bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An analytical study of participating policies with minimum rate guarantee and surrender option
Authors: Chiarolla Maria B. , De Angelis Tiziano , Stabile Gabriele 
Published: January 2022

AbstractWe perform a detailed theoretical study of the value of a class of participating policies with four key features: (i) the policyholder is guaranteed a minimum interest rate on the policy reserve; (ii) the contract can be terminated by the holder at any time until maturity (surrender option); (iii) at the maturity (or upon surrender), a bonus is credited to the holder if the portfolio backing the policy outperforms the current policy reserve; (iv) due to solvency requirements, the contract ends if the value of the underlying portfolio of assets falls below the policy reserve.Our analysis is probabilistic and relies on optimal stopping and free boundary theory. We find a structure of the optimal surrender strategy which was undetected by previous (mostly numerical) studies on the topic. Optimal surrender of the contract is triggered by two ‘stop-loss’ boundaries and by a ‘too-good-to-persist’ boundary (in the language of Ekström and Vaicenavicius in Stoch. Process. Appl. 130: 806–823, 2020). Financial implications of this strategy are discussed in detail and supported by extensive numerical experiments.
Flavopiridol Mitigates the Progression of Monocrotaline-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension in Rats by Targeting Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 9
Authors: Jia Qi , Hu Zhiqiang , Song Nannan , Mao Weike 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the role of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) and the therapeutic potential of a CDK9 inhibitor (flavopiridol) in monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods
For the in vivo experiments, rats with PH were established by a single intraperitoneal injection of MCT (60 mg/kg). After 2 weeks of MCT injection, rats were then treated with flavopiridol (5 mg/kg, i.p., twice a week) or vehicle for 2 weeks. For the in vitro experiments, human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (HPASMCs) were treated with flavopiridol (0.025-1 μM) or vehicle under hypoxic conditions. Hemodynamic recording, right ventricle histology, lung histology, and pulmonary arterial tissue isolation were performed. The expression levels of CDK9, RNA polymerase II, c-Myc, Mcl-1, and survivin were determined by qRT-PCR and western blotting, and the proliferation and apoptosis of rat pulmonary arterial tissues and/or HPASMCs were also assayed.

Results
Compared to the control group, CDK9 was upregulated in pulmonary arterial tissues from MCT-induced PH rats and hypoxic cultured HPASMCs. Upregulation of CDK9 was associated with enhanced phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (RNA pol II) at serine-2 (Ser-2), promoting the expression of prosurvival and antiapoptotic proteins (c-Myc, Mcl-1, and survivin). Furthermore, treatment with flavopiridol (5 mg/kg) significantly alleviated pulmonary artery remodeling and partially reversed the progression of MCT-induced PH. Consistently, flavopiridol (0.5 μM) treatment decreased the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of cultured HPASMCs under hypoxic conditions. As a result of CDK9 inhibition and subsequent inhibition of RNA pol II CTD phosphorylation at Ser-2, flavopiridol decreased c-Myc, Mcl-1, and survivin expression in isolated pulmonary small arteries, leading to cell growth inhibition and apoptosis.

Conclusion
Flavopiridol mitigates the progression of MCT-induced PH in rats by targeting CDK9.
Parent Management Training Combined with Group-CBT Compared to Parent Management Training Only for Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms: 2-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Helander Maria , Enebrink Pia , Hellner Clara , Ahlen Johan 
Published: January 2022

AbstractParent management training (PMT) is recommended treatment for children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and child-directed cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is also recommended for school-aged children. The current study examined 2-year follow-up effects of parent management training (PMT) combined with the CBT based group intervention Coping Power Program (CPP) compared to PMT only. Results showed long-term effectiveness of both PMT and PMT combined with CPP in reduced disruptive behavior problems and harsh parenting strategies, and increased emotion regulation- and social communication skills. The earlier reported increase in emotion regulation- and social communication skills in the PMT with CPP condition during treatment remained stable while the PMT condition showed continued improvement during the follow-up period. To conclude, PMT with CPP did generally not provide significant benefits at the 2-year follow-up compared to PMT, apart from an improvement earlier in time regarding emotion regulation- and social communication skills.Trial registration number ISRCTN10834473, date of registration: 23/12/2015.
Role of glycosyltransferases in carcinogenesis; growth factor signaling and EMT/MET programs
Authors: Takahashi Motoko , Hasegawa Yoshihiro , Maeda Kento , Kitano Masato , Taniguchi Naoyuki 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe glycosylation of cell surface receptors has been shown to regulate each step of signal transduction, including receptor trafficking to the cell surface, ligand binding, dimerization, phosphorylation, and endocytosis. In this review we focus on the role of glycosyltransferases that are involved in the modification of N-glycans, such as the effect of branching and elongation in signaling by various cell surface receptors. In addition, the role of those enzymes in the EMT/MET programs, as related to differentiation and cancer development, progress and therapy resistance is discussed.
Exploring the Effect of Augmented Reality on Cognitive Load, Attitude, Spatial Ability, and Stereochemical Perception
Authors: Elford Daniel , Lancaster Simon J. , Jones Garth A. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractAugmented reality (AR) has the capacity to afford a virtual experience that obviates the reliance on using two-dimensional representations of 3D molecules for teaching stereochemistry to undergraduate students. Using a combination of quantitative instruments and qualitative surveys/interviews, this study explored the relationships between students’ attitudes, perceived cognitive load, spatial ability, and academic performance when engaging in an asynchronous online stereochemistry activity. Our activity was designed using elements of game-based learning, and integrated AR technologies. The control group was provided with a copy of our activity that used two-dimensional drawings, whereas the AR group completed an activity using the AR technologies. For this cohort of students, results indicated significant improvement in academic performance in both the control and AR groups. The introduction of AR technologies did not result in the AR group outperforming the control group. Participants from both groups displayed significant improvements in spatial ability throughout the research period. Further, a moderate correlation (rs = 0.416) between students’ spatial ability and academic performance was found. No significant intergroup differences in the perceived cognitive loads of students were observed. A significant difference was observed on one item of the Intellectual Accessibility subscale of the ASCI (V2), Complicated–Simple. We found no correlation for student attitude or cognitive load with academic performance. The findings of this study provide insights for future AR-related studies to explore the role of spatial ability, student attitude, and cognitive load in learning performance.
Generalized vec trick for fast learning of pairwise kernel models
Authors: Viljanen Markus , Airola Antti , Pahikkala Tapio 
Published: January 2022

AbstractPairwise learning corresponds to the supervised learning setting where the goal is to make predictions for pairs of objects. Prominent applications include predicting drug-target or protein-protein interactions, or customer-product preferences. In this work, we present a comprehensive review of pairwise kernels, that have been proposed for incorporating prior knowledge about the relationship between the objects. Specifically, we consider the standard, symmetric and anti-symmetric Kronecker product kernels, metric-learning, Cartesian, ranking, as well as linear, polynomial and Gaussian kernels. Recently, a$$O(nm+nq)$$O(nm+nq)time generalized vec trick algorithm, where$$n$$n,$$m$$m, and$$q$$qdenote the number of pairs, drugs and targets, was introduced for training kernel methods with the Kronecker product kernel. This was a significant improvement over previous$$O(n^2)$$O(n2)training methods, since in most real-world applications$$m,q<< n$$m,q<<n. In this work we show how all the reviewed kernels can be expressed as sums of Kronecker products, allowing the use of generalized vec trick for speeding up their computation. In the experiments, we demonstrate how the introduced approach allows scaling pairwise kernels to much larger data sets than previously feasible, and provide an extensive comparison of the kernels on a number of biological interaction prediction tasks.
Mitigation of False Brinelling in a Roller Bearing: A Case Study of Four Types of Greases
Authors: Lin Chih-Ling , Fallahnezhad Khosro , Brinji Osama , Meehan Paul A. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractFour commercial greases with various thickeners and base oils were experimentally examined to compare their false brinelling wear resistance in a test rig simulating roller bearings during rail/sea transportation for the first time. Greases containing zinc dialkyl dithiophosphates (ZDDP) showed superior false brinelling reduction, evidenced by no visible wear mark in the raceways. The mechanism for false brinelling mitigation was shown to be from a ZDDP-induced tribofilm which decreases the friction and wear coefficient in the contact area. Surface chemical analysis showed that for grease lubricated fretting contacts, ZDDP-derived tribofilms can be generated in the presence of micro-sliding motions and energy dissipation at the contact interface at low frequency (i.e., 4–8 Hz), due to the mechanochemical reactions. For greases without ZDDP, false brinelling wear was reduced by 97% when using grease with a more abundant and less viscous oil, which bleeds readily from an open structured thickener. The results highlight the ability of ZDDP as an additive in grease to better protect roller bearings against false brinelling during rail/sea transportation.
Explainable depression detection with multi-aspect features using a hybrid deep learning model on social media
Authors: Zogan Hamad , Razzak Imran , Wang Xianzhi , Jameel Shoaib , Xu Guandong 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe ability to explain why the model produced results in such a way is an important problem, especially in the medical domain. Model explainability is important for building trust by providing insight into the model prediction. However, most existing machine learning methods provide no explainability, which is worrying. For instance, in the task of automatic depression prediction, most machine learning models lead to predictions that are obscure to humans. In this work, we propose explainable Multi-Aspect Depression Detection with Hierarchical Attention Network MDHAN, for automatic detection of depressed users on social media and explain the model prediction. We have considered user posts augmented with additional features from Twitter. Specifically, we encode user posts using two levels of attention mechanisms applied at the tweet-level and word-level, calculate each tweet and words’ importance, and capture semantic sequence features from the user timelines (posts). Our hierarchical attention model is developed in such a way that it can capture patterns that leads to explainable results. Our experiments show that MDHAN outperforms several popular and robust baseline methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining deep learning with multi-aspect features. We also show that our model helps improve predictive performance when detecting depression in users who are posting messages publicly on social media. MDHAN achieves excellent performance and ensures adequate evidence to explain the prediction.
How Has Access to Care for Medi-Cal Enrollees Fared Relative to Employer-Sponsored Insurance 4 Years After the Affordable Care Act Expansion?
Authors: Babey Susan H. , Ponce Ninez A. , Becker Tara , Rasmussen Petra W. , Scheitler A. J. 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Background
The number of Californians covered by Medi-Cal increased more than 50% between 2013 and 2018, largely due to expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This rapid expansion of Medicaid rolls prompted concerns that Medi-Cal enrollees would face greater difficulty accessing health care.

Objective
Examine whether gaps in access to care between Medi-Cal and employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) present in 2013 (prior to ACA implementation) had changed by 2018 (several years post implementation).

Design
Secondary analysis of data from the 2013 and 2018 California Health Interview Survey. The sample included adults of ages 18–64 insured all year and covered by ESI or Medi-Cal at time of interview. Logistic regressions were used to examine variation across years in the association between access to care and insurance type.

Main Measures
Five access to care outcomes were assessed: no usual source of care, not accepted as new patient in past year, insurance not accepted in past year, delayed medical care in past year, and difficulty getting timely appointment. The main predictors of interest were type of insurance (Medi-Cal or ESI) and survey year (2013 or 2018).

Key Results
The association between insurance type and access to care changed significantly over time for three outcomes: not accepted as new patient in past year (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.32–0.97), delayed medical care in past year (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.06–2.25), and difficulty getting timely appointment (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.23–0.74). Predicted probabilities indicate gaps between Medi-Cal and ESI narrowed for not accepted as new patient in past year and difficulty getting timely appointment, but widened for delayed medical care.

Conclusions
Despite the rapid expansion in the number of Californians covered by Medi-Cal, most gaps in access to care between Medi-Cal and ESI enrollees improved or did not significantly change between 2013 and 2018.
HGF Secreted by Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Promotes Primordial Follicle Activation by Increasing the Activity of the PI3K-AKT Signaling Pathway
Authors: Mi Xin , Jiao Wenlin , Yang Yajuan , Qin Yingying , Chen Zi-Jiang , Zhao Shidou 
Published: January 2022

AbstractPrimordial follicle activation is fundamental for folliculogenesis and for the maintenance of fertility. An effective therapeutic strategy for patients with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is to promote the activation of residual primordial follicles. The secretome of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (hUC-MSC-sec) contains several components that might promote the activation of primordial follicles. In the present study, we revealed that treatment with the hUC-MSC-sec significantly increased the proportion of activated primordial follicles in mouse ovaries both in vitro and in vivo. The activating effects of hUC-MSC-sec on primordial follicles were attributed to the activation of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway by hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). While the effect of the hUC-MSC-sec was attenuated by the neutralizing antibodies against HGF, application of exogenous HGF alone also promoted the activation of primordial follicles. Furthermore, we demonstrated that HGF promoted the expression of KITL in granulosa cells by binding with the HGF receptor c-Met, thereby increasing the activity of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway to activate primordial follicles. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that hUC-MSC-sec promotes primordial follicle activation through the functional component HGF to increase the PI3K-AKT signaling activity, highlighting the application of the hUC-MSC-sec or HGF for the treatment of POI patients.
Graphical abstract
On the Robosphere: A Philosophical Explication of the Socio-technical Status of Social Robots
Authors: Lamola Malesela John 
Published: January 2022

AbstractAs the Fourth Industrial Revolution advances, socially-situated robots are increasingly not exclusively human-like (i.e. humanoids). They also include socially interactive animaloids. How does this myriad of socially intelligent artefacts emerge as members of a cyber-physical social system in which they are accorded the standing of social robots? And how are we to account for the nature of the universe-of-meaning that emerges from this human-artificial social reality? Utilizing conceptual tools derived from the philosophical fields of phenomenology and “new materialism”, I proffer a theoretic account of robotic sociality. I postulate how robots become members of a cyber-physical social network that is cohabited with sapient humans. Two novel functional constructs are introduced in the process: “the humanoidic” and “the robosphere”. The former illuminates that spontaneous bestowal of sociality on robots is tantamount to a recognition of their social agency. I then demonstrate how this psychical process of the recognition of these humanoidic artefacts instantiates an emergence of a shared human–robot cyber-physical world of relational meaning-making, a robosphere. As a corroboration of the self-manifestation of the robosphere as a concrete social system, it is shown that Industry 4.0 adumbrates Society 4.0, a cybernetic social formation, and the envisioned advance of this into the more technocratic super-smart Society 5.0.
Characterization of groundwater in the 'Tamnean' Plutonic Suite aquifers using hydrogeochemical and multivariate statistical evidence: a study in the Garu-Tempane District, Upper East Region of Ghana
Authors: Okofo Louis Boansi , Bedu-Addo Kenneth , Martienssen Marion 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe 'Tamnean' Plutonic Suite aquifer is the main public water supply for the Garu-Tempane District. Thus, hydrogeochemical characterization is essential to provide valuable insights into pollution sources and the main controls on groundwater chemistry. In this regard, multivariate statistical methods, conventional hydrochemical graphical methods, and various ionic ratios complemented with PHREEQC geochemical modelling were carried out using 38 groundwater samples collected from the Tamnean Plutonic Suite aquifers, Ghana. The ionic ratio plots, the chloro-alkaline indices, and the graphical diagrams indicate that the major sources of groundwater chemistry are silicate mineral dissolution and cation exchange coupled with the leaching of domestic solid waste and nitrogen-based fertilizers. The Q-mode hierarchical cluster analysis reveals three spatial groundwater zones. Groundwater from recharge areas consists of Ca–Na–HCO3 water types in cluster 1. The intermediate zone is characterized by Ca–Mg–Na–HCO3 water types of moderate ionic compositions in cluster 2, and this evolves into a discharge zone in cluster 3 mainly of Ca–Mg–Na–HCO3–NO3 water types. The principal component analysis (PCA) reveals three factors, which account for 81% of the total variance, and this suggests most of the groundwater chemistry had longer interaction with the lithological materials. The PHREEQC geochemical modelling consisting of mineral saturation index indicates that groundwater is mostly supersaturated with respect to dolomite and undersaturated with respect to calcite, anhydrite, fluorite, gypsum, and halite. Based on the water quality index, the groundwater in the district is generally suitable for drinking water purposes. All the samples are within the World Health Organization acceptable limits for drinking water except for lower pH, elevated nitrate and bromide concentrations in some of the wells. About 10.5% of the groundwater samples are contaminated with nitrate, which may pose a health danger to the inhabitants in the communities. The finding of this study will not only contribute to solving the research paucity regarding the Tamnean Plutonic Suite aquifers in the Garu-Tempane District but will serve as a valuable document for water managers and decision-makers in Ghana.
Theoretical analysis and parametric investigation of an innovative helical air gap membrane desalination system
Authors: Shahu Vandita T. , Thombre Shashikant B. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractA helical air gap membrane desalination (HAGMD) system is designed in the present study. The condenser is designed as a cylindrical shape with helical fins machined on the outer surface of a hollow copper condenser. A detailed theoretical model, studying heat and mass transfer in the HAGMD module, was developed. The theoretical model for a cylindrical system with fins is developed for the first time and is unique in the MD literature. Experimentation was carried out to examine the behavior of the HAGMD module under diverse design and operating conditions. The effect of cold flow rate, feed flow rate, feed temperature, the height of fins, the number of fins, and the length of the module is determined on the performance of the HAGMD system. Permeate flux and gained output ratio (GOR) were considered as the performance indicators of the system. Results showed that permeate flux increases with cold flow rate, feed temperature, feed flow rate, as well as number of fins, while the increase in height of fins negatively affects the flux. Theoretical model and experimental results are found to be in excellent agreement with only 6.7% of error which shows that the present theoretical model is excellent to predict the performance of any HAGMD system. For similar design parameters, the average flux increased by 135% for the finned HAGMD module, with 35 fins over the one with that only for 1 fin. Maximum experimental distillate flux is found to be 20 kg/m2 hr, and GOR is found to be 0.75.
Evaluation of long-term nitrate and electrical conductivity in groundwater system of Peninsula, India
Authors: Mahanta Aiswarya Rani , Rawat Kishan Singh , Singh Sudhir Kumar , Sanjeevi S. , Mishra Anoop Kumar 
Published: January 2022

AbstractWe have investigated the impact of rainfall and temperature on nitrate and electrical conductivity (EC) in groundwater of the seven taluks of Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, India using statistical framework. Total 34 years long-term data of period 1985–2018 of nitrate and EC was used for the analysis in order to identify impact of climate parameters over agrichemicals loading in groundwater. It was found that pattern of climatic parameters are also act as co-factors for loading of agrichemicals concentration in groundwater. Result show an increase of average temperature and rainfall and it does not show a direct effect on nitrate contamination in groundwater. Further, two taluk, namely Chengalpattu and Tirukalukundram have an increasing trend of nitrate loading in groundwater during non-monsoon and monsoon season due to change in land use and anthropogenic acts. The EC show rising trend for Maduranthakam and Sriperumbudur during non-monsoon season and Chengalpattu, Maduranthakam, Sriperumbudur and Tirukalukundram during monsoon season.