bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cre-dependent ACR2-expressing reporter mouse strain for efficient long-lasting inhibition of neuronal activity
Authors: Mukai Yasutaka , Li Yan , Nakamura Akiyo , Fukatsu Noriaki , Iijima Daisuke , Abe Manabu , Sakimura Kenji , Itoi Keiichi , Yamanaka Akihiro
Published: March 2023

Optogenetics is a powerful tool for manipulating neuronal activity by light illumination with high temporal and spatial resolution. Anion-channelrhodopsins (ACRs) are light-gated anion channels that allow researchers to efficiently inhibit neuronal activity. A blue light-sensitive ACR2 has recently been used in several in vivo studies; however, the reporter mouse strain expressing ACR2 has not yet been reported. Here, we generated a new reporter mouse strain, LSL-ACR2, in which ACR2 is expressed under the control of Cre recombinase. We crossed this strain with a noradrenergic neuron-specific driver mouse (NAT-Cre) to generate NAT-ACR2 mice. We confirmed Cre-dependent expression and function of ACR2 in the targeted neurons by immunohistochemistry and electrophysiological recordings in vitro, and confirmed physiological function using an in vivo behavioral experiment. Our results show that the LSL-ACR2 mouse strain can be applied for optogenetic inhibition of targeted neurons, particularly for long-lasting continuous inhibition, upon crossing with Cre-driver mouse strains. The LSL-ACR2 strain can be used to prepare transgenic mice with homogenous expression of ACR2 in targeted neurons with a high penetration ratio, good reproducibility, and no tissue invasion.
A comparative analysis of clinicopathological features and survival between pre and postmenopausal breast cancer from an Indian cohort
Authors: Nimbalkar Vidya P. , Rajarajan Savitha , V P Snijesh , Alexander Annie , Kaluve Rohini , Selvam Sumithra , Ramesh Rakesh , B S Srinath , Prabhu Jyothi S.
Published: March 2023

Breast cancer (BC) among premenopausal women is an aggressive disease associated with poor outcome despite intensive treatment. Higher burden is observed in southeast Asian countries attributed to younger population structure. We compared the reproductive and clinicopathological characteristics, distribution of subtypes and survival between pre and postmenopausal women from a retrospective cohort of BC patients with median follow up over 6 years to examine the differences. In our cohort of 446 BC patients, 162/446 (36.3%) were premenopausal. Parity and age at last childbirth were significantly different between pre and postmenopausal women. Premenopausal BC had a higher proportion of HER2 amplified and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors (p = 0.012). Stratified analysis by molecular subtypes showed TNBC had significantly better disease free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) among premenopausal group (mean survival, pre vs. post, DFS = 79.2 vs. 54.0 months, OS = 72.5 vs. 49.5 months, p = 0.002 for both). Analysis on external datasets (SCAN-B, METABRIC) confirmed this finding for overall survival. Our data confirmed the previously observed association of clinical and pathological features between pre and postmenopausal BC. Exploration of better survival among premenopausal TNBC tumors is warranted in larger cohorts with long term follow up.
Major cell-types in multiomic single-nucleus datasets impact statistical modeling of links between regulatory sequences and target genes
Authors: Leblanc Francis J. A. , Lettre Guillaume
Published: March 2023

Epigenomic profiling, including ATACseq, is one of the main tools used to define enhancers. Because enhancers are overwhelmingly cell-type specific, inference of their activity is greatly limited in complex tissues. Multiomic assays that probe in the same nucleus both the open chromatin landscape and gene expression levels enable the study of correlations (links) between these two modalities. Current best practices to infer the regulatory effect of candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) in multiomic data involve removing biases associated with GC content by generating null distributions of matched ATACseq peaks drawn from different chromosomes. This strategy has been broadly adopted by popular single-nucleus multiomic workflows such as Signac. Here, we uncovered limitations and confounders of this approach. We found a strong loss of power to detect a regulatory effect for cCREs with high read counts in the dominant cell-type. We showed that this is largely due to cell-type-specific trans-ATACseq peak correlations creating bimodal null distributions. We tested alternative models and concluded that physical distance and/or the raw Pearson correlation coefficients are the best predictors for peak-gene links when compared to predictions from Epimap (e.g. CD14 area under the curve [AUC] = 0.51 with the method implemented in Signac vs. 0.71 with the Pearson correlation coefficients) or validation by CRISPR perturbations (AUC = 0.63 vs. 0.73).
The acute effects of stress on dishonesty are moderated by individual differences in moral default
Authors: Speer Sebastian P. H. , Martinovici Ana , Smidts Ale , Boksem Maarten A. S.
Published: March 2023

In daily life we regularly must decide whether to act dishonestly for personal gain or to be honest and maintain a positive image of ourselves. While evidence suggests that acute stress influences moral decisions, it is unclear whether stress increases or decreases immoral behavior. Here, we hypothesize that stress, through its effects on cognitive control, has different effects on moral decision making for different individuals, depending on their moral default. We test this hypothesis by combining a task which allows for inconspicuously measuring spontaneous cheating with a well-established stress induction task. Our findings confirm our hypothesis, revealing that effects of stress on dishonesty are not uniform, but instead depend on the individual: for those who are relatively dishonest, stress increases dishonesty, whereas for participants who are relatively honest stress makes them more honest. These findings go a long way in resolving the conflicting findings in the literature on the effects of stress on moral decisions, suggesting that stress affects dishonesty differently for different individuals, depending on their moral default.
New light on the photocatalytic performance of NH4V4O10 and its composite with rGO
Authors: Nadolska M. , Szkoda M. , Trzciński K. , Ryl J. , Lewkowicz A. , Sadowska K. , Smalc-Koziorowska J. , Prześniak-Welenc M.
Published: March 2023

Solar-driven photocatalysis has shown great potential as a sustainable wastewater treatment technology that utilizes clean solar energy for pollutant degradation. Consequently, much attention is being paid to the development of new, efficient and low-cost photocatalyst materials. In this study, we report the photocatalytic activity of NH4V4O10(NVO) and its composite with rGO (NVO/rGO). Samples were synthesized via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method and successfully characterized using XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, XAS, TG-MS, SEM, TEM, N2adsorption, PL and UV‒vis DRS. The results indicate that the obtained NVO and NVO/rGO photocatalysts exhibited efficient absorption in the visible wavelength region, a high content of V4+surface species and a well-developed surface area. Such features resulted in excellent performance in methylene blue photodegradation under simulated solar light illumination. In addition, the composite of NH4V4O10with rGO accelerates the photooxidation of the dye and is beneficial for photocatalyst reusability. Moreover, it was shown that the NVO/rGO composite can be successfully used not only for the photooxidation of organic pollution but also for the photoreduction of inorganic pollutants such as Cr(VI). Finally, an active species trapping experiment was conducted, and the photodegradation mechanism was discussed.
Modelling physical contacts to evaluate the individual risk in a dense crowd
Authors: Wang Chongyang , Shen Liangchang , Weng Wenguo
Published: March 2023

Tumble and stampede in a dense crowd may be caused by irrational behaviours of individuals and always troubles the safety management of crowd activities. Risk evaluation based on pedestrian dynamical models can be regarded as an effective method of preventing crowd disasters. Here, a method depending on a combination of collision impulses and pushing forces was used to model the physical contacts between individuals in a dense crowd, by which the acceleration error during physical contacts caused by a traditional dynamical equation can be avoided. The human domino effect in a dense crowd could be successfully reproduced, and the crushing and trampling risk of a microscopic individual in a crowd could be quantitatively evaluated separately. This method provides a more reliable and integral data foundation for evaluating individual risk that shows better portability and repeatability than macroscopic crowd risk evaluation methods and will also be conducive to preventing crowd disasters.
Numerical analysis of the ostiomeatal complex aeration using the CFD method
Authors: Tretiakow Dmitry , Tesch Krzysztof , Markiet Karolina , Przewoźny Tomasz , Kusiak Aida , Cichońska Dominika , Skorek Andrzej
Published: March 2023

We aimed to analyse ostiomeatal complex (OMC) aeration using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method of simulation based on human craniofacial computed tomography (CT) scans. The analysis was based on CT images of 2 patients: one with normal nose anatomy and one with nasal septal deviation (NSD). The Reynolds-Average Simulation approach and turbulence model based on linear eddy viscosity supplemented with the two-equation k-$$\omega$$
ω
SST model were used for the CFD simulation. As a result, we found differences in airflow velocity through the ostiomeatal complex in patients with a normal nose and those with NSD. In a patient with NSD, the flow is turbulent in contrast to the normal nose (laminar flow). A faster (more intensive) airflow through the OMC was observed in the wider nasal cavity of the patient with NSD than on the narrower side. In addition, we want to emphasise the higher speed of airflow through the apex uncinate process area towards the ostiomeatal complex during exhalation, which, in the presence of secretions in the nose, predisposes to its easier penetration into the sinuses of the anterior group.
Association of myosteatosis with treatment response and survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing chemoembolization: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Bannangkoon Kittipitch , Hongsakul Keerati , Tubtawee Teeravut , Ina Natee , Chichareon Ply
Published: March 2023

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have poor prognosis and have frequent treatment-related toxicities resulting in cancer-associated cachexia. This study aimed to determine the association of myosteatosis and sarcopenia on mortality in patients with HCC treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Six hundred and eleven patients diagnosed with HCC and underwent TACE at a tertiary care center between 2008 and 2019 were included. Body composition was assessed using axial CT slices at level L3 to calculate the skeletal muscle density for myosteatosis and skeletal muscle index for sarcopenia. The primary outcome was overall survival while the secondary outcome was TACE response. Patients with myosteatosis had a poorer TACE response than patients without myosteatosis (56.12% vs. 68.72%, adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.34–0.72). The rate of TACE response in patients with sarcopenia was not different from those without sarcopenia (60.91% vs. 65.22%, adjusted OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.55–1.13). Patients with myosteatosis had shorter overall survival than without myosteatosis (15.9 vs. 27.1 months, P < 0.001). In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, patients with myosteatosis or sarcopenia had higher risk of all-cause mortality than their counterparts (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] for myosteatosis versus no myosteatosis 1.66, 95% CI 1.37–2.01, adjusted HR for sarcopenia versus no sarcopenia 1.26, 95% CI 1.04–1.52). Patients with both myosteatosis and sarcopenia had the highest 7 year mortality rate at 94.45%, while patients with neither condition had the lowest mortality rate at 83.31%. The presence of myosteatosis was significantly associated with poor TACE response and reduced survival. Identifying patients with myosteatosis prior to TACE could allow for early interventions to preserve muscle quality and might improve prognosis in HCC patients.
Boosting methanol productionviaplasma catalytic CO2hydrogenation over a MnOx/ZrO2catalyst
Authors: Zhang Xuming , Sun Zhi , Shan Yun , Pan Hua , Jin Yuzhen , Zhu Zuchao , Zhang Liancheng , Li Kai
Published: March 2023

Boosted methanol production over MnOx/ZrO2catalyst could be achievedviaplasma-assisted catalytic CO2hydrogenation at ambient temperature and pressure.
Multimetallic post-synthetic modifications of copper selenide nanoparticles
Authors: Sen Riti , Gordon Tyler Masato , Millheim Shelby Liz , Smith Jacob Harrison , Gan Xing Yee , Millstone Jill Erin
Published: March 2023

Here, we find that cation exchange and metal deposition outcomes are insensitive to either synthetic approach or metal mixture. However, extent and composition of the added metals varies with both metal combination and synthetic approach.
Lead-free 2D MASnBr3 and Ruddlesden–Popper BA2MASn2Br7 as light harvesting materials
Authors: Kumavat Sandip R. , Sonvane Yogesh
Published: March 2023

The calculated band gap of (a) MASnBr3 (b) BAMASn2Br7 with strain engineering for 0%, 1% , 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% respectively.
Electrical and mechanical properties of self-supported hydroxypropyl methylcellulose–polyaniline conducting films
Authors: Cavalheiro Maeda Vinicius , Correa Cintia Marques , Mamoru Otsuka Hamanaka Marcos Henrique , Hamanaka Viviane Nogueira , Molina Celso , Camilo Fernanda F.
Published: March 2023

The purpose of this work was to develop a simple method to produce self-supported films composed of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and polyaniline (PANI) by the direct mixture of aqueous dispersions of both polymers with subsequent drying.
Limited impact of jet-induced feedback in the multi-phase nuclear interstellar medium of 4C12.50
Authors: Villar Martín M. , Castro-Rodríguez N. , Pereira Santaella M. , Lamperti I. , Tadhunter C. , Emonts B. , Colina L. , Alonso Herrero A. , Cabrera-Lavers A. , Bellocchi E.
Published: March 2023

Context. 4C12.50 (IRAS 13451+1232) at z = 0.122 is an ultraluminous infared radio galaxy that has often been proposed as a prime candidate for the link between ultraluminous infared galaxies and young radio galaxies. It is also an interesting target to investigate whether and how radio-induced feedback affects the evolution of galaxies in the early phases of radio activity.

Aims. We study, in detail for the first time, the hot (≥1500 K) molecular gas in 4C12.50. The potential impact of the radio jet on this gas phase, as well as on the star formation activity, are investigated. We also study the ionised (including coronal) gas as traced by the near-infrared lines.

Methods. Using near-infrared long slit spectroscopy obtained with EMIR on GTC and X-shooter on VLT, we analyse the emission line spectrum of the ionised, coronal, and, specially, the hot molecular gas in the western nucleus hosting the compact radio jet. Based on high spatial resolution ALMA CO(2–1) data, we also revise the location of 4C12.50 in the Kennicutt-Schmidt diagram in order to investigate whether star formation is suppressed.

Results. 4C12.50 hosts (2.1 ± 0.4) × 104 M⊙ of hot molecular gas. An unusually high rotational temperature Trot = 3020 ± 160 K is inferred. The molecular gas mass obeys a power-law temperature distribution, dMH2/dT ∝ T−5, from T ∼ 300 K and up to ∼3000 K. Both results support the idea that shocks (probably induced by the radio jet) contribute to the heating and excitation of the hot molecular gas. A molecular outflow is not detected. The coupling of the outflowing ionised and neutral outflows with the hot molecular gas is poor. Contrary to other studies, we claim that there is no evidence for star formation suppression in this object.

Conclusions. If radio-induced feedback can regulate the star formation activity in galaxies, 4C12.50 is a promising candidate to reveal this phenomenon in action. However, we find no solid evidence for a current or past impact of this mechanism on the evolution of this system, neither by clearing out the dusty central cocoon efficiently, nor by suppressing the star formation activity.
A study of carbon-rich post-AGB stars in the Milky Way to understand the production of carbonaceous dust from evolved stars
Authors: Tosi S. , Kamath D. , Dell’Agli F. , Van Winckel H. , Ventura P. , Marchetti T. , Marini E. , Tailo M.
Published: March 2023

Context. Knowledge of the Gaia, DR3 parallaxes of Galactic post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars makes it possible to exploit these objects as tracers of AGB evolution, nucleosynthesis, and dust production as well as to use them to shed new light on still poorly known physical processes experienced by AGB stars.

Aims. The goal of this study is to reconstruct the evolution and the dust formation processes during the final AGB phases of a sample of carbon-rich, post-AGB Galactic stars, with particular attention to the determination of the past mass-loss history.

Methods. We study the IR excess of Galactic sources classified as post-AGB single stars by means of dust formation modelling where dust grains form and grow in a static wind and expand from the surface of the star. The method is applied to various evolutionary stages of the final AGB phase of stars with different masses and metallicities. The results from a spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting are used to infer information on mass loss, efficiency of dust formation, and wind dynamics.

Results. The detailed analysis of the SED of the sources investigated, which included the derivation of the luminosities and the dust properties, allows us to confirm previous results, mostly based on the surface chemical composition, that most of the investigated sources descend from low-mass (M < 1.5 M⊙) progenitors that reached the C-star stage. Metal-poor carbon stars are characterised by higher IR excesses with respect to their more metal-rich counterparts of similar luminosity due to a higher surface carbon-to-oxygen excess. This work confirms previous conclusions based on a limited sample of carbon-rich post-AGB objects in the Magellanic Clouds, namely that more luminous stars descending from higher-mass progenitors are generally more opaque due to shorter evolutionary timescales that place the dust shell closer to the central object. Through the study of the dynamics of the outflow and results from stellar evolution modelling, we find that the mass-loss rate at the tip of the AGB phase of metal-rich low-mass carbon stars is approximately 1#x2212;1.5 × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1, whereas in the metal-poor domain Ṁ ∼ 4 − 5 × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1 is required. These results indicate the need for an upwards revision of the theoretical mass-loss rates of low-mass carbon stars in the available literature, which in turn require a revised determination of carbon dust yields by AGB stars.
A major asymmetric ice trap in a planet-forming disk
Authors: Leemker M. , Booth A. S. , van Dishoeck E. F. , van der Marel N. , Tabone B. , Ligterink N. F. W. , Brunken N. G. C. , Hogerheijde M. R.
Published: March 2023

Context. Most well-resolved disks observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show signs of dust traps. These dust traps set the chemical composition of the planet-forming material in these disks, as the dust grains with their icy mantles are trapped at specific radii and could deplete the gas and dust at smaller radii of volatiles.

Aims. In this work, we analyse the first detection of nitric oxide (NO) in a protoplanetary disk. We aim to constrain the nitrogen chemistry and the gas-phase C/O ratio in the highly asymmetric dust trap in the Oph-IRS 48 disk.

Methods. We used ALMA observations of NO, CN, C2H, and related molecules in the Oph-IRS 48 disk. We modeled the effect of the increased dust-to-gas ratio in the dust trap on the physical and chemical structure using a dedicated nitrogen chemistry network in the thermochemical code DALI. Furthermore, we explored how ice sublimation contributes to the observed emission lines. Finally, we used the model to put constraints on the nitrogen-bearing ices.

Results. Nitric oxide (NO) is only observed at the location of the dust trap, but CN and C2H are not detected in the Oph-IRS 48 disk. This results in an CN/NO column density ratio of <0.05 and thus a low C/O ratio at the location of the dust trap. Models show that the dust trap cools the disk midplane down to ~30 K, just above the NO sublimation temperature of ~25 K. The main gas-phase formation pathways to NO though OH and NH in the fiducial model predict NO emission that is an order of magnitude lower than what has been observed. The gaseous NO column density can be increased by factors ranging from 2.8 to 10 when the H2O and NH3 gas abundances are significantly boosted by ice sublimation. However, these models are inconsistent with the upper limits on the H2O and OH column densities derived from Herschel PACS observations and the upper limit on CN derived from ALMA observations. As the models require an additional source of NO to explain its detection, the NO seen in the observations is likely the photodissociation product of a larger molecule sublimating from the ices. The non-detection of CN provides a tighter constraint on the disk C/O ratio than the C2H upper limit.

Conclusions. We propose that the NO emission in the Oph-IRS 48 disk is closely related to the nitrogen-bearing ices sublimating in the dust trap. The non-detection of CN constrains the C/O ratio both inside and outside the dust trap to be <1 if all nitrogen initially starts as N2 and ≤ 0.6, consistent with the Solar value, if (at least part of) the nitrogen initially starts as N or NH3.
Analysis of complex impedance spectroscopy, modulus and dielectric properties of the 0.65PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3–0.35PbTiO3 perovskite single crystals
Authors: Hnawi Salma Kaotar , Lifi Houda , Lifi Mohamed , Khrissi Salam , Nossir Naima , Zouhair Saida , Benkhouja Khalil , Ait Ali Mustapha
Published: March 2023

The advancements complex dielectric and impedance properties studies are carried out on relaxor-ferroelectric single crystals such as PMN-PT (lead titanium-lead magnesium niobate) have gained significant interest for their outstanding properties. Three (1–x) PMN–xPT compositions were employed, where x = 0.35, which corresponds to the composition of the morphotropic phase boundary under normal ferroelectric behavior. An investigation of the dielectric behavior has been done for the three compositions. By examining the polarization evolution for several samples as a function of the applied field and temperature fluctuation, ferroelectric character was analyzed. The influence of temperature has a significant impact on the hysteresis loop. Impedance and complex modulus plots show two despondent semicircles and one flatten semicircle, respectively for (1–x) PMN–xPT. This is ascribed to the nearly same grain boundaries, capacitance of grain and higher grain boundary resistance than the grain resistance for (1–x) PMN–xPT. While the nature of Nyquist plot corroborates the attendance of bulk effects.
Ballistic cluster–cluster aggregation model optimization
Authors: Ding Wanying , Gu Youlin , Hu Yihua , Chen Guolong , Cao Hao , He Haihao
Published: March 2023

In this paper, an optimized model based on the ballistic cluster–cluster aggregation model is proposed to study the optical properties of aggregated particle structures. The critical improvement of the optimized model is the ability to arbitrarily select the original number of particles in the simulation and set different sizes of particles, whereas the original model is limited to 2n particles. Herein, the discrete dipole approximation method was used to calculate the optical extinction properties of the aggregation structure. First, the effect of porosity, which is a significant parameter, is explored, and acceptable error values are calculated. Second, simulations are performed using the optimized model for conditions applicable to the original model (N = 2n), and the difference between the two model calculations is assessed. Finally, the extinction performance of the aggregate with an arbitrary number of particles (N ≠ 2n) simulated by the optimized model is calculated and compared with the results obtained by the interpolation method. The numerical results verify the generalizability and accuracy of the optimized model.
Modeling HTS non-insulated coils: A comparison between finite-element and distributed network models
Authors: Venuturumilli S. , Mataira R. C. , Taylor R. W. , Gonzales J. T. , Bumby C. W.
Published: March 2023

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) non-insulated (NI) coils have the unique capability to bypass current through conductive turn-to-turn contacts, mitigating the possibility of a catastrophic failure in the event of a quench. However, this turn-to-turn conductivity leads to a significant increase in the coil decay/charging time constant. To understand this phenomenon, several modeling techniques have been proposed, including the lumped and distributed network (DN) circuit models, and more recently the finite-element (FE) models. In this paper, the decay results obtained from modeling HTS NI pancake coils using both a DN model and a 2D FE model approach are evaluated and compared. Steady-state fields, and transient charging and decay behaviors are calculated with each model and the results compared. Key differences are highlighted, including the computation speed and the capturing of various physical phenomena. Both models exhibit non-exponential decay during initial coil discharge due to current redistribution between the inner and outer turns. In addition, the FE model exhibits other effects arising from current redistribution in both the radial and axial directions, including remanent magnetization, and variation of the “apparent total inductance” during charging. Simulations of sudden discharge have also been analyzed using the common “lumped circuit” formula. This shows that extracted values for the apparent surface contact resistance between coil windings can differ by more than a factor of 5 from the initial input value. Our results confirms the optimal choice of architecture for future NI coil models and emphasize that caution should be exercised when interpreting experimental results using the lumped circuit approach.
Toward understanding the effectiveness of attention mechanism
Authors: Ye Xiang , He Zihang , Heng Wang , Li Yong
Published: March 2023

Attention mechanism (AM) is a widely used method for improving the performance of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on computer vision tasks. Despite its pervasiveness, we have a poor understanding of what its effectiveness stems from. It is popularly believed that its effectiveness stems from the visual attention explanation, i.e., attention weights indicate the importance of feature and AM advocates focusing on the important part of an input image rather than ingesting the entire input. However, we find only a weak consistency exists between the attention weights of features and their importance. We verify the feature map multiplication that brings about high-order non-linearity into CNNs is crucial for the effectiveness of AM. Furthermore, we show an essential impact of feature map multiplication on the learned surfaces of CNNs. With the high-order non-linearity, feature map multiplication plays a regularization role on CNNs, which makes the learned curves smoother and more stable in-between real samples (test/training samples in datasets). Thus, compared to vanilla CNNs, CNNs equipped with AM are more robust to noises and yield smaller model sensitivity scores, which is the reason for their better performance.
Sedimentation of magnetorheological fluids measured using an automated vertical axis inductance monitoring system
Authors: Ma Ran , Wereley Norman M.
Published: March 2023

Stable magnetorheological fluids (MRFs) are inevitably required to develop reliable MRF-based applications. Suspension stability of MRFs can be studied using an automated vertical axis inductance monitoring system (AVAIMS), where an inductance sensor is translated vertically along a column of MRF to measure particle concentration as a function of column height and time. The AVAIMS allows for tracking the particle concentration discontinuities due to the sedimentation of MRFs including the mud-line, the gel-line, and the cake-line. The sedimentation progress of MRFs can be evaluated by analyzing these boundaries. In this study, the AVAIMS design was improved to better identify the sedimentation zone boundaries by using an optimized inductance sensor that measures the concentration gradient as a function of time. The inductance sensor design, material selection, and geometry were optimized to improve the sensor sensitivity. The calibration curve of the sensor was obtained by measuring samples with different particle volume fractions. The sensor design was validated by examining an MRF sample with a particle concentration of 20% volume fraction for seven consecutive days. These tests show the effectiveness of the AVAIMS optimized to better localize the sedimentation zone boundaries using the concentration gradient profile method.
The grammaticalization of verbs of location movement into noun-phrase conjunctions in Archaic Chinese
Authors: Chang Jung-Im
Published: March 2023

Previous studies of the grammaticalization paths of Chinese Noun-Phrase Conjunctions (NP-AND) have mainly focused
on their development from comitative verbs, as in the cases of 與 yú ‘to be together with’, 共 gòng ‘to share’, 和 hé ‘to mingle’, and 同 tóng ‘to be the same’ > ‘to accompany’. This study focuses on the development of
NP-AND from verbs of location movement (位移動詞, with the
feature set [+verb, +motion, +goal]), such as 于 yú ‘to go to’, 越 yuè ‘to jump over to’, 暨 jì ‘to arrive at’, and 及 jí ‘to reach’, identifying changes that occurred in pre-Archaic Chinese (used from
the 14th to the 11th c. BC), early Archaic Chinese (used from the 10th to the 6th c. BC), and late Archaic Chinese (from the 5th
to the 2nd c. BC).

To elucidate the origin and the grammaticalization path of each verb indicating goal of motion, this study
examines their occurrences in excavated texts, such as the Oracle-Bone Inscriptions and Bronze Inscriptions, and in Archaic
Chinese transmitted texts, such as The book of documents (Shàngshū 尚書), The book of odes
(Shījīng 詩經), and
Zuo’s commentary (Zuǒzhuàn 左傳). Based on this data, the study analyzes the core meaning of each verb and their grammaticalization paths.
In addition, possible etymological relationships among 于,
越, 暨, and 及 are
investigated. The grammaticalization path of each verb into an NP-AND can be formulated as V [+motion, +goal] > end point of a
scope (from X to Y) > additive particle > NP-AND. Finally, cross-linguistic parallels are adduced to support
the plausibility of the proposed grammaticalization path.
From reciprocity to competition
Authors: Jendraschek Gerd , Koo Myung-Chul
Published: March 2023

Korean has a reciprocal pronoun that under certain conditions takes on an innovative function as a marker of
competition. This meaning emerges when the marker is used in reported speech containing a predicate expressing volition,
intention, or speaker-orientation. In such contexts, the marker is reanalysed as co-referential with competing subsets of subject
referents. The final stage is the extension of the competition marker to simple clauses and predicates. The empirical part of this
research is based on a survey with 23 native speakers. The shift from a reciprocal pronoun to a competition marker will be
analysed as an instance of subjectification. The innovative use as a competition marker has led to additional distributional
differences between the simple use of the marker and its reduplicated form. The situation in Korean is comparable to that in
Japanese, Bulgarian, and Karachay-Balkar, and mirrors the polysemy pattern found in Tuvaluan. This is the first typological study
of the relevant domain in Korean, and will be a valuable addition to the list of available studies on reciprocity and
subjectification.
A corpus-based analysis of coordinate structures in Libras
Authors: Müller de Quadros Ronice , Barbosa da Silva Jair , Nogueira Machado Rodrigo
Published: March 2023

This chapter describes coordination processes in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) based on data from the Libras Corpus . Similar to other sign languages (e.g., Tang & Lau 2012; Zorzi 2018), coordinate structures in Libras are organized by juxtaposing one to the other, either marked only by nonmanual markers, or through connectors such as but, or, is (with a value of “that is”), also, or a combination of manual and nonmanual markers. After annotating the data for each sign for both hands, we annotated the syntactic units and then identified the coordinated sentences using ELAN. We find that use of nonmanual markers is especially prevalent, in both conjunctive and disjunctive structures, establishing prosodic boundaries and clauses limits. In adversative coordinate clauses, manual connectors such as mas (“but”) are used, and we attest to a small number of occurrences of nonmanual markers with adversatives.
A novel approach to denoising correlation matrices with applications to global portfolio management with a large number of assets
Authors: Lakshtanov Evgeny , Molyboga Marat
Published: March 2023

We introduce a new approach to denoising correlation matrices that imposes a block structure with a fixed block-dependent pair-wise correlation within each block and a constant correlation specified for each pair of blocks. We characterize the eigenvalue spectrum and modify the Marchenko-Pastur distribution of eigenvalues. We present approximate analytic solutions for the inverse problem of determining the block sizes and the correlation parameters under a broad set of assumptions. Our solution is based on a novel unsupervised approach for improving correlation matrix estimation by a functional transformation of the original data rather than popular shrinkage estimation or standard random-matrix-theory-based techniques. However, a correlation matrix produced by our method can serve as an attractive target correlation matrix within shrinkage frameworks. Our correlation matrix denoising method has broad applications for global portfolio management with a large number of assets from many diverse asset classes.
Determination of the apparent effective ionization coefficient in mixtures of He and O2 using steady-state Townsend discharge: effect of penning ionization and attachment
Authors: Rasmus Talviste , Kalev Erme , Peeter Paris , Jüri Raud , Toomas Plank , Indrek Jõgi
Published: March 2023

He:O2 gas mixtures are popular in many non-thermal plasma applications because of the good thermal conductivity of He and high production of reactive oxygen species. The applications utilizing reactive oxygen species, in particular, applications in biomedicine require accurate knowledge of the fundamental ionization parameters of gases such as the ionization coefficient. This study was focused on experimental determination of the reduced apparent effective ionization coefficient α

ea

/N in He:O2 mixtures. Experiments were conducted in the absolute pressure range of 10–800 Torr and reduced electric field E/N range of 40–1000 Td utilizing a steady-state non-self-sustaining Townsend discharge. Experimental results were compared with a theoretical model which was based on BOLSIG + calculation of ionization and attachment coefficients and additionally considered the ion conversion of O− to O2
−, detachment from O2
− and formation of O3
− and Penning ionization by He metastable species. The measurements agreed reasonably well with model calculations. Comparison with model suggest that He metastable species affect net ionization in He:O2 mixtures with O2 concentrations up to 10% often encountered in the applications and thus should be included in models of atmospheric pressure plasmas. The attachment of electrons became important at O2 concentrations above 10% and is therefore less important in most applications.
L-H transition studies on MAST: power threshold and heat flux analysis
Authors: Howlett Lena , Cziegler István , Freethy Simon , Meyer Hendrik
Published: March 2023

Spherical tokamaks are known to differ from conventional tokamaks in a number of physics areas, but our understanding is limited by a comparative lack of experimental data. A comprehensive study of the density dependence of the H-mode power threshold P

LH
on the mega-amp spherical tokamak (MAST) is presented, mapping out the low-density and high-density branches, and describing different types of L-H transitions and intermediate behaviours. Transitions at low densities are characterised by longer preceding 3–4 kHz I-phase oscillations or intermittent periods. Commonly used P

LH
scalings underestimate the experimental values in this data set by at least an order of magnitude, and a fit to the high-density branch gives

P

L
H

[MW]
=
11.35
×

n
ˉ

e
20

1.19

. To investigate the possibility of a critical edge ion heat flux, transitions of different densities and neutral beam heating powers were analysed with the interpretative transport code TRANSP, revealing that the heat flux possesses a density dependence independent of the net power. The density dependence of the electron heat flux

Q

e

∼
0.57

n
ˉ

e
19

and ion heat flux

Q

i

∼
0.1

n
ˉ

e
19

is caused by a decrease in beam heating efficiency for lower densities, with the fraction of injected power

P

inj

NBI

heating the plasma decreasing from 80% to 20% at low densities. Low-density discharges have greater fast ion orbit and charge-exchange losses, which are seen in Mirnov signals as chirping 50–20 kHz modes and broadband MHD at 150–250 kHz. The captured beam power estimate by TRANSP, which only corrects for shine-through losses, is a significant overestimate for low-density plasmas on MAST. If the P

LH
study is adjusted to account for all losses, the scatter in H-mode points is reduced and the density exponent is increased to

P

L
H

=
12.8
×

n
ˉ

e
20

1.5

. A residual low-density branch remains due to the

d
W

/

d
t

variation.
Matroid Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson cycles and Tutte activities
Authors: Ashraf Ahmed , Backman Spencer
Published: March 2023

Lopéz de Medrano-Rincón-Shaw defined Chern-Schwartz-MacPher-son cycles for an arbitrary matroid

M

{M}

and proved by an inductive geometric argument that the unsigned degrees of these cycles agree with the coefficients of

T
(

M

;
x
,
0
)

T({M};x,0)

, where

T
(

M

;
x
,
y
)

T({M};x,y)

is the Tutte polynomial associated to

M

{M}

. Ardila-Denham-Huh recently utilized this interpretation of these coefficients in order to demonstrate their log-concavity. In this note we provide a direct calculation of the degree of a matroid Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson cycle by taking its stable intersection with a generic tropical linear space of the appropriate codimension and showing that the weighted point count agrees with the Gioan-Las Vergnas refined activities expansion of the Tutte polynomial.
Forty years of research into crassulacean acid metabolism in the genus Clusia: anatomy, ecophysiology and evolution
Authors: Luján Manuel , Leverett Alistair , Winter Klaus
Published: March 2023

Clusia is the only genus containing dicotyledonous trees with a capacity to perform crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Since the discovery of CAM in Clusia 40 years ago, several studies have highlighted the extraordinary plasticity and diversity of life forms, morphology and photosynthetic physiology of this genus. In this review, we revisit aspects of CAM photosynthesis in Clusia and hypothesize about the timing, the environmental conditions and potential anatomical characteristics that led to the evolution of CAM in the group. We discuss the role of physiological plasticity in influencing species distribution and ecological amplitude in the group. We also explore patterns of allometry of leaf anatomical traits and their correlations with CAM activity. Finally, we identify opportunities for further research on CAM in Clusia, such as the role of elevated nocturnal accumulation of citric acid, and gene expression in C3–CAM intermediate phenotypes.
A robust fusion-extraction procedure with summary statistics in the presence of biased sources
Authors: Wang Ruoyu , Wang Qihua , Miao Wang
Published: March 2023

Information from multiple data sources is increasingly available. However, some data sources may produce biased estimates due to biased sampling, data corruption or model misspecification. Thus there is a need for robust data combination methods that can be used with biased sources. In this paper, a robust data fusion-extraction method is proposed. Unlike existing methods, the proposed method can be applied in the important case where researchers have no knowledge of which data sources are unbiased. The proposed estimator is easy to compute and employs only summary statistics; hence it can be applied in many different fields, such as meta-analysis, Mendelian randomization and distributed systems. The proposed estimator is consistent, even if many data sources are biased, and is asymptotically equivalent to the oracle estimator that uses only unbiased data. Asymptotic normality of the proposed estimator is also established. In contrast to existing meta-analysis methods, the theoretical properties are guaranteed for our estimator, even if the number of data sources and the dimension of the parameter diverge as the sample size increases. Furthermore, the proposed method provides consistent selection for unbiased data sources with probability approaching 1. Simulation studies demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method empirically. The method is applied to a meta-analysis dataset to evaluate surgical treatment for moderate periodontal disease and to a Mendelian randomization dataset to study the risk factors for head and neck cancer.
Design and implementation of China Hydrogen Price Index system
Authors: Liu Wei , Wan Yanming , Zhang Yan , Liu Qi
Published: March 2023

Hydrogen will be an important part of China’s energy system in the future and an important carrier for energy-using terminals to realize green and low-carbon transformation. It is important to establish a nationwide hydrogen market to promote the healthy and orderly development of the hydrogen industry chain. The core is to form a complete hydrogen price mechanism and play a decisive role in the process of resource allocation by the market. In this paper, we have developed the framework of the ‘China Hydrogen Price Index’ system by establishing the ‘Assessment + Collection’ model, which covers four types of hydrogen: hydrogen, clean hydrogen, renewable hydrogen and high-purity hydrogen. The model considers the raw materials required for hydrogen production, fixed equipment, engineering construction costs and carbon prices, and conducts sensitivity analysis on the trends and influencing factors of national and regional hydrogen prices of multiple categories since 2018. The results show that, with respect to the level of hydrogen prices, fossil-energy-rich and renewable-energy-rich areas have more advantages than other regions. The price of raw materials is the main factor of the hydrogen price change, and the utilization hours of renewable energy and hydrogen production equipment have a key influence on the price of renewable hydrogen. Next, by establishing an index update mechanism, improving the standard system and building a trading platform, we can further exert the role of price signals and continue to promote the efficient and smooth expansion of the domestic hydrogen market.
Functional connectivity between pre-supplementary motor area and inferior parietal lobule associated with impaired motor response inhibition in first-degree relatives of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Authors: Tomiyama Hirofumi , Murayama Keitaro , Nemoto Kiyotaka , Tomita Mayumi , Kato Kenta , Matsuo Akira , Ohno Aikana , Kang Mingi , Togao Osamu , Ishigami Kousei , Nakao Tomohiro
Published: March 2023

Previous studies have suggested that specific fronto-striatal circuits are associated with impaired motor response inhibition in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their relatives. However, no study has investigated the underlying resting-state network associated with motor response inhibition in the unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with OCD. We measured motor response inhibition using stop-signal task, and obtained resting-state fMRI in 23 first-degree relatives and 52 healthy control participants. We explored the group differences in the functional network from seed regions-of-interest (ROIs) associated with motor response inhibition abilities. We used the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) as seed-ROIs. A significant group difference was observed in functional connectivity between the pre-SMA and inferior parietal lobule. In the relative group, reduced functional connectivity between these areas was associated with a longer stop-signal reaction time. Additionally, relatives showed significantly greater functional connectivity between the IFG and SMA, precentral, and postcentral areas. Our results could provide new insights into the resting-state neural activity of the pre-SMA underlying impaired motor response inhibition of unaffected first-degree relatives. In addition, our results suggested that relatives have an altered connectivity of the sensorimotor region, similar to that of patients with OCD shown in previous literature.
Left atrial appendage amputation concomitant with cardiac surgery in patients with sinus rhythm
Authors: Gerçek Mustafa , Börgermann Jochen , Gerçek Muhammed , Gummert Jan
Published: March 2023

OBJECTIVES

Since recent data demonstrated the benefit of the amputation of the left atrial appendage (LAA) in patients with atrial fibrillation, the long-term impact of LAA amputation on stroke rate and mortality in patients with no history of atrial fibrillation is still unknown.

METHODS

Patients with no history of atrial fibrillation who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting by the off-pump technique between 2014 and 2016 were examined retrospectively. Cohorts were divided by the concomitant execution of LAA amputation, and propensity score matching was applied by baseline characteristics. The stroke rate in a 5-year follow-up served as the primary end point. Secondary end points were the mortality rate and rehospitalization in the same time span.

RESULTS

A total of 1,522 patients were enrolled, of whom 1,267 and 255 were included in the control group and in the LAA amputation group, respectively. These were matched to 243 patients in each group. In total, patients with an LAA amputation showed a significantly lower rate of stroke in a 5-year follow-up [7.0% vs 2.9%, hazard ratio, 0.41; 95% confidence interval (0.17; 0.98), p = 0.045]. However, there was no difference in all-cause mortality (P = 0.23) or rehospitalizations (P = 0.68). Subgroup analysis revealed LAA amputation in patients with a CHA2DS2VASc [congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 (doubled), diabetes, stroke (doubled), vascular disease, age 65 to 74 and sex category (female)] score of ≥3 to be associated with a reduction of stroke [9.4% vs 3.1%, hazard ratio, 0.33; 95% confidence interval [0.12; 0.92], P = 0.034].

CONCLUSIONS

LAA amputation concomitant with cardiac surgery reduces the stroke rate in patients with no history of atrial fibrillation and a high CHA2DS2VASc score (≥3) in a 5-year follow-up.