bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The relation between falls and medication use among elderly in assisted living facilities
Authors: Hamza Sarah Ahmed , Adly Nermien Naim , Abdelrahman Ekramy Essa , Fouad Ibrahim Mohamed 
Published: March 2019

AbstractPurposeMany elderly are concerned about falling transfer to assisted living facilities (ALF). Previous literatures studied the medication use and falls in the community, hospitals, or nursing homes, with scanty data about ALF. Therefore, the aim of the current case‐control study was to assess the relation between medication use and falls among elderly in ALF.MethodsA matched case‐control study was conducted. The study was conducted in ALF in Cairo, Egypt. The study participants were 188 individuals; they were subdivided into two groups: fallers and nonfallers; timed up and go test (TUGT) was performed by all subjects. Medication data were collected according to the fall risk‐increasing drugs list and the list of drugs that cause or worsen orthostatism. Other fall risk factors, as suggested by American Geriatric Society, were assessed.ResultsThe use of vasodilators, diuretics, alpha blockers, opioids, antipsychotics, and sedative hypnotics were more common in fallers than in nonfallers (P < 0.001, P = 0.03, P < 0.001, P = 0.013, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively). Vasodilators, alpha blockers, and antipsychotics were significant predictors of falls even after adjustment for the possible confounding factors. Vasodilators, alpha blockers, opioids, sedative hypnotics, and recent dose changes in oral hypoglycemics were significant predictors of higher TUGT after adjustment for the possible confounding factors.ConclusionThe current study supported the risk of psychotropic and cardiovascular medications, with especial emphasis on vasodilators, alpha blockers, and antipsychotics, with raising concern about opioids, sedative hypnotics, and recent dose change in oral hypoglycemics.
Application of distributed temperature sensing for mountain permafrost mapping
Authors: Harrington Jordan S. , Hayashi Masaki 
Published: March 2019

AbstractPermafrost distribution in mountains is typically more heterogeneous relative to low‐relief environments due to greater variability in the factors controlling the ground thermal regime, such as topography, snow depth, and sediment grain size (e.g., coarse blocks). Measuring and understanding the geothermal variability in high mountains remains challenging due to logistical constraints. This study presents one of the first applications of distributed temperature sensing (DTS) in periglacial environments to measure ground surface temperatures in a mountain permafrost area at much higher spatial resolution than possible with conventional methods using discrete temperature sensors. DTS measures temperature along a fibre‐optic cable at high spatial resolution (i.e., ≤ 1 m). Its use can be limited by power supply and calibration requirements, although recent methodological developments have relaxed some of these restrictions. Spatially continuous DTS measurements at a studied rock glacier provided greater resolution of geothermal variability and facilitated the interpretation of bottom temperature of snowpack data to map patchy permafrost distribution. This research highlights the potential for DTS to be a useful tool for permafrost mapping, ground thermal regime interpretation, conceptual geothermal model development, and numerical model evaluation in areas of heterogeneous mountain permafrost.
Oxygen saturations and neurodevelopmental outcomes in single ventricle heart disease
Authors: Wolfe Kelly R. , Brinton John , Di Maria Michael V. , Meier Maxene , Liptzin Deborah R. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractObjectivesTo evaluate whether the degree of hypoxemia following stage‐I and stage‐II palliative surgeries predicts neurodevelopmental outcomes at 14 months of age in children with single ventricle congenital heart disease (SVCHD).DesignWe analyzed longitudinal data from two Pediatric Heart Network (PHN) randomized controlled trials, with a total of 328 subjects. Oxygen saturations, measured via pulse oximetry, at time of discharge from stage‐I and stage‐II surgeries were the primary predictors of interest, and Bayley Scales of Infant Development‐II (BSID‐II) scores at 14 months old were the primary outcome measure. Relevant covariates from previously‐published PHN studies were also included in regression models.ResultsOxygen saturations at time of discharge from stage‐I and stage‐II surgeries were not related to BSID‐II scores. Having one or more oxygen saturation measurements below 80% was also not associated with BSID‐II scores, and neither was change in oxygen saturations over time. These relationships were not altered by inclusion of relevant covariates.ConclusionsIn this large cohort of children with SVCHD, oxygen saturations post‐stage‐I and post‐stage‐II palliation surgeries as measured via pulse oximetry were not associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes at 14 months of age. The relationship between oxygen saturations and neurodevelopment in SVCHD is likely complex, and neurodevelopment is known to be affected by a number of factors. Pulse oximetry may also be an insufficient proxy for cerebral oxygen delivery. Clinically, pulse oximetry readings during the interstage and post‐stage‐II surgery periods are not a reliable predictor of future neurodevelopmental risk.
The effectiveness of computer‐assisted pronunciation training: A meta‐analysis
Authors: Mahdi Hassan Saleh , Al Khateeb Ahmed Abdulateef 
Published: March 2019

Computers are used in almost all aspects of language learning and have also created numerous opportunities in this area. This study aims to examine the overall effectiveness of using a computer in pronunciation learning and training. A meta‐analysis of studies was conducted, which compared the outcomes of students learning the pronunciation of a foreign language (FL) using a computer with the results from those learning pronunciation based on traditional methods of teaching. This meta‐analysis examined how effect sizes varied depending on the learners’ age, learners’ target language proficiency, features of pronunciation, educational level, settings, treatment duration, and assessment tasks. This meta‐analysis examined the effect of using a computer on pronunciation learning by reviewing 20 studies involving 1014 participants. The findings of the meta‐analysis suggest that computer‐assisted training has a positive effect on FL pronunciation (d = 0.68), and is equally effective for both young and adult learners, but more effective for beginner and intermediate learners than advanced learners. The studies also suggest that computer‐assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) is more beneficial for university students than for school students. However, caution has to be exercised in interpreting the results. The small number of studies, all of very low quality (most with fewer than 100 participants, conducted within the same institution using intervention‐related assessments) means that the evidence of effectiveness can only be indicative and not conclusive. More robust, large‐scale studies involving several institutions and using objective standardised tests would be needed for more conclusive results.
A simple method for sampling invertebrate drift in large rivers and boulder‐bed streams
Authors: Rosenfeld Jordan S. , Naman Sean M. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractSampling invertebrate drift in high‐gradient boulder‐bed channels or large turbulent rivers is challenging, because the traditional approach of driving stakes into the stream bed to secure drift nets may not work. We describe a simple method using a split wading rod to collect drift samples from the wadeable river margin or bank as an alternative method for rapid assessment of invertebrate drift when boat access is not possible. Pilot sampling in a large river shows that near‐shore drift samples collected with this approach are broadly similar to samples collected from the centre of the channel using more conventional methods, although our results suggest that depth and velocity effects may cause drift concentrations to be elevated closer to the bank.
Bioconjugated Carbon Dots for Delivery of siTnfαto Enhance Chondrogenesis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Suppression of Inflammation
Authors: Liu Jianwei , Jiang Tongmeng , Li Chun , Wu Yang , He Maolin , Zhao Jinmin , Zheng Li , Zhang Xingdong 
Published: March 2019

AbstractAlthough a promising strategy, the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy of cartilage defects is sometimes accompanied with chronic inflammation during the remodeling status, which may hinder cartilage regeneration. During this process, the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) plays an important role and may be a potential target. In this study, we investigated the effect of Tnfα RNA interference by introducing a functional and highly safe carbon dot (CD)-SMCC nanovector synthesized by bioconjugation of CDs with a protein crosslinker, sulfosuccinimidyl-4-(N-maleimidomethyl) cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (sulfo-SMCC), as the vehicle of the silenced TNFα (siTnfα) on chondrogenesis of MSCs. The results showed that CD-SMCC displayed intense fluorescence with well-dispersed and positively charged properties, which favored effective binding and delivering of siTnfα into the MSCs. CD-SMCC-siTnfα nanoformula also exhibited considerably high transfection efficiency and nearly no cytotoxicity, which is preferred over commercial polyethyleneimine. Interference of Tnfα by CD-SMCC-siTnfα markedly promoted the chondrogenesis of MSCs, as indicated by upregulating cartilage-specific markers. Furthermore, in vivo exploration indicated that CD-SMCC-siTnfα transfected MSCs accelerated cartilage regeneration. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that in combination with the novel CD-SMCC nanovector, targeting Tnfα may facilitate stem cell-based therapy of cartilage defects. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2019;8:724&736
Coal Bed Methane Enhancement Techniques: A Review
Authors: Goraya Navroop Singh , Rajpoot Neetoo , Marriyappan Sivagnanam Balathanigaimani 
Published: March 2019

AbstractPaper investigates the potential impact of Coalbed methane (CBM) in near present and future. CBM is a natural gas that mainly consists of methane present in physically adsorbed state on the surface of porous coal seam under geothermal pressure. CBM is a cleaner fuel which can be used in the transportation industry, conventional power generation, and many other ways. 50–60% of CBM recovery can be obtained under primary operations and enhancement techniques can increase recovery as high as 80%. Recovery enhancement can be made through temperature increase, pressure release or by selective adsorption in which an injection gas displace methane from coal surface. Recovery through the use of CO2, N2, CO2 & N2 mixture is discussed in detail. Underground coal gasification can be used to recover energy from methane depleted, unminable coal reservoirs and has many advantages over surface mining. CBM consists of both thermogenic and biogenic origin. Depleted CBM reservoirs are observed to produce methane even after recovery is done. Native naturally occurring microbes decomposes coal into methane which explains biogenic origin, through a series of reaction. Kinetics of these decomposition reaction could be escalated significantly through the injection of nutrients and genetically enhanced methanogens. These processes has a great potential and could provide a fossil fuel which is almost renewable as large amount of methane can be generated from small amount of coal.
Design of Organic Structure Directing Agents for Chiral Zeolite Beta A
Authors: Daeyaert Frits , Deem Michael W. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractWe have designed chiral organic structure directing agents (OSDAs) to direct the formation of enantiomerically enriched zeolite BEA. The in silico design was a combination of a multi‐objective scoring function with exhaustive and stochastic virtual combinatorial chemistry and de novo design algorithms. Importantly, the algorithms used directly consider the synthetic accessibility of the designed OSDAs. We have identified 175 putative OSDAs of which one enantiomer has a low stabilization energy in the P4122 enantiomorph of zeolite BEA and the mirror image enantiomer has a significantly less favorable stabilization energy. In addition, 42 of the designed compounds have a significantly less favorable stabilization energy in the competing BEB zeolite. Enantiomerically pure zeolite BEA is of interest for stereoselective separation and catalysis.
Oxygen‐Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheet for Efficient N2 Fixation to NH3 at Ambient Conditions
Authors: Chen Jiayin , Huang Hong , Xia Li , Xie Hongtao , Ji Lei , Wei Peipei , Zhao Runbo , Chen Hongyu , Asiri Abdullah M. , Sun Xuping 
Published: March 2019

AbstractNH3 is one of the largest‐volume industrial chemicals synthesized in the world. It not only is a kind of important chemical base materials to produce fertilizers, plastics and explosives, but also can serve as a clean energy carrier with high hydrogen content for a sustainable energy supply. N2 is the most abundant gas in atmosphere, but its inert character caused by the strong triple bond, impedes itself from being converted to NH3. In nature, this shortcoming is overcome by biological N2 fixation utilizing nitrogenase enzymes. Industrially, fixation of N2‐to‐NH3 prevailingly depends on Haber‐Bosch process using Ru‐ or Fe‐based catalysts, but this process consumes large energy and emits heavy carbon which increases crisis of global warming.
Catalytic Synthesis of Hard/Soft Carbon Hybrids with Heteroatom Doping for Enhanced Sodium Storage
Authors: Liu Xu , Zhu Youyu , Liu Na , Chen Mingming , Wang Chengyang , Wang Xiaolei 
Published: March 2019

AbstractHard carbon shows a promising application for sodium storage but suffers from low electrochemical stability, which leads to poor rate capacity and cycle life. Here, we report a heteroatom‐doping hard/soft carbon hybrid prepared by easy oxidizing acid treatment and low temperature catalytic graphitization. The heteroatoms increase the sodium‐ion adsorption capability during slope region, showing an important contribution at high current. Besides, the introduction of oriented domains enhances the conductivity, as well as the heteroatom doping, and electrochemical stability of hard/soft carbon hybrids. What's more, these structure characteristics also benefit the stable storage of sodium ions, supported by a 74% increase in terms of reversible capacity. Thus, the electrochemical performance retains a fast and reversible capacity of 125 mAh⋅g−1 at high current density of 8 C.
Bioinspired Flexible Volatile Organic Compounds Sensor Based on Dynamic Surface Wrinkling with Dual‐Signal Response
Authors: Qu Chunyan , Wang Shuqi , Liu Lin , Bai Yuanyuan , Li Lianhui , Sun Fuqin , Hao Mingming , Li Tie , Lu Qifeng , Li Lili , Qin Sujie , Zhang Ting 
Published: March 2019

AbstractLiving systems can respond to external stimuli by dynamic interface changes. Moreover, natural wrinkle structures allow the surface to switch dynamically and reversibly from flat to rough in response to specific stimuli. Artificial wrinkle structures have been developed for applications such as optical devices, mechanical sensors, and microfluidic devices. However, chemical molecule‐triggered flexible sensors based on dynamic surface wrinkling have not been demonstrated. Inspired by human skin wrinkling, herein, a volatile organic compound (VOC)‐responsive flexible sensor with a switchable dual‐signal response (transparency and resistance) is achieved based on a multilayered Ag nanowire (AgNW)/SiOx/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. Wrinkle structures can form dynamically in response to VOC vapors (such as ethanol, toluene, acetone, formaldehyde, and methanol) due to the instability of the multilayer induced by their different swelling capabilities. By controlling the modulus of PDMS and the thickness of the SiOx layer, tunable sensitivities in resistance and transparency of the device are achieved. Additionally, the proximity mechanism of the solubility parameter is proposed, which explains the high selectivity of the device toward ethanol vapor compared with that of other VOCs well. This stimuli‐responsive sensor exhibits the dynamic visual feedback and the quantitative electrical signal, which provide a novel approach for developing smart flexible electronics.
RETRACTED: Supramolecular Nanotube Reactors for Production of Imine Polymers with Controlled Conformation, Size, and Chirality
Authors: Kameta Naohiro , Ding Wuxiao 
Published: March 2019

AbstractA series of supramolecular nanotubes with inner diameters of 1, 4, 9, 12, 16, and 29 nm are prepared from amino acid lipids. The hydrophobic channels of the nanotubes act as reactors for the formation of imine polymers by not only effectively encapsulating the benzaldehyde and diacetyleneamine precursors of the imine monomers but also markedly accelerating imine formation. The nanotube inner diameter determines whether the imine monomers self‐assemble into nanoparticles, nanotapes, nanocoils, or twisted nanofibers in the channels. UV‐induced polymerization of the diacetylene units in the imine nanostructures followed by decomposition of the nanotubes into molecular dispersions of the constituent amino acid lipids results in expulsion of the polymerized imine nanostructures with retained conformation. The isolated nanocoils and twisted nanofibers retain the helicity and circular dichroism induced by the nanotubes, which exhibits supramolecular chirality, even though the components of the imine monomers are achiral. These supramolecular nanotubes with tunable diameters and functionalizable surfaces can be expected to be useful for the production of polymers with controlled conformation, size, and chirality without the need for rational design or chemical modification of the monomers or optimization of the polymerization conditions.
Predicting process performance: A white‐box approach based on process models
Authors: Verenich Ilya , Dumas Marlon , La Rosa Marcello , Nguyen Hoang 
Published: March 2019

AbstractPredictive business process monitoring methods exploit historical process execution logs to provide predictions about running instances of a process. These predictions enable process workers and managers to preempt performance issues or compliance violations. A number of approaches have been proposed to predict quantitative process performance indicators for running instances of a process, including remaining cycle time, cost, or probability of deadline violation. However, these approaches adopt a black‐box approach, insofar as they predict a single scalar value without decomposing this prediction into more elementary components. In this paper, we propose a white‐box approach to predict performance indicators of running process instances. The key idea is to first predict the performance indicator at the level of activities and then to aggregate these predictions at the level of a process instance by means of flow analysis techniques. The paper develops this idea in the context of predicting the remaining cycle time of ongoing process instances. The proposed approach has been evaluated on real‐life event logs and compared against several baselines.
Exploring Economic Diversity and Inequity Through Picture Books
Authors: Quast Erin , Bazemore‐Bertrand Shamaine 
Published: March 2019

AbstractA significant percentage of students have families from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds, yet the experiences and practices of such students are often not reflected in the curriculum. To create more equitable literacy learning environments, students need opportunities to explore economic diversity and to challenge harmful discourses about people experiencing economic hardship. The authors discuss how picture books can be used in elementary classrooms to reflect economic diversity and to facilitate critical classroom conversations on economic hardship. The authors also discuss the importance of teachers attending to students’ economic backgrounds, highlight promising trends in contemporary picture books on economic hardship, and provide critical considerations for teachers when planning for student dialogue on economic inequity.
Reflection on opportunities for high penetration of renewable energy in China
Authors: Li Qiwei , Zhang Jiaxuan , Chen Jiahui , Lu Xi 
Published: March 2019

Increasing penetration of renewable energy (RE) is expected to be an essential component for China to achieve goals in mitigating global climate change and domestic air pollution. Although China has experienced rapid growth of RE over the past two decades, problems restricting further development of RE occur, among which high curtailment rate of wind and solar power raises great attention. This paper reflects on the challenges and opportunities of high penetration of RE from both technical and market perspectives in China based on literature review. In particular, it emphasizes technical options to address the inherent variability of RE from three layers, namely using interconnected geographically dispersed sources to reduce random variance, increasing storage capacity to deal with minute‐to‐day imbalance, and applying backup capacity for seasonally mismatch. From the market perspective, the paper analyzes the needs of shifting from central planning to market‐based dispatch, introducing markets for ancillary services, and having a larger and more precise market. Meanwhile, our paper further points out that opportunities for high RE integration may rely on deep electrification of transportation and building sectors, which are also the foci for future air pollution control in China. It is feasible for China to achieve a high if not 100% RE system, but first these technical and market challenges have to be addressed in the process of adjusting its energy structure.This article is categorized under:
Energy Systems Analysis > Climate and Environment
Energy and Climate > Climate and Environment
On sufficient dimension reduction for functional data: Inverse moment‐based methods
Authors: Song Jun 
Published: March 2019

In this article, we present methods of sufficient dimension reduction (SDR) for functional data and organize them in a unified framework. The current existing methods for multivariate, functional data, functional response, and nonlinear SDR for functional data are illustrated in a way that they are naturally generalized. If a covariance operator is defined on an infinite‐dimensional space, the inverse of it is not bounded. Thus it is difficult to estimate and even impossible to apply the conventional results. We present solutions to resolve the inverse issue for the methods of functional SDR. Then we explain the functional SDR methods in three different scenarios: scalar‐on‐function, function‐on‐function, nonlinear SDR for function‐on‐function problem.This article is categorized under:
Data: Types and Structure > Streaming data
Statistical and Graphical Methods of Data Analysis > Dimension Reduction
Statistical Learning and Exploratory Methods of the Data Sciences > Clustering and Classification
Data: Types and Structure > Time Series, Stochastic Processes, and Functional Data