bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vehicle Pedestrian Interaction Analysis at Unsignalized Intersection using Trajectory Data
Authors: Muppa Karunakar Reddy , Naveen kumar C. , Tallam Teja
Published: March 2022

As the pedestrian’s rapid progress, pedestrian safety has recently assumed greater importance in the research population activities. To assess road user interactions at an unsignalized junctions with heterogeneous traffic complexity, innovative trajectory-based data was used and to make urban intersections safer for road users, the proposed severity levels will be used to test and evaluate numerous infrastructures and control upgrades. Study authors suggests an advanced pattern-based technique to characterize pedestrian-vehicle interactions based on road user behaviors. Surrogate safety measures (SSM) can be estimated more accurately with this study than with the regular grid-based analysis. In order to evaluate SSM (Speed, Time to Collision (TTC), Gap Time of the pedestrian and vehicle interactions) at an unsignalized crossing, Safe Distance and Stopping sight distance with trajectory data are to be estimated. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to classify severity grades based on specified indicators generated at an unsignalized junction in India. From the analysis, Severity at the intersection found as 8.12, 8.91sec respectively, Average gap time, stopping sight distance also calculated. Plots between Time to Collision and Gap Time for pedestrian passing first (PPF), vehicle passing first (VPF) are compared by developing a linear regression model and R2=0.684, 0.656 developed with some independent parameters respectively. Concluded that TTC for PPF is higher than VPF and by considering all the evaluated values this research had improved the methods for analysing and improving the safety of uncontrolled intersections.
Assessment of Ride Quality and Road Roughness by Measuring the Response from a Vehicle Mounted Android Smartphone
Authors: Kumar Lohith , Tallam Teja , Naveen Kumar C.
Published: March 2022

Road surface roughness is considered as one of the most important aspect in functional condition of roads indicating to riding comfort in both transverse and longitudinal direction. For all highway projects maintaining proper surface evenness has been a mandatory requirement from the government of India. In this study, pavement unevenness was estimated using an android-based smartphone and system rely on the movement of a suspension system in response to the unevenness of the road surface travelled by a vehicle. Roughness index (RI) is an indicator to measure the standard road roughness. Conventional way of measuring RI involves usage of bump integrator, profilometer and roughometer. Present study proposes an alternative method to measure roughness using smartphones. The study was carried out in 2 different locations and 3 different smartphones to obtain the magnitude of deflections. Data collected using standard fifth wheel bump integrator is used for validation. Data collected through smartphone i.e., accelerometer sensor details was given as input to Fast Fourier transforms (FFT) to find the magnitude of deflection on the road. The results obtained from smartphones was then correlated with the existing roughness index data collected by standard fifth wheel bump integrator to establish an equation to predict RI using an android mobile.
Geotechnical characteristics of polypropylene macro fibre reinforced black cotton soil treated with potassium hydroxide
Authors: Malathi N , Jaya Saahithya V C
Published: March 2022

Synthetic fibres are increasingly being used as reinforcement to help stabilise expanding soils. This work is an attempt to stabilise the black cotton soil with the reinforcement of polypropylene macro fibre in which potassium hydroxide (KOH) is utilised as an alkali activator as a contribution to this field. The KOH concentrations of 3%, 4%, and 5% with 10M were assumed, and the tests were carried out. It is also reinforced with varying percentages of polypropylene macro fibre (PP macro fibre), such as 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, and 1.8. California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Unconfined Compression Strength (UCS), and swell pressure experiments are carried out in the laboratory. Overall, it concluded that the addition of KOH to the soil decreased the swelling percentage of the soil by changing its mineral structure because of the presence of K ions. There was also a decrease in the shrinkage of the soil. The optimum moisture content is decreased, and the maximum dry density is increased. By reinforcing the soil with the PP macro fibre, it increased the strength of the soil.
Flood and drought analysis of Lingasuru, Raichur District - Karnataka
Authors: Kudari Rizwan J , Chandana T P , Tejas K , Rakshita S T
Published: March 2022

Raichur district, which falls in the north interior sector of Karnataka has been facing a lot of water management problems starting from severe drought conditions, to contaminated use of groundwater resources. With the incising of more and more aquifers being mapped for Arsenic and other heavy metals contamination, the need for surface water has been increased among the people of Raichur district. The work in this paper is on the Drought prediction and analysis of the area, for planning and execution of water resource development activities. The rainfall data analysis is done by Double mass curve and moving average curve by considering the rainfall data of the past 25 years recorded at respective rain gauge stations. The analysis of drought conditions is done by IMD and SPI methods based on data collected from the rain gauges installed at five different places in our study area. The drought recurrence graph has been plotted and the return period equation is calculated to understand the statistical probability of drought occurrence.
Bio-Inspired Algorithms for Optimal Design of Trusses
Authors: Jayaram M A
Published: March 2022

Trusses are one of the major civil engineering structural articulations that are studied for optimized design. However, application of bio-inspired algorithms for the design of planar trusses is found to be scanty. In this paper, four bio-inspired algorithms namely, Elitism based genetic algorithm (EBGA), Ant colony optimization (ACO), Artificial honey bee optimization (AHBO), and Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms have been implemented for the optimization of size of the members of planar trusses. For this purpose, 4-planar trusses have been considered. The results show that the said algorithms vary marginally as far as the optimized weights are concerned. However, the differences are seen in terms of number of iterations required for convergence and standard deviation of weights. In this context, PSO and EBGA, converged quickly for all the four examples considered. Both the algorithms also showed lower values of standard deviation with respect to the optimized overall weight of the trusses.
Numerical Investigation of RC Beam Using Externally Bonded Fibre Reinforced Polymer Laminate Using Ansys Software
Authors: Harshavardhan K , Keshav Lakshmi
Published: March 2022

Due to its exceptional properties such as good tensile strength, serviceability, corrosion resistant, and light weight, externally bonded Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) is increasingly being utilized to support reinforced concrete (RC) structures. De-lamination of FRP-plate with concrete cover owing the most prevalent type of failure is due to different stress concentration at the bonded plate’s end (stresses at end). The behaviour of the FRP-concrete interface is an important component in preventing debonding failures in RC structures. As a result, for the safe and cost-effective design of externally bonded FRP systems, a deeper understanding of FRP behaviour for concrete interfaces is necessary. The primary goal of this research is to investigate the behaviour of the FRP-concrete interface. Finite element (FE) simulations utilising the ANSYS Finite Element software are used to investigate the interaction behaviour. For the parametric investigation, FE simulation models are built to investigate the impact of various variables on the binding behaviour of FRP and concrete surfaces by altering the width and thickness of the FRP laminate. Different thickness of FRP 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm and different widths 75 mm and 100 mm are taken. Based on the results the multi variable nonlinear regression and multi variable logarithmic Finite element (FE) simulations utilising the ANSYS Finite Element software are used to investigate the interaction behaviour. For the parametric investigation, FE simulation models are built to investigate the impact of various variables on the binding behaviour of FRP and concrete surfaces. Regression study is conducted out, and the best fit for the parameters under evaluation is found. The above analysis results are compared with the published work for validation.
Analysis of interlaminar stress concentration in laminated structure - A review
Authors: Patel Kamal S , Ramtekkar G D
Published: March 2022

Composite materials are popular in the specialised construction industry, whether aviation or car industry or civil structures. Laminated composite is one of the prevalent forms. Analysis and design of laminated composite is the focus of the study. To obtain a better design of the laminated composite, understanding its behaviour properly is very important. Delamination is the critical phenomenon in the laminated composite plates and shell, which causes the failure. Delamination studies can be categorised into two parts: the onset of delamination and the second is the failure progression. Interlaminar stresses are the cause of the onset and progression of delamination in the laminated composites. Therefore, determining interlaminar stress is essential to predict the onset and failure progression due to delamination accurately. This paper reviews the historical attempts of study the delamination. This work is divided into the theoretical assumption, failure model and then numerical studies. In the numerical studies section finite difference method, 2D finite element method, and 3D finite element method have been discussed. Some other methods of analysis and important achievements have also been discussed.
Bubble-based microrobots enable digital assembly of heterogeneous microtissue modules
Authors: Ge Zhixing , Dai Liguo , Zhao Junhua , Yu Haibo , Yang Wenguang , Liao Xin , Tan Wenjun , Jiao Niandong , Wang Zhenning , Liu Lianqing
Published: March 2022

The specific spatial distribution of tissue generates a heterogeneous micromechanical environment that provides ideal conditions for diverse functions such as regeneration and angiogenesis. However, to manufacture microscale multicellular heterogeneous tissue modules in vitro and then assemble them into specific functional units is still a challenging task. In this study, a novel method for the digital assembly of heterogeneous microtissue modules is proposed. This technique utilizes the flexibility of digital micromirror device-based optical projection lithography and the manipulability of bubble-based microrobots in a liquid environment. The results indicate that multicellular microstructures can be fabricated by increasing the inlets of the microfluidic chip. Upon altering the exposure time, the Young’s modulus of the entire module and different regions of each module can be fine-tuned to mimic normal tissue. The surface morphology, mechanical properties, and internal structure of the constructed bionic peritoneum were similar to those of the real peritoneum. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential of this system to produce and control the posture of modules and simulate peritoneal metastasis using reconfigurable manipulation.
Tailoring high-frequency magnonics in monolayer chromium trihalides
Authors: Menezes Raí M , Šabani Denis , Bacaksiz Cihan , de Souza Silva Clécio C , Milošević Milorad V
Published: March 2022

Monolayer chromium-trihalides, the archetypal two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials, are readily suggested as a promising platform for high-frequency magnonics. Here we detail the spin-wave properties of monolayer CrBr3 and CrI3, using spin-dynamics simulations parametrized from the first principles. We reveal that spin-wave dispersion can be tuned in a broad range of frequencies by strain, paving the way towards flexo-magnonic applications. We further show that ever-present halide vacancies in these monolayers host sufficiently strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to scatter spin-waves, which promotes design of spin-wave guides by defect engineering. Finally we discuss the spectra of spin-waves propagating across a moiré-periodic modulation of magnetic parameters in a van der Waals heterobilayer, and show that the nanoscale moiré periodicities in such samples are ideal for realization of a magnonic crystal in the terahertz frequency range. Recalling the additional tunability of magnetic 2D materials by electronic gating, our results situate these systems among the front-runners for prospective high-frequency magnonic applications.
Research on performance optimization of Loess-based ceramic membrane supports with Bauxite-dolomite-talc as additives
Authors: Tong Zhi , Liu Lu , Yang Xiaoyu , Li Dachuan , Guo Lei , Zhang Jianxu
Published: March 2022

Inorganic ceramic membranes have attracted much attention due to their advantages of long life, acid and alkali corrosion resistance, and easy cleaning, but they have not been widely used due to the high cost. In order to obtain a ceramic membrane with low cost and good performance, in this paper, loess-based ceramic membrane support was prepared by using loess as raw material, bauxite as aluminum source, dolomite as pore-forming agent and talc as plasticizer. Response surface optimization was used to determine the optimal addition parameters of ingredients. In addition, the factors affecting the performance of the supports were analyzed in terms of material composition, microscopic morphology, and porosity. The results show that the addition of talc conduced to avoid the negative impact of the pore-forming effect of dolomite on the mechanical strength of the support, and the optimum proportioning parameters are 48.85 wt% of bauxite, 9.93 wt% of dolomite and 8 wt% of talc. Under this condition, the bending strength was 42.24 MPa, the pure water flux was 8323.73 l·m−2·h−1·MPa−1, and the average pore throat radius was 5.15 μm. The performance of the best sample reaches the application performance of porous ceramic supports, which provides a theoretical basis for the wide application of low-cost ceramic membrane supports.
An experimental study on the degradation of the C12A7 hollow cathode
Authors: HUA Zhiwei , WANG Pingyang , LUO Zhuang , ZHANG Xin , TIAN Leichao
Published: March 2022

Emitter overheating is by far the greatest problem limiting the performance of novel C12A7 hollow cathodes. To explore the failure operating point and degradation mechanism of the C12A7 hollow cathode, microscopic analyses of a degraded electride emitter after 10 h of thermal electron emission are presented in this paper. The morphology and composition variation of overheated electride emitters by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate the melting and decomposition of electride of the surface layer. The monitored temperature of the electride emitter during the C12A7 hollow cathode operation shows that to avoid overheating the electride emitter, the average current density allowed should be about 64 mA mm−2 for the C12A7 hollow cathode in its current configuration. Experimental results of the heaterless C12A7 hollow cathode demonstrate that xenon (Xe) ion bombardment can remove the insulating layer and restore the thermionic emission capability for less degraded emitters. Based on experimental results and microscopic characterization, the depletion and degradation mechanisms of electride emitters during the hollow cathode operation are discussed.
Assessing the environmental risk posed by a legacy tanker wreck: a case study of the RFA War Mehtar
Authors: Hill Polly G , Skelhorn Matthew , Leather Stuart
Published: March 2022

The ocean floor is littered with thousands of wrecks containing hazardous fuels, lubes, armaments and cargoes that have polluted, are polluting, or will pollute the marine environment. The UK Ministry of Defence manages the environmental risk associated with its ∼5,700 military wrecks through the Wreck Management Programme. This paper explores the methods used to assess the environmental risk associated with the wreck of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) tanker RFAWar Mehtar, which lies at approximately 39 m depth, 15 nm east of Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom. The methods employed include archival research, computational oil spill modelling combined with sensitivity mapping, environmental sampling and hydrocarbon concentration analysis, multibeam echosounder sonar surveys and neutron backscatter probe measurements. Each method is described, and its efficacy discussed. The archival research was essential to determine what fuel and cargo the RFAWar Mehtarsank with; but only when high-resolution multibeam sonar images were combined with the ship’s plans and neutron backscatter measurements from individual tanks could one confidently conclude that the wreck does not pose a significant pollution risk.
Two-step deposition of TiN capping electrodes to prevent degradation of ferroelectric properties in an in-situ crystallized TiN/Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/TiN device
Authors: Kim Hyungwoo , Kashir Alireza , Jang Hojung , Oh Seungyeol , Yadav Manoj , Lee Seungwoo , Hwang Hyunsang
Published: March 2022

Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) is an appropriate material for the back-end-of-line (BEOL) process in fabricating ferroelectric TiN/HZO/TiN devices because of its excellent conformality on 3D nanostructures and a suitable crystallization temperature (≥ 350 °C–400 °C). However, in the semiconductor industry, the deposition temperature of TiN is usually higher than 400 °C. Therefore, it is necessary to study the ferroelectric properties of TiN/HZO/TiN devices when the deposition temperature of the TiN top electrode is higher than the HZO film crystallization temperature. In this study, 10-nm-thick TiN top electrodes were deposited at various temperatures on the HZO thin film to investigate the impact of the TiN deposition temperature on the structural features and ferroelectric properties of TiN/HZO/TiN capacitors. Only the sample capped with a TiN top electrode deposited at 400 °C showed ferroelectric properties without subsequent annealing (in situ crystallization). However, this sample exhibited an approximately 40% reduction in the polarization value compared with the other samples that were crystallized after the annealing process. This behavior can be ascribed to the formation of a monoclinic nonpolar phase. To prevent the degradation of the polarization value and suppress the formation of the m-phase in the in situ crystallized HZO thin film, a two-step TiN deposition method was carried out. The sample was fabricated by depositing a 5-nm-thick TiN top electrode at room temperature followed by the deposition of a 5-nm-thick TiN layer at 400 °C, which resulted in strong ferroelectric properties comparable to those of the samples capped with TiN grown at relatively low temperatures (room temperature, 200 °C, and 300 °C). These findings can adequately explain the role of the capping layer in achieving the ferroelectric phase, which is closely related not only during the cooling step of any thermal process but also during the heating and crystallization steps.
Certified dimension reduction in nonlinear Bayesian inverse problems
Authors: Zahm Olivier , Cui Tiangang , Law Kody , Spantini Alessio , Marzouk Youssef
Published: March 2022

We propose a dimension reduction technique for Bayesian inverse problems with nonlinear forward operators, non-Gaussian priors, and non-Gaussian observation noise. The likelihood function is approximated by a ridge function, i.e., a map which depends nontrivially only on a few linear combinations of the parameters. We build this ridge approximation by minimizing an upper bound on the Kullback–Leibler divergence between the posterior distribution and its approximation. This bound, obtained via logarithmic Sobolev inequalities, allows one to certify the error of the posterior approximation. Computing the bound requires computing the second moment matrix of the gradient of the log-likelihood function. In practice, a sample-based approximation of the upper bound is then required. We provide an analysis that enables control of the posterior approximation error due to this sampling. Numerical and theoretical comparisons with existing methods illustrate the benefits of the proposed methodology.
Arthur packets for 𝑝-adic groups by way of microlocal vanishing cycles of perverse sheaves, with examples
Authors: Cunningham Clifton , Fiori Andrew , Moussaoui Ahmed , Mracek James , Xu Bin
Published: March 2022

In this article we propose a geometric description of Arthur packets for

p
p

-adic groups using vanishing cycles of perverse sheaves. Our approach is inspired by the 1992 book by Adams, Barbasch and Vogan on the Langlands classification of admissible representations of real groups and follows the direction indicated by Vogan in his 1993 paper on the Langlands correspondence. Using vanishing cycles, we introduce and study a functor from the category of equivariant perverse sheaves on the moduli space of certain Langlands parameters to local systems on the regular part of the conormal bundle for this variety. In this article we establish the main properties of this functor and show that it plays the role of microlocalization in the work of Adams, Barbasch and Vogan. We use this to define ABV-packets for pure rational forms of

p
p

-adic groups and propose a geometric description of the transfer coefficients that appear in Arthur’s main local result in the endoscopic classification of representations. This article includes conjectures modelled on Vogan’s work, including the prediction that Arthur packets are ABV-packets for

p
p

-adic groups. We gather evidence for these conjectures by verifying them in numerous examples.
A multiplicity one theorem for groups of type 𝐴_{𝑛} over discrete valuation rings
Authors: Patel Shiv , Singla Pooja
Published: March 2022

Let

G

\mathbf {G}

be the General Linear or Special Linear group with entries from the finite quotients of the ring of integers of a non-archimedean local field and

U

\mathbf {U}

be the subgroup of

G

\mathbf {G}

consisting of upper triangular unipotent matrices. We prove that the induced representation

Ind

U

G

⁡
(
θ
)

\operatorname {Ind}^{\mathbf {G}}_{\mathbf {U}}(\theta )

of

G

\mathbf {G}

obtained from a non-degenerate character

θ
\theta

of

U

\mathbf {U}

is multiplicity free for all

ℓ
≥
2.

\ell \geq 2.

This is analogous to the multiplicity one theorem regarding Gelfand-Graev representation for the finite Chevalley groups. We prove that for many cases the regular representations of

G

\mathbf {G}

are characterized by the property that these are the constituents of the induced representation

Ind

U

G

⁡
(
θ
)

\operatorname {Ind}^{\mathbf {G}}_{\mathbf {U}}(\theta )

for some non-degenerate character

θ
\theta

of

U

\mathbf {U}

. We use this to prove that the restriction of a regular representation of General Linear groups to the Special Linear groups is multiplicity free and also obtain the corresponding branching rules in many cases.
Parabolic bundles and spherical metrics
Authors: de Borbon Martin , Panov Dmitri
Published: March 2022

We use the Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondence for parabolic bundles to reprove the results of Troyanov [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 324 (1991), pp. 793-821] and Luo-Tian [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 116 (1992), pp. 1119-1129] regarding existence and uniqueness of conformal spherical metrics on the Riemann sphere with prescribed cone angles in the interval

(
0
,
2
π
)

(0, 2\pi )

at a given configuration of three or more points.
Interopera: An Efficient Cross-Chain Trading Protocol
Authors: Yin Lingyuan , Xu Jing , Zhang Zhenfeng
Published: March 2022

With the rapid development of blockchains, blockchain systems are moving on from a stand-alone manner to cross-chain interactions, and achieving interoperability is emerging as one of the essential features of blockchains. Unfortunately, existing mechanisms such as XCLAIM mostly focus on exchanging assets between two blockchains and it is slow and expensive to process each cross-chain trade among more than two blockchains as multiple transactions are required. In this paper, we present Interopera, a decentralized and efficient cross-chain trading protocol among two or more blockchains. Interopera atomically processes each cross-chain trade faster and more cheaply with fewer transactions by a two-phase lock/unlock process. Interopera also achieves efficient cross-chain communication by our presented Partitioned-FlyClient and Tx-FlyClient. Partitioned-FlyClient is based on FlyClient but more efficient with smaller proof size, reducing the storage and bandwidth overheads. Tx-FlyClient maintains efficiency even when cross-chain trades become frequent, instead of other mechanisms only being effective under low cross-chain trades volumes. We also develop a proof-of-concept implementation and the results demonstrate high efficiency of our protocol.
Photoinduced skin reactions of cardiovascular drugs—a systematic review
Authors: Götzinger Felix , Reichrath Jörg , Millenaar Dominic , Lauder Lucas , Meyer Markus R , Böhm Michael , Mahfoud Felix
Published: March 2022

This systemic review aims to provide a practical overview of the prevalence, clinical manifestation, and management of adverse photoinduced skin reactions caused by frequently used cardiovascular drugs and to assess their potential relevance for skin cancer development. Data search included PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. A systematic review of peer-reviewed studies reporting the photosensitizing and/or skin cancer-inducing properties of common cardiovascular drugs was performed and a guide to clinical management of photoinduced skin eruptions by cardiovascular drugs was provided. Study quality was assessed for major methodological biases. A total of 58 studies were identified (i.e. 23 case reports, 14 observational studies, 10 review articles, 10 experimental studies, and 1 meta-analysis). Most commonly, drug-associated adverse photoinduced cutaneous reactions were caused by phototoxic and photoallergic mechanisms. There is evidence suggesting that amiodarone and dronedarone, thiazide diuretics, thiazide-like diuretics, angiotensin receptor blockers, dihydropyridine-type calcium channel blockers, and certain angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and statins may cause photoinduced adverse cutaneous reactions. Other drugs such as anticoagulants, antiplatelets, aldosterone antagonists, and fibrates have not been linked with photosensitizing reactions or adverse cutaneous reactions. Some drugs, i.e. thiazides and thiazide-like diuretics, were associated with an increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma). Certain commonly used cardiovascular drugs have been associated with adverse photoinduced cutaneous reactions. If they occur, further diagnosis and treatment might be needed, depending on the severity and progress. Whether photosensitizing drugs increase the risk of skin cancer remains elusive and further randomized controlled trials are required.
Influence of atrial fibrillation on efficacy and safety of omecamtiv mecarbil in heart failure: the GALACTIC-HF trial
Authors: Solomon Scott D , Claggett Brian L , Miao Zi Michael , Diaz Rafael , Felker G Michael , McMurray John J V , Metra Marco , Corbalan Ramon , Filippatos Gerasimos , Goudev Assen R , Mareev Viatcheslav , Serpytis Pranas , Suter Thomas , Yilmaz Mehmet B , Zannad Faiez , Kupfer Stuart , Heitner Stephen B , Malik Fady I , Teerlink John R
Published: March 2022

Aims

In GALACTIC-HF, the cardiac myosin activator omecamtiv mecarbil compared with placebo reduced the risk of heart failure events or cardiovascular death in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We explored the influence of atrial fibrillation or flutter (AFF) on the effectiveness of omecamtiv mecarbil.

Methods and results

GALACTIC-HF enrolled patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II–IV heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%, and elevated natriuretic peptides. We assessed whether the presence or absence of AFF, a pre-specified subgroup, modified the treatment effect for the primary and secondary outcomes, and additionally explored effect modification in patients who were or were not receiving digoxin. Patients with AFF (n = 2245, 27%) were older, more likely to be randomized as an inpatient, less likely to have a history of ischaemic aetiology or myocardial infarction, had a worse NYHA class, worse quality of life, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, and higher N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. The treatment effect of omecamtiv mecarbil was modified by baseline AFF (interaction P = 0.012), with patients without AFF at baseline deriving greater benefit. The worsening of the treatment effect by baseline AFF was significantly more pronounced in digoxin users than in non-users (interaction P = 0.007); there was minimal evidence of effect modification in those patients not using digoxin (P = 0.47) or in digoxin users not in AFF.

Conclusion

Patients in AFF at baseline were less likely to benefit from omecamtiv mecarbil than patients without AFF, although the attenuation of the treatment effect was disproportionally concentrated in patients with AFF who were also receiving digoxin.

Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02929329
Patterns of selection in the evolution of a transposable element
Authors: Dazenière Julie , Bousios Alexandros , Eyre-Walker Adam
Published: March 2022

Transposable elements are a major component of most eukaryotic genomes. Here, we present a new approach which allows us to study patterns of natural selection in the evolution of transposable elements over short time scales. The method uses the alignment of all elements with intact gag/pol genes of a transposable element family from a single genome. We predict that the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous variants in the alignment should decrease as a function of the frequency of the variants, because elements with nonsynonymous variants that reduce transposition will have fewer progeny. We apply our method to Sirevirus long-terminal repeat retrotransposons that are abundant in maize and other plant species and show that nonsynonymous to synonymous variants declines as variant frequency increases, indicating that negative selection is acting strongly on the Sirevirus genome. The asymptotic value of nonsynonymous to synonymous variants suggests that at least 85% of all nonsynonymous mutations in the transposable element reduce transposition. Crucially, these patterns in nonsynonymous to synonymous variants are only predicted to occur if the gene products from a particular transposable element insertion preferentially promote the transposition of the same insertion. Overall, by using large numbers of intact elements, this study sheds new light on the selective processes that act on transposable elements.
Paradoxically Greater Persistence of HIV RNA-Positive Cells in Lymphoid Tissue When ART Is Initiated in the Earliest Stage of Infection
Authors: Kroon Eugène , Chottanapund Suthat , Buranapraditkun Supranee , Sacdalan Carlo , Colby Donn J , Chomchey Nitiya , Prueksakaew Peeriya , Pinyakorn Suteeraporn , Trichavaroj Rapee , Vasan Sandhya , Manasnayakorn Sopark , Reilly Cavan , Helgeson Erika , Anderson Jodi , David Caitlin , Zulk Jacob , de Souza Mark , Tovanabutra Sodsai , Schuetz Alexandra , Robb Merlin L , Douek Daniel C , Phanuphak Nittaya , Haase Ashley , Ananworanich Jintanat , Schacker Timothy W
Published: March 2022

Starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Fiebig 1 acute HIV infection limits the size of viral reservoirs in lymphoid tissues, but does not impact time to virus rebound during a treatment interruption. To better understand why the reduced reservoir size did not increase the time to rebound we measured the frequency and location of HIV RNA+ cells in lymph nodes from participants in the RV254 acute infection cohort. HIV RNA+ cells were detected more frequently and in greater numbers when ART was initiated in Fiebig 1 compared to later Fiebig stages and were localized to the T-cell zone compared to the B-cell follicle with treatment in later Fiebig stages. Variability of virus production in people treated during acute infection suggests that the balance between virus-producing cells and the immune response to clear infected cells rapidly evolves during the earliest stages of infection.

Clinical Trials Registration: NCT02919306.
“Negotiated Coexistence”: Indian and Chinese Engagement in the Global Governance of Peacebuilding
Authors: Adhikari Monalisa
Published: March 2022

A much-discussed theme in international relations is how emerging powers will engage with the declining liberal world order and its various governance regimes. This article examines the engagement of emergent powers with the regime of “peacebuilding.” Empirically, it examines the interaction between India and China, with liberal peacebuilding projects in the peace processes of Nepal and Myanmar respectively. Departing from the theory that emergent powers either displace, or converge with, the liberal world order, this article argues that emergent powers have a “negotiated coexistence” with liberal peacebuilders. Despite competing motivations, this “coexistence” of liberal peacebuilders and emergent powers is negotiated, first, by the agency of conflict-affected states, who invoke plural forms of international engagement, to gain strategic advantage, and secondly, by limited interaction between the two, given the differences in their priorities and modalities of engagement. The differences ensure that emergent powers operate in parallel, yet distinctly, from peacebuilders, rarely crossing each other's path. This limited interaction not only prevents this coexistence from degenerating into instances of potential contestation but also inhibits cooperation. Yet, when emergent powers view their economic and strategic interests being threatened by norms and practices of liberal peacebuilding projects, few instances of contestation emerge.
CancerBERT: a cancer domain-specific language model for extracting breast cancer phenotypes from electronic health records
Authors: Zhou Sicheng , Wang Nan , Wang Liwei , Liu Hongfang , Zhang Rui
Published: March 2022

Objective

Accurate extraction of breast cancer patients’ phenotypes is important for clinical decision support and clinical research. This study developed and evaluated cancer domain pretrained CancerBERT models for extracting breast cancer phenotypes from clinical texts. We also investigated the effect of customized cancer-related vocabulary on the performance of CancerBERT models.

Materials and Methods

A cancer-related corpus of breast cancer patients was extracted from the electronic health records of a local hospital. We annotated named entities in 200 pathology reports and 50 clinical notes for 8 cancer phenotypes for fine-tuning and evaluation. We kept pretraining the BlueBERT model on the cancer corpus with expanded vocabularies (using both term frequency-based and manually reviewed methods) to obtain CancerBERT models. The CancerBERT models were evaluated and compared with other baseline models on the cancer phenotype extraction task.

Results

All CancerBERT models outperformed all other models on the cancer phenotyping NER task. Both CancerBERT models with customized vocabularies outperformed the CancerBERT with the original BERT vocabulary. The CancerBERT model with manually reviewed customized vocabulary achieved the best performance with macro F1 scores equal to 0.876 (95% CI, 0.873–0.879) and 0.904 (95% CI, 0.902–0.906) for exact match and lenient match, respectively.

Conclusions

The CancerBERT models were developed to extract the cancer phenotypes in clinical notes and pathology reports. The results validated that using customized vocabulary may further improve the performances of domain specific BERT models in clinical NLP tasks. The CancerBERT models developed in the study would further help clinical decision support.
A museum on the front line: The People’s Museum of Girona (1936–1938)
Authors: Domènech Casadevall Gemma
Published: March 2022

On 14 August 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, Sir Frederic Kenyon, director of the British Museum, and James Mann, keeper of the Wallace Collection in London, visited the Catalan city of Girona, close to the border with France. They had been sent to Spain by the British government to ascertain at first hand the impact of the war on Spain’s artistic heritage, and to assess the efforts being made by the Republican government to protect it. During their visit, they devoted particular attention to the People’s Museum, on which the Catalan authorities had been working since the outbreak of the civil war, and which they planned to open in October of that year. At the time of the visit, the war had already been raging for a year.
Effect of amorphous carbon coating on the performance of liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM) and the dynamics of enclosed Pt nano-colloids
Authors: Li Xiaoguang , Mitsuishi Kazutaka , Takeguchi Masaki
Published: March 2022

Ultra-thin silicon nitride (SiN) membranes are critical in microfabrication-based liquid cells (LCs) for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This study used a homemade LC with a 50-nm SiN membrane to study the dynamics of 2.58-nm platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) in approximately 200-nm-deep water. When a strong beam with electron flux ranging from 2.5 × 103 to 1.4 × 106 e−/(nm2 s) was applied to resolve the NPs, the beam caused NP aggregation and even drilled a hole on the top membrane. The hole drilling was prevented by coating a 1–4-nm-thick amorphous carbon layer on both sides of the membrane. The NP aggregation rate also decreased with increasing carbon thickness. After overcoming the aforementioned issues, lattice fringes of the Pt NPs were visible when the NPs were attached to the membrane of the 4-nm-carbon-coated LC containing a thin liquid layer. The effects of the electron beam and carbon on the LC and Pt NPs were investigated and discussed. This work provides a reference for LC-TEM research using strong electron beams.
Crying for Flicka: Boys, Young Men, and Emotion at the Cinema in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s
Authors: Tebbutt Melanie
Published: March 2022

This article re-visits contemporary surveys of the cinema in the 1930s and 1940s to explore the implications that the cinema’s role as an “emotional frontier” between everyday life and the imagination had on the emotional lives of boys and young men. It makes a novel contribution to the history of youth and emotions, arguing that for boys and young men who were disconnected from social life, the cinema was an “emotional refuge,” a space of heightened emotional encounter, in which conventional assumptions about masculinity could be fractured and “feminine” sensibilities otherwise difficult to express publicly could receive cathartic release.
Phenotypic variation in photosynthetic traits in wheat grown under field versus glasshouse conditions
Authors: Sales Cristina R G , Molero Gemma , Evans John R , Taylor Samuel H , Joynson Ryan , Furbank Robert T , Hall Anthony , Carmo-Silva Elizabete
Published: March 2022

Recognition of the untapped potential of photosynthesis to improve crop yields has spurred research to identify targets for breeding. The CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco is characterized by a number of inefficiencies, and frequently limits carbon assimilation at the top of the canopy, representing a clear target for wheat improvement. Two bread wheat lines with similar genetic backgrounds and contrasting in vivo maximum carboxylation activity of Rubisco per unit leaf nitrogen (Vc,max,25/Narea) determined using high-throughput phenotyping methods were selected for detailed study from a panel of 80 spring wheat lines. Detailed phenotyping of photosynthetic traits in the two lines using glasshouse-grown plants showed no difference in Vc,max,25/Narea determined directly via in vivo and in vitro methods. Detailed phenotyping of glasshouse-grown plants of the 80 wheat lines also showed no correlation between photosynthetic traits measured via high-throughput phenotyping of field-grown plants. Our findings suggest that the complex interplay between traits determining crop productivity and the dynamic environments experienced by field-grown plants needs to be considered in designing strategies for effective wheat crop yield improvement when breeding for particular environments.
Usefulness of AFP, PIVKA-II, and Their Combination in Diagnosing Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on Upconversion Luminescence Immunochromatography
Authors: Zhang Song-gao , Huang Yi
Published: March 2022

Objectives

To evaluate the prognostic values of serum PIVKA-II (prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence–II) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) and the combination of these analytes for identifying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to analyze the correlation between biomarkers and clinicopathological features of HCC.

Methods

The levels of PIVKA-II and AFP in 331 case individuals were determined by upconverting phosphor technology-based immune lateral flow (UPT-LF) assay. We used the ROC curve to determine the diagnostic value; the relationships between the biomarkers and clinicopathological features of HCC also were analyzed.

Results

AFP and PIVKA-II have good diagnostic performance in the diagnosis of HCC; the best AUC was 0.76, 0.74. High levels of PIVKA-II were more advantageous than AFP in predicting tumor size, portal-vein embolism, and vascular invasion (all P <.05).

Conclusion

Levels of PIVKA-II and AFP showed good diagnostic value for HCC, but the level of PIVKA-II was more closely related to the clinicopathological features of HCC.
Aligning Air Force Ground Surgical Team (GST) Training With the Deployment Experience
Authors: Edmonds Robert , Hansen Dallas
Published: March 2022

Introduction

The Air Force Ground Surgical Team (GST) Phase 1 course is a two-week pre-deployment training for the Air Force’s conventional austere surgical care platform. Since the creation of the GST platform and associated training pipeline in 2017, course adjustments and improvements have relied on expert opinion and anecdote. To gain a more robust understanding of GST deployment clinical and operational activities, we conducted a survey of all surgeons who completed GST Phase 1 training from its inception in April 2017 to September 2020.

Materials and Methods

87 surgeons took the course from April 2017 to September 2020. 60 of those surgeons were still on active duty and were candidates to complete the survey sent from the Air Force Survey Office. 31 individuals responded and their identification was kept blinded. An IRB exemption was issued before study initiation.

Results

Of the 31 respondents, 9 took the GST Phase 1 course but never deployed, and were excluded. The remaining 22 surgeons deployed at some point from 2017 to 2020. Four surgeons reported providing no surgical care during their deployment. 68% of the surgeons deployed to an actual standalone GST platform, while the rest were retained at larger military treatment facilities (MTFs) or Role III facilities. The median number of surgeries performed was 2 for surgeons at standalone GSTs and 7 for those at larger MTFs/Role IIIs. A holding time of greater than 12 hours was reported for 15% of operative patients and 58% of nonoperative patients at standalone GSTs. 28% (n = 5) of surgeons reported taking care of patients in the Golden Hour of surgery, and 23% of teams reported a patient death. Two surgeons cared for a military working dog, and four surgeons cared for pediatric patients. 50% of surgeons had more than one patient present simultaneously for care. 50% of surgeons’ resupply were in the greater than 30 days or never received category.

Conclusions

The GST Phase 1 course has a unique role in preparing students to provide austere surgical care. This includes both preparing to function in the operational military environment as well as applying sound in-garrison trauma surgical care techniques to the austere, resource variable environment. The results of this survey suggest that a broadening of content-specific deployment-related topics, the formalization of documentation education, incorporating formal evidence-based nontechnical skills training, and identifying optimal GST context-specific behaviors will strengthen the effectiveness of the course in preparing students for deployment.
Galactic tides and the Crater II dwarf spheroidal: a challenge to LCDM?
Authors: Borukhovetskaya Alexandra , Navarro Julio F , Errani Raphaël , Fattahi Azadeh
Published: March 2022

The unusually low velocity dispersion and large size of Crater II pose a challenge to our understanding of dwarf galaxies in the Lambda cold dark matter (LCDM) cosmogony. The low velocity dispersion suggests either a dark halo mass much lower than the minimum expected from hydrogen cooling limit arguments or one that is in the late stages of extreme tidal stripping. The tidal interpretation has been favoured in recent work and is supported by the small pericentric distances consistent with available kinematic estimates. We use N-body simulations to examine this interpretation in detail, assuming a Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile for Crater II’s progenitor halo. Our main finding is that, although the low velocity dispersion can indeed result from the effect of tides, the large size of Crater II is inconsistent with this hypothesis. This is because galaxies stripped to match the observed velocity dispersion are also reduced to sizes much smaller than the observed half-light radius of Crater II. Unless its size has been substantially overestimated, reconciling this system with LCDM requires that either (i) it is not bound and near equilibrium (unlikely, given its crossing time is shorter than the time elapsed since pericentre) or (ii) its progenitor halo deviates from the assumed NFW profile. The latter alternative may signal that baryons can affect the inner halo cusp even in extremely faint dwarfs or, more intriguingly, may signal effects associated with the intimate nature of the dark matter, such as finite self-interactions, or other such deviations from the canonical LCDM paradigm.
Streaming velocity effects on the post-reionization 21-cm baryon acoustic oscillation signal
Authors: Long Heyang , Givans Jahmour J , Hirata Christopher M
Published: March 2022

The relative velocity between baryons and dark matter in the early Universe can suppress the formation of small-scale baryonic structure and leave an imprint on the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale at low redshifts after reionization. This ‘streaming velocity’ affects the post-reionization gas distribution by directly reducing the abundance of pre-existing mini-haloes ($\lesssim 10^7 {\rm M}_{\bigodot }$) that could be destroyed by reionization and indirectly modulating reionization history via photoionization within these mini-haloes. In this work, we investigate the effect of streaming velocity on the BAO feature in H i 21 cm intensity mapping after reionization, with a focus on redshifts 3.5 ≲ z ≲ 5.5. We build a spatially modulated halo model that includes the dependence of the filtering mass on the local reionization redshift and thermal history of the intergalactic gas. In our fiducial model, we find isotropic streaming velocity bias coefficients bv ranging from −0.0043 at z = 3.5 to −0.0273 at z = 5.5, which indicates that the BAO scale is stretched (i.e. the peaks shift to lower k). In particular, streaming velocity shifts the transverse BAO scale between 0.121 per cent (z = 3.5) and 0.35 per cent (z = 5.5) and shifts the radial BAO scale between 0.167 per cent (z = 3.5) and 0.505 per cent (z = 5.5). These shifts exceed the projected error bars from the more ambitious proposed hemispherical-scale surveys in H i (0.13 per cent at 1σ per Δz = 0.5 bin).