bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design, Synthesis, and Pharmacology of New Triazole-Containing Quinolinones as CNS Active Agents
Authors: Zhao Wennan , Song Mingxia , Hua Yi , Zhu Yangnv , Liu Wenli , Xia Qishan , Deng Xianqing , Huang Yushan
Published: February 2023

Epilepsy and major depressive disorder are the two of the most common central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Clinicians and patients call for new antidepressants, antiseizure medicines, and in particular drugs for depression and epilepsy comorbidities. In this work, a dozen new triazole-quinolinones were designed, synthesized, and investigated as CNS active agents. All compounds reduced the immobility time significantly during the forced swim test (FST) in mice at the dosage of 50 mg/kg. Compounds 3f–3j gave superior performance over fluoxetine in the FST with more reductions of the immobility time. Compound 3g also reduced immobility time significantly in a tail suspension test (TST) at the dosage of 50 mg/kg, though its anti-immobility activity was inferior to that of fluoxetine. An open field test was carried out and it eliminated the false-positive possibility of 3g in the FST and TST, which complementarily supported the antidepressant activity of 3g. We also found that almost all compounds except 3k exhibited antiseizure activity in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model at 100 or 300 mg/kg. Compounds 3c, 3f, and 3g displayed the ED50 of 63.4, 78.9, and 84.9 mg/kg, and TD50 of 264.1, 253.5, and 439.9 mg/kg, respectively. ELISA assays proved that the mechanism for the antiseizure and antidepressant activities of compound 3g was via affecting the concentration of GABA in mice brain. The molecular docking study showed a good interaction between 3g and the amino acid residue of the GABAA receptor. Excellent drug-like properties and pharmacokinetic properties of compound 3a–l were also predicted by Discovery Studio. These findings provided a new skeleton to develop agents for the treatment of epilepsy and depression comorbidities.
Chemical Profiling, Bioactive Properties, and Anticancer and Antimicrobial Potential of Juglans regia L. Leaves
Authors: Żurek Natalia , Pycia Karolina , Pawłowska Agata , Potocki Leszek , Kapusta Ireneusz Tomasz
Published: February 2023

The aim of this study was to assess the biological potential of the polyphenolic fraction isolated from J. regia leaves, collected in the Subcarpathian region (Poland). The phenolic profile was determined using the UPLC-PDA-MS/MS method. Biological activity was determined by evaluating the antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal effects. Prior to this study, the purified polyphenolic fraction was not been tested in this regard. A total of 40 phenolic compounds (104.28 mg/g dw) were identified, with quercetin 3-O-glucoside and quercetin pentosides dominating. The preparation was characterized by a high ability to chelate iron ions and capture O2•− and OH• radicals (reaching IC50 values of 388.61, 67.78 and 193.29 µg/mL, respectively). As for the anticancer activity, among the six tested cell lines, the preparation reduced the viability of the DLD-1, Caco-2, and MCF-7 lines the most, while in the antibacterial activity, among the seven tested strains, the highest susceptibility has been demonstrated against K. pneumoniae, S. pyogenes, and S. aureus. Depending on the needs, such a preparation can be widely used in the design of functional food and/or the cosmetics industry.
A Review of Design and Evaluation Practices in Mobile Text Entry for Visually Impaired and Blind Persons
Authors: Komninos Andreas , Stefanis Vassilios , Garofalakis John
Published: February 2023

Millions of people with vision impairment or vision loss face considerable barriers in using mobile technology and services due to the difficulty of text entry. In this paper, we review related studies involving the design and evaluation of novel prototypes for mobile text entry for persons with vision loss or impairment. We identify the practices and standards of the research community and compare them against the practices in research for non-impaired persons. We find that there are significant shortcomings in the methodological and result-reporting practices in both population types. In highlighting these issues, we hope to inspire more and better quality research in the domain of mobile text entry for persons with and without vision impairment.
Sub-40 GHz Broadband Polarization Chaos Generation Using Mutually Coupled Free-Running VCSELs
Authors: Bian Haofan , Zhang Xiaomai , Li Pu , Jia Zhiwei , Ma Li , Xu Bingjie , Shore Keith Alan , Qin Yuwen , Wang Yuncai
Published: February 2023

We propose a simple method to generate broadband polarization chaos using two mutually coupled free-running vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Specifically, we quantitatively investigate the effect of critical external parameters (bias current, frequency detuning and coupling coefficient) on the polarization chaos bandwidth in the scenarios of parallel injection and orthogonal injection, and reveal the physical mechanism of bandwidth enhancement in two scenarios. Final simulation results show that the bandwidth of chaotic signals obtained from parallel and orthogonal injection can reach 35.15 GHz and 32.96 GHz, respectively.
Recent Advances and Outlook in Single-Cavity Dual Comb Lasers
Authors: Zhang Chenghong , Qu Fangrui , Ou Peiwen , Sun Haoqi , He Shi , Fu Bo
Published: February 2023

Dual-comb spectroscopy as an emerging tool for spectral analysis has been investigated in a wide range of applications, including absorption spectroscopy, light detection and ranging, and nonlinear spectral imaging. Two mutually coherent combs facilitate high-precision, high-resolution, and broadband spectroscopy. Recently, dual combs generated from a single cavity have become compelling options for dual-comb spectroscopy, enabling huge simplification to measuring systems. Here, we review the progress of single-cavity dual comb lasers in recent years and summarize the distinctive advantages of single-cavity dual combs. First, the principles of optical frequency comb and dual-comb spectroscopy are introduced in time and frequency domains. Then, the implementation techniques and typical applications of single-cavity dual comb lasers are discussed, including directional multiplexing, wavelength multiplexing, polarization multiplexing, and space multiplexing. Finally, an outlook on the development of single-cavity dual combs is presented.
The Effects of Data Security and Perceived Benefits on Mobile Phone Recycling Behaviour and the Recycling Intention Mediation Role
Authors: Ben Yahya Taher , Jamal Noriza Mohd , Sundarakani Balan , Omain Siti Zaleha
Published: February 2023

Mobile phones are the most heavily utilised electronic devices on a global scale. Since they are relatively smaller than other electronic devices, unlike other electronic waste (e-waste), they are not disposed of properly. Hence, this study examines the factors influencing mobile phone users’ overall intention to recycle their mobile phones. The factors used originate from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), but additional factors were also included, namely, perceived benefits and data security, to allow for a more in-depth analysis of customer behaviour. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse 601 results from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a self-administered online survey. The results demonstrate that perceived benefits (whether environmental or financial) and perceived behavioural control possess the most statistically significant positive effects on the UAE mobile phone users’ intention to participate in reverse supply chain (RSC) processes such as refurbishing or recycling. The impacts of attitude and subjective norms were the second most positive influences. Meanwhile, only 7% of UAE mobile phone users were significantly impacted by data security in participating in RSC processes. Additionally, recycling intention had no noticeable mediation effect on the relationship among the TPB variables and the extended variables (namely, data security and perceived benefits) and mobile phone recycling behaviour. The study offers confidence to industrial players in implementing these particular factors in their reverse supply chain management (RSCM) systems to influence more users to return end-of-life (EOL) or end-of-use (EOU) mobile phones, which could, in return, assist in resource preservation and environmental protection.
Teaching Mariology in Catholic Seminaries in the USA
Authors: Fastiggi Robert L.
Published: February 2023

This article begins by explaining the importance of Mariology for Catholic theology. It provides an overview of a 2015–2016 survey of 32 Catholic seminaries in the USA on how Mariology is covered in the curriculum. It then examines documents of the Congregation for Catholic Education on the teaching of Mariology in Catholic seminaries. It also looks at what the sixth edition of the US Bishops’ Program for Priestly Formation (2022) says about Mariology and Marian devotion in seminary formation. The article discusses why some believe Mariology should be covered in Ecclesiology because of Vatican II’s choice to integrate Mariology into Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Whether Mariology can be adequately covered in courses in Ecclesiology is then considered. The article ends with a recommendation for having Mariology taught as a required stand-alone course in all Catholic seminaries.
Buddhist Civilisational Populism in Sri Lanka: Colonial Identity Formation, Post-War Othering, and Present Crises
Authors: Gamage Rajni
Published: February 2023

In this paper, I discuss the evolution of Buddhist civilisational populism in modern Sri Lankan politics and civil society. I do this by historicising early forms of Buddhist civilisational populism in the country, during its occupation by the British Empire (1815–1945). As I discuss in this paper, some of the key concepts of “civilisationism” central to leading social and political movements in British Ceylon were a result of the disruptions caused by centuries of European colonial rule. Consequently, issues of identity and belonging have carried on to the post-independence context. In this paper, I discuss what these dynamics could possibly mean for the future of Sri Lankan politics and society, in the wake of the nation’s debilitating economic crisis last year.
Wideband Spectrum Sensing Using Modulated Wideband Converter and Data Reduction Invariant Algorithms
Authors: Burel Gilles , Radoi Emanuel , Gautier Roland , Le Jeune Denis
Published: February 2023

Wideband spectrum sensing is a challenging problem in the framework of cognitive radio and spectrum surveillance, mainly because of the high sampling rates required by standard approaches. In this paper, a compressed sensing approach was considered to solve this problem, relying on a sub-Nyquist or Xsampling scheme, known as a modulated wideband converter. First, the data reduction at its output is performed in order to enable a highly effective processing scheme for spectrum reconstruction. The impact of this data transformation on the behavior of the most popular sparse reconstruction algorithms is then analyzed. A new mathematical approach is proposed to demonstrate that greedy reconstruction algorithms, such as Orthogonal Matching Pursuit, are invariant with respect to the proposed data reduction. Relying on the same formalism, a data reduction invariant version of the LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) reconstruction algorithm was also introduced. It is finally demonstrated that the proposed algorithm provides good reconstruction results in a wideband spectrum sensing scenario, using both synthetic and measured data.
Correlation of Acceleration Curves in Gravitational Direction for Different Body Segments during High-Impact Jumping Exercises
Authors: Reinker Lukas , Bläsing Dominic , Bierl Rudolf , Ulbricht Sabina , Dendorfer Sebastian
Published: February 2023

Osteoporosis is a common disease of old age. However, in many cases, it can be very well prevented and counteracted with physical activity, especially high-impact exercises. Wearables have the potential to provide data that can help with continuous monitoring of patients during therapy phases or preventive exercise programs in everyday life. This study aimed to determine the accuracy and reliability of measured acceleration data at different body positions compared to accelerations at the pelvis during different jumping exercises. Accelerations at the hips have been investigated in previous studies with regard to osteoporosis prevention. Data were collected using an IMU-based motion capture system (Xsens) consisting of 17 sensors. Forty-nine subjects were included in this study. The analysis shows the correlation between impacts and the corresponding drop height, which are dependent on the respective exercise. Very high correlations (0.83–0.94) were found between accelerations at the pelvis and the other measured segments at the upper body. The foot sensors provided very weak correlations (0.20–0.27). Accelerations measured at the pelvis during jumping exercises can be tracked very well on the upper body and upper extremities, including locations where smart devices are typically worn, which gives possibilities for remote and continuous monitoring of programs.
Audio-Visual Speech and Gesture Recognition by Sensors of Mobile Devices
Authors: Ryumin Dmitry , Ivanko Denis , Ryumina Elena
Published: February 2023

Audio-visual speech recognition (AVSR) is one of the most promising solutions for reliable speech recognition, particularly when audio is corrupted by noise. Additional visual information can be used for both automatic lip-reading and gesture recognition. Hand gestures are a form of non-verbal communication and can be used as a very important part of modern human–computer interaction systems. Currently, audio and video modalities are easily accessible by sensors of mobile devices. However, there is no out-of-the-box solution for automatic audio-visual speech and gesture recognition. This study introduces two deep neural network-based model architectures: one for AVSR and one for gesture recognition. The main novelty regarding audio-visual speech recognition lies in fine-tuning strategies for both visual and acoustic features and in the proposed end-to-end model, which considers three modality fusion approaches: prediction-level, feature-level, and model-level. The main novelty in gesture recognition lies in a unique set of spatio-temporal features, including those that consider lip articulation information. As there are no available datasets for the combined task, we evaluated our methods on two different large-scale corpora—LRW and AUTSL—and outperformed existing methods on both audio-visual speech recognition and gesture recognition tasks. We achieved AVSR accuracy for the LRW dataset equal to 98.76% and gesture recognition rate for the AUTSL dataset equal to 98.56%. The results obtained demonstrate not only the high performance of the proposed methodology, but also the fundamental possibility of recognizing audio-visual speech and gestures by sensors of mobile devices.
Handwritten Multi-Scale Chinese Character Detector with Blended Region Attention Features and Light-Weighted Learning
Authors: Alnaasan Manar , Kim Sungho
Published: February 2023

Character-level detection in historical manuscripts is one of the challenging and valuable tasks in the computer vision field, related directly and effectively to the recognition task. Most of the existing techniques, though promising, seem not powerful and insufficiently accurate to locate characters precisely. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm called free-candidate multiscale Chinese character detection FC-MSCCD, which is based on lateral and fusion connections between multiple feature layers, to successfully predict Chinese characters of different sizes more accurately in old documents. Moreover, cheap training is exploited using cheaper parameters by incorporating a free-candidate detection technique. A bottom-up architecture with connections and concatenations between various dimension feature maps is employed to attain high-quality information that satisfies the positioning criteria of characters, and the implementation of a proposal-free algorithm presents a computation-friendly model. Owing to a lack of handwritten Chinese character datasets from old documents, experiments on newly collected benchmark train and validate FC-MSCCD to show that the proposed detection approach outperforms roughly all other SOTA detection algorithms
Measurement Systems for Use in the Navigation of the Cannula–Guide Assembly within the Deep Regions of the Bronchial Tree
Authors: Nabagło Tomasz , Tabor Zbisław , Augustyniak Piotr
Published: February 2023

Background: The purpose of this paper is to present the spatial navigation system prototype for localizing the distal tip of the cannula–guide assembly. This assembly is shifted through the channel of a bronchoscope, which is fixed in relation to the patient. The navigation is carried out in the bronchial tree, based on maneuvers of the aforementioned assembly. Methods: The system consists of three devices mounted on the guide handle and at the entrance to the bronchoscope working channel. The devices record the following values: cannula displacement, rotation of the guide handle, and displacement of the handle ring associated with the bending of the distal tip of the guide. Results: In laboratory experiments, we demonstrate that the cannula displacement can be monitored with an accuracy of 2 mm, and the angles of rotation and bending of the guide tip with an accuracy of 10 and 20 degrees, respectively, which outperforms the accuracy of currently used methods of bronchoscopy support. Conclusions: This accuracy is crucial to ensure that we collect the material for histopathological examination from a precisely defined place. It makes it possible to reach cancer cells at their very early stage.
Data Augmentation Effects on Highly Imbalanced EEG Datasets for Automatic Detection of Photoparoxysmal Responses
Authors: Martins Fernando Moncada , Suárez Víctor Manuel González , Flecha José Ramón Villar , López Beatriz García
Published: February 2023

Photosensitivity is a neurological disorder in which a person’s brain produces epileptic discharges, known as Photoparoxysmal Responses (PPRs), when it receives certain visual stimuli. The current standardized diagnosis process used in hospitals consists of submitting the subject to the Intermittent Photic Stimulation process and attempting to trigger these phenomena. The brain activity is measured by an Electroencephalogram (EEG), and the clinical specialists manually look for the PPRs that were provoked during the session. Due to the nature of this disorder, long EEG recordings may contain very few PPR segments, meaning that a highly imbalanced dataset is available. To tackle this problem, this research focused on applying Data Augmentation (DA) to create synthetic PPR segments from the real ones, improving the balance of the dataset and, thus, the global performance of the Machine Learning techniques applied for automatic PPR detection. K-Nearest Neighbors and a One-Hidden-Dense-Layer Neural Network were employed to evaluate the performance of this DA stage. The results showed that DA is able to improve the models, making them more robust and more able to generalize. A comparison with the results obtained from a previous experiment also showed a performance improvement of around 20% for the Accuracy and Specificity measurements without Sensitivity suffering any losses. This project is currently being carried out with subjects at Burgos University Hospital, Spain.
Condition Monitoring of Additively Manufactured Injection Mould Tooling: A Review of Demands, Opportunities and Potential Strategies
Authors: Weinert Albert , Tormey David , O’Hara Christopher , McAfee Marion
Published: February 2023

Injection moulding (IM) is an important industrial process, known to be the most used plastic formation technique. Demand for faster cycle times and higher product customisation is driving interest in additive manufacturing (AM) as a new method for mould tool manufacturing. The use of AM offers advantages such as greater design flexibility and conformal cooling of components to reduce cycle times and increase product precision. However, shortcomings of metal additive manufacturing, such as porosity and residual stresses, introduce uncertainties about the reliability and longevity of AM tooling. The injection moulding process relies on high volumes of produced parts and a minimal amount of tool failures. This paper reviews the demands for tool condition monitoring systems for AM-manufactured mould tools; although tool failures in conventionally manufactured tooling are rare, they do occur, usually due to cracking, deflection, and channel blockages. However, due to the limitations of the AM process, metal 3D-printed mould tools are susceptible to failures due to cracking, delamination and deformation. Due to their success in other fields, acoustic emission, accelerometers and ultrasound sensors offer the greatest potential in mould tool condition monitoring. Due to the noisy machine environment, sophisticated signal processing and decision-making algorithms are required to prevent false alarms or the missing of warning signals. This review outlines the state of the art in signal decomposition and both data- and model-based approaches to determination of the current state of the tool, and how these can be employed for IM tool condition monitoring. The development of such a system would help to ensure greater industrial uptake of additive manufacturing of injection mould tooling, by increasing confidence in the technology, further improving the efficiency and productivity of the sector.
Using Ballistocardiogram and Impedance Plethysmogram for Minimal Contact Measurement of Blood Pressure Based on a Body Weight-Fat Scale
Authors: Liu Shing-Hong , Wu Yan-Rong , Chen Wenxi , Su Chun-Hung , Chin Chiun-Li
Published: February 2023

Electronic health (eHealth) is a strategy to improve the physical and mental condition of a human, collecting daily physiological data and information from digital apparatuses. Body weight and blood pressure (BP) are the most popular and important physiological data. The goal of this study is to develop a minimal contact BP measurement method based on a commercial body weight-fat scale, capturing biometrics when users stand on it. The pulse transit time (PTT) is extracted from the ballistocardiogram (BCG) and impedance plethysmogram (IPG), measured by four strain gauges and four footpads of a commercial body weight-fat scale. Cuffless BP measurement using the electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) serves as the reference method. The BP measured by a commercial BP monitor is considered the ground truth. Twenty subjects participated in this study. By the proposed model, the root-mean-square errors and correlation coefficients (r2s) of estimated systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure are 7.3 ± 2.1 mmHg and 4.5 ± 1.8 mmHg, and 0.570 ± 0.205 and 0.284 ± 0.166, respectively. This accuracy level achieves the C grade of the corresponding IEEE standard. Thus, the proposed method has the potential benefit for eHealth monitoring in daily application.
Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Bearing Based on a Priority Elimination Method
Authors: Xiang Chuan , Zhou Jiahui , Han Bing , Li Weichen , Zhao Hongge
Published: February 2023

Aiming at the fault diagnosis accuracy of rolling bearings is not high enough, and unknown faults cannot be correctly identified. A priority elimination (PE) method is proposed in this paper. First, the priority diagnosis sequence of faults was determined by comparing the ratios of the inter-class distance to the intra-class distance for all faults. Then, the model training and fault diagnosis were carried out in order of the priority sequence, and the samples of the fault that had been identified were eliminated from the data set until all faults were diagnosed. For the diagnosis model, the stacked sparse auto-encoder network (SSAE) was selected to extract the features of the vibration signal. The extreme gradient boosting algorithm (XGBoost) was chosen to identify the fault type. Finally, the method was tested and verified by experimental data and compared with classical algorithms. Research results indicate the following: (1) with the addition of PE based on SSAE-XGBoost, the fault diagnosis accuracy can be improved from 96.3% to 99.27%, which is higher than other methods; (2) for the test set with the samples of unknown faults, the diagnosis accuracy of SSAE-XGBoost with PE can reach 92.34%, which is nearly 6% higher than that without PE and is also obviously higher than other classical fault diagnosis methods with or without PE. The PE method can not only improve the diagnosis accuracy of faults but also identify unknown faults, which provides a new method and way for fault diagnosis.
Effects of Particle Swarm Optimisation on a Hybrid Load Balancing Approach for Resource Optimisation in Internet of Things
Authors: Datiri Dorcas Dachollom , Li Maozhen
Published: February 2023

The internet of things, a collection of diversified distributed nodes, implies a varying choice of activities ranging from sleep monitoring and tracking of activities, to more complex activities such as data analytics and management. With an increase in scale comes even greater complexities, leading to significant challenges such as excess energy dissipation, which can lead to a decrease in IoT devices’ lifespan. Internet of things’ (IoT) multiple variable activities and ample data management greatly influence devices’ lifespan, making resource optimisation a necessity. Existing methods with respect to aspects of resource management and optimisation are limited in their concern of devices energy dissipation. This paper therefore proposes a decentralised approach, which contains an amalgamation of efficient clustering techniques, edge computing paradigms, and a hybrid algorithm, targeted at curbing resource optimisation problems and life span issues associated with IoT devices. The decentralised topology aimed at the resource optimisation of IoT places equal importance on resource allocation and resource scheduling, as opposed to existing methods, by incorporating aspects of the static (round robin), dynamic (resource-based), and clustering (particle swarm optimisation) algorithms, to provide a solid foundation for an optimised and secure IoT. The simulation constructs five test-case scenarios and uses performance indicators to evaluate the effects the proposed model has on resource optimisation in IoT. The simulation results indicate the superiority of the PSOR2B to the ant colony, the current centralised optimisation approach, LEACH, and C-LBCA.
A Comparative Study of the Use of Stratified Cross-Validation and Distribution-Balanced Stratified Cross-Validation in Imbalanced Learning
Authors: Szeghalmy Szilvia , Fazekas Attila
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, the solution to many practical problems relies on machine learning tools. However, compiling the appropriate training data set for real-world classification problems is challenging because collecting the right amount of data for each class is often difficult or even impossible. In such cases, we can easily face the problem of imbalanced learning. There are many methods in the literature for solving the imbalanced learning problem, so it has become a serious question how to compare the performance of the imbalanced learning methods. Inadequate validation techniques can provide misleading results (e.g., due to data shift), which leads to the development of methods designed for imbalanced data sets, such as stratified cross-validation (SCV) and distribution optimally balanced SCV (DOB-SCV). Previous studies have shown that higher classification performance scores (AUC) can be achieved on imbalanced data sets using DOB-SCV instead of SCV. We investigated the effect of the oversamplers on this difference. The study was conducted on 420 data sets, involving several sampling methods and the DTree, kNN, SVM, and MLP classifiers. We point out that DOB-SCV often provides a little higher F1 and AUC values for classification combined with sampling. However, the results also prove that the selection of the sampler–classifier pair is more important for the classification performance than the choice between the DOB-SCV and the SCV techniques.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Plastic, Aesthetic, and Reconstructive Surgery: Systematic Review
Authors: Ríos-Gómez Mariana , Gómez-Ortega Viviana , Cardona Cesar , De la Hoz-Valle Jose A.
Published: February 2023

Introduction: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been used over the past six decades to treat multiple conditions. This systematic review aims to identify and evaluate the clinical outcomes of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the field of plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery, found in the literature from the year 2000 to the present. Methods: A systematic review of the literature focused on the conceptual and methodological aspects of the PRISMA Declaration. The search for clinical trials focused on the results of hyperbaric therapy in plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery. The Newcastle–Ottawa scale suggested by the Cochrane manual was applied to each study. The study was carried out with a defined protocol and was registered in PROSPERO, with code CRD42022301261. Results: From the 170 articles identified, 6 were selected. Five of them showed that hyperbaric oxygen therapy favored the reduction of the size of skin ulcers and increased the formation of granulation tissue (two trials; p < 0.05), increased the partial pressure of transcutaneous oxygen in patients with free flaps (one trial; p < 0.001), reduced perfusion in keloid scarring disorder (one trial; p < 0.01), and accelerated both the fading of melanin pigmentation and the decrease in age spot size (one trial; p < 0.05). The methodological quality was moderate in all cases because there was no blinding method reported. One study failed to find differences in flap survival, time to resolution of venous congestion, resolution of edema, and postoperative recovery period (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been increasingly used in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery, and has shown potential benefits in promoting wound healing, reducing the risk of infection, and improving the survival of tissues used in reconstructive procedures. Further research with more rigorous clinical trials is needed to fully understand the efficacy and optimal use of this therapy in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery.
The Evaluation of Social Farming through Social Return on Investment: A Review
Authors: Basset Francesco
Published: February 2023

In recent years, there has been a need for a shared methodology for evaluating social farming (SF) practices to verify not only their effectiveness but also their social and economic sustainability. The evaluation of SF has been highlighted using the methodology of the social return on investment (SROI) due to the potential of such approach regarding the quantification of social impact. The main purpose of this study is to provide an overview, through a systematic review, of the application of SROI to SF experiences to check the results comparability, both in terms of outcomes standardization and comparisons between SROI ratios. The results first show some similarities on the construction of outcomes that allow for the initial comparability of the results. Secondly, all the indicators calculated in the articles report a social return value of social farming projects that varies approximately from EUR 2 to EUR 3 per euro invested. Critical issues remain regarding the application of this methodology to SF practices, regarding the number of the applications of SROI to SF, the process of stakeholder engagement and the construction of outcome. There is a need for more studies that apply SROI to SF experiences in order to standardize the process of analysis.
Kilonova Emission and Heavy Element Nucleosynthesis
Authors: Pian Elena
Published: February 2023

The binary neutron star merger observed and localized on 17 August 2017 by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational interferometers and by numerous telescopes on the ground and in orbit linked in an unambiguous way the coalescence of double neutron stars with the formation of a relativistic outflow (short gamma-ray burst GRB170817A) and of a thermal radioactive source (kilonova). The vicinity of the event (40 Mpc) made it possible to monitor the electromagnetic counterpart in detail at all wavelengths and to map its close environment in the outskirts of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4993. Radio VLBI images of GRB170817A allowed the first direct detection of superluminal motion in a GRB afterglow, pointing to a collimated ultra-relativistic jet rather than to a quasi-isotropically, mildly relativistically expanding source. The accurate spectroscopy of the kilonova at ultraviolet-to-infrared wavelengths with the X-Shooter spectrograph of the ESO Very Large Telescope showed the long-sought-after signature of rapid neutron capture process (in short: r-process) nucleosynthesis. Kilonova detection makes gravitational wave sources optimal tracers of heavy element formation sites.
Effectiveness and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Malignant Disease
Authors: Zhao Li , Fu Lin , He Yuqin , Li Han , Song Yixuan , Liu Shaoyan
Published: February 2023

A novel virus named SARS-CoV-2 has caused a worldwide pandemic, resulting in a disastrous impact to the public health since 2019. The disease is much more lethal among patients with malignant disease. Vaccination plays an important role in the prevention of infection and subsequent severe COVID-19. However, the efficacy and safety of vaccines for cancer patients needs further investigation. Encouragingly, there have been important findings deduced from research so far. In this review, an overview of the immunogenicity, effectiveness, and safeness of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with cancer to date is to be shown. We also highlight important questions to consider and directions that could be followed in future research.
Arthropod-Borne Pathogens in Wild Canids
Authors: Ebani Valentina Virginia , Nardoni Simona , Mancianti Francesca
Published: February 2023

Wild canids, as well as other wild animal species, are largely exposed to bites by ticks and other hematophagous vectors where the features favoring their presence and spread are found in wooded and semi-wooded areas. Much of the information about arthropod-borne infections concerns domestic and companion animals, whereas data about these infections in wild canids are not exhaustive. The present study is a narrative review of the literature concerning vector-borne infections in wild canids, highlighting their role in the epidemiology of arthropod-borne bacteria and protozoa.
The Importance of the Slaughterhouse in Surveilling Animal and Public Health: A Systematic Review
Authors: García-Díez Juan , Saraiva Sónia , Moura Dina , Grispoldi Luca , Cenci-Goga Beniamino Terzo , Saraiva Cristina
Published: February 2023

From the point of public health, the objective of the slaughterhouse is to guarantee the safety of meat in which meat inspection represent an essential tool to control animal diseases and guarantee the public health. The slaughterhouse can be used as surveillance center for livestock diseases. However, other aspects related with animal and human health, such as epidemiology and disease control in primary production, control of animal welfare on the farm, surveillance of zoonotic agents responsible for food poisoning, as well as surveillance and control of antimicrobial resistance, can be monitored. These controls should not be seen as a last defensive barrier but rather as a complement to the controls carried out on the farm. Regarding the control of diseases in livestock, scientific research is scarce and outdated, not taking advantage of the potential for disease control. Animal welfare in primary production and during transport can be monitored throughout ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection at the slaughterhouse, providing valuable individual data on animal welfare. Surveillance and research regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at slaughterhouses is scarce, mainly in cattle, sheep, and goats. However, most of the zoonotic pathogens are sensitive to the antibiotics studied. Moreover, the prevalence at the slaughterhouse of zoonotic and foodborne agents seems to be low, but a lack of harmonization in terms of control and communication may lead to underestimate its real prevalence.
Short Term Effect of Ivermectin on the Bacterial Microbiota from Fecal Samples in Chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera)
Authors: Ma Xinyi , Li Jing , Yang Luo , Liu Haoqian , Zhu Yiping , Ren Honglin , Yu Feng , Liu Bo
Published: February 2023

The gastrointestinal microbiota plays an important role in health of the host animals and the detrimental influence of pharmaceutical treatment on the fecal microbiota receives an increasing concern. The clinical use of ivermectin on chinchillas has not yet been evaluated. The purpose of our study was to assess the influence of ivermectin injection on the fecal bacterial microbiota of chinchillas. A with-in subject, before and after study was performed on 10 clinically healthy chinchillas during a 14-day period, all chinchillas received the same ivermectin treatment, and the microbiota from their fecal samples before and after administration were compared as two experimental groups. Fecal samples were collected on day 0 (before ivermectin administration) and day 14 (post ivermectin administration). Fecal bacterial microbiota was analyzed by bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. No clinical abnormalities were observed post subcutaneous administration of ivermectin. No significant alteration was found in the abundance and diversity of fecal bacterial microbiota after treatment, but the dominant position of some bacterial species changed. In conclusion, ivermectin administration was associated with minimal alternations of the fecal bacterial microbiota in healthy chinchillas, and these changes had no observed negative effect on general health of chinchillas in short term.
Ensemble Voting based Intrusion Detection Technique using Negative Selection Algorithm
Authors: Singh Kuldeep , Kaur Lakhwinder , Maini Raman
Published: February 2023

This paper proposes an Intrusion Detection Technique (IDT) using an Artificial Immune System (AIS) based on Negative Selection Algorithm (NSA) to distinguish the self and non-self (intrusion) in computer networks. The novelties of the work are 1) use of Stacked Autoencoders (SAEs) and random forest for dimensionality reduction of data, 2) use of AIS to exploit its feature like self-learning, distributed, self-adaption, self-regulation with self and non-self-distinguishing capability, 3) implementation of two algorithms i.e., NSA based on Cosine distance (NSA_CD) and NSA based on Pearson Distance (NSA_PD) to explore their intrusion detection capabilities, and iv) development of a new ensemble voting based Intrusion Detection Technique (IDT-NSAEV) to detect and test the anomalies in the system. The proposed IDT-NSAEV technique combines the power of NSA_CD, NSA_PD and NSA based on Euclidean distance (NSA_ED) algorithms to enhance the detection rate by reducing the false alarm rate. The performance of the proposed technique is tested on standard benchmark NSL-KDD dataset and the results are compared with the state-of-the-art techniques. The results are in the favour of the proposed technique.
A Bayesian Network-based Uncertainty Modeling (BNUM) to Analyze and Predict Next Optimal Moves in Given Game Scenario
Authors: Jagtap Vinayak , Kulkarni Parag
Published: February 2023

As machine learning emerged, it is being used in a variety of applications like speech recognition, image recognition, sequence modeling, etc., Sequence modeling is one type of application where resultant sequences are generated based on historical data inputs provided. These sequences are fairly work in an uncertain environment like games or sports. In the case of a game or a sport, there is a sequence of moves selected by multiple players. There is a statistical uncertainty observed for simple to more complex games. For example, while playing chess, a simple statistical modeled uncertainty would be enough to choose the next possible. This move selection is dependent on available free spaces of pieces or pawns. The sports like tennis, cricket, and other games need a more complex design for uncertainty modeling for next move selection. A Bayesian Network model will work if there is fairly less uncertainty in the selection of the next move. A Bayesian Network-based model will be best fitted if all possible moves are included before training any machine learning or deep learning model. This will be achieved with the usage of the Context-Li model. The proposed Bayesian Network-based Uncertainty Modeling (BNUM) is used to incorporate uncertainty, for next move selection. BNUM is a multi-variable, multi-level association to incubate uncertainty in learning. It helps to predict the next move in an uncertain gaming environment. Different case studies are incorporated to verify the hypothesis and the results are a sequence of moves represented in the context graph.
HEMŞİRELİK – REHBERLİK VE PSİKOLOJİK DANIŞMANLIK BÖLÜMÜ ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN PSİKOLOJİK SAĞLAMLIK VE BAŞA ÇIKMA TUTUMLARININ İNCELENMESİ
Authors: HAMURCU Habib , KÜÇÜK ÖZTÜRK Gülhan
Published: February 2023

Bu çalışma, Hemşirelik ve Rehberlik – Psikolojik Danışmanlık (RPD) öğrencilerinin psikolojik sağlamlık durumlarını ve başa çıkma tutumlarını belirlemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Çalışmada örneklem seçimine gidilmeyip, çalışma seçim kriterlerine uyan 496 öğrenciyle tamamlanmıştır. Veriler tanıtıcı bilgi formu, kısa psikolojik sağlamlık ölçeği ve başa çıkma tutumları ölçeği ile toplanmıştır. Çalışmada erkek öğrencilerin psikolojik sağlamlık durumlarının, kadın öğrencilerin ise başa çıkma tutumlarının daha yüksek olduğu bulunmuştur. RPD öğrencilerinin psikolojik sağlamlık ve başa çıkma tutumlarının hemşirelik öğrencilerinden daha yüksek olduğu bulunmuştur. 4. Sınıf öğrencilerin en yüksek başa çıkma tutumuna sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Aile modeli değişkenine göre, dini başa çıkma tutumu kullanımında anlamlı farklılık vardır. Psikolojik sağlamlık durumları ile başa çıkma tutumlarından sorun odaklı başa çıkma ve işlevsel olmayan başa çıkma arasında anlamlı ilişki bulunmaktadır. Sorun odaklı başa çıkma tutumu arttıkça ve işlevsel olmayan başa çıkma tutumu azaldıkça psikolojik sağlamlığının arttığı belirlenmiştir. Hem lisans eğitimleri hem de meslek yaşantıları için gerekli olan psikolojik sağlamlık ve baş etme tutumları için geliştirici ve önleyici üniversite içerik – süreçlerinin ve araştırmaların geliştirilmesi önerilmektedir.
SEREBRAL PALSİLİ ÇOCUKLARDA ÇİĞNEME BOZUKLUĞUNA YÖNELİK FİZYOTERAPİ VE REHABİLİTASYON YAKLAŞIMLARI
Authors: KEMER Seda Nur , SEREL ARSLAN Selen
Published: February 2023

Çiğneme bozukluğu, Serebral Palsi (SP)’li çocuklarda beslenme ve nörogelişimsel durum ile hem çocuk hem de ailenin yaşam kalitesini olumsuz yönde etkilemektedir. Bu nedenle SP’li çocuklar çiğneme bozukluğu açısından erken dönemde değerlendirilmeli ve uygun müdahale yaklaşımları uygulanmalıdır. Müdahale multidisipliner ekip yaklaşımı gerektirir ve fizyoterapistler bu ekibin önemli bir parçasıdır. Bu derleme sonucunda çiğneme bozukluğu olan SP’li çocuklarda çiğneme fonksiyonunun değerlendirilmesinde kullanılan sonuç ölçütlerinin büyük farklılıklar içerdiği, rehabilitasyon yaklaşımlarının çok bileşenli müdahaleler olduğu görülmüştür. Çiğneme bozukluğu olan SP’li çocuğu İşlevsellik, Yetiyitimi ve Sağlığın Uluslararası Sınıflandırması çerçevesindeki kavramlara dayalı olarak değerlendiren ve bütüncül olarak yaklaşan çalışmaların arttırılmasına ihtiyaç bulunmaktadır.
MANDİBULAR RETROGNATİSİ OLAN ADÖLESANLARDA HERBST VE TWİN-BLOK APAREY TEDAVİLERİNİN; PSİKOSOSYAL DURUM VE SUBJEKTİF UYKU KALİTESİ ÜZERİNE ETKİSİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ
Authors: BOZKURT KOÇAK Feyza , GUL AMUK Nisa
Published: February 2023

Bu çalışmanın amacı, iskeletsel Sınıf II maloklüzyona sahip olan bireylerde Herbst ve Twin-Blok fonksiyonel apareyleri ile tedavi sonunda; psikososyal durum ve subjektif uyku kalitelerinde meydana gelen değişimleri değerlendirmektir. Çalışmamızda büyüme gelişimi devam eden alt çene geriliği olan, 30 birey (18 kız ve 12 erkek, ortalama yaş 13.5±0.5 yıl) Herbst ve Twin-Blok fonksiyonel apareyleri ile randomize olarak tedavi edilmiştir. 15 birey (6 kız ve 9 erkek, ortalama yaş 13.4±0.7yıl) Sınıf I kontrol grubunu oluşturmuştur. İskeletsel Sınıf II ilişkiye sahip bireylere tedavi süreci başında ve sonunda, iskeletsel Sınıf I ilişkiye sahip bireylere ise bir defa; Rosenberg Benlik Saygısı alt ölçeği, Eleştiriye Duyarlılık alt ölçeği, Sosyal Görünüş Kaygısı Ölçeği, Çapa Anksiyete Skalası ve Pittsburgh Uyku Kalite İndeksi uygulanmıştır. Tedavi öncesi ve tedavi sonrası ölçümler arasındaki istatistiksel karşılaştırılmalar Wilcoxon testi ile gruplar arası karşılaştırmalar Kruskall Wallis H testi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Başlangıç değerlendirmelerinde iskeletsel Sınıf I hastaların benlik saygısının ve uyku kalitesinin Sınıf II hastalardan istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde daha yüksek olduğu bulunmuştur (p<0.05). Twin Blok tedavisi ile benlik saygısı ve uyku kalitesinin artarak anksiyetenin azaldığı, ancak eleştiriye duyarlılığın arttığı gözlenmiştir. Herbst tedavisi ile yine benlik saygısının anlamlı düzeyde arttığı ve anksiyetenin azaldığı görülmüştür (p<0.05) Fonksiyonel tedavi sonrasında bireylerin normal iskeletsel yapıya sahip bireylerle aynı benlik saygısı ve uyku kalitesine ulaştığı görülmüştür.
Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Antibacterial Activity of Cu(II) Complex with Nitrogen Donor Pyrazolyl Borate Derivatives
Authors: Soltani Behzad , Ghorbanpour Monireh , Bagheri Saeide , Ebadi-Nahari Mostafa , J. Ziegler Christopher
Published: February 2023

Background: Pyrazolyl borate derivatives are versatile ligands that can be coordinated with transition metals and formated a variety of different coordination modes. Copper complexes are highly active in biological applications and have high bioactivity. Because of the above description and applications, in the present work, synthesis and characterization of pyrazolyl borate derivative ligands and their Cu(II) complex were reported. The structure of the synthesized complex was determined by X-ray crystallography. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds along with the molecular docking of them was investigated. Methods: N-donor pyrazolyl borate derivative ligands abbreviated as K[HB(PzMe2)3] and K[H2B(PzMe2)2] and their Cu(II) complex were synthesized and characterized. The synthesized ligands and complex were evaluated for antibacterial activities against the gram-positive (B. subtilis) and the gram-negative (S. enterica) bacteria. Also, their molecular docking with B. subtilis SMC head domain (PDB ID: 5H67) as the possible targets was investigated. Results: The in vitro and in silico results showed, among the investigated compounds, complex [Cu(H2B(PzMe2)2)(HB(PzMe2)3)] indicated the highest antibacterial activity. Also, the Statistical analysis showed that the difference between the obtained data was significant. Conclusion: We have synthesized N-donor pyrazolyl borate derivatives and their copper (II) complex. Single X-ray results indicated the Cu(II) complex adopted an N5 environment around the metal center with a distorted square pyramidal geometry. The obtained binding energy of molecular docking studies is in direct correlation with the in vitro antibacterial studies. Briefly, the reported Cu(II) complex may be considered as a potential antibacterial candidate.