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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0258.v1

The Approximate Analytical Solution for the Top-Of-Atmosphere Spectral Reflectance of Atmosphere – Underlying Snow System Over Antarctica

Alexander Kokhanovsky

Subject: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences Keywords: radiative transfer; snow; atmosphere

Online: 15 August 2022 (11:26:56 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0257.v1

Fetal Macrosomia and Associated Factors to Perinatal Adverse Outcomes, in Yaounde, Cameroon : A Case Control Study

Anne Esther Njom Nlend, Josepha Gwodog, Arsene Brunelle Sandie

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pediatrics Keywords: fetal macrosomia; gestational diabetes; maternal obesity; birth weight; fetal growth

Online: 15 August 2022 (11:25:18 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0256.v1

Lead Exposure in Infancy and Subsequent Childhood Growth

Shukrullah Ahmadi, Jérémie Botton, Roméo Zoumenou, Pierre Ayotte, Nadine Fievet, Achille Massougbodji, Maroufou Jules Alao, Michel Cot, Philippe Glorennec, Florence Bodeau-Livinec

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: Heavy metals; lead exposure; growth outcomes; cohort study

Online: 15 August 2022 (11:22:35 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202108.0146.v19

A Complete Proof Of The Riemann Hypothesis Based On A New Expression Of $\xi(s)$

Weicun Zhang

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Algebra & Number Theory Keywords: Riemann Hypothesis (RH); Proof; Completed zeta function

Online: 15 August 2022 (11:18:55 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0255.v1

A Novel GPPAS Model: Guiding the Implementation of Antimicrobial Stewardship in Primary Care Utilising Collaboration between General Practitioners and Pharmacists

Sajal K. Saha, Karin Thursky, David C. M. Kong, Danielle Mazza

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, General Medical Research Keywords: antimicrobial stewardship; implementation model; GP-pharmacist collaboration; primary care

Online: 15 August 2022 (10:29:33 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0254.v1

Dynamic Reliability Analysis of Level Control System of Steam Generator based on BDMP

Tian-Mi Zhou, Di-Liang Li, Feng Qin, Lin-Lu Xia, Xi-Yu Chen, Shi-Liang Zhou

Subject: Engineering, Control & Systems Engineering Keywords: steam generator water level control system; dynamic reliability; Boolean Logic Driven Markov Process; unavailability

Online: 15 August 2022 (08:57:51 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0253.v1

Theoretical Search for Gravitational Bound States of Tachyons

Charles Schwartz

Subject: Physical Sciences, General & Theoretical Physics Keywords: General Relativity; Schwarzschild metric; circular flows; tachyons; neutrinos; Dark Matter; black holes

Online: 15 August 2022 (08:26:33 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0252.v1

Vaginal Nanoformulations for the Management of Preterm Birth

Asad Mir, Ketan Patel, Richa V. Vartak, Steven M. Yellon, Sandra E. Reznik

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: vaginal administration; preterm birth; progesterone; cervical ripening; uterine first-pass effect; vaginal nanoformulation

Online: 15 August 2022 (08:13:44 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0251.v1

Sagnac Eﬀect with Non-Zero Mass Particles and Light: the Transition from Classical to Relativistic

Mathieu Rouaud

Subject: Physical Sciences, General & Theoretical Physics Keywords: Rotating Disk; Special Relativity; Sagnac, synchronization; metric; Corio-lis; transition; classical

Online: 15 August 2022 (07:48:44 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0250.v1

An Impact Study on the Use of Telework during Covid-19 Pandemics

Simona Vasilache, Ahmed Hasan Shakir

Subject: Social Sciences, Business And Administrative Sciences Keywords: Management; telework; communication; human resource management; business; digitalization; Covid-19 pandemic

Online: 15 August 2022 (05:57:07 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0415.v4

Logarithmic-Time Addition for BIT-Predicate With Applications for a Simple and Linear Fast Adder And Data Structures

Juan Ramírez

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Logic Keywords: Structuralism; Set Theory; Type Theory; Arithmetic Model; Data Type; Tree, Group

Online: 15 August 2022 (04:55:03 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0249.v1

Structuring the Complexity of Integrated Landscape Approaches into Selectable, Scalable, and Measurable Attributes

Patrick Waeber, Abigail Fellay, Claude Garcia, Rachel Carmenta, Natalia Estrada Carmona, Thomas Falk, Jaboury Ghazoul, James Reed, Louise Willemen, Wei Zhang, Fritz Kleinschroth

Subject: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences Keywords: Land system science; governance; natural resource management; resource conflict; conservation; development; stakeholder en-gagement; ecosystem management; wicked problems

Online: 15 August 2022 (04:35:26 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0248.v1

Additional Proposed Tests of the Soliton/Wave-Action Potential Model, and How the Thermodynamic/Theory-Based Philosophical Approach Abandons the Scientific Method

Scott Meissner

Subject: Biology, Physiology Keywords: action potential; soliton/wave; lipid phase transition; scientific method; membrane

Online: 15 August 2022 (04:27:26 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0247.v1

Cumulative Pain: An Evidence-Based, Easily Interpretable and Interspecific Metric of Welfare Loss

Wladimir J. Alonso, Cynthia Schuck-Paim

Subject: Biology, Animal Sciences & Zoology Keywords: animal welfare; pain; farm animals; Pain-Track; Cumulative Pain; pain assessment; welfare foot-print; time; interspecific comparisons

Online: 15 August 2022 (03:57:59 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0246.v1

Resuming Swallowing and Oral Feeding in Tracheostomized COVID-19 Patients: Experience of a Swiss COVID-Center and Narrative Literature Review

Ruben Forni, Etienne Jacot, Giovanni Ruoppolo, Antonio Amitrano, Adam Ogna

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Nursing & Health Studies Keywords: swallowing; tracheostomy; dysphagia; TLI; COVID-19; ARDS; rehabilitation; physiotherapy

Online: 15 August 2022 (03:50:23 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0211.v2

Turbulent Eddy Generation for the CFD Analysis of Hydrokinetic Turbines

Matteo Gregori, Francesco Salvatore, Roberto Camussi

Subject: Engineering, Marine Engineering Keywords: tidal energy; hydrokinetic turbines; Synthetic turbulence models; computational ﬂuid dynamics; Detached Eddy Simulation

Online: 15 August 2022 (03:39:22 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0245.v1

Normative Values of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Parameters and Lateral Symmetry in Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnasts

Mitija Samardžija Pavletić, Almir Atiković, Ekrem Čolakhodžić, Selma Sijerčić, Emilija Petković, Amra Nožinović Mujanović

Subject: Biology, Other Keywords: tensiomyography; gymnastics; contraction time; asymmetry

Online: 15 August 2022 (03:32:45 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0244.v1

Post-injury Buprenorphine Administration Is Associated With Long-Term Region-Specific Glial Alterations in Rats

Jane Ryu, Pantea Jeizan, Saira Ahmed, Sareena Ehsan, Jefin Jose, Sean Regan, Karen Gorse, Corrina Kelliher, Audrey Lafrenaye

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pathology & Pathobiology Keywords: Traumatic brain injury; buprenorphine; Bup-SR-Lab; microglia; astrocyte; myelin, membrane disruption; somatosensory sensitivity

Online: 12 August 2022 (13:52:14 CEST)

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major leading cause of death and disability. While previous studies regarding focal pathologies following TBI have been done, there is a lack of information concerning the role of analgesics and their influences on injury pathology. Buprenorphine (Bup), an opioid analgesic, is a commonly used analgesic in experimental TBI models. Our previous studies investigated the acute effects of Buprenorphine-sustained release-Lab (Bup-SR-Lab) on diffuse neuronal/glial pathology, neuroinflammation, cell damage, and systemic physiology. The current study investigated the longer-term chronic outcomes of Bup-SR-Lab treatment at 4 weeks following TBI utilizing a central fluid percussion injury (cFPI) model in adult male rats. Histological assessments of physiological changes, neuronal damage, cortical and thalamic cytokine expression, microglial and astrocyte morphological changes, and myelin alterations were done, as we had done in our acute study. In the current study the Whisker Nuisance Task (WNT) was also performed pre- and 4w post-injury to assess changes in somatosensory sensitivity following saline or Bup-SR-Lab treatment. Bup-SR-Lab treatment had no impact on overall physiology or neuronal damage at 4w post-injury regardless of region or injury, nor did it have any significant effects on somatosensory sensitivity. However, greater IL-4 cytokine expression with Bup-SR-Lab treatment was observed compared to saline treated animals. Microglia and astrocytes also demonstrated region-specific morphological alterations associated with Bup-SR-Lab treatment, in which cortical microglia and thalamic astrocytes were particularly vulnerable to Bup-mediated changes. There were discernable injury-specific and region-specific differences regarding myelin integrity and changes in specific myelin basic protein (MBP) isoform expression following Bup-SR-Lab treatment. This study indicates that use of Bup-SR-Lab could impact TBI-induced glial alterations in a region-specific manor 4w following diffuse brain injury.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0243.v1

Design of Virtual Reality-Based Hippotherapy Simulator Exergaming Software and Its Controller for Rehabilitation of Children with Cerebral Palsy in Indonesia: An Engineering Concept

Ardianto Satriawan, Wildan Trusaji, Muhammad Ogin Hasanuddin, Septia Susanti Rahadini, Mayang Cendikia Selekta, Ellyana Sungkar

Subject: Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Keywords: Hippotherapy; Cerebral palsy rehabilitation; Virtual Reality; Inertial Sensors; Exergaming

Online: 12 August 2022 (13:48:11 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0242.v1

Mechanisms of Basement Membrane Micro-Perforation During Cancer Cell Invasion Into a 3D Collagen Gel

Shayan S. Nazari, Andrew D. Doyle, Kenneth M. Yamada

Subject: Life Sciences, Cell & Developmental Biology Keywords: hydrogel; 3D-culture; Imaging; Cell-matrix; proteases; matrix metalloproteinases; actin polymerization; contractility

Online: 12 August 2022 (12:55:21 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0241.v1

Integrating Genetic and Chromosome Maps of Allium Cepa: From Markers Visualization to Genome Assembly Verification

Aleksey Ermolaev, Natalia Kudryavtseva, Anton Pivovarov, Ilya Kirov, Gennady Karlov, Ludmila Khrustaleva

Subject: Life Sciences, Genetics Keywords: Tyr-FISH; integration genetic; cytogenetic and pseudochromosome maps; transcript based markers; genome assembly; bioinformatics; Allium cepa

Online: 12 August 2022 (12:54:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0240.v1

Polarimetry for ³He Ion Beams From Laser-Plasma Interactions

Chuan Zheng, Pavel Fedorets, Ralf Engels, Chrysovalantis Kannis, Ilhan Engin, Sören Möller, Robert Swaczyna, Herbert Feilbach, Harald Glückler, Manfred Lennartz, Heinz Pfeifer, Johannes Pfennings, Claus M. Schneider, Norbert Schnitzler, Helmut Soltner, Markus Büscher

Subject: Physical Sciences, Nuclear & High Energy Physics Keywords: polarized ion beam; polarimetry; laser-plasma acceleration

Online: 12 August 2022 (12:51:46 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0239.v1

Long-Term Care Workers’ Experiences and Their Views About Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

Sheila A. Boamah, Rachel Weldrick, Farinaz Havaei, Ahmed Irshad, Amy Hutchinson

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Nursing & Health Studies Keywords: long-term care; healthcare workers; mental health; moral distress; resilience; COVID-19

Online: 12 August 2022 (12:43:46 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0238.v1

A Simple Survey of Pre-trained Language Models

Zhenyi Zhu

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Other Keywords: NLP; PLTMs; benchmarks

Online: 12 August 2022 (11:43:50 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0237.v1

A Quantitative Framework for Evaluating the Societal Impact of Antimicrobial Use Reduction in Agriculture

Eve Tresco Emes

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: AMR; agriculture; One Health; health economics; policy; modelling

Online: 12 August 2022 (11:28:08 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0236.v1

How to Shut Down Transcription in Archaea During Virus Infection

Simona Pilotto, Finn Werner

Subject: Life Sciences, Microbiology Keywords: Archaea; transcription inhibition; RNA polymerase; viruses; evolution; antibiotics

Online: 12 August 2022 (11:25:05 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0235.v1

Cyber Security; Etiology and Importance

Syed Jawaid

Subject: Engineering, Other Keywords: Malware; cyber security; cyber-attacks; two factor authentication; software; targeting; privacy; causes of cyber attacks

Online: 12 August 2022 (10:33:03 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0234.v1

Variational Bayesian Approximation (VBA): A comparison between three optimization algorithms

Seyedeh Azadeh Fallah Mortezanejad, Ali Mohammad-Djafari

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Probability And Statistics Keywords: Variational Bayesian Approach (VBA); Kullback–Leibler Divergence; Mean Field Approximation (MFA); Optimization Algorithm

Online: 12 August 2022 (10:26:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0233.v1

Smart Homes and Families to Enable Sustainable Societies: A Data-Driven Approach for Multi-Perspective Parameter Discovery using BERT Modelling

Eman Alqahtani, Nourah Janbi, Sanaa Sharaf, Rashid Mehmood

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Keywords: Smart Families; Smart Homes; Sustainable Societies; Smart Cities; Deep Learning; Natural Language Processing (NLP); Social Sustainability; Environmental Sustainability; Economic Sustainability; Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT); Triple Bottom Line (TBL); Internet of Things (IoT)

Online: 12 August 2022 (10:22:17 CEST)

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Technological advancements and innovations have profoundly changed the lives of people giving rise to smart environments, cities, and societies. As homes are the building block of cities and societies, smart homes are critical to establishing smart living and are expected to play a key role in enabling smart cities and societies. The current academic literature and commercial advancements on smart homes have mainly focused on developing and providing smart functions for homes to provide security management and facilitate the residents in their various activities such as ambiance management. Homes are much more than physical structures, buildings, appliances, operational machines, and systems. Homes are composed of families and are inherently complex phenomena underlined by humans and their relationships with each other, subject to individual, intragroup, intergroup, and intercommunity goals. There is a clear need to understand, define, consolidate existing research, and actualize the overarching roles of smart homes, the roles of smart homes that would serve the needs of future smart cities and societies. This paper introduces our data-driven parameter discovery methodology and uses it to provide, for the first time, an extensive, rather fairly comprehensive, analysis of the families and homes landscape seen through the eyes of academics and the public using over a hundred thousand research papers and nearly a million tweets. We develop a methodology using deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), and big data analytics methods and apply it to automatically discover parameters that capture a comprehensive knowledge and design space of smart families and homes comprising social, political, economic, environmental, and other dimensions. The 66 discovered parameters and the knowledge space comprising 100s of dimensions are explained by reviewing and referencing over 300 articles from the academic literature and tweets. The knowledge and parameters discovered in this paper can be used to develop a holistic understanding of matters related to families and homes facilitating the development of better, community-specific, policies, technologies, solutions, and industries for families and homes, leading to strengthening families and homes, and in turn, empowering sustainable societies across the globe.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0232.v1

Does Cannabidiol (CBD) in Food Supplements Pose a Serious Health Risk? Consequences of the EFSA Clock Stop Regarding Novel Food Authorisation

Dirk W. Lachenmeier, Constanze Sproll, Patricia Golombek, Stephan G. Walch

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pharmacology & Toxicology Keywords: food safety; risk assessment; Cannabis sativa; tetrahydrocannabinol; food supplements; cannabidiol; benchmark dose; reference dose; liver toxicity

Online: 12 August 2022 (09:00:49 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0231.v1

Morphological Simulation of Phyllotactic Spiral-Ring Patterns by the Galactic Spiral Equations from the ROTASE Model

Hongjun Pan

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Applied Mathematics Keywords: Phyllotactic spiral-ring pattern; Galactic spiral equations; Simulation; Fibonacci sibling sequence

Online: 12 August 2022 (08:49:00 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0230.v1

Progress and Impact of Latin American Natural Product Databases

Alejandro Gómez-García, Jose L. Medina-Franco

Subject: Chemistry, General & Theoretical Chemistry Keywords: chemoinformatics; compound databases; chemical space; diversity; drug discovery; openscience; pseudo-natural product

Online: 12 August 2022 (08:39:40 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0229.v1

Lipofuscin as the Main Driving Force of Current Age-Related Disease: Justification and Strategies for Removal

Michael Renteln

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Other Keywords: Anti-aging therapy; lipofuscin; SENS; TFEB; intracellular microbe; and synthetic chemotaxis

Online: 12 August 2022 (08:05:09 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0228.v1

Calculating the Speed Ratio of Wind Turbines with General Cone and Axis Angle for the Unsteady Blade Element Momentum Theory (UBEMT)

Dieter Scholz

Subject: Engineering, Energy & Fuel Technology Keywords: Wind power; Wind turbines; Aerodynamics; Differential Geometry; Airfoils; Blade Element Momentum Theory; BEMT; BEM; HAWT; Wagner rotor

Online: 12 August 2022 (07:53:19 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202207.0010.v3

Recycling and Reuse of Mine Tailings: A Review of Advancements and Their Implications

Francisco S. M. Araujo, Isabella Taborda Llano, Everton Barbosa Nunes, Rafael M. Santos

Subject: Engineering, Other Keywords: beneficiation; slag; flotation; construction material; soil remediation

Online: 12 August 2022 (06:20:08 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0227.v1

Differences in the Course of depression and anxiety After COVID-19 Infection Between Recovered Patients With and Without a Psychiatric History: A Cross-Sectional Study

Megumi Hazumi, Kentaro Usuda, Emi Okazaki, Mayumi Kataoka, Daisuke Nishi

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Psychiatry & Mental Health Studies Keywords: COVID-19; depression; anxiety; post-acute COVID-19 syndrome; post-COVID

Online: 12 August 2022 (04:56:33 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202207.0210.v2

Identifying the Most Significant Factors Affecting Urban Housing Sustainability and Their Scales/Sectors of Influence: A Systematic Review of the Recent Literature

Mohsen Sanei, Mina Khodadad, Fernando Calonge Reillo

Subject: Engineering, Construction Keywords: Sustainability Assessment; Urban Housing Sustainability; Sustainability Indicator

Online: 12 August 2022 (04:37:59 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0226.v1

Effect of the Trip-Length Distribution on Network-Level Traffic Dynamics: Exact and Statistical Results

Jorge Laval

Subject: Engineering, Civil Engineering Keywords: Traffic flow, Macroscopic Fundamental diagram, Aggregated network models

Online: 12 August 2022 (04:07:08 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0225.v1

Positive or U-Shaped Association of Elevated Hemoglobin Concentration Levels with Metabolic Syndrome and Metabolic Components: Findings from Taiwan Biobank and UK Biobank

Vanessa Joy Timoteo, Kuang-Mao Chiang, Wen-Harn Pan

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: hemoglobin; iron nutrition status; metabolic syndrome; metabolic disorders; observational study; Taiwanese Han Chinese; European White

Online: 12 August 2022 (04:03:24 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0224.v1

Recognition of Vehicles Entering Expressway Service Areas and Estimation of Dwell Time Using ETC Data

Qiqin Cai, Dingrong Yi, Fumin Zou, Zhaoyi Zhou, Nan Li, Feng Guo

Subject: Engineering, Automotive Engineering Keywords: VR-XGBoost; K-VDTE; ETC data; ESAs; data mining

Online: 12 August 2022 (03:53:23 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0223.v1

Overcoming Barriers to Water Conservation with Behavioral Nudges In Sub Saharan Africa

Chibuzo Chilaka, Greg Torell, Frank Ward

Subject: Earth Sciences, Other Keywords: Behavioral nudges; water conservation; technology; water efficiency

Online: 11 August 2022 (13:37:12 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0222.v1

Factors Associated With Mortality With Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Indigenous Population in Peru 2015-2019

Hoover Leon, Oriana Rivera-Lozada, Elvis Siprian Castro-Alzate, RULA Aylas-Salcedo, Robinson Pacheco López, Cesar Antonio Bonilla-Asalde

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, General Medical Research Keywords: Tuberculosis; Mortality; Indigenous; Logistic Regression

Online: 11 August 2022 (12:00:20 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0221.v1

TSR Action and Genesis Mechanism of Antimony Deposit: Evidence From Aromatic Hydrocarbon Geochemistry of Bitumen in Paleo-Oil Reservoir Near Qinglong Ore Field, Southwestern Guizhou Depression, China

Yong Cheng, Yuzhao Hu, Saihua Xu, Di Wang

Subject: Earth Sciences, Geology Keywords: palaeo-oil reservoir; aromatic hydrocarbons; thermochemical sulphate reduction (TSR); Qinglong antimony deposit; Nanpanjiang basin

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:53:43 CEST)

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In Qinglong ore field, paleo-oil reservoir is found to be associated with antimony deposits, and they have close genetic relationship. In this study, aromatics geochemistry of paleo-oil reservoir bitumen was studied to further discuss the thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) reaction and the mechanism of antimony mineralization. A total of 124 aromatic compounds were identified by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis in bitumen samples, including abundant phenanthrene series, dibenzothiophene series, fluoranthene series, chrysene series, and a small number of fluorene series, naphthalene series, dibenzofuran series, biphenyl series, triaromatic steroid series. Aromatic parameters such as trimethylnaphthalene index (TMNr), methylphenanthrene index (MPI), methylphenanthrene distribution fraction (MPDF, F1 and F2), methyldibenzothiophene parameter (MDR), C28TAS-20S/(20R+20S), and benzofluoranthene/benzo[e]pyrene indicate Qinglong paleo-oil reservoir is in over maturity level. The abundance of phenanthrene and chrysene aromatic compounds and a small amount of naphthalene series, benzofluoranthene, fluoranthene, pyrene, anthracene, retene, perylene and biphenyl suggest that the parent material of the paleo-oil reservoir was mainly low aquatic organisms, mixed with a small amount of higher plant. The detected a certain number of compounds, such as retene, triaromatic steroid series and perylene, the ternary diagram of DBF–DBT–F and binary plot of Pr/Ph–DBT/P, DBT/(F+DBT)–DBF/(F+DBF) and Pr/Ph–DBT/DBF reveal that the source rock of the paleo-oil reservoir was formed in the marine environment of weak oxidation and weak reduction. The comprehensive analysis shows that the Qinglong paleo-oil reservoir originated from Devonian source rocks, just like other paleo-oil reservoirs and natural gas reservoirs in the Nanpanjiang basin. Abundant dibenzothiophene series were detected, indicating that the paleo-oil reservoir underwent a certain degree of TSR reaction. We believe that the paleo-gas reservoir formed by the evolution of paleo-oil reservoir participated in antimony mineralization, that is, hydrocarbon organic matter acted as reducing agent and transformed SO42− in oilfield brine into H2S through TSR, providing reduced sulfur and creating environmental conditions for mineralization.

Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0220.v1

Promoting Oncolytic Vector Replication With Switches That Detect Ubiquitous Mutations

Michael Renteln

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Oncology & Oncogenics Keywords: Molecular switches; oncolytic vectors; patient-specific ubiquitous mutations; targeted therapy; multi-region sequencing; molecular biology

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:50:12 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0219.v1

Statistical Equilibrium Principles in 2D Fluid Flow: From Geophysical Fluids to the Solar Tachocline

Peter B. Weichman, John Bradley Marston

Subject: Physical Sciences, Fluids & Plasmas Keywords: Fluid dynamics; Turbulent cascades; Fluid equilibria; Casimir constraints; Euler equation; Quasigeostrophic equations; Rossby waves; Axisymmetric flows; Shallow water equations; Magnetohydrodynamics

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:48:18 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0218.v1

A Review Of Monkeypox: The New Global Health Emergency

Kritika Srinivasan Rajsri, Mana Rao

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, General Medical Research Keywords: Public Health Emergency; Sexual Health; Monkeypox; Smallpox; JYNNEOS; ACAM2000; Tecovirimat; Brincidofovir

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:46:12 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0217.v1

Ferromagnetic Coupling and Single-Ion Magnet Phenomenon in Mononuclear Ruthenium(Iii) Complexes Based on Guanine Nucleobase

Marta Orts-Arroyo, Nicolás Moliner, Francesc Lloret, José Martínez-Lillo

Subject: Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry Keywords: Ruthenium; crystal structures; ferromagnetic coupling; molecular magnetism; single-ion magnet.

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:41:41 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0216.v1

Modelling of Soil Spatial Variability in an Olive Grove by Fusing Remote Drone-based Multispectral Data, Ground-based Hyperspectral and Sample Data with Multivariate Geostatistics Taking into Account Change of Support

Antonella Belmonte, Carmela Riefolo, Lovergine Francesco, Annamaria Castrignanò

Subject: Earth Sciences, Geoinformatics Keywords: block cokriging; clay composition; granulometry; multi-collocated cokriging; multi-collocated fac-torial cokriging; regularization; SIDSAM; VIS-NIR-SWIR spectroscopy

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:30:23 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0215.v1

LidSonic V2.0: LiDAR and Deep Learning-based Green Assistive Edge Device to Enhance Mobility for the Visually Impaired

Sahar Busaeed, Iyad Katib, Aiiad Albeshri, Juan M. Corchado, Tan Yigitcanlar, Rashid Mehmood

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Keywords: visually impaired; smart mobility; sensors; LiDAR; ultrasonic; deep learning; obstacle detection; obstacle recognition; assistive tools; edge computing; green computing; sustainability; Arduino Uno; Smart App

Online: 11 August 2022 (11:12:58 CEST)

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Over a billion people around the world are disabled, among them, 253 million are visually impaired or blind, and this number is greatly increasing due to ageing, chronic diseases, poor environment, and health. Despite many proposals, the current devices and systems lack maturity and do not completely fulfill user requirements and satisfaction. Increased research activity in this field is required to encourage the development, commercialization, and widespread acceptance of low-cost and affordable assistive technologies for visual impairment and other disabilities. This paper proposes a novel approach using a LiDAR with a servo motor and an ultrasonic sensor to collect data and predict objects using deep learning for environment perception and navigation. We adopted this approach in a pair of smart glasses, called LidSonic V2.0, to enable the identification of obstacles for the visually impaired. The LidSonic system consists of an Arduino Uno edge computing device integrated into the smart glasses and a smartphone app that transmits data via Bluetooth. Arduino gathers data, operates the sensors on smart glasses, detects obstacles using simple data processing, and provides buzzer feedback to visually impaired users. The smartphone application collects data from Arduino, detects and classifies items in the spatial environment, and gives spoken feedback to the user on the detected objects. In comparison to image processing-based glasses, LidSonic uses far less processing time and energy to classify obstacles using simple LiDAR data, according to several integer measurements. We comprehensively describe the proposed system's hardware and software design, construct their prototype implementations, and test them in real-world environments. Using the open platforms, WEKA and TensorFlow, the entire LidSonic system is built with affordable off-the-shelf sensors and a microcontroller board costing less than $80. Essentially, we provide designs of an inexpensive, miniature, green device that can be built into, or mounted on, any pair of glasses or even a wheelchair to help the visually impaired. Our approach affords faster inference and decision-making using relatively low energy with smaller data sizes as well as faster communications for the edge, fog, and cloud computing.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0214.v1

Agroclimatic Zone-Based Analysis of Long-Term Rainfall Trends and Variability in the Wabi Shebele River Basin, Ethiopia.

Abebe Teklu Toni, Andreas Malcherek, Asfaw Kebede Kassa

Subject: Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science Keywords: agroclimatic zone; trend analysis; modified MK; ITA; Wabi Shebele

Online: 11 August 2022 (08:52:32 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0213.v1

Towards a General Intermolecular Binding Affinity Calculator

Wei Li

Subject: Life Sciences, Biophysics Keywords: intermolecular binding affinity; drug target binding affinity; computer-aided drug design (CADD); artificial intelligence-integrated drug discovery (AIDD); machine learning

Online: 11 August 2022 (08:40:37 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0212.v1

Potential Drug Targets and Treatment Options for Covid-19: A Review

Muluken Wubetu

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pharmacology & Toxicology Keywords: COVID-19; Drug targets; Inflammation; Treatment Options; Vaccines

Online: 11 August 2022 (08:07:05 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0211.v1

Turbulent Eddy Generation for the CFD Analysis of Hydrokinetic Turbines

Matteo Gregori, Francesco Salvatore, Roberto Camussi

Subject: Engineering, Marine Engineering Keywords: tidal energy; hydrokinetic turbines; Synthetic turbulence models; computational ﬂuid dynamics; Detached Eddy Simulation

Online: 11 August 2022 (07:55:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0210.v1

A Comparative Study of ROS Production and Cytotoxicity Induced by Combinations of Thiols with HOCbl and CNCbl

Yuri V. Shatalin, Victoria S. Shubina, Marina E. Solovieva, Vladimir S. Akatov

Subject: Life Sciences, Biochemistry Keywords: hydroxocobalamin; cyanocobalamin; thiolatocobalamins; thiol oxidation; ROS production; cytotoxicity

Online: 11 August 2022 (06:17:50 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0208.v1

Plasma Cell-free RNA PD-L1 Expression and Overall Survival of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Paul R. Walker, Mahvish Muzzafar, Sriraksha Jayananda, Praveen Namireddy, Nitika Sharma, Teresa Parent, Cynthia Cherry, Richard B. Lanman

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Oncology & Oncogenics Keywords: Plasma PD-L1; liquid biopsy; cfRNA; immune checkpoint inhibitor; predictive immune biomarker; NSCLC

Online: 11 August 2022 (06:10:34 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0209.v1

Real-Time and Historical Viral Variant Tracking

James Labadorf

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, General Medical Research Keywords: cluster analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Variant

Online: 11 August 2022 (06:01:14 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0207.v1

Underreporting and Triggering Factors for Ophthalmic Drugs’ ADR Notification; a Comparison between Spontaneous Reporting and Active Pharmacovigilance Databases

Homero Contreras-Salinas, Leopoldo Martín Baiza-Durán, Manuel Alejandro Bautista-Castro, Diego Rodrigo Alonso-Rodríguez, Lourdes Yolotzin Rodríguez-Herrera

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Ophthalmology Keywords: Adverse Drug Reaction; Spontaneous reporting; Active surveillance; Underreporting; Antiglau-coma; Artificial tear

Online: 11 August 2022 (04:07:15 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0206.v1

Characterization and Comparison of CubeSat and Drone Platform Jitter Effects on Laser Beam Pointing Stability

Femi Ishola, Alberto Carrasco-Casado, Rodrigo Cordova, Hirokazu Masui, Yasushi Munemasa, Phuc V. Trinh, Tetsuharu Fuse, Hiroyuki Tsuji, Mengu Cho, Morio Toyoshima

Subject: Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Keywords: Laser Communications; Platform Jitter; Beam-pointing stability; Drone; CubeSat

Online: 11 August 2022 (03:38:22 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0205.v1

The Antiatherogenic Effects of Flavonoid on Cholesterol Efflux Capacity

Maha Ayoub

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Cardiology Keywords: Cholesterol efflux; flavonoids; HDL; quercetin; reverse cholesterol transport

Online: 11 August 2022 (03:33:47 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0204.v1

Vaccine Cocktail as a Future to Fight Against Family of SARS-Cov-19

Deepali Sharma, Nidhi Sharotri, Kanchi Suvardhan, Surendra Thakur

Subject: Biology, Other Keywords: Vaccine cocktail; COVID-19; MERS; SARS; Viruses

Online: 11 August 2022 (03:22:22 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints201811.0196.v4

Instantaneous Quantum Description of Photonic Wavefronts and Applications

Andre Vatarescu

Subject: Physical Sciences, Optics Keywords: Quantum Rayleigh emissions; spatial fields of photons; photonic beam splitters and filters; photon coincidence counting; HOM dip with unity visibility

Online: 10 August 2022 (15:42:34 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202111.0489.v2

A Blockchain-based Edge Computing Architecture for the Internet of Things

Aleksandar Tošić, Jernej Vičič, Michael David Burnard, Michael Mrissa

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Other Keywords: Fault Tolerance; Blockchain; Internet of Things; Edge Computing; Peer to Peer; Decentralized; Sensor Networks; Verifiable Delay Functions

Online: 10 August 2022 (15:41:43 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0203.v1

Neural Induction: the General Principle for Embryogenesis and Tumorigenesis

Ying Cao

Subject: Life Sciences, Cell & Developmental Biology Keywords: neural induction; embryogenesis; tumorigenesis; conjoined twin; Spemann organizer; node; neural default model; neural stemness; tumorigenicity; pluripotency; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; tumor microenvironment

Online: 10 August 2022 (12:10:36 CEST)

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Some concepts/hypotheses have been proposed to explain the general rules behind the complexity of tumorigenesis. Characterization of the property of cancer cells and neural stem cells indicates that neural stemness underlies tumorigenicity and pluripotency, leading to the proposal that tumorigenesis represents a process of progressive loss of original cell identity and gain of neural stemness. This reminds of a most fundamental process required for the development of the nervous system and body axis during embryogenesis, i.e., embryonic neural induction. The principle of neural induction is that, in response to extracellular signals that are secreted by the Spemann-Mangold organizer in amphibians or the node in mammals and inhibit epidermal fate in ectoderm, the ectodermal cells assume the neural default fate and turn into neuroectodermal cells. These cells further differentiate into the nervous system and also some non-neural cells via interaction with adjacent tissues. Failure in neural induction leads to failure of embryogenesis, and ectopic neural induction due to ectopic organizer or node activity or activation of embryonic neural genes causes a formation of secondary body axis or conjoined twins. A similar principle underlies tumorigenesis. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that the core property of cancer cells is neural stemness. Therefore, cancer cells are cells with the loss of original cell identity and gain of neural stemness, and consequently tumorigenicity and pluripotency, due to various intra-/extracellular insults in postnatal animals. Unlike that pluripotent cells (embryonic pluripotent cells, neural stem cells and cancer cells) can differentiate and integrate into embryonic development, cancer cells are capable of self-renewal and differentiation, but cannot integrate into normal tissues in a 2 postnatal animal, ultimately leading to tumor formation. Neural induction and the unique property of neural stemness provide an inclusive explanation for embryogenesis, conjoined twin formation and tumorigenesis. Based on these findings, I discuss about some confusion in cancer research, e.g., epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and propose to distinguish the causality and associations, and the causal and supporting factors involved in tumorigenesis, and suggest revisiting the focus of cancer research. Integration of evidence from developmental and cancer biology indicates that neural stemness determines tumorigenicity and pluripotency, and neural induction drives embryogenesis in gastrulating embryos but a similar process drives tumorigenesis in a postnatal animal.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0202.v1

Impact of Blueberry Consumption on the Human Fecal Bileacidome: A Pilot Study

William Gagnon, Véronique Garneau, Jocelyn Trottier, Mélanie Verreault, Charles Couillard, Denis Roy, André Marette, Jean Philippe Drouin-Chartier, Marie-Claude Vohl, Olivier Barbier

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Nutrition Keywords: blueberries; bile acids; dietary supplements; polyphenols; LC-MS/MS profiling

Online: 10 August 2022 (11:57:59 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0201.v1

Efficient Feature Extraction from High Sparse Binary Genotype Data for Genetic Risk Prediction by Deep Learning Method

Junjie Shen, Huijun Li, Xinghao Yu, Lu Bai, Yongfei Dong, Jianping Cao, Ke Lu, Zaixiang Tang

Subject: Life Sciences, Genetics Keywords: auto-encoder; high sparse binary data; feature extraction; SNV integration

Online: 10 August 2022 (10:27:32 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0200.v1

The Determinants of Lifelong Learning in Europe

Alberto Costantiello, Lucio Laureti, Angelo Leogrande

Subject: Social Sciences, Economics Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Processes and Incentives; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; Diffusion Processes; Open Innovation

Online: 10 August 2022 (09:59:09 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0199.v1

Power Quality Enhancement of Grid Connected Wind Farm Using Dynamic Voltage Restorer (Adama ⅰ Wind Farm in Ethiopia)

Mulugeta Mengistu Desalegn, Teshome Goa

Subject: Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Keywords: Adama Ⅰ Wind Farm; SRF; Feed forward control; Voltage Sag; DVR; MATLAB-Simulink

Online: 10 August 2022 (09:46:15 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0198.v1

Thematic Analysis of Indonesian Physics Education Research Literatures Using Machine Learning

Purwoko Haryadi Santoso, Edi Istiyono, Haryanto Haryanto, Wahyu Hidayatulloh

Subject: Social Sciences, Education Studies Keywords: thematic analysis; Indonesia; physics education research; natural language processing

Online: 10 August 2022 (09:42:09 CEST)

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Emergent physics education research (PER) literatures have been disseminated through academic publications within the community. The growing body of literatures over years challenge Indonesian PER scholars to understand how the research community has been progressed and what possible future work that should be emphasized. Nevertheless, previous traditional method of thematic analysis performed serious limitation when the number of PER literatures exponentially increased. Dealing with this large volume of publications, one of the machine learning studies namely natural language processing (NLP) was employed in this study to automate our thematic analysis among Indonesian PER literatures that are still limited to be explored. One of the well-known NLP algorithm, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), has been performed to extract Indonesian PER topics and their associated development between 2014 and 2021. A total of 852 papers (~ 4 to 8 pages each) were collectively downloaded from five international conference proceedings organized by Indonesian PER researchers. Before their topics were modeled through LDA algorithm, our data corpus should be previously preprocessed through several common procedures of established NLP studies. Findings revealed that LDA has thematically quantified Indonesian PER topics and described their distinct development over certain period. The identified topics from this study demonstrated that Indonesian PER community has established robust development in eight distinctive topics to the present. They begin with initial interest in focusing research on physics laboratory and following the research based instruction in the late 2015. Indonesian PER scholars sustained to study continuous topic on 21st century skill until 2019 which gave way to a focus on developing relevant educational technology to address several forms of students’ performance including scientific literacy and problem solving. There is still lack of Indonesian PER literatures that have been attempted to address qualitative aspects of physics teaching and learning.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0197.v1

An Ontological Knowledge Base of Poisoning Attacks on Deep Neural Networks

Majed Altoub, Fahad AlQurashi, Tan Yigitcanlar, Juan Corchado, Rashid Mehmood

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Keywords: Deep neural networks; Adversarial Attacks; Poisoning; Backdoors; Trojans; Taxonomy; Ontology; Knowledge Base; Explainable AI; Green AI

Online: 10 August 2022 (09:39:07 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0196.v1

Dynamic Asymmetric Effect of Currency Risk Pricing of Exchange Rate on Equity Markets: A Regime-Switching based C-Vine Copulas Method

John Weirstrass Muteba Mwamba, Benjamin Mudiangombe Mudiangombe

Subject: Social Sciences, Finance Keywords: Pricing currency risk; regime-switching; sectors equity markets; state of economy; C-Vine copulas; developed; emerging

Online: 10 August 2022 (09:32:45 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0195.v1

Marketing and Organizational Innovations in Europe

Alberto Costantiello, Lucio Laureti, Angelo Leogrande

Subject: Social Sciences, Economics Keywords: innovation; and invention: processes and incentives; management of technological innovation and R&D; diffusion processes; open innovation

Online: 10 August 2022 (07:53:45 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0194.v1

Sarfaraz K. Niazi

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pharmacology & Toxicology Keywords: biosimilar; analytical assessment; animal testing; clinical pharmacology; clinical efficacy; FDA; EMA; MHRA; WHO

Online: 10 August 2022 (05:19:49 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0193.v1

Association between Liver Function Indicators, Immunoglobulins, and Toll-like Receptors and Neuropilin-1 Expression in Patients with COVID-19

Salma A. El Kazafy, Amr E. Ahmed, Yasser M. Fouad, Azza F. Said, Tarek M. Ali, Ahmad EI Askary, Hebatallah H. Assal, Osama M. Ahmed

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, General Medical Research Keywords: liver; Neuropilin-1; Toll-like receptors; COVID-19

Online: 10 August 2022 (05:05:04 CEST)

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Purpose: The study aimed to investigate if there were any links between liver function biomarkers and immunoglobulins levels in serum, and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and neuropilin-1 (NRP1) in COVID-19 patients. The study also aimed to assess the accuracy—sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) by the receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis for immunoglobulins levels and TLRs expressions. Patients and Methods: This study included 150 patients (100 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 50 healthy volunteers as a control group). Patients with COVID-19 were subdivided into two groups according to the severity of symptoms (moderate and severe, with 50 patients each). Serum C-reactive protein (CRP), alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), albumin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), immunoglobulin (Ig) G, and IgM levels were estimated. TLRs (TLR2 and TLR4) and NRP1 gene expression in blood samples were investigated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). ROC analysis was also applied to determine the accuracy of various detected parameters in predicting the possibility of COVID-19 infection. Results: In COVID-19 patients, serum parameters related to liver function, except serum albumin, CRP, IgG, IgM, and TLR2, TLR4, and NRP1 mRNA expression levels, significantly elevated compared to controls. Severe COVID-19 patients exhibited significantly higher liver enzymes (ALT, AST and LDH), CRP, and TLR2 mRNA expression levels and lower albumin levels than the moderate group. In the moderate and severe groups, ALT, CRP, TLR2, and TLR4 had a significant positive correlation with IgM levels. ALT, AST, LDH, CRP, TLR2, and TLR4 showed a significant positive correlation with IgG levels in both groups. In both the moderate and severe groups, NRP1 expression was found to be significantly correlated with CRP, IgG, IgM, TLR2, and TLR4. In contrast, serum albumin levels exhibited a significant negative correlation with IgG and IgM levels only in the severe group, but they showed a significant negative correlation with TLR2, TLR4, and NRP1 expression in both moderate and severe groups. Serum ALT and AST activities were positively correlated with NRP1 expression in the moderate group but not in the severe group and as well as TLR2 and TLR4 expression in both the moderate and severe groups. ROC analysis indicated that AUC was higher than 0.800 for serum IgM level and TLR4 gene expression in moderate COVID-19 group. Conclusions: The increased liver function biomarkers in serum and NRP1 expression are closely correlated with sustained activations in humoral and innate immune responses during COVID-19 infection. As a result, TLR2, TLR4, and NRP1 could be targets for limiting COVID-19 infection and impairment effects on liver function. Moreover, detection of IgM level in serum and TLR4 expression in blood have a good accuracy in predicting the possibility of infection with COVID-19 in moderate cases.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0192.v1

Transfer Learning using Generative Adversarial Networks for MRI Brain Image Segmentation

Afifa Khaled

Subject: Engineering, Automotive Engineering Keywords: Transfer Learning; Generative Adversarial Networks; MRI Brain Images

Online: 10 August 2022 (05:04:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0191.v1

Snakemake Workflows for Long-read Bacterial Genome Assembly and Evaluation

Peter Menzel

Subject: Life Sciences, Molecular Biology Keywords: bacterial genomics; de novo assembly; Oxford Nanopore Technologies; Snakemake

Online: 10 August 2022 (04:37:01 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0190.v1

Neurovascular Manifestations of Iron-Deficient Anemia: Narrative Review and Practical Reflections through A Teaching Case

Marialuisa Zedde, Giacomo Portaro, Laura Ferri, Francesco Cavallieri, Manuela Napoli, Claudio Moratti, Fabrizio Piazza, Franco Valzania, Rosario Pascarella

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Clinical Neurology Keywords: iron-deficient anemia; IDA; stroke; cerebral venous thrombosis; brain MRI; aortic thrombosis; pulmonary embolism; embolic pattern

Online: 10 August 2022 (04:31:26 CEST)

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Background: Anemia is one of the most frequent diseases worldwide, affecting a third of the general population. Anemia in general and in particular, iron-deficient anemia (IDA), has been associated to a higher risk of thrombotic manifestations, including ischemic stroke and cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), as well as systemic extra cerebral arterial and venous thrombosis. Despite these data, anemia is seldom considered as an etiological factor of stroke. Methods: An individual case encompassing all known neurovascular and systemic arterial and venous thrombotic manifestations related to IDA is presented with the focus on clinical reasoning issues in the diagnostic pathways, starting from the neuroradiological signs. The main questions have been identified and addressed in a narrative review of the most relevant data in the literature from a pragmatic and clinical viewpoint. Results and Discussion: The presented case concerns a 46 years old man admitted to the Stroke Unit because of acute is-chemic stroke with multiple thrombi in large intracranial and extracranial vessels, multifocal ischemic lesions in several arterial territories and the concurrent finding of asymptomatic CVT, pulmonary embolism with lung infarction and aortic thrombosis. An extended diagnostic work-up excluded the main etiologies (arterial dissection, cardiac embolism, genetic and acquired prothrombotic disorders, as cancer and antiphospholipid syndrome), except for a severe IDA, such as to require blood transfusions followed by anticoagulant therapy for the several thrombotic manifestations. Neuroimaging and systemic vascular findings have been analyzed and the main issues proposed by the case in the diagnostic pathway have been identified and discussed in a pragmatic clinical road map reviewing the data provided by the literature. Conclusions: IDA is a common but treatable condition that, independently or synergically, may increase the risk of thrombotic events. The diagnostic and therapeutic approach has not yet defined and each case should be individually addressed in a pragmatic clinical road map.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0189.v1

Performance of a Chest Radiography AI Algorithm for Detection of Missed or Mislabeled Findings: A Multicenter Study

Parisa Kaviani, Subba R. Digumarthy, Bernardo Bizzo, Bhargava Reddy, Manoj Tadepalli, Preethan Putha, Ammar Jagirdar, Shadi Ebrahimian, Mannudeep K. Kalra, Keith J. Dreyer

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Other Keywords: chest-X ray; sddendum; missed finding; radiology

Online: 10 August 2022 (04:17:32 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0188.v1

User Authentication and Authorization Framework in IoT Protocols

Hasan Al-refai, Ali Alawneh

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, General & Theoretical Computer Science Keywords: Internet of Things; security protocol; authentication; authorization; networks

Online: 10 August 2022 (04:11:00 CEST)

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has become one of the most attractive domains nowadays. It works by creating a special network between physical devices such as vehicles, home equipment, and other items. In recent days, the common technologies of communication such as Wi-Fi and 2G/3G/4G cellular are insufficient for the IoT networks because they are designed to serve appliances with immense processing capabilities such as laptops and PCs. Moreover, most of these technologies are centralized and use an existing infrastructure. Currently, the new communication technologies such as Z-Wave, 6LowPAN, and Thread are dedicated to the IoT and have been developed to meet its requirements. These technologies can handle many factors such as range, data requirements, security, power demands, and battery life. Nevertheless, the security issues in IoT systems have major concerns and matters because vulnerabilities in such systems may result in fatal catastrophes. In this paper, an enhanced IoT security framework for authentication and authorization is proposed and implemented to protect the IoT protocols from different types of attacks such as man-in-the-middle attack, reply attack, and brute force attack. The proposed framework combines an enhanced token authentication that has identity verification capabilities and a new sender verification mechanism on the IoT device side based on time stamp, which in turn can mitigate the need for local identity verification methods in IoT devices. The proposed IoT security framework is tested using security analysis with different types of attacks compared with previous related frameworks. The analysis shows the high capability of the proposed framework to protect IoT networks against many types of attacks compared with current available security frameworks. Finally, the proposed framework is developed using Windows application to simulate the framework phases, check its validity through the real network, and calculate the payload time is adds.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0187.v1

Solidarity Finance and Sustainable Development Strategies for Solidarity Funds in Pichincha, Ecuador

Pablo Dávila, * Sigfredo Ortuño-Pérez, Andrés Palacio-Fierro, Diego Mantilla

Subject: Social Sciences, Finance Keywords: associativity; self-management; autonomy; solidarity; micro-credits; sustainability

Online: 10 August 2022 (03:50:20 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0186.v1

Evaluation of Rumen Fermentation and Microbial Adaptation to Three Red Seaweeds Using the Rumen Simulation Technique

Stephanie Terry, Ana Krüger, Paulo de Mello Tavares Lima, Robert Gruninger, Wade Abbott, Karen Beauchemin

Subject: Biology, Agricultural Sciences & Agronomy Keywords: rumen simulation technique; methane production; seaweed; rumen fermentation

Online: 10 August 2022 (03:35:34 CEST)

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Several red seaweeds have shown to inhibit enteric CH₄ production; however, adaptation of fermentation parameters to their presence is not well understood. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of three red seaweeds (Asparargopsis taxiformis, Mazzaella japonica, Palmaria mollis) on in vitro fermentation, CH₄ production, and adaptation using the rumen simulation technique (RUSITEC). The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with four treatments, duplicated in two identical RUSITEC apparatus equipped with eight fermenter vessels each. The four treatments included the control (barley straw and barley silage) and the three red seaweeds added to the control diet at 2% diet DM. The experimental period was divided into four phases including a baseline phase (d 0-7; no seaweed included), adaptation phase (d 8-11; seaweed included in treatment vessels), intermediate phase (d 12-16) and a stable phase (d 17-21). The digestibility of organic matter (P = 0.04) and neutral detergent fibre (P = 0.05) was decreased by A. taxiformis during the adaptation phase, but returned to control levels in the stable phase. A. taxiformis supplementation resulted in a decrease (P < 0.001) in molar proportions of acetate, propionate and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, with an increase in molar proportions of butyrate, caproate, and valerate; the other seaweeds had no effect (P > 0.05) on molar proportions or production of individual VFA. A. taxiformis was the only seaweed to suppress CH₄ production (P < 0.001), with the suppressive effect increasing (P < 0.001) across phases. Similarly, A. taxiformis increased (P < 0.001) the production of hydrogen (H₂, %, mL/d) across the adaptation, intermediate and stable phases, with the intermediate and stable phases having greater H₂ production than the adaptation phase. In conclusion, M. japonica and P. mollis did not impact rumen fermentation or inhibit CH₄ production within the RUSITEC. In contrast, we conclude that A. taxiformis is an effective CH₄ inhibitor and its introduction to the ruminal environment requires a period of adaptation; however, the large magnitude of CH₄ suppression by A. taxiformis inhibits VFA synthesis, which may restrict production performance in vivo.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0185.v1

Talaromyces santanderensis: a New Cadmium-tolerant Fungus from Cacao Soils in Colombia

Beatriz E. Guerra Sierra, Luis A. Arteaga-Figueroa, Susana Sierra-Pelaéz, Javier C Alvarez

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: fungal systematics; Talaromyces santanderensis; cadmium; cacao rhizosphere; mycoremediation

Online: 10 August 2022 (03:29:20 CEST)

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Inorganic pollutants in Colombian cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) agrosystems cause problems in the production, quality, and exportation of this raw material. There has been an increased interest in bioprospecting studies of different fungal species focused on the biosorption of heavy metals. Furthermore, fungi constitute a valuable, profitable, ecological, and efficient natural soil resource that could be considered in the integrated management of cadmium mitigation. In this study, we report a new species of Talaromyces, isolated from cocoa soil from San Vicente de Chucurí-Colombia. The characterization of the culture was performed on six different standardized media and was distinguished by characteristic colony morphology: biverticillate and monoverticillate penicilli, acerose phialides, and slightly globose smooth-walled conidia. Culture was featured by bright yellow mycelium in young culture on CYA and CYAS medium. Colonies grew faster on Malt and Oat agar, attaining 36 and 32 mm diameter after seven days at 20 ºC. High acid production on CREA medium at 20-30 ºC was observed. Phylogenetic analysis was based on the ITS region and the RPB2, Calmodulin (CaM) and β-Tubulin genes that indicate that it is new to science and is named Talaromyces santanderensis sp. nov. This new species belongs to the Talaromyces section and is closely related to T. lentulus and related to T. soli, T. tumuli and T. pratensis (inside the T. pinophilus species complex) in the inferred phylogeny. Mycelia growth of the fungal strains was subjected to a range of 0-400 ppm Cd and incorporated into malt extract agar (MEA) in triplicates. Fungal radial growth was recorded every three days over a 13-days incubation period and In vitro cadmium tolerance tests showed a high tolerance index = 0,81 when the mycelium was exposed to 300 ppm of Cd. Results suggest T. santanderensis showed tolerance to Cd concentrations that exceed the permissible limits for contaminated soils, and it is promising for its use in bioremediation strategies to eliminate Cd from highly contaminated agricultural soils.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0184.v1

A New Architecture for Customizable Exergames: User Evaluation for Different Neuromuscular Disorders

Martina Eckert, Alicia Aglio, María Luisa Martín-Ruiz, Victor Osma-Ruiz

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Sport Sciences & Therapy Keywords: Exergames; Kinect; neuromuscular disesase; physical disability; rehabilitation; serious games; Virtual reality rehabilitation

Online: 10 August 2022 (03:24:24 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0183.v1

Electrodeless Heart and Respiratory Rate Estimation During Sleep Using a Single Fabric Band and Event-Based Edge Processing

Titus Jayarathna, Gaetano D. Gargiulo, Gough Y. Lui, Paul P. Breen

Subject: Engineering, Biomedical & Chemical Engineering Keywords: Edge computing; Textile sensors; Wearable sensors; Wireless sensors

Online: 10 August 2022 (03:15:50 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0182.v1

The Effects of a Mediterranean Diet Intervention on Cancer-Related Fatigue for Patients undergoing Chemotherapy: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Amber S. Kleckner, Jennifer E. Reschke, Ian R. Kleckner, Allison Magnuson, Andrea M. Amitrano, Eva Culakova, Michelle Shayne, Colleen S. Netherby-Winslow, Susan Czap, Michelle C. Janelsins, Karen M. Mustian, Luke J. Peppone

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Oncology & Oncogenics Keywords: oncology; nutrition; supportive care; integrative oncology; metabolism; mitochondria

Online: 9 August 2022 (15:02:55 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0181.v1

Blood Leukocyte Transcriptional Modules and Differentially Expressed Genes Associated with Disease Severity and Age in COVID-19 Patients

Silvia Yumi Bando, Fernanda Bernardi Bertonha, Sandra E Vieira, Danielle B. L. Oliveira, Vanessa N Chalup, Edison L Durigon, Patricia Palmeira, Ana Cristina P Curi, Caroline S Faria, Leila Antonangelo, Gerhard da P Lauterbach, Fabiane A Regalio, Roberto M Cesar Jr, Carlos Alberto Moreira-Filho

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; disease severity; blood leukocyte transcriptome; WGCNA; transcriptional modules; differentially expressed genes; COVID-19 transcriptional markers

Online: 9 August 2022 (14:59:44 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0180.v1

A Systematic Review of Recreational Nitrous Oxide Use: Implications for Policy, Service Delivery and Individuals

Julaine Allan, Jacqui Cameron, Juliana Bruno

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Psychiatry & Mental Health Studies Keywords: Nitrous Oxid; N₂O; nangs; systematic review; harm reduction; drug use

Online: 9 August 2022 (11:29:40 CEST)

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Background Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) is a dissociative anaesthetic that is sometimes used recreationally. The prevalence of N₂O use is difficult to quantify but appears to be increasing. Research on N₂O harms and application of harm reduction strategies are limited. The aim of this mixed method systematic review was to collate and synthesise the disparate body of research on recreational nitrous oxide use to inform harm reduction approaches tailored for young people. Methods To identify publications reporting recreational use of N₂O, a search of public health, psychology and social science databases was conducted. Databases included PubMed, CIHNAL, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science. Gray literature and Google advanced search were also used. Due to limited published literature on the recreational use of N₂O, no limit was placed on publication date or study type. A thematic synthesis extracted descriptive and analytical themes from the selected studies. Quality appraisal was conducted using the CASP Tool for Qualitative studies and the Joanna Briggs Institute case report assessment tool Results The search retrieved 407 reports. Thirty-four were included in the final analysis including sixteen case reports. The included studies were primarily concerned with raising awareness of the apparently increasing use and subsequently increasing harms of recreational N₂O use. There was limited reference to policy or legislative responses in any published studies, no suggestions for harm reduction strategies or application of service level responses. In general, individuals lack awareness of N2O related harms. Conclusion The review found three key areas that deserve further consideration including: 1) policy, 2) service delivery, and 3) harm associated with N₂O use. We recommend a top-down (policy) and bottom-up (services delivery/services users) approach to harm reduction for N₂O use which also includes further consultation and research with both groups. Future research could explore young people’s experience of N₂O use including benefits and problems to inform contextually relevant harm reduction strategies.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0179.v1

Measurement Uncertainty Interval In Case of a Known Relationship between Precision and Mean

Steffen Uhlig, Bertrand Colson, Petra Gowik

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: In-house validation study; reproducibility precision; measurement uncertainty; prediction interval; uncertainty interval

Online: 9 August 2022 (10:56:40 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0178.v1

A Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals New Genes in a Molecular Network Associated With Alcohol Dependence and Related Clinical Measures

Anastasia Levchenko, Sergey Malov, Alexey Antonik, Anastasia Protsvetkina, Kseniya V. Rybakova, Alexander Kanapin, Alexey N. Yakovlev, Anna Y. Nenasteva, Anton E. Nikolishin, Nikolay Cherkasov, Natalia A. Chuprova, Anna S. Blagonravova, Angelica V. Sergeeva, Tatyana V. Zhilyaeva, Maria K. Denisenko, Raul R. Gainetdinov, Alexander O. Kibitov, And Evgeny M. Krupitsky

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Psychiatry & Mental Health Studies Keywords: alcohol dependence; comorbidity; gene network; genome-wide association study; sex differences

Online: 9 August 2022 (10:35:29 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0177.v1

Towards A Model-Based Pattern Language for New Space-Based Systems

Bhushan Lohar, Robert J Cloutier

Subject: Engineering, Other Keywords: model-based system engineering (MBSE); model-based systems architecting (MBSA); model-based pattern language (MBPL); system architecture; logical architecture; SysML patterns; pattern library; systems engineering (SE); pattern language; logical decomposition

Online: 9 August 2022 (09:26:54 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0176.v1

Psychometric Evaluation of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items (DASS-8)/DASS-12/DASS-21 among Italian and Swiss Family Caregivers of Patients with Dementia

Amira Ali, Rana Ali Alameri, Amin Omar Hendawy, Rasmieh Al-Amer, Ghada Shahrour, Esraa M. Ali, Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees, Nashwa Ibrahim, Bothaina Hussein Hassan

Subject: Behavioral Sciences, General Psychology Keywords: psychological distress/anxiety/depression; dementia; Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; short form of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21; Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items; factor structure; psychometric properties; structural validity; validation; measurement invariance; old age/elders/elderly; informal; family caregivers; spouse; adult children

Online: 9 August 2022 (08:44:11 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0175.v1

Ethnobotany Survey of Plants used as Biopesticides by Indigenous People of Plateau State, Nigeria

Ahmed Ali, Lydia Doosuur Ior, Goni Abraham Dogo, John Israila Joshua, John Stephen Gushit

Subject: Biology, Plant Sciences Keywords: biopesticides, ethnobotany; survey; indigenous people; Nigeria

Online: 9 August 2022 (06:11:42 CEST)

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Preprint REVIEW | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0174.v1

Apolipoproteins and Suicide: a Potential Psychiatry Biomarker

María Fernanda Serna-Rodríguez, Miguel Zambrano-Lucio, Jorge Luis Trejo-Luevanos, Ivan Alberto Marino-Martínez, Ana María Rivas-Estilla, José Alfonso Ontiveros-Sánchez de la Barquera, Antonio Alí Perez-Maya

Subject: Behavioral Sciences, Clinical Psychology Keywords: apolipoprotein; suicide; biomarker; psychiatry; risk factor

Online: 9 August 2022 (05:10:32 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0173.v1

Weak Interaction Dependent Super Gravity of Galactic Baryon Mass

Satya Seshavatharam U.V, S Lakshminarayana

Subject: Physical Sciences, Astronomy & Astrophysics Keywords: Dark matter; Weak interaction; Super gravity of baryonic matter; flat rotation speed; Hubble mass; Hubble radius

Online: 9 August 2022 (04:58:06 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0172.v1

A Cross-Sectional Study of Canadian Worker’s Mental Health During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aidan Bodner, Leo Ruhl, Emily Barr, Arti Shridhar, Shayna Skakoon-Sparling, Kiffer George Card

Subject: Social Sciences, Business And Administrative Sciences Keywords: COVID-19; Mental Health; Occupational Health; Telecommuting; Masking; Physical Distancing

Online: 9 August 2022 (04:27:48 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0171.v1

Drug Combinations to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance: Some Correlations, Rules and Laws, and a Preliminary Scheme

Houqin Yi, Ganjun Yuan, Shimin Li, Xuejie Xu, Yingying Guan, Li Zhang, Yu Yan

Subject: Medicine & Pharmacology, Pharmacology & Toxicology Keywords: combination; antimicrobial resistance; selection index; collateral sensitivity; mutant prevention concentration; minimal inhibitory concentration; fractional inhibitory concentration index; stress factor

Online: 9 August 2022 (04:19:53 CEST)

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a serious threat to human health, and combination therapy is proved to be an economic and effective strategy to fight the resistance. However, the abuse of drug combinations would conversely accelerate the spread of AMR. To guide the practice, some regularity conclusions had been drawn in our previous work. Based on those experimental data, here the power function (y=ax^b, a>0) correlation between the mutant selection index (SI) (y) of one agent and the ratio value (x) of two agents in a drug combination was established, and two rules a₁ × MIC₁ = a₂ × MIC₂ and b₁ + b₂ = -1 were discovered from both equations of y=a₁x^b1 and y=a₂x^b2 for two agents in drug combinations. Simultaneously, it was found that one agent with larger MPC alone for drug combinations would present a larger |b| and show greater potency for narrowing itself MSW and preventing the resistance. Another, a new concept as mutation-preventing selection index (MPSI) was proposed and used for evaluating the mutation-preventing potency difference of two agents in drug combinations, and the positive correlation between the MPSI and the mutant prevention concentration (MPC) or minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was subsequently established. Inspired by this, the significantly positive correlation, contrary to previous reports, between the MIC and the corresponding MPC of antimicrobial agents against pathogenic bacteria was established using one hundred and eighty-one of data pairs reported. These above together indicate that the MPCs in alone and combination are very important indexes for drug combinations to predict the mutation-preventing effects and the trajectories of collateral sensitivity, and the MPC of an agent can be roughly calculated from its corresponding MIC. Subsequently, this was further verified and improved by the antibiotic exposure to forty-three groups designed as different drug concentrations and various proportions. Based on these, the diagram of the mutation-preventing effects and the resistant trajectories of drug combinations with different concentrations and ratio of two agents was presented, and the C/MPC for the agent with larger proportion in drug combinations is the key to judge whether the resistance and the collateral sensitivity occur to two agents. Furthermore, the stress factors 1/MPC alone of two agents, together with their SI in combination, are the key to predict the mutation-preventing effects, and control the trajectories of collateral sensitivity. Combined the discussion and analyses for the above results and previous work, a preliminary scheme for antimicrobial combinations preventing the AMR was further proposed for subsequent improvement research and clinic popularization. Moreover, some other proposals and regularity conclusions related to preventing the AMR, involving fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI), mutant selection index (SI), and pharmacokinetic parameters (t_1/2, AUC₂₄/MPC, C_max/MPC, and f %T > MPC, etc.), were analyzed and discussed, and finally some similar conclusions were speculated for triple or multiple drug combinations.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0170.v1

Impact of Astrocytic Coverage of Synapses on the Short-term Memory of a Computational Neuron-Astrocyte Network

Zonglun Li, Yuliya Tsybina, Susanna Gordleeva, Alexey Zaikin

Subject: Mathematics & Computer Science, Applied Mathematics Keywords: neuron; astrocyte; network; short-term memory; spatial frequency; computational biology

Online: 9 August 2022 (04:04:31 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0169.v1

Impact of Socio-economic Deprivation on the Local Spread of COVID-19 Cases Mediated by the Effect of Seasons and Restrictive Public Health Measures: A Retrospective Observational Study

Nicola Bartolomeo, Massimo Giotta, Silvio Tafuri, Paolo Trerotoli

Subject: Life Sciences, Other Keywords: COVID-19; social inequalities; deprivation index; incidence rate; restrictive public health measures; local spread; GEE model

Online: 9 August 2022 (04:02:12 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0168.v1

Infrastructure Performance and Irrigation Water Governance in Genadendal, Western Cape, South Africa

Kudzai Mugejo, Bongani Ncube, Crispen Mutsvangwa

Subject: Biology, Agricultural Sciences & Agronomy Keywords: drought; institutions; smallholder farmers; water security

Online: 9 August 2022 (03:49:28 CEST)

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Disasters such as the 2015-2018 drought in South Africa usually negatively impact agricultural water, especially in smallholder farming systems. This study assessed the availability of irrigation water, performance of irrigation infrastructure, and water governance systems in Genadendal, Western Cape, with a focus on smallholder farmers. Data for streamflow, dam levels, and rainfall were acquired from water institutions and analysed using Microsoft Excel. The performance of the infrastructure and water governance were assessed based on the perceptions of smallholder farmers and key informants. A questionnaire was administered to eight smallholder farmers, followed by a focus group discussion with 15 smallholder farmers. Interviews were conducted with eight key informants who worked in water-related institutions. Qualitative data from the interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The study showed adequate agricultural water resources during the 2015-2018 drought period for the smallholder farmers who relied on water from dams. However, smallholder farmers who relied on the Riviersonderend River experienced severe water shortages during the same period. The findings also showed that there was poor performance of irrigation water infrastructure due to inadequate maintenance. Lack of coordination among institutions, insufficient funding, political interference, fragmentation of roles and responsibilities, lack of human resources, and farmers’ lack of participation and commitment in water resources management contributed to the dysfunctionality of irrigation water governance systems, leading to water insecurity. This study recommends adequate funding for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure. Furthermore, water institutions need to support smallholder farmers with training skills in agricultural water management and infrastructure maintenance. Further studies are recommended to quantify the water lost due to the poor performance of water infrastructure and to develop effective water governance in Genadendal.

Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0167.v1

Analysis of the Composition of Bromide Anion Oxidation Products in Aqueous Solutions with Different pH via Rotating Ring-Disk electrode Method

Roman Pichugov, Dmitry Konev, Ivan Speshilov, Lilia Abunaeva, Mikhail Petrov, Mikhail Vorotyntsev

Subject: Chemistry, Electrochemistry Keywords: ring rotating disk electrode (RRDE); voltametric analysis; flow battery, bromide oxidation)

Online: 9 August 2022 (03:32:02 CEST)

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Preprint ARTICLE | doi:10.20944/preprints202208.0166.v1

The Influence of Parental Environmental Exposure and Nutrient Restriction on the Early Life of Offspring Growth in Gambia

Ousman Bajinka, Sang Mendy, Binta JJ Jallow, Jarry Jallow, Amadou Barrow, Sulayman Barrow, Ousman Bah, Saikou Camara, Modou Lamin Colley, Sankung Nyabally, Amie Joof, Yurong Tan

Subject: Life Sciences, Genetics Keywords: Epigenetics; Toxicant exposure; Maternal stress; Parental smoking; Offspring health

Online: 9 August 2022 (03:27:22 CEST)

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