bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A critique of length and bias dependent constraints for 1T-DRAM operation through RFET
Authors: Nirala Rohit Kumar , Semwal Sandeep , Kranti Abhinav
Published: August 2022

Capacitorless dynamic memory (one transistor dynamic random access memory (1T-DRAM)) operation in a reconfigurable field effect transistor (RFET) is critically governed by different lengths associated with the architecture. These lengths consisting of ungated region (L
UG), control gate (L
CG), polarity gate (L
PG), storage region length (L
S), and total length (L
T) can be sensitive to the fabrication process, and hence, critical for 1T-DRAM. This work presents an insightful critique of the above mentioned lengths for realising optimal 1T-DRAM performance. It is shown that RFET with highest values of L
S/L
T and L
CG/L
T shows good short channel immunity but does not necessarily ensure enhanced 1T-DRAM metrics. Results indicate that for a fixed L
T, retention time can vary over a wide range (550 ms to 8.7 s) depending on the values of L
S/L
T and L
CG/L
T, and hence, appropriate optimization is imperative. The work contributes towards better understanding and optimizing L
CG/L
T to ensure improved 1T-DRAM metrics in terms of enhanced retention (>64 ms), acceptable sense margin (>6 µA µm−1), current ratio (>104) with low values of read (2 ns) and write (1 ns) time to further extend multi-functional facets of nanoscale RFETs for memory applications. In addition, the effect of traps, process sensitivity, reduced number of voltage levels, and disturbance caused by shared word line (WL)/bit line (BL) are also analysed in this work. Results indicate that state ‘0’ of the cell sharing BL with the selected cell is strongly affected by BL disturbance. WL disturbance primarily impacts state ‘1’ of the cell sharing WL with selected cell (only for write 1 and read operations).
Electroweak physics at LHCb
Authors: Zuliani Davide
Published: August 2022

The Electroweak (EW) Theory is one of the most important and well-known pillars of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Possible signs of New Physics could appear in the EW sector, therefore requiring the SM to be extended. EW physics can be probed at the LHCb experiment, which is a general purpose forward detector that offers unique opportunities to do studies in the forward region. Its excellent vertex and track reconstruction system allows to perform several measurements of perturbative QCD physics in a region unexplored by other experiments. In this paper the latest EW physics analyses performed at LHCb studying pp collisions during Run 1 and Run 2 are presented.
Fringe visibility and correlation in Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter
Authors: Liu Yan-Jun , Wang Mei-Ya , Xiang Zhong-Cheng , Wu Hai-Bin
Published: August 2022

We study the wave–particle duality in a general Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter from the viewpoint of quantum information theory. The correlations (including the classical correlation and the quantum correlation) between the particle and the which-path detector are derived when they are in pure state or mixed state at the output of Mach–Zehnder interferometer. It is found that the fringe visibility and the correlations are effected by the asymmetric beam splitter and the input state of the particle. The complementary relations between the fringe visibility and the correlations are also presented.
Is the ‘water tower’ reassuring? Viewing water security of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from the perspective of ecosystem services ‘supply-flow-demand’
Authors: Liu Jingya , Qin Keyu , Xie Gaodi , Xiao Yu , Huang Mengdong , Gan Shuang
Published: August 2022

Ecosystem service flow plays a vital role in the formation, transportation, transformation, and maintenance of ecosystem services. For ecosystem services with spatiotemporal mismatch of supply and demand, ecosystem service flow explains the integrated process of ‘supply-flow-demand’ of ecosystem services. The present study evaluates the supply and demand of ecosystem water provision services in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and simulates the spatial flow pattern and transmission mechanism of water provision services. Additionally, the study establishes dynamic and static water security indices and identify water security level to quantify the water resources security of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under the changing ecological environment. The research shows: (a) the annual total water surplus were 6.71 × 1011 m3, 8.43 × 1011 m3, 7.86 × 1011 m3 and 2.91 × 1011 m3. The supply–demand relationship of water provisioning service in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shows an obvious oversupply condition; (b) The water security level of the plateau is high (level V and level IV), indicating that the water security status of the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau is under good condition, however, the area with low-security levels (Level I and Level II) is increasing. (c) From the perspective of ‘supply-demand-flow’ of ecosystem services, although the function of the water tower on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau has declined, it remained safe condition on the whole study area. The method of establishing spatial correlation between mismatched supply and demand of ecosystem services and evaluating regional water security based on ecosystem service flow constructed in this study presents the water security status and spatial distribution of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau more scientifically, providing a reference for water resource management in other regions.
The SAGEX review on scattering amplitudes Chapter 9: Integrability of amplitudes in fishnet theories
Authors: Chicherin Dmitry , Korchemsky Gregory P
Published: August 2022

We discuss the properties of scattering amplitudes in a conformal bi-scalar fishnet theory that previously appeared in the study of integrable deformations of

N
=
4

SYM. In distinction with the latter theory, the scattering amplitudes in the conformal fishnet theory do not suffer from infrared divergences and possess enhanced symmetries. We demonstrate that for the simplest four-particle scattering the single- and double-trace partial amplitudes can be computed for arbitrary coupling in the leading color approximation. We also review the invariance of single-trace components of multi-particle fishnet amplitudes in the planar limit under infinite-dimensional Yangian symmetry.
Possible future movement of the Hu line based on IPCC CMIP6 scenarios
Authors: Zheng Shijun , Pan Yuhao , Yu Le , Liu Shengwei , Peng Dailiang
Published: August 2022

Whether the Hu line will move into west China is a serious issue that has implications for socioeconomic development, human geography and the environment. Based on the data related to four different levels of radiative forcing detailed in CMIP6, in this study, we analyzed the trends in precipitation and NPP (net primary productivity) on both sides of the Hu line and the ‘Central Spine of Beautiful China’ and calculated how far the 400 mm iso-precipitation line and the equivalent NPP line will shift westward to explore the possibility of Hu line movement. The results show that, under all four scenarios, both the precipitation and NPP on the west side of the Hu line will increase significantly. The central spine could help to connect the eastern and western parts of the China and reduce the development imbalance between them. The 400 mm iso-precipitation line and the equivalent NPP line will move westward significantly by 2100 (Average moving distance more than 150 km for precipitation and 300 km for NPP) and lie across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau; the increases in precipitation and NPP within the ‘Central Spine of Beautiful China’ will be greater than those in the west of China. In addition, using population data under four SSPs, we also analyzed the population distribution changes based on Hu line under the influence of futural socioeconomic developments. All these results demonstrate that there will be a possibility of the Hu line moving into west China in the future.
On a mathematical model of a repressilator
Authors: Glyzin S. , Kolesov A. , Rozov N.
Published: August 2022

A mathematical model of the simplest three-link oscillatory gene network, the so-called repressilator, is considered. This model is a nonlinear singularly perturbed system of three ordinary differential equations. The existence and stability of a relaxation periodic solution invariant with respect to cyclic permutations of coordinates are investigated for this system.
A new characterization of GCD domains of formal power series
Authors: Hamed A.
Published: August 2022

By using the

v
v

-operation, a new characterization of the property for a power series ring to be a GCD domain is discussed. It is shown that if

D
D

is a

UFD
\operatorname {UFD}

, then

D\lBrack X\rBrack is a GCD domain if and only if for any two integral

v
v

-invertible

v
v

-ideals

I
I

and

J
J

of

D\lBrack X\rBrack such that

(
I
J

)

0

≠
(
0
)
,

(IJ)_{0}\neq (0),

we have

(
(
I
J

)

0

)

v

((IJ)_{0})_{v}

=
(
(
I
J

)

v

)

0

,

= ((IJ)_{v})_{0},

where

I
0

=
{
f
(
0
)
∣
f
∈
I
}

I_0=\{f(0) \mid f\in I\}

. This shows that if

D
D

is a GCD domain such that

D\lBrack X\rBrack is a

π
\pi

-domain, then

D\lBrack X\rBrack is a GCD domain.
Parent Communication and Decision Making About Firearm Storage
Authors: Kroshus Emily , Kesner Todd , Steiner Mary Kathleen , Rivara Frederick P
Published: August 2022

Background

Many youths in the United States have access to an unlocked firearm in their home, and accidental discharge of unlocked firearms is a prevalent cause of pediatric injury and death. Discussions between adult family members have the potential to positively influence firearm storage practices.

Purpose

In families with two parenting adults, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) firearms will be more likely to be stored locked and unloaded when both parties are involved in the storage decision, and (2) both parties will be more likely to be involved in the storage decision when they have better relationship functioning and less avoidant communication.

Methods

Cross-sectional survey using a stratified random sample of an area probability- and address-based panel. Participants were 749 adults aged 18–64 living in the United States with firearms and children in their households.

Results

Overall, 62% of families stored guns locked and unloaded and in 55% both parenting adults were highly involved in storage-related decision making. Families where both parties were highly involved in these decisions had 1.65 times the odds of storing firearms safely (95% CI = 1.21–2.27). Odds of both being highly involved in these decisions were much lower in partnerships with more avoidant communication (OR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.08–0.32) and higher in partnerships with more relationship satisfaction (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.05–1.12).

Conclusions

Safe storage is most likely when both parenting adults are involved in the storage decision. Further research is needed to determine how to support productive within-family communication and decision making about this issue.
Making Disappearance Visible
Authors: Ramos Marco Antonio
Published: August 2022

Across the global South during the Cold War, US-sponsored regimes “disappeared” thousands of people through imprisonment, murder, and torture to stem the tide of Communism. This essay turns to disappearance as a case study for opening up a new direction in the historical study of violence. Rather than focusing on what violence did in the past—its causes and consequences—I present an ontological method for analyzing the reality of terror, for tackling the question of what violence was. In the 1970s, the reality of disappearance shifted across time and place, emerging as a human rights violation in Europe, then as a biomedical syndrome, and finally as a “haunting” in Argentina. These multiple realities were constituted through material practices along postcolonial networks, from forensic analysis of gravesites to psychological work with survivors. This essay traces how these practices fixed the reality of disappearance—the kind of “thing” it was—which determined the meaning of justice in the wake of terror. Ontology raises pressing questions about how violence's reality gets made today and who has the right to speak for victims, like the disappeared, who cannot speak for themselves.
A Capitol Orchard
Authors: Thornton Michael
Published: August 2022

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the ethnic Japanese (wajin) population of Hokkaido ballooned from roughly sixty thousand residents, primarily living on the island’s southern tip, to more than two million people, scattered across the island. This explosive colonization was part of a global wave of settler colonialism. The wajin colonial regime and the foreign advisers they hired helped turn indigenous Ainu territory into Japan’s first modern colony and one of its most important agricultural breadbaskets, resembling the so-called Neo-Europes of the Anglophone settler world. Hokkaido’s history fits into the framework of ecological imperialism developed by Alfred Crosby and expanded by many scholars since. But the role of city building in processes of ecological imperialism remains understudied. Scholars who do discuss urbanization in the context of ecological imperialism focus on cities’ roles as markets, downplaying their importance as sites of state power and political interventions. In Hokkaido, however, the politics and policies of city building were crucial tools of Japanese ecological imperialism. Colonial authorities built Hokkaido’s capital, Sapporo, as a colonial laboratory, importing ideas from Japan and abroad, recording their experiences in Hokkaido, and ultimately exporting that knowledge to Japan’s later colonies in East Asia.
The Algorithm
Authors: Guldi Jo
Published: August 2022

Can statistics help historians to identify the events that are most distinctive of a particular era of time? This essay explores the use of a distinctiveness algorithm from library science for measuring the distinctiveness of manuscripts, tf-idf, recast as "tf-ipf" for the study of the terms most distinctive of historical periods. In a case study, tf-ipf is applied to the text of Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, varying the "period" from a 20-year horizon to a 6-month or one-day horizon. It is shown that the algorithm's assessments of what is most distinctive of 20-year and 10-year periods largely matches the consensus of British historians, while debates that held parliament's attention for six months or fewer have largely fallen beneath the threshold of scholarly attention. Attending to concerns that took up parliamentary debate for six months or fewer, the essay argues that tf-ipf thus presents a metric of parliamentary attention that mirrors the exclusions of class, allowing scholars to retrieve a timeline of when the concerns of the distillers, bleachers, dyers, Chartists, crofters, and miners reached a national debate. More generally, tf-ipf represents an important new tool for discovering the distinctive aspects of historical periods based on past experience, not historical bias.
Pathologic Image Classification of Flat Urothelial Lesions Using Pathologic Criteria-Based Deep Learning
Authors: Nishikawa Toui , Iwamoto Ryuta , Matsuzaki Ibu , Musangile Fidele Yambayamba , Takahashi Ayata , Mikasa Yurina , Takahashi Yuichi , Kojima Fumiyoshi , Murata Shin-ichi
Published: August 2022

Objectives

Pathologic diagnosis of flat urothelial lesions is subject to high interobserver variability. We expected that deep learning could improve the accuracy and consistency of such pathologic diagnosis, although the learning process is a black box. We therefore propose a new approach for pathologic image classification incorporating the diagnostic process of the pathologist into a deep learning method.

Methods

A total of 267 H&E-stained slides of normal urothelium and urothelial lesions from 127 cases were examined. Six independent convolutional neural networks were trained to classify pathologic images according to six pathologic criteria. We then used these networks in the main training for the final diagnosis.

Results

Compared with conventional manual analysis, our method significantly improved the classification accuracy of images of flat urothelial lesions. The automated classification showed almost perfect agreement (weighted κ = 0.98) with the consensus reading. In addition, our approach provides the advantages of reliable diagnosis corresponding to histologic interpretation.

Conclusions

We used deep learning to establish an automated subtype classifier for flat urothelial lesions that successfully combines traditional morphologic approaches and complex deep learning to achieve a learning mechanism that seems plausible to the pathologist.
Ways to Inhabit the Deliberative-Aspirational Point of View: Practical Reason and Objective Goods
Authors: Rodriguez-Blanco Veronica
Published: August 2022

In “Practical Reason’s Foundations” John Finnis expands and refines his view on the relationship between objective goods and practical reason. In this paper Finnis rejects the Humean conception which denies the possibility of practical reason, or at least presents an emaciated version of it. For Hume, desires just happen to us and there is no interaction between desires and beliefs. The Humean and neo-Humean positions, Finnis rightly tells us, have a powerful influence on how we understand practical reason, including our interpretation of Aristotle’s conception of practical reason. I will call this the “bifurcation” thesis. Following Finnis’s conception of practical reason and his rejection of a bifurcation between reasons and desires, and between intellectual virtues and virtues of character, I advance an Aristotelian-inspired model of deliberation and practical reason that is narrow and immersed. It recognizes the difficulty of understanding the Aristotelian analogies of practical reason as if it were both a craft and theoretical reasoning to illuminate and demonstrate the existence of practical reason. However, I also argue that this narrow or immersed model is in continuity with a deliberative-aspirational perspective that we are able to inhabit. We explain how reflection without losing immersion is possible and explain how we can move in the direction of practical reason that guides actions and makes possible the realization of objective goods in our lives.
Maladaptive Emotion Socialization as a Risk Factor for the Development of Negative Urgency and Subsequent Problem Drinking
Authors: Atkinson Emily A , Miller Leo A , Smith Gregory T
Published: August 2022

Aims

Negative urgency, which refers to the tendency to act rashly when experiencing intense negative emotions, consistently serves as a robust predictor of problem drinking and other maladaptive behaviors. However, very little is known about the factors that influence the development of negative urgency itself. Although urgency theory suggests that environment and temperament interact to increase risk for the development of urgency, few studies, to date, have examined environmental risk for urgency.

Method

In a cross-sectional sample of 518 adults recruited from Amazon Mturk, the current study began the investigation of the role of childhood maladaptive emotion socialization (MES) in risk for negative urgency and the possibility that negative urgency mediates the relationship between MES and problem drinking via self-report measures completed online. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results

Individual differences in childhood MES, reported retrospectively, did predict increased present-day negative urgency. In addition, results were consistent with the possibility that negative urgency mediates the relationship between MES and problem drinking when considered concurrently with trait negative affect.

Conclusions

Successful identification of early environmental predictors of negative urgency may provide useful targets for intervention efforts aimed at reducing or preventing the development of negative urgency and, subsequently, problem drinking. Further longitudinal investigations are needed to better examine these processes as they develop.
Above- and below-ground plant traits are not consistent in response to drought and competition treatments
Authors: Asefa Mengesha , Worthy Samantha J , Cao Min , Song Xiaoyang , Lozano Yudi M , Yang Jie
Published: August 2022

Background and Aims

Our understanding of plant responses to biotic and abiotic drivers is largely based on above-ground plant traits, with little focus on below-ground traits despite their key role in water and nutrient uptake. Here, we aimed to understand the extent to which above- and below-ground traits are co-ordinated, and how these traits respond to soil moisture gradients and plant intraspecific competition.

Methods

We chose seedlings of five tropical tree species and grew them in a greenhouse for 16 weeks under a soil moisture gradient [low (drought), medium and high (well-watered) moisture levels] with and without intraspecific competition. At harvest, we measured nine above- and five below-ground traits of all seedlings based on standard protocols.

Key Results

In response to the soil moisture gradient, above-ground traits are found to be consistent with the leaf economics spectrum, whereas below-ground traits are inconsistent with the root economics spectrum. We found high specific leaf area and total leaf area in well-watered conditions, while high leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness and stem dry matter content were observed in drought conditions. However, below-ground traits showed contrasting patterns, with high specific root length but low root branching index in the low water treatment. The correlations between above- and below-ground traits across the soil moisture gradient were variable, i.e. specific leaf area was positively correlated with specific root length, while it was negatively correlated with root average diameter across moisture levels. However, leaf dry matter content was unexpectedly positively correlated with both specific root length and root branching index. Intraspecific competition has influenced both above- and below-ground traits, but interacted with soil moisture to affect only below-ground traits. Consistent with functional equilibrium theory, more biomass was allocated to roots under drought conditions, and to leaves under sufficient soil moisture conditions.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that the response of below-ground traits to plant intraspecific competition and soil moisture conditions may not be inferred using above-ground traits, suggesting that multiple resource use axes are needed to understand plant ecological strategies. Lack of consistent leaf–root trait correlations across the soil moisture gradient highlight the multidimensionality of plant trait relationships which needs more exploration.
XIV—Partiality, Deference, and Engagement
Authors: Scheffler Samuel
Published: August 2022

The partiality we display, in so far as we form and sustain personal attachments, is not normatively fundamental. It is a by-product of the deference and responsiveness that are essential to our engagement with the world. We cannot form and sustain valuable personal relationships without seeing ourselves as answerable to the other participants in those relationships. And we cannot develop and sustain valuable projects without responding to the constraints imposed on our activities by the nature and requirements of those projects themselves. More generally, we cannot engage with the world without responding differentially—or displaying partiality—with respect to the objects of our engagement. Partiality is thus a by-product of engagement. We cannot engage with the world at all without exhibiting forms of partiality.
Predicting cross-tissue hormone–gene relations using balanced word embeddings
Authors: Jadhav Aditya , Kumar Tarun , Raghavendra Mohit , Loganathan Tamizhini , Narayanan Manikandan
Published: August 2022

Motivation

Inter-organ/inter-tissue communication is central to multi-cellular organisms including humans, and mapping inter-tissue interactions can advance system-level whole-body modeling efforts. Large volumes of biomedical literature have fostered studies that map within-tissue or tissue-agnostic interactions, but literature-mining studies that infer inter-tissue relations, such as between hormones and genes are solely missing.

Results

We present a first study to predict from biomedical literature the hormone–gene associations mediating inter-tissue signaling in the human body. Our BioEmbedS* models use neural network-based Biomedical word Embeddings with a Support Vector Machine classifier to predict if a hormone–gene pair is associated or not, and whether an associated gene is involved in the hormone’s production or response. Model training relies on our unified dataset Hormone-Gene version 1 of ground-truth associations between genes and endocrine hormones, which we compiled and carefully balanced in the embedded space to handle data disparities, such as between poorly- versus well-studied hormones. Our BioEmbedS model recapitulates known gene mediators of tissue–tissue signaling with 70.4% accuracy; predicts novel inter-tissue communication genes in humans, which are enriched for hormone-related disorders; and generalizes well to mouse, thereby holding promise for its extension to other multi-cellular organisms as well.

Availability and implementation

Freely available at https://cross-tissue-signaling.herokuapp.com are our model predictions & datasets; https://github.com/BIRDSgroup/BioEmbedS has all relevant code.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Reading to the end(foot): translational readthrough of AQP4 increases amyloid-β clearance
Authors: Giannetto Michael J , Hablitz Lauren M
Published: August 2022

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Aqp4 stop codon readthrough facilitates amyloid-β clearance from the brain’ by Sapkota et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awac199).
Maiden voyage: induced pluripotent stem cell-based drug screening for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Ito Daisuke , Morimoto Satoru , Takahashi Shinichi , Okada Kensuke , Nakahara Jin , Okano Hideyuki
Published: August 2022

Using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells, neurodegenerative disease phenotypes have been recapitulated and their pathogenesis analysed leading to significant progress in drug screening. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, high-throughput screening using induced pluripotent stem cells-derived motor neurons has identified candidate drugs. Owing to induced pluripotent stem cell-based drug evaluation/screening, three compounds, retigabine, ropinirole and bosutinib, have progressed to clinical trials. Retigabine blocks hyperexcitability and improves survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient-derived motor neurons. In a randomized clinical trial (n = 65), treatment with retigabine reduced neuronal excitability after 8 weeks. Ropinirole, identified in a high-throughput screening, attenuates pathological phenotypes in patient-derived motor neurons. In a trial limited by a small sample size (n = 20), ropinirole was tolerable and had clinical benefits on function and survival. A phase 1 study of bosutinib has reported safety and tolerability for 12 weeks. Thus, these clinical trials show safety and positive effects and confirm the reliability of stem cell-based drug discovery. This novel strategy leads to reduced costs and time when compared to animal testing and opens new avenues for therapy in intractable diseases.
A community development story and portrayal of a phenomenological reflective practice in the social field of paediatric palliative care
Authors: Westoby Peter , Day Elham , Hawthorne Fiona , Toon Matthew Francis Paul , Oldham Kelly
Published: August 2022

This article is both a story of community development (CD) practice within the paediatric palliative care and bereavement space – and a portrayal of phenomenological reflective practice in the social field. The story and portrayal are about a tradition of work – understood as participatory CD – amplified, made more visible and alive by a phenomenological reflective practice. While the framework of participatory CD applied in the palliative care space will be thought provoking for readers, the unique contribution of this article is the use of phenomenological reflective practice, one rarely drawn upon within the CD field.
Oxytocin modulates social brain network correlations in resting and task state
Authors: Wu Qingyuan , Huang Qi , Liu Chao , Wu Haiyan
Published: August 2022

The effects of oxytocin (OT) on the social brain can be tracked upon assessing the neural activity in resting and task states, and developing a system-level framework for characterizing the state-based functional relationships of its distinct effect. Here, we contribute to this framework by examining how OT modulates social brain network correlations during resting and task states, using fMRI. First, we investigated network activation, followed by an analysis of the relationships between networks and individual differences. Subsequently, we evaluated the functional connectivity in both states. Finally, the relationship between networks across states was represented by the predictive power of networks in the resting state for task-evoked activities. The differences in the predicted accuracy between the subjects displayed individual variations in this relationship. Our results showed that the activity of the dorsal default mode network in the resting state had the largest predictive power for task-evoked activation of the precuneus network (PN) only in the OT group. The results also demonstrated that OT reduced the individual variation in PN in the prediction process. These findings suggest a distributed but modulatory effect of OT on the association between resting and task-dependent brain networks.
Difference in axon diameter and myelin thickness between excitatory and inhibitory callosally projecting axons in mice
Authors: Basu Kaustuv , Appukuttan Shailesh , Manchanda Rohit , Sik Attila
Published: August 2022

Synchronization of network oscillation in spatially distant cortical areas is essential for normal brain activity. Precision in synchronization between hemispheres depends on the axonal conduction velocity, which is determined by physical parameters of the axons involved, including diameter, and extent of myelination. To compare these parameters in long-projecting excitatory and inhibitory axons in the corpus callosum, we used genetically modified mice and virus tracing to separately label CaMKIIα expressing excitatory and GABAergic inhibitory axons. Using electron microscopy analysis, we revealed that (i) the axon diameters of excitatory fibers (myelinated axons) are significantly larger than those of nonmyelinated excitatory axons; (ii) the diameters of bare axons of excitatory myelinated fibers are significantly larger than those of their inhibitory counterparts; and (iii) myelinated excitatory fibers are significantly larger than myelinated inhibitory fibers. Also, the thickness of myelin ensheathing inhibitory axons is significantly greater than for excitatory axons, with the ultrastructure of the myelin around excitatory and inhibitory fibers also differing. We generated a computational model to investigate the functional consequences of these parameter divergences. Our simulations indicate that impulses through inhibitory and excitatory myelinated fibers reach the target almost simultaneously, whereas action potentials conducted by nonmyelinated axons reach target cells with considerable delay.
Low Spontaneous Clearance Rates of Recently Acquired Hepatitis C Virus in Human Immunodeficiency Virus–Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men (PROBE-C Study)
Authors: Monin Malte B , Ingiliz Patrick , Lutz Thomas , Scholten Stefan , Cordes Christiane , Martínez-Rebollar Maria , Spinner Christoph D , Nelson Mark , Rausch Michael , Bhagani Sanjay , Peters Lars , Reiberger Thomas , Mauss Stefan , Rockstroh Jürgen K , Boesecke Christoph ,   for the PROBE-C study group
Published: August 2022

Background

Using direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for recently acquired hepatitis C virus (RAHCV) infections, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive men who have sex with men (MSM), dramatically reduced the incidence of hepatitis C. However, implementation into clinical practice is challenging. The aim of this study was to analyze spontaneous clearance (SC) rates of RAHCV and to identify predictors of SC.

Methods

The PROBE-C study is an observational European cohort on RAHCV infections in HIV-positive MSM. Between 2007 and 2017, RAHCV infections were documented with ≥12 months of follow-up. Fisher exact, χ2, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results

A total of 464 RAHCV infections were documented; 457 of 464 patients (98%) were male, and the median age (interquartile range [IQR]) was 41 (38–46) years. The main risk group for hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission was MSM (98.9%). Most participants were infected with HCV genotype 1 (78.3%). The median baseline HCV RNA level (IQR) was 230 000 (135 000–474 432) IU/mL, and the median CD4+ T-cell count was 574/µL (547–604/µL. Of all cases, 92% received combination antiretroviral therapy, with 91% showing suppressed HIV RNA levels (<200 copies/mL). The median maximum alanine aminotransferase level (IQR) was 445 (402–522) U/L. SC of RAHCV infection occurred in 55 of 464 cases (11.9%). A >2-log decline in HCV RNA levels 4 weeks after diagnosis of RAHCV infection was the strongest predictor of SC (P < .001; sensitivity, 96.4%; specificity, 97.5%; positive predictive value, 84.1%; negative predictive value, 99.5%).

Conclusions

SC of RAHCV in HIV-positive MSM is found in only 11.9% of cases and a <2-log drop in HCV RNA level at week 4 after diagnosis should prompt early DAA-based treatment. However, immediate DAA treatment for RAHCV infection may also be favored in patients with ongoing transmission risk behavior.
Evaluating Membership Inference Through Adversarial Robustness
Authors: Zhang Zhaoxi , Yu Zhang Leo , Zheng Xufei , Hussain Abbasi Bilal , Hu Shengshan
Published: August 2022

The usage of deep learning is being escalated in many applications. Due to its outstanding performance, it is being used in a variety of security and privacy-sensitive areas in addition to conventional applications. One of the key aspects of deep learning efficacy is to have abundant data. This trait leads to the usage of data which can be highly sensitive and private, which in turn causes wariness with regard to deep learning in the general public. Membership inference attacks are considered lethal as they can be used to figure out whether a piece of data belongs to the training dataset or not. This can be problematic with regard to leakage of training data information and its characteristics. To highlight the significance of these types of attacks, we propose an enhanced methodology for membership inference attacks based on adversarial robustness, by adjusting the directions of adversarial perturbations through label smoothing under a white-box setting. We evaluate our proposed method on three datasets: Fashion-MNIST, CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100. Our experimental results reveal that the performance of our method surpasses that of the existing adversarial robustness-based method when attacking normally trained models. Additionally, through comparing our technique with the state-of-the-art metric-based membership inference methods, our proposed method also shows better performance when attacking adversarially trained models. The code for reproducing the results of this work is available at https://github.com/plll4zzx/Evaluating-Membership-Inference-Through-Adversarial-Robustness.
Effectively Detecting Operational Anomalies In Large-Scale IoT Data Infrastructures By Using A GAN-Based Predictive Model
Authors: Chen Peng , Liu Hongyun , Xin Ruyue , Carval Thierry , Zhao Jiale , Xia Yunni , Zhao Zhiming
Published: August 2022

Quality of data services is crucial for operational large-scale internet-of-things (IoT) research data infrastructure, in particular when serving large amounts of distributed users. Effectively detecting runtime anomalies and diagnosing their root cause helps to defend against adversarial attacks, thereby essentially boosting system security and robustness of the IoT infrastructure services. However, conventional anomaly detection methods are inadequate when facing the dynamic complexities of these systems. In contrast, supervised machine learning methods are unable to exploit large amounts of data due to the unavailability of labeled data. This paper leverages popular GAN-based generative models and end-to-end one-class classification to improve unsupervised anomaly detection. A novel heterogeneous BiGAN-based anomaly detection model Heterogeneous Temporal Anomaly-reconstruction GAN (HTA-GAN) is proposed to make better use of a one-class classifier and a novel anomaly scoring function. The Generator-Encoder-Discriminator BiGAN structure can lead to practical anomaly score computation and temporal feature capturing. We empirically compare the proposed approach with several state-of-the-art anomaly detection methods on real-world datasets, anomaly benchmarks and synthetic datasets. The results show that HTA-GAN outperforms its competitors and demonstrates better robustness.
CPMCP: a database of Chinese patent medicine and compound prescription
Authors: Sun Chang , Huang Jipeng , Tang Rong , Li Minglei , Yuan Haili , Wang Yuxiang , Wei Jin-Mao , Liu Jian
Published: August 2022

Although several traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-related databases have emerged, they focus on researching single medicinal materials, which is far from sufficient for clinical research and application. In comparison, compound prescriptions are more informative and meaningful in TCM, for they embody the information on the compatibility of TCM besides the relatively isolated information about single medicinal materials. The compatibility information is essential in TCM because it conveys not only what components are involved to treat special diseases but also how to combine these single medical materials. We established a database of Chinese patent medicine and compound prescription (CPMCP). It demonstrates the prescription information of Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) and ancient Chinese medicine prescriptions (CMPs). CPMCP reports their comprehensive and standardized information such as the components, indications and contraindications. It is worth mentioning that we organized relevant experts and spent lots of time manually mapping the functions of compound prescriptions in ancient Chinese to the standardized TCM symptom vocabularies, obtaining a total of 71 414 associations between compound prescriptions and TCM symptoms. In this way, CPMCP established the associations between TCM and modern medicine (MM) according to the associations between TCM symptoms and MM symptoms. In addition, to further exhibit the compatibility mechanism of compound prescriptions, CPMCP summarizes a set of common drug combination principles by analyzing the existing prescriptions. We believe that CPMCP can promote the modernization of TCM and make greater contributions to MM.

Database URL http://cpmcp.top
Time to Endorse A Sensitive Method for Scoring Endoscopic Activity of Ulcerative Colitis in Clinical Research
Authors: Narula Neeraj , Merat Shahin , Liu David , Pugatch David , Reinisch Walter
Published: August 2022

The endoscopic scoring of ulcerative colitis is routinely used for both individual patient management and as an endpoint in clinical trials. The most commonly used scoring system is the Mayo endoscopic subscore, which scores endoscopic disease activity on a scale between 0 and 3. With only four possible scores and consideration of only the most involved area of the colon, the Mayo endoscopic subscore lacks sensitivity to change in measuring the totality of the endoscopic inflammatory involvement in patients with ulcerative colitis. Here, we present one case study from clinical practice and one from clinical trials in which using the Mayo endoscopic score leads to potentially incorrect conclusions. Further, in a post-hoc analysis, we re-examined endoscopic videos from a clinical trial and demonstrate that assessing involved ulcerated and affected areas on a segmental level of the colon or summing Mayo scores of colonic segments can identify improvements in endoscopic disease activity in almost twice as many subjects as identified by the Mayo endoscopic subscore alone. Although the alternative scoring systems we have used in this report will need further validation, our findings demonstrate the need for a more sensitive endoscopic scoring system in ulcerative colitis.
NOD2in Crohn’s Disease—Unfinished Business
Authors: Ashton James J , Seaby Eleanor G , Beattie R Mark , Ennis Sarah
Published: August 2022

Studies of Crohn’s disease have consistently implicated NOD2 as the most important gene in disease pathogenesis since first being identified in 2001. Thereafter, genome-wide association, next-generation sequencing and functional analyses have all confirmed a key role for NOD2, but despite this, NOD2 also has significant unresolved complexity. More recent studies have reinvigorated an early hypothesis that NOD2 may be a single-gene cause of disease, and the distinct ileal stricturing phenotype seen with NOD2-related disease presents an opportunity for personalized diagnosis, disease prediction and targeted therapy. The genomics of NOD2 has much that remains unknown, including the role of rare variation, phasing of variants across the haplotype block and the role of variation in the NOD2-regulatory regions. Here, we discuss the evidence and the unmet needs of NOD2 research, based on recently published evidence, and suggest methods that may meet these requirements.
Fungi-on-a-Chip: microfluidic platforms for single-cell studies on fungi
Authors: Richter Felix , Bindschedler Saskia , Calonne-Salmon Maryline , Declerck Stéphane , Junier Pilar , Stanley Claire E
Published: August 2022

This review highlights new advances in the emerging field of ‘Fungi-on-a-Chip’ microfluidics for single-cell studies on fungi and discusses several future frontiers, where we envisage microfluidic technology development to be instrumental in aiding our understanding of fungal biology. Fungi, with their enormous diversity, bear essential roles both in nature and our everyday lives. They inhabit a range of ecosystems, such as soil, where they are involved in organic matter degradation and bioremediation processes. More recently, fungi have been recognized as key components of the microbiome in other eukaryotes, such as humans, where they play a fundamental role not only in human pathogenesis, but also likely as commensals. In the food sector, fungi are used either directly or as fermenting agents and are often key players in the biotechnological industry, where they are responsible for the production of both bulk chemicals and antibiotics. Although the macroscopic fruiting bodies are immediately recognizable by most observers, the structure, function, and interactions of fungi with other microbes at the microscopic scale still remain largely hidden. Herein, we shed light on new advances in the emerging field of Fungi-on-a-Chip microfluidic technologies for single-cell studies on fungi. We discuss the development and application of microfluidic tools in the fields of medicine and biotechnology, as well as in-depth biological studies having significance for ecology and general natural processes. Finally, a future perspective is provided, highlighting new frontiers in which microfluidic technology can benefit this field.
1. Why Poverty and Development?
Authors: Thomas Alan , Allen Tim
Published: August 2022

This chapter discusses some of the ways in which the two concepts of poverty and development are related by considering a number of dimensions in which they appear to be opposed. It looks at the 'era of development', describing how the emphasis has shifted from theoretical debate between alternative models of development to acceptance of globalized liberal capitalism. The fusion of liberal democracy and industrial capitalism came to represent the only viable basis for modern human society — an approach that was commonly linked to the concept of globalization. The chapter then assesses the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how they have been succeeded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both of which frameworks exemplify development seen in terms of policy interventions to ameliorate poverty and other global problems — including climate change. Finally, it identifies some major dilemmas for development as the twenty-first century progresses.
2. Poverty and Inequality
Authors: Kabeer Naila , Thomas Alan
Published: August 2022

This chapter examines a range of different ways of determining whether or not someone is 'poor' in an absolute sense, before discussing poverty in relative and cultural terms and the related idea of inequality. Income poverty has many limitations as a measure of poverty. Other ways of conceiving and measuring the poverty of individuals include: taking gender and other inequalities into account within and between households; relative poverty or social exclusion; poverty as a deprivation of capabilities; and incorporating multiple dimensions of deprivation. Poverty is also applied to whole communities, regions, or countries. Two main contrasting ways of measuring poverty at these levels are gross national income (GNI) per capita and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). Globally, patterns of poverty and inequality are changing so that the majority of poor people no longer live in poor countries as measured by GNI per capita. Global poverty also has to be considered alongside social disintegration and environmental destruction as interrelated issues and parts of a 'global crisis'.
9. Population, Poverty, and Development
Authors: Cetorelli Valeria , Thomas Alan
Published: August 2022

This chapter explores the relationship between population growth and poverty. There are differing views as to whether rapid population growth hinders economic growth and poverty reduction and whether there is a limit to the number of people the Earth can sustain. The 'revisionist' view is that on the contrary 'development is the best contraceptive' and it is poverty that keeps fertility high, while economic growth is not necessarily inhibited by rapid population growth. In this view, family planning is not an overriding priority but forms part of a rights-based agenda for providing access to reproductive health. The new consensus amongst analysts accepts that access to reproductive health, together with women's education and general improvements in health and living standards, remains the best route to lower fertility.
11. War and Armed Conflict
Authors: Allen Tim , Kirk Tom
Published: August 2022

This chapter illustrates the nature of current wars and armed conflicts and explores contemporary responses to them. Whatever criteria are used for war or armed conflict, it is clear that large numbers of people are impoverished by them, and globally the numbers of those affected is not declining. There are characteristics of contemporary wars and armed conflicts that make non-combatants especially vulnerable. Since the end of the Cold War, there have been important initiatives aimed at controlling wars, and at alleviating their effects, but the effects have been limited, and controversial. Particularly since 2001, there are has been a marked tendency for high levels of insecurity to spread across borders and take on global dynamics. In large parts of the world, enhancing security remains a key challenge in alleviating poverty and is a prerequisite for achieving development goals.