bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deep selenium donors in ZnGeP2 crystals: An electron paramagnetic resonance study of a nonlinear optical material
Authors: Gustafson T. D. , Halliburton L. E. , Giles N. C. , Schunemann P. G. , Zawilski K. T. , Jesenovec J. , Averett K. L. , Slagle J. E.
Published: April 2024

Zinc germanium diphosphide (ZnGeP2) is a ternary semiconductor best known for its nonlinear optical properties. A primary application is optical parametric oscillators operating in the mid-infrared region. Controlled donor doping provides a method to minimize the acceptor-related absorption bands that limit the output power of these devices. In the present study, a ZnGeP2 crystal is doped with selenium during growth. Selenium substitutes for phosphorus and serves as a deep donor. Significant concentrations of native defects (zinc vacancies, germanium-on-zinc antisites, and phosphorous vacancies) are also present in the crystal. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is used to establish the atomic-level model for the neutral charge state of the selenium donor. The S = 1/2 signal from the neutral donors is produced at 6 K by illuminating with 633 nm light (electrons excited from doubly ionized Zn vacancies convert SeP+ donors to SeP0 donors). A g matrix, with principal values of 2.088, 2.203, and 1.904, is extracted from the angular dependence of the EPR spectrum. The principal-axis direction associated with the 1.904 principal value is close to a Se–Ge bond. This indicates an asymmetric distribution of unpaired spin density around the selenium ion and thus predicts the deep donor behavior.
A chemical inhibitor of IST1-CHMP1B interaction impairs endosomal recycling and induces noncanonical LC3 lipidation
Authors: Knyazeva Anastasia , Li Shuang , Corkery Dale P. , Shankar Kasturika , Herzog Laura K. , Zhang Xuepei , Singh Birendra , Niggemeyer Georg , Grill David , Gilthorpe Jonathan D. , Gaetani Massimiliano , Carlson Lars-Anders , Waldmann Herbert , Wu Yao-Wen
Published: April 2024

The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery constitutes multisubunit protein complexes that play an essential role in membrane remodeling and trafficking. ESCRTs regulate a wide array of cellular processes, including cytokinetic abscission, cargo sorting into multivesicular bodies (MVBs), membrane repair, and autophagy. Given the versatile functionality of ESCRTs, and the intricate organizational structure of the ESCRT machinery, the targeted modulation of distinct ESCRT complexes is considerably challenging. This study presents a pseudonatural product targeting IST1-CHMP1B within the ESCRT-III complexes. The compound specifically disrupts the interaction between IST1 and CHMP1B, thereby inhibiting the formation of IST1-CHMP1B copolymers essential for normal-topology membrane scission events. While the compound has no impact on cytokinesis, MVB sorting, or biogenesis of extracellular vesicles, it rapidly inhibits transferrin receptor recycling in cells, resulting in the accumulation of transferrin in stalled sorting endosomes. Stalled endosomes become decorated by lipidated LC3, suggesting a link between noncanonical LC3 lipidation and inhibition of the IST1-CHMP1B complex.
CNS autoimmune response in the MAM/pilocarpine rat model of epileptogenic cortical malformation
Authors: Costanza Massimo , Ciotti Arianna , Consonni Alessandra , Cipelletti Barbara , Cattalini Alessandro , Cagnoli Cinzia , Baggi Fulvio , de Curtis Marco , Colciaghi Francesca
Published: April 2024

The development of seizures in epilepsy syndromes associated with malformations of cortical development (MCDs) has traditionally been attributed to intrinsic cortical alterations resulting from abnormal network excitability. However, recent analyses at single-cell resolution of human brain samples from MCD patients have indicated the possible involvement of adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis of these disorders. By exploiting the MethylAzoxyMethanol (MAM)/pilocarpine (MP) rat model of drug-resistant epilepsy associated with MCD, we show here that the occurrence of status epilepticus and subsequent spontaneous recurrent seizures in the malformed, but not in the normal brain, are associated with the outbreak of a destructive autoimmune response with encephalitis-like features, involving components of both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses. The MP brain is characterized by blood–brain barrier dysfunction, marked and persisting CD8+ T cell invasion of the brain parenchyma, meningeal B cell accumulation, and complement-dependent cytotoxicity mediated by antineuronal antibodies. Furthermore, the therapeutic treatment of MP rats with the immunomodulatory drug fingolimod promotes both antiepileptogenic and neuroprotective effects. Collectively, these data show that the MP rat could serve as a translational model of epileptogenic cortical malformations associated with a central nervous system autoimmune response. This work indicates that a preexisting brain maldevelopment predisposes to a secondary autoimmune response, which acts as a precipitating factor for epilepsy and suggests immune intervention as a therapeutic option to be further explored in epileptic syndromes associated with MCDs.
Variation in the relationship between odd isotopes of tin in mass-independent fractionation induced by the magnetic isotope effect
Authors: Fukami Yusuke , Ariizumi Ryoko , Ijichi Yuta , Ohno Takeshi , Kashiwabara Teruhiko , Shibuya Takazo , Suzuki Katsuhiko , Hirata Takafumi
Published: April 2024

Experimental results are presented showing the variation in the relationship between odd isotopes of tin (Sn) in mass-independent fractionation caused by the magnetic isotope effect (MIE), which has previously only been observed for mercury. These results are consistent with the trend predicted from the difference between the magnitudes of nuclear magnetic moments of odd isotopes with a nuclear spin. However, the correlation between odd isotopes in fractionation induced by the MIE for the reaction system used in this study (solvent extraction using a crown ether) was different from that reported for the photochemical reaction of methyltin. This difference between the two reaction systems is consistent with a theoretical prediction that the correlation between odd isotopes in fractionation induced by the MIE is controlled by the relationship between the spin conversion time and radical lifetime. The characteristic changes in the correlation between odd isotopes in fractionation induced by the MIE observed for Sn in this study provide a guideline for quantitatively determining fractionation patterns caused by the MIE for elements that have multiple isotopes with a nuclear spin. These results improve our understanding of the potential impact of the MIE on mass-independent fractionation observed in natural samples, such as meteorites, and analytical artifacts of high-precision isotope analysis for heavy elements.
Development of Taenia asiatica cysticerci to infective stage and adult stage in Mongolian gerbils
Authors: Chang S.L. , Ooi H.K. , Nonaka N. , Kamiya M. , Oku Y.
Published: April 2024

The development of metacestodes and adult worms of Taenia asiatica in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) were observed. Cysticerci were recovered from gerbils subcutaneously injected with hatched oncospheres. The recovery rate ranged from 0.1 to 3.2%. No cysticerci were recovered from the orally inoculated gerbils. The infectivity of the cysticerci recovered at 48 weeks post-infection was evaluated. Tapeworms were recovered on day 14 postinfection from the small intestine of 5 of 11 gerbils, with a recovery rate of 27% (6 worms recovered/22 worms inoculated). Three and four adult worms were recovered from two human volunteers who ingested five cysticerci after 4 months post-infection. In worms recovered from gerbils, segmentation and genital primordia in the posterior proglottids and hooklets in the residual rostellum were observed. The results indicate that gerbils can serve as an alternative intermediate host and that partial development of the adult worm stage occurs in gerbils.
The relationship between haematological indices, serum gamma-glutamyl transferase and glutamate dehydrogenase, visual hepatic damage and worm burden in cattle infected with Fasciola gigantica
Authors: Molina E.C. , Lozano S.P. , Barraca A.P.
Published: April 2024

The association between visual hepatic damage, burden of Fasciola gigantica, serum levels of gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) is described from an abattoir study of 70 cattle in the Philippines. In another abattoir study of 60 cattle, the relationship between burden of F. gigantica and haematological indices was investigated. The degree of visual hepatic damage and burden of F. gigantica were significantly positively related to levels of GGT and GLDH. Red blood cell counts and packed cell volume were significantly inversely related to worm burden, but animals compensated for reduced numbers of red blood cells by increasing red cell haemoglobin content.
A direct sampling method for time-fractional diffusion equation
Authors: Qiu Lingyun , Sim Jiwoon
Published: April 2024

This paper introduces a direct sampling method tailored for identifying the location of the source term within a time-fractional diffusion equation (TFDE). The key aspect of our approach involves the utilization of a versatile family of index functions, which can be chosen according to the specific characteristics of the source term. Recognizing the key role of the TFDE’s fundamental solution within the index function, we further enhance our method by deriving its asymptotic expansions. This advancement not only enhances the accuracy, but also significantly improves the computational efficiency of our method. To validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed sampling method, we conduct a series of comprehensive numerical experiments.
Adaptive Kalman filter with LSTM network assistance for abnormal measurements
Authors: Yin Shu , Li Peng , Gu Xinxing , Yang Xusheng , Yu Li
Published: April 2024

A classic state estimation method, the Kalman filter integrates prior information, system dynamics models, and measurement data to achieve posterior state estimations. However, measurements often encounter various unknown disturbances, leading to abnormal or inaccurate measurements and subsequently impacting the performance of Kalman filtering. In response to this challenge, this paper introduces a novel adaptive Kalman filter approach aided by posterior state estimations using the Long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. The proposed method begins by utilizing prior residuals to construct a chi-square distribution model, which facilitates the detection of abnormal measurements within data. Upon identifying abnormal measurements, an LSTM network is employed to generate alternative predictive measurements, replacing the original inaccurate measurement. This approach enhances the model’s capability to handle complex relationship and measurement uncertainties and improves filtering estimation accuracy. A noise covariance adjustment method is introduced in extreme cases where alternative predictive measurements alone are insufficient for filter requirements. This method mitigates the adverse effects of abnormal measurements on posterior estimation. Throughout the entire adaptive assistance process involving the LSTM network, deep learning maintains a stable structure of the filter while enhancing adaptability. This strategy ensures the filter’s resilience in dynamic environments with unknown factors by providing predicted measurements conforming to the chi-square distribution and corresponding measurement noise covariance. Ultimately, the efficacy of the proposed algorithm is validated through simulations and experiments involving vehicle positioning with inertial sensors.
Tuneable quantised conductance memory states in TiO2 based resistive switching devices in crossbar geometry for high density memory applications
Authors: Sahu Vikas Kumar , Das Amit Kumar , Ajimsha R S , Singh Rashmi , Misra Pankaj
Published: April 2024

The tunability and controllability of conductance quantization mediated multilevel resistive switching (RS) memory devices, fabricated in crossbar geometry can be a promising alternative for boosting storage density. Here, we report fabrication of Cu/TiO2/Pt based RS devices in 8 × 8 crossbar geometry, which showed reliable bipolar RS operations. The crossbar devices showed excellent spatial and temporal variability, time retention and low switching voltage (<1 V) and current (∼100 μA). Furthermore, during the reset switching, highly repeatable and reliable integral and half-integral quantized conductance (QC) was observed. The observed QC phenomenon was attributed to the two dimensional confinement of electrons as lateral width of the conducting filament (CF) matches the fermi wavelength. The magnitude and number of the QC steps were found to increase from ∼2.5 to 12.5 and from 5 to 18, respectively by increasing the compliance current (I
C) from 50 to 800 μA which also increased the diameter of the CF from ∼1.2 to 3.3 nm. The enhancement in both number and magnitude of QC states was explained using electrochemical dissolution mechanism of CF of varying diameter. A thicker CF, formed at higher I
C, undergoes a gradual rupture during reset process yielding a greater number of QC steps compared to a thinner CF. The realisation of QC states in the crossbar Cu/TiO2/Pt device as well as I
C mediated tunability of their magnitude and number may find applications in high-density resistive memory storage devices and neuromorphic computing.
ERSegDiff: a diffusion-based model for edge reshaping in medical image segmentation
Authors: Chen Baijing , Wang Junxia , Zheng Yuanjie
Published: April 2024

Medical image segmentation is a crucial field of computer vision. Obtaining correct pathological areas can help clinicians analyze patient conditions more precisely. We have observed that both CNN-based and attention-based neural networks often produce rough segmentation results around the edges of the regions of interest. This significantly impacts the accuracy of obtaining the pathological areas. Without altering the original data and model architecture, further refining the initial segmentation outcomes can effectively address this issue and lead to more satisfactory results. Recently, diffusion models have demonstrated outstanding results in image generation, showcasing their powerful ability to model distributions. We believe that this ability can greatly enhance the accuracy of the reshaping results. This research proposes ERSegDiff, a neural network based on the diffusion model for reshaping segmentation borders. The diffusion model is trained to fit the distribution of the target edge area and is then used to modify the segmentation edge to produce more accurate segmentation results. By incorporating prior knowledge into the diffusion model, we can help it more accurately simulate the edge probability distribution of the samples. Moreover, we introduce the edge concern module, which leverages attention mechanisms to produce feature weights and further refine the segmentation outcomes. To validate our approach, we employed the COVID-19 and ISIC-2018 datasets for lung segmentation and skin cancer segmentation tasks, respectively. Compared with the baseline model, ERSegDiff improved the dice score by 3%–4% and 2%–4%, respectively, and achieved state-of-the-art scores compared to several mainstream neural networks, such as swinUNETR.
Biological dose optimization incorporating intra-tumoural cellular radiosensitivity heterogeneity in ion-beam therapy treatment planning
Authors: Inaniwa Taku , Kanematsu Nobuyuki , Koto Masashi
Published: April 2024

Objective. Treatment plans of ion-beam therapy have been made under an assumption that all cancer cells within a tumour equally respond to a given radiation dose. However, an intra-tumoural cellular radiosensitivity heterogeneity clearly exists, and it may lead to an overestimation of therapeutic effects of the radiation. The purpose of this study is to develop a biological model that can incorporate the radiosensitivity heterogeneity into biological optimization for ion-beam therapy treatment planning. Approach. The radiosensitivity heterogeneity was modeled as the variability of a cell-line specific parameter in the microdosimetric kinetic model following the gamma distribution. To validate the developed intra-tumoural-radiosensitivity-heterogeneity-incorporated microdosimetric kinetic (HMK) model, a treatment plan with H-ion beams was made for a chordoma case, assuming a radiosensitivity heterogeneous region within the tumour. To investigate the effects of the radiosensitivity heterogeneity on the biological effectiveness of H-, He-, C-, O-, and Ne-ion beams, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE)-weighted dose distributions were planned for a cuboid target with the stated ion beams without considering the heterogeneity. The planned dose distributions were then recalculated by taking the heterogeneity into account. Main results. The cell survival fraction and corresponding RBE-weighted dose were formulated based on the HMK model. The first derivative of the RBE-weighted dose distribution was also derived, which is needed for fast biological optimization. For the patient plan, the biological optimization increased the dose to the radiosensitivity heterogeneous region to compensate for the heterogeneity-induced reduction in biological effectiveness of the H-ion beams. The reduction in biological effectiveness due to the heterogeneity was pronounced for low linear energy transfer (LET) beams but moderate for high-LET beams. The RBE-weighted dose in the cuboid target decreased by 7.6% for the H-ion beam, while it decreased by just 1.4% for the Ne-ion beam. Significance. Optimal treatment plans that consider intra-tumoural cellular radiosensitivity heterogeneity can be devised using the HMK model.
Super-resolution reconstruction of ultrasound image using a modified diffusion model
Authors: Liu Tianyu , Han Shuai , Xie Linru , Xing Wenyu , Liu Chengcheng , Li Boyi , Ta Dean
Published: April 2024

Objective. This study aims to perform super-resolution (SR) reconstruction of ultrasound images using a modified diffusion model, designated as the diffusion model for ultrasound image super-resolution (DMUISR). SR involves converting low-resolution images to high-resolution ones, and the proposed model is designed to enhance the suitability of diffusion models for this task in the context of ultrasound imaging. Approach. DMUISR incorporates a multi-layer self-attention (MLSA) mechanism and a wavelet-transform based low-resolution image (WTLR) encoder to enhance its suitability for ultrasound image SR tasks. The model takes interpolated and magnified images as input and outputs high-quality, detailed SR images. The study utilized 1,334 ultrasound images from the public fetal head-circumference dataset (HC18) for evaluation. Main results. Experiments were conducted at 2× , 4× , and 8×  magnification factors. DMUISR outperformed mainstream ultrasound SR methods (Bicubic, VDSR, DECUSR, DRCN, REDNet, SRGAN) across all scales, providing high-quality images with clear structures and rich detailed textures in both hard and soft tissue regions. DMUISR successfully accomplished multiscale SR reconstruction while suppressing over-smoothing and mode collapse problems. Quantitative results showed that DMUISR achieved the best performance in terms of learned perceptual image patch similarity, with a significant decrease of over 50% at all three magnification factors (2× , 4× , and 8× ), as well as improvements in peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index measure. Ablation experiments validated the effectiveness of the MLSA mechanism and WTLR encoder in improving DMUISR’s SR performance. Furthermore, by reducing the number of diffusion steps, the computational time of DMUISR was shortened to nearly one-tenth of its original while maintaining image quality without significant degradation. Significance. This study demonstrates that the modified diffusion model, DMUISR, provides superior performance for SR reconstruction of ultrasound images and has potential in improving imaging quality in the medical ultrasound field.
Benefits of the Super-X divertor configuration for scenario integration on MAST Upgrade
Authors: Harrison J R , Bowman C , Clark J G , Kirk A , Lovell J , Patel B S , Ryan P , Scannell R , Thornton A J , Verhaegh K
Published: April 2024

The integration of good core and edge/pedestal confinement with strong dissipation of heat and particles in the divertors is a significant challenge for the development of fusion energy. Alternative divertor configurations offer potential advantages by broadening the operational space where a device can operate with detached divertors and acceptable power exhaust. First results from MAST Upgrade are presented from high confinement mode experiments with outer divertors in the Super-X divertor configuration, showing that the outer divertors naturally detach when the Super-X is formed with no discernible impact on the plasma core and pedestal. These initial findings confirm predicted benefits of the Super-X configuration in terms of facilitating scenario integration.
Stability of vortices in exciton-polariton condensates with spin–orbital-angular-momentum coupling
Authors: Yang Xin-Xin , Zhang Wei , Niu Zhen-Xia
Published: April 2024

The existence and dynamics of stable quantized vortices is an important subject of quantum many-body physics. Spin–orbital-angular-momentum coupling (SOAMC), a special type of spin–orbit coupling, has been experimentally achieved to create vortices in atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC). Here, we generalize the concept of SOAMC to a two-component polariton BEC and analyze the emergence and configuration of vortices under a finite-size circular pumping beam. We find that the regular configuration of vortex lattices induced by a finite-size circular pump is significantly distorted by the spatially dependent Raman coupling of SOAMC, even in the presence of a repulsive polariton interaction which can assist the forming of stable vortex configuration. Meanwhile, a pair of vortices induced by SOAMC located at the center of polariton cloud remains stable. When the Raman coupling is sufficiently strong and interaction is weak, the vortices spiraling in from the edge of polariton cloud will disrupt the polariton BEC.
Quazinormal modes and greybody factor of black hole surrounded by a quintessence in the S-V-T modified gravity as well as shadow
Authors: Al-Badawi Ahmad
Published: April 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate the quasinormal modes (QNMs), greybody factors (GFs) and shadows in a plasma of a black hole (BH) surrounded by an exotic fluid of quintessence type in a scalar-vector-tensor modified gravity. The effects of a quintessence scalar field and the modified gravity (MOG) field on the QNM, GF, and shadow are examined. Using the sixth-order WKB approach, we investigate the QNMs of massless scalar and electromagnetic perturbations. Our findings show that as the quintessence and the MOG parameter (ϵ and α) increase, the oscillation frequencies decrease significantly. Gravitational wave damping, on the other hand, decreases with increasing ϵ and α. In addition, we obtain an analytical solution for the transmission coefficients (GF) and demonstrate that more thermal radiation reaches the observer at spatial infinity as both the ϵ and α parameters increase. We also investigate the effect of the plasma background on the BH shadow and show that as the plasma background parameter increases, the shadow radius slightly shrinks. Nevertheless, the shadow radius increases as α and ϵ increase. Particularly intriguing is the fact that increasing ϵ has a greater impact on the shadow radius than increasing α, indicating that the quintessence parameter has a greater impact than the MOG parameter.
Modulation instability in nonidentical metamaterial waveguide arrays by graph Laplacian approach
Authors: Alharbi Sayer Obaid , Shafeeque Ali A K , Asma Mir , Abolaban Fouad A
Published: April 2024

We theoretically investigate modulation instability (MI) in a nonidentical waveguide array, which is made up of positive and negative index metamaterial waveguides. The unit cell of the optical waveguide array consists of three waveguides arranged in a triangular manner. Waveguides 1 and 3 are made up of positive index material (PIM) channels and waveguide 2 is by negative index material (NIM) channels, as a result, they show different light propagation characteristics. We model this array of waveguides using a generalized nonlinear Schro¨dinger equation, replacing the Laplacian operator with the graph Laplacian. Following linear stability analysis, we will discuss MI for different values of transverse wave number, as it determines the order of the Brillouin zone. We also discuss the effect of input power on periodic MI in normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. Thus we report a comprehensive study on the MI and hence the better ways to generate and manipulate the solitons or ultra-short pulses in NIM PIM waveguide arrays.
Effects of vacancies on quantum transport of zigzag graphene nanoribbons
Authors: Kumar Sandeep , Saklani Ritik , Bhavya  , Pratap Surender , Bhalla Pankaj
Published: April 2024

Using the Green’s function method, we investigate the effect of vacancies on conductance and local density of states (LDOS) in zigzag graphene nanoribbons within a symmetric and asymmetric potential wells. The results differ from ideal ribbons in that there are no conductance plateaus and a decline in conductance for varied N (number of atoms in the unit cell) and M (number of unit cells) values following vacancy incorporation. LDOS and conductance in symmetrical and asymmetrical circumstances are examined alongside vacancies and accordingly, they are affecting the respective edge states.
A novel lattice structure design approach based on Schwarz Primitive triply periodic minimal surfaces
Authors: Karamooz-Ravari M R
Published: April 2024

In recent years, lattice structures based on triply periodic minimal surfaces have attracted the attention of researchers worldwide due to their exceptional geometrical and mechanical features. In this paper, using two distinct implicit functions for the rotation angle and the axis of rotation, the surface points of the Schwarz’ Primitive cellular lattice are moved to a new position to construct some novel lattices. Various cellular lattices are then generated by manipulating different design parameters and investigated using finite element method to evaluate porosity, surface-to-volume ratio, elastic modulus and Zener ratio. The findings indicate that although the porosity doesn’t change profoundly by applying the transformation, the surface-to-volume ratio and elastic modulus increases and decreases respectively as the maximum rotation angle increases. In addition, Zener ratio exhibits non-linear variation with the transformation, potentially increasing or decreasing by increasing the maximum rotation angle, depending on other parameters. The maximum difference between the values of surface-to-volume ratio, elastic modulus, and Zener ratio of the novel lattices and those of the original one is 16.9% (for one case it decreases by 68.7%), 68.5%, and 45.6%, respectively. These observations suggest that the proposed method might presents significant potential for facilitating the creation of innovative shell-based lattice structures.
Multi-pellet injection into the NBI-heated phase of TJ-II plasmas
Authors: McCarthy K.J. , García-Cortés I. , Alonso J.A. , Arias-Camisón A. , Ascasíbar E. , Baciero A. , Cappa A. , Carrasco R. , Chmyga O.O. , Estrada T. , García R. , Hernández-Sánchez J. , Hernanz F.J. , Kozachok O.S. , López Miranda B. , Medina F. , Medina-Roque D. , van Milligen B. , Navarro M. , Ochando M.A. , de Pablos J.L. , Panadero N. , Pastor I. , de la Riva J. , Rodríguez M. C. , Tafalla D. , Tribaldos V. ,   TJ-II Team
Published: April 2024

A pellet-induced enhanced confinement (PiEC) phase, with general characteristics similar to those reported for the stellarator W7-X, is observed after single pellet injection (>1019 H atoms) into the neutral beam injection heated phase of plasmas in the mid-sized heliac-type stellarator TJ-II. In addition to a step-like increase in density, plasma diamagnetic energy content rises significantly with respect to that of reference discharges, energy confinement time is similarly enhanced when compared to International Stellarator Scaling law predictions (Yamada et al 2005 Nucl. Fusion
45 1684) renormalized for TJ-II, and the triple product, n
e · T
i · τ
E, exhibits a clear bifurcation towards an improved confinement branch when compared to the branch product predicted by the same law. In this work, multiple pellets are injected in series into NBI-heated plasmas in the TJ-II and post-injection plasma performance is reported and discussed. For instance, a charge-exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic reveals significantly increased core ion temperatures after pellet injection compared to temperatures achieved in comparable reference plasmas, this pointing to increased ion energy content and improved ion energy confinement during a PiEC phase. It is also found that enhanced performance is independent of whether co- or counter-NBI heating beam is employed. Finally, record stored diamagnetic energy content and plasma beta values are achieved when the largest available pellets are employed. The results indicate that pellet injections extend the operational regime well beyond limits previously achieved in TJ-II without pellets.
Design and operation of a load-tolerant ICRH system in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak
Authors: Liu L.N. , Zhang X.J. , Qin C.M. , Mao Y.Z. , Yuan S. , Zhang W. , Yang H. , Wang L. , Cheng Y. , Zhang K.
Published: April 2024

Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) has been a dependable tool for sturdy plasma heating with high RF power of several megawatts. However, a sudden increase in the reflected power during ICRH heating experiments is a problem that should be solved for future fusion experimental devices. To solve this issue, a load tolerant matching network has been designed for the ICRH system in EAST. The matching network includes a 3-stub tuner impedance matching system with conjugate-T structure, 30 Ω to 50 Ω transmission line and center grounded antenna strap. By maintaining a low reflection ratio in the network for a wide range of resistance, this matching network can allow sturdy high-power operations without fast impedance matching in EAST. In our matching network, the two arms of a conjugate-T are designed to have a

λ

/

2

length difference which could mitigate current imbalance and antenna poloidal phasing outside of the control problem. The T-point corresponds to the maximum point of the standing wave voltage, which could greatly improve the input impedance of the antenna.
Pulsed current-assisted twelve-roll precision rolling deformation of SUS304 ultra-thin strips with exceptional mechanical properties
Authors: Fan Wanwan , Wang Tao , Hou Jinxiong , Ren Zhongkai , Huang Qingxue , Wu Guanghui
Published: April 2024

Innovative pulsed current-assisted multi-pass rolling tests were conducted on a 12-roll mill during the rolling deformation processing of SUS304 ultra-thin strips. The results show that in the first rolling pass, the rolling reduction rate of a conventionally rolled sample (at room temperature) is 33.8%, which can be increased to 41.5% by pulsed current-assisted rolling, enabling the formation of an ultra-thin strip with a size of 67.3 μm in only one rolling pass. After three passes of pulsed current-assisted rolling, the thickness of the ultra-thin strip can be further reduced to 51.7 μm. To clearly compare the effects of a pulsed current on the microstructure and mechanical response of the ultra-thin strip, ultra-thin strips with nearly the same thickness reduction were analyzed. It was found that pulsed current can reduce the degree of work-hardening of the rolled samples by promoting dislocation detachment, reducing the density of stacking faults, inhibiting martensitic phase transformation, and shortening the total length of grain boundaries. As a result, the ductility of ultra-thin strips can be effectively restored to approximately 16.3% while maintaining a high tensile strength of 1118 MPa.Therefore, pulsed current-assisted rolling deformation shows great potential for the formation of ultra-thin strips with a combination of high strength and ductility.
Bioinspired directional structures for inhibiting wetting on super-melt-philic surfaces above 1200 °C
Authors: Wang Hujun , Zhao Xiuyuan , Xie Zhengcan , Yang Biao , Zheng Jing , Yin Kai , Zhou Zhongrong
Published: April 2024

Over the past two decades, superhydrophobic surfaces that are easily created have aroused considerable attention for their superior performances in various applications at room temperature. Nowadays, there is a growing demand in special fields for the development of surfaces that can resist wetting by high-temperature molten droplets (>1200 °C) using facile design and fabrication strategies. Herein, bioinspired directional structures (BDSs) were prepared on Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) surfaces using femtosecond laser ablation. Benefiting from the anisotropic energy barriers, the BDSs featured with no additional modifiers showed a remarkable increase from 9.2° to 60° in the contact angle of CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 (CMAS) melt and a 70.1% reduction in the spreading area of CMAS at 1250 °C, compared with polished super-CMAS-melt-philic YSZ surfaces. Moreover, the BDSs demonstrated exceptional wetting inhibition even at 1 400 °C, with an increase from 3.3° to 31.3° in contact angle and a 67.9% decrease in spreading area. This work provides valuable insight and a facile preparation strategy for effectively inhibiting the wetting of molten droplets on super-melt-philic surfaces at extremely high temperatures.
Inflammatory, metabolic, and endothelial biomarkers before and after pregnancy complications
Authors: Sun Baiyang , Gunderson Erica P , Bertolet Marnie , Lopa Samia H , Bryan Samantha G , Lewis Cora E , Catov Janet M
Published: April 2024

Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), and preterm birth (PTB) have excess cardiovascular disease compared with those with uncomplicated births, perhaps related to prepregnancy inflammation, dysmetabolism, or endothelial dysfunction. We included 1238 women in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (1985-2011) with 2215 births classified according to outcomes (term, uncomplicated births were the referent). Using repeated measures analysis of variance, we estimated prepregnancy and postpregnancy biomarkers, as well as biomarker change according to pregnancy outcomes, adjusted for confounders. GDM and term HDP groups had higher prepregnancy high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (+0.37 [95% CI, 0.08-0.65]; +0.29 [95% CI, 0.04-0.55] log mg/L), higher leptin (+0.29 [95% CI, 0.09-0.50]; +0.37 [95% CI, 0.17-0.56] log ng/ml), and lower adiponectin (−0.25 [95% CI, −0.36 to −0.13); −0.11 [95% CI, −0.22 to −0.01] log ng/ml) values than those with uncomplicated births, and these profiles persisted in magnitude postpregnancy. Controlling for body mass index attenuated most profiles, except that lower prepregnancy adiponectin remained associated with GDM. PTB without HDP or GDM was related to lower prepregnancy hsCRP and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (−0.31 [95% CI, −0.56 to −0.06] log mg/L; −0.05 [95% CI, −0.09 to −0.01] log ng/ml) and a larger leptin increase from before to after pregnancy (+0.20 [95% CI, 0.02-0.37] log ng/ml). Prepregnancy inflammation and metabolic dysfunction contributed to GDM and HDP, perhaps due to higher body mass index. PTB may be related to adverse metabolic changes postpregnancy, although the unexpected endothelial biomarker profile warrants further study.
A call for sex-positive epidemiology
Authors: Bond Julia C , Ford Jessie V
Published: April 2024

The World Health Organization specifies that sexual health requires the potential for pleasurable and safe sexual experiences. Yet epidemiologic research into sexual pleasure and other positive sexual outcomes has been scant. In this commentary, we aim to support the development and adoption of sex-positive epidemiology, which we define as epidemiology that incorporates the study of pleasure and other positive features alongside sexually transmitted infections and other familiar negative outcomes. We first call epidemiologists’ attention to the potential role that stigma plays in the suppression of sex-positive research. We further describe existing measures of sex-positive constructs that may be useful in epidemiologic research. Finally, the study of sex-positive constructs is vulnerable to biases that are well-known to epidemiologists, especially selection bias, information bias, and confounding. We outline how these biases influence existing research and identify opportunities for future research. Epidemiologists have the potential to contribute a great deal to the study of sexuality by bringing their considerable methodological expertise to long-standing challenges in the field. We hope to encourage epidemiologists to broaden their sexual health research to encompass positive outcomes and pleasure.
The proposed reform of the English Arbitration Act on arbitrators’ independence and impartiality and the duty of disclosure from a comparative perspective
Authors: Lindsay Emma , Gambarini Camilla
Published: April 2024

The arbitrator’s obligation of independence and impartiality is one of the core principles of international arbitration that serves to ensure fairness in the resolution of disputes through private justice.1 The terms independence and impartiality are often used interchangeably,2 but they are distinct concepts. Independence relates to the relationship or links between an arbitrator and a party, whether financial or otherwise, which may be determined through an objective test. Impartiality, on the other hand, is connected with the actual or apparent bias of an arbitrator and reflects a subjective state of mind.3
Chemical and biological study of flavonoid-related plant pigment: current findings and beyond
Authors: Yoshida Kumi
Published: April 2024

Flavonoids are polyphenolic plant constituents. Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments found in higher plants that show a wide variety of colors ranging from red through purple to blue. The blue color of the flowers is mostly attributed to anthocyanins. However, only a few types of anthocyanidin, chromophore of anthocyanin, exist in nature, and the extracted pigments are unstable with the color fading away. Therefore, the wide range and stable nature of colors in flowers have remained a mystery for more than a century. The mechanism underlying anthocyanin-induced flower coloration was studied using an interdisciplinary method involving chemistry and biology. Furthermore, the chemical studies on flavonoid pigments in various edible plants, synthetic and biosynthetic studies on anthocyanins were conducted. The results of these studies have been outlined in this review.
TransGEM: a molecule generation model based on Transformer with gene expression data
Authors: Liu Yanguang , Yu Hailong , Duan Xinya , Zhang Xiaomin , Cheng Ting , Jiang Feng , Tang Hao , Ruan Yao , Zhang Miao , Zhang Hongyu , Zhang Qingye
Published: April 2024

Motivation

It is difficult to generate new molecules with desirable bioactivity through ligand-based de novo drug design, and receptor-based de novo drug design is constrained by disease target information availability. The combination of artificial intelligence and phenotype-based de novo drug design can generate new bioactive molecules, independent from disease target information. Gene expression profiles can be used to characterize biological phenotypes. The Transformer model can be utilized to capture the associations between gene expression profiles and molecular structures due to its remarkable ability in processing contextual information.

Results

We propose TransGEM (Transformer-based model from gene expression to molecules), which is a phenotype-based de novo drug design model. A specialized gene expression encoder is used to embed gene expression difference values between diseased cell lines and their corresponding normal tissue cells into TransGEM model. The results demonstrate that the TransGEM model can generate molecules with desirable evaluation metrics and property distributions. Case studies illustrate that TransGEM model can generate structurally novel molecules with good binding affinity to disease target proteins. The majority of genes with high attention scores obtained from TransGEM model are associated with the onset of the disease, indicating the potential of these genes as disease targets. Therefore, this study provides a new paradigm for de novo drug design, and it will promote phenotype-based drug discovery.

Availability and implementation

The code is available at https://github.com/hzauzqy/TransGEM.
Peptide set test: a peptide-centric strategy to infer differentially expressed proteins
Authors: Wang Junmin , Novick Steven
Published: April 2024

Motivation

The clinical translation of mass spectrometry-based proteomics has been challenging due to limited statistical power caused by large technical variability and inter-patient heterogeneity. Bottom-up proteomics provides an indirect measurement of proteins through digested peptides. This raises the question whether peptide measurements can be used directly to better distinguish differentially expressed proteins.

Results

We present a novel method called the peptide set test, which detects coordinated changes in the expression of peptides originating from the same protein and compares them to the rest of the peptidome. Applying our method to data from a published spike-in experiment and simulations demonstrates improved sensitivity without compromising precision, compared to aggregation-based approaches. Additionally, applying the peptide set test to compare the tumor proteomes of tamoxifen-sensitive and tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer patients reveals significant alterations in peptide levels of collagen XII, suggesting an association between collagen XII-mediated matrix reassembly and tamoxifen resistance. Our study establishes the peptide set test as a powerful peptide-centric strategy to infer differential expression in proteomics studies.

Availability and implementation

Peptide set test (PepSetTest) is publicly available at https://github.com/JmWangBio/PepSetTest.
wgd v2: a suite of tools to uncover and date ancient polyploidy and whole-genome duplication
Authors: Chen Hengchi , Zwaenepoel Arthur , Van de Peer Yves
Published: April 2024

Motivation

Major improvements in sequencing technologies and genome sequence assembly have led to a huge increase in the number of available genome sequences. In turn, these genome sequences form an invaluable source for evolutionary, ecological, and comparative studies. One kind of analysis that has become routine is the search for traces of ancient polyploidy, particularly for plant genomes, where whole-genome duplication (WGD) is rampant.

Results

Here, we present a major update of a previously developed tool wgd, namely wgd v2, to look for remnants of ancient polyploidy, or WGD. We implemented novel and improved previously developed tools to (a) construct KS age distributions for the whole-paranome (collection of all duplicated genes in a genome), (b) unravel intragenomic and intergenomic collinearity resulting from WGDs, (c) fit mixture models to age distributions of gene duplicates, (d) correct substitution rate variation for phylogenetic placement of WGDs, and (e) date ancient WGDs via phylogenetic dating of WGD-retained gene duplicates. The applicability and feasibility of wgd v2 for the identification and the relative and absolute dating of ancient WGDs is demonstrated using different plant genomes.

Availability and implementation

wgd v2 is open source and available at https://github.com/heche-psb/wgd.
Online Learning and Liminal Spaces: An Example of Innovation in Social Work Field Education
Authors: Saxton Kate , Harris Sera , Clarke Joanne , Barry Jaimie , Said Shannon
Published: April 2024

Amidst the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, universities grappled with adapting to online service delivery, particularly affecting student placements in programmes requiring practicum experiences. Addressing this, four Australian Universities/Colleges collaboratively initiated the Supporting Placement through online Access and Community Engagement (S.P.A.C.E) Project, a twelve-month research endeavour. This study, based on qualitative data from S.P.A.C.E, reveals that the project’s success in delivering quality placement experiences hinged on three key factors: (1) the creation of a liminal (or third) space, (2) a genuine commitment to critical pedagogy and (3) the intentional use of online technology for an authentic learning experience. Significantly, the findings have implications for the field of social work by challenging assumptions about online learning, influencing social work theory through the exploration of a transformative ‘third space’, enhancing practice through critical pedagogy and suggesting policy directions that support flexible and viable online modalities in social work education. This research contributes to a growing body of evidence supporting online learning as a flexible and effective means for authentic and transformational learning experiences.
Left atrial and ventricular deformation: alterations and predictive value of echocardiography parameters in end-stage renal disease patients after kidney transplantation
Authors: Bagheri Abdulhamid , Khani Mohammad , Ghadirzadeh Erfan , Moradi Amir , Bayat Fariba , Salehi Mashhad Sari Seyed Pooria , Paraandavaji Elham , Akbari Tooba , Hermis Alaa Hamza
Published: April 2024

Aims

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are prone to alterations in cardiac haemodynamics specifically on the left ventricle (LV) and left atrial (LA) functions usually due to factors like uraemia, fluid overload, and inflammation. While studies on LV function in ESRD exist, research on LA function is limited. Successful kidney transplant (KTx) is believed to reverse pathological cardiac remodelling, and monitoring changes in cardiac strain before and after transplantation may guide pre- and post-transplant care. This study has two main objectives: to investigate alterations in LA and LV strain and other echocardiographic parameters after KTx and to identify independent factors predicting impaired strain parameters post-KTx.

Methods and results

We conducted a prospective cohort study of 49 ESRD patients who underwent KTx. Echocardiography was performed at baseline and at 3 months after KTx. LV end-diastolic volume, LV end-systolic volume, LV end-diastolic diameter, LV ejection fraction (LVEF), E/e′, maximum LA volume index (LAVi), LV global longitudinal strain (LVGLS), and all LA strain values, including booster (LASb), conduit (LAScd), and reservoir (LASr), improved significantly after KTx (P < 0.05). Regarding independent predictors of impaired LA and LV strains, pre-KTx values of LVEF, LAVi, and NT-proBNP were associated with LVGLS impairment after KTx; pre-KTx values of LAVi and LVEF were associated with LASr impairment after KTx.

Conclusion

The present study provided valuable evidence on the effects of KTx on uraemic cardiomyopathy demonstrated by LA strain and LV strain improvements and indicated pre-KTx LVEF and LAVi as significant independent predictors of LVGLS and LASr impairment after KTx.