bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of SARs-CoV-2 pandemic on infection prevention behaviors and bacterial burden of high touch surfaces in a medical/surgical setting
Authors: Resendiz Marisol , Blanchard Dawn M. , Lustik Michael B. , Horseman Timothy S. , West Gordon F. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThis study aimed to determine the longitudinal efficacy of ultraviolet germicidal disinfection (UV-C) in a non-terminal disinfection context. Moreover, factors influencing enhanced infection prevention behaviors during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic were evaluated. Sixty nursing staff from three medical/surgical wards in a large military hospital were recruited for a survey and microbiological sampling of high-touch surfaces (stethoscope, personal electronic device, common access card, and hospital ID badge) and portable medical equipment (wheelchairs and mobile commodes). Surveys included hand hygiene estimates, frequency/method of cleaning items of interest, perception of UV-C, and factors influencing the use of enhanced disinfection tools. Surveys and microbiological samples were performed prior to and after the installation of a rapid, automated ultraviolet disinfection enclosure for staff use. Both time points preceded the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the United States. A final survey/sampling time point was carried out eight months after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants’ hand hygiene frequency did not increase throughout the study, with > 80% reporting a minimum of 4 hand hygiene events per patient hour. The cleaning frequency of high-touch surfaces (non-clinical) but not portable medical equipment increased after installation of a UV-C disinfection tool and was sustained eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic. While a modest decrease in bacterial burden was observed after UV-C intervention, a more significant reduction was observed across all surfaces during pandemic time sampling, though no detectable decrease in pathogenic contamination was observed at either time point. Motivators of UV-C use included fear of SARS-CoV-2 contamination and transmission, ease of device use, and access to rapid, automated disinfection tools while deterrents reported included technical concerns, lack of time, and preference for other disinfection methods. Automated, rapid-cycle UV-C disinfection can be efficacious for high-touch surfaces not currently governed by infection prevention and control guidelines. The introduction of enhanced disinfection tools like UV-C can enhance the overall cleaning frequency and is correlated with mild decreases in bacterial burden of high-touch surfaces, this is enhanced during periods of heightened infection threat. Evidence from this study offers insights into the factors which prompt healthcare workers to internalize/dismiss enhanced infection prevention procedures.
Caesarean delivery and its association with educational attainment, wealth index, and place of residence in Sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-analysis
Authors: Islam Md.Akhtarul , Sathi Nusrat Jahan , Hossain Md. Tanvir , Jabbar Abdul , Renzaho Andre M. N. , Islam Sheikh Mohammed Shariful 
Published: April 2022

AbstractCaesarean delivery (C-section) has been increasing worldwide; however, many women from developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are deprived of these lifesaving services. This study aimed to explore the impact of certain socioeconomic factors, including respondent’s education, husband’s education, place of residence, and wealth index, on C-section delivery for women in Sub-Saharan Africa. We used pooled data from 36 demographic and health surveys (DHS) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Married women aged 15–49 years who have at least one child in the last five years were considered in this survey. After inclusion and excluding criteria, 234,660 participants were eligible for final analysis. Binary logistic regression was executed to determine the effects of selected socioeconomic factors. The countries were assembled into four sub-regions (Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa, and Central Africa), and a meta-analysis was conducted. We performed random-effects model estimation for meta-analysis to assess the overall effects and consistency between covariates and utilization of C-section delivery as substantial heterogeneity was identified (I2 > 50%). Furthermore, the meta-regression was carried out to explain the additional amount of heterogeneity by country levels. We performed a sensitivity analysis to examine the effects of outliers in this study. Findings suggest that less than 15% of women in many Sub-Saharan African countries had C-section delivery. Maternal education (OR 4.12; CI 3.75, 4.51), wealth index (OR 2.05; CI 1.94, 2.17), paternal education (OR 1.71; CI 1.57, 1.86), and place of residence (OR 1.51; CI 1.44, 1.58) were significantly associated with the utilization of C-section delivery. These results were also consistent in sub-regional meta-analyses. The meta-regression suggests that the total percentage of births attended by skilled health staff (TPBASHS) has a significant inverse association with C-section utilization regarding educational attainment (respondent & husband), place of residence, and wealth index. The data structure was restricted to define the distinction between elective and emergency c-sections. It is essential to provide an appropriate lifesaving mechanism, such as C-section delivery opportunities, through proper facilities for rural, uneducated, impoverished Sub-Saharan African women to minimize both maternal and infant mortality.
Control theory illustrates the energy efficiency in the dynamic reconfiguration of functional connectivity
Authors: Deng Shikuang , Li Jingwei , Thomas Yeo B. T. , Gu Shi 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe brain’s functional connectivity fluctuates over time instead of remaining steady in a stationary mode even during the resting state. This fluctuation establishes the dynamical functional connectivity that transitions in a non-random order between multiple modes. Yet it remains unexplored how the transition facilitates the entire brain network as a dynamical system and what utility this mechanism for dynamic reconfiguration can bring over the widely used graph theoretical measurements. To address these questions, we propose to conduct an energetic analysis of functional brain networks using resting-state fMRI and behavioral measurements from the Human Connectome Project. Through comparing the state transition energy under distinct adjacent matrices, we justify that dynamic functional connectivity leads to 60% less energy cost to support the resting state dynamics than static connectivity when driving the transition through default mode network. Moreover, we demonstrate that combining graph theoretical measurements and our energy-based control measurements as the feature vector can provide complementary prediction power for the behavioral scores (Combination vs. Control: t = 9.41, p = 1.64e−13; Combination vs. Graph: t = 4.92, p = 3.81e−6). Our approach integrates statistical inference and dynamical system inspection towards understanding brain networks.
Growing prevalence of heat over cold extremes with overall milder extremes and multiple successive events
Authors: Zhang Yuan , Li Qiangzi , Ge Yong , Du Xin , Wang Hongyan 
Published: April 2022

AbstractTemperature extremes with altered characteristics are one of the most threatening impacts of global warming. How their characteristics have changed is uncertain, and varies by region. Here we analyse ERA5 reanalysis data for the period 1980 to 2018 to illuminate the spatio-temporal characteristics of single and multiple successive temperature extreme events at the global scale. We show that in the global average, the magnitude of heat extremes significantly increased while that of cold extremes decreased at a faster rate. As a result, the prevailing climate shifted from a prevalence of cold extremes to one of heat extremes, and the overall magnitude of extremes decreased. Globally, the magnitude of multiple successive temperature extreme events constituted about a quarter of all identified events. These trends were not globally uniform. The most noteworthy trends were observed in the Tropical and Polar zones; the Middle East and North Africa, including the Mediterranean region, were identified as hotspots of climate shifts.
Microbial iron cycling during palsa hillslope collapse promotes greenhouse gas emissions before complete permafrost thaw
Authors: Patzner Monique S. , Logan Merritt , McKenna Amy M. , Young Robert B. , Zhou Zhe , Joss Hanna , Mueller Carsten W. , Hoeschen Carmen , Scholten Thomas , Straub Daniel , Kleindienst Sara , Borch Thomas , Kappler Andreas , Bryce Casey 
Published: April 2022

AbstractReductive dissolution during permafrost thaw releases iron-bound organic carbon to porewaters, rendering previously stable carbon vulnerable to microbial decomposition and subsequent release to the atmosphere. How mineral iron stability and the microbial processes influencing mineral dissolution vary during transitional permafrost thaw are poorly understood, yet have important implications for carbon cycling and emissions. Here we determine the reactive mineral iron and associated organic carbon content of core extracts and porewaters along thaw gradients in a permafrost peatland in Abisko, Sweden. We find that iron mineral dissolution by fermentative and dissimilatory iron(III) reduction releases aqueous Fe2+and aliphatic organic compounds along collapsing palsa hillslopes. Microbial community analysis and carbon emission measurements indicate that this release is accompanied by an increase in hydrogenotrophic methanogen abundance and methane emissions at the collapsing front. Our findings suggest that dissolution of reactive iron minerals contributes to carbon dioxide and methane production and emission, even before complete permafrost thaw.
Construction of the rat brain spatial cell firing model on a quadruped robot
Authors: Yu Naigong , Liao Yishen , Yu Hejie , Sie Ouattara 
Published: April 2022

AbstractPhysiological studies have shown that rats in a dark environment rely on the limbs and vestibule for their self‐motion information, which can maintain the specific firing patterns of grid cells and hippocampal CA3 place cells. In the development stage of rats, grid cells are considered to come from place cells, and place cells can be encoded by hippocampal theta cells. Based on these, the quadruped robot is used as a platform in this paper. Firstly, the sensing information of the robot's limbs and inertial measurement unit is obtained to solve its position in the environment. Then the position information is encoded by theta cells and mapped to place cells through a neural network. After obtaining the place cells with single‐peak firing fields, Hebb learning is used to adjust the connection weight of the neural network between place cells and grid cells. In order to verify the model, 3‐D simulation experiments are designed in this paper. The experiment results show that with the robot exploring in space, the spatial cells firing effects obtained by the model are consistent with the physiological research facts, which lay the foundation for the bionic environmental cognition model.
Structure learning‐based unsupervised root cause diagnosis for radio access networks
Authors: Li Qi , Zhang Yong , Hua Xiaolei , Zhu Lin , Lei Zhe 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe next generation radio access networks (RAN) put forward higher requirements for the reliability of base stations. Telecom operators are facing a series of challenges such as network complexity and diversified user needs, which puts forward higher requirements for the performance of RAN. In order to provide users with high‐quality experience, causes of performance problems must be quickly identified. Previous work on unsupervised RAN performance diagnosis mainly used correlation information of the data. This work introduces causality into performance diagnosis of RAN. A score‐based directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure learning network is used to extract causal relations between key performance indicators (KPIs). In this study, an unsupervised root cause analysis (RCA) scheme, DAG‐RCA, is proposed to achieve rapid diagnosis of abnormal performance on the edge nodes of the RAN. DAG‐RCA decomposes the work into four phases: abnormal ranking, DAG generation, propagation graph construction and random walk diagnosis. Using the KPI data collected from China Mobile's RAN, DAG‐RCA achieves top‐1 precision on the RCA task.
Key informants’ perspectives about sexual victimisation of learners with intellectual disability in South Africa
Authors: Phasha Tlakale Nareadi 
Published: April 2022

AbstractSexual victimisation of children with intellectual disability is a serious problem that requires urgent attention if South Africa is to attain Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5 by 2030. This paper provides the perspectives of key informants on the sexual victimisation of children with intellectual disabilities in South Africa. Data were obtained from 32 key informants by means of focus group discussions and individual interviews conducted by the researcher at six schools catering specifically for learners with intellectual disability in Gauteng Province. Findings indicate that sexual victimisation of children with intellectual disabilities is pervasive. It occurs in the home, at school and within community spaces. Most incidents occur at home where they tend to be more frequent and of a longer duration than when occurring in other spaces. Gang-rape, sodomy, and abduction for the purposes of sexual exploitation are commonly reported at schools, whereas, in the wider community spaces, there are reports of boys with intellectual disabilities forming relationships with female adults or finding themselves at the centre of sex rings. Downplaying the sexual victimisation of children with intellectual disabilities is to deny their rights to safety and proper development. A robust, coherent and consistent response to the problem is therefore required, especially for the home.
Comparative Raman spectroscopy of magnetic topological material EuCd2X2 (X = P, As)
Authors: Du Yuhan , Chen Ju , Wu Wenbin , Shi Zeping , Meng Xianghao , Zhang Cheng , Gong Shijing , Chu Junhao , Yuan Xiang 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
EuCd2X2 (X = P, As) is a new class of magnetic topological materials discovered recently. The electronic structure and the band topology are intimately coupled with its magnetism, giving rise to interesting properties such as spin fluctuation and colossal magnetoresistance. Phonon excitation can contribute to the quasi-particle response of the topological matters through spin-lattice and electron–phonon coupling. However, the phonon properties of this material family remain unexplored. Here we report a comparative study of Raman-active vibration modes in EuCd2X2 (X = P, As) by means of angle-resolved, temperature-resolved, and magnetic-field-resolved Raman spectroscopy together with the first-principle calculations and Raman tensor analysis. The phonon properties can be tuned by chemical potential and temperature within the material family. All the phonon modes are softened with increased chemical pressure by replacing P with As. Angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy reveals the configuration-sensitive Raman activity and the isotropic intensity response. In addition, the magneto-Raman spectrum indicates the stability of Raman-active vibration modes against the magnetic field at room temperature. Our work sheds light on the phonon dynamics of magnetic topological matters, which are potentially coupled with the topological charge and spin excitation.
What if the positron never existed ? What if the antielectron is a negative mass electron ?
Authors: Dubois Daniel M , Nibart Gilles L 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Although the question of negative energy solutions of the Dirac equation did not receive any relevant answer, it has been incorrectly said that the Dirac Sea Hole theory predicted the existence of the positron. Now several authors have considered the possible existence of negative mass particles. us We show that the concept and the definition of the antielectron should be re-examined, and should be understand in a way which is fully compatible with Dirac negative energy states of electrons, i.e. with negative masses. The symmetry between positive and negative energy states in the Dirac equation leads to add the mass inversion M as a new symmetry to the CPT group, giving the MCPT group. We discuss the completeness of the Wigner theorem and the definitions of time reversal. Furthermore negative masses have been recently applied to Cosmology.
Relativistic superluminal quantum-vortex electron model internally crosses lightspeed
Authors: Gauthier Richard 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
This article continues the development of the relativistic quantum-vortex electron and positron models composed of a helically-circulating electrically-charged superluminal energy quantum (SEQ). Parametric equations similar to that of a coiled slinky toy are proposed and analyzed for the relativistic electron and positron models, which can each have either spin-up or spin-down. The point-like electric charge of the SEQ moves along a positively or negatively-turning helical trajectory, depending on the sign of the electric charge, to form the electron/positron model. At low electron-model speeds, the SEQ moves along the surface of a mathematical horn torus that moves forward at the electron/positron model’s speed. At highly relativistic electron-positron speeds this horn-torus surface, along which the SEQ moves, transforms into a spherical surface whose radius decreases with increasing electron/positron speed. There is a range of speeds of the superluminal energy quantum for the relativistic electron/positron model. The maximum and minimum speeds range from superluminal to subluminal, passing easily through the speed of light. These speed ranges depend on the electron/positron speed and the combination of electric charge and spin direction of the electron/positron model.
Observers in a SMPP+GR model of reality: Are concepts fundamental or just artefacts of the modelling?
Authors: James Arthur N 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
A description is given of how the motion of particles within Nature’s Space-Time (NST) can be understood by observers using General Relativity (GR) and the Standard Model of Particle Physics (SMPP). In this SMPP+GR scheme there will be a transformation matrix from NST to the flat space-time which an observer chooses to use, this transformation matrix will contain all the incomprehensibly intricate detail about NST. The observer can only comprehend a few useful simplifying concepts which will approximately describe the properties of the matrix. The approximations involved and those allied to simplifying the randomness due to multiple particles being involved in any observation make all these simplifying concepts artefacts of the modelling. Many of these artefacts are constructed in a way similar to the thermodynamic concepts temperature and pressure based on choosing most probable values from the random distributions to smooth out fluctuations but others are introduced as terms in a perturbation expansion around some approximate mathematical representation, examples here are the Coriolis, centrifugal and gravity forces. None of these artefacts are fundamental, at the fundamental level particles of the SMPP move freely between events in NST whatever charges they carry so no force fields exist in NST. Observers should avoid the practice common within mathematical physics of making conjectures to represent these artefacts which are then used to extend the discussion to invent new “fundamental” concepts. The description given supports the idea that the SMPP+GR model is not only necessary to describe observed natural phenomena but is also sufficient. Concepts outside the model such as Dark Energy and Inflation are artefacts which are not required.
Does quantum entanglement turn Rowlands’ ‘principle of duality’ into a ‘law’?
Authors: Karam Sabah E 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Physical laws are permanently observed. They are universal but not proven. Newton’s universal law of gravitation and three laws of motion, derived from the observations and theories of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and others, were used to take astronauts to the moon and return them safely to earth. Theories about the origin of gravity and whether gravitational forces are fundamental, quantum, entropic, induced, emergent, curved spacetime or fields like electromagnetism are still being probed. General relativity is a geometric theory, not a law, about gravity. In a book called Zero to Infinity: The Foundations of Physics Peter Rowlands asserts that physics is “founded entirely on the principle of duality.” Wave-particle duality is one of the most fundamental representations of quantum objects. Photons, electrons, neutrinos and even molecules have been shown to be in superposition and entangled. This paper will examine the role that quantum entanglement plays in the fermion/boson relationship of Rowlands’ nilpotent Dirac equation. Many other entangled physical dualities, identified as being foundational to physics, strongly suggest that his ‘principle of duality’ should be promoted into a physical law.
Adaptation of some holistic conceptions of quantum mechanics to biophysical processes
Authors: Kazansky Alexander B 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
The paper attempts to critically consider the transfer of some inspiring concepts taken from holistic interpretations of quantum mechanics to the field of biophysics. This mainly concerns the concepts of “holonomy”, “implicate order” and “explicate order”, as well as “becoming” by physicist David Bohm. The deep historicity of all biological events, their processual, or more specific, evolutionary, and constructive character compels to reformulate concepts in the framework of biophysics.
A universal rewrite system adapted for formal language theory, classical and quantum computing
Authors: Rowlands Sydney , Rowlands Peter 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
The meta-pattern of the universe, first formulated by Rowlands and Diaz [2002], is a universal rewrite system (URS). This universal pattern finds a formulation in formal language theory centred around the fundamental semantic unit of the zero word or the zero string: 0 = XoX#
0. This is realized successively in the computational procedures of Turing machines, Post machines and Finite machines with two pushdown stores.