bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Stress-dependent electrical impedance behaviours at fractal rough interfaces
Authors: Wang Xu , Zhai Chongpu , Gan Yixiang 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
This work investigates interfacial electro-mechanical properties, including electrical contact resistance, interfacial capacitance and characteristic frequency of contacts formed with various surface structures. Fractal rough surfaces were generated and characterised by fractal dimension and root-mean-square (RMS) roughness. The rough surface with a thin oxide layer was compressed by the rigid flat to form a capacitor. Electrical impedances of this contact capacitor were simulated using the finite element method across a wide range of frequencies. A power-law relationship was found between the electrical contact resistance and applied compression load. An analytical model is proposed to capture the interfacial capacitance behaviour with increasing contact loads, revealing a transition of predominated modes for the capacitance. Higher fractal dimension yields smaller overall capacitance in the gap dominant and transition zones. The dependence of the characteristic frequency on compression was found to follow a power-law function at the low load range. It is found that the exponent and magnitude of obtained power-law relations show strong correlations to the fractal dimension and RMS roughness, respectively. Results of this work provide insights into developing a potential impedance measurement protocol to determine the thickness of the oxide layer on conductive fractal rough surfaces.
Microstructure evolution and aging hardening in a Cu-25Ni-25Mn alloy
Authors: Ding Kang , Xie Mingwang , Luo Fuxin , Zhang Wenjing , Chen Huiming , Xie Weibin , Wang Hang , Yang Bin 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The microstructure evolution and mechanical property of Cu-25Ni-25Mn alloy after solution treatment and aging treatment are investigated via TEM observation, XRD analysis and Vickers hardness test. The effect of the NiMn precipitates on hardness and its strengthening mechanism in the Cu-25Ni-25Mn alloy is quantitatively analyzed. The results show that in 450 °C aging process, Ni and Mn precipitate from the copper matrix and form nanoscale NiMn phase particle with a face-centered tetragonal (FCT) structure. The XRD analysis indicates that the NiMn precipitates have a lattice constant of a = b = 0.3693 ± 0.0004 nm, c = 0.3570 ± 0.0006 nm, which is fully coherent with the copper matrix. The precipitation of NiMn phase lead to a precipitation strengthening, which provides significant increase in hardness in the peak-aged Cu-25Ni-25Mn alloy. Compared to the solution treated sample, the hardness of peak-aged sample has been increased by 367 HV. The coherency strengthening and modulus strengthening are the dominant strengthening mechanisms. The hardness increment predicted by coherence strengthening and modulus strengthening mechanism has good consistency with the experiment results.
E-Glass/phenolic matrix/APP laminate as a potential candidate for battery casing of e-vehicle - experimental investigations
Authors: Santhosh M S , Sasikumar R , Natarajan Elango 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The prime purpose of the current research is to investigate the influence of Intumescent flame retardant (IFR)-Ammonium polyphosphate (APP) on the mechanical properties of Phenolic resin/E-Glass hybrid configurations and suitability of hybrid configuration for battery casing in E-vehicle. Varying weight fractions viz. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 wt% of APP were used to fabricate -Phenolic resin/E-Glass/APP polymer composites. Tensile, flexural, low velocity impact, and quasi static indentation tests were conducted and analyzed. Among the developed hybrid configurations 6 wt% APP filled laminate shows the better tensile and flexural properties than other configurations. It is understood from low velocity Izod impact test, falling weight impact test and quasi static indentation tests that APP filled hybrid configurations have more energy absorption. 6 wt% APP filled laminate has high deformation in elastic phase and low deformation in plastic phase. Morphology and fracture mechanism of polymer laminates are also presented and discussed. It is concluded from the investigations that E-Glass/Phenolic matrix/APP laminate is found as a potential candidate for battery casings of E-vehicle.
The Dissonance of Modernity: On Baudelaire and Adorno
Authors: Acquisto Joseph 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
This essay considers 'modern' poetry and music as interrelated signifying practices in the works of Charles Baudelaire and Theodor Adorno through a focus on their approach to understanding dissonance. For Baudelaire, dissonance depends on consonance in order to be perceived at all, a fact which allows us to read the modern not just in terms of a break with the past but also as dependent on it. This essay demonstrates the mutually constitutive nature of consonance and dissonance by placing Baudelaire and Adorno’s writings on dissonance, with reference to the music of Beethoven, into a constellation that allows for insight into the function of ‘modern’ dissonance. It argues that Baudelaire’s approach is both new and dependent on long-standing understandings of dissonance and harmony, and that Adorno’s writings, in conjunction with Baudelaire’s, can make us attentive to the dissonance that operates within harmony rather than standing opposed to it.
A Survivorship-Period-Cohort Model for Cancer Survival: Application to Liver Cancer in Taiwan, 1997–2016
Authors: Peng Yan-Teng , Meng Fan-Tsui , Su Shih-Yung , Chiang Chun-Ju , Yang Ya-Wen , Lee Wen-Chung 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Monitoring survival in cancer is a common concern for patients, physicians, and public health researchers. The traditional cohort approach for monitoring cancer prognosis has a timeliness problem. In this paper, we propose a survivorship-period-cohort (SPC) model for examining the effects of survivorship, period, and year-of-diagnosis cohort on cancer prognosis and for predicting future trends in cancer survival. We used the developed SPC model to evaluate the relative survival (RS) of patients with liver cancer in Taiwan (diagnosed from 1997 to 2016) and to predict future trends in RS by imputing incomplete follow-up data for recently diagnosed patient cohorts. We used cross-validation to select the extrapolation method and bootstrapping to estimate the 95% confidence interval for RS. We found that 5-year cumulative RS increased for both men and women with liver cancer diagnosed after 2003. For patients diagnosed before 2010, the 5-year cumulative RS rate for men was lower than that for women; thereafter, the rates were better for men than for women. The SPC model can help elucidate the effects of survivorship, period, and year-of-diagnosis cohort effects on cancer prognosis. Moreover, the SPC model can be used to monitor cancer prognosis in real time and predict future trends; thus, we recommend its use.
Evaluation of automated pipelines for tree and plot metric estimation from TLS data in tropical forest areas
Authors: Martin-Ducup Olivier , Mofack Gislain , Wang Di , Raumonen Pasi , Ploton Pierre , Sonké Bonaventure , Barbier Nicolas , Couteron Pierre , Pélissier Raphaël 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBackground and AimsTerrestrial LiDAR scanning (TLS) data are of great interest in forest ecology and management because they provide detailed 3-D information on tree structure. Automated pipelines are increasingly used to process TLS data and extract various tree- and plot-level metrics. With these developments comes the risk of unknown reliability due to an absence of systematic output control. In the present study, we evaluated the estimation errors of various metrics, such as wood volume, at tree and plot levels for four automated pipelines.MethodsWe used TLS data collected from a 1-ha plot of tropical forest, from which 391 trees &gt;10 cm in diameter were fully processed using human assistance to obtain control data for tree- and plot-level metrics.Key ResultsOur results showed that fully automated pipelines led to median relative errors in the quantitative structural model (QSM) volume ranging from 39 to 115 % at the tree level and 10 to 134 % at the 1-ha plot level. For tree-level metrics, the median error for the crown-projected area ranged from 46 to 59 % and that for the crown-hull volume varied from 72 to 88 %. This result suggests that the tree isolation step is the weak link in automated pipeline methods. We further analysed how human assistance with automated pipelines can help reduce the error in the final QSM volume. At the tree scale, we found that isolating trees using human assistance reduced the error in wood volume by a factor of 10. At the 1-ha plot scale, locating trees with human assistance reduced the error by a factor of 3.ConclusionsOur results suggest that in complex tropical forests, fully automated pipelines may provide relatively unreliable metrics at the tree and plot levels, but limited human assistance inputs can significantly reduce errors.
‘Juntos Somos Fuertes’: Writing Participatory Corridos of Solidarity through a Critical Translingual Approach
Authors: De Los Ríos Cati V , Seltzer Kate , Molina Arturo 
Published: April 2021

AbstractChanging demography in the Southwest USA has shifted the racial compositions of many neighborhoods that were once predominantly African American to majority Latinx immigrant communities (Orfield and Frankenberg 2014). Today, it’s common for these two youth communities to learn side-by-side in urban and suburban classrooms where they are often positioned to share each other’s cultural practices (Martinez 2017). However, language and literacy research often positions these two minoritized communities as mutually exclusive (Paris 2010). Moreover, while researchers have urged the analysis of these two youth communities comparatively few studies document classroom units that cultivate spaces for ‘linguistic solidarity’ (Martinez 2017). Drawing from an ethnographic study of an 11th-grade ethnic studies class, the authors explore how Arturo (third author) took up a critical translingual approach in his classroom where students—both Latinx and African American—collaborated through the cowriting of corridos (Mexican ballads) about their lived experiences with in/justice. The findings demonstrate the ways that this unit invited students to write across racial, ethnic, and linguistic borders and fostered language and cultural sharing, political consciousness, and solidarity.
Vegetative anatomy and photosynthetic performance of the only known winter-greenCypripediumspecies: implications for divergent and convergent evolution of slipper orchids
Authors: Zhang Wei , Feng Jing-Qiu , Kong Ji-Jun , Sun Lu , Fan Ze-Xin , Jiang Hong , Zhang Shi-Bao 
Published: April 2021

AbstractCypripedium subtropicum is the only known winter-green species in the genus Cypripedium, whereas the other nearly 50 species keep their leaves for less than half the year. Life form has an important effect on carbon acquisition and adaptation of plants. However, the physiological mechanism behind it remains unclear. In this study, we investigated vegetative anatomy and photosynthetic performance of C. subtropicum across with its leaf ages. These anatomical and photosynthetic traits were also compared with typical Cypripedium spp. and other members of subfamily Cypripedioideae. The obtained results confirmed that this species exhibited many characters of shade plants, such as thin leaves, extremely low photosynthetic rate and light saturation point and high chlorophyll content. Unlike the strategy adopted by typical Cypripedium spp. that quickly achieve annual carbon gain with a high assimilation rate in a short growing season, C. subtropicum obtains its carbon through a low assimilation rate but a much longer leaf lifespan. The local climate and favourable light condition guaranteed the comparable carbon income in winter to compensate for its low photosynthetic capacity. The long-lived, thin leaves of C. subtropicum, differing from the long-lived, thick leathery leaves in conduplicate-leaved genera, represent a distinct adaptive strategy in subfamily Cypripedioideae. Our findings shed light on the divergent and convergent evolution in slipper orchids, and we hope these findings will contribute to the conservation of such an endangered orchid.
UNC13B variants associated with partial epilepsy with favourable outcome
Authors: Wang Jie , Qiao Jing-Da , Liu Xiao-Rong , Liu De-Tian , Chen Yan-Hui , Wu Yi , Sun Yan , Yu Jing , Ren Rong-Na , Mei Zhen , Liu Yu-Xi , Shi Yi-Wu , Jiang Mi , Lin Si-Mei , He Na , Li Bin , Bian Wen-Jun , Li Bing-Mei , Yi Yong-Hong , Su Tao , Liu Han-Kui , Gu Wei-Yue , Liao Wei-Ping 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The unc-13 homolog B (UNC13B) gene encodes a presynaptic protein, mammalian uncoordinated 13-2 (Munc13-2), which is highly expressed in the brain—predominantly in the cerebral cortex—and plays an essential role in synaptic vesicle priming and fusion, potentially affecting neuronal excitability. However, the functional significance of the UNC13B mutation in human disease is not known.
In this study, we screened for novel genetic variants in a cohort of 446 unrelated cases (families) with partial epilepsy without acquired causes by trio-based whole-exome sequencing.
UNC13B variants were identified in 12 individuals affected by partial epilepsy and/or febrile seizures from eight unrelated families. The eight probands all had focal seizures and focal discharges in EEG recordings, including two patients who experienced frequent daily seizures and one who showed abnormalities in the hippocampus by brain MRI; however, all of the patients showed a favourable outcome without intellectual or developmental abnormalities. The identified UNC13B variants included one nonsense variant, two variants at or around a splice site, one compound heterozygous missense variant and four missense variants that cosegregated in the families. The frequency of UNC13B variants identified in the present study was significantly higher than that in a control cohort of Han Chinese and controls of the East Asian and all populations in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD). Computational modelling, including hydrogen bond and docking analyses, suggested that the variants lead to functional impairment. In Drosophila, seizure rate and duration were increased by Unc13b knockdown compared to wild-type flies, but these effects were less pronounced than in sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 1 (Scn1a) knockdown Drosophila. Electrophysiological recordings showed that excitatory neurons in Unc13b-deficient flies exhibited increased excitability.
These results indicate that UNC13B is potentially associated with epilepsy. The frequent daily seizures and hippocampal abnormalities but ultimately favourable outcome under anti-epileptic therapy in our patients indicate that partial epilepsy caused by UNC13B variant is a clinically manageable condition.
Three-Dimensional Synaptic Organization of Layer III of the Human Temporal Neocortex
Authors: Cano-Astorga Nicolás , DeFelipe Javier , Alonso-Nanclares Lidia 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In the present study, we have used focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to perform a study of the synaptic organization of layer III of Brodmann’s area 21 in human tissue samples obtained from autopsies and biopsies. We analyzed the synaptic density, 3D spatial distribution, and type (asymmetric/symmetric), as well as the size and shape of each synaptic junction of 4945 synapses that were fully reconstructed in 3D. Significant differences in the mean synaptic density between autopsy and biopsy samples were found (0.49 and 0.66 synapses/μm3, respectively). However, in both types of samples (autopsy and biopsy), the asymmetric:symmetric ratio was similar (93:7) and most asymmetric synapses were established on dendritic spines (75%), while most symmetric synapses were established on dendritic shafts (85%). We also compared several electron microscopy methods and analysis tools to estimate the synaptic density in the same brain tissue. We have shown that FIB/SEM is much more reliable and robust than the majority of the other commonly used EM techniques. The present work constitutes a detailed description of the synaptic organization of cortical layer III. Further studies on the rest of the cortical layers are necessary to better understand the functional organization of this temporal cortical region.
Mortality Trends in Risk Conditions and Invasive Mycotic Disease in the United States, 1999–2018
Authors: Rayens Emily , Norris Karen A , Cordero José F 
Published: April 2021

Abstract

Background
Invasive fungal infections in the United States are chronically underdiagnosed and a lack of coordinated surveillance makes the true burden of disease difficult to determine. The purpose of this analysis was to capture mortality-associated burden of risk conditions and fungal infections.

Methods
We analyzed data from the National Vital Statistics System from 1999 through 2018 to estimate the mortality attributed to risk conditions and related fungal disease.

Results
The number of risk conditions associated with fungal disease is steadily rising in the United States, with 1 047 422 diagnoses at time of death in 2018. While fungal disease decreased substantially from 1999 to 2010, primarily due to the control of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the number of deaths with fungal diagnosis has increased in the non-HIV cohort, with significant increases in patients with diabetes, cancer, immunosuppressive disorders, or sepsis.

Conclusions
The landscape of individuals at risk for serious fungal diseases is changing, with a continued decline in HIV-associated incidence but increased diagnoses in patients with cancer, sepsis, immunosuppressive disorders, and influenza. Additionally, there is an overall increase in the number of fungal infections in recent years, indicating a failure to control fungal disease mortality in these new immunocompromised cohorts. Improvement in the prevention and management of fungal diseases is needed to control morbidity and mortality in the rising number of immunocompromised and at-risk patients in the United States.
Plautus goes USA: the adaptation ofRudensby the Ladies’ Literary Society of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1884
Authors: Beine Julia Jennifer 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis article investigates the first documented performance of a Plautine comedy in Latin in the USA. In 1884, The Ladies’ Literary Society of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, staged Plautus’ Rudens in Latin with an all-female cast. This performance offers a unique opportunity to analyse the Society’s understanding and interpretation of Plautus’ play as well as its adaptation for the nineteenth-century stage. Furthermore, the Society provided an English translation for its academic and especially its non-academic audience, evidence of how the Society dealt with the Plautine Latin text. Based on this translation and contemporary newspaper and journal articles, this article outlines the main characteristics of the Society’s adaptation. First, this production merits scrutiny in the historical context of staging ancient Greek and Roman plays in the USA during the late-nineteenth century, since the Society followed the trend, started by Harvard University’s staging of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus in 1881, of presenting ancient plays ‘authentically’. Nevertheless, the Society seems to have staged this Roman comedy as a feminist response to Harvard’s production of a Greek tragedy. Secondly, the Society modernised Plautus’ comedy by adding strong melodramatic elements, and thirdly, it reflected the contemporary socio-cultural context by alluding to current American concerns.
Hydrocephalus in mouse B3glct mutants is likely caused by defects in multiple B3GLCT substrates in ependymal cells and subcommissural organ
Authors: Neupane Sanjiv , Goto June , Berardinelli Steven J , Ito Atsuko , Haltiwanger Robert S , Holdener Bernadette C 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Peters plus syndrome, characterized by defects in eye and skeletal development with isolated cases of ventriculomegaly/hydrocephalus, is caused by mutations in the β3-glucosyltransferase (B3GLCT) gene. In the endoplasmic reticulum, B3GLCT adds glucose to O-linked fucose on properly folded thrombospondin type 1 repeats (TSRs). The resulting glucose–fucose disaccharide is proposed to stabilize the TSR fold and promote secretion of B3GLCT substrates, with some substrates more sensitive than others to loss of glucose. Mouse B3glct mutants develop hydrocephalus at high frequency. In this study, we demonstrated that B3glct mutant ependymal cells had fewer cilia basal bodies and altered translational polarity compared to controls. Localization of mRNA encoding A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with ThromboSpondin type 1 repeat 20 (ADAMTS20) and ADAMTS9 suggested that reduced function of these B3GLCT substrates contributed to ependymal cell abnormalities. In addition, we showed that multiple B3GLCT substrates (Adamts3, Adamts9 and Adamts20) are expressed by the subcommissural organ, that subcommissural organ-spondin ((SSPO) also known as SCO-spondin) TSRs were modified with O-linked glucose–fucose and that loss of B3GLCT reduced secretion of SSPO in cultured cells. In the B3glct mutant, intracellular levels of SSPO were reduced and BiP levels increased, suggesting a folding defect. Secreted SSPO colocalized with BiP, raising the possibility that abnormal extracellular assembly of SSPO into Reissner’s fiber also contributed to impaired CSF flow in mutants. Combined, these studies underscore the complexity of the B3glct mutant hydrocephalus phenotype and demonstrate that impaired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow likely stems from the collective effects of the mutation on multiple processes.
The grey zone of cyber-biological security
Authors: Dixon Thom 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The convergence of the life sciences with the information and computing sciences is beginning to generate novel security vulnerabilities. As scientific and technological advances occur, new security vulnerabilities are discovered and new methods for exploiting those vulnerabilities are developed. Novel cyber-biological capabilities are likely to enable technologically sophisticated states to develop new methods of grey zone warfare. This article provides context to this multidisciplinary area of research by reviewing the emerging field of cyberbiosecurity for its relevance to developments in grey zone warfare. This article then analyses two long-term trends that have influenced the development of contemporary cyber-biological capabilities. These two trends are advances in novel uses of biology and advances in computing, automation and biodesign. The capability to exploit vulnerabilities unique to the links between cyber and biological systems differs significantly from previous security concerns noted for biotechnology and the life sciences. Scholars and practitioners of international relations will need to develop an understanding of engineering biology and the bioeconomy in order to forecast methods of grey zone manoeuvre that rely on cyber-biological capabilities. This article offers an entry point for the scholar and practitioner so that they may bring their own disciplinary lens to the issue of grey zone ambiguity and cyberbiosecurity.
Addendum: Action potential propagation and block in a model of atrial tissue with myocyte–fibroblast coupling
Authors: Mortensen Peter , Gao Hao , Smith Godfrey , Simitev Radostin D 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The analytical theory of our earlier study (Mortensen et al., 2021, Math. Med. Biol., 38, 106–131) is extended to address the outstanding cases of fibroblast barrier distribution and myocyte strait distribution. In particular, closed-form approximations to the resting membrane potential and to the critical parameter values for propagation are derived for these two non-uniform fibroblast distributions and are in good agreement with numerical estimates.