bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of vocal exercises for training musical skills (Desarrollo de ejercicios vocales para entrenar las habilidades musicales)
Authors: Gao Chuan , Li Gen
Published: November 2023

Development of vocal exercises with visual art and interactive tools might contribute to development of students’ musical skills and enhance learning effectiveness. This paper gets an insight into the effectiveness of the vocal exercises developed with visual art tools and a vocal training app. The survey was conducted among 110 students from a music school in China. Students from small groups B who used MOOC and the developed vocal exercises performed 8.6% better compared to the control group, suggesting the programme’s effectiveness for teaching vocal performance. Group B post-assessment of the special factors showed increased scores on the three assessment criteria after the intervention. This study has practical value and is important for further research because it demonstrates the developed vocal exercises’ effect on musical skills. Research findings may be applied in educational institutions that are interested in finding ways to develop musical skills and improve the effectiveness of vocal training. The results are important for teachers, education officials and everyone interested in the introduction of interactive environments.
Tuning of the magneto-caloric effects in Ni43Mn46In11 magnetic shape memory alloys by substitution of boron
Authors: Saritaş Senem , Çiçek Mert Miraç , Kavak Eyup , Gurpinar Kubra , Yildirim Oğuz , Yuce Suheyla , Atakol Orhan , Emre Baris
Published: November 2023

In this study, we report the structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties of B substitution on the Mn site in Ni43Mn46−x
B
x
In11(x = 0.5, 1.0) Heusler alloys. Crystal structure analysis using room-temperature x-ray diffraction data reveals both samples have mixed phases composed of cubic and tetragonal phases. The structural and magnetic phase transition characteristic temperatures are determined using differential scanning calorimetry, isothermal magnetization (MT), and isofield magnetization (MH) measurements. Both alloys exhibit inverse and direct magnetocaloric effects in the vicinity of their magnetostructural transition and Curie temperature (T
C), respectively. For Ni43Mn45.0B1.0In11 a maximum magnetic entropy change of 25.06 J kg−1 K−1 is observed at 250 K for a magnetic field change of 5 T.
Edge detection for 3D point clouds via locally max-angular gaps descriptor
Authors: Ma Feifan , Zhang Yan , Chen Jintao , Qu Chengzhi , Huang Kun
Published: November 2023

Numerous point-cloud-based applications, including surface reconstruction and completion, greatly benefit from the utilization of edge features, which play a crucial role in structuring the target shape. Nevertheless, the current limitations of point cloud edge detection techniques in effectiveness and efficiency have motivated us to develop a more robust 3D edge detection method. In this paper, we introduce a simple yet effective descriptor for evaluating the edge level of 3D point clouds. This descriptor is defined as the variance of the max-angular gaps between the target point and its

k

nearest neighboring points. Leveraging this descriptor, we further propose a multiscale feature fusion strategy that well detect the edge features for the target point cloud. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our method over other comparison methods in terms of effectiveness and stability in preserving point cloud edges. Moreover, we investigate the applications of our method in point cloud simplification and registration to provide additional insights into its potential use in some point-cloud-based downstream tasks.
Analysing transitions from a Turing instability to large periodic patterns in a reaction-diffusion system
Authors: Brown Christopher , Derks Gianne , van Heijster Peter , Lloyd David J B
Published: November 2023

Analytically tracking patterns emerging from a small amplitude Turing instability to large amplitude remains a challenge as no general theory exists. In this paper, we consider a three component reaction-diffusion system with one of its components singularly perturbed, this component is known as the fast variable. We develop an analytical theory describing the periodic patterns emerging from a Turing instability using geometric singular perturbation theory. We show analytically that after the initial Turing instability, spatially periodic patterns evolve into a small amplitude spike in the fast variable whose amplitude grows as one moves away from onset. This is followed by a secondary transition where the spike in the fast variable widens, its periodic pattern develops two sharp transitions between two flat states and the amplitudes of the other variables grow. The final type of transition we uncover analytically is where the flat states of the fast variable develop structure in the periodic pattern. The analysis is illustrated and motivated by a numerical investigation. We conclude with a preliminary numerical investigation where we uncover more complicated periodic patterns and snaking-like behaviour that are driven by the three transitions analysed in this paper. This paper provides a crucial step towards understanding how periodic patterns transition from a Turing instability to large amplitude.
Robustness of higher-order networks with synergistic protection
Authors: Chen Qihang , Zhao Yang , Li Cong , Li Xiang
Published: November 2023

From chemical reactions to human communications, higher-order interactions are ubiquitous in real-world networks. Entities within higher-order interactions often exhibit collective behaviors that could create synergistic effects on robustness of the underlying system. Here we propose an analytical model to investigate the robustness of higher-order networks, in which potential higher-order synergistic protection is incorporated. In this model, higher-order networks are described with simplicial complexes, and robustness is studied under the proposed dynamics of extended bond percolation. We provide theoretical analysis for robustness quantities including the relative size of the giant component and percolation threshold. We discover that the percolation threshold could drop to zero, which is an indicator of notably strong robustness, with synergistic protective effects and dense higher-order simplices. We also find that higher-order interactions have strong impacts on the association between robustness and clustering. Specifically, a larger clustering coefficient could invariably indicate stronger robustness once the strength of protective effects exceeds a certain value. Our theoretical solutions are verified by simulation results in simplicial complexes with Poisson, exponential and power-law distributions.
The average trapping time of non-nearest-neighbor jumps on nested networks
Authors: Han Yuxi , Wu Bo
Published: November 2023

In this paper, we consider the trapping problem on the nearest-neighbor (NN) and non-nearest-neighbor (NNN) jumps on nested networks. Based on the nested construction of the network and the use of probability generating function tool, the iterative rules of two successive generations of the network are found, and the analytical expression of the average trapping time (ATT) is finally obtained. We allow two jump modes in the network at the same time, and the results show that the choice probability of the jump mode is not related to the exponential term of the scaling expression, but to its leading factor term. According to the analytic solution of ATT, we can find that the value of ATT expands superlinearly with the increase of network size. In addition, the numerical simulation results of parameters q (the probability of choosing NNN jump) and n (the generation of the network) show that with fixed n, ATT decreases with the increase of q; while with fixed q, ATT increases with the increase of n. In summary, this work can observe the effect of different hopping modes on random walk efficiency in complex networks.
Phase variation of Laguerre-Gaussian vortex beams in a homogeneous atmospheric medium under finite amplitude acoustic wave perturbation
Authors: Zhang Jialin , Wang Mingjun , Wang Wanrou , Huang Chaojun
Published: November 2023

In this article, we have derived the acoustic pressure and medium refractive index expressions in a homogeneous atmospheric medium perturbed by a planar finite amplitude acoustic wave. In a planar finite amplitude acoustic wave perturbation, we developed a Laguerre–Gaussian vortex beam transmission model in a homogeneous atmospheric medium. We investigated the effects of different acoustic source parameters on the phase of the Laguerre–Gaussian vortex beam transmission, considering the atmospheric medium’s viscous effect. The results show that acoustic waves of finite amplitude distort the refractive index distribution of a homogeneous atmospheric medium. At a given distance, the amplitude of the refractive index gradually increases with increasing acoustic wave transmission distance. At the same time, the phase of the Laguerre–Gaussian vortex beam is rotated by the perturbation of the finite-amplitude acoustic wave, and the phase always returns to its initial position. Unlike linear acoustic waves, changes in the homogeneous atmospheric refractive index distribution and the homogeneous phase of the Laguerre–Gaussian vortex light no longer satisfy the periodic variation when perturbed by finite-amplitude acoustic waves. Under the same conditions, the effect of finite-amplitude acoustic waves on the phase of the Laguerre–Gaussian vortex light is stronger than that of linear acoustic waves. Finally, the effects of different acoustic pressure and frequency of the source on the phase of the Laguerre–Gaussian vortex beam transmission are calculated. The results show that different acoustic parameters at the source can be used to achieve phase modulation at different distances and intensities.
Boundary effects on dispersion relations of ion-acoustic wave and physical properties of overlapping soliton in a plasma waveguide
Authors: Han Jiuning , Li Shengchang , Luo Junhua , Chen Hui , Li Junxiu
Published: November 2023

Taking into account the cylindrical boundary, a theoretical investigation has been made for the low frequency electrostatic waves in an electron-positron-ion plasma waveguide. The dispersion relation of ion-acoustic (IA) wave is obtained, and a predication for the linear interaction phenomenon of small-amplitude cylindrical IA solitons is presented. It is shown that the cylindrical boundary has significant effects on the dispersion property of IA waves, and the frequency for short wave is significantly modified by the plasma parameters. It has also been noted that cylindrical IA solitons add up linearly when they overlap and penetrate through each other, the maximum amplitude of the overlapping soliton is nearly the sum of the individual soliton amplitude, indicating an apparent linear interaction. Furthermore, the relationships between phase delay and kinetic energy of colliding solitons for an axisymetric cylindrical geometry are derived and discussed in detail. The work presented would be useful to enrich the solitons interaction theory in astrophysical and laboratorial plasma situations.
On pseudo-Riemannian quartics in Finsler geometry
Authors: Itin Yakov
Published: November 2023

Finsler geometry usually describes an extension of Riemannian geometry into a direction-dependent geometric structure. Historically, the well-known Riemann quartic length element example served as the inspiration for this construction. Surprisingly, the same quartic expression emerges as a fundamental dispersion relationcovariant Fresnel equationin solid-state electrodynamics. As a result, it is possible to conceive of the Riemann quartic length expression as a mathematical representation of a well-known physical phenomenon. This paper provides a number of Riemann quartic examples that show Finsler geometry to be overly constrictive for many applications, even when the signature space is positive definite in the Euclidean sense. The strong axioms of Finsler geometry are broken down on many more singular hypersurfaces for the spaces having an indefinite (Minkowski) signature. We suggest a more flexible definition of a Finsler structure that only has to hold for open subsets of a manifold’s tangent bundle. We demonstrate the distinctive singular hypersurfaces connected to the Riemann quartic and discuss the potential physics explanations for them. As an illustration of the pseudo-Riemannian quartic, we took into consideration the dispersion relation that appears in electromagnetic wave propagation in uniaxial crystal. Our analysis suggests that the signature of the Finsler measure may be altered for large anisotropy factors.
Electroplating of hydrophobic/hydrophilic ZnO nano-structural coatings on metallic substrates
Authors: Belamri Zehira , Boumaza Leila , Boudjadar Smail
Published: November 2023

In the present work, ZnO thin film is shown as a coating on an aluminum substrate. In order to synthesize ZnO thin films, electroplated Zn thin layers were thermally oxidized in atmospheric air for different times (1h–4h) at a fixed annealing temperature of 500 °C. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) equipped with energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), a profilometer, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The wettability properties of the synthesized films were evaluated by measuring the contact angle between the surface of the films and a deposited water drop (WCA). The FEG-SEM images show that the surface morphologies change throughout treatment time. The sample treated for 2 h shows flower-like microstructures with an average size of 100 μm, which are covered with spherical ZnO nanostructures with a size less than 50 nm. Measured surface roughness ranges from 5.800 μm to 6.560 μm. Layers thicknesses vary between 31 and 38 μm. Structural characterization by XRD demonstrates that the synthesized ZnO thin films were polycrystalline and have Wurtzite hexagonal structures, grown manly along the (101) plan. The estimated crystallite sizes are in the nanometric scale and reach their maximum value for the sample treated for 2 h. This annealing time corresponds to the low dislocation density (δ) and low lattice strain (ε), indicating fewer defects. The Raman analysis shows five normal vibrational modes, which correspond to the ZnO Wurtzite structure. It was possible to obtain both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces; the shape and surface roughness of the as-prepared films had an impact on the results. The largest measured contact angle, of 97°, was obtained after annealing for 2 h at 500 °C.
Photon-phonon quantum cloning in optomechanical system
Authors: Mu Qingxia , Wang Ting , Zhang Wen-Zhao
Published: November 2023

Quantum cloning is an essential operation in quantum information and quantum computing. Similar to the ‘copy’ operation in classical computing, the cloning of flying bits for further processing from the solid-state quantum bits in storage is an operation frequently used in quantum information processing. Here we propose a high-fidelity and controllable quantum cloning scheme between solid bits and flying bits. In order to overcome the obstacles from the no-cloning theorem and the weak phonon-photon interaction, we introduce a hybrid optomechanical system that performs both the probabilistic cloning and deterministic cloning closed to the theoretical optimal limit with the help of designed driving pulse in the presence of dissipation. In addition, our scheme allows a highly tunable switching between two cloning methods, namely the probabilistic and deterministic cloning, by simply changing the input laser pulse. This provides a promising platform for experimental executability.
Breakdown of arcsine law for resetting brownian motion
Authors: Yan Hao , Chen Hanshuang
Published: November 2023

For a one-dimensional Brownian motion starting from the origin, the cumulative distribution of the occupation time V staying above the origin obeys the celebrated arcsine law. In this work, we show how the law is modified for a resetting Brownian motion, where the Brownian is reset to the position x

r
at random times but with a constant rate r. When x

r
is exactly equal to zero, we derive the exact expression of the probability distribution P

r
(V∣0, t) of V during time t, and the moments of V as functions of r and t. P

r
(V∣0, t) is always symmetric with respect to V = t/2 for arbitrary value of r, but the probability density of V at V = t/2 increases with the increase of r. Interestingly, P

r
(V∣0, t) at V = t/2 changes from a minimum to a local maximum at a critical value R
* ≈ 0.742 338, where R = rt denotes the average number of resetting during time t. Moreover, we consider the case when x

r
is a random variable and is distributed by a function g(x

r
), where g(x

r
) is assumed to be symmetric with respect to zero and possesses its maximum at zero. We derive the general expressions of the moments of V when the variance of x

r
is low. The mean value of V is always equal to t/2, but the fluctuation in x

r
leads to an increase in the second and third moments of V. Our results provide a quantitative understanding of how stochastic resetting destroys the persistence of Brownian motion.
Stepped partially acoustic dark matter: likelihood analysis and cosmological tensions
Authors: Buen-Abad Manuel A. , Chacko Zackaria , Kilic Can , Marques-Tavares Gustavo , Youn Taewook
Published: November 2023

We generalize the recently proposed Stepped Partially Acoustic Dark Matter (SPartAcous) model by including additional massless degrees of freedom in the dark radiation sector. We fit SPartAcous and its generalization against cosmological precision data from the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations, large-scale structure, supernovae type Ia, and Cepheid variables. We find that SPartAcous significantly reduces theH0tension but does not provide any meaningful improvement of theS8tension, while the generalized model succeeds in addressing both tensions, and provides a better fit than ΛCDM and other dark sector models proposed to address the same tensions. In the generalized model,H0can be raised to 71.4 km/s/Mpc (the 95% upper limit), reducing the tension, if the fitted data does not include the direct measurement from the SH0ES collaboration, and to 73.7 km/s/Mpc (95% upper limit) if it does. A version ofCLASSthat has been modified to analyze this model is publicly available athttps://github.com/ManuelBuenAbad/class_spartacous.
Application of graph networks to background rejection in Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes
Authors: Glombitza J. , Joshi V. , Bruno B. , Funk S.
Published: November 2023

Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are essential to ground-based observations of gamma rays in the GeV to TeV regime. One particular challenge of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy is an effective rejection of the hadronic background.
We propose a new deep-learning-based algorithm for classifying images measured using single or multiple Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes.
We interpret the detected images as a collection of triggered sensors that can be represented by graphs and analyzed by graph convolutional networks.
For images cleaned of the light from the night sky, this allows for an efficient algorithm design that bypasses the challenge of sparse images in deep learning approaches based on computer vision techniques such as convolutional neural networks. We investigate different graph network architectures and find a promising performance with improvements to previous machine-learning and deep-learning-based methods.
Riemannian geometric and ensemble learning for decoding cross-session motor imagery electroencephalography signals
Authors: Pan Lincong , Wang Kun , Xu Lichao , Sun Xinwei , Yi Weibo , Xu Minpeng , Ming Dong
Published: November 2023

Objective. Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) enable a direct communication pathway between the human brain and external devices, without relying on the traditional peripheral nervous and musculoskeletal systems. Motor imagery (MI)-based BCIs have attracted significant interest for their potential in motor rehabilitation. However, current algorithms fail to account for the cross-session variability of electroencephalography signals, limiting their practical application. Approach. We proposed a Riemannian geometry-based adaptive boosting and voting ensemble (RAVE) algorithm to address this issue. Our approach segmented the MI period into multiple sub-datasets using a sliding window approach and extracted features from each sub-dataset using Riemannian geometry. We then trained adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) ensemble learning classifiers for each sub-dataset, with the final BCI output determined by majority voting of all classifiers. We tested our proposed RAVE algorithm and eight other competing algorithms on four datasets (Pan2023, BNCI001-2014, BNCI001-2015, BNCI004-2015). Main results. Our results showed that, in the cross-session scenario, the RAVE algorithm outperformed the eight other competing algorithms significantly under different within-session training sample sizes. Compared to traditional algorithms that involved a large number of training samples, the RAVE algorithm achieved similar or even better classification performance on the datasets (Pan2023, BNCI001-2014, BNCI001-2015), even when it did not use or only used a small number of within-session training samples. Significance. These findings indicate that our cross-session decoding strategy could enable MI-BCI applications that require no or minimal training process.
Correlation and asynchronization of electroencephalogram and cerebral blood flow in active and passive stimulations
Authors: Li Weilong , Zhang Zihao , Li Zhiyi , Gui Zhiguo , Shang Yu
Published: November 2023

Objective. Real-time brain monitoring is of importance for intraoperative surgeries and intensive care unit, in order to take timely clinical interventions. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a conventional technique for recording neural excitations (e.g. brain waves) in the cerebral cortex, and near infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is an emerging technique that can directly measure the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in microvasculature system. Currently, the relationship between the neural activities and cerebral hemodynamics that reflects the vasoconstriction features of cerebral vessels, especially under both active and passive situation, has not been elucidated thus far, which triggers the motivation of this study. Approach. We used the verbal fluency test as an active cognitive stimulus to the brain, and we manipulated blood pressure changes as a passive challenge to the brain. Under both protocols, the CBF and EEG responses were longitudinally monitored throughout the cerebral stimulus. Power spectrum approaches were applied the EEG signals and compared with CBF responses. Main results. The results show that the EEG response was significantly faster and larger in amplitude during the active cognitive task, when compared to the CBF, but with larger individual variability. By contrast, CBF is more sensitive when response to the passive task, and with better signal stability. We also found that there was a correlation (p < 0.01, r = 0.866, R
2 = 0.751) between CBF and EEG in initial response during the active task, but no significant correlation (p > 0.05) was found during the passive task. The similar relations were also found between regional brain waves and blood flow. Significance. The asynchronization and correlation between the two measurements indicates the necessity of monitoring both variables for comprehensive understanding of cerebral physiology. Deep exploration of their relationships provides promising implications for DCS/EEG integration in the diagnosis of various neurovascular and psychiatric diseases.
Multipactor predictions for ion cyclotron resonance heating antennas of the tokamak WEST
*
Authors: Al Hajj Sleiman Eva , Hillairet Julien , Belhaj Mohamed , Dadouch Sarah , Maquet Vincent
Published: November 2023

During the plasma experimental campaigns performed on the tokamak WEST, a performance-limiting observation has been made on the Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) system composed of three identical antennas. When only one antenna is powered while the remaining two are off, an increase in the internal pressure is measured within the non-powered antennas. The internal pressure of the non-powered antennas exceeds a safety pressure interlock whose threshold is

4.5
×

10

−
3

 Pa, and consequently, the application of the RF power is prohibited to avoid plasma creation within these antennas. In this paper, the multipactor phenomenon caused by the inter-antennas’ coupling is shown to be responsible for the pressure increase observed in the non-powered antennas. Additionally, an analytic estimation of the pressure rise caused by the multipactor is compared to that observed experimentally.
Real time characterization of atmospheric turbulence using speckle texture
Authors: Lochab Priyanka , Kumar Basant , Ghai D P , Senthilkumaran P , Khare Kedar
Published: November 2023

A new method is proposed for the characterization of the atmospheric turbulence strength parameter (

C
n
2

) based on the principal component analysis (PCA) of the texture of the speckle intensity pattern obtained on long-range propagation of a focused charge +1 vortex beam. Employing the split-step propagation method, datasets containing instantaneous intensity images of the focused vortex beam are generated for three distinct

C
n
2

values, specifically

1
×

10

−
14

m

−
2

/

3

,

5
×

10

−
14

m

−
2

/

3

, and

1
×

10

−
13

m

−
2

/

3

, representing medium to high turbulence levels for a 2 km propagation distance. The gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) methodology is employed to extract key texture attributes, like contrast, correlation, homogeneity, and energy from the intensity images. These extracted texture parameters serve as inputs for training a PCA model, enabling the identification of associated

C
n
2

values. The PCA analysis exhibits distinct clustering of the first three principal components for each of the three

C
n
2

values, forming individual clusters on the PCA plot. Standard deviational ellipses are drawn to clearly demarcate these clusters on the PCA plot. The texture-based PCA classification of atmospheric turbulence was also performed for a focused Gaussian beam. The comparison of PCA plots between vortex and Gaussian beams showed that a pronounced clear separation of

C
n
2

values is obtained for the vortex beam. This indicates that the non-zero orbital angular momentum of the vortex beam also plays an important role in achieving the distinct separation of

C
n
2

values on the PCA plot. The proposed method can provide efficient real-time turbulence estimation solely on the basis of texture of the instantaneous intensity speckle with prior training and therefore may simplify the estimation of turbulence strength parameter.
Real-time monitoring of process current and its correlation with micro-feature accuracy and surface topography in electrochemical micromachining of nitinol
Authors: Sethi Abhijeet , Acharya Biswesh Ranjan , Saha Partha
Published: November 2023

The nickel-titanium alloy known as Nitinol classified as a shape memory alloy is distinguished by its exceptional attributes, including shape memory effect, biocompatibility, and superelasticity. However, its thermo-mechanical dependent transformation behavior makes it difficult to process using traditional methods. Electrochemical micromachining (ECMM), a non-traditional fabrication method, uses anodic dissolution process to produce microfeatures on Nitinol. The current work emphasizes the impact of process current on the machining accuracy and surface topography of microchannels produced during ECMM of Nitinol utilizing ethylene glycol-based sodium nitrate electrolyte. The ECMM process parameters that were studied are pulsed potential, molar concentration, and micro-tool scan rate, and the development of the process current resulting in variation of these parameters during microchannel fabrication was closely observed. The statistical parameters, namely, the average process current and the process current fluctuation, were derived from the process current data that were further analyzed with respect to input parameters. The machining accuracy and the surface topography of the microchannel are analyzed by measuring the width overcut, channel depth, stray region, width standard deviation, and average surface roughness of the fabricated microchannel. The results showed that monitoring the process current in real-time is an effective way of controlling the process, particularly when it comes to fabricating micro-features that must adhere to strict predetermined criteria.
Procyanidins and sensory nutrition; do procyanidins modulate homeostasis via astringent taste receptors?
Authors: Osakabe Naomi , Fushimi Taiki , Fujii Yasuyuki , Calabrese Vittorio
Published: November 2023

Long-term intake of procyanidins has been suggested to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and sensory function decline associated with aging. However, most of the ingested procyanidins are not absorbed and are excreted in the feces, so the mechanism of their beneficial impact is unknown. Procyanidins are the components of astringency in plant foods and their stimulation appears to be directly transmitted to the central nervous system via sensory nerves. Recent attention has been focused on the taste receptors expressed in the extra-oral gastrointestinal tract may regulate homeostasis via the neuroendocrine system. In this paper, we have reviewed recent findings on the relationship between the astringency of procyanidins and their bioregulatory effects.
Housework or vigilance? Bilbies alter their burrowing activity under threat of predation by feral cats
Authors: Chen Faith S E , Dawson Stuart J , Fleming Patricia A
Published: November 2023

Behavioral adjustments to predation risk not only impose costs on prey species themselves but can also have cascading impacts on whole ecosystems. The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is an important ecosystem engineer, modifying the physical environment through their digging activity, and supporting a diverse range of sympatric species that use its burrows for refuge and food resources. The bilby has experienced a severe decline over the last 200 years, and the species is now restricted to ~20% of its former distribution. Introduced predators, such as the feral cat (Felis catus), have contributed to this decline. We used camera traps to monitor bilby burrows at four sites in Western Australia, where bilbies were exposed to varying levels of cat predation threat. We investigated the impact of feral cats on bilby behavior at burrows, particularly during highly vulnerable periods when they dig and clear away soil or debris from the burrow entrance as they perform burrow maintenance. There was little evidence that bilbies avoided burrows that were visited by a feral cat; however, bilbies reduced the time spent performing burrow maintenance in the days following a cat visit (P = 0.010). We found the risk posed to bilbies varied over time, with twice the cat activity around full moon compared with dark nights. Given bilby burrows are an important resource in Australian ecosystems, predation by feral cats and the indirect impact of cats on bilby behavior may have substantial ecosystem function implications.
ComplexQA: a deep graph learning approach for protein complex structure assessment
Authors: Zhang Lei , Wang Sheng , Hou Jie , Si Dong , Zhu Junyong , Cao Renzhi
Published: November 2023

Motivation

In recent years, the end-to-end deep learning method for single-chain protein structure prediction has achieved high accuracy. For example, the state-of-the-art method AlphaFold, developed by Google, has largely increased the accuracy of protein structure predictions to near experimental accuracy in some of the cases. At the same time, there are few methods that can evaluate the quality of protein complexes at the residue level. In particular, evaluating the quality of residues at the interface of protein complexes can lead to a wide range of applications, such as protein function analysis and drug design. In this paper, we introduce a new deep graph neural network-based method ComplexQA, to evaluate the local quality of interfaces for protein complexes by utilizing the residue-level structural information in 3D space and the sequence-level constraints.

Results

We benchmark our method to other state-of-the-art quality assessment approaches on the HAF2 and DBM55-AF2 datasets (high-quality structural models predicted by AlphaFold-Multimer), and the BM5 docking dataset. The experimental results show that our proposed method achieves better or similar performance compared with other state-of-the-art methods, especially on difficult targets which only contain a few acceptable models. Our method is able to suggest a score for each interfac e residue, which demonstrates a powerful assessment tool for the ever-increasing number of protein complexes.

Availability

https://github.com/Cao-Labs/ComplexQA.git. Contact: caora@plu.edu
MedCPT: Contrastive Pre-trained Transformers with large-scale PubMed search logs for zero-shot biomedical information retrieval
Authors: Jin Qiao , Kim Won , Chen Qingyu , Comeau Donald C , Yeganova Lana , Wilbur W John , Lu Zhiyong
Published: November 2023

Motivation

Information retrieval (IR) is essential in biomedical knowledge acquisition and clinical decision support. While recent progress has shown that language model encoders perform better semantic retrieval, training such models requires abundant query–article annotations that are difficult to obtain in biomedicine. As a result, most biomedical IR systems only conduct lexical matching. In response, we introduce MedCPT, a first-of-its-kind Contrastively Pre-trained Transformer model for zero-shot semantic IR in biomedicine.

Results

To train MedCPT, we collected an unprecedented scale of 255 million user click logs from PubMed. With such data, we use contrastive learning to train a pair of closely integrated retriever and re-ranker. Experimental results show that MedCPT sets new state-of-the-art performance on six biomedical IR tasks, outperforming various baselines including much larger models, such as GPT-3-sized cpt-text-XL. In addition, MedCPT also generates better biomedical article and sentence representations for semantic evaluations. As such, MedCPT can be readily applied to various real-world biomedical IR tasks.

Availability and implementation

The MedCPT code and model are available at https://github.com/ncbi/MedCPT.
Discontinuation of anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha treatment owing to blood test abnormalities, and cost-effectiveness of alternate blood monitoring strategies
Authors: Abhishek Abhishek , Stevenson Matthew D , Nakafero Georgina , Grainge Matthew J , Evans Ian , Alabas Oras , Card Tim , Taal Maarten W , Aithal Guruprasad P , Fox Christopher P , Mallen Christian D , van der Windt Danielle A , Riley Richard D , Warren Richard B , Williams Hywel C
Published: November 2023

Background

There is no evidence base to support the use of 6-monthly monitoring blood tests for the early detection of liver, blood and renal toxicity during established anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) treatment.

Objectives

To evaluate the incidence and risk factors of anti-TNFα treatment cessation owing to liver, blood and renal side-effects, and to estimate the cost-effectiveness of alternate intervals between monitoring blood tests.

Methods

A secondary care-based retrospective cohort study was performed. Data from the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic and Immunomodulators Register (BADBIR) were used. Patients with at least moderate psoriasis prescribed their first anti-TNFα treatment were included. Treatment discontinuation due to a monitoring blood test abnormality was the primary outcome. Patients were followed-up from start of treatment to the outcome of interest, drug discontinuation, death, 31 July 2021 or up to 5 years, whichever came first. The incidence rate (IR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of anti-TNFα discontinuation with monitoring blood test abnormality was calculated. Multivariate Cox regression was used to examine the association between risk factors and outcome. A mathematical model evaluated costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) associated with increasing the length of time between monitoring blood tests during anti-TNFα treatment.

Results

The cohort included 8819 participants [3710 (42.1%) female, mean (SD) age 44.76 (13.20) years] that contributed 25 058 person-years (PY) of follow-up and experienced 125 treatment discontinuations owing to a monitoring blood test abnormality at an IR of 5.85 (95% CI 4.91–6.97)/1000 PY. Of these, 64 and 61 discontinuations occurred within the first year and after the first year of treatment start, at IRs of 8.62 (95% CI 6.74–11.01) and 3.44 (95% CI 2.67–4.42)/1000 PY, respectively. Increasing age (in years), diabetes and liver disease were associated with anti-TNFα discontinuation after a monitoring blood test abnormality [adjusted hazard ratios of 1.02 (95% CI 1.01–1.04), 1.68 (95% CI 1.00–2.81) and 2.27 (95% CI 1.26–4.07), respectively]. Assuming a threshold of £20 000 per QALY gained, no monitoring was most cost-effective, but all extended periods were cost-effective vs. 3- or 6-monthly monitoring.

Conclusions

Anti-TNFα drugs were uncommonly discontinued owing to abnormal monitoring blood tests after the first year of treatment. Extending the duration between monitoring blood tests was cost-effective. Our results produce evidence for specialist society guidance to reduce patient monitoring burden and healthcare costs.
Expectation Formation with Correlated Variables
Authors: He Simin , Kučinskas Simas
Published: November 2023

We experimentally study how people form expectations about correlated variables. Subjects forecast a time-series variable A. In treatment Baseline, subjects only observe past values of A. In treatment Correlated, they additionally observe a correlated variable B; A is equally predictable and has the same univariate properties in both treatments. Subjects are significantly less accurate and underreact more in Correlated, inconsistent with Bayesian learning. A structural-model estimation indicates that subjects (i) underestimate the level of correlation and (ii) are insensitive to actual correlation. Our study provides first direct evidence of correlation neglect in the domain of expectation formation.
Frozen elephant trunk technique using hybrid grafts: 15-year outcomes from a single-centre experience
Authors: Murana Giacomo , Gliozzi Gregorio , Di Marco Luca , Campanini Francesco , Snaidero Silvia , Nocera Chiara , Rucci Paola , Barberio Giuseppe , Leone Alessandro , Lovato Luigi , Pacini Davide
Published: November 2023

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study is to compare the short- and long-term outcomes of the frozen elephant trunk (FET) technique based on 2 different hybrid grafts implanted from January 2007 to July 2022.

METHODS

The study includes patients who underwent an elective or emergency FET procedure. Short-term, long-term mortality and freedom from thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) were the primary end points. Analyses were carried out separately for the periods 2007–2012 and 2013–2022

RESULTS

Of the 367 enrolled, 49.3% received E-Vita Open implantation and 50.7% received Thoraflex Hybrid implants. Overall mean age was 61 years [standard deviation (SD) = 11] and 80.7% were male. The average annual volume of FET procedures was 22.7 cases/year. Compared to E-Vita Open, patients implanted with Thoraflex Hybrid grafts were more likely to receive distal anastomosis in zone 2 (68.3% vs 11.6%, P < 0.001) with a shorter stent portion, mean = 103mm (SD = 11.3) vs mean = 149 mm (SD = 12.7; P < 0.001) and they underwent a reduced visceral ischaemia time, mean = 42.5 (SD = 14.2) vs mean= 61.0 (SD = 20.2) min, P < 0.001. In the period 2013–2022, overall survival at 1, 2 and 5 years was 74.8%, 72.5% and 63.2% for Thoraflex and 73.2%, 70.7% and 64.1% for E-Vita, without significant differences between groups (log-rank test = 0.01, P = 0.907). Overall freedom from TEVAR at 1, 2 and 5 years was 66.7%, 57.6% and 39.3% for Thoraflex and 79%, 69.7% and 66% for E-Vita, with significant differences between groups (log-rank test = 5.28, P = 0.029). In a competing risk analysis adjusted for chronic/residual aortic syndromes and stent diameter, the Thoraflex group was more likely to receive TEVAR during follow-up (subdistribution hazard ratio SHR = 2.12, 95% confidence interval 1.06–4.22).

CONCLUSIONS

The FET technique addresses acute and chronic arch disease with acceptable morbidity and mortality. Downstream endovascular reinterventions are very common during follow-up.
Risk factors for loss of pulmonary function after wedge resection for peripheral ground-glass opacity dominant lung cancer
Authors: Miyoshi Tomohiro , Ito Hiroyuki , Wakabayashi Masashi , Hashimoto Tadayoshi , Sekino Yuta , Suzuki Kenji , Tsuboi Masahiro , Moriya Yasumitsu , Yoshino Ichiro , Isaka Tetsuya , Hattori Aritoshi , Mimae Takahiro , Isaka Mitsuhiro , Maniwa Tomohiro , Endo Makoto , Yoshioka Hiroshige , Nakagawa Kazuo , Nakajima Ryu , Tsutani Yasuhiro , Saji Hisashi , Okada Morihito , Aokage Keiju , Fukuda Haruhiko , Watanabe Shun-Ichi
Published: November 2023

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to identify the risk factors for pulmonary functional deterioration after wedge resection for early-stage lung cancer with ground-glass opacity, which remain unclear, particularly in low-risk patients.

METHODS

We analysed 237 patients who underwent wedge resection for peripheral early-stage lung cancer in JCOG0804/WJOG4507L, a phase III, single-arm confirmatory trial. The changes in forced expiratory volume in 1 s were calculated pre- and postoperatively, and a cutoff value of −10%, the previously reported reduction rate after lobectomy, was used to divide the patients into 2 groups: the severely reduced group (≤−10%) and normal group (>−10%). These groups were compared to identify predictors for severe reduction.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven (16%) patients experienced severe reduction. Lesions with a total tumour size ≥1 cm were significantly more frequent in the severely reduced group than in the normal group (89.2% vs 71.5%; P = 0.024). A total tumour size of ≥1 cm [odds ratio (OR), 3.287; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.114–9.699: P = 0.031] and pleural indentation (OR, 2.474; 95% CI, 1.039–5.890: P = 0.041) were significant predictive factors in the univariable analysis. In the multivariable analysis, pleural indentation (OR, 2.667; 95% CI, 1.082–6.574; P = 0.033) was an independent predictive factor, whereas smoking status and total tumour size were marginally significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Of the low-risk patients who underwent pulmonary wedge resection for early-stage lung cancer, 16% experienced severe reduction in pulmonary function. Pleural indentation may be a risk factor for severely reduced pulmonary function in pulmonary wedge resection.
All about being old and shooting hairs: clade age and urticating hair explain the patterns of diversification in tarantulas
Authors: Biswas Aritra , Karanth K Praveen
Published: November 2023

The extreme asymmetry of species richness distribution across the tree of life has always intrigued evolutionary biologists. Two competing explanations have been proposed to explain this pattern—the clade age hypothesis and diversification rate variation. While these two scenarios may not be mutually exclusive, to what extent time and diversification rates interact to explain species richness patterns remains understudied. Here, we investigate the relative influence of these two scenarios using tarantulas (Family: Theraphosidae) as a model. Tarantulas represent a speciose group of spiders found worldwide but exceptionally diverse in South America. These spiders show two distinct patterns of microhabitat use (ground-dwelling or arboreal) and defense strategies (presence or absence of urticating hairs). Using various trait-independent and dependent diversification models, we test the clade age hypothesis, the role of microhabitat, antipredator defense strategy, and geography in influencing diversification rates. Our results suggest that clade age is the primary predictor of species richness distribution across the tarantula subfamilies. However, the presence of urticating hair probably disrupted this pattern in some clades by increasing the net diversification rates, not by increasing the speciation rate but by reducing the extinction rate.
Three-dimensional electric-field vector resistivity imaging for deep subsurface fractures network in heterogeneous crystalline rocks
Authors: Maurya V P , Gupta S M , Mishra A , Chandra S , Tiwari V M
Published: November 2023

Crystalline rocks, exposed in different parts of the world and over about one-third of India, have complex aquifer systems, which pose a challenge to mapping groundwater dynamics. Electrical resistivity tomography in quasi-3-D and electrical logging of some borewells carried out in an experimental ‘hydrogeological park’ in southern India, which has numerous boreholes and other geophysical information for validation, were unable to map the existence of deeper bedrock fractures and their connectivity. We have attempted electric-field vector resistivity imaging (EVRI), a new tool, to resolve the possible fracture-induced deep interconnectivity in a hard rock aquifer system. In the experiment, multiple two-orthonormal-channels independent receiver nodes for potential measurements are deployed and illuminated with several current injections between ∼ 0.9–3.7 A in full 3-D fashion, which allowed for improved mapping of resistivity variation than earlier approaches. The EVRI-derived full 3-D model shows the presence of fractures for depths between 20 and 70 m with substantial resistivity variations, supported by some borewells hydraulic investigations. It has also enhanced lateral resolution for depths > 30 m and almost doubled the depth of investigation than earlier electrical models. EVRI results revealed unweathered/unfractured granitic rock with no significant signature of fractures beyond 70 m depth that corroborates with existing borehole logs and hydrogeological conceptual model. Therefore, this study demonstrates the potential of EVRI for 3-D mapping of heterogeneous crystalline rocks, which would greatly help in groundwater management.
Ralph of Diss, the coronation of Philip Augustus (1179) and the English claim to the French throne
Authors: Weiler Björn
Published: November 2023

In the 1190s Ralph of Diss, the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, wrote a universal chronicle from the Creation to the author’s lifetime. This article uses Ralph’s account of the coronation of Philip Augustus of France in 1179 to tackle a series of broader issues: the role of history as a form of erudition, the ability of a remote and distant past to contain lessons for the present, and how this may change our approach to the works of Diss and his brethren. This represents the first attempt to read Ralph’s writings taking seriously his instructions about how history ought to be approached. The interpretation of events in 1179 casts important new light on Ralph’s approach to history, as well as on elite literary and historical culture around the year 1200.