bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Syphilis, blanchiment and French colonial medicine in sub-Saharan Africa during the interwar period
Authors: Linte Guillaume
Published: October 2023

During the interwar period, France put unprecedented efforts into public health measures targeting the colonised populations of sub-Saharan Africa. This investment in health was seen as crucial to ensuring the renewal of the African labour force needed for the economic development of the colonies. Syphilis, although less deadly than other endemic or epidemic diseases such as yellow fever, sleeping sickness and bubonic plague, was one of the most widespread infections in France’s sub-Saharan colonies. This article demonstrates the contradictory nature of the colonial medicine approach to this disease during the interwar years. The negative impact of syphilis on population growth in Africa made it a major threat to the colonial project, and France put significant, costly investment into tackling the disease, focusing its efforts on maternal and child health. However, a closer look at syphilis control in sub-Saharan Africa reveals that the disease was also minimised as a public health issue, under-resourced and downplayed by colonial doctors and administrators. This neglect was embodied in the invention of a new colonial disease, ‘exotic syphilis’, which was presented as being a relatively benign skin disease among the African populations. It was also reflected in care practices, via a form of mass medicine based on the use of blanchiment, which consisted of knowingly limiting treatment to a superficial effect.
The power of the ‘universal’: caste and missionary medical discourses of alcoholism in the Telugu print sphere, 1900–1940
Authors: Sriraman Tarangini
Published: October 2023

This article explores missionary medical discourses in three Telugu journals published in the early twentieth century, to analyse how caste pivoted denunciations of alcohol, especially toddy and arrack, in the Madras Presidency and the Hyderabad state. It argues that one women’s missionary journal, Vivekavathi, deployed medical knowledge to formulate subtle and occasionally explicit condemnations of toddy and arrack as unclean and unhealthy substances. The journal relied on universal medical and missionary, British and American knowledge frameworks to mark out Dalits and other marginalised castes as consumers of these local beverages. This stigma was conjured through medical narratives of marginalised castes as lacking in the knowledge of alcohol’s relation to digestion, toddy’s role in ruining maternal and child nutrition, the unhygienic environment of arrack shops and their propensity to ‘alcoholism’. However, this article also traces counter-caste voices who too invoked ‘the power of the universal’ to dispel caste stigma against marginalised castes. While both sets of voices deployed medical ‘enslavement’ to alcohol as an interpretive move, they differed in their social imperatives and political imaginaries, defined in caste terms. This article explores a third set of implications of the term ‘universal’ by analysing global medico-missionary narratives of alcohol in two other Telugu journals. On a methodological plane, this article also pushes for a hybrid reading of what counts for ‘scientific instruction’, where hymns, catechisms, parables and allegories are considered alongside conventional scientific experiments. In that sense, it upholds vernacular missionary publications as an invaluable resource for the social history of medicine.
Prices as Social Facts: A Sociological Approach to Price Setting
Authors: Eloire Fabien , Finez Jean
Published: October 2023

This article examines the issue of prices from a sociological standpoint. We show that, contrary to popular belief, price setting is always the result of social practices. We identify two main perspectives in the relevant literature. The first deals with the central notion of quality: price setting is a matter of judgement, arbitration and equipment. The second focuses on measurement practices, such as valuation and pricing, which occur before or during the transaction. These two complementary perspectives reveal a variety of processes that both determine prices and can be used to construct a typology based on two criteria: the moment of price setting, and the level of competition. Four different types of pricing mechanisms are distinguished: self-regulated, administered, composed, and bargained. We use examples to describe these different pricing types, and to show how such an approach contributes to our understanding of the economy.
Beyond conservation: Royal picnics at Elephanta and the legitimization of empire
Authors: Mulgund Deepti
Published: October 2023

Histories of conservation suggest that from the nineteenth century onwards, the custodianship and conservation of colonial antiquities enabled European powers to legitimize imperial claims. This article complicates this view by focusing on a series of visits made by British royals to the Caves of Elephanta, near Bombay, as part of their tours of India. Of particular interest are the visits in 1870 and 1875, which were essentially picnics, including fireworks and feasting, with little showcasing of ongoing conservation efforts. The article argues that these early visits also sought to advance a narrative of imperial legitimization through the British heirs’ presence at an Indian monument. Rather than acts of rational governance, such as conservation measures, these picnics were transactions within the ceremonial economy that privileged consumption as a means of legitimizing empire. They present a register of imperial engagement with an Indian monument that is neither ‘plunder’ nor ‘preservation’. Instead, they are posited as predecessors of the durbars (courts/assemblies) produced by the British administration from 1877 onwards. As acts of imperial political communication, the Elephanta visits drew upon the popularity of the picnic as a form of leisure, and consumption, and the long-standing aesthetic resonances of the site, such as the island’s picturesque framing and the Caves’ Romanticist associations. These enduring aesthetic frameworks made the acts of consumption legible as imperial political communication. The picnics at Elephanta demonstrate that colonial antiquities featured in imperial narratives of legitimization based on political pageantry, exceeding conservation and rational governance.
Phonology cannot transpose: evidence from Meto
Authors: Mooney Kate
Published: October 2023

Metathesis poses challenges for a typologically constrained theory of phonology: despite being simple to describe, its distribution is highly restricted, making it difficult to create analyses that make predictions while not overgenerating. Here, I investigate metathesis in Uab Meto (Austronesian; Indonesia), an understudied language with CV metathesis that is synchronic and productive. Drawing on original fieldwork, I argue that metathesis is not transposition, but instead a serial delete-and-spread mechanism (cf. Takahashi 2018, 2019). To support this, I present a deep case study into the language’s phonology, showing that metathesis arises from spreading, deletion and epenthesis patterns. I propose that synchronic metathesis systems like Uab Meto’s can only emerge from the successive application of these mechanisms, and hypothesise that true transposition, if it exists, only arises through morpheme-specific operations. This study thus presents a new look onto the typology of synchronic metathesis, and offers an explanatory account of its typological rarity.
Institutional resistance: The case of the Chilean Convention 2021–22
Authors: Escudero María Cristina
Published: October 2023

The Constitutional Convention in Chile, like other constitution-making mechanisms in democracies, carried out its work within the democratic institutional framework. In a democracy, the success of a constitution-making process depends not only on internal factors, such as its capacity for representation and the procedural rules by which it is governed, but also on external factors such as participation, the government’s role and other contingent factors. When the process – including both internal and external factors – fails to produce adherence to the new constitution, institutional resistance to changes is very likely to occur. This article argues that the manner in which the political and social spectrum was represented in the Chilean Convention, combined with the way participation was implemented and the rules governing the Convention, insulated it from society and the rest of the democratic institutions. As a result, party and public adherence to the proposal made by the Convention was low and its contents generated institutional resistance from outside.
Dynamics of Brittle‐Viscous Accretionary Wedges as Revealed by Geophysical and Drilling Data and Analog Modeling of the Barbados Prism
Authors: Deville Eric
Published: October 2023

Mega‐accretionary prisms do not exhibit the characteristics of the classical Coulomb wedge theory. In the example of the Barbados accretionary prism, a system of elongated extensional trenches (“basin‐&‐range” type) developed in the thickest zone of the tectonic wedge and this system has been active since at least Miocene times. Synchronously with this extension, compression occurred at the front of the accretionary prism (frontal accretion zone), and compression was also active at the inner edge of the prism (characterized by back‐thrusting). The interpretation proposed in this study invokes a spreading of the superficial part of the accretionary prism due to a viscous response associated to a tectonic thickening of the deepest parts of the prism. This interpretation is consistent with the fact that extension is limited to the axial part of the prism and coincides with the zone where the prism is the thickest. The deep zone of viscous behavior is interpreted as shale‐rich sedimentary domains intensively deformed by penetrative deformation. Analog sand‐silicone models monitored by X‐ray CT scanner have been used to simulate the distribution of the deformation in the Barbados accretionary prism as observed on available seismic reflection data. A bilayer model with an upper brittle zone and a lower ductile part is best suited to account for observed deformation. Compressive structures at the front and at the rear of the prism correlate with the zones of high concentration of maximum shear strain.
Kindlin-2 in myoepithelium controls luminal progenitor commitment to alveoli in mouse mammary gland
Authors: Wang Zhenbin , Zhang Lei , Li Bing , Song Jiagui , Yu Miao , Zhang Jing , Chen Ceshi , Zhan Jun , Zhang Hongquan
Published: October 2023

Myoepithelium plays an important role in mammary gland development, but less is known about the molecular mechanism underlying how myoepithelium controls acinus differentiation during gestation. Herein, we found that loss of Kindlin-2 in myoepithelial cells impaired mammary morphogenesis, alveologenesis, and lactation. Using five genetically modified mouse lines combined with single-cell RNA sequencing, we found a Kindlin-2–Stat3–Dll1 signaling cascade in myoepithelial cells that inactivates Notch signaling in luminal cells and consequently drives luminal progenitor commitment to alveolar cells identity. Single-cell profiling revealed that Kindlin-2 loss significantly reduces the proportion of matured alveolar cells. Mechanistically, Kindlin-2 depletion in myoepithelial cells promotes Stat3 activation and upregulates Dll1, which activates the Notch pathway in luminal cells and inhibits luminal progenitor differentiation and maturation during gestation. Inhibition of Notch1 with tangeretin allowed luminal progenitors to regain commitment ability in the pregnant mice with Kindlin-2 depletion in myoepithelium. Taken together, we demonstrated that Kindlin-2 is essential to myoepithelium-controlled luminal progenitors to alveoli transition during gestation.
Identification of ATF3 as a novel protective signature of quiescent colorectal tumor cells
Authors: Lu Xi , Zhong Lei , Lindell Emma , Veanes Margus , Guo Jing , Zhao Miao , Salehi Maede , Swartling Fredrik J. , Chen Xingqi , Sjöblom Tobias , Zhang Xiaonan
Published: October 2023

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of death in the world. In most cases, drug resistance and tumor recurrence are ultimately inevitable. One obstacle is the presence of chemotherapy-insensitive quiescent cancer cells (QCCs). Identification of unique features of QCCs may facilitate the development of new targeted therapeutic strategies to eliminate tumor cells and thereby delay tumor recurrence. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing, we classified proliferating and quiescent cancer cell populations in the human colorectal cancer spheroid model and identified ATF3 as a novel signature of QCCs that could support cells living in a metabolically restricted microenvironment. RNA velocity further showed a shift from the QCC group to the PCC group indicating the regenerative capacity of the QCCs. Our further results of epigenetic analysis, STING analysis, and evaluation of TCGA COAD datasets build a conclusion that ATF3 can interact with DDIT4 and TRIB3 at the transcriptional level. In addition, decreasing the expression level of ATF3 could enhance the efficacy of 5-FU on CRC MCTS models. In conclusion, ATF3 was identified as a novel marker of QCCs, and combining conventional drugs targeting PCCs with an option to target QCCs by reducing ATF3 expression levels may be a promising strategy for more efficient removal of tumor cells.
A diffusion model analysis of age and individual differences in the retro-cue benefit
Authors: Souza Alessandra S. , Frischkorn Gidon T.
Published: October 2023

The limited capacity of working memory (WM) constrains how well we can think and act. WM capacity is reduced in old age, with one explanation for this decline being a deficit in using attention to control WM contents. The retro-cue paradigm has been used to examine the ability to focus attention in WM. So far, there are conflicting findings regarding an aging deficit in the retro-cue effect. The present study evaluated age-related changes and individual differences in the retro-cue effect through a well-established computational model that combines speed and accuracy to extract underlying psychological parameters. We applied the drift–diffusion model to the data from a large sample of younger and older adults (total N = 346) that completed four retro-cue tasks. Retro-cues increased the quality of the evidence entering the decision process, reduced the time taken for memory retrieval, and changed response conservativeness for younger and older adults. An age-related decline was observed only in the retro-cue boost for evidence quality, and this was the only parameter capturing individual differences in focusing efficiency. Our results suggest that people differ in how well they can strengthen and protect a focused representation to boost evidence-quality accumulation, and this ability declines with aging.
Assessing vulnerability of densely populated areas to air pollution using Sentinel-5P imageries: a case study of the Nile Delta, Egypt
Authors: Hassaan Mahmoud A. , Abdallah Salwa M. , Shalaby El-Sayed A. , Ibrahim Amir A.
Published: October 2023

Air pollution represents one of the major environmental stressors with serious implications on human health and ecosystem health. Recently remote sensing imageries; as an alternative cost and time-effective method compared with regular monitoring techniques, were used for provision of appropriate data concerning air quality over large areas. In this context, Sentinel-5P satellite provides high-resolution images of atmospheric pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM). The current work aims to delineate vulnerability of densely populated areas in Northern-Egypt to air pollution through retrieving CO and PM2.5 from Sentinel-5P images and validate the retrieved data through simultaneous In-Situ measurements. For this purpose, our approach comprised four-step methodology; data acquisition on study area, data manipulation, validation of retrieved air quality data and mapping the vulnerability to air pollution. Based on the data retrieved from the imagery, a composite vulnerability index for each CO and PM2.5 value was developed delineating the most vulnerable areas to air pollution in the Northern Nile Delta region. Such results revealed that Sentinel-5P imagery can serve as a valuable tool for monitoring air quality and assessing vulnerability of densely populated areas to air pollution. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the applied Sentinel-5P based model can be applied effectively for other air pollutants and can be extrapolated to other areas with similar and/or different environmental settings.
Ultrahigh pressure phase stability of AlB2-type and CaC2-type structures with respect to Fe2P-type and Ni2In-type structures of zirconia
Authors: Al-Khatatbeh Yahya , Tarawneh Khaldoun
Published: October 2023

Using density-functional theory, we have performed first-principles calculations to test the phase stability of the hexagonal AlB2-type and tetragonal CaC2-type phases at ultrahigh pressures with respect to the experimentally observed hexagonal Fe2P-type phase and the recently predicted (as post-Fe2P) hexagonal Ni2In-type phase of ZrO2. The phase relations among the four phases have been thoroughly investigated to better understand the high-pressure behavior of ZrO2, especially the upper part of the pressure phase transition sequence. Our enthalpy calculations revealed that the transformation from Ni2In phase to either AlB2 phase or CaC2 phase is unlikely to happen. On the other hand, a direct phase transition from Fe2P phase to Ni2In, CaC2 and AlB2 phases is predicted to occur at 325 GPa, 505 GPa and 1093 GPa, respectively. A deep discussion has been made on the Fe2P → Ni2In and Fe2P → CaC2 transitions in terms of the volume change, the coordination number (CN) change, and the band gap change to obtain a better prediction of the favored post-Fe2P phase of ZrO2. Additionally, the equation of state (EOS) parameters for each phase have been computed using Birch-Murnaghan EOS. To further investigate the phase stability testing, we have studied the components of the enthalpy difference to explore their effect on our findings, and found that all predicted transitions from Fe2P phase are driven by the volume reduction effect when compared to the slight effect of the electronic energy gain.
Reconstructing missing time-varying land subsidence data using back propagation neural network with principal component analysis
Authors: Liu Chih-Yu , Ku Cheng-Yu , Hsu Jia-Fu
Published: October 2023

Land subsidence, a complex geophysical phenomenon, necessitates comprehensive time-varying data to understand regional subsidence patterns over time. This article focuses on the crucial task of reconstructing missing time-varying land subsidence data in the Choshui Delta, Taiwan. We propose a novel algorithm that leverages a multi-factorial perspective to accurately reconstruct the missing time-varying land subsidence data. By considering eight influential factors, our method seeks to capture the intricate interplay among these variables in the land subsidence process. Utilizing Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we ascertain the significance of these influencing factors and their principal components in relation to land subsidence. To reconstruct the absent time-dependent land subsidence data using PCA-derived principal components, we employ the backpropagation neural network. We illustrate the approach using data from three multi-layer compaction monitoring wells from 2008 to 2021 in a highly subsiding region within the study area. The proposed model is validated, and the resulting network is used to reconstruct the missing time-varying subsidence data. The accuracy of the reconstructed data is evaluated using metrics such as root mean square error and coefficient of determination. The results demonstrate the high accuracy of the proposed neural network model, which obviates the need for a sophisticated hydrogeological numerical model involving corresponding soil compaction parameters.
Circular Economy and Sustainable Development Goals: Policy, Legislation and ISO Standards
Authors: Ghosh Sadhan Kumar
Published: October 2023

The annual global extraction of materials has been growing significantly from 22 billion tonnes at 7 tonnes per capita extraction in 1970 to 70 billion tonnes at 10 tonnes per capita extraction in 2010. The annual per capita material footprint for the Asia Pacific region, Latin America, the Caribbean and West Asia is between 9 and 10 tonnes, half that of Europe and North America. In contrast, Africa has an average material footprint of below 3 tonnes per capita. Global materials extraction has huge implications for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030, principally SDG targets 8.4 ‘Resource productivity’ and 12.2 ‘Sustainable use of natural resources’. In the linear economy, raw materials are transformed into goods, used and finally turned into waste that is discarded. Circular economy concepts in tandem with the SDGs offer a way forward to address the issues of natural resource extraction, efficiency of resource use and climate change. This coordinated approach has been successful in countries where national legislation and policy frameworks have been developed and established. This study focuses on the role of national legislation, policy instruments and international standards in implementing the concepts of circular economy and sustainable development.
Graphene-based Nanocomposites for Sensing
Authors: Alghazzawi W. M.
Published: October 2023

In this chapter, we present an overview of graphene derivatives and their nanocomposites for the development of biosensors. The importance of graphene nanocomposites in sensing is also highlighted. They have received much attention due to their distinctive chemical and physical properties. The surface, mechanical, optical, thermal, electronic, and other properties of graphene are also reviewed. Additionally, some graphene derivatives, such as GO and rGO, are described. Some common synthesis methods of graphene by top-down and bottom-up approaches, including mechanical exfoliation, chemical synthesis, chemical vapor deposition, pyrolysis, and other methods, are summarized. Finally, the chapter focuses on some applications of graphene nanocomposite-modified electrodes in sensing applications.
Graphene-based Nanocomposites for H2O2 Sensing
Authors: Comnea-Stancu I. R. , Georgescu-State R. , van Staden J. F. , Stefan-van Staden R. I.
Published: October 2023

This chapter provides a summary of the significance and necessity of H2O2 sensing to avoid abnormal amounts of H2O2 in the human body, which can provoke serious illnesses including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders. The chapter continues with three subtopics that gives a detailed explanation of the role of graphene-based nanocomposites in this field: the sensing mechanism of H2O2, techniques for H2O2 sensing by graphene-based nanocomposites, and graphene nanocomposite-based transducers for H2O2 sensing.
Graphene-based Nanocomposites for Detection of Food Toxins
Authors: Pourmadadi Mehrab , Ostovar Shima , Eshaghi Mohammad Mahdi , Khosroshahi Maryam Rajabzadeh , Shamsabadipour Amin
Published: October 2023

Food safety and food health have drawn great attention in health-related research. Food toxins are considered a significant group of chemical compounds that lead to food safety-related challenges and food-related health issues. Food toxins include small molecules or macromolecules such as heavy metals, pesticides, pathogens, and microorganisms that cause food contamination, so their precise detection in food samples is very important in maintaining food health. However, various conventional methods used to analyse the amount of food toxins, such as detection kits or ELISA-based techniques using antibody–antigen conjugation, but their issues such as the requirement for a large amount of sample and high-cost of preparation of antibodies restrict their application. Recently, biosensors based on nanomaterials have been recognised as more sensitive detection methods exploiting nanotechnology in the analysis of food contamination. Biosensors pave the way for measuring food contamination by more facile and sensitive detection of various toxic compounds. Because of their unique properties nanomaterials have been extensively applied in biosensors. Graphene-based nanocomposites are widely employed category of 2D nanostructures that possess distinct properties such as high stability, good optical characteristics, thermal conductivity, extended surface area, and great electrical properties graphene and its derivatives into potential candidates for biosensing applications.
Graphene-based Nanocomposites for Cancer Cell Detection
Authors: Yaraki Mohammad Tavakkoli , Zare Iman , Imani Mahsa , Rahmatian Nasrin , Gholipour Hanna Madadi , Mostafavi Ebrahim
Published: October 2023

Owing to their extraordinary chemical, electrical, mechanical, optical, and structural properties, graphene and its nanocomposites have been extensively used as core nanomaterials for designing wide ranges of biosensors for the investigation of cells and their surface chemistry. In this chapter, we highlight the importance of the investigation of surface chemistry as well as intracellular components in cells and their importance in the early detection of various severe diseases such as cancer. Next, we present the latest advances in designing electrochemical and optical biosensors based on graphene nanocomposites (with polymers, inorganic nanomaterials, biomacromolecules, etc.) for studying the surface biomarkers on cells, bioimaging of cells, as well as the behaviour of cells under different conditions. In these biosensors, we emphasise the role of graphene and surface functionalisation in designing various types of biosensors. In addition, we provide numerous examples from fundamental studies as well as innovative approaches for designing these biosensors. Finally, we outline the challenges and limitations in current approaches and present perspectives of the future of biosensors designed using graphene-based nanocomposites.
Graphene-based Nanocomposites for Cholesterol Detection
Authors: An’amt M. N. , Mohd Zin F. A. , Sajab M. S. , Abdul Razab M. K. A. , Abdullah N. H.
Published: October 2023

Great progress has been made in the development of graphene-based nanocomposites as sensing materials for cholesterol detection using various sensing techniques such as electrochemical, fluorescence, colorimetric, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and field-effect transistor (FET) sensors. This chapter focuses on the unique properties of graphene that make it an ideal material for sensing applications and summarizes the recent advances in the synthesis and characterization of graphene-based nanocomposites for cholesterol sensing. The various sensing techniques used for cholesterol detection are compared and contrasted, highlighting their strengths and limitations. The potential of graphene-based nanocomposites for cholesterol sensing in various applications is discussed, including biomedical and environmental monitoring. The innovative use of graphene-based nanocomposite sensors and the focus on multi-biomarker detection described in this chapter indicate a significant breakthrough in the field of medical diagnosis and sensing.
Investigation of seawater electrolyte on hydrogen evolution reaction from the perspective of kinetics and energy consumption using an Ni-based electrocatalyst supported on carbon nanotubes
Authors: Zhu Lin , Zhang Siyue , Ai Zheng , Zhang Yan , Wang Baoli , Zou Ruyi , Sun Wei
Published: October 2023

A Ni-based composite incorporating Ni4N and La2O3 supported on carbon nanotubes was synthesized as an electrocatalyst to the hydrogen evolution reaction in different electrolytes with the kinetics and energy consumption investigated.
Dirac semimetallic Janus Ni-trihalide monolayer with strain-tunable magnetic anisotropy and electronic properties
Authors: Chen Bo , Wang Xiaocha , Mi Wenbo
Published: October 2023

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductors have been paid much attention due to the potential applications in spintronics.
Advances in glycoside and oligosaccharide synthesis
Authors: Crawford Conor J. , Seeberger Peter H.
Published: October 2023

Here readers are introduced to the fundamental principles of glycoside bond formation and recent advances in glycoside and oligosaccharide synthesis.
Standard dilution analysis (SDA) as a powerful tool for elemental determination in biodiesel by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES)
Authors: Marrocos Vitor Cornaqui P. , de Souza Jefferson R. , Saint Pierre Tatiana D.
Published: October 2023

Standard Dilution Analysis (SDA) as a more environmentally friendly and time saving calibration method for multielement determination in biodiesel by ICP OES.
3D-QSAR, molecular docking and molecular dynamics analysis of pyrazole derivatives as MALT1 inhibitors
Authors: Chen XiaoDie , Li JiaLi , Wang XiaoMeng , Liu Rong , Liu XingYu , Shu Mao
Published: October 2023

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 (MALT1), which plays an important role in the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation signalling pathway, is a potent target for immunomodulation and anti-tumour drugs.
Usnic acid based thiazole-hydrazones as multi-targeting inhibitors of a wide spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 viruses
Authors: Yarovaya Olga I. , Filimonov Aleksandr S. , Baev Dmitriy S. , Borisevich Sophia S. , Chirkova Varvara Yu. , Zaykovskaya Anna V. , Mordvinova Ekaterina D. , Belenkaya Svetlana V. , Shcherbakov Dmitriy N. , Luzina Olga A. , Pyankov Oleg V. , Salakhutdinov Nariman F.
Published: October 2023

We have identified new usnic acid derivatives that are active against a wide range of strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have multi-targeting effects.
Synthesis of tetrasubstituted selenophenes by DBU-induced sequential three-component coupling and intramolecular cyclization
Authors: Wang Xiaoyu , Yan Kelu , Wen Jiangwei , Li Qiuyun , Ma Ke , Zhang Wenlu , Sun Wanhua , Yang Jianjing
Published: October 2023

A DBU-promoted three-component cascade annulation of 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitriles, (E)-chalcones and selenium powder has been proposed for the synthesis of tetrasubstituted selenophenes.
Hollow Cu2−xSe-based nanocatalysts for combined photothermal and chemodynamic therapy in the second near-infrared window
Authors: Gao Qianqian , He Xuelu , He Lulu , Lin Jie , Wang Le , Xie Yujiao , Wu Aiguo , Li Juan
Published: October 2023

Octahedral Cu2−xSe nanoparticles loaded with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) and targeting neuropeptide Y ligand work as a novel therapeutic platform (Cu2−xSe@CQ@NPY) to achieve a synergetic CDT/PTT therapeutic outcome for breast cancer.
Integrated 4-terminal single-contact nanoelectromechanical relays implemented in a silicon-on-insulator foundry process
Authors: Li Yingying , Worsey Elliott , Bleiker Simon J. , Edinger Pierre , Kulsreshath Mukesh Kumar , Tang Qi , Takabayashi Alain Yuji , Quack Niels , Verheyen Peter , Bogaerts Wim , Gylfason Kristinn B. , Pamunuwa Dinesh , Niklaus Frank
Published: October 2023

Silicon 4-T NEM relays, patterned in front-end-of-line processing and monolithically integrated with back-end-of-line metallic interconnects manufactured in a commercial foundry platform.
Regulating steric hindrances of perylenediimide to construct NIR photothermal J-aggregates with a large red-shift
Authors: Zhou Bingcheng , Chen Hongtao , Ji Chendong , Yin Meizhen
Published: October 2023

Perylenediimide-based J-aggregates with significantly red-shifted absorption are developed through the modulation of steric hindrances and used as effective photothermal agents.
Deep reinforcement learning based voltage control revisited
Authors: Nematshahi Saeed , Shi Di , Wang Fengyu , Yan Bing , Nair Adithya
Published: October 2023

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has shown promise for voltage control in power systems due to its speed and model‐free nature. However, learning optimal control policies through trial and error on a real grid is infeasible due to the mission‐critical nature of power systems. Instead, DRL agents are typically trained on a simulator, which may not accurately represent the real grid. This discrepancy can lead to suboptimal control policies and raises concerns for power system operators. In this paper, we revisit the problem of RL‐based voltage control and investigate how model inaccuracies affect the performance of the DRL agent. Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to quantify the impact of model inaccuracies on learning outcomes. Specifically, techniques that enable the DRL agent are focused on learning robust policies that can still perform well in the presence of model errors. Furthermore, the impact of the agent's decisions on the overall system loss are analyzed to provide additional insight into the control problem. This work aims to address the concerns of power system operators and make DRL‐based voltage control more practical and reliable.
Externally gapped line arresters placement effect on transmission line lightning performance including the frequency response of the grounding system
Authors: Khodsuz Masume
Published: October 2023

This paper conducts the frequency‐dependent grounding system impact on externally gapped line arresters (EGLAs) operation and their placement effects on the lightning performance of a transmission line (TL). The study involves placing EGLAs at different phases of a 400‐kV double‐circuit TL with two downstream shield wires and selecting the optimal state with fewer back‐flashover incidents. The results show that using a non‐linear grounding system leads to a higher back return current from insulators or EGLAs, resulting in a higher flashover rate compared to the frequency grounding system (FGS). Installing four EGLAs in the middle and upper phases of the TL provides satisfactory lightning protection, and the flashover probability is zero and 4.2% for the FGS and the non‐linear grounding system, respectively. A sensitivity analysis including soil resistor variation, economic analysis, and grounding electrode configuration has been performed that confirms installing downstream shield wires and EGLAs is an effective and economical technique for lightning protection.
Multi‐port bidirectional isolated DC–DC resonance converter with constant phase current for application in bipolar DC microgrids
Authors: Davoodi Kamran , Hamezh Mohsen , Afjei Seyed Ebrahim
Published: October 2023

This paper proposes a new DC–DC bipolar resonance converter that combines a dual‐active‐bridge and a multi‐port resonance Buck‐Boost converter. This structure uses a resonance network between the input and output ports, which has the following advantages: it creates a constant current supply in the open‐loop mode; it keeps the current phase of the output ports constant under different loads; and it allows reversing the power from any output port by adjusting the phase shift of its switches, if the converter is connected to a DC microgrid. In this way, power can be exchanged among each of the output ports and input ports. The advantages of this converter are bidirectional power exchange, power exchange between output ports, soft switching, high efficiency, integration of transformer parasitic elements, and the modular capability to connect multiple resources at the input. Furthermore, the proposed structure of the bipolar converter has been implemented for verification purposes, and its results are presented in three modes: open loop, voltage control, and current control. Additionally, the results of different modes of power sharing and their bidirectionally are shown.
An extensively validated C/H/O/N chemical network for hot exoplanet disequilibrium chemistry
Authors: Veillet R. , Venot O. , Sirjean B. , Bounaceur R. , Glaude P.-A. , Al-Refaie A. , Hébrard E.
Published: October 2023

Context. The reliability of one-dimensional disequilibrium chemistry models in hot exoplanet atmospheres depends on the chemical network used. To develop robust networks, we can rely on combustion studies that provide C/H/O/N chemical networks validated by vast amount of experimental data generated by the extensive research that has been done on hydrocarbon combustion and NOx formation in the last decades.

Aims. We aimed to build a new and updated C0–C2 chemical network to study the C/H/O/N disequilibrium chemistry of warm and hot exoplanet atmospheres that relies on extensively validated and recent state-of-the-art combustion networks. The reliability range of this network was aimed for conditions between 500–2500 K and 100–10−6 bar, with cautious extrapolation at lower temperature values.

Methods. We compared the predictions of seven networks over a large set of experiments, covering a wide range of conditions (pressures, temperatures, and initial compositions). To examine the consequences of this new chemical network on exoplanets atmospheric studies, we generated abundances profiles for GJ 436 b, GJ 1214 b, HD 189733 b, and HD 209458 b, using the 1D kinetic model FRECKLL and calculated the corresponding transmission spectra using TauREx 3.1. These spectra and abundance profiles have been compared with results obtained with our previous chemical network.

Results. Our new kinetic network is composed of 145 species and 1313 reactions mostly reversible. This network proves to be more accurate than our previous one for the tested experimental conditions. The nitrogen chemistry update is found to be very impactful on the abundance profiles, particularly for HCN, with differences up to four orders of magnitude. The CO2 profiles are also significantly affected, with important repercussions on the transmission spectrum of GJ 436 b.

Conclusions. These effects highlight the importance of using extensively validated chemical networks to gain confidence in our models predictions. As shown with CH2NH, the coupling between carbon and nitrogen chemistry combined with radicals produced by photolysis can have huge effects impacting the transmission spectra. This should be kept in mind when adding new elements like sulfur, as only adding a sub-mechanism neglects these coupling effects.
Can one hear supercontinents in the tides of ocean planets?
Authors: Auclair-Desrotour Pierre , Farhat Mohammad , Boué Gwenaël , Gastineau Mickaël , Laskar Jacques
Published: October 2023

Context.Recent observations and theoretical progress made about the history of the Earth-Moon system suggest that tidal dissipation in oceans primarily drives the long-term evolution of orbital systems hosting ocean planets. Particularly, they emphasise the key role played by the geometry of land-ocean distributions in this mechanism. However, the complex way continents affect oceanic tides still remains to be elucidated.

Aims.In the present study, we investigate the impact of a single supercontinent on the tidal response of an ocean planet and the induced tidally dissipated energy.

Methods.The adopted approach is based on the linear tidal theory. By simplifying the continent to a spherical cap of a given angular radius and position on the globe, we carried out a harmonic analysis of the whole planet’s tidal response including the coupling with the solid part due to ocean loading and self-attraction variations. In this framework, tidal flows are formulated analytically in terms of explicitly defined oceanic eigenmodes, as well as the resulting tidal Love numbers, dissipated power, and torque.

Results.The analysis highlights the symmetry breaking effect of the continent, which makes the dependence of tidal quantities on the tidal frequency become highly irregular. The metric introduced to quantify this continentality effect reveals abrupt transitions between polar and non-polar configurations, and between small-sized and medium-sized continents. Additionally, it predicts that a continent similar to South America or smaller (~30° angular radius) does not qualitatively alter the tidal response of a global ocean regardless of its position on the planet.
Probing the structure of the lensed quasar SDSS J1004+4112 through microlensing analysis of spectroscopic data
Authors: Fian C. , Muñoz J. A. , Forés-Toribio R. , Mediavilla E. , Jiménez-Vicente J. , Chelouche D. , Kaspi S. , Richards G. T.
Published: October 2023

Aims. We aim to reveal the sizes of the continuum and broad emission line (BEL) emitting regions in the gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1004+4112 by analyzing the unique signatures of microlensing in this system. Through a comprehensive analysis of 20 spectroscopic observations acquired between 2003 and 2018, we studied the striking deformations of various BEL profiles and determined the sizes of their respective emitting regions.

Methods. Our approach involves a detailed analysis of the magnitude differences in the BEL wings and their adjacent continua, and the implementation of a statistical model to quantify the distribution and impact of microlensing magnifications. To ensure a reliable baseline for no microlensing, we used the emission line cores as a reference. We then applied a Bayesian estimate to derive the size lower limits of the Lyα, Si IV, C IV, C III], and Mg II emitting regions, as well as the sizes of the underlying continuum-emitting sources.

Results. We analyzed the outstanding microlensing-induced distortions in the line profiles of various BELs in the quasar image A, characterized by a prominent magnification of the blue part and a strong demagnification of the red part. From the statistics of microlensing magnifications and using Bayesian methods, we estimate the lower limit to the overall size of the regions emitting the BELs to be a few light-days across, which is significantly smaller than in typically lensed quasars. The asymmetric deformations in the BELs indicate that the broad-line region is generally not spherically symmetric, and is likely confined to a plane and following the motions of the accretion disk. Additionally, the inferred continuum-emitting region sizes are larger than predictions based on standard thin-disk theory by a factor of ∼3.6 on average. The size-wavelength relation is consistent with that of a geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disk.
Formation of a nontrivial finite-time stable attractor in a class of polyhedral sweeping processes with periodic input
Authors: Gudoshnikov Ivan , Makarenkov Oleg , Rachinskii Dmitrii
Published: October 2023

We consider a differential inclusion known as a polyhedral sweeping process. The general sweeping process was introduced by J.-J. Moreau as a modeling framework for quasistatic deformations of elastoplastic bodies, and a polyhedral sweeping process is typically used to model stresses in a network of elastoplastic springs. Krejčí’s theorem states that a sweeping process with periodic input has a global attractor which consists of periodic solutions, and all such periodic solutions follow the same trajectory up to a parallel translation. We show that in the case of polyhedral sweeping process with periodic input the attractor has to be a convex polyhedron χ of a fixed shape. We provide examples of elastoplastic spring models leading to structurally stable situations where χ is a one- or two- dimensional polyhedron. In general, an attractor of a polyhedral sweeping process may be either exponentially stable or finite-time stable and the main result of the paper consists of sufficient conditions for finite-time stability of the attractor, with upper estimates for the settling time. The results have implications for the shakedown theory.
Bacteria in the biosynthesis of animal nutrition components for crews of autonomous transport systems
Authors: Glukhikh Sergey
Published: October 2023

The International Space Station (ISS) is currently using a water electrolysis process to produce oxygen. The hydrogen produced as a by-product is removed overboard. Carbon dioxide from crew breathing, dissolved in the atmosphere of the station, are extracted and also removed outside the station, but NASA expects to use it and convert it by the physicochemical reaction Sabatier in methane and water. Water will be used for crew needs and electrolysis, and methane is also planned to be removed overboard. When these interrelated processes work, very important substances are lost: methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. This situation can be remedied by including in the life support system (LSS) of the ATS closed biotechnological regeneration cycles operating in a waste-free mode and synergistically solving the problems of complex provision of the crew with oxygen, water, and, most importantly, food. The process of biological oxidation of methane by methanotrophs bacteria is observed in nature in the first link of the food chain of the world's ocean and has long been used in terrestrial conditions for the industrial production of animal biomass for food and feed purposes. The same can be said about the use of hydrogen bacteria, which use carbon dioxide as a carbon source, with hydrogen as their energy source. Tolerance of these cultures to common nutrient media and the same technological parameters of biosynthesis allows their joint cultivation to obtain animal ingredients for crew food. The proposed work is devoted to the study of alternative processes, integrated use of carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen in LSS ATS.
Reliability of life support systems depending on the degree of their biologisation
Authors: Glukhikh Sergey
Published: October 2023

Long-range and long-duration autonomous missions of manned transport systems have different objectives depending on the environment. They can be tasks of studying and mastering the depths of the world ocean, Arctic and Antarctic multi-purpose missions, etc. The most complicated of such missions may be manned flights to planets with the purpose of their exploration during long stays. Reliable technologies of life support systems (LSS) of autonomous transport systems (ATS) mastered in space missions can be fully or fragmentarily used in missions of other habitats. The reliability of any long-term manned missions depends on the degree of LSS autonomy, the level of its biologisation, and the efficiency of integrated closed biotechnological cycles. With the help of unmanned interplanetary vehicles, the presence of water reserves on Mars has been proved, the Mars atmosphere has been studied, and methane, the origin of which is yet to be discovered, has been discovered, all of which will undoubtedly contribute to the exploration of the planet. This indicates the possibility of organising human life on Mars and contributes to the preparation of a manned mission with the mission of thorough exploration of the planet. Biotechnology has long ago mastered in Earth conditions biosynthesis of animal microbial protein on the basis of methane, water, and air. If the LSS ATS of the Martian manned mission includes closed biotechnological cycles with the participation of these substances, they will make it possible to provide food for the ATS crew not only at the stage of a long flight to Mars, but also on its surface at the initial stage of colonisation, including the use of planetary resources. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and identify ways to improve the reliability of ATS during long-duration and extended manned missions when there is no possibility of resupply in the LSS.