bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Meal occasion, overweight, obesity and central obesity in children and adults: a cross-sectional study based on a nationally representative survey. Colombia, 2015
Authors: Herrán Oscar Fernando , Herrán-Fonseca Catalina
Published: September 2022

Objective

To establish the association of the number of meals/day with overweight (Ow), obesity (Ob) and central obesity (CO).

Design

Cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys.

Setting

Colombia.

Participants

A total of 6985 children aged 5–17 years and 7846 adults aged 18–64 years were included.

Main outcomes and measures

According to the WHO, Ow was defined in children as a body mass index (BMI)-for-age Z-score between >1 and ≤2 and in adults as a BMI between ≥25 and <30 (kg/m2). Ob was defined as a Z-score >2 in children and as a BMI ≥30 in adults. CO in children was established by sex and age using cut-off points equivalent to those of adults established by the International Diabetes Federation: ≥90 and ≥80 cm in males and females, respectively. The number of meals/day was estimated with a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Meals/day were grouped into three categories: (reference ≤3, 4 and 5+ meals/day). Crude and adjusted relative prevalence ratios (PRs) and their 95% CIs were calculated. The adjustments included usual energy intake/day and physical activity.

Results

In children, 18.5% had Ow, 6.7% had Ob and 4.0% had CO. The adjusted PRs for five or more meals/day versus three or fewer meals/day were 1.10 (95% CI 0.79 to 1.55) for Ow, 0.95 (95% CI 0.57 to 1.59) for Ob and 1.06 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.55) for CO. In adults, 32.3% had Ow, 13.1% had Ob and 44.8% had CO. The adjusted PRs for five or more meals/day versus three or fewer meals/day were 0.58 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.76) for Ow, 0.51 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.72) for Ob and 0.70 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.92) for CO.

Conclusions

In children, meals/day were not associated with Ow, Ob or CO. In adults, this inverse relationship exists regardless of energy intake/day, whether physical activity goals are met, sex, age and other potentially confounding sociodemographic and environmental variables.
Experiences of patients who had a stroke and rehabilitation professionals with upper limb rehabilitation robots: a qualitative systematic review protocol
Authors: Chockalingam Manigandan , Vasanthan Lenny Thinagaran , Balasubramanian Sivakumar , Sriram Vimal
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Emerging evidence suggests that robotic devices for upper limb rehabilitation after a stroke may improve upper limb function. For robotic upper limb rehabilitation in stroke to be successful, patients’ experiences and those of the rehabilitation professionals must be considered. Therefore, this review aims to synthesise the available evidence on experiences of patients after a stroke with rehabilitation robots for upper limb rehabilitation and the experiences of rehabilitation professionals with rehabilitation robots for upper limb stroke rehabilitation.

Methods and analysis

Database search will include MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Elsevier), Cochrane CENTRAL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE and CINAHL (EBSCOhost). Grey literature from Open Grey, PsyArXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv and Google Scholar will also be searched. Qualitative studies or results from mixed-method studies that include adult patients after a stroke who use upper limb rehabilitation robots, either supervised by rehabilitation professionals or by patients themselves, at any stage of their rehabilitation and/or stroke professionals who use upper limb rehabilitation robots will be included. Robotic upper limb rehabilitation provided by students, healthcare assistants, technicians, non-professional caregivers, family caregivers, volunteer caregivers or other informal caregivers will be excluded. Articles published in English will be considered regardless of date of publication. Studies will be screened and critically appraised for methodological quality by two independent reviewers. A standardised tool from JBI System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information for data extraction, the meta-aggregation approach for data synthesis and the ConQual approach for confidence evaluation will be followed.

Ethics and dissemination

As this systematic review is based on previously published research, no informed consent or ethical approval is required. It is anticipated that this systematic review will highlight the experiences of patients after a stroke and perceived facilitators and barriers for rehabilitation professionals on this topic, which will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and national and international conferences.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42022321402.
School-based preventive interventions targeting e-cigarette use among adolescents: a systematic review protocol
Authors: Gardner Lauren Anne , Rowe Amy-Leigh , Newton Nicola Clare , Aitken Tess , Stockings Emily , Thornton Louise , Teesson Maree , Devine Emma Krogh , Champion Katrina Elizabeth
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has drastically increased in recent years, particularly among adolescents. This poses several acute and chronic harms to young people, including poisonings, burns, serious lung injury and—where nicotine e-liquid is used—the potential to impact healthy brain development and precipitate future nicotine addiction. School-based prevention programmes have the potential to address this growing public health concern by reaching large numbers of young people during a critical period for intervention; however, the efficacy of such interventions has not been systematically explored. This systematic review aims to determine the existence and efficacy of school-based preventive interventions targeting e-cigarette use.

Methods and analysis

A systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and international clinical trials registries will be conducted from 2000 to April 2022 to identify eligible studies (randomised controlled trials, cluster randomised controlled trials and quasiexperimental studies) evaluating school-based interventions to prevent e-cigarette use among adolescents. Two reviewers will independently screen title, abstract and full text of all studies for eligibility. Both reviewers will independently extract the data and assess the risk of bias. Any discrepancies will be resolved by a third reviewer. Results will be summarised in a narrative synthesis and data will be meta-analysed if appropriate. Heterogeneity in findings will be assessed narratively, and using the I2 statistic (where meta-analysis is feasible), meta-regression will be used to explore potential factors associated with programme efficacy, where data permit.

Ethics and dissemination

This research is conducted on published work and does not require ethics approval. The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and used to guide the development of new school-based e-cigarette preventive interventions.

Trial registration number

CRD42022323352.
Effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection in neonates or in pregnancy on developmental outcomes at 21–24 months (SINEPOST): study protocol for a prospective cohort study
Authors: Woodward Kathryn , Cornish Rosie P , Gale Chris , Johnson Samantha , Knight Marian , Kurinczuk Jenny , Chakkarapani Ela
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy or in the neonatal period may impact fetal or neonatal brain development either through direct central nervous system infection or indirectly through the adverse effects of viral infection-related inflammation in the mother or newborn infant. This study aims to determine whether there are early neurodevelopmental effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods and analysis

We will conduct a prospective national population-based cohort study of children aged 21–24 months who were born at term (≥37 weeks’ gestation) between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2021 and were either antenatally exposed, neonatally exposed or unexposed (comparison cohort) to SARS-CoV-2. Nationally, hospitals will identify and approach parents of children eligible for inclusion in the antenatally and neonatally exposed cohorts using information from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) and British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) national surveillance studies and will identify and approach eligible children for the comparison cohort through routine birth records. Parents will be asked to complete questionnaires to assess their child’s development at 21–24 months of age. Outcome measures comprise the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition (ASQ-3), Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ-SE-2), Liverpool respiratory symptoms questionnaire and questionnaire items to elicit information about healthcare usage. With parental consent, study data will be linked to routine health and education records for future follow-up. Regression models will compare ASQ-3 and ASQ-SE-2 scores and proportions, frequency of respiratory symptoms and healthcare usage between the exposed and comparison cohorts, adjusting for potential confounders.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethics approval was obtained from the London-Westminster Research Ethics Committee. Findings will be disseminated in scientific conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

ISRCTN registration number

ISRCTN99910769.
Quality and safety in the literature: October 2022
Authors: Childers Scott , Houchens Nathan , Gupta Ashwin
Published: September 2022

Healthcare quality and safety span multiple topics across the spectrum of academic and clinical disciplines. Keeping abreast of the rapidly growing body of work can be challenging. In this series, we provide succinct summaries of selected relevant studies published in the last several months. Some articles will focus on a particular theme, whereas others will highlight unique publications from high-impact medical journals.
Homocystinuria diagnosis and management: it is not all classical
Authors: Gerrard Adam , Dawson Charlotte
Published: September 2022

Homocystinuria (HCU) refers to a group of inherited disorders of homocysteine metabolism associated with high blood homocysteine concentration, thromboembolic tendency and neurocognitive symptoms. The most common causes of a high blood homocysteine relate to underlying vitamin B12or folate deficiency which must be excluded first. Thereafter, an inherited metabolic condition can be considered.

The most prevalent inherited disorder of homocysteine metabolism is classical HCU caused by deficiency of the pyridoxine-dependent enzyme, cystathione beta-synthase, which converts homocysteine to cystathionine in the transsulphuration pathway. An alternative route for homocysteine metabolism is its remethylation to methionine by the cobalamin-dependent enzyme, methionine synthase, using the folate derivative, methyltetrahydrofolate, as a methyl donor. Remethylation defects are caused by impaired activity of methionine synthase itself, of an enzyme required to generate its methylcobalamin cofactor from dietary vitamin B12, or of the enzyme methyltetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which generates the methyl donor.

The correct diagnosis can be inferred from additional laboratory investigations including a complete blood count and quantitation of methionine and methylmalonic acid. Methionine is high/normal in HCU and low in the remethylation disorders. In the latter, cobalamin defects are readily distinguished from MTHFR by a coexisting macrocytic anaemia and further delineated by presence or absence of methylmalonic acid in urine or plasma.

Lowering homocysteine reverses thromboembolic risk. In HCU, this may be achieved with pyridoxine alone or with betaine as an alternative methyl donor. Some patients additionally follow a methionine-restricted diet. Betaine is the primary treatment for MTHFR and cobalamin disorders are managed with high-dose hydroxocobalamin.
MRI techniques for immunotherapy monitoring
Authors: Lau Doreen , Corrie Pippa G , Gallagher Ferdia A
Published: September 2022

MRI is a widely available clinical tool for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. MRI provides excellent soft tissue imaging, using a wide range of contrast mechanisms, and can non-invasively detect tissue metabolites. These approaches can be used to distinguish cancer from normal tissues, to stratify tumor aggressiveness, and to identify changes within both the tumor and its microenvironment in response to therapy. In this review, the role of MRI in immunotherapy monitoring will be discussed and how it could be utilized in the future to address some of the unique clinical questions that arise from immunotherapy. For example, MRI could play a role in identifying pseudoprogression, mixed response, T cell infiltration, cell tracking, and some of the characteristic immune-related adverse events associated with these agents. The factors to be considered when developing MRI imaging biomarkers for immunotherapy will be reviewed. Finally, the advantages and limitations of each approach will be discussed, as well as the challenges for future clinical translation into routine clinical care. Given the increasing use of immunotherapy in a wide range of cancers and the ability of MRI to detect the microstructural and functional changes associated with successful response to immunotherapy, the technique has great potential for more widespread and routine use in the future for these applications.
Do larger plants produce more and better seeds and seedlings? Testing the hypothesis in a globose cactus, Wigginsia sessiliflora
Authors: Ceballos C. , Ferrero M.C. , Aliscioni N.L. , Las Peñas M.L. , Gurvich D.E.
Published: September 2022

In iteroparous plants, an increase in allocation to reproduction is expected with increasing plant size. The aim of this study was to analyze how plant diameter is related to total produced seed mass, seed number, mean seed mass, percentage and mean germination time (MGT), and seedling size and shape in Wigginsia sessiliflora (Hook.) D.M. Porter (Cactaceae), a slow-growing globose species from central Argentina. Plant diameter was measured in a population of 185 individuals, and fruits were collected. We counted all seeds to obtain seed number, and weighed them to get seed mass and total seed mass. Seeds were germinated and data of germination percentage and MGT were collected. We also measured the size (height and width) and shape of seedlings (height/width relationship). Fifty-four percent of the plants did not produce fruits. Plant diameter was unimodally related to fruit number, total seed mass, and seed number, i.e., intermediate-sized plants presented the highest values. Height and shape of seedlings were positively related to plant diameter. Surprisingly, plant diameter was related in a unimodal way to reproductive outputs. As plants grow, surface–volume ratio decreases, meaning that respiratory losses would be higher than the increase in photosynthetic capacity; therefore, fewer resources may be available for reproduction.
Salvianolic Acid Ameliorates Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Endothelial Dysfunction via Activating HIF1α/HSF1/CD31 Pathway
Authors: Li Na , Hang Weijian , Shu Hongyang , Wen Zheng , Ceesay Bala Musa , Zhou Ning
Published: September 2022

Pressure overload is a major risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases. Disorders of the endothelium are involved in the pathological mechanisms of pressure, and maintaining endothelial function is a practical strategy to alleviate pressure overload-induced cardiac injury. In this study, we provided evidence that salvianolic acid, the active component of Danshen, a traditional Chinese herb medicine, preserved pressure overload-induced cardiac dysfunction via protecting endothelium. Male C57BL/6J mice were imposed with transverse aortic constriction to mimic pressure overload and treated with salvianolic acid (200[Formula: see text]mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 6 weeks. The hemodynamic and cardiac functional parameters were detected by the cardiac catheter and transthoracic echocardiography. The pathological measurements were conducted by heart hematoxylin-eosin, wheat germ agglutinin staining, Masson’s trichrome staining, and immunofluorescence staining. Endothelial cell (EC) proliferation was estimated using the Cell Counting Kit-8, EC migration was evaluated by scratched assay, and EC integrity was observed by electron microscope. Salvianolic acid notably inhibited cardiac chamber enlargement, restrained cardiac contractile dysfunction, and repressed cardiac fibrosis caused by chronic pressure overload. Salvianolic acid maintained endothelial tight junction integrity by boosting the expression of CD31. Furthermore, the endothelial protective effect of salvianolic acid against pressure overload is dependent on the activation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1[Formula: see text], which consequently activated heat shock factor 1 and promoted CD31 expression. Our study uncovered that salvianolic acid protected cardiac ECs against pressure overload via a HIF1[Formula: see text]/HSF1/CD31 pathway, indicating a potential appliance of salvianolic acid in hypertensive heart disease.
Effects of Accrual Rates in Cooperative Advertising Programs for Channel Members with Risk Preferences
Authors: Liu Bin , Liang Dong , Zhong Feimin , Xie Jinxing
Published: September 2022

Cooperative advertising (coop-ad) programs with both accrual rates and participation rates are popularly adopted in practice by manufacturers and retailers to share advertising expenditures. However, results from extant literature show that the accrual rates always negatively impact the manufacturers’ performances, indicating a gap between theory and practice. In this paper, we study a coop-ad program in a distribution channel consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer with risk preferences under demand uncertainty. When both the channel members are risk-neutral, we show that an elaborately specified accrual rate can help reach channel coordination, although the accrual rate always negatively impacts the manufacturer’s performance. When the manufacturer is risk-averse and the retailer is risk-neutral, the accrual rate may positively impact the manufacturer’s performance, and in particular, the manufacturer does prefer a coop-ad program with an accrual rate if his risk-averse level is high and/or the demand volatility is high. When both the channel members are risk-averse, numerical examples illustrate that an accrual rate may benefit both members when the retailer has high profitability and low risk-averse level. These findings, seemingly never reported in the literature, provide plausible explanations for the fact that accrual rates are usually included in coop-ad programs in real-world practice.
Efficiency Evaluation of Two-Stage Supply Chains with Loss Aversion using the Dea-Based Cooperative Approach
Authors: Zhao Yuanyuan , Fang Lei
Published: September 2022

Most supply chains in reality are composed of multiple enterprises which are independent individuals in terms of organizational structures and operating modes. From the perspective of performance evaluation, optimizing each enterprise’s efficiency independently will probably result in undesired inventory of intermediate products in the supply chain. Taking the two-stage supply chain where the outputs from the upstream supplier are taken as the inputs for the downstream manufacturer as an example, this paper introduces enterprises’ relative dominance into allocating the responsibility of inventory management between two decentralized enterprises. To motivate these enterprises to adopt the allocation strategy, this paper takes the loss aversion of enterprises into account to reveal the utility subjectively perceived by each decentralized enterprise insisting on independence instead of cooperation. Subsequently, a DEA-based cooperative model is developed to readjust the production processes of two decentralized enterprises. We find that adjusting the relevant parameters is able to explore the relationship between the proposed model and the non-cooperative model and the relationship between the proposed model and the centralized model. Finally, a practical example of coordinating sustainable supply chains is applied to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.
The unrestricted virtual braid groups UV Bn
Authors: Makri Stavroula
Published: September 2022

Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] be the unrestricted virtual braid group and the unrestricted virtual pure braid group on n strands, respectively. We study the groups [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and our main results are as follows: for [Formula: see text], we give a complete description, up to conjugation, to all possible homomorphisms from [Formula: see text] to the symmetric group [Formula: see text]. For [Formula: see text], we characterize all possible images of [Formula: see text], under a group homomorphism, to any finite group [Formula: see text]. For [Formula: see text], we prove that [Formula: see text] is a characteristic subgroup of [Formula: see text]. In addition, we determine the automorphism group of [Formula: see text] and we prove that [Formula: see text] is a subgroup of the outer automorphism group of [Formula: see text]. Lastly, we show that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are residually finite and Hopfian but not co-Hopfian. We also remark that some of these results hold accordingly for the welded braid group [Formula: see text] and we discuss about its automorphism group.
CONFORMABLE DERIVATIVES IN VISCOUS FLOW DESCRIBING FLUID THROUGH POROUS MEDIUM WITH VARIABLE PERMEABILITY
Authors: SANTOS-MORENO M. , VALENCIA-NEGRETE C. V. , FERNÁNDEZ-ANAYA G.
Published: September 2022

Two new conformable spatial derivatives are defined and introduced to a classical viscous steady-state Navier–Stokes 1D model. The functions for the conformable derivatives have parameters a, b and the fractional parameter [Formula: see text]. Analytical solutions for the velocity profile and flow rate are obtained from the conformable models and a fractional model with Caputo’s derivative. The parameters in the conformable derivatives are optimized to fit a classical Darcy–Brinkman 1D model with constant and variable permeability, showing that the conformable models reproduce quite accurately the flow through a porous medium. The [Formula: see text]-conformable model describes with high accuracy the flow in a porous media with constant permeability, and also it was compared with experimental information for a flow through plates containing an aligned cylindrical fiber preforms. The other conformable model is the best representation for a medium with variable permeability. Both conformable models are better to depict the velocity profile than the fractional model. Additionally, an expression for the permeability, a classical function of the porosity, the tortuosity, and the size distribution, is given as an explicit function of the parameters in the conformable derivative. Finally, a geometrical interpretation is given, the new conformable derivatives have the potential to describe qualitatively a deformed space that seems like a porous medium.
FRACTIONAL COMPLEX TRANSFORMS, REDUCED EQUATIONS AND EXACT SOLUTIONS OF THE FRACTIONAL KRAENKEL–MANNA–MERLE SYSTEM
Authors: ZHANG LIHUA , WANG ZHENLI , SHEN BO
Published: September 2022

Exact solutions of the fractional Kraenkel–Manna–Merle system in saturated ferromagnetic materials have been studied. Using the fractional complex transforms, the fractional Kraenkel–Manna–Merle system is reduced to ordinary differential equations, (1 + 1)-dimensional partial differential equations and (2 + 1)-dimensional partial differential equations. Based on the obtained ordinary differential equations and taking advantage of the available solutions of Jacobi elliptic equation and Riccati equation, soliton solutions, combined soliton solutions, combined Jacobi elliptic function solutions, triangular periodic solutions and rational function solutions, for the KMM system are obtained. For the obtained (1 + 1)-dimensional partial differential equations, we get the classification of Lie symmetries. Starting from a Lie symmetry, we get a symmetry reduction equation. Solving the symmetry reduction equation by the power series method, power series solutions for the KMM system are obtained. For the obtained (2 + 1)-dimensional partial differential equations, we derive their bilinear form and two-soliton solution. The bilinear form can also be used to study the lump solutions, rogue wave solutions and breathing wave solutions.
FRACTAL EVIDENCE OF REACTIVE TRANSPORT IN GEOLOGIC SYSTEMS BASED ON MULTIPHASE FLOW HYDRAULIC MODELS PART II: THE BIOGEOCHEMICAL ASPECT
Authors: MIADONYE ADANGO , AMADU MUMUNI
Published: September 2022

In the petroleum and soil science literature, fractal models of porous systems abound. Consequently, any process, be it physicochemical or geomechanical, that imparts pore structure will equally impact the fractal nature of the system. Several studies have reported the effect of physicochemical processes, such as the water–rock interactions, on the fractal dimension of the porous system using different approaches involving sophisticated instrumentation. Others have also reported the effect of geomechanical processes such as compaction on fractal dimension using similar approaches. To the best of our knowledge, none or little has been reported regarding the use of multiphase flow hydraulic models for revealing the effect of water–rock interactions on the fractal dimension and pore size distribution of the porous system. Consequently, to fill the knowledge gap in this regard, data on two-phase flow of acid gas and brine in porous media have been used to show that the fractal dimension and pore size distribution of the porous system change in response to water–rock interactions. In view of the injection of acid gas, such as anthropogenic carbon dioxide, into saline aquifers being a feasible means for carbon immobilization by mineral carbonation and biogeochemical means, the effect of change in the fractal properties of the porous system on the microbial transport and distribution in porous system has also been reviewed in relationship to the principal findings of this paper. Most importantly, the results of this study show that data on two-phase flow in porous media involving acid gas and brine can be used to prove changes in the fractal nature of the porous system, and this change can also impact subsurface distribution of methanogens that have the potential to trap carbon by methanogenesis.
PULL-IN STABILITY OF A FRACTAL MEMS SYSTEM AND ITS PULL-IN PLATEAU
Authors: HE JI-HUAN , YANG QIAN , HE CHUN-HUI , LI HAI-BIN , BUHE EERDUN
Published: September 2022

The pull-in instability is the inherent property of a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) when the voltage is larger than its threshold value. Recently, a fractal MEMS system was proposed to overcome the pull-in instability with great success, and it has opened a total new path for the so-called pull-in stability. This paper suggests a pull-in plateau, a novel concept for qualifying the pull-in stability. The plateau’s basic properties are elucidated, and the effect of the fractal dimensions on the plateau width is elucidated, and the paper concludes that there exists a critical condition for an ever pull-in stability when both the acceleration and the speed of the system equal zero.
DO STOCK BUYBACKS SUPPRESS CORPORATE INNOVATION?
Authors: SWIFT TIM
Published: September 2022

In 2021, the United States (U.S.) publicly traded firms repurchased nearly $850 billion of their own shares, setting an all-time record. Given the enormous scale of this resource allocation away from investment in innovation and growth and toward shareholders, it is reasonable to consider if these buybacks create opportunity costs. Stock buybacks increase earnings per share, even in the wake of no earnings growth, driving up share price and benefitting the top executives who make these capital allocation decisions by increasing the value of their stock options. Pundits disagree on the impact that high levels of buybacks have on the economy, some arguing that stock buybacks come at the expense of strategic investment in innovation while others point to diminishing returns to research and development (RnD) investment as the reason for decreases in innovative activity. This paper empirically tests whether share buybacks are suppressing corporate innovation in ways that control for widely observed declines in returns to R&D investment, and the endogenous relationship between stock buybacks and innovation. Statistical analysis provides strong evidence that share buybacks are suppressing corporate innovation. This has enormous ramifications to the long-term viability of U.S. industries and to social justice.
EFFECTIVE INNOVATION IMPLEMENTATION: A MIXED METHOD STUDY
Authors: SCHNEIDER MALTE HANS GEORG , HOFMEISTER JOHANNES , KANBACH DOMINIK K
Published: September 2022

Ensuring that innovations are implemented organisation-wide remains a critical business challenge for organisations. This study identifies how organisations can improve the effectiveness of innovations and specifies the effects of innovation implementation antecedents and capabilities. By applying a mixed method approach, using data from 42 semi-structured interviews and 125 questionnaire participants, we develop a new framework for understanding the mechanisms that underlie and enhance effective innovation implementation. The results emphasise that achieving high and consistent use of innovations requires organisations to focus on organisational members and their individual characteristics, rather than on organisational design. Additionally, implementation leadership serves as a central mediator to explain the framework’s relationships. Furthermore, a middle management-driven approach that combines implementation leadership and dialogue facilitates the effective implementation of innovation. In conclusion, our study contributes to innovation implementation research by presenting a framework to guide future research, whilst helping practitioners to implement innovations more effectively.
The productivity of two serial chemostats
Authors: Dali-Youcef Manel , Sari Tewfik
Published: September 2022

This paper considers the production of biomass of two interconnected chemostats in series with biomass mortality and a growth kinetic of the biomass described by an increasing function. A comparison is made with the productivity of a single chemostat with the same mortality rate and with volume equal to the sum of the volumes of the two chemostats. We determine the operating conditions under which the productivity of the serial configuration is greater than the productivity of the single chemostat. Moreover, the differences and similarities in the results corresponding to the case with mortality and the one without mortality, are highlighted. The mortality leads to surprising results where the productivity of a steady state where the bacteria are washed out in the first chemostat is greater than the one where the bacteria are present in both chemostats.
A delayed stage-structure brucellosis model with interaction among seasonality, time-varying incubation and density-dependent growth
Authors: Wu Hao , Chen Wei , Wang Ning , Zhang Long , Li Hong-Li , Teng Zhidong
Published: September 2022

In this paper, a class of brucellosis transmission model with seasonal alternation, density-dependent growth, stage-structure, maturation delay, time-varying incubation is established. The basic reproduction number [Formula: see text] is derived, by which we find that the brucellosis is uniformly persistent if [Formula: see text], while the disease-free periodic solution is globally attractive if [Formula: see text]. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulation, from which we find that the brucellosis transmission would be overestimated (or underestimated) if we ignore the influence of time-varying incubation or maturation delay. If density-dependent growth of animals is ignored, the risk of brucellosis may be far underestimated, the extinction of brucellosis can be obtained by numerical simulation under the same conditions. Seasonality significantly affects the long-term dynamic behavior of brucellosis, and the inconsistency of parameter periods results in complex dynamic behavior.
On the rank of monoids of endomorphisms of a finite directed path
Authors: Fernandes Vítor H. , Paulista Tânia
Published: September 2022

In this paper, we consider endomorphisms of a finite directed path from monoid generators perspective. Our main aim is to determine the rank of the monoid [Formula: see text] of all weak endomorphisms of a directed path with [Formula: see text] vertices, which is a submonoid of the widely studied monoid [Formula: see text] of all order-preserving transformations of an [Formula: see text]-chain. Also, we describe the regular elements of [Formula: see text] and calculate its size and number of idempotents.
Eigenvalue localization and Geršgorin disc-related problems on distance and distance-related matrices of graphs
Authors: Atik Fouzul , Mondal Priti Prasanna
Published: September 2022

The distance, distance signless Laplacian and distance Laplacian matrix of a simple connected graph [Formula: see text] are denoted by [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] respectively, where [Formula: see text] is the diagonal matrix of vertex transmission. Ger[Formula: see text]gorin discs for any [Formula: see text] square matrix [Formula: see text] are the discs [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text]. The famous Ger[Formula: see text]gorin disc theorem says that all the eigenvalues of a square matrix lie in the union of the Ger[Formula: see text]gorin discs of that matrix. In this paper, some classes of graphs are studied for which the smallest Ger[Formula: see text]gorin disc contains every distance and distance signless Laplacian eigenvalues except the spectral radius of the corresponding matrix. For all connected graphs, a lower bound and for trees, an upper bound of every distance signless Laplacian eigenvalues except the spectral radius is given in this paper. These bounds are comparatively better than the existing bounds. By applying these bounds, we find some infinite classes of graphs for which the smallest Ger[Formula: see text]gorin disc contains every distance signless Laplacian eigenvalues except the spectral radius of the distance signless Laplacian matrix. For the distance Laplacian eigenvalues, we have given an upper bound and then find a condition for which the smallest Ger[Formula: see text]gorin disc contains every distance Laplacian eigenvalue of the distance Laplacian matrix. These results give partial answers from some questions that are raised in [2].
Evaluating Controlled Memory Request Injection for Efficient Bandwidth Utilization and Predictable Execution in Heterogeneous SoCs
Authors: Brilli Gianluca , Cavicchioli Roberto , Solieri Marco , Valente Paolo , Marongiu Andrea
Published: September 2022

High-performance embedded platforms are increasingly adopting heterogeneous systems-on-chip (HeSoC) that couple multi-core CPUs with accelerators such as GPU, FPGA, or AI engines. Adopting HeSoCs in the context of real-time workloads is not immediately possible, though, as contention on shared resources like the memory hierarchy—and in particular the main memory (DRAM)—causes unpredictable latency increase. To tackle this problem, both the research community and certification authorities mandate (i) that accesses from parallel threads to the shared system resources (typically, main memory) happen in a mutually exclusive manner by design, or (ii) that per-thread bandwidth regulation is enforced. Such arbitration schemes provide timing guarantees, but make poor use of the memory bandwidth available in a modern HeSoC.
Controlled Memory Request Injection
(CMRI) is a recently-proposed bandwidth limitation concept that builds on top of a mutually-exclusive schedule but still allows the threads currently not entitled to access memory to use as much of the unused bandwidth as possible without losing the timing guarantee. CMRI has been discussed in the context of a multi-core CPU, but the same principle applies also to a more complex system such as an HeSoC. In this article, we introduce two CMRI schemes suitable for HeSoCs:
Voluntary Throttling
via code refactoring and
Bandwidth Regulation
via dynamic throttling. We extensively characterize a proof-of-concept incarnation of both schemes on two HeSoCs: an NVIDIA Tegra TX2 and a Xilinx UltraScale+, highlighting the benefits and the costs of CMRI for synthetic workloads that model worst-case DRAM access. We also test the effectiveness of CMRI with real benchmarks, studying the effect of interference among the host CPU and the accelerators.
On the Robustness of Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis: Rethinking Model, Data, and Training
Authors: Fei Hao , Chua Tat-Seng , Li Chenliang , Ji Donghong , Zhang Meishan , Ren Yafeng
Published: September 2022

Aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) aims at automatically inferring the specific sentiment polarities toward certain aspects of products or services behind the social media texts or reviews, which has been a fundamental application to the real-world society. Since the early 2010s, ABSA has achieved extraordinarily high accuracy with various deep neural models. However, existing ABSA models with strong in-house performances may fail to generalize to some challenging cases where the contexts are variable, i.e., low robustness to real-world environments. In this study, we propose to enhance the ABSA robustness by systematically rethinking the bottlenecks from all possible angles, including model, data, and training. First, we strengthen the current best-robust syntax-aware models by further incorporating the rich external syntactic dependencies and the labels with aspect simultaneously with a universal-syntax graph convolutional network. In the corpus perspective, we propose to automatically induce high-quality synthetic training data with various types, allowing models to learn sufficient inductive bias for better robustness. Last, we based on the rich pseudo data perform adversarial training to enhance the resistance to the context perturbation and meanwhile employ contrastive learning to reinforce the representations of instances with contrastive sentiments. Extensive robustness evaluations are conducted. The results demonstrate that our enhanced syntax-aware model achieves better robustness performances than all the state-of-the-art baselines. By additionally incorporating our synthetic corpus, the robust testing results are pushed with around 10% accuracy, which are then further improved by installing the advanced training strategies. In-depth analyses are presented for revealing the factors influencing the ABSA robustness.
RESUS: Warm-up Cold Users via Meta-learning Residual User Preferences in CTR Prediction
Authors: Shen Yanyan , Zhao Lifan , Cheng Weiyu , Zhang Zibin , Zhou Wenwen , Kangyi Lin
Published: September 2022

Click-through Rate (CTR) prediction on cold users is a challenging task in recommender systems. Recent researches have resorted to meta-learning to tackle the cold-user challenge, which either perform few-shot user representation learning or adopt optimization-based meta-learning. However, existing methods suffer from information loss or inefficient optimization process, and they fail to explicitly model global user preference knowledge, which is crucial to complement the sparse and insufficient preference information of cold users. In this article, we propose a novel and efficient approach named RESUS, which decouples the learning of global preference knowledge contributed by collective users from the learning of residual preferences for individual users. Specifically, we employ a shared predictor to infer basis user preferences, which acquires global preference knowledge from the interactions of different users. Meanwhile, we develop two efficient algorithms based on the nearest neighbor and ridge regression predictors, which infer residual user preferences via learning quickly from a few user-specific interactions. Extensive experiments on three public datasets demonstrate that our RESUS approach is efficient and effective in improving CTR prediction accuracy on cold users, compared with various state-of-the-art methods.
A Paradigm of Internet-of-Nano-Things Inspired Intelligent Plant Pathogen-Diagnostic Biosensors
Authors: Sonu  , Chaudhary Vishal
Published: September 2022

Plant pathogens massively affect crop productivity and are one of the significant challenges in attaining sustainable development goals related to agriculture, food production, and addressing hunger issues. Conventional techniques of generic seasonal chemical spraying severely damage the environment and human health. On the contrary, nanomaterials-based biosensors have emerged as economical, efficient, selective, prompt, and precise strategies for plant pathogen and disease diagnosis. The integration of nano-biosensors with artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, cloud computing, drones, and 5G communication has recently raised the paradigm of internet-of-nano-things-inspired intelligent plant-diagnostic biosensors. This prospect highlights these modern-age plant-pathogen biosensors for shaping smart and 5th generation agricultural practices.
Exploring the difference in the mechanics of vascular smooth muscle cells from wild-type and apolipoprotein-E knockout mice
Authors: Rickel Alex P. , Sanyour Hanna J. , Kinser Courtney , Khatiwada Nisha , Vogel Hayley , Hong Zhongkui
Published: September 2022

Atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) comprise the medial layer of the arterial wall and undergo phenotypic switching during atherosclerosis to a synthetic phenotype capable of proliferation and migration. The surrounding environment undergoes alterations in extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness and composition and an increase in cholesterol content. Using an atherosclerotic murine model, we analyzed how the mechanics of VSMCs isolated from Western diet-fed apolipoprotein-E knockout ( ApoE−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice were altered during atherosclerosis. Increased stiffness of ApoE−/− VSMCs correlated with a greater degree of stress fiber alignment, as evidenced by atomic force microscopy (AFM)-generated force maps and stress fiber topography images. On type-1 collagen (COL1)-coated polyacrylamide (PA) gels (referred to as substrate) of varying stiffness, ApoE−/− VSMCs had lower adhesion forces to COL1 and N-cadherin (N-Cad) compared with WT cells. ApoE−/− VSMC stiffness was significantly greater than that of WT cells. Cell stiffness increased with increasing substrate stiffness for both ApoE−/− and WT VSMCs. In addition, ApoE−/− VSMCs showed an enhanced migration capability on COL1-coated substrates and a general decreasing trend in migration capacity with increasing substrate stiffness, correlating with lowered adhesion forces as compared with WT VSMCs. Altogether, these results demonstrate the potential contribution of the alteration in VSMC mechanics in the development of atherosclerosis.
Physiological basis of brief, intense interval training to enhance maximal oxygen uptake: a mini-review
Authors: Gibala Martin J. , MacInnis Martin J.
Published: September 2022

Brief, intense interval training describes a style of exercise characterized by short bouts of strenuous effort interspersed with recovery periods. The method increases whole body maximal oxygen uptake (V̇o2max), but the underlying physiological basis is unclear. V̇o2max represents the functional limit of the integrative oxygen cascade, which refers to the physiological steps involved in oxygen transport and utilization from atmospheric air to mitochondrial metabolism. There is insufficient evidence to definitively state which steps in the oxygen cascade are responsible for the improvement in V̇o2max after brief, intense interval training. Studies typically focus on specific physiological variables that are often characterized as “central” or “peripheral” based in part on their location in the body. Recent work suggests that training for ≥6 wk improves V̇o2max in part by increasing maximal cardiac output and expanding blood volume, responses that are expected to augment central oxygen delivery. Other responses to brief, intense interval training, including increased capillary and mitochondrial density, may contribute to increases in V̇o2max via enhanced skeletal muscle oxygen extraction and/or increased muscle diffusing capacity. This is especially evident after relatively short-term training and despite no change in central oxygen delivery factors. Mechanistic investigations, particularly employing contemporary technologies, are needed to advance our understanding of the early time course of the V̇o2max response to brief, intense interval training and the extent to which changes in specific oxygen cascade processes compare with traditional endurance training.
Conversation before crossing: dissecting metastatic tumor-vascular interactions in microphysiological systems
Authors: Mayo Lakyn N. , Kutys Matthew L.
Published: September 2022

Tumor metastasis via the circulation requires crossing the vascular barrier twice: first, during intravasation when tumor cells disseminate from the primary site through proximal vasculature, and second, during extravasation, when tumor cells exit the circulation to form distant metastatic seeds. During these key metastatic events, chemomechanical signaling between tumor cells and endothelial cells elicits reciprocal changes in cell morphology and behavior that are necessary to breach the vessel wall. Existing experimental systems have provided a limited understanding of the diverse mechanisms underlying tumor-endothelial interactions during intravasation and extravasation. Recent advances in microphysiological systems have revolutionized the ability to generate miniaturized human tissues with tailored three-dimensional architectures, physiological cell interfaces, and precise chemical and physical microenvironments. By doing so, microphysiological systems enable experimental access to complex morphogenic processes associated with human tumor progression with unprecedented resolution and biological control. Here, we discuss recent examples in which microphysiological systems have been leveraged to reveal new mechanistic insight into cellular and molecular control systems operating at the tumor-endothelial interface during intravasation and extravasation.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the modulation of CFTR by acute exposure to cigarette smoke
Authors: Hanrahan John W. , Abu-Arish Asmahan , Wong Francis H. , Turner Mark J. , Carlile Graeme W. , Thomas David Y. , Cantin André M.
Published: September 2022

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death and cigarette smoke is the main risk factor. Detecting its earliest stages and preventing a decline in lung function are key goals. The pathogenesis of COPD is complex but has some similarities to cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease caused by mutations in the cftr gene. CF leads to chronic inflammation, abnormal mucus, and cycles of infection. Cigarette smoke exposure also causes CFTR dysfunction, and it is probably not a coincidence that inflammation, mucus obstruction, and infections are also characteristics of COPD, although the exacerbations can be quite different. We review here the acute effects of cigarette smoke on CFTR function and its potential role in COPD. Understanding CFTR regulation by cigarette smoke may identify novel drug targets and facilitate the development of therapeutics that reduce the progression and severity of COPD.