bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of the characteristics and influencing factors of China's embodied energy flow network
Authors: Deng Guangyao , Chen Huihui , Qian Jiao
Published: November 2023

Understanding the flow of embodied energy between provinces in China and the factors affecting the network has an important impact on reducing energy consumption in each province and promoting balanced regional development. This paper uses the multi-regional input–output model to construct the interprovincial embodied energy flow network in China and defines the energy flow between provinces under the trade of products and services. Then, it uses the ecological network model to carry out the ascendency and network environ analysis of the interprovincial embodied energy flow network in China and uses the Quadratic Assignment Procedure regression model to calculate the impact of various factors on the flow network. The main research conclusions are as follows: (1) The embodied energy flow in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River is relatively high. The embodied energy flow value in Ningxia and Qinghai is low. Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu often have the highest embodied energy outflow value, while Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and other provinces have higher inflows. (2) The center of gravity of through flow in the flow system is biased to Jiangsu, Guangdong, and other places; Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Hainan are at the edge of the system. (3) The differences in the economic development level, population size, and energy structure have a positive impact on the embodied energy flow network between provinces in China; the geographic distance will have a negative impact on the flow network.
Utilization of a public subsidy scheme for dental care services among socially vulnerable citizens out of labor in Copenhagen, Denmark
Authors: Skov Kristensen Marie , Ersbøll Annette Kjær , Andersen Ingelise , Øzhayat Esben Boeskov
Published: November 2023

Objective: Addressing social inequality in oral health and access to dental care is a global concern. This study aims to describe the utilization of a public subsidy scheme targeting vulnerable individuals out of labor in Copenhagen municipality (2013–2018) and to identify key characteristics of individuals eligible to apply.
Material and Methods: Data from Copenhagen municipality were combined with data from population and health registers. Employing logistic regression analyses, we examined the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics and (1) having applied, (2) being granted, and (3) using the subsidy.
Results: The study included 65,174 individuals aged 18–65. Of these 10,369 (15.9%) applied for subsidies, submitting a total of 18,529 applications. Overall, 83% of the applications were granted and 85% were used. Significantly increased odds of applying for subsidies were observed among individuals receiving social benefits non-stop over the past year versus none (odds ratio [OR] = 15.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 14.24–16.76), aged 50–65 versus 18–29 years (OR = 4.41, CI= 4.15–4.69), and having combined indicators of social vulnerability versus none (OR = 2.90, CI= 2.73–3.07).
Conclusions: While the utilization of the public subsidy scheme is low, individuals who apply are likely to be granted a subsidy and use it. Vulnerability was associated with greater utilization of the scheme, yet a substantial portion of those at risk of poor oral health did not take advantage of it.
An efficient finite difference approach to solutions of Schrödinger equations of atoms in non-linear coordinates
Authors: Dong Shenghao , Sarwono Yanoar Pribadi , Zhang Rui-Qin
Published: November 2023

We present a transformed-coordinates method to solve the Schrödinger equation for H-like, He-like, and Li-like systems. Each Cartesian axes of the original Schrödinger equation is transformed to another coordinate system with the square root transformation

x

′

=

x

1
/
2

.

The resulting Hamiltonian contains the first and the second derivative for the kinetic energy part and with the potential proportional to the power of four, decaying faster than the original Coulomb potential. The total energies, their components, and the virial ratio are superior to those of the untransformed coordinates due to the considerably many data-points obtained and long-range sampling. Furthermore, a five-times or better computational efficiency is demonstrated in comparison to the standard method with much-improved accuracy. In agreement with the accurate method, the obtained wavefunction includes not only the radial but also the angular electron correlation of many-electron ions or atoms.
Effect of the surface anisotropy on the magnetic behavior of ultra-thin films single-domain on the spin reorientation transition regime by monte carlo simulation
Authors: Agudelo-Giraldo José Darío , Giraldo-Daza Helver Augusto , Moscoso Londoño Oscar , Londoño Calderón César Leandro
Published: November 2023

In this work, Monte Carlo simulations allowed for studying the effect of the surface anisotropy on the Spin Reorientation Transition regime for single-domain ultra-thin films. The simulations included spin moments (1), exchange constant (10 meV), magnetocrystalline anisotropy (0.5 meV), and dipolar magnetic interaction (0.05 meV). We evaluated the surface anisotropy constant for K

S
= 0.5, 1, and 2 meV and thicknesses ranging from 3 to 11 cells. We determined the magnetothermal and hysteresis loop in- and out-plane at different angles to the plane. Analysis of Variance allows for modeling the coercivity as a function of the thickness and the applied field direction (in- and out-plane). Under these simulation conditions, the Spin Reorientation Transitions appear only at a thickness of 7 cells with K

S
=1 meV. The main contribution to magnetization rises out-plane at low thicknesses and in-plane at high values. However, the dominant magnetization contribution is in-plane for the thickness of 7 cells and low surface anisotropy. The magnetization is mainly oriented, out-plane for the high surface anisotropy case. However, hysteresis loops were observed independent of the applied magnetic field direction and thickness. Analysis of Variance results suggests that the thickness and the applied magnetic field direction allowed for tunning the coercivity (hard or soft magnetic materials). Sample simulated ignoring the magnetocrystalline and the surface anisotropies produce magnetic components in- and out-plane with slight differences as angle function. The combination of dipolar interactions and magnetocrystalline anisotropy showed two magnetic behaviors, a hard magnetic phase at low angles and a soft one at high angles in-plane direction. The inverse behavior results in the out-plane component. We observed the same behavior when surface anisotropy is considered. The differences are the transition angle of 50° in the first case and 30° in the second.
A new approach for ammonia gas sensing using a source pocket dopingless tunnel FET with PANI catalyst
Authors: Mohanty Saumendra Kumar , Dash Sidhartha
Published: November 2023

This article presents a new ammonia (NH3) gas sensor designed using a dopingless tunnel field effect transistor with a SiGe source pocket (SP-DLT) and investigates its sensitivity using a polyaniline (PANI) conducting polymer as the gate catalyst. PANI nanofiber has a greater specific surface area and a linked network structure, which increases its sensing performance as a catalyst. Combining an HfO2 gate dielectric and SiGe source pocket improves the drain current. The sensing film is deprotonated when the PANI conducting polymer is exposed to the gas, reducing the film’s resistance. As a result, more electron or proton transfer is possible, ensuring a more substantial interaction between the sensor and the analyte gas. This modulates the electrical characteristics and work function of the TFET. The sensor’s electrical performance is examined in terms of drain current, average subthreshold swing (SS), electric field, band-to-band tunneling rate (BTBT), and energy band diagram for an ammonia gas pressure (AGP) range of 10−12 torr to 10−9 torr. The sensitivity and selectivity of the proposed PANI-SP-DLT sensor in terms of different metrics, including drain current, average SS, current ratio, transconductance, and gain factor, are further investigated. The study is expanded to consider the impact of temperature affectability and the germanium mole fraction on current sensitivity performance. The Silvaco ATLAS device simulator is used for the brief simulation work for the developed gas sensor.
Simulation of thin insulating tunnel layer for Cu2ZnSnS4/CdS interface passivation
Authors: Purushotham S , Ramkumar G , Kannan V , Kumar Atul
Published: November 2023

The CZTS solar cell has a high voltage deficit due to high interfacial recombination. The detrimental issues of conduction band offset, bandgap narrowing, interface defects and surface inversion at the CZTS/CdS junction are causing accelerated interfacial recombination and huge VOC and FF deficits. We proposed and theoretically analyzed a thin insulating tunnel layer for selective blocking holes and passing electrons through intraband tunnelling. The role of an insulating tunnel layer in neutralizing the interface defect and controlling interface recombination is explored. The CZTS/CdS configurations with tunnel layer have shown reduced recombination current and higher quantum efficiency. The tunnel layer incorporated devices have stable performance with increasing defects as opposed to devices without tunnel layer, which shows decreasing performance with increasing interface defects. The device performance of the tunnel layer device is η = 14.15%, with V

OC
, J
SC, and FF of 0.95 V, 24.5 mA cm−2 and 60.6%, respectively. The corresponding performance parameter of the device without a tunnel layer at the interface is an efficiency of 10.9%, V
OC = 0.73 V, J
SC = 21.8 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 68.3%. The result for the optimized device with interface passivation by tunnel layer is expected to stimulate experimentalists in the field.
Impact of freeze-in on dark matter isocurvature
Authors: Bellomo N. , Berghaus Kim V. , Boddy Kimberly K.
Published: November 2023

Dark matter freeze-in is a compelling cosmological production mechanism in which all or
some of the observed abundance of dark matter is generated through feeble interactions it has with
the Standard Model. In this work we present the first analysis of freeze-in dark matter
fluctuations and consider two benchmark models: freeze-in through the direct decay of a heavy
vector boson and freeze-in through pair annihilation of Standard Model particles in the thermal
bath. We provide a theoretical framework for determining the impact of freeze-in on curvature and
dark matter isocurvature perturbations. We determine freeze-in dark matter fluid properties from
first principles, tracking its evolution from its relativistic production to its final cold state,
and calculate the evolution of the dark matter isocurvature perturbation. We find that in the
absence of initial isocurvature, the freeze-in production of dark matter does not source
isocurvature. However, for an initial isocurvature perturbation seeded by inflation, the
nonthermal freeze-in process may allow for a fraction of the isocurvature to persist, in contrast
to the exponential suppression it receives in the case of thermal dark matter. In either case,
the evolution of the curvature mode is unaffected by the freeze-in process. We show sensitivity
projections of future cosmic microwave background experiments to the amplitude of uncorrelated,
totally anticorrelated, and totally correlated dark matter isocurvature perturbations. From these
projections, we infer the sensitivity to the abundance of freeze-in dark matter that sustains some
fraction of the primordial isocurvature.
Spectro-spatial evolution of the CMB. Part I. Discretisation of the thermalisation Green's function
Authors: Chluba Jens , Kite Thomas , Ravenni Andrea
Published: November 2023

Spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have been recognized as an
important future probe of the early Universe. Existing theoretical studies primarily focused on
describing the evolution and creation of average distortions, ignoring spatial perturbations
in the plasma. One of the main reasons for this choice is that a treatment of the spectro-spatial
evolution of the photon field deep into the primordial Universe requires solving a radiative
transfer problem for the distortion signals, which in full detail is computationally challenging.
Here we provide the first crucial step towards tackling this problem by formulating a new spectral
discretisation of the underlying average thermalisation Green's function. Our approach allows us
to convert the high-dimensional partial differential equation system (≃ 103–104 
equations) into and set of ordinary differential equations of much lower dimension (≃ 10
equations). We demonstrate the precision of the approach and highlight how it may be further
improved in the future. We also clarify the link of the observable spectral distortion parameters
(e.g., μ and y) to the computational spectral basis that we use in our frequency
discretisation. This reveals how several basis-dependent ambiguities can be interpreted in future
CMB analysis. Even if not exact, the new Green's function discretisation can be used to formulate
a generalised photon Boltzmann-hierarchy, which can then be solved with methods that are familiar
from theoretical studies of the CMB temperature and polarisation anisotropies. We will carry this
program out in a series of companion papers, thereby opening the path to full spectro-spatial
exploration of the CMB with future CMB imagers and spectrometers.
Cosmic energy density: particles, fields and the vacuum
Authors: Armendariz-Picon Cristian , Diez-Tejedor Alberto
Published: November 2023

We revisit the cosmic evolution of the energy density of a quantized free scalar field and
assess under what conditions the particle production and classical field approximations reproduce
its correct value. Because the unrenormalized energy-momentum tensor diverges in the ultraviolet,
it is necessary to frame our discussion within an appropriate regularization and renormalization
scheme. Pauli-Villars avoids some of the drawbacks of adiabatic subtraction and dimensional
regularization and is particularly convenient in this context. In some cases, we can predict the
evolution of the energy density irrespectively of the quantum state of the field modes. To
further illustrate our results we focus however on the in vacuum, the preferred quantum
state singled out by inflation, and explore to what extent the latter determines the subsequent
evolution of the energy density regardless of the unknown details of reheating. We contrast this
discussion with examples of transitions to radiation domination that avoid some of the problems of
the one commonly studied in the literature, and point out some instances in which the particle
production or the classical field approximations lead to the incorrect energy density. Along the
way, we also elaborate on the connection of our analysis to dynamical dark energy models and
axion-like dark matter candidates.
On limit fractional Volterra hierarchies
Authors: Zhang Lixiang , Li Chuanzhong
Published: November 2023

For the limit fractional Volterra (LFV) hierarchy, we construct the n-fold Darboux transformation and the soliton solutions. Furthermore, we extend the LFV hierarchy to the noncommutative LFV (NCLFV) hierarchy, and construct the Darboux transformation expressed by quasi determinant of the noncommutative version. Meanwhile, we establish the relationship between new and old solutions of the NCLFV hierarchy. Finally, the quasi determinant solutions of the NCLFV hierarchy are obtained.
Microscopic theory for hyperuniformity in two-dimensional chiral active fluid
Authors: Kuroda Yuta , Miyazaki Kunimasa
Published: November 2023

Some nonequilibrium systems exhibit anomalous suppression of the large-scale density fluctuations, so-called hyperuniformity. Recently, hyperuniformity was found numerically in a simple model of chiral active fluids (Lei et al 2019 Sci. Adv.
5 eaau7423). We revisit this phenomenon and put forward a microscopic theory to explain it. An effective fluctuating hydrodynamic equation is derived for a simple particle model of chiral active matter. We show that the linear analysis of the obtained hydrodynamic equation captures hyperuniformity. Our theory yields hyperuniformity characterized by the same exponents as the numerical observation, but the agreement with the numerical data is qualitative. We also argue that the hydrodynamic equation for the effective particle representation, in which each rotating trajectory is regarded as an effective particle, has the same form as the macroscopic description of the random organization model with the center of mass conservation.
Stray light suppression for Thomson scattering diagnostic on linear magnetized plasma device
Authors: Lin Zhiyi , Xie Jinlin , Zhang Qiaofeng , Xu Mengmeng , Zeng Qingbin
Published: November 2023

In Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic system, the stray light greatly affects the
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The suppression issue is particularly severe for the low density and
low temperature plasma due to very few scattered photons and narrow line broadening. The
traditional methods, such as Brewster window, beam dump and transmission pipe with black-coated
internal surface, have been adopted in the stray light suppression system on our Linear Magnetized
Plasma (LMP) device. Moreover, an assembly of tapered apertures are placed in the optical
path. Via numerical simulation, the optimal configuration of the adjustable aperture tube (size,
location, and orientation) that provide the best suppression has been found. Numerical results
show that the optimal aperture group with 6 mm and 8 mm tapered apertures can maintain over 97%
transmission rate of the main laser energy while reducing stray light by 99.6%.
Trailing-edge fringes enable robust aerodynamic force production and noise suppression in an owl wing model
Authors: Rong Jiaxin , Jiang Yajun , Murayama Yuta , Ishibashi Ryoto , Murakami Masashi , Liu Hao
Published: November 2023

As one of the unique owl-wing morphologies, trailing-edge (TE) fringes are believed to play a critical role in the silent flight of owls and have been widely investigated using idealized single/tandem airfoils. However, the effect of TE fringes and associated mechanisms on the aeroacoustics of owl wings, which feature curved leading edges, wavy TEs, and several feather slots at the wingtips, have not yet been addressed. In this study, we constructed two 3D owl wing models, one with and one without TE fringes, based on the geometric characteristics of a real owl wing. Large-eddy simulations and the Ffowcs Williams‒Hawkings analogy were combined to resolve the aeroacoustic characteristics of the wing models. Comparisons of the computed aerodynamic forces and far-field acoustic pressure levels demonstrate that the fringes on owl wings can robustly suppress aerodynamic noise while sustaining aerodynamic performance comparable to that of a clean wing. By visualizing the near-field flow dynamics in terms of flow and vortex structures as well as flow fluctuations, the mechanisms of TE fringes in owl wing models are revealed. First, the TE fringes on owl wings are reconfirmed to robustly suppress flow fluctuations near the TE by breaking up large TE vortices. Second, the fringes are observed to effectively suppress the shedding of wingtip vortices by mitigating the flow interaction between feathers (feather-slot interaction). These complementary mechanisms synergize to enhance the robustness and effectiveness of the TE fringe effects in owl wing models, in terms of aerodynamic force production and noise suppression. This study thus deepens our understanding of the role of TE fringes in real owl flight gliding and points to the validity and feasibility of employing owl-inspired TE fringes in practical applications of low-noise fluid machinery.
The classification of rebit quantum channels
Authors: Aldé Michele , Berthier Michel , Provenzi Edoardo
Published: November 2023

The classification of qubit channels is known since 2002. However, that of rebit channels has never been studied so far, maybe because of the scarcity of concrete rebit examples. In this paper we point out that the strategy used to classify qubit channels cannot be pursued in the rebit case and we propose an alternative which allows us to complete the rebit channel classification. This mathematical result has not only a purely abstract interest: as we shall briefly mention, it may have applications in the analysis of local properties and temporal evolution of real quantum systems and also in a recent color vision model based on quantum information.
Looking at the posterior: accuracy and uncertainty of neural-network predictions
Authors: Linander Hampus , Balabanov Oleksandr , Yang Henry , Mehlig Bernhard
Published: November 2023

Bayesian inference can quantify uncertainty in the predictions of neural networks using posterior distributions for model parameters and network output. By looking at these posterior distributions, one can separate the origin of uncertainty into aleatoric and epistemic contributions. One goal of uncertainty quantification is to inform on prediction accuracy. Here we show that prediction accuracy depends on both epistemic and aleatoric uncertainty in an intricate fashion that cannot be understood in terms of marginalized uncertainty distributions alone. How the accuracy relates to epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties depends not only on the model architecture, but also on the properties of the dataset. We discuss the significance of these results for active learning and introduce a novel acquisition function that outperforms common uncertainty-based methods. To arrive at our results, we approximated the posteriors using deep ensembles, for fully-connected, convolutional and attention-based neural networks.
Asymptotics in finite monoidal categories
Authors: Lacabanne Abel , Tubbenhauer Daniel , Vaz Pedro
Published: November 2023

We give explicit formulas for the asymptotic growth rate of the number of summands in tensor powers in certain monoidal categories with finitely many indecomposable objects, and related structures.
Lattice Paths and Branched Continued Fractions: An Infinite Sequence of Generalizations of the Stieltjes–Rogers and Thron–Rogers Polynomials, with Coefficientwise Hankel-Total Positivity
Authors: Pétréolle Mathias , Sokal Alan , Zhu Bao-Xuan
Published: November 2023

We define an infinite sequence of generalizations, parametrized by an integer

m
≥
1

m \ge 1

, of the Stieltjes–Rogers and Thron–Rogers polynomials; they arise as the power-series expansions of some branched continued fractions, and as the generating polynomials for

m
m

-Dyck and

m
m

-Schröder paths with height-dependent weights. We prove that all of these sequences of polynomials are coefficientwise Hankel-totally positive, jointly in all the (infinitely many) indeterminates. We then apply this theory to prove the coefficientwise Hankel-total positivity for combinatorially interesting sequences of polynomials. Enumeration of unlabeled ordered trees and forests gives rise to multivariate Fuss–Narayana polynomials and Fuss–Narayana symmetric functions. Enumeration of increasing (labeled) ordered trees and forests gives rise to multivariate Eulerian polynomials and Eulerian symmetric functions, which include the univariate

m
m

th-order Eulerian polynomials as specializations. We also find branched continued fractions for ratios of contiguous hypergeometric series

r

F
s

{}_r \! F_s

for arbitrary

r
r

and

s
s

, which generalize Gauss’ continued fraction for ratios of contiguous

2

F
1

{}_2 \! F_1

; and for

s
=
0

s=0

we prove the coefficientwise Hankel-total positivity. Finally, we extend the branched continued fractions to ratios of contiguous basic hypergeometric series

r

ϕ
s

{}_r \! \phi _s

.
The American Society for Clinical Pathology 2022 Vacancy Survey of medical laboratories in the United States
Authors: Garcia Edna , Kundu Iman , Kelly Melissa , Soles Ryan
Published: November 2023

Objectives

To determine the extent and distribution of laboratory workforce shortages within the nation’s medical laboratories.

Methods

The Vacancy Survey was conducted through collaboration between the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy in Washington, DC, and the Evaluation, Measurement, and Assessment Department and ASCP Board of Certification in Chicago, IL. Data were collected through an internet survey distributed to individuals who were able to report on staffing and certifications for their laboratories.

Results

Results of the ASCP 2022 Vacancy Survey show increased overall vacancy rates for laboratory positions in all departments compared with 2020. Overall retirement rates for laboratory professionals increased across most departments.

Conclusions

Current Vacancy Survey data show continued increases in the numbers of laboratory vacancies and retirements as well as changes in certification requirements, with trends amplified during the pandemic continuing into the present. Qualitative analysis results showed that there is an urgent need to focus not only on recruitment but—equally important—on retention of laboratory professionals.
Evolution of secondary growth: have pattern, got process? A commentary on ‘Molecular phylogeny of Urvillea (Paullinieae, Sapindaceae) and its implications in stem vascular diversity’
Authors: Tomescu Alexandru M F
Published: November 2023

This article comments on:

Israel L. Cunha Neto, Yanã C. Rizzieri, Pablo A. Cabanillas, Fabiano M. Martins, Natália F. Marques, Genise V. Somner, Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez and Joyce G. Onyenedum. Molecular phylogeny of Urvillea (Paullinieae, Sapindaceae) and its implications in stem vascular diversity, Annals of Botany, Volume 132, Issue 5, 10 October 2023, Pages 929–948, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad093
FG-BERT: a generalized and self-supervised functional group-based molecular representation learning framework for properties prediction
Authors: Li Biaoshun , Lin Mujie , Chen Tiegen , Wang Ling
Published: November 2023

Artificial intelligence-based molecular property prediction plays a key role in molecular design such as bioactive molecules and functional materials. In this study, we propose a self-supervised pretraining deep learning (DL) framework, called functional group bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (FG-BERT), pertained based on ~1.45 million unlabeled drug-like molecules, to learn meaningful representation of molecules from function groups. The pretrained FG-BERT framework can be fine-tuned to predict molecular properties. Compared to state-of-the-art (SOTA) machine learning and DL methods, we demonstrate the high performance of FG-BERT in evaluating molecular properties in tasks involving physical chemistry, biophysics and physiology across 44 benchmark datasets. In addition, FG-BERT utilizes attention mechanisms to focus on FG features that are critical to the target properties, thereby providing excellent interpretability for downstream training tasks. Collectively, FG-BERT does not require any artificially crafted features as input and has excellent interpretability, providing an out-of-the-box framework for developing SOTA models for a variety of molecule (especially for drug) discovery tasks.
aPEAR: an R package for autonomous visualization of pathway enrichment networks
Authors: Kerseviciute Ieva , Gordevicius Juozas
Published: November 2023

The interpretation of pathway enrichment analysis results is frequently complicated by an overwhelming and redundant list of significantly affected pathways. Here, we present an R package aPEAR (Advanced Pathway Enrichment Analysis Representation) which leverages similarities between the pathway gene sets and represents them as a network of interconnected clusters. Each cluster is assigned a meaningful name that highlights the main biological themes in the experiment. Our approach enables an automated and objective overview of the data without manual and time-consuming parameter tweaking.

Availability and implementation

The package aPEAR is implemented in R, published under the MIT open-source licence. The source code, documentation, and usage instructions are available on https://gitlab.com/vugene/aPEAR as well as on CRAN (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=aPEAR).
Cartography of Afro-Asian relations in America: co-racialization and nanohealing
Authors: Cheng Hsin-I
Published: November 2023

In public discourse, there has been hostile communication between Asian and Black communities in the US. This article proposes co-racialization as a lens in examining Asian and Black Americans’ relationality. Co-racialization occurs in and across space and time, in that individuals and groups with various and uneven resources shape their views of themselves and their counterparts. Seventy-two Asian Americans and Black Americans were interviewed. Through the concepts of “racial project” and “hydraulic and nanoracism,” I trace the ways in which these co-racializations are mediated. Themes of their “home and neighborhood as space of mediation;” “segregated learning institutions with hydraulic racism mediated by pop culture;” and “perpetual tensions and nanoracism in the ‘fuzzy zones’” emerged. This article calls for nanohealing—an intentionally sustained relationality-building rooted in on-the-ground spaces of interactions and mediation—as an imperative part of co-racialization to resist the thin relationality between racial minorities.
The role of abiotic and biotic factors in the unequal body shape diversification of a Gondwanan fish radiation (Otophysi: Characiformes)
Authors: Burns Michael D , Knouft Jason H , Dillman Casey B
Published: November 2023

Understanding why some clades diversify greatly while others do not is a major goal of evolutionary biology. Both abiotic and biotic factors are important in driving unequal morphological diversity across the tree of life. However, few studies have quantified how abiotic habitat and community composition differences influence unequal morphological diversification in spatiotemporally diffuse radiations. We use geometric morphometrics, abiotic habitat data generated by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses, evolutionary simulations, and phylogenetic comparative methods to determine whether random evolution, habitat variation, competition for niches, or a combination of factors influenced the unequal body shape diversity of a Gondwanan freshwater fish radiation. We find that Neotropical characiform lineages, which exhibit substantially more body shape diversity than their African counterparts, occupy significantly more slope and elevation habitats than African lineages. Differences in habitat occupation between the continental radiations occur through a combination of likely competition with cypriniform fishes in Africa restricting access to higher slope and elevation habitats and significantly more low-elevation and slope habitats available in the Neotropics. Our findings suggest that spatiotemporally widespread radiations, like Characiformes, do not diversify across homogenized habitats and biotic assemblages, with differences in community structure and physical habitat playing an important role in driving unequal morphological diversification.
The prevalence of killer yeasts and double-stranded RNAs in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Crabtree Angela M , Taggart Nathan T , Lee Mark D , Boyer Josie M , Rowley Paul A
Published: November 2023

Killer toxins are antifungal proteins produced by many species of “killer” yeasts, including the brewer's and baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Screening 1270 strains of S. cerevisiae for killer toxin production found that 50% are killer yeasts, with a higher prevalence of yeasts isolated from human clinical samples and winemaking processes. Since many killer toxins are encoded by satellite double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) associated with mycoviruses, S. cerevisiae strains were also assayed for the presence of dsRNAs. This screen identified that 51% of strains contained dsRNAs from the mycovirus families Totiviridae and Partitiviridae, as well as satellite dsRNAs. Killer toxin production was correlated with the presence of satellite dsRNAs but not mycoviruses. However, in most killer yeasts, whole genome analysis identified the killer toxin gene KHS1 as significantly associated with killer toxin production. Most killer yeasts had unique spectrums of antifungal activities compared to canonical killer toxins, and sequence analysis identified mutations that altered their antifungal activities. The prevalence of mycoviruses and killer toxins in S. cerevisiae is important because of their known impact on yeast fitness, with implications for academic research and industrial application of this yeast species.
PICKLE RELATED 2 is a Neofunctionalized Gene Duplicate Under Positive Selection With Antagonistic Effects to the Ancestral PICKLE Gene on the Seed Transcriptome
Authors: Dupouy Gilles , Cashell Ronan , Brychkova Galina , Tuteja Reetu , McKeown Peter C , Spillane Charles
Published: November 2023

The evolution and diversification of proteins capable of remodeling domains has been critical for transcriptional reprogramming during cell fate determination in multicellular eukaryotes. Chromatin remodeling proteins of the CHD3 family have been shown to have important and antagonistic impacts on seed development in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, yet the basis of this functional divergence remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that genes encoding the CHD3 proteins PICKLE (PKL) and PICKLE-RELATED 2 (PKR2) originated from a duplication event during the diversification of crown Brassicaceae, and that these homologs have undergone distinct evolutionary trajectories since this duplication, with PKR2 fast evolving under positive selection, while PKL is subject to purifying selection. We find that the rapid evolution of PKR2 under positive selection reduces the encoded protein's intrinsic disorder, possibly suggesting a tertiary structure configuration which differs from that of PKL. Our whole genome transcriptome analysis in seeds of pkr2 and pkl mutants reveals that they act antagonistically on the expression of specific sets of genes, providing a basis for their differing roles in seed development. Our results provide insights into how gene duplication and neofunctionalization can lead to differing and antagonistic selective pressures on transcriptomes during plant reproduction, as well as on the evolutionary diversification of the CHD3 family within seed plants.
Alignment-based Protein Mutational Landscape Prediction: Doing More with Less
Authors: Abakarova Marina , Marquet Céline , Rera Michael , Rost Burkhard , Laine Elodie
Published: November 2023

The wealth of genomic data has boosted the development of computational methods predicting the phenotypic outcomes of missense variants. The most accurate ones exploit multiple sequence alignments, which can be costly to generate. Recent efforts for democratizing protein structure prediction have overcome this bottleneck by leveraging the fast homology search of MMseqs2. Here, we show the usefulness of this strategy for mutational outcome prediction through a large-scale assessment of 1.5M missense variants across 72 protein families. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of producing alignment-based mutational landscape predictions that are both high-quality and compute-efficient for entire proteomes. We provide the community with the whole human proteome mutational landscape and simplified access to our predictive pipeline.
‘Thinking in Papua New Guinean Terms’: the Sensitive Files Case of 1972 and Australia’s Migrated Archive
Authors: Piccini Jon
Published: November 2023

Australia’s unsuccessful attempt to remove ‘sensitive’ files from the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (PNG) in 1972 adds new insights into emerging literature on the migrated archive. This paper argues that fears of reputational damage, possessiveness and race-based logics animated Australia’s actions. It illuminates how an unlikely alliance of Australian archivists and academics with PNG nationalist elites saw the removals policy reversed, thus ensuring the nation’s colonial era records remained in place. It also demonstrates the migrated archive’s global nature, as well as locating Australia and PNG within the late twentieth-century narrative of empire’s end.
Ambiguities in the EU's rights-based approach to liberal order
Authors: Saltnes Johanne Døhlie
Published: November 2023

The European Union has been characterized as a vanguard of a rights-based liberal international order. A prime example is making all cooperation agreements with third states conditioned on respect for human rights. But the EU's approach is contested on grounds of inconsistency and power imbalance. This article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between authoritative human rights procedures and contestations of the liberal order. In doing so, the article brings to the fore ambiguities that are often glossed over in the literature related to representation in supranational political arrangements. Through a longitudinal case-study of the centrepiece of the EU's external human rights policy, the human rights clause, the article shows that the EU vacillates between supranational and intergovernmental political arrangements. It insists on a human rights clause that allows for sanctioning of non-compliance, but that also maintains core features of intergovernmental decision-making where executives in the EU and partner governments maintain the authority to initiate and settle disputes on human rights. The result is a half-hearted move towards a rights-based liberal order that neither fully respects nation-states' sovereignty nor fully allows for an impartial settlement of human rights disputes.
Rethinking liberal order: the EU and the quest for global justice
Authors: Sjursen Helene
Published: November 2023

The liberal order is facing severe challenges. This article introduces a special section, ‘Liberal order, the EU and global political justice’, which assesses the implications of these challenges for the European Union and for its ability to remain a relevant global actor. To do so, the different contributions inquire into the interconnections between the normative premises of the EU's foreign policy within different issue areas and those of the liberal order. Presenting the core themes, this introductory article suggests that liberal order is not merely a descriptive but also a normative concept. Indicating how a well-ordered international system ought to be organized, the liberal order generates expectations of a contribution to global justice. The article further advances the hypothesis that the troubles of the liberal order are linked to its inability to fulfill these expectations. As the EU's legitimacy is bound up with that of the liberal script, this hypothesis implies a need to reconsider not only core features of liberal order, but also those of the EU's approach to it. Thus highlighting the relevance of normative factors and their capacity for disruption, the article contributes to filling gaps in scholarly literatures both on the challenges to the liberal order and on the changing role of the EU in an increasingly unsettled world.
Improving pharmaceutical practice in diabetes care using point-of-care glycated haemoglobin testing in the community pharmacy
Authors: Santana Caroline Rocha , de Oliveira Márcio Galvão Guimarães , Camargo Marianne Silveira , Moreira Pablo Maciel Brasil , de Castro Priscila Ribeiro , Aguiar Erlan Canguçu , Mistro Sóstenes
Published: November 2023

Objectives

To evaluate the use of point-of-care testing to detect new cases of diabetes mellitus at a Brazilian public community pharmacy.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included individuals without a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus who met the criteria for screening according to the Brazilian Diabetes Society, which were identified during their presence at a Brazilian public community pharmacy. The measurements of HbA1c were performed using a Cobas b101 device (Roche Diagnostics) and were categorized according to the following classification established by the Brazilian Society of Diabetes: HbA1c <5.7%, normal; HbA1c between 5.7% and 6.4%, pre-diabetes; and HbA1c >6.4%, new diagnosis of T2DM.

Key findings

One hundred and eight users met the inclusion criteria. The patients’ mean age was 54.4 (± 15.4) years old, ranging from 22 to 80 years old. Eighty (74.1%) participants presented with glycated haemoglobin levels over the standard threshold, of which 58 (72.5%) were in the pre-diabetes range (glycated haemoglobin levels between 5.7% and 6.4%), and 22 (27.5%) had glycated haemoglobin levels >6.4%, which corresponds to a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Conclusions

The use of point-of-care glycated haemoglobin testing allowed community pharmacists at a Brazilian public community pharmacy to identify health system users with glycated haemoglobin alterations that corresponded to the pre-diabetes state or a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This presented a good opportunity to refer these users to diabetes diagnosis and treatment services.
Take a Chance on Me: Aleatory Poetry, Generative AI, and the External Demarcation Problem
Authors: Chen Melvin
Published: November 2023

What is it in virtue of which any poetic output will be included or excluded from the category of art? I will first identify the external demarcation problem, which is concerned with whether or how the cut-off is made between art and non-art. I will then adopt a nonclassical approach to conceptual analysis by relying on a set of examples of poetry generated by aleatory processes to evaluate an intention-based response to the external demarcation problem. I will argue in favor of an intention-based response that is grounded in hypothetical intentionalism. According to this response, a contextually informed audience will form a hypothesis about poetic intentions on the basis of the evidence that a work makes publicly available. Semantic, categorial, and ostensive intention and intention traces may help this audience to determine whether a work counts as art and is worth effortful interpretation. My proposed version of an intention-based response to the external demarcation problem will be based on the p-valued hypothesis-testing approach in science and will be highly relevant to a context of production in which we find human poets, poetry-generating AI systems, and human-AI interfaces.
Effects of dietary camelina, flaxseed, and canola oil supplementation on transepidermal water loss, skin and coat health parameters, and plasma prostaglandin E2, glycosaminoglycan, and nitric oxide concentrations in healthy adult horses
Authors: Richards Taylor , Burron Scarlett , McCorkell Terence Connor , Trevizan Luciano , Patterson Keely , Minikhiem Debbie , Ma David W L , Pearson Wendy , Shoveller Anna K
Published: November 2023

Camelina oil is derived from a low-input, high-yield crop and, in comparison to many other dietary fat sources currently used in equine diets, provides a greater amount of α-linolenic acid [ALA; (n-3)], than linoleic acid [LA; (n-6)]. However, no research exists assessing the effects of feeding camelina oil to horses in contrast to other commonly used oils. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of supplementing camelina oil to that of flaxseed and canola oil supplementation, on outcomes related to skin and coat health in horses. Thirty adult horses [23 mares, 7 geldings; 14.9 years ± 5.3 years; 544 ± 66 kg body weight (BW) (mean ± SD)] underwent a 4-week wash-in period consuming hay and sunflower oil. Following the wash-in period, horses were blocked by location, age, and BW, and assigned to one of three treatment oils for 16 weeks (370 mg oil/kg BW): camelina (CAM), canola (OLA), or flaxseed (FLX) oil. Blood samples were collected and plasma prostaglandin E2 (PGE2; ELISA), nitric oxide (NO; Griess Reaction), and glycosaminoglycan (GAG; DMMB) concentrations were measured on weeks 0 (n = 30), 14 (n = 24), and 16 (n = 30). On weeks 0, 2, 4, 8, and 16, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) was measured pre- and post-acetone application using a VapoMeter (n = 26), and a 5-point-Likert scale was used to assess skin and coat characteristics on the side and rump of the horses (n = 30). All data were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS. Independent of treatment, coat color, and quality increased from baseline. There were no differences in the outcomes assessed between the horses supplemented camelina oil and those supplemented canola or flaxseed oil. These results suggest that independent of treatment, all oil supplements improved coat color and quality in horses. This provides indication that camelina oil is comparable to existing plant-based oil supplements in supporting skin and coat health and inflammation in horses.
Evaluation of multienzyme supplementation and fiber levels on nutrient and energy digestibility of diets fed to gestating sows and growing pigs
Authors: Shipman Garrin L , Perez-Palencia Jorge Y , Rogiewicz Anna , Patterson Rob. , Levesque Crystal. L
Published: November 2023

The objective was to investigate the effect of a multienzyme blend (MEblend) and inclusion level on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nutrients, as well as ileal digestibility of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in gestation diets with low (LF) or high-dietary fiber (HF) fed to gestation sows. For comparison, growing pigs were fed the same HF diets to directly compare ATTD values with the gestating sows. In experiment 1, 45 gestating sows (parity 0 to 5; 187 ± 28 kg bodyweight; BW) were blocked by parity in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement and fed 2.2 kg/d of the HF (17.5% neutral detergent fiber; NDF) or LF (13% NDF) diet and one of three levels of MEblend (0.0%, 0.08%, and 0.1%) to determine impacts of MEblend on ATTD. Twenty-seven growing pigs (initial 35.7 ± 3.32 kg BW) were fed the same HF diet (5% of BW) and one of three MEblend inclusions. The MEblend at both 0.08% and 0.1% increased ATTD of energy, NDF, and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (P < 0.05) in gestating sows but ATTD of total non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and its residues were not affected. Sows fed HF, regardless of MEblend, had greater ATTD of NDF, xylose, and total NSP (P < 0.05) in comparison to grower pigs. In experiment 2, ileal cannulas were placed in 12 gestating sows (parity 0 to 2; BW 159 ± 12 kg) to determine apparent and standardized ileal digestibility (AID and SID) of AA and NSP. In a crossover design, sows were fed the same six diets, as in experiment 1, and a nitrogen-free diet during five periods of seven days each to achieve eight replicates per diet. There was no interaction between diet fiber level and MEblend inclusion. Supplementation of MEblend to gestating sow diets did not impact SID of CP and AA regardless of dietary fiber level. The SID of His, Ile, Lys, Phe, Thr, Trp, and Val were 3% to 6% lower (P < 0.09) in HF than LF independent of MEblend. Supplementation of MEblend did not impact AID of NSP components, but sows fed HF had higher AID of arabinose (LF: 26.5% vs. HF: 40.6%), xylose (LF: 3.5% vs. HF: 40.9%), and total NSP (LF: 25.9% vs. HF: 40.0%) compared to sows fed LF (P < 0.05). Dietary supplementation of MEblend increased ATTD of nutrients, NSP, and energy in diets fed to gestating sows regardless of inclusion level, with MEblend having a greater incremental increase in diets with lower NDF levels. Inclusion of MEblend impacted neither SID of AA nor AID of NSP in low- or high-fiber gestation diets, but high-fiber diet, negatively affected SID of AA.