bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Primary biliary cholangitis: assessment and management strategies
Authors: Abbas S Nadir , Jones David , Kallis Yiannis , Maher Laura , Patanwala Imran
Published: May 2021

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is an autoimmune disease resulting in permanent damage to the bile ducts in the liver, often leading to symptoms including fatigue and itch that significantly impair patient quality of life. PBC is often diagnosed in its early stages and can generally be treated effectively with first-line treatment. Patients who do not respond to this should be referred to the hub centre of their local operational delivery network for assessment and prescription of second-line treatment. These patient treatment pathways are based on national guidance. This supplement summarises the key components of the guidance on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with PBC.
Ordered multiplicity inverse eigenvalue problem for graphs on six vertices
Authors: Ahn John , Alar Christine , Bjorkman Beth , Butler Steve , Carlson Joshua , Goodnight Audrey , Knox Haley , Monroe Casandra , Wigal Michael C.
Published: May 2021

For a graph $G$, we associate a family of real symmetric matrices, $\mathcal{S}(G)$, where for any $M \in \mathcal{S}(G)$, the location of the nonzero off-diagonal entries of $M$ is governed by the adjacency structure of $G$. The ordered multiplicity Inverse Eigenvalue Problem of a Graph (IEPG) is concerned with finding all attainable ordered lists of eigenvalue multiplicities for matrices in $\mathcal{S}(G)$. For connected graphs of order six, we offer significant progress on the IEPG, as well as a complete solution to the ordered multiplicity IEPG. We also show that while $K_{m,n}$ with $\min(m,n)\ge 3$ attains a particular ordered multiplicity list, it cannot do so with arbitrary spectrum.
Class and Narrative Accrual: Personal Troubles and Public Issues in Five Vignettes
Authors: Spokes Matthew
Published: May 2021

This paper develops Bruner’s (1991) notion of narrative accrual, in conjunction with ‘lifestories’ and ‘event-stories’, to focus on the accumulation of experiences as a contributor to working-class identity. Situated between Mills’ (1959) personal troubles and public issues, and framed by Nouri and Helterline’s (1998) argument that identity is framed by social interaction with signification systems and other people, the author’s own experiences as an early-career academic in two different British Universities – one more research-oriented with a predominantly middle-class student body, the other more teaching-oriented with a more class diverse student body – are utilized to forward ‘personal narrative accrual’ as a way of both conceptualizing and unpacking class associations, reflecting on Warnock’s (2016) fivefold typology of alienation, cultural capital, stereotyping/microaggression, survivor guilt/impostor syndrome and middle class networking. Ultimately, this paper considers the interrelated problems of working-class identity, career development, and ‘playing the game’ through autobiographical vignettes, and suggests the potential application of personal narrative accrual in decreasing feelings of isolation in academia by working-class academics.
Occupying the Picket Line: Labor and Occupy in South Central Indiana
Authors: Varga Joseph
Published: May 2021

This article examines the relationship between a striking labor union and a local Occupy group in South Central Indiana in fall, 2011. It looks at areas of cooperation, tension, and coordination between the two groups within the context of Occupy/organized labor relations during the same period in other locations in the United States. The article examines attitudes of union members and Occupy participants regarding each other, unions, working people, class, labor law, strikes, and direct action. This work examines areas of agreement and mutual benefit between the striking union and the Occupy group, while also discussing the major areas of tension in the specific case in Southern Indiana and in other instances where Occupy groups and labor organizations came into contact. The article concludes with a discussion of major difficulties in the Occupy/labor relationship, and avenues of potential cooperation.
Falling Down, Falling Apart, and Finding Home in Reservation Blues
Authors: Easton Terry , Dixon Castiel
Published: May 2021

This essay explores journeys toward and away from ‘home’ in Sherman Alexie’s 1995 novel Reservation Blues. The textual analysis is grounded in Janet Zandy’s (1993) literal and figurative conceptions of home. Situating Alexie’s magical realism within the matrix of poverty-class, race, ethnic, and postcolonial lenses, this essay reveals a range of tragic and hopeful responses to Indigenous colonization on the Spokane Reservation.
‘The porcupine was a feast’: The Tastes of Luxury and Necessity in Ruby Langford Ginibi’s Storytelling
Authors: Farry Steven
Published: May 2021

This paper brings Bourdieu’s concepts of the tastes of luxury and necessity into dialogue with the alimentary habitus that Bundjalung woman Ruby Langford Ginibi records in her lifewriting. The paper argues that Langford Ginibi’s alimentary disposition has much in common with the taste of necessity that Bourdieu attributes to the French working class. The analysis identifies two further characteristics of her relationship to food that Bourdieu does not describe: an emphasis on recounting the adverse material circumstances in which meals are procured and prepared, and a practise of indiscriminate eating in which foods are deemed uniformly and reliably desirable. The paper finds that, despite some public censure, Langford Ginibi maintains much of her habitus as she accrues social, cultural, and economic capital. It concludes that maintaining and valorising the taste of necessity and its associated habitus may be read as a positive strategy that seeks to restructure the colonial field from below.
The Precarious plight of American WorkingClass Faculty: Causes and Consequences
Authors: Towers George
Published: May 2021

For working-class Americans, the path of the professor is precarious. The neo-liberalization of higher education and the hegemony of academic elitism have made working-class faculty an endangered, disadvantaged, and invisible minority within the professoriate. On one hand, financing a graduate school career from humble origins is an increasingly risky investment. On the other, working-class Americans who secure a faculty job are often under-matched to low salary, high workload positions and endure classist ostracism and micro-aggressions. This essay is intended to not only trace the tragic trajectory of American working-class faculty but, more importantly, to invite conversations and identify suggestions that lead to our colleges and universities becoming more personally supportive workplaces and professionally empowering platforms for working-class professors.
Puerto Rican Needle Workers and Colonial Migrations: Deindustrialization as Pathways Lost
Authors: Loiselle Aimee
Published: May 2021

The dominant narrative of U.S. deindustrialization opens with the Northeast as the definitive starting point for industry followed by a direct linear relocation to the South and then the Global South. In this framework, deindustrialization appears to have a logic, a rational pathway following cheaper and compliant labor. When Puerto Rican needleworkers become visible in the history of the textile and garment industry, however, their colonial migrations complicate deindustrialization, and its linear logic collapses. From the perspective of these colonial women, industrialization of Puerto Rico began at the turn of the twentieth century - the same time factories and mills increased in the South. Thousands of women also migrated to the Northeast mainland, especially from the 1950s to the 1970s, when many white workers were mourning the loss of textile and garment jobs. Puerto Rican women moved to the old factories of the Northeast, which had become outposts for large transnational corporations that did not relocate their manufacturing in a direct geographic path but rather spread their processes over any arrangement that offered the best cost-benefit analysis. For Puerto Rican women, employment in the plants of the Northeast during the 1960s and 1970s offered hope rather than despair, and many took pride in meeting their quotas and providing wages for their families. In the 1980s, when the Reagan administration initiated major reforms to financial policies and the practices of leveraged buyouts made closing old plants a better return on investment, Puerto Rican women mourned the loss of jobs in an industry many experts had already declared ‘dead.’ Fragmentation of the archives between Puerto Rican studies and U.S. labor history have allowed for a simplistic narrative of deindustrialization and an erasure of the losses and disappointments of women who left Puerto Rico for the promise of higher wages in the postwar Northeast mainland. When the oral histories and documents related to the migrations of Puerto Rican needleworkers become visible in the larger history of the ‘American working class’, we see deindustrialization as sprawling and contingent rather than as linear and naturalized. Puerto Rican studies scholars have written about needleworkers as part of their field with particular attention to gender as it relates to notions of motherhood, but this article sets the women as American workers into the losses of the textile and garment industry without eliding their specificity as migrating and racialized colonial labor. In addition, the women expressed grief that went beyond losing a specific job - many of these workers lost their place in the U.S. workforce and the promise of financial stability as they became associated with racialized poverty and welfare debates.
Workers’ Identities in Transition: Deindustrialisation and Scottish Steelworkers
Authors: Ferns James Patrick
Published: May 2021

Deindustrialisation is often characterised as an ending, with sentiments of intangible loss andidentity disintegration defining displaced workers’ narratives of job loss. These experiencesare important, yet workers do not cease to exist with the closure of their workplace. Despitethis, little attention has been paid to the post-redundancy employment experiences of formerheavy industry workers or the survivability of their specific occupational identities and workcultures. This article examines the post-redundancy employment of former Scottishsteelworkers. Given their previous immersion in a distinctive occupational culture, a study ofthe post-redundancy employment experiences of these workers offers a window into theafterlives of deindustrialisation. Oral history is indispensable in prioritising working-classperspectives, therefore this article draws on seventeen newly conducted oral history interviewswith former Scottish steelworkers who were made redundant in the early 1990s. In order tobetter understand the long-term impact of deindustrialisation, as well as gage the survivabilityof occupational identities and work cultures, this article examines the ways in whichsteelworkers’ post-redundancy employment contrasted with steelmaking, focusing on thefollowing thematic areas: the significance of work; trade unionism and collective values;masculinity and emasculation; occupational community and workplace culture.
Three Spirits: Breakdowns Present, Past and Yet to Come
Authors: Batsleer Janet
Published: May 2021

This paper is a meditation on processes of social abjection within working-class life, on how they have changed and yet how they remain haunted by the possibility of an otherwise, especially in relation to bodily and mental and emotional pain and distress, anguish and torment, otherwise classified as depression, or nymphomania, or hypersexualisation, or anxiety, or paranoia and so on. Social abjection is a process of rendering certain lives and life experiences as unreadable except as social detritus. Working-class pain is abject, individualised and still often shamed. And the process of abjection is itself painful and not without the marks of struggle. Usually the role of women is to offer comfort and strength, often through classed practices of care and mothering (Crean,2018). But what happens when it is the women whose pain is abject? The haunting I am writing about here therefore is the haunting possibility of a return to a more collective approach to such distress, a return to a sense of future possibility as yet unfulfilled. In order to bring this possibility more fully to mind, I consider Martin Parr’s photographs recently in an exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery and Alisha’s poetry which was posted as part of her work with The Agency, (a creative project with young people). These rather different art works open up the question of how ‘mental health’ emerges as a threshold at which both capital-based violences and a resistant working-class affect can be found.
Raise the Wage LA: Campaigning for Living Wages in Los Angeles and an Emergent Working-Class Repertoire
Authors: Doughty Paul
Published: May 2021

In a relatively short period in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and the Occupy movement, minimum wage campaigns rapidly gained momentum across the United States. In particular a purposeful working-class mobilisation of the Los Angeles labour movement in coalition with worker centres and community organisations, and set against the backdrop of the national Fight for $15, deployed a range of tactics and exercised political leverage from 2014-2016 to be successful in securing an increase in the minimum wage to $15 in the U.S.’s second most populous city, in its most populous state. Based on interviews conducted in Los Angeles in December 2016 this article describes L.A.’s Raise the Wage campaign in a framework of mobilisation theory (Kelly 1998; Tilly 1978). It is argued that the elements of mobilisation theory are present and that the mobilisations in L.A. of the kind studied represent an expansion of working-class repertoire.
Class, Crime, and Cannibalism in The String of Pearls; or, The Demon Barber as Bourgeois Bogeyman
Authors: Richards Leah
Published: May 2021

Although the tale of Sweeney Todd is one with significant cultural resonance, little has been written about the text itself, The String of Pearls. This article argues that the text engages with anxieties about class conflict through a narrative that enacts exaggerated versions of various interactions. In the nineteenth century, critics objected to the cheap fiction pejoratively known as penny dreadfuls, asserting that the genre’s exciting tales of bloodshed, villainy, and mayhem would seduce readers to lives of debauchery and crime, but I argue that this concern about cheap fiction was not for the preservation of the souls of the poor and working classes but rather for the preservation of the middle classes' own corporeal bodies and the system that privileged and protected them. While there is no question that the narrative enacts extreme manifestations of problems facing the urban poor—among them, contaminated or even poisonous foodstuffs and the perils of urban anonymity—it also features an intractable and rapacious lower class and a subversion of the master-servant dynamic on which the comforts of the middle class were constructed, and so, in addition to adventure, detection, and young love, The String of Pearls offers a dark revenge fantasy of class-based violence that the middle-class critics of the penny dreadful were perhaps justified in fearing. tl;dr: Eat the Rich!
Are We All ‘BBC Dad’ Now? What Covid19 Restrictions Reveal About Comedy, Class, Paid Work, Parenting and Gender
Authors: Giuffre Liz
Published: May 2021

The meme ‘BBC Dad’ first emerged in 2017 in response to an ‘embarrassing’ moment where a Professor was interrupted by his family during a live interview with BBC news TV. At the time the incident was circulated around the world as a curiosity, as the worlds of work, domestic (family) life and gender politics combined in a way that was apparently so unacceptable that it was comedic. The expectation was that the ‘victim’, the Professor, should somehow be ashamed of how his two roles as ‘professional’ and ‘parent’ had been shown to be in competition in that moment. Although this competition is often played out, especially by women and working-class workers, it is rarely shown in public, let alone discussed. However, during the global pandemic in 2020 many workers and parents are being placed in this situation and forced to juggle their dual responsibilities often in the same space and in real time. By asking ‘Are we all ‘BBC Dad’ now?’, this article questions how we consider those who conduct paid work and parent simultaneously, noting how previously accepted class and gender divides have shifted culturally as a result of the physical restraints posed by COVID-19 restrictions. The ’comedy’ that the original meme provided, and the way its meaning has shifted, shows how expectations have changed and hopefully how attitudes to normally hidden workers may also shift.
Three Poems: ‘Charleena Chavon Lyles’, ‘Spotted Owl’, ‘Economics’
Authors: Vernon Jen
Published: May 2021

This collection of poems is based in working-class life through an intersectional lens on the west coast of the US. It includes a documentary poem to a young Black woman, Charleena Chavon Lyles, who has been elegized by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in Seattle. It draws on news articles and an obituary to support its truth claims and aims to counter the official police report and support the global, working class, BLM movement. ‘Spotted Owl’ is a poem that talks back to the opposition between loggers and the forest, in part from the point of view of an old growth tree. It highlights the intimate relationship between trees and owls and between blue- collar workers who directly work with natural resources and the environment. ‘Economics’ is about work beyond capitalism, through a focus on the relationship between bees and a chaste tree and the Irish word for labor, saothar. In sum, these poems address the lived experience of class through the author’s vantage at this place and time, from the US west coast.
Planejamento de Questionários: Unificando conhecimentos em Pesquisa de Mercado e Psicometria
Authors: Souza Gustavo Henrique Silva de , Coelho Jorge Artur Peçanha de Miranda , Lima Nilton Cesar , Silva Josmário de Albuquerque , Esteves Germano Gabriel Lima
Published: May 2021

Neste estudo, são apresentadas especificidades práticas para a construção de questionários para fins técnicos e/ou acadêmicos, considerando a funcionalidade e a contextualização com a pesquisa em administração. A partir disso, propôs-se aprofundar teoricamente a operacionalização de questionários como instrumentos de pesquisa. Com base em um estudo bibliográfico, discutem-se o planejamento adequado de instrumentos para a triagem, a construção, a aplicação (levantamento) e as possibilidades analíticas, considerando os conceitos de fidedignidade, validade e precisão. Foram utilizados exemplos da literatura para demonstrar a aplicação profícua de questionários em contexto gerenciais. Como contribuição, este estudo avança na compilação de conhecimentos em psicometria e pesquisa de mercado, que possibilitam um espectro mais amplo para a usabilidade de instrumentos para a tomada de decisão com maior robustez metodológica.
Blended learning: uma revisão sistemática sobre vantagens e desvantagens na percepção dos alunos e impactos nas IES
Authors: Celestino Eduardo Henrique , Backx Noronha Viana Adriana
Published: May 2021

O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar como o blended learning impacta o modelo de negócios das instituições de ensino superior (IES) e quais são as vantagens e desvantagens percebidas pelos alunos de IES quanto à utilização do blended learning. Para alcançar essa objetivo, realizou-se uma revisão sistemática da literatura em cinco bases de dados e, após todas as etapas necessárias para a sua execução, a amostra final para análise foi composta de 21 trabalhos. Como resultados nota-se que a implementação do blended learning nas IES altera o modelo de negócios existente, porém esse impacto é analisado sob a perspectiva de alguns elementos em específico (como o custo) e não por meio de uma abordagem holística. No que se refere às vantagens e desvantagens percebidas pelos alunos de IES tem-se uma convergência dos resultados dos trabalhos analisados. Esses aspectos podem ser vistos como um bom direcionador de quais aspectos potencializam o blended learning na perspectiva dos alunos e quais aspectos necessitam de maior atenção por parte dos responsáveis pela implementação e execução do blended learning nas IES por serem entendidas como desvantagens pelos alunos.
Photoelectric scanning-based resection method for mobile robot localization
Authors: Lin Jiarui , Niu Zhiyuan , Ren Yongjie , Yang Linghui , Wang Zheng , Keogh Patrick , Zhu Jigui
Published: May 2021

Indoor localization is a key enabling technology for mobile robot navigation in industrial manufacturing. As a distributed metrology system based on multi-station intersection measurement, the workshop measurement positioning system (wMPS) is gaining increasing attention in mobile robot localization. In this paper, a new, to the best of our knowledge, wMPS-based resection localization method is proposed using a single onmidirectional transmitter mounted on a mobile robot with scanning photoelectric receivers distributed in the work space. Compared to the traditional method that requires multiple stationary transmitters, our new method provides higher flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The position and orientation of the mobile robot are then iteratively optimized with respect to the constraint equations. In order to obtain the optimal solution rapidly, two methods of initial value determination are presented for different numbers of effective receivers. The propagation of the localization uncertainty is also investigated using Monte-Carlo simulations. Moreover, two experiments of automated guided vehicle localization are conducted, and the results demonstrate the high accuracy of the proposed method.
Refractive index sensor based on a Tamm Fabry–Perot hybrid resonance
Authors: Das Debayan , Boyer Philippe , Salvi Jérôme
Published: May 2021

A highly sensitive refractive index sensor is proposed by using the resonant coupling of a Tamm state to a Fabry–Perot resonance in slits periodically pierced in a metal film. This new hybrid resonance exists at the interface between a dielectric Bragg mirror and a subwavelength metal grating. Contrary to a classic Tamm plasmon, it is sensitive to the ambient media refractive index due to its confinement inside the grating slits. The proposed sensor output can be either the reflected intensity or preferably the wavelength, and its sensitivity and figure of merit are numerically investigated with the help of rigorous coupled wave analysis. The sensitivity of the studied sensor is 87 nm/RIU for a refractive index range from 1.25 to 1.38, and, at the expense of the resolution, it can reach up to 160 nm/RIU for a grating duty cycle of 50%. The figure of merit is around

7.5

R
I
U

−
1

with a large measuring range. The index sensor performances and operating resonance wavelength can be modified by adjusting the grating geometric parameters (height and duty cycle). The possibility to achieve wavelength modulation in any spectral range makes the proposed grating Tamm structure an attractive candidate to design refractive index sensors and photonic components in the infrared and terahertz domains.
Exploration of yellow-emitting phosphors for white LEDs from natural resources
Authors: Xu Shengxiang , Hu Huimin , Shi Qiang , Yang Bing , Zhao Ling , Wang Qingru , Wang Wenjun
Published: May 2021

White light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in various lighting fields as a part of energy-efficient technology. However, some shortcomings of luminescent materials for white LEDs, such as complexity of synthesis, high cost, and harmful impact on the environment, limit their practical applications to a large extent. In this respect, the present work aims to study the ability of using Berberine (BBR) chloride extracted from Rhizoma coptidis and Phellodendron Chinese herbs as yellow phosphor for white LEDs. For this, white LEDs were successfully fabricated by applying 0.006 g of BBR chloride onto the blue LED chips (450 nm). The produced LEDs exhibited good luminescence properties at a voltage of 2.4 V along with eco-friendly characteristics and low cost. The Commission International de l’Eclairage chromaticity, the correlated color temperature, and the color rendering index were determined to be (

x

=

0.32

,

y

=

0.33

), 5934 K, and 74, respectively. Therefore, BBR chloride is a suitable environmentally friendly and easily accessible yellow phosphor for white LEDs.
Filterless radio-over-fiber system that generates 80 and 160  GHz millimeter waves based on two MZMs
Authors: Huang Ziqiang , Cao Changqing , Feng Zhejun , Zeng Xiaodong , Wu Jin , Wu Qifan , Wu Zengyan
Published: May 2021

In this paper, we propose a radio-over-fiber system with no filters and generate 80 and 160 GHz millimeter (mm) waves via two Mach–Zehnder modulators (MZMs). The two MZMs, biased at the maximum transmission point, are used to suppress odd-order sidebands. By controlling the phase difference between the RF driving signal of the two MZMs, the

±
(

4

n
−
2

)

-order is canceled. By adjusting the optical attenuator and phase shifter, the 0-order sideband is canceled, so only the

±
4

n

-order sidebands are left. The simulation results show that using a 10 GHz RF signal to drive the MZMs, we obtain an 80 GHz mm wave signal with a 36.59 dB optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR), a 30.27 dB radio frequency sideband suppression ratio (RFSSR), and a 160 GHz mm wave signal with a 30.34 dB OSSR and 24.77 dB RFSSR. The results are consistent with the theoretical analysis. Because no optical filter is employed and only two MZMs are used, the system exhibits a simple structure, good performance and is low cost.
Improved spatial-shifting two-wavelength algorithm for 3D shape measurement with a look-up table
Authors: Wang Yuwei , Wang Caixia , Cai Jiaxu , Xi Dongdong , Chen Xiangcheng , Wang Yajun
Published: May 2021

Conventional two-wavelength algorithms have been broadly used for three-dimensional
shape measurement. However, the maximum unambiguous range of phase
unwrapping depends on the least-common multiple of two wavelengths,
and thus coprime wavelengths are commonly selected. The recently
proposed spatial-shifting two-wavelength (SSTW) algorithm can achieve
the maximum unambiguous range with two non-coprime wavelengths, but
this algorithm tends to fail for some wavelength selections. To
address this problem, this paper presents a general
look-up-table-based SSTW (LUT-SSTW) algorithm with arbitrary
wavelength selection. The paper also analyzes the phase unwrapping
robustness in terms of phase errors and provides guidance for
wavelength selection. In addition, an improved LUT-SSTW algorithm is
developed to enhance the phase unwrapping robustness, and further
relax wavelength selection. Some experiments have been conducted, and
their results verify the efficiency of the proposed method.
Robust aperiodic synchronous scheme for satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution
Authors: Wang Chaoze , Li Yang , Cai Wenqi , Yang Meng , Liu Weiyue , Liao Shengkai , Peng Chengzhi
Published: May 2021

Time synchronization is essential for quantum key distribution (QKD) applications, not only in fiber links and terrestrial free-space links but also in satellite-to-ground links. To compensate for the time drift caused by the Doppler effect and adapt to the unstable optical link in satellite-to-ground QKD, previous demonstrations adopted a two-stage solution, combining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and light synchronization. In this paper, we propose a novel aperiodic synchronization scheme that can achieve high-precision time synchronization by encoding time information into pseudo-random laser pulse positions. This solution can simplify the use of GNSS hardware, thus reducing the complexity and cost of the system. Successful experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the presented scheme, resulting in a synchronization precision of 208–222 ps even when 90% of the light signals are lost. Further analysis of the Doppler effect between the satellite and the ground station is also given. The presented robust aperiodic synchronization can be widely applied to future satellite-based quantum information applications.
Single pixel structured imaging through fog
Authors: Bashkansky Mark , Park Samuel D. , Reintjes John
Published: May 2021

We describe the application of structured imaging with a single-pixel camera to imaging through fog. We demonstrate the use of a high-pass filter on the detected bucket signals to suppress the effects of temporal variations of fog density and enable an effective reconstruction of the image. A quantitative analysis and comparison of several high-pass filters are demonstrated for the application. Both computational ghost imaging and compressive sensing techniques were used for image reconstruction and compressive sensing was observed to give a higher reconstructed image quality.
Wavefront correction algorithm based on a complete second-order DM-SHWS model for free-space optical communications
Authors: Yu Wenhao , Zhong Jie , Chen Gaojie , Mao Hongliang , Yang Haifeng , Zhong Yu
Published: May 2021

Free-space optical communication brings large-capacity communication with excellent confidentiality, though fatal obstacles are set by atmospheric turbulence that causes phase shifting in laser links. Therefore, we derived a novel, to the best of our knowledge, iterative wavefront correction algorithm based on a complete second-order deformable mirror (DM) Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor model as a solution to it. For correcting static wavefront aberration, the proposed algorithm possesses a converging speed faster than the traditional one. In terms of correcting dynamic atmospheric turbulence, it can achieve convergence within two iterations with a residual wavefront root mean square value of less than 1/8 wavelength. The input wavefront under 1.5 wavelength can be corrected on our testbed due to the deformability of the micromachined membrane DM. The research result offers a solution for atmospheric turbulence in the adaptive optics field and may contribute to the development of free-space optical communication.
Influence of temperature and dose rate on radiation-induced attenuation at 1542  nm in fluorine-doped fibers
Authors: Gallet Antoine , Caussanel Matthieu , Gilard Olivier , Duval Hervé , Eynard Julien , Djama Kadar Mahamoud , Thil Stéphane , Grieu Stéphane , Grimaud Thomas , Pastouret Alain
Published: May 2021

Radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) at 1542 nm of fluorine-doped fibers under gamma radiation source has been investigated for different dose rates and temperatures. Both the temperature and dose rate dependencies are unusual. First, the fiber presents an enhanced low dose rate sensitivity that is favored by increasing temperature. Furthermore, in certain conditions, RIA increases with irradiation temperature, which is a very rare phenomenon. We have built a phenomenological model that shows that these behaviors can be explained considering that two color centers previously identified in the literature are responsible for RIA: inherent and strain-assisted self-trapped holes.
Engineered nanophotonic waveguide with ultra-low dispersion
Authors: Mishra Rahul Dev , Singh Lalit , Rajput Swati , Kaushik Vishal , Srivastava Sulabh , Kumar Mukesh
Published: May 2021

A silicon-based engineered hybrid plasmonic waveguide with ultra-low dispersion is proposed. The ridge-shaped structure of the nanophotonic waveguide enables nano-scale confinement with electrically tunable characteristics using the plasma dispersion effect in silicon. The waveguide exhibits ultra-low dispersion of

1.28

p
s

2

/

m

at telecommunication wavelength (1550 nm) in C band together with dual flatband dispersion over a wavelength range of 370 nm. The hybrid plasmonic mode is made to be confined in 15 nm thick

S
i
O

2

with a propagation loss of 15.3 dB/mm utilizing the engineered ridge structure comprising Si,

S
i
O

2

, and gold. In addition, the proposed waveguide shows six zero-dispersion wavelengths. The imaginary and real parts of the effective refractive index of the guided hybrid plasmonic mode are reported to be tunable with the applied voltage. The reported numerical results can pave the way for achieving intensity modulators and other electrically tunable devices at telecommunication wavelengths. The ultra-low dispersion and electrical tuning make this nanophotonic waveguide an absolute contender for applications including efficient nonlinear signal processing such as wide wavelength conversion based on four-wave mixing, supercontinuum generation, and other nanoscale integrated photonic devices.
Information rates in Kerr nonlinearity limited optical fiber communication systems
Authors: Xu Tianhua , Shevchenko Nikita A. , Zhang Yunfan , Jin Cenqin , Zhao Jian , Liu Tiegen
Published: May 2021

Achievable information rates of optical communication systems are inherently limited by nonlinear distortions due to the Kerr effect occurred in optical fibres. These nonlinear impairments become more significant for communication systems with larger transmission bandwidths, closer channel spacing and higher-order modulation formats. In this paper, the efficacy of nonlinearity compensation techniques, including both digital back-propagation and optical phase conjugation, for enhancing achievable information rates in lumped EDFA- and distributed Raman-amplified fully-loaded C −band systems is investigated considering practical transceiver limitations. The performance of multiple modulation formats, such as dual-polarisation quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK), dual-polarisation 16 −ary quadrature amplitude modulation (DP-16QAM), DP-64QAM and DP-256QAM, has been studied in C −band systems with different transmission distances. It is found that the capabilities of both nonlinearity compensation techniques for enhancing achievable information rates strongly depend on signal modulation formats as well as target transmission distances.
Multiple-camera defocus imaging of ultracold atomic gases
Authors: Perry A. R. , Sugawa S. , Salces-Carcoba F. , Yue Y. , Spielman I. B.
Published: May 2021

In cold atom experiments, each image of light refracted and absorbed by an atomic ensemble carries a remarkable amount of information. Numerous imaging techniques including absorption, fluorescence, and phase-contrast are commonly used. Other techniques such as off-resonance defocused imaging (ORDI, [1–4]), where an in-focus image is deconvolved from a defocused image, have been demonstrated but find only niche applications. The ORDI inversion process introduces systematic artifacts because it relies on regularization to account for missing information at some spatial frequencies. In the present work, we extend ORDI to use multiple cameras simultaneously at degrees of defocus, eliminating the need for regularization and its attendant artifacts. We demonstrate this technique by imaging Bose-Einstein condensates, and show that the statistical uncertainties in the measured column density using the multiple-camera off-resonance defocused (McORD) imaging method are competitive with absorption imaging near resonance and phase contrast imaging far from resonance. Experimentally, the McORD method may be incorporated into existing set-ups with minimal additional equipment.
Accurate and efficient modeling of the transverse mode instability in high energy laser amplifiers
Authors: Menyuk C. R. , Young J. T. , Hu J. , Goers A. J. , Brown D. M. , Dennis M. L.
Published: May 2021

We study the transverse mode instability (TMI) in the limit where a single higher-order mode (HOM) is present. We demonstrate that when the beat length between the fundamental mode and the HOM is small compared to the length scales on which the pump amplitude and the optical mode amplitudes vary, TMI is a three-wave mixing process in which the two optical modes beat with the phase-matched component of the index of refraction that is induced by the thermal grating. This limit is the usual limit in applications, and in this limit TMI is identified as a stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering (STRS) process. We demonstrate that a phase-matched model that is based on the three-wave mixing equations can have a large computational advantage over current coupled mode methods that must use longitudinal step sizes that are small compared to the beat length.
Automated freeform imaging system design with generalized ray tracing and simultaneous multi-surface analytic calculation
Authors: Nie Yunfeng , Shafer David R. , Ottevaere Heidi , Thienpont Hugo , Duerr Fabian
Published: May 2021

Recently, freeform optics has been widely used due to its unprecedented compactness and high performance, especially in the reflective designs for broad-wavelength imaging applications. Here, we present a generalized differentiable ray tracing approach suitable for most optical surfaces. The established automated freeform design framework simultaneously calculates multi-surface coefficients with merely the system geometry known, very fast for generating abundant feasible starting points. In addition, we provide a “double-pass surface” strategy with desired overlap (not mutually centered) that enables a component reduction for very compact yet high-performing designs. The effectiveness of the method is firstly demonstrated by designing a wide field-of-view, fast f-number, four-mirror freeform telescope. Another example shows a two-freeform, three-mirror, four-reflection design with high compactness and cost-friendly considerations with a double-pass spherical mirror. The present work provides a robust design scheme for reflective freeform imaging systems in general, and it unlocks a series of new ‘double-pass surface’ designs for very compact, high-performing freeform imaging systems.
Tunable-shift stimulated Raman scattering in water by chirped 50  fs to 4.5  ps UV-pulses
Authors: Chizhov Pavel A. , Grishin Mikhail Ya. , Pershin Sergey M. , Lednev Vasily N. , Ushakov Alexander A. , Bukin Vladimir V.
Published: May 2021

Forward stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) induced by focused 400 nm pulses chirped to different pulse durations is observed in water and heavy water. The first Stokes Raman peak shift is shown to be tunable in the range of

3500

−

4200

c
m

−
1

in water and

2450

−

3250

c
m

−
1

in heavy water. It is demonstrated that the Stokes peak shift increases for shorter pulse durations and higher intensities.
NMDA receptor inhibition increases, synchronizes, and stabilizes the collective pancreatic beta cell activity: Insights through multilayer network analysis
Authors: Šterk Marko , Križančić Bombek Lidija , Skelin Klemen Maša , Slak Rupnik Marjan , Marhl Marko , Stožer Andraž , Gosak Marko
Published: May 2021

NMDA receptors promote repolarization in pancreatic beta cells and thereby reduce glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Therefore, NMDA receptors are a potential therapeutic target for diabetes. While the mechanism of NMDA receptor inhibition in beta cells is rather well understood at the molecular level, its possible effects on the collective cellular activity have not been addressed to date, even though proper insulin secretion patterns result from well-synchronized beta cell behavior. The latter is enabled by strong intercellular connectivity, which governs propagating calcium waves across the islets and makes the heterogeneous beta cell population work in synchrony. Since a disrupted collective activity is an important and possibly early contributor to impaired insulin secretion and glucose intolerance, it is of utmost importance to understand possible effects of NMDA receptor inhibition on beta cell functional connectivity. To address this issue, we combined confocal functional multicellular calcium imaging in mouse tissue slices with network science approaches. Our results revealed that NMDA receptor inhibition increases, synchronizes, and stabilizes beta cell activity without affecting the velocity or size of calcium waves. To explore intercellular interactions more precisely, we made use of the multilayer network formalism by regarding each calcium wave as an individual network layer, with weighted directed connections portraying the intercellular propagation. NMDA receptor inhibition stabilized both the role of wave initiators and the course of waves. The findings obtained with the experimental antagonist of NMDA receptors, MK-801, were additionally validated with dextrorphan, the active metabolite of the approved drug dextromethorphan, as well as with experiments on NMDA receptor KO mice. In sum, our results provide additional and new evidence for a possible role of NMDA receptor inhibition in treatment of type 2 diabetes and introduce the multilayer network paradigm as a general strategy to examine effects of drugs on connectivity in multicellular systems.
Development of the Aerial Remote Triage System using drones in mass casualty scenarios: A survey of international experts
Authors: Álvarez-García Cristina , Cámara-Anguita Sixto , López-Hens José María , Granero-Moya Nani , López-Franco María Dolores , María-Comino-Sanz Inés , Sanz-Martos Sebastián , Pancorbo-Hidalgo Pedro Luis
Published: May 2021

The use of drones for triage in mass-casualty incidents has recently emerged as a promising technology. However, there is no triage system specifically adapted to a remote usage. Our study aimed to develop a remote triage procedure using drones. The research was performed in three stages: literature review, the development of a remote triage algorithm using drones and evaluation of the algorithm by experts. Qualitative synthesis and the calculation of content validity ratios were done to achieve the Aerial Remote Triage System. This algorithm assesses (in this order): major bleeding, walking, consciousness and signs of life; and then classify the injured people into several priority categories: priority 1 (red), priority 2 (yellow), priority 3 (green) and priority * (violet). It includes the possibility to indicate save-living interventions to injured people and bystanders, like the compression of bleeding injuries or the adoption of the recovery position. The Aerial Remote Triage System may be a useful way to perform triage by drone in complex emergencies when it is difficult to access to the scene due to physical, chemical or biological risks.
Enhanced antioxidant activity of Chenopodium formosanum Koidz. by lactic acid bacteria: Optimization of fermentation conditions
Authors: Kuo Hsing-Chun , Kwong Ho Ki , Chen Hung-Yueh , Hsu Hsien-Yi , Yu Shu-Han , Hsieh Chang-Wei , Lin Hui-Wen , Chu Yung-Lin , Cheng Kuan-Chen
Published: May 2021

In this study, different probiotics commonly used to produce fermented dairy products were inoculated independently for Chenopodium formosanum Koidz. fermentation. The strain with the highest level of antioxidant activity was selected and the fermentation process was further optimized via response surface methodology (RSM). Lactobacillus plantarum BCRC 11697 was chosen because, compared to other lactic acid bacteria, it exhibits increased free radical scavenging ability and can produce more phenolic compounds, DPPH (from 72.6% to 93.2%), and ABTS (from 64.2% to 76.9%). Using RSM, we further optimize the fermentation protocol of BCRC 11697 by adjusting the initial fermentation pH, agitation speed, and temperature to reach the highest level of antioxidant activity (73.5% of DPPH and 93.8% of ABTS). The optimal protocol (pH 5.55, 104 rpm, and 24.4°C) resulted in a significant increase in the amount of phenolic compounds as well as the DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging ability of BCRC 11697 products. The IC50 of the DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging ability were 0.33 and 2.35 mg/mL, respectively, and both protease and tannase activity increased after RSM. An increase in lower molecular weight (<24 kDa) protein hydrolysates was also observed. Results indicated that djulis fermented by L. plantarum can be a powerful source of natural antioxidants for preventing free radical-initiated diseases.
Exploration of the optimal strategy for dietary calcium intervention against the toxicity of liver and kidney induced by cadmium in mice: An in vivo diet intervention study
Authors: Chen Zhaofang , Shi Kexin , Kuang Wenjie , Huang Lei
Published: May 2021

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic non-essential element, while calcium (Ca) is an essential element with high chemical similarity to Cd. Dietary intake is the major Cd exposure pathway for non-smokers. A multi-concentration dietary intervention experiment was designed to explore the optimum concentration of Ca in diet with obvious protective effects against the toxicity of livers and kidneys induced by Cd in mice. The mice were divided into six groups with different concentrations of Cd and Ca in their food: control-group (no Cd or Ca), Ca-group (100 g/kg Ca, without Cd), Cd-group (2 mg/kg Cd, without Ca), CaL+Cd-group (2 mg/kg Cd, 2 g/kg Ca), CaM+Cd-group (2 mg/kg Cd, 20 g/kg Ca) and CaH+Cd-group (2 mg/kg Cd, 100 g/kg Ca). The organ indexes, oxidative stress biomarkers, lesions and Cd concentrations were detected after a 30-day exposure period. Results showed that serum Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) level in CaH+Cd-group was significantly lower than that in Cd-group, while close to that in control-group. The contents of Serum Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) in different groups showed the same trend. Concentrations of all oxidative stress biomarkers (GSH-Px, SOD, CAT, GSH and MDA) in CaH+Cd-group were close to the normal levels of control-group while significantly different from those in Cd-group. The only exception was the Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in kidneys. This study suggests that Ca plays a protective role in relieving the Cd-induced toxicity of livers and kidneys and a concentration of 100 g/kg for Ca in diet showed the best protective effects. These findings could provide a clue for further studies concerning human diet intervention for Cd control.
A robust method of nuclei isolation for single-cell RNA sequencing of solid tissues from the plant genus Populus
Authors: Conde Daniel , Triozzi Paolo M. , Balmant Kelly M. , Doty Andria L. , Miranda Mariza , Boullosa Anthony , Schmidt Henry W. , Pereira Wendell J. , Dervinis Christopher , Kirst Matias
Published: May 2021

Single-cell transcriptome analysis has been extensively applied in humans and animal models to uncover gene expression heterogeneity between the different cell types of a tissue or an organ. It demonstrated its capability to discover key regulatory elements that determine cell fate during developmental programs. Single-cell analysis requires the isolation and labeling of the messenger RNA (mRNA) derived from each cell. These challenges were primarily addressed in mammals by developing microfluidic-based approaches. For plant species whose cells contain cell walls, these approaches have generally required the generation of isolated protoplasts. Many plant tissues’ secondary cell wall hinders enzymatic digestion required for individual protoplast isolation, resulting in an unequal representation of cell types in a protoplast population. This limitation is especially critical for cell types located in the inner layers of a tissue or the inner tissues of an organ. Consequently, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) studies using microfluidic approaches in plants have mainly been restricted to Arabidopsis roots, for which well-established procedures of protoplast isolation are available. Here we present a simple alternative approach to generating high-quality protoplasts from plant tissue by characterizing the mRNA extracted from individual nuclei instead of whole cells. We developed the protocol using two different plant materials with varying cellular complexity levels and cell wall structure, Populus shoot apices, and more lignified stems. Using the 10× Genomics Chromium technology, we show that this procedure results in intact mRNA isolation and limited leakage, with a broad representation of individual cell transcriptomes.