bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Environmental remediation promotes the restoration of biodiversity in the Shenzhen Bay Estuary, South China
Authors: Xu Hualin , Liu Ke , Ning Tianzhu , Huang Gu , Zhang Qianmei , Li Yuelin , Wang Mengqi , Fan Yiming , an Weili , Ji Lingbo , Guo Qinfeng , Ren Hai
Published: January 2022

Background

Rapid urbanization has greatly changed land-use patterns in many estuarine areas around the world, including the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) resulting in serious water pollution and ecosystem degradation. Shenzhen City has conducted comprehensive ecological management and restoration in the Shenzhen Bay since 2007. The natural vegetation consisting of mangroves, semi-mangroves, wetland plants, and terrestrial plants were restored from the bund to the inner bank of the Fengtang River. Rain and sewage flow diversion systems were established. The non-point source and point-source sewage are now treated in municipal sewage treatment plants, then naturally flow through the constructed wetland, and then through a natural wetland, restored natural embankment, and finally through mangrove communities substantially improving water quality.

Result

The restoration of the wetland has increased animal and microbial diversity and has supported the establishment of a complex and stable food web. With water purification and habitat restoration, the number of alien invasive plants in the estuarine ecosystem has decreased, and the diversity of native species of birds, fish, macrobenthos, amphibians, and reptiles has increased.

Conclusion

These improvements indicate that human beings and nature can coexist in support of the sustainable development of Shenzhen City.
Cooling intact and demembranated trabeculae from rat heart releases myosin motors from their inhibited conformation
Authors: Ovejero Jesus G. , Fusi Luca , Park-Holohan So-Jin , Ghisleni Andrea , Narayanan Theyencheri , Irving Malcolm , Brunello Elisabetta
Published: January 2022

Myosin filament–based regulation supplements actin filament–based regulation to control the strength and speed of contraction in heart muscle. In diastole, myosin motors form a folded helical array that inhibits actin interaction; during contraction, they are released from that array. A similar structural transition has been observed in mammalian skeletal muscle, in which cooling below physiological temperature has been shown to reproduce some of the structural features of the activation of myosin filaments during active contraction. Here, we used small-angle x-ray diffraction to characterize the structural changes in the myosin filaments associated with cooling of resting and relaxed trabeculae from the right ventricle of rat hearts from 39°C to 7°C. In intact quiescent trabeculae, cooling disrupted the folded helical conformation of the myosin motors and induced extension of the filament backbone, as observed in the transition from diastole to peak systolic force at 27°C. Demembranation of trabeculae in relaxing conditions induced expansion of the filament lattice, but the structure of the myosin filaments was mostly preserved at 39°C. Cooling of relaxed demembranated trabeculae induced changes in motor conformation and filament structure similar to those observed in intact quiescent trabeculae. Osmotic compression of the filament lattice to restore its spacing to that of intact trabeculae at 39°C stabilized the helical folded state against disruption by cooling. The myosin filament structure and motor conformation of intact trabeculae at 39°C were largely preserved in demembranated trabeculae at 27°C or above in the presence of Dextran, allowing the physiological mechanisms of myosin filament–based regulation to be studied in those conditions.
Exactly solvable 2D model for photon propagation in curved space: loss of interference and Bell inequality violation
Authors: Marzlin Karl-Peter , Kinach Michael P
Published: January 2022

We present an exact solution for the propagation of quantized massless scalar particles in a two-dimensional variation of the Alcubierre metric. Classical localized wavepacket solutions are derived using closed expressions for light-ray coordinates, and corresponding annihilation operators are constructed using the concept of locally positive and negative frequencies. The theory is used to describe the loss of fringe visibility in a single-photon interferometer, and the reduction of entanglement between two 2D photons, if one photon travels through a region with spacetime curvature. We derive an expansion of the field operator in terms of localized modes by means of an over-completeness relation. The quantization procedure also applies to massive and charged scalar fields in an n-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime.
An overview of SrRuO3-based heterostructures for spintronic and topological phenomena
Authors: Gu Youdi , Wang Qian , Hu Weijin , Liu Wei , Zhang Zhidong , Pan Feng , Song Cheng
Published: January 2022

SrRuO3 (SRO)-based heterostructures have attracted much attention for potential applications such as electrodes, oxide spintronics, topological electronics and electrocatalytic function mainly due to the strong spin–orbit coupling, itinerant ferromagnetism with 4d electrons, high metallic conductivity, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and rich oxygen octahedral distortion of SRO. Here, this work aims to offer a timely and systematic review on SRO-based heterostructures for its emerging opportunities in oxide spintronic and topological electronic applications. We first present a brief summary of the current status in SRO-based heterostructures and describe the motivations of this review. We then briefly review the surface and interface modulation in SRO-based heterostructures, including oxygen octahedral distortions (antiferrodistortive mode and ferroelectric mode) engineering and ion defect engineering. In the third part, we discuss the spin-charge interconversion phenomena in SRO-based heterostructures, covering the inverse spin Hall effect and current-induced spin-orbit torques. Particularly, in the fourth part, we discuss the emergent topological Hall effect and underlying mechanism in SRO-based heterostructures, including the two-channel anomalous Hall effect and Berry phase manipulation. The fifth part presents the magnetic Weyl fermions and its electric-field control of SRO films. We finally conclude with a discussion of challenges and prospects of SRO-based heterostructures, which provides a guidance for exploring novel physical properties and designing multifunctional devices based on SRO.
Activation energy, spatial confinement, and mean first passage and escape times of a tracer in a wormlike micellar fluid: an effective potential approach
Authors: Guerrero-García Guillermo Iván , Pérez-Guerrero Daniela , Sarmiento Gómez Erick
Published: January 2022

Wormlike micelles are long semiflexible cylindrical polymer structures formed by amphiphiles. In solution, these linear micelles percolate in multiconected entangled networks, where cross-links can break and recombine dynamically. Technological applications of wormlike micellar fluids include tunable encapsulation/delivery of molecules or colloids in biomedicine, oil industry, and/or cleaning processes. In this work, we propose that the experimental activation energy, the spatial confinement, and the mean first passage and escape times of a spherical tracer immersed in wormlike micellar network, in which caging effects are observed, can be estimated from economic Brownian dynamics simulations of a single particle interacting with an effective one-dimensional cosine-like potential of amplitude U
0 and periodicity L. The proposed one-fitting parameter method has been used to characterize the long-time dynamics of wormlike micellar solutions formed by the self-assembly of a mixture of zwitterionic and anionic surfactants at several temperatures and different concentrations of surfactant and brine. The amplitude U
0 has displayed a good agreement regarding the corresponding experimental activation energy at different temperatures. The periodicity L has shown to be an upper bound of the mesh size ξ and of the same order of magnitude regarding the entanglement length l
e, obtained from rheology and microrheology experiments. The escape time of the tracer in the effective potential τ
escape and the time t*, at which a change of curvature in the mean square displacement occurs, are upper and lower limits, respectively, of the experimental relaxation time. Our method is simple and fast, and we foresee that it should be applicable to model the long-time behaviour of tracers in other polymer systems, in which caging effects are present.
Random-walk model of the sodium-glucose transporter SGLT2 with stochastic steps and inhibition
Authors: Barreto Yan B , Alencar Adriano M
Published: January 2022

Random-walk models are frequently used to model distinct natural phenomena such as diffusion processes, stock-market fluctuations, and biological systems. Here, we present a random-walk model to describe the dynamics of glucose uptake by the sodium-glucose transporter of type 2, SGLT2. Our starting point is the canonical alternating-access model, which suggests the existence of six states for the transport cycle. We propose the inclusion of two new states to this canonical model. The first state is added to implement the recent discovery that the Na+ ion can exit before the sugar is released into the proximal tubule epithelial cells. The resulting model is a seven-state mechanism with stochastic steps. Then we determined the transition probabilities between these seven states and used them to write a set of master equations to describe the time evolution of the system. We showed that our model converges to the expected equilibrium configuration and that the binding of Na+ and glucose to SGLT2 in the inward-facing conformation must be necessarily unordered. After that, we added another state to implement inhibition in the model. Our results reproduce the experimental dependence of glucose uptake on the inhibitor concentration and they reveal that the inhibitors act by decreasing the number of available SGLT2s, which increases the chances of glucose escaping reabsorption.
Enhancement of crack reconstruction through inversion of eddy current testing signals with a new crack model and a deterministic optimization method
Authors: Zhao Yingsong , Wei Guo , Han Jie , Cai Wenlu , Chen Hong-En , Chen Zhenmao
Published: January 2022

This paper proposes a new crack model to parameterize profile of a natural crack in order to improve the inversion precision of crack profile with eddy current testing (ECT) signals. In this novel crack model, the edge profile of a planar crack is parametrized with six feature parameters of three curves, i.e. two quarter-elliptic curves and a straight line. Compared with the conventional rectangular and semi-elliptical crack model, the new model gives better profile fitting of actual cracks such as a fatigue crack or a stress corrosion crack. In addition, the reconstruction procedure with the new crack model is more stable than using the arbitrary-shaped crack model outlined by a piecewise line as the unknown parameters to be reconstructed is significantly reduced. To apply the new crack model for crack inversion with the conventional conjugate gradient method, the formulae for calculating the gradient vector regarding to the feature parameters of the new crack model are deduced. To investigate the performance of the new model for crack sizing, cracks of different sizes and complex shapes were reconstructed using the new crack model and the fast forward ECT signal simulator using unflawed field database and the multimedia finite element scheme. Meanwhile, inverse analyses for sizing cracks of complicated shapes were also carried out based on ECT signals containing random noise to clarify the robustness of the new inversion scheme. The numerical results show that reconstructed crack parameters are identical with the true ones in acceptable accuracy, which proved the validity and efficiency of the new method.
A new discrete chaotic map application in image encryption algorithm
Authors: Yang Feifei , An Xinlei , xiong Li
Published: January 2022

In this work, a new discrete chaotic map is developed from the 1D ICMIC (Iterative Map with Infinite Collapses) to control the 2D Hénon map. The performances of the proposed discrete map are evaluated by using the phase diagram, Lyapunov exponent spectrum and complexity. It is found that the new chaotic map has larger value of complexity, and chaotic states are distributed in large parameter ranges. Thus the new chaotic map has better chaotic features and randomness, it is especially suitable for the chaotic secure communication. Then an image encryption algorithm is proposed based on the new chaotic map. In this algorithm, the sequences generated by the new chaotic map are used for pixel position scrambling and pixel value diffusion operations. The security features of the designed encryption scheme are evaluated by common attacks methods. The results confirmed that the proposed algorithm is effective to improve the security in image encryption.
The study on the influence of utilizing n-butanol at fuelling spark ignition engines
Authors: Sandu Cristian , Pană Constantin , Negurescu Niculae , Cernat Alexandru , Nuţu Cristian , Georgescu Rareş
Published: January 2022

The ever-increasing emissions restrictions on internal combustion engines have led researchers into the study of alternative fuels solutions. As hybrid and electric vehicles started becoming more and more present in the markets worldwide, the popularity of conventional internal combustion engines started to decrease (we see this especially with diesel fueled engines). For spark ignition engines, alcohols and gasoline-blended mixes have proven to be an attractive solution in the last years. Out of these alcohols, we mention ethanol, methanol and butanol. Butanol is a promising solution because of its high oxygen content with the possibility of improving the combustion process and thus even reducing emissions. Butanol also has a high combustion speed and can potentially reduce the combustion duration while improving the overall thermal efficiency. High miscibility is another important aspect of butanol, allowing a higher percentage volume of butanol to be mixed with gasoline. The additional oxygen content may also improve combustion stability thus reducing cyclic variability. The objective of this study is to determine what is the impact of fueling a spark ignition engine with a blend of 10% vol. n-butanol and 90% vol. gasoline. The study will look at combustion stability, variability, thermal efficiency and emissions. A baseline was established at fueling the engine with pure gasoline at an engine speed of 2500 min−1 and an engine load of 55%. After the baseline, the same measurements were done at fueling with a blended mix of n-butanol and gasoline.
Study regarding the influence of geometrical characteristics of the distribution system on truck engines efficiency parameters
Authors: Barothi L , Stoica R M , Voicu D , Vilau R , Deleanu L
Published: January 2022

The present paper aims to analyze the influence of certain parameters specific to the distribution systems on a truck engine performance. The research is focused on how the change in the shape of lobes of a camshaft can influence the vehicle functional parameters. It was considered a non-variable fuel distribution system which represents by itself the controlling part, needed to move the poppet valves in order to ensure engine operating cycles. There have been compared results obtained in the case of different profiles of lobes, taking into account the accelerations during movements, in order to obtain minimum inertia of the distribution system components. By increasing the total height of the lobes, it was observed an increase in engine power and torque. Also, the intake air efficiency was improved by approximately 4%. Furthermore, engine fuel consumption reached higher levels in the case of the modified camshaft, in order to increase engine power.
Electric transmission for hybrid vehicle
Authors: Petrov O I
Published: January 2022

A technical solution is proposed for the electrical transmission of the torque of the internal combustion engine to the wheels (propeller) of a hybrid vehicle to set it in motion. The purpose of the technical solution is to reduce energy losses in the electrical power transmission device and reduce the cost of its implementation. The expected economic effect in the implementation of the proposed technical solution consists of a reduction in power losses during electric power transmission up to 10% of the engine power, and the cost of its implementation will reduce the cost of the vehicle by up to € 2 000. The proposed device is technically feasible using commercially available devices and can be used in the automotive industry, while being able to recoup the costs of implementation, that is, it meets the criterion “industrially applicable”.
Experimental test bench with diesel engine for the study of multi fuels usage
Authors: Izvorean S , Stoica V
Published: January 2022

The diesel engine has entered a shadow cone because of emissions of nitrogen oxides and particles. However, the engine offers superior torque and power and low consumption, therefore research is needed to obtain an engine with diesel performance and spark ignition engine emissions. In this paper, we will present an experimental stand with D115 diesel engine with a common rail injection system equipped in parallel with a single point injection system in the intake manifold. The purpose of the dual supply is to obtain a homogeneous combustible air mixture in the combustion chamber with a coefficient of excess air below the detonation limit and which can be ignited by pilot injection of diesel.

The experimental test bench is presented in detail regarding both the hardware and the software part (developed in the laboratory) together with the calibration curves of the force and temperature sensors

In this paper, in order to highlight the performance of the stand, standard experimental results described in the literature will be presented.

Although there is a wide range of experimental tests in the field of internal combustion engines from the additional injection of water, alcohol, bioethanol and so on, this paper aims to provide additional data in order to understand the phenomena of combustion and pollutant emissions. By injecting alcohol into the intake manifold of the diesel engine, the aim is to ensure a poor but homogeneous mixture of fuel in the combustion chamber, which will lead to a reduction of polluting emissions while maintaining the performance of the diesel engine. It also shows the conversion of the fuel supply system of the engine, of Romanian production D115, from a classic injection system to one with a common rail. In addition to the mechanical part, the algorithms developed for engine and stand control are presented.

By the presented stand and preliminary experimental results, we show the potential of the developed experimental test bench.
Effectiveness of the measures for CO2 emission reduction in real world
Authors: Constantin C , Băţăus M , Renţea C , Frăţilă G
Published: January 2022

To reduce the CO2 emission level for the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations, a series of measures are implemented by the manufacturers. Besides the use of hybrid and electric vehicles, efficiencies packages are frequently applied to improve the CO2 emissions of conventional vehicles. Some examples of CO2 reduction measures are: Start&Stop system, eco tires, powertrain thermal management and aerodynamic kits. Usually, they are optimized for the WLTC (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Cycle). The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of these packages in real-world driving cycles. The study is done by means of modelling and simulation, using an industrial modelling and simulation environment (LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim). Two passenger cars from different classes, a compact type and a SUV are used.
Evaluation of temperature sensors used in automotive applications type NTC and PTC
Authors: Tutunea Dragos , Ilie Dumitru , Racila Laurentiu , Otat Oana , Geonea Ionut
Published: January 2022

The coolant temperature sensor is an important tool for measuring the temperature of the engine improving performance and life time. Using this information’s the engine control module control different parameters achieving optimal engine control. Thermistor-based temperature sensors have been the choice for a variety of automotive applications enhancing the performance of car systems. In this paper, an experimental stand was designed and realized in the laboratory to evaluate the accuracy of two thermistors NTC and PTC used to measure the engine coolant temperature. Based on the variation of the temperature characteristics curves function of resistance will be determined.
Improving road traffic by rerouting flows based on various regulation scenarios analysis
Authors: Boroiu A A , Neagu E , Boroiu A , Vieru I
Published: January 2022

One of the major road traffic problems in Pitesti is manifested in the roundabout at Podul Viilor, which, although occupying a fairly generous space, has a very low level of service during peak hours, due to difficult access from one of the arms. The research, based on traffic measurements performed with DataFromSky software and micro-simulation traffic analyses performed with Vissim PTV software, indicated as the only solution the redirection of road flows from the intersection, which required traffic analysis for a larger area. The results obtained for the proposed scenarios - by estimating the degree of road congestion not only in the respective intersection, but also in the adjacent intersections, through which some road flows are reoriented - indicate that in this way a substantial improvement of the road traffic can be obtained for the intersection of Podul Viilor, without significantly affecting the traffic in the adjacent area. Thus, it is found that the service level of an intersection can be increased not necessarily through new road arrangements, but only through better regulation of road traffic in the area, based on the analysis of various scenarios using measurement software and traffic modelling.
Blockchain-based solutions for smart mobility sustainability assurance
Authors: Dungan Luisa , Pop Mădălin-Dorin
Published: January 2022

Smart mobility represents the future for many of today’s cities and is part of the smart city concept. Besides all its characteristics, the smart city concept aims to use the IoT (Internet of Things) technology to improve the citizens quality of life through a secure and efficient administration of city resources. The exponential growth of population and urbanization creates many challenges, especially from a mobility perspective. The main challenge in this direction is to ensure a sustainable transportation system. The objective of this paper is to present a survey on the sustainability assurance for smart mobility systems by using the blockchain technology. Moreover, this study proposes a conceptual model for a sustainable smart mobility system that implies the usage of blockchain technology. Widely known through its connection with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain can serve the safety and security requirements that are specific to intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The main advantage of this technology is the capability to face against several security threats by storing securely the information. This approach will streamline and secure the sensors networks data handling by the TMCs (Traffic Monitoring Centers). The process of these data handling is challenging because of possible exposure to cyber-attacks that can lead for example to erroneous traffic lights phases and green-interval settings in crossroads. The conclusions will be issued based on a comparison with the current IoT approaches for ensuring the secure storage of traffic data retrieved from sensors networks.
Traffic analysis for the reconstruction of the street geometries in the case of the construction of shopping centre in crowded cities
Authors: Lucian Matei , Ilie Dumitru , Laurentiu Racila , Dragos Tutunea , Alexandru Oprica
Published: January 2022

The road network in many of the developing cities has remained at a level that allows low-level transport logistics. In this context, and due to the elements of urban development that are currently applied, changes are needed in the road network to meet new road traffic requirements as well as to provide increased road safety. This paper aims to analyse the traffic capacity of the current street network in relation to the introduction of a mall in the study area.
Scalable production of single 2D van der Waals layers through atomic layer deposition: bilayer silica on metal foils and films
Authors: Hutchings Gregory S , Shen Xin , Zhou Chao , Dementyev Petr , Naberezhnyi Daniil , Ennen Inga , Hütten Andreas , Doudin Nassar , Hsu Jesse H , Fishman Zachary S , Schwarz Udo D , Hu Shu , Altman Eric I
Published: January 2022

The self-limiting nature of atomic layer deposition (ALD) makes it an appealing option for growing single layers of two-dimensional van der Waals (2D-VDW) materials. In this paper it is demonstrated that a single layer of a 2D-VDW form of SiO2 can be grown by ALD on Au and Pd polycrystalline foils and epitaxial films. The silica was deposited by two cycles of bis(diethylamino) silane and oxygen plasma exposure at 525 K. Initial deposition produced a three-dimensionally disordered silica layer; however, subsequent annealing above 950 K drove a structural rearrangement resulting in 2D-VDW. The annealing could be performed at ambient pressure. Surface spectra recorded after annealing indicated that the two ALD cycles yielded close to the silica coverage obtained for 2D-VDW silica prepared by precision SiO deposition in ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Analysis of ALD-grown 2D-VDW silica on a Pd(111) film revealed the co-existence of amorphous and incommensurate crystalline 2D phases. In contrast, ALD growth on Au(111) films produced predominantly the amorphous phase while SiO deposition in UHV led to only the crystalline phase, suggesting that the choice of Si source can enable phase control.
Dielectric permittivity, conductivity and breakdown field of hexagonal boron nitride
Authors: Pierret A , Mele D , Graef H , Palomo J , Taniguchi T , Watanabe K , Li Y , Toury B , Journet C , Steyer P , Garnier V , Loiseau A , Berroir J-M , Bocquillon E , Fève G , Voisin C , Baudin E , Rosticher M , Plaçais B
Published: January 2022

In view of the extensive use of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) in 2D material electronics, it becomes important to refine its dielectric characterization in terms of low-field permittivity and high-field strength and conductivity up to the breakdown voltage. The present study aims at filling this gap using DC and RF transport in two Au-hBN-Au capacitor series of variable thickness in the 10–100 nm range, made of large high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) crystals and a polymer derivative ceramics (PDC) crystals. We deduce an out-of-plane low field dielectric constant ϵ
∥ = 3.4 ± 0.2 consistent with the theoretical prediction of Ohba et al, that narrows down the generally accepted window ϵ
∥ = 3–4. The DC-current leakage at high-field is found to obey the Frenkel-Pool law for thermally-activated trap-assisted electron transport with a dynamic dielectric constant ϵ
∥ ≃ 3.1 and a trap energy Φ
B
≃ 1.3 eV, that is comparable with standard technologically relevant dielectrics.
Characteristic behaviour of N-order ion acoustic rogue waves solution in electron-positron-ion plasmas
Authors: Alam M S , Talukder M R
Published: January 2022

The characteristic behaviour of breathers as well as N-order Rogue wave (RW) solution in homogeneous unmagnetized electron-positron-ion plasmas (consisting of cold ions, and isothermal Maxwellian electrons and positrons) has been studied theoretically. Nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is derived employing Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolosky (KBM) perturbation technique in solving the concerned problems. The analytical solution of the NLS equation in the forms of breathers such as Akhmediev breather (AB), Kuznetsov-Ma breather (KM) solitons, as well as first-, second-, third-, and fourth-order RWs solution are obtained. The characteristic behaviour of breathers’ and their dependency on the relevant physical parameters are examined. The different orders of RWs are analyzed to obtain the region of existence of ion acoustic (IA) rogue waves (IARWs) with respect to unstable region. The potential profiles concerning different orders of RWs depend on the ratio of positron to electron concentrations (

ρ

) and wave number (

k

). Analysis reveals that the spatial difference between the two adjacent peaks of AB profiles are increasing with the enhancement of transformer physical parameter (

Λ

), while the temporal evolution between the two neighboring peaks of KM profiles decreases with increasing

Λ

and the amplitudes become large as well. The amplitudes of first-, second-, and third-order RWs profiles are decreasing with increasing

ρ

while the amplitude of fourth-order RWs profile is increasing. The results obtained in this study may be useful in understanding the propagation of nonlinear waves in optical fibers, Bose-Einstein condensates, plasma physics and atmospheric physics.
NEPA and climate change: consideration of climate mitigation and adaptation in infrastructure review processes
Authors: Ulibarri Nicola , Han David
Published: January 2022

Addressing climate change requires a shift in the planning, design, and operations of infrastructure. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require decarbonizing energy, water, transportation, and other infrastructures. And the long-term resilience of many infrastructure projects will be affected by expected changes in precipitation, sea level, heat and cold spells, and natural hazards like hurricanes and wildfires. Many scholars and practitioners have suggested that environmental impact assessment (EIA)—a required review of the environmental impacts of infrastructure projects—can serve as an opportunity to encourage infrastructure to be more climate friendly. In the United States (like many other jurisdictions), federal agencies are not required to address climate change in EIA reviews, but guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality advises them to consider greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change. This paper applied qualitative content analysis to assess integration of climate change into environmental impact statements (EISs) in the United States. We found that most EISs included some consideration of climate change, most frequently with a few brief mentions rather than extensive integration. We also found more focus on climate mitigation than adaptation, in both recognizing potential impacts and managing those impacts. Surprisingly, infrastructure that is more directly related to climate change—water and energy infrastructure, as well as land management—had lower overall climate integration than transportation, information technology, or buildings and operations. As exploratory work, this research suggests that federal agencies could do more to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in approved projects and in particular to make infrastructure more adaptive to climate change. The work also raises a number of questions as to whether EIA is the right regulatory tool to encourage climate friendly infrastructure.
COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines May Cause False Reactivity in Some Serologic Laboratory Tests, Including Rapid Plasma Reagin Tests
Authors: Korentzelos Dimitrios , Baloda Vandana , Jung Yujung , Wheeler Bradley , Shurin Michael R , Wheeler Sarah E
Published: January 2022

Objectives

Acute viral infections and some vaccines have been shown to increase false positivity in serologic assays. We assessed if the messenger RNA coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines could cause false reactivity in common serologic assays in a pilot longitudinal cohort.

Methods

Thirty-eight participants with sera available prevaccination, 2 weeks after each vaccine dose, and monthly thereafter for up to 5 months were tested for common infectious disease serologies and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) serology markers on the BioPlex 2200, Sure-Vue rapid plasma reagin (RPR), and Macro-Vue RPR. Twenty-two participants received the Moderna vaccine and 16 received the Pfizer vaccine.

Results

Most assays had no change in reactivity over the course of the sample draws, including APS markers. Epstein-Barr virus immunoglobulin G (IgG), measles IgG, and rubella immunoglobulin M all had possible false reactivity in one to two participants. RPR tests demonstrated false reactivity, with baseline nonreactive participant samples becoming reactive following vaccination. There were more false reactive participants (7/38) in the BioPlex RPR than in the Sure-Vue (2/38) and Macro-Vue (1/38) tests. All falsely reactive RPR tests were in participants who received the Moderna vaccine.

Conclusions

Serologic assays with results that do not fit the clinical picture following COVID-19 vaccination should be repeated. Effects of false reactivity can last more than 5 months in some assays. In particular, RPR is susceptible to false reactivity, and there is variability among assays. Larger longitudinal studies are needed to determine the incidence and window of false reactivity.
RIP2 Knockdown Attenuates Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Activation via Negative Regulating Myocardin Expression
Authors: Zhang Lan , Huang Qian-wei , Pu Yan-fen , Xiao Xiao-qiang , Song Bian-jing , Zhang Xue-ping , Yang Yong-sheng , Zhang Yu-song , Gong Fu-han
Published: January 2022

Background

RIP2 is an adaptor protein contributing to the activation of nuclear factor-κB induced by TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-dependent signaling implicated in innate and adaptive immune response. Beyond regulation of immunity, we aimed to elucidate the role of RIP2 in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotypic modulation.

Methods and results

In the current study, we observed that RIP2 showed an increased expression in VSMCs with PDGF-BB stimulation in a dose-dependent manner. Knockdown of RIP2 expression mediated by adenovirus dramatically accelerated the expression of VSMC-specific differentiation genes induced by PDGF-BB. Silencing of RIP2 inhibited proliferative and migratory ability of VSMCs. Additionally, we demonstrated that RIP2 knockdown can promoted myocardin expression. Furthermore, RIP2 inhibition also can attenuate the formation of intimal hyperplasia.

Conclusions

These findings suggested that RIP2 played an important role in regulation of VSMCs differentiation, migration, and proliferation that may due to affect myocardin expression. Our results indicated that RIP2 may be a novel therapeutic target for intimal hyperplasia.
Psychometric Properties of a New Decision-Making Capacity Assessment Tool for People with Substance Use Disorder: The CAT–CAT
Authors: Kumar Rishika , Berry Jamie , Koning Ashley , Rossell Steve , Jain Harshali , Elkington Selina , Nagaraj Sagar , Batchelor Jennifer
Published: January 2022

Individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) often present with cognitive impairments, which may impede their ability to make decisions for themselves, including treatment-related decisions. It is therefore important to assess whether individuals with SUD have adequate decision-making capacity. Indeed, there have not been any capacity assessment tools tailored for use with SUD populations that demonstrate adequate psychometric properties or that have the strong ethical foundation that is required of capacity assessment tools. The Compulsory Assessment and Treatment–Capacity Assessment Tool (CAT–CAT) was designed to fill this gap in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish the interrater and test–retest reliability, and discriminative validity of the CAT–CAT. The first of this two-part study recruited healthcare professionals in New Zealand and asked them to conduct a capacity assessment on two hypothetical clients. Generally, excellent interrater reliability (ρ = .998 overall) and test–retest reliability (ρ = .996 overall) was found. The CAT–CAT has exhibited reliability that was at least comparable to widely used capacity assessment tools for other pathologies. The second part of this study involved cognitively normal individuals undergoing capacity assessments to investigate the hypothesis that individuals that do not lack capacity will obtain scores significantly higher than 50% in each section of the CAT–CAT. This hypothesis was met with highly significant results. To conclude, preliminary data suggest that the CAT–CAT has excellent reliability and correctly classifies those with capacity.
Psychoeducational Interventions and Postconcussive Recovery in Children and Adolescents: A Rapid Systematic Review
Authors: Kamba Gloria , Plourde Vickie
Published: January 2022

Objective

The purpose of this rapid systematic review was to identify and synthesize results of empirical studies that have examined psychoeducational interventions provided to children and adolescents aged 5–19 recovering from a concussion and their families.

Methods

This study followed the PRISMA guidelines adjusted for a rapid systematic review. We searched three databases (EMBASE, PsycInfo and MEDLINE) with key terms for concussion (or mild traumatic brain injury - mTBI), the intervention (psychoeducation, instructions, and reassurance) and the target population (children and adolescents aged 5 to 19). Our search strategy generated 2225 unique records and seven were included. We performed a quality appraisal on the included studies using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT).

Results

Results indicated that psychoeducational interventions had satisfactory feasibility results. Caregivers generally found the intervention to be useful to determine return to play (n=2) and understand consequences following a concussion (n=1). However, results from studies on post-concussive symptom improvement (n=4) and post-intervention concussion knowledge (n=2) showed variability and mixed findings. Methodological quality was low for most studies.

Conclusions

This present review shows that there are very few published studies on psychoeducational interventions offered to children, adolescents, and families for the post-concussion management. Current evidence suggests that those interventions are useful in guiding caregivers during their child's recovery. However, the impact of psychoeducational interventions on post-concussive recovery seems to be less clear.
Nest-Site Fidelity in Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis) Depends on the Quality of Alternate Cavities
Authors: Stanback Mark T. , Rockwell Ellen K.
Published: January 2022

Secondary cavity nesting birds have been predicted to switch their nesting location when the quality of the nest site declines such as from accumulation of soiled nest material and parasites. We hypothesized that nest-site switching in Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) should depend not only on the condition of the original nest, but also on quality of alternate nest cavities. We tested that hypothesis experimentally by providing Eastern Bluebirds with attractive and unattractive nest boxes (as determined from a choice experiment). In one experiment, bluebirds were forced to choose between their soiled box of the preferred type and a clean box of the less-preferred type. Faced with that decision, a significant proportion of pairs opted to reuse their nest cavity, despite the ectoparasitism costs of that option. When given the choice between their soiled box of the preferred type and an identical but clean box, a significant proportion switched to the clean box, which suggests that soiled nests present some cost. By manipulating box type, we were able to decrease and increase, respectively, the costs of nest-site fidelity. Thus, bluebirds do not simply operate under a rule of thumb “switch nest sites when nest quality falls below point x.” Rather, they must weigh the declining quality of their current nest against the relative quality of all other available nest sites.
Wild zebra finches are attracted towards acoustic cues from conspecific social groups
Authors: Adrian Corinna , Griffith Simon C , Naguib Marc , Schuett Wiebke
Published: January 2022

Social information gathered by observing others often supplements personal information collected from direct interactions with the physical environment during decision-making. Social information use may be particularly beneficial in harsh environments or if resources are distributed patchily, ephemeral, and unpredictable, and hence difficult to locate. We experimentally tested the use of acoustic cues in wild zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) as they flew around their arid habitat as a way of locating conspecifics on the ground, and potentially accessing useful social information. Joining a conspecific group may reduce the predation risk, and if they are foraging may also improve foraging efficiency, as the distribution of zebra finch food (grass seed) is scattered and unpredictable in their natural habitat, the Australian arid zone. We conducted playback experiments along vegetated creek lines radiating out from an artificial dam where all birds in the population were coming for drinking water. We broadcast recordings of vocalizations from foraging conspecific groups to birds using these creek lines to move to or from the water into the wider habitat. Zebra finches were more likely to land near the loudspeaker when conspecific vocalizations were broadcast compared to white noise. Birds flying low and close to the loudspeaker were most likely to land. Our results indicate that zebra finches use acoustic cues of conspecifics as a source of social information for grouping decisions. Use of such information may also enhance foraging efficiency in environments with unpredictable and scarce foraging locations, and reduce predation risk for calling and responding individuals.
Breeding site fidelity is lower in polygamous shorebirds and male-biased in monogamous species
Authors: Kwon Eunbi , Valcu Mihai , Cragnolini Margherita , Bulla Martin , Lyon Bruce , Kempenaers Bart
Published: January 2022

Sex-bias in breeding dispersal is considered the norm in many taxa, and the magnitude and direction of such sex-bias is expected to correlate with the social mating system. We used local return rates in shorebirds as an index of breeding site fidelity, and hence as an estimate of the propensity for breeding dispersal, and tested whether variation in site fidelity and in sex-bias in site fidelity relates to the mating system. Among 111 populations of 49 species, annual return rates to a breeding site varied between 0% and 100%. After controlling for body size (linked to survival) and other confounding factors, monogamous species showed higher breeding site fidelity compared with polyandrous and polygynous species. Overall, there was a strong male bias in return rates, but the sex-bias in return rate was independent of the mating system and did not covary with the extent of sexual size dimorphism. Our results bolster earlier findings that the sex-biased dispersal is weakly linked to the mating system in birds. Instead, our results show that return rates are strongly correlated with the mating system in shorebirds regardless of sex. This suggests that breeding site fidelity may be linked to mate fidelity, which is only important in the monogamous, biparentally incubating species, or that the same drivers influence both the mating system and site fidelity. The strong connection between site fidelity and the mating system suggests that variation in site fidelity may have played a role in the coevolution of the mating system, parental care, and migration strategies.
MiRLoc: predicting miRNA subcellular localization by incorporating miRNA–mRNA interactions and mRNA subcellular localization
Authors: Xu Mingmin , Chen Yuanyuan , Xu Zhihui , Zhang Liangyun , Jiang Hangjin , Pian Cong
Published: January 2022

Subcellular localization of microRNAs (miRNAs) is an important reflection of their biological functions. Considering the spatio-temporal specificity of miRNA subcellular localization, experimental detection techniques are expensive and time-consuming, which strongly motivates an efficient and economical computational method to predict miRNA subcellular localization. In this paper, we describe a computational framework, MiRLoc, to predict the subcellular localization of miRNAs. In contrast to existing methods, MiRLoc uses the functional similarity between miRNAs instead of sequence features and incorporates information about the subcellular localization of the corresponding target mRNAs. The results show that miRNA functional similarity data can be effectively used to predict miRNA subcellular localization, and that inclusion of subcellular localization information of target mRNAs greatly improves prediction performance.
NerLTR-DTA: drug–target binding affinity prediction based on neighbor relationship and learning to rank
Authors: Ru Xiaoqing , Ye Xiucai , Sakurai Tetsuya , Zou Quan
Published: January 2022

Motivation

Drug–target interaction prediction plays an important role in new drug discovery and drug repurposing. Binding affinity indicates the strength of drug–target interactions. Predicting drug–target binding affinity is expected to provide promising candidates for biologists, which can effectively reduce the workload of wet laboratory experiments and speed up the entire process of drug research. Given that, numerous new proteins are sequenced and compounds are synthesized, several improved computational methods have been proposed for such predictions, but there are still some challenges. (i) Many methods only discuss and implement one application scenario, they focus on drug repurposing and ignore the discovery of new drugs and targets. (ii) Many methods do not consider the priority order of proteins (or drugs) related to each target drug (or protein). Therefore, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive method that can be used in multiple scenarios and focuses on candidate order.

Results

In this study, we propose a method called NerLTR-DTA that uses the neighbor relationship of similarity and sharing to extract features, and applies a ranking framework with regression attributes to predict affinity values and priority order of query drug (or query target) and its related proteins (or compounds). It is worth noting that using the characteristics of learning to rank to set different queries can smartly realize the multi-scenario application of the method, including the discovery of new drugs and new targets. Experimental results on two commonly used datasets show that NerLTR-DTA outperforms some state-of-the-art competing methods. NerLTR-DTA achieves excellent performance in all application scenarios mentioned in this study, and the rm(test)2 values guarantee such excellent performance is not obtained by chance. Moreover, it can be concluded that NerLTR-DTA can provide accurate ranking lists for the relevant results of most queries through the statistics of the association relationship of each query drug (or query protein). In general, NerLTR-DTA is a powerful tool for predicting drug–target associations and can contribute to new drug discovery and drug repurposing.

Availability and implementation

The proposed method is implemented in Python and Java. Source codes and datasets are available at https://github.com/RUXIAOQING964914140/NerLTR-DTA.