bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-value phase grating fabrication using direct laser writing for generating a two-dimensional focal spot array
Authors: Huang Yi , Li Minglong , Tu Pu , Zhu Haodong , Xia Junyu , He Guangqiang , Yang ZhenYu , Zhao Ming
Published: March 2022

As a beam splitter, multi-value phase grating (MVPG) has a higher diffraction efficiency than the traditional Damman grating (DG) due to its increased number of phase values within one period of the grating. In this paper, two MVPGs are numerically designed within a 120 μm × 120 μm area, which generate 4 * 4 and 5 * 5 focal spot arrays in the far field. Both gratings are fabricated by direct laser writing (DLW) technology. Their diffraction efficiencies reach 68.58% and 63.4%, respectively. To compare, DGs with the same size and focal spot arrays are designed and fabricated, whose diffraction efficiencies are tested to be 29.55% and 35.04%, respectively. The results demonstrate the better optical properties of multi-value phase gratings and the capability of DLW in three-dimensional nano-scale diffractive optical element fabrication.
Bound states in the continuum on flatbands of symmetry-broken photonic crystal slabs
Authors: Zeng Yixuan , Hu Guangwei , Cao Guangtao , Dong Shaohua , Liu Kaipeng , Tang Zhixiang , Qiu Cheng-Wei
Published: March 2022

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) are localized states despite in a radiation continuum, rendering the ultra-high quality factor for enhanced light–matter interactions and supporting exotic topological properties. So far, most of studied BICs in photonic crystal (PhC) slabs are only vertically localized, i.e. allowing propagations in the plane of slab therein but forbidding radiations, and the density of optical states (DOS) at their frequencies is limited due to the steep dispersion characteristics. Here, we report a BIC existing on a flatband of symmetry-broken PhC slab. The flatband, associated with largely reduced group velocity, significantly sharpens the DOS at the frequency of BIC, which can be realized via finely controlling broken vertical symmetry in the PhC slab. The effect of broken symmetry is revealed in a simple effective Hamiltonian near the second-order Γ point of such system. Our results show the simultaneous engineering of dispersion and leaky characteristics of modes, offering new opportunities to boost light–matter interactions and to enhance the performance of photonic devices.
Computer generated color rainbow holographic stereogram
Authors: Xu Fuyang , Yang Xin , Yu Wenjie , Jiang Yuyi , Song Qiang , Ma Guobin
Published: March 2022

In this research, a fast method to calculate the color rainbow holographic stereogram (CRHS) by taking full advantage of the sparsity of the frequency domain is demonstrated. The CRHS is a novel color rainbow hologram containing a large number of elemental CRHSs, where each elemental CRHS only reproduces the color light field information of local 3D color object. The color of the reconstructed color 3D image perceived by the human eye is determined by the spectrum of the reproduced dispersion of different elemental CRHSs that enter the human eye. The calculation of the CRHS is implemented with parallel computing by inversely Fourier transforming the frequency of each elemental CRHS. With the proposed method, the computation time for a resolution of 200k × 200k pixels and size of 64 × 64 mm CRHS is only 15.4 min for a color 3D model with 406k object points. The optical reconstruction with a white LED light illumination proves the effectiveness of our proposed method, which can be applied to the field of color holographic 3D display, advertising or holographic packaging.
A modified spin-casting approach for scalable preparation of ultra-thick reduced graphene oxide films with high thermal conductivity
Authors: Liu Dapeng , Fu Huili , Yang Tingting , Wang Wenjing , Zhao Jingna , Wu Kunjie , Wu Cao , Yong Zhenzhong , Zhang Yongyi
Published: March 2022

With the fast development of high-power electronic devices in recent years, the demand for high-performance thermal dissipation films with high thermal conductivity and large thickness has dramatically increased. Graphene has shown great potential in thermal management due to its extremely high thermal conductivity. However, it remains a significant challenge to achieve high thermal conductivity in thick graphene films (≥100 μm). Herein, a scalable strategy combining a modified layer-by-layer ‘spin-casting’ solution deposition method and multi-step annealing post treatment was adopted for preparing ultra-thick, highly thermal conductive graphene films. The properties of the graphene films were characterized by SEM, XRD, Raman, and XPS, exhibiting excellent graphitic crystallinity, well aligned and dense packing assembly structure. These nearly ideal structural features endow the graphene films with high in-plane thermal conductivity of 1265 ± 46 W m−1 K−1 at a large thickness of 100 μm. The ultra-thick graphene films show superior thermal dissipation performance as compared with traditional Cu/Al foil, demonstrating their great potential in the field of highly-efficient heat spreader films for the next generation of high-power devices.
Computational study of pressurized tetragonal magnesium hydride (MgH4) as a potential candidate for high-temperature superconducting material
Authors: Gebreyohannes Muez Gebregiorgis , Geffe Chernet Amente , Singh Pooran
Published: March 2022

The dream of realizing room temperature superconductivity is one of the most challenging problems in condensed matter physics. Currently, materials with dense hydrogen contents at high pressures hold great promise for realizing room temperature superconductivity. In particular, pressurized alkaline earth metal hydrides received particular attention following the recently predicted sodalite-like calcium hydride (CaH6) with predicted Tc about 261 K above a pressure of 150 GPa; and magnesium hydride (MgH6) with predicted Tc about 270 K above 300 GPa. In this paper, we studied magnesium hydride (MgH4) with tetragonal (I4/mmm) type symmetry, and we found that this structure shows the highest

T

c

≅
313
K

at a pressure of 280 GPa which is higher than that of MgH6. Using density-functional perturbation theory (DFPT), the superconducting transition temperature, electron-phonon coupling, Eliashberg spectral function, and the logarithmic average frequency were computed. Our results reveal that, the computed values are reasonably in agreement with previous estimates.
Modeling dynamic recrystallization behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy during electroshock assisted tension based on cellular automata
Authors: Mei Manlin , Song Yanli , Lu Jue , Chuanchuan Hao , Lechun Xie
Published: March 2022

Electroshock assisted forming of high-strength aluminum alloy is a new type of plasticizing manufacturing method. To study the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy during low-frequency electroshock assisted tension, a cellular automata (CA) model coupled electro-thermal-mechanical multi-field effect was proposed on the Matlab platform. In the established CA model, the effect of additional driving force generated by the electric pulse on the dynamic recrystallization nucleation and growth has been innovatively taken into account. The grain diameters obtained by the above CA model are consistent with that obtained by the electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) tests, which verified the accuracy of the model. The effects of current density and electrical pulse period on grain morphology, average grain diameter, DRX fraction, and grain size distribution were analyzed. Additionally, the optimal parameters of electroshock assisted tensile (current density of 30 A·mm−2, pulse period of 5 s) were predicted by the CA method. At this time, the DRX fraction increased to 45.79% and the fracture elongation of unidirectional tensile specimen increased by 21.74%.
Deep-learning-based quantum imaging using NOON states
Authors: Li Fengrong , Sun Yifan , Zhang XiangDong
Published: March 2022

The phase sensitivity of photonic NOON states scales O(1/N), which reaches the Heisenberg limit and indicates a great potential in high-quality optical phase sensing. However, the NOON states with large photon number N are experimentally difficult both to prepare and to operate. Such a fact severely limits their practical use. In this article, we soften the requirements for high-quality imaging based on NOON states with large N by introducing deep-learning methods. Specifically, we show that, with the help of deep-learning network, the fluctuation of the images obtained by the NOON states when N = 2 can be reduced to that of the currently infeasible imaging by the NOON states when N = 8. We numerically investigate our results obtained by two types of deep-learning models—deep neural network and convolutional denoising autoencoders, and characterize the imaging quality using the root mean square error. By comparison, we find that small-N NOON state imaging data is sufficient for training the deep-learning models of our schemes, which supports its direct application to the imaging processes.
Evidence of decreasing diurnal temperature range in eastern Northern Hemisphere
Authors: Guan Xiaodan , Cao Chenyu , Zeng Xinrui , Sun Wen
Published: March 2022

As a key variable in the climate system, the diurnal temperature range (DTR) has received a lot of attention in the atmospheric science community. The majority of published papers interpret DTR change in terms of variables like water vapor, cloud cover, and enhanced vegetation index. In this study, we found that the DTR has an obvious decreasing trend in the semi-arid Northeastern Hemisphere, and the decreasing trend is mainly caused by the continuous release of CO2 closely associated with a drying process in the Northeastern Hemisphere. As a result of the continued high emission of CO2, such accelerated decline changes in DTR in drylands may become much more pronounced in the future, posing a series of environmental problems.
On Mealy–Moore coding and images of Markov measures
Authors: Grigorchuk R. , Kogan R. , Vorobets Ya.
Published: March 2022

We study the images of the Markov measures under transformations generated by the Mealy automata. We find conditions under which the image measure is absolutely continuous or singular relative to the Markov measure. Also, we determine statistical properties of the image of a generic sequence.
Tiling billiards and Dynnikov’s helicoid
Authors: Paris-Romaskevich O.
Published: March 2022

Here are two problems. First, understanding the dynamics of a tiling billiard in a cyclic quadrilateral periodic tiling. Second, describing the topology of connected components of plane sections of a centrally symmetric subsurface

S
⊂

T

3

S \subset \mathbb {T}^3

of genus 

3
3

. In this paper we show that these two problems are related via a helicoidal construction proposed recently by Ivan Dynnikov. The second problem is a particular case of a classical question formulated by Sergei Novikov. The exploration of the relationship between a large class of tiling billiards (periodic locally foldable tiling billiards) and Novikov’s problem in higher genus seems promising, as we show at the end of this paper.
The asymptotic behaviour of cocycles over flows
Authors: Lipatov M.
Published: March 2022

In 1968, V. I. Oseledets formulated the question of the convergence in Birkhoff’s theorem and in the multiplicative ergodic theorem for measurable cocycles over flows, under the condition of integrability at any fixed time. In 2016, A. M. Stepin and the author of this paper established convergence along subsets of density 1 on the time axis. Here we show that, moreover, convergence takes place modulo subsets of finite measure of the time axis.
A violation of multiple mixing close to an extremal
Authors: Tikhonov S.
Published: March 2022

Given a mixing action

L
L

of a group

G
G

and a set

A
A

of half measure we consider the possible limits of the measures

μ
(
A
∩

L

m

i

A
∩

L

n

i

A
)

\mu (A\cap L^{m_{i}}A\cap L^{n_{i}}A)

as

i
→
∞

i\to \infty

and

m

i

,

n

i

,

m

i

−

n

i

→
∞

m_{i},n_{i},m_{i}-n_{i}\to \infty

. If the action is 3-mixing, then these limits are always equal to

1

/

8

1/8

. In the Ledrappier example, this limit is zero for some sequences. The following question is studied: what can be said about actions if one of these limits is positive but small? In the paper we make several observations on this topic.

Bibliography: 11 titles.
The wave equation with symmetric velocity on the hybrid manifold obtained by gluing a ray to a three-dimensional sphere
Authors: Shafarevich A. , Tsvetkova A.
Published: March 2022

In the paper, the Cauchy problem for the wave equation with variable (symmetric) velocity on the hybrid manifold obtained by gluing a ray to a three-dimensional sphere is considered. It is assumed that the initial conditions are localized on the ray and the velocity on the sphere depends only on the geodesic distance to the gluing point. The asymptotic series of the solution of the problem as parameter characterizing the initial perturbation tends to zero is given. Since the sphere is compact, then the wave propagating over the sphere is reflected at the pole opposite to the gluing point and returns to the ray. Thus, the question of the distribution of wave energy at every moment of time is also interested and discussed in this work.
New classes of function spaces and singular operators
Authors: Kazaryan G. , Karapetyants A. , Margaryan V. , Mkrtchyan G. , Sergeev A.
Published: March 2022

This article is dedicated to the memory of Garnik Al’bertovich Karapetyan and it contains a review of results obtained by G. A. Karapetyan and his colleagues within the joint Russian–Armenian project of RFBR. In the first section, we look at multi-anisotropic spaces which were intensively studied by Karapetyan and his students. The second section is devoted to a new class of singular Hausdorff and Hausdorff–Berezin operators. In the third section, we study the connection between real function spaces and operator algebras in a Hilbert space, established by means of a quantization procedure. UDK: 517.518.
Time-asymptotic stability for first-order symmetric hyperbolic systems of balance laws in dissipative compressible fluid dynamics
Authors: Freistühler Heinrich
Published: March 2022

This paper identifies a non-(or /iso-)thermal variant of Ruggeri’s 1983 formulation of viscous heat-conductive fluid dynamics as a hyperbolic system of balance laws and shows that both the original model and this variant have (a) time-asymptotically stable equilibria and (b) principal parts deriving from a protopotential: a single scalar function that induces the temporospatial flux as an appropriate part of its Hessian.
Invited Commentary: Toward a Better Understanding of Disparities in Overdose Mortality
Authors: Abdalla Salma M , Galea Sandro
Published: March 2022

The United States has been in the grip of an epidemic of drug overdose mortality for the past few decades, and deaths from drug overdose increased dramatically during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Townsend et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2022;191(4):599–612) add to the growing literature highlighting the steep rise of drug overdose mortality among racial and ethnic minorities in the country. Using data from National Center for Health Statistics death certificates and employing principles of small-area estimation and a Bayesian hierarchical model to stabilize the estimates of smaller racial/ethnic groups and states, the authors found that combinations of opioid/stimulant drug overdose deaths saw a steep increase among racial and ethnic minorities, particularly Black Americans, between 2007 and 2019. The results from their analysis highlight the need to change the narrative around opioid deaths, to invest in targeted policies that address the growing burden of drug overdose faced by racial/ethnic minorities, and the importance of using innovative methods to address limitations to data disaggregation. The paper also demonstrates the importance of a holistic view of the challenges to the health of the American public.
Virtual clinical pharmacy services: A model of care to improve medication safety in rural and remote Australian health services
Authors: Chambers Brett , Fleming Cristen , Packer Anna , Botha Louis , Hawthorn Gerard , Nott Shannon
Published: March 2022

Purpose

To describe a virtual clinical pharmacy service as a model of care to support rural and remote Australian hospitals that otherwise would not have access to onsite pharmacists.

Many small hospitals in Australia do not have an onsite hospital pharmacist and struggle to support and optimize patient care. To increase access to a hospital pharmacist’s specialized skills and medication knowledge, a virtual clinical pharmacy service was designed and implemented in 8 hospitals across rural New South Wales, Australia in 2020. The virtual clinical pharmacy service focuses on the core role of hospital pharmacists, including obtaining a best possible medication history, medication reconciliation at transitions of care, medication review, interprofessional team meetings, provision of patient-friendly medication lists, antimicrobial stewardship, and patient and clinician education. The model is aligned with recognized standards of practice for the delivery of clinical pharmacy services in Australian hospitals. This article details a model of care for translation across other settings. It provides the necessary details on clinical services, processes, supporting structures, an evaluation framework, and other important considerations for implementing virtual pharmacy services.

Conclusion

This research provides policymakers, health service planners, and practitioners with a model for providing comprehensive clinical pharmacy services virtually to increase the safe and effective use of medicines. Future publication of the findings of a formal evaluation of the model’s acceptability and effectiveness is planned.
Heterogeneous multi-scale neighbor topologies enhanced drug–disease association prediction
Authors: Xuan Ping , Meng Xiangfeng , Gao Ling , Zhang Tiangang , Nakaguchi Toshiya
Published: March 2022

Motivation

Identifying new uses of approved drugs is an effective way to reduce the time and cost of drug development. Recent computational approaches for predicting drug–disease associations have integrated multi-sourced data on drugs and diseases. However, neighboring topologies of various scales in multiple heterogeneous drug–disease networks have yet to be exploited and fully integrated.

Results

We propose a novel method for drug–disease association prediction, called MGPred, used to encode and learn multi-scale neighboring topologies of drug and disease nodes and pairwise attributes from heterogeneous networks. First, we constructed three heterogeneous networks based on multiple kinds of drug similarities. Each network comprises drug and disease nodes and edges created based on node-wise similarities and associations that reflect specific topological structures. We also propose an embedding mechanism to formulate topologies that cover different ranges of neighbors. To encode the embeddings and derive multi-scale neighboring topology representations of drug and disease nodes, we propose a module based on graph convolutional autoencoders with shared parameters for each heterogeneous network. We also propose scale-level attention to obtain an adaptive fusion of informative topological representations at different scales. Finally, a learning module based on a convolutional neural network with various receptive fields is proposed to learn multi-view attribute representations of a pair of drug and disease nodes. Comprehensive experiment results demonstrate that MGPred outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in comparison to drug-related disease prediction, and the recall rates for the top-ranked candidates and case studies on five drugs further demonstrate the ability of MGPred to retrieve potential drug–disease associations.
Digital Diasporas: Staying with the Trouble
Authors: Candidatu Laura , Ponzanesi Sandra
Published: March 2022

This commentary proposes a reorientation of diaspora studies towards new configurations of participation and identification. Digital media affordances in this sense are just such new configurations that enable, sustain and multiply diasporic encounters through social media platforms, digital devices and infrastructures. The emerging digital diasporas do not oppose or replace traditional diasporas, but on the contrary further expand and transform their agency in the digital age Mihaela Nedelcu (2018). In our thinking, we are inconversation with, as well as departing from, previous notions of diaspora. In this commentary, we briefly establish the complex and non-linear genealogy of the term, as partaking in multiple disciplinary takes and discursive orientations, and then migrating to the new realm of technology and digital connectedness.
Bipartite functional fractionation within the neural system for social cognition supports the psychological continuity of self versus other
Authors: Chiou Rocco , Cox Christopher R , Lambon Ralph Matthew A
Published: March 2022

Research of social neuroscience establishes that regions in the brain’s default-mode network (DN) and semantic network (SN) are engaged by socio-cognitive tasks. Research of the human connectome shows that DN and SN regions are both situated at the transmodal end of a cortical gradient but differ in their loci along this gradient. Here we integrated these 2 bodies of research, used the psychological continuity of self versus other as a “test-case,” and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether these 2 networks would encode social concepts differently. We found a robust dissociation between the DN and SN—while both networks contained sufficient information for decoding broad-stroke distinction of social categories, the DN carried more generalizable information for cross-classifying across social distance and emotive valence than did the SN. We also found that the overarching distinction of self versus other was a principal divider of the representational space while social distance was an auxiliary factor (subdivision, nested within the principal dimension), and this representational landscape was more manifested in the DN than in the SN. Taken together, our findings demonstrate how insights from connectome research can benefit social neuroscience and have implications for clarifying the 2 networks’ differential contributions to social cognition.
The global division of labour as enduring archipelago: thinking through the spatiality of ‘globalisation in reverse’
Authors: van Meeteren Michiel , Kleibert Jana
Published: March 2022

Contemporary globalisation faces several challenges, for instance related to climate change, technological disruption and shifting geopolitics, that have repercussions for the organisation of value chains and the global division of labour. Analysing the long-term geographies of globalisation we observe how successive reconfigurations of ‘new’ and ‘newer’ global divisions of labour share an archipelagic socio-spatial structure. The paper theorizes the articulations of this archipelago spatial figure as a combination of de/bordering, dis/connecting and dis/association. We apply this framework to provide a nuanced assessment of how global capitalism might restructure when some processes that defined globalisation during the last decades kick in reverse.
Adaptive temporal patterns of echolocation and flight behaviors used to fly through varied-sized windows by 2 species of high duty cycle bats
Authors: Ding Jianan , Zhang Yu , Han Fujie , Jiang Tingting , Feng Jiang , Lin Aiqing , Liu Ying
Published: March 2022

As actively sensing animals guided by acoustic information, echolocating bats must adapt their vocal–motor behavior to various environments and behavioral tasks. Here, we investigated how the temporal patterns of echolocation and flight behavior were adjusted in 2 species of bats with a high duty cycle (HDC) call structure, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Hipposideros armiger, when they flew along a straight corridor and then passed through windows of 3 different sizes. We also tested whether divergence existed in the adaptations of the 2 species. Both H. armiger and R. ferrumequinum increased their call rates by shortening the pulse duration and inter-pulse interval for more rapid spatial sampling of the environment when flying through smaller windows. Bats produced more sonar sound groups (SSGs) while maintaining a stable proportion of calls that made up SSGs during approaches to smaller windows. The 2 species showed divergent adjustment in flight behavior across 3 different window sizes. Hipposideros armiger reduced its flight speed to pass through smaller windows while R. ferrumequinum increased its flight speed. Our results suggest that these 2 species of HDC bats adopt similar acoustic timing patterns for different tasks although they performed different flight behaviors.
Cryopreserved aortic homografts for complex aortic valve or root endocarditis: a 28-year experience
Authors: Galeone Antonella , Trojan Diletta , Gardellini Jacopo , di Gaetano Renato , Faggian Giuseppe , Luciani Giovanni Battista
Published: March 2022

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate early- and long-term outcomes of cryopreserved aortic homograft (CAH) implantation for aortic valve replacement (AVR) or aortic root replacement (ARR) in patients with or without complex infective endocarditis.

METHODS

All adult patients undergoing AVR or ARR with CAH at our institution between January 1993 and July 2021 were included in the study.

RESULTS

One hundred four patients, 75 males and 29 females, aged 59 ± 17 years, underwent AVR or ARR with CAH for infective endocarditis (n = 94, 90%) or aortic valve disease (n = 10, 10%). There were 33 (35%) native valve endocarditis and 61 (65%) prosthetic valve endocarditis, which were complicated by annular abscess in 77 (82%) patients, mitral valve endocarditis in 13 (14%) and tricuspid valve endocarditis in 13 (14%). The mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 214 ± 80 min and the mean aortic cross-clamping time was 164 ± 56 min. There were 12 (12%) hospital deaths and 7 (7%) postoperative low cardiac output syndrome requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in 4 patients and intra-aortic balloon pump in 3. Thirty-nine (42%) patients died during the follow-up (94% complete). The mean survival time was 13.9 ± 1.2 years. Twenty-five patients (26%) underwent late reoperation for aortic homograft degeneration (n = 17, 18%), homograft endocarditis (n = 6, 7%), homograft dehiscence (n = 1, 1%) and mitral valve regurgitation (n = 1, 1%). The mean survival free from reintervention was 15.7 ± 1.2 years.

CONCLUSIONS

AVR or ARR with a CAH for complex endocarditis is associated with satisfactory hospital survival, considering the critical patient presentation at surgery, and excellent survival free from recurrent infection. Need for reoperation late after surgery is similar to other biological prostheses.
The figure-of-8 aortic valve suturing technique optimizes the effective orifice area of a small aortic annulus—an ex vivo study
Authors: Saisho Hiroyuki , Kuhlmann Carina , Scharfschwerdt Michael , Jeganathan Reuben , Sadat Najla , Schaller Tim , Aboud Anas , Ensminger Stephan , Fujita Buntaro
Published: March 2022

OBJECTIVES

Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in small annuli carries an elevated risk for the patient–prosthesis mismatch. In this study, we systematically investigated the influence of different implantation techniques including annular enlargement (AE) on the functional result after SAVR in small annuli using a standardized ex vivo model.

METHODS

SAVR using the PERIMOUNT Magna Ease® (PME) 21 mm was performed in small porcine aortic roots using 4 implantation techniques: non-everting pledgeted (NE) suture, single interrupted (SI) suture, continuous suture (CS), figure-of-8 (F8) suture, as well as the PME 23 mm after AE using the Nunez method and the NE suture technique (PME23 AE). The effective orifice area (EOA), mean pressure gradient and leakage volume were evaluated using a mock circulation loop in accordance with ISO regulations.

RESULTS

Experiments were conducted on 31 porcine aortic roots. PME21 using F8 and PME23 after AE achieved a significantly larger EOA than using NE. PME23 after AE showed a larger EOA than the PME21 using any suture technique, except the F8 [for stroke volume of 74 ml: PME21 NE: 1.68 (1.63–1.72) cm2, PME21 SI: 1.76 (1.68–1.81) cm2 (P = 0.17), PME21 CS: 1.76 (1.65–1.79) cm2 (P = 0.14), PME21 F8: 1.81 (1.70–1.85) cm2 (P = 0.005); PME23 AE: 1.83 (1.73–1.92) cm2 (P < 0.001)]. SI and CS did not result in larger EOA compared with the NE technique. PME21 using SI had a significantly larger leakage volume than using NE and there was no significant difference between other techniques [for stroke volume of 74 ml: PME21 NE: 3.51 (1.85–4.53) ml/stroke, PME21 SI: 6.00 (4.02–7.06) ml/stroke (P < 0.001), PME21 CS: 4.04 (3.60–4.49) ml/stroke (P = 0.10), PME21 F8: 3.16 (1.99–3.62) ml/stroke (P = 0.74), PME23 NE: 2.89 (2.45–4.72) ml/stroke (P = 0.51)].

CONCLUSIONS

The F8 technique with the PME21 achieved a similar EOA as the 1 size larger PME23 using NE after AE. These results suggest that the F8 technique may be an effective surgical modification to improve the haemodynamic result in a small annulus without additional AE.
The effectiveness of promotion incentives for public employees: evidence from Italian academia
Authors: Nieddu Marco , Pandolfi Lorenzo
Published: March 2022

We investigate how promotion incentives affect the productivity of a large sample of high-skilled public employees: academics. In a fuzzy regression-discontinuity design, we exploit the three bibliometric thresholds of the 2012 National Scientific Qualification (NSQ), the centralized evaluation procedure regulating career advancements in Italian universities. We compare the 2013–16 research productivity of assistant professors barely qualified for associate professor—whose next goal becomes meeting the higher thresholds for the full professor qualification—with the productivity of candidates who barely miss the qualification—whose goal remains meeting the associate professor thresholds. We find that barely qualified scholars publish significantly more papers than their non-qualified colleagues, in journals of comparable quality. Our results emphasize the importance of promotion incentives as an effective incentivizing tool in public universities and more in general public organizations.
EU Digital Regulation 2022: Data Desiderata
Authors: Picht Peter Georg , Richter Heiko
Published: March 2022

With the drafts of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Data Governance Act (DGA), the EU Commission presented three cornerstones of its digital regulation approach in November and December of 2020. This article looks at data transactions and focuses on four aspects which illustrate that the proposed Acts leave ample room for improvement in terms of the coherence and specificity of their respective rules: the specificity of data-related provisions; the role of FRAND in the Package context; the role of data intermediaries; and the upcoming Data Act. Beyond diagnosis, the article calls for an integrative approach and proposes improvements. It aims to spark a more intense discourse on data transactions under the Package.
Gendered labour, negritude and the Black public sphere
Authors: Fejzula Merve
Published: March 2022

This article uses the landmark 1956 Congress of Black Writers and Artists to re-examine the gendering of the Black public sphere. Organized by Présence africaine, the journal/publishing house that served as the hub for the negritude movement, the congress is one of the iconic moments in African and Black intellectual history. Women were notoriously absent among its delegates, yet this article reconstructs the contributions of Christiane Yandé Diop, Dorothy Brooks and other collectives whose myriad contributions were critical to its success. It argues that the congress was representative of what feminist theorists and organizers have called the fused nature of ‘work’ (production) and ‘domestic work’ (social reproduction), that is, labour necessary to sustain life. As they have shown, where labour takes place impacts its gendering. Because most of the planning for the congress took place in social reproductive settings like homes and cafés, this often compressed re/productive labours, gendering negritude’s intellectual life in consequential ways. Yet though negritude’s women exemplify the frequently blurred lines between re/productive labour, between so-called ‘intellectuals’ and those who operated without such a designation, their own self-understandings sometimes reinstated these gendered divisions. Yandé Diop, Brooks and many others were critical to shaping negritude, and yet the alternative choices they made in that shaping need to be reckoned with on their own terms. I thus argue that we need to take such choices seriously at the same time as we do justice to the integral nature of their contributions. Doing so can help us negotiate with greater nuance the different choices that women made in their contributions to intellectual life.
Existence of localized radial patterns in a model for dryland vegetation
Authors: Hill Dan J
Published: March 2022

Localized radial patterns have been observed in the vegetation of semi-arid ecosystems, often as localized patches of vegetation or in the form of ‘fairy circles’. We consider stationary localized radial solutions to a reduced model for dryland vegetation on flat terrain. By considering certain prototypical pattern-forming systems, we prove the existence of three classes of localized radial patterns bifurcating from a Turing instability. We also present evidence for the existence of localized gap solutions close to a homogeneous instability. Additionally, we numerically solve the vegetation model and use continuation methods to study the bifurcation structure and radial stability of localized radial spots and gaps. We conclude by investigating the effect of varying certain parameter values on the existence and stability of these localized radial patterns.
Liouville-Type Theorems for Fractional and Higher-Order Hénon–Hardy Type Equations via the Method of Scaling Spheres
Authors: Dai Wei , Qin Guolin
Published: March 2022

In this paper, we aim to develop the (direct) method of scaling spheres, its integral forms, and the method of scaling spheres in a local way. As applications, we investigate Liouville properties of nonnegative solutions to fractional and higher-order Hénon–Hardy type equations $$ \begin{align*}& (-\Delta)^{\frac{\alpha}{2}}u(x)=f(x,u(x)) \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\, \text{in} \,\,\, \mathbb{R}^{n}, \,\,\, \mathbb{R}^{n}_{+} \,\,\, \text{or} \,\,\, B_{R}(0) \end{align*}$$with $n>\alpha $, $0<\alpha <2$ or $\alpha =2m$ with $1\leq m<\frac {n}{2}$. We first consider the typical case $f(x,u)=|x|^{a}u^{p}$ with $a\in (-\alpha ,\infty )$ and $0
0$, we covered the gap $p\in \big [\frac {n+\alpha +a}{n-\alpha },p_{c}(a)\big )$. For bounded domains (i.e., balls), we also apply the method of scaling spheres to derive Liouville theorems for super-critical problems. Extensions to PDEs and IEs with general nonlinearities $f(x,u)$ are also included (Theorem 1.31). In addition to improving most of known Liouville type results to the sharp exponents in a unified way, we believe the method of scaling spheres developed here can be applied conveniently to various fractional or higher order problems with singularities or without translation invariance or in the cases the method of moving planes in conjunction with Kelvin transforms do not work.
Effectiveness of a Buffalo Turbine and A1 Mist Sprayer for the Areawide Deployment of Larvicide for Mosquito Control in an Urban Residential Setting
Authors: Burtis James C , Bickerton Matthew W , Indelicato Nicholas , Poggi Joseph D , Crans Scott C , Harrington Laura C
Published: March 2022

The control of medically important container-inhabiting mosquitoes is an ongoing challenge for mosquito control operations. Truck-mounted application equipment is a common option for rapid areawide larvicide deployment utilized by mosquito control operations. We tested the effectiveness of two truck-mounted sprayers (A1 Super Duty + Buffalo Turbine CSM3), for the deployment of water-dispersible biopesticides (VectoBac WDG:VectoLex WDG 50:50). Sixty residences within four residential neighborhoods in New Jersey were treated in 2019 and 2020. Three empty bioassay cups were placed in specific locations on each property (front yard/ back yard/ side of house), with an additional cup placed in an adjacent catch basin. This approach was replicated in two untreated control neighborhoods. Following larvicide application, cups were subjected to bioassays wherein larval mortality was tracked through adult eclosion. Overall, average larval mortality rates were 56% higher in treated cups compared against untreated controls. Mortality rates were affected by cup location, with 39% mortality in bioassay cups from back yards, 54% in those from the sides of houses, 73% in front yards, and 76% from cups in catch basins. Mortality did not differ significantly between the four treated neighborhoods, nor by the type of sprayer used. Our research shows that truck-mounted sprayers can be an effective method for larvicide deployment in residential neighborhoods, but effectiveness may depend upon the location of the target treatment area in relation to residences and other geographic obstacles.
Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy with adrenalectomy, feasibility, safety and outcome
Authors: Alqahtani Awadh , Almayouf Mohammad , Billa Srikar , Helmi Hadeel
Published: March 2022

Concomitant surgery is an attractive option because of convenience. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting concomitant laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic right adrenalectomy. A retrospective review of three patients with obesity and a unilateral adrenal mass was conducted. The demographics, workup, surgical technique and outcome were presented. Patient 1 had a body mass index (BMI) of 41 kg/m2, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN) and a right adrenal pheochromocytoma. Patient 2 had a BMI of 40 kg/m2, insulin-dependent DM, uncontrolled HTN, chronic kidney disease, ischemic heart disease and an aldosterone secreting right adrenal adenoma. Patient 3 had a BMI of 41 kg/m2, dyslipidemia, HTN and gout. All patients underwent concomitant LSG and laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA). LSG and LA is a feasible and safe concomitant surgery when performed under specific measures with minimal morbidity and more convenience.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support and total thyroidectomy in patients with refractory thyroid storm: case series and literature review
Authors: Alahmad Murad , Al-Sulaiti Maryam , Abdelrahman Husham , El-Menyar Ayman , Singh Inaita , Tabeb Abdelhakeem , Al-Thani Hassan
Published: March 2022

Thyroid storm (TS) is a rare but life-threatening complication of hyperthyroidism in which multiorgan failure (MOF) is the most common cause of death. Early diagnosis and treatment of TS are challenging. We presented two cases with refractory TS complicated with arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock and MOF and were not responding to medical treatment, therapeutic plasma exchange or continuous renal replacement therapy. The combination of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and early thyroidectomy was the mainstay treatment that was performed with no complications. MOF was resolved and patients were doing well in the outpatient clinic follow-up. Precautions concerning the beta blockers and anti-thyroid medications use in TS, especially in the acute setting, should be considered. Upon its availability, the use of ECMO and early thyroidectomy is efficient. This is most applicable in patients not responding to medical treatment or patients who develop complications related to the TS and its medical treatment.
A Semiparametric Multiple Imputation Approach to Fully Synthetic Data for Complex Surveys
Authors: Yu Mandi , He Yulei , Raghunathan Trivellore E
Published: March 2022

Data synthesis is an effective statistical approach for reducing data disclosure risk. Generating fully synthetic data might minimize such risk, but its modeling and application can be difficult for data from large, complex surveys. This article extended the two-stage imputation to simultaneously impute item missing values and generate fully synthetic data. A new combining rule for making inferences using data generated in this manner was developed. Two semiparametric missing data imputation models were adapted to generate fully synthetic data for skewed continuous variable and sparse binary variable, respectively. The proposed approach was evaluated using simulated data and real longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study. The proposed approach was also compared with two existing synthesis approaches: (1) parametric regressions models as implemented in IVEware; and (2) nonparametric Classification and Regression Trees as implemented in synthpop package for R using real data. The results show that high data utility is maintained for a wide variety of descriptive and model-based statistics using the proposed strategy. The proposed strategy also performs better than existing methods for sophisticated analyses such as factor analysis.
Towards a just energy transition: a critical analysis of the existing policies and regulations in Europe
Authors: del Guayo Íñigo , Cuesta Álvaro
Published: March 2022

The concept of just transition is included in the texts that establish the energy policy of the European Union (EU), in particular in the texts relating to the European Green Deal. The idea refers to the need to compensate the inhabitants of those regions where coal-fired power plants or coalmines are closed, to try to maintain employment and activity. There is a proposal for a regulation that establishes a Just Transition Fund, as the main element of the Just Transition Mechanism. The fund is the focus in coal areas. This norm is inserted in the set of norms for the reconstruction of Europe (NextGenerationEU). The same idea of just transition is found in the laws that various European countries have passed (or are proposing to pass), such as the UK, Germany, Spain and Poland. It is assumed that energy justice requires that in those areas where new forms of electricity production are being implemented, using renewable sources of energy, which displace coal, workers must be compensated. This perspective is the one that has become general, due to the influence of the energy policy of the EU and its law. This article does also show that limiting the just transition to coal problems is inadequate, since the transition generates other problems related to energy justice (such as the implementation of renewable facilities in rural areas, environmental impacts, energy poverty, etc). In other words, the article highlights that there are several potential winners and losers in the energy transition, other than coal regions and workers. To illustrate that idea we pick three remarkable examples: (i) the mining of lithium, since it is a key for electric mobility, but can create environmental and/or social problems; (ii) damages to rural areas from wind or sun installations (iii) and the increase of energy poverty.
Topical Application of Methyl Nicotinate Solution Enhances Peripheral Blood Collection
Authors: Zhu YuLi , Xu Wei , OuYang LiangLiang , Wang Hong , Mao WeiWei , Zhou HuiXiang , Shen Chao , Hu ZhiJian , Tan YunChang
Published: March 2022

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether local application of methyl nicotinate solution can change the content and proportion of blood cells in peripheral blood samples and to determine whether this treatment is a safe and reliable method for improving peripheral blood collection.

Methods

Routine blood analysis and flow cytometry were used to analyze the contents and proportions of blood cells and T lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood samples. Experimental blood specimens were collected from earlobes treated with different concentrations of methyl nicotinate solution, and the control group consisted of blood specimens collected from untreated earlobes.

Results

The blood flow in the earlobe was significantly increased after methyl nicotinate solution stimulation, especially when the methyl nicotinate solution concentration was greater than 10−4 mol/L. There were no significant changes in the proportions of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes, or lymphocytes in the peripheral blood obtained from earlobes treated with methyl nicotinate solution. The proportion of T lymphocytes increased in the experimental group, but this difference was not significant.

Conclusion

Local application of methyl nicotinate solution is a feasible method for improving peripheral blood collection, especially for patients with venous blood collection phobia or an inability to provide venous blood samples.
Phylogeny-Aware Chemoinformatic Analysis of Chemical Diversity in Lamiaceae Enables Iridoid Pathway Assembly and Discovery of Aucubin Synthase
Authors: Rodríguez-López Carlos E. , Jiang Yindi , Kamileen Mohamed O. , Lichman Benjamin R. , Hong Benke , Vaillancourt Brieanne , Buell C. Robin , O'Connor Sarah E.
Published: March 2022

Countless reports describe the isolation and structural characterization of natural products, yet this information remains disconnected and underutilized. Using a cheminformatics approach, we leverage the reported observations of iridoid glucosides with the known phylogeny of a large iridoid producing plant family (Lamiaceae) to generate a set of biosynthetic pathways that best explain the extant iridoid chemical diversity. We developed a pathway reconstruction algorithm that connects iridoid reports via reactions and prunes this solution space by considering phylogenetic relationships between genera. We formulate a model that emulates the evolution of iridoid glucosides to create a synthetic data set, used to select the parameters that would best reconstruct the pathways, and apply them to the iridoid data set to generate pathway hypotheses. These computationally generated pathways were then used as the basis by which to select and screen biosynthetic enzyme candidates. Our model was successfully applied to discover a cytochrome P450 enzyme from Callicarpa americana that catalyzes the oxidation of bartsioside to aucubin, predicted by our model despite neither molecule having been observed in the genus. We also demonstrate aucubin synthase activity in orthologues of Vitex agnus-castus, and the outgroup Paulownia tomentosa, further strengthening the hypothesis, enabled by our model, that the reaction was present in the ancestral biosynthetic pathway. This is the first systematic hypothesis on the epi-iridoid glucosides biosynthesis in 25 years and sets the stage for streamlined work on the iridoid pathway. This work highlights how curation and computational analysis of widely available structural data can facilitate hypothesis-based gene discovery.