bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous effects of reintroduction strategy and seed size on the initial development of two tropical tree species in an abandoned eucalyptus plantation
Authors: Scaloppi Julie Christine , Souza Andréa Lúcia Teixeira de
Published: October 2020

Seedling planting is the most common strategy used to reintroduce tropical native tree species; however, direct sowing has simplicity and operational ease advantages. Functional traits such as seed size and growth rates have been shown to be relevant for better plant performance. We evaluated the effects of intraspecific variation in seed size and the reintroduction strategy simultaneously on the development of Hymenaea courbaril (L.) and Enterolobium timbouva (Mart.) introduced in an abandoned eucalyptus plantation over 462 days. Plants from small, medium and large seeds were reintroduced by planting seedlings and direct seeding. Both species achieved high rates of emergence and survival was high in the two reintroduction strategies. Seed size was not related to emergence and mean time to emergence for either species. The survival of both species was higher than 74% in the field, and seed size had little effect on survival rates. In general, H. courbaril plants introduced by direct sowing had higher growth, and seed size correlated positively with stem size. In contrast, the growth of E. timbouva plants introduced by seedling planting was higher than in plants introduced by direct sowing regardless of seed size. The light requirements of this species seem higher than for H. courbaril. Our results suggest the feasibility of reintroducing species by direct sowing in eucalyptus understory, but since plant growth varies between species, there may be a balance between the advantage of the initial plant size provided by planting seedlings and the advantage of a better root development provided by direct sowing.
Scientia Media
Authors: Knebel Sven K.
Published: October 2020

Molinismus ist heute ein Kapitel Philosophie. Das Thema dieses Buchs ist jedoch nicht die Renaissance der Scientia Media-Hypothese in der modernen angloamerikanischen Religionsphilosophie, sondern ihre scholastische Ausgestaltung in dem auf Molina folgenden Jahrhundert: Ohne den Kalkül mit den möglichen Welten z.B. kein Leibniz mit seinem Optimismus. Die vorliegende Studie bahnt sich den Weg durch die Gnadenstreitigkeiten zur Metaphysik des Faktenwissens. Hier zeigt sich die Grundlagenkrise des Molinismus.
Das molinistische Faktum hat drei Merkmale: Es ist kontingent, es ist Teil einer möglichen Welt, es ist vom Allwissenden notwendig gewußt. Traditionell beruht die Lehre von Gottes Faktenwissen auf dem Dogma vom Vorsprung der göttlichen Willensaktivität. Dieses Dogma ist durch die Scientia Media-Hypothese erschüttert. Worauf beruht es aber dann, daß Gott A vorherweiß, nicht nonA?
Der Streit der Schulrichtungen wird zusätzlich durch eine lateinische Textedition illustriert. Von dem Jesuiten Luke Wadding (1593-1651), dem Autor dieses schwierigen Texts, ist bisher nur bekannt, daß er der Lehrer des Scientia Media-Historikers Gabriel de Henao gewesen ist.

Molinism, formerly an invective, is nowadays a topic of philosophy. This book, however, does not deal with the modern renaissance of Middle Knowledge, rather, it explores its proliferation during the 17th and 18th centuries. The focus shifts from reviewing current trends in Church History to rehearsing the metaphysics that backed up Middle Knowledge.
Fact, in Molinism, is threefold: It could have been otherwise, it belongs to some possible world, it is necessarily known by the Omniscient. Whereas the classical account of God’s foreknowledge rests on its being postvolitional, the Molinist qualification of this account denies that it applies to the counterfactuals. On what else then does it prevolitionally depend that God knows for sure something to happen rather than not to happen?
The Salmantine Treatise on God’s foreknowledge edited here provides some additional piece of evidence of a deep Molinist disagreement. Though the manuscript was ready for print in 1653, this business failed and the manuscript fell into oblivion along with its author. The Jesuit Luke Wadding (1593-1651) belongs to a number of men from Waterford who at a time, when intolerance forced Catholics into large scale emigration, hopefully turned towards Spain. He must not be confounded with his famous namesake, the Franciscan friar, who was his cousin.
On the continuum limit of Benincasa–Dowker–Glaser causal set action
Authors: Machet Ludovico , Wang Jinzhao
Published: October 2020

We study the continuum limit of the Benincasa–Dowker–Glaser causal set action on a causally convex compact region. In particular, we compute the action of a causal set randomly sprinkled on a small causal diamond in the presence of arbitrary curvature in various spacetime dimensions. In the continuum limit, we show that the action admits a finite limit. More importantly, the limit is composed by an Einstein–Hilbert bulk term as predicted by the Benincasa–Dowker–Glaser action, and a boundary term exactly proportional to the codimension-two joint volume. Our calculation provides strong evidence in support of the conjecture that the Benincasa–Dowker–Glaser action naturally includes codimension-two boundary terms when evaluated on causally convex regions.
Simulation research on the forward problem of magnetoacoustic concentration tomography for magnetic nanoparticles with magnetic induction in a saturation magnetization state
Authors: Yan Xiaoheng , Pan Ye , Chen Weihua , Xu Zhengyang , Li Zhengxing
Published: October 2020

Magnetoacoustic concentration tomography of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with magnetic induction (MACT-MI) is a method that has been propsed recently for MNP concentration tomography for use in targeted therapy. This procedure has the advantages of being noninvasive, having high-resolution and providing quantitative estimation of MNPs. In order to further fundamentally increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the magnetoacoustic signal, the forward problem of MACT-MI in the saturation magnetization state was studied, especially the magnetization characteristics of MNPs, including the derivation of the force formula of MNPs in the saturation magnetization state and the relationships among the gradient of the external magnetic field, magnetic force, number concentration and sound pressure. Firstly, the magnetic force formula of MNPs in the saturation magnetization state was derived according to the classical Langevin theory of paramagnetism. Then, a 2D model was constructed to calculate the magnetic flux density, magnetic force and sound pressure. Finally, the 2D distribution diagram of magnetic force and sound pressure and its corresponding 1D curve were obtained. The simulation results showed that the saturation magnetic field produced by the Maxwell–Helmholtz coils made the MNPs magnetically saturated. Compared with the MNPs in an unsaturated magnetization state, the magnetic force of MNPs in the saturation magnetization state was stronger, and the stronger magnetic force could generate stronger magnetoacoustic signals, which made it possible to measure magnetoacoustic signals with higher signal-to-noise ratio. The research results can provide a research basis for the design of equipment for further MACT-MI experiment and clinical application.
Resonant phenomena in an all-dielectric rectangular circuit induced by a plane microwave
Authors: Shvartsburg A B , Pecherkin V Ya , Jiménez S , Vasilyak L M , Vázquez L , Vetchinin S P
Published: October 2020

Theoretical and experimental investigations of the main electromagnetic resonances excited by linearly polarized microwaves in a rectangular, thin, all-dielectric subwavelength circuit are presented. Displacement and polarization currents induced in this anisotropic circuit are shown to produce resonant magnetic and electric dipoles. The spectra of these dipoles measured in the near zone of the rectangular circuit frames indicate a variety of resonances subject to the orientation of the frame with respect to the polarization and directivity of the incident radiation. The frames arrangement in three orthogonal planes, normal respectively to the electric component, the magnetic component and the wave vector of the driving wave, illustrate the multitude of narrow polarization-dependent resonances, ensuring the inversion of magnetic inductance and electric displacement in the rectangular frame. These rectangular circuit frames can be used as a multiresonant dielectric metaelements.
A new signal denoising method based on double dictionary learning and moving ruler strategy
Authors: Ma Yunfei , Jia Xisheng
Published: October 2020

The denoising of vibration signals is useful with regards to various applications such as equipment monitoring. This study proposes a double dictionary learning method with a moving ruler strategy. The moving ruler strategy is used to construct a multi-layer and multi-position dictionary to reduce the gap between adjacent columns. However, the drawbacks of this strategy are high dictionary redundancy and reduced computation efficiency. Considering this issue, a double dictionary model is proposed combining the fixed dictionaries with learning dictionaries. The sparse coding and dictionary updating are improved correspondingly. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can outperform the existing denoising approaches. Moreover, an application of gearbox is presented to further validate the proposed method.
MEMS displacement generator for atomic force microscopy metrology
Authors: Babij M , Majstrzyk W , Sierakowski A , Janus P , Grabiec P , Ramotowski Z , Yacoot A , Gotszalk T
Published: October 2020

Atomic force microscopy enables three-dimensional high-resolution imaging of surfaces with nanoscale features. In order to obtain the quantitative information about surface geometry, the atomic force microscope’s scanning system must be calibrated. This is usually done by using calibration samples of known and/or defined shape based on either lithographic or crystal structures. In this work we report on a microelectromechanical device, referred to as a displacement generator, whose vertical deflection is controlled electronically. The designed, fabricated and applied device is formed out of a silicon nitride doubly clamped lever, referred to as a microbridge, with a deposited pair of platinum strips. When the MEMS displacement generator is immersed in a magnetic field and when it is electrically biased, the associated Lorentz force induces a structural displacement. In the presented design, the silicon nitride microbridges were fabricated on a (110) silicon wafer in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. A second reference cantilever was mechanically supported by the silicon substrate. In this way, a highly symmetrical structure was fabricated, making it possible to control precisely deflection in Z direction with sub-nanometre precision. The cantilever’s high resonance frequency, of ca. 500 kHz, makes the constructed device insensitive to external vibration sources which are typically at much lower frequencies. As the stage function can be described using the simple harmonic oscillator model, it is clear that the system can operate with sub-nanometre resolution, which, for the purpose of microscope calibration, is extremely beneficial. By placing of the atomic force microscope tip on the actuated reference device it is possible to determine the response of the system over a wide frequency bandwidth. In this work we will describe the fabrication process of the MEMS displacement generator, interferometric and traceable investigations of thermomechanical and electromagnetic actuation schemes. Moreover, we will present the results of the calibration of an atomic force microscope operating in contact and intermittent contact modes.
BiFeO3 nanoparticle doping effect on the growth and properties of Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors
Authors: Li Guo-Zheng , Chen Chao , Wang Miao
Published: October 2020

The doping effect of BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles on the growth and properties of Y–Ba–Cu–O (YBCO) superconductors by the powder melt and infiltration growth technique is investigated. The results indicate that nano-BFO doping reduces the growth rate of the Y-123 crystal and finally leads to smaller grain size in the YBCO bulk. Superconducting property measurements prove that improved levitation force and trapped field properties are observed in the 0.2 wt% BFO-doped YBCO sample. Magnetization measurement shows that the YBCO samples exhibit decreased T
c values with the increased BFO amount from 0.1 wt%–0.3 wt%, but the transition width ΔT
c shows no evident change. The sample with 0.2 wt% BFO addition presents the largest zero-field J
c value and also the highest secondary peak value, which accounts for the superior performance of the sample. The electron probe micro analysis results combined with the XRD analysis prove the decomposition of the BFO and formation of the YBi-2411 in the final bulk, while Fe element exists in the form of Fe/Cu substitutions. Thus, the simultaneous introduction and cooperation of the two types of flux pinning centers (i.e. non-superconducting inclusions and element substitutions) can be realized through the addition of nano-BFO.
An open-source 2D finite difference based transient electro-thermal simulation model for three-phase concentric superconducting power cables
Authors: de Sousa W T B , Shabagin E , Kottonau D , Noe M
Published: October 2020

Advances in superconductor technology make the prospect of economical operation of high temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables a practical concept for grid applications in urban centers. With more advanced cable designs being developed and commercialized, their geometrical features and dynamic behavior are becoming increasingly complicated to be modeled. This brings new challenges as the complex structure of HTS power cables significantly increases the computation power needed to perform simulations. In this paper we develop a two-dimensional open source simulation code based on the finite difference method which is solved by means of the alternating direction implicit routine. The algorithm has been written in MatLab programming language. The method improves computational performance and simulation time. In addition, this enables the creation of open-source simulation codes. A three-phase concentric HTS cable design has been chosen for the development of the code, nevertheless the model can be employed for any cable design. The results indicate an efficient, stable and powerful simulation code. During the development no numerical instabilities have been found. Besides that, the model is able to deliver quantities that are experimentally difficult to access. Simulation files are available for the scientific community on the HTS Modeling Workgroup webpage.
1

1

Simulation files can be downloaded.here.
Current limiting tests of a prototype 160 kV/1 kA resistive DC superconducting fault current limiter
Authors: Song Meng , Sheng Chao , Ma Tao , Huang Yong , Yang Chao , Xin Ying , Jin Hui , Yang Tianhui , Xiong Jialing , Li Chao , Li Quan , Wang Changqi , Li Bin , Xiao Leishi , Luo Pandian
Published: October 2020

High voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technology has begun to play a great role in power transmission industry over the last decade. However, short-circuit fault seriously threatens the safety of an HVDC network. In order to reduce the fault current level of an HVDC network, utilizing a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) was proposed by researchers and engineers worldwide. Recently, Guangdong Grid Company of China Southern Power Grid, Co. has led a project to develop a 160 kV/1 kA resistive type DC SFCL. As a middle-step objective, a 160 kV/1 kA laboratory prototype has been developed. Due to a facility with an adequate capacity for testing such DC equipment is practically inaccessible, the current limiting performance of the prototype cannot be tested with a straightforward current limiting experiment. In practice, effectual alternative methods have to be adopted. Since the AC half-wave impact method requires less equipment and cost than the DC impact method, we took on an AC half wave impact current method to evaluate the current limiting function of the prototype alternatively. In this paper, we report the procedures and results of these tests.
Incorporating age and delay into models for biophysical systems
Authors: KhudaBukhsh Wasiur R , Kang Hye-Won , Kenah Eben , Rempała Grzegorz A
Published: October 2020

In many biological systems, chemical reactions or changes in a physical state are assumed to occur instantaneously. For describing the dynamics of those systems, Markov models that require exponentially distributed inter-event times have been used widely. However, some biophysical processes such as gene transcription and translation are known to have a significant gap between the initiation and the completion of the processes, which renders the usual assumption of exponential distribution untenable. In this paper, we consider relaxing this assumption by incorporating age-dependent random time delays (distributed according to a given probability distribution) into the system dynamics. We do so by constructing a measure-valued Markov process on a more abstract state space, which allows us to keep track of the ‘ages’ of molecules participating in a chemical reaction. We study the large-volume limit of such age-structured systems. We show that, when appropriately scaled, the stochastic system can be approximated by a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) in the large-volume limit, as opposed to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in the classical theory. We show how the limiting PDE system can be used for the purpose of further model reductions and for devising efficient simulation algorithms. In order to describe the ideas, we use a simple transcription process as a running example. We, however, note that the methods developed in this paper apply to a wide class of biophysical systems.
A new measure of thermal micro-behavior for the AdS black hole *
Authors: Xu Zhen-Ming , Wu Bin , Yang Tao , Yang Wen-Li
Published: October 2020

Inspired by the hypothesis of the black hole molecule, with the help of the Hawking temperature, entropy, and the thermodynamic curvature of black holes, we propose a new measure of the relation between the interaction and the thermal motion of molecules of the AdS black hole as a preliminary and coarse-grained description. The proposed measure introduces a dimensionless ratio to characterize this relation and shows that there is indeed competition between the interactions of black hole molecules and their thermal motion. For a charged AdS black hole, below the critical dimensionless pressure, there are three transitions between the interaction and thermal motion states. In contrast, above the critical dimensionless pressure, only one transition takes place. For the Schwarzschild-AdS and five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet AdS black holes, a transition always occurs between the interaction and thermal motion states.
Asymptotic structure of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory in lower dimensions *
Authors: Lü H. , Mao Pujian
Published: October 2020

Recently, an action principle for the

limit of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity has been proposed. It is a special scalar-tensor theory that belongs to the family of Horndeski gravity. It also has well defined

and

limits. In this work, we examine this theory in three and four dimensions in the Bondi-Sachs framework. In both three and four dimensions, we find that there is no news function associated with the scalar field, which means that there is no scalar propagating degree of freedom in the theory. In four dimensions, the mass-loss formula is not affected by the Gauss-Bonnet term. This is consistent with the fact that there is no scalar radiation. However, the effects of the Gauss-Bonnet term are quite significant in the sense that they arise just one order after the integration constants and also arise in the quadrupole of the gravitational source.
Holographic Schwinger effect in a soft wall AdS/QCD model *
Authors: Ding Yue , Zhang Zi-qiang
Published: October 2020

We perform a potential analysis for the holographic Schwinger effect in a deformed

model with conformal invariance broken by a background dilaton. We evaluated the static potential by analyzing the classical action of a string attached to a rectangular Wilson loop on a probe D3 brane located at an intermediate position in the bulk AdS space. We observed that the inclusion of the chemical potential tends to enhance the production rate, which is opposite to the effect of the confining scale. In addition, we calculated the critical electric field based on the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action.
Strangeonium-like hybrids on the lattice *
Authors: Ma Yunheng , Chen Ying , Gong Ming , Liu Zhaofeng
Published: October 2020

The strangeonium-like

hybrids are investigated from lattice QCD in the quenched approximation. In the Coulomb gauge, spatially extended operators are constructed for

and

states with the color octet

component being separated from the chromomagnetic field strength by the spatial distance

, whose matrix elements between the vacuum and the corresponding states are interpreted as Bethe-Salpeter (BS) wave functions. In each of the

channels, the masses and the BS wave functions are reliably derived. The

ground state mass is approximately 2.1-2.2 GeV, and that of

is approximately 2.3-2.4 GeV, whereas the mass of the first excited state is approximately 1.4 GeV higher. This mass splitting is much larger compared to that expected based on the phenomenological flux-tube model or constituent gluon model for hybrids, which is usually a few hundred MeV. The BS wave functions with respect to

exhibit clear radial nodal structures of a non-relativistic two-body system, which imply that

is a meaningful dynamical variable for these hybrids and motivate a color halo picture of hybrids, in which the color octet

is surrounded by gluonic degrees of freedom. In the

channel, the properties of the lowest two states are consistent with those of

and

. We did not obtain convincing information with respect to

. However, we argue that regardless of whether

is a conventional

meson or a

hybrid in the color halo scenario, the ratio of partial decay widths

and

observed by BESIII can be understood based on the mechanism of hadronic transition of a strangeonium-like meson in addition to

mixing.
On-shell mediator dark matter models and the Xenon1T excess *
Authors: Du Mingxuan , Liang Jinhan , Liu Zuowei , Tran Van Que , Xue Yilun
Published: October 2020

We present a dark matter model to explain the excess events in the electron recoil data recently reported by the Xenon1T experiment. In our model, dark matter

annihilates into a pair of on-shell particles

, which subsequently decay into the

final state;

interacts with electrons to generate the observed excess events. Because of the mass hierarchy, the velocity of

can be rather large and can have an extended distribution, providing a good fit to the electron recoil energy spectrum. We estimate the flux of

from dark matter annihilations in the galaxy and further determine the interaction cross section, which is sizable but sufficiently small to allow

to penetrate the rocks to reach the underground labs.
Production of vector mesons in pentaquark state resonance channel in p-A ultraperipheral collisions *
Authors: Xie Ya-Ping , Wang Xiao-Yun , Chen Xurong
Published: October 2020

Ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) of protons and nuclei are important for the study of the photoproduction of vector mesons and exotic states. The photoproduction of vector mesons in the pentaquark resonance channel in p-

UPCs at the Relative Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and p-

UPCs at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is investigated by employing the STARlight package. The cross sections of vector mesons via the pentaquark state resonance channel are obtained using the effective Lagrangian method. The pseudo-rapidity and rapidity distributions of

and

are given for p-

UPCs at the RHIC and p-

UPCs at the LHC. It is found that the RHIC is a better platform for discovering pentaquark states than the LHC. Moreover,

is easier to identify than

because the background of

is weaker than that of

in the t-channel at the RHIC.
Deuteron inelastic scattering on6Li and7Li nuclei within the three-body cluster model *
Authors: Egorov M. V. , Postnikov V. I.
Published: October 2020

The problem of the deuteron interaction with lithium nuclei, treated as a system of two coupled pointlike clusters, is formulated to calculate the cross sections of thed+Li reaction. Thed+Li reaction mechanism is described using the Faddeev theory for the three-body problem of deuteron-nucleus interaction. This theory is slightly extended for calculation of the stripping processes6Li(d,p)7Li,7Li(d,p)8Li,6Li(d,n)7Be, and7Li(d,n)8Be, as well as fragmentation reactions yielding tritium,-particles, and continuous neutrons and protons in the initial deuteron kinetic-energy regionMeV. The phase shifts found forLi andLi elastic scattering, as part of the simple optic model with a complex central potential, were used to find the cross sections for the6Liand7Liradiation captures. The three-body dynamics role is also summarized to demonstrate its significant influence within theLi system.
Diffusion MRI tractography filtering techniques change the topology of structural connectomes
Authors: Frigo Matteo , Deslauriers-Gauthier Samuel , Parker Drew , Aziz Ould Ismail Abdol , John Kim Junghoon , Verma Ragini , Deriche Rachid
Published: October 2020

Objective. The use of non-invasive techniques for the estimation of structural brain networks (i.e. connectomes) opened the door to large-scale investigations on the functioning and the architecture of the brain, unveiling the link between neurological disorders and topological changes of the brain network. This study aims at assessing if and how the topology of structural connectomes estimated non-invasively with diffusion MRI is affected by the employment of tractography filtering techniques in structural connectomic pipelines. Additionally, this work investigates the robustness of topological descriptors of filtered connectomes to the common practice of density-based thresholding. Approach. We investigate the changes in global efficiency, characteristic path length, modularity and clustering coefficient on filtered connectomes obtained with the spherical deconvolution informed filtering of tractograms and using the convex optimization modelling for microstructure informed tractography. The analysis is performed on both healthy subjects and patients affected by traumatic brain injury and with an assessment of the robustness of the computed graph-theoretical measures with respect to density-based thresholding of the connectome. Main results. Our results demonstrate that tractography filtering techniques change the topology of brain networks, and thus alter network metrics both in the pathological and the healthy cases. Moreover, the measures are shown to be robust to density-based thresholding. Significance. The present work highlights how the inclusion of tractography filtering techniques in connectomic pipelines requires extra caution as they systematically change the network topology both in healthy subjects and patients affected by traumatic brain injury. Finally, the practice of low-to-moderate density-based thresholding of the connectomes is confirmed to have negligible effects on the topological analysis.
Nanoscale water film at a super-wetting interface supports 2D material transfer
Authors: Zhao Xiao-kang , Chen Ruo-wang , Xu Kang , Zhang Si-yuan , Shi Hui , Shao Zhi-yong , Wan Neng
Published: October 2020

We observed a super-wetting behavior at typical chemical vapor deposition grown transition metal di-chalcogenide (TMDC) 2D material–substrate interface. Such an interface was found to keep a flat, nanoscale water film when interacting with liquid state water. Detailed in situ atomic force microscope studies found the variable thickness of the water layer. Both surfaces at the two sides of the interface, viz. the TMDC (MoS2 or WS2 as demonstrated) bottom surface and the exposed substrate (typically, the as-grown SiO2) surface, were found to be super-wetting. This insured effectively their stable super-wetting behaviors. We further verified a prompt relationship of the nanoscale water layer with the water-mediated transfer of the TMDC. The super-wetting layer was found essential and critical for the effective transfer of TMDCs to other surfaces.
Thermal and electrical conductivity of single crystalline kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4
Authors: Handwerg M , Mitdank R , Levcenco S , Schorr S , Fischer S F
Published: October 2020

For single crystalline sulfur-based kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 the electrical and thermal conductivity are measured from 20 K to 320 K. The electrical conductivity decreases exponentially with decreasing temperature. The temperature dependence can be assigned to Mott-variable-range-hopping, an electrical transport process within an impurity band in the band gap. With the 3ω-method a thermal conductivity room temperature value of 5.1 ± 0.5 Wm−1K−1 and a maximal value of 8.0 ± 0.5 Wm−1K−1 at 100 K are found. Phonon-phonon-umklapp-scattering can explain the high temperature range from 100 K to 320 K. The low temperature values of the thermal conductivity are dominated by the temperature-dependence of the specific heat capacity, due to a reduced phonon-mean-free-path, owing to phonon-impurity-scattering.
Fabrication and analysis of mechanical properties of PVC/Glass fiber/graphene nano composite pipes
Authors: Shanmugasundar G , Vanitha M , Babu L Ganesh , Suresh P , Mathiyalagan P , Krishnan G Sai , Makos Mebratu
Published: October 2020

The aim of this work is to examine the conventional moulding method for manufacturing the PVC/Glass fiber/graphene nano composites. Uniform graphene dispersion is observed with the matrix for better bonding. The Mechanical properties of the manufactured nano composites have been done in this work. Three important standard tests were evaluated for the performance of Nano-Composites developed. The composites were developed as flat specimen for pipe applications. The three standards test which includes axial tension, compression and transverse compression is studied. The graphene nano composites were varied 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2 percentages. Based on the results it can be concluded that the increase in the percentages of graphene made a uniform dispersion, which leads to increase in the compressive strength of the Nanocomposite. Increase in the axial compressive strength and stiffness was observed and the increase in the trend value is mainly observed in 1.5 wt% and 2 wt% respectively. The Graphene dispersion and fractured surface morphology of nano composites were examined using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM).It can also be used as an alternative for metal pipes in industries.
Associations of Genetic Factors, Educational Attainment, and Their Interaction With Kidney Function Outcomes
Authors: Thio Chris H L , van Zon Sander K R , van der Most Peter J , Snieder Harold , Bültmann Ute , Gansevoort Ron T
Published: October 2020

Both genetic predisposition and low educational attainment (EA) are associated with higher risk of chronic kidney disease. We examined the interaction of EA and genetic risk in kidney function outcomes. We included 3,597 participants from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease Cohort Study, a longitudinal study in a community-based sample from Groningen, the Netherlands (median follow-up, 11 years; 1997–2012). Kidney function was approximated by obtaining estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from serum creatinine and cystatin C. Individual longitudinal linear eGFR trajectories were derived from linear mixed models. Genotype data on 63 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, with known associations with eGFR, were used to calculate an allele-weighted genetic score (WGS). EA was categorized into high, medium, and low. In ordinary least squares analysis, higher WGS and lower EA showed additive effects on reduced baseline eGFR; the interaction term was nonsignificant. In analysis of eGFR decline, the significant interaction term suggested amplification of genetic risk by low EA. Adjustment for known renal risk factors did not affect our results. This study presents the first evidence of gene-environment interaction between EA and a WGS for eGFR decline and provides population-level insights into the mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities in chronic kidney disease.
Dormancy and germination of the trimorphic achenes of a cold desert annual: spreading the risk over time
Authors: Lu Juanjuan , Dong Wenjing , Tan Dunyan , Baskin Carol C , Baskin Jerry M
Published: October 2020

Many studies have been done on the relationship between variation in morphology, dispersal ability and degree of dormancy of heterocarpic species with dimorphic diaspores. However, there are far fewer such studies on species that produce trimorphic diaspores. Our aim was to compare dormancy and germination of achenes from peripheral, intermediate and central positions in the capitulum of the diaspore-trimorphic cold desert annual Asteraceae species Heteracia szovitsii, an important component of plant communities in the cold deserts of NW China. Dormancy breaking/germination responses of the three achene morphs and of seeds isolated from the pericarp were tested in the laboratory using standard procedures, and seedling emergence phenology of the achene morphs was monitored under natural cold desert temperature conditions in an experimental garden with and without supplemental watering. Depth of dormancy of the three achene morphs was peripheral > intermediate > central. Seedlings from the three morphs emerged in spring and in autumn. Cumulative seedling emergence percentage from achenes during 47 months of burial was central > intermediate > peripheral. Central achene morphs emerged over a period of ~12 months after sowing, while intermediate and peripheral achene morphs did so for ~40 and 47 months, respectively. Thus, H. szovitsii exhibits a temporal dispersal strategy. No viable central or intermediate achene morphs were present after 16 and 40 months, respectively, but ~60 % of the non-emerged peripheral achenes morphs were viable after 47 months. Based on our results on diaspore dormancy and those of a previous study of diaspore spatial dispersal of H. szovitsii, we conclude that this species has a high–intermediate–low risk diaspore dispersal/dormancy strategy that likely increases the chances for population persistence over time and space.
Conditional out-of-distribution generation for unpaired data using transfer VAE
Authors: Lotfollahi Mohammad , Naghipourfar Mohsen , Theis Fabian J , Wolf F Alexander
Published: October 2020

Motivation

While generative models have shown great success in sampling high-dimensional samples conditional on low-dimensional descriptors (stroke thickness in MNIST, hair color in CelebA, speaker identity in WaveNet), their generation out-of-distribution poses fundamental problems due to the difficulty of learning compact joint distribution across conditions. The canonical example of the conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE), for instance, does not explicitly relate conditions during training and, hence, has no explicit incentive of learning such a compact representation.

Results

We overcome the limitation of the CVAE by matching distributions across conditions using maximum mean discrepancy in the decoder layer that follows the bottleneck. This introduces a strong regularization both for reconstructing samples within the same condition and for transforming samples across conditions, resulting in much improved generalization. As this amount to solving a style-transfer problem, we refer to the model as transfer VAE (trVAE). Benchmarking trVAE on high-dimensional image and single-cell RNA-seq, we demonstrate higher robustness and higher accuracy than existing approaches. We also show qualitatively improved predictions by tackling previously problematic minority classes and multiple conditions in the context of cellular perturbation response to treatment and disease based on high-dimensional single-cell gene expression data. For generic tasks, we improve Pearson correlations of high-dimensional estimated means and variances with their ground truths from 0.89 to 0.97 and 0.75 to 0.87, respectively. We further demonstrate that trVAE learns cell-type-specific responses after perturbation and improves the prediction of most cell-type-specific genes by 65%.

Availability and implementation

The trVAE implementation is available via github.com/theislab/trvae. The results of this article can be reproduced via github.com/theislab/trvae_reproducibility.
ILoReg: a tool for high-resolution cell population identification from single-cell RNA-seq data
Authors: Smolander Johannes , Junttila Sini , Venäläinen Mikko S , Elo Laura L
Published: October 2020

Motivation

Single-cell RNA-seq allows researchers to identify cell populations based on unsupervised clustering of the transcriptome. However, subpopulations can have only subtle transcriptomic differences and the high dimensionality of the data makes their identification challenging.

Results

We introduce ILoReg, an R package implementing a new cell population identification method that improves identification of cell populations with subtle differences through a probabilistic feature extraction step that is applied before clustering and visualization. The feature extraction is performed using a novel machine learning algorithm, called iterative clustering projection (ICP), that uses logistic regression and clustering similarity comparison to iteratively cluster data. Remarkably, ICP also manages to integrate feature selection with the clustering through L1-regularization, enabling the identification of genes that are differentially expressed between cell populations. By combining solutions of multiple ICP runs into a single consensus solution, ILoReg creates a representation that enables investigating cell populations with a high resolution. In particular, we show that the visualization of ILoReg allows segregation of immune and pancreatic cell populations in a more pronounced manner compared with current state-of-the-art methods.

Availability and implementation

ILoReg is available as an R package at https://bioconductor.org/packages/ILoReg.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The political economy of and practical policies for inclusive growth—a case study of Scotland
Authors: Houston Donald , Varna Georgiana , Docherty Iain
Published: October 2020

The concept of ‘inclusive growth’ (IG) is discussed in a political economy framework. The article reports comparative analysis of economic and planning policy documents from Scotland, England and the UK and findings from expert workshops held in Scotland, which identify four key policy areas for ‘inclusive growth’: skills, transport and housing for young people; city-regional governance; childcare; and place-making. These policies share with the ‘Foundational Economy’ an emphasis on everyday infrastructure and services, but add an emphasis on inter-generational justice and stress the importance of community empowerment as much as re-municipalisation. Factors enabling IG policy development include: the necessary political powers; a unifying political discourse and civic institutions; and inclusive governance and participatory democracy.
An Efficient Algorithm to Extract Control Flow-Based Features for IoT Malware Detection
Authors: Nghi Phu Tran , Dai Tho Nguyen , Huy Hoang Le , Ngoc Toan Nguyen , Ngoc Binh Nguyen
Published: October 2020

Control flow-based feature extraction method has the ability to detect malicious code with higher accuracy than traditional text-based methods. Unfortunately, this method has been encountered with the NP-hard problem, which is infeasible for the large-sized and high-complexity programs. To tackle this, we propose a control flow-based feature extraction dynamic programming algorithm for fast extraction of control flow-based features with polynomial time O($N^{2}$), where N is the number of basic blocks in decompiled executable codes. From the experimental results, it is demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is more efficient and effective in detecting malware than the existing ones. Applying our algorithm to an Internet of Things dataset gives better results on three measures: Accuracy = 99.05%, False Positive Rate = 1.31% and False Negative Rate = 0.66%.
Kawasaki disease: case report of a diagnostic dilemma and often a missed diagnosis
Authors: Bin Jawaid Zaib , Du Jin Ling , Iqbal Sohail , Zhang Lei
Published: October 2020

Background

Management of cardiovascular sequelae to Kawasaki disease (KD) is challenging to adult cardiologists. Vasculitis of medium-sized arteries especially coronary arteries often leads to focal intimal thickening and aneurysmal dilatation of one or more coronary arteries. It needs special attention to recognize coronary artery involvement because of potential long-term morbidity and mortality. We present a case of diagnostic dilemma in young adult Chinese male with KD.

Case summary

This asymptomatic patient was found to have deep Q waves in anterior leads on screening electrocardiography and was thought to have myocarditis after depiction of wall motion abnormality on echocardiography, later to be confirmed to have left anterior descending artery (LAD) territory infarct on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Coronary computed tomography angiogram depicted proximal LAD aneurysm with calcified plaque/thrombus. Additionally, there was an 18 mm giant right coronary artery (RCA) aneurysm with braid-like appearance and soft plaque (mural thrombus). His previous medical history included fever and cervical lymphadenopathy. Because of the high risk he was commenced on long-term low-dose aspirin and β-adrenergic-blocking agent to reduce myocardial oxygen consumption; however, 3 years later, he presented to the emergency department with acute inferior myocardial infarction. He was noted to have total occlusion of the proximal RCA and was treated aggressively with thrombectomy and percutaneous balloon angioplasty followed by medical management with β-blockers, sacubitril/valsartan, clopidogrel, and rivaroxaban without subsequent adverse cardiovascular events.

Discussion

Kawasaki disease is one of the main causes of coronary artery disease in young adults and can be easily overlooked.
Thoracic endovascular aortic repair for aortobronchial fistula: a case series
Authors: Vijayvergiya Rajesh , Kasinadhuni Ganesh , Revaiah Pruthvi C , Lal Anupam , Sharma Ashish , Kumar Rupesh
Published: October 2020

Background

Aortobronchial fistula (ABF) formation following the rupture of thoracic pseudoaneurysm is a rare clinical entity. Its aetiology includes atherosclerosis, infections, trauma, post-surgery, and post-endovascular aortic repair. The clinical presentation of ABF includes intermittent or massive haemoptysis, acute respiratory distress, hypotension, and even death. These patients require an emergency aortic intervention to stop active haemorrhage. Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is a less invasive, safe, and effective treatment compared to conventional open surgical repair

Case summary

We hereby report three cases of ruptured descending thoracic aortic pseudoaneurysms resulting in a fistula formation. The first two cases had tuberculosis as their underlying aetiology, while the third case was the result of previous open post-aortic surgery. All patients presented with massive haemoptysis and were successfully treated by emergency TEVAR and had favourable outcomes.

Discussion

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair is a rapid, less invasive, and effective treatment for emergency management of ABF. It has more than 85% technical success rates in the reported literature. We had procedural success in all three cases. The short and midterm outcome of ABF following TEVAR is favourable and encouraging.
COVID-19 and ST elevations–keep an open mind: a case report
Authors: Kendall Michael R , Reddy Sridhar M , Meinke Laura E , Acharya* Deepak
Published: October 2020

Background

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with a range of cardiovascular manifestations, including myocardial injury and thrombo-embolism. Pulmonary embolism (PE) causing anteroseptal/anterior ST elevations that mimic myocardial infarction have previously been described. This phenomenon is thought to be related to right ventricular injury from large emboli.

Case summary

A 48-year-old woman with history of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension presented to her local hospital with fever, cough, nausea, and dyspnoea. A test for SARS-CoV-2 was taken, and she was discharged with instructions to self-quarantine. She was subsequently notified of a positive SARS-CoV-2 result. Three days later, she re-presented with worsening dyspnoea and respiratory failure requiring intubation. On hospital Day 6, she became acutely hypoxic and hypotensive. Telemetry was noted to have ST changes, prompting ECG that revealed sinus tachycardia with prominent new ST elevations in her precordial leads. Transthoracic echocardiogram showed normal left ventricular function; however, the right ventricle was moderately dilated with positive McConnell’s sign. Due to her unstable clinical state and high suspicion for PE, she was treated with tenecteplase 50 mg i.v. with complete resolution of her ST elevations and improved oxygenation.

Discussion

Given the high rates of thrombo-embolic events in COVID-19 patients, PE should be in the differential diagnosis of ST elevation, particularly in younger patients with few risk factors for coronary artery disease.
Frailty of Māori, Pasifika, and Non-Māori/Non-Pasifika Older People in New Zealand: A National Population Study of Older People Referred for Home Care Services
Authors: Abey-Nesbit Rebecca , Peel Nancye M , Matthews Hector , Hubbard Ruth E , Nishtala Prasad S , Bergler Ulrich , Deely Joanne M , Pickering John W , Schluter Philip J , Jamieson Hamish A
Published: October 2020

Background

Little is known about the prevalence of frailty in indigenous populations. We developed a frailty index (FI) for older New Zealand Māori and Pasifika who require publicly funded support services.

Methods

An FI was developed for New Zealand adults aged 65 and older who had an interRAI Home Care assessment between June 1, 2012 and October 30, 2015. A frailty score for each participant was calculated by summing the number of deficits recorded and dividing by the total number of possible deficits. This created a FI with a potential range from 0 to 1. Linear regression models for FIs with ethnicity were adjusted for age and sex. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between the FI and mortality for Māori, Pasifika, and non-Māori/non-Pasifika.

Results

Of 54 345 participants, 3096 (5.7%) identified as Māori, 1846 (3.4%) were Pasifika, and 49 415 (86.7%) identified as neither Māori nor Pasifika. New Zealand Europeans (48 178, 97.5%) constituted most of the latter group. Within each sex, the mean FIs for Māori and Pasifika were greater than the mean FIs for non-Māori and non-Pasifika, with the difference being more pronounced in women. The FI was associated with mortality (Māori subhazard ratio [SHR] 2.53, 95% CI 1.63–3.95; Pasifika SHR 6.03, 95% CI 3.06–11.90; non-Māori and non-Pasifika SHR 2.86, 95% CI 2.53–3.25).

Conclusions

This study demonstrated differences in FI between the ethnicities in this select cohort. After adjustment for age and sex, increases in FI were associated with increased mortality. This suggests that FI is predictive of poor outcomes in these ethnic groups.