bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vitamin A and Wound Healing
Authors: Zinder Roman , Cooley Rachel , Vlad Lucian G. , Molnar Joseph A. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractVitamin A is a general term for retinoids. Vitamin A deficiency leads to a variety of cutaneous manifestations. It also functions as a hormone through retinoic acid receptors altering the activity of multiple cell lines. Pancreatic vitamin A levels are critical for retinoid signaling and normal pancreatic control of glucose. Vitamin A deficiency is more common during infection, and supplementation reduces severe morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases. Vitamin A modulates activities at the cellular level and, via its interrelationship with hormones such as thyroid, insulin, and corticosteroids, has diffuse metabolic effects on the body. It plays an important role in all stages of wound healing. Vitamin A is known for its ability to stimulate epithelial growth, fibroblasts, granulation tissue, angiogenesis, collagen synthesis, epithelialization, and fibroplasia. Local (topical) and systemic supplementation with vitamin A has been proven to increase dermal collagen deposition. There are numerous animal studies and limited human studies regarding physiologic effect of vitamin A on acute or chronic wounds via systemic or topical administration. The most common use of vitamin A supplementation is to offset steroids’ effect. When considering supplementation, the potential benefits must be weighed against the risk of harm. Vitamin A toxicity can be critical and even result in death. The evidence for supplementation with vitamin A is currently limited to expert opinion and is not backed up by rigorous trials. There is an acute need for therapeutic trials with vitamin A supplementations.
Bounds approximation of limit‐state surface based on active learning Kriging model with truncated candidate region for random‐interval hybrid reliability analysis
Authors: Yang Xufeng , Wang Tai , Li Jincheng , Chen Zhang 
Published: November 2019

SummaryThis article reports a brand‐new methodology based on active learning Kriging model for hybrid reliability analysis (HRA) with both random and interval variables. Unlike probabilistic reliability analysis, the limit state surface (LSS) of HRA is projected into a banded region in the domain of random variables. Only approximating the bounds of the banded region is able to meet the accuracy requirement of HRA. In the proposed methodology, the HRA problem is innovatively transformed into a traditional system reliability analysis (SRA) problem with numerous failure modes. And then a basic idea from the field of SRA is borrowed into HRA, and the so‐called truncated candidate region (TCR) for HRA is proposed. In each iteration, the negligible region which probably does not influence the bounds estimation of failure probability is truncated from the original candidate region, and the optimal training point is chosen from the TCR. After several iterations, the TCR will converge to the true ideal candidate region, that is, the candidate region without the inner part of LSS, and the added training points will be driven to the region around the bounds of LSS. The performance of the proposed method is compared with relevant methods by five case studies.
Donors’ Responses to Profit Incentives in the Social Sector: The Entrepreneurial Orientation Reward and the Profit Penalty
Authors: Faulk Lewis , Pandey Sheela , Pandey Sanjay K. , Scott Kennedy Kristen 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThis study uses an online survey experiment to test whether the pairing of profit‐seeking with mission‐related programs in the social sector attracts or deters donations from individual donors. We test individuals’ response to three types of profit incentives allowed under current U.S. public policy: (1) non‐distributed profit to an organization, which is allowed for nonprofit entities; (2) profit to the organization's equity investors and owners, which is allowed under for‐profit social enterprise governance charters; and (3) profit to lending investors, which is introduced by social impact bonds, a pay‐for‐success policy tool. We test trust theory, under which profit incentives deter donors against entrepreneurial orientation (EO) theory, which suggests that donors are attracted to organizations that use innovative, market‐driven programs. Findings indicate support for both theories, but the support depends on how the specific profit incentive is structured. Donors support organizations that use profit‐generating social enterprise programs—but only when the profits are non‐distributable; donors’ support is significantly lower for social enterprises in which owners and equity investors may profit. Importantly however, this negative effect is not found for pay‐for‐success policy tools where lending investors, rather than equity investors and owners, receive profits.
Preparation and characterization of collagen/chitosan composites with silver nanoparticles
Authors: Sionkowska Alina , Walczak Maciej , Michalska‐Sionkowska Marta 
Published: November 2019

AbstractIn this work, thin films made from the blends of collagen and chitosan with silver nanoparticles were prepared and their properties, which are important for potential biomedical applications, were studied. Thin biopolimeric film was obtained by solvent evaporation from collagen/chitosan mixture containing silver nanoparticles. Mechanical properties of the composites were tested in dry condition using a mechanical testing machine. Microstructure of films was analyzed by Atomic Force Microscope. The surface properties were analyzed by contact angle measurements using hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids. In addition, antimicrobial properties of collagen/chitosan/silver composites were tested during the microbiological test. It was found that the addition of silver nanoparticles to collagen/chitosan film affects several of its properties. Microbiological studies showed that obtained collagen/chitosan/silver nanoparticles materials possess bacteriostatic activity against Staphylococcus aureus.
Effect of particle type and its surface characteristics on the mechanical properties of particle‐filled polymer composite for precision machine tools
Authors: Yin Jicai , Meng Xiaojun , Bian Bingchuan , Zhang Jianhua , Yin Yingyue 
Published: November 2019

AbstractFor excellent damping properties, polymer composite (PC) has drawn particular attention in the field of modern ultra‐precision machining (UPM). However, applications of PC are restricted due to its inferior mechanical strength. In this paper, different granite coarse aggregate, different fine aggregate, and different filler were added into PC to increase its mechanical strength. The effects of coarse aggregate type, fine aggregate type, filler type on the mechanical strength of particle‐filled polymer composite (PFPC) were investigated systematically. Experimental results show that the best mechanical strength was obtained when the coarse aggregate type is Jinan clay granite, the fine aggregate is Jinan clay granite, and the filler is fly ash (FA). Results also show that the compressive strength of PFPC was closely correlated with the compressive strength of aggregate rock, and the compressive strength of PFPC increases with the increasing compressive strength of the aggregate rock. In order to further improve the mechanical strength of PFPC, the aggregate was subsequently treated by ultrasonication, direct mixing silanization, nebulizing silanization, macerating silanization. And four types of PFPC were obtained, that is, U‐PFPC, D‐PFPC, N‐PFPC, M‐PFPC, respectively. Among these four types of PFPC, the M‐PFPC exhibited the best mechanical strength. And the compressive strength and flexural strength of M‐PFPC are 146.97 MPa and 37.33 MPa, respectively; increased by 8.31% and 13.53% compared with PFPC produced by standard pouring technologies. In addition, the mechanism of the influence of the aggregate whose surfaces were treated on the mechanical strength of PFPC was revealed by scanning electron microscopy and contact angle test. The test results show that the M‐PFPC exhibited the favorable interface bond. This study was of great significance to increase the mechanical properties of PC and improve its application in precision machine tools.
Performance and enhancement of the LZerD protein assembly pipeline in CAPRI 38‐46
Authors: Christoffer Charles , Terashi Genki , Shin Woong‐Hee , Aderinwale Tunde , Maddhuri Venkata Subramaniya Sai Raghavendra , Peterson Lenna , Verburgt Jacob , Kihara Daisuke 
Published: November 2019

AbstractWe report the performance of the protein docking prediction pipeline of our group and the results for Critical Assessment of Prediction of Interactions (CAPRI) rounds 38‐46. The pipeline integrates programs developed in our group as well as other existing scoring functions. The core of the pipeline is the LZerD protein‐protein docking algorithm. If templates of the target complex are not found in PDB, the first step of our docking prediction pipeline is to run LZerD for a query protein pair. Meanwhile, in the case of human group prediction, we survey the literature to find information that can guide the modeling, such as protein‐protein interface information. In addition to any literature information and binding residue prediction, generated docking decoys were selected by a rank aggregation of statistical scoring functions. The top 10 decoys were relaxed by a short molecular dynamics simulation before submission to remove atom clashes and improve side‐chain conformations. In these CAPRI rounds, our group, particularly the LZerD server, showed robust performance. On the other hand, there are failed cases where some other groups were successful. To understand weaknesses of our pipeline, we analyzed sources of errors for failed targets. Since we noted that structure refinement is a step that needs improvement, we newly performed a comparative study of several refinement approaches. Finally, we show several examples that illustrate successful and unsuccessful cases by our group.
Enhanced sampling of protein conformational states for dynamic cross‐docking within the protein‐protein docking server SwarmDock
Authors: Torchala Mieczyslaw , Gerguri Tereza , Chaleil Raphael A. G. , Gordon Patrick , Russell Francis , Keshani Miriam , Bates Paul A. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe formation of specific protein‐protein interactions is often a key to a protein's function. During complex formation, each protein component will undergo a change in the conformational state, for some these changes are relatively small and reside primarily at the sidechain level; however, others may display notable backbone adjustments. One of the classic problems in the protein‐docking field is to be able to a priori predict the extent of such conformational changes. In this work, we investigated three protocols to find the most suitable input structure conformations for cross‐docking, including a robust sampling approach in normal mode space. Counterintuitively, knowledge of the theoretically best combination of normal modes for unbound‐bound transitions does not always lead to the best results. We used a novel spatial partitioning library, Aether Engine (see Supplementary Materials), to efficiently search the conformational states of 56 receptor/ligand pairs, including a recent CAPRI target, in a systematic manner and selected diverse conformations as input to our automated docking server, SwarmDock, a server that allows moderate conformational adjustments during the docking process. In essence, here we present a dynamic cross‐docking protocol, which when benchmarked against the simpler approach of just docking the unbound components shows a 10% uplift in the quality of the top docking pose.
Crystal structure of pantoate kinase from Thermococcus kodakarensis
Authors: Kita Akiko , Kishimoto Asako , Shimosaka Takahiro , Tomita Hiroya , Yokooji Yuusuke , Imanaka Tadayuki , Atomi Haruyuki , Miki Kunio 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe coenzyme A biosynthesis pathways in most archaea involve two unique enzymes, pantoate kinase and phosphopantothenate synthetase, to convert pantoate to 4′‐phosphopantothenate. Here, we report the first crystal structure of pantoate kinase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus kodakarensis and its complex with ATP and a magnesium ion. The electron density for the adenosine moiety of ATP was very weak, which most likely relates to its broad nucleotide specificity. Based on the structure of the active site that contains a glycerol molecule, the pantoate binding site and the roles of the highly conserved residues are suggested.
Dopamine Loaded SiO2 Coated Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles: A New Anticancer Agent in pH‐Dependent Drug Delivery
Authors: Dey Chaitali , Das Arpita , Goswami Madhuri Mandal 
Published: November 2019

AbstractIn this present study, we have shown dopamine acts as very good agent in killing cancer cells with very high rate. We have used silica coated iron oxide magnetic particles as dopamine drug delivery agent. We have synthesized iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), and coated it with silicon dioxide (SiO2), then loaded it with dopamine (DA) which has been used here as anticancer drug. Here a significant improvement was found in case of drug release under acidic pH than normal blood pH. The MNPs are characterized using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive Analysis of X‐rays (EDAX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) to confirm its structural, morphological and magnetic properties. Particles after characterization were involved in investigation of DA drug release by altering pH for better treatment of cancer. The results are very important and promising.
The effects of multimarket contact on partner selection for technology cooperation
Authors: Ryu Wonsang , Reuer Jeffrey J. , Brush Thomas H. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractResearch summaryWe investigate how multimarket contact between prospective partners affects their partner selection for technology cooperation. Drawing on the multimarket competition literature, we argue that multimarket contact generates mutual forbearance from opportunism by enabling broad retaliation across the shared markets against opportunism. As a result, multimarket contact between potential partners makes them prefer each other as partners for technology cooperation. We also claim that this positive effect of multimarket contact on the formation of cooperative agreements is more pronounced when the partners have reciprocal contacts rather than nonreciprocal ones.Managerial summaryThis article explains one of the reasons why rival firms can be good partners to each other for technology cooperation. Managers might conjecture that firms tend to avoid partnering with rival firms for R&D because they may be more opportunistic than those without product market overlap. However, our theory suggests a counter‐intuitive argument that market overlap between partners rather deters them from engaging in opportunistic behaviors because market overlap enables them to broadly retaliate against such behaviors across the shared product markets. Consistent with this idea, our empirical results show that global top 200 biopharmaceutical companies are more likely to choose each other for technology cooperation as they share more product markets and this tendency is reinforced when their important markets are different.
Effect of Hydroxyapatite Nanorods on the Fate of Human Adipose‐Derived Stem Cells Assessed In Situ at the Single Cell Level with a High‐Throughput, Real‐Time Microfluidic Chip
Authors: Hao Min , He Jianlong , Wang Chunhua , Wang Chao , Ma Baojin , Zhang Shan , Duan Jiazhi , Liu Feng , Zhang Yu , Han Lin , Liu Hong , Sang Yuanhua 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe fate of stem cells at the single cell level with limited communication with other cells is still unknown due to the lack of an efficient tool for highly accurate molecular detection. Moreover, the conditional sensitivity of biological experiments requires a sufficient number of parallel experiments to support a conclusion. In this work, a microfluidic single cell chip is designed for use with a protein chip to investigate the effect of hydroxyapatite (HAp) on the osteogenic differentiation of human adipose‐derived stem cells (hADSCs) in situ at the single cell level. By successfully detecting secretory proteins in situ, it is found that the HAp nanorods enhance osteogenic differentiation at the single cell level. In the chip, the single cell seeding approach confirms the osteogenic differentiation of the hADSCs, which endocytoses HAp, by reducing the influence of the factors secreted by neighboring differentiating cells. Most importantly, more than 7000 microchambers provide a sufficient number of parallel experiments for statistical analysis, which ensure a high level of repeatability of the HAp nanorod‐induced osteogenic differentiation. The microfluidic chip comprising single cell culture microchambers with in situ detection capability is a promising tool for research on cell behavior or cell fate at the single cell level.
A security feature framework for programming languages to minimize application layer vulnerabilities
Authors: Khwaja Amir A. , Murtaza Muniba , Ahmed Hafiz F. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractPervasiveness of Internet‐based applications and computing devices has increased cybersecurity threats for wide range of users. Studies have shown that application security flaws have their roots in programming languages used for application development. Some vulnerabilities are due to programmer's negligence and others are due to the vulnerabilities present in the programming languages and their libraries. Developers may not be aware of the existing flaws in the programming languages and do not have time to take necessary measures as they develop applications. To cope with the challenge, this article proposes a security feature framework for programming languages to understand various exploitations and possible mitigations in programming languages. This security feature framework can be used to evaluate existing programming languages for potential vulnerabilities, level of security support, and the language features needed to mitigate these vulnerabilities. Moreover, language designers may use this framework as a guide to ensure that the language being designed has necessary and sufficient security feature set. The proposed security feature framework is then applied to several popular programming languages to evaluate the level of security feature coverage and gaps in these languages along with some recommendations on how to address these gaps.
Micromechanisms of leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades: X‐ray tomography analysis and computational studies
Authors: Mishnaevsky Leon , Fæster Søren , Mikkelsen Lars P. , Kusano Yukihiro , Bech Jakob Ilsted 
Published: November 2019

AbstractMicromechanisms of leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades are studied with the use of X‐ray tomography and computational micromechanics simulations. Computational unit cell micromechanical models of the coatings taking into account their microscale and nanoscale structures have been developed and compared with microscopy studies. It was observed that the heterogeneities, particles, and voids in the protective coatings have critical effect on the crack initiation in the coatings under multiple liquid impact. The damage criterion for the formation of initial defects in the top coating is determined, and it is maximum principal stress criterion. Porosity or stiff particles in the coatings change the damage initiation sites, moving it from the contact surface to the pores or particles closest to the surface. Increasing the thickness of the polymer coatings allows reducing the stress amplitude, thus delaying the damage.
Nanotechnology platforms for cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Yang Zhaogang , Ma Yifan , Zhao Hai , Yuan Yuan , Kim Betty Y. S. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractVarious cancer therapies have advanced remarkably over the past decade. Unlike the direct therapeutic targeting of tumor cells, cancer immunotherapy is a new strategy that boosts the host's immune system to detect specific cancer cells for efficient elimination. Nanoparticles incorporating immunomodulatory agents can activate immune cells and modulate the tumor microenvironment to enhance antitumor immunity. Such nanoparticle‐based cancer immunotherapies have received considerable attention and have been extensively studied in recent years. This review thus focuses on nanoparticle‐based platforms (especially naturally derived nanoparticles and synthetic nanoparticles) utilized in recent advances; summarizes delivery systems that incorporate various immune‐modulating agents, including peptides and nucleic acids, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other small immunostimulating agents; and introduces combinational cancer immunotherapy with nanoparticles, especially nanoparticle‐based photo‐immunotherapy and nanoparticle‐based chemo‐immunotherapy. Undoubtedly, the recent studies introduced in this review prove that nanoparticle‐incorporated cancer immunotherapy is a highly promising treatment modality for patients with cancer. Nonetheless further research is needed to solve safety concerns and improve efficacy of nanoplatform‐based cancer immunotherapy for future clinical application.This article is categorized under:
Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease
Free Will & Empirical Arguments for Epiphenomenalism
Authors: Elzein Nadine 
Published: November 2019

AbstractWhile philosophers have worried about mental causation for centuries, worries about the causal relevance of conscious phenomena are also increasingly featuring in neuroscientific literature. Neuroscientists have regarded the threat of epiphenomenalism as interesting primarily because they have supposed that it entails free will scepticism. However, the steps that get us from a premise about the causal irrelevance of conscious phenomena to a conclusion about free will are not entirely clear. In fact, if we examine popular philosophical accounts of free will, we find, for the most part, nothing to suggest that free will is inconsistent with the presence of unconscious neural precursors to choices. It is only if we adopt highly non-naturalistic assumptions about the mind (e.g. if we embrace Cartesian dualism and locate free choice in the non-physical realm) that it seems plausible to suppose that the neuroscientific data generates a threat to free will.
Out of Searching Comes New Vibrance
Authors: daVanport Sharon 
Published: November 2019

AbstractSharon daVanport created the Autism Women’s Network (now known as the Autistic Women and Non-Binary Network, but still referred to by the original acronym: AWN, awnnetwork.org) in 2009. They channeled their curiosities and disappointments into something generative: an intersectional autistic organization. AWN sees itself as part of the wider disability rights movement. They see their quest to be to fight for autistic rights, and appreciate their place as being part of the greater civil rights movement for disabled people.