bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Integrating multi‐method surveys and recovery trajectories into occupancy models
Authors: Barry Brent R. , Moriarty Katie , Green David , Hutchinson Rebecca A. , Levi Taal 
Published: December 2021

AbstractConservation and management of animal populations requires knowledge of their occurrence and drivers that influence their distribution. Noninvasive survey methods and occupancy models to account for imperfect detection have become the standard tools for this purpose. Simultaneously addressing both occurrence and occurrence–environment relationships, however, presents multiple challenges, particularly for species with reduced ranges or those recovering from historical declines. Here, we present a comprehensive framework to satisfy the assumption of organism–environment equilibrium, map the range of a species, incorporate camera traps and detection dogs as complementary data sources, and make inference about wildlife space use at multiple scales. To meet these goals, we developed a Bayesian spatial occupancy model for Pacific fishers (Pekania pennanti) in Oregon using data from a large‐scale (64,280 km2) empirical effort combining 1240 camera traps (74,219 trap nights) and 196 detector dog surveys (3 × 3 km units, survey average = 17.3 km/unit). We deployed this model with and without a geoadditive term to improve predicted range map generation and covariate inference, respectively. We used reaction–diffusion models to project recovery trajectories to determine both plausible spatial extents for inclusion in our occupancy model and whether the current distribution can be explained by time‐limited population expansion from historical refugia. To assess nonstationary effects where species–habitat relationships vary spatially, we fit separate models within distinct ecological regions. We confirmed the presence of the native and introduced fisher populations, but populations occupy less area than previously believed. The spatial extent of the introduced population was less than expected except under our lowest growth model, suggesting limiting factors were preventing population expansion. The native population extent matched expectations under several growth scenarios, suggesting that the contemporary distribution is plausibly due to time‐limited expansion. The relationship of fisher occupancy to environmental covariates varied with scale, spatial extent, and ecological region, but fishers consistently selected for old forests at fine spatial scales in the detection model across spatial extents and detection modalities. Collectively, we provide an integration of camera traps and detection dogs into spatial occupancy models and demonstrate how to generate plausible spatial extents to improve inferences for species recovering from range contractions.
Synthesis, Structure and Properties of a New Strong‐Rung Spin Ladder Compound Cu(2‐Ethylpyrazine)Br2
Authors: Li Ling‐Li , Ding Fei , Zheng Hui , Pan Bing‐Ying 
Published: December 2021

AbstractWe report the structure and magnetism of a newly synthesized coordination polymer Cu(2‐ethylpyrazine)Br2. Its crystal structure was determined by both single crystal and powder X‐ray diffractions. We find the compound crystallizes in the space group C2 with a ladder structure in which the copper ions are bridged by bromide ions and 2‐ethylpyrazine molecules along the rung and rail direction, respectively. The magnetic susceptibility is consistent with the strong‐rung spin ladder model which yields Jrung/kB=−33.819(1) K, Jrail/kB=−25.206(3) K. The obtained spin gap is Δ=18.01 K. Both magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements show the absence of low range magnetic order down to 2 K, indicating weak inter‐ladder coupling in the compound.
Development of a Diamond Nanoparticles‐based Nanosensor for Detection and Determination of Antiviral Drug Favipiravir
Authors: Kanbeş Dindar Çiğdem , Bozal‐Palabiyik Burcin , Uslu Bengi 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThis study developed a nanosensor for the detection and determination of favipiravir, a presumed drug that has potential therapeutic efficacy in treating COVID‐19 patients, from tablets and serum samples. This nanosensor was obtained by adding the optimum amount of diamond nanoparticles into carbon paste. For the determination of favipiravir adsorptive stripping differential pulse (AdSDPV) and adsorptive stripping square wave voltammetry (AdSSWV) were used. Limit of detection values were found as 4.83×10−9 M and 2.44×10−7 M for bulk and 5.18×10−8 M and 4.38×10−8 M for serum samples using AdSDPV and AdSSWV, respectively. Recovery studies made of the tablet and serum produced satisfactory results.
The combined influence of polythiophene side chains and electrolyte anions on organic electrochemical transistors
Authors: Wagner Justine , Song Yunjia , Lee Taein , Katz Howard E. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractPolythiophenes with differently functionalized side chains (alkyl, oligoethylene oxide, ester, hydroxy, and carboxylic acid) and varied counter ions of potassium salt electrolytes were investigated in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). In addition, mixed blends were investigated to evaluate any synergistic effects between functionalities. Depending on the functional moiety attached, a large shift to lower potentials of Vth, an increase in drain current, and an increase in transconductance can be observed compared to the base combination of alkyl side chain and Cl−. The newly designed and synthesized hydroxy polymer displayed stability to large shifts in VTH, a slight increase in drain current, and little or no increase in transconductance when an ionic radius of the dopant is increased until a much larger anion, large polarizability, and low hydration number such as TSFI− was used. The acid‐functionalized polymer, on the other hand, had the same magnitude in shift with respect to any anion that is larger than Cl−. The polymers were characterized by spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and cyclic voltammetry. This work demonstrates that side‐chain engineering can result in substantial differences in the level of interaction in the electrolyte that would require tailoring the ion for specific polymer interactions.
Assessment of the economic efficiency of energy‐saving projects, methodology based on simple and compound methods
Authors: Szafranko Elżbieta 
Published: December 2021

AbstractAmong different engineering projects, there are ones intended to improve the energy‐saving properties of buildings. Both new and much older buildings undergoing refurbishment can be involved. Broadly understood energy‐saving projects increasingly often entail renewable energy installations. Every implementation of such an investment project needs to be preceded by an assessment of its economic efficiency. Although the literature provides examples of methods which can serve this purpose, a coherent methodological approach seems lacking. In this article, the author proposes methodology based on several simple and compound methods combined into a schematic assessment procedure. The methodology is presented as applied in a case of typical photovoltaic roof installation to generate electricity for a single‐family house. The assessment procedure consists of a few steps leading from a preliminary to a more detailed appraisal. The first stage is an analysis of the projected cash flows, which in this case demonstrated that the payback would appear after 9 years. Next, a more precise evaluation showed that the payback period in this investment could be expected after 7.8 years. The following stages of calculations take into account the time value of money, having included a discount rate (discount rate 5%, the planned investment would be profitable). The next step, where the aim was to compute the internal rate of return, showed at what threshold value of the discount rate the investment would continue to yield profit (The IRR = 11.43%). It is extremely valuable information as it reveals the safety margin for the investment. The methodology discussed in this paper, which consists of a complex approach to an assessment of investments, especially in renewable energy sources, can yield much better outcomes than evaluations based on single methods, applied separately.
An ordered crossover based approach to designing labeling diversity mappers
Authors: Solwa Shaheen 
Published: December 2021

AbstractGenetic algorithms (GAs) are population‐based search optimization techniques that mimic the process of evolution and natural selection. GAs are an effective way of finding feasible solutions to complex problems. Recently, GAs were applied to the labeling diversity (LD) problem that produced local optimal mappers for M‐QAM, M‐PSK, and M‐APSK constellations. However, the GA did not implement biological processes during the mating process; hence it could not be classified as a GA, but rather a genetic‐inspired algorithm (GIA). In this article, we investigate the application of six distinct crossover techniques to further improve the GIAs ability to produce more closer‐to‐optimal mapper designs. By using biological crossover techniques, offspring produced acquires genetic diversity from parent chromosomes. Single parent crossover techniques do not produce diversified offspring, thus diversity being acquired only by mutation. The Davis ordered crossover (OX1) was chosen as a suitable technique to be applied to the proposed GA. The proposed GA was tested on 16QAM, 16PSK, 16APSK, and three 16APSK constellations that do not exhibit diagonal symmetry. In the case of the 16QAM and 16PSK constellations, the proposed GA matched but did not improve upon existing mapper designs. In the case of the 16APSK and 11+5APSK constellations, the proposed GA produced mapper designs exhibited diversity gains of dB over the existing GIA mapper designs at the BER of. The asymmetric 16APSK and single symmetry 16APSK constellations exhibited diversity gains ofand dB over existing GIA mapper designs at the BER ofand. More significantly, the proposed GA achieved a significant improvement in time complexity. However, the proposed GA was shown to have higher computational complexity ofover the GIA with a complexity of. Mutation rate studies have shown that for single‐parent crossover techniques, higher mutation rates are needed, thus making the process is purely random. In the case of the two‐parent crossover technique, randomness is reduced and genetic diversity is increased, hence lower mutation rates were required due to a more guided search.
Autoregressive moving average based anycast with support vector machine clustering in mobile ad‐hoc networks
Authors: Ghosh Subhankar , Banerjee Anuradha , Sufian Abu , Gupta Sachin Kumar 
Published: December 2021

AbstractNodes in mobile ad‐hoc networks (MANETs) are battery‐powered, therefore, need energy‐efficient techniques to cut down the cost of energy consumption. Energy consumption is directly related to route discovery, which could be reduced through anycasting. Anycast is an operation in MANETs, where the source sends messages to one particular destination node of anycast region. In general, the message transmitted is divided into certain packets, and those are transmitted continuously one after the other through selected routes. If the link from anycast source to destination breaks in between or an anycast destination goes out of the anycast region, in that case, a new anycast destination will have to be selected on a new route to the destination. This will incur huge message costs and energy. In this work, we select desirable anycast destinations based on their eligibility by using autoregressive moving average and support vector machine. Eligibility is modeled as a function of residual energy, location, the relative velocity concerning neighbors, and the number of packets successfully forwarded earlier by those neighbors' locations. Reducing the number of anycast receivers reduces the message cost of protocols significantly. We have compared our protocol's performance with the same of anycast‐AODV, anycast‐DSR, anycast‐FAIR, and MQAR (mobility and QoS‐aware anycast routing protocol) results show significant improvement. Collective improvement amounts to 89% more energy preservation and 39% delay on average.
Planarizable Push‐Pull Probes with Sulfoximine‐Bridged Dithienothiophene Acceptors
Authors: García‐Calvo José , López‐Andarias Javier , Sakai Naomi , Matile Stefan 
Published: December 2021

AbstractContrary to sulfides, sulfoxides or sulfones, sulfoximines have been mostly neglected in the design of fluorescent probes until recently. In this study, we elaborate systematically on sulfoximine acceptors in fluorescent flipper probes. Fluorescent flippers have been introduced as mechanosensitive probes to image membrane order and tension. They consist of twisted dithienothiophene dimers with sulfide and sulfone bridges to produce the essential primary dipole of the coupled push‐pull system. The objective of this study was to replace the sulfone acceptor by a series of sulfoximines. This is intriguing as a synthetic challenge and worthwhile because the extra nitrogen substituent offers a variability that is attractive to understand and control the performance of the probes. The new sulfoximine flippers provide corroborative evidence for the importance of the primary dipole of the planarizable push‐pull probe. Partitioning into differently ordered membranes and positioning within these different membranes is shown to correlate directly and dramatically with fluorescence lifetimes and mechanosensitivity. Sufficient partitioning into ordered membranes is confirmed as particularly important to image membrane tension by probe compression in the ground state. Compared to the conventional sulfone homolog, the best sulfoximine flipper has more red‐shifted absorption and emission maxima, longer fluorescence lifetime in cell membranes, and larger difference in lifetime upon application of membrane tension.
Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with autologous platelets encapsulating sorafenib or lenvatinib: A novel therapy exploiting tumor‐platelet interactions
Authors: Tanaka Hiroki , Horioka Kie , Hasebe Takumu , Sawada Koji , Nakajima Shunsuke , Konishi Hiroaki , Isozaki Shotaro , Goto Masanori , Fujii Yumiko , Kamikokura Yuki , Ogawa Katsuhiro , Nishikawa Yuji 
Published: December 2021

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) activates platelets through the action of adjacent sinusoidal cells. Activated platelets bind to tumor‐associated endothelial cells and release growth factors that promote tumor progression. We hypothesized that platelets encapsulated with tumor inhibitors would function as drug carriers for tumor therapy. We propose a therapeutic strategy for HCC using autologous platelets encapsulating multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitors in a rat chemically induced HCC model. Sorafenib or lenvatinib was encapsulated in platelets isolated from tumor‐bearing rats in vitro. The rats were divided into groups that received repeated intravenous injections (twice a week for 10 weeks) of the following materials: placebo, sorafenib (SOR), lenvatinib (LEN), autologous platelets, autologous platelets encapsulating sorafenib (SOR‐PLT) and autologous platelets encapsulating lenvatinib (LEN‐PLT). The therapeutic effect was then analyzed by ultrasonography (US) and histopathological analysis. Histopathological and US analysis demonstrated extensive tumor necrosis in the tumor tissue of SOR‐PLT or LEN‐PLT, but not in other experimental groups. By liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry, more abundant sorafenib was detected in tumor tissues after SOR‐PLT administration than in surrounding normal tissues, but no such difference in sorafenib level was observed with SOR administration. Therefore, the use of autologous platelets encapsulating drugs might be a novel therapeutic strategy for HCC.
Real‐world evidence of adjuvant gemcitabine plus capecitabine vs gemcitabine monotherapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Authors: de Jong Evelien J. M. , Janssen Quisette P. , Simons Tessa F. A. , Besselink Marc G. , Bonsing Bert A. , Bouwense Stefan A. W. , Geurts Sandra M. E. , Homs Marjolein Y. V. , de Meijer Vincent E. , Tjan‐Heijnen Vivianne C. G. , van Laarhoven Hanneke W. M. , Valkenburg‐van Iersel Liselot B. J. , Wilmink Johanna W. , van der Geest Lydia G. , Koerkamp Bas Groot , de Vos‐Geelen Judith ,   The Dutch Pancreatic Cancer Group
Published: December 2021

AbstractThe added value of capecitabine to adjuvant gemcitabine monotherapy (GEM) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) was shown by the ESPAC‐4 trial. Real‐world data on the effectiveness of gemcitabine plus capecitabine (GEMCAP), in patients ineligible for mFOLFIRINOX, are lacking. Our study assessed whether adjuvant GEMCAP is superior to GEM in a nationwide cohort. Patients treated with adjuvant GEMCAP or GEM after resection of PDAC without preoperative treatment were identified from The Netherlands Cancer Registry (2015‐2019). The primary outcome was overall survival (OS), measured from start of chemotherapy. The treatment effect of GEMCAP vs GEM was adjusted for sex, age, performance status, tumor size, lymph node involvement, resection margin and tumor differentiation in a multivariable Cox regression analysis. Secondary outcome was the percentage of patients who completed the planned six adjuvant treatment cycles. Overall, 778 patients were included, of whom 21.1% received GEMCAP and 78.9% received GEM. The median OS was 31.4 months (95% CI 26.8‐40.7) for GEMCAP and 22.1 months (95% CI 20.6‐25.0) for GEM (HR: 0.71, 95% CI 0.56‐0.90; logrank P = .004). After adjustment for prognostic factors, survival remained superior for patients treated with GEMCAP (HR: 0.73, 95% CI 0.57‐0.92, logrank P = .009). Survival with GEMCAP was superior to GEM in most subgroups of prognostic factors. Adjuvant chemotherapy was completed in 69.5% of the patients treated with GEMCAP and 62.7% with GEM (P = .11). In this nationwide cohort of patients with PDAC, adjuvant GEMCAP was associated with superior survival as compared to GEM monotherapy and number of cycles was similar.
Carboxylated carbon nanotubes with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution in acidic conditions
Authors: Zhang Xin , Zhang Wenqing , Dai Jianying , Sun Mingzi , Zhao Jun , Ji Lifei , Chen Lin , Zeng Fanlong , Yang Fengchun , Huang Bolong , Dai Liming 
Published: December 2021

AbstractSince most electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), except for precious metal oxides RuO2 and IrO2, are unstable in harsh acidic solutions, it is highly desirable to develop high‐performance OER electrocatalysts for acidic media, though it is still a big challenge. Herein, we report a simple strategy to produce carboxyl‐enriched multiwalled carbon nanotubes (COOH‐MWNTs) that exhibit stable and high electrocatalytic activities for OER in acidic solutions, showing an overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm–2 and a Tafel slope as low as of 265 mV and 82 mV dec–1, respectively. As far as we are aware, these results represent the best OER performance for metal‐free electrocatalysts, even comparable to those of RuO2 and IrO2. We have further revealed the catalytic mechanism, which involves one electron lose from the COOH‐MWNTs catalyst at the beginning of the OER process to trigger H2O molecule oxidation by forming peralcohol, followed by the recapture of one electron from water molecule to oxidize water and to recover the initial state for the COOH‐MWNTs catalyst. The unravel of this new OER mechanism is important as it provides new insights into the crucial role of organic functional groups in electrocatalytic processes. Also, the mechanistic understanding can be used to guide the design and development of novel metal‐free catalysts for acidic OER electrocatalysis and beyond.
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A phase 1, open‐label study to evaluate the drug interaction between islatravir (MK‐8591) and the oral contraceptive levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol in healthy adult females
Authors: Ankrom Wendy , Jackson Rudd Deanne , Zhang Saijuan , Fillgrove Kerry L. , Gravesande Kezia N. , Matthews Randolph P. , Brimhall Darin , Stoch S. Aubrey , Iwamoto Marian N. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractIntroductionHormonal contraceptives are among the most effective forms of reversible contraception, but many other compounds, including some antiretrovirals, have clinically meaningful drug–drug interactions (DDIs) with hormonal contraceptives. Islatravir is a novel human immunodeficiency virus nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor currently in clinical development for treatment and prevention of HIV infection. A phase 1 clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the DDI of islatravir and the combination of oral contraceptive levonorgestrel (LNG)/ethinyl estradiol (EE).MethodsThis was an open‐label, two‐period, fixed‐sequence, DDI clinical trial in healthy, postmenopausal or bilaterally oophorectomized females aged 18 through 65 years in the United States between October 2016 and January 2017. A single dose of LNG 0.15 mg/EE 0.03 mg was given followed by a 7‐day washout. Islatravir, 20 mg, was then dosed once weekly for 3 weeks; a single dose of LNG 0.15 mg/EE 0.03 mg was given concomitantly with the third dose of islatravir. Pharmacokinetic samples for plasma LNG and EE concentrations were collected pre‐dose and up to 120 hours post‐dose in each period. Safety and tolerability were assessed throughout the trial by clinical assessments, laboratory evaluations and examination of adverse events.Results and DiscussionFourteen participants were enrolled. The pharmacokinetics of LNG and EE were not meaningfully altered by co‐administration with islatravir. For the comparison of (islatravir + LNG/EE)/(LNG/EE alone), the geometric mean ratios (GMRs) (90% confidence intervals [CIs]) for LNG AUC0–inf and Cmax were 1.13 (1.06, 1.20) and 0.965 (0.881, 1.06), respectively. For EE, the GMRs (90% CI) for AUC0–inf and Cmax were 1.05 (0.981, 1.11) and 1.02 (0.971, 1.08), respectively. Co‐administration of all three drugs was generally well tolerated.ConclusionsThe results of this trial support the use of LNG/EE contraceptives in combination with islatravir without dose adjustment.