bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Psychosocial response to COVID‐19 pandemic in India: Helpline counsellors’ experiences and perspectives
Authors: Joshi Aparna , Tammana Sindhura , Babre Tanuja , Kallianpur Ritika 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic presents a threat to physical and psychosocial health of individuals. In lieu of the subsequent lockdown and containment measures, helpline counselling becomes a viable method of accessing psychosocial services during the pandemic. The present paper describes experiences of counsellors working with a special COVID‐19 counselling helpline initiated by iCALL, a national‐level technology‐assisted counselling service of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, which aims to address the psychosocial impact of the pandemic and the lockdown. The paper is based on two focus group interviews held with 11 counsellors during the initial two months of the helpline's functioning. Findings of the study highlight the diverse profile of the callers, with individuals belonging to different strata of society and to marginalised communities. The nature of concerns presented by the callers were often a mix of psychological, relational and practical issues. The resultant distress emanated from an interplay of these factors with the relational contexts, their social locations and social structures the individuals were embedded in. This highlighted the need for conceptualising and responding from a psychosocial lens, whereby interventions involved traditional counselling approaches and strategies for addressing determinants of distress by connecting callers to required ground‐level resources. Counsellors’ engagement with this process impacted their professional and personal selves, necessitating the need for structured and continuous training, supervision and support. At a larger level, the counsellors’ narratives asserted the need for adopting a psychosocial paradigm for conceptualising and addressing mental health concerns in India.
Megacalycosis: Sonographic findings of a rare clinical condition
Authors: Sosa Barrios Rosa Haridian , Rivera Gorrín Maite E. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractRecurrent UTI’s represent a challenge for physicians and anatomic abnormalities should be investigated thoroughly in this setting. Not all urinary tract dilatations mean obstruction. Several entities can mimic hydronephrosis without actual interruption of urinary flow. Uniform calyceal dilatation without dilatation of pelvis and ureter suggests megacalycosis.
Classical control algorithms for permanent magnet synchronous generator driven by diesel engine for power quality
Authors: Arya Sabha Raj , Patel Mittal M. , Alam Sayed Javed , Srikakolapu Jayadeep , Giri Ashutosh K. , Babu B. Chitti 
Published: December 2020

SummaryPermanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) has received much attention in energy conversion these days because of its self‐excitation through magnets, which allows a stator output operation at a better power factor and high efficiency. Therefore, this paper dealt the power quality issues such as reactive power compensation and power factor correction including voltage control in diesel engine‐based generation system where PMSG is employed as a standalone power source. The configuration proposed in this paper consists of a battery energy storage system (BESS) at the DC bus of the distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM). The BESS enables DSTATCOM to have control over the active power and reactive power of the system. The function of BESS is connected at the DC bus to charge and discharge during light‐load period and heavy load period, respectively. Extraction of fundamental in the control scheme is done using three different types of classical algorithm based on phase locked loops (PLLs). They are double synchronous reference frame PLL (DSRF‐PLL), double‐frequency and amplitude compensation PLL (DFAC‐PLL), and adaptive filter with frequency estimation loop PLL (AFFEL‐PLL). The complete distributed generation (DG) system is simulated in MATLAB environment and has been validated in laboratory environments.
Xenopus leads the way: Frogs as a pioneering model to understand the human brain
Authors: Exner Cameron R. T. , Willsey Helen Rankin 
Published: December 2020

SummaryFrom its long history in the field of embryology to its recent advances in genetics, Xenopus has been an indispensable model for understanding the human brain. Foundational studies that gave us our first insights into major embryonic patterning events serve as a crucial backdrop for newer avenues of investigation into organogenesis and organ function. The vast array of tools available in Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis allows interrogation of developmental phenomena at all levels, from the molecular to the behavioral, and the application of CRISPR technology has enabled the investigation of human disorder risk genes in a higher‐throughput manner. As the only major tetrapod model in which all developmental stages are easily manipulated and observed, frogs provide the unique opportunity to study organ development from the earliest stages. All of these features make Xenopus a premier model for studying the development of the brain, a notoriously complex process that demands an understanding of all stages from fertilization to organogenesis and beyond. Importantly, core processes of brain development are conserved between Xenopus and human, underlining the advantages of this model. This review begins by summarizing discoveries made in amphibians that form the cornerstones of vertebrate neurodevelopmental biology and goes on to discuss recent advances that have catapulted our understanding of brain development in Xenopus and in relation to human development and disease. As we engage in a new era of patient‐driven gene discovery, Xenopus offers exceptional potential to uncover conserved biology underlying human brain disorders and move towards rational drug design.
Are British urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) “bold”? The importance of understanding human–wildlife interactions in urban areas
Authors: Padovani Roberto , Shi Zhuoyu , Harris Stephen 
Published: December 2020

AbstractHuman–wildlife interactions are believed to be increasing in urban areas. In Britain, numerous media reports have stated that urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are becoming “bolder,” thereby posing a risk to public safety. However, such claims overlook how an individual's personality might influence urban fox behavior. Personality determines multiple aspects of an animal's interactions with both conspecifics and its environment, and can have a significant impact on how people perceive wildlife. Furthermore, describing urban foxes as “bold” confounds two different but inter‐related behaviors, both of which influence an animal's propensity to take risks. Neophobia affects an animal's reaction to novelty, wariness its reaction to potential threats. Since urban wildlife frequently encounters both novel and threatening stimuli, a highly adaptable species such as the red fox might be predicted to exhibit reduced neophobia and wariness. We investigated how social status influenced both behaviors in Bristol's fox population. Dominant foxes were significantly more neophobic and warier than subordinates, which adopt a more exploratory and risk‐taking lifestyle to meet their energetic and other needs. We found no seasonal effect on neophobia and wariness, although this may be due to sample size. The presence of conspecifics decreased neophobia for dominants, and wariness for both dominants and subordinates. We highlight the importance of considering animal social status and personality when planning management protocols, since interventions that destabilize fox social groups are likely to increase the number of subordinate foxes in the population, thereby increasing rather than decreasing the number of interactions between humans and urban foxes.
Comparative transcriptomics of spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) populations to cold and heat stress
Authors: Song Jingwei , McDowell Jan R. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractResilience to climate change depends on a species' adaptive potential and phenotypic plasticity. The latter can enhance survival of individual organisms during short periods of extreme environmental perturbations, allowing genetic adaptation to take place over generations. Along the U.S. East Coast, estuarine‐dependent spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) populations span a steep temperature gradient that provides an ideal opportunity to explore the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity. Genetically distinct spotted seatrout sampled from a northern and a southern population were exposed to acute cold and heat stress (5 biological replicates in each treatment and control group), and their transcriptomic responses were compared using RNA‐sequencing (RNA‐seq). The southern population showed a larger transcriptomic response to acute cold stress, whereas the northern population showed a larger transcriptomic response to acute heat stress compared with their respective population controls. Shared transcripts showing significant differences in expression levels were predominantly enriched in pathways that included metabolism, transcriptional regulation, and immune response. In response to heat stress, only the northern population significantly upregulated genes in the apoptosis pathway, which could suggest greater vulnerability to future heat waves in this population as compared to the southern population. Genes showing population‐specific patterns of expression, including hpt, acot, hspa5, and hsc71, are candidates for future studies aiming to monitor intraspecific differences in temperature stress responses in spotted seatrout. Our findings contribute to the current understanding of phenotypic plasticity and provide a basis for predicting the response of a eurythermal fish species to future extreme temperatures.
Analysis on water use strategies of natural poplar in Hunshandake Sandy Land, China
Authors: Jia Debin , Li Xuesong , Zhang Yuqiang , Feng Yun , Liu Dong 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe past decades have witnessed the increasingly severe desertification and high sandstorm frequency in Hunshandake desert, China, which evokes extensive concern regarding the ecological and environmental effects on natural plant fields. Herein, natural poplars in this area are studied in this work to analyze the water use efficiency (WUE), water absorption source (WAS), water consumption of poplar, and water use strategy (WUS). The results show that the intrinsically high WUE of poplar can be enhanced under water stress status. The 0–100 cm soil water or underground water constitutes the main WAS. Poplar uses deep soil water or underground water when there is insufficient precipitation in rainy season, which, however, turns to use easily‐absorbed precipitation water after rainfall and lives through the growing period by switching water absorption positions. The unique dimorphic root system, adjustable WUE, and adjustable WUS make poplar able to maximally use limited water resource, which is also the main strategy for its survival in arid and semi‐arid areas. The combined analyses help us to get insight into the survivability and adaptive ability of plants as well as to regulate the limited water resource. This work may pave a way for ecological community restoration and ecologically environmental improvement.
Evaluation of the performance and atmospheric emissions in a diesel engine of the biofuel obtained by hydrodeoxygenation of oleic acid with Pt/γ‐Al2O3 catalysts
Authors: Sánchez‐Cárdenas Manuel , Sánchez‐Olmos Luis A. , Kamaraj Sathish‐Kumar , Trejo‐Zarraga Fernando , Rodríguez‐Valadez Francisco J. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractPt/γ‐Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by incipient wet impregnation and tested in hydrodeoxygenation reactions for conversion of oleic acid to n‐C17 alkanes at optimal conditions. The high conversion of 96.5% to renewable biodiesel (RD) is justified with the characterization results, showing that the catalyst has good texture properties, presence of metallic Pt evidenced by 2θ reflections and binding energies, as well as adequate dispersion of active phase and nanoparticle size. 20% and 40% mixtures of RD with diesel were used. At full load a slight decrease in potency was observed when using RD mixtures and comparing them with petrodiesel; fortunately, the RD mixtures showed significant reductions in air pollutants, RD40 achieved reductions greater than 22% for CO, HC, and near 43% in emissions of smoke when compared to diesel.
Design and implementation of an islanded hybrid microgrid system for a large resort center for Penang Island with the proper application of excess energy
Authors: Shezan SK. A. ,   Rawdah, Ali S. Shafin , Rahman Ziaur 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe energy demand is growing daily at an accelerated pace due to the internationalization and development of civilization. Yet proper economic utilization of additional energy generated by the Islanded Hybrid Microgrid System (IHMS) that was not consumed by the load is a major global challenge. To resolve the above‐stated summons, this research focuses on a multi‐optimal combination of IHMS for the Penang Hill Resort located on Penang Island, Malaysia, with effective use of redundant energy. To avail this excess energy efficiently, an electrical heater along with a storage tank has been designed concerning diversion load having proper energy management. Furthermore, the system design has adopted the HOMER Pro software for profitable and practical analysis. Alongside, MATLAB Simulink had stabilized the whole system by representing the values of 2068 and 19,072 kW that have been determined as the approximated peak and average load per day for the resort. Moreover, the optimized IHMS is comprehended of Photovoltaic (PV) cells, Diesel Generator, Wind Turbine, Battery, and Converter. Adjacent to this, the optimized system ensued in having a Net Present Cost (NPC) of $21.66 million, Renewable Fraction (RF) of 27.8%, Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.165/kWh, CO2 of 1,735,836 kg/year, and excess energy of 517.29MWh per annum. Since the diesel generator lead system was included in the scheme, a COE of $0.217/kWh, CO2 of 5,124,879 kg/year, and NPC of $23.25 million were attained. The amount of excess energy is effectively utilized with an electrical heater as a diversion load.
The nexus among climate change, economic growth, foreign direct investments, and financial development: New evidence from N‐11 countries
Authors: Aslan Alper , Altinoz Buket , Atay Polat Melike 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between air pollution, economic growth, energy use, trade openness, foreign direct investment, and financial development in N‐11 countries data period from 1980 to 2018. For this purpose, it is adopted the Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) model for the estimation of the long and short‐run effects. The results suggest that although energy consumption and financial development have a negative impact on CO2 emissions, foreign direct investment leads to an increase in pollution. In addition, there is bidirectional causality between financial development and CO2 emissions and energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption, foreign direct investments and energy consumption, and financial development and energy consumption. In addition, there is unidirectional causality from carbon dioxide emissions to GDP, from energy consumption to GDP, from foreign direct investments to CO2 emissions and GDP, from financial development to GDP. Finally, impulse‐response functions indicate the validity of the EKC hypothesis in these countries.
Removal of emerging micropollutants from wastewater by nanofiltration and biofilm reactor (MicroStop)
Authors: Büning Bastian , Rechtenbach Dorothea , Behrendt Joachim , Otterpohl Ralf 
Published: December 2020

AbstractCurrent wastewater treatment is not designed for the elimination of micropollutants (MP) and therefore these are released into the aquatic environment by means of the municipal wastewater. The MicroStop project investigates a combination of a fixed‐bed reactor (FBR) and a nanofiltration plant (NF) for the elimination of organic MP. NF acts as a barrier for MP while biological degradation of the pollutants is to be induced in the FBR. A simultaneous treatment of the retentate should be realized by its return to the FBR. The NF is to be supplied with energy by a large separation of organic matter in the primary clarification. The experiments showed that NF can eliminate more than 95% of the selected and detected MP on average, and therefore, this method represents a suitable barrier for these pollutants. The retentate of the NF was used to test the potential of the biological degradation in the FBR. The test results showed that a significant biological degradation of different MP took place in the FBR. The degradability of the substances could be verified by not detecting significant adsorption on sludge and fixed‐bed. For certain MP (sulfamethoxazole and carbamazepine) only little potential of biodegradation could be detected, which is confirmed by values from the literature. Apart from these two substances, the average degradation rate was 78%. The successful MP‐retention in connection with the biological degradation rates demonstrated the potential of the concept.Statement of Industrial RelevanceIt is undisputed that the conventional wastewater treatment has to be upgraded, since it is not able to eliminate residual MP. The following describes how the MicroStop‐process is able to address MP where competitive processes such as activated carbon or ozonation fail to do so:
The process is able to eliminate MP comprehensively and to retain microplastics, pathogenic germs and metabolites to a large extent before they reach the environment.
The retentate, which normally occurs as residue of the NF, is directly treated in the FBR. The only residue of the MicroStop‐process would be the excess sludge, which could easily be used for sludge treatment.
The effluent of the process is of high quality. This could be used in other regions of the world for irrigating plants, for industrial processes or even as tap water.
The potentially increased energy consumption (i.e., due to NF) is taken into account in our concept by the carbon extraction in the primary treatment.
Novelty or SignificanceThe combination of NF with biological degradation of MP in a FBR represents a process that has not yet been investigated in this form.In addition, the combination with an elevated carbon extraction in the primary treatment (Powerstep‐process) represents the idea of a complete redesign of conventional municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Structure and contingency determine mutational hotspots for flower color evolution
Authors: Wheeler Lucas C. , Wing Boswell A. , Smith Stacey D. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractEvolutionary genetic studies have uncovered abundant evidence for genomic hotspots of phenotypic evolution, as well as biased patterns of mutations at those loci. However, the theoretical basis for this concentration of particular types of mutations at particular loci remains largely unexplored. In addition, historical contingency is known to play a major role in evolutionary trajectories, but has not been reconciled with the existence of such hotspots. For example, do the appearance of hotspots and the fixation of different types of mutations at those loci depend on the starting state and/or on the nature and direction of selection? Here, we use a computational approach to examine these questions, focusing the anthocyanin pigmentation pathway, which has been extensively studied in the context of flower color transitions. We investigate two transitions that are common in nature, the transition from blue to purple pigmentation and from purple to red pigmentation. Both sets of simulated transitions occur with a small number of mutations at just four loci and show strikingly similar peaked shapes of evolutionary trajectories, with the mutations of the largest effect occurring early but not first. Nevertheless, the types of mutations (biochemical vs. regulatory) as well as their direction and magnitude are contingent on the particular transition. These simulated color transitions largely mirror findings from natural flower color transitions, which are known to occur via repeated changes at a few hotspot loci. Still, some types of mutations observed in our simulated color evolution are rarely observed in nature, suggesting that pleiotropic effects further limit the trajectories between color phenotypes. Overall, our results indicate that the branching structure of the pathway leads to a predictable concentration of evolutionary change at the hotspot loci, but the types of mutations at these loci and their order is contingent on the evolutionary context.
CFD simulation and experimental validation of in‐container thermal processing in Fesenjan stew
Authors: Soleymani Serami Maryam , Ramezan Yousef , Khashehchi Morteza 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to develop and validate the CFD model for predicting temperature profile and determine the slowest heating zone (SHZ) during the thermal processing of Fesenjan stew. The temperature profile was recorded experimentally at a point where it was predicted to be the SHZ. The results showed that the SHZ was located at the geometric center of the containers, and the temperature reached 120.3 °C. The average temperatures of experiment versus predicted temperatures at the same positions, no significant difference were observed (p < .01). The RMSE calculation showed good agreement between simulation and experimental data (RMSE = 1.36). The container geometrical center F0 was measured 17.68 min and indicated that an additional process was applied. An 11.5 min reduction in holding time was estimated to optimize the process since the F0 of some meat and sauce‐based food is about 6–7.65 min.
Spontaneous regression of multiple pulmonary metastases accompanied by normalization of serum immune markers following cytoreductive nephrectomy in a patient with clear‐cell renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Okazaki Akihito , Kijima Toshiki , Schiller Philipp , Ishikawa Natsumi , Fuchizawa Hirotaka , Takei Kohei , Suzuki Issei , Sakamoto Kazumasa , Tsuzuki Toyonori , Kamai Takao 
Published: December 2020

IntroductionThe spontaneous regression of metastases, which mostly occurs after surgical resection of the primary tumor, has been described in various malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma. The involvement of the host immune system is currently postulated as the underlying mechanism.Case presentationWe present a case of metastatic clear‐cell renal cell carcinoma that achieved complete spontaneous regression of multiple pulmonary metastases preceded by normalization of serum immune markers after cytoreductive nephrectomy. The patient remained disease free for 3 years without any systemic therapy, suggesting that postoperative normalization of serum immune markers may indicate recovery of the host immune system, which prevents tumor recurrence.ConclusionMonitoring of serum immune markers may be useful to identify patients with recovered immune function and, therefore, may not require systemic therapy. Similarly, the case suggests a potential role of cytoreductive nephrectomy in the contemporary management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.