bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clues to reaction specificity in PLP‐dependent fold type I aminotransferases of monosaccharide biosynthesis
Authors: Srivastava Jaya , Balaji Petety V. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractNovel functions can emerge in an enzyme family while conserving catalytic mechanism, motif or fold. Pyridoxal 5'‐phosphate‐dependent enzymes have evolved into seven fold‐types and catalyze diverse reactions using the same mechanism for the formation of external aldimine. Nucleotide sugar aminotransferases (which will be henceforth referred to as aminotransferases) belong to fold type I and mediate the biosynthesis of several monosaccharides. They use diverse substrates but are highly selective to the C3 or C4 carbon to which amine group is transferred. Profile hidden Markov models (HMMs) were able to identify aminotransferases but could not capture reaction specificity. A search for discriminating features led to the discovery of sequence motifs that are located near the pyranose binding site suggesting their role in imparting reaction specificity. Using a position weight matrix for this motif, we were able to assign reaction specificity to a large number of aminotransferases. Inferences from this analysis set way for future experiments that can shed light on mechanisms of functional diversification in nucleotide sugar aminotransferases of fold type I.
Residential mobility in Hong Kong 1991–2016: Demographics, policies and housing market dynamics
Authors: Li Si‐ming , Du Huimin , Wu Shuang 
Published: January 2022

AbstractHong Kong has experienced rounds of property bubble inflation and burst, underscoring heightened market volatility amidst the financialization of the world economy. Irrespective of its fame as an exemplar of laissez faire capitalism, the city's massive public housing programme consisting of public rental housing (PRH) and the Homeownership Scheme (HOS) places the Hong Kong government among the world's biggest landlords and developers. It is within such varying and heavily manipulated choice sets that residential decisions in Hong Kong are exercised. Employing the past five population censuses (by‐censuses), this paper studies the city's changing scenes of residential mobility over the period 1991–2016, juxtaposing against changes in housing and land policies and the broader socioeconomic environment. The results reveal relatively frequent moves in the 1990s, but drastic and consistent declines in the mobility rates thereafter, especially for HOS and PRH residents. Private renters, however, stayed mobile throughout the 25‐year period. Such variations in trend point towards the recent dismantling of the housing ladder with PRH and HOS being major steps in the transition from private renting to owner‐occupation. Particularly affected are the younger generations. Expectedly, recent immigrants from mainland China fare less well in the housing realm. Nevertheless, with the attainment of the permanent resident status in Hong Kong, mainlanders and local born increasingly exhibit similar patterns of residential movements.
Using health administrative data to identify patients with pulmonary hypertension: A single center, proof of concept validation study in Ontario, Canada
Authors: Wijeratne Don Thiwanka , Housin Ahmad , Lajkosz Katherine , Lougheed M. Diane , Xiong Ping Yu , Barber David , Doliszny Katharine M. , Archer Stephen L. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractReal‐world identification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is largely based on the use of administrative databases identified by ICD codes. This approach has not been validated. The aim of this study was to validate a diagnosis of PH and its comorbidities using ICD 9/10 codes. Health records from Kingston Health Sciences Centre (2010 to 2012) were abstracted to identify a diagnosis of PH. Cohort 1 patients (n = 300) were selected because they had attended a cardiology or respirology clinic without knowledge of PH status. Cohort 2 patients (n = 200) were patients with a diagnosis of PH, identified using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes at the time of hospitalizations (CIHI‐DAD) or emergency department (ED) visits (CIHI‐NACRS). These cohorts were combined and reviewed to validate the diagnosis of PH. These data were securely transferred to the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The diagnosis of PH from chart abstraction was used as the gold standard. The classification of PH into WHO groups, based on chart abstraction, was also compared to classification based on ICD code‐defined comorbidities. Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 were merged to yield 449 unique patients in the combined cohort. In the combined cohort, 248 of 449 (55.2%) had a diagnosis of PH by ICD code criteria. The mean age of this PH group was 70 years, and the majority were females (65.5%). One hospitalization or ED visit resulting in a diagnostic code for PH had a sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 99% for a confirmed PH diagnosis on chart abstraction. When WHO classification by chart abstraction and ICD codes for comorbidities were compared, there was 87% agreement. Identification of PH and its comorbidities using ICD codes is a valid approach, and this single‐center study supports its application to identify PH.
Two‐threshold control limit policy in condition‐based maintenance
Authors: Al Hanbali Ahmad , Saleh Haitham , Ullah Noman 
Published: January 2022

AbstractIn this paper, we consider a component exhibiting a continuous monotone degradation modeled as a Gamma process. The maintenance policy is of condition‐based type with periodic inspections. It follows the two threshold control limit policy with a preventive maintenance limit, a switching limit, and a given failure limit. Our interest is to minimize the annual expected maintenance cost subject to a constraint on the average availability. The decision variables are the preventive limit, the switching limit, and the inspections schedule. We derive exact results for the key performance indicators, but since they are numerically involved, we propose a simple, that is, involving necessary spreadsheet calculations, accurate approximation. We apply our model to a case from the process industry, namely, a carbon steel hydrogen dryer consisting of a cylindrical pressure vessel. This vessel suffers from corrosion with thickness growth modeled as a Gamma process. The optimization results show that although the annual maintenance cost increases with the mean and the coefficient of variation of the yearly corrosion thickness, its mean has a higher impact on cost. Based on the cost sensitivity analysis, we find that the impact of a vast increase of the corrective maintenance cost for the same inspection and preventive costs can be mitigated by appropriately reducing the corrective maintenance probability. Finally, we empirically show that the two threshold policy achieves an annual cost savings up to compared to the single threshold policy.
An improved central difference Kalman filter for satellite attitude estimation with state mutation
Authors: Ma Haining , Zhang Xiang , Lu Zhengliang , Liao Wenhe 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThere are three problems in applying central difference Kalman filter (CDKF) to attitude estimation of low‐cost satellite: (1) the negative definiteness and asymmetry of the covariance matrix caused by limited computing power and storage space of the onboard microprocessor may result in calculation divergence, (2) the system model uncertainty including model mismatch and state mutation caused by environmental disturbances from inside and outside the satellite will lead to filter divergence, (3) the addition operation on quaternions violates the normalization constraint, while enforced unitization will introduce approximation errors. To solve the above problems, this article proposes the multiplicative quaternion square root strong tracking CDKF (MQSRSTCDKF), in which three improvements to basic CDKF are made: (1) square roots of covariance matrices are adopted for information propagation in place of covariance matrices themselves, which always guarantees the symmetry and positive definiteness of covariance matrices, (2) multiple fading factors are employed to adjust square root of the covariance matrix of predicted state variables, and then adjust the gain matrix to make the filter attach more weight to sensor measurements than to corrupt state predictions caused by model uncertainties, (3) multiplication operation on quaternions is conducted instead of the addition one, which makes the normalization constraint on quaternions naturally satisfied without enforced unitization. Numerical simulation based on raw telemetry data from the on‐orbit CubeSat NJUST‐1 shows that MQSRSTCDKF has higher attitude estimation accuracy, faster convergence speed, and stronger robustness to filter divergence and calculation divergence than basic CDKF.
Green innovation and ecological footprint relationship for a sustainable development: Evidence from top 20 green innovator countries
Authors: Koseoglu Ahmet , Yucel Ali Gokhan , Ulucak Recep 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe ecological pressure of humanity on the planet measured by ecological footprint has been enlarging, which upsurges environmental threats. At this point, green innovation emerges as an optimal solution to sustainable development which brings together economic growth and environmental protection. This paper explores the nexus between green innovation and ecological footprint for the case of the top 20 green innovator countries. As a comprehensive environmental sustainability indicator, the ecological footprint is employed to observe the environmental impacts of green innovation. We apply cross‐sectional dependence tests, panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests covering the period of 1993–2016. The results show that economic growth is the primary reason for environmental degradation while urbanization does not have a statistically significant effect. Renewable energy consumption has a moderating influence on ecological footprint. More importantly, environment‐related technologies have a statistically significant effect on ecological footprint. Specifically, a 1% increase in environment‐related technologies leads to a 0.129% decrease in ecological footprint. The findings of the study clearly demonstrate that it is possible to achieve economic growth while protecting the environment. The results of the study are expected to be motivating for countries' transition toward green innovation in that sustainable development can be achieved if countries invest in green innovation.
High‐Performance Ferroelectric Electromagnetic Attenuation Materials with Multiple Polar Units Based on Nanodomain Engineering
Authors: Li Yong , Wang Guangcheng , Gong Ao , Zhang Shan , Liu Jia , Sun Ningning , Hao Xihong 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe multirelaxation behavior is promising for high‐performance dielectric materials based on polarization‐controllable high‐efficiency electromagnetic attenuation. However, a single polar unit is the main problem that restricts the development of dielectric materials in the field. Herein, by constructing multiple polar units based on nanodomain engineering, enhanced electromagnetic attenuation properties are achieved in La doping BiFeO3 ferroelectric ceramics. A dual‐band attenuation with a maximum reflection loss of ‐43.4 dB together with a wide effective bandwidth (<‐10 dB) of 3.3 GHz in X‐band, is acquired in Bi0.85La0.15FeO3 which just has a thickness of 1.54 mm. A systematic experimental analysis coupled with potential well modeling suggests that the miniaturization of the ferroelectric domain, from micron to nanoscale, induces an additional interface polarization that is capable of responding to microwave frequency, leading to the formation of dual dielectric relaxation. The way that intrinsic polar unit induces another polar unit through size effect to obtain multiple contributions of electromagnetic loss provides a feasible and universal strategy to design high‐performance electromagnetic attenuation materials based on the ferroelectric family.
Lipid Droplets Embedded in a Model Cell Membrane Create a Phospholipid Diffusion Barrier
Authors: Puza Sevde , Caesar Stefanie , Poojari Chetan , Jung Michael , Seemann Ralf , Hub Jochen S. , Schrul Bianca , Fleury Jean‐Baptiste 
Published: January 2022

AbstractLipid droplets (LDs) are ubiquitous, cytoplasmic fat storage organelles that originate from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. They are composed of a core of neutral lipids surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer. Proteins embedded into this monolayer membrane adopt a monotopic topology and are crucial for regulated lipid storage and consumption. A key question is, which collective properties of protein‐intrinsic and lipid‐mediated features determine spatio‐temporal protein partitioning between phospholipid bilayer and LD monolayer membranes. To address this question, a freestanding phospholipid bilayer with physiological lipidic composition is produced using microfluidics and micrometer‐sized LDs are dispersed around the bilayer that spontaneously insert into the bilayer. Using confocal microscopy, the 3D geometry of the reconstituted LDs is determined with high spatial resolution. The micrometer‐sized bilayer‐embedded LDs present a characteristic lens shape that obeys predictions from equilibrium wetting theory. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching measurements reveals the existence of a phospholipid diffusion barrier at the monolayer–bilayer interface. Coarse‐grained molecular dynamics simulation reveals lipid specific density distributions along the pore rim, which may rationalize the diffusion barrier. The lipid diffusion barrier between the LD covering monolayer and the bilayer may be a key phenomenon influencing protein partitioning between the ER membrane and LDs in living cells.
Morphological, Structural, and Paste Characteristics of Native and Heat‐Moisture Treated Treculia africana Starch
Authors: Akinyosoye Toluwani S. , Nwokocha Louis M. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractStarch is isolated from the seeds of Treculia africana at an initial moisture content of 15% and is modified by heat‐moisture treatment (HMT) at desired moisture contents (Heat treated native; 15%, HMT18%, HMT24%, and HMT30%). The parameters analyzed includes granule size, X‐ray diffraction, amylose leaching, pasting properties, shear viscosity, paste clarity, and freeze‐thaw stability. The native starch is compared to HMT starch in terms of characteristics. The A‐type X‐ray diffraction pattern of native T. africana starch (15.5°, 17.4°, 18.0°, 23.0°) is lost during HMT, resulting in a change to the B‐type. The swelling profile at different temperatures shows that swelling decreased with increasing moisture of HMT. The deep blue coloration of the starch‐iodine complex increases with the increasing moisture of HMT. The rapid visco analyzer paste characteristics show pasting temperature increased while peak, breakdown, and setback viscosities decreased with increasing moisture of HMT. The shear viscosity of the starch pastes decreases with HMT. Paste clarity decreases while syneresis increases with HMT. Overall, increasing the moisture of HMT stabilizes the starch pastes against breakdown and improves their properties and potential for application as thickener in foods requiring severe processing conditions.
Automated black‐box testing of nominal and error scenarios in RESTful APIs
Authors: Corradini Davide , Zampieri Amedeo , Pasqua Michele , Viglianisi Emanuele , Dallago Michael , Ceccato Mariano 
Published: January 2022

AbstractRESTful APIs (or REST APIs for short) represent a mainstream approach to design and develop web APIs using the REpresentational State Transfer architectural style. Black‐box testing, which assumes only the access to the system under test with a specific interface, is the only viable option when white‐box testing is impracticable. This is the case for REST APIs: their source code is usually not (or just partially) available, or a white‐box analysis across many dynamically allocated distributed components (typical of a micro‐services architecture) is computationally challenging. This paper presentsRestTestGen, a novel black‐box approach to automatically generate test cases for REST APIs, based on their interface definition (an OpenAPI specification). Input values and requests are generated for each operation of the API under test with the twofold objective of testing nominal execution scenarios and error scenarios. Two distinct oracles are deployed to detect when test cases reveal implementation defects. While this approach is mainly targeting the research community, it is also of interest to developers because, as a black‐box approach, it is universally applicable across different programming languages, or in the case external (compiled only) libraries are used in a REST API. The validation of our approach has been performed on more than 100 of real‐world REST APIs, highlighting the effectiveness of the approach in revealing actual faults in already deployed services.
Designing principles of advanced sulfur cathodes toward practical lithium‐sulfur batteries
Authors: Li Hongtai , Li Yanguang , Zhang Liang 
Published: January 2022

AbstractAs one of the most promising candidates for next‐generation energy storage systems, lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries have gained wide attention owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density and low cost. Nevertheless, their road to commercial application is still full of thorns due to the inherent sluggish redox kinetics and severe polysulfides shuttle. Incorporating sulfur cathodes with adsorbents/catalysts has been proposed to be an effective strategy to address the foregoing challenges, whereas the complexity of sulfur cathodes resulting from the intricate design parameters greatly influences the corresponding energy density, which has been frequently ignored. In this review, the recent progress in design strategies of advanced sulfur cathodes is summarized and the significance of compatible regulation among sulfur active materials, tailored hosts, and elaborate cathode configuration is clarified, aiming to bridge the gap between fundamental research and practical application of Li‐S batteries. The representative strategies classified by sulfur encapsulation, host architecture, and cathode configuration are first highlighted to illustrate their synergetic contribution to the electrochemical performance improvement. Feasible integration principles are also proposed to guide the practical design of advanced sulfur cathodes. Finally, prospects and future directions are provided to realize high energy density and long‐life Li‐S batteries.
Investigating the bamboo as alternative partial replacement of steel bars in concrete reinforcement members
Authors: Harelimana Vincent , Zhu Jungao , Yuan Junping , Uwitonze Clement 
Published: January 2022

SummaryThe study investigated the feasibility of replacing the steel bars by bamboo in concrete members as alternative materials in the rural and peri‐urban areas. The present study also investigated the effects of bonds between concrete and bamboo on the strength of concrete reinforced with treated and untreated bamboo. The study further examined the effect of split bamboo and whole bamboo when used as concrete reinforcements and compare with the strength of concrete reinforced by steel bars. Laboratory tests such as pull out test, flexural test, bamboo water absorption test, bamboo tensile test, and mechanical crushing test were done for this purpose. Nonlinear finite element model using ABAQUS was used to simulate the problem and validate the laboratory results. The results indicated that the bond at the interface between concrete and bamboo greatly affected the strength of bamboo reinforced concrete. The results also revealed the potential of the treated split bamboos for use as an alternative partial replacement of steel bars in concrete reinforcement and a cost‐effective approach that can be useful in most rural and peri‐urban regions where the relatively low purchasing power of the steel bars, as well as the simple structures, are dominant.
Enhancing the physical properties of acrylic resilient denture liner using graphene oxide nanosheets
Authors: Khan Aftab Ahmed , De Vera Merry Angelyn Tan , Mohamed Badreldin Abdelrhman , Javed Ravish , Al‐Kheraif Abdulaziz Abdullah 
Published: January 2022

AbstractResilient denture liners (RDLs) change their hardness in a short time. Hence, their usefulness is limited to the short term only. Therefore, this laboratory study investigated the influence of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets incorporation on the longevity of a commercially available RDL material. An auto‐polymerizing acrylic‐based RDL was selected for this purpose. The control group (G0) was prepared as such according to the manufacturer's instructions. However, for the G1group, 0.1 wt/wt% of GO nanosheet was incorporated in powder of RDL. Similarly, G2group and G3group were the composites of 0.3 and 0.6 wt/wt% of the GO‐resin matrix. A total of 60 disk‐shaped samples were prepared, having three subgroups with 15 disks each (n = 15). Surface roughness, water contact angle, Shore A hardness, water sorption, and solubility parameters were evaluated using a two‐way analysis of variance (p < .05). GO nanosheets facilitated in reducing the hardness of RDL without affecting the surface roughness and wettability properties. Additionally, statistically reduced water solubility and sorption values were observed in G3group, that is, 0.69 ± 0.25% and 0.93 ± 0.18%, respectively, compared to 1.17 ± 0.13% and 1.41 ± 0.18%, respectively, of the control group at the end of 14‐day water immersion. The incorporation of GO nanosheets seems a viable option for the enhanced physical properties and clinical life of RDLs.
Drought and society: Scientific progress, blind spots, and future prospects
Authors: Savelli Elisa , Rusca Maria , Cloke Hannah , Di Baldassarre Giuliano 
Published: January 2022

AbstractHuman activities have increasingly intensified the severity, frequency, and negative impacts of droughts in several regions across the world. This trend has led to broader scientific conceptualizations of drought risk that account for human actions and their interplays with natural systems. This review focuses on physical and engineering sciences to examine the way and extent to which these disciplines account for social processes in relation to the production and distribution of drought risk. We conclude that this research has significantly progressed in terms of recognizing the role of humans in reshaping drought risk and its socioenvironmental impacts. We note an increasing engagement with and contribution to understanding vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation patterns. Moreover, by advancing (socio)hydrological models, developing numerical indexes, and enhancing data processing, physical and engineering scientists have determined the extent of human influences in the propagation of drought hazard. However, these studies do not fully capture the complexities of anthropogenic transformations. Very often, they portray society as homogeneous, and decision‐making processes as apolitical, thereby concealing the power relations underlying the production of drought and the uneven distribution of its impacts. The resistance in engaging explicitly with politics and social power—despite their major role in producing anthropogenic drought—can be attributed to the strong influence of positivist epistemologies in engineering and physical sciences. We suggest that an active engagement with critical social sciences can further theorizations of drought risk by shedding light on the structural and historical systems of power that engender every socioenvironmental transformation.This article is categorized under:
Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives