bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Food, Gentrification and Located Life Plans
Authors: Bonotti Matteo , Barnhill Anne
Published: March 2022

Even though the phenomenon of gentrification is ever-growing in contemporary urban contexts, especially in high income countries, it has been mostly overlooked by normative political theorists and philosophers. In this paper we examine the normative dimensions of gentrification through the lens of food. By drawing on Huber and Wolkenstein’s (Huber and Wolkenstein, Politics, Philosophy & Economics 17:378–397, 2018) work, we use food as an example to illustrate the multiple ways in which life plans can be located and to argue that both existing residents and newcomers have an interest in occupancy rights. More specifically, while newcomers have an interest in moving freely to new neighbourhoods in order to purse their preferred life plans, they also have an interest in being able to continue to pursue those life plans once they have acquired them, and this requires occupancy rights and the implementation of measures aimed at regulating and slowing down gentrification. Moreover, when residents belong to already disadvantaged groups, more significant anti-gentrification measures can be implemented in order to prevent injustices from being compounded.
Preparing Children’s Burials in Postmedieval Finland: Emotions Awakened by Sensory Experiences
Authors: Lipkin Sanna , Tranberg Annemari , Kallio-Seppä Titta , Ruhl Erika
Published: March 2022

Examination of northern Finnish postmedieval funerary attire and coffins reveals culturally constructed sensory experiences and emotions of the individuals who took care of preparing dead children for burial. Based on historical sources, the attire and coffins for small children were generally made by adolescent godparents, whereas dressing and handling of the dead bodies were left to mature women. Because of their beliefs, parents rarely took care of these duties. Archaeological funerary remains provide an avenue through which to explore the sensory experiences of social groups with strongly held religious beliefs and conceptions regarding the dead and the deceased. Common features in the burials allow the interpretation of emotional patterns and collective memories of contemporary people from three starting points: sleep and eternal life, the innocence of children, and coping mechanisms dealing with child deaths.
Research on the implementation method of loom monitoring
Authors: Xiao Yanjun , Tian Yu , Wang Kuan , Zhou Wei , Gao Nan , Liu Weiling
Published: March 2022

A loom monitoring system was designed and developed to realize monitoring loom in both industrial field and remote network environments and to meet the on-site workers’ convenient operation and centralized management of enterprises. This article uses the touch screen as the main carrier of the field system and cooperates with configuration technology and expert system to realize fault diagnosis. And this article uses the B/S architecture as the remote system cloud platform network architecture which builds the Redis database and Nginx server operating environment, and the front-end technology such as HTML5 is used to design a web client interface to meet the functional needs. This implementation method has three advantages: First, it breaks the traditional way of mechanical button matching with touch screens in the textile manufacturing industry; second, it can quickly find out the reason for loom failure; and third, it lifts the regional restrictions, thus improving the intelligence and information level of textile machinery and equipment.

Article Highlights

This monitoring system combines configuration technology with computer technology to realize monitoring in both industrial fields and remote environments. Industrial site workers quickly and directly operate the loom through the on-site touch screen. Enterprise management personnel centrally manage the loom through remote means. Therefore, the system is convenient for different types of users in the enterprise.

The industrial field monitoring system has comprehensive functions and friendly interface operation, which realizes the comprehensive monitoring and operating parameter setting of each link of the loom production. It can also meet functional requirements such as fault alarm and debugging and maintenance.

The use of the cloud platform and other technologies to achieve remote monitoring of the loom, breaking through the geographical restrictions. It is possible to log in to the remote system anytime and anywhere to monitor the running status and production information of the loom, which also provides convenience for later maintenance and upgrades.
Synthesis of ZnO and CuO nanoparticles via Sol gel method and its characterization by using various technique
Authors: Patel Monika , Mishra Sunita , Verma Ruchi , Shikha Deep
Published: March 2022

Nanotechnology is a completely unique branch of technology that offers with substances in a very small size between (1–100 nm) with various crystal shapes. Metals have ability to produce large number of oxides. These metal oxides play a major role in many areas of chemistry, physics, material science and food science. In this research, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Copper (II) oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via sol–gel process using zinc nitrate and copper (II) nitrate as precursor respectively. The characterization of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles was done by using various techniques. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) indicates the crystallinity and crystal size of CuO and ZnO nanoparticle. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to get the infrared spectrum of the sample indicating composition of the sample which contains various functional groups. XRD result shows the particle size of CuO at highest peak 29.40140 was 61.25 nm and the particle size of ZnO at highest peak 36.2476° was 21.82 nm. FT-IR spectra peak at 594.56 cm-1 indicated characteristic absorption bands of ZnO nanoparticles and the broad band peak at 3506.9 cm−1 can be attributed to the characteristic absorption of O–H group. The analysis of FT-IR spectrum of CuO shows peaks at 602.09, 678.39, and 730.19 cm−1 which refer to the formation of CuO. SEMimages indicate the morphology of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles. Result of EDX characterization indicates that the both synthesized nanoparticles have good purity with very less amount of impurities. EDX data indicates that Cu content was 54.56%, oxygen content was 33.75% in CuO nanoparticles and Zn determined by EDX was 40.77 and O was 45.82 in ZnO.

Graphical Abstract
A Celestial Doctrine: James Turrell, Art, and Technology in Cold War Los Angeles
Authors: WATERHOUSE AMANDA C.
Published: March 2022

This article examines sculptor James Turrell's late 1960s Art & Technology residency at Garrett Corporation, an aerospace and defense subcontractor based in Los Angeles. It considers Turrell's early life, his participation in the residency through the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and his and collaborators’ subsequent production, to show that artists could interact with the Cold War military–industrial complex in ways that surpassed mere protest or complicity. Despite his political beliefs, Turrell's participation in the project embedded his sculptural practice in the Cold War political economy of the American state in ways that should expand scholarly definition and study of what constitutes foreign-policy practice and doctrine.
Donald Trump and the Lie
Authors: Arceneaux Kevin , Truex Rory
Published: March 2022

The legitimacy of democratically elected governments rests in part on widespread acceptance of the outcome of elections, especially among those who lost. This “losers’ consent” allows the winners to govern, and when the incumbent is the losing party, it allows for a peaceful transition of power. What happens in a democratic system when one side not only refuses to concede but also actively perpetuates lies about the outcome? This article studies the evolution of public opinion about Donald Trump’s “big lie” using a rolling cross-sectional daily tracking survey, yielding 40 days of polls and more than 20,000 responses from US voters from October 27, 2020, through January 29, 2021. We find that the lie is pervasive and sticky: the number of Republicans and independents saying that they believe the election was fraudulent is substantial, and this proportion did not change appreciably over time or shift after important political developments. Belief in the lie may have buoyed some of Trump supporters’ self-esteem. In reaction to the lie and the threat it brought to the transition of power, there was a significant rise in support for violent political activism among Democrats, which only waned after efforts to overturn the election clearly failed. Even if these findings merely reflect partisan cheerleading, we nonetheless find significant and potentially long-term consequences of the lie. A conjoint experiment shows that Republican voters reward politicians who perpetuate the lie, giving Republican candidates an incentive to continue to do so in the next electoral cycle. These findings raise concerns about the fragility of American democracy.
Sources of Nonergodicity for Teleconnections as Cross‐Correlations
Authors: Bódai Tamás , Lee June‐Yi , Aneesh Sundaresan
Published: March 2022

Teleconnections are prominent features of internal variability which, along with climatic means, can also undergo forced changes. The assessment of such changes based on single realization observational data calculating moving window temporal correlation coefficients is burdened by biases. Previously, we attributed one source of such a bias, that is, nonergodicity, to the omission of low‐frequency (LF) variability, but find here that it is negligible for typical processes due to their spectral characteristic, given that LF, say, interdecadal, variability is much weaker than the high frequency interannual variability. The unnecessary omission of detrending, as another source, is potentially much more deleterious, as we find that the bias depends quadratically on both the window size and the trends of the means. Given that forced changes in the variances should not introduce much bias, a nonlinear change of the teleconnection strength is implied as the main irreducible source of nonergodicity.
Discrete Aurora at Mars: Dependence on Upstream Solar Wind Conditions
Authors: Girazian Z. , Schneider N. M. , Milby Z. , Fang X. , Halekas J. , Weber T. , Jain S. K. , Gérard J.‐C. , Soret L. , Deighan J. , Lee C. O.
Published: March 2022

Discrete aurora at Mars, characterized by their small spatial scale and tendency to form near strong crustal magnetic fields, are emissions produced by particle precipitation into the Martian upper atmosphere. Since 2014, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN's (MAVEN's) Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) has obtained a large collection of UV discrete aurora observations during its routine periapsis nightside limb scans. Initial analysis of these observations has shown that, near the strongest crustal magnetic fields in the southern hemisphere, the IUVS discrete aurora detection frequency is highly sensitive to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle. However, the role of other solar wind properties in controlling the discrete aurora detection frequency has not yet been determined. In this work, we use the IUVS discrete aurora observations, along with MAVEN observations of the upstream solar wind, to determine how the discrete aurora detection frequency varies with solar wind dynamic pressure, IMF strength, and IMF cone angle. We find that, outside of the strong crustal field region (SCFR) in the southern hemisphere, the aurora detection frequency is relatively insensitive to the IMF orientation, but significantly increases with solar wind dynamic pressure, and moderately increases with IMF strength. Interestingly however, although high solar wind dynamic pressures cause more aurora to form, they have little impact on the brightness of the auroral emissions. Alternatively, inside the SCFR, the detection frequency is only moderately dependent on the solar wind dynamic pressure, and is much more sensitive to the IMF clock and cone angles. In the SCFR, aurora are unlikely to occur when the IMF points near the radial or anti‐radial directions when the cone angle (arccos(Bx/|B|)) is less than 30° or between 120° and 150°. Together, these results provide the first comprehensive characterization of how upstream solar wind conditions affect the formation of discrete aurora at Mars.
Gardening of the Martian Regolith by Diurnal CO2 Frost and the Formation of Slope Streaks
Authors: Lange L. , Piqueux S. , Edwards C. S.
Published: March 2022

Before dawn on the dustiest regions of Mars, surfaces measured at or below ∼148 K are common. Thermodynamics principles indicate that these terrains must be associated with the presence of CO2 frost, yet visible wavelength imagery does not display any ice signature. We interpret this systematic absence as an indication of CO2 crystal growth within the surficial regolith, not on top of it, forming hard‐to‐distinguish intimate mixtures of frost and dust, that is, dirty frost. This particular ice/regolith relationship unique to the low thermal inertia regions is enabled by the large difference in size between individual dust grains and the peak thermal emission wavelength of any material nearing 148 K (1–2 μm vs. 18 μm), allowing radiative loss (and therefore ice formation) to occur deep within the pores of the ground, below several layers of grains. After sunrise, sublimation‐driven winds promoted by direct insolation and conduction create an upward drag within the surficial regolith that can be comparable in strength to gravity and friction forces combined. This drag displaces individual grains, possibly preventing their agglomeration, induration, and compaction, and can potentially initiate or sustain downslope mass movement, such as slope streaks. If confirmed, this hypothesis introduces a new form of CO2‐driven geomorphological activity occurring near the equator on Mars and explains how large units of mobile dust are currently maintained at the surface in an otherwise soil‐encrusting world.
Photonic slide rule with metasurfaces
Authors: Yu Feilong , Chen Jin , Huang Lujun , Zhao Zengyue , Wang Jiuxu , Jin Rong , Chen Jian , Wang Jian , Miroshnichenko Andrey E. , Li Tianxin , Li Guanhai , Chen Xiaoshuang , Lu Wei
Published: March 2022

As an elementary particle, a photon that carries information in frequency, polarization, phase, and amplitude, plays a crucial role in modern science and technology. However, how to retrieve the full information of unknown photons in an ultracompact manner over broad bandwidth remains a challenging task with growing importance. Here, we demonstrate a versatile photonic slide rule based on an all-silicon metasurface that enables us to reconstruct incident photons’ frequency and polarization state. The underlying mechanism relies on the coherent interactions of frequency-driven phase diagrams which rotate at various angular velocities within broad bandwidth. The rotation direction and speed are determined by the topological charge and phase dispersion. Specifically, our metasurface leverages both achromatically focusing and azimuthally evolving phases with topological charges +1 and −1 to ensure the confocal annular intensity distributions. The combination of geometric phase and interference holography allows the joint manipulations of two distinct group delay coverages to realize angle-resolved in-pair spots in a transverse manner- a behavior that would disperse along longitudinal direction in conventional implementations. The spin-orbital coupling between the incident photons and vortex phases provides routing for the simultaneous identification of the photons’ frequency and circular polarization state through recognizing the spots’ locations. Our work provides an analog of the conventional slide rule to flexibly characterize the photons in an ultracompact and multifunctional way and may find applications in integrated optical circuits or pocketable devices.
Atomic scale memristive photon source
Authors: Cheng Bojun , Zellweger Till , Malchow Konstantin , Zhang Xinzhi , Lewerenz Mila , Passerini Elias , Aeschlimann Jan , Koch Ueli , Luisier Mathieu , Emboras Alexandros , Bouhelier Alexandre , Leuthold Juerg
Published: March 2022

Memristive devices are an emerging new type of devices operating at the scale of a few or even single atoms. They are currently used as storage elements and are investigated for performing in-memory and neuromorphic computing. Amongst these devices, Ag/amorphous-SiOx/Pt memristors are among the most studied systems, with the electrically induced filament growth and dynamics being thoroughly investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In this paper, we report the observation of a novel feature in these devices: The appearance of new photoluminescent centers in SiOx upon memristive switching, and photon emission correlated with the conductance changes. This observation might pave the way towards an intrinsically memristive atomic scale light source with applications in neural networks, optical interconnects, and quantum communication.
Genetics of age-at-onset in major depression
Authors: Harder Arvid , Nguyen Thuy-Dung , Pasman Joëlle A. , Mosing Miriam A. , Hägg Sara , Lu Yi
Published: March 2022

Major depression (MD) is a complex, heterogeneous neuropsychiatric disorder. An early age at onset of major depression (AAO-MD) has been associated with more severe illness, psychosis, and suicidality. However, not much is known about what contributes to individual variation in this important clinical characteristic. This study sought to investigate the genetic components underlying AAO-MD. To investigate the genetics of AAO-MD, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of AAO-MD based on self-reported age of symptoms onset and self-reported age at first diagnosis from the UK Biobank cohort (total N = 94,154). We examined the genetic relationship between AAO-MD and five other psychiatric disorders. Polygenic risk scores were derived to examine their association with five psychiatric outcomes and AAO-MD in independent sub-samples. We found a small but significant SNP-heritability (~6%) for the AAO-MD phenotype. No SNP or gene reached SNP or gene-level significance. We found evidence that AAO-MD has genetic overlap with MD risk ($$r_g$$

r

g

 = −0.49). Similarly, we found shared genetic risks between AAO-MD and autism-spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anorexia nervosa ($$r_g$$

r

g

range: −0.3 to −0.5). Polygenic risk scores for AAO-MD were associated with MD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, and AAO-MD was in turn associated with polygenic risk scores derived from these disorders. Overall, our results indicate that AAO-MD is heritable, and there is an inverse genetic relationship between AAO-MD and both major depression and other psychiatric disorders, meaning that SNPs associated with earlier age at onset tend to increase the risk for psychiatric disorders. These findings suggest that the genetics of AAO-MD contribute to the shared genetic architecture observed between psychiatric disorders.
Attenuated succinate accumulation relieves neuronal injury induced by hypoxia in neonatal mice
Authors: Zhang Mengdi , Cheng Yao , Zhai Yujie , Cui Yaru , Zhang Wenshen , Sun Hongwei , Xin Wenyu , Zhou Ling , Gao Xue , Li Shucui , Sun Hongliu
Published: March 2022

Hypoxia causes neonatal neuronal damage. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the changes in succinate levels and identify the mechanisms underlying their contribution to hypoxia-induced damage in newborn mice. The neonatal C57BL/6J mouse hypoxia model was used in our study. We evaluated the levels of succinate, iron, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial ROS, and assessed mitophagy, neuronal damage, and learning and memory function, after hypoxia treatment. The neonatal mice showed increased succinate levels in the early hypoxia stage, followed by increased levels of oxidative stress, iron stress, neuronal damage, and cognitive deficits. Succinate levels were significantly reduced following treatment with inhibitors of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), purine nucleotide cycle (PNC), and malate/aspartate shuttle (MAS), with the corresponding attenuation of oxidative stress, iron stress, neuronal damage, and cognitive impairment. Reversal catalysis of SDH through fumarate from the PNC and MAS pathways might be involved in hypoxia-induced succinate accumulation. Succinate accumulation in the early period after hypoxia may crucially contribute to oxidative and iron stress. Relieving succinate accumulation at the early hypoxia stage could prevent neuronal damage and cognitive impairment in neonatal hypoxia.
Interleukin-15 enhanced the survival of human γδT cells by regulating the expression of Mcl-1 in neuroblastoma
Authors: Wang Hui , Wang Xiaolin , Wang Wei , Chai Wenjia , Song Wenqi , Zhang Hui , Mou Wenjun , Pei Mengmiao , Su Yan , Ma Xiaoli , Gui Jingang
Published: March 2022

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial solid tumor and the treatment efficacy of high-risk NB is unsatisfactory. γδT-cell-based adoptive cell transfer is a promising approach for high-risk NB treatment. Our previous study has revealed that γδT cells in NB patients exhibit a poor proliferation activity and a decreased anti-tumor capacity in vitro. In the present study, we found that IL-15 could effectively enhance the proliferation of NB γδT cells, to a level that remains lower than healthy controls though. In addition, IL-15-fostered NB γδT cells robustly boosted cell survival against apoptosis induced by cytokines depletion. Our data revealed that Mcl-1 was a key anti-apoptotic protein in IL-15-fostered γδT cells during cytokine withdrawal and its expression was regulated via the activation of STAT5 and ERK. In addition, IL-2 and IL-15-fostered γδT cells harbored higher levels of tumoricidal capacity which is also beneficial for γδ T-cell based immune therapy in NB. Understanding the survival control of γδT cells in a sub-optimal cytokine supportive microenvironment will expedite the clinical application of γδT cells for immunotherapy.
MicroRNA-31: a pivotal oncogenic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Lin Xiaojiao , Wu Weizhou , Ying Yukang , Luo Jun , Xu Xuhui , Zheng Linxia , Wu Weili , Yang Suqing , Zhao Shankun
Published: March 2022

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) continuously constitutes a major challenge for treatment and prognosis due to approximately half of treated OSCC patients dying from locoregional recurrences and distant metastases. MicroRNA-31 (miR-31), an early mammalian miRNA identified, has been gaining importance in the field of OSCC research in recent years. This comprehensive review was conducted for the first time to summarize the current evidence on the association between miR-31 and OSCC. The vast majority of relevant studies (20/21, 95%) demonstrated that miR-31 was an oncogenic factor in the tumorigenesis and progression of OSCC. miR-31 expression is significantly upregulated in plasma, saliva, and tumor tissue of OSCC. miR-31 played an essential role in OSCC development by constituting a complex network with its targeted genes (e.g. RhoA, FIH, ACOX1, VEGF, SIRT3, LATS2, KANK1, and NUMB) and the signaling cascades (e.g. EGF-AKT signaling axis, ERK-MMP9 cascade, Hippo pathway, Wnt signaling, and MCT1/MCT4 regulatory cascade). This review highlights that miR-31 might function as a potential diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarker for OSCC. Further studies are still warranted to better illuminate the clinicopathological features and the molecular mechanisms of miR-31-mediated OSCC development.
Adipocyte Gq signaling is a regulator of glucose and lipid homeostasis in mice
Authors: Kimura Takefumi , Pydi Sai P. , Wang Lei , Haspula Dhanush , Cui Yinghong , Lu Huiyan , König Gabriele M. , Kostenis Evi , Steinberg Gregory R. , Gavrilova Oksana , Wess Jürgen
Published: March 2022

Obesity is the major driver of the global epidemic in type 2 diabetes (T2D). In individuals with obesity, impaired insulin action leads to increased lipolysis in adipocytes, resulting in elevated plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels that promote peripheral insulin resistance, a hallmark of T2D. Here we show, by using a combined genetic/biochemical/pharmacologic approach, that increased adipocyte lipolysis can be prevented by selective activation of adipocyte Gq signaling in vitro and in vivo (in mice). Activation of this pathway by a Gq-coupled designer receptor or by an agonist acting on an endogenous adipocyte Gq-coupled receptor (CysLT2 receptor) greatly improved glucose and lipid homeostasis in obese mice or in mice with adipocyte insulin receptor deficiency. Our findings identify adipocyte Gq signaling as an essential regulator of whole-body glucose and lipid homeostasis and should inform the development of novel classes of GPCR-based antidiabetic drugs.
Gene signatures in patients with early breast cancer and relapse despite pathologic complete response
Authors: Bruzas Simona , Gluz Oleg , Harbeck Nadia , Schmid Peter , Cortés Javier , Blohmer Jens , Seiberling Christine , Chiari Ouafaa , Harrach Hakima , Ataseven Beyhan , Shenoy Satyendra , Dyson Mark H. , Traut Eugen , Theuerkauf Ingo , Gebauer Daniel , Kuemmel Sherko , Reinisch Mattea
Published: March 2022

A substantial minority of early breast cancer (EBC) patients relapse despite their tumors achieving pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy. We compared gene expression (BC360; nCounter® platform; NanoString) between primary tumors of patients with post-pCR relapse (N = 14) with: (i) matched recurrent tumors from same patient (intraindividual analysis); and (ii) primary tumors from matched controls with pCR and no relapse (N = 41; interindividual analysis). Intraindividual analysis showed lower estrogen receptor signaling signature expression in recurrent tumors versus primaries (logFC = −0.595; P = 0.022). Recurrent tumors in patients with distant metastases also exhibited reduced expression of immune-related expression parameters. In interindividual analyses, primary tumor major histocompatibility complex class II expression was lower versus controls in patients with any relapse (logFC = −0.819; P = 0.030) or distant relapse (logFC = −1.151; P = 0.013). Primaries with later distant relapse also had greater homologous recombination deficiency than controls (logFC = 0.649; P = 0.026). Although no associations remained statistically significant following adjustment for false discovery rate, our results show that transcriptomic analyses have potential for prognostic value and may help in selecting optimal treatment regimens for EBC at risk of relapse and warrant further investigation.
LHC physics dataset for unsupervised New Physics detection at 40 MHz
Authors: Govorkova Ekaterina , Puljak Ema , Aarrestad Thea , Pierini Maurizio , Woźniak Kinga Anna , Ngadiuba Jennifer
Published: March 2022

In the particle detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, hundreds of millions of proton-proton collisions are produced every second. If one could store the whole data stream produced in these collisions, tens of terabytes of data would be written to disk every second. The general-purpose experiments ATLAS and CMS reduce this overwhelming data volume to a sustainable level, by deciding in real-time whether each collision event should be kept for further analysis or be discarded. We introduce a dataset of proton collision events that emulates a typical data stream collected by such a real-time processing system, pre-filtered by requiring the presence of at least one electron or muon. This dataset could be used to develop novel event selection strategies and assess their sensitivity to new phenomena. In particular, we intend to stimulate a community-based effort towards the design of novel algorithms for performing unsupervised new physics detection, customized to fit the bandwidth, latency and computational resource constraints of the real-time event selection system of a typical particle detector.
Introducing AfroGrid, a unified framework for environmental conflict research in Africa
Authors: Schon Justin , Koren Ore
Published: March 2022

In this study, we present Afro-Grid: an integrated, disaggregated 0.5-degree grid-month dataset on conflict, environmental stress, and socioeconomic features in Africa covering 1989–2020, intended to propel research on these issues forward. Afro-Grid offers several important extensions for researchers and policymakers, including: (i) standardizing (using established methods) data sources on conflict, environmental stress, and socio economic factors across spatial and temporal scales; (ii) combining these data into a single, openly-available file, maximizing the accessibility of these data for researchers and policymakers regardless of their software background; and (iii) including NDVI and dual-series harmonized night lights series that have traditionally not been accessible to researchers without advanced computational expertise. Using a series of comparative regressions at the grid-month and grid-year levels, combined with reporting descriptive statistics and visualizations, we illustrate that this temporally and geographically disaggregated dataset provides valuable extensions for research related to the climate-conflict nexus and the role of socioeconomic features in shaping conflict trends, as well as for research and data-driven policy on development and conflict.
A dataset of eye gaze images for calibration-free eye tracking augmented reality headset
Authors: Yan Zihan , Wu Yue , Shan Yifei , Chen Wenqian , Li Xiangdong
Published: March 2022

Eye tracking is a widely used technique. To enhance eye gaze estimation in different contexts, many eye tracking datasets have been proposed. However, these datasets depend on calibrations in data capture and its applications. We seek to construct a dataset that enables the design of a calibration-free eye tracking device irrespective of users and scenes. To reach this goal, we present ARGaze, a dataset with 1,321,968 pairs of eye gaze images at 32 × 32 pixel resolution and 50 corresponding videos of world views based on a replicable augmented reality headset. The dataset was captured from 25 participants who completed eye gaze tasks for 30 min in both real-world and augmented reality scenes. To validate the dataset, we compared it against state-of-the-art eye gaze datasets in terms of effectiveness and accuracy and report that the ARGaze dataset achieved record low gaze estimation error by 3.70 degrees on average and 1.56 degrees on specific participants without calibrations to the two scenes. Implications for generalising the use of the dataset are discussed.
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control dataset, a theoretically-guided within-subject task fMRI battery
Authors: Etzel Joset A. , Brough Rachel E. , Freund Michael C. , Kizhner Alexander , Lin Yanli , Singh Matthew F. , Tang Rongxiang , Tay Allison , Wang Anxu , Braver Todd S.
Published: March 2022

Cognitive control is a critical higher mental function, which is subject to considerable individual variation, and is impaired in a range of mental health disorders. We describe here the initial release of Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project data, the DMCC55B dataset, with 55 healthy unrelated young adult participants. Each participant performed four well-established cognitive control tasks (AX-CPT, Cued Task-Switching, Sternberg Working Memory, and Stroop) while undergoing functional MRI scanning. The dataset includes a range of state and trait self-report questionnaires, as well as behavioural tasks assessing individual differences in cognitive ability. The DMCC project is on-going and features additional components (e.g., related participants, manipulations of cognitive control mode, resting state fMRI, longitudinal testing) that will be publicly released following study completion. This DMCC55B subset is released early with the aim of encouraging wider use and greater benefit to the scientific community. The DMCC55B dataset is suitable for benchmarking and methods exploration, as well as analyses of task performance and individual differences.
Neurocognitive aging data release with behavioral, structural and multi-echo functional MRI measures
Authors: Spreng R. Nathan , Setton Roni , Alter Udi , Cassidy Benjamin N. , Darboh Bri , DuPre Elizabeth , Kantarovich Karin , Lockrow Amber W. , Mwilambwe-Tshilobo Laetitia , Luh Wen-Ming , Kundu Prantik , Turner Gary R.
Published: March 2022

Central to understanding human behavior is a comprehensive mapping of brain-behavior relations within the context of lifespan development. Reproducible discoveries depend upon well-powered samples of reliable data. We provide to the scientific community two, 10-minute, multi-echo functional MRI (ME-fMRI) runs, and structural MRI (T1-MPRAGE), from 181 healthy younger (ages 18–34 y) and 120 older adults (ages 60–89 y). T2-FLAIR MRIs and behavioral assessments are available in a majority subset of over 250 participants. Behavioral assessments include fluid and crystallized cognition, self-reported measures of personality, and socioemotional functioning. Initial quality control and validation of these data is provided. This dataset will be of value to scientists interested in BOLD signal specifically isolated from ME-fMRI, individual differences in brain-behavioral associations, and cross-sectional aging effects in healthy adults. Demographic and behavioral data are available within the Open Science Framework project “Goal-Directed Cognition in Older and Younger Adults” (http://osf.io/yhzxe/), which will be augmented over time; neuroimaging data are available on OpenNeuro (https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds003592).
Diel activity patterns of two distinct populations of Aedes aegypti in Miami, FL and Brownsville, TX
Authors: Mutebi John-Paul , Wilke André Barretto Bruno , Ostrum Erik , Vasquez Chalmers , Cardenas Gabriel , Carvajal Augusto , Moreno Maday , Petrie William D. , Rodriguez Arturo , Presas Henry , Rodriguez Jesus , Barnes Fred , Hamer Gabriel L. , Juarez Jose G. , Carbajal Ester , Vitek Christopher J. , Estrada Xochitl , Rios Thalia , Marshall Jeremy , Beier John C.
Published: March 2022

The diel biting activity of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (L) populations was extensively investigated in the early 1900s to gain more information on the biology of Ae. aegypti, and this information was used to devise effective approaches to controlling populations of this species and protect the human population from widespread arbovirus outbreaks. However, few contemporary studies are available regarding the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti. To assess the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti in southern Florida and Texas, we conducted 96-h uninterrupted mosquito collections once each month from May through November 2019 in Miami, Florida, and Brownsville, Texas, using BG-Sentinel 2 Traps. The overall diel activity pattern in both cities was bimodal with morning and evening peak activity between 7:00 and 8:00 and between 19:00 and 20:00. There were significant daily, monthly, seasonal, and site-specific differences in activity patterns, but these differences did not affect the overall peak activity times. These differences suggest daily, monthly, seasonal, and site-specific variations in human exposure to Ae. aegypti. Our observations can be used in planning and executing Ae. aegypti vector control activities in southern Florida and southern Texas, specifically those targeting the adult mosquito populations.
Biomechanical evaluation over level ground walking of user-specific prosthetic feet designed using the lower leg trajectory error framework
Authors: Prost Victor , Johnson W. Brett , Kent Jenny A. , Major Matthew J. , Winter Amos G.
Published: March 2022

The walking pattern and comfort of a person with lower limb amputation are determined by the prosthetic foot’s diverse set of mechanical characteristics. However, most design methodologies are iterative and focus on individual parameters, preventing a holistic design of prosthetic feet for a user’s body size and walking preferences. Here we refined and evaluated the lower leg trajectory error (LLTE) framework, a novel quantitative and predictive design methodology that optimizes the mechanical function of a user’s prosthesis to encourage gait dynamics that match their body size and desired walking pattern. Five people with unilateral below-knee amputation walked over-ground at self-selected speeds using an LLTE-optimized foot made of Nylon 6/6, their daily-use foot, and a standardized commercial energy storage and return (ESR) foot. Using the LLTE feet, target able-bodied kinematics and kinetics were replicated to within 5.2% and 13.9%, respectively, 13.5% closer than with the commercial ESR foot. Additionally, energy return and center of mass propulsion work were 46% and 34% greater compared to the other two prostheses, which could lead to reduced walking effort. Similarly, peak limb loading and flexion moment on the intact leg were reduced by an average of 13.1%, lowering risk of long-term injuries. LLTE-feet were preferred over the commercial ESR foot across all users and preferred over the daily-use feet by two participants. These results suggest that the LLTE framework could be used to design customized, high performance ESR prostheses using low-cost Nylon 6/6 material. More studies with large sample size are warranted for further verification.
Energy recovery of waste plastics into diesel fuel with ethanol and ethoxy ethyl acetate additives on circular economy strategy
Authors: Padmanabhan Sambandam , Giridharan K. , Stalin Balasubramaniam , Kumaran Subramanian , Kavimani V. , Nagaprasad N. , Tesfaye Jule Leta , Krishnaraj Ramaswamy
Published: March 2022

The widespread use of plastic goods creates huge disposal issues and environmental concerns. Increasing emphasis has been paid to the notion of a circular economy, which might have a significant impact on the demand for plastic raw materials. Post-consumer plastics recycling is a major focus of the nation’s circular economy. This study focuses on energy recovery from waste plastics as an alternative fuel source to meet the circular economy demand. Waste plastic fuel produced through pyrolysis has been claimed to be utilized as a substituted fuel. This work focuses to determine the performance and emission standards of Waste Plastic Fuel (WPF) generated from the pyrolysis of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) in a single-cylinder Direct Injection Diesel Engine (DIDE). Three different ratios of WPF were combined with 10% ethanol and 10% ethoxy ethyl acetate as an oxygenated additive to create quaternary fuel blends. The ethanol has a low viscosity, a high oxygen content, a high hydrogen-to-carbon ratio as favourable properties, the quaternary fuel results the improved brake thermal efficiency, fuel consumption and reduced emissions. The blend WEE20 exhibits 4.7% higher brake thermal efficiency, and 7.8% reduced fuel consumption compared to the diesel. The quaternary fuel blends demonstrated decreased carbon monoxide of 3.7 to 13.4% and reduced hydrocarbons of 2 to 16% under different load conditions.
Squid adjust their body color according to substrate
Authors: Nakajima Ryuta , Lajbner Zdeněk , Kuba Michael J. , Gutnick Tamar , Iglesias Teresa L. , Asada Keishu , Nishibayashi Takahiro , Miller Jonathan
Published: March 2022

Coleoid cephalopods camouflage on timescales of seconds to match their visual surroundings. To date, studies of cephalopod camouflage-to-substrate have been focused primarily on benthic cuttlefish and octopus, because they are readily found sitting on the substrate. In contrast to benthic cephalopods, oval squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana species complex) are semi-pelagic animals that spend most of their time in the water column. In this study, we demonstrate that in captivity, S. lessoniana Sp.2 (Shiro-ika, white-squid) from the Okinawa archipelago, Japan, adapts the coloration of their skin using their chromatophores according to the background substrate. We show that if the animal moves between substrates of different reflectivity, the body patterning is changed to match. Chromatophore matching to substrate has not been reported in any loliginid cephalopod under laboratory conditions. Adaptation of the chromatophore system to the bottom substrate in the laboratory is a novel experimental finding that establishes oval squid as laboratory model animals for further research on camouflage.
Arginine glycosylation regulates UDP-GlcNAc biosynthesis in Salmonella enterica
Authors: El Qaidi Samir , Scott Nichollas E. , Hays Michael P. , Hardwidge Philip R.
Published: March 2022

The Salmonella enterica SseK1 protein is a type three secretion system effector that glycosylates host proteins during infection on specific arginine residues with N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc). SseK1 also Arg-glycosylates endogenous bacterial proteins and we thus hypothesized that SseK1 activities might be integrated with regulating the intrabacterial abundance of UPD-GlcNAc, the sugar-nucleotide donor used by this effector. After searching for new SseK1 substrates, we found that SseK1 glycosylates arginine residues in the dual repressor-activator protein NagC, leading to increased DNA-binding affinity and enhanced expression of the NagC-regulated genes glmU and glmS. SseK1 also glycosylates arginine residues in GlmR, a protein that enhances GlmS activity. This Arg-glycosylation improves the ability of GlmR to enhance GlmS activity. We also discovered that NagC is a direct activator of glmR expression. Salmonella lacking SseK1 produce significantly reduced amounts of UDP-GlcNAc as compared with Salmonella expressing SseK1. Overall, we conclude that SseK1 up-regulates UDP-GlcNAc synthesis both by enhancing the DNA-binding activity of NagC and by increasing GlmS activity through GlmR glycosylation. Such regulatory activities may have evolved to maintain sufficient levels of UDP-GlcNAc for both bacterial cell wall precursors and for SseK1 to modify other bacterial and host targets in response to environmental changes and during infection.
Antimicrobial resistance determinants in silage
Authors: Nagy Sára Ágnes , Tóth Adrienn Gréta , Papp Márton , Kaplan Selçuk , Solymosi Norbert
Published: March 2022

Animal products may play a role in developing and spreading antimicrobial resistance in several ways. On the one hand, residues of antibiotics not adequately used in animal farming can enter the human body via food. However, resistant bacteria may also be present in animal products, which can transfer the antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) to the bacteria in the consumer’s body by horizontal gene transfer. As previous studies have shown that fermented foods have a meaningful ARG content, it is indicated that such genes may also be present in silage used as mass feed in the cattle sector. In our study, we aspired to answer what ARGs occur in silage and what mobility characteristics they have? For this purpose, we have analyzed bioinformatically 52 freely available deep sequenced silage samples from shotgun metagenome next-generation sequencing. A total of 16 perfect matched ARGs occurred 54 times in the samples. More than half of these ARGs are mobile because they can be linked to integrative mobile genetic elements, prophages or plasmids. Our results point to a neglected but substantial ARG source in the food chain.
Hypovitaminosis D among newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients and their household contacts in Uganda
Authors: Acen Ester Lilian , Biraro Irene Andia , Bbuye Mudarshiru , Kateete David Patrick , Joloba Moses L. , Worodria William
Published: March 2022

An estimated one billion people globally live with hypovitaminosis D. Studies have indicated that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for active tuberculosis (TB) disease. The aim of this study was to determine the association between vitamin D deficiency and TB status among patients with active TB, latent TB infection (LTBI) and those without TB infection. In a cross-sectional study of active TB patients, LTBI, QuantiFERON GOLD testpositive and (QFN+TST+) household contact and controls QuantiFERON GOLD testnegative (QFN−TST−) samples vitamin D levels were compared. Vitamin D status was determined by measurement of total vitamin D levels with 56 samples of active TB patients, 17 with LTBI, and 22 without TB infection using electrochemiluminescence. The median interquartile range (IQR) age of the study participants was 28 (20–35) years, and the majority (63%) were females. The median (IQR) vitamin D levels were 18 ng/ml (14–24). All groups had vitamin D hypovitaminosis with significantly lower levels among active TB patients (17 ng/ml, 13, 2) than among LTBI individuals (23 ng/ml 16–29) and those without TB infection (22 ng/ml, 17–28).
CubeSat constellations provide enhanced crop phenology and digital agricultural insights using daily leaf area index retrievals
Authors: Johansen Kasper , Ziliani Matteo G. , Houborg Rasmus , Franz Trenton E. , McCabe Matthew F.
Published: March 2022

Satellite remote sensing has great potential to deliver on the promise of a data-driven agricultural revolution, with emerging space-based platforms providing spatiotemporal insights into precision-level attributes such as crop water use, vegetation health and condition and crop response to management practices. Using a harmonized collection of high-resolution Planet CubeSat, Sentinel-2, Landsat-8 and additional coarser resolution imagery from MODIS and VIIRS, we exploit a multi-satellite data fusion and machine learning approach to deliver a radiometrically calibrated and gap-filled time-series of daily leaf area index (LAI) at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 3 m. The insights available from such high-resolution CubeSat-based LAI data are demonstrated through tracking the growth cycle of a maize crop and identifying observable within-field spatial and temporal variations across key phenological stages. Daily LAI retrievals peaked at the tasseling stage, demonstrating their value for fertilizer and irrigation scheduling. An evaluation of satellite-based retrievals against field-measured LAI data collected from both rain-fed and irrigated fields shows high correlation and captures the spatiotemporal development of intra- and inter-field variations. Novel agricultural insights related to individual vegetative and reproductive growth stages were obtained, showcasing the capacity for new high-resolution CubeSat platforms to deliver actionable intelligence for precision agricultural and related applications.
Micro-scale foundation with error quantification for the approximation of dynamics on networks
Authors: Ward Jonathan A. , Tapper Alice , Simon Péter L. , Mann Richard P.
Published: March 2022

Epidemics, voting behaviour and cascading failures in power grids are examples of natural, social and technological phenomena that can be modelled as dynamical processes on networks. The study of such important complex systems requires approximation, but the assumptions that underpin the standard mean-field approaches are routinely violated by dynamics on real-world networks, leading to uncontrolled errors and even controversial results. Consequently, determining the approximation precision has been recognised as a key challenge. We present a micro-scale foundation for mean-field approximation of a wide range of dynamics on networks that facilitates quantification of approximation error, elucidating its connection to network structure and model dynamics. We show that our coarse-graining approach minimises approximation error and we obtain an upper bound on this uncertainty. We illustrate our approach using epidemic dynamics on real-world networks.