bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Variation in mitochondrial COII gene sequences among two species of Japanese knotweed-boring moths, Ostrinia latipennis and O. ovalipennis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)
Authors: Ohno S. , Ishikawa Y. , Tatsuki S. , Hoshizaki S.
Published: August 2023

The Ostrinia latipennis group contains two species, O. latipennis (Warren) and O. ovalipennis Ohno. These two species commonly utilize perennial knotweeds (Fallopia spp.) as their host plants, which are serious invasive weeds in Europe and North America. Ostrinia latipennis is widely distributed across north-east Asia including Japan whereas O. ovalipennis is restricted to north Japan (Hokkaido Is.) and highland areas of central Japan (Nagano Prefecture in Honshu Is.). To estimate the phylogenetic relatedness and geographical differentiation of the two species, mitochondrial COII gene sequences were determined for specimens covering their distribution ranges in Japan. The uncorrected sequence divergence between O. latipennis and O. ovalipennis was 0.6–0.7%, supporting a close relationship. According to the standard molecular clock proposed for arthropod mtDNA, the two species are speculated to have diverged about 0.3 Myr ago. A single COII gene haplotype was found in O. latipennis irrespective of collection locality. In contrast, two haplotypes were found in O. ovalipennis, and their frequencies were significantly different between the Hokkaido and Honshu populations. The patterns of geographical variation in the COII gene within the two species were in agreement with previously reported patterns of geographical differentiation in morphology of the two species in Japan. The present results support the hypothesis that gene flow among local populations of O. ovalipennis has been limited by geographical isolation.
All-Orders Evolution of Parton Distributions: Principle, Practice, and Predictions
Authors: Yin Pei-Lin , Xu Yin-Zhen , Cui Zhu-Fang , Roberts Craig D. , Rodríguez-Quintero José
Published: August 2023

Parton distribution functions (PDFs) are defining expressions of hadron structure. Exploiting the role of effective charges in quantum chromodynamics, an algebraic scheme is described which, given any hadron's valence parton PDFs at the hadron scale, delivers predictions for all its PDFs (unpolarized and polarized) at any higher scale. The scheme delivers results that are largely independent of both the value of the hadron scale and the pointwise form of the charge; and, inter alia, enables derivation of a model-independent identity that relates the strength of the proton's gluon helicity PDF,

Δ

G
p
ζ

, to that of the analogous singlet polarized quark PDF and valence quark momentum fraction. Using available data fits and theory predictions, the identity yields

Δ

G
p

(

ζ
C

=

3

GeV
)
=
1.48
(
10
)

. It furthermore entails that the measurable quark helicity contribution to the proton spin is

a
∼

0
p

ζ
C

=
0.32
(
3
)

, thereby reconciling contemporary experiment and theory.
Noise in the LIGO livingston gravitational wave observatory due to trains
Authors: Glanzer J , Soni S , Spoon J , Effler A , González G
Published: August 2023

Environmental seismic disturbances limit the sensitivity of LIGO gravitational wave detectors. Trains near the LIGO Livingston detector produce low frequency (0.5–

10
 

H
z

) ground noise that couples into the gravitational wave sensitive frequency band (10–

100
 

H
z

) through light reflected in mirrors and other surfaces. We investigate the effect of trains during the Advanced LIGO third observing run, and propose a method to search for narrow band seismic frequencies responsible for contributing to increases in scattered light. Through the use of the linear regression tool Lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) and glitch correlations, we identify the most common seismic frequencies that correlate with increases in detector noise as 0.6–

0.8
 

H
z

, 1.7–

1.9
 

H
z

, 1.8–

2.0
 

H
z

, and 2.3–

2.5
 

H
z

in the LIGO Livingston corner station.
Holographic aspects of non-minimal R μανβ
F (a)μα
F
(a)νβ
AdS black brane
Authors: Sadeghi Mehdi
Published: August 2023

In this paper, we study the holographic dual to an asymptotically anti-de Sitter black brane in an Einstein–Yang–Mills model with a non-minimal coupling between the Riemann and Yang–Mills fields. First, we construct a planar black hole solution of this model up to the first order of the non-minimal coupling of the Yang–Mills field with the Riemann–Christoffel tensor, denoted as q
2. Then, we calculate the color non-abelian direct current conductivity and the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density for this solution. Our result for the shear viscosity η to entropy density s ratio saturates the Kovtun, Son, and Starinets bound, which is proportional to

1

4
π

. However, our result for the conductivity is new up to the first order of q
2.
Monitoring variations of refractive index via Hilbert–Schmidt speed and applying this phenomenon to improve quantum metrology
Authors: Hosseiny Seyed Mohammad , Rangani Jahromi Hossein , Amniat-Talab Mahdi
Published: August 2023

In this paper, we investigate the role of the nonlinear response of a material to improve quantum metrology. We show that the collective optical behavior of an atomic ensemble can be applied to enhance frequency estimation through one of the atoms. In fact, the collective optical behavior of the atomic ensemble by analyzing the quantum information extracted from one of its elements. Moreover, we introduce Hilbert–Schmidt speed (HSS), an easily computable theoretical tool, to monitor the variations of linear as well as nonlinear refractive indices and evaluate the strength of the nonlinear response of optical materials. Furthermore, we illustrate that quantum Fisher information and HSS can efficiently detect negative permittivity and refractive index, which is of great importance from a practical point of view.
Designing optical hyperbolic metasurfaces based on gold nanodisks
Authors: Hrinchenko Artem , Yermakov Oleh
Published: August 2023

Hyperbolic metasurfaces (HMSs) have demonstrated great value for planar and near-field applications. Nevertheless, the ability to engineer a specific HMS design with predefined functionality is still a challenge. Here, we study dozens of HMSs based on gold nanodisks in the visible spectrum and analyze their properties. In particular, we connect the geometric configuration of a metasurface with its spectral hyperbolicity bandwidth and the efficiency of hyperbolic plasmon-polariton canalization. We also analyze the impact of the substrate on the hyperbolic regime of a metasurface. As a result, we derive a universal empirical formula allowing us to obtain the approximate design of a HMS immediately. We provide practical guidelines for designing HMSs that may be used for a plethora of photonic applications.
Vanishing RKKY interactions in Ce-based cage compounds
Authors: Konic A M , Zhu Y , Breindel A J , Deng Y , Moir C M , Maple M B , Almasan C C , Dzero M
Published: August 2023

We report the results of thermodynamic measurements in external magnetic field of the cubic Ce-based cage compounds CeT
2Cd20 (T = Ni,Pd). Our analysis of the heat-capacity data shows that the Γ7 doublet is the ground state multiplet of the Ce3+ ions. Consequently, for the Γ7 doublet it can be theoretically shown that the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida interaction between the localized Ce moments mediated by the conduction electrons, must vanish at temperatures much lower than the energy separating the ground state doublet from the first excited Γ8 quartet. Our findings provide an insight as to why no long range order has been observed in these compounds down to temperatures in the milliKelvin range.
Investigation of magnetic properties and colossal magnetoresistance in nanocrystalline doped manganite
Authors: Bisht Priyanka , Mahato Rabindra Nath
Published: August 2023

Here in, we report structural, magnetic, and magneto-transport properties of nanocrystalline La0.6Ag0.2Bi0.2MnO3 prepared using citrate sol–gel method. By using scanning and transmission electron microscopy measurements, the morphology and particle size of the sample have been confirmed. The Mn2p x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra revealed the nanoparticles contained the coexistence of Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions with Mn3+/Mn4+ ratio of 2:1. Field-cooled and zero field-cooled magnetization protocols with temperature span of 5 K–300 K, confirm the paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phase transition at critical temperature,

T

C

∼ 146 K. The complete investigation of isothermal magnetization (

130
⩽
T 

(
K
)

⩽
160
,
Δ
T
=
2
 K

), Arrott plots, and magnetocaloric effect as well as quantitative analysis of second-order phase transition has been studied. The criticality at the PM-FM transition was examined for the sample, and the obtained critical exponents were verified for their reliability through the utilization of the scaling hypothesis and Kouvel-Fisher plot. We observed a large magnetic entropy change (∼7 J-Kg−1K−1) at

T

C

upon 5 T magnetic field strength. The renormalized magnetic entropy change plots are found to collapse onto a single curve, thus verifying the universality of the sample. Above the metal–insulator transitions the electrical resistivity shows a small polaron hopping conduction mechanism, however, at low temperatures scattering mechanism dominates and the whole range was explained by the universal percolation model. The colossal value of negative MR is found to be 88% at 168 K under an applied field strength of 2 T. As a result of our experimental data, we can grasp the intuitive understanding of magnetic as well as transport properties in Bi-doped manganite systems potential for magnetic sensors and spintronics applications.
Anomaly detection of industrial motors under few-shot feature conditions based on causality
Authors: Cen Yuefeng , Li Xucheng , Cen Gang , Cheng Zhigang
Published: August 2023

It is observed that previous research studies focusing on few-shot feature data for fault diagnosis or anomaly detection have a limitation, that is, feature extraction methods to solve few-shot feature data problems will also have scenarios where they may not always be applicable. In this paper, a motor anomaly detection model with generalization performance is proposed to meet the anomaly detection needs in the above scenarios. The model consists of a reinforcement unit and a diagnosis unit. Firstly, the reinforcement unit extracts the adjacent features with different timestamps through ensemble learning. Secondly, the temporal convolutional network (TCN) model is nested to increase the receptive field of the reinforcement unit. Additionally, a residual network is introduced to improve the generalization performance. Finally, features obtained from the reinforcement unit are used for final anomaly detection through neural networks in the diagnosis unit. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model achieve an anomaly detection accuracy of 97.96% in factory motor dataset, while the model has the superior generalization ability.
Efficient three-dimensional shape measurement: avoiding matrix inversion
Authors: Zhang Chenbo , Zhang Mingde , Chen Chen
Published: August 2023

The matrix inversion used to derive the 3D point cloud from the phase is a key factor that limits the reconstruction speed improvement in 3D imaging technique based on phase-shift fringe analysis. To avoid computing matrix inversion, we generate two offline loadable matrices determined solely by the calibration parameters of the triangulation model. Compared with the original method that requires matrix inversion, online computation was accelerated by about 15 times without incurring additional memory overhead. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method significantly improves the speed of 3D shape measurement and ensures high accuracy.
Three-dimensional measurement of fringe projection based on the camera response function of the quantified exposure time
Authors: Zhu Zhenmin , Ye Yinsong , Wang Mengyao , Cai Longcheng , Zheng Weihua
Published: August 2023

Fringe projection technology is usually used for three-dimensional (3D) measurement, but there will be large errors when the measurement is overexposed or the surface is too dark. Polarizing filters can be used to eliminate the highlights of the image, but they may also cause the image to be too dark and affect the measurement accuracy. Otherwise, to ensure measurement accuracy, the complexity of the operation of the polarization system will be increased. In order to ensure the measurement accuracy and improve the measurement efficiency, a 3D measurement method of quantified exposure time is proposed in this paper, and the intensity response function of the light intensity captured by the camera and the exposure time is established, and more meaningful variable value intervals can be selected by the method of this paper. It can avoid the complex polarization bidirectional reflectance distribution function model, and the required exposure time can be calculated quantitatively within the already screened intervals. Then it is combined with the image fusion algorithm to generate the optimal fringe pattern. Experimental results demonstrate that this method significantly eliminates the effects of highlights in the image. The fuzzy transition area between the black and white fringes is effectively reduced, and the edge information of the fringes is correctly restored.
Effective estimation model of coal dust characterization parameters with image sensing
Authors: Wang Zheng , Liu Xufei , Ji Zhaoxiang , Yang Shukai , Zhang Jiaxing
Published: August 2023

Coal dust leakage occurs most often during transportation to a power plant. Owing to the transportation method, the transported high-pressure coal dust can damage weak points in the pipeline wall and leak into the air, leading to serious safety hazards. To address this, this study proposes a coal dust parameter estimation model that combines domain-adaptive segmentation with extreme corrosion and a particle mass prediction regression model to extract the key characteristic signals of leaking coal dust and evaluate the production environment safety status. First, the connected domain is applied to segment the overlapping particles and extract two-dimensional image information. Subsequently, a regression model was constructed to predict the particle mass, which was mapped with the coal dust thickness model, density, and projected area and applied to environmental dust concentration characterization. The experiment samples included 3000 coal dust images captured from production links in power plants. A statistical analysis showed that the proposed model improved the accuracy and reliability of coal dust detection.
Growth kinetics and substrate stability during high-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of AlN nanowires
Authors: John P , Gómez Ruiz M , van Deurzen L , Lähnemann J , Trampert A , Geelhaar L , Brandt O , Auzelle T
Published: August 2023

We study the molecular beam epitaxy of AlN nanowires between 950 °C and 1215 °C, well above the usual growth temperatures, to identify optimal growth conditions. The nanowires are grown by self-assembly on TiN(111) films sputtered onto Al2O3. Above 1100 °C, the TiN film is seen to undergo grain growth and its surface exhibits {111} facets where AlN nucleation preferentially occurs. Modeling of the nanowire elongation rate measured at different temperatures shows that the Al adatom diffusion length maximizes at 1150 °C, which appears to be the optimum growth temperature. However, analysis of the nanowire luminescence shows a steep increase in the deep-level signal already above 1050 °C, associated with O incorporation from the Al2O3 substrate. Comparison with AlN nanowires grown on Si, MgO and SiC substrates suggests that heavy doping of Si and O by interdiffusion from the TiN/substrate interface increases the nanowire internal quantum efficiency, presumably due to the formation of a SiN
x
or AlO
x
passivation shell. The outdiffusion of Si and O would also cause the formation of the inversion domains observed in the nanowires. It follows that for optoelectronic and piezoelectric applications, optimal AlN nanowire ensembles should be prepared at 1150 °C on TiN/SiC substrates and will require an ex situ surface passivation.
The effect of inter-dot Coulomb interaction on the charge and energy transport properties of a five-terminal system consisting of three Coulomb-coupled quantum dots
Authors: Safdari Sayedreza , Soltani Morteza , Rashedi Gholamreza
Published: August 2023

We have studied a 5-terminal system consisting of three single level quantum dots (QDs) that are in contact with their respective reservoirs. In addition to the intra-dot Coulomb interaction, the electron in the dot affected by an inter-dot Coulomb repulsion from its adjacent QD. We describe this system by an Anderson type model Hamiltonian and apply the Greens function method to study the transport properties of the system. Since we are interested in temperatures higher than the Kondo temperature, we use the equations of motion technique to calculate Green’s functions. Numerical analysis shows that there is a correlation between the transport characteristics of the lower and upper dot and we can change the conductivity of the lower dot only by varying the parameters of the upper dot and vice versa. We demonstrated that the middle dot play the role of the switch on/off of this correlation. Also, we investigated the effect of thermoelectric properties. We found that the inter-dot Coulomb interaction can improve the thermoelectric performance of the system.
Geometric evaluations of CT and MRI based deep learning segmentation for brain OARs in radiotherapy
Authors: Alzahrani Nouf , Henry Ann , Clark Anna , Murray Louise , Nix Michael , Al-Qaisieh Bashar
Published: August 2023

Objective. Deep-learning auto-contouring (DL-AC) promises standardisation of organ-at-risk (OAR) contouring, enhancing quality and improving efficiency in radiotherapy. No commercial models exist for OAR contouring based on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We trained and evaluated computed tomography (CT) and MRI OAR autosegmentation models in RayStation. To ascertain clinical usability, we investigated the geometric impact of contour editing before training on model quality. Approach. Retrospective glioma cases were randomly selected for training (n = 32, 47) and validation (n = 9, 10) for MRI and CT, respectively. Clinical contours were edited using international consensus (gold standard) based on MRI and CT. MRI models were trained (i) using the original clinical contours based on planning CT and rigidly registered T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced MRI (MRIu), (ii) as (i), further edited based on CT anatomy, to meet international consensus guidelines (MRIeCT), and (iii) as (i), further edited based on MRI anatomy (MRIeMRI). CT models were trained using: (iv) original clinical contours (CTu) and (v) clinical contours edited based on CT anatomy (CTeCT). Auto-contours were geometrically compared to gold standard validation contours (CTeCT or MRIeMRI) using Dice Similarity Coefficient, sensitivity, and mean distance to agreement. Models’ performances were compared using paired Student’s t-testing. Main results. The edited autosegmentation models successfully generated more segmentations than the unedited models. Paired t-testing showed editing pituitary, orbits, optic nerves, lenses, and optic chiasm on MRI before training significantly improved at least one geometry metric. MRI-based DL-AC performed worse than CT-based in delineating the lacrimal gland, whereas the CT-based performed worse in delineating the optic chiasm. No significant differences were found between the CTeCT and CTu except for optic chiasm. Significance. T1w-MRI DL-AC could segment all brain OARs except the lacrimal glands, which cannot be easily visualized on T1w-MRI. Editing contours on MRI before model training improved geometric performance. MRI DL-AC in RT may improve consistency, quality and efficiency but requires careful editing of training contours.
Monte Carlo-calculated beam quality and perturbation correction factors validated against experiments for Farmer and Markus type ionization chambers in therapeutic carbon-ion beams
Authors: Urago Yuka , Sakama Makoto , Sakata Dousatsu , Fukuda Shigekazu , Katayose Tetsurou , Chang Weishan
Published: August 2023

Objective. In current dosimetry protocols, the estimated uncertainty of the measured absorbed dose to water D
w in carbon-ion beams is approximately 3%. This large uncertainty is mainly contributed by the standard uncertainty of the beam quality correction factor k
Q. In this study, the k
Q values in four cylindrical chambers and two plane-parallel chambers were calculated using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in the plateau region. The chamber-specific perturbation correction factor P of each chamber was also determined through MC simulations. Approach. k
Q for each chamber was calculated using MC code Geant4. The simulated k
Q ratios in subjected chambers and reference chambers were validated through comparisons against our measured values. In the measurements in Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba, k
Q ratios were obtained from D
w values of 60Co, 290- and 400 MeV u−1 carbon-ion beams that were measured with the subjected ionization chamber and the reference chamber. In the simulations, f
Q (the product of the water-to-air stopping power ratio and P) was acquired from D
w and the absorbed dose to air calculated in the sensitive volume of each chamber. k
Q values were then calculated from the simulated f
Q and the literature-extracted W
air and compared with previous publications. Main results. The calculated k
Q ratios in the subjected chambers to the reference chamber agreed well with the measured k
Q ratios. The k
Q uncertainty was reduced from the current recommendation of approximately 3% to 1.7%. The P values were close to unity in the cylindrical chambers and nearly 1% above unity in the plane-parallel chambers. Significance. The k
Q values of carbon-ion beams were accurately calculated in MC simulations and the k
Q ratios were validated through ionization chamber measurements. The results indicate a need for updating the current recommendations, which assume a constant P of unity in carbon-ion beams, to recommendations that consider chamber-induced differences.
CTA-UNet: CNN-transformer architecture UNet for dental CBCT images segmentation
Authors: Chen Zeyu , Chen Senyang , Hu Fengjun
Published: August 2023

In view of the limitations of current deep learning models in segmenting dental cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, specifically dealing with complex root morphological features, fuzzy boundaries between tooth roots and alveolar bone, and the need for costly annotation of dental CBCT images. We collected dental CBCT data from 200 patients and annotated 45 of them for network training, and proposed a CNN-Transformer Architecture UNet network, which combines the advantages of CNN and Transformer. The CNN component effectively extracts local features, while the Transformer captures long-range dependencies. Multiple spatial attention modules were included to enhance the network’s ability to extract and represent spatial information. Additionally, we introduced a novel Masked image modeling method to pre-train the CNN and Transformer modules simultaneously, mitigating limitations due to a smaller amount of labeled training data. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved superior performance (DSC of 87.12%, IoU of 78.90%, HD95 of 0.525 mm, ASSD of 0.199 mm), and provides a more efficient and effective approach to automatically and accurately segment dental CBCT images, has real-world applicability in orthodontics and dental implants.
Colored reflectors to improve coincidence timing resolution of BGO-based time-of-flight PET detectors
Authors: Lee Daehee , Cherry Simon R , Kwon Sun Il
Published: August 2023

Time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) detectors improve the signal-to-noise ratio of PET images by limiting the position of the generation of two 511 keV gamma-rays in space using the arrival time difference between the two photons. Unfortunately, bismuth germanate (BGO), widely used in conventional PET detectors, was limited as a TOF PET scintillator due to the relatively slow decay time of the scintillation photons. However, prompt Cerenkov light in BGO has been identified in addition to scintillation photons. Using Cerenkov photons for timing has significantly improved the coincidence timing resolution (CTR) of BGO. Based on this, further research on improving the CTR for a BGO-based TOF PET system is being actively conducted. Wrapping materials for BGO pixels have primarily employed white reflectors to most efficiently collect scintillation light. White reflectors have customarily been used as reflectors for BGO pixels even after Cerenkov light began to be utilized for timing calculations in pixel-level experiments. However, when the arrival-time differences of the two 511 keV annihilations photons were measured with pure Cerenkov radiators, painting the lateral sides of the radiators black can improve CTR by suppressing the reflection of Cerenkov photons. The use of BGO for TOF PET detectors requires simultaneously minimizing scintillation loss for good energy information and suppressing reflected Cerenkov photons for better timing performance. Thus, reflectors for BGO pixels should be optimized for better timing and energy performance. In this study, colored polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tapes with discontinuous reflectance values at specific wavelengths were applied as a BGO reflector. We hypothesized that CTR could be enhanced by selectively suppressing reflected Cerenkov photons with an optimum colored reflector on the BGO pixel while minimizing scintillation photon loss. CTRs were investigated utilizing white and three colors (yellow, red, and green) PTFE tapes as a reflector. In addition, black-painted PTFE tape and enhanced specular reflector film were investigated as reference reflector materials. When 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 BGO pixels were wrapped with the yellow PTFE reflector, the CTR was significantly improved to 365 ± 5 ps from 403 ± 14 ps measured with the conventional white PTFE reflector. Adequate energy information was still obtained with only 4.1% degradation in light collection compared to the white reflector. Colored reflectors show the possibility to further improve CTR for BGO pixels with optimum reflectance design.
Surface effects on elastohydrodynamic lubrication contact of piezoelectric materials with non-Newtonian fluid
Authors: Su Jie , Song Hong-Xia , Ke Liao-Liang
Published: August 2023

Using surface piezoelectricity theory, this article investigates the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) line contact of a transversely isotropic piezoelectric half-plane with consideration of the surface effect under a rigid cylindrical punch. The surface effect in the surface piezoelectricity theory is mainly described by the following parameters: surface piezoelectric constant, surface dielectric constant, surface elastic constant, and residual surface stress. The punch is treated as an electrical insulator. The lubricant, whose viscosity and density are dependent on fluid pressure, is chosen as a non-Newtonian fluid. Firstly, by analyzing the frictionless dry contact of piezoelectric materials vith the surface effect, the dry contact pressure distribution and the EHL film thickness equation are obtained. Then, an iterative method is proposed to obtain the fluid pressure and film thickness in the lubricant contact region by calculating the fluid–solid coupled nonlinear equations. The effects of the surface dielectric constant, surface piezoelectric constant, surface elastic constant, residual surface stress, punch radius, entraining velocity, and slide/roll ratio on the film thickness and fluid pressure are examined. Our analysis indicates that the surface effect has an essential effect on the EHL contact behavior of piezoelectric materials at micro-/nano-scales.
Multi-scale insight into key factors affecting stress perception of smart aggregates
Authors: Wang Ning , Zhang Chao , Ma Tao , Ding Xunhao , Huang Feiyu , Wu Jianyi , Ye Zhongyun
Published: August 2023

Smart aggregate (SA) is a multi-module integrated embedded monitoring sensor that has been employed in the construction, operation and maintenance of civil infrastructure. However, the differences in the shape and Yong’s modulus of the SA and the host matrix lead to the matching errors between the SA sensor readings and the actual in-situ stress values. A systematic analysis of how the modulus ratio of the SA to the host matrix (E
p/E
m), the length-to-height ratio of the sensor (L/H), and the non-homogeneity of the particle media interfere with the sensor monitoring data has been conducted in this paper using the finite element method and the discrete element method. In addition, the differences of the stress response from SA sensor under different load contact areas have been further investigated. Simultaneously, the numerical analysis has been validated by means of both theoretical derivations and laboratory tests. The analysis results show that E
p/E
m and L/H are the two key factors affecting the matching error. In particular, when E
p/E
m > 1, the matching error is positive and vice versa, while the L/H of the sensor is negatively correlated with the matching error. It is also noteworthy that the errors in the SA sensor monitoring data due to media inhomogeneity can only be negligible when the sensor diameter is larger than 20 times of the largest particle size in the host matrix. This study provides a theoretical guidance for optimizing the design of SA sensors and improving the accuracy of their measurement results.
Experimental investigation on 4D printed intelligent assembly cushion with adjustable pre-tightening force
Authors: Li Tengjie , Li Jian , Huang Xicheng
Published: August 2023

In order to design an intelligent assembly cushion with an adjustable pre-tightening force, a reentrant honeycomb structure was printed by additive manufacturing to realize the active and intelligent assembly process of filling gaps. The thermo-mechanical deformation experiments of the reentrant honeycomb structure were conducted at different pre-compressions, constrained displacements, and recovery temperatures. The recovery force and the force recovery ratio under semi-constrained conditions are explored emphatically. The results show that pre-compression, constrained displacement, and recovery temperature affect the recovery force and force recovery ratio under semi-constrained conditions. The recovery force and force recovery ratio increase with pre-compression, decrease with constrained displacement, and increase with recovery temperature below the glass transition temperature. Based on these results, the adjustability of the recovery force of a reentrant honeycomb cushion can be controlled by changing the thermo-mechanical deformation processes. Finally, the reentrant honeycomb cushion is applied to the mimetic assembly environment for corresponding testing, achieving the design of an active and intelligent assembly cushion with an adjustable pre-tightening force.
Experimental investigation on interfacial defect detection for SCCS with conventional and novel contact NDT techniques
Authors: Chen Hongbing , Chalise Gokarna , Gan Shiyu , Nie Xin
Published: August 2023

In order to ensure the mechanical performance and structural safety of steel–concrete composite structures (SCCS), advanced nondestructive testing (NDT) technique for bonding status at steel–concrete interfaces needs to be developed. In this study, the feasibility of multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW)-based interfacial debonding detection is validated using the contact sensors array. Herein, the multichannel sensor arrays are composed of piezoceramic lead zirconate titanate patches and high-frequency acceleration meters, respectively. For comparison, the impact-response (IR) method and impact-transmission (IT) method are performed utilizing a force hammer and high-frequency acceleration meters, and corresponding damage imaging algorithms are developed. The applicability of ultrasonic computed tomography (CT) scanning test, scanning impact echo (IE) method, ultrasonic tomography (UT) technique on interfacial debonding detection is further discussed in depth. Research findings indicate that the developed contact MASW measurement can fully capture the variation of dispersion characteristics of surface waves induced by debonding defects in SCCS. The developed IR and IT methods are suitable for detecting interfacial debondings in different dimensions. Besides, the damage nephogram resolution of IR is higher than that of the IT method. In addition, the practicability of traditional ultrasonic CT scanning tests, scanning IE method, and UT techniques using commercial equipment is investigated. Experimental observations show that classical NDT testing techniques are incapable of effectively identifying the existence of interfacial damage and are unsuitable for NDT tests on SCCS. The research findings in this study clearly exhibit the precision and limitation of various contact NDT techniques and lay a solid foundation for interfacial debonding detection in practical SCCS.
Dissipative quantum many-body dynamics in (1+1)D quantum cellular automata and quantum neural networks
Authors: Boneberg Mario , Carollo Federico , Lesanovsky Igor
Published: August 2023

Classical artificial neural networks, built from elementary units, possess enormous expressive power. Here we investigate a quantum neural network (QNN) architecture, which follows a similar paradigm. It is structurally equivalent to so-called (1+1)D quantum cellular automata, which are two-dimensional quantum lattice systems on which dynamics takes place in discrete time. Information transfer between consecutive time slices—or adjacent network layers—is governed by local quantum gates, which can be regarded as the quantum counterpart of the classical elementary units. Along the time-direction an effective dissipative evolution emerges on the level of the reduced state, and the nature of this dynamics is dictated by the structure of the elementary gates. We show how to construct the local unitary gates to yield a desired many-body dynamics, which in certain parameter regimes is governed by a Lindblad master equation. We study this for small system sizes through numerical simulations and demonstrate how collective effects within the quantum cellular automaton can be controlled parametrically. Our study constitutes a step towards the utilization of large-scale emergent phenomena in large QNNs for machine learning purposes.
Similar Image Retrieval using Autoencoder. I. Automatic Morphology Classification of Galaxies
Authors: Seo Eunsuk , Kim Suk , Lee Youngdae , Han Sang-Il , Kim Hak-Sub , Rey Soo-Chang , Song Hyunmi
Published: August 2023

We present the construction of an image similarity retrieval engine for the morphological classification of galaxies using the Convolutional AutoEncoder (CAE). The CAE is trained on 90,370 preprocessed Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxy images listed in the Galaxy Zoo 2 (GZ2) catalog. The visually similar output images returned by the trained CAE suggest that the encoder efficiently compresses input images into latent features, which are then used to calculate similarity parameters. Our Tool for Searching a similar Galaxy Image based on a Convolutional Autoencoder using Similarity (TSGICAS) leverages this similarity parameter to classify galaxies’ morphological types, enabling the identification of a wider range of classes with high accuracy compared to traditional supervised ML techniques. This approach streamlines the researcher’s work by allowing quick prioritization of the most relevant images from the latent feature database. We investigate the accuracy of our automatic morphological classifications using three galaxy catalogs: GZ2, Extraction de Formes Idéalisées de Galaxies en Imagerie (EFIGI), and Nair & Abraham (NA10). The correlation coefficients between the morphological types of input and retrieved galaxy images were found to be 0.735, 0.811, and 0.815 for GZ2, EFIGI, and NA10 catalogs, respectively. Despite differences in morphology tags between input and retrieved galaxy images, visual inspection showed that the two galaxies were very similar, highlighting TSGICAS’s superior performance in image similarity search. We propose that morphological classifications of galaxies using TSGICAS are fast and efficient, making it a valuable tool for detailed galaxy morphological classifications in other imaging surveys.
Effect of zeolite–sponge iron combined substrate on microbial community in ecological floating bed
Authors: Meng Ting , Cheng Wen , Ren Jiehui , Wang Min
Published: August 2023

Substrate has been proven to be a useful way to enhance the purification effect of ecological floating bed (EFB), and it also affected the microbial community. While at cold temperature, there was a lack of research on the effect of substrates on plant growth and microbial communities. In this study, three EFBs, namely plant EFB (EFB-P), substrate EFB (EFB-S) and plant–substrate EFB (EFB-PS), were constructed. The effects of zeolite–sponge iron combined substrate on pollutant removal, plant growth and microbial community in the EFBs were investigated at low temperature (3.1 ∼ 11.7 °C). Results showed that the removal efficiencies of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and nitrate nitrogen by EFB-PS (60.35%, 95.09% and 64.43%) was significantly better than that of EFB-P (47.71%, 88.59% and 51.65%), but the relative growth of the aboveground biomass of plants (50.41%) was less than that of EFB-P (81.16%). In addition, the microbial biomass in EFB-PS (69.14 mg/(g DW·day)) and EFB-S (68.76 mg/(g DW·day)) was much larger than that in EFB-P (50.69 mg/(g DW·day)). High-throughput sequencing showed that the microbial diversity (Shannon (6.06 ∼ 8.33) and Simpson (0.88 ∼ 0.97)) and richness (Chao1 (1621.7 ∼ 2556.2) and Observed _ species (1437 ∼ 2423.3)) of EFB with adding zeolite–sponge iron combined substrate were also higher than those of EFB-P. In addition, the addition of combined substrates changed the microbial community structure, some genera with denitrification and nitrogen fixation functions, including Rhodobacter (36.03 ∼ 48.59%), Hydrogenopha (2.21 ∼ 5.89%), were abundantly enriched in the EFB with adding zeolite-sponge iron combined substrate. These results improved the effects of substrate low temperature operation on plant growth and microbial characteristics in EFB, and provide a theoretical basis for strengthening the operation of the low temperature conditions of the EFB.
Entropy of microcanonical finite-graph ensembles
Authors: Kawamoto Tatsuro
Published: August 2023

The entropy of random graph ensembles has gained widespread attention in the field of graph theory and network science. We consider microcanonical ensembles of simple graphs with prescribed degree sequences. We demonstrate that the mean-field approximations of the generating function using the Chebyshev–Hermite polynomials provide estimates for the entropy of finite-graph ensembles. Our estimate reproduces the Bender–Canfield formula in the limit of large graphs.
On the evaluation of field emission parameters of V2O5 and TiO2 nanostructure cathodes
Authors: Singh Abhishek Kumar , Kumar Jitendra
Published: August 2023

The self-assembled V2O5 and TiO2 nanowires are prepared hydrothermally from vanadium (V) hydroxylamido complex and titanium oxide powder, respectively, and studied for their crystalline phase, morphology, and electron emission characteristics. V2O5 is shown to exhibit an orthorhombic phase with preferential growth of the (010) face along the [010] direction; wire size being diameter 100–400 nm, and length several micrometers. TiO2 nanowires depict a monoclinic β-phase with a typical diameter of ∼ 30 nm. Their bundles serve as potential cathodes giving electron emission following the Fowler–Nordheim (F-N) mechanism but from infinitely small areas with large field enhancement factors. In comparison, β-TiO2 provides better emission characteristics at similar operating parameters (e.g., low threshold voltage 250–400 V and current density 109−1013 A m−2). The unique properties (viz., tip geometry, roughness, and local field enhancement) of one-dimension (1D) nanowires make them prospective candidates for high-brightness electron sources and development of the display devices [1–7]. A simple procedure developed by the authors is applied successfully in actual evaluation of the field emission parameters from the current–voltage data. This involves F-N formulation with physical considerations like variation of work function, effective emission area, and field enhancement factor [31].
Sex-specific effects of psychoactive pollution on behavioral individuality and plasticity in fish
Authors: Polverino Giovanni , Aich Upama , Brand Jack A , Bertram Michael G , Martin Jake M , Tan Hung , Soman Vrishin R , Mason Rachel T , Wong Bob B M
Published: August 2023

The global rise of pharmaceutical contaminants in the aquatic environment poses a serious threat to ecological and evolutionary processes. Studies have traditionally focused on the collateral (average) effects of psychoactive pollutants on ecologically relevant behaviors of wildlife, often neglecting effects among and within individuals, and whether they differ between males and females. We tested whether psychoactive pollutants have sex-specific effects on behavioral individuality and plasticity in guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a freshwater species that inhabits contaminated waterways in the wild. Fish were exposed to fluoxetine (Prozac) for 2 years across multiple generations before their activity and stress-related behavior were repeatedly assayed. Using a Bayesian statistical approach that partitions the effects among and within individuals, we found that males—but not females—in fluoxetine-exposed populations differed less from each other in their behavior (lower behavioral individuality) than unexposed males. In sharp contrast, effects on behavioral plasticity were observed in females—but not in males—whereby exposure to even low levels of fluoxetine resulted in a substantial decrease (activity) and increase (freezing behavior) in the behavioral plasticity of females. Our evidence reveals that psychoactive pollution has sex-specific effects on the individual behavior of fish, suggesting that males and females might not be equally vulnerable to global pollutants.
Comprehensive assessment of the management of acute cholecystitis in Scotland: population-wide cohort study
Authors: Bekheit Mohamed , Rajan Sendhil , Wohlgemut Jared M , Watson Angus J M , Ramsay George
Published: August 2023

Background

Acute cholecystitis is one of the most common diagnoses presenting to emergency general surgery and is managed either operatively or conservatively. However, operative rates vary widely across the world. This real-world population analysis aimed to describe the current clinical management and outcomes of patients with acute cholecystitis across Scotland, UK.

Methods

This was a national cohort study using data obtained from Information Services Division, Scotland. All adult patients with the admission diagnostic code for acute cholecystitis were included. Data were used to identify all patients admitted to Scottish hospitals between 1997 and 2019 and outcomes tracked for inpatients or after discharge through the unique patient identifier. This was linked to death data, including date of death.

Results

A total of 47 558 patients were diagnosed with 58 824 episodes of acute cholecystitis (with 27.2 per cent of patients experiencing more than one episode) in 46 Scottish hospitals. Median age was 58 years (interquartile range (i.q.r.) 43–71), 64.4 per cent were female, and most (76.1 per cent) had no comorbidities. A total of 28 741 (60.4 per cent) patients had an operative intervention during the index admission. Patients who had an operation during their index admission had a lower risk of 90-day mortality compared with non-operative management (OR 0.62, 95% c.i. 0.55–0.70).

Conclusion

In this study, 60 per cent of patients had an index cholecystectomy. Patients who underwent surgery had a better survival rate compared with those managed conservatively, further advocating for an operative approach in this cohort.
‘Social Justice Practice’ in Social Work Under Political Challenge—Case in Hong Kong
Authors: Ngai Tsz Chung
Published: August 2023

Social justice is a core element of the social work profession. As Hong Kong has undergone a significant socio-political transformation, how social workers in Hong Kong cope with the challenges in practising social justice is a worthy case to explore. To explore how social workers approach social justice in this changing environment, this study conducted in-depth interviews with six social workers with different understandings of social justice and governance. Thematic analysis guided our analysis of the interviews, revealing the challenges and difficulties in social justice practice, social justice practice under the challenges and the unsolved vexation of the social workers.
Volunteering for Infection: Participant Perspectives on a Hepatitis C Virus Controlled Human Infection Model
Authors: Eberts Jake D , Zimmer-Harwood Paul , Elsey James W B , Fraser-Urquhart Alastair , Smiley Thomas
Published: August 2023

Ethical human subjects research requires participants to be treated safely and respectfully, yet much bioethical debate takes place without participants. We aim to address this gap in the context of controlled human infection model (CHIM) research. Based upon our own experience as study participants, and bolstered by a survey of 117 potential hepatitis C virus CHIM participants, we present ideas to inform efficient, ethical, and scientifically useful study design. We advocate for full protocol transparency, higher compensation, commitment to the rapid dissemination of study results, and proactive efforts to detail risk-minimization efforts as early as possible in the recruitment process, among other measures. We encourage researchers to proactively partner with volunteer advocacy organizations that promote collective representation of volunteers to maximize their agency, and guard against ethical issues arising from healthy human subjects research.
Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C Virus and in Noncirrhosis Chronic Hepatitis C Patients With Sustained Virological Response: A Systematic Review
Authors: Hsu Christine C , Gopalakrishna Harish , Mironova Maria , Lee Mei-Hsuan , Chen Chien-Jen , Yang Hwai-I , Wiese Manfred , Chang Kyong-Mi , Wright Elizabeth C , Abijo Tomilowo , Feld Jordan J , Kaplan David E
Published: August 2023

In a hepatitis C virus (HCV)–controlled human infection model (CHIM), healthy volunteers are inoculated with HCV and then treated. Residual hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk after viral clearance is an important consideration when evaluating the CHIM. We estimate HCC risk in spontaneously cleared HCV and in noncirrhosis after sustained virological response (SVR) to HCV treatment in a systematic review and using data from 3 cohorts: German anti-D, Taiwan, and US Veterans Affairs (VA). For noncirrhosis SVR, the overall HCC rate is 0.33 per 100 patient-years in meta-analysis. HCC rates for the German, Taiwan, and US Veterans Affairs cohorts are 0, 0.14, and 0.02 per 100 patient-years, respectively. Past hepatitis B virus exposure was not accounted for in the Taiwan cohort, while VA patients were likely tested based on liver disease/risk factors, which may confound HCC outcomes. The German cohort with no HCC after 44 years is most comparable to the CHIM participants. Although it is difficult to precisely estimate HCC risk from an HCV CHIM, the data suggest the risk to be very low or negligible.