bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interaction of Anxiety and Hypertension on Quality of Life among Gynecological Cancer Patients: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Gu ZhiHui , Yang ChenXin , Tang Lin , Wu Hui
Published: September 2022

Gynecological cancer patients are prone to anxiety, accompanied by hypertension symptoms, which seriously affect the quality of life (QOL). The study was to explore the interaction of anxiety and hypertension on QOL, and the moderating effect of social support in the impact of anxiety and hypertension on QOL of gynecological cancer patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020, and 566 patients have been collected from the Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University. The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Genera tool (FACT-G), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS) were used. The interaction was analyzed by additive model, and the moderating effect was conducted by regression analysis and the simple slope analysis. We found that 68.8% of patients had poor QOL due to the interaction between anxiety and hypertension. The relative excess risk ratio (RERI) was 22.238 (95%CI:44.119–88.596); the attribution ratio (AP) was 0.688 (95%CI:0.234–1.142); The interaction index (S) was 3.466 (95%CI: 0.823–14.435). The interaction items of social support and anxiety were negatively correlated with QOL (β=-0.219, P < 0.01) and explained an additional 4.0% variance (F = 68.649, Adjusted R2 = 0.399, ΔR2 = 0.040, P < 0.01); Social support and blood pressure interaction item was not associated with QOL (β = 0.013, F = 55.138, Adjusted R2 = 0.365, ΔR2 = 0.001, P = 0.730). When anxiety and hypertension coexist, the QOL was seriously decreased. Social support played a moderating role in the impact of anxiety on QOL. Medical staffs should take intervention measures to improve patients’ social support to reduce the impact of anxiety on QOL.
Pupal productivity of larval habitats of Aedes aegypti in Msambweni, Kwale County, Kenya
Authors: Mwakutwaa Alawih Salim , Ngugi Harun Njenga , Ndenga Bryson Alberto , Krystosik Amy , Ngari Moses , Abubakar Laila Uweso , Yonge Shadrack , Kitron Uriel , LaBeaud Angelle Desiree , Mutuku Francis Maluki
Published: September 2022

Background
Accurate identification of larval habitats of Ae. aegypti is considered an essential step in targeted control; of this important vector of several arboviruses including dengue and chikungunya viruses. This study determined Ae. aegyptiproductivity in selected larval habitats in Msambweni, Kwale County, Kenya.
Methods
A total of 664 potential larval habitats were identified and classified based on their use and material into seven habitat types including: buckets, drums, jerrycans, pots, small domestic containers (SDC), tires and others during the habitat census survey. All Ae. aegypti immatures in 83 representative larval habitats were counted daily for 30 consecutive days during a wet and a dry season. All pupae were removed and allowed to emerge in the laboratory.
Results
Of 664 larval habitats examined at baseline, 144 larval habitats (21.7%) were found to be infested with Aedes aegypti larvae. 71% of the pupae were collected from tires and pots combined, which together accounted for 17% of the habitats. In contrast, buckets and SDC represented 55% of the total habitats, but only had an infestation rate of 11.8%, with just 13.5% of the pupae found in them. Multivariate analysis showed that only habitat type and the habitat to being movable were associated with pupal abundance. During the 30-day daily pupal production studies, only a few of the habitats harbored pupae persistently. In the wet season, pupae were collected from 28% (23/83) of the larval habitats. In the dry season, only 12% (10/83) of the habitats were ever found with pupae during the 30-day sampling period, with three habitats (all drums) accounting for 80% (293/365) of all the pupae collected. The results of the multivariate modelsfor the risk factors for pupal productivity showed that habitat type, placing of larval habitats in the backyard, larval habitats without purpose and rain water were significant predictors of larval habitat productivity during the wet season.Although the multivariate model for habitat type did converge, habitat type and large size larval habitats were the only significant predictors during the dry season.
Conclusion
Drums, pots and tires were sources of more than 85% of Ae. aegypti pupae, reinforcing the ‘key containers concept’. Targeting these three types of habitats makes epidemiological sense, especially during the dry season.
Engineering Complexity beyond the surface: Discerning the viewpoints, the drivers, and the challenges
Authors: Morales Gisela A. Garza , Nizamis Kostas , Bonnema G. Maarten
Published: September 2022

Complexity is often regarded as a “problem” to solve. Instead of yet again attempting to solve complexity, we follow systems engineering practices and switch back to the problem domain. A major obstacle in the problem domain is the impossibility to universally define complexity. As a workaround, we explored complexity characterization and identified shortcomings of the existing characterizations. The shortcomings include lack of standardization, inconsistent semantics, system-centricity, insufficiently transparent reasoning, and lack of validation. To address these shortcomings, we proposed a framework to characterize complexity by adapting three questions (who, why, what) from the Five Ws information-gathering method. The answer to the WHO-question proposed four complexity viewpoints; the answer to the WHY-question proposed a two-dimensional structure to identify complexity drivers; and the answer to the WHAT-question derived generalized complexity challenges. We used a systematic mapping study (SMS) to validate the framework. In general, our findings suggest that papers with complexity solutions do not frame their research within the complexity problem domain, hindering the contribution evaluation. Through the viewpoints, we identified general research gaps of six solution directions. From the drivers, we noted three observations in the discourse of complexity origins: 1) a system-driven tendency, 2) a preference for concreteness vs. abstraction, and 3) an unclear distinction between origins and effects. Through the challenges’ findings we supported two hypotheses: 1) a system-centric preference; and 2) a solution-oriented vision. This application of our framework exemplifies its potential to facilitate and structure future research, both in the problem and solution domains.
Automatic Grading of Potato Leaf using Machine learning & Computer Vision
Authors: Kumar Suneel , Shukla Aasheesh
Published: September 2022

Economically, agriculture plays a crucial role but agriculture production decreases with plants or crops diseases. The quantity and quality of the plant are also concerned due to various diseases in plants. Hence early exposure plays a crucial role in reducing the bruise of plant diseases. The highest potato manufacturer in the world is China and together, India & China produce one third of overall potatoes. Potato leaf grading and detection are complex issues that require a lot of human expertise. The manual detection for diseases is ineffective, time-consuming, uncertain, and expensive. The reliable, robust, and scalability factors need to be considered when designing a disease detection method. Machine learning and computer vision advancement led to the development of promising solutions in the agriculture field. In this paper an automated, astute, and efficient detection and grading method for potato leaves is introduced. Firstly, Gaussian filtering is used as pre-processing of the image to improve image quality and noise removal. Secondly, image is segmented using fuzzy c-means technique. Then numerous features, such as geometrical, textural, and statistical are separated (112) and principle component analysis is used to select essential feature (30) for classification. Finally, for classification k-Nearest Neighbour, Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural Network, and Support Vector Machine are benefitted as decision making for potato leaf disease grading. The 10 cross-validation processes have been used to validate the system. The algorithm proposed for the disease detection of potato leaves achieves 83.39% (k-NN), 89.72% (LR), 92.54% (ANN), and 99.75% (SVM). The selecting of the appropriate feature indicates improved system performance. Among the four different classifiers, the SVM results are promising contrast to the reviewed literature.
A phase 1 clinical trial of the repurposable acetyl-lysine mimetic, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma
Authors: Shortt Jake , Galettis Peter , Cheah Chan Y , Davis Joanne , Ludford-Menting Mandy , Link Emma K , Martin Jennifer H , Koldej Rachel , Ritchie David
Published: September 2022

Background
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is an epigenetically active chemical fragment and organic solvent with numerous applications including use as a drug-delivery vehicle. Previously considered biologically inert, NMP demonstrates immunomodulatory and anti-myeloma properties that are partly explained by acetyllysine mimetic properties and non-specific bromodomain inhibition. We therefore evaluated orally administered NMP in a phase 1 dose-escalation trial to establish its maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RR-MM). Secondary endpoints were safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), overall response rate and immunological biomarkers of activity.
Results
Thirteen patients received NMP at starting doses between 50–400mg daily. Intra-patient dose escalation occurred in five patients, with one attaining the ceiling protocolised dose of 1g daily. Median number of monthly cycles commenced was three (range: 1–20). Grade 3–4 adverse events (AEs) were reported in seven (54%; 95% CI: 25–81%) patients. Most common AEs (> 30% of patients) of any grade were nausea and musculoskeletal pain. The only dose limiting toxicity (DLT) was diarrhoea in a patient receiving 200mg NMP (overall DLT rate 8%; 95% CI: 0–36%). Hence, the MTD was not defined. Median progression free and overall survival were 57 (range 29–539) days and 33 (95% CI: 9.7->44) months respectively. The best response of stable disease (SD) was achieved in nine patients (69%; 95% CI: 39–91%). PK analysis demonstrated proportional dose-concentrations up to 400mg daily, with a more linear relationship above 500mg. Maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) of 16.7mg/L at the 800mg dose were below those predicted to inhibit BET-bromodomains. Peripheral blood immune-profiling demonstrated maintenance of Natural Killer (NK)-cells, and a gene expression signature suggestive of enhanced T, B and NK-cell functions; a subject with prolonged exposure manifested sustained recovery of B and NK-cells at 12 months.
Conclusions
NMP demonstrated potential disease stabilising and immunomodulatory activity at sub-BET inhibitory plasma concentrations and was well tolerated in RR-MM; an MTD was not determined up to a maximum dose of 1g daily. Further dose-finding studies are required to optimise NMP dosing strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Mathematical Modelling of the Innovative Technology of Dough Preparation by the Accelerated Ion-ozone Cavitation Method
Authors: Iztayev Auyelbek , Kulazhanov Talgat , Iztayev Baurzhan , Alimardanova Mariam , Tarabayev Baltash , Tursunbayeva Sholpan , Yakiyayeva Madina
Published: September 2022

Some of the challenges facing the wheat industry are to increase production efficiency, improve quality and increase the nutritional value of products. To this end, non-traditional methods of flour processing are used to create functional products, and natural, inexpensive sources of raw materials rich in protein, vitamins, macro- and microelements, dietary fibre and other substances are sought. In this work, an accelerated technological method for the preparation of third-class whole-wheat flour dough and bread from the same dough was developed. The optimal values of regime parameters for ion-ozone cavitation processing of flour were determined. Only the presence of yeast and mould and the amount of gluten changed as a result of processing. Moreover, the presence of yeast depended on all three factors: concentration (C), excess pressure (P) and processing time (τ), and the presence of mould and the amount of gluten depended only on time (τ). Using the obtained system of equations, the optimal conditions (modes) of flour processing were determined by the method of nonlinear programming: C·10− 4 = 5 units/mg, Р = 2 atm and τ = 5 min, which, subject to all constraints (restrictions) on the quality of flour, provided the maximum amount of gluten equal to m9 = 27.34%. Moreover, the values of the regime parameters of ion-ozone cavitation processing of dough from whole-ground flour of third-class wheat that produced optimal rheological and physico-chemical properties were determined. Using the obtained system of equations and constraints, the optimal modes of ion-ozone cavitation processing of dough were determined by the method of nonlinear programming, which, subject to all the constraints (limitations) on the quality of the test, provided the maximum strength of the test y2 = 181.0% and the test parameter values C*10− 4 = 25 units/mg, P = 1 atm and τ = 5 min, which, in compliance with all constraints (restrictions) on the quality of bread provided a maximum volume z11 = 232.1 cm3
Fire safety status and evacuation of medical facility considering elevated oxygen concentrations
Authors: Karim Rehmat , Daniel Nashiru Mumuni , Khan Mujeeb , Sheikh Mohsin
Published: September 2022

The prevalence of infectious diseases and rapid population expansion has increased the number of medical facilities. Due to the patients' limited mobility, these hospitals are more susceptible to fire disasters. Both Pathfinder and Fire Dynamic simulator was used to calculate the required safe evacuation time (RSET), heat release rate, visibility, temperature, CO, and oxygen effects on temperature, and available safe evacuation time (ASET). The safe evacuation of the medical hospital was then evaluated by comparing the ASET and RSET. The simulation findings showed that the egress guides depend on delay time when delay time increases the egress guides dropped. We also studied the importance of egress route decisions and suggest that at least 20 to 30 egress guides are on duty in the medical facility. The safety criteria for the medical facility have been proposed based on the delay time with the normalized egress guides. The high oxygen concentration in a hospital can put the medical staff and patients in danger and limit the required safe egress time to less than 150s. The proposed measures can be used to assess the evacuation safety of a typical medical hospital in use relatively quickly and efficiently.
Carvacrol induces apoptosis in human breast cancer cells via Bcl-2/CytC signaling pathway
Authors: Chen Hu-hu , Fong Siat Yee
Published: September 2022

Objective To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying carvacrol-induced apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.
Methods The antiproliferative effect of carvacrol on human breast cancer cell line, HCC1937, was determined using MTT assay, and ultrastructural changes in the treated cells were observed using uranium acetate/lead citrate double staining. Cell cycle analysis was performed using propidium iodide (PI) staining and apoptotic cells were detected using flow cytometric Annexin V-FITC/PI assay. Further, the expression of Bcl-2/CytC signaling pathway-related proteins (Bcl-2, CytC, and Caspase-3) was detected using western blot technique.
Results Carvacrol exhibited antiproliferative activity against HCC1937 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 320 mM. Ultrastructure analysis revealed that treatment with carvacrol induced morphologic hallmarks of apoptosis in HCC1937 cells. Carvacrol increased the distribution of HCC1937 cells in the G0/G1 phase and decreased the distribution of HCC1937 cells in the S and G2/M phases in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, the compound increased the rate of apoptosis and protein expression of Bax, CytC, and Caspase-3 while decreasing the protein levels of Bcl-2 in a dose-dependent manner.
Conclusion Carvacrol can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in human breast cancer HCC1937 cells. This effect may be mediated by the activation of the Bcl-2/CytC mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.
CFGT: Lexicon-based Chinese Address Entity Recognition Using Collaborative Flat-Graph Transformer
Authors: Chen Songling , Shen Yaodi , Fu Xiangling , Wang Yi , Wu Weiqiang , Shen Yanting
Published: September 2022

Lacking lexical information is a key barrier in developing high-performance Chinese Address Entity Recognition (AER) methods -- a critical foundation of many geospatial techniques. To this end, we propose a lexicon-based Chinese AER method using Collaborative Flat-Graph Transformer (CFGT). CFGT utilizes the lexical information to enhance the representation of character sequence of an Chinese address. First, it constructs two types of collaborative flat-graphs, flat-lattice and flat-shift, to capture the semantic information of self-matched lexical words (SMWs) and nearest contextual lexical words (NCWs) for characters. Then, their collaboration is achieved through a fusion layer. Secondly, it reinforce the effect of lexical enhancement using an improved relative position encoding, which complements the collaborative flat-graphs. Finally, it use Transformer to integrate Chinese character features with lexical information and CRF to derive final label predictions. Experimental results on various datasets show that the proposed CFGT method outperforms both the previous Chinese AER models and the state-of-the-art (SOTA) model in Chinese named entity recognition. The source code is available at https://github.com/hoppyNaut/CFGT.
Cryptic MHC-E epitope from influenza elicits a potent cytolytic T cell response
Authors: Hogan Michael , Maheshwari Nikita , Begg Bridget , Nicastri Annalisa , Muramatsu Hiromi , Pardi Norbert , Miller Michael , Reilly Shanelle , Brossay Laurent , Lynch Kristen , Ternette Nicola , Eisenlohr Laurence
Published: September 2022

The extent to which unconventional forms of antigen presentation drive T cell immunity is unknown. By convention, CD8 T cells recognize viral peptides in association with classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, or MHC-Ia, but immune surveillance can in some cases be directed against peptides presented by non-classical MHC-Ib, for example the MHC-E proteins (Qa-1 in mice and HLA-E in humans); however, the overall importance of non-classical responses in antiviral immunity remains unclear. Similarly uncertain is the importance of “cryptic” viral epitopes, defined as those undetectable by conventional mapping techniques. Here, we used an immunopeptidomics approach to search for unconventional epitopes that drive T cell responses in mice infected with influenza A virus (IAV). We identify a nine amino acid epitope, termed M-SL9, that drives a co-immunodominant, cytolytic CD8 T cell response that is unconventional in two ways: first, it is presented by Qa-1, and second, it maps to an alternative reading frame of the influenza matrix protein 1 (M1) mRNA and appears to derive mainly from an unannotated 16-residue peptide that is dispensable for viral replication. Presentation and immunogenicity of M-SL9 were dependent on the second AUG codon of the positive sense matrix RNA segment, supporting translation initiation by leaky ribosomal scanning. This work suggests that non-canonical translation products must be examined in order to fully reveal the T cell repertoire and adds to a growing body of evidence that MHC-E-restricted T cells may have significant therapeutic value.
A Novel Feature Selection Method Based On Discrete Bee Colony Algorithm for Palm Vein Authentication.
Authors: Ghoualmi Lamis , Benkechakche Mohamed-El-Amine , Draa Amer
Published: September 2022

Vein pattern recognition is one of the newest biometric technologies that competes with well-known biometric techniques such as fingerprint, face, and iris recognition. However, feature extraction of the palm vein feature, which seeks to collect the most distinctive features that uniquely identify individuals, might have redundant and useless features, which would reduce the performance of the biometric system and cause a dimension issue. This paper presents an improved feature selection technique based on a bio-inspired artificial intelligence algorithm called Discrete Artificial Bee Colony (DABC) for palm vein biometric authentication. The best set of features from those offered by the Gabor feature extractor are selected using the DABC algorithm. A variant of the Opposition-Based Learning (OBL) concept is introduced to increase diversity and efficiently explore the search area. The proposed approach, termed Modified Opposition-based DABC (MODABC), has been evaluated using the CASIA palm vein database in comparison to full feature, Discrete Particle Swarm (DSPO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Discrete Artificial Bee Colony (DABC), and Discrete Guided Artificial Bee Colony (GDABC) based feature selection. The experimental findings demonstrate that the proposed method performs better than the DPSO, GA, DABC, and GDABC-based feature selection by improving the accuracy from 90.81 \% to 97.61 \% and reducing the feature vector size from 3200 to 1520. The proposed method provides a suitable balance between the feature vector size and the authentication rate.
Tau and GSK-3β are critical contributors to α-synuclein-mediated post-stroke brain damage
Authors: Mehta Suresh L , Kim TaeHee , Chelluboina Bharath , Vemuganti Raghu
Published: September 2022

Post-stroke secondary brain damage is significantly influenced by the induction and accumulation of α-Synuclein (α-Syn). α-Syn positive inclusions are often present in tauopathies and elevated Tau levels and phosphorylation promotes neurodegeneration. Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) is a known promoter of Tau phosphorylation. We currently evaluated the interaction of α-Syn with GSK-3β and Tau in post-ischemic mouse brain. Transient focal ischemia led to increased cerebral protein-protein interaction of α-Syn with both GSK-3β and Tau, and elevated Tau phosphorylation. Treatment with a GSK-3β inhibitor prevented post-stroke Tau phosphorylation. Furthermore, α-Syn interaction was observed to be crucial for post-stroke GSK-3β-dependent Tau hyperphosphorylation as it was not seen in α-Syn knockout mice. Furthermore, Tau knockout mice show significantly smaller brain damage after transient focal ischemia. Overall, the present study indicates that GSK-3β catalyzes the α-Syn-dependent Tau phosphorylation and preventing this interaction is crucial to limit the post-stroke secondary brain damage.
PSReliP: an integrated pipeline for analysis and visualization of population structure and relatedness based on genome-wide genetic variant data
Authors: Solovieva Elena , Sakai Hiroaki
Published: September 2022

Background
Population structure and cryptic relatedness between individuals (samples) are two major factors affecting false positives in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In addition, population stratification and genetic relatedness in genomic selection in animal and plant breeding can affect prediction accuracy. The methods commonly used for solving these problems are principal component analysis (to adjust for population stratification) and marker-based kinship estimates (to correct for the confounding effects of genetic relatedness). Currently, many tools and software are available that analyze genetic variation among individuals to determine population structure and genetic relationships. However, none of these tools or pipelines perform such analyses in a single workflow and visualize all the various results in a single interactive web application.
Results
We developed PSReliP, a standalone, freely available pipeline for the analysis and visualization of population structure and relatedness between individuals in a user-specified genetic variant dataset. The analysis stage of PSReliP is responsible for executing all steps of data filtering and analysis and contains an ordered sequence of commands from PLINK, a whole-genome association analysis toolset, along with in-house shell scripts and Perl programs that support data pipelining. The visualization stage is provided by Shiny apps, an R-based interactive web application. In this study, we describe the characteristics and features of PSReliP and demonstrate how it can be applied to real genome-wide genetic variant data.
Conclusions
The PSReliP pipeline allows users to quickly analyze genetic variants such as single nucleotide polymorphisms and small insertions or deletions at the genome level to estimate population structure and cryptic relatedness using PLINK software and to visualize the analysis results in interactive tables, plots, and charts using Shiny technology. The analysis and assessment of population stratification and genetic relatedness can aid in choosing an appropriate approach for the statistical analysis of GWAS data and predictions in genomic selection. The various outputs from PLINK can be used for further downstream analysis. The code and manual for PSReliP are available at https://github.com/solelena/PSReliP.
Smaller and more efficient image classification neural network for mobile devices
Authors: Li Guoqiang , Wu Yanfang , Hao Xinyu
Published: September 2022

In recent years, lightweight network architectures have been designed to reducememory and computing resources, making it easier to deploy on mobile andembedded devices.ShuffleNet V2 is a classic lightweight neural network that maintainsadvanced technology in terms of efficiency and performance, but it still contains a largenumber of parameters and computations, and the accuracy and responsiveness of themodel can be further improved.For these problems, an efficient and lightweight CNNarchitecture called ShuffleNeXt is proposed. In ShuffleNeXt, a module containing anovel bottleneck structure, called Shuffle-G Unit is presented,in which deepconvolution is applied to both ends of the structure to generate more expressive spatialfeatures that is different from the general bottleneck structure; the Ghost module isemployed to replace the original ordinary 1x1 convolution for reducing the number ofparameters and generating richer feature mappings to alleviate the intrinsic featureredundancy.Shortcut connetctions and computationally economical attentionmechanisms are introduced to the network for improving the modelperformance.Benchmarking results on a variety of public image datasets show thatShuffleNeXt with less computational cost achieves better classification performancethan ShuffleNet V2.On the CIFAR100 dataset, the Top-1 classification accuracy ofShuffleNeXt is improved by 2.57% over ShuffleNet V2, while the number of parametersdecreased by 9.6% and the computational speed increased by 12.9%.Compared withother advanced structures, our proposed ShuffleNeXt structure obtains higherclassification results with less computational memory.
Multi-omics network model reveals key genes associated with p-coumaric acid stress response in an industrial yeast strain
Authors: Ciamponi Felipe Eduardo , Procópio Dielle Pierotti , Murad Natália Farad , Franco Telma Texeira , Basso Thiago Olitta , Brandão Marcelo Mendes
Published: September 2022

The production of ethanol from lignocellulosic sources presents increasingly difficult issues for the global biofuel scenario, leading to the increased production cost of current second-generation (2G) ethanol when compared to first-generation (1G) plants. Among the setbacks encountered in industrial processes, the presence of chemical inhibitors from pre-treatment processes severely hinders the potential of yeasts in producing ethanol at peak efficiency. However, some industrial yeast strains have, either naturally or artificially, higher tolerance levels to these compounds. Such is the case of SA-1, a Brazilian industrial strain that has shown high resistance to inhibitors produced by the pre-treatment of cellulosic complexes. Our study focuses on the characterization of the transcriptomic and physiological impact of an inhibitor of this type, p-Coumaric acid (pCA), on this strain under chemostat cultivation via RNAseq and HPLC data. We show that, when exposed to pCA, SA-1 yeasts tend to increase ethanol production while reducing overall biomass yield, as opposed to pCA-susceptible strains that tend to reduce their fermentation efficiency when exposed to this compound, suggesting increased metabolic activity associated with mitochondrial and peroxisomal processes. The transcriptomic analysis also revealed a plethora of differentially expressed genes located in co-expressed clusters that are associated with changes in biological pathways linked to biosynthetic and energetical processes. Furthermore, we also identified 20 genes that act as interaction hubs for these clusters, while also having association with altered pathways and changes in metabolic outputs, potentially leading to the discovery of novel targets for genetic engineering toward a more robust industrial yeast strain.
Delineating fluid distribution beneath the southern Tohoku, Northeast Japan, with a joint inversion of magnetotelluric and geomagnetic transfer functions
Authors: Diba Dieno , Uyeshima Makoto , Ichiki Masahiro , Sakanaka Shin'ya , Tamura Makoto , Usui Yoshiya
Published: September 2022

The southern part of Tohoku, Northeast Japan, is an area with significant in-land activities owing to the ongoing subduction mechanism. Among these are active volcanoes distributed on the volcanic front and back-arc, active faults throughout the area, and a recently observed swarm of shallow earthquakes on the fore-arc side. As fluids play an essential role in arc magmatism and the associated seismicity, this study aims to understand the deep fluid distribution beneath southern Tohoku to clarify the origin of the activities. A magnetotelluric survey delineating the subsurface electrical resistivity structure was used as the bulk resistivity is sensitive to the composition and connectivity of fluids. Using a newly developed joint inversion code, we estimated the resistivity structure using the inter-station horizontal magnetic field transfer function (HMTF) in addition to the conventional magnetotelluric response functions. Joint inversion with HMTF improved the recovery of low-resistivity anomalies owing to the sensitivity of the HMTF to electrical current concentration, resulting in a model with smaller data misfits. The main feature of the resulting resistivity structure is that, instead of under the volcanic front, a deep conductive body is found under the back-arc side in a position closer to a back-arc volcano (Mt. Numazawa) and a swarm of low-frequency earthquakes. Petrological studies indicate that the deep source of fluids supplying to Mt. Numazawa may be the same as that of Mt. Azuma and Mt. Adatara on the volcanic front. Magmatic fluids ascend from the upper mantle to the upper crust via different branches, resulting in multiple eruption centers. Thus, we inferred that the conductor reflects the fluid path to Mt. Numazawa. The high conductivity, especially in the uppermost mantle, may be caused by flux melting, where water or other volatiles released from the subducting slab reduce the solidus of high-temperature basaltic rocks.
Research and Intelligent Prediction of Tight-fitting Sportswear Comfort
Authors: Cheng Pengpeng , Wang Jianping , Zeng Xianyi , BRUNIAUX Pascal , Chen Daoling
Published: September 2022

Focusing on the mechanism of "human-sport-clothing" system, this paper studies people-oriented sports comfort, and analyzes the influence of different tights combinations (i.e. tights and tights with different fabrics) and the effect of exercise status on the human body parts and overall comfort. In addition, because there are many impact indicators of comfort and the relationship is complicated, it is difficult for general models to deal with this relationship, which leads to the low accuracy of comfort prediction model. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an efficient intelligent prediction model, namely a new hybrid model based on PSO and CS algorithm. The results show that different fabric combinations have significant effects on local and overall comfort under different sports conditions. PSO-CS hybrid model is superior to PSO and CS model in predicting local and global comfort.
Employee Monetary Compensation and Employee Job Satisfaction
Authors: Watkins Randolph , Fusch Patricia
Published: September 2022

It is known employee job satisfaction is related to employee motivation, performance, retention, and other factors which are beneficial to the employee and the employer. In recent decades, some have used the work of SelfDetermination Theory to claim pay is irrelevant and promote the idea it is an employee’s commitment, attitude, and the programs the employer offers the employee that are important to employee satisfaction, motivation, performance, morale, and retention. However, the work of Self-Determination Theory has neither stated nor confirmed this concept. In a study considering if and to what extent a relationship exists between employee rate of monetary compensation and employee job satisfaction, it was found a statistically significant positive relationship exists between employee rate of monetary compensation and employee overall, extrinsic, and intrinsic job satisfaction. The sample consisted of N = 129 employees of Fortune 500 companies within the United States of America. Utilizing Spearman’s rank-order correlation employee overall job satisfaction resulted in ρ = .290, employee extrinsic job satisfaction resulted in ρ = .227, and employee intrinsic job satisfaction resulted in ρ = .325 all demonstrating a positive relationship with employee rate of monetary compensation. This article discusses the current literature, results, and implications.
High-pressure behavior of 3.65 Å phase: Insights from Raman spectroscopy
Authors: Basu Abhisek , Mookherjee Mainak , Bucag Christelle , Tkachev Sergey , Wunder Bernd
Published: September 2022

The 3.65 Å phase [MgSi(OH)6] is a hydrous phase that is predicted to be stable in a simplified MgO-SiO2-H2O (MSH) ternary system at pressures exceeding 9 GPa. Along cold subduction zones, it is likely to transport water, bound in its crystalline lattice, into the Earth’s interior. The 3.65 Å phase consists of Mg and Si octahedral sites attached to the hydroxyl group that forms a hydrogen bond and is predicted to undergo pressure-induced symmetrization of the hydrogen bond. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the high-pressure behavior of the 3.65 Å phase using Raman spectroscopy. We have conducted five distinct compressions up to ~60 GPa using two different pressure-transmitting media—alcohol mixture and neon. At ambient conditions, we identified vibrational modes using complementary first-principles simulations based on density functional perturbation theory. Upon compression, we note that the first derivative of the vibrational modes in the lattice region stiffens, i.e., b1lattice > 0. In contrast, the hydroxyl region softens, i.e., b1OH > 0. This is indicative of the strengthening of hydrogen bonding upon compression. We noticed a significant broadening of vibrational modes related to hydroxyl groups that are indicative of proton disorder. However, within the maximum pressures explored in this study, we did not find evidence for pressure-induced symmetrization of the hydrogen bonds. We used the pressure derivative of the vibrational modes to determine the ratio of the bulk moduli and their pressure derivative. We note that the smaller bulk moduli of hydrous phases compared to the major mantle phases are compensated by significantly larger pressure derivatives of the bulk moduli for the hydrous phases. This leads to a significant reduction in the elasticity contrast between hydrous and major mantle phases. Consequently, the detection of the degree of mantle hydration is likely to be challenging at greater depths.
High-pressure phase transition and equation of state of hydrous Al-bearing silica
Authors: Criniti Giacomo , Ishii Takayuki , Kurnosov Alexander , Glazyrin Konstantin , Ballaran Tiziana Boffa
Published: September 2022

Stishovite, a rutile-structured polymorph of SiO2, is a main component of subducted basaltic lithologies in the lower mantle. At mid lower-mantle depths, a second-order ferroelastic transition to orthorhombic CaCl2-type (post-stishovite) structure occurs, causing extensive elastic shear softening. Previous studies showed that Al incorporation can decrease the transition pressure, while it is still debated whether H has a similar effect. Here we report the equations of state, structural evolution, and phase transformation of Si0.948Al0.052O1.983H0.018 (Al5) stishovite and Si0.886Al0.114O1.980H0.074 (Al11) post-stishovite samples using diamond-anvil cells in combination with synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The Al5 sample transformed to the orthorhombic polymorph upon compression to 16 GPa, displaying a drop of ~12% in its bulk modulus across the transformation. The Al11 sample did not undergo any phase transition in the pressure range investigated. Single-crystal structural refinements and Raman spectroscopy measurements on the Al5 sample show that the soft optic mode B1g is decoupled from the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transformation and shows a plateau in the stability field of post-stishovite, between 20 and 30 GPa. This observation indicates that the transformation is not pseudo-proper ferroelastic as in SiO2 stishovite and that existing Landau expansions are likely not applicable to H-rich Al-bearing silica samples. Using the equation of state parameters of orthorhombic Al5 and Al11 and literature data on SiO2 post-stishovite we then discuss the possibility of non-ideal mixing along the SiO2-AlOOH join.
Discovery of terrestrial andreyivanovite, FeCrP, and the effect of Cr and V substitution on the low-pressure barringerite-allabogdanite transition
Authors: Galuskin Evgeny V. , Kusz Joachim , Galuskina Irina O. , Książek Maria , Vapnik Yevgeny , Zieliński Grzegorz
Published: September 2022

Iron phosphides with significant variations of Cr (up to 18 wt%) and V (up to 8.6 wt%) contents were detected in gehlenite-bearing breccia at the Hatrurim Complex, Negev desert, Israel. Investigations of the composition and structure of the Fe2P phosphides showed that when the V+Cr content is higher than 0.26 apfu (atoms per formula unit), a transition from the hexagonal barringerite (P62m) to orthorhombic allabogdanite (Pnma) takes place. According to the experimental data, allabogdanite is a high-pressure (>8 GPa) polymorph of barringerite. Pseudowollastonite associated with Cr-V-bearing allabogdanite is an indicator of phosphide crystallization at high temperature (>1200 °C) and low pressure. Thus, at the low pressure close to ambient, when more than 13 at% Fe in Fe2P is substituted by Cr and V, the ortho-rhombic polymorph is stable. The orthorhombic phosphide with the highest Cr and V contents belongs to the andreyivanovite species with the FeCrP end-member formula. This is the first finding on Earth of that very rare mineral described from the Kaidun meteorite. Some Cr-V-bearing phosphides have an unusual morphology, which cannot be explained by crystallization from a melt. More probably, these phosphides can form in the process of replacing fish bone remains. We believe that sedimentary protolith was not thermally altered and contained a significant amount of bituminous organic matter and phosphorite inclusions. Injecting paralava into the sedimentary rocks determines the conditions for phosphide formation on the boundary of these rocks as a result of the high-temperature carbothermal reduction process.
The role of parent lithology in nanoscale clay-mineral transformations in a subtropical monsoonal climate
Authors: Zhao Lulu , Hong Hanlie , Yin Ke , Cheng Shi , Wang Xinghong , Algeo Thomas J.
Published: September 2022

Clay minerals are among the most important reactive components of soil systems, acting as a bridge linking organic and inorganic components. Lithology is a key factor in clay-mineral genesis and transformation, yet it has received scant attention to date at the nanoscale. Inferences regarding pedogenic clay-mineral transformations based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) are sometimes speculative, whereas mineralogic relationships documented by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are more robust due to direct evidence from lattice-fringe observations. In this contribution, the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of four soils derived from different parent rock types (a gneiss, an Fe-rich siltstone, a sandstone, and a dolostone) from subtropical China were determined using HRTEM, XRD, and geochemical elemental data. The predominance of 2:1 clay minerals and kaolinite in the investigated soils is typical of subtropical climatic settings. Lattice-fringe images suggest the prevalence of topotactic transformations during clay-mineral alteration. Two distinct alteration pathways were observed in the investigated soils, one starting with chlorite and the other with illite, with convergence of mineralogic compositions toward kaolinite and crystalline iron and aluminum (oxyhydr)oxides. In the early stages of weathering, chlorite transformed into expandable clays through a continuous, solid-state mechanism with corrensite and/or randomly interstratified chlorite-vermiculite/chlorite-smectite as intermediate products. Unlike chlorite, which tends to form a 1:1 regularly interstratified phase, the weathering of illite commonly starts at layer edges. Under subtropical monsoonal climates, the precursor minerals in host rocks and aeolian materials determine the starting composition and, to a certain extent, the trajectory of clay-mineral transformation over time. With advanced weathering, mineralogic convergence toward kaolinite and Fe/Al-(oxyhydr)oxides tends to obscure the initial substrate composition. This study advances our understanding of the role of parent lithology in clay-mineral evolution at the nanoscale.
Socio-economic inequality in Kazakhstani regions: Assessment and impact on regional development management
Authors: Sermagambet Umit , Satpayeva Zaira , Smagulova Gulzhyhan , Urban Wieslaw , Yessenzhigitova Raikul
Published: September 2022

Excessive differentiation of socio-economic development of regions leads to the collapse of a single socio-economic space and the emergence of socio-economic inequality. This study assessed socio-economic inequality in Kazakhstan and its impact on regional development management. It analyzed interregional disproportion of socio-economic development of regions through the index approach using statistical data from the Bureau of National Statistics for 2011–2019. A comprehensive study of the socio-economic development of Kazakhstan and its regional differences employed the proposed index of social and economic development. It was revealed that Kazakhstan has a high level of interregional differentiation of socio-economic development, which indicates the existing socio-economic inequality, requiring the development of new and improvement of existing mechanisms to create an inclusive economy. There are significant gaps in socio-economic development between Kazakhstani regions. According to the proposed index, Kazakhstan is at the above-average level (42, B). From 2011 to 2019, the index was practically at the same level (39-42). The average social and economic development was shown by Almaty (61.1, B++), Nur-Sultan (59.9, B+), Karaganda (53.1, B+), and East Kazakhstan (51.0, B+). Low social and economic development was shown by Akmola (29.8, C+) and North Kazakhstan (22.4, C+). The difference in the socio-economic development of the regions is directly interconnected with the regional economic and social policy. According to the results, to implement state policy in inclusive development and overcome socio-economic inequality, respective measures should promote economic integration, including the mechanisms of regional, industrial, and research policy, comprising all levels of state regulation.
AcknowledgmentsThis study is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the project “The science impact on Kazakhstan’s socio-economic development: methodology, assessment models and development scenarios” (IRN AP08052745).
How ‘smart’ are we with smart technology: comparison of water ATMs in Nairobi and Delhi
Authors: Sarkar Anindita
Published: September 2022

New forms of decentralized water infrastructure with digital projects driven by private investment are being introduced in low-income urban neighborhoods in the global south with the aim of increasing the coverage of affordable and safe water. These ‘smart’ water-vending machines are gaining popularity to meet water demand in growing cities as they are low-cost, transparent, revenue generating and replicable. However, field evidence from Nairobi and Delhi shows that similar technologies implemented to solve similar problems in different geographical and social settings can have completely different outcomes. Smart technologies can offer better outcomes when the implementing agencies and policy makers make smart choices about implementation, setting aside utopian hype.
Removal of persistent organic pollutants and disinfection of pathogens from secondary treated municipal wastewater using advanced oxidation processes
Authors: Ganesh Kumar P. , Kanmani S.
Published: September 2022

An affordable and sustainable tertiary treatment is imperative to solve the secondary contamination issues related to wastewater reuse. To decontaminate and disinfect the actual secondary treated wastewater, various types of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been studied. The optimization of the oxidant and catalyst is carried out to identify the best-performing system. Under selected experimental conditions, UV/peroxymonosulfate (PMS), O3/PMS, UV/MnO2, O3/MnO2, UV/O3/H2O2, O3/MnO2/H2O2, UV/MnO2/H2O2, and UV/O3/MnO2 has been identified as an efficient treatment option for simultaneous decontamination (>90% COD removal) and disinfection (100% inactivation of the total viable count of bacteria). The techno-economic assessment revealed that UV/MnO2 (23.5 $ kg−1 of COD) UV/O3/MnO2 (37.4 $ kg−1 of COD), UV/H2O2/MnO2 (36.4 $ kg−1 of COD), and O3/MnO2/H2O2 (32.5 $ kg−1 of COD) are comparatively low-cost treatment processes. Overall, UV/MnO2, UV/H2O2/MnO2, and O3/MnO2/H2O2 are the three best treatments. Nevertheless, further investigation on by-product and catalyst toxicity/recovery is needed. The results showed that AOPs are a technologically feasible treatment for simultaneously removing persistent organic pollutants and pathogens from secondary treated wastewater.
Mechanochemical treatment for degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in solutions
Authors: Feng Xiujuan , Dong Chengliang , Wang Xiaoyi , Wang Jihao
Published: September 2022

Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a kind of widely used fluoroquinolone antibiotic, and the widespread presence of CIP in aquatic environment has become a serious issue. Mechanochemical treatment (MCT), as an effective approach to degrade persistent organic pollutants, has many advantages of low cost, simplicity, and being environmentally innocuous. However, little attention has been paid to employing MCT to treat effluents containing CIP. In this study, MCT was introduced to degrade CIP in aquatic solutions. A series of CIP degradation experiments were conducted by a planetary ball mill, and the influences of main parameters on CIP degradation efficiency were investigated. Furthermore, an optimum combination was selected through orthogonal experiments, and CIP degradation efficiency could reach as high as 99% in certain conditions. Besides, the biotoxicity of CIP solution was also studied. MCT exhibits satisfying performance for degrading CIP in solutions, which makes MCT a promising approach to CIP elimination and also encourages further applications in treating effluents containing other organic pollutants.