bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Feasibility investigation of non-equilibrium condensing nitrogen droplets as tracer particles in cryogenic wind tunnels
Authors: Hou Jiaxin , Gao Rong , Zhang Wei , Zhang Xiaoqing , Xiao Xing , Xie Junlong , Chen Jianye
Published: July 2023

Application of high-precision non-intrusive flow field measurement techniques in transonic cryogenic wind tunnels (CWT) is confined to the lack of suitable tracer particles. The present study explored the feasibility of utilizing non-equilibrium condensing nitrogen droplets as tracer particles. A numerical model of the nitrogen non-equilibrium condensation was established. Accordingly, the non-equilibrium condensation process of nitrogen droplets and feasibility analysis of tracing were investigated. The results reveal that the occurrence of nitrogen droplets as well as the droplet concentration and mean radius can be regulated in the nucleation zone and droplet growth zone by varying gas temperature or pressure. Furthermore, the feasibility of employing nitrogen droplets as tracer particles in the working conditions of CWT is confirmed through the analysis of tracking capability, response time, concentration, and duration of droplet traceability. Formulas correlating used to calculate duration of droplet traceability have been proposed. This study proved the potential application of condensing nitrogen droplets as tracer particles in CWT.
Multi-gene insights into the taxonomy and conservation of Tasmania’s galaxiid fishes
Authors: Adams Mark , Hammer Michael P. , Unmack Peter J. , Raadik Tarmo A. , Jense Charlotte , Burridge Christopher P.
Published: July 2023

Context Galaxiids are a widespread, southern hemisphere, radiation of mostly obligate freshwater fishes. Tasmania houses a diversity of endemic species of Galaxias and Paragalaxias. Of these, many are at risk of extinction, being landlocked, range-restricted and subject to anthropogenic threats, placing a high-conservation priority on the region. Aim Our aim was to synthesise historic and published molecular datasets to provide the sound systematic framework needed to underpin future conservation and taxonomic efforts for Tasmanian galaxiids. Methods Novel and published nuclear (allozyme) and matrilineal (cytb) datasets were generated and integrated for every putative Tasmanian galaxiid species lacking a comparable multi-gene assessment. Key results The Tasmanian galaxiids are phylogenetically diverse, with molecular data generally supporting the accepted taxonomy, but with potential species-level diversity noted within an alpine radiation of the Galaxias truttaceus complex and further support for synonymy of G. niger within G. brevipinnis. Conclusions This study highlights the value of multi-locus studies in both validating species-level taxonomy and resolving taxonomic ambiguities and conservation priorities within Tasmania’s galaxiids. Implications Our integrated genetic analyses provide a framework to underpin more in-depth genomic approaches to assess additional cryptic diversity and conservation planning, such as genetic rescue and ex situ population security.
The contributions of rare inherited and polygenic risk to ASD in multiplex families
Authors: Cirnigliaro Matilde , Chang Timothy S. , Arteaga Stephanie A. , Pérez-Cano Laura , Ruzzo Elizabeth K. , Gordon Aaron , Bicks Lucy K. , Jung Jae-Yoon , Lowe Jennifer K. , Wall Dennis P. , Geschwind Daniel H.
Published: July 2023

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a complex genetic architecture involving contributions from both de novo and inherited variation. Few studies have been designed to address the role of rare inherited variation or its interaction with common polygenic risk in ASD. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of the largest cohort of multiplex families to date, consisting of 4,551 individuals in 1,004 families having two or more autistic children. Using this study design, we identify seven previously unrecognized ASD risk genes supported by a majority of rare inherited variants, finding support for a total of 74 genes in our cohort and a total of 152 genes after combined analysis with other studies. Autistic children from multiplex families demonstrate an increased burden of rare inherited protein-truncating variants in known ASD risk genes. We also find that ASD polygenic score (PGS) is overtransmitted from nonautistic parents to autistic children who also harbor rare inherited variants, consistent with combinatorial effects in the offspring, which may explain the reduced penetrance of these rare variants in parents. We also observe that in addition to social dysfunction, language delay is associated with ASD PGS overtransmission. These results are consistent with an additive complex genetic risk architecture of ASD involving rare and common variation and further suggest that language delay is a core biological feature of ASD.
The challenges of One Health. Accessing and networking with different forms of knowledge and epistemologies
Authors: Lainé Nicolas
Published: July 2023

Despite its recent growth in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, One Health*can be traced back to the colonial period when it was used to control the health of local communities and their animals while exploiting natural resources. At present, it is necessary to move away from this asymmetrical colonialist view and develop more inclusive perspectives. Local communities have their own knowledge with a holistic vision of health involving humans, animals and the environment. Their viewpoint is nevertheless rarely taken into consideration within the scientific approach to health. To fill this gap, the humanities and social sciences can be used to revive this local knowledge and to initiate a dialogue with scientific knowledge. More crucially, to effectively put One Health into practice, researchers must call into question their own practices, reflect on what constitutes science and rethink the way of producing knowledge, all the while acknowledging the different ways of understanding the world and diseases. This means opening up to other forms of knowledge and epistemologies and networking them.
Infrared to green conversion of long persistent luminescent Eu2+-Dy3+ Co-doped SrAl2O4
Authors: Zhu Ruiqi , Lou Chaogang , Diao Han , Song Guoxiang , Yin Yunzhen
Published: July 2023

The infrared to green conversion of long persistent luminescent SrAl2O4:(Eu2+, Dy3+) phosphors has been investigated experimentally. It is found that the infrared light with the wavelength 1350 nm and 1550 nm can be converted to green light by the phosphors. Experimental evidences show that there exist two possible mechanisms which are responsible for the infrared to green conversion: one is the excitation of the electron in the trap energy levels of the phosphors to the higher energy levels of Eu2+ ions by absorbing one infrared photon; the other is the excitation of the electron in the ground energy levels of Dy3+ ions to the higher energy levels of Dy3+ ions by absorbing two infrared photons. The easy fabrication and low cost make the phosphors a promising candidate of photovoltaic materials.
Constraint dependence of pressure on a passive probe in an active bath
Authors: Liu Peng , Li Longfei , Ning Luhui , Zheng Ning , Yang Mingcheng
Published: July 2023

Mechanical pressure in active matter is generally not a state variable and possesses abnormal properties, in stark contrast to equilibrium systems. We here show that the pressure on a passive probe exerted by an active fluid even depends on external constraints on the probe by means of simulation and theory, implying that the mechanical pressure is not an intrinsic physical quantity of active systems. The active mechanical pressure on the passive probe significantly increases and saturates as its elastic constraint (realized by a trap potential) or kinematic constraint (realized by environmental friction) strengthens. The microscopic origin for the constraint-dependent pressure is that the constraints influence the probe dynamics, and hence change the frequency and intensity of the collisions between the probe and active particles. Our findings not only greatly advance the understanding of active mechanical pressure but also provide a new way to in situ tune it.
High-fidelity dynamics of piezoelectric covered metamaterial Timoshenko beams using the spectral element method
Authors: Hu Guobiao , Tang Lihua , Yang Yaowen , Yu Dewen , Zi Yunlong
Published: July 2023

Piezoelectric metamaterial beams have received enormous research interest for the applications of vibration attenuation and/or energy harvesting in recent years. This paper presents a generic modelling approach for predicting the high-frequency dynamics of piezoelectric metamaterial beams. The spectral element method (SEM) is used to derive the dynamic stiffness matrix of a composite piezoelectric beam segment. Boundary condition implementations are demonstrated. Both band structure and transmittance analyses are realized. Several case studies for piezoelectric metamaterial beams configured in different geometric/electrical forms are carried out. The corresponding finite element (FE) models are built for verification, and a comparison study with the transfer matrix method (TMM) is conducted. For the uniform configurations, an almost indistinguishable difference is noted between the theoretical and FE results. For the stepped configurations, only minor discrepancies are observed in the high-frequency responses. The improved robustness and stability of the SEM method compared to the TMM method are demonstrated. A further discussion has been provided to explain the cause of the high-frequency discrepancies: sudden changes in the cross-section of the beam result in the stress concentration effect and reduce the bending stiffness at the junction connection. Finally, the value of the high-fidelity modelling approach is reflected through a parametric-based optimization study towards merging the Bragg scattering and locally resonant band gaps in an example piezoelectric metamaterial beam to achieve a wide band gap.
Novel double graded perovskite materials for performance increment of perovskite solar cell using extensive numerical analysis
Authors: Bhattarai Sagar , Jayan Deepthi , Yousfi Abderrahim , Chowdhury Mithun , Rahman Md Ferdous , Pandey Rahul , Madan Jaya , Ansari Mohd Zahid , Hossain M Khalid
Published: July 2023

The influence of single, double absorber layers based on perovskite solar cells has attracted considerable attention of researchers in the last few years; according to their promising output parameters such as short-circuit current (JSC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE). The present work makes under study and investigation the comparison modelling between the two configurations of ITO/C60/MAPb(I1-xClx)3/ Spiro-OMeTAD /Au and ITO/C60/MAPb(I1-xClx)3/MASnI3/Spiro-OMeTAD /Au, the problem of lower absorption materials such as MAPb(I1-xClx)3 limits its output photovoltaic applications. Nevertheless, the need to use a prime candidate of the lead-free MASnI3 for grading with the first absorber layer that leads to absorbing a wider quantity of light spectrum, which boosting up efficiency. The simulating software of SCAPS-1D is used to examine our proposed models. The optimal output parameters (JSC, VOC, FF, and PCE) are obtained in this simulation are 27.69 mA cm−2, 1.37 V, 89.1%, and 33.66%.
A novel beam-steering device based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons
Authors: Aziz Asad , Aziz Arsalan
Published: July 2023

In this paper, an ultra-compact T-shaped component is proposed in order to achieve a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPPs) dual-functional device with beam steering and multiple band-rejection filtering functions. The newly introduced T-shaped component provides an excellent multiple band-rejection filter response when combined with the SSPP transmission line (TL), and can be regarded as an excellent alternative to metamaterial particles to conceive multi-band rejection of spoof SPP waves. Multi-band rejection filters are designed by introducing different intervals among the symmetric T-shaped components. Furthermore, we designed a compact SSPP beam-steering device integrated with a multiple band-rejection filtering function. The multiple band-rejection integrated beam-steering device can also be realized by incorporating different intervals among the T-shaped components, as mentioned in the case of linear filters. Integration of the SSPP beam-steering device and band-rejection filter offers compact areas and controllable passband features, which broadens the application range of SSPPs. In conclusion, the proposed T-shaped component is an outstanding addition toward the advancement of highly efficient ultra-compact dual-functional plasmonic devices.
Self-focusing of low order LG laser beam in Gaussian plasma
Authors: Ghotra Harjit Singh , Singh Lovejeet
Published: July 2023

Laguerre Gaussian (LG) laser beam propagations is presented to investigate the self-focusing in collision-less Gaussian plasma. This is by deriving the equations supporting self-focusing in plasma mediums by using WKB approximation. Additionally, a range of values of laser-plasma parameters which would fulfil these equations is considered. For the scenario of Gaussian and collision-less plasma, the study is contrasted. By utilizing a low order Laguerre Gaussian laser beam is more exciting as compare to using a Gaussian laser because it incorporates the propagation specific characters of Laguerre Gaussian Laser Beam. The observations are appeared in term of early self-focusing with LG laser beam. The investigation is expected to unfold the new and more effective scenario for self-focusing in plasma.
Characteristics of a CW ∼5 μm Ce3+-doped chalcogenide glass fiber laser
Authors: Koltashev V V , Frolov M P , Leonov S O , Sverchkov S E , Galagan B I , Korostelin Yu V , Skasyrsky Ya K , Snopatin G E , Sukhanov M V , Velmuzhov A P , Kozlovsky V I , Denker B I , Plotnichenko V G
Published: July 2023

Energy, spectral and temporal characteristics of a Ce3+-doped chalcogenide glass fiber laser continuously pumped by a 4.16 μm Fe2+:ZnSe laser were investigated. Milliwatt level output power was obtained. In case of low Q-factor of the resonator the laser operated at λ = 4.62 μm corresponding to the narrow peak in Ce3+ emission spectrum. At higher Q-factor, the lasing wavelength changed to 5.0–5.1 μm corresponding to the plateau in the gain spectrum. In contrast to Tb3+-doped mid-infrared fiber lasers, Ce3+-doped fiber laser had no tendency to non-relaxing spike operation.
CPLR-SFS: Contrastive Prompt Learning to Reduce Redundancy for Scientific Faceted Summarization
Authors: Xiong Jing-Wen , Mao Xian-Ling , Yang Yizhe , Huang Heyan
Published: July 2023

Scientific faceted summarization is a task to generate four summaries for a scientific article from different facets, including Purpose, Method, Findings, and Value. Existing works usually generate summary independently for each facet using pre-training or prompt-training paradigms. However, these works tend to produce duplicate content among different facets of the same scientific article, because they do not consider the relation among the aforementioned four facets. To solve the redundancy problem, we propose a novel Contrastive Prompt Learning method to Reduce redundancy for Scientific Faceted Summarization, named CPLR-SFS, to generate concise and less-overlapping faceted summaries. Specifically, CPLR-SFS receives the facet-specific prompt to guide the generation and utilizes the faceted contrastive loss for better distinguishing different faceted summaries in semantic space. Extensive experiments on the FacetSum dataset demonstrate that the proposed model can generate better faceted summaries than the state-of-the-art baselines with less redundancy.
SNER-CS: Self-training Named Entity Recognition in Computer Science
Authors: Zhu Jing-Jing , Mao Xian-Ling , Huang Heyan
Published: July 2023

As the number of scientific publications grows, especially in computer science domain (CS), it is important to extract scientific entities from a large number of CS publications. Distantly supervised methods, generating distantly annotated training data by string match with external dictionary automatically, have been widely used in named entity recognition task. However, there are two challenges to use distantly supervised methods in computer science NER task. One is that more and more new tasks, methods and datasets in CS are proposed rapidly, which makes it difficult to build a computer science entity knowledge base with high coverage. The other is noisy annotation, because there is no uniform entity representation standard in computer science domain. To alleviate the two problems above, we propose a novel self-training method based pretraining language model with a distantly supervised label automatic construction system in CS (SNER-CS). Experimental results show that the proposed model SNER-CS performs previous state-of-the-art methods in computer science NER task.
A Lidar SLAM based on Improved Particle Filter and Scan Matching for Unmanned Delivery Robot
Authors: Zhang Jing , Zhang Xuepeng , Shen Xiao , Wu Jun , Li Yunsong
Published: July 2023

With the rapid development of robotics, intelligent robots have gradually entered human daily life and take responsibility for specific tasks, which brings tremendous convenience to people’s lives. In indoor places such as restaurants, hotels, logistics warehouses, SLAM technology can guide mobile robots to complete delivery tasks. Aiming at solving the problems of particle degradation in the traditional RBPF-based two-dimensional SLAM algorithm, our algorithm firstly proposes an improved particle filter method based on cross-mutation, which changes the information of the small weight particles in the system by designing cross-mutation operators. Thus, a certain amount of small weight particles are retained in the system to increase the diversity of particles. Secondly, our algorithm proposes a scan matching method based on point and line features, which makes full use of the geometric information of the two-dimensional point cloud by designing a new error function. Compared with traditional matching methods that only rely on point features, it has better matching accuracy. We conduct Two-dimensional SLAM experiments in the Gazebo simulation environment and the real natural environment. The results show that the proposed algorithm has higher mapping accuracy than the commonly used two-dimensional SLAM algorithm Gmapping at this stage. Using improved A* algorithm to conduct path planning experiments on the two-dimensional grid map built with our algorithm, the results prove the effectiveness of our algorithm.
Convert path planning for underwater vehicle based on sonar detection probability
Authors: Zou Dan , Zhao Fei
Published: July 2023

Underwater vehicle is essential for many tasks such as underwater exploration, equipment deployment and covert reconnaissance. Many underwater missions must be carried out with stealth to avoid being detected by enemy sonars, and safety and security are required in such high-risk situations. In this paper, a covert path planning algorithm for underwater vehicle is proposed based on the sonar detection probability analysis. First the sonar performance prediction model is constructed with sonar parameters, marine environment and underwater vehicle acoustic properties. Afterwards an improved ant colony algorithm is established by minimizing the cumulative detection probability. The evaluation indicate that the optimal covert path obtained for underwater vehicle is effective for reducing the cumulative detection probability.
Experimental investigation on axial quasi-static crushing of Al/PLA hybrid tubes
Authors: Hidayat Dony , Istiyanto Jos , Nabilah Jihan Dieni , Ardiansyah Riki , Saptari Sitti Ahmiatri , Kurniawan Farohaji , Sumarsono Danardono Agus
Published: July 2023

Fused Deposition Modeling/3d printed technology, which has developed rapidly, is capable of making complex prototyping and can be used to produce passive safety devices. This paper investigates the interactions between the hybrid tube members and the energy absorption capabilities of Al and PLA tubes, multi-cell PLA structures, and Al/PLA hybrid tubes. For all the specimens, quasi-static axial crushing tests are conducted. The energy absorption capability of the Al/PLA hybrid tube increased by 59% compared to the single-cell Al tube. The EA value of the Al/PLA hybrid tube specimen was greater than the accumulated EA value of the PLA and Al tubes and the PLA multi-cell structures. The increase in EA value due to hybrid tube interaction is 16.36%.
Research on pressure dynamic characteristics of multi-cavity model in aero-engine secondary air system
Authors: Liu Haiming
Published: July 2023

An algorithm for the basic elements was established based on the physical mechanism of transient secondary air system. A simulation program was compiled by using object-oriented language. Then a multi-cavity transient model of the secondary air system was established, and the pressure dynamic characteristics of the multi-cavity model were analyzed. The transient modeling of the air system has practical engineering versatility by establishing a standard interactive interface, and the transient modeling and analysis of the air system in different engines can be realized through using each component module. Such simulation research can help engineers to improve the design flow path of the secondary air system, and provide simulation data for the airworthiness design of engine, which has certain application value.
Analysis performance of navigation constellation satellite failure and enhancement of LEO navigation
Authors: Xue Wen , Hu Min , Ruan Yongjing , Wang Xuan
Published: July 2023

The stable operation of navigation satellite constellation is related to national economy and national defense security. The failure of any one or two satellites has little impact on the overall performance of the global navigation satellite constellation, and the availability of the navigation constellation decreases with the increase of the number of failed satellites. First, a typical medium earth orbit Walker-δ 24/3/1 constellation configuration was designed. Second, the service performance of the navigation constellation under different failure modes was analyzed. The weaknesses of the constellation were identified in combination with the availability data of the navigation constellation. Then, the overall performance of the navigation constellation after the low earth orbit satellite constellation compensates for the failure of the medium earth orbit satellite constellation is analyzed. The simulation results show that the failure of 5 global navigation satellites will reduce the availability of navigation constellation to 71%, and the hybrid navigation constellation can recover the availability to more than 97%. The orbital altitude and inclination of low orbit satellites affect the overall performance of the hybrid navigation constellation. The research results can provide reference for the demonstration of hybrid navigation constellation scheme.
An adaptive lattice boltzmann method based on nodal linked-list data structure
Authors: Zhang Bin , Yao Jieke , Zhang Min , Hu Xiao
Published: July 2023

An adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique based on nodal linked-list data structure for lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed in this paper. It makes connections between nodal linked-list data structure which is hierarchical and LBM calculation to retain the simplicity of LBM. Based on uniform meshes, the adaptive algorithm refines the meshes by constructing the linked-list of nodes and levels for mesh levels refined. In the nodal linked-list data structure, the relationships for nodal neighbors and upper and lower level indexes of nodes are appointed to help implement the LBM process in the different mesh levels. To guarantee precise transmission of flow field information and numerical stability in the different mesh levels, the average interpolation for temporal and spatial space is used, which chimes in with the accuracy of LBM itself. To verify the present method, flows over square cylinder at Re=30 and circle cylinder at Re=200 are carried out.
Effect of dielectric barrier discharge methane reforming products on the combustion performance of rocket engine
Authors: Deng Bo Yuan , Wei Yanghong , Zhu Shao Peng , Che Xueke
Published: July 2023

Although the low-thrust liquid oxygen/methane rocket engine has broad application prospects, the low flame propagation speed and low combustion rate of methane fuel make the liquid oxygen/methane engine still face key technical challenges. Methane fuel is partially converted into hydrogen and ethane with higher combustion rate before being injected into the combustion chamber, which is positive for the use of dielectric barrier to improve the combustion performance of the engine. Therefore, this paper studies the effect of the main four products of dielectric barrier discharge reforming with methane conversion rate of 10%, on the flow field of the combustion chamber. The results show that the addition of reforming products can effectively improve the combustion efficiency of the engine. H2 in the reforming product can also improve the specific impulse performance of the engine by increasing the total pressure of the engine chamber. C2H4 will not affect the maximum temperature of the engine, However, it can expand the medium-high temperature range of engine temperature to different degrees. The addition of H2 accelerates the oxygen consumption rate, which provides a feasible way to reduce the design size of the engine and improve the combustion efficiency of the low-thrust engine.
Implementation of instantaneous comparison methods in temperature gradient evaluation of stirred liquid temperature baths
Authors: Cheung Julian C.P. , Tsui C.M. , Lam Brenda H.S. , Leung C.M. , Ma Stanley C.F.
Published: July 2023

Temperature gradient is an important performance indicator of a stirred liquid bath. Its evaluation requires measuring the temperature differences between different bath positions. A common way to do that is to place two SPRTs at two positions and measure their resistances against a standard resistor (R
SPRT1/R
S and R
SPRT2/R
S) sequentially (the sequential method). A drawback of this method is the existence of a time gap between the two measurements rendering the results susceptible to temporal temperature variation. The instantaneous comparisons method offers a better solution by measuring the resistance ratio of two SPRTs directly (R
SPRT1/R
SPRT2) and deriving their temperature difference at the same moment eliminating the time gap. To implement this method at the Standards and Calibration Laboratory (SCL) of Hong Kong, the resistance ratio of SPRT1 to a standard resistor (R
SPRT1/R
s) is firstly measured to determine the initial bath temperature. After that, the resistance ratios of SPRT1 to SPRT2 (R
SPRT1/R
SPRT2) are measured with the two SPRTs placed at different positions and immersion depths in the bath. This paper describes the derivation of the temperature difference from the SPRT resistance ratio using the ITS-90 reference equations and the estimation of the measurement uncertainties. The potential of reducing the uncertainties of measured temperature gradient by leveraging the correlation of the two SPRTs calibrated at the same set of temperature fixed points is discussed. The paper also compares the calibration results obtained by the instantaneous comparisons method and the sequential method.
A compact dication source for Ba2+ tagging and heavy metal ion sensor development
Authors: Navarro K.E. , Baeza-Rubio J. , Boyd M. , Foss F.W. , Giri S. , Jones B.J.P. , Miller R.L. , Nygren D.R. , Samaniego F.J. , Stogsdill K. , Tiscareno M.R. , Adams C. , Almazán H. , Álvarez V. , Aparicio B. , Aranburu A.I. , Arazi L. , Arnquist I.J. , Ayet S. , Azevedo C.D.R. , Bailey K. , Ballester F. , del Barrio-Torregrosa M. , Bayo A. , Benlloch-Rodríguez J.M. , Borges F.I.G.M. , Bounasser S. , Byrnes N. , Cárcel S. , Carrión J.V. , Cebrián S. , Church E. , Cid L. , Conde C.A.N. , Contreras T. , Cossío F.P. , Dey E. , Díaz G. , Dickel T. , Elorza M. , Escada J. , Esteve R. , Fahs A. , Felkai R. , Fernandes L.M.P. , Ferrario P. , Ferreira A.L. , Freitas E.D.C. , Freixa Z. , Generowicz J. , Goldschmidt A. , Gómez-Cadenas J.J. , González R. , Grocott J. , Guenette R. , Haefner J. , Hafidi K. , Hauptman J. , Henriques C.A.O. , Hernando Morata J.A. , Herrero-Gómez P. , Herrero V. , Hervés Carrete C. , Ho J. , Ho P. , Ifergan Y. , Labarga L. , Larizgoitia L. , Lebrun P. , Lopez F. , Lopez Gutierrez D. , López-March N. , Madigan R. , Mano R.D.P. , Marques A.P. , Martín-Albo J. , Martínez-Lema G. , Martínez-Vara M. , Meziani Z.E. , Mistry K. , Monrabal F. , Monteiro C.M.B. , Mora F.J. , Muñoz Vidal J. , Novella P. , Nuñez A. , Oblak E. , Odriozola-Gimeno M. , Palacio J. , Palmeiro B. , Para A. , Parmaksiz I. , Pelegrin J. , Pérez Maneiro M. , Querol M. , Redwine A.B. , Renner J. , Rivilla I. , Rodríguez J. , Rogero C. , Rogers L. , Romeo B. , Romo-Luque C. , Santos F.P. , dos Santos J.M.F. , Simón A. , Soleti S.R. , Sorel M. , Stanford C. , Teixeira J.M.R. , Toledo J.F. , Torrent J. , Usón A. , Veloso J.F.C.A. , Vuong T.T. , Waiton J. , White J.T.
Published: July 2023

We present a tunable metal ion beam that delivers
controllable ion currents in the picoamp range for testing of
dry-phase ion sensors. Ion beams are formed by sequential atomic
evaporation and single or multiple electron impact ionization,
followed by acceleration into a sensing region. Controllability of
the ionic charge state is achieved through tuning of electrode
potentials that influence the retention time in the ionization
region. Barium, lead, and cadmium samples have been used to test the
system, with ion currents identified and quantified using a
quadrupole mass analyzer. Realization of a clean Ba2+ 
ion beam within a bench-top system represents an important technical
advance toward the development and characterization of barium
tagging systems for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon
gas. This system also provides a testbed for investigation of novel
ion sensing methodologies for environmental assay applications, with
dication beams of Pb2+ and Cd2+ also demonstrated for this
purpose.
A new method for evaluating the stability of radon concentration in a radon chamber
Authors: Feng Yangyang , Zhang Xiongjie , Zhang Yan , Zhang Ye , Tian Xingyu , Huang Rengui , Cao Jie , Tang Bin
Published: July 2023

Evaluation of the stability of radon concentration in a
radon chamber is a critical part of the quality controls of a radon
chamber to ensure the better performance. However, the existing
evaluation method focus on giving the relative percentage difference
between the individual observation value and the reference
average. This index only reflects the evaluation results of
short-term measurements and fails to provide available information
that reflects the long-term stability of observation data. This
paper presents a new evaluation method, Trend Analysis. The proposed
method allowed to give a quick response to trend changes and
abnormal results in observation data to find out the time interval
that required special concern. Two stability tests were conducted in
the HD-6 multi-functional radon chamber, and the results obtained
from this method application were presented. In two tests, the radon
concentration in the radon chamber was measured for 72 hours. The
first 24 hours of observation data were used to analyze the
stability, and the following 48 hours of observation data were used
to verify the analysis results. Compared with the existing method,
the evaluation method proposed in this paper increases the
recognition of trends in observation data, thereby further
predicting anomalies in subsequent data. Tests have proved that this
method is very useful for evaluating the stability of radon
concentration in a radon chamber.
Signal processing to reduce dark noise impact in precision timing
Authors: White Sebastian
Published: July 2023

We introduce a technique to mitigate the effects of low frequency noise on precision timing.
The example of Dark Count Noise Rate (DCR) in Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) is emphasized.
This technique exploits the correlation between time shifts on
the leading edge of a signal and the residual slope of the baseline (due to noise) which remains
after baseline subtraction.

In fast timing applications (such as for Time-of-flight particle ID) the signal arrival time is typically captured on the signal leading edge.
The signal risetime is often fixed by the physics of the sensor and input circuit. Then accurate pulse timing can be achieved by correcting a leading edge threshold time (depending on a slope proportional to both the Amplitude and the risetime) to a “constant fraction” time.
This compensation for time walk due to amplitude fluctuations breaks down once we introduce interference from low frequency noise on the leading edge. In this paper we demonstrate that an additional measurement of the slope at threshold can be used to correct for this noise jitter.
Isotopic composition and emission characteristics of CO2 and CH4 in glacial lakes of the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Yan Fangping , Du Zhiheng , Pu Tao , Xu Qian , Wang Lei , Ma Ruifang , Zhang Chao , Yu Zhengliang , Li Chaoliu , Kang Shichang
Published: July 2023

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions from freshwater ecosystems are predicted to increase under climate warming. However, freshwater ecosystems in glacierized regions differ critically from those in non-glacierized regions. The potential emissions of CO2 and CH4 from glacierized environments in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) were only recently recognized. Here, the first direct measurement of CO2 and CH4 emission fluxes and isotopic composition during the spring of 2022 in 13 glacial lakes of the TP revealed that glacial lakes were the previously overlooked CO2 sinks due to chemical weathering in glacierized regions. The daily average CO2 flux was −5.1 ± 4.4 mmol m−2 d−1, and the CO2 consumption could reach 38.9 Gg C-CO2 yr−1 by all glacial lakes in the TP. This consumption might be larger during summer when glaciers experience intensive melting, highlighting the importance of CO2 uptake by glacial lakes on the global carbon cycle. However, the studied glacial lakes were CH4 sources with total emission flux ranging from 4.4 ± 3.3 to 4082.5 ± 795.6 μmol m−2 d−1. The large CH4 range was attributed to ebullition found in three of the glacial lakes. Low dissolved organic carbon concentrations and CH4 oxidation might be responsible for the low CH4 diffusive fluxes of glacial lakes without ebullition. In addition, groundwater input could alter CO2 and CH4 emissions from glacial lakes. CH4 in glacial lakes probably had a thermogenic source; whereas CO2 was influenced mainly by atmospheric input, as well as organic matter remineralization and CH4 oxidation. Overall, glacial lakes in the TP play an important role in the global carbon cycle and budget, and more detailed isotopic and microbial studies are needed to constrain the contributions of different pathways to CO2 and CH4 production, consumption and emissions.
Sensors for the measurement of shear stress and shear strain-a review on materials, fabrication, devices, and applications
Authors: Tariq Asra , Behravesh Amir , Rizvi Ghaus
Published: July 2023

Shear sensors are used for measuring shear stress and shear strain in solid bodies when mechanical forces are applied. For the preparation of these sensors, researchers reported innovative materials either alone or in the form of blends, alloys, and composites. Shear sensors are not easily available for purchase, therefore, this review focuses on the working principles of various kinds of shear sensors being explored by researchers. Several technologies and materials are used, such as piezoelectric materials, piezoresistive materials, Fiber Bragg Grating, capacitive sensing, and structural colors. This article also looks at fabrication-based challenges that restrict the commercial use of shear sensors. A variety of shear sensor devices are evaluated for measuring shear stress/strain for many different applications such as health monitoring and biomedical, robotics, and or fracture in materials.
Unveiling the link between rainfall, temperature, and childhood undernutrition in Bangladesh using spatial analysis
Authors: Khan Jahidur Rahman , Bakar K Shuvo , Hossain Mohammad Sorowar
Published: July 2023

Child undernutrition is still a major public health concern in Bangladesh in spite of significant decline in the last few years. Climate change may impact the prevalence of undernutrition and its geographical variability through food security and recurring outbreaks of disease, as well as impede efforts to reduce the undernutrition burden. This study aims to evaluate rainfall and temperature associated with childhood malnutrition in Bangladesh. A spatial mixed effect logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between undernutrition (measured by the composite index of anthropometric failure) and residential area-level rainfall and temperatures, controlling for covariates and spatial effects of residential locations using national data from the 2017 to 2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Our findings indicate that an increase in rainfall was associated with increased odds of undernutrition [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.24], whereas an increase in temperature was associated with decreased odds of undernutrition (AOR 0.86, 95% CI 0.80–0.93). We also found statistically significant structured and unstructured spatial variations in undernutrition, indicating locational effects. Investing in infrastructure and education could be potential strategies for mitigating the negative effects of climate change. High-risk regions in terms of climatic change and malnutrition could be given priority for intervention implementation.
Complex interventions for improving independent living and quality of life amongst community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Ho Leonard , Malden Stephen , McGill Kris , Shimonovich Michal , Frost Helen , Aujla Navneet , Ho Iris S-S , Shenkin Susan D , Hanratty Barbara , Mercer Stewart W , Guthrie Bruce
Published: July 2023

Background

community-based complex interventions for older adults have a variety of names, including Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, but often share core components such as holistic needs assessment and care planning.

Objective

to summarise evidence for the components and effectiveness of community-based complex interventions for improving older adults’ independent living and quality of life (QoL).

Methods

we searched nine databases and trial registries to February 2022 for randomised controlled trials comparing complex interventions to usual care. Primary outcomes included living at home and QoL. Secondary outcomes included mortality, hospitalisation, institutionalisation, cognitive function and functional status. We pooled data using risk ratios (RRs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

we included 50 trials of mostly moderate quality. Most reported using holistic assessment (94%) and care planning (90%). Twenty-seven (54%) involved multidisciplinary care, with 29.6% delivered mainly by primary care teams without geriatricians. Nurses were the most frequent care coordinators. Complex interventions increased the likelihood of living at home (RR 1.05; 95% CI 1.00–1.10; moderate-quality evidence) but did not affect QoL. Supported by high-quality evidence, they reduced mortality (RR 0.86; 95% CI 0.77–0.96), enhanced cognitive function (SMD 0.12; 95% CI 0.02–0.22) and improved instrumental activities of daily living (ADLs) (SMD 0.11; 95% CI 0.01–0.21) and combined basic/instrumental ADLs (SMD 0.08; 95% CI 0.03–0.13).

Conclusions

complex interventions involving holistic assessment and care planning increased the chance of living at home, reduced mortality and improved cognitive function and some ADLs.
A dual-modal graph learning framework for identifying interaction events among chemical and biotech drugs
Authors: Ru Zhongying , Wu Yangyang , Shao Jinning , Yin Jianwei , Qian Linghui , Miao Xiaoye
Published: July 2023

Drug–drug interaction (DDI) identification is essential to clinical medicine and drug discovery. The two categories of drugs (i.e. chemical drugs and biotech drugs) differ remarkably in molecular properties, action mechanisms, etc. Biotech drugs are up-to-comers but highly promising in modern medicine due to higher specificity and fewer side effects. However, existing DDI prediction methods only consider chemical drugs of small molecules, not biotech drugs of large molecules. Here, we build a large-scale dual-modal graph database named CB-DB and customize a graph-based framework named CB-TIP to reason event-aware DDIs for both chemical and biotech drugs. CB-DB comprehensively integrates various interaction events and two heterogeneous kinds of molecular structures. It imports endogenous proteins founded on the fact that most drugs take effects by interacting with endogenous proteins. In the modality of molecular structure, drugs and endogenous proteins are two heterogeneous kinds of graphs, while in the modality of interaction, they are nodes connected by events (i.e. edges of different relationships). CB-TIP employs graph representation learning methods to generate drug representations from either modality and then contrastively mixes them to predict how likely an event occurs when a drug meets another in an end-to-end manner. Experiments demonstrate CB-TIP’s great superiority in DDI prediction and the promising potential of uncovering novel DDIs.
PS-Net: human perception-guided segmentation network for EM cell membrane
Authors: Shi Ruohua , Bi Keyan , Du Kai , Ma Lei , Fang Fang , Duan Lingyu , Jiang Tingting , Huang Tiejun
Published: July 2023

Motivation

Cell membrane segmentation in electron microscopy (EM) images is a crucial step in EM image processing. However, while popular approaches have achieved performance comparable to that of humans on low-resolution EM datasets, they have shown limited success when applied to high-resolution EM datasets. The human visual system, on the other hand, displays consistently excellent performance on both low and high resolutions. To better understand this limitation, we conducted eye movement and perceptual consistency experiments. Our data showed that human observers are more sensitive to the structure of the membrane while tolerating misalignment, contrary to commonly used evaluation criteria. Additionally, our results indicated that the human visual system processes images in both global–local and coarse-to-fine manners.

Results

Based on these observations, we propose a computational framework for membrane segmentation that incorporates these characteristics of human perception. This framework includes a novel evaluation metric, the perceptual Hausdorff distance (PHD), and an end-to-end network called the PHD-guided segmentation network (PS-Net) that is trained using adaptively tuned PHD loss functions and a multiscale architecture. Our subjective experiments showed that the PHD metric is more consistent with human perception than other criteria, and our proposed PS-Net outperformed state-of-the-art methods on both low- and high-resolution EM image datasets as well as other natural image datasets.

Availability and implementation

The code and dataset can be found at https://github.com/EmmaSRH/PS-Net.
Effect of IGF1 and FSH on the function of granulosa cells from prehierarchal follicles in chickens
Authors: Francoeur Laurie , Scoville Deena M , Johnson Patricia A
Published: July 2023

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is an essential regulator of mammalian follicle development and synergizes with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to amplify its effects. In avian preovulatory follicles, IGF1 increases the expression of genes involved in steroidogenesis and progesterone and inhibin A production. The role of IGF1 in prehierarchal follicles has not been well studied in chickens. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IGF1 in granulosa cells from prehierarchal follicles and to determine whether IGF1 and FSH synergize to promote follicle development. Granulosa cells of 3–5 and 6–8 mm prehierarchal follicles were cultured with IGF1 (0, 10, 100 ng/mL) in the presence or absence of FSH (0, 10 ng/mL). Cell proliferation, expression of genes important in follicle development (FSHR, IGF1R, AMH, STAR, CYP11A1, INHA, and INHBA), and progesterone production were evaluated following treatment. IGF1 treatment alone significantly increased STAR, CYP11A1, and INHBA mRNA expression and cell proliferation in granulosa cells of 6–8 mm follicles. IGF1 and FSH synergized to increase STAR mRNA expression in 6–8 mm follicles. IGF1 and FSH co-treatment were necessary to increase INHA mRNA expression in 6–8 mm follicles. Although IGF1 significantly increased the expression of genes involved in steroidogenesis, progesterone production in granulosa cells of 6–8 mm follicles was not affected. IGF1 did not affect AMH mRNA expression, although FSH significantly decreased AMH expression in granulosa cells of 3–5 mm follicles. These results suggest that IGF1 may act with FSH to promote follicle selection at the prehierarchal follicle stage.
Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for Bioanalysis of Fampridine Using Dried Blood Spot (DBS) Methodology: Application to Pharmacokinetic Study in Albino Rats
Authors: Chalil Sheba M K , Chandrasekharan Indukala P , Kathirvel Singaram , Katta Raja R
Published: July 2023

Fampridine (dalfampridine) is used to improve walking in people who have multiple sclerosis (a disease in which the nerves do not function properly and may cause weakness, numbness, loss of muscle coordination and problems with vision, speech and bladder control). Measurement of fampridine plasma concentrations is not practical at sites lacking the facilities to prepare and process blood samples. A dried blood spot (DBS) sampling method, in which a few drops of blood, drawn by lancet from the finger, are applied onto specially manufactured absorbent filter paper, can be used as an alternative to plasma monitoring and would allow for simplified sample storage and transport. Using blood samples from pharmacokinetic studies, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography assay method for quantification of fampridine in DBS is developed and validated for specificity, selectivity, accuracy, precision, reproducibility and stability. Method was specific and selective relative to endogenous compounds, with required process efficiency, and no matrix effect. Inaccuracy and precision for intra-day and inter-day analyses were tested at all concentrations. Quantification of fampridine in DBS assay was not affected by blood deposit volume and punch position within spot, and hematocrit level had a limited but acceptable effect on measurement accuracy. Fampridine was stable for at least 2 months at room temperature. The correlation between DBS and plasma concentrations with an average blood-to-plasma ratio is determined. DBS sampling is a simple and practical method for monitoring fampridine concentrations. The method is completely validated as per ICH guidelines and extended to the in vivo determination of fampridine in male albino rats.