bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Casting hydrophilic polymers blended polycaprolactone membranes for drug delivery to eradicate the cancer cells and pathogenic microorganisms
Authors: Pavithra Marimuthu E. , Jayaraman Rengaramanujam , Azarudeen Raja S. , Thirumarimurugan Marimuthu 
Published: December 2022

AbstractHydrophilic polymers have been recognized for enhancing the physico‐chemical and biological properties of synthetic polyesters in the field of cancer treatment and tissue engineering. In this article, the anticancer drug, 5‐fluorouracil loaded membranes were prepared with polycaprolactone blended with chitosan, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and polyethylene glycol to study the drug release ability for breast cancer treatment alongside microbial infections. Solution casting method was employed to fabricate blend membranes with a combination of synthetic, natural and hydrophilic polymers and the resulted membranes were characterized by spectral, crystallographic, surface morphology, contact angle measurements and mechanical testing. Through spectral and crystallographic study, the crosslinking and chemical interactions between the drug and polymers were confirmed. Swelling capacity, drug loading efficiency and the drug release profile were studied and an optimal release of drug from the membranes was observed. The membranes showed cell viability of 60%–85% against fibroblast cell line and cytotoxicity of 60%–76% against breast cancer cells. Furthermore, microbial growth inhibition assay results revealed that the membranes possess good inhibiting property for the selected bacterial and fungal strains. The in vitro degradation studies reveals that the degradation rate of the blend membranes was found higher compared to the bare membrane. Hence, the obtained results clearly reveals that the fabricated membranes would be a promising biomaterial implant in the treatment of breast cancer cells and post‐surgical microbial infections.
Gradual increase in sweat chloride concentration is associated with a higher risk of CRMS/CFSPID to CF reclassification
Authors: Salinas Danieli B. , Ginsburg Daniella K. , Wee Choo Phei , Saeed Muhammed M. , Brewington John J. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractObjectivesUniversal implementation of cystic fibrosis (CF) newborn screening (NBS) has led to the diagnostic dilemma of infants with CF screen‐positive, inconclusive diagnosis (CFSPID), with limited guidance regarding prognosis and standardized care. Rates of reclassification from CFSPID to CF vary and risk factors for reclassification are not well established. We investigated whether clinical characteristics are associated with the risk of reclassification from CFSPID to a CF diagnosis.MethodsChildren with a positive CF NBS were recruited from two sites in California. Retrospective, longitudinal, and cross‐sectional data were collected. A subset of subjects had nasal epithelial cells collected for CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) functional assessment. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the risk of reclassification.ResultsA total of 112 children completed the study (CF = 53, CFSPID = 59). Phenotypic characteristics between groups showed differences in pancreatic insufficiency prevalence, immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) levels, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PSA) colonization. Spirometry measures were not different between groups. Nasal epithelial cells from 10 subjects showed 7%–30% of wild‐type (WT)‐CFTR (wtCFTR) function in those who reclassified and 27%–67% of wtCFTR function in those who retained the CFSPID designation. Modeling revealed that increasing sweat chloride concentration (sw[Cl−]) and PSA colonization were independent risk factors for reclassification to CF.ConclusionIncreasing sw[Cl−] and a history of PSA colonization are associated with the risk of reclassification from CFSPID to CF in a population with high IRT and two CFTR variants. A close follow‐up to monitor phenotypic changes remains critical in this population. The role of CFTR functional assays in this population requires further exploration.
Autocrine EGF and TGF‐α promote primary and acquired resistance to ALK/c‐Met kinase inhibitors in non‐small‐cell lung cancer
Authors: Wang Yueqin , Zhang Yu , Chen Ruiying , Tian Xin 
Published: December 2022

AbstractDrug resistance severely limits the clinical therapeutic value of molecularly targeted drugs. Growth factors gain a tremendous amount of focus due to the ability to promote drug resistance in non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, whether tumor cells themselves can mediate drug resistance by secreting growth factors needs further clarification. Here, we first screened growth factors to identify autocrine epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF‐α) that caused primary resistance to the ALK inhibitor TAE684 in H3122 cells and the c‐MET‐specific inhibitor SGX‐523 in EBC‐1 cells. Next, we discovered increased autocrine production of EGF and TGF‐α in established acquired resistant H3122/TR and EBC‐1/SR cells. Importantly, overexpression of EGF and TGF‐α in two NSCLC cell lines produced resistance to TAE684 and SGX‐523. Clinically, NSCLC patients with high expression of EGF and TGF‐α developed primary resistance to crizotinib. Mechanistically, autocrine EGF and TGF‐α activated EGFR signaling pathways to survive targeted c‐Met and ALK inhibition. Furthermore, combined treatment with gefitinib circumvented EGF‐ and TGF‐α‐mediated primary and acquired resistance to TAE684/SGX‐523. Taken together, these results suggested increased autocrine EGF and TGF‐α conferred primary and acquired resistance to ALK/c‐Met kinase inhibitors in NSCLC.
A Robust Switchable Oil‐In‐Water Emulsion Stabilized by Electrostatic Repulsions between Surfactant and Similarly Charged Carbon Dots
Authors: Abbas Ansar , Zhang Chen , Hussain Sameer , Li Yang , Gao Ruixia , Li Jing , Liu Xueyi , Zhang Minghui , Xu Silong 
Published: December 2022

AbstractHow to control the stability of oil‐in‐water (O/W) emulsions is one of the main topics for scientists working in colloidal systems. Recently, carbon dots (CDs) have received great interest as smart materials because of their excellent physicochemical properties and versatile applications. Herein, for the first time, advanced and switchable O/W emulsions are presented that are stabilized by the synergistic effect of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide CTAB (emulsifier) and similarly charged CDs (stabilizer). In the formulated emulsion, the cationic surfactant molecules are adsorbed at the oil and water interface to decrease the interfacial tension and enrich the drops with a positive charge to ensure intensive electrostatic repulsions among them. On the contrary, cationic CDs are distributed in the water phase among the droplets to reduce the water secretion and prevent flocculation and droplet coalescence. The stabilizing effect is found to be universal for emulsions of a range of oil phases. Furthermore, the formulated emulsion is found to be switchable between “stable” and “unstable” modes by adding an equivalent of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS). The stabilized and switchable O/W emulsions are believed to have wide practical applications in water purification, pharmaceuticals, protein recognition, as well as catalysis.
Catalytic degradation of toxic organic dye using an aluminum‐doped Cu0.4Zn0.6‐xAlxFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) spinel ferrite in a photo‐Fenton system
Authors: Akhter Morsheda , Dutta Sagar Kumar , Dhar Palash Kumar , Ahmed Jamil , Khan Mohammed Nazrul Islam , Amin Md. Khairul , Islam Jahidul 
Published: December 2022

AbstractCatalytic activity of spinel ferrite in breaking down toxic dye materials are promising due to their uniqueness. In this study, aluminum‐doped copper zinc ferrite, Cu0.4Zn0.6‐xAlxFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6), a catalyst for toxic dye degradation is synthesized through chemical co‐precipitation route. The formation of the spinel ferrite catalyst is initially confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectra, which shows the frequency of metal‐oxygen bond vibration at 539 and 427 cm−1 attributed to the tetrahedral and octahedral sites respectively. Higher intensity sharp peak of X‐ray diffraction for (311) plane is the evidence for the phase purity and the formation of spinel ferrite. The crystallite size is found to decrease with the increase of Al3+ ion. The surface structure of the obtained particles is investigated using a scanning electron microscope. Analyses of the material's magnetic characteristics using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) revealed that it is, in fact, a soft magnet, as evidenced by the loop of its hysteresis, which is narrow. The catalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under the mechanism of the photo‐Fenton process is studied with the obtained spinel ferrites and the result is found to be as high as 96.5%. The process follows pseudo‐second order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm.
The Fragility of the School-in-Pandemic in Chile
Authors: Bellei Cristián , Contreras Mariana , Ponce Tania , Yañez Isabel , Díaz Rocío , Vielma Constanza 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThis chapter examines how Chilean education was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Like all school systems worldwide, Chilean education was strongly impacted, with schools closing for nearly the entire academic year, which necessitated an improvised “distance education.” This new system faced enormous difficulties, especially in rural sectors and for families that lacked sufficient resources in their homes, which in the case of Chile represent a significant portion of the population. Based on secondary sources and a study conducted by the authors, this chapter begins by describing the fundamental characteristics of Chilean education before continuing with an overview of the principal actions undertaken by public authorities to confront the pandemic in the educational sphere; we then present the (scant) information available on how the suspension of in-person classes affected different school actors and summarize the basic findings of our own study on this topic, whose focus is educational experiences at home. The chapter concludes with some reflections of a more general nature that seek to situate the educational debate triggered by the pandemic in a broader context, concerning the future evolution of the education system.
Introducing and solving generalized Black–Scholes PDEs through the use of functional calculus
Authors: Oliva-Maza Jesús , Warma Mahamadi 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWe introduce some families of generalized Black–Scholes equations which involve the Riemann–Liouville and Weyl space-fractional derivatives. We prove that these generalized Black–Scholes equations are well-posed in$$(L^1-L^\infty )$$(L1-L∞)-interpolation spaces. More precisely, we show that the elliptic-type operators involved in these equations generate holomorphic semigroups. Then, we give explicit integral expressions for the associated solutions. In the way to obtain well-posedness, we prove a new connection between bisectorial-like operators and sectorial operators in an abstract setting. Such a connection extends the scaling property of sectorial operators to a wider family of both operators and the functions involved.
Ergodic decompositions of Dirichlet forms under order isomorphisms
Authors: Dello Schiavo Lorenzo , Wirth Melchior 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWe study ergodic decompositions of Dirichlet spaces under intertwining via unitary order isomorphisms. We show that the ergodic decomposition of a quasi-regular Dirichlet space is unique up to a unique isomorphism of the indexing space. Furthermore, every unitary order isomorphism intertwining two quasi-regular Dirichlet spaces is decomposable over their ergodic decompositions up to conjugation via an isomorphism of the corresponding indexing spaces.
Fill in the blank for fashion complementary outfit product Retrieval: VISUM summer school competition
Authors: Castro Eduardo , Ferreira Pedro M. , Rebelo Ana , Rio-Torto Isabel , Capozzi Leonardo , Ferreira Mafalda Falcão , Gonçalves Tiago , Albuquerque Tomé , Silva Wilson , Afonso Carolina , Gamelas Sousa Ricardo , Cimarelli Claudio , Daoudi Nadia , Moreira Gabriel , Yang Hsiu-yu , Hrga Ingrid , Ahmad Javed , Keswani Monish , Beco Sofia 
Published: December 2022

AbstractEvery year, the VISion Understanding and Machine intelligence (VISUM) summer school runs a competition where participants can learn and share knowledge about Computer Vision and Machine Learning in a vibrant environment. 2021 VISUM’s focused on applying those methodologies in fashion. Recently, there has been an increase of interest within the scientific community in applying computer vision methodologies to the fashion domain. That is highly motivated by fashion being one of the world’s largest industries presenting a rapid development in e-commerce mainly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Computer Vision for Fashion enables a wide range of innovations, from personalized recommendations to outfit matching. The competition enabled students to apply the knowledge acquired in the summer school to a real-world problem. The ambition was to foster research and development in fashion outfit complementary product retrieval by leveraging vast visual and textual data with domain knowledge. For this, a new fashion outfit dataset (acquired and curated by FARFETCH) for research and benchmark purposes is introduced. Additionally, a competitive baseline with an original negative sampling process for triplet mining was implemented and served as a starting point for participants. The top 3 performing methods are described in this paper since they constitute the reference state-of-the-art for this particular problem. To our knowledge, this is the first challenge in fashion outfit complementary product retrieval. Moreover, this joint project between academia and industry brings several relevant contributions to disseminating science and technology, promoting economic and social development, and helping to connect early-career researchers to real-world industry challenges.
Multi-characteristic overcurrent relay of feeder protection for minimum tripping times and self-protection
Authors: Reda Abdallah , Abdelgawad Amal F. , Elsayed Mohamed I. , Al-Dousar Fhaid B. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe main goal of this study is to propose new characteristics to an REF 615 model (overcurrent and earth fault relay) that is used for feeder protection in an actual radial system of an Egyptian Substation. When studying fault current, both light and heavy loads as well as fault locations are considered based on the radial nature of the network. The proposed algorithm relies on simultaneously activating the three settings of REF 615 OC relay, with the three settings being set on the respective normal inverse (NI), very inverse (VI) and definite time (DMT) curves. The relay’s operating area is divided into two areas. The VI curve functions as a backup for NI in the first area, whereas the NI curve functions as a backup for VI in the second area. The novelty of this study is the proposed model’s ability to handle relay failure through its self-protection, which increases the network’s protection level and minimizes the relay operating time by about 41.07% for rapid response to a fault. The presence of self-backup protection can minimize the coordination time interval between the main protection and backup protection (CTI) by about 77.98%. The ETAP software is used to investigate the actual radial system and in the analysis of the protection coordination.
Neuropeptide Y and its receptors in prostate cancer: associations with cancer invasiveness and perineural spread
Authors: Sigorski Dawid , Wesołowski Wojciech , Gruszecka Agnieszka , Gulczyński Jacek , Zieliński Piotr , Misiukiewicz Sara , Kitlińska Joanna , Iżycka-Świeszewska Ewa 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Purpose
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a pleiotropic peptide, which is involved in many biological mechanisms important in regulation of cell growth and survival. The aim of this study was a comprehensive analysis of the NPY system in prostate pathology.

Methods
The study was based on immunohistochemical analysis of NPY and its receptors, Y1R, Y2R and Y5R, in tissue samples from benign prostate (BP), primary prostate cancer (PCa) and PCa bone metastases. Tissue microarray (TMA) technique was employed, with analysis of multiple cores from each specimen. Intensity of the immunoreactivity and expression index (EI), as well as distribution of the immunostaining in neoplastic cells and stromal elements were evaluated. Perineural invasion (PNI) and extraprostatic extension (EPE) were areas of special interests. Moreover, a transwell migration assay on the LNCaP PCa cell line was used to assess the chemotactic properties of NPY.

Results
Morphological analysis revealed homogeneous membrane and cytoplasmic pattern of NPY staining in cancer cells and its membrane localization with apical accentuation in BP glands. All elements of the NPY system were upregulated in pre-invasive prostate intraepithelial neoplasia, PCa and metastases. EI and staining intensity of NPY receptors were significantly higher in PCa then in BP with correlation between Y2R and Y5R. The strength of expression of the NPY system was further increased in the PNI and EPE areas. In bone metastases, Y1R and Y5R presented high expression scores.

Conclusion
The results of our study suggest that the NPY system is involved in PCa, starting from early stages of its development to disseminated states of the disease, and participates in the invasion of PCa into the auto and paracrine matter.
The performance assessment framework (PPAFR) for RPA implementation in a loan application process using process mining
Authors: Šperka Roman , Halaška Michal 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWhen a company decides to automate its business processes by means of RPA (Robotic Process Automation), there are two fundamental questions that need to be answered. Firstly, what activities should the company automate and what characteristics make them suitable for RPA. The aim of the presented research is to design and demonstrate a data-driven performance framework assessing the impact of RPA implementation using process mining (PPAFR). Firstly, we comment on and summarise existing trends in process mining and RPA. Secondly, we describe research objectives and methods following the Design Science Research Methodology. Then, we identify critical factors for RPA implementation and design process stages of PPAFR. We demonstrate the design on real data from a loan application process. The demonstration consists of a process discovery using process mining methods, process analysis, and process simulation with assessment of RPA candidates. Based on the research results, a redesign of the process is proposed with emphasis on RPA implementation. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of PPAFR by helping companies to identify potentially suitable activities for RPA implementation and not overestimating potential gains. Obtained results show that within the loan application process, waiting times are the main causes of extended cases. If the waiting times are generated internally, it will be much easier for the company to address them. If the automation is focused mainly on processing times, the impact of automation on the overall performance of the process is insignificant or very low. Moreover, the research identified several characteristics which have to be considered when implementing RPA due to the impact on the overall performance of the process.
FDA-Validated Ecofriendly Chromatographic Methods for Simultaneous Determination of Gemcitabine and Sorafenib: Applications to Pharmacokinetics
Authors: Sharkawi Marco M. Z. , Mohamed Norhan R. , El-Saadi Mohammed T. , Amin Noha H. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractCombination therapy of gemcitabine and sorafenib is synergistically effective and well tolerated in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, the pharmacokinetic parameters of both gemcitabine and sorafenib were estimated after intra-peritoneal administration in rats using novel, green and sensitive RP-HPLC and TLC-densitometric methods where sildenafil used as an internal standard. Firstly, the developed RP-HPLC method achieved on ZORBAX Eclipse Plus C18 (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm) using a mixture of methanol: 40 mM ammonium acetate solution. On the other hand, the developed TLC-densitometric method was achieved on TLC plates using a developing system of methanol: ethyl acetate (3: 7, by volume) and scanning wave length at 260 nm. Additionally, the developed methods were validated according to FDA guidelines. Moreover, the developed methods were successfully used to study the pharmacokinetic parameters of both gemcitabine and sorafenib after administration of each drug alone and co-administration in rats. The results presented that drug–drug interaction between drugs happened when administrated together affecting the pharmacokinetic parameters of each other. The proposed methods, being ecofriendly, accurate, and sensitive, may become the corner stone for further clinical studies of the studied drugs determinations applied on humans.
International Law for a Time of Monsters: ‘White Genocide’, The Limits of Liberal Legalism, and the Reclamation of Utopia
Authors: Loefflad Eric 
Published: December 2022

AbstractFor critical legal scholars, the ongoing far-right assault upon the liberal status quo poses a distinct dilemma. On the one hand, the desire to condemn the far-right is overwhelming. On the other hand, such condemnations are susceptible to being appropriated as a validation of the very liberalism that critical theorists have long questioned. In seeking to transcend this dilemma, my focus is on the discourse of ‘white genocide’ — a commonplace belief amongst the far-right/white nationalists that ‘whites’, as a discrete group, are facing demographic destruction as a result of deliberate policy choices. Such a belief has motivated acts of extreme violence. While libel to dismissal by experts on mainstream understandings of genocide, namely international criminal lawyers, I argue that this ‘white genocide’ discourse deserves careful scrutiny as a jurisprudential and socio-legal phenomenon that reveals key weaknesses in present modalities of liberal justification. Drawing upon an array of recent critical theories, I show how a liberalism unable to face its own decline enables the very far-right assertions it purports to oppose. Thus, given liberalism’s failure to act as a neutral arbiter, an alternative approach for those opposing the far-right is to develop a vision of politics and society that confront believers in ‘white genocide’ on a more substantive level. This, I argue, forces the far-right’s opponents to disavow liberal scepticism towards utopian transformation as well as the juridical understandings and institutions that allow this scepticism to durably persist.