bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Burden of Neurosarcoidosis: Essential Approaches to Early Diagnosis and Treatment
Authors: Voortman Mareye , Stern Barney J. , Saketkoo Lesley Ann , Drent Marjolein 
Published: August 2020

AbstractNeurosarcoidosis (NS) is an often severe, destructive manifestation with a likely under-reported prevalence of 5 to 15% of sarcoidosis cases, and in its active phase demands timely treatment intervention. Clinical signs and symptoms of NS are variable and wide-ranging, depending on anatomical involvement. Cranial nerve dysfunction, cerebrospinal parenchymal disease, aseptic meningitis, and leptomeningeal disease are the most commonly recognized manifestations. However, non-organ-specific potentially neurologically driven symptoms, such as fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and small fiber neuropathy, appear frequently.Heterogeneous clinical presentations and absence of any single conclusive test or biomarker render NS, and sarcoidosis itself, a challenging definitive diagnosis. Clinical suspicion of NS warrants a thorough systemic and neurologic evaluation hopefully resulting in supportive extraneural physical exam and/or tissue findings. Treatment targets the severity of the manifestation, with careful discernment of whether NS reflects active potentially reversible inflammatory granulomatous disease versus inactive postinflammatory damage whereby functional impairment is unlikely to be pharmacologically responsive. Non-organ-specific symptoms are poorly understood, challenging in deciphering reversibility and often identified too late to respond to conventional immunosuppressive/pharmacological treatment. Physical therapy, coping strategies, and stress reduction may benefit patients with all disease activity levels of NS.This publication provides an approach to screening, diagnosis, disease activity discernment, and pharmacological as well as nonpharmacological treatment interventions to reduce disability and protect health-related quality of life in NS.
Radiographic and Histopathologic Features in Sarcoidosis: A Pictorial Display
Authors: Shaikh Faisal , Abtin Fereidoun G. , Lau Ryan , Saggar Rajan , Belperio John A. , Lynch Joseph P. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractSarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatous disorder that can affect virtually any organ. However, pulmonary and thoracic lymph node involvement predominates; abnormalities on chest radiographs are present in 80 to 90% of patients with sarcoidosis. High-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) scans are superior to chest X-rays in assessing extent of disease, and some CT features may discriminate an active inflammatory component (which may be amenable to therapy) from fibrosis (for which therapy is not indicated). Typical findings on HRCT include micronodules, perilymphatic and bronchocentric distribution, perihilar opacities, and varying degrees of fibrosis. Less common findings on CT include mass-like or alveolar opacities, miliary opacities, mosaic attenuation, honeycomb cysts, and cavitation. With progressive disease, fibrosis, architectural distortion, upper lobe volume loss with hilar retraction, coarse linear bands, cysts, and bullae may be observed. We discuss the salient CT findings in patients with sarcoidosis (with a major focus on pulmonary features) and present classical radiographic and histopathological images of a few extrapulmonary sites.
Health-Enabling Technologies for Telerehabilitation of the Shoulder: A Feasibility and User Acceptance Study
Authors: Steiner Bianca , Elgert Lena , Saalfeld Birgit , Schwartze Jonas , Borrmann Horst Peter , Kobelt-Pönicke Axel , Figlewicz Andreas , Kasprowski Detlev , Thiel Michael , Kreikebohm Ralf , Haux Reinhold , Wolf Klaus-Hendrik 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Background After discharge from a rehabilitation center the continuation of therapy is necessary to secure already achieved healing progress and sustain (re-)integration into working life. To this end, home-based exercise programs are frequently prescribed. However, many patients do not perform their exercises as frequently as prescribed or even with incorrect movements. The telerehabilitation system AGT-Reha was developed to support patients with shoulder diseases during their home-based aftercare rehabilitation.
Objectives The presented pilot study AGT-Reha-P2 evaluates the technical feasibility and user acceptance of the home-based telerehabilitation system AGT-Reha.
Methods A nonblinded, nonrandomized exploratory feasibility study was conducted over a 2-year period in patients' homes. Twelve patients completed a 3-month telerehabilitation exercise program with AGT-Reha. Primary outcome measures are the satisfying technical functionality and user acceptance assessed by technical parameters, structured interviews, and a four-dimensional questionnaire. Secondary endpoints are the medical rehabilitation success measured by the active range of motion and the shoulder function (pain and disability) assessed by employing the Neutral-0 Method and the standardized questionnaire “Shoulder Pain and Disability Index” (SPADI), respectively. To prepare an efficacy trial, various standardized questionnaires were included in the study to measure ability to work, capacity to work, and subjective prognosis of work capacity. The participants have been assessed at three measurement points: prebaseline (admission to rehabilitation center), baseline (discharge from rehabilitation center), and posttherapy.
Results Six participants used the first version of AGT-Reha, while six other patients used an improved version. Despite minor technical problems, all participants successfully trained on their own with AGT-Reha at home. On average, participants trained at least once per day during their training period. Five of the 12 participants showed clinically relevant improvements of shoulder function (improved SPADI score > 11). The work-related parameters suggested a positive impact. All participants would recommend the system, ten participants would likely reuse it, and seven participants would have wanted to continue their use after 3 months.
Conclusion The findings show that home-based training with AGT-Reha is feasible and well accepted. Outcomes of SPADI indicate the effectiveness of aftercare with AGT-Reha. A controlled clinical trial to test this hypothesis will be conducted with a larger number of participants.
Evaluation of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation in Critically Ill Pediatric Hemato-oncology Patients with Septic Shock
Authors: Jhang Won Kyoung , Park Seong Jong 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Background Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a serious complication in septic shock. This study aimed to evaluate DIC and associated clinical outcomes using the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) and modified ISTH overt DIC scores in critically ill pediatric hemato-oncology patients with septic shock.
Methods Pediatric hemato-oncology patients with septic shock admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a tertiary children's hospital between January 2013 and February 2020 were included. We modified the ISTH overt DIC score by eliminating the platelet domain and compared the performances of the ISTH and the modified ISTH overt DIC scores in DIC diagnosis and PICU mortality prediction of these patients.
Results DIC was diagnosed in 56.4 and 38.5% of patients by ISTH and modified ISTH overt DIC scores, respectively. Patients with DIC showed a higher pediatric risk of mortality (PRISM) III, pediatric sequential organ failure assessment (pSOFA) scores, and PICU mortality than those without DIC (p < 0.05). The modified ISTH overt DIC score was an independent prognostic factor for PICU mortality and showed a larger area under the receiver operating characteristic curve than the ISTH overt DIC score (0.687 vs. 0.695). Addition of the DIC diagnosis improved the performance of PRISM III in predicting PICU mortality.
Conclusion Critically ill pediatric hemato-oncology patients with septic shock frequently experience DIC, which was adequately evaluated by both ISTH and modified ISTH overt DIC scores. Considering the characteristics of these patients, the modified ISTH overt DIC score may be a promising prognostic factor for clinical outcomes in these critically ill pediatric patients.
Novel Classification of Posttraumatic Ear Deformities and its Surgical Management
Authors: Kumar Umesh , Jain P. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Background Classification of posttraumatic ear deformities and its reconstruction is an uphill task for a reconstructive surgeon as they present in various combinations. In our study, we have described ear deformity as per a new classification and reconstructed the ear accordingly.
Method Posttraumatic ear deformity was described under the following four headings: (a) zone of defect, (b) size of defect, (c) missing components, and (d) condition of surrounding skin. Twenty-six posttraumatic ear deformities were operated using postauricular skin flap (14), temporoparietal fascial (TPF) flaps (8), preauricular skin flap (1), intralesional excision (2), and primary closure with chondrocutaneous advancement in one patient. Costal cartilage was used for reconstruction of framework wherever required. Framework elevation was done 4 to 6 months postoperatively.
Results Posttraumatic ear deformity was more common in males. Bite injury and road traffic accidents were the common causes. Zones I, II and III were most frequently involved. Four patients complained about size, contour, and projection of reconstructed ear. Three patients were not satisfied by the appearance of junction between reconstructed and residual ear. Four patients in whom the reconstruction was done with TPF, costal cartilage, and thin (SSG) split skin grafts complained of hyperpigmentation of reconstructed ear.
Conclusion Classification of posttraumatic ear deformity and its reconstruction is a surgical challenge. Unscarred postauricular skin and TPF flaps are the workhorse flaps for reconstruction of acquired ear deformities. Our classification helps in describing the defect, documenting it, planning reconstruction, and aiding in assessing postoperative outcomes.
Determinants of Small-Scale Farmers’ Intention to Use Smartphones for Generating Agricultural Knowledge in Developing Countries: Evidence from Rural India
Authors: Landmann Dirk , Lagerkvist Carl-Johan , Otter Verena 
Published: August 2020

AbstractAccess to and usage of smartphones for agricultural purposes amongst small-scale farmers in rural areas of developing countries is still limited. Smartphones may provide an opportunity to develop farmers’ capacities with specific applications offering fast access to continually updated and reliable information. This study develops a framework to investigate the cognitive and affective behavioural drivers of smallholder farmers´ intention to use a smartphone in a developing country context. For this, survey data was collected from 664 randomly selected small-scale farmers in Bihar State, India in 2016. The analysis included a partial least square estimation of the behavioural model. The results confirm positive influences on the intention to use a smartphone for agricultural purposes through subjective norms, attitude, self-control, as well as positive and negative anticipated emotions. There is no evidence that negative anticipated emotions related to failure outweighed other factors. These results extend the academic literature with new conceptual insights and provide application-oriented implications for stakeholders, such as NGOs, extension services and research institutes.
An investigation into utterance-fluency patterns of advanced LL bilinguals
Authors: García-Amaya Lorenzo 
Published: August 2020

AbstractAdult late-LLlearners are the main source of participants for research on utterance fluency. Although there are ample opportunities to study these learners, bilinguals who come from a more diverse background are under-researched. This paper investigates the effects of long-term bilingualism on the second-language fluency patterns of a community of LL-Afrikaans/LL-Spanish bilinguals residing in Patagonia, Argentina. These third-generation bilinguals are dominant in their LLand are undergoing LLattrition. The acoustic analysis draws from a corpus of Spanish sociolinguistic interviews obtained from the bilinguals, who were compared to Spanish monolinguals on speed, breakdown, and repair fluency. For some measures (mean-syllable duration and phonation-time ratio), the bilinguals performed similarly to the Spanish monolinguals, whereas for other measures the results were mixed: the bilinguals produced less filled pauses, but used longer silent pauses and more reformulations, than the monolinguals. These outcomes are theorized within current models of LL-speech production.
Linguists on the move in the global landscape?
Authors: Anderson Ilajna P. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractThis paper focuses on the sociolinguistic effects of tightening job markets in applied linguistics, and situates the discussion within the time-space compression of late modernist capitalist enterprises using frameworks in the sociolinguistics of mobility, political economy and raciolinguistics. The paper focuses on single-utterance speech acts of reservation conspicuously invoked to frame the discourse of dissent on the part of committee members in high-stakes interview encounters. Focusing on locally-sourced data collected in a publicly-funded, U.S. university, the paper examines how macro-contexts of skill oversaturation in the job market serve to frame enactments of stance in these high-stakes interactional microcosms while pointing to novel epistemological trending in complexity, conviviality and cosmopolitan encounter.
Ad hoc solutions to estimating pathway non-compliance rates using imperfect and incomplete information.
Authors: Robinson A. P. , Chisholm M. , Mudford R. , Maillardet R. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract

This chapter provides ad hoc tools to assist in estimating the non-compliance rate of biosecurity risk material (BRM) in a given pathway when certain data are unavailable. We use the inspection of international mail as a case study. Estimating the noncompliance rate of a pathway is essential in order to assess the risk of the environment, and to make defensible decisions about the allocation of inspection effort. Counts of articles inspected and articles found to have BRM are necessary for estimating the pathway non-compliance rate, and inspection counts by cohort (sub-pathway) are needed in order to perform profiling within a pathway, for example, identifying and prioritizing high-risk countries of origin for mail articles. Detailed information is usually kept on non-compliant mail articles that have been intercepted, but sometimes not on the articles that were inspected and passed, which is needed to report the inspection effort undertaken. Hence, the inspection effort by cohort may be unknown. In many pathways, endpoint surveys are performed after all inspection activity has been completed in order to estimate the efficacy of the inspection. We can estimate the number of mail articles of each cohort that undergo each type of inspection just using the endpoint survey. However, extra information is usually available, such as the totals by cohort or by inspection method, which could make the estimate of the number of mail articles more accurate. We present and demonstrate raking, which is a simple statistical tool that improves the estimates of cohort counts that arise from a survey using the known marginal totals of the process. The endpoint survey is also used for estimating the amount of undetected non-compliance, called leakage, by cohort, which is needed for profiling. However, leakage estimates by cohorts are usually variable because sample sizes are low. We demonstrate an empirical Bayes approach for reducing the variability of leakage estimates, and other ad hoc solutions. Finally, we suggest the use of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and leakage curves to assess the effect of these and other approaches upon the inspectorate's performance.
Towards reliable mapping of biosecurity risk: incorporating uncertainty and decision makers' risk aversion.
Authors: Yemshanov D. , Koch F. H. , Ducey M. , Haack R. A. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract

Pest risk maps are an important source of decision support when devising strategies to minimize introductions of invasive organisms and mitigate their impacts. When possible management responses to an invader include costly or socially sensitive activities, decision makers tend to follow a more certain (i.e. risk-averse) course of action. We present a new mapping technique that assesses pest invasion risk from the perspective of a risk-averse decision maker. We demonstrate the approach by evaluating the likelihood that an invasive forest pest will be transported to one of the continental US states or Canadian provinces in infested firewood that may be carried by visitors to US federal campgrounds. We test the impact of the risk aversion assumption using distributions of plausible pest arrival scenarios generated with a geographically explicit model developed from data documenting camper travel across the study area. Next, we prioritize regions of high and low pest arrival risk via application of two stochastic ordering techniques that employ, respectively, first- and second-degree stochastic dominance rules, the latter of which incorporates the notion of risk aversion. We then identify regions in the study area where incorporating risk aversion changes a region's pest risk value considerably. While both methods identified similar areas of highest and lowest risk, they differed in how they demarcated moderate-risk areas. Each method provides a tractable way to incorporate decision-making preferences into final risk estimates, and thus helps to better align these estimates with particular decision-making scenarios about an organism of concern. Overall, incorporation of risk aversion helps to refine the set of locations that could be confidently targeted for costly inspections and outreach activities.
Using Bayesian networks to model surveillance in complex plant and animal health systems.
Authors: Johnson S. , Mengersen K. , Ormsby M. , Whittle P. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract

In this chapter we consider biosecurity surveillance as part of a complex system comprising many different biological, environmental and human factors and their interactions. Modelling and analysis of surveillance strategies should take into account these complexities, and also facilitate the use and integration of the many types of different information that can provide insight into the system as a whole. After a brief discussion of a range of options, we focus on Bayesian networks for representing such complex systems. We summarize the features of Bayesian networks and describe these in the context of surveillance.
The war and the economy: the gradual destruction of Libya
Authors: Capasso Matteo 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACT
This article questions dominant analyses about Libya’s present ‘war economy’ and ‘statelessness’, which are often deployed to explain the country’s ongoing destruction. By reinterpreting the history of the past as the failure of Libya to implement neoliberal reforms, these accounts trivialise its anti-imperialist history. The article reflects on the role that war and militarism play in the US-led imperialist structure, tracing the gradual unmaking of Libya from the progressive revolutionary era, towards its transformation into a comprador state and an outpost for global class war. In doing so, it moves the focus away from Libya’s ‘war economy’ to examine the war and the economy, linking Libya’s fate to the geo-economic and geopolitical forces at the core of US-led imperialism.
Microstructural, Microhardness and tribological analysis of cooling-assisted friction stir processing of high-entropy alloy particles reinforced aluminum alloy surface composites
Authors: Yang Xiao , Zhang Hongxia , Cheng Buyun , Liu Yongquan , Yan Zhifeng , Dong Peng , Wang Wenxian 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
High-entropy alloy (HEA) is a promising reinforcing material for aluminium alloys. In this work, cooling-assisted friction stir processing was applied to produce aluminium alloy surface composites reinforced with HEA particles. The effects of the volume fraction of HEA particles on the microstructure, microhardness and tribological properties were studied. The fabricated composites had uniformly distributed HEA particles and showed an excellent interfacial bonding between HEA particles and the matrix. The grain size of the fabricated composites was more refined than that of the base metal, and the grain sizes of the composites with 5 vol.%, 10 vol.% and 15 vol.% HEA particles were refined from a range of 2–15 μm of aluminium matrix to 1.8, 1.4 and 1.1 μm, respectively. The increased volume fraction of HEA particles caused an improvement in hardness and wear resistance. The composites reinforced with 15 vol.% HEA particles showed a 65.9% increase in hardness, a 43.0% reduction in wear rate and a 57.8% reduction in wear loss compared with those of the base metal. The wear mechanism was transformed from adhesive wear in the base metal to abrasive wear in Al–15 vol.% HEA surface composites.
Mechanical properties and tribological behaviors of yttria-zirconia ceramics with additions of graphene oxide by hot-press sintering for dental implants
Authors: Zhang Cheng , Jiang Zhaoliang , Zhao Li 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Yttria-zirconia (3Y-ZrO2) ceramics are widely used in orthopedic implants and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attract the public attention due to their unique properties. To investigate the effect of graphene oxide (GO) concentrations on the mechanical properties and tribological behaviors of 3Y-ZrO2 for dental implants, 3Y-ZrO2/GO composites were prepared by hot-press sintering. GO was uniformly distributed in 3Y-ZrO2 and the composites showed good mechanical properties and tribological behaviors with suitable GO concentration. A moderate content in ZG3 and ZG2 (the ceramic with 0.15 wt.% and 0.1 wt.% GO) improved the flexural strength and fracture toughness up to 200% and 40.9%, respectively, compared to 3Y-ZrO2. Microstructural surfaces presented crack deflection, crack bridging, and GO put-out in the composites. In addition, a lower or higher proportion of GO destroyed overall structures of ZG1 (the ceramic with 0.05 wt.% GO) and ZG4 (the ceramic with 0.2 wt.% GO). These not only reduced the mechanical performances, but also resulted to an increase in surface roughness. Besides, Worn surfaces showed micro-ploughing and plastic deformation were dominant wear mechanisms in the ZG0 (the ceramic without GO), however, the addition of GO transformed the wear from a severe state to mild owing to self-lubricating property. Thus, friction coefficient, wear rate and surface roughness of ZG3 were reduced to the least among all the composites.
Implementation of optical OR and NOR gates using Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Authors: Alizadeh Amir Hamid , Rashidi Attena 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
The ever increasing growth of data and the need for data transmission emphasizes the requirement of full-optical telecommunication. Therefore, it seems critical to utilize optical integrated circuits, including optical gates, optical dividers, optical converters, etc. In this regard, we introduce a new structure for OR/NOR logical gate. The OR/NOR logical gate is simulated by applying Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) where switching between bar and cross states is implemented by using the electro-optic properties of Lithium Niobate and coupling mode theory. Two different designs for the OR/NOR basic gate are simulated by OptiBPM software. Simulation results show that designed gates implement OR/NOR logical gate completely acceptable. The advantage of these designed gates is that waveguides have smaller length and do not pass above each other; thereby it would be possible to do layering by using fewer layers. Also, results show that output intensity in ‘1’ logic state is more than 95% of input light and in ‘0’ logic state, is less than 5% of the input light.