bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
High maternal folic acid intake around conception alters mouse blastocyst lineage allocation and expression of key developmental regulatory genes
Authors: Penailillo R. S. , Eckert J. J. , Burton M. A. , Burdge G. C. , Fleming T. P. , Lillycrop K. A. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractFolate, a cofactor for the supply of one‐carbon groups, is required by epigenetic processes to regulate cell lineage determination during development. The intake of folic acid (FA), the synthetic form of folate, has increased significantly over the past decade, but the effects of high periconceptional FA intake on cell lineage determination in the early embryo remains unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of maternal high FA (HFA) intake on blastocyst development and expression of key regulatory genes. C57BL/6 adult female mice were fed either Control diet (1 mg FA) for 4 weeks before conception and during the preimplantation period (Con‐Con); Control diet for 4 weeks preconception, followed by HFA (5 mg FA) diet during preimplantation (Con‐HFA); or HFA diet for 4 weeks preconception and during preimplantation (HFA‐HFA). At E3.5, blastocyst cell number, protein, and mRNA expression were measured. In HFA‐HFA blastocysts, trophectoderm cell numbers and expression of CDX2, Oct‐4, and Nanog were reduced compared with Con‐Con blastocysts; Con‐HFA blastocysts showed lower CDX2 and Oct‐4 expression than Con‐Con blastocysts. These findings suggest periconceptional HFA intake induces changes in key regulators of embryo morphogenesis with potential implications for subsequent development.
Expression and function of interleukin‐1β is required for hamster blastocyst hatching: Involvement of hatching‐associated cathepsin proteases
Authors: Pathak Madhulika , Vani Venkatappa , Seshagiri Polani B. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn mammals, the phenomenon of blastocyst hatching is an essential prerequisite for successful implantation. Blastocyst hatching is regulated by various molecules. Of them, cytokines, expressed by preimplantation embryos, are thought to be functionally important in blastocyst development and hatching, but their mechanistic roles are not clearly understood. Here, we examined the involvement of two cytokines, namely, interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) and its natural antagonist, IL‐1ra, in blastocyst hatching in the golden hamster. Blastocysts expressed both cytokines and their receptor, IL‐1rt1. Supplementation of IL‐1β to cultured eight‐cell embryos improved blastocyst hatching (84.1% ± 4.2% vs. 66.6% ± 6.8%; treated vs. control). This improvement was diminished by IL‐1ra treatment (23.6% ± 12.9% vs. 76.4% ± 12.9%; treated vs. control). Interestingly, IL‐1β‐treated embryos showed increased messenger RNA expression of zonalytic proteases, that is, cathepsin‐L and ‐B by 1.9 ± 0.5‐ and 3.5 ± 0.1‐folds, respectively. This was accompanied by their increased enzyme activities; cathepsin‐L by 2.8 ± 0.7 fold and ‐B by 2.3 ± 0.7‐fold. Strikingly, proteases and IL‐1β were intensely colocalized to trophectodermal projections of hatching blastocysts. This is the first report to show the involvement of embryonic IL‐1β in regulating hatching‐associated proteases required for blastocyst hatching.
The collection and reporting of measures of deprivation in musculoskeletal research: An international survey study
Authors: Smith Toby O. , Heelas Leila , Buck Jackie , Hanson Sarah 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe reporting of deprivation measures is typically poor in musculoskeletal (MSK) research.AimsTo explore MSK researcher's perspectives on the deprivation indices and measures that are, or could be, collected and reported in their studies, and potential barriers and facilitators to collecting these data.Materials & MethodsAn online international survey was undertaken to determine knowledge, use and reporting of deprivation indices and measures by MSK researchers and the factors which influence this. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics.Results42 respondents from 16 countries completed the survey. The index of multiple deprivation was the most well‐known measure (26%) although only 17% had reported data from this index. Most commonly reported markers of deprivation were: employment (60%), education (60%) and ethnicity (50%). Most common barriers to collecting these data included: uncertainty on perceived importance of deprivation measures (79%), what should be collected (71%), and concerns on missing data and sensitivities from participants reluctant to provide this information (33%). Consensus on necessary measures to be collected and reported (88%) and improved awareness of the relationship between deprivation and MSK health (79%) were considered key activities to improve deprivation recording in MSK research.Discussion & ConclusionThere is poor awareness of the collection and reporting of deprivation measures in MSK research. Greater understanding on the importance of these data in reducing inequalities in MSK care is needed to facilitate improvement. This would enable greater assessment of generalisability and to assess whether interventions have different effects in people from different socio‐economic groups.
Coping with shortages caused by disruptive events in automobile supply chains
Authors: Jiang Yi , Shu Jia , Song Miao 
Published: March 2021

AbstractUnpredictable disruptive events significantly increase the difficulty of the management of automobile supply chains. In this paper, we propose an automobile production planning problem with component chips substitution in a finite planning horizon. The shortage of one chip can be compensated by another chip of the same type with a higher‐end feature at an additional cost. Therefore, the automobile manufacturer can divert the on‐hand inventory of chips to product lines that are more profitable in the event of shortages caused by supply chain disruptions. To cope with this, we propose a max‐min robust optimization model that captures the uncertain supplies of chips. We show that the robust model has a mixed‐integer programming equivalence that can be solved by a commercial IP solver directly. We compare the max‐min robust model with the corresponding deterministic and two‐stage stochastic models for the same problem through extensive numerical experiments. The computational results show that the max‐min robust model outperforms the other two models in terms of the average and worst‐case profits.
Summation pollution of principal component analysis and an improved algorithm for location sensitive data
Authors: Li Jingwei , Cai Xiao‐Chuan 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPrincipal component analysis (PCA) is widely used for dimensionality reduction and unsupervised learning. The reconstruction error is sometimes large even when a large number of eigenmode is used. In this paper, we show that this unexpected error source is the pollution effect of a summation operation in the objective function of the PCA algorithm. The summation operator brings together unrelated parts of the data into the same optimization and the result is the reduction of the accuracy of the overall algorithm. We introduce a domain decomposed PCA that improves the accuracy, and surprisingly also increases the parallelism of the algorithm. To demonstrate the accuracy and parallel efficiency of the proposed algorithm, we consider three applications including a face recognition problem, a brain tumor detection problem using two‐ and three‐dimensional MRI images.
Clinical presentations and outcomes of children with cancer and COVID‐19: A systematic review
Authors: Meena Jagdish Prasad , Kumar Gupta Aditya , Tanwar Pranay , Ram Jat Kana , Mohan Pandey Ravindra , Seth Rachna 
Published: March 2021

AbstractInformation regarding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) in pediatric oncology is limited. We conducted a systematic review of the available published literature on children with cancer affected by COVID‐19. The last date of the study search was October 20, 2020, and 33 studies comprising 226 children were included for the final analysis. Data were extracted in a predefined data collection form, and the variables were extracted and analyzed. Patients with hematological malignancies were more in number. Males and children on intensive treatment were more frequently affected. Fever was the commonest symptom. The disease was asymptomatic/mild in 48% and severe in 9.6%. Consolidation, peribronchial cuffing, and consolidation with ground glass opacities were the common imaging findings. Hydroxychloroquine was the most frequently used drug for COVID‐19. About 10% of children required intensive care, and about 32% had oxygen requirements. The percentage of children who died due to COVID‐19 was 4.9%. The severity, morbidity, and mortality of COVID‐19 in pediatric oncology were more compared to the general pediatric population. This information can help in risk stratification for the management of COVID‐19.
Experimental investigation of mixed mode fracture toughness of glass fiber/epoxy laminates with sea water absorption
Authors:   Hilal, Khan Rafiullah 
Published: March 2021

AbstractDegradation of composites properties with water absorption is a severe threat to its application in marine structures and humid environments. Real life composite structures often work under mixed mode loading. In this paper, Glass fiber composite has been investigated for the influence of sea water aging on the fracture toughness under mixed mode loading. Glass fiber/epoxy specimens were immersed for 21 and 35 days in sea water. Controlled mixed mode loading was applied using mixed mode bending fixture. Dry and moisture‐saturated specimens were tested for fracture toughness over the room temperature by varying lever length of MMB apparatus. Under mixed mode loading the strain‐energy release rate decreased with increase in moisture content. The approximate decrease in fracture toughness was observed 31% and 48.55%, respectively, for 21 and 35 days specimens as compared with dry specimen. Scanning electron microscope analysis revealed interfacial debonding to be leading failure mechanism, representing a strong effect of sea water degradation on fracture toughness results.
Mechanical and acoustic emission properties of vegetable fiber‐reinforced epoxy composites for percussion instrument drums
Authors: Liu Fanxizi , Wang Keqin , Lang Chenhong , Guan Fuwang , Jiang Jinhua , Qiu Yiping 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPercussion instrument drums are traditionally made of wood, which is becoming less available as environmental concerns grow. In order to replace wood in percussion instruments, four types of epoxy resin composites reinforced with fabrics of hemp, flax, ramie, and jute, respectively, are fabricated using vacuum assisted resin infusion molding. The tensile and flexural properties of the composites are measured and compared with those of ailanthus wood. The results show that the flexural strengths and moduli of the composites are either better or in between to those of the horizontal and vertical strips of the wood. An acoustic test method is developed to test the acoustic performance of the composites and the wood. The results show that the composites have lower acoustic dynamic moduli, acoustic radiation damping coefficients, sound velocity, and higher acoustic impedance than those of the wood due to their lower flexural moduli and higher specific densities. The shapes of the acoustic spectra for the composites are somewhat similar to those of ailanthus. The acoustic performance comprehensive scores of the four composites are also in between those of the vertical and the horizontal strips of ailanthus. It is possible to match the acoustic performance of ailanthus by increasing the flexural modulus and decreasing the specific density of the composites through reducing the yarn crimp, increasing the fiber volume fraction, and introducing microvoids into the composites.
Effects of structural variation on the self‐assembly of bis‐urea based bolaamphiphiles
Authors: Liu Jie , Schotman Maaike J. G. , Hendrix Marco M. R. M. , Lou Xianwen , Marín San Román Patricia P. , Voets Ilja K. , Sijbesma Rint P. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractWe report on the self‐assembly in water of a set of bis‐urea amphiphiles. A range of techniques, including dynamic light scattering, Cryo‐TEM, SAXS, and MS are used to study the effect of structural variation on the morphology of the assemblies. The length, dispersity, and end‐group of the ethylene glycol hydrophilic part of the molecule, as well as of the alkyl chain length are varied to tailor the morphology towards soluble wormlike micelles. Slight modification on molecular structures gave a large difference in self‐assembly behavior in water, giving guidelines for the design of rodlike supramolecular fibers with novel functionalities, such as strain‐stiffening and bioactivity.
Stephen Taber and the development of North American cryostratigraphy and periglacial geomorphology
Authors: Nelson Frederick E. , French Hugh M. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractStephen Taber's early work on ice segregation and frost heaving was far ahead of its time. His laboratory experiments regarding ice segregation led to our current understanding of frost heave by civil and geotechnical engineers building roads and other structures in cold regions. It also laid the foundation for later process‐oriented field studies of cold‐climate geomorphic processes. Taber's 1943 regional monograph on the origin and history of perennially frozen ground in Alaska, published by the Geological Society of America, was the earliest example of regional cryostratigraphy, and pioneered the regional permafrost and Quaternary studies undertaken later by Katasonov, Popov, Mackay, Péwé, Hopkins, and others. An important dimension of Taber's Alaska work was his application of knowledge gained through laboratory experimentation to the interpretation of ground‐ice exposures in the field. While S. W. Muller is widely regarded as the “father” of permafrost studies in North America, Taber is properly viewed as the “progenitor” of cryostratigraphic studies, although he is not yet widely regarded as such. This study uses archival resources to provide historical context regarding the development of Taber's monograph, to investigate details about the review and publication process it underwent, and to explore the question of why it remains undervalued.
Proportional assist and neurally adjusted ventilation: Clinical knowledge and future trials in newborn infants
Authors: Sindelar Richard , McKinney Robin L. , Wallström Linda , Keszler Martin 
Published: March 2021

AbstractDifferent types of patient triggered ventilator modes have become the mainstay of ventilation in term and preterm newborn infants. Maintaining spontaneous breathing has allowed for earlier weaning and the additive effects of respiratory efforts combined with pre‐set mechanical inflations have reduced mean airway pressures, both of which are important components in trying to avoid lung injury and promote normal lung development. New sophisticated modes of assisted ventilation have been developed during the last decades where the control of ventilator support is turned over to the patient. The ventilator detects the respiratory effort and adjusts ventilatory assistance proportionally to each phase of the respiratory cycle, thus enabling the patient to have full control of the start, the duration and the amount of ventilatory assistance. In this paper we will review the literature on the ventilatory modes of proportional assist ventilation and neurally adjusted ventilatory assistance, examine the different ways the signals are analyzed, propose future studies, and suggest ways to apply these modes in the clinical environment.
Community detection in the sparse hypergraph stochastic block model
Authors: Pal Soumik , Zhu Yizhe 
Published: March 2021

AbstractWe consider the community detection problem in sparse random hypergraphs. Angelini et al. in [6] conjectured the existence of a sharp threshold on model parameters for community detection in sparse hypergraphs generated by a hypergraph stochastic block model. We solve the positive part of the conjecture for the case of two blocks: above the threshold, there is a spectral algorithm which asymptotically almost surely constructs a partition of the hypergraph correlated with the true partition. Our method is a generalization to random hypergraphs of the method developed by Massoulié (2014) for sparse random graphs.
Fiber Coupled Near‐Field Thermoplasmonic Emission from Gold Nanorods at 1100 K
Authors: Li Jiayu , Wuenschell Jeffrey , Li Zhuo , Bera Subhabrata , Liu Kai , Tang Renhong , Du Henry , Ohodnicki Paul R. , Shen Sheng 
Published: March 2021

AbstractNanostructured gold has attracted significant interest from materials science, chemistry, optics and photonics, and biology due to their extraordinary potential for manipulating visible and near‐infrared light through the excitation of plasmon resonances. However, gold nanostructures are rarely measured experimentally in their plasmonic properties and hardly used for high‐temperature applications because of the inherent instability in mass and shape due to the high surface energy at elevated temperatures. In this work, the first direct observation of thermally excited surface plasmons in gold nanorods at 1100 K is demonstrated. By coupling with an optical fiber in the near‐field, the thermally excited surface plasmons from gold nanorods can be converted into the propagating modes in the optical fiber and experimentally characterized in a remote manner. This fiber‐coupled technique can effectively characterize the near‐field thermoplasmonic emission from gold nanorods. A direct simulation scheme is also developed to quantitively understand the thermal emission from the array of gold nanorods. The experimental work in conjunction with the direct simulation results paves the way of using gold nanostructures as high‐temperature plasmonic nanomaterials, which has important implications in thermal energy conversion, thermal emission control, and chemical sensing.
Parasitic causes of meat and organs in cattle at four slaughterhouses in Sistan‐Baluchestan Province, Southeastern Iran between 2008 and 2016
Authors: Khedri Javad , Radfar Mohammad Hossein , Nikbakht Behzad , Zahedi Rouhollah , Hosseini Mehdi , Azizzadeh Mohammad , Borji Hassan 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis 8‐year (from 2008 to 2016) retrospective study calculated the percentage of carcass and organ (lung and liver) condemnations and estimated the direct financial costs at four slaughterhouses in Sistan‐Baluchestan Province, Southeastern Iran. Each carcass and organ (lung and liver) was thoroughly examined through inspection, palpation and incision following the standard protocol. Identification of the parasites was performed macroscopically. The total direct economic loss due to meat's condemnation was estimated by adding weights of each organ or carcass part and multiplying individual organ totals by their 2016 market unit price. A total of 857,039 cattle were slaughtered during this period, 64,497 livers (7.5%), 31,401 lungs (3.6%) and the carcasses of 1,171 cattle (0.1%) were condemned due to lesions caused by parasites. The main parasitic lesions in the condemned livers were attributed to Echinococcus granulosus (4.2%), Fasciola spp. (3.1%) and Dicrocoelium dendriticum (0.1%). All the condemned lungs were due to E. granulosus (3.6%). Taenia saginata cysticerci were detected in 0.1% of inspected animals. Liver condemnation due to cystic echinococcosis was the highest in fall (4.7%, p < 0.001); while lung condemnation was the highest during spring (3.98%, p < 0.001). Liver condemnation due to Fasciola spp. was the lowest in winter (2.99%, p < 0.001). Carcass condemnation as a result of cysticercosis was the highest in summer (p < 0.001). Considering the 2016 market prices, condemnations due to the studied parasites caused direct costs estimated U.S. $ 3,191,879. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report estimating the monetary losses due to parasitic infections in the slaughterhouses of this province. Due to the high financial impact of the studied parasites, a control programme should be implemented to decrease this impact.
Higher-Order Spectral Clustering for Geometric Graphs
Authors: Avrachenkov Konstantin , Bobu Andrei , Dreveton Maximilien 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe present paper is devoted to clustering geometric graphs. While the standard spectral clustering is often not effective for geometric graphs, we present an effective generalization, which we call higher-order spectral clustering. It resembles in concept the classical spectral clustering method but uses for partitioning the eigenvector associated with a higher-order eigenvalue. We establish the weak consistency of this algorithm for a wide class of geometric graphs which we call Soft Geometric Block Model. A small adjustment of the algorithm provides strong consistency. We also show that our method is effective in numerical experiments even for graphs of modest size.
Coupled simulation of flow-induced viscous and elastic anisotropy of short-fiber reinforced composites
Authors: Karl Tobias , Gatti Davide , Böhlke Thomas , Frohnapfel Bettina 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe present work discusses the impact of the back coupling of the fiber orientation distribution on the base flow and on the fiber orientation itself during mold filling simulations. Flows through a channel and over a backward-facing step are investigated. Different closure approximations are considered for modeling the flow-induced evolution of anisotropy. The results corresponding to the decoupled approach, in which the effect of fibers on local fluid properties is neglected, build the basis of comparison. The modeling is limited to a laminar, incompressible, and isothermal flow of a fiber suspension consisting of rigid short fibers suspended in an isotropic Newtonian matrix fluid. A linear, anisotropic constitutive law is used in combination with a uniform fiber volume fraction of 10% and an aspect ratio of 10. To evaluate the impact of back coupling and of different closure methods in view of the manufactured solid composite the resulting anisotropic elastic properties are investigated based on the Mori–Tanaka method combined with an orientation average scheme. Relative to the range [0, 1] the pointwise difference in fiber orientation between the decoupled and the coupled approach is found to be$$\pm 5{\%}$$±5%in the channel and$$\pm 30{\%}$$±30%in the backward-facing step, respectively. The viscosity and the elasticity tensor show both significant flow-induced anisotropies as well as a strong dependence on closure and coupling.
Upper bounds for the ground state energy of the Laplacian with zero magnetic field on planar domains
Authors: Colbois Bruno , Savo Alessandro 
Published: March 2021

AbstractWe obtain upper bounds for the first eigenvalue of the magnetic Laplacian associated to a closed potential 1-form (hence, with zero magnetic field) acting on complex functions of a planar domain$$\Omega $$Ω, with magnetic Neumann boundary conditions. It is well known that the first eigenvalue is positive whenever the potential admits at least one non-integral flux. By gauge invariance, the lowest eigenvalue is simply zero if the domain is simply connected; then, we obtain an upper bound of the ground state energy depending only on the ratio between the number of holes and the area; modulo a numerical constant the upper bound is sharp and we show that in fact equality is attained (modulo a constant) for Aharonov-Bohm-type operators acting on domains punctured at a maximal$$\epsilon $$ϵ-net. In the last part, we show that the upper bound can be refined, provided that one can transform the given domain in a simply connected one by performing a number of cuts with sufficiently small total length; we thus obtain an upper bound of the lowest eigenvalue by the ratio between the number of holes and the area, multiplied by a Cheeger-type constant, which tends to zero when the domain is metrically close to a simply connected one.