bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Geospatial Analysis, Mapping, and Clustering of Cholera Resurgence in Malawi
Authors: Tobias Chitani , Mwanza Brave , Chiziwa Wezzie , Mwase Emmanuel , Nyirenda Gertrude , Ngwira Susan , Kalenga Godfrey , Mbakaya Balwani Chingatichifwe. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Background
The resurgence of the cholera epidemic in Malawi poses a substantive threat to the government schema and necessitates more targeted intervention methods for long-term management. This study focused on geographical analysis of cholera incidence in Malawi to investigate the existence of regional hotspots and predictors.
Methods
The geographical association between cholera occurrences and environmental risk variables in the research region was mapped and explored in this study. The research area was divided into three regions thus northern, central, and southern. ArcGIS 10.41 was also used to gather and analyze GIS layers such as cholera incidence data from government archives.
Results
The study found that hotspots were found to be mostly in towns, near water bodies, and garbage dump sites. According to the findings of this study, garbage disposal sites and markets were the most predisposing factors, whereas abattoirs were the least.
Conclusion
The study's distinctiveness stems from the use of mapping to show the hotspots and the pattern of cholera risk, as well as to offer unambiguous information for the creation of environmental supervision methods.
Extraction of peroxidase enzyme from cabbage legs for catalytic biodegradation of textile dyes and bisphenol A in wastewater: Purification and characterization technologies
Authors: Mohammed Weam Abdulwahhab , Ridha Mohanad J. M 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

In this work, the peroxidase enzyme was extracted from cabbage legs obtained from restaurant waste. Additionally, a comparison was made between crude and pure enzymes to evaluate their efficacy as catalysts for the biodegradation of common contaminants, textile dyes, and bisphenol A. The concentration of protein, bioactivity of peroxidase, and specific activity of both crude and pure enzymes were experimentally determined. The extracted peroxidase enzyme displayed optimal bioactivity at pH 6 and a temperature of 40°C. Moreover, it exhibited good stability across a wide pH range (3–7), retaining 65% of its original bioactivity at 60°C. The addition of FeSO4 and ZnCl2 enhanced enzyme activity by 153% and 120%, respectively, whereas exposure to CuCl2, AgNo3, and HgCl2 ions reduced enzyme activity by 60%, 53%, and 25%, respectively. The crude enzyme exhibited remarkable efficiency in decolorizing the synthetic dyes, with percentage decolorization of 86% and 78% for reactive blue 49 (RB) and reactive green 19 (RG), respectively, after a 10-hour incubation at the laboratory scale. Similarly, the pure enzyme exhibited a decolorization percentage of 79% and 75% for RB and RG, respectively, under the same conditions. The crude enzyme showed a high degradation efficiency of 92.8% for bisphenol A degradation in aqueous solution after 5 h.
Evaluation of Comorbidity Burden on Disease Progression and Mortality in Patients with Interstitial Pneumonia with Autoimmune Features: a Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Joerns Elena K. , Ghebranious Michelle A. , Adams Traci N. , Makris Una E. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Background
Interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) is a subset of interstitial lung disease that manifests with interstitial pneumonia and features of autoimmunity while not meeting classification criteria for a defined rheumatic disease. Comorbidity burden is an important prognostic indicator in various rheumatic and interstitial lung diseases, but few studies have commented on comorbidities in this population. This study was conducted to evaluate the association of individual comorbidities, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and the Rheumatic Disease Comorbidity Index (RDCI) with lung disease progression and transplant/mortality outcomes in patients with IPAF.
Methods
In a retrospective study, we evaluated the prevalence and severity of comorbidities in an institutional cohort of patients with IPAF. Using Cox regression, we correlated the association of individual comorbidities and comorbidity burden using CCI and RDCI with time to lung disease progression (defined as relative forced vital capacity (FVC) decline of 10% or more) and with time to lung transplant/all-cause mortality. We compared the performance of CCI and RDCI, while adjusting for the Interstitial Lung Disease Gender-Age-Physiology (ILD-GAP) index.
Results
In a sample of 201 individuals with IPAF, a history of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or cardiovascular disease (CVD), moderate to severe chronic kidney disease, or fracture was associated with a faster onset of lung disease progression, while a history of gastroesophageal reflux was protective. History of CVA/CVD, diabetes mellitus, and lymphoma were associated with a faster onset of lung transplant/death. Both CCI and RDCI were significantly associated with shorter time to lung disease progression (hazard ratio [HR] 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.19 and HR 1.12 with 95%CI 1.00-1.26, respectively) and lung transplant/mortality (HR 1.18 [1.07–1.30] and 1.31 [1.10–1.57], respectively).
Conclusions
CCI and RDCI may be useful tools in assessing prognosis in patients with IPAF in terms of both lung disease progression and mortality. Prospective studies are needed to further evaluate the performance of CCI and RDCI and the impact of optimizing comorbid conditions that may mitigate poor outcomes among patients with IPAF.
Opening eyes on seedling tuber quality in potato: size matters
Authors: Stockem Julia , Bus Merijn D. , de Vries Michiel E. , Struik Paul C. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
For potato, diploid hybrid breeding is a novel breeding technique that speeds up the development of new varieties. A consequence of hybrid breeding is the introduction of hybrid true potato seeds as starting material. From these seeds, seedling tubers can be produced in one field season, to use as starting material for a seed or a ware crop in the following year. For breeding purposes as well as for seed crop and ware crop production it is essential to produce seedling tubers of high quality. The production of seedling tubers is a new step in the potato production chain, therefore, we investigated the effect of tuber quality traits on plant development and yield. With similar seedling tuber weight, more eyes per seedling tuber led to more stems per plant. This was compensated by a lower number of tubers per stem resulting in an equal total tuber number and weight per plant at the end of the growing season. A higher seedling tuber weight led to a higher soil cover in the field. Therefore, all hybrids produced a higher total tuber weight per plant when grown from larger seedling tubers than when grown from smaller seedling tubers, while number of eyes and stems per tuber has no effect on final yield when using equal seedling tuber weight.
Icaritin Promotes Brain Functional Rehabilitation in Ischemic Stroke Rats by Regulating Astrocyte Activation and Polarization Via GPER
Authors: Su Guangjun , Yu Zining , Liu Gaigai , Zhang Limei , Zhao Guojian , Luo Li , Fang Shicai , Zhang Qian , Tang Shi , Cao Xingling , Huang Cheng , Huang Zhihua , Li Liangdong 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Cerebral ischemic injury induces the polarization of astrocytes toward two different phenotypes, i.e., the proinflammatory A1 phenotype and the protective, anti-inflammatory A2 phenotype, affects the prognosis of cerebral ischemia. To explore the neuroprotective effect of phytoestrogens Icaritin (ICT) on cerebral ischemic rehabilitation and the preliminary mechanism of regulating astrocyte polarization. The Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO)/reperfusion was performed on male adultsand then treated with ICT (i.p.) once daily for 28 days. Intervention of G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) specific inhibitor G15 was repeated. The body weight, Garcia JH scale, right/left brain weight ratio, CatWalk gait test and Y maze test to assess overall neural function in rats. Cytokines in ischemic cortical were detected by ELISA. And the double immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting to evaluated the activation and A1 and A2 polarization of astrocytes. The results showed that ICT treatment markedly perfected functional outcomes on a long-term basis after ischemic stroke, it also improved learning and memory and gait. ICT inhibited the polarization of A1 type astrocytes and promoted the polarization of A2 type astrocytes, promote neuron regeneration in hippocampus dentate gyrus (DG) region. G15 removes some of the protective effects of ICT. The experimental results show that ICT exerts neuroprotective effects and regulates astrocyte polarization through GPER, suggesting that it may be a potential therapeutic agent for ischemic stroke during the recovery period.
Machining of additively manufactured alloy 718 in as-built and heat treated condition: surface integrity and cutting tool wear
Authors: Holmberg Jonas , Berglund Johan , Brohede Ulrika , Åkerfeldt Pia , Sandell Viktor , Rashid Amir , Zhao Xiaoyu , Dadbakhsh Sasan , Fisher Marie , Hryha Eduard , Wiklund Urban , Hassila Carl Johan Karlsson , Hosseini Seyed 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) using powder bed fusion is becoming a mature technology that offers great possibilities and design freedom for manufacturing of near net shape components. However, for many gas turbine and aerospace applications machining is still required, which motivates further research on the machinability and work piece integrity of additive manufactured superalloys. In this work, turning tests has been performed on components made with both Powder Bed Fusion for Laser Beam (PBF-LB) and Electron Beam (PBF-EB) in as-built and heat treated conditions. The two AM processes, and the respective heat treatments, have generated different microstructural features that have great impact on both the tool wear and the work piece surface integrity. The results show that the PBF-EB components have relatively lower geometrical accuracy, a rough surface topography, a coarse microstructure with hard precipitates and low residual stresses after printing. Turning of the PBF-EB material results in high cutting tool wear, which induced moderate tensile surface stresses that are balanced by deep compressive stresses and a superficial deformed surface that is greater for the heat treated material. In comparison, the PBF-LB components have a higher geometrical accuracy, relatively smooth topography and a fine microstructure, but with high tensile stresses after printing. Machining of PBF-LB material resulted in higher tool wear for the heat-treated material, increase of 49%, and significantly higher tensile surface stresses followed by shallower compressive stresses below the surface compared to the PBF-EB materials, but with no superficially deformed surface. It is further observed an 87% higher tool wear for PBF-EB in as-built condition and 43% in the heat treated condition compared to the PBF-LB material. These results show that selection of cutting tool and cutting settings are critical, which requires development of suitable machining parameters that are designed for the microstructure of the material.
Passive Surveillance of Wildlife in Northwestern Italy: A Possible Cognitive Approach Through Geographical Disctrict Study and Elementary Analysis of Hair
Authors: Trossi Andrea , Berti Giovanna , Palmegiano Paolo , Robetto Serena , Orusa Riccardo , Zoppi Simona , Carella Emanuele , Abete Maria Cesarina , Squadrone Stefania 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Prediction of nonmass breast cancer based on ultrasound and molybdenum target characteristics
Authors: Wang Zhuoran , Cao Xufeng , Jia Chunmei , Mi Na , Li Tingting , Wang Jingjie , Fan Ruiqi , Quan Jiayu 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

To investigate the effect of ultrasound and molybdenum target X-ray characteristics in predicting nonmass breast cancer. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 185 nonmass breast lesion patients between September 2019 and 2021. Benign and malignant nonmass breast lesions were typed into lamellar hypoechoic, ductal alteration, microcalcification, and structural disorder types, as seen on ultrasonography. In addition, the differences in molybdenum target X-ray parameters, ultrasonographic manifestations and ultrasound characteristics among individuals with nonmass breast lesions were studied. Ultrasound manifestation of microcalcified type and suspicious malignancy on molybdenum target X-ray evaluation were independently associated with nonmass breast cancer and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The subsequent logistic regression model was as follows: Logit (P) =-1.757+2.194*microcalcification type on ultrasound + 1.520*suspicious malignancy on molybdenum target X-ray evaluation. The areas under the ROC curves for microcalcification type on ultrasound, suspicious malignancy on molybdenum target X-ray, and the diagnostic model were 0.733, 0.667, and 0.827, respectively.Using ultrasound and molybdenum targets for diagnosis can increase the accuracy in finding nonmass breast cancer.The findings of this study can help improve the rate of detecting nonlumpy breast cancer and provide an imaging basis for improving the prognosis of breast cancer patients.
Research on the Temperature Field and Water Discharge Around Different Drainage Structures for the Cold Tunnel
Authors: Jia Lianyan , Zhu Jinhuan , Wang Zhiqi , Jia Gan , Zhang Haidong , Tan Lizhen , Liu Lulu 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Cold tunnels are vulnerable to frost damage, which poses a serious threat to their safe operation. This article focuses on the Hongtushan Tunnel and presents results from indoor model tests investigating the temperature field variations in surrounding rock at the tunnel bottom and the Water Discharge process of drainage structures under different conditions. The study analyzed the relationship between freezing depths of the model tunnel's surrounding rock and changes in both air temperature and depth within the tunnel, comparing the test results with on-site measurements of freezing depths. The findings revealed that insulation measures have a greater impact on the central drainage ditch than the cold-resistant drainage tunnel; implementing insulation measures for drainage structures significantly increased water discharge within the same time period. Moreover, the freezing depth of surrounding rocks under the tunnel arch exhibited a quadratic polynomial distribution along the depth direction. By taking advantage of the similarity between freezing depths and temperatures, combined with on-site temperature measurements inside the tunnel, actual freezing depths can be calculated, providing guidance for drainage structure placement. These results offer important insights for mitigating frost damage in high-altitude tunnels and promoting safer tunnel operations.
Inhibition of Topoisomerase 2 catalytic activity impacts the integrity of heterochromatin and repetitive DNA and leads to interlinks between clustered repeats
Authors: Soutoglou Evi , Amoiridis Michalis , Meaburn Karen , Verigos John , Gittens William , Ye Tao , Neale Matthew 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

DNA replication and transcription generate DNA supercoiling, which can cause topological stress and intertwining of daughter chromatin fibers, posing challenges to the completion of DNA replication and chromosome segregation. Type II topoisomerases (Top2s) are enzymes that relieve DNA supercoiling and decatenate braided sister chromatids. How Top2 complexes deal with the topological challenges in different chromatin contexts, and whether all chromosomal contexts are subjected equally to torsional stress and require Top2 activity is unknown. Here we show that catalytic inhibition of the Top2 complex in interphase has a profound effect on the stability of heterochromatin and repetitive DNA elements. Mechanistically, we find that catalytically inactive Top2 is trapped around heterochromatin leading to DNA breaks and unresolved catenates, which necessitate the recruitment of the structure specific endonuclease, Ercc1-XPF, in an Slx4- and SUMO-dependent manner. Our data are consistent with a model in which Top2 complex resolves not only catenates between sister chromatids but also inter- chromosomal catenates between clustered repetitive elements.
A Novel Approach for Robust Solid/electrolyte Interface Formation in Lithium-Ion Batteries using Methyl p-toluenesulfonate Additive
Authors: Hamidi Susan , Javanbakht Mehran , Mousazadeh Mohammad Hassan , Tafreshi Saeedeh Sarabadani 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

In this study, a novel S-based compound, methyl p-toluene sulfonate (MPTS) has been investigated as film forming additive in Li/graphite cells. According to the density functional theory (DFT) investigation of electron affinity energy of MPTS and carbonate solvents, MPTS has more negative electron affinity energy of -2.17 eV, whilst it is only − 1.03 eV for ethylene carbonate (EC) and − 0.73 eV for dimethyl carbonate (DMC). It confirms the highest reductive activity of MPTS, which was consistent with the CV test result. The physicochemical features of the graphite electrode were studied using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, field-emission scanning microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), The electrochemical tests results showed that the battery with 1.5% wt% MPTS exhibited a low impedance on the electrode interface and remarkable cyclability, maintaining 93.17% of its initial capacity at 0.2 C after 100 cycles, approximately 11% more than the conventional electrolyte. These outstanding performances are ascribed to the preferential absorption of MPTS and the as-created interface. TEM and XPS analysis confirmed that MPTS forms a thinner SEI layer containing sulfur on the graphite electrode, predicted by recommended mechanism via theoretical calculations. This protective sulfur-containing film promotes faster lithium intercalation/deintercalation kinetics via declining the charge transfer resistance.
Observation of abrasives under morphable polishing tools with a high-speed camera
Authors: Nie Qianqian 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Polishing abrasives play a crucial role in polishing and significantly influence the polishing rate and quality. Current research on direct observation of abrasives under polishing tools with complicated surface textures is limited. In this work, high speed camera is applied to observe the abrasives under morphable polishing tools with smooth, labyrinth and dimple textures at the tool rotational speed (300, 600 and 900 rpm) and tool offset (0.2, 0.5 and 1 mm). The results shows that the number of abrasives in the contact area is increased with the tool rotational speed and decreased with the tool offset. Among the three tools, dimple tools retain more abrasives than labyrinth and smooth tools. Abrasive trajectories are nearly horizontal, in accordance with the polishing velocity direction. The velocity magnitude is mainly influenced by the horizontal velocity u, as the vertical velocity v is relatively small. The velocity magnitude increases with the tool rotational speed and the tool offset. Among the three tools, the velocity is higher under labyrinth and dimple tools than under smooth tools. The pressure and abrasive velocity were increased by ~ 25% and 70%, while the resultant removal volume was increased by 54.2% with a dimple tool than a labyrinth tool.
Split-and-Recombine and Vision Transformer Based 3D Human Pose Estimation
Authors: Lu Xinyi , Xu Fan , Hu Shuiyi , Yu Tianqi , Hu Jianling 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Regression of 3D human pose from monocular images faces many challenges, especially for rare poses and occlusions. To solve these problems, we propose SR-ViT, a novel approach based on Split-and-Recombine and Visual Transformer for 3D human pose estimation. Our method first feeds the 2D joint coordinates of multi-frame images into the 3D feature extractor to obtain the 3D features of each frame. After feature fusion with the position embedding information, the global correlation between all frames is modeled by the Transformer encoder, and the final 3D pose output is obtained with a regression head, which achieves the estimation of the 3D pose of the center frame from consecutive multi-frame images and effectively solves the joint occlusion problem. By improving the structure of the 3D feature extractor and the design of the loss function, the prediction performance of rare poses is improved. The model performance is also enhanced by improving the self-attention mechanism in both global and local aspects. Our method has been evaluated on two benchmark datasets, namely, Human3.6M and MPI-INF-3DHP. Experimental results show that our method outperforms the benchmark methods on both datasets.
Validating an algebraic approach to characterizing resonator networks
Authors: Horowitz Viva R. , Carter Brittany , Hernandez Uriel , Scheuing Trevor , Alemán Benjamín J. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Resonator networks are ubiquitous in natural and engineered systems, such as solid-state materials, electrical circuits, quantum processors, and even neural tissue. To understand and manipulate these networks it is essential to characterize their building blocks, which include the mechanical analogs of mass, elasticity, damping, and coupling of each resonator element. While these mechanical parameters are typically obtained from response spectra using least-squares fitting, this approach requires a priori knowledge of all parameters and is susceptible to large error due to convergence to local minima. Here we validate an alternative algebraic means to characterize resonator networks with no or minimal a priori knowledge. Our approach recasts the equations of motion of the network into a linear homogeneous algebraic equation and solves the equation with a set of discrete measured network response vectors. For validation, we employ our approach on noisy simulated data from a single resonator and a coupled resonator pair, and we characterize the accuracy of the recovered parameters using high-dimension factorial simulations. Generally, we find that the error is inversely proportional to the signal-to-noise ratio, that measurements at two frequencies are sufficient to recover all parameters, and that sampling near the resonant peaks is optimal. Our simple, powerful tool will enable future efforts to ascertain network properties and control resonator networks in diverse physical domains.
Preoperatively predicting the lymph node metastasis and prognosis for gastric cancer patients
Authors: Wang Danfang , Wang Yaxin , Dong Lin , Zhang Xin , Du Jianfei 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

The preoperative distinguishment of lymph nodes (LN) with metastasis plays a pivotal role in guiding the surgical extension for gastric cancer (GC). We aim to identify the preparative risk factors for LN metastasis in GC patients. We retrospectively reviewed 424 patients who underwent radical GC resection in our medical center between Jan 2011 and Dec 2018. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to identify risk factors for LN metastasis, while multivariate COX regression was utilized to evaluate prognostic factors. 245 out of 424 people were identified with LN metastases. In multivariate analysis, low levels of albumin and prealbumin, as well as high levels of CEA, CA199, and platelets, were found to be significantly associated with LN metastasis in patients with GC. In survival analysis, older age, larger tumors, higher levels of D-dimer and CA199, advanced staging, lower prealbumin levels, and absence of adjuvant chemotherapy was discovered to be associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with GC. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that preoperative prealbumin-bound tumor markers can effectively predict LN metastasis in GC. Additionally, prealbumin was found to possess prognostic value as well.