bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simple Synthesis of Substituted 3-Hydroxyfuran-2(5H)-ones
Authors: Lisovenko Natalya Yu. , Nasibullina Ekaterina R. , Kharitonova Svetlana S. , Myshkina Olga A.
Published: January 2021

A convenient and facile approach to functionalized 4-substituted 3,5-dihydroxy-5-(trichloromethyl)furan-2(5H)-ones was developed. This method is based on regioselective synthesis of novel furan-2,3-diones containing the trichloromethyl group and subsequent hydrolysis. The structures of compounds were unambiguously confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.
Impact of Computerized Prescription on Medication Errors and Workflow Efficiency in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quasi-Experimental Three-Phase Study
Authors: Daher Amirah , Badran Eman F. , Al-Lawama Manar , Al-Taee Anas , Makahleh Layla , Jabaiti Mohammad , Murtaji Amer , Bsou Abla , Salah Haneen , Tanash Asma , Al-Taee Majid
Published: January 2021

Background Neonates are highly vulnerable to preventable medication errors due to their extensive exposure to medications in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). These errors, which can be made by medical, nursing, or pharmacy personnel, are costly and can be life-threatening. This study aimed to investigate the newly developed computerized neonatal pharmaceutical health care system (NPHCS) in terms of its ability to (1) minimize neonatal medication prescription errors (NMPEs) and (2) improve workflow efficiency compared with the traditional manual prescribing approach.

Methods A computerized neonatal medication prescription system was designed, developed, and tested successfully through a pilot clinical trial for over 6 months in 100 neonates. A three phase quasi-experimental study was then conducted using standardized monitoring checklists for the assessment of NMPEs before and after utilization of the developed prescribing system.

Results The obtained result showed a high rate of NMPEs in both systems, especially for the antibiotic drug group. However, the use of newly developed NPHCS significantly improved workflow efficacy. The identified errors were significantly more common in the manual mode than in the computerized mode (158.8 vs. 55 per 100 medications). These errors were distributed among different categories, including the documentation of patient identity, birth weight, and gestational age, as well as statements of dose, unit, interval, and diagnosis. Analysis of variance across different categories showed a p-value of <0.05.

Conclusion The use of the computerized NPHCS improved patient safety in NICUs by decreasing NMPEs. It also significantly reduced the time required for dose calculation, prescription generation, and electronic documentation of medical records, compared with the traditional handwritten approach.
Who Wants to Farm? Answers Depend on How You Ask: A Case Study on Youth Aspirations in Kenya
Authors: LaRue Katie , Daum Thomas , Mausch Kai , Harris Dave
Published: January 2021

While there is a consensus that rural poverty has to be reduced, there are two opposing views on the role that agriculture can play in this regard: a “farm-based” and an “off-farm led” development paradigm where the respective other sector is merely a complementary income source during a transition period. The latter paradigm is supported by studies finding that rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa are not particularly interested in agriculture. However, policy discourse on youth in agriculture often situates their aspirations as either full-time farming or non-farming, thus either supporting or opposing one or the other of the two paradigms, while neglecting the shades of grey between these two extremes. Using a mixed-methods approach—a household survey and a narrative-based tool called SenseMaker—to collect data from both adults and youth in 261 households in rural Kenya, this study suggests that this categorical understanding needs to be revisited to inform rural development strategies based on the actual aspirations of rural youth.
High precision measurement method for dynamic transient signal based on compressed sensing and spline polynomial interpolation
Authors: Xu Fujing , Chen Changying , Hu Linghua
Published: January 2021

During the measurement of dynamic transient signals, a high sampling frequency brings great challenges to the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and testing system. To address these issues, a high precision measurement method for dynamic transient signals is first proposed in this paper. The characteristics of dynamic transient signals are analyzed first. On the basis of this, a random sampling method combining compressed sensing (CS) with spline polynomial interpolation (SPI) is put forward. The fusion of the two algorithms can effectively reduce the quantity of sampling and observation points to reduce the requirement of the ADC and testing system for transient signal measurement and to improve the observation efficiency of the existing uniform sampling. Finally, a Machete hammer test platform for dynamic transient signals is established. A series of simulation and experimental results validate that the error of data reconstruction using the random sampling method combining CS with SPI is not greater than 5.1%.
Micro-coil probes for magnetic intracortical neural stimulation: Trade-offs in materials and design
Authors: Thyagarajan Krishnan , Lujan Rene A. , Wang Qian , Lu JengPing , Kor Sivkheng , Kakimoto Bruce , Chang Norine , Bert Julie A.
Published: January 2021

Neural probes for intracortical neuromodulation in the brain have advanced with the developments in micro- and nanofabrication technologies. Most of these technologies for the intracortical stimulation have relied on the direct electrical stimulation via electrodes or arrays of electrodes. Generating electric fields using time-varying magnetic fields is a more recent neuromodulation technique that has proven to be more specifically effective for the intracortical stimulation. Additionally, current-actuated coils require no conductive contact with tissues and enable precise tailoring of magnetic fields, which are unaffected by the non-magnetic nature of the biological tissue and encapsulation layers. The material and design parameter space for such micro-coil fabrication can be optimized and tailored to deliver the ideal performance depending on the parameters needed for operation. In this work, we review the key requirements for implantable microcoils including the probe structure and material properties and discuss their characteristics and related challenges for the applications in intracortical neuromodulation.
Boosting strong-coupling stimulated Brillouin amplification performance using an external magnetic field
Authors: Li Zhaoli , Wu Zhaohui , Zuo Yanlei , Zeng Xiaoming , Wang Xiaodong , Wang Xiao , Mu Jie , Hu Bilong , Su Jingqin
Published: January 2021

This article presents a method for improving the amplification performance of strong-coupling stimulated Brillouin scattering by adding an external static magnetic field longitudinal to the laser propagation direction. Simulation results show that when the laser intensity is low, the output seed intensity can be increased by applying an external magnetic field and a right-hand circularly polarized laser pulse. When the seed intensity is higher, the amplification enters the regime of relativistic electron nonlinearity, the amplification oscillates, and the portion of the seed that is amplified moves from the first peak to the second and then the third. Under these circumstances, a reversed magnetic field helps to obtain a higher output intensity and a smoother output pulse profile. Adjusting the magnetic field dynamically, such as by using a double-pass scheme, combines these two advantages and maximizes the intensity enlarging and profile smoothing of the output pulse.
A wearable mechano-acoustic sensor based on electrochemical redox reaction for continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring
Authors: Zhao Zhiguo , Feng Xiaoce , Chen Xiaoyu , Dai Lenore L. , Xu Yong
Published: January 2021

This Letter reports a wearable mechano-acoustic sensor for continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring. The sensing mechanism is based on reversible iodide/triiodide (I−/I3−) electrochemical redox reaction on microfabricated platinum electrodes, enabling an ultra-high sensitivity on the detection of mechano-acoustic signals of the cardiorespiratory system. Ecoflex, a flexible silicone rubber, is adopted as the material of the sensor body due to its excellent stretchability, robustness, and skin-compatibility. The developed sensor exhibited a noise floor of 4.5 μg/Hz at 10 Hz. Detection of heart sounds, lung sounds, and respiration rates was demonstrated.
Correlation between the air stability of n-type thermoelectric properties and defects in single-walled carbon nanotubes with anionic surfactants
Authors: Chiba Tomoyuki , Seki Yuhei , Takashiri Masayuki
Published: January 2021

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are promising thermoelectric materials for use as sustainable power sources for the Internet of Things technology due to their flexibility and excellent thermoelectric properties near 300 K. One of the most important challenges in the development of SWCNTs is achieving n-type thermoelectric properties with long air stability. Here, we investigated the correlation between the air stability of the n-type property and the defects of SWCNTs using two types of SWCNTs with different defect densities. SWCNT films with anionic surfactants were prepared using drop-casting, followed by heat treatment. Both types of SWCNT films exhibited approximately the same n-type Seebeck coefficient values at appropriate heat treatment temperatures. The SWCNT films with low defect density exhibited high electrical conductivity, but the n-type Seebeck coefficient was converted into a p-type one at 14 d. Conversely, the SWCNT films with high defect density exhibited low electrical conductivities but maintained the n-type Seebeck coefficient for 35 d. Therefore, the defect density of SWCNTs impacted the air-stability of the thermoelectric properties. This phenomenon possibly indicates that SWCNT films with high defect density were homogeneously coated with surfactants, thus preventing oxygen atoms from adhering to the film.
Spectrally resolved ion imaging from laser produced plasmas using CR-39 detectors
Authors: Rahul S. V. , Kumar Rakesh Y. , Sairam T. , Sabui Ratul , Mondal Angana , Kumar V. Rakesh , Lad Amit D. , Ved Yash M. , Mal Kedar , Gopal R. , Krishnamurthy M.
Published: January 2021

Intense laser-produced plasmas generate bright, ultrashort bursts of accelerated ions. Reducing the required laser intensity and increasing the repetition rate of the laser to generate high energy ions is important, and mesoscopic particle targets are an attractive option to address this issue. Newer experimental strategies to measure ion energies and their angular distribution are needed in studies of such systems. In this paper, we outline a method to simultaneously measure these quantities using a single CR39 film. Although CR-39 detectors are known for ion imaging or spectroscopy, combining these specially for lower ion energies and applications to low-intensity laser experiments is not common. The paradigm chosen in our study is to consider the spatial distribution of nuclear tracks on a CR-39 sheet, while simultaneously separating them by their track diameter. Our method achieves an energy resolution of about 100 keV and a spatial resolution of tens of micrometers. In addition, ion species other than protons, i.e., carbon and oxygen, can also be imaged in an energy-resolved manner.
The effects of gravity and surface tension on the circular hydraulic jump for low- and high-viscosity liquids: A numerical investigation
Authors: Wang Yunpeng , Khayat Roger E.
Published: January 2021

The present work investigates the causes of the circular hydraulic jump for both low- and high-viscosity liquids in an effort to address a recent dispute in the research community. We first validate our numerical model against existing experiments and then study the effects of different parameters involved in the problem. The influences of viscosity, gravity, and surface tension on the formation of the jump are comprehensively explored. We observe a significant difference in the mechanisms behind the hydraulic jump for low- and high-viscosity liquids, which have rarely been reported. Surface tension is found to be responsible for the low-viscosity jump, while gravity dominates the high-viscosity jump, which partially resolves the recent noise regarding the cause of the jump in a consistent manner.
Performance of a large area photon detector for rare event search applications
Authors: Fink C. W. , Watkins S. L. , Aramaki T. , Brink P. L. , Camilleri J. , Defay X. , Ganjam S. , Kolomensky Yu. G. , Mahapatra R. , Mirabolfathi N. , Page W. A. , Partridge R. , Platt M. , Pyle M. , Sadoulet B. , Serfass B. , Zuber S. ,   (CPD Collaboration)
Published: January 2021

We present the design and characterization of a large-area Cryogenic PhotoDetector designed for active particle identification in rare event searches, such as neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter experiments. The detector consists of a 45.6 cm2 surface area by a 1-mm-thick 10.6 g Si wafer. It is instrumented with a distributed network of Quasiparticle-trap-assisted Electrothermal feedback Transition-edge sensors with superconducting critical temperature Tc=41.5 mK to measure athermal phonons released from interactions with photons. The detector is characterized and calibrated with a collimated 55Fe x-ray source incident on the center of the detector. The noise equivalent power is measured to be 1×10−17 W/Hz in a bandwidth of 2.7 kHz. The baseline energy resolution is measured to be σE=3.86±0.04 (stat.)−0.00+0.19 (syst.) eV. The detector also has an expected timing resolution of σt=2.3 μs for 5 σE events.
Laparoscopic multi-exposure speckle imaging for quantitative flow measurement
Authors: Wu Qiong , Liu Jialin , Xu Baoteng , Zhou Wei , Wang Chi , Yang Xibin , Xiong Daxi
Published: January 2021

Multiple studies have demonstrated that laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) can be a valuable blood flow monitoring technique during laparoscopic operations. However, the quantitative accuracy of traditional single-exposure LSCI is limited. In this paper, an extension to LSCI called multi-exposure speckle imaging (MESI) can overcome this limitation and is evaluated in a commercially available laparoscopic setting. Our laparoscopic MESI system records multiple exposure times spanning 3 ms–20 ms. We demonstrate that the laparoscopic MESI estimates provide the sensitivity for sampling the flow magnitude in a phantom with different channel sizes. Conservation of flow analysis on the rabbit vascular branch is also used to validate the accuracy of flow estimates from MESI. Our results demonstrate that laparoscopic MESI can be performed with the ability of quantitative blood flow measurements and shows the potential to be clinically useful for monitoring blood flow.
Jet fans in the underground car parking areas and virus transmission
Authors: Nazari Ata , Jafari Moharram , Rezaei Naser , Taghizadeh-Hesary Farzad , Taghizadeh-Hesary Farhad
Published: January 2021

Jet fans are increasingly preferred over traditional ducted systems as a means of ventilating pollutants in large environments such as underground car parks. The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—which causes the novel coronavirus disease—through the jet fans in underground car parks has been considered a matter of key concern. A quantitative understanding of the propagation of respiratory droplets/particles/aerosols containing the virus is important. However, to date, studies have yet to demonstrate viral (e.g., SARS-CoV-2) transmission in underground car parks equipped with jet fans. In this paper, numerical simulation has been performed to assess the effects of jet fans on the spreading of viruses inside underground car parks.
Machine learning-based automatic segmentation of region of interest in dynamic optical imaging
Authors: Ren Shenghan , Luo Yanxia , Yan Tianyu , Wang Lin , Chen Duofang , Chen Xueli
Published: January 2021

Compared with static optical imaging, dynamic optical imaging technology can obtain quantitative pharmacokinetics information, such as the probe metabolism curve, removal rate, and binding potential of the receptor. Accurate segmentation of the region of interest (ROI) is an important step in dynamic optical imaging. Generally, the ROI is manually labeled by researchers based on experience. This will lead to two unavoidable problems. First, manual segmentation of the ROI is very time consuming, especially when there are many sequential dynamic optical images. Second, manual segmentation cannot ensure accuracy when the optical signal gradually decays to a point at which it is difficult to distinguish by using the naked eyes. These problems will inevitably lead to inaccuracy of quantitative results of dynamic optical imaging. Here, we presented a machine learning-based automatic segmentation method to avoid these time-consuming and inaccuracy problems caused by manual segmentation. The K-means clustering algorithm and fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm were implemented to separate the ROI from the background of sequential dynamic optical images. Automatic selection of clustering results was completed by mathematical methods. The accuracy and feasibility of machine learning-based methods were verified by comparing their results with the manual segmentation results. The preliminary results demonstrated that the machine learning-based automatic segmentation has coherent performance with the manual one.
Efficiency degradation induced by surface defects-assisted tunneling recombination in GaN/InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes
Authors: Yin Jian , Fathi Ehsanollah , Siboni Hossein Zamani , Xu Chao , Ban Dayan
Published: January 2021

Two GaN/InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) grown on the same substrate with mesa sizes of 20 μm and 100 μm are measured from 100 K to 300 K to investigate the role that surface defects play in device efficiency. The experimental results show that the surface defect-assisted tunneling process dominates the nonradiative recombination of GaN/InGaN micro-LEDs at 100 K, while the surface defect-assisted Shockley–Read–Hall recombination becomes dominant at room temperature. The temperature- and voltage-dependent tunneling current for both devices is calculated, which shows that the surface defect-assisted tunneling process is one of the major nonradiative recombination mechanisms in GaN/InGaN micro-LEDs with smaller mesa sizes at room temperature. A few potential approaches are proposed to suppress this surface defect-assisted tunneling recombination. The revised external quantum efficiency model is proposed to include the tunneling recombination effect and study the efficiency performance of GaN/InGaN micro-LEDs.
Enhanced performance of Se-alloyed CdTe solar cells: The role of Se-segregation on the grain boundaries
Authors: Wang Rong , Lan Mu , Wei Su-Huai
Published: January 2021

Recently, CdTe-based solar cells have achieved high power conversion efficiency by alloying with CdSe. Besides the increased photocurrent due to the reduced bandgap, it is also reported that the electron lifetime in the alloyed system is higher than that in the CdTe-based system. However, the origin of the improved lifetime is not clear. In this work, using first-principles calculations and the low energy Σ3 (112) grain boundary (GB) in polycrystalline CdTe as an example, we show that in the alloyed system, Se has the tendency to move toward the Σ3 (112) GB. Consequently, Se at the GBs in CdTe can effectively passivate the deep GB defect levels, thus reducing carrier recombination and improve solar cell performance. More specifically, we find that the Σ3 (112) GB with Te-core has the lowest formation energy among the electronically detrimental GB configurations in polycrystalline CdTe. The Σ3 (112) GB with Te-core introduces a deep defect state in the bandgap of CdTe, which can act as nonradiative recombination center and reduces the carrier lifetime of CdTe. When Se segregates to GB and substitutes the Te atom at the Te dimer site, due to the lower energy of Se 4p orbital and the weak coupling between the dimer elements in the GB core, the deep GB states will shift to shallower states toward the valance band maximum of CdTe. This can increase the carrier lifetime of the CdSeTe layer and thus provide a viable explanation to the improved lifetime and performance of Se-alloyed CdTe solar cells.
SmN and DyN: Effect of the nitrogen to rare earth flux ratio on the structural, transport, and magnetic properties
Authors: Shaib A. , Holmes-Hewett W. F. , Chan J. , Murmu P. P. , Ruck B. J. , Trodahl H. J. , Natali F.
Published: January 2021

We report on the effect of the nitrogen to rare earth (N2/RE) flux ratio on the structural, transport, and magnetic properties of samarium nitride (SmN) and dysprosium nitride (DyN) thin films. Both materials display a reduced lattice constant when the N2/RE flux ratio decreases, i.e., with increased nitrogen vacancies (VN) concentration. The films show several orders of magnitude increase in the electrical resistivity with increased N2/RE flux ratio. Finally, magnetic measurements on DyN films display a deviation from the free ion moment at low temperature, which is eased in more conductive films. This was interpreted as a further reduction in the quenching of the orbital angular momentum caused by the increased VN concentration. The Curie temperature was also found to increase with VN.
Magnetization dynamics in ordered spin structures revealed by diffractive and reflectometry ferromagnetic resonance
Authors: Burn D. M. , Zhang S. L. , van der Laan G. , Hesjedal T.
Published: January 2021

Synchrotron radiation based techniques provide unique insight into both the element and time resolved magnetization behavior in magnetic spin systems. Here, we highlight the power of two recent developments, utilizing x-ray scattering techniques to reveal the precessional magnetization dynamics of ordered spin structures in the GHz regime, both in diffraction and reflection configurations. Our recently developed diffraction and reflectometry ferromagnetic resonance (DFMR and RFMR) techniques provide novel ways to explore the dynamics of modern magnetic materials, thereby opening up new pathways for the development of spintronic devices. In this paper we provide an overview of these techniques, and discuss the new understanding they provide into the magnetization dynamics in the chiral magnetic structure in Y-type hexaferrite and the depth dependence to the magnetization dynamics in a [CoFeB/MgO/Ta]4 multilayer.
A simple skew angle detection and suppression method for bit-patterned magnetic recording
Authors: Koonkarnkhai Santi , Warisarn Chanon , Kovintavewat Piya
Published: January 2021

An achievement of an areal density (AD) up to 4 Tb/in2 in hard disk drives (HDDs) is expected under a bit-patterned magnetic recording (BPMR) system. One of major problems in HDDs is a skew angle (SA), which depends on a read/write head position on a disk platter. Practically, if precaution is not taken, the SA can easily deteriorate the overall system performance. To maintain an acceptable system performance; therefore, we present a simple SA detection and suppression method for BPMR systems. Here, one readback sequence is used to compute a specific target coefficient before employing it to estimate the SA amount. To mitigate the SA effect, a couple of suitable two-dimensional (2D) target and its compatible one-dimensional equalizer associated with the estimated SA is utilized in the data detection process. We also propose the flipped-cross-track symmetric 2D target to reduce the complexity of the detector. Simulation results reveal that the utilization of our proposed SA method can improve the bit-error rate performance when compares with the conventional system that does not use the SA detection and suppression method, particularly when SA or AD is high.
Magnetic phases in superconducting, polycrystalline bulk FeSe samples
Authors: Nouailhetas Quentin , Koblischka-Veneva Anjela , Koblischka Michael R. , Naik S. Pavan Kumar , Schäfer Florian , Ogino H. , Motz Christian , Berger Kévin , Douine Bruno , Slimani Yassine , Hannachi Essia
Published: January 2021

The FeSe compound is the simplest high-temperature superconductor (HTSc) possible, and relatively cheap, not containing any rare-earth material. Although the transition temperature, Tc, is just below 10 K, the upper critical fields are comparable with other HTSc. Preparing FeSe using solid-state sintering yields samples exhibiting strong ferromagnetic hysteresis loops (MHLs), and the superconducting contribution is only visible after subtracting MHLs from above Tc. Due to the complicated phase diagram, the samples are a mixture of several phases, the superconducting β-FeSe, and the non-superconducting δ-FeSe and γ-FeSe. Furthermore, antiferromagnetic Fe7Se8 and ferromagnetic α-Fe may be contained, depending directly on the Se loss during the sintering process. Here, we show MHLs measured up to ±7 T and determine the magnetic characteristics, together with the amount of superconductivity determined from M(T) measurements. We also performed a thorough analysis of the microstructures in order to establish a relation between microstructure and the resulting sample properties.
Prediction of magnetic shield plate performance using permeability in alternating micromagnetic fields
Authors: Sakakibara Mitsuru , Uehara Gen , Adachi Yoshiaki , Shinnoh Toshifumi
Published: January 2021

Magnetoencephalographs (MEGs) are highly sensitive to magnetic noises, and thus, a high performance magnetically shielded room (MSR) is essential. The shielding effect of a novel MSR should predicted to verify if it satisfies the required specifications of the MEG at the design stage. Therefore, an accurate prediction method based on the properties of shielding materials and shape of the MSR is necessary. We focused on the initial permeability μi of mu-metals which are generally used for MEGs; further, we proposed an estimation method for μi and a prediction method for the shielding effect using μi. To verify the prediction accuracy, we estimated μi of mu-metals and predicted the shielding effect of a plate, as simple examples, and compared the obtained result with experimental results. The comparison indicated that the prediction method can predict the shielding effect within approximate deviation of 8.2% for the plate even in a small magnetic field fluctuation region with a magnetic field as low as ΔH = 0.001 A/m. This result provided an important step necessary for predicting the magnetic shield effect of MSRs.
No buzz for bees: Media coverage of pollinator decline
Authors: Althaus Scott L. , Berenbaum May R. , Jordan Jenna , Shalmon Dan A.
Published: January 2021

Although widespread declines in insect biomass and diversity are increasing concerns within the scientific community, it remains unclear whether attention to pollinator declines has also increased within information sources serving the general public. Examining patterns of journalistic attention to the pollinator population crisis can also inform efforts to raise awareness about the importance of declines of insect species providing ecosystem services beyond pollination. We used the Global News Index developed by the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign to track news attention to pollinator topics in nearly 25 million news items published by two American national newspapers and four international wire services over the past four decades. We found vanishingly low levels of attention to pollinator population topics relative to coverage of climate change, which we use as a comparison topic. In the most recent subset of ∼10 million stories published from 2007 to 2019, 1.39% (137,086 stories) refer to climate change/global warming while only 0.02% (1,780) refer to pollinator populations in all contexts, and just 0.007% (679) refer to pollinator declines. Substantial increases in news attention were detectable only in US national newspapers. We also find that, while climate change stories appear primarily in newspaper “front sections,” pollinator population stories remain largely marginalized in “science” and “back section” reports. At the same time, news reports about pollinator populations increasingly link the issue to climate change, which might ultimately help raise public awareness to effect needed policy changes.
Modulation of immune cell reactivity with
cis
-binding Siglec agonists
Authors: Delaveris Corleone S. , Chiu Shannon H. , Riley Nicholas M. , Bertozzi Carolyn R.
Published: January 2021

Significance

Cells are covered in a dense forest of sugars. The abundance of specific sugar structures can influence immune cell activation, in part through a class of sugar-binding immune receptors known as Siglecs. However, the effects of Siglecs engaged by
cis
ligands are poorly understood. Thus, to elucidate these interactions, in this work we developed biomimetic structures of native glycoproteins bearing selective Siglec ligands. We demonstrate that these structures bind Siglec receptors and stimulate Siglec signaling when used as membrane-tethered
cis
ligands but that soluble analogs lacking a membrane-tethering lipid do not. These results present
cis
ligands as a way to target Siglecs in inflammatory diseases.
Unsupervised neural network models of the ventral visual stream
Authors: Zhuang Chengxu , Yan Siming , Nayebi Aran , Schrimpf Martin , Frank Michael C. , DiCarlo James J. , Yamins Daniel L. K.
Published: January 2021

Significance

Primates show remarkable ability to recognize objects. This ability is achieved by their ventral visual stream, multiple hierarchically interconnected brain areas. The best quantitative models of these areas are deep neural networks trained with human annotations. However, they receive more annotations than infants, making them implausible models of the ventral stream development. Here, we report that recent progress in unsupervised learning has largely closed this gap. We find the networks learned with recent unsupervised methods achieve prediction accuracy in the ventral stream that equals or exceeds that of today’s best models. These results illustrate a use of unsupervised learning to model a brain system and present a strong candidate for a biologically plausible computational theory of sensory learning.
An unconventional role of an ASB family protein in NF-κB activation and inflammatory response during microbial infection and colitis
Authors: Hou Panpan , Jia Penghui , Yang Kongxiang , Li Zibo , Tian Tian , Lin Yuxin , Zeng Weijie , Xing Fan , Chen Yu , Li Chunmei , Liu Yingfang , Guo Deyin
Published: January 2021

Significance

Regulation of inflammatory response is central to the outcome of microbial infection and inflammatory diseases. We demonstrated that ASB1, a member of the family of the ankyrin repeat and suppressor of cytokine signaling box (ASB) proteins, plays a previously unknown function in TAB2/TAK1-mediated inflammatory responses. ASB1 stabilizes TAB2 and consequently promotes the activation of downstream signaling pathways including NF-κB and MAPK pathways. The deficiency of ASB1 leads to less severe colitis and intestinal inflammation and protects mice from bacteria or lipopolysaccharide-induced septic shock. Such a finding has important implications in the understanding of inflammatory diseases and development of intervention measures related to ASB family proteins.
Garnet sand reveals rock recycling processes in the youngest exhumed high- and ultrahigh-pressure terrane on Earth
Authors: Baldwin Suzanne L. , Schönig Jan , Gonzalez Joseph P. , Davies Hugh , von Eynatten Hilmar
Published: January 2021

Significance

On Earth, igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are recycled from the surface to upper mantle depths and subsequently returned to the surface as a result of tectonic and sedimentary processes. Within active plate boundaries, the rock cycle involves lithospheric deformation to exhume rocks to the surface. We show that trapped inclusions in garnet sand from the actively exhuming high- and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrane of eastern Papua New Guinea preserve a record of crustal subduction and rapid exhumation linking upper mantle and surface processes operative on short geologic timescales (<10 My). Detrital garnet geochemistry and their inclusion suites from both modern sediments and stratigraphic sections can be used to reveal rock recycling processes throughout Earth’s history.
Sculpting crystals one Burgers vector at a time: Toward colloidal lattice robot swarms
Authors: VanSaders Bryan , Glotzer Sharon C.
Published: January 2021

Significance

Colloidal nanoparticles that exert local forces suggest a future class of swarm metamaterials. These swarms must coordinate their actions to accomplish useful tasks, such as changing the shape of the swarm or engulfing an object. We use computer simulation to show how the coordination of active colloidal nanoparticle swarms can be simplified by harnessing crystalline defects. We demonstrate that with only a single degree of freedom (the diameter of a small fraction of particles) repeatable shape changes can be achieved in a 2D collection of particles with crystalline ordering and isotropic attraction. This work also relates to macroscopic robotic swarms, illuminating a mechanism for emergent control.
Avian mud nest architecture by self-secreted saliva
Authors: Jung Yeonsu , Jung Sohyun , Lee Sang-im , Kim Wonjung , Kim Ho-Young
Published: January 2021

Significance

We provide a biomechanical explanation of how swallows and phoebes can construct strong nests of incohesive mud granules using saliva as a paste. The analysis leads to a hypothesis for why only 57 small light-weighted bird species (of approximately 10,000 species worldwide) can build mud nests on walls by utilizing their saliva. Our comprehensive study, combining experiments on natural and artificial mud nests and mathematical models on granular cohesion, not only elucidates the physical mechanism of this extraordinary animal architecture, but also provides inspiration to three-dimensional printing technology based on environmentally benign granular materials.
Structure and activation mechanism of the yeast RNA Pol II CTD kinase CTDK-1 complex
Authors: Xie Yihu , Lord Christopher L. , Clarke Bradley P. , Ivey Austin L. , Hill Pate S. , McDonald W. Hayes , Wente Susan R. , Ren Yi
Published: January 2021

Significance

Gene transcription from DNA to RNA by RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) is regulated by a group of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). In order to coordinate the molecular events during transcription, CDKs enzymatically modify Pol II. Here, we determined the crystal structure of an important CDK involved in Pol II regulation, the yeast C-terminal domain kinase-1 (CTDK-1) complex, to describe its architecture in atomic detail. Importantly, the CTDK-1 structure reveals a mechanism for activation of the enzyme. In addition, we show that CTDK-1 interacts with an RNA splicing factor, suggesting a connection between transcriptional regulation by CTDK-1 and subsequent mRNA processing. Together, our results provide insights into the function and regulatory mechanism of CDKs.
Vaccinology in the post−COVID-19 era
Authors: Rappuoli Rino , De Gregorio Ennio , Del Giudice Giuseppe , Phogat Sanjay , Pecetta Simone , Pizza Mariagrazia , Hanon Emmanuel
Published: January 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic is a shocking reminder of how our world would look in the absence of vaccination. Fortunately, new technologies, the pace of understanding new and existing pathogens, and the increased knowledge of the immune system allow us today to develop vaccines at an unprecedented speed. Some of the vaccine technologies that are fast-tracked by the urgency of COVID-19 may also be the answer for other health priorities, such as antimicrobial resistance, chronic infections, and cancer, that the post-COVID-19 world will urgently need to face. This perspective analyzes the way COVID-19 is transforming vaccinology and the opportunities for vaccines to have an increasingly important role in health and well-being.
Understanding ‘clause’ as an emergent ‘unit’ in everyday conversation
Authors: Thompson Sandra A.
Published: January 2021

Linguists generally assume ‘clause’ to be a basic unit for the analysis of grammatical structure. Data from
natural conversations, however, suggests that ‘clause’ may not be grammaticized to the same extent across languages. Understanding
‘clause’ as a predicate (plus any arguments, inferred or expressed), we can show that participants do indeed organize their talk
around ‘clauses’. I argue that English-speaking participants in everyday interaction do indeed orient to clausal units as so
defined, by building their turns around predicates, and that these turns do key interactional work. The data further reveal that
these units must be understood as emergent structures, recurrent patterns in a given language that emerge from humans pursuing
their ordinary interactional business of communicating information, needs, identities, attitudes, and desires.
The predicate as a locus of grammar and interaction in colloquial Indonesian
Authors: Ewing Michael C.
Published: January 2021

Descriptions of Indonesian usually take the clause as the starting point for analysing grammatical structure and
rely on the notion of ellipsis to account for the way speakers actually use language in everyday conversational interaction. This
study challenges the status of “clause” by investigating the structures actually used by Indonesian speakers in informal
conversation and it demonstrates that the predicate, rather than the clause, plays a central role in the grammar of Indonesian
conversation. The preponderance of predicates in the data that do not have explicit arguments suggests that this format is best
viewed as the default. When a predicate is produced without overt arguments, reconstructing what arguments may have been elided is
often ambiguous or indeterminate and seems to be irrelevant to speakers. An examination of turn-taking, overlap and incrementing
in conversation also shows that predicates, rather than full clauses, are the grammatical format participants regularly orient
to.
Construction mining
Authors: Barteld Fabian , Ziem Alexander
Published: January 2021

The German Constructicon Project (www.german-constructicon.de) aims at documenting grammatical constructions in contemporary standard German on the basis
of annotated corpus examples, including relations between constructions and between constructions and evoked semantic frames. So
far, the research focus has been mainly on the development and computational implementation of a constructicographic workflow
(including a parsing pipeline) that allows for addressing any kind of constructions on varying levels of schematicity,
idiomaticity, and abstractness. However, such an exemplar-driven procedure precludes us from systematically identifying
constructional candidates. In this article, we scrutinize ways to operationalize and implement data-mining procedures to
inductively identify construction candidates.
Let’s get into it
Authors: Fonteyn Lauren
Published: January 2021

This squib briefly explores how contextualized embeddings – which are a type of compressed token-based semantic vectors –
can be used as semantic retrieval and annotation tools for corpus-based research into constructions. Focusing on embeddings created by the
Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformer model, also known as ‘BERT’, this squib demonstrates how contextualized embeddings
can help counter two types of retrieval inefficiency scenarios that may arise with purely form-based corpus queries. In the first scenario,
the formal query yields a large number of hits, which contain a reasonable number of relevant examples that can be labeled and used as input
for a sense disambiguation classifier. In the second scenario, the contextualized embeddings of exemplary tokens are used to retrieve more
relevant examples in a large, unlabeled dataset. As a case study, this squib focuses on the into-interest construction (e.g. I’m so
into you).
Maximizing the explanatory power of constructions in Cognitive Construction Grammar(s)
Authors: Gonzálvez-García Francisco
Published: January 2021

This paper suggests two possible ways in which cognitively-oriented constructionist approaches (Cognitive Construction
Grammar, Radical Construction Grammar, and Embodied Construction Grammar) could enhance the explanatory power of constructions. First, the
anatomy of a construction should spell out how the morphosyntactic realizations of arguments are specifically mapped onto their inherent
semantico-pragmatic properties, while also including detailed information concerning illocutionary force, information structure, register,
politeness, etc. Second, it is argued that coercion should be best understood as a continuum allowing for varying degrees of
(in-)compatibility between the verb and the construction taken as a whole. Moreover, parameterization and linguistic cueing prove useful to
handle the dynamic interaction of the morphosyntactic, semantico-pragmatic, and discourse-functional hallmarks of constructions, including
those which invite metonymic inferencing.
The issue of specifying slots in argument structure constructions in terms of form and meaning
Authors: Herbst Thomas , Uhrig Peter
Published: January 2021

In Construction Grammar theory, constructions are generally described as form-meaning pairings. It will be argued here that the formal specifications of some abstract constructions are so vague that the notion of form needs to be discussed rather critically. We aim to demonstrate how, in the English predicative and intransitive-motion constructions, the slots of more general constructions can be seen as being specified indirectly through sets of mini-constructions.
How to build a constructicon in five years
Authors: Janda Laura A. , Endresen Anna , Zhukova Valentina , Mordashova Daria , Rakhilina Ekaterina
Published: January 2021

We provide a practical step-by-step methodology of how to build a full-scale constructicon resource for a natural
language, sharing our experience from the nearly completed project of the Russian Constructicon, an open-access searchable
database of over 2,200 Russian constructions (https://site.uit.no/russian-constructicon/). The constructions are organized in families, clusters, and networks based
on their semantic and syntactic properties, illustrated with corpus examples, and tagged for the CEFR level of language
proficiency. The resource is designed for both researchers and L2 learners of Russian and offers the largest electronic database
of constructions built for any language. We explain what makes the Russian Constructicon different from other constructicons,
report on the major stages of our work, and share the methods used to systematically expand the inventory of constructions. Our
objective is to encourage colleagues to build constructicon resources for additional natural languages, thus taking Construction
Grammar to a new quantitative and qualitative level, facilitating cross-linguistic comparison.
Individual differences in discourse priming
Authors: Koch Nikolas , Quick Antje Endesfelder , Hartmann Stefan
Published: January 2021

In this paper we use corpora of four monolingual German-speaking children at 2 years of age to analyze the effect
of input on the activation of chunks and frame-and-slot patterns. For this purpose, we first investigate to what extent chunks and
patterns can be traced back to the direct input compared to input which is not part of the immediate discourse situation. Second,
we take mean length of utterance (MLU) into account to see how the level of proficiency influences the amount of priming in each
child. Results indicate that children with a lower MLU rely more on priming than children who are more proficient. This conclusion
is consistent with the usage-based assumption that children’s linguistic development starts with a strongly item-based
reproduction of input patterns that gradually gives rise to increasingly creative and productive uses of constructions.
Making good on a promise
Authors: Trijp Remi van
Published: January 2021

Construction Grammar was founded on the promise of maximal empirical coverage without compromising on formal precision. Its main claim is that all linguistic knowledge can be represented as constructions, similar to the notion of constructions from traditional grammars. As such, Construction Grammar may finally reconcile the needs of descriptive and theoretical linguistics by establishing a common ground between them. Unfortunately, while the construction grammar community has developed a sophisticated understanding of what a construction is supposed to be, many critics still believe that a construction is simply a new jacket for traditional linguistic analyses and therefore inherits all of the problems of those analyses. The goal of this article is to refute such criticisms by showing how constructions can be formalized as open-ended and multidimensional linguistic representations that make no prior assumptions about the structure of a language. While this article’s proposal can be simply written down in a pen-and-paper style, it verifies the validity of its approach through a computational implementation of German field topology in Fluid Construction Grammar.
Postharvest packaging.
Authors: Golding John
Published: January 2021

Packaging is an essential component of getting horticultural produce (fruit, vegetables or cut flowers) from the farm to the consumer. Packaging allows for the ease of handling and serves a vital role to protect and maintain product quality through the supply chain. Packaging of horticultural produce can be made of a range of products such as wood, fibreboard, jute (hessian) or plastics, where each packaging type is suitable for different applications. The best packaging type is the one that meets its purpose.
Remote Controlled Road Cleaning Vehicle
Authors: Balaji B. , Nivedha S.
Published: January 2021

Cleaning the house on customary premise is a requesting and testing task particularly when there are kids in the house. In this, we may make a stride towards the arrangement of this issue. The progressions made in innovation of advanced mechanics have made existence of humankind especially simpler and agreeable. This paper depicts a keen street cleaning robot that permits cleaning the street by offering directions to the robot. This robot makes street cleaning measure simple and quick using a remote mechanical cleaning framework. Subject robot works in self-governing mode just as in manual mode alongside extra highlights like planning for explicit time and pack less earth compartment with auto-soil removal component. This work can be helpful in improving way of life of humanity.