bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Immediate effects of Mulligan's techniques on pain and functional mobility in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: A randomized control trial
Authors: Bhagat Madhura , Neelapala Y.V. Raghava , Gangavelli Ranganath 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackground and PurposeMulligan's mobilization with movement was shown to be effective when implemented in multimodal therapy for knee osteoarthritis. However, no study has evaluated the Mulligan's technique in isolation and compared the relative effectiveness with sham‐controlled interventions. Hence, the present study examined the immediate effects of Mulligan's techniques with sham mobilization on the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) and timed up and go (TUG) test in individuals with knee osteoarthritis.MethodsThirty participants (mean age: 55.3 ± 8.3 years) with symptoms at the knee and radiographic diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis were randomized into sham (n = 15) and intervention (n = 15) groups. The intervention (I) group received Mulligan's mobilization glides that resulted in relative pain relief for three sets of 10 repetitions. For the sham (S) group, the therapist's hand was placed over the joint surfaces mimicking the pain‐relieving glides, without providing the gliding force. The outcome measures NPRS and TUG were recorded by a blinded assessor pre‐ and post‐intervention.ResultsStatistically significant differences were identified between the groups in post‐intervention median (interquartile range) NPRS (I group: 4.00 [2.00–5.00]; S group: 6.00 [4.00–7.00]) and TUG scores (I group: 10.9 [9.43–10.45]; S group: 13.18 [10.38–16.00]) with the intervention group demonstrating better outcomes (p < .05). Within‐group, the post‐intervention scores of NPRS and TUG were significantly lower (p < .05) compared to the pre‐intervention scores in the intervention group. In the sham group, a statistically significant pre–post change was noticed only in the NPRS scores but not in the TUG scores.ConclusionMulligan's techniques were effective in improving pain and functional mobility in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. The underlying mechanisms for observed effects must be examined further, as participants reported pain relief following sham mobilization.
A moving average control chart using a robust scale estimator for process dispersion
Authors: Koukouvinos Christos , Lappa Angeliki 
Published: September 2019

AbstractControl charts are one of the most powerful tools used to detect and control industrial process deviations in statistical process control. In this paper, a moving average control chart based on a robust scale estimator of standard deviation, namely, the sample median absolute deviation (MAD) statistic, for monitoring process dispersion, is proposed. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed moving average median absolute deviation (MA‐MAD) chart, in terms of average run length for various distributions. The results show that the moving average MAD chart performs well in detecting small and moderate shifts in process dispersion, especially when the normality assumption is violated. In addition, this chart is very efficient, especially when the quality characteristic follows a skewed distribution. Numerical and simulated examples are given at the end of the paper.
Prescribed performance control of strict‐feedback systems under actuation saturation and output constraint via event‐triggered approach
Authors: Cao Ye , Wen Changyun , Song Yongduan 
Published: September 2019

SummaryIn this work, we study the performance‐guaranteed event‐triggered control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems in strict‐feedback form subject to input saturation and output constraint. The prescribed performance (ie, convergence rate, tracking error accuracy) and output constraint are firstly taken into account for nonlinear systems with event‐triggered input. By blending a speed transformation into the barrier Lyapunov function and introducing an intermediate variable to the system, two different event‐triggered control schemes are proposed for systems with and without saturation, respectively. Each scheme has two rules to determine triggering time sequences, one for control signal updating and the other for control signal transmission with the latter being a subsequence of the first. Meanwhile, it is proved that the tracking error converges to a preset compact set around zero at the prescribed decay rate and the output is maintained within a given bound at all times. Simulation verification also confirms the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Phosphonate‐functionalized Ionic Liquid: A Novel Electrolyte Additive for Eenhanced Cyclic Stability and Rate Capability of LiCoO2 Cathode at High Voltage
Authors: Ge Jiawen , Liang Hongze , Zhou Mingjiong , Zhao Chuanli , Zheng Zhe , Yan Yinghua , Zhao Lingling , Tang Keqi 
Published: September 2019

AbstractPhosphonate‐functionalized ionic liquid (PFIL) is employed as a multifunctional additive to the base electrolyte mixture consisting of ethylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate and LiPF6. Addition of PFIL (5 wt%) significantly improves the cyclic stability and rate capability of LiCoO2 cathode performed between 3.0 and 4.3 V (vs Li/Li+), and decreases the flammability of the base electrolyte as well. Electrochemical studies indicate that PFIL is preferentially oxidized on cathode to form robust cathode electrolyte interface (CEI), which contributes to the enhanced cyclic stability and rate capability. Morphological and surface analysis on the cycled cathodes also reveal that PFIL is a key component for the formation of thin CEI film and retention of structural integrity of cathode material. Comparison experiments verify that chemically linking between ionicity and phosphorus functionality is indispensable for the enhanced performance. Additives of individual nonfunctionalized ionic liquid, neutral phosphonate, or their mixture all fail to improve the electrochemical performances.
Analytical Determination of the Oxazolidinone Antibiotic Linezolid at a Pencil Graphite and Carbon Paste Electrodes
Authors: Aydin Ilknur , Akgun Hilal , Pınar Pınar Talay 
Published: September 2019

AbstractElectrochemical properties of linezolid, an antibiotic drug, using unmodified renewable pencil graphite and carbon paste electrodes, were investigated from pH 2 to 10 in Britton‐Robinson buffer solution. Experimental studies were examined by square‐wave (SW) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Firstly, parameters affecting the performance of both electrode, such as electrode activation, support electrolyte selection, pH effect, interval of potentials, scan rates and voltammetric method parameters were investigated in detail by using square wave voltammetry. Linezolid was not reversibly oxidized in supporting electrolytes solutions, yielding well‐defined peaks in the oxidation potential interval. Using the pencil graphite electrode (PGE), a linearity range between peak current and concentration was obtained between 0.01 and 0.2 μg mL−1 (2.96×10−8‐5.93×10−7 M), other one, at carbon paste electrode (CPE), a linearity range between 0.1 and 7.5 μg mL−1 (2.96×10−7‐2.22×10−5 M) was obtained by SWV. The selectivity, sensitivity, precision, and other validation parameters of the developed voltammetric method was evaluated. Lastly, the concentration of linezolid was examined in pharmaceutical and biological samples with standard addition technique.
A blockchain‐based computation offloading method for edge computing in 5G networks
Authors: Xu Xiaolong , Chen Yi , Zhang Xuyun , Liu Qingxiang , Liu Xihua , Qi Lianyong 
Published: September 2019

SummaryEdge computing (EC) emerges as a novel computing paradigm to offload computing tasks from user equipments (UEs) to edge notes (ENs) in fifth‐generation networks, which definitely breaks the resource limitation of UEs to a certain degree. However, it is troublesome to guarantee the overall operating performance of ENs due to the uneven distributed resource demands of UEs, the resulting transmission delay and the data loss for computation offloading between the covered EN and the deployed destination EN. In view of this challenge, a blockchain‐based computation offloading method, named BCO, is proposed in this paper. Technically, since blockchain is a promising technique for the decentralized system, a blockchain‐based EC framework is designed to degrade the data loss possibility by integrating blockchain and EC. Then, the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm, the third version (NSGA‐III), is leveraged to acquire the balanced offloading strategies. Furthermore, by taking advantage of Simple Additive Weighting and Multiple Criteria Decision Making, the optimal offloading strategy is identified. Finally, systematic experiments and analyses on the comparative experiment are conducted to verify the efficiency of our proposed method BCO.
IDEAL study: magnetic resonance imaging for suspected deep endometriosis assessment prior to laparoscopy is as reliable as radiological imaging as a complement to transvaginal ultrasonography
Authors: Bielen D. , Tomassetti C. , Van Schoubroeck D. , Vanbeckevoort D. , De Wever L. , Van den Bosch T. , D'Hooghe T. , Bourne T. , D'Hoore A. , Wolthuis A. , Van Cleynenbreughel B. , Meuleman C. , Timmerman D. 
Published: September 2019

ABSTRACTObjectiveTo compare the value of using one‐stop magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) vs standard radiological imaging as a supplement to transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) for the preoperative assessment of patients with endometriosis referred for surgery in a tertiary care academic center.MethodsThis prospective observational study compared the diagnostic value of the standard preoperative imaging practice of our center, which involves expert TVS complemented by intravenous urography (IVU) for the evaluation of the ureters and double‐contrast barium enema (DCBE) for the evaluation of the rectum, sigmoid and cecum, with that of expert TVS complemented by a ‘one‐stop’ MRI examination evaluating the upper abdomen, pelvis, kidneys and ureters as well as rectum and sigmoid on the same day, for the preoperative triaging of 74 women with clinically suspected deep endometriosis. The findings at laparoscopy were considered the reference standard. Patients were stratified according to their need for monodisciplinary surgical approach, carried out by gynecologists only, or multidisciplinary surgical approach, involving abdominal surgeons and/or urologists, based on the extent to which endometriosis affected the reproductive organs, bowel, ureters, bladder or other abdominal organs.ResultsOur standard preoperative imaging approach and the combined findings of TVS and MRI had similar diagnostic performance, resulting in correct stratification for a monodisciplinary or a multidisciplinary surgical approach of 67/74 (90.5%) patients. However, there were differences between the estimation of the severity of disease by DCBE and MRI. The severity of rectal involvement was underestimated in 2.7% of the patients by both TVS and DCBE, whereas it was overestimated in 6.8% of the patients by TVS and/or DCBE.ConclusionsComplementary to expert TVS, ‘one‐stop’ MRI can predict intraoperative findings equally well as standard radiological imaging (IVU and DCBE) in patients referred for endometriosis surgery in a tertiary care academic center. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Elective delivery at 34 weeks vs routine obstetric care in fetal gastroschisis: randomized controlled trial
Authors: Shamshirsaz A. A. , Lee T. C. , Hair A. B. , Erfani H. , Espinoza J. , Shamshirsaz A. A. , Fox K. A. , Gandhi M. , Nassr A. A. , Abrams S. A. , Mccullough L. B. , Chervenak F. A. , Olutoye O. O. , Belfort M. A. 
Published: September 2019

ABSTRACTObjectiveTo evaluate whether elective preterm delivery (ED) at 34 weeks is of postnatal benefit to infants with isolated gastroschisis compared with routine obstetric care (RC).MethodsBetween May 2013 and September 2015, all women with a sonographic diagnosis of fetal gastroschisis referred to a single tertiary center, before 34 weeks' gestation, were invited to participate in this study. Eligible patients were randomized to ED (induction of labor at 34 weeks) or RC (spontaneous labor or delivery by 37–38 weeks, based on standard obstetric indications). The primary outcome measure was length of time on total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Secondary outcomes were time to closure of gastroschisis and length of stay in hospital. Outcome variables were compared using appropriate statistical methods. Analysis was based on intention‐to‐treat.ResultsTwenty‐five women were assessed for eligibility, of whom 21 (84%; 95% CI, 63.9–95.5%) agreed to participate in the study; of these, 10 were randomized to ED and 11 to RC. The trial was stopped at the first planned interim analysis due to patient safety concerns and for futility; thus, only 21 of the expected 86 patients (24.4%; 95% CI, 15.8–34.9%) were enrolled. Median gestational age at delivery was 34.3 (range, 34–36) weeks in the ED group and 36.7 (range, 27–38) weeks in the RC group. One patient in the ED group delivered at 36 weeks following unsuccessful induction at 34 weeks. Neonates of women who underwent ED, compared to those in the RC group, showed no difference in the median number of days on TPN (54 (range, 17–248) vs 21 (range, 9–465) days; P = 0.08), number of days to closure of gastroschisis (7 (range, 0–15) vs 5 (range, 0–8) days; P = 0.28) and length of stay in hospital (70.5 (range, 22–137) vs 31 (range, 19–186) days; P = 0.15). However, neonates in the ED group were significantly more likely to experience late‐onset sepsis compared with those in the RC group (40% (95% CI, 12.2–73.8%) vs 0%; P = 0.03).ConclusionThis study demonstrates no benefit of ED of fetuses with gastroschisis when postnatal gastroschisis management is similar to that used in routine care. Rather, the data suggest that ED is detrimental to infants with gastroschisis. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Coevolution of language and symbolic meaning: Co‐opting meaning underlying the initial arts in early human culture
Authors: Zaidel Dahlia W. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractMany of language's components, including communicating symbolic meaning, have neurobiological roots that go back millions of years in evolutionary time. The intersection with the human social survival strategy spawned additional adaptive meaning systems. Under conditions threatening survival in socially oriented human groups, extra‐language meaning systems co‐opted and adapted to facilitate unity, including the early formats of the arts. They would have percolated into cultural practice for this social purpose and ultimately survival. With evolutionary pressures tapping into biologically inherited, physiologically functioning sensory‐motor pathways, anchored specifically in rhythm cognition and motor synchrony output, initial art practice conveyed symbolic group cohesion through communal, all‐inclusive synchronously moving dance formations and rhythmically produced vocal or percussion sounds. As with the sounds of language in the deep past, and numerous other cultural behaviors, such nonmaterial early art formats would not have left marks in the archeological record but their evolutionary driven practice would have contributed to adaptive genetic factors woven into brain‐behavior evolution. Their practice is likely to have well predated unearthed art‐related objects. Consolidation of evidence and notions from language evolution, genetics, human physiology, comparative animal communication, archeology, and climate history in the distant past of early humans in Africa supports the evolutionary driven practice of initial nonmaterial art formats conveying symbolic expressions optimizing group survival.This article is categorized under:
Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition
Linguistics > Evolution of Language
Psychology > Comparative Psychology
Fate of environmental pollutants
Authors: Ng Archie , Weerakoon Dilieka , Lim Erin , Padhye Lokesh P. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThis annual review covers the literature published in 2018 on topics related to the occurrence and fate of environmental pollutants in wastewater. Due to the vast amount of literature published on this topic, we have discussed only a portion of the quality research publications, due to the limitation of space. The abstract search was carried out using Web of Science, and the abstracts were selected based on their relevance. In a few cases, full‐text articles were referred to understand new findings better. This review is divided into the following sections: antibiotic‐resistant bacteria (ARBs) and antibiotic‐resistant genes (ARGs), disinfection by‐products (DBPs), drugs of abuse (DoAs), estrogens, heavy metals, microplastics, per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS), pesticides, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), with the addition of two new classes of pollutants to previous years (DoAs and PFAS).
Influence of lure choice and survey duration on scent stations for carnivore surveys
Authors: Webster Sarah C. , Beasley James C. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractNoninvasive, camera‐based, scent station surveys have become a common approach to estimate population parameters for mammalian carnivores. Many carnivores are particularly sensitive to olfactory cues; and, as such, the quality and quantity of odor attractant used during surveys can significantly affect the accuracy and precision of the survey. Additionally, survey length is also an important consideration because many mammalian predators are highly mobile and elusive in nature. Using scent station surveys in autumn 2013 and 2014 on the Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina, USA, we tested the effects of 5 lures: fatty acid, fish oil, synthetic fermented egg, beaver castor, and skunk essence on visitation rates, visitation probability, and latency to visitation of multiple predator species. We also estimated occupancy probability for 2 carnivore species using different survey lengths to determine the effect of survey period on the precision of occupancy estimates. We found that skunk essence had greater visitation probability and visits than other lures evaluated. Species‐specific bait‐preference models revealed that raccoons (Procyon lotor) were more likely to visit skunk essence, and coyotes (Canis latrans) were less likely to visit fish oil as compared with fatty acid. Latency to visitation ranged from 104.7 to 112.1 hours and did not vary among scents. Longer survey durations resulted in more precise estimates of occupancy and detection probability. Our results suggest a wide range of scents commonly used for carnivore capture may perform as well as, or better than, fatty acid for noninvasive carnivore surveys. Further, study designs should carefully consider the duration of scent‐station surveys depending on the level of precision desired in estimates of occupancy and detection probability. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.
National Evaluation Systems
Authors: Segerholm Christina , Lindgren Joakim 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe national reform context for evaluation and quality assurance (EQA) in Swedish higher education along with the designs of the different national EQA systems during 1995–2014 is described and analysed in this chapter. This historical account establishes the background for the coming chapters in the book. Our aim is to scrutinise the relationship between the EQA systems and governing. We used government bills, official reports, research reports, articles, and books to describe and analyse the different policy contexts and EQA systems. In the analysis, we observe shifts and continuities as institutional reproduction and change. In this chapter, we also discuss governing in terms of the different expectations raised by the national EQA systems and liken the historical expansion of the systems to an evaluation machinery.
Hayek and the Red Tape: The Politics of Evaluation and Quality Assurance Reform – From Shortcut Governing to Policy Rerouting
Authors: Lindgren Joakim , Rönnberg Linda 
Published: September 2019

AbstractIn this chapter, we draw attention to the important political dimension of the governing-evaluation-knowledge nexus. The aim is to describe and analyse the processes leading up to the two most recent national evaluation and quality assurance (EQA) systems in operation from 2011 to 2014 and from 2016 onwards by analysing the formation of the respective EQA systems and the actors involved in these processes. The chapter outlines political justifications and ideological beliefs and highlights central shifts and continuities in these processes. We explore how formation of EQA systems can be understood within a wider context of the work of governing by contrasting the fast, competitive “shortcut governing” from the 2011–2014 EQA system with the more dialogue- and consensus-oriented process implying a “policy rerouting” later, as manifested in the process leading up to the 2016 EQA system. We also discuss quality assurance expansion in the context of higher education policymaking.
Deep Neural Network Architecture for Drug-Target Interaction Prediction
Authors: Monteiro Nelson R. C. , Ribeiro Bernardete , Arrais Joel P. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe discovery of potential Drug-Target Interactions (DTIs) is a determining step in the drug discovery and repositioning process, as the effectiveness of the currently available antibiotic treatment is declining. Successful approaches have been presented to solve this problem but seldom protein sequences and structured data are used together. We present a deep learning architecture model, which exploits the particular ability of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to obtain 1D representations from protein amino acid sequences and SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) strings. The results achieved demonstrate that using CNNs to obtain representations of the data, instead of the traditional descriptors, lead to improved performance.
Mol-CycleGAN - A Generative Model for Molecular Optimization
Authors: Maziarka Łukasz , Pocha Agnieszka , Kaczmarczyk Jan , Rataj Krzysztof , Warchoł Michał 
Published: September 2019

AbstractDuring the drug design process, one must develop a molecule, which structure satisfies a number of physicochemical properties. To improve this process, we introduce Mol-CycleGAN – a CycleGAN-based model that generates compounds optimized for a selected property, while aiming to retain the already optimized ones. In the task of constrained optimization of penalized logP of drug-like molecules our model significantly outperforms previous results.
A Transformer Model for Retrosynthesis
Authors: Karpov Pavel , Godin Guillaume , Tetko Igor V. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractWe describe a Transformer model for a retrosynthetic reaction prediction task. The model is trained on 45 033 experimental reaction examples extracted from USA patents. It can successfully predict the reactants set for 42.7% of cases on the external test set. During the training procedure, we applied different learning rate schedules and snapshot learning. These techniques can prevent overfitting and thus can be a reason to get rid of internal validation dataset that is advantageous for deep models with millions of parameters. We thoroughly investigated different approaches to train Transformer models and found that snapshot learning with averaging weights on learning rates minima works best. While decoding the model output probabilities there is a strong influence of the temperature that improves at $$\text {T}=1.3$$ the accuracy of models up to 1–2%.