bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An Open-Source Simulation Platform for Benchmarking Geo-Distributed Data Center Schedulers
Authors: Alves Daniel , Obraczka Katia , Kabbani Abdul 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
To help meet the ever increasing demand for cloud computing services and resources world-wide, while providing resilience and adequate resource utilization, cloud service providers have opted to distribute their data centers around the world. This trend has been motivating research from the data center management research and practitioner community on new job schedulers that take into account data center geographical distribution. However, testing and benchmarking new schedulers for geo-distributed data centers is complicated by the lack of a common, easily extensible experimental platform. To fill this gap, we propose GDSim, an open-source, extensible job scheduling simulation environment for geo-distributed data centers that aims at facilitating the benchmarking of existing and new geo-distributed schedulers by subjecting them to a variety of data center features and conditions We use our geo-distributed job scheduler simulation platform to reproduce experiments and results for recently proposed geo\hyp{}distributed job schedulers, as well as testing those schedulers under new conditions which can reveal trends that have not been previously uncovered.
Does Hometown Tax Donation System as Interjurisdictional Competition Affect Local Government Efficiency? Evidence from Japanese Municipality level Data
Authors: Kondoh Haruo , Ogawa Akinobu 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of Hometown Tax Donation (HTD), a unique local fiscal system in Japan, on local government efficiency. It allows residents to make donations to local governments of their choice, receiving deductions on payment of local and national taxes, equivalent to the amount donated, except for small self-paid amounts (JPY2,000, US$15). Moreover, donors can receive gifts from the recipient government in return, depending on the amount donated. Therefore, tax revenue will outflow from the donor residents’ municipalities to other regions, whereas it will inflow to recipient municipalities from other regions. This makes local governments compete to receive donations under the HTD system by trying to enhance their efficiency. On the other hand, HTD may cause misperception of tax prices, thereby leading to inefficient provision of local public services. This study uses stochastic frontier analysis to quantitatively analyze the impact of HTD on the inefficiency of local governments. The findings reveal that municipalities whose revenues are more dependent on HTD tend to be more inefficient. Moreover, greater dependence on intergovernmental grants and local corporate taxation results in inefficiency, thus, providing implications for local public finance on the importance of decentralization. The results also highlight that competition for income through HTD is a zero-sum game, therefore, more fiscal autonomy is needed to ensure healthy competition, thereby, providing new evidence on the relationship between interjurisdictional competition and local government efficiency. JEL Classification H27; H71
“We must help them despite who they are…”: Healthcare providers’ attitudes and perspectives on care for tertiary student men who have sex with men in Nairobi, Kenya
Authors: Mwaniki Samuel Waweru , Kaberia Peter Mwenda , Mugo Peter Mwangi , Palanee-Phillips Thesla 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Background: Young gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YMSM) face disproportionate burdens of sexual, mental and physical ill health compared to young men in the general population and older MSM. This disparity is occasioned by criminalization and stigmatization of same-sex relationships, YMSM’s limited access to non-judgmental and non-discriminatory health services, and challenges associated with healthcare delivery. We explored the attitudes and perspectives of tertiary academic institution-based healthcare providers (HCPs) in Nairobi, Kenya as relates to provision of services to tertiary student MSM (TSMSM).
Methods: In September 2021, six in-person focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with 36 HCPs drawn from six public tertiary academic institutions within the Nairobi metropolis. HCPs were drawn from six cadres: front office staff, nurses, clinicians, counselors, laboratory technologists, and pharmaceutical technologists. Discussions were conducted in English, transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically using NVivo version 12.
Results: Analysis revealed three themes, namely: HCPs’ attitudes towards TSMSM, perspectives on service delivery challenges, and possible opportunities for improving care for TSMSM. Majority of HCPs articulated positive attitudes towards care for TSMSM, though some acknowledged having attitudes, beliefs and values that would hinder care for TSMSM. HCPs identified religious principles such as the golden rule of “treating others as one would want to be treated” as a facilitator of care for TSMSM. Criminalization of same-sex sexual behaviour did not hamper care for TSMSM. Healthcare delivery challenges included inadequate knowledge and skills, a desire to “convert” TSMSM’s perceived deviant homosexual to the normative heterosexual orientation/behaviour, secondary stigma from other HCPs, and failure of TSMSM to disclose same-sex sexual behaviour. Suggestions for improving care comprised sensitization and training of HCPs, encouraging more HCP interaction with MSM clients, providing TSMSM-friendly and inclusive services, and advocacy for MSM services.
Conclusion: Despite their readiness and willingness to provide services to TSMSM, HCPs face challenges related to stigmatization of same-sex relations and inadequate knowledge on the health needs of TSMSM. There is a need to train HCPs on the unique health needs of TSMSM, encourage more interaction between HCPs and MSM, and advocate for improved health access for MSM.
A Deep Learning Image Inpainting Method based on Stationary Wavelet Transform
Authors: Huang Yuhan , Chen Nianzhe , Lu Jiacheng , Ding Hui 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
The development of deep learning has greatly improved the image inpainting performance in the past decades. To inpaint images with specific tasks usually require different network models. For instance, the highly structured images need to recover the structural consistency, and the textured ones restore the local high-frequency details. However, it is still challenging to realize an effective algorithm taking account of the global structure and texture details separately. Herein, we proposed a two-stage inpainting method, by combining the information of frequency and spatial domain networks. Stationary wavelet transform (SWT) with good time-frequency characteristics was applied to obtain the sub-band images as the basic input for frequency domain inpainting. Contextual attention layer (CAL) modules were optionally introduced in the network model to adapt to various inpainting tasks. We also tested and discussed the impacts of some commonly used loss functions, including normal L1 loss, normal GAN loss, weighted L1 loss and WGAN-GP loss, on highly structured and textured images.
DYNAMICS OF WEIGHTED BACKWARD SHIFTS ON THE LITTLE LIPSCHITZSPACE
Authors: Shu Yonglu , ZHANG XIAOYAN 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
We study the dynamical behaviour of weighted backward shifts deﬁned on the little Lipschitzspace of a tree. In particular, we consider hypercyclic, mixed, chaotic and frequent hypercyclic properties ofweighted backward shifts under the homogeneous tree.
Laplace Projected Differential Transform Method for Solving Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations
Authors: Daniel Deborah 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
This study presents a hybrid method that incorporates Laplace transform along with projected differential transform method to solve partial differential equations which may be utilized to describe physical problems emerging in applied scientific research. Laplace transform is introduced to
eliminate the demerit of complex estimation of utilization of differential transform method (DTM) and projected differential method (PDTM). The sufficient condition for the convergence of LPDTM is covered and was applied to solve linear and nonlinear partial differential equations to illustrate the efficiency and dependability of the method. The major advantage of this method is that, the computation comes to be much less complicated to solve and the nonlinear term is effortlessly managed through projected differential transform without utilizing Adomian's polynomial and He's polynomial.
Impedance responses and size-dependent resonances in topolectrical circuits via the method of images
Authors: Sahin Haydar , Siu Zhuo Bin , Rafi-Ul-Islam S. M. , Kong Jian Feng , Jalil Mansoor B.A. , Lee Ching Hua 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Resonances in an electric circuit occur when capacitive and inductive components are present together. Such resonances appear in admittance measurements depending on the circuit’s parameters and the driving AC frequency. In this study, we analyze the impedance characteristics of nontrivial topolectrical circuits (TEs) such as 1D and 2D Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) circuits and reveal that size-dependent anomalous impedance resonances inevitably arise in finite LC circuits. Through the method of images, we study how resonance modes in a multi-dimensional circuit array can be nontrivially modified by the reflection and interference of current from the structure and boundaries of the lattice. We derive analytic expressions for the impedance across two corner nodes of various lattice networks with homogeneous and heterogeneous circuit elements. We also derive the irregular dependency of the impedance resonance on the lattice size, and provide integral and dimensionally-reduced expressions for the impedance in three dimensions and above.
Has “D-dimeritis” worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Authors: Lippi Giuseppe , Perilli Valeria 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Background: This report describes how D-dimer testing pattern may have changed during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Methods: Two independent analyses were conducted in this report. The first encompassed a digital search in Medline, using the keyword “D-dimer”, restricted to the past 40 years and with no language restriction. The second analysis was based on data provided by the management control unit of the University Hospital of Verona, concerning the number of D-dimer tests requested in the complete years 2019 (i.e., “pre-COVID-19”), 2021 and 2022 (i.e., “during COVID-19”).
Results: The overall number of PubMed documents containing the word “D-dimer” has increased by 3.0-folds in 2020, 3.9-fold in 2021 and 3.1-fold in 2022 compared to the year 2019, respectively. Between 1992 and 2019 (i.e., pre-COVID-19), the increase was almost perfectly linear (r=0.989), while the linear fit was dramatically impaired after inclusion of the past three years. A good statistic power could be restored using a polynomial equation (r=0.941). The overall number of D-dimer tests requested at the local institution increased from 1885 in 2019, to 10449 in 2021 and 5803 in 2022, displaying a 5.5- (p=0.011) and 3.1-fold (p=0.027) increase. The surge was higher for COVID-19, intensive care and emergency medicine units, while the growth remained modest for all other hospital units.
Conclusion: Clinicians have clear in mind that D-dimer is a key biomarker in COVID-19, but D-dimeritis may have been magnified by COVID-19.
Neighborhood Impact Assessment an urban sustainability instrument
Authors: Abreu Emanoele , Peres Renata 
Published: December 2022

The Neighborhood Impact Assessment (NIA) [1]is an important instrument of the Brazilian Urban Policy enacted in the City Statute, Federal Law 10.257/2001. Considered by the national academic literature as a relevant instrument for local urban environmental management. However, in Brazil, the understanding that the environmental and the urban are part of the same context is not yet a reality within the local public administration sectors, with a deep disconnection of management and governance between the urban and environmental departments. The objective of this work was to analyze the application of NIA in medium-sized cities in the state of São Paulo and to evaluate its contribution to the local urban environmental management of these cities. We also intend to evaluate the NIA integration with other sectors of local public management such as the environment, urban mobility, social housing, etc. As a methodology, we used NIA Process Components, verifying the absence or presence in the urban laws of four (04) medium-sized cities in the state of São Paulo. We also interviewed civil servants from the environmental and urban sectors, supplementing information that was absent in laws and official documents. The results reveal that most municipalities do not have a specific law that regulates the NIA, and Master Plans, Land Use and Occupation Law regulate this instrument. Civil servants emphasize the weaknesses and strengths of the instruments. As potentialities of this instrument, they observed public participation, increased state control in environmentally sensitive areas, greater urban-environmental compensation mechanisms, and so on. Weaknesses signalize were: conflicts involving urban land subdivision, interference of the real estate market in the use and occupation of urban land, changes in the Master Plans by the city councilman aiming to meet the interests of private financial capital. The four cities, which are part of the Case Studies, have not yet effectively incorporated elements of climate change in their local governance. Issues related to social housing, expansion of slums, occupation of protected environmental areas by poor populations are still the most urgent priorities in these cities, as well as in many Latin American cities. The improvement and advancement of the articulation of the urban and environmental sectors in Brazilian cities must require thinking about better scientific methodological and governmental improvements.

[1] Brazilian authors often use the terminology in English “Neighborhood Impact Study”. However, we chose to use “Neighborhood Impact Assessment” according to (Abiko & Barreiros, 2014) to facilitate the understanding of the instrument for the international audience, as it has similarities with the Impact Assessment. However, in Brazil, the NIA is known as the “Estudo de Impacto de Vizinhança”.
The Role of Flavanones as Scaffolds for the Development of New Treatments
against Malaria and African and American Trypanosomiases
Authors: Boniface Pone Kamdem , Ferreira Elizabeth Igne , Fabrice Fekam Boyom 
Published: December 2022

Abstract:
Parasitic infections are diseases transmitted by parasites usually found in contaminated
food, water, or insect bites. Generally classified as neglected tropical diseases, malaria and trypanosomiases
are some of the most prominent parasitic diseases that cause significant loss of life annually.
In 2020, an estimated 241 million malaria cases were reported, with 627,000 deaths worldwide. An
estimated 6 to 7 million people are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi worldwide, whereas an estimated
1000 global cases of African human trypanosomiasis were reported in 2020. Flavanones are a group of
compounds that belong to the flavonoid family and are chemically obtained by direct cyclization of chalcones.
Recent pharmacological studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of plant flavanones in inhibiting
the growth of the parasites responsible for malaria and trypanosomiases. The present work aims to
summarize up-to-date and comprehensive literature information on plant flavanones with antimalarial
and antitrypanosomal activities. The mechanisms of action of the antiparasitic flavanones are also discussed.
A literature search was performed for naturally occurring flavanones and antimalarial and antitrypanosomal
activities by referencing textbooks and scientific databases (SciFinder, Wiley, American
Chemical Society, Science Direct, National Library of Medicine, Scientific Electronic Library
Online, Web of Science, etc.) from their inception until April 2022. Based on in vitro experiments,
more than sixty flavanones were reported to exhibit antimalarial, anti-T. cruzi, and anti-T. brucei activities.
Previous studies demonstrated that these compounds bind to PGP-like transporters of P. falciparum
to reverse the parasite’s resistance. Other reports pinpointed the direct effect of these compounds
on the mitochondria of the malaria parasite. Moreover, flavanones have shown strong docking
to several validated T. cruzi and T. brucei protein targets, including adenosine kinase, pteridine reductase
1, dihydrofolate reductase, and trypanothione reductase, among others. Flavanones, isolated and
characterized from diverse plant parts, were reported to exhibit moderate to high activity against P.
falciparum, T. cruzi, and T. brucei in in vitro studies. These potentially active flavanones can be used
as scaffolds for the development of new antiparasitic agents. However, more studies on the cytotoxicity,
pharmacokinetics, and mechanisms of action of potent flavanones should be performed.
Antiseizure Medications for the Prophylaxis of Migraine during the Anti- CGRP Drugs Era
Authors: Rollo Eleonora , Romozzi Marina , Vollono Catello , Calabresi Paolo , Geppetti Pierangelo , Iannone Luigi F. 
Published: December 2022

Abstract:Migraine and epilepsy are fundamentally distinct disorders that can frequently coexist in the same patient. These two conditions significantly differ in diagnosis and therapy but share some widely- used preventive treatments. Antiseizure medications (ASMs) are the mainstay of therapy for epilepsy, and about thirty different ASMs are available to date. ASMs are widely prescribed for other neurological and non-neurological conditions, including migraine. However, only topiramate and valproic acid/valproate currently have an indication for migraine prophylaxis supported by high-quality evidence. Although without specifically approved indications and with a low level of evidence or recommendation, several other ASMs are used for migraine prophylaxis. Understanding ASM antimigraine mechanisms, including their ability to affect the pro-migraine calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) signaling pathway and other pathways, may be instrumental in identifying the specific targets of their antimigraine efficacy and may increase awareness of the neurobiological differences between epilepsy and migraine. Several new ASMs are under clinical testing or have been approved for epilepsy in recent years, providing novel potential drugs for migraine prevention to enrich the treatment armamentarium and drugs that inhibit the CGRP pathway.
Clinical Value of Circ-PNPT1 on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes of Patients with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Wang Song , Lin Yixiong , Li Qing , Wang Zhijian 
Published: December 2022

Objective:
Several circular RNAs are associated with important pathophysiological characteristics of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study intended to measure the expression of circ-PNPT1 in sera of GDM patients and to expound on its values on pregnancy outcomes.

Methods:
About 104 GDM patients and 71 healthy controls were recruited. The expression pattern of serum circ-PNPT1 was measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The diagnostic efficacy of circ-PNPT1 and fasting blood glucose (FBG) on GDM was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Parameters of glycolipid metabolism were determined using automatic biochemical analyzers. The correlation between circ-PNPT1 and glycolipid metabolism parameters was analyzed using Pearson analysis. GDM patients were divided into a high expression group and a low expression group based on the median value of circ-PNPT1 expression. Curves of adverse neonatal outcomes were drawn by Log Rank analysis.

Results:
GDM patients exhibited higher circ-PNPT1 expression than healthy controls. The area under the ROC curve of circ-PNPT1 diagnosing GDM was 0.9184 and the cut-off value was 1.435 (90.38% sensitivity, 85.92% specificity). Serum circ-PNPT1 expression was positively correlated with FBG, total cholesterol, and triglyceride in GDM patients. Neonates born to GDM patients with high circ-PNPT1 expression were prone to adverse outcomes.

Conclusion:
Circ-PNPT1 was highly-expressed in the sera of GDM patients. Circ-PNPT1 affected glycolipid metabolism and its expression had certain reference values on adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Antiviral Activities of Some Traditional Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka
Authors: Bandara H.M.S.K.H. , Alakolanga A.G.A.W. , Amarasinghe N.R. , Adikaram N.K.B. , Jayasinghe L. , Fujimoto Y. 
Published: December 2022

Abstract:
The aim of this article is to review the antiviral activity of plants traditionally used in indigenous
medicine in Sri Lanka, their therapeutic potential, chemistry, and botany. Viral infections
represent an increasing threat to humans worldwide. Conventional antiviral drugs are available
against respiratory viruses. Naturally occurring antiviral activity of medicinal plants was used for
centuries in the country’s rich traditional medicine system consisting of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani,
and Deshiya Chikitsa. Traditional physicians cure diseases, including those that originate from viruses,
through herbal medicine. To complement this, about 1430 species representing 838 genera,
equivalent to 45% of the entire flowering plant community, are considered medicinal. The present
article attempts to review the essence of decades of discoveries on antiviral and related properties of
21 medicinal plants, Allium sativum L., Annona muricata L., Ardisia elliptica Thunb., Azadirachta
indica A. Juss., Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., Coriandrum sativum L., Coscinium fenestratum
(Gaertn.) Colebr., Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam., Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R. Br., Justicia
adhatoda L., Ocimum tenuiflorum L., Phyllanthus embilica L., Phyllanthus debilis Klein ex Willd.,
Piper longum L., Piper nigrum L., Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad & Wendl., Terminalia bellirica
(Gaertn.) Roxb., Terminalia chebula Retz., Tinospora cordifolia (Wild) Miers., Vitex negundo L.,
Zingiber officinale Roscoe. Among the medicinal plants commonly used in Sri Lankan traditional
medicine, Justicia adhatoda showed stronger anti-influenza virus activity, inhibiting virus attachment
and replication, while Terminalia chebula consisting of chebulagic and chebulinic acids,
demonstrated direct antiviral activity against sexually transmitted herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2).
Are Computational Literary Studies Structuralist?
Authors: Gius Evelyn , Jacke Janina 
Published: December 2022

In this contribution we discuss what we call the “digital humanities-as-structuralism” narrative for the case of computational literary studies. To better understand the entailed criticism, we start with some background for the non-computational aspects in this narrative. First, we single out major criticisms against structuralism. We then introduce a general and theory-independent model of literary text analysis and discuss hypothesis development and justification in literary studies. This builds the ground for our analysis of structuralism criticisms in computational literary studies. In our discussion of the “digital humanities-as-structuralism” narrative, we examine the use of computational methods for the exploration and confirmation of interpretation hypotheses and its potential relation to structuralist issues. We argue that the “digital humanities-as-structuralism” narrative may be productive where it cautions against reductionist approaches, but it is not appropriate for describing exploratory or partial approaches and the presentation of their findings. There, the computational approaches should rather be seen as enabling connectivity and fostering the joint endeavor of understanding.