bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The “Era of the City” as an Emerging Challenge to Liberal Constitutional Democracy
Authors: Hirschl Ran
Published: December 2022

Extensive urbanization is one of the most significant demographic and geopolitical phenomena of our time. Yet, with few exceptions, constitutional theory has failed to turn its attention to this crucial trend. In particular, the burgeoning constitutional literature aimed at addressing phenomena such as democratic backsliding, constitutional retrogression, and populist threats to judicial independence and the rule of law has failed to respond to the significance of place as an emerging cleavage in contemporary politics. An alarming disconnect has emerged between constitutionalism's overwhelmingly statist (or Westphalian) outlook and the reality of geographically localized concentration of worldviews, policy preferences, and political identities. In this essay, I identify urban agglomeration and the accompanying resurgence of the urban-rural divide as posing a critical challenge to liberal constitutional democracy, and argue that the time is ripe to pay closer attention to the spatial dimension of constitutional governance and its impact on the rise of anti-establishment political resentment. To that end, in the essay's final part I identify several areas of constitutional law and theory that appear to hold some intellectual promise in thinking creatively about mitigating the urban-rural divide, and about the mounting urban challenge more generally.
Introduction: New Directions in the Study of Constitutional Democracy
Authors: Ragazzoni David
Published: December 2022

Constitutional (liberal) democracy pursues an ambitious project. It weaves together majority rule and minority rights and encapsulates a political and institutional organization of public life deliberately orchestrated to guarantee and safeguard rights and freedoms, the peaceful resolution of social and political conflict, and the widest-possible participation of citizens in democratic self-rule. Critical for these goals are procedural mechanisms that enhance the responsiveness and accountability of elected officeholders, contain the power of the governing majority, enable the mutual checks and balances involved with institutional prerogatives, and allow citizens to periodically assess their representatives and, should they want to, select new ones. This vision crystallized in the second half of the twentieth century, in the aftermath of totalitarian monopartyism and the two world wars; it seemed destined for global hegemony after the end of the Cold War and—supposedly—of history. However, the present and future of constitutional, liberal democracies around the world looks less idyllic than the optimism seen at the turn of the century might have suggested. Even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, debates about the wellbeing of liberal democratic regimes around the globe had been at the core of academic and public debates for at least a full decade.
KLAUS-Tr: Knowledge & learning-based unit focused arithmetic word problem solver for transfer cases
Authors: Kumar Suresh , Kumar P. Sreenivasa
Published: December 2022

Solving the Arithmetic Word Problems (AWPs) using AI techniques has attracted much attention in recent years. We feel that the current AWP solvers are under-utilizing the relevant domain knowledge. We present a knowledge- and learning-based system that effectively solves AWPs of a specific type—those that involve transfer of objects from one agent to another (Transfer Cases (TC)). We represent the knowledge relevant to these problems as TC Ontology. The sentences in TC-AWPs contain information of essentially four types: before-transfer, transfer, after-transfer, and query. Our system (KLAUS-Tr) uses statistical classifier to recognize the types of sentences. The sentence types guide the information extraction process used to identify the agents, quantities, units, types of objects, and the direction of transfer from the AWP text. The extracted information is represented as an RDF graph that utilizes the TC Ontology terminology. To solve the given AWP, we utilize semantic web rule language (SWRL) rules that capture the knowledge about how object transfer affects the RDF graph of the AWP. Using the TC ontology, we also analyze if the given problem is consistent or otherwise. The different ways in which TC-AWPs can be inconsistent are encoded as SWRL rules. Thus, KLAUS-Tr can identify if the given AWP is invalid and accordingly notify the user. Since the existing datasets do not have inconsistent AWPs, we create AWPs of this type and augment the datasets. We have implemented KLAUS-Tr and tested it on TC-type AWPs drawn from the All-Arith and other datasets. We find that TC-AWPs constitute about 40% of the AWPs in a typical dataset like All-Arith. Our system achieves an impressive accuracy of 92%, thus improving the state-of-the-art significantly. We plan to extend the system to handle AWPs that contain multiple transfers of objects and also offer explanations of the solutions.
Vernetzung(en) als Auftrag an Kindertageseinrichtungen
Authors: Töpfer Tom , Karner Britta , Cloos Peter
Published: December 2022

Zusammenfassung. Im Beitrag werden Ergebnisse der Studie „Kindertageseinrichtungen als vernetzte Organisationen im Sozialraum (KitaNet)“ präsentiert. Die Dokumentenanalyse auf Grundlage der Grounded-Theory-Methodologie zeigt auf, welche Vernetzungsaufträge und -strategien in Bildungsplänen formuliert werden und diskutiert, welche Orientierungsimpulse daraus für die praktische Vernetzungsarbeit erwachsen. Es werden vier Vernetzungsaufträge herausgearbeitet, die mit drei Vernetzungsstrategien verknüpft werden. Im Beitrag wird dafür plädiert, Vernetzung nicht nur kitazentriert zu konzeptualisieren, sondern in multiprofessioneller Perspektive zu operationalisieren, um Steuerungswirkungen entfalten zu können.
Methoden der primären Legasthenieprävention im Anfangsunterricht Deutsch
Authors: Miller Lisa , Mähler Claudia
Published: December 2022

Zusammenfassung. Die Förderung vorschulischer Determinanten der Schriftsprache gilt als geeignet, um Lese- und Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten vorzubeugen. Die vorliegende Längsschnittstudie untersucht an 142 Kindern, inwiefern Unterrichtsmethoden der lautgetreuen Lese-Rechtschreibförderung zu besseren Schriftsprachleistungen am Ende der ersten Klasse führen. Bei gleichen Ausgangsvoraussetzungen zeigten die Kinder der Interventionsgruppe (Fibel zum lautgetreuen Anfangsunterricht) bessere Rechtschreibleistungen am Ende des ersten Schuljahres. Weiterhin wurde der Einfluss vorschulischer kognitiver Fertigkeiten und spezifischen Vorwissens im Zusammenhang mit verschiedenen Unterrichtsmethoden untersucht. Die Daten zeigen, dass die frühe Buchstabenkenntnis und das schnelle Benennen die frühen Schriftsprachleistungen unabhängig von der Methode des Anfangsunterrichts vorhersagen. Fibelunterricht, der Methoden aus der LRS-Therapie umsetzt, kann wirksam sein, ohne den prädiktiven Wert der Vorläuferfertigkeiten aufzuheben.
„Also ich bin fassungslos. Ich bin ehrlich fassungslos über solche Sätze“
Authors: Weltzien Dörte , Colliard Florence
Published: December 2022

Zusammenfassung. Im Rahmen eines Studienprojekts an der Evangelischen Hochschule Freiburg wurden bundesweit 15 Expert_innen unterschiedlicher Fachdisziplinen und Handlungsfelder dazu befragt, wie sie geschlechts- und genderbezogene Ausführungen des aktuellen Orientierungsplans Baden-Württemberg bewerten. Das Projekt steht im Kontext der 2021 abgeschlossenen Evaluation des Orientierungsplans und der gegenwärtigen Weiterentwicklung unter Federführung des Forums Frühkindliche Bildung1. Die leitfadengestützten Interviews wurden mit Hilfe des Integrativen Basisverfahrens nach Kruse (2014) ausgewertet, dabei standen themenspezifische und feinsprachliche Analyseheuristiken im Vordergrund. Der vorliegende Beitrag bezieht sich auf die Fragen, wie (1) ausgewählte Textauszüge zu Geschlechtsidentität und Geschlechterrollen im Orientierungsplan Baden-Württemberg von Expert_innen verschiedener Bezugsdisziplinen und Arbeitsschwerpunkte gelesen und bewertet werden, (2) welche Argumente für/gegen diese Form der Versprachlichung herangezogen werden und (3) welche zukünftigen Möglichkeiten für gendersensible Formulierungen im Orientierungsplan genannt werden. In der Gesamtschau der Ergebnisse zeigt sich ein deutlicher Überarbeitungsbedarf, insbesondere im Umgang mit Geschlechterdiversität, Rollenstereotypen und Diskriminierung. Deutlich wurde zudem die Notwendigkeit einer sprachlichen Klarheit und – bei aller Komplexität – einer Reduzierung von Deutungsvarianz, um der fachlichen Praxis echte Handlungsorientierung zu bieten.
Understanding Internal Cluster Variability Through Subcluster Metric Analysis in a Geophysical Context
Authors: Schuddeboom A. J. , McDonald A. J.
Published: December 2022

Clustering algorithms are commonly used for inspecting the behavior of clouds in both model and satellite data sets. Often overlooked in cluster analysis is the variability that occurs within any clusters generated. This is particularly important in the geophysics where clusters are often generated with a focus on interpretability over mathematical optimization. Two metrics, the Davies‐Bouldin index and the subsom entropy, are used to identify clusters with large internal variability. These metrics are applied to an example set of clusters from prior research that were generated using cloud top pressure‐cloud optical thickness joint histograms from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data set. Applying these metrics to the clusters identifies one cluster in particular as a major outlier. Examining the calculations behind these metrics in more detail provides further information about the internal variability of the clusters. The clusters are also examined over several geographic regions showing mostly consistent behavior. There are, however, some large anomalies such as the behavior of the clear sky cluster or the behavior of several different clusters over the Arctic Ocean. To aide our interpretation of these results, two clusters are chosen for a detailed analysis of their subclusters. The geographic distributions and radiative properties of these subclusters are examined and clearly identify that subclusters have physically distinct behavior. This result illustrates that these metrics are capable of determining when a cluster contains physically distinct subclusters. This demonstrates the potential utility of these metrics if they were applied to other geophysical data sets.
Detailed 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology of the Loyalty and Three Kings Ridges Clarifies the Extent and Sequential Development of Eocene to Miocene Southwest Pacific Remnant Volcanic Arcs
Authors: Gans P. B. , Mortimer N. , Patriat M. , Turnbull R. E. , Crundwell M. P. , Agranier A. , Calvert A. T. , Seward G. , Etienne S. , Durance P. M. J. , Campbell H. J. , Collot J.
Published: December 2022

The 2015 VESPA voyage (Volcanic Evolution of South Pacific Arcs) was a seismic and rock dredging expedition to the Loyalty and Three Kings Ridges and South Fiji Basin. In this paper we present 33 40Ar/39Ar, 22 micropaleontological, and two U/Pb ages for igneous and sedimentary rocks from 33 dredge sites in this little‐studied part of the southwest Pacific Ocean. Igneous rocks include basalts, dolerites, basaltic andesites, trachyandesites, and a granite. Successful Ar/Ar dating of altered and/or low‐K basalts was achieved through careful sample selection and processing, detailed petrographic and element mapping of groundmass, and incremental heating experiments on both phenocryst and groundmass separates to interpret the complex spectra produced by samples having multiple K reservoirs. The 40Ar/39Ar ages of most of the sampled lavas, irrespective of composition, are latest Oligocene to earliest Miocene (25–22 Ma); two are Eocene (39–36 Ma). The granite has a U/Pb zircon age of 23.6 ± 0.3 Ma. 40Ar/39Ar lava ages are corroborated by microfossil ages from associated sedimentary rocks. The VESPA lavas are part of a >3,000 km long disrupted belt of Eocene to Miocene subduction‐related volcanic rocks. The belt includes arc rocks in Northland New Zealand, Northland Plateau, Three Kings Ridge, and Loyalty Ridge and, speculatively, D’Entrecasteaux Ridge. This belt is the product of superimposed Eocene and Oligocene‐Miocene remnant volcanic arcs that were stranded along and near the edge of Zealandia while still‐active arc belts migrated east with the Pacific trench.
Divergent roles of herbivory in eutrophying forests
Authors: Segar Josiane , Pereira Henrique M. , Baeten Lander , Bernhardt-Römermann Markus , De Frenne Pieter , Fernández Néstor , Gilliam Frank S. , Lenoir Jonathan , Ortmann-Ajkai Adrienne , Verheyen Kris , Waller Donald , Teleki Balázs , Brunet Jörg , Chudomelová Markéta , Decocq Guillaume , Dirnböck Thomas , Hédl Radim , Heinken Thilo , Jaroszewicz Bogdan , Kopecký Martin , Macek Martin , Máliš František , Naaf Tobias , Orczewska Anna , Reczynska Kamila , Schmidt Wolfgang , Šebesta Jan , Stachurska-Swakoń Alina , Standovár Tibor , Swierkosz Krzysztof , Vild Ondřej , Wulf Monika , Staude Ingmar R.
Published: December 2022

Ungulate populations are increasing across Europe with important implications for forest plant communities. Concurrently, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition continues to eutrophicate forests, threatening many rare, often more nutrient-efficient, plant species. These pressures may critically interact to shape biodiversity as in grassland and tundra systems, yet any potential interactions in forests remain poorly understood. Here, we combined vegetation resurveys from 52 sites across 13 European countries to test how changes in ungulate herbivory and eutrophication drive long-term changes in forest understorey communities. Increases in herbivory were associated with elevated temporal species turnover, however, identities of winner and loser species depended on N levels. Under low levels of N-deposition, herbivory favored threatened and small-ranged species while reducing the proportion of non-native and nutrient-demanding species. Yet all these trends were reversed under high levels of N-deposition. Herbivores also reduced shrub cover, likely exacerbating N effects by increasing light levels in the understorey. Eutrophication levels may therefore determine whether herbivory acts as a catalyst for the “N time bomb” or as a conservation tool in temperate forests.
Design of a self-driven probiotic-CRISPR/Cas9 nanosystem for sono-immunometabolic cancer therapy
Authors: Yu Jifeng , Zhou Bangguo , Zhang Shen , Yin Haohao , Sun Liping , Pu Yinying , Zhou Boyang , Sun Yikang , Li Xiaolong , Fang Yan , Wang Lifan , Zhao Chongke , Du Dou , Zhang Yan , Xu Huixiong
Published: December 2022

Reprogramming the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment is a promising strategy for improving tumor immunotherapy efficacy. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 system can be used to knockdown tumor immunosuppression-related genes. Therefore, here, a self-driven multifunctional delivery vector is constructed to efficiently deliver the CRISPR-Cas9 nanosystem for indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) knockdown in order to amplify immunogenic cell death (ICD) and then reverse tumor immunosuppression. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) is a self-driven safety probiotic that can penetrate the hypoxia tumor center, allowing efficient delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to the tumor region. While LGG efficiently colonizes the tumor area, it also stimulates the organism to activate the immune system. The CRISPR/Cas9 nanosystem can generate abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) under the ultrasound irradiation, resulting in ICD, while the produced ROS can induce endosomal/lysosomal rupture and then releasing Cas9/sgRNA to knock down the IDO1 gene to lift immunosuppression. The system generates immune responses that effectively attack tumor cells in mice, contributing to the inhibition of tumor re-challenge in vivo. In addition, this strategy provides an immunological memory effect which offers protection against lung metastasis.
Atomic design of dual-metal hetero-single-atoms for high-efficiency synthesis of natural flavones
Authors: Zhao Xin , Fang Ruiqi , Wang Fengliang , Kong Xiangpeng , Li Yingwei
Published: December 2022

Single-atom (SA) catalysts provide extensive possibilities in pursuing fantastic catalytic performances, while their preparation still suffers from metal aggregation and pore collapsing during pyrolysis. Here we report a versatile medium-induced infiltration deposition strategy for the fabrication of SAs and hetero-SAs (MaN4/MbN4@NC; Ma = Cu, Co, Ni, Mn, Mb = Co, Cu, Fe, NC = N-doped carbon). In-situ and control experiments reveal that the catalyst fabrication relies on the “step-by-step” evolution of Ma-containing metal-organic framework (MOF) template and Mb-based metal precursor, during which molten salt acts as both pore generator in the MOF transformation, and carrier for the oriented infiltration and deposition of the latter to eventually yield metal SAs embedded on hierarchically porous support. The as-prepared hetero-SAs show excellent catalytic performances in the general synthesis of 33 kinds of natural flavones. The highly efficient synthesis is further strengthened by the reliable durability of the catalyst loaded in a flow reactor. Systematic characterizations and mechanism studies suggest that the superior catalytic performances of CuN4/CoN4@NC are attributed to the facilitated O2activating-splitting process and significantly reduced reaction energy barriers over CoN4due to the synergetic interactions of the adjacent CuN4.
Actin-microtubule cytoskeletal interplay mediated by MRTF-A/SRF signaling promotes dilated cardiomyopathy caused by LMNA mutations
Authors: Le Dour Caroline , Chatzifrangkeskou Maria , Macquart Coline , Magiera Maria M. , Peccate Cécile , Jouve Charlène , Virtanen Laura , Heliö Tiina , Aalto-Setälä Katriina , Crasto Silvia , Cadot Bruno , Cardoso Déborah , Mougenot Nathalie , Adesse Daniel , Di Pasquale Elisa , Hulot Jean-Sébastien , Taimen Pekka , Janke Carsten , Muchir Antoine
Published: December 2022

Mutations in the lamin A/C gene (LMNA) cause dilated cardiomyopathy associated with increased activity of ERK1/2 in the heart. We recently showed that ERK1/2 phosphorylates cofilin-1 on threonine 25 (phospho(T25)-cofilin-1) that in turn disassembles the actin cytoskeleton. Here, we show that in muscle cells carrying a cardiomyopathy-causingLMNAmutation, phospho(T25)-cofilin-1 binds to myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A) in the cytoplasm, thus preventing the stimulation of serum response factor (SRF) in the nucleus. Inhibiting the MRTF-A/SRF axis leads to decreased α-tubulin acetylation by reducing the expression ofATAT1gene encoding α-tubulin acetyltransferase 1. Hence, tubulin acetylation is decreased in cardiomyocytes derived from male patients withLMNAmutations and in heart and isolated cardiomyocytes fromLmnap.H222P/H222Pmale mice. InAtat1knockout mice, deficient for acetylated α-tubulin, we observe left ventricular dilation and mislocalization of Connexin 43 (Cx43) in heart. Increasing α-tubulin acetylation levels inLmnap.H222P/H222Pmice with tubastatin A treatment restores the proper localization of Cx43 and improves cardiac function. In summary, we show for the first time an actin-microtubule cytoskeletal interplay mediated by cofilin-1 and MRTF-A/SRF, promoting the dilated cardiomyopathy caused byLMNAmutations. Our findings suggest that modulating α-tubulin acetylation levels is a feasible strategy for improving cardiac function.
Safeguarding genome integrity during gene-editing therapy in a mouse model of age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Yin Jianhang , Fang Kailun , Gao Yanxia , Ou Liqiong , Yuan Shaopeng , Xin Changchang , Wu Weiwei , Wu Wei-wei , Hong Jiaxu , Yang Hui , Hu Jiazhi
Published: December 2022

Ensuring genome safety during gene editing is crucial for clinical translation of the high-efficient CRISPR-Cas9 toolbox. Therefore, the undesired events including chromosomal translocations, vector integrations, and large deletions arising during therapeutic gene editing remain to be adequately addressed or tackled in vivo. Here, we apply CRISPR-Cas9TX in comparison to CRISPR-Cas9 to target Vegfa for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) disease in a mouse model. AAV delivery of both CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas9TX can efficiently inhibit laser-induced neovascularization. Importantly, Cas9TX almost eliminates chromosomal translocations that occur at a frequency of approximately 1% in Cas9-edited mouse retinal cells. Strikingly, the widely observed AAV integration at the target Vegfa site is also greatly reduced from nearly 50% of edited events to the background level during Cas9TX editing. Our findings reveal that chromosomal structural variations routinely occur during in vivo genome editing and highlight Cas9TX as a superior form of Cas9 for in vivo gene disruption.
Genetically programmed cell-based synthesis of non-natural peptide and depsipeptide macrocycles
Authors: Spinck Martin , Piedrafita Carlos , Robertson Wesley E. , Elliott Thomas S. , Cervettini Daniele , de la Torre Daniel , Chin Jason W.
Published: December 2022

The direct genetically encoded cell-based synthesis of non-natural peptide and depsipeptide macrocycles is an outstanding challenge. Here we programme the encoded synthesis of 25 diverse non-natural macrocyclic peptides, each containing two non-canonical amino acids, in Syn61Δ3-derived cells; these cells contain a synthetic Escherichia coli genome in which the annotated occurrences of two sense codons and a stop codon, and the cognate transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and release factor that normally decode these codons, have been removed. We further demonstrate that pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pairs from distinct classes can be engineered to direct the co-translational incorporation of diverse alpha hydroxy acids, with both aliphatic and aromatic side chains. We define 49 engineered mutually orthogonal pairs that recognize distinct non-canonical amino acids or alpha hydroxy acids and decode distinct codons. Finally, we combine our advances to programme Syn61Δ3-derived cells for the encoded synthesis of 12 diverse non-natural depsipeptide macrocycles, which contain two non-canonical side chains and either one or two ester bonds.
Experimental observation of Berry phases in optical Möbius-strip microcavities
Authors: Wang Jiawei , Valligatla Sreeramulu , Yin Yin , Schwarz Lukas , Medina-Sánchez Mariana , Baunack Stefan , Lee Ching Hua , Thomale Ronny , Li Shilong , Fomin Vladimir M. , Ma Libo , Schmidt Oliver G.
Published: December 2022

The Möbius strip, a fascinating loop structure with one-sided topology, provides a rich playground for manipulating the non-trivial topological behaviour of spinning particles, such as electrons, polaritons and photons, in both real and parameter spaces. For photons resonating in a Möbius-strip cavity, the occurrence of an extra phase—known as the Berry phase—with purely topological origin is expected due to its non-trivial evolution in parameter space. However, despite numerous theoretical investigations, characterizing the optical Berry phase in a Möbius-strip cavity has remained elusive. Here we report the experimental observation of the Berry phase generated in optical Möbius-strip microcavities. In contrast to theoretical predictions in optical, electronic and magnetic Möbius-topology systems where only Berry phase π occurs, we demonstrate that a variable Berry phase smaller than π can be acquired by generating elliptical polarization of resonating light. Möbius-strip microcavities as integrable and Berry-phase-programmable optical systems are of great interest in topological physics and emerging classical or quantum photonic applications.
Multiplexed transcriptome discovery of RNA-binding protein binding sites by antibody-barcode eCLIP
Authors: Lorenz Daniel A. , Her Hsuan-Lin , Shen Kylie A. , Rothamel Katie , Hutt Kasey R. , Nojadera Allan C. , Bruns Stephanie C. , Manakov Sergei A. , Yee Brian A. , Chapman Karen B. , Yeo Gene W.
Published: December 2022

Ultraviolet crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) methodologies enable the identification of RNA binding sites of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Despite improvements in the library preparation of RNA fragments, the enhanced CLIP (eCLIP) protocol requires 4 days of hands-on time and lacks the ability to process several RBPs in parallel. We present a new method termed antibody-barcode eCLIP that utilizes DNA-barcoded antibodies and proximity ligation of the DNA oligonucleotides to RBP-protected RNA fragments to interrogate several RBPs simultaneously. We observe performance comparable with that of eCLIP with the advantage of dramatically increased scaling while maintaining the same material requirement of a single eCLIP experiment.
Diverse silent chromatin states modulate genome compartmentalization and loop extrusion barriers
Authors: Spracklin George , Abdennur Nezar , Imakaev Maxim , Chowdhury Neil , Pradhan Sriharsa , Mirny Leonid A. , Dekker Job
Published: December 2022

The relationships between chromosomal compartmentalization, chromatin state and function are poorly understood. Here by profiling long-range contact frequencies in HCT116 colon cancer cells, we distinguish three silent chromatin states, comprising two types of heterochromatin and a state enriched for H3K9me2 and H2A.Z that exhibits neutral three-dimensional interaction preferences and which, to our knowledge, has not previously been characterized. We find that heterochromatin marked by H3K9me3, HP1α and HP1β correlates with strong compartmentalization. We demonstrate that disruption of DNA methyltransferase activity greatly remodels genome compartmentalization whereby domains lose H3K9me3-HP1α/β binding and acquire the neutrally interacting state while retaining late replication timing. Furthermore, we show that H3K9me3-HP1α/β heterochromatin is permissive to loop extrusion by cohesin but refractory to CTCF binding. Together, our work reveals a dynamic structural and organizational diversity of the silent portion of the genome and establishes connections between the regulation of chromatin state and chromosome organization, including an interplay between DNA methylation, compartmentalization and loop extrusion.
Prestimulus oscillatory brain activity interacts with evoked recurrent processing to facilitate conscious visual perception
Authors: Krasich Kristina , Simmons Claire , O’Neill Kevin , Giattino Charles M. , De Brigard Felipe , Sinnott-Armstrong Walter , Mudrik Liad , Woldorff Marty G.
Published: December 2022

We investigated whether prestimulus alpha-band oscillatory activity and stimulus-elicited recurrent processing interact to facilitate conscious visual perception. Participants tried to perceive a visual stimulus that was perceptually masked through object substitution masking (OSM). We showed that attenuated prestimulus alpha power was associated with greater negative-polarity stimulus-evoked ERP activity that resembled the visual awareness negativity (VAN), previously argued to reflect recurrent processing related to conscious perception. This effect, however, was not associated with better perception. Instead, when prestimulus alpha power was elevated, a preferred prestimulus alpha phase was associated with a greater VAN-like negativity, which was then associated with better cue perception. Cue perception was worse when prestimulus alpha power was elevated but the stimulus occurred at a nonoptimal prestimulus alpha phase and the VAN-like negativity was low. Our findings suggest that prestimulus alpha activity at a specific phase enables temporally selective recurrent processing that facilitates conscious perception in OSM.
Single-cell RNA sequencing of immune cells in patients with acute gout
Authors: Chang Jan-Gowth , Tu Siang-Jyun , Huang Chung-Ming , Chen Yu-Chia , Chiang Hui-Shan , Lee Ya-Ting , Yen Ju-Chen , Lin Chia-Li , Chung Chin-Chun , Liu Ta-Chih , Chang Ya-Sian
Published: December 2022

Cell subpopulations in the blood and joint fluid of patients with gout are poorly understood. Single-cell RNA sequencing and bioinformatic tools were used to identify cell subsets and their gene signatures in blood and synovial fluid (SF) cells, determine their relationships, characterize the diversity, and evaluate interactions among specific cell types. We identified 34 subpopulations (5 types of B cells, 16 types of T and natural killer cells, 9 types of monocytes, and 4 other cell types) in the blood of five healthy subjects and seven patients with acute gouty, and the SF of three patients with acute gout. We found that naïve CD4 T cells and classical monocytes cell populations were enriched in patients with gout, whereas plasmacytoid dendritic cells and intermediate monocytes were more abundant in healthy subjects. SF was enriched in Th1/Th17 cells, effector memory CD8 T cells, mucosal-associated invariant T cells, and macrophages. Subclusters of these cell subpopulations showed different compositions between healthy subjects and those with acute gout, according to blood and SF samples. At the cellular level, the inflammation score of a subpopulation or subcluster was highest in SF, following by the blood of acute gout patients and healthy person, whereas energy score showed the opposite trend. We also detected specific cell–cell interactions for interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and transforming growth factor-β1 expression in the cells of patients with acute gout. Our study reveals cellular and molecular insights on inflammatory responses to hyperuricemia or uric crystal and may provide therapeutic guidance to improve treatments for gout.
Direct detection of acetonitrile at the pptv level with photoinduced associative ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry
Authors: Jiang Kui , Yu Zhangqi , Wei Zhiyang , Cheng Shiyu , Wang Haijie , Yan Zitao , Shan Lixin , Huang Jingyun , Yang Bo , Shu Jinian
Published: December 2022

Developing a highly efficient method for real-time detection of acetonitrile at the pptv level with photoinduced associative ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
Spectrum and size controllable synthesis of high-quality gold nanorods using 1,7-dihydroxynaphthalene as a reducing agent
Authors: Guo Yuyang , Liu Qiuyue , Wei Anhua , Jiang Suju , Chen Feifei , Huang Jun , He Yimiao , Huang Guobao , Wu Zihua
Published: December 2022

The use of 1,7-dihydroxynaphthalene as a reducing agent is in producing high-quality gold nanorods featuring high monodispersity and shape yields, small diameters of less than 14.3 nm, and tunable plasmon resonance wavelength of up to 1000 nm.
Self-flooding behaviors on the fuel cell catalyst surface: an in situ mechanism investigation
Authors: Yang Yingze , Qin Jingshan , Hu Kadi , Luo Liang , Kumar Anuj , Zhou Daojin , Zhuang Zhongbin , Li Hui , Sun Xiaoming
Published: December 2022

Self-flooding behaviors are observed at the reactant gas bubble/transparent Pt/ITO electrode interface as a mimic catalyst layer of a fuel cell, as revealed by the water vapor condensation induced by the ion-generation reactions.
Busting muscle myths
Authors: Bagley James R. , Galpin Andrew J. , Murach Kevin A.
Published: December 2022

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body. Known for its primary role in movement, muscle also plays important roles in regulating metabolism, maintaining body temperature and providing large stores of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Muscle cells (known as ‘muscle fibres’) can rapidly adapt to exercise or disuse by changing size and function. Many myths and misconceptions have proliferated through the years related to skeletal muscle, exercise training and human performance. Some of these myths have spanned centuries, but more recent research has passed doubt on these stories. In this article, we address common misconceptions, including the ‘go big or go home’ and ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’ approaches to training. Clarification of these myths could positively impact individual exercise programs/therapies and their outcomes.
Hierarchical eco‐driving control strategy for hybrid electric vehicle platoon at signalized intersections under partially connected and automated vehicle environment
Authors: Chen Jian , Qian Li‐Jun , Xuan Liang , Chen Chen
Published: December 2022

In recent years, eco‐driving for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) has been studied with the emerging connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies to improve the mobility, fuel economy and safety of HEVs. This paper develops a hierarchical eco‐driving control strategy for HEV platoons consisting of CAVs and human‐driven vehicles (HDVs) to improve fuel economy at signalized intersections. For each platoon, the speed trajectories of CAVs are optimized in the upper layer controller using model predictive control (MPC) to minimize the total fuel consumption of the whole platoon. For each HEV, the optimal power split between the engine and the battery is obtained in the lower layer controller using adaptive equivalent consumption minimization strategy (A‐ECMS). The time‐varying powertrain efficiencies of HEVs are explicitly considered in the speed trajectory optimization. At last, simulation studies are conducted using MATLAB and VISSIM to evaluate the performances of the strategy in mixed traffic scenarios and different CAV penetration rates. Simulation results indicate that compared with the single vehicle control strategy, the proposed strategy can improve the average fuel economy by up to 8.34% and considering the time‐varying powertrain efficiencies of HEVs in the optimization can further reduce the fuel consumption by up to 1.23%.
Photothermal effects of gold nanorods in aqueous solution and gel media: Influence of particle size and excitation wavelength
Authors: Mbalaha Zendesha S. , Birch David J. S. , Chen Yu
Published: December 2022

Gold nanorods (GNRs) have emerged as the most efficient photothermal agent in cancer therapy and photocatalysis. Understanding the influence of the surrounding medium, particle size, and excitation wavelength is critical to optimising the photothermal conversion rate. Here, three pairs of large and small gold nanorods of different aspect ratios and their heat generation under laser radiation at on and off surface plasmon resonance wavelengths in aqueous solution and gel‐like media are investigated. In the aqueous solution, the temperature rise of the large gold nanorods is more than with small gold nanorods at resonance excitation. In contrast to the large gold nanorods (LGNRs), the small gold nanorods (SGNRs) were less sensitive to excitation wavelength. At off‐resonance excitation, the temperature rise of the SGNRs is larger than that of the LGNRs. In the agarose gel, the photothermal effect of the SGNRs is greater than LGNRs excited at the wavelength near their solution phase longitudinal surface plasmon resonance wavelength. The temperature increase of LGNRs in gel is significantly less than in aqueous solution. These findings suggest that SGNRs could be more beneficial than the LGNRs for photothermal applications in biological systems and provides further insight when selecting GNRs.
Probabilistic mass-mapping with neural score estimation
Authors: Remy B. , Lanusse F. , Jeffrey N. , Liu J. , Starck J.-L. , Osato K. , Schrabback T.
Published: December 2022

Context.Weak lensing mass-mapping is a useful tool for accessing the full distribution of dark matter on the sky, but because of intrinsic galaxy ellipticies, finite fields, and missing data, the recovery of dark matter maps constitutes a challenging, ill-posed inverse problem

Aims.We introduce a novel methodology that enables the efficient sampling of the high-dimensional Bayesian posterior of the weak lensing mass-mapping problem, relying on simulations to define a fully non-Gaussian prior. We aim to demonstrate the accuracy of the method to simulated fields, and then proceed to apply it to the mass reconstruction of the HST/ACS COSMOS field.

Methods.The proposed methodology combines elements of Bayesian statistics, analytic theory, and a recent class of deep generative models based on neural score matching. This approach allows us to make full use of analytic cosmological theory to constrain the 2pt statistics of the solution, to understand any differences between this analytic prior and full simulations from cosmological simulations, and to obtain samples from the full Bayesian posterior of the problem for robust uncertainty quantification.

Results.We demonstrate the method in theκTNG simulations and find that the posterior mean significantly outperfoms previous methods (Kaiser–Squires, Wiener filter, Sparsity priors) both for the root-mean-square error and in terms of the Pearson correlation. We further illustrate the interpretability of the recovered posterior by establishing a close correlation between posterior convergence values and the S/N of the clusters artificially introduced into a field. Finally, we apply the method to the reconstruction of the HST/ACS COSMOS field, which yields the highest-quality convergence map of this field to date.

Conclusions.We find the proposed approach to be superior to previous algorithms, scalable, providing uncertainties, and using a fully non-Gaussian prior.
Identifying the energy release site in a solar microflare with a jet
Authors: Battaglia Andrea Francesco , Wang Wen , Saqri Jonas , Podladchikova Tatiana , Veronig Astrid M. , Collier Hannah , Dickson Ewan C. M. , Podladchikova Olena , Monstein Christian , Warmuth Alexander , Schuller Frédéric , Harra Louise , Krucker Säm
Published: December 2022

Context. One of the main science questions of the Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe missions deals with understanding how electrons in the lower solar corona are accelerated and how they subsequently access interplanetary space.

Aims. We aim to investigate the electron acceleration and energy release sites as well as the manner in which accelerated electrons access the interplanetary space in the case of the SOL2021-02-18T18:05 event, a GOES A8 class microflare associated with a coronal jet.

Methods. This study takes advantage of three different vantage points, Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A, and Earth, with observations drawn from eight different instruments, ranging from radio to X-ray. Multi-wavelength timing analysis combined with UV/EUV imagery and X-ray spectroscopy by Solar Orbiter/STIX (Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays) is used to investigate the origin of the observed emission during different flare phases.

Results. The event under investigation satisfies the classical picture of the onset time of the acceleration of electrons coinciding with the jet and the radio type III bursts. This microflare features prominent hard X-ray (HXR) nonthermal emission down to at least 10 keV and a spectrum that is much harder than usual for a microflare with γ = 2.9 ± 0.3. From Earth’s vantage point, the microflare is seen near the limb, revealing the coronal energy release site above the flare loop in EUV, which, from STIX spectroscopic analysis, turns out to be hot (i.e., at roughly the same temperature of the flare). Moreover, this region is moving toward higher altitudes over time (∼30 km s−1). During the flare, the same region spatially coincides with the origin of the coronal jet. Three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic reconstructions of the propagating jet highlight that the ejected plasma moves along a curved trajectory.

Conclusions. Within the framework of the interchange reconnection model, we conclude that the energy release site observed above-the-loop corresponds to the electron acceleration site, corroborating that interchange reconnection is a viable candidate for particle acceleration in the low corona on field lines open to interplanetary space.
Enhanced photocatalytic degradation property of surfactant-free cobalt oxide nanocapsules on methylene blue dye
Authors: Karthikeyan Anbalagan , Mariappan Ramasamy , Gowrisankar Ganesan , Krishnamoorthy Ethirajan
Published: December 2022

The transition metal oxides are emerging materials in solving existing environmental problems of removal of organic dye from the industrial wastes. Out of many transition metal oxides, cobalt oxide is one such potential material of low cost, easy to synthesis, eco-friendly and easily separable from mixtures due to its magnetic property. Herein a facile surfactant-free synthesis route has been adopted for the preparation of Co3O4 nanocapsules (Co 600) which exhibited a better photocatalytic degradation activity. The structure, morphology and optical behaviours were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) analyses respectively and vibration modes of Co 600 were studied using Raman analysis. The photocatalytic degradation studies of Co 600 on methylene blue (MB) were carried out under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. The examined results showed that the Co 600 exhibited narrow band gap of about 1.65 eV which has better photocatalytic degradation activity on MB with degradation efficiency of about 99% in 90 minute with a rate constant of about 0.064. This might be attributed due to enhanced charge separation, charge transfer and the creation of OH– and O2– radicals under UV irradiation. In addition, the samples were easily recovered from the dye solution using an external magnetic field.
Thermal Axions: What’s next?
Authors: D’Eramo Francesco
Published: December 2022

Scattering and decay processes of thermal bath particles in the early universe can dump relativistic axions in the primordial plasma. If produced with a significant abundance, their presence can leave observable signatures in cosmological observables probing both the early and the late universe. We focus on the QCD axion and present recent and significant improvements for the calculation of the axion production rate across the different energy scales during the expansion of the universe. We apply these rates to predict the abundance of produced axions and to derive the latest cosmological bounds on the axion mass and couplings.
Light-meson scattering dispersive analyses and light-scalar meson spectroscopy. Where do we stand?
Authors: Peláez José R.
Published: December 2022

In this talk I reviewed the present status and recent progress on lightmeson scattering analyses, by means of dispersive or analytic methods. The recent application of these model independent techniques have settled the controversy about the existence and parameters of long debated light meson resonances. I will thus discuss here the state of the art and recent changes on our knowledge about the spectroscopy of light scalar mesons when observed from such scattering processes.
Higher Twists
Authors: Braun Vladimir M.
Published: December 2022

The higher twist corrections refer to a certain class of contributions to hard processes in strong interactions that are suppressed by a power of the hard scale. This is a very broad field of research which is becoming more and more important as the accuracy of the available experimental data increases. I give an overview of some relevant basic theory concepts and technical developments, and briefly discuss a few phenomenological applications.
London model of dual color superconductor
Authors: Hošek Jiří
Published: December 2022

The Meissner effect for the chromoelectric field E⃗a is a property of the non-perturbative QCD vacuum medium assumed to explain the observed confinement of color. The color dielectric function ϵ of such a medium should vanish. By Lorentz invariance ϵμ = 1 i.e., its color magnetic permeability μ should diverge. The assumption based on analogy is well motivated: Ordinary superconductor is the physical medium with μ = 0, confining the opposite magnetic charges (would they exist). For the first successful phenomenological description of both the Meissner effect and superconductivity within Maxwell equations Fritz London guessed two equations for the superconductivity current. We adapt his arguments to QCD and come with two analogous manifestly non-Abelian London-like equations. One equation describes the dual Meissner effect. The analogy is, however, not perfect: We can only speculate that there is some sort of chromo-magnetic superfluidity in QCD phenomena to which the second equation might be ascribed. Moreover, from more advanced Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory of superconductivity it follows that the Meissner effect is a consequence of spontaneous breaking of the underlying global U(1) symmetry. This is certainly not the case of the dual Meissner effect. Fortunately, the derived London-like equations suggest a strongly color-paramagnetic behavior. We interpret it as a guide to the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau-like manifestly gauge-invariant low-momentum QCD with the confining vacuum which behaves as a perfect color paramagnet (μ = +∞).
Position-space gluon propagator from quenched lattice QCD
Authors: de Soto Feliciano
Published: December 2022

We report novel lattice QCD results for the position-space gluon propagator in Landau gauge from quenched simulations. Using standard Wilson action, we computed gluon propagator in position space with a detailed treatment of hypercubic errors. Gluon propagator is scrutinized in position-space, discussing on the usefulness of the long-distance behavior of gluon propagator for constraining the gluon spectral function or the deep infrared running of the gluon propagator in momentum-space.
Conventional mesons below 2 GeV
Authors: Giacosa Francesco
Published: December 2022

We briefly review the status of various conventional quark-antiquark mesons below 2 GeV and outline some open questions: the status of the strangeantistrange orbitally excited vector meson, the status of the nonet of axial-tensor mesons (chiral partners of the well known tensor mesons), and the isoscalar mixing angle in the pseudotensor sector, which can eventually represent a novel manifestation of the chiral anomaly.
QCD vacuum replicas are metastable
Authors: Bicudo Pedro , Ribeiro José Emílio
Published: December 2022

We study the meson spectra in the excited QCD vacua, denominated replicas. We find all mesons have real masses, with no tachyons, thus showing the QCD replicas are indeed metastable.
αs from an improved τ vector isovector spectral function
Authors: Boito Diogo , Golterman Maarten , Maltman Kim , Peris Santiago , Rodrigues Marcus V. , Schaaf Wilder
Published: December 2022

After discussing difficulties in determining αs from tau decay due to the existence of Duality Violations and the associated asymptotic nature of the OPE, we describe a new determination based on an improved vector isovector spectral function, now based solely on experimental input, obtained by (i) combining ALEPH and OPAL results for 2π + 4π and (ii) replacing K−K0 and higher-multiplicity exclusive-mode contributions, both previously estimated using Monte Carlo, with new experimental BaBar results for K−K0 and results implied by e+e− cross sections and CVC for the higher-multiplicity modes. We find αs(mτ) = 0.3077±0.0075, which corresponds to αs(mZ) = 0.1171±0.0010. Finally, we comment on some of the shortcomings in the criticism of our approach by Pich and Rodriguez-Sanchez.
Methods on compositeness and related aspects
Authors: Oller José Antonio
Published: December 2022

In many physical applications, bound states and/or resonances are observed, which raises the question whether these states are elementary or composite. Here we elaborate on several methods for calculating the compositeness X of bound states and resonances in Quantum Mechanics, and in Quantum Field Theory by introducing particle number operators. For resonances X is typically complex and we discuss how to get meaningful results by using certain phase transformations in the S matrix.