bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Carbon and nitrogen in particle-size fractions of organic matter of soils fertilised with surface and injected applications of pig slurry
Authors: Francisco Cremildo António Luís , Loss Arcângelo , Brunetto Gustavo , Gonzatto Rogério , Giacomini Sandro José , Aita Celso , Piccolo Marisa de Cássia , Torres José Luiz Rodrigues , Marchezan Carina , Scopel Gustavo , Vidal Ricardo Fagan 
Published: October 2021

The injection of pig slurry in the soil, associated with the no-tillage system and the reduction of carbon and nitrogen losses through volatilisation, can positively influence the carbon and nitrogen contents in the soil organic matter (SOM) fractions. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of surface and injected applications of pig slurry to soils under a no-tillage system on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) contents in particle-size fractions of the SOM. The no-tillage system included a crop rotation with grass species, summer maize, and winter black oat and wheat grown from 2011 to 2015. The treatments consisted of injected application of pig slurry, surface applications of pig slurry, application of chemical fertiliser (NPK), and a control with no soil fertiliser application. The 0–5, 5–10, and 10–20 cm soil layers were evaluated for SOC and STN contents, and for particle-size fractions: particulate organic carbon, particulate organic nitrogen, mineral-associated organic carbon, and mineral-associated organic nitrogen. We also evaluated the carbon and nitrogen contents and mass in the light organic matter. The injection of pig slurry increased carbon and nitrogen contents of all SOM fractions compared to surface application of pig slurry. These results suggest that the use of injected pig slurry to the soil under crop rotation in no-tillage reduces carbon and nitrogen losses by volatilisation and emissions to the atmosphere. We recommend the application of pig slurry by injecting in soil because it promotes higher increases in the SOM fractions. This form of application of pig slurry to the soil was shown as an effective and environmentally sustainable method for the conservation and improvement of soil quality.
Energy landscapes for a modified repulsive Weeks–Chandler–Andersen potential
Authors: Banerjee Atreyee , Wales David J 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
The short-range nature of the repulsive Weeks–Chandler–Anderson (WCA) potential can create free particles/rattlers in a condensed system. The presence of rattlers complicates the analysis of the energy landscape due to extra zero-frequency normal modes. By employing a long-range Gaussian tail modification, we remove the rattlers without changing the structure and the dynamics of the system, and successfully describe the potential energy landscape in terms of minima and transition states. This coarse-grained description of the landscape and the dynamical properties of the modified potential exhibit characteristic signatures of glass-forming liquids. However, we show that despite having qualitatively similar behaviour, the modified WCA potential is less frustrated compared to its attractive counterpart.
Monte Carlo modelling of an x-ray chamber for providing inactivation exposures to viruses
Authors: Eakins J S , Afrough B , Hewson R 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
The Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP6 has been used to model dosimetry for biological pathogen samples placed within a MultiRad 225 irradiation chamber, in order to inform virus deactivation protocols. Full characterisations of the photon spectra generated by the chamber’s x-ray tube were achieved for both 190 and 220 kV potentials, with and without aluminium and copper beam filters of different thicknesses. Dose rate maps to air and water within the chamber were then derived, along with corresponding conversion coefficient data. The maps were determined for samples located both on a shelf and on a dry ice refrigeration chamber, at different distances from the source. The potential depth-dose profiles through samples were also investigated. The optimum choice of filter for use in virus inactivation procedures will rely on a compromise between dose homogeneity and dose rate.
Bioinspired design and optimization for thin film wearable and building cooling systems
Authors: Grinham Jonathan , Hancock Matthew J , Kumar Kitty , Bechthold Martin , Ingber Donald E , Aizenberg Joanna 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIn this work, we report a paradigmatic shift in bioinspired microchannel heat exchanger design toward its integration into thin film wearable devices, thermally active surfaces in buildings, photovoltaic devices, and other thermoregulating devices whose typical cooling fluxes are below 1 kW m−2. The transparent thermoregulation device is fabricated by bonding a thin corrugated elastomeric film to the surface of a substrate to form a microchannel water-circuit with bioinspired unit cell geometry. Inspired by the dynamic scaling of flow systems in nature, we introduce empirically derived sizing rules and a novel numerical optimization method to maximize the thermoregulation performance of the microchannel network by enhancing the uniformity of flow distribution. The optimized network design results in a 25% to 37% increase in the heat flux compared to non-optimized designs. The study demonstrates the versatility of the presented design and architecture by fabricating and testing a scaled-up numerically optimized heat exchanger device for building-scale and wearable applications.
Predicting hotspots for invasive species introduction in Europe
Authors: Schneider Kevin , Makowski David , van der Werf Wopke 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
Plant pest invasions cost billions of Euros each year in Europe. Prediction of likely places of pest introduction could greatly help focus efforts on prevention and control and thus reduce societal costs of pest invasions. Here, we test whether generic data-driven risk maps of pest introduction, valid for multiple species and produced by machine learning methods, could supplement the costly species-specific risk analyses currently conducted by governmental agencies. An elastic-net algorithm was trained on a dataset covering 243 invasive species to map risk of new introductions in Europe as a function of climate, soils, water, and anthropogenic factors. Results revealed that the BeNeLux states, Northern Italy, the Northern Balkans, and the United Kingdom, and areas around container ports such as Antwerp, London, Rijeka, and Saint Petersburg were at higher risk of introductions. Our analysis shows that machine learning can produce hotspot maps for pest introductions with a high predictive accuracy, but that systematically collected data on species’ presences and absences are required to further validate and improve these maps.
Projected changes in seasonal and extreme summertime temperature and precipitation in India in response to COVID-19 recovery emissions scenarios
Authors: D’Souza Jonathan , Prasanna Felix , Valayannopoulos-Akrivou Luna-Nefeli , Sherman Peter , Penn Elise , Song Shaojie , Archibald Alexander T , McElroy Michael B 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
Fossil fuel and aerosol emissions have played important roles on climate over the Indian subcontinent over the last century. As the world transitions toward decarbonization in the next few decades, emissions pathways could have major impacts on India’s climate and people. Pathways for future emissions are highly uncertain, particularly at present as countries recover from COVID-19. This paper explores a multimodel ensemble of Earth system models leveraging potential global emissions pathways following COVID-19 and the consequences for India’s summertime (June–July–August–September) climate in the near- and long-term. We investigate specifically scenarios which envisage a fossil-based recovery, a strong renewable-based recovery and a moderate scenario in between the two. We find that near-term climate changes are dominated by natural climate variability, and thus likely independent of the emissions pathway. By 2050, pathway-induced spatial patterns in the seasonally-aggregated precipitation become clearer with a slight drying in the fossil-based scenario and wetting in the strong renewable scenario. Additionally, extreme temperature and precipitation events in India are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency regardless of the emissions scenario, though the spatial patterns of these changes as well as the extent of the change are pathway dependent. This study provides an important discussion on the impacts of emissions recover pathways following COVID-19 on India, a nation which is likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change over the coming decades.
Spectral properties of confining superexponential potentials
Authors: Schmelcher Peter 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
We explore the spectral properties and behaviour of confining superexponential potentials. Several prototypes of these highly nonlinear potentials are analysed in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenstates of the underlying stationary Schrödinger equation up to several hundreds of excited states. A generalization of the superexponential self-interacting oscillator shows a scaling behaviour of the spacing of the eigenvalues which turns into an alternating behaviour for the power law modified oscillator. Superexponential potentials with an oscillating power show a very rich spectral structure with varying amplitudes and wave vectors. In the parity symmetric case doublets of near degenerate energy eigenvalues emerge in the spectrum. The corresponding eigenstates are strongly localized in the outer wells of the potential and occur as even–odd pairs which are interspersed into the spectrum of delocalized states. We provide an outlook on future perspectives including the possibility to use these features for applications in e.g. cold atom physics.
Electronic work function modulation of phosphorene by thermal oxidation
Authors: Gómez-Pérez Juan , Pravda Bartus Cora , Szamosvölgyi Ákos , Sapi András , Kónya Zoltán , Kukovecz Ákos 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
In this study, we evaluate the variation of the work function of phosphorene during thermal oxidation at different temperatures. The ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy results show an N-shaped behaviour that is explained by the oxidation process and the dangling-to-interstitial conversion at elevated temperatures. The exfoliation degree and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm the formation of native oxides in the top-most layer that passivates the material. Ex-situ XPS reveals the full oxidation of monolayers at temperatures higher than 140 °C, but few-layer phosphorene withstands the thermal oxidation even up to 200 °C with slight modifications of the A
2
g/A
1
g and A
2
g/B
2g vibrational mode ratios and a weak fluorescence in the Raman spectra of the heat-treated samples.
Mechanical, corrosion and antibacterial properties of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-based alloys with various Cu contents
Authors: Yuan Yixiang , Ke Zunyu , Zhang Lei , Jiang Yehua , He Zhengyuan 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
The development of Ti-based alloys with antibacterial properties and a low elastic modulus has become a major focus in recent years in metallic biomaterials. In this paper, the influences of Cu content on the microstructure, mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and antibacterial properties of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-xCu alloys were systematically discussed. The results showed that the Ti-13Nb-13Zr-xCu alloys were mainly composed of β-Ti, α-Ti, and Cu-containing phases (Ti2Cu, Cu10Zr7 and CuZr). Compared with the Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy, the compressive strength and yield strength of the Ti-13Nb-13Zr-xCu alloys increased with increasing Cu content, but the elastic modulus decreased. The Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy exhibited high strength and low elastic modulus. The electrochemical experiments showed that the corrosion current density (Icorr) displayed a decreasing trend. The Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy had the lowest corrosion current (1.23 μA cm−2) and passivation current density (2.47 μA cm−2), indicating excellent corrosion resistance. Antibacterial tests showed that the antibacterial rate of the Ti-13Nb-13Zr-xCu alloy with 10 and 13% Cu content against S. aureus and E. coli were over 99.0%. Therefore, it could be deduced that the Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy with excellent mechnical and antibacterial properties had the potential for biomedical applications.
Forms of Opposition in American Literary Criticism
Authors: Giles Paul 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
Starting from Matthew Arnold’s “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time” (1865), this essay traces the importance of reading US literature and culture in comparative terms. Paying special attention to the work of Stuart Hall, Annette Kolodny, and F. O. Matthiessen, it argues that forms of structural opposition should be seen as embedded within American literature. Rather than understanding the subject itself in merely oppositional terms, it advocates antipodal and planetary critical perspectives that serve effectively to reposition the field within a wider context, one framed in various ways by biogenetic and environmental issues that exceed national boundaries. It concludes that while there are acute dangers for political leaders in a narrowness of vision, the same thing is true for literary criticism, where an undue narrowness of scope can be intellectually debilitating.
SC-MEB: spatial clustering with hidden Markov random field using empirical Bayes
Authors: Yang Yi , Shi Xingjie , Liu Wei , Zhou Qiuzhong , Chan Lau Mai , Chun Tatt Lim Jeffrey , Sun Lei , Ng Cedric Chuan Young , Yeong Joe , Liu Jin 
Published: October 2021

AbstractSpatial transcriptomics has been emerging as a powerful technique for resolving gene expression profiles while retaining tissue spatial information. These spatially resolved transcriptomics make it feasible to examine the complex multicellular systems of different microenvironments. To answer scientific questions with spatial transcriptomics and expand our understanding of how cell types and states are regulated by microenvironment, the first step is to identify cell clusters by integrating the available spatial information. Here, we introduce SC-MEB, an empirical Bayes approach for spatial clustering analysis using a hidden Markov random field. We have also derived an efficient expectation-maximization algorithm based on an iterative conditional mode for SC-MEB. In contrast to BayesSpace, a recently developed method, SC-MEB is not only computationally efficient and scalable to large sample sizes but is also capable of choosing the smoothness parameter and the number of clusters. We performed comprehensive simulation studies to demonstrate the superiority of SC-MEB over some existing methods. We applied SC-MEB to analyze the spatial transcriptome of human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tissues and mouse hypothalamic preoptic region. Our analysis results showed that SC-MEB can achieve a similar or better clustering performance to BayesSpace, which uses the true number of clusters and a fixed smoothness parameter. Moreover, SC-MEB is scalable to large ‘sample sizes’. We then employed SC-MEB to analyze a colon dataset from a patient with colorectal cancer (CRC) and COVID-19, and further performed differential expression analysis to identify signature genes related to the clustering results. The heatmap of identified signature genes showed that the clusters identified using SC-MEB were more separable than those obtained with BayesSpace. Using pathway analysis, we identified three immune-related clusters, and in a further comparison, found the mean expression of COVID-19 signature genes was greater in immune than non-immune regions of colon tissue. SC-MEB provides a valuable computational tool for investigating the structural organizations of tissues from spatial transcriptomic data.
Prediction of drug–disease associations by integrating common topologies of heterogeneous networks and specific topologies of subnets
Authors: Gao Ling , Cui Hui , Zhang Tiangang , Sheng Nan , Xuan Ping 
Published: October 2021

AbstractMotivationThe development process of a new drug is time-consuming and costly. Thus, identifying new uses for approved drugs, named drug repositioning, is helpful for speeding up the drug development process and reducing development costs. Existing drug-related disease prediction methods mainly focus on single or multiple drug–disease heterogeneous networks. However, heterogeneous networks, and drug subnets and disease subnet contained in heterogeneous networks cover the common topology information between drug and disease nodes, the specific information between drug nodes and the specific information between disease nodes, respectively.ResultsWe design a novel model, CTST, to extract and integrate common and specific topologies in multiple heterogeneous networks and subnets. Multiple heterogeneous networks composed of drug and disease nodes are established to integrate multiple kinds of similarities and associations among drug and disease nodes. These heterogeneous networks contain multiple drug subnets and a disease subnet. For multiple heterogeneous networks and subnets, we then define the common and specific representations of drug and disease nodes. The common representations of drug and disease nodes are encoded by a graph convolutional autoencoder with sharing parameters and they integrate the topological relationships of all nodes in heterogeneous networks. The specific representations of nodes are learned by specific graph convolutional autoencoders, respectively, and they fuse the topology and attributes of the nodes in each subnet. We then propose attention mechanisms at common representation level and specific representation level to learn more informative common and specific representations, respectively. Finally, an integration module with representation feature level attention is built to adaptively integrate these two representations for final association prediction. Extensive experimental results confirm the effectiveness of CTST. Comparison with six latest methods and case studies on five drugs further verify CTST has the ability to discover potential candidate diseases.
Desktop scanning electron microscopy in plant–insect interactions research: a fast and effective way to capture electron micrographs with minimal sample preparation
Authors: Watts Sakshi , Kaur Ishveen , Singh Sukhman , Jimenez Bianca , Chavana Jesus , Kariyat Rupesh 
Published: October 2021

Abstract
The ability to visualize cell and tissue morphology at a high magnification using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revolutionized plant sciences research. In plant–insect interactions studies, SEM-based imaging has been of immense assistance to understand plant surface morphology including trichomes [plant hairs; physical defense structures against herbivores], spines, waxes, and insect morphological characteristics such as mouth parts, antennae, and legs, that they interact with. While SEM provides finer details of samples, and the imaging process is simpler now with advanced image acquisition and processing, sample preparation methodology has lagged. The need to undergo elaborate sample preparation with cryogenic freezing, multiple alcohol washes, and sputter coating makes SEM imaging expensive, time consuming, and warrants skilled professionals, making it inaccessible to majority of scientists. Here, using a desktop version of SEM (SNE- 4500 Plus Tabletop), we show that the “plug and play” method can efficiently produce SEM images with sufficient details for most morphological studies in plant–insect interactions. We used leaf trichomes of Solanum genus as our primary model, and oviposition by tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta; Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda; Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and leaf surface wax imaging as additional examples to show the effectiveness of this instrument and present a detailed methodology to produce the best results with this instrument. While traditional sample preparation can still produce better resolved images with less distortion, we show that even at a higher magnification, the desktop SEM can deliver quality images. Overall, this study provides detailed methodology with a simpler “no sample preparation” technique for scanning fresh biological samples without the use of any additional chemicals and machinery.
734 Evaluation of A Webinar Based Surgical Teaching Course (EDUCATE) - A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Tan L , Mullins W , Gargan K , Shea J , Brice J , Gargan A , Townsend J , Jang C , Shukla S , Asif A , Fricker M , Nathan A , Mohan M 
Published: October 2021

Abstract

Aim
Anecdotal evidence suggests Foundation Year (FY) doctors start surgical rotations with less confidence than medical rotations. The study aimed to determine the effect of a national webinar-based surgical teaching course on participants’ confidence, and to assess attitudes surrounding undergraduate surgical education.

Method
This prospective cohort study is reported with reference to STROBE guidelines and received ethical approval. A series of 15 free-access webinars was developed based on the Royal College of Surgeons Undergraduate Curriculum. An expert-validated questionnaire was used to collect data before and after the course. Inclusion criteria were UK-based medical students and FY doctors who attended at least one webinar. The primary outcome was confidence in completing common tasks during surgical rotations.

Results
Completed pre-course (484) and post-course (352) questionnaires yielded 92 paired samples (63% female). 85% were medical students, representing 29 UK universities, and 15% FY doctors. Mean confidence in assessing, investigating, and implementing initial management of surgical conditions was greater after the intervention (p ≤ 0.001). Mean confidence in managing on-call tasks and starting a surgical FY job was also higher post-course greater (p ≤ 0.001). These improvements correlated with webinar attendance (p ≤ 0.05). 27.1% of participants were satisfied with the quality of undergraduate surgical education. 22.9% agreed that surgical placements prepared them well to manage surgical tasks.

Conclusions
Medical students and FY doctors report low confidence and feel unprepared in managing surgical tasks. Additionally, they report poor satisfaction with undergraduate surgical education. This shortfall may be improved through delivery of a national, accessible, targeted online webinar series and curriculum.
144 For Audit's Sake: An Audit of Audits
Authors: Wege J , O'Higgins C , Dhanjal G , Townend G 
Published: October 2021

Abstract

Aim
Audit is a mandatory requirement for completion of Dental Core Training. Consequently, many audits undertaken by trainees are to “tick a box”, leading to incomplete or poor-quality audits, with change either not implemented or never measured. This audit assesses the standard of local audits.

Method
All audits registered with the local audit department from 2017-2020 were assessed using a standard that “100% of audits should be full cycle” (BMJ), and “100% audits must be measured against explicit standards" (NICE). The outcome forms and submitted audit presentations were used to evaluate if the completed audits needed re-auditing, and whether they had been re-audited. Whether they were actually audits was also assessed.

Results
38 audit titles were registered. 7 had not been completed. Of 31 remaining audits, 24 needed re-auditing and 7 did not. Of 24 audits needing re-audit, 4 audits had not reached the proposed re-audit deadline, 7 re-audits were completed and 13 were not, leading to 35% (7/20) re-audit compliance. 5 did not have pre-determined standards, leading to 84% standards compliance.

Conclusions
As shown by the results, many audits are either not audits, not completed or never re-audited, leading to no change or no measurement of change. Re-evaluation of mandatory trainee involvement in audit and an emphasis on a more department lead approach to clinical governance could enable improved continuity of audits after rotation of trainees. This may lead to higher quality work and improvement of service provision.