bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cancer and Parkinson's Disease: Common Targets, Emerging Hopes
Authors: Filippou Panagiota S. , Outeiro Tiago F.
Published: December 2020

Cancer and neurodegeneration are two major leading causes of morbidity and death worldwide. At first sight, the two fields do not seem to share much in common and, if anything, might be placed on opposite ends of a spectrum. Although neurodegeneration results in excessive neuronal cell death, cancer emerges from increased proliferation and resistance to cell death. Therefore, one might expect significant differences in the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. However, the more we deepen our understanding of these two types of diseases, the more we appreciate the unexpected overlap between them. Although most epidemiological studies support an inverse association between the risk for development of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, increasing evidence points to a positive correlation between specific types of cancer, like melanoma, and neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson's disease (PD). We believe that deciphering the molecular processes and pathways underlying one of these diseases may significantly increase our understanding about the other. Therefore, the identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic approaches in cancer, may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of neurodegeneration, and vice versa. In this Viewpoint, we summarize recent findings connecting both diseases and speculate that insights from one disease may inform on mechanisms, and help identify novel biomarkers and targets for intervention, possibly leading to improved management of both diseases. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

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The rural–urban interface: Rural and small town growth at the metropolitan fringe
Authors: Lichter Daniel T. , Brown David L. , Parisi Domenico
Published: December 2020

Urbanisation and the expansion of US metropolitan regions have blurred the spatial and social boundaries that are typically thought to separate urban from rural America. Our objective is to highlight both the conceptual limitations of the so‐called rural–urban divide, while also recognising the spatial interdependence of America's ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ people and places. Our analyses nest rural and urban population and places within metropolitan and non‐metropolitan counties, while acknowledging that rural places often grow into urban places (i.e., urbanisation) and that many non‐metropolitan counties are reclassified over time as metropolitan areas (i.e., metropolitanisation). Analyses show that most rural people—as officially defined—now live in metropolitan counties, often at the fringe. Reclassification to metropolitan areas was a major reason why. Small towns and thinly settled areas at the metropolitan fringe have grown rapidly since 1980 and have become increasingly integrated within metropolitan areas nationally. The heuristic value of our analytical approach at the national level is further demonstrated at the local‐area level, in Chicago and Atlanta, metro areas with very different demographic and economic histories. Our study highlights the dynamic and multidimensional nature of spatial boundaries (i.e., urban–rural and metro–nonmetro) that both separate and connect rural and urban areas in the United States. Metro–nonmetro and rural–urban boundaries are neither fixed nor impermeable.
Business process management approach for improving agile software process and agile maturity
Authors: Ozdenizci Kose Busra
Published: December 2020

Continuous improvement of agile software processes is inevitable in order to reach sustainable and high‐quality project outcomes. In this sense, organizations need guidance on how to apply agile software process improvement effectively; comprehensive approaches with in‐depth analysis and guidelines are required to keep software processes in balance and to continuously improve them, as in a typical business process, over time. This research aims to explore the implementation of Business Process Management approach for improving an agile software process and accordingly agile maturity level. Many organizations utilize from Business Process Management approach in order to improve workflows and to discover organization‐specific weaknesses. For this purpose, the study presents a practical, flexible model based on Business Process Management approach for agile software process improvement, which also incorporates maturity assessment for measuring the agile maturity level. Furthermore, an exploratory case study with a triangulation methodology of mixed methods was carried out for implementation of the model. The research puts forward that Business Process Management approach can be used for in‐depth analysis of agile software process, discovery of problems, and redesign of the process. The research roadmap introduces worthwhile insights on agile software process improvement for researchers and practitioners.
Prenatal features of ductus arteriosus‐related branch pulmonary stenosis in fetal pulmonary atresia
Authors: Ngwezi D. P. , McClean M. , McBrien A. , Eckersley L. , Abeysekera J. , Colen T. , Hornberger L. K.
Published: December 2020

Objective

Ductus arteriosus (DA)‐related branch pulmonary stenosis (PS), due to ductal tissue migration into the proximal pulmonary artery (PA) ipsilateral to the DA, is common in newborns with pulmonary atresia (PAtr) and contributes significantly to their mortality and morbidity. We sought to define fetal echocardiographic predictors of DA‐PS in PAtr.

Methods

This was a study of all neonates diagnosed prenatally with PAtr and a DA‐dependent pulmonary circulation, with a DA that joined the underbelly of the arch, who had undergone surgical or catheter intervention in our hospital between 2009 and 2018. The postnatal echocardiograms and clinical records were reviewed to confirm the presence or absence of DA‐PS based on the need for angioplasty at initial intervention and/or development of proximal PA stenosis post intervention. Fetal echocardiograms were examined for the features of DA‐PS.

Results

Of 53 fetuses with PAtr, 34 (64%) had analyzable images, including 20/34 (59%) with and 14/34 (41%) without DA‐PS. An inability to visualize the branch PAs in the same plane, largely associated with abnormal DA insertion into the ipsilateral PA (85% of cases), had sensitivity, specificity and positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values of 75%, 100%, 100% and 74%, respectively, for the prediction of postnatal DA‐PS. The mean branch PA posterior bifurcation angle was more obtuse in cases with DA‐PS compared to cases without DA‐PS (117° ± 17° vs 79° ± 17°, P < 0.001), and an angle of > 100°, the preoperative cut‐off observed previously in affected newborns, had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 88%, 79%, 82% and 85%, respectively. The receiver‐operating‐characteristics curve revealed an angle of ≥ 105° to have a sensitivity and specificity of 88% and 93%, respectively, for prenatal prediction of DA‐PS. The presence of one or both features (inability to image in the same plane and the posterior bifurcation angle of ≥ 105°) had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 100%, 93%, 95% and 100%, respectively.

Conclusion

An inability to visualize the branch PAs in the same plane, associated with abnormal insertion of the DA in most cases, and/or the presence of a posterior PA bifurcation angle of ≥ 105° are predictive features of postnatal DA‐PS in fetuses with PAtr. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Efficient calculation of crossing symmetric BCJ tree numerators
Authors: Edison Alex , Teng Fei
Published: December 2020

Abstract

In this paper, we develop an improved method for directly calculating double-copy-compatible tree numerators in (super-)Yang-Mills and Yang-Mills-scalar theories. Our new scheme gets rid of any explicit dependence on reference orderings, restoring a form of crossing symmetry to the numerators. This in turn improves the computational efficiency of the algorithm, allowing us to go well beyond the number of external particles accessible with the reference order based methods. Motivated by a parallel study of one-loop BCJ numerators from forward limits, we explore the generalization to include a pair of fermions. To improve the accessibility of the new algorithm, we provide a Mathematica package that implements the numerator construction. The structure of the computation also provides for a straightforward introduction of minimally-coupled massive particles potentially useful for future computations in both classical and quantum gravity.
AI-based healthcare: a new dawn or apartheid revisited?
Authors: Parfett Alice , Townley Stuart , Allerfeldt Kristofer
Published: December 2020

The Bubonic Plague outbreak that wormed its way through San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1900 tells a story of prejudice guiding health policy, resulting in enormous suffering for much of its Chinese population. This article seeks to discuss the potential for hidden “prejudice” should Artificial Intelligence (AI) gain a dominant foothold in healthcare systems. Using a toy model, this piece explores potential future outcomes, should AI continue to develop without bound. Where potential dangers may lurk will be discussed, so that the full benefits AI has to offer can be reaped whilst avoiding the pitfalls. The model is produced using the computer programming language MATLAB and offers visual representations of potential outcomes. Interwoven with these potential outcomes are numerous historical models for problems caused by prejudice and recent issues in AI systems, from police prediction and facial recognition software to recruitment tools. Therefore, this research’s novel angle, of using historical precedents to model and discuss potential futures, offers a unique contribution.
Choosing inequality: how economic security fosters competitive regimes
Authors: Lenger Alexander , Wolf Stephan , Goldschmidt Nils
Published: December 2020

In a novel experimental design, we study how social immobility affects the choice among distributional schemes in an experimental democracy. We design a two-period experiment in which subjects first choose a distributional scheme by majority voting (“social contract”). Then subjects engage in a competitive real-effort task to earn points. Based on production success, participants are ranked from best to worst. In combination with the initially chosen scheme, these ranks determine the final payout of the first round, leading to a pattern of societal stratification. Participants are informed individually about points and rank, before the same sequence of voting, production and payoff determination is repeated in a second round. To test the effect of social immobility on choosing distributional regimes the experiment is conducted with and without a social immobility factor, i.e. a different weighting of the two rounds. In our standard scenario, payoffs are simply added. In our “social immobility setting”, we alter the game as follows: the actual income in round 2 is calculated by adding 0.2 times the raw payoff from the second production game and 0.8 times the income from round 1. With the higher importance of round 1 success, we simulate the fact that economic movement upwards and downwards in societies (“social mobility”) is a de facto rigid constraint: high and low incomes tend to reproduce themselves. Our main findings are that in theEqual Weight Treatment, most groups opt for complete equality in both rounds, while in the unequal weight setting the initial choice of equality is followed by a shift to the most competitive regime. In both treatments, we observe that those performing well in round 1 tend to vote for unequal schemes in round 2, while low-performers develop an even stronger “taste for equality”. This supports a central Rawlsian idea: behind an (experimental) “veil of uncertainty”, the lack of idiosyncratic information is strong enough to let people decide as if driven by social preferences. The different group decisions in round 2 suggest that for this to happen, stakes need to be sufficiently high. To our surprise, other factors like gender, social background or real-life income have hardly any impact on unveiled decision making. We conclude that in our experimental democracy, competition based income allocation (a “market economy”) finds support only if people are sufficiently well off. Hence, increasing inequality perpetuated by social immobility is likely to undermine the general support for market-based systems.
Erratum to: Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Disaster Medicine
Authors: Duan Yu-yu , Zhang Jia-yao , Xie Mao , Feng Xiao-bo , Xu Song , Ye Zhe-wei
Published: December 2020

he article “Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Disaster Medicine”, written by Yu-yu DUAN, Jia-yao ZHANG, Mao XIE, Xiao-bo FENG, Song XU, Zhe-wei YE, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on October 2019 without open access.
Coaching-Weiterbildung in Zeiten der Maske
Authors: West-Leuer Beate , Löwer-Hirsch Marga , Gerstädt Martin
Published: December 2020

Coaching-Weiterbildungen in Zeiten der Ansteckung stehen vor neuen Herausforderungen. Besonders in großen Gruppen sind die gesundheitlichen Risiken allen Teilnehmer/innen sehr bewusst. Maskengebote durch die Veranstalter treffen jedoch nicht nur auf Zustimmung, sondern rufen auch Widerstand hervor. Besonders in Psychodynamischen Workshops mit Selbsterfahrungsanteilen war der Verzicht auf Vorgaben bisher Programm. Das Tragen der Maske beschneidet die mimische Kommunikation und erschwert Vertrauen. Doch die äußere Maske macht sichtbar, was jeder weiß: Ein Leben ohne Maskierung gibt es gar nicht. Wir alle inszenieren uns täglich in unterschiedlichsten Rollen. Diese Erkenntnis kann den Transfer erleichtern und den Anspruch an authentische Führung differenzieren.
The Importance of Fundamental Science for Society: The Success Story of Ozone Research
Authors: Brasseur Guy P.
Published: December 2020

The successful story of ozone research from the discovery of this gas in the laboratory in 1839 to the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer by the Montreal Protocol in 1987 highlights the role and importance of fundamental research. None of the scientists who discovered the chemical nature and properties of ozone, and established its presence in the atmosphere, suspected that humans would be able to destroy a protective stratospheric layer that is essential for life on Earth. None of them had anticipated either that the emissions of pollutants associated with industrial activity and road transportation in urban areas would generate summertime ozone smog events with detrimental health effects and premature mortality. Scientific research has provided the knowledge needed to convince governments to take effective legislation to ban the industrial production of stratospheric ozone depleting agents and reduce the emissions of ozone precursors in the troposphere. This perspective paper calls for enhanced support of a strong fundamental research activity that rewards imagination and protects the scientific community from tight administrative and financial constraints. It highlights the need for scientists to keep a free and independent mind that leads to progress and innovation.
The Wobbly Anomaly and Other Magnetic Weirdness
Authors: Goss Heather
Published: December 2020

From the connection between Earth’s core and life on the surface, way out to the ends of the solar system, this month’s issue of Eos takes a look at the study of magnetic fields.
Extending the chemistry of weakly basic ligands: solvates of Ag+ and Cu+ stabilized by [Al{OC(CF3)3}4]− anion as model examples in the screening of useful weakly interacting solvents
Authors: Malinowski Przemysław J. , Zhuravlev Vadim , Jaroń Tomasz , Santiso-Quinones Gustavo , Krossing Ingo
Published: December 2020

A comprehensive study of Ag+ and Cu+ complexes with weakly basic solvents stabilized by [Al{OC(CF3)3}4]− reveals their unique character and aids their applicability in further studies.
Infrared diagnostics of the solar magnetic field with Mg I 12 μm lines: forward-model results
Authors: Li Xin , Song Yongliang , Uitenbroek H. , Yang Xiao , Bai Xianyong , Deng Yuanyong
Published: December 2020

Context. The Mg I 12.32 and 12.22 μm lines are a pair of emission lines that present a great advantage for accurate solar magnetic field measurement. They potentially contribute to the diagnosis of solar atmospheric parameters through their high magnetic sensitivity.

Aims. The goal of this study is to understand the radiation transfer process of these lines in detail and explore the ability of magnetic field diagnosis in the infrared.

Methods. We calculated the Stokes profiles and response functions of the two Mg I 12 μm lines based on one-dimensional solar atmospheric models using the Rybicki-Hummer (RH) radiative transfer code. The integration of these profiles with respect to the wavelength was used to generate calibration curves related to the longitudinal and transverse fields. The traditional single-wavelength calibration curve based on the weak-field approximation was also tested to determine if it is suitable for the infrared.

Results. The 12.32 μm line is more suitable for a magnetic field diagnosis because its relative emission intensity and polarization signal are stronger than that of the 12.22 μm line. The result from the response functions illustrates that the derived magnetic field and velocity with 12.32 μm line mainly originate from the height of 450 km, while that for the temperature is about 490 km. The calibration curves obtained by the wavelength-integrated method show a nonlinear distribution. For the Mg I 12.32 μm line, the longitudinal (transverse) field can be effectively inferred from Stokes V/I (Q/I and U/I) in the linear range below ∼600 G (∼3000 G) in quiet regions and below ∼400 G (∼1200 G) in penumbrae. Within the given linear range, the method is a supplement to the magnetic field calibration when the Zeeman components are incompletely split.
The genesis of the “Homo responsibility”
Authors: Kruzhkova Tatyana , Rushitskaya Olga , Kot Ekaterina , Szczepaniak Elena
Published: December 2020

The article reveals the essence of the concept of “responsible person” and the problem of its пenesis. Different theoretical and methodological approaches to its definition are shown. The phenomenon of social responsibility is considered as the basis of productive social creativity. The author analyzes the main trends and the nature of the process of formation of social responsibility of the individual in modern conditions. Particular attention is paid to increasing the role of personal responsibility in times of social instability and uncertainty. The accumulated experience of scientific understanding of the concept of «social responsibility» is revealed. Specific features of social responsibility and its interpretation in the works of F.Bastia, I. A. Ilyin, P. A. Kropotkin, I. I. Lapshin, N. O. Lossky, V. S. Solovyov, N. F. Fedorov, and others.
Posttransplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder Involving the Gastrointestinal Tract
Authors: Kirtane Tejas , Uberoi Guneesh S. , Uberoi Angad S. , Loghavi Sanam , Medeiros L. Jeffrey , Bhutani Manoop S.
Published: December 2020

Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a rare and life-threatening complication of both solid organ transplantation and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In most cases, PTLD develops in Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-seropositive individuals in the setting of chronic immunosuppression and decreased T-cell surveillance. Clinical manifestations of PTLD may be nonspecific, resembling primary EBV infection (fever, night sweats, malaise, and cervical lymphadenopathy), or it can involve the central nervous system, bone marrow, kidneys, liver, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. Gastrointestinal symptoms in the posttransplant setting may indicate underlying PTLD, and it is important for physicians to be able to recognize its appearance on endoscopy.
Shock compression of diamonds in silicon carbide matrix up to 110 GPa
Authors: Li Yuanyuan , Cao Xiuxia , Yu Yin , Li Xuhai , Zhang Lu , Zhu Wenjun , Zhou Xianming , He Hongliang , Meng Chuanmin , He Duanwei
Published: December 2020

We have synthesized the well-performance bulk diamond–SiC composite by the high-temperature and high-pressure method and employed the light gas gun launched flyer plates to investigate shock compression response of the diamond–SiC composite. The plots of shock velocity vs particle velocity demonstrate the presence of double elastic waves in the diamond–SiC composite under shock compression. The first elastic wave travels at 13.1∼13.6km/s and leads to yielding at ∼12.75GPa. The second elastic wave propagates at 12.8∼13.0km/s and does not display the yielding up to ∼110GPa. Such a Hugoniot elastic limit is apparently higher than that of the single crystal diamond. The strengthening mechanism underlying the diamond–SiC composite has been discussed. By simulations of the lattice-spring model, the results revealed that under shock compression, the silicon carbide matrix yields first in the composite, resulting in damage to the substructure surrounding the diamond particles. This damage releases the intense shear stress and protects the diamond from severe crushing. Due to diamonds being hydrostatically confined by the silicon carbide matrix, both dislocation migration and slip band sliding are suppressed significantly, which enhances the strength of diamonds.
On the pragmatic development of modal particles in
Navarrese-Lapurdian Basque
Authors: Monforte Sergio
Published: December 2020

The grammaticalisation of modal particles has
mainly been focused on their source and historical development. This
article deals with the ongoing pragmatic extension of the epistemic
particle ote in the Navarrese-Lapurdian dialect.
When used in questions, this particle has traditionally expressed
that the speaker believes that none of the potential denoted
responses will have the necessary strength of commitment and,
therefore, no answer is expected. Based on the fact that questions
containing ote are felt as less direct and that the
particle minimises the interrogative force, speakers of such dialect
have reinterpreted the use of ote as a resource to
reduce the expectancy and directiveness of information seeking
questions where the speakers hope to receive a response.
Reanalysis and the emergence of adverbial connectors in the
history of Japanese
Authors: Shibasaki Reijirou
Published: December 2020

This study deals with issues related to the
development of stand-alone adverbial connectors such as
totan(-ni), shunkan(-ni),
hyoosi(-ni), and yasaki(-ni)
in sentence-initial position in the history of Japanese. These
adverbial connectors, which can be witnessed from the early
twentieth century, developed from the erstwhile head of adnominal
clauses through a series of steps, i.e. reanalysis. The adverbial
connectors under investigation here serve to anticipate more to come
in the following discourse, labeled projectors by
Hopper and Thompson
(2008). In a nutshell, the emergence of adverbial
connectors involves an increase in structural scope over a stretch
of discourse.
Chaperoning transmembrane helices in the lipid bilayer
Authors: Zhang Qi , Ye Yihong
Published: December 2020

Elimination of membrane proteins often requires recognition of their transmembrane domains (TMDs) in the lipid bilayer. In this issue, Arines et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202001116) show that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the vacuole-associated Rsp5 ubiquitin ligase uses a TMD in substrate adaptor Ssh4 to recognize membrane helices in Ypq1, which targets this lysine transporter for lysosomal degradation during lysine starvation.
Views of female students who played the role of group leaders in introductory physics labs
Authors: Doucette Danny , Singh Chandralekha
Published: December 2020

Understanding student views about learning physics in the lab context can be invaluable for efforts to improve student learning. In an ethnographic study in which two researchers observed introductory physics labs, we found that many women in mixed gender groups adopted the role of group leader or project manager and ensured that the group stayed on task and completed the lab work as expected throughout the semester. Here we report on an investigation of the views about the physics lab of four such female pre-medical students with high agency who came across as group leaders in a traditionally-taught introductory physics lab course for bio-science majors, and who strived to ensure that their group did well in the lab. Our findings are based on semi-structured interviews with these students. The interviews focused on diverse issues including the role of their male lab partners, other peers and the teaching assistant in their learning in the physics lab, their views about learning physics in lecture and lab courses, the role of physics labs in promoting conceptual understanding, learning in physics lab compared with other science labs, and the role of bio-inspired labs in their learning. We find that these female student group leaders had surprisingly similar views about these issues pertaining to the physics lab. We recommend that departments trying to revamp their physics lab courses reflect upon these findings in order to make the labs more effective.
Defect detection for highly reflective rotary surfaces: an overview
Authors: Zhou Awei , Ai Bobo , Qu Pingge , Shao Wei
Published: December 2020

Defects over a highly reflective rotary surface (HRRS) may change the service performance, lifespan and safety properties of products. Therefore, defect detection is very important for surface quality assurance. In this paper, the attributes of HRRS defect detection are described. Then, a comparative overview in terms of key parameters in the HRRS defect detection systems is elaborated. Finally, this paper reviews various detection technologies for HRRS defect detection and categorizes the previous literature by their detection technologies, which can provide a reference for further implementation and improvements in this field. This study provides guidelines for selecting which scheme is the most suitable when designing new HRRS defect detection systems.
Machine learning method for predicting the influence of scanning parameters on random measurement error
Authors: Urbas Uroš , Vlah Daria , Vukašinović Nikola
Published: December 2020

Measurements of technical objects can be done with contact and non-contact approaches. Contact methods are accurate but slow. On the other hand, non-contact methods deliver rapid point acquisition and are increasingly being used as their precision mounts. However, multiple scanning parameters such as the incident angle, object colour and scanning distance influence the measurement error and uncertainty when capturing the geometry of the object. With the aim of creating a generalised model that considers the influence of the aforementioned scanning parameters with satisfactory accuracy, a model for predicting the random measurement error based on machine learning (ML) is proposed in this study. Data acquired from measurements with varying scanning distances, incident angles and surface colours were used to train ML models. The tested ML methods included linear regression, support vector machine, neural network, k-nearest neighbour, AdaBoost and random forest. The best-performing trained model was the random forest, with a standard deviation of relative differences of 1.46% for the case of red surfaces, and 5.2% for the case of an arbitrarily coloured surface, which is comparable to results achieved with model-based methods. The trained models and the data are available online.
Computational Probabilistic Analysis of Distributional Time Series
Authors: Dobronets B S , Popova O A
Published: December 2020

The article considers a new approach to forecasting of distributional time series based on computational probabilistic analysis. Functional data analysis and symbolic data analysis are currently used to study such data. A comparison of these approaches is given. Computational probabilistic analysis to forecasting of distributional time series uses special numerical operations on probability density functions. The article provides numerical examples of the analysis of distributional time series.
Double polarisation observables G and E and helicity dependent cross section for single π
0 photoproduction off proton and neutron at MAMI
Authors: Costanza S
Published: December 2020

Meson photoproduction, like other photon-induced reactions, allow to study the excitation spectra of the nucleons and, in combination with the use of polarised beam and/or target, allow to determine the properties of the nucleon resonances by accessing many different polarisation observables with great accuracy. The A2 Collaboration, located at the MAMI facility in Mainz, used elliptically polarised photons on longitudinally polarised proton and deuteron targets, for energies up to 1.6 GeV. From the experimental data, it was possible to extract the double polarisation observables E and G on single π
0 photoproduction off the proton and the neutron. New precise results on the helicity-dependent total and differential cross sections on the deuteron were collected too.
Recent CMS results on exotic hadron states
Authors: Lilienberg Ivan
Published: December 2020

Recent CMS results on exotic states, including X (3872), and searches for new states decaying into Y(1S)μ+μ− are presented. The analyses are based on data collected by the CMS experiment in pp collisions at

s

=
13

TeV

.
NA65 (DsTau) experiment: Tau neutrino production study at the CERN SPS
Authors: Yoshimoto M
Published: December 2020

The NA65/DsTau experiment is an approved CERN experiment with the scope to investigate the tau neutrino production using nuclear emulsion. The production process of tau neutrino is important in the precise measurement of the cross-section of tau neutrinos, which has a positive impact on other experiments. A pilot run was conducted in 2018 and the analysis is underway. Preparations are also ongoing for physics runs in 2021 and 2022.
Charge transport properties of thermally deposited nanocrystalline CdS/CdTe based on annealing temperature for solar cell application
Authors: Dutta R P , Neog N
Published: December 2020

A CdS/CdTe thin film is prepared on a chemically cleaned ITO glass substrate by depositing CdS and CdTe one after another using Thermal Evaporation Technique. The vacuum inside thin film coating unit (VICO- 12) is maintained at 10-5 m bar. The optical properties of individual CdS and CdTe in different annealing temperature have been investigated in Hitachi U-3900 UV Spectro-Photometer. The surface morphology of the highest annealed film was investigated by SEM analysis in JSM-6360. The charge transport properties of the CdS/CdTe film annealed at different temperature have been investigated. The efficiency of the CdS/CdTe has been investigated from the J-V characteristics of the film.
Inhomogeneous cylindrically bianchi type I space-time with flat potential
Authors: Poonia Laxmi , Sharma Sanjay
Published: December 2020

Inhomogeneous cylindrically Bianchi type I space metric with flat potential is investigated in this paper. To finding inflationary solution assume the flat region where potential V (ψ) is constant and condition Y=X2 where X = α(x)β(t) and Z = λ(x)μ(t) on metric scalar. We observed the proper volume increases with time which indicates the eternal inflation of the present universe. Expanding, the non-rotating and shearing universe is investigated by the developed model. The negative deceleration parameter provides the accelerating phase of the universe. Some other physical and structural features of the model are also discussed
Channel estimation for image restoration using OFDM with various digital modulation schemes
Authors: Rajesh Varshini , Abdul Rajak A R
Published: December 2020

Channel or spectral estimation is a ground-breaking feature in wireless communication systems as it helps in obtaining information about a wireless channel at any state of time. Employing this can help in reducing the intensity of noise and bit error rate (BER). Here, images are processed, channels are estimated and image restoration is being done. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is looked upon as a very popular multiplexing cum modulation technique used in wireless communication systems and so, it is selected to play a cardinal role in channel estimation. The LMS algorithm is preferred in this technique since it is a simpler technique and provides results which are desirable. To simulate realistic conditions, OFDM signal is passed through Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and also a multipath fading channel. In this paper, an FFT based OFDM, adopting several digital modulation techniques like BPSK, QPSK, 8PSK and 16QAM is being implemented on images. The values of BER is observed for different values of SNR and a comparison is drawn out for the aforementioned modulation techniques. Results prove that BPSK provides the least BER for a particular value of SNR and hence, it can be observed to give the best performance.
Adaptive denoising of ECG using EMD, EEMD and CEEMDAN signal processing techniques
Authors: Teja Krishna , Tiwari Rahul , Mohanty Satish
Published: December 2020

Using adaptive signal processing techniques denoising of ECG signal is performed which is obtained from physionet database. In this paper, the baseline wandering noise is removed using different adaptive techniques such as Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN). All these algorithms are effectively used to decompose the noisy ECG signal into different Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) and further these IMFs are filtered using low pass filtering method to extract the low frequency baseline component. The high frequency noise present in the reconstructed signal is reduced by further decomposing into IMFs using all the three methods. These IMFs are soft thresholded to remove the high frequency noise. The results obtained from the CEEMDAN outperform EMD and EEMD in extracting signal from noise. Further, distinct parameters such as skewnesscrest factor, RMS value and kurtosis are estimated for the reconstructed signal to analyse their behaviour.
Methods for removal of artifacts from EEG signal: A review
Authors: Kotte Shailaja , Kumar Dabbakuti J R K
Published: December 2020

Electroencephalogram (EEG)is the record of cerebral activity, the electric potential of cerebral activity is of low amplitude, and less frequency ranges between 4 to 60 Hz, which can easily mix up different non-cerebral signals and other environmental noise signals. The extraction of actual cerebral signals from the contaminated EEG signal is the major challenge in medical analysis. Somehow, during the recording of the EEG signal, contamination of other signals takes place, which increases complexity in analyzing the accurate EEG signal. This leads to inaccurate information signals in the analysis. Accordingly, the process to eliminate the unwanted signals in the pre-processing level is mandatory in brain signal analysis. The unwanted signals from various sources are together termed as artifacts; the researchers have implemented various techniques to reduce the undesired signals. However, still, there is no standard technique in detecting and eliminating the artifacts, and hence, the research became most challenging.
Prediction of polyps and bleeding by CS-LBP using RF and SVM
Authors: Manikandan K , Visalakshi R , Ponnusamy R
Published: December 2020

In this paper, a method is proposed to differentiate the classes such as Bleeding and Polyps between the many classes present in GI tract using efficient classification model. The challenge in all image analysis is to characterize these images which improve the exact detection of these abnormalities. To solve this problem, a Center-Symmetric Local Binary Pattern (CS-LBP) feature extraction with Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) methods are employed to classify these two classes. Our model shows an excellent detection accuracy of 90.39 for polyps and 94.85for bleeding respectively for the CS-LBP with RF and SVM.
Strength and durability studies of waste nylon cable ties concrete
Authors: Tiwari Virabhadra , Parate Harshad R , Patil Nayana N
Published: December 2020

Of late, concrete technology is changing at a fast phase. Concrete is a flexible material and several attempts are being made to incorporate different materials specially industrial wastes as substitutes to the existing ingredients to enhance the quality of concrete. On the other hand environmentally sustainable concrete is in great demand. As plastic waste disposal has become a major problem for the modern day society, concrete has played a vital role as a dumping material. Plastic can either be used in concrete either as a partial substitute for fine aggregate or as an additive.Plastic wastes are present in different forms. This study focuses on use of waste Nylon Cable Ties (NCT) as a partial replacement of fine aggregates (1%, 2%, 4%) and as addition (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%) for M40 grade of concrete. Different tests like flexural, split tension, compression,effects of temperature and permeability test are being carried out. It was observed that 2% replacement of M-sand by waste NCT gives better results compared to 1% and 4% replacement of waste NCT. Addition of 1% NCT gives maximum compression, spilt tensile strength and flexural strength in concrete. When compared to replacement of fine aggregates by waste NCT, addition of waste NCT is found to give better strength.The permeability of the specimens was reduced for both replacement and addition of NCT ties. However permeability was found to be lesser for addition of NCT ties. But the performance of these specimens was not very satisfactory for either replacement or addition of NCT ties.
Multi-walled carbon nano-tubes for enhancing the performance of cementitious composites
Authors: Zaheer Mohd Moonis , Jafri Mohd Shamsuddin , Varisha
Published: December 2020

Due to exceptional properties, multi-walled carbon nano-tubes (MWCNTs) are designated as a promising reinforcing material for the nano-modified cementitious composites. The performance of cementitious composites with MWCNTs on the mechanical, durability, and microstructure properties was investigated in this study. The MWCNTs were effectively dispersed by the sonication method using high-frequency ultrasonic waves. The flexural strength, compressive strength, density, porosity, and stress-strain curves of cementitious composites reinforced with different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 wt%) of MWCNTs were studied. The enhanced flexural and compressive strength demonstrates the exceptional reinforcing behaviour of the MWCNTs. Additionally, density outcome indicates that as the percentage of MWCNTs in the matrix increases, density increases, and the optimum content was obtained as 0.3 wt%. The pores of cementitious composites can be reduced by adding carbon nano-tubes, which was perceived through a microstructural study using SEM micrographs. Study outcomes establish that in addition to the advantages provided by the nano-tube reinforcement in augmenting strength, nano-tubes can also help in reducing the porosity of the composites. The effectiveness of this promising nanomaterial related to its field application is also highlighted.
Intelligent robot-assisted evacuation: A review
Authors: Bahamid Alala , Ibrahim Azhar Mohd , Ibrahim Aisyah , Zahurin Iman Zarifah , Wahid Azni Nabela
Published: December 2020

Mass gathering in places such as shopping mall, concerts, sport events etc. is a necessity but may pose threat to the occupants during emergency. This paper presents a review of the different approaches of the crowd evacuation problems which can be classified into classical and modern methods. The classical methods have been widely used which basically depends on prior evacuation warnings or human in assisting an emergent evacuation scenario. Nonetheless, with the lack of important information such as the location of the safest exit, the consequence can be catastrophic. As a result, classical evacuation method becomes tough even though many people might able to assist the evacuees during such situation. Overcoming this, researchers have developed intelligent robots-assisted evacuation systems as a modern approach to manage crowds more systematically and simultaneously during emergency, which will be reviewed in this paper. Finally, this review paper aims to give a broad scope of the reliable evacuation system management to ensure the safety of the evacuees during emergency evacuation.
Identifying optimization methods using MQL and Cryo-treatments for turning inconel alloy with nanofluids
Authors: Bukane Sameer , Shaikh Vasim A , VeeraBhadraRao M
Published: December 2020

Nickel-based superalloy, which is also known as Inconel alloyconsiderably used in varioussectors due to its exclusive properties like excellent corrosion resistance, thermomechanical properties, and having high melting temperaturesof 1390°C to 1425 °C. This paper intends is to look over the effect of both nanofluid MQL technique and the combined impact of cryo-minimum quantity lubrication technique on turning of Inconel material using coated carbide inserts or cryogenic treated inserts. It alsoreveals optimization techniques such as Taguchi methodsfor studying machining performance and machine learning techniques.
Soft tissue vibration: a biologically-inspired mechanism for stabilizing bipedal locomotion
Authors: Masters Samuel E , Challis John H
Published: December 2020

Humans are made up of mostly soft tissue that vibrates during locomotion. This vibration has been shown to store and dissipate energy during locomotion. However, the effects of soft tissue vibration (wobbling masses) on the dynamics of bipedal walking have not been assessed in terms of stability. Given that much of the human body is vibrating just following foot-ground contact, it may have dynamic implications on the stability of walking. A rigid bipedal walker and a bipedal walker with soft tissue were simulated to quantify the effects of soft tissue vibration on gait periodicity, orbital stability, global stability, and robustness to uneven terrain. It was found that moderate amounts of energy dissipation resulted in much more stable walking dynamics relative to that of a rigid bipedal walker.
Structural diversity of random aggregates of identical spheres
Authors: Blétry Marc
Published: December 2020

Random aggregates of hard spheres can be formed either by aggregation or by dynamic reorganization. The resulting two broad families of aggregates present different geometrical structures that have not been studied in a systematic fashion to this day. We investigate various structural indicators (contact coordination number, Delaunay tetrahedra, Voronoi polyhedra, pair distribution functions,…) of aggregates belonging to these two broad families, building them by using Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm for the aggregates formed by dynamic reorganization and a family of aggregation algorithms. This comparison takes place over a large range of packing fraction, from 0.370 up to 0.640. This allows distinguishing significant differences between random aggregates formed by aggregation or in a dynamic manner, or according to the contacting status of the spheres. Various structural commonalities are also investigated by different structural indicators. An evaluation of the parameters that could distinguish between all studied aggregates is also proposed.
The evolution of summary procedure in investment arbitration: past, present and future
Authors: Ba Duong Donny Trinh
Published: December 2020

The last 15 years have witnessed a substantial rise of summary procedure to gradually become more and more significant in the world of investment arbitration since ICSID Arbitration Rules first introduced it in 2006. Before the emergence of this procedure that allows early dismissal of claims, various states have criticized the time and costs needed to defend their position in investment proceedings. Against this background, the birth of summary procedure aims to help parties to save time and costs and avoid unnecessary consumption of parties’ resources by disposing of manifestly frivolous and unmeritorious at an early stage of the proceedings. This feature has captured much attention since major arbitration institutions started to adopt it, with ICSID being the pioneer, followed by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC). Given its increasing importance in investment disputes, the ICSID has lately published a series of Working Papers which, among many other things, proposed to enhance the rule on ‘manifest lack of legal merit’. This article aims to look back on the evolution of summary procedure in investment arbitration for the last 15 years by examining its genesis and development, the current regime, and tribunals’ application of this procedure in practice, the future contemplated by the ICSID proposed amendments.
Asymptomatic Stroke After Hyaluronic Acid Filler Injection: Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Moore Ryan M , Mueller Melissa A , Hu Allison C , Evans Gregory R D
Published: December 2020

Vascular compromise and blindness are reported but rare complications of facial soft tissue filler injections. Stroke is an even rarer complication resulting from intraarterial injection of fillers. We present a case of a patient suffering all 3 complications following hyaluronic acid filler injection: forehead skin vascular compromise, unilateral blindness, and ipsilateral subclinical strokes. Were it not for a stroke workup protocol, the incidental strokes may have otherwise gone undetected, suggesting the incidence of stroke from intraarterial injection may be higher than reported. Further, we review the literature and recommendations for prevention and management of threatened tissue ischemia and vision loss from facial filler injection.

Level of Evidence: 5
HCC subtypes based on the activity changes of immunologic and hallmark gene sets in tumor and nontumor tissues
Authors: Gong Jiao , Li Rong , Chen Yaqiong , Zhuo Zhenjian , Chen Shuru , Cao Jing , Zhang Qi , Chong Yutian , Hu Bo
Published: December 2020

The prognostic role of adjacent nontumor tissue in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is still not clear. The activity changes of immunologic and hallmark gene sets in adjacent nontumor tissues may substantially impact on prognosis by affecting proliferation of liver cells and colonization of circulating tumor cells after HCC treatment measures such as hepatectomy. We aimed to identify HCC subtypes and prognostic gene sets based on the activity changes of gene sets in tumor and nontumor tissues, to improve patient outcomes. We comprehensively revealed the activity changes of immunologic and hallmark gene sets in HCC and nontumor samples by gene set variation analysis (GSVA), and identified three clinically relevant subtypes of HCC by nonnegative matrix factorization method (NMF). Patients with subtype 1 had good overall survival, whereas those with subtype 2 and subtype 3 had poor prognosis. Patients with subtype 1 in the validation group also tended to live longer. We also identified three prognostic gene sets in tumor and four prognostic gene sets in nontumor by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method (LASSO). Interestingly, functional enrichment analysis revealed that in nontumor tissues, genes from four gene sets correlated with immune reaction, cell adhesion, whereas in tumor tissue, genes from three gene sets closely correlated with cell cycle. Our results offer new insights on accurately evaluating prognosis—the important role of gene sets in both tumor and adjacent nontumor tissues, suggesting that when selecting for HCC treatment modality, changes in tumor and nontumor tissues should also be considered, especially after hepatectomy.