bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Welfare regimes in twenty-first-century Latin America
Authors: Ferre Juan Cruz
Published: January 2024

A growing scholarship has documented changes in welfare policy in twenty-first-century Latin America, but no study yet has offered a systematic assessment, using a welfare regime approach, that captures the main trends across countries and over time. For a sample of 17 countries, this study offers a comprehensive tool to measure shifts in social policy regimes, highlighting three dimensions of welfare – inclusion, generosity, and equity – across four policy areas: transfers, health care, education, and family policies. Countries made significant progress in generosity and inclusion, but none improved equity. A cluster analysis based on the three dimensions of welfare offers a new, more precise classification of Latin American countries in welfare regimes in 2002 and 2017. Although the analysis shows minor shifts in country groupings, an increasing reliance on social assistance policies, particularly among the most advanced countries, marks a shift towards what I call compensatory regimes.
Opening the Gender Box: Legibility Dilemmas and Gender Data Collection on U.S. State Government Forms
Authors: Waldman Ari Ezra
Published: January 2024

US states collect sex and gender data on official government forms to understand, identify, classify, and surveil populations. These forms’ gender boxes—sets of questions about sex, gender, and gender identity paired with a wide variety of answer options—can mean the difference between legibility and erasure or between surveillance and privacy. They also create classic disclosure and legibility dilemmas that disproportionately burden transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and intersex individuals. And yet, the socio-legal forces determining the design of these gender boxes have been insufficiently studied. Documents obtained through public records requests and interviews with civil servants responsible for form design demonstrate that gender box design stems from the competing yet mostly inertial pressures that define the socio-legal contexts of street-level bureaucracy. In other words, gender boxes are products of the institutional, technological, political, and social contexts in which they are designed. Specifically, gender boxes look the way they do because they are subject to the effects of bureaucratic processes, social networks, expertise, intergovernmental dependence, norms, path dependencies, and technologies, with implications for research and advocacy.
Canada's Lobbying Industry: Business and Public Interest Advocacy from Harper to Trudeau
Authors: Graham Nicolas , Evans Bryan , Chen David
Published: January 2024

This article provides an empirical overview of federal lobbying in Canada, examining lobbying contacts by field and sector from 2011 to 2022. We track shifts in lobbying representation over this period, including across Harper Conservative and Trudeau Liberal administrations. The study reveals the dominance of business interests in lobbying in Canada and a high level of lobbying concentration. By sector, export-oriented industries with high environmental and climatic impacts—namely, agriculture, fossil fuel and manufacturing industries—predominate. With the transition to Trudeau, we find a significant increase in overall rates of lobbying and a modest increase in the ratio of public interest representation. Overall, the lobbying industry is characterized by greater access but unequal voice.
Representation and Partisanship: What Determines the Topics That Members of Parliament Prioritize in Communications with Their Constituents?
Authors: Marland Alex , Snagovsky Feodor
Published: January 2024

What determines how Members of Parliament (MPs) and their staff frame their communications with all constituents in their electoral district? Prior research has suggested that constituency operations are one of the last bastions of freedom that MPs have from the full grasp of party discipline in Canada. If this remains true, MP communications with their constituents should reflect the MPs’ background or the constituency context and not their political partisanship. We collected a sample of published newsletters (“householders”) that Canadian MPs’ offices sent to all households in their electoral districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. We supplement our analysis with original insights about householders from a selection of MPs and their staff. Our results suggest that in a system of strict party discipline, the most important predictor of what MPs include in their constituent communications is indeed partisanship. The results inform our understanding of democratic representation, centralized co-ordination and political communication, and the pervasiveness of partisan messaging in Canada.
The Effect of Takeover Protection in Quiet Life and Bonding Firms
Authors: Fich Eliezer M. , Harford Jarrad , Yore Adam S.
Published: January 2024

Antitakeover measures are controversial because the evidence of their net effect on shareholders is mixed. We propose that, for many firms, the potential bonding benefits outweigh the agency costs of the quiet life, explaining the mixed results. We study business combination and poison pill laws as exogenous shocks to takeover vulnerability and use shareholder valuation of internal slack as an indicator of the net effect of takeover protection. Firms susceptible to quiet life agency problems exhibit a decrease in the market-assessed value of internal slack. Conversely, cash appreciates at companies where takeover protection bonds commitments with major counterparties.
SNOW, REPETITION AND OBLIVION: ECOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS IN BEAT FURRER'S RECENT WORK
Authors: Dysers Christine
Published: January 2024

The natural world is a frequent touchstone for the Swiss-born Austrian composer Beat Furrer. In the operatic work Violetter Schnee (2019), for instance, images of snow and coldness take on a central role. Other works, such as Wüstenbuch (2009) and the Spazio Immergente triptych (2015), refer more indirectly to notions of barren landscapes and ecological excess. At the basis of all these works are sentiments of slippage and loss, of far-reaching melancholia and an unrepairable detachment from reality. The composer's multi-layered use of repetition further underlines these sentiments and aids in the creation of constantly shifting sonic landscapes. This article argues that the recurrent use of nature imagery in Furrer's work signposts a latent ecological dimension in his oeuvre. In doing so, the article focuses on the slipperiness of musical repetition, and more particularly on the heavily destabilising power of the loop. Taking Violetter Schnee as the starting point for inquiry, and using Timothy Morton's philosophical project of ‘dark ecology’ as a heuristic framework, the article reads Furrer's recent work against the background of ecological critique.
TIME, MYTH AND NARRATIVE IN BEAT FURRER'S NUUN
Authors: Jones Gabriel
Published: January 2024

The title of Beat Furrer's nuun, for two pianos and chamber orchestra (1996), invites two principal readings. As a pun on the German ‘nun’, meaning ‘now’, it invokes a presentist mode of musical thinking, whereby each moment is heard to exist in a continuous state of development. It also invokes myth, as suggested by Wolfgang Fuhrmann, in its palindromic reflection of the name of the Breton goddess Nu, who, in medieval mysticism, ‘had the power to let time stand still’. In this article, I use Byron Almén's 2017 theory of musical narrative as the basis for a narrative analysis of nuun, aiming to reconcile these allusions with the aesthetics and formal processes of the piece, as well as Furrer's documented preoccupation with notions of storytelling in music. In doing so, I expand upon the hermeneutic readings of the piece proposed thus far, establish connections with textural archetypes in Furrer's oeuvre, both pioneered by and preceding nuun, and consider lines of dialogue with broader discourse on time in contemporary music.
LISTENING INTERTEXTUALLY IN BEAT FURRER'S MUSIC THEATRE WORKS
Authors: Redhead Lauren
Published: January 2024

This article focuses on three of Beat Furrer's works described as opera or music theatre: Begehren (2001), FAMA (2005) and Wüstenbuch (2010). Each of these pieces sets texts from Roman, contemporary and historical authors in exploration of the liminal spaces between life and death, and the possible transitions between them. In Wüstenbuch one such text is included from the Papyrus Berlin 3024, known as the source of the Ancient Egyptian philosophical text ‘The Dispute between a Man and his Ba’, a reflection on the meaning and value of life and the transition between life and death. Furrer's compositional style does not offer a linear narrative on such questions but rather multiple perspectives and tableaux, each of which calls the others and itself into question. In order to explore this and understand what the meeting and interchange of the different texts and authors offers within the context of Furrer's music, I outline a method of ‘listening intertextually’ in order to hear the liminal spaces not only within but between these compositions. I consider the hybrid and hypertexts that arise within the music, and the ways that they can be therefore considered – as in the subtitle often given to FAMA – a ‘drama of listening’.
Confessions of an Antinatalist Philosopher
Authors: Häyry Matti
Published: January 2024

Antinatalism assigns reproduction a negative value. There should be fewer or no births. Those who say that there should be fewer births have been called conditional antinatalists. A better name for their view would be selective pronatalism. Those who say that there should be no births face two challenges. They must define the scope of their no-birth policy. Does it apply only to human or sentient beings or can it also be extended to all organic life, perhaps even to machine consciousness? And whatever the scope, they have to justify the eventual extinction of humankind or other life forms, an inevitable consequence of unconditional antinatalism. Different axiologies and moral theories produce different responses to these challenges. It is argued that a two-value conflict-sensitive negative utilitarianism would produce a kind and reasonable justification for ending at least human and factory-animal reproduction. The conclusion is purely moral and supports only voluntary extinction for humankind.
A Too Intimate Internet: What is Wrong with Precise Audience Selection?
Authors: Mitchell Thomas
Published: January 2024

It is commonly recognized that the modern capacity for mass online communication carries various dangers: fake news, rampant conspiracy theories, trolling, and so forth. It is less commonly realized that moral problems remain when the contents of online communications are completely innocuous. This article discusses one of the noteworthy features of modern digital technology, the fact that it is possible to precisely target specific audiences, and argues that this can make mass communications such as advertising and political campaigns morally problematic. What is more, this holds even if the communicator is using only rational persuasion. In being selective about who sees which arguments, one becomes liable to mislead the audience despite sticking to honest, evidence-based, rational argumentation.
Exploitation, Coercion, and Other Problems with Kidney Donation
Authors: Semrau Luke
Published: January 2024

Kidney failure is a major killer. Many lives could be saved through organ donation if people were less reluctant to part with their spare kidney. Should we incentive donation by paying people to do it?
My Body, My Speech
Authors: Licon Jimmy Alfonso
Published: January 2024

A popular tactic for defending abortion rights is appealing to self-ownership: since I own my body, a foetus has the right to occupy it only if I allow it. One cannot be forced to bring a pregnancy to term because that would violate one's self-ownership. The same logic applies to speech: we have freedom of speech because we produce speech using the bodies that we own. To curtail that speech violates our self-ownership, or in a phrase: my body, my speech.
All My Friends are Zombies: The Search for Consciousness
Authors: Rimmer-Williams Louise
Published: January 2024

A brief introduction to the problem of other minds and knowledge of the world outside our own minds.
Is it Ever Right to Lie? How Ethical Questions Bring us to Philosophy of Mind
Authors: Erden Yasemin J.
Published: January 2024

Moral and ethical agreements require sufficiently shared values, or at least some common ground. We might think of this in terms of a shared ‘form of life’, ‘lebensform’, as Wittgenstein describes it in his Philosophical Investigations. Yet it is not clear what will be sufficient, nor how to bridge gaps when disagreement occurs, for instance on whether it is ever right to lie. Ethical and moral theories offer some guidance, but there is no guide for which theory one ought to follow. Whether you favour eudaimonist (flourishing, well-being), deontological (duty), or utilitarian (consequentialist) principles, the selection of a philosophy says much about who you are (preferences, judgements, beliefs) and your context (social, political, cultural). More than this it can indicate certain psychological and personal dispositions, whether defined as brain states, mental states, or personalities. In this article I outline some arguments for why ethics might need a philosophy of mind, and why this poses problems for ethical and moral theory building.
Storm‐Time Characteristics of Ionospheric Model (MSAP) Based on Multi‐Algorithm Fusion
Authors: Chen Zhou , Wang Kang , Li Haimeng , Liao Wenti , Tang Rongxin , Wang Jing‐song , Deng Xiaohua
Published: January 2024

Geomagnetic storms induce ionospheric disturbances, affecting short‐wave radio communication systems. Accurate ionospheric total electron content (TEC) prediction is vital for accurately describing the short‐wave radio environment of the ionosphere. We use the Multi‐Step Auxiliary Prediction (MSAP) model, a deep learning algorithm, to forecast TEC during geomagnetic storms. The MSAP model integrates Bi‐LSTM networks, an auxiliary model, and convolutional processes for spatiotemporal modeling. Our validation shows the MSAP model outperforms the IRI‐2016 model in predicting global TEC for the next 6 days in the test set. We assess its performance during 116 geomagnetic storm events, considering storm intensity, solar activity, month, and Universal Time (UT). The MSAP model exhibits a weak correlation with storm intensity and a strong correlation with solar activity. Monthly variation displays similar strong correlations in root mean square error (RMSE) and R2 for both models. For UT variation, the other metrics exhibit a weak correlation with the number of Global Navigation Satellite System stations, except for the RMSE of the MSAP and IRI‐2016 models.
A New Method of Diagnosing the Historical and Projected Changes in Permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Li Hu , Pan Xiaoduo , Washakh Rana Muhammad Ali , Nie Xiaowei
Published: January 2024

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the largest permafrost distribution zone at high‐altitude in the mid‐latitude region. Climate change has caused significant permafrost degradation on the TP, which has important impacts for the eco‐hydrological processes. In this study, the frost number is utilized to calculate the frost number (F) based on the air freezing/thawing index obtained from the downscaled Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) data sets. A novel method is proposed to determine the frost number threshold (Ft) for diagnosing permafrost distribution. Then the simulated permafrost distribution maps are compared with the existing permafrost distribution map, employing the Kappa coefficient as the measure of classification accuracy to identify the optimal Ft. Finally, the permafrost distribution on the TP under different Shared Socio‐economic Pathways (SSP) scenarios are diagnosed with the optimal Ft. Simulation results demonstrate that across all scenarios, the rates of permafrost degradation during the mid‐future period (2040–2060) remain comparable to those observed in the baseline period (2000), ranging from 33% ± 3% to 53% ± 4%. Conversely, during the far‐future (2080–2099), the permafrost degradation rates display significant variation across different scenarios, ranging from 37% ± 4% to 96% ± 3%. The profound impacts of permafrost degradation on the TP are reflected in decreasing trends in soil moisture and runoff, as well as a slower increasing trend in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) compared to other regions, indicating negative impacts on vegetation growth.
Modeling and Quantifying Parameter Uncertainty of Co‐Seismic Non‐Classical Nonlinearity in Rocks
Authors: Niu Zihua , Gabriel Alice‐Agnes , Seelinger Linus , Igel Heiner
Published: January 2024

Dynamic perturbations reveal unconventional nonlinear behavior in rocks, as evidenced by field and laboratory studies. During the passage of seismic waves, rocks exhibit a decrease in elastic moduli, slowly recovering after. Yet, comprehensive physical models describing these moduli alterations remain sparse and insufficiently validated against observations. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of two physical damage models—the internal variable model (IVM) and the continuum damage model (CDM)—to provide quantitative descriptions of nonlinear co‐seismic elastic wave propagation observations. While the IVM uses one internal variable to describe the evolution of elastic material moduli, the CDM damage variable is a mathematical representation of microscopic defects. We recast the IVM and CDM models as nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations and implement 1D and 2D numerical simulations using an arbitrary high‐order discontinuous Galerkin method. We verify the modeling results with co‐propagating acousto‐elastic experimental measurements. Subsequently, we infer the parameters for these nonlinear models from laboratory experiments using probabilistic Bayesian inversion and 2D simulations. By adopting the Adaptive Metropolis Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we quantify the uncertainties of inferred parameters for both physical models, investigating their interplay in 70,000 simulations. We find that the damage variables can trade off with the stress‐strain nonlinearity in discernible ways. We discuss physical interpretations of both damage models and that our CDM quantitatively captures an observed damage increase with perturbation frequency. Our results contribute to a more holistic understanding of co‐seismic damage and post‐seismic recovery after earthquakes bridging the worlds of theoretical analysis and laboratory findings.
Active Seismic Refraction, Reflection, and Surface‐Wave Surveys in Thick Debris‐Covered Glacial Environments
Authors: Kuehn Tyler , Holt John W. , Johnson Roy , Meng Tyler
Published: January 2024

Debris‐covered glaciers (DCG) and rock glaciers have been increasingly studied in recent years because of the role they play within local watersheds, glacial ablation models due to climate change, and as analogs for buried ice features on planetary bodies such as Mars. Characterizing the supraglacial debris layer is a large part of these efforts. Geophysical exploration of DCG has mostly excluded active seismic methods, with the exception of refraction studies, due to the attenuating properties of the debris cover and field survey efficiency. We evaluate the accuracy, field efficiency, and effectiveness of seismic refraction, reflection, and surface‐wave surveys for determining the elastic properties of the debris layer and any underlying layers on DCG using the Sourdough Rock Glacier in Southcentral Alaska as a test site. We provide evidence for imaging an ultra‐shallow seismic reflection from the bottom of the loose debris layer using ultra‐dense receiver arrays and compare it to ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) images taken along the same profiles. We also detail how reliable dispersion curve images can be extracted from the surface wave package of the seismic data using the multi‐channel analysis of surface waves technique, which allows for the (s)‐wave profile to be inverted for. We find this could be a valuable addition to the toolbox of future geophysical investigations on DCG.
Carbon Stocks and Potential Greenhouse Gas Production of Permafrost‐Affected Active Floodplains in the Lena River Delta
Authors: Herbst Tanja , Fuchs Matthias , Liebner Susanne , Treat Claire C.
Published: January 2024

Arctic warming increases the degradation of permafrost soils but little is known about floodplain soils in the permafrost region. This study quantifies soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil nitrogen stocks, and the potential CH4 and CO2 production from seven cores in the active floodplains in the Lena River Delta, Russia. The soils were sandy but highly heterogeneous, containing deep, organic rich deposits with >60% SOC stored below 30 cm. The mean SOC stocks in the top 1 m were 12.9 ± 6.0 kg C m−2. Grain size analysis and radiocarbon ages indicated highly dynamic environments with sediment re‐working. Potential CH4 and CO2 production from active floodplains was assessed using a 1‐year incubation at 20°C under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Cumulative aerobic CO2 production mineralized a mean 4.6 ± 2.8% of initial SOC. The mean cumulative aerobic:anaerobic C production ratio was 2.3 ± 0.9. Anaerobic CH4 production comprised 50 ± 9% of anaerobic C mineralization; rates were comparable or exceeded those for permafrost region organic soils. Potential C production from the incubations was correlated with total organic carbon and varied strongly over space (among cores) and depth (active layer vs. permafrost). This study provides valuable information on the carbon cycle dynamics from active floodplains in the Lena River Delta and highlights the key spatial variability, both among sites and with depth, and the need to include these dynamic permafrost environments in future estimates of the permafrost carbon‐climate feedback.
Characterizing Plasma Peak Density Thickness in the Ionosphere: A Single‐Site Multi‐Instrument Study
Authors: Shammat Mohamed O. , Reinisch Bodo W. , Galkin Ivan , Erickson Philip J. , Weitzen Jay A. , Rideout William C.
Published: January 2024

This paper introduces the Peak Density Thickness (PDT) formalism, a novel approach to representing the F2 layer's vertical electron density profile in the ionosphere. It diverges from the conventional “pointed‐peak” model by suggesting a “broad‐peak” or “flat‐nose” profile where plasma density remains constant within an altitude interval χ. This theory is backed by independent observations, including a comprehensive data set from the Millstone Hill Incoherent Scatter Radar at the MIT Haystack observatory, spanning from 1993 to 2023, which illustrates the presence and diurnal variation of PDT. A single‐day intensive cross‐verification using Digisonde Portable Sounder DPS4D soundings of the sub‐peak ionosphere has shown remarkable agreement in the measurements of the lower boundary of the χ interval and the peak density. This study suggests incorporating the flat‐nose section χ into the F‐region profile formalism. Such a shift could improve the accuracy of topside specifications derived from ground‐based ionosonde measurements, enhancing our understanding of ionospheric plasma dynamics.
Predicting Streamflow Duration From Crowd‐Sourced Flow Observations
Authors: Peterson David A. , Kampf Stephanie K. , Puntenney‐Desmond Kira C. , Fairchild Matthew P. , Zipper Sam , Hammond John C. , Ross Matthew R. V. , Sears Megan G.
Published: January 2024

Streamflow duration is important for aquatic ecosystems and assigning stream protection status. This study predicts streamflow duration, represented as the fraction of time with flow each year, using a combination of sensor data and crowd‐sourced visual observations for a study area in northern Colorado, USA. We used 11 stream stage sensors and 177 visual monitoring points to examine how frequently streams should be sampled to compute flow fractions accurately. This showed that the number of visual observations needed to compute accurate flow fractions increases with decreasing flow duration. We then developed random forest models to predict mean annual flow fractions using climate, topographic, and land cover predictors and found that snow persistence, summer precipitation, and drainage area were important predictors. Model performance was best when using sites with ≥10 visual observations. Our model predicts that almost all (98%) of streams in the study region are non‐perennial, about 10% more than the amount of non‐perennial streams in the National Hydrography Dataset. Stream type maps are sensitive to the time period of data collection and to thresholds used to represent perennial versus non‐perennial flow. To improve maps of non‐perennial streams, we recommend moving beyond categorical classification of streams to a continuous variable like flow fraction. These efforts can be best supported with frequent observations in time that span streams with a wide range of flow fractions and drainage area attributes.
Hydrodynamics, Diagenesis and Hypoxia Variably Drive Benthic Oxygen Flux in a River‐Reservoir System
Authors: Zhang Yuanning , Gao Xueping , Sun Bowen , Liu Xiaobo
Published: January 2024

Benthic oxygen flux with complex spatiotemporal variations is essential for the global budget of carbon dioxide and the regional security of water quality and ecology, but its dominant driver under different circumstances has yet to be identified. In this study, a parametric scheme of oxygen flux was proposed and validated with aquatic eddy correlation measurements and then coupled with a diagenesis model and a water environment model. The coupled model was applied to a river‐reservoir with significant environmental gradients in hydrodynamics, diagenesis, and hypoxia, which are three factors that competitively drive the variation in benthic oxygen flux. The results indicate that hydrodynamics dominate the flux in the riverine and thalweg areas, diagenesis is the dominant driver of the lacustrine and bank areas, and hypoxia shows dominance only in the hypolimnetic anoxic area. In general, diagenesis is the dominant driver of oxygen flux in river‐reservoirs, followed by hydrodynamics, both of which are more prominent than hypoxia. If the operated reservoir experiences a wet year, the dominance of hydrodynamics tends to increase, while that of diagenesis and hypoxia decreases. The three divers exhibit similar but more stable dominance in riverine systems than in reservoirs, while diagenesis becomes the exclusive driver of oxygen fluxes in lacustrine systems.
Colloid Transport and Retention in Constricted Tube Pore Spaces With Diverse Geometries and Orientations
Authors: Tang Darrell , Raoof Amir
Published: January 2024

Colloidal contaminants infiltrate and can be attached onto grain surfaces of soils and aquifers, where they may persist. In this study, Lagrangian particle tracking is used to investigate particle trajectories and attachment in pore and fracture spaces modeled as three‐dimensional constricted tubes with diverse geometries and orientations relative to gravity. A comprehensive force balance arising from hydrodynamic drag and lift, gravitational settling, Brownian motion, and attractive DLVO interactions is simulated. Results show that the collection efficiency η is primarily governed by the dimensionless settling number 𝑆, representing the relative dominance of gravitational over hydrodynamic forces experienced by the particles. High‐𝑆 scenarios have larger η and are more sensitive to pore orientation, while low‐𝑆 scenarios are more sensitive to pore geometry. For all scenarios but especially low‐S scenarios, the majority of colloid attachment occurs near pore extremities, where fluid velocities are low, such that mechanical remobilization of particles attached is improbable. In low‐𝑆 scenarios, particles may spread and become immobilized at greater distances from the contamination source owing to lower η, are harder to mechanically remobilize as they attach more disproportionately at pore extremities, and have trajectories more sensitive to minor forces, rendering their environmental fates complex. Characterizing the collection efficiency and deposition morphology for various pore space geometries and orientations is crucial in understanding particle fate and developing continuum‐scale models of colloid transport in real soils, where pore spaces are heterogeneous and advection paths are tortuous.
Free-moving-state microscopic imaging of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics with a photoacoustic fiberscope
Authors: Zhong Xiaoxuan , Liang Yizhi , Wang Xiaoyu , Lan Haoying , Bai Xue , Jin Long , Guan Bai-Ou
Published: January 2024

We report the development of a head-mounted photoacoustic fiberscope for cerebral imaging in a freely behaving mouse. The 4.5-gram imaging probe has a 9-µm lateral resolution and 0.2-Hz frame rate over a 1.2-mm wide area. The probe can continuously monitor cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamic responses at single-vessel resolution, showing significantly different cerebrovascular responses to external stimuli under anesthesia and in the freely moving state. For example, when subjected to high-concentration CO2 respiration, enhanced oxygenation to compensate for hypercapnia can be visualized due to cerebral regulation in the freely moving state. Comparative studies exhibit significantly weakened compensation capabilities in obese rodents. This new imaging modality can be used for investigating both normal and pathological cerebrovascular functions and shows great promise for studying cerebral activity, disorders and their treatments.
Single-emitter super-resolved imaging of radiative decay rate enhancement in dielectric gap nanoantennas
Authors: Córdova-Castro R. Margoth , van Dam Bart , Lauri Alberto , Maier Stefan A. , Sapienza Riccardo , De Wilde Yannick , Izeddin Ignacio , Krachmalnicoff Valentina
Published: January 2024

High refractive index dielectric nanoantennas strongly modify the decay rate via the Purcell effect through the design of radiative channels. Due to their dielectric nature, the field is mainly confined inside the nanostructure and in the gap, which is hard to probe with scanning probe techniques. Here we use single-molecule fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (smFLIM) to map the decay rate enhancement in dielectric GaP nanoantenna dimers with a median localization precision of 14 nm. We measure, in the gap of the nanoantenna, decay rates that are almost 30 times larger than on a glass substrate. By comparing experimental results with numerical simulations we show that this large enhancement is essentially radiative, contrary to the case of plasmonic nanoantennas, and therefore has great potential for applications such as quantum optics and biosensing.
Laser manufacturing of spatial resolution approaching quantum limit
Authors: Wang Xiao-Jie , Fang Hong-Hua , Li Zhen-Ze , Wang Dan , Sun Hong-Bo
Published: January 2024

Atomic and close-to-atom scale manufacturing is a promising avenue toward single-photon emitters, single-electron transistors, single-atom memory, and quantum-bit devices for future communication, computation, and sensing applications. Laser manufacturing is outstanding to this end for ease of beam manipulation, batch production, and no requirement for photomasks. It is, however, suffering from optical diffraction limits. Herein, we report a spatial resolution improved to the quantum limit by exploiting a threshold tracing and lock-in method, whereby the two-order gap between atomic point defect complexes and optical diffraction limit is surpassed, and a feature size of <5 nm is realized. The underlying physics is that the uncertainty of local atom thermal motion dominates electron excitation, rather than the power density slope of the incident laser. We show that the colour centre yield in hexagonal boron nitride is transformed from stochastic to deterministic, and the emission from individual sites becomes polychromatic to monochromatic. As a result, single colour centres in the regular array are deterministically created with a unity yield and high positional accuracy, serving as a step forward for integrated quantum technological applications.
Parent and staff perceptions of racism in a single-center neonatal intensive care unit
Authors: Karvonen Kayla L. , Smith Olga , Chambers Butcher Brittany D. , Franck Linda S. , McKenzie-Sampson Safyer , McLemore Monica R. , Pantell Matthew S. , Rogers Elizabeth E.
Published: January 2024

Impact

In alignment with previous literature, NICU parents reported experiencing racism and NICU staff reported witnessing racism in the NICU. Our study also uniquely describes personal experiences with racism by staff in the NICU.

NICU staff reported witnessing and experiencing racism more often than parents reported.

Black staff reported witnessing and experiencing more racism than white staff.

Differences in reporting is likely influenced by variations in lived experience, social identities, psychological safety, and levels of awareness.

Future studies are necessary to prevent and accurately measure racism in the NICU.
Biomimetic chiral hydrogen-bonded organic-inorganic frameworks
Authors: Guo Jun , Duan Yulong , Jia Yunling , Zhao Zelong , Gao Xiaoqing , Liu Pai , Li Fangfang , Chen Hongli , Ye Yutong , Liu Yujiao , Zhao Meiting , Tang Zhiyong , Liu Yi
Published: January 2024

Assembly ubiquitously occurs in nature and gives birth to numerous functional biomaterials and sophisticated organisms. In this work, chiral hydrogen-bonded organic-inorganic frameworks (HOIFs) are synthesized via biomimicking the self-assembly process from amino acids to proteins. Enjoying the homohelical configurations analogous to α-helix, the HOIFs exhibit remarkable chiroptical activity including the chiral fluorescence (glum = 1.7 × 10−3) that is untouched among the previously reported hydrogen-bonded frameworks. Benefitting from the dynamic feature of hydrogen bonding, HOIFs enable enantio-discrimination of chiral aliphatic substrates with imperceivable steric discrepancy based on fluorescent change. Moreover, the disassembled HOIFs after recognition applications are capable of being facilely regenerated and self-purified via aprotic solvent-induced reassembly, leading to at least three consecutive cycles without losing the enantioselectivity. The underlying mechanism of chirality bias is decoded by the experimental isothermal titration calorimetry together with theoretic simulation.
Myeloid-derived grancalcin instigates obesity-induced insulin resistance and metabolic inflammation in male mice
Authors: Su Tian , He Yue , Huang Yan , Ye Mingsheng , Guo Qi , Xiao Ye , Cai Guangping , Chen Linyun , Li Changjun , Zhou Haiyan , Luo Xianghang
Published: January 2024

The crosstalk between the bone and adipose tissue is known to orchestrate metabolic homeostasis, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Herein, we find that GCA + (grancalcin) immune cells accumulate in the bone marrow and release a considerable amount of GCA into circulation during obesity. Genetic deletion of Gca in myeloid cells attenuates metabolic dysfunction in obese male mice, whereas injection of recombinant GCA into male mice causes adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. Mechanistically, we found that GCA binds to the Prohibitin-2 (PHB2) receptor on adipocytes and activates the innate and adaptive immune response of adipocytes via the PAK1-NF-κB signaling pathway, thus provoking the infiltration of inflammatory immune cells. Moreover, we show that GCA-neutralizing antibodies improve adipose tissue inflammation and insulin sensitivity in obese male mice. Together, these observations define a mechanism whereby bone marrow factor GCA initiates adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance, showing that GCA could be a potential target to treat metainflammation.
TMIGD2 is an orchestrator and therapeutic target on human acute myeloid leukemia stem cells
Authors: Wang Hao , Sica R. Alejandro , Kaur Gurbakhash , Galbo Phillip M. , Jing Zhixin , Nishimura Christopher D. , Ren Xiaoxin , Tanwar Ankit , Etemad-Gilbertson Bijan , Will Britta , Zheng Deyou , Fooksman David , Zang Xingxing
Published: January 2024

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is initiated and sustained by a hierarchy of leukemia stem cells (LSCs), and elimination of this cell population is required for curative therapies. Here we show that transmembrane and immunoglobulin domain containing 2 (TMIGD2), a recently discovered co-stimulatory immune receptor, is aberrantly expressed by human AML cells, and can be used to identify and enrich functional LSCs. We demonstrate that TMIGD2 is required for the development and maintenance of AML and self-renewal of LSCs but is not essential for normal hematopoiesis. Mechanistically, TMIGD2 promotes proliferation, blocks myeloid differentiation and increases cell-cycle of AML cells via an ERK1/2-p90RSK-CREB signaling axis. Targeting TMIGD2 signaling with anti-TMIGD2 monoclonal antibodies attenuates LSC self-renewal and reduces leukemia burden in AML patient-derived xenograft models but has negligible effect on normal hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Thus, our studies reveal the function of TMIGD2 in LSCs and provide a promising therapeutic strategy for AML.
Planar hyperbolic polaritons in 2D van der Waals materials
Authors: Wang Hongwei , Kumar Anshuman , Dai Siyuan , Lin Xiao , Jacob Zubin , Oh Sang-Hyun , Menon Vinod , Narimanov Evgenii , Kim Young Duck , Wang Jian-Ping , Avouris Phaedon , Martin Moreno Luis , Caldwell Joshua , Low Tony
Published: January 2024

Anisotropic planar polaritons - hybrid electromagnetic modes mediated by phonons, plasmons, or excitons - in biaxial two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals crystals have attracted significant attention due to their fundamental physics and potential nanophotonic applications. In this Perspective, we review the properties of planar hyperbolic polaritons and the variety of methods that can be used to experimentally tune them. We argue that such natural, planar hyperbolic media should be fairly common in biaxial and uniaxial 2D and 1D van der Waals crystals, and identify the untapped opportunities they could enable for functional (i.e. ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric) polaritons. Lastly, we provide our perspectives on the technological applications of such planar hyperbolic polaritons.
Tuning parameters for polygenic risk score methods using GWAS summary statistics from training data
Authors: Jiang Wei , Chen Ling , Girgenti Matthew J. , Zhao Hongyu
Published: January 2024

Various polygenic risk scores (PRS) methods have been proposed to combine the estimated effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to predict genetic risks for common diseases, using data collected from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Some methods require external individual-level GWAS dataset for parameter tuning, posing privacy and security-related concerns. Leaving out partial data for parameter tuning can also reduce model prediction accuracy. In this article, we propose PRStuning, a method that tunes parameters for different PRS methods using GWAS summary statistics from the training data. PRStuning predicts the PRS performance with different parameters, and then selects the best-performing parameters. Because directly using training data effects tends to overestimate the performance in the testing data, we adopt an empirical Bayes approach to shrinking the predicted performance in accordance with the genetic architecture of the disease. Extensive simulations and real data applications demonstrate PRStuning’s accuracy across PRS methods and parameters.
Bionic artificial skin with a fully implantable wireless tactile sensory system for wound healing and restoring skin tactile function
Authors: Kang Kyowon , Ye Seongryeol , Jeong Chanho , Jeong Jinmo , Ye Yeong-sinn , Jeong Jin-Young , Kim Yu-Jin , Lim Selin , Kim Tae Hee , Kim Kyung Yeun , Kim Jong Uk , Kim Gwan In , Chun Do Hoon , Kim Kiho , Park Jaejin , Hong Jung-Hoon , Park Byeonghak , Kim Kyubeen , Jung Sujin , Baek Kyeongrim , Cho Dongjun , Yoo Jin , Lee Kangwon , Cheng Huanyu , Min Byung-Wook , Kim Hyun Jae , Jeon Hojeong , Yi Hyunjung , Kim Tae-il , Yu Ki Jun , Jung Youngmee
Published: January 2024

Tactile function is essential for human life as it enables us to recognize texture and respond to external stimuli, including potential threats with sharp objects that may result in punctures or lacerations. Severe skin damage caused by severe burns, skin cancer, chemical accidents, and industrial accidents damage the structure of the skin tissue as well as the nerve system, resulting in permanent tactile sensory dysfunction, which significantly impacts an individual’s daily life. Here, we introduce a fully-implantable wireless powered tactile sensory system embedded artificial skin (WTSA), with stable operation, to restore permanently damaged tactile function and promote wound healing for regenerating severely damaged skin. The fabricated WTSA facilitates (i) replacement of severely damaged tactile sensory with broad biocompatibility, (ii) promoting of skin wound healing and regeneration through collagen and fibrin-based artificial skin (CFAS), and (iii) minimization of foreign body reaction via hydrogel coating on neural interface electrodes. Furthermore, the WTSA shows a stable operation as a sensory system as evidenced by the quantitative analysis of leg movement angle and electromyogram (EMG) signals in response to varying intensities of applied pressures.
Design automation of microfluidic single and double emulsion droplets with machine learning
Authors: Lashkaripour Ali , McIntyre David P. , Calhoun Suzanne G. K. , Krauth Karl , Densmore Douglas M. , Fordyce Polly M.
Published: January 2024

Droplet microfluidics enables kHz screening of picoliter samples at a fraction of the cost of other high-throughput approaches. However, generating stable droplets with desired characteristics typically requires labor-intensive empirical optimization of device designs and flow conditions that limit adoption to specialist labs. Here, we compile a comprehensive droplet dataset and use it to train machine learning models capable of accurately predicting device geometries and flow conditions required to generate stable aqueous-in-oil and oil-in-aqueous single and double emulsions from 15 to 250 μm at rates up to 12000 Hz for different fluids commonly used in life sciences. Blind predictions by our models for as-yet-unseen fluids, geometries, and device materials yield accurate results, establishing their generalizability. Finally, we generate an easy-to-use design automation tool that yield droplets within 3 μm (<8%) of the desired diameter, facilitating tailored droplet-based platforms and accelerating their utility in life sciences.
Parity-conserving Cooper-pair transport and ideal superconducting diode in planar germanium
Authors: Valentini Marco , Sagi Oliver , Baghumyan Levon , de Gijsel Thijs , Jung Jason , Calcaterra Stefano , Ballabio Andrea , Aguilera Servin Juan , Aggarwal Kushagra , Janik Marian , Adletzberger Thomas , Seoane Souto Rubén , Leijnse Martin , Danon Jeroen , Schrade Constantin , Bakkers Erik , Chrastina Daniel , Isella Giovanni , Katsaros Georgios
Published: January 2024

Superconductor/semiconductor hybrid devices have attracted increasing interest in the past years. Superconducting electronics aims to complement semiconductor technology, while hybrid architectures are at the forefront of new ideas such as topological superconductivity and protected qubits. In this work, we engineer the induced superconductivity in two-dimensional germanium hole gas by varying the distance between the quantum well and the aluminum. We demonstrate a hard superconducting gap and realize an electrically and flux tunable superconducting diode using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). This allows to tune the current phase relation (CPR), to a regime where single Cooper pair tunneling is suppressed, creating a$$\sin \left(2\varphi \right)$$sin2φCPR. Shapiro experiments complement this interpretation and the microwave drive allows to create a diode with ≈ 100% efficiency. The reported results open up the path towards integration of spin qubit devices, microwave resonators and (protected) superconducting qubits on  the same silicon technology compatible platform.
Programmable high-dimensional Hamiltonian in a photonic waveguide array
Authors: Yang Yang , Chapman Robert J. , Haylock Ben , Lenzini Francesco , Joglekar Yogesh N. , Lobino Mirko , Peruzzo Alberto
Published: January 2024

Waveguide lattices offer a compact and stable platform for a range of applications, including quantum walks, condensed matter system simulation, and classical and quantum information processing. However, to date, waveguide lattice devices have been static and designed for specific applications. We present a programmable waveguide array in which the Hamiltonian terms can be individually electro-optically tuned to implement various Hamiltonian continuous-time evolutions on a single device. We used a single array with 11 waveguides in lithium niobate, controlled via 22 electrodes, to perform a range of experiments that realized the Su-Schriffer-Heeger model, the Aubrey-Andre model, and Anderson localization, which is equivalent to over 2500 static devices. Our architecture’s micron-scale local electric fields overcome the cross-talk limitations of thermo-optic phase shifters in other platforms such as silicon, silicon-nitride, and silica. Electro-optic control allows for ultra-fast and more precise reconfigurability with lower power consumption, and with quantum input states, our platform can enable the study of multiple condensed matter quantum dynamics with a single device.
MAPS: pathologist-level cell type annotation from tissue images through machine learning
Authors: Shaban Muhammad , Bai Yunhao , Qiu Huaying , Mao Shulin , Yeung Jason , Yeo Yao Yu , Shanmugam Vignesh , Chen Han , Zhu Bokai , Weirather Jason L. , Nolan Garry P. , Shipp Margaret A. , Rodig Scott J. , Jiang Sizun , Mahmood Faisal
Published: January 2024

Highly multiplexed protein imaging is emerging as a potent technique for analyzing protein distribution within cells and tissues in their native context. However, existing cell annotation methods utilizing high-plex spatial proteomics data are resource intensive and necessitate iterative expert input, thereby constraining their scalability and practicality for extensive datasets. We introduce MAPS (Machine learning for Analysis of Proteomics in Spatial biology), a machine learning approach facilitating rapid and precise cell type identification with human-level accuracy from spatial proteomics data. Validated on multiple in-house and publicly available MIBI and CODEX datasets, MAPS outperforms current annotation techniques in terms of speed and accuracy, achieving pathologist-level precision even for typically challenging cell types, including tumor cells of immune origin. By democratizing rapidly deployable and scalable machine learning annotation, MAPS holds significant potential to expedite advances in tissue biology and disease comprehension.