bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Ω Phase Thermal Stability in Al Alloys through Interstitial Ordering
Authors: Zhou Xiaowei , Wang Liwen , Liu Chunxuan , Qiu Jingwen , Liu hongrong , Liu Ziran
Published: January 2025

Scandium (Sc) can orderly occupy interstitial sites within the Ω phase of aluminum alloys, forming a new phase that significantly enhances the thermal stability of the alloy. However, Sc is relatively expensive and rare. In this work, we employ first-principles calculations to delve into the physical essence interstitial ordering of Sc in enhancing thermal stability at the electronic level, thereby revealing the crucial factors responsible for this improvement. By computationally screening all potential metallic elements across the periodic table, we uncover that, in addition to Sc, a diverse range of elements including lithium (Li), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), and some of rare earth elements (Sm, Ce, Y), possess the potential to contribute to thermal stability enhancement through interstitial ordering mechanisms in aluminum alloys. This study deepens our understanding of microstructural thermal stability and offers novel strategies for designing improved thermally stable Al alloys.
A Novel Fault Diagnosis Method based on Convolutional Neural Network with Adaptive Noise Injection
Authors: Xiao Lei , Wang Jun , Liu Ximing , huanan Sun , Zhao Hailong
Published: January 2025

In most existing intelligent fault diagnosis methods, noise is considered harmful and may decrease diagnosis accuracy. In contrast to these methods, this study proposes a novel fault diagnosis method with extra noise injection, termed an adaptive-noise-injected convolutional neural network (ANI-CNN). Noise is intentionally injected into a CNN model's softmax layer to improve fault diagnosis accuracy. The injected noise is used in the iteration of the CNN model and adaptively adjusted according to the change in model loss. Bearing datasets from Case Western Reserve University and Paderborn University were used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The robustness of the proposed method was illustrated by injecting Gaussian and uniform noise. By comparing the ablation study results with those of the state-of-the-art methods, and t-test results before and after noise injection, the effectiveness of noise injection in enhancing diagnosis accuracy was demonstrated. The proposed method performed well on small samples and in complex working conditions, and possesses good generalizability and the ability to deal with real-world datasets.
Automated system for diagnosing pulmonary fibrosis using crackle analysis in recorded lung sounds based on iterative envelope mean fractal dimension filter
Authors: Pal Ravi , Barney Anna , Sgalla Giacomo , Walsh Simon L F , Sverzellati Nicola , Fletcher Sophie , Cerri Stefania , Cannesson Maxime , Richeldi Luca
Published: January 2025

Patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) often experience long waits before getting a correct diagnosis, and this delay in reaching specialized care is associated with increased mortality, regardless of the severity of the disease. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of PF can potentially extend life expectancy and maintain a better quality of life. Crackles present in the recorded lung sounds may be crucial for the early diagnosis of PF. This paper describes an automated system for differentiating lung sounds related to PF from other pathological lung conditions using the average number of crackles per breath cycle (NOC/BC). The system is divided into four main parts: (1) pre-processing, (2) separation of crackles from normal breath sounds using the iterative envelope mean fractal dimension (IEM-FD) filter, (3) crackle verification and counting, and (4) estimating NOC/BC. The system was tested on a dataset consisting of 48 (24 fibrotic and 24 non-fibrotic) subjects and the results were compared with an assessment by two expert respiratory physicians. The set of HRCT images, reviewed by two expert radiologists for the presence or absence of pulmonary fibrosis, was used as the ground truth for evaluating the PF and non-PF classification performance of the system. The overall performance of the automatic classifier based on receiver operating curve-derived cut-off value for average NOC/BC of 18.65 (AUC=0.845, 95 % CI 0.739-0.952, p<0.001; sensitivity=91.7 %; specificity=59.3 %) compares favorably with the averaged performance of the physicians (sensitivity=83.3 %; specificity=56.25 %). Although radiological assessment should remain the gold standard for diagnosis of fibrotic interstitial lung disease, the automatic classification system has strong potential for diagnostic support, especially in assisting general practitioners in the auscultatory assessment of lung sounds to prompt further diagnostic work up of patients with suspect of interstitial lung disease.
Rotating radial injection pattern for highly sensitive electrical impedance tomography of human lung anomalies
Authors: Bader Oumaima , Essoukri Ben Amara Najoua , Ernst Oliver G , Kanoun Olfa
Published: January 2025

Objective. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive technique used for lung imaging. A significant challenge in EIT is reconstructing images of deeper thoracic regions due to the low sensitivity of boundary voltages to internal conductivity variations. The current injection pattern is decisive as it influences the current path, boundary voltages, and their sensitivity to tissue changes. Approach. This study introduces a novel current injection pattern with radially placed electrodes excited in a rotating radial pattern. The effectiveness of the proposed pattern was investigated using a 3D computational model that mimics the human thorax, replicating its geometry and tissue electrical properties. To examine the detection of lung anomalies, models representing both healthy and unhealthy states, including cancer-like anomalies in three different positions, were developed.The new pattern was compared to common patterns—Adjacent, Skip 1, and Opposite—using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The comparison focused on the current density within lung nodules and the sensitivity to changes in anomaly positions. Main Results. Results showed that the new pattern achieved the maximum current density within anomalies compared to surrounding tissues, with peak values near the closest electrode pairs to the anomalies. Specifically, current density magnitudes reached 72.73 10^{-9} A.m, 145.24 10^{-9} A.m, and 26.43 10^{-9} A.m for the three different positions, respectively. Furthermore, the novel pattern's sensitivity to anomaly position changes surpassed the common patterns. Significance. These results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed injection pattern in detecting lung anomalies compared to the common injection patterns.
Impact of mercury vacancy states on Shockley–Read–Hall recombination in narrow gap HgCdTe
Authors: Kozlov Dmitry , Ikonnikov Anton , Mazhukina Ksenia , Morozov Sergey , Gavrilenko Vladimir , Mikhailov N , Dvoretsky Sergey Alekseevich , Rumyantsev Vladimir
Published: January 2025

Technologically relevant narrow gap Hg1-xCdxTe is known to contain a considerable amount of mercury vacancies that supposedly degrade carrier lifetimes. Using semiclassical approach with no adjustable parameters, we calculate capture coefficients for acceptor states with different binding energy. Resulting Shockley–Read–Hall recombination times agree well with the experimental data and suggest that operating temperature of Hg1-xCdxTe detectors with ~ 20 µm cutoff can be elevated above 77 K.
Tunnel hole injection in unipolar HgCdTe-based laser diode
Authors: Zholudev Maksim , Litovchenko Oleg M. , Morozov Sergey
Published: January 2025

A p-doping free HgCdTe-based laser diode construction is suggested. Hole injection in the active region is made by carrier tunneling from valence to conduction band trough the resonance state formed in a series of quantum wells in external electric field. The charge carriers are localized in the active region by barrier layers with selective resonant tunneling: for holes on one side and for electrons on another one. Calculations of the resonant state providing interband tunneling are carried out.
Cooperative co-evolution deep echo state network for time series prediction
Authors: Chen Jianwei , Lun Shuxian , Li Ming
Published: January 2025

The deep echo state network demonstrates strong predictive performance in time series tasks, but inter-layer weight optimization and reservoir structure design are still challenging tasks. To address this, we propose the cooperative co-evolutionary deep echo state network (CCEDESN). Firstly, inspired by the hierarchical structure of the brain, we introduce a modular hierarchical design. Each layer of the reservoir contains multiple sub-reservoirs, with central neurons in each sub-reservoir interacting with those in other sub-reservoirs to enhance information processing. Secondly, an advanced cooperative co-evolutionary algorithm is proposed to simultaneously optimize the layer connection weights and hyperparameters of the deep echo state network. We evaluate the CCEDESN model on the Mackey-Glass system, sunspot data, and Apple stock opening prices. The experimental results show that the CCEDESN model achieves superior prediction accuracy compared to other models.
Characterization of a radiofrequency storage ion source using numerical simulations
Authors: Sunil Kumar Nanditha , N Vignesh , Sunil Kumar S
Published: January 2025

A radiofrequency ion source routinely employed for laboratory astrophysics and astrochemistry experiments designated as the storage ion source was characterized using numerical simulations. The present work focuses on optimizing the storage and extraction of ions of astrophysical relevance having the $m/z$ range $3-330$, which covers most of the molecular ions detected in the interstellar medium and circumstellar envelopes. The crucial parameters for the storage of ions: radiofrequency signal frequency, $f_{RF}$ and amplitude, $V_{RF}$ were optimized, and the range of radiofrequency parameters that can be used to store ions inside the source is presented. The lifetimes of ions inside the source were estimated for various radiofrequency parameters. The difference in the lifetimes of ions of different $m/z$ was explained based on the ions' thermalization characteristics and the source's effective potential. The extraction of ions from the source was optimized, and a new design called the T-source was proposed to improve the extraction efficiency. We show that the T-source has better extraction efficiency than the original design, which is further enhanced by maintaining the source at a floating potential. Finally, we investigated the transmission characteristics of the extracted ions through a quadrupole ion guide, which may serve as an ion guide or a mass filter, leading to an ion storage device such as an ion trap or an ion storage ring.
Influence of Axis Magnetic Field on Operation of Hall Thruster with Internally Mounted Cathode
Authors: Che Xingdong , Zeng Demai , Lian Huibin , Ding Yongjie , Wei Liqiu , Yu Da-Ren , Li Hong
Published: January 2025

Hall thrusters with internal cathodes achieve higher efficiency, smaller plume divergence angles, and improved plume symmetry compared with those with external cathodes. Electrons from the internal cathodes first encounter an axis magnetic field and are coupled with the plasma plume. However, few studies have focused on the influence of axis magnetic field on the operation of Hall thrusters with internally mounted cathodes. Two approaches–applying an additional inner coil and modifying the diameter of the central aperture–are proposed to change the axis magnetic field, and the discharge characteristics are tested. As the number of ampere turns of the additional coil current increased, the maximum magnetic-field strength increased by 11%, and the gradient at the exit of the internal cathode decreased by 83%, thus resulting in relative reductions of 0.81% and 1.75% in the thrust and efficiency, respectively, under the rated operating condition. As the diameter of the central aperture decreased, the maximum magnetic strength increased by 9.1% and the gradient at the exit of the cathode increased by 36.3%, thus resulting in relative reductions of 1.88% and 5.71% in the thrust and efficiency, respectively, under the rated condition. Although the performance tendencies are the same, quantitative differences are observed. An analysis of the mechanism in-dicates that an axis magnetic field with weak strength and a gradual gradient are conducive to electrons traversing downstream and crossing the magnetic field to couple with the plasma plume. Thus, the differences between the discharge characteristic variations under the two approaches can be explained qualitatively, and guidance is provided for optimizing the axis magnetic field of Hall thrusters with internal cathodes.
Dual high-Q bound states in the continuum based Fano resonances in bulk WS2 meta-lattice
Authors: Danaeifar Mohammad
Published: January 2025

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) play a promising role in enhancing light–matter interaction with a high quality (Q) factor in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). In this work, a structured meta-lattice of bulk tungsten disulfide (WS2), a well-known material of TMDCs, with double high-Q resonances governed by quasi-BIC is presented. Two types of quasi-BIC are exploited simultaneously by rotational and longitudinal asymmetries of WS2 rods, acting as the meta-atoms. These Fano line shaped quasi-BIC resonances have a very high quality factor of 1.6×104 with a reasonable asymmetric parameter of 1%. Although, tuning the asymmetric parameter changes the linewidth of the resonances and the resulting Q-factor, for all values of these parameters the amplitude of reflection remains constant at one. In addition to exploring and analysing two quasi-BICs, strong coupling between exciton and quasi-BICs is illustrated with Rabi splitting of 116.6meV and 54.2meV for rotational and longitudinal asymmetries, respectively. These findings show promise for the development of high-Q photonic devices and applications in polaritonics.
Analytic Four-Point Lightlike Form Factors and OPE of Null-Wrapped Polygons
Authors: Guo Yuanhong , Wang Lei , Yang Gang
Published: January 2025

We obtain for the first time the analytic two-loop four-point MHV lightlike form factor of the stress-tensor supermultiplet in planar ${\cal N}=4$ SYM where the momentum $q$ carried by the operator is taken to be massless. Remarkably, we find that the two-loop result can be constrained uniquely by the infrared divergences and the collinear limits using the master-bootstrap method. Moreover, the remainder function depends only on three dual conformal invariant variables, which can be understood from a hidden dual conformal symmetry of the form factor arising in the lightlike limit of $q$. The symbol alphabet of the remainder contains only nine letters, which are closed under the action of the dihedral group $D_4$. Based on the dual description in terms of periodic Wilson lines (null-wrapped polygons), we also consider a new OPE picture for the lightlike form factors and introduce a new form factor transition that corresponds to the three-point lightlike form factor. With the form factor results up to two loops, we make some all-loop predictions using the OPE picture.
Polyadic Cantor potential of minimum lacunarity: Special case of super periodic generalized unified Cantor potential
Authors: Mohammad Umar , Mohammad Hasan , Singh Vibhav Narayan Narayan , Mandal Bhabani Prasad
Published: January 2025

To bridge the fractal and non-fractal potentials we introduce the concept of generalized unified Cantor potential (GUCP) with the key parameter $N$ which represents the potential count at the stage $S=1$. This system is characterized by total span $L$, stages $S$, scaling parameter $\rho$ and two real numbers $\mu$ and $\nu$. Notably, the polyadic Cantor potential (PCP) system with minimal lacunarity is a specific instance within the GUCP paradigm. Employing the super periodic potential (SPP) formalism, we formulated a closed-form expression for transmission probability $T_{S}(k, N)$ using the $q$-Pochhammer symbol and investigated the features of non-relativistic quantum tunneling through this potential configuration. We show that GUCP system exhibits sharp transmission resonances, differing from traditional quantum systems. Our analysis reveals saturation in the transmission profile with evolving stages $S$ and establishes a significant scaling relationship between reflection probability and wave vector $k$through analytical derivations.
Fundamental operating regimes, hyper-parameter fine-tuning and glassiness: towards an interpretable replica-theory for trained restricted Boltzmann machines
Authors: Fachechi Alberto , Agliari Elena , Aquaro Miriam , Coolen Anthonius CC , Mulder Menno
Published: January 2025

We consider restricted Boltzmann machines with a binary visible layer and a Gaussian hidden layer trained by an unlabelled dataset composed of noisy realizations of a single ground pattern. We develop a statistical mechanics framework to describe the network generative capabilities, by exploiting the replica trick and assuming self-averaging of the underlying order parameters (i.e., replica symmetry). In particular, we outline the effective control parameters (e.g., the relative number of weights to be trained, the regularization parameter), whose tuning can yield qualitatively-different operative regimes. Further, we provide analytical and numerical evidence for the existence of a sub-region in the space of the hyperparameters where replica-symmetry breaking occurs.
A review on scalable printing techniques for conductive and composite polymer nanoinks
Authors: Bharath  , Subramanian K R V
Published: January 2025

Emerging research in conductive and composite polymer nanoinks (CCPNIs) demonstrate remarkable advantages in electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties which are highly desired for printable applications. The development of suitable scalable production techniques can address the demand for wearable, printable, and flexible nanoink-based electronic applications. In this review we present a comparative analysis for contact based techniques such as screen printing (SP), nano imprint lithography (NIL) and non-contact printing techniques such as inkjet printing (IJP), aerosol jet printing (AIP) and 3D printing with a focus on CCPNIs. We discuss the application of these techniques across various electronic domains such as wearable electronics, flexible sensors and robotics which rely on scalable printing technologies. Among the techniques reviewed, SP stands out as particularly suitable and sustainable, primarily due to its scalability and efficiency. It is capable of producing between 1,000 and 5,000 parts per hour, while maintaining a practical resolution range of 1000 μm (±5–10%). SP is suitable for applications in printed electronics, where cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and scalability are of focus. In contrast, for complex and multidimensional printing, 3D printing shows promise with an excellent resolution which are crucial for industrial-scaled production.
Co-occurring climate events and environmental justice in California, 2018-2019
Authors: Shea Brittany , Meltzer Gabriella Y , Steiger Benjamin B , Parks Robbie , Do Vivian , McBrien Heather , Flores Nina , Gordon Milo , Blake Elizabeth M , Casey Joan
Published: January 2025

Climate change will increase the frequency of extreme weather events. This means climate-driven events like wildfires and power outages will likely co-occur more often, potentially magnifying their health risks. We characterized three types of climate-driven events—anomalously warm temperatures, wildfire burn zone disasters, and long power outages—in 58 California counties during 2018–2019. We defined county-day anomalously warm temperatures when daily average temperatures exceeded 24°C and the 85th percentile of the long-term county average. We defined county-day wildfire burn zone disasters when an active wildfire burn zone intersected a county, burned 1+ structures, killed a civilian, or received a FEMA Fire Management Declaration, and overlapped with a community. For a subset of the 38 counties (66%), long power outage county days were identified using PowerOutage.us data when an outage affected > 0.5% of county customers for 8+ hours. Co-occurring events were when 2+ of these events occurred on the same county day. Using the CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), we determined whether co-occurring events disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. Nearly every county (97%) experienced at least one day of anomalously warm temperatures, 57% had at least one wildfire burn zone disaster day, and 63% (24/38 counties with available data) had at least one long power outage day. The most common co-occurring events (anomalously warm temperatures and wildfire burn zone disasters) impacted 24 (41%) counties for 144 total county-days. We did not find a clear connection between co-occurring events and social vulnerability. We observed an inverse correlation between co-occurring wildfire burn zone disasters and long power outage days with SVI, and a positive correlation between co-occurring anomalously warm and long power outage days with SVI. This analysis can inform regional resource allocation and other state-wide planning and policy objectives to reduce the adverse effects of climate-driven events.
High performance energy-saving electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction: A minireview on the influence of structure and support
Authors: Zuo Chunyan , Hu Hengyuan , Han Meisheng , Qiu Yejun , Tao Guohua
Published: January 2025

Generating hydrogen from water electrolysis is a promising clean energy strategy that may help alleviate energy crisis, which stimulates tremendous research interests in searching high performance catalysts with low energy consumption. In this article, we review recent progresses on the development of high performance electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from the energy consumption perspective with the emphasis on the structure impact and support. In particular, the structural influence on the energy conversion efficiency and stability of HER electrocatalysts is discussed, and the role of support carriers in forming energy-saving catalytic systems with minimized non-HER energy loss, which are vital for practical processes, is highlighted. Moreover, a global design strategy incorporating both catalyst and support in the same integrated framework is advocated. This paper provides new insights into the structure-property relationship and the support effect in developing highly efficient and durable electrocatalysts for HER. 
Critical state of a superconductor strip in ideal paramagnetic environments
Authors: Genenko Yuri , Rauh Hermann
Published: January 2025

In this Chapter, thin type-II superconductor strips carrying a transport current in the critical state are considered in the presence of idealized paramagnetic environments, which means open and closed semi-infinite paramagnets of finite constant magnetic permeability. Analytic solutions for the transport current distribution are obtained in the limit of the inifinite permeability. They disclose possible partially flux-filled critical states and even overcritical states, whose total current may exceed the critical current of the isolated strip many times. For all magnetic environments, AC losses are evaluated exhibiting their possible drastic enhancement or reduction depending on the shielding geometry.
Meissner state and critical state of a superconductor strip in ideal diamagnetic environments
Authors: Genenko Yuri , Rauh Hermann
Published: January 2025

In this Chapter, thin type-II superconductor strips carrying a transport current in the Meissner or critical states are considered in the presence of idealized diamagnetic environments, which means open and closed semi-infinite superconductor shields. Analytic solutions for the transport current distribution are obtained which disclose possible partially flux-filled critical states and even overcritical states, whose total current may exceed the critical current of the isolated strip many times. For all diamagnetic environments, AC losses are evaluated exhibiting their possible drastic reduction depending on the shielding geometry.
Magnetic dipole moment of supercurrent distributions in paramagnetic environments
Authors: Genenko Yuri , Rauh Hermann
Published: January 2025

Redistribution of the transport current in a superconductor affected by paramagnetic shields provides a possibility of strongly overcritical states and a drastic reduction of AC losses in thin superconductor films and tubes. Such superconductors subject to para- or diamagnetic shielding are studied by means of the potential theory and the critical state model when carrying a transport current or exposed to an external magnetic field. Analytical results are obtained for a number of shielding geometries and confirmed by numerical solutions. It is shown that using magnetostatic-electrostatic analogies allows consideration of paramagnetic shielding configurations of arbitrary shapes and magnetic permeabilities by means of common finite-element solvers to enhance the dissipation-free transport currents in superconductors and reduce AC losses in them. Furthermore, using the generalized London theory, the penetration of magnetic flux into magnetically shielded bulk superconductors is studied and the enhancement of the Bean-Livingston barrier is established.
Introduction
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2025

As the introduction makes clear, the topic of collective intentionality is not new. Already from shortly before the onset of World War I, phenomenological philosophers were engaged in sophisticated investigations of collective intentionality, joint action, affective sharing, we-identities, communal experiences, and shared habits. One of the important insights garnered in these early analyses was that feeling, thinking, and acting as part of a we transform one’s sense of self, one’s relation to others, and the way one experiences the world. In a similar manner, the main claim to be defended in the chapters to follow is that a thorough investigation of the we must bridge the prevalent compartmentalization of research on selfhood, social cognition, and collective intentionality and ultimately explore the complex interrelation between the first-person singular, the second-person singular, and the first-person plural perspectives.
Communication and Second-person Engagement
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2025

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in the second-person perspective, but what is the difference between relating to another as a he or she versus relating to another as you? The chapter considers a number of proposals and then argues that a promising but somewhat overlooked account can be found in the work of Husserl, who views second-person engagement as involving mutual address and communicative connectedness. When standing in a second-person relation, when addressing somebody who responds, I am not merely aware of the other, but simultaneously aware of myself as being addressed by and attended to by the other. Second-person engagement consequently involves not merely an awareness of the other but also, at the same time, a form of interpersonal self-consciousness. In a further step, the chapter then discusses whether the dyadic I–you relation is necessary and/or sufficient for the emergence of a shared we-perspective.
Shared Emotions
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2025

Many accounts of collective intentionality target rather sophisticated types of cooperative activities, but although such activities are of obvious importance, an investigation of collective intentionality should not merely focus on the question of how we can share agentive intentions. The aim of the chapter is to examine the kind of emotional sharing that can occur between two individuals who are perceptually co-present. Does the sharing involve a kind of phenomenal fusion? Is it a matter of sharing one and the same token experience? Such proposals are rejected in favour of an account that sees emotional sharing as a form of emotional integration that involves constitutively interdependent processes of empathy, second-personal address, and identification.
Communal Bonds
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2025

The final chapter considers how we-relationships are affected by memberships of larger and more enduring groups. Taking its point of departure from Tönnies’s well-known distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society), the chapter first discusses the strengths and limitations of Gurwitsch’s and Husserl’s analyses of societal partnerships, communal memberships, and personalities of higher order, and then considers some of the specific requirements that must be in place in order to allow for the emergence of a national we. The chapter ends by considering Young’s criticism of the community ideal and her politics of difference and argues that the latter is ill served by an account that takes selfhood to be nothing but a product of social interactions.
Living with the Dead
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

The dead are everywhere in family life. From a great-grandmother’s recipe made time and again, to a dog-eared black-and-white photo of a family on a beach, and from a carefully curated family bible to a much-told story of a family fleeing their home many decades ago, families are made by their pasts. This book examines the relationship between the living and the dead within family life, charting the way families create afterlives for their ancestors. It asks who and what gets to be remembered, and why. Considering different points of connection with the dead in each chapter—through graves, homes, things, photos, writing, research, and stories—this book shows how death and the dead remain a crucial presence within family life. Through an innovative methodology of collaborative critical family history, Living with the Dead features interviews, personal archives, and the results of a collaboration with fifteen family historians, including the author’s own family. What results is a unique way of getting inside families in the past, of charting not only how families have remembered their dead and passed on their histories over time, but the mechanisms of how histories are constructed and shared. Living with the Dead reveals how crucial the dead and stories of them are within families, and provides new ways for historians to unpick the way history is intimately made.
Homes
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

This chapter considers how homes are crucial in practices of remembrance for the dead, both as domestic space and places of the imagination. Families might use a home as a familiar place in which to preserve the memory of a relative or ancestor, such as with a display of items related to the family’s past, or even through the plants within a garden. But perhaps more importantly, the imagined home—a house or hometown or even home country—may be bound up with the memories of deceased individuals. Homes might be lost—through war or migration—and still remain important in the imagination.
Things
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

Continuing the focus on the material, this chapter examines the huge variety of objects families keep to connect with the dead and their pasts, from jewellery and medals to tools and furniture. It considers how objects can be one of the most lasting and persistent forms of remembering the dead, as things might be passed between multiple generations—though this is a process often influenced by wealth, class, and migration experience, as well as the interpersonal dynamics of the family. The chapter argues that the everydayness of things passed on is important, providing a way to embed the past within a family’s day-to-day life.
Photos
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

This chapter analyses the ways in which families use photos to keep alive the dead, whether through keeping old photos in a shoebox in an attic or through the display of these images within the home. It considers how photos became increasingly accessible and widely used in family life, and how photos are both unique to each family and often look similar between different families. It thinks through the uncanniness of seeing the dead, and how photos provide an easy archive for family life, as well as how photos often create an idealized image of that family.
Writing
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

This chapter considers the way writing figures in connecting with the dead—both the writing of and writing about the dead. It considers the way families keep letters, recipes, and other materials written by the dead as a special form of connection to them, but also how writing about the dead has become an increasingly popular form of preserving details of a person’s life, character, and experiences, such as through memoirs and written accounts of family histories. It also uses writing completed specifically for this research project, analysing booklets and blog posts written by family historians for this book. It suggests writing has a mouldable and lasting feel that offers a lot to those who want to preserve and remember, and be remembered themselves in turn.
An Ending
Authors: King Laura
Published: January 2025

This final chapter, rather than being a conclusion or summary in a traditional sense, considers the loose ends of family history, the secrets and silences, and the things that get left out. It thinks through the forgetting, the erasure, and the privileges at work in who gets to be remembered, who gets to have an afterlife after their death. It shows how processes of remembering and passing on are often embodied, sensory, and unspectacular. It considers how family history sits within wider processes of history-marking, in which there is editing, selection, and continual choice over what to pass on and what to leave out.
Completing and Counting Ballots
Authors: Endersby James W , Towle Michael J
Published: January 2025

This chapter investigates the micro-effects of ranked choice voting (RCV) on individual voter behavior, including the information demands required by RCV, ballot completion, and how election administrators respond to those demands. Based on voters’ ballots and interviews with election administrators, pressing issues concerning election management, transparency of the transfer and tabulation process, and the need for extensive voter education efforts are identified. Since RCV can be more involved than plurality elections, administrators must handle the added complexity of transferring ranked votes and interpreting voter intent on some ballots. Preferential elections likewise place significant information demands on prospective voters. More knowledge is required for RCV elections compared to plurality elections, as a voter must mark an accurate ordering of some or all approved candidates. Cast vote records suggest that some voters leave blanks (undervotes) or mark ballots with conflicting information (overvotes). Representation of voter preferences is important but can be difficult to discern.
Human Cognitive Uniqueness
Authors: Schulz Armin W
Published: January 2025

This chapter sets out an inventory of what makes human cognition special. It argues for a multidimensional, culturally variable account of human cognition that acknowledges that the differences between human and non-human cognition are matters of degree, not kind. This account distinguishes distinctively human low-level traits (e.g., attention, discounting), high-level traits (e.g., representations of what is just or what is mine), and cognitive suites (cultural learning, tool use, language). However, the chapter also shows that this sort of view still allows for the notion of distinctively human cognition to be theoretically and empirically meaningful: these traits are not just a laundry list of distinctively human features but also get at the heart of human living.
Tools of the Trade
Authors: Schulz Armin W
Published: January 2025

Famously, humans are standouts in their propensity to trade. However, a number of important questions about this propensity remain open. First, it is not clear exactly what makes this propensity so different in the human case from that of other animals. Second, it is not clear why other animals did not acquire this propensity to the extent that humans did. Third, it is not clear what explains the fact that the extent to which humans engage in trade is culturally highly variable. The chapter argues that at the heart of the human–animal divergence in this propensity is the particular sociocultural environment in which humans evolved. This has led them to sometimes, but not always, acquire the cognitive technology (writing, algebra, tallying devices, money, etc.) to support a sophisticated disposition and capacity for reciprocal cooperation and deep and wide concepts of property and exchange value.
The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe
Authors: Tendi Blessing-Miles
Published: January 2025

In The Overthrow of Robert Mugabe: Gender, Coups, and Diplomats, Blessing-Miles Tendi argues that the 2017 military coup that ousted long-time Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, and the generality of coups, cannot be accurately and rigorously understood without examining the crucial role of gender and women’s politics in military seizures of power. Tendi’s book shows that gender and women’s politics pervade military coup causes, dynamics, justifications, and international responses to coups. Contrary to influential representations of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup and other recent coups as markedly different from past coups, Tendi draws on long gendered histories of military coups in Africa to argue that in reality there are significant continuities in coup characteristics across time. Additionally, Tendi’s highly original study of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup identifies the motives, dynamics, and trigger of the coup. Despite the existence of an international anti-coup norm and democracy promotion in Africa by Western states, Zimbabwean coup-makers’ direct intervention in politics was largely not publicly condemned or penalized by Western and African diplomats. Tendi uses original interviews with diplomats and politicians involved in external responses to the coup, to address this important puzzle.
By Way of Introduction
Authors: Tendi Blessing-Miles
Published: January 2025

There are considerable chasms in our knowledge about Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup, a complicated military operation in its conception, execution, and shifting legacies. This book fills some of these apertures, through four main interventions. First, and most importantly, the book seriously takes up the politics of gender and women in coup situations. The book makes a unique contribution to the literature on coups in the discipline of politics by conducting in-depth qualitative gender analysis of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup, primarily, and a range of coups seen elsewhere in Africa. Second, the book clears up inconclusive debate about whether Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup differed significantly from past coups. Third, the book clarifies, from a gender perspective, the coup’s causes, catalyst, and dynamics—themes that are not well understood in the literature. Fourth, the book improves our grasp of foreign actors’ complex responses to, and their roles in, coups.
Gender Is the Stuff of Coups
Authors: Tendi Blessing-Miles
Published: January 2025

Gender and women’s studies should be front and centre when scholars investigate, cogitate, and write about coups in the discipline of politics. To make the case, this chapter makes visible the roles and agency of women in coup contexts, and it conducts gender analysis of influential politics literature about coup causes and the outcomes of coup-born military governments in Africa. The chapter demonstrates that gender analysis opens our purview to a significant and instructive (gendered) politics of coups, which many scholars tend to miss or consider inconsequential. Coups are decidedly gendered operations, with respect to their motivations, justifications, enactments, and aftermaths, the chapter argues. The chapter begins by engaging coup literature from a gender perspective, after which it throws light on the intensely gendered nature of the resurgence of military coups in Africa since 2020. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the politics of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup, from a gender perspective.
Open Chrono-Morph Viewer: visualize big bioimage time series containing heterogeneous volumes
Authors: Faubert Andre C , Wang Shang
Published: January 2025

Time-lapse 3D imaging is fundamental for studying biological processes but requires software able to handle terabytes of voxel data. Although many multidimensional viewing applications exist, they mostly lack support for heterogeneous voxel counts, datatypes, and modalities in a single timeline. Open Chrono-Morph Viewer provides a straightforward graphical user interface to quickly investigate multi-timescale datasets represented as separate volume files in the common NRRD format for compatibility between toolchains. It features dynamic clipping surfaces for rapid investigation of 3D morphology and a scriptable animation API for quantitative, repeatable, publication-quality visualization. It is implemented in pure Python using common libraries to facilitate community-driven development.

Availability and implementation

OCMV is available at https://github.com/ShangWangLab/OpenChronoMorphViewer for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Supporting tutorials, documentation, and installation instructions can be found in the supplementary information. Our modified Fiji I/O plugin for up to 5D NRRD file conversion is available at https://github.com/afaubert/IO.
Risankizumab efficacy and safety based on prior inadequate response or intolerance to advanced therapy: post hoc analysis of the INSPIRE and COMMAND phase 3 studies
Authors: Panaccione Remo , Louis Edouard , Colombel Jean-Frederic , D’Haens Geert , Peyrin-Biroulet Laurent , Dubinsky Marla , Takeuchi Ken , Rubin David T , Kalabic Jasmina , Chien Karen B , Chen Su , Cheng Ling , Zhang Yafei , Duan W Rachel , Vladea Ramona , Hecht Patrick M , Morisset Pierre , Schreiber Stefan , Ferrante Marc
Published: January 2025

Background and Aims

Treating ulcerative colitis (UC) in patients with prior advanced therapy (AT) exposure may be challenging. We report the efficacy and safety of risankizumab, a monoclonal interleukin 23p19 antibody, in patients with UC and prior inadequate response or intolerance to AT (AT-IR).

Methods

In the 12-week phase 3 INSPIRE induction study, patients were randomized to intravenous risankizumab 1200 mg or placebo. Clinical responders were randomized to subcutaneous risankizumab 180 mg, risankizumab 360 mg, or placebo (risankizumab withdrawal) in the 52-week phase 3 COMMAND maintenance study. This post hoc analysis assessed outcomes by AT-IR status, number, and mechanism of action. AT included biologics, Janus kinase inhibitors, and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulators.

Results

Efficacy analyses included 472 non-AT-IR and 503 AT-IR patients (induction), and 137 non-AT-IR and 411 AT-IR patients (maintenance). More patients achieved clinical remission per Adapted Mayo score with risankizumab 1200 mg versus placebo at induction week 12 (non-AT-IR, 29.7% versus 8.4%, nominal P < .0001; AT-IR, 11.4% versus 4.3%, nominal P = .0083); consistent with risankizumab 180 mg or risankizumab 360 mg versus placebo (withdrawal) at maintenance week 52 (non-AT-IR, 50.9% or 61.7% versus 31.1%, nominal P = .057 or P = .0033, respectively; AT-IR, 36.6% or 29.5% versus 23.2%, nominal P = .0159 or P = .2334, respectively). Risankizumab had increased efficacy over placebo, regardless of AT-IR number or mechanism of action, with higher efficacy rates for non-AT-IR compared to AT-IR. Safety results in non-AT-IR and AT-IR patients were generally comparable in both induction and maintenance.

Conclusions

Risankizumab was effective and well tolerated, regardless of prior AT-IR status.

Clinical trial registration numbers

INSPIRE [NCT03398148], COMMAND [NCT03398135].
Strengthening local health systems and governance for Universal Health Coverage: experiences and lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic response in Quezon City, Philippines
Authors: Escano-Arias Esperanza Anita , Abarquez Ramona Asuncion D G , Cruz Rolando V , Espeleta Rosalie , Ong Madeline Mae , Loreche Arianna Maever , Pepito Veincent Christian F , Gomez Vida , Dayrit Manuel M
Published: January 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Philippines’s transition toward universal health coverage. However, some local government units in the country made use of the pandemic as a catalyst to strengthen their local health system, scale-up the provision of preventive and primary care services, and improve health governance to make it more prepared to face future pandemics and realize the aims of the country's new Universal Healthcare Act. This paper describes the response of the local government of Quezon City, Philippines, to COVID-19 and how it strengthened local health systems. We also discuss enablers such as partnerships, collaborations, and foresight to ensure that investments during the pandemic will continue to be of use. We also identify some constraints and propose recommendations to consolidate local health system gains during the COVID-19 pandemic response in the transition toward universal health coverage.
Time of first contact determines cooperator success in a three-member microbial consortium
Authors: Los Rachel , Fecker Tobias , van Touw P A M , van Tatenhove-Pel Rinke J , Idema Timon
Published: January 2025

Microbial communities are characterised by complex interaction, including cooperation and cheating, which have significant ecological and applied implications. However, the factors determining the success of cooperators in the presence of cheaters remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the dynamics of cooperative interactions in a consortium consisting of a cross-feeding pair and a cheater strain using individual-based simulations and an engineered L. cremoris toy consortium. Our simulations reveal first contact time between cooperators as a critical predictor for cooperator success. By manipulating the relative distances between cooperators and cheaters or the background growth rates, influenced by the cost of cooperation, we can modulate this first contact time and influence cooperator success. Our study underscores the importance of cooperators coming into contact with each other on time, which provides a simple and generalizable framework for understanding and designing cooperative interactions in microbial communities. These findings contribute to our understanding of cross-feeding dynamics and offer practical insights for synthetic and biotechnological applications.