bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sexually dimorphic morphology, feeding behavior and gene expression profiles in cotton aphid Aphis gossypii
Authors: Ji Jichao , Shi Qingyu , Zhang Kaixin , Chen Lulu , Zhu Xiangzhen , Li Dongyang , Gao Xueke , Niu Lin , Wang Li , Luo Junyu , Cui Jinjie
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND

Sexual dimorphism exists in most insects; however, less is known about sexual dimorphism in aphids. In this study, we identified sexually dimorphic differences in morphology, feeding behavior and gene expression between sexual females and males of the cotton aphid through electron microscopy, electrical penetration graph techniques and RNA sequencing.

RESULTS

All males were alate with a slender reddish‐yellow body and abdominal yellow–black stripes, whereas all sexual females were apterous with a pudgy green body. Sensillum types on the antennae were identical between the two sexes, although males had more sensilla, possibly because the antennae are significantly longer in males compared with sexual females. In terms of feeding behavior, males spent more time probing mesophyll cells and the phloem sieve, and salivating into the phloem sieve. By contrast, sexual females spent more time ingesting xylem sap. In total, 510 and 724 genes were specifically expressed in sexual females and males, respectively, and were significantly enriched in signaling pathways related to reproduction for sexual females (e.g. ovarian steroidogenesis, oxytocin signaling pathway) and energy and flight for males (e.g. thermogenesis, insulin signaling pathway). Moreover, 8551 differentially expressed genes were identified between the two sexes, of which the 3720 upregulated genes in sexual females were mostly enriched in signaling pathways of metabolism and energy, such as thermogenesis and the citrate cycle.

CONCLUSION

This study provides insight into sexual dimorphism in aphids and lays a foundation for revealing the molecular mechanism underlying differences between the two sexes in cotton aphid. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.
Enhanced affine formation maneuver control using historical acceleration command
Authors: Yu Wei , Yi Peng , Zhu Bo , Liu Hao , Hu Tianjiang
Published: August 2023

How a network of multiple vehicles gets to a goal formation from an initial formation is as important as reaching the goal formation. Despite that stress matrix has been well applied to construct distributed affine formation control, most works have focused on the stabilization or stability issues and paid little attention to the performance regulation or the control parameterization issues. In this paper, we aim to design an error‐model based distributed control for the affine formation maneuver of second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs), and to demonstrate the advantages of the control approach in performance tuning. The basic idea behind the control design is to force the actual error‐trajectory dynamics of each controlled follower to approximate that of an ideal second‐order error model. The designed controller possesses a notable feature that the historical acceleration command (HAC) is used to enhance system performance during the formation maneuvers. By a theory tool of neutral functional differential equations, we develop a delay‐independent condition on the design parameters, under which the system stability is robust to the actively introduced HAC. Furthermore, we derive an inequality describe the relationship between the ultimate bounds of tracking errors and the delay parameter. This paper presents a clear mechanism to tune the comprehensive performance of affine formation control. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the stability condition and the performance‐tuning mechanism, as well as the possible fragility of the system stability to the delay when the condition is not satisfied.
Resilient control for networked control systems with dynamic quantization and DoS attacks
Authors: Zhang Xiaodan , Xiao Feng , Wei Bo , Yu Mei , Liu Kaien
Published: August 2023

In this article, the resilient control for networked control systems in the presence of denial‐of‐service (DoS) attacks is investigated in a sampled‐data and dynamic quantization scheme. A novel dynamic quantization strategy is designed for signal transmissions from encoding systems to decoding systems, in which the quantized states are transmitted through networks with a risk of DoS attacks. An estimator is introduced to the design of control laws. Some sufficient conditions in terms of quantization levels, DoS attack duration and frequencies are given for the asymptotic stability of networked control systems. Furthermore, an event‐triggered communication scheme is designed for signal transmissions in control channels to reduce network resource consumption. The Zeno behavior is excluded in the designed event‐triggered communication scheme. The quantization levels can be adaptively adjusted according to real‐time situations. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is illustrated by simulations.
Experimental research on interfacial bonding performance of high‐strength steel pipe and surrounding concrete/grout for assembled composite columns
Authors: Zhu Zhangfeng , Wang Jun
Published: August 2023

High‐strength steel pipe joints are proposed for assembled composite columns. The steel pipe extends into the upper and lower prefabricated columns and is anchored by poured concrete or grout to realize the connection of the prefabricated columns. Bonding performance of high‐strength steel pipe and surrounding concrete/grout is critical to the joint reliability. Steel pipe push‐out test was carried out, considering parameters of steel pipe section specification, bonding length, bonding material, and outer wall treatment of the steel pipe. Comparative analysis of measured load–displacement/slip curves and calculated bond strength were conducted. Bonding length of 600 mm could provide sufficient bond strength. Increasing bonding length could delay the slippage, but the bond strength decreased. High‐strength grout significantly increased the peak load size. The slenderness ratio and diameter–thickness ratio of the steel pipe had no obvious influence on the bonding performance. Steel pipe with D114*25 section obtained higher bonding strength with smaller ratio of bonding area to cross‐sectional area. Spiral ribs welded to the outer wall of the steel pipe could effectively improve the bonding strength and delay the interface slip. With easy construction and reliable performance, spiral ribs were recommended to be applied in prRactical projects.
Synergistic fire retardancy of melamine resin modified with pentaerythritol and ammonium polyphosphate in PP
Authors: Li Haoran , Chen Xiaoping , Sun Mingmei , Wu Hongzhi , Tang Linsheng
Published: August 2023

The synergistic fire retardancy of modified melamine resin with pentaerythritol (MF‐PER, a novel green and effective triazine charring agent), and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) in polypropylene was investigated by UL‐94 test, LOI measurement, and cone calorimetry test. It is found that the synergism of MF‐PER is obviously better than pentaerythritol (PER). MF‐PER/APP imparts a fire retardancy mainly by the following mode: in burning process, MF‐PER, and APP are first pyrolyzed respectively into polyols and polyphosphoric acid, which is esterified to form phosphoric ester, and the inert gases make the molten residues foaming; When the temperature increases, and polyphosphoric acid is dehydrated to polymetaphosphoric acid, which dehydrates phosphoric ester to form an intumescent char layer, inducing a fire retardant effect by barrier effect. The graphitization degree of the cone calorimetry test residues of the FR‐PP with MF‐PER is higher than that with PER, which leads to a better synergism.

Highlights

Melamine formaldehyde resins modified with pentaerythritol (MF‐PER) as a novel triazine charring agent was designed and synthesized.

MF‐PER is synthesized by solid phase method and using hexahydroxymethyl melamine (HMM) instead of cyanuric chloride as raw material, so the emission of three wastes in its synthesis process is very little, only a small amount of formaldehyde and water are produced.

MF‐PER has excellent synergistic fire retardancy with APP in polypropylene.

The highly efficient and environmentally benign charring agent show great potential for developing more efficient and eco‐friendly IFR.
Nonlinear flow of hybrid nanofluid with thermal radiation: A numerical investigation
Authors: Ahmad Bilal , Abbas Tasawar , Fatima Kiran , Duraihem Faisal Z. , Saleem S.
Published: August 2023

In this research, we investigate the mixed convection flow of hybrid nano fluid over nonlinear stretching sheet. By imposition of Cu‐Al2O3 as nanoparticles, water as base fluid. Impact of thermal radiation in the existence of magnetic field is considered. Similarity solution is obtained numerically by RK‐Fehlberg (RKF) Method. The velocity field is experimentally stronger due to the force of magnetic parameter. For the case of stretched and shrinkage aiding buoyancy force and opposite flow revealed the bifurcation solution. Velocity of hybrid nanofluid decreases in the presence of magnetic field, while temperature of nanofluid increases for thermal radiation.
Einleitung
Authors: Kehl Konstantin
Published: August 2023

Mit dem vorliegenden Buch begeben wir uns auf eine gemeinsame Lernreise zu den politischen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen des Sozial- und Gesundheitswesens in der Schweiz. Es schlägt den Bogen von ausgewählten Grundbegriffen und Theorien der Demokratie und des politischen Systems über die für soziale Dienstleistungen und das Gesundheitssystem relevanten Institutionen und Kennzahlen bis hin zu Fragen sozialer Gerechtigkeit, politischer Mitwirkung sowie aktuellen Trends, welche die zukünftige Gestalt der Versorgungsinfrastruktur prägen werden. Das Buch ist für all jene gedacht, die sich Basiswissen zum Gesundheits- und Sozialwesen in der Schweiz aneignen möchten.
Energy Efficiency and Scalability of 5G Networks for IoT in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Sachan Smriti , Sharma Rohit , Sehgal Amit
Published: August 2023

A widespread deployment of 5G technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) will be there in future years. The implementation of 5G technology perhaps becomes fortuitous for IoT as IoT has different variants of applications in the field of tracking data, and security systems. It is also applicable to applications like smart cities and smart buildings etc. Further, the introduction of the new frequency band in the present communication system gardened the interest of researchers in the area of optimization of energy in a mobile environment with dense traffic. This paper aims to represent the basics of 5G system along with IoT implementations. Also different techniques for energy efficiency are comparatively analyzed with their pros and cons for mobile wireless sensor networks.
A decision support system in precision medicine: contrastive multimodal learning for patient stratification
Authors: Yin Qing , Zhong Linda , Song Yunya , Bai Liang , Wang Zhihua , Li Chen , Xu Yida , Yang Xian
Published: August 2023

Precision medicine aims to provide personalized healthcare for patients by stratifying them into subgroups based on their health conditions, enabling the development of tailored medical management. Various decision support systems (DSSs) are increasingly developed in this field, where the performance is limited to their capability of handling big amounts of heterogeneous and high-dimensional electronic health records (EHRs). In this paper, we focus on developing a deep learning model for patient stratification that can identify and explain patient subgroups from multimodal EHRs. The primary challenge is to effectively align and unify heterogeneous information from various modalities, which includes both unstructured and structured data. Here, we develop a Contrastive Multimodal learning model for EHR (ConMEHR) based on topic modelling. In ConMEHR, modality-level and topic-level contrastive learning (CL) mechanisms are adopted to obtain a unified representation space and diversify patient subgroups, respectively. The performance of ConMEHR will be evaluated on two real-world EHR datasets and the results show that our model outperforms other baseline methods.
Responding to change over time: A longitudinal case study on changes in coordination mechanisms in large-scale agile
Authors: Berntzen Marthe , Stray Viktoria , Moe Nils Brede , Hoda Rashina
Published: August 2023

Context

Responding to change and continuously improving processes, practices, and products are core to agile software development. It is no different in large-scale agile, where multiple software development teams need to respond both to changes in their external environments and to changes within the organization.

Objective

With this study, we aim to advance knowledge on coordination in large-scale agile by developing a model of the types of organizational changes that influence coordination mechanisms.

Method

We conducted a longitudinal case study in a growing large-scale agile organization, focusing on how external and internal changes impact coordination over time. We collected our data through 62 days of fieldwork across one and a half years. We conducted 37 interviews, observed 118 meetings at all organizational levels, collected supplementary material such as chat logs and presentations, and analyzed the data using thematic analysis.

Results

Our findings demonstrate how external events, such as onboarding new clients, and internal events, such as changes in the team organization, influence coordination mechanisms in the large-scale software development program. We find that external and internal change events lead to the introduction of new coordination mechanisms, or the adjustment of existing ones. Further, we find that continuous scaling requires continuous change and adjustment. Finally, we find that having the right mechanisms in place at the right time strengthens resilience and the ability to cope with change in coordination needs in complex large-scale environments.

Conclusions

Our findings are summarized in an empirically based model that provides a practical approach to analyzing change, aimed at supporting both researchers and practitioners dealing with change in coordination mechanisms in large-scale agile development contexts.
Mechanising Gödel–Löb Provability Logic in HOL Light
Authors: Maggesi Marco , Perini Brogi Cosimo
Published: August 2023

We introduce our implementation in HOL Light of the metatheory for Gödel–Löb provability logic (GL), covering soundness and completeness w.r.t. possible world semantics and featuring a prototype of a theorem prover for GL itself. The strategy we develop here to formalise the modal completeness proof overcomes the technical difficulty due to the non-compactness of GL and is an adaptation—according to the formal language and tools at hand—of the proof given in George Boolos’ 1995 monograph. Our theorem prover for GL relies then on this formalisation, is implemented as a tactic of HOL Light that mimics the proof search in the labelled sequent calculus$$\textsf{G3KGL}$$G3KGL, and works as a decision algorithm for the provability logic: if the algorithm positively terminates, the tactic succeeds in producing a HOL Light theorem stating that the input formula is a theorem of GL; if the algorithm negatively terminates, the tactic extracts a model falsifying the input formula. We discuss our code for the formal proof of modal completeness and the design of our proof search algorithm. Furthermore, we propose some examples of the latter’s interactive and automated use.
Responses of necrophilous beetles to animal mass mortality in the Australian Alps
Authors: Stone Rebecca L. , Bonat Stefanie , Newsome Thomas M. , Barton Philip S.
Published: August 2023

A diversity of insects can be found at the remains of dead animals (carrion) and they play a vital role in its decomposition and recycling. An emerging global problem with carrion is animal mass mortality events – the sudden, rapid die-off of many animals resulting in a large increase to the localised carrion resource pool. Yet, little is known about how insects respond to sudden and large inputs of carrion. We conducted an experiment in a mountainous alpine region of south-eastern Australia and compared beetle assemblages found at single carcass and mass mortality sites. We also examined the effects of vertebrate exclusion, and decomposition stage on beetles. We found 4,774 beetles representing 146 different species/morphospecies from 17 families. The most abundant species wasSaprinus cyaneus cyaneus(Histeridae), and species of Staphylinidae and Silphidae also dominated the fauna, which is typical for necrophilous beetles in Australia. We also found a clear temporal change in beetle assemblages, with abundance and richness peaking during the active decay stage. We found that beetle abundance was greater at single carcasses than mass mortality sites, possibly as an artifact of sampling, and that species richness was similar among these two carcass treatment types. We found no significant effect of vertebrate exclusion on beetles, suggesting that large scavengers in the study system may not influence necrophilous insect communities around carrion.

Implications for insect conservation: Our study highlights the diversity of beetles that can be found at carrion and their similar composition to the fauna found in other areas in the south-east of the Australian continent. Beetles may have reduced abundance at mass mortality sites which could affect their ability to contribute to carrion removal relative to smaller carrion quantities. Further research is required to quantify the role of other insects in carrion removal under a range of natural and mass mortality scenarios.
The 510(k) Third Party Review Program: Promise and Potential
Authors: Miller Brian J. , Blanks William , Yagi Brian
Published: August 2023

Every year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clears approximately 3,000 medical devices for marketing via the 510(k) pathway. These constitute 99% of all devices approved for human use and includes the premarket review of many devices incorporating newer technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other software. As the complexity of these novel technologies and the number of applications is expected to increase in the coming years, statutory changes such as the 2016 21st Century Cures Act, regulations, and guidance documents have increased both the volume and complexity of device review. Thus, the ability to streamline the review of less complex, low-to-moderate risk devices through the 510(k) pathway will maximize the FDA’s capability to address other important, future-oriented regulatory questions. For over twenty five years, third party review organizations have served a defined function to assist with the review of 510(k) applications for a set of enumerated device classes. This paper reviews the history of FDA device regulation, the evolution of the 510(k) review pathway, and the recent history of the 510(k) third party review program. Finally, the paper addresses policy concerns from all stakeholders – including the FDA – along with policy suggestions to improve the third party review program and FDA device regulation writ large.
Effect of fungal isolates from different samples upon radionuclide behavior and environmental hazard indices during bioleaching process in Gabal Um Hamd, Um Bogma area, southwestern Sinai, Egypt
Authors: Mohamed Walaa S. , Abbas Yehia M. M. , Ammar Amal A. A. , Aly Hanan A. S. , Rezk Mohamed M. , Negm Sameh H. , Kawady Nilly A.
Published: August 2023

Two fungal species were isolated from the studied rock samples and identified morphologically asAspergillus hollandicusandPenicillium citrinum. Bioleaching process was applied to W1, W2 and W3. The average concentration activity of238U,226Ra,232Th, and40K are 5134.03, 5708.64, 189.51, and 1456.8 BqKg−1, respectively. Radionuclide’s distribution in leach liquor, residual, and fungal adsorption were followed and environmental hazard indices (Raeq, Iγ, Hex, Hin, and ECLR) were calculated. From the observed outcomes, the isolated fungal strains have the potential to reduce the harmful effect up to 50% compared to the original. As a result, application of these fungal strains offers a potential strategy for environmental remediation of radionuclides.
In-vivo screening implicates endoribonuclease Regnase-1 in modulating senescence-associated lysosomal changes
Authors: Venz Richard , Goyala Anita , Soto-Gamez Abel , Yenice Tugce , Demaria Marco , Ewald Collin Y.
Published: August 2023

Accumulation of senescent cells accelerates aging and age-related diseases, whereas preventing this accumulation extends the lifespan in mice. A characteristic of senescent cells is increased staining with β-galactosidase (β-gal) ex vivo. Here, we describe a progressive accumulation of β-gal staining in the model organism C. elegans during aging. We show that distinct pharmacological and genetic interventions targeting the mitochondria and the mTORC1 to the nuclear core complex axis, the non-canonical apoptotic, and lysosomal-autophagy pathways slow the age-dependent accumulation of β-gal. We identify a novel gene, rege-1/Regnase-1/ZC3H12A/MCPIP1, modulating β-gal staining via the transcription factor ets-4/SPDEF. We demonstrate that knocking down Regnase-1 in human cell culture prevents senescence-associated β-gal accumulation. Our data provide a screening pipeline to identify genes and drugs modulating senescence-associated lysosomal phenotypes.
Clusia chuj (Clusiaceae), a new tree species from the border between Guatemala and Mexico
Authors: Luján Manuel
Published: August 2023

Clusia chuj (Clusiaceae) is described and illustrated. This new taxon differs from the other species of the genus by being a tree up to 15 m tall with many-flowered inflorescences. The non-resiniferous, quadrangular flowers have thick, pale-yellow petals, and the androecium in the staminate flowers have 20 (– 30) free, short stamens. This new species is mainly found in mountain forests around Tziscao and Yolnabaj lakes near the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
Perceptual Similarity: Insights From Crossmodal Correspondences
Authors: Di Stefano Nicola , Spence Charles
Published: August 2023

Perceptual similarity is one of the most fiercely debated topics in the philosophy and psychology of perception. The documented history of the issue spans all the way from Plato – who regarded similarity as a key factor for human perceptual experience and cognition – through to contemporary psychologists – who have tried to determine whether, and if so, how similarity relationships can be established between stimuli both within and across the senses. Recent research on cross-sensory associations, otherwise known as crossmodal correspondences – that is, the existence of observable consensual associations, or mappings, between stimuli across different senses – represents an especially interesting field in which to study perceptual similarity. In fact, most accounts of crossmodal association that have been put forward in the literature to date evoke perceptual similarity as a key explanatory factor mediating the underlying association. At the same time, however, these various accounts raise several important theoretical questions concerning the very nature of similarity, with, for example, the sensory, affective, or cognitive underpinnings of similarity judgements remaining unclear. We attempt to shed light on these questions by examining the various accounts of crossmodal associations that have been put forward in the literature. Our suggestion is that perceptual similarity varies from being phenomenologically-based to conceptually-based. In particular, we propose that the nature of the associations underlying similarity judgements – whether these associations are phenomenologically-, structurally-, emotionally-, or conceptually-based – may be represented in a two-dimensional space with associative strength on one axis, and cognitive penetrability on the other.
Transitional pathways through middle school for First Nations students in the Northern Territory of Australia
Authors: Dadi Abel Fekadu , He Vincent , Guenther John , Su Jiunn-Yih , Ober Robyn , Guthridge Steven
Published: August 2023

The middle-school years (Year 7 to Year 9) is a particular challenge for socially disadvantaged populations, with high proportions of children either repeating school years or dropping out of school. In Australia, a group of particular concern is First Nations children for whom there is a collective effort by all governments to improve education outcomes, although there have been few studies of their transition through the middle-school years. This retrospective study, using individual-level linked data, followed a cohort of 7881 First Nations students for 2 years after enrolment in Year 7 (Y7) in any Northern Territory (NT) government school in the years from 2008 to 2014 to quantify the transitional pathways through middle school and identify the factors associated with faltering progress. We used multinomial multilevel logistic regression to identify the factors associated with school dropout and repeating Y7 or Y8 (Y7/8). Two years after Y7 enrolment, eight in ten First Nations students progressed to Y9 (78.8%), more than one in ten students had dropped out of school (13.3%) before reaching Y9, and one in 12 (7.9%) repeated Y7/8. The likelihood of either dropping out of school or repeating years was higher among students who were enrolled in Y7 when aged less than 11.5 years, had a low Y7 school attendance rate, moved to either interstate or non-government schools and who lived in a remote area. Students who were not born in the NT and those with a record of substantiated child maltreatment during Y7 were more likely to repeat Y7/8. Planning interventions to improve school retention through the middle-school years should consider these factors.
A Neural Inference of User Social Interest for Item Recommendation
Authors: Chen Junyang , Chen Ziyi , Wang Mengzhu , Fan Ge , Zhong Guo , Liu Ou , Du Wenfeng , Xu Zhenghua , Gong Zhiguo
Published: August 2023

User-generated content is daily produced in social media, as such user interest summarization is critical to distill salient information from massive information for recommendation tasks. While the interested messages (e.g., tags or posts) from a single user are usually sparse becoming a bottleneck for existing methods, we propose a neural inference method (NIGraphNet) by mining user social interest for item recommendation. It can unearth user latent topics combined with user relation learning. Specifically, we exploit a neural variational inference approach to learn the distributions between user interests and hidden topics. (We denote it as interest-topic distributions in the following.) Then, we adopt a unified graph-based training loss that jointly learns the hidden topics and user relations for item recommendation. Experiments on two datasets collected from well-known social media platforms demonstrate the superior performance of our model in the tasks of user interest summarization and item recommendation. Further discussions also show that exploiting the latent topic representations and user relations is conducive to the user’s automatic language understanding.
“Name Three Good Things About Yourself in Mathematics” – An Intervention to Reduce Pre-Service Teachers’ Shame in Mathematics
Authors: Jenßen Lars
Published: August 2023

Shame is an unpleasant and activating emotion that affects learners’ achievement, including in mathematics, and pre-service teachers’ identity development. It is closely connected with the self. The current study investigated the efficacy of an intervention adapted from positive psychology aiming to reduce pre-service primary teachers’ shame in mathematics. Accordingly, the three good things technique was adapted with respect to the self. The efficacy of the intervention was analyzed in comparison to a qualified control group and a control group receiving no intervention. Participants were allocated at random to the three groups. In total, n = 176 pre-service primary school teachers took part in the experiment for a duration of five weeks with exercises twice a week. Findings suggest small positive effects of the adapted intervention on shame reduction in mathematics and superior effects in comparison to both control groups.
Photostability, cytotoxicity, and photothermal impact of AgNPs, CoAgNC, and IOAgNC on HEp-2 laryngeal carcinoma cells
Authors: Ramadan Marwa A. , El-Tayeb Tarek A.
Published: August 2023

Magnetic nanoparticles have shown promise in various medical applications, including cancer treatment and diagnostics. The objective of this study is to attain mastery over the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), Cobalt silver nanocomposite (CoAgNC) and magnetite silver nanocomposite (IOAgNC), while also examining their photostability, cytotoxicity, and photothermal impact on Human Laryngeal Carcinoma Cell line (HEp-2). The preparation and characterization of AgNPs, CoAgNC, and IOAgNC were described, including the assessment of their photostability and cytotoxicity on HEp-2 cell line. The photostability of these nanomaterials was determined by subjecting them to different light sources, while their morphology and magnetic properties were characterized using a spectrophotometer, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). The results of the characterization of AgNPs, CoAgNC, and IOAgNC showed that the prepared nanomaterials have distinct optical and morphological properties. The synthesized nanomaterials were stable in aqueous solutions and exhibited magnetic properties. The cytotoxicity tests on HEp-2 cells showed that the nanomaterials were not toxic in the dark, but their toxicity increased under light exposure, with IOAgNC showing the most significant toxicity. CoAgNC was found to be photostable under UV light and Light Emitting Diode (LED) irradiation due to the little lattice mismatch between cobalt and silver. Nanocomposite systems of high magnetic moment, such as IOAgNC and CoAgNC, have potential for tumor treatment through magnetic fluid hyperthermia. The photostability, chemical stability, and biocompatibility of AgNPs, CoAgNC, and IOAgNC were investigated and found to be non-toxic even at high concentrations. These nanomaterials have multiple optical and magnetic functionalities and are promising candidates for biomedical applications.
Introducing TimPassLib – A Library for Integrated Periodic Timetabling and Passenger Routing
Authors: Schiewe Philine , Goerigk Marc , Lindner Niels
Published: August 2023

Classic models to derive a timetable for public transport often face a chicken-and-egg situation: A good timetable should offer passengers routes with small travel times, but the route choice of passengers depends on the timetable. While models that fix passenger routes were frequently considered in the literature, integrated models that simultaneously optimize timetables and passenger routes have seen increasing attention lately. This creates a growing need for a set of instances that allows to test and compare new algorithmic developments for the integrated problem. Our paper addresses this requirement by presenting TimPassLib, a new benchmark library of instances for integrated periodic timetabling and passenger routing.
Advanced electrochemical techniques for characterizing electrocatalysis at the single-particle level
Authors: Li Hongmei , Guo Yong , Jin Zhaoyu
Published: August 2023

Electrocatalytic technologies play a vital role in the advancement of hydrogen energy and other renewable green energy sources, with nanocatalysts gaining significant attention due to their size-dependent electrocatalytic activity and broad applications. Single-particle electrochemistry offers a powerful approach to investigate the intrinsic catalytic activity and electrocatalytic mechanisms of individual nanoscale systems, thereby enabling a deeper understanding of the structure-activity relationship at the nanoscale. In this review, several cutting-edge high-resolution techniques for examining local reactivity at the single-particle level are discussed, such as scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM), single-particle collision technique, and single-atom/molecule electrochemistry. We begin by concisely elucidating the working principles of these advanced electrochemical methodologies. Subsequently, we present recent advancements in high-resolution electrochemical techniques for characterizing electrocatalysis in detail with valuable insights into the local activity of various catalysts. In future research, the integration of multiple technologies through collaborative analysis is anticipated to further unveil the catalytic active sites of electrocatalysts with intricate structures and facilitate quantitative investigations of complex reaction processes.
Skip-YOLO: Domestic Garbage Detection Using Deep Learning Method in Complex Multi-scenes
Authors: Lun Zhao , Pan Yunlong , Wang Sen , Abbas Zeshan , Islam Md Shafiqul , Yin Sufeng
Published: August 2023

It is of great significance to identify all types of domestic garbage quickly and intelligently to improve people's quality of life. Based on the visual analysis of feature map changes in different neural networks, a Skip-YOLO model is proposed for real-life garbage detection, targeting the problem of recognizing garbage with similar features. First, the receptive field of the model is enlarged through the large-size convolution kernel which enhanced the shallow information of images. Second, the high-dimensional features of the garbage maps are extracted by dense convolutional blocks. The sensitivity of similar features in the same type of garbage increases by strengthening the sharing of shallow low semantics and deep high semantics information. Finally, multiscale high-dimensional feature maps are integrated and routed to the YOLO layer for predicting garbage type and location. The overall detection accuracy is increased by 22.5% and the average recall rate is increased by 18.6% comparing the experimental results with the YOLOv3 analysis. In qualitative comparison, it successfully detects domestic garbage in complex multi-scenes. In addition, this approach alleviates the overfitting problem of deep residual blocks. The application case of waste sorting production line is used to further highlight the model generalization performance of the method.
Predicting human poses via recurrent attention network
Authors: Tang Jianwei , Wang Jieming , Hu Jian-Fang
Published: August 2023

Human motion prediction is a challenging task due to the diversity and randomness of future poses. Due to the inherent topology of pose data, most recent work has used graph convolution networks (GCNs) to accomplish the task of human motion prediction. However, the GCN-based method has a major shortcoming in that the modeling of temporal information is insufficient. In this paper, we propose a simple approach that combines recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and attention mechanism for motion prediction, which considers both spatial relations between different joints and temporal correlation. The query, key and value of the attention mechanism allow us to select the information we need for the subsequent prediction. To solve the difficult problem of RNN training, we utilize uncertainty and strong short-term constraints to optimize the training process. We evaluate our method on several standard benchmark datasets for human motion prediction, i.e., the Human3.6M dataset and the CMU MoCap dataset. The experimental results show that our approach outperforms previous approaches.
Kilowatt-level supercontinuum generation in a single-stage random fiber laser with a half-open cavity
Authors: Jiang Li , Wu Jinming , Song Rui , Chen Zilun , Zhu Xiran , Li Fengchang , Li Kailong , Zhang Hanwei , Hou Jing
Published: August 2023

The random distributed-feedback fiber laser (RFL) is a new approach to obtain a high-power stable supercontinuum (SC) source. To consider both structure simplification and high-power SC output, an innovative structure achieving a kilowatt-level SC output in a single-stage RFL with a half-open cavity is demonstrated in this paper. It consists of a fiber oscillator, a piece of long passive fiber and a broadband coupler, among which the broadband coupler acting as a feedback device is crucial in SC generation. When the system has no feedback, the backward output power is up to 298 W under the pump power of 1185 W. When the feedback is introduced before the pump laser, the backward power loss can be reduced and the pump can be fully utilized, which could promote forward output power and conversion efficiency significantly. Under the maximum pump power of 1847 W, a 1300 W SC with spectrum ranging from 887 to 1920 nm and SC conversion efficiency of 66% is obtained. To the best of our knowledge, it is the simplest structure used for high-power SC generation, and both the generated SC output power and the conversion efficiency are highest in the scheme of the half-opened RFL output SC.
Coastal and maritime archaeology in Cyrenaica, Libya: history, developments, site identification and challenges
Authors: Emrage Ahmad , Nikolaus Julia
Published: August 2023

The coastline of Cyrenaica, Libya, is rich in cultural heritage dating from prehistory to the modern periods. Despite the region's long-standing and strong connection to the sea, maritime archaeology remains a peripheral, but growing, branch of archaeology in Libya. This paper aims to provide an overview of the maritime projects that have been carried out in Cyrenaica in the past. Furthermore, it will highlight the main threats and damages that coastal heritage faces today and will provide some suggestions on how the discipline could develop in the future. The Cyrenaica Coastal Survey (CCS), a collaboration between the Maritime Endangered Archaeology (MarEA) project and the Department of Antiquities (DoA), Libya, will serve as a case study of an ongoing project that documents and assesses the condition of sites along the Cyrenaican coast between Tocra and Apollonia.
Indirect rule and public goods provision: evidence from colonial India
Authors: Gasparyan Olga
Published: August 2023

This paper contributes to the conflicting literature about indirect rule by delivering a new theoretical explanation for the persistent effects of indirect rule on contemporary provision of public goods. It looks at a single region of India which has areas that historically experienced both direct and indirect rule. The theoretical mechanism focuses on the principal-agent problem and the incentives that it produces for local leaders. Unlike local princes, colonizers were under stricter oversight and had to be more accountable to the top due to the obligations to extract resources. A spatial regression discontinuity design is used to compare directly and indirectly ruled territories. The empirical results show that indirect rule has predominantly long-term negative effects on the provision of selected public goods.
Incentivized choice in large-scale voting experiments
Authors: Artiga González Tanja , Granic Georg D. , Heinicke Franziska , Rosenkranz Stephanie , Weitzel Utz
Published: August 2023

Survey experiments that investigate how voting procedures affect voting behavior and election outcomes use hypothetical questions and non-representative samples. We present here the results of a novel survey experiment that addresses both concerns. First, the winning party in our experiment receives a donation to its campaign funds inducing real consequences for voting. Second, we run an online experiment with a Dutch national representative sample (N = 1240). Our results validate previous findings using a representative sample, in particular that approval voting leads to a higher concentration in votes for smaller parties and strengthens centrist parties in comparison to plurality voting. Importantly, our results suggest that voting behavior is not affected by voting incentives and can be equally reliably elicited with hypothetical questions.
Ethnic differences in eating patterns and their associations with obesity among adults in West China
Authors: Wu Yang , Wang Yanxiang , Dang Zhancui , Zhang Yangrui , Wang Youfa , Tong Li , Peng Wen
Published: August 2023

Despite observed ethnic differences in eating patterns and obesity, evidence in China is limited. This study examined ethnic differences in eating patterns and their associations with weight outcomes among multi-ethnic adults in West China. A cross-sectional survey collected self-reported data on demographics, eating behaviours, weight and height in 2021. Principal component analysis and multivariate regression were conducted to identify eating patterns and examine their associations with weight outcomes. In total, 4407 subjects aged ≥ 18 years were recruited across seven provinces in West China. Four eating patterns were identified: ‘meat-lover’ – characterised by frequent consumption of meat and dairy products, ‘indulgent’ – by frequent intakes of added salt, sugar, alcohol and pickled food, ‘diversified-eating’ – by frequently consuming food with diversified cooking methods and eating out and ‘nutri-health-concerned’ – by good food hygiene behaviours and reading food labels. Ethnic differences in eating patterns were observed. Compared with Han, Hui were less likely to exhibit meat-lover or diversified-eating patterns; Tibetans were less likely to have meat-lover or nutri-health-concerned patterns; Mongolians were more likely to have indulgent pattern. BMI was positively associated with meat-lover pattern in both genders (exp(β): 1·029; 95 % CI: 1·001, 1·058 for men; 1·018; 1·000, 1·036 for women) and negatively associated with nutri-health-concerned pattern in women (0·983; 0·966, 1·000). Mongolians were two times more likely to be overweight/obese than Han (OR: 3·126; 1·688, 5·790). Considerable ethnic differences existed in eating patterns in West China. Mongolians were more likely to be overweight/obese, which was associated with their indulgent eating patterns. Ethnic-specific healthy eating intervention programs are needed.
Age matters: variations in parasitoid diversity along a successional gradient in a dry semi-deciduous tropical forest
Authors: González-Moreno Alejandra , Bordera Santiago , Ballina-Gómez Horacio , Leirana-Alcocer Jorge
Published: August 2023

Parasitoids are an important group of insects because their species number is among the highest. Multiple studies have addressed the relationships between forest successional age and insect diversity by focusing on herbivorous organisms, but changes in diversity of parasitoids are still poorly known. This work analyses the diversity of parasitoids in tropical forests representing three successional stages. A total of 30 traps were placed, ten in each forest successional stages. We estimated true diversity of Ichneumonidae species and guilds and explored the relationship between their diversity and the abundance of plant species using an Indicator Species Analysis; the relationship between parasitoid species and plant richness and abundance was tested using a Redundancy Analysis. A total of 1522 individuals and 168 morpho-species were captured in four months. Species richness showed no differences; however, parasitoid abundance was higher in young forest, while intermediate forest had the highest true diversity values (1D) with 71.6 effective species. According to insect guilds, richness, abundance, and diversity were similar in the three vegetation successional stages. This finding may be explained based on the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which postulates that moderate disturbance levels favor the highest diversity. In conclusion, successional age matters, i.e., diversity is the highest in intermediate stages, while the old forests harbors guilds unique to that successional stage, such as parasitoids of melitophagous larvae of bees. Other successional stages were characterized by a single species of parasitoid, belonging to the generaEiphosomaandAnomalon,which may indicate altered and preserved forests, respectively.
Developmental pathway for first onset of depressive disorders in females: from adolescence to emerging adulthood
Authors: Mu Wenting , Huang Chuncheng , Yao Nisha , Miao Jiaju , Perlman Greg , Watson David , Klein Daniel N. , Kotov Roman
Published: August 2023

Background

Although risk markers for depressive disorders (DD) are dynamic, especially during adolescence, few studies have examined how change in risk levels during adolescence predict DD onset during transition to adulthood. We compared two competing hypotheses of the dynamic effects of risk. The risk escalation hypothesis posits that worsening of risk predicts DD onset beyond risk level. The chronic risk hypothesis posits that persistently elevated risk level, rather than risk change, predicts DD onset.

Methods

Our sample included 393 girls (baseline age 13.5–15.5 years) from the adolescent development of emotions and personality traits project. Participants underwent five diagnostic interviews and assessments of risk markers for DD at 9-month intervals and were re-interviewed at a 6-year follow-up. We focused on 17 well-established risk markers. For each risk marker, we examined the prospective effects of risk level and change on first DD onset at wave six, estimated by growth curve modeling using data from the first five waves.

Results

For 13 of the 17 depression risk markers, elevated levels of risk during adolescence, but not change in risk, predicted first DD onset during transition to adulthood, supporting the chronic risk hypothesis. Minimal evidence was found for the risk escalation hypothesis.

Conclusions

Participants who had a first DD onset during transition to adulthood have exhibited elevated levels of risk throughout adolescence. Researchers and practitioners should administer multiple assessments and focus on persistently elevated levels of risk to identify individuals who are most likely to develop DD and to provide targeted DD prevention.
Growing population of the critically endangered white-thighed colobus monkey (Colobus vellerosus) from forest fragments in Ghana
Authors: Kankam Bright Obeng , Antwi-Bosiako Prosper , Addae-Wireko Louis , Dankwah Christopher
Published: August 2023

The population of critically endangered white-thighed colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus) at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) is possibly the only growing population of this species in West Africa. We assessed the current population status of C. vellerosus in BFMS and the surrounding fragments in Ghana. We undertook a complete count of the population in 2020, and this data was combined with previously conducted complete counts from 1990 to 2014. Results show that the total population growth rate of colobus monkeys at BFMS and the surrounding forest fragments was 353.9% between the 1990 and 2020 censuses (at a rate of 11.8% annually). In the BFMS alone, the total population growth rate was 252.3% between 1990 and 2020 (i.e., at a rate of 8.4% annually). The total population growth rate in the surrounding forest fragments was 97.0% between the first census year of 1997 and the 2020 census (i.e., at a rate of 4.2% annually). The mean group size in the BFMS was 16.7 individuals (SD = 4.0; range = 9–25), while that of the surrounding forest fragments was 14.4 individuals (SD = 4.6; range = 9–23). The overall mean group size was 16.1 individuals (SD = 4.3; range = 9–25). An approximate ratio of one adult male to three adult females (1:3.4) and one adult female to one immature (1:1.2) is an indication that the population of C. vellerosus still has the potential to increase further when new suitable forest fragments are explored in the future. C. vellerosus has the potential to increase further in population in small, suitable fragments if habitat destruction and settlement expansion are managed with primate conservation intentions.