bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal analysis of a secondary BRCA2 mutation using digital droplet PCR
Authors: Khalique Saira , Pettitt Stephen J , Kelly Ger , Tunariu Nina , Natrajan Rachael , Banerjee Susana , Lord Christopher J 
Published: October 2019

AbstractDevelopment of resistance to platinum and poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase inhibitors via secondary BRCA gene mutations that restore functional homologous recombination has been observed in a number of cancer types. Here we report a case of somatic BRCA2 mutation in a patient with high grade serous ovarian carcinoma. A secondary mutation predicted to restore the BRCA2 open reading frame was detected at low frequency (2.3%) in whole exome sequencing of a peritoneal biopsy at disease progression after treatment that included carboplatin and olaparib. We used digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) to verify the presence and frequency of this mutation in the biopsy sample at progression and also used this approach to assess the presence of the secondary mutation in preceding biopsies at diagnosis and first relapse. We found no evidence for the secondary mutation being present prior to the final progression biopsy, suggesting that this mutation was acquired late in the course of treatment. ddPCR provides a sensitive and specific technique to investigate the presence of low frequency mutations in a time series of biopsies.
Paradoxical psoriasis induced by TNF‐α blockade shows immunological features typical of the early phase of psoriasis development
Authors: Fania Luca , Morelli Martina , Scarponi Claudia , Mercurio Laura , Scopelliti Fernanda , Cattani Caterina , Scaglione Giovanni Luca , Tonanzi Tiziano , Pilla Maria Antonietta , Pagnanelli Gianluca , Mazzanti Cinzia , Girolomoni Giampiero , Cavani Andrea , Madonna Stefania , Albanesi Cristina 
Published: October 2019

AbstractImmunomodulation with anti‐TNF‐α is highly effective in the treatment of various immune‐mediated inflammatory diseases, including hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). However, this may be responsible for unexpected paradoxical psoriasiform reactions. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying the induction of these events are not clear, even though the involvement of innate immune responses driven by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) has been described. In addition, the genetic predisposition to psoriasis of patients could be determinant. In this study, we investigated the immunological and genetic profiles of three HS patients without psoriasis who developed paradoxical psoriasiform reactions following anti‐TNF‐α therapy with adalimumab. We found that paradoxical psoriasiform skin reactions show immunological features common to the early phases of psoriasis development, characterized by cellular players of innate immunity, such as pDC, neutrophils, mast cells, macrophages, and monocytes. In addition, IFN‐β and IFN‐α2a, two type I IFNs typical of early psoriasis, were highly expressed in paradoxical skin reactions. Concomitantly, other innate immunity molecules, such as the catheledicin LL37 and lymphotoxin (LT)‐α and LT‐β were overproduced. Interestingly, these innate immunity molecules were abundantly expressed by keratinocytes, in addition to the inflammatory infiltrate. In contrast to classical psoriasis, psoriasiform lesions of HS patients showed a reduced number of IFN‐γ and TNF‐α‐releasing T lymphocytes. On the contrary, IL‐22 immunoreactivity was significantly augmented together with the IL‐36γ staining in leukocytes infiltrating the dermis. Finally, we found that all HS patients with paradoxical reactions carried allelic variants in genes predisposing to psoriasis. Among them, SNPs in ERAP1, NFKBIZ, and TNFAIP genes and in the HLA‐C genomic region were found.
Dipolar and Quadrupolar Luminophores Based on 1,8‐Dimethylcarbazole−Triazine Conjugates for High‐Efficiency Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLEDs
Authors: Min Hyukgi , Park In Seob , Yasuda Takuma 
Published: October 2019

AbstractAs one of the three primary colors indispensable for full‐color displays, the development of blue emitters is of great importance and still a difficult challenge for organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). Blue organic emitters exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are anticipated to be promising materials as they have the potential to achieve high electroluminescence (EL) efficiencies and suitable color purity. In this paper, highly efficient blue TADF emitters combining 1,8‐dimethylcarbazole as a weak donor (D) unit with a triazine‐based acceptor (A) core are reported. Unlike unsubstituted carbazole, 1,8‐dimethylcarbazole can effectively induce intermolecular twisting between the D‐A linkages, thus enhancing the TADF properties. Moreover, a quadrupolar D‐A‐D‐type blue TADF emitter exhibits superior photo‐ and electroluminescence (EL) properties compared to a dipolar D‐A‐type counterpart. TADF‐OLEDs based on the D‐A‐D‐type emitter featuring the 1,8‐dimethylcarbazole−triazine conjugates display a brilliant blue EL emission and furnish a maximum external EL quantum efficiency as high as 21.2 % with CIE color coordinates of (0.16, 0.27).
A Phthalocyanine‐Based Glutathione‐Activated Photosensitizer with a Ferrocenyl Boron Dipyrromethene Dark Quencher for Photodynamic Therapy
Authors: Shi Wen‐Jing , Ng Dennis K. P. , Zhao Shirui , Lo Pui‐Chi 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThe front cover artwork is provided by the Dennis K. P. Ng group from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Pui‐Chi Lo group from the City University of Hong Kong. The image illustrates the activation of a phthalocyanine‐based photosensitizer through cleavage of the disulfide linker by intracellular glutathione (GSH) and separation from the ferrocenyl boron dipyrromethene‐based dark quencher. Read the full text of the Article at 10.1002/cptc.201900115.
An efficient implementation of low‐power approximate compressor–based multiplier for cognitive communication systems
Authors: R.P. Meenaakshi Sundhari 
Published: October 2019

SummaryImage compression is significant for resourceful transmission and storage of images. The multimedia data like image, audio, and videos are uploaded in the Internet through telecommunication networks. Actual image size plays when page utilization is higher. So image compression standard joint photographic experts group (JPEG) is used for storing images in a compressed format. The quality of JPEG is that it yields little loss in quality using high compression ratios. Multiplier and adder play a major hardware resource in JPEG compression. To reduce this, hardware complexity here proposed a compressor‐based multiplier to increase the performance of JPEG standard as well as reducing the logic resources. This architecture is going to be implemented in CYCLONE IV FPGA with 512 × 512 and 640 × 480 resolutions of images.
A probability distribution function for investigating node infection and removal times
Authors: Tafazzoli Tala , Sadeghiyan Babak 
Published: October 2019

AbstractConsidering the important issue of computer infections by worms spread via networks, the theme of source identification has been a prominent research field that aims at investigating infection propagation including acquiring knowledge about the infection and the node removal times when a worm infection happens. This information helps in identifying the patient zero in the worm attack and may be used by computer forensic investigators and network administrators to spot the culprits and to identify related network vulnerabilities. In this paper, we tackle this problem by developing new probabilistic models based on Bayesian networks. We learn a probability distribution to calculate, at every time step, the probability that each node is infected by a scanning worm, using historical data and features extracted from the network and application layers. With the mentioned probability distribution, the node infection status can be inferred using feature values at each time step. We propose a four‐step method to investigate the time of infection and removal of each node probabilistically. First, features are extracted and derived from network traffic data. There are no suitable training and test datasets publicly available for our tests; therefore, we developed the training and test datasets using simulations of the Code Red II worm. Second, a prior model is built using training data. Third, the probabilistic model is built by the estimation of distribution algorithm. Fourth, the infection probability of nodes is inferred given the probability distribution and feature values at each time step. It has already been shown that the number of infectious nodes can be probabilistically approximated backward in time through the stochastic Back‐to‐Origin Markov model. We combine our first model with the prior stochastic Back‐to‐Origin Markov model to develop our second model. To evaluate our first and second models, we conducted experiments that show that these models can pinpoint the source node and the infection time of nodes with acceptable accuracy. It should be noted that our method could be employed with other propagating worm types including ransomware worms.
Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioeciousNepenthespitcher plants
Authors: Scharmann Mathias , Grafe T. Ulmar , Metali Faizah , Widmer Alex 
Published: October 2019

AbstractSpecies with separate sexes (dioecy) are a minority among flowering plants, but dioecy has evolved multiple times independently in their history. The sex-determination system and sex-linked genomic regions are currently identified in a limited number of dioecious plants only. Here, we study the sex-determination system in a genus of dioecious plants that lack heteromorphic sex chromosomes and are not amenable to controlled breeding: Nepenthes pitcher plants. We genotyped wild populations of flowering males and females of three Nepenthes taxa using ddRAD-seq and sequenced a male inflorescence transcriptome. We developed a statistical tool (privacy rarefaction) to distinguish true sex specificity from stochastic noise in read coverage of sequencing data from wild populations and identified male-specific loci and XY-patterned single nucleotide polymorphsims (SNPs) in all three Nepenthes taxa, suggesting the presence of homomorphic XY sex chromosomes. The male-specific region of the Y chromosome showed little conservation among the three taxa, except for the essential pollen development gene DYT1 that was confirmed as male specific by PCR in additional Nepenthes taxa. Hence, dioecy and part of the male-specific region of the Nepenthes Y-chromosomes likely have a single evolutionary origin.
Enzymatic synthesis of vanillin and related catalytic mechanism
Authors: Liu Hai‐Min , Zou Yong , Yao Chuang‐Yu , Yang Zhen 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThere has been an increasing demand for bio vanillin for a variety of applications. Although vanillin production using biotechnological methods based on microbial fermentation has been extensively explored, the use of isolated enzymes for vanillin synthesis has not yet attracted much attention. Lipoxygenase (LOX) is an iron‐containing dioxygenase well known for catalysing the hydroperoxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and esters. Its newly discovered ability to catalyse the oxidative cleavage of isoeugenol to vanillin offers a promising solution for synthesizing bio vanillin. In this study, soybean LOX was used as the catalyst for vanillin synthesis. The reaction was optimised by examining the effects of pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and enzyme dosage. By investigating the impact of various additives, including two denaturants, seven chelators, six surfactants, 10 organic solvents, eight deep eutectic solvents, and 13 natural deep eutectic solvents, it was found that denaturants (urea and guanidine) and some chelators (e.g. ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA) are effective in improving synthetic yields, by up to 133 and 406%, respectively, relative to the additive‐free reaction system. Two free‐radical catalytic mechanisms were proposed to explain the new activity of the enzyme for vanillin synthesis.
Research on pipe materials for tunnel drainage by the ÖBB Task Force Drainage
Authors: Schachinger Tobias , Arbeiter Florian J. , Eichinger Stefanie , Saliger Florian 
Published: October 2019

AbstractDue to the additional tunnels that are currently under design or construction, drainage maintenance costs are expected to rise significantly over the next few years. An increased amount of maintenance will also be necessary due to older drainage pipes damaged during intensive cleaning and flushing. To counter these problems, an internal task force for drainage pipes has been installed within the ÖBB. Together with research institutions from several fields of science, projects are being carried out to find ways to decrease the overall maintenance effort. Topics include screening of possible rehabilitation methods for damaged pipes, and investigation of currently used materials with regard to their mechanical suitability. A multi‐disciplinary research topic has also been initiated to investigate the potential of material modifications with the goal to decrease overall precipitation in drainage pipes and associated maintenance. First results on modified materials already show potential to decrease calcite precipitation.
Case study on the maintenance of various anchored retaining walls in the Austrian high‐speed road network
Authors: Stadlbauer Jakob , Antony Christoph 
Published: October 2019

AbstractAnchored retaining structures demand detailed preliminary investigations for appropriate and economic repair and upgrading. However, due to the complex constraints and insufficient data basis, it is often necessary to investigate the basis for the design of repair works in advance. The article described two anchored constructions. The first is a bored pile wall to dowel a slope. In addition to the repair of corrosion damage to the strand anchors, repair of the uphill drainage system is an essential part of the refurbishment concept. The second example is a retaining structure about 40 years old, in which several rod anchors show corrosion to their heads. Since there is a lack of information about the ground conditions for the assessment of structural safety and design of repair works, additional investigation boreholes were drilled.
Innovative NATM solutions for major subway stations in North America – An overview of recent developments and project case histories
Authors: Laubbichler Jürgen , Schwind Thomas , Karner Christian , Gakis Angelos 
Published: October 2019

AbstractSince the first mined subway stations were constructed in Washington, DC in the mid‐80s, European engineers and construction professionals have been promoting the benefits of the conventional tunneling method for major urban infrastructure projects throughout North America. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the use of numerical design tools, innovative construction approaches, fiber reinforced shotcrete mixes and the increased use of robotics and laser‐scanning equipment. This article provides an overview of key technologies and innovations applied on recent projects, including Chinatown Station in San Francisco; Parliament, Lyon and Rideau Stations in Ottawa; and Laird, Avenue and Oakwood Stations in Toronto.
Technical and logistical challenges of the construction of the Museumsinsel Station in Berlin
Authors: Schmeiser Josef , Hoppe Peter , Theiss Reinhold 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThe closing of the gap in line U5 of the Berlin underground completes the missing connection between the Alexanderplatz and Brandenburger Tor stations. The existing line U5 currently ends at the Alexanderplatz. With the closure of the gap, the existing tunnels at the Berliner Roten Rathaus will be connected to the Brandenburger Tor station on the line U55. The project includes the construction of three new underground stations and two single‐track tunnels connecting them, which are being tunnelling by shield machines. The new alignment thus passes deep under the city, under the River Spree, the new Berliner Schloss and the Spreekanal as well as running along beneath the street Unter den Linden to the Brandenburger Tor. The construction activities are taking place right in the centre of Berlin and the particular local conditions are a logistical and technical challenge.
Feuerbach and Bad Cannstatt Tunnels – special requirements of the inner‐city Location and difficult geotechnical Conditions
Authors: Lienhart Christoph , Chiaverio Flavio , Rauscher Wolfgang , Kurtz Matthias 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThe Feuerbach and Bad Cannstatt Tunnels on the Stuttgart 21 project are two central elements of the future Stuttgart inner‐city rail node. Due to the central location in the middle of Stuttgart, there are particular requirements for construction operations and logistics. These effects are additionally reinforced by the very difficult geological and geotechnical conditions in the valley of Stuttgart: very changeable strengths of the prevailing formations of the gypsum Keuper, sometimes with shallow overburden with dense building and roads above. The tunnel also passes through sections with anhydrite content, which tends to swell on contact with water. In this paper, both the challenges of the inner‐city location are described and the methods and solutions used to counter an impairment of structural safety and serviceability in the anhydrite sections.
Using queue to signal quality in primary care: The need for further empirical investigation
Authors: Srivatsa Srinivas S. , Marathe Rahul R. 
Published: October 2019

SummaryIn recent times, signalling quality via queues for generic services has received significant attention. However, the literature till date on primary care services has focussed on the optimal speed‐quality trade‐off to ensure higher service times and lower waiting times for the patients. Borrowing from the queue management literature on generic services, we aim to understand whether the hypothesis that queue is a signal of physician's quality is reasonable. Based on theoretical arguments, we justify the need to investigate this hypothesis on queue acting as a signal of quality in primary care. Although we conjecture that the queue length on arrival may act as a signal of quality, the waiting experienced after joining the queue is still considered expensive.
Influence of tropical cyclones on the 100‐year return period wave height—A study based on 39‐year long ERA5 reanalysis data
Authors: Naseef T. Muhammed , Kumar V. Sanil 
Published: October 2019

AbstractVarious engineering activities in a coastal and offshore environment require detailed assessment about the probable extreme wave characteristics in its lifetime to prevent human as well as property loss. The accurate estimation of wave height with a 100‐year return period not only contribute to the level of protection but also the scale of investments. In this study, significant wave height return levels for a northwestern Bay of Bengal location are estimated using extreme value models; generalized extreme value (GEV) and generalized Pareto distribution (GPD). Both block maxima and initial distribution methods are used in the GEV and GPD incorporated with peak over threshold (POT) series. The study is based on the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts ERA5 reanalysis hourly data at 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution from 1979 to 2017. The GPD estimates show that the return levels do not follow prevailing seasonality over the location since the return levels greatly depend upon the extreme events and most of the extreme events are during the northeast monsoon season (October–January). The POT with October–January data gives 9.08 m as 100‐year return level, and corresponding Indian southwest monsoon (June–September) return level is only 5.41 m. When different block periods ranging from 15 to 39 years are considered, the 50‐year return levels range from 5.12 to 8.67 m for GEV with annual maxima. The influence of tropical cyclones (TCs) on return levels are examined considering different case studies, and the results show that the strength of a TC alters the return levels more significantly than the number of TCs in the observation. The 100‐year return level decreases by ~30% when wave height during the two cyclones; Phailin and Hudhud are removed from the data set.
Influence of the South Asian high‐intensity variability on the persistent heavy rainfall and heat waves in Asian monsoon regions
Authors: Shang Wei , Ren Xuejuan , Duan Keqin , Zhao Chengwu 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThis study investigates the modulation of the South Asian high's (SAH) intensity variation on the persistent heavy rainfall (PHR) and heat wave (HW) events over the Asian summer monsoon regions during summer 1979–2013. The first mode of an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis performed on standardized subseasonal anomalies at 200‐hPa geopotential height over the SAH's main body (20°–5°N, 35°–110°E), reveals the intensity variation of the SAH with a 10–40‐day periodicity. The strengthening (weakening) of the SAH's main body is accompanied by negative (positive) outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies and more (less) anomalous rainfall over the Indian subcontinent, southern foot of Tibetan Plateau (TP) and subtropical East Asia. Using different thresholds, the proportion for modest PHR events is approximately 30% and can reach up to 40–50% for extreme PHR events during the strong phase of SAH. About 20% of modest PHR events and only 10% of extreme PHR events occur under the weak phase of SAH, suggesting that SAH has a more significant impact on the occurrence of extreme PHR events over the south and East Asian regions. In contrast, HW events associated with strong SAH account for approximately 5–10% whereas an increased occurrence of HW events is observed during the weak phase of SAH with a ratio up to 15–20%. A much more intensified updraft flow, enhanced cross‐equatorial moisture flux and western North Pacific moisture flux is accompanied with strong SAH, which provide favourable conditions for occurrence of extreme PHR events, leading to less surface solar radiation anomalies. The mirror image is seen in the weak SAH phase, contributing to the decrease of extreme PHR events and increase of HW events. The above analysis indicates that the SAH provides significant modulation and impact on extreme rainfall and temperature events over the Asian monsoon regions on subseasonal timescale.
Polarizing rain types linked to June drought in the Korean peninsula over last 20 years
Authors: Song Hwan‐Jin , Sohn Byung‐Ju 
Published: October 2019

AbstractWe observe a notable decreasing trend of June rainfall over the Korean peninsula in recent 20 years. This drought condition is found to be linked to the polarizing trend of rainfall intensity; more non‐rain and drizzle‐like rain, less moderate‐intensity rain, and more heavy rain events. Overall, the June drought over the Korean peninsula is found to be associated with less occurring moderate‐intensity rain. This feature is interpreted as that the dominant warm‐type heavy rain systems with a medium storm height tends to be less frequent while cold‐type heavy rains characterized by taller storm become more frequent during last 20 years. The northwestward expansion of the North Pacific high in June appears to weaken the continuous moisture supply to the Korean peninsula, which is a main element of forming the warm‐type heavy rain there.