bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fungi-based Biomimetic Approach to Address Plastic Pollution: A Developing Nation's Perspective
Authors: kundanati lakshminath
Published: September 2022

Plastic waste management has become a major problem in the present times, and many countries are struggling to deal with it. The situation has become a crisis in developing nations due to a lack of proper waste management, resources, technology, and political will. The extensive usage of foam-based packaging materials such as Styrofoam as a secondary packaging material has led to environmental pollution both in land and water, in developing countries. It is important to address this problem using a sustainable approach such as biomimetic manufacturing. One such solution that is present in developed nations is mycelium-based packaging, wherein the agricultural and industrial-based cellulose waste is converted into a biocomposite with the help of a fungi root network. Such a process has the potential to convert biomass into useful products but also has an indirect effect on pollution reduction by eliminating stubble burning in nations like India. In this review, we examine the details of the manufacturing process, properties, advantages, and limitations of such composite materials. A comparison of the present status of such materials produced in the market by some of the companies across the world is presented. Finally, the challenges involved with such materials and the future directions are discussed.
Social Media Platforms: Trading with Prediction Error Minimization for Your Attention
Authors: Ciria Alejancra , Albarracin Mahault , Miller Mark , Lara Bruno
Published: September 2022

Culture exploits the acquisition of meaningful content by crafting regimes of shared attention, determining what is relevant, valuable, and salient. Culture changes the field of relevant social affordances worthy of being acted upon in a context-sensitive manner. When relevant affordances are highly weighted, their attentional capture and their salience increase the probability of them being enacted due to the associated expectation for minimizing prediction error. This process is known as active inference. In the digital era, individuals need to infer the action-related attributes of digital cues, here characterized as digital affordances. The digital affordances of digital social platforms are of particular interest here. Digital social affordances are defined as online possibilities of social interactions. By their own nature, these are salient because they are related to social interactions and relevant social cues. However, the problem of digital social platforms is that they are not equivalent to situated social interactions because their structure is built, mediated, and defined by third-parties with diverse interests. The third-parties behind the digital social platforms are using the same mechanism exploited by culture to manipulate the shared patterns of attention. Moreover, digital social platforms are deliberately designed to be hyper-stimulating, making digital social affordances highly rewarding and increasingly salient. This appropriation, for economic purposes, is an issue of great importance, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic brought deep global changes, pushing societies to an online digital way of life. Here, we examined different types of digital social affordances under an active inference view, placing them into two categories, those for self-identity formation, and those for belief-updating. This paper aims to analyze digital social affordances in light of the prediction error dynamics they might elicit to their users. Although each of the analyzed digital social affordances allows different epistemic and instrumental digital actions, they all share the characteristic of having an "easy" and a fast expected rate of error reduction. Here, we aim to provide a new hypothesis about how the design behind digital social affordances is built on our natural attractiveness to minimize prediction error and the resulting positive embodied feelings when doing so. Finally, it is suggested that because digital social affordances are becoming highly weighted in the field of affordances, this might be putting at risk our context-sensitive grip on a rich, dynamic and varied field of relevant affordances.
DNA sequence and structure under the prism of group theory and algebraic surfaces
Authors: Planat Michel , Amaral Marcelo M. , Fang Fang , Chester David , Aschheim Raymond , Irwin Klee
Published: September 2022

Taking a DNA-sequence, a word with letters/bases A, T, G and C, as the relation between the generators of an infinite group $\pi$, one can discriminate two important families: (i) the cardinality structure for conjugacy classes of subgroups of $\pi$ is that of a free group on $1$ to $4$ bases and the DNA word, viewed as a substitution sequence, is aperiodic. (ii) The cardinality structure for conjugacy classes of subgroups of $\pi$ is not that of a free group, the sequence is generally not aperiodic and topological properties of $\pi$ have to be determined differently. The two cases rely on DNA conformations such as A-DNA, B-DNA, Z-DNA, G-quadruplexes, etc. We found a few salient results: Z-DNA, when involved in transcription, replication and regulation in a healthy situation implies (i). The sequence of telomeric repeats comprising $3$ distinct bases, most of the time, satisfies (i). For $2$-base sequences in the free case (i) or non free case (ii), the topology of $\pi$ may be found in terms of the $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ character variety of $\pi$ and the attached algebraic surfaces. The linking of two unknotted curves --the Hopf link-- may occur in the topology of $\pi$ in cases of biological importance, in telomeres, G-quadruplexes, hairpins and junctions, a feature we already found in the context of models of topological quantum computing. For $3$- and $4$ base sequences, other knotting configurations are noticed and a building block of the topology is the $4$-punctured sphere. Our methods have the potential to discriminate potential diseases associated to the sequences.
The Application of Appropriate Technology for Basreng Crackers Dough Mixer Machine for Home Industry Development
Authors: Riptanti Erlyna Wida , Kusnandar Kusnandar , Khomah Isti , Qonita Raden Rara Aulia
Published: September 2022

Basreng crackers are fried meatball crackers produced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Sumber Rejeki and are named Kripik Basreng. Basreng is a cracker made from tapioca flour, noodles, and eggs. The problem faced by Sumber Rejeki SME’s that if the SME produces in a large capacity, the kneading process takes a long time and the ingredients used are not mixed evenly. This activity aims to introduce dough machines in SME Sumber Rejeki. The method is participatory by involving SME Sumber Rejeki, starting from the need identification stage, design, and machine introduction. As a result of these activities, the community service team succeeded in realizing a dough kneading machine under the needs and desires of SME Sumber Rejeki. This machine can increase time efficiency by about 80-90% and reduction of labor operating costs by IDR 2,000/prescription processing. The process of making dough is only one-sixth time per recipe compared to without using a machine. This process has an impact on the workforce being able to do other jobs so that they are more productive. This condition affects increasing the production capacity of basreng up to 400% per day and improving the dough quality. The side effect is good business management to production basreng more efficient than previous and fulfilled the demand quickly.
Attribute Selection Based Genetic Network Programming for Intrusion Detection System
Authors: Xu Yuzhao , Sun Yanjing , Ma Zhanguo , Zhao Hongjie , Wang Yanfen , Lu Nannan ,   School of Information and Control Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology No.1 Daxue Road, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China,   School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology No.1 Daxue Road, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China,   School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology No.381 Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510641, China
Published: September 2022

Intrusion detection, as a technology used to monitor abnormal behavior and maintain network security, has attracted many researchers’ attention in recent years. Thereinto, association rule mining is one of the mainstream methods to construct intrusion detection systems (IDS). However, the existing association rule algorithms face the challenges of high false positive rate and low detection rate. Meanwhile, too many rules might lead to the uncertainty increase that affects the performance of IDS. In order to tackle the above problems, a modified genetic network programming (GNP) is proposed for class association rule mining. Specifically, based on the property that node connections in the directed graph structure of GNP can be used to construct attribute associations, we propose to introduce information gain into GNP node selection. The most important attributes are thus selected, and the irrelevant attributes are removed before the rule is extracted. Moreover, not only the uncertainty among the class association rules is alleviated and also time consumption is reduced. The extracted rules can be applied to any classifier without affecting the detection performance. Experiment results based on NSL-KDD and KDDCup99 verify the performance of our proposed algorithm.
Pelatihan Edmodo Dan Quizizz Guna Meningkatkan Keterampilan Guru SMK Dalam Pembelajaran Online
Authors: Tuti Iriani  , Sri Handoyo Santoso
Published: September 2022

Technological developments require the world of education to carry out information technology-based learning. However, teachers' skills in using technology are still very limited. Training is needed to be able to improve teacher skills to face the demands and challenges of the times The Community Service Program held for vocational teachers aims to improve vocational school teachers’ skills regarding the application of edmodo and Quizizz in online learning. This community service is carried out by means of training and mentoring for 12 teachers of SMK 1 Cikarang. The results of this activity, skilled teachers apply Edmodo applications for learning and apply Quizizz applications to conduct assessments in learning.

 

Abstrak

Perkembangan teknologi menuntut dunia pendidikan untuk melalukan pembelajaran berbasis teknologi informasi. Namun keterampilan guru dalam penggunaan teknologi masih sangat terbatas. Diperlukan pelatihan untuk dapat meningkatkan keterampilan guru agar dapat menghadapi tuntutan dan tantangan perkembangan zaman. Program Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat ini dilakukan bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keterampilan guru terkait penerapan  edmodo dan Quizzi dalam pembelajaran daring.   Pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini dilakukan dengan metode pelatihan dan pendampingan bagi 12 guru-guru SMK 1 Cikarang.  Hasil dari kegiatan ini, guru terampil menerapkan  aplikasi Edmodo untuk pembelajaran dan menerapkan aplikasi Quizizz  untuk melakukan penilaian dalam pembelajaran

Kata Kunci: Edmodo, Quizzi , pembelajaran daring
A Critical Review of Propensity Score Matching in Causal Inference
Authors: Yu Jiwoong , Lee Woojoo
Published: September 2022

Propensity score matching (PSM) is one of the most widely-used causal inference methods to estimate the causal estimands such as average treatment effect or average treatment effect on the treated from observational studies. To implement PSM, a researcher first selects an appropriate set of confounders, estimates the propensity score, and matches the treated group with the control group using a matching algorithm such as nearest neighborhood or optimal matching. In this paper, we highlight the importance of investigating the assumptions employed in the PSM procedure thoroughly because they strongly affect the analysis result, but are not testable using observational data. We explain how to exploit the domain knowledge to avoid the potential risks from the violation of the untestable assumptions, and show how the research purpose is linked to selecting the matching algorithm and downstream analysis after PSM. In addition, to examine the vulnerability of the causal result, we highlight the use of sensitivity analysis for the analysis after PSM. These points are demonstrated in detail using National Supported Work data.
Adapting agile philosophies and tools for a research environment
Authors: Wayant Nicole
Published: September 2022

There exist myriad project management methodologies, but none is focused solely on scientific research. Research projects are unique compared to other types of projects, including software development, manufacturing, and drug trials; research projects inherently have unplanned risks. These risks provide a challenge to managing resources, developing schedules, and providing team ownership while still achieving project goals. To help mitigate the risks and the challenges associated with scientific research, a methodology to manage research projects needs to be developed.
Simulation of Polymer Injection in Granular Media: Implications of Fluid-Driven Fractures, Water Quality, and Undissolved Polymers on Polymer Injectivity
Authors: Li Zihao , Espinoza D. Nicolas , Balhoff Matthew T.
Published: September 2022

Polymer flooding is an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method which improves the mobility ratio and sweep efficiency of a waterflood. In theory, the high viscosity of the polymer reduces its injectivity compared to water. However, field studies have documented much higher polymer injectivity than predicted by theoretical models. There are various reasons for high polymer injectivity. The objective of this work is to predict polymer injectivity in granular media accounting for fluid-induced fractures, water quality, polymer rheology, and undissolved polymers. We perform grain-scale, coupled fluid dynamics and granular mechanics modeling. Fluid-particle interactions are modeled by coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the discrete element method (DEM). Simulation results show that polymer injection can create fractures in the granular media along the direction perpendicular to the minimum principal stress, thereby reducing wellbore pressure buildup at a constant polymer injection rate. The polymer tends to flow in the direction of fracture propagation in granular media, so the direction of the fracture affects the swept area of the polymer. Polymer rheology, water quality, and undissolved polymer also affect the polymer injectivity. Suspended solid particles may plug pores and reduce the injectivity of polymer by ~25%. Mechanically trapped undissolved polymers can greatly reduce polymer injectivity in low-permeability granular media. This work shows for the first time initiation of polymer-driven fractures in a granular model and demonstrates its implications on polymer injectivity.
New Experimental Results Show the Application of Fiber Optic to Detect and to Track Gas Position in Marine Risers and Shed Light on the Gas Migration Phenomenon Inside a Closed Well
Authors: Santos Otto , Almeida Mauricio , Sharma Jyotsna , Kunju Mahendra , Chen Yuanhang , Waltrich Paulo
Published: September 2022

The main objective of this paper is to present and discuss the results and significant observations gathered during 13 experimental runs conducted in a full-scale test well at Louisiana State University (LSU). The other two objectives of this manuscript are to show the use of distributed fiber-optic sensing and downhole pressure sensors data to detect and track the gas position inside the test well during the experiments, and to discuss experimental and simulated data of the gas migration phenomenon in a closed well.

An existing test well at LSU research facilities was recompleted and instrumented with fiber-optic sensors to continuously collect downhole data and with four pressure and temperature downhole gauges at four discrete depths within an annulus formed by 9 5/8 in. casing and 2 7/8 in. to a depth of 5,025 ft. A chemical line was attached to the tubing allowing the nitrogen injection at the bottom of the hole. The research facilities were also equipped with a surface data acquisition system. The experiments consisted in injecting nitrogen into the test well filled with water by two means: either injecting it down through the chemical line or down through the tubing to be subsequently bullheaded to the annulus. Afterward, either the nitrogen was circulated out of the well with a backpressure being applied at surface to mimic a managed pressure drilling (MPD) operation or left to migrate to the surface with the test well closed.

During the runs, the three acquisition systems (fiber optic, downhole gauges, and surface data acquisition) recorded all relevant well control parameters for a variety of gas injected volumes (2.0–15.1 bbl), circulation rates (100–300 gal/min), and applied backpressures (100–300 psi). The experimental results gathered by the acquisition systems were very consistent in measuring gas velocities inside the well. The numerical model predictions matched very close to the pressure behavior observed in the experimental trials. In the gas migration experiments, it was observed that the stabilized casing pressure at the end of gas migration is less than the initial bottomhole pressure, and it is a function of the volume of gas injected in the well. These facts are supported by the numerical simulation results.

In this paper, we show the possibility of the use of fiber-optic and downhole pressure sensors information to detect and track the gas position inside a well or the marine riser during normal or MPD operations. Additionally, the vast amount of experimental data gathered during the experiments in which the nitrogen was left in the closed well to migrate to surface helped shed light on the controversial issue concerning the surface pressure buildup while the gas migrates to surface in a closed well. Numerical simulations were all instrumental for supporting the findings.
Influence Laws for Hydraulic Sealing Capacity in Shale Gas Well Cementing
Authors: Li Jin , Liu Jian , Li Zaoyuan , Liu Yang , Wu Xuning , Song Weitao
Published: September 2022

Ensuring the sealing integrity of cement sheaths used for shale gas wells during hydraulic fracturing processes has become a major challenge. The sustained casing pressure, strong temperature difference stress, and cyclic loading and unloading affect the safe long-term production of shale gas wells. In this paper, we propose a new hydraulic sealing capacity (HSC) evaluation system for cementing interfaces. Specifically, this study aimed at understanding the influence law and failure mechanism of the interface sealing of shale gas wells before hydraulic fracturing. The results showed that the HSC improved with an increase in the flushing time and velocity. The HSC of the cement-formation interface was likely to be compromised if the cement slurry was contaminated with a spacer and oil-based mud (OBM). When the cement slurry was mixed with more than 10% OBM, channels formed easily in the cement sheath body. Moreover, the preflush injection sequence of “flushing fluid + spacer + flushing fluid” significantly improved the HSC of the cement-formation interface. Based on the experimental results and field operation experience, we determined that the optimal flushing time and flushing displacement were 15–20 minutes and 1.8 m3/min, respectively. Finally, the microstructure and distribution characteristics of the cement-formation interface under different conditions were obtained by computed tomography (CT) analysis, which explains the formation and failure mechanism of the cement-formation interface HSC. The development of harmful pores (R > 1 mm) was the main factor affecting the HSC of the cement-formation interface. The number of harmful pores in cement-formation interface increased significantly after being polluted by OBM. Combined with the field operation experience, the prefluid injection sequence of “6 m3 flushing fluid + 25 m3 spacer fluid + 6 m3 fresh water” is adopted, and the displacement volume is 1.4–1.6 m3/min, and the cement slurry is injected 10–15 m3 more, which can greatly improve the HSC of the cement-formation interface. Our findings highlight the need for more explicit considerations regarding the impact of cementing technology and actual operation on the HSC of an interface under the requirements of efficient production and extended well life.
Integrated bioinformatics analysis reveals novel key biomarkers in diabetic nephropathy
Authors: Joshi Harish , Vastrad Basavaraj , Joshi Nidhi , Vastrad Chanabasayya
Published: September 2022

Objectives
The underlying molecular mechanisms of diabetic nephropathy (DN) have yet not been investigated clearly. In this investigation, we aimed to identify key genes involved in the pathogenesis and prognosis of DN.
Methods
We downloaded next generation sequencing (NGS) dataset GSE142025 from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database having 28 DN samples and 9 normal control samples. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between DN and normal control samples were analyzed. Biological function analysis of the DEGs was enriched by GO and REACTOME pathway. Then we established the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, modules, miRNA-DEG regulatory network and TF-DEG regulatory network. Hub genes were validated by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
Results
A total of 549 DEGs were detected including 275 up regulated and 274 down regulated genes. Biological process analysis of functional enrichment showed these DEGs were mainly enriched in cell activation, integral component of plasma membrane, lipid binding and biological oxidations. Analyzing the PPI network, miRNA-DEG regulatory network and TF-DEG regulatory network, we screened hub genes MDFI, LCK, BTK, IRF4, PRKCB, EGR1, JUN, FOS, ALB and NR4A1 by the Cytoscape software. The ROC curve analysis confirmed that hub genes were of diagnostic value.
Conclusions
Taken above, using integrated bioinformatics analysis, we have identified key genes and pathways in DN, which could improve our understanding of the cause and underlying molecular events, and these key genes and pathways might be therapeutic targets for DN.
Macroporous honeycomb-like magnesium oxide fabricated as long-life and outstanding Pb(II) adsorbents combined with theory calculation
Authors: He Xingyu , Lu Jiarui , Wei Hong , Liu Baixiong
Published: September 2022

The macroporous honeycomb-like MgO (MHM) had been successfully prepared by hard template method using polystyrene (PS) spheres with different particle sizes. The adsorption performance and specific surface areas of MHM were inversely proportional to the pore diameters. Among the prepared MHM materials, MHM-400 exhibited most excellent adsorption performance of 3676 mg/g towards Pb at 25°C. The macropore in MHM played a major role in the adsorption process, Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model further indicated that Pb removal by MHM-400 was dominated by particle diffusion. The thermodynamic analysis revealed that the Pb(II) adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. MHM-400 was a kind of long-life adsorbent, which also exhibited high anti-interference ability towards typically coexisting ions (Na+ and K+). According to the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, the Pb could be adsorbed on the top site of oxygen atom at the surface of cubic MgO (200) plane, the adsorption energy (Ead) was 0.159 eV. The XRD and FTIR analyses revealed the further formation of Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 and PbO after Pb adsorption. Furthermore, MHM-400 could effectively remove both cadmium and lead ions from wastewater within 20 min and the adsorption efficiency achieved > 99%, suggesting that MHM-400 was a potential material for effective hazardous ions removal.
The Arabic Citation Index - Toward a better understanding of Arab scientific literature
Authors: El-Ouahi Jamal
Published: September 2022

The Arabic Citation Index (ARCI) was launched in 2020. This article provides an overview of the scientific literature contained in this new database and explores its possible usage in research evaluation. As of May 2022, ARCI had indexed 138,283 scientific publications published between 2015 and 2020. ARCI's coverage is characterised by using the metadata available in scientific publications. First, I investigate the distributions of the indexed literature at various levels (research domains, countries, languages, open access). Articles make up nearly all the documents indexed with a share of 99% of ARCI. The Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences fields have the highest concentration of publications. Most indexed journals are published in Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. About 8% of publications in ARCI are published in languages other than Arabic. Second, I use an unsupervised machine learning model, LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), and the text mining algorithm of VOSviewer to uncover the main topics in ARCI. These methods provide a better understanding of ARCI's thematic structure. Next, I discuss how ARCI can complement global standards in the context of a more inclusive research evaluation. Finally, I suggest a few research opportunities after discussing the findings of this study.
IKKα kinase coordinates BRD4 and STAT3 signaling to subvert DNA damage-based anticancer therapy
Authors: Pecharroman Irene , Bertran Joan , Villanueva Daniel Alvarez , Guillén Yolanda , Sole Laura , Lobo Teresa , Alonso-Marañon Josune , Martínez Maria , García-Hernández Violeta , Gimenez Gemma , Colomer Carlota , Mulero María Carmen , Gonzales Jessica , Salazar Ramon , Santos Cristina , Garrido Marta , Villanueva Alberto , Borràs Eva , Sabidó Eduard , Bonfill-Teixidor Ester , Iurlaro Raffaella , Seoane Joan , Iglesias Mar , Bigas Anna , Espinosa Lluis
Published: September 2022

Activation of the IKK kinase complex has recurrently been linked to colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation and progression. However, identification of downstream effectors other than NF-kB has remained elusive.
Analysis of IKK-dependent substrates after UV-treatment revealed that BRD4 phosphorylation by IKKa is required for chromatin-binding dynamics upon damage. Moreover, IKKa induces the NF-kB-dependent transcription of LIF leading to STAT3 activation, association of BRD4 to STAT3 and recruitment to specific target genes. IKKa abrogation results in defective BRD4 and STAT3 function leading to irreparable DNA damage and apoptotic cell death upon different stimuli. Simultaneous inhibition of BRAF-dependent IKKa activity and JAK/STAT pathway enhanced the therapeutic potential of 5-FU plus irinotecan in CRC patient-derived organoids and is curative in a chemotherapy-resistant CRC xenograft model. Coordinated expression of LIF and IKKa is a poor prognosis marker for CRC patients.
Our data uncover a functional link between IKKa, BRD4 and JAK/STAT signaling with clinical relevance.
Attempt to mitigate marine emissions with clean fuel based on propanol and sunflower biodiesel
Authors: Khan Md Modassir , Kadian Arun Kumar , Sharma Rabindra Prasad
Published: September 2022

The quaternary blends (diesel-biodiesel-vegetable oil-alcohol)
offer enormous potential for reducing fossil fuel usage and
mitigating air pollution caused by marine diesel engines.
Biodiesel and alcohol are alternate fuels possessing high oxygen
content, ensuring clean combustion. Vegetable oil is beneficial in
saving diesel contribution and increasing engine lubrication. The
objective of the present work was to reduce the dependency on
conventional diesel and to come up with cleaner fuel that can also
improve engine performance. This experimental work aims to lower
exhaust emissions by fueling a single-cylinder, four-stroke
direct-injection diesel engine with novel quaternary blends
comprising diesel (50%), sunflower biodiesel (25%), sunflower oil
(5%), and alcohol (20%). In order to develop cleaner fuel than
diesel, different quaternary blends were prepared by varying the
length of the carbon chain of alcohols in the blends, namely,
DBOEth20, DBOProp20, DBOBut20, DBOHep20, and DBODec20. The
performance emissions of quaternary blends were tested at varied
engine loads from 5 Nm to 20 Nm (full load), while engine speed was
fixed at 1800 rpm. The results indicate that DBOProp20 resulted in
the lowest fuel consumption and highest thermal efficiency.
DBOProp20 reduced CO2, NOx, and smoke emissions by 19.6%, 9.9%, and
85.7%, as compared to diesel.
COVID-19 plasma exosomes promote pro-inflammatory immune responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells
Authors: Chen Lechuang , Chen Rui , Yao Min , Feng Zhimin , Yuan Guoxiang , Ye Fengchun , Nguyen Kien , Karn Jonathan , McComsey Grace , McIntyre Thomas , Jin Ge
Published: September 2022

Elevated serum cytokine production in COVID-19 patients is associated with disease progression and severity. However, the stimulus that initiates cytokine production in patients remains to be fully revealed. Virus-infected cells can release virus-associated exosomes, extracellular vesicles (EVs) of endocytic origin, into the blood to deliver viral cargoes able to regulate immune responses. Here, we report that plasma exosomes from COVID-19 patients contain SARS-CoV-2 RNA. COVID-19 plasma exosomes stimulated robust production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and other inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in human peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Exosome depletion abolished these stimulated responses. COVID-19 plasma exosomes induced proinflammatoryresponses in CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and CD14+monocytes but not significantly in regulatory T cells, Th17 T cells, or memory T cells. COVID-19 plasma exosomes carry viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) intermediates, protect the dsRNA cargo from RNase, and deliver the dsRNA to recipient cells. COVID-19 plasma exosomes significantly increase the expression of endosomal toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3), TLR7, TLR8, and TLR9 in peripheral T cells and monocytes. Inhibition of TLR3 by a specific pharmacological inhibitor considerably reduced the production of cytokines and chemokines in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells but not in CD14+monocytes, highlighting divergent signaling pathways of immune cells in response to COVID-19 plasma exosomes. Our results indicate a novel model of crosstalk between SARS-CoV-2 infection and immune responses able to contribute to elevated cytokine production associated with COVID-19 progression, severity, and long-haul symptoms.
A Scalable Derivative-free Exploration Approach for Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Chen Xiong-Hui
Published: September 2022

Exploration in complex environments remains a challenge for deep reinforcement learning (RL). Derivative-free optimization (DFO), which provides efficient black-box solution sampling mechanisms, is a potential way to address this issue. Recent studies which inject these mechanisms into RL have shown better exploration abilities than derivative-based policy optimization methods. However, we found that these methods suffer from low sample efficiency in high-dimensional policy parameter space, which limits the adaptability of these methods in complex tasks requiring large neural networks to represent well-performed policies. In this paper, we propose a scalable exploration algorithm based on derivative-free optimization, named Scalable Derivative-free Exploration (SDFE), which improves exploration in complex RL problems. SDFE handles the high-dimensional policy searching problem by optimizing policy in a transformed small parameter space of policy, rather than the original parameter space of policy neural network. SDFE is a general framework that is compatible with derivative-free optimization methods and off-policy policy-based algorithms. In experiments, we instantiate SDFE with two derivative-free optimization algorithms (SRACOS and CMAES) and three off-policy actor-critic algorithms (SAC, ACER, and DDPG), to show its efficiency and adaptability. We conduct experiments on MuJoCo tasks and 42 pixel-based games in Atari, empirically verifying that SDFE can reach better performance with a competitive number of samples on both tasks.
A Fast Failover Technique for Link Failures and Proactive controller based Fault Recovery Mechanism in Software Defined Networks
Authors: Kumar S Sharathkumar , Sreen N
Published: September 2022

In this work, a fast fault tolerant failure methodology is proposed to solve problems including single link and multi-link failure by including pre-established various alternate backup paths for each pair from origin to final destination.
In addition, a Reliable fast failover technique for link faults and fault recovery mechanism using proactive controller Software defined Network (FF-FRM-SDN) is implemented by making use of openflow-enabled switches and applying a disjoint path selection methodology producing the best failure recovery mechanism and to achieve the high probability of successful transmission. To conclude, if any fault or failure is detected in SDN, the proposed recovery approach minimizes available packet loss by making use of alternate paths and proactively form flow rules by using flow rules to reduce the failure recovery time.
From the simulation results obtained, the proposed FF_FRM_SDN method achieves considerably improved results w.r.t parameters like Packet loss Ratio, End-to-End delay (transmission delay) and Failure recovery time as compared with the other traditional SDN baseline approaches.
Effect of intubation in the lateral position under general anesthesia induction on the position of double-lumen tube placement in patients undergoing unilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
Authors: Zhang Xi , Wang Dong-Xu , Zhang Qin , Shen Qi-Bin , Tong Fei , Hu Yong-He , Zhang Zhen-Duo , Liu Fei-Fan , Tang Ya-Wen , Chen Juan-Li , Liu He , Hu Si-Ping
Published: September 2022

• Background

The double-lumen tube (DLT) is an essential equipment for thoracic anesthesia and the precise position of DLT placement is particularly important for anesthesia and surgery. However, the incidence of DLT malposition remains high and it leads to lung isolation failure and hypoxemia during one-lung ventilation. This trial aims to explore the clinical application and efficacy of intubation in the lateral position under general anesthesia induction to reduce the incidence of DLT malposition in patients undergoing unilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS).

• Methods

In this prospective, randomized, controlled trial, we will recruit 108 patients, aged 18–80 years, scheduled for elective unilateral VATS with DLT intubation under general anesthesia, and they will be randomly assigned to two groups: a lateral DLT intubation group (group L) and a conventional supine DLT intubation group (group C). The left-sided DLT will be used to intubate in patients of both groups. The position of DLT will be confirmed and adjusted by using the fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB). The primary outcome is the incidence of DLT malposition observed via the FOB, and the secondary outcomes include the time of intubation, the frequency and duration of re-adjustments of DLT placement under FOB, whether to re-intubation, intraoperative vital signs and postoperative recovery.

• Discussion

Accurate DLT positioning is particularly important in thoracic surgery, but the incidence of DLT malposition is still high in the present thoracic anesthesia. This trial aims to investigate whether lateral DLT intubation can reduce the incidence of DLT malposition, with more stable intraoperative vital signs and fewer postoperative complications.

Trial registration:

Study protocol registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with ChiCTR2200060794 on June 11, 2022.
A new insight on the NO-CO reaction at the electronic level: Homogeneous, E-R and L-H mechanisms
Authors: Yue Shuang , Wu Chengli , Li Kun
Published: September 2022

Carbonaceous surface, as one of the major carriers in coal
combustion, was found to exert great influence on nitric oxide with
carbon monoxide (NO-CO) reactions. Although there have been some
studies addressing the NO-CO reaction, the inherent mechanism still
remains obscure. In this work, some updated mechanisms with details
were proposed at the electronic level. Using density functional
theory (DFT) calculations, the preferred pathways were identified
with three channels consisting of homogeneous reaction, the
Eley-Rideal (E-R) and Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) heterogeneous
reactions. Through the analyses of chemical bond and electronic
transfer, the reasons for the difference in thermodynamic energy
among the three mechanisms were discussed in detail. Results show
that among these channels, the NO-CO reaction is more likely to
occur along E-R mechanism, due to its lower energy barrier of
rate-determining step. At the initial stage, there is a higher
degree of electronic localization between NO molecules in E-R
mechanism, leading to a lower energy barrier during the formation
of NO dimer. Meanwhile, a large quantify of electrons floods into
the N-N, N-O and O-O bonds of NO dimer in the homogeneous reaction,
which certainly gets more difficult for the dissociation of O atoms
in gas phase. Accordingly, the following stage of N2
formation has a higher energy barrier than both E-R and L-H
mechanisms. Compared to L-H mechanism, the E-R mechanism exhibits a
lower degree of electronic localization between N2O and
carbonaceous surface. Therefore, the interfacial interaction
between them in E-R mechanism is weaker than that in L-H mechanism,
so that it is easy to take N2 out of carbonaceous
surface in E-R mechanism. To sum up, the result deepens the
knowledge about the NO-CO reaction, which will help to further
develop the oxy-fuel combustion technology.
The impact of cross-shareholding under different power structures considering green investment and green marketing
Authors: Liu Hao , Wu Sheng , Zhao Xinyue , Chen Haodong , Wang Guobao , Song Zhigang , Fan Yuqing
Published: September 2022

Cross-shareholding has played an important role in strengthening strategic synergy among enterprises, but its impact on the green development of enterprises is unclear. In this paper, we construct an analytical framework that includes a manufacturer and a retailer to explore the impact of cross-shareholdings under different leaderships on green supply chain operational decisions and profits, in which the manufacturer invests in green technologies and the retailer conducts green marketing. By constructing and solving the game model of manufacturer-led and retailer-led before and after cross-shareholding, it is found that after cross-shareholding, the product's green level and the retailers' marketing level are improved. For supply chain leaders, cross-shareholdings always increase their profits. Only when the follower holds the leader's shares no more than a certain value, cross-shareholding will increase the total profit of the supply chain. In addition, we obtain the optimal decisions and profits of the supply chain in the integrated situation and design two-part pricing contracts to achieve cross-shareholding supply chain coordination. The results of this paper can provide theoretical guidance and decision support for enterprises interested in using cross-shareholding to improve supply chain performance.
Comparison of Green Space Usage During Covid-19.
Authors: Helmi Humam , Kara Can
Published: September 2022

The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the park’s usage and accessibility in the northern part of Nicosia, Cyprus, and to compare the usage and accessibility before and after the pandemic of Covid-19 also known as coronavirus. Within this study, we will have a better understanding of the situation of parks and how the usage has been changed because of the pandemic and lockdown and it will also help the urban developers in improving these parks in the future by making them safer and healthier to use during these times of pandemic and will help in dealing with similar pandemics in the future. A total of 500 questionnaires has been distributed to the residents of Nicosia to find how the people’s behavior and how the usage of parks has been changed before and after the pandemic these data were analyzed and studied using SPSS descriptive statistics method and also filed studies where made to identify the parks in Nicosia the results showed that the parks have a good atmosphere and people using it a lot epically during summer and spring seasons however there was a decline in parks usage during the pandemic and a lot of the improvement can be made to make this parks safer and better for the people in Nicosia. The recommendation has been made in order the help the urban development team in making their decisions in the future and how they can improve this park and also recommendation has been made for future studies on the similar topic all of this will help us to make the parks better place and much safer for the residents of Nicosia.
Isolated oligohydramnios in previous pregnancy is a risk factor for a placental related disorder in subsequent delivery
Authors: Leytes Sophia , Kovo Michal , Weiner Eran , Herman Hadas Ganer
Published: September 2022

Background
We aimed to assess the association between isolated oligohydramnios in previous pregnancy and the incidence of placental related complications in subsequent pregnancy.
Methods
This was a retrospective cohort study of live singleton births from a single university affiliated medical center during an eleven-year period. We included women with two subsequent livebirth singleton deliveries at our center. A comparison was performed between subsequent pregnancies of women with isolated oligohydramnios in their first pregnancy (previous oligohydramnios group), and women without isolated oligohydramnios in their first pregnancy (control group). Patients for whom their first delivery was complicated by small for gestational age or pregnancy induced hypertension were excluded. The study groups were compared for obstetric and early neonatal outcomes, as well as recurrence of isolated oligohydramnios and a composite of placental related pregnancy complications, defined as one of the following complications: pregnancy induced hypertension, small for gestational age or placental abruption.
Results
A total of 218 in the previous oligohydramnios group and 5635 in the control group were compared. No differences were found between the groups in maternal age, body mass index, smoking and comorbidities. Gestational age at delivery was, 39.6 ± 1.1 vs. 39.3 ± 1.4 weeks, p = 0.001, in the oligohydramnios and controls respectively. Preterm birth rate was similar between the groups. As compared to controls, the previous isolated oligohydramnios group had a significantly higher incidence of oligohydramnios recurrence, 6.4% vs. 2.0%, p < 0.001, a higher rate of small for gestational age neonates, 7.8% vs. 4.4%, p = 0.02, and an overall higher rate of placental related disorders of pregnancy, 9.1% vs. 5.4%, p = 0.02.
Conclusion
Pregnancies complicated by isolated oligohydramnios are associated with an increased risk of placental related disorders in subsequent pregnancy. Isolated oligohydramnios may be the first sign of placental insufficiency and an independent manifestation of the placental related complications spectrum.
Online Prediction of Automotive Tempered Glass Quality using Machine Learning
Authors: Khdoudi Abdelmoula , Barka Noureddine , Masrour Tawfik , Hassani Ibtissam El , Mazgualdi Choumicha El
Published: September 2022

This study introduce the application of machine learning algorithms for supporting the manufacturing quality control of a complex process as an alternative for the destructive testing methodologies. The choice of this application field was motivated by the lack of a robust engineering technique to assess the production quality in real time, this arise the need of using advanced smart manufacturing solution as AI in order to save the extremely high cost of destructive tests. In concrete, this paper investigates the performance of machine learning techniques including Ridge regression, Linear Regression, Light Gradient Boosting Machine, Lasso Regression and more, for predicting the flat glass tempering quality within the building glass industry. In the first part, we applied the selected machine learning models to a dataset collected manually and made up by the more relevant process parameters of the heating and the quenching process. Evaluating the results of the applied models, based on several performance indicators such as Mean Absolute Error, Mean Squared Error, R Squared, declared that Ridge Regression was the most accurate model. The second part consist of developing a digitalized device connected with the manufacturing process in order to provide predictions in real time. This device operates as an error-proofing system that send a reverse signal to the machine in case the prediction shows a non-compliant quality of the current processed product. This study can be expanded to predict the optimal process parameters to use when the predicted values does not meet the desired quality, and can advantageously replace the trial and error approach that is generally adopted for defining those parameters. The contribution of our work relies on the introduction of a clear methodology (from idea to industrialization) for the design and deployment of an industrial-grad predictive solution within a new field which is the glass manufacturing.
Expression of CFTR, a hallmark gene of ionocyes, is downregulated in salivary glands of Sjögren’s syndrome patients
Authors: Zhang Qi , Lv Xiuying , Wang Ying , Wang Bin , He Yan , Chen Chubing , Shi Guixiu , Li Yan
Published: September 2022

Introduction: The autoimmune exocrinopathy, Sjögren’s syndrome (SjS), is associated with secretory defects in salivary glands. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) of the chloride channel is a master regulator of fluid secretion, but its role in SjS has not been investigated. Our research found a link between CFTR and SjS at the genetic and protein levels, as well as through clinical data.
Methods: We used single-cell RNA sequencing to identify the presence of CFTR in glandular epithelial cells of the human salivary gland (scRNA-seq) and confirmed the difference using immunofluorescence tests in labial glands and clinical data statistics from 44 non-SjS and 36 SjS patients.
Results: The changes of CFTR expression in salivary glands of SjS patients was assessed at both mRNA and protein levels. According to the scRNA-seq analyses, CFTR was the hallmark gene of ionocyes. We firstly identified that SjS had a lower level of CFTR expression in the labial glands than non-SjS at mRNA level.
Using immunofluorescence assays, we also found that CFTR expression was decreased in SjS patients compared to non-SjS. The results of the clinical statistics revealed that men appeared to express higher level of CFTR than women, and that CFTR expression was adversely correlated with feelings of dry mouth, lymphocyte infiltration in the labial glands, and certain autoantibodies in serum (antinuclear antibody, anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies).
Conclusion: Those findings above proved an obviously downregulated expression of CFTR in salivary glands of SjS patients and its clinical significance. Dysfunction in CFTR or ionocytes may contribute to SjS pathogenesis and represents a promising therapeutic target.