bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Some fundamental elements for studying social-ecological co-existence in forest common pool resources
Authors: Pichancourt Jean-Baptiste
Published: February 2023

For millennia, societies have tried to find ways to sustain people’s livelihoods by setting rules to equitably and sustainably access, harvest and manage common pools of resources (CPR) that are productive and rich in species. But what are the elements that explain historical successes and failures? Elinor Ostrom suggested that it depends on at least eight axiomatic principles of good governance, whereas empirical results suggest that these principles are not sufficient to describe them, especially when applied to CPRs that possess great social and ecological diversity. The aim of this article is to explore the behavior of a mathematical model of multi-species forest dynamics that respects the foundations of ecology and Ostrom’s governance theory, in order to detect possible constraints inherent to the functioning of these complex systems. The model reveals that fundamental structural laws of compatibilities between species life-history traits are indeed constraining the level of co-existence (average and variance) between a diversity of co-vulnerable timber resource users (RU) and of competing tree species. These structural constraints can also lead to unexpected outcomes. For instance in wetter forest commons, opening up the access to as many diverse RUs as there are competing tree species, produces a diversity of independently-controlled disturbances on species, collectively improving the chances of coexistence between species with different life-history traits. Similar benefits are observed on forest carbon and on profits from timber harvesting. However in drier forest commons, the same benefits cannot be observed, as predicted on the basis of the constraining laws. The results show that the successes and failures of certain management strategies can be reasonably explained by simple mechanistic theories from ecology and the social-ecological sciences, which are themselves constrained by fundamental ecological invariants. If corroborated, the results could be used, in conjunction with Ostrom’s CPR theory, to understand and solve various human-nature coexistence dilemmas in complex social-ecological systems.
Negative and positive interspecific interactions involving jellyfish polyps in marine sessile communities
Authors: Boughton Jade , Hirst Andrew G. , Lucas Cathy H. , Spencer Matthew
Published: February 2023

Sessile marine invertebrates on hard substrates are one of the two canonical examples of communities structured by competition, but some aspects of their dynamics remain poorly understood. Jellyfish polyps are an important but under-studied component of these communities. We determined how jellyfish polyps interact with their potential competitors in sessile marine hard-substrate communities, using a combination of experiments and modelling. We carried out an experimental study of the interaction between polyps of the moon jellyfishAurelia auritaand potential competitors on settlement panels, in which we determined the effects of reduction in relative abundance of eitherA. auritaor potential competitors at two depths. We predicted that removal of potential competitors would result in a relative increase inA. auritathat would not depend on depth, and that removal ofA. auritawould result in a relative increase in potential competitors that would be stronger at shallower depths, where oxygen is less likely to be limiting. Removal of potential competitors resulted in a relative increase inA. auritaat both depths, as predicted. Unexpectedly, removal ofA. auritaresulted in a relative decrease in potential competitors at both depths. We investigated a range of models of competition for space, of which the most successful involved enhanced overgrowth ofA. auritaby potential competitors, but none of these models was completely able to reproduce the observed pattern. Our results suggest that interspecific interactions in this canonical example of a competitive system are more complex than is generally believed.
UVA Image Registration Model Based on VGG and Multi-Branch Attention
Authors: Luo Jieyuan , Dong Penjing , Huang Qinglin
Published: February 2023

For UVA images with different resolutions and large areas of weak texture, image feature extraction is insufficient and mis-matching is increased during image registration. To solve these problems, an unsupervised registration model based on VGG feature extraction and multi-branch attention is proposed. First of all, two feature extraction networks with shared weight parameters are used to extract the low and high level fusion features of the moving image and the reference image. The convolution neural network is used to extract the high-dimensional feature map of the image, and the key points are selected according to the conditions that meet both the channel maximum and the local maximum, and the corresponding 512-dimensional descriptor is extracted on the feature map, In the matching stage, add multi-branch attention based on residual block to filter out the wrong features. The algorithm is tested with multiple groups of images and compared with several image matching algorithms. The results show that the algorithm can extract the scale-invariant similar features of images, and has strong adaptability and robustness.
GCN-ONLSTM: Process Next Event Prediction Method based on Spatio-Temporal Feature Fusion
Authors: Lele Dong , Cong Liu , Chongguang Ren
Published: February 2023

The task of predicting the next event of a process is the focus of research in the field of predictive process monitoring. Most of the existing methods to achieve this task only process the event log trace as a one-dimensional sequence or regular two-dimensional image data, without considering the simultaneous internal synchronization of the event log. It contains temporal and spatial feature information. In addition, existing studiesignore that trace data is a non-Euclidean structure with topological relationships. In order to solve the above problems and further improve the accuracy of model prediction, this paper constructs a GCN-ONLSTM network that fuses temporal and spatial dimension features, constructs the spatial relationship between events through a two-layer graph convolution network, and improves the feature expression ability of data. And combined with ONLSTM (Ordered Neurons LSTM) network to process the hierarchical structure of trace sequence, to further solve the long-term dependency problem. The ablation experiments and comparison experiments are carried out through 6 BPI public event log data. The results show that the proposed method has significantly improved prediction accuracy in each event log compared with other existing deep learning methods, and the highest is higher than the traditional LSTM (Long Short-term Memory) increased by 8.63%, it can be considered that this method has better performance for the next event prediction task of the process.
Hunting or gathering? A comparison of reptile survey techniques suggests the survey aims should direct the monitoring method
Authors: Kutt A.S. , Colman N.J.
Published: February 2023

The choice of methods used for biodiversity assessments and monitoring are an important consideration for an effective inventory of species. There is little published data comparing trapping and active searching for reptile surveys. In this study we used data collected from 509 sites between 2000 and 2012 in Queensland's tropical savannas to examine the relative success of trapping versus searching for surveying reptiles. Sampling comprised pitfall and funnel trapping, and diurnal and nocturnal active searching within a 1-ha quadrat over a five-day period. We used summary data, mixed model regression and Chi-squared tests to examine variation in abundance, richness, and frequency in captures. A total of 167 species representing nine families were recorded from 9986 captures or observations (3127 records from pitfall traps, 1813 from funnel traps and 5046 from active searching). Our results indicated that different methods were more appropriate depending on taxa (i.e., pitfall trapping for terrestrial skinks, funnel traps for Elapids), its habit (i.e., pitfalls or active searching for fossorial species, active searching for arboreal species) or rarity (i.e., Typhlopidae). We conclude that multiple survey methods are required for a full inventory of species; however, using the most appropriate method that address specific management questions in relation to target species or taxa, the reptile's habit and different habitats being surveyed, should be a component in planning and approach to any research or monitoring.
Green Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Nanoparticles Using Different Plant Sources
Authors: Saikia Sewali , Saud Bijit Kumar , Dutta Pranab , Baruah Sudeshna , Gogoi Ashok Kamal
Published: February 2023

This research aimed at exploring eco-friendly green synthesis of CuNPs using different plant species used for research purpose were Nyctanthes arbor-tristris (Night jasmine), Gardenia jasminoides (Cape jasmine), Tabernaemontana divartica (Crape jasmine), Cascabela thevetia (Yellow oleander), Clerodendrum inerme (Glory bower), Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (China rose) and Allamanda cathartica (Allamanda) for synthesizing CuNPs. Out of seven ornamental plant species CuNPs were synthesized from three species viz. Night jasmine, Yellow oleander, Allamanda which were confirmed through UV-VIS spectrophotometer in wavelength 250-450 nm. The SPR peak was recorded at 301.00 nm, 300.50 nm and 300.00 nm for Allamanda, Yellow oleander and Night jasmine respectively that confirmed the formation of CuNPs. FTIR analysis of CuNPs showed different functional groups such as O−H, N−H, S−H, O=C=O, C≡C, C=O, N−O, C−H, M−O for Allamanda, O−H, N≡N, N−H, C−Cl for Yellow oleander and O−H, C−N, −C≡C−, =C−H, N−O for Night jasmine. DLS study revealed the average size of CuNPs as 125 nm, 120 nm and 100 nm for Allamanda, Yellow oleander and Night jasmine respectively. Zeta potential recorded for Allamanda, Yellow oleander and Night jasmine were -13.7 mV, -10.03 mV and -12.6 mV respectively. TEM micrograph clearly indicated that all the green synthesized CuNPs were spherical in morphology and the average size were 14.05 nm, 16.96 nm and 11.58 nm for Allamanda, Yellow oleander and Night Jasmine respectively.
Sequential Strain Improvement of Cordyceps militaris
Authors: Rathod L. B. Laxmikanth , Pasha Shaik Muzammil , Rajan Anju , . Madhavi , Pasha Chand
Published: February 2023

Aim: As a highly valued fungus, Cordyceps militaris has been widely used all over the world. Although the wild resources of C. militaris are limited, the fruiting bodies of C. militaris have been successfully cultivated on a large-scale with limited Cordycepin production. However, the high-frequency degeneration of C. militaris during subculture and preservation seriously limits the development of the C. militaris industry.

Methods and Results: In this study, three different techniques for strain improvement viz., protoplast fusion, UV irradiation and chemical mutagenesis were assessed for improved biomass and cordycepin production.

Conclusion: It was observed that the fusant subsequently mutated were stable for many generation and yielding improved biomass and Cordycepin. It was found that fusants after mutagenesis will be genetically stable and this methodology can be used for strain improvement of genetically unstable microorganisms.
COMPARISON OF INVESTMENT STRATEGIES IN INNOVATION AND NON-INNOVATION PORTFOLIOS WITH PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION
Authors: Hartanto Otniel William , Basana Sautma Ronni
Published: February 2023

This study aims to examine whether asset allocation strategies to the innovation sector can provide superior portfolio performance to investors. This type of research is comparative research using secondary data sources. The sample used is ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) from investment companies namely BlackRock and Ark Invest since 2015. The focus of this study is to compare the performance of portfolios without an allocation to innovation assets and portfolios with allocations to innovation assets. This study analyzes the difference in performance between the two portfolios for various weightings and several portfolio optimization approaches, such as 'equal weighting' (1/N), optimality Lagrange, minimum-variance (MinVar), mean-variance (MV), and market-value weighted strategy.
Analysis of Liquefaction Triggering in the Nakdong-river Delta Sediments Based on Broadband Hybrid Ground Motion Simulation and Microtremor Array Method
Authors: Jeong Seokho , Oh Junsu
Published: February 2023

We present a case study of liquefaction triggering analysis performed in the Nakdong-river delta region, based on the shear wave velocities obtained by the Microtremor Array Method and the ground motions generated by the broadband hybrid ground motion simulation. Assuming a Mw6.2 earthquake occuring at the Dongrae fault, the ground motions at the studied sites exceeded the design spectra provided by the Korean Design Standard and many of the studied sites exhibited low factors of safety against liquefaction triggering. We found that the Idriss and Boulanger (2008) method yields larger Cyclic Stress Ratios (CSR), compared with the site response analysis based method. Cyclic Resistance Ratios (CRR) estimated from the shear wave velocity were sensitive to small changes in the velocity, which suggests that high accuracy and depth resolution are desired when the shear wave velocity is used to estimate the CRR.
Research on the design process of Kenzo Tange's own residence
Authors: Toyokawa Saikaku
Published: February 2023

This study examines the design process of Tange residence based on sketches and photographs kept by Akira Tarashima, who was in charge of designing the residence. The study classifies them according to area size from Type A to Type F. Observing the front of the longer direction, it is observed that 32 shaku, 40 shaku, 50 shaku, and 60 shaku were under consideration, after which Type F became 54 shaku. This study confirms that the various study sketches considered room allocation based on the basic modules of 4 shaku, 5 shaku, and 6 shaku. It is also confirmed that the plans and elevation were drawn simultaneously and clarified the process from a modest‐size one‐story house (Type A) to the two‐story completion draft with an exterior worthy of the residence of a master architect (Type F).
A study on the design methods of “the garden city” planning by Yoshikazu Uchida: Focusing on the process of making his planning
Authors: Nakagawa Takaaki , Sanada Junko
Published: February 2023

Yoshikazu Uchida—the famous Japanese architect and the director of Dojunkai—made a residential plan named the “garden city plan” just before the Great Kanto Earthquake. In this study, the authors report the design methods of his plan with focusing on the process done by Uchida from 1919 to 1922. By making a comparison between the three drawings, the following four design methods of his plan are found out. First, his plan has a graded configuration of the street system. Second, shops are placed around circular plazas and along a main road. Thirdly, there is a diversity in the arrangement of public buildings. Fourthly, specific open space is surrounded by buildings. These design methods share characteristics with those of Dojunkai's residential districts. Therefore, one of the reasons why Dojunkai realized the design methods of modern residential planning in its estates after the Great Kanto Earthquake is because Uchida had practiced the above‐mentioned design methods on his drawings through the “garden city plan.”
RheumMadness: Creating an Online Community of Inquiry in Rheumatology
Authors: Leverenz David L. , Garren Akrithi U. , Katz Guy , Saygin Didem , Witt Allen , Harper Robert , Sparks Matthew A. , Criscione‐Schreiber Lisa
Published: February 2023

Objective

To evaluate the educational impact of RheumMadness, an online tournament of rheumatology concepts grounded in social constructivist theory, as viewed through the community of inquiry (CoI) framework.

Methods

The curricular scaffold of RheumMadness was a bracket of 16 rheumatology concepts competing as “teams” in a tournament. Participants could create and review “scouting reports” about each team, listen to a RheumMadness podcast, discuss on social media, and submit a bracket predicting tournament outcomes according to the perceived importance of each team. Engagement was measured with direct analytics and through self‐report on a survey. The survey also assessed participants’ educational experience using an adapted 34‐item CoI survey, which describes the cognitive, social, and teaching presences in a learning activity.

Results

One hundred brackets were submitted. On average, each scouting report was viewed 92 times, each podcast episode was downloaded 163 times, and 486 tweets were sent about #RheumMadness from 105 users. The survey received 58 of 107 responses (54%). Respondent agreement with prompts related to each CoI presence was: 70.3% cognitive, 61.7% social, 84.9% teaching. Reported engagement in RheumMadness correlated strongly with overall CoI survey scores (r = 0.72, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

RheumMadness created an online CoI that fostered social constructivist learning about rheumatology.
Additive Manufacturing of Hard Magnetic Passive Shims to Increase Field Homogeneity of a Halbach Magnet
Authors: Jafarzadeh Sina , Wulff Anders Christian , Engelbrecht Kurt , Bahl Christian Robert Haffenden
Published: February 2023

Obtaining a highly homogeneous magnetic field is desired for field‐controlled applications. For example, the resolution of magnetic analysis methods can be improved by generating a stronger and more homogeneous field over the region of interest (ROI). A set of 3D‐printed passive shims is fabricated using additive manufacturing to improve the magnetic field homogeneity of a Halbach magnet assembly. The feedstock is a custom acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)‐hard magnet composite filament filled with 60% wt. isotropic NdFeB. Additionally, a method for investigating the remanence is developed and validated. The result reveals a good agreement between the new method and existing measurement techniques for the remanence of permanent magnets. It is also shown that the additive manufacturing procedure has negligible effects on the magnetic properties. Performing a parametric study over a rectangular ROI, an optimized shim configuration is achieved. In the optimized and 3D‐printed configuration, the average norm of the magnetic flux density, Bnorm, is increased by 13% and, more importantly, a 43% increase in the magnetic uniformity is obtained. These results highlight the great potential of freeform manufacturing, namely, additive manufacturing, to tailor the properties of magnet structures.
Photo‐Curing 3D Printing of Thermosetting Sacrificial Tooling for Fabricating Fiber‐Reinforced Hollow Composites
Authors: Zhao Baoming , Hao Cheng , Chang Yu‐Chung , Cao Yiding , Liu Tuan , Fei Mingen , Shao Lin , Zhang Jinwen
Published: February 2023

Carbon fiber‐reinforced hollow composites play a vital role in lightweighting modern cars and aircrafts. Fabrication of such hollow composites with seamless internal finish requires sacrificial tooling that can be used under pressure and high temperature. For the very first time, high performance sacrificial tooling that can be used to fabricate fiber‐reinforced hollow composites is produced using photocuring 3D printing technology. This is achieved by developing UV‐curable resins containing highly soluble yet hydrolysable acetal acrylate cross‐linker and hydrophilic 4‐acryloylmorpholine monomer. It is found that the cross‐linker content greatly affects the printing speed. Further, the widely adopted UV post‐curing method is found to have negligible impact on improving the thermal‐mechanical properties of printed structures. After thermal post‐treatment, printed sacrificial tooling exhibits a heat deflection temperature of 112 °C at 0.455 MPa and an average coefficient of linear thermal expansion of 59 ppm °C−1 between 30 and 100 °C. As a result, printed tooling enables fabrication of carbon fiber‐reinforced hollow composites with complex geometry, which shows a tensile strength of 802 MPa and an elastic modulus of 50.2 GPa.
Preprogramming Floating Time of Liquid Marble
Authors: Barman Nishanta , Shome Arpita , Kumar Saurav , Mondal Priyam , Jain Karan , Tenjimbayashi Mizuki , Manna Uttam
Published: February 2023

Non‐sticking droplets wrapped with fine hydrophobic particles, namely liquid marbles, can be transported both on solid and water pool without an undesired spill of the inner encapsulated liquid. While the stimuli‐responsive release of the inner liquid in the target area is proposed, the time‐programmed release is not yet achieved. Herein, the hydrophobicity of nanoclay is modulated via a catalyst‐free 1,4‐conjugate addition reaction to form liquid marbles. This nanoclay liquid marble is robust and stable in air but collapses on the liquid pool with a specific lifetime. The lifetime of the liquid marble can be modulated over seconds to hours scale depending on the selection of chemically modulated wettability of the nanoclay. The critical mechanism of lifetime modulation is responsible for controlling the coalescence kinetics between the water pool and inner liquid by nanoclays’ high diffusion length and chemically varied water spreading potential. The NC liquid marble's programmable lifetime to ‘time‐bomb’ type drug release and cascade chemical reaction is applied—without requiring any external intervention.
Near‐ and Long‐Range Electronic Modulation of Single Metal Sites to Boost CO2 Electrocatalytic Reduction
Authors: Hu Chenghong , Zhang Yue , Hu Anqian , Wang Yajing , Wei Xiaoming , Shen Kui , Chen Liyu , Li Yingwei
Published: February 2023

Tuning the electronic structure of the active center is effective to improve the intrinsic activity of single‐atom catalysts but the realization of precise regulation remains challenging. Herein, a strategy of “synergistically near‐ and long‐range regulation” is reported to effectively modulate the electronic structure of single‐atom sites. ZnN4 sites decorated with axial sulfur ligand in the first coordination and surrounded phosphorus atoms in the carbon matrix are successfully constructed in the hollow carbon supports (ZnN4S1/P‐HC). ZnN4S1/P‐HC exhibits excellent performance for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) with a Faraday efficiency of CO close to 100%. The coupling of the CO2RR with thermodynamically favorable hydrazine oxidation reaction to replace oxygen evolution reaction in a two‐electrode electrolyzer can greatly lower the cell voltage by 0.92 V at a current density of 5 mA cm−2, theoretically saving 46% of energy consumption. Theoretical calculation reveals that the near‐range regulation with axial thiophene‐S ligand and long‐range regulation with neighboring P atoms can synergistically lead to the increase of electron localization around the Zn sites, which strengthens the adsorption of *COOH intermediate and therefore boosts the CO2RR.
Grazing cover crops in continuous corn production in east‐central Mississippi
Authors: Rushing J. Brett , Waddell Kenneth R. , Lyles Johnson C. , Lemus Rocky W.
Published: February 2023

Cover crop grazing can be used as a strategy to meet nutritional requirements for livestock while simultaneously enhancing soil ecosystem services without sacrificing subsequent crop yield. Field research was conducted in east‐central Mississippi from 2019 to 2021 on a sandy loam soil to assess the impacts that grazing, tillage, and cover crop species had on corn (Zea mays L.) grain yield and soil characteristics. The main plot was grazed (G) and un‐grazed (UG) cover crops, tillage (conventional and no‐till [NT]) was the subplot, and cover crop species the sub‐subplots. Cover crops were grazed using beef (Bos taurus) heifers at a stocking density of approximately 3300 kg ha−1 each growing season as forage mass (FM) allowed. No differences were observed in FM among cover crop treatments; however, FM, crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) were affected by tillage and grazing. Corn grain yield was unaffected by grazing or tillage but was impacted by cover crop treatment. Cereal rye (Secale cereale L.; 11.99 Mg ha−1), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.; 11.67 Mg ha−1), and cereal rye + radish (Raphanus sativus L.; 12.07 Mg ha−1) had greater grain yield compared to the un‐planted control (10.99 Mg ha−1). The combination of G × no‐till (NT) resulted in greater penetration resistance (71.07 J); however, G plots contributed to greater organic matter(OM) concentrations. Overall, our data suggest that complimenting G and NT practices does not impact subsequent corn grain yield and could add value to cover cropping systems.
Large‐Scale Cardiac Muscle Cell‐Based Coupled Oscillator Network for Vertex Coloring Problem
Authors: Ji Jiaying , Ren Xiang , Gomez Jorge , Bashar Mohammad Khairul , Shukla Nikhil , Datta Suman , Zorlutuna Pinar
Published: February 2023

Modern computers require an exponential increase in resources when solving computationally hard problems, motivating the need for an alternative computing platform to solve such problems in an energy‐efficient manner. Vertex coloring, a nondeterministic polynomial time (NP‐hard) combinatorial optimization problem, is one such problem. Herein, an experimental demonstration of using cardiac cell‐based bio‐oscillator network coupling dynamics to solve a vertex coloring problem in various scales of graphs using a simple cell patterning method to construct scalable and controlled cardiac cell networks is presented. Although there are limitations to using these cardiac cells as oscillators, such as their low frequency compared to complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) oscillators, that result in longer processing times, the accuracy in large graph instances, the significantly less amount of energy consumption, and the ease of fabrication and potential to extend this system to massively parallel 3D structures make the bio‐oscillators a promising new platform for collective computing applications.
Bacterial communities in the nasal passage of postviral olfactory dysfunction patients
Authors: Biswas Kristi , Ramakrishnan Vijay R. , Hollemann Elisabeth , Lorenz Korinna , Wagner Mackenzie Brett , Frank Daniel N. , Douglas Richard G. , Hummel Thomas
Published: February 2023

Key points

Bacterial composition is uniform in the sinuses of postviral olfactory dysfunction patients.

Significant reduction of genus Corynebacterium in PVOD patients compared to controls.
Enzyme‐Free Fluorescent Detection of MicroRNA in Clinical Samples by Catalytic Hairpin Assembly Coupled with Magnetic Bead‐Confined 3D DNA Walking
Authors: Yu Jingyuan , Qi Lijuan , Zhao Songchen , Zhang Xiaojun , Shang Xudong , Hu Xintong , Chen Liguo , Wang Duo , Jiang Yanfang , Du Yan
Published: February 2023

Catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA), as an enzyme‐free isotheral nucleic acid amplification method, can easily cooperate with other amplification procedures to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of detection. Herein, we constructed a cascaded CHA sensing platform for breast cancer biomarker detection. Introducing a short double nucleic acid stand avoids the product of CHA1 to directly trigger the CHA2 reaction, which simplifies the design of the CHA hairpins. Compared with the single CHA2 reaction, the cascaded CHA biosensor activated by microRNA‐155 holds nearly 10 times the amplification efficiency with detection limit down to 47.4 pM and quantifies the target in the range from 50 pM to 200 nM. Besides, the magnetic bead‐confined CHA2 taking 3D DNA walking as the display form contributes to decreasing the environmental interference. As expected, the strategy sensitively distinguishes expression levels of microRNA‐155 in different cell lines and cancer patients, which are consistent with the results of traditional qRT‐PCR method. More importantly, simply adjusting the microRNA recognition sequence of CHA1 can extend the cascaded CHA platform to a wider detection range. Therefore, the robustness and efficiency of the approach enable the potential applications for detection of microRNA and early clinical disease diagnosis.
Effect of minimal neutralization at optimal conditions on minor components and oxidation stability of sunflower oil
Authors: Gumus Pinar , Decker Eric A. , Maskan Medeni
Published: February 2023

In this study, oxidatively stable minimal neutralized sunflower seed oils were produced using three chemicals (Ca(OH)2, MgO, and Na2SiO3) under previously determined optimal process conditions. Lipid oxidation rates at these optimum conditions were compared to the oils neutralized with NaOH (0.20%, 40°C, 15 min). It was concluded that the oils neutralized by NaOH had the shortest hydroperoxide and hexanal lag phases, thus were the least stable oils. Oils neutralized by Ca(OH)2, MgO, and Na2SiO3 had lower FFA and higher oxidative stability than oil neutralized by NaOH. The study focused on which weak alkaline has higher oxidation stability and minimum FFA content and maximum acceptable tocopherol content. The oil neutralized by Ca(OH)2 had the lowest FFA value and highest total phenolics and α‐tocopherol contents and it had better oxidative stability than oil neutralized by NaOH. It suggests that Ca(OH)2 could be more effective in producing a high quality oil.
Amino‐Terephthalonitrile‐Based Single Benzene Fluorophores with Large Stokes Shifts and Solvatochromic Behavior
Authors: Raghava Tanya , Chattopadhyay Anjan , Bhavana Purushothaman , Banerjee Subhadeep
Published: February 2023

We have synthesized a small library of blue‐to‐green emissive single benzene‐based fluorophores (SBFs) in a short synthetic sequence. The molecules exhibit good Stokes shift in the range of 60–110 nm and select examples also possess very high fluorescence quantum yields of up to 87%. Theoretical investigations into the ground state and excited state geometries of many of these compounds reveal that good degree of planarization between the electron donor secondary amines and electron accepting benzodinitrile units can be achieved under certain solvatochromic conditions, giving rise to the strongly fluorescent behavior. On the other hand, the excited state geometry which lacks co‐planarity of the donor amine and the single benzene moiety can open up a non‐fluorescent channel. Additionally, in molecules with a dinitrobenzene acceptor, the perpendicular nitro moieties render the molecules completely non‐emissive.
Fast approximations of pseudo‐observations in the context of right censoring and interval censoring
Authors: Bouaziz Olivier
Published: February 2023

In the context of right‐censored and interval‐censored data, we develop asymptotic formulas to compute pseudo‐observations for the survival function and the restricted mean survival time (RMST). These formulas are based on the original estimators and do not involve computation of the jackknife estimators. For right‐censored data, Von Mises expansions of the Kaplan–Meier estimator are used to derive the pseudo‐observations. For interval‐censored data, a general class of parametric models for the survival function is studied. An asymptotic representation of the pseudo‐observations is derived involving the Hessian matrix and the score vector. Theoretical results that justify the use of pseudo‐observations in regression are also derived. The formula is illustrated on the piecewise‐constant‐hazard model for the RMST. The proposed approximations are extremely accurate, even for small sample sizes, as illustrated by Monte Carlo simulations and real data. We also study the gain in terms of computation time, as compared to the original jackknife method, which can be substantial for a large dataset.
Survival in gastric and esophageal cancers in the Nordic countries through a half century
Authors: Hemminki Kari , Tichanek Filip , Försti Asta , Hemminki Otto , Hemminki Akseli
Published: February 2023

Background

Gastric cancer (GC) and esophageal cancer (EC) are among the most fatal cancers and improving survival in them is a major clinical challenge. Nordic cancer data were recently released up to year 2019. These data are relevant for long‐term survival analysis as they originate from high‐quality national cancer registries from countries with practically free access to health care, thus documenting ‘real‐world’ experience for entire populations.

Patients/Methods

Data were obtained for Danish (DK), Finnish (FI), Norwegian (NO), and Swedish (SE) patients from the NORDCAN database from years 1970 through 2019. Relative 1‐ and 5‐year survival were analyzed, and additionally the difference between 1‐ and 5‐year survival was calculated as a measure of trends between years 1 and 5 after diagnosis.

Results

Relative 1‐year survival for Nordic men and women in GC was 30% in period 1970–74 and it increased close to 60%. Early 5‐year survival ranged between 10 and 15% and the last figures were over 30% for all women and NO men while survival for other men remain below 30%. Survival in EC was below that in GC, and it reached over 50% for 1‐year survival only for NO patients; 5‐year survival reached over 20% only for NO women. For both cancers, the difference between 1‐ and 5‐year survival increased with time. Survival was worst among old patients.

Conclusion

GC and EC survival improved over the 50‐year period but the increase in 5‐year survival was entirely explained by gains in 1‐year survival, which improved at an accelerated pace in EC. The likely reasons for improvements are changes in diagnosis, treatment, and care. The challenges are to push survival past year 1 with attention to old patients. These cancers have a potential for primary prevention through the avoidance of risk factors.
Point cloud synthesis with stochastic differential equations
Authors: Li Tingting , Wang Meili , Liu Xiaoxiao , Liang Hui , Chang Jian , Zhang Jian Jun
Published: February 2023

In this article, we propose a point cloud synthesis method based on stochastic differential equations. We view the point cloud generation process as smoothly transforming from a known prior distribution toward the high‐likelihood shape by point‐level denoising. We introduce a conditional corrector sampler to improve the quality of point clouds. By leveraging Markov chain Monte Carlo sample, our method can synthesize realistic point clouds. We additionally prove that our approach can be trained in an auto‐encoding fashion and reconstruct the point cloud faithfully. Furthermore, our model can be extended on a downstream application of point cloud completion. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our method.
Influence of Bulk Volume Fraction on Shear‐Induced Diffusion Using the Multi‐Fluid Volume‐of‐Fluid Model
Authors: Govindavilasom Sivanandan Avinash , Mahalingam Arun , Surendran Anish
Published: February 2023

Shear‐induced migration is the diffusion of particles in a direction normal to the flow of suspension. The particles migrate towards the low‐shear stress region from the higher‐shear stress region. In the kinetic theory of granular flow, the driving potential for the migration of particles is the difference in granular temperature, defined as the kinetic energy of particle fluctuations. The effect of bulk volume fraction on the particle migration in a dense suspension flow through a rectangular microchannel is analyzed. The multiphase simulation was conducted using the multi‐fluid volume‐of‐fluid and granular temperature model. The results show a blunted velocity profile, reduced peak velocity, and an increase in variation of local volume fraction with an increase in bulk volume fraction.
The decisive role of adsorbed OH* in low‐potential CO electro‐oxidation on single‐atom catalytic sites
Authors: Li Yang , Wang Xian , Wang Ying , Shi Zhaoping , Yang Yuqi , Zhao Tuo , Jiang Zheng , Liu Changpeng , Xing Wei , Ge Junjie
Published: February 2023

CO impurity‐induced catalyst deactivation has long been one of the biggest challenges in proton‐exchange membrane fuel cells, with the poisoning phenomenon mainly attributed to the overly strong adsorption on the catalytic site. Here, we present a mechanistic study that overturns this understanding by using Rh‐based single‐atom catalysis centers as model catalysts. We precisely modulated the chelation structure of the Rh catalyst by coordinating Rh with C or N atoms, and probed the reaction mechanism by surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Direct spectroscopic evidence for intermediates indicates that the reactivity of adsorbed OH*, rather than the adsorption strength of CO*, dictates the CO electrocatalytic oxidation behavior. The RhN4 sites, which adsorb the OH* intermediate more weakly than RhC4 sites, showed prominent CO oxidation activity that not only far exceeded the traditional Pt/C but also the RhC4 sites with similar CO adsorption strength. From this study, it is clear that a paradigm shift in future research should be considered to rationally design high‐performance CO electro‐oxidation reaction catalysts by sufficiently considering the water‐related reaction intermediate during catalysis.
Passivation engineering via silica‐encapsulated quantum dots for highly sensitive photodetection
Authors: Chun Ji Yun , Kim Byung Gi , Kim Jin Young , Jang Woongsik , Wang Dong Hwan
Published: February 2023

Organometal halide perovskites are promising semiconducting materials for photodetectors because of their favorable optoelectrical properties. Although nanoscale perovskite materials such as quantum dots (QDs) show novel behavior, they have intrinsic stability issues. In this study, an effectively silane barrier‐capped quantum dot (QD@APDEMS) is thinly applied onto a bulk perovskite photosensitive layer for use in photodetectors. QD@APDEMS is synthesized with a silane ligand with hydrophobic CH3‐terminal groups, resulting in excellent dispersibility and durability to enable effective coating. The introduction of the QD@APDEMS layer results in the formation of a low‐defect perovskite film with enlarged grains. This is attributed to the grain boundary interconnection effect via interaction between the functional groups of QD@APDEMS and uncoordinated Pb2+ in grain boundaries. By passivating the grain boundaries, where various trap sites are distributed, hole charge‐carrier injection and shunt leakage can be suppressed. Also, from the energy point of view, the deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of QD@APDEMS can work as a hole charge injection barrier. Improved charge dynamics (generation, transfer, and recombination properties) and reduced trap density of QD@APDEMS are demonstrated. When this perovskite film is used in a photodetector, the device performance (especially the detectivity) stands out among existing perovskites evaluated for energy sensing device applications.
Ryegrass cultivar performance in overseeded and conventional establishment
Authors: White Joshua A. , Lemus Rocky
Published: February 2023

Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum; ARG) is often overseeded into bahiagrass (Paspulum notatum Fluegge) sod to provide early spring forage and extend the grazing season. Ryegrass cultivar selection for beef producers in the U.S. southeast is a major management decision, but most data available through state variety testing programs evaluate cultivar performance only from cultivated conventional seedbeds. Most producers do not consider the possible effect of ARG selection on total yield and nutritive value when overseeding into a sod compared to conventional management. Twenty ARG cultivars were planted into conventionally prepared seedbeds and overseeded into established bahiagrass plots. Forage dry matter, nutritive value, and bahiagrass suppression indexes were collected in 2019 and 2020 to determine the effects of ARG cultivar on these variables. Cultivar did not significantly affect dry matter, nutritive value, or bahiagrass suppression when overseeded. Seasonal yield of ARG decreased up to 55% in the overseeded plots and nutritive value generally decreased when compared to conventionally planted stands. Though ARG cultivars offered no apparent advantage or disadvantage to performance when overseeded, differences between planting methods were less apparent in later harvests. Considering the overseeding method involved little sod prep other than a no‐till drill, it was concluded that more intense sod preparation may have led to more dynamic results among ryegrass cultivars in the fall.
Evaluation of effects of temperature and humidity on the secondary structure of Ganirelix in an injectable formulation and comparison with Orgalutran® using circular dichroism spectroscopy
Authors: Ummiti Kumarswamy , Kumar J. V. Shanmukha , Prasad M. Muni , Subbappa Praveen Kumar
Published: February 2023

Ganirelix, a drug used in in vitro fertilization (IVF), prevents ovulation in women who are not ready to have children by inhibiting a gene that produces gonadotropin. Peptides are macromolecules that are able to preserve a predetermined shape while carrying out the structural and regulatory roles for which they were originally intended. Peptide structures can be altered in the production and storage processes. Therapeutic peptides' biological activity can be drastically altered by even small modifications in their primary and secondary structures. The molecules' secondary structures can be monitored by subjecting them to different processing or storage conditions. In our investigation, we used circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy with two different software programs for secondary structure evaluation to look at how environmental factors like temperature and humidity affected the secondary structure of Ganirelix in an injectable formulation. The CD results revealed that the alpha‐helical (regular and distorted), beta‐sheet, beta‐strands (regular and distorted), beta‐turn, and random coil structures of temperature and humidity stressed generic drug products are comparable to reference‐listed drug.
Atherosclerosis Imaging Quantitative Computed Tomography (AI‐QCT) to guide referral to invasive coronary angiography in the randomized controlled CONSERVE trial
Authors: Kim Yumin , Choi Andrew D. , Telluri Anha , Lipkin Isabella , Bradley Andrew J. , Sidahmed Alfateh , Jonas Rebecca , Andreini Daniele , Bathina Ravi , Baggiano Andrea , Cerci Rodrigo , Choi Eui‐Young , Choi Jung‐Hyun , Choi So‐Yeon , Chung Namsik , Cole Jason , Doh Joon‐Hyung , Ha Sang‐Jin , Her Ae‐Young , Kepka Cezary , Kim Jang‐Young , Kim Jin Won , Kim Sang‐Wook , Kim Woong , Pontone Gianluca , Villines Todd C. , Cho Iksung , Danad Ibrahim , Heo Ran , Lee Sang‐Eun , Lee Ji Hyun , Park Hyung‐Bok , Sung Ji‐min , Crabtree Tami , Earls James P. , Min James K. , Chang Hyuk‐Jae
Published: February 2023

Aims

We compared diagnostic performance, costs, and association with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) of clinical coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) interpretation versus semiautomated approach that use artificial intelligence and machine learning for atherosclerosis imaging‐quantitative computed tomography (AI‐QCT) for patients being referred for nonemergent invasive coronary angiography (ICA).

Methods

CCTA data from individuals enrolled into the randomized controlled Computed Tomographic Angiography for Selective Cardiac Catheterization trial for an American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guideline indication for ICA were analyzed. Site interpretation of CCTAs were compared to those analyzed by a cloud‐based software (Cleerly, Inc.) that performs AI‐QCT for stenosis determination, coronary vascular measurements and quantification and characterization of atherosclerotic plaque. CCTA interpretation and AI‐QCT guided findings were related to MACE at 1‐year follow‐up.

Results

Seven hundred forty‐seven stable patients (60 ± 12.2 years, 49% women) were included. Using AI‐QCT, 9% of patients had no CAD compared with 34% for clinical CCTA interpretation. Application of AI‐QCT to identify obstructive coronary stenosis at the ≥50% and ≥70% threshold would have reduced ICA by 87% and 95%, respectively. Clinical outcomes for patients without AI‐QCT‐identified obstructive stenosis was excellent; for 78% of patients with maximum stenosis < 50%, no cardiovascular death or acute myocardial infarction occurred. When applying an AI‐QCT referral management approach to avoid ICA in patients with <50% or <70% stenosis, overall costs were reduced by 26% and 34%, respectively.

Conclusions

In stable patients referred for ACC/AHA guideline‐indicated nonemergent ICA, application of artificial intelligence and machine learning for AI‐QCT can significantly reduce ICA rates and costs with no change in 1‐year MACE.
Emerging therapeutic strategies for enhancing sensitivity and countering resistance to programmed cell death protein 1 or programmed death‐ligand 1 inhibitors in non–small cell lung cancer
Authors: Villaruz Liza C. , Blumenschein George R. , Otterson Gregory A. , Leal Ticiana A.
Published: February 2023

The availability of agents targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD‐1)/programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) immune checkpoint has transformed treatment of advanced and/or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, a substantial proportion of patients treated with these agents do not respond or experience only a brief period of clinical benefit. Even among those whose disease responds, many subsequently experience disease progression. Consequently, novel approaches are needed that enhance antitumor immunity and counter resistance to PD‐(L)1 inhibitors, thereby improving and/or prolonging responses and patient outcomes, in both PD‐(L)1 inhibitor‐sensitive and inhibitor‐resistant NSCLC. Mechanisms contributing to sensitivity and/or resistance to PD‐(L)1 inhibitors in NSCLC include upregulation of other immune checkpoints and/or the presence of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, which represent potential targets for new therapies. This review explores novel therapeutic regimens under investigation for enhancing responses to PD‐(L)1 inhibitors and countering resistance, and summarizes the latest clinical evidence in NSCLC.
Secure personal authentication in fog devices via multimodal rank‐level fusion
Authors: Saravanakumar Selvaraj , Saravanan Thangavel
Published: February 2023

In recent years, Fog and edge computing have gained enormous increases and usage of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in research and development even though it provides challenges such as security and privacy. One way to ensure this is a fusion of multimodal biometrics authentication systems, which offer highly reliable biometric authentication solutions to reduce the failure to enroll rate, increase the degree of freedom, and deter spoof attacks. Since unimodal biometric systems often face significant limitations due to sensitivity to noise, data quality, non‐universality, and illumination variations. In this research, we propose management of access control to ensure the desired level of security, a Rank level fusion integration method. ORL, GT, CASIA, and VGG‐face databases were used for testing and evaluating the implemented system. Thus, using the LDA with SCE based feature selection approach, the average GAR percent for the facial, hearing, and palm vein is 3.25% for the facial and muffs pulse and 8.55% for the head and palm vein result was the overall performance of the biometric system even in the presence of low‐quality data in the Fog environment.