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Daniel Hsiang-Te Tsai,1,2 J Simon Bell,3 Shahab Abtahi,4 Brenda N Baak,5 Marloes T Bazelier,4 Ruth Brauer,6 Adrienne YL Chan,6– 9 Esther W Chan,9– 12 Haoqian Chen,13 Celine SL Chui,9,14,15 Sharon Cook,16 Stephen Crystal,16 Poonam Gandhi,13 Sirpa Hartikainen,17 Frederick K Ho,18 Shao-Ti Hsu,1 Jenni Ilomäki,3 Ju Hwan Kim,19 Olaf H Klungel,4 Marjaana Koponen,17 Wallis CY Lau,6,8,9 Kui Kai Lau,20,21 Terry YS Lum,22 Hao Luo,22 Kenneth KC Man,6,8,9 Jill P Pell,18 Soko Setoguchi,13,23 Shih-Chieh Shao,1,24 Chin-Yao Shen,1 Ju-Young Shin,19,25,26 Patrick C Souverein,4 Anna-Maija Tolppanen,17 Li Wei,6,9 Ian CK Wong,6,8,9,27 Edward Chia-Cheng Lai1 1School of Pharmacy, Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 2Centre for Neonatal and Paediatric Infection, St George’s University of London, London, UK; 3Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; 4Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; 5PHARMO Institute for Drug Outcomes Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands; 6Research Department of Practice and Policy, UCL School of Pharmacy, London, UK; 7Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, Unit of Pharmacotherapy, ‐Epidemiology and ‐Economics, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 8Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 9Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D24H), Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 10Centre for Safe Medication Practice and Research, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Pharmacy, the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 12The University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 13Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science (PETS), Institute for Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; 14School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 15School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 16Center for Health Services Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; 17Kuopio Research Centre of Geriatric Care and School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; 18School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; 19School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea; 20Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 21State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 22Department of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China; 23Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatments Science, Institute for Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; 24Department of Pharmacy, Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan; 25Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences & Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea; 26Department of Biohealth Regulatory Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea; 27Aston Pharmacy School, Aston University, Birmingham, UKCorrespondence: Edward Chia-Cheng Lai, School of Pharmacy and Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, Email edward_lai@mail.ncku.edu.twPurpose: To describe and categorize detailed components of databases in the Neurological and Mental Health Global Epidemiology Network (NeuroGEN).Methods: An online 132-item questionnaire was sent to key researchers and data custodians of NeuroGEN in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. From the responses, we assessed data characteristics including population coverage, data follow-up, clinical information, validity of diagnoses, medication use and data latency. We also evaluated the possibility of conversion into a common data model (CDM) to implement a federated network approach. Moreover, we used radar charts to visualize the data capacity assessments, based on different perspectives.Results: The results indicated that the 15 databases covered approximately 320 million individuals, included in 7 nationwide claims databases from Australia, Finland, South Korea, Taiwan and the US, 6 population-based electronic health record databases from Hong Kong, Scotland, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the UK, and 2 biomedical databases from Taiwan and the UK.Conclusion: The 15 databases showed good potential for a federated network approach using a common data model. Our study provided publicly accessible information on these databases for those seeking to employ real-world data to facilitate current assessment and future development of treatments for neurological and mental disorders.Keywords: meta-data, data repository, Neurological and Mental Health Global Epidemiology Network, NeuroGEN

Soil shrinkage leads to cracking of expansive soil during desiccation. Prevention of crack propagation in soil is of paramount importance. This research examines the effect of auxetic yarns, in control of expansive soil desiccation cracks. In this study, auxetic yarns with optimal properties were produced. Using an innovative test method, the influence of auxetic yarn structure on the prevention of soil crack propagation was investigated. It was found that the inclusion of auxetic yarns in the expansive soil results in a 9.94% reduction in crack propagation of the soil. In order to confirm the positive effect of auxetic yarns on the behavior of the soil samples, pull-out test was conducted on the auxetic yarns incorporated in the soil samples. The interaction between the soil and the auxetic yarn was found to be much higher than the interaction between the equivalent non-auxetic yarn and the same soil. This was not only attributed to the transverse expansion of auxetic yarn, but also to the helical structure that occurs in such yarn during the pull-out. The auxetic effect of the yarn results in a 27.3% increase in the force needed to pull the yarn from the soil matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this work, we investigated the effect of adding 0.3% w/w of the nontoxic substance agarose to the dosimeter formulation of genipin radiochromic gel, which was named LCA-GENA (Low Concentration Agarose-GENipin and Agarose) gel dosimeter. Materials and Methods: A compact linear accelerator with a beam quality of 6 MV and a dose rate of 200 cGy/min irradiated the produced gel dosimeters in a dose range of 0-10 Gy. A UV-Visible spectrophotometer was used to read out the irradiated gel dosimeters. Calibration curves for both absorbance peak and area-under -spectrum responses were investigated. Furthermore, the physical and radiological characteristics of the new formulation were investigated. Results: The results showed that the dose sensitivity of the LCA-GENA gel dosimeter under the irradiated conditions is (8.4 ± 0.15) × 10-3 cm-1 Gy-1. Results showed adding the abovementioned percentage of agarose will increase the melting point of the genipin gel dosimeter from 24°C to 28°C. Also, an investigation of the radiological properties of the novel formulation revealed that this radiochromic gel is water equivalent. Conclusion: From the obtained results, it is verified that adding 0.3% w/w agarose to the genipin gel dosimeter leads to an increase in the melting point of the original genipin gel dosimeter, easier fabrication, and lower price than that of higher agarose concentrations. The mentioned features make this gel suitable for dosimetry applications in clinical and radiotherapy environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Soil frost heaving causes significant destruction to road pavements, railways, pipelines, and other lifeline infrastructures. The conventional methods for dealing with the soil frost heave are primarily based on using the materials whose production and use are harmful to the environment. Due to the recent ecological concerns, developing novel alternative methods has received much attention. This study aims to investigate the possibility of using the microbially induced calcite precipitation method to control soil frost heave for less pollution introduction to the soil. METHODS: In this study, the Sporosarcina Pasteurii bacterium was used for calcite precipitation. The influence of three factors in four levels, including bacteria concentration, cementing solution concentration, and curing time, was investigated based on a plan set by Taguchi design of experiment method. The results were obtained by analysis of means and analysis of variance statistical methods and compared with the conventional frost heave reduction methods. FINDINGS: The results were presented in terms of heave ratio. Based on the testing results, the heave ratios (frost heave ratios of the treated to untreated samples) were obtained to be in the range of 0.21 to 0.42. The results showed that bacteria concentration was the most influential factor in the total frost heave of the treated soil. The influence of curing time was in second place, and the effect of cementing solution concentration was relatively less. The minimum frost heave was achieved in 108 colony-forming units per milliliter bacteria concentration, 0.6 mole per litre cementing solution concentration, and 21 days of curing. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that the used method could be efficiently used to reach the desired objective. The heave ratios obtained by this method were promising to a great extent compared to the conventional methods. The reduction of frost heave due to the application of this method was attributed to the precipitated calcite within the soil voids and was justified by the scanning electron microscopy images of the treated soil samples. This study proved that the proposed method might be utilized as a potential ecological-friendly approach in the future researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, there has been a general tendency for changing research methods on soil resource management from conventional and mainly qualitative methods to quantitative ones based on spatial correlation models, which are called Digital Soil Mapping (DSM). The present study was carried out in Shabankareh Plain (15,000 ha) with different physiographic units, in Bushehr Province, southern Iran. The target sites (172 points) were selected for soil sampling at depths of 0-30 cm. Soil texture classes DSM was produced by two methods. The first method was Conventional DSM, in which data of soil particles was obtained from laboratory analysis for each sampling point along with their geographical location. Also, the study area boundary was added to ArcGIS software in UTM format and was analyzed by operating Kriging or IDW estimators. The map produced by this method was a low quality digital map containing extra and scattered texture classes with unrealistically sharp boundaries. The second method used CoKriging of L8 multispectral imagery data (OLI bands) and soil samples analysis was operated. Results showed that using B1 band (0.433-0.453 µm) of Landsat 8 satellite imageries of the study area in April 2020 produced high quality digital maps. In this method, soil textures were the same as the ones in the study area. Salt accumulation and water content of surface soil were possible reasons indicating why satellite imageries in the other periods of year were not suitable for DSM. The highest and the lowest ranges of influence among soil texture parameters were 684 meters and 388 meter for clay and sand particles, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fiber/matrix interface in fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) enhances due to the geometry of fiber surface. This work benefits from freedom of fiber engineering due to the availability of fiber production facilities. Non‐indented, indented, flat tape, and fibrillated macro polypropylene fibers were produced. The effect of fiber surface indentation and fibrillation on FRCs flexural performance was investigated. Concrete flexural strength due to the effect of fiber young modulus was found to increases by 94 and 61%, when indented and fibrillated fibers are used, respectively. The energy absorption capacity of samples containing indented and fibrillated fibers due to the effect of surface fibrillation were found to be 5.5 and 12.5 times more than that of control concrete, respectively. The mechanical performance of FRCs was modeled using finite element model. The model generated and experimental results showed acceptable compatibility. Thus, the model can be concluded to be a successful tool for prediction of FRCs flexural performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the behavior of circular footings placed on gasoil- and kerosene-contaminated soil. The ultimate objective of this study is to determine the effect of oil contamination on the sand bearing capacity. The contaminated sand layers were mixed with different levels between 1 and 4 % of gasoil and kerosene contamination. This study examined the inuence of the contamination depth and type of contamination. Laboratory tests were conducted on small-scale models and performed in a load-controlled manner. The results showed that the contamination could inuence the load-settlement curves and lead to a reduction in its load-bearing capacity. An increase in the depth and percentage of contamination decreased the bearing capacity. Some formulas have been provided based on which one can predict the third bearing capacity factor of a circular foundation by knowing the depth and percentage of contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]