bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of magnetite on alginate-based hydrogel beads composite bio-sorbent for copper removal
Authors: Rahman A S A , Yahaya A N A , Khalil N A , Fizal A N S , A’zim M A S , Hossain M S , Zulkifli M 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
A composite magnetite alginate-based bio-sorbent in hydrogel beads form as adsorbent for copper ion removal was prepared through this work. Two types of composite bio-sorbents which are cellulose-magnetite-alginate (CeMA) and chitosan-magnetite-alginate (CMA) hydrogel beads were synthesized by the physical cross-linking method. Ratios of magnetite iron oxide 0, 0.1, and 1.0 were used during the synthesis of bio-sorbents to observe the effect of magnetite ratios on copper ion removals. Based on the performance of bio-sorbents on copper removals, 24.6% of the highest percentage copper removal was achieved by CMA with a magnetite ratio of 0.1 at an adsorption equilibrium time of 24 hours and initial concentration of 100 mg/L. In addition, through this work, magnetite embedded bio-sorbent with the simple synthesized method was done by utilizing the capability of alginate to instantaneously form hydrogel beads upon addition into calcium chloride (Ca2+). Therefore, this work proves the potential of magnetite embedded in alginate-based composite bio-sorbent hydrogel beads for heavy metal industrial wastewater.
Photocatalytic degradation of anthracene by biochar-based graphitic carbon nitride
Authors: Syed Abd Halim S N Q , Nazri N A M , Nordin N A H M 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent and toxic to living organisms, that can be classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic pollutants. In this study, a green photocatalyst of biochar-based graphitic carbon nitride (BC/g-C3N4-M) is derived from sugarcane bagasse (SB) and melamine were developed as a potential material for the degradation of PAHs. BC(SB)/g-C3N4-M prepared with varied ratios of melamine to SB and different synthesis temperature were characterized by FTIR, BET and UV-DRS. The efficiency of the catalyst for the degradation of anthracene were investigated further in terms of its efficiency at various pH mediums, catalyst dosage and anthracene initial concentration. Experimental results revealed that g-C3N4 showed better degradation efficiency to anthracene than BC(SB)/g-C3N4-M. Additionally, the best degradation efficiency of anthracene by g-C3N4 and BC/g-C3N4-M75% composites were found at pH 3 with 1.0 g/L dosage at 2 ppm and 1 ppm initial concentration, respectively. The catalysts were also discovered to be reusable for 5 cycles with a slight decrease in photocatalytic degradation. The use of agricultural biomass waste in this study could provide a promising approach to water and wastewater treatment.
Study of forced aeration system for fruit and vegetable waste composting
Authors: Then Y H , Lai J C , Then Y L 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Composting of fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) was investigated in a forced aeration system to determine the effects of aeration rate (AR) and aeration method (AM) on compost quality. Rice husk was mixed with FVW as bulking agent to compost for seven days and aerated in continuous and intermittent at rates of 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 L min−1. Intermittent aeration at rate of 0.3 L min−1 was observed to have higher initial temperature increasing rate and peak temperature compared to continuous aeration. Moisture loss at rate of 0.3 L min−1 was found smaller than other two rates regardless of AM. With comparison made for similar AR, intermittent aeration had experienced less moisture loss with an average of 17.15 %. The pH of compost was found to vary in aeration method where higher peak pH was found in intermittent aeration at low rate, corresponding to their temperature profile. Largest carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio reduction was attained by compost treated in intermittent aeration at rate of 0.3 L min−1. Further optimization was performed at a rate of 0.1 L min−1, 0.2 L min−1, and 0.4 L min−1. The result showed an improvement at rate of 0.2 L min−1 in intermittent aeration.
Extraction of cellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch using eco-friendly solvents for preparation of transparent cellulose thin film
Authors: Izzaha N S , Yahaya A N A , Zuhudi N Z M , Khalil N A , Zulkifli M 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The purpose of this research is to extract the cellulose using eco-friendly reagents of hydrogen peroxide and formic acid and determine the optimum reaction time for delignification process. The extracted cellulose and characterised using FTIR, TGA and PSA. The percentage yield of extracted cellulose were calculated. The highest yield was found to be 65.78 % at reaction time 120 min. The FTIR spectral studies confirm the removal of lignin from the delignified cellulose at peak 1613 cm−1 and the TGA result shows the thermal degradation of extracted cellulose at 329.04, 329.92 and 330.99 °C at reaction time 60, 90 and 120 min. The PSA studies provided the evidence of extracted particle size of the cellulose become finer as the reaction time increase. The particle size observed for delignified cellulose at 60, 90 and 120 min are 68.4, 64.6 and 57.3 μm. The extraction of cellulose and characterization to determine the optimum reaction time was able to obtain. From the result obtained, it can be concluded that the longer the reaction time, the higher the percentage yield of cellulose extracted. Film formation was later carried out using the extracted cellulose from different reaction time.
Preparation of nano manganese oxides by H2O2
in-situ oxidation: effect of regulation mechanism on physical and chemical properties
Authors: Li Mingdong , Wang Jiawei , Fu Dejin , Gou Bibo , Chen Xiaoliang , Wang Haifeng 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Manganese oxides showed many special physicochemical properties in many fields such as electrochemistry, adsorption and catalysis. They were widely used in cathode materials for lithium batteries, molecular sieves, catalytic materials and adsorbents. In this paper, in situ oxidation of manganese sulfate solution was conducted with H2O2 as oxidant, and the characterization means of XRD, SEM and BET were used. The purpose was to study the effects of different regulation mechanisms on the physical and chemical properties of manganese oxides such as morphology, phase composition, surface properties and specific surface area. The adsorption properties of γ-MnO2 for Co and Ni in manganese ore leaching solution were tested. The results showed as follows. Under alkaline conditions, the main product of manganese sulfate solution oxidized by H2O2 was Mn3O4 spherical particles with a radius of about 50 nm, these particles had micropores or mesopores, the oxidation reaction rate was rapid, and the specific surface area and N2 adsorption capacity changed with the change of reaction conditions.The temperature had a great influence on the micro morphology of the product.The micro morphology was slender nanorod when the temperature was 20 °C. With the increase of temperature, the length of nanorod became shorter. When the temperature rises to 50 °C, the rod became spherical. When the pH value decreased from 9 to 7, the diffraction peak of each crystal plane in the product Mn3O4 decreased gradually. The diffraction peak of γ-MnO2 appeared when the pH value decreased to 5. All the products were γ-MnO2 when the pH value decreased to 3. With the increase of Mn2+ concentration, the grain size decreased and agglomeration was easy to occur. The optimum conditions were obtained as follows: the temperature was 30 °C, pH was 3, reaction time was 90 min, the mole ration of H2O2 to Mn2+ was 1:1, and Mn2+ concentration was 10 g l−1. Under the optimum conditions, γ-MnO2 with high specific surface area (172.41 m2 g−1) was prepared. This γ-MnO2 has a good adsorption effect on Co and Ni in manganese ore leaching solution, and the adsorption efficiency could be reached 94.75% and 95.67%. This study would provide a reference for the preparation of manganese oxides with different physical and chemical properties.
Viscous effects on plasmoid formation from nonlinear resistive tearing growth in a Harris sheet
Authors: AHMAD Nisar , ZHU Ping , ALI Ahmad , ZENG Shiyong 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
In this work, the evolution of a highly unstable m = 1 resistive tearing mode, leading to plasmoid formation in a Harris sheet, is studied in the framework of full MHD model using the Non-Ideal Magnetohydrodynamics with Rotation, Open Discussion simulation. Following the initial nonlinear growth of the primary m = 1 island, the X-point develops into a secondary elongated current sheet that eventually breaks into plasmoids. Two distinctive viscous regimes are found for the plasmoid formation and saturation. In the low viscosity regime (i.e. P
r ≲ 1), the plasmoid width increases sharply with viscosity, whereas in the viscosity dominant regime (i.e. P
r ≳ 1), the plasmoid size gradually decreases with viscosity. Such a finding quantifies the role of viscosity in modulating the plasmoid formation process through its effects on the plasma flow and the reconnection itself.
Establishing a multidisciplinary taskforce to improve anticoagulation safety at a large health system
Authors: Attia Engie , Fuentes Amaris , Vassallo Mark , Dobbs Stuart , Nguyen Peter , Baker Kelty 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Purpose
To describe the development of a multidisciplinary anticoagulant safety taskforce (ASTF) to address anticoagulation-related issues across the medication-use system.

Summary
Oral and parenteral anticoagulants have been classified as high-alert medications because of their potential for harm. Errors at the point of prescribing, monitoring, and administering therapy have been noted in safety literature. Our hospital system, which includes 1 academic medical center, 6 community hospitals, and 1 long-term care facility, designed a multidisciplinary ASTF to address anticoagulation-related issues. The ASTF used the 2017 Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Antithrombotic Therapy as the primary tool for reviewing current practices, performing gap analyses, and identifying our greatest areas of opportunity. The top 8 best practice elements related to anticoagulant use were identified for initial efforts of ASTF activity. Meetings were led by a medication safety pharmacist who reviewed process opportunities and actions to address gaps. The hospital chief quality and patient safety officer and the vice president of quality were the executive sponsors of the ASTF. Key stakeholders such as the medication safety committee chair and the president of the medical staff were instrumental in leading the initiative. Recommendations from the ASTF were reviewed and approved by the system medication safety committee and the system pharmacy and therapeutics committee to support system-wide implementation. The ASTF accomplished more than initially planned within its first year. Error mitigation occurred through policy revisions, order set development and modification, and implementation of practice changes to comply with each best practice. The ISMP antithrombotic self-assessment score improved from 67% to 87%, surpassing the initially targeted score of 75%. To overcome implementation barriers with the electronic health record, we enlisted support from our informatics leadership to leverage information technology. Overall, the success of the taskforce was attributed to the teamwork and leadership of key individuals within the organization.

Conclusion
Leveraging interest from key stakeholders across multiple disciplines with an established assessment tool was key in developing a productive and successful ASTF. The group came together to evaluate anticoagulant-related issues and implement sustainable changes to decrease anticoagulation error potential.
FedSPL: federated self-paced learning for privacy-preserving disease diagnosis
Authors: Wang Qingyong , Zhou Yun 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The growing expansion of data availability in medical fields could help improve the performance of machine learning methods. However, with healthcare data, using multi-institutional datasets is challenging due to privacy and security concerns. Therefore, privacy-preserving machine learning methods are required. Thus, we use a federated learning model to train a shared global model, which is a central server that does not contain private data, and all clients maintain the sensitive data in their own institutions. The scattered training data are connected to improve model performance, while preserving data privacy. However, in the federated training procedure, data errors or noise can reduce learning performance. Therefore, we introduce the self-paced learning, which can effectively select high-confidence samples and drop high noisy samples to improve the performances of the training model and reduce the risk of data privacy leakage. We propose the federated self-paced learning (FedSPL), which combines the advantage of federated learning and self-paced learning. The proposed FedSPL model was evaluated on gene expression data distributed across different institutions where the privacy concerns must be considered. The results demonstrate that the proposed FedSPL model is secure, i.e. it does not expose the original record to other parties, and the computational overhead during training is acceptable. Compared with learning methods based on the local data of all parties, the proposed model can significantly improve the predicted F1-score by approximately 4.3%. We believe that the proposed method has the potential to benefit clinicians in gene selections and disease prognosis.
Accelerating bioactive peptide discovery via mutual information-based meta-learning
Authors: He Wenjia , Jiang Yi , Jin Junru , Li Zhongshen , Zhao Jiaojiao , Manavalan Balachandran , Su Ran , Gao Xin , Wei Leyi 
Published: November 2021

AbstractRecently, machine learning methods have been developed to identify various peptide bio-activities. However, due to the lack of experimentally validated peptides, machine learning methods cannot provide a sufficiently trained model, easily resulting in poor generalizability. Furthermore, there is no generic computational framework to predict the bioactivities of different peptides. Thus, a natural question is whether we can use limited samples to build an effective predictive model for different kinds of peptides. To address this question, we propose Mutual Information Maximization Meta-Learning (MIMML), a novel meta-learning-based predictive model for bioactive peptide discovery. Using few samples from various functional peptides, MIMML can sufficiently learn the discriminative information amongst various functions and characterize functional differences. Experimental results show excellent performance of MIMML though using far fewer training samples as compared to the state-of-the-art methods. We also decipher the latent relationships among different kinds of functions to understand what meta-model learned to improve a specific task. In summary, this study is a pioneering work in the field of functional peptide mining and provides the first-of-its-kind solution for few-sample learning problems in biological sequence analysis, accelerating the new functional peptide discovery. The source codes and datasets are available on https://github.com/TearsWaiting/MIMML.
Comparing SARS-CoV-2 case rates between pupils, teachers and the general population: results from Germany
Authors: Koestner Clemens , Letzel Stephan , Eggert Viktoria , Beutel Till , Dietz Pavel 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Given the inconsistent state of research regarding the role of pupils and teachers during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany, statewide and nationwide data of infection case rates were analyzed to contribute to the discourse. Infection data from official sources ranging from mid to late 2020 were collected, prepared and analyzed to answer the question if pupils, teachers and general population differed in active case rates or not. The data showed that pupils and teachers case rates didn’t exceeded those of the general population. In conclusion, it seems appropriate to appraise school-related measures to mitigate the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic sufficiently. Data quality is a yet to overcome obstacle to provide good evidence-based recommendations regarding the management around infection cases in schools.
Cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy in childhood functional constipation: a randomized controlled trial in primary care
Authors: van Summeren Jojanneke J G T , Holtman Gea A , Lisman-van Leeuwen Yvonne , van Ulsen-Rust Alice H C , Vermeulen Karin M , Tabbers Merit M , Kollen Boudewijn J , Dekker Janny H , Berger Marjolein Y 
Published: November 2021

AbstractObjectiveHealth care expenditures for children with functional constipation (FC) are high, while conservative management is successful in only 50% of the children. The aim is to evaluate whether adding physiotherapy to conventional treatment (CT) is a cost-effective strategy in the management of children with FC aged 4–18 years in primary care.MethodsA cost-effectiveness analysis was performed alongside a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 8-month follow-up. Costs were assessed from a societal perspective, effectiveness included both the primary outcome (treatment success defined as the absence of FC and no laxative use) and the secondary outcome (absence of FC irrespective of laxative use). Uncertainty was assessed by bootstrapping and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs) were displayed.ResultsOne hundred and thirty-four children were randomized. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for one additional successfully treated child in the physiotherapy group compared with the CT group was €24,060 (95% confidence interval [CI] €−16,275 to €31,390) and for the secondary outcome €1,221 (95% CI €−12,905 to €10,956). Subgroup analyses showed that for children with chronic laxative use the ICER was €2,134 (95% CI −24,975 to 17,192) and €571 (95% CI 11 to 3,566), respectively. At a value of €1,000, the CEAC showed a probability of 0.53 of cost-effectiveness for the primary outcome, and 0.90 for the secondary outcome.ConclusionsPhysiotherapy added to CT as first-line treatment for all children with FC is not cost-effective compared with CT alone. Future studies should consider the cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy added to CT in children with chronic laxative use.Trial registrationThe RCT is registered in the Netherlands Trial Register (NTR4797), on the 8th of September 2014. The first child was enrolled on the 2nd of December 2014. https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/4654.
Couples’ Experiences Managing Young-Onset Dementia Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Bannon Sarah M , Wang Katherine E , Grunberg Victoria A , Dickerson Bradford C , Vranceanu Ana-Maria 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Background and Objectives
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created unexpected stressors for society and could disproportionately affect more vulnerable groups. One such group is couples facing young-onset dementias (YOD), who experience pandemic-induced stressors alongside ongoing YOD-related stressors (e.g., progressive symptoms, increased caregiving needs). Using a qualitative design, our objective was to characterize the experiences of couples living with YOD early in the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on couples’ ‘relationships’ and well-being.

Research Design and Methods
Couples (N = 23) of persons with YOD and their spousal caregivers participated in a 1 hour live video, joint interview during the early COVID-19 pandemic. We used a hybrid inductive–deductive coding approach to thematic analysis to extract findings within 2 a priori domains: (a) psychosocial stressors experienced during the early pandemic and (2) the impact of early pandemic stressors on couples’ relationships and well-being.

Results
Thematic analyses revealed 6 main themes: (a) increased caregiving responsibilities, (b) increased uncertainty, (c) increased social isolation and disruptions in social support and medical care, (d) loss of meaningful activities and routines, (e) changes to the couple’s relationship, and (f) heightened emotional distress.

Discussion and Implications
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated relationship strain and distress among couples managing YOD. This population may face negative outcomes due to the dual impact of YOD- and pandemic-related stressors. It is imperative to provide timely resources and psychosocial support to couples facing YOD to mitigate the negative impact of such stressors on individual health and well-being and the couples’ relationship together.
Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Density Increases With Increasing Histopathological Severity of Crohn’s Disease
Authors: Schroder Angie L , Chami Belal , Liu Yuyang , Doyle Chloe M , El Kazzi Mary , Ahlenstiel Golo , Ahmad Gulfam , Pathma-Nathan Nimalan , Collins Geoff , Toh James , Harman Andrew , Byrne Scott , Ctercteko Grahame , Witting Paul K 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Background
Intestinal neutrophil recruitment is a characteristic feature of the earliest stages of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Neutrophil elastase (NE) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) mediate the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs); NETs produce the bactericidal oxidant hypochlorous acid (HOCl), causing host tissue damage when unregulated. The project aim was to investigate the relationship between NET formation and clinical IBD in humans.

Methods
Human intestinal biopsies were collected from Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, endoscopically categorized as unaffected, transitional, or diseased, and assigned a histopathological score.

Results
A significant linear correlation was identified between pathological score and cell viability (TUNEL+). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed the presence of NET markers NE, MPO, and citrullinated histone (CitH3) that increased significantly with increasing histopathological score. Diseased specimens showed greater MPO+-immunostaining than control (P &lt; .0001) and unaffected CD (P &lt; .0001), with transitional CD specimens also showing greater staining than controls (P &lt; .05) and unaffected CD (P &lt; .05). Similarly, NE+-immunostaining was elevated significantly in diseased CD than controls (P &lt; .0001) and unaffected CD (P &lt; .0001) and was significantly higher in transitional CD than in controls (P &lt; .0001) and unaffected CD (P &lt; .0001). The CitH3+-immunostaining of diseased CD was significantly higher than controls (P &lt; .05), unaffected CD (P &lt; .0001) and transitional CD (P &lt; .05), with transitional CD specimens showing greater staining than unaffected CD (P &lt; .01). Multiplex immunohistochemistry with z-stacking revealed colocalization of NE, MPO, CitH3, and DAPI (cell nuclei), confirming the NET assignment.

Conclusion
These data indicate an association between increased NET formation and CD severity, potentially due to excessive MPO-mediated HOCl production in the extracellular domain, causing host tissue damage that exacerbates CD.