bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: analysis of the UK ONS COVID-19 infection survey
Authors: Rhodes Sarah , Wilkinson Jack , Pearce Neil , Mueller William , Cherrie Mark , Stocking Katie , Gittins Matthew , Katikireddi Srinivasa Vittal , Tongeren Martie Van
Published: July 2022

Background

Concern remains about how occupational SARS-CoV-2 risk has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to ascertain occupations with the greatest risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and explore how relative differences varied over the pandemic.

Methods

Analysis of cohort data from the UK Office of National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey from April 2020 to November 2021. This survey is designed to be representative of the UK population and uses regular PCR testing. Cox and multilevel logistic regression were used to compare SARS-CoV-2 infection between occupational/sector groups, overall and by four time periods with interactions, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, region, household size, urban/rural neighbourhood and current health conditions.

Results

Based on 3 910 311 observations (visits) from 312 304 working age adults, elevated risks of infection can be seen overall for social care (HR 1.14; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.24), education (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.39), bus and coach drivers (1.43; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.97) and police and protective services (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.29 to 1.62) when compared with non-essential workers. By time period, relative differences were more pronounced early in the pandemic. For healthcare elevated odds in the early waves switched to a reduction in the later stages. Education saw raises after the initial lockdown and this has persisted. Adjustment for covariates made very little difference to effect estimates.

Conclusions

Elevated risks among healthcare workers have diminished over time but education workers have had persistently higher risks. Long-term mitigation measures in certain workplaces may be warranted.
Classical infratentorial superficial siderosis of the central nervous system: pathophysiology, clinical features and management
Authors: Kharytaniuk Natallia , Cowley Peter , Sayal Parag , Eleftheriou Perla , Farmer Simon F , Chan Edgar , Bamiou Doris-Eva , Werring David J
Published: July 2022

The term superficial siderosis (SS) is derived from the Greek word ‘sideros’, meaning iron. It includes two subtypes, distinguished by their anatomical distribution, causes and clinical features: ‘classical’ infratentorial SS (iSS, which sometimes also affects supratentorial regions) and cortical SS (cSS, which affects only supratentorial regions). This paper considers iSS, a potentially disabling disorder usually associated with very slow persistent or intermittent subarachnoid bleeding from a dural defect, and characterised by progressive hearing and vestibular impairment, ataxia, myelopathy and cognitive dysfunction. The causal dural defect—most often spinal but sometimes in the posterior fossa—typically follows trauma or neurosurgery occurring decades before diagnosis. Increasing recognition of iSS with paramagnetic-sensitive MRI is leading to an unmet clinical need. Given the diagnostic challenges and complex neurological impairments in iSS, we have developed a multidisciplinary approach involving key teams. We discuss pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of iSS, including a proposed clinical care pathway.
One week of overeating upregulates angiogenic and lipolytic gene expression in human subcutaneous adipose tissue from exercise trained and untrained adults
Authors: Ludzki Alison C. , Krueger Emily M. , Gillen Jenna B. , Taylor Natalie M. , Middlebrook Darby O. , Baldwin Toree C. , Karabetsos Konstantinos C. , Schleh Michael W. , Horowitz Jeffrey F.
Published: July 2022

Effective storage of excess energy in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue during periods of overeating may help attenuate weight-gain-related insulin resistance. The objective of this study was to assess changes in the expression of factors regulating abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue storage capacity in response to a brief exposure to overeating in nonobese adults. Because exercise can alter the expression of genes involved in regulating adipose tissue storage capacity, we compared the responses to overeating in regular exercisers (EX, n = 11) and nonexercisers (nonEX, n = 11). Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue samples and oral glucose tolerance tests were performed before and after participants ate 30% above their estimated daily energy requirements for 1 week. Both EX and nonEX gained ∼1 kg ( P < 0.01), and Matsuda insulin sensitivity index was reduced ∼15% ( P = 0.04) in both groups. Gene expression of factors involved in lipid metabolism ( HSL, ATGL, DGAT, and PPARγ) and angiogenesis ( HIF1α and KDR) were increased ( P < 0.05), with no differences observed between EX and nonEX. In contrast, protein abundance of these factors did not change. The modest overeating stimulus did not increase markers of inflammation in the systemic circulation or adipose tissue. Overall, our findings indicate that a brief and modest overeating stimulus can impair insulin sensitivity and upregulate genes involved in abdominal adipose tissue storage capacity similarly in exercisers and nonexercisers. ClinicalTrials.gov ID#: NCT02701738.
Application of TDR in compacted clay soils: Issues of dry density, water content range, and calibration
Authors: Nachum Shay , Talesnick Mark , Furman Alex
Published: July 2022

The paper deals with three issues relevant to the application of TDR methods for monitoring water content in compacted clay soils: ( i) the dependence on dry density, ( ii) the ability to monitor changes in water content in clay soil approaching saturation, and ( iii) difficulties in performing efficient and reliable calibrations. A calibration scheme which inherently controls dry density of the specimen has been developed and applied. The methodology creates continuous calibration curves over a range of volumetric water content from a single test specimen. The new approach has been applied in monitoring the advance of a wetting front through a compacted swelling clay in a laboratory environment.
Phronesis: Efficient Performance Modeling for High-dimensional Configuration Tuning
Authors: Li Yuhao , Lee Benjamin C.
Published: July 2022

We present Phronesis, a learning framework for efficiently modeling the performance of data analytic workloads as a function of their high-dimensional software configuration parameters. Accurate performance models are useful for efficiently optimizing data analytic performance. Phronesis explicitly considers the error decomposition in statistical learning and implications for efficient data acquisition and model growth strategies in performance modeling. We demonstrate Phronesis with three popular machine learning models commonly used in performance tuning: neural network, random forest, and regression spline. We implement and evaluate it for Spark configuration parameters. We show that Phronesis significantly reduces data collection time for training predictive models by up to 57% and 37%, on average, compared to state-of-the-art techniques in building Spark performance models. Furthermore, we construct a configuration autotuning pipeline based on Phronesis. Our results indicate up to 30% gains in performance for Spark workloads over previous, state-of-the-art tuning strategies that use high-dimensional models.
Reducing Minor Page Fault Overheads through Enhanced Page Walker
Authors: Tirumalasetty Chandrahas , Chou Chih Chieh , Reddy Narasimha , Gratz Paul , Abouelwafa Ayman
Published: July 2022

Application virtual memory footprints are growing rapidly in all systems from servers down to smartphones. To address this growing demand, system integrators are incorporating ever larger amounts of main memory, warranting rethinking of memory management. In current systems, applications produce page fault exceptions whenever they access virtual memory regions that are not backed by a physical page. As application memory footprints grow, they induce more and more minor page faults. Handling of each minor page fault can take a few thousands of CPU cycles and blocks the application till the OS kernel finds a free physical frame. These page faults can be detrimental to the performance when their frequency of occurrence is high and spread across application runtime. Specifically, lazy allocation-induced minor page faults are increasingly impacting application performance. Our evaluation of several workloads indicates an overhead due to minor page faults as high as 29% of execution time.

In this article, we propose to mitigate this problem through a hardware, software co-design approach. Specifically, we first propose to parallelize portions of the kernel page allocation to run ahead of fault time in a separate thread. Then we propose the Minor Fault Offload Engine (MFOE), a per-core hardware accelerator for minor fault handling. MFOE is equipped with a pre-allocated page frame table that it uses to service a page fault. On a page fault, MFOE quickly picks a pre-allocated page frame from this table, makes an entry for it in the TLB, and updates the page table entry to satisfy the page fault. The pre-allocation frame tables are periodically refreshed by a background kernel thread, which also updates the data structures in the kernel to account for the handled page faults. We evaluate this system in the gem5 architectural simulator with a modified Linux kernel running on top of simulated hardware containing the MFOE accelerator. Our results show that MFOE improves the average critical path fault handling latency by 33× and tail critical path latency by 51×. Among the evaluated applications, we observed an improvement of runtime by an average of 6.6%.
Standards column: VQEG
Authors: Gutiérrez Jesús , Brunnström Kjell
Published: July 2022

The Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG) was born from a need to bring together experts in subjective video quality assessment and objective quality measurement. The first VQEG meeting, held in Turin in 1997, was attended by a small group of experts drawn from ITU-T and ITU-R Study Groups. VQEG was first grounded in basic subjective methodology and objective tool development/verification for video quality assessment such that the industry could be moved forward with standardization and implementation. At the beginning it was focused around measuring the perceived video quality since the distribution path for video and audio were limited and known.

Over the last 20 years from the formation of VQEG the ecosystem has changed dramatically and thus so must the work. Multimedia is now pervasive on all devices and methods of distribution from broadcast to cellular data networks. This shift has the expertise within VQEG to move from the visual (no-audio) quality of video to Quality of Experience (QoE).

The march forward of technologies means that VQEG needs to react and be on the leading edge of developing, defining and deploying methods and tools that help address these new technologies and move the industry forward. This also means that we need to embrace both qualitative and quantitative ways of defining these new spaces and terms. Taking a holistic approach to QoE will enable VQEG to drive forward and faster with unprecedented collaboration and execution.

VQEG is open to all interested from industry, academia, government organizations and Standard-Developing Organizations (SDOs). There are no fees involved, no membership applications and no invitations are needed to participate in VQEG activities. Subscription to the main VQEG email list (ituvidq@its.bldrdoc.gov) constitutes membership in VQEG.

VQEG conducts work via discussions over email reflectors, regularly scheduled conference calls and, in general, two face-to-face meetings per year. There are currently more than 500 people registered across 11 email reflectors, including a main reflector for general announcements relevant to the entire group, and different project reflectors dedicated to technical discussions of specific projects. A LinkedIn group exists as well.
Towards interactive QoE assessment of robotic telepresence
Authors: Jahromi Hamed Z. , Bartolec Ivan , Gamboa Edwin , Hines Andrew , Schatz Raimund
Published: July 2022

This article provides insights towards the Telepresence Robot (TPR) QoE research agenda and summarizes the findings of a TPR QoE study as provided in H. Z. Jahromi, I. Bartolec, E. Gamboa, A. Hines and R. Schatz, "You Drive Me Crazy! Interactive QoE Assessment for Telepresence Robot Control," 2020 Twelfth International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), Athlone, Ireland, 2020, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/QoMEX48832.2020.9123117.
MPEG column: 132nd MPEG meeting (virtual/online)
Authors: Timmerer Christian
Published: July 2022

The original blog post can be found at the Bitmovin Techblog and has been modified/updated here to focus on and highlight research aspects.
Synergistic Electrochemical Amplification of Ferrocene Carboxylic Acid Nanoflowers and Cu Nanoparticles for Folic Acid Sensing
Authors: Zhan Tao , Feng Xiao-Zhen , Cheng Yun-Yun , Han Guo-Cheng , Chen Zhencheng , Kraatz Heinz-Bernhard
Published: July 2022

Folic acid (FA) plays an indispensable role in human body and sometimes needs to be taken as a drug supplement, especially for pregnant women. Herein, an electrochemical FA sensor was constructed by electrodepositing Cu and ferrocene carboxylic acid (Fc(COOH)) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE), indicating low cost, simple preparation and short time consumption. Furthermore, the field emission scanning electron microscopy illustrates that Fc(COOH) completely covering Cu nanoparticles (CuNPs) grew to be tufts of loose and porous nanoflowers in situ, which produces a large active surface area to adsorb FA. Results verify that two conjected materials exhibited a good synergistic amplification effect on FA signal. Ultimately, a great linear relationship of FA was established between 100.0 ∼ 1000.0 μM under optimized conditions by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The limit of detection was 33.3 μM, and the sensitivity was 0.10149 μA·μM−1·cm−2. The sensor Fc(COOH)/CuNPs/GCE showed satisfactory selectivity and stability and could be used for FA detection in FA tablets samples with an average recovery of 91.43 ∼ 100.68%, and a relative standard deviation less than 3.17%. The consistency and validity were affirmed by comparisons with an ultra-visible spectrophotometer.
Mapping Surface Chemistry During Superfilling with Shell-Isolated Nanoparticle Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Authors: Raciti David , Braun Trevor , Hight Walker Angela R. , Moffat Thomas P.
Published: July 2022

Silica shell-isolated Au nanoparticles are used as reporters for shell-isolated nanoparticle enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) measurements to track and map the coverage and state of surfactant additives during electrochemical deposition. The propensity of a sub-monolayer coverage of Au@SiO2−x nanoparticles to remain segregated on advancing surfaces during Cu Damascene electrodeposition is demonstrated including enrichment (dilution) on concave (convex) surface segments. The local coverage of sulfonate-terminated disulfide (SPS) and/or thiolate (MPS) accelerator and co-adsorbed chloride is mapped during superconformal deposition on SPS-derivatized trench patterned arrays. Comparison with Cu deposition on nanoparticle-free regions indicate that for sub-monolayer coverages the Au@SiO2−x nanoparticles do not hinder the essential SPS/MPS adsorbate and metal deposition dynamics responsible for trench superfilling. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies on nanoparticle-free specimens reveal similar quantitative trends in SPS/MPS adsorbate coverage during metal deposition congruent with the effect of area change as detailed by the curvature enhanced accelerator mechanism (CEAC). SHINERS provides a powerful means for investigating the molecular details of superfilling and, more generally, surfactant mediated growth.
SOCS3 limits TNF and endotoxin-induced endothelial dysfunction by blocking a required autocrine interleukin-6 signal in human endothelial cells
Authors: Martino Nina , Bossardi Ramos Ramon , Chuy Dareen , Tomaszek Lindsay , Adam Alejandro P.
Published: July 2022

Increased circulating levels of soluble interleukin (IL)-6 receptor α (sIL-6Rα) are commonly observed during inflammatory responses, allowing for IL-6 signaling in cells that express the ubiquitous receptor subunit gp130 but not IL-6Rα, such as endothelial cells. Activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 or the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor leads to NF-κB-dependent increases in endothelial IL-6 expression. Thus, we hypothesize that danger signals may induce autocrine IL-6 signaling within the endothelium via sIL-6Rα-mediated trans-signaling. In support of this hypothesis, we recently demonstrated that conditional deletion in the endothelium of the IL-6 signaling inhibitor SOCS3 leads to rapid mortality in mice challenged with the TLR-4 agonist endotoxin through increases in vascular leakage, thrombosis, leukocyte adhesion, and a type I-like interferon response. Here, we sought to directly test a role for sIL-6Rα in LPS-treated human umbilical vein and dermal blood microvascular endothelial cells. We show that cotreatment with sIL-6Rα dramatically increases the loss of barrier function and the expression of COX2 and tissue factor mRNA levels induced by LPS. This cotreatment led to strong activation of STAT1 and STAT3 while not affecting LPS-induced activation of p38 and NF-κB signaling. Similar results were obtained when sIL-6Rα was added to a TNF challenge. JAK inhibition by pretreatment with ruxolitinib or by SOCS3 overexpression blunted LPS and sIL-6R synergistic effects, whereas SOCS3 knockdown further increased the response. Together, these findings demonstrate that IL-6 signaling downstream of NF-κB activation leads to a strong endothelial activation and may explain the acute endotheliopathy observed during critical illness.
Systematic review of the impact of genistein on diabetes-related outcomes
Authors: Jain Rijul , Bolch Charlotte , Al-Nakkash Layla , Sweazea Karen L.
Published: July 2022

Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in the world and the prevalence is rising in low-income countries. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, especially for individuals with diabetes. Although medications exist to treat symptoms of diabetes, lack of availability and high costs may deter their use by individuals with low incomes as well as those in low-income nations. Therefore, this systematic review was performed to determine whether genistein, a phytoestrogen found in soy products, could provide therapeutic benefits for individuals with diabetes. We searched PubMed and SCOPUS using the terms “genistein,” “diabetes,” and “glucose” and identified 33 peer-reviewed articles that met our inclusion criteria. In general, preclinical studies demonstrated that genistein decreases body weight and circulating glucose and triglycerides concentrations, whereas increasing insulin levels and insulin sensitivity. Genistein also delayed the onset of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In contrast, clinical studies utilizing genistein generally reported no significant relationship between genistein and body mass, circulating glucose, glycated hemoglobin (A1C) concentrations, or onset of type 1 diabetes. However, genistein was found to improve insulin sensitivity and serum triglyceride concentrations and delayed the onset of type 2 diabetes. In summary, preclinical and clinical studies suggest that genistein may help delay the onset of type 2 diabetes and improve several symptoms associated with the disease. Although additional research is required to confirm these findings, the results highlighted in this review provide some evidence that genistein may offer a natural approach to mitigating some of the complications associated with diabetes.
Endothelin-1 as a novel target for the prevention of metabolic dysfunction with intermittent hypoxia in male participants
Authors: Limberg Jacqueline K. , Baker Sarah E. , Petersen-Jones Humphrey G. , Guo Winston , Huang An , Jensen Michael D. , Singh Prachi
Published: July 2022

We examined the effect of intermittent hypoxia (IH, a hallmark feature of sleep apnea) on adipose tissue lipolysis and the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in this response. We hypothesized that IH can increase ET-1 secretion and plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations. We further hypothesized that inhibition of ET-1 receptor activation with bosentan could prevent any IH-mediated increase in FFA. To test this hypothesis, 16 healthy male participants (32 ± 5 yr, 26 ± 2 kg/m2) were exposed to 30 min of IH in the absence (control) and presence of bosentan (62.5 mg oral twice daily for 3 days prior). Arterial blood samples for ET-1, epinephrine, and FFA concentrations, as well as abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies (to assess transcription of cellular receptors/proteins involved in lipolysis), were collected. Additional proof-of-concept studies were conducted in vitro using primary differentiated human white preadipocytes (HWPs). We show that IH increased circulating ET-1, epinephrine, and FFA ( P < 0.05). Bosentan treatment reduced plasma epinephrine concentrations and blunted IH-mediated increases in FFA ( P < 0.01). In adipose tissue, bosentan had no effect on cellular receptors and proteins involved in lipolysis ( P > 0.05). ET-1 treatment did not directly induce lipolysis in differentiated HWP. In conclusion, IH increases plasma ET-1 and FFA concentrations. Inhibition of ET-1 receptors with bosentan attenuates the FFA increase in response to IH. Based on a lack of a direct effect of ET-1 in HWP, we speculate the effect of bosentan on circulating FFA in vivo may be secondary to its ability to reduce sympathoadrenal tone.
Linking inflammatory adipose tissue to placental abnormalities in obese preeclamptic pregnancies
Authors: Rogers Brianna N. , Stephens Jacqueline M. , Sones Jenny L.
Published: July 2022

Preeclampsia (PE), a pregnancy-specific disorder, is characterized by maternal hypertension and proteinuria or another accompanying sign/symptom of multiorgan dysfunction. Maternal symptoms resolve with delivery of the baby and, importantly, the placenta. Therefore, the placenta plays a causal role in PE. However, the precise cause of abnormal placental development and/or function is unknown. Women with obesity have an increased risk of developing PE that is potentially related to the increased inflammation that accompanies increased maternal adiposity. Furthermore, inflammatory adipokines, i.e., leptin, have been linked to the development of systemic inflammation, hypertension, and other adverse outcomes associated with PE. Rodent models that recapitulate key pathophysiological features of the maternal and fetal syndrome have been used translationally to study PE. This review covers inflammatory adipokines, immune cells, and impaired placental development associated with PE in women and in rodent models of PE that use functional genomics to test causation.
Mechanical and Morphological Studies of Sansevieria trifasciata Fiber-Reinforced Polyester Composites with the Addition of SiO2 and B4C
Authors: Hariprasad P. , Kannan M. , Ramesh C. , Felix Sahayaraj A. , Jenish I. , Hussain Fayaz , Khedher Nidhal Ben , Boudjemline Attia , Suresh V.
Published: July 2022

The impact of SiO2 and B4C on mechanical and morphological studies of Sansevieria trifasciata fiber (STF) reinforced in polyester composites is investigated in this study. STF fibers are reinforced with polyester composites with the addition ceramic fillers such as SiO2 and B4C in various weight fractions to improve tensile, flexural, and impact characteristics. The morphological properties are studied with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The improved mechanical properties were tensile strength (44.92 MPa), flexural strength (103.58 MPa), and impact strength (27.4 kJ/m2) obtained for 20 wt.% STF fiber and 15 wt.% SiO2 reinforcement with the polyester matrix. The mechanical characteristics of the composites were significantly influenced by increasing SiO2 up to 15 wt.%.
The Potential of miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p Serving as Biomarkers for Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury
Authors: Ma Wenlu , Miao Xiaomei , Xia Fangfang , Ruan Chao , Tao Dan , Li Bing
Published: July 2022

Objective. This study is aimed at evaluating the miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p expression in the urine of patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) and exploring its diagnosis value in for SA-AKI. Methods. 184 sepsis invalids were collected and divided two groups (non-AKI group or AKI group) according to whether they had acute kidney injury. RT-qPCR was utilized to measure miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p expressions. ROC curve was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p for SA-AKI. Patients diagnosed with SA-AKI were followed up for 28 days to record survival time. The prognostic performance of miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p for SA-AKI was evaluated by survival curves. Results. Compared with non-AKI invalids, miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p expressions were obviously lower in the urine of AKI invalids. miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p expressions were markedly negatively correlated with biomarkers of renal injury. Furthermore, the area under the curve (AUC) of miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p for diagnosing sepsis SA-AKI was 0.896 and 0.814, respectively. The higher 28 days-survival rate was observed in patients with high miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p expressions. Conclusions. A novel biomarker for the early diagnosis of SA-AKI may be miR-370-3p and miR-495-3p, which was clearly reduced in the urine of SA-AKI patients.
Preparation of Mg2Ni Hydrogen Storage Alloy Materials by High Energy Ball Milling
Authors: Liu Xusheng , Zhou Lei , Li Wenhao , Wu Shaopeng , Huang Qinglan , Wang Yankun , Cai Xiaolan
Published: July 2022

In this paper, Mg2Ni hydrogen storage alloy powder was prepared by high-energy ball milling mechanical alloying method, and the influence of stirring shaft rotation speed, ball milling time, and different sizes of ball mills on the formation time, powder morphology, and crystal structure of Mg2Ni alloy during ball milling was studied. The results show that the Mg2Ni alloy was obtained by high-energy ball milling in this work, and the efficiency was increased by about 76% compared with the traditional ball milling method. In the case of higher rotational speed or larger blades, the time to generate Mg2Ni alloy can be advanced, the alloying process can be shortened, and Mg2Ni alloy with a particle size of less than 10 um can be obtained. However, after the ball milling reaches a certain time, the cold welding and crushing of the alloy powder reach a balance, and the particle size is basically unchanged. The hydrogen storage alloy was activated, the hydrogen storage PCT curve was detected, and the hydrogen absorption kinetic curve and the PCT curve were analyzed. After ball milling at 900/1100 rpm for 13 hours, a Mg2Ni alloy with a single composition, extremely low impurity content, and partially amorphous and nanocrystalline coexistence was obtained. Its mass hydrogen storage density also reached the theoretical value of 3.6 wt%.
Quantum Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Deep Transfer Learning Model for Sugarcane Leaf Disease Detection and Classification
Authors: Tamilvizhi T. , Surendran R. , Anbazhagan K. , Rajkumar K.
Published: July 2022

Plant diseases pose a major challenge in the agricultural sector, which affects plant development and crop productivity. Sugarcane farming is a highly organized part of farming. Owing to the desirable condition for sugarcane cultivation, India stands among the second largest producers of sugarcane over the globe. At the same time, sugarcane gets easily affected by multifarious diseases which significantly influence crop productivity. The recently developed computer vision (CV) and deep learning (DL) models with an effective design can be employed for the detection and classification of diseases in sugarcane plant. The disease detection in sugarcane plant is not accurate in the existing techniques. This paper presents a quantum behaved particle swarm optimization based deep transfer learning (QBPSO-DTL) model for sugarcane leaf disease detection and classification which produces high accuracy. The proposed QBPSO-DTL method is designed and trained for the prediction of diseased leaf images. The proposed QBPSO-DTL technique encompasses the design of optimal region growing segmentation to determine the affected regions in the leaf image. In addition, the SqueezeNet model is employed as a feature extractor and the deep stacked autoencoder (DSAE) model is applied as a classification model. Finally, the hyperparameter tuning of the DSAE model is carried out by using the QBPSO algorithm. For demonstrating the enhanced outcomes of the QBPSO-DTL approach, a wide range of experiments were implemented and the results ensured the improvements of the QBPSO-DTL model.
Antioxidant and Teratogenic Activities of Formulated Agar Extracted from Brown Seaweed Turbinaria conoides against Zebrafish Larvae
Authors: Aavula Thabitha , Narasimman Vignesh , Ramachandran Saravanan , Murugan Radajurai , Ponnusamy Murugavel , Pazhani Gururaja Perumal , G Sivaleela
Published: July 2022

This study examines the antioxidant and teratogenic effects of two different type’s methods of formulating agar from Turbinaria conoides (T. conoides) using a zebrafish model. The agar was extracted using the aqueous extraction method and developed in two different formulations using separate procedures. Formulated agar1 (FA1) used a higher concentration of the ingredients while formulated agar 2 (FA2) had a lesser concentration. The two unique formulated agars (FAs) were studied using biochemical composition, Fourier infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antioxidant activities of both FAs in vitro were shown to be significantly different (

P
<
0.05

) at various concentrations (60–180 μl/ml) in the study. The toxicity of the FAs was dose-dependent, with FA1 having the least teratogenic activity when compared to FA2. In comparison to FA2, FA1 was found to have higher antioxidant activity. At various concentrations (0.5, 0.25, and 0.125 μg/ml), the teratogenic activity of two FAs was examined in zebrafish embryos (ZFE) at 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours post fertilization (hpf). Both FAs exhibit dose-dependent toxicity and increased antioxidant activity, and this can be utilized as an alternative for standard antioxidants, according to this study.
Experimental Study on a Low‐Rise Shear Wall with the Built‐In Shear Steel Plate
Authors: Song Xingyu , Zhao Lin , Chen Lingkun , Duan Yuan , Jiang Yehao , Tian Yuan
Published: July 2022

In this paper, a new reinforcement scheme is proposed to improve the seismic performance of low‐rise shear walls. The new system combines the advantages of slotted and composite shear walls to exhibit a high bearing capacity and good deformation performance. Two low‐cycle repeated loading tests with different forms of shear walls were conducted to accurately understand its seismic performance. Seismic performance indexes, such as failure mode, bearing capacity, hysteresis curve, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation capacity, of the new shear wall under the low‐cycle reciprocating load were obtained to verify its reliability. The results show that the newly reinforced shear wall has two clear seismic defense lines. Its deformation and energy‐dissipation capacities and lateral stiffness stability are greatly improved compared with traditional low‐rise shear walls. Thus, the proposed method can provide a new means for enhancing the seismic performance of shear walls.
Predicting Divorce Prospect Using Ensemble Learning: Support Vector Machine, Linear Model, and Neural Network
Authors: Sadiq Fareed Mian Muhammad , Raza Ali , Zhao Na , Tariq Aqil , Younas Faizan , Ahmed Gulnaz , Ullah Saleem , Jillani Syeda Fizzah , Abbas Irfan , Aslam Muhammad
Published: July 2022

A divorce is a legal step taken by married people to end their marriage. It occurs after a couple decides to no longer live together as husband and wife. Globally, the divorce rate has more than doubled from 1970 until 2008, with divorces per 1,000 married people rising from 2.6 to 5.5. Divorce occurs at a rate of 16.9 per 1,000 married women. According to the experts, over half of all marriages ends in divorce or separation in the United States. A novel ensemble learning technique based on advanced machine learning algorithms is proposed in this study. The support vector machine (SVM), passive aggressive classifier, and neural network (MLP) are applied in the context of divorce prediction. A question-based dataset is created by the field specialist. The responses to the questions provide important information about whether a marriage is likely to turn into divorce in the future. The cross-validation is applied in 5 folds, and the performance results of the evaluation metrics are examined. The accuracy score is 100%, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve accuracy score, recall score, the precision score, and the F1 accuracy score are close to 97% confidently. Our findings examined the key indicators for divorce and the factors that are most significant when predicting the divorce.
[Retracted] Analysis on the Key Influence of Adolescent Health Information Literacy Using Big Data Analysis Technology under Social Network Environment
Authors: Huo Mingkui , Gu Le , Zhu Li
Published: July 2022

Purpose/Significance. This paper aims to explore the influence mechanism of adolescent health information literacy on health behavior. Method/Process. 13–19 year olds are taken as the survey objects to investigate their health information literacy through a questionnaire. Health information literacy mainly includes health information needs, acquisition, evaluation, use, and behaviors. A total of 252 adolescents’ data were collected in this study, and model testing was performed with the help of regression analysis and structural equation modeling. Conclusion/Results. The results of the study show that adolescents’ health information needs, acquisition, evaluation, and application abilities have a positive impact on health behaviors in the social network environment. Emotional responses and individual cognition as intermediate variables play important roles between health information literacy and health behaviors. Health information needs and health information assessments have the highest impact on mental health and social health, respectively. The society should pay special attention to the influence of adolescents’ health cognition and anxiety on health behavior in the context of social network.
Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Early Clinical Outcome and Stent Restenosis after Carotid Artery Stenting
Authors: Achim Alexandru , Lackó Dávid , Hüttl Artúr , Csobay-Novák Csaba , Csavajda Ádám , Sótonyi Péter , Merkely Béla , Nemes Balázs , Ruzsa Zoltán
Published: July 2022

Background. Diabetes mellitus is closely related to both the severity of carotid disease and its outcome after revascularization. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has emerged as a viable alternative to surgical endarterectomy but little is known about the impact of diabetes after CAS. Methods. A consecutive cohort of 1940 patients undergoing CAS in two institutions was divided into two groups, diabetics and nondiabetics, and major cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) were analyzed at 30 days post-CAS and at 1 year follow-up. Results. There were 730 patients with diabetes, with significantly higher BMI, hypertension, chronic dialysis, and dyslipidemia frequency (

p
<
0.05

). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of early and late MACCEs (composite of transient ischemic attack, major stroke, myocardial infarction, and death), with an early rate of 3.5% nondiabetics vs. 5.3%,

p
=
0.08

and 2.4 nondiabetics vs. 2.3% diabetics,

p
=
0.1

at 12 months. Overall stroke/death rate in the asymptomatic patients was 2.4%, and the restenosis rate was higher in the diabetes population (2.3% vs. 1%,

p
=
0.04

). Conclusion. The presence of diabetes was associated with an acceptable increased periprocedural risk for CAS, but no further additional risk emerged during longer term follow-up. Diabetes may precipitate the rate of early in-stent restenosis.
Recognition of Hand Gesture Using Electromyography Signal: Human-Robot Interaction
Authors: Aarthy S. L. , Malathi V. , Hamdi Monia , Hilali-Jaghdam Inès , Abdel-Khalek Sayed , Mansour Romany F.
Published: July 2022

Recognition of hand gestures has been developed in various research domains and proven to have significant benefits in improving the necessity of human-robot interaction (HRI). The introduction of intelligent statistics knowledge methodologies, such as big data and machine learning, has ushered in a new era of data science and made it easier to classify hand motions accurately using electromyography (EMG) signals. However, the collecting and labelling of the vast dataset enforces a significant workload; resulting in implementations takes a long time. As a result, a unique strategy for combining the advantages of depth vision learning with EMG-based hand gesture detection was developed. It is accomplished of automatically categorizing the class of the obtained EMG data using ensemble learning without considering the hand motion sequence. The models were built and interpreted using the SVM with RBF kernel, Random Forest, and Catboost with the best hyperparameters. The resultant value states that Catboost produces the best accuracy of around 0.95 as compared with other models. This demonstrates that the suggested technique can recognize hand gestures with better performance rate.
Analyzing Human Muscle State with Flexible Sensors
Authors: Chen Zhiyong , Wang Qingsuo , Bi Yunce , Lin Juncong , Yang Wei , Deng Chaoyang , Guo Shihui , Liao Minghong
Published: July 2022

Analyzing human muscle states has attracted extensive attention. EMG (electromyography) pattern recognition methods based on these works have been proposed for many years. However, uncomfortable wearing and high prices make it inconvenient for motion tracking and muscle analysis by using robotic arms and inertial sensors in daily life. In this study, we propose to use smart clothes integrated with flexible sensors to collect arm motion data, estimate the kinematic information of continuous arm motion, and predict the EMG signal of each arm muscle. Firstly, the neural network regression model integrated with the LSTM (long short-term memory) module is used to continuously estimate the sensor resistances collected by the smart clothes and the angles collected by Kinect. Then, six types of shoulder and elbow movements’ angles and the corresponding EMG signals of 5 subjects are preprocessed and aligned. The stacked regression model based on extremely randomized trees (extra trees) is used for regression. Our experimental results show that the average estimation absolute error from the sensor resistances to the joint angle is 3.45 degrees, and the absolute percentage error from the joint angle to the EMG signal is only 1.82%.
Efficacy of Letrozole Combined with Urinary Gonadotropin for Ovulation Induction in Endocrine Abnormal Infertility Patients: A Retrospective Single-Center, Case-Control Study
Authors: Peng Hao , Yuan Ben , Mao Junbiao , Wang Junling , Luo Shuhong
Published: July 2022

Aims. To ask lots of questions and try to find the truth about the medicine-based effectiveness of letrozole (LE) combined with human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) in the treatment of inability to have children crops patients with endocrine (things that are different from what is usually expected and the effect on ovulation-related chemicals produced by the body). Materials and Methods. A total of 160 unable to have children crops patients with endocrine things that are different from what is usually expected who were treated in our hospital from March 2019 to March 2022 were selected as the subjects of this look at how things were in the past study and were divided into instance of watching, making a statement group was treated with human menopausal gonadotropin on the basis of the control group. The differences in serum related to the process of making children, chemical produced by the body levels, ovarian function, and ovulation induction effect between the two groups were watched and compared. Results. After treatment, LH, FSH, PRL, and E2 in the observation group were better than those in the control group. The ovarian volume, follicle size, follicle diameter, and endometrial thickness of the two groups of patients were significantly improved, and the observation group was better than the control group. Significance is

P
<
0.05

. After treatment, the ovarian volume, follicle size, follicle diameter, and endometrial thickness in the two groups were significantly improved, and the observation group was better than the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (

P
<
0.05

). The ovulation rate, pregnancy rate, singleton pregnancy rate, and multiple pregnancy rate of the observation group were higher than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant by the chi-square test (

P
<
0.05

). Conclusion. Letrozole can promote the improvement of sex hormones in infertile patients. After being combined with human menopausal gonadotropin treatment, the follicle development and ovulation of patients are significantly improved, and infertility is improved to a certain extent. It has a certain reference value in the clinical treatment of endocrine abnormal infertility.
Finite Element Analysis and Comparative Study of 4 Kinds of Internal Fixation Systems for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in Children
Authors: Li Ziyu , Zhou Jianqiang , Qu Xingyue , Zhang Shaojie , Ren Xiaoyan , Wang Xing , Li Kun , Li Zhijun , Gao Shang , Li Xiaohe
Published: July 2022

Background. Spinal injury in children usually occurs in the cervical spine region. Anterior fixation of the lower cervical spine has been applied in treating pediatric cervical spine injury and disease due to its stable and firm mechanical properties. This study performed finite element analysis and comparison of four different anterior cervical internal fixation systems for children to explore more standard methods of anterior cervical internal fixation in children and seek more effective and safe treatment for children’s cervical spine diseases. Methods. A finite element model of 6-year-old children with lower cervical spine C4/5 discectomy was established, and the self-designed lower cervical spine anterior locking internal fixation system ACBLP and the children’s anterior cervical internal fixation system ACOP, ACVLP, and ACSLP plate screws were fixed and loaded on the model. 27.42 N·m torque load was applied to each internal fixation model under six working conditions of anteflexion, backward flexion, left flexion, right flexion, left rotation, and right rotation, to simulate the movement of the cervical spine. The activity and stress distribution cloud diagram of each finite element model was obtained to explore the optimal method of anterior cervical fixation in children. Results. In the four internal fixation models of ACOP, ACVLP, ACSLP, and ACBLP, the mobility of the C4/5 segment showed a decreasing relationship, and the mobility of adjacent segments increased significantly. In the Mises stress cloud diagram of the cervical spine of the four models, the vertebral body and accessories of the ACBLP model born the least stress, followed by ACSLP. The steel plate and screws in the ACVLP internal fixation model were the most stressed. The stress of the internal fixation system (plate/screw) in all models increased in the order of ACBLP, ACSLP, ACVLP, and ACOP. Conclusions. ACBLP internal fixation system had obvious advantages in anterior internal fixation of the lower cervical spine in children, C4/5 had the smallest degree of movement, relative displacement was minimal, and the stress on the centrum and pedicle was the least, while the stress on the plate screw was relatively the smallest.
Improving Sustainability of EDM Sector by Implementing Unconventional Competitive Manufacturing Approach
Authors: Sagar K. G , Anjani P. K. , Raman Manju Shree , Devi N. S. M. P. Latha , Mehta Kamakshi , Gonzales Jose Luis Arias , Kumar Nellore Manoj , S Venkatesan
Published: July 2022

In this research work, an attempt was made to machine the titanium (Ti6Al4V) alloy utilizing electric discharge machining technique. The distinct process parameters and its impact on the machining performance were identified using the cause-and-effect diagram (CED). The key process parameters identified by CED diagram were current, pulse on time (Ton), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) powder concentration, and gap distance; experiments were conducted by varying the process parameters, experimental runs were designed using the Taguchi mixed orthogonal array. The experimental results revealed that improvement in material removal rate (MRR) was due to the bridging effect; reduction in tool wear rate (TWR) owing to the expansion of spark gap and enhancement in the surface roughness (Ra) was due to the complete flushing of machined debris. The interaction impact was analysed using the contour plot and with the aid of mathematical modelling experimental fits that were identified and the results were validated utilizing the sensitivity analysis. The obtained results were optimized using the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) optimization technique.
Study on Preparation of Elastic Silica Aerogel Based on SEM Analysis
Authors: Qu Guofu , Feng Xin , Wang Yifan , Du Quanling , Ma Xiaowei , Li Qin , Wang Yunhong , Liu Wen
Published: July 2022

In order to explore and study the preparation of elastic silica aerogel, it is studied and discussed on the basis of SEM. The overall effect, comprehensive performance, and coupling degree of the preparation of silica gel are compared and analyzed by conventional analysis method and SEM analysis method, and it can be clearly seen that the SEM analysis method is better than the previous conventional analysis method. The scanning speed, working distance, imaging resolution, and result accuracy of the SEM analysis method are higher. At the same time, the SEM analysis method is simpler than the ideal process. According to the special properties of the material itself, the nanoporous materials are with high porosity, high specific surface area, low density, and low thermal conductivity; and the porous three-dimensional spatial network structure, in optics, electricity is widely used in thermal insulation, environmental protection, catalysis, chemical industry, and other fields. Based on SEM, the instrument has high resolution, deep image field, three-dimensional sense, simple sample preparation, and comprehensive analysis; the silica aerogel has a spatial network structure, with an aperture range of 10~50 nm; compared with ordinary silica aerogel gel, the preparation of elastic silica aerogel can withstand higher temperature based on SEM analysis; stable quality and elasticity expand the application range of aerogel gel, making it more widely used in shock absorption, heat insulation, sound insulation, and other fields, effectively achieving the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction.