bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of in situ nano Ta4HfC5 reinforced SiBCN composite ceramics
Authors: Wang Bingzhu , Li Daxin , Yang Zhihua , Jia Dechang , Guan Jingyi , Peng Hao , Cai Delong , He Peigang , Duan Xiaoming , Zhou Yu , Zhang Tao , Gao Chenguang 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThein situnano Ta4HfC5reinforced SiBCN-Ta4HfC5composite ceramics were prepared by a combination of two-step mechanical alloying and reactive hot-pressing sintering. The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the resulting SiBCN-Ta4HfC5were studied. After the first-step milling of 30 h, the raw materials of TaC and HfC underwent crushing, cold sintering, and short-range interdiffusion to finally obtain the high pure nano Ta4HfC5. A hybrid structure of amorphous SiBCN and nano Ta4HfC5was obtained by adopting a second-step ball-milling. After reactive hot-pressing sintering, amorphous SiBCN has crystallized to 3C-SiC, 6H-SiC, and turbostratic BN(C) phases and Ta4HfC5retained the form of the nanostructure. With thein situgenerations of 2.5 wt% Ta4HfC5, Ta4HfC5is preferentially distributed within the turbostratic BN(C); however, as Ta4HfC5content further raised to 10 wt%, it mainly distributed in the grain-boundary of BN(C) and SiC. The introduction of Ta4HfC5nanocrystals can effectively improve the flexural strength and fracture toughness of SiBCN ceramics, reaching to 344.1 MPa and 4.52 MPa·m1/2, respectively. This work has solved the problems of uneven distribution of ultra-high temperature phases in the ceramic matrix, which is beneficial to the real applications of SiBCN ceramics.
Attitudes towards cheating behavior during assessing students᾽performance: student and teacher perspectives
Authors: Vučković Dijana , Peković Sanja , Blečić Marijana , Đoković Rajka 
Published: November 2020

AbstractOur aim in this study was to determine students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards cheating in assessing students’ performance. We used mixed methodology and the main research method was a case study. We aimed to describe how our respondents: 1. recognize ethical misconduct (EM) in several situations given through case studies, 2. understand the roles of each subject involved, 3. predict consequences of the EM and how they understand its possible causes, 4. create individual answers to EM or resolve problem situations. The research sample of students (120) includes participants from three basic study programs and two postgraduate programs in the field of education. A sample of teachers (42) was obtained from a number of faculties by random selection. Our respondents have identified most forms of EM reasonably well, although in some situations, the respondents recognized other errors (poor organization of time for learning, professors’ strict deadline for paper submission, etc.) as EM. Therefore, the issues of ethics are not completely clear to all respondents, which leads to the conclusion that universities must organize training in this field. Both groups of respondents understand EM in a similar way, and whether it is a professor or a student (or students) who commits EM has not affected their responses. Our results suggest that it is necessary to work on the prevention of fraud by discussing the consequences (especially the long-term ones, which were not considerably discussed in the comments), by learning ethical reasoning, by developing functional strategies of learning for the purpose of preventing fraud.
The Behavioral Intervention with Technology for E-Weight Loss Study (BITES): Incorporating Energy Balance Models and the Bite Counter into an Online Behavioral Weight Loss Program
Authors: Goldstein Carly M. , Goldstein Stephanie P. , Thomas Diana M. , Hoover Adam , Bond Dale S. , Thomas J. Graham 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis study evaluated feasibility and acceptability of adding energy balance modeling displayed on weight graphs combined with a wrist-worn bite counting sensor against a traditional online behavioral weight loss program. Adults with a BMI of 27–45 kg/m2 (83.3% women) were randomized to receive a 12-week online behavioral weight loss program with 12 weeks of continued contact (n = 9; base program), the base program plus a graph of their actual and predicted weight change based on individualized physiological parameters (n = 7), or the base program, graph, and a Bite Counter device for monitoring and limiting eating (n = 8). Participants attended weekly clinic weigh-ins plus baseline, midway (12 weeks), and study culmination (24 weeks) assessments of feasibility, acceptability, weight, and behavioral outcomes. In terms of feasibility, participants completed online lessons (M = 7.04 of 12 possible lessons, SD = 4.02) and attended weigh-ins (M = 16.81 visits, SD = 7.24). Six-month retention appears highest among nomogram participants, and weigh-in attendance and lesson completion appear highest in Bite Counter participants. Acceptability was sufficient across groups. Bite Counter use (days with ≥ 2 eating episodes) was moderate (47.8%) and comparable to other studies. Participants lost 4.6% ± 4.5 of their initial body weight at 12 weeks and 4.5% ± 5.8 at 24 weeks. All conditions increased their total physical activity minutes and use of weight control strategies (behavioral outcomes). Although all groups lost weight and the study procedures were feasible, acceptability can be improved with advances in the technology. Participants were satisfied with the online program and nomograms, and future research on engagement, adherence, and integration with other owned devices is needed. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02857595
End resection: a key step in homologous recombination and DNA double-strand break repair
Authors: Liu Sijie , Kong Daochun 
Published: November 2020

AbstractDNA end resection in eukaryotes is a key step in DNA homologous recombination (HR) and HR-mediated DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair, in which DNA2, EXO1 and MRE11 endo- and exonucleases remove several kilobases from the 5′ terminus of the DNA with DSB, while the 3′ terminus remains intact. The end resection-generated 3′ single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) overhang is then coated by RAD51 for subsequent strand invasion. In the last two decades, great progress has been made in understanding the biochemical mechanisms of end resection, including the identification of various enzymes involved in this process. However, some important questions about this process remain to be resolved. In this review, we summarize the general process of end resection and discuss the implications of the most recent findings for understanding of the end resection machinery.
Regularity of optimal sets for some functional involving eigenvalues of an operator in divergence form
Authors: Trey Baptiste 
Published: November 2020

In this paper we consider minimizers of the functional

\mathrm{\min }⁡\left\{\lambda _{1}(\mathrm{\Omega }) + \cdots + \lambda _{k}(\mathrm{\Omega }) + \mathrm{\Lambda }|\mathrm{\Omega }|,\::\:\mathrm{\Omega } \subset D\text{ open}\right\}

where

D \subset \mathbb{R}^{d}

is a bounded open set and where

0 < \lambda _{1}(\mathrm{\Omega }) \leq ⋯ \leq \lambda _{k}(\mathrm{\Omega })

are the first

k

eigenvalues on Ω of an operator in divergence form with Dirichlet boundary condition and with Hölder continuous coefficients. We prove that the optimal sets

\mathrm{\Omega }^*

have finite perimeter and that their free boundary

\partial \mathrm{\Omega }^* \cap D

is composed of a
regular part
, which is locally the graph of a

C^{1,\alpha }

-regular function, and a
singular part
, which is empty if

d < d^*

, discrete if

d = d^*

and of Hausdorff dimension at most

d−d^*

if

d > d^*

, for some

d^* \in \{5,6,7\}

.
Concept generation techniques change patterns of brain activation during engineering design
Authors: Shealy Tripp , Gero John , Hu Mo , Milovanovic Julie 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis paper presents the results of studying the brain activations of 30 engineering students when using three different design concept generation techniques: brainstorming, morphological analysis, and TRIZ. Changes in students’ brain activation in the prefrontal cortex were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results are based on the area under the curve analysis of oxygenated hemodynamic response as well as an assessment of functional connectivity using Pearson’s correlation to compare students’ cognitive brain activations using these three different ideation techniques. The results indicate that brainstorming and morphological analysis demand more cognitive activation across the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to TRIZ. The highest cognitive activation when brainstorming and using morphological analysis is in the right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC. These regions are associated with divergent thinking and ill-defined problem-solving. TRIZ produces more cognitive activation in the left DLPFC. This region is associated with convergent thinking and making judgments. Morphological analysis and TRIZ also enable greater coordination (i.e., synchronized activation) between brain regions. These findings offer new evidence that structured techniques like TRIZ reduce cognitive activation, change patterns of activation and increase coordination between regions in the brain.
A cancellation theorem for modules over integral group rings
Authors: NICHOLSON JOHN 
Published: November 2020

AbstractA long standing problem, which has its roots in low-dimensional homotopy theory, is to classify all finite groups G for which the integral group ring ℤG has stably free cancellation (SFC). We extend results of R. G. Swan by giving a condition for SFC and use this to show that ℤG has SFC provided at most one copy of the quaternions ℍ occurs in the Wedderburn decomposition of the real group ring ℝG. This generalises the Eichler condition in the case of integral group rings.
Severity of Ongoing Post-Concussive Symptoms as a Predictor of Cognitive Performance Following a Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Sicard Veronik , Hergert Danielle C. , Pabbathi Reddy Sharvani , Robertson-Benta Cidney R. , Dodd Andrew B. , Shaff Nicholas A. , Stephenson David D. , Yeates Keith Owen , Cromer Jason A. , Campbell Richard A. , Phillips John P. , Sapien Robert E. , Mayer Andrew R. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractObjective:This study aimed to examine the predictors of cognitive performance in patients with pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (pmTBI) and to determine whether group differences in cognitive performance on a computerized test battery could be observed between pmTBI patients and healthy controls (HC) in the sub-acute (SA) and the early chronic (EC) phases of injury.Method:203 pmTBI patients recruited from emergency settings and 159 age- and sex-matched HC aged 8–18 rated their ongoing post-concussive symptoms (PCS) on the Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory and completed the Cogstate brief battery in the SA (1–11 days) phase of injury. A subset (156 pmTBI patients; 144 HC) completed testing in the EC (~4 months) phase.Results:Within the SA phase, a group difference was only observed for the visual learning task (One-Card Learning), with pmTBI patients being less accurate relative to HC. Follow-up analyses indicated higher ongoing PCS and higher 5P clinical risk scores were significant predictors of lower One-Card Learning accuracy within SA phase, while premorbid variables (estimates of intellectual functioning, parental education, and presence of learning disabilities or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) were not.Conclusions:The absence of group differences at EC phase is supportive of cognitive recovery by 4 months post-injury. While the severity of ongoing PCS and the 5P score were better overall predictors of cognitive performance on the Cogstate at SA relative to premorbid variables, the full regression model explained only 4.1% of the variance, highlighting the need for future work on predictors of cognitive outcomes.
High‐Resolution P‐T‐Time Paths Across Himalayan Faults Exposed Along the Bhagirathi Transect NW India: Implications for the Construction of the Himalayan Orogen and Ongoing Deformation
Authors: Catlos Elizabeth J. , Perez Theresa J. , Lovera Oscar M. , Dubey Chandra Shekhar , Schmitt Axel K. , Etzel Thomas M. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractPressure‐temperature (P‐T) conditions and high‐resolution paths from 11 garnet‐bearing rocks collected across Himalayan fault systems exposed along the Bhagirathi River (Uttarakhand, NW India) reveal the tectonic conditions responsible for their growth. A garnet from the Tethyan metasedimentary unit has a 50.3 ± 0.6 Ma (Th‐Pb, ±1σ) monazite inclusion, suggesting that ductile mid‐crustal metamorphism occurred synchronously or soon after (<10 Myr) India‐Asia collision, depending on timing. High‐resolution garnet P‐T paths from the same rock show ∼1 kbar fluctuations in P as T increases over a ∼20°C interval, consistent with a period of erosion. We report garnets from the Main Central Thrust (MCT) hanging wall that have Eocene to Miocene monazite ages, and one garnet yields paths consistent with motion along the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) décollement. Most high‐resolution MCT footwall P‐T paths fluctuate in P (±1 kbar) as T increases, consistent with imbrication and paths from equivalent structural assemblages in central Nepal. Like those rocks, MCT footwall (Lesser Himalayan Formation, LHF) monazite ages are Early Miocene (9.3 ± 0.6 Ma) to Pliocene (3.0 ± 0.2 Ma). The results demonstrate the consistency in timing and conditions across the MCT at locations ∼650 km apart. If the present‐day Himalayan tectonic framework has not significantly changed since the Pliocene, the LHF duplex can be considered when attributing seismic events to particular faults. The MHT is undisputedly the significant factor in accommodating Himalayan seismic activity, but MCT footwall faults may explain some shallower hypocenters, without the need for unusual MHT geometries.
Carbon Dioxide Production in Bedrock Beneath Soils Substantially Contributes to Forest Carbon Cycling
Authors: Tune Alison K. , Druhan Jennifer L. , Wang Jia , Bennett Philip C. , Rempe Daniella M. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractSoils are widely considered the primary terrestrial organic matter pool mediating carbon transactions with the atmosphere and groundwater. Because soils are both a host and a product of rhizosphere activity, they are thought to mark the location where photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide (CO2) is balanced by the oxidation of organic matter. However, in many terrestrial environments, the rhizosphere extends below soils and into fractured bedrock, and it is unknown if the resulting biological and hydrologic dynamics in bedrock have a significant impact on carbon cycling. Here we show substantial production of CO2 in weathered bedrock at 4–8 m below the thin soils (<0.5 m thick) of a Northern California forest using innovative monitoring technology for sampling gases and water in fractured rock. The deep CO2 production supports a persistent upward flux of CO2(g) year‐round from bedrock to soil, constituting between 2% and 29% of the average daily CO2 efflux from the land surface. When water is rapidly transported across the fractured bedrock vadose zone, nearly 50% of the CO2 produced in the bedrock dissolves into water, promoting water‐rock interaction and export of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from the unsaturated zone to groundwater, constituting as much as 80% of the DIC exiting the hillslope. Such CO2 production in weathered bedrock is subject to unique moisture, temperature, biological, and mineralogical conditions which are currently missing from terrestrial carbon models.
Middle Miocene Intensification of South Asian Monsoonal Rainfall
Authors: Yang Xueping , Groeneveld Jeroen , Jian Zhimin , Steinke Stephan , Giosan Liviu 
Published: November 2020

AbstractDuring the middle Miocene, Earth's climate changed from a global warm period (Miocene Climatic Optimum) into a colder one with the expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet. This prominent climate transition was also a period of drastic changes in global atmospheric circulation. The development of the South Asian monsoon is not well understood and mainly derived from proxy records of wind strength. Data for middle Miocene changes in rainfall are virtually non‐existent for India and the Arabian Sea prior to 11 Ma. This study presents planktic foraminiferal trace element (Mg/Ca and Ba/Ca) and stable oxygen isotope records from NGHP‐01 Site 01A off the coast of West India in the Eastern Arabian Sea (EAS) to reconstruct the regional surface hydrography and hydroclimate in the South Asian monsoon (SAM) region during the middle Miocene. The Ba/Ca and local seawater δ18O (δ18Osw) changes reveal a notable gradual increase in SAM rainfall intensity during the middle Miocene. Additionally to this long‐term increase in precipitation, the seawater δ18O is punctuated by a prominent decrease, i.e. freshening, at ~14 Ma contemporary with Antarctic glaciation. This suggests that Southern Ocean Intermediate Waters (SOIW) transmitted Antarctic salinity changes into the Arabian Sea via an “oceanic tunnel” mechanism. The middle Miocene increase in SAM rainfall is consistent with climate model simulations of an overall strengthening Asian monsoon from the Eocene to the middle/late Miocene with a further acceleration after the middle Miocene climate transition.
RAS-protein activation but not mutation status is an outcome predictor and unifying therapeutic target for high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: Koschut David , Ray Debleena , Li Zhenhua , Giarin Emanuela , Groet Jürgen , Alić Ivan , Kham Shirley Kow-Yin , Chng Wee Joo , Ariffin Hany , Weinstock David M. , Yeoh Allen Eng-Juh , Basso Giuseppe , Nižetić Dean 
Published: November 2020

AbstractLeukemias are routinely sub-typed for risk/outcome prediction and therapy choice using acquired mutations and chromosomal rearrangements. Down syndrome acute lymphoblastic leukemia (DS‐ALL) is characterized by high frequency of CRLF2‐rearrangements, JAK2‐mutations, or RAS‐pathway mutations. Intriguingly, JAK2 and RAS-mutations are mutually exclusive in leukemic sub‐clones, causing dichotomy in therapeutic target choices. We prove in a cell model that elevated CRLF2 in combination with constitutionally active JAK2 is sufficient to activate wtRAS. On primary clinical DS‐ALL samples, we show that wtRAS-activation is an obligatory consequence of mutated/hyperphosphorylated JAK2. We further prove that CRLF2-ligand TSLP boosts the direct binding of active PTPN11 to wtRAS, providing the molecular mechanism for the wtRAS activation. Pre‐inhibition of RAS or PTPN11, but not of PI3K or JAK‐signaling, prevented TSLP‐induced RAS‐GTP boost. Cytotoxicity assays on primary clinical DS‐ALL samples demonstrated that, regardless of mutation status, high-risk leukemic cells could only be killed using RAS‐inhibitor or PTPN11-inhibitor, but not PI3K/JAK‐inhibitors, suggesting a unified treatment target for up to 80% of DS‐ALL. Importantly, protein activities-based principal-component-analysis multivariate clusters analyzed for independent outcome prediction using Cox proportional-hazards model showed that protein‐activity (but not mutation-status) was independently predictive of outcome, demanding a paradigm-shift in patient‐stratification strategy for precision therapy in high-risk ALL.
Argonaute 2 is a key regulator of maternal mRNA degradation in mouse early embryos
Authors: Zhang Jia-Ming , Hou Wei-Bo , Du Jia-Wei , Zong Ming , Zheng Kai-Lun , Wang Wei-Jia , Wang Jia-Qiang , Zhang Heng , Mu Yan-Shuang , Yin Zhi , Ding Chun-Ming , Sun Qing-Yuan , Liu Zhong-Hua , Kong Qing-Ran 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn mammalian early embryos, the transition from maternal to embryonic control of gene expression requires timely degradation of a subset of maternal mRNAs (MRD). Recently, zygotic genome activation (ZGA)-dependent MRD has been characterized in mouse 2-cell embryo. However, in early embryos, the dynamics of MRD is still poorly understood, and the maternal factor-mediated MRD before and along with ZGA has not been investigated. Argonaute 2 (Ago2) is highly expressed in mouse oocyte and early embryos. In this study, we showed that Ago2-dependent degradation involving RNA interference (RNAi) and RNA activation (RNAa) pathways contributes to the decay of over half of the maternal mRNAs in mouse early embryos. We demonstrated that AGO2 guided by endogenous small interfering RNAs (endosiRNAs), generated from double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) formed by maternal mRNAs with their complementary long noncoding RNAs (CMR-lncRNAs), could target maternal mRNAs and cooperate with P-bodies to promote MRD. In addition, we also showed that AGO2 may interact with small activating RNAs (saRNAs) to activate Yap1 and Tead4, triggering ZGA-dependent MRD. Thus, Ago2-dependent degradation is required for timely elimination of subgroups of maternal mRNAs and facilitates the transition between developmental states.
Semiconductor-free nanoplasmonic photoelectrochemistry of H2O2 over Ag nanowires
Authors: Chen Ying-Chu , Chen Ying-Zhen , Hsu Yu-Kuei 
Published: November 2020

AbstractNanoplasmonics is currently experiencing an ongoing renaissance as a result of the booming research interest in LSPR-mediated but semiconductor-free photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry directly over nanometals with excellent catalytic activity and conductive properties. To shed light on the underlying mechanism, the present study puts forward H2O2 as the probe molecule, with which the electroreduction at the phase boundary with photoexcited Ag nanowires (NWs) was systemically investigated. In particular, the reaction rate depends not only linearly on the illumination intensity but also on the resonant wavelength of the characteristic LSPR of the Ag NWs, evidently illustrating that the photoelectrochemical H2O2 reduction is mediated by the LSPR-induced energetic electrons of the Ag NWs. In addition to the mechanistic insights, the present study further highlights the great promise of such semiconductor-free LSPR-mediated photoelectrochemistry of H2O2 over Ag NWs in the analytical biochemistry field via proof-of-concept solar photoelectrochemical detection of ultradiluted H2O2 in PBS. The Ag NWs deposited on a carbon cloth substrate as the working electrode exhibit excellent sensitivity amounting to 118 μA cm−2 mM−1 under solar illumination, well outperforming that of the electrochemical counterpart measured in the dark by 50%.
Novel homozygous variant in the TPO gene associated with congenital hypothyroidism and mild-intellectual disability
Authors: Khan Amjad , Umair Muhammad , Sharaf Rania Abdulfattah , Khan Muhammad Ismail , Ullah Amir , Abbas Safdar , Shaheen Nargis , Bilal Muhammad , Ahamd Farooq 
Published: November 2020

AbstractCongenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most common hereditary disorders affecting neonates worldwide. CH is a multifactorial complex disorder and can be caused by either environmental factors or genetic factors. We studied one Pakistani family with segregating mutations in CH inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. Using whole-exome sequencing (WES), we found a novel homozygous missense variant (c.2315A>G; p.Tyr772Cys) in the thyroid peroxidase (TPO) gene. Different bioinformatics prediction tools and Sanger sequencing were performed to verify the identified variant. Our findings highlight the importance of this gene in causing CH and mild-intellectual disability (ID) in two affected brothers. WES is a convenient and useful tool for the clinical diagnosis of CH and other associated disorders.