bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Examining associations between remote work and anxiety and depression: a longitudinal survey study in Israel
Authors: Moran Mika Ruchama , Heller Oren , Chun Yung , Shlomo Yaniv , Grinstein-Weiss Michal
Published: September 2023

Introduction

Accumulating evidence points at increases in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been attributed, among other things, to social distancing policies, such as the shift to remote work from home (henceforth: remote work). The current study examines whether changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in working environments from on-site to remote work (or vice versa) are associated with changes in anxiety and depressive symptoms among Israeli employees with different demographic characteristics.

Methods

We administered three consecutive online surveys between January and November 2021 among 2389 Israelis who work. We conducted panel regression models with individual fixed effects using anxiety and depressive symptoms as outcomes and remote work as exposure, while accounting for sociodemographic variables. We repeated this analysis among subgroups defined by demographic characteristics.

Results

Symptoms of anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) decreased from 4.27 and 5.98 in January to 3.35 and 4.57 in November 2021, respectively. Increased risk for anxiety and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with remote work. These associations were significant among non-partnered adults and among adults with no children, but not among partnered adults and those with children. Remote work was significantly associated with anxiety among men and with depression among women.

Conclusions

Remote work is associated with anxiety and depression and these associations vary across different sociodemographic groups.
Reflux conditions induce E-cadherin cleavage and EMT via APE1 redox function in oesophageal adenocarcinoma
Authors: Lu Heng , Cao Long Long , Ballout Farah , Belkhiri Abbes , Peng DunFa , Chen Lei , Chen Zheng , Soutto Mohammed , Wang Timothy C , Que Jianwen , Giordano Silvia , Washington Mary Kay , Chen Steven , McDonald Oliver Gene , Zaika Alexander , El-Rifai Wael
Published: September 2023

Objective

Chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, where acidic bile salts (ABS) reflux into the oesophagus, is the leading risk factor for oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). We investigated the role of ABS in promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in EAC.

Design

RNA sequencing data and public databases were analysed for the EMT pathway enrichment and patients’ relapse-free survival. Cell models, pL2-IL1β transgenic mice, deidentified EAC patients’ derived xenografts (PDXs) and tissues were used to investigate EMT in EAC.

Results

Analysis of public databases and RNA-sequencing data demonstrated significant enrichment and activation of EMT signalling in EAC. ABS induced multiple characteristics of the EMT process, such as downregulation of E-cadherin, upregulation of vimentin and activation of ß-catenin signalling and EMT-transcription factors. These were associated with morphological changes and enhancement of cell migration and invasion capabilities. Mechanistically, ABS induced E-cadherin cleavage via an MMP14-dependent proteolytic cascade. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (APE1), also known as redox factor 1, is an essential multifunctional protein. APE1 silencing, or its redox-specific inhibitor (E3330), downregulated MMP14 and abrogated the ABS-induced EMT. APE1 and MMP14 coexpression levels were inversely correlated with E-cadherin expression in human EAC tissues and the squamocolumnar junctions of the L2-IL1ß transgenic mouse model of EAC. EAC patients with APE1highand EMThighsignatures had worse relapse-free survival than those with low levels. In addition, treatment of PDXs with E3330 restrained EMT characteristics and suppressed tumour invasion.

Conclusion

Reflux conditions promote EMT via APE1 redox-dependent E-cadherin cleavage. APE1-redox function inhibitors can have a therapeutic role in EAC.
Smart capsules for sensing and sampling the gut: status, challenges and prospects
Authors: Rehan Muhammad , Al-Bahadly Ibrahim , Thomas David G , Young Wayne , Cheng Leo K , Avci Ebubekir
Published: September 2023

Smart capsules are developing at a tremendous pace with a promise to become effective clinical tools for the diagnosis and monitoring of gut health. This field emerged in the early 2000s with a successful translation of an endoscopic capsule from laboratory prototype to a commercially viable clinical device. Recently, this field has accelerated and expanded into various domains beyond imaging, including the measurement of gut physiological parameters such as temperature, pH, pressure and gas sensing, and the development of sampling devices for better insight into gut health. In this review, the status of smart capsules for sensing gut parameters is presented to provide a broad picture of these state-of-the-art devices while focusing on the technical and clinical challenges the devices need to overcome to realise their value in clinical settings. Smart capsules are developed to perform sensing operations throughout the length of the gut to better understand the body’s response under various conditions. Furthermore, the prospects of such sensing devices are discussed that might help readers, especially health practitioners, to adapt to this inevitable transformation in healthcare. As a compliment to gut sensing smart capsules, significant amount of effort has been put into the development of robotic capsules to collect tissue biopsy and gut microbiota samples to perform in-depth analysis after capsule retrieval which will be a game changer for gut health diagnosis, and this advancement is also covered in this review. The expansion of smart capsules to robotic capsules for gut microbiota collection has opened new avenues for research with a great promise to revolutionise human health diagnosis, monitoring and intervention.
Bispecific antibody CD73xEGFR more selectively inhibits the CD73/adenosine immune checkpoint on cancer cells and concurrently counteracts pro-oncogenic activities of CD73 and EGFR
Authors: Ploeg Emily Maria , Samplonius Douwe Freerk , Xiong Xiao , Ke Xiurong , Hendriks Mark Alexander Johannes Martinus , Britsch Isabel , van Wijngaarden Anne Paulien , Zhang Hao , Helfrich Wijnand
Published: September 2023

Background

CD73 is an ecto-enzyme that is involved in the conversion of pro-inflammatory extracellular ATP (eATP) excreted by cancer cells under stress to anti-inflammatory adenosine (ADO). A broad variety of solid cancer types was shown to exploit CD73 overexpression as a suppressive immune checkpoint. Consequently, CD73-antagonistic antibodies, most notably oleclumab, are currently evaluated in several multicenter trials for clinical applicability. However, the efficacy of conventional monospecific CD73-inhibiting antibodies may be limited due to on-target/off-tumor binding to CD73 on normal cells. Therefore, a novel approach that more selectively directs CD73 immune checkpoint inhibition towards cancer cells is warranted.

Methods

To address this issue, we constructed a novel tetravalent bispecific antibody (bsAb), designated bsAb CD73xEGFR. Subsequently, the anticancer activities of bsAb CD73xEGFR were evaluated using in vitro and in vivo tumor models.

Results

In vitro treatment of various carcinoma cell types with bsAb CD73xEGFR potently inhibited the enzyme activity of CD73 (~71%) in an EGFR-directed manner. In this process, bsAb CD73xEGFR induced rapid internalization of antigen/antibody complexes, which resulted in a prolonged concurrent displacement of both CD73 and EGFR from the cancer cell surface. In addition, bsAb CD73xEGFR sensitized cancer to the cytotoxic activity of various chemotherapeutic agents and potently inhibited the proliferative/migratory capacity (~40%) of cancer cells. Unexpectedly, we uncovered that treatment of carcinoma cells with oleclumab appeared to enhance several pro-oncogenic features, including upregulation and phosphorylation of EGFR, tumor cell proliferation (~20%), and resistance towards cytotoxic agents and ionizing radiation (~39%). Importantly, in a tumor model using immunocompetent BALB/c mice inoculated with syngeneic CD73pos/EGFRposCT26 cancer cells, treatment with bsAb CD73xEGFR outperformed oleclumab (65% vs 31% tumor volume reduction). Compared with oleclumab, treatment with bsAb CD73xEGFR enhanced the intratumoral presence of CD8posT cells and M1 macrophages.

Conclusions

BsAb CD73xEGFR outperforms oleclumab as it inhibits the CD73/ADO immune checkpoint in an EGFR-directed manner and concurrently counteracts several oncogenic activities of EGFR and CD73. Therefore, bsAb CD73xEGFR may be of significant clinical potential for various forms of difficult-to-treat solid cancer types.
Polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase gamma are critical to tobacco-mimicking oral carcinogenesis in mice
Authors: Nguyen Khoa A , DePledge Lisa N , Bian Li , Ke Yao , Samedi Von , Berning Amber A , Owens Philip , Wang Xiao-Jing , Young Christian D
Published: September 2023

Background

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a devastating disease most often associated with tobacco consumption that induces a field of mutations from which a tumor arises. Identification of ways to prevent the emergence of cancer in high-risk patients is an ultimate goal for combatting all types of cancer, including OSCC.

Methods

Our study employs a mouse model of tongue carcinogenesis induced by tobacco carcinogen mimetic, 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO), to establish tongue dysplasia and OSCC. We use conventional histology, immunohistochemistry, multispectral imaging, mass cytometry, novel cell lines, pharmaceutical inhibition of PI3Kγ, T-cell suppression assays and mouse transplant models in our functional experimentation.

Results

In our study, we identify Ly6G+ granulocytes as the most abundant immune cell type in a model of tongue carcinogenesis induced by tobacco carcinogen mimetic 4NQO. Targeting Ly6G+ granulocytes with a pharmacologic inhibitor of PI3Kγ, an isoform of PI3K exclusively expressed by myeloid cells, resulted in reduced tongue dysplasia severity, and reduced rates of OSCC. Importantly, we performed functional assays with the Ly6G+ granulocytes induced in cell line models of 4NQO carcinogenesis to demonstrate that these granulocytes have increased polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSC) activity against T-cell proliferation and these PMN-MDSCs play a functional role in promoting tumor formation by inhibiting tumor regression in a PI3Kγ-dependent manner.

Conclusions

Overall, our data suggest that recruitment of PMN-MDSCs to sites of dysplasia is critical to immune suppression of CD8 T cells, thereby permitting malignancy, and PI3Kγ inhibitors are one mechanism to reduce PMN-MDSC recruitment, immunosuppression and tumorigenesis in OSCC.
Incidence and prevalence of paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis in two Canadian provinces: a population-based study representing over half of Canada’s population
Authors: Yusuf Fardowsa L A , Asaf Ayesha , Marrie Ruth Ann , Li Ping , McKay Kyla , Zhao Yinshan , Zhu Feng , Maxwell Colleen , Tremlett Helen
Published: September 2023

Background

Population-based studies estimating the epidemiology of paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (PoMS) are scarce.

Methods

We accessed population-based health administrative data from two provinces in Canada, Ontario and British Columbia (BC). Individuals with PoMS were identified via a validated case definition. The index date (‘MS onset’) was the first demyelinating or MS specific claim recorded ≤18 years of age. We estimated the age-standardised annual incidence and prevalence of PoMS, and 95% CIs between 2003 and 2019. We used negative binomial regression models to assess the temporal changes in the annual crude incidence and prevalence of PoMS, and the ratios comparing sex groups.

Results

From 2003 to 2019, a total of 148 incident PoMS cases were identified in BC, and 672 in Ontario. The age-standardised annual incidence of PoMS was stable in both provinces, averaging 0.95 (95% CI 0.79 to 1.13) in BC and 0.98 (95%CI 0.84 to 1.12) in Ontario per 100 000 person-years. The incidence ratio by sex (female vs male) was also stable over the study period, averaging 1.5:1 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.08, BC) and 2.0:1 (95% CI 1.61 to 2.59, Ontario). The age-standardised prevalence per 100 000 people rose from 4.75 (2003) to 5.52 (2019) in BC and from 2.93 (2003) to 4.07 (2019) in Ontario, and the increase was statistically significant in Ontario (p=0.002). There were more female prevalent PoMS cases than males in both provinces.

Conclusions

Canada has one of the highest rates of PoMS globally, and the prevalence, but not incidence, has increased over time. Allocation of resources to support the growing youth population with MS should be a priority.
Association between biological immunotherapy for psoriasis and time to incident inflammatory arthritis: limitations and opportunities
Authors: Koehm Michaela , Behrens Frank
Published: September 2023

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory immune-mediated disease that affects approximately 30% of psoriasis patients. In most cases, skin disease clearly precedes the musculoskeletal disease. Some studies suggest that targeted treatment may intercept the disease course and prevent psoriasis patients from developing PsA. A recent population-based retrospective analysis in 15 501 psoriasis patients evaluated the association between different biological treatment strategies and time to incident inflammatory arthritis based on data in a US electronic health records database. A cumulative incidence of 2.6 PsA cases per 100 person-years was determined. The multivariable regression analysis revealed a significantly lower risk of developing inflammatory arthritis in patients who had been prescribed interleukin (IL)-12/23 or IL-23 inhibitors compared with tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor-treated patients, whereas there was no significant difference in risk for patients prescribed inhibitors of IL-17 versus TNF. Although the analysis was based on a large set of clinical data and the findings were rigorously evaluated, there are some limitations in interpretation due to the study design. Prospective clinical trials are missing, and retrospective data analyses from clinical trials or population-based studies show conflicting results. Overall, the recent data on prevention of PsA in patients with psoriasis support the high need to characterise biomarkers of increased risk and perform prospective clinical trials to give a clear guidance on possibilities for disease interception in psoriatic disease.
Autoantibody status according to multiparametric assay accurately estimates connective tissue disease classification and identifies clinically relevant disease clusters
Authors: Cafaro Giacomo , Bartoloni Elena , Baldini Chiara , Franceschini Franco , Riccieri Valeria , Fioravanti Antonella , Fornaro Marco , Ghirardello Anna , Palterer Boaz , Infantino Maria , Rigon Amelia , Del Rosso Stefania , Gerli Roberto , Villalta Danilo , Bizzaro Nicola
Published: September 2023

Objective

Assessment of circulating autoantibodies represents one of the earliest diagnostic procedures in patients with suspected connective tissue disease (CTD), providing important information for disease diagnosis, identification and prediction of potential clinical manifestations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of multiparametric assay to correctly classify patients with multiple CTDs and healthy controls (HC), independent of clinical features, and to evaluate whether serological status could identify clusters of patients with similar clinical features.

Methods

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), Sjogren’s syndrome (SjS), undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) and HC were enrolled. Serum was tested for 29 autoantibodies. An XGBoost model, exclusively based on autoantibody titres was built and classification accuracy was evaluated. A hierarchical clustering model was subsequently developed and clinical/laboratory features compared among clusters.

Results

908 subjects were enrolled. The classification model showed a mean accuracy of 60.84±4.05% and a mean area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 88.99±2.50%, with significant discrepancies among groups. Cluster analysis identified four clusters (CL). CL1 included patients with typical features of SLE. CL2 included most patients with SjS, along with some SLE and UCTD patients with SjS-like features. CL4 included anti-Jo1 patients only. CL3 was the largest and most heterogeneous, including all the remaining subjects, overall characterised by low titre or lower-prevalence autoantibodies.

Conclusion

Extended multiparametric autoantibody assay allowed an accurate classification of CTD patients, independently of clinical features. Clustering according to autoantibody titres is able to identify clusters of CTD subjects with similar clinical features, independently of their final diagnosis.
Automatic analysis of bronchus-artery dimensions to diagnose and monitor airways disease in cystic fibrosis
Authors: Lv Qianting , Gallardo-Estrella Leticia , Andrinopoulou Eleni-Rosalina , Chen Yuxin , Charbonnier Jean-Paul , Sandvik Rikke Mulvad , Caudri Daan , Nielsen Kim Gjerum , de Bruijne Marleen , Ciet Pierluigi , Tiddens Harm
Published: September 2023

Background

Cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease is characterised by progressive airway wall thickening and widening. We aimed to validate an artificial intelligence-based algorithm to assess dimensions of all visible bronchus-artery (BA) pairs on chest CT scans from patients with CF.

Methods

The algorithm fully automatically segments the bronchial tree; identifies bronchial generations; matches bronchi with the adjacent arteries; measures for each BA-pair bronchial outer diameter (Bout), bronchial lumen diameter (Bin), bronchial wall thickness (Bwt) and adjacent artery diameter (A); and computes Bout/A, Bin/A and Bwt/A for each BA pair from the segmental bronchi to the last visible generation. Three datasets were used to validate the automatic BA analysis. First BA analysis was executed on 23 manually annotated CT scans (11 CF, 12 control subjects) to compare automatic with manual BA-analysis outcomes. Furthermore, the BA analysis was executed on two longitudinal datasets (Copenhagen 111 CTs, ataluren 347 CTs) to assess longitudinal BA changes and compare them with manual scoring results.

Results

The automatic and manual BA analysis showed no significant differences in quantifying bronchi. For the longitudinal datasets the automatic BA analysis detected 247 and 347 BA pairs/CT in the Copenhagen and ataluren dataset, respectively. A significant increase of 0.02 of Bout/A and Bin/A was detected for Copenhagen dataset over an interval of 2 years, and 0.03 of Bout/A and 0.02 of Bin/A for ataluren dataset over an interval of 48 weeks (all p<0.001). The progression of 0.01 of Bwt/A was detected only in the ataluren dataset (p<0.001). BA-analysis outcomes showed weak to strong correlations (correlation coefficient from 0.29 to 0.84) with manual scoring results for airway disease.

Conclusion

The BA analysis can fully automatically analyse a large number of BA pairs on chest CTs to detect and monitor progression of bronchial wall thickening and bronchial widening in patients with CF.
Investigation of thermal and strength characteristics of a natural backfill composite inspired by synergistic biochar–biopolymer amendment of clay loam
Authors: Patwa Deepak , Dubey Anant Aishwarya , Ravi K. , Sreedeep S.
Published: September 2023

Thermally active structures such as crude oil pipelines and high-power voltage cables are usually embedded within local soils for their substructural stability. Based on site requirements, soils are amended with synthetic cementitious materials to improve their strength. However, synthetic binders such as cementation, geo-polymerization, and bio-cementation undermine thermal insulation while improving strength. Moreover, commonly used synthetic binders such as cement and lime are extremely harmful to the geoenvironment due to their hyper-alkalinity and high carbon footprint. Therefore, this study proposes a novel backfill composite consisting of clay loam, biochar, and biopolymer for superior thermal insulation and strength characteristics. Local soil containing high clay content was chosen due to its low thermal conductivity and potential to form stable hydrogen bonding with the biopolymer. The clay loam is amended with 2.5% to 7.5% ( w/ w) biochar and 0.5% to 1.5% ( w/ w) of biopolymer and their various combinations. Out of nine soil–biochar–biopolymer composites devised in the current study, six composites exhibited superior strength and lowered thermal conductivity than the plain soil in both conditions, i.e., optimum moisture state and upon drying. The findings of this study establish the synergistic attributes of biopolymer and biochar amendment for developing a high-strength thermal-insulating soil composite.
Local adaptation of balsam fir seedlings improves growth resilience to heat stress
Authors: Ravn Jacob , Taylor Anthony R. , Lavigne Michael B. , D'Orangeville Loïc
Published: September 2023

Increasing frequencies of heat waves and drought are expected to shift the range and growth of balsam fir ( Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.), a widely distributed cold-adapted boreal species. However, our ability to predict this species response to these climate anomalies remains limited, especially when considering how trees can exhibit delayed and persistant growth responses to these stressors, or legacy effects. Here, we assess the growth response of balsam fir seedlings from four populations following 60 treatment combinations of temperature and water deficit in the previous year. Although we observed moderate water deficit legacy effects on growth, there were no resilience or recovery responses. We did, however, observe considerable negative legacy effects on growth proportional to the level of warming, with average legacy growth declines reaching 45% under the highest warming treatment. Furthermore, the southern populations displayed a 28% higher average growth resilience to temperature stress compared with the northern populations, indicating a higher tolerance to warming. When comparing legacy effects on balsam fir populations at moderate warming conditions relative to the current local baseline climate, we report limited growth declines for southern populations and growth increases for the northern populations. While our results highlight the importance of legacy effects from heat stress in seedlings, they also provide evidence that careful selection of warm-adapted genotypes for reforestation efforts may help offset some of these legacy effects.
Including local voices in marine debris conversations to advance environmental justice for island and coastal communities: perspectives from St. Paul Island, Alaska
Authors: Padula Veronica M. , Beaudreau Anne H. , Causey Douglas , Divine Lauren M. , Merculieff Marissa
Published: September 2023

Marine debris is ubiquitous across the global ocean and is an increasing threat to human health, economies, habitats, and wildlife. While local to national action plans are important in addressing this issue, they do not necessarily reflect the needs of coastal communities most heavily impacted. Remote island and coastal communities, particularly in Alaska, do not generate the majority of marine debris impacting their ecosystems; however, they are often left with the task of removal and disposal. Thus, the detrimental effects of marine debris are not only an ecological problem but an issue of environmental justice. This project aimed to catalyze the inclusion of place-based knowledge in marine debris solutions for St. Paul Island, a predominantly (>85%) Alaska Native community in the Bering Sea. We interviewed 36 community members during 2017–2020, documenting their observations of marine debris types, amount, distribution, and impacts over recent decades. Participants reported increasing plastic debris since the 1980s, particularly plastic bottles and fishing gear. Nearly 80% expressed concern about impacts to subsistence resources, including entanglement and ingestion. St. Paul Island community members’ experiences highlight that solving marine debris issues requires broader policies and mitigation strategies addressing sources of debris and advancing environmental justice by impact reduction. Furthermore, this case study can serve as an example of how locally relevant action plans can be developed in other coastal communities around the world by including knowledge and concerns of community members, as they are the most heavily and personally impacted by the marine debris on their shorelines.
Nariai-like black holes in light of scale-dependent gravity
Authors: Rincón Ángel , Bargueño Pedro
Published: September 2023

In this work, we investigate for the first time Nariai-like black hole solutions in four dimensional space time with spherical symmetry in the context of scale-dependent gravity. In particular, we construct self-consistent solutions in such a way that the classical one that coming from Einstein theory) is also contained into our new results. We start by considering a truncated effective Einstein–Hilbert action with cosmological constant in which both the gravitational and the cosmological couplings are elevated to scale-dependent functions (instead of being coupling constants), taking advantage of the scale-dependent scenario, which is a concrete and simple approach strongly inspired by asymptotically safe gravity. We briefly discuss black hole thermodynamics and and compare it with its classical counterpart. The impact of non-Einsteinian features is encoded by the scale-dependent parameter, $$\epsilon $$
ϵ
. A few comments regarding the topology of the solution and their impact are also mentioned.
Photon region and shadow of a rotating 5D black string
Authors: Tang Zi-Yu , Kuang Xiao-Mei , Wang Bin , Qian Wei-Liang
Published: September 2023

To explore the possible clues for the extra dimension from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations, we study the shadow of the rotating 5D black string in General Relativity (GR). Instead of investigating the shadow in the effective 4D theory, we concern the motion of photons along the extra dimension z with a conserved momentum $$P_z$$

P
z

, which appears as an effective mass in the geodesic equations of photons. The existence of $$P_z$$

P
z

enlarges the photon regions and the shadow of the rotating 5D black string while it has slight impact on the distortion. The EHT observations of M87* and SgrA* can rule out the black string model with an infinite length along the extra dimension, and support the hypothesis that the extra dimension is compact to avoid the Gregory-Laflamme (GL) instability, where the length of the black string/the compact extra dimension can be constrained as $$2.03125~\textrm{mm} \lesssim \ell \lesssim 2.6~\textrm{mm}$$

2.03125

mm
≲
ℓ
≲
2.6

mm

and $$2.28070~\textrm{mm} \lesssim \ell \lesssim 2.6~\textrm{mm}$$

2.28070

mm
≲
ℓ
≲
2.6

mm

respectively.
Optical properties of silver-doped ZnS nanostructures
Authors: Ramya E. , Kushavah Dushyant , Narayana Rao D. , Xiang Dong
Published: September 2023

Silver (Ag)-doped and un-doped Zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanostructures (NSs) with different concentrations (ZnS: Ag 1%, 3%, 5%, 10%) were prepared by using the chemical method at room temperature. Doping of Ag into ZnS nanostructures modified its optical properties. The size and crystallinity of stabilized ZnS:Ag nanostructures are confirmed with SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and XRD (X-ray diffraction). The formation of nanostructures is justified by UV-visible absorption spectra. The luminescence intensity of nanostructures has increased drastically at ZnS:Ag-10% and is characterized by a fluorescence spectrometer. The nonlinear optical properties are found by using the Z-scan setup and act as optical limiters. The nonlinear absorption coefficient [Formula: see text] and nonlinear refractive index ([Formula: see text] are in the range of 10[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm/W and 10[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm2/W, respectively. The optical limiting threshold value is 0.11 J/cm2. These nanostructures can be used as optical limiters.
W-chirped solitons and modulated waves patterns in parabolic law medium with anti-cubic nonlinearity
Authors: Abbagari Souleymanou , Houwe Alphonse , Akinyemi Lanre , Şenol Mehmet , Bouetou Bouetou Thomas
Published: September 2023

In this work, investigation of the W-chirped solitons and modulation instability are addressed in nonlinear optic fibers where cubic-quintic and parabolic law parameters are used. For this reason, the modified cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg–Landau equation with parabolic law nonlinearity is employed. Using the sub-ODE method, the chirp component and combined chirped soliton solutions, including rational soliton solutions, are obtained. Using specific parameters of the nonlinear structure, one can identify dark and bright solitons. For a suitable constant parameter of the chirp component, the W-chirped bright as well as the combined bright-dark solitons are displayed via the 3D plots. The linear stability analysis of the plane wave is used to derive an expression of the modulation instability spectrum that is employed to show the effects of the nonlinear parameters in normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. It is pointed out that both cubic and quintic parameters can enlarge or reduce the bandwidth of the modulation instability. Through the numerical simulation of the continuous wave, it becomes apparent that for suitable optical fiber parameter values, modulated wave objects are formed to exhibit mild oscillations. For specific wavenumber excitation, another modulated wave object is depicted to show how the unstable mode can switch to the stable mode for the long-time evolution of the continuous wave. The obtained results could certainly open a new future for signal treatment in optical fiber, where parabolic law is considered.
Iterated Ore polynomial maps
Authors: Leroy André , Nasernejad Mehrdad
Published: September 2023

We study a natural notion of polynomial maps attached to elements of an iterated Ore extension [Formula: see text]. We develop some tools to analyze these maps such as good points, multilinear transformations and P-independence. We also present polynomial maps arising in the Multivariate extensions [Formula: see text], introduced by Martínez-Peñas and Kschischang [Evaluation and interpolation over multivariate skew polynomial rings, J. Algebra 525 (2019) 111–139], through the use of Multilinear polynomial maps.
Distinguished elements in semiring extensions
Authors: Nasehpour Peyman
Published: September 2023

In this paper, we investigate zero-divisor, nilpotent, idempotent, unit, small, and irreducible elements in semiring extensions such as amount, content, and monoid semialgebras. We also introduce new concepts such as the prime avoidance property in semirings, entire-like semirings, semialgebras with Property (A), and also, Armendariz and McCoy semialgebras and we prove some results related to these concepts. For example, we prove that if [Formula: see text] is an [Formula: see text]-semialgebra, then under some conditions, the set of zero-divisors [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] is the union of the extended maximal primes of [Formula: see text]. Finally, we prove a generalization of Eisenstein’s irreducibility criterion.
On some graded objects in graded module category
Authors: Azimi Soodabeh , Khojali Ahmad , Zamani Naser
Published: September 2023

Let [Formula: see text] be a [Formula: see text]-graded ring and let [Formula: see text] be the category of [Formula: see text]-graded [Formula: see text]-modules and homogeneous homomorphisms. In this paper, we define and study some objects in this category. More precisely, we introduce the concepts of graded duo (weak and strong graded duo) modules and give some sources and an example for these types of modules. It is seen that, under some condition, graded duo property is a local property in this category. When the ring [Formula: see text] is a discrete graded valuation ring with unique [Formula: see text]maximal ideal [Formula: see text], we see that these three types of graded (duo) modules are identical and give an explicit characterization of them, so that any graded duo modules over such a ring is of the form [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] for some positive integer [Formula: see text] and some integers [Formula: see text]. The same task is done whenever [Formula: see text] is a graded Dedekind domain. Finally, by an example, that provides a wide variety of strong graded duo modules, it was shown that the given characterizations do not hold valid if the ground ring is not Dedekind.
Some results on a supergraph of the sum annihilating ideal graph of a commutative ring
Authors: Visweswaran S.
Published: September 2023

The rings considered in this paper are commutative with identity which are not integral domains. Let [Formula: see text] be a ring. An ideal [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] is said to be an annihilating ideal if there exists [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text]. Let [Formula: see text] denote the set of all annihilating ideals of [Formula: see text] and we denote [Formula: see text] by [Formula: see text]. With [Formula: see text], in this paper, we associate an undirected graph denoted by [Formula: see text] whose vertex set is [Formula: see text] and two distinct vertices [Formula: see text] are adjacent in this graph if and only if either [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text]. The aim of this paper is to study the interplay between some graph properties of [Formula: see text] and the algebraic properties of [Formula: see text] and to compare some graph properties of [Formula: see text] with the corresponding graph properties of the annihilating ideal graph of [Formula: see text] and the sum annihilating ideal graph of [Formula: see text].
Estimating the Location of Acoustic Sources with Oceanic Internal Gravity Waves via Frequency-Difference Source Localization
Authors: Spiesberger John L. , Geroski David J. , Dowling David R.
Published: September 2023

Frequency-difference source localization (FDSL) is a relatively new method for locating sources emitting acoustic or electromagnetic waves from recorded data. Estimates of location are produced by matching a nonlinear function of the received data with the same nonlinear function of modeled data. This so-called matched-field approach depends on the accuracy of the modeled field. FDSL exhibits less sensitivity to model errors in some cases of interest. Fluctuations of the speed of sound in the ocean are affected by a wide variety of phenomena and internal gravity waves is one where their spectrum is usually well known. There is no analytical theory for predicting how these fluctuations of sound speed affect the accuracy of FDSL, leaving a numerical evaluation as the alternative for the focus of this paper. Experimental application of FDSL was previously made for an acoustic source of 100 Hz bandwidth surrounding 250 Hz for a 129 km section in the Philippine Sea with data recorded on a long vertical array [Geroski and Dowling, Long-range frequency-difference source localization in the Philippine Sea, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 146 (2019) 4727–4739.]. The role of internal waves is quantified with a realistic FDSL simulation using models based on the parabolic and ray approximations of the linear acoustic wave equation. The modeled vertical variation of FDSL error is similar to observed while the modeled horizontal error is too small. The complicated software model is automatic but is computationally intensive, with our version needing about 1.5 mo to compute on a PC with 16 cpu cores.
High-efficiency TRNG Design Based on Multi-bit Dual-ring Oscillator
Authors: Lu Yingchun , Yang Yun , Hu Rong , Liang Huaguo , Yi Maoxiang , Zhengfeng Huang , Ma Yuanming , Chen Tian , Yao Liang
Published: September 2023

Unpredictable true random numbers are required in security technology fields such as information encryption, key generation, mask generation for anti-side-channel analysis, algorithm initialization, and so on. At present, the true random number generator (TRNG) is not enough to provide fast random bits by low-speed bits generation. Therefore, it is necessary to design a faster TRNG. This work presents an ultra-compact TRNG with high throughput based on a novel extendable dual-ring oscillator (DRO). Owing to multiple bits output per cycle in DRO can be used to obtain the original random sequence, the proposed DRO achieves a maximum resource utilization to build a more efficient TRNG, compared with the conventional TRNG system based on ring oscillator (RO), which only has a single output and needs to build multiple groups of ring oscillators. TRNG based on the 2-bit DRO and its 8-bit derivative structure has been verified on Xilinx Artix-7 and Kintex-7 FPGA under the automatic layout and routing and has achieved a throughput of 550 Mbps and 1,100 Mbps, respectively. Moreover, in terms of throughput performance over operating frequency, hardware consumption, and entropy, the proposed scheme has obvious advantages. Finally, the generated sequences show good randomness in the test of NIST SP800-22 and Dieharder test suite and pass the entropy estimation test kit NIST SP800-90B and AIS-31.
Empowering Storage Systems Research with NVMeVirt: A Comprehensive NVMe Device Emulator
Authors: Kim Sang-Hoon , Shim Jaehoon , Lee Euidong , Jeong Seongyeop , Kang Ilkueon , Kim Jin-Soo
Published: September 2023

There have been drastic changes in the storage device landscape recently. At the center of the diverse storage landscape lies the NVMe interface, which allows high-performance and flexible communication models required by these next-generation device types. However, its hardware-oriented definition and specification are bottlenecking the development and evaluation cycle for new revolutionary storage devices. Furthermore, existing emulators lack the capability to support the advanced storage configurations that are currently in the spotlight.

In this article, we present NVMeVirt, a novel approach to facilitate software-defined NVMe devices. A user can define any NVMe device type with custom features, and NVMeVirt allows it to bridge the gap between the host I/O stack and the virtual NVMe device in software. We demonstrate the advantages and features of NVMeVirt by realizing various storage types and configurations, such as conventional SSDs, low-latency high-bandwidth NVM SSDs, zoned namespace SSDs, and key-value SSDs with the support of PCI peer-to-peer DMA and NVMe-oF target offloading. We also make cases for storage research with NVMeVirt, such as studying the performance characteristics of database engines and extending the NVMe specification for the improved key-value SSD performance.
Language Model Method for Collocation Rules of Parts of Speech in Machine Translation System
Authors: Liu Jinhui , Zhang Feng
Published: September 2023

With the development of the times, modern society has now entered the Internet of Things (IoT) information age and Machine Translation (MT) plays an important role in increasingly frequent cross-language communication. In recent years, China's artificial intelligence industry has been in a stage of rapid construction, and the scale of its core industries has grown explosively, and a large number of artificial intelligence companies, including issuers, have emerged. Part of speech has always been a major problem in MT. One of the reasons is that there are a large number of multi-category words in Chinese and a large number of polysemy words in English, so part of speech collocation problems account for a large proportion of MT errors, which to some extent affects the credibility and accuracy of the translation. To reduce the error problem in MT of part of speech collocation, this paper used Machine Learning (ML) methods to study the Language Model (LM) of part of speech collocation based on recurrent neural network (NN) and compared it with the traditional statistical LM. In terms of the accuracy rate of the two LMS in the automatic evaluation index of machine translation, the experimental results show that the recursive NN LM established by the ML method had an accuracy rate of 80.42% and 83.57%, respectively, for the part-of-speech matching rules of the IoT machine translation system in the dialogue between Chinese and English and the translation of articles. The accuracy of traditional statistical LM evaluation was 71.29% and 69.52%, respectively. Compared to traditional statistical LM, the accuracy of translation was higher. This showed that the recurrent NN LM reduced the number of errors in the collocation of parts of speech in MT and improved the accuracy and credibility of MT.
D{S}^2L{C}^3Net : A Decision Support System for Lung Colon Cancer Classification using Fusion of Deep Neural Networks and Normal Distribution based Gray Wolf Optimization
Authors: Ijaz Muhammad , Ashraf Imran , Zahid Usman , Yasin Awais , Ali Siddique , Attique Khan Muhammad , Alqahtani Salman A. , Zhang Yu-Dong
Published: September 2023

Lung and Colorectal (LC) cancer is life-threatening and rapidly developing cancers. According to World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 4.14 million lung and colorectal cancer cases were newly diagnosed, with 2.7 million fatalities. An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported that there will be more than 3 million additional instances of colorectal cancer worldwide between 2020 and 2040. Early diagnosis of LC cancer is very helpful for treatment and can save the precious human life. The conventional diagnosis methods are expensive and time consuming. In this work, we present an accurate and efficient model for the classification of Lung and Colorectal (LC) cancer. We utilize two well-known pre-trained deep learning models, ResNet50 and EfficientNetB0, and fine-tuned the both models based on the addition and removal of layers. After the fine-tuning, manual hit and trail based hyperparameters are initialized. Later on, the deep transfer learning was performed and obtained the trained models. Two different feature vectors have been extracted from both models and fused using a priority based serial approach. To further improve the performance of extracted features, Normal Distribution based Gray Wolf Optimization algorithm is employed and obtained the best features that given as input to five classifiers. The output of these five classifiers is then utilized by soft voting technique to generate the final prediction. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture achieved an overall 98.73% accuracy on LC25000 dataset. Furthermore, prediction time was reduced by 19.14%. Comparison with the state-of-the-art techniques shows that the proposed technique obtained the improved performance results.
A Multisource Data Fusion-based Heterogeneous Graph Attention Network for Competitor Prediction
Authors: Ye Xiaoqing , Sun Yang , Liu Dun , Li Tianrui
Published: September 2023

Competitor identification is an essential component of corporate strategy. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, various data-mining methodologies and frameworks have emerged to identify competitors. In general, the competitiveness among companies is determined by both market commonality and resource similarity. However, because resource information is more difficult to obtain than market information, existing studies primarily identify competitors via market commonality. To address this limitation, we introduce multisource company descriptions as well as heterogeneous business relationships, and we propose a novel method for simultaneously mining the market commonality and resource similarity. First, we use multisource company descriptions to represent companies and transform the heterogeneous business relationships into a heterogeneous business network. Then, we propose a novel multisource data fusion-based heterogeneous graph attention network (MHGAT) to learn the pairwise competitive relationships between companies. Specifically, a graph neural network-based model is proposed to learn the embeddings of companies by preserving their competition, and a multilevel attention framework is designed to integrate the embeddings from neighboring company level, heterogeneous relationship level, and multisource description level. Finally, experiments on a real-world dataset verify the effectiveness of our proposed MHGAT and demonstrate the usefulness of company descriptions and business relationships in competitor identification.
Effect of Solid Electrolyte Interphase on Sodium-Ion Insertion and Deinsertion in Non-Graphitizable Carbon
Authors: Tsujimoto Shota , Lee Changhee , Miyahara Yuto , Miyazaki Kohei , Abe Takeshi
Published: September 2023

Non-graphitizable carbon allows reversible sodium-ion intercalation and hence enables stable and high-capacity sodium storage, making it a promising material for achieving long-term cycling stability in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). This study investigated the interfacial reactions between various electrolytes and a non-graphitizable carbon electrode for their use in SIBs. The morphology and particle diameter of the non-graphitizable carbon, HC-2000, remained unchanged after heat treatment, indicating its stability. The X-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectrum suggested a disordered structure of HC-2000 carbon. The interlayer spacing, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area, and density were determined to be 0.37 nm, 5.8 m2 g−1, and 1.36 g cm−3, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that the charge transfer resistances differed between the Na salts and other electrolytes. Therefore, the use of a large amount of NaF in the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) resulted in high charge transfer resistances at the non-graphitizable electrodes. However, there were no apparent differences in the activation energy or reversible capacity. In summary, NaF obstructs the penetration pathway of sodium ions into non-graphitizable carbon, impacting the charge transfer resistance and rate stability of SIBs. Charge–discharge measurements revealed reversible capacities of 260–290 mAh g−1, and the rate performance varied depending on the electrolyte. Therefore, an SEI containing minimal inorganic species, such as NaF, is desirable for efficient sodium-ion insertion into non-graphitizable carbon.
Nanoengineering of MXene-Based Field-Effect Transistor Gas Sensors: Advancements in Next-Generation Electronic Devices
Authors: Baraneedharan P. , Shankari D. , Arulraj A. , Sephra Percy J. , Mangalaraja R. V. , Khalid Mohammad
Published: September 2023

In recent years, Two-Dimensional (2D) materials have gained significant attention for their distinctive physical and chemical properties, positioning them as promising contenders for the next generation of electronic technologies. One notable group within these materials is MXenes, which have exhibited remarkable breakthroughs across various technological domains, including catalysis, renewable energy, electronics, sensors, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. By making subtle modifications to the surface termination, introducing metal ions, precise etching timing, and applying surface functionalization, the characteristics of MXenes can be fine-tuned to achieve desired band structures, rendering them suitable for sensor design. This review focuses on the strategic development of gas sensors based on Field-Effect Transistors (FETs), thoroughly examining the latest progress in MXene-based material design and addressing associated challenges and future prospects. The review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of MXene, summarizing its current applications and advancements in FET-based gas sensing.