bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A flexible pressure sensor based on PEDOT coated polyester nonwoven fabric for low-pressure range
Authors: Zhang Jia-wen , Zhang Yan , Li Yuan-yuan , Ye Xu , Wang Ping , Xu Yu-kang
Published: January 2022

Three most common methods for preparing PEDOT (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) are studied, including vapor phase polymerization (VPP), in-situ dipping (ISD) and solution deposition (SD) techniques. The PEDOT coated nonwoven fabric (PEDOT@NWF) composites were successfully fabricated via these three processes and have been proven to be conductive and equipped with piezoresistive properties. For each preparation method, factors that may affect product properties, such as concentrations of reagents, reaction temperature, reaction time, etc were explored to summarize the optimal parameters. The PEDOT@NWF composites prepared via different fabrication techniques were analyzed and compared through a series of tests and characterizations. The sensing performance of as-prepared pressure sensors are also been studied. The experimental results demonstrate that PEDOT@NWF prepared by VPP method (PEDOT@NWF-VPP) has the fastest response time (80 ms) and recovery time (40 ms), the composite prepared by ISD method (PEDOT@NWF-ISD) has the highest sensitivity for the pressure range less than 5 kPa (21.162 kPa−1) and long-term cycle stability (over 5000 cycles). Sensor utilized PEDOT@NWF-ISD as the piezoresistive layer was assembled and used to detect small pressure such as voice vibrations and air flow, implying that this designed pressure sensor has promising potential in the application of wearable electronic devices and healthcare monitors.
First principles study of electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties of K2Pd (Cl/Br)6 for solar cells and renewable energy
Authors: Mahmood Q , Zelai Taharh , Nazir Ghazanfar , Albalawi Hind , Aljameel A I , Aslam Imran , Bouzgarrou S , Mera Abeer , Hegazy H H , Alhossainy M H
Published: January 2022

The vacancy-ordered double perovskites are extensively studied for solar cells and thermoelectric characteristics. Herein, the electronic, mechanical, optical, and transport characteristics of K2Pd(Cl/Br)6 are addressed comprehensively. The structural, and dynamic stabilities are confirmed by tolerance factors (0.93, 0.95) and the positive frequencies of phonon band structures. The criteria for mechanical stability and elastic parameters ensure their stable, anisotropic, and ductile nature. The computation of band structures (BS) and density of states (DOS) show band gaps 2.0 eV, and 1.3 eV for K2PdCl6, and K2PdBr6, respectively. The optical properties are calculated by dielectric constants, absorption coefficient, and their dependent parameters. The K2PdBr6 has an ideal absorption band for visible light solar cells. The thermoelectric performance has been analyzed by figure of merit (ZT). The positive Seebeck coefficient p-type nature with significantly high ZT (0.73, 0.74) at room temperature.
Roadmap on plasticity and epigenetics in cancer
Authors: Foo Jasmine , Basanta David , Rockne Russell C , Strelez Carly , Shah Curran , Ghaffarian Kimya , Mumenthaler Shannon M , Mitchell Kelly , Lathia Justin D , Frankhouser David , Branciamore Sergio , Kuo Ya-Huei , Marcucci Guido , Velde Robert Vander , Marusyk Andriy , Huang Sui , Hari Kishore , Jolly Mohit Kumar , Hatzikirou Haralampos , Poels Kamrine E , Spilker Mary E , Shtylla Blerta , Robertson-Tessi Mark , Anderson Alexander R A
Published: January 2022

The role of plasticity and epigenetics in shaping cancer evolution and response to therapy has taken center stage with recent technological advances including single cell sequencing. This roadmap article is focused on state-of-the-art mathematical and experimental approaches to interrogate plasticity in cancer, and addresses the following themes and questions: is there a formal overarching framework that encompasses both non-genetic plasticity and mutation-driven somatic evolution? How do we measure and model the role of the microenvironment in influencing/controlling non-genetic plasticity? How can we experimentally study non-genetic plasticity? Which mathematical techniques are required or best suited? What are the clinical and practical applications and implications of these concepts?
Recent progress in L–H transition studies at JET: tritium, helium, hydrogen and deuterium
Authors: Solano E.R. , Delabie E. , Birkenmeier G. , Silva C. , Hillesheim J.C. , Vincenzi P. , Nielsen A.H. , Rasmussen J.Juul , Baciero A. , Aleiferis S. , Balboa I. , Boboc A. , Bourdelle C. , Carvalho I.S. , Carvalho P. , Chernyshova M. , Coelho R. , Craciunescu T. , Dumont R. , Dumortier P. , Luna E.de la , Flanagan J. , Fontana M. , Fontdecaba J.M. , Frassinetti L. , Gallart D. , Garcia J. , Giovannozzi E. , Giroud C. , Gromelski W. , Henriques R. , Horvath L. , Jacquet P. , Jepu I. , Kappatou A. , Keeling D.L. , King D. , Kowalska-Strzęciwilk E. , Lennholm M. , Lerche E. , Litherland-Smith E. , Kiptily V. , Kirov K. , Loarte A. , Lomanowski B. , Maggi C.F. , Mantsinen M.J. , Manzanares A. , Maslov M. , Meigs A.G. , Monakhov I. , Morales R.B. , Nina D. , Noble C. , Parail V. , Diaz F.Parra , Pawelec E. , Pucella G. , Réfy D. , Righi-Steele E. , Rimini F.G. , Robinson T. , Saarelma S. , Sertoli M. , Shaw A. , Silburn S. , Sirén P. , Štancar Ž. , Sun H. , Szepesi G. , Taylor D. , Tholerus E. , Vartanian S. , Verdoolaege G. , Viola B. , Weisen H. , Wilson T. , Contributors JET
Published: January 2022

We present an overview of results from a series of L–H transition experiments undertaken at JET since the installation of the ITER-like-wall (JET-ILW), with beryllium wall tiles and a tungsten divertor. Tritium, helium and deuterium plasmas have been investigated. Initial results in tritium show ohmic L–H transitions at low density and the power threshold for the L–H transition (P
LH) is lower in tritium plasmas than in deuterium ones at low densities, while we still lack contrasted data to provide a scaling at high densities. In helium plasmas there is a notable shift of the density at which the power threshold is minimum (

n

¯

e
,
min

) to higher values relative to deuterium and hydrogen references. Above

n

¯

e
,
min

(He) the L–H power threshold at high densities is similar for D and He plasmas. Transport modelling in slab geometry shows that in helium neoclassical transport competes with interchange-driven transport, unlike in hydrogen isotopes. Measurements of the radial electric field in deuterium plasmas show that E
r shear is not a good indicator of proximity to the L–H transition. Transport analysis of ion heat flux in deuterium plasmas show a non-linearity as density is decreased below

n

¯

e
,
min

. Lastly, a regression of the JET-ILW deuterium data is compared to the 2008 ITPA scaling law.
Lightweight Design of Hinge Based on Topology Optimization
Authors: Gao Han , Xu Lei , Hu Yuanhao , Chen Shuliang
Published: January 2022

The topology optimization method has become an effective method to solve the structural optimization problem due to its advantages in weight reduction, material saving and cost reduction. Hinge is a commonly used connector with wide application occasions, large demand, and high reliability requirements. It needs to meet the strength requirements while carrying out lightweight design. In this paper, the refrigerator hinge is taken as the object, the topology optimization of the hinge is carried out by introducing manufacturing process constraints, the model is reconstructed according to the result of the topology optimization, and finally the reconstruction model is analyzed by finite element. The results show that under the premise that the hinge meets the requirements of strength, its own weight and maximum stress are reduced, and the weight reduction rate reaches 13.1%, which achieves the purpose of lightweight hinge design. This method can provide a basis for the evaluation and optimization of the initial design scheme of the hinge, and can also provide a way of thinking for the optimization of other structures.
Intelligent manufacturing of sanitary ceramics - Probe into dynamic mechanism of bottom mold extraction
Authors: Zhang Xi , Wen Min , Lv Huachao , Zhong Bo
Published: January 2022

Firstly, mention bottom and motivation mechanism in intelligent manufacturing sanitary ceramics society demand. Secondly, analysis extraction process, put forward the proposals mention bottom die extraction dynamic mechanism and measures for its implementation, again on the dynamic mechanism of the key position and function of the analysis shows that the introduced its structure, functions and features, its working principle. Finally, the feasibility and superiority of power mechanism are proved.
Manufacture Technologies for Magnetoactive Deployable Structures
Authors: Song Ruiyu
Published: January 2022

Nowadays, smart materials like magnetoactive materials are utilized to manufacture deployable structures, enabling these mechanisms to self-fold under external magnetic fields. Fabrication of magneto-sensitive deployable structures have evolved from using discrete magnets to applying 4D printing-an emerging technique. The new printing concept expands the application area of magnetoactive mechanisms because properties of them can be predetermined and precise arrangement of magnetic domains are realized. This review summarizes fabrication technologies for magnetoactive deployable structures, including 4D printing.
Force Balance of Particles in Water During Ultrafiltration Membrane Process
Authors: Yin Hao
Published: January 2022

Membrane filtration is vital in our daily lives to extract fresh water from contaminated water. However, membrane filtration is suffering from fouling, which is induced by accumulations of particles on membrane surface. Due to the hydraulic field and electrical field (from functional groups of membranes) near membrane surface, particle will be exerted by different forces. The intermolecular forces such as the Lateral lift force, Brownian force, shear-induced force, Van Der Waal force and electrostatic repulsion force may affect the fouling process, and the water flux inside the system cab exert permeance drag force to the particles near the surface of membrane. In order to figure out the forces that may affect the filtration process, a model was established about the filtration process. In the model, the velocities of the each forces are listed and calculated in this paper. From the analysis, the relations between the particle velocities, which represents the filtration efficiency, and the forces, such as lift or shear forces, are well illustrated. This article shows the importance of potentially understanding the fouling process and providing insight of fouling mitigation for the membrane filtration process.
Blocking Energy-Loss Pathways for Efficient All-Fluorescent Solution-processed Organic Light-emitting Diodes by Introducing Polymer Additive
Authors: Zhang Ming , Zheng Cai-Jun , Wang Kai , Lin Hui , Tao Si-Lu , Zhang Xiao-Hong
Published: January 2022

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence-sensitized conventional fluorescence dyes (TSCF) offer the possibility of realizing an ultimate high efficiency and long-term stability devices through solution process. However, the currently reported TSCF-OLEDs easily suffer the harmful Dexter energy transfer (DET) process and aggregation induced quenching (ACQ) effect. Herein, we proposed a new strategy to suppress the DET and ACQ effect by introducing a polymer material into TSCF system, achieving high efficiency and stability of TSCF-OLEDs. The introducing polymer material into TSCF system can not only increase the intermolecular distance between TADF matrix and traditional dyes, further restraining the harmful DET process and ACQ effect, but also improve the solubility and film quality of all TSCF system. Based on this fact, the 2-(2,7-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-9,9-dimethylacridin-10(9H)-yl)dibenzo[b, d]thiophene 5,5-dioxide (2Cz-DMAC-BTB) sensitizing 2,8-Di-tert-butyl-5,11-bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)-6,12-diphenyltetracene (TBRb) solution-processed device Y2 with poly ethlene oxide (PEO) was firstly fabricated and exhibits a higher maximum EQE of 6.6 % and longer half time (LT50) of 64 hours comparing to that of Y1 without PEO. Subsequently, the TSCF-solution-processed device R2 with PEO shows a maximum EQEmax of 13.1 % and LT50 of 107 hours. These results adequately demonstrate the validity of our proposed strategy and provide a new route for developing more efficient all-fluorescent solution-processed TSCF-OLEDs.
Study on graphitization of anthracite and petroleum coke catalyzed by boric acid
Authors: Yang Jinlin , Xu Wenzhe , Xu Shuo , Ma Shaojian
Published: January 2022

Graphite carbon materials have excellent properties and are widely used. Traditional artificial graphite has high energy consumption and high cost, so reducing the energy consumption of artificial graphite has become a research hotspot in recent years. The effect of boric acid on the graphitization of anthracite and petroleum coke was studied, and the parameters such as boric acid content, roasting temperature and holding time were investigated in this paper. The results show that the optimum dosage of boric acid for graphitization of anthracite is 7.5%, and that of catalyst for graphitization of petroleum coke is 5%. The effect of roasting temperature on the graphitization of anthracite and petroleum coke catalyzed by boric acid is remarkable. The best temperature is 1400°C. Roasting holding time has positive effect on the graphitization of anthracite and petroleum coke catalyzed by boric acid. The best roasting holding time is 120min. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the highest graphitization degree of anthracite and petroleum coke catalyzed by boric acid are 23.58% and 23.56%, respectively. The effect of boric acid on anthracite is better than that of petroleum coke.
A Study Focusing on the Preparation and Application of New-mode Electrode Materials for Water Hardness Measurement
Authors: Xie Guoli , Ma Yue , Lu Peng , Cao Qiguang , Li Song , Chen Hongmei , Xing Linnan , Zheng Mingyue , Yang Dongqing , Ming Lang
Published: January 2022

This paper aimed to study the calcium ion selective electrode, based on using PVC as the electrode carrier and didecyl calcium phosphate which was synthesized from decanol, phosphorus oxytrichloride, pyridine and calcium chloride as the electroactive substance. This paper mainly focused on the study and the fabrication process of both the electrode diaphragm and electrode, with conducting the performance test of the newly developed electrode. The results showed that the response time of the developed water hardness sensor was 2-5 s, which had good response characteristics and was suitable for fast and portable testing of water hardness in environmental testing. There was no significant difference between this water hardness sensor method and the national standard method. When the water temperature varies between 10 and 60 Centigrade, the influence of temperature on the data of the water hardness sensor was very small, and the water hardness sensor had good stability to test the temperature change.
Effect of carbonization temperature of carbon felt on removal of methylene blue: carbon felt as the cathode of Electro-Fenton system
Authors: Chai Changsheng , Xu Hu , Zhao Chengwen , Guo Hongkai , Li Na , Lin Xueyong , Xu Weijun
Published: January 2022

The surface properties of carbon fiber have been regarded as the critical factor for 2-electron oxygen reduction (ORR) and degradation of organic pollution in Eletro-Fenton process. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of carbonization temperature on the performance of carbon felt as the cathode for degradation methylene blue (MB). This work was adopted carbon felt that obtained at the carbonization temperature of 1050, 1600, 2000 °C respectively, comparison of the electrogeneration of H2O2 and MB removal rate at pH 3. Compared with CF-B and CF-C, high-yield H2O2 production (38.9 mg L−1, 1.3 mg h−1 cm−2) and high-degradation rate of MB (96.7%, kinetics constant: 0.0623 min−1) in CF-A system have been achieved. The hydrophilic was carried by water contact angle test, indicated that the inert of surface: CF-C > CF-B > CF-A. The disorder degree of surface was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, and in combination with CV and LSV tests, revealed the ORR catalysis properties of different types cathode. This study suggested that lower temperature of carbonization was in favour of carbon felt as the Electro-Fenton cathode to degenerate organic pollution.
Study on mildew of polycarboxylic acid water reducing agent
Authors: Lai Huazhen , Chen Hao , Lin Zhiqun
Published: January 2022

In practical applications, polycarboxylic acid water-reducing agents are susceptible to microbial contamination and mildew. Through the mold test on the polycarboxylate water-reducing agent with different storage time, the effect of reaction temperature, chain transfer agent type, solid content, compound components and preservatives on the mildew of the polycarboxylate water-reducing agent is studied. The research results can provide technical guidance for long-term storage of polycarboxylic acid superplasticizer and have important application significance.
Study on compression load and energy absorption characteristics of glass fiber honeycomb tube
Authors: Wu Linhua , Zhang Zhendong , Zhang Qi , Le Guigao
Published: January 2022

In terms of the deficiency of the existing research on the compression load and energy absorption characteristics of composite structures, a glass fiber honeycomb tube with different thickness and different cell number was proposed. The static compression test was carried out by universal testing machine. The results show that the failure forms of honeycomb tube are fiber fracture damage, fiber layer delamination and their composite forms. The peak compression load and total energy absorption increase with the increase of cell number and thickness, and the specific energy absorption increase only with the increase of thickness. The compression peak load of single-cell honeycomb tube with wall thickness of 0.4 mm is the smallest, which is 2.21 KN; and the compression peak load of eight-cell honeycomb tube with wall thickness of 1.2 mm is the largest, which is 91.48 KN. The corresponding total energy absorption is 25.16 J and 2257.57 J respectively; the corresponding specific energy absorption is 8.38 J/g and 45.06 J/g respectively.
Calculation and analysis of sea-fastening support and welding strength of topside module
Authors: Ma Yuying , Chen Guang
Published: January 2022

Marine structures are usually built on land as a whole modular, using barges to transport to the designated area for installation. This paper presents the sea-fastening design methodology and results of the topside module which is to be transported by self-propelled barge. The combination of its self-weight, wind load and barge acceleration in waves will act on the topside module and barge in the process of marine transportation, this paper mainly analyzes and calculates the temporary support frame and the grillage members of the topside module by SACS software. Then the top plates and the base plates transmit the member end forces of sea-fastening grillage members taken from SACS output, in order to ensure the strength, the bracket plates are welded to the grillage columns, braces and the bottom of temporary support frame. The strength of all fillet welds shall be checked.
Simplified Model and Simulation Analysis of Ferrite Hollow Bead Coating Based on Computer Aided Design Method
Authors: Hou Yong-shen
Published: January 2022

When ferrite hollow beads were made into coating materials, because ferrite hollow beads had hollow internal structure and conductive and magnetic ball wall, ferrite hollow beads have typical resonant ball characteristics in structure. The absorbing coating composed of numerous ferrite hollow beads could be considered as a resonant absorber. With the rapid development of information technology, especially computer technology, the introduction of computer simulation technology can often save experimental costs and reduce the blindness of experiments. Therefore, in order to comply with this development trend, this chapter will establish the absorber model of ferrite hollow bead coating based on HFSS (high frequency simulator structure) electromagnetic simulation software, and qualitatively analyze the relationship between the thickness of ferrite hollow bead coating and the resonant frequency of absorber and the distribution state of electromagnetic field inside the coating through the of computer simulation software.
Research on linear parameter varying modeling method of ball screw feed system
Authors: Liu Minghao , Sun Xuan , Zhang Baixing , Qi Kaixuan , Lv Xiangyu , Shi Chenglin
Published: January 2022

To realize the accurate motion control of the ball screw feed system, it is necessary to establish a reasonable dynamic model. However, the dynamic characteristics of the ball screw feed system are time-varying and nonlinear in practice. Therefore, a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) modeling method is proposed. Firstly, the rigid body model considering the mechanical and electrical characteristics and the flexible body model considering the change of table position and workpiece mass are established, and the model parameters are further identified. Then, the LPV model is established based on the rigid body model and flexible body model. Finally, the LPV model is proved to be able to well characterize the time-varying dynamic characteristics of the ball screw feed system, which is proved by simulation experiment of modal analysis.
Probabilistic modeling of crop-yield loss risk under drought: a spatial showcase for sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Kamali Bahareh , Jahanbakhshi Farshid , Dogaru Diana , Dietrich Jörg , Nendel Claas , AghaKouchak Amir
Published: January 2022

Assessing the risk of yield loss in African drought-affected regions is key to identify feasible solutions for stable crop production. Recent studies have demonstrated that Copula-based probabilistic methods are well suited for such assessment owing to reasonably inferring important properties in terms of exceedance probability and joint dependence of different characterization. However, insufficient attention has been given to quantifying the probability of yield loss and determining the contribution of climatic factors. This study applies the Copula theory to describe the dependence between drought and crop yield anomalies for rainfed maize, millet, and sorghum crops in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The environmental policy integrated climate model, calibrated with Food and Agriculture Organization country-level yield data, was used to simulate yields across SSA (1980–2012). The results showed that the severity of yield loss due to drought had a higher magnitude than the severity of drought itself. Sensitivity analysis to identify factors contributing to drought and high-temperature stresses for all crops showed that the amount of precipitation during vegetation and grain filling was the main driver of crop yield loss, and the effect of temperature was stronger for sorghum than for maize and millet. The results demonstrate the added value of probabilistic methods for drought-impact assessment. For future studies, we recommend looking into factors influencing drought and high-temperature stresses as individual/concurrent climatic extremes.
Quantifying the regional stranded asset risks from new coal plants under 1.5 °C
Authors: Edwards Morgan R , Cui Ryna , Bindl Matilyn , Hultman Nathan , Mathur Krinjal , McJeon Haewon , Iyer Gokul , Song Jiawei , Zhao Alicia
Published: January 2022

Momentum to phase out unabated coal use is growing globally. This transition is critical to meeting the Paris climate goals but can potentially lead to large amounts of stranded assets, especially in regions with newer and growing coal fleets. Here we combine plant-level data with a global integrated assessment model to quantify changes in global stranded asset risks from coal-fired power plants across regions and over time. With new plant proposals, cancellations, and retirements over the past five years, global net committed emissions in 2030 from existing and planned coal plants declined by 3.3 GtCO2 (25%). While these emissions are now roughly in line with initial Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, they remain far off track from longer-term climate goals. Progress made in 2021 towards no new coal can potentially avoid a 24% (503 GW) increase in capacity and a 55% ($520 billion) increase in stranded assets under 1.5 °C. Stranded asset risks fall disproportionately on emerging Asian economies with newer and growing coal fleets. Recent no new coal commitments from major coal financers can potentially reduce stranding of international investments by over 50%.
Taking leads out of nature, can nano deliver us from COVID-like pandemics?
Authors: Kaur Navneet , Sharma Priyanka , Aditya Adrija , Shanavas Asifkhan
Published: January 2022

The COVID-19 crisis has alerted the research community to re-purpose scientific tools that can effectively manage emergency pandemic situations. Researchers were never so desperate to discover a ‘magic bullet’ that has significant clinical benefits with minimal or no side effects. At the beginning of the pandemic, due to restricted access to traditional laboratory techniques, many research groups delved into computational screening of thousands of lead molecules that could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 at one or more stages of its infectious cycle. Severalin silicostudies on natural derivatives point out their potency against SARS-CoV-2 proteins. However, theoretical predictions and existing knowledge on related molecules reflect their poor oral bioavailability due to biotransformation in the gut and liver. Nanotechnology has evolved into a key field for precise and controlled delivery of various drugs that lack aqueous solubility, have low oral bioavailability and possess pronounced toxicity in their native form. In this review, we discuss various nanoformulations of natural products with favorable ADME properties, and also briefly explore nano-drug delivery to lungs, the primary site of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Natural products are also envisioned to augment nanotechnology-based (1) personnel protective equipment forex vivoviral inactivation and (2) wearable sensors that perform rapid and non-invasive analysis of volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath of the infected person after therapeutic food consumption.
Study of the fast electron behavior in electron cyclotron current driven plasma on J-TEXT
Authors: ZHANG Xiaobo , YAN Wei , CHEN Zhongyong , FANG Jiangang , ZHANG Junli , LI You , CHEN Xixuan , WEI Yunong , TONG Ruihai , LIN Zhifang , ZHONG Yu , MOU Lingke , LI Feng , ZHANG Weikang , WANG Lu , XIA Donghui , JIANG Zhonghe , YANG Zhoujun , WANG Nengchao , CHEN Zhipeng , DING Yonghua , LIANG Yunfeng , PAN Yan
Published: January 2022

In J-TEXT tokamak, fast electron bremsstrahlung diagnostic with 9 chords equipped with multi-channel analyzer enables detailed studies of the generation and transport of fast electrons. The spatial profiles and energy spectrum of the fast electrons have been measured in two ECCD cases with either on-axis or off-axis injection, and the profiles processed by Abel-inversion are consistent with the calculated power deposition locations. Moreover, it is observed that the energy of fast electrons increases rapidly after turning off the ECCD, which may be attributed to the acceleration by the recovered loop voltage at low electron density.
Roadmap on topological photonics
Authors: Price Hannah , Chong Yidong , Khanikaev Alexander , Schomerus Henning , Maczewsky Lukas J , Kremer Mark , Heinrich Matthias , Szameit Alexander , Zilberberg Oded , Yang Yihao , Zhang Baile , Alù Andrea , Thomale Ronny , Carusotto Iacopo , St-Jean Philippe , Amo Alberto , Dutt Avik , Yuan Luqi , Fan Shanhui , Yin Xuefan , Peng Chao , Ozawa Tomoki , Blanco-Redondo Andrea
Published: January 2022

Topological photonics seeks to control the behaviour of the light through the design of protected topological modes in photonic structures. While this approach originated from studying the behaviour of electrons in solid-state materials, it has since blossomed into a field that is at the very forefront of the search for new topological types of matter. This can have real implications for future technologies by harnessing the robustness of topological photonics for applications in photonics devices. This roadmap surveys some of the main emerging areas of research within topological photonics, with a special attention to questions in fundamental science, which photonics is in an ideal position to address. Each section provides an overview of the current and future challenges within a part of the field, highlighting the most exciting opportunities for future research and developments.
‘It is designed for everybody to find their own level and to improve themselves’; views of older people and instructors of the Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme
Authors: Gumber Leher , Timmons Stephen , Coupland Carol , Gladman John R F , Iliffe Steve , Kendrick Denise , Lafond Natasher , Logan Pip , Masud Tahir , Skelton Dawn A , Timblin Clare , Orton Elizabeth
Published: January 2022

Background

Older adults are at increased risk of falls due to ageing, decreased muscle strength and impaired balance. Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of the Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme in improving functioning and preventing falls. However, programme completion is often low, impacting the potential benefits of FaME.

Objective

To explore the barriers and facilitators for participation and completion of the FaME programme from an instructor and participant perspective.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 FaME users and seven Postural Stability Instructors from the East Midlands region of England, UK. Interviews were conducted using a topic guide and explored their views of the programme, intended benefits, reasons for participating, instructor’s approach and venue facilities. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and instructors.

Results

Common themes identified by participants and instructors for adherence related to perceived health benefits, psychological well-being, intervention characteristics, cost, instructors’ qualities, opportunity to socialise, venue accessibility and facilities. Further factors such as maintaining independence, discipline, relationship with peers and caring responsibilities influenced participants’ engagement with the programme. Instructor factors such as progression were also reported as important predictors.

Conclusions

Instructor and participant factors influence uptake, attendance and adherence of FaME. The findings from this study can inform the development and improvement of additional falls-prevention programmes. It can also guide marketing strategies to promote uptake of exercise-based falls-prevention programmes among older adults.
‘Unprepared for the depth of my feelings’ - Capturing grief in older people through research poetry
Authors: Gerber Katrin , Brijnath Bianca , Lock Kayla , Bryant Christina , Hills Danny , Hjorth Larissa
Published: January 2022

Background

Older people are more likely to experience bereavements than any other age group. However, in healthcare and society, their grief experiences and support needs receive limited attention. Through innovative, arts-based research poetry, this study aimed to capture older people’s bereavement stories and the effects of grief on their physical and mental health.

Method

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 18 bereaved older adults were analysed using thematic and poetic narrative analysis, following a five-step approach of immersion, creation, critical reflection, ethics and engagement.

Results

Research poems were used to illustrate three themes of bereavement experiences among older adults: feeling unprepared, accumulation of losses and ripple effects of grief. While half of participants reported that the death of their family member was expected, many felt unprepared despite having experienced multiple bereavements throughout their life. Instead, the accumulation of losses had a compounding effect on their health and well-being. While these ripple effects of grief focussed on emotional and mental health consequences, many also reported physical health effects like the onset of a new condition or the worsening of an existing one. In its most extreme form, grief was connected with a perceived increased mortality risk.

Conclusions

By using poetry to draw attention to the intense and often long-lasting effects of grief on older people’s health and well-being, this article offers emotional, engaging and immersive insights into their unique bereavement experiences and thereby challenges the notion that grief has an expiry date.
SAM-TB: a whole genome sequencing data analysis website for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance and transmission
Authors: Yang Tingting , Gan Mingyu , Liu Qingyun , Liang Wenying , Tang Qiqin , Luo Geyang , Zuo Tianyu , Guo Yongchao , Hong Chuangyue , Li Qibing , Tan Weiguo , Gao Qian
Published: January 2022

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) can provide insight into drug-resistance, transmission chains and the identification of outbreaks, but data analysis remains an obstacle to its routine clinical use. Although several drug-resistance prediction tools have appeared, until now no website integrates drug-resistance prediction with strain genetic relationships and species identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). We have established a free, function-rich, user-friendly online platform for MTB WGS data analysis (SAM-TB, http://samtb.szmbzx.com) that integrates drug-resistance prediction for 17 antituberculosis drugs, detection of variants, analysis of genetic relationships and NTM species identification. The accuracy of SAM-TB in predicting drug-resistance was assessed using 3177 sequenced clinical isolates with results of phenotypic drug-susceptibility tests (pDST). Compared to pDST, the sensitivity of SAM-TB for detecting multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was 93.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 92.6–95.1%] with specificity of 96.2% (95% CI 95.2–97.1%). SAM-TB also analyzes the genetic relationships between multiple strains by reconstructing phylogenetic trees and calculating pairwise single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) distances to identify genomic clusters. The incorporated mlstverse software identifies NTM species with an accuracy of 98.2% and Kraken2 software can detect mixed MTB and NTM samples. SAM-TB also has the capacity to share both sequence data and analysis between users. SAM-TB is a multifunctional integrated website that uses WGS raw data to accurately predict antituberculosis drug-resistance profiles, analyze genetic relationships between multiple strains and identify NTM species and mixed samples containing both NTM and MTB. SAM-TB is a useful tool for guiding both treatment and epidemiological investigation.
Cross-dependent graph neural networks for molecular property prediction
Authors: Ma Hehuan , Bian Yatao , Rong Yu , Huang Wenbing , Xu Tingyang , Xie Weiyang , Ye Geyan , Huang Junzhou
Published: January 2022

Motivation

The crux of molecular property prediction is to generate meaningful representations of the molecules. One promising route is to exploit the molecular graph structure through graph neural networks (GNNs). Both atoms and bonds significantly affect the chemical properties of a molecule, so an expressive model ought to exploit both node (atom) and edge (bond) information simultaneously. Inspired by this observation, we explore the multi-view modeling with GNN (MVGNN) to form a novel paralleled framework, which considers both atoms and bonds equally important when learning molecular representations. In specific, one view is atom-central and the other view is bond-central, then the two views are circulated via specifically designed components to enable more accurate predictions. To further enhance the expressive power of MVGNN, we propose a cross-dependent message-passing scheme to enhance information communication of different views. The overall framework is termed as CD-MVGNN.

Results

We theoretically justify the expressiveness of the proposed model in terms of distinguishing non-isomorphism graphs. Extensive experiments demonstrate that CD-MVGNN achieves remarkably superior performance over the state-of-the-art models on various challenging benchmarks. Meanwhile, visualization results of the node importance are consistent with prior knowledge, which confirms the interpretability power of CD-MVGNN.

Availability and implementation

The code and data underlying this work are available in GitHub at https://github.com/uta-smile/CD-MVGNN.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
SCONCE: a method for profiling copy number alterations in cancer evolution using single-cell whole genome sequencing
Authors: Hui Sandra , Nielsen Rasmus
Published: January 2022

Motivation

Copy number alterations (CNAs) are a significant driver in cancer growth and development, but remain poorly characterized on the single cell level. Although genome evolution in cancer cells is Markovian through evolutionary time, CNAs are not Markovian along the genome. However, existing methods call copy number profiles with Hidden Markov Models or change point detection algorithms based on changes in observed read depth, corrected by genome content and do not account for the stochastic evolutionary process.

Results

We present a theoretical framework to use tumor evolutionary history to accurately call CNAs in a principled manner. To model the tumor evolutionary process and account for technical noise from low coverage single-cell whole genome sequencing data, we developed SCONCE, a method based on a Hidden Markov Model to analyze read depth data from tumor cells using matched normal cells as negative controls. Using a combination of public data sets and simulations, we show SCONCE accurately decodes copy number profiles, and provides a useful tool for understanding tumor evolution.

Availabilityand implementation

SCONCE is implemented in C++11 and is freely available from https://github.com/NielsenBerkeleyLab/sconce.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Surgical method to prevent early death of neonatal rat pups with Hirschsprung disease, thus permitting development of long-term therapeutic approaches
Authors: Stamp Lincon A , Lei Enie , Liew Jamie J M , Pustovit Ruslan V , Hao Marlene M , Croaker David H , Furness John B , Adams Cameron D
Published: January 2022

Hirschsprung disease occurs when children are born with no intrinsic nerve cells in varying lengths of the large intestine. In the most severe cases, neurons are also missing from the distal part of the small intestine. Nerve-mediated relaxation of the aganglionic bowel fails and fecal matter accumulates in the more proximal regions of the intestine. This is life threatening. Perforation of the bowel can ensue, causing sepsis and in some cases, death of the infant. Repopulation of the colon with neural stem cells is a potential therapy, but for this to be successful the patient or experimental animal needs to survive long enough for neural precursors to differentiate and make appropriate connections. We have developed a surgical procedure that can be applied to rats with Hirschsprung disease. A stoma was created to allow the normal bowel to empty and a second stoma leading to the aganglionic bowel was also created. This allowed homozygous mutants that would usually die at less than 3 weeks of age to survive into adulthood. During this time, the rats also required post-operative care of their stomas. The interventions we describe provide an animal model of Hirschsprung disease that is suited to assess the effectiveness of cell therapies in the treatment of this condition.
Semisupervised Calibration of Risk with Noisy Event Times (SCORNET) using electronic health record data
Authors: Ahuja Yuri , Liang Liang , Zhou Doudou , Huang Sicong , Cai Tianxi
Published: January 2022

Leveraging large-scale electronic health record (EHR) data to estimate survival curves for clinical events can enable more powerful risk estimation and comparative effectiveness research. However, use of EHR data is hindered by a lack of direct event time observations. Occurrence times of relevant diagnostic codes or target disease mentions in clinical notes are at best a good approximation of the true disease onset time. On the other hand, extracting precise information on the exact event time requires laborious manual chart review and is sometimes altogether infeasible due to a lack of detailed documentation. Current status labels—binary indicators of phenotype status during follow-up—are significantly more efficient and feasible to compile, enabling more precise survival curve estimation given limited resources. Existing survival analysis methods using current status labels focus almost entirely on supervised estimation, and naive incorporation of unlabeled data into these methods may lead to biased estimates. In this article, we propose Semisupervised Calibration of Risk with Noisy Event Times (SCORNET), which yields a consistent and efficient survival function estimator by leveraging a small set of current status labels and a large set of informative features. In addition to providing theoretical justification of SCORNET, we demonstrate in both simulation and real-world EHR settings that SCORNET achieves efficiency akin to the parametric Weibull regression model, while also exhibiting semi-nonparametric flexibility and relatively low empirical bias in a variety of generative settings.
Excision and suture in the midline versus Karydakis flap surgery for pilonidal sinus: randomized clinical trial
Authors: Hemmingsson Oskar , Binnermark Felix , Odensten Christoffer , Rutegård Martin , Franklin Karl A. , Haapamäki Markku M.
Published: January 2022

Background

There are several surgical options for the management of pilonidal disease, including midline and off midline closure, but prospective studies are rare. The study hypothesis was that Karydakis flap surgery would result in shorter wound healing and fewer recurrences than excision of pilonidal sinus and suture in the midline.

Methods

A randomized clinical trial was conducted in two hospitals in Sweden between 2006 and 2015 to compare excision and suture in the midline with Karydakis flap surgery. Adult patients with a chronic pilonidal sinus disease were randomized 1:1 at the outpatient clinic without blinding. Power calculation based on recurrence of 2 per cent for Karydakis flap and 10 per cent for excision and primary closure in the midline required 400 patients with 90 per cent statistical power at 5 per cent significance assuming 10 per cent loss during follow-up. Participants were followed up until complete wound healing; late follow-up after 6–13 years was performed by telephone by two blinded assessors. The two co-primary outcomes were time to complete wound healing and recurrence rate.

Results

The study was terminated early at a planned interim analysis due slow recruitment and a significant difference in primary outcome. In total, 125 patients were randomized, of whom 116 were available for the present analysis. Median wound healing time was 49 days (95 per cent confidence interval (c.i.) 32 to 66) for excision with suture in the midline and 14 days (95 per cent c.i. 12 to 20) for Karydakis flap surgery (P < 0.001). There were five recurrences in each group, after a median follow-up of 11 years (P = 0.753).

Conclusion

Karydakis flap surgery for pilonidal sinus disease led to a shorter wound healing time than excision and suture in the midline but no difference in recurrence rates.

Registration number: NCT00412659 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)
‘The WOW factors’: comparing workforce organization and well-being for doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics in England
Authors: Taylor Cath , Mattick Karen , Carrieri Daniele , Cox Anna , Maben Jill
Published: January 2022

Background

High rates of poor mental health in healthcare staff threatens the quality and sustainability of healthcare delivery. Multi-factorial causes include the nature and structure of work. We conducted a critical review of UK NHS (England) data pertaining to: doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics.

Sources of data

Key demographic, service architecture (structural features of work) and well-being indicators were identified and reviewed by a stakeholder group. Data searching prioritized NHS whole workforce sources (focusing on hospital and community health services staff), which were rated according to strength of evidence.

Findings

Key differences between professions were: (i) demographics: gender (nursing and midwifery female-dominated, doctors and paramedics more balanced); age (professions other than doctors had ageing workforces); ethnicity (greater diversity among doctors and nurses); (ii) service architecture: despite net staffing growth, turnover and retention were problematic in all professions; 41.5% doctors were consultants but smaller proportions held high grade/band roles in other professions; salaries were higher for doctors; (iii) well-being: all reported high job stress, particularly midwives and paramedics; sickness absence rates for nurses, midwives and paramedics were three times those of doctors, and presenteeism nearly double.

Growing points

Sociocultural factors known to increase risk of poor mental health may explain some of the differences reported between professions. These factors and differences in service architecture are vital considerations when designing strategies to improve well-being.

Areas timely for developing research

Multi-level systems approaches to well-being are required that consider intersectionality and structural differences between professions; together with inter-professional national databases to facilitate monitoring.