bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of attention shifting on Chinese children’s word reading in primary school
Authors: Zhou Hui , Jiang Meiling
Published: February 2024

Background

This study explored the effects of attention shifting on Chinese children’s word reading.

Objective

The sample consisted of 87 fourth-grade children from Shaoxing City, China.

Methods

The students completed measures of the attention shifting task, reading accuracy test, reading fluency test, and rapid automatized naming test.

Results

The results showed that reading fluency was significantly correlated with attention shifting scores, specifically with tag1 and tag6 (ps < 0.05). The reading accuracy score was also significantly correlated with tag6 (p < 0.05). According to the regression analysis of attention shifting on word reading, even when controlling for rapid automatic naming, attention shifting significantly affected word reading fluency at approximately 600 ms (p = .011). Attention shifting did not affect children’s word reading accuracy.

Short conclusion

These findings suggest that attention shifting is significantly associated with children’s word reading. Educators should focus on developing children’s attention shifting to improve their word reading ability.
Role of interfaces on the mechanical response of accumulative roll bonded nanometallic laminates investigated via dislocation dynamics simulations
Authors: Chakraborty Aritra , Kohnert Aaron A. , Hunter Abigail , Capolungo Laurent
Published: February 2024

Unraveling the effects of continuous dislocation interactions with interfaces, particularly at the nanometer length scales, is key to a broader understanding of plasticity, to material design and to material certification. To this end, this work proposes a novel discrete dislocation dynamics-based model for dislocation interface interactions tracking the fate of residual dislocation on interfaces. This new approach is used to predict the impact of dislocation/interface reactions on the overall mechanical behavior of accumulative roll bonded nanometallic laminates. The framework considers the dynamic evolution of the interface concurrent with a large network of dislocations, thus, accounting for the local short and long range effects of the dislocations under the external boundary conditions. Specifically, this study focuses on two-phase Fe/Cu nanometallic laminates, and investigates the role of the underlying elastic and plastic contrast of the Fe and the Cu layers on the composite response of the material. Moreover, the role of initial microstructures, resulting from processing is also investigated. Subsequently, the model is used to examine the effect of layer thickness and interface orientation relationship on the residual stresses of the relaxed microstructure. The associated mechanical response of these laminates are compared when loaded under normal direction compression, as well as shear compression. Finally, this work predicts a dominant effect of the layer thickness, as compared to the interface orientation relationship, on the macroscopic response and on the residual stresses of these nanolaminates, while the local dislocation transmission propensity through the interface is significantly influenced by the corresponding orientation relationship.
PTCH1-mutant human cerebellar organoids exhibit altered neural development and recapitulate early medulloblastoma tumorigenesis
Authors: van Essen Max J. , Apsley Elizabeth J. , Riepsaame Joey , Xu Ruijie , Northcott Paul A. , Cowley Sally A. , Jacob John , Becker Esther B. E.
Published: February 2024

Patched 1 (PTCH1) is the primary receptor for the sonic hedgehog (SHH) ligand and negatively regulates SHH signalling, an essential pathway in human embryogenesis. Loss-of-function mutations in PTCH1 are associated with altered neuronal development and the malignant brain tumour medulloblastoma. As a result of differences between murine and human development, molecular and cellular perturbations that arise from human PTCH1 mutations remain poorly understood. Here, we used cerebellar organoids differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells combined with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to investigate the earliest molecular and cellular consequences of PTCH1 mutations on human cerebellar development. Our findings demonstrate that developmental mechanisms in cerebellar organoids reflect in vivo processes of regionalisation and SHH signalling, and offer new insights into early pathophysiological events of medulloblastoma tumorigenesis without the use of animal models.
Ten recommendations for organising bioimaging data for archival
Authors: Korir Paul K. , Iudin Andrii , Somasundharam Sriram , Weyand Simone , Salih Osman , Hartley Matthew , Sarkans Ugis , Patwardhan Ardan , Kleywegt Gerard J.
Published: February 2024

Organised data is easy to use but the rapid developments in the field of bioimaging, with improvements in instrumentation, detectors, software and experimental techniques, have resulted in an explosion of the volumes of data being generated, making well-organised data an elusive goal. This guide offers a handful of recommendations for bioimage depositors, analysts and microscope and software developers, whose implementation would contribute towards better organised data in preparation for archival. Based on our experience archiving large image datasets in EMPIAR, the BioImage Archive and BioStudies, we propose a number of strategies that we believe would improve the usability (clarity, orderliness, learnability, navigability, self-documentation, coherence and consistency of identifiers, accessibility, succinctness) of future data depositions more useful to the bioimaging community (data authors and analysts, researchers, clinicians, funders, collaborators, industry partners, hardware/software producers, journals, archive developers as well as interested but non-specialist users of bioimaging data). The recommendations that may also find use in other data-intensive disciplines. To facilitate the process of analysing data organisation, we present bandbox, a Python package that provides users with an assessment of their data by flagging potential issues, such as redundant directories or invalid characters in file or folder names, that should be addressed before archival. We offer these recommendations as a starting point and hope to engender more substantial conversations across and between the various data-rich communities.
Data-Driven Optimization for Air Traffic Flow Management with Trajectory Preferences
Authors: De Giovanni Luigi , Lancia Carlo , Lulli Guglielmo
Published: February 2024

In this paper, we present a novel data-driven optimization approach for trajectory-based air traffic flow management (ATFM). A key aspect of the proposed approach is the inclusion of airspace users’ trajectory preferences, which are computed from traffic data by combining clustering and classification techniques. Machine learning is also used to extract consistent trajectory options, whereas optimization is applied to resolve demand-capacity imbalances by means of a mathematical programming model that judiciously assigns a feasible four-dimensional trajectory and a possible ground delay to each flight. The methodology has been tested on instances extracted from the Eurocontrol data repository. With more than 32,000 flights considered, we solve the largest instances of the ATFM problem available in the literature in short computational times that are reasonable from the practical point of view. As a by-product, we highlight the trade-off between preferences and delays as well as the potential benefits. Indeed, computing efficient solutions to the problem facilitates a consensus between the network manager and airspace users. In view of the level of accuracy of the solutions and the excellent computational performance, we are optimistic that the proposed approach can make a significant contribution to the development of the next generation of air traffic flow management tools.
Challenges and Disparities in Providing Industry with Labor Force
Authors:   Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, Institute of Industrial Economics of the NAS of Ukraine, Khandii O.
Published: February 2024

Structural changes in the economy, caused by current and potential changes in the needs of society for survival in today's conditions and reconstruction of the country in the post-war period. With the change of the industry structure, new requirements appear for the workforce, its qualifications, quantitative involvement in various spheres of activity. The work offers a systematization of current and potential challenges and disparities in providing industry with labor force. The dynamics of demand and supply of labor in industry, their ratio, are characterized, and a conclusion is made that there is no critical situation related to meeting the needs of industry in labor. According to general forecasts of the labor market, a shortage of personnel is expected, but the industry has a different situation by branch. The leader in the number of job shortages compared to other industries and spheres of activity is the processing industry, in the extractive industry almost a balance between supply and demand has been achieved. In the field of electricity and gas supply, the number of unemployed is almost twice as high as the demand. Only in the field of water supply and sanitation is there a labor shortage. The work emphasizes the importance of countering modern challenges and the formation of the workforce according to the needs of industry. Among the military challenges, such aspects as reduction of jobs, mass emigration of labor force, imbalance by regions and professions, high level of unemployment due to labor shortage due to asymmetry between demand and supply of labor force, loss of labor force due to mobilization and death, diminization of the labor market are highlighted. , liberalization of labor relations. The challenges inherited due to the defects of the Ukrainian peacetime economy are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the reduction of the social security of workers in the conditions of martial law, which is due to the introduction of changes in the labor legislation. The problems of the efficiency of the use of human capital, imbalance in wages, sectoral structural disparities and economic inactivity among young people are highlighted. The potential challenges of labor force development in Ukraine are outlined.
Strategic Vectors of Development of Transport Enterprises in the Conditions of Globalization
Authors:   SHEI ", Ladyzhenskyi E. ,   Pryazovskyi State Technical University", Sokolov A. ,   SHEI "Pryazovskyi State Technical University", Miroshnychenko I. ,   Flight Academy of the National Aviation University
Published: February 2024

The article is devoted to topical issues of the development of transport enterprises in modern conditions. The topicality of the study is due to the increased attention paid to the development of the transport sector, which is a priority in the country’s economy. Efficient operation of transport enterprises is considered essential to ensure a high level of competitiveness of the country as a whole. Transport enterprises are a decisive instrument for achieving the social and financial objectives of the country’s sector and economy. The purpose of the study is to justify strategic directions for the development of transport enterprises, taking into account modern strategic orientations of the transport industry. The article discusses the main trends in the operation of transport enterprises in Ukraine. The question of strategic guidelines for the development of transport enterprises was investigated. The main provisions of the National Transport Strategy of Ukraine were studied, as well as its impact on the formation of strategic guidelines directly in transport enterprises. The achievement of strategic orientations is conditioned by adequate operational planning, which ensures the ongoing and strategic activities of enterprises at the same time. The relationship between the strategic directions of the development of transport enterprises and the operational goals and tasks for their operation has been identified. The strategic orientation of an individual enterprise should take into account the positive results achieved in the entire industry. The priorities that will improve the competitiveness of domestic transport enterprises are: unhindered mobility and interregional integration; safe, clean and energy-efficient transport; innovative development of the transport industry and global investment projects; competitive and efficient transport system. The introduction of strategic guidelines will: make it possible to establish a single transport space; strengthen regional and international integration of enterprises in the national transport system; increase the efficiency and quality of transport services; increase exports and transit through the country; increase the profitability of transport enterprises.
Assessment of the Impact of Imbalance in the Conditions of Transformation of the Economy
Authors:   Institute of Industrial Economics of the NAS of Ukraine, Korytko T.
Published: February 2024

The article examines the essence of the concept of "transformation" and the peculiarities of globalization trends. It was determined that global technological trends, their significance, the degree of influence on the transformation of the economic system, identifying opportunities and threats are not permanent. It is proven that the formation of a new model of scientific and technological development is connected with a change in the technological structure, and on the other hand, there is a feedback loop, that is, the inability of the previous model of economic growth to solve economic, ecological, social and demographic problems. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the mechanism of enterprise management in the conditions of economic transformation and to assess the degree of influence of imbalances on target indicators. It was determined that one of the directions of the negative impact of imbalances is the improvement of enterprise development management methods. There is a need for quantitative assessments of the imbalance of the target characteristics of the enterprise's activity. The proposed approach of quantitative assessment of the impact of imbalances on the target indicators of the enterprise. This approach is necessary to confirm expert assessments obtained in the process of statistical research. The development of a mechanism for increasing the efficiency of enterprise development management based on indicators of the imbalance of target characteristics has been substantiated.
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Components for Regulatory Influence on Banking Activity
Authors:   World Association of Appraisal Organizations ", Artemenko D. ,   WAVO-WRV", Shynkaryuk O. ,   Institute of Physical Economy named after S. A. Podolynskyi, Stolyarov V. ,   SESI "Academy of Financial Management"
Published: February 2024

In the article, using the Glossary of monitoring and evaluation terms of the Ukrainian Association of Evaluators, the development of the rating evaluation system of domestic banks is disclosed. The definition of the features of the classification of banks by groups and classes in the structure of the range of integral indicators, the level of their financial condition and the degree of risk of bankruptcy is summarized. The information and methodical support for evaluating indicators of financial stability of banks as monitoring indicators is given. An algorithm and results of a discriminant analysis of the activity of 20 Ukrainian banks were developed with the construction of dynamic models for different groups and classes of banks. Their grouping was carried out according to the signs of satisfactory and unsatisfactory financial condition and acceptable and unacceptable degree of risk of bankruptcy. A reference matrix for the substantiation of the leading indicators of the formation of complex regulatory influence of the state on the activity of banks has been developed, with the definition of typical areas of regulatory influence. The target criterion of the regulatory influence of the state on banking activity is the market value of banks, and its complexity is ensured by taking into account, in addition to the economic standards of the National Bank of Ukraine, leading indicators of the level of financial condition and the degree of bankruptcy and specific areas of effective influence.
Diagnostic Overshadowing of Psychological Disorders in People With Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review
Authors: Dell’Armo Kristin , Tassé Marc J.
Published: February 2024

Diagnostic overshadowing is a bias in which symptoms of a psychological disorder are falsely attributed to a known diagnosis of intellectual disability. This systematic review evaluated all research on diagnostic overshadowing conducted to date, including dissertations and peer-reviewed journal articles. In total, 25 studies were included in this review. Findings suggest diagnostic overshadowing may not be as ubiquitous as originally believed, with one third of included studies finding no overshadowing. The quality of the evidence was graded as “Low” using the LEGEND tool, with common issues including outdated studies, analogue methodologies, small sample sizes and convenience samples, and inappropriate conducting or reporting of statistical analyses. Implications for the field and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Postschool Goal Expectations for Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Authors: Wu Yi-Chen , Qian Xueqin , Lee Seunghee , Johnson David R. , Thurlow Martha L.
Published: February 2024

Using National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 data, this study explored parent and youth expectations in the areas of postsecondary education, employment, independent living, and financial independence. Compared to youth with other disabilities, youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their parents had much lower expectations for the four postschool goals, and parent expectations were much lower than youth’s own expectations. Also, youth’s race, along with their daily living skills and functional abilities, were positively associated with parent and youth expectations in several future goal areas. Our discussion highlights implications for improving the transition experiences of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Eine un/mögliche Theaterwissenschaft: Tanz, Klang und Schreiben ver-. . .
Authors: Zami Layla
Published: February 2024

Abstract: Wie können performative Künste Wissenschaft ver-ändern, Wahrnehmung ver-schieben, Normen ver-wirren, Erinnerung ver-körpern, Perspektiven ver-binden? Und können wir uns auf dem Ver-spüren als Grundlage einer Methode in der Theaterwissenschaft verlassen? In diesem für das Themenheft konzipierten Text sind Elemente der Disziplinen Performance Studies, Gender Studies und Postcolonial Studies mit Fragmenten aus dem Forschungstagebuch der Autorin verwoben. Layla Zami berichtet von ihrer Feldforschung und von der Schnittstelle zwischen wissenschaftlicher und musikalisch-performativer Begleitung der Tanzschaffenden Oxana Chi, der in diesem Text eine schriftliche Guest Appearance zukommt. Im Verschmelzen von kritischem Diskurs und Performative Writing, deutscher und englischer Sprache, Tanz und Klang, Erinnerungen aus Brooklyn und Berlin entsteht ein fragmentarisches, lebendiges Essay, das versucht, akademisches Schreiben und Denken poetisch zu verändern.
Anthology versus Miscellany: John Shirley's Scribal Agency and the Fantasy of Origins in the Medieval Compilation
Authors: Strakhov Elizaveta
Published: February 2024

abstract: In Trinity College Cambridge MS R.3.20, John Shirley offers a famously enigmatic rubric to his copy of Chaucer's Complaint of Venus . He cites Chaucer as the translator of the piece and notes, correctly, that Oton de Granson composed the English poem's original. He then claims that Chaucer's poem is describing a court scandal: an adulterous affair between John Holland, Earl of Huntington, and Isabel of York, daughter of King Pedro of Castile and sisterin-law to John of Gaunt. Shirley's rubrics thus appear to construct a very loose Anglo-Iberian connection for Chaucer's translation of Granson from French to English, so loose as to be generally dismissed by scholars as Shirley's gossipy invention. As it happens, however, Oton de Granson was imprisoned in Castile in 1372, in the same year that Isabel came from Castile to England to marry Edmund Langley, Duke of York. This actual Iberian connection is strengthened by the existence of a fifteenth-century Catalan miscellany that anthologizes Catalan poets with Granson, including the ballades that form Chaucer's source as well as poetry written by one of Granson's fellow captives from 1372. From this perspective, Shirley's shadowy evocation of Castile starts to look less like gossip and more like an attempt to make sense of lyric's transregional movements while underscoring Chaucer's internationalism. What is at stake for Shirley in insisting on this disorientingly transregional moment? What is at stake—for both Shirley and the Catalan compiler—in collecting lyric that moves so porously across geographic boundaries for the purposes of a canonizing project? How, in short, might these lyric miscellanies challenge our idea of nationalizing canon construction?
Frankenstein and the Science of Dreaming
Authors: Attebery Brian
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: Science fiction claims Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a progenitor on the basis of its extrapolation from speculations by Erasmus Darwin and others about the nature and origins of life. An equally strong narrative thread in the novel about extraordinary states of mind is usually taken as evidence of its grounding in supernatural and gothic fiction. The novel applies the same materialist assumptions and reasoned approach to dreaming, however, that it uses to explore biological science. Reading it in the context, first, of David Hartley's eighteenth-century Observations on Man and, second, of contemporary studies of the dreaming brain, we can see that Frankenstein is also science fiction of a different sort than usually supposed, a thought experiment about states of consciousness and unconsciousness and the strange experiences that arise from disrupting the boundary between sleep and waking.
Watching Science Fiction Theatre , Seeing Television
Authors: Telotte J.P.
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: Prior to the appearance of Rod Serling's landmark series The Twilight Zone , independent syndicator Ziv Television produced a similarly serious dramatic series, Science Fiction Theatre , that challenged the television hegemony of such popular space operas as Captain Video, Space Patrol , and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet . While lasting only 78 episodes, it was widely distributed and dubbed into many languages, bringing adult sf stories to a broader television audience than ever before. Further distinguishing it from other televised sf of the era, Science Fiction Theatre pioneered the sort of media self-consciousness that would later become a hallmark of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits . In that reflexive dimension we can see the series' efforts to make audiences aware of both the potentials and the pitfalls inherent in the still new television technology, of their own role as viewers, and of the industry's use and control over it. In sum, by watching Science Fiction Theatre , viewers were often put in the uncommon and sometimes uncomfortable position of seeing their relationship to the new media regime of television.
Toward a Science-Fictional Interpretational Method: Reading Three Borges Stories
Authors: O'Krent Michael
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: This article reconsiders Samuel R. Delany's theory of science fiction as a form of language in order to develop the notion that science fiction is a method of making meaning and reading texts. Three stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, "The Aleph," "The Library of Babel," and "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," are read as science fiction to demonstrate how the method functions. Borges's ambiguous relationship with science fiction during his lifetime is well-documented, but no previous study of Borges as a science-fiction writer exists in English. The notion of science fiction as a way of reading enables a reading that treats the elements of textual playfulness that make Borges's texts so beloved throughout literary studies as science fictional, because they encourage the reader to reconstruct an alternate world around the text and create a comprehensive theory of how that world works.
Early Sign Language Research in Two Settings: USA and Switzerland
Authors: Braem Penny Boyes
Published: February 2024

Abstract: This contribution begins with my memories as a hearing American-Swiss researcher who began with research on American Sign Language (ASL) and afterward concentrated on Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS). The contribution includes memories of the first research team in German Switzerland: Claudia Murray Jauch, Katja Tissi, and Tanja Tissi.
Écriture d'une identité hétérogène chez Fatima Daas: Le "je" de la départenance et de l'ubiquité dans La petite dernière
Authors: Hebouche Nadra
Published: February 2024

Abstract: À travers une lecture approfondie de La petite dernière et de ses stratégies narratives, cet article se propose d'envisager l'autofiction de Fatima Daas comme une métonymie du processus de construction d'une subjectivité hétérogène qui se matérialisera dans un double mécanisme: celui de la départenance et de l'ubiquité. S'éloignant des espaces discursifs hégémoniques, cette subjectivité ne résidera ni dans un "ni x, ni y," corolaire de l'entre-deux, ni dans un "tantôt x, tantôt y," écho du bipolarisme, mais dans un "à la fois x et y," avatar de l'ubiquité qui autorisera le "je" à être tout et partout à la fois.
Multispectral image defogging based on a wavelength-dependent extinction coefficient model in fog
Authors: Huang Feng , Ke Chaozhen , Wu Xianyu , Guo Cuixia , Liu Yu
Published: February 2024

Most of the state-of-the-art defogging models presented in the literature assume that the attenuation coefficient of all spectral channels is constant, which inevitably leads to spectral distortion and information bias. To address this issue, this paper proposes a defogging method that takes into account the difference between the extinction coefficients of multispectral channels of light traveling through fog. Then the spatially distributed transmission map of each spectral channel is reconstructed to restore the fog-degraded images. The experimental results of various realistic complex scenes show that the proposed method has more outstanding advantages in restoring lost detail, compensating for degraded spectral information, and recognizing more targets hidden in uniform ground fog than state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, this work provides a method to characterize the intrinsic property of fog expressed as multispectral relative extinction coefficients, which act as a fundament for further reconstruction of multispectral information.
Design and fabrication of a coupled high-Q photonic nanocavity system with large coupling coefficients
Authors: Mitsuhashi R. , Song B. S. , Inoue K. , Asano T. , Noda S.
Published: February 2024

In a previous work, we demonstrated a coupled cavity system where photons in one storage cavity can be transferred to another storage cavity at an arbitrary time by applying a voltage pulse to a third cavity placed in a p-i-n junction. In this work, we demonstrate methods to improve the transfer efficiency and photon lifetimes of such a coupled system. Firstly, we designed a photonic-crystal structure that achieves a large coupling coefficient without reducing the radiation quality factor compared to the previously proposed structure: The photonic-crystal design was changed to a more symmetric configuration to suppress radiation losses and then optimized using an automatic structure tuning method based on the Covariance Matrix Adaptive Evolutional Strategy (CMAES). Here we added two improvements to achieve an evolution toward the desired direction in the two-dimensional target parameter space (spanned by the coupling coefficient and the inverse radiation loss). Secondly, to improve the experimental cavity quality factors, we developed a fabrication process that reduces the surface contamination associated with the fabrication of the p-i-n junction: We covered the photonic structure with a SiO2 mask to avoid the contamination and the electrode material was changed from Al to Au/Cr to enable cleaning by a weak acid. Owing to these improvements of the cavity design and the fabrication process, the obtained system provides coupling strengths that are about three times stronger and photon lifetimes that are about two times longer, compared to the previously reported system.
Single-photon avalanche diodes dynamic range and linear response enhancement by conditional probability correction
Authors: Yang Bin , Wang Chong , Zhao Ruocan , Xue Xianghui , Chen Tingdi , Dou Xiankang
Published: February 2024

Detectors based on single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) operating in free-running mode surfer from distorted detection signals due to the impact of afterpulse, dead time, and the non-linear detection efficiency response. This study presents a correction method based on conditional probability. In the experiments with high temporal resolution and huge dynamic range conditions, this method’s residual sum of squares is near 68 times smaller than the uncorrected received data of SPAD and near 50 times smaller than deconvolution method. This method is applied to polarization lidar and CO2 lidar, and the performance shows significant improvement. This method effectively mitigates the impact of SPAD afterpulse, dead time, and detection efficiency non-linear response, making it suitable for all SPADs. Especially, our method is primarily employed for atmospheric detection.
Flat-band Friedrich-Wintgen bound states in the continuum based on borophene metamaterials
Authors: Zhang Yan-Xi , Lin Qi , Yan Xiao-Qiang , Wang Ling-Ling , Liu Gui-Dong
Published: February 2024

Many applications involve the phenomenon of a material absorbing electromagnetic radiation. By exploiting wave interference, the efficiency of absorption can be significantly enhanced. Here, we propose Friedrich-Wintgen bound states in the continuum (F-W BICs) based on borophene metamaterials to realize coherent perfect absorption with a dual-band absorption peak in commercially important communication bands. Metamaterials consist of borophene gratings and a borophene sheet that can simultaneously support a Fabry-Perot plasmon resonance and a guided plasmon mode. The formation and dynamic modulation of the F-W BIC can be achieved by adjusting the width or carrier density of the borophene grating, while the strong coupling leads to the anti-crossover behavior of the absorption spectrum. Due to the weak angular dispersion originating from the intrinsic flat-band characteristic of the deep sub-wavelength periodic structure, the proposed plasmonic system exhibits almost no change in wavelength and absorption at large incident angles (within 70 degrees). In addition, we employ the temporal coupled-mode theory including near- and far-field coupling to obtain strong critical coupling, successfully achieve coherent perfect absorption, and can realize the absorption switch by changing the phase difference between the two coherent beams. Our findings can offer theoretical support for absorber design and all-optical tuning.
Analyzing the effect of doping concentration in split-well resonant-phonon terahertz quantum cascade lasers
Authors: Levy Shiran , Gower Nathalie Lander , Piperno Silvia , Addamane Sadhvikas J. , Reno John L. , Albo Asaf
Published: February 2024

The effect of doping concentration on the temperature performance of the novel split-well resonant-phonon (SWRP) terahertz quantum-cascade laser (THz QCL) scheme supporting a clean 4-level system design was analyzed using non-equilibrium Green’s functions (NEGF) calculations. Experimental research showed that increasing the doping concentration in these designs led to better results compared to the split-well direct-phonon (SWDP) design, which has a larger overlap between its active laser states and the doping profile. However, further improvement in the temperature performance was expected, which led us to assume there was an increased gain and line broadening when increasing the doping concentration despite the reduced overlap between the doped region and the active laser states. Through simulations based on NEGF calculations we were able to study the contribution of the different scattering mechanisms on the performance of these devices. We concluded that the main mechanism affecting the lasers’ temperature performance is electron-electron (e-e) scattering, which largely contributes to gain and line broadening. Interestingly, this scattering mechanism is independent of the doping location, making efforts to reduce overlap between the doped region and the active laser states less effective. Optimization of the e-e scattering thus could be reached only by fine tuning of the doping density in the devices. By uncovering the subtle relationship between doping density and e-e scattering strength, our study not only provides a comprehensive understanding of the underlying physics but also offers a strategic pathway for overcoming current limitations. This work is significant not only for its implications on specific devices but also for its potential to drive advancements in the entire THz QCL field, demonstrating the crucial role of e-e scattering in limiting temperature performance and providing essential knowledge for pushing THz QCLs to new temperature heights.
Multiple plateaus of high-sideband generation from Floquet matters
Authors: Chen Yu-Xuan , Wang Gan , Li Mingjie , Du Tao-Yuan
Published: February 2024

We theoretically report that high-order sideband generation (HSG) from Floquet matters driven by a strong terahertz light while engineered by weak infrared light can achieve multiple plateau HSG. The Floquet-engineering systems exhibit distinctive spectroscopic characteristics that go beyond the HSG processes in field-free band-structure systems. The spatial-temporal dynamics analyses under Floquet-Bloch and time-reversal-symmetry theories clarify the spectra and its odd-even characteristics in the HSG spectrum. Our work demonstrates the HSG of Floquet matters via Floquet engineering and indicates a promising way to extract Floquet material parameters in future experiments.
High-reliability infrared broadband thin-film polarizing beam splitter with ZnSe compensation layers
Authors: Liu Baojian , Li Daqi , Duan Weibo , Yu Deming , Cai Qingyuan , Jiang Lin , Yu Tianyan , Zhang Haotian , Yang Yuting , Zhuang Qiuhui , Zheng Yuxiang
Published: February 2024

Thin-film polarizing beam splitters (PBSs) fulfill a pivotal role in laser beam splitting, modulation, shaping and isolation. In this study, a high-reliability infrared broadband thin-film PBS was developed. To correct for tensile stress in Ge/YbF3 multilayer coatings, ZnSe compensation layers were incorporated in the multilayer design. The effects of different symmetrical periods on the spectral properties of the infrared PBS were systematically discussed. The infrared PBS operated at 45° and in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) band. Using the percent of optical extrema monitoring (POEM) strategy combined with the high-temperature optical constants (HTOC) of Ge film, the infrared PBS was precisely fabricated on ZnSe substrates. Subsequently, the spectral performance and film reliability of the infrared PBS were carefully characterized. Specifically, the transmittance of p-polarization surpassed 96%, while the extinction ratio exceeded 100:1 within the 10.6 ± 0.15 µm band. The infrared PBS demonstrated commendable environmental reliability, in addition to exhibiting excellent spectral characteristics.
High on-chip gain spiral Al2O3:Er3+ waveguide amplifiers
Authors: Bonneville D. B. , Osornio-Martinez C. E. , Dijkstra M. , García-Blanco S. M.
Published: February 2024

We demonstrate reactively sputtered Al2O3:Er3+ waveguide amplifiers with an erbium concentration of 3.9 × 1020 ions/cm3, capable of achieving over 30 dB small signal net gain at 1532 nm using bidirectional pumping at 1480 nm. We observe on chip output powers of 10.2-13.6 dBm of amplified signal power at 1532 nm for a 12.9 cm waveguide amplifier considering -25.4 dB of lumped coupling losses per facet. Annealing was used to improve the performance of the devices, which were patterned using electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching. This result, to our knowledge, represents record breaking on-chip internal net gain for Al2O3:Er3+ waveguide amplifiers, which show promise over other technologies due to wafer scalability and promise of easy monolithic integration with other material platforms to support a wide variety of applications.
Strain-insensitive micro torsion and temperature sensor based on a helical taper seven-core fiber structure
Authors: Guan Junneng , Xu Shujie , Liu Shiyu , Qiu Guitian , Wei Zhongchao , Tan Chunhua , Wang Faqiang , Meng Hongyun
Published: February 2024

We propose a multimode interference-based optical fiber NHTSN sensor with a helical taper for simultaneous measurement of micro torsion and temperature. The sensor consists of single mode fiber (SMF), no-core fiber (NCF), and seven-core fiber (SCF). A helical taper is fabricated in the SCF using a flame heater, forming the SMF-NCF-Helical Taper SCF-NCF-SMF (NHTSN) structure. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the introduction of helical taper not only imparts directionality to the torsion measurement, but also results in a significant improvement in torsion sensitivity due to the increased inter-mode optical path difference (OPD) and enhanced inter-mode coupling. In the experiment, the torsion sensitivity of the NHTSN sensor reaches -1.255 nm/(rad/m) in the twist rate (TR) range of -3.931 rad/m to 3.931 rad/m, which is a 9-fold improvement over the original structure. Further reduction of the helical taper diameter increases the sensitivity to -1.690 nm/(rad/m). In addition, the sensor has a temperature sensitivity of up to 97 pm/°C from 20 °C to 90 °C, and simultaneous measurement of torsion and temperature is attainable through a dual-parameter measurement matrix. The NHTSN sensor possesses advantages of compact size, high sensitivity, good linearity, and strain-independence, endowing it with potential applications in structural health monitoring (SHM) and engineering machinery.
Generation of arbitrarily structured optical vortex arrays based on the epicycle model
Authors: Tai Yuping , Fan Haihao , Ma Xin , Wei Wenjun , Zhang Hao , Tang Miaomiao , Li Xinzhong
Published: February 2024

Optical vortex arrays (OVAs) are complex light fields with versatile structures that have been widely studied in large-capacity optical communications, optical tweezers, and optical measurements. However, generating OVAs with arbitrary structures without explicit analytical expressions remains a challenge. To address this issue, we propose an alternative scheme for customizing OVAs with arbitrary structures using an epicycle model and vortex localization techniques. This method can accurately generate an OVA with an arbitrary structure by pre-designing the positions of each vortex. The influence of the number and coordinates of the locating points on customized OVAs is discussed. Finally, the structures of the OVA and each vortex are individually shaped into specifically formed fractal shapes by combining cross-phase techniques. This unique OVA will open up novel potential applications, such as the complex manipulation of multiparticle systems and optical communication based on optical angular momentum.
Vectorial holography over a multimode fiber
Authors: Liu Haotian , Ye Jianwei , Xu Pengbai , Wu Leiming , Xu Yi , Qin Yuwen
Published: February 2024

Vectorial holography through a strongly scattering medium can facilitate various applications in optics and photonics. However, the realization of vectorial holography with arbitrary distribution of optical intensity is still limited because of experimental noise during the calibration of vectorial transmission matrix (TM) and reconstruction noise during the retrieval of input wavefront for a given holographic target. Herein, we propose and experimentally demonstrate the vectorial holography with arbitrary distribution of optical intensity over a multimode fiber (MMF) using the Tikhonov regularization. By optimizing the noise factor, the performance of vectorial holography over an MMF is improved compared with the conjugate transpose and inverse TM methods. Our results might shed new light on the optical communication and detection mediated by MMFs.
Bifocal photon sieve imaging in the hard x-ray region
Authors: Bai Xiaojun , Zhang Junyong , Liu Huiya , Liu Cheng
Published: February 2024

Hard x-rays are widely used for plasma diagnosis, nondestructive inspection, and high-resolution x-ray imaging. A typical x-ray source is a tabletop micro-focus x-ray source. Here, a bifocal photon sieve (PS) with the smallest diameter of 59.6 nm was designed and fabricated by electron-beam lithography to focus hard x-rays on variable-resolution array images. An imaging experiment at 8.39 keV demonstrates that the designed and fabricated PS has two different focal lengths. The numerous pinholes that can be optimized provide richer degrees of freedom to realize considerably more functionalities. A multi-focal PS provides the possibility of splitting x-rays and further extends interferometry from visible light to hard x-rays.
Evolutionary history of host trees amplifies the dilution effect of biodiversity on forest pests
Authors: Gougherty Andrew V. , Davies T. Jonathan
Published: February 2024

Biodiversity appears to strongly suppress pathogens and pests in many plant and animal systems. However, this “dilution effect” is not consistently detected, and when present can vary strikingly in magnitude. Here, we use forest inventory data from over 25,000 plots (>1.1 million sampled trees) to quantify the strength of the dilution effect on dozens of forest pests and clarify why some pests are particularly sensitive to biodiversity. Using Bayesian hierarchical models, we show that pest prevalence is frequently lower in highly diverse forests, but there is considerable variability in the magnitude of this dilution effect among pests. The strength of dilution was not closely associated with host specialization or pest nativity. Instead, pest prevalence was lower in forests where co-occurring tree species were more distantly related to a pest’s preferred hosts. Our analyses indicate that host evolutionary history and forest composition are key to understanding how species diversity may dilute the impacts of tree pests, with important implications for predicting how future biodiversity change may affect the spread and distribution of damaging forest pests.
A unified framework for evolutionary genetic and physiological theories of aging
Authors: Lemaître Jean-François , Moorad Jacob , Gaillard Jean-Michel , Maklakov Alexei A. , Nussey Daniel H.
Published: February 2024

Why and how we age are 2 intertwined questions that have fascinated scientists for many decades. However, attempts to answer these questions remain compartmentalized, preventing a comprehensive understanding of the aging process. We argue that the current lack of knowledge about the evolution of aging mechanisms is due to a lack of clarity regarding evolutionary theories of aging that explicitly involve physiological processes: the disposable soma theory (DST) and the developmental theory of aging (DTA). In this Essay, we propose a new hierarchical model linking genes to vital rates, enabling us to critically reevaluate the DST and DTA in terms of their relationship to evolutionary genetic theories of aging (mutation accumulation (MA) and antagonistic pleiotropy (AP)). We also demonstrate how these 2 theories can be incorporated in a unified hierarchical framework. The new framework will help to generate testable hypotheses of how the hallmarks of aging are shaped by natural selection.
Comparison of clinical geneticist and computer visual attention in assessing genetic conditions
Authors: Duong Dat , Johny Anna Rose , Ledgister Hanchard Suzanna , Fortney Christopher , Flaharty Kendall , Hellmann Fabio , Hu Ping , Javanmardi Behnam , Moosa Shahida , Patel Tanviben , Persky Susan , Sümer Ömer , Tekendo-Ngongang Cedrik , Lesmann Hellen , Hsieh Tzung-Chien , Waikel Rebekah L. , André Elisabeth , Krawitz Peter , Solomon Benjamin D.
Published: February 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) for facial diagnostics is increasingly used in the genetics clinic to evaluate patients with potential genetic conditions. Current approaches focus on one type of AI called Deep Learning (DL). While DL- based facial diagnostic platforms have a high accuracy rate for many conditions, less is understood about how this technology assesses and classifies (categorizes) images, and how this compares to humans. To compare human and computer attention, we performed eye-tracking analyses of geneticist clinicians (n = 22) and non-clinicians (n = 22) who viewed images of people with 10 different genetic conditions, as well as images of unaffected individuals. We calculated the Intersection-over-Union (IoU) and Kullback–Leibler divergence (KL) to compare the visual attentions of the two participant groups, and then the clinician group against the saliency maps of our deep learning classifier. We found that human visual attention differs greatly from DL model’s saliency results. Averaging over all the test images, IoU and KL metric for the successful (accurate) clinician visual attentions versus the saliency maps were 0.15 and 11.15, respectively. Individuals also tend to have a specific pattern of image inspection, and clinicians demonstrate different visual attention patterns than non-clinicians (IoU and KL of clinicians versus non-clinicians were 0.47 and 2.73, respectively). This study shows that humans (at different levels of expertise) and a computer vision model examine images differently. Understanding these differences can improve the design and use of AI tools, and lead to more meaningful interactions between clinicians and AI technologies.
The spatialization of decent work and the role of employability empowerment for minority ethnic young people in emerging economies
Authors: Wall Tony , Ngo Nga Thi Hang , Foster Scott , Minh Luong Phuong , Ho Tien Thi Hanh , Hindley Ann , Stokes Peter
Published: February 2024

Global rises in precarious labour conditions have prompted further empirical work in Decent Work, a special category of employment characterised by equitable pay, treatment, and healthy working conditions. Despite this, research has tended to be conducted in developed countries with privileged groups such as those with typical working arrangements and rely on psychologically framed individual characteristics to explain marginalising factors. We propose a more sociologically framed, spatialised perspective on Decent Work which posits that marginalising factors are spatially variable and determined but moderated by employability empowerment. We measure our propositions across three spatially different sites of Vietnam through (1) a survey of minority ethnic students and graduates (N = 1071) and (2) a survey of stakeholders involved in the recruitment and employment of this group (N = 204). We find support for most of our propositions and call for more spatialised empirical work in the field of Decent Work.