bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beef quality assessment of local and imported sources illustrating a contrary view that freezing is the best way of beef preservation using morphometric analysis
Authors: Sabala Rana Fahmi , Shouman Zeinab
Published: August 2023

The histological analysis of local and imported beef samples throughout storage at various intervals in 4 °C, before and after being frozen at − 18 °C, to detect the changes happened in the microstructure of muscle fibers to evaluate the meat nutritive properties in a step toward rapid evaluation of meat quality. The obtained results illustrated that freezing–thawing step of beef leads to the loss of its muscle fiber structure due to the high moisture content failure, highlighted the idea that imported beef show significant shrinkage in their muscle fibers from the beginning of its purchase to consumers as they seem to be imported as frozen and thawed just before exposed and sold as fresh. Through consumption survey, however consumers prefer local meat, it was detected that 67% of population is eating imported beef with 39.4% more than twice per week. Therefore, consumers’ minds should be changed to depend on locally slaughtered beef on facing their needs of the recommended daily intake of protein.
Somewhere Else in the Market
Authors: Luna Joe
Published: August 2023

This Element develops a close reading of 'Britain's leading late modernist poet', J.H. Prynne. Examining the political and literary contexts of Prynne's work of the 1980s, the Element offers an intervention into the existing scholarship on Prynne through close attention to the ways in which his poems respond to the social and political forces that define both modern Britain and the wider world of financialized capitalism.
Law and the Epistemologies of the South
Authors: de Sousa Santos Boaventura
Published: August 2023

Modern state law excludes populations, peoples, and social groups by making them invisible, irrelevant, or dangerous. In this book, Boaventura de Sousa Santos offers a radical critique of the law and develops an innovative paradigm of socio-legal studies which is based on the historical experience of the Global South. He traces the history of modern law as an abyssal law, or a kind of law that is theoretically invisible yet implements profound exclusions in practice. This abyssal line has been the key procedure used by modern modes of domination – capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy – to divide people into two groups, the metropolitan and the colonial, or the fully human and the sub-human. Crucially, de Sousa Santos rejects the decadent pessimism that claims that we are living through 'the end of history'. Instead, this book offers practical, hopeful alternatives to social exclusion and modern legal domination, aiming to make post-abyssal legal utopias a reality.
Hunter Willingness-to-Pay for Disease Testing: Evidence from Chronic Wasting Disease in White-Tailed Deer
Authors: Adhikari Ram Kumar , Poudyal Neelam Chandra , Muller Lisa Irene , Yoest Chuck
Published: August 2023

Using the case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in white-tailed deer, we estimated hunters’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for testing their game and determined how their perception of disease risk, trust, and confidence in wildlife agency affected hunter participation in ongoing disease surveillance. The average WTP for testing was $23.75 per deer, and it was positively related to trust and confidence in the wildlife agency and the perception of risk about deer populations in the declining area and the pathogen spreading to other areas. These findings imply that implementing active outreach programs can improve hunter participation in user-paid systems for CWD surveillance.
Bootstrap percolation in inhomogeneous random graphs
Authors: Amini Hamed , Fountoulakis Nikolaos , Panagiotou Konstantinos
Published: August 2023

A bootstrap percolation process on a graph with n vertices is an ‘infection’ process evolving in rounds. Let
$r \ge 2$
be fixed. Initially, there is a subset of infected vertices. In each subsequent round, every uninfected vertex that has at least r infected neighbors becomes infected as well and remains so forever.

We consider this process in the case where the underlying graph is an inhomogeneous random graph whose kernel is of rank one. Assuming that initially every vertex is infected independently with probability
$p \in (0,1]$
, we provide a law of large numbers for the size of the set of vertices that are infected by the end of the process. Moreover, we investigate the case
$p = p(n) = o(1)$
, and we focus on the important case of inhomogeneous random graphs exhibiting a power-law degree distribution with exponent
$\beta \in (2,3)$
. The first two authors have shown in this setting the existence of a critical
$p_c =o(1)$
such that, with high probability, if
$p =o(p_c)$
, then the process does not evolve at all, whereas if
$p = \omega(p_c)$
, then the final set of infected vertices has size
$\Omega(n)$
. In this work we determine the asymptotic fraction of vertices that will eventually be infected and show that it also satisfies a law of large numbers.
A modification of the random cutting model
Authors: Burghart Fabian
Published: August 2023

We propose a modification to the random destruction of graphs: given a finite network with a distinguished set of sources and targets, remove (cut) vertices at random, discarding components that do not contain a source node. We investigate the number of cuts required until all targets are removed, and the size of the remaining graph. This model interpolates between the random cutting model going back to Meir and Moon (J. Austral. Math. Soc.11, 1970) and site percolation. We prove several general results, including that the size of the remaining graph is a tight family of random variables for compatible sequences of expander-type graphs, and determine limiting distributions for binary caterpillar trees and complete binary trees.
Artificial intelligence and the conjectural sciences
Authors: Stark Luke
Published: August 2023

Drawing on prior work in the history and philosophy of statistics, I argue that in many cases analyses powered by artificial-intelligence (AI) techniques such as machine learning (ML) are fundamentally ‘conjectural’: reliant on ex post facto abductive logics often misinterpreted in contemporary machine-learning systems as reliably reproducible truth. Here I relate what Carlo Ginzburg calls ‘the conjectural sciences’ as a historical category to their contemporary instantiation in machine learning and the practice of ‘automated conjecture’. I observe how the automation of physiognomic and phrenological concepts are exemplary of the ways in which discredited conjectural pseudosciences are being revived by today's AI research. Finally, I argue that the conceptual distinction between ‘conjectural’ and ‘empirical’ science can help support contemporary efforts to regulate the design and use of AI systems by providing conceptual and historical justification for the non-development of certain classes of systems intended to automate inference.
The Soviet scientific programme on AI: if a machine cannot ‘think’, can it ‘control’?
Authors: Kirtchik Olessia
Published: August 2023

This article analyses the intellectual and institutional development of the artificial-intelligence (AI) research programme within the Soviet Academy of Sciences from the 1970s to the 1980s. Considering the places and ideas from which it borrowed, I contextualize its goals and projects as part of a larger technoscientific movement aimed at rationalizing Soviet governance, and unpack shared epistemological and cultural assumptions. By tracing their origins to debates accompanying the introduction of cybernetics into Soviet intellectual and political life in the 1950s and early 1960s, I show how Soviet conceptions of ‘thinking machines’ interacted with dialectical materialism and communist socio-technical imaginaries of governance and control. The programme of ‘situational management’ developed by Dmitry Pospelov helps explain the resulting conception of AI as control systems aimed at solving complex tasks that cannot be fully formalized and therefore require new modelling methods to represent real-world situations. This specific orientation can be understood, on the one hand, as a research programme competing with systems analysis and economic cybernetics to rationalize Soviet management, and, on the other hand, as a field trying to demarcate itself from a purely statistical or mathematical approach to modelling cognitive processes.
The association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and suicidal ideations among Palestinians: The mediating role of spirituality, social support and mindfulness
Authors: Mahamid Fayez , Bdier Dana , Jabr Samah , Hinnawi Zaynab
Published: August 2023

The current study aimed to test whether social support, spirituality and mindfulness mediated the association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and suicidal ideation among Palestinians. The study sample consisted of 520 Palestinian adults selected using online tools. The findings of the study revealed that posttraumatic stress symptoms positively correlated with suicidal ideations (r = .32, p < .01), and negatively correlated with social support (r = −.34, p < .01), spirituality (r = −.16, p < .05) and mindfulness (r = −.72, p < .01), whereas suicidal ideations negatively correlated with social support (r = −.46, p < .01), spirituality(r = −.27, p < .01) and mindfulness (r = −.72, p < .01). Results of the path analysis showed that social support, spirituality and mindfulness mediated the association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and suicidal ideations. Developing intervention programs to enhance social support, mindfulness and spirituality to mitigate the effect of ongoing traumatic experiences among Palestinians is crucial to reducing suicidal ideations. Further studies are also recommended to investigate the role of potentially protective factors that may reduce suicidal ideations and appropriate techniques to deal effectively with traumatic and stressful events.
Devolution Issues Under the Scotland Act 1998, Reference by the Lord Advocate (U.K. Sup. Ct.)
Authors: Ulgen Ozlem
Published: August 2023

On November 23, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom delivered its judgment on whether the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to introduce a Scottish Independence Referendum Bill (the Bill) to hold a referendum in Scotland asking the question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?”, or whether this relates to reserved matters to the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England and the Parliament of the United Kingdom under Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act of 1998 (the Act). The Court unanimously concluded that the proposed Bill relates to reserved matters and cannot be lawfully legislated by the Scottish Parliament. The case raises issues about the extent of legislative competence of a UK devolved nation, and whether it can lawfully exercise the right to self-determination under international law when a constitutional framework does not recognize legislative competence to hold an independence referendum.
Heavy-traffic limits for parallel single-server queues with randomly split Hawkes arrival processes
Authors: Li Bo , Pang Guodong
Published: August 2023

We consider parallel single-server queues in heavy traffic with randomly split Hawkes arrival processes. The service times are assumed to be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) in each queue and are independent in different queues. In the critically loaded regime at each queue, it is shown that the diffusion-scaled queueing and workload processes converge to a multidimensional reflected Brownian motion in the non-negative orthant with orthonormal reflections. For the model with abandonment, we also show that the corresponding limit is a multidimensional reflected Ornstein–Uhlenbeck diffusion in the non-negative orthant.
STABILITY RESULTS ASSUMING TAMENESS, MONSTER MODEL, AND CONTINUITY OF NONSPLITTING
Authors: LEUNG SAMSON
Published: August 2023

Assuming the existence of a monster model, tameness, and continuity of nonsplitting in an abstract elementary class (AEC), we extend known superstability results: let
$\mu>\operatorname {LS}(\mathbf {K})$
be a regular stability cardinal and let
$\chi $
be the local character of
$\mu $
-nonsplitting. The following holds:

1.

When
$\mu $
-nonforking is restricted to
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$
-limit models ordered by universal extensions, it enjoys invariance, monotonicity, uniqueness, existence, extension, and continuity. It also has local character
$\chi $
. This generalizes Vasey’s result [37, Corollary 13.16] which assumed
$\mu $
-superstability to obtain same properties but with local character
$\aleph _0$
.

2.

There is
$\lambda \in [\mu ,h(\mu ))$
such that if
$\mathbf {K}$
is stable in every cardinal between
$\mu $
and
$\lambda $
, then
$\mathbf {K}$
has
$\mu $
-symmetry while
$\mu $
-nonforking in (1) has symmetry. In this case:

(a)

$\mathbf {K}$
has the uniqueness of
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$
-limit models: if
$M_1,M_2$
are both
$(\mu ,\geq \chi )$
-limit over some
$M_0\in K_{\mu }$
, then
$M_1\cong _{M_0}M_2$
;

(b)

any increasing chain of
$\mu ^+$
-saturated models of length
$\geq \chi $
has a
$\mu ^+$
-saturated union. These generalize [31] and remove the symmetry assumption in [10, 38] .

Under
$(<\mu )$
-tameness, the conclusions of (1), (2)(a)(b) are equivalent to
$\mathbf {K}$
having the
$\chi $
-local character of
$\mu $
-nonsplitting.

Grossberg and Vasey [18, 38] gave eventual superstability criteria for tame AECs with a monster model. We remove the high cardinal threshold and reduce the cardinal jump between equivalent superstability criteria. We also add two new superstability criteria to the list: a weaker version of solvability and the boundedness of the U-rank.
Taxing the 1 per cent: Public Opinion vs Public Policy
Authors: Mathisen Ruben
Published: August 2023

Recent studies suggest that public policy in established democracies mainly caters to the interests of the rich and ignores the average citizen when their preferences diverge. I argue that high-income taxation has become a clear illustration of this pattern, and I test the proposition on a least likely case: Norway. I asked Norwegians to design their preferred tax rate structure and matched their answers with registry data on what people at different incomes actually pay in tax. I find that within the top 1 per cent, tax rates are far below (by as much as 23 percentage points) where citizens want them to be. A follow-up survey showed that this divergence is entirely driven by capital incomes being taxed too low. My results suggest that even in a reasonably egalitarian society like Norway, the rich get away with paying considerably less in tax than what people deem fair.
Morph-specific fitness throughout the life cycle of the grain aphid, nonhost-alternating, holocyclic Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)
Authors: Wu Yu-Ting , Hu Xiang-Shun , Wu Meng-Chu , Yao Wen-Ying , Xu Xiang-Li
Published: August 2023

Aphids exhibit seasonally alternating asexual and sexual reproductive modes. Different morphs are produced throughout the life cycle. To evaluate morph-specific fitness during reproductive switching, holocyclic Sitobion avenae were induced continuously under short light conditions, and development and reproduction were compared in each morph. Seven morphs, including apterous and alate virginoparae, apterous and alate sexuparae, oviparae, males, and fundatrices, were produced during the life cycle. The greatest proportions of sexuparae, oviparae, males, and virginoparae were in the G1, G2, G3, and G4 generations, respectively. Regardless of asexual or sexual morphs, alate morphs exhibited a marked delay in age at maturity compared with that of apterous morphs. Among the alate morphs, males had the longest age at maturity, followed by sexuparae and virginoparae. Among the apterous morphs, sexuparae were older at maturity than the fundatrices, virginoparae, and oviparae. The nymphs of each morph had equal survival potentials. For the same wing morphs, apterous sexuparae and oviparae exhibited substantial delays in the pre-reproductive period and considerable reductions in fecundity, compared with those of apterous virginoparae and fundatrices, whereas alate sexuparae and alate virginoparae had similar fecundity. The seven morphs exhibited Deevey I survivorship throughout the life cycle. These results suggest that sexual production, particularly in males, has short-term development and reproduction costs. The coexistence of sexual and asexual morphs in sexuparae offspring may be regarded as an adaptive strategy for limiting the risk of low fitness in winter.
Arazyme secreted by Serratia proteamaculans: current understanding in animal husbandry
Authors: Dang De Xin , Meng Wei Shuang , Li Shi Han , Wang Tieliang , Li Desheng
Published: August 2023

Arazyme, an alkaline metalloprotease, is produced by Serratia proteamaculans, a symbiotic bacterium isolated from the intestinal ecosystem of Nephila clavata. Arazyme is known to play a crucial role in facilitating the digestion process in N. clavata. Recently, there has been increasing interest in exploring invertebrate-associated gut symbionts as a valuable source of novel and biologically active enzymes. Animal husbandry has shown significant interest in this spider-derived bioactive enzyme. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the current understanding and knowledge of arazyme in the context of animal husbandry, offering valuable references for potential applications of this enzyme.
The Showmen's Culture: Life, Labor, and Negotiated Loyalty among Traveling Entertainment Workers in the Gilded Age
Authors: STEINER MADELINE
Published: August 2023

This article explores the formation of a “showmen's culture” among circus employees in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth, a cultural identity which had the effect of diffusing labor conflicts in this developing industry. The showmen's culture created an affective bond between employees of all levels, from manual laborers, to middle managers, to company owners. This article links cultural history and labor history and provides an example of how workers outside traditional manual-labor industries coped with the challenges of industrialization, and how proprietors used the same cultural identity to their own advantage.
Travelling Festivals in Late Antiquity: How Christmas Came to the Greek East
Authors: EDWARDS ROBERT G. T.
Published: August 2023

This article argues that the liturgical tradition of celebrating Christmas on 25 December travelled from the Latin West to the Greek East at the behest of Theodosius I upon his arrival in Constantinople in AD 380. From there it made its way to Cappadocia, Pontus and Syrian Antioch by means of travelling clerics who belonged to a pro-Nicene network. The essay also makes the larger methodological point that in late antiquity liturgical traditions did not travel of their own accord; rather, they were often carried by networks of travelling bishops and ‘radiated out’ from major sees to minor ones.
A Tripod ‘Worth Seeing’ in the Olympieion at Athens (Paus. 1.18.8)
Authors: Martens Brian
Published: August 2023

This study proposes a new reconstruction of the tripod that Pausanias (1.18.8) recorded in the Olympieion at Athens. According to his brief description, the bronze tripod was supported by Persians made from Phrygian marble. A sculptor's sketch found during the excavations of the Athenian Agora is identified as a representation of that monument. The sketch, carved from poros limestone, depicts a standing male figure dressed in eastern attire supporting the foot of a tripod. The figural type finds its closest parallels among the colossal statues from the Forum of Trajan in Rome, suggesting a new date and context for the monument in the Olympieion. The scenario favoured here is that the tripod was dedicated following Trajan's victories in Parthia, perhaps completed or commissioned by Hadrian. Cassius Dio (68.17.2) records that Trajan departed for his Parthian campaigns from Athens, where memories of Persian defeat were actively curated.
Untidy Kingdom: A Reply by the Author
Authors: Ward Stuart
Published: August 2023

Author's response to the issues raised in the contributions to The Common Room round table on Untied Kingdom: A Global History of the End of Britain (2023)
Toward the Final Curtain: Glimpses of an End Foretold
Authors: O'Leary Brendan
Published: August 2023

Review of Untied Kingdom: A Global History of the End of Britain, by Stuart Ward (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Ontological security, myth, and existentialism
Authors: Kirke Xander , Steele Brent J.
Published: August 2023

This paper contributes to this special issue by examining the existentialist themes re-emerging in Ontological Security Studies (OSS) and does so by proposing an under-explored and overlapping terrain regarding the function of myths and ontological security. What Blumenberg calls the ‘absolutism of reality’ becomes something to avoid through the process of telling, retelling, and adapting myths to suit our existential needs. The paper distinguishes our existentialist intervention into OSS from recent ones within that research community and then draws examples of the work on and of myth from the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking to the need for OSS to develop an ethical-political perspective to not only explain but also change the world, the account we develop here also provides a pathway for an alternative politics based in counter-myth. It discloses, therefore, a promising and, in the face of rising authoritarianism and anti-democratic forces, necessary moral ethos regarding prescriptive ideas about what to do and how to confront and and counter the mounting challenges of global politics in the 2020s and beyond.
China English or Chinese English?
Authors: Li David C. S.
Published: August 2023

The distinction between ‘Singapore English’ and ‘Singaporean English’ is interesting. It appears that small places tend to use the bare name of the country, while larger countries use the derived adjective. So we find: Singapore English, Hong Kong English, Brunei English; but American English, German English, Malaysian English. On this basis, we might favour Chinese English over China English, because China is big.
Autistic children’s visual sensitivity to face movement
Authors: Wang Qiandong , Li Xue , Gong Xiaoyun , Yin Tingni , Liu Qinyi , Yi Li , Liu Jing
Published: August 2023

There is a pressing need for studies of large sample sizes and variable age ranges to delineate the mechanism underlying reduced visual attention to biological motion in autism. Here we focused on the basic movement of the eyes or mouth in guiding attention. The stimuli face blinked continuously or moved the mouth silently. In a large sample (145 autistic and 132 non-autistic participants) ranging from 3 to 17 years old, we assessed whether autistic participants showed reduced visual attention to basic movement of the eyes or mouth using a free-viewing eye-tracking task. We found that, like non-autistic participants, autistic participants increased their eye-looking time when viewing the blinking face and increased mouth-looking time when viewing the mouth-moving face. Furthermore, these effects were stable across ages, suggesting the presence of a developmentally stable attentional capture by basic face movements in both groups. We also found that autistic participants looked less at basic face movement than non-autistic participants. Our results suggest that autistic children and adolescents could modulate their visual attention to the basic face movements, but their modulation effect is weaker than non-autistic participants. These results further our understanding of the mechanism underlying visual attention-to-face movement in autistic people.
A novel web-based 24-h dietary recall tool in line with the Nova food processing classification: description and evaluation
Authors: Neri Daniela , Gabe Kamila Tiemann , Costa Caroline Dos Santos , Martinez Steele Euridice , Rauber Fernanda , Marchioni Dirce Maria , da Costa Louzada Maria Laura , Levy Renata Bertazzi , Monteiro Carlos Augusto
Published: August 2023

Objective:

This paper describes the first web-based self-completed 24-h recall designed to categorise food intake according to Nova groups – Nova24h – and its agreement with a reference tool in estimating the dietary relative contribution of the four Nova food groups (% of total energy intake).

Design:

Comparisons of estimates of dietary relative contributions of Nova groups obtained by Nova24h and one standard interviewer-led 24-h recall.

Setting:

Nationwide adult cohort study in Brazil.

Participants:

The subjects were 186 participants of the NutriNet Brasil Cohort Study (n 186).

Results:

No statistically significant differences were observed between the Nova24h and the reference tool mean contributions of unprocessed or minimally processed foods (52·3 % v. 52·6 %), processed culinary ingredients (11·6 % v. 11·9 %), processed foods (17·1 % v. 14·7 %) and ultra-processed foods (19·0 % v. 20·9 %). Intraclass correlation coefficients between individual estimates obtained for each Nova group showed moderate to good agreement (0·54–0·78). Substantial or almost perfect agreement between the tools was seen regarding the ability to rank participants according to quintiles of contribution of each Nova group (PABAK 0·69–0·81).

Conclusions:

Nova24h is a suitable tool for estimating the dietary relative energy contribution of Nova food groups in the NutriNet Brasil cohort. New studies are necessary to verify its adequacy in other populations.
The Great War and the Warfare–Welfare Nexus in British and French West African Colonies
Authors: Schmitt Carina , Shriwise Amanda
Published: August 2023

In the Global North, mass warfare created a huge demand for social protection, pushing governments to provide income for invalids, war victims, and the survivors of fallen soldiers. Most European colonial powers, including France and Great Britain, recruited soldiers and other security forces not only from their metropoles but also from their colonies during both World Wars. However, the question of how mass warfare influenced social reforms in former colonies has not been systematically addressed, particularly with respect to how these influences varied across colonial powers. To begin to address this gap, this paper explores the warfare–welfare nexus in the context of British and French colonies of West Africa around World War I (WWI). The paper finds that, while Britain and France had similar overarching imperial and military objectives in West Africa of securing their colonies, enforcing order within them, and promoting commerce to increase profit, they went about achieving them very differently, with direct and indirect implications for social reforms after WWI. While only a first step, research on the distinct nature of the warfare–welfare nexus in colonial contexts is critical in order to historicize and close research gaps by widening and deepening our understanding of social policy trajectories in countries of the Global South.
The Role of Organizational Institutionalization in Electoral Sustainability. A Comparative Analysis of the Spanish Far Right: Fuerza Nueva and VOX
Authors: Ortiz Barquero Pablo , González-Fernández Manuel Tomás , Ruiz Jiménez Antonia María
Published: August 2023

This article focuses on the most relevant far right parties since the restoration of democracy in Spain, namely, Fuerza Nueva and VOX. These two parties show divergent electoral trajectories. While the former had some ephemeral prominence during the democratic process of transition, the latter emerged in 2018 and, for the time being, seems to have become established in several political arenas. Through an in-depth qualitative examination, this research explores the role of the organizational institutionalization process in the divergent electoral sustainability of both parties. The results show that it is possible to identify a temporal link, as well as certain mechanisms, between the way in which the parties develop organizationally and their electoral sustainability. In other words, a solid organizational institutionalization process has a positive effect on electoral sustainability. Overall, these findings suggest the need to further strengthen the so-called “internalist perspective” in the agenda of the far right, which entails a more systematic view of the characteristics of the parties themselves to explain their performance.
Characterization, Sources, and Chemical Processes of Submicron Aerosols at a Mountain Site in Central China
Authors: Ou H. J. , Cai M. F. , Liang B. L. , Sun Q. B. , Zhou S. Z. , Xu Y. S. , Ren L. H. , Zhao J.
Published: August 2023

A field campaign (29 May to 14 June 2018) was conducted at a mountain site in central China. The chemical composition of non‐refractory submicron particulate matter (NR‐PM1) and the particle number size distribution (PNSD) were measured, respectively. The mean NR‐PM1 mass concentration was 20.94 ± 10.14 μg m−3, among which organics (47%) was the most abundant component, followed by sulfate (37%), ammonium (11%), nitrate (4%), and chloride (1%). Notably, sulfate accounted for more than 70% of the secondary inorganic aerosols. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the composition data resulted in three organic aerosol (OA) factors: hydrocarbon‐like OA (HOA), oxygenated OA I (OOA‐I), and oxygenated OA II (OOA‐II). The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) composed of the latter two factors (SOA: OOA‐I + OOA‐II) was dominant in OA (80.7%). The PMF analysis of the PNSD data yielded three factors: new particle formation related mode, growth mode, and accumulation mode, among which the last factor dominated both number and volume ratios. The sulfate formation was characterized by the sulfur oxidation ratio (SOR), heterogeneous sulfate production rate (Phet), and gaseous sulfuric acid concentration, representing secondary sulfate transformation, heterogeneous reactions, and gas phase reactions, respectively. The results showed that Phet was well correlated with both sulfate concentrations and SOR, especially during the polluted periods. Our study demonstrates that photochemically‐driven heterogeneous reactions contribute dominantly to the sulfate formation and SOA is formed predominantly by photochemical oxidation of volatile organic compounds under high temperatures and ultraviolet (UV) intensities, and NOX concentrations on Mt. Wudang during the campaign period.
Interactive Stratospheric Aerosol Microphysics‐Chemistry Simulations of the 1991 Pinatubo Volcanic Aerosols With Newly Coupled Sectional Aerosol and Stratosphere‐Troposphere Chemistry Modules in the NASA GEOS Chemistry‐Climate Model (CCM)
Authors: Case Parker , Colarco Peter R. , Toon Brian , Aquila Valentina , Keller Christoph A.
Published: August 2023

We have coupled the GEOS‐Chem tropospheric‐stratospheric chemistry mechanism and the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA), a sectional aerosol microphysics module, within the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry‐Climate Model (GEOS CCM) in order to simulate the interactions between stratospheric chemistry and aerosol microphysics. We use observations of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo volcanic cloud to evaluate this new version of the GEOS CCM. The GEOS‐Chem chemistry module is used to simulate the oxidation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) more realistically than assuming hydroxyl radical (OH) fields are constant, as OH concentrations in the plume decrease dramatically in the weeks following the eruption. CARMA simulates sulfate aerosols with dynamic microphysical and optical properties. The CARMA‐calculated aerosol surface area is coupled to the chemistry module from GEOS‐Chem for the calculation of heterogeneous chemistry. We use a set of observational and theoretical constraints for Pinatubo to evaluate the performance of this new version of the GEOS CCM. These simulations are specifically compared with satellite and in‐situ observations and provide insights into the connections between the gas‐phase chemistry and the aerosol microphysics of the early plume and how they impact the climatic and chemical changes following a large volcanic eruption. A second, smaller eruption is also included in these simulations, the 15 August 1991, eruption of Cerro Hudson in Chile, which we find essential in explaining the aerosol optical depth in the Southern Hemisphere in 1991.
Asymmetric Ionospheric Fluctuations Over the Circum‐Pacific Regions Following the January 2022 Tonga Volcanic Eruption
Authors: Li Wang , Zhu Haoze , Feng Jiandi , Wu Xuequn , Tang Jun , Zhang Zhen , Chen Junyu
Published: August 2023

The Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption on 15 January 2022 had a significant impact on the ionosphere‐thermosphere system, resulting in large‐scale ionospheric irregularities with longitudinal and latitudinal asymmetries. Multiple instruments recorded these irregularities, indicating the propagation of a westward wave at an average velocity of 354 ± 8 m/s, which led to plasma irregularities of 0.2 TECu/min. Conversely, an eastward‐propagating wave was detected on the Pacific's east coast, traveling at a speed of 348 ± 6 m/s, with a corresponding decrease in plasma fluctuations to 0.1 TECu/min. In Asia, noticeable plasma irregularities appeared within a few hours after the eruption, and the maximum speed exceeded 1,100 m/s, which cannot be explained by the acoustic wave model. There was also a significant latitudinal asymmetry of ionospheric disturbances in the Asian‐Oceania sector, with the plasma density around Oceania depleted by 2–3 orders of magnitude within the altitudes of ∼150–575 km, while the ion density over Asia was enhanced by 1–2 orders of magnitude, and was uplifted ∼50 km. The plasma temperature was proportional to ion density, indicating the ion temperature reduced ∼500 K and increased 100–200 K around Oceania and Asia, respectively. The equatorial electric field, vertical E × B drifts and thermospheric O/N2 density ratio also fluctuated significantly following the eruption, indicating the redistribution of charged particles due to the magnetic field mapping effect, which was the main contributor to the asymmetries observed.
Influence of ENSO on Tropospheric Ozone Variability in East Asia
Authors: Jeong Yujoo , Kim Si‐Wan , Kim Jeongyeon , Shin Daegeun , Kim Jeongeun , Park Jae‐Heung , An Soon‐Il
Published: August 2023

Abundance of tropospheric ozone is determined by the interplay among emissions, chemistry, and climate dependent transport. It is important to identify the essential factors that modulate ozone in China and Korea because of increasing ozone trends in this area. In this study, we investigated the correlations of tropospheric ozone in East Asia with El Niño Southern Oscillations (ENSO). The model simulated ozone from 2000 to 2020 with Community Atmosphere Model version 6 with chemistry (CAM6‐chem), ECMWF Atmospheric Composition Reanalysis data, and ozone profiles measured in South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. These data were utilized to understand the ozone–ENSO relationship in this region. We found that tropospheric ozone in East Asia is significantly correlated with the wintertime Niño 3.4 index in El Niño/La Niña developing summer and decaying spring, with correlation coefficient up to 0.9. Particularly tropospheric ozone originated from stratosphere is strongly correlated with the Niño 3.4 index. Ozone concentrations in China and the Korean Peninsula are ∼5 ppb higher during El Niño developing summer compared to La Niña in a broad area, because of anomalous cyclonic/anticyclonic flows in the extratropics. In El Niño/La Niña decaying spring, the opposite occurs in the same region. In the decaying spring, stronger variability was observed in the subtropical regions of the lower to mid troposphere, indicating higher ozone concentrations during El Niño compared to La Niña. This variability is associated with the fluctuations in the Walker circulation, large‐scale sinking/rising motions, and the accompanying biomass burning events. The model reproduced the ozone variability associated with ENSO in the ozonesonde observations.
Modeling Urban Heat Islands and Thermal Comfort During a Heat Wave Event in East China With CLM5 Incorporating Local Climate Zones
Authors: Li Congyuan , Zhang Ning , Wang Yongwei , Chen Yan
Published: August 2023

The urban expansion‐induced heat can exacerbate heat stress for urban dwellers, especially during heat waves. With a focus on the intra‐urban variability of urban heat islands (UHIs) and thermal comfort, the urban parameterization within the Community Land Model version 5 (CLM5) was modified incorporating the local climate zones (LCZs) framework, named CLM5‐LCZs, to simulate the urban climate during a heat wave (HW) event in the summer of 2013. The evaluation of model performance demonstrated that it did a reasonable job of simulating surface energy balance and thermal regimes in cities against observational fluxes from a flux tower measurement site and temperatures from automatic meteorological stations in Nanjing, China. Then we investigated the characteristics and causes of UHIs associated with local background climate, intra‐urban inhomogeneity and HW intensity in East China. The results exhibited that daytime and nighttime canopy urban heat island intensity (CUHII) were highest in the Compact Low Rise (LCZ3) and the Compact High Rise (LCZ1) areas, respectively, while surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) peaked in the Large Low Rise (LCZ8) and the Compact High Rise (LCZ1) areas during daytime and nighttime, respectively. Urban dwellers were easier exposed to serious heat environment in LCZ3 and LCZ1 areas over the north subtropical climate zone. Contrasts of CUHII and SUHII among different urban classes could exceed 1.7°C and 5.4°C. The intra‐urban heterogeneity may alter the dominant factors controlling SUHII, which were also modulated by local climate and HW intensity. Unlike other controlling factors, the impact of local climate on the contribution from the urban‐rural contrast of convection efficiency was larger than urban features. Overall, CLM5‐LCZs displayed potential of implementing detailed simulations for inter‐ and intra‐city UHIs at a larger scale, and enhancing the capabilities in modeling urban climate and exploring the causes and controls of UHIs.
Nanomedicine in cancer therapy
Authors: Fan Dahua , Cao Yongkai , Cao Meiqun , Wang Yajun , Cao Yongliang , Gong Tao
Published: August 2023

Cancer remains a highly lethal disease in the world. Currently, either conventional cancer therapies or modern immunotherapies are non-tumor-targeted therapeutic approaches that cannot accurately distinguish malignant cells from healthy ones, giving rise to multiple undesired side effects. Recent advances in nanotechnology, accompanied by our growing understanding of cancer biology and nano-bio interactions, have led to the development of a series of nanocarriers, which aim to improve the therapeutic efficacy while reducing off-target toxicity of the encapsulated anticancer agents through tumor tissue-, cell-, or organelle-specific targeting. However, the vast majority of nanocarriers do not possess hierarchical targeting capability, and their therapeutic indices are often compromised by either poor tumor accumulation, inefficient cellular internalization, or inaccurate subcellular localization. This Review outlines current and prospective strategies in the design of tumor tissue-, cell-, and organelle-targeted cancer nanomedicines, and highlights the latest progress in hierarchical targeting technologies that can dynamically integrate these three different stages of static tumor targeting to maximize therapeutic outcomes. Finally, we briefly discuss the current challenges and future opportunities for the clinical translation of cancer nanomedicines.
Transforming sustainable plant proteins into high performance lubricating microgels
Authors: Kew Ben , Holmes Melvin , Liamas Evangelos , Ettelaie Rammile , Connell Simon D. , Dini Daniele , Sarkar Anwesha
Published: August 2023

With the resource-intensive meat industry accounting for over 50% of food-linked emissions, plant protein consumption is an inevitable need of the hour. Despite its significance, the key barrier to adoption of plant proteins is their astringent off-sensation, typically associated with high friction and consequently poor lubrication performance. Herein, we demonstrate that by transforming plant proteins into physically cross-linked microgels, it is possible to improve their lubricity remarkably, dependent on their volume fractions, as evidenced by combining tribology using biomimetic tongue-like surface with atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, rheology and adsorption measurements. Experimental findings which are fully supported by numerical modelling reveal that these non-lipidic microgels not only decrease boundary friction by an order of magnitude as compared to native protein but also replicate the lubrication performance of a 20:80 oil/water emulsion. These plant protein microgels offer a much-needed platform to design the next-generation of healthy, palatable and sustainable foods.
Multiscale simulations of growth-dominated Sb2Te phase-change material for non-volatile photonic applications
Authors: Wang Xu-Dong , Zhou Wen , Zhang Hangming , Ahmed Shehzad , Huang Tiankuo , Mazzarello Riccardo , Ma En , Zhang Wei
Published: August 2023

Chalcogenide phase-change materials (PCMs) are widely applied in electronic and photonic applications, such as non-volatile memory and neuro-inspired computing. Doped Sb2Te alloys are now gaining increasing attention for on-chip photonic applications, due to their growth-driven crystallization features. However, it remains unknown whether Sb2Te also forms a metastable crystalline phase upon nanoseconds crystallization in devices, similar to the case of nucleation-driven Ge-Sb-Te alloys. Here, we carry out ab initio simulations to understand the changes in optical properties of amorphous Sb2Te upon crystallization and post annealing. During the continuous transformation process, changes in the dielectric function are highly wavelength-dependent from the visible-light range towards the telecommunication band. Our finite-difference time-domain simulations based on the ab initio input reveal key differences in device output for color display and photonic memory applications upon tellurium ordering. Our work serves as an example of how multiscale simulations of materials can guide practical photonic phase-change applications.
A review on barrier layers used in flexible stainless-steel based CIGS photovoltaic devices
Authors: Hamtaei Sarallah , Brammertz Guy , Poortmans Jef , Vermang Bart
Published: August 2023

Two primary engineering challenges are en route to fabricating high-performance flexible stainless-steel based Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2solar cells; Growing absorbers without contamination from the substrate, and providing alkali dopants to the absorber. The former is chiefly addressed by introducing a barrier layer, and the latter by post-deposition treatment or including dopant-containing layers in the stack. Here we organize these solutions and different approaches in an accessible scheme. Additionally, reports on interaction between contamination and alkali elements are discussed, as is the impact of barrier layer properties on the interconnect technology. Lastly, we make recommendations to consolidate the multitude of sometimes inharmonious solutions.
Specific subsets of urothelial bladder carcinoma infiltrating T cells associated with poor prognosis
Authors: Guo Rui , Wang Luyao , Bai Suhang , Kang Danyue , Zhang Wei , Ding Zhenshan , Xing Tianying , Hao Mingxuan , Liang Youfeng , Jiao Binbin , Zhang Guan , Ying Lu , Chen Ruolan , Chen Xiaoyang , Zhang Wenjing , Wang Jiansong , Wan Chuanxing , Yu Changyuan , Wang Haifeng , Yang Zhao
Published: August 2023

Comprehensive investigation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in cancer is crucial to explore the effective immunotherapies, but the composition of infiltrating T cells in urothelial bladder carcinoma (UBC) remains elusive. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) were performed on total 30,905 T cells derived from peripheral blood, adjacent normal and tumor tissues from two UBC patients. We identified 18 distinct T cell subsets based on molecular profiles and functional properties. Specifically, exhausted T (TEx) cells, exhausted NKT (NKTEx) cells, Ki67+ T cells and B cell-like T (B-T) cells were exclusively enriched in UBC. Additionally, the gene signatures of TEx, NKTEx, Ki67+ T and B-T cells were significantly associated with poor survival in patients with BC and various tumor types. Finally, IKZF3 and TRGC2 are the potential biomarkers of TEx cells. Overall, our study demonstrated an exhausted context of T cells in UBC, which layed a theoretical foundation for the development of effective tumor immunotherapies.
Exploring the half-metallic ferromagnetism, dynamical and mechanical stability, optoelectronic and thermoelectric properties of K2NaMI6 (M = Mn, Co, Ni) for spintronic applications
Authors: Abdullah Danish , Gupta Dinesh C.
Published: August 2023

The structural stability, optoelectronic and magnetic characteristics of K2NaMI6 (M = Mn, Co, and Ni) halide double perovskites have been demonstrated to be explained using density functional theory computations. The prominent generalized gradient approximation and integration of the mBJ potential are implemented to estimate the exchange–correlation potential, which is the only unidentified parameter in the state-of-the-art formulism. The structural optimization, mechanical stability criteria, and tolerance factor demonstrate the reliability of the double perovskites in a cubic structure with Fm3m symmetry. The elastic constants facilitated mechanical stability and revealed the brittle nature of these double perovskites. The spin-polarized electronic band profile and the behaviour of the dielectric constant and absorption coefficient in the spin-up and down channels show the presence of half-metallic nature in these materials. Additionally, we examined magnetism and the genesis of the half-metallic gap in this article. The half-metallic and magnetic properties are attributed to the unpaired electrons in the split d-orbitals of the M-sited elements in the crystal field. The Mn-, Co-, and Ni-based double perovskites were found to possess total magnetic moments of 4 μB, 4 μB, and 1 μB, respectively, with the transition metal atoms comprising up the majority of this magnetic moment. The Fermi level’s perfect spin polarisation promotes the potential application of double perovskites in spintronic technology.