bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conditional RAC1 knockout in motor neurons restores H-reflex rate-dependent depression after spinal cord injury
Authors: Benson Curtis A. , Olson Kai-Lan , Patwa Siraj , Reimer Marike L. , Bangalore Lakshmi , Hill Myriam , Waxman Stephen G. , Tan Andrew M.
Published: April 2021

A major complication with spinal cord injury (SCI) is the development of spasticity, a clinical symptom of hyperexcitability within the spinal H-reflex pathway. We have previously demonstrated a common structural motif of dendritic spine dysgenesis associated with hyperexcitability disorders after injury or disease insults to the CNS. Here, we used an adeno-associated viral (AAV)-mediated Cre-Lox system to knockout Rac1 protein expression in motor neurons after SCI. Three weeks after AAV9-Cre delivery into the soleus/gastrocnemius of Rac1-“floxed” adult mice to retrogradely infect spinal alpha-motor neurons, we observed significant restoration of RDD and reduced H-reflex excitability in SCI animals. Additionally, viral-mediated Rac1 knockdown reduced presence of dendritic spine dysgenesis on motor neurons. In control SCI animals without Rac1 knockout, we continued to observe abnormal dendritic spine morphology associated with hyperexcitability disorder, including an increase in mature, mushroom dendritic spines, and an increase in overall spine length and spine head size. Taken together, our results demonstrate that viral-mediated disruption of Rac1 expression in ventral horn motor neurons can mitigate dendritic spine morphological correlates of neuronal hyperexcitability, and reverse hyperreflexia associated with spasticity after SCI. Finally, our findings provide evidence of a putative mechanistic relationship between motor neuron dendritic spine dysgenesis and SCI-induced spasticity.
Oxygen-carrying nanoparticle-based chemo-sonodynamic therapy for tumor suppression and autoimmunity activation
Authors: Zhang Yanan , Qiu Na , Zhang Yu , Yan Huixian , Ji Jianbo , Xi Yanwei , Yang Xiaoye , Zhao Xiaogang , Zhai Guangxi
Published: April 2021

DTX/CS–Rh–PFC nanoparticles are hydrolyzed by glutathione in tumor cells, releasing DTX and oxygen molecules, and thus exhibit good anti-tumor ability.
Minding our P-block and Q-bands: paving inroads into main group corrole research to help instil broader potential
Authors: Lee Woohyun , Zhan Xuan , Palma Jaymee , Vestfrid Jenya , Gross Zeev , Churchill David G.
Published: April 2021

Updated perspective and insights about contracted systems in one part of the periodic table which is ever expanding.
Ligands enhanced the AcAc triple bond
Authors: Xu Xiao-Cheng , Zhao Xiao-Kun , Hu Han-Shi
Published: April 2021

High level relativistic quantum chemical methods are used to predict a type of zero valence Ac≡Ac triple bonded compounds including H3AsAcAcAsH3, H3PAcAcPH3 and OCAcAcCO. H3AsAcAcAsH3 has been found to have the shortest Ac≡Ac bond length of 3.012 Å reported so far.
Embedding metal foam into metal–organic framework monoliths for triggering a highly efficient release of adsorbed atmospheric water by localized eddy current heating
Authors: Tao Yingle , Li Qiangqiang , Wu Qiannan , Li Haiqing
Published: April 2021

Localized eddy current heating delivered by metal foam embedded in a MOF monolith provides a novel, low-cost, and energy efficient way to overcome the thermal insulation nature of MOF monoliths and realize their highly efficient regenerations.
Inverted perovskite solar cells with enhanced lifetime and thermal stability enabled by a metallic tantalum disulfide buffer layer
Authors: Chatzimanolis Konstantinos , Rogdakis Konstantinos , Tsikritzis Dimitris , Tzoganakis Nikolaos , Tountas Marinos , Krassas Miron , Bellani Sebastiano , Najafi Leyla , Martín-García Beatriz , Oropesa-Nuñez Reinier , Prato Mirko , Bianca Gabriele , Plutnarova Iva , Sofer Zdeněk , Bonaccorso Francesco , Kymakis Emmanuel
Published: April 2021

An ultra-thin 2D TaS2 buffer layer on top of the electron transport layer improves the efficiency,the lifetime and the thermal stability of inverted perovskite solar cells.
Acetylene coupler builds strong and tunable diradical organic molecular magnets
Authors: Ma Jiapeng , Yuan Yuan , Kang Baotao , Lee Jin Yong
Published: April 2021

An acetylene coupler builds strong and flexible organic molecular magnets.
Correction: Iron-catalyzed para-selective C–H silylation of benzamide derivatives with chlorosilanes
Authors: Liu Pei , Hao Na , Yang Dong , Wan Lingyun , Wang Tianyi , Zhang Tao , Zhou Rui , Cong Xuefeng , Kong Jie
Published: April 2021

Correction for ‘Iron-catalyzed para-selective C–H silylation of benzamide derivatives with chlorosilanes’ by Pei Liu et al., Org. Chem. Front., 2021, DOI: 10.1039/d1qo00243k.
A ratiometric fluorescent probe for the detection of β-galactosidase and its application
Authors: Li Yanan , Deng Bing , Chen Haitao , Yang Shaoxiang , Sun Baoguo
Published: April 2021

A ratiometric fluorescent probe was successfully used as a tool to determine β-galactosidase activity in fruits.
Computational mining of Janus Sc2C-based MXenes for spintronic, photocatalytic, and solar cell applications
Authors: Zhang Yinggan , Sa Baisheng , Miao Naihua , Zhou Jian , Sun Zhimei
Published: April 2021

A novel class of Janus MXene Sc2CTT′ (T, T′ = H, O, OH, F, Cl) for spintronic materials, near-infrared-driven photocatalysts, and heterostructure solar cells have been investigated by first-principles calculations.
An enhanced fluorescent ZIF-8 film by capturing guest molecules for light-emitting applications
Authors: Liu Qiufen , Tian Shouqin , Zhao Xiujian , Sankar Gopinathan
Published: April 2021

ZIF-8 film with enhanced fluorescence is successfully synthesized via capturing CH3COOH as guest molecules, and the PLQY of the ZIF-8 composite film reaches 54.42%.
The V369M Gcgr knock-in mice are a precision medicine model of mild Mahvash disease
Authors: Yu Run
Published: April 2021

The detailed metabolic characterization of the glucagon receptor (Gcgr)V369M+/+ mutant mice described in Lin et al. in the Biochemical Journal is of interest and resulting in the expected metabolic profile. We would like to point out that these mice might also be extremely useful as a precision medicine model of mild Mahvash disease, a rare hereditary pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor syndrome characterized by inactivating mutations in the glucagon receptor. Further characterization of pancreas morphology and histology in the GcgrV369M+/+ mice at more advanced ages will be critically important to understand mild Mahvash disease in humans.
Multi‐scale capsule generative adversarial network for snow removal
Authors: Yang Fei , Zhang Jialu , Zhang Qian
Published: April 2021

Snowflakes captured on photos may severely decrease the visual quality and cause difficulties for vision analysis systems. Most noise removal frameworks are designed for de‐raining or de‐hazing, regarding rain or haze as translucent masks on clean images. However, snowflakes are different from them in terms of sizes, shapes, transparencies and floating trajectories, which decreases the performance of de‐raining or de‐hazing models in processing snowy images. In this work, we propose an effective multi‐scale generative adversarial network framework for single‐image snow removal, which is built with a multi‐scale structure to identify various scales of snowflakes and a capsule‐based structure to fuse the features extracted from the multi‐scale encoding branches, so that different scaled features could be summarised and learnt by a joint framework. The overall framework is supervised by a weighted joint loss with an iterative training procedure to keep the training stability for the multi‐branch‐based structure. The experimental results demonstrate that our model outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art comparisons.
Optimal radiation pattern synthesis of mutually coupled antenna array using an efficient compensation method
Authors: Das Avishek , Mandal Durbadal , Kar Rajib
Published: April 2021

An efficient compensation method is proposed for the reduction of mutual coupling among the elements of an antenna array using the optimum current amplitude excitation weights. The performance of an antenna array degrades heavily due to mutual coupling. The mutual coupling effect can neither be eliminated nor be ignored in the context of the antenna array design. Several analytical and numerical techniques have been proposed in the past few decades for the calculation and compensation of mutual coupling effect. Here, the mutual coupling is compensated by reducing the driving impedance of each identical array element in the array by adopting grey wolf optimization and moth flame optimization algorithms, respectively. The sum of the driving impedances of each element of the antenna array is reduced efficiently by adjusting the feed current amplitudes of all the individual array elements. Compared to the existing known methods, the proposed method is less complex, cost‐effective and easy to implement for commercial and industrial applications to achieve better performance.
Implementation of all‐optical Toffoli gate by 2D Si–air photonic crystal
Authors: De Paromita , Ranwa Sapana , Mukhopadhyay Sourangshu
Published: April 2021

The quantum Toffoli gate is one of the essential reversible universal logic gates widely used for optical data processing. Herein, a new scheme of developing all‐optical Toffoli gate using a two‐dimensional silicon–air photonic crystal is proposed. For the realization of the Toffoli gate, the principles of constructive and destructive interference of light are used. The Toffoli gate comprises two‐input–three‐output‐based optical AND gate, and a two‐input–one‐output optical XOR gate. Two Y junction power splitters have been used at the two inputs of the AND gate. The operating wavelength of the proposed Toffoli gate is 1550 nm along with the wafer size of 50 µm × 50 µm. The performance of the Toffoli gate has been analysed and simulated by the plane‐wave expansion method and finite‐difference time‐domain method. The response time and contrast ratios are also obtained from the simulation. The proposed Toffoli gate is intensity encoded with no non‐linear material within the crystal which shows significant improvement over other proposals.
Design of efficient N‐bit shift register using optimized D flip flop in quantum dot cellular automata technology
Authors: Yaqoob Salma , Ahmed Suhaib , Naz Syed Farah , Bashir Sadaf , Sharma Sparsh
Published: April 2021

There is a need for secure and powerful nano communication systems with ultra‐low power consumption in the new digital age. Quantum‐dot cellular automata (QCA) is a technology which can be used for designing these systems. In the nano regime, relative to complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology, QCA is able to work with greater speed and lower power dissipation along with high density. This study examines the applicability and viability of using QCA to construct the sequential circuits. An optimized D flip flop is designed in QCA. The fault tolerance for single cell omission and single cell addition defects of the proposed flip flop is also presented. This flip flop is then used to design 2‐, 3‐, 4‐ and 8‐bit shift registers which can be efficiently scaled up to N‐bits. The operations of all proposed designs are validated using QCADesigner tool and the energy dissipation analysis is done using QCAPro tool. The performance comparison shows that the proposed QCA designs are cost efficient and they can be utilized efficiently in designing digital communication systems which require small area along with high speed and ultra‐low power consumption.
Corporate sustainability and social responsibility
Authors: Samaibekova Zeynegul , Choyubekova Gulzhamal , Isabaeva Kerezkan , Samaibekova Asel
Published: April 2021

Our paper focuses on the links between corporate sustainability and social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) emerged as a tool for linking the priorities of business companies (making money and achieving profit) with the priorities of citizens and society. Bringing together the many different parts of a complex CSR programme into a single central system is crucial. Moreover, we discuss the role of corporate structures in the development of social organisations and their impact on society, as well as on corporate social responsibility and the impact of the social entrepreneurship model on the economy. It appears that companies can bring important benefits to society if they are responsible for the quality of the goods and services they produce and develop new goods or services that generate economic growth. The long-term benefits for investors therefore allow companies to invest in product innovation, thereby delivering highquality products that improve people’s standard of living. Business companies thus meet the needs of society and offer important benefits to society in the form of new jobs and economic opportunities for those in society who depend on the company’s good services. While companies seek new economic opportunities and regain public confidence, the creation of shared values and the pursuit of financial success is becoming increasingly important for companies in a way to support sustainable development and fighting global warming and climate change.
Small business and its place in promoting sustainable development
Authors: Korneeva Elena , Skornichenko Natalia , Oruch Tatiana
Published: April 2021

Sustainable development is becoming a very important issue in the 21stcentury. Facing global changes such as the global warming, global climate change, as well as other pressing issue, all spheres of economy and social life need to take part in mitigating them and preventing disasters from happening. Our article studies the role of the small business in the above processes and the place of the small business in promoting sustainable development through its actions, public and social awareness and responsibility. We show how even small and medium enterprises can become a decisive power in tackling the climate change and promoting green thinking and sustainable awareness. This can be achieved through enhancing social responsibility of business companies which can greatly contribute to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and promoting sustainable economic growth.
Regional and global implications for the sustainable development and education
Authors: Nikitina Natalya , Krayneva Raisa , Platitsyn Alexandr
Published: April 2021

Sustainable development and education are linked into a holistic and complex system that might help to transform the society by imposing the sustainable development goals and objectives. Moreover, it might contribute to the creation of the new type of global citizens who would act at regional and global levels with a focus on preserving the environment and promoting the sustainability agenda. Global civic education has been supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations as a means of promoting international development but the results might vary across regions and countries. We show that all of the above leads to a global approach to the development of the education system, not only for students but for society as a whole. The results of our research are likely to feed into the development of the initiatives which develop environmentally friendly attitude and promote community environmental management by creating participatory networks for the nature restoration and protection
Development of smart grid technologies: organizational and communication aspects
Authors: Vlasov Andrey , Adamova Arina , Selivanov Kirill
Published: April 2021

This paper concentrates on the organizational and communication aspects of development of the smart grid technologies. The paper highlights the potential of decentralised electricity generation for generating electricity from less energy-intensive and cost-efficient sources. It shows that renewable and unconventional energy sources may be integrated into decentralised electricity grids – the generation lines that have an intelligent grid. In addition, the paper focuses on the benefits and risks of different smart grid applications and their impact. We show that smart grids have the potential to minimise costs, but the use of smart grid technology also affects the level of risk, so the organizational and communication aspects are of a great importance.
Forming the digital environment for developing the electric power spatial infrastructure system of the region
Authors: Shishkina Elena , Surnina Nadezhda
Published: April 2021

The study was carried out on forming the digital environment for developing the electric power spatial infrastructure system of the region. The system of documents aimed at forming and developing the digital economy and the digitalization of economic activity was analyzed. Target priorities of digitalization of spatial infrastructure systems of the region were determined. The article analyzes the dynamics in the use of information and communication technologies and global information networks by the organizations of the Sverdlovsk region. This dynamic determines the region’s high readiness for digitalization. The hierarchical nature of forming the priorities and parameters of digitalization of the region’s electric power infrastructure was defined. The analysis was done of the digital environment for developing the electric power spatial infrastructure system of the region based on the national, regional, and corporate level documents, which allowed determining the general targets for digitalization implementing digital technologies for reliable and accessible electricity supply.
An adaptive dynamic inversion control method based on improved piecewise constant for flight control system
Authors: Li Yu , Liu Xiaoxiong , He Qizhi , Zhang Weiguo , Huang Tianpeng
Published: April 2021

To overcome the lack of robustness of the nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) control, a simple and practical adaptive NDI control method based on an improved piecewise constant is proposed in this paper to enhance its robustness to disturbances and improve the accuracy of response tracking. Firstly, reasonable assumptions and analyses are made for the system with the influence of disturbance. Secondly, an improved piecewise constant adaptive NDI control method suitable for general flight control systems is proposed. The stability of the control system with disturbance and the error convergence range of the improved piecewise constant adaptive control are proved and analyzed theoretically. Finally, taking into account the fighter actual control requirements, the angular rates control strategy is given, and the proposed method is applied to the angular rates flight controller design. Matlab simulations are carried out under the disturbance of the actuator failure and the sudden change of the center of gravity, and the robustness and dynamic performance of the controller designed based on the present method is compared and verified. The results illustrate that our present method has stronger robustness and higher control accuracy.
Dynamics modeling and analysis of feed drive system for a frame saw machine considering time-varying load
Authors: Sun Depeng , Zhang Jinsheng
Published: April 2021

Frame saw machine is one of machine tools that is used to process dimension stone. The velocity fluctuation of traditional feed drive system (FDS) lead to excessive wear of diamond particles. The dynamic performance of the FDS has time-varying characteristics during the processing of stone with a large material removal rate. In this paper, a novel FDS was proposed. Firstly, the dynamic modeling of FDS was set up on account of lumped parameter method (LPM). Then the speed of the new FDS was compared with that of the traditional FDS. Finally, the frequency response characteristics of the system were solved by Lagrange and state space method. Results showed that the new FDS has a faster response feed and less velocity fluctuation. The natural frequency and the amplitude of acceleration increase with decreasing load. With the time-varying load, the range of the second-order natural frequency increased by 50 Hz, which was larger than that of the first-order. The modal test verified that the first two natural frequencies of the saw blade are within the range of the natural frequencies of FDS. The proposed FDS can guide for design, reduce the wear of diamond, and improve processing quality.
Studie Zur Corona-Pandemie: Deutliche Unterschiede zwischen der ersten und zweiten Welle
Authors: Orth Anne
Published: April 2021

Die Kapazitäten der deutschen Krankenhäuser haben im vergangenen Jahr insgesamt ausgereicht, um Patientinnen und Patienten mit Covid-19 angemessen zu versorgen. Dieses Fazit zieht die Initiative Qualitätsmedizin (IQM) in ihrer aktuellen Studie, für die Routinedaten aus 431 Krankenhäusern analysiert wurden.
Universitätsmedizin in Brandenburg: Erst zu teuer, dann plötzlich begehrt
Authors: Reisinger Kathrin
Published: April 2021

in Brandenburg gab es bis dato keine Universitätsmedizin, sie war dem Land zu teuer. Doch nun dreht sich der Wind. Ende 2020 erkannte das Land die Trägerkliniken der privaten „Medizinischen Hochschule Brandenburg“ als „Universitätsklinik-Verbund“ staatlich an. Zudem ist jetzt in Cottbus eine staatliche Unimedizin geplant, finanziert mit Mitteln aus dem Kohleausstieg.
Interview Mit Neuem IQTIG-Leiter: „Wir möchten Sparringspartner des G-BA werden und wichtige Impulse setzen“
Authors: Orth Anne
Published: April 2021

Seit Januar 2021 leitet Prof. Dr. med. Claus-Dieter Heidecke das Institut für Qualitätssicherung und Transparenz im Gesundheitswesen (IQTIG). Er folgt auf Dr. med. Christof Veit, der seit der Gründung des IQTIG im Jahr 2015 an der Spitze des Instituts stand. Welche Pläne der neue IQTIG-Leiter hat und wie er die Qualitätssicherung und das Institut weiterentwickeln möchte, verrät er im Gespräch mit kma.
OP-Siebe: Automatische Kontrolle beim Packen
Authors: Lehr Jan
Published: April 2021

An der Charité sollen in Zukunft die in Sieben gerichteten OP-Instrumente mittels Bildverarbeitung und künstlicher Intelligenz auf Sauberkeit und Vollständigkeit geprüft werden.
TSB-Fachmeeting 2021: Krisen brauchen Menschen mit „Mumm“
Authors: Thalmayr Maria
Published: April 2021

„Man kann alles machen, nur passieren darf nichts.“ ÖVKT-Präsident Martin Krammer bringt mit diesem Handlungsleitfaden eine entscheidende Grundregel für Krisensituationen auf den Punkt. Um Leben zu retten, darf man von Vorschriften und Normen abweichen. Das jedoch erfordert Erfahrung, Kreativität, Einfallsreichtum, Improvisationstalent und vor allen Dingen „Mumm“.
Flux-pumped impedance-engineered broadband Josephson parametric amplifier
Authors: Grebel J. , Bienfait A. , Dumur É. , Chang H.-S. , Chou M.-H. , Conner C. R. , Peairs G. A. , Povey R. G. , Zhong Y. P. , Cleland A. N.
Published: April 2021

Broadband quantum-limited amplifiers play a critical role in the single-shot readout of superconducting qubits, but a popular implementation, the traveling wave parametric amplifier, involves a complex design and fabrication process. Here, we present a simple design for a Josephson parametric amplifier, using a lumped element resonator comprising a superconducting quantum interference device whose useful bandwidth is enhanced with an on-chip impedance-matching circuit. We demonstrate a flux-coupling geometry that maximizes the coupling to the Josephson loop and minimizes spurious excitation of the amplifier resonant circuit. The amplifier, which operates in a flux-pumped mode, is demonstrated with a power gain of more than 20 dB over a bandwidth of about 300 MHz, where approximate noise measurements indicate quantum-limited performance. A procedure is given for optimizing the bandwidth for this kind of amplifier, using a linearized circuit simulation while minimizing non-linearities.
Understanding the structure of complex multidimensional wave functions. A case study of excited vibrational states of ammonia
Authors: Šmydke Jan , Császár Attila G.
Published: April 2021

Generalization of an earlier reduced-density-matrix-based vibrational assignment algorithm is given, applicable for systems exhibiting both large-amplitude motions, including tunneling, and degenerate vibrational modes. The algorithm developed is used to study the structure of the excited vibrational wave functions of the ammonia molecule, 14NH3. Characterization of the complex dynamics of systems with several degenerate vibrations requires reconsidering the traditional degenerate-mode description given by vibrational angular momentum quantum numbers and switching to a symmetry-based approach that directly predicts state degeneracy and uncovers relations between degenerate modes. Out of the 600 distinct vibrational eigenstates of ammonia obtained by a full-dimensional variational computation, the developed methodology allows for the assignment of about 500 with meaningful labels. This study confirms that vibrationally excited states truly have modal character recognizable up to very high energies even for the non-trivial case of ammonia, a molecule which exhibits a tunneling motion and has two two-dimensional normal modes. The modal characteristics of the excited states and the interplay of the vibrational modes can be easily visualized by the reduced-density matrices, giving an insight into the complex modal behavior directed by symmetry.
Synthesis and photoluminescence of high color purity red-emitting BaLaLiTeO6:Eu3+ phosphors
Authors: Gao Hui , Zhao Jingfen , Zhang Yu , Zhang Xiaowen , Bu Hongxia , Zhao Zhiwei , Song Xinyu , Yang Zaifa , Sun Jiayue
Published: April 2021

Red phosphors based on BaLaLiTeO6 doped with Eu3+ were prepared by high temperature solid state method. The XRD patterns for the representative samples revealed its single phase structure and the scanning electron microscopes were studied to reveal the morphology and homogeneous distribution of particles with different size. In addition, the density of states and partial density of states of each element revealed that Ba-O and La-O groups are the main factors that determine the optical properties of the BaLaLiTeO6. When emitted by 394 nm near-ultraviolet, all the samples emit bright red light near 618 nm because of 5D0 → 7F2 transition of Eu3+ ions. The optimal doping concentration of Eu3+ in BaLaLiTeO6 is 0.20 and the mechanism of concentration quenching is the dipole-quadrupole interaction. Besides, the temperature-dependent emission spectra of BaLaLiTeO6:0.2Eu3+ red sample were studied systematically and the thermal activation energy of the sample was 0.30 eV, indicating its good thermal stability. The lifetime of Eu3+ ions is in the millisecond level and the CIE chromaticity coordinate of BaLaLiTeO6:0.2Eu3+ is (0.6436, 0.3535) with a high color purity of 99.4%, which is close to the standard of red chromaticity. To sum up, the BaLaLiTeO6:Eu3+ phosphors are the hopeful red component applied in the white light illumination.
Genes of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants
Authors: Dhakal Sudip , Macreadie Ian
Published: April 2021

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is distinctly different from outbreaks caused by other coronaviruses: SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The differences in the rapid transmission and severity of human coronaviruses are due to the genetic composition of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 contains genes encoding non-structural proteins (NSPs), structural proteins, and accessory proteins. The NSPs are mainly involved in replication of the virus within the host and inhibition of the host defence system. Structural proteins are involved in viral entry and attachment to host cells, preservation of the core virion and elicit the majority of the immune response. The functions of the accessory proteins are largely unknown. Most focus has been given to structural proteins, especially the spike protein as the strongest vaccine candidate. However, the recent emergence of spike variants and their ability to rapidly transmit and escape neutralisation by vaccine-induced antibodies has threatened the global community. Meanwhile, recent studies of accessory proteins reveal their importance in viral pathogenesis. Hence, proper understanding of the functions of all unknown viral proteins is crucial to devise alternate antiviral strategies.
Cytokinetic abscission is part of the midblastula transition in early zebrafish embryogenesis
Authors: Adar-Levor Shai , Nachmias Dikla , Gal-Oz Shani T. , Jahn Yarden M. , Peyrieras Nadine , Zaritsky Assaf , Birnbaum Ramon Y. , Elia Natalie
Published: April 2021

Significance

In this work, we show that the last step of cytokinesis, termed abscission, is delayed in early zebrafish embryos. As a result, sibling cells remain connected to one another by a thin membrane bridge for several cycles, forming clusters of interconnected cells. Bridge severing (i.e., abscission) commences at the 10th cell cycle when embryos enter the midblastula transition switch, in which embryonic cells become individualized and exhibit the characteristics of mature cells. Cells connected by intercellular bridges shared similar cellular behaviors, such as transcription onset and cell shape. Our data suggest that cell–cell connectivity is maintained in early embryos through persistent bridge connections that allow cells to coordinate their behavior during embryonic development.
Vertical MBE growth of Si fins on sub-10 nm patterned substrate for high-performance FinFET technology*
Authors: Sun Shuang , Wang Jian-Huan , Zhang Bao-Tong , Li Xiao-Kang , Cai Qi-Feng , An Xia , Xu Xiao-Yan , Zhang Jian-Jun , Li Ming
Published: April 2021

A high quality epitaxial Si layer by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on Si (001) substrates was demonstrated to fabricate a channel with low density defects for high-performance FinFET technology. In order to study the effects of fin width and crystallography orientation on the MBE behavior, a 30 nm thick Si layer was deposited on the top of an etched Si fin with different widths from 10 nm to 50 nm and orientations of 〈100〉 and 〈110〉. The result shows that a defect-free Si film was obtained on the fin by MBE, since the etching damage was confined in the bottom of the epitaxial layer. In addition, the vertical growth of the epitaxial Si layer was observed on sub-10 nm 〈100〉 Si fins, and this was explained by a kinetic mechanism.
Cellulase immobilization on TEOS encapsulated and APTES functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs)
Authors: Samiur Rashid Shah , Hossain Sikder Md. Belal , Ab. Rahim Mohd Hasbi Bin , Nor Mazila Binti Ramli Aizi , Bin Roslan Rashidi
Published: April 2021

Immobilized enzymes are more stable and more resistant to environmental changes in contrast to free enzymes in solution. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are potential immobilization supports materials for enzymes and easily recovered for reuse. It has low toxicity effects and fast separation from reaction mixtures simply by use of external magnets. Enzyme immobilization technology also helps to boost the enzyme’s properties by using the technique to keep it in separate support or matrix. The aim of immobilization is to render the enzyme immobile so that it is reusable during the reaction, which leads to a more efficient process and easy separation from the substance. The aims of this investigation were to encapsulate (coat) and functionalize MNPs by using TEOS and APTES respectively for reusable cellulase immobilization on that as a supports matrix. The silicon encapsulation with TEOS and amino functionalization of synthesized MNPs was confirmed by the FT-IR and XRD. Cellulase was immobilized successfully on that nanoparticles and also confirmed by FT-IR, cellulase assay. The immobilized enzymes showed a satisfactory level of reusability (51%) after 10 consecutive reaction cycles.
The Efficient Resource Scheduling Strategy in Cloud: A Metaheuristic Approach
Authors: Maheshwari Shilpa , Shiwani Savita , Choudhary Surendra Singh
Published: April 2021

The cloud computing is evolving as a high-performance computing platform due to broad-scale, flexible computational architecture and heterogeneous collection of autonomous systems. Cloud technology uses concept of virtualization for managing resources, which develops resource scheduling as a key issue. The scheduling of cloud tasks is an NP-complete problem and therefore irreconcilable with particular solution. Also, with the huge collection of a database system, the management of resources and tasks becomes complex with specific to the completion time requirements and cost constraints. To resolve this problem, a number of meta-heuristic algorithms have been developed. Due to redundant wastage of resources and time, the under and over-provisioning is one kind of issues leads to either degradation in performance or wastage of cloud resources. To overcome these kinds of problems, we introduce a task scheduling approach by incorporating reinforcement learning along with the nature-inspired meta-heuristic optimization to maximizing cloud throughput, minimizing completion time & production cost in IaaS cloud. By reinforcement learning, the agent will choose appropriate action among a set of available actions and the scheduler succeeds towards task allocation resulted to decrease makespan and increasing system utilization rate.
Analysis of Machine Learning Techniques for Detection System for Web Applications Using Data Mining
Authors: Kumar Jugnesh , Goyal S B , Bedi Pradeep , Kumar Sunil , Shrivastava Ashish
Published: April 2021

Security is a key problem to each computer and computer networks. Intrusion detection System (IDS) is one of the most important research problems in community safety. IDSs are advanced to stumble on each acknowledged and unknown assaults. IDS employs many methods to secure information systems and networks against community-based and host-based threats. IDS utilises different machine learning methods. This thesis analyses IDS machine-learning methods. It also discusses several similar research completed between 2000 and 2012 and specialises in engineering techniques. Linked experiments include used unmarried, hybrid, ensemble, baseline, and datasets.
Influence of pre-loading on the flexural behaviour of annealed glass
Authors: Ravimony Raji , Joseph Anitha , Mangal Lalu
Published: April 2021

Transparency, a highly sought aspect in architectural applications, has led to rising demand for glass in buildings and other structures. The changeover of the role of architectural glass makes it inevitable to characterize the mechanical properties of glass as individually as has been done for all other conventional materials employed in structural applications. Thus the awareness of glass strength is vital for the design of transparent structures made of structural glass. The present work reports displacement-controlled four-point bending tests performed on a set of annealed glass specimens to study the effect of pre-loading value and its duration on the flexural behaviour. Analysis of variance is carried out in Minitab 19 to study the effect of pre-loading and thickness of glass on the failure stress ratio. Analysis of variance results show that pre-load is the most significant factor for the failure stress ratio.
Damage study in concrete subjected to various loading by monitoring the surface resistivity
Authors: Mathew Jeena , Vishnudas Subha
Published: April 2021

Detection of damages and cracks and their progress in concrete structure is a grave concern. Incipient damages are often not noticeable and hence visual inspections or using of low frequency response methods and other NDE techniques may not give a significant reflection on the same. Permitting the damages/cracks to progress until they are well noticeable and making an attempt to detect and restore the structure would be a serious threat to the reliability and service life of the structure at least in case of a strategically vital one. With the advantages of non-invasion, non-radiation, low-cost and high-speed, electrical resistance measurement is a promising technique in this regard. In this study an attempt is made to analyse the changes in electrical resistivity of concrete structural elements when subjected to different types of loading. Electrical resistivity measurements were carried out on specimens like cubes, beams and cylinders under the action of compressive, flexural and tensile load respectively. In addition, study was conducted on cubes under repeated cycles of compressive loading.
Machine learning applications in structural engineering - a review
Authors: Haneena Jasmine P , Arun S
Published: April 2021

Machine learning (ML) is a major subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems, the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. With its ability to capture complex behaviour of structures and systems, ML has been proposed as a solution to overcome the limitations of conventional methods in Structural Engineering. This paper is an insight in to a few of such applications, based on neural networks, Support Vector Machines and Nearest Neighbours, projecting their accuracy in performance.
Seismic performance of pervious concrete column improved ground in mitigating liquefaction
Authors: Rashma RSV , Jayalekshmi B R , Shivashankar R
Published: April 2021

This paper investigates the performance of pervious concrete column improved ground subjected to seismic loading. The seismic performance of pervious concrete column improved ground is also compared with conventional stone column improved ground in responses of lateral displacement, excess pore pressure, ground surface acceleration, shear stress-strain behaviour and stress path. A fully saturated mildly sloping sand strata is considered as unimproved ground. OpenSeesPL software is used to analyse soil models representing unimproved ground and improved ground with stone column and pervious concrete column inclusions. It is found that the pervious concrete column improved ground has better seismic performance than stone column improved ground. The lateral displacement of ground is found to be significantly reduced while using pervious concrete column. Also the use of pervious concrete column has reduced excess pore pressure generation than stone column indicating that the improved ground with pervious concrete column inclusion is efficient in mitigating liquefaction than conventional stone column improved ground.
One dimensional hydrodynamic modelling of pamba river for identifying the flood vulnerability
Authors: Anju B , Drissia T K , Nowshaja P T
Published: April 2021

Hydrodynamic modelling is a powerful tool to understand and analyse a river flow and its conditions. The identification of flood vulnerability areas of Pamba river helps to minimize the damages associated with the flood. A hydrodynamic river model was customised and calibrated for the river Pamba in Kerala using MIKE HYDRO River model. The model was calibrated using Manning’s roughness coefficient. In this study, we utilize the time series of daily discharge and water level of different gauging station of Centre Water Commission at Kallooppara, Malakkara, Thumpamon and water level data of Thottappalli spillway. The SRTM DEM was used to generate the flood model for the period June to August 2010. The model performance was assessed by comparing observed and stimulated water level at the upstream and downstream of the river. The correlation coefficient value obtained in the range of 0.53 to 0.94. The outcomes of the study can benefit future modelling effort through the provision of robust tool to predict water levels at various points of the river. This study can help the water resources policy makers for arriving at suitable mitigation measures.
Blue and green water security assessment of Karuvannur watershed
Authors: Anjana R , Reeba T
Published: April 2021

Water security is referred as the availability of sufficient amount of good quality water to cater all ecosystem services with a tolerable level of water related risks; whereas water scarcity is defined as the ratio of water demand over water availability which is an indirect indicator of water security [1]. In order to assess the water security in terms of its specific use and availability, it is classified in to blue and green water. For this, the various components of blue and green water are calculated and water security in terms of blue and green water is assessed separately using ArcSWAT software. The crop water requirement is assessed using CROPWAT model. It is observed that in the study area, both blue and green water is secure in the current scenario but green water is less secure when compared to blue water. Therefore more attention is to be given for the conservation of green water in the study area. Since the scarcity value shows an increasing trend, stringent measures are to be initiated for water conservation henceforth, in order to assure a sustainable water security in the coming future.
Regulating natural resource consumption in the construction sector using emergy model
Authors: Thomas Tilba , Praveen A
Published: April 2021

The rising demand for infrastructural facilities and housing units across the world has resulted in increased pressure on environment due to the uncontrolled and unregulated exploitation of natural resources. A sustainable resource use framework for the construction industry is essential to ensure the regional economic progress without compromising environmental sustainability. Judicious regulation of the resource use is possible only through evolving appropriate parameters to represent the resource consumptive pattern that could be used both by the planners and the regulators. In this connection, several tools and techniques have emerged that are used to assess the resource use and suggest both the economic and environmental implications of the material choice. Among them, emergy analysis has been successfully used to understand the current state of resource use and its associated impacts on the environment. The current form of emergy based descriptions are independent of the time scale and hence a real-time evaluation of the impact of material use often turns out to be unsuccessful. The environmental damages that are reported in these regions are often due to the uncontrolled rate of extraction and the emergy evaluations need to incorporate the rate of extraction of resources across different time scales. An approach to estimate the emergy at different time scales based on the prevailing consumption rates is proposed in this paper which would enable the regulators/planners to assess the current resource use pattern and suggest alternate pathways of material use to ensure the sustainability of construction sector.
Need based approach: a perspective for sustainable housing
Authors: Sujith K M , Biju C A , Varma Subhash C R , Dili A S
Published: April 2021

Population growth and urbanisation have been causing tremendous stress on urban housing. Over the years, housing construction has emerged as an industry and became a major contributor to pollution, environmental issues and resource depletion. There is a threat of exhausting resources with respect to housing construction. A quick glance at the housing scenario, it can be observed that there is a huge disparity in demand and supply of housing, which is more evident across the less affordable classes of society. While there is shortage in supply for the urban poor, there is over utilisation of resources to satisfy the requirements of those who could spend beyond their affordability confines. This need to be addressed with respect to the resource allocation and such an attempt requires an understanding of human requirement for housing beyond the basic desires and needs. Various studies in social science and economics have put forward theories to explain the human needs, which can be found useful in understanding the housing needs also. This paper attempts to understand such theories and frameworks on human needs and develop a sustainable approach to refine the housing requirements across different socio cultural and economic categories. Based on the studies, a broad framework is proposed categorizing human housing needs into normative, comparative, felt and expressed which can be analysed based on personal economic and socio cultural attributes. Such a framework shall help the society address the conditions of imbalance in a broader standpoint with long-term benefits.
Recent developments in ejector refrigeration system
Authors: Manoj P J , Lijo V
Published: April 2021

Ejector refrigeration system (ERS) is one of the major methods of refrigeration. It finds its maximum application in industries because it makes use of heat energy as input for refrigeration. ERS is also known as steam jet refrigeration because earlier only steam was used as working fluid. But latest developments offers make use of a variety of working fluids. Recent research results show that there is a large scope for improving efficiency and utility of the system with different working fluids. If suitable working fluid is selected, the ERS can make use of low temperature source like solar energy as input source. A large number of numerical and experimental works are actively going on in the field of ERS. The utilisation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software like ANSYS FLUENT has very much simplified the research activities of ERS. The effect of geometric design modifications of major components like nozzle or throat can be easily studied with the help of CFD software. This paper reviews the recent research and development in the area of ERS.
Influence of Rogers’ theory of innovation of diffusion on customer’s purchase intention – a case study of solar photovoltaic panels
Authors: Menon Nirmal M , Sujatha I
Published: April 2021

The key objective of utilizing sustainable energy in a developing country like India is to enhance economic growth and development, energy security, access to clean energy and to alleviate environmental problems. Sustainable growth of a nation is possible only through the adoption of renewable energy technologies and by providing access to these technologies to all the citizens. This paper discusses how the product attributes described by Rogers’ theory of innovation of diffusion such as the relative advantage of technology, compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability influence consumer’s intention to diffuse solar panels. A questionnaire survey consisting of 23 questions has been designed and it was administered to 63 adopters of solar panels in the Thrissur district of Kerala. After the collection of data, reliability test and factor analysis were conducted for determining the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between the purchase intention of customers with five sub-factors under product attributes as specified by Rogers’ theory of innovation diffusion. The results obtained from the analysis showed that compatibility and trialability of a product significantly influence the intention to purchase the solar panels.
Experimental study and optimization of thermal and tribological properties of epoxy hybrid polymer composite reinforced with micro sized ZrB2 and PTFE particles
Authors: Narayanan Aswathi A , Sudheesh R S
Published: April 2021

Epoxy based materials have been extensively used in the friction parts and oil free applications. High local temperature due to the increased wear and coefficient of friction adversely affect the service life of parts. In this study, the thermal and tribological performance of epoxy composite reinforced with Zirconium Diboride (ZrB2)and Polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) particlesis investigated. Under a load of 40 N and 1.25m/s sliding speed, the optimum content 5.939 vol% of PTFE and 5.002 vol% of ZrB2, yields an ultralow coefficient of friction (COF) in conjunction with a low wear rate of composite. Optimized value of Coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate using Central composite-response surface methodology (RSM) are0.182 and 0.00033 mm3/Nm respectively. The increase in thermal conductivity is due to the addition of ultra-high-temperature ceramic ZrB2 particles and solid lubricant PTFE. The optimum composition of the composite can reduce the adhesive wear and high local temperature due to friction which help to enhance the service life of tribological parts.