bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Data-Driven Learning at the English Drafting Stage
Authors: Liou Hsien-Chin , Yang Tzu-Wei
Published: March 2020

Integrating corpus consultation to help students' re-use of vocabulary items for essay-drafting has not been sufficiently examined in instructional contexts. This chapter investigated the linguistic features of target words for which students consulted concordance programs to include in essays by documenting the DDL of three groups of EFL students in a Taiwanese college writing program. Participant essays, video files of consultation processes, responses to questionnaires, interviews, and written records of corpus consultation were examined. Researchers found 88.14% of all consulted words were incorporated into essays, with learners looking up 3.18 words. The lexical profile of consulted words indicates that learners mainly used the most common 1,000 to 2,000 words with more verbs more frequently consulted than nouns. Students queried words for confirmation or incorporated the discovered vocabulary into essays. As emergent pattern hunters, the participants made only limited use of dictionaries and bilingual resources. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Entrepreneurial Competencies as Strategic Tools
Authors: Bercu Ana-Maria , Lupu Dan
Published: March 2020

The debates about entrepreneurial competencies have increased in number. The study aims to develop the main key components of entrepreneurship as a competence for SMEs in Eastern European Countries (EEC). The development of our study will include a literature review of the concepts and theories in the field, an inventory of the required skills and competencies for SMEs in EEC from three dimensions: a personal one, in terms of motivation and performance; material, as financial resources; and non-material, in terms of attitudes, skills, and behaviors. For the emerging markets, the study is important for revealing the entrepreneurial competencies as tools for strategically planning with impact on the entrepreneurial climate. Implications for the strategic development of the firms will be discussed.
Personality Assumptions and Attitudes Towards Business
Authors: Rylková Žaneta , Čemerková Šárka
Published: March 2020

The chapter deals with factors that may affect the willingness to do business. Factors such as business economics knowledge, the desire for freedom and success, the appetite for risk taking and organizational skills are examined as the pillars of potential businesses. Analysis of the factors shows the influence on business establishment. The chapter is based on primary data collection from a recent survey from the Czech Republic and on comparison with international resources focused on aspects which influence the business establishment. The results indicated relationships between above mentioned factors and their effects on business establishment. Implications of these results, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
Developing Entrepreneurial Competencies for Secondary Schools as Social Enterprises
Authors: van der Westhuizen Thea , Luthuli Sthokozile
Published: March 2020

The chapter is written from an Afrocentric perspective with a focus on South Africa and aims to investigate the potential of developing a school as a social enterprise while developing entrepreneurial competencies of the school's internal and external environments. Research objectives were set to determine perceptions of educators on learners' and their own involvement in the school's strategic management process, to explore critical organisational aspects that can engage educators in active decision making and educators' view of the current role they play within the decision-making process. It was found that secondary schools within a South African context, as mostly not viewed as a potential social enterprise and that educators have limited entrepreneurial competencies, which can contribute to strategic development of the school. It is recommended that the school's internal and external environment should be included to develop the school as a social enterprise with strategies to alleviate poverty and instill a mindset of entrepreneurial competence among youth and the community alike.
ReSTART
Authors: Hegarty Clementine , Gallagher Pádraig , Cunningham Isobel , Stephens Simon
Published: March 2020

The primary aim of this chapter is to review the literature on entrepreneurial influences and competencies. We do this to develop an understanding of the needs of a specific sub-group of entrepreneurs: second chance entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial learning theory suggests that the failure an entrepreneur experiences serves as a reservoir of knowledge which is important to future success. This chapter highlights the significance of experiential learning as entrepreneurs recover and re-emerge into new venture creation. Due to the high uncertainty of pursuing new opportunities and embarking on an entrepreneurial career involves risk, which can sometimes lead to failure. In this chapter we review the literature on entrepreneurial failure and provide recommendations for customizing entrepreneurial supports to maximize the success of (re)starting entrepreneurs.
Qualitative Analysis of 3D Routing Algorithms in 3×3×3 Mesh NoC Topology Under Varying Load in Bio-SoC
Authors: Syal Nidhi , Sehgal Vivek Kumar
Published: March 2020

This article presents a qualitative analysis of a 3D routing algorithm in a 3×3×3 mesh NOC topology. The effect of load variation on throughput, total energy, and maximum delay for different types of routing is observed. The simulation was performed on an Access NOXIM network-on-chip simulator under random traffic conditions. The research involves quality parameters like total packets received, total received flits, global average delay (cycles), global average throughput (flits/cycle), throughput (flits/cycle/IP), max delay (cycles), total energy (J), average power (J/cycle), average power per router (J/cycle), and average waiting time in each buffer. In this article, it was observed after comparing all the routing techniques against the mention parameters the XYZ routing techniques was found perform better followed by West first, and North last, while poor performance was observed against odd-even, negative first, and fully adaptive.
A Possible Framework for Attention-Based Politics
Authors: Merkovity Norbert
Published: March 2020

According to scholars, the use of mediatization could be understood as a communicative representation of politicians or spin doctoring, but either way, it ends in self-representation and in “self-initiated stage-management.” However, the social media environment could give a new perspective on the communication of the political actors in political communication. This communication could be seen as self-broadcasting that could be conceptualized as attention-based politics. This article aims to give a brief introduction to a theoretical framework of the phenomenon and to provide research directions in order to understand politician's strategies in attraction, maximization, and the direction the attention of followers and journalists.
The Potential of Interactive Negotiated Narratives in Rebuilding and Reimagining Northern Irish Society
Authors: Zaluczkowska Anna Maria
Published: March 2020

This research explores the role of the writer in interactive transmedia production through a research project that has been primarily designed to take place within contemporary Northern Ireland. Red Branch Heroes was created, in association with Bellyfeel Productions1, as a prototype for a more extensive fictional interactive web series that will be known as The Eleven. The author developed a game-like scenario where, through their play, the audience influenced and developed character and story elements. The research asks if interactive forms such as transmedia offer any new storytelling potentials to the people of Northern Ireland and how such projects can contribute to debates about e-politics and e-democracy in post-conflict societies. Evidence is presented in this article to suggest that the ‘negotiated narratives' formulated in this prototype offer further creative community-building possibilities, in neutral spaces that can facilitate discourses about the future.
The Moderating Effect of Organization Culture on Competition Intensity and Hospital Quality
Authors: Guimaraes Tor , Caccia-Bava Maria do Carmo , Geist Melissa
Published: March 2020

This study empirically tests the relationship between hospital competition intensity and its quality, and the moderating impact of hospital culture on this relationship. An emailed questionnaire collected data from 239 American hospital CEO's to validate the measures and test the hypothesized relationships. The results corroborated the importance of competition intensity as determinant of hospital quality and the positive moderating impact of hospital organization culture as measured here. Future research should expand this model to include other potential determinants of hospital quality such as economic conditions and hospital size. Also, future research should explore other potential moderators and mediators for inclusion in a more elaborate model. While hospitals administrators cannot control the intensity of their competition, and are forced to do everything they can to improve hospital quality (including establishing a helpful organization culture), understanding how to measure these constructs and manage their relationships should be very useful.
Parallel and Distributed Pattern Mining
Authors: Meddah Ishak H.A , Nour El Houda REMIL
Published: March 2020

The treatment of large data is difficult and it looks like the arrival of the framework MapReduce is a solution of this problem. This framework can be used to analyze and process vast amounts of data. This happens by distributing the computational work across a cluster of virtual servers running in a cloud or a large set of machines. Process mining provides an important bridge between data mining and business process analysis. Its techniques allow for extracting information from event logs. Generally, there are two steps in process mining, correlation definition or discovery and the inference or composition. First of all, their work mines small patterns from log traces. Those patterns are the representation of the traces execution from a log file of a business process. In this step, the authors use existing techniques. The patterns are represented by finite state automaton or their regular expression; and the final model is the combination of only two types of different patterns whom are represented by the regular expressions (ab)* and (ab*c)*. Second, they compute these patterns in parallel, and then combine those small patterns using the Hadoop framework. They have two steps; the first is the Map Step through which they mine patterns from execution traces, and the second one is the combination of these small patterns as a reduce step. The results show that their approach is scalable, general and precise. It minimizes the execution time by the use of the Hadoop framework.
Analyzing Evolution Patterns of Object-Oriented Metrics
Authors: Malhotra Ruchika , Khanna Megha
Published: March 2020

Software evolution is mandatory to keep it useful and functional. However, the quality of the evolving software may degrade due to improper incorporation of changes. Quality can be monitored by analyzing the trends of software metrics extracted from source code as these metrics represent the structural characteristics of a software such as size, coupling, inheritance etc. An analysis of these metric trends will give insight to software practitioners regarding effects of software evolution on its internal structure. Thus, this study analyzes the trends of 14 object-oriented (OO) metrics in a widely used mobile operating system software, Android. The study groups the OO metrics into four dimensions and analyzes the trends of these metrics over five versions of Android software (4.0.2-4.3.1). The results of the study indicate certain interesting patterns for the evaluated dimensions, which can be helpful to software practitioners for outlining specific maintenance decisions to improve software quality.
An End to End Cloud Computing Privacy Framework Using Blind Processing
Authors: Gahi Youssef , El Alaoui Imane , Guennoun Mouhcine
Published: March 2020

Database-as-a-service (DBaaS) is a trend allowing organizations to outsource their databases and computations to external parties. However, despite the many advantages provided by this service in terms of cost reduction and efficiency, DBaaS raises many security issues regarding data privacy and access control. The protection of privacy has been addressed by several research contributions proposing efficient solutions such as encrypted databases and blind queries over encrypted data, called blind processing. In this latter context, almost all proposed schemes consider an architecture of a single user (the data owner) that requests the database server for encrypted records while he is the only one capable of decrypting. From a practical perspective, a database system is set up to support not only a single user but multiple users initiating multiple queries. However, managing various accesses to an encrypted database introduces several challenges by itself, like key sharing, key revocation, and data re-encryption. In this article, we propose a simple and efficient blind processing protocol that allows multiple users to query the same encrypted data and decrypt the retrieved results without getting access to the secret key.
Prevention of Terrorism Attacks by Identifying Terrorist Activities
Authors: Priyanto Sapto , Dermawan Mohammad , Runturambi Arthur
Published: March 2020

Terrorism causes material and non-material losses for affected victims of that attack. Victims of terrorist attacks are not only immediate victims, but also indirect victims. Terrorist attacks can be prevented if terrorist activities are identified in advance. This research differs from previous studies because it identifies terrorist activities before the attack. People's attention to safety in their environment can also play a role in anticipating terrorist attacks. Based on chronology with a chronological analysis, it is possible to know that the perpetrators conducted a survey on the target of the attack. In conducting surveys, the perpetrators will be disguised, so to look ordinary, and exploit the negligence of officers. Acts of terrorism can be prevented by raising security concerns about suspicious activities terrorists conducted before the attack, and by keeping the pace and addressing terrorism issues at both national and international levels.
Geopolymer Preparation from Bamboo Ash Containing Kaolin as Ash Fusion Control Agent
Authors: Samadhi Tjokorde Walmiki , Purbasari Aprilina , Wulandari Winny
Published: March 2020

Bamboo is a prospective biomass fuel due to its high heating value and growth rate. The addition of kaolin is necessary in the thermal conversion of biomass to increase its ash fusion temperature (AFT), thus reducing fouling and corrosion of the combustion system. This study evaluates the feasibility of utilizing bamboo-kaolin co-processing residue for geopolymer synthesis. Thermochemical calculations suggest that bamboo culm ash liquidus increases by 15% by adding kaolin during combustion at a biomass to kaolin mass ratio of 95:5%. A 23 full factorial experiment measures the effect of activator Na2SiO3:KOH ratio, KOH concentration, and heat-curing period at 60 °C on the early strength of geopolymer mortars. Co-processing residue of bamboo-kaolin at a mass ratio of 95:5% produces geopolymer mortars with compressive strengths in the 10.7-40.3 MPa range. ANOVA treatment of the data indicate strong positive effect of KOH concentration. Crystalline phase characterizations indicate that the co-processing is able to convert kaolin to the amorphous, more reactive metakaolin. A shift in the IR absorption band from 1034 to 1008 cm-1 is attributed to the conversion of Si-O-Si bonds of the co-processing residue into Si-O-Al and Si-O-K bonds of the geopolymer gel phase. These results suggest the feasibility of geopolymerization as a waste valorization pathway to ensure the sustainability of the biomass-based energy production.
Flexural-Torsional Buckling of Pultruded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Angle Beams under Eccentric Loading
Authors: Thumrongvut Jaksada , Pakwan Natthawat , Krathumklang Samaporn
Published: March 2020

In this paper, the experimental study on the pultruded fiber-reinforced polymer (pultruded FRP) angle beams subjected to transversely eccentric load are presented. A summary of critical buckling load and buckling behavior for full-scale flexure tests with various span-to-width ratios (L/b) and eccentricities are investigated, and typical failure mode are identified. Three-point flexure tests of 50 pultruded FRP angle beams are performed. The E-glass fibre/polyester resin angle specimens are tested to examine the effect of span-to-width ratio of the beams on the buckling responses and critical buckling loads. The angle specimens have the cross-sectional dimension of 76x6.4 mm with span-to-width ratios, ranging from 20 to 40. Also, four different eccentricities are investigated, ranging from 0 to ±2e. Eccentric loads are applied below the horizontal flange in increments until beam buckling occurred. Based upon the results of this study, it is found that the load and mid-span vertical deflection relationships of the angle beams are linear up to the failure. In contrast, the load and mid-span lateral deflection relationships are geometrically nonlinear. The general mode of failure is the flexural-torsional buckling. The eccentrically loaded specimens are failed at critical buckling loads lower than their concentric counterparts. Also, the quantity of eccentricity increases as buckling load decreases. In addition, it is noticed that span-to-width ratio increases, the buckling load is decreased. The eccentric location proved to have considerable influence over the buckling load of the pultruded FRP angle beams.
A Design Method for Sound Absorbing Structure at Low Frequency
Authors: Fu Ying Jie , Wang Xiao Ming , Mei Yu Lin
Published: March 2020

Traditional acoustic absorbing materials are not effective for low-frequency engineering applications, but on the basis of the locally resonant principle, acoustic metamaterials can utilize the resonance of vibrators to dissipate acoustic energy and realize the subwavelength design of acoustic absorbers, therefore the acoustic metamaterials have great potential applications for noise reduction at low frequencies. This paper firstly employs the Bloch theory to investigate the effects of the parameters of the unit cell of the embedded membrane-and-mass metamaterials on the dispersion characteristics of the metamaterials, and the band gap is verified by the full wave finite element analysis. And then, a model of acoustic metamaterials is constructed by embeding an array of membrane-and-masses into a channel structure filled with acoustic materials. Next the transient frequency response analysis is performed to simulate the wave propagation in the model, the results show that the acoustic metamaterials can absorb the sound through the local resonance of the membrane-and-mass vibrators. Finally, an acoustic metamaterial maze structure is designed and analyzed, in the structure the membrane-and-mass array is embedded and the masses varies periodically. The research illustrates that the acoustic metamaterials with membrane-and-mass unit cells have excellent performances on the sound absorption at low frequency.
Preparation and Characterization of Protein Bioplastics from Fish Waste Using Different Plasticizers
Authors: Alias Siti Amirah , Ishak Ku Marsilla Ku
Published: March 2020

The objective of this study was to develop protein bioplastics from fish waste using different types of plasticizers; polyethylene glycol, triethylene glycol and glycerol. Fish protein powders (head, skin, scales, viscera) were prepared from sardine byproduct (SBP), mackerel fillet powder (MFP) and mackerel byproduct powder (MBP). Protein content was characterized using proximate analysis and amino acids was determine using amino acid analysis. SBP was transform into bioplastics by using extrusion and compression moulding. The properties were characterized using thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and mechanical testing. Protein content in byproduct (SBP and MBP) were reasonable at approximately 40-60%. TGA result showed two stages of thermal decomposition starting at 230 °C. Below 230 °C, it was believed that protein denaturation occurred, involve structural or conformational changes from native structure without alteration of amino acid sequence. Further heating after 230 °C showed massive weight loss that lead to degradation. Mechanical properties was majorly influenced by plasticizers which improved the elongation at break properties. Glycerol was found to be the most effective plasticizer among those studied here, possibly because of its characteristics such as low molecular weight, high solubility in water, and large protein miscibility. The results obtained in this study showed that plasticizer types and concentration significantly improve film properties and enhances their suitability for single used of agriculture applications.
Protein Kinase C-η Deficiency Does Not Impair Antiviral Immunity and CD8+ T Cell Activation
Authors: Liu Hsin-Yu , Pedros Christophe , Kong Kok-Fai , Canonigo-Balancio Ann J. , Altman Amnon
Published: March 2020

We reported that protein kinase C-η (PKCη) forms a novel (to our knowledge) signaling complex with the checkpoint inhibitory protein CTLA-4 in regulatory T cells (Tregs). This complex is required for the contact-dependent suppressive activity of Tregs, including suppression of antitumor immunity. However, the importance of PKCη in protective immunity mediated by T effector cells remains unclear. We used mice with germline or conditional Treg-specific deletion of Prkch, the PKCη-encoding gene, to explore CD8+ T cell–dependent antiviral immunity using the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus Armstrong strain acute infection model as well as the in vitro activation of murine or human CD8+ T cells. Five days following infection, germline Prkch−/− mice displayed enhanced viral clearance compared with control mice. Similarly, Prkch Treg-specific conditional knockout mice also showed improved viral clearance and displayed enhanced expression of granzyme B and IFN-γ by both virus-specific and total CD8+ T cells, demonstrating that enhanced viral clearance in germline Prkch−/− mice is caused by PKCη deficiency in Tregs and the resulting functional defect of Prkch−/− Tregs. In addition, purified Prkch−/− mouse CD8+ T cells as well as PRKCH knockdown human CD8+ T cells displayed intact, or even enhanced, T cell activation in vitro as measured by proliferation and expression of granzyme B and IFN-γ. Thus, global PKCη deletion does not impair overall CD8+ T cell–mediated immunity, including antiviral immunity, implying that selective pharmacological PKCη inhibition could be safely used in vivo to inhibit undesired contact-dependent suppression by Tregs and, thus, enhance tumor-specific and, likely, virus-specific immunity.
Rac2 Regulates the Migration of T Lymphoid Progenitors to the Thymus during Zebrafish Embryogenesis
Authors: Lu Xinyan , Zhang Yuanlin , Liu Feng , Wang Lu
Published: March 2020

The caudal hematopoietic tissue in zebrafish, the equivalent to the fetal liver in mammals, is an intermediate hematopoietic niche for the maintenance and differentiation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells before homing to the thymus and kidney marrow. As one of the ultimate hematopoietic organs, the thymus sustains T lymphopoiesis, which is essential for adaptive immune system. However, the mechanism of prethymic T lymphoid progenitors migrating to the thymus remains elusive. In this study, we identify an Rho GTPase Rac2 as a modulator of T lymphoid progenitor homing to the thymus in zebrafish. rac2-Deficient embryos show the inability of T lymphoid progenitors homing to the thymus because of defective cell–autonomous motility. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that Rac2 regulates homing of T lymphoid progenitor through Pak1-mediated AKT pathway. Taken together, our work reveals an important function of Rac2 in directing T lymphoid progenitor migration to the thymus during zebrafish embryogenesis.
A Defect in Thymic Tolerance Causes T Cell–Mediated Autoimmunity in a Murine Model of COPA Syndrome
Authors: Deng Zimu , Law Christopher S. , Ho Frances O. , Wang Kristin M. , Jones Kirk D. , Shin Jeoung-Sook , Shum Anthony K.
Published: March 2020

COPA syndrome is a recently described Mendelian autoimmune disorder caused by missense mutations in the coatomer protein complex subunit α (COPA) gene. Patients with COPA syndrome develop arthritis and lung disease that presents as pulmonary hemorrhage or interstitial lung disease (ILD). Immunosuppressive medications can stabilize the disease, but many patients develop progressive pulmonary fibrosis, which requires life-saving measures, such as lung transplantation. Because very little is understood about the pathogenesis of COPA syndrome, it has been difficult to devise effective treatments for patients. To date, it remains unknown which cell types are critical for mediating the disease as well as the mechanisms that lead to autoimmunity. To explore these issues, we generated a CopaE241K/+ germline knock-in mouse bearing one of the same Copa missense mutations in patients. Mutant mice spontaneously developed ILD that mirrors lung pathology in patients, as well as elevations of activated cytokine-secreting T cells. In this study, we show that mutant Copa in epithelial cells of the thymus impairs the thymic selection of T cells and results in both an increase in autoreactive T cells and decrease in regulatory T cells in peripheral tissues. We demonstrate that T cells from CopaE241K/+ mice are pathogenic and cause ILD through adoptive transfer experiments. In conclusion, to our knowledge, we establish a new mouse model of COPA syndrome to identify a previously unknown function for Copa in thymocyte selection and demonstrate that a defect in central tolerance is a putative mechanism by which COPA mutations lead to autoimmunity in patients.
Uptake of HIV testing and counseling among tertiary institution students in the Hohoe Municipality, Ghana
Authors: Agamlor Evans , Pencille Lilian , Lutala Prosper , Akoku Derick Akompab , Tarkang Elvis
Published: March 2020

HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) is a critical strategy to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and the key entry point to HIV treatment, care and support services. This study aimed to determine the uptake of HTC among students of tertiary institutions in the Hohoe Municipality of Ghana. This was a quantitative cross-sectional study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data among a proportionate stratified sample of students from tertiary institutions. Chi-square and Logistic regression analyses were performed using Stata version 12.0 at the 0.05 level of significance. Only 30.6% of the total respondents had ever tested for HIV/AIDS of which, only 22.9% tested less than 6 months before the current study. Students above twenty-four years of age were 3 times more likely to go for HTC than those below 20 years [OR=2.56 (95% CI: 1.07-6.11; p=0.034)]; those in the fourth year of study were 3 times more likely get HTC than those in the first year [OR=3.05 (95%CI: 1.10-8.49; p=0.033)]; and those attending THERESCO, the Midwifery training college and UHAS were more than 2 times more likely to get tested for HIV than those attending FRANCO [OR =2.67 (95% CI: 1.14-6.15; p=0.024)], [OR=2.40 (95% CI: 1.04-5.54; p=0.040)] and [OR=2.63 (95% CI: 1.13-6.13; p=0.026)] respectively. The uptake of HTC among tertiary institution students in Hohoe municipality was considerably low. Policymakers should design programs and interventions that would increase uptake of HTC among tertiary students, with focus on those aged less than 20 years, those at the lower level of study and those in the non-health related institutions.
Oral epidemiological profile of patients attending public oral health services in Haut Sassandra region, in Côte d’Ivoire
Authors: Meless Guanga David , Guinan Jean-Claude , Sangaré Abou Dramane , N’Guessan Koffi Syvain , Kouakou Koffi Lazare , Da-Danho Viviane , Datté Atta Sebastien , Nouaman N’Zébo Marcellin , Amangoua Asse Marie Anita , Samba Mamadou , Bakayoko-Ly Ramata
Published: March 2020

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the type of care that can be achieved and the epidemiological profile of patients attending the 3 public dental practices in the Haut-Sassandra region, in Côte d’Ivoire. The data collection concerned socio-demographic characteristics, reason for consultation, oral hygiene, dental condition, malocclusions and the availability of equipment for the performance of procedures. The 400 patients observed (51.5% male) were aged 16.0 to 86.0 years (mean=35.5 years; SD=13.1 years). The main reasons for consultation were pain (91.5%) and aesthetics (23.5%). Oral hygiene was insufficient for 36.8% of subjects. Oral conditions were malocclusions (12.8%), caries (98.7%) and edentulous (65.7%) with only 11.8% with prosthesis. The average DMFT index was 9.3. Only extractions and resin attached prostheses were possible in all 3 health facilities. Preventive dentistry (sealent, fluoridation), dentofacial orthopedics and implantology were not available in any dental practice. The most frequently performed acts were extractions (74.5%). The results of this study highlight the need for oral health planning with service equipment and awareness among populations who shouldn’t wait until they are in pain to consult.
Mobile health to improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment in Khartoum state, Sudan
Authors: Ali Ahmed Osman Ahmed , Prins Martin H.
Published: March 2020

Although tuberculosis is a treatable disease, the high frequency of treatment default remains a challenge. The use of mobile phones structurally in a TB program has the potential to lower the frequency of default. However, it’s impact on treatment outcome in Sudan has not yet been evaluated. The aim is to evaluate the potential use of cell phones for lowering treatment default. We conducted a controlled intervention pilot study during the period from 1st of May 2017 to 31st of March 2018, in eight TB treatment units in Khartoum state, Sudan. Newly diagnosed patient with positive sputum smear on DOTS therapy were enrolled in intervention and control groups. SMS reminder were sent to the intervention group.Assessments were done at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. One hundred and forty-eight patients were enrolled, seventy-four patients in each group.The participants in the two groups were similar in demographic characteristics and behavioral and knowledge related factors about TB disease at baseline. The patients in the intervention group had a lower default rate (6.8%), higher documented cure rate (78.4%), better knowledge compared to control group. SMS reminder was useful and facilitated good interaction between patients and health personnel. Mobile texting seemed useful and was highly accepted by participants. Further evaluation of it’s potential benefit was warranted.
Edoxaban in elderly patient with morbid obesity and atrial fibrillation: the role of plasma levels evaluation for selecting the appropriate dose
Authors: Russo Vincenzo , Rago Anna , Laezza Nunzia , Di Micco Pierpaolo , Giannetti Laura , Atripaldi Luigi , D'Onofrio Antonio , Golino Paolo , Nigro Gerardo
Published: March 2020

We present the case of a 80-year-old man with atrial fibrillation, morbid obesity (weight 123 kg, height 167 cm, BMI 44.1), high clearance of creatinine and pharmacological polytherapy, in which the serial determinations of edoxaban plasma levels help us to choose the appropriate dose.
Modular lower extremity prosthetics
Authors: Foort J.
Published: March 2020

No abstract available.
On the two-systole of real projective spaces
Authors: Ambrozio Lucas , Montezuma Rafael
Published: March 2020

We establish an integral-geometric formula for minimal two-spheres inside homogeneous three-spheres, and use it to provide a characterisation of each homogeneous metric on the three-dimensional real projective space as the unique metric with the largest possible two-systole among metrics with the same volume in its conformal class.
Newton–Okounkov bodies of exceptional curve valuations
Authors: Galindo Carlos , Monserrat Francisco , Moyano-Fernández Julio José , Nickel Matthias
Published: March 2020

We prove that the Newton–Okounkov body associated to the flag

E_{\bullet}:= \{ X=X_r \supset E_r \supset \{q\} \}

, defined by the surface

X

and the exceptional divisor

E_r

given by any divisorial valuation of the complex projective plane

\mathbb{P}^2

, with respect to the pull-back of the line-bundle

\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^2} (1)

is either a triangle or a quadrilateral, characterizing when it is a triangle or a quadrilateral. We also describe the vertices of that figure. Finally, we introduce a large family of flags for which we determine explicitly their Newton–Okounkov bodies which turn out to be triangular.
Étude des propriétés physico-mécaniques d’un béton hydraulique contenant des cendres de coques d’anacarde de tailles micrométriques et nanométriques substituant partiellement le ciment
Authors: Anagonou Augias , Godjo Thierry , Songmene Victor , Tankpinou Yvette
Published: March 2020

The use of waste as an alternative resource is an approach to reduce pressure on natural resources, as well as the environmental iMPacts associated with waste disposal, if recycling is conducted under environmentally friendly conditions. The objective of this study is to determine the conditions for incorporating pyrolysis ash from cashew nuts shells into concrete as a partial replacement for cement. The ashes used were collected from Afonkanta Benin Cashew, one of the plants that processes cashew nuts into almonds. The various ash additions replace the amount of cement added to the concrete, gradually in proportions of 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 15 %, 20 % and 25 % ash. The related physico-mechanical characteristics, namely compressive strength, tensile strength, hydraulic conductivity and subsidence of the concrete over time, have been determined. The physico-mechanical results show that the best characteristics of the hydraulic mixture were obtained with the proportion of 15 % of ash. Indeed, a hydraulic concrete mixture of 15 % ash at 28 days of maturity gives a compressive strength of 51.83 N/mm2, a tensile strength of 13.65 N/mm2, a low hydraulic conductivity value of 3.48 10-17m/s. There is also an average subsidence of 3 mm.

L’utilisation de déchets comme ressources alternatives est une approche permettant de réduire les pressions sur les ressources naturelles ainsi que les iMPacts environnementaux liés à l’élimination des déchets, si le recyclage est conduit dans des conditions respectueuses de l’environnement. L’objectif de la présente étude est de déterminer les conditions d’incorporation de cendres de coques d’anacarde en substitution partielle du ciment dans le béton. Les cendres utilisées sont issues des coques d’anacarde collectées à Afonkanta Benin Cashew, une des usines de transformation des noix d’anacarde en amande. Les différents ajouts de cendre se substituent graduellement, à la quantité de ciment additionné au béton, à des proportions de 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 % et 25 % de cendres. Les caractéristiques physico-mécaniques y afférant, à savoir la résistance à la compression, la résistance à la traction, la conductivité hydraulique et l’affaissement du béton dans le temps, ont été déterminées. Les résultats physico-mécaniques montrent que les meilleures caractéristiques du mélange hydraulique ont été obtenues à la proportion de 15 % de cendre. En effet, un mélange de béton hydraulique de 15 % de cendre à 28 jours de maturité donne une résistance à la compression de 51,83 N/mm2, une résistance à la traction de 13,65 N/mm2 et une faible valeur de conductivité hydraulique de 3,48 10-17 m/s. Il est aussi observé un affaissement moyen de 3 mm.
Las máquinas del tiempo de Gordon Matta-Clark: building cuts bajo una óptica deleuziana (II)
Authors: Bouille de Vicente Luis
Published: March 2020

Gordon Matta-Clark realizó una serie de cortes en edificios (building cuts) que, por su naturaleza artística, eran capaces de generar “imágenes‐tiempo” (Gilles Deleuze) para cinemáticas en el espacio real. Las consecuencias de este hecho estriban en que diferentes temporalidades se presentaban simultáneamente en el edificio intervenido artísticamente por Matta‐Clark a través de sus cortes. Pasado, presente y futuro relativos al lugar se entremezclaban indistintamente a la espera de que el visitante de los building cuts activase o desactivase combinando esas temporalidades con el movimiento de su cuerpo y sus percepciones ópticas y sonoras. Los edificios alterados por Matta‐Clark funcionaban como “máquinas del tiempo” y los escasos visitantes que pudieron experimentarlos, fueron “viajeros a través del tiempo”.
Interpretation of kinetic isotope fractionation between aqueous Fe(II)
and ferrihydrite under a high degree of microbial reduction
Authors: Jiang Lei , Wu Chuanjun , Li Mingqing , Li Xuegong , Li Jiwei
Published: March 2020

Abstract. Microbial dissimilatory iron reduction (DIR) often ceases when the degree of iron mineral reduction is low, at which point isotope fractionation occurs between an aqueous Fe(II) solution and a reactive Fe(III) phase on the surface of ferric (oxyhydro) oxides, forming an equilibrium fractionation factor (~ 3 ‰). Recent experimental abiotic studies suggest that Fe(II) adsorption onto the mineral surface may affect the isotope fractionation, which reminds us that the isotope exchange may be greatly inhibited during the DIR process. In this study, ferrihydrite is used as a terminal electron acceptor to conduct Shewanella piezotolerans WP3 and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 experiments at 0.1 and 15 MPa to ensure a significant variation in the degree of reduction. During the 30-day experiment, the degree of ferrihydrite reduction by S. piezotolerans WP3 is 14 % (at 0.1 MPa) and 8 % (at 15 MPa), whereas the degree of ferrihydrite reduction by S. oneidensis MR-1 is 39 % (at 0.1 MPa) and 36 % (at 15 MPa). Based on the isotope mass balance, the estimated ranges of iron isotope fractionation for S. piezotolerans WP3 and S. oneidensis MR-1 are obtained. The former ranges between −3.58 ‰ and −0.88 ‰ (at 0.1 MPa) and between −2.37 ‰ and −0.66 ‰ (at 15 MPa), and the latter ranges between −0.39 ‰ and 0.10 ‰ (at 0.1 MPa) and between −0.6 ‰ and −0.16 ‰ (at 15 MPa). However, it is difficult to distinguish variations in the same bacteria at 0.1 and 15 MPa due to the large estimation ranges of isotope fractionation. In the S. oneidensis MR-1 experiment, the fractionation factor obtained is significantly different from that obtained in the S. piezotolerans WP3 experiment, indicating that kinetic fractionation occurred. In combination with previous studies, we propose a transient modified Fe(II) adsorption mechanism to explain the isotope fractionation between aqueous Fe(II) and ferrihydrite. When the adsorbed Fe(II) exceeds the surface saturation, the atom (isotope) exchange will be suppressed.
BESS-STAIR: a framework to estimate daily, 30 m, and all-weather crop evapotranspiration using multi-source satellite data for the US Corn Belt
Authors: Jiang Chongya , Guan Kaiyu , Pan Ming , Ryu Youngryel , Peng Bin , Wang Sibo
Published: March 2020

Abstract. With increasing crop water demands and drought threats, mapping and
monitoring of cropland evapotranspiration (ET) at high spatial and temporal
resolutions become increasingly critical for water management and
sustainability. However, estimating ET from satellites for precise water
resource management is still challenging due to the limitations in both
existing ET models and satellite input data. Specifically, the process of ET
is complex and difficult to model, and existing satellite remote-sensing data
could not fulfill high resolutions in both space and time. To address the
above two issues, this study presents a new high spatiotemporal resolution ET
mapping framework, i.e., BESS-STAIR, which integrates a satellite-driven
water–carbon–energy coupled biophysical model, BESS (Breathing Earth System
Simulator), with a generic and fully automated fusion algorithm, STAIR
(SaTallite dAta IntegRation). In this framework, STAIR provides daily 30 m
multispectral surface reflectance by fusing Landsat and MODIS satellite data
to derive a fine-resolution leaf area index and visible/near-infrared albedo,
all of which, along with coarse-resolution meteorological and CO2
data, are used to drive BESS to estimate gap-free 30 m resolution daily ET.
We applied BESS-STAIR from 2000 through 2017 in six areas across the US Corn
Belt and validated BESS-STAIR ET estimations using flux-tower measurements
over 12 sites (85 site years). Results showed that BESS-STAIR daily ET
achieved an overall R2=0.75, with root mean square error RMSE =0.93 mm d−1 and relative error RE =27.9 % when benchmarked
with the flux measurements. In addition, BESS-STAIR ET estimations captured
the spatial patterns, seasonal cycles, and interannual dynamics well in
different sub-regions. The high performance of the BESS-STAIR framework
primarily resulted from (1) the implementation of coupled constraints on
water, carbon, and energy in BESS, (2) high-quality daily 30 m data from the
STAIR fusion algorithm, and (3) BESS's applicability under all-sky
conditions. BESS-STAIR is calibration-free and has great potentials to be a
reliable tool for water resource management and precision agriculture
applications for the US Corn Belt and even worldwide given the global
coverage of its input data.
Model-based analysis of constructional steel structures exemplified by dimensional checking on railway car shells using 3D scanning
Authors: Jurdeczka Uwe
Published: March 2020

Abstract. The analysis of constructional steel structures (such as car shells for rail vehicles) in terms of
dimensional checking according to DIN 25043-2:2012 (presented here) and completeness checking (investigated in Jurdeczka, 2017)
represents a challenge because of the dimensions of the test object (20m×3m×3m) and because of the number of mounted parts
(several hundred). As presented here and in former publications, the use of 3D scanners allows us to obtain sufficiently comprehensive information about the actual
configuration (dimensions and completeness) of the constructional steel structure to be checked. By using an adapted algorithm, the respective 3D
model as the target state is superimposed with difference images. These difference images show possible dimensional deviations as well as possible missing parts or, at the least, suspect points. For dimensional
checking, there are advantages in the inspection process. In addition, a detailed image can be obtained, which can be used for later evaluations.
Brief communication: Ad hoc estimation of glacier contributions to sea-level rise from the latest glaciological observations
Authors: Zemp Michael , Huss Matthias , Eckert Nicolas , Thibert Emmanuel , Paul Frank , Nussbaumer Samuel U. , Gärtner-Roer Isabelle
Published: March 2020

Abstract. Comprehensive assessments of global glacier mass changes based on a variety
of observations and prevailing methodologies have been published at
multi-annual intervals. For the years in between, the glaciological method
provides annual observations of specific mass changes but is suspected to
not be representative at the regional to global scales due to uneven glacier
distribution with respect to the full sample. Here, we present a simple
approach to estimate and correct for this bias in the glaciological sample
and, hence, to provide an ad hoc estimate of global glacier mass changes and
corresponding sea-level equivalents for the latest years, i.e. about -300±250 Gt in 2016/17 and -500±200 Gt in 2017/18.
Research of quality indicators in protein-blueberry concentrates
Authors: Grek Olena , Pshenychna Tetiana , Tymchuk Alla , Savchenko Oleksandr , Ochkolyas Оlena
Published: March 2020

The effect of blueberry coagulant in the form of specially processed blueberry paste on the building-up process of protein-blueberry concentrates has been considered in the article and the change in their physical-chemical indicators during storage has been determined. A study of blueberry coagulant application in the amount of up to 12% provides the effective running to process of thermo acid coagulation of milk proteins with a maximum clot yield (excluding limiting factors – organoleptic indicators and active acidity). It has been found that with an increase in the amount of blueberry paste adding from 2% to 10%, the yield of protein-blueberry concentrates increases from 5% to 40%, and the moisture mass fraction in clots decreases, on the contrary, from 73.4% to 67.1%. Other quality indicators of protein-blueberry concentrates were recorded: active acidity (from 5.0 pH at the beginning to 4.7 pH at the end of the storage life), and the water-retaining capacity at the level of (75.44 ±0.5%). Based on chromatographic studies, the degree of polyphenolic compounds transition (including anthocyanins) to protein-blueberry concentrates at the level of 52.26% has been determined by the calculation method and analyzed compared with control sample (blueberry paste) and colored whey. Based on the researches, protein-blueberry concentrates obtained by thermo acid coagulation of milk proteins are suggested to be used as basis in the cheese products recipes.
Cephaleuros virescens in Brazilian Mahogany: Algae Parasitic Disease Threatening an Important Reforestation Tree
Authors: Pereira Fabiola T. , Santos Wanderson S. , Guimarães Gesiane R. , Duarte Elizabeth A. A. , Oliveira Thiago A. S. , Rodrigues Fabricio , Carvalho Daniel D. C.
Published: March 2020

The forest species are frequent targets of diseases. In this context, the plant-parasitic algae comprise a separate group in this process, including the algae genus Cephaleuros, which attacks mahogany cultivars. The objective of this work was to accomplish the molecular and morphological characterization of the causal agent of algae spots occurring in Brazilian mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). Somatic and reproductive algae structures contained in lesions on the leaves had the DNA extracted and amplified by primers 18SHf and 18SLr of the rRNA nuclear gene 18S. Then, the amplicons were purified and sequenced. The algae structures too were characterized under light microscope. In addition, a total of 12 injured leaves located in the lower third of each attacked tree were randomly extracted for lesion characterization according to its size and number. After algae structures measurements, sporangiophores and sporangia had 260.2 x 12.9 μm and 25 x 18.8 μm. These measurements, combined with the molecular identification, indicated that the algae found in Brazilian mahogany leaves is C. virescens. Attacked leaves showed an average of 33 lesions, 60% of which were smaller than 2 mm in diameter, which shows great capacity of the pathogen to reach different parts of the foliar limb. These measurements, combined with molecular identification, confirmed the algae found in Brazilian mahogany leaves to be C. virescens.