bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bioenvironmental Predictors of Childhood Reading and Speech Difficulties
Authors: Michaelides Orestis , Luciano Michelle
Published: April 2023

Purpose:

Reading and speech difficulties are common in childhood, yet it is not fully understood how much of their etiology is shared. This partly derives from methodological issues related to overlooking the potential co-occurrence between the two sets of difficulties. This study investigated the effects of five bioenvironmental predictors in a sample assessed for such co-occurrence.

Method:

A combination of exploratory and confirmatory analyses was performed on longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study. Exploratory latent class analysis was performed on children's reading, speech, and language outcomes at ages 7 and 11 years. Membership in the obtained classes was modeled using a regression with sex and four early-life predictors: gestation period, socioeconomic status, maternal education, and the home reading environment.

Results:

The model yielded four latent classes that broadly reflected (1) average reading and speech, (2) excellent reading, (3) reading difficulties, and (4) speech difficulties. Early-life factors significantly predicted class membership. Male sex and preterm birth emerged as risk factors for both reading and speech difficulties. Protective effects against reading difficulties were identified for maternal education, and lower (but not higher) levels of socioeconomic status and the home reading environment.

Conclusions:

Co-occurrence of reading and speech difficulties in the sample was low, and differential patterns of effect of the social environment were supported. Reading outcomes were under stronger malleable influence than speech outcomes.
Predictors of Reading Development Among School-Age Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Scoping Review
Authors: Ramírez Rica , Huang Becky H. , Salazar Kimberly , Eik Mari
Published: April 2023

Purpose:

Systematic reviews of bilingual children's reading development are very limited, and none of which solely focus on predictors of reading difficulties among those with developmental language disorder (DLD). The present scoping review fills an important need by analyzing the recent research literature on the reading outcomes of bilingual children with DLD. Specifically, this study aims to identify predictors of reading difficulties among bilingual children with DLD to improve early identification.

Method:

The search parameters used in this scoping review included peer-reviewed journal articles written in English from 2000 to 2022 in order to synthesize the most recent empirical work, a focus on early childhood through early adolescent (pre-K to eighth grade) bilinguals with DLD, and research designs that included case study, descriptive, cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, and qualitative methods.

Results:

The present review yielded nine articles, which all examined the predictive validity of either a measure or task with the ultimate goal of improving early identification of reading difficulties. Significant predictors of reading difficulties, such as rapid naming and blending in first language (L1), were found to aid in identifying bilingual children who have DLD.

Conclusions:

To conclude, this review demonstrates that this is a highly under-researched topic. To have ended up including only nine articles that fit the criteria of our search reveals a large gap in the research and a limitation of this review.
Detection of non‐suicidal self‐injury based on spatiotemporal features of indoor activities
Authors: Yang Guanci , Yang Siyuan , Luo Kexin , Lan Shangen , He Ling , Li Yang
Published: April 2023

Non‐suicide self‐injury (NSSI) can be dangerous and difficult for guardians or caregivers to detect in time. NSSI refers to when people hurt themselves even though they have no wish to cause critical or long‐lasting hurt. To timely identify and effectively prevent NSSI in order to reduce the suicide rates of patients with a potential suicide risk, the detection of NSSI based on the spatiotemporal features of indoor activities is proposed. Firstly, an NSSI behaviour dataset is provided, and it includes four categories that can be used for scientific research on NSSI evaluation. Secondly, an NSSI detection algorithm based on the spatiotemporal features of indoor activities (NssiDetection) is proposed. NssiDetection calculates the human bounding box by using an object detection model and employs a behaviour detection model to extract the temporal and spatial features of NSSI behaviour. Thirdly, the optimal combination schemes of NssiDetection is investigated by checking its performance with different behaviour detection methods and training strategies. Lastly, a case study is performed by implementing an NSSI behaviour detection prototype system. The prototype system has a recognition accuracy of 84.18% for NSSI actions with new backgrounds, persons, or camera angles.
3D printed elastomer ternary composites
Authors: Korivi Naga , Mahbub Rifat , Ahmadi Zahra , Azadehranjbar Soodabeh , Shield Jeffrey E. , Ni Yuanyuan , Yuan Yifan , Xu Xiaoshan , Gong Limin , Jeelani Shaik , Rangari Vijay
Published: April 2023

This paper describes the 3D printing of a ternary composite of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and nanoparticles of iron oxide and barium titanate. The composite was printed using a commercially available 3D printer. Thermal curing of the composite during printing allowed for overall low process times of a few minutes. Scanning electron microscopy indicated uniform composite layers. The resulting composite films showed ferromagnetic behaviour, and applicability in magnetic actuation and piezoelectric energy harvesting.
Study on partial discharge and charge accumulation characteristics of oil‐pressboard insulation under DC superimposed harmonic voltage
Authors: Li Shuqi , Wang Qiang , He Dongxin , Wang Liangkai , Li Qingquan , Si Wen
Published: April 2023

The oil‐pressboard insulation on the valve side of the converter transformer withstands pulsating square wave voltage. The voltage contains lots of DC components and high‐order harmonics, which is likely to cause insulation failures. The partial discharge and space charge experiments of oil‐impregnated pressboard under DC superimposed harmonic voltage are conducted to study the effects of harmonic frequency and DC components on the discharge and charge accumulation and to explore the correlation mechanism of charge dynamic behaviour and discharge. Firstly, it is found that high‐order harmonic voltage promotes the partial discharge generation, but DC component suppresses the discharge. Moreover, the charge inside the pressboard is mainly injected in the same polarity and accumulates over time. The space charge density near the electrode increases with the increase of harmonic frequency, and the large amount of charge injection leads to electric field distortion. Meanwhile, the electric field direction changes faster, and the frequent charge injection and extraction behaviours make the charge recombination intensify, which promotes the discharge. Through the above analysis, the influence law of harmonic voltage on the failure of oil‐pressboard insulation is obtained, providing a theoretical basis for the structural optimisation and condition assessment of the converter transformer insulation.
Asymmetric cost aggregation network for efficient stereo matching
Authors: Wu Zhong , Zhu Hong , He Lili , Wang Dong , Shi Jing , Wu Wenhuan
Published: April 2023

Cost aggregation is crucial to the accuracy of stereo matching. A reasonable cost aggregation algorithm should aggregate costs within homogeneous regions where pixels have the same or similar disparities. Otherwise, the estimated disparity map is prone to the well‐known edge‐fattening issue and the problem of losing fine structures. However, current state‐of‐the‐art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) mainly do cost aggregation with square‐kernel convolutional layers that learn to adjust their kernel elements to make the actual receptive fields of the aggregated costs adapt to homogeneous regions with various shapes. This is a mechanism that easily leads to the above issues due to the translation equivalence and content‐insensitivity properties of CNNs. To tackle these problems, a novel densely connected asymmetric convolution block (Dense‐ACB) based on asymmetric convolutions is proposed to explicitly construct receptive fields with various shapes, which effectively alleviates the issues caused by mismatching shapes of receptive fields and homogeneous regions. The proposed Dense‐ACB brings new insight to CNN‐based stereo matching networks. Based on the proposed cost aggregation method, an efficient and effective stereo matching network is built, which not only achieves competitive overall accuracy compared with state‐of‐the‐art models but also effectively alleviates the edge‐fattening problem and preserves fine structures.
Identification of depression state based on multi‐scale acoustic features in interrogation environment
Authors: Huang Yongming , Ma Yongsheng , Xiao Jing , Liu Wei , Zhang Guobao
Published: April 2023

Depression diagnosis based on speech signals has the advantages of non‐invasiveness, low cost, and few restrictions on portability. The research on the recognition of the depression state is carried out based on the acoustic information in the speech signal. Aiming at the interview dialogue speech in the consultation environment, a hierarchical attention temporal convolutional network (HATCN) acoustic depression recognition model is proposed. For sentence acoustic feature learning, a regional attention mechanism is introduced to extract multi‐scale sentence features; for segment acoustic feature extraction, the traditional attention mechanism is used to calculate, which is in line with human cognitive mechanism. In addition, a periodic focal loss function is introduced to address the imbalance of positive and negative samples in depression diagnosis. Experiments show that the proposed acoustic depression recognition model has a certain improvement in recognition performance compared with other methods. At the same time, the influence of noise on the recognition of acoustic depression in the real consultation environment is analysed through experiments, and the data enhancement is carried out utilising speech noise, which proves the effectiveness of the data expansion of speech noise.
Highly structured turbulence in high-mass star formation: An evolved infrared-dark cloud G35.20-0.74 N
Authors: Wang Chao , Wang Ke
Published: April 2023

Context. Massive stars are generally believed to form in environments characterized by supersonic turbulence. However, recent observations challenge this traditional view. High-spatial- and spectral-resolution observations of the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC, the closest massive star formation region) and an infrared-dark cloud (IRDC) G35.39 (a typical distant massive star formation region) show a resolution-dependent turbulence, and that high-mass stars are forming exclusively in subsonic to transonic cores in those clouds. These studies demand a re-evaluation of the role of turbulence in massive star formation.

Aims. We aim to study the turbulence in a typical massive-star-forming region G35.20-0.74 N (G35.20 in short) with sufficient spatial resolution to resolve the thermal Jeans length, and sufficient spectral resolution to resolve the thermal line width.

Methods. We use the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) dust continuum emission to resolve fragmentation, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) 1.2 cm continuum to trace ionized gas, and JVLA NH3 (1,1) to (7,7) inversion transition lines to trace line width, temperature, and dynamics. We fit those lines and remove line broadening due to channel width, thermal pressure, and velocity gradient to obtain a clean map of intrinsic turbulence.

Results. We find that (1) the turbulence in G35.20 is overall supersonic, with mean and median Mach numbers 3.7 and 2.8, respectively. (2) Mach number decreases from 6–7 at a 0.1 pc scale to less than 3 toward the central cores at a 0.01 pc scale. (3) The central ALMA cores appear to be decoupled from the host filament, which is made evident by an opposite velocity gradient and significantly reduced turbulence. Because of intense star-formation activity in G35.20 (as compared to the relatively young and quiescent IRDC G35.39), the supersonic turbulence is likely replenished by protostellar outflows. G35.20 is therefore representative of an evolved form of IRDC G35.39. More observations of a sample of IRDCs are highly demanded in order to further investigate the role of turbulence in the initial conditions required for massive-star formation.
Polarimetry of hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae
Authors: Pursiainen M. , Leloudas G. , Cikota A. , Bulla M. , Inserra C. , Patat F. , Wheeler J. C. , Aamer A. , Gal-Yam A. , Maund J. , Nicholl M. , Schulze S. , Sollerman J. , Yang Y.
Published: April 2023

We present linear polarimetry for seven hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) of which only one has previously published polarimetric data. The best-studied event is SN 2017gci, for which we present two epochs of spectropolarimetry at +3 d and +29 d post-peak in rest frame, accompanied by four epochs of imaging polarimetry up to +108 d. The spectropolarimetry at +3 d shows increasing polarisation degree P towards the redder wavelengths and exhibits signs of axial symmetry, but at +29 d, P ∼ 0 throughout the spectrum, implying that the photosphere of SN 2017gci evolved from a slightly aspherical configuration to a more spherical one in the first month post-peak. However, an increase of P to ∼0.5% at ∼ + 55 d accompanied by a different orientation of the axial symmetry compared to +3 d implies the presence of additional sources of polarisation at this phase. The increase in polarisation is possibly caused by interaction with circumstellar matter (CSM), as already suggested by a knee in the light curve and a possible detection of broad Hα emission at the same phase. We also analysed the sample of all 16 SLSNe-I with polarimetric measurements to date. The data taken during the early spectroscopic phase show consistently low polarisation, indicating at least nearly spherical photospheres. No clear relation between the polarimetry and spectral phase was seen when the spectra resemble Type Ic SNe during the photospheric and nebular phases. The light-curve decline rate, which spans a factor of eight, also shows no clear relation with the polarisation properties. While only slow-evolving SLSNe-I have shown non-zero polarisation, the fast-evolving ones have not been observed at sufficiently late times to conclude that none of them exhibit changing P. However, the four SLSNe-I with increasing polarisation degree also have irregular light-curve declines. For up to half of them, the photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric properties are affected by CSM interaction. As such, CSM interaction clearly plays an important role in understanding the polarimetric evolution of SLSNe-I.
Evidence of a decreasing trend for the Hubble constant
Authors: Jia X. D. , Hu J. P. , Wang F. Y.
Published: April 2023

The current discrepancy between the Hubble constant, H0, derived from the local distance ladder and from the cosmic microwave background is one of the most crucial issues in cosmology, as it may possibly indicate unknown systematics or new physics. Here, we present a novel non-parametric method to estimate the Hubble constant as a function of redshift. We establish independent estimates of the evolution of Hubble constant by diagonalizing the covariance matrix. From type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation data and the observed Hubble parameter data, a decreasing trend in the Hubble constant with a significance of a 5.6σ confidence level is found. At low redshift, its value is dramatically consistent with that measured from the local distance ladder and it drops to the value measured from the cosmic microwave background at high redshift. Our results may relieve the Hubble tension, with a preference for recent solutions, especially with respect to novel physics.
Die Zukunft der Medizin ist integrativ!
Authors: Laube Marion
Published: April 2023

Die Mehrheit der Menschen in Deutschland wünscht sich ein Miteinander von Schulmedizin und Komplementärmedizin. Bereits mehr als 60 000 Ärzt*innen verbinden beides in ihrer täglichen Praxis. Die Hufelandgesellschaft versteht sich als die Stimme dieser integrativ tätigen Ärzteschaft. Wir sind davon überzeugt, dass alle Patient*innen von einem individuellen auf sie abgestimmten integrativmedizinischen Behandlungsplan profitieren können. Insbesondere chronische Erkrankungen, deren Therapien häufig sehr eingreifend und mit erheblicher Minderung der Lebensqualität verbunden sind, erfordern geradezu die Kombination von Behandlungen aus konventioneller und komplementärer Medizin. Diese Verbindung bezeichnen wir als Integrative Medizin. Der Beitrag erläutert die Vorgehensweise und die Aktivitäten der Hufelandgesellschaft zur Vertretung und Beförderung ärztlicher Integrativer Medizin in Ärzteschaft und Politik.
Lupusnephritis: Therapieziel und -strategie
Authors: Weinmann-Menke Julia
Published: April 2023

Die Nierenbeteiligung bei systemischem Lupus erythematodes (SLE) ist mit einer Inzidenz von ca. 40–60 % eine der häufigsten Organmanifestationen. Die histologische Sicherung der Lupusnephritis (LN) und damit der LN-Klasse ist zurzeit der Goldstandard der Diagnosesicherung. Das Wissen über die LN-Klasse ist ein relevanter Bestandteil der adäquaten Therapieplanung bei Patienten mit LN. Hier ist insbesondere die frühe Diagnosestellung als auch das rasche Ansprechen auf die eingesetzten Therapien von prognostischer Bedeutung für den Erhalt der Nierenfunktion sowie die Morbidität und Mortalität der Patienten.
Proteinreaktionsmuster als integrative Labordiagnostik
Authors: Fischer Sabine
Published: April 2023

Es ist bekannt, dass sich bestimmte Krankheiten in veränderten Proteinmustern widerspiegeln. Die funktionelle Proteomik nach C. E. I. A., eine Serumproteom-Diagnostik, greift auf die Information von Signalproteinen zu, bevor sich Krankheitssymptome mit strukturellen Veränderungen entwickeln können. Der Beitrag gibt einen Einblick in diese Diagnostik.
Clinical management and diagnosis of CLN2 disease: consensus of the Brazilian experts group
Authors: Sampaio Leticia Pereira de Brito , Manreza Maria Luiza Giraldes de , Pessoa André , Gurgel-Giannetti Juliana , Coan Ana Carolina , Júnior Hélio van der Linden , Embiruçu Emília Katiane , Henriques-Souza Adélia Maria de Miranda , Kok Fernando
Published: April 2023

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2) is a rare neurodegenerative genetic disease that affects children in early life. Its classic form is rapidly progressive, leading to death within the first 10 years. The urge for earlier diagnosis increases with the availability of enzyme replacement therapy. A panel of nine Brazilian child neurologists combined their expertise in CLN2 with evidence from the medical literature to establish a consensus to manage this disease in Brazil. They voted 92 questions including diagnosis, clinical manifestations, and treatment of the disease, considering the access to healthcare in this country. Clinicians should suspect CLN2 disease in any child, from 2 to 4 years old, with language delay and epilepsy. Even though the classic form is the most prevalent, atypical cases with different phenotypes can be found. Electroencephalogram, magnetic resonance imaging, molecular and biochemical testing are the main tools to investigate and confirm the diagnosis. However, we have limited access to molecular testing in Brazil, and rely on the support from the pharmaceutical industry. The management of CLN2 should involve a multidisciplinary team and focus on the quality of life of patients and on family support. Enzyme replacement therapy with Cerliponase α is an innovative treatment approved in Brazil since 2018; it delays functional decline and provides quality of life. Given the difficulties for the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases in our public health system, the early diagnosis of CLN2 needs improvement as enzyme replacement therapy is available and modifies the prognosis of patients.
Brazilian consensus for diagnosis, management and treatment of hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with peripheral neuropathy: second edition
Authors: Pinto Marcus Vinicius , França Marcondes Cavalcante , Gonçalves Marcus Vinicius Magno , Machado-Costa Marcela Câmara , Freitas Marcos Raimundo Gomes de , Gondim Francisco de Assis Aquino , Marrone Carlo Domenico , Martinez Alberto Rolim Muro , Moreira Carolina Lavigne , Nascimento Osvaldo J. M. , Covaleski Anna Paula Paranhos , Oliveira Acary Souza Bulle de , Pupe Camila Castelo Branco , Rodrigues Marcia Maria Jardim , Rotta Francisco Tellechea , Scola Rosana Herminia , Marques Wilson , Waddington-Cruz Márcia
Published: April 2023

Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with peripheral neuropathy (ATTRv-PN) is an autosomal dominant inherited sensorimotor and autonomic polyneuropathy with over 130 pathogenic variants identified in the TTR gene. Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with peripheral neuropathy is a disabling, progressive and life-threatening genetic condition that leads to death in ∼ 10 years if untreated. The prospects for ATTRv-PN have changed in the last decades, as it has become a treatable neuropathy. In addition to liver transplantation, initiated in 1990, there are now at least 3 drugs approved in many countries, including Brazil, and many more are being developed. The first Brazilian consensus on ATTRv-PN was held in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, in June 2017. Given the new advances in the area over the last 5 years, the Peripheral Neuropathy Scientific Department of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology organized a second edition of the consensus. Each panelist was responsible for reviewing the literature and updating a section of the previous paper. Thereafter, the 18 panelists got together virtually after careful review of the draft, discussed each section of the text, and reached a consensus for the final version of the manuscript.
Digitalisierung in Beschaffung und Logistik: Anwendungsbericht: Überwindung der EDI-Lücke
Authors: Ehrenburg Marcus
Published: April 2023

Der Order Cycle umfasst die Bestellung, eine Auftragsbestätigung, einen Lieferschein und die Rechnung. Den Prozess frei von Medienbrüchen – also rein digital – abzubilden, stellt viele Unternehmen und Kliniken vor Herausforderungen. Wie aber bringt man PDF, EDI, EANCOM, XRechnung und ZUGFeRD unter einen Hut?
Update Beckenboden (1) Was Sie über den Beckenboden wissen sollten
Authors: Henscher Ulla
Published: April 2023

Schwangerschaft und Geburt sind Risikofaktoren für den Beckenboden und können zu Funktionsstörungen der Beckenorgane führen. Beckenbodentraining vor und nach der Geburt wirkt risikomindernd. Physiotherapeut*innen leiten Frauen zu einem gezielten, auf einem individuellen Befund basierenden Beckenbodentraining an.

Der nachfolgende erste Beitrag fokussiert die Aufgaben des Beckenbodens. Der zweite Artikel beleuchtet die Therapie bei Speicher- und Entleerungsstörungen der Blase (► Seite 18) . Für Ihre Patientinnen bietet der dritte Artikel eine Anleitung zum Eigentraining (► Seite 22).
Beckenbodentraining in 3 Phasen
Authors: Henscher Ulla
Published: April 2023

Liebe Patientin, lieber Patient,

Beckenbodentraining ist für Frauen – und auch für Männer – mit Störungen der Blasen- und Darmfunktion die Therapie der Wahl. Es bietet Ihnen eine selbstbestimmte Möglichkeit, ohne Nebenwirkungen Ihre Beschwerden zu verbessern.
Excitation of surface waves in 3D ion beam neutralization
Authors: Nuwal Nakul , Levin Deborah A. , Kaganovich Igor D.
Published: April 2023

Neutralization of beams with 2D and 3D geometries by the electrons emitted from an external source is studied using particle-in-cell simulations. Our work reveals that the high-energy electrons excite Trivelpiece–Gould (TG) surface waves in the beams with 3D axisymmetric geometries. These high-energy electrons are generated because of a large amplitude electrostatic solitary wave (ESW) that forms near the electron source and has an electric potential amplitude more than three times the electron thermal energy. We also find that surface wave excitation only happens when the beam radius is large enough at the ion source to attract enough electrons that could form the large amplitude ESW. A comparison of the 3D TG surface wave dispersion relation with an expression for 2D surface waves reveals that they become excited in 3D axisymmetric but not in 2D planar beam because of a higher phase speed requirement in the latter case.
Reactive molecular dynamics simulations on interaction mechanisms of cold atmospheric plasmas and peptides
Authors: Guo Jin-Sen , Tian Shu-Qi , Zhang Yuan-Tao
Published: April 2023

Plasma medicine is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field, which mainly focuses on the application of Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) in bioengineering. Several experiments have suggested that amino acids in proteins are excellent targets for plasma-derived chemical species. To gain a deep insight into the oxidative modification of proteins induced by CAP, a ReaxFF-based reactive Molecular Dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the reaction mechanism of Reactive Oxygen Species produced in CAP and the model peptides. The simulation results show that sulfur-containing amino acids with high reactivity could be oxidized to sulfuric acid moiety through sulfonation, and only H-abstraction reaction can take place for aromatic amino acids. The oxidation of five-membered ring amino acids could be observed by yielding the ring-open products in the simulations. Additionally, the dehydrogenation and hydroxylation of carbon-chain amino acids were also found from the simulations, with the formation of the hydroxyl group. The polar amino acids with the electron-rich structure were oxidized to a variety of products, such as di-hydroxylated lysine and hydroxylated asparagine. This study provides a crucial step to understand the processes of oxidative modifications and inactivation of proteins induced by CAP, showing a deep insight on the mechanism of plasma medicine.
The origin of the density scaling exponent for polyatomic molecules and the estimation of its value from the liquid structure
Authors: Kaśkosz F. , Koperwas K. , Grzybowski A. , Paluch M.
Published: April 2023

In this article, we unravel the problem of interpreting the density scaling exponent for the polyatomic molecules representing the real van der Waals liquids. Our studies show that the density scaling exponent is a weighted average of the exponents of the repulsive terms of all interatomic interactions that occur between molecules, where the potential energy of a given interaction represents its weight. It implies that potential energy is a key quantity required to calculate the density scaling exponent value for real molecules. Finally, we use the well-known method for potential energy estimation and show that the density scaling exponent could be successfully predicted from the liquid structure for fair representatives of the real systems.
Numerical simulation of the hysteresis of the transition from the stationary to oscillatory regime in the low-pressure DC glow discharge
Authors: Chu Zijia , Yao Jingfeng , Yuan Chengxun , Zhou Zhongxiang , Kudryavtsev Anatoly , Wang Ying , Wang Xiaoou
Published: April 2023

As a typical highly nonlinear medium, laboratory plasmas can exhibit abundant nonlinear phenomena. It is well known that the presence of negative differential conductivity can cause the system to exhibit temporal chaotic oscillations when a DC glow discharge is operated in the subnormal glow discharge regime. In addition, for a nonlinear system, the hysteresis often occurs due to the coexistence of multiple attractors. In this work, a two-dimensional plasma fluid model based on the drift-diffusion approximation is developed to study the hysteresis phenomenon of the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the low-pressure DC glow discharge. The results demonstrate that the initial discharge conditions selected in calculations will influence the nonlinear dynamical behaviors significantly that the system exhibits. Hysteresis can be observed from the voltage waveform when the applied voltage is altered to allow the system to work between the stationary discharge regime and the oscillatory discharge regime. In the hysteresis region, the system exhibits bi-stable characteristics. Near the critical point, the dynamical behaviors of the system will jump from the stationary state to the oscillatory state under small perturbations and the reverse adjustment of control parameters will not immediately restore the original stationary state, which is a typical characteristic of the subcritical Hopf bifurcation.
Heuristic rule for inexact Newton-Landweber iteration with convex penalty terms of nonlinear: ill-posed problems
Authors: Gu Ruixue , Fu Zhenwu , Han Bo , Fu Hongsun
Published: April 2023

Inexact Newton regularization methods are a family of prominent regularization methods for solving nonlinear ill-posed problems, which consist of an outer Newton iteration and an inner scheme providing increments by applying the regularization technique to the local linearized equations. In this paper, we propose a heuristic stopping rule for the inexact Newton regularization method, where the inner scheme is defined by Landweber iteration and the strong convex function is incorporated as the penalty term. In contrast to a prior and a posteriori stopping rules, our heuristic rule is purely data driven and does not require the information on noise level, which renders the method feasible when the noise level is unknown or unreliable. Under certain assumptions on the random noise, we establish a new convergence analysis for the inexact Newton-Landweber method under the heuristic rule. The numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the performance of our heuristic rule.
Evaluation of solvent releases from microfluidic devices made of cycloolefin polymer by temperature-desorption mass spectrometry
Authors: Takahashi Seiichiro , Mune Yutaka , Yamamuro Akihiko , Aiba Akira , Hatakeyama Kenji , Kamei Ken-ichiro
Published: April 2023

Microfluidic devices have been used in various biological experiments. The working temperature of the devices spans a wide range (approximately 23 °C–95 °C). Among thermoplastic materials, cyclo olefin polymers (COPs) are promising materials for microfluidic devices. This is because COP can overcome the well-known disadvantages of polydimethylsiloxane, a commonly used material, and have the advantage of better observability than polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate. However, most COP-based devices are fabricated using solvents and adhesives during the bonding process. These solvents, which are known to affect biological experiments, may remain in the device and be released during the experiments. It is necessary to investigate whether solvents are actually released and, if so, how they are released. Here we introduce thermal desorption spectroscopy as a simple and quantitative method to observe solvent release from solvent-bonded and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)-bonded products. Solvents are released from the solvent-bonded product at 31.5 °C, suggesting that it may have negative effects on various biological experiments. On the other hand, the VUV-bonded product releases solvents (cyclohexane and toluene), which are used during olefin polymerization in the synthesis process of COP, at temperatures above 84 °C. Therefore, the experiments conduct below 84 °C (e.g. in situ hybridization, reverse transcription (RT) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification) were not affected. In addition, the amount of solvent released above 84 °C is small (1/548–1/913 of the solvent-bound product), so it is expected that the extent of the effect on experiments conducted above 84 °C (RT and polymerase chain reaction) is small, if there is any. We conclude that solvent-bound devices can have undesirable effects in many biological applications, not just cell culture. We believe that evaluating solvent release from devices is important for the development of new devices in the future.
Numerical modeling of positive streamer propagation in alternative natural ester and traditional naphthenic oil under sub-microsecond pulsed voltages
Authors: Wang Zheming , Xu Hongyun , Zhou You , Wang Yaogang , Jia Bowen , Zhou Wenqiang , Zhao Yikun , Bi Jiangang , Lu Wu , Liu Yongsheng
Published: April 2023

In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model of streamer discharge in alternative natural ester liquid and conventional naphthenic oil under a positive sub-microsecond impulse voltage is proposed. The model is based on the charge drift-diffusion approximation in a divergent electric field. Simulation shows that streamer propagation in naphthenic oil is divided into two stages: stage I with a small streamer velocity of 0–0.91 km s−1 and stage II with a rapidly rising streamer velocity up to 213 km s−1. In natural ester, the streamer velocity gradually slows down from 4.84 km s−1 to 2.11 km s−1. The electric field at the head of the streamer in natural ester ranges from 2.4 × 108 V m−1 to 2.5 × 108 V m−1 during propagation, which is visibly lower but more consistent than that in naphthenic oil (3.5 × 108 V m−1 to 8.4 × 108 V m−1). It is revealed that the different streamer features within the two types of oil are caused by the different competition between the Laplacian electric field and space charge effect at the streamer head. For streamer propagation in naphthenic oil, stage I is dominated by the Laplacian electric field whereas stage II is dominated by the space charge effect. In natural ester, the whole streamer propagation is dominated by the Laplacian electric field. Further, it is indicated that the streamer head consists of two specific discharging regions, i.e. the front region of the streamer head which guides new space charge accumulation and the back region of streamer head which guides density reduction of accumulated space charge. The expansion of the streamer tunnel is caused by the alternating space charges in these two regions. The work in this paper provides a theoretical reference for the practical application of alternative transformer liquids.
Analysis of electromechanical couplings and nonlinear carrier transport in flexoelectric semiconductors
Authors: Zhang Gongxi , Shen Shengping
Published: April 2023

In recent years, a linearization method has been extensively employed to investigate the electromechanical fields and carrier distribution in flexoelectric semiconductors, where the assumption of a small perturbation of carrier concentration is adopted. However, this method fails to accurately describe the realistic physical process in which a considerable variation of carrier concentration takes place. Based on fully coupled nonlinear equations, this paper presents a finite element approach to study the electromechanical couplings and nonlinear carrier transport in flexoelectric semiconductors. This method is applied to calculate the electrostatic potential in a bent piezoelectric semiconductive nanowire (NW) going beyond simple considerations and to simulate the nonlinear current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of a mechanically loaded flexoelectric p–n junction. The results indicate that the inherently nonlinear drift of carriers gives rise to the asymmetric distribution of the electric potential relative to the NW axis in the upper body. Flexoelectricity brings about a remarkable enhancement in output voltage and is responsible for the linear variation of electric potential along the length direction of the NW unless close to two ends. Furthermore, the barrier height and I–V relations of a flexoelectric p–n junction can be effectively tuned by mechanical forces due to the flexoelectric effect, the effect of which relies on the size of the p–n junction configuration. This work is a good starting point to comprehend the coupling of flexoelectricity and nonlinear carrier transport in static and dynamic cases, and offers an effective approach to numerically deal with the issues involved in flexoelectronics and piezoelectronics at the nanoscale.
Unpolarized transverse-momentum-dependent sea quark asymmetries of light nuclei in nonperturbative QCD
Authors: Nematollahi H
Published: April 2023

We investigate the transverse-momentum dependence of sea quark asymmetries in helium and deuteron nuclei. Accordingly, we calculate the nuclear sea quark distributions, in the first step, based on the modified chiral quark exchange formalism at the low Q
2 scale (Q
2 = 0.35 GeV2) in the nonperturbative region of quantum chromodynamics. In this formalism, the sea quark distributions are not symmetric because of chiral symmetry breaking. In the next step, we compute the transverse-momentum dependence of sea quark distributions using the covariant parton model, in which the unpolarized transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) quark distribution functions are related to corresponding integrated ones. Finally, we obtain TMD quark–antiquark asymmetry of the strange sea for 3
He and deuteron, and also

(

d

¯

−

u

¯

)

asymmetry for 3
He. To study the European Muon Collaboration (EMC) effect in the 3
He nucleus, we determine the ratio of the TMD strange sea asymmetries of 3
He and deuteron.
Dynamics of active particles with translational and rotational inertia
Authors: Sprenger Alexander R , Caprini Lorenzo , Löwen Hartmut , Wittmann René
Published: April 2023

Inertial effects affecting both the translational and rotational dynamics are inherent to a broad range of active systems at the macroscopic scale. Thus, there is a pivotal need for proper models in the framework of active matter to correctly reproduce experimental results, hopefully achieving theoretical insights. For this purpose, we propose an inertial version of the active Ornstein–Uhlenbeck particle (AOUP) model accounting for particle mass (translational inertia) as well as its moment of inertia (rotational inertia) and derive the full expression for its steady-state properties. The inertial AOUP dynamics introduced in this paper is designed to capture the basic features of the well-established inertial active Brownian particle model, i.e. the persistence time of the active motion and the long-time diffusion coefficient. For a small or moderate rotational inertia, these two models predict similar dynamics at all timescales and, in general, our inertial AOUP model consistently yields the same trend upon changing the moment of inertia for various dynamical correlation functions.
A stable and effective calibration method for defocused cameras using synthetic speckle patterns
Authors: Wu Jun , Zhang Meimiao , Wang Haoshuang , Shan Tengfei , Zhang Xiaoyu , Guo Runxia
Published: April 2023

Well-focused and sharp target images are essential in traditional calibration, but they generally cause difficulty and inconvenience in image acquisition in practical applications. To address this problem, a stable and effective calibration method for defocused cameras is proposed in this study. Firstly, two speckle patterns are created, one of which has control points to estimate the initial value while the other, used for point pair match registration, is without control points. They are subsequently displayed on a fixed monitor and captured at each camera pose. Secondly, the initial guess for the control points is estimated using the proposed method. The retrieval of query points can then be done with high accuracy using the digital image correlation algorithm. Finally, all the calibration parameters, including lens distortion, are calculated using the plane calibration algorithm. The experiment in this study demonstrates the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method. The accuracy and precision were quantitatively evaluated by the mean reprojection error, which was 0.057 pixels.
Automatic identifying OSAHS patients and simple snorers based on Gaussian mixture models
Authors: Sun Xiaoran , Ding Li , Song Yujun , Peng Jianxin , Song Lijuan , Zhang Xiaowen
Published: April 2023

Objective. Snoring is a typical symptom of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS). In this study, an effective OSAHS patient detection system based on snoring sounds is presented.Approach. The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is proposed to explore the acoustic characteristics of snoring sounds throughout the whole night to classify simple snores and OSAHS patients respectively. A series of acoustic features of snoring sounds of are selected based on the Fisher ratio and learned by GMM. Leave-one-subject-out cross validation experiment based on 30 subjects is conducted to validation the proposed model. There are 6 simple snorers (4 male and 2 female) and 24 OSAHS patients (15 male and 9 female) investigated in this work. Results indicates that snoring sounds of simple snorers and OSAHS patients have different distribution characteristics. Main results. The proposed model achieves average accuracy and precision with values of 90.0% and 95.7% using selected features with a dimension of 100 respectively. The average prediction time of the proposed model is 0.134 ± 0.005 s. Significance. The promising results demonstrate the effectiveness and low computational cost of diagnosing OSAHS patients using snoring sounds at home.
Impact of the turbulence wavenumber spectrum and probing beam geometry on Doppler reflectometry perpendicular velocity measurements
Authors: Frank A , Höfler K , Happel T , Görler T , Lechte C , Stroth U
Published: April 2023

The perpendicular propagation velocity of turbulent density fluctuations is an important parameter in fusion plasmas, since sheared plasma flows are crucial for reducing turbulence, and thus an essential input parameter for turbulent transport simulations. In the recent past various fusion devices have observed poloidal asymmetry in this velocity using Doppler reflectometry (DR) and correlation reflectometry. In this work, the phase screen model is used to analytically explain and quantify the combined effect of finite wavenumber resolution due to plasma curvature and probing beam geometry in a realistic turbulence wavenumber spectrum, leading to a reduced dominantly back-scattered wavenumber and a further underestimation of the perpendicular propagation velocity determined by DR. The full-wave code IPF-FD3D, which simulates microwave propagation and scattering, is used as a synthetic DR to study the effects of this diagnostic effect in a circular geometry using various isotropic synthetic turbulence wavenumber spectra. Angular scans from the midplane and variations in the position of the probing antenna are shown to estimate the impact of the diagnostic effect on the poloidal asymmetries.
Experimental study on seismic behavior of concrete walls with external magnetorheological dampers
Authors: Zhao Jun , Luo Jing , Zhang Xiangcheng , Ruan Xiaohui , Sun Yuping
Published: April 2023

A reinforcing method for developing a kind of shear wall with both excellent self-centering capacity and high energy dissipation was presented, in which carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars or steel strands were longitudinally placed to provide a restoring effect, while magnetorheological (MR) dampers were externally coupled with wall panels to provide extra energy dissipation. To verify the feasibility of this method, three slender concrete walls were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loading while subjected to constant axial compression with an axial load ratio of 0.26, of which one was reinforced with CFRP bars, the second one was reinforced with CFRP bars and two external MR dampers, and the third one was reinforced with steel strands and two external MR dampers. The results indicated that the test walls possessed remarkable load-resisting capacities even when the lateral drift was as large as 1.8% as well as a lateral deformation recovery rate of 74%–89% after unloading. Owing to external MR dampers, the initial stiffness and ductility were increased by 28.3% and 29.8%, respectively. In addition, a specific quantitative analysis showed that the dampers could increase the cumulative energy dissipation of shear walls by 16.6%, of which the contribution provided by MR damper was 64.8%, confirming the effectiveness of MR dampers in improving energy dissipation while preserving the self-centering capacity.
Observational entropy, coarse-grained states, and the Petz recovery map: information-theoretic properties and bounds
Authors: Buscemi Francesco , Schindler Joseph , Šafránek Dominik
Published: April 2023

Observational entropy provides a general notion of quantum entropy that appropriately interpolates between Boltzmann’s and Gibbs’ entropies, and has recently been argued to provide a useful measure of out-of-equilibrium thermodynamic entropy. Here we study the mathematical properties of observational entropy from an information-theoretic viewpoint, making use of recently strengthened forms of the monotonicity property of quantum relative entropy. We present new bounds on observational entropy applying in general, as well as bounds and identities related to sequential and post-processed measurements. A central role in this work is played by what we call the ‘coarse-grained’ state, which emerges from the measurement’s statistics by Bayesian retrodiction, without presuming any knowledge about the ‘true’ underlying state being measured. The degree of distinguishability between such a coarse-grained state and the true (but generally unobservable) one is shown to provide upper and lower bounds on the difference between observational and von Neumann entropies.
Treatment of symmetry in the tight-binding method for crystals with several atoms per unit cell
Authors: Melnikov N B , Reser B I
Published: April 2023

Consistent treatment of symmetry in the tight-binding method, developed by Egorov et al [Phys. Stat. Sol.
26, 391 (1968)] for crystals with two atoms per unit cell, is generalized to crystals with several atoms per unit cell. A method is presented for expressing the matrix components of the tight-binding Hamiltonian in terms of independent parameters using group-theoretical techniques. The method is demonstrated by obtaining an analytical form for the low-dimensional effective Hamiltonian describing the electronic structure of the 2H-TaSe2 conduction band with quasi 2D hexagonal crystal structure.
A high-efficiency C-band coaxial transit time oscillator with a dual-cavity extractor under low-magnetic fields
Authors: Zhu Danni , Cui Yancheng , Meng Jin , Wang Haitao , Deng Bingfang , Yuan Yuzhang
Published: April 2023

A high-efficiency C-band coaxial transit time oscillator with a dual-cavity extractor under low-magnetic fields is designed and studied through small-signal theory and particle-in-cell simulation. Small-signal theory analysis indicates that a dual-cavity extractor is superior to a single-cavity extractor in terms of the beam-coupling coefficient, the resonant frequency, and the external quality factor, which are good for high efficiency. Typical simulation results of the proposed device show that an output power of 1.73 GW and a frequency of 6.37 GHz can be obtained with a diode voltage of 455 kV and current of 9.75 kA. The corresponding power efficiency reaches 39%, and the guiding magnetic field is 0.8 T. Further simulation demonstrates that the power efficiency exceeds 34% in a rather large range of diode voltage from 385 kV to 470 kV and can reach higher than 35% with a low guiding magnetic field of 0.4 T. Then this coaxial transit time oscillator is compared with the typical relativistic backward wave oscillators from the magnetic field, efficiency and power saturation time.