bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The non-linear impact of El Nino, La Nina and the Southern Oscillation on seasonal and regional Australian precipitation
Authors: Chung Christine T. Y. , Power Scott B.
Published: December 2020

The relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices and precipitation (P) in some parts of Australia has previously been shown to be non-linear on annual and seasonal time scales. Here we examine the relationship between P and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) at all Australian locations and in all seasons. We show that in many Australian regions, there is more-than-expected P during strong La Niña years (SOI>13), but less-than-expected drying during strong El Niño years (SOI
Wintertime orographic precipitation over western Tasmania
Authors: Lewis Cameron J. , Huang Yi , Siems Steven T. , Manton Michael J.
Published: December 2020

The wintertime (April - October) precipitation across western Tasmania (west of 147°E) has been studied for two years (2014 and 2015). Using the AWAP precipitation analysis, the average daily rainfall across western Tasmania was found to be 4.49 mm day-1 for all winter days and 6.99 mm day-1 for rain days (average precipitation greater than 1 mm day-1). Rain days were observed for ~63% of all days during the winter months. Rain days were frequently recorded after the pas-sage of a cold front, when winds are typically from the west and southwest, off the open Southern Ocean. The daily precipitation was found to be highly correlated (r = 0.55) with the 12 UTC ERA-Interim 1000 m wind speed at a point upwind of Tasmania, roughly 100 km off the west coast.Given the highly variable meteorology of the Southern Ocean storm track and the complex topography, western Tasmania is a natural testbed for studying orographic precipitation. Both locally blocked and unblocked flows, caused by changes in the low-level thermodynamic stability, occur frequently over the course of a winter with a stable environment having a lower average precipitation rate (3.66 mm day-1) than an unstable environment (8.40 mm day-1), although only a weak correlation (r = -0.07) was found between precipitation and Ĥ2(the square of non-dimensional mountain height).Simulated precipitation from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s ACCESS-VT model was found to underestimate the AWAP precipitation by ~20%. The greatest negative relative errors between the AWAP and ACCESS-VT precipitation in unblocked flow were in the lee of the mountains, over central and south-central Tasmania. For days when the flow was blocked, this region had large positive relative errors in precipitation. Over the upwind side of western Tasmania, ACCESS-VT underestimated precipitation in comparison to AWAP in both un-blocked and blocked flows. However, the network of surface sites is quite sparse over this region, which limits our confidence in both the ACCESS-VT and the AWAP precipitation products. A more detailed investigation is necessary to better appreciate limitations in the ACCESS-VT forecasts in this region.
Potential predictability of Australian seasonal rainfall
Authors: Frederiksen Carsten S. , Grainger Simon , Zheng Xiaogu
Published: December 2020

The potential predictability of Australian seasonal mean rainfall at 800 stations is estimated using an analysis of variance method for the period 1957-2015 and for all twelve three-month seasons. The method estimates the contribution of the slow, potentially predictable, signal of the rainfall to the total inter-annual variance, after removing the climate noise due to intra-seasonal and weather variability.The results show that there are stations, in all seasons, where the potential predictability is relatively high, and can be greater than half of the total inter-annual variance. Largest potential predictability, coherent over eastern Australia, occurs during the transition to spring, and in spring seasons. Large and coherent potential predictability also occurs during the autumn seasons over Queensland and south-eastern Australia. For summer and the northern wet seasons, the potential predictability is larger over the northeast coastal stations, in the southeast, central east and central west of the continent. During winter, relatively large and coherent potential predictability occurs over the southeast, the central east, and in an implied northwest-southeast band across the continent. Patterns of seasonal forecast skill from the coupled Predictive Ocean Atmosphere Model for Australia are shown to be highly consistent with our estimates of the potential predictability.Factors that may influence the potential predictability are briefly discussed in the light of previous studies that have considered the relationships between the slow, potentially predictable, components of rainfall and the atmospheric and oceanic circulations. Prominent among these are the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Southern Annular mode and the meridional Indian Ocean Dipole.
Optimising the Australian Wave Observation Network
Authors: Greenslade Diana J.M. , Zanca Adriana , Zieger Stefan , Hemer Mark A.
Published: December 2020

The Australian national in situ wave data network currently consists of 35 platforms distributed around the Australian coastline. At present, all except for five are directional waverider buoys. The spatial density of the observation locations is variable – at a glance, density is higher on the east coast compared to the rest of the coastline. This variability has resulted in some areas of the coastline being well observed and well accounted for in models and wave climate studies and other areas not being observed at all. This work aims to identify potential gaps in the existing wave observing network in order to provide guidance for prospective future deployments. In addition, the technique used allows us to easily identify which are the key locations in the existing network. The method is based on considering the spatial coherence of the wave field determined from a multi-decadal hindcast wave data set. For each modelled data point, correlations between monthly statistics (means and 95th percentiles) of modelled variables (significant wave height, mean period and mean direction) at that location and corresponding modelled variables at each observation site are calculated. Areas of low correlation provide an indication of the key network gaps, i.e. areas where climatological variability of the wave fields is poorly captured by existing observations. Removing locations individually from the network and repeating the analysis can also provide an indication of which are the most important locations in the network (and conversely, which are the least important) to capture the regional climatological variability. Several key gaps are identified, suggesting that most value can be gained by placing additional buoys in these areas. However, it is noted that other factors such as accessibility, areas of maritime industry, and population distribution are also important in selecting sites for new buoy deployments.
Big data or big risk: general practitioner, practice nurse and practice manager attitudes to providing de-identified patient health data from electronic medical records to researchers
Authors: Monaghan Timothy , Manski-Nankervis Jo-Anne , Canaway Rachel
Published: December 2020

Research utilising de-identified patient health information extracted from electronic medical records (EMRs) from general practices has steadily grown in recent years in response to calls to increase use of health data for research and other secondary purposes in Australia. Little is known about the views of key primary care personnel on this issue, which are important, as they may influence whether practices agree to provide EMR data for research. This exploratory qualitative study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of general practitioners (GPs), practice managers (PMs) and practice nurses (PNs) around sharing de-identified EMR patient health information with researchers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 participants (6 GPs, 3 PMs and 2 PNs) recruited via purposive sampling from general practices in Victoria, Australia. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed. Participants were generally enthusiastic about research utilising de-identified health information extracted from EMRs for altruistic reasons, including: positive effects on primary care research, clinical practice and population health outcomes. Concerns raised included patient privacy and data breaches, third-party use of extracted data and patient consent. These findings can provide guidance to researchers and policymakers in designing and implementing projects involving de-identified health information extracted from EMRs.
Vineyard soil microbial community under conventional, sustainable and organic management practices in a Mediterranean climate
Authors: Unc Adrian , Eshel Gil , Unc George A. , Doniger Tirza , Sherman Chen , Leikin Mark , Steinberger Yosef
Published: December 2020

Conventional, sustainable or organic farming practices are assumed to have distinct effects on soil fertility and health. This is often supported by arguments linking management and resulting soil parameters to crop yield and produce quality. Soil microbial communities are sensitive to management practices that alter soil water fluxes and the pools and fluxes of nutrients. These effects might be accentuated in arid or semiarid agriculture. Conversion to vineyard use, under Mediterranean conditions, and the subsequent application of different management types creates the conditions for divergent soil microbial communities. An off-season survey of variably managed vineyards located in a Mediterranean climate showed that both organic and conventional vineyard management had the most distinct impact on soil abiotic parameters, and on the bacterial and fungal communities; both organic and sustainable management enhanced soil organic carbon, water holding capacity and nitrogen availability. The sustainable management led to soil microbial communities most similar to the natural conditions. Fungal diversity was better than bacterial diversity at discriminating between soils under different management types. Classes of the dominant Ascomycota phylum had best discriminating power; Mucoromycota declined significantly after conversion to vineyard use and was a key taxonomic indicator for such conversion. Regarding bacterial communities, a focus on functional categories, e.g. nitrogen-fixing taxa, may be more informative than total diversity assessments.
Phylogenetic signal in phonotactics
Authors: Macklin-Cordes Jayden L. , Bowern Claire , Round Erich R.
Published: December 2020

Phylogenetic methods have broad potential in linguistics beyond tree inference. Here, we show how a phylogenetic approach
opens the possibility of gaining historical insights from entirely new kinds of linguistic data – in this instance, statistical
phonotactics. We extract phonotactic data from 112 Pama-Nyungan vocabularies and apply tests for phylogenetic signal,
quantifying the degree to which the data reflect phylogenetic history. We test three datasets: (1) binary variables recording the presence
or absence of biphones (two-segment sequences) in a lexicon (2) frequencies of transitions between segments, and (3)
frequencies of transitions between natural sound classes. Australian languages have been characterized as having a high degree of
phonotactic homogeneity. Nevertheless, we detect phylogenetic signal in all datasets. Phylogenetic signal is greater in finer-grained
frequency data than in binary data, and greatest in natural-class-based data. These results demonstrate the viability of employing a new
source of readily extractable data in historical and comparative linguistics.
A review of Korean/English and Mandarin/English dual language programs in the United States
Authors: Lee Jin Sook , Wang Tiange
Published: December 2020

The benefits of dual language immersion (DLI) instruction, both in one-way and two-way immersion programs, have been widely documented through empirical studies spanning nearly five decades. In the U.S. context, most research to date on DLI education has been based on Spanish/English programs, which offer instruction in two Indo-European languages that share many typologically similar features. In light of the fact that there has been a growing trend in programs of other language combinations, such as Mandarin and English, it is necessary to understand how different partner language combinations in DLI programs may impact students’ learning outcomes. Thus, by surveying research on Korean/English and Mandarin/English DLI programs, this paper examines how DLI programs that operate in languages with significantly different linguistic typologies and different scripts affect students’ academic achievement and their development of bilingual proficiency. Based on the studies reviewed, areas for further research to advance our understanding of how DLI programs in English and Korean or Mandarin can effectively and efficiently develop students’ bilingualism/biliteracy and academic achievement are proposed.
A constructional account of the loss of the adverse avertive schema in Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Kuo Yueh Hsin
Published: December 2020

This study defines the kind of loss under investigation as schema loss in diachronic construction grammar and proposes that schema loss may be related to change in prototypicality. Using the adverse avertive schema in Chinese as an example, it is shown that while older prototypical members of the schema motivated its composition, newer members demotivated it, because their semantics and pragmatics were not a good match with the form and meaning of the schema. The analysis emphasises that loss, like gain, is multidimensional in that both schematic and substantive patterns need to be considered.
On the waning of forms – A corpus-based analysis of decline and loss in adjective amplification
Authors: Schweinberger Martin
Published: December 2020

This study takes a corpus-based approach to investigating the decline and near-loss of very as an adjective amplifier in spoken New Zealand English (NZE) based on The Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English. The paper analyzes the replacement of very as the dominant adjective amplifier across apparent time to provide insights into what factors correlate with and trigger the loss of formerly dominant variants from a variable context. While a wealth of studies has analyzed what causes innovative variants to become dominant, only relatively little attention has been placed on the process of waning. As a consequence, the expansion of innovative variants, e.g. the processes that underlie the expansion in use of really, is well understood; showing that the trajectory of change accompanying the increase of really follows a highly systematic and layered expansion in use. In contrast, questions as to whether the loss of very as a variant in spoken data is equally systematic remain unclear. The results of binomial mixed-effects regression models show that the decrease of very is remarkably uniform and does not parallel the highly systematic and step-wise trajectory of innovative incoming variants. This lack of an ordered heterogeneity that accompanies the retreat of very raises questions about the systematicity of loss as a linguistic phenomenon more broadly.
Synthesis and optical nonlinear properties performance of azonaphthol dye
Authors: Jassem Ahmed Majeed , Hassan Qusay M A , Emshary C A , Sultan H A , Almashal Faeza Abdulkareem , Radhi Wisam Abdulhassan
Published: December 2020

Azonapthol dye viz., (E)-4-(phenyldiazenyl)naphthalen-1-ol (C16H11N3O3) is synthesized via diazotization of p-nitro aniline and subsequent coupling with α-naphthol. 1H NMR spectrum is used to identify the position of protons in obtained compound. FTIR spectrum is used to assign the absorption bands of vibration bonds at the expected regions. Mass spectrum proved a good agreement with structure of the prepared azonaphthol dye. The third order optical nonlinear properties of the azonaphthol dye 4 dissolved in acetone viz., the nonlinear index of refraction and the nonlinear absorption are obtained using 473 nm laser beam via diffraction ring patterns at 42 mW and Z-scan at 5 mW techniques separately. High nonlinear refractive index, 10−6 cm2 W−1, is obtained via diffraction ring pattern. Optical limiting property of azonapthol dye 4 solution is tested and a limiting threshold value of 17 mW is obtained, and prove that the sample can be used as an optical limiter. The Fraunhofer approximations of the Fresnel-Kirchhoff theory have led to the diffraction ring patterns simulation where very good agreement have been obtained.
Generation of an optical beam with two-dimensional dark focus in a fractionally-degenerate cavity
Authors: Gorbunkov M V , Kostryukov P V , Tunkin V G
Published: December 2020

An optical beam with a dark region surrounded by light in two dimensions, formed as a coherent superposition of mainly two Hermite–Gaussian eigenmodes HG04 and HG08, has been generated in an axially end-pumped Nd:YAG laser with an astigmatic fractionally degenerate semiconfocal cavity with an intracavity obstacle (a needle). Being focused with a lens, the beam has a dark region on its axis, surrounded by high-intensity regions only in z- and y-directions while maintaining Gaussian behavior in the x direction. The influence of the number of HG0n
eigenmodes and comparison of the beam with a geometric M-mode are studied numerically.
Brain-controlled cycling system for rehabilitation following paraplegia with delay-time prediction
Authors: Nakatani Shintaro , Araki Nozomu , Hoshino Takayuki , Fukayama Osamu , Mabuchi Kunihiko
Published: December 2020

Objective. Robotic rehabilitation systems have been investigated to assist with motor dysfunction recovery in patients with lower-extremity paralysis caused by central nervous system lesions. These systems are intended to provide appropriate sensory feedback associated with locomotion. Appropriate feedback is thought to cause synchronous neuron firing, resulting in the recovery of function. Approach. In this study, we designed and evaluated an ergometric cycling wheelchair, with a brain–machine interface (BMI), that can force the legs to move by including normal stepping speeds and quick responses. Experiments were conducted in five healthy subjects and one patient with spinal cord injury (SCI), who experienced the complete paralysis of the lower limbs. Event-related desynchronization in the β band (18–28 Hz) was used to detect lower-limb motor images. Main results. An ergometer-based BMI system was able to safely and easily force patients to perform leg movements, at a rate of approximately 1.6 s/step (19 rpm), with an online accuracy rate of 73.1% for the SCI participant. Mean detection time from the cue to pedaling onset was 0.83

±

0.31 s. Significance. This system can easily and safely maintain a normal walking speed during the experiment and be designed to accommodate the expected delay between the intentional onset and physical movement, to achieve rehabilitation effects for each participant. Similar BMI systems, implemented with rehabilitation systems, may be applicable to a wide range of patients.
SSVEP-assisted RSVP brain–computer interface paradigm for multi-target classification
Authors: Ko Li-Wei , Sandeep Vara Sankar D , Huang Yufei , Lu Yun-Chen , Shaw Siddharth , Jung Tzyy-Ping
Published: December 2020

Brain–computer Interface (BCI) is actively involved in optimizing the communication medium between the human brain and external devices.Objective. Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is a robust and highly efficient BCI technique in recognizing target objects but suffers from limited target selections. Hybrid BCI systems that combine steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) and RSVP can mitigate this limitation and allow users to operate on multiple targets.
Approach. This study proposes a novel hybrid SSVEP-RSVP BCI to improve the performance of classifying the target/non-target objects in a multi-target scenario. In this paradigm, SSVEP stimulation helps in identifying the user’s focus location and RSVP stimuli that elicit event-related potentials differentiate target and non-target objects. Main results. The proposed model achieved an offline accuracy of 81.59% by using 12 electroencephalography (EEG) channels and an online (real-time) accuracy of 78.10% when only four EEG channels are considered. Further, the biomarkers of physiological states are analyzed to assess the cognitive states (mental fatigue and user attention) of the participants based on resting theta and alpha band powers. The results indicate an inverse relationship between the BCI performance and the resting EEG power, validating that the subjects’ performance is affected by physiological states for long-term use of the BCI. Significance. Our findings demonstrate that the combination of SSVEP and RSVP stimuli improves the BCI performance and further enhances the possibility of performing multiple user command tasks, which are inevitable in real-world applications. Additionally, the cognitive state biomarkers discussed imply the need for an efficient and attractive experimental paradigm that reduces the physiological state disparities and provide enhanced BCI performance.
Increased preferential activation of small cutaneous nerve fibers by optimization of electrode design parameters
Authors: Poulsen Aida Hejlskov , Tigerholm Jenny , Andersen Ole Kæseler , Mørch Carsten Dahl
Published: December 2020

Objective. Electrical preferential activation of small nociceptive fibers may be achieved with the use of specialized small area electrodes, however, the existing electrodes are limited to low stimulation intensities. As existing electrodes have been developed empirically, the present study aimed to use computational modeling and optimization techniques to investigate if changes in electrode design parameters could improve the preferential activation of small fibers. Approach. Two finite element models; one of a planar concentric and one of an intra-epidermal electrode were combined with two multi-compartmental nerve fiber models of an Aδ-fiber and an Aβ-fiber. These two-step hybrid models were used for the optimization of four electrode parameters; anode area, anode–cathode distance, cathode area, and cathode protrusion. Optimization was performed using a gradient-free bounded Nelder–Mead algorithm, to maximize the current activation threshold ratio between the Aβ-fiber model and the Aδ-fiber model. Main results. All electrode parameters were optimal at their lower bound, except the cathode protrusion, which was optimal a few micrometers above the location of the Aδ-fiber model. A small cathode area is essential for producing a high current density in the epidermal skin layer enabling activation of small fibers, while a small anode area and anode–cathode distance are important for the minimization of current spread to deeper tissues, making it less likely to activate large fibers. Combining each of the optimized electrode parameters improved the preferential activation of small fibers in comparison to existing electrodes, by increasing the activation threshold ratio between the two nerve fiber types. The maximum increase in the activation threshold ratio was 289% and 595% for the intra-epidermal and planar concentric design, respectively. Significance. The present study showed that electrical preferential small fiber activation can be improved by electrode design. Additionally, the results may be used for the production of an electrode that could potentially be used for clinical assessment of small fiber neuropathy.
Sulfated alginate based complex for sustained calcitonin delivery and enhanced osteogenesis
Authors: Chen Zhuoxin , Yu Peng , Miao Zhangshu , Zhang Haochen , Xiao Hong , Xie Jing , Ding Chunmei , Li Jianshu
Published: December 2020

Direct administration of salmon calcitonin (sCT) by subcutaneous or intramuscular injection is limited by its low efficiency. Drug delivery systems with sustained delivery properties and high bioactivity are urgently needed. For clinical applications an economical and effective carrier is required, which has been a challenge until now. In this study, a simple alginate/alginate sulfate-sCT (Alg/AlgS-sCT) complex was successfully constructed for sustained release of sCT. The negatively charged sulfate groups facilitate bonding with sCT, which avoids the burst release of sCT and extends the release time up to 15 d (it is only 2 d for pure sCT). More importantly, the bioactivity of the released sCT is not affected during such a long release time, suggesting a conformation similar to that of native sCT. In vitro analysis implies that the complex is biocompatible. Moreover, the combination of AlgS and sCT synergistically improves the osteogenic ability of MC3T3 cells, which show higher alkaline phosphatase levels and intracellular and extracellular calcium ion concentrations. The concentration of intracellular calcium ions is 5.26-fold higher than in the control group after 10 d of incubation. This simple yet effective system has potential applications in clinical trials and may inspire the design of other protein delivery systems.
Gradient scaffold with spatial growth factor profile for osteochondral interface engineering
Authors: Dorcemus Deborah L , Kim Hyun S , Nukavarapu Syam P
Published: December 2020

Osteochondral (OC) matrix design poses a significant engineering challenge due to the complexity involved with bone-cartilage interfaces. To better facilitate the regeneration of OC tissue, we developed and evaluated a biodegradable matrix with uniquely arranged bone and cartilage supporting phases: a poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) template structure with a porosity gradient along its longitudinal axis uniquely integrated with hyaluronic acid hydrogel. Micro-CT scanning and imaging confirmed the formation of an inverse gradient matrix. Hydroxyapatite was added to the PLGA template which was then plasma-treated to increase hydrophilicity and growth factor affinity. An osteogenic growth factor (bone morphogenetic protein 2; BMP-2) was loaded onto the template scaffold via adsorption, while a chondrogenic growth factor (transforming growth factor beta 1; TGF-β1) was incorporated into the hydrogel phase. Confocal microscopy of the growth factor loaded matrix confirmed the spatial distribution of the two growth factors, with chondrogenic factor confined to the cartilaginous portion and osteogenic factor present throughout the scaffold. We observed spatial differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) into cartilage and bone cells in the scaffolds in vitro: cartilaginous regions were marked by increased glycosaminoglycan production, and osteogenesis was seen throughout the graft by alizarin red staining. In a dose-dependent study of BMP-2, hMSC pellet cultures with TGF-β1 and BMP-2 showed synergistic effects on chondrogenesis. These results indicate that development of an inverse gradient matrix can spatially distribute two different growth factors to facilitate chondrogenesis and osteogenesis along different portions of a scaffold, which are key steps needed for formation of an OC interface.
Early twenty-first century satellite-driven irrigation performance in the world’s largest system: Pakistan’s Indus Basin irrigated system
Authors: Peña-Arancibia Jorge L , Ahmad Mobin-ud-Din
Published: December 2020

Evaluating irrigation performance in large systems is often limited by the availability of reliable water use data. Satellite-driven actual evapotranspiration (ETa) estimates are used herein as water use surrogates to assess the year-to-year inter-seasonal irrigation performance in 46 canal commands in the Indus Basin irrigated system (IBIS), the largest in the world (∼160 000 km2). The accuracy and reliability of the ETa estimates are verified using two previously published locally adjusted satellite-driven ETa estimates, as well as field ETa estimates. Inter-seasonal variability (canal command water use in time) and equity (inter- and intra-canal command water use) are assessed from 2000 to 2018 using violin-plots time-series for the two irrigation seasons, the wet ‘Kharif’ and dry ‘Rabi’. The violin-plots probability density functions are used to assess intra-canal command equity; and their seasonal time-series to assess inter-seasonal variability. The long-term multi-year assessment conducted here, the first for the IBIS using consistent satellite-driven ETa time-series, shows that canal commands with ready access to groundwater exhibit more equity and less inter-seasonal variability when compared to canal commands chiefly reliant on surface water supplies; with the latter showing intra-canal command inequities between head-end and tail-end irrigated areas. Also, ETa in canal commands is mostly slightly increasing and there is low inter-seasonal variability in both irrigation seasons, except for two canal command at the system-end, which show higher inter-seasonal variability and inequity than their upstream counterparts. The methods employed here can be used in large irrigated systems elsewhere to assess ongoing irrigation performance and to verify results of targeted (non)structural irrigation management.
Globally prevalent land nitrogen memory amplifies water pollution following drought years
Authors: Lee M , Stock C A , Shevliakova E , Malyshev S , Milly P C D
Published: December 2020

Enhanced riverine delivery of terrestrial nitrogen (N) has polluted many freshwater and coastal ecosystems, degrading drinking water and marine resources. An emerging view suggests a contribution of land N memory effects—impacts of antecedent dry conditions on land N accumulation that disproportionately increase subsequent river N loads. To date, however, such effects have only been explored for several relatively small rivers covering a few episodes. Here we introduce an index for quantifying land N memory effects and assess their prevalence using regional observations and global terrestrial-freshwater ecosystem model outputs. Model analyses imply that land N memory effects are globally prevalent but vary widely in strength. Strong effects reflect large soil dissolved inorganic N (DIN) surpluses by the end of dry years. During the subsequent wetter years, the surpluses are augmented by soil net mineralization pulses, which outpace plant uptake and soil denitrification, resulting in disproportionately increased soil leaching and eventual river loads. These mechanisms are most prominent in areas with high hydroclimate variability, warm climates, and ecosystem disturbances. In 48 of the 118 basins analyzed, strong memory effects produce 43% (21%–88%) higher DIN loads following drought years than following average years. Such a marked influence supports close consideration of prevalent land N memory effects in water-pollution management efforts.
Convex resource theory of non-Markovianity
Authors: Bhattacharya Samyadeb , Bhattacharya Bihalan , Majumdar A S
Published: December 2020

We establish a convex resource theory of non-Markovianity inducing information backflow under the constraint of small time intervals within the temporal evolution. We identify the free operations and a generalized bona-fide measure of non-Markovian information backflow. The framework satisfies the basic properties of a consistent resource theory. The proposed resource quantifier is lower bounded by the optimization free Rivas–Huelga–Plenio (RHP) measure of non-Markovianity. We next define the robustness of non-Markovianity and show that it can directly linked with the RHP measure of non-Markovianity through a lower bound. This enables a physical interpretation of the RHP measure. We further relate robustness of non-Markovianity with the quantum capacity of dephasing channels.
The comparison of two exhaled nitric oxide analyzers: NIOX VERO and SUNVOU-CA2122
Authors: Lei Wei , Li Fei , Tang Xiao-miao , Bian Shuang , Wang Jia-jia , Huang Jian-an
Published: December 2020

As a marker of eosinophilic airway inflammation, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) was widely used in clinical practice. NIOX VERO (VERO) and SUNVOU-CA2122 (CA2122) are two commonly used eNO analyzers in China. However, what’s the difference and agreement between the two devices and whether the two types of devices can be replaced by each other in the application of common respiratory diseases have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to compare the two types of devices and to evaluate the difference between them in clinical use and whether they could be replaced. FeNO levels in 244 respiratory patients (including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic cough) were measured by CA2122 analyzer and VERO analyzer, respectively. The FeNO values obtained by the two devices were compared and the differences were analyzed. The success rate, the number of attempts and the total time required for a successful measurement by CA2122 and VERO were compared. The FeNO values measured by CA2122 online and offline were also compared. FeNO values obtained by CA2122 were slightly higher than those of VERO [median(range): 29.0(9–271) parts per billion (ppb) vs 25.5 (5–263) ppb, P = 0.000]. There was a high correlation between FeNO values measured by the two types of devices (r = 0.964, P = 0.000). By comparison, there was a high degree of agreement between the FeNO values measured by two devices, in all patients with different respiratory diseases. FeNO values measured online and offline by CA2122 were highly correlated and there was a high degree of agreement between online and offline methods. The success rate of CA2122 was higher than VERO, and the number of attempts (2.1 vs 2.4) and the total time (110.5 ± 35.7 vs 117.5 ± 48.1 s) required for a successful measurement by CA2122 were lower than those of VERO. CA2122 and VERO can be replaced by each other, and FeNO values can be converted if necessary. CA2122 has some advantages in success rate, the mean attempts and time required for successful measurement of FeNO.
Effect of rotating control cylinder location on vortex shedding behind a main cylinder
Authors: Deepakkumar R , Jayavel S
Published: December 2020

The dynamic behavior of flow over a circular main cylinder (MC) in presence of single small rotating control cylinder (CC) has been studied numerically at Reynolds number, Re = 100 and 200. The CC location (r

cc
= 0.6D–1D), rotational direction (clockwise and counterclockwise) and rotational rate (α = 0–2) of CC are taken as the study parameters. The flow field variables are computed using Ansys Fluent 15.0, the vortex shedding characteristics such as Strouhal number (St), drag (C

D
) and lift (C

L
) coefficients are analyzed. It is identified that the fluid shearing between MC and CC significantly controls the vortex formation behind the MC and subsequent vortex shedding. Unlike existing study, which reports the vortex shedding suppression only for the very closer location of CC, the present work identified new locations of CC for vortex shedding suppression. At Re = 100, suppression is identified at three different locations of CC (r

cc
= 0.7D, 0.9D and 1D) with lower α (α = 0.5, 1) due to a favorable pressure gradient (FPG) over MC. But with increasing Re, CC at higher r

cc
and lower α does not generate FPG. At Re = 200, shedding suppression is observed only at higher α (α = 2) and closer location of CC (

θ
=

75
∘

,

r

c
c

=
0.7
D

), which is identified as an optimum location based on vortex shedding suppression on the MC with reduced drag (65.45%, 75.8%) respectively for Re = 100 and 200.
Dry sliding wear behaviour of Al6061–5%SiC—TiB2 hybrid metal matrix composites synthesized by stir casting process
Authors: Hillary J Justin Maria , Ramamoorthi R , Chelladurai Samson Jerold Samuel
Published: December 2020

Functionally graded Al6061-SiC composites are widely used in the manufacturing of bearing surfaces, bushes, gears, cylinder liners, pistons and camshafts. However, due to the poor density and higher level of porosity, the usages of Al6061-SiC composites are limited. The Purpose of the study is to improve the wear behaviour of the Al606l–SiC composites to widen the engineering application of the Al6061 alloy. In this present work, an effort is made to examine the dry sliding wear characteristics on a newly developed hybrid metal matrix composite of Al6061%-5%SiC-x TiB2 (x = 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10 wt%) fabricated by stir casting route. The Wear Rate and Coefficient of Friction were examined using a Pin-on-Disc tribometer at various dry sliding conditions. The results of the experimental studies revealed that with the addition of secondary hard ceramic TiB2 particles, the wear behaviour was found to be significantly improved on the hybrid composite due to the new formation of Mechanically Mixed Layer (Fe2O3 layer). The Coefficient of Friction showed a decreasing trend in the case of varying loads and sliding distances. Conversely, the COF exhibit an increasing trend concerning the sliding velocities. The results have shown that the highly concentrated Al6061—5%SiC—10%TiB2 hybrid composite achieved the least COF values of 0.26, 0.31 and 0.29 at higher applied load (40N), sliding distance (2000 m) and sliding velocity (2.61 m s−1) conditions respectively. The worn surface of the hybrid composite indicates fine grooves with minimal abrasion.
Investigation of the influence of carbon black on the rheology and electromechanical properties of ethylene butene copolymer
Authors: Hamid Yasin , Svoboda Petr
Published: December 2020

In this scientific article, the potential of producing a highly capable sensor by the addition of electric conductive carbon black (CB) to polymer composite was studied, and the effects of various carbon black content on ethylene-butene copolymer (EBC) on rheological and electromechanical were investigated. Electric conductive composites have many attempts at producing original material in technology as a sensor. The amount of (0, 4.07, 6.31, 8.71, and 11.28) volume % of CB was introduced to EBC using Brabender, mixed, and homogenized for 5 min at 180 °C. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and electromechanical test show that the addition of CB to the EBC would increase the viscosity, modulus, while electric resistance significantly decreased and changed greatly with elongation. The modulus increased from 8.9 to 15 MPa by increase of from 15 to 25 wt% of CB while the gauge factor decreases for about five times by increasing the CB from 15 to 25 wt% under 5 N force. These works demonstrate the possibility of producing strain sensors using a cheap and versatile technique, with potential health and electromechanical sensors.
Modelling the effect of nanofiller’s shape and alignment on the dielectric strength and permittivity of polyethylene nanocomposite insulation
Authors: Safdar Adnan , Amin Salman
Published: December 2020

Solid insulation defects are a major cause of power failures. Incorporation of micro and nanoparticles in the solid insulation materials has proven its advantage. It has been reported that nanocomposites are far superior in terms of insulation to microcomposites because of larger interphase area between nanofillers and polymer in nanocomposites. In addition to that nature, size, shape, concentration and alignment of nanofillers affect the properties of resulting nanocomposite insulation. A lot of work has reported the effect of nanofiller’s nature, size and concentration but very little is reported on the effect of filler’s shape and alignment on the insulation and dielectric properties. In this paper nanocomposite dielectrics with nanofillers of various shapes and alignment are modelled by varying their permittivity using finite element method. To characterize the effect of various shapes and orientation electric field intensity and energy density models are computed. Simulations are performed using AC/DC module of COMSOL Multiphysics. The results revealed that shape and alignment of nanofillers are the two key factors in tuning the breakdown strength and permittivity of nanocomposite dielectrics for their applications in insulation as well as high voltage capacitors.
Cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce APP processing to Aβ by inducing APP dimerization
Authors: Langness Vanessa F. , van der Kant Rik , Das Utpal , Wang Louie , Chaves Rodrigo dos Santos , Goldstein Lawrence S. B.
Published: December 2020

Statins reduce Aβ production by decreasing BACE1 interaction with amyloid precursor protein (APP) and enhancing APP dimerization. It is suggested that this process is regulated through competition between APP dimerization and APP cholesterol binding.
Costameric integrin and sarcoglycan protein levels are altered in aDrosophilamodel for Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2H
Authors: Bawa Simranjot , Gameros Samantha , Baumann Kenny , Brooks David S. , Kollhoff Joseph A. , Zolkiewski Michal , Re Cecconi Andrea David , Panini Nicolò , Russo Massimo , Piccirillo Rosanna , Johnson David K. , Kashipathy Maithri M. , Battaile Kevin P. , Lovell Scott , Bouyain Samuel E.A. , Kawakami Jessica , Geisbrecht Erika R.
Published: December 2020

Expression of human disease-causing LGMD2H alleles in Drosophila causes muscle degeneration and elevated levels of integrin and sarcoglycan costamere proteins, likely exacerbating disease progression.
SVIM-asm: structural variant detection from haploid and diploid genome assemblies
Authors: Heller David , Vingron Martin
Published: December 2020

Motivation

With the availability of new sequencing technologies, the generation of haplotype-resolved genome assemblies up to chromosome scale has become feasible. These assemblies capture the complete genetic information of both parental haplotypes, increase structural variant (SV) calling sensitivity and enable direct genotyping and phasing of SVs. Yet, existing SV callers are designed for haploid genome assemblies only, do not support genotyping or detect only a limited set of SV classes.

Results

We introduce our method SVIM-asm for the detection and genotyping of six common classes of SVs from haploid and diploid genome assemblies. Compared against the only other existing SV caller for diploid assemblies, DipCall, SVIM-asm detects more SV classes and reached higher F1 scores for the detection of insertions and deletions on two recently published assemblies of the HG002 individual.

Availability and implementation

SVIM-asm has been implemented in Python and can be easily installed via bioconda. Its source code is available at github.com/eldariont/svim-asm.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
High-throughput modeling and scoring of TCR-pMHC complexes to predict cross-reactive peptides
Authors: Borrman Tyler , Pierce Brian G , Vreven Thom , Baker Brian M , Weng Zhiping
Published: December 2020

Motivation

The binding of T-cell receptors (TCRs) to their target peptide MHC (pMHC) ligands initializes the cell-mediated immune response. In autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, the TCR erroneously recognizes self-peptides as foreign and activates an immune response against healthy cells. Such responses can be triggered by cross-recognition of the autoreactive TCR with foreign peptides. Hence, it would be desirable to identify such foreign-antigen triggers to provide a mechanistic understanding of autoimmune diseases. However, the large sequence space of foreign antigens presents an obstacle in the identification of cross-reactive peptides.

Results

Here, we present an in silico modeling and scoring method which exploits the structural properties of TCR-pMHC complexes to predict the binding of cross-reactive peptides. We analyzed three mouse TCRs and one human TCR isolated from a patient with multiple sclerosis. Cross-reactive peptides for these TCRs were previously identified via yeast display coupled with deep sequencing, providing a robust dataset for evaluating our method. Modeling query peptides in their associated TCR-pMHC crystal structures, our method accurately selected the top binding peptides from sets containing more than a hundred thousand unique peptides.

Availability and implementation

Analyses were performed using custom Python and R scripts available at https://github.com/weng-lab/antigen-predict.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Notch1 is crucial for decidualization and maintaining the first pregnancy in the mouse†
Authors: Wu Yao , He Jia-Peng , Xie Juan , Wang Ke-zhi , Kang Jin-Wen , Fazleabas Asgerally T , Su Ren-Wei
Published: December 2020

The endometrium undergoes a pregnancy-delivery-repair cycle multiple times during the reproductive lifespan in females. Decidualization is one of the critical events for the success of this essential process. We have previously reported that Notch1 is essential for artificial decidualization in mice. However, in a natural pregnancy, the deletion of Notch1 (PgrCre/+Notch1f/f, or Notch1d/d) only affects female fertility in the first 30 days of a 6-month fertility test, but not the later stages. In the present study, we undertook a closer evaluation at the first pregnancy of these mice to attempt to understand this puzzling phenomenon. We observed a large number of pregnancy losses in Notch1d/d mice in their first pregnancy, which led to the subfertility observed in the first 30 days of the fertility test. We then demonstrated that the initial pregnancy loss is a consequence of impaired decidualization. Furthermore, we identified a group of genes that contribute to Notch1 regulated decidualization in a natural pregnancy. Gene ontogeny analysis showed that these differentially expressed genes in the natural pregnancy are involved in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions, different from genes that have been previously identified from the artificial decidualization model, which contribute to cell proliferation and apoptosis. In summary, we determined that Notch1 is essential for normal decidualization in the mouse uterus only in the first pregnancy but not in subsequent ones.
Using the Past to Understand the Present: Coping with Natural and Anthropogenic Noise
Authors: Gomes Dylan G E , Francis Clinton D , Barber Jesse R
Published: December 2020

Anthropogenic noise has received significant attention in recent years, and researchers have highlighted the ways in which animals might deal with these noise sources. However, much of our understanding of animal responses to this novel source of background acoustics lacks an evolutionary perspective. Natural sources of noise predate the origin of hearing organs in animals. Therefore, it is unlikely that animals have only recently evolved strategies to cope with anthropogenic noise de novo but, rather, already have preexisting coping mechanisms, because of countless generations of evolution within a naturally noisy world, on which contemporary selection is now likely acting. We review strategies to cope with natural sources of noise and suggest a more quantitative and mechanistic understanding of how particular characteristics of noise have shaped animal populations and communities in the past, enabling us to predict the effects that novel sources of noise will have on the future.