bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
PETRA DELICADO: IDENTITÀ E RUOLI DI GENERE NELLA SERIE DI ALICIA GIMÉNEZ BARTLETT
Authors: Tirone Mariadonata Angela
Published: April 2022

Questo lavoro esamina Petra Delicado (protagonista della serie poliziesca di Alicia Giménez Bartlett) come personaggio che rappresenta un processo dinamico di autorealizzazione del binomio identitario donna-detective. L’obiettivo sarà delineare quale identità rispecchia Delicado rispetto alle ideologie femministe e quale ruolo occupa in quanto donna nella società contemporanea di finzione e nel Giallo. Parole chiave: Petra Delicado, ispettrice, identità di genere, Giallo.
Dynamic Pricing with Online Reviews
Authors: Shin Dongwook , Vaccari Stefano , Zeevi Assaf
Published: April 2022

This paper investigates how the pricing policy of a revenue-maximizing monopolist is influenced by the social learning dynamics of customers who use online reviews to estimate the quality of the product. A salient feature of our problem is that the customers’ willingness to pay, and hence the demand function, evolves over time in conjunction with the online reviews. The monopolist strives to maximize its total expected revenue over a finite horizon by adjusting prices in response to these dynamics. The revenue maximization problem is studied using two different review models: a quality-based review model, where customers report their experienced quality, and a value-based review model, where reviews internalize experienced quality as well as the purchase price. To formulate the problem in tractable form, we derive a fluid model that provides a good approximation of the system dynamics when the volume of sales is large. This formulation lends itself to key structural insights into the interactions between optimal pricing policies and review dynamics. In particular, we identify critical time scales and social learning regimes that sharply separate the efficacy of dynamic pricing vis-à-vis fixed-price strategies. Furthermore, we demonstrate the impact of the quality-based and value-based review models on key structural properties of the optimal pricing policies. These structural insights are also elucidated in an illustrative simulation study based on data from an online marketplace.

This paper was accepted by Gabriel Weintraub, revenue management and market analytics.

Supplemental Material: Data and the e-companion are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4387 .
A Rare Presentation of Recurrent Diverticulitis in a Patient with Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Perez Hernandez Carlos , Elkattawy Sherif , Younes Islam , Fanous Paul , Gonzalez Aponte Daphne , Makanay Omar , Naik Arun
Published: April 2022

Diverticulitis and ulcerative colitis (UC) are two separate colonic pathologies with different underlying mechanisms. Diverticulosis involves herniation of mucosal and submucosal tissue through muscular tissue in response to increased intraluminal pressure. In contrast, it is believed that the muscular tone in patients with UC is reduced due to chronic inflammatory changes. Thus, it has been reported that there may be an inverse relationship between the presence of diverticulosis in patients with UC, in that UC may possibly be protective against developing diverticular disease. Consequently, the co-presence of both pathologies is uncommon. Here we present a case in which a woman with a history of UC and recurrent diverticulitis after elective partial colectomy was admitted for recurrent acute diverticulitis. It is quite challenging to diagnose diverticulitis in ulcerative colitis patients given the usually similar presentation with abdominal pain, diarrhoea and hematochezia. A level of high suspicion is required for diagnosis.
ERP Evidence of Working Memory Capacity and Signal-to-Noise Ratio Effects on Sentence Plausibility Tasks in Elderly Adults
Authors: Song Se-Young , Oh Seung-Ha , Kyong Jeong-Sug , Sung Jee Eun
Published: April 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and working memory capacity on the auditory processing of the elderly by comparing the average amplitude of event-related potentials (ERP) between groups in the sentence plausibility judgment task under the control of SNR.Methods: A total of 26 elderly people participated in this study, and based on the results of the working memory test, were divided into high a working memory (high WM) group (N= 13) and a low working memory (low WM) group (N= 13). The sentence stimuli consisted of plausible and implausible sentences. Implausible sentences were manipulated to cause a semantic violation in the verb. A white noise was added to the portion of the predicate to be –5 dB, 0 dB, and 5 dB SNR in the recorded sentence.Results: In the behavioral analysis, differences between the SNRs were significant. –5 dB SNR conditions revealed inactive performance, confirming that noise is a variable that increases cognitive load and difficulty in auditory processing. In the ERP analysis, the mean amplitude of the high WM group was significantly greater than the low WM group, and a distinct difference in N400 components between the groups was also observed in the grand average waveform graph.Conclusion: Intergroup differences were more evident in the conditions of SNR, which requires more listening effort. However, this may show that the low WM group had an inferior ability to detect the cognition of semantic implausibility in real time compared to the high WM group.
The Implementation of Telepractice by Malaysian Speech-Language Pathologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Singh Susheel Joginder , Kamarudin Khairina , Sharma Shobha
Published: April 2022

Objectives: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) led speech-language pathologists (SLPs) around the world to shift their service delivery methods from face-to-face service to telepractice. This study explored the implementation of telepractice by Malaysian SLPs and determined whether there was an association between the SLPs’ perceptions of the effectiveness of telepractice and the frequency of the telepractice services provided, as well as between the use of telepractice and prior training received.Methods: Eighty-nine SLPs responded to an 18-question online survey that inquired about demographics, telepractice during the pandemic, perceptions of telepractice and prior training received.Results: Seventy-five percent of SLPs reported providing services via telepractice during the pandemic compared to 19% before the pandemic. Most SLPs who used telepractice stated that services delivered via telepractice were comparable with face-to-face services; no association was found between the frequency of providing services via telepractice and the SLPs’ perceptions of its effectiveness. They had also received some training in telepractice, although no association was found between the type of training received and the provision of telepractice services. SLPs who did not provide services via telepractice reported awareness of telepractice but described a lack of knowledge, support, and training. All SLPs expressed interest to receive more training in telepractice to enable them to provide better services.Conclusion: Malaysian SLPs demonstrated great commitment towards service provision during the pandemic, similar to SLPs in other nations. It is hoped that Malaysian SLPs continue to have positive attitudes toward telepractice with increased familiarity, use, and training. Telepractice services, undoubtedly, are here to stay.
The Effects of Reading Fluency Intervention via Tele-practice Parent Coaching on Parent’s Intervention Strategies and the Reading Fluency Skills of Children with Cochlear Implants
Authors: Cheon JiHye , Kim Young Tae , Lee Youngmee
Published: April 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of tele-practice parent coaching on parents’ intervention strategies and the reading fluency skills of children with cochlear implants (CIs).Methods: Five dyads of mother and child with CIs participated in this study. Five Korean second graders with cochlear implants participated in reading fluency tasks individually. All of them had reading fluency difficulties. We examined the efficacy of tele-practice parent coaching program for children with CIs by employing a pretest-posttest-maintenance design.Results: The parents demonstrated increases in their use of each reading intervention strategies after parent-coaching instruction. Post and maintenance of intervention strategies use in the home was sustained; indicating that parent coaching routines are effective to achieve maximal outcomes. All children demonstrated gains in their use of reading fluency skills.Conclusion: The results show that the parent coaching delivered through tele-practice had positive effects on parents’ learning behaviors and the reading fluency of children with CIs. This study provides useful information for developing parent coaching programs in terms of the reading fluency skills of children with CIs. Thus, the implementation of developing parent programs in the field of communication disorders is suggested.
Relation between Early Vocalizations and Words
Authors: Kim Ho , Ha Seunghee
Published: April 2022

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship of phonological characteristics between early vocalizations at 6-8 months, 12-14 months, and words at 18-20 months. Additionally, we aimed to identify which phonological characteristics of early vocalization can predict speech and language development at 18-20 months.Methods: Vocalizations were collected using Language ENvironmental Analysis (LENA) from 14 children at 6-8, 12-14, and 18-20 months. Vocalizations were classified as precanonical or canonical vocalization. Words were separated from the entire vocalizations at 18-20 months. Consonant inventories and phonological structures were analyzed in early vocalizations and words. Multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate whether the rate of canonical vocalizations, the number of consonant inventories, and the number of phonological structures in early vocalization are predictive of the number of consonant inventories and the number of different words at 18-20 months.Results: Consonant inventories and phonological structures in words at 18-20 months consisted of inventories which had been produced in early vocalization at 6-8 months and 12-14 months. The results showed that the ratio of canonical vocalizations at 6-8 months predicted the number of consonant inventories and the number of different words. The number of consonant inventories at 12-14 months also predicted the number of consonant inventories in words at 18-20 months.Conclusion: This study confirmed that the phonological development of early vocalization is closely related to later speech-language development, and the speech-language evaluation based on the phonological characteristics of early vocalization can provide a basis for early diagnosis and intervention in infants and toddlers.
Effects of Word Length on Articulatory Accuracy in Children with Speech Sound Disorders
Authors: Ha Seunghee , Pi Minkyeong
Published: April 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the word length effects in a 1-2-3 syllable string test in children with speech sound disorders (SSDs) and to examine whether the accuracy in the 1-2-3 syllable string test could differentiate subgroups of SSDs classified by linguistic symptomatology.Methods: The 1-2-3 syllable string test was administrated to a total of 161 children with SSDs from 3 years to 9 years 11 months of age. The children with SSDs were classified into four subgroups, articulatory disorders, phonological delay, consistent phonological disorder, and inconsistent phonological disorder. Accuracy in the 1-2-3 syllable string test was measured at word, phoneme, vowel, consonant, and target syllables; and compared among SSD subgroups.Results: The main effects of SSD subgroups and word length exhibited significances at word, phoneme, consonant, and target syllables levels. The interaction effect between subgroups and word length was also significant. Phonological delay and inconsistent phonological disorder revealed significant effects of word length; and in particular, children with inconsistent phonological disorders showed a significant increase of errors as the number of syllable in the test words increased.Conclusion: The results support the possibility that subgroups of SSDs can be differentiated based on accuracy and word length effect in a 1-2-3 syllable string test, which can be useful in identifying children showing inconsistent productions and sequencing difficulties.
Usefulness of Water-Resistance Straw Phonation in Discrimination of Adductor-Type Spasmodic Dysphonia and Muscle Tension Dysphonia
Authors: Kim Ji-Sung
Published: April 2022

Objectives: Although Adductor-type spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) and Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) show similar phonetic symptoms, the causes and treatment methods are different. Therefore, discrimination is necessary for the proper treatment of the two diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of Water-resistance straw phonation (WSP) as a diagnostic therapy for the differentiation of AdSD and MTD. To that end, Both patients with AdSD and MTD performed WSP, and their voices was measured before and after diagnostic therapy.Methods: A total of 27 (18 MTD, 9 AdSD) individuals participated in this study. The MTD group (4 male, 14 female) mean age was 30.01 years and the AdSD (2 male, 7 female) group mean age was 31.03. Both groups were treated with diagnostic therapy using WSP which took approximately 90 seconds. The acoustic analysis and auditory–perceptual assessment were completed after diagnostic therapy.Results: The MTD group was significantly lower in Jitter Percent (Jitter) (p= .003), Pitch Perturbation Quotient (PPQ) (p= .007), Fundamental Frequency Variation (vF0) (p= .004), Shimmer Percent (Shimmer) (p= .010), Amplitude Perturbation Quotient (APQ) (p= .012), Peak to Peak Amplitude Variation (vAm) (p= .005) and auditory–perceptual grade (p= .007). However, the AdSD group was not significantly different for all variables after performing the WSP.Conclusion: WSP is one of the methods that relieve laryngeal hypertension. In this study, the voice improvement of the MTD group after diagnostic therapy using WSP meant that the laryngeal hypertension was relieved. This change indicates a high probability of MTD as opposed to AdSD. Whereas, no improvement or worsening of the voice problem suggests neither the probability of MTD nor no confirmation of AdSD. Therefore, a diagnostic therapy using WSP may be useful as one of the evaluation methods for discrimination between AdSD and MTD.
Stirling Engines for Gas Fired Micro-Cogen and Cooling
Authors: Lane Neill W. , Beale William T.
Published: April 2022

This article describes the design and performance of free-piston Stirling engine-alternators particularly suited for useas natural gas fired micro-cogen and cooling devices. Stirlingbased cogen systems offer significant potential advantagesover internal combustion engines in efficiency, life, noise andemissions.The ability of Stirling machines to maintain higher effi-ciencies at lower power levels than internal combustion en-gines significantly expands the potential market for micro-cogen. System cost reduction and electric prices higher thanthe U.S . national average will have a far greater effect on com-mercial success than any further increase in Stirling engineefficiency. There exist niche markets where Stirling basedcogen systems are competitive.Machines of this design are being considered for produc-tion in the near future as gas-fired units for combined heatand power in sufficiently large quantities to assure competi-tive prices for the final unit.
OutsourCing The Central Plant: A Value-Added Service that Owners Want
Authors: Robertson Wayne
Published: April 2022

The last regulated major industry in America, the electric utilityindustry , is facing deregulation in the very near future . Similar toevents that occurred in the gas industry a few years ago, it will soonbe possible for facilities managers across the nation to choose th eirsuppliers of electricity .Facility managers and owners are making plans now to maxi-mize their opportunities . Many are looking for lower rat es andbarebones service while others are interested in creative options lik eenhanced services, premium power and value-added services fromtheir incumbent power supplier and from oth er pla y ers , even now ,befor e deregulation comes. One creative option that offers win-winbenefits for all parties is a value-added service to t ake ov er op er ationof an existing central heating and cooling plant , or develop a new one,for an owner .Out sourcing and downsizing is a tr end everywhe re in th e USeconomy , as businesses plan to get down to th eir "core bu sine ss. "Building owners, for example, already outsource many services onceprovided by in-house personnel-security , janitorial, land scape care ,HVAC maintenance . Owners can gen erat e cash and get out of theutilities business by "privatizing" th eir centr al h eating and coolingequipment to a third party who will maintain , oper at e, and procureenergy, and deliver the "finished goods" of chilled wat er or st eam tothe owner for his use
Regulatory Actions Which Have Affected Cogeneration
Authors: Kolanowski Mr. Bernard F.
Published: April 2022

Regulatory influences are powerful in the field of cogeneration.Since most cogeneration facilities tie in with the local utility for standbypower and, in many cases throughout the United States, receive a pricebreak on the cost of natural gas to run the cogenerator, the governmentexpresses their need to protect the consumer, the utility, and the cogen-eration facility with regulations.
Be Careful... Of Fully Bundled Energy Services
Authors: Fraser Kevin D.
Published: April 2022

The message is clear: Fully bundled energy services often do notwork. BUT: I do not advocate unbundling without a thorough under-standing of all implications and ramifications.To explain the concept, bundling combines the provision of electriccommodity with other energy-related provisions that would normallyhave an out-of-pocket cost associated with them. As an example, a re-placement chiller may be provided without initial capital outlay by vir-tue of its acquisition cost being recovered through savings partially at-tributable to a discount in the cost of the electric commodity.So, perhaps you acquire a commodity discount of 5%, but you willnot actually see this discount on your monthly bill because this discountis being collected to pay, in part, for the new chiller. A key element isthat the contract for commodity must last at least as long as the debtrecovery for the capital project. Some utility companies want this to ex-tend even to providing all central plant services such as stationary en-gineering, and beyond this, to the janitorial services, etc
How To Improve Reliability In Cogeneration and Steam Systems
Authors: Jaber David , Vetterick Richard (Dick)
Published: April 2022

Traditionally, steam and electricity have been produced separately;steam at industrial plants and electricity by utilities. Cogeneration (orcombined heat and power—CHP) is the concurrent production of elec-trical power and thermal energy from the same heat source. Cogenera-tion reduces electric utility bills and environmental emissions while stillproviding thermal energy for industrial processes. Many different sys-tems combining boilers and turbines are possible.Newer technologies are making cogeneration opportunities avail-able to smaller-sized thermal plants, and electric utility deregulationopportunities are causing many CEOs to seriously consider cogenera-tion in their manufacturing plants.Whether steam is created through cogeneration or separate genera-tion, many opportunities exist to improve productivity in the distribu-tion system, operation, and maintenance. These opportunities are cap-tured by taking a systems approach to steam system improvement,which can be facilitated with resources like those offered by the Depart-ment of Energy’s Best Practices in collaboration with the Alliance toSave Energy and private companies.
Using a “User’s Group” to Save Electric Dollars
Authors: Richards Frank J.
Published: April 2022

Group purchasing has become a widely used method for vari-ous and sundry groups to save money in many areas. This presen-tation will describe the development of an electric users’ group, itsuniqueness from other types of groups, savings members of thegroup have achieved, problems encountered along the way, oppor-tunities seized and prospects for the future.
A GA-PSO Hybrid Algorithm Based Neural Network Modeling Technique for Short-term Wind Power Forecasting
Authors: Semero Yordanos Kassa , Zhang Jianhua , Zheng Dehua , Wei Dan
Published: April 2022

This article proposes a hybrid neural network modeling techniquefor forecasting of wind power generation based on an integrated algo -rithm combining genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimi-zation (PSO). The share of wind energy in electric power generationkeeps growing supported by favorable environmental policies aimingat achieving low-emission targets. However, due to the intermittent anduncertain nature of wind flow, integration of wind power into electricpower systems brings operational challenges to address. Accurate windpower generation forecasting tools play a key role to address the chal -lenges. A multi-layered feed-forward artificial neural network modeloptimized by a combination of genetic algorithm and particle swarmoptimization algorithm is developed in this work for wind power gen -eration forecasting. The proposed technique is tested based on practicalinformation obtained from Goldwind Smart Microgrid in Beijing. Theperformance of the proposed method is superior to neural networkmodels optimized using GA and PSO separately, as well as the bench-mark persistence approach.
A Novel Design of FANET Routing Protocol Aided 5G Communication Using IoT
Authors: Khan Inam Ullah , Abdollahi Asrin , Jamil Abdul , Baig Bisma , Aziz Muhammad Adnan , Subhan Fazal
Published: April 2022

Flying-Thing is a new promising area, while in last few years Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are emerged. UAVs are very efficient in completing tasks also organizing ad hoc behaviour of networks, thus making flying ad hoc networks. The formation of aerial nodes is not feasible until we use Mobility models for communication between UAV’s. Mobile ad hoc networks & wireless sensor networks are mostly static in behaviour but UAVs are dynamic and deployed in sky using mobility models. In flying ad hoc networks effective communication can be made possible using 5G networks while designing routing protocols. In this paper a comprehensive study is formally introduced covering routing protocols used in flying ad hoc networks, mobility models, heuristic computations, architecture and optimization techniques for improving parameters in flying ad hoc networks. This paper reflects and explains future challenges and help scientists, Researchers to discover more research gaps that have been discussed in the literature and need more investigation. Also, different applications of flying things can be used in IoT based forestry which includes forest mapping, management where optimal results can be obtained. The uniqueness of this research study is to provide heuristic computational algorithm called AntHocNet, Mobility models, drawbacks of traditional technologies, flying-things architecture will be the core interest of this research study.
Line shape of a delayed self-heterodyne varied with noise types and delays
Authors: Fang Zujie , Wei Fang , Yang Fei , Chen Dijun , Ye Qing , Cai Haiwen , Qu Ronghui
Published: April 2022

The delayed self-heterodyne and self-homodyne (DSH) method is widely used for measuring the line shapes of high coherent lasers. This method results in an autocorrelation of a laser line under the condition of a delay that is much larger than its coherent time. In practice, the delay is often not so long, especially for very narrow linewidth lasers, resulting in errors in rebuilding the laser’s line shape from the DSH line. Many papers were devoted to the topic, but most of them are based on the formula for white noise. Analytical formulas of phase variance for

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f

noises are presented in this paper; the DSH line shapes for different noise types and different delay lengths are simulated based on the formulas. Some experimental data of the DSH line, combined with the power spectral density of frequency noise, are processed, showing good agreement with the theoretical analysis. It is indicated that the DSH line shape shows complicated behaviors varied with the delay, with noise types, and with the measurement duration. Such effects are to be compensated for in retrieving the laser’s linewidth from the DSH data.
Influence of watertight optical window with plain glass on receiving field for underwater wireless optical communication
Authors: Han Biao , Sun Yanling , Ma Lin , Lv Pei
Published: April 2022

Underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) has attracted much attention recently due to its superiority of high transmission speed. In many UWOC applications, to establish communication links easier, the receiver has quite a wide field. However, the performance of the receiving field is affected by watertight encapsulation in practice, especially when the optical window is produced with plain glass. To study such an influence, in this paper, we first establish a theoretical model based on the Monte Carlo method. Then, we analyze the influence with different structure parameters of watertight encapsulation. The simulation results show that to reduce such an impact, the optical window should be thinner, the detector photosurface and optical window surface should be larger, and the space between the detector and optical window should be smaller. In the ideal situation, the largest workable receiving field is about 96° for UWOC. In other situations, the workable receiving field would be smaller. The simulation method and results presented in this paper are pragmatic and useful to UWOC receiver design.
Correlative imaging of the spatio-angular dynamics of biological systems with multimodal instant polarization microscope
Authors: Ivanov Ivan E. , Yeh Li-Hao , Perez-Bermejo Juan A. , Byrum Janie R. , Kim James Y. S. , Leonetti Manuel D. , Mehta Shalin B.
Published: April 2022

The spatial and angular organization of biological macromolecules is a key determinant, as well as informative readout, of their function. Correlative imaging of the dynamic spatio-angular architecture of cells and organelles is valuable, but remains challenging with current methods. Correlative imaging of spatio-angular dynamics requires fast polarization-, depth-, and wavelength-diverse measurement of intrinsic optical properties and fluorescent labels. We report a multimodal instant polarization microscope (miPolScope) that combines a broadband polarization-resolved detector, automation, and reconstruction algorithms to enable label-free imaging of phase, retardance, and orientation, multiplexed with fluorescence imaging of concentration, anisotropy, and orientation of molecules at diffraction-limited resolution and high speed. miPolScope enabled multimodal imaging of myofibril architecture and contractile activity of beating cardiomyocytes, cell and organelle architecture of live HEK293T and U2OS cells, and density and anisotropy of white and grey matter of mouse brain tissue across the visible spectrum. We anticipate these developments in joint quantitative imaging of density and anisotropy to enable new studies in tissue pathology, mechanobiology, and imaging-based screens.
Chiral biosensing using terahertz twisted chiral metamaterial
Authors: Zhang Min , Hao Danni , Wang Shuai , Li Rui , Wang Shou , Ma Yanqing , Moro Ramiro , Ma Lei
Published: April 2022

Subwavelength chiral metamaterials with tunable geometries and compositions are essential to advance the development of chiral biochemical samples detection. Here, we report a spatial symmetry breaking chiral terahertz (THz) metamaterial structure with stacked layers of L-shape arranged gold disks as the periodic unit cell. The chiroptical response can be adjusted on-demand by manipulating the number of stacking layers and the twisted angle of the periodic unit between adjacent array layers. We reveal that the chiroptical response originates from the optical resonances of the gold disks and the adjacent gold disks array layers via experiments and numerical simulation analysis. Furthermore, we find that this chiral metamaterial can realize label-free detection of proline in biological samples and label-free enantio-discrimination of chiral molecules. The change of the analyte concentration can also regulate the transmission circular dichroism (TCD) intensity of the chiral metamaterials. Our results not only provide new ideas into the design of functional chiral metamaterials, but also bring new strategies to develop chiroptical biosensing devices.
Tunable plasmonically induced transparency with giant group delay in gain-assisted graphene metamaterials
Authors: Zeng Yi , Ling Zi-xiao , Liu Gui-Dong , Wang Ling-Ling , Lin Qi
Published: April 2022

We propose a graphene metamaterial consisting of several layers of longitudinally separated graphene nanoribbon array embedded into gain-assisted medium, demonstrating electromagnetically induced transparency-like spectra. Combined with finite-difference time-domain simulations, the transfer matrix method and temporal coupled-mode theory are adopted to quantitatively describe its transmission characteristics. These transmission characteristics can be tuned by altering the gain level in medium layer and the Fermi energy level in graphene. Additionally, it is the incorporation between gain medium and graphene nanoribbons with optimized geometrical parameters and Fermi energy level that the destructive interference between high order graphene plasmonic modes can be obtained, suggesting drastic phase transition with giant group delay and ultra-high group index up to 180 ps and 104, respectively. Our results can achieve efficient slow light effects for better optical buffers and other nonlinear applications.
Bilayer-film-decorated microsphere with suppressed interface reflection for enhanced nano-imaging
Authors: Wu Guangxing , Zhou Yan , Hong Minghui
Published: April 2022

Microspheres as special optical lenses have extensive applications due to their super-focusing ability and outstanding resolving power on imaging. The interface reflection between the microsphere and sample surface significantly affects nano-imaging as exhibited in the form of the Newton’s rings pattern in virtual images. In this work, a new scheme of decorating the microsphere with a dielectric bilayer thin film is proposed to suppress the interface reflection and thus enhance the imaging performance. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is performed with a full-wave simulation to refine the bilayer thin film decorated microsphere design, which is successfully realized via a novel fabrication strategy. Experimental imaging results demonstrate that the Newton’s rings pattern in virtual images is substantially diminished. Both the imaging contrast and effective field-of-view of the microsphere nano-imaging are improved via this effective light manipulation scheme, which is also applicable to promoting the performance of the microsphere in other optical applications.
High-security multi-level constellation shaping trellis-coded modulation method based on clustering mapping rules
Authors: Zhang Jinnan , Liu Bo , Ren Jianxin , Mao Yaya , Chen Shuaidong , Tang Rong , Song Xiumin , Bai Yu , Wu Xiangyu , Wang Feng , Wu Yongfeng , Zhao Lilong , Sun Tingting , Ullah Rahat
Published: April 2022

This paper proposes a high-security multi-level constellation shaping trellis-coded modulation (TCM) method based on clustering mapping rules, which is suitable for passive optical networks (PON) using three-dimensional (3D) carrier-less amplitude and phase modulation (CAP). This method combines the TCM mapping process with the constellation shaping and performs a multi-level mapping of the coded signal according to the classification label, so as to obtain better constellation shaping gain while expanding the coding gain of the TCM. The 3D constellation generated by the multi-level mapping adopts Chua’s chaotic model for rotation encryption, which improves the ability of the optical access network to resist malicious attacks at the physical layer. Experiments show that 70 Gb/s (7×10 Gb/s) transmission is achieved on a 2 km weakly coupled seven-core fiber using the scheme proposed in this paper. At a bit error rate (BER) of 1 × 10−3, the difference in receiver sensitivity between the best and worst-performing cores is about 0.7 dB. The difference in receiver sensitivity between the cubic constellation and the chaotic spherical constellation is about 0.1 dB. The sensitivity of the chaotic spherical constellation receiver is about 6.98 dB higher than that of the 2D shaping constellation receiver. The experimental results show that the scheme has reliable security performance while improving the short-reach transmission capacity. It has broad application prospects in future short-reach communication research.
Dictionary-based compressive Fourier ptychography
Authors: Li Xianye , Li Li , Liu Xiaoli , He Wenqi , Tang Qijian , Han Sen , Peng Xiang
Published: April 2022

Fourier ptychography (FP) provides an alternative scheme for improving the spatial bandwidth product with limited device. However, an angle-variation illumination is necessary to realize scanning imaging in the Fourier plane, which dramatically restricts the imaging speed and detection efficiency. In this paper, we propose a multiplexing and compressible FP scheme based on the structured illuminations and compressive sensing technique. Half of the LEDs are lighted together to reduce the exposure time; meanwhile, a learned dictionary is employed to reduce the sampling times. In addition, spectral independent illumination is proposed to retrieve color information from monochrome samplings. We experimentally verify that the proposed method can effectively reduce the sampling time with limited resolution loss.
High-security UFMC optical transmission system of seven-core fiber based on updating the 3D discrete chaotic model
Authors: Zhong Qing , Ren Jianxin , Liu Bo , Li Yongxin , Guo Zhiruo , Mao Yaya , Wu Xiangyu , Ullah Rahat , Wu Yongfeng , Zhao Lilong , Sun Tingting
Published: April 2022

In this paper, we propose a high-security universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC) transmission system based on a novel, to the best of our knowledge, three-dimensional (3D) discrete chaotic model. The cascade of counters and the 3D discrete chaotic system is used to generate three masking factors and update these factors to encrypt the bitstream, constellation, and the information of the subcarriers. Using this structure, the key space is 10270 and the key is updated in a timely manner. In this work, the encryption scheme solves the dynamic degradation of chaotic cryptography. Experimental results show that there is no significant difference in error performance in comparison with before encryption. Compared with the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, the spectrum efficiency of the UFMC system is higher, which reduces out-of-band leakage and interference between services. Considering the complexity constraints of the receiver, the inter-symbol interference caused by fiber dispersion is alleviated by optimizing the distribution of data subbands, and the bit error rate (BER) performance is improved. It is shown that the UFMC system obtains 1.9 dB gain compared with the OFDM system in terms of receiver sensitivity when the BER is 10−3. This encryption scheme has a promising application prospect in short-distance optical access systems in the future.
Monte Carlo simulation of photon transport in a scattering-dominated medium with a refractive index gradient for acoustic light-guiding
Authors: Yamamura Naoto , Okada Eiji , Nakagawa Keiichi , Takagi Shu
Published: April 2022

Acoustic light waveguides use a technology that employs acoustic waves to create pressure-dependent refractive index distribution and guide light deep into biological tissue similar to an optical fiber. The method by which acoustic optical waveguides increase light transmission in biological tissues occurring inside scattering-dominated medium has not been clarified. To understand the phenomena occurring inside the scattering-dominated medium, we performed Monte Carlo simulations of photon transport in acoustic optical waveguides. The findings indicate that the larger the change in the refractive index in the scattering-dominated media, the greater the effect of photon confinement. In addition, as the refractive index gradient was increased, the near-field internal fluence was found to be greatly enhanced. The transition depth, which indicates the region where the internal fluence is enhanced by the refractive index gradient, was determined as a function of the radius at which the refractive index change is given.
Enhancement of gain and efficiency of an Ho:YLF energy booster through deep thermoelectric cooling
Authors: Zhou Fangjie , Cintron Adrian , Wu Yi , Chang Zenghu
Published: April 2022

It is well known that the gain and efficiency of an amplifier with a quasi-three level medium such as Ho:YLF is strongly affected by the coolant temperature. By cooling the Ho:YLF crystals of a two-stage energy booster in a Ho:YLF Chirped Pulse Amplification laser with -20°C thermoelectric cooling rather than room temperature water, a 60 mJ pulse energy at 1 kHz repetition rate was achieved with 8.5 mJ input.
Dipole-spread-function engineering for simultaneously measuring the 3D orientations and 3D positions of fluorescent molecules
Authors: Wu Tingting , Lu Jin , Lew Matthew D.
Published: April 2022

Interactions between biomolecules are characterized by where they occur and how they are organized, e.g., the alignment of lipid molecules to form a membrane. However, spatial and angular information are mixed within the image of a fluorescent molecule–the microscope’s dipole-spread function (DSF). We demonstrate the pixOL algorithm to simultaneously optimize all pixels within a phase mask to produce an engineered Green’s tensor–the dipole extension of point-spread function engineering. The pixOL DSF achieves optimal precision to simultaneously measure the 3D orientation and 3D location of a single molecule, i.e., 4.1° orientation, 0.44 sr wobble angle, 23.2 nm lateral localization, and 19.5 nm axial localization precisions in simulations over a 700 nm depth range using 2500 detected photons. The pixOL microscope accurately and precisely resolves the 3D positions and 3D orientations of Nile red within a spherical supported lipid bilayer, resolving both membrane defects and differences in cholesterol concentration in six dimensions.
Robust method for certifying genuine high-dimensional quantum steering with multimeasurement settings
Authors: Qu Rui , Wang Yunlong , Zhang Xiaolin , Ru Shihao , Wang Feiran , Gao Hong , Li Fuli , Zhang Pei
Published: April 2022

Genuine high-dimensional (HD) quantum steering was recently proposed for certifying HD entanglement in the one-sided device-independent setting, as quantified by the Schmidt number [Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 200404 (2021)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.126.200404]. As one of the central challenges in the steering test is the tolerated noise threshold, here we develop a more robust method for certifying genuine HD steering in noisy environments. We derive genuine HD steering criteria using multiple mutually unbiased bases, surpassing the previous restriction of only two measurement settings. Although the present multisetting criteria are not tight, we theoretically show that they are more robust to noise than the tight two-setting criteria. To test the practicality of our method under realistic conditions, we report an experimental demonstration using photonic orbital angular momentum entangled states in dimensions

d
=
3
,
4
,
5

. Our work offers a more robust way to witness the entanglement dimension in practical one-sided device-independent quantum information processing.
Cortical asymmetries at different spatial hierarchies relate to phonological processing ability
Authors: Eckert Mark A. , Vaden Kenneth I. , Iuricich Federico ,   Dyslexia Data Consortium
Published: April 2022

The ability to map speech sounds to corresponding letters is critical for establishing proficient reading. People vary in this phonological processing ability, which has been hypothesized to result from variation in hemispheric asymmetries within brain regions that support language. A cerebral lateralization hypothesis predicts that more asymmetric brain structures facilitate the development of foundational reading skills like phonological processing. That is, structural asymmetries are predicted to linearly increase with ability. In contrast, a canalization hypothesis predicts that asymmetries constrain behavioral performance within a normal range. That is, structural asymmetries are predicted to quadratically relate to phonological processing, with average phonological processing occurring in people with the most asymmetric structures. These predictions were examined in relatively large samples of children (N = 424) and adults (N = 300), using a topological asymmetry analysis of T1-weighted brain images and a decoding measure of phonological processing. There was limited evidence of structural asymmetry and phonological decoding associations in classic language-related brain regions. However, and in modest support of the cerebral lateralization hypothesis, small to medium effect sizes were observed where phonological decoding accuracy increased with the magnitude of the largest structural asymmetry across left hemisphere cortical regions, but not right hemisphere cortical regions, for both the adult and pediatric samples. In support of the canalization hypothesis, small to medium effect sizes were observed where phonological decoding in the normal range was associated with increased asymmetries in specific cortical regions for both the adult and pediatric samples, which included performance monitoring and motor planning brain regions that contribute to oral and written language functions. Thus, the relevance of each hypothesis to phonological decoding may depend on the scale of brain organization.
Implementation of residue-level coarse-grained models in GENESIS for large-scale molecular dynamics simulations
Authors: Tan Cheng , Jung Jaewoon , Kobayashi Chigusa , Torre Diego Ugarte La , Takada Shoji , Sugita Yuji
Published: April 2022

Residue-level coarse-grained (CG) models have become one of the most popular tools in biomolecular simulations in the trade-off between modeling accuracy and computational efficiency. To investigate large-scale biological phenomena in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with CG models, unified treatments of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as efficient parallel computations, are indispensable. In the GENESIS MD software, we implement several residue-level CG models, covering structure-based and context-based potentials for both well-folded biomolecules and intrinsically disordered regions. An amino acid residue in protein is represented as a single CG particle centered at the Cα atom position, while a nucleotide in RNA or DNA is modeled with three beads. Then, a single CG particle represents around ten heavy atoms in both proteins and nucleic acids. The input data in CG MD simulations are treated as GROMACS-style input files generated from a newly developed toolbox, GENESIS-CG-tool. To optimize the performance in CG MD simulations, we utilize multiple neighbor lists, each of which is attached to a different nonbonded interaction potential in the cell-linked list method. We found that random number generations for Gaussian distributions in the Langevin thermostat are one of the bottlenecks in CG MD simulations. Therefore, we parallelize the computations with message-passing-interface (MPI) to improve the performance on PC clusters or supercomputers. We simulate Herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 B-capsid and chromatin models containing more than 1,000 nucleosomes in GENESIS as examples of large-scale biomolecular simulations with residue-level CG models. This framework extends accessible spatial and temporal scales by multi-scale simulations to study biologically relevant phenomena, such as genome-scale chromatin folding or phase-separated membrane-less condensations.
Reproductive factors and the risk of incident dementia: A cohort study of UK Biobank participants
Authors: Gong Jessica , Harris Katie , Peters Sanne A. E. , Woodward Mark
Published: April 2022

Background

Women’s reproductive factors have been associated with the risk of dementia; however, these findings remain uncertain. This study aimed to examine the risk of incident all-cause dementia associated with reproductive factors in women and the number of children in both sexes and whether the associations vary by age, socioeconomic status (SES), smoking status, and body mass index (BMI) in the UK Biobank.

Methods and findings

A total of 273,240 women and 228,957 men without prevalent dementia from the UK Biobank were included in the analyses. Cox proportional hazard regressions estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for reproductive factors with incident all-cause dementia. Multiple adjusted models included age at study entry, SES, ethnicity, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, BMI, history of diabetes mellitus, total cholesterol, antihypertensive drugs, and lipid-lowering drugs. Over a median of 11.8 years follow-up, 1,866 dementia cases were recorded in women and 2,202 in men. Multiple adjusted HRs ((95% confidence intervals (CIs)), p-value) for dementia were 1.20 (1.08, 1.34) (p = 0.016) for menarche <12 years and 1.19 (1.07, 1.34) (p = 0.024) for menarche >14 years compared to 13 years; 0.85 (0.74, 0.98) (p = 0.026) for ever been pregnant; 1.43 (1.26, 1.62) (p < 0.001) for age at first live birth <21 compared to 25 to 26 years; 0.82 (0.71, 0.94) (p = 0.006) for each abortion; 1.32 (1.15, 1.51) (p = 0.008) for natural menopause at <47 compared to 50 years; 1.12 (1.01, 1.25) (p = 0.039) for hysterectomy; 2.35 (1.06, 5.23) (p = 0.037) for hysterectomy with previous oophorectomy; and 0.80 (0.72, 0.88) (p < 0.001) for oral contraceptive pills use. The U-shaped associations between the number of children and the risk of dementia were similar for both sexes: Compared with those with 2 children, for those without children, the multiple adjusted HR ((95% CIs), p-value) was 1.18 (1.04, 1.33) (p = 0.027) for women and 1.10 (0.98, 1.23) (p = 0.164) for men, and the women-to-men ratio of HRs was 1.09 (0.92, 1.28) (p = 0.403); for those with 4 or more children, the HR was 1.14 (0.98, 1.33) (p = 0.132) for women and 1.26 (1.10, 1.45) (p = 0.003) for men, and the women-to-men ratio of HRs was 0.93 (0.76, 1.14) (p = 0.530). There was evidence that hysterectomy (HR, 1.31 (1.09, 1.59), p = 0.013) and oophorectomy (HR, 1.39 (1.08, 1.78), p = 0.002) were associated with a higher risk of dementia among women of relatively lower SES only. Limitations of the study include potential residual confounding and self-reported measures of reproductive factors, as well as the limited representativeness of the UK Biobank population.

Conclusions

In this study, we observed that some reproductive events related to shorter cumulative endogenous estrogen exposure in women were associated with higher dementia risk, and there was a similar association between the number of children and dementia risk between women and men.