bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Taxa‐dependent temporal trends in the abundance and size of sea urchins in subtropical eastern Australia
Authors: McLaren Emily , Sommer Brigitte , Pandolfi John M. , Beger Maria , Byrne Maria 
Published: May 2024

AbstractSubtropical reefs host a dynamic mix of tropical, subtropical, and temperate species that is changing due to shifts in the abundance and distribution of species in response to ocean warming. In these transitional communities, biogeographic affinity is expected to predict changes in species composition, with projected increases of tropical species and declines in cool‐affinity temperate species. Understanding population dynamics of species along biogeographic transition zones is critical, especially for habitat engineers such as sea urchins that can facilitate ecosystem shifts through grazing. We investigated the population dynamics of sea urchins on coral‐associated subtropical reefs at 7 sites in eastern Australia (28.196° S to 30.95° S) over 9 years (2010–2019), a period impacted by warming and heatwaves. Specifically, we investigated the density and population size structure of taxa with temperate (Centrostephanus rodgersii, Phyllacanthus parvispinus), subtropical (Tripneustes australiae) and tropical (Diadema spp.) affinities. Counter to expectation, biogeographic affinity did not explain shifts in species abundances in this region. Although we expected the abundance of tropical species to increase at their cold range boundaries, tropical Diadema species declined across all sites. The subtropical T. australiae also showed declines, while populations of the temperate C. rodgersii were remarkably stable throughout our study period. Our results show that temporal patterns of sea urchin populations in this region cannot be predicted by bio‐geographic affinity alone and contribute critical information about the population dynamics of these important herbivores along this biogeographic transition zone.
DNA metabarcoding analysis of the bare‐nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus) diet
Authors: Old Julie M. , Vallin Blaire L. , Thorley Rowan K. , Casey Fiona , Stannard Hayley J. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWombats are native herbivorous grazers that have adapted to Australia's low‐quality forage. Studies on diet selection by bare‐nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus) are limited and are either observational or based on microhistological studies. The current study determined the diet of wombats through DNA metabarcoding across five study sites in New South Wales over a one‐year period. Metabarcoding was chosen as it is non‐invasive, less time consuming and more specific than traditional techniques. The list of 209 plant species identified as eaten by wombats in this study is much higher than previously reported, with grasses being the most common plant group identified in all samples. Most dietary items identified were introduced plant species. Seasonal differences in plants eaten occurred at four of the five study sites and may reflect dietary abundance and floristic composition at different times of year. Further studies are required to determine if the dietary items differ markedly across the entire range of wombats, and if nutrition influences dietary preferences.
Immobilizing of polyethyleneimine on bamboo viscose fiber using epichlorohydrin crosslinker for enhancing adsorption ability with lac dye
Authors: Cheerarot Onanong , Saikrasun Sunan 
Published: May 2024

AbstractImmobilization of polyethyleneimine (PEI) on bamboo viscose fiber using epichlorohydrin (ECH) crosslinker (ABF‐e‐PEI) was employed to enhance the ability of dyeing with lac. The results from morphological observation, thermal degradation behavior, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and x‐ray diffraction (XRD) clearly revealed the success of PEI‐immobilizing on fiber surface with no significant change in intrinsic properties of the fiber after modification. The modified fiber exhibited fast and efficient adsorption with the adsorption capacity >90 mg/g which was much higher than that of the unmodified adsorbent (did not exceed 10 mg/g). The results from kinetic and isotherm studies showed that the adsorption process conformed to the pseudo‐second‐order, intra‐particle diffusion and Langmuir models. Adsorption temperatures have less effect to the adsorption performance of the modified adsorbent. Electrostatic ion‐dipole interaction between protonated amines of PEI and negative charged sites of lac dye was the main proposed mechanism. Good resistance of color changes for ABF‐e‐PEI was confirmed by the color‐fastness assessment (grade 4–5), suggesting efficient method of PEI‐immobilizing using ECH crosslinker. The binding reaction of between amine groups of PEI and hydroxyl groups of the cellulosic fiber using ECH crosslinker can be expected to have a broad potential application in dyeing processes or pollution treatments due to its simple, cost‐effective, flexible and efficient method.
Seismic performance of vertical strut and lateral brace suspended continuous‐plasterboard ceiling system with all edges free in the plane of ceiling
Authors: Patnana Venkatesh , Rai Durgesh C. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractSuspended ceilings are critical nonstructural elements, and their seismic damage in buildings highlighted the incompatibility between the design and performance of structural and nonstructural elements. In order to study the performance of less researched continuous‐plasterboard ceilings, shake table testing was conducted on a ceiling system vertically supported at grid ends with free edges in its plane and suspended by vertical struts and lateral braces. The system had a clearance of 20 mm at the grid ends to accommodate ceiling movements. The ceiling performed satisfactorily for floor accelerations ranging from 0.2 g to 1.4 g without any visible damage. However, the ceiling was slightly rotated and lightly damaged at its perimeter for an extreme dynamic loading of sinusoidal excitation at its natural frequencies. In addition, the experimental performance of the ceiling was numerically validated using nonlinear and linearized responses of sub‐assemblage test data of critical components and connections. It was observed that the developed numerical models can be used to predict the behavior of such ceiling systems as an alternative to evaluation by shake table testing.
Carbon emission reduction in public buildings of extreme cold regions: A study on enclosure structure and HVAC system parameter optimization
Authors: Teng Jiaying , Yin Hang 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThe implementation of strategies aimed at curtailing energy consumption and carbon emissions in buildings is of paramount importance. Priority should be accorded to the reduction of embodied carbon emissions from construction materials and operational carbon emissions during the usage phase. A public building situated in an extremely cold region is chosen as the subject of this study. An initial investigation is conducted into the impact of various enclosure structure materials on embodied carbon. The impact of different heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on the total carbon emissions of public buildings are studied as well. The findings indicate that the amalgamation of W3 + R + G4 + H4 culminates in the least total carbon emissions. Upon establishing the foundational scheme for the public building, an optimization (nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II [NSGA II] and Criteria Importance Through Intercrieria Correlation [CRITIC]) of the enclosure structure parameters is initiated to examine the optimal parameters of the public building's enclosure structure. The findings reveal that a decrease in the heat transfer coefficient could trigger an increase in total carbon emissions. This is attributed to the fact that the carbon emissions embodied in the production process of these materials could potentially outweigh the reduction observed in operational carbon emissions. Further adjustments were also made to the parameters of the HVAC system in the buildings. The findings indicate that within the context of public buildings, given the presence of optimal parameters and an HVAC system that utilizes solar energy for both heating and cooling in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air‐Conditioning Engineers, Inc. 6 A climatic zone, the efficiency of the cooling system can exert a significant influence on the operations carbon emissions reduction.
Calibration‐free image analysis method for grain‐size distribution of small natural sand samples
Authors: Mélanie Vah , Armelle Jarno , François Marin 
Published: May 2024

AbstractNatural sand samples collected from bedload or suspension transport can be too small to be sieved. However, related transported mass to sediment size is crucial to calibrate sediment transport models. Image analysis technique can be an easy and cheap alternative. The present study proposes a general law valid for natural sand grains and small gravels that statistically relates elongation to flatness of particles and gives after some assumptions on grain shape and orientation of grains at the sieve mesh passage, the closest distribution of mass to sieving technique from images of grains given by a flatbed scanner. The proposed model is based on the hypothesis of an ellipsoidal grain shape and a preferential grain crossing aligned with the sieve diagonal. Any sand either homogeneous or heterogeneous from various origins (fluvial, marine and quarry) can be analysed directly without any further need for calibration.
RCVM‐ASS‐CICSKA‐PAPT‐VDF: VLSI design of high‐speed reconfigurable compressed Vedic PAPT‐VDF filter for ECG medical application
Authors: Suresh Kumar K. V. , Madhavi D. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractDuring signal acquisition, the signals are impacted by multiple noise sources that must be filtered before any analysis. However, many different filter implementations in VLSI are dispersed among many studies. This study aims to give readers a systematic approach to designing a Pipelined All‐Pass Transformation based Variable digital filter (PAPT‐VDF) to eliminate the high‐frequency noise from ECG data. The modified design emphasizes first‐ and second‐order responses to obtain high‐speed filter realization with high operating frequencies. The addition of adder and multiplier designs to the hardware architecture of a filter design improves performance. The fundamental blocks of the filter design are the adder and multiplier. The adder and multiplier are employed with an Adaptable stage size‐based concatenation, incremented carry‐skip adder (ASS‐CICSKA), and Improved reconfigurable compressed Vedic multiplier (IRCVM). Utilizing the adder design diminishes the delay with enhanced performance because receiving the carry from an incrementation block is not mandatory. In the multiplier design, the compressor and the reconfigurable approach are adapted with a data detector block to detect the redundant input and lower the logic gates' switching activity with less area overhead. The proposed filter design is implemented in vertex 7 FPGA family device, and the performance measures are analyzed regarding area utilization, delay, power, and frequency. Also, by using the denoised signal, the mean square error (MSE), and signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) are evaluated in the MATLAB platform.
Determinants of undernutrition among settled pastoralists' children aged 6–59 months in Kenya
Authors: Adongo Amos Otieno , Matofari Joseph Wafula , Kamau Mbuthia Elizabeth 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThe transition from nomadism to sedentary lifestyle has introduced changes in diets and undernutrition is endemic among settled pastoral households. This study aimed to investigate the underlying factors affecting stunting, underweight, and wasting of children aged 6–59 months in Marsabit County, Kenya. A cross‐sectional household survey was conducted in six wards capturing pastoral, agro‐pastoral, and urban livelihood practices. Using multistage sampling method, 394 children aged 6–59 months participated with written consent from the caregivers. A pretested questionnaire and anthropometric measures were used during data collection. Population characteristics were summarized into means and proportions, while chi‐square and analysis of variance were used to evaluate associations between variables. Backward logistic regressions were used to explore predictors of stunting, underweight, and wasting, respectively. The results showed that the mean Height for Age Z‐score, Weight for Age Z‐score, and Weight for Height Z‐score were −1.51, 1.54, and 1.02, respectively. The prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting was 38.1%, 23.0%, and 18.5%, respectively. The age of child, source of drinking water, and waste disposal were some of the main factors influencing stunting among children. In conclusion, the prevalence of undernutrition was high compared to the World Health Organization recommended cutoffs. Water sources hygiene, and caregiver's income were some of the main predictors of undernutrition among children. Development agencies need to focus on the supply of potable water, access to toilet facilities, in addition to nutrition education on hygienic complementary feeding practices among pastoral caregivers.
Awareness, knowledge, and behaviors regarding trans unsaturated fatty acids in a sample of Lebanese adults
Authors: El Hajj Marianne , Abou Chaaya Jennifer , Abou Chaaya Jessica , Tueni Maya 
Published: May 2024

AbstractLebanon is a country in the Middle East that had been witnessing nutrition transition to a westernized diet high in trans fats (TFs) and saturated fatty acids (TFAs) that had been linked to cardiovascular diseases and many other health issues. This study examines TF‐related awareness, knowledge, and self‐reported behaviors among a sample of Lebanese adults aged between 18 and 64 years, as well as their association with sociodemographic factors and anthropometric measurements. Using a multicomponent questionnaire, a cross‐sectional study was conducted online, across all Lebanese regions based on a convenience sampling method (n = 401). Factors associated with TF‐related awareness, knowledge, and behaviors were examined by multivariate linear regression analysis. The study highlighted specific gaps in TF‐related awareness, knowledge, and behavioral practices as well as differences by sociodemographic factors. Most of the participants (36%) had heard of partly hydrogenated oils (PHOs) rather than TFs (49%). A higher proportion of respondents (54%) said they understood a little about TFs, the majority had inadequate knowledge about the foods that contain TFs, and 44% said they would not give up eating their favorite snack even if they knew it contains TFs. Overall, consumers' awareness and knowledge about TFs are rather low and the majority had fair behavioral practices. In addition, being a woman and having higher education level were significantly associated with higher levels of TFs awareness, knowledge, and behavior scores. Higher behavior scores were shown in older participants, married, and those who had part‐time jobs, whereas having higher income and normal weight were significantly associated with higher awareness scores. These findings offer valuable insight into TF‐related awareness, knowledge, and behaviors in a sample of Lebanese adults and provide key information that could spur the development of evidence‐based TFs reduction interventions specific to the Middle East.
A pilot study investigating the influence of dietary boron levels on osteoporosis in postmenopausal women
Authors: Rababah Taha , Aludatt Muhammad , Gammoh Sana , Salameh Feras Bani , Magableh Ghazi , Almajwal Ali , Yücel Sevil , AL‐Rayyan Yara , AL‐Rayyan Numan 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThis study aimed to evaluate the impact of dietary boron on osteoporosis in postmenopausal Jordanian women. Sixty‐six women diagnosed with osteoporosis were recruited and data on personal information, dietary habits, medical history, and lifestyle were collected. Bone mineral density, serum calcium, and serum vitamin D measurements were obtained from patient records. This study showed a strong correlation between boron intake and bone mineral density in these women with osteoporosis and a negative correlation between boron intake and serum calcium (p < .05). However, no significant correlation was found between boron intake and various parameters such as serum vitamin D, dietary habits, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), age of menopause, cases of hysterectomy or oophorectomy, location of fractures, education level, social status, smoking, and physical activity (p > .05). A significant link was found between boron intake and bone mineral density highlighting the importance of nutritional and lifestyle factors affecting bone health. Further research on the specific impact of boron is warranted to better inform dietary interventions for osteoporosis prevention and management.
Performance evaluation and investigation of diffraction optical elements effect on bit error rate of free space optics and performance investigation of space uplink wireless optical communication under varying atmospheric turbulence conditions
Authors: Soni Gaurav , Sharma Manish 
Published: May 2024

AbstractSeveral other optical antenna topologies have been developed and implemented throughout the years. These topologies include a variety of optical components, including the axicon optical element, dual‐secondary mirror, cone reflecting mirror, prism beam slier, and beam‐splitter/beam combiner. In contrast, the secondary reflecting mirror causes an obscuration loss that must be compensated for by reducing the transmission power in an optical antenna design. In order to address this issue in space optical communication, the present research helps to develop an enhanced two diffractive optical elements (DOEs) technology however the data presented therein only shows that DOEs may boost transmission power efficiency, which is insufficient for system designers. Though On‐Off Keying (OOK) is widely used in optical communication systems at the moment, the proposed research include DOEs into an OOK space uplink optical. The proposed research uses numerical simulation to explore how much a space uplink OOK system's bit error rate (BER) may be improved by using DOEs and adjusting fundamental parameters. The proposed BER model takes environmental factors like wind and detector noise into account. Using this theoretical model, the present work helps to investigate the effect of DOEs on the BER versus fundamental parameter characteristic curves in space uplink optical communication. Based on the findings, the DOEs structure has the potential to significantly enhance the BER performance of space uplink optical communication systems, especially at high obscuration ratios. When the obscuration ratio is 0.25, 0.167, or 0.125 and the transmission power is 1 W, for instance, the DOEs may improve the BER by a factor of two or one order of magnitude or less when the parameters are changed to the typical parameter values as specified. Results increase by a factor of six, three, and two orders of magnitude, respectively, when transmitting at 5 W. The results show that DOEs can significantly enhance the BER performance, especially at high obscuration ratios. The findings suggest that integrating DOEs into the optical subsystem is a straightforward approach to improving the performance of space uplink optical communication systems.
Nanomedicine‐mediated recovery of antioxidant glutathione peroxidase activity after oxidative‐stress cellular damage: Insights for neurological long COVID
Authors: Akanchise Thelma , Angelov Borislav , Angelova Angelina 
Published: May 2024

AbstractNanomedicine for treating post‐viral infectious disease syndrome is at an emerging stage. Despite promising results from preclinical studies on conventional antioxidants, their clinical translation as a therapy for treating post‐COVID conditions remains challenging. The limitations are due to their low bioavailability, instability, limited transport to the target tissues, and short half‐life, requiring frequent and high doses. Activating the immune system during coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection can lead to increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), depleted antioxidant reserve, and finally, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. To tackle this problem, we developed an antioxidant nanotherapy based on lipid (vesicular and cubosomal types) nanoparticles (LNPs) co‐encapsulating ginkgolide B and quercetin. The antioxidant‐loaded nanocarriers were prepared by a self‐assembly method via hydration of a lyophilized mixed thin lipid film. We evaluated the LNPs in a new in vitro model for studying neuronal dysfunction caused by oxidative stress in coronavirus infection. We examined the key downstream signaling pathways that are triggered in response to potassium persulfate (KPS) causing oxidative stress‐mediated neurotoxicity. Treatment of neuronally‐derived cells (SH‐SY5Y) with KPS (50 mM) for 30 min markedly increased mitochondrial dysfunction while depleting the levels of both glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). This led to the sequential activation of apoptotic and necrotic cell death processes, which corroborates with the crucial implication of the two proteins (GSH‐Px and TH) in the long‐COVID syndrome. Nanomedicine‐mediated treatment with ginkgolide B‐loaded cubosomes and vesicular LNPs showed minimal cytotoxicity and completely attenuated the KPS‐induced cell death process, decreasing apoptosis from 32.6% (KPS) to 19.0% (MO‐GB), 12.8% (MO‐GB‐Quer), 14.8% (DMPC‐PEG‐GB), and 23.6% (DMPC‐PEG‐GB‐Quer) via free radical scavenging and replenished GSH‐Px levels. These findings indicated that GB‐LNPs‐based nanomedicines may protect against KPS‐induced apoptosis by regulating intracellular redox homeostasis.
Incidence and predictors of post‐surgery atrial fibrillation occurrence: A cohort study in 53,387 patients
Authors: Brunetta Enrico , Del Monaco Guido , Rodolfi Stefano , Zachariah Donah , Vlachos Kostantinos , Latini Alessia Chiara , De Santis Maria , Ceriotti Carlo , Galimberti Paola , Taormina Antonio , Battaglia Vincenzo , Falasconi Giulio , Maceda Diego Penela , Efremidis Michael , Letsas Konstantinos P. , Selmi Carlo , Stefanini Giulio Giuseppe , Condorelli Gianluigi , Frontera Antonio 
Published: May 2024

AbstractIntroductionAtrial fibrillation (AF) represents the most common arrhythmia in the postoperative setting. We aimed to investigate the incidence of postoperative AF (POAF) and determine its predictors, with a specific focus on inflammation markers.MethodsWe performed a retrospective single tertiary center cohort study including consecutive adult patients who underwent a major surgical procedure between January 2016 and January 2020. Patients were divided into four subgroups according to the type of surgery.ResultsAmong 53,387 included patients (79.4% male, age 64.5 ± 9.5 years), POAF occurred in 570 (1.1%) with a mean latency after surgery of 3.4 ± 2.6 days. Ninety patients died (0.17%) after a mean of 13.7 ± 8.4 days. The 28‐day arrhythmia‐free survival was lower in patients undergoing lung and cardiovascular surgery (p < .001). Patients who developed POAF had higher levels of C‐reactive protein (CRP) (0.70 ± 0.03 vs. 0.40 ± 0.01 log10 mg/dl; p < .001). In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, adjusting for confounding factors, CRP was an independent predictor of POAF [HR per 1 mg/dL increase in log‐scale = 1.81 (95% CI 1.18–2.79); p = .007]. Moreover, independent predictors of POAF were also age (HR/1 year increase = 1.06 (95% CI 1.04–1.08); I < .001), lung and cardiovascular surgery (HR 23.62; (95% CI 5.65–98.73); p < .001), and abdominal and esophageal surgery (HR 6.26; 95% CI 1.48–26.49; p = .013).ConclusionsLung and cardiovascular surgery had the highest risk of POAF in the presented cohort. CRP was an independent predictor of POAF and postsurgery inflammation may represent a major driver in the pathophysiology of the arrhythmia.