bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Muscle synergies for the control of single-limb stance with and without visual information in young individuals
Authors: Labanca L. , Ghislieri M. , Knaflitz M. , Barone G. , Bragonzoni L. , Agostini V. , Benedetti M. G.
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Single-limb stance is a demanding postural task featuring a high number of daily living and sporting activities. Thus, it is widely used for training and rehabilitation, as well as for balance assessment. Muscle activations around single joints have been previously described, however, it is not known which are the muscle synergies used to control posture and how they change between conditions of normal and lack of visual information.

Methods

Twenty-two healthy young participants were asked to perform a 30 s single-limb stance task in open-eyes and closed-eyes condition while standing on a force platform with the dominant limb. Muscle synergies were extracted from the electromyographical recordings of 13 muscles of the lower limb, hip, and back. The optimal number of synergies, together with the average recruitment level and balance control strategies were analyzed and compared between the open- and the closed-eyes condition.

Results

Four major muscle synergies, two ankle-dominant synergies, one knee-dominant synergy, and one hip/back-dominant synergy were found. No differences between open- and closed-eyes conditions were found for the recruitment level, except for the hip/back synergy, which significantly decreased (p = 0.02) in the closed-eyes compared to the open-eyes condition. A significant increase (p = 0.03) of the ankle balance strategy was found in the closed-eyes compared to the open-eyes condition.

Conclusion

In healthy young individuals, single-limb stance is featured by four major synergies, both in open- and closed-eyes condition. Future studies should investigate muscle synergies in participants with other age groups, as well as pathological conditions.
Preliminary demonstration of benchtop NMR metabolic profiling of feline urine: chronic kidney disease as a case study
Authors: Finch Natalie , Percival Benita , Hunter Elena , Blagg Robin J. , Blackwell Emily , Sagar James , Ahmad Zeeshan , Chang Ming-Wei , Hunt John A. , Mather Melissa L. , Tasker Séverine , De Risio Luisa , Wilson Philippe B.
Published: December 2021

Objective

The use of benchtop metabolic profiling technology based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was evaluated in a small cohort of cats with a view to applying this as a viable and rapid metabolic tool to support clinical decision making.

Results

Urinary metabolites were analysed from four subjects consisting of two healthy controls and two chronic kidney disease (CKD) IRIS stage 2 cases. The study identified 15 metabolites in cats with CKD that were different from the controls. Among them were acetate, creatinine, citrate, taurine, glycine, serine and threonine. Benchtop NMR technology is capable of distinguishing between chronic kidney disease case and control samples in a pilot feline cohort based on metabolic profile. We offer perspectives on the further development of this pilot work and the potential of the technology, when combined with sample databases and computational intelligence techniques to offer a clinical decision support tool not only for cases of renal disease but other metabolic conditions in the future.
An Experimental Study of Shear Resistance for Multisize Polypropylene Fiber Concrete Beams
Authors: Yang Xin , Liang Ninghui , Hu Yang , Feng Rui
Published: December 2021

To study the influence of polypropylene fibers with different thicknesses on concrete beams, inclined section shear tests of polypropylene fiber concrete beams were carried out. The cracking load, ultimate load, midspan deflection, reinforcement, and strain of polypropylene fiber concrete beams and conventional reinforced-concrete beams under shear were compared and analyzed. The load-bearing capacity of the rectangular beams was improved significantly by polypropylene fiber addition. Compared with conventional reinforced-concrete beams, the limit shear load of concrete beams with polypropylene fibers and multisize polypropylene concrete beams that were reinforced with three types of fibers increased by 8.67% and 17.07%, respectively. By mixing polypropylene fibers into concrete beams, the initial crack shear force of the beam was improved, the number of cracks was increased and the crack width was reduced, which can increase the beam ductility, inhibit crack formation and increase the strength. The computational formula of the shear ultimate bearing capacity of polypropylene fiber–concrete beams was revised according to composite material theory, and the calculated results were consistent with the test values.
Current efforts towards safe and effective live attenuated vaccines against African swine fever: challenges and prospects
Authors: Wang Tao , Luo Rui , Sun Yuan , Qiu Hua-Ji
Published: December 2021

Background

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boar caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV). Since ASF has been introduced into Europe and Asia, the major pig-raising areas, posing a huge threat to the pork industry worldwide. Currently, prevention and control of ASF are basically dependent on strict biosecurity measures and stamping-out policy once ASF occurs.

Main text

The major risks of ASF spread are insufficient biosecurity measures and human behaviors. Therefore, a safe and effective vaccine seems to be a reasonable demand for the prevention and control of ASF. Due to the efficacy advantage over other types of vaccines, live attenuated vaccines (LAVs), especially virulence-associated genes deleted vaccines, are likely to be put into emergency and conditional use in restricted areas if ASF is out of control in a country with a huge pig population and pork consumption, like China. However, the safety, efficacy, and genetic stability of current candidate ASF LAVs require comprehensive clinical evaluations prior to country-wide field application. Several critical issues need to be addressed to commercialize an ideal ASF LAV, including a stable cell line for manufacturing vaccines, differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA), and cross-protection from different genotypes.

Conclusion

A safe and effective DIVA vaccine and an accompanying diagnostic assay will facilitate the prevention, control, and eradication of ASF, which is quite challenging in the near future.

Graphical Abstract
Understanding the relationship between parenting style and chronic pain in adolescents: a structural equation modelling approach
Authors: Shaygan Maryam , Bostanian Pardis , Zarmehr Mina , Hassanipour Hamidreza , Mollaie Maryam
Published: December 2021

Background

Although the context of parenting has been incorporated into psychosocial pain research, very little attention has been paid to how parenting styles influence chronic pain in adolescents. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem, emotional intelligence, and psychological distress in the association between parenting styles and chronic pain.

Method

Seven hundred and thirty nine adolescents and their parents participated in this study. To identify adolescents with chronic pain, screening questions based on the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases were used. Baumrind parenting style questionnaire was used to assess the parenting style (permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative parenting styles). The structural equation modelling (SEM) was carried out in M-Plus version 6 to evaluate the direct, indirect, and total effects of different parenting styles on chronic pain.

Results

The results in the SEM models revealed that only the indirect paths from authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles to pain through emotional intelligence (βauthoritative = − 0.003, 95% CI = − 0.008 to − 0.003; βauthoritarian = 0.001, 95% CI = 0.001 to 0.003) and psychological distress (βauthoritative = − 0.010, 95% CI = − 0.021 to − 0.004; βauthoritarian = 0.008, 95% CI = 0.004 to 0.016) were significant. Indirect paths from permissive style to pain and the mediating role of self-esteem were not significant.

Discussion

Emotional intelligence and psychological distress significantly mediated the effects of authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles on chronic pain. The current results support the notion that interventions targeting effective parent–adolescent communication may be an important part of chronic pain management in adolescents. Moreover, the results provide rationale for targeting emotional intelligence and psychological distress in adolescents by explicitly teaching effective communication skills, expressing opinions and minds, and emotion regulation strategies.
DC-SIGN targets amphotericin B-loaded liposomes to diverse pathogenic fungi
Authors: Ambati Suresh , Pham Tuyetnhu , Lewis Zachary A. , Lin Xiaorong , Meagher Richard B.
Published: December 2021

Background

Life-threatening invasive fungal infections are treated with antifungal drugs such as Amphotericin B (AmB) loaded liposomes. Our goal herein was to show that targeting liposomal AmB to fungal cells with the C-type lectin pathogen recognition receptor DC-SIGN improves antifungal activity. DC-SIGN binds variously crosslinked mannose-rich and fucosylated glycans and lipomannans that are expressed by helminth, protist, fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens including three of the most life-threatening fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. Ligand recognition by human DC-SIGN is provided by a carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) linked to the membrane transit and signaling sequences. Different combinations of the eight neck repeats (NR1 to NR8) expressed in different protein isoforms may alter the orientation of the CRD to enhance its binding to different glycans.

Results

We prepared two recombinant isoforms combining the CRD with NR1 and NR2 in isoform DCS12 and with NR7 and NR8 in isoform DCS78 and coupled them to a lipid carrier. These constructs were inserted into the membrane of pegylated AmB loaded liposomes AmB-LLs to produce DCS12-AmB-LLs and DCS78-AmB-LLs. Relative to AmB-LLs and Bovine Serum Albumin coated BSA-AmB-LLs, DCS12-AmB-LLs and DCS78-AmB-LLs bound more efficiently to the exopolysaccharide matrices produced by A. fumigatus, C. albicans and C. neoformans in vitro, with DCS12-AmB-LLs performing better than DCS78-AmB-LLs. DCS12-AmB-LLs inhibited and/or killed all three species in vitro significantly better than AmB-LLs or BSA-AmB-LLs. In mouse models of invasive candidiasis and pulmonary aspergillosis, one low dose of DCS12-AmB-LLs significantly reduced the fungal burden in the kidneys and lungs, respectively, several-fold relative to AmB-LLs.

Conclusions

DC-SIGN’s CRD specifically targeted antifungal liposomes to three highly evolutionarily diverse pathogenic fungi and enhanced the antifungal efficacy of liposomal AmB both in vitro and in vivo. Targeting significantly reduced the effective dose of antifungal drug, which may reduce drug toxicity, be effective in overcoming dose dependent drug resistance, and more effectively kill persister cells. In addition to fungi, DC-SIGN targeting of liposomal packaged anti-infectives have the potential to alter treatment paradigms for a wide variety of pathogens from different kingdoms including protozoans, helminths, bacteria, and viruses which express its cognate ligands.
Hedgehog signaling controls mouth opening in the amphioxus
Authors: Hu Guangwei , Li Guang , Wang Yiquan
Published: December 2021

Introduction

The left-sided position of the mouth in amphioxus larvae has fascinated researchers for a long time. Despite the fundamental importance of mouth development in the amphioxus, the molecular regulation of its development is almost unknown. In our previous study, we showed thatHhmutation in the amphioxus leads to no mouth opening, indicating a requirement of Hh signaling for amphioxus mouth formation. Nevertheless, since theHhmutant also exhibits defects in early left-right (LR) patterning, it remains currently unknown whether the loss of mouth opening is affected directly by Hh deficiency or a secondary effect of its influence on LR establishment.

Results

We demonstrated that knockout of theSmogene, another key component of the Hh signaling pathway, in the amphioxus resulted in the absence of mouth opening, but caused no effects on LR asymmetry development. Upregulation of Hh signaling led to a dramatic increase in mouth size. The inability ofSmomutation to affect LR development is due toSmo’s high maternal expression in amphioxus eggs and cleavage-stage embryos. InSmomutants,Pou4andPax2/5/8expression at the primordial oral site is not altered before mouth opening.

Conclusions

Based on these results and our previous study, we conclude that Hh signal is necessary for amphioxus mouth formation and that the Hh-mediated regulation of mouth development is specific to the mouth. Our data suggest that Hh signaling regulates mouth formation in the amphioxus in a similar way as that in vertebrates, indicating the conserved role of Hh signaling in mouth formation.
Enterococcus faecium are associated with the modification of gut microbiota and shrimp post-larvae survival
Authors: Du Shicong , Chen Wei , Yao Zhiyuan , Huang Xiaolin , Chen Chen , Guo Haipeng , Zhang Demin
Published: December 2021

Background

Probiotics are widely used to promote host health. Compared to mammals and terrestrial invertebrates, little is known the role of probiotics in aquatic invertebrates. In this study, eighteen tanks with eight hundred of shrimp post-larvae individuals each were randomly grouped into three groups, one is shrimps administered with E. faecium as probiotic (Tre) and others are shrimps without probiotic-treatment (CK1: blank control, CK2: medium control). We investigated the correlations between a kind of commercial Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium) powder and microbiota composition with function potentials in shrimp post-larvae gut.

Results

We sequenced the 16S rRNA gene (V4) of gut samples to assess diversity and composition of the shrimp gut microbiome and used differential abundance and Tax4Fun2 analyses to identify the differences of taxonomy and predicted function between different treatment groups. The ingested probiotic bacteria (E. faecium) were tracked in gut microbiota of Tre and the shrimps here showed the best growth performance especially in survival ratio (SR). The distribution of SR across samples was similar to that in PCoA plot based on Bray-Curits and two subgroups generated (SL: SR < 70%, SH: SR ≥ 70%). The gut microbiota structure and predicted function were correlated with both treatment and SR, and SR was a far more important factor driving taxonomic and functional differences than treatment. Both Tre and SH showed a low and uneven community species and shorted phylogenetic distance. We detected a shift in composition profile at phylum and genus level and further identified ten OTUs as relevant taxa that both closely associated with treatment and SR. The partial least squares path model further supported the important role of relevant taxa related to shrimp survival ratio.

Conclusions

Overall, we found gut microbiota correlated to both shrimp survival and ingested probiotic bacteria (E. faecium). These correlations should not be dismissed without merit and will uncover a promising strategy for developing novel probiotics through certain consortium of gut microbiota.
The need for the fractional operators
Authors: Abdel-Rehim E. A.
Published: December 2021

In this review paper, I focus on presenting the reasons of extending the partial differential equations to space-time fractional differential equations. I believe that extending any partial differential equations or any system of equations to fractional systems without giving concrete reasons has no sense. The experiments agrees with the theoretical studies on extending the first order-time derivative to time-fractional derivative. The simulations of some processes also agrees with the theory of continuous time random walks for extending the second-order space fractional derivative to the Riesz–Feller fractional operators. For this aim, I give a condense review the theory of Brownian motion, Langevin equations, diffusion processes and the continuous time random walk. Some partial differential equations that are successfully extended to space-time-fractional differential equations are also presented.
The effectiveness of tele-rehabilitation on improvement of daily living activities in children with cerebral palsy: narrative review
Authors: Tamboosi Mohammad E. , Al-Khathami Safeer S. , El-Shamy Shamekh M.
Published: December 2021

Aim

To investigate the effectiveness of tele-rehabilitation for children diagnosed with unilateral cerebral palsy.

Method

The design of this study is a narrative review. An electronic search was conducted for studies that related to tele-rehabilitation using the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, OTSeeker, and PEDro. The data extracted were analyzed by evaluating them according to the key results, limitations, suitability of the methods used to the initial hypothesis, interpretation of the results, and impact of the conclusions in the field.

Results

Out of 139 studies, 3 studies met the inclusion criteria. Further, manual searches of the references of included studies identified 2 more relevant studies. The interventions applied in those studies were web-based multi-modal therapy program using Move-it-to-improve-it (Mitii™), home-based hand-arm bimanual intensive therapy (H-HABIT), and lower-extremity functional training (LIFT). The outcomes were executive functions, occupational performance, activity capacity, dexterity, quality of bimanual hand-use, functional goals, gait capacity, and performance.

Conclusion

Tele-rehabilitation is effective in improving the functions of the upper and lower extremities in daily living activities for children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP), aged between 2 to 18 years old, classified to levels I and II in GMFCS and levels I, II, and III in MACS. Webcam and good internet connection are essential requirements to conduct tele-rehabilitation. Children need to be contacted weekly via phone or e-mail for further follow-ups. Additionally, tele-rehabilitation may be considered one of the intervention strategies for patients who live in rural areas.
Development of a Hypoparathyroid Male Rodent Model for Testing Delayed-Clearance PTH Molecules
Authors: Ramezanipour Narjes , Esfahani Sayyed Hamid Zarkesh , Eastell Richard , Newell-Price John , Trevitt Graham , Ross Richard J , Wilkinson Ian R
Published: December 2021

Context

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) replacement is a promising approach in the management of hypoparathyroidism but long-acting analogues need to be developed. To date, animal models for testing PTH required parathyroidectomy by surgery. We have developed a nonsurgical rodent hypoparathyroid model and tested a delayed-clearance PTH molecule (DC-PTH).

Objective

The aim of this study was to use cinacalcet to suppress calcium levels in normal rats and to reverse these effects with the administration of PTH or PTH analogues

Methods

Male Wistar rats were gavaged with either 30 mg/kg cinacalcet-HCl (cinacalcet) or vehicle only. Animals were then dosed with either single or repeated subcutaneous doses of PTH 1-34 or a DC-PTH at 20 nmol/kg. Control animals received vehicle only. Serum samples were analyzed for ionized calcium (iCa), phosphate, PTH, and DC-PTH. A pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) model was built for cinacalcet, PTH 1-34, and DC-PTH using Phoenix64.

Results

Cinacalcet reduced iCa levels between 2 and 24 hours, returning to baseline by 72 hours post dose with nadir at 8 hours (analysis of variance P < .001), associated with a fall in rat PTH. For phosphate there was a variable biphasic response. Single-dose PTH abrogated the cinacalcet-induced fall in iCa for up to 2 hours. DC-PTH prevented the fall in iCa from 4 hours post dose and gave a prolonged response, with iCa levels quicker to return to baseline than controls. DC-PTH has a half-life of 11.5 hours, approximately 44 times longer than human PTH 1-34. The PK-PD models defined the reproducible effect of cinacalcet on iCa and that DC-PTH had prolonged biological activity.

Conclusion

The administration of cinacalcet provides a robust and reproducible nonsurgical animal model of hypoparathyroidism. DC-PTH holds promise for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism in the future.
Efficacy and safety of suprachoroidal triamcinolone acetonide in cases of resistant diabetic macular edema
Authors: Tayyab Haroon , Ahmed Chaudhry Nasir , Sadiq Muhammad Ali Ayaz
Published: December 2021

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone Acetonide (SCTA) injection in patients with treatment resistant Diabetic Macular Edema (DME).

Methods: This was a prospective non randomized interventional study conducted in the vitreoretinal department of Al Ehsan Welfare Eye Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan from March 2018 to September 2018. A total of 24 eyes of 24 patients were included. Baseline Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA), Intra Ocular Pressure (IOP) and Central Subfield Thickness (CST) was recorded. After SCTA, patient was followed up at one and three months and same clinical parameters were recorded again and results analyzed.

Results: Out of 24 patients, 11(45.83%) were males and 13(54.16%) were females. Mean pre injection CST was 636.5 ± 200.11 um. Mean pre injection BCVA was 0.8 ± 0.24 on ETDRS chart. Mean post injection CST at one and three months was 304.54 ± 67.43 and 302.66 ± 66.93 um. Mean post injection BCVA at one and three months was 0.47 ± 0.3 and 0.45 ± 0.27 on ETDRS chart. The results were statistically significant for pre and post injection CST at both one and three months (p-value < 0.00001). Pre and post injection BCVA was also statistically significant (p-value < 0.05).

Conclusion: Preliminary evidence suggests that SCTA is well tolerated and may help in improving functional and structural outcomes of treatment resistant DME.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.1194

How to cite this:Tayyab H, Ahmed CN, Sadiq MAA. Efficacy and safety of suprachoroidal triamcinolone acetonide in cases of resistant diabetic macular edema. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(2):42-47. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.1194

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Mehrsprachigkeit in transmodaler Kommunikation
Authors: König Katharina
Published: December 2021

The paper is concerned with codeswitching in transmodal WhatsApp messenger chats. Based on a corpus of text and audio postings from a group of German-Lebanese cousins that is complemented by ethnographic interviews, the study shows that language alternations can be associated with particular metapragmatic or indexical functions in the different modalities. In audio postings, switching between German and Arabic contextualises varying discourse relations. Also, the cousins use Arabic discourse markers (such as ya'ne, ‘it means’) frequently to structure their talk. In contrast, when they switch to Arabic in their text-postings – using Arabizi, a CMC-register in the Arabic-speaking world – this recurrently establishes a playful or ironic frame for ritual teasings. The final section discusses these transmodal and multilingual practices as multi-layered identity positionings vis-à-vis a monolingual society, their multilingual family and networked communities.
Metaphors in Newspaper Reports on Nigeria 2005 Banks Recapitalisation
Authors: Oluremi Tolulope
Published: December 2021

This article investigates metaphors in newspaper reports that border on mergers and acquisitions within the 2005 recapitalisation exercise in Nigeria. It considers conceptual metaphors used in depicting mergers and acquisitions among Nigerian banks and how they are deployed by journalists in shaping readers’ perception of the mergers and acquisitions activities. Data for the study comprise thirty purposively sampled articles on recapitalisation published between year 2004 and 2006, in three selected Nigerian newspapers: Business Day, The Punch and ThisDay, which had relevance, wide circulation and adequate reports on economic issues in Nigeria. Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) conceptual metaphor theory provides the theoretical perspective for the data analysis. The study reveals two conceptual metaphors: MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS AS WAR and MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS AS CONNUBIAL RELATIONS. The metaphors of war influence readers’ perception of the mergers and acquisitions exercise as a corporate management task that is highly indispensable, confrontational and susceptible to aggression considering the appalling state of the Nigeria banking sector and the huge recapitalisation funds required of individual banks. While the connubial metaphors offered readers a perception of an important exercise that entails due process, cooperation, and togetherness in achieving the stipulated recapitalisation funds. Metaphors perform multifarious functions in the construction and comprehension of financial issues. They are not the consequence of genus, but the sequence of motivated cognitive devices used by Nigerian journalists in rendering contemporary Nigerian issues.
Spatially homogeneous few-cycle compression of Yb lasers via all-solid-state free-space soliton management
Authors: Zhu Bingbing , Fu Zongyuan , Chen Yudong , Peng Sainan , Jin Cheng , Fan Guangyu , Zhang Sheng , Wang Shunjia , Ru Hao , Tian Chuanshan , Wang Yihua , Kapteyn Henry , Murnane Margaret , Tao Zhensheng
Published: December 2021

The high power and variable repetition-rate of Yb femtosecond lasers makes them very attractive for ultrafast science. However, for capturing sub-200 fs dynamics, efficient, high-fidelity and high-stability pulse compression techniques are essential. Spectral broadening using an all-solid-state free-space geometry is particularly attractive, as it is simple, robust and low-cost. However, spatial and temporal losses caused by spatio-spectral inhomogeneities have been a major challenge to date, due to coupled space-time dynamics associated with unguided nonlinear propagation. In this work, we use all-solid-state free-space compressors to demonstrate compression of 170 fs pulses at a wavelength of 1030nm from a Yb:KGW laser to ∼9.2 fs, with a highly spatially homogeneous mode. This is achieved by ensuring that the nonlinear beam propagation in periodic layered Kerr media occurs in spatial soliton modes, and by confining the nonlinear phase through each material layer to less than 1.0 rad. A remarkable spatio-spectral homogeneity of ∼0.87 can be realized, which yields a high efficiency of >50% for few-cycle compression. The universality of the method is demonstrated by implementing high-quality pulse compression under a wide range of laser conditions. The high spatiotemporal quality and the exceptional stability of the compressed pulses are further verified by high-harmonic generation. Our predictive method offers a compact and cost-effective solution for high-quality few-cycle-pulse generation from Yb femtosecond lasers, and will enable broad applications in ultrafast science and extreme nonlinear optics.
Morphology and statistics of wide-spectrum speckles
Authors: Li Yue-Gang , Sun Shuai , Lin Hui-Zu , Liu Wei-Tao
Published: December 2021

Although the theory of scattered speckles was initially established via idealization of treating the incident light as monochromatic, phenomenon and regulations of wide-spectrum speckles are yet urgent to be studied, with immense growing applications of broadband source such as femtosecond laser, light-emitting-diode and sunlight illumination. Here we quantitatively analyze the morphology and statistics of speckles produced by a point-like source with wide-spectrum, using a phase plate model to describe the scattering layer. Due to differences in induced phase related to wavelength, wide-spectrum speckle patterns appear radial divergence in intensity distribution, as well as in visibility of both speckles and that of the second-order coherence. This is significantly different from the translation-invariance of monochromatic speckles. The spatially-varying morphology and statistics of the speckles contain spatial and spectral information of the incidence, thus can be used as an indicator to achieve optical metrology or sensing with a wide-spectrum source in the scattering environment.
ISM-assisted tomographic STED microscopy
Authors: Kratz Julia , Geisler Claudia , Egner Alexander
Published: December 2021

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy theoretically provides unlimited resolution. However, in practice the achievable resolution in biological samples is essentially limited by photobleaching. One method which overcomes this problem is tomographic STED (tomoSTED) microscopy. In tomoSTED microscopy, one-dimensional depletion patterns facing in different directions are successively applied in order to acquire a highly-resolved image in two dimensions. In this context, the number of addressed directions depends on the desired angular homogeneity of the point spread function or the optical transfer function and thus on the resolution increase as compared to diffraction-limited imaging. At a reasonable angular homogeneity the light dose and thus bleaching can be reduced, as compared to conventional STED microscopy. Here, we propose and demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, that the number of required depletion pattern orientations can be reduced by combining tomoSTED microscopy with the concept of image scanning microscopy (ISM). With our realization of an ISM-tomoSTED microscope, we show that approximately a factor of

2

lower number of orientations are required to achieve the same resolution and image quality as in tomoSTED microscopy.
Polarization enlargement of FOV in Super Multi-view display based on near-eye timing-apertures
Authors: Liu Lilin , Ye Qiu , Pang Zhiyong , Huang Haikun , Lai Chengliang , Teng Dongdong
Published: December 2021

With strip-type timing-apertures attached to each eye of a viewer, more than one perspective views can be guided to either eye sequentially through different timing-apertures, thus implementing VAC-free (vergence-accommodation conflict-free) SMV (Super Multi-view) 3D (three-dimensional) display. To overcome the FOV (field of view) limitation problem due to small size of the timing-apertures along their arrangement direction, novel polarization architectures are designed to the timing-apertures in this paper. Correspondingly, the display screen of the proposed SMV display system is divided into M > 1 sub-screens along the arrangement direction of the timing-apertures, with adjacent sub-screens emitting light of mutually orthogonal polarization. At a time-point of each time period, a group of M timing-apertures, which correspond to the M sub-screens in a one-by-one manner along the arrangement direction, are turned on for creating an M-fold FOV, with each polarized timing-aperture of the group allowing light from the corresponding sub-screen passing through and blocking light from sub-screen(s) adjacent to the corresponding sub-screen. At 2T > 1 time-points of each time period, 2T groups of timing-apertures are turned on sequentially for presenting more than one two-dimensional images of the displayed scene to each eye, to implement SMV display based on persistence of vision. M stands for the FOV magnification number and T stands for the two-dimensional image number for each eye. As proof, a 3-fold FOV of 41° gets implemented experimentally with a currently available timing-aperture array of M = 3, accompanied by an effective noise-free region (ENFR) of 8.34 mm. Furthermore, the promising of freeing FOV from timing-aperture constraint fundamentally by larger M is described, out-of-screen blur along strip direction of the timing-apertures and the problem of limited ENFR are discussed.
A systematic non-uniformity correction method for correlation-based ToF imaging
Authors: Wang Xuanquan , Song Ping , Zhang Wuyang , Bai Yunjian , Zheng Zhaolin
Published: December 2021

Correlation-based time-of-flight (ToF) imaging enables a diverse range of applications for its high frame rate, high resolution and low cost. However, the non-uniformity of the sensor significantly affects the flat-field accuracy of the ToF imaging system. In this paper, we analyze the sources of the non-uniformity and propose a systematic non-uniformity correction (NUC) method. The method utilizes the amplitude image, which can directly reflect the non-uniformity characteristics of the ToF sensor, to conduct NUC. Based on the established NUC system, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed NUC method are verified. Compared with the traditional methods, the RMSE was significantly reduced, while the SNR and PSNR were effectively improved. We believe this study provides new insights into the understanding of noise in the correlation-based ToF imaging system, and also provides effective references for the NUC of the three-dimensional measuring instruments.
Enhancement of spin noise spectroscopy of rubidium atomic ensemble by using the polarization squeezed light
Authors: Bai Lele , Zhang Lulu , Yang Yongbiao , Chang Rui , Qin Yao , He Jun , Wen Xin , Wang Junmin
Published: December 2021

We measured the spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) of rubidium atomic ensemble with two different kinds of atomic vapor cells (filled with buffer gas or coated with paraffin film on the inner wall) and demonstrated the enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by using polarization squeezed state (PSS) of 795-nm light field with Stokes operator

S

Λ

2

squeezed. The PSS is prepared by locking the relative phase between the squeezed vacuum state of light obtained with a sub-threshold optical parametric oscillator and the orthogonally polarized local oscillator beam by means of the quantum noise lock. Under the same conditions, the PSS can be employed not only to improve the SNR, but also to keep the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of SNS, compared with the case of using the polarization coherent state (PCS), enhancement of SNR is positively correlated with the squeezing level of the PSS. With increasing probe laser power and atomic number density, the SNR and FWHM of SNS will increase correspondingly. With the help of the PSS of the Stokes operator

S

Λ

2

, quantum improvements of both the SNR and FWHM of SNS signal has been demonstrated by controlling optical power of polarization squeezed light beam or atomic number density in our experiments.
Enhanced bandwidth distributed acoustic sensing using a frequency multiplexed pulse train and micro-machined point reflector fiber
Authors: Ogden Hannah M. , Beresna Martynas , Lee Timothy , Redding Brandon
Published: December 2021

In this Letter, we present an enhanced bandwidth distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) that uses a frequency multiplexed interrogation system to probe a micro-machined point reflector fiber. The fiber contains a series of discrete point reflectors with reflectance as high as −48 dB, while the frequency multiplexed interrogator allows us to increase the effective pulse repetition rate by a factor of 10. Together, this enables a phase noise as low as −101 dB (re rad2/Hz) for a 2.5 km fiber with 10 m spatial resolution, corresponding to a strain noise of

0.095

p
ε

/

Hz

. This scheme also enables a 10-fold increase in the sensor bandwidth without introducing noise due to interference fading. Finally, we demonstrate sensing at ranges up to 10 km using a fiber containing 1000 point reflectors, illustrating the scalability of this approach.
Quantum ghost polarimetry with entangled photons
Authors: Magnitskiy Sergey , Agapov Dmitriy , Chirkin Anatoly
Published: December 2021

The theory of the formation of polarization ghost images in biphoton light of spontaneous parametric scattering is developed. On the basis of the developed theory, the quantum ghost polarimetry concept has been suggested, which makes it possible to obtain two-dimensional maps of the polarization properties of objects by measuring a set of correlation functions obtained in various polarization states of photons. For objects with linear dichroism, a complete set of measurement states is found, which allows for obtaining the maps of the distributions of absorption, value, and azimuth of anisotropy.
Calligraphy of the thought: Drawing and writing in Vittorio Gregotti
Authors: Amado Trancoso Mariana , Coutinho Bárbara
Published: December 2021

This paper focuses on the close correlation between drawing and writing in the architecture of Vittorio Gregotti, in order to understand how both constitute symbiotic tools for his praxis, and showing how the practice of architecture and theoretical thought in Gregotti are to be understood as one. Drawing and writing constitute inscriptions of his ideas, a calligraphy that expresses his understanding of architecture as a conceptual reality, regardless of its later physical construction. It is therefore essential to comprehend how theoretical thought in Gregotti is materialized in the architectural project. For this purpose, based on Gregotti’s drawings and writings, this paper aims to underline the deep importance of drawing and writing as complementary processes related to the symbiotic connection between theory and praxis in his work. Considering both tools as a mechanism for visualizing the author’s ideas, we intend to prove that drawing and writing are close components of his expression and the development of a thought that, in the process of being materialized, acquires physical shape, strength and coherence, becoming perceived by others.
New Zealand in Great Famine Era Irish politics: The strange case of A Narrative of the Sufferings of Maria Bennett
Authors: Chandler David
Published: December 2021

A Narrative of the Sufferings of Maria Bennett, a crudely printed, eight-page pamphlet, was published in Dublin in spring 1846. It has been interpreted as an early fiction concerning New Zealand, or alternatively as a New Zealand ‘captivity narrative’, possibly based on the author’s own experiences. Against these readings, it is argued here that Maria Bennett, more concerned with Ireland than New Zealand, is a piece of pro-British propaganda hurried out in connection with the British Government’s ‘Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill’ – generally referred to simply as the ‘Coercion Bill’ – first debated on 23 February 1846. The Great Famine had begun with the substantial failure of Ireland’s staple potato crop in autumn 1845. This led to an increase in lawlessness, and the Government planned to combine its relief measures with draconian new security regulations. The story of Maria Bennett, a fictional young Irishwoman transported to Australia but shipwrecked in New Zealand, was designed to advertise the humanity of British law. Having escaped from the Māori, she manages to get to London, where she is pardoned by Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, the man responsible for the Coercion Bill. New Zealand, imagined at the very beginning of the British colonial era, functions in the text as a dark analogy to Ireland, a sort of pristine example of the ‘savage’ conditions making British rule necessary and desirable in the first place. A hungry, lawless Ireland could descend to that level of uncivilization, unless, the propagandist urges, it accepts more British law.
Conception, construction and the cultural significance of Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand
Authors: Puke Wiremu T.
Published: December 2021

Te Parapara Garden is the only complete pre-European-style Māori horticultural garden in the world. Historically inspired and empirically researched, it lies within the Hamilton Gardens on a young river terrace immediately adjacent to the Waikato River in Hamilton (Kirikiriroa), Aotearoa New Zealand. In this article, Wiremu Puke (Ngāti Wairere, Ngāti Porou) – a tohunga whakairo (master carver, including using pre-steel tools) and a tohunga whakapapa (genealogical expert on his tribal affiliations) of Ngāti Wairere (the mana whenua, or first people of the traditional ancestral tribal lands of Kirikiriroa) – describes the design and development of Te Parapara Garden from its initial concept in 2003 and the construction of its many features, including the waharoa (gateway), pou (carved pillars), pātaka (storehouse), whatarangi (small storehouse), taeapa (fencing) and rua kūmara (underground storage pit), and the sourcing and use of kōkōwai (red ochre). The garden was completed in 2010. Its ongoing functioning, including the annual planting and harvesting of traditional pre-European kūmara (sweet potato) using modified, mounded soils (puke or ahu), is also covered. The unique Te Parapara Garden is of great cultural importance and a source of pride, knowledge and understanding for national and international visitors and empirical and academic researchers.
In conversation with Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa
Authors: Vaiaoga-Ioasa Stallone , Pearson Sarina
Published: December 2021

Becoming a feature film director is a privilege available to only a handful of people, no matter where in the world they live. In Oceania, access to filmmaking is arguably more constrained because the market conditions under which commercial films are produced do not favour small, geographically dispersed and linguistically distinct communities. Opportunities to make publicly funded, critically acclaimed Pacific films in metropolitan centres like Aotearoa New Zealand are vanishingly small. Often when they are made, these ‘art house’ Pacific films primarily appeal to audiences outside of the communities in which they are set. Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa has challenged this status quo by pioneering a mode of populist commercial filmmaking for Samoan (and other Pacific Island) audiences in the islands and across the diaspora. His commitment to making entertainment that is relevant to and reflects contemporary Samoan culture has been remarkable. On the eve of Vaiaoga-Ioasa’s fourth feature film release, filmmaker/academic Sarina Pearson sat down with him to talk about how he developed the ‘Stallone model’, the films he has made, and his plans for the future.
Possessing Polynesians: The Science of Settler Colonial Whiteness in Hawai‘i and Oceania, Maile Arvin (2019)
Authors: Beus Yifen
Published: December 2021

Review of: Possessing Polynesians: The Science of Settler Colonial Whiteness in Hawai‘i and Oceania, Maile Arvin (2019)

Durham: Duke University Press, 328 pp.,

ISBN 978 1 47800 633 6 (pbk), US$27.95
The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa, Vincent O’Malley (2019)
Authors: Smith Hinekura
Published: December 2021

Review of: The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa, Vincent O’Malley (2019)

Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 272 pp.,

ISBN 978 1 98854 599 8 (pbk), NZ$39.99
New Zealand and the Sea: Historical Perspectives, Frances Steel (ed.) (2018)
Authors: Leenen-Young Marcia
Published: December 2021

Review of: New Zealand and the Sea: Historical Perspectives, Frances Steel (ed.) (2018)

Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 384 pp.,

ISBN 978 0 94751 870 7 (pbk), NZ$59.99
Surfacing, Voicing and Signalling Freedom in Relational Performance: Cheryl L’Hirondelle and Camille Turner’s Freedom Tours
Authors: Willard Tania
Published: December 2021

The marking of colonial narratives mapped as histories onto Canada are reinforced on almost every boat, train, or rail tour in Canada. In Freedom Tours (2017) for LandMarks2017/Répéres2017, by artists Cheryl L’Hirondelle and Camille Turner the artists disrupted these entrenched histories hosting two sailings with tour narration. Thes narrated tours featured narratives that stemmed from Cree worldview and Caribbean diasporic perspectives. In L’Hirondelle and Turner’s work they built an architecture of songs unsung and stories untold in a temporal space- a boat tour in the waters in and around the Thousand Islands National Park. In this text I revisit the process of working with these artists to reveal the ways in which their work while being joyous also signaled the ways in which colonial histories drown out Indigenous, Black and People of Colour narratives in Canada. The historic settler alteration of waterways and borders within the Thousand Islands National Park has meant that some islands, previously visited by Indigenous people to harvest maple sap, are no longer above water. In this paper I want to be that island resurfacing sweet syrup, rising in these unstable waters to offer truths to Canada’s colonial narrative.
Towards a Poetics of Conspiracy
Authors: Jackson Rob
Published: December 2021

This essay reads Rita Wong and Fred Wah’s beholden and Christine Stewart’s Treaty 6 Deixes to elaborate a concept of conspiratorial poetics in the settler colonial context of Canada. The article figures conspiracy both as the practice of co-respiration and an admission to join in treasonous activities, suggesting that the poetic interventions of Wong, Wah, and Stewart offer models that readers may take up to breathe life into decolonial relationships while conspiring against the normative functions of settler governance.
Mind the Gap: Admin Activism, a Thought Piece in Process
Authors: Dickenson Rachelle
Published: December 2021

In this article, I describe the methodology I understand as admin activism within the context of cultural institutions to consider how we may generate sustainable, productive and enjoyable relationships in decolonial work. Admin activism includes specific priorities, behaviours, and strategies associated with decolonial resistances that can be mobilized by people working within art galleries, museums, and universities. Drawing from scholarly and grassroots practices of settler responsibility and Indigenous methodologies, my professional experience as a curator and educator, as well as important lessons learned from friends, colleagues and family, I intend this article to contribute to growing toolboxes for institutional change.
Ongoing Conversations: Collaboration across positionality, time, and space
Authors: Osman Abdi , Walker Ellyn
Published: December 2021

This article explores positional artistic and curatorial motivations for ethical collaborative work in the context of contemporary arts and social justice. Case studies include exhibition installations in settler institutions that challenge dominant, monolithic representations of what “belonging” means in contested sites like Canada. In doing so, this ongoing work between white settler curator and Black queer artist reflects on some of the decolonizing possibilities and limitations of critical cross-cultural collaboration and exhibition-making over time and across space.
“To dream it is to ride the ruin”: Meditations on Anti-Racism
Authors: Mathur Ashok , Nicholson Cecily , Srivastava Aruna
Published: December 2021

This conversation and later interventions occurred in late 2020 and early 2021. Ashok Mathur, Cecily Nicholson, and Aruna Srivastava discuss the politics, limits and possibilities of anti-racism a racism in recent months, particularly in educational and community contexts. We weave our histories and experiences working within anti-racism and cultural communities over many years, reflecting on generational change, COVID, privilege, alliance and the potential of creative practice.