bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Path Towards Virtualized Wireless Communications: A Survey and Research Challenges
Authors: Silva Marco , Santos José , Curado Marília
Published: November 2023

To keep up with the increasing number of connected devices in people’s daily lives, it is necessary to develop intelligent mechanisms that perform the entire network management, interconnecting Wi-Fi, and the emerging beyond Fifth-Generation (5G) communications. Hence, it is essential to consider multiple usage scenarios, while managing end devices’ limitations. As a result, developing a system that allows network operators to link Wi-Fi services on their main networks becomes a critical issue. These include a new paradigm that tackles optimal and dynamic resource allocation techniques. Thus, to consider in a combined way, the applications requirements, the resources available, and the different tiers involved, mechanisms such as virtualization and slicing have emerged to handle the heterogeneous context of the next-generation wireless communications. Moreover, the allocation of Radio Access Network (RAN) resources needs to be addressed. For this purpose, Open-RAN has in mind an open environment, which relies on virtualized functions and is mostly vendor agnostic. This technology will enable high data rates while maintaining adequate Quality of Service (QoS) in wireless communications. This paper advances current literature, which mainly discusses these themes individually, by providing a comprehensive survey in Next Generation Wireless Communications, highlighting their integration with beyond 5G Communications. First, we introduce the Wi-Fi evolution and explain the main standards developed over the years. Second, we present the most recent Wi-Fi standards, Wi-Fi 6 and 7, compared with 5G and beyond. Lastly, we explain the concepts related to slicing, virtualization, RAN, Open-RAN and the open research challenges.
Upper and lower bounds for complete linkage in general metric spaces
Authors: Arutyunova Anna , Großwendt Anna , Röglin Heiko , Schmidt Melanie , Wargalla Julian
Published: November 2023

In a hierarchical clustering problem the task is to compute a series of mutually compatible clusterings of a finite metric space $$(P,{{\,\textrm{dist}\,}})$$

(
P
,

dist

)

. Starting with the clustering where every point forms its own cluster, one iteratively merges two clusters until only one cluster remains. Complete linkage is a well-known and popular algorithm to compute such clusterings: in every step it merges the two clusters whose union has the smallest radius (or diameter) among all currently possible merges. We prove that the radius (or diameter) of every k-clustering computed by complete linkage is at most by factor O(k) (or $$O(k^{\ln (3)/\ln (2)})=O(k^{1{.}59})$$

O

(

k

ln
(
3
)
/
ln
(
2
)

)

=
O

(

k

1.59

)

) worse than an optimal k-clustering minimizing the radius (or diameter). Furthermore we give a negative answer to the question proposed by Dasgupta and Long (J Comput Syst Sci 70(4):555–569, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcss.2004.10.006), who show a lower bound of $$\Omega (\log (k))$$

Ω
(
log
(
k
)
)

and ask if the approximation guarantee is in fact $$\Theta (\log (k))$$

Θ
(
log
(
k
)
)

. We present instances where complete linkage performs poorly in the sense that the k-clustering computed by complete linkage is off by a factor of $$\Omega (k)$$

Ω
(
k
)

from an optimal solution for radius and diameter. We conclude that in general metric spaces complete linkage does not perform asymptotically better than single linkage, merging the two clusters with smallest inter-cluster distance, for which we prove an approximation guarantee of O(k).
Balancing wood production and water use efficiency in the selection of open-pollinated families of Gmelina arborea
Authors: López-Aguirre Ana Milena , Barrios-Trilleras Alonso , Melo-Cruz Omar A.
Published: November 2023

Global climate crisis and severe water scarcity worldwide demand alternative genotypes that allow an adequate balance between production and water use while ensuring benefits for foresters. The genetic improvement of water use efficiency (WUE) in forest plantations could reduce water use without compromising yield. Above-ground biomass (AGB), saw-wood volume up to small-end diameter of 15 cm (V15), wood density (WD) and intrinsic WUE (WUEi) from wood carbon isotopic discrimination was evaluated in forty open-pollinated families of G. arborea grown in a tropical dry forest known as a water-limited environment, to select superior genotypes considering a balance in wood production and water use. Heritability of open-pollinated family means were moderate with values of h2f = 0.554 for AGB, h2f = 0.541 for V15, h2f = 0.608 for WD and h2f = 0.495 for WUEi. Significant genetic correlations between both WD and WUEi and production traits (p < 0.05) and a nonsignificant genetic correlation between WD and WUEi were found. Although production traits and WUEi showed moderate narrow-sense and family means heritabilities, considerable responses to selection of up to 13.7% in AGB, 15.5% in V15, 2.5% in WD and 3.0% in WUEi could be achieved from intensive selection of superior families. Our results showed that it may be possible balancing wood production and WUE by selecting open-pollinated families of G. arborea with higher V15 and WUEi. The deployment of these superior families can be used as a forest management strategy to adapt the species to future drought scenarios associated with global climate change.
Geometric slow–fast analysis of a hybrid pituitary cell model with stochastic ion channel dynamics
Authors: Montefusco Francesco , Pedersen Morten Gram
Published: November 2023

To obtain explicit understanding of the behavior of dynamical systems, geometrical methods and slow–fast analysis have proved to be highly useful. Such methods are standard for smooth dynamical systems and increasingly used for continuous, non-smooth dynamical systems. However, they are much less used for random dynamical systems, in particular for hybrid models with discrete, random dynamics. Here we propose a geometrical method that works directly with the hybrid system. We illustrate our approach through an application to a hybrid pituitary cell model in which the stochastic dynamics of very few active large-conductance potassium (BK) channels is coupled to a deterministic model of the other ion channels and calcium dynamics. To employ our geometric approach, we exploit the slow–fast structure of the model. The random fast subsystem is analyzed by considering discrete phase planes, corresponding to the discrete number of open BK channels, and stochastic events correspond to jumps between these planes. The evolution within each plane can be understood from nullclines and limit cycles, and the overall dynamics, e.g., whether the model produces a spike or a burst, is determined by the location at which the system jumps from one plane to another. Our approach is generally applicable to other scenarios to study discrete random dynamical systems defined by hybrid stochastic–deterministic models.
Roadmap of electrons from donor side to the reaction center of photosynthetic purple bacteria with mutated cytochromes
Authors: Kis M. , Szabó T. , Tandori J. , Maróti P.
Published: November 2023

In photosynthetic bacteria, the absorbed light drives the canonical cyclic electron transfer between the reaction center and the cytochrome bc1 complexes via the pools of mobile electron carriers. If kinetic or structural barriers hinder the participation of the bc1 complex in the cyclic flow of electrons, then the pools of mobile redox agents must supply the electrons for the multiple turnovers of the reaction center. These conditions were achieved by continuous high light excitation of intact cells of bacterial strains Rba. sphaeroides and Rvx. gelatinosus with depleted donor side cytochromes c2 (cycA) and tetraheme cytochrome subunit (pufC), respectively. The gradual oxidation by ferricyanide further reduced the availability of electron donors to pufC. Electron transfer through the reaction center was tracked by absorption change and by induction and relaxation of the fluorescence of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer. The rate constants of the electron transfer (~ 3 × 103 s‒1) from the mobile donors of Rvx. gelatinosus bound either to the RC (pufC) or to the tetraheme subunit (wild type) were similar. The electrons transferred through the reaction center dimer were supplied entirely by the donor pool; their number amounted to about 5 in wild type Rvx. gelatinosus and decreased to 1 in pufC oxidized by ferricyanide. Fluorescence yield was measured as a function of the oxidized fraction of the dimer and its complex shape reveals the contribution of two competing processes: the migration of the excitation energy among the photosynthetic units and the availability of electron donors to the oxidized dimer. The experimental results were simulated and rationalized by a simple kinetic model of the two-electron cycling of the acceptor side combined with aperiodic one-electron redox function of the donor side.
Sustainable Directors’ Duties and Reasonable Shareholders
Authors: Tjio Hans
Published: November 2023

This paper will examine the sustainability of directors’ duties from two perspectives, namely that the duties are stable in their own right and that they cover enough ground for them to help achieve sustainable goals. First, we will examine how directors’ duties to act in a company’s best interest operate well when shareholder interests are aligned. These duties, when breached, can be ratified by shareholders given the traditional understanding that they are the company. This may, in turn, have been associated with the growing acceptance of shareholder primacy over the past 40 years, seen most recently in the UK Supreme Court decision in BTI v Sequana (2022). The Supreme Court, however, also discussed the limitations of shareholder ratification, and its interaction with the rules protecting creditors, particularly as regards capital maintenance. Those rules have, however, been weakened, and private law has had to step in to address the abuse those rules were aimed at. Where the substantive content of directors’ duties is concerned, the focus everywhere is on how to make directors take account of external constraints such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns and corporate purposes that may contradict enhancing shareholder value (as well as existing shareholder protection) as an established paradigm of company law. We will also analyse the difficulties in accommodating the interests of other internal constituents, like creditors (some of whom may have been externalised). This paper will build on earlier suggestions that the proper purpose rule has a part to play in balancing the interests of corporate constituents both inter and intra se and even in considering the position of future shareholders. The test of what is in the best interest of the company may not provide enough balance in this regard, as seen perhaps from the recent failed derivative action sought by some shareholders of Shell against its directors, and directors should take account of the interest of the reasonable shareholder in capturing the gist of what ESG should aim at.
Trends and new practical applications for warehouse allocation and layout design: a literature review
Authors: Albert Pierre-William , Rönnqvist Mikael , Lehoux Nadia
Published: November 2023

Companies’ productivity is critical in contemporary warehouse environment to maintain efficiency and competitiveness within their supply chain. Warehousing operations are well known for their impact on the overall supply chain and need to be wisely managed. Among those activities, allocation planning and layout design are some of the most important concepts in practice. Current research tends to emphasize homogeneous environment, which leaves heterogeneous and non-standard cases with less attention, even today. This paper aims to review the literature regarding warehouse allocation planning and layout design methods that could suit practical industry problems, with a focus on heterogeneous and non-standard spare parts. It also aims to describe the current trends in these fields. Following a literature review methodology, a total of fifty-seven articles were reviewed to identify the methods developed and used. The reviewed papers were also investigated in order to identify research gaps and future directions. The analysis concluded that more research is needed to better understand and optimize heterogeneous and non-standard spare parts environments in terms of allocation and layout design. More practical case applications also remain a gap to address.

Article highlights

This article evaluates 8 concepts/parameters related to warehouse allocation operation. This is to ensure a deep analysis of heterogeneous and non-standard parts presence in literature.

A research gap is identified regarding heterogeneous and non-standard parts in warehouse allocation and layout design methods in the scientific literature.

This article evaluates 3798 scientific papers over a 20-year timeframe. From this, we present 57 methods and 8 gaps in scientific literature.
Dragon fly algorithm based approach for escalating the security among the nodes in wireless sensor network based system
Authors: Sharma Shweta , Kaur Amandeep , Gupta Deepali , Juneja Sapna , Kumar Mukesh
Published: November 2023

A new technology that is gaining popularity today is the Wireless Sensor Network. Smart sensors are being used in a variety of wireless network applications, including intruder detection, transportation, the Internet of Things, smart cities, the military, industrial, agricultural, and health monitoring, as a result of their rapid expansion. Sensor network technologies improve social advancement and life quality while having little to no negative impact on the environment or natural resources of the planet are examined in sensor networks for sustainable development. Real-world applications face challenges ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) due to dynamic network topology changes, resource constraints, and heterogeneous traffic flow. By enhancing its properties, such as maintainability, packet error ratio, reliability, scalability, availability, latency, jitter, throughput, priority, periodicity, deadline, security, and packet loss ratio, the optimized QoS may be attained. Real-world high performance is difficult to attain since sensors are spread out in a hostile environment. The performance parameters are divided into four categories: network-specific, deployment phase, layered WSN architecture, and measurability. Integrity, secrecy, safety, and security are among the privacy and security levels. This article leads emphasis on the trustworthiness of the routes as well as the nodes involved in those routes from where the data has to pass from source to destination. First of all, the nodes are deployed and cluster head selection is done by considering the total number of nodes and the distance from the base station. The proposed work uses AODV architecture for computing QoS parameters that are throughput, PDR and delay. K-means clustering algorithm is used to divide the aggregated data into three possible segments viz. good, moderate and bad as this process does not involve the labelling of aggregated data due to its supervised behavior. The proposed trust model works in two phases. In first phase, data is divided into 3 segments and labelling is done. In second phase, uses generated class objects are to be applied viz. the route records to publicize the rank of the routes followed by the rank of nodes. The proposed technique employed the statistical machine learning and swarm intelligence strategy with dragon fly algorithm in order to address the issues related effective rank generation of nodes and improving the network lifetime. Deep learning concepts can be combined with fuzzy logics approach for resolving issues like secure data transmission, trustworthiness of ranking nodes and efficient route discovery.
Group-Fusion One-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network for Ballistic Target High-Resolution Range Profile Recognition with Layer-Wise Auxiliary Classifiers
Authors: Xiang Qian , Wang Xiaodan , Lai Jie , Song Yafei , Li Rui , Lei Lei
Published: November 2023

Ballistic missile defense systems require accurate target recognition technology. Effective feature extraction is crucial for this purpose. The deep convolutional neural network (CNN) has proven to be an effective method for recognizing high-resolution range profiles (HRRPs) of ballistic targets. It excels in perceiving local features and extracting robust features. However, the standard CNN's fully connected manner results in high computational complexity, which is unsuitable for deployment in real-time missile defense systems with stringent performance requirements. To address the issue of computational complexity in HRRP recognition based on the standard one-dimensional CNN (1DCNN), we propose a lightweight network called group-fusion 1DCNN with layer-wise auxiliary classifiers (GFAC-1DCNN). GFAC-1DCNN employs group convolution (G-Conv) instead of standard convolution to effectively reduce model complexity. Simply using G-Conv, however, may decrease model recognition accuracy due to the lack of information flow between feature maps generated by each G-Conv. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a linear fusion layer to combine the output features of G-Convs, thereby improving recognition accuracy. Additionally, besides the main classifier at the deepest layer, we construct layer-wise auxiliary classifiers for different hierarchical features. The results from all classifiers are then fused for comprehensive target recognition. Extensive experiments demonstrate that GFAC-1DCNN with such simple and effective techniques achieves higher overall testing accuracy than state-of-the-art ballistic target HRRP recognition models, while significantly reducing model complexity. It also exhibits a higher recall rate for warhead recognition compared to other methods. Based on these compelling results, we believe this work is valuable in reducing workload and enhancing missile interception rates in missile defense systems.
Modelling Scientific Communities
Authors: O'Connor Cailin
Published: November 2023

This Element will overview research using models to understand scientific practice. Models are useful for reasoning about groups and processes that are complicated and distributed across time and space, i.e., those that are difficult to study using empirical methods alone. Science fits this picture. For this reason, it is no surprise that researchers have turned to models over the last few decades to study various features of science. The different sections of the element are mostly organized around different modeling approaches. The models described in this element sometimes yield take-aways that are straightforward, and at other times more nuanced. The Element ultimately argues that while these models are epistemically useful, the best way to employ most of them to understand and improve science is in combination with empirical methods and other sorts of theorizing.
WTO Ministerial Conferences
Authors: World Trade Organization
Published: November 2023

WTO Ministerial Conferences: Key Outcomes contains all the key outcomes from World Trade Organization Ministerial Conferences since the organization was established in 1995. Covering 12 Ministerial Conferences held between 1996 and 2022, the key outcomes include Ministerial Decisions and Declarations as well as Chairpersons' statements. This publication also reproduces relevant ministerial outcomes of the Uruguay Round adopted in connection with the establishment of the WTO that were not formally integrated into the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO. This publication complements The WTO Agreements, published by Cambridge University Press and the WTO, which contains the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO and its Annexes.
A multipole-based effect catalog system for the systematic identification of potential measurands
Authors: Vorwerk-Handing Gunnar , Welzbacher Peter , Kirchner Eckhard
Published: November 2023

Caused by the progressing digitalization in mechanical engineering, a significant demand for information about characteristic process and state variables of technical systems arises. However, since it is oftentimes neither obvious what nor how to measure, the integration of measuring functions, in particular in terms of a retrofit, represents a current challenge in mechanical engineering. In order to overcome this challenge, an approach for the systematic identification of potential measurands is provided in this contribution. For this purpose, the approach of physical effect catalogs is taken up and used for the systematic identification of potential measurands, starting from a physical variable to be determined. Existing catalog systems have two major limitations with respect to the intended identification of cause–effect relationships: They assume an effect to be realized and a consideration of design parameters of a technical system is not intended. These limitations are overcome by linking the fundamental idea of existing catalog systems with the basics of multipole-based modeling. In this way, a multipole-based effect catalog system is developed. It creates the foundation to systematically include the changes and transformations of a process or state variable to be determined into the identification of potential measurands.
Scaling a group intervention to promote caregiver mental health in Uttarakhand, India: A mixed-methods implementation study
Authors: Agarwal Disha , Bailie Christopher R. , Rana Samson , Balan Laxman , Grills Nathan J. , Mathias Kaaren
Published: November 2023

Caregivers are integral to health and social care systems in South Asian countries yet are themselves at higher risk of mental illness. Interventions to support caregiver mental health developed in high-income contexts may be contextually inappropriate in the Global South. In this mixed-methods study, we evaluated the implementation and scaling of a locally developed mental health group intervention for caregivers and others in Uttarakhand, India. We describe factors influencing implementation using the updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, and selected implementation outcomes. Key influencing factors we found in common with other programs included: an intervention that was relevant and adaptable; family support and stigma operating in the outer setting; training and support for lay health worker providers, shared goals, and relationships with the community and the process of engaging with organisational leaders and service users within the inner setting. We identified further factors including the group delivery format, competing responsibilities for caregivers and opportunities associated with the partnership delivery model as influencing outcomes. Implementation successfully reached target communities however attrition of 20% of participants highlights the potential for improving outcomes by harnessing enablers and addressing barriers. Findings will inform others implementing group mental health and caregiver interventions in South Asia.
Pharmacist-led medicines optimisation service in an inpatient mental health setting
Authors: Hynes-Ryan Caroline , Carolan Aoife , Feeney Larkin , Strawbridge Judith , Purcell Audrey , Gilsenan Georgina , O’Donoghue Darragh , Keating Dolores
Published: November 2023

Medicines optimisation ensures that people get the best possible outcomes from their medicines. As those with severe mental illness (SMI) are frequently prescribed psychotropic medicines with potentially significant side-effects, poor adherence to treatment and physical morbidity are common. This results in suboptimal symptom control, physical health problems and negative health outcomes. The specialist mental health pharmacist (SMHP) is best placed to provide leadership for medicines optimisation in the inpatient mental health setting. By adopting a patient-centred approach to providing information, improving adherence, screening, initiating and maintaining medicines, and supporting self-advocacy, the SMHP can ensure the patients’ experience of taking medicines is optimised. As there is currently limited understanding of what a baseline clinical pharmacy service in a mental health setting looks like, we aim to outline a framework for pharmacist-led medicines optimisation for those with SMI. This framework is suitable to be scaled and adapted to other settings.
Science, epistemology and legitimacy in environmental disputes – The epistemically legitimate judicial argumentative space
Authors: Sulyok Katalin
Published: November 2023

This article maps the elements of the epistemically legitimate argumentative space of judges in scientific disputes, where scientific facts and arguments intrude into the legally relevant aspects of the legal controversy. The article distinguishes four main forms of legitimate hybrid reasoning styles. It identifies the epistemic risks threatening the legitimacy of decisions in light of the corresponding limits of the epistemically legitimate argumentative space. The article concludes by discussing the parameters which help judges to select the appropriate reasoning style in particular cases, such as the judicial institution’s epistemic capacities, practical feasibility, and the role science plays in the fabric of legal rules.
Cerebral embolic protection during transcatheter stent expansion of restrictive extra-cardiac Fontan conduit
Authors: Haddad Raymond N. , Naggara Olivier , Bonnet Damien , Malekzadeh-Milani Sophie
Published: November 2023

We report a 20-year-old female patient (76 Kg/164 cm) with an extra-cardiac Fontan circulation who was referred to our institution for exertional dyspnoea and desaturation. The patient was diagnosed with a large calcified thrombus at the level of the Fontan fenestration, protruding inside the lumen of the conduit and reducing the diameter by half with a 3 mmHg pressure gradient. Transcatheter stent expansion of the obstructed extra-cardiac conduit was done with a 48 mm long XXL PTFE-covered Optimus-CVS® under temporary cerebral embolic protection with a TriGUARD-3™ deflection filter device (Keystone Heart). There was no procedural complication and the 3 months clinical outcomes are good.
Cardiac MRI six months after the onset of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents temporally related to COVID-19: A retrospective follow-up study
Authors: Karas Thomas , Scala Mario , Biebl Ariane , Steiner Jürgen , Fellner Franz , Tulzer Gerald , Tulzer Andreas
Published: November 2023

Background:

In 2020, reports revealed cases called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents temporally related to COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. A small proportion of patients suffer from persistent left ventricular dysfunction at discharge. The primary aim was to investigate if myocardial impairment persists during follow-up in these patients.

Methods:

Children fulfilling the criteria for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children with cardiac involvement hospitalized between December 2020 and February 2022 were included in this retrospective single centre study. Cardiac MRI was performed six months after the onset of symptoms to evaluate possible persistent myocardial damage.

Results:

Fifteen patients (80% male) with a median age of 8 years (interquartile range 4.5 - 13.5 years) were included. Upon admission, eight patients (53%) presented with reduced left ventricular function, with a median left ventricular ejection fraction of 54% (interquartile range 49.5%-61.5%) on transthoracic echocardiography. Elevated levels of cardiac-specific markers were found in 14 patients (93%). Cardiac MRI was performed in 12 patients at a median of 190.5 days after the onset of symptoms. Nine patients (75%) had normal left ventricular function, with a median left ventricular ejection fraction of 59.45%, while the remaining patients showed mildly to moderately reduced values. None of the patients showed signs of late gadolinium enhancement, indicating the absence of persistent myocardial scarring.

Conclusion:

During a follow-up of 6.2 months, mild to moderate cardiac impairment was revealed in 25% of patients evaluated by cardiac MRI. Although a majority of patients do not show signs of cardiac impairment, close follow-ups should be performed in a proportion of patients.
Korean heat radiated: from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian houses to postwar mass-produced houses in America
Authors: Kim Hyon-Sob
Published: November 2023

After experiencing a floor-heated ‘Korean room’ in Tokyo in the 1910s (possibly in 1920), Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) applied its operating principle to his Usonian houses, starting with the Jacobs House I (1936–7). Successively, Wright’s heating method, along with other Usonian features, was applied to many postwar mass-produced houses, particularly those by Levitt & Sons in New York and Eichler Homes in California, two representative housing development companies in mid-century America. In their tract housing projects undertaken for about two decades from the late 1940s, floor heating (what is generally called ‘radiant heating’) was attractive not only owing to its thermal comfort but also because its slab system without a basement made construction inexpensive and expeditious. Although research on Levitt and Eichler homes has often mentioned the new heating method in relation to Wright’s influence, they could hardly identify the inspiration that Wright drew from Korea. Bridging the gap, this study argues that the Korean floor-heating idea disseminated to postwar mass-produced houses in America through Wright. Considering that their affordable houses were targeted at ordinary families seeking the American dream in a renewed social context, it can be said that Korean heat warmed the American dream, albeit indirectly. Ultimately, this radiated Korean heat would illustrate how one culture influences another, resulting in cultural cross-fertilisation.
Cladistics groupings of the active breeding cocoa genetic resources of Nigeria for physicochemical and nutraceutical traits
Authors: Adewale Daniel B. , Adeigbe Oluwayemisi O.
Published: November 2023

Preference for functional and nutritious food capable of meeting consumers' demand and health is on the increase. The present preliminary study seeks to assess physico-chemical and nutraceutical diversity in the cocoa bean powder of 77 genotypes present in four Nigerian cocoa field banks. Twenty ripe pods/genotypes in each of the four active breeding field banks at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan, Nigeria were utilized. Composite beans from the 20 pods of each genotype were singly fermented, sun-dried and milled. Duplicate samples of the powder of each genotype were analysed for physico-chemical and nutraceutical components. Twenty-one polymorphic variables distinguished the 77 cocoa genotypes. Grouping by dendogram identified four clusters, three differently and uniquely captured 100% of the genotype membership in the local clone, international clone and the regional varieties field bank but 86% of the genotypes in the hybrid trial field bank were grouped in cluster I. Prominent traits with highest values in each clusters were: protein, pH, Ca, K and Fe (Cluster I), Zn and Mg (Cluster II), crude fat and P (Cluster III) and crude fibre, ash, theobromine, flavonoids and caffeine (Cluster IV). Exploitable diversity for nutritional quality improvement is present in the active breeding and working collections of Nigerian cocoa field banks.
A scientometric review of the peer-reviewed research on high tunnels in the United States
Authors: Donovan Megan , Ruiz-Menjivar Jorge , Coolong Timothy , Swisher Marilyn E.
Published: November 2023

This study assessed the extant literature related to the use of high tunnels (HTs) in agricultural systems in the United States since the 2009 launch of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) High Tunnel Initiative. This NRCS program led to an increase in HT adoption nationwide. The literature searches were conducted using the Web of Science (WoS) database. The final sample was 133 peer-reviewed articles published between 2009 and February 2023. We used CiteSpace 6.2.R1 and Gephi 0.9.2 to conduct co-citation, co-author, co-institution, and clustering techniques. The findings showed that the peer-reviewed literature about HT use has increased since 2009, substantially rising between 2017 and 2021. Horticulture was the top subject category in the literature, and most articles were published in peer-reviewed journals of the American Society for Horticultural Science (i.e., HortTechnology and HortScience). The research field evolved from general HT practices, nutrient management, and plant pathology to focus on trials of specific crops and integrated pest management. The institutions with the most contributions to the HT literature were Kansas State University, the University of Florida, Michigan State University, Purdue University, and the University of Minnesota. The patterns of HT research revealed in this study offer a greater understanding of the current state of knowledge to inform the focus of future research.
Mars’s Interior May Have an Extra Layer of Molten Rock
Authors: Barbuzano Javier
Published: November 2023

New findings suggest that unlike in Earth, the bottom of Mars’s mantle is a sea of molten silicate rock.
Subseasonal Prediction of Impactful California Winter Weather in a Hybrid Dynamical‐Statistical Framework
Authors: Guirguis Kristen , Gershunov Alexander , Hatchett Benjamin J. , DeFlorio Michael J. , Subramanian Aneesh C. , Clemesha Rachel , Delle Monache Luca , Ralph F. Martin
Published: November 2023

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) and Santa Ana winds (SAWs) are impactful weather events for California communities. Emergency planning efforts and resource management would benefit from extending lead times of skillful prediction for these and other types of extreme weather patterns. Here we describe a methodology for subseasonal prediction of impactful winter weather in California, including ARs, SAWs and heat extremes. The hybrid approach combines dynamical model and historical information to forecast probabilities of impactful weather outcomes at weeks 1–4 lead. This methodology uses dynamical model information considered most reliable, that is, planetary/synoptic‐scale atmospheric circulation, filters for dynamical model error/uncertainty at longer lead times and increases the sample of likely outcomes by utilizing the full historical record instead of a more limited suite of dynamical forecast model ensemble members. We demonstrate skill above climatology at subseasonal timescales, highlighting potential for use in water, health, land, and fire management decision support.
Coastal Mountains Amplified the Impacts of Orbital Forcing on East Asian Climate in the Late Cretaceous
Authors: Zhang Jian , Flögel Sascha , Hu Yongyun , Zhao Anni , Chu Runjian , Zhu Chenguang , Wang Chengshan
Published: November 2023

During the Cretaceous, there were two factors that had important influences on the East Asian climate, the East Asian coastal mountains and Earth's orbital cycling. An important question is how the coastal mountains modulated the variability of East Asian climate over orbital timescales. Here, we perform simulations with the coastal mountains of 0, 2, and 4 km high and three orbital configurations to answer the question. Our results show that a mountain range at the East Asian coast can amplify the impacts of orbital forcing on East Asian climate. Specifically, precipitation over the Songliao Basin in Northeastern China has significant changes as the coastal mountain range is about 4 km high. Combining our simulation results with orbitally‐controlled sedimentary deposits from the Songliao Basin, we conclude that the altitude of the coastal mountain range was very likely higher than 2 km in the Late Cretaceous.
Cortical and subcortical structural differences in psychostimulant-free ADHD youth with and without a family history of bipolar I disorder: a cross-sectional morphometric comparison
Authors: Zhu Ziyu , Lei Du , Qin Kun , Tallman Maxwell J. , Patino L. Rodrigo , Fleck David E. , Gong Qiyong , Sweeney John A. , DelBello Melissa P. , McNamara Robert K.
Published: November 2023

Although attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a family history of bipolar I disorder (BD) are associated with increased risk for developing BD, their neuroanatomical substrates remain poorly understood. This study compared cortical and subcortical gray matter morphology in psychostimulant-free ADHD youth with and without a first-degree relative with BD and typically developing healthy controls. ADHD youth (ages 10-18 years) with (‘high-risk’, HR) or without (‘low-risk’, LR) a first-degree relative with BD and healthy comparison youth (HC) were enrolled. High-resolution 3D T1-weighted images were acquired using a Philips 3.0 T MR scanner. The FreeSurfer image analysis suite was used to measure cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volumes. A general linear model evaluated group differences in MRI features with age and sex as covariates, and exploratory correlational analyses evaluated associations with symptom ratings. A total of n = 142 youth (mean age: 14.16 ± 2.54 years, 35.9% female) were included in the analysis (HC, n = 48; LR, n = 49; HR, n = 45). The HR group exhibited a more severe symptom profile, including higher mania and dysregulation scores, compared to the LR group. For subcortical volumes, the HR group exhibited smaller bilateral thalamic, hippocampal, and left caudate nucleus volumes compared to both LR and HC, and smaller right caudate nucleus compared with LR. No differences were found between LR and HC groups. For cortical surface area, the HR group exhibited lower parietal and temporal surface area compared with HC and LR, and lower orbitofrontal and superior frontal surface area compared to LR. The HR group exhibited lower left anterior cingulate surface area compared with HC. LR participants exhibited greater right pars opercularis surface area compared with the HC. Some cortical alterations correlated with symptom severity ratings. These findings suggest that ADHD in youth with a BD family history is associated with a more a severe symptom profile and a neuroanatomical phenotype that distinguishes it from ADHD without a BD family history.
Distinct neurexin isoforms cooperate to initiate and maintain foraging activity
Authors: Bastien Brandon L. , Cowen Mara H. , Hart Michael P.
Published: November 2023

Neurexins are synaptic adhesion molecules that play diverse roles in synaptic development, function, maintenance, and plasticity. Neurexin genes have been associated with changes in human behavior, where variants in NRXN1 are associated with autism, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. While NRXN1, NRXN2, and NRXN3 all encode major α and β isoforms, NRXN1 uniquely encodes a γ isoform, for which mechanistic roles in behavior have yet to be defined. Here, we show that both α and γ isoforms of neurexin/nrx-1 are required for the C. elegans behavioral response to food deprivation, a sustained period of hyperactivity upon food loss. We find that the γ isoform regulates initiation and the α isoform regulates maintenance of the behavioral response to food deprivation, demonstrating cooperative function of multiple nrx-1 isoforms in regulating a sustained behavior. The γ isoform alters monoamine signaling via octopamine, relies on specific expression of NRX-1 isoforms throughout the relevant circuit, and is independent of neuroligin/nlg-1, the canonical trans-synaptic partner of nrx-1. The α isoform regulates the pre-synaptic structure of the octopamine producing RIC neuron and its maintenance role is conditional on neuroligin/nlg-1. Collectively, these results demonstrate that neurexin isoforms can have separate behavioral roles and act cooperatively across neuronal circuits to modify behavior, highlighting the need to directly analyze and consider all isoforms when defining the contribution of neurexins to behavior.
Conserved temperature requirements but contrasting responses to humidity across oviposition preferences in temperate grasshoppers
Authors: Dvořák Tomáš , Knapp Michal
Published: November 2023

The right choice of an oviposition site is a crucial task for oviparous species without maternal care. In contrast to well investigated biotic factors, e.g., larval food preferences, parasitism, predation, and competition avoiding, abiotic factors affecting oviposition preferences in insects have been rarely investigated in comparative studies. To improve our current understanding of oviposition site selection in Orthoptera, we investigated the influence of substrate temperature and moisture on the oviposition behaviour of 14 temperate grasshopper species. Conspecific groups of adults were kept in arenas with simultaneous temperature and moisture gradients. For each ootheca produced during the experiment (n = 1192) we recorded its depth and local microclimatic conditions. Our results indicate that microclimatic oviposition preferences significantly differ among species, however, correlations between adult habitat preferences and microclimatic oviposition preferences were surprisingly weak. Even oligothermic species preferred substrate temperatures around 30 °C and some xerothermic species preferred higher humidity. The hypothesized tendency to place oothecae closer to the ground within grass tussocks under hot and dry conditions was confirmed. It is possible that species evaluate microclimatic conditions for oviposition in the context of occupied habitat, i.e., in a relative rather than absolute manner.
A deep learning model predicts the presence of diverse cancer types using circulating tumor cells
Authors: Albaradei Somayah , Alganmi Nofe , Albaradie Abdulrahman , Alharbi Eaman , Motwalli Olaa , Thafar Maha A. , Gojobori Takashi , Essack Magbubah , Gao Xin
Published: November 2023

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that detach from the primary tumor and intravasate into the bloodstream. Thus, non-invasive liquid biopsies are being used to analyze CTC-expressed genes to identify potential cancer biomarkers. In this regard, several studies have used gene expression changes in blood to predict the presence of CTC and, consequently, cancer. However, the CTC mRNA data has not been used to develop a generic approach that indicates the presence of multiple cancer types. In this study, we developed such a generic approach. Briefly, we designed two computational workflows, one using the raw mRNA data and deep learning (DL) and the other exploiting five hub gene ranking algorithms (Degree, Maximum Neighborhood Component, Betweenness Centrality, Closeness Centrality, and Stress Centrality) with machine learning (ML). Both workflows aim to determine the top genes that best distinguish cancer types based on the CTC mRNA data. We demonstrate that our automated, robust DL framework (DNNraw) more accurately indicates the presence of multiple cancer types using the CTC gene expression data than multiple ML approaches. The DL approach achieved average precision of 0.9652, recall of 0.9640, f1-score of 0.9638 and overall accuracy of 0.9640. Furthermore, since we designed multiple approaches, we also provide a bioinformatics analysis of the gene commonly identified as top-ranked by the different methods. To our knowledge, this is the first study wherein a generic approach has been developed to predict the presence of multiple cancer types using raw CTC mRNA data, as opposed to other models that require a feature selection step.
Therapeutic effects of faricimab on aflibercept-refractory age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Tamiya Ryosuke , Hata Masayuki , Tanaka Asako , Tsuchikawa Memiri , Ueda-Arakawa Naoko , Tamura Hiroshi , Miyata Manabu , Takahashi Ayako , Kido Ai , Muraoka Yuki , Miyake Masahiro , Ooto Sotaro , Tsujikawa Akitaka
Published: November 2023

Though vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) and other proangiogenic factors, such as angiopoietins (Ang), may be involved in the development of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nvAMD), only drugs that inhibit the VEGF family are available for the treatment. The newly approved anti-VEGF drug faricimab, which also inhibits Ang-2, is expected to be effective in patients with AMD refractory to conventional anti-VEGF drugs. Therefore, we prospectively investigated the efficacy of faricimab in the treatment of aflibercept-refractory nvAMD. Patients with nvAMD who had been treated with aflibercept in the last year and required bimonthly injections were recruited. 25 eyes showed persistent exudative changes immediately before the faricimab injection (baseline). In these 25 eyes, switching to faricimab did not change visual acuity or central retinal thickness 2 months after the injection; however, 56% of eyes showed reduction or complete absorption of fluid. Notably, 25% of the eyes that showed dry macula at month 2 had no fluid recurrence for up to 4 months. These results indicate that faricimab could benefit some patients with aflibercept-refractory nvAMD.
Unravelling transcriptomic complexity in breast cancer through modulation of DARPP-32 expression and signalling pathways
Authors: Saidy Behnaz , Vasan Richa , Durant Rosie , Greener Megan-Rose , Immanuel Adelynn , Green Andrew R. , Rakha Emad , Ellis Ian , Ball Graham , Martin Stewart G. , Storr Sarah J.
Published: November 2023

DARPP-32 is a key regulator of protein-phosphatase-1 (PP-1) and protein kinase A (PKA), with its function dependent upon its phosphorylation state. We previously identified DKK1 and GRB7 as genes with linked expression using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis; here, we determine protein expression in a large cohort of early-stage breast cancer patients. Low levels of DARPP-32 Threonine-34 phosphorylation and DKK1 expression were significantly associated with poor patient prognosis, while low levels of GRB7 expression were linked to better survival outcomes. To gain insight into mechanisms underlying these associations, we analysed the transcriptome of T47D breast cancer cells following DARPP-32 knockdown. We identified 202 differentially expressed transcripts and observed that some overlapped with genes implicated in the ANN analysis, including PTK7, TRAF5, and KLK6, amongst others. Furthermore, we found that treatment of DARPP-32 knockdown cells with 17β-estradiol or PKA inhibitor fragment (6–22) amide led to the differential expression of 193 and 181 transcripts respectively. These results underscore the importance of DARPP-32, a central molecular switch, and its downstream targets, DKK1 and GRB7 in breast cancer. The discovery of common genes identified by a combined patient/cell line transcriptomic approach provides insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying differential breast cancer prognosis and highlights potential targets for therapeutic intervention.