bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mechanism and origin of the stereoselectivity of manganese-catalyzed hydrosilylation of alkynes: a DFT study
Authors: Li Qianqian , Huo Suhong , Meng Lingpeng , Li Xiaoyan
Published: February 2022

The mechanism and origin of the stereodivergent mononuclear Mn(CO)5Br and binuclear Mn2(CO)10 catalyzed hydrosilylation of alkynes have been investigated and compared.
Flexible metal–organic frameworks for gas storage and separation
Authors: Li Yue , Wang Yutong , Fan Weidong , Sun Daofeng
Published: February 2022

Dynamic response of flexible MOF for gas storage and separation.
A dual-confinement strategy to construct cobalt-based phosphide nanoclusters within carbon nanofibers for bifunctional water splitting electrocatalysts
Authors: Chen Jie , Huang Fuying , Ke Sunzai , Shen Jiaxin , Li Yancai , Zheng Fengying , Li Shunxing
Published: February 2022

A dual-confinement strategy combining MOFs and polymer was developed to synthesize phosphide nanoclusters for bifunctional water splitting electrocatalysts.
Yeast β-1,3-glucan production by an outer membrane β-1,6-glucanase: process optimization, structural characterization and immunomodulatory activity
Authors: Qiao Yan , Ye Xianfeng , Zhong Lingli , Xia Chengyao , Zhang Lei , Yang Fan , Li Yongkai , Fang Xiaodong , Fu Lei , Huang Yan , Cao Hui , Li Zhoukun , Cui Zhongli
Published: February 2022

Yeast β-glucan BYG that isolated from OM β-1,6-glucanase GluM-based hydrolysis exhibits structural integrity that responsible for its favorable immunomodulatory activity.
Potential role of PRKCSH in lung cancer: bioinformatics analysis and a case study of Nano ZnO
Authors: Lei Ridan , Zhou Meiling , Zhang Shusheng , Luo Jinhua , Qu Can , Wang Yin , Guo Peiyu , Huang Ruixue
Published: February 2022

PRKCSH, also known as glucosidase II beta, functions as a contributor to lung tumorigenesis by regulating the cell cycle in a p53-dependent manner under severe environmental stress.
Boosting alkaline water splitting and the urea electrolysis kinetic process of a Co3O4 nanosheet by electronic structure modulation of F, P co-doping
Authors: Du Xiaoqiang , Ma Guangyu , Zhang Xiaoshuang
Published: February 2022

The present results provide an alternative solution for the preparation of electrocatalysts with high structural stability, high catalytic activity and multifunction for alkaline water splitting and urea electrolysis.
Symmetry breaking of A3M2X9-type perovskite derivatives induced by polar quaternary ammonium cations: achieving efficient nonlinear optical properties
Authors: Wu Jia-Jing , Guo Yue , Yao Wen-Dong , Liu Wen-Long , Guo Sheng-Ping
Published: February 2022

A “green” novel polar perovskite-derivative, [C6H5CH2N(CH2CH3)3]3Bi2Cl9, with phase-matchable SHG effects was obtained by utilizing asymmetric quaternary ammonium cation substitution.
Electrochemical activation of CO2by MOF-(Fe, Ni, Mn) derivatives of 5-aminoisophthalic acid and the thiazole group influence on its catalytic activity
Authors: Robles-Marín Elvis , Flores-Alamo Marcos , Garcia Juventino J.
Published: February 2022

The electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide using earth abundant metals and a functionalized MOF to find a sustainable process was investigated.
Cross‐domain person re‐identification based on background suppression and identity consistency
Authors: Jiang Ming , Gao Juntao , Li Pengfei , Zhang Min
Published: February 2022

Recent advanced methods address the cross‐domain person re‐identification (Re‐ID) problem primarily by the pseudo label estimation. However, person images with similar backgrounds are usually incorrectly clustered due to the interference of background noise. Furthermore, it is the lack of filtering of incorrect pseudo labels that results in the poor quality of the final generated pseudo labels. Here, a progressive learning approach based on background suppression and identity consistency for cross‐domain person Re‐ID (BSIC‐reID) is proposed. In the background suppression module, background mask attention and reverse attention are combined to effectively extract pedestrian features and suppress background noise, highlighting the foreground person information for person Re‐ID. In addition, the BSIC‐reID model is used to extract multi‐scale person features and generate different perspective pseudo labels for the target domain images. The incorrect pseudo labels are filtered by comparing the potential similarity of multi‐scale person features so that the higher quality pseudo labels for the target domain images could be generated. This method is performed on the Market‐1501, DukeMTMC‐reID, and MSMT17, evaluated by the Cumulated Matching Characteristics (CMC) and mean Average Precision (mAP). The experimental results demonstrate that this method also achieves state‐of‐the‐art performance.
A new and Homogeneous metallicity scale for Galactic classical Cepheids
Authors: da Silva R. , Crestani J. , Bono G. , Braga V. F. , D’Orazi V. , Lemasle B. , Bergemann M. , Dall’Ora M. , Fiorentino G. , François P. , Groenewegen M. A. T. , Inno L. , Kovtyukh V. , Kudritzki R.-P. , Matsunaga N. , Monelli M. , Pietrinferni A. , Porcelli L. , Storm J. , Tantalo M. , Thévénin F.
Published: February 2022

Context. Classical Cepheids are the most popular distance indicators and tracers of young stellar populations. The key advantage is that they are bright and they can be easily identified in Local Group and Local Volume galaxies. Their evolutionary and pulsation properties depend on their chemical abundances.

Aims. The main aim of this investigation is to perform a new and accurate abundance analysis of 20 calibrating Galactic Cepheids. We used high spectral resolution (R ~ 40 000–115 000) and high S/N spectra (~400), covering the entire pulsation cycle.

Methods. We focused our attention on plausible systematics that would affect the estimate of atmospheric parameters and elemental abundances along the pulsation cycle. We cleaned the line list by using atomic transition parameters based on laboratory measurements and by removing lines that are either blended or that display abundance variations along the pulsation cycle.

Results. The spectroscopic approach we developed brings forward small dispersions in the variation of the atmospheric parameters (σ(Teff) ~ 50 K, σ(log g) ~ 0.2 dex, and σ(ξ) ~ 0.2 kms−1) as well as in the abundance of both iron (≲0.05 dex) and α elements (≲0.10 dex) over the entire pulsation cycle. We also provide new and accurate effective temperature templates by splitting the calibrating Cepheids into four different period bins, ranging from short to long periods. For each period bin, we performed an analytical fit with Fourier series providing θ = 5040/Teff as a function of the pulsation phase.

Conclusions. The current findings are a good viaticum for tracing the chemical enrichment of the Galactic thin disk by using classical Cepheids as a fundamental stepping stone for further investigations into the more metal-poor regime that is typical of Magellanic Cepheids.
Spin glasses and optimization in complex systems
Authors: Mézard Marc
Published: February 2022

Spin glasses are useless. Even the most imaginative physicists, submitted to grant pressure, could not find applications for these materials. Yet their study, triggered by pure intellectual interest, has created a formidable new branch of statistical physics distinguished this year by the Nobel prize attributed to Giorgio Parisi.
Multi-agent systems to improve efficiency in steelworks
Authors: Iannino Vincenzo , Colla Valentina , Mocci Claudio , Matino Ismael , Dettori Stefano , Kolb Sebastian , Plankenbühler Thomas , Karl Jürgen
Published: February 2022

A multi-agent system consists of several computational entities capable of autonomous actions, called agents, which communicate with each other, and have the ability to coordinate their actions and to cooperate. Multi-agent systems received a great interest and attention over time, as they can be seen as a key enabling technology for complex applications, where distributed and processing of data, autonomy, and high degree of interactions in dynamic environments are required at the same time. Therefore, in view of current and future developments of the digitalization of industrial production cycles promoted by Industry 4.0, multi-agent systems are foreseen to play an increasing role for industrial production management and optimization. Because of barriers represented by large presence of legacy systems, in the steel sector agent-based technology is not widely applied yet, and multi-agent systems applications are very few. On the other hand, steel manufacturing industries are complex and dynamic systems whose production processes held a strategic role in the global economy. During last decades, the steel sector has undergone relevant transformations, especially through the massive digitalization and the innovation introduced by Industry 4.0. A further evolution is foreseen in the incoming years to improve the sustainability of the production cycle by improving energy and resource efficiency. Therefore, steel industries must face several challenges on the path toward the factory of the future. In such context multi-agent systems, through their intrinsic properties, such as autonomy, social abilities, reactivity, proactivity, and mobility, can overcome existing drawbacks and barriers, by increasing flexibility, improving resources efficiency, handling production operations, reacting to unpredicted events, optimizing production processes, and supporting legacy systems. In this paper, some applications of multi-agent systems in steel sector are presented to show the advantages and opportunities of agent-based technology.
Transdisciplinarity in Japan: insights from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto
Authors: Rigolot Cyrille
Published: February 2022

To date, most debates about transdisciplinarity (TD) have been dominated by Western institutions. This paper proposes insights from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan, from an investigation as a visiting scientist. After describing its unique project-based organization, I first show that the development of TD at RIHN faces some common challenges, such as TD evaluation, education and upscaling (beyond local contexts). Yet, collaborations with stakeholders have also unique specificities (importance of the group, rigidity of institutions, different ways of interacting…). Moreover, most RIHN researchers claim to have a particularly practical approach to TD. At the level of the whole institute, RIHN gives a strong emphasis on the premise that environmental problems are rooted in human cultures and values. RIHN also develops a specific approach to scales, in which Asia serves as a nodal point between the local and global (‘Asia vision’). We suggest that RIHN’s emphasis on cultural roots and its nodal approach to scale might be themselves rooted in the Japanese culture.
Le continent oublié. Lumières et zones d’ombre des recherches sur la dissémination des plastiques
Authors: Blot Denis , Tramoy Romain , Gasperi Johnny , Tassin Bruno
Published: February 2022

Pourquoi le nombre de publications scientifiques sur les plastiques a-t-il explosé sur les 7-8 dernières années ? Pourquoi le nombre d’équipes à travers le monde investies dans la recherche sur les plastiques a-t-il crû également de manière exponentielle ? Pourquoi une majorité de travaux est-elle issue du monde des sciences de la nature et se focalise-t-elle sur le compartiment océanique et non sur le compartiment continental où pourtant ils sont majoritairement produits ? Pourquoi de plus en plus de travaux s’intéressent-ils aux micro- puis nanoplastiques, alors qu’en masse les rejets sont majoritairement de grande taille ? Pourquoi, dans ce qui est devenu une grande question de société, les sciences humaines et sociales n’ont-elles qu’une implication très marginale ? Voilà les principales questions auxquelles ce regard croisé s’efforce de proposer des éléments de réponses et de réflexion, au travers de l’expérience d’une équipe interdisciplinaire, investie dans la recherche sur les plastiques depuis presque 10 ans.
Être psychomotricien dans un service de psychiatrie générale
Authors: Arnaud Èlodie , Crepu Lucie , Puybareau Antoine
Published: February 2022

La Psychomotricité a trouvé ses sources à l’hôpital Sainte-Anne et a évolué depuis dans différentes directions. Dans le service du Dr Jean-Luc Marcel, elle y trouve une place particulière dans le soin des adultes, au sein d’une équipe pluridisciplinaire se mobilisant en permanence pour une psychiatrie humaniste, au plus proche du sujet.
Trois séquences de la journée d’une psychomotricienne
Authors: Bury Véronique
Published: February 2022

Trois séquences de la journée d’une psychomotricienne afin de transmettre comment cette profession peut se décliner dans divers milieux institutionnels, quel que soit l’âge du patient. Le(la) psychomotricien(ne) s’intéresse au langage du corps (sa fonction tonique et posturale, son vécu sensoriel…) en interaction avec le milieu humain. Sa clinique prend sens et s’enrichit dans les regards croisés de la pluridisciplinarité.
La supervision en psychomotricité
Authors: Lauras-Petit Agnès
Published: February 2022

La supervision en psychomotricité est l’espace d’élaboration psychique de l’exercice clinique. Elle s’appuie sur l’écoute et l’éclairage d’un psychomotricien psychanalyste expérimenté ou d’orientation psychanalytique, au sein d’un groupe de pairs ou en individuel. Elle permet la prise de distance et la compréhension des échanges transférentiels et contre-transférentiels corporels et verbaux spécifiques à l’approche psychomotrice des patients. Elle veut permettre au professionnel de confirmer son identité et d’affiner son style personnel. Elle est une posture d’observation de son engagement comme de celui de son patient, de sa famille et de l’institution. Posture que le professionnel acquiert et s’approprie.
Effects of Exercise and Noise on Auditory Thresholds and Distortion-Product Otoacoustic Emissions
Authors: Hooks-Horton Shannon , Geer Susan , Stuart Andrew
Published: February 2022

Differences in auditory thresholds and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) levels were investigated as a function of gender, ear, frequency, and experimental condition: quiet sedentary activity, exercise, noise, and exercise and noise combined. In general, participants displayed significant elevations in auditory thresholds of approximately 6 to 13 dB following the two conditions employing noise exposure. There were no significant differences in either auditory threshold differences before and following the quiet and exercise conditions or between the noise-alone and combined exercise and noise conditions. Participants also displayed significant reductions in DPOAE levels of approximately 6 to 7 dB following the two conditions employing noise exposure. The findings also showed no gender or ear effects on auditory threshold or DPOAE level differences. Further, there was no evidence of a synergistic combination of exercise and noise on auditory function as revealed by changes in hearing threshold or DPOAE levels.

Abbreviations: DPOAE = distortion-product otoacoustic emissions, TTS = temporary threshold shift
Limitations and Concerns with Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision for Rectal Cancer
Authors: Vannijvel M. , Wolthuis Albert M.
Published: February 2022

Transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) was developed to overcome the technical challenges of a minimally invasive (ultra-) low anterior resection. This new technique has recently come under careful scrutiny as technical pitfalls were reported, in specific relation to the transanal approach. Patients are at risk for urologic lesions. Moreover, carbon dioxide embolism is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication. The benefit of TaTME from an oncological point of view has neither been clarified. Hypothetically, better visualization of the lower rectum could lead to better dissection and total mesorectal excision (TME) specimens, resulting in better oncologic results. Up until now, retrospective multicenter reports seem to show that short-term oncologic results are not inferior after TaTME as compared with after laparoscopic TME. Alarming reports have however been published from Norway suggesting a high incidence and particular multifocal pattern of early local recurrence. In this article, a balanced overview is given of the most important technical pitfalls and oncological concerns arising with this new procedure.
Functional Outcomes after Transanal Surgery
Authors: Foppa Caterina , Carrano Francesco Maria , Spinelli Antonino
Published: February 2022

Transanal surgery has gained in popularity during the latter part of the last decade for both rectal cancer and benign disease. The current role for local excision of early rectal neoplastic lesions has expanded due to better understanding of risk factors for lymph node metastasis and heightened awareness for the long-term sequelae of radical surgery. Transanal resection of the rectum (both for cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases) has now been established as a successful procedure that overcomes some of the limitations of the abdominal approaches. Once the feasibility, safety, and the oncologic results of transanal minimally invasive approaches for patients with rectal cancer have been acknowledged, quality of life and functional outcomes have become increasingly important issues. This article provides an overview of the different techniques currently available for the minimally invasive transanal treatment of rectal lesions, particularly focusing on functional outcomes.
Maximum-Likelihood Yes-No Procedure for Gap Detection: Effect of Track Length
Authors: Florentine Mary , Marvit Peter , Buus Soren
Published: February 2022

A maximum-likelihood yes-no procedure was used to measure minimum detectable gaps (MDGs) at 1 and 4 kHz using two track lengths (15 and 30 trials). Results from 11 normal listeners show no difference between MDGs for the two track lengths, and variability of the MDGs did not differ significantly for the track lengths. Results from simulations indicate that the variability of MDGs from real listeners is considerably larger than that imposed by the psychophysical procedure. Additional simulations show that random variability of listeners' response criterion is a compelling explanation for the excess variability. These findings indicate that changes in a listener's threshold over time impose a lower bound on the variability obtainable with a yes-no procedure. They imply that increasing the number of trials in a track, beyond the minimum number required to obtain a stable threshold estimate, offers little or no advantage for the test-retest reliability of a clinical threshold measurement.

Abbreviations: CF = center frequency, ERB = equivalent rectangular bands, MDG = minimum detectable gap, MML = method of maximum likelihood, SDT = signal detection theory
Preliminary Results with the AVR ImpaCt Frequency-Transposing Hearing Aid
Authors: McDermott Hugh J. , Knight Michelle R.
Published: February 2022

Currently, the only behind-the-ear hearing aid that provides a frequency transposition function is the ImpaCt DSR675, recently introduced by AVR Communications Ltd. of Israel. In tests with three hearing-impaired adults, the performance of the ImpaCt aid(s) was compared with that of each subject's own (nontransposing) hearing aids. Recognition of monosyllabic words and medial consonants did not differ significantly between the two types of aids. This suggests that the transposition function of the ImpaCt was not effective at providing these subjects with increased high-frequency speech information, at least for the programmable parameters applied in the experiments. However, the subjects' understanding of sentences in a competing noise was significantly poorer with the ImpaCt than with the subjects' own aids. In that test, the ImpaCt aids were programmed to attenuate parts of the noise. The decreased sentence recognition may have resulted from this program, which effectively reduced the bandwidth of the ImpaCt aids.

Abbreviations: AGC = automatic gain control, ANOVA = analysis of variance, CFE = Clinician Fitting Environment, CNC = consonant-vowel nucleus-consonant, DCB = dynamic consonant boost, FCVL = frequency compression for voiceless sounds, HPF = high-pass filter, LPF = low-pass filter, SNR = signal-to-noise ratio
Electrophysiologic Correlates of Attention versus Stimulus Competition in Young Male and Female Listeners
Authors: Carpenter Michael , De Chicchis Albert R. , Cranford Jerry L. , Hymel Murvin R.
Published: February 2022

The effects of attention and stimulus competition on the late auditory-evoked potential (LAEP) were compared in 10 young males and 10 young females. Listeners attended to discrim- inably different oddball tonal sequences presented binaurally or monaurally. Peak amplitudes in response to the frequent tones were measured for Np P2, and early and late N2 (N2e and N2I) components of the LAEP. Whereas N, amplitudes increased, the amplitudes of P2 decreased when listeners attended to, rather than ignored, the tones. Competition effects for both N, and P2 resulted in reduced amplitudes in the presence of contralateral competition. Although findings with N2e and N2I suggested possible attention and competition effects, as well as gender differences, the data were inconsistent and will need further experimental verification. The present findings with the N1 and P2 components provide evidence that different neural processes underlie the attention and competition effects in the human brain.

Abbreviations: EEG = electroencephalographic activity, ERP = event-related potential, LAEP = late auditory-evoked potential, PN = processing negativity, SOA = stimulus-onset asynchrony
Current transport mechanism of AlGaN-channel Schottky barrier diode with extremely low leakage current and high blocking voltage of 2.55 kV
Authors: Zhang Tao , Zhang Yanni , Li Ruohan , Lu Juan , Su Huake , Xu Shengrui , Su Kai , Duan Xiaoling , Lv Yueguang , Zhang Jincheng , Hao Yue
Published: February 2022

This Letter presents work on lateral AlGaN-channel Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with impressive reverse blocking characteristics and low onset voltage (VON). A low reverse current (IR) of 28 nA/mm and low VON of 0.60 V are obtained by utilizing an AlGaN back barrier layer with high Al composition and low work function metal as the anode. The fabricated AlGaN-channel SBD with an anode–cathode distance (LAC) of 30 μm achieves a high blocking voltage of 2.55 kV and a power figure-of-merit of 363 MW/cm2. Meanwhile, the current transport mechanism of AlGaN-channel SBDs goes through thermionic emission, thermionic field emission, and trap-assisted tunneling as the reverse bias is gradually increased. The thermal activation energy (EA) is calculated to be 141.3 meV at high reverse bias. IR at 475 K is only 3 μA/mm, which shows an adequate barrier height for rectifying at high temperature even with low VON. The AlGaN-channel SBDs show great promise for next-generation power electronics with balanced forward and reverse characteristics.
Dual-band InGaAs nBn photodetectors at 2 μm
Authors: Şahin Alper , Gül Musa Selim , Uzgur Fatih , Kocaman Serdar
Published: February 2022

An nBn type InGaAs photodetector structure operating at 2 μm with dual-band operation capability has been numerically designed and experimentally characterized. A compositionally graded and unintentionally doped InGaAlAs layer with a delta-doped nano-layer behaves as the barrier for majority carrier flow. The pixels fabricated with a 20 μm pitch mesa process yielded peak quantum efficiencies of 67% and 53% without anti-reflective coating for the e-SWIR and SWIR sides, respectively. Dark current measurements on a large area pixel yield 3.40 mA/cm2 at 300 K and 0.61 μA/cm2 at 200 K for the e-SWIR side, while 8.05 μA/cm2 at 300 K and 1.09 nA/cm2 at 200 K are obtained for the SWIR side. I–V characteristics analysis performed with pixels having different areas shows that the designed nBn structure has no surface leakage current presenting a potential benefit for dual-band applications requiring mesa structures that usually suffer from surface states for the InGaAs material system. Temperature dependent dark current characterization confirms this result and implies diffusion current dominated dark current.
Stress tensor and constant pressure simulation for polarizable Gaussian multipole model
Authors: Wei Haixin , Cieplak Piotr , Duan Yong , Luo Ray
Published: February 2022

Our previous article has established the theory of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for systems modeled with the polarizable Gaussian multipole (pGM) electrostatics [Wei et al., J. Chem. Phys. 153(11), 114116 (2020)]. Specifically, we proposed the covalent basis vector framework to define the permanent multipoles and derived closed-form energy and force expressions to facilitate an efficient implementation of pGM electrostatics. In this study, we move forward to derive the pGM internal stress tensor for constant pressure MD simulations with the pGM electrostatics. Three different formulations are presented for the flexible, rigid, and short-range screened systems, respectively. The analytical formulations were implemented in the SANDER program in the Amber package and were first validated with the finite-difference method for two different boxes of pGM water molecules. This is followed by a constant temperature and constant pressure MD simulation for a box of 512 pGM water molecules. Our results show that the simulation system stabilized at a physically reasonable state and maintained the balance with the externally applied pressure. In addition, several fundamental differences were observed between the pGM and classic point charge models in terms of the simulation behaviors, indicating more extensive parameterization is necessary to utilize the pGM electrostatics.
Machine learning for impurity charge-state transition levels in semiconductors from elemental properties using multi-fidelity datasets
Authors: Polak Maciej P. , Jacobs Ryan , Mannodi-Kanakkithodi Arun , Chan Maria K. Y. , Morgan Dane
Published: February 2022

Quantifying charge-state transition energy levels of impurities in semiconductors is critical to understanding and engineering their optoelectronic properties for applications ranging from solar photovoltaics to infrared lasers. While these transition levels can be measured and calculated accurately, such efforts are time-consuming and more rapid prediction methods would be beneficial. Here, we significantly reduce the time typically required to predict impurity transition levels using multi-fidelity datasets and a machine learning approach employing features based on elemental properties and impurity positions. We use transition levels obtained from low-fidelity (i.e., local-density approximation or generalized gradient approximation) density functional theory (DFT) calculations, corrected using a recently proposed modified band alignment scheme, which well-approximates transition levels from high-fidelity DFT (i.e., hybrid HSE06). The model fit to the large multi-fidelity database shows improved accuracy compared to the models trained on the more limited high-fidelity values. Crucially, in our approach, when using the multi-fidelity data, high-fidelity values are not required for model training, significantly reducing the computational cost required for training the model. Our machine learning model of transition levels has a root mean squared (mean absolute) error of 0.36 (0.27) eV vs high-fidelity hybrid functional values when averaged over 14 semiconductor systems from the II–VI and III–V families. As a guide for use on other systems, we assessed the model on simulated data to show the expected accuracy level as a function of bandgap for new materials of interest. Finally, we use the model to predict a complete space of impurity charge-state transition levels in all zinc blende III–V and II–VI systems.
Biochar actions for the mitigation of plant abiotic stress
Authors: Imran Shahin , Sarker Prosenjit , Hoque Md. Najmol , Paul Newton Chandra , Mahamud Md. Asif , Chakrobortty Jotirmoy , Tahjib-Ul-Arif Md. , Latef Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel , Hasanuzzaman Mirza , Rhaman Mohammad Saidur
Published: February 2022

Abiotic stresses are the dominant constraints to successful crop production in the modern era. Over the past few decades, researchers have devised various techniques to ease the effects of abiotic stresses on crop plants. Biochar is a vital eco-friendly biostimulant that mostly increases crop production and alleviates the adverse effects of different abiotic stresses. It improves crop yield as a fertiliser and soil quality as a soil conditioner. Biochar amendment in the soil is gaining popularity these days. This is because it improves the physio-biochemical and biological properties of soil. Biochar enhances abiotic stress tolerance as well as growth and yield of plants by modulating ionic homeostasis, photosynthetic apparatus, antioxidant machineries, reducing heavy metal accumulations and oxidative damages. However, the stress-relieving roles of biochar have not been thoroughly assembled. This review summarises current reports of biochar application and discusses the potential roles of biochar amendment in soil for crop growth and production under stress and non-stress conditions. This review also covers the possible mechanisms for how abiotic stress mitigation is accomplished in plants and the limitations and prospects of biochar application in agriculture.
Effects of multi-growth stage water deficit and orthosilicic acid fertiliser on lodging resistance of rice cultivars
Authors: Olagunju Solomon O. , Atayese Muftau O. , Sakariyawo Olalekan S. , Dare Enoch O.
Published: February 2022

Lodging and water deficit (WD) are both yield limiting factors for rice production in Africa. A number of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) cultivars with drought adaptive and high yielding ability have been released but the extent of their lodging susceptibility due to water deficit is unclear. Application of orthosilicic acid (OSA) fertiliser can reduce lodging due to water deficit. An experiment was therefore conducted involving six cultivars (NERICAs 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and Moroberekan), subjected to five multi-growth stage WD treatments: non-stressed (Nst), 10-day stress at each of any two stages of vegetative (Veg), reproductive (Rep) and grain filling (Grain) stages viz (Veg10 + Rep10), (Veg10 + Grain10), (Rep10 + Grain10), and 7-day stress at each stage (Veg7 + Rep7 + Grain7) and with/without 500 mL ha−1 of OSA fertiliser. Lodging traits (LTs) such as lumen diameter, bending moment, panicle weight (PW) and grain yield (GY) were increased by OSA fertiliser. Under Veg7 + Rep7 + Grain7 stress, OSA fertiliser increased rice vigour through increases in internode length, lumen diameters and cross-section modulus by 7%, 18% and 18%, respectively, while under Veg10 + Rep10 stress, culm wall thickness was increased by 20%. Veg10 + Rep10 stress caused the most significant reduction in all LTs but with lowest lodging index (LI, 0.32) attributed to reduced PW and GY. Among the cultivars, Moroberekan combined higher GY with average LI (0.40) across the stress conditions while NERICA 1 had the lowest LI (0.34) attributed mainly to its short height. Although water deficit caused a reduction in lodging resistant traits, resistance to lodging under Veg10 + Rep10 and Veg7 + Rep7 + Grain7 stresses can be enhanced with OSA fertiliser.
Why robots should be technical
Authors: Hindemith Lukas , Göpfert Jan Philip , Wiebel-Herboth Christiane B. , Wrede Britta , Vollmer Anna-Lisa
Published: February 2022

Research in social robotics is commonly focused on designing robots that imitate human behavior. While this might
increase a user’s satisfaction and acceptance of robots at first glance, it does not automatically aid a non-expert user in
naturally interacting with robots, and might hurt their ability to correctly anticipate a robot’s capabilities. We argue that a
faulty mental model, that the user has of the robot, is one of the main sources of confusion. In this work, we investigate how
communicating technical concepts of robotic systems to users affect their mental models, and how this can increase the quality of
human-robot interaction. We conducted an online study and investigated possible ways of improving users’ mental models. Our
results underline that communicating technical concepts can form an improved mental model. Consequently, we show the importance of
consciously designing robots that express their capabilities and limitations.
Impact of nonverbal robot behaviour on human teachers’ perceptions of a learner robot
Authors: Aliasghari Pourya , Ghafurian Moojan , Nehaniv Chrystopher L. , Dautenhahn Kerstin
Published: February 2022

How do we perceive robots practising a task that we have taught them? While learning, human trainees usually provide nonverbal cues that reveal their level of understanding and interest in the task. Similarly, nonverbal social cues of trainee robots that can be interpreted naturally by humans can enhance robot learning. In this article, we investigated a scenario in which a robot is practising a physical task in front of the human teachers (i.e., participants), who were asked to assume that they had previously taught the robot to perform that task. Through an online experiment with 167 participants, we examined the effects of different gaze patterns and arm movements with multiple speeds and various kinds of pauses on human teachers’ perception of different attributes of the robot. We found that the perception of a trainee robot’s attributes (e.g., confidence and eagerness to learn) can be systematically affected by its behaviours. Findings of this study can inform designing more successful nonverbal social interactions for intelligent robots.
Translation as inclusion?
Authors: Tesseur Wine
Published: February 2022

International NGOs (INGOs) are important agents in delivering the UN’s sustainable development agenda, but their linguistic practices have received little attention in the field of language policy and planning. This article aims to add new insights to the field by exploring the link between INGOs’ organisational value of inclusiveness and their institutional approaches to translation. It does so through a case study of Oxfam GB’s and Tearfund’s translation policy documents. The analysis reveals that the policy documents focus on written translation into a handful of lingua francas. In other words, they largely overlook the need for interpreting and translation from and into local languages. In addition, the policy documents do not make any overt links between principles of (linguistic) inclusiveness and the need for translation. The article summarises the advantages and drawbacks of creating a translation policy, and provides guidance on linking translation policy more overtly to values of inclusiveness.
Language gender gap at work across OECD countries
Authors: Corbella Teresa , Alarcón Amado , Andraszak Joanna
Published: February 2022

Language gender differences at work have been widely described though hardly measured. The object of this study is whether there are gender differences in the use of language skills at work and what those differences are. A gender gap measure of linguistic skills used at work is presented and computed for 21 countries using data from the first round of the Survey of Adult Skills (n = 109 695). On the basis of the 21st-century literacy needs at work approach, we compound five one-skill indicators: use of oral skills, use of reading skills, use of writing skills, use of numeracy skills, and use of ICT skills. Gender differences are quantified in relative terms controlling for occupations’ gross categories. We provide a piece of evidence for a language gender gap at work in favor of men for all language skills analyzed; there are, however, differences by country and occupational categories.
Influence of milled glass fillers on mode-II fracture toughness of polymer composites
Authors: Saravanakumar K. , Farouk Nibras , Suresh Kumar C. , Arumugam V.
Published: February 2022

This work focuses on investigating the effect of interface fibre orientation with milled glass fillers on mode-II fracture toughness of [0°7/θ°//θ°/0°7] glass/epoxy laminates. The result reveals that the loading of 5 wt-% milled glass fillers in the epoxy matrix enhanced the interlaminar fracture toughness. Significantly, the filler-loaded samples improved the fracture toughness by 232% (3.32 times) in 0°/0° and 184% (2.84 times) in ±45° interface fibre orientation compared to the baseline samples. In addition, the interlaminar shear strength increased was increased by 82% in 0°/0° interface and 76% in ±45° interface fibre orientation. Finally, field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM) was used to study the fracture surfaces of different fibre orientations.
Hilbert spaces built over metrics of fixed signature
Authors: Okołów Andrzej
Published: February 2022

We construct two Hilbert spaces over the set of all metrics of arbitrary but fixed signature, defined on a manifold. Every state in one of the Hilbert spaces is built of an uncountable number of wave functions representing some elementary quantum degrees of freedom, while every state in the other space is built of a countable number of them. Each Hilbert space is unique up to natural isomorphisms and carries a unitary representation of the diffeomorphism group of the underlying manifold. The Hilbert spaces constructed in the case of signature (3, 0) may be possibly used for canonical quantization of the ADM formulation of general relativity.
Computational analysis of the optical response of ZnSe with d-orbital defects
Authors: Pike Nicholas A , Pachter Ruth , Martinez Alan D , Cook Gary
Published: February 2022

The doping of wide band-gap semiconducting ZnSe by transition metal (TM) atoms finds applications from mid-infrared lasing, sensing, photoelectrochemical cells, to nonlinear optics. Yet understanding the response of these materials at the atomic and electronic level is lacking, particularly in comparing a range of TM dopants, which were studied primarily by phenomenological crystal-field theory. In this work, to investigate bulk ZnSe singly doped with first-row TM atoms, specifically Ti through Cu, we applied a first-principles approach and crystal-field theory to explain the origin of the infrared absorption. We show that the use of an appropriate exchange–correlation functional and a Hubbard U correction to account for electron correlation improved the determination of the electronic transitions in these systems. We outline an approach for the calculation of the crystal-field splitting from first-principles and find it useful in providing a measure of dopant effects, also in qualitative comparison to our experimental characterization for ZnSe doped with Fe, Cr, and Ni. Our calculated absorption spectra indicate absorption signatures in the mid-infrared range, while the absorption in the visible portion of the spectrum is attributed to the ZnSe host. Our calculations will potentially motivate further experimental exploration of TM-doped ZnSe. Finally, the methods used here provide a route towards computational high-throughput screening of TM dopants in III–V materials through a combination of the electronic band structure and crystal-field theory.
Surface degradation of laminated metal 226Ra foils used in school sealed sources in the UK
Authors: Whitcher R , Page R D , Cole P R , Chappell S , Hicks J
Published: February 2022

In the few years leading up to this research, CLEAPSS noticed a small but steadily increasing number of calls from UK schools regarding a red-brown discolouration on the surface of the foil of their radium source. There were no reports of this type of discolouration on foils of other radionuclides. CLEAPSS and the University of Liverpool collaborated to investigate the nature and cause of this discolouration and the likelihood that the foils were becoming unsafe. The evidence indicates that the discolouration is principally caused by some combination of silicon, sulfur and possibly lead from within the foil diffusing into the face layer. There is no indication currently that the face layers are fragmenting on these foils, but the longer-term integrity of the discoloured foils now becomes questionable. Given the age of the foils and the radiotoxicity of radium, the recommendation from this research is that discoloured foils should be taken out of service and disposed.
Artificial intelligence based deconvolving on megavoltage photon beam profiles for radiotherapy applications
Authors: Weidner Jan , Horn Julian , Kabat Christopher Nickolas , Stathakis Sotirios , Geissler Philipp , Wolf Ulrich , Poppinga Daniela
Published: February 2022

Objective. The aim of this work is an AI based approach to reduce the volume effect of ionization chambers used to measure high energy photon beams in radiotherapy. In particular for profile measurements, the air-filled volume leads to an inaccurate measurement of the penumbra. Approach. The AI-based approach presented in this study was trained with synthetic data intended to cover a wide range of realistic linear accelerator data. The synthetic data was created by randomly generating profiles and convolving them with the lateral response function of a Semiflex 3D ionization chamber. The neuronal network was implemented using the open source tensorflow.keras machine learning framework and a U-Net architecture. The approach was validated on three accelerator types (Varian TrueBeam, Elekta VersaHD, Siemens Artiste) at FF and FFF energies between 6 MV and 18 MV at three measurement depths. For each validation, a Semiflex 3D measurement was compared against a microDiamond measurement, and the AI processed Semiflex 3D measurement was compared against the microDiamond measurement. Main results. The AI approach was validated with dataset containing 306 profiles measured with Semiflex 3D ionization chamber and microDiamond. In 90% of the cases, the AI processed Semiflex 3D dataset agrees with the microDiamond dataset within 0.5 mm/2% gamma criterion. 77% of the AI processed Semiflex 3D measurements show a penumbra difference to the microDiamond of less than 0.5 mm, 99% of less than 1 mm. Significance. This AI approach is the first in the field of dosimetry which uses synthetic training data. Thus, the approach is able to cover a wide range of accelerators and the whole specified field size range of the ionization chamber. The application of the AI approach offers an quality improvement and time saving for measurements in the water phantom, in particular for large field sizes.
Confinement properties of L-mode plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade and full-radius predictions of the TGLF transport model
Authors: Angioni C. , Gamot T. , Tardini G. , Fable E. , Luda T. , Bonanomi N. , Kiefer C.K. , Staebler G.M. , the ASDEX Upgrade Team  , the EUROfusion MST1 Team
Published: February 2022

The properties of L-mode confinement have been investigated with a set of dedicated experiments in ASDEX Upgrade and with a related modelling activity with the transport code ASTRA and the quasi-linear turbulent transport model TGLF–SAT2, with boundary conditions at the separatrix. The values at the boundary have been set by the two-point model for the electron temperature, with the ion temperature proportional to the electron temperature by a constant factor, and the electron density set by a constant fraction of the volume averaged density. The influx of neutrals has been set through a feedback procedure which ensures that in the simulation the same particle content as in the experiment is obtained. The sensitivity of the results under considerable variations in the choice of the boundary conditions has been investigated and found to be limited. The predictions of this full-radius modelling set-up have been compared to experimental results covering a scan in electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) power in both hydrogen and deuterium plasmas, a plasma current scan with fixed magnetic field, under both ECRH and neutral beam injection heating, an increase in plasma density with constant ECRH power in hydrogen plasmas, as well as variations of the fraction of electron and ion heating at approximately constant total heating power, as well as a change of main ion from deuterium to hydrogen. The ASTRA-TGLF predictions have been found to reproduce all of the experimentally explored dependences with relatively good accuracy, providing evidence, for the first time to our knowledge, that the main properties of L-mode confinement can be reproduced by conventional full-radius transport modelling with a quasi-linear turbulent transport model. Evidences of largest disagreement, although usually not exceeding the 20%, have been found at high electron heating power, where TGLF underpredicts the electron and particularly the ion thermal stored energies, and in the current dependence of confinement, which, in electron heated conditions, is predicted to be weaker than in the experiment.
Design and performance of the GERDA low-background cryostat for operation in water
Authors: Knöpfle K.T. , Schwingenheuer B.
Published: February 2022

In searching for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 
76Ge the GERmanium Detector Array (Gerda) experiment
at the Infn Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso has
achieved an unprecedented low background of well below
10-3 cts/(keV·kg·yr) in the region of interest. It
has taken advantage of the first realization of a novel shielding
concept based on a large cryostat filled with a liquid noble gas
that is immersed in a water tank. The germanium detectors are
operated without encapsulation in liquid argon. Argon and water
shield the environmental background from the laboratory and the
cryostat construction materials to a negligible level. The same
approach has been adopted in the meantime by various experiments.
This paper provides an overview of the design and the operation
experience of the 64 m3 liquid argon cryostat and its associated
infrastructure. The discussion inludes the challenging safety issues
associated with the operation of a large cryostat in a water
tank.
Characterization and comparison of glass electrodes
Authors: Kanishka R. , Bhatnagar V.
Published: February 2022

This paper presents the study on the characterization of
glass electrodes, which are one of the main components of detectors
like Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs). The RPCs are being used in
various ongoing High Energy Physics experiments, e.g., BELLE at KEK,
CMS at LHC, and would be used in the near future experiments e.g.,
INO-ICAL in India. The characterization of glass electrodes has been
done to understand the factors like quality of glass that can help
in improving the detector's performance. The glass samples chosen
were procured locally Asahi (A), Saint Gobain (S), Modi (M) that are
easily available in Indian industry. The characterization includes
the tests to study the optical, surface, physical, electrical
properties, the composition of glass samples, and leakage
currents. This paper adds new information to the existing body of
research on the subject. Based on the techniques discussed in the
paper a comparison of the measurements among the three different
types of glass electrodes has been done. This study helps us to
determine the best quality of glass that can be chosen for better
operation of the detectors.