bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular mechanisms of multi-omic regulation in breast cancer
Authors: Ochoa Soledad , Hernández-Lemus Enrique
Published: July 2023

Breast cancer is a complex disease that is influenced by the concurrent influence of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Recent advances in genomics and other high throughput biomolecular techniques (-omics) have provided numerous insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer development and progression. A number of these mechanisms involve multiple layers of regulation. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the role of multiple omics in the regulation of breast cancer, including the effects of DNA methylation, non-coding RNA, and other epigenomic changes. We comment on how integrating such diverse mechanisms is envisioned as key to a more comprehensive understanding of breast carcinogenesis and cancer biology with relevance to prognostics, diagnostics and therapeutics. We also discuss the potential clinical implications of these findings and highlight areas for future research. Overall, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of multi-omic regulation in breast cancer is rapidly increasing and has the potential to inform the development of novel therapeutic approaches for this disease.
Parental determinants associated with early growth after the first year of life by race and ethnicity
Authors: Aguayo Liliana , Chang Cecilia , McCormack Luke R. , Shalowitz Madeleine U.
Published: July 2023

Objective

To investigate maternal and parental factors associated with changes in children's body mass index percentile (BMI-P) from 12 to 24 months.

Methods

Data from a prospective cohort of racially and ethnically diverse mothers, fathers, and children (n = 245) were used. Changes in BMI-P from 12 to 24 months of age were examined using height and weight measurements collected at both times. Separate longitudinal mixed-effects models with maximum likelihood were introduced to examine the determinants introduced by mothers and determinants from both parents among all children, and by race and ethnicity.

Results

Models that examine maternal and parental factors showed that children's overall BMI-P decreased from 12 to 24 months [β = −4.85, 95% confidence interval (CI), −7.47 to −2.23]. Stratified tests showed that White children whose parents graduated high school or completed a 4-year college degree or higher had greater decreases in BMI-P than White children born to parents with less than high school education (β = −60.39, 95% CI, −115.05 to −5.72; β = −61.49, 95% CI, −122.44 to −0.53). Among Hispanic/Latinx children, mean BMI-P significantly decreased from 12 to 24 months (β = −7.12, 95% CI, −11.59 to −2.64). Mother's older age (β = 1.83, 95% CI, 0.29–3.36) and child female sex (β = 11.21, 95% CI, 1.61–20.82) were associated with gains in children's BMI-P, while father's older age was associated with decreases (β = −1.19, 95% CI, −2.30 to −0.08).

Conclusions

Parental determinants associated with children's early growth varied by children's sex and racial and ethnic background. Results highlight the importance of understanding racial and ethnicity-specific obesity risks and including fathers in research.
Filtering-induced changes of pulse transmit time across different ages: a neglected concern in photoplethysmography-based cuffless blood pressure measurement
Authors: Liao Shangdi , Liu Haipeng , Lin Wan-Hua , Zheng Dingchang , Chen Fei
Published: July 2023

Background: Pulse transit time (PTT) is a key parameter in cuffless blood pressure measurement based on photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. In wearable PPG sensors, raw PPG signals are filtered, which can change the timing of PPG waveform feature points, leading to inaccurate PTT estimation. There is a lack of comprehensive investigation of filtering-induced PTT changes in subjects with different ages.

Objective: This study aimed to quantitatively investigate the effects of aging and PTT definition on the infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering-induced PTT changes.

Methods: One hundred healthy subjects in five different ranges of age (i.e., 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and over 60 years old, 20 subjects in each) were recruited. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and PPG signals were recorded simultaneously for 120 s. PTT was calculated from the R wave of ECG and PPG waveform features. Eight PTT definitions were developed from different PPG waveform feature points. The raw PPG signals were preprocessed then further low-pass filtered. The difference between PTTs derived from preprocessed and filtered PPG signals, and the relative difference, were calculated and compared among five age groups and eight PTT definitions using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Scheirer–Ray–Hare test with post hoc analysis. Linear regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between age and filtering-induced PTT changes.

Results: Filtering-induced PTT difference and the relative difference were significantly influenced by age and PTT definition (p < 0.001 for both). Aging effect on filtering-induced PTT changes was consecutive with a monotonous trend under all PTT definitions. The age groups with maximum and minimum filtering-induced PTT changes depended on the definition. In all subjects, the PTT defined by maximum peak of PPG had the minimum filtering-induced PTT changes (mean: 16.16 ms and 5.65% for PTT difference and relative difference). The changes of PTT defined by maximum first PPG derivative had the strongest linear relationship with age (R-squared: 0.47 and 0.46 for PTT difference relative difference).

Conclusion: The filtering-induced PTT changes are significantly influenced by age and PTT definition. These factors deserve further consideration to improve the accuracy of PPG-based cuffless blood pressure measurement using wearable sensors.
Extraction of soybean plant trait parameters based on SfM-MVS algorithm combined with GRNN
Authors: He Wei , Ye Zhihao , Li Mingshuang , Yan Yulu , Lu Wei , Xing Guangnan
Published: July 2023

Soybean is an important grain and oil crop worldwide and is rich in nutritional value. Phenotypic morphology plays an important role in the selection and breeding of excellent soybean varieties to achieve high yield. Nowadays, the mainstream manual phenotypic measurement has some problems such as strong subjectivity, high labor intensity and slow speed. To address the problems, a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction method for soybean plants based on structure from motion (SFM) was proposed. First, the 3D point cloud of a soybean plant was reconstructed from multi-view images obtained by a smartphone based on the SFM algorithm. Second, low-pass filtering, Gaussian filtering, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) plane fitting, and Laplacian smoothing were used in fusion to automatically segment point cloud data, such as individual plants, stems, and leaves. Finally, Eleven morphological traits, such as plant height, minimum bounding box volume per plant, leaf projection area, leaf projection length and width, and leaf tilt information, were accurately and nondestructively measured by the proposed an algorithm for leaf phenotype measurement (LPM). Moreover, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Back Propagation Neural Network (BP), and Back Propagation Neural Network (GRNN) prediction models were established to predict and identify soybean plant varieties. The results indicated that, compared with the manual measurement, the root mean square error (RMSE) of plant height, leaf length, and leaf width were 0.9997, 0.2357, and 0.2666 cm, and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were 2.7013%, 1.4706%, and 1.8669%, and the coefficients of determination (R2) were 0.9775, 0.9785, and 0.9487, respectively. The accuracy of predicting plant species according to the six leaf parameters was highest when using GRNN, reaching 0.9211, and the RMSE was 18.3263. Based on the phenotypic traits of plants, the differences between C3, 47-6 and W82 soybeans were analyzed genetically, and because C3 was an insect-resistant line, the trait parametes (minimum box volume per plant, number of leaves, minimum size of single leaf box, leaf projection area).The results show that the proposed method can effectively extract the 3D phenotypic structure information of soybean plants and leaves without loss which has the potential using ability in other plants with dense leaves.
Genomic landscape of the OsTPP7 gene in its haplotype diversity and association with anaerobic germination tolerance in rice
Authors: Aung Kyaw Myo , Oo Win Htet , Maung Thant Zin , Min Myeong-Hyeon , Somsri Aueangporn , Nam Jungrye , Kim Kyu-Won , Nawade Bhagwat , Lee Chang-Yong , Chu Sang-Ho , Park Yong-Jin
Published: July 2023

Early season flooding is a major constraint in direct-seeded rice, as rice genotypes vary in their coleoptile length during anoxia. Trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase 7 (OsTPP7, Os09g0369400) has been identified as the genetic determinant for anaerobic germination (AG) and coleoptile elongation during flooding. We evaluated the coleoptile length of a diverse rice panel under normal and flooded conditions and investigated the Korean rice collection of 475 accessions to understand its genetic variation, population genetics, evolutionary relationships, and haplotypes in the OsTPP7 gene. Most accessions displayed enhanced flooded coleoptile lengths, with the temperate japonica ecotype exhibiting the highest average values for normal and flooded conditions. Positive Tajima’s D values in indica, admixture, and tropical japonica ecotypes suggested balancing selection or population expansion. Haplotype analysis revealed 18 haplotypes, with three in cultivated accessions, 13 in the wild type, and two in both. Hap_1 was found mostly in japonica, while Hap-2 and Hap_3 were more prevalent in indica accessions. Further phenotypic performance of major haplotypes showed significant differences in flooded coleoptile length, flooding tolerance index, and shoot length between Hap_1 and Hap_2/3. These findings could be valuable for future selective rice breeding and the development of efficient haplotype-based breeding strategies for improving flood tolerance.
Positive cross-linguistic influence in the representation and processing of sentence-final particle le by L2 and heritage learners of Chinese
Authors: Yan Shanshan , Mai Ziyin , Zhao Yang
Published: July 2023

This study investigates the representation and processing of written Chinese sentences subject to a semantic condition (i.e., “direction of change”) attached to the sentence-final particle (SFP)lein Mandarin Chinese. Three groups of bilingual speakers of Chinese and English who differ in their onset age of bilingualism and proficiency of English were studied. It was anticipated that there would be a positive cross-linguistic influence (CLI) from English due to similarities between the SFPleand the English adverbalreadyin terms of direct semantic transfer. An acceptability judgment (AJ) task and a self-paced reading (SPR) task were conducted to elicit judgment and processing difficulty with and without semantic violations. The participants included English-dominant second language (L2) learners (n = 18) and heritage learners (n = 19) who had advanced proficiency in Chinese, as well as monolingually raised Mandarin speakers from China as a baseline control group (n = 18). The results indicated that sensitivity to violations of the semantic condition varied depending on factors such as the specific structure (noun vs. verb phrase), the task type (offline vs. online), and the type of bilingual speaker (early vs. late). Among the three groups of bilinguals, the heritage learners demonstrated a representation of the semantic condition that resembled the target language across different sentence structures, whereas the L2 learners did not. Furthermore, the heritage learners exhibited earlier sensitivity to violations during online processing compared to the baseline control group. These exceptional results can be attributed to the heritage learners’ early exposure to and positive CLI between the SFPlein Mandarin and the English adverbalready.
Psychological, social, and physical ecologies for child resilience: a South African perspective
Authors: Pillay Jace
Published: July 2023

Children live in a complex world surrounded by global concerns such as climate change, economic instability, threats of terrorism and war. However, in South Africa, one may note that children face several additional challenges including high unemployment rates in families, exposure to violence, living in conditions of poverty, exposure to HIV/AIDS, and high levels of orphanhood. Compounding these problems is the economic situation in the country where the government is unable to provide adequate support for children in various domains. Understanding the mechanisms through which children successfully adapt to their environments and transition into adulthood are important to understand. Resilience research seeks to understand these mechanisms and underlying processes that enable some individuals to recover from adversity against all odds. Therefore, there is an increased movement not only toward understanding resilience processes in children, which enable them to develop into fully functional and upstanding citizens of society despite the adversities they face, but also how resilience research can be translated into practice to be used by service professionals such as psychologists, school counselors, social workers, and teachers. Adopting a socioecological understanding of resilience, the author reviews literature on the psychological, social, and physical ecologies for child resilience globally. Special emphasis is placed on the ecologies of child resilience within the African context and South Africa in particular. A socioecological perspective positions child resilience within four important levels, namely individual, relationships, community, and society. The salient features of child resilience within a South African context are discussed within the four levels highlighting the implications for interventions to promote child resilience. The implications have global value because child resilience is a phenomenon that needs global attention.
Factors associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities in bipolar disorder: a nationwide multicenter cross-sectional observational study
Authors: Dragasek Jozef , Minar Michal , Valkovic Peter , Pallayova Maria
Published: July 2023

Background

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic and disabling affective disorder with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the high rate of psychiatric and physical health comorbidity, little is known about the complex interrelationships between clinical features of bipolar illness and comorbid conditions. The present study sought to examine, quantify and characterize the cross-sectional associations of psychiatric and physical comorbidities with selected demographic and clinical characteristics of adults with BD.

Methods

A nationwide multicenter cross-sectional observational epidemiological study conducted from October 2015 to March 2017 in Slovakia.

Results

Out of 179 study participants [median age 49 years (interquartile range IQR 38–58); 57.5% females], 22.4% were free of comorbidity, 42.5% had both psychiatric and physical comorbidities, 53.6% at least one psychiatric comorbidity, and 66.5% at least one physical comorbidity. The most prevalent were the essential hypertension (33.5%), various psychoactive substance-related disorders (21.2%), specific personality disorders (14.6%), obesity (14.5%), and disorders of lipoprotein metabolism (14%). The presence of an at least one physical comorbidity, atypical symptoms of BD, and unemployed status were each associated with an at least one psychiatric comorbidity independent of sex, early onset of BD (age of onset <35 years), BD duration and pattern of BD illness progression (p < 0.001). The presence of various psychoactive substance-related disorders, BD duration, atypical symptoms of BD, unemployed status, pension, female sex, and not using antipsychotics were each associated with an at least one physical comorbidity independent of the pattern of BD illness progression (p < 0.001). In several other multiple regression models, the use of antipsychotics (in particular, olanzapine) was associated with a decreased probability of the essential hypertension and predicted the clinical phenotype of comorbidity-free BD (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

This cross-national study has reported novel estimates and clinical correlates related to both the comorbidity-free phenotype and the factors associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities in adults with BD in Slovakia. The findings provide new insights into understanding of the clinical presentation of BD that can inform clinical practice and further research to continue to investigate potential mechanisms of BD adverse outcomes and disease complications onset.
Ebola vaccine uptake and attitudes among healthcare workers in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2021
Authors: Doshi Reena H. , Garbern Stephanie C. , Kulkarni Shibani , Perera Shiromi M. , Fleming Monica K. , Muhayangabo Rigobert Fraterne , Ombeni Arsene Balene , Tchoualeu Dieula Delissaint , Kallay Ruth , Song Elizabeth , Powell Jasmine , Gainey Monique , Glenn Bailey , Mutumwa Ruffin Mitume , Hans Bateyi Mustafa Stephane , Earle-Richardson Giulia , Gao Hongjiang , Abad Neetu , Soke Gnakub Norbert , Fitter David L. , Hyde Terri B. , Prybylski Dimitri , Levine Adam C. , Jalloh Mohamed F. , Mbong Eta Ngole
Published: July 2023

Introduction

During the 2018–2020 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), prevention and control measures, such as Ebola vaccination were challenging by community mistrust. We aimed to understand perceptions regarding Ebola vaccination and identify determinants of Ebola vaccine uptake among HCWs.

Methods

In March 2021, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 438 HCWs from 100 randomly selected health facilities in three health zones (Butembo, Beni, Mabalako) affected by the 10th EVD outbreak in North Kivu, DRC. HCWs were eligible if they were ≥ 18 years and were working in a health facility during the outbreak. We used survey logistic regression to assess correlates of first-offer uptake (i.e., having received the vaccine the first time it was offered vs. after subsequent offers).

Results

Of the 438 HCWs enrolled in the study, 420 (95.8%) reported that they were eligible and offered an Ebola vaccine. Among those offered vaccination, self-reported uptake of the Ebola vaccine was 99.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) [98.5–99.4]), but first-offer uptake was 70.2% (95% CI [67.1, 73.5]). Nearly all HCWs (94.3%; 95% CI [92.7–95.5]) perceived themselves to be at risk of contracting EVD. The most common concern was that the vaccine would cause side effects (65.7%; 95% CI [61.4–69.7]). In the multivariable analysis, mistrust of the vaccine source or how the vaccine was produced decreased the odds of first-time uptake.

Discussion

Overall uptake of the Ebola vaccine was high among HCWs, but uptake at the first offer was substantially lower, which was associated with mistrust of the vaccine source. Future Ebola vaccination efforts should plan to make repeated vaccination offers to HCWs and address their underlying mistrust in the vaccines, which can, in turn, improve community uptake.
A qualitative study of the reasons for delayed medical treatment in adolescents with depression based on the health ecology model
Authors: Zhao Yuan , Li Yuling , Zhao Juan
Published: July 2023

Background

Depression is a prevalent mental health issue among adolescents, and timely treatment can prevent it from worsening. However, many adolescent depressed patients delay seeking medical treatment. To clarify the reasons for delayed medical treatment in adolescent depressed patients and to provide reference to help adolescent depressed patients to seek medical treatment on time.

Methods

From July 2022 to March 2023, a semi-structured interview was conducted using a purposive sampling method with adolescent depressed patients attending the Mental Health Center of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22 adolescent depression inpatients with delayed access to medical care were finally included as the study population. This study applied the phenomenological research method in qualitative research and used the Colaizzi seven-step data analysis method to analyze and refine the interview data.

Results

The study found that 22 adolescents with depression delayed medical care for 1–6 years, with a mean of 2.86 years. Six themes were identified as the reasons for delayed medical treatment: (1) inadequate levels of mental health literacy; (2) lack of disease-related knowledge and information; (3) negative emotional experiences; (4) negative attitudes toward health care; (5) inadequate medical insurance policy for psychotherapy; (6) unequal distribution of resources for mental health medical services.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of delayed medical treatment for adolescent depression patients should not be ignored. Efforts should be made to explore the trajectory of delayed illness in adolescents with depression, improve patient symptom assessment, improve poor patient experience, promote positive patient behavior, and improve the current situation of delayed medical treatment for adolescent depression patients through the joint efforts of individuals, families, schools, and society.
Key attributes of child psychiatry access programs
Authors: Dvir Yael , Straus John H. , Sarvet Barry , Byatt Nancy
Published: July 2023

The gap between the need for and the availability of pediatric mental health providers is well documented. One solution is regional/state Child Psychiatry Access Programs (CPAPs), which aid in the assessment and management of youth with behavioral health (BH) concerns by providing consultation to Pediatric Primary Care Clinicians. Our authorship team and the National Network of Child Psychiatry Access Programs (NNCPAP) board worked to describe operational definitions for CPAPs elements and related outcome monitoring processes and data systems. CPAP elements include regional child psychiatry availability by phone; real time phone availability; referral and resource assistance; and, expedited face-to-face psychiatric evaluation. Defining a child psychiatry consultation program as a CPAP and describing key attributes for CPAPs is an important step in facilitating implementation of the model and advancing research into its effectiveness.
Self-supervised monocular depth estimation for high field of view colonoscopy cameras
Authors: Mathew Alwyn , Magerand Ludovic , Trucco Emanuele , Manfredi Luigi
Published: July 2023

Optical colonoscopy is the gold standard procedure to detect colorectal cancer, the fourth most common cancer in the United Kingdom. Up to 22%–28% of polyps can be missed during the procedure that is associated with interval cancer. A vision-based autonomous soft endorobot for colonoscopy can drastically improve the accuracy of the procedure by inspecting the colon more systematically with reduced discomfort. A three-dimensional understanding of the environment is essential for robot navigation and can also improve the adenoma detection rate. Monocular depth estimation with deep learning methods has progressed substantially, but collecting ground-truth depth maps remains a challenge as no 3D camera can be fitted to a standard colonoscope. This work addresses this issue by using a self-supervised monocular depth estimation model that directly learns depth from video sequences with view synthesis. In addition, our model accommodates wide field-of-view cameras typically used in colonoscopy and specific challenges such as deformable surfaces, specular lighting, non-Lambertian surfaces, and high occlusion. We performed qualitative analysis on a synthetic data set, a quantitative examination of the colonoscopy training model, and real colonoscopy videos in near real-time.
Coaching legacies: influence propagation through temporal social networks in the Australian Football League
Authors: Marmulla Gordana , Dickson Geoff , Wäsche Hagen , Brandes Ulrik
Published: July 2023

We study the lineage network of coaches in the Australian Football League (AFL) using a novel process of influence propagation through temporal social networks. Coaching and being coached are considered major opportunities for learning, and the vast majority of AFL coaches are former AFL players. We, therefore, establish influence via two antagonistic components: as players, future coaches are influenced by their coaches, and later liberate themselves from these influences while being coaches themselves. Influence thus propagates through time-dependent player–coach relationships, and we obtain a ranking of coaches by their aggregated influence on others. In addition to being based on an explicit process, we argue that the ranking has face validity, because it indeed favors highly reputed coaches, and is not determined by temporal or activity indicators such as the starting year of a coaching career, its length, or the number of future coaches coached.
Implications of minimum tillage and integrated nutrient management on yield and soil health of rice-lentil cropping system – being a resource conservation technology
Authors: Bhattacharya Urjashi , Naskar Manish Kumar , Venugopalan Visha Kumari , Sarkar Smritikana , Bandopadhyay Pintoo , Maitra Sagar , Gaber Ahmed , Alsuhaibani Amnah Mohammed , Hossain Akbar
Published: July 2023

Conventional tillage methods and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers are causes of edaphic problems like soil degradation and loss of soil fertility which reduces crop yield. Puddling now-a-days, has become a major challenge for farmers due to breaking the soil structure, deficit water regimes, and depletion of soil health. Keeping in view, the absolute need to fulfill food security as well as sustainability, an experiment was conducted for 2 years on a rice-lentil cropping system during 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 in sandy clay loam soil of a new alluvial zone of eastern India to evaluate effects of minimum tillage and integrated nutrient management on yield and soil health. Conventional tillage (CT) direct seeded rice-lentil, Minimum tillage(MT) direct seeded rice-lentil, MT transplanted rice-lentil and MT direct seeded rice-lentil were kept as main plot treatments and control (without any fertilizer), 100% RDF, 75% nitrogen + FYM, 75% nitrogen + FYM + Azospirillum and 75% Nitrogen + FYM + Azospirillum sp. + Zinc Sulphate were kept as subplot treatments during the study. Though conventional tillage treatments recorded higher LAI, CGR and yield in the first year of study in the case of rice; during the second year, minimum tillage treatments showed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) better results in the aforesaid aspects with MTDSR-L having a maximum yield of 5.17 t ha−1. In the case of lentil minimum tillage treatments had better results for both years, with MTDSR-L treatment having the highest yield of 8.084 t ha−1. Among the nutrient schedules, the crops had better LAI, CGR and yield during the first year in the case of 100% RDF treatment, but in the second year, 75% Nitrogen + FYM + Azospirillum sp. + Zinc Sulphate had the highest respective values. Soil organic carbon was marginally improved by both tillage and nutrient treatments, while soil microbial biomass carbon, dehydrogenase activity and microbial count were significantly influenced. The combination of MTDSR-L and 75% Nitrogen + FYM + Azospirillum sp. + Zinc Sulphate (N5) treatment showed the maximum values for all soil biological parameters leading to improve soil health. The results of the experiment concluded that the practice of minimum tillage and integrated nutrient management may be recommended to enhance the yield and stability of rice-lentil cropping systems in sandy clay loam soil of a new alluvial zone of eastern India by acting as an alternative for the decline of soil health.
Design of Cloud-Based Real-Time Eye-Tracking Monitoring and Storage System
Authors: Gursesli Mustafa Can , Selek Mehmet Emin , Samur Mustafa Oktay , Duradoni Mirko , Park Kyoungju , Guazzini Andrea , Lanatà Antonio
Published: July 2023

The rapid development of technology has led to the implementation of data-driven systems whose performance heavily relies on the amount and type of data. In the latest decades, in the field of bioengineering data management, among others, eye-tracking data have become one of the most interesting and essential components for many medical, psychological, and engineering research applications. However, despite the large usage of eye-tracking data in many studies and applications, a strong gap is still present in the literature regarding real-time data collection and management, which leads to strong constraints for the reliability and accuracy of on-time results. To address this gap, this study aims to introduce a system that enables the collection, processing, real-time streaming, and storage of eye-tracking data. The system was developed using the Java programming language, WebSocket protocol, and Representational State Transfer (REST), improving the efficiency in transferring and managing eye-tracking data. The results were computed in two test conditions, i.e., local and online scenarios, within a time window of 100 seconds. The experiments conducted for this study were carried out by comparing the time delay between two different scenarios, even if preliminary results showed a significantly improved performance of data management systems in managing real-time data transfer. Overall, this system can significantly benefit the research community by providing real-time data transfer and storing the data, enabling more extensive studies using eye-tracking data.
Advertising during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Trends and Theoretical Developments
Authors: Najam Usama , Ali Raza , Burki Umar
Published: July 2023

This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the trends and theoretical development of advertising research. By using appropriate keywords, this research selected 210 articles from the Web of Science database. We applied bibliometric analysis techniques and employed the VOS viewer to present visualizations. Our findings provide valuable insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic altered advertisers and researchers’ perspectives on advertisement content and message strategies. We also explore the application of diversified theoretical lenses to our research on advertisements during the pandemic.
Measurement and Uncertainty Analysis of Lunar Soil Water Content via Heating Flux Method
Authors: Liu Ziheng , He Huaiyu , Li Jiannan , Hao Jialong , Tang Junyue , Zhang Zhiheng , Jiang Shengyuan , Chi Guanxin , Liu Ranran , Wang Lei , Geng Hao , Xue Changbin
Published: July 2023

According to the big impact hypothesis, the moon should be very dry. However, more and more evidence from the remote sensing of the moon in recent years indicates that there is a lot of water in the moon’s polar regions. Researching the source and distribution of volatiles such as water can provide a key constraint on the formation and evolution of the moon. If there is a large amount of a volatile such as water ice in the polar area of the moon, it can be used as a further resource. Regrettably, there are no detectors in place to detect the amount and presence of water to date. In the new wave of lunar exploration, polar water has become one of the main tasks of NASA, ESA and RKA. The Chang’e-7 spacecraft of China’s fourth lunar exploration phase has also used the Water Molecular Analyzer and the Lunar Soil Volatile Measuring Instrument to detect water content in the lunar polar region. This paper introduces a set of methods and principles for analyzing water content via the heat flux method according to the characteristics of the Lunar Soil Volatile Measuring Instrument that was deployed on the lunar surface. According to the current design, the water content of 0.008~0.17% can be analyzed.
Conservation Tillage and Weed Management Influencing Weed Dynamics, Crop Performance, Soil Properties, and Profitability in a Rice–Wheat–Greengram System in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain
Authors: Alhammad Bushra Ahmed , Roy Dhirendra Kumar , Ranjan Shivani , Padhan Smruti Ranjan , Sow Sumit , Nath Dibyajyoti , Seleiman Mahmoud F. , Gitari Harun
Published: July 2023

A three-year field experiment was carried out to assess the efficacy of various tillage and residue management practices, as well as weed management approaches, in a rice–wheat–green gram rotation. The treatments included: conventional till transplanted rice–conventional till wheat–fallow (T1); conventional till transplanted rice–zero-till wheat–zero-till green gram (T2); conventional till direct-seeded rice—conventional-till wheat—zero-till green gram (T3); zero-till direct-seeded rice—zero-till wheat—zero-till green gram (T4); zero-till direct-seeded rice + residue zero-till wheat + residue zero-till green gram (T5). In weed management, three treatments are as follows: recommended herbicides (W1); integrated weed management (W2); and unweeded (W3). The integrated weed management treatment had the lowest weed biomass, which was 44.3, 45.3, and 33.7% lower than the treatment W3 at 30 and 60 days after sowing and harvest, respectively. T1 grain and straw yielded more than T2 in the early years than in subsequent years. The conventional till transplanted rice–zero-till wheat–zero-till green gram system produced 33.6, 37.6, and 27.7% greater net returns than the zero-till direct-seeded rice—zero-till wheat—zero-till greengram system, respectively. Conventional till transplanted rice–conventional till wheat–fallow had the biggest reduction (0.41%) in soil organic carbon from the initial value. The findings of the study demonstrated that adopting the transplanting method for rice, followed by zero tillage for wheat and green gram, enhanced productivity and profitability, while simultaneously preserving soil health.
Research on the Operational Performance of Organic Rankine Cycle System for Waste Heat Recovery from Large Ship Main Engine
Authors: Chen Wu , Fu Binchun , Zeng Jingbin , Luo Wenhua
Published: July 2023

Based on the analysis of the waste heat distribution characteristics of a typical ship two-stroke low-speed main engine (model: MAN 8S65ME-C8.6HL, the specified maximum continuous rating SMCR: 21,840 kW) under different loads, two different types of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems, namely the basic system (BORC) and the preheated system(PORC), were constructed to recover the ship main engine’s exhaust gas waste heat and jacket cooling water waste heat. Using the thermodynamic simulation model of the system, the main performance indexes, including net output power of the two ORC systems were studied with the variation of seawater temperature and main engine load, and the annual ship fuel saving and annual carbon emission reduction generated by the two systems were compared and analyzed. It was found that the maximum net output power of the BORC system and PORC system were 445.3 kW and 491.3 kW, respectively, when the ship’s main engine load was 100%, and the outboard seawater temperature was 20 °C; the maximum thermal efficiency was 12.84% and 12.71%, respectively; under the annual operation, the fuel saving of BORC system and PORC system can be 456 tons and 510 tons, respectively, and the carbon emission reduction was 1416 tons and 1581 tons, respectively. The analysis found that the net output power of the PORC system is always greater than that of the BORC system. When the outboard seawater is lower, and the main engine load is more than 80%, the net output power difference between the PORC system and BORC system gradually expands, and the improvement of ORC system performance is more evident by adding a preheater. It can be concluded that when the ship was mainly operated in the sea area with low seawater temperature and the main engine was running under high load most of the time, selecting the PORC system to recover the waste heat of the main engine was more advantageous.
Using WebXR Metaverse Platforms to Create Touristic Services and Cultural Promotion
Authors: Martí-Testón Ana , Muñoz Adolfo , Gracia Luis , Solanes J. Ernesto
Published: July 2023

In recent years, there has been a surge of Metaverse applications and tools striving to capture the attention of both the general public and businesses, with a particularly strong potential within the tourism sector. However, there has been significant criticism towards major corporations for marketing a concept of the Metaverse that fails to align with reality. On the other hand, smaller entities such as Spatial-io, which is an innovative metaverse platform, are introducing a different style of the Metaverse, one that is highly accessible from contemporary devices like smartphones, tablets, VR headsets, and traditional PCs via WebXR platforms. This article delves into and scrutinizes various methodologies of a tourism-oriented Metaverse, considering its prospective utility as a vehicle to attract more visitors. A virtual tourist information center was established on the Spatial-io Metaverse platform to promote Valencia, Spain. This research scrutinizes the navigation, accessibility, and usability of the service from a conventional PC browser, contrasting it with the experience offered by the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset. The study’s quantitative and qualitative data analysis indicates that these innovative services are highly regarded, particularly when a real person (not a bot) provides information, fostering trust and offering details about various tourist attractions within the promoted city. The comparison of user inquiries’ time and depth aligns with the immersion level, demonstrating more positive feedback when the service is accessed through the VR system rather than a standard PC browser.
Seismic Response and Recentering Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Frames: A Parametric Study
Authors: De Domenico Dario , Gandelli Emanuele , Gioitta Alberto
Published: July 2023

The inelastic response of reinforced concrete (RC) frames under seismic loading is influenced by mechanical and geometrical properties and by the reinforcement arrangement of the beam–column members. In this paper, the seismic response and recentering behavior of RC frames is investigated numerically via cyclic pushover analysis and described by means of three synthetic behavioral indexes, namely a recentering index, a hardening index, and a ductility index. A fiber–hinge formulation is used to describe the inelastic behavior of the RC elements, and the versatile pivot hysteresis model is implemented at the material level to capture the possible pinching effects ascribed to the weak transverse reinforcement and to poor construction details that might be observed in the existing RC structures. This model is first validated against the experimental results from the literature and then applied, within a wide parametric study, to a set of 80 RC frame scenarios featured by various combinations of axial load levels and reinforcing details. As the output of this parametric study, practical design abacuses are constructed to describe the trends of the above-mentioned behavioral indexes, which are usefully related to specific mechanical and loading features of the analyzed RC frames. The reliability of the obtained results and the usefulness of the constructed abacuses in anticipating the overall cyclic behavior of a generic RC building, depending on the actual mechanical parameters of the RC sections at each story level, is finally demonstrated through a nonlinear time history analysis of an eight-story RC frame, representative of the substandard RC frames built in the 1970s in Italy.
Calculation of Consistent Plasma Parameters for DEMO-FNS Using Ionic Transport Equations and Simulation of the Tritium Fuel Cycle
Authors: Ananyev Sergey , Kukushkin Andrei
Published: July 2023

Modeling the D and T fluxes in Fusion Neutron Source based on a tokamak fuel cycle systems was performed consistently with the core and divertor plasma. An indirect integration of ASTRA, SOLPS4.3, and FC-FNS codes is used. The feedback coupling is realized between the pumping and puffing systems in the form of changes in the isotopic composition of the core and edge plasma. In the ASTRA code, instead of electrons, ions were used in the particle transport equations. This allows better estimates of the flows of the D/T components of the fuel that have to be provided by the gas puffing and processing systems. The particle flows into the plasma from pellets, required to maintain the target plasma density  = (6–8) × 1019 m−3 are 1022 particles/s. In the majority of the working range of parameters, additional ELM stimulation is necessary (by ~1-mm3-size pellets from the low magnetic field side) in order to maintain the controlled energy losses at the level δWELM~0.5 MJ. For the starting load of the FC and steady-state operation of the facility, up to 500 g of tritium are required taking into account the radioactive decay losses.
A Synergic Application of High-Oxygenated E-Fuels and New Bowl Designs for Low Soot Emissions: An Optical Analysis
Authors: Pastor José V. , Micó Carlos , Lewiski Felipe , Tejada Francisco J. , Tornatore Cinzia
Published: July 2023

Synthetic fuels significantly reduce pollutant emissions and the carbon footprint of ICE applications. Among these fuels, oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEX) are an excellent candidate to entirely or partially replace conventional fuels in compression ignition (CI) engines due to their attractive properties. The very low soot particle formation tendency allows the decoupling of the soot-NOX trade-off in CI engines. In addition, innovative piston geometries have the potential to reduce soot formation inside the cylinder in the late combustion stage. This work aims to analyze the potential of combining OMEX with an innovative piston geometry to reduce soot formation inside the cylinder. In this way, several blends of OMEX-Diesel were tested using a radial-lips bowl geometry and a conventional reentrant bowl. Tests were conducted in an optically accessible engine under simulated EGR conditions, reducing the in-cylinder oxygen content. For this purpose, 2-colour pyrometry and high-speed excited state hydroxyl chemiluminescence techniques were applied to trace the in-cylinder soot formation and oxidation processes. The results confirm that increasing OMEX in Diesel improves the in-cylinder soot reduction under low oxygen conditions for both piston geometries. Moreover, using radial lips bowl geometry significantly improves the soot reduction, from 17% using neat Diesel to 70% less at the highest OMEX quantity studied in this paper.
Voice Disorder Multi-Class Classification for the Distinction of Parkinson’s Disease and Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia
Authors: Cesarini Valerio , Saggio Giovanni , Suppa Antonio , Asci Francesco , Pisani Antonio , Calculli Alessandra , Fayad Rayan , Hajj-Hassan Mohamad , Costantini Giovanni
Published: July 2023

Parkinson’s Disease and Adductor-type Spasmodic Dysphonia are two neurological disorders that greatly decrease the quality of life of millions of patients worldwide. Despite this great diffusion, the related diagnoses are often performed empirically, while it could be relevant to count on objective measurable biomarkers, among which researchers have been considering features related to voice impairment that can be useful indicators but that can sometimes lead to confusion. Therefore, here, our purpose was aimed at developing a robust Machine Learning approach for multi-class classification based on 6373 voice features extracted from a convenient voice dataset made of the sustained vowel/e/ and an ad hoc selected Italian sentence, performed by 111 healthy subjects, 51 Parkinson’s disease patients, and 60 dysphonic patients. Correlation, Information Gain, Gain Ratio, and Genetic Algorithm-based methodologies were compared for feature selection, to build subsets analyzed by means of Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, and Multi-Layer Perceptron classifiers, trained with a 10-fold cross-validation. As a result, spectral, cepstral, prosodic, and voicing-related features were assessed as the most relevant, the Genetic Algorithm performed as the most effective feature selector, while the adopted classifiers performed similarly. In particular, a Genetic Algorithm + Naïve Bayes approach brought one of the highest accuracies in multi-class voice analysis, being 95.70% for a sustained vowel and 99.46% for a sentence.
A Comparative Analysis between Radar and Human Observations of the Giant Hail Event of 30 August 2022 in Catalonia
Authors: Rigo Tomeu , Farnell Carme
Published: July 2023

Three facts characterise the hailstorm of 30 August 2022 in the Catalan village of La Bisbal d’Empordà and its surroundings: first, the most dramatic, the death of a child hit by a hailstone; second, the damage to most of the roofs and cars in the town; finally, the highest recorded amount of hail (more than 10 cm) in Catalonia in at least the last 30 years. This research focuses on the radar field comparison and the observations provided by an electronic survey of the study area. The results reveal that weather radar underestimated the hail size because of different factors. Conversely, some reporters provided an inaccurate hour. The difference of three months between the hail event and the electronic survey is the probable cause of this mistake in the time estimation. However, the survey delay helped to avoid answers with larger hail sizes than those provided by the official spotters.
Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Mean Hourly Irradiance Probabilistic Forecasting
Authors: Sansine Vateanui , Ortega Pascal , Hissel Daniel , Ferrucci Franco
Published: July 2023

For grid stability, operation, and planning, solar irradiance forecasting is crucial. In this paper, we provide a method for predicting the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) mean values one hour in advance. Sky images are utilized for training the various forecasting models along with measured meteorological data in order to account for the short-term variability of solar irradiance, which is mostly caused by the presence of clouds in the sky. Additionally, deep learning models like the multilayer perceptron (MLP), convolutional neural networks (CNN), long short-term memory (LSTM), or their hybridized forms are widely used for deterministic solar irradiance forecasting. The implementation of probabilistic solar irradiance forecasting, which is gaining prominence in grid management since it offers information on the likelihood of different outcomes, is another task we carry out using quantile regression. The novelty of this paper lies in the combination of a hybrid deep learning model (CNN-LSTM) with quantile regression for the computation of prediction intervals at different confidence levels. The training of the different machine learning algorithms is performed over a year’s worth of sky images and meteorological data from the years 2019 to 2020. The data were measured at the University of French Polynesia (17.5770° S, 149.6092° W), on the island of Tahiti, which has a tropical climate. Overall, the hybrid model (CNN-LSTM) is the best performing and most accurate in terms of deterministic and probabilistic metrics. In addition, it was found that the CNN, LSTM, and ANN show good results against persistence.