bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spin–orbit coupling controlling the superconducting dome of artificial superlattices of quantum wells
Authors: Mazziotti Maria Vittoria , Bianconi Antonio , Raimondi Roberto , Campi Gaetano , Valletta Antonio
Published: November 2022

While it is known that a resonant amplification of Tc in two-gap superconductors can be driven by using the Fano–Feshbach resonance tuning the chemical potential near a Lifshitz transition, little is known on tuning the Tc resonance by cooperative interplay of the Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) joint with phonon mediated (e-ph) pairing at selected k-space spots. Here, we present first-principles quantum calculation of superconductivity in an artificial heterostructure of metallic quantum wells with 3 nm period where quantum size effects give two-gap superconductivity with RSOC controlled by the internal electric field at the interface between the nanoscale metallic layers intercalated by insulating spacer layers. The key results of this work show that fundamental quantum mechanics effects including RSCO at the nanoscale [Mazziotti et al., Phys. Rev. B, 103, 024523 (2021)] provide key tools in applied physics for quantitative material design of unconventional high temperature superconductors at ambient pressure. We discuss the superconducting domes where Tc is a function of either the Lifshitz parameter (η) measuring the distance from the topological Lifshitz transition for the appearing of a new small Fermi surface due to quantum size effects with finite spin–orbit coupling and the variable e-ph coupling g in the appearing second Fermi surface linked with the energy softening of the cut off ω0.
Ferromagnetic resonance of hollow micron-sized magnetic cylinders
Authors: Couture P. , Goldman S. , Camley R. E. , Iacocca E. , Livesey K. L. , Robinson T. , Meyers D. , Maat S. , Nembach H. T. , Celinski Z.
Published: November 2022

We have explored dynamic magnetic properties of micron-sized Ni-coated carbon fibers embedded in a polymer matrix for electromagnetic interference shielding applications. These hollow magnetic cylinders exhibit unusual dynamic magnetic properties, which were measured with a broad-band ferromagnetic resonance system (FMR). We observe three families of FMR modes, which are connected to different physical locations within the cylinder. We develop a simple analytic model to explain these results and corroborate resonant mode profiles with micromagnetic simulations. We find excellent agreement between experimental results and theoretical models. Our work indicates that global demagnetizing factors are not appropriate for understanding the spin motions in these hollow cylinders. The FMR absorption observed in these hallow cylinders is very different from those observed in nanowires or solid cylinders. The field-swept envelope of all the observed FMR resonances is very broad, approximately μ0H = 1 T, with a linewidth of individual modes around μ0ΔH = 250 mT. This can be important for electromagnetic shielding applications.
GaAs on (001) Si templates for near-infrared InP quantum dot lasers
Authors: Huang Jie , Lin Qi , Luo Wei , Lin Liying , Lau Kei May
Published: November 2022

We investigated the effects of thermal cycle annealing (TCA) at high temperatures on the defect density and morphology of GaAs epilayers grown on (001) Si substrates. Several types of TCA combined with dislocation filter layers (DFLs) were introduced to reduce the defect densities in the GaAs grown on Si substrates. Plan-view transmission electron microscopy shows that the defect density of a 2.7 μm-thick GaAs/Si template with optimized TCA and DFLs is 1.4 × 107 cm−2, lower than a 1.1 μm-thick GaAs/Si template by a factor of 40. The surface roughness of the optimized GaAs/Si template is 1.3 nm after insertion of the DFLs. Additionally, optically pumped InP quantum dot micro-disk lasers (MDLs) were fabricated on these GaAs/Si templates to evaluate the template quality. Room-temperature continuous-wave lasing of 1.5 μm-diameter MDLs was observed, with ultralow lasing thresholds ranging from 0.5 to 2 μW.
Evaluation of different interface-capturing methods for cryogenic two-phase flows under microgravity
Authors: Xiao Mingkun , Yang Guang , Huang Yonghua , Wu Jingyi
Published: November 2022

The distribution of the gas–liquid interface is crucial to the accurate calculation of the flow and heat transfer of in-orbit cryogenic propellants, for which the surface tension force overtakes the gravitational force. As an essential oxidant, liquid oxygen has a lower surface tension coefficient and viscosity than most room-temperature fluids, causing a greater possibility of interface instability and breakage. Conventional numerical methods have seldom been assessed in terms of cryogenic two-phase flows under microgravity, and commercial software cannot provide a consistent platform for the assessment. In this study, a unified code based on OpenFOAM has been developed for evaluating four interface-capturing methods for two-phase flows, namely, the algebraic volume of fluid (VoF), geometric VoF, coupled level set and VoF (CLSVoF), and density-scaled CLSVoF with a balanced force (CLSVoF-DSB) methods. The results indicate that the CLSVoF-DSB method is most accurate in predicting the interface motion, because it uses the level set function to represent the gas and liquid phases. The gas–liquid interface predicted by the CLSVoF-DSB method is the most stable because it adopts the scaling Heaviside function to weaken the effects of spurious currents and increases the stability. The numerical algorithm of the algebraic VoF method is the most simple, so it has the highest efficiency. The geometric VoF uses the isoface to locate the gas–liquid interface in a grid cell, so it can obtain the thinnest interface. In applications of liquid oxygen, the CLSVoF-DSB method should be used if the overall accuracy is required.
Dynamic of centrifugal step emulsification and prediction of droplet diameter
Authors: Zhou Wuping , Jiang Keming , Zhang Tao , Liu Cong , Li Haiwen , Zhang Zhiqiang , Tang Yuguo
Published: November 2022

Studies show that centrifugal step emulsification is an effective method for high throughput droplet generation and has been widely used over the past ten years. However, there is no in-depth understanding of the physics underlying emulsification and the effect of centrifugal force on the droplet volume. Aiming at resolving this shortcoming, this article is focused on the dynamics of the droplet formation process subjected to centrifugal acceleration, and a theoretical model is proposed for accurately predicting the droplet size. A critical time and a critical bulb length are introduced to describe the droplet formation and divide this process into stable and rapid filling regimes. It is worth noting that the centrifugal force was considered in the dispersed phase profile. Finally, a theoretical model was established to predict the droplet size. Numerical simulation and high-speed measurements demonstrate that there is a critical time and bulb length, and the critical bulb length is in good agreement with the proposed theory. To evaluate the performance of the model, experiments with different centrifugal accelerations, terrace heights, and terrace lengths were carried out. The obtained results are in excellent agreement with the experiments, and the relative diameter error was less than 4%. The performed analyses demonstrate that the established model can be applied to accurately calculate the droplet size and obtain the correlation between the droplet size and different parameters, such as terrace height, terrace length, and centrifugal acceleration. This model has great potential in guiding the designs of centrifugal step emulsification systems.
Remnant-movement analysis of questions with final wh-words in Jordanian Arabic
Authors: Jarrah Marwan , Al-Shawashreh Ekab
Published: November 2022

This paper investigates a subclass of questions in which the wh-word appears question-finally in Jordanian Arabic. It proposes that such questions are syntactically derived by two movements. First, the wh-word moves to the Spec of Focus Phrase in the left periphery of the question (cf. Rizzi, 1997). This is followed by the movement of the remnant TP to a higher position in the left periphery (the Spec of Topic Phrase), c-commanding the already-moved wh-word. Pragmatic and syntactic evidence is provided to motivate this analysis. Two competing alternatives of the derivation of these questions (the in-situ analysis and the right-ward movement of final wh-words) are discussed and rejected based on empirical evidence.
Development of L2 writing complexity
Authors: Dirdal Hildegunn
Published: November 2022

Recent research on complexity development has demonstrated the need to distinguish between specific types of subordinate clauses and consider L1 influence and individual variation. The present study combines these factors and makes finer distinctions between clause types than usual in complexity research. A case study following five Norwegian learners of English over four years shows that individual clause types have different developmental trajectories and that learners may develop in syntactic diversity even when showing little change in amount of subordination. A lack of specific clause types in the L1 can lead to late development of these in the L2, and higher uses of subordination in particular areas may boost complexity in the L2. Individual differences were found mainly in pace.
Microscopic calculation of the electromagnetic dipole strength for 239,243Pu isotopes
Authors: Yakut H , Tabar E , Kemah E , Hoşgör G
Published: November 2022

This work investigates the electric and magnetic dipole (E1 and M1) responses for 239,243Pu isotopes based on the quasiparticle phonon nuclear model, which was complemented by adding, for the first time, residual interactions for addressing the violations of rotational, translational, and Galilean symmetries caused by the mean-field approach. We focus on the E1 and M1 dipole strengths and photoabsorption cross sections up to 20 MeV, with the results revealing that the giant dipole resonance best describes the experimental trend with a ratio of 95%. It appears that most of the E1 strength is found at Ex
 = 8–20 MeV, but the total B(E1)↑ strength for the pygmy dipole resonance at Ex
 = 4–8 MeV accounts for some 1.83 e2fm2, which in turn corresponds to 2% of the Thomas–Reiche–Kuhn sum rule. Furthermore, the resultant total B(M1)↑ value for the scissors mode strength below 4 MeV is 5.65

μ

N

2

,

which is below that of the Oslo data (10.1(15)

μ

N

2

). However, the theoretically predicted scissors resonance structure has two peaks in the 1–3.5 MeV energy range, so it exhibits a similar trend to that found in the Oslo data.
Proximity induced longitudinal and transverse thermoelectric response in graphene-ferromagnetic CrBr3 vdW heterostructure
Authors: Bora Mayuri , Deb Pritam
Published: November 2022

The integration of longitudinal and transverse thermoelectric (TE) fosters various new opportunities in tuning the charge transport behaviour and opens a platform for efficient thermopower devices. The presence of asymmetric electronic structure supposed to accomplish large thermopower and electronic figure of merit. Herein, we investigate magnetic proximity coupled longitudinal and transverse TE behaviour in heterostructure of monolayer semimetal, graphene and a monolayer ferromagnet, CrBr3 under the framework of ab initio-based calculations and employed constant relaxation time approximation (CRTA).The integrated density of states is elevated and asymmetric near Fermi energy region due to seamless proximity integration, depicting mixed character of graphene and CrBr3. The asymmetric nature of electronic structure significantly affects the Seebeck coefficients (S) and electrical conductivity (σ/τ) of heterostructure. The consistent step-like conductance spectrum influences interfacial polarization due to agile proximity integration. The magnitude of Seebeck coefficient (S) is found to be 653 µV K−1 near Fermi level. The heterostructure observes higher electrical conductivity and power factor in n-type region of the order of 106 S m−1 and 1020 cm−3 at room temperature. The dimensionless electronic figure of merit (zT
e) advocates the heterostructure system to be an ideal TE material. Alongside longitudinal TE, we also find the heterostructure system is sensitive to anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) (transverse TE) with oscillatory nature. The Seebeck and ANE shows high degree of tunability with applied external electric field. The synergistic existence of Seebeck and ANE due to proximity integration in van der Waals atomic crystal at room temperature will provide realistic approach to experimentally fabricate and develop real-time thermopower devices.
Machine learning-driven process of alumina ceramics laser machining
Authors: Behbahani Razyeh , Yazdani Sarvestani Hamidreza , Fatehi Erfan , Kiyani Elham , Ashrafi Behnam , Karttunen Mikko , Rahmat Meysam
Published: November 2022

Laser machining is a highly flexible non-contact manufacturing technique that has been employed widely across academia and industry. Due to nonlinear interactions between light and matter, simulation methods are extremely crucial, as they help enhance the machining quality by offering comprehension of the inter-relationships between the laser processing parameters. On the other hand, experimental processing parameter optimization recommends a systematic, and consequently time-consuming, investigation of the available processing parameter space. An intelligent strategy is to employ machine learning (ML) techniques to capture the relationship between picosecond laser machining parameters for finding proper parameter combinations to create the desired cuts on industrial-grade alumina ceramic with deep, smooth and defect-free patterns. Laser parameters such as beam amplitude and frequency, scanner passing speed and the number of passes over the surface, as well as the vertical distance of the scanner from the sample surface, are used for predicting the depth, top width, and bottom width of the engraved channels using ML models. Owing to the complex correlation between laser parameters, it is shown that Neural Networks (NN) are the most efficient in predicting the outputs. Equipped with an ML model that captures the interconnection between laser parameters and the engraved channel dimensions, one can predict the required input parameters to achieve a target channel geometry. This strategy significantly reduces the cost and effort of experimental laser machining during the development phase without compromising accuracy or performance. The developed techniques can be applied to a wide range of ceramic laser machining processes.
Effect of CeO2 /Er2O3 co-doping on spectroscopic properties of zinc fluoroborate glasses
Authors: Abouelmaaref Ahmed , Al-Hosiny N. M. , Alyousef Haifa A. , El-Agmy R. M. , Shaaban Kh. S. , Abdel Wahab Essam Ahmed Ali
Published: November 2022

The glass system 75B2O3 - 4.5ZnF2 – 0.5 Er2O3–(20-x) ZnO- x CeO2, x = (0 ≤ x ≤ 1 mol. %) in this article was produced using the melt-quenching technique. Utilizing FT-IR techniques, the structural specifics of manufactured glasses are studied. The N_4 and N_3 fractions will be used to explore the transformation in the glass system that has been obtained. The BO3 and BO4 units coexisted in the glass composition, based on FT-IR spectra. Cerium ions appear to change trigonal BO3 units into tetrahedral BO4 units, according to preliminary FT-IR studies. The Judd-Ofelt theory is used to calculate the optical properties of the current glass that is co-doped with Er/Ce. Energy levels and line strengths of the Er3+ ion are evaluated. The current work additionally provides optical gains, emission/absorption cross-sections, and optical intensity data. The compound containing 0.6 mol% provided the greatest values for optical parameters like intensity parameters and optical gain compared to all other concentrations employed in this study.
Double-Λ electromagnetically induced transparency with degenerate atomic levels
Authors: Reshetov V A
Published: November 2022

The general expression for the transformation matrix of the two input weak arbitrarily polarized probe fields passing through the medium under the conditions of double-Λ electromagnetically induced transparency is obtained for arbitrary values of the amplitudes, phases and polarizations of the control fields and arbitrary values of the angular momenta of resonant levels. The conditions are found for the two input weak probe fields linearly polarized in perpendicular planes to exchange their polarizations after the passage through the medium without absorption. The polarization rotation of the probe fields is studied for the atoms being initially in the equilibrium state.
Quantum dynamical resource theory under resource non-increasing framework
Authors: Yang Si-Ren , Yu Chang-Shui
Published: November 2022

We define the resource non-increasing (RNI) framework to study the dynamical resource theory. With this definition, we propose several potential quantification candidates under various free operation sets. For explicit demonstrations, we quantify the quantum dynamical coherence in the scenarios with and without post-selective measurements. Correspondingly, we show that the maximally incoherent operations (MIO) and the incoherent operations (IO) in the static coherence resource theory are free in the sense of dynamical coherence. We also provide operational meanings for the measures by the quantum discrimination tasks. Moreover, for the dynamical total coherence, we also present convenient measures and give the analytic calculation for the amplitude damping channel.
Floquet scattering through a parity–time symmetric oscillating potential
Authors: Cao Xuzhen , Liang Zhaoxin , Hu Ying
Published: November 2022

We investigate the scattering of a particle from a trapping potential that is subjected to weak, parity–time symmetric periodic drivings. Using the Floquet theory, we derive the scattering matrix and calculate the transmittance of the incident particle. When the driving is purely coherent, our calculation recovers the known result and the transmission spectrum shows the familiar, bound-state-induced Fano resonances. When the driving is purely incoherent, we find the Fano resonances still occur, but the lineshape of each resonance is reversed compared to the coherent-driving counterpart. Intriguingly, the transmission resonances disappear when both the coherent and incoherent driving fields are present with equal amplitudes. This phenomena can be seen as a manifestation of the non-reciprocal coupling of Floquet channels in the frequency domain. Notably, when the frequency up-conversion is absent, the transmission is such as if there is no driving at all, even when the driving strength increases.
Spontaneous emission from Λ-type three-level atom driven by bichromatic field in anisotropic double-band photonic crystals
Authors: Ling Kai , Jiang Li , Wan Ren-Gang , Yao Zhi-Hai
Published: November 2022

The spontaneous emission property of Λ-type three-level atom driven by the bichromatic field in the anisotropic double-band photonic crystal is calculated by n-times iteration method. The influence of different parameters on atomic spontaneous emission is studied, and the phenomena of atomic spontaneous emission are explained in the dressed state representation. It is found that the spontaneous emission spectra of the atom driven by the bichromatic field presents a multi-peak comb structure. The position of the emission peak is determined by the initial state of the atom, and the interval between the neighboring emission peaks is the detuning δ of the bichromatic field. When the ratio between Rabi frequency intensity and the detuning δ of the bichromatic field remains unchanged, the intensity of each emitted peak remains invariant. The spontaneously emitted peak can be annihilated in the band gap and enhanced near the band edge in the anisotropic photonic crystals. Meanwhile, we also observe the fluorescence quenching phenomenon in the spontaneous emission spectra. The research in this paper provides the theoretical guidance for the control of atomic spontaneous emission.
Sympathetic electromagnetically induced transparency ground state cooling of a 40Ca+–27Al+ pair in an 27Al+ clock
Authors: Sun Chenglong , Cui Kaifeng , Chao Sijia , Wei Yuanfei , Yuan Jinbo , Cao Jian , Shu Hualin , Huang Xueren
Published: November 2022

We report on electromagnetically induced transparency cooling of 40Ca+ to sympathetically cool the three-dimensional secular modes of motion in a 40Ca+–27Al+ two-ion pair near the ground state. We observe simultaneous ground state cooling across all radial modes and axial modes of a 40Ca+–27Al+ ion pair, occupying a broader cooling range in frequency space over 3 MHz. The cooling time is observed to be less than 1 ms. The mean phonon number and heating rates of all motional modes are measured. This study is not only an important step for reducing the secular motion time-dilation shift uncertainty and uptime ratio of 27Al+ optical clock, but also essential for high-fidelity quantum simulations and quantum information processors using trapped ions.
Cold temperature characterization of ring triplets based on RD53A readout chip
Authors: Samy M.A.A. , Sultan D.M.S. , Lapertosa A. , Gariano G. , Dalla Betta G.-F.
Published: November 2022

This paper reports the Trento test setup and the cold test procedure for three triplets (ID: R4, R5, and R6) assembled with RD53A readout cheap and planar sensors. The trim and tuning of Front Ends (FE), as well as sensor I-V measurements, were made for a cold temperature (−25 °C) for an applied voltage (−30 V for R4, −10 V for R5 and R6). As a part of QC, initially, several test scans: analog, digital, threshold, ToT, noise, etc., were performed to evaluate the module response at −25 °C before applying a necessary tuning script to find a spatially uniform threshold distribution over the pixel matrix. Later, the crosstalk-based disconnected-bump and X-ray scans were made to check modules’ bump bonding quality and hits per pixel. Results reported here show a good agreement to a qualified triplet module, assuring the Trento cold test setup capacity for the ATLAS ITk QA/QC process.
Can we avert an Amazon tipping point? The economic and environmental costs
Authors: Banerjee Onil , Cicowiez Martin , Macedo Marcia N , Malek Žiga , Verburg Peter H , Goodwin Sean , Vargas Renato , Rattis Ludmila , Bagstad Kenneth J , Brando Paulo M , Coe Michael T , Neill Christopher , Marti Octavio Damiani , Murillo Josué Ávila
Published: November 2022

The Amazon biome is being pushed by unsustainable economic drivers towards an ecological tipping point where restoration to its previous state may no longer be possible. This degradation is the result of self-reinforcing interactions between deforestation, climate change and fire. We assess the economic, natural capital and ecosystem services impacts and trade-offs of scenarios representing movement towards an Amazon tipping point and strategies to avert one using the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform linked with spatial land use-land cover change and ecosystem services modeling (IEEM + ESM). Our approach provides the first approximation of the economic, natural capital and ecosystem services impacts of a tipping point, and evidence to build the economic case for strategies to avert it. For the five Amazon focal countries, namely, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador, we find that a tipping point would create economic losses of US$256.6 billion in cumulative gross domestic product by 2050. Policies that would contribute to averting a tipping point, including strongly reducing deforestation, investing in intensifying agriculture in cleared lands, climate-adapted agriculture and improving fire management, would generate approximately US$339.3 billion in additional wealth and a return on investment of US$29.5 billion. Quantifying the costs, benefits and trade-offs of policies to avert a tipping point in a transparent and replicable manner can support the design of regional development strategies for the Amazon biome, build the business case for action and catalyze global cooperation and financing to enable policy implementation.
Increasing precipitation whiplash in climate change hotspots
Authors: Chen Di , Norris Jesse , Thackeray Chad , Hall Alex
Published: November 2022

Throughout the world, the hydrologic cycle is projected to become more variable due to climate change, posing challenges in semi-arid regions with high water resource vulnerability. Precipitation whiplash results from hydrologic variability, and refers to interannual shifts between wet (⩾80th historical percentile) and dry (⩽20th historical percentile) years. Using five model large ensembles, we show that whiplash is projected to increase in frequency (25%–60%) and intensity (30%–100%) by 2100 across several semi-arid regions of the globe, including Western North America and the Mediterranean. These changes can be driven by increases in the frequency of wet years or dry years, or both, depending on the region. Moisture budget calculations in these regions illuminate the physical mechanisms behind increased whiplash. Thermodynamic changes generally dominate, with modulations by dynamics, evaporation, and eddies on regional or global scales. These findings highlight increasingly volatile hydrology in semi-arid regions as the 21st Century progresses.
Using reclaimed water to cope with water scarcity: an alternative for agricultural irrigation in Spain
Authors: Ballesteros-Olza Mario , Blanco-Gutiérrez Irene , Esteve Paloma , Gómez-Ramos Almudena , Bolinches Antonio
Published: November 2022

In water-stressed agricultural regions, reuse of reclaimed water has emerged as a promising alternative that improves supply reliability, alleviates water scarcity and contributes to circular economy. The European Union has recently launched several initiatives to facilitate the adoption of water reuse for irrigation. However, its adoption is still far below its potential in most areas. This is the case of the Western La Mancha aquifer, in central Spain, where reclaimed water reuse is considered an alternative source to groundwater that may contribute to reduce overexploitation. A stakeholder-based fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) was developed to provide insights into the current situation of reclaimed water reuse in this area, as well as to explore the outcomes of different simulated scenarios (cost recovery, agricultural transformation, social awareness and political will increase). The FCM-based dynamic simulations showed that political will increase would generate the highest increase of reclaimed water reuse in agriculture in the study area, providing the highest increase of water reuse in agriculture. Agricultural extensification and increased social awareness delivered similar positive outcomes, however, only public awareness campaigns would increase water reuse, with agricultural extensification outcomes being more oriented towards the reduction of water abstractions and pollution. The cost recovery scenario was the only one that resulted in non-desired changes, mainly caused by reduced farmers’ income due to higher costs of reclaimed water. Finally, the analysis also evidenced the key role that the newly enacted EU Water Reuse Regulation may play in promoting reclaimed water use, even reversing the negative outcomes of the cost recovery scenario.
Disentangling the mechanism of temperature and water vapor modulation on ozone under a warming climate
Authors: Zhang Junxi , Gao Yang , Leung L Ruby , Luo Kun , Wang Minghuai , Zhang Yang , Bell Michelle L , Fan Jianren
Published: November 2022

Temperature and water vapor have been considered as important factors affecting ozone concentrations, however, their synergistic effect on ozone, as well as its response to a warming climate remains unclear. Here, numerical experiments with different combinations of climate and emissions highlighted opposite changes of annual ozone over the contiguous U.S. under scenarios with high vs. low ozone precursor emissions in the future with warming. Comparing the occurrence of heat waves on higher vs. lower ozone days, we found significant suppression of the heat wave exacerbation of ozone by anthropogenic emissions reductions. Variations of ozone with temperature (T) and water vapor (Q) over the western U.S. and southeastern U.S. in the simulations are clearly revealed through the construction of an O3-T-Q diagram. Based on the diagram, we further identified a T-dominant regime at higher temperatures where ozone increases with temperature increase, and a Q-dominant regime at lower temperatures where ozone decreases with temperature increase due to the negative effect of water vapor. With larger anthropogenic emission reductions, ozone may increase at a lower rate with temperature in the T-dominant regime, or even decrease with temperature in the Q-dominant regime. Our results show that with large emission reductions, substantial ozone pollution due to warming and increasing heat waves may be counteracted by water vapor, partly turning the ‘climate penalty’ on ozone into ‘climate benefit’. Hence controlling anthropogenic emissions may be an increasingly important strategy in a warmer and wetter climate to improve air quality and public health.
Dynamical mean-field theory: from ecosystems to reaction networks
Authors: De Giuli Eric , Scalliet Camille
Published: November 2022

Both natural ecosystems and biochemical reaction networks involve populations of heterogeneous agents whose cooperative and competitive interactions lead to a rich dynamics of species’ abundances, albeit at vastly different scales. The maintenance of diversity in large ecosystems is a longstanding puzzle, towards which recent progress has been made by the derivation of dynamical mean-field theories of random models. In particular, it has recently been shown that these random models have a chaotic phase in which abundances display wild fluctuations. When modest spatial structure is included, these fluctuations are stabilized and diversity is maintained. If and how these phenomena have parallels in biochemical reaction networks is currently unknown. Making this connection is of interest since life requires cooperation among a large number of molecular species. In this work, we find a reaction network whose large-scale behavior recovers the random Lotka–Volterra model recently considered in theoretical ecology. We clarify the assumptions necessary to derive its large-scale description, and reveal the underlying assumptions made on the noise to recover previous dynamical mean-field theories. Then, we show how local detailed balance and the positivity of reaction rates, which are key physical requirements of chemical reaction networks, provide obstructions towards the construction of an associated dynamical mean-field theory of biochemical reaction networks. Finally, we outline prospects and challenges for the future.
Stationary optomagnonic entanglement and magnon-to-optics quantum state transfer via opto-magnomechanics
Authors: Fan Zhi-Yuan , Qian Hang , Li Jie
Published: November 2022

We show how to prepare a steady-state entangled state between magnons and optical photons in an opto-magnomechanical configuration, where a mechanical vibration mode couples to a magnon mode in a ferrimagnet by the dispersive magnetostrictive interaction, and to an optical cavity by the radiation pressure. We find that, by appropriately driving the magnon mode and the cavity to simultaneously activate the magnomechanical Stokes and the optomechanical anti-Stokes scattering, a stationary optomagnonic entangled state can be created. We further show that, by activating the magnomechanical state–swap interaction and subsequently sending a weak red-detuned optical pulse to drive the cavity, the magnonic state can be read out in the cavity output field of the pulse via the mechanical transduction. The demonstrated entanglement and state-readout protocols in such a novel opto-magnomechanical configuration allow us to optically control, prepare, and read out quantum states of collective spin excitations in solids, and provide promising opportunities for the study of quantum magnonics, macroscopic quantum states, and magnonic quantum information processing.
Effect of atomic number and pressure on plasma pinch properties and characteristic soft x-ray emission in PF1000
Authors: Malek M A , Huda M N , Islam M K , Lee S
Published: November 2022

In this study, the Lee code is used to compute the characteristics soft x-ray yield (Ysxr) production for nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar) and bremsstrahlung radiation for hydrogen (H2), deuterium (D2), and helium (He) with pressure variation in PF1000 of 2.5–2.6 MA for D2. In the calculation of characteristic soft x-ray, the corresponding temperature windows of the said gases are set into the code at which they are ionized to their H-like and He-like levels. The focus pinch parameters such as radius ratio (minimum radius of plasma pinch column/anode radius), ion density, specific heat ratio, pinch energy density, self-absorption correction factor, and maximum induced voltage are computed at the optimum pressure of each gas. The obtained pinch plasma temperature range (1.2–2.2) × 106 K of H2, D2, and He is sufficiently high for fully ionized plasmas and the resulting bremsstrahlung radiation (14 J) for He is significantly larger than for H2 (0.26 J) and D2 (0.62 J). The optimum Ysxr of Ne(∼9314 J) at 0.51 Torr with pinch energy density (PED) (∼26 × 108 Jm−3) is found to be the highest whilst for Ar(∼7 J) at 0.019 Torr with (∼1.2 × 108 Jm−3) is the lowest. It is found that the radius ratio (∼0.05) of Ne is 3-fold smaller than that (∼0.16) in Ar. This enhancement of compression in pinch of Ne increases the ion density significantly by a factor of 253 than in Ar gas. Thus, the results show a strong correlation of plasma pinch properties with Ysxr for various gases.
Preclinical evaluation of IAP0971, a novel immunocytokine that binds specifically to PD1 and fuses IL15/IL15Rα complex
Authors: Chen Jihong , Shen Ziyou , Jiang Xiaoling , Huang Zhenzhen , Wu Chongbing , Jiang Dongcheng , Yin Liusong
Published: November 2022

Background

Currently, cytokine therapy for cancer has demonstrated efficacy in certain diseases but is generally accompanied by severe toxicity. The field of antibody-cytokine fusion proteins (immunocytokines) arose to target these effector molecules to the tumor microenvironment to expand the therapeutic window of cytokine therapy. Therefore, we have developed a novel immunocytokine that binds specifically to programmed death 1 (PD1) and fuses IL15/IL15Rα complex (referred to as IAP0971) for cancer immunotherapy.

Methods

We report here the making of IAP0971, a novel immunocytokine that binds specifically to PD1 and fuses IL15/IL15Rα complex, and preclinical characterization including pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and toxicology, and discuss its potential as a novel agent for treating patients with advanced malignant tumors.

Results

IAP0971 bound to human IL2/15Rβ proteins specifically and blocked PD1/PDL1 signaling transduction pathway. IAP0971 promoted the proliferation of CD8 + T cells and natural killer T (NKT) cells, and further activated NK cells to kill tumor cells validated by in vitro assays. In an hPD1 knock-in mouse model, IAP0971 showed potent anti-tumor activity. Preclinical studies in non-human primates following single or repeated dosing of IAP0971 showed favorable pharmacokinetics and well-tolerated toxicology profile.

Conclusion

IAP0971 has demonstrated a favorable safety profile and potent anti-tumor activities in vivo. A Phase I/IIa clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of IAP0971 in patients with advanced malignant tumors is on-going (NCT05396391).
MNMDCDA: prediction of circRNA–disease associations by learning mixed neighborhood information from multiple distances
Authors: Li Yang , Hu Xue-Gang , Wang Lei , Li Pei-Pei , You Zhu-Hong
Published: November 2022

Emerging evidence suggests that circular RNA (circRNA) is an important regulator of a variety of pathological processes and serves as a promising biomarker for many complex human diseases. Nevertheless, there are relatively few known circRNA–disease associations, and uncovering new circRNA–disease associations by wet-lab methods is time consuming and costly. Considering the limitations of existing computational methods, we propose a novel approach named MNMDCDA, which combines high-order graph convolutional networks (high-order GCNs) and deep neural networks to infer associations between circRNAs and diseases. Firstly, we computed different biological attribute information of circRNA and disease separately and used them to construct multiple multi-source similarity networks. Then, we used the high-order GCN algorithm to learn feature embedding representations with high-order mixed neighborhood information of circRNA and disease from the constructed multi-source similarity networks, respectively. Finally, the deep neural network classifier was implemented to predict associations of circRNAs with diseases. The MNMDCDA model obtained AUC scores of 95.16%, 94.53%, 89.80% and 91.83% on four benchmark datasets, i.e., CircR2Disease, CircAtlas v2.0, Circ2Disease and CircRNADisease, respectively, using the 5-fold cross-validation approach. Furthermore, 25 of the top 30 circRNA–disease pairs with the best scores of MNMDCDA in the case study were validated by recent literature. Numerous experimental results indicate that MNMDCDA can be used as an effective computational tool to predict circRNA–disease associations and can provide the most promising candidates for biological experiments.
Variable elimination, graph reduction and the efficient g-formula
Authors: Guo F Richard , Perković Emilija , Rotnitzky Andrea
Published: November 2022

We study efficient estimation of an interventional mean associated with a point exposure treatment under a causal graphical model represented by a directed acyclic graph without hidden variables. Under such a model, a subset of the variables may be uninformative, in that failure to measure them neither precludes identification of the interventional mean nor changes the semiparametric variance bound for regular estimators of it. We develop a set of graphical criteria that are sound and complete for eliminating all the uninformative variables, so that the cost of measuring them can be saved without sacrificing estimation efficiency, which could be useful when designing a planned observational or randomized study. Further, we construct a reduced directed acyclic graph on the set of informative variables only. We show that the interventional mean is identified from the marginal law by the g-formula (Robins, 1986) associated with the reduced graph, and the semiparametric variance bounds for estimating the interventional mean under the original and the reduced graphical model agree. The g-formula is an irreducible, efficient identifying formula in the sense that the nonparametric estimator of the formula, under regularity conditions, is asymptotically efficient under the original causal graphical model, and no formula with this property exists that depends only on a strict subset of the variables.
Cerebral insulin receptors: a nexus for vascular and metabolic contributions to Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Hughes Timothy M , Craft Suzanne
Published: November 2022

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Cerebrovascular insulin receptors are defective in Alzheimer’s disease’ by Leclerc et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awac309).
Initial statin dose after myocardial infarction and long-term cardiovascular outcomes
Authors: Kytö Ville , Rautava Päivi , Tornio Aleksi
Published: November 2022

Aims

Effective statin therapy is a cornerstone of secondary prevention after myocardial infarction (MI). Real-life statin dosing is nevertheless suboptimal and largely determined early after MI. We studied long-term outcome impact of initial statin dose after MI.

Methods and results

Consecutive MI patients treated in Finland who used statins early after index event were retrospectively studied (N = 72 401; 67% men; mean age 68 years) using national registries. High-dose statin therapy was used by 26.3%, moderate dose by 69.2%, and low dose by 4.5%. Differences in baseline features, comorbidities, revascularisation, and usage of other evidence-based medications were adjusted for with multivariable regression. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular or cerebrovascular event (MACCE) within 10 years. Median follow-up was 4.9 years. MACCE was less frequent in high-dose group compared with moderate dose [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.92; P < 0.0001; number needed to treat (NNT) 34.1] and to low dose [adj.HR 0.81; P < 0.001; NNT 13.4] as well as in moderate-dose group compared with low dose (adj.HR 0.88; P < 0.0001; NNT 23.4). Death (adj.HR 0.87; P < 0.0001; NNT 23.6), recurrent MI (adj.sHR 0.91; P = 0.0001), and stroke (adj.sHR 0.86; P < 0.0001) were less frequent with a high- vs. moderate-dose statin. Higher initial statin dose after MI was associated with better long-term outcomes in subgroups by age, sex, atrial fibrillation, dementia, diabetes, heart failure, revascularisation, prior statin usage, or usage of other evidence-based medications.

Conclusion

Higher initial statin dose after MI is dose-dependently associated with better long-term cardiovascular outcomes. These results underline the importance of using a high statin dose early after MI.
Cost performance of encapsulated phase change material-based thermal energy storage systems
Authors: Erregueragui Zineb , Tizliouine Abdeslem , Omari Lhaj El Hachemi , Chafi Mohammed
Published: November 2022

The cost of thermal storage is crucial to the economic viability of concentrated solar power plants. The aim of this study was to investigate ways to reduce the cost of latent heat thermal energy storage systems, in particular encapsulated phase change material technology. A design approach based on the heat transfer modelling, with consideration of the cut-off temperatures, was established. The model was solved using a control-volume methodology with an implicit scheme. Various configurations were investigated, considering a 100-MW power plant with 6 hours of backup capacity. The results indicate that there is a possibility to significantly reduce the capacity cost to about $9/kWht when the internal insulation of the storage tank along with a low-cost ceramic shell and chloride-based salts are used.
Environmental Health Rights and Concepts of Vulnerability of Immigration Detainees in Europe Before and Beyond COVID-19
Authors: Van Hout Marie Claire
Published: November 2022

The global COVID-19 health emergency has radically changed detention spaces, by heightening state and provider obligations to provide humane conditions and protect those detained against disease and subsequent ill-health. Using a socio-legal lens, this policy and practice note focuses broadly on the balance of European immigration detention regulations, and the actual conditions and treatment of immigrant detainees, putting an emphasis on developments before and after COVID-19. The special protections afforded to detainees assessed as vulnerable is unclear in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. While cognisant of aspects of legal positivism by outlining relevant legal provisions and extant European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) jurisprudence where conditions of detention have violated Article 3, a socio-legal argument is presented around state obligations to protect the health of all immigration detainees; the challenges in using simplistic/categorical definitions of vulnerability; and the imperatives to broaden considerations to include health vulnerability in the context of contagion and future pandemics. By analogy extant ECtHR jurisprudence on the rights of prisoners relating to right to health and disease mitigation (human immune-deficiency, tuberculosis) may offer additional protections. Broad consideration of environmental health factors in light of threats of disease in detention spaces warrant further consideration when establishing the threshold of the severity of conditions and when assessing detainee vulnerability (not limited to age, gender or health status). A public health rights-based argument can shape effective immigration detention policy reform by enhancing protective parameters based on broad definitions of health vulnerability within immigration detention spaces.
Individualized conditional survival nomograms for stage I–III early onset colorectal cancer patients
Authors: Chen Min , Chen Ting
Published: November 2022

Objective

Conditional survival accounts for the time already survived after surgery and provides additional survival information. The aim was to assess conditional survival in stages I–III early onset colorectal cancer patients and to create nomograms predicting the conditional overall survival and cancer-specific survival after surgery.

Methods

A total of 7058 patients who underwent surgical resection of early onset colorectal cancer were identified from surveillance, epidemiology and end results database. The formula used for conditional survival calculation was conditional survival(x|y) = S(x + y)/S(x), where S(x) represents the survival at x years. Conditional survival nomograms were then developed to predict the 5-year conditional overall survival and cancer-specific survival.

Results

The 5-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival after surgery increases gradually with additional survival time. Race, tumour site, grade, histology, T stage, N stage, lymph node ratio, preoperative carcinoma embryonic antigen level and perineural invasion status were independent predictors of cancer-specific survival, while age and sex were another two independent risk factors for overall survival. The nomograms based on these factors were successfully developed to predict 5-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival given 1–4 years already survived.

Conclusion

The probability of achieving postoperative 5-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival for early onset colorectal cancer increases gradually with additional time survived. The developed nomograms are fairly valuable and informative in facilitating clinical treatment and follow-up schemes.
Jackknife Bias-Corrected Generalized Regression Estimator in Survey Sampling
Authors: Stefan Marius , Hidiroglou Michael A
Published: November 2022

The generalized regression (GREG) estimator is a well-known procedure for using auxiliary data to estimate means or totals using a sample selected from a finite population. The GREG estimator is motivated by an assumed linear superpopulation model and it is known to be asymptotically unbiased regardless of whether the model is correctly specified or not. When the sample size is small and/or when the linear model does not fit the sample data well, the GREG estimator may have nonnegligible bias. In this article, we use the jackknife procedure to correct the bias of the GREG. We evaluate, both theoretically and by simulation, the performance of the jackknife bias-corrected regression estimator (GREG-JK) under unistage sampling without replacement with unequal probabilities. A jackknife mean squared error (MSE) estimator is proposed that naturally includes a finite population correction, which is usually absent in the standard jackknife methods for variance estimation. A simulation study shows that the empirical bias of GREG-JK is negligible for all sample sizes and generated populations. Furthermore, the proposed jackknife MSE estimator demonstrates improvements over the customary estimator.