bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research of Plasma Parameters Formed in the Laser Welding Area in Vacuum
Authors: Yu Letyagin I , Felikan K V , Ya Belenkiy V
Published: November 2020

The use of laser technology in the manufacturing processes of mechanical engineering is gradually increasing. However, laser welding cannot compete with electron beam welding because the processes of the interaction of the laser beam with the plasma arising above the zone of the laser beam affecting the metal are not sufficiently studied. Of particular interest is the use of laser welding in vacuum. The study of the secondary emission signal in the zone of the laser beam affecting the metal allows one to obtain information about the plasma cloud in the zone of laser welding in vacuum. To study the secondary emission current in the laser welding zone, a computer system with an analog-to-digital interface can be used. The registered secondary emission current made it possible to estimate such parameters of the plasma arising in the laser welding zone in vacuum as the plasma concentration, electron temperature, and plasma potential.
Effect of Electron-Beam Welding Speed on Weld Metal Mechanical Properties of 5V Titanium Alloy
Authors: Terentyev E V , Zhgut D A , Borodavkina K T
Published: November 2020

The results of metallographic studies of 5V titanium alloy welds obtained with the range of electron-beam welding speeds from 20 to 120 m/h are presented. It was established that at all welding speeds some identical microstructure of a weld metal is formed, which can differ only in sizes and shapes of the primary crystals. The results of Vickers hardness, ultimate tensile stress and yield stress estimation by sample-free indentation methods are shown. The weld metal hardness distribution in the transverse direction is homogeneous while from the top to the root an increase in hardness values at all welding speed modes is occurred. It was also revealed that both the hardness and strength of the weld metal grow with the rising welding speed, herewith the increase in these properties in the top of the weld is more significant than in the root. According to the analysis of the interrelation between structure and mechanical properties it was concluded that the main reason of mechanical properties fluctuations is a change in the weld metal chemical composition as a result of the volatile components evaporation during welding.
Direct Energy Deposition of Cu-Fe System Functionally Graded Structures
Authors: Makarenko K I , Shishkovsky I V
Published: November 2020

The paper demonstrates the results of microstructure, microhardness and elasticity analysis of the functionally graded (FG) specimens with multilayer structure created of stainless steel and aluminium bronze powder materials via direct energy deposition (DED) laser technology. Increase of microhardness (up to 266 HV) and Young’s modulus of elasticity (up to 43.2 GPa) along with growth of the dendritic crystals in the gradient structures are observed. The results of numerical simulation demonstrate stress distribution in FG Cu-Fe system structure with a sharp interface. The results of the research can be used for 3D-printing of the aerospace industry details created from two kinds of material with rather different thermomechanical properties.
Mathematical Modelling of Low Temperature Solder Direct Extrusion
Authors: Radionova L V , Faizov S R , Sarafanov A E
Published: November 2020

Defining of process technological parameters is very important for low temperature solder extrusion. A mathematical model of low temperature solder wire and rods direct extrusion, which allows determining the energy-power process parameters, has been developed. The validation of the mathematical model for adequacy was checked during a laboratory experiment on a hydraulic press. In laboratory the force and speed of pressing were measured and recorded using the data collection system installed on it. The validation of the model for adequacy was carried out by pressing 08.00 and 015 mm rods and 02.00 mm wire and showed fine precision of calculations with experimental measurements. The error did not exceed 10%. The resulting mathematical model was used for analytical studies of Sn-In alloy bars and wires direct pressing technological modes. Calculations have shown that a decrease in the finished rod (wire) diameter from 16.00 to 2.00 mm while maintaining the workpiece size 030.00 mm leads to an increase in the pressing force from 86 kN to 131 kN at the initial moment of pressing. It increases the elongation ratio from 4 to 256. The pressing force of 08.00 mm rod increases from 25 to 171 kN after an increase in the diameter of the workpiece from 12.0 to 40.0 mm. Analytical studies on the model showed that it is possible not only to study the pressing process in order to understand the mechanisms of forming the mechanical and operational properties of the finished rod (wire), but also to design resource-saving pressing modes for various product gauges, to carry out substantiated selection of the required equipment and accessories.
Microfluidic-assisted bioprinting of tissues and organoids at high cell concentrations
Authors: Serex Ludovic , Sharma Kunal , Rizov Victor , Bertsch Arnaud , McKinney John D , Renaud Philippe
Published: November 2020

Despite its simplicity, which makes it the most commonly used bioprinting method today, extrusion-based bioprinting suffers from its inability to reproduce the complex tissue architecture found in organs. Generally, this printing method allows for the dispensing of solutions of a predefined cell concentration through a rudimentary needle. Moreover, to avoid cell lysis in the dispensing needle, which is detrimental to the viability of the printed tissue, as well as cell loss in dead volumes of tubing, thereby increasing the cost of printing tissue, a common strategy has been to print with cell concentrations much lower in comparison to the concentrations found in living tissues. As a result, cell-to-cell distance is increased in the dispensed samples impairing communication through cytokines. Here, we present a microfluidic-based print head capable of modulating the printed cell concentration in real-time. This device allows bioprinting at high cell concentrations by concentrating and dispensing fibroblasts at concentrations up to 10 million cells∙mL−1. We also demonstrate that this device can be used to print bladder organoids. As the cell seeding concentration is of major importance for organogenesis in 3D culture, organoid printing allows the user to standardize the process of organoid formation and achieve more reliable and reproducible results.
Excitons in bulk black phosphorus evidenced by photoluminescence at low temperature
Authors: Carré E , Sponza L , Lusson A , Stenger I , Gaufrès E , Loiseau A , Barjon J
Published: November 2020

Atomic layers of black phosphorus (BP) present unique opto-electronic properties dominated by a direct tunable bandgap in a wide spectral range from visible to mid-infrared (IR). In this work, we investigate the IR photoluminescence (PL) of BP single crystals at very low temperature. Near-band-edge recombinations are observed at 2 K, including dominant excitonic transitions at 0.276 eV and a weaker one at 0.278 eV. The free-exciton binding energy is calculated with an anisotropic Wannier–Mott model and found equal to 9.1 meV. On the contrary, the PL intensity quenching of the 0.276 eV peak at high temperature is found with a much smaller activation energy, attributed to the localization of free excitons on a shallow impurity. This analysis leads us to attribute respectively the 0.276 eV and 0.278 eV PL lines to bound excitons and free excitons in BP. As a result, the value of bulk BP bandgap is refined to 0.287 eV at 2 K.
Effect of B4Cp content on microstructure and the high-temperature oxidation behavior of Ti-5.4Al-4.03Mo-3.93V-2.37Cr-0.01Zr composites
Authors: Liu Yangguang , Xu Xiaojing , Xiao Yishui , Wang Saifu , Ju Shihao
Published: November 2020

The paper discusses the effects of B4C particle (B4Cp) content on the microstructure and high-temperature oxidation resistance of B4Cp/Ti-5.4Al-4.03Mo-3.93V-2.37Cr-0.01Zr composite prepared by powder metallurgy. The results demonstrate that grain size of the composites decreases by increasing reinforcement content from 1 to 3 wt.%, suggesting that B4Cp can refine grain of the materials. For the composites with increasing B4Cp content from 0 to 3 wt.%, the apparent porosity increase from 3.23 to 6.89%, indicating that the density of materials decreased with the increase of B4CP content. In addition, the hardness of the materials have been greatly improved. Comparing to the substrate 434.02 HV, the 1, 2, and 3 wt.% B4CP specimens are increased by 37.2%, 57.5%, and 84.7%, respectively. The weight of the oxidation product is reduced and the oxidation rate is slowed down, as the B4CP content increases. Moreover, the thickness of the oxide layer is greatly reduced, and the thickness of oxidation layer in composites with 0, 1, 2 and 3 wt.% B4CP specimens were 60, 55, 47 and 40 μm, indicating that B4CP can improve the high-temperature oxidation resistance.
Three dimensional Green function in cylindrical coordinates: application to the Aharonov–Bohm effect of double arc-slits
Authors: Boonpan Samak , Muthaporn Chaiyapoj
Published: November 2020

The object of this paper is the generalization of the theoretical calculation of the probability density of finding a charged particle crossing the double arc-slit in the presence of the vector potential. The explicit derivations is carried out in cylindrical coordinates for the Green functions for the underlying problem corresponding to a particle in free magnetic field, for a quantized as well as a non-quantized flux. The discussion in this paper will be limited to the uniform wavefunction of each particle on the surfaces of double arc-slits.
Big fields that are not large
Authors: Mazur Barry , Rubin Karl
Published: November 2020

A subfield

K
K

of

Q

¯

\bar {\mathbb {Q}}

is large if every smooth curve

C
C

over

K
K

with a

K
K

-rational point has infinitely many

K
K

-rational points. A subfield

K
K

of

Q

¯

\bar {\mathbb {Q}}

is big if for every positive integer

n
n

,

K
K

contains a number field

F
F

with

[
F
:

Q

]

[F:\mathbb {Q}]

divisible by

n
n

. The question of whether all big fields are large seems to have circulated for some time, although we have been unable to find its origin. In this paper we show that there are big fields that are not large.
Fields of Revision: Adaptations ofWren’s Elegyby Mo Yun-suk and Kim Ki-young
Authors: Sohn Irhe , Chong Ki-In
Published: November 2020

This essay investigates the ‘field of revision’, in which multiple texts permeate each other to question and transform a given story. To do so, it examines the adaptations of Wren’s Elegy, a South Korean epistolary poem that narrates the story of its titular character’s love for a married man named Simon. The decades-long development of its story—from Mo Yun-suk’s initial publication in 1937 as a revisionist project based on Yi Kwang-su’s Heartless, to three revisions made by the author herself, to its film adaptation by Kim Ki-young—shows how adaptation involves multiple texts, authors, and historical and cultural conditions that create broader networks of elements for stories. By identifying and exploring the blind spots of previous versions, each revision updates the story of Wren and Simon to introduce a different vision. Through our analysis of Mo and Kim’s works, we argue that revision is not just about newly introduced ideas and perspectives, but also about critiques of a story’s previous forms. By viewing revision as such a method, the study of adaptation can become more than an inspection of the difference between texts based on a rigid hierarchy of originals and adaptations.
Twitter Analytics to Inform Provisional Guidance for COVID-19 Challenges in the Meatpacking Industry
Authors: Durand-Moreau Quentin , Mackenzie Graham , Adisesh Anil , Straube Sebastian , Chan Xin Hui S , Zelyas Nathan , Greenhalgh Trisha
Published: November 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic raised considerable challenges to obtain reliable guidance to help occupational health practitioners, workers, and stakeholders building up efficient prevention strategies at the workplace, between the constant increase of publications in the domain, the time required to run high-quality research and systematic reviews, and the urgent need to identify areas for prevention at the workplace. Social Media and Twitter, in particular, have already been used in research and constitute a useful source of information to identify community needs and topics of interest for prevention in the meatpacking industry. In this commentary, we introduce the methods and tools we used to screen relevant posts on Twitter. Twitter analytics is a way to capture real-time concerns of the community and help ensure compliance with the notion of social accountability. As such research has limitations in terms of exhaustiveness and level of evidence, it should be considered as provisional guidance to direct both actions at the workplace and further conventional research projects.
Intervessel pit membrane thickness best explains variation in embolism resistance amongst stems of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions
Authors: Thonglim Ajaree , Delzon Sylvain , Larter Maximilian , Karami Omid , Rahimi Arezoo , Offringa Remko , Keurentjes Joost J B , Balazadeh Salma , Smets Erik , Lens Frederic
Published: November 2020

Background and Aims

The ability to avoid drought-induced embolisms in the xylem is one of the essential traits for plants to survive periods of water shortage. Over the past three decades, hydraulic studies have been focusing on trees, which limits our ability to understand how herbs tolerate drought. Here we investigate the embolism resistance in inflorescence stems of four Arabidopsis thaliana accessions that differ in growth form and drought response. We assess functional traits underlying the variation in embolism resistance amongst the accessions studied using detailed anatomical observations.

Methods

Vulnerability to xylem embolism was evaluated via vulnerability curves using the centrifuge technique and linked with detailed anatomical observations in stems using light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

Key Results

The data show significant differences in stem P50, varying 2-fold from −1.58 MPa in the Cape Verde Island accession to −3.07 MPa in the woody soc1 ful double mutant. Out of all the anatomical traits measured, intervessel pit membrane thickness (TPM) best explains the differences in P50, as well as P12 and P88. The association between embolism resistance and TPM can be functionally explained by the air-seeding hypothesis. There is no evidence that the correlation between increased woodiness and increased embolism resistance is directly related to functional aspects. However, we found that increased woodiness is strongly linked to other lignification characters, explaining why mechanical stem reinforcement is indirectly related to increased embolism resistance.

Conclusions

The woodier or more lignified accessions are more resistant to embolism than the herbaceous accessions, confirming the link between increased stem lignification and increased embolism resistance, as also observed in other lineages. Intervessel pit membrane thickness and, to a lesser extent, theoretical vessel implosion resistance and vessel wall thickness are the missing functional links between stem lignification and embolism resistance.
Changing policies
Authors: Massey Robert
Published: November 2020

Robert Massey argues that everything – even astronomy and geophysics – is political.
Determinants of offspring sex in kangaroos: a test of multiple hypotheses
Authors: Toni Pauline , Forsyth David M , Festa-Bianchet Marco
Published: November 2020

When the fitness costs and benefits of sons and daughters differ, offspring sex ratio manipulation could be an important reproductive tactic. We explored the effects of environment and maternal caring ability on offspring sex to test four adaptive sex ratio modification hypotheses: the extrinsic modification hypothesis (EMH), carrying capacity hypothesis (CCH), Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH), and cost-of-reproduction hypothesis (CRH). The EMH and CCH propose that environmental conditions shape offspring sex ratios, directly or in interaction with maternal condition. The TWH and CRH predict a positive relationship between maternal condition and production of the costlier sex. The TWH predicts that mothers with superior caring ability should produce more of the sex that can provide the greatest fitness returns from additional maternal allocation, and the CRH proposes that females with limited caring ability should reduce fitness costs by producing the cheaper sex. Repeated measures on 83 known-age eastern gray kangaroos, polygynous marsupials with strong sexual dimorphism, revealed that offspring sex ratio was independent of per capita forage, supporting neither the EMH nor CCH, but was dependent on maternal mass, consistent with the TWH and CCH. Our results, however, cannot clearly identify the ultimate cause of the relationship between maternal mass and greater production of sons. One of the three assumptions of the TWH could not be verified, and mothers of sons suffered only marginal additional fitness costs. Sex ratios in higher vertebrates are likely not solely explained by factors dependent on maternal control.
Ultra-fast scalable estimation of single-cell differentiation potency from scRNA-Seq data
Authors: Teschendorff Andrew E , Maity Alok K , Hu Xue , Weiyan Chen , Lechner Matthias
Published: November 2020

Motivation

An important task in the analysis of single-cell RNA-Seq data is the estimation of differentiation potency, as this can help identify stem-or-multipotent cells in non-temporal studies or in tissues where differentiation hierarchies are not well established. A key challenge in the estimation of single-cell potency is the need for a fast and accurate algorithm, scalable to large scRNA-Seq studies profiling millions of cells.

Results

Here, we present a single-cell potency measure, called Correlation of Connectome and Transcriptome (CCAT), which can return accurate single-cell potency estimates of a million cells in minutes, a 100-fold improvement over current state-of-the-art methods. We benchmark CCAT against 8 other single-cell potency models and across 28 scRNA-Seq studies, encompassing over 2 million cells, demonstrating comparable accuracy than the current state-of-the-art, at a significantly reduced computational cost, and with increased robustness to dropouts.

Availability and implementation

CCAT is part of the SCENT R-package, freely available from https://github.com/aet21/SCENT.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Bi-allelic truncating mutations in VWA1 cause neuromyopathy
Authors: Deschauer Marcus , Hengel Holger , Rupprich Katrin , Kreiß Martina , Schlotter-Weigel Beate , Grimmel Mona , Admard Jakob , Schneider Ilka , Alhaddad Bader , Gazou Anastasia , Sturm Marc , Vorgerd Matthias , Balousha Ghassan , Balousha Osama , Falna Mohammed , Kirschke Jan S , Kornblum Cornelia , Jordan Berit , Kraya Torsten , Strom Tim M , Weis Joachim , Schöls Ludger , Schara Ulrike , Zierz Stephan , Riess Olaf , Meitinger Thomas , Haack Tobias B
Published: November 2020

The von Willebrand Factor A domain containing 1 protein, encoded by VWA1, is an extracellular matrix protein expressed in muscle and peripheral nerve. It interacts with collagen VI and perlecan, two proteins that are affected in hereditary neuromuscular disorders. Lack of VWA1 is known to compromise peripheral nerves in a Vwa1 knock-out mouse model. Exome sequencing led us to identify bi-allelic loss of function variants in VWA1 as the molecular cause underlying a so far genetically undefined neuromuscular disorder. We detected six different truncating variants in 15 affected individuals from six families of German, Arabic, and Roma descent. Disease manifested in childhood or adulthood with proximal and distal muscle weakness predominantly of the lower limbs. Myopathological and neurophysiological findings were indicative of combined neurogenic and myopathic pathology. Early childhood foot deformity was frequent, but no sensory signs were observed. Our findings establish VWA1 as a new disease gene confidently implicated in this autosomal recessive neuromyopathic condition presenting with child-/adult-onset muscle weakness as a key clinical feature.
Liver Stiffness–Based Strategies Predict Absence of Variceal Bleeding in Cirrhotic Hepatitis C Virus–Infected Patients With and Without Human Immunodeficiency Virus Coinfection After Sustained Virological Response
Authors: Corma-Gómez Anaïs , Macías Juan , Morano Luis , Rivero Antonio , Téllez Francisco , Ríos Maria José , Santos Marta , Serrano Miriam , Palacios Rosario , Merino Dolores , Real Luis Miguel , De Los Santos Ignacio , Vera-Méndez Francisco J , Galindo Maria José , Pineda Juan A ,   RIS-HEP13 and GEHEP 011 Study Groups, Geijo Paloma , Imaz Arkaitz , Galera Carlos , López-Ruz Miguel Ángel , Bañuls Sergio Javier Reus , Camacho Inés Pérez
Published: November 2020

Background

In the setting of hepatitis C virus (HCV) active infection, liver stiffness (LS)–based strategies identify patients with low risk of developing esophageal variceal bleeding (VB) episodes, in whom unnecessary upper esophagogastroduodenoscopy (UGE) screening can be safely avoided. However, after sustained virological response (SVR), data on the accuracy of the criteria predicting this outcome in HCV-infected patients with cirrhosis, with or without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection, are very limited.

Methods

This was a multicenter prospective cohort study, where HCV-monoinfected patients and HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals were included if they had (1) SVR with direct-acting antiviral–based therapy; (2) LS ≥9.5 kPa previous to treatment; and (3) LS measurement at the SVR time-point ≥14 kPa. Diagnostic accuracy of HEPAVIR, expanded Baveno VI, and HIV cirrhosis criteria, at the time of SVR, was evaluated. Missed VB episodes, negative predictive values (NPVs), and number of spared UGEs were specifically assessed.

Results

Four hundred thirty-five patients were included, 284 (65%) coinfected with HIV. Seven (1.6%) patients developed a first episode of VB after SVR. In patients without a previous VB episode, HEPAVIR, expanded Baveno VI and HIV cirrhosis criteria achieved NPV for first VB episode after SVR of 99.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 97.1%–100%), 100% (95% CI 97.8%–100%), and 100% (95% CI 98%–100%) while sparing 45%, 39%, and 44% of UGEs, respectively. When considering HIV coinfection, the performance of the 3 criteria was similar, both in HCV-monoinfected and HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals.

Conclusions

After SVR, predictive LS-based strategies accurately identify HCV-infected patients, HIV coinfected or not, with low risk of developing VB during follow-up. In these specific patients, using HIV cirrhosis criteria maximize the number of spared UGEs while missing no VB episode.
Vancomycin Area Under the Curve–Guided Dosing and Monitoring for Adult and Pediatric Patients With Suspected or Documented Serious Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections: Putting the Safety of Our Patients First
Authors: Lodise Thomas P , Drusano George
Published: November 2020

The revised vancomycin consensus guidelines recommended area under the curve (AUC)–guided dosing/monitoring for patients with serious invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections as a measure to minimize vancomycin-associated acute kidney injury (VA-AKI) while maintaining similar effectiveness. Data indicate that the intensity of vancomycin exposure drives VA-AKI risk. Troughs of 15–20 mg/L will ensure an AUC ≥400 mg × hr/L but most patients will have daily AUCs >600. VA-AKI increases as a function of AUC, especially when >600. In addition to minimizing VA-AKI risk while maintaining similar efficacy, AUC-guided dosing/monitoring is a more precise way to conduct therapeutic drug monitoring for vancomycin relative to trough-only control.
Deep Learning-based Sentiment Analysis of Facebook Data: The Case of Turkish Users
Authors: Çoban Önder , Özel Selma Ayşe , İnan Ali
Published: November 2020

Sentiment analysis (SA) is an essential task for many domains where it is crucial to know users’ public opinion about events, products, brands, politicians and so on. Existing works on SA have concentrated on English texts including Twitter feeds and user reviews on hotels, movies and products. On the other hand, Facebook, as an online social network (OSN), has attracted quite limited attention from the research community. Among these, SA work on Turkish text obtained from OSNs are extremely scarce. In this paper, our aim is to perform SA on public Facebook data collected from Turkish user accounts. Our study differs from existing studies in terms of the data set scale, the natural language of the texts in the data set and the extent of experimental analyses that include both machine learning and deep learning techniques. We extensively report not only the results of different learning models involving SA but also statistical distribution of metadata of user activities across various user attributes (e.g. gender and age). Our experimental results indicate that recurrent neural networks achieve the best accuracy (i.e. 0.916) with word embeddings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the best result for SA on Facebook data in the context of the Turkish language.
Outcome of Ulcerative Colitis 20 Years after Diagnosis in a Prospective Population-based Inception Cohort from South-Eastern Norway, the IBSEN Study
Authors: Monstad Iril Lovise , Solberg Inger Camilla , Cvancarova Milada , Hovde Oistein , Henriksen Magne , Huppertz-Hauss Gert , Gunther Eva , Moum Bjørn Allan , Stray Njaal , Vatn Morten , Hoie Ole , Jahnsen Jørgen
Published: November 2020

Background and Aims

The long-term course of ulcerative colitis [UC] is difficult to predict. Mortality, colectomy, cancer, and hospitalisation represent hard outcomes of disease. Moreover, knowledge on the risk of relapses and need for potent medication add important information about living with UC. We aimed to evaluate the course and prognosis of UC during the first 20 years after diagnosis, and to identify early prognostic risk factors.

Methods

From 1990 to 1994, a population-based inception cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease was enrolled in South-Eastern Norway. A systematic follow-up [FU] was conducted at 1,5, 10, and 20 years after diagnosis. Clinical outcomes were recorded continuously, and possible relationships between early disease characteristics and outcomes were analysed using multiple regression analysis.

Results

Among 519 UC patients, 119 died, 60 were lost to FU, and 340 were included in the FU cohort. The 20-year cumulative risk of colectomy was 13.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] [11.4-14.6]). Extensive colitis at diagnosis was independently associated with an increased risk of colectomy compared with proctitis (hazard ratio [HR] = 2].8, 95% CI [1.3–6.1]). In contrast, mucosal healing at 1-year FU was independently associated with reduced risk of colectomy [HR = 0.4, 95% CI [0.2–0.8]), and inversely associated with subsequent risk of relapse [adjusted HR = 0.5, 95% CI [0.3–0.7]).

Conclusions

The overall risk of colectomy in our cohort was lower than expected from previous studies, although considerable for patients with extensive colitis at diagnosis. Early mucosal healing was associated with better disease outcomes 20 years after diagnosis.
Social Connectivity, Media Bias, and Correlation Neglect
Authors: Denter Philipp , Dumav Martin , Ginzburg Boris
Published: November 2020

A biased newspaper aims to persuade voters to vote for the government. Voters are uncertain about the government’s competence. Each voter receives the newspaper’s report as well as independent private signals about the competence. Voters then exchange messages containing this information on social media and form posterior beliefs, neglecting correlation among messages. We show that greater social connectivity increases the probability of an efficient voting outcome if the prior favours the government; otherwise, efficiency decreases. The probability of an efficient outcome remains strictly below one even when connectivity becomes large, implying a failure of the Condorcet jury theorem.
Double Trouble: Does Job Loss Lead to Union Dissolution and Vice Versa?
Authors: Anderson Lewis R , Bukodi Erzsébet , Monden Christiaan W S
Published: November 2020

A now-substantial literature claims that job loss and union dissolution (the end of a marriage or cohabiting relationship) each increase individuals’ risk of the other, highlighting that major negative life events in the labour market and family can spill over across domains. We address three limitations of this research using UK data. First, these associations might arise from unmeasured factors which jointly predispose individuals to the two events. Second, the distinction between job loss (an event) and unemployment (the state it may lead to) has been neglected. Third, where the impact of unemployment has been considered, its duration has not. We simultaneously model both processes: does job loss (or being unemployed) lead to union dissolution, and does union dissolution (or being divorced/separated) lead to job loss? To investigate the role of unobserved, time-invariant confounders, we model the individual-specific effects as random variables allowed to correlate across the models for the two outcomes. Upon allowing such cross-process correlations, we find that job loss and union dissolution have modest and non-significant prospective associations with one another. We also find no support for a connection between being divorced/separated and subsequent job loss. Unemployment appears to increase risk of union dissolution; by attending to duration we uncover gender differences in this relationship.
Lamotrigine and lithium in primary care psychiatric consultation: adoption and adverse effects
Authors: Phelps James R , Pipitone Olivia R , Squires Kenneth , Bale Jonathan D
Published: November 2020

Background

The Collaborative Care Model of psychiatric consultation in primary care has improved outcomes for unipolar depression, but bipolar depressions are challenging for providers and consultants. Although lamotrigine and lithium are both first line medications for bipolar depression, their use in primary care has been declining over the last decade.

Objective

Our project aimed to quantify the frequency of and adoption of recommendations for lamotrigine and lithium, and their adverse effects, in a Collaborative Care program.

Methods

Chart review.

Results

For 620 depressed adult patients (Public Health Questionnaire, 9-item ≥10), lamotrigine and lithium were recommended by psychiatric consultant for 35% and 26% of patients, respectively; and when recommended, were prescribed by primary care providers 50% and 32% of the time, respectively. Eighty-four percent of lithium dosages were 600 mg or less; average serum level 0.32 mEq/l. In follow-up up to 6 months, lithium was associated with no more weight gain than lamotrigine; but 12% of patients receiving lithium had thyroid stimulating hormone increases exceeding the upper limit of normal, occurring in an average of 32 days after the initial prescription.

Conclusions

(i) In a Collaborative Care program of psychiatric consultation, recommendations for lamotrigine and lithium were very frequent. (ii) Adoption of these recommendations is variable, warranting further investigation. (iii) Like higher doses, low doses of lithium induced hypothyroidism (rapidly)—but not weight gain.
A new set of reference genes for comparative gene expression analyses in Yarrowia lipolytica
Authors: Borkowska Monika , Białas Wojciech , Celińska Ewelina
Published: November 2020

Accurate quantitation of gene expression levels require sensitive, precise and reproducible measurements of specific transcripts. Normalization to a reference gene is the most common practice to minimize the impact of the uncontrolled variation. The fundamental prerequisite for an accurate reference gene is to be stably expressed amongst all the samples included in the analysis. In the present study we aimed to assess the expression level and stability of a panel of 21 genes in Yarrowia lipolytica throughout varying conditions, covering composition of the culturing medium, growth phase and strain—wild type and recombinant burdened with heterologous protein overexpression. The panel of the selected candidate genes covered those essential for growth and maintenance of metabolism and homologs of commonly used internal references in RT-qPCR. The candidate genes expression level and stability were assessed and the data were processed using dedicated computational tools (geNorm and NormFinder). The results obtained here indicated genes unaffected by the burden of overexpression (TEF1, TPI1, UBC2, SRPN2, ALG9-like, RYL1) or by the culture medium used (ACT1, TPI1, UBC2, SEC61, ODC, CLA4, FKS1, TPS1), as well as those the least (SSDH, ODC, GPD) and the most (SEC62, TPI1, IPP1) suitable for normalization of RT-qPCR data in Y. lipolytica.
Comparison of smoking reduction with improvement of social conditions in early life: simulation in a British cohort
Authors: Lepage Benoit , Colineaux Hélène , Kelly-Irving Michelle , Vineis Paolo , Delpierre Cyrille , Lang Thierry
Published: November 2020

Background

Health care evaluation models can be useful to assign different levels of priority to interventions or policies targeting different age groups or different determinants of health. We aimed to assess early mortality in counterfactual scenarios implying reduced adverse childhood experience (ACE) and/or improved educational attainment (childhood and early life characteristics), compared with a counterfactual scenario implying reduced smoking in adulthood.

Methods

We used data from the 1958 National Child Development Study British birth cohort, which initially included 18 558 subjects. Applying a potential outcome approach, scenarios were simulated to estimate the expected mortality between ages 16 and 55 under a counterfactual decrease by half of the observed level of exposure to (i) ACE, (ii) low educational attainment (at age 22), (iii) ACE and low educational attainment (a combined exposure) and (iv) smoking at age 33. Estimations were obtained using g-computation, separately for men and women. Analyses were further stratified according to the parental level of education, to assess social inequalities.

Results

The study population included 12 164 members. The estimated decrease in mortality in the counterfactual scenarios with reduced ACE and improved educational attainment was close to the decreased mortality in the counterfactual scenario with reduced smoking, showing a relative difference in mortality of respectively −7.2% [95% CI (confidence interval) = (−12.2% to 1.2%)] versus −7.0% (−13.1% to +1.2%) for women, and −9.9% (−15.6% to −6.2%) versus −12.3% (−17.0% to −5.9%) for men.

Conclusions

Our results highlight the potential value of targeting early social characteristics such as ACE and education, compared with well-recognized interventions on smoking.
Quantitative Stability in the Geometry of Semi-discrete Optimal Transport
Authors: Bansil Mohit , Kitagawa Jun
Published: November 2020

We show quantitative stability results for the geometric “cells” arising in semi-discrete optimal transport problems. We first show stability of the associated Laguerre cells in measure, without any connectedness or regularity assumptions on the source measure. Next we show quantitative invertibility of the map taking dual variables to the measures of Laguerre cells, under a Poincarè-Wirtinger inequality. Combined with a regularity assumption equivalent to the Ma–Trudinger–Wang conditions of regularity in Monge-Ampère, this invertibility leads to stability of Laguerre cells in Hausdorff measure and also stability in the uniform norm of the dual potential functions, all stability results come with explicit quantitative bounds. Our methods utilize a combination of graph theory, convex geometry, and Monge-Ampère regularity theory.
An evaluation of two commercial deep learning-based information retrieval systems for COVID-19 literature
Authors: Soni Sarvesh , Roberts Kirk
Published: November 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a tremendous need for access to the latest scientific information, leading to both corpora for COVID-19 literature and search engines to query such data. While most search engine research is performed in academia with rigorous evaluation, major commercial companies dominate the web search market. Thus, it is expected that commercial pandemic-specific search engines will gain much higher traction than academic alternatives, leading to questions about the empirical performance of these tools. This paper seeks to empirically evaluate two commercial search engines for COVID-19 (Google and Amazon) in comparison with academic prototypes evaluated in the TREC-COVID task. We performed several steps to reduce bias in the manual judgments to ensure a fair comparison of all systems. We find the commercial search engines sizably underperformed those evaluated under TREC-COVID. This has implications for trust in popular health search engines and developing biomedical search engines for future health crises.
Automatic path generation for tractor-trailers according to the ramp slope of Ro-Ro ships
Authors: Man Ruidong , Bak Jaeyeob , Son Chungil , Kim Songkil , Jung Yoongho
Published: November 2020

Roll-on and roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships are economical transportation vessels that are very useful for transporting large freights, such as plant equipment and aircraft bodies. To load a large freight on a Ro-Ro ship, a tractor is generally used to pull a trailer on which the cargo is secured via a ramp from the port berth to the ship deck. In the case of a long cargo, the trajectory of the trailer is not the same as that of the tractor, which can cause a collision with the ramp or the gate or obstacles on the deck. Also, if the freight is too high, it may overturn when the trailer is tilted due to the ramp slope. This research proposes a method for calculating the best and safest trajectories for large freights to be loaded on Ro-Ro ships without the occurrence of any collisions or overturns. By reasonably assuming a low speed of the tractor, the proposed method generates all the possible tractor paths based on the Bezier curve and also calculates the trajectories of trailers when moving on inclined ramps; thus, it is the first method to calculate 3D trajectories for trailers when the tractor and trailer move on different planes. Besides, it searches for the best paths without any collisions or overturns and with the minimum shipping time possible. Since the proposed method calculates the paths by taking the ramp angle as a variable input, the trajectories can be automatically generated based on the change in the waterline of the ship according to the loading of the cargoes. Overall, the proposed method can be useful for transportation companies when planning the shipping of large freights, and it can also be beneficial for future autonomous driving systems.
Effects of Soybean Plant Population on Yield Loss From Defoliation
Authors: Thrash Benjamin C , Catchot Angus L , Gore Jeffrey , Cook Donald , Musser Fred R , Irby Trenton , Krutz Jason
Published: November 2020

Plant densities in Mid-South U.S. soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., fields can vary greatly due to a wide range of factors, although soybean yields are generally insensitive to variations in density. Currently, it is unknown if yield loss from insect-related defoliation varies across different soybean stand densities. Soybean was planted in Starkville and Stoneville, MS, in 2016 and 2017 at five seeding rates ranging from 123,500 to 420,070 seed/ha in 74,130 seed/ha increments. Each seeding rate contained a nondefoliated plot and a plot that was defoliated 67% at the R1 growth stage. Defoliated plants had a greater leaf expansion rate from R1 to R3 than nondefoliated plants. Defoliation reduced yield where plant densities were <192,800 plants/ha, but greater densities were not affected. Reduced yield in defoliated plots when compared with nondefoliated plots at equivalent R3 leaf area index values indicated that some resources were used to replace the removed leaf area instead of seed production. These results suggest that fields with substandard plant densities might benefit from a reduced treatment threshold for defoliating pests.
Murine Typhus Presenting With Mucosal Involvement
Authors: Rees Renuka , Park Christine , Long Benjamin , Spencer Steven , Sutter Deena
Published: November 2020

Lipschutz ulcers (LU) present as painful genital ulcers in nonsexually active females. Associated infections include Epstein Barr virus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Cytomegalovirus, and influenza. To our knowledge, this is the first report of LU occurring with murine typhus. Murine typhus is caused by Rickettsia typhi, a Gram-negative, obligate intracellular organism. Rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) are the classic vector, although cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) found on cats, dogs, and opossums have been implicated in maintaining the life cycle of R. typhi in suburban areas. Murine typhus can have a nonspecific presentation making a strong index of suspicion crucial to its diagnosis. The most common presenting signs include fever, poor appetite, malaise, and headache. Laboratory abnormalities may include elevated C-reactive protein, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hypoalbuminemia, elevated transaminases, elevated neutrophil band count, and thrombocytopenia. The treatment of choice for R. typhi is doxycycline.
SARS-CoV-2 Triggering Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in a 3-Year-Old Child With Down Syndrome
Authors: Kim-Hellmuth Sarah , Hermann Matthias , Eilenberger Julia , Ley-Zaporozhan Julia , Fischer Marcus , Hauck Fabian , Klein Christoph , Haas Nikolaus , Kappler Matthias , Huebner Johannes , Jakob André , von Both Ulrich
Published: November 2020

Down syndrome (DS) predisposes to severe immunologic reaction secondary to infectious triggers. Here, we report a pediatric DS patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who developed a hyperinflammatory syndrome, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, and secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis requiring pediatric intensive care unit admission and treatment with steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, and remdesivir. Investigations into genetic susceptibilities for COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated complications warrant systematic clinical and scientific studies.

We report a pediatric Down syndrome patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who developed secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis requiring treatment with steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, and remdesivir. Investigations into genetic susceptibilities for COVID-19-associated complications warrant systematic clinical and scientific studies.
Modeling urban socio-ecological drivers of human– carnivore coexistence
Authors: Lute Michelle L , Serenari Christopher , Drake Michael D , Peterson M Nils , Jensen Jennifer , Belyea Curtis , Olfenbuttel Colleen , White Mallory
Published: November 2020

Achieving human–carnivore coexistence is a growing challenge in an increasingly crowded world. In many cases, humans are already sharing landscapes with carnivores, but conditions promoting coexistence are not well understood. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are adaptable meso carnivores and their activities increasingly overlap with those of humans in urban environments. Does this overlap constitute coexistence? How do social variables situated within their rightful ecological contexts influence the potential for conflict? In this study, we explore aggregated social and land cover variables contributing to coexistence between humans and coyotes. We surveyed residents in four North Carolina cities on their perceptions, interactions and preferred management actions related to coyotes. We then modeled spatial patterns in urbanite interactions with and perceptions regarding coyotes and investigated how land cover characteristics may correlate with those perceptions. Our results suggest prior interactions and select land cover types may drive human coexistence with coyotes and contribute contextual understanding of urban socio-ecological systems to prevent conflict and effectively promote coexistence. Additional research that expands upon this study and explores spatial as well as temporal dimensions of human–wildlife coexistence is needed in diverse contexts.
Frequent CTNNB1 p.S45 Mutations and Aggressive Clinical Behavior in Neuromuscular Choristoma-Associated Fibromatosis
Authors: Carter Jodi M , Maldonado Andres A , Howe B Matthew , Okuno Scott , Spinner Robert J
Published: November 2020

BACKGROUND

Neuromuscular choristoma (NMC) is a peripheral nerve malformation frequently associated with a fibromatosis (NMC-DTF) that mimics sporadic desmoid-type fibromatosis (DTF). Sporadic DTF is often managed conservatively but its clinical behavior varies. CTNNB1 mutational subtypes in sporadic DTF have prognostic value. We have previously identified CTNNB1 mutations in NMC, and 3 paired NMC-DTF but the clinical behavior of NMC-DTF is poorly understood.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate patients with NMC-DTF to determine (1) CTNNB1 mutational subtypes in NMC-DTF, and (2) associated clinical behavior and response to treatment.

METHODS

Retrospective review of clinical, imaging, and pathologic features of patients with NMC and NMC-DTF, and molecular testing for CTNNB1 mutations.

RESULTS

Among 7 patients with NMC of the sciatic nerve (median age: 18 yr), NMC-DTF (mean size 10.7 cm) developed shortly following NMC biopsy (N = 5) or spontaneously (N = 2): 6 NMC-DTF had CTNNB1 p.S45X mutations and 1 NMC-DTF had a p.T41A mutation. All patients with CTNNB1-p.S45-mutated NMC-DTF developed local progression after wide local excision or active surveillance, including one distal metachronous NMC-DTF. No patient had spontaneous disease stabilization. Following adjuvant radiation or systemic therapy, disease stabilization was achieved in 4 (of 6) patients. One patient progressed on sorafenib treatment.

CONCLUSION

NMC-DTF frequently contain CTNNB1 p.S45 mutations, behave aggressively, and require adjuvant therapies for disease stabilization. We now use imaging alone to diagnose NMC, and routinely surveille the NMC-affected nerve segment to identify early NMC-DTF. In contrast to sporadic DTF, earlier adoption of systemic therapeutic strategies may be required for optimal disease management of NMC-DTF.
A stimuli-responsive pillar[5]arene-based hybrid material with enhanced tunable multicolor luminescence and ion-sensing ability
Authors: Lou Xin-Yue , Song Nan , Yang Ying-Wei
Published: November 2020

Tunable luminescent materials are becoming more and more important owing to their broad application potential in various fields. Here we construct a pillar[5]arene-based hybrid material with stimuli-responsive luminescent properties and ion-sensing abilities from a pyridine-modified conjugated pillar[5]arene and a planar chromophore oligo(phenylenevinylene) upon coordination of Cd (II) metal cores. This new material not only shows an optimized luminescence due to the minimized π–π stacking and efficient charge transfer properties benefitting from the existence of pillar[5]arene rings, but also exhibits tunable multicolor emission induced by different external stimuli including solvent, ions and acid, indicating great application potential as a fluorescent sensory material, especially for Fe3+. With this pillar[5]arene-based dual-ligand hybrid material, valid optimization and regulation on the fluorescence of the original chromophore have been achieved, which demonstrates a plausible strategy for the design of tunable solid-state luminescent materials and also a prototypical model for the effective regulation of fluorescent properties of planar π systems using synthetic macrocycle-based building blocks.