bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinical researchers’ insights on key data for eligibility screening in clinical studies
Authors: Idnay Betina , Gordon Emily R. , Johnson Aubrey S. , Nestor Jordan G. , Marder Karen , Weng Chunhua
Published: October 2024

Introduction:

Clinical research is critical for healthcare advancement, but participant recruitment remains challenging. Clinical research professionals (CRPs; e.g., clinical research coordinator, research assistant) perform eligibility prescreening, ensuring adherence to study criteria while upholding scientific and ethical standards. This study investigates the key information CRP prioritizes during eligibility prescreening, providing insights to optimize data standardization, and recruitment approaches.

Methods:

We conducted a freelisting survey targeting 150 CRPs from diverse domains (i.e., neurological disorders, rare diseases, and other diseases) where they listed essential information they look for from medical records, participant/caregiver inquiries, and discussions with principal investigators to determine a potential participant’s research eligibility. We calculated the salience scores of listed items using Anthropac, followed by a two-level analytic procedure to classify and thematically categorize the data.

Results:

The majority of participants were female (81%), identified as White (44%) and as non-Hispanic (64.5%). The first-level analysis universally emphasized age, medication list, and medical history across all domains. The second-level analysis illuminated domain-specific approaches in information retrieval: for instance, history of present illness was notably significant in neurological disorders during participant and principal investigator inquiries, while research participation was distinctly salient in potential participant inquiries within the rare disease domain.

Conclusion:

This study unveils the intricacies of eligibility prescreening, with both universal and domain-specific methods observed. Variations in data use across domains suggest the need for tailored prescreening in clinical research. Incorporating these insights into CRP training and refining prescreening tools, combined with an ethical, participant-focused approach, can advance eligibility prescreening practices.
The Engraved Slate Plaques of Late Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia: A Statistical Evaluation of the Genealogical Hypothesis
Authors: Lillios Katina T. , Tang Zhuo , Bowen Jay
Published: October 2024

The engraved slate plaques were part of an extensive and variable class of ritual objects in Late Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia, with Classic plaques being the most numerous and standardized type. Classic plaques have a top and base separated by a horizontal line or bands, and base registers of repeating design elements (triangles, checkerboard, etc.). Associated with burials, they have been interpreted as genealogical records, with their base design referencing a clan or other social unit and their number of registers denoting the generational distance of the deceased from an important ancestor. The authors evaluate the genealogical hypothesis using a larger dataset than available when originally proposed, employing statistical analyses to examine the relationship between the number of registers and find locations, and between design elements and tomb size. Tomb size is viewed as a measure of collective labour, and hence a proxy of the status of the individuals in the tomb. These analyses show significant patterning between the number of registers and the plaques’ geographic distribution, and between specific design elements and tomb size, suggesting that the genealogical hypothesis remains a plausible explanation for the Classic plaques.
Is it really all about the money? The future of European standardization after PublicResourceOrg
Authors: Kanevskaia Olia
Published: October 2024

On 5 March 2024 the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued a landmark decision on access to harmonised standards that grant presumption of conformity with legal requirements. The CJEU ruled that such standards should be made available free of charge because, once incorporated in EU legislation, they form part of EU law. While the decision was positively received in the scholarly community, it is expected to carry profound consequences for European standards organisations, who hold copyrights over harmonised standards and rely on their sales to finance their standardisation activities. The judgment may also affect the European Commission, whom the Advocate General and the CJEU placed at the centre of European standardisation due to its role in transforming harmonised standards into EU law. This case note engages with the ruling and aims to shed light onto its possible implications for the European standardisation system.
On the self-similarity of unbounded viscous Marangoni flows
Authors: Temprano-Coleto Fernando , Stone H.A.
Published: October 2024

The Marangoni flow induced by an insoluble surfactant on a fluid–fluid interface is a fundamental problem investigated extensively due to its implications in colloid science, biology, the environment and industrial applications. Here, we study the limit of a deep liquid subphase with negligible inertia (low Reynolds number,

$Re\ll {1}$

), where the two-dimensional problem has been shown to be described by the complex Burgers equation. We analyse the problem through a self-similar formulation, providing further insights into its structure and revealing its universal features. Six different similarity solutions are found. One of the solutions includes surfactant diffusion, whereas the other five, which are identified through a phase-plane formalism, hold only in the limit of negligible diffusion (high surface Péclet number

$Pe_s\gg {1}$

). Surfactant ‘pulses’, with a locally higher concentration that spreads outward, lead to two similarity solutions of the first kind with a similarity exponent

$\beta =1/2$

. On the other hand, distributions that are locally depleted and flow inwards lead to similarity of the second kind, with two different exponents that we obtain exactly using stability arguments. We distinguish between ‘dimple’ solutions, where the surfactant has a quadratic minimum and

$\beta =2$

, from ‘hole’ solutions, where the concentration profile is flatter than quadratic and

$\beta =3/2$

. Each of these two cases exhibits two similarity solutions, one valid prior to a critical time

$t_*$

when the derivative of the concentration is singular, and another one valid after

$t_*$

. We obtain all six solutions in closed form, and discuss predictions that can be extracted from these results.
Diagnosing tracer transport in convective penetration of a stably stratified layer
Authors: Powell Charles W. , Haynes Peter H. , Taylor John R.
Published: October 2024

We use large-eddy simulations to study the penetration of a buoyant plume carrying a passive tracer into a stably stratified layer with constant buoyancy frequency. Using a buoyancy-tracer volume distribution, we develop a method for objectively partitioning plume fluid in buoyancy-tracer space into three regions, each of which corresponds to a coherent region in physical space. Specifically, we identify a source region where undiluted plume fluid enters the stratified layer, a transport region where much of the transition from undiluted to mixed fluid occurs in the plume cap and an accumulation region corresponding to a radially spreading intrusion. This method enables quantification of different measures of turbulence and mixing within each of the three regions, including potential energy and turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates, an activity parameter and the instantaneous mixing efficiency. We find that the most intense buoyancy gradients lie in a thin layer at the cap of the penetrating plume. This provides the primary stage of mixing between plume and environment and exhibits a mixing efficiency around 50 %. Newly generated mixtures of environmental and plume fluid join the intrusion and experience relatively weak turbulence and buoyancy gradients. As the intrusion spreads radially, environmental fluid surrounding the intrusion is mixed into the intrusion with moderate mixing efficiency. This dominates the volume of environmental fluid entrained into the region containing plume fluid. However, the ‘strongest’ entrainment, as measured by the specific entrainment rate, is largest in the plume cap, where the most buoyant environmental fluid is entrained.
History of the Founding and Early Years of the Journal of Law and Religion
Authors: Porter Thomas
Published: October 2024

In this essay, I recount the history of the founding and early years of the Journal of Law and Religion from its origins in the Committee on Religion and Law through the editorial transitions in 1988 that led to a second phase of JLR’s history. In recounting this history, I focus on the exceptional scholars who brought JLR into existence and nurtured its growth during those early years, creating, in the process, not only new academic endeavor but a community and a kind of family.
Majorization and randomness measures
Authors: Nidhin K.
Published: October 2024

A series of papers by Hickey (1982, 1983, 1984) presents a stochastic ordering based on randomness. This paper extends the results by introducing a novel methodology to derive models that preserve stochastic ordering based on randomness. We achieve this by presenting a new family of pseudometric spaces based on a majorization property. This class of pseudometrics provides a new methodology for deriving the randomness measure of a random variable. Using this, the paper introduces the Gini randomness measure and states its essential properties. We demonstrate that the proposed measure has certain advantages over entropy measures. The measure satisfies the value validity property, provides an adequate extension to continuous random variables, and is often more appropriate (based on sensitivity) than entropy in various scenarios.
Who Knows How to Govern? Procedural Knowledge in India’s Small-Town Councils
Authors: AUERBACH ADAM MICHAEL , SINGH SHIKHAR , THACHIL TARIQ
Published: October 2024

Governments across the Global South have decentralized a degree of power to municipal authorities. Are local officials sufficiently knowledgeable about how to execute their expanded portfolio of responsibilities? Past studies have focused on whether citizens lack the requisite information to hold local officials accountable. We instead draw on extensive fieldwork and a novel survey of small-town politicians in India to show that local officials themselves have distressingly low levels of procedural knowledge on how to govern. We further show that procedural knowledge shapes the capabilities of officials to represent their constituents and that asymmetries in knowledge may blunt the representative potential of these bodies. Finally, we show that winning office does not provide an institutionalized pathway to knowledge acquisition, highlighting the need for policy-based solutions. Our findings demonstrate the importance of assessing knowledge deficits among politicians, and not only citizens, to make local governance work.
A Naturalist's Defence of Meaning in Religious Pursuits
Authors: Matheson David
Published: October 2024

Objectivist naturalists about life's meaning regard it as implicating no world but the natural one, and yet as deriving from more than just subjective attitudes or interests. Such naturalists must obviously deny prominent religious conceptions of meaning. But must they further deny that it can be found in religious pursuits? In this article, I defend a negative answer by arguing that, contrary to a prima facie plausible consideration in support of a positive answer, and by many objectivist naturalists’ own lights, the meaning of life can be found in pursuits predicated on false belief.
Predictors of sentence recall performance in children with and without DLD: Complexity matters
Authors: McDonald Janet L. , Oetting Janna B.
Published: October 2024

Using archival data from 106 children with and without DLD who spoke two dialects of English, we examined the independent contributions of vocabulary, morphological ability, phonological short term memory (pSTM), and verbal working memory (WM) to exact sentence recall, ungrammatical repetition, and incorrect tense production. For exact repetitions on simpler sentences, performance of the DLD group was predicted by morphological ability, pSTM and WM, while that of the TD group was predicted by vocabulary and sometimes pSTM. On complex sentences, performance of the DLD group was predicted by morphological ability, and the TD group was predicted by pSTM and WM. For ungrammatical repetitions and incorrect tense, morphological ability was a factor for both groups, with WM also affecting the DLD group for ungrammatical production. Thus, sentence recall taxes multiple resources, with more and different factors being taxed at lower levels of complexity for children with DLD than those without.
Early life health adversity and internalizing disorders in the transition from adolescence to adulthood
Authors: Engel Melissa L. , Brennan Patricia A.
Published: October 2024

Early life adversity (ELA) and youth chronic health conditions have been examined as separate contributors to psychopathology. However, little work has specifically examined early life health adversity (ELHA) and its association with risk for internalizing disorders. This study seeks to examine the relationship between ELHA and internalizing disorders across adolescence. A sample of 705 Australian mother–youth dyads participated in a prospective longitudinal study. Mothers reported child health indicators at youth ages three-to-four days, six months, and five years and completed a psychiatric interview at 15 years. Youth completed a psychiatric interview, as well as measures of current health status, at age 20. ELHA was positively associated with both youth anxiety and depressive disorders from ages 15 to 20. When independently accounting for the role of (a) current health status and (b) exposure to traditionally conceptualized forms of ELA, these findings remained statistically significant for anxiety but not depressive disorders. ELHA interacted with maternal depression, such that ELHA was only associated with youth depressive disorders in cases where mothers themselves had experienced depression. Routine mental health screenings may be warranted for youth who experience ELHA and their mothers. Pediatric primary care may be an ideal setting for implementing prevention and intervention efforts.
Microbial exposure at birth and the development of behavioral temperament during the first three years of childhood
Authors: Chortatos Arthur , Pesonen Maiju , Thomas Owen , Toffol Elena , Airaksinen Ville , Musakka Emma , Täubel Martin , Kirjavainen Pirkka , Backman Katri , Pekkanen Juha , Keski-Nisula Leea , Lehto Soili M.
Published: October 2024

We investigated cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between neonate microbial exposure and emerging behavioral temperament measures at the ages of 1, 2, and 3 years. Infants and mothers (n = 335) were extracted from the Kuopio Birth Cohort Study. Temperament was assessed using the Infant Behavioral and Early Childhood Behavioral Questionnaires. Microbial samples were collected from oral cavity at birth and the bacterial profiles were assessed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Microbial diversity was characterized using alpha and beta diversity metrics. Analyses were performed for the most abundant genera. The sample was analyzed as a whole, as well as divided into subgroups representing no antibiotic use during birth (n = 198) and those with antibiotic use during birth (n = 137). No significant associations were observed between microbial profiles and behavioral measures after Bonferroni corrections. Nevertheless, our pre-correction results indicated an association between increased behavioral temperament surgency in the first year and beta diversity (high abundance of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium and Blautia, low abundance of Lactobacillus) in the antibiotic use group. Additionally, pre-corrections, a high relative abundance of Staphylococcus was associated with increased surgency through years 1, 2, and 3 in the no antibiotics group, prompting consideration into a possible link between antibiotic use and emerging behavioral temperament.
Is air pollution increasing in poorer localities of Mexico? Evidence from PM 2.5 satellite data
Authors: Chakraborti Lopamudra , Voorheis John
Published: October 2024

This paper analyzes inequities in the distribution of air pollution in Mexico at the detailed scale of localities. We find that air pollution increases in areas that experience a decline in socioeconomic status. We utilize 15 years of remote sensing data on fine particulate matter (smaller than 2.5 microns) for more than 116,500 localities across Mexico. Our panel data models show that localities that face a decline in socioeconomic status experience a 0.24–0.83 per cent increase in annual mean pollution concentrations. Our results hold up to controlling for changes within each municipality and instrumenting with broader municipality level socioeconomic status to test for ecological fallacy. We find that local air pollution inequities are reduced by political participation channels, but not as much by increased share of manufacturing activities due to polluters locating in poorer neighborhoods. Highly dense, urban municipalities witness higher inequities most likely due to traffic, construction, and agricultural fires.
EFFECT OF EXTERNAL HARMONIC VIBRATION ON THE FORMATION OF SOLITARY WAVES IN FALLING TWO-LAYER LIQUID FILMS
Authors: POTOTSKY ANDREY , SUSLOV SERGEY A.
Published: October 2024

We study the influence of a low-frequency harmonic vibration on the formation of the two-dimensional rolling solitary waves in vertically co-flowing two-layer liquid films. The system consists of two adjacent layers of immiscible fluids with the first layer being sandwiched between a vertical solid plate and the second fluid layer. The solid plate oscillates harmonically in the horizontal direction inducing Faraday waves at the liquid–liquid and liquid–air interfaces. We use a reduced hydrodynamic model derived from the Navier–Stokes equations in the long-wave approximation. Linear stability of the base flow in a flat two-layer film is determined semi-analytically using Floquet theory. We consider sub-millimetre-thick films and focus on the competition between the long-wavelength gravity-driven and finite wavelength Faraday instabilities. In the linear regime, the range of unstable wave vectors associated with the gravity-driven instability broadens at low and shrinks at high vibration frequencies. In nonlinear regimes, we find multiple metastable states characterized by solitary-like travelling waves and short pulsating waves. In particular, we find the range of the vibration parameters at which the system is multistable. In this regime, depending on the initial conditions, the long-time dynamics is dominated either by the fully developed solitary-like waves or by the shorter pulsating Faraday waves.
On the predictability horizon in Impact Monitoring of Near Earth Objects
Authors: Tommei Giacomo , Valsecchi Giovanni B.
Published: October 2024

The Impact Monitoring (IM) of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) is a fundamental part of the planetary defense strategy. Current NEO IM systems (Aegis, NEODyS and Sentry) scan the Confidence Region (CR) of each observed object looking for Virtual Impactors (VIs) with a time horizon of about 100 years. This procedure is performed regardless of the uncertainty with which the orbit of the object is known, and without considering whether a scattering encounter is present in the propagation time span. In view of the likely future increase of the IM workload due to higher future NEO discovery rates, it might be more reasonable to adapt the predictability horizon of the impacts to each object, taking into account the orbit uncertainty and the close encounters experienced. In this paper we discuss the problem of estimating a reasonable predictability horizon when multiple close encounters are present and start to address the problem proposing a formal mathematical definition of scattering encounter.
Food for thought
Authors: Nazé Yaël
Published: October 2024

The space domain has undergone several changes in the last decade (aka “new space era”), and will continue to do so in coming years. This led to several challenges which should be recognized and tackled by all actors of this domain, including scientists.
On the computation of resonant tidal dissipation in the liquid layers of planets and stars
Authors: Rekier Jérémy , Triana Santiago A.
Published: October 2024

Planets and stars have liquid layers that can support internal gravity waves and inertial waves respectively restored by the buoyancy and Coriolis forces. Both types of waves are excited by tides, leading to resonantly amplified dissipation. We review the theoretical formalism to compute these resonances and present some challenges and methods to overcome them.
Secular Resonance Maps
Authors: Knežević Zoran
Published: October 2024

A complete list of combinations of the rates of asteroid perihelia and nodes and the corresponding fundamental frequencies of planets, giving rise to secular resonances and involving up to 4 frequencies, is known from the previous work, while for the resonances with 6 frequencies a systematically derived comprehensive list is given here for the first time. There are 28 divisors in the theory of degree up to 4, not all of which can give rise to resonances, while at degree 6 there are (at least) 33 such possibly resonant frequency combinations.

Mapping the secular resonances by plotting the resonant lines in the phase space of proper elements or of secular frequencies, possibly also against the background of known asteroids, enables to straightforwardly identify resonances causing large long periodic variations of asteroid orbital elements, resonances that interact with known families, those that bound the dynamically distinct regions, deplete or disturb asteroids in these regions, etc.
On the long-term orbital evolution of a satellite revolving around an oblate body
Authors: Nadabaică Gabriela-Ana
Published: October 2024

In the context of a perturbed two body problem, in which the Keplerian motion of the small object (the satellite) is perturbed by the oblateness of the central body (the asteroid) and the attraction of a third body (the Sun), we discuss the long-term evolution of the orbital elements of a satellite orbiting an oblate body, with a particular focus on the behavior of the inclination and the longitude of the ascending node. We derive analytically the position of the Laplace plane as a function of several parameters and use this solution to analyse the long-term evolution of distant circular orbits. The analytical study is complemented by numerical tests, performed in the context of both Cartesian and Hamiltonian frameworks. The results give a description of the orbital dynamical environment of asteroids and reveal the parameters that play a key role in the long-term stability of distant circular orbits.
Lagrangian descriptors and their applications to deterministic chaos
Authors: Daquin Jérôme
Published: October 2024

We present our recent contributions to the theory of Lagrangian descriptors for discriminating ordered and deterministic chaotic trajectories. The class of Lagrangian descriptors we are dealing with is based on the Euclidean length of the orbit over a finite time window. The framework is free of tangent vector dynamics and is valid for both discrete and continuous dynamical systems. We review its last advancements and touch on how it illuminated recently Dvorak’s quantities based on maximal extent of trajectories’ observables, as traditionally computed in planetary dynamics.
Deconvolving the complex structure of the asteroid belt
Authors: Dermott Stanley F. , Li Dan , Christou Apostolos A.
Published: October 2024

The asteroid belt is a unique source of information on some of the most important questions facing solar system science. These questions include the sizes, numbers, types and orbital distributions of the planetesimals that formed the planets, and the identification of those asteroids that are the sources of meteorites and near-Earth asteroids. Answering these questions requires an understanding of the dynamical evolution of the asteroid belt, but this evolution is governed by a complex interplay of mechanisms that include catastrophic disruption, orbital evolution driven by Yarkovsky radiation forces, and chaotic orbital evolution driven by gravitational forces. While the timescales of these loss mechanisms have been calculated using estimates of some critical parameters that include the thermal properties, strengths and mean densities of the asteroids, we argue here that the uncertainties in these parameters are so large that deconvolution of the structure of the asteroid belt must be guided primarily by observational constraints. We argue that observations of the inner asteroid belt indicate that the size-frequency distribution is not close to the equilibrium distribution postulated by Dohnanyi (1969). We also discuss the correlations observed between the sizes and the orbital elements of the asteroids. While some of these correlations are significant and informative, others are spurious and may arise from the limitations of the Hierarchical Clustering Method that is currently used to define family membership.
Progress report on the BEBOP search for circumbinary planets with radial velocities
Authors: Baycroft Thomas A. , Triaud Amaury H. M. J. , Lai Dong
Published: October 2024

The BEBOP (Binaries Escorted By Orbiting Planets) survey is a search for circumbinary planets using the radial velocity spectrographs HARPS and SOPHIE, currently focusing on single-lined binaries with a mass ratio < 0.3. Circumbinary systems are an important testing ground for planet formation theories as the dynamically complex influence of the binary makes planet formation and survival more difficult. Here we present the results of the survey so far including: confirmed planets such as BEBOP-1c the first circumbinary planet detected in radial velocity; the status of our observations; and preliminary occurrence rates. We compare the early results of the radial velocity survey to the population of circumbinary planets discovered in transit, and suggest that there may be a population of inflated planets close to the inner binary which are detectable in transit but more difficult in radial velocity. Using time-lag tidal theory, we show that this inflation is unlikely caused by tides.
Can the stellar dynamical tide destabilize the resonant chains of planets formed in the disk?
Authors: Kwok Leon Ka Wang , Bolmont Emeline , Revol Alexandre , Mathis Stéphane , Astoul Aurélie , Charbonnel Corinne , Raymond Sean
Published: October 2024

Evolution models of planetary systems find that resonant chains of planets often arise from the formation within protoplanetary disks. However, the occurrence of observed resonant chains, such as the notable TRAPPIST-1 system, is relatively low. This suggests that the majority of these chains become destabilized after the dissipation of the protoplanetary disk. Stellar tides, especially the wavelike dynamical tide, could be proposed as potential contributors to the destabilization of resonant chains. The dissipation of the dynamical tide, because of the frequency-dependant tidal excitation of stellar oscillation eigenmodes, potentially leads to a boost in migration for the close-in planets and disrupts the fragile stability of resonant chains. Thus, we investigate the influence of the stellar dynamical tide on multi-planet systems with taking their dissipation into account in the N-body code Posidonius. Notably, this research represents the first exploration of the impact of frequency-dependent dynamical tides on multi-planet systems.
Stability maps for the 5/3 mean motion resonance between Ariel and Umbriel with inclination
Authors: Gomes Sérgio R. A. , Correia Alexandre C. M.
Published: October 2024

The evolution of the five largest satellites of Uranus during the crossing of the 5/3 mean motion resonance between Ariel and Umbriel is strongly affected by chaotic motion. Studies with numerical integrations of the equations of motion and analysis of Poincaré surface sections provided helpful insights to the role of chaos on the system. However, they lack of a quantification of this chaos in the phase-space. Here, we construct stability maps using the frequency analysis method. We determine that for low energies (small eccentricity and/or inclinations), the phase-space is mainly stable. As the energy increases, the chaotic regions replace the stable motion, until only small, localized libration regions remain stable.
Collision outcomes due to planetesimal and planetary embryo interactions in inclined binary star systems
Authors: Zimmermann Maximilian , Pilat-Lohinger Elke
Published: October 2024

In the final phase of terrestrial planet formation, planetary embryos and planetesimals are the building blocks for the growth of rocky planets. In this investigation, we study the dynamical behaviour of a circumstellar disk in an inclined binary star system. The disk consists of 2000 planetesimals and 25 embryos and is distributed between 1 and 4 au around the primary star. To compute the gravitational interaction of the whole system, we use our recently developed GPU N-body code GANBISS. GANBISS treats all collision as perfect merging and delivers the impact parameters that will be used to distinguish between different collision outcomes.
Long-term evolution of exoplanet systems
Authors: Petrovich Cristobal
Published: October 2024

In this Review, I discuss recent developments on the long-term dynamical evolution of exoplanet systems, focusing on how distinctive dynamical processes may have shaped the orbital architectures of observed populations. I include three applications that highlight part of my own work. First, I examine the high-eccentricity tidal migration of hot Jupiters from a phase of dynamical instability and subsequent secular interactions in two-planet systems. Second, secular chaos as the origin of ultra-short-period planets with extreme period ratios. Third, secular resonance sweeping driven by a dispersing protoplanetary disk as the origin hot Neptunes residing in polar orbits. Finally, I discuss how upcoming observations will allow further constraining the prevalence of these dynamical processes.
Sun-planets tidal interactions: an extended catalog
Authors: Kudryavtsev Sergey M. , Cionco Rodolfo G. , Soon Willie W.-H.
Published: October 2024

An extended catalog of long-periodic terms of the Sun tide-generating potential (STGP ver.2) is released. It contains 2.5 times of such terms than in the first version of the STGP catalog (Cionco et al. 2023). The analysis of the new data is done in order to re-examine the existence of tidal forces of ≈ 11.0-yr and ≈ 22.0-yr period able to excite the observed solar-activity cycles. In several recent studies, such tidal forcings are claimed to be a result of certain combinations of Venus, Earth and Jupiter mean motions with the multipliers (6, −10, 4) and (3, −5, 2), respectively. So, in this contribution, we specifically look for the periodic terms related to these combinations. As a result of these additional investigation we do not confirm any noticeable tidal forcing factors of ≈ 11.0-yr nor ≈ 22.0-yr period in the extended STGP spectrum either.
Tidal effects in resonant chains of close-in planets: TTV analysis of Kepler-80
Authors: Charalambous Carolina , Libert Anne-Sophie
Published: October 2024

Systems near mean-motion resonances (MMRs) are subject to large transit-timing variations (TTVs). The amplitude and period of the TTVs strongly depend on the distance to exact MMR and the planetary eccentricities which are shaped during the formation and long-term evolution of the system. For close-in planets, the tides raised by the star provide a source of dissipation, placing the planets further away from the MMR. In this work, we will discuss how the tidal interactions with the central star play an important role in shaping the period ratios and resonant angles in resonant chains. Moreover, we will show how they can impact the TTVs and therefore how the TTVs could serve as a means to put constraints on the tidal history of planetary systems. The study will focus on the four-planet resonant chain of Kepler-80.
Looking to Livestock: Gauging the Evolution of the EU's Agri-Climate Law and Policy
Authors: Williams Rebecca
Published: October 2024

Awareness of agricultural climate impacts is growing. In the European Union (EU), the agricultural sector is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to receive considerable EU budgetary support. A large share of agricultural emissions is linked to livestock husbandry, a sector the direct and indirect climate impacts of which the EU's ‘green’ agricultural policies have historically ignored. This blind spot extends to the sizeable global deforestation footprint from EU livestock feed imports that remains unaddressed, despite the EU's aspired status as a global climate leader and major global agricultural market player. This article benchmarks the evolution of EU agri-climate legal and policy developments, using livestock emissions as a case study to highlight the importance of learning from the successes and failures of the EU experience, to realize future attempts to tackle global agricultural emissions.
Upwind Moisture Controls on Interannual Variations of Precipitation and Vegetation in China's Drylands
Authors: Li Yan , Xu Ru , Yang Zhao , Zhou Sha , Lu Mengqian , Lin Huiqing , Zi Shuangshuang , Su Ruijie
Published: October 2024

Dryland precipitation depends on upwind and local moisture sources via moisture recycling. How upwind moisture variations affect interannual variations of downwind precipitation and vegetation in China's drylands remains unclear. We used high‐resolution moisture tracking data sets and found terrestrial moisture (93%) was the dominant moisture source for China's drylands, especially from drylands themselves (46%). In most dryland grids, we observed strong correlations between precipitation and upwind moisture sources from 2003 to 2022 (median r = 0.55), with a more significant effect in drier areas. These demonstrated the upwind moisture control on interannual variations of dryland precipitation, in which internal moisture from drylands exceeds the influence of external terrestrial sources. The upwind moisture variations, especially the recycled moisture of drylands, propagate to influence downwind vegetation greenness in precipitation‐sensitive dryland areas. Our findings revealed that upwind moisture variations induced by climate or land‐cover changes have important implications for water and food security in China's drylands.
Mg Exosphere of Mercury Observed by PHEBUS Onboard BepiColombo During Its Second and Third Swing‐Bys
Authors: Suzuki Y. , Quémerais E. , Chaufray J.‐Y. , Robidel R. , Murakami G. , Leblanc F. , Yoshioka K. , Yoshikawa I. , Korablev O.
Published: October 2024

Mercury's exosphere is an important target for understanding the dynamics of coupled systems in space environments, tenuous planetary atmospheres, and planetary surfaces. Magnesium (Mg) is especially crucial for establishing methods for estimating the surface chemical composition distribution through observations of the exosphere because its distribution in the exosphere and on the surface is strongly correlated. However, owing to its low radiance, the Hermean Mg exosphere has only been detected by the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) onboard the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. Thus, we have few observation data for areas other than low latitude regions in addition to few detection cases of short‐term or sporadic fluctuations, resulting in a poor understanding of ejection and transportation mechanisms of the Mg exosphere. In this study, we analyzed the distribution of the Hermean Mg exosphere by the Probing of Hermean Exosphere by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy (PHEBUS) onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter of the BepiColombo mission during its second and third Mercury swing‐bys (MSBs). First, we constructed a calibration method including background subtraction and calibration using stellar observations. Mg light curves at two true anomaly angles were obtained, which were in agreement with the Chamberlain model and a three‐dimensional numerical calculation. Comparing the Mg and calcium (Ca) radiances obtained by PHEBUS during the MSBs, the exospheric Mg atoms have a lower energy than the exospheric Ca atoms. This is consistent with the lower energy necessary for producing the Mg atoms produced by molecular photodissociation than for Ca atoms.
Mechanical performance and dimensional stability of Washingtonia/Kenaf fibres-based epoxy hybrid composites
Authors: Saba Naheed , Awad Sameer A. , Jawaid M. , Hashem Mohamed , Fouad Hassan , Uddin Imran , Singh Balbir
Published: October 2024

In this study, Washingtonia fibres (AW) and Kenaf fibres (KF) were utilized as environmentally friendly fillers to improve the quality of the resin matrix. The mechanical, morphological, and physical properties of the WA/KF biocomposites were assessed throughout this research. The mechanical tests (tensile strength and moduli, elongation at break, flexural strength along with moduli, and the impact properties) were carried out. The hybrid biocomposites (3AW/7KF) exhibited the highest tensile strength (16.05 MPa) and modulus (4.6 GPa) among pure and other hybrid biocomposites. The impact strength and resistance of hybrid biocomposites (1AW/1KF and 7AW/3KF) showed the highest impact strength (1694 J/m2) while the 3AW/7KF hybrid biocomposite, the impact strength value was 1630 J/m2 (17.2 J/m). SEM images indicated good distribution and bonding of hybrid biocomposites. The investigation using morphological tests (Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)) displays the longitudinal roughness on the surface, which acts as a very significant function in the adhesion between the AW/KF fibres and the resin. Furthermore, the results of SEM confirm better bonding in the biocomposites, fibre fracture, pull-out, fibre shearing, and tearing in the pure and hybrid composites. From the water absorption test, it was observed that, when increasing the immersion time of biocomposites, the WA percentage of KF biocomposite significantly increased (37%) compared to other biocomposites. However, the hybrid and pure biocomposites exhibited more resistance to increase the WA percentage after increasing the immersion times, compared to other biocomposites. Furthermore, the thickness swelling (TS) of hybrid biocomposites increased compared to pure biocomposites. The biocomposite sample (3AW/7KF) was thicker on the 7th day exhibiting the greatest increases in thickness swelling (4.98%) while the hybrid biocomposite exhibited greater WA value compared to other correspondence samples. Finally, the KF and AW hybrid blends can be appropriate for several applications, for example, textiles, machinery part production industries, medicine, and automobiles, and construction, specifically buildings, bridges, and structures such as boat hulls, swimming pool panels, racing car bodies, shower stalls, bathtubs, storage tanks. Overall, the findings exhibit that the hybridisation of natural fibres (KF/AW) is a sustainable approach for obtaining biocomposites with advanced mechanical and thermal performance. Hence, they could be used in numerous specific applications, including automobile panels, structural products, sporting goods and furniture tools.
Production and characterization of pulp and paper from flax straw
Authors: Hailemariam Tsiye Tekleyohanis , Woldeyes Belay
Published: October 2024

Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is a bast fiber plant known for its long fibers, making it an excellent source of pulp for paper production. In Ethiopia, flax is primarily cultivated for oil, with the residual straw utilized for papermaking. This study focuses on pulping flax straw using the Kraft process and investigates its chemical composition, proximate analysis, and morphological properties. The proximate analysis revealed an ash content of 4.13% and moisture content of 11%. Chemical composition analysis showed cellulose at 51.34%, hemicellulose at 25.20%, lignin at 14.12%, ash at 4.13%, and extractives at 5.21%. The morphological properties included a fiber length of 1.41 mm, diameter of 16.78 μm, lumen width of 9.45 μm, and cell wall thickness of 3.77 μm. Flax straw exhibited an acceptable Runkel ratio (0.8) and flexibility coefficient (56.32), placing it within the range of non-wood fibers. SEM analysis of the pulp’s morphology was conducted to assess fiber structure, including the presence of cracks. Pulp quality and length are directly linked to paper strength. Various pulping conditions were studied using a full-factorial design, with optimum conditions being 10% alkaline, 131.74°C, and 120 min of cooking time, yielding a pulp with a Kappa number of 10.45 and a yield of 40.56%. The resulting paper demonstrated standard tensile, tearing, and burst strengths, indicating that flax straw is a promising raw material for paper production.
Methods and Materials for Studying Proteoglycans and Glycosaminoglycans
Authors: Karlsson Richard , Grønset Magnus N. , Chuang Christine , Hippensteel Joseph A. , Miller Rebecca L.
Published: October 2024

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are negatively charged polysaccharides essential to all mammalian life. Most GAGs range from 20 to 200 repeating disaccharide units in length and are often decorated with sulfate groups enzymatically added to distinct positions on the chains by various sulfotransferases, generating a diverse set of sulfation patterns. This patterning regulates the ability of GAGs to interact with protein partners involved in a broad range of biological functions, including growth and proliferation, blood coagulation, angiogenesis, immune regulation, and many more. The enormous structural diversity of GAGs makes the understanding of structure–function relationships a major challenge. This chapter reviews the structure of different GAGs, pathways for their synthesis, methods for the isolation of GAG chains and the proteoglycans to which they are covalently attached, methods for the isolation of short GAG oligosaccharides considered to be the size of bioactive motifs, new resources for obtaining libraries of GAGs with different sulfation patterns, and strategies for the analysis of the structure of relatively simple proteoglycans. This combination of tools and technology for the study of GAGs is driving a new understanding of structure–function relationships, which is critical for the development of novel GAG therapeutics.
Glycoprotein Characterization by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Authors: Manzano A. I. , Heras-Márquez D. , García-Linares S. , Canales A.
Published: October 2024

Recent advances in glycoprotein expression systems and labelling strategies allow extending the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to an increasing number of glycoproteins. In this context, NMR provides information about the exact stereochemistry of a glycan and the type of glycosidic linkages present in a sample and, therefore, is an excellent complement to mass spectrometry (MS). In this chapter, both the protein production methods for NMR studies and the different approaches to obtaining information about glycoproteins using NMR are described.
Cold-ion Spectroscopy of Carbohydrates
Authors: Safferthal Marc , Polewski Łukasz , Chang Chun-Wei , Greis Kim , Pagel Kevin
Published: October 2024

Carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, sugars, and glycans are interchangeable terms for a class of omnipresent biomolecules that exist in all sizes and shapes. In sync with their sheer structural diversity, carbohydrates perform a tremendous number of crucial biological tasks. While proteins and RNA are assembled in a template-driven manner, glycan sequences are not directly encoded and strongly depend on dynamic processes. The combination of structural complexity and dynamic assembling processes leads to highly complex structures. Sequencing these molecules represents one of the major challenges of glycosciences. To date, there is no universal tool for the straightforward, fast, and accurate analysis in glycomics. However, the recent developments in cold-ion spectroscopy have advanced the structural analysis of carbohydrates to a new level. This emerging technique provides high-resolution data to identify the sequences of different biologically essential glycans.
Advanced Activation Techniques for the Determination of Glycan Structures Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Lin C. , Costello C. E.
Published: October 2024

Structural analysis of glycans presents unique challenges due to their inherent complexity and the pervasive simultaneous presence of multiple isomers. The widely utilized slow-heating ion activation methods, such as collision-induced dissociation (CID) and infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD), often fail to provide sufficient structural details for delineation of the many glycan structural variables or for isomer differentiation. Recently, however, alternative ion activation methods, including ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD), charge transfer dissociation (CTD), free radical-activated glycan sequencing (FRAGS), and a range of electron-activated dissociation (ExD) methods, have shown great promise for comprehensive glycan structural analysis. This chapter starts with a brief review of glycan structural analysis by the established slow-heating methods, followed by a discussion on the recent development of advanced ion activation methods and their applications to glycan sequencing. The current understanding of the fragmentation mechanism for each activation method, as well as their implementation with online separation modes for analysis of glycan mixtures, is presented.
Native Mass Spectrometry of Glycoproteins
Authors: Wu Di , Struwe Weston B.
Published: October 2024

Native mass spectrometry (MS), which involves the detection of intact protein complexes in the gas phase, is an emerging technique for analyzing glycoprotein heterogeneity. In this chapter, we describe the use of the native MS approach to decode the compositional complexity of glycoproteins and to correlate glycosylation features with structural heterogeneity. Moreover, we highlight recent representative applications in connecting glycan heterogeneity with protein complex assemblies and interactions.
Principles of Electrochemical Valorization of Biomass
Authors: Santana Cássia Sidney , Broersen Pim , Deacon-Price Connor , Garcia Amanda
Published: October 2024

Electrochemistry will play a central role in the transition towards green energy and circular carbon economy. The generation of organic chemicals and high-performance fuels will require biomass-derived feedstocks in order to replace fossil fuels. The valorization of biomass is therefore critical. The most suitable biomass-derived feedstock targets are lignocellulose and glycerol, given their ease of conversion. We highlight the processes in generating the most common products from these feedstocks, identified as furanics, glycerol and levulinic acid. Given that the accompanying half-cell reaction for these processes is often low value, paired electrolysis may be employed to increase economic feasibility. Several challenges must be overcome before such technologies become suitable, such as energy and material costs, scale-up, and electrocatalyst efficiency and stability.