bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Randomised, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled, Multi-Centric Clinical Trial of Ultra-Diluted Mycobacterium tuberculosis Nosode (Emtact 30c) in the Management of Recurrent Upper and Lower Respiratory Tract Affections
Authors: Shaik Feroz , Singh Arjun , Talele Gitanjali , Shah Rajesh
Published: May 2023

Introduction Due to the rising incidence of respiratory infections, numerous interventions are being tried as preventive/therapeutic alternatives. The Emtact 30c is a polyvalent nosode prepared from various strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms. The objective of this clinical trial was to investigate the efficacy of Emtact 30c by measuring the reduction in frequency, severity of episodes and relief in recurrent upper/lower respiratory tract (URT/LRT) affections.

Method A double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial was carried out on 148 patients in a 1:1 allocation ratio. Patients satisfying inclusion/ exclusion criteria were randomised to receive either placebo or Emtact 30c administered thrice daily for 6 months.

Result There was a significant reduction in symptoms like nasal blockage, sneezing, watery nasal discharge, disturbed sleep and bothersomeness in the Emtact-treated arm. A significant decrease in symptoms (nose block) was observed in Emtact-arm (p < 0.001). The parameters that showed significant improvement in Emtact-arm were sleep (p = 0.0084), mood/thinking ability (p = 0.028) and bothersomeness (p = 0.0499). The marked effect on appetite was favourable in Emtact-arm (p = 0.0078). There was a decrease in weight in the placebo arm, while the Emtact- arm had weight gain. An improvement in haemoglobin and lymphocytes was an important outcome of this study. The trial has shown that Emtact has reduced the symptoms and severity of URT and LRT affections.

Conclusion Emtact may be used as a safe and efficacious alternative to treat URT and LRT affections. More studies evaluating mechanisms at biochemical and molecular levels would help.
Outcomes Associated with a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Sedation Weaning Protocol
Authors: Harper Kimberley , Anderson Jessica , Pingel Julie S. , Boyle Katharine , Wang Li , Lindsell Christopher J. , Sweeney Ann , Betters Kristina A.
Published: May 2023

Objective This article compares patient outcomes before and after implementation of a risk stratified pediatric sedation weaning protocol.

Methods This observational cohort study, in a 30-bed tertiary care pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), included patients requiring opioid, benzodiazepine, and/or dexmedetomidine infusions. Outcomes (duration of wean, PICU length of stay [LOS], and Withdrawal Assessment Tool [WAT-1] scores) were collected by retrospective chart review for 12 months before and after protocol implementation. The influence of the protocol was assessed using an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis.

Results There were 49 patients before and 47 patients after protocol implementation. Median opioid wean duration preprotocol was 10.5 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 4.25, 20.75) versus 9.0 days (IQR: 5.0, 16.75) postprotocol (p = 0.66). Median benzodiazepine wean duration was 11.5 days (IQR: 3.0, 19.8) preprotocol versus 5.0 days (IQR: 2.0, 13.5) postprotocol (p = 0.31). Median alpha-agonist wean duration was 7.0 days (IQR: 3.5, 17.0) preprotocol versus 3 days (IQR: 1.0, 14.0) postprotocol (p = 0.03). The ITS indicated a reduction in opioid wean by 6.7 days (p = 0.35), a reduction in benzodiazepine wean by 13.4 days (p = 0.12), and a reduction in alpha-agonist wean by 12.9 days (p = 0.06). WAT-1 scores > 3 (12.6% preprotocol vs. 9.9% postprotocol, p = 0.569) and PICU LOS (16.0 days [IQR: 11.0, 26.0] vs. 17.0 days [IQR: 11.0, 26.5], p = 0.796) did not differ between groups.

Conclusion Implementation of a risk stratified sedation weaning protocol in the PICU was associated with a significant reduction in alpha-agonist wean duration without a significant increase in withdrawal symptoms.
Infantile Tremor Syndrome: A Case Series
Authors: Saoji Avanti , Save Sushma , Rastogi Sanchi
Published: May 2023

Infantile tremor syndrome (ITS) is a rare clinical disorder characterized by coarse tremors, anemia, and regression/delay of development in children around 6 months to 1 year of age belonging to poor socioeconomic strata and on milk-based diet. It accounts for 0.2 to 2% cases in India. No conclusive etiology has been ascertained so far. Nutritional deficiency (like vitamin B12, magnesium, vitamin C, zinc) is the most accepted association. We report six such cases that presented to our hospital with the classical neurological, dermatological, and hematological findings of ITS. Investigations revealed all cases to be vitamin B12 deficient. Two of our cases had corticocerebral atrophy on neuroimaging. One case expired due to respiratory failure due to severe pneumonia. Others were treated with vitamin B12 injections. Other nutrients like iron, zinc, folic acid, and magnesium were also supplemented. Routine follow-up of these cases showed gradual improvement in clinical, hematological, and neurological parameters. Although rare, ITS should be considered in any infant presenting with anemia, malnutrition, developmental delay, hyperpigmentation, and tremors. Early treatment can prevent neurological sequelae as it is largely a preventable disease. Regular follow-up is helpful to evaluate response to treatment.
Factors driving the implementation of the ‘Local New Year’ policy to prevent COVID-19 in China
Authors: Zhu Bifeng , Ding Manqi , Xiang Xingwei , Sun Chaoyang , Tian Xiaoqian , Yin Junfeng
Published: May 2023

This study examines the contradiction caused by the ‘local new year’ policy, that is, the conflict between the pandemic prevention policies and people’s emotional demands during the Spring Festival, based on the normalisation of pandemic prevention and control. It focuses on the scientific logical relationship with the contradiction that people voluntarily support ‘local new year’, to explore the primary driving factors of their willingness. By evaluating the migrant workers in large cities, the primary influencing factors were screened, and the primary dynamic factors and their relationship were obtained using the Logit logical selection model and maximum-likelihood estimation. The study identified, ‘whether social and entertainment activities are planned in migrant cities’, as the primary driving factor, followed by ‘whether there are relatives (elderly /children) at home’, and ‘contracting the infection during travel’. In view of this conclusion, this study further proposes corresponding policy suggestions: Relevant measures should be adopted according to different regions and the current situation of the pandemic in combination with the characteristics of the episodic and local nature of the pandemic. ‘Local new year’ is encouraged from the perspective of enriching people’s emotional needs for spiritual entertainment and care. This study provides a new perspective and theoretical basis for the research and formulation of policies related to the normalisation of pandemic prevention and control in China and worldwide, and has a certain practical reference value.
Has the establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones improved air quality? Evidence from China
Authors: Xu Xiaoyang , Xie Yufan , Obobisa Emma Serwaa , Sun Huaping
Published: May 2023

The role of finance in environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly important. This study conducts a quasi-natural experiment using a sample of 146 prefecture-level cities from 2015 to 2019. It adopts difference-in-differences to examine the impact of China’s green finance reform and innovations pilot zones (GFRIs) on urban air quality. The findings show that air quality has improved after the establishment of GFRIs, indicating that GFRIs have the potential to control air pollution levels. The mechanism tests indicate that the GFRIs are conducive to improving air quality through industrial structure upgrading and green innovation. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analyses show that the air quality in the south of the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River line, in large and well-developed financially scaled cities, has improved significantly after the establishment of GFRIs.
Low-pass spectral analysis of time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography data
Authors: Casadei Cecilia M. , Hosseinizadeh Ahmad , Bliven Spencer , Weinert Tobias , Standfuss Jörg , Fung Russell , Schertler Gebhard F. X. , Santra Robin
Published: May 2023

Low-pass spectral analysis (LPSA) is a recently developed dynamics retrieval algorithm showing excellent retrieval properties when applied to model data affected by extreme incompleteness and stochastic weighting. In this work, we apply LPSA to an experimental time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) dataset from the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) and analyze its parametric sensitivity. While most dynamical modes are contaminated by nonphysical high-frequency features, we identify two dominant modes, which are little affected by spurious frequencies. The dynamics retrieved using these modes shows an isomerization signal compatible with previous findings. We employ synthetic data with increasing timing uncertainty, increasing incompleteness level, pixel-dependent incompleteness, and photon counting errors to investigate the root cause of the high-frequency contamination of our TR-SFX modes. By testing a range of methods, we show that timing errors comparable to the dynamical periods to be retrieved produce a smearing of dynamical features, hampering dynamics retrieval, but with no introduction of spurious components in the solution, when convergence criteria are met. Using model data, we are able to attribute the high-frequency contamination of low-order dynamical modes to the high levels of noise present in the data. Finally, we propose a method to handle missing observations that produces a substantial dynamics retrieval improvement from synthetic data with a significant static component. Reprocessing of the bR TR-SFX data using the improved method yields dynamical movies with strong isomerization signals compatible with previous findings.
Pure dephasing, quantum decoherence, and wave–particle duality
Authors: Cho Minhaeng
Published: May 2023

Ultrafast spectroscopy is a valuable tool for monitoring the timescales of interactions between systems and their environments, resulting in pure dephasing. The superposition of ground and excited states of a molecule in a condensed phase, created by field–matter interactions, loses its coherence due to fluctuations from surrounding molecules that interact differently with the ground and excited states. Recently, quantum decoherence has become an intense area of research due to its relevance to the quantum-to-classical transition and its critical role in developing quantum technologies, such as quantum computers and cryptography. Although both pure dephasing and quantum decoherence result from the same process of environmental monitoring of systems through quantum entanglement between the system and its environment, they have been studied and discussed in very different contexts with seemingly disparate terminologies. In this work, we present a detailed theoretical description of pure dephasing and quantum decoherence in bosonic environments coupled to a two-level system, compare them directly, and demonstrate their connections to the wave–particle duality of isolated systems and the wave-particle-entanglement triality of composite systems consisting of systems and their environments. It is believed that the present review will be helpful for gaining a deeper understanding of ultrafast spectroscopy from a quantum mechanical perspective and the wave–particle duality of quantum objects interacting with their surrounding environments.
The Enregisterment of Luxembourgish Standards in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Cosme Gabriel Rivera
Published: May 2023

Luxembourg is characterized by a personal language policy in which Luxembourgish, French, German, and German Sign Language are recognized and enregistered as national (Luxembourgish) and administrative languages. Pivotal in such a policy development was the enregisterment of a Luxembourgish voice throughout the nineteenth century as either a bilingual French/German voice (subsuming Luxembourgish under German) or as a gallicized German voice through conflicting ideologies of personhood and nationhood. Through an analysis of policy, media, and linguistics texts from 1830 to 1896, I argue that cross-event linkages between these texts allow for the identification of two distinct ethnometapragmatics. These typify a Luxembourgish voice and enregister the Luxembourgish language as a highly disputed emblem of nationhood. These ethnometapragmatics were speech events that solidified into pathways that characterized nineteenth-century Luxembourg until 1896, when Caspar Mathias Spoo gave a speech in Parliament whose effects slightly shifted these two pathways by redefining the high/low register division through an ideology of democratization.
Momentum gauge fields from curved momentum space through Kaluza–Klein reduction
Authors: Guendelman Eduardo , Wagner Fabian
Published: May 2023

In this work we investigate the relation between curved momentum space and momentum-dependent gauge fields. While the former is a classic idea that has been shown to be tied to minimal-length models, the latter constitutes a relatively recent development in quantum gravity phenomenology. In particular, the gauge principle in momentum space amounts to a modification of the position operator of the form

X
ˆ

μ

→

X
ˆ

μ

−
g

A
μ

(

P
ˆ

)

akin to a gauge-covariant derivative in momentum space according to the minimal coupling prescription. Here, we derive both effects from a Kaluza–Klein reduction of a higher-dimensional geometry exhibiting curvature in momentum space. The interplay of the emerging gauge fields as well as the remaining curved momentum space lead to modifications of the Heisenberg algebra. While the gauge fields imply Moyal-type noncommutativity dependent on the analogue field strength tensor, the dimensionally reduced curved momentum space geometry translates to a Snyder-type noncommutative geometry.
Light ray fluctuation and lattice refinement of simplicial quantum gravity
Authors: Jia (贾 丁) Ding
Published: May 2023

In several approaches of non-perturbative quantum gravity, a major outstanding problem is to obtain results valid at the infinite lattice refinement limit. Working with Lorentzian simplicial quantum gravity, we compute light ray fluctuation probabilities in 3D and 4D across different lattices. In a simplified refined box model with the Einstein–Hilbert action, numerical results show that lattice refinement does not simply suppress or simply enhance light ray fluctuations, but actually drives very wide and very narrow light probability distributions towards intermediate ones. A comparison across lattices and across couplings reveals numerical hints at a lattice refinement fixed point associated with a universality class of couplings. The results fit the intuition that quantum spacetime fluctuations reflected by light ray fluctuations start wild microscopically and become mild macroscopically. The refined box model is limited by the assumption of a rigid frame at all scales. The present results suggest further studies around the zero-coupling limit to relax the simplifying assumptions of the model.
Non-extremal near-horizon geometries
Authors: Fontanella Andrea
Published: May 2023

When Gaussian null coordinates are adapted to a Killing horizon, the near-horizon limit is defined by a coordinate rescaling and then by taking the regulator parameter ɛ to be small, as a way of zooming into the horizon hypersurface. In this coordinate setting, it is known that the metric of a non-extremal Killing horizon in the near-horizon limit is divergent, and it has been a common practice to impose extremality in order to set the divergent term to zero. Although the metric is divergent, we show for a class of Killing horizons that the vacuum Einstein’s equations can be separated into a divergent and a finite part, leading to a well-defined minimal set of Einstein’s equations one needs to solve. We extend the result to Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a massless scalar field. We also discuss the case of Einstein gravity coupled to a Maxwell field, in which case the separability holds if the Maxwell potential has non-vanishing components only in the directions of the horizon spatial cross section.
Semi-supervised echo state network with partial correlation pruning for time-series variables prediction in industrial processes
Authors: Huang Jian , Wang Fan , Yang Xu , Li Qing
Published: May 2023

For an ordinary echo state network (ESN), redundant information in the huge reservoir will lead to degradation of the prediction performance of the network, especially when the labels of the samples are limited. To solve this problem, a semi-supervised ESN with partial correlation pruning (PCP-S2ESN) is proposed in this paper to scientifically capture the essential association between two reservoir variables while controlling for the influence of other factors. In this way, redundant neurons and their connection weights in the reservoir are eliminated, so that the prediction accuracy is significantly enhanced by optimizing the network structure. Moreover, an unsupervised pre-training procedure is introduced to modify the input weight matrix and reservoir connection weight matrix of the ESN, which successfully achieves precise prediction of time-series variables with limited labels. The superiority of the PCP-S2ESN model is demonstrated through two benchmark prediction tasks and the fed-batch penicillin cultivation process.
Comparison of optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy and gas chromatography for the measurement of the main components and impurities in biogas, landfill gas, biomethane and carbon dioxide streams
Authors: Arrhenius Karine , Francini Lorena , Fischer Andreas , Büker Oliver , Arques Laurent Garcia
Published: May 2023

In this study, we evaluated the performances of a custom-built optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OFCEAS) instrument for the determination of the composition of energy gases, focusing on methane and carbon dioxide as main components, and carbon monoxide as impurities, in comparison with the well-established, validated, and traceable gas chromatographic method. A total of 115 real sample gases collected in biogas plants or landfills were analyzed using with both techniques over a period of 12 months. The comparison of the techniques showed that the virtual model which allows the measurement, needs to be optimized using real samples of varied compositions. The OFCEAS measurement technique was found to be capable of measuring both the main components and a trace component in different matrices; to within a 2% measurement uncertainty (higher than the gas chromatograph/thermal conductivity detector (GC/TCD) method). The OFCEAS method exhibits a very fast response, does not require daily calibration, and can be implemented online. The agreements between the OFCEAS technique and the GC/TCD method show that the drift of the OFCEAS instruments remains acceptable in the long term as long as no change is made to the virtual model. Matrix effects were observed, and those need to be taken into consideration when analyzing different types of samples.
A new noise reduction method based on re-weighted group sparse decomposition and its application in gear fault feature detection
Authors: Zheng Xianbin , Cheng Junsheng , Nie Yonghong , Yang Yu
Published: May 2023

Aiming at the problem that gear vibration signals are susceptible to noise and the difficulty of extracting fault features, this paper proposes a new noise reduction method based on re-weighted group sparse decomposition (RWGSD). RWGSD introduces group sparse mode decomposition theory to protect the structural information of signal components in the frequency domain. On this basis, vital components are screened according to the time-domain characteristics of fault information, and the re-weighted enhancement is carried out. The fault characteristics are easy to identify in the final noise reduction result. In addition, RWGSD defines two new indicators, cyclic re-weighted kurtosis (CRWK) and re-weighted cyclic intensity (RWCI). CRWK can assess the intensity of periodic characteristic components and has some resistance to strong impact interference. RWCI can evaluate the magnitude of fault information, overcoming the limitations of traditional noise reduction techniques that screen out vital components based on energy size. Numerical simulation and real-world experiment results show that the proposed method has excellent performance in noise removal, increases the reliability of gear fault feature detection, and has certain practical values.
Ultranarrow-band filterless photodetectors based on CH3NH3PbCl
x
Br3–x
mixed-halide perovskite single crystals
Authors: Lu Chengyu , Zhou Juanjuan , Tang Chenyu , Dai Qinyong , Peng Yingquan , Lv Wenli , Sun Lei , Xu Sunan , Hu Weida
Published: May 2023

Narrow-band photodetectors based on halide perovskite have recently attracted significant attention due to their exceptional narrow-band detection performance and tunable absorption peaks covering a wide optical range. In this work, we report mixed-halide CH3NH3PbCl
x
Br3–x
single crystal-based photodetectors have been fabricated, where the Cl/Br ratios were varied (3:0, 10:1, 5:1, 1:1, 1:7, 1:14 and 0:3). Vertical and parallel structures devices were fabricated which exhibited ultranarrow spectral responses under bottom illumination, with a full-width at half-maximum less than 16 nm. The observed performance can be ascribed to the unique carrier generation and extraction mechanisms within the single crystal under short and long wavelength of illumination. These findings offer valuable insights into the development of narrow-band photodetectors that do not necessitate the use of filters and hold tremendous potential for a diverse array of applications.
Gravitational wave signals from leptoquark-induced first-order electroweak phase transitions
Authors: Fu B. , King S.F.
Published: May 2023

We consider the extension of the Standard Model (SM) with scalar leptoquarks in SU(2)
singlet, doublet and triplet representations. Through the coupling between leptoquark and the SM
Higgs field, the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) can turn into first-order and consequently
produce gravitational wave signals. We compute the required value of the leptoquark-Higgs for
first-order EWPT to happen and discuss about the possible constraint from Higgs
phenomenology. Choosing some benchmarks, we present the strength of the gravitational waves
produced during the leptoquark-induced first-order EWPT and compare them to detector
sensitivities. We find that the SU(2) representations of the leptoquark can be distinguished by
gravitational waves in the parameter space where first-order EWPT can happen as a function of the
Higgs portal coupling.
Numerical study on latent heat thermal energy storage with phase change material and metal foam in shell and corrugated tube with external heat losses
Authors: Buonomo Bernardo , Golia Maria Rita , Manca Oronzio , Nardini Sergio , Plomitallo Renato Elpidio
Published: May 2023

In the present work, a numerical investigation of the Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage system (LHTESs) is performed on a vertical shell and tube geometry, made of a porous medium filled with a phase change material (PCM). The LHTESs is a cylinder with a corrugated inner surface at a constant temperature above the PCM melting temperature; on the external surface there are heat losses to the outside and the top and bottom surfaces are adiabatic. The PCM used is a pure paraffin wax, the metal foam, instead, is made of aluminum. The phase change process is modelled with the enthalpy-porosity theory, while the Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium (LTNE) and the Darcy-Forchheimer models are adopted to analyse the heat transfer between the paraffin and the metal foam. The solutions of the governing equations are computed with Ansys-Fluent commercial code. The survey considers different conductivity variations on the external wall and distinct corrugated wall geometric parameters, with different wavelengths and wave amplitudes. The results of the numerical simulations, concerning the LHTESs charging phase, are reported as a function of time and compared in terms of melting time, enthalpy stored, and energy loss.
Analysis of Variance of the Heat and Mass Transfer Coefficients in an Evaporative Condenser
Authors: Giovannini Michael , Lorenzini Marco
Published: May 2023

Modelling of evaporative condensers relies heavily on the correct choice of the correlations for transport coefficients to give an accurate estimate of the dissipated thermal load and evaporated water mass flowrate, yet the literature does not cover all flow arrangements, nor operating conditions. In order to avoid expensive, and often impractical, experimental campaigns devoted to the determination of these quantities for a specific piece of equipment, a statistical approach based on the analysis of variance can be adopted: by analysing the sensitivity of the dependent variables on the choice of the transport coefficients, the best set of correlations can be determined, depending on whether a more accurate estimate is desired for the heat flux or evaporated mass flowrate, or if both are equally important.
Reverse flow in a pressure suppression system due to condensation instabilities
Authors: Giambartolomei G. , Pesetti A. , Berti L. , Raucci M. , Lazzeri R. , Aquaro D.
Published: May 2023

The Vacuum Vessel Pressure Suppression System (VVPSS) is designed to protect the ITER reactor (Vacuum Vessel, VV) from an overpressurization accident. The VVPSS is mainly composed of four Vapour Suppression Tanks (VSTs) partially filled with water inside which venting pipes (spargers) are immersed to direct the steam in the subcooled pool to condense it. Since the maximum pressure allowed inside the VV is only 0.15 MPa, a sub-atmospheric pressure must be maintained inside the VSTs. During a series of experimental campaigns funded by ITER Organization to study and validate the correct operability of the VVPSS and conducted in a large-scale plant built at the B. Guerrini laboratory of the University of Pisa, pressure instability and reverse flow through the sparger holes have been observed. The analysis of acceleration signals recorded during this pressure inversion, showed large amplitude oscillations at low frequency due to the Condensation Induced Water Hammer (CIWH).
Caesium balance of the ISIS H- Penning ion source in long pulse operation
Authors: Tarvainen Olli , Faircloth Dan , Lawrie Scott
Published: May 2023

We have developed a semi-empirical model predicting the equilibrium caesium coverage (in
monolayers) and the resulting work function of the ISIS Penning ion source cathode (in eV) in long
pulse operation. We use the caesium balance model to predict the temporal structure of the
extracted H- beam current pulses and compare the model predictions to experimental data with
60 mA, 2 ms beam pulses at 50 Hz. The experimentally
observed droop of the beam current is reproduced by the model. The results imply that extracting
square beam pulses in the long pulse operation mode requires more efficient cathode cooling. We
apply the model for 70 mA, 3 ms beam pulses at 14 Hz,
relevant for ESSνSB project. We conclude that achieving these parameters requires reducing the
cathode temperature by 200 °C, and ramping the discharge current to cancel the
discharge voltage droop.
Long-duration bipolar linear transformer driver based on a multi-turn half-bridge structure
Authors: Shang Tianyi , Shen Saikang , Sun Guoxiang , Ding Weidong
Published: May 2023

All-solid linear transformer driver(LTD) generators are widely used to output unipolar high-voltage rectangular pulses in nanoseconds. However in some applications, the bipolar output is necessary and the size of the generator is limited, which is challenging for LTD topology because the size of the magnetic core is related directly to the amplitude and pulse duration of the output waveforms. In this paper, a bipolar long-duration pulse generator based on the topology of a linear transformer driver combined with a half-bridge and multi-turn structure is put forward. The half-bridge topology can output bipolar waveforms easily and can save the number of switches used in the generator. To eliminate the crosstalk voltage that appears during operation, a differential mode inductance is used to protect the circuit. A snubber circuit is applied to suppress the reverse overshoot. The multi-turn design is chosen to make the size more compact. However, the multi-turn usually leads to a lower rise speed. To improve the performance, an optimization method that improves the rising speed by changing the turns of each stage is discussed. The strategy is useful and can be applied on some other occasions. The generator can output bipolar waveforms whose amplitudes are 4 kV and the duration can be adjusted from 200 ns to 800 ns. The rise time can be limited to 70 ns. The size of the generator is
10 cm * 10 cm * 15 cm, which is compact compared to the generators put forward before.
Dose estimation in X-ray backscatter imaging with Timepix3 and TLD detectors
Authors: Useche Parra J.S. , Schütz M.K. , Roque G. , Fey J. , Avila C. , Fiederle M. , Procz S.
Published: May 2023

Nowadays, the detection of backscatter X-rays has become an
essential part of road security scanners, where individuals are at
risk of an accidental exposure to the pulsed photon radiation fields
generated by the devices that implement this technique. Dose to
soft-tissue measurements of a pulsed radiation field generated by a
commercial cargo X-ray backscattering device are presented using a
Timepix3 detector. To accurately estimate the imparted dose, the
energy spectrum of a backscattering cargo scanner is measured with a
thick CdZnTe hybrid semiconductor pixel detector. The deconvolution
of this measured spectrum is performed and the contributions to the
dose are calculated by means of the mass energy-absorption
coefficients for soft-tissue. This methodology was assessed through
a Monte-Carlo simulation, together with verification measurements
using thermoluminescent detectors (TLDs) as a standard dosimetry
system. Measurements of direct irradiation, for a 30 s scan with
the device at 2 m from the detector, yielded a dose of
(4.9 ± 0.7) μGy and (3.6 ± 0.3) μGy for the
Timepix3 and TLDs, respectively. In a simulated cargo environment,
with the detector behind a 1 mm thick steel wall, 30 s scan time,
and 2 m source to detector distance, the dose measured by the
Timepix3 was (1.7 ± 0.1) μGy, while for the TLDs
(1.4 ± 0.6) μGy, showing that the proposed methodology has
a similar response as compared to a standard dosimetry system.
Monolithic scintillator PET detector by using light sharing between adjacent detector modules
Authors: Sun M.D. , Zhang C.H. , He Z. , Wang H.J.
Published: May 2023

A monolithic crystal-based positron emission tomography
(PET) detector has a low cost and high sensitivity and allows
determining 3D positions by scintillation light
distribution. However, the edge effect inherent to scintillators
deteriorates the position resolution of the detector toward the
crystal borders due to the escape and reflection of the
scintillation light. An increase in crystal thickness will improve
the detection efficiency, but the edge effect becomes severe. To
improve the position resolution and detection efficiency of
scintillators, the light-sharing technique is developed. Two
identical trapezoidal monolithic cerium-doped lutetium yttrium
orthosilicate (LYSO) crystals with a bottom size of
25.80 × 25.80 mm2 and a thickness of 20 mm are
optically coupled at one lateral face by an optical medium. The
scintillation light near the optically coupled interface is jointly
collected by two adjacent 8 × 8 SiPM arrays from the bottom
faces. The SiPM signals are individually read out and processed by
using the multichannel readout application-specific integrated
circuits (ASICs) of TOFPET2 to provide a light distribution. The
transverse positions and depth of interaction (DOI) are calculated
from the measured light distribution. As expected, the optical glue
with a refractive index of n = 1.68 shows better light sharing
between two LYSO crystals than the coupling media of silicon grease
(n = 1.40) and air. For the 20 mm thick monolithic LYSO-based PET
detector, the transverse position resolution near the crystal edge
is improved by nearly 30% by using the light-sharing method
compared with the black-painted treatment. However, the DOI
resolution near the edge of the crystal is not significantly
improved, which may be attributed to the incomplete collection of
scintillation light. The DOI resolution of the detector would be
improved by using electronics with lower noise and SiPM arrays with
smaller pixel.
Analysis of sensitivity and formulation of empirical relationship between parameters of FSW process and tensile strength of AZ80A Mg alloy joints
Authors: Gunasekaran J , Sevvel P , Vasanthe Roy J , Sivaramakrishnan A
Published: May 2023

In this research paper, an endeavour was made to devise empirical relations amidst the process parameters of friction stir welding (FSW) and tensile relevant strength of AZ80A Mg alloy joints, based on a 6 parameters—5 levels based central composite design (CCD). Mathematical equations illustrating the impact of process parameters of FSW were formulated based on quadratic regression based analysis to optimize the parameters for attaining superior tensile strength and sensitivity related equations were established from these numerical models. A detailed sensitivity characteristic relevant map for the FSW of AZ80A Mg alloys was established forecasting the fine tuning related prerequisites of the employed FSW parameters. Coefficient of determinant (R2) announced that 99.062% of the overall variability was described by the formulated model and only lower than 1% of the overall variations was not justified by the model. Predicted R2 was also in perfect agreement with the adjusted R2 and announced the model’s capability to demonstrate 95.43% of the variability in the generated data. Highest value of tensile relevant strength (80.77% of the parent metal) was exhibited by the AZ80A Mg alloy joint fabricated under optimized parameters. Tensile relevant strength of AZ80A Mg joints was observed to be highly sensitive to traverse speed of the employed tool.
Realistic mask generation for matter-wave lithography via machine learning
Authors: Fiedler Johannes , Palau Adriá Salvador , Osestad Eivind Kristen , Parviainen Pekka , Holst Bodil
Published: May 2023

Fast production of large-area patterns is crucial for the established semiconductor industry and enables industrial-scale production of next-generation quantum devices. Metastable atom lithography with binary holography masks has been suggested as a higher resolution/low-cost alternative to the current state of the art: extreme ultraviolet lithography. However, it was recently shown that the interaction of the metastable atoms with the mask material (SiN) leads to a strong perturbation of the wavefront, not included in the existing mask generation theory, which is based on classical scalar waves. This means that the inverse problem (creating a mask based on the desired pattern) cannot be solved analytically, even in 1D. Here we present a machine-learning approach to mask generation targeted for metastable atoms. Our algorithm uses a combination of genetic optimisation and deep learning to obtain the mask. A novel deep neural architecture is trained to produce an initial approximation of the mask. This approximation is then used to generate the initial population of the genetic optimisation algorithm that can converge to arbitrary precision. We demonstrate the generation of arbitrary 1D patterns for system dimensions within the Fraunhofer approximation limit.
Efficiency metrics for auditory neuromorphic spike encoding techniques using information theory
Authors: El Ferdaoussi Ahmad , Rouat Jean , Plourde Eric
Published: May 2023

Spike encoding of sound consists in converting a sound waveform into spikes. It is of interest in many domains, including the development of audio-based spiking neural network applications, where it is the first and a crucial stage of processing. Many spike encoding techniques exist, but there is no systematic approach to quantitatively evaluate their performance. This work proposes the use of three efficiency metrics based on information theory to solve this problem. The first, coding efficiency, measures the fraction of information that the spikes encode on the amplitude of the input signal. The second, computational efficiency, measures the information encoded subject to abstract computational costs imposed on the algorithmic operations of the spike encoding technique. The third, energy efficiency, measures the actual energy expended in the implementation of a spike encoding task. These three efficiency metrics are used to evaluate the performance of four spike encoding techniques for sound on the encoding of a cochleagram representation of speech data. The spike encoding techniques are: Independent Spike Coding, Send-on-Delta coding, Ben’s Spiker Algorithm, and Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) coding. The results show that LIF coding has the overall best performance in terms of coding, computational, and energy efficiency.
Estimating the foraging range of Cerceris fumipennis (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) using land cover data
Authors: Rutledge Claire Elise
Published: May 2023

Biosurveillance monitors the prey of the solitary buprestid-hunting wasp, Cerceris fumipennis (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae), for the presence for emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis, Fairmaire: Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Still unresolved is the foraging range, and thus the surveillance range, of C. fumipennis. Foraging occurs in forest canopies and wasps are difficult to track. We assumed that the proportion of conifer-feeding beetles collected at a colony would be related to the proportion of conifers in the surrounding area. If this is the case, the radius of the area around a colony which best correlates the proportion of conifers with the proportion of conifer feeding prey should reflect the foraging range of the colony. In this study, we used 7 yr of foraging data, and the National Land Cover Dataset 2016 map to estimate the foraging range of C. fumipennis. Overall, we found that the highest correlation between prey type collected, and forest type present, was between 1,000 and 1,500 m from the nest sites. We thus conclude that surveillance of a colony of C. fumipennis will yield information about the presence of non-native buprestids within a 1.0–1.5 km radius.
Linguistic and Geographic Diversity in Research on Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism: An Analysis of Selected Journals
Authors: Bylund Emanuel , Khafif Zainab , Berghoff Robyn
Published: May 2023

The present study assesses linguistic and geographic diversity in selected outlets of SLA and multilingualism research. Specifically, we examine over 2,000 articles published in specialized top-tier journals, recording the languages under study and their acquisition order, author affiliations, the country in which the research was conducted, and citations. In the sample, there were 183 unique languages and 174 unique pairings, corresponding to 3 per cent of the world’s 7,000 languages and less than 0.001 per cent of 24.5 million possible language combinations. English was overwhelmingly the most common language, followed by Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. North America and Western Europe were both the main producers of knowledge and the main sites for research on multilingualism in the sample. Crucially, the regions with the highest levels of linguistic diversity and societal multilingualism (typically the Global South) were only marginally represented. The findings also show that studies on English and northern Anglophone settings were likely to elicit more citations than studies on other languages and settings, and that less studied languages were included more frequently in article titles.
IEPAPI: a method for immune epitope prediction by incorporating antigen presentation and immunogenicity
Authors: Deng Juntao , Zhou Xiao , Zhang Pengyan , Cheng Weibin , Liu Min , Tian Junzhang
Published: May 2023

CD8+ T cells can recognize peptides presented by class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA-I) of nucleated cells. Exploring this immune mechanism is essential for identifying T-cell vaccine targets in cancer immunotherapy. Over the past decade, the wealth of data generated by experiments has spawned many computational approaches for predicting HLA-I binding, antigen presentation and T-cell immune responses. Nevertheless, existing HLA-I binding and antigen presentation prediction approaches suffer from low precision due to the absence of T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition. Direct modeling of T-cell immune responses is less effective as TCR recognition’s mechanism still remains underexplored. Therefore, directly applying these existing methods to screen cancer neoantigens is still challenging. Here, we propose a novel immune epitope prediction method termed IEPAPI by effectively incorporating antigen presentation and immunogenicity. First, IEPAPI employs a transformer-based feature extraction block to acquire representations of peptides and HLA-I proteins. Second, IEPAPI integrates the prediction of antigen presentation prediction into the input of immunogenicity prediction branch to simulate the connection between the biological processes in the T-cell immune response. Quantitative comparison results on an independent antigen presentation test dataset exhibit that IEPAPI outperformed the current state-of-the-art approaches NetMHCpan4.1 and mhcflurry2.0 on 100 (25/25) and 76% (19/25) of the HLA subtypes, respectively. Furthermore, IEPAPI demonstrates the best precision on two independent neoantigen datasets when compared with existing approaches, suggesting that IEPAPI provides a vital tool for T-cell vaccine design.
An interpretable single-cell RNA sequencing data clustering method based on latent Dirichlet allocation
Authors: Yang Qi , Xu Zhaochun , Zhou Wenyang , Wang Pingping , Jiang Qinghua , Juan Liran
Published: May 2023

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) detects whole transcriptome signals for large amounts of individual cells and is powerful for determining cell-to-cell differences and investigating the functional characteristics of various cell types. scRNA-seq datasets are usually sparse and highly noisy. Many steps in the scRNA-seq analysis workflow, including reasonable gene selection, cell clustering and annotation, as well as discovering the underlying biological mechanisms from such datasets, are difficult. In this study, we proposed an scRNA-seq analysis method based on the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model. The LDA model estimates a series of latent variables, i.e. putative functions (PFs), from the input raw cell–gene data. Thus, we incorporated the ‘cell-function-gene’ three-layer framework into scRNA-seq analysis, as this framework is capable of discovering latent and complex gene expression patterns via a built-in model approach and obtaining biologically meaningful results through a data-driven functional interpretation process. We compared our method with four classic methods on seven benchmark scRNA-seq datasets. The LDA-based method performed best in the cell clustering test in terms of both accuracy and purity. By analysing three complex public datasets, we demonstrated that our method could distinguish cell types with multiple levels of functional specialization, and precisely reconstruct cell development trajectories. Moreover, the LDA-based method accurately identified the representative PFs and the representative genes for the cell types/cell stages, enabling data-driven cell cluster annotation and functional interpretation. According to the literature, most of the previously reported marker/functionally relevant genes were recognized.
A novel mechanism regulating pyroptosis-induced fibrosis in endometriosis via lnc-MALAT1/miR-141-3p/NLRP3 pathway
Authors: Xu Ying , Liu Hengwei , Xiong Wenqian , Peng Yuan , Li Xiaoou , Long Xuefeng , Jin Jie , Liang Jiaxin , Weng Ruiwen , Liu Junjun , Zhang Ling , Liu Yi
Published: May 2023

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease distinguished by ectopic endometrium and fibrosis. NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis are present in endometriosis. Aberrant increase of Long noncoding (Lnc)-metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) plays a vital role in endometriosis. However, the relationship between lnc-MALAT1, pyroptosis, and fibrosis is not completely known. In the present study, we found that the pyroptosis levels in ectopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis were significantly increased, consistent with fibrosis levels. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) + ATP could induce pyroptosis of primary endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), thereby releasing interleukin (IL)-1β and stimulating transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-mediated fibrosis. NLRP3 inhibitor MCC950 had the same effect as TGF-β1 inhibitor SB-431542 in suppressing the fibrosis-inducing effect of LPS + ATP in vivo and in vitro. The abnormal increase of lnc-MALAT1 in ectopic endometrium was connected with NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis and fibrosis. Leveraging bioinformatic prediction and luciferase assays combined with western blotting and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we validated that lnc-MALAT1 sponges miR-141-3p to promote NLRP3 expression. Silencing lnc-MALAT1 in HESCs ameliorated NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis and IL-1β release, thereby relieving TGF-β1-mediated fibrosis. Consequently, our findings suggest that lnc-MALAT1 is critical for NLRP3-induced pyroptosis and fibrosis in endometriosis through sponging miR-141-3p, which may indicate a new therapeutic target of endometriosis treatment.
A learning process to deliver virtual staff training involving patients in shared haemodialysis care
Authors: Barnes Tania , Wilkie Martin
Published: May 2023

Shared haemodialysis (HD) care (SHC) is a person-centred approach delivering a flexible choice of options for centre-based HD patients to become more involved in their treatment. To support this, a 4-day course was developed to provide healthcare professionals with the confidence and skills to engage, involve, support and train patients in their care and has been accessed by >700 UK staff over 9 years. The disruption caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in 2020 prompted a revision of what was deliverable within the restrictions. In response to this, we designed, developed and tested a virtual training program that was shorter and more accessible while remaining effective in meeting its core objectives. This provides a greater geographical reach and enables a collaborative team approach with patients and staff learning from and with each other, thus supporting a partnership approach advocated in shared decision making. In this review we explore the learning that informed the virtual training program 2022 and provide qualitative evaluation to demonstrate evidence of understanding, behavioural change and organisational benefit. Using a validated evaluation, we present key themes that support the initiation, development and sustainability of SHC in the form of a roadmap to guide strategic planning.