bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Responses of paediatric emergency departments to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe: a cross-sectional survey study
Authors: Rose Katy , Bressan Silvia , Honeyford Kate , Bognar Zsolt , Buonsenso Danilo , Da Dalt Liviana , De Tisham , Farrugia Ruth , Parri Niccolo , Oostenbrink Rianne , Maconochie Ian , Moll Henriette A , Roland Damian , Titomanlio Luigi , Nijman Ruud
Published: December 2021

Objective

Understanding how paediatric emergency departments (PEDs) across Europe adapted their healthcare pathways in response to COVID-19 will help guide responses to ongoing waves of COVID-19 and potential future pandemics. This study aimed to evaluate service reconfiguration across European PEDs during the initial COVID-19 wave.

Design

This cross-sectional survey included 39 PEDs in 17 countries. The online questionnaire captured (1) study site characteristics, (2) departmental changes and (3) pathways for children with acute illness pre and during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic (January–May 2020). Number of changes to health services, as a percentage of total possible changes encompassed by the survey, was compared with peak national SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates, and for both mixed and standalone paediatric centres.

Results

Overall, 97% (n=38) of centres remained open as usual during the pandemic. The capacity of 18 out of 28 (68%) short-stay units decreased; in contrast, 2 units (7%) increased their capacity. In 12 (31%) PEDs, they reported acting as receiving centres for diverted children during the pandemic.

There was minimal change to the availability of paediatric consultant telephone advice services, consultant supervision of juniors or presence of responsible specialists within the PEDs.

There was no relationship between percentage of possible change at each site and the peak national SARS-CoV-2 incidence rate. Mixed paediatric and adult hospitals made 8% of possible changes and standalone paediatric centres made 6% of possible changes (p=0.086).

Conclusion

Overall, there was limited change to the organisation or delivery of services across surveyed PEDs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Epidemiological trends and trajectories of MAFLD-associated hepatocellular carcinoma 2002–2033: the ITA.LI.CA database
Authors: Vitale Alessandro , Svegliati-Baroni Gianluca , Ortolani Alessio , Cucco Monica , Dalla Riva Giulio V , Giannini Edoardo G , Piscaglia Fabio , Rapaccini Gianludovico , Di Marco Mariella , Caturelli Eugenio , Zoli Marco , Sacco Rodolfo , Cabibbo Giuseppe , Marra Fabio , Mega Andrea , Morisco Filomena , Gasbarrini Antonio , Foschi Francesco Giuseppe , Missale Gabriele , Masotto Alberto , Nardone Gerardo , Raimondo Giovanni , Azzaroli Francesco , Vidili Gianpaolo , Oliveri Filippo , Pelizzaro Filippo , Ramirez Morales Rafael , Cillo Umberto , Trevisani Franco , Miele Luca , Marchesini Giulio , Farinati Fabio
Published: December 2021

Background

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) represents a new inclusive definition of the whole spectrum of liver diseases associated to metabolic disorders. The main objective of this study was to compare patients with MAFLD and non-MAFLD with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) included in a nationally representative cohort.

Methods

We analysed 6882 consecutive patients with HCC enrolled from 2002 to 2019 by 23 Italian Liver Cancer centres to compare epidemiological and future trends in three subgroups: pure, single aetiology MAFLD (S-MAFLD); mixed aetiology MAFLD (metabolic and others, M-MAFLD); and non-MAFLD HCC.

Results

MAFLD was diagnosed in the majority of patients with HCC (68.4%). The proportion of both total MAFLD and S-MAFLD HCC significantly increased over time (from 50.4% and 3.6% in 2002–2003, to 77.3% and 28.9% in 2018–2019, respectively, p<0.001). In Italy S-MAFLD HCC is expected to overcome M-MAFLD HCC in about 6 years. Patients with S-MAFLD HCC were older, more frequently men and less frequently cirrhotic with clinically relevant portal hypertension and a surveillance-related diagnosis. They had more frequently large tumours and extrahepatic metastases. After weighting, and compared with patients with non-MAFLD, S-MAFLD and M-MAFLD HCC showed a significantly lower overall (p=0.026, p=0.004) and HCC-related (p<0.001, for both) risk of death. Patients with S-MAFLD HCC showed a significantly higher risk of non-HCC-related death (p=0.006).

Conclusions

The prevalence of MAFLD HCC in Italy is rapidly increasing to cover the majority of patients with HCC. Despite a less favourable cancer stage at diagnosis, patients with MAFLD HCC have a lower risk of HCC-related death, suggesting reduced cancer aggressiveness.
Multimodal bioinformatic analyses of the neurodegenerative disease-associatedTECPR2gene reveal its diverse roles
Authors: Shalev Ido , Somekh Judith , Eran Alal
Published: December 2021

Background

Loss of tectonin β-propeller repeat-containing 2 (TECPR2) function has been implicated in an array of neurodegenerative disorders, yet its physiological function remains largely unknown. UnderstandingTECPR2function is essential for developing much needed precision therapeutics for TECPR2-related diseases.

Methods

We leveraged considerable amounts of functional data to obtain a comprehensive perspective of the role ofTECPR2in health and disease. We integrated expression patterns, population variation, phylogenetic profiling, protein-protein interactions and regulatory network data for a minimally biased multimodal functional analysis. Genes and proteins linked toTECPR2via multiple lines of evidence were subject to functional enrichment analyses to identify molecular mechanisms involving TECPR2.

Results

TECPR2 was found to be part of a tight neurodevelopmental gene expression programme that includesKIF1A,ATXN1,TOM1L2andFA2H, all implicated in neurological diseases. Functional enrichment analyses ofTECPR2-related genes converged on a role in late autophagy and ribosomal processes. Large-scale population variation data demonstrated that this role is non-redundant.

Conclusions

TECPR2 might serve as an indicator for the energy balance between protein synthesis and autophagy, and a marker for diseases associated with their imbalance, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Specifically, we speculate that TECPR2 plays an important role as a proteostasis regulator during synaptogenesis, highlighting its importance in developing neurons. By advancing our understanding of TECPR2 function, this work provides an essential stepping stone towards the development of precision diagnostics and targeted treatment options for TECPR2-related disorders.
Josephson junction formed in the wormhole space-time from the analysis of the critical temperature of BEC
Authors: Takeuchi Shingo
Published: December 2021

In this study, we consider a gas in the Morris–Thorne traversable wormhole space-time, and analyze the critical temperature of the Bose-Einstein condensate in the vicinity of its throat. Our results show that it is equal to zero. Then, from this result, we point out that a state analogous to the Josephson junction is always formed at any temperature in the vicinity of its throat. This is of interest as a gravitational phenomenology. Of course, there is the problem of the exotic matter, but we perform this work without treating it.
General mitigation techniques for coherent beam instabilities in particle accelerators
Authors: Métral Elias
Published: December 2021

An important number of coherent beam instability mechanisms can be observed in a particle accelerator, depending if the latter is linear or circular, operated at low, medium or high energy, with a small or a huge amount of turns (for circular machines), close to transition energy or not (below or above), with only one bunch or many bunches, with counter-rotating beams (such as in colliders) or not, if the beam is positively or negatively charged, if one is interested in the longitudinal plane or in the transverse plane, in the presence of linear coupling between the transverse planes or not, in the presence of nonlinearities or not, in the presence of noise or not, etc. Building a realistic impedance model of a machine is a necessary step to be able to evaluate the machine performance limitations, identify the main contributors in case an impedance reduction is required, and study the interaction with other mechanisms such as optics (linear and nonlinear), RF gymnastics, transverse damper, noise, space charge, electron cloud, and beam–beam (in a collider). Better characterising an instability is the first step before trying to find appropriate mitigation measures and push the performance of a particle accelerator, as some mitigation methods are beneficial for some effects and detrimental for some others. For this, an excellent instrumentation is of paramount importance to be able to diagnose if the instability is longitudinal or transverse, single bunch, or coupled bunch, involving only one mode of oscillation or several, and the evolution of the intrabunch motion with intensity is a fundamental observable with high-intensity high-brightness beams. Finally, among the possible mitigation methods of coherent beam instabilities, the ones perturbing the least the single-particle motion (leading to the largest necessary dynamic aperture and beam lifetime) and easiest to implement for day-to-day operation in the machine control room should be preferred.
Effect and Mechanism of Qingfei Paidu Decoction in the Management of Pulmonary Fibrosis and COVID-19
Authors: Wu Yu , Xu Lili , Cao Gang , Min Lingtian , Dong Tingting
Published: December 2021

Qingfei Paidu decoction (QFPD) has been repeatedly recommended for the clinical treatment of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in multiple provinces throughout China. A possible complication of COVID-19 lung involvement is pulmonary fibrosis, which causes chronic breathing difficulties and affects the patient’s quality of life. Therefore, there is an important question regarding whether QFPD can alleviate the process of pulmonary fibrosis and its potential mechanisms. To explore this issue, this study demonstrated the anti-pulmonary fibrosis activity and mode of action of QFPD in vivo and in vitro pulmonary fibrosis models and network pharmacology. The results showed that QFPD effectively ameliorated the bleomycin-induced inflammation and collagen deposition in mice and significantly improved the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in pulmonary fibrosis in mice. In addition, QFPD inhibited bleomycin-induced M2 polarization of macrophages in pulmonary tissues. An in-depth study of the mechanism of QFPD in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis based on network pharmacology and molecular simulation revealed that SRC was the main target of QFPD and sitosterol (a key compound in QFPD). QFPD and sitosterol regulate the EMT process and M2 polarization of macrophages by inhibiting the activation of SRC, thereby alleviating pulmonary fibrosis in mice. COVID-19 infection might produce severe fibrosis, and antifibrotic therapy with QFPD may be valuable in preventing severe neocoronavirus disease in patients with IPF, which could be a key factor explaining the role of QFPD in the treatment of COVID-19.
Investigations on Off-Grid Hybrid Renewable Energy Microgrid for Sustainable Development Growth
Authors: Karunanithi K. , Raja S. P. , Ramesh S. , Karthikumar K. , Chandrasekar P. , Rani K. Aruna
Published: December 2021

The principal aim of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals is to attain a much better and more sustainable future for all. In recent times, microgrids have attracted much attention, given the transformation of software systems and raising the bar for customers in terms of sustainability, reliability and cost predictability. Consequently, there is a need for microgrid development in remote areas. Our paper proposes a hybrid renewable energy microgrid (HREM) that focuses on the affordable, efficient, reliable and sustainable growth of energy systems. This paper presents an optimized off-grid HREM for a remote locality in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The proposed approach employs a configuration of photovoltaic (PV) arrays, AC loads, a diesel generator set, a wind turbine and a battery energy storage system (BESS) connected to AC/DC buses and designed to satisfy the power requirements of a remote, rural community residential area. The primary objective was to carry out a cost optimization of the designed system. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to obtain a feasible solution from the optimized results and evaluate the robustness of the design. The primary objective was to carry out a cost optimization of the designed system. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to obtain a feasible solution from the optimized results and evaluated the robustness of the design. A detailed analysis was made by comparing the [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and it was found that the former offered better results for the particular location. Overall, it was observed that our proposed system offers renewable energy for residential loads that is relatively inexpensive, reliable and sustainable.
Stability and Hopf Bifurcation of a Stage-Structured Cannibalism Model with Two Delays
Authors: Zheng Tao , Zhang Long , Luo Yantao , Zhou Xinran , Li Hong-Li , Teng Zhidong
Published: December 2021

In this work, we consider a stage-structured cannibalism model with two delays. One delay characterizes the lag effect of negative feedback of the prey species, the other has the effect of gestation of the adult predator population. Firstly, criteria for the local stability of feasible equilibria are established. Meanwhile, by choosing delay as a bifurcation parameter, the criteria on the existence of Hopf bifurcation are established. Furthermore, by the normal form theory and center manifold theorem, we derive the explicit formulas determining the properties of periodic solutions. Finally, the theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations, from which we can see that the predator’s gestation time delay can make the chaotic phenomenon disappear and maintain periodic oscillation, and that a large feedback time delay of prey can make predators extinct and prey form a periodic solution.
Synchronization of a Memristor Chaotic System and Image Encryption
Authors: Li Haoyu , Wang Leimin , Lai Qiang
Published: December 2021

In this paper, a sliding-mode-based controller is designed for finite-time synchronization of Memristor Chaotic Systems (MCSs). It demonstrates that the synchronization errors of the MCSs reach the designed sliding-mode surface within a finite time and the finite-time stability is achieved on the surface, which implies that the finite-time synchronization for MCSs is achieved by employing the proposed sliding-mode-based controller. Furthermore, a new image encryption algorithm is proposed and implemented based on the results of finite-time synchronization. Finally, the numerical simulation and the corresponding statistical performance analysis are presented to verify the practicability, effectiveness and superiority of the presented sliding-mode-based controller and encryption algorithm, especially their potential applications in secure communication.
A Chaotic Quadratic Bistable Hyperjerk System with Hidden Attractors and a Wide Range of Sample Entropy: Impulsive Stabilization
Authors: Vijayakumar M. D. , Bahramian Alireza , Natiq Hayder , Rajagopal Karthikeyan , Hussain Iqtadar
Published: December 2021

Hidden attractors generated by the interactions of dynamical variables may have no equilibrium point in their basin of attraction. They have grabbed the attention of mathematicians who investigate strange attractors. Besides, quadratic hyperjerk systems are under the magnifying glass of these mathematicians because of their elegant structures. In this paper, a quadratic hyperjerk system is introduced that can generate chaotic attractors. The dynamical behaviors of the oscillator are investigated by plotting their Lyapunov exponents and bifurcation diagrams. The multistability of the hyperjerk system is investigated using the basin of attraction. It is revealed that the system is bistable when one of its attractors is hidden. Besides, the complexity of the systems’ attractors is investigated using sample entropy as the complexity feature. It is revealed how changing the parameters can affect the complexity of the systems’ time series. In addition, one of the hyperjerk system equilibrium points is stabilized using impulsive control. All real initial conditions become the equilibrium points of the basin of attraction using the stabilizing method.
A Bifurcation Analysis and Sensitivity Study of Brake Creep Groan
Authors: Smith Shaun , Knowles James , Mason Byron , Biggs Sean
Published: December 2021

Creep groan is the undesirable vibration observed in the brake pad and disc as brakes are applied during low-speed driving. The presence of friction leads to nonlinear behavior even in simple models of this phenomenon. This paper uses tools from bifurcation theory to investigate creep groan behavior in a nonlinear 3-degrees-of-freedom mathematical model. Three areas of operational interest are identified, replicating results from previous studies: region 1 contains repelling equilibria and attracting periodic orbits (creep groan); region 2 contains both attracting equilibria and periodic orbits (creep groan and no creep groan, depending on initial conditions); region 3 contains attracting equilibria (no creep groan). The influence of several friction model parameters on these regions is presented, which identify that the transition between static and dynamic friction regimes has a large influence on the existence of creep groan. Additional investigations discover the presence of several bifurcations previously unknown to exist in this model, including Hopf, torus and period-doubling bifurcations. This insight provides valuable novel information about the nature of creep groan and indicates that complex behavior can be discovered and explored in relatively simple models.
Recent results and perspectives for virtual element methods
Authors: Beirão da Veiga L. , Bellomo N. , Brezzi F. , Marini L. D.
Published: December 2021

This editorial paper is devoted to present the papers published in a special issue focused on recent views, applications, and results of virtual element methods (VEM). A critical analysis of the overall contents of the issue is proposed, thus leading to a forward look to research perspectives.
The probe particle scattering cross-section off the many-fermion systems in the impulse approximation
Authors: Younesizadeh Yahya , Younesizadeh Fayzollah
Published: December 2021

In this work, we study the differential scattering cross-section (DSCS) in the first-order Born approximation. It is not difficult to show that the DSCS can be simplified in terms of the system response function. Also, the system response function has this property to be written in terms of the spectral function and the momentum distribution function in the impulse approximation (IA) scheme. Therefore, the DSCS in the IA scheme can be formulated in terms of the spectral function and the momentum distribution function. On the other hand, the DSCS for an electron off the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] nuclei is calculated in the harmonic oscillator shell model. The obtained results are compared with the experimental data, too. The most important result derived from this study is that the calculated DSCS in terms of the spectral function has a high agreement with the experimental data at the low-energy transfer, while the obtained DSCS in terms of the momentum distribution function does not. Therefore, we conclude that the response of a many-fermion system to a probe particle in IA must be written in terms of the spectral function for getting accurate theoretical results in the field of collision. This is another important result of our study.
Complete Positivity of Two Class of Maps Involving Depolarizing and Transpose-Depolarizing Channels
Authors: Sun Xiuhong , Li Yuan
Published: December 2021

In this note, we mainly study the necessary and sufficient conditions for the complete positivity of generalizations of depolarizing and transpose-depolarizing channels. Specifically, we define [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] (the set of all bounded linear operators on the finite-dimensional Hilbert space [Formula: see text] is given and [Formula: see text] is the transpose of [Formula: see text] in a fixed orthonormal basis of [Formula: see text] First, we show that [Formula: see text] is completely positive if and only if [Formula: see text] is a positive map, which is equivalent to [Formula: see text] Moreover, [Formula: see text] is a completely positive map if and only if [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] At last, we also get that [Formula: see text] is a completely positive map if and only if [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] for all [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] are eigenvalues of [Formula: see text].
Completeness of Graphical Languages for Mixed State Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Carette Titouan , Jeandel Emmanuel , Perdrix Simon , Vilmart Renaud
Published: December 2021

There exist several graphical languages for quantum information processing, like quantum circuits, ZX-calculus, ZW-calculus, and so on. Each of these languages forms a †-symmetric monoidal category (†-SMC) and comes with an interpretation functor to the †-SMC of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. In recent years, one of the main achievements of the categorical approach to quantum mechanics has been to provide several equational theories for most of these graphical languages, making them complete for various fragments of pure quantum mechanics.

We address the question of how to extend these languages beyond pure quantum mechanics to reason about mixed states and general quantum operations, i.e., completely positive maps. Intuitively, such an extension relies on the axiomatisation of a
discard
map that allows one to get rid of a quantum system, an operation that is not allowed in pure quantum mechanics.

We introduce a new construction, the
discard construction
, which transforms any †-symmetric monoidal category into a symmetric monoidal category equipped with a discard map. Roughly speaking this construction consists in making any isometry causal.

Using this construction, we provide an extension for several graphical languages that we prove to be complete for general quantum operations. However, this construction fails for some fringe cases like Clifford+T quantum mechanics, as the category does not have enough isometries.
Quingo: A Programming Framework for Heterogeneous Quantum-Classical Computing with NISQ Features
Authors: Fu X. , Yu Jintao , Su Xing , Jiang Hanru , Wu Hua , Cheng Fucheng , Deng Xi , Zhang Jinrong , Jin Lei , Yang Yihang , Xu Le , Hu Chunchao , Huang Anqi , Huang Guangyao , Qiang Xiaogang , Deng Mingtang , Xu Ping , Xu Weixia , Liu Wanwei , Zhang Yu , Deng Yuxin , Wu Junjie , Feng Yuan
Published: December 2021

The increasing control complexity of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) systems underlines the necessity of integrating quantum hardware with quantum software. While mapping heterogeneous quantum-classical computing (HQCC) algorithms to NISQ hardware for execution, we observed a few dissatisfactions in quantum programming languages (QPLs), including difficult mapping to hardware, limited expressiveness, and counter-intuitive code. In addition, noisy qubits require repeatedly performed quantum experiments, which explicitly operate low-level configurations, such as pulses and timing of operations. This requirement is beyond the scope or capability of most existing QPLs.

We summarize three execution models to depict the quantum-classical interaction of existing QPLs. Based on the refined HQCC model, we propose the Quingo framework to integrate and manage quantum-classical software and hardware to provide the programmability over HQCC applications and map them to NISQ hardware. We propose a six-phase quantum program life-cycle model matching the refined HQCC model, which is implemented by a runtime system. We also propose the Quingo programming language, an external domain-specific language highlighting timer-based timing control and opaque operation definition, which can be used to describe quantum experiments. We believe the Quingo framework could contribute to the clarification of key techniques in the design of future HQCC systems.
Queryable Compression on Time-evolving Web and Social Networks with Streaming
Authors: Nelson Michael , Radhakrishnan Sridhar , Sekharan Chandra , Chatterjee Amlan , Krishna Sudhindra Gopal
Published: December 2021

Time-evolving web and social network graphs are modeled as a set of pages/individuals (nodes) and their arcs (links/relationships) that change over time. Due to their popularity, they have become increasingly massive in terms of their number of nodes, arcs, and lifetimes. However, these graphs are extremely sparse throughout their lifetimes. For example, it is estimated that Facebook has over a billion vertices, yet at any point in time, it has far less than 0.001% of all possible relationships. The space required to store these large sparse graphs may not fit in most main memories using underlying representations such as a series of adjacency matrices or adjacency lists.

We propose building a compressed data structure that has a compressed binary tree corresponding to each row of each adjacency matrix of the time-evolving graph. We do not explicitly construct the adjacency matrix, and our algorithms take the time-evolving arc list representation as input for its construction. Our compressed structure allows for directed and undirected graphs, faster arc and neighborhood queries, as well as the ability for arcs and frames to be added and removed directly from the compressed structure (streaming operations). We use publicly available network data sets such as Flickr, Yahoo!, and Wikipedia in our experiments and show that our new technique performs as well or better than our benchmarks on all datasets in terms of compression size and other vital metrics.
Phospholipid Scrambling by G Protein–Coupled Receptors
Authors: Khelashvili George , Menon Anant K.
Published: December 2021

Rapid flip-flop of phospholipids across the two leaflets of biological membranes is crucial for many aspects of cellular life. The transport proteins that facilitate this process are classified as pump-like flippases and floppases and channel-like scramblases. Unexpectedly, Class A G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs), a large class of signaling proteins exemplified by the visual receptor rhodopsin and its apoprotein opsin, are constitutively active as scramblases in vitro. In liposomes, opsin scrambles lipids at a unitary rate of >100,000 per second. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of opsin in a lipid membrane reveal conformational transitions that expose a polar groove between transmembrane helices 6 and 7. This groove enables transbilayer lipid movement, conceptualized as the swiping of a credit card (lipid) through a card reader (GPCR). Conformational changes that facilitate scrambling are distinct from those associated with GPCR signaling. In this review, we discuss the physiological significance of GPCR scramblase activity and the modes of its regulation in cells.
Studying Quantum Materials with Scanning SQUID Microscopy
Authors: Persky Eylon , Sochnikov Ilya , Kalisky Beena
Published: December 2021

Electronic correlations give rise to fascinating macroscopic phenomena such as superconductivity, magnetism, and topological phases of matter. Although these phenomena manifest themselves macroscopically, fully understanding the underlying microscopic mechanisms often requires probing on multiple length scales. Spatial modulations on the mesoscopic scale are especially challenging to probe, owing to the limited range of suitable experimental techniques. Here, we review recent progress in scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscopy. We demonstrate how scanning SQUID combines unmatched magnetic field sensitivity and highly versatile designs, by surveying discoveries in unconventional superconductivity, exotic magnetism, topological states, and more. Finally, we discuss how SQUID microscopy can be further developed to answer the increasing demand for imaging new quantum materials.
Correlating the Voltage Hysteresis in Li- and Mn-Rich Layered Oxides to Reversible Structural Changes by Using X-ray and Neutron Powder Diffraction
Authors: Strehle Benjamin , Zünd Tanja , Sicolo Sabrina , Kiessling Aleksandr , Baran Volodymyr , Gasteiger Hubert A.
Published: December 2021

Li- and Mn-rich layered oxides (LMR-NCMs) are promising cathode active materials (CAMs) in future lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their high energy density. However, the material undergoes a unique open circuit voltage (OCV) hysteresis between charge and discharge after activation, which compromises its roundtrip energy efficiency and affects the thermal management requirements for a LIB system. The hysteresis is believed to be caused by transition metal (TM) migration and/or by oxygen redox activities. Using in-situ X-ray powder diffraction (XPD), we monitor the lattice parameters of over-lithiated NCMs during the initial cycles and show that also the lattice parameters feature a distinct path dependence. When correlated to the OCV instead of the state of charge (SOC), this hysteresis vanishes for the unit cell volume and gives a linear correlation that is identical for different degrees of over-lithiation. We further aimed at elucidating the role of TM migration on the hysteresis phenomena by applying joint Rietveld refinements to a series of ex-situ XPD and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) samples. We critically discuss the limitations of this approach and compare the results with DFT simulations, showing that the quantification of TM migration in LMR-NCMs by diffraction is not as straightforward as often believed.
Analysis on Relationship between Accurate Poverty Alleviation and Stock Price Collapse Risk from the Perspective of Information Disclosure
Authors: Lin Chuan , Zhai Haomiao
Published: December 2021

Accurate poverty alleviation (APA) is crucial to building a well-off society in an all-round way. Companies and the capital market are implementers of APA. In the context of stock price collapse risk (SPCR), this paper verifies whether the APA by state-owned listed enterprises (SOLEs) could effectively suppress SPCR. Empirical results show that SOLEs engaging in APA and investing heavily in APA have a relatively low SPCR. This conclusion holds after the control of robustness and endogenous factors. Information disclosure system mediates the effect of APA on SPCR. Besides, APA suppresses SPCR more significantly in central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public welfare SOEs. Further analysis indicates that good institutional environment, strong poverty alleviation pressure, poverty experience of executives, and model of party organization governance can effectively enhance the influence of APA on SPCR. The research results suggest that SOLEs actively engaging in APA can effectively suppress SPCR by disclosing APA information. This is an organic manifestation of APA effectiveness in the capital market.
Nonlinear Cointegration and Asymmetric Adjustment in Purchasing Power Parity of the USA, Germany, and Pakistan
Authors: Ali Kashif , Hina Hafsa , Ijaz Muhammad , El-Morshedy Mahmoud
Published: December 2021

The current study explores nonlinear cointegration as well as asymmetric adjustment to investigate the long‐run purchasing power parity in three major trading partners of Pakistan. The ESTAR and LSTAR models were used to investigate the behavior of the nominal exchange rates. The findings declared that series follows the nonlinear exchange rate. The asymmetric behavior of the exchange rate allows the threshold cointegration model to be implemented. In the case of Pakistan‐China, the result suggests that long‐run PPP holds. As a result, trading will be more profitable if the exchange rate is varied in relation to major trading partners rather than just the US dollar.
A Prediction Method for the RUL of Equipment for Missing Data
Authors: Wenbai Chen , Chang Liu , Weizhao Chen , Huixiang Liu , Qili Chen , Peiliang Wu
Published: December 2021

We present a prediction framework to estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) of equipment based on the generative adversarial imputation net (GAIN) and multiscale deep convolutional neural network and long short‐term memory (MSDCNN‐LSTM). The method we proposed addresses the problem of missing data caused by sensor failures in engineering applications. First, a binary matrix is used to adjust the proportion of “0” to simulate the number of missing data in the engineering environment. Then, the GAIN model is used to impute the missing data and approximate the true sample distribution. Finally, the MSDCNN‐LSTM model is used for RUL prediction. Experiments are carried out on the commercial modular aero‐propulsion system simulation (C‐MAPSS) dataset to validate the proposed method. The prediction results show that the proposed method outperforms other methods when packet loss occurs, showing significant improvements in the root mean square error (RMSE) and the score function value.
Trusted Service Evaluation for Mobile Edge Users: Challenges and Reviews
Authors: Shao Tingting , Yang Xuan , Wang Fan , Yan Chao , Luhach Ashish Kr.
Published: December 2021

With the increasing growth of web services shared in various mobile edge platforms, it becomes necessary to evaluate all the candidates based on their quality of services to reduce the users’ service selection cost. However, the service quality data released by service providers cannot be simply deemed as trusted due to various subjective or objective reasons, which further produce a series of serious trust‐aware service evaluation problems, including service quality data sparsity and lack of feedback incentive. In view of this, we summarize the challenging issues existing in the current research field of trusted mobile edge service evaluation. Afterward, we review the current research status of the trusted service evaluation in the mobile edge environment and discuss one of the typical application scenarios based on trusted service evaluation, that is, recommender systems, as well as their diverse categories. We believe this research could be helpful in assisting a mobile edge platform to build a trusted reputation system for various smart applications hosted in the mobile edge platform.
Structural and Functional Modulation of Gut Microbiota by Jiangzhi Granules during the Amelioration of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Authors: Wang Rui-rui , Zhang Lin-fang , Chen Lu-ping , Wang Jian-ying , Zhang Lei , Xu Yue-song , Yang Pei-lin , Ji Guang , Liu Bao-cheng
Published: December 2021

Recently, accumulating evidence revealed that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is highly associated with the dysbiosis of gut microbiota. Jiang Zhi Granule (JZG), which is composed of five widely used Chinese herbs, has shown hypolipidemic effect, while whether such effect is mediated by gut microbiota is still unclear. Here, we found that both low and high doses of JZG (LJZ and HJZ) could improve hepatic steatosis and function, as well as insulin resistance in NAFLD mice. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that JZG treatment could reverse the dysbiosis of intestinal flora in NAFLD mice, exhibiting a dose‐dependent effect. Notably, HJZ could significantly reduce the relative abundance of Desulfovibrionaceae, while increasing the relative abundance of such as S24_7 and Lachnospiraceae. PICRUSt analysis showed that HJZ could significantly alter the functional profile of gut microbiota, including the reduction of the lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and sulfur metabolism pathway, which is verified by the decreased levels of fecal hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and serum lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP). In addition, hepatic mRNA sequencing further indicated that the HJZ group can regulate the peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor (PPAR) pathway and inflammatory signaling pathway, as validated by RT‐PCR and Western blot. We also found that different doses of JZG may regulate lipid metabolism through differentiated pathways, as LJZ mainly through the promotion of hepatic lipid hydrolysis, while HJZ mainly through the improvement of hepatic lipid oxidation. Taken together, JZG could modulate gut dysbiosis with dose‐effect, alleviate inflammation level, and regulate hepatic lipid metabolism, which may subsequently contribute to the improvement of NAFLD. Our study revealed the underlying mechanisms in the improvement of NAFLD by a Chinese herbal compound, providing future guidance for clinical usage.
Dynamic Properties Test and Constitutive Relation Study of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete under Uniaxial Compression
Authors: Zhao Zhiqing
Published: December 2021

For the purpose of studying the dynamic properties of lightweight aggregate concrete, dynamic performance tests under uniaxial compression were conducted by considering 10 different strain rates ranging from 10−5/s to 10−1/s, from which the stress‐strain curves under various compressive loads were obtained. From the stress‐strain curves, parameters including peak stress, peak strain, and elastic modulus of lightweight aggregate concrete, as well as the concrete failure mode, were determined and examined. By reviewing the relevant literature on ordinary concrete, the dynamic properties of lightweight aggregate concrete were analyzed accordingly. Meanwhile, by applying the dynamic elastoplastic damage constitutive model, the effect of dynamic rate on lightweight aggregate concrete was calculated. The experimental results showed that the damage mode of lightweight aggregate concrete under the static and dynamic strain rates belonged to shear failure, which is different from that of ordinary concrete (binding material failure). On the other hand, it was also found that the peak stress and elastic modulus of lightweight aggregate concrete could be increased by 54.48% and 28.75%, respectively, with the increase of strain rate, suggesting that the loading strain rate has a stronger influence on lightweight aggregate concrete than on ordinary concrete. Based on the experimental data, both the peak stress and nondimensionalized elastic modulus are in linear relationship with the logarithm of the nondimensionalized strain rate. Moreover, the established constitutive model had been verified as an effective and reliable tool for simulating the dynamic rate effect of lightweight aggregate concrete.
Research on Night Light Comfort of Pedestrian Space in Urban Park
Authors: Zhang Jun , Dai Wenhan
Published: December 2021

The outdoor light environment significantly affects aspects of public psychological and physiological health. This study conducted experiments to quantify the effects of the light environment on visitor light comfort in urban park pedestrian space. Nine sets of lighting conditions with different average horizontal illuminance (2 lx, 6 lx, 10 lx) and colour temperatures (5600 K, 4300 K, 3000 K) were established virtual reality scenarios. Subjective light comfort was evaluated, and electroencephalogram (EEG) was measured on 18 subjects to comprehensively study the effects of different light environments on human light comfort. The results of the comprehensive evaluation showed that colour temperature had a very significant impact on subjective light comfort, with warm light being generally more favourable than cool light in enhancing human subjective light comfort. The results of the EEG analysis show that the average horizontal illuminance is an important factor in the level of physiological fatigue, and that physiological fatigue can be maintained in a superior state at an appropriate level of illuminance. Based on the results of both subjective and objective factors, a comprehensive analysis was carried out to propose a range of average horizontal illuminance (4.08 lx, 6.99 lx) and a range of colour temperature (3126 K, 4498 K) for the comprehensive light comfort zone in urban park pedestrian space.
Innovative Development of Egg Carving Cultural and Creative Products Using 3D Printing Technology Based on Internet of Things
Authors: Liang Wei
Published: December 2021

’3D printing technology is becoming increasingly popular in the automotive, electronics, and healthcare industries, to name a few, and the IoT can play an important role in ensuring quality control by connecting big data analytics to 3D printing through the strategic use of embedded sensors. The purpose is to integrate 3D printing technology with intangible cultural heritage-related cultural and creative products in the new era background, so as to achieve the double effects of economic benefits and cultural heritage. The connotation, characteristics, and types of egg carving handicraft are taken as the theoretical basis, and the innovation and development of egg carving cultural and creative products in Linxia city, Gansu Province, are taken as an example. Then, the innovation of egg carving handicraft technology is put forward, including the innovation of technique and expression form. On this basis, 3D printing technology is used, the hollow egg carving model which combines the characteristics of Gansu Linxia egg carving is designed, and 3D solid printing is carried out. The results show that the surface of the eggshell is not too bright and the effect is very subtle. The dark color of the eggshell can well set off the white font and white picture, and the calligraphy and knife method can be integrated and unified. The 3D modeling image of egg carving reveals that the selection of color and material can set off a better viewing effect. Moreover, the 3D printed hollow egg carving works have complete appearance and high artistic design, which has strong artistic effect and is in line with the special color of Gansu Linxia egg carving. Therefore, the strategy of innovative development of egg carving cultural and creative products based on 3D printing technology has a promoting effect on the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage of Linxia egg carving in Gansu Province.
Functional Preservation and Oncologic Control following Robot-Assisted versus Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy for Intermediate- and High-Risk Localized Prostate Cancer: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis
Authors: Deng Wen , Chen Ru , Zhu Ke , Cheng Xiaofeng , Xiong Yunqiang , Liu Weipeng , Zhang Cheng , Li Yulei , Jiang Hao , Zhou Xiaochen , Sun Ting , Chen Luyao , Liu Xiaoqiang , Wang Gongxian , Fu Bin
Published: December 2021

Aim. To evaluate the urinary continence (UC), erectile function, and cancer control obtained following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) for intermediate- and high-risk localized prostate cancer (PCa). Materials and Methods. 232 patients bearing intermediate- and high-risk localized PCa were enrolled in this study. Perioperative, functional, and oncological outcomes were analyzed after applying the propensity score matched method. Results. Within the matched cohort, the RARP group was corrected with a significantly shorter mean operative time than the LRP group (p < 0.001). Patients in the RARP arm were also at a lower risk of ≤ Grade II complications than those in the LRP group (p = 0.036). Meanwhile, the proportions of transfusion and ≥ Grade II complications in the RARP group were similar to those in the LRP group (p = 0.192 andp = 1.000, respectively). No significant differences regarding the rates of pT3 disease and positive surgical margin existed between the two groups. RARP versus LRP tended to a significantly higher percentage of UC recovery within the follow-up period. Significant differences were also found between the RARP and LRP arms in terms of erectile function at postoperative 6 months and the last follow-up (p = 0.013 andp = 0.009, respectively). Statistical comparability in biochemical recurrence-free survival was observed between the two groups (p = 0.228). Conclusions. For the surgical management of intermediate- and high-risk localized PCa, RARP tended to a lower risk of ≤ Grade II complications and superior functional preservation without cancer control being compromised than LRP.
Image Edge Detection Algorithm Based on Fuzzy Radial Basis Neural Network
Authors: Feng Lin , Wang Jian , Ding Chao
Published: December 2021

Digital image processing technology is widely used in production and life, and digital images play a pivotal role in the ever-changing technological development. Noise can affect the expression of image information. The edge is the reflection of the main structure and contour of the image, and it is also the direct interpretation of image understanding and the basis for further segmentation and recognition. Therefore, suppressing noise and improving the accuracy of edge detection are important aspects of image processing. To address these issues, this paper presents a new detection algorithm combined with information fusion based on the existing image edge detection techniques, and the algorithm is studied from two aspects of fuzzy radial basis fusion discrimination, in terms of preprocessing algorithm, comparing the denoising effect of mean and median filters with different template sizes on paper images with added noise, and selecting the improved median filter denoising, comparing different operator edge detection. The effect of image edge detection contour is finally selected as the3∗3Sobel operator for edge detection; the binarized image edge detection contour information is found as the minimum outer rectangle and labeled, and then, the original paper image is scanned line by line to segment the target image edge region. The image edge detection algorithm based on fuzzy radial basis fuser can not only speed up the image preprocessing, meet the real-time detection, and reduce the amount of data processed by the upper computer but also can accurately identify five image edge problems including folds and cracks, which has good application prospects.