bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Verification method for Chinese aviation radiotelephony readbacks based on LSTM‐RNN
Authors: Jia Guimin , Lu Yujun , Lu Weibing , Shi Yihua , Yang Jinfeng
Published: January 2017

Reading back of the instructions acquired by pilots through radiotelephony communication from air traffic controllers plays a very important role for civil aviation safety. Whereas the mistakes of readbacks are difficult to find out when the controller or the pilot is under great pressure, fatigue, tension etc. To solve this problem, the authors propose a novel semantic consistency verification method based on recurrent neural network with long short‐term memory structure (LSTM‐RNN) for Chinese radiotelephony readbacks. The actual Chinese civil aviation radiotelephony recordings are converted to textual format, and the semantic similarity is studied to verify whether the semantics is the same between the controller instructions and the pilot readbacks. The word‐based feature is extracted by one‐hot vector, and LSTM‐RNN is employed to build up a deep network architecture for producing high‐level sentence semantic abstraction of the initial input instructions and readbacks pairs. Cosine similarity is used to quantify the semantic similarity, and different classification methods are adopted to verify consistency in semantics. The experimental results show that the method is effective and provides a new scheme for the intelligent checking of aviation radiotelephony readbacks.
Improvements in steel cleanliness by tundish inertisation
Authors: Bannenberg N. , Harste K.
Published: January 2017

The liquid steel, in contact with the atmosphere during the casting, will pick-up oxygen and nitrogen ; its cleanliness will be spoiled.

It happens particularly on unsteady states such as ladle change or casting start. Completely closed tundishes previously argon flushed reduce this risk.

Tests have been performed at Dillingen to study results and conditions of this technology.
Antidiabetic Activity of Extract and Compounds from an Endophytic Fungus Nigrospora oryzae
Authors: Uzor Philip F. , Osadebe Patience O. , Nwodo Ngozi J.
Published: January 2017

The fungal extract as well as the 3 biosynthetic compounds, (S)-(+)-2-cis-4-trans-abscisic acid (1), , 7'-hydroxy-abscisic acid (2) and 4-des-hydroxyl altersolanol A (3) from the endophytic fungus, Nigrospora oryzae, isolated from Combretum dolichopetalum leaf were investigated for their antidiabetic potential.

The antidiabetic activity was determined in alloxan-induced diabetic mice by monitoring their fasting blood sugar for 9 h.

The extract and the compounds (1–3) significantly (p<0.001) reduced the fasting blood sugar of the diabetic mice.

The present study has shown that the biosynthetic products of the endophytic fungus, N. oryzae, exhibited strong antidiabetic activity. It has further shown that endophytic fungi could be an alternative source of novel compounds for management of diabetes.
The Laplace transformed divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (DEC-LT-RIMP2) theory method
Authors: Kjærgaard Thomas
Published: January 2017

The divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (DEC-RI-MP2) theory method introduced in Baudin et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 054102 (2016)] is significantly improved by introducing the Laplace transform of the orbital energy denominator in order to construct the double amplitudes directly in the local basis. Furthermore, this paper introduces the auxiliary reduction procedure, which reduces the set of the auxiliary functions employed in the individual fragments. The resulting Laplace transformed divide-expand-consolidate resolution of the identity second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation method is applied to the insulin molecule where we obtain a factor 9.5 speedup compared to the DEC-RI-MP2 method.
Structural and magnetic properties of ultra-thin Fe films on metal-organic chemical vapour deposited GaN(0001)
Authors: Kim Jun-Young , Ionescu Adrian , Mansell Rhodri , Farrer Ian , Oehler Fabrice , Kinane Christy J. , Cooper Joshaniel F. K. , Steinke Nina-Juliane , Langridge Sean , Stankiewicz Romuald , Humphreys Colin J. , Cowburn Russell P. , Holmes Stuart N. , Barnes Crispin H. W.
Published: January 2017

Structural and magnetic properties of 1–10 nm thick Fe films deposited on GaN(0001) were investigated. In-situ reflecting high energy electron diffraction images indicated a α-Fe(110)/GaN(0001) growth of the 3D Volmer-Weber type. The α-Fe(110) X-ray diffraction peak showed a 1° full-width at half-maximum, indicating ≈20 nm grain sizes. A significant reduction in Fe atomic moment from its bulk value was observed for films thinner than 4 nm. Both GaN/Fe interface roughness and Fe film coercivity increased with Fe thickness, indicating a possible deterioration of Fe crystalline quality. Magnetic anisotropy was mainly uniaxial for all films while hexagonal anisotropies appeared for thicknesses higher than 3.7 nm.
High energy-resolution x-ray spectroscopy at ultra-high dilution with spherically bent crystal analyzers of 0.5 m radius
Authors: Rovezzi Mauro , Lapras Christophe , Manceau Alain , Glatzel Pieter , Verbeni Roberto
Published: January 2017

We present the development, manufacturing, and performance of spherically bent crystal analyzers (SBCAs) of 100 mm diameter and 0.5 m bending radius. The elastic strain in the crystal wafer is partially released by a “strip-bent” method where the crystal wafer is cut into strips prior to the bending and the anodic bonding process. Compared to standard 1 m SBCAs, a gain in intensity is obtained without loss of energy resolution. The gain ranges between 2.5 and 4.5, depending on the experimental conditions and the width of the emission line measured. This reduces the acquisition times required to perform high energy-resolution x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy on ultra-dilute species, accessing concentrations of the element of interest down to, or below, the ppm (ng/mg) level.
Self-powered sensitive and stable UV-visible photodetector based on GdNiO3/Nb-doped SrTiO3 heterojunctions
Authors: Wang Le , Chang Lei , Yin Xinmao , You Lu , Zhao Jia-Li , Guo Haizhong , Jin Kuijuan , Ibrahim Kurash , Wang Jiaou , Rusydi Andrivo , Wang Junling
Published: January 2017

The properties of perovskite nickelates are very sensitive to their oxygen content, which allows us to tune their electronic structures by varying the oxygen partial pressure during film deposition. Under the optimized condition, we have obtained GdNiO3 films that are sensitive to a wide spectrum of light. By combining the GdNiO3 film with Nb-doped SrTiO3 to form a heterojunction, we design a self-powered photodetector with high sensitivity toward light with a wavelength between 650 nm and 365 nm. Under 365 nm illumination (50 μW/cm2), the device shows a responsivity of 0.23 A/W at 0 V bias, comparable to or even better than the ultraviolet photodetectors made of semiconductor materials such as GaN or ZnO. The photo-dark ratio can be close to 103 when the power light density reaches 0.6 mW/cm2. Moreover, the device performance is very stable without any decay after 6 months.
Metal-insulator transition in tin doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films: Quantum correction to the electrical conductivity
Authors: Kaushik Deepak Kumar , Kumar K. Uday , Subrahmanyam A.
Published: January 2017

Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films are being used extensively as transparent conductors in several applications. In the present communication, we report the electrical transport in DC magnetron sputtered ITO thin films (prepared at 300 K and subsequently annealed at 673 K in vacuum for 60 minutes) in low temperatures (25-300 K). The low temperature Hall effect and resistivity measurements reveal that the ITO thin films are moderately dis-ordered (kFl∼1; kF is the Fermi wave vector and l is the electron mean free path) and degenerate semiconductors. The transport of charge carriers (electrons) in these disordered ITO thin films takes place via the de-localized states. The disorder effects lead to the well-known ‘metal-insulator transition’ (MIT) which is observed at 110 K in these ITO thin films. The MIT in ITO thin films is explained by the quantum correction to the conductivity (QCC); this approach is based on the inclusion of quantum-mechanical interference effects in Boltzmann’s expression of the conductivity of the disordered systems. The insulating behaviour observed in ITO thin films below the MIT temperature is attributed to the combined effect of the weak localization and the electron-electron interactions.
Structures and spectroscopy of medium size protonated ammonia clusters at different temperatures, H+(NH3)10–16
Authors: Malloum Alhadji , Fifen Jean Jules , Dhaouadi Zoubeida , Nana Engo Serge Guy , Jaidane Nejm-Eddine
Published: January 2017

Structures of protonated ammonia clusters (H+(NH3)n) are very important for the determination of pKa’s and solvation energies of the proton in ammonia. In this work, their structures were investigated at M06-2X/6-31++g(d,p) level of theory, for n=10−16 and for temperatures ranging from 0 to 400 K. In the cluster community, this is the first theoretical study on the protonated ammonia clusters larger than the nonamer. We noted that the population of the investigated clusters is reproduced by branched cage or cage like structures at low temperatures, while branched linear and branched cyclic or branched double cyclic isomers are the only isomers responsible for the population at higher temperatures. In these isomers, the proton is highly and entirely solvated at the center of the cluster. In addition, protonated ammonia clusters are all Eigen structures and the first solvation shell of the related ammonium ion core is saturated by four ammonia molecules. Moreover, infrared (IR) spectra of all isomers have been investigated and these spectra show good agreement with the experiment. This allowed us to assign experimental peaks and to provide the constitution of the populations of the various clusters.
The mechanical response in a fluid of synthetic antiferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic microdiscs with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
Authors: Vemulkar T. , Welbourne E. N. , Mansell R. , Petit D. C. M. C. , Cowburn R. P.
Published: January 2017

In this article, we demonstrate the magneto-mechanic behavior in a fluid environment of perpendicularly magnetized microdiscs with antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling. When suspended in a fluid and under the influence of a simple uniaxial applied magnetic field sequence, the microdiscs mechanically rotate to access the magnetic saturation processes that are either that of the easy axis, hard axis, or in-between the two, in order to lower their energy. Further, these transitions enable the magnetic particles to form reconfigurable magnetic chains, and transduce torque from uniaxial applied fields. These microdiscs offer an attractive platform for the fabrication of fluid based micro- and nanodevices, and dynamically self assembled complex architectures.
Thickness-dependent dielectric breakdown and nanopore creation on sub-10-nm-thick SiN membranes in solution
Authors: Yanagi Itaru , Fujisaki Koji , Hamamura Hirotaka , Takeda Ken-ichi
Published: January 2017

Recently, dielectric breakdown of solid-state membranes in solution has come to be known as a powerful method for fabricating nanopore sensors. This method has enabled a stable fabrication of nanopores down to sub-2 nm in diameter, which can be used to detect the sizes and structures of small molecules. Until now, the behavior of dielectric breakdown for nanopore creation in SiN membranes with thicknesses of less than 10 nm has not been studied, while the thinner nanopore membranes are preferable for nanopore sensors in terms of spatial resolution. In the present study, the thickness dependence of the dielectric breakdown of sub-10-nm-thick SiN membranes in solution was investigated using gradually increased voltage pulses. The increment in leakage current through the membrane at the breakdown was found to become smaller with a decrease in the thickness of the membrane, which resulted in the creation of smaller nanopores. In addition, the electric field for dielectric breakdown drastically decreased when the thickness of the membrane was less than 5 nm. These breakdown behaviors are quite similar to those observed in gate insulators of metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. Finally, stable ionic-current blockades were observed when single-stranded DNA passed through the nanopores created on the membranes with thicknesses of 3–7 nm.
Conformational adaptation and manipulation of manganese tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrin molecules on Cu(111)
Authors: Chen Xianwen , Lei Shulai , Lotze Christian , Czekelius Constantin , Paulus Beate , Franke Katharina J.
Published: January 2017

Porphyrins are highly flexible molecules and well known to adapt to their local environment via conformational changes. We studied the self-assembly of manganese meso-tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrin (Mn-TPyP) molecules on a Cu(111) surface by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (ATM). We observe molecular chains along the ⟨11¯0⟩ direction of the substrate. Within these chains, we identify two molecular conformations, which differ by the orientation of the upward bending of the macrocycle. Using density functional theory, we show that this saddle shape is a consequence of the rotation and inclination of the pyridyl groups towards Cu adatoms, which stabilize the metal-organic chains. The molecular conformations obey a strict alternation, reflecting the mutual enforcement of conformational adaptation in densely packed structures. Tunneling electrons from the STM tip can induce changes in the orientation of the pyridyl endgroups. The switching behaviour varies with the different adsorption configurations.
Two-stream instability assessment of fast ignition driven by quasi-monoenergetic ions
Authors: Khoshbinfar Soheil
Published: January 2017

During the past decade, the generation of energetic ion beams by high-intensity laser-plasma interactions has attracted much interest due to their many applications in high energy density physics and fast ignition. The interaction of the energetic beam with the pre-compressed DT plasma may be accompanied by micro-instabilities along normal and parallel to the beam direction. In application of ions heavier than hydrogen isotopes in fast ignition, we expect that the number of required ions reduces considerably. Here, we present a one-dimensional relativistic beam-plasma instability formulation to investigate the stabilization mode of a flow aligned two-stream instability spectrum where both cold-fluid and kinetic linear theory results are reported. In the latter, the saddle point expansion of the relativistic drift-Maxwellian distribution was applied. The stabilization mode was then extracted by using the Nyquist method. We have also restricted our stability analyses to quasi-monoenergetic ion beams of type Li3+, C6+, Al13+, and V23+ with optimal energies of 140 MeV, 450 MeV, 2.2 GeV, and 5.5 GeV, respectively, proposed by numerical simulations in fast ignition [Honrubia et al. Laser Part. Beams 32, 419 (2014)]. The stable mode is attained by two free system parameters, i.e., beam/plasma density ratio, α, and background plasma temperature, Tp. In the case of low Zb ions, by different degree levels, both parameters push the system to complete stability. However, in the case of high Zb ions, complete stabilization is achieved just through few orders of magnitude lower α. It has also been shown that in complete stabilization of the system, the α parameter scales as an inverse square of ions' atomic number, ∝Zb−2.
Nanoscale η-NiSi formation via ion irradiation of Si/Ni/Si
Authors: Banu Nasrin , Satpati Biswarup , Bhukta Anjan , Dev B. N.
Published: January 2017

Nickel monosilicide (NiSi) has emerged as an excellent material of choice for source-drain contact applications below 45 nm node complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. We have investigated the formation of nanoscale NiSi by ion irradiation of Si (∼5 nm)/Ni(∼15 nm)/Si, grown in an ultrahigh vacuum environment. Irradiation was carried out at room temperature with 1 MeV Si+ ions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed for analysis. With increasing ion fluence, ion beam mixing occurs and more and more Si is incorporated into the Ni layer, and this layer gets amorphized. At an even higher fluence, a recrystallized uniform nickel monosilicide (η-NiSi) layer is formed. Several planar spacings of different Miller indices of η-NiSi have been observed in XRD and TEM. Additionally, an interesting amorphization and recrystallization behavior has been observed in the substrate Si with increasing ion fluence. To our knowledge, this has never been observed in ion irradiation of bare Si in decades of work in this area. This kind of amorphization/recrystallization in Si is apparently Ni-induced. Irradiation displaces Ni and produces a distribution of Ni in amorphized Si. Irradiation at a higher fluence produces two recrystallized Si bands in amorphous Si with concomitant accumulation of Ni at the amorphous/crystalline interfaces. On a further increase in irradiation fluence, the recrystallized Si bands again pass through amorphization and recrystallization. The total thickness of recrystallized, as well as amorphous Si, shows an oscillatory behavior as a function of ion fluence.
Optically thin hybrid cavity for terahertz photo-conductive detectors
Authors: Thompson R. J. , Siday T. , Glass S. , Luk T. S. , Reno J. L. , Brener I. , Mitrofanov O.
Published: January 2017

The efficiency of photoconductive (PC) devices, including terahertz detectors, is constrained by the bulk optical constants of PC materials. Here, we show that optical absorption in a PC layer can be modified substantially within a hybrid cavity containing nanoantennas and a Distributed Bragg Reflector. We find that a hybrid cavity, consisting of a GaAs PC layer of just 50 nm, can be used to absorb >75% of incident photons by trapping the light within the cavity. We provide an intuitive model, which describes the dependence of the optimum operation wavelength on the cavity thickness. We also find that the nanoantenna size is a critical parameter, small variations of which lead to both wavelength shifting and reduced absorption in the cavity, suggesting that impedance matching is key for achieving efficient absorption in the optically thin hybrid cavities.
Thermodynamics of impurity-enhanced vacancy formation in metals
Authors: Bukonte Laura , Ahlgren Tommy , Heinola Kalle
Published: January 2017

Hydrogen induced vacancy formation in metals and metal alloys has been of great interest during the past couple of decades. The main reason for this phenomenon, often referred to as the superabundant vacancy formation, is the lowering of vacancy formation energy due to the trapping of hydrogen. By means of thermodynamics, we study the equilibrium vacancy formation in fcc metals (Pd, Ni, Co, and Fe) in correlation with the H amounts. The results of this study are compared and found to be in good agreement with experiments. For the accurate description of the total energy of the metal–hydrogen system, we take into account the binding energies of each trapped impurity, the vibrational entropy of defects, and the thermodynamics of divacancy formation. We demonstrate the effect of vacancy formation energy, the hydrogen binding, and the divacancy binding energy on the total equilibrium vacancy concentration. We show that the divacancy fraction gives the major contribution to the total vacancy fraction at high H fractions and cannot be neglected when studying superabundant vacancies. Our results lead to a novel conclusion that at high hydrogen fractions, superabundant vacancy formation takes place regardless of the binding energy between vacancies and hydrogen. We also propose the reason of superabundant vacancy formation mainly in the fcc phase. The equations obtained within this work can be used for any metal–impurity system, if the impurity occupies an interstitial site in the lattice.
Magnetization reversal behavior and magnetocaloric effect in SmCr0.85Mn0.15O3 chromites
Authors: Kumar Surendra , Coondoo Indrani , Vasundhara M. , Patra Ajit K. , Kholkin Andrei L. , Panwar Neeraj
Published: January 2017

We have synthesized SmCr0.85Mn0.15O3 (SCMO) chromites through the ceramic route. The compound crystallized into a distorted orthorhombic structure with the Pnma space group, which was confirmed from the Rietveld refinement of x-ray powder diffraction patterns. Neel temperature, noticed at 168 K from the temperature variation of magnetisation, smaller than that reported for SmCrO3, indicated the influence of Mn3+ substitution on decreasing the antiferromagnetic ordering. A phenomenon of magnetization reversal was observed in the SCMO compound. At low magnetic fields, i.e., 500 Oe, a single compensation temperature (defined as the temperature where magnetization became zero) around 106 K was observed in the field cooled magnetization curve. However, with the application of higher magnetic fields, i.e., under an applied field of 1000 Oe, a second compensation temperature was noticed around 8 K. With a further increase in the magnetic field, the magnetization remained positive in both field cooled and zero field cooled protocols. A normal magnetocaloric effect was observed through an indirect method of field dependence of magnetisation measured in the temperature range of 2–152 K. The magnetic entropy change (−ΔS) of ∼11.36 J kg−1 K−1 along with the relative cooling power (RCP) of ∼175.89 J kg−1 was obtained in the temperature range of 10–20 K for an applied field of 90 kOe, and their values at 50 kOe applied field were, respectively, almost twenty and forty times larger in magnitude in comparison to those for the SmCrO3 compound. The relatively large values of ΔS and RCP make the studied compound a potential candidate for magnetic refrigeration applications at low temperatures.
Spatial mapping of spin pumping from magnetic insulator
Authors: Takemasa Rieko , Tateno Yuma , Ando Kazuya
Published: January 2017

We demonstrate the spatial mapping of the spin pumping from a magnetic insulator, yttrium iron garnet (YIG), using the inverse spin Hall effect. The inverse spin Hall effect in thin Pt wires placed on a YIG film enables local detection of the spin-current emission from the insulator, revealing spatially nonuniform spin pumping at various microwave excitation frequencies. We found that the spatial variation of the spin pumping is sensitive to the wavelength of the magnons responsible for the spin pumping as well as the thickness of the magnetic insulator. These findings provide an important information for studying spintronic phenomena in metal/insulator bilayers.
Communication: Improved ab initio molecular dynamics by minimally biasing with experimental data
Authors: White Andrew D. , Knight Chris , Hocky Glen M. , Voth Gregory A.
Published: January 2017

Accounting for electrons and nuclei simultaneously is a powerful capability of ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD). However, AIMD is often unable to accurately reproduce properties of systems such as water due to inaccuracies in the underlying electronic density functionals. This shortcoming is often addressed by added empirical corrections and/or increasing the simulation temperature. We present here a maximum-entropy approach to directly incorporate limited experimental data via a minimal bias. Biased AIMD simulations of water and an excess proton in water are shown to give significantly improved properties both for observables which were biased to match experimental data and for unbiased observables. This approach also yields new physical insight into inaccuracies in the underlying density functional theory as utilized in the unbiased AIMD.
Improved numerical solutions for chaotic-cancer-model
Authors: Yasir Muhammad , Ahmad Salman , Ahmed Faizan , Aqeel Muhammad , Akbar Muhammad Zubair
Published: January 2017

In biological sciences, dynamical system of cancer model is well known due to its sensitivity and chaoticity. Present work provides detailed computational study of cancer model by counterbalancing its sensitive dependency on initial conditions and parameter values. Cancer chaotic model is discretized into a system of nonlinear equations that are solved using the well-known Successive-Over-Relaxation (SOR) method with a proven convergence. This technique enables to solve large systems and provides more accurate approximation which is illustrated through tables, time history maps and phase portraits with detailed analysis.
Minimum film-boiling quench temperature increase by CuO porous-microstructure coating
Authors: Kang Jun-young , Lee Gi Cheol , Kaviany Massoud , Park Hyun Sun , Moriyama Kiyofumi , Kim Moo Hwan
Published: January 2017

Increase in the minimum film-boiling quench temperature, TMFB, is achieved with microstructured CuO particles, and attributed to local cooling (fin effect) by the microstructure causing liquid–solid contact. A periodic structure is obtained using electrochemical deposition of 1 μm diameter particles on brass sphere diameter 15 mm forming unit-cell porous cones of average height L = 100 μm and base diameter D = 20 μm. Fin analysis predicts the cone tip cooling to the homogeneous nucleation temperature of water (∼330 °C), while the base temperature is at 600 °C. This causes liquid–solid contact during quenching, and analysis suggests the fin effective thermal conductivity ⟨k⟩ and fin characteristic length L2/D are key to this liquid–solid contact that influences TMFB.
Accuracy analysis of structure with nearby interfaces within XFEM
Authors: Duan Nana , Xu Weijie , Wang Shuhong , Zhu Jianguo
Published: January 2017

This paper presents the fundamental principle of the extended finite element method (XFEM) for electromagnetic field analysis. The accuracy analysis of structure with nearby interfaces within XFEM is presented. A numerical example applied to the parallel plate electrodes in 1-D static electric field is provided. Two types of meshing are used to analyse the accuracy of the meshing where the support of the enriched node are cut by more than one interface.
Electrical properties of Si-doped GaN prepared using pulsed sputtering
Authors: Arakawa Yasuaki , Ueno Kohei , Imabeppu Hideyuki , Kobayashi Atsushi , Ohta Jitsuo , Fujioka Hiroshi
Published: January 2017

In this study, we investigated the basic electrical properties of Si-doped wurtzite GaN films prepared using a low-temperature pulsed sputtering deposition (PSD) process. We found that the electron concentration can be controlled in the range between 1.5 × 1016 and 2.0 × 1020 cm−3. For lightly Si-doped GaN ([Si] = 2.1 × 1016 cm−3), the room temperature (RT) electron mobility was as high as 1008 cm2 V−1 s−1, which was dominantly limited by polar optical phonon scattering. Moreover, we found that heavily Si-doped GaN prepared using PSD exhibited an RT mobility as high as 110 cm2 V−1 s−1 at an electron concentration of 2 × 1020 cm−3, which indicated that the resistivity of this film was almost as small as those of typical transparent conductive oxides such as indium tin oxide. At lower temperatures, the electron mobility increased to 1920 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 136 K, and the temperature dependence was well explained by conventional scattering models. These results indicate that Si-doped GaN prepared using PSD is promising not only for the fabrication of GaN-based power devices but also for use as epitaxial transparent electrode materials for nitride based optical devices.
Heat-induced masculinization in domesticated zebrafish is family-specific and yields a set of different gonadal transcriptomes
Authors: Ribas Laia , Liew Woei Chang , Díaz Noèlia , Sreenivasan Rajini , Orbán László , Piferrer Francesc
Published: January 2017

Significance

Fish exhibit remarkable sexual plasticity. However, the underlying mechanism of heat-induced sex reversal is still unclear. Here we first established the conditions for heat-induced reprogramming of sexual phenotypes in zebrafish through sex ratio analysis and gonad transcriptomics. Sex ratio response to heat was family-specific and resulted in masculinization. We observed two heat-induced gonadal transcriptomic profiles per sex in adults, among them neomales and, strikingly, females with an ovary but a “male-like” transcriptome. The latter indicates major transcriptomic reprogramming with preserved organ structure, an interesting observation in vertebrates. In all heat-treated juveniles, we also observed a male-like transcriptome. Overall, this study reveals novel lasting thermal effects on fish gonads, with practical implications for studying the effects of global warming in natural populations.
Reconciling fisheries catch and ocean productivity
Authors: Stock Charles A. , John Jasmin G. , Rykaczewski Ryan R. , Asch Rebecca G. , Cheung William W. L. , Dunne John P. , Friedland Kevin D. , Lam Vicky W. Y. , Sarmiento Jorge L. , Watson Reg A.
Published: January 2017

Significance

Phytoplankton provide the energy that sustains marine fish populations. The relationship between phytoplankton productivity and fisheries catch, however, is complicated by uncertainty in catch estimates, fishing effort, and marine food web dynamics. We enlist global data sources and a high-resolution earth system model to address these uncertainties. Results show that cross-ecosystem fisheries catch differences far exceeding differences in phytoplankton production can be reconciled with fishing effort and variations in marine food web structure and energy transfer efficiency. Food web variations explaining contemporary fisheries catch act to amplify projected catch trends under climate change, suggesting catch changes that may exceed a factor of 2 for some regions. Failing to account for this would hinder adaptation to climate change.
Direct measurement of sequence-dependent transition path times and conformational diffusion in DNA duplex formation
Authors: Neupane Krishna , Wang Feng , Woodside Michael T.
Published: January 2017

Significance

The transition path time in folding reactions—the time required to cross through the high-energy transition states—offers a powerful tool for studying folding mechanisms because it is uniquely sensitive to the microscopic motions along the transition paths that dominate the folding dynamics. We used transition path times to probe helix formation in nucleic acids and elucidate differences between the formation of canonical G:C and A:T base pairs. Stem-loop hairpins of the same size but increased G:C content had faster transition path times, revealing that the conformational diffusion coefficient determining the timescale for molecular dynamics was higher for formation of G:C base pairs than A:T base pairs. Such sequence dependence, not previously observed, reflects differences in the internal friction for reconfiguring the bases.
Drosophila
larvae synthesize the putative oncometabolite L-2-hydroxyglutarate during normal developmental growth
Authors: Li Hongde , Chawla Geetanjali , Hurlburt Alexander J. , Sterrett Maria C. , Zaslaver Olga , Cox James , Karty Jonathan A. , Rosebrock Adam P. , Caudy Amy A. , Tennessen Jason M.
Published: January 2017

Significance

Oncometabolites are small molecules that promote tumor formation and growth. L-2-hydroxyglutarate (L-2HG) is a putative oncometabolite that is associated with gliomas and renal cell carcinomas, as well as a severe neurometabolic disorder known as L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria. However, despite that L-2HG is commonly considered a metabolic waste product, this compound was recently discovered to control immune cell fate, thereby demonstrating that it has endogenous functions in healthy animal cells. Here, we find that the fruit fly,
Drosophila melanogaster
, also synthesizes high concentrations of L-2HG during normal larval growth. Our discovery establishes the fly as a genetic model for studying this putative oncometabolite in healthy animal tissues.
High-precision radiocarbon dating of political collapse and dynastic origins at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala
Authors: Inomata Takeshi , Triadan Daniela , MacLellan Jessica , Burham Melissa , Aoyama Kazuo , Palomo Juan Manuel , Yonenobu Hitoshi , Pinzón Flory , Nasu Hiroo
Published: January 2017

Significance

Tracing political change through refined chronologies is a critical step for the study of social dynamics. Whereas coarse chronologies can give an impression of gradual change, better temporal control may reveal multiple episodes of rapid disruption comprised in that span. Precise dating through radiocarbon determinations and ceramic studies is particularly important for the study of the Preclassic collapse, which lacks calendrical dates recorded in texts. The high-precision chronology of Ceibal revealed waves of decline over the course of the Preclassic and Classic collapses in a temporal resolution that was not possible before. The emerging understanding of similarities and differences in the two cases of collapse provides an important basis for evaluating the vulnerability and resilience of Maya political systems.
Sex-specific gene–environment interactions underlying ASD-like behaviors
Authors: Schaafsma Sara M. , Gagnidze Khatuna , Reyes Anny , Norstedt Natalie , Månsson Karl , Francis Kerel , Pfaff Donald W.
Published: January 2017

Significance

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) comprise a heterogeneous set of neurodevelopmental disorders. Although hundreds of genes have now been identified to be associated with ASD, genetic factors cannot fully explain ASD’s incidence. The early environment is now known to be pivotal in ASD’s etiology too. In the face of this complexity, one aspect of ASD has stood out constantly as a causative biological factor: the sex difference. Approximately 80% of the children diagnosed are boys. This current set of experiments tests, in an animal model, the “three-hit theory of autism,” which states that interactions among (
i
) being male, (
ii
) suffering early (especially, prenatal/immunological) stress, and (
iii
) having certain genetic mutations will predispose to an ASD diagnosis.
The Story of Zero
Authors: Givón T.
Published: January 2017

The zero coding of referents or other clausal constituents is one of the most natural, communicatively and cognitively-transparent grammatical devices in human language. Together with its functional equivalent, obligatory pronominal agreement, zero is both extremely widespread cross-linguistically and highly frequent in natural text. In the domain of reference, zero represents, somewhat paradoxically, either anaphorically-governed high continuity or cataphorically-governed low topicality. And whether in conjoined/chained or syntactically-subordinate clauses, zero is extremely well-governed, at a level approaching 100% in natural text. The naturalness, cross-language ubiquity and well-governedness of zero have been largely obscured by an approach that, for 30-odd years, has considered it a typological exotica, the so-called "pro-drop" associated with a dubious "non-configurational" language type. The main aim of this book is to reaffirm the naturalness, universality and well-governedness of zero by studying it from four closely related perspectives: (i) cognitive and communicative function; (ii) natural-text distribution; (iii) cross-language typological distribution; and (iv) the diachronic rise of referent coding devices. The latter is particularly central to our understanding the functional interplay between zero anaphora, pronominal agreement and related referent-coding devices.
Muslim-Christian Polemics and Scriptural Translation in Safavid Iran: ᶜAli-Qoli Jadid al-Eslām and his Interlocutors
Authors: Tiburcio Alberto
Published: January 2017

This article explores the work of ᶜAli-Qoli Jadid al-Eslām (d. circa 1722), a Portuguese Augustinian missionary who embraced Islam during in the late seventeenth century. This investigation situates the work of this author within the social, political, and intellectual context of the late Safavid period. It traces the genealogy of his work as a response to the Jesuit missionary Jerome Xavier (d. 1617) and the Italian scholar Filippo Guadagnoli (d. 1656). The article examines how ᶜAli-Qoli’s production fits within the genre of dalā’il al-nubuwwah, whereby the Bible is used as “proof” of the validity of Islam. It also analyzes the author’s use of common tropes of polemical literature, mainly that of accusing Christian scholars of practicing taḥrīf or scriptural tampering.
The Misunderstood Striped Bass of the Saint John River, New Brunswick: Past, Present, and Future
Authors: Andrews S. N. , Linnansaari T. , Curry R. A. , Dadswell M. J.
Published: January 2017

The Striped Bass Morone saxatilis of the Saint John River, New Brunswick, is an enigma, having now existed in a state of uncertain species status for more than four decades. Despite a well-established historical record of adult occurrence in large numbers, the available literature, historical accounts, and status reports contain no evidence for the persistence of a native, reproducing Striped Bass population. In 2012, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed the Saint John River Striped Bass as endangered as part of the Bay of Fundy designatable unit. This listing lacked current peer-reviewed literature and based its conclusions predominately on restatements of findings and opinions from the 1970s and 1980s. After the apparent failure of Striped Bass spawning in the 1975, the decline of native Saint John River Striped Bass was accredited to many factors ranging from chemical pollutants to overfishing to the installation of a sizeable hydropower facility. Modest attempts to locate eggs and juveniles of the native species have been taken; however, the results have been inconclusive due to ineffective, infrequent, and poorly timed sampling. Here we reviewed all available information, literature, reports, and data to effectively describe the Saint John River Striped Bass population in an effort to help manage and recover (if required) this apparently missing population.

Received March 8, 2016; accepted September 14, 2016Published online January 24, 2017
Airflow resistance measurement for a layer of granular material based on the Helmholtz resonance phenomenon
Authors: Nishizu Takahisa , Tomatsu Eiji , Katsuno Nakako
Published: January 2017

A Helmholtz resonance technique was employed to predict the airflow resistance of layers of granular materials, namely glass beads, brown rice, soybean, adzuki beans, and corn kernels. Each granular sample was placed on the tube mouth of an open-type Helmholtz resonator. The resonant frequency was determined by measuring the electric impedance of a loudspeaker that was installed in the resonator and driven by a chirp signal linearly sweeping from 90 to 220 Hz for 6.0 s. For a changing sample layer thickness, the resonant frequency was measured, and the specific airflow resistance was calculated by measuring the static pressure drop required for N2 gas to flow through the layer at a constant velocity of 0.042 m/s. When the thickness of the layer was fixed, the Helmholtz resonant frequency decreased as the specific airflow resistance increased, regardless of the kind of granular material.
Smoking May Increase Postoperative Opioid Consumption in Patients Who Underwent Distal Gastrectomy With Gastroduodenostomy for Early Stomach Cancer
Authors: Kim Doo Hwan , Park Jun Young , Karm Myong-Hwan , Bae Heon-Yong , Lee Jae-Young , Soo Ahn Ho , Lee Kunhee , Leem Jeong Gil
Published: January 2017

Objectives:

Although nicotine has an analgesic effect, the incidence and severity of chronic pain is higher in smokers than nonsmokers. Acute pain is more intense in smokers during the perioperative period. This study evaluated whether smokers require higher doses of opioid to reduce pain when they undergo surgery.

Methods:

A retrospective review of 236 patients who had intravenous patient-controlled analgesia after distal gastrectomy with gastroduodenostomy between October 2013 and September 2014 was performed to analyze the difference in postoperative opioid requirements between smokers and nonsmokers. Total opioid consumption was observed from the day of operation to postoperative day 2. Patients were grouped into smokers (N=117) and nonsmokers (N=119) for comparison. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of postoperative opioid requirements.

Results:

Opioid consumption by male smokers was higher than nonsmokers. Multiple regression analysis showed that age, smoking, and amount of intraoperative remifentanil were the only significant factors for postoperative opioid requirements.

Discussion:

Our results suggest that smokers undergoing distal gastrectomy with gastroduodenostomy required more opioid than nonsmokers for postoperative pain. Old age, smoking status, and increment of remifentanil use seemed to be predictors of postoperative opioid consumption.
Epidermolytic Ichthyosis Sine Epidermolysis
Authors: Eskin-Schwartz Marina , Drozhdina Marianna , Sarig Ofer , Gat Andrea , Jackman Tomer , Isakov Ofer , Shomron Noam , Samuelov Liat , Malchin Natalia , Peled Alon , Vodo Dan , Hovnanian Alain , Ruzicka Thomas , Koshkin Sergei , Harmon Robert M. , Koetsier Jennifer L. , Green Kathleen J. , Paller Amy S. , Sprecher Eli
Published: January 2017

Epidermolytic ichthyosis (EI) is a rare disorder of cornification caused by mutations in KRT1 and KRT10, encoding two suprabasal epidermal keratins. Because of the variable clinical features and severity of the disease, histopathology is often required to correctly direct the molecular analysis. EI is characterized by hyperkeratosis and vacuolar degeneration of the upper epidermis, also known as epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, hence the name of the disease. In the current report, the authors describe members of 2 families presenting with clinical features consistent with EI. The patients were shown to carry classical mutations in KRT1 or KRT10, but did not display epidermolytic changes on histology. These observations underscore the need to remain aware of the limitations of pathological features when considering a diagnosis of EI.
Malignancy risk of sonographically benign appearing purely solid adnexal masses in asymptomatic postmenopausal women
Authors: Alcazar Juan Luis , Pascual Maria Angela , Marquez Reyes , Ajossa Silvia , Juez Leire , Graupera Betlem , Piras Alba , Hereter Lourdes , Guerriero Stefano
Published: January 2017

Objective:

To assess the natural history of benign appearing purely solid ovarian lesions in asymptomatic postmenopausal women.

Methods:

Retrospective observational cohort study comprising 99 women (mean age, 58.2 years, ranging from 50 to 77 years) diagnosed as having a purely solid ovarian lesion at transvaginal ultrasound between April 2001 and October 2015. Inclusion criteria were as follows: asymptomatic postmenopausal women with a well-defined purely solid ovarian lesion with International Ovarian Tumor Analysis color score 1 or 2, without ascites and/or signs of carcinomatosis. Clinical, sonographic, biochemical (CA-125), and histologic data (in case of surgery) were retrieved for analysis. Patients who were managed conservatively were assessed by transvaginal sonography every 6 months for a minimum of a year. In case of bilateral lesions we used the largest one for analysis.

Results:

Five women (5.1%) had bilateral lesions. Mean size of the lesion was 2.9 cm (range, 1.0-7.8 cm). Most lesions were homogeneous (96.0%). Acoustic shadowing was present in 59.6% of cases. International Ovarian Tumor Analysis color score was 1 in 77.8% and 2 in 22.2% of the cases, respectively. Median CA-125 was 10.8 IU/mL (range, 3.0-403.0 IU/mL). Forty-two women underwent surgery after diagnosis (histologic diagnoses were as follows: fibroma (n = 26), fibrothecoma (n = 5), dermoid (n = 3), Brenner tumor (n = 3), endometrioma (n = 2), thecoma (n = 1), primary invasive cancer (n = 2). One case of invasive cancer CA-125 was 403.0 IU/mL and in the other case CA-125 was 6.0 IU/mL. They both were stage 1. Fifty-seven women were managed with serial follow-up. With a median follow-up time of 36 months (range, 12-142 months) all these lesions had no change and women remain asymptomatic. Considering all 99 cases the risk of malignancy is 2% (95% CI, 0.1-7.5).

Conclusions:

The risk of malignancy of benign appearing purely solid adnexal masses in asymptomatic postmenopausal women is low. Conservative management of these lesions might be an option.
Genetic variants of age at menopause are not related to timing of ovarian failure in breast cancer survivors
Authors: Homer Michael V. , Charo Lindsey M. , Natarajan Loki , Haunschild Carolyn , Chung Karine , Mao Jun J. , DeMichele Angela M. , Su H. Irene
Published: January 2017

Objective:

To determine if interindividual genetic variation in single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to age at natural menopause is associated with risk of ovarian failure in breast cancer survivors.

Methods:

A prospective cohort of 169 premenopausal breast cancer survivors recruited at diagnosis with stages 0 to III disease were followed longitudinally for menstrual pattern via self-reported daily menstrual diaries. Participants were genotyped for 13 SNPs previously found to be associated with age at natural menopause:EXO1,TLK1,HELQ,UIMC1,PRIM1,POLG,TMEM224,BRSK1, andMCM8. A risk variable summed the total number of risk alleles in each participant. The association between individual genotypes, and also the risk variable, and time to ovarian failure (>12 months of amenorrhea) was tested using time-to-event methods.

Results:

Median age at enrollment was 40.5 years (range 20.6-46.1). The majority of participants were white (69%) and underwent chemotherapy (76%). Thirty-eight participants (22%) experienced ovarian failure. None of the candidate SNPs or the summary risk variable was significantly associated with time to ovarian failure. Sensitivity analysis restricted to whites or only to participants receiving chemotherapy yielded similar findings. Older age, chemotherapy exposure, and lower body mass index were related to shorter time to ovarian failure.

Conclusions:

Thirteen previously identified genetic variants associated with time to natural menopause were not related to timing of ovarian failure in breast cancer survivors.
Minimally Invasive Myomectomy
Authors: FLYCKT REBECCA , COYNE KATHRYN , FALCONE TOMMASO
Published: January 2017

Uterine fibroids can significantly impact a woman’s health, fertility, and quality of life. When medical therapy fails, surgery is recommended; the gold standard in uterine-sparing surgery is myomectomy. The evidence-based benefits of minimally invasive myomectomy are detailed in this manuscript. Minimally invasive myomectomy techniques are reviewed, including laparoscopic, robotic-assisted, and laparoscopic or robotic-assisted with mini-laparotomy. Criteria for minimally invasive myomectomy are outlined and preoperative planning is discussed. Both institutional data and data from systematic reviews are included to compare outcomes. Each myomectomy case should take into account clinical characteristics of the myomas, patient preference, and surgeon skill and experience.