bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perspectives of attenders and non-attenders to SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic community testing in England: a qualitative interview study
Authors: Jayes Leah , Bogdanovica Ilze , Johnston Emily , Chattopadhyay Kaushik , Morling Joanne R , Devine Shirley , Richmond Nicola , Langley Tessa
Published: September 2022

Objectives

In December 2020, Derbyshire County Council in England introduced ‘walk-in’ asymptomatic community COVID-19 testing sites. Our study aimed to explore people’s views of the newly established COVID-19 community testing (CT) sites among those who attended and those who did not attend them, alongside gathering individuals’ experiences of attending a CT site to complete a lateral flow test.

Setting

This qualitative research study comprised of one-to-one interviews with those attending a COVID-19 CT sites in Derbyshire and those from the surrounding area who did not attend.

Participants

A combination of purposive and convenience sampling was used to recruit those who had (n=18) and those who had not attended (n=15) a walk-in asymptomatic CT site.

Results

Employers played a key role in raising awareness of the testing sites, with most attending CT at the request of their workplace. The experience of attending a CT site was overwhelmingly positive and those who got tested spoke about the reassurance a negative result offered, knowing they were not passing on the virus when going about their daily lives. However, there was a perception that awareness of CT sites was low across the county and some confusion about who was eligible to attend and under what circumstances. Individuals linked this to low level of advertising they had seen, in addition to a lack of clarity in the information provided.

Conclusions

People’s experience of attending a ‘walk-in’ asymptomatic CT site in Derbyshire was generally very positive; however, ensuring clear communication for future testing programmes is essential to maximise their uptake.
Intravenous immunoglobulin and prednisolone to women with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss after assisted reproductive technology treatment: a protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Authors: Nørgaard-Pedersen Caroline , Nielsen Kaspar , Steffensen Rudi , Eriksen Line , Jørgensen Malene Møller , Kesmodel Ulrik Schiøler , Christiansen Ole Bjarne
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), defined as two or more consecutive pregnancy losses in the first trimester, affects around 5% of fertile women. The underlying causes remain unknown in up to 60% of patients; however, most studies point at an immunological pathology in unexplained RPL, and therefore, an effective treatment may be immunomodulatory. This study aims to evaluate the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and prednisolone on reproductive outcome and the immune system in women with unexplained RPL undergoing assisted reproductive technology treatment.

Methods and analysis

This randomised, placebo-controlled trial with double-blinded randomisation to two parallel arms evaluate if immunomodulatory (active) treatment is superior to placebo in increasing the chance of ongoing pregnancy assessed at nuchal translucency scan in gestational weeks (GW) 11–13 after embryo transfer (ET) in 74 RPL patients with ≥2 pregnancy losses as its primary objective. The active treatment consists of IVIg (one infusion preferably 1–5 days before ET and in GW 5, 6 and 7) and prednisolone (5 mg/day from first day of menstrual bleeding until ET and 10 mg/day from ET to GW 8+0) while the comparator consists of intravenous human albumin (5%) and placebo tablets. Allocation is concealed for participants, caregivers, and investigators until trial termination and is performed in a 1:1 ratio. The secondary objective is to evaluate treatment safety, and the tertiary objective is exploration of the association between treatment, reproductive outcome after ET, and the lymphocyte subset distribution in peripheral blood collected before and after intravenous infusion(s). Excess biological material is stored in a biobank for future research.

Ethics and dissemination

The North Denmark Region Committee on Health Research Ethics (N-20200066) approved this trial. The results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented to relevant patient associations, at relevant academic conferences and to key stakeholders.

Trial registration number

NCT04701034.
Multiprofessional cross-site working between a level 1 and a level 3 neonatal unit: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Dassios Theodore , Selvadurai Lucksini , Hickey Ann , Sleight Elizabeth , Long Lisa , Penna Leonie , Wallen-Mitchell Vivette , Bhat Ravindra , Greenough Anne
Published: September 2022

Objective

To assess the association of short-term neonatal outcomes with cross-site working of multiple healthcare professional teams between a level 3 and a level 1 neonatal unit.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

A level 1 neonatal unit in London.

Patients

All infants admitted to the neonatal unit, between 2010 and 2021.

Interventions

The clinical service was rearranged in 2014 with the introduction of cross-site working between the level 1 unit and a level 3 unit of neonatal doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals.

Main outcome measures

Admission of infants with a temperature less than 36°C, length of stay and time to first consultation by a senior team member.

Results

A total of 4418 infants were admitted during the study period. The percentage of infants delivered at a gestation below 32 weeks was higher in the pre-cross-site period (8.9%) compared with the cross site period (3.6%, p<0.001). The percentage of infants with an Apgar score less than 8 at 10 min was higher in the pre-cross-site period (6.2%) compared with the cross-site period (3.4%, p=0.001). More infants were admitted with a temperature less than 36°C in the pre-cross site period (12.3%) compared with the cross site period (3.7%, p<0.001). The median (IQR) duration of time to first consultation by a senior team member was higher in the pre-cross-site period (1 (0.5–2.6) hours) compared with the cross-site period (0.5 (0.2–1.3) hours) (p<0.001). The median (IQR) length of stay was 4 (2–11) days in the pre-cross-site period and decreased to 2 (1–4) days in the cross-site period (p<0.001).

Conclusions

Cross-site working was associated with lower rates of admission hypothermia, shorter duration of stay and earlier first senior consultation.
Temporal association between invasive procedures and infective endocarditis
Authors: Thornhill Martin H , Crum Annabel , Campbell Richard , Stone Tony , Lee Ellen C , Bradburn Mike , Fibisan Veronica , Dayer Mark , Prendergast Bernard D , Lockhart Peter , Baddour Larry , Nicoll Jon
Published: September 2022

Objective

Antibiotic prophylaxis has been recommended for patients at increased risk of infective endocarditis (IE) undergoing specific invasive procedures (IPs) despite a lack of data supporting its use. Therefore, antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations ceased in the mid-2000s for all but those at high IE risk undergoing invasive dental procedures. We aimed to quantify any association between IPs and IE.

Methods

All 14 731 IE hospital admissions in England between April 2010 and March 2016 were identified from national admissions data, and medical records were searched for IP performed during the 15-month period before IE admission. We compared the incidence of IP during the 3 months immediately before IE admission (case period) with the incidence during the preceding 12 months (control period) to determine whether the odds of developing IE were increased in the 3 months after certain IP.

Results

The odds of IE were increased following permanent pacemaker and defibrillator implantation (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.85, p<0.001), extractions/surgical tooth removal (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.76, p=0.047), upper (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.85, p<0.001) and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.04, p<0.001) and bone marrow biopsy (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.16 to 2.69, p=0.039). Using an alternative analysis, bronchoscopy (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.68, p=0.049) and blood transfusions/red cell/plasma exchange (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.35, p=0.012) were also associated with IE.

Conclusions

This study identifies a significant association between specific IPs (permanent pacemaker and defibrillator implantation, dental extraction, gastrointestinal endoscopy and bronchoscopy) and subsequent IE that warrants re-evaluation of current antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations to prevent IE in high IE risk individuals.
Complement downregulation promotes an inflammatory signature that renders colorectal cancer susceptible to immunotherapy
Authors: Krieg Carsten , Weber Lukas M , Fosso Bruno , Marzano Marinella , Hardiman Gary , Olcina Monica M , Domingo Enric , El Aidy Sahar , Mallah Khalil , Robinson Mark D , Guglietta Silvia
Published: September 2022

Background and aims

The role of inflammatory immune responses in colorectal cancer (CRC) development and response to therapy is a matter of intense debate. While inflammation is a known driver of CRC, inflammatory immune infiltrates are a positive prognostic factor in CRC and predispose to response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Unfortunately, over 85% of CRC cases are primarily unresponsive to ICB due to the absence of an immune infiltrate, and even the cases that show an initial immune infiltration can become refractory to ICB. The identification of therapy supportive immune responses in the field has been partially hindered by the sparsity of suitable mouse models to recapitulate the human disease. In this study, we aimed to understand how the dysregulation of the complement anaphylatoxin C3a receptor (C3aR), observed in subsets of patients with CRC, affects the immune responses, the development of CRC, and response to ICB therapy.

Methods

We use a comprehensive approach encompassing analysis of publicly available human CRC datasets, inflammation-driven and newly generated spontaneous mouse models of CRC, and multiplatform high-dimensional analysis of immune responses using microbiota sequencing, RNA sequencing, and mass cytometry.

Results

We found that patients’ regulation of the complement C3aR is associated with epigenetic modifications. Specifically, downregulation ofC3ar1in human CRC promotes a tumor microenvironment characterized by the accumulation of innate and adaptive immune cells that support antitumor immunity. In addition, in vivo studies in our newly generated mouse model revealed that the lack of C3a in the colon activates a microbiota-mediated proinflammatory program which promotes the development of tumors with an immune signature that renders them responsive to the ICB therapy.

Conclusions

Our findings reveal that C3aR may act as a previously unrecognized checkpoint to enhance antitumor immunity in CRC. C3aR can thus be exploited to overcome ICB resistance in a larger group of patients with CRC.
Imaging cellular immunotherapies and immune cell biomarkers: from preclinical studies to patients
Authors: Volpe Alessia , Adusumilli Prasad S , Schöder Heiko , Ponomarev Vladimir
Published: September 2022

Cellular immunotherapies have emerged as a successful therapeutic approach to fight a wide range of human diseases, including cancer. However, responses are limited to few patients and tumor types. An in-depth understanding of the complexity and dynamics of cellular immunotherapeutics, including what is behind their success and failure in a patient, the role of other immune cell types and molecular biomarkers in determining a response, is now paramount. As the cellular immunotherapy arsenal expands, whole-body non-invasive molecular imaging can shed a light on theirin vivofate and contribute to the reliable assessment of treatment outcome and prediction of therapeutic response. In this review, we outline the non-invasive strategies that can be tailored toward the molecular imaging of cellular immunotherapies and immune-related components, with a focus on those that have been extensively tested preclinically and are currently under clinical development or have already entered the clinical trial phase. We also provide a critical appraisal on the current role and consolidation of molecular imaging into clinical practice.
Anti-BCMA CAR-T cells therapy for a patient with extremely high membrane BCMA expression: a case report
Authors: Li Dan , Que Yimei , Ding Shengnan , Hu Guang , Wang Wen , Mao Xia , Wang Ying , Li Chunrui , Huang Liang , Zhou Jianfeng , Zhang Wei , Xiao Min
Published: September 2022

B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed CAR-T cell therapy is a disruptive approach for treating relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM); however, optimization is necessary to maximize patient benefit. We report the case of a 61-year-old woman with primary refractory MM who presented with high expression of membrane BCMA and low expression of soluble BCMA (sBCMA), experienced grade 4 cytokine release syndrome, and died fromsevere pneumonia after receiving anti-BCMA CAR-T (CT103A) therapy. This case highlights the importance of assessing the expression range of BCMA for its efficacy and safety in patients receiving BCMA CAR-T therapy. For patients who present with extremely high membrane BCMA expression and extremely low sBCMA expression, the presence of γ-secretase-related gene mutations should be considered. Special attention should also be paid to the prevention and treatment of cytokine release syndrome in such patients.
Reliable virtual clinical assessment in spino-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA)
Authors: Fenu Silvia , Tramacere Irene , De Giorgi Francesca , Pareyson Davide
Published: September 2022

Background

Spino-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the androgen receptor gene, affects adult men and results in muscle atrophy and weakness in the bulbar and limb muscles and signs of partial androgen insensitivity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, outpatients’ visits have been reduced to preserve safety of frail patients, and telehealth was largely employed.

Methods

From April to November 2020, we monitored 12 patients with SBMA with telehealth and administered remotely two clinical scales currently used for SBMA: Adult Myopathy Assessment Tool (AMAT) and SBMA-Functional Rating Scale (SBMA-FRS). We compared results with previous and subsequent in-person visits’ scores, and assessed the longitudinal changes in AMAT and SBMA-FRS scores during 7 years through the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results

Repeated measures ANOVA of AMAT scores collected during 7 years and including tele-AMAT evaluation showed a steady mean decline of 1–2 points per year. A similar trend of SBMA-FRS scores, with a mean decline per year of about 1 point, was observed. There was no relevant deviation from the model prediction.

Conclusions

Our data show that telehealth is a valid tool to monitor patients with SBMA: AMAT and SBMA-FRS scales can be effectively, reliably and easily administered remotely.
ADVISING score: a reliable grading scale based on injury and response for intracerebral haemorrhage
Authors: Wan Yan , Guo Hongxiu , Chen Shaoli , Chang Jiang , Wang David , Bi Rentang , Li Man , Shi Ke , Wang Zhaowei , Gong Daokai , Xu Jingwen , He Quanwei , Hu Bo
Published: September 2022

Background

Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is the most devastating form of stroke causing high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to develop a novel clinical score incorporating multisystem markers to predict functional dependence at 90 days after ICH.

Methods

We analysed data from Chinese Cerebral Hemorrhage: Mechanism and Intervention study. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors associated with 90-day functional dependency (the modified Rankin Scale ≥3) after ICH and develop the ADVISING scoring system. To test the scoring system, a total of 2111 patients from Hubei province were included as the training cohort, and 733 patients from other three provinces in China were included as an external validation cohort.

Results

We found nine variables to be significantly associated with functional dependency and included in the ADVISING score system: age, deep location of haematoma, volume of haematoma, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, aspartate transaminase, international normalised ratio, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, fasting blood glucose and glomerular filtration rate. Individuals were divided into 12 different categories by using these nine potential predictors. The proportion of patients who were functionally dependent increased with higher ADVISING scores, which showed good discrimination and calibration in both the training cohort (C-statistic, 0.866; p value of Hosmer-Lemeshow test, 0.195) and validation cohort (C-statistic, 0.884; p value of Hosmer-Lemeshow test, 0.853). The ADVISING score also showed better discriminative performance compared with the other five existing ICH scores (p<0.001).

Conclusions

ADVISING score is a reliable tool to predict functional dependency at 90 days after ICH.
Somatic mutation contributing to clonal haematopoiesis is a risk factor of recurrent stroke in first-ever acute ischaemic stroke: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Qiu Xin , Dai Yalun , Cheng Si , Gu Hong-Qiu , Jiang Yong , Meng Xia , Wang Yilong , Zhao Xingquan , Jiang Yingyu , Xu Zhe , Huang Xinying , Wang Meng , Lyu Tian Jie , Wang Yubo , Weng Jiaxu , Cui Lingyun , Shangguan Yi , Li Hao , Wang Yongjun , Li Zixiao
Published: September 2022

Background

Somatic mutation contributes to clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is related to age and associated with a higher risk of stroke and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Here, we investigated the prognostic significance of CHIP in a large first-ever acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) cohort and explored the underlying mechanisms.

Methods

We studied a prospective cohort of 6016 patients who had a first-ever AIS in China. Whole-genome sequencing was performed to identify CHIP. High-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels above 3 mg/L at baseline were defined as hyperinflammation. Recurrent stroke during the 3-month follow-up was the primary outcome.

Results

Among the 6016 patients who had a first-ever AIS, with a median age was 62 years (IQR, 54.0‒70.0), 3.70% were identified as CHIP carriers. The most common mutations occurred in theDNMT3A(30.0%) andTET2(11.4%) genes. During a follow-up of 3 months, the presence of CHIP was associated with recurrent stroke (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.51, p=0.03), recurrent ischaemic stroke (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.58, p=0.03) and combined vascular events (HR 1.58, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.44, p=0.04) after adjusting for hsCRP levels at baseline in patients who had a first-ever AIS. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that CHIP was only associated with recurrent stroke when patients under hyperinflammation (OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.92 to 5.00, p<0.001) but not in those without hyperinflammation (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.03 to 1.04, p=0.06, Pinteraction=0.002).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that somatic mutations contributing to CHIP increase the risk of short-term recurrent stroke in patients who had a first-ever AIS. Hyperinflammation may be important in the relationship between CHIP and recurrent stroke.
Octupole shape phase transitions and critical points in neutron rich actinides
Authors: Prassa Vaia
Published: September 2022

The evolution of octupole shapes and shape phase transitions in neutron rich actinides is studied within the covariant density functional framework. Octupole constrained energy surfaces, and spectroscopic observables of four isotopic chains of: Cm, Cf, Fm and No with neutron numbers $$186\le N \le 200$$

186
≤
N
≤
200

are analysed using a collective quadrupole–octupole Hamiltonian (QOCH). The parameters of the Hamiltonian are determined by axially reflection-asymmetric relativistic Hartree–Bogoliubov calculations based on the energy density functional DD-PC1, and a finite-range pairing interaction. The results suggest quantum phase transitions from non-octupole to octupole deformed shapes and to octupole vibrations with increasing neutron number. $$^{288}$$

288

Cm is possibly close to the critical point of a simultaneous phase transition from spherical to prolate deformed and from non-octupole to stable octupole deformed configurations.
Deterministic comparison of Hecke eigenvalues at the primes represented by a binary quadratic form
Authors: Vaishya Lalit
Published: September 2022

Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] be the normalized [Formula: see text]-Fourier coefficient of distinct Hecke eigenforms [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of integral weight for the full modular group, respectively, and [Formula: see text] is a primitive integral positive-definite binary quadratic form of fixed discriminant [Formula: see text] with the class number [Formula: see text]. We establish a lower bound for the analytic density of the set [Formula: see text] for each fixed [Formula: see text] With the above notation, we also obtain a lower bound for the analytic density of the set [Formula: see text] for each fixed [Formula: see text] As a consequence, we obtain a deterministic criterion for the equality of two Hecke eigenforms.
Thermal aspects of multiple slip and Joule heating in a Casson fluid with viscous dissipation and thermo-solutal convective conditions
Authors: Ali Usman , Irfan Muhammad
Published: September 2022

Recently, in various biological processes such as endoscopic medication, blood pumping from the heart to different parts of the body, food supply, and in maintaining heat transfer phenomenon, slip plays a significant part in all aspects. Therefore, a study is aimed to enlighten the significance of multiple slips with Joule heating in a mixed convective Casson fluid. The flow regime is induced by the thermal radiation, chemical reaction and nonuniform heat source/sink in order to accomplish the heat and mass transportation. The modeled equations generated from the physical problem are transmuted into ordinary differential frameworks. The transformed system of equations was solved by means of numerical technique named Runge–Kutta Fehlberg method. The numerical results for involved engineering parameters like Joule heating, Eckert number, thermal, mass and velocity slip parameters for temperature, velocity and fluid concentration are analyzed by graphs using MATLAB. The numerical values for the drag force and Nusselt number are keenly observed and concluded that slip controls the flow closer to the boundary layer. Furthermore, magnetic factor decreases the velocity field and Eckert number enhances the temperature filed.
Optimal routing strategy based on sine function for scale-free networks
Authors: Ma Jinlong , Ma Jiaxin , Li Xiaotian
Published: September 2022

The escalation of network traffic drives it imperative to enhance network traffic capacity and alleviate congestion. We propose a novel routing strategy in accordance with the properties of sine function. In simulation experiments, our strategy is compared with the efficient routing (ER) strategy. The phase change point of network from free state to congestion state can accurately define network traffic capacity. By using the optimal parameter of our strategy, the traffic capacity of network can be enhanced and the average path length can be reduced under each network size. What’s more, load variance and total load under our strategy are lower, which indicates that the total load is smaller and the load distribution is more uniform when compared to the case of ER strategy.
Various Unity-Bounded Functions for Designing Recursive Digital Filters with Variable Notch-Frequency and Guaranteed Stability
Authors: Deng Tian-Bo
Published: September 2022

Digital notch filters are useful for removing sinusoidal signals with a single frequency or multi-frequencies. For some applications, the sinusoidal signals being processed may change frequencies, and thus the notch filter must also have a variable notch frequency. Such a digital filter with a variable notch-frequency (VNF) is called variable notch-frequency (VNF) digital filter. Generally speaking, a VNF filter has the ability to change its notch frequency continuously, and can remove sinusoidal signals with variable frequencies. To design a recursive VNF filter, guaranteeing its stability is the top-priority issue. In this paper, a recursive VNF filter is designed by utilizing the least Lp-norm criterion, and the stability is guaranteed through adopting the stability-guarantee methodology based on parameter transformations. To perform the parameter transformations, a function that meets a special condition is required, and such a function is called unity-bounded function. In this paper, various unity-bounded functions are developed for the parameter-transformation-based stability guarantee. The unity-bounded functions play a crucial role in the stability guarantee. This paper details how to design a stable VNF filter by incorporating the parameter transformations employing the unity-bounded functions into the Lp-norm minimization of the magnitude response. Theoretically, the stability of the recursive VNF filter resulting from the design is definitely guaranteed. Moreover, since the coefficients of the designed VNF are variable, changing the filter coefficients enables the user to get a VNF filter with updated notch frequency.
Annular Khovanov homology and meridional disks
Authors: Martin Gage
Published: September 2022

We exhibit infinite families of annular links for which the maximum nonzero annular Khovanov grading grows infinitely large but the maximum nonzero annular Floer-theoretic gradings are bounded. We also show this phenomenon exists at the decategorified level for some of the infinite families. Our computations provide further evidence for the wrapping conjecture of Hoste–Przytycki and its categorified analogue. Additionally, we show that certain satellite operations be used to construct counterexamples to the categorified wrapping conjecture. We also extend the Batson–Seed link splitting spectral sequence to the setting of annular Khovanov homology.
Special Spin Behavior of Rare Earth Ions at the A-Site of Polycrystalline ErFe1−xCrxO3 (x= 0.1, 0.9)
Authors: Shen Jiyu , Mo Jiajun , Lu Zeyi , Wu Zhongjin , Gong Chenying , Gao Kaiyang , Zheng Pinglu , Liu Min , Xia Yanfang
Published: September 2022

Thermally induced spin control is one of the main directions for future spin devices. In this study, we synthesized single-phase polycrystalline ErFe[Formula: see text]CrxO3 and combined the magnetization curves and Mössbauer spectra to determine the macroscopic magnetism at room temperature (RT). The magnetization of the system at various temperatures is well simulated by molecular field theory. And it is found that under the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya (DM) interaction, not only the B-site ions undergo a reorientation process, but the spins of the A-site ions also change at the same time. The effective spin is defined as the projection of Er[Formula: see text] on the Fe[Formula: see text]/Cr[Formula: see text] spin plane, and the whole reorientation process is obtained by fitting. This study will complement the actual process of ErFe[Formula: see text]CrxO3 spin reorientation and will lay a theoretical foundation for the fabrication of future spin-controlled devices.
Reinshard: An Optimally Sharded Dual-Blockchain for Concurrency Resolution
Authors: Sharma Vishal , Li Zengpeng , Szałachowski Paweł , Tan Teik Guan , Zhou Jianying
Published: September 2022

Decentralized control, low-complexity, flexible and efficient communications are the requirements of an architecture that aims to scale blockchains beyond the current state. Such properties are attainable by reducing ledger size and providing parallel operations in the blockchain. Sharding is one of the approaches that lower the burden of the nodes and enhance performance. However, the current solutions lack the features for
resolving concurrency
during cross-shard communications. With multiple participants belonging to different shards, handling concurrent operations is essential for optimal sharding. This issue becomes prominent due to the lack of architectural support and requires additional consensus for cross-shard communications. Relying on the advantages of hybrid
Proof-of-Work/Proof-of-Stake
(PoW/PoS), like
Ethereum
,
hybrid consensus
and
2-hop blockchain
, we propose
Reinshard
, a new blockchain that inherits the properties of hybrid consensus for optimal sharding.
Reinshard
uses PoW and PoS chain-pairs with PoS sub-chains for all the valid chain-pairs where the hybrid consensus is attained through
Verifiable Delay Function
(VDF). Our architecture provides a secure method of arranging nodes in shards and resolves concurrency conflicts using the delay factor of VDF. The applicability of
Reinshard
is demonstrated through security and experimental evaluations. A practical concurrency problem is considered to show the efficacy of
Reinshard
in providing optimal sharding.
Reliable Spanners for Metric Spaces
Authors: Har-Peled Sariel , Mendel Manor , Oláh Dániel
Published: September 2022

A spanner is reliable if it can withstand large, catastrophic failures in the network. More precisely, any failure of some nodes can only cause a small damage in the remaining graph in terms of the dilation. In other words, the spanner property is maintained for almost all nodes in the residual graph. Constructions of reliable spanners of near linear size are known in the low-dimensional Euclidean settings. Here, we present new constructions of reliable spanners for planar graphs, trees, and (general) metric spaces.
Development of an Efficient Method to Detect Mixed Social Media Data with Tamil-English Code Using Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: FHA Shibly , Sharma Uzzal , Naleer HMM.
Published: September 2022

On social networking sites, online hate speech has become more prevalent due to the quick expansion of mobile computing and Web technology. Previous research has found that being exposed to Internet hate speech has substantial offline implications for historically disadvantaged communities. Therefore, there is a lot of interest in research on automated hate-based comment and post detection. Hate speech can have an influence on any population group, but some are more vulnerable than others. From this background, detecting and reporting such hate related comments and posts can help to avoid the harmful effects of hate speech. There are some studies available on this context and it was found that machine learning algorithms are more efficient in detecting abusive texts in social media. In this research, we applied selected seven machine learning algorithms such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naïve Bayes (NB), Logistic Regression (LR), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), Gradient Boost (GB) and
K
Nearest Neighbor (
K
NN) to detect hate speech and compare the performances of those algorithms to develop an ensemble model. Researchers collected and combined Tamil – English code-mixed hate speech tweets dataset which was created in HASOC. This dataset's tweets are divided into two groups: not offensive and offensive. This dataset includes 35,442 tweets. In this research, NB has obtained highest F1 scores in detecting offensive and not offensive tweets with highest weighted average. But SVM has obtained highest accuracy in detecting Tamil – English hate speech texts with 80% in 10-fold cross-validation. Based on the stand-alone performances, researchers developed two ensemble classifiers including max-voting and averaging ensemble. Averaging ensemble classification obtained 90.67% in accuracy. The research study's findings are significant because these results can be applied as a model for Tamil – English code-mixed hate speech to evaluate future research works using various algorithms for identifying hate contents more accurately and professionally.
Reusable Component Retrieval: A Semantic Search Approach for Low-Resource Languages
Authors: Bibi Nazia , Rana Tauseef , Maqbool Ayesha , Alkhalifah Tamim , Khan Wazir Zada , Bashir Ali Kashif , Zikria Yousaf Bin
Published: September 2022

A common practice among programmers is to reuse existing code, accomplished by performing natural language queries through search engines. The main aim of code retrieval is to search for the most relevant snippet from a corpus of code snippets. However, code retrieval frameworks for low-resource languages are insufficient. Retrieving the most relevant code snippet efficiently can be accomplished only by eliminating the semantic gap between the code snippets residing in the repository and the user’s query (natural language description). The primary objective of the research is to contribute to this field by providing a code search framework that can be extended for low-resource languages. The secondary objective is to provide a code retrieval mechanism that is semantically relevant to the user query and provide programmers with the ability to locate source code that they want to use when developing new applications. The proposed approach is implemented using a web platform to search for source code. As code retrieval is a sophisticated task, the proposed approach incorporates a semantic search mechanism. This research uses a semantic model for code retrieval, which generates meanings or synonyms of words. The proposed model integrates ontologies and Natural Language Processing. System performance measures and classification accuracy are computed using precision, recall, and F1-score. We also compare the proposed approach with state-of-the-art baseline models. The retrieved results are ranked, showing that our approach significantly outperforms robust code matching. Our evaluation shows that semantic matching leads to improved source code retrieval. This study marks a substantial advancement in integrating programming expertise with code retrieval techniques. Moreover, our system lets users know when and how it is used for successful semantic searching.
Spatial Navigation in Childhood and Aging
Authors: Tansan Merve , Nguyen Kim V. , Newcombe Nora S.
Published: September 2022

Navigation waxes and wanes in precision and flexibility over the life span. However, at no age is it completely egocentric or allocentric, or completely nonmetric. Instead, we see steady changes in the balance of strategies and the extent to which relevant information is combined in an adaptive way. Many of these changes may be related to underlying neural maturation or decline, although we know less about this topic in the first 15 years of life than during aging. However, both behavioral and neural changes may be propelled by sensory, motor, or environmental pressures as well as by biological programs. When children and the elderly see or hear better, walk more confidently, and travel further independently, it is likely that navigational abilities respond.
Protective ventilation in a pig model of acute lung injury: timing is as important as pressure
Authors: Ramcharran Harry , Bates Jason H. T. , Satalin Joshua , Blair Sarah , Andrews Penny L. , Gaver Donald P. , Gatto Louis A. , Wang Guirong , Ghosh Auyon J. , Robedee Benjamin , Vossler James , Habashi Nader M. , Daphtary Nirav , Kollisch-Singule Michaela , Nieman Gary F.
Published: September 2022

In a large animal model of ARDS, recruitment/derecruitment caused greater VILI than overdistension, whereas both mechanisms together caused severe lung damage. These findings suggest that eliminating cyclic recruitment and derecruitment during mechanical ventilation should be a preeminent management goal for the patient with ARDS. The airway pressure release ventilation (APRV) mode of mechanical ventilation can achieve this if delivered with an expiratory duration (TLow) that is brief enough to prevent derecruitment at end expiration.
Enterprise Operating State Evaluation Based on Association Rule Algorithm and Data Set
Authors: Li Shoubo , Zhu Haiyan
Published: September 2022

In order to further improve the evaluation quality of enterprise operating efficiency, reduce the error items and invalid items of partition, and improve the objectivity of operating condition evaluation, this study takes listed enterprises as an example and proposes an evaluation method of operating efficiency based on association rule algorithm and data set. In this method, the results of operating efficiency are scientifically analyzed from horizontal and vertical dimensions. The operating cost of total assets of listed companies is taken as indicators, and the correlation test is carried out by Kendall’s tau_b. From the longitudinal comparison results, it can be seen that only 12 of the 19 enterprises in the study have small-scale changes and increase year by year, accounting for 63.16%. At the same time, there are also 6 enterprises with an overall trend of decline, which objectively reflects the reasonable operation status and operation scale of enterprises in the study.
Facial Emotion Recognition Using a Novel Fusion of Convolutional Neural Network and Local Binary Pattern in Crime Investigation
Authors: Zhu Dimin , Fu Yuxi , Zhao Xinjie , Wang Xin , Yi Hanxi
Published: September 2022

The exploration of facial emotion recognition aims to analyze psychological characteristics of juveniles involved in crimes and promote the application of deep learning to psychological feature extraction. First, the relationship between facial emotion recognition and psychological characteristics is discussed. On this basis, a facial emotion recognition model is constructed by increasing the layers of the convolutional neural network (CNN) and integrating CNN with several neural networks such as VGGNet, AlexNet, and LeNet-5. Second, based on the feature fusion, an optimized Central Local Binary Pattern (CLBP) algorithm is introduced into the CNN to construct a CNN-CLBP algorithm for facial emotion recognition. Finally, the validity analysis is conducted on the algorithm after the preprocessing of face images and the optimization of relevant parameters. Compared with other methods, the CNN-CLBP algorithm has higher accuracy in facial expression recognition, with an average recognition rate of 88.16%. Besides, the recognition accuracy of this algorithm is improved by image preprocessing and parameter optimization, and there is no poor-fitting. Moreover, the CNN-CLBP algorithm can recognize 97% of the happy expressions and surprised expressions, but the misidentification rate of sad expressions is 22.54%. The research result provides data reference and direction for analyzing psychological characteristics of juveniles involved in crimes.
Efficient and Secure Key Management and Authentication Scheme for WBSNs Using CP-ABE and Consortium Blockchain
Authors: Iqbal Jawaid , Bibi Hajira , Amin Noor Ul , AlSalman Hussain , Ullah Syed Sajid , Hussain Saddam , Al-Aidroos Naziha
Published: September 2022

Wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) pose significant security and privacy risks. The Medical Server (MS) will only allow legitimate stakeholders access to confidential patient medical records when successful mutual authentication between all registered users and the MS has been confirmed using preset secret attributes. This paper proposes a novel approach to overcome the security and privacy problems in WBSNs by using CP-ABE and a consortium blockchain for key management and authentication. In this paper, a fixed-size session key is computed by utilizing several attribute base rules and AND/OR logic gate combinations. IEEE 802.15.6 is also used to transmit the encoded patient data from the register and legitimately deployed biosensor nodes on a patient’s body to the Base Station nearby (BS). This was done in part by leveraging consortium blockchains to construct partial blocks and then, transmit the encrypted partial blocks to MS via peer-to-peer networks, as well as aggregating critical physiological information. MS is now validating partial blocks with a hash function to ensure their integrity before converting them all into full blocks, which are subsequently mined and put on the blockchain effectively and ideally using a consensus mechanism. When sessions between MS and stakeholders are established, all legitimate consumers can view the secure medical records of a registered patient in a hospital using their predefined access structure.. The resource-constrained environment of WBSNs can benefit from enhanced data security and privacy by using CP-ABE in conjunction with the organization’s consensus to encrypt the patient’s critical features or attributes. Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocol and Applications (AVISPA) tool is used to verify the validity and correctness of the proposed authentication mechanism. The proposed scheme reduces transmission, processing and storage costs and energy usage by a significant margin when compared to current state-of-the-art alternatives. It is also worth noting that a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) approach known as Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) is employed to provide the ranking and determine which strategy is optimal across all of the domains involved.
Pan-Cancer Analysis of BUB1B/hsa-miR-130a-3p Axis and Identification of Circulating hsa-miR-130a-3p as a Potential Biomarker for Cancer Risk Assessment
Authors: Ding Xiaoxia , Chen Lele , Xu Danfeng , Yu Yong , Tao Xiaohua , Fan Yibin , Huang Youming
Published: September 2022

Based on the fact that very little was found in the literature on the question of potential molecules and mechanism for high risk of cancer in patients with psoriasis, this study was designed and performed based on bioinformatics analysis including WGCNA. The most striking result to emerge from the data is that BUB1B/hsa-miR-130a-3p axis, closely related to the development of psoriasis, also plays a remarkable role in multiple cancer development. The expression patterns of hsa-miR-130a-3p were found significantly changed in multiple tumors, which was also associated with prognosis. Additionally, hsa-miR-130a-3p was downregulated in lesion skin of psoriasis, but there was no difference in blood between psoriasis patients and normal controls. Circulating has-miR-130a-3p was found to have a higher level of blood in multiple tumor patients, suggesting that hsa-miR-130a-3p has the potential to be a blood biomarker for cancer risk assessment in patients with psoriasis.
The Operation Mode of Agricultural Supply Chain Finance Using Blockchain
Authors: Wang Ying , You Jing
Published: September 2022

With the rapid development of agriculture, modern agriculture has achieved remarkable results. Agriculture is the foundation of China’s national economy, and the Party Central Committee has always insisted on solving the “three rural issues” as the top priority of the work of the whole party. However, China’s agricultural foundation is weak, and the problem of unbalanced supply and demand structure of agricultural products still exists in agricultural development. With the development of blockchain, the application basis in the agricultural value chain has been established. At present, the research on the application of agricultural value chain financing is still in progress, but it is still in the initial stage. The integration of agricultural finance blockchain is low, and there are a series of problems. Extending blockchain technology to the financial area of agricultural value chains can help overcome the information barriers to traditional agricultural value chain financing and improve access to information resources for traditional agricultural value chains. The high cost of these value chains and inadequate financial management mechanisms remove bottlenecks in financing agricultural development. In this paper, we study the operation model and revenue distribution model of agricultural value chains using blockchain, analyze examples, and finally identify the basic elements of agricultural value chain financing based on sectoral chain technology. It provides theoretical support for the financing decision and production decision of each member of the agricultural supply chain, and it is hoped that the content and conclusions of the study can provide methodological reference and theoretical guidance for agricultural supply chain enterprises.
Application of Human-Computer Interaction System in Regional Tourism Competitiveness Analysis under IoT Background
Authors: Jia Zhenli , Zhang Jing , Cui Zhongquan
Published: September 2022

With the continuous development of Internet of Things technology, this technology is not limited to the laboratory but is more and more applied in the process of commercialization. Large-scale machine communication is one of the three most important scenarios for 5G applications. Its features include larger uplink access, smaller data packets, higher device energy consumption requirements, lower device transmission speed, higher latency, and bursty communication. With the development of the Internet of Things in the 5G era, interpersonal interaction experience has been further optimized and welcomed by the market and adopt Qt/embedded multilayer menu design mode to improve our computer system interaction to facilitate the operation and Maintenance system. The software function of the human-computer interaction system has reached the expected result. By constructing the application of a human-computer interaction system in the analysis of regional tourism competitiveness, we analyze the temporal and spatial changes of tourism competitiveness in four major economic regions in China and combine multiple linear regression and geographic detector models to analyze China’s tourism competitiveness. On this basis, we propose to further enhance the tourism competitiveness of areas with weak tourism development infrastructure and encourage potential tourism development areas to complement each other with high-quality resources between regions.
Improved Gradient-Based Optimizer for Modelling Thermal and Hydropower Plants
Authors: Agwa Ahmed M. , Mesalam Yehya I. , Hassan Mohamed H. , El-Dabah Mahmoud A. , El-Sherif Anas M. , Kamel Salah
Published: September 2022

Adequate and accurate models of thermal power plants (TPP) and hydropower plants (HPP) are of great importance for the optimal economic functioning of electric power systems. The extracted models have a direct impact on economic dispatch calculations. In this research, a modified optimization algorithm called an improved gradient-based optimizer (IGBO) is deployed for the optimal extraction of TPP and HPP input-output parameters. Firstly, the IGBO is tested for use with well-known benchmark functions and shows outstanding performance over the original GBO and other competitive algorithms. For the input-output parameters extraction of TPP and HPP, the sum of the absolute error (SAE) is utilized as a fitness function to be minimized. Secondly, nine models of TPP and HPP are employed for parameter identification using IGBO. Simulation outcomes prove the capability of IGBO to accurately extract input-output parameters of TPP and HPP. Moreover, the convergence characteristics of IGBO are remarkable among investigated optimization algorithms.