bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
La construcción cinematográfica del espacio en la alegoría política
Authors: Martínez-Expósito Alfredo
Published: July 2020

The film Alice in Spanish Wonderland / Alicia en la España de las maravillas, directed by Jordi Feliu in 1978, was saluted by international critics as the first open questioning of Franco’s dictatorship on screen. The film was well received in the festival circuit before being dubbed into Catalan in the early 1980s. Yet, it soon fell into relative oblivion due to its demanding visual language and political content. Like other political allegories of Spain’s Transición, this film makes a complex use of cinematic space. Visual rhetoric of space includes instances of realistic, symbolic, and allegorical compositions. Intertextual allusions to Lewis Carroll’s Alice books further compound the construction of spaces in the film. The film makes use of four main strategies for the composition of space: discontinuity, incongruity, over-signification, and symbolism. Furthermore, the film’s powerful Catalan subtext generates a particularly complex set of hybrid spaces in which Spanishness and Catalanness are ambiguously expressed.
Representasi Social Engineering Dalam Tindak Kejahatan Dunia Maya (Analisis Semiotika Pada Film Firewall)
Authors: Hidayah Imas Rahmadhtul
Published: July 2020

In the current technological era, information is represented as a valuable asset for every individual or organization. There are three important components in information security such as ; (1) human; (2) process; and (3) technology. For perpetrators of cybercrime will look for gaps in the three components, not infrequently the human component becomes the target. From the above problems, researchers are interested in conducting studies by placing the film Firewall as research objects. The film is interesting because it's one of the action-thriller films with a cybercrime theme in banking. Through the film, researchers will examine the related representation of social engineering in cybercrime using the semiotic analysis method developed by Roland Barthes. The results show that social engineering representation is reflected in reverse social engineering based on social interaction. The implicit meaning in the Firewall film that is protecting company information must pay attention to the three components above because attacks from the inside are just as dangerous from outside attacks. Keywords: Social Engineering, Cyber World, Film
PROMOSI GIZI MELAUI METODE EMO DEMO UNTUK MERUBAH PERSEPSI IBU TENTANG MAKANAN JAJANAN BERBASIS PANGAN LOKAL
Authors: Hidayanti Lilik
Published: July 2020

High consumption of food snacks can cause decreased of food intake of children aged 0-5 years. It is due to the children feel full so they refuse meal. Impact of this behaviour is decreasing level of energy adequacy and level of protein adequacy so eventually decreasing their nutritional status. Food snacks contain much of sucrose and salt but a little protein. In addition  food snack often contains  food additives and also not guaranteed of its safety. To solve this problem, mothers can make food snack by themselves from local foods. Promoting local food is very important to introduce and to increase of understanding of mother about composition and nutritional contain of local food. The aim of this activity was changing mother perception about used of local foods (breadfruit and Tilapia fish) as raw materials of food snack for children aged 0-5 years. This activity used Emo Demo method with theme “cheap food snack, Rich of nutrition”. Subjects were 30 mothers who had child aged 0-5 years and also always came to Posyandu in Sukarame, Tasikmalaya. Change of perception was measured by comparing pre test and post test results,and wilcoxon was used to analyze the difference of pre test and post test results. Mean of pre test score was 9,2 and post test score was 12,9. The result of wilcoxon test shown there was the difference of pre test and post test (p < 0,001). Based on this activity, the suggestion was to continue this activity with training so the subjects were able to make foods snack using local foods (Breadfruit and Tilapia fish) as raw materials.
Deep learning models for semantic segmentation and automatic estimation of severity of foliar symptoms caused by diseases or pests
Authors: de Paula Gonçalves Juliano , de Assis de Carvalho Pinto Francisco , de Queiroz Daniel Marçal , de Melo Villar Flora Maria , Barbedo Jayme G.A. , Del Ponte Emerson Medeiros
Published: July 2020

Measures of percent severity of visible symptoms or injuries caused by diseases or insect pests on plant organs are essential in plant health research. Current color thresholding digital imaging-methods are generally more accurate and reliable than visual estimates. However, these methods perform poorly when scene illumination and background are not uniform, conditions that can be overcome by convolutional neural networks (CNN) for semantic segmentation. In this study, we trained five CNN models for pixel level predictions in images of individual leaves exhibiting necrotic lesions and/or yellowing caused by the insect pest coffee leaf miner (CLM), and two fungal diseases: soybean rust (SBR) and wheat tan spot (WTS). Training was performed in 80% of images annotated for three classes: leaf background (B), healthy leaf (H) and injured leaf (I). Precision, recall, and Intersection over Union (IoU) metrics in the test image set were highest for B, followed by H and I classes, irrespective of the model. When the pixel-level predictions were used to estimate percent severity, Feature Pyramid Network (FPN), Unet and DeepLabv3+ (Xception) performed the best: concordance coefficients were greater than 0.95, 0.96 and 0.98 for CLM, SBR and WTS datasets, respectively. The other three models tended to misclassify healthy pixels as injured, leading to overestimation of percent severity. The accuracy of the predictions by CNN models were comparable with those obtained using a standard commercial software which requires manual adjustments that slows the process.
Environmental Risk Factors for Childhood Psychotic-Like Experiences in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Dataset
Authors: Saxena Abhishek , Dodell-Feder David
Published: July 2020

Long-term outcomes for individuals with a schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are generally poor, making it critical to identify risk factors for the illness and its antecedents (i.e., psychotic-like experiences; PLE). Research on environmental risk factors for SSDs have identified a wide-ranging set of individual- and area-level variables. However, few studies have evaluated whether these same variables impact risk for PLE, and whether they do so during critical periods of neural and social development (i.e., late childhood/early adolescence). Thus, here, we evaluate whether risk factors associated with SSDs, also impact risk for PLE and associated distress in a developmental sample. We used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to assess the relation between 14 environmental risk factors for SSDs on childhood PLE outcomes. The risk factors—demonstrating robust relations to SSD in other work—occurred across pre, peri, and postnatal environments, are biological and social in nature, and occur at the individual-level and area-level. We analyzed data from over 8,000 participants with linear mixed-effects models, evaluating the replicability and robustness of the findings. Results indicate that family conflict, bullying, and area deprivation are the strongest risk factors for PLE and their associated distress. These factors account for variance in PLE outcome above and beyond demographics and parental history of psychosis. Together, these results show some convergence with risk factors for SSD, and provide novel evidence that prolonged exposure to adverse individual- and area-level social experiences are associated with the antecedents of SSD.
Conceptualizing motivational pathways to political engagement: A test of self-determination theory in the political domain
Authors: Wuttke Alexander
Published: July 2020

Why do citizens engage with politics and how can we systemize the various motivational pathways to political engagement? A prominent line of psychological research considers human motivation as structured by the degree of perceived self-determination. Importing this seminal motivation theory into political science, this study tests whether motivation to engage with politics can be represented as a multi-dimensional construct where each type of motivation is ordered on a continuum of self-determination and has distinct ramifications for whether and how a person engages with politics. Importantly, both controlled and autonomous types of political motivation are theorized to energize people into action. Yet, whereas controlled motivation is considered to elicit short-lived and superficial behavior only political engagement that is self-endorsed or perceived as inherently valuable should lead to deep and self-sustained forms of political action. Although self-determination theory been proven useful to assess reasons for action in various life domains, using multiple, large web surveys from Germany empirical support for it is weak when applied to the political domain. Employing various model specifications on two iteratively revised measures of political motivation revealed that the four theorized dimensions of political motivation could not be clearly distinguished from each other. Moreover, despite some evidence for the functional significance of perceived self-determination in the political domain the theory’s predictions received no consistent empirical support. This study therefore informs scholars of self-determination theory about the framework’s boundary conditions and scholars of political participation about theoretical dead-ends and potential avenues of further research.
Quality of life of postmenopausal women of Kaski district
Authors: Koirala Dipti , Thapa Nirupa , Shrestha Sarala
Published: July 2020

Aim: To assess menopause specific quality of life of postmenopausal women.
Method: This descriptive survey was carried out among postmenopausal women aged 40 to 60 years residing in a municipality of Kaski district of Nepal. Data was collected from 150 women meeting the criteria through face to face interview using a structured questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic items and Menopause-Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) scale.
Results: Respondents’ mean age and SD was 52.83±4.19 years and their mean menopausal age and SD was 47.12±4.34 years. The most common menopausal symptom reported by the respondents was decrease in physical strength (82.70%) and the least frequent symptom was increase in facial hair (7.40%). The mean scores and SD of MENQOL for physical, psychosocial, sexual and vasomotor domains were 1.67±0.42, 1.46±0.42, 1.31±0.47 and 1.27±0.57 respectively. Significant differences were detected in vasomotor, psychosocial and physical domain score according to physical activity, living status and body mass index respectively (p=0.05).
Conclusions: Based on findings, it is concluded that all the postmenopausal women tend to have at least one or more menopausal symptoms. Physical domain is the most affected domain of QOL among the postmenopausal women. The presence of menopausal symptoms affects the quality of life of women adversely that warrants focused teaching and counselling.
Keywords: menopause, menopausal symptoms and menopause specific quality of life
Endourological Management of Iatrogenic Ureterovaginal Fistula following Obstetric and Gynecological Surgeries at Tertiary Referral Center
Authors: Upadhyay Amit Mani , Acharya Bigyan , Kunwar Ashok Kumar , Tiwari Kabir , Shrestha Sanjesh Bhakta , Pradhan Hema Kumari , Dangal Ganesh
Published: July 2020

Aims: To evaluate the outcome of endourological management of iatrogenic ureterovaginal fistula caused by gynecological and obstetric surgeries.
Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of uretorovaginal fistula (UVF) patients who underwent UVF management with endourology technique from February 2014 to November 2019. All data were taken from fistula database. All non-obstetric/gynaecological cases and open surgical procedures leading to UVF were excluded. Diagnostic evaluation by cystoscopy and ureterorenoscopy; and use of guide wire, C-arm and DJ stent were recorded. Three to six months post-operative follow up status was also recorded.
Results: There were 14 cases managed by retrograde DJ stenting. Both hysterectomy (n=10) and Cesarean Sections (n=4) were the past surgeries. Diagnosis was made by history, methylene blue test, cystoscopy, intravenous urography and CT urogram. Treatment was retrograde DJ stenting. All of them had unilateral distal ureteric injury close to vesicoureteric junction leading to ureterovaginal fistula. All were continent at the end.
Conclusions: Endourological approach with retrograde DJ stenting had successful outcome in iatrogenic UVF.
Keywords: double J stent, endourological technique, iatrogenic ureterovaginal fistula, ureterorenoscope.
Analysis of Pap smears in a cytopathology lab of a teaching hospital
Authors: Baral Reetu Sharma
Published: July 2020

Aims: This study was done to find out age wise distribution pattern, cellular abnormality and adequacy of Pap smears.
Methods: A retrospective study of 470 Pap smears based on laboratory record was done from September 2019 to April 2020 at B and C Medical College Teaching Hospital, Birtamod, Jhapa, Nepal. Descriptive analysis performed using MS Excel and SPSS 16.
Results: Out of 470 analyzable data 2.55% had abnormal cytology, all high-grade lesions were in 30-49 age group and 0.21% were detected as carcinoma. Mean age of women was 39.2±10.5 years. Age distribution follows the normal Gaussian curve. Age group of 30-60 years consists of four-fifth (75.5%, n=355) and Two-third of cases (66.4%, n=312) were of age group 30-49 years.
Conclusions: Pap samples were normally distributed by age. Test requisition forms lack adequate clinical information. Even the inadequately sampled Pap smears were satisfactory for evaluation.
Keywords: cancer, cervix, intraepithelial lesion, Pap smear, screening
Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy: A Life Threatening Condition
Authors: Sitaula Sarita , Agrawal Ajay , Thakur Achala , Manandhar Tara , Thapa Babauram Dixit , Dhamala Jibanath
Published: July 2020

Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy (AFLP) is a rare but catastrophic disease affecting women in pregnancy. It usually occurs in the third trimester or post-partum period. Delay in diagnosis is associated with morbid complications with high morbidity and mortality. We report a case of 24 years old female at 38 weeks period of gestation who presented with jaundice, vomiting for 3 days and deranged liver function test. She was diagnosed as acute fatty liver of pregnancy and was delivered by instrumental delivery but required cesarean hysterectomy due to postpartum hemorrhage. She started improving with supportive care and discharged after 4 weeks of hospital stay.
Key words: AFLP, Hysterectomy, Postpartum hemorrhage
Vesicovaginal Fistula Post Caesarean Hysterectomy
Authors: Maharjan Manisha , Karki Aruna , Dangal Ganesh , Pradhan Hema , Shrestha Ranjana , Poudel Rekha , Bajracharya Nishma , Shrestha Shreena , Tiwari Kenusha Devi , Bharati Sonu
Published: July 2020

Genitourinary fistula is an abnormal communication between the urinary tract and genital tract, most common being the vesicovaginal fistula. In most of the cases fistula results mainly due to poor obstetric care in developing countries, where as in developed countries most of the urogenital fistulas are iatrogenic. It is mainly diagnosed by clinical examinations and intravesical dye test using methylene blue. Repair can be done via abdominal or vaginal route based on the findings. Here we present a case of 27 years postnatal mother referred to our centre with diagnosis of vesicovaginal fistula post cesarean hysterectomy that was repaired successfully via vaginal approach.
Keywords: cesaerean hysterectomy, urinary leakage, vesicovaginal fistula
Primary Malignant Melanoma of Uterine Cervix
Authors: Shrestha Ramesh , Adhikari Purbesh , Rimal Surya Prasad , Basnet Pritha , Rijal Pappu , Regmi Mohan C.
Published: July 2020

Primary malignant melanoma of cervix (PMMC) is rare and aggressive cancer of uterine cervix. It presented as vaginal discharge, post coital bleding and blackish cervical growth that was biopsied and radical hysterectomy performed immediately after getting the histopathological diagnosis at stage-1B2 (FIGO staging, 2018). Post-treatment, she was recurrence free at nine months of regular follow up visit.
Keywords: cervix, malignant, melanoma, primary
Groundwater in the Mesozoic hydrogeological basin of the Middle Ob (a case study of the Ust-Balykskoye oil field)
Authors: Sabanina I. G. , Semenova T. V.
Published: July 2020

Despite the fact that there is the large amount of accumulated factual material, formation of hydrogeochemical conditions of deep oil and gas horizons in the Middle Ob and the West Siberian megabasin still contains many questions. This is due to numerous hydrogeodynamic and hydrogeochemical anomalies that don't have an unambiguous explanation. The presence of inversion hydrogeochemical zoning in the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic deposits and the presence of low-mineralized reservoir water of a sodium-bicarbonate composition are the peculiarity of groundwater in the considered territory. A change in the genetic type of water, a decrease in mineralization, a decrease in the content of calcium ion, and an increase in the amount of bicarbonate ion in the Mesozoic hydrogeological basin are associated with the transformation of mineral and organic matter in sedimentary rocks, when they are immersed, at the water expelling stage. The determination of the origin of low-mineralized reservoir water of a sodium-bicarbonate lying at significant depths is of great practical importance, since the relationship between the inversion of groundwater and oil content has been revealed, so this fact can be considered a search criterion for petroleum potential.
Space lost, space found—a psychodynamic perspective on spaces, places, architecture, and furniture inside and around us
Authors: Visholm Steen , Sandager Dorte
Published: July 2020

This article presents some considerations and perspectives on the issue of how to deal with rooms, spaces, places, and bodies informed by psychodynamic theory and practice. The armchair and the famous couch in the classic psychoanalytic arrangement, and the serious occupation with chairs in group relations and group analysis (circles and spirals, all the chairs of the same kind, no special chair for the group convenor) indicate that space and furniture are important. The reluctance to experiment with space and settings may signify that important areas may need to be investigated.
This article presents a number of basic concepts that we apply and further develop to capture the impact of space and design on social and organisational dynamics in the network society and the interplay between conscious and unconscious motives in space and design: container; projective space; presenting oneself; staging and being staged; destruction and creativity; the making of culture and history and the house; the senses; and the organisation of memory.
On teaching Winnicott: the charms and challenges of Winnicott's concepts
Authors: Davar Elisha
Published: July 2020

This article examines the responses of students on being introduced to several of Winnicott's major concepts: transitional space, illusion, good enough mothering, true and false self. Building on Ogden's idea that Winnicott's style of writing and form of presentation is inseparable from the ideas he wishes to convey, this article shows how students evolved a developmental framework for themselves with the aid of Winnicott's theory. The new theory itself becomes a transitional object for further use and elaboration. Various examples of student's responses to the paper on transitional phenomena are cited, in addition to an examination of their responses to the application of transitional theory to organisations.
Peran Pemerintah dalam Penyediaan Akses Pelayanan Publik
Authors: Puspita Sari Meri Enita
Published: July 2020

Pemerintah Pusat maupun Pemerintah Daerah memiliki peran yang sangat besar dalam pemenuhan azas pelayanan publik, misalnya dari segi pendidikan, kesehatan, sosial ekonomi, dan transportasi, namun pada kenyataannya tidak semua upaya pemerintah dalam pemenuhan peningkatan pelayanan berjalan baik, salah satunya adalah kemudahan akses pelayanan publik yang yang belum maksimal terutama di daerah-daerah yang kepulauan ataupun daerah terpencil.Keberhasilan dalam penyelenggaran pelayanan publik salah satunya dapat diukur dari akses pelayanan publiknya, ketika suatu daerah tidak bisa mendapatkan akses yang mudah dalam pelayanan publik akan mengakibatkan masyarakat tidak mendapatkan pelayanan dasar yang seharusnya diterima seperti pendidikan dan kesehatan, ahal tersebut akan berdampak kepada kesejahteraan seluruh masyaraka. Oleh karena itu, Peran pemerintah sangat besar dalam penyelenggaraan pelayanan publik yang berorientasi kepada kepentingan masyarakat.
FAKTOR-FAKTORYANG MEMPENGARUHI KESEJAHTERAAN HIDUP MASYARAKAT SUKU LAUT PULAU BERTAM KOTA BATAM
Authors: Sari Meri Enita Puspita , Pratiwi Diah Ayu
Published: July 2020

Pemerintah Kota Batam telah melaksanakan berbagai usaha untuk meningkatkan kesejahteraan hidup dikalangan komunitas suku laut. Berbagai program, pelatihan dan pendidikan keterampilan telah dilakukan oleh pemerintah kepada Suku Laut ini untuk meningkatkan keterampilan dasar mereka, namun program-program yang dilaksanakan masih belum mampu meningkatkan keterampilan-keterampilan dasar yang diperlukan dalam kehidupan Suku Laut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif, metode ini digunakan untuk dapat menggambarakan dan mengkaji faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi tingkat kesejahteraan masyarakat suku laut Pulau Bertam. Berdasarakan hasil penelitian, Perubahan hidup yang dijalankan oleh masyarakat suku laut pulau Bertam mempengaruhi kualitas hidup mereka terutama kesejahteraan sosial. komunitas Suku Laut masih bergantung kepada hasil tangkapan ikan secara tradisional saja dan hidup dalam kondisi yang serba kekurangan, hal tersebut terlihat dari kualitas air yang diperoleh, rumah yang ditempati dan peralatan tangkapan ikan yang belum memadai, diaspek sosial lainnya komunitas masyarakat  Suku Laut didapati masih tidak melakukan aktivitas kemasyarakatan secara bersama antara satu sama lain. Selain faktor agama yang berbeda, masyarakat lebih banyak berkumpul dengan keluarga masing-masing dibanding berbaur dengan masyarakat lainnya yang lain. Aspek budaya juga mempengaruhi perubahan hidup masyarakat Suku laut. Hal ini terlihat dari mulai pudarnya budaya tradisi dalam hal kesenian dan generasi yang ada akan berhadapan dengan beberapa ancaman seperti kehilangan identitas Suku Laut sebagai penangkap ikan, kesulitan meneruskan kehidupan karana masyarakat mereka masih berada dalam tingkat pendidikan yang sangat rendah dan tidak mampu bersaing dalam dunia yang semakin berkembang.
Sharing wintering grounds does not synchronize annual survival in a high Arctic seabird, the little auk
Authors: Descamps S , Merkel B , Strøm H , Choquet R , Steen H , Fort J , Gavrilo M , Grémillet D , Jakubas D , Jerstad K , Karnovsky NJ , Krasnov YV , Moe B , Welcker J , Wojczulanis-Jakubas K
Published: July 2020

Sharing the same wintering grounds by avian populations breeding in various areas may synchronize fluctuations in vital rates, which could increase the risk of extinction. Here, by combining multi-colony tracking with long-term capture-recapture data, we studied the winter distribution and annual survival of the most numerous Arctic seabird, the little aukAlle alle. We assessed whether little auks from different breeding populations in Svalbard and Franz Josef Land use the same wintering grounds and if this leads to synchronized survival. Our results indicate that birds from the Svalbard colonies shared similar wintering grounds, although differences existed in the proportion of birds from each colony using the different areas. Little auks from Franz Josef Land generally spent the winter in a separate area, but some individuals wintered in the Iceland Sea with Svalbard populations. Survival data from 3 Svalbard colonies collected in 2005-2018 indicated that sharing wintering grounds did not synchronize little auk annual survival rates. However, it is clear that the Iceland Sea is an important wintering area for little auks, and environmental changes in this area could have widespread impacts on many populations.
Context-dependency of eelgrass-clam interactions: implications for coastal restoration
Authors: Meysick L , Norkko A , Gagnon K , Gräfnings M , Boström C
Published: July 2020

Facilitative interactions between co-occurring species sustain diverse communities and constitute a vital functional component of coastal marine ecosystems. In seagrass ecosystems, facilitation ensures the survival and resilience of this important habitat. As seagrass meadows are in decline, innovative restoration strategies incorporating facilitative interactions could open new avenues in marine restoration. Here, we investigated the interactions between eelgrass Zostera marina and the Baltic clam Macoma balthica, and tested whether clams could enhance early survival and biomass increase of transplanted eelgrass shoots in the northern Baltic Sea. We measured eelgrass responses to differing densities of clams, as well as porewater ammonium (NH4+) and phosphate (PO43-) concentrations in field and aquarium experiments. Overall, survival of transplanted plots was high, independent of clam density. Specifically, we found that clams facilitated eelgrass above- and below-ground biomass in low porewater nutrient conditions, potentially through nutrient release, but inhibited growth in high-nutrient conditions, particularly where clams were added at high densities. Our results show the important role of infaunal bivalves for nutrient fluxes within seagrass meadows. Most notably, we highlight the importance of considering and testing context- and density-dependency when studying interspecific interactions, as clams could both benefit and hamper Zostera biomass increase. This becomes particularly crucial when incorporating such interactions in a restoration context.
Associations Between Cardiac Fibrosis and Permanent Atrial Fibrillation in Advanced Heart Failure
Authors: ALDHOON B. , KUČERA T. , SMORODINOVÁ N. , MARTÍNEK J. , MELENOVSKÝ V. , KAUTZNER J.
Published: July 2020

Atrial fibrosis is considered as the basis in the development of long-standing atrial fibrillation (AF). However, in advanced heart failure (HF), the independent role of fibrosis for AF development is less clear since HF itself leads to atrial scarring. Our study aimed to differentiate patients with AF from patients without AF in a population consisting of patients with advanced HF. Myocardial samples from the right atrial and the left ventricular wall were obtained during heart transplantation from the explanted hearts of 21 male patients with advanced HF. Long-standing AF was present in 10 of them and the remaining 11 patients served as sinus rhythm controls. Echocardiographic and hemodynamic measurements were recorded prior to heart transplantation. Collagen volume fraction (CVF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression in myocardial specimens were assessed histologically and immunohistochemically. The groups were well matched according to age (51.9±8.8 vs. 51.3±9.3 y) and co-morbidities. The AF group had higher blood pressure in the right atrium (13.6±7.7 vs. 6.0±5.0 mmHg; p=0.02), larger left atrium diameter (56.1±7.7 vs. 50±5.1 mm; p=0.043), higher left atrium wall stress (18.1±2.1 vs. 16.1±1.7 kdynes/m2; p=0.04), and longer duration of HF (5.0±2.9 vs. 2.0±1.6 y, p=0.008). There were no significant differences in CVF (p=0.12), in CTGF (p=0.60), and in TGF-β expression (p=0.66) in the atrial myocardium between the two study groups. In conclusions, in advanced HF, atrial fibrosis expressed by CVF is invariably present regardless of occurrence of AF. In addition to atrial wall fibrosis, increased wall stress might contribute to AF development in long-standing AF.
Nodose Ganglia-Modulatory Effects on Respiration
Authors: KACZYŃSKA K. , SZEREDA-PRZESTASZEWSKA M.
Published: July 2020

The key role of the vagus nerves in the reflex control of breathing is generally accepted. Cardiopulmonary vagal receptors and their afferent connection with the medullary respiratory centers secures the proper regulatory feedback. Section of the vagi at the midcervical level interrupts primary vagal reflexes and those due to activation of lung afferents by neuroactive substances. In this context the present review focuses on the reflex contribution of the inferior (nodose) vagal ganglia to the respiratory pattern, considering that this structure contains perikarya of vagal afferent neurons which house neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and neurochemical substances. In experimental animals with removed sensory input from the lungs (midcervical vagotomy) the following evidence was reported. Transient respiratory suppression in the form of apnoea, occurring after systemic injection of serotonin, adenosine triphosphate and anandamide (N-arachidonoyl-ethanolamine-endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitter), which was abrogated by nodose ganglionectomy. Preserved nodose-NTS connection conditioned respiratory depression affecting the timing component of the breathing pattern evoked by N-6-cyclopentyl-adenosine (CPA) and inhibition of both respiratory constituents induced by NPY. Stimulatory effect of NPY13-36 on tidal volume required nodosal connection. The cardiovascular effects of majority of the tested substances occurred beyond the nodose ganglia (with exclusion of serotonin and anandamide).
The Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome in Obese Czech Children: the Importance of Early Detection of Insulin Resistance Using Homeostatic Indexes HOMA-IR and QUICKI
Authors: PASTUCHA D. , FILIPČÍKOVÁ R. , HORÁKOVÁ D. , RADOVÁ L. , MARINOV Z. , MALINČÍKOVÁ J. , KOCVRLICH M. , HORÁK S. , BEZDIČKOVÁ M. , DOBIÁŠ M.
Published: July 2020

Common alimentary obesity frequently occurs on a polygenic basis as a typical lifestyle disorder in the developed countries. It is associated with characteristic complex metabolic changes, which are the cornerstones for future metabolic syndrome development. The aims of our study were 1) to determine the incidence of metabolic syndrome (based on the diagnostic criteria defined by the International Diabetes Federation for children and adolescents) in Czech obese children, 2) to evaluate the incidence of insulin resistance according to HOMA-IR and QUICKI homeostatic indexes in obese children with and without metabolic syndrome, and 3) to consider the diagnostic value of these indexes for the early detection of metabolic syndrome in obese children. We therefore performed anthropometric and laboratory examinations to determine the incidence of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in the group of 274 children with obesity (128 boys and 146 girls) aged 9-17 years. Metabolic syndrome was found in 102 subjects (37 %). On the other hand, the presence of insulin resistance according to QUICKI <0.357 was identified in 86 % and according to HOMA-IR >3.16 in 53 % of obese subjects. This HOMA-IR limit was exceeded by 70 % children in the MS(+) group, but only by 43 % children in the MS(–) group (p<0.0001). However, a relatively high incidence of insulin resistance in obese children without metabolic syndrome raises a question whether the existing diagnostic criteria do not falsely exclude some cases of metabolic syndrome. On the basis of our results we suggest to pay a preventive attention also to obese children with insulin resistance even if they do not fulfill the actual diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome.
Pheochromocytoma and Markers of Oxidative Stress
Authors: TURKOVÁ H. , PETRÁK O. , ŠKRHA J. , WIDIMSKÝ J. , ZELINKA T.
Published: July 2020

High levels of catecholamines in pheochromocytoma (PHEO) are associated with risk of cardiovascular complications. In this study, we looked for potential differences in markers of oxidative stress – vitamin C, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in PHEO before and after the operation. We studied 18 subjects with PHEO who were examined before and approximately one year after the successful tumor removal (free of disease). All subjects had elevated urinary epinephrine and/or norepinephrine levels before the operation. Vitamin C levels increased significantly after the operation from 61±27 to 77±20 μmol/l (P=0.02), and MDA decreased significantly after the tumor removal from 2.6±0.4 to 2.0±0.6 μmol/l (P=0.01). However, no changes were found in SOD activity before and after the operation. In conclusion, increased catecholamine production in PHEO is accompanied by decreased levels of vitamin C and increased levels of MDA which may indicate the activation of oxidative stress in PHEO. Successful operation was associated with lowering of oxidative stress by using both biomarkers. On the contrary, no changes in SOD activity before and after the tumor removal were noted.
Oxidative Stress and Neuronal NOS Activity: Putative Determinants of Rapid Blood Pressure Increase After Renal Denervation in Anesthetized Rats
Authors: WALKOWSKA A. , SADOWSKI J. , KOMPANOWSKA-JEZIERSKA E.
Published: July 2020

Long-term effects of renal denervation (DNX) commonly include a decrease in blood pressure (BP), observed in both normotensive animals and various models of hypertension. On the other hand, short term BP responses vary. We examined how post-DNX increase in BP observed in this study depends on baseline metabolic and functional status of animals, with a special interest for the role of oxidative stress. Anesthetized Wistar rats on standard (STD), low-sodium (LS) or high-sodium (HS) diet were used, untreated or pre-treated with tempol, a superoxide scavenger, or N(omega)-propyl-L-arginine (L-NPA), an inhibitor of neuronal NOS (nNOS). Early BP and renal hemodynamic responses were examined to right- and then left-side DNX performed using an own relatively non-invasive technique. Left kidney cortical, outer- and inner-medullary blood flows (CBF, OMBF, IMBF) were continuously recorded as laser-Doppler fluxes. Sequential denervations significantly increased BP to final 19 %, 12 %, and 6 % above control level in HS, LS, and STD groups, respectively. CBF, a measure of total renal perfusion, increased in LS and STD but not in HS rats. Tempol pretreatment prevented the post-denervation BP increase on each diet. Selective inhibition of nNOS prevented BP increase in STD and HS groups, a modest increase persisted in LS rats. We propose that enhanced afferent impulsation from intrarenal chemoreceptors related to oxidative stress in the kidney was the background for acute BP increase after DNX. The response was triggered by a release of brain sympatho-excitatory centers from inhibition by renal afferents, this was followed by widespread sympathetic cardiovascular stimulation.
50 YEARS OF POWER FENCING
Authors: Jones V.
Published: July 2020

The history of high power fencing shows how this New Zealand idea contributed extensively to the profitability of pastoral farming by improving animal control, pasture utilisation and weed control. The development of electrified fencing is traced wth examples of incidents, starting in America in the thirties where it has improved only slightly, while in New Zealand development started in 1936 to become a world leader thanks to the Phillips (Ruakura) low impedance fence. Examples of its benefits are described by quoting farm profitability competition winners. Power fencing continues to become more sophisticated with items like voltage alarms, shock stops and tumblewheels. Keywords: power fencing, pasture improvement, weed control.
PERFORMANCE OF GRASSLANDS PUNA CHICORY
Authors: Fraser T.J. , Cosgrove G.P. , Thomas W.J. , Stevens D.R. , Hickey M.J.
Published: July 2020

Four separate experiments evaluating Grasslands Puna chicory (Cichorium intybus) are reported. Three of these experiments used animals to measure the quality while the fourth looked at establishment and persistence on summer dry areas in Southland. Liveweight gains both with calves and lambs were higher with Puna than could be expected with conventional pastures. In an autumn trial lambs grazing Puna grew over 70 g/head/day faster than those grazing rape. Grasslands Puna established and persisted when sown in pasture mixtures in Southland. Production was maintaned at a high level after three years of rotational grazing. Keywords: Cichorium intybus; pasture quality; herbage allowance; animal performance
Restrictive apposition in Romance languages: Syntactic expansions of a compound pattern
Authors: Barbu Ana-Maria
Published: July 2020

This study aims at improving the scarce corpus data regarding the nominal structure N1 N2 in juxtaposition, as in Romanian stat membru, French état membre, Spanish estado miembro ‘member state’. We supply examples from several Romance languages showing that this structure, which initially was a compound pattern formed from terms calqued from other languages, underwent significant expansions that are ignored even in the recent literature. We attempt to point out the disadvantages of treating this structure strictly in morphology, as most of the literature has done until now, and we document the necessity to analyse this structure in syntax, as a restrictive apposition.
Optimal set of technological techniques for lucerne yellow-flowered cultivation in southern Belarus
Authors: Luchenok Lyudmila , Yuzupanov Aleksandr
Published: July 2020

The data on the yield of lucerne (Medicago falcate) when cultivated on agro-peat soils in the conditions of southern Belarus was presented. It has been established that the yield of green mass in 4 years of life averaged 422.9 centner per ha at sowing under cover and 472.4 centner per ha at bloodless sowing. Productivity — 57.7 and 68.2 centner feed units ha–1 respectively. A small level of response to the application of various technological techniques was noted.
Searching for the Mechanisms of Mammalian Cellular Aging Through Underlying Gene Regulatory Networks
Authors: Li Wenbo , Zhao Lei , Wang Jin
Published: July 2020

Aging attracts the attention throughout the history of humankind. However, it is still challenging to understand how the internal driving forces, for example, the fundamental building blocks of life, such as genes and proteins, as well as the environments work together to determine longevity in mammals. In this study, we built a gene regulatory network for mammalian cellular aging based on the experimental literature and quantify its underlying driving force for the dynamics as potential and flux landscape. We found three steady-state attractors: a fast-aging state attractor, slow-aging state attractor, and intermediate state attractor. The system can switch from one state attractor to another driven by the intrinsic or external forces through the genetics and the environment. We identified the dominant path from the slow-aging state directly to the fast-aging state. We also identified the dominant path from slow-aging to fast-aging through an intermediate state. We quantified the evolving landscape for revealing the dynamic characteristics of aging through certain regulation changes in time. We also predicted the key genes and regulations for fast-aging and slow-aging through the analysis of the stability for landscape basins. We also found the oscillation dynamics between fast-aging and slow-aging and showed that more energy is required to sustain such oscillations. We found that the flux is the dynamic cause and the entropy production rate the thermodynamic origin of the phase transitions or the bifurcations between the three-state phase and oscillation phase. The landscape quantification provides a global and physical approach to explore the underlying mechanisms of cellular aging in mammals.
Image Edge Detector with Gabor Type Filters Using a Spiking Neural Network of Biologically Inspired Neurons
Authors: Vemuru Krishnamurthy V.
Published: July 2020

We report the design of a Spiking Neural Network (SNN) edge detector with biologically inspired neurons that has a conceptual similarity with both Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model neurons and Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) neurons. The computation of the membrane potential, which is used to determine the occurrence or absence of spike events, at each time step, is carried out by using the analytical solution to a simplified version of the HH neuron model. We find that the SNN based edge detector detects more edge pixels in images than those obtained by a Sobel edge detector. We designed a pipeline for image classification with a low-exposure frame simulation layer, SNN edge detection layers as pre-processing layers and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as a classification module. We tested this pipeline for the task of classification with the Digits dataset, which is available in MATLAB. We find that the SNN based edge detection layer increases the image classification accuracy at lower exposure times, that is, for 1 < t < T /4, where t is the number of milliseconds in a simulated exposure frame and T is the total exposure time, with reference to a Sobel edge or Canny edge detection layer in the pipeline. These results pave the way for developing novel cognitive neuromorphic computing architectures for millisecond timescale detection and object classification applications using event or spike cameras.
A Gaussian-Process-Based Global Sensitivity Analysis of Cultivar Trait Parameters in APSIM-Sugar Model: Special Reference to Environmental and Management Conditions in Thailand
Authors: Bandara W. B. M. A. C. , Sakai Kazuhito , Nakandakari Tamotsu , Kapetch Preecha , Rathnappriya R. H. K.
Published: July 2020

Process-based crop models are advantageous for the identification of management strategies to cope with both temporal and spatial variability of sugarcane yield. However, global optimization of such models is often computationally expensive. Therefore, we performed global sensitivity analysis based on Gaussian process emulation to evaluate the sensitivity of cane dry weight to trait parameters implemented in the Agricultural Productions System Simulator (APSIM)-Sugar model under selected environmental and management conditions in Khon Kaen (KK), Thailand. Emulators modeled 30 years, three soil types and irrigated or rainfed conditions, and emulator performance was investigated. rue, green_leaf_no, transp_eff_cf, tt_emerg_to_begcane and cane_fraction were identified as the most influential parameters and together they explained more than 90% of total variance on the simulator output. Moreover, results indicate that the sensitivity of sugarcane yield to the most influential parameters is affected by water stress conditions and nitrogen stress. Our findings can be used to improve the efficiency and accuracy of modeling and to identify appropriate management strategies to address temporal and spatial variability of sugarcane yield in KK.
Smart Palm: An IoT Framework for Red Palm Weevil Early Detection
Authors: Koubaa Anis , Aldawood Abdulrahman , Saeed Bassel , Hadid Abdullatif , Ahmed Mohanned , Saad Abdulrahman , Alkhouja Hesham , Ammar Adel , Alkanhal Mohamed
Published: July 2020

Smart agriculture is an evolving trend in the agriculture industry, where sensors are embedded into plants to collect vital data and help in decision-making to ensure a higher quality of crops and prevent pests, disease, and other possible threats. One of the most critical pests of palms is the red palm weevil, which is an insect that causes much damage to palm trees and can devastate vast areas of palm trees. The most challenging problem is that the effect of the weevil is not visible by humans until the palm reaches an advanced infestation state. For this reason, there is a pressing need to use advanced technology for early detection and prevention of infestation propagation. In this project, we have developed an IoT-based smart palm monitoring prototype as a proof-of-concept that (1) allows monitoring palms remotely using smart agriculture sensors, (2) contribute to the early detection of red palm weevil infestation. Users can use web/mobile applications to interact with their palm farms and help them in getting early detection of possible infestations. We used an industrial-level IoT platform to interface between the sensor layer and the user layer. Moreover, we have collected data using accelerometer sensors, and we applied signal processing and statistical techniques to analyze collected data and determine a fingerprint of the infestation.
Bond Strength Assessment of Concrete-Corroded Rebar Interface Using Artificial Neutral Network
Authors: Wang Yi , Geem Zong Woo , Nagai Kohei
Published: July 2020

Bond strength assessment is important for reinforced concrete structures with rebar corrosion since the bond degradation can threaten the structural safety. In this study, to assess the bond strength in concrete-corroded rebar interface, one of the machine learning techniques, artificial neutral network (ANN), was utilized for the application. From existing literature, data related to the bond strength of concrete and corroded rebar were collected. The ANN model was applied to understand the factors on bond property degradation. For the input in the ANN model, the following factors were considered the relative bond strength: (1) corrosion level; (2) crack width; (3) cover-to-diameter ratio; and (4) concrete strength. For the cases with confinement (stirrups), (5) the diameter/stirrups spacing ratio was also considered. The assessment was conducted from input with single parameter to multiple parameters. The scaled feed-forward multi-layer perception ANN model with the error back-propagation algorithm of gradient descent and momentum was found to match the experimental and computed results. The correlation of each parameter to the bond strength degradation was clarified. In cases without confinement, the relative importance was (1) > (2) > (4) > (3), while it was (2) > (1) > (3) > (5) > (4) for the cases with confinement.
Weakly-Supervised Classification of HER2 Expression in Breast Cancer Haematoxylin and Eosin Stained Slides
Authors: Oliveira Sara P. , Ribeiro Pinto João , Gonçalves Tiago , Canas-Marques Rita , Cardoso Maria-João , Oliveira Hélder P. , Cardoso Jaime S.
Published: July 2020

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) evaluation commonly requires immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests on breast cancer tissue, in addition to the standard haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining tests. Additional costs and time spent on further testing might be avoided if HER2 overexpression could be effectively inferred from H&E stained slides, as a preliminary indication of the IHC result. In this paper, we propose the first method that aims to achieve this goal. The proposed method is based on multiple instance learning (MIL), using a convolutional neural network (CNN) that separately processes H&E stained slide tiles and outputs an IHC label. This CNN is pretrained on IHC stained slide tiles but does not use these data during inference/testing. H&E tiles are extracted from invasive tumour areas segmented with the HASHI algorithm. The individual tile labels are then combined to obtain a single label for the whole slide. The network was trained on slides from the HER2 Scoring Contest dataset (HER2SC) and tested on two disjoint subsets of slides from the HER2SC database and the TCGA-TCIA-BRCA (BRCA) collection. The proposed method attained 83.3 % classification accuracy on the HER2SC test set and 53.8 % on the BRCA test set. Although further efforts should be devoted to achieving improved performance, the obtained results are promising, suggesting that it is possible to perform HER2 overexpression classification on H&E stained tissue slides.