bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stability of Cauchy horizon in a charged de-Sitter spacetime with dark matter
Authors: Nan Xue-Ying , Tan Jia , Jiang Jie
Published: May 2023

The violation of strong cosmic censorship (SCC) in RNdS black holes by a minimally coupled neutral massless scalar field has recently been discovered. This paper investigates the stability of the Cauchy horizon of a spherically charged de-Sitter black hole surrounded by dark matter under perturbations from a massless scalar field. Our results show that SCC can also be destroyed in the nearly extremal region, regardless of the presence of dark matter. However, the existence of dark matter can mitigate the extent of SCC violation, particularly when the cosmological constant and dark matter energy density are both small. Notably, the violation region of SCC as a function of the dark matter state parameter does not exhibit a simple monotonic decrease, suggesting that the influence of dark matter on SCC is not straightforward and may be complex.
DetAC: Approach to Detect Access Control Vulnerability in Web Application Based on Sitemap Model with Global Information Representation
Authors: Ren Jiadong , Wu Mingyou , Zhang Bing , Xu Ke , Li Shangyang , Wang Qian , Chang Yue , Cheng Tao
Published: May 2023

Access control vulnerabilities that lead to elevated privileges are among the most dangerous vulnerabilities in Web applications. Most of the existing detection methods use dynamic or static analysis techniques alone, which suffer from high manual involvement, low automation, high leakage rate, low page coverage, and other deficiencies. To this end, this paper proposes a novel access control vulnerability detection method (DetAC) based on a sitemap model with global information representation. This method first constructs a static site-wide sitemap model based on the page link addresses in the Web application source code through static analysis techniques. After that, the application is logged in and executed dynamically with different role users. During this process, execution traces and request parameters are collected and converted into annotations to fill the corresponding edges of the static site-wide sitemap model. Then, the sitemap model with global information representation is obtained. This model can represent both the global control flow and data flow of the application. Then DetAC analyzes the role-based and user-based access control policies of the Web application based on the node reachability and annotated data features of the model. And according to the information such as role, user, and access resources, it generates attack vectors to achieve different roles and the same role of different users to access each other’s resources. Finally, access control vulnerabilities are detected based on the equivalence of the results obtained using attack vector access and normal access to the Web application server. DetAC was validated on five real open-source Web applications, and the results showed that DetAC successfully detected up to 12 access control vulnerabilities, which are more than those of the traditional seven tools. The dynamic analysis page coverage rate was significantly improved during the detection process, reaching an average of 91.37%.
HAUSDORFF DIMENSIONS OF FLOWER NETWORKS AND HANOI GRAPHS
Authors: ZENG QINGCHENG , XI LIFENG
Published: May 2023

Zeng and Xi introduced the Hausdorff dimension of a family of networks and investigated the dimensions of touching networks. In this paper, using the self-similarity and induction we obtain the Hausdorff dimension of flower networks and Hanoi graphs, which are not touching networks.
NONLINEAR VIBRATION WITH DISCONTINUITIES IN A FRACTAL SPACE: ITS VARIATIONAL FORMULATION AND PERIODIC PROPERTY
Authors: SHEN YUE , HE CHUN-HUI , ALSOLAMI ABDULRAHMAN ALI , TIAN DAN
Published: May 2023

A vibration system with discontinuities has triggered off rocketing interest in various fields including mechanical engineering, physics, and mathematics because it has many striking and amazing properties which cannot be unexplained by traditional vibration theory. This paper studies the problem using the energy conservation frame in a fractal time. A variational formulation is developed, and its periodic property is elucidated by the frequency–amplitude formulation. For discontinuity, this paper aims to propose a new frequency formulation by means of the golden average. Comparison between the approximate and exact frequency values is presented to validate our method.
Well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for the kinetic DNLS on T
Authors: Kishimoto Nobu , Tsutsumi Yoshio
Published: May 2023

We consider the Cauchy problem for the kinetic derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation on the torus [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text], where the constants [Formula: see text] are such that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] denotes the Hilbert transform. This equation has dissipative nature, and the energy method is applicable to prove local well-posedness of the Cauchy problem in Sobolev spaces [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text]. However, the gauge transform technique, which is useful for dealing with the derivative loss in the nonlinearity when [Formula: see text], cannot be directly adapted due to the presence of the Hilbert transform. In particular, there has been no result on local well-posedness in low regularity spaces or global solvability of the Cauchy problem.

In this paper, we shall prove local and global well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for small initial data in [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. To this end, we make use of the parabolic-type smoothing effect arising from the resonant part of the nonlocal nonlinear term [Formula: see text], in addition to the usual dispersive-type smoothing effect for nonlinear Schrödinger equations with cubic nonlinearities. As by-products of the proof, we also obtain forward-in-time regularization and backward-in-time ill-posedness results.
Laser speckle contrast imaging to predict the effect of temporary spinal cord stimulation in postherpetic neuralgia patients: A prospective observational study
Authors: Huang Xiang , Tang Dacheng , Chen Pan , Chen Lumiao , Li Xiaohong , Wang Xiaoping
Published: May 2023

Temporary spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) can effectively reduce the pain and severity of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). However, there are no effective and objective methods for predicting the effects of tSCS on PHN. Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) is frequently used in neurology to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. To assess the accuracy of LSCI in predicting the impact of tSCS on PHN, 14 adult patients receiving tSCS treatments for spinal nerve-innervated (C6-T2) PHN participated in this observational study. Visual analog scale (VAS) assessments and LSCI blood flow images of the fingers were recorded after the tSCS procedure. The results showed that the VAS scores of all patients decreased significantly. Moreover, the blood flow index (BFI) values were significantly higher than they were before the procedure. Increased blood flow and pain alleviation were positively correlated. The findings indicated that spinal nerve PHN (C6-T2) was significantly reduced by tSCS. Pain alleviation by tSCS was positively correlated with increased blood flow in the hand. The effect of tSCS on PHN may thus be predicted using an independent and consistent indicator such as LSCI.
Lignocellulose Nanofibers Enhanced Mechanical and UV-Blocking Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films
Authors: Xiao Yao , Chen Yu , Shi Zheng-jun , Wang Da-Wei , Yang Jing , Yang Hai-Yan
Published: May 2023

Lignin-containing cellulose nanofibers (LCNFs) from bamboo were prepared by choline chloride–lactic acid solvent treatment at 110–130∘C in combination with ultrasonication. Effects of LCNFs dosages on UV-blocking property, mechanical property, thermal stability and water vapor barrier property of LCNFs/PVA composite film were determined by UV spectrophotometer, universal mechanical testing machine, thermogravimetric analysis and weightlessness method, respectively. The results indicated that PVA film composited 10% LCNFs obtained from 120∘C showed best properties. As compared to pure PVA film, the UV-blocking property of composite film increased from 30% to 53%. LCNFs addition enhanced mechanical properties, resulting increment of tensile strength from 42[Formula: see text]MPa to 81[Formula: see text]MPa and elongation at break from 3% to 9%, respectively. LCNFs also introduced 2.4 times increment of water vapor barrier property of PVA film. The LCNFs/PVA composite films not only have excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties but also have UV-resistance and water vapor barrier properties. It provides a new idea for replacing some petroleum-based packaging materials and also shows the great potential of LCNFs materials.
Exploring Key Proteins, Pathways and Oxygen Usage Bias of Proteins and Metabolites in Melanoma
Authors: Zhang Man , Zhu Chengxu , Luo Zeyu , Liu Junhao , Tahir Khan Muhammad , Sun Yawen , Wei Dong-Qing , Zhang Yu-Juan
Published: May 2023

Hypoxia plays a critical role in melanoma development, but the characteristics of elemental oxygen in proteins and adaptation to hypoxia microenvironments are still unidentified. This study aims to explore oxygen contents (OCs) and differentially expressed proteins (DEP). Protein expression data were retrieved from Human Protein Atlas. The DEP in melanoma samples were compared with normal skin cells. We identified 1,969 DEP, and none of the genes coding these proteins were present on chromosome Y. The average oxygen content (AOC) was 7.24% higher in highly expressed proteins than lowly expressed proteins in melanoma and normal skin cells. The AOC is 2.36% higher in the up regulated proteins (URPs) in melanoma. The essential amino acids in the proteins in melanoma cells contributed to increased OC. Functional dissections of the high OCs in URP displayed that some of these proteins are associated with cytoskeleton, cyclins and cell cycle proteins. The URP interactions were generated using a STRING database. Majority of these URPs are associated in expression, exhibiting sufficient interactions with each other. This study provides useful information regarding protein expression in melanoma cells and the molecular mechanism of melanoma using stoichiogenomics.
Smash: Flexible, Fast, and Resource-efficient Placement and Lookup of Distributed Storage
Authors: Liu Yi , Shi Shouqian , Xie Minghao , Litz Heiner , Qian Chen
Published: May 2023

Large-scale distributed storage systems, such as object stores, usually apply hashing-based placement and lookup methods to achieve scalability and resource efficiency. However, when object locations are determined by hash values, placement becomes inflexible, failing to optimize or satisfy application requirements such as load balance, failure tolerance, parallelism, and network/system performance. This work presents a novel solution to achieve the best of two worlds: flexibility while maintaining cost-effectiveness and scalability. The proposed method Smash is an object placement and lookup method that achieves full placement flexibility, balanced load, low resource cost, and short latency. Smash utilizes a recent space-efficient data structure and applies it to object-location lookups. We implement Smash as a prototype system and evaluate it in a public cloud. The analysis and experimental results show that Smash achieves full placement flexibility, fast storage operations, fast recovery from node dynamics, and lower DRAM cost (<60%) compared to existing hash-based solutions such as Ceph and MapX.
Real-time Spread Burst Detection in Data Streaming
Authors: Wang Haibo , Melissourgos Dimitrios , Ma Chaoyi , Chen Shigang
Published: May 2023

Data streaming has many applications in network monitoring, web services, e-commerce, stock trading, social networks, and distributed sensing. This paper introduces a new problem of real-time burst detection in flow spread, which differs from the traditional problem of burst detection in flow size. It is practically significant with potential applications in cybersecurity, network engineering, and trend identification on the Internet. It is a challenging problem because estimating flow spread requires us to remember all past data items and detecting bursts in real time requires us to minimize spread estimation overhead, which was not the priority in most prior work. This paper provides the first efficient, real-time solution for spread burst detection. It is designed based on a new real-time super spreader identifier, which outperforms the state of the art in terms of both accuracy and processing overhead. The super spreader identifier is in turn based on a new sketch design for real-time spread estimation, which outperforms the best existing sketches.
Generating Extended Resolution Proofs with a BDD-Based SAT Solver
Authors: Bryant Randal E. , Heule Marijn J. H.
Published: May 2023

In 2006, Biere, Jussila, and Sinz made the key observation that the underlying logic behind algorithms for constructing Reduced, Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) can be encoded as steps in a proof in the
extended resolution
logical framework. Through this, a BDD-based Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solver can generate a checkable proof of unsatisfiability. Such a proof indicates that the formula is truly unsatisfiable without requiring the user to trust the BDD package or the SAT solver built on top of it.

We extend their work to enable arbitrary existential quantification of the formula variables, a critical capability for BDD-based SAT solvers. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by applying a BDD-based solver, implemented by extending an existing BDD package, to several challenging Boolean satisfiability problems. Our results demonstrate scaling for parity formulas as well as the Urquhart, mutilated chessboard, and pigeonhole problems far beyond that of other proof-generating SAT solvers.
HUSP-SP: Faster Utility Mining on Sequence Data
Authors: Zhang Chunkai , Yang Yuting , Du Zilin , Gan Wensheng , Yu Philip S.
Published: May 2023

High-utility sequential pattern mining (HUSPM) has emerged as an important topic due to its wide application and considerable popularity. However, due to the combinatorial explosion of the search space when the HUSPM problem encounters a low-utility threshold or large-scale data, it may be time-consuming and memory-costly to address the HUSPM problem. Several algorithms have been proposed for addressing this problem, but they still cost a lot in terms of running time and memory usage. In this article, to further solve this problem efficiently, we design a compact structure called sequence projection (seqPro) and propose an efficient algorithm, namely, discovering high-utility sequential patterns with the seqPro structure (HUSP-SP). HUSP-SP utilizes the compact seq-array to store the necessary information in a sequence database. The seqPro structure is designed to efficiently calculate candidate patterns’ utilities and upper-bound values. Furthermore, a new upper bound on utility, namely, tighter reduced sequence utility and two pruning strategies in search space, are utilized to improve the mining performance of HUSP-SP. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-life datasets show that HUSP-SP can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of running time, memory usage, search space pruning efficiency, and scalability.
An Introduction to Point Cloud Compression Standards
Authors: Chen Anthony , Mao Shiwen , Li Zhu , Xu Minrui , Zhang Hongliang , Niyato Dusit , Han Zhu
Published: May 2023

The prevalent point cloud compression (PCC) standards of today are utilized to encode various types of point cloud data, allowing for reasonable bandwidth and storage usage. With increasing demand for high-fidelity three-dimensional (3D) models for a large variety of applications, including immersive visual communication, Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), navigation, autonomous driving, and smart city, point clouds are seeing increasing usage and development to meet the increasing demands. However, with the advancements in 3D modelling and sensing, the amount of data required to accurately depict such representations and models is likewise ballooning to increasingly large proportions, leading to the development and standardization of the point cloud compression standards. In this article, we provide an overview of some topical and popular MPEG point cloud compression (PCC) standards. We discuss the development and applications of the Geometry-based PCC (G-PCC) and Video-based PCC (V-PCC) standards as they escalate in importance in an era of virtual reality and machine learning. Finally, we conclude our article describing the future research directions and applications of the PCC standards of today.
Prognostic Analysis on Different Tumor Sizes for 14634 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients
Authors: Chen Zilin , Zheng He , Zeng Wen , Liu Mengyao , Chen Yong
Published: May 2023

Aim. This study investigated the effect of tumor size and other factors on the survival and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods. All HCC populations based on the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database to receive from 2010 to 2016 were employed in the study. Results. This study enrolled a total of 14,634 HCC. Among them, 1,686 patients had tumors ≤ 2 cm, 6,169 patients had tumors 2–5 cm, and 6,779 patients had tumors > 5 cm. The results using univariate analysis showed that all factors were significant prognostic factors for overall survival and specific survival. Patients with tumor size ≤ 2 cm were more likely to survive, while patients with tumor size > 5 cm had a lower survival rate. Patients who had surgery or surgery plus chemotherapy had a higher chance of survival in stages I-II, and the survival rate declined smoothly during the 80 months. The change rate of the mortality rate increased rapidly during the period of 1–12 cm; afterwards, the mortality rate’s HR was basically and smoothly maintained at a high level. Conclusions. Tumor size was positively correlated with the mortality rate of HCC. Survival rates were greater in patients with tumors ≤ 2 cm who underwent surgery or surgery plus chemotherapy. Patients with HCC in the early stage had a higher survival probability particularly when they had experienced surgery or surgery plus chemotherapy.
Study on Construction Response Characteristics of Large Cross-Section Tunnel Crossing Huge Karst Cave Backfill
Authors: Chen Yunteng , Cai Yuancheng , Zhang Jianwei , Li Jie , Huang Xiaotong , Lei Hao , Yuan Peilong
Published: May 2023

The existence of giant karst cave can cause collapse and water inrush hazards during the excavation of the karst tunnel, causing serious economic losses. In this paper, based on the FEA software MIDAS, a numerical simulation model for the backfilling of a large karst cave through a large cross-section tunnel was established. The distribution characteristics and change rules of the displacement field, stress field, horizontal support stress, and plastic zone of the tunnel surrounding rock and backfill were explored. The first stage of tunnel excavation leads to a sharp increase in the displacement of the tunnel’s surrounding rock and the deterioration of the plastic zone, which should be strengthened and monitored. The tunnel arch, waist, and wall footing areas were prone to stress concentration. The two layers of horizontal support force show a certain regularity, showing a sharp increase and a gradually smooth growth trend. Meanwhile, the site monitoring results for arch settlement and horizontal convergence of the mega cavern tunnel were analyzed. The results show that the numerical calculation results were in good agreement with the values of site monitoring data. The average errors of final crown settlement and horizontal convergence were 8.6% and 15.9%, respectively, which verified the correctness of the numerical modeling method. This project can provide reliable experience for the construction of similar large cavern tunnels.
Driving the Polyvinylidene Fluoride Crystallization via Surface Functionalization of Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles for Liquid-Solid Triboelectric Nanogenerator Enhancement
Authors: Vu Duy Linh , Le Chau Duy , Nguyen Quang Tan , Ahn Kyoung Kwan
Published: May 2023

In order to meet the growing demand for sustainable and renewable energy, significant processes have been achieved in the energy harvesting field in recent years. Due to its strong polarity property and superior mechanical characteristics, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) serves as the most attractive material for a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (LS-TENG). PVDF-based TENG has come a long way thus far. Hence, we developed a high-performance magnetoelectric (ME) nanocomposite membrane made of PVDF and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles for application in the triboelectric layer of the LS-TENG device. Due to the large magnetic anisotropy of CoFe2O4, a strong interaction between the electromagnetic phase and the crystalline phase could well be established. Moreover, a chemical technique is used to introduce 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (POTS) with a reasonably extended fluoride chain to increase the dispersion of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in the PVDF. Thus, the crystalline β phase of the membrane increased to 77.7% with 10 wt.% CoFe2O4 and reached a maximum value of 85.4% with 10 wt.% CoFe2O4@POTS in PVDF matrix, indicating an increase in polarity property and dielectric constant of the nanocomposite membrane. Besides, the CoFe2O4/PVDF-based TENG also delivers a power density of 1.62 W/m2, which is 2.7 higher than the pure PVDF-based TENG. This work demonstrates a novel technique for increasing the β phase of the CoFe2O4/PVDF nanocomposite membrane, which could also improve the LS-TENG output performance for real-life applications in energy harvesting.
Porothermoelastic Response of a Borehole in Fluid-Saturated Medium Subjected to Thermal Osmosis Effect
Authors: Lin Hai , Deng Jingen , Zhang Xiaocheng , Gao Jiajia
Published: May 2023

With the thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling process considered, this paper derives a set of analytical porothermoelastic solutions to field variables including the stress, displacement, and pore pressure fields to evaluate the wellbore stability around a vertical borehole drilled through an isotropic porous rock. The thermal effect on the wellbore stability of the low-permeability saturated rock also introduces the thermal osmosis term. The wellbore problem is decomposed into axisymmetric and deviatoric loading cases considering the borehole subjected to a nonhydrostatic stress field. It obtains the time-dependent distributions of field variables by performing the inversion technique for Laplace transforms to the porothermoelastic solutions in the Laplace domain. The results suggest that the thermal osmosis effect should not be neglected on the premise that a lower permeability porous rock is characterized by the substantially large thermal osmotic coefficient and the small thermal diffusivity values. The case that the thermal osmosis effect reduces the undrained loading effect leads to the decrease of the mean shear stress that is determined by the effective maximum and minimum stress around a borehole, since, and accordingly contributes to the wellbore stability to resist the shear failure.
The Influence of Accommodation on Retinal Peripheral Refraction Changes in Different Measurement Areas
Authors: Lu Weicong , Peng Zisu , Ding Wenzhi , Ji Rongyuan , Tian Yuyin , Zhao Chenpei , Leng Lin
Published: May 2023

Background. The change in refraction caused by accommodation inevitably affects the peripheral defocus state and thus may influence the effect of retinal peripheral myopic defocus measures in myopia control. This study investigated accommodation changes in different peripheral retinas under cycloplegia to help improve myopia control. Methods. Fifty‐six eyes of fifty‐six myopic subjects were recruited for this prospective study. The center and peripheral retina refractions were measured using multispectral refractive topography. The subjects were divided into low‐to‐moderate myopia group (range: −1.25 D to −6.00 D) and high myopia group (range: −6.25 D to −9.75 D) according to spherical equivalent (SE). The compound tropicamide (0.5% tropicamide and 0.5% phenylephrine) was used to relax the accommodation. The difference between cycloplegia and non‐cycloplegia peripheral retinal refraction was analyzed using the t‐test. The correlation between eccentricity and changes in peripheral refraction was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation analysis. Results. The manifest refraction of the retina significantly decreased with an increase in eccentricity after cycloplegia. The annular refraction difference value at 50°–53° (ARDV 50–53) showed the largest refraction decrease of 1.31 D compared with the central retinal refraction decrease of 0.84 D. The inferior quadrantal refraction difference value had the least change compared to the other quadrants. The relative peripheral refraction (RPR) changes in refraction difference value (RDV) at 15° (RDV‐15), RDV‐30, and RDV‐45 were less than 0.15 D. When the range of annulus narrowed to 5°, the narrower annulus showed faster change with eccentricity increase in ARDV 30–35, ARDV 35–40, ARDV 40–45, ARDV 45–50, and ARDV 50–53. The RPR was highly correlated with eccentricity (R = 0.938 and P < 0.001). The high myopia group had a greater hyperopic shift in the periphery than the low‐to‐moderate group after cycloplegia. Conclusions. Peripheral refraction showed a significant hyperopic shift after cycloplegia with an increase in eccentricity. The RPR became more hyperopic than the central refraction. The high myopia group showed more hyperopic shifts in the peripheral region. Accommodation should be taken into consideration in peripheral defocus treatment.
Vehicle Scanning Method for Bridges Enhanced by Dual Amplifiers
Authors: Xu Hao , Yang M. , Yang Judy P. , Wang Z. L. , Shi K. , Yang Y. B.
Published: May 2023

Dual-function amplifiers are proposed for the first time herein for enhancing the capability of a scanning test vehicle for bridges. To start, closed-form solutions are derived for the dynamic responses of the amplifier-vehicle-bridge system with a moving test vehicle. Then, the dynamic amplification factors of the amplifier and vehicle are presented for assessing the bridge/vehicle and vehicle/amplifier transmissibility. It was known that the spectrum of the vehicle may be hindered for extracting the bridge frequencies because of vehicle frequency and rough pavement. Two differentially tuned amplifiers are called on to tackle the problem: one (i.e., the vehicle damper) is to suppress the effect of vehicle’s frequency, acting like the tuned mass damper (TMD), and the other (i.e., the bridge amplifier) is to enlarge the amplitude of bridge frequency of concern. Based on the parametric study, it is concluded that (1) the bridge amplifier performs better than the vehicle one in extracting bridge frequencies by increasing their visibility in the spectrum; (2) the effect of vehicle’s frequency can be suppressed by tuning the vehicle damper such that it functions like a TMD of the vehicle; (3) by tuning the bridge amplifier to any of the first few bridge frequencies, the latter can be well detected even for rough pavement.
Fuzzy Optimal Control of Radon Exhalation in Uranium Tailings under Double-Layer Coverage
Authors: Zhang Meirong , Dai Jianyong
Published: May 2023

The use of covering material is an important measure to control the radon migration of uranium tailings. Radon diffusion and migration are affected by cover layer parameters, such as diffusion coefficient, overburden thickness, particle size, and ore body width. The radon reduction effect of single-layer mulching is often less than that of double-layer, and the material parameters of the cover layer are uncertain; however, they can be explained by a fuzzy dynamic equation. Firstly, the radon exhalation model is constructed with the radon percolation diffusion and migration method in a double-layer covering. Secondly, a fuzzy target of radon exhalation and a fuzzy constraint model are constructed subject to the total cost and thickness of covering material by a triangular membership function. Lastly, the models are aimed at solving the corresponding extreme value interval of the fuzzy target of radon exhalation by immune genetic algorithm, to reconstruct the fuzzy target, fuzzy constraint, and fuzzy aggregation function, where, ultimately, the optimal radon control decision can be obtained by swarm intelligence algorithm subject to different levels between possibility and importance. An example demonstrates a database of optimal decision-making schemes for double-layer coverage, and flexible management of radioactive pollutants is realized.
Intrastromal Corneal Ring Segment Implantation in a Patient with the Bowman Layer Inlay Transplantation for Keratoconus
Authors: Ponces Ramalhão João , Mesquita Neves Miguel , Gomes Miguel , Oliveira Luís
Published: May 2023

Keratoconus (KC) is a bilateral ectatic corneal disease which results in changes in the corneal architecture and can lead to severe visual impairment. Treatment options depend on the stage of the disease, and they aim either at improving vision or arrest progression. The Bowman layer transplantation (BLT) is a recent surgical option in patients with KC and may postpone corneal transplantation in some patients. We present a case of a 22-year-old patient with a 10-year follow-up history of progressing KC. A first attempt for an intracorneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation when he was 13 years old was unsuccessful due to a superficially implanted segment. At that time, collagen cross-linking was unavailable, and his young age raised concerns about performing a penetrating keratoplasty/lamellar keratoplasty. A BLT was performed with further ICRS implantation with relative disease stability and visual improvement. ICRS implantation in KC patients with BLT has not previously been described in literature and can be an option in selected patients.
Schlafen 11 (SLFN11) Kills Cancer Cells Undergoing Unscheduled Re-replication
Authors: Murai Junko , Ceribelli Michele , Fu Haiqing , Redon Christophe E. , Jo Ukhyun , Murai Yasuhisa , Aladjem Mirit I. , Thomas Craig J. , Pommier Yves
Published: May 2023

Schlafen 11 (SLFN11) is an increasingly prominent predictive biomarker and a molecular sensor for a wide range of clinical drugs: topoisomerases, PARP and replication inhibitors, and platinum derivatives. To expand the spectrum of drugs and pathways targeting SLFN11, we ran a high-throughput screen with 1,978 mechanistically annotated, oncology-focused compounds in two isogenic pairs of SLFN11-proficient and -deficient cells (CCRF-CEM and K562). We identified 29 hit compounds that selectively kill SLFN11-proficient cells, including not only previously known DNA-targeting agents, but also the neddylation inhibitor pevonedistat (MLN-4924) and the DNA polymerase α inhibitor AHPN/CD437, which both induced SLFN11 chromatin recruitment. By inactivating cullin-ring E3 ligases, pevonedistat acts as an anticancer agent partly by inducing unscheduled re-replication through supraphysiologic accumulation of CDT1, an essential factor for replication initiation. Unlike the known DNA-targeting agents and AHPN/CD437 that recruit SLFN11 onto chromatin in 4 hours, pevonedistat recruited SLFN11 at late time points (24 hours). While pevonedistat induced unscheduled re-replication in SLFN11-deficient cells after 24 hours, the re-replication was largely blocked in SLFN11-proficient cells. The positive correlation between sensitivity to pevonedistat and SLFN11 expression was also observed in non-isogenic cancer cells in three independent cancer cell databases (NCI-60, CTRP: Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal and GDSC: Genomic of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer). The present study reveals that SLFN11 not only detects stressed replication but also inhibits unscheduled re-replication induced by pevonedistat, thereby enhancing its anticancer efficacy. It also suggests SLFN11 as a potential predictive biomarker for pevonedistat in ongoing and future clinical trials.
Supplementary Table S7 from EGFR Inhibition by Cetuximab Modulates Hypoxia and IFN Response Genes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Chaudhary Ritu , Slebos Robbert J.C. , Noel Leenil C. , Song Feifei , Poole Maria I. , Hoening Dirk S. , Hernandez-Prera Juan C. , Conejo-Garcia Jose R. , Guevara-Patino Jose A. , Wang Xuefeng , Xie Mengyu , Tan Aik Choon , Chung Christine H.
Published: May 2023

Supplementary Table S7. Core enriched genes in the TGF-β signaling
FIGURE 5 from EGFR Inhibition by Cetuximab Modulates Hypoxia and IFN Response Genes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Chaudhary Ritu , Slebos Robbert J.C. , Noel Leenil C. , Song Feifei , Poole Maria I. , Hoening Dirk S. , Hernandez-Prera Juan C. , Conejo-Garcia Jose R. , Guevara-Patino Jose A. , Wang Xuefeng , Xie Mengyu , Tan Aik Choon , Chung Christine H.
Published: May 2023

Cetuximab treatment benefits Hypoxia subgroup. A, Heatmap of gene expression data from pre- and post-cetuximab (CTX) treated patient samples. RNA expression data (GSE109756) was z-normalized, each row represents a single gene in the hypoxia-immune signature gene list, each column represents a patient sample. Hierarchical clustering was performed as detailed in Materials and Methods. Samples were reordered according to its molecular subgroup: Immune (blue), mixture (black), and Hypoxia (red) with pre-cetuximab treated samples labeled BC and post-cetuximab labeled OC. TIMEx scores for the Hypoxia gene signature among the 15 patients classified into the three subgroups (B) and GSEA comparing gene expression changes in the pre- and post-cetuximab data using CIBERSORT gene sets: higher in post-cetuximab (red) and higher in pre-ceuximab (blue) (C).
FIGURE 3 from EGFR Inhibition by Cetuximab Modulates Hypoxia and IFN Response Genes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Chaudhary Ritu , Slebos Robbert J.C. , Noel Leenil C. , Song Feifei , Poole Maria I. , Hoening Dirk S. , Hernandez-Prera Juan C. , Conejo-Garcia Jose R. , Guevara-Patino Jose A. , Wang Xuefeng , Xie Mengyu , Tan Aik Choon , Chung Christine H.
Published: May 2023

GSEA of hallmark pathways in TCGA and Moffitt cohorts. TCGA (A–C) and Moffitt head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (D–F) cohorts. The gene expressions were compared for pathways enriched in: (A, D) Immune versus Hypoxia. Red: enriched in Immune, Blue: enriched in Hypoxia. B and E, Immune versus Mixture. Red: enriched in Immune, Blue: enriched in Mixture. C and F, Hypoxia versus Mixture. Red: enriched in Hypoxia, Blue: enriched in Mixture. Indicated are the top 10 most differentially expressed pathways in Cancer Hallmarks gene sets. NES: Normalized enrichment score.
Higher Hospital Frailty Risk Score Is Associated With Increased Risk of Stroke: Observational and Genetic Analyses
Authors: Renedo Daniela , Acosta Julián N. , Koo Andrew B. , Rivier Cyprien , Sujijantarat Nanthiya , de Havenon Adam , Sharma Richa , Gill Thomas M. , Sheth Kevin N. , Falcone Guido J. , Matouk Charles C.
Published: May 2023

Background:

Frailty is a prevalent state associated with several aging-related traits and conditions. The relationship between frailty and stroke remains understudied. Here we aim to investigate whether the hospital frailty risk score (HFRS) is associated with the risk of stroke and determine whether a significant association between genetically determined frailty and stroke exists.

Design:

Observational study using data from
All of Us
research program and Mendelian Randomization analyses.

Methods:

Participants from
All of Us
with available electronic health records were selected for analysis.
All of Us
began national enrollment in 2018 and is expected to continue for at least 10 years.
All of Us
is recruiting members of groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in research. All participants provided informed consent at the time of enrollment, and the date of consent was recorded for each participant. Incident stroke was defined as stroke event happening on or after the date of consent to the
All of Us
study HFRS was measured with a 3-year look-back period before the date of consent for stroke risk. The HFRS was stratified into 4 categories: no-frailty (HFRS=0), low (HFRS ≥1 and <5), intermediate (≥5 and <15), and high (HFRS ≥15). Last, we implemented Mendelian Randomization analyses to evaluate whether genetically determined frailty is associated with stroke risk.

Results:

Two hundred fifty-three thousand two hundred twenty-six participants were at risk of stroke. In multivariable analyses, frailty status was significantly associated with risk of any (ischemic or hemorrhagic) stroke following a dose-response way: not-frail versus low HFRS (HR, 4.9 [CI, 3.5–6.8];
P
<0.001), not-frail versus intermediate HFRS (HR, 11.4 [CI, 8.3–15.7];
P
<0.001) and not-frail versus high HFRS (HR, 42.8 [CI, 31.2–58.6];
P
<0.001). We found similar associations when evaluating ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke separately (
P
value for all comparisons <0.05). Mendelian Randomization confirmed this association by indicating that genetically determined frailty was independently associated with risk of any stroke (OR, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.15–1.84];
P
=0.002).

Conclusions:

Frailty, based on the HFRS was associated with higher risk of any stroke. Mendelian Randomization analyses confirmed this association providing evidence to support a causal relationship.
Introduction to Tomás Maldonado's “The Abstract and the Concrete in Modern Art” and Alfredo Hlito's “Notes toward a Materialist Aesthetics”
Authors: Sullivan Megan A.
Published: May 2023

This introductory study analyzes two key texts from the short-lived Argentine collective, the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención (Association of Concrete Art-Invention, or AACI). Published in 1946 in the same issue of the group's official organ, they collectively theorize the “co-planar,” the AACI's key contribution to the history of abstract and concrete painting. While Maldonado's text offers a historical reconstruction of the genealogy of the co-planar as the culmination of modernist investigations of the plane and the problem of composition, Hlito's text outlines the understanding of Marxist materialism and dialectics that underpinned this particular take on the task of modernism.
A new species of Andean frog of the genus Phrynopus (Anura: Strabomantidae) from southeastern Peru
Authors: DÍAZ VLADIMIR , MAMANI LUIS , CATENAZZI ALESSANDRO
Published: May 2023

The Cordillera de los Andes is one of the most important regions for biodiversity. Among amphibians, many endemic species of terrestrial-breeding frogs have recently been discovered. Herein we describe Phrynopus sancristobali from the Andes of southeastern Peru based on molecular and morphological data. The new species is known from the ecotone between humid puna and montane forest at 3910 m a.s.l. on the left side of the Apurímac Valley in the Department of Ayacucho. The new species differs from congeners by having dorsum bearing pustules and light brown with dark brown reticulations surrounding the areolas, and coloration consisting of flanks golden brown with gray or dark brown marks, palms pale orange, soles deep orange, toes IV and V dark brown in dorsal and ventral view, belly cream to yellow with gray to light brown marks, and groin and throat deep orange. The snout-vent length (SVL) is 20.7 and 22.2 in two females, and 19.5 mm in one male. According to our phylogeny inferred using Maximum Likelihood with a concatenated dataset of three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, P. sancristobali is sister taxon of P. apumantarum, recently described from Department Huancavelica. Our description extends the known geographic range of Phrynopus 73 km to the south, and P. sancristobali is the only species in the genus known to occur south of the Mantaro River, whose deep valley is hypothesized to be a biogeographic barrier for high-Andean organisms. The discovery of P. sancristobali confirms the high levels of endemism and beta diversity of Phrynopus in the moist puna grasslands and montane forests of the high Andes of Peru, and suggests that further work will reveal the presence of additional species in southern Peru.
A review of soldier beetles of the genus Podistra Motschulsky, 1839 (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) of the Greater Caucasus, with the description of two new species
Authors: KAZANTSEV S.V.
Published: May 2023

Two new species of soldier beetles of the genus Podistra Motschulsky, 1839 are described from the vicinity of Mount Elbrus, Caucasus: P. (s. str.) elbrusensis sp. nov. and P. (s. str.) davidyani sp. nov. The total number of Podistra known in the Greater Caucasus is thus raised to seventeen. It is noted that, unlike other cantharids, most species of Podistra of the area are flightless and have reduced elytra either in females or in both sexes. Correlation between altitude and elytral length in Podistra, as well as distribution of the genus in the Greater Caucasus is discussed. A key to all species of this mountain range, with illustrations and a distribution map are provided.
Preconditioning and Intensification of Upstream Extratropical Cyclones through Surface Fluxes
Authors: Demirdjian Reuben , Doyle James D. , Finocchio Peter M. , Reynolds Carolyn A.
Published: May 2023

The influence of the surface latent and surface sensible heat flux on the development and interaction of an idealized extratropical cyclone (termed “primary”) with an upstream cyclone (termed “upstream”) using the Navy’s Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) is analyzed. The primary cyclone develops from an initial perturbation to a baroclinically unstable jet stream, while the upstream cyclone results from Rossby wave dispersion at the surface where a bottom-up style development occurs. The intensity of the upstream cyclone is strongly enhanced by surface latent heat fluxes and, to a lesser degree, by surface sensible heat fluxes. Forward trajectories initiated from the postfrontal sector of the primary cyclone travel south of the upstream anticyclone and feed into the atmospheric river and warm conveyor belt region of the upstream cyclone. Substantial moistening of this airstream is a result of upward surface latent heat flux present in both the primary cyclone’s postfrontal sector and along the southern flank of the anticyclone. Backward trajectories initiated from the same region show that these air parcels originate from a broad area north of both the anticyclone and the primary cyclone in the lower troposphere. The airstream identified represents a new pathway through which dry, descending air that is preconditioned through surface moistening enhances the development of an upstream cyclone through diabatically generated potential vorticity.
Constraint of Air–Sea Interaction Significant to Skillful Predictions of North Pacific Climate Variations
Authors: He Yujun , Wang Bin , Fang Jiabei , Yu Yongqiang , Li Lijuan , Liu Juanjuan , Dong Li , Pu Ye , Li Yiyuan , Xu Shiming , Liu Li , Lin Yanluan , Huang Wenyu , Huang Xiaomeng , Wang Yong , Liu Hongbo , Xia Kun
Published: May 2023

The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is the most dominant decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and has substantial global impacts. However, the interannual and decadal PDO prediction skills are not satisfactory, which may result from the failure of appropriately including the North Pacific midlatitude air–sea interaction (ASI) in the initialization for climate predictions. Here, we present a novel initialization method with a climate model to crack this nutshell and achieve successful PDO index predictions up to 10 years in advance. This approach incorporates oceanic observations under the constraint of ASI, thus obtaining atmospheric initial conditions (ICs) consistent with oceanic ICs. During predictions, positive atmospheric feedback to sea surface temperature changes and time-delayed negative ocean circulation feedback to the atmosphere over the North Pacific play essential roles in the high PDO index prediction skills. Our findings highlight a great potential of ASI constraints during initialization for skillful PDO predictions.

Significance Statement

The Pacific decadal oscillation is a prominent decadal climate variability over the North Pacific. However, accurately predicting the Pacific decadal oscillation remains a challenge. In this study, we use an advanced initialization method where the oceanic observations are incorporated into a climate model constrained by air–sea interactions. We can successfully predict the Pacific decadal oscillation up to 10 years in advance, which is hardly achieved by the state-of-the-art climate prediction systems. Our results suggest that the constraint of air–sea interaction during initialization is important to skillful predictions of the climate variability on decadal time scales.
Evaluating Contour Band Depth as a Method for Understanding Ensemble Uncertainty
Authors: Santer Henry , Poterjoy Jonathan , McCurry Joshua
Published: May 2023

Estimating and predicting the state of the atmosphere is a probabilistic problem for which an ensemble modeling approach often is taken to represent uncertainty in the system. Common methods for examining uncertainty and assessing performance for ensembles emphasize pointwise statistics or marginal distributions. However, these methods lose specific information about individual ensemble members. This paper explores contour band depth (cBD), a method of analyzing uncertainty in terms of contours of scalar fields. cBD is fully nonparametric and induces an ordering on ensemble members that leads to box-and-whisker-plot-type visualizations of uncertainty for two-dimensional data. By applying cBD to synthetic ensembles, we demonstrate that it provides enhanced information about the spatial structure of ensemble uncertainty. We also find that the usefulness of the cBD analysis depends on the presence of multiple modes and multiple scales in the ensemble of contours. Finally, we apply cBD to compare various convection-permitting forecasts from different ensemble prediction systems and find that the value it provides in real-world applications compared to standard analysis methods exhibits clear limitations. In some cases, contour boxplots can provide deeper insight into differences in spatial characteristics between the different ensemble forecasts. Nevertheless, identification of outliers using cBD is not always intuitive, and the method can be especially challenging to implement for flow that exhibits multiple spatial scales (e.g., discrete convective cells embedded within a mesoscale weather system).

Significance Statement

Predictions of Earth’s atmosphere inherently come with some degree of uncertainty owing to incomplete observations and the chaotic nature of the system. Understanding that uncertainty is critical when drawing scientific conclusions or making policy decisions from model predictions. In this study, we explore a method for describing model uncertainty when the quantities of interest are well represented by contours. The method yields a quantitative visualization of uncertainty in both the location and the shape of contours to an extent that is not possible with standard uncertainty quantification methods and may eventually prove useful for the development of more robust techniques for evaluating and validating numerical weather models.
Beyond Hans Island: The Canada–Denmark agreement's possible impact on mobility and continental shelves
Authors: Landriault Mathieu , Pic Pauline , Lasserre Frédéric
Published: May 2023

The governments of Canada and Denmark signed a historic agreement on Hans Island on 14 June 2022. Although most of the agreement was devoted to the resolution of the Hans Island dispute, it also settled other issues. We argue that provisions on mobility and the continental shelf in the Labrador Sea give rise to interesting precedents that could have far-reaching effects for northerners. The agreement on enhanced mobility could represent a first step in a more ambitious process of facilitating Inuit mobility across Nunavut and Greenland, while the settlement on the continental shelf illustrates how states could collaborate on other continental shelf cases, including the continental shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean.