bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An investigation into the anthropogenic effect of biomass energy utilization and economic sustainability on environmental degradation in E7 economies
Authors: Gyamfi Bright Akwasi , Ozturk Ilhan , Bein Murad A. , Bekun Festus Victor 
Published: March 2021

AbstractInspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study focuses on the need for responsible and clean energy consumption, climate change mitigation, and sustainable economic growth. To this end, the study investigates the connection between biomass energy consumption, real GDP, investment in the energy sector, and CO2 emissions in the emerging (E7) countries – China, India, Brazil, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Indonesia and Turkey – for the period 2000–2018. The study uses a battery of techniques, namely Pooled Mean Group‐autoregressive distributed lag, ordinary least square, dynamic ordinary least square, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (PMG‐ARDL, OLS, DOLS FMOLS) and causality estimators, to measure the robustness of the conceptualized relationship among the variables of interest. Empirical results show that conventional energy from fossil fuel sources is a driver of CO2 emissions within the E7 economies. On the other hand, biomass energy consumption and investments in the energy sector decrease CO2 emissions. Furthermore, a feedback causality relationship between biomass energy consumption and CO2 emissions is observed. Similarly, a feedback causality relationship is seen between economic growth and biomass energy consumption. Our study's empirical findings reveal that biomass energy consumption mitigated CO2 emissions in the E7 economies that were examined, suggesting the pivotal role for biomass energy consumption in creating an eco‐friendly environment and environmental sustainability. This requires investment from the private sector, stakeholders, and government administrators in cleaner energy technologies initiatives like biomass. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Quercetin prevents cadmium chloride‐induced hepatic steatosis and fibrosis by downregulating the transcription ofmiR‐21
Authors: Alshammari Ghedeir M. , Al‐Qahtani Wahidah H. , AlFaris Nora A. , Alzahrani Nadiah S. , Alkhateeb Mahmoud A. , Yahya Mohammed Abdo 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis study investigated if cadmium chloride (CdCl2)‐induced hepatic steatosis and fibrosis and the protective effect of quercetin (QUR) are mediated modulating the activity of miR‐21, a known hepatic lipogenic and fibrotic miRNA. Male rats (n = 8/group) were divided as control, control + QUR (50 mg/kg; orally), CdCl2(10 moml/L; drinking water), CdCl2 + miR‐21 antagomir (inhibitor) (16 mg/kg/first 3 days), and CdCl2 + QUR (50 mg/kg). Treatments were conducted for 20 weeks, daily. All treatments showed no effect on fasting glucose and insulin levels. Administration of either miR‐21 or QUR prevented CdCl2‐induced hepatic damage, as well as lipid droplets and collagen deposition. They also reduced serum levels of ALT and AST and decreased serum and hepatic levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low‐density lipoproteins in CdCl2‐treated rats. Concomitantly, they reduced hepatic levels of reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, interleukin‐6, and tumor necrosis factor‐α, suppressed the activation of NF‐kb P65, and increased hepatic levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2), glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). These effects were associated with reduced expression of SREBP1, TGF‐β1, Smad3, and collagen1 A and increased expression of PPARα, CPT1, and smad7. Interestingly, QUR significantly lowered levels of miR‐21 and increased the protein levels and activity of Nrf2, as well as levels of GSH and SOD in the livers of both the control and CdCl2‐treated rats. Of note, levels of Nrf2 were negatively correlated with the transcription of miR‐21. In conclusion: QUR prevents CdCl2‐induced hepatic steatosis and fibrosis mainly through attenuating its ability to upregulate miR‐21, at least, by upregulation of Nrf2.
Relationships between hope and mental health among women in prison
Authors: Wai‐Ming Mak Vivian , Man‐Yin Ho Samuel , Li Wing‐Ling , Ka‐Yan Pau Barbara 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundPrevious research with non‐offenders has linked a higher dispositional cognition of hope to lower levels of psychological symptoms and demonstrated mediating effects of attentional biases on the relationship between hope and psychological symptoms, but this has not been explored among offenders.AimsOur aim was to investigate associations between a dispositional cognition of hope and habitual attentional processing styles and distress among women in prison. We hypothesised that higher levels of hope would be associated with more attention to positive information and less to negative information in the surroundings and, in turn, lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in women in prison.MethodIn a cross‐sectional study, we recruited consenting women serving a prison sentence who had been referred to psychological services. Participants completed a set of self‐rating inventories individually, which scaled their levels of hope, attention to positive and negative information and symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression.ResultsTwo hundred and three women participated. Their average age was 35.68 years (range 21–67 years). Over half were recidivists (170, 58%). Overall, the higher the level of hope they had, the lower were the ratings of their psychological symptoms. Positive attentional bias was associated with higher hope and lower psychological distress. In contrast, negative attentional bias was related to lower hope and higher psychological distress ratings. In statistical models, both attentional biases appeared to be partial mediators of the relationship between hope and psychological distress.ConclusionsOur findings among women in prison were consistent with those in non‐forensic populations and not previously studied among prisoners. They suggest that it would be worth evaluating interventions to modify attentional styles as they may have value in increasing hope and reducing psychological symptoms and perhaps also harmful behaviours in this vulnerable population.
Recent Progress on Copper‐Based Electrode Materials for Overall Water‐Splitting
Authors: Rajput Anubha , Kundu Avinava , Chakraborty Biswarup 
Published: March 2021

AbstractExponential increase in fossil fuel consumption demands an immediate alternative for a sustainable development. Furthermore, fossil fuel combustion releases a large quantity of CO2 every day. In the quest for an alternative, although hydrogen is found to be a potent fuel with zero carbon waste, bulk‐scale hydrogen production via steam reforming or partial oxidation of hydrocarbons produces tons of CO and CO2 as waste. Perhaps, hydrogen production by means of electrocatalytic water splitting remains a viable and less energy‐intensive approach. However, the potential bottlenecks of the water splitting are the large thermodynamic barrier and sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) associated with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a comparatively straight‐forward reaction. Efforts over the last few decades have made it possible to design very reactive noble‐metal‐based catalysts, using Pt, IrO2, and RuO2, which dramatically diminish the working potential and enhance the rate of water oxidation. Nonetheless, the scarcity of these rare‐earth metals precludes their physical implication and leads to the design of active transition‐metal catalysts like CoOx and FeNi(O)OH as key alternatives. However, copper, a highly conductive and one of the earth's most abundant metals, has not much been explored for electrode materials. Lately, copper‐based materials have been employed as successful catalysts for not only the OER and HER (individual half‐cell reactions), but also for overall water splitting (OWS) through the design of bifunctional copper catalysts. This review summarizes the recent developments of copper‐based electrode materials for electrocatalytic water splitting, with emphasis on OER, HER, and OWS studies. Moreover, Cu materials are categorized by means of counter anions present and based on their catalytic activity (mono‐ and/or bi‐functional behavior). Future scope and challenges to develop active Cu‐based materials, as non‐noble and earth abundant catalysts for sustainable energy studies, are highlighted.
Highly Active, Entirely Biobased Antimicrobial Pickering Emulsions
Authors: Leclercq Loïc , Tessier Jérémie , Nardello‐Rataj Véronique , Schmitzer Andreea‐Ruxandra 
Published: March 2021

AbstractWe present the development of surfactant‐free, silica‐free and fully biobased oil‐in‐water antimicrobial Pickering emulsions, based on the self‐assembly of β‐cyclodextrin and phytoantimicrobial oils (terpinen‐4‐ol or carvacrol). Undecylenic acid (UA), derived from castor oil, can be used as bio‐based drug to treat fungal infection, but is less effective than petroleum‐based drugs as azole derivatives. To maximize its antifungal potential, we have incorporated UA in fully biobased Pickering emulsions. These emulsions are effective against fungi, Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. The carvacrol emulsion charged with UA is +390 % and +165 % more potent against methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA), compared to UA and azole‐based commercial formulations. Moreover, this emulsion is up to +480 % more efficient that UA ointment against C. albicans. Finally, remarkable eradication of E. coli and MRSA biofilms was obtained with this environmental‐friendly emulsion.
Phase 1b trial of isatuximab, an anti‐CD38 monoclonal antibody, in combination with carfilzomib as treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma
Authors: Martin Thomas G. , Shah Nina , Richter Joshua , Vesole David H. , Wong Sandy W. , Huang Chiung‐Yu , Madduri Deepu , Jagannath Sundar , Siegel David S. , Biran Noa , Wolf Jeffrey L. , Parekh Samir , Cho Hearn J. , Munster Pamela , Richard Shambavi , Ziti‐Ljajic Samira , Chari Ajai 
Published: March 2021

BackgroundIsatuximab (Isa), an anti‐CD38 monoclonal antibody, and carfilzomib (K), a next‐generation proteasome inhibitor (PI), both have potent single‐agent activity in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).MethodsThis phase 1b study evaluated the combination of Isa and K in 33 patients with RRMM. Isa was administered by intravenous infusion in 3 dosing cohorts: dose level 1 (Isa at 10 mg/kg biweekly), dose level 2 (DL2; Isa at 10 mg/kg weekly for 4 doses and then biweekly), and dose level 3 (Isa at 20 mg/kg weekly for 4 doses and then biweekly) and all patients received K (20 mg/m2 intravenously for cycle 1, days 1 and 2, and then 27 mg/m2 for all subsequent doses). A standard 3+3 dose‐escalation design was used, no dose‐limiting toxicity was observed, and the maximum tolerated dose was not reached. An expansion cohort of 18 patients was enrolled at DL2 to further evaluate safety and efficacy. Responses were assessed with the International Myeloma Working Group response criteria, and patients continued treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.ResultsWith a median follow‐up of 26.7 months, in this heavily pretreated population with a median of 3 prior lines (refractory to PIs and immunomodulatory drugs, 76%; refractory to K, 27%), the overall response rate was 70% (stringent complete response/complete response, 4; very good partial response, 8; partial response, 11). The median progression‐free survival was 10.1 months, and the 2‐year survival probability was 76%. The most common treatment‐related adverse events (grade 2 or higher) were anemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, hypertension, and infection. Infusion reactions were common (55%) but did not limit dosing.ConclusionsTreatment with Isa plus K was well tolerated with no unexpected toxicity. The combination was effective despite the enrollment of heavily pretreated patients with RRMM.Lay Summary

This phase 1b study was designed to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary efficacy of isatuximab and carfilzomib in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Thirty‐three patients were treated: 15 in dose escalation and 18 in dose expansion. Patients received an average of 10 cycles.

The treatment was safe and effective. No unexpected toxicity or drug‐drug interactions were noted. Seventy percent of the subjects responded to therapy, and the progression‐free survival was 10.1 months.
Web service classification based on information gain theory and bidirectional long short‐term memory with attention mechanism
Authors: Zhang Xiangping , Liu Jianxun , Cao Buqing , Shi Min 
Published: March 2021

SummaryWith the increasing number of Web services, Web service discovery for service‐oriented application development has become more important. Clustering or classifying Web services according to their functionalities is an effective way for Web service discovery. Extracting latent topic features from service description by exploiting topic model can improve the accuracy of service classification. However, most of them simply treat the description document as a set of flat word features without considering the varying importance of different features as well as sequential relations between features. In this article, we proposed a Web service classification approach based on information gain theory and bidirectional long short‐term memory with attention mechanism for accuracy Web service classification by considering fine‐grained factors implicit in Web service description. The comparative experiments are performed on ProgrammableWeb dataset, and show that the proposed method achieves a significant improvement compared with baseline methods.
Unsupervised feature extraction with convolutional autoencoder with application to daily stock market prediction
Authors: Xie Li , Yu Sheng 
Published: March 2021

AbstractDue to the volatility and noise of the stock market, accurately obtaining the trend of the stock market is a challenging problem, and gets the attention of many researchers and speculators. Recently, convolutional neural network (CNN) has been used to automatically learn effective features and predict stock market trends. In CNN‐based methods reported so far, less focus has been paid to time series information of the stock, but is very crucial for stock forecasting. In this study, an unsupervised feature extraction method with convolutional autoencoder (CAE) with application to daily stock market prediction is proposed, which has a higher prediction than traditional models. The proposed method mainly consists of the data processing part, unsupervised feature learning part, and the support vector machine model part. Data processing part includes time series data transform into two‐dimensional data and data normalization. CAE network‐based unsupervised feature learning is designed by fusing convolution and autoencoder. In order to verify the performance of the model, various initial financial and economic variables of stock indices are chosen for prediction experiments. The experimental results on different stock indices demonstrate a significant improvement in prediction's performance compared with the baseline methods.
Fine‐scale foraging behavior reveals differences in the functional roles of herbivorous reef fishes
Authors: Semmler Robert F. , Brandl Simon J. , Keith Sally A. , Bellwood David R. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractEfforts to understand and protect ecosystem functioning have put considerable emphasis on classifying species according to the functions they perform. However, coarse classifications based on diet or feeding mode often oversimplify species' contributions to ecological processes. Behavioral variation among superficially similar species is easily missed but could indicate important differences in competitive interactions and the spatial scale at which species deliver their functions. To test the extent to which behavior can vary within existing functional classifications, we investigate the diversity of foraging movements in three herbivorous coral reef fishes across two functional groups. We find significant variation in foraging movements and spatial scales of operation between species, both within and across existing functional groups. Specifically, we show that movements and space use range from low frequency foraging bouts separated by short distances and tight turns across a small area, to high frequency, far‐ranging forays separated by wide sweeping turns. Overall, we add to the burgeoning evidence that nuanced behavioral differences can underpin considerable complementarity within existing functional classifications, and that species assemblages may be considerably less redundant than previously thought.
Watching the days go by: Asymmetric regulation of caterpillar development by changes in photoperiod
Authors: Lindestad Olle , Aalberg Haugen Inger M. , Gotthard Karl 
Published: March 2021

AbstractMany insects possess the plastic ability to either develop directly to adulthood, or enter diapause and postpone reproduction until the next year, depending on environmental cues (primarily photoperiod) that signal the amount of time remaining until the end of the growth season. These two alternative pathways often differ in co‐adapted life‐history traits, for example, with slower development and larger size in individuals headed for diapause. The developmental timing of these differences may be of adaptive importance: If traits diverge early, the potential for phenotypic differences between the pathways is greater, whereas if traits diverge late, the risk may be lower of expressing a maladaptive phenotype if the selective environment changes during development. Here, we explore the effects of changes in photoperiodic information during life on pupal diapause and associated life‐history traits in the butterfly Pararge aegeria. We find that both pupal diapause and larval development rate are asymmetrically regulated: While exposure to long days late in life (regardless of earlier experiences) was sufficient to produce nondiapause development and accelerate larval development accordingly, more prolonged exposure to short days was required to induce diapause and slow down prediapause larval development. While the two developmental pathways diverged early in development, development rates could be partially reversed by altered environmental cues. Meanwhile, pathway differences in body size were more inflexible, despite emerging late in development. These results show how several traits may be shaped by the same environmental cue (photoperiod), but along subtly different ontogenies, into an integrated phenotype.
Noncovalent Interactions between Stacked Arenes in 1,8‐Bis‐(1‐naphthyl)‐naphthalenes
Authors: Chiarucci Michel , Mazzanti Andrea , Righi Paolo , Bencivenni Giorgio , Mancinelli Michele 
Published: March 2021

AbstractA number of 1,8‐bis(1‐naphthyl)‐naphthalenes, bearing different substituents in the 1‐naphthyl moieties have been prepared to investigate the noncovalent interactions between the stacked arenes. The best geometries were determined by means of DFT calculations, and experimentally checked by NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD). High temperature NMR spectroscopy allowed for the determination of the balance between dispersive and electrostatic contributions (ratio between two diastereomericsyn/antiisomers of compounds1–6), while ECD analysis of thesynisomers of compounds3–5allowed for a deeper insight on the electrostatic contributions that drive the geometry between the interacting rings. The two rings preferentially adopt a parallel displaced geometry, whose interaction energy is strongly influenced by the electrostatic features of the two naphthyl rings, and that dispersive forces play a very minor role.
Health workforce response to Covid‐19: What pandemic preparedness planning and action at the federal and state levels in Germany?
Authors: Köppen Julia , Hartl Kimberly , Maier Claudia B. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIntroductionThe Covid‐19 pandemic has required countries to prepare their health workforce for a rapid increase of patients. This research aims to analyse the planning and health workforce policies in Germany, a country with a largely decentralised workforce governance mechanism.MethodsSystematic search between 18 and 31 May 2020 at federal and 16 states on health workforce action and planning (websites of ministries of health, public health authorities), including pandemic preparedness plans and policies. The search followed World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe's health workforce guidance on Covid‐19. Content analysis was performed, informed by the themes of WHO.ResultsThe pandemic preparedness plans consisted of no or limited information on how to expand and prepare the health workforce during pandemics. The 16 states varied considerably regarding implementing strategies to expand health workforce capacities. Only one state adopted a policy on task‐shifting despite a federal law on task‐shifting during pandemics.ConclusionsPlanning on the health workforce, its capacity and skill‐mix during pandemics was limited in the pandemic response plans. Actions during the peak of the pandemic varied considerably across states, were implemented ad hoc and with limited planning. Future action should focus on integrated planning and evaluation of workforce policies.
The effects of slope shape and polyacrylamide application on runoff, erosion and nutrient loss from hillslopes under simulated rainfall
Authors: Ao Chang , Zeng Wenzhi , Yang Peiling , Xing Weimin , Lei Guoqing , Wu Jingwei , Huang Jiesheng 
Published: March 2021

AbstractNatural hillslopes are mostly composed of complex slope shapes, which significantly affect soil erosion. However, existing studies have mainly focused on uniform slopes to simplify complex hillslopes, and the mechanisms responsible for the influence of slope shape on soil and nutrient losses are still not well understood, especially in the application of soil improvers to reduce soil loss. To investigate the effects of slope shape and polyacrylamide (PAM) application on runoff, soil erosion and nutrient loss, this study conducted artificial field rainfall experiments involving two PAM application rates and nine slope shapes. The results indicate that the average amount of soil loss from convex slopes was 1.5 and 1.3 times greater than that from concave and uniform slopes, respectively, and the average amount of ammonia nitrogen loss and phosphate loss increased by 24.0%–58.6%. Soil and nutrient losses increased as the convexity of the convex slopes increased. For runoff, there was little difference between concave and convex slopes, but the runoff amount for both slopes was greater than that for uniform slopes. After PAM application, the soil loss decreased by more than 90%, and the nutrient loss decreased by 28.2%–68.1%. The application of PAM was most effective in reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss from convex slopes, and it is recommended to appropriately increase the PAM application rate for convex slopes. A strong linear relationship between ammonia nitrogen and phosphate concentrations and sediment concentrations was found in the runoff on slopes with no PAM application. However, this linear relationship weakened for slopes with PAM application. The findings of this study may be valuable for optimizing nonpoint source pollution management in basins.