bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of computer aided modelling and optimization of microwave pyrolysis of biomass by using aspen plus
Authors: Dineshkumar M , Shrikar Banagiri , Ramanathan Anand
Published: October 2019

Biomass energy is nowadays recognized as a potential source which constitutes the main portion of expected renewable energy supplies in the future. Biomass resources such as municipal solid waste, agricultural residue food processing industry waste, energy crops are a common type of renewable energy source and it help to produce energy, chemicals, and fuels. The useful energy recovered from biomass can be effectively utilized by a bio-energy conversion technique known as pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is considered as a kind of thermo-chemical conversion technique of waste material in the inert atmosphere to harvest biochar, syn-gas and bio fuel. Bio fuel harvest from forestry biomass through the microwave pyrolysis technology has been significantly attracting attention in the renewable energy sector over recent years. This is because of fact that microwave pyrolysis can possibly reduce greenhouse gases and contribute to energy security. A simulation model of pyrolysis process is developed by using a software called advanced system for process engineering it is basically a simulation tool for computer-aided energy modelling. This software is used to optimize and analyse the efficiency of the process involved in pyrolysis and to increase the output product yield such as bio-oil, syn-gas, and biochar with respect to the function of input parameters such as pyrolysis temperature and physio-chemical character of the biomasses. The ASPEN PLUS simulation is carried out using four different variety of biomasses namely Acacia Nilotica, Calophyllum inophyllum seed, rice husk, and Bael shell. The simulation results demonstrate that Calophyllum inophyllum seed is best suited for bio-oil production through microwave pyrolysis as it contains low moisture content and higher cellulose. The obtained bio-oil yield is up to 48% can be found from this non-edible biomass.
Numerical study of natural convection in flat receiver with and without secondary reflector for solar parabolic dish system
Authors: Natarajan Sendhil kumar , Raviteja B , Sri Harshavardhan D , Hari Prasath G , Suraparaju Subbarama Kousik
Published: October 2019

The sustainability of our eco system is under threat due to frequent use of the fossil fuels. Due to the rapid depletion of the conventional energy sources and oil crisis, there is a great shift towards renewable energy sources. In the realm of renewable sources of energy, solar energy plays an impeccable role because of its abundance and dominance over the other sources. Therefore, efforts are being made to replace our existing conventional fuels with renewable energy sources. In this context, flow simulation and heat transfer are performed for the flat receiver with and without secondary reflector of solar parabolic dish collector is presented. A two-dimensional (2-D) model is used to investigate the approximate estimation of the natural convection heat loss from the actual geometry of the receiver for solar dish concentrator system. The Nusselt number correlations are proposed separately and compared for both receiver with secondary reflector (WSR) and without secondary reflector (WOSR) using power law and asymptotic computational fluid dynamics technique.
Performance assessment of a sustainable Solar Air Heater (SAH) by using different profiles of absorber plates
Authors: Rajesh Singuru , Vinay Kumar Vandrasi , Sai Ram Jana
Published: October 2019

The main objective of solar air heater (SAH) is to make use of the solar potential for heating air and this is used for drying, crops, fishes, wet grains during post harvesting, space heating and in greenhouses. SAH is a black body which has less emissivity and high heat absorbing capacity. The air enters into the collector gets heated with addition of solar radiation. The collector is placed at an angle due to which the natural draught occurs. The main advantage of this type of air heater is compactness, maintenance, easy to assemble and dissemble. In this work a SAH is examined with the use of different materials, sizes and shapes (like plane, rugged) of absorber plates with optimum tilt angle for better thermal storage performance and greater efficiency.
Design and analysis of power convertors for electric vehicle applications
Authors: Babu Safare Sudeep , Kumar Chary S Shiva , Abdullah Syed Muhammad , Elangovan D , Thundil Karuppa Raj R
Published: October 2019

The surge in the cost of fuels can be accounted as a major trigger which leads to the advent of hybrid vehicles. The hybrid electric vehicles are in the reckoning to address the dangers of the exponential increase in contamination of air and global warming associated with greenhouse gases. A vehicle that is a combination of reversible storage devices like batteries and main energy sources (oil or gas) [1]. A HEV emanates reduced emission from its IC engine when compared to a pure petrol car of the same size. In the context of Hybrid Electric Vehicle, the DC-DC power converters are the electronic devices that condition the source voltage of one level to the output voltage of another level of different DC voltage based on the application provided for the electric vehicle for charging and discharging modes. The need for these power converters arises from the different voltage ratings of the hardware equipment being used. These converters acting importance due to the fact that they are efficient, easy to design and cost effective in the Hybrid electric vehicle application. The paper presents the modelling, design and simulation of buck converter the bidirectional converter based on the transmission line of powertrain of electric vehicle application. The aim is to obtain from a stable input voltage to the output voltage which is lower with high frequency and minimum ripple with specified fixed frequency in the buck operation. In bidirectional converter, the voltage stepdown is required while charging the battery while step up is needed while providing power to the motor from the battery. The design of the above-mentioned converters is performed using the standard method present in the literature. The simulation is done on PowerSim 8.0. The waveforms for the voltage and current for inductor, capacitor and the diode is also obtained. It is found that the simulation results of the voltages are in close agreement with the analytical calculations.
Research on Arc Voltage Distance-Regulating System for TIG Welding Robot
Authors: Sun Xuan , Wang Zhiyong , Li Yingjun , Ai Changsheng
Published: October 2019

In order to meet the demand of TIG welding robot for high precision and high real time, this paper presents the arc voltage distance-regulating system using expert controller. By precisely controlling the distance between the tungsten electrode and the welding seam, the arc voltage is precisely controlled, and the closed-loop control of arc voltage is realized. The simulation and experiment of MATLAB show that the arc voltage distance-regulating system’s arc voltage control accuracy is 18±0.8V(6±0.32mm), which meets the precision requirements of welding robot’s arc voltage control and significantly improves the welding quality.
Failure Test Optimization Method of Silicon Pressure Sensor Based on Zero Failure Data
Authors: Zuo Lei , Sun Hongkai
Published: October 2019

With the increasing reliability of the silicon pressure sensor, the phenomenon of zero-failure data often appears in the reliability test. This paper studies the optimal confidence limit method and distribution curve method to obtain the confidence coefficient-α and the constant-c(c>1) for the reliability analysis of zero-failure data of silicon pressure sensor, subsequently, the two methods were tested in different groups, by analyzing the influence of the number of test groups on the prediction analysis results, the optimal number of groups for the reliability prediction test of the silicon pressure sensor was obtained. The simulation results show that the best prediction results can be obtained when the confidence coefficient-α ∈ [0.3,0.6], c ∈ [4-6] and the number of groups is 10 to 13. This method improves the accuracy of failure rate estimation and reliability test efficiency with limited samples.
Constructing hyperelliptic curves with surjective Galois representations
Authors: Anni Samuele , Dokchitser Vladimir
Published: October 2019

In this paper we show how to explicitly write down equations of hyperelliptic curves over

Q

\mathbb {Q}

such that for all odd primes

ℓ
\ell

the image of the mod 

ℓ
\ell

Galois representation is the general symplectic group. The proof relies on understanding the action of inertia groups on the

ℓ
\ell

-torsion of the Jacobian, including at primes where the Jacobian has non-semistable reduction. We also give a framework for systematically dealing with primitivity of symplectic mod 

ℓ
\ell

Galois representations.

The main result of the paper is the following. Suppose

n
=
2
g
+
2

n=2g+2

is an even integer that can be written as a sum of two primes in two different ways, with none of the primes being the largest primes less than

n
n

(this hypothesis is expected to hold for all

g
≠
0
,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
7
,

g\neq 0,1,2,3,4,5,7,

and

13
13

). Then there is an explicit

N
∈

Z

N\in \mathbb {Z}

and an explicit monic polynomial

f
0

(
x
)
∈

Z

[
x
]

f_0(x)\in \mathbb {Z}[x]

of degree

n
n

, such that the Jacobian

J
J

of every curve of the form

y
2

=
f
(
x
)

y^2=f(x)

has
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G a l left-parenthesis double-struck upper Q left-parenthesis upper J left-bracket script l right-bracket right-parenthesis slash double-struck upper Q right-parenthesis approximately-equals upper G upper S p Subscript 2 g Baseline left-parenthesis double-struck upper F Subscript script l Baseline right-parenthesis">

Gal
⁡
(

Q

(
J
[
ℓ
]
)

/

Q

)
≅

GSp

2
g

⁡
(

F

ℓ

)

\operatorname {Gal}(\mathbb {Q}(J[\ell ])/\mathbb {Q})\cong \operatorname {GSp}_{2g}(\mathbb {F}_\ell )

for all odd primes

ℓ
\ell

and

Gal
⁡
(

Q

(
J
[
2
]
)

/

Q

)
≅

S

2
g
+
2

\operatorname {Gal}(\mathbb {Q}(J[2])/\mathbb {Q})\cong S_{2g+2}

, whenever

f
(
x
)
∈

Z

[
x
]

f(x)\in \mathbb {Z}[x]

is monic with

f
(
x
)
≡

f
0

(
x
)
mod

N

f(x)\equiv f_0(x) \bmod {N}

and with no roots of multiplicity greater than

2
2

in

F

¯

p

\overline {\mathbb {F}}_p

for any

p
∤
N

p\nmid N

.
Dynamic actin-mediated nano-scale clustering of CD44 regulates its meso-scale organization at the plasma membrane
Authors: Sil Parijat , Mateos Nicolas , Nath Sangeeta , Buschow Sonja , Manzo Carlo , Suzuki Kenichi G. N. , Fujiwara Takahiro , Kusumi Akihiro , Garcia-Parajo Maria F. , Mayor Satyajit
Published: October 2019

We show a hierarchical organization of the adhesion receptor CD44 at multiple-length scales on the plasma membrane by studying the diffusion and clustering behavior of the protein.
Miss Havisham’s Rage: Imagining the ‘Angry Woman’ in Adaptations of Dickens’ Famous Character
Authors: Nelson Camilla
Published: October 2019

Miss Havisham is a spectral spinster figure that haunts the western imagination, an emblem of an ostensibly ‘unjustified’ and ‘unjustifiable’ female rage, a repository for masculine fears and fantasies about women, age, sexuality, and power. This article examines the shifting visions of Miss Havisham as an object of horror in film, fashion, kitsch, on the internet, and, more recently, as a revisionary figure of female resistance in Tony Jordan’s television series, Dickensian. In so doing, it maps the tensions that exist between conventional representations of Miss Havisham that envisage her as an irrational, embittered, and narcissistic old woman and those that construct her as a representation of justified female rage against the intersecting forces of patriarchy, capitalism, and ‘toxic masculinity’.
Influence of the number and severity of comorbidities in the course of acute non-specific low back pain in older adults: longitudinal results from the Back Complaints in the Elders (BACE-Brazil)
Authors: Leopoldino Amanda Aparecida Oliveira , Megale Rodrigo Zunzarren , Diz Juliano Bergamaschine Mata , Moreira Bruno de Souza , Lustosa Lygia Paccini , Pereira Leani Souza Máximo , Ferreira Manuela Loureiro
Published: October 2019

Background

The presence of comorbidities is quite common in older adults. However, the effects of comorbidities on the course of acute low back pain (LBP) are not fully understood.

Objective

To investigate the effects of the number and severity of comorbidities on the severity of pain and disability 3 months from baseline in people with an acute episode of non-specific LBP.

Methods

Data from the Back Complaints in the Elders study, a cohort that enrolled 602 community-dwelling older adults with acute LBP at baseline, were used in these analyses. Comorbidities, pain intensity and disability were assessed using the Self-Administered Comorbidities Questionnaire (SCQ), the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), respectively. Age, sex, marital status, education, income and body mass index were covariates.

Results

The mean age of participants was 67.6 ± 7.0 years. Both pain and disability scores decreased from 7.2 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 7.0–7.4) to 5.8 (95% CI 5.5–6.1) in NRS and from 13.5 (95% CI 13.0–14.1) to 12.0 (95% CI 11.4–12.7) in RMDQ 3 months from baseline. The linear regression analysis showed a significant association between SCQ scores at baseline and pain (coefficient = 0.16, 95% CI 0.08–0.24; P < 0.001) or disability (coefficient = 0.29, 95% CI 0.16–0.41; P < 0.001) scores at the 3-month follow-up, after adjusting for confounders. Participants with highest SCQ scores were less likely to report improvement of at least 30% in pain (OR: 0.41, 95% CI 0.22–0.79; P = 0.008) and disability (OR: 0.42, 95% CI 0.28–0.85; P = 0.015).

Conclusion

The presence and severity of comorbidities were independently associated with the prognosis of acute non-specific LBP in older adults.
Prospective Study of Dietary Patterns and Hearing Threshold Elevation
Authors: Curhan Sharon G , Halpin Christopher , Wang Molin , Eavey Roland D , Curhan Gary C
Published: October 2019

We conducted a prospective study of dietary patterns and longitudinal change in audiometric hearing thresholds among 3,135 women (mean age = 59 years) in the Nurses’ Health Study II (2012–2018). Diet adherence scores for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Alternate Mediterranean (AMED) diets and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010) were calculated using validated food-frequency questionnaires. Baseline and 3-year follow-up hearing sensitivities were assessed by pure-tone audiometry at 19 US sites. We used multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models to examine independent associations between diet adherence scores and risk of ≥5 dB elevation in the pure-tone average (PTA) of low-frequency (LPTA0.5,1,2 kHz), mid-frequency (MPTA3,4 kHz), and high-frequency (HPTA6,8 kHz) hearing thresholds. Higher adherence scores were associated with lower risk of hearing loss. Compared with the lowest quintile of DASH score, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios for mid-frequency and high-frequency threshold elevation in the highest quintile were 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55, 0.92; P for trend = 0.003) and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.96; P for trend = 0.02); for AMED and AHEI scores, for mid-frequency threshold elevation, they were 0.77 (95% CI: 0.60, 0.99; P for trend = 0.02) and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.57, 0.92; P for trend = 0.002). Nonsignificant inverse associations were observed for high-frequency threshold elevation. There were no significant associations between adherence scores and low-frequency threshold elevation. Our findings indicate that eating a healthy diet might reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss.
Growth During Infancy and Early Childhood and Its Association With Metabolic Risk Biomarkers at 11.5 Years of Age
Authors: Zhang Xun , Martin Richard M , Oken Emily , Aris Izzuddin M , Yang Seungmi , Kramer Michael S
Published: October 2019

The evidence that fetal life and early infancy are “critical” or “sensitive” ages for later development of cardiometabolic disease is based on flawed methods for comparing different age periods. Moreover, most previous studies have limited their focus to weight gain, rather than growth in length/height or body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2). We undertook a secondary analysis of data from the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial (1996–2010), a birth cohort study nested within a large cluster-randomized trial in the Republic of Belarus, that had repeated measurements of weight and length/height taken from birth to 11.5 years of age. We used mixed-effects linear models to analyze associations of changes in standardized weight, length/height, and body mass index during 5 age periods (conception to birth, birth to age 3 months, ages 3–12 months, ages 12 months–6.5 years, and ages 6.5–11.5 years) with fasting glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, β-cell function, and adiponectin at age 11.5 years. We observed strong associations between the metabolic markers and all 3 growth measures, with the largest magnitudes being observed during the latest age period (ages 6.5–11.5 years) and negligible associations during gestation and the first year of life. Later age periods appear more “sensitive” than earlier periods to the adverse metabolic association with rapid growth in childhood.
Managing Occupational Exposure to Welding Fume: New Evidence Suggests a More Precautionary Approach is Needed
Authors: Cherrie John W , Levy Len
Published: October 2019

Welding is a common industrial process with many millions of workers exposed worldwide. In October 2017, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that exposure to welding fumes causes lung cancer in humans, based primarily on the available epidemiological literature. These research studies did not show that the cancer risk differed between mild steel and stainless steel welding but were related to the total welding aerosol. Lung cancer risks were observable at very low exposure levels; below 1 mg m−3 and perhaps as low as 0.1 mg m−3, averaged over a working lifetime. As a result of this IARC evaluation, in Britain, the Health and Safety Executive has acted to strengthen its enforcement expectations for fume control at welding activities. In the light of these developments, it would seem appropriate to review current health-based exposure limits for metal dust and fumes from welding to ensure they are protective.
Deaths Associated With Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among Residents in 50 States and the District of Columbia, 2016–2017
Authors: Ly Kathleen N , Miniño Arialdi M , Liu Stephen J , Roberts Henry , Hughes Elizabeth M , Ward John W , Jiles Ruth B
Published: October 2019

Background

Mortality associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been well-documented nationally, but an examination across regions and jurisdictions may inform health-care planning.

Methods

To document HCV-associated deaths sub-nationally, we calculated age-adjusted, HCV-associated death rates and compared death rate ratios (DRRs) for 10 US regions, 50 states, and Washington, D.C., using the national rate and described rate changes between 2016 and 2017 to determine variability. We examined the mean age at HCV-associated death, and rates and proportions by sex, race/ethnicity, and birth year.

Results

In 2017, there were 17 253 HCV-associated deaths, representing 4.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.07–4.20) deaths/100 000 standard population, in a significant, 6.56% rate decline from 4.42 in 2016. Age-adjusted death rates significantly surpassed the US rate for the following jurisdictions: Oklahoma; Washington, D.C.; Oregon; New Mexico; Louisiana; Texas; Colorado; California; Kentucky; Tennessee; Arizona; and Washington (DRRs, 2.87, 2.77, 2.24, 1.62, 1.57, 1.46, 1.36, 1.35, 1.35, 1.35, 1.32, and 1.32, respectively; P < .05). Death rates ranged from a low of 1.60 (95% CI, 1.07–2.29) in Maine to a high of 11.84 (95% CI, 10.82–12.85) in Oklahoma. Death rates were highest among non-Hispanic (non-H) American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-H Blacks, both nationally and regionally. The mean age at death was 61.4 years (range, 56.6 years in West Virginia to 64.1 years in Washington, D.C.), and 78.6% of those who died were born during 1945–1965.

Conclusions

In 2016–2017, the national HCV-associated mortality declined but rates remained high in the Western and Southern regions and Washington, D.C., and among non-H American Indians/Alaska Natives, non-H Blacks, and Baby Boomers. These data can inform local prevention and control programs to reduce the HCV mortality burden.
A Heuristic Approach Towards Drawings of Graphs With High Crossing Resolution
Authors: Bekos Michael A , Förster Henry , Geckeler Christian , Holländer Lukas , Kaufmann Michael , Spallek Amadäus M , Splett Jan
Published: October 2019

The crossing resolution of a non-planar drawing of a graph is the value of the minimum angle formed by any pair of crossing edges. Recent experiments suggest that the larger the crossing resolution is, the easier it is to read and interpret a drawing of a graph. However, maximizing the crossing resolution turns out to be an NP-hard problem in general, and only heuristic algorithms are known that are mainly based on appropriately adjusting force-directed algorithms. In this paper, we propose a new heuristic algorithm for the crossing resolution maximization problem and we experimentally compare it against the known approaches from the literature. Our experimental evaluation indicates that the new heuristic produces drawings with better crossing resolution, but this comes at the cost of slightly higher edge-length ratio, especially when the input graph is large.
Three Types of Two-Disjoint-Cycle-Cover Pancyclicity and Their Applications to Cycle Embedding in Locally Twisted Cubes
Authors: Kung Tzu-Liang , Chen Hon-Chan , Lin Chia-Hui , Hsu Lih-Hsing
Published: October 2019

A graph $G=(V,E)$ is two-disjoint-cycle-cover $[r_1,r_2]$-pancyclic if for any integer $l$ satisfying $r_1 \leq l \leq r_2$, there exist two vertex-disjoint cycles $C_1$ and $C_2$ in $G$ such that the lengths of $C_1$ and $C_2$ are $l$ and $|V(G)| - l$, respectively, where $|V(G)|$ denotes the total number of vertices in $G$. On the basis of this definition, we further propose Ore-type conditions for graphs to be two-disjoint-cycle-cover vertex/edge $[r_1,r_2]$-pancyclic. In addition, we study cycle embedding in the $n$-dimensional locally twisted cube $LTQ_n$ under the consideration of two-disjoint-cycle-cover vertex/edge pancyclicity.
FoodBase corpus: a new resource of annotated food entities
Authors: Popovski Gorjan , Seljak Barbara Koroušić , Eftimov Tome
Published: October 2019

The existence of annotated text corpora is essential for the development of public health services and tools based on natural language processing (NLP) and text mining. Recently organized biomedical NLP shared tasks have provided annotated corpora related to different biomedical entities such as genes, phenotypes, drugs, diseases and chemical entities. These are needed to develop named-entity recognition (NER) models that are used for extracting entities from text and finding their relations. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are limited annotated corpora that provide information about food entities despite food and dietary management being an essential public health issue. Hence, we developed a new annotated corpus of food entities, named FoodBase. It was constructed using recipes extracted from Allrecipes, which is currently the largest food-focused social network. The recipes were selected from five categories: ‘Appetizers and Snacks’, ‘Breakfast and Lunch’, ‘Dessert’, ‘Dinner’ and ‘Drinks’. Semantic tags used for annotating food entities were selected from the Hansard corpus. To extract and annotate food entities, we applied a rule-based food NER method called FoodIE. Since FoodIE provides a weakly annotated corpus, by manually evaluating the obtained results on 1000 recipes, we created a gold standard of FoodBase. It consists of 12 844 food entity annotations describing 2105 unique food entities. Additionally, we provided a weakly annotated corpus on an additional 21 790 recipes. It consists of 274 053 food entity annotations, 13 079 of which are unique. The FoodBase corpus is necessary for developing corpus-based NER models for food science, as a new benchmark dataset for machine learning tasks such as multi-class classification, multi-label classification and hierarchical multi-label classification. FoodBase can be used for detecting semantic differences/similarities between food concepts, and after all we believe that it will open a new path for learning food embedding space that can be used in predictive studies.
Thomas Wyatt among the Florentines
Authors: Brigden Susan
Published: October 2019

The article considers how Thomas Wyatt—courtier, ambassador and poet maker—became Italianate. It discovers a youthful Wyatt, with other members of Henry VIII’s court, at the company of Giovanni di Lorenzo Cavalcanti and Pierfrancesco di Piero de’ Bardi in London in the 1520s. These Florentine merchant princes were international bankers and traders, and notable cultural brokers between England and Italy. Pierfrancesco was a scholar, a collector and donor of books. Wyatt bought fine Florentine fabrics from the company. They allowed his growing indebtedness, partly through friendship, but also because of their need for the patronage of his father, Sir Henry Wyatt, Treasurer of the Chamber. Wyatt was also part of the gambling fraternity in which Francesco di Bernardo de’ Bardi was a principal player. Leaving Florence for London, the merchants did not remove themselves from the turbulent politics of their city, for their wealth and prominence ensured their continuing involvement, especially once Medici popes ruled Christendom. When Rome was sacked, and Florence established a republic, London’s Florentines were called to their city’s defence. Before he ever travelled to Italy, Thomas Wyatt encountered Italians of wealth and culture living in the grandest style in London, between the worlds of the court and the city. Perhaps with them he began to learn Italian. The story of Wyatt among the Florentines leads to life in London and the court, to the defence of Italy, to the revolutionary politics of Florence, and to Henry VIII’s ‘Great Matter’. Wyatt was precursor, and inspiration, of the Italianate Englishmen and women gathered at the humanist court of Edward VI who were fascinated by Italian culture and won to reform.
Looking at the bigger picture: effect of performance-based contracting of district health services on equity of access to maternal health services in Zambia
Authors: Chansa Collins , Mukanu Mulenga Mary , Chama-Chiliba Chitalu Miriam , Kamanga Mpuma , Chikwenya Nicholas , Bellows Ben , Kuunibe Naasegnibe
Published: October 2019

Zambia has been using output-based approaches for over two decades to finance whole or part of the public health system. Between 1996 and 2006, performance-based contracting (PBC) was implemented countrywide with the Central Board of Health (CBoH) as the provider of health services. This study reviews the association between PBC and equity of access to maternal health services in Zambia between 1996 and 2006. A comprehensive document review was undertaken to evaluate the implementation process, followed by a trend analysis of health expenditure at district level, and a segmented regression analysis of data on antenatal care (ANC) and deliveries at health facilities that was obtained from five demographic and health survey datasets (1992, 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2014). The results show that PBC was anchored by high-level political support, an overarching policy and legal framework, and collective planning and implementation with all key stakeholders. Decentralization of health service provision was also an enabling factor. ANC coverage increased in both the lower and upper wealth quintiles during the PBC era, followed by a declining trend after the PBC era in both quintiles. Further, the percentage of women delivering at health facilities increased during the PBC era, particularly in rural areas and among the poor. The positive trend continued after the PBC era with similar patterns in both lower and upper wealth quintiles. Despite these gains, per capita health expenditure at district level declined during the PBC era, with the situation worsening after the PBC era. The study concludes that a nationwide PBC approach can contribute to improved equity of access to maternal health services and that PBC is a cost-efficient and sustainable policy reform. The study calls for policymakers to comprehensively evaluate the impact of health system reforms before terminating them.
Analysis of fast structured dictionary learning
Authors: Ravishankar Saiprasad , Ma Anna , Needell Deanna
Published: October 2019

Sparsity-based models and techniques have been exploited in many signal processing and imaging applications. Data-driven methods based on dictionary and sparsifying transform learning enable learning rich image features from data and can outperform analytical models. In particular, alternating optimization algorithms have been popular for learning such models. In this work, we focus on alternating minimization for a specific structured unitary sparsifying operator learning problem and provide a convergence analysis. While the algorithm converges to the critical points of the problem generally, our analysis establishes under mild assumptions, the local linear convergence of the algorithm to the underlying sparsifying model of the data. Analysis and numerical simulations show that our assumptions hold for standard probabilistic data models. In practice, the algorithm is robust to initialization.
Stochastic modified equations for the asynchronous stochastic gradient descent
Authors: An Jing , Lu Jianfeng , Ying Lexing
Published: October 2019

We propose stochastic modified equations (SMEs) for modelling the asynchronous stochastic gradient descent (ASGD) algorithms. The resulting SME of Langevin type extracts more information about the ASGD dynamics and elucidates the relationship between different types of stochastic gradient algorithms. We show the convergence of ASGD to the SME in the continuous time limit, as well as the SME’s precise prediction to the trajectories of ASGD with various forcing terms. As an application, we propose an optimal mini-batching strategy for ASGD via solving the optimal control problem of the associated SME.
Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Invasive Pneumococcal Serotypes During Childhood Community-Acquired Alveolar Pneumonia Is Associated With Specific Clinical Presentation
Authors: Faingelernt Yaniv , Dagan Ron , Givon-Lavi Noga , Ben-Shimol Shalom , Bar-Ziv Jacob , Greenberg David
Published: October 2019

Background

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Pnc) serotypes differ in invasive potential. We examined whether community-acquired alveolar pneumonia (CAAP) in children carrying commonly recognized pneumonia invasive pneumococcal serotypes ([PnIST] 1, 5, 7F, 14, and 19A) differs from CAAP in children carrying less invasive serotypes (non-PnIST) or no Pnc (Pnc-neg).

Methods

Children <5 years, visiting the only regional Pediatric Emergency Room, with radiologically proven CAAP were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal cultures were processed for pneumococcal isolation and serotyping. Clinical and demographic characteristics were recorded. The study was conducted before pneumococcal conjugate vaccine implementation in Israel.

Results

A total of 1423 CAAP episodes were recorded: PnIST, 300 (21.1%); non-PnIST, 591 (41.5%); and Pnc-neg, 532 (37.4%). After adjustment for age, ethnicity, seasonality, and previous antibiotics, the following variables were positively associated with PnIST carriage compared with both groups: temperature ≥39°C, peripheral white blood cell count ≥20 000/mm3, C-reactive protein ≥70.0 mg/L, and serum sodium <135 mEq/L. Lower oxygen saturation, viral detection, and comorbidities were negatively associated with Pn-IST carriage (odds ratios, <1.0). Differences between non-PnIST carriers and Pnc-neg groups were smaller or nonsignificant.

Conclusions

Young children with CAAP carrying common PnIST had a lower proportion of comorbidities, hypoxemia, and viral detection and had more intense systemic inflammatory response than those carrying non-PnIST or not carrying Pnc.
Tissue-specific autoimmunity controlled by Aire in thymic and peripheral tolerance mechanisms
Authors: Matsumoto Minoru , Tsuneyama Koichi , Morimoto Junko , Hosomichi Kazuyoshi , Matsumoto Mitsuru , Nishijima Hitoshi
Published: October 2019

Tissue-specific autoimmune diseases are assumed to arise through malfunction of two checkpoints for immune tolerance: defective elimination of autoreactive T cells in the thymus and activation of these T cells by corresponding autoantigens in the periphery. However, evidence for this model and the outcome of such alterations in each or both of the tolerance mechanisms have not been sufficiently investigated. We studied these issues by expressing human AIRE (huAIRE) as a modifier of tolerance function in NOD mice wherein the defects of thymic and peripheral tolerance together cause type I diabetes (T1D). Additive huAIRE expression in the thymic stroma had no major impact on the production of diabetogenic T cells in the thymus. In contrast, huAIRE expression in peripheral antigen-presenting cells (APCs) rendered the mice resistant to T1D, while maintaining other tissue-specific autoimmune responses and antibody production against an exogenous protein antigen, because of the loss of Xcr1+ dendritic cells, an essential component for activating diabetogenic T cells in the periphery. These results contrast with our recent demonstration that huAIRE expression in both the thymic stroma and peripheral APCs resulted in the paradoxical development of muscle-specific autoimmunity. Our results reveal that tissue-specific autoimmunity is differentially controlled by a combination of thymic function and peripheral tolerance, which can be manipulated by expression of huAIRE/Aire in each or both of the tolerance mechanisms.
Occurrence of intI1-associated VIM-5 carbapenemase and co-existence of all four classes of β-lactamase in carbapenem-resistant clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa DMC-27b
Authors: Jahan M Ishrat , Rahaman M Mizanur , Hossain M Anwar , Sultana Munawar
Published: October 2019

Objectives

Emergence of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is limiting current treatment options. Carbapenemases and their association with integrons can cause rapid dissemination of resistance traits. We report here the co-existence and chromosomal inheritance of all four classes of β-lactamase and the presence of a unique class 1 integron (intI1) harbouring blaVIM-5 within a single isolate of P. aeruginosa, DMC-27b.

Methods

DMC-27b, isolated from urine, was characterized for carbapenem resistance both phenotypically and genotypically. The orientation of gene cassette structures of class 1 integrons was determined using referenced and designed overlapping primers and complete genome sequence (CGS) data. The antimicrobial resistance profile, porin protein mutations and the presence of active efflux activity were studied from the CGS.

Results

P. aeruginosa DMC-27b was resistant to a total of 20 antibiotics, with imipenem and meropenem MIC90s of >512 mg/L. The isolate harboured all four classes of β-lactamase: VEB-1 (class A), VIM-5 (class B), PDC-35 (class C) and OXA-2 and OXA-50 (both class D). Chromosomal harbouring of blaVIM-5 was associated with the intI1 gene cassette as the sole gene, a unique cassette so far reported. A total of 11 mutations, among them some mutations causing extra folds and changes in binding sites, in porin protein OprD might also affect its functionality regarding the transportation of antibiotics.

Conclusions

This is one of the earliest reports of its kind on the co-existence of all four β-lactamase classes in P. aeruginosa DMC-27b. Acquisition of multiple resistance determinants is paving the way for the development of MDR. This superbug is a model for rapid dissemination of resistance traits both horizontally and vertically.
Do Managers Matter? A Natural Experiment from 42 R&D Labs in India
Authors: Choudhury Prithwiraj , Khanna Tarun , Makridis Christos A
Published: October 2019

We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in the staggered entry of new managers into India’s 42 public R&D labs between 1994 and 2006 to study how alignment between the CEO and middle-level managers affects research productivity. We show that the introduction of new lab managers aligned with the national R&D reforms raised patenting and multinational licensing revenues by 58% and 75%, respectively, and scientist research productivity, including: a 16%, 10%, 11%, and 22% increase in h-indices, number of coauthors, publications, and citations per scientist, respectively. Using natural language processing techniques on the set of research abstracts produced among these scientists, we also find that overall mood and sentiment increased by 8.5% following the first managerial change. (JEL L22, L23, O32, O33)
Time since fire is an over-simplified measure of habitat suitability for the New Holland mouse
Authors: Burns Phoebe A , Phillips Ben L
Published: October 2019

Fire has shaped much of the Australian landscape, and alterations to natural or historical fire regimes are implicated in the decline of many native mammal species. Time since fire (TSF) is a common metric used to understand vegetation and faunal responses to fire but is unlikely to capture the complexity of successional changes following fire. The New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae), a threatened and declining rodent species native to southeastern Australia, is traditionally considered an early post-fire successional species. Here, we use a 48-year dataset to test whether this posited association with early TSF is upheld, and whether the species’ occurrence and abundance are governed by TSF. We find support for a minimal influence of TSF on the species’ occurrence, and that while abundance of P. novaehollandiae is partly explained by TSF, considerable uncertainty and variation among fire events and locations limit the usefulness of TSF in informing conservation management strategies. We suggest that it is not helpful to consider the species as early successional and that fire planning for P. novaehollandiae conservation is best considered at a local scale. Additionally, we provide guidelines for maximizing individual survival and persistence during and after planned burns.
Neovaginoplasty for radiation-induced vaginal stenosis using Nile Tilapia Fish Skin as a biological graft
Authors: Dias Maria Tereza Pinto Medeiros , Bilhar Andreisa Paiva Monteiro , Rios Livia Cunha , Costa Bruno Almeida , Duete Úlima Rates , Lima Júnior Edmar Maciel , Alves Ana Paula Negreiros Nunes , Bruno Zenilda Vieira , Moraes Filho Manoel Odorico de , Bezerra Leonardo Robson Pinheiro Sobreira
Published: October 2019

Tilapia skin showed good results when used as a biological graft for surgical management of Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome. Thus, our researchers considered the use of this biomaterial for neovaginoplasty in radiation-induced vaginal stenosis. We report the case of a 41-year-old female patient with a total occlusion of the vaginal canal after radiotherapy for vaginal cancer. McIndoe neovaginoplasty using tilapia skin as a scaffold for proliferation of new vaginal epithelium was performed. Initially, laparoscopic dissection of the rectovaginal septum and vesicovaginal space spaces was conducted. In the vaginal surgical time, a transverse transmural incision was made in the scarred vaginal reminiscent followed by blunt dissection and insertion of an acrylic mold covered with tilapia skin. Good anatomical and functional outcomes were noted. Vaginal reconstruction with tilapia skin seems to be an excellent option for patients with radiation-induced vaginal stenosis due to its wide availability, easy application and high effectiveness.
Endourologic treatment for a fibroepithelial ureteral polyp protruding from the urethra
Authors: Abdessater Maher , Kanbar Anthony , Khoury Joey El , Hachem Charbel El , Halabi Rami , Boustany Johnny , Khoury Raghid El
Published: October 2019

Fibroepithelial polyps (FP) of the ureter are rare and benign mesodermal tumors frequently mistaken for transitional cell carcinoma. We hereby report a rare case of a 19-year-old patient with two FPs, originating from the distal left ureter that were successfully treated with ureteroscopy. One of these polyps was completely protruding outside the bladder through the urethra, which makes this case unique in the literature. Ureteroscopy is currently the best method available for identification, histologic diagnosis and treatment of these polyps.
Self-gravitating planetary envelopes and the core-nucleated instability
Authors: Béthune William
Published: October 2019

Planet formation scenarios can be constrained by the ratio of the gaseous envelope mass relative to the solid core mass in the observed exoplanet populations. One-dimensional calculations find a critical (maximal) core mass for quasi-static envelopes to exist, suggesting that envelopes around more massive cores should collapse due to a ‘core-nucleated’ instability. We study self-gravitating planetary envelopes via hydrodynamic simulations, progressively increasing the dimensionality of the problem. We characterize the core-nucleated instability and its non-linear evolution into runaway gas accretion in one-dimensional spherical envelopes. We show that rotationally supported envelopes can enter a runaway accretion regime via polar shocks in a two-dimensional axisymmetric model. This picture remains valid for high-mass cores in three dimensions, where the gas gravity mainly adds up to the core gravity and enhances the mass accretion rate of the planet in time. We relate the core-nucleated instability to the absence of equilibrium connecting the planet to its parent disc and discuss its relevance for massive planet formation.
Ensembl Genomes 2020—enabling non-vertebrate genomic research
Authors: Howe Kevin L , Contreras-Moreira Bruno , De Silva Nishadi , Maslen Gareth , Akanni Wasiu , Allen James , Alvarez-Jarreta Jorge , Barba Matthieu , Bolser Dan M , Cambell Lahcen , Carbajo Manuel , Chakiachvili Marc , Christensen Mikkel , Cummins Carla , Cuzick Alayne , Davis Paul , Fexova Silvie , Gall Astrid , George Nancy , Gil Laurent , Gupta Parul , Hammond-Kosack Kim E , Haskell Erin , Hunt Sarah E , Jaiswal Pankaj , Janacek Sophie H , Kersey Paul J , Langridge Nick , Maheswari Uma , Maurel Thomas , McDowall Mark D , Moore Ben , Muffato Matthieu , Naamati Guy , Naithani Sushma , Olson Andrew , Papatheodorou Irene , Patricio Mateus , Paulini Michael , Pedro Helder , Perry Emily , Preece Justin , Rosello Marc , Russell Matthew , Sitnik Vasily , Staines Daniel M , Stein Joshua , Tello-Ruiz Marcela K , Trevanion Stephen J , Urban Martin , Wei Sharon , Ware Doreen , Williams Gary , Yates Andrew D , Flicek Paul
Published: October 2019

Ensembl Genomes (http://www.ensemblgenomes.org) is an integrating resource for genome-scale data from non-vertebrate species, complementing the resources for vertebrate genomics developed in the context of the Ensembl project (http://www.ensembl.org). Together, the two resources provide a consistent set of interfaces to genomic data across the tree of life, including reference genome sequence, gene models, transcriptional data, genetic variation and comparative analysis. Data may be accessed via our website, online tools platform and programmatic interfaces, with updates made four times per year (in synchrony with Ensembl). Here, we provide an overview of Ensembl Genomes, with a focus on recent developments. These include the continued growth, more robust and reproducible sets of orthologues and paralogues, and enriched views of gene expression and gene function in plants. Finally, we report on our continued deeper integration with the Ensembl project, which forms a key part of our future strategy for dealing with the increasing quantity of available genome-scale data across the tree of life.
Lamin A/C promotes DNA base excision repair
Authors: Maynard Scott , Keijzers Guido , Akbari Mansour , Ezra Michael Ben , Hall Arnaldur , Morevati Marya , Scheibye-Knudsen Morten , Gonzalo Susana , Bartek Jiri , Bohr Vilhelm A
Published: October 2019

The A-type lamins (lamin A/C), encoded by the LMNA gene, are important structural components of the nuclear lamina. LMNA mutations lead to degenerative disorders known as laminopathies, including the premature aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. In addition, altered lamin A/C expression is found in various cancers. Reports indicate that lamin A/C plays a role in DNA double strand break repair, but a role in DNA base excision repair (BER) has not been described. We provide evidence for reduced BER efficiency in lamin A/C-depleted cells (Lmna null MEFs and lamin A/C-knockdown U2OS). The mechanism involves impairment of the APE1 and POLβ BER activities, partly effectuated by associated reduction in poly-ADP-ribose chain formation. Also, Lmna null MEFs displayed reduced expression of several core BER enzymes (PARP1, LIG3 and POLβ). Absence of Lmna led to accumulation of 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) lesions, and to an increased frequency of substitution mutations induced by chronic oxidative stress including GC>TA transversions (a fingerprint of 8-oxoG:A mismatches). Collectively, our results provide novel insights into the functional interplay between the nuclear lamina and cellular defenses against oxidative DNA damage, with implications for cancer and aging.
Major adverse renal events (MARE): a proposal to unify renal endpoints
Authors: Prischl Friedrich C , Rossing Peter , Bakris George , Mayer Gert , Wanner Christoph
Published: October 2019

Background

In renal studies, various outcome endpoints are used with variable definitions, making it nearly impossible to perform meta-analyses and deduce meaningful conclusions. Increasing attention is directed towards standardization of renal outcome reporting.

Methods

A working group was formed to produce a unifying definition of renal outcomes that can be used by all investigators. We propose major adverse renal events (MARE) as the term for a standardized composite of hard renal outcomes. We discuss the components for inclusion in MARE from existing evidence.

Results

MARE could include three to five items, considered relevant to patients and regulators. New onset of kidney injury, that is persistent albuminuria/proteinuria and/or decreasing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) <60 ml/min/1.73 m2, persistent signs of worsening kidney disease, development of end-stage kidney disease with estimated GFR <15 ml/min/1.73 m2 without or with initiation of kidney replacement therapy, and death from renal cause are core items of MARE. Additionally, patient reported outcomes should be reported in parallel to MARE as a standard set of primary (or secondary) endpoints in studies on kidney disease of diabetic, hypertensive-vascular, or other origin.

Conclusions

MARE as a reporting standard will enhance the ability to compare studies and thus, facilitate meaningful meta-analyses. This will result in standardized endpoints that should result in guideline improvement to better individualize care of patients with kidney disease.