bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Supplemental Material: Late Mesozoic volcanism in the southern Xiong’er Mountains, eastern Qinling: Partial melting of the subducted Qinling crust underneath North China
Authors: He Jun , Zhang He , al. et
Published: January 2022

Appendix S1: Analytical techniques; Table S1: Major- and trace-element contents of late Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the southern Xiong’er Mountains; Table S2: U-Pb isotopic data and trace-element contents of zircon grains in late Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the southern Xiong’er Mountains; Table S3: Whole-rock Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions of late Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the southern Xiong’er Mountains.
Altered Degree Centrality in Patients with Non-Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Resting-State fMRI Study
Authors: Li Xiaolou , Zhang Peng , Zhou Wensu , Li Yuan , Sun Zhongru , Chen Jinhua , Xia Jianguo , Zou Hongmei
Published: January 2022

This study used a voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) method to evaluate differences in brain activity between patients with non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (non-NP-SLE) and healthy controls (HCs) and to assess the relationship of DC values with clinical and neuropsychological data. Thirty-two female patients with non-NP-SLE and 28 well-matched HCs were recruited and underwent resting-state functional MRI. Differences in spontaneous brain activity between the two groups were evaluated using a DC method. Correlations between the altered DC values of specific brain regions and clinical and neuropsychological data were explored using Spearman correlation analysis. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis was applied to differences in DC values in specific brain regions to determine their value in distinguishing patients with non-NP-SLE from HCs. Compared with HCs, DC values in patients with non-NP-SLE were significantly lower in the bilateral postcentral gyrus and the orbital part of the left superior frontal gyrus (LFMO). DC values in some specific brain regions such as the bilateral postcentral gyrus and the LFMO correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination scores in both subject groups. In patients with non-NP-SLE, DC values of the right postcentral gyrus were positively correlated with IgA levels, and DC values of the LFMO were positively correlated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 scores, as well as IgA levels. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed that the DC values of specific brain regions can be used to differentiate patients with non-NP-SLE from HCs.
Incident hypertension in relation to aircraft noise exposure: results of the DEBATS longitudinal study in France
Authors: Kourieh Aboud , Giorgis-Allemand Lise , Bouaoun Liacine , Lefèvre Marie , Champelovier Patricia , Lambert Jacques , Laumon Bernard , Evrard Anne-Sophie
Published: January 2022

Background

Although several cross-sectional studies have shown that aircraft noise exposure was associated with an increased risk of hypertension, a limited number of longitudinal studies have addressed this issue. This study is part of the DEBATS (Discussion on the health effect of aircraft noise) research programme and aimed to investigate the association between aircraft noise exposure and the incidence of hypertension.

Methods

In 2013, 1244 adults living near three major French airports were included in this longitudinal study. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as demographic and lifestyle factors, were collected at baseline and after 2 and 4 years of follow-up during face-to-face interviews. Exposure to aircraft noise was estimated for each participant’s home address using noise maps. Statistical analyses were performed using mixed Poisson and linear regression models adjusted for potential confounding factors.

Results

A 10 dB(A) increase in aircraft noise levels in terms of Lden was associated with a higher incidence of hypertension (incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.36, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.82). The association was also significant for Lday (IRR 1.41, 95% CI 1.07; to 1.85) and Lnight (IRR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.71). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased with all noise indicators.

Conclusion

These results strengthen those obtained from the cross-sectional analysis of the data collected at the time of inclusion in DEBATS, as well as those from previous studies conducted in other countries. Hence, they support the hypothesis that aircraft noise exposure may be considered as a risk factor for hypertension.
Prevalence of cardiotropic viruses in adults with clinically suspected myocarditis in South Africa
Authors: Hassan Karim , Kyriakakis Charles , Doubell Anton , Van Zyl Gert , Claassen Mathilda , Zaharie Dan , Herbst Philip
Published: January 2022

Objectives

To determine the prevalence and types of viral pathogens in the myocardium of patients presenting with clinically suspected myocarditis in South Africa.

Method

This is a prospective cross-sectional study. Consecutive adults presenting to a single tertiary centre in South Africa between August 2017 and January 2021 who fulfilled the European Society of Cardiology’s diagnostic criteria for clinically suspected myocarditis and who had undergone the appropriate investigations, including cardiac MRI (CMR) and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB), were included.

Results

One hundred and two patients with clinically suspected myocarditis were enrolled. Acute myocarditis (AM) was confirmed by CMR or EMB in 82 (80.39%) patients. Viral genomes were detected by PCR in EMB specimens of 50 patients with AM. Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) was the most frequently detected virus, in 37 as monoinfection and 4 as coinfection. This was followed by Epstein-Barr virus (n=6), human herpesvirus 6 (n=2) and human bocavirus (n=1). PVB19 was also detected in 9 patients with no evidence of AM on CMR or EMB.

Conclusion

Viral myocarditis is the most common form of myocarditis in South Africa. Local viral prevalence appears to be similar those of the developed world. The clinical significance and pathogenic role of PVB19 remains questioned, and its local background prevalence will have to be further investigated.
Memory B cells and serum immunoglobulins are associated with disease severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19
Authors: Çölkesen Fatih , Kurt Esma Kepenek , Vatansev Hülya , Korkmaz Celalettin , Çölkesen Fatma , Yücel Fatih , Yıldız Eray , Evcen Recep , Aykan Filiz Sadi , Kılınç Mehmet , Aytekin Gökhan , Feyzioğlu Bahadır , Doğan Metin , Arslan Şevket , Teke Turgut , Keleş Sevgi , Reisli İsmail
Published: January 2022

Purpose of the study

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of B cell-mediated immunity with disease severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Study design

In this retrospective cohort and single-centre study, 208 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were recruited. A COVID-19 severity score, ranging from 0 to 10, was used to evaluate associations between various factors. Serum immunoglobulin levels and the number of cells in B lymphocyte subsets were measured and their association with disease severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19 examined.

Results

The median age of the patients was 50 (35–63) years and 88 (42%) were female. The number of deceased patients was 17. The median COVID-19 severity score was 8 (6–8) in deceased patients and 1 (0–2) in survivors. Deceased patients had significantly lower levels of total B lymphocytes, naive B cells, switched memory B cells, and serum IgA, IgG, IgG1 and IgG2 than recovered patients (all p<0.05). In addition, a significant negative correlation was found between the number of these parameters and COVID-19 severity scores. Decrease in the number of total B cells and switched memory B cells as well as lower serum IgA, IgG and IgG1 levels were independent risk factors for mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Conclusion

In the present study, the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 was shown to be associated with the B cell subset and serum immunoglobulin levels.
Perfusion CT imaging as a diagnostic and prognostic tool for dementia: prospective case–control study
Authors: Dash Sanket , Agarwal Yatish , Jain Swarna , Sharma Anuradha , Chaudhry Neera
Published: January 2022

Background

As functional changes precede structural changes in dementia, we aimed to elucidate changes on cerebral perfusion CT (PCT) for early diagnosis of dementia; and to differentiate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from vascular dementia (VaD). We also aimed to study correlation between Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) score and PCT parameters.

Methods

We conducted a prospective case–control study enrolling 25 dementia patients (15 cases of VaD, 10 cases of AD) and 25 age-matched controls. PCT was performed on a 256-slice CT scanner. Using perfusion software, colour maps were generated for cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), mean transit time and time-to-peak. These colour maps were first visually inspected for any abnormalities. Subsequently, quantitative assessment of perfusion parameters was done using symmetrical freehand region of interests drawn in bilateral frontal, temporal, parietal regions, basal ganglia and hippocampi.

Results

Strategic infarcts were present in 93.3% cases and white matter ischaemic changes in 100% cases of VaD. A global reduction in CBF and CBV was also observed in cases of VaD; whereas these parameters were significantly lower mainly in temporoparietal regions and hippocampi of patients with AD. There was significant positive correlation between MOCA score and various perfusion parameters in both forms of dementia.

Conclusion

PCT is a reliable imaging modality for early diagnosis of dementia and in differentiating VaD from AD. As perfusion parameters show positive correlation with MOCA score, they could be used as a surrogate marker of cognitive status in the follow-up of patients with dementia.
Spondyloarthritis in inflammatory bowel disease cohorts: systematic literature review and critical appraisal of study designs
Authors: Schwartzman Monica , Ermann Joerg , Kuhn Kristine A , Schwartzman Sergio , Weisman Michael H
Published: January 2022

To critically appraise study designs evaluating spondyloarthritis (SpA) phenotypes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A systematic literature review of PubMed, Ovid, Scopus, Cinahl, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases was performed. Articles published from January 2000 - March 2020 were included if they evaluated the prevalence/incidence of musculoskeletal disease in cohorts of IBD patients. Most of the 69 included studies were clinic based (54/69, 78%), single center (47/69, 68%) and cross-sectional (60/69, 87%). The median prevalence of axial and peripheral SpA in IBD was 5% (range 1 - 46%) and 16% (range 1 - 43%), respectively. In 38 studies that evaluated axial disease in prospectively enrolled patients, inflammatory back pain was analyzed in 53%. SpA classification criteria were used in 68% and imaging was performed in 76%. In 35 studies that evaluated peripheral disease in prospectively enrolled patients, SpA classification criteria were used in 46%. A physical exam was performed in 74%, and it was performed by a rheumatologist in 54% of studies with a physical exam. Sub-phenotypes of peripheral SpA (mono- or oligo-arthritis, polyarthritis, enthesitis, dactylitis) were variably reported. Seventy-four percent of studies did not mention whether osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia had been assessed or excluded. The spectrum of SpA phenotypes in IBD patients remains incompletely characterized. Future studies should focus on standardizing the variables collected in IBD-SpA cohorts and defining musculoskeletal phenotypes in IBD-SpA in order to better characterize this disease entity and advance the field for clinical and research purposes.
Height and bone mineral content after inhaled corticosteroid use in the first 6 years of life
Authors: Kunøe Asja , Sevelsted Astrid , Chawes Bo L K , Stokholm Jakob , Krakauer Martin , Bønnelykke Klaus , Bisgaard Hans
Published: January 2022

Background

Infants and young children might be particularly susceptible to the potential side effects from inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) on height and bone mineral content (BMC), but this has rarely been studied in long-term prospective studies.

Methods

Children from two Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood cohorts were included. ICS use was registered prospectively from birth to age 6 and the cumulative dose was calculated. Primary outcomes were height and BMC from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans at age 6.

Results

At age 6, a total of 930 children (84%) from the cohorts had a valid height measurement and 792 (71%) had a DXA scan. 291 children (31%) received a cumulated ICS dose equivalent to or above 10 weeks of standard treatment before age 6. We found an inverse association between ICS use and height, −0.26 cm (95% CI: −0.45 to −0.07) per 1 year standard treatment from 0 to 6 years of age, p=0.006. This effect was mainly driven by children with ongoing treatment between age 5 and 6 years (−0.31 cm (95% CI: −0.52 to −0.1), p=0.004), while there was no significant association in children who stopped treatment at least 1 year before age 6 (−0.09 cm (95% CI: −0.46 to 0.28), p=0.64). There was no association between ICS use and BMC at age 6.

Conclusions

ICS use in early childhood was associated with reduced height at age 6 years but only in children with continued treatment in the sixth year of life.
Morphological variations ofThymusin the vegetation belts of the Tien Shan mountains (Central Asia)
Authors: Talovskaya Evgeniya , Cheryomushkina Vera
Published: January 2022

This study demonstrated the correlation between Thymus life-forms and conditions in the Tien Shan mountains, in which different vegetation belts can be located at different altitudes depending on a particular ridge. We selected four species of Thymus that are widespread in Tien Shan mountains (Thymus diminutus Klokov, Thymus dmitrievae Gamajun, Thymus karatavicus Dmitrieva, and Thymus seravschanicus Klokov). Eco-morphological and phytocenotic approaches were used to study the life-forms and biomorphs within the genus Thymus in this region. The module structure and sympodial axis were analyzed according to the slope steepness and stone and (or) herbaceous covering. Acrotonic and basitonic module branching types are characteristics of dwarf shrub and dwarf subshrub life-forms, respectively. The dwarf shrub develops in open spaces in the steppe and forest, and the dwarf subshrub develops in different vegetation belts from steppe to alpine. Thymus dwarf shrub and dwarf subshrub life-forms were characterized by an implicitly polycentric biomorph type (mature plant comprising several closely located growth centers). Thymus species in the Tien Shan mountains exhibited morphological variability. We propose that the branching of Thymus plants can be used as an indicator of a specific vegetation belt in the Tien Shan mountains, and can be used to predict the behavior of other species with similar morphology.
Beyond exploding balloons — bringing the science of chemistry to the public
Authors: Farrell Jacqueline , Wahba Alexander S.
Published: January 2022

This paper is a personal account of the inception and work of the award-winning McGill Chemistry Outreach Group by two of its founding members. This team of graduate students, staff, and faculty helps promote science literacy, curiosity, and critical thinking, while making chemistry accessible to the public. The McGill Chemistry Outreach Group also serves as a good example of how to prepare students and staff in communicating chemistry to the public through formal training. In doing so, outreach is beginning to be defined not only in terms of its obvious impact on members of the public, but also as an explicit part of a student’s professional training.
Dielectric strength of noble and quenched gases for high pressure time projection chambers
Authors: Norman L. , Silva K. , Jones B. J. P. , McDonald A. D. , Tiscareno M. R. , Woodruff K.
Published: January 2022

Dielectric breakdown strength is one of the critical performance metrics for pure gases and gas mixtures used in large, high pressure gas time projection chambers. In this paper we experimentally study dielectric breakdown strengths of several important time projection chamber working gases and gas-phase insulators over the pressure range 100 mbar to 10 bar, and gap sizes ranging from 0.1 to 10 mm. Gases characterized include argon, xenon, CO$$_2$$

2

, CF$$_4$$

4

, and mixtures 90-10 argon-CH$$_4$$

4

, 90-10 argon-CO$$_2$$

2

and 99-1 argon-CF$$_4$$

4

. We develop a theoretical model for high voltage breakdown based on microphysical simulations that use electron swarm Monte Carlo results as input to Townsend- and Meek-like discharge criteria. This model is shown to be highly predictive at high pressure, out-performing traditional Paschen–Townsend and Meek–Raether models significantly. At lower pressure-times-distance, the Townsend-like model is an excellent description for noble gases whereas the Meek-like model provides a highly accurate prediction for insulating gases.
A Fully Integrated S-Band Phase-Array Receiver in 0.13 μm CMOS SOI
Authors: Zhou Yangyang , Zhang Hao , Zhu Lei , Zhao Yuan , Zhang Tian
Published: January 2022

In traditional phased-array T/R modules, front-end modules such as limiter, low-noise amplifier (LNA) and RF switch are generally implemented by independent devices, with low integration and high cost. This paper realizes the integration of all receiver functional modules in the 0.13[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m CMOS SOI process, including RF switch, LNA with limiter, 6-bit digital controlled attenuator and phase shifter, and drive amplifier. The LNA integrates a limiting function, which can suffer 2[Formula: see text]W continuous wave. Fast charge–discharge circuit is applied to the low insertion loss RF switch, which greatly reduces the switching time. The phase shifter adopts a double balanced switch used for 180∘ phase shift, which significantly reduces the phase error. The measured channel gain is about 28[Formula: see text]dB with an NF about 2.3[Formula: see text]dB and an IP1 dB above [Formula: see text]14[Formula: see text]dBm. The state error of attenuator is less than [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB with step error less than [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB. The RMS phase error of phase shifter is less than 1.8 degrees. The fully integrated transceiver IC occupies an area of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm2. This receiver draws only 128[Formula: see text]mA with a 3.3[Formula: see text]V power supply.
Comfort Assessment of Human-Induced Vibration of Pedestrian Bridges Based on Stevens Annoyance Rate Model
Authors: Lu Pengzhen , Zhou Yutao , Wu Ying , Ding Yu , Wang Jiahao , Ma Yiheng
Published: January 2022

In recent years, the continuous innovation in terms of using new materials and structures for pedestrian bridges has led to a significant reduction in the natural frequency of such bridges. Thus, the human-induced vibration comfort of bridges has been increasingly affected. Therefore, this paper introduces the Stevens annoyance rate model (ARM) and proposes a design and evaluation method for human-induced vibration comfort of pedestrian bridges based on this model. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a practical pedestrian bridge is used as an example to perform dynamic analysis, comfort evaluation, and vibration reduction design. The results show that the pedestrian bridge comfort evaluation method based on the Stevens-ARM can accurately quantify the vibration comfort of the human body under uncertainties. For comfort control, the new comfort design method and a genetic algorithm (GA) can arrange multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMDs) more reasonably, which can prevent the annoyance rate (AR) and comfort rate under the two-way coupled vibration from exceeding the limit. Moreover, data obtained from 14 pedestrian bridges in China were analyzed to verify the generality and reliability of the findings.
Shifted Resonance of Railway Bridges Under Trains Passing by Each Other
Authors: Lou Ping , Yau J. D. , Au Francis T. K. , Urushadze S.
Published: January 2022

Dynamic vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI) plays a crucial role in the train-induced vibrations of a railway bridge for its coupling effects may reduce the bridge response and down-shift the resonant speed. The commonly used nominal theoretical resonant speed ([Formula: see text] of a typical railway bridge, however, is only related to the bridge frequency ([Formula: see text] and car length ([Formula: see text], but it neglects the VBI effects of the moving trains. Such a shifted resonance phenomenon would become significant for a bridge under two trains passing by each other. This study develops a method using an equivalent modal mass to be added onto the bridge to account for the frequency shift due to the presence of multiple train cars for estimation of the shifted resonant speed. The numerical study demonstrates that the proposed method can predict the shifted resonant speed and explain the shifted-resonance phenomenon of railway bridges under train passages.
DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE: A REVIEW AND FUTURE RESEARCH AGENDAS
Authors: GANGULY ANIRBAN , KUMAR CHITRESH
Published: January 2022

Disruptive innovation (DI) refers to a mode of low cost high ancillary performance innovation that starts at the lower end of the market and gradually moves up to eventually displace its incumbent counterparts. The concept of DI has become more and more popular in the healthcare sector. The paper studies how healthcare research has embraced the concept of DI in various areas within the healthcare sector. Areas of healthcare, where DI has been adopted as a management strategy, were identified in the last two decades, through initially shortlisting 157 papers and the final reviewed set of 117 papers. Through a multi-method approach comprising of co-word analysis, identification of themes, mapping of research work across these themes and geography, the study found that, although from a management perspective there are 13 major themes, the majority of the focus is on four major themes–healthcare delivery and services, healthcare administration, technology and equipment, and nursing and palliative care. Furthermore, the majority of the geography-specific research was conducted in developed countries, especially the USA. It was also observed that organisational strategies for successfully implementing DI in the healthcare sector are still in the nascent stage and the focus is mostly in the area of healthcare delivery and administration from the management perspective. Future research studies could aim at looking at the role that DI plays in the healthcare sector of the developing countries, as well as using DI in other areas of healthcare, rather than a few concentrated areas.
INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF INNOVATION STRATEGIES ON FIRM’S SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM FRENCH LISTED FIRMS
Authors: BEN HASSEN RIM , TALBI DORRA
Published: January 2022

The main objective of this study consists of investigating the impact of innovation strategies on corporate financial and social performance. Our study is based on French listed firms (SBF 120) from 2015 to 2019. Two models are employed to test our hypotheses: in the first model we opt for linear regressions to investigate the relation between innovation strategies (process, product and open) on firm’s financial performance. In the second model, logit regression model is employed to explore the impact of innovation strategies on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Findings reveal that product and open innovation are valuable to firm’s performance measured by return on asset (ROA). Second, we find evidence that open and technological innovation (process and product) have a positive effect on CSR strategies.
Life Cycle of Data Processing Center of RadioAstron Project
Authors: Shatskaya Marina V. , Fedorov Nikolai A. , Likhachev Sergey F. , Seliverstov Sergey I. , Sychev Dmitry A.
Published: January 2022

This paper is about the Data Processing Center (DPC) working within the RadioAstron project. Since the launch of the space radio telescope to orbit in July 2011, the DPC underwent significant quantitative and qualitative changes as the project developed. This paper describes the schemes, structure, stages of the processing center development, current upgrades and new technologies introduced in the DPC throughout the entire period of its operation. For technical reasons, the scheduled observations in the project were terminated in January 2019. However, still the work of the DPC continued. Today, the most valuable thing we have is information. There is now a unique archive of service and scientific data of the project in our possession, and a data bank of the RadioAstron project is underway, which will ensure a proper access to scientific and service information for all interested experts, as well as provide an opportunity for an additional data analysis.
Using a hybrid card sorting-affinity diagramming method to teach content analysis
Authors: Bivens Kristin Marie , Welhausen Candice A.
Published: January 2022

In this teaching experience report, we describe a research experience for undergraduates (REUs) designed to cognitively support the work of two student research assistants (RAs) from a two-year college (2YC) on a funded project that involved analyzing user-generated content for an mHealth app. First, we suggest partnerships between two- and four-year institutions as a move toward REU equity because students from 2YCs are not typically afforded these opportunities. We then review the role of research in undergraduate learning and posit the importance of scaffolding to sequence cognitive leaps. Finally, we present the cognitive scaffolding we created and connect it to our hybrid card sorting-affinity diagramming content analysis method.
Review of "Equipping technical communicators for social justice work: Theories, methodologies, and pedagogies," by Rebecca Walton & Godwin Y. Agboka; Walton, R., & Agboka, G. Y. (Eds.) (2021).
Equipping technical communicators for social justice work: Theories, methodologies, and pedagogies.
University Press of Colorado
Authors: Tang Yingying
Published: January 2022

Historically, the field of technical and professional communication (TPC) has seen its ethical responsibility in a rather narrow way: TPC has been thought to be related only to precisely and correctly transmitting information, and TPC's ethical responsibilities are more related to either technology creators or users, but less so to technical communicators (Dombrowski, 2000). However, in recent years, with the rapid development and application of science and technology, scientific discourse and technical communication have made greater impacts on society and people's lives than ever before. Our discpline has increasingly realized the "complex, active, and creative" (Dombrowski, 2000, p. 3) roles technical communicators can play. Under the influence of modern theorists (Weaver, Burke, Foucault, etc.), we start to think of science itself as a value and ethical system that involves goals, ethical procedures, and decision making, and more importantly, we realize the power of the language we use for scientific and technical communication. Our ethical decisions relating to the genre, language style, layout design, and inclusion/exclusion of certain information influences readers' perceptions of the fact, shaping their knowledges, values, and beliefs of the world. As Dombrowski (2000) puts it: "as our influecne grows, so do our responsiblities" (p. 3). Now it is the right time for technical communicators to realize our expanded roles and responsiblities in doing our work and to embrace the ethical and social justice turn in our field.
Investigating the Effect of Preprocessing Arabic Text on Offensive Language and Hate Speech Detection
Authors: Husain Fatemah , Uzuner Ozlem
Published: January 2022

Preprocessing of input text can play a key role in text classification by reducing dimensionality and removing unnecessary content. This study aims to investigate the impact of preprocessing on Arabic offensive language classification. We explore six preprocessing techniques: conversion of emojis to Arabic textual labels, normalization of different forms of Arabic letters, normalization of selected nouns from dialectal Arabic to Modern Standard Arabic, conversion of selected hyponyms to hypernyms, hashtag segmentation, and basic cleaning such as removing numbers, kashidas, diacritics, and HTML tags. We also experiment with raw text and a combination of all six preprocessing techniques. We apply different types of classifiers in our experiments including traditional machine learning, ensemble machine learning, Artificial Neural Networks, and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)-based models to analyze the impact of preprocessing. Our results demonstrate significant variations in the effects of preprocessing on each classifier type and on each dataset. Classifiers that are based on BERT do not benefit from preprocessing, while traditional machine learning classifiers do. However, these results can benefit from validation on larger datasets that cover broader domains and dialects.
Arabic Fake News Detection: A Fact Checking Based Deep Learning Approach
Authors: Harrag Fouzi , Djahli Mohamed Khalil
Published: January 2022

Fake news stories can polarize society, particularly during political events. They undermine confidence in the media in general. Current NLP systems are still lacking the ability to properly interpret and classify Arabic fake news. Given the high stakes involved, determining truth in social media has recently become an emerging research that is attracting tremendous attention. Our literature review indicates that applying the state-of-the-art approaches on news content address some challenges in detecting fake news’ characteristics, which needs auxiliary information to make a clear determination. Moreover, the ‘Social-context-based’ and ‘propagation-based’ approaches can be either an alternative or complementary strategy to content-based approaches. The main goal of our research is to develop a model capable of automatically detecting truth given an Arabic news or claim. In particular, we propose a deep neural network approach that can classify fake and real news claims by exploiting ‘Convolutional Neuron Networks’. Our approach attempts to solve the problem from the fact checking perspective, where the fact-checking task involves predicting whether a given news text claim is factually authentic or fake. We opt to use an Arabic balanced corpus to build our model because it unifies stance detection, stance rationale, relevant document retrieval and fact-checking. The model is trained on different well selected attributes. An extensive evaluation has been conducted to demonstrate the ability of the fact-checking task in detecting the Arabic fake news. Our model outperforms the performance of the state-of-the-art approaches when applied to the same Arabic dataset with the highest accuracy of 91%.
Cybersecurity of Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems: A Review
Authors: Kayan Hakan , Nunes Matthew , Rana Omer , Burnap Pete , Perera Charith
Published: January 2022

Industrial cyber-physical systems
(
ICPSs
) manage critical infrastructures by controlling the processes based on the “physics” data gathered by edge sensor networks. Recent innovations in ubiquitous computing and communication technologies have prompted the rapid integration of highly interconnected systems to ICPSs. Hence, the “security by obscurity” principle provided by air-gapping is no longer followed. As the interconnectivity in ICPSs increases, so does the attack surface. Industrial vulnerability assessment reports have shown that a variety of new vulnerabilities have occurred due to this transition. Although there are existing surveys in this context, very little is mentioned regarding the outputs of these reports. While these reports show that the most exploited vulnerabilities occur due to weak boundary protection, these vulnerabilities also occur due to limited or ill-defined security policies. However, current literature focuses on
intrusion detection systems
(
IDSs
),
network traffic analysis
(
NTA
) methods, or anomaly detection techniques. Hence, finding a solution for the problems mentioned in these reports is relatively hard. We bridge this gap by defining and reviewing ICPSs from a cybersecurity perspective. In particular, multi-dimensional adaptive attack taxonomy is presented and utilized for evaluating real-life ICPS cyber incidents. Finally, we identify the general shortcomings and highlight the points that cause a gap in existing literature while defining future research directions.
B Cell Function in the Tumor Microenvironment
Authors: Downs-Canner Stephanie M. , Meier Jeremy , Vincent Benjamin G. , Serody Jonathan S.
Published: January 2022

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a heterogeneous, complex organization composed of tumor, stroma, and endothelial cells that is characterized by cross talk between tumor and innate and adaptive immune cells. Over the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that the immune cells in the TME play a critical role in controlling or promoting tumor growth. The function of T lymphocytes in this process has been well characterized. On the other hand, the function of B lymphocytes is less clear, although recent data from our group and others have strongly indicated a critical role for B cells in antitumor immunity. There are, however, a multitude of populations of B cells found within the TME, ranging from naive B cells all the way to terminally differentiated plasma cells and memory B cells. Here, we characterize the role of B cells in the TME in both animal models and patients, with an emphasis on dissecting how B cell heterogeneity contributes to the immune response to cancer.
Review—Contemporary Progresses in Carbon-Based Electrode Material in Li-S Batteries
Authors: Chadha Utkarsh , Bhardwaj Preetam , Padmanaban Sanjeevikumar , Suneel Reyna Michelle , Milton Kevin , Subair Neha , Pandey Akshat , Khanna Mayank , Srivastava Divyansh , Mathew Rhea Mary , Selvaraj Senthil Kumaran , Banavoth Murali , Sonar Prashant , Badoni Badrish , Rao Nalamala Srinivasa , Kumar S. Gopa , Ray Arun Kumar , Kumar Amit
Published: January 2022

Lithium-sulfur batteries are among the rising rechargeable batteries due to their high energy density, theoretical capacity, and low cost. However, their large-scale application is delayed by several challenges, such as degradation due to polysulfide dissolution, low conductivity, and other restricting factors. Li-S batteries have undergone decades of development aimed at improving battery performance by altering the electrode material to overcome these challenges. In the meantime, due to the depletion of fossil fuels and growing energy demand, the need for changes in processes to improve battery performance is now more urgent than ever. Carbon-based materials like conducting polymers, carbon nanotubes, Graphene, and activated Carbon have gained extensive attention due to their low cost, easy availability, good cycling stability, and exceptional electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Here, we summarize recent progress in carbon-based electrode material in Li-S batteries, the development of electrolytes, and progress in adopting lithium-sulfur batteries as flexible devices. Furthermore, a comparison of Li-S batteries based on similar parameters with its rechargeable battery competitors is discussed and a comparison with other non-carbon-based electrodes used in the lithium-sulfur battery is also examined. Finally, a general conclusion and future directions are given.
Ru-Doped NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide as a Highly Active Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction
Authors: Yang Yang , Wang Wen-Jie , Yang Yi-Bin , Guo Peng-Fei , Zhu Bing , Wang Kuan , Wang Wei-Tao , He Zhen-Hong , Liu Zhao-Tie
Published: January 2022

Improving the intrinsic catalytic activity of NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH), which is a benchmark electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is a significant challenge. In the present study, we doped ruthenium ions into NiFe LDH (Ru-NiFe LDH) to accelerate the OER kinetics. Electrochemical measurements of NiFe LDH and Ru-NiFe LDH at similar mass loadings showed that Ru-NiFe LDH demonstrated a higher OER activity than that of NiFe LDH. Ru-NiFe LDH only requires an overpotential of 246 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline media. This attributes to ruthenium doping primarily, which can promote the catalytic activity of Fe sites and boost the electronic interaction among the Ni, Fe, and Ru metals according to the theoretical calculations. Ru-NiFe LDH is stable during OER stability measurements, which was confirmed by structure and elemental analysis. These findings will provide a useful approach for promoting the intrinsic activity of multi-metallic (oxy) hydroxide electrocatalysts toward the OER.
Interface: The First Five Years
Authors: Yess Mary
Published: January 2022

This is not a history of the Society over the past five years; it’s a look at five years of this magazine, a kind of baby book recording those first steps and words.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) increase expression of KCa2.3 (SK3) in primary microvascular endothelial cells
Authors: Kolski-Andreaco Aaron , Balut Corina M. , Bertuccio Claudia A. , Wilson Annette S. , Rivers William M. , Liu Xiaoning , Gandley Robin E. , Straub Adam C. , Butterworth Michael B. , Binion David , Devor Daniel C.
Published: January 2022

The small conductance calcium-activated potassium channel (KCa2.3) has long been recognized for its role in mediating vasorelaxation through the endothelium-derived hyperpolarization (EDH) response. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have been implicated as potential modulators of blood pressure and histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are being explored as therapeutics for hypertension. Herein, we show that HDACi increase KCa2.3 expression when heterologously expressed in HEK cells and endogenously expressed in primary cultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells (HIMECs). When primary endothelial cells were exposed to HDACi, KCa2.3 transcripts, subunits, and functional current are increased. Quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) demonstrated increased KCa2.3 mRNA following HDACi, confirming transcriptional regulation of KCa2.3 by HDACs. By using pharmacological agents selective for different classes of HDACs, we discriminated between cytoplasmic and epigenetic modulation of KCa2.3. Biochemical analysis revealed an association between the cytoplasmic HDAC6 and KCa2.3 in immunoprecipitation studies. Specifically inhibiting HDAC6 increases expression of KCa2.3. In addition to increasing the expression of KCa2.3, we show that nonspecific inhibition of HDACs causes an increase in the expression of the molecular chaperone Hsp70 in endothelial cells. When Hsp70 is inhibited in the presence of HDACi, the magnitude of the increase in KCa2.3 expression is diminished. Finally, we show a slower rate of endocytosis of KCa2.3 as a result of exposure of primary endothelial cells to HDACi. These data provide the first demonstrated approach to increase KCa2.3 channel number in endothelial cells and may partially account for the mechanism by which HDACi induce vasorelaxation.
Deep Learning and Improved HMM Training Algorithm and Its Analysis in Facial Expression Recognition of Sports Athletes
Authors: Li Shaolong , Bai Yijun
Published: January 2022

Facial expressions are an auxiliary embodiment of information conveyed in the communication between people. Facial expressions can not only convey the semantic information that people want to express but also convey the emotional state of the speaker at the same time. But for sports athletes in training and competitions, it is usually not convenient to communicate directly. This paper is based on deep learning and an improved HMM training algorithm to study the facial expression recognition of sports athletes. It proposes the construction of deep learning of multilayer neural network, and the rank algorithm is introduced to carry out face recognition experiments with traditional HMM and class-specific HMM methods. The experimental results show that, with the increase of rank value, the class-specific recognition rate is up to 90%, the detection rate is 98% and the time-consuming is 2.5 min, which is better than HMM overall.
Utility of Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Light Chain Amyloidosis Caused by Lymphoplasmacytic Lymphoma (Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia)
Authors: Bou Zerdan Maroun , Valent Jason , Diacovo Maria Julia , Theil Karl , Chaulagain Chakra P.
Published: January 2022

Of the variety of immunoglobulin related amyloidosis (AL), immunoglobulin M (IgM) related AL represents only 6 to 10% of affected patients, and the majority of these cases are associated with underlying non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma including Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM). Ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, and zanubrutinib are Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors approved for certain indolent B cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). BTK is a nonreceptor kinase involved in B-cell survival, proliferation, and interaction with the microenvironment. We retrospectively evaluated the tolerability and effectiveness of BTK inhibitors ibrutinib and acalabrutinib therapy in (n = 4) patients with IgM-related AL amyloidosis with underlying WM. Treatment was well tolerated with both hematologic and organ response in patients with AL amyloidosis in the setting of WM. Atrial fibrillation led to the discontinuation of ibrutinib in one patient, and acalabrutinib caused significant thumb hematoma needing dose reduction in another patient. All patients evaluated had the MYD88 mutation. This may explain the good response to BTK inhibitors therapy in our series. BTK inhibitors should be further investigated in larger prospective studies for treatment of AL amyloidosis in patients with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/WM.
A Class of Weak Dual Wavelet Frames for Reducing Subspaces of Sobolev Spaces
Authors: Zhang Jianping
Published: January 2022

In recent years, dual wavelet frames derived from a pair of refinable functions have been widely studied by many researchers. However, the requirement of the Bessel property of wavelet systems is always required, which is too technical and artificial. In present paper, we will relax this restriction and only require the integer translation of the wavelet functions (or refinable functions) to form Bessel sequences. For this purpose, we introduce the notion of weak dual wavelet frames. And for generality, we work under the setting of reducing subspaces of Sobolev spaces, we characterize a pair of weak dual wavelet frames, and by using this characterization, we obtain a mixed oblique extension principle for such weak dual wavelet frames.
Low-Complexity LDPC Decoding Algorithm Based on Layered Vicinal Variable Node Scheduling
Authors: Benhayoun Mhammed , Razi Mouhcine , Mansouri Anas , Ahaitouf Ali
Published: January 2022

The informed dynamic scheduling (IDS) strategies for the low-density parity check (LDPC) decoding have shown superior performance in error correction and convergence speed, particularly those based on reliability measures and residual belief propagation (RBP). However, the search for the most unreliable variable nodes and the residual precomputation required for each iteration of the IDS-LDPC increases the complexity of the decoding process which becomes more sequential, making it hard to exploit the parallelism of signal processing algorithms available in multicore platforms. To overcome this problem, a new, low-complexity scheduling system, called layered vicinal variable nodes scheduling (LWNS) is presented in this paper. With this LWNS, each variable node is updated by exchanging intrinsic information with all its associated control and variable nodes before moving to the next variable node updating. The proposed scheduling strategy is fixed by a preprocessing step of the parity control matrix instead of calculation of the residuals values and by computation of the most influential variable node instead the most unreliable metric. It also allows the parallel processing of independent Tanner graph subbranches identified and grouped in layers. Our simulation results show that the LWNS BP have an attractive convergence rate and better error correction performance with low complexity when compared to previous IDS decoders under the white Gaussian noise channel (AWGN).
A Deep Learning Anomaly Detection Framework for Satellite Telemetry with Fake Anomalies
Authors: Wang Yakun , Gong Jianglei , Zhang Jie , Han Xiaodong
Published: January 2022

Reducing satellite failures and keeping satellites healthy in orbit are important issues. Current satellite systems have developed modules to detect anomalies on board. However, they only target a subset of anomaly types and heavily rely on expert knowledge. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a data-driven anomaly detection framework to detect point anomalies. We first propose the Deviation Divide Mean over Neighbors (DDMN) method to figure out the fake anomaly problem caused by data errors in the satellite telemetry data. Then, we use the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), a deep learning method, to model the multivariable time-series data, and a Gaussian model to detect anomalies. We applied our approach to the telemetry data collected from sensors on an in-orbit satellite for more than two years and demonstrate its superiority. Moreover, we explored what conditions could lead to false alarms. The approach proposed has been deployed to the ground station to monitor the health status of the in-orbit satellites.
The Application and Teaching of Digital Technology in Printmaking
Authors: Zhang Hao , Zheng Hongyan
Published: January 2022

Along with the popularization of digital technology, artists began to use digital technology as a technological means to make more attempts in the creation of print art, thereby breaking through the formal constraints. The diversity of information technology inspires artists’ creative inspiration and makes the development of art move in a more varied and diversified direction. The new vision brought by digital technology, digital printmaking, comprehensive printmaking, and digital technology in the creation of comprehensive printmaking and its positive influence on the future development of printmaking provide favorable conditions for the development of diversified art. This paper takes the application of digital technology in the creation of comprehensive prints as a research point and separately expounds the development and application background of digital computer technology and the development history of traditional prints, thereby extending to the modern combination of these two techniques and then transitioning to today’s synthesis print. Based on the background of modernity and history, this article analyzes the classical language forms and characteristics of traditional printmaking to comprehensive printmaking from the theory and practice. And based on the techniques of software plate-making technology, it has been expanded to a series of specific measures such as materials and mechanisms. The research in this paper shows that artists can use digital prints to create high-impact works of art with higher quality and more artistic content.