bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neuropathic pain component and its association with time elapsed since pain onset in patients with low back pain
Authors: Kim Hee Jung , Ban Min Gi , Yoon Kyung Bong , Yang Yun Seok , Kim Shin Hyung
Published: March 2023

Background

Time elapsed since pain onset might affect the likelihood of neuropathic component in low back pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between neuropathic pain component and pain duration in patients with low back pain and to identify factors associated with neuropathic pain component.

Methods

Patients with low back pain who received treatment at our clinic were enrolled. Neuropathic component was assessed using the painDETECT questionnaire at the initial visit. PainDETECT scores and the results for each item were compared according to pain duration category (< 3 months, 3 months to 1 year, 1 year to 3 years, 3 years to 10 years, and ≥ 10 years). A multivariate analysis was used to identify factors associated with neuropathic pain component (painDETECT score ≥ 13) in low back pain.

Results

A total of 1957 patients, including 255 patients who reported neuropathic‐like pain symptoms (13.0%), fully satisfied the study criteria for analysis. No significant correlation between painDETECT score and pain duration was observed (ρ = −0.025, p = 0.272), and there were no significant differences between median painDETECT score or trend of change in the proportion of patients with neuropathic component and the pain duration category (p = 0.307, p = 0.427, respectively). The electric shock‐like pain symptom was frequently reported in patients with acute low back pain, and the persistent pain pattern with slight fluctuations was predominant in chronic low back pain. The pattern of attacks with pain between them was much less common in patients with pain for 10 years or longer. Multivariate analysis revealed that a history of lumbar surgery, severe maximum pain, opioid use, lumbosacral radiculopathy, and sleep disturbance were significantly associated with a neuropathic component in low back pain.

Conclusion

Time elapsed since current pain onset did not correlate with neuropathic pain component in patients with low back pain. Therefore, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for this condition should be based on a multidimensional evaluation at assessment and not on pain duration alone.
Elective and non‐elective endomyocardial biopsy in heart transplant patients and procedural outcomes: An IMPACT registry analysis
Authors: Deshpande Shriprasad R. , Kennedy Kevin F. , Martin Gerard R.
Published: March 2023

Background

Endomyocardial biopsies are standard of care for transplant surveillance, however the procedural risks are not well established, especially in children. The purpose of the study was therefore to assess procedural risks and outcomes associated with elective (surveillance) biopsies and non‐elective (clinically indicated) biopsies.

Methods

We used the NCDR IMPACT registry database for this retrospective analysis. Patients undergoing an endomyocardial biopsy were identified using the procedural code, with a diagnosis of heart transplantation required. Data regarding indication, hemodynamics, adverse events and outcomes was gathered and analyzed.

Results

A total of 32 547 endomyocardial biopsies were performed between 2012–2020; 31 298 (96.5%) elective and 1133 (3.5%) were non‐elective biopsies. Non‐elective biopsy was more commonly performed in infants and in those above 18 years of age, in female and in Black race patients and in those with non‐private insurance (all p < .05) and showed hemodynamic derangements. Overall rate of complications was low. Combined major adverse events were more common in non‐elective patients, with sicker patient profile, use of general anesthesia and femoral access with overall decline in these events over time.

Conclusions

This large‐scale analysis shows safety of surveillance biopsies and that non‐elective biopsies carry a small but significant risk of major adverse event. Patient profile impacts the safety of the procedure. These data may serve as important comparison point for newer non‐invasive tests and for bench marking, especially in children.
Determination of the appropriate concentration of sodium alginate used for in vitro culture of cat preantral follicles in a serum‐free medium containing FSH, EGF and IGF‐I
Authors: Fuertes‐Recuero M. , González‐Gil A. , Pérez J. C. Fontanillas , Ariati I. García‐Cuenca , Picazo R. A.
Published: March 2023

Culture of domestic cat preantral follicles can be a suitable technology to assist oocyte conservation strategies in the family Felidae. This research was aimed to comparatively analyse cat preantral follicular development of follicles directly seeded on growth surface or encapsulated in 0.5 or 1% of sodium alginate in a serum‐free medium containing FSH, EGF and IGF‐I. Preantral follicles were isolated from cat ovarian cortical tissue after ovariectomy. Alginate was dissolved at 0.5 or 1% in PBS. Follicles, 4 per well, with 0% (G‐0%), 0.5% (G‐0.5%) or 1% (G‐1%) of sodium alginate were cultured in M199 with FSH (100 ng/mL), EGF (100 ng/mL) and IGF‐I (100 ng/mL) for 7 days at 37°C, 5% CO2 and 99% humidity. Culture medium was replaced every 48 h and samples were stored at −20°C until ELISA of steroid hormones. Morphometric evaluation of follicles was performed every 24 h. G‐0% follicles showed granulosa cell migration away from the oocyte and disrupted morphology, whereby they reached apparently larger diameters (203.70 ± 5.82 μm; p < .05) than G‐0.5% and G‐1% follicles (157.89 ± 8.47 μm and 95.23 ± 1.67 μm, respectively) which maintained three‐dimensional organization, being larger in G‐0.5% than in G‐1% (p < .05). G‐0.5% follicles attained the multi‐layer preantral follicle stage on day 7 of culture, whereas G‐1% follicles underwent progressive atresia. On day 6, steroid concentrations were higher (p < .05) in G‐0% than in G‐1%: 60 ± 19 vs 0.88 ± 0.32 pg/mL oestradiol; 2.6 ± 0.84 vs 0.04 ± 0.02 ng/mL progesterone; 1.3 ± 0.22 vs 0.61 ± 0.04 ng/mL testosterone and 1.6 ± 0.54 vs 0.22 ± 0.07 ng/mL androstenedione respectively. Steroid concentrations in G‐0.5% were comprised between those of G‐0% and G‐1% (p > .05). In conclusion, two‐layer cat preantral follicles encapsulated in 0.5% alginate cultured in medium containing FSH, EGF and IGF‐I can develop up to the multi‐layer preantral stage in 7 days of culture, whereas follicles directly seeded on growth surface or encapsulated in 1% alginate lost their three‐dimensional organization, and experienced regression with compromised steroidogenesis, respectively.
Rh(D) immune globulin administration in pregnancy: Retrospective audit of patient safety events followed by targeted educational intervention with Bayesian analysis
Authors: Hage Dima , Pyra Kim , McCudden Christopher , Padmore Ruth
Published: March 2023

Objectives

To examine local patient safety events related to the administration of anti‐Rh(D) immune globin (RhIG) during pregnancy, and to follow‐up with targeted educational intervention to improve knowledge of this process.

Background

Administration RhIG is established treatment for the prevention of haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN). However, patient safety events in relation to its correct use continue to occur.

Methods

A retrospective audit of patient safety events related to RhIG administration during pregnancy was performed. Targeted educational intervention in the form of PowerPoint® presentation were given to nursing staff, laboratory staff and physicians and evaluated with pre‐ and post‐tests using multiple‐choice questions given immediately before and after the presentation.

Results

An annual incidence of 0.24% of patient safety events related to the administration of RhIG during pregnancy was found. These events were mostly in the preanalytical phase, for example mislabelled samples or samples for D‐rosette/Kleihauer–Betke testing drawn from the baby, not the mother. Using Bayesian analysis, the probability of positive effect for the targeted educational intervention was 100% with a median improved score of 29%. This was compared with a control group using standard curriculum education intervention based on the current curriculum for nursing, laboratory and medical students which showed a median improved score of only 4.4%.

Conclusions

Administration of RhIG during pregnancy is a multistep process involving health care professionals of several disciplines providing opportunities to enhance the curriculum for nursing, laboratory and medical students and to ensure on‐going education.
Vaccine development for bacterial pathogens: Advances, challenges and prospects
Authors: Mba Ifeanyi Elibe , Sharndama Hyelnaya Cletus , Anyaegbunam Zikora Kizito Glory , Anekpo Chijioke Chinedu , Amadi Ben Chibuzo , Morumda Daji , Doowuese Yandev , Ihezuo Uchechi Justina , Chukwukelu Joseph Ukomadu , Okeke Onyekachi Philomena
Published: March 2023

The advent and use of antimicrobials have played a key role in treating potentially life‐threatening infectious diseases, improving health, and saving the lives of millions of people worldwide. However, the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens has been a significant health challenge that has compromised the ability to prevent and treat a wide range of infectious diseases that were once treatable. Vaccines offer potential as a promising alternative to fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) infectious diseases. Vaccine technologies include reverse vaccinology, structural biology methods, nucleic acid (DNA and mRNA) vaccines, generalised modules for membrane antigens, bioconjugates/glycoconjugates, nanomaterials and several other emerging technological advances that are offering a potential breakthrough in the development of efficient vaccines against pathogens. This review covers the opportunities and advancements in vaccine discovery and development targeting bacterial pathogens. We reflect on the impact of the already‐developed vaccines targeting bacterial pathogens and the potential of those currently under different stages of preclinical and clinical trials. More importantly, we critically and comprehensively analyse the challenges while highlighting the key indices for future vaccine prospects. Finally, the issues and concerns of AMR for low‐income countries (sub‐Saharan Africa) and the challenges with vaccine integration, discovery and development in this region are critically evaluated.
The state of mental health, burnout, mattering and perceived wellness culture in Doctorally prepared nursing faculty with implications for action
Authors: Melnyk Bernadette Mazurek , Strait Lee Ann , Beckett Cindy , Hsieh Andreanna Pavan , Messinger Jeffery , Masciola Randee
Published: March 2023

Background

Depression, anxiety, and burnout are an epidemic in the nursing profession. Unlike nurses in clinical settings, little is known about the mental health of doctorally prepared nursing faculty in academic settings, especially when separated by degree type (Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing [PhD] vs. Doctor of Nursing Practice [DNP]) and clinical or tenure track.

Aims

The study aims were to: (1) describe the current rate of depression, anxiety, and burnout in PhD and DNP‐prepared nursing faculty and tenure and clinical faculty across the United States; (2) determine if differences exist in mental health outcomes between PhD and DNP‐prepared faculty and tenure and clinical faculty; (3) explore whether wellness culture and mattering to the organization influence faculty mental health outcomes; and (4) gain insight into faculty's perceptions of their roles.

Methods

An online descriptive correlational survey design was used with doctorally prepared nursing faculty across the U.S. The survey was distributed to faculty by nursing deans and included: demographics; valid and reliable scales for depression, anxiety, and burnout; an assessment of wellness culture and mattering; and an open‐ended question. Descriptive statistics described mental health outcomes; Cohen's d was used to determine effect sizes between PhD and DNP faculty for the mental health outcomes; and Spearman's correlations tested associations among depression, anxiety, burnout, mattering, and workplace culture.

Results

PhD (n = 110) and DNP (n = 114) faculty completed the survey; 70.9% of PhD faculty and 35.1% of DNP faculty were tenure track. A small effect size (0.22) was found, with more PhDs (17.3%) screening positive for depression than DNPs (9.6%). No differences were observed between tenure and clinical track. Higher perceptions of mattering and workplace culture were associated with less depression, anxiety, and burnout. Identified contributions to mental health outcomes yielded five themes: lack of appreciation, role concerns, time for scholarship, burnout cultures, and faculty preparation for teaching.

Linking Evidence to Action

Urgent action must be taken by college leaders to correct system issues contributing to suboptimal mental health in both faculty and students. Academic organizations need to build wellness cultures and provide infrastructures that offer evidence‐based interventions to support faculty well‐being.
Market Integration through Smuggling: China's Sanction on Norwegian Salmon
Authors: Garcia Roberto J. , Nguyen Thi Ngan Giang
Published: March 2023

Popular press accounts and the political-economics literature link awarding the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident to China's trade sanction on Norway's whole, fresh/chilled salmon exports. Norway lost its dominant supplier share of the Chinese market as its total salmon exports to China decreased. Then, in 2011, Vietnam dramatically increased its imports of Norwegian salmon. A structural break divides the data series into two sub-periods: July 1997 to February 2011, and March 2011 to December 2018 (the sanction period). This provides statistical evidence of China imposing an unannounced trade sanction. During the sanction period, Vietnam's current monthly imports are negatively affected by China's lagged monthly imports. A decrease in China's previous monthly salmon imports from Norway "Granger causes" an increase in Vietnam's current imports. No such relationship existed before the sanction, implying that China and Vietnam's salmon markets became integrated through smuggling.
A New Method to Develop Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Porous Micromodels Applicable to Enhanced Oil Recovery and Flow Visualization Experiments
Authors: Haque Najrul , Singh Anugrah , Saha Ujjwal K.
Published: March 2023

In this paper, a new method to fabricate micromodels having homogeneous and heterogeneous porous structures is reported to gain fundamental insight into the flow through porous media. The technique of microparticle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to map the pore-scale velocity field inside the micromodels. A thin perforated metal sheet composed of uniformly distributed circular holes is used as the master pattern, and the replica of the negative of this perforated sheet is transferred to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate using a method similar to the soft lithography. This method allows an efficient fabrication of micromodels having different porosity by adjusting and selecting the perforated sheets of different hole sizes. The prepared micromodels were tested for its applicability and reliability by carrying out the measurements of pore-scale velocity distribution using the micro-PIV technique. The experiments with micromodels with high porosity but different grain arrangements showed qualitative as well as quantitative differences in the velocity field. The pressure drop across the two ends of micromodel is also measured. The variation of pressure difference with the flowrate is found to be nonlinear with a significant effect on the patterns of micropillars. However, at low porosity, the variation of pressure difference with the flowrate is found linear and there is almost no influence of the micropillar patterns. The flow visualization measurements are also conducted with the dual porosity micromodels, and the flow patterns were examined by analyzing the velocity vector maps.
Versatile quantum-enabled telecom receiver
Authors: Jabir M. V. , Annafianto N. Fajar R. , Burenkov I. A. , Dagenais M. , Battou A. , Polyakov S. V.
Published: March 2023

We experimentally demonstrate a quantum-measurement-based receiver for a range of modulation schemes and alphabet lengths in a telecom C-band. We attain symbol error rates below the shot noise limit for all the studied modulation schemes and the alphabet lengths 4≤M≤16. In doing so, we achieve the record energy sensitivity for telecom receivers. We investigate the trade-off between energy and bandwidth use and its dependence on the alphabet length. We identify the combined (energy and bandwidth) resource efficiency as a figure of merit and experimentally confirm that the quantum-inspired hybrid frequency/phase encoding has the highest combined resource efficiency.
Improvement of electrical characteristics of flexible AZO/Ag/Cu/AZO transparent conductive films by Cu deposition
Authors: Nitta Atsushi , Uwatoko Yuuki , Nagata Teppei , Yoshimura Yukio
Published: March 2023

Flexible electrodes are prepared by deposition on polyethylene naphthalate substrates, which melt at elevated temperatures, and are, therefore, generally unsuitable for deposition at high temperatures. However, only limited improvement in the conductivity can be achieved for Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films formed at low temperatures. Multilayer transparent conductive films (AZO/Ag/AZO), in which a conductive metal such as Ag is sandwiched between AZO, exhibit superior resistivity and electrical stability against bending compared to AZO films and have attracted considerable attention. In this study, AZO transparent conducting films were investigated as alternatives to indium tin oxide. The electrical characteristics of AZO/Ag/AZO films are not optimal at low temperatures owing to oxidation of Ag and its diffusion into the AZO layer. We, therefore, developed transparent conductive films with an AZO/Ag/Cu/AZO structure in which an intermediate Cu layer suppresses the oxidation of Ag and inhibits its diffusion into the substrate-side AZO layer, changing the deposition conditions of Cu. The optimal characteristics were obtained at a Cu deposition rate of 0.08 nm/s. A further increase in Cu layer thickness suppresses the oxidation of the Ag layer and its diffusion into the substrate-side AZO layer, thereby improving resistivity. Notably, a 5 nm thick Cu layer exhibited exclusive Cu regions, which further prevented the oxidation of Ag and its diffusion into the substrate side of the AZO layer, with a resistivity of 5.12 × 10−5 Ω cm. This resistivity is comparable to that of existing transparent conducting films used in practical applications; however, the transmittance of the AZO/Ag/Cu/AZO film was reduced owing to the low transparency of Cu.
Toothed whales use distinct vocal registers for echolocation and communication
Authors: Madsen Peter T. , Siebert Ursula , Elemans Coen P. H.
Published: March 2023

Echolocating toothed whales (odontocetes) capture fast-moving prey in dark marine environments, which critically depends on their ability to generate powerful, ultrasonic clicks. How their supposedly air-driven sound source can produce biosonar clicks at depths of >1000 meters, while also producing rich vocal repertoires to mediate complex social communication, remains unknown. We show that odontocetes possess a sound production system based on air driven through nasal passages that is functionally analogous to laryngeal and syringeal sound production. Tissue vibration in different registers produces distinct echolocation and communication signals across all major odontocete clades, and thus provides a physiological basis for classifying their vocal repertoires. The vocal fry register is used by species from porpoises to sperm whales for generating powerful, highly air-efficient echolocation clicks.
Record-high CO
2
emissions from boreal fires in 2021
Authors: Zheng Bo , Ciais Philippe , Chevallier Frederic , Yang Hui , Canadell Josep G. , Chen Yang , van der Velde Ivar R. , Aben Ilse , Chuvieco Emilio , Davis Steven J. , Deeter Merritt , Hong Chaopeng , Kong Yawen , Li Haiyan , Li Hui , Lin Xin , He Kebin , Zhang Qiang
Published: March 2023

Extreme wildfires are becoming more common and increasingly affecting Earth’s climate. Wildfires in boreal forests have attracted much less attention than those in tropical forests, although boreal forests are one of the most extensive biomes on Earth and are experiencing the fastest warming. We used a satellite-based atmospheric inversion system to monitor fire emissions in boreal forests. Wildfires are rapidly expanding into boreal forests with emerging warmer and drier fire seasons. Boreal fires, typically accounting for 10% of global fire carbon dioxide emissions, contributed 23% (0.48 billion metric tons of carbon) in 2021, by far the highest fraction since 2000. 2021 was an abnormal year because North American and Eurasian boreal forests synchronously experienced their greatest water deficit. Increasing numbers of extreme boreal fires and stronger climate–fire feedbacks challenge climate mitigation efforts.
Landscapes through time
Authors: Ehlers Todd A.
Published: March 2023

Changes to the landscape over millions of years are a driver of Earth system processes
Cytosolic pH Controls Fungal MAPK Signaling and Pathogenicity
Authors: Fernandes Tânia R. , Mariscal Melani , Serrano Antonio , Segorbe David , Fernández-Acero Teresa , Martín Humberto , Turrà David , Di Pietro Antonio
Published: March 2023

Fungal phytopathogens cause devastating losses in global agriculture. All plant-infecting fungi use conserved MAPK signaling pathways to successfully locate, enter, and colonize their hosts.
Genome Sequences of Five Microbacterium foliorum Phages, GaeCeo, NeumannU, Eightball, Chivey, and Hiddenleaf
Authors: Mastropaolo Matthew D. , Fallest-Strobl Patricia C. , Sequira DaeKwon M. , Campbell Davia D. , Negro Christopher J. , Tuang Kho S. , Sigmund-Hamre Ian M. , Womack Courtney L. , Mansbridge Thomas , Metzler Amanda L. , Sasher Emily G. , Collins Colleen , Crowley Nicholas K. , Dower Victoria R. , Bates Megan , Bjorkelo Christian , Johnson Hailey , Salvitti Lauren R. ,   Neumann University Phage Discovery Group
Published: March 2023

Five siphoviruses were isolated from soil in southeastern Pennsylvania using
Microbacterium foliorum
. Bacteriophages NeumannU and Eightball have 25 predicted genes, Chivey and Hiddenleaf have 87 genes, and GaeCeo has 60 genes. Based on gene content similarity to sequenced actinobacteriophages, these five phages are distributed across clusters EA, EE, and EF.
Complete Genomic Analysis of the Novel Phage BUCT-3589, Infecting Klebsiella pneumoniae
Authors: Zhang Xiaoxuan , Mi Yanze , Xu Shan , Song Lihua , Fan Huahao , Li Mengzhe , Tong Yigang
Published: March 2023

We report the complete genome sequence of the phage BUCT-3589, infecting multidrug-resistant
Klebsiella pneumoniae
3589. It is a new member of the genus
Przondovirus
in the family
Autographiviridae
and possesses a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome of 40,757 bp with 53.13% GC content. The genome sequence will support its use as a therapeutic agent.
Genome Sequences of Two Grapevine Rupestris Stem Pitting-Associated Virus Variants from Vitis vinifera cv. Riesling in Idaho, USA
Authors: Dahan Jennifer , Orellana Gardenia E. , Lee Jungmin , Karasev Alexander V.
Published: March 2023

We report the genome sequences of two genetic variants of grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (GRSPaV) from Idaho, USA. The coding-complete, positive-strand RNA genome of 8,700 nucleotides contains six open reading frames characteristic of foveaviruses. The two Idaho genetic variants belong to GRSPaV phylogroup 1.
Cooperative Action of Fulvic Acid and Bacillus paralicheniformis Ferment in Regulating Soil Microbiota and Improving Soil Fertility and Plant Resistance to Bacterial Wilt Disease
Authors: Zhao Xiuyun , Zhu Di , Tan Jun , Wang Rui , Qi Gaofu
Published: March 2023

Continuous cropping tobacco has led to soil degradation and caused soilborne bacterial wilt disease. Fulvic acid as a biostimulator was applied to restore soil and control bacterial wilt disease.
The Space Environment Activates Capsular Polysaccharide Production in Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus Probio-M9 by Mutating the
wze
(
ywqD
) Gene
Authors: Sun Yue , Guo Shuai , Yang Jingfang , Li Yingmeng , Sun Zhihong , Kwok Lai-Yu , Sun Tiansong , Liu Wenjun , Liu Wenjun
Published: March 2023

This work investigated the effect of space exposure on a probiotic bacterium,
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
Probio-M9. Interestingly, the space-exposed bacteria became capable of producing capsular polysaccharide (CPS).
The Lysin Exebacase Has a Low Propensity for Resistance Development in Staphylococcus aureus and Suppresses the Emergence of Resistance to Antistaphylococcal Antibiotics
Authors: Oh Jun , Warner Matthew , Ambler Jane E. , Schuch Raymond
Published: March 2023

To guide development of an investigational new antibacterial drug, microbiological data are required to understand the potential for development of resistance to the drug in the target organism(s). Exebacase is a lysin (peptidoglycan hydrolase) that represents a novel antimicrobial modality based on degradation of the cell wall of
Staphylococcus aureus
.
Mount Garibaldi: hazard potential from a long-dormant volcanic system in the Pacific Northwest
Authors: Morison Conner A. G. , Hickson Catherine J.
Published: March 2023

Mount Garibaldi Volcanic System (MGVS) is the southernmost member of Garibaldi Volcanic Belt (GVB), the northern (Canadian) segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. Temporally episodic explosive to effusive eruptions may be associated with peak ice unloading after glacial maxima. Rapid and widespread deglaciation of the overlying ice sheet, and glacial rebound, have altered the physical characteristics of the landscape whilst the system is thought to have been in long repose for over 10 000 years. Over the last 60 years, the region has become heavily populated due to increased tourism and all-season recreation opportunities. MGVS poses the greatest volcanic threat to the human population and built infrastructure between Vancouver and the resort municipality of Whistler. We believe that this system is a priority for further scientific research, given that its already “very high” overall threat score would likely increase if there was a better understanding of its eruptive history and hazards. Using published and field evidence, we show that potential hazards, related to the volcanic environment of this system, to the settlement of Squamish include voluminous lava flows, pyroclastic density currents triggered by lava dome collapse, tephra fallout, debris flows, and lahars. As relatively few exposures in the system have been dated using modern geochronological techniques, we take this opportunity to (re)calibrate published radiocarbon ages of relatively recent eruptions in GVB.
The reproducibility of remotely piloted aircraft systems to monitor seasonal variation in submerged seagrass and estuarine habitats
Authors: Prystay T.S. , Adams G. , Favaro B. , Gregory R.S. , Le Bris A.
Published: March 2023

Seasonal variation in seagrass growth and senescence affects the provision of ecosystem services and restoration efforts, requiring seasonal monitoring. Remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) enable frequent high-resolution surveys at full-meadow scales. However, the reproducibility of RPAS surveys is challenged by varying environmental conditions, which are common in temperate estuarine systems. We surveyed three eelgrass ( Zostera marina) meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, using an RPAS equipped with a three-color band (red, green, blue [RGB]) camera, to evaluate the seasonal reproducibility of RPAS surveys and assess the effects of flight altitude (30–115 m) on classification accuracy. Habitat percent cover was estimated using supervised image classification and compared to corresponding estimates from snorkel quadrat surveys. Our results revealed inconsistent misclassification due to environmental variability and low spectral separability between habitats. This rendered differentiating between model misclassification versus actual changes in seagrass cover infeasible. Conflicting estimates in seagrass and macroalgae percent cover compared to snorkel estimates could not be corrected by decreasing the RPAS altitude. Instead, higher altitude surveys may be worth the trade-off of lower image resolution to avoid environmental conditions shifting mid-survey. We conclude that RPAS surveys using RGB imagery alone may be insufficient to discriminate seasonal changes in estuarine subtidal vegetated habitats.
Identification and expression analysis of C2H2-zinc finger protein genes reveals their role in stress tolerance in Brassica napus
Authors: Kaur Kawalpreet , Megha Swati , Wang Zhengping , Kav Nat N.V. , Rahman Habibur
Published: March 2023

C2H2-zinc finger (C2H2-ZF) genes are involved in various biological processes in plants including stress response; however, they lack characterization in Brassica napus. We identified 267 C2H2-ZF genes in B. napus and deciphered their physiological properties, subcellular localization, structure, synteny, and phylogeny and investigated the expression of 20 genes in response to different stresses and phytohormone treatments. The 267 genes were distributed on 19 chromosomes; phylogenetic analysis categorized them into five clades. They varied from 0.41 to 9.2 kb in length, had stress-responsive cis-acting elements in promoter regions, and their protein length varied from 9 to 1366 amino acids. About 42% of the genes had one exon, and 88% genes had orthologs in Arabidopsis thaliana. About 97% of the genes were located in nucleus and 3% in cytoplasmic organelles. qRT-PCR analysis showed a different expression pattern of these genes in response to biotic stresses ( Plasmodiophora brassicae and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) and abiotic stresses (cold, drought, and salinity) and hormonal treatments. Differential expression of the same gene was observed under multiple stress conditions, and a few genes showed similar expression in response to more than one phytohormones. Our results suggest that the C2H2-ZF genes can be targeted for the improvement of stress tolerance in canola.
A method to detect quantum coherent transport in memristive devices
Authors: Huggins C. J. , Savel’ev S. E. , Balanov A. G. , Zagoskin A. M.
Published: March 2023

While the size of functional elements in memristors becomes of the orders of nano-meters or even smaller, the quantum effects in their dynamics can significantly influence their transport properties, consistent with recent experimental observations of conductance quantisation in memristors. This requires the development of experimentally accessible signatures of quantum behaviour in memristive systems, such as a superposition of quantum states with different memristances. Here we discuss one such protocol. Our simulations show that periodic projective measurements induce additional spectral components in the response of quantum memristor to a harmonic input signal. Moreover, the response demonstrates a resonant behaviour when the frequency of the projective measurements commensurates with the frequency of the input. We demonstrate that observation of such harmonic mixing can be used as experimental evidence of quantum effects in memristors.

Graphic abstract
On Einstein–Born–Infeld conformally invariant theory
Authors: Cirilo-Lombardo Diego Julio
Published: March 2023

A new Weyl Born Infeld model is presented. It takes as basis the formalism for the mathematical description of conformal gravity based on the local twistor geometry from Merkulov (Class Quantum Gravity 1:349–354, 1984). As in the pure Maxwell case, the electromagnetic field can be naturally incorporated into this scheme by a modification of the local twistor parallel transport law. The dynamical equations of the linear case, namely the Bach equations for gravity and the Maxwell equations for the electromagnetic field, can not be obtained by varying a single quantity-the modified twistor connection, unless a geometric condition on a particular function of the invariants is imposed. When that condition is met, the Weyl–Maxwel gravity system are contained in the obtained set. The invariance under standard dualities and other generalized maps are briefly discussed.
Temporal network analysis using zigzag persistence
Authors: Myers Audun , Muñoz David , Khasawneh Firas A , Munch Elizabeth
Published: March 2023

This work presents a framework for studying temporal networks using zigzag persistence, a tool from the field of Topological Data Analysis (TDA). The resulting approach is general and applicable to a wide variety of time-varying graphs. For example, these graphs may correspond to a system modeled as a network with edges whose weights are functions of time, or they may represent a time series of a complex dynamical system. We use simplicial complexes to represent snapshots of the temporal networks that can then be analyzed using zigzag persistence. We show two applications of our method to dynamic networks: an analysis of commuting trends on multiple temporal scales, e.g., daily and weekly, in the Great Britain transportation network, and the detection of periodic/chaotic transitions due to intermittency in dynamical systems represented by temporal ordinal partition networks. Our findings show that the resulting zero- and one-dimensional zigzag persistence diagrams can detect changes in the networks’ shapes that are missed by traditional connectivity and centrality graph statistics.
Characterization of negative thermal expansion material Zr2-xTixWP2O12 with MgO
Authors: Murai Kei-Ichiro , Inoue Norimasa , Sawada Tomoki , Fujiwara Yasushi , Moriga Toshihiro
Published: March 2023

In this study, it is executed to obtain [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text], 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ceramics with high relative density, 0–0.9 wt% MgO was added as a sintering aid. The influence of MgO amount and relative density on the coefficient of thermal expansion for [Formula: see text] was also investigated. Pure and monophase of Zr[Formula: see text]Ti[Formula: see text]WP2O[Formula: see text] with MgO has been obtained and MgO used sintering aid was doped in the crystal. The coefficients of thermal expansion of the 0.9 wt% MgO-doped sample and MgO-free sample were [Formula: see text] ppm/K and [Formula: see text] ppm/K, respectively. This result suggests that doping of MgO does not have an influence on the coefficient of thermal expansion. In other words, adding MgO increases sintering properties without change in the coefficient of thermal expansion.
TIME OPTIMAL CONTROL STUDIES AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF ADDITIONAL FOOD PROVIDED PREY–PREDATOR SYSTEMS INVOLVING HOLLING TYPE III FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE BASED ON QUALITY OF ADDITIONAL FOOD
Authors: ANANTH V. S. , VAMSI D. K. K.
Published: March 2023

Research on additional food provided prey–predator systems has gained prominence over the years due to its relevance in the context of biological conservation and pest management. Studies in this area suggest that the system can be driven to any desired state asymptotically with appropriate quality and quantity of additional food. In this paper, we study the controllability aspects to drive the system to the desired state in minimum (finite) time to make the outcomes practically more viable. We consider an additional food provided prey–predator system involving Holling type III functional response and study its controllability based on the quality of additional food, keeping the quantity fixed. To that end, we first analyze the dynamics of the system based on quality. Then, we formulate and study a time optimal control problem with the quality of additional food as the control parameter by proving the existence of optimal control and studying its characteristics. Finally, we illustrate the theoretical findings of the work using numerical simulations.
POMACS V7, N1, March 2023 Editorial
Authors: Avrachenkov Konstantin , Gill Phillipa , Urgaonkar Bhuvan
Published: March 2023

The Proceedings of the ACM on Measurement and Analysis of Computing Systems (POMACS) focuses on the measurement and performance evaluation of computer systems and operates in close collaboration with the ACM Special Interest Group SIGMETRICS. All papers in this issue of POMACS will be presented at the ACM SIGMETRICS 2023 conference on June 19-23, 2023, in Orlando, Florida, USA. These papers have been selected during the fall submission round by the 91 members of the ACM SIGMETRICS 2023 program committee via a rigorous review process. Each paper was conditionally accepted (and shepherded), allowed a "one-shot" revision (to be resubmitted to one of the subsequent three SIGMETRICS deadlines), or rejected (with re-submission allowed after a year). For this issue, which represents the fall deadline, POMACS is publishing 26 papers out of 119 submissions. All submissions received at least 3 reviews and borderline cases were extensively discussed during the online program committee meeting. Based on the indicated track(s), roughly 21% of the submissions were in the Theory track, 40% were in the Measurement & Applied Modeling track, 29% were in the Systems track, and 39% were in the Learning track. Many individuals contributed to the success of this issue of POMACS. First, we would like to thank the authors, who submitted their best work to SIGMETRICS/POMACS. Second, we would like to thank the program committee members who provided constructive feedback in their reviews to authors and participated in the online discussions and program committee meeting. We also thank the several external reviewers who provided their expert opinion on specific submissions that required additional input. We are also grateful to the SIGMETRICS Board Chair, Giuliano Casale, and to past program committee Chairs, Niklas Carlsson, Edith Cohen, and Philippe Robert, who provided a wealth of information and guidance. Finally, we are grateful to the Organization Committee and to the SIGMETRICS Board for their ongoing efforts and initiatives for creating an exciting program for ACM SIGMETRICS 2023.
(Private) Kernelized Bandits with Distributed Biased Feedback
Authors: Li Fengjiao , Zhou Xingyu , Ji Bo
Published: March 2023

In this paper, we study kernelized bandits with distributed biased feedback. This problem is motivated by several real-world applications (such as dynamic pricing, cellular network configuration, and policy making), where users from a large population contribute to the reward of the action chosen by a central entity, but it is difficult to collect feedback from all users. Instead, only biased feedback (due to user heterogeneity) from a subset of users may be available. In addition to such partial biased feedback, we are also faced with two practical challenges due to communication cost and computation complexity. To tackle these challenges, we carefully design a new distributed phase-then-batch-based elimination (DPBE) algorithm, which samples users in phases for collecting feedback to reduce the bias and employs maximum variance reduction to select actions in batches within each phase. By properly choosing the phase length, the batch size, and the confidence width used for eliminating suboptimal actions, we show that DPBE achieves a sublinear regret of ~O(T1-α/2 +√γT T), where α ∈ (0,1) is the user-sampling parameter one can tune. Moreover, DPBE can significantly reduce both communication cost and computation complexity in distributed kernelized bandits, compared to some variants of the state-of-the-art algorithms (originally developed for standard kernelized bandits). Furthermore, by incorporating various differential privacy models (including the central, local, and shuffle models), we generalize DPBE to provide privacy guarantees for users participating in the distributed learning process. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to validate our theoretical results and evaluate the empirical performance.
Network Monitoring on Multi-Pipe Switches
Authors: Chiesa Marco , Verdi Fábio L.
Published: March 2023

Programmable switches have been widely used to design network monitoring solutions that operate in the fast data-plane level, e.g., detecting heavy hitters, super-spreaders, computing flow size distributions and their entropy. Many existing works on networking monitoring assume switches deploy a single memory that is accessible by each processed packet. However, high-speed ASIC switches increasingly deploymultiple independent pipes, each equipped with its own independent memory thatcannot be accessed by other pipes.

In this work, we initiate the study of deploying existing heavy-hitter data-plane monitoring solutions on multi-pipe switches where packets of a "flow" may spread over multiple pipes, i.e., stored into distinct memories. We first quantify the accuracy degradation due to splitting a monitoring data structure across multiple pipes (e.g., up to 3000x worse flow-size estimation average error). We then present PipeCache, a system that adaptsexisting data-plane mechanisms to multi-pipe switches by carefully storing all the monitoring information of each traffic class into exactly one specific pipe (as opposed to replicate the information on multiple pipes). PipeCache relies on the idea of briefly storing monitoring information into a per-pipe cache and then piggybacking this information onto existing data packets to the correct pipeentirely at data-plane speed. We implement PipeCache on ASIC switches and we evaluate it using a real-world trace. We show that existing data-plane mechanisms achieves accuracy levels and memory requirements similar to single-pipe deployments when augmented with PipeCache (i.e., up to 16x lower memory requirements).
Smoothed Online Optimization with Unreliable Predictions
Authors: Rutten Daan , Christianson Nicolas , Mukherjee Debankur , Wierman Adam
Published: March 2023

We examine the problem of smoothed online optimization, where a decision maker must sequentially choose points in a normed vector space to minimize the sum of per-round, non-convex hitting costs and the costs of switching decisions between rounds. The decision maker has access to a black-box oracle, such as a machine learning model, that provides untrusted and potentially inaccurate predictions of the optimal decision in each round. The goal of the decision maker is to exploit the predictions if they are accurate, while guaranteeing performance that is not much worse than the hindsight optimal sequence of decisions, even when predictions are inaccurate. We impose the standard assumption that hitting costs are globally α-polyhedral. We propose a novel algorithm, Adaptive Online Switching (AOS), and prove that, for a large set of feasible δ > 0, it is (1+δ)-competitive if predictions are perfect, while also maintaining a uniformly bounded competitive ratio of 2~O (1/(α δ)) even when predictions are adversarial. Further, we prove that this trade-off is necessary and nearly optimal in the sense that any deterministic algorithm which is (1+δ)-competitive if predictions are perfect must be at least 2~Ω (1/(α δ)) -competitive when predictions are inaccurate. In fact, we observe a unique threshold-type behavior in this trade-off: if δ is not in the set of feasible options, then no algorithm is simultaneously (1 + δ)-competitive if predictions are perfect and ζ-competitive when predictions are inaccurate for any ζ < ∞. Furthermore, we discuss that memory is crucial in AOS by proving that any algorithm that does not use memory cannot benefit from predictions. We complement our theoretical results by a numerical study on a microgrid application.
DaeMon: Architectural Support for Efficient Data Movement in Fully Disaggregated Systems
Authors: Giannoula Christina , Huang Kailong , Tang Jonathan , Koziris Nectarios , Goumas Georgios , Chishti Zeshan , Vijaykumar Nandita
Published: March 2023

Resource disaggregation offers a cost effective solution to resource scaling, utilization, and failure-handling in data centers by physically separating hardware devices in a server. Servers are architected as pools of processor, memory, and storage devices, organized as independent failure-isolated components interconnected by a high-bandwidth network. A critical challenge, however, is the high performance penalty of accessing data from a remote memory module over the network. Addressing this challenge is difficult as disaggregated systems have high runtime variability in network latencies/bandwidth, and page migration can significantly delay critical path cache line accesses in other pages.

This paper conducts a characterization analysis on different data movement strategies in fully disaggregated systems, evaluates their performance overheads in a variety of workloads, and introduces DaeMon, the first software-transparent mechanism to significantly alleviate data movement overheads in fully disaggregated systems. First, to enable scalability to multiple hardware components in the system, we enhance each compute and memory unit with specialized engines that transparently handle data migrations. Second, to achieve high performance and provide robustness across various network, architecture and application characteristics, we implement a synergistic approach of bandwidth partitioning, link compression, decoupled data movement of multiple granularities, and adaptive granularity selection in data movements. We evaluate DaeMon in a wide variety of workloads at different network and architecture configurations using a state-of-the-art simulator. DaeMon improves system performance and data access costs by 2.39× and 3.06×, respectively, over the widely-adopted approach of moving data at page granularity.
A First Look at Wi-Fi 6 in Action: Throughput, Latency, Energy Efficiency, and Security
Authors: Liu Ruofeng , Choi Nakjung
Published: March 2023

This paper presents a first-of-its-kind performance measurement of Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) using real experiments. Our experiments focus on multi-client scenarios. The results reveal the impact of the new channel access mechanisms (i.e., OFDMA and TWT) on the spectrum efficiency, energy consumption, latency, and network security. (i) A comparison with the legacy CSMA/CA scheme shows that the commodity Wi-Fi 6 achieves 3× overall throughput and dramatically reduce the latency (5×) when coexisting with legacy Wi-Fi network. (ii) However, the current OFDMA implementation significantly increases the power consumption (6×), implying a design tradeoff between throughput and latency gain versus the cost of energy consumption. (iii) Finally, TWT negotiating procedure is vulnerable to various malicious attacks. We believe that our findings provide critical insights for the scheduling algorithm design, power optimization, and security protection of the next-generation WLANs.
Online Adversarial Stabilization of Unknown Networked Systems
Authors: Yu Jing , Ho Dimitar , Wierman Adam
Published: March 2023

We investigate the problem of stabilizing an unknown networked linear system under communication constraints and adversarial disturbances. We propose the first provably stabilizing algorithm for the problem. The algorithm uses a distributed version of nested convex body chasing to maintain a consistent estimate of the network dynamics and applies system level synthesis to determine a distributed controller based on this estimated model. Our approach avoids the need for system identification and accommodates a broad class of communication delay while being fully distributed and scaling favorably with the number of subsystems.