bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alignment and small oscillation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle in liquid under alternating magnetic field
Authors: Suwa Masayori , Uotani Akira , Tsukahara Satoshi
Published: March 2019

It is important to understand the rotational behavior of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in liquids under an alternating magnetic field for their successful application in biomedical fields. These applications include magnetic hyperthermia therapy and magnetic particle imaging. In particular, recent theoretical studies suggest that the physical rotation of MNP itself causes a significant change in the magnetization response of MNPs. However, because it is hard to distinguish the contribution of the physical rotation to the magnetization curve, its behavior under an alternating field has not been established to date. In this study, we measured the absorbance change of maghemite MNP suspension. We observed magnetically induced linear dichroism under a damped oscillatory magnetic field (DOMF) with Faraday configuration, where the propagation of light was parallel to the magnetic field. Accompanied by the application of DOMF, an absorbance change was observed. Through numerical simulations, it was revealed that the waveform of the absorbance change reflects the behavior of the physical rotation. From the analysis of the waveform, it was experimentally found that the easy axis of the MNP aligns partially and oscillates with the small amplitude under an alternating magnetic field. The rotation mechanism of the MNP in liquids under an alternating magnetic field is proposed based on the observed waveform of the absorbance change. We also investigated the influences of the viscosity and the field frequency on the rotation behavior and confirmed that these results were consistent with the mechanism.
Heat-to-mechanical energy conversion in graphene: Manifestation of Umklapp enhancement with strain
Authors: Shiri Daryoush , Isacsson Andreas
Published: March 2019

Conversion of heat-flux from a steady state temperature difference to mechanical vibration is demonstrated in graphene nanoribbons using direct non-equilibrium molecular dynamics. We observe that this effect is independent of the method of imposing the temperature gradient, heat flux, as well as imposed boundary conditions. We propose that simply dividing the nanoribbon in long and short sections using a partially immobilized area will lead to excitation of long-wavelength vibrations into the long section of the nanoribbon. This results in simpler architectures for heat-to-vibration converter devices based on graphene. Furthermore, we observe that applying tensile axial strain to nanoribbons facilitates vibrational instability by reducing the required threshold heat flux or the temperature gradient. Finally, we discuss the role played by Umklapp scattering for physical mechanisms behind these observations.
Nucleation in aqueous NaCl solutions shifts from 1-step to 2-step mechanism on crossing the spinodal
Authors: Jiang Hao , Debenedetti Pablo G. , Panagiotopoulos Athanassios Z.
Published: March 2019

In this work, we use large-scale molecular dynamics simulations coupled to free energy calculations to identify for the first time a limit of stability (spinodal) and a change in the nucleation mechanism in aqueous NaCl solutions. This is a system of considerable atmospheric, geological, and technical significance. We find that the supersaturated metastable NaCl solution reaches its limit of stability at sufficiently high salt concentrations, as indicated by the composition dependence of the salt chemical potential, indicating the transition to a phase separation by spinodal decomposition. However, the metastability limit of the NaCl solution does not correspond to spinodal decomposition with respect to crystallization. We find that beyond this spinodal, a liquid/amorphous separation occurs in the aqueous solution, whereby the ions first form disordered clusters. We term these clusters as “amorphous salt.” We also identify a transition from one- to two-step crystallization mechanism driven by a spinodal. In particular, crystallization from aqueous NaCl solution beyond the spinodal is a two-step process, in which the ions first phase-separate into disordered amorphous salt clusters, followed by the crystallization of ions in the amorphous salt phase. By contrast, in the aqueous NaCl solution at concentrations lower than the spinodal, crystallization occurs via a one-step process as the ions aggregate directly into crystalline nuclei. The change of mechanism with increasing supersaturation underscores the importance of an accurate determination of the driving force for phase separation. The study has broader implications on the mechanism for nucleation of crystals from solutions at high supersaturations.
Effect of soluble surfactants on vertical liquid film drainage
Authors: Li Chunxi , Li Minglan , Shi Zhixian , Ye Xuemin
Published: March 2019

A mathematical model is established to investigate the gravity-driven drainage of vertical films containing a soluble surfactant by considering the coupling effect of surface elasticity, adsorption coefficient, and surfactant solubility. The lubrication theory is applied to derive the four coupled nonlinear partial differential equations describing the film thickness, surface velocity, and surfactant concentration on the surface and in the bulk. Simulated results showed that the surface elasticity, adsorption coefficient, and surfactant solubility are indispensable factors in the drainage process of a liquid film containing a soluble surfactant. In the initial stage of the drainage, the initial film thickness increases with increasing surface elasticity and the film surface tends to be more rigid. With further drainage, the liquid film exhibits different notable features for high and low elasticity. For low surface elasticity, the surfactant distribution produces a positive Marangoni effect, which counteracts gravity. However, for high surface elasticity, the film surface exhibits a reverse Marangoni effect, which accelerates the drainage and leads to an unstable film. As the solubility decreases, both the film stability and initial surface elasticity enhance. The surface elasticity gradually approaches a limiting dilational elasticity modulus owing to the film thinning. For a large Ks, the film surface is insufficient to produce a strong Marangoni effect and then the liquid film tends to easily destabilize. For a small Ks, the soluble surfactant is similar to an insoluble surfactant, and the film is much thicker in the later stage of the drainage.
A perspective on topological nanophotonics: Current status and future challenges
Authors: Rider Marie S. , Palmer Samuel J. , Pocock Simon R. , Xiao Xiaofei , Arroyo Huidobro Paloma , Giannini Vincenzo
Published: March 2019

Topological photonic systems, with their ability to host states protected against disorder and perturbation, allow us to do with photons what topological insulators do with electrons. Topological photonics can refer to electronic systems coupled with light or purely photonic setups. By shrinking these systems to the nanoscale, we can harness the enhanced sensitivity observed in nanoscale structures and combine this with the protection of the topological photonic states, allowing us to design photonic local density of states and to push towards one of the ultimate goals of modern science: the precise control of photons at the nanoscale. This is paramount for both nanotechnological applications and fundamental research in light matter problems. For purely photonic systems, we work with bosonic rather than fermionic states, so the implementation of topology in these systems requires new paradigms. Trying to face these challenges has helped in the creation of the exciting new field of topological nanophotonics, with far-reaching applications. In this article, we review milestones in topological photonics and discuss how they can be built upon at the nanoscale.
Acoustic accelerating beam based on a curved metasurface
Authors: Ju Fangfang , Xiong Wei , Liu Chen , Cheng Ying , Liu Xiaojun
Published: March 2019

General relativity directly relates the curvature of spacetime to the energy and momentum whatever matter and radiation are present. In this letter, the different curved shapes of acoustic metasurfaces are used to mimic various curved spacetimes, while the different phase shift distributions are used to mimic different movements in the curved spacetime. Consequently, a new degree of freedom is attained by introducing the curved geometry of the metasurface, which is fully different from the straight geometrical structures in conventional acoustic metasurfaces. We have experimentally implemented multi-directional transmission by a curved metasurface. Furthermore, as the general relativity is constructed using tensors, it exhibits general covariance: its laws share the same form in all coordinate systems. With the general covariance, covariant structures can produce an identical acoustic field by the covariant transformation between different curved metasurfaces, such as Rindler-analogous transformation, which has been experimentally realized with different curved metasurfaces. This general covariant design method can be extended to many other sound manipulations.
Spectral diffusion time scales in InGaN/GaN quantum dots
Authors: Gao Kang , Springbett Helen , Zhu Tongtong , Oliver Rachel A. , Arakawa Yasuhiko , Holmes Mark J.
Published: March 2019

A detailed temporal analysis of the spectral diffusion phenomenon in single photon emitting InGaN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) is performed via measurements of both time-varying emission spectra and single photon emission intensity autocorrelation times. Excitation dependent phenomena are investigated via the optical excitation of carriers into the GaN barrier material and also directly into InGaN. Excitation into InGaN reveals that the fastest environmental fluctuations occur on timescales as long as a few hundreds of nanoseconds: an order of magnitude longer than previously measured in GaN QDs. Such long time scales may in future allow for the generation of indistinguishable photons in spite of the fact that the experimentally measured linewidths are broad.
Temperature dependence of shock wave structure in helium and neon
Authors: Sharipov Felix , Dias Fernanda C.
Published: March 2019

Temperature dependence of a planar shock wave in helium and neon is studied by the direct simulation Monte Carlo method based on ab initio potentials. A quantum approach to interatomic interactions used here allows us to carry out calculations over a wide temperature range beginning from 1 K up to 5000 K. Moreover, for high temperatures, the quantum approach requires less computational effort than the classical one. Three gaseous species are considered: helium-3, helium-4, and neon. The problem is solved for three values of the Mach number Ma = 2, 5, 10. No influence of the quantum effects has been detected within the numerical error for the temperature of 300 K and higher. For temperatures lower than 300 K, the influence of the quantum effects in helium exceeds the numerical error and reaches 230%. In the case of neon, the quantum effect does not exceed 2% in the whole temperature range considered in the present work. A comparative analysis of flow-fields in shock waves at various temperatures points out a strong influence of the temperature ahead of a shock wave on its structure. The numerical data provided in the supplementary material can be used to model any flow of helium and neon in a wide range of temperatures.
Simultaneously improved sensitivity and response speed of β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetector via localized tuning of oxygen deficiency
Authors: Qian L. X. , Liu H. Y. , Zhang H. F. , Wu Z. H. , Zhang W. L.
Published: March 2019

Recently, β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors (PDs) have been extensively investigated for a wide range of civil and military applications. Among them, the metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure is one of the most popular candidates due to the merits of fabrication simplicity, the need for only one single-dopant active layer, easy integration with readout circuitry, high quantum efficiency, etc. However, there is generally a tradeoff between sensitivity and response speed due to the specific internal gain mechanism. In this work, MSM PDs based on the molecular beam epitaxy-grown β-Ga2O3 film were fabricated, and the metal/semiconductor (M/S) interfacial properties were tailored through the low-energy Ar-plasma pretreatment, resulting in the localized oxygen deficiency and a sharper interface. Accordingly, the PD sensitivity was dramatically improved, and the advantage of internal gain, i.e., high quantum efficiency, was preserved or became even larger. For example, the 60-W pretreated sample exhibited a high responsivity (R) of 8.41 A/W and a large specific detectivity (D*) of 1.24 × 1014 Jones, both increasing by one order of magnitude in comparison with the untreated sample. More interestingly, the response speed was unexpectedly accelerated, which is ascribed to the rapid and direct tunneling of electrons at the M/S interface as well as to the reduction in RC time constant based on the data analysis and the underlying physical principle discussion. The treatment conditions can be further optimized to counterbalance some side effects. These findings reveal an efficient technique for comprehensively improving the performance of β-Ga2O3 solar-blind PDs.
An informal introduction to quantitative stochastic homogenization
Authors: Mourrat J.-C.
Published: March 2019

Divergence-form operators with random coefficients homogenize over large scales. Over the last decade, an intensive research effort focused on turning this asymptotic statement into quantitative estimates. The goal of this note is to review one approach for doing so based on the idea of renormalization. The discussion is highly informal, with pointers to mathematically precise statements.
Frequency coding metasurface for multiple directions manipulation of terahertz energy radiation
Authors: Li Shao-He , Li Jiu-Sheng
Published: March 2019

A multifunctional frequency coding metasurface is proposed in terahertz frequency band. Different from the previous coding metasurface with a fixed phase difference of the neighbor coding unit cells in the whole working frequency band, the proposed frequency coding metasurface has the linear change phase difference in the operating frequency band with different phase sensitivity. It can flexibly control the reflected terahertz waves to the numerous directions by changing the working frequency without redesign the coding metasurface structure. Additionally, we demonstrate the polarization insensitive properties of our frequency coding metasurface by using 1-bit frequency coding metasurface with the periodic sequences of “0-0, 0-1” along the x-direction, 2-bit random frequency coding metasurface and non-periodic frequency coding metasurface. Our frequency coding metasurface provides a novel and flexible way to manipulate the energy radiation of terahertz wave and has tremendous values in terahertz systems.
Impact of burn severity on soil properties in a Pinus pinaster ecosystem immediately after fire
Authors: Fernández-García Víctor , Marcos Elena , Fernández-Guisuraga José Manuel , Taboada Angela , Suárez-Seoane Susana , Calvo Leonor
Published: March 2019

We analyse the effects of burn severity on individual soil properties and soil quotients in Mediterranean fire-prone pine forests immediately after a wildfire. Burn severity was measured in the field through the substrate stratum of the Composite Burn Index and soil samples were taken 7–9 days after a wildfire occurred in a Pinus pinaster Ait. ecosystem. In each soil sample, we analysed physical (size of soil aggregates), chemical (pH, organic C, total N and available P) and biological (microbial biomass C, β-glucosidase, urease and acid phosphatase activities) properties. Size of aggregates decreased in the areas affected by high burn severity. Additionally, moderate and high severities were associated with increases in pH and available P concentration and with decreases in organic C concentration. Microbial biomass C showed similar patterns to organic C along the burn severity gradient. The enzymatic activities of phosphatase and β-glucosidase showed the highest sensitivity to burn severity, as they strongly decreased from the low-severity scenarios. Among the studied soil quotients, the C:N ratio, microbial quotient and β-glucosidase:microbial biomass C quotient decreased with burn severity. This work provides valuable information on the impact of burn severity on the functioning of sandy siliceous soils in fire-prone pine ecosystems.
Reviewing reform
Authors: de Caux Basil Cahusac
Published: March 2019

The transformation of the contemporary Japanese writing system stemmed from the simultaneous political and cultural problematizing of so-calledkokugo(national language) andkokuji(national script). Debates surrounding the structure and function of the written form of Japanese played an ongoing role in Japanese language reform proposals and policy planning initiated between the mid-1860s and early 1990s. Despite the long history of the debates and the large body of literature treating them, a comprehensive review of the scholarship dealing with the various dimensions of Japanese script reform is currently unavailable. This article provides a detailed overview and analysis of studies of the Japanese script reform debates that utilise contemporary works describing the origins and development of language problems and language rights issues. The article subsequently considers the possibilities for future inquiries involving transnational and post-national aspects of script reform, whilst reflecting on the conspicuously gendered and ethnic dimensions of contemporary Japanese language policy-formulation itself.
The relative effects of metalinguistic explanation and direct written corrective feedback on children’s grammatical accuracy in new writing
Authors: Gorman Mary , Ellis Rod
Published: March 2019

There has been little research investigating the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on the second language acquisition of children. This article reports a quasi-experimental study of integrated form-focused instruction for 33 children aged 9–12 years. They completed four dictogloss tasks designed to elicit the use of the Present Perfect Tense and received instruction consisting of either explicit metalinguistic explanation (group 1), direct written correction (group 2) or no form-focused instruction (the comparison group) between performing the tasks. Accuracy in the production of the target structure across the four tasks was variable and showed no improvement from the first to the last. Nor were there any statistically significant differences in accuracy among the three groups. The results support some earlier studies of young children (e.g.Fazio, 2001) that have failed to show that FFI benefits young children. This may be because children fail to make use of their metalinguistic knowledge of grammatical features when undertaking meaning-focused writing tasks.
Patterns of interaction and young ESL learners
Authors: Oliver Rhonda , Azkarai Agurtzane
Published: March 2019

Previous research carried out from a socio-cultural perspective has explored the way adult learners interact when
undertaking tasks. Following the type of analysis initiated by Storch (2002) we
examined the patterns of interaction of young ESL learners (ages 9–12) of different English proficiency levels, high-intermediate
(H) and low-intermediate (L) as they worked with native speakers (NS) (i.e., H/NS and L/NS pairs) to carry out a one-way and a
two-way task. Once the patterns of interaction were determined, we then explored the relationship between these patterns, the
learners’ proficiency levels and the task type. Our findings reveal that, regardless of proficiency, these child ESL learners
engaged with the tasks and with each other, most often collaboratively, but also using other patterns interaction. However, the
findings also suggest that task type and learner proficiency influenced the pattern of interactions that occurred.
Innovations in parallel corpus alignment and retrieval
Authors: Volk Martin
Published: March 2019

In this chapter, we give an overview of parallel corpus annotation, alignment and retrieval. We present standard annotation methods such as Part-of-Speech tagging, lemmatization and dependency parsing, but we also introduce language-specific methods, for example for dealing with split verbs or truncated compounds in German. Our corpus annotation includes the identification of code-switching within sentences as a special case of language identification. We argue for careful sentence and word alignment for parallel corpora. And we explain how word alignment is the basis for a wide range of applications from translation variant ranking to lemma disambiguation.
Building EPTIC
Authors: Ferraresi Adriano , Bernardini Silvia
Published: March 2019

This chapter describes the steps involved in the construction of EPTIC, an intermodal corpus of European Parliament speeches. Despite its limited size, this corpus has features that justify its labour-intensive building process, in particular its multiple alignments. The text-to-text alignments allow users to compare interpretations and translations of source speeches and their written-up reports, while text-to-video alignments allow them to access the multimedia components from concordance lines. To illustrate the potential of EPTIC, a case study is presented of English loan words in original, translated and interpreted Italian and French. Results suggest that borrowing is more likely to occur in translated Italian than in any of the other corpus components.
Enriching parallel corpora with multimedia and lexical semantics
Authors: Gómez Guinovart Xavier
Published: March 2019

In this chapter, I present the main characteristics of the CLUVI Corpus, an open collection of sentence-level aligned parallel corpora with over 44 million words in nine specialised domains (fiction, computing, popular science, biblical texts, law, consumer information, economy, tourism, and film subtitling) and different language combinations including Galician, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Basque and Latin. Then, I present the methodology developed for extending the film subtitles section of the CLUVI Corpus with multimedia data. Finally, I discuss the resources and methods used to build the SensoGal Corpus, a SemCor-based English-Galician parallel corpus semantically annotated based on WordNet and aligned at the sentence and word levels.
Discourse annotation in the MULTINOT corpus
Authors: López Julia Lavid
Published: March 2019

This chapter summarises and discusses recent work on the development of a bilingual (English-Spanish) corpus consisting of original comparable and parallel texts from a variety of genres and annotated with complex linguistic features such as modality and evidentiality, metadiscourse markers, and thematization, as carried out within the framework of the MULTINOT project. The annotation of these complex features in bilingual parallel texts poses important challenges for the researcher at the different stages of the corpus development, from the preprocessing phases to the manual annotation phase, but, at the same time, it allows the investigation of complex linguistic research questions which could not be addressed on the basis of raw corpora or even with the help of an automatic part-of-speech tagging system.
Indexation and analysis of a parallel corpus using CQPweb
Authors: Molés-Cases Teresa , Oster Ulrike
Published: March 2019

This contribution presents a section of the Corpus Valencià de Literatura Traduïda (COVALT), created by the research group of the same name (Department of Translation and Communication, Universitat Jaume I, Spain). The COVALT corpus is a four-million word corpus made up of narrative works originally written in English, French, and German and their Catalan translations published in the autonomous community of Valencia between 1990 and 2000. Since the members of the Covalt group are interested in translation research, and more specifically in the investigation of translated Catalan and Spanish, this corpus has recently been extended to include translations into Spanish published in Spain (COVALT PAR_ES corpus). This chapter presents the COVALT PAR_ES corpus, as well as its process of compilation and analysis with CQPweb.
An overview of Basque corpora and the extraction of certain multi-word expressions from a translational corpus
Authors: Sanz-Villar Zuriñe
Published: March 2019

Since the 1980s, considerable efforts have been made to create different types of Basque corpora. However, to systematically analyse the Basque translations of German literary texts, it was necessary to create a corpus from the ground up. Intermediary versions were included in this corpus whenever the Basque target text was not a translation from the German original but came instead from a translation into another language (Spanish in most cases). A tool called TAligner was used to align the bitexts and the tritexts. The aim of this chapter is, firstly, to provide the reader with an overview of the main Basque corpora. Secondly, I will describe the design and compilation process of a parallel and multilingual corpus using TAligner 3.0. Thirdly, I will present how the corpus has been lemmatized and annotated at the level of part-of-speech. Finally, the process of extracting potential Basque multi-word expressions will be shown.
Strategies for building high quality bilingual lexicons from comparable corpora
Authors: Gamallo Pablo
Published: March 2019

This chapter outlines two strategies to automatically build bilingual dictionaries: One is based on the use of a pivot language and existing bilingual dictionaries, while the other relies on string similarity and cognate extraction. Both strategies have in common the use of translation equivalents extracted from comparable corpora to filter out odd bilingual pairs and validate the correct ones. The correctness of the entries validated with comparable corpora is very high, close to that achieved by using parallel corpora. The chapter reports several case studies describing how to build new high-quality bilingual lexicons, namely English-Galician, English-Portuguese, and Portuguese-Spanish dictionaries with more than 90% precision. This outperforms state-of-the-art systems on bilingual extraction from comparable corpora, whose best scores hardly reach 70 or 80%.
Impersonal reference in Russian Sign Language (RSL)
Authors: Kimmelman Vadim
Published: March 2019

This paper contains the first description of impersonal reference in Russian Sign Language (RSL). Impersonal reference has been investigated using a variety of elicitation techniques. It has been found that RSL uses a variety of strategies, namely pro-drop, an indefinite pronounsomeone,a plural pronounixpl, and probably a second-person pronounix2in impersonal contexts. The impersonal strategies in RSL follow the general typological tendencies previously identified for spoken languages (Gast & Van der Auwera 2013), and do not show obvious modality effects (such as described byBarberà & Quer 2013). Some impersonal strategies show evidence of influence of spoken/written Russian in the form of borrowing and/or code-switching.
Impersonal human reference in French Sign Language (LSF)
Authors: Garcia Brigitte , Sallandre Marie-Anne , L’Huillier Marie-Thérèse
Published: March 2019

The present paper offers a first systematic approach to the expression of impersonal human reference in French Sign Language (LSF). It extends and deepens a prior study carried out by the authors on the basis of a large scale discourse corpus. The description proposed here is based primarily on data elicited through a specialised questionnaire on impersonal human reference (Barberà & Cabredo Hofherr, this volume), initially developed for spoken languages and adapted for sign languages. The strategies revealed are compared with those discussed in our prior study. We begin with a brief review of the literature on impersonal human reference in spoken and sign languages, and a presentation of our theoretical framework for the analysis of LSF. We then elaborate on our methodology and the issues raised by the elicitation protocol adopted, from initial stages of its preparation to the representation of our data. We finally present and discuss the main strategies we highlighted for the expression of impersonal reference in LSF.
Agent-backgrounding in Catalan Sign Language (LSC)
Authors: Barberà Gemma , Hofherr Patricia Cabredo , Quer Josep
Published: March 2019

This paper examines backgrounding strategies for human agents in Catalan Sign Language, that is, constructions
featuring human agents that are non-referential. We identify and analyze four types of agent-backgrounding strategies: subjectless
constructions, indefinite pronouns, the impersonal axis, and general nouns. Extending on previous work, we offer a description and
a semantico-pragmatic analysis of each construction.
Cross-linguistic variation in space-based distance for size depiction in the lexicons of six sign
languages
Authors: Nyst Victoria
Published: March 2019

This paper presents a semiotic study of the distribution of a type of size depiction in lexical signs in six sign
languages. Recently, a growing number of studies are focusing on the distribution of two representation techniques, i.e. the use
of entity handshapes and handling handshapes for the depiction of hand-held tools (e.g. Ortega
et al. 2014). Padden et al. (2013) find that there is cross-linguistic
variation in the use of this pair of representation techniques. This study looks at variation in a representation technique that
has not been systematically studied before, i.e. the delimitation of a stretch of space to depict the size of a referent, or
space-based distance for size depiction. It considers the question whether the cross-linguistic variation in
the use of this representation technique is governed by language-specific patterning as well (cf. Padden et al. 2013).

This study quantifies and compares the occurrence of space-based distance for size depiction in
the lexicons of six sign languages, three of Western European origin, and three of West African origin. It finds that sign
languages differ significantly from each other in their frequency of use of this depiction type. This result thus corroborates
that the selection and distribution of representation techniques does not solely depend on features of the depicted image, but
also on language-specific patterning in the distribution of representation techniques, and it adds another dimension of iconic
depiction in which sign languages may vary from each other (in addition to the entity/handling handshape distinction). Moreover,
the results appear to be areally defined, with the three European languages using this representation technique significantly more
often than the three African languages.
Quasi-static compressive behaviour of aluminium cenosphere syntactic foams
Authors: Sahu Sonika , Ansari Mohd. Zahid , Mondal Dehi Pada , Cho Chongdu
Published: March 2019

In this paper, cenosphere particles embedded in AA2014 aluminium matrix are used to fabricate syntactic foam by stir casting method. The particle size is about 100 µm and foam density is about 1990 kg m−3. Compression tests at strain rate 0.001/s are performed on foam samples to characterise their mechanical properties which are then used in numerical analysis on commercial finite element analysis software ABAQUS/CAE with isotropic elastic-plastic material model. Experimental and numerical results show good conformity in deformation behaviour with elastic and plateau zones showing average deviations less than 5% and 20%, respectively. Foams showed high yield stress and energy absorption capabilities that can be useful in making blast and impact resistant structures.
The growth velocity-undercooling relationship of highly undercooled Ni and Ni-Cu melts
Authors: Xu X. L. , Zhao Y. H. , Hou H.
Published: March 2019

Solidification velocities as a function of initial bulk undercoolings were systematically investigated using high speed thermal imaging of highly undercooled pure Ni and Ni-Cu alloy samples. For pure Ni, the dendrite growth velocity increased continuously to a maximum value of about 52 m s−1 at a maximum undercooling of 320 K. For Ni-Cu alloy, the dendrite growth velocity first increased continuously and then discontinuously to a maximum value of about 55 m s−1 at 300 K. A clear discontinuity appeared in the growth velocity-undercooling curve is considered to be caused by the finite speed of solute diffusion in the bulk liquid ahead of the migrating solid–liquid interface.
Article Commentary: A Call to Action: Managing the Neural Pathway of Disgust, Bias, Prejudice, and Discrimination that Fuels Stigma
Authors: Finnell Deborah S.
Published: March 2019

Stigma has long been cited as a barrier to individuals seeking treatment for alcohol and other drug use–related problems. This paper focuses on the foundation upon which stigma sits: the brain-based, neural and structural engine of prejudice and stereotyping, processes that lead to stigma. Research findings on the neural underpinnings of disgust, prejudice, bias, and discrimination are discussed. This commentary suggests the need to promote increased awareness of the neural drivers of stigma as a basis for managing responses to persons who use substances. The commentary challenges the use of the term “stigma,” calling for a new approach in lieu of foisting a badge of dishonor upon this population.
Immunosuppressive effect of a non-proteinogenic amino acid from Streptomyces through inhibiting allogeneic T cell proliferation
Authors: Yashiro Takuya , Sakata Fumiya , Sekimoto Takahiro , Shirai Tomohiro , Hasebe Fumihito , Matsuda Kenichi , Kurosawa Sumire , Suzuki Shodai , Nagata Kazuki , Kasakura Kazumi , Nishiyama Makoto , Nishiyama Chiharu
Published: March 2019

The immunosuppressive activity of myriocin (ISP-1), a lead compound of fingolimod (FTY720), is derived from its 2-amino-1,3-propandiol structure. A non-proteinogenic amino acid, (2S,6R)-diamino-(5R,7)-dihydroxy-heptanoic acid (DADH), that contains this structure, was recently identified as a biosynthetic intermediate of a dipeptide secondary metabolite, vazabitide A, in Streptmyces sp. SANK 60404; however its effect on adaptive immunity has not yet been examined. In this study, we examined whether DADH suppresses mixed lymphocyte reaction using mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) and allogeneic splenic T cells. Although T cell proliferation induced by cross-linking CD3 and CD28 were not suppressed by DADH unlike ISP-1, the pre-incubation of BMDCs with DADH but not ISP-1 significantly decreased allogeneic CD8+ T cell expansion. Based on these results, we concluded that DADH suppresses DC-mediated T cell activation by targeting DCs.
Heat-killed Lactobacillus helveticus strain MCC1848 confers resilience to anxiety or depression-like symptoms caused by subchronic social defeat stress in mice
Authors: Maehata Hazuki , Kobayashi Yodai , Mitsuyama Eri , Kawase Takahiro , Kuhara Tetsuya , Xiao Jin-Zhong , Tsukahara Takamitsu , Toyoda Atsushi
Published: March 2019

The gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of stress-related disorders. Probiotics can benefit the central nervous system via the microbiota–gut–brain axis, which raises the possibility that probiotics are effective in managing depression. In the present study, we examined the effects of heat-killed Lactobacillus helveticus strain MCC1848 in subchronic and mild social defeat stress (sCSDS) model mice (a widely used animal model of depression). MCC1848 supplementation significantly enhanced the interaction time in the social interaction test and sucrose preference ratio in the sucrose preference test, suggesting that MCC1848 improved anxiety- or depressive-like behaviors in sCSDS mice. The gene expression profile analysis of the nucleus accumbens, which plays an important role in stress resilience, indicated that MCC1848 ameliorated sCSDS-induced gene expression alterations in signal transduction or nervous system development. These findings suggest that MCC1848 supplementation is useful as a preventive strategy for chronic-stress-induced depression.
Nonlinear excitation of a geodesic acoustic mode by toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes and the impact on plasma performance
Authors: Qiu Zhiyong , Chen Liu , Zonca Fulvio , Chen Wei
Published: March 2019

Spontaneous nonlinear excitation of a geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) by a toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) is investigated using nonlinear gyrokinetic theory. It is found that the nonlinear decay process depends on the thermal ion

value. Here,

is the plasma thermal to magnetic pressure ratio. In the low-

limit, a TAE decays into a GAM and a lower TAE sideband in the toroidicity induced shear Alfvén wave continuous spectrum gap; while in the high-

limit, a TAE decays into a GAM and a propagating kinetic TAE in the continuum. Both cases are investigated for the spontaneous decay conditions. The nonlinear saturation levels of both the GAM and daughter wave are derived. The corresponding power balance and wave particle power transfer to thermal plasma are computed. Implications for thermal plasma heating are also discussed.
Reaffirming the Value of the Autopsy
Authors: Sathirareuangchai Sakda , Shimizu David
Published: March 2019

Objectives

To determine characteristic features of myocardial infarction (MI) diagnosed at autopsy and establish the incidence of discrepancy.

Methods

Autopsy cases at a tertiary hospital with a pathologic diagnosis of acute MI were evaluated for clinicopathologic features. Modified Goldman’s classification was used to classify discrepant cases.

Results

Of 529 autopsy cases, 19 (3.6%) demonstrated acute/subacute MI as a pathologic diagnosis. Thrombosis was identified in a minority of cases (3/19, 15.8%). Major clinicopathologic discrepancies were identified in four (21.1%) cases.

Conclusions

Although acute MI is an uncommon diagnosis rendered at hospital autopsy, a notable subset of cases demonstrates diagnostic discrepancy between the clinical impression and ultimate pathologic diagnosis. Interestingly, most MI cases in this series are not related to plaque disruption and thus best classified as a type 2 MI, which is associated with imbalance between oxygen demand and supply.
Restriction of Pharmacoepidemiologic Cohorts to Initiators of Medications in Unrelated Preventive Drug Classes to Reduce Confounding by Frailty in Older Adults
Authors: Zhang Henry T , McGrath Leah J , Ellis Alan R , Wyss Richard , Lund Jennifer L , Stürmer Til
Published: March 2019

Nonexperimental studies of the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine in older adults have found 40%–60% reductions in all-cause mortality associated with vaccination, potentially due to confounding by frailty. We restricted our cohort to initiators of medications in preventive drug classes (statins, antiglaucoma drugs, and β blockers) as an approach to reducing confounding by frailty by excluding frail older adults who would not initiate use of these drugs. Using a random 20% sample of US Medicare beneficiaries, we framed our study as a series of nonrandomized “trials” comparing vaccinated beneficiaries with unvaccinated beneficiaries who had an outpatient health-care visit during the 5 influenza seasons occurring in 2010–2015. We pooled data across trials and used standardized-mortality-ratio–weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the association between influenza vaccination and all-cause mortality before influenza season, expecting a null association. Weighted hazard ratios among preventive drug initiators were generally closer to the null than those in the nonrestricted cohort. Restriction of the study population to statin initiators with an uncensored approach resulted in a weighted hazard ratio of 1.00 (95% confidence interval: 0.84, 1.19), and several other hazard ratios were above 0.95. Restricting the cohort to initiators of medications in preventive drug classes can reduce confounding by frailty in this setting, but further work is required to determine the most appropriate criteria to use.
Symbol Digit Modalities Test: Regression-Based Normative Data and Clinical Utility
Authors: Fellows Robert P , Schmitter-Edgecombe Maureen
Published: March 2019

Objective

The purpose of this study was to provide regression-based normative data for the written, oral, and incidental recall trials of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT).

Method

Regression-based normative equations for the written and oral trials were derived from 536 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 91. Normative equations for the incidental recall trial are provided for a subset of the normative sample (age range = 60–91). The clinical utility of the newly developed norms was examined by comparing mean performance and rates of impaired scores for participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. Within-group analyses were used to compare the new norms to the original published norms.

Results

Age, education, and sex were all significant predictors of written trial performance, age and education were significant predictors of oral trial performance, and only age predicted incidental recall trial performance. As expected, the TBI group demonstrated the highest rates of impaired performance on both written and oral trials. Participants with dementia showed the highest rate of impaired scores on the incidental recall trial, followed by participants with amnestic MCI. Compared to traditional norming methods, the regression-based norms classified more clinical participants as impaired on both the written and oral trials.

Conclusions

Comprehensive regression-based normative equations with demonstrated clinical utility are provided to improve the detection of cerebral dysfunction using the SDMT. A calculator with the normative equations is provided so that raw scores can be easily converted to demographically-corrected standardized scores.
Impact of Glabellar Paralysis on Facial Expression of Emotion
Authors: Wyffels Mitchell L , Ray Belinda B , Laurita Jason T , Zbib Natalia , Bachour Kinan , Glass Graeme E , Stotland Mitchell A
Published: March 2019

Background

Many prospective patients remain wary of the effects that glabellar muscle paralysis may have on their ability to normally communicate emotion with their face.

Objective

We undertook a direct empirical test of the effects of glabellar onabotulinum toxin type A injections on the ability to convey 6 universally recognized facial expressions of emotion.

Methods

Fifty-two female subjects (“expressors”) were recorded on hidden camera while viewing video clips intended as a mood induction procedure that stimulates the 6 cardinal emotions (amusement, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise). The subjects were then injected with 25 units of onabotulinum toxin A in the glabellar region. The subjects returned 1 month later and were again recorded while being spontaneously induced to express emotion. All video clips from both time periods from the 10 maximal expressors were extracted and shown to a group of 31 “perceivers” who rated the facial expressions for intensity (Likert 1–7) and identity of emotion (percent correct emotion identified).

Results

Glabellar paralysis significantly diminished mean perceived intensity of anger (50.4% relative reduction, P < 0.001) and surprise (20.6% relative reduction, P < 0.001). The mean intensity of disgust increased (39.0%, P < 0.001). Importantly, however, glabellar paralysis did not result in a significant change in observers’ ability to discern provoked cardinal emotions.

Conclusions

We believe these findings provide a measure of reassurance to patients and their providers that the use of onabotulinum toxin A to paralyze the glabellar musculature for aesthetic purposes may not pose a meaningful risk to the overall ability to express emotion during social interaction.

Level of Evidence: 4
Characterization and identification of antimicrobial peptides with different functional activities
Authors: Chung Chia-Ru , Kuo Ting-Rung , Wu Li-Ching , Lee Tzong-Yi , Horng Jorng-Tzong
Published: March 2019

In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have become an emerging area of focus when developing therapeutics hot spot residues of proteins are dominant against infections. Importantly, AMPs are produced by virtually all known living organisms and are able to target a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, including viruses, parasites, bacteria and fungi. Although several studies have proposed different machine learning methods to predict peptides as being AMPs, most do not consider the diversity of AMP activities. On this basis, we specifically investigated the sequence features of AMPs with a range of functional activities, including anti-parasitic, anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-fungal activities and those that target mammals, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. A new scheme is proposed to systematically characterize and identify AMPs and their functional activities. The 1st stage of the proposed approach is to identify the AMPs, while the 2nd involves further characterization of their functional activities. Sequential forward selection was employed to extract potentially informative features that are possibly associated with the functional activities of the AMPs. These features include hydrophobicity, the normalized van der Waals volume, polarity, charge and solvent accessibility—all of which are essential attributes in classifying between AMPs and non-AMPs. The results revealed the 1st stage AMP classifier was able to achieve an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value of 0.9894. During the 2nd stage, we found pseudo amino acid composition to be an informative attribute when differentiating between AMPs in terms of their functional activities. The independent testing results demonstrated that the AUCs of the multi-class models were 0.7773, 0.9404, 0.8231, 0.8578, 0.8648, 0.8745 and 0.8672 for anti-parasitic, anti-viral, anti-cancer, anti-fungal AMPs and those that target mammals, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively. The proposed scheme helps facilitate biological experiments related to the functional analysis of AMPs. Additionally, it was implemented as a user-friendly web server (AMPfun, http://fdblab.csie.ncu.edu.tw/AMPfun/index.html) that allows individuals to explore the antimicrobial functions of peptides of interest.