is the selection and sizing of a hydropower plant for highly variable flows, using the Sebeya River as a case study. As is often the case, flow data was incomplete, and the study also demonstrated the use of machine learning to predict the Sebeya flow rate for 2019. Stochastic modeling was used to estimate the energy generation for multiple turbine types and the levelized cost of energy for all configurations, capturing the uncertainty in many of the input parameters. River flow varies between 1.3 m3/s and 5.5 m3/s in a year; the minimum LCOE occurs at the knee in the flow exceedance curve of river flow rate, near 1.8 m3/s. The optimal LCOE for the Sebeya river is around 0.08 $/kwh with an uncertainty of −0.011/+0.009 $/kWh. Additionally, certain turbine types—notably propeller turbines—perform poorly in this type of highly variable flow. The method and findings can be used to guide future investments in small- to mid-sized hydropower plants in similar climatic conditions.
Experimental Research on Performance Comparison of Compressed Air Engine under Different Operation Modes
Authors: Liang Jia , Yao Baofeng , Xu Yonghong , Zhang Hongguang , Yang Fubin , Yang Anren , Wang Yan , Wu Yuting
Published: January 2023

An air-powered vehicle is a low-cost method to achieve low-pollution transportation, and compressed air engines (CAE) have become a research hotspot for their compact structure, low consumption, and wide working conditions. In this study, a pneumatic motor (PM) test bench is built and tested under different inlet pressures, operation modes, and three driving cycles. On the basis of the data obtained by sensors, power output, compressed air consumption rate, and efficiency are calculated to evaluate the pneumatic motor performances. The results show that with an increase in rotation speed, the output power and efficiency first increase and then decrease, and the compression air consumption rate decreases. With an increase in torque, the rotation speed decreases, and the power output and efficiency first increase and then decrease. With an increase in mass flow rate, the torque increases, the power output and efficiency first increase and then decrease. The pneumatic motor achieves the best performance under a rotation speed of 800–1200 rpm, where power output, efficiency, and compressed air consumption rates are 1498 W, 13.6%, and 10 J/g, respectively. The pneumatic motor achieves the best power output and efficiency under the UDDS driving cycle.
Design of Uninterruptible Power Supply Inverters for Different Modulation Techniques Using Pareto Front for Cost and Efficiency Optimization
Authors: Prado Edemar O. , Bolsi Pedro C. , Sartori Hamiltom C. , Pinheiro José R.
Published: January 2023

This work presents a design for uninterruptible power supply inverters using Pareto front optimization for improved cost and efficiency. Three PWM modulation techniques applied to the full-bridge inverter are analyzed. As a result, the best MOSFET design solution in terms of the cost and efficiency of the inverter is evaluated based on a database with 47 power MOSFETs. Using the Pareto front, the optimal and sub-optimal solutions are compared, considering the three modulation techniques and the characteristics of MOSFETs manufactured for different voltage levels. Thermal and electrical measurements are used to validate the models.
Eddy Current Loss Reduction in Axial-Flux Motors Using 3D Printing
Authors: Pyo Hyun-Jo , Lee Kangbeen , Min Jeong-Yeon , Hong Min-Ki , Kim Won-Ho
Published: January 2023

As more electrification and emission-free transportation trends receive more attention, electrical systems applied in the aircraft and automotive industries are changing from fossil fuel and hydraulic systems to electric AC machine drive systems. Three-dimensional printing technology has been contributing to a new design of machines, because it provides many opportunities without limitation compared to the conventional manufacturing system. Although 3D printing technology opened a door for increasing the efficiency and power density of AC machine drives with low conduction loss, an optimal design process for eddy current loss reduction is required, because eddy current loss is affected by the design structure of the machine. The slit structure at the stator shoe is proposed to reduce eddy current loss. With the three variables, the number of slits, the thickness of slits, and the length of ribs, a parametric analysis was conducted to find an optimal design with eddy current loss reduction without a significant performance dip. The optimal design provides an 18.75% decrease in eddy current loss.
Simulation and Optimization of Insulation Wall Corner Construction for Ultra-Low Energy Buildings
Authors: Zhang Shuai , Song Dexuan , Yu Zhuoyu , Song Yifan , Du Shubo , Yang Li
Published: January 2023

Approximately 40% of the overall energy consumption of society is consumed by buildings. Most building energy usage is due to poor envelope performance. In regions with cold winters, the corners of structures typically have the lowest interior surface temperature. In corners, condensation, frost, and mold are common. This has a substantial effect on building energy usage and residents’ comfort. In this study, the heat loss of corner envelopes is evaluated, and a suitable insulation construction of wall corners is constructed to increase the surface temperature of the envelope interior. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation has been used to examine the heat transmission in a corner of an ultra-low energy building in this study. By comparing the indoor surface temperature to the soil temperature beneath the building, the insulation construction of wall corners has been tuned. The study results indicate that the planned insulation construction of wall corners can enhance the internal surface temperature in the corner and the soil temperature under the structure by approximately 8.5 °C, thereby decreasing the indoor–outdoor temperature differential and the heat transfer at ground level. In extremely cold places, the insulation horizontal extension belt installation can help prevent the earth beneath the building from freezing throughout the winter.
Effects of Human Social-Economic Activities on Vegetation Suitability in the Yellow River Basin, China
Authors: Wu Qingjun , Zhu Junfeng , Zhao Xiaodi
Published: January 2023

Vegetation suitability assessment is the premise of scientific vegetation restoration and identifying its effect factors is conducive to imposing more targeted measures. In this paper, we take 24 social-economic factors that may affect vegetation suitability as indicators and construct the three criterion layers of production, life and policy. Then, we use cross-sectional data of 448 counties in the Yellow River Basin during 2018 to analyze how the social-economic factors influence the vegetation suitability. The results show that human activity factors affecting vegetation suitability vary a lot for counties in different reaches of the Yellow River. To be specific, overirrigation and overfertilization have negative influences on vegetation suitability in upstream counties. In the middle reaches, development of the secondary industry and urbanization have the most significant negative effects on vegetation suitability. When it comes to the lower reaches, economic advance contributes to the vegetation suitability, but an excessive population density counteracts this positive effect. We also find that the implementation of major ecological projects has played a positive role in improving vegetation suitability in the last few years, and the more targeted the policies are, the more significant their effects will be. In summary, there is no doubt that overfrequent human activities can interfere with the vegetation suitability. At the end of this article, we put forward some pertinent suggestions on how to better play the subjective initiative of human activities to improve the suitability of vegetation.
A Causal and Inverse Relationship between Plant-Based Diet Intake and in a Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study
Authors: Park Sunmin
Published: January 2023

A plant-based diet (PBD) has been reported to be linked to metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk in observational studies, but not in causal association studies. We aimed to examine the hypothesis that high PBD exhibited a causal and inverse association with MetS and its components using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). PBD was clustered according to food intake, which was assessed by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires using a principal component analysis. The instrumental variables were generated using the genome-wide association study (GWAS) of a High-PBD group (≥67th percentiles) after adjusting for the covariates related to MetS, with a significance level of p < 5 × 10−5 and linkage disequilibrium (r2 < 0.001), in a city hospital-based cohort (n = 58,701). The causal association of the PBD intake with MetS risk was examined with a two-sample MR approach in the rural plus Ansan/Ansung cohorts (n = 13,598). The High-PBD group showed higher energy, fat, protein, cholesterol, fiber, sodium, calcium, vitamin C and D, and flavonoid intake than the Low-PBD group. The High-PBD group showed a lower risk of MetS, waist circumference, hyperglycemia, hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia using an inverse-variance weighted method (p < 0.05). Low-PBD intake significantly elevated only waist circumference in weighted-median analysis (p < 0.05). No heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, or single genetic variant influenced the causal relationship. In conclusion, low PBD appeared to be causally positively related to MetS risk and its components, but not hypertension. Therefore, Korean-style PBD may be beneficial for decreasing MetS risk in Asian adults.
Introduction of Curdlan Optimizes the Comprehensive Properties of Methyl Cellulose Films
Authors: Zhang Liang , Xu Liang , Ma Jin-Ke , Ye Yun-Yue , Chen Ying , Qian Jian-Ya
Published: January 2023

The good oxygen barrier and hydrophobic properties of curdlan (CL) film might be suitable complements for MC film, and its similar glucose unit and thermal-gel character might endow the methyl cellulose (MC)/CL blended system with compatibility and good comprehensive properties. Thus, MC/CL blended films were developed. The effects of MC/CL blend ratios on the microstructures and physical properties of the blends were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), oxygen and water vapor permeability testing, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), light transmittance testing, tensile testing, hydrophilic property testing, and water solubility testing. The introduction of CL affected the molecular aggregation and crystallization of the MC molecules, suggesting MC–CL molecular interactions. The cross-sectional roughness of the MC/CL film increased with an increase in CL content, while the surface of the MC/CL 5:5 film was smoother than those of the MC/CL 7:3 and 3:7 films. Only one glass transition temperature, which was between that of the MC and CL films, was observed for the MC/CL 7:3 and MC/CL 5:5 films, indicating the good compatibility of the MC and CL molecules at these two blend ratios. The hydrophobicity and water insolubility increased with the CL content, which was due to the combined effects of more hydrophobic cavities in the CL triple-helix and increased surface roughness. Increased oxygen barrier properties with increasing CL content might be a combined effect of the increased hydrogen bonds and hydrophilic ektexines of the CL triple-helix. The elongations of the blended films were higher than those of the MC film, which might be related to its increased water content. The MC/CL 7:3 and MC/CL 5:5 films retained the good light transmittance and tensile strength of the MC film, which corresponded well to their good compatibility and might be due to the effects of the MC–CL molecular interactions and the relative smooth morphologies. MC/CL 5:5 showed improved water vapor barrier properties, which might be due to its smooth surface morphologies. This research offers new MC based films with improved properties and good compatibility, providing great potential for use as edible coatings, capsules, and packaging materials.
Preference Drivers for Blackberry Nectar (Rubus spp., Rosaceae) with Different Sweeteners
Authors: Bolini Helena Maria André , Lima Rafael Sousa , Freitas Raquel Linhares de , Medeiros Alessandra Cazelatto de
Published: January 2023

This study determined the dynamic sensory profile and consumer acceptance of blackberry nectar with different sweeteners. The ideal scale was used to determine the ideal sweetness of the sucrose and the magnitude estimation method for the equivalent sweetness of the sweeteners. The sensory profile was determined by time-intensity analyses with trained panelists. This study determined the dynamic sensory profile and consumer acceptance of blackberry nectar with different sweeteners. First, to determine the concentration of sucrose to promote optimal sweetness in blackberry nectar, a study was carried out by consumers, who used an unstructured 9 cm “Ideal Scale”, ranging from the extreme left as “extremely less sweet than ideal” to the extreme right as “extremely sweet than ideal”, with the center of the scale being the ideal sweetness point. Then, the magnitude estimation method was applied to determine the concentration of each sweetener studied in order to obtain the same sensation of ideal sweetness in the blackberry nectar. The sensory profile of blackberry nectar in the same equi-sweetness was determined by time-intensity analysis with trained assessors and CATA (Check-All-that-Apply) with consumers. According to our results and the opinion of the involved consumers, the optimal sucrose concentration in blackberry nectar was 9.3%, and the sweetener concentrations equivalent to sucrose were 0.015% of sucralose, 0.052% of aspartame and 0.09% of stevia with different rebaudioside A concentrations. Time intensity and overall liking data were statistically analyzed by partial least squares regression (PLSR), thus generating the temporal preference drivers for blackberry nectar. The results showed that the sucralose and tasteva sweeteners have a temporal profile closer to sucrose, being characterized by a lower intensity and duration of sweet and bitter taste, with a positive impact on consumer acceptance. Concomitant results were found by the CATA analysis, indicating that the attributes of blackberry aroma, blackberry flavor, sweet taste, and brightness also have a positive impact and stand out in the samples with sucrose, sucralose, and tasteva. The samples sweetened with stevia were characterized by a greater intensity of bitter taste and the presence of a sweet and bitter aftertaste, with a negative impact on acceptance. The different rebaudioside A concentrations in stevia (78%, 92%, and 97%) did not interfere with consumer acceptance.
Natural Killers: Opportunities and Challenges for the Use of Bacteriophages in Microbial Food Safety from the One Health Perspective
Authors: Lavilla Maria , Domingo-Calap Pilar , Sevilla-Navarro Sandra , Lasagabaster Amaia
Published: January 2023

Ingestion of food or water contaminated with pathogenic bacteria may cause serious diseases. The One Health approach may help to ensure food safety by anticipating, preventing, detecting, and controlling diseases that spread between animals, humans, and the environment. This concept pays special attention to the increasing spread and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are considered one of the most important environment-related human and animal health hazards. In this context, the development of innovative, versatile, and effective alternatives to control bacterial infections in order to assure comprehensive food microbial safety is becoming an urgent issue. Bacteriophages (phages), viruses of bacteria, have gained significance in the last years due to the request for new effective antimicrobials for the treatment of bacterial diseases, along with many other applications, including biotechnology and food safety. This manuscript reviews the application of phages in order to prevent food- and water-borne diseases from a One Health perspective. Regarding the necessary decrease in the use of antibiotics, results taken from the literature indicate that phages are also promising tools to help to address this issue. To assist future phage-based real applications, the pending issues and main challenges to be addressed shortly by future studies are also taken into account.
Alginate Coating Charged by Hydroxyapatite Complexes with Lactoferrin and Quercetin Enhances the Pork Meat Shelf Life
Authors: Montone Angela Michela Immacolata , Malvano Francesca , Taiano Roberta , Capparelli Rosanna , Capuano Federico , Albanese Donatella
Published: January 2023

In this work, the effect of an alginate-based coating loaded with hydroxyapatite/lactoferrin/quercetin (HA/LACTO-QUE) complexes during the storage of pork meat was evaluated. FT-IR spectra of HA/LACTO-QUE complexes confirmed the adsorption of QUE and LACTO into HA crystals showing the characteristic peaks of both active compounds. The kinetic releases of QUE and LACTO from coatings in an aqueous medium pointed out a faster release of LACTO than QUE. The activated alginate-based coating showed a high capability to slow down the growth of total viable bacterial count, psychotropic bacteria count, Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacteriaceae during 15 days at 4 °C, as well as the production of the total volatile basic nitrogen. Positive effects were found for maintaining the hardness and water-holding capacity of pork meat samples coated with the activated edible coatings. Sensory evaluation results demonstrated that the active alginate-based coating was effective to preserve the colour and odour of fresh pork meat with overall acceptability up to the end of storage time.
Review on Hydrogel-Based Flexible Supercapacitors for Wearable Applications
Authors: Tadesse Melkie Getnet , Lübben Jörn Felix
Published: January 2023

Smart hydrogels with high electrical conductivity, which can be a real source of power while also collecting and storing the diverse sources of energy with ultrahigh stretchability, strong self-healability, low-temperature tolerance, and excellent mechanical properties, are great value for tailored wearable cloths. Considerable effort has been dedicated in both scientific and technological developments of electroconductive hydrogels for supercapacitor applications in the past few decades. The key to realize those functionalities depends on the processing of hydrogels with desirable electrochemical properties. The various hydrogel materials with such properties are now emerging and investigated by various scholars. The last decade has witnessed the development of high-performance supercapacitors using hydrogels. Here, in this review, the current status of different hydrogels for the production of flexible supercapacitors has been discussed. The electrochemical properties such as capacitance, energy density and cycling ability has been given attention. Diverse hydrogels, with their composites such as carbon-based hydrogels, cellulose-based hydrogels, conductive-polymer-based hydrogels and other hydrogels with excellent electromechanical properties are summarized. One could argue that hydrogels have played a central, starring role for the assembly of flexible supercapacitors for energy storage applications. This work stresses the importance of producing flexible supercapacitors for wearable clothing applications and the current challenges of hydrogel-based supercapacitors. The results of the review depicted that hydrogels are the next materials for the production of the flexible supercapacitor in a more sustainable way.
Inheritance of Early and Late Ascochyta Blight Resistance in Wide Crosses of Chickpea
Authors: Lakmes Abdulkarim , Jhar Abdullah , Brennan Adrian , Kahriman Abdullah
Published: January 2023

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a globally important food legume but its yield is negatively impacted by the fungal pathogen Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei) causing necrotic lesions leading to plant death. Past studies have found that Ascochyta resistance is polygenic. It is important to find new resistance genes from the wider genepool of chickpeas. This study reports the inheritance of Ascochyta blight resistance of two wide crosses between the cultivar Gokce and wild chickpea accessions of C. reticulatum and C. echinospermum under field conditions in Southern Turkey. Following inoculation, infection damage was scored weekly for six weeks. The families were genotyped for 60 SNPs mapped to the reference genome for quantitative locus (QTL) mapping of resistance. Family lines showed broad resistance score distributions. A late responding QTL on chromosome 7 was identified in the C. reticulatum family and three early responding QTLs on chromosomes 2, 3, and 6 in the C. echinospermum family. Wild alleles mostly showed reduced disease severity, while heterozygous genotypes were most diseased. Interrogation of 200k bp genomic regions of the reference CDC Frontier genome surrounding QTLs identified nine gene candidates involved in disease resistance and cell wall remodeling. This study identifies new candidate chickpea Ascochyta blight resistance QTLs of breeding potential.
Reconstruction of Single-Cell Trajectories Using Stochastic Tree Search
Authors: Zhai Jingyi , Ji Hongkai , Jiang Hui
Published: January 2023

The recent advancement in single-cell RNA sequencing technologies enables the understanding of dynamic cellular processes at the single-cell level. Using trajectory inference methods, pseudotimes can be estimated based on reconstructed single-cell trajectories which can be further used to gain biological knowledge. Existing methods for modeling cell trajectories, such as minimal spanning tree or k-nearest neighbor graph, often lead to locally optimal solutions. In this paper, we propose a penalized likelihood-based framework and introduce a stochastic tree search (STS) algorithm aiming at the global solution in a large and non-convex tree space. Both simulated and real data experiments show that our approach is more accurate and robust than other existing methods in terms of cell ordering and pseudotime estimation.
Pulsed Electric Field as a Novel Technology for Fresh Barhi Date Shelf-Life Extension: Process Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology
Authors: Younis Mahmoud , Ahmed Isam A. Mohamed , Ahmed Khaled A. , Yehia Hany M. , Abdelkarim Diaeldin O. , Fickak Adil , El-Abedein Assem I. Zein , Alhamdan Abdulla , Elfeky Ahmed
Published: January 2023

Fresh dates of the Barhi cultivar at the Khalal maturity stage are well known for their pleasant taste, crispy texture, and bright yellow color. One of the primary technical challenges is preserving the initial high-quality fresh Khalal Barhi dates and extending their shelf life for the longest possible period after harvesting and during the marketing process. Resolving this problem would permit the export of high-quality fresh Saudi dates to international markets. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing a pulsed electric field as a novel non-thermal postharvest processing technology for preserving the nutritional, microbiological, and physical quality of Barhi dates during storage at different temperatures and durations. To accomplish this goal, a five-factor mixed-level central composite rotating design (CCRD) with a response surface methodology (RSM) model was used to define the best PEF processing conditions and subsequent storage environments. The influence of independent factors, PEF intensity (10, 20, 30, and 40 kV/cm), PEF exposure time (40, 80, 120, and 160 ms), PEF numbers (50, 100, 150, and 200 pulses), storage temperature (1 °C, 5 °C, 15 °C, and 25 °C), and storage time (1 day, 6 days, 11 days, 16 days, and 21 days), on the total soluble solids, firmness, total color changes, total viable count, total phenolic content, DPPH antiradical activity, fructose, and glucose were assessed. The results indicated the optimal conditions of PEF treatment and subsequently storage conditions for conserving the quality and elongating the storability of fresh Barhi dates were: 10.3 kV/cm PEF intensity; 46.73 ms PEF duration; number of PEF, is 169.9 pulses; 18.7 °C storage temperature; and 21 days’ storage time. At the aforementioned optimal conditions, the values of total soluble solids (TSS), firmness, ΔE, total viable count (TVC), total phenolic content (TPC), DPPH antiradical activity, glucose, and fructose were 41.44%, 62.47 newton, 0.1, 0.098 log CFU/g, 1.29 mg GAE/g, 65.95%, 3.45, and 3.44, respectively. These values were comparable to the predicted values (Desirability value = 1), indicating that the applied RSM models were ideal for optimizing the PEF and storage conditions for preserving the quality and prolonging the fresh Barhi dates’ shelf life. Overall, the ideal PEF treatment and storage conditions for sustaining the quality characteristics of Barhi dates during an extended storage time were identified in this study.
Physical Exercise Effects on Cardiovascular Autonomic Modulation in Postmenopausal Women—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Sánchez-Delgado Juan Carlos , Jácome-Hortúa Adriana Marcela , Yoshida de Melo Kelly , Aguilar Bruno Augusto , Vieira Philbois Stella , Dutra de Souza Hugo Celso
Published: January 2023

Background: The cardioprotective effect of physical exercise has been demonstrated in several studies. However, no systematic or updated analysis has described the effects of physical exercise on cardiovascular autonomic modulation in postmenopausal women. Aim: to describe the effects of physical exercise on cardiovascular autonomic modulation in postmenopausal women. Methods: The Scopus, PubMed, and Embase databases were searched for randomized clinical trials published between January 2011 and December 2021, and regarding the effects of physical exercise on cardiovascular autonomic modulation in postmenopausal women. Two independent authors processed the citations. The methodological quality was evaluated using the PEDRo scale. Results: Of the 91 studies identified, only 8 met the inclusion criteria, of which 7 had fair or poor methodological quality. The analyzed studies investigated the effects of functional training, whole-body vibration, muscular resistance, stretching, and aerobic exercises performed at home or at the gym. The majority of these exercise modalities showed improvements in heart-rate variability (HRV) indices and in the low-frequency band of blood pressure variability. The meta-analysis shows that exercise increased the standard deviation of instantaneous beat-to-beat variability (SD1) (mean difference (MD) = 3.99; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.22 to 6.77, n = 46; I2: 0%) and the standard deviation of long-term variability (SD2) (MD = 11.37; 95% CI = 2.99 to 19.75; n = 46; I2: 0%). Conclusions: Aerobic exercise and some nonconventional training modalities may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular autonomic modulation in postmenopausal women. More high-quality studies are still needed to further confirm their efficacy and safety.
Spiritual Diversity in Personal Recovery from Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Study from Chinese-Australian Service Users’ Perspectives
Authors: He Ling , Petrakis Melissa
Published: January 2023

Spiritual diversity and the positive role of spirituality in personal recovery have received growing attention in mental health literature. However, the spiritual experiences and views of service users from cultural communities, particularly the Chinese community, are understudied in Australia. This research explores Chinese service users’ spiritual identities and their views and perspectives on the roles of spirituality in their mental health recovery and attempts to provide inspiration for practitioners to engage with service users’ spirituality in non-clinical mental health practice. A qualitative exploratory approach guided this study. Semi-structured interviews were employed with four Chinese participants with spiritual identities, who were recruited through the community Psychosocial Support Service in Victoria. The template analysis method supported the data analysis. The results indicate that spirituality has a positive impact on the mental health recovery of participants, primarily through coping, self-regulatory, and social support mechanisms. The findings also present that Chinese service users’ understanding and approaches to spirituality are shaped by both original and Australian Cultures. These findings suggest that practitioners should provide a creative understanding and cultural awareness when discussing with service users their spiritual identities, perspectives, and spirituality in the wider context. The research fills a gap in the spiritual views and perspectives of service users accessing a non-clinical mental health service from the Chinese community.