bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Pelargonium sidoides DC and lactoferrin combination
Authors: Terlizzi Michela , Colarusso Chiara , Di Maio Umberto , Bagnulo Antonino , Pinto Aldo , Sorrentino Rosalinda 
Published: October 2020

AbstractLactoferrin (LAT), a multifunctional protein involved in numerous physiological functions, and the medicinal plant Pelargonium sidoides DC (PEL) have been described for their anti-inflammatory properties. Because the main advantage of natural products consists in administering them in combination rather than as single compound, we aimed to understand whether the combination of PEL and LAT, herein PELIRGOSTIM, could still prove beneficial or additive/synergistic activities during inflammatory conditions. To pursue this goal, we used macrophagic cells (J774.1) and treated them with PEL and LAT in a concentration-dependent manner. We found that PELIRGOSTIM was able to reduce the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrite, effects that were correlated to the release of lower levels of IL-1β after LPS treatment. In addition, the combination of PEL and LAT showed bacteriostatic activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli which had limited growth starting from 5 hours up to 20 hours. This effect was stronger than that observed for penicillin/streptomycin.Our results provide PELIRGOSTIM as an innovative combination of natural products capable to prevent inflammation-, oxidative stress- and microbial-related disorders.
Thermal ageing study of ZnO nanofluid–cellulose insulation
Authors: Ibrahim Asmaa , Nasrat Loai , Elnoby Ahmed , Eldebeiky Soliman 
Published: October 2020

Trends in the studies of mineral oil (MO)‐based nanofluids (NFs) show that most of the conducted works have focused only on the thermal and dielectric properties but few numbers on the ageing performance. In the present study, ZnO NF, in combination with cellulose insulation experienced accelerated thermal ageing at 120 °C for 20 days to study the ageing performance and it was compared with that of MO–cellulose insulation. The deterioration rate of cellulose was evaluated through tensile strength, breakdown voltage (BDV) and dielectric dissipation factor properties. Whereas oils deterioration was evaluated through BDV, interfacial tension, kinematic viscosity, acidity and colour. The results demonstrate that for cellulose aged in NF (NFIP), the tensile strength and BDV are 3 and 6.9% higher, respectively; than those aged in MO. For aged oils, NF exhibits higher values of the viscosity and acidity by 3 and 33.3%, respectively, than MO. The BDV of NF is superior to that of MO in the initial ageing period, after that; it shows a lesser reduction tendency with ageing. The most important observation from this study is that despite this increment of ageing indicators for NF, it could improve the anti‐ageing properties of cellulose insulation.
C5-Parese nach Operationen bei zervikaler Myelopathie
Authors: Eicker Sven Oliver , Floeth Frank Willi 
Published: October 2020

ZusammenfassungEine der häufigeren Komplikationen bei Operationen der Halswirbelsäule stellt die postoperative Parese des fünften Halsnerven dar (C5-Parese). Die Inzidenz schwankt je nach Ausdehnung des Eingriffs und Art des Zugangs erheblich (0 – 50 %) und wird im Mittel mit 5 – 6 % angegeben. Ursächlich werden demografische Faktoren, lagerungsassoziierte Faktoren, die direkte Reizung des Nervens intraoperativ, die Rückenmarkrotation, anatomische Besonderheiten, das Tethering der Nervenwurzel im Neuroforamen und vieles andere diskutiert. Abschließend ist die Ätiologie aber nicht geklärt und man geht von einem multifaktoriellen Geschehen aus. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit werden Daten aus aktuellen Publikationen sowie Daten aus einer eigenen Kohorte präsentiert. Die Risikofaktoren der einzelnen Zugänge werden erläutert und mögliche prophylaktische Maßnahmen diskutiert.
Curious Case of Atypical Hangman’s Fracture: C2–C3 Listhesis without Pars Fracture
Authors: Jain Surendra , Mishra Keshav , Gandhi Ashok , Garg Deepak 
Published: October 2020

AbstractTraumatic spondylolisthesis of axis or hangman’s fracture is the second most common C2 vertebra injury. We present a report of a young man presenting with a history of fall from height with C2 to C3 spondylolisthesis without any evidence of injury to pars interarticularis but with associated injury to capsular ligament of facet joint along with posterior spinous ligamentous injury. The patient underwent intraoperative reduction in listhesis with posterior screw fixation. The patient showed uneventful postoperative course with neurological improvement at 6-week follow-up. Hangman’s fracture refers to a diverse group of injury in which the soft tissue injury has an equally important part to play as the bone fracture.
A spiking neural program for sensorimotor control during foraging in flying insects
Authors: Rapp Hannes , Nawrot Martin Paul 
Published: October 2020

Significance
Living organisms demonstrate remarkable abilities in mastering problems imposed by complex and dynamic environments, and they can generalize their experience in order to rapidly adapt behavior. This paper demonstrates the benefits of using biological spiking neural networks, sparse computations, and local learning rules. It highlights the functional roles of temporal- and population-sparse coding for rapid associative learning, precise memory recall, and transformation into navigational output. We show how memory formation generalizes to perform precise memory recall under dynamic, nonstationary conditions, giving rise to nontrivial foraging behavior in a complex natural environment. Results suggest how principles of biological computation could benefit agent-based machine learning to deal with nonstationary scenarios.
Transient and steady-state temperature rise in three-dimensional anisotropic layered structures in pump-probe thermoreflectance experiments
Authors: Jiang Puqing , Ban Heng 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Recent developments of the pump-probe thermoreflectance methods (such as the beam-offset and elliptical-beam approaches of the time-domain and frequency-domain thermoreflectance techniques) enabled measurements of the thermal conductivities of in-plane anisotropic materials. Estimating the temperature rise of anisotropic layered structures under surface heating is critically important to make sure that the temperature rise is not too high to alias the signals in these experiments. However, a simple formula to estimate the temperature rise in three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic layered systems heated by a non-circular laser beam is not available yet, which is the main problem we aim to solve in this work. We first re-derived general formalisms of the temperature rise of a multilayered structure based on the previous literature work by solving the 3D anisotropic heat diffusion equation in the frequency domain. These general formalisms normally require laborious numerical evaluation; however, they could be reduced to explicit analytical expressions for the case of semi-infinite solids. We then extend the analytical expressions to multilayered systems, taking into account the effect of the top layers. This work not only enhances our understanding of the physics of temperature rise due to surface laser heating but also enables quick estimation of the peak temperature rise of 3D anisotropic layered systems in pump-probe thermoreflectance experiments and thus greatly benefits the thermoreflectance experiments in choosing the appropriate heating power intensity for the experiments.
Fast electrical diagnostics and dispersion relation for ion density determination in an atmospheric pressure argon plasma
Authors: Gerling T , Wilke C , Becker M M 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Investigations of an atmospheric pressure gas discharge in argon focusing on the experimental measurement of the ion density is presented. The suggested diagnostic method combines the evaluation of weak and erratically occurring oscillations of the current signal with the solution of the dispersion relation for the dominant ion species. The considered dispersion relation contains the contribution of electron and ion movement as well as collisions of ions with the neutral background gas. The solution is performed considering temporal decay and spatial damping, respectively, and shows the existence of an ion acoustic wave (IAW) despite atmospheric pressure conditions. A parameter variation when using the dispersion relation reveals a limited range of existence of an IAW depending strongly on the ion density and correlates with experimentally acquired values of the molecular argon ion density of about 1012 cm−3. Furthermore, the combination of the experimental investigations and the solution of the dispersion relation provides access to the molecular argon ion—neutral argon collision frequency with values of about 2×107 Hz and 6×107 Hz, respectively.
Broadband and high-efficiency ultrathin Pancharatnam-Berry metasurfaces for generating X-band orbital angular momentum beam
Authors: Gao Xi , Tang Liguang , Wu Xiongbin , Li Simin 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Vortex beams have been extensively investigated for their major applications in wireless communications. To obtain practical applications, vortex beam generators with high performance and simple structure are of vital importance. Here, we present a novel metasurface-based device to generate high-performance vortex beams. This device is a four-layer Pancharatnam-Berry metasurface with ultrathin thickness. The unit cell of each metasurface is composed of a cross dipole and a square ring resonator. The simulated and experimental results show that the proposed meta-device can convert a right-hand circularly polarized wave into a left-hand circularly polarized vortex beam in a broadband from 9.3 to 12 GHz. Moreover, the device has high transmission efficiency up to 79% and ultrathin thickness of 0.2λ (λ is the central frequency of operation frequency band).
Vortex-lattice formation in a spin–orbit coupled rotating spin-1 condensate
Authors: Adhikari S K 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
We study the vortex-lattice formation in a rotating Rashba spin–orbit (SO) coupled quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) hyper-fine spin-1 spinor Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in the x–y plane using a numerical solution of the underlying mean-field Gross–Pitaevskii equation. In this case, the non-rotating Rashba SO-coupled spinor BEC can have topological excitation in the form of vortices of different angular momenta in the three components, e.g. the (0, +1, +2)- and (−1, 0, +1)-type states in ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic spinor BEC: the numbers in the parenthesis denote the intrinsic angular momentum of the vortex states of the three components with the negative sign denoting an anti-vortex. The presence of these states with intrinsic vorticity breaks the symmetry between rotation with vorticity along the z and −z axes and thus generates a rich variety of vortex-lattice and anti-vortex-lattice states in a rotating quasi-2D spin-1 spinor ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic BEC, not possible in a scalar BEC. For weak SO coupling, we find two types of symmetries of these states − hexagonal and ‘square’. The hexagonal (square) symmetry state has vortices arranged in closed concentric orbits with a maximum of 6, 12, 18… (8, 12, 16…) vortices in successive orbits. Of these two symmetries, the square vortex-lattice state is found to have the smaller energy.
Indices for the evaluation of glandular dose heterogeneity in full-field digital mammography
Authors: Shinohara Sae , Araki Fujio , Maeda Megumi , Okamoto Rumi , Nakamura Mai , Higashida Yoshiharu 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the indices of glandular dose heterogeneity in full-field digital mammography. The distributions of GD in a breast phantom with a skin layer of 4 mm were determined using the Monte Carlo method with simulated x-ray fluence spectra. First, the GD to air kerma (GD/K
air) volume histogram was obtained from the GD distributions, which were indicated by the glandular volume (%) as a function of GD/K
air. The GD indices, namely, the maximum glandular dose (GD2%) and glandular volume percentage (%) receiving at least the mean glandular dose (MGD) (V
MGD) were calculated from the GD/K
air volume histogram. Next, the scatter plots of GD2%/MGD and V
MGD were drawn as functions of the normalised mean glandular dose (DgN). Finally, (GD2%)
i
and (V
MGD)
i
were obtained from the relationship between the GD indices and DgN for 596 clinical irradiation cases based on individual irradiation conditions. The values of GD2%/MGD were more affected by breast thickness than glandularity and tube voltage, and they decreased according to the power law of DgN for all the target/filter combinations. The values of V
MGD were proportional to DgN and decreased with increase in the compressed breast thickness. The values of (MGD)
i
and (GD2%)
i
for 596 clinical irradiation cases were estimated to range from 0.6–3.0 mGy to 1.1–7.0 mGy, respectively, and (V
MGD)
i
was in the range 32%−48%. (GD2%)
i
and (V
MGD)
i
are mainly affected by breast thickness. These indices are useful for the evaluation of glandular dose heterogeneity in mammography.
High-sensitivity and low-interference gas analyzer with feature extraction from mid-infrared laser absorption-modulated signal
Authors: Shibuya Kyoji , Podzorov Alexander , Matsuhama Makoto , Nishimura Katsumi , Magari Masaaki 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
In this paper, we propose a gas analyzer that uses a quantum cascade laser (QCL) and achieves high sensitivity and gas selectivity with simple configuration and signal processing. Feature quantities are extracted from an absorption-modulated signal, which is obtained by the logarithmic conversion of a detector signal receiving a wavelength-modulated laser light. The extracted feature quantities are used for the determination of target and interfering gas concentration with simple simultaneous linear equations. As a result of the demonstration of CO gas measurement with a gas analyzer consisting of a 4.6 μm pulsed QCL, a small-volume Herriott cell with a path length of 5 m and a thermopile as a photodetector, it is shown that the limit of detection is 2.0 ppb at the integration time of 1 s and that interference by N2O can be eliminated. It is also shown that various disturbances such as spectral shift due to laser wavelength drift and spectral broadening due to partial pressure change of coexisting gases can be corrected by extracting appropriate additional feature quantities.
Vehicle platform attitude estimation method based on adaptive Kalman filter and sliding window least squares
Authors: Luo Jun , Fan Yongkun , Jiang Ping , He Zijian , Xu Peng , Li Xin , Yang Wei , Zhou Wenlin , Ma Sen 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Precision instrument measurement on an unstable platform is a difficult engineering problem, and the commonly used method is to compensate the instrument measurement results through platform attitude estimation. This paper derives a three-dimensional attitude estimation method based on inertial sensors including gyroscope and inclinometer. In order to deal with the inertial sensor noise, low-pass filter, Kalman filter, adaptive Kalman filter (AKF) and sliding window least squares (SWLS) are chosen to test the filtering performance from the frequency domain perspective. Practical filtering experiments indicate that AKF achieves the best filtering performance for gyroscope, while SWLS has the best filtering performance for inclinometer. Using AKF and SWLS to deal with inertial sensor outputs, the attitude estimation of the vehicle platform is realized. The proposed method is verified on vehicle-mounted electro-optical measurement equipment.
The nano-scale viscoelasticity using atomic force microscopy in liquid environment
Authors: Rajput Shatruhan Singh , Deopa Surya Pratap S , Yadav Jyoti , Ahlawat Vikhyaat , Talele Saurabh , Patil Shivprasad 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
We measured viscoelasticity of two nanoscale systems, single protein molecules and molecular layers of water confined between solid walls. In order to quantify the viscoelastic response of these nanoscale systems in liquid environment, the measurements are performed using two types of atomic force microscopes (AFMs), which employ different detection schemes to measure the cantilever response. We used a deflection detection scheme, available in commercial AFMs, that measures cantilever bending and a fibre-interferometer based detection which measures cantilever displacement. The hydrodynamics of the cantilever is modelled using Euler–Bernoulli equation with appropriate boundary conditions which accommodate both detection schemes. In a direct contradiction with many reports in the literature, the dissipation coefficient of a single octomer of titin I278 is found to be immeasurably low. The upper bound on the dissipation coefficient is 5 × 10−7 kg s−1, which is much lower than the reported values. The entropic stiffness of single unfolded domains of protein measured using both methods is in the range of 10 mN m−1. We show that in a conventional deflection detection measurement, the phase of the bending signal can be a primary source of artefacts in the dissipation estimates. It is recognized that the measurement of cantilever displacement, which has negligibly small phase lag due to hydrodynamics of the cantilever at low excitation frequencies, is better suited for ensuring artefact-free measurement of viscoelasticity compared to the measurement of the cantilever bending. Further, it was possible to measure dissipation in molecular layers of water confined between the tip and the substrate using fibre interferometer based AFM with similar experimental parameters. It confirms that the dissipation coefficient of a single I278 is below the detection limit of AFM. The results shed light on the discrepancy observed in the measured diffusional dynamics of protein collapse measured using Force spectroscopic techniques and single-molecule optical techniques.
Evaluation of continuous beam rescanning versus pulsed beam in pencil beam scanned proton therapy for lung tumours
Authors: Ribeiro Cássia O , Terpstra Jorvi , Janssens Guillaume , Langendijk Johannes A , Both Stefan , Muijs Christina T , Wijsman Robin , Knopf Antje , Meijers Arturs 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
The treatment of moving targets with pencil beam scanned proton therapy (PBS-PT) may rely on rescanning strategies to smooth out motion induced dosimetric disturbances. PBS-PT machines, such as Proteus®Plus (PPlus) and Proteus®One (POne), deliver a continuous or a pulsed beam, respectively. In PPlus, scaled (or no) rescanning can be applied, while POne implies intrinsic ‘rescanning’ due to its pulsed delivery. We investigated the efficacy of these PBS-PT delivery types for the treatment of lung tumours. In general, clinically acceptable plans were achieved, and PPlus and POne showed similar effectiveness.
Monte Carlo calculation of quality correction factors based on air kerma and absorbed dose to water in medium energy x-ray beams
Authors: Czarnecki Damian , Zink Klemens , Pimpinella Maria , Borbinha Jorge , Teles Pedro , Pinto Massimo 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Clinical dosimetry is typically performed using ion chambers calibrated in terms of absorbed dose to water. As primary measurement standards for this quantity for low and medium energy x-rays are available only since a few years, most dosimetry protocols for this photon energy range are still based on air kerma calibration. For that reason, data for beam quality correction factors

k

Q
,

Q
0

, necessary for the application of dose to water based protocols, are scarce in literature. Currently the international IAEA TRS-398 Code of Practice is under revision and new

k

Q
,

Q
0

factors for a large number of ion chambers will be introduced in the update of this protocol. Several international groups provided the IAEA with experimental and Monte Carlo based data for this revision. Within the European Community the EURAMET 16NRM03 RTNORM project was initiated for that purpose. In the present study, Monte Carlo based results for the beam quality correction factors in medium energy x-ray beams for six ion chambers applying different Monte Carlo codes are presented. Additionally, the perturbation factor p

Q
, necessary for the calculation of dose to water from an air kerma calibration coefficient, was determined.
The beam quality correction factor

k

Q
,

Q
0

for the chambers varied in the investigated energy range by about 4%–5%, and for five out of six chambers the data could be fitted by a simple logarithmic function, if the half-value-layer was used as the beam quality specifier. Corresponding data using different Monte Carlo codes for the same ion chamber agreed within 0.5%. For the perturbation factor p

Q
, the data did not obey a comparable simple relationship with the beam quality specifier. The variation of p

Q
for all ion chambers was in the range of 3%–4%. Compared to recently published data, our p

Q
data is around 1% larger, although the same Monte Carlo code has been used. Compared to the latest experimental data, there are even deviations in the range of 2%.
MACACO II test-beam with high energy photons
Authors: Ros García A , Barrio J , Etxebeste A , García López J , Jiménez-Ramos M C , Lacasta C , Muñoz E , Oliver J F , Roser J , Llosá G 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
The IRIS group at IFIC Valencia is developing a three-layer Compton camera for treatment monitoring in proton therapy. The system is composed of three detector planes, each made of a

L
a
B

r
3

monolithic crystal coupled to a SiPM array. Having obtained successful results with the first prototype (MACACO) that demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed technology, a second prototype (MACACO II) with improved performance has been developed, and is the subject of this work. The new system has an enhanced detector energy resolution which translates into a higher spatial resolution of the telescope. The image reconstruction method has also been improved with an accurate model of the sensitivity matrix. The device has been tested with high energy photons at the National Accelerator Centre (CNA, Seville). The tests involved a proton beam of 18 MeV impinging on a graphite target, to produce 4.4 MeV photons. Data were taken at different system positions of the telescope with the first detector at 65 and 160 mm from the target, and at different beam intensities. The measurements allowed successful reconstruction of the photon emission distribution at two target positions separated by 5 mm in different telescope configurations. This result was obtained both with data recorded in the first and second telescope planes (two interaction events) and, for the first time in beam experiments, with data recorded in the three planes (three interaction events).