bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The cosmic ray muons tomography system with wavelength shifting fiber and plastic scintillator plane and vertical borehole detectors and improved 3d image reconstruction algorithm: a simulation study
Authors: Zhao Yanwei , Guan Yuanfan 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
In this paper, a cosmic ray muon plane detector tomography
system based on wavelength shifting fiber and scintillation is built
in GEANT4, and the relevant experimental platform is established,
then the image reconstruction experiment based on the muon
scattering imaging principle is carried out. Finally, based on the
research above, a vertical drilling muon detector system is proposed
and the simulation studies is completed. The position resolution of
the fiber-scintillation detector system is studied in detail, and
the chamber position resolution of parallel fiber-optic grid with
different parameters is described and compared. Based on the
experimental data of the plane detector system, an image
reconstruction algorithm and correction method based on muon
scattering are proposed, and some engineering applications of the
vertical borehole detector system are simulated. The general guiding
theory applicable to fiber-scintillation detectors has not been
established and detailed simulation studies are required through
simulation programs. By using GEANT4, the photon-photon yield of
optical light in WLS fiber can be extracted and compared with the
existing experiments. The simulation results are in good agreement
with the experimental results, indicating that the detector system
modeled in the simulation study has high reliability and practical
value.
Underwater-to-air distorted image correction based on the reconstructed water surface
Authors: Cao Yiqian , Cai Chengtao , Meng Haiyang 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
The lights with spatial target information received by the underwater camera are refracted at the intersection with the water surface, resulting in geometric distortion of the image. Existing methods for correcting the water-to-air distorted images typically rely on a large amount of data, such as image sequences, making the restoration using a single frame challenging. To address the issue, we propose a spatial pixel correction algorithm based on the reconstructed water surface. Firstly, we introduce a gradient water surface reconstruction algorithm based on the discrete normal vector, ensuring high accuracy in the spatial position and amplitude of the reconstructed water surface. Thus, intersections of the lights with the reconstructed water surface can be solved based on the constructed water surface. Subsequently, we propose a camera’s reverse tracking algorithm, which skillfully links the images with the spatial pixel coordinates. Finally, based on the characteristics of pixel arrangement, we propose a spatial grid algorithm to separate the spatial coordinates obtained by the reverse tracking algorithm. This part can better handle the highly concentrated and over-dispersed pixels in the spatial coordinate system. The proposed correction algorithm has better correction performance. The similarity between the restored and real images is more than 80%, and the mean square error is less than 0.01.
Detection of antimicrobial-induced survival/dead bacteria via mEos4b photoconversion: a preliminary study
Authors: Yilmaz Ilknur , Demir Humeyra , Tureyen Aleyna Eslem , Ozbek Tulin 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
The escalating prevalence of hospital-acquired infections poses a critical challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. Effective management requires rapid identification of pathogens and their antibiotic resistance profiles. In this study, we utilized the photoconvertible mEos4b protein, which transitions from green to red fluorescence upon blue light exposure, to distinguish live from dead bacteria. The mEos4b gene was cloned into a prokaryotic vector and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the transgenic bacteria was determined for five antibiotics, followed by a post-antibiotic effect assessment over a two-hour exposure period. The optimal photoconversion time for mEos4b was established as 90 s, and confocal microscopy was used to visualize live (green) and dead (red) cells post-exposure. The mEos4b-TR system proved highly specific, accurately distinguishing live and dead bacteria without producing false positives, even in control groups, which is a common issue in commercial live-dead kits. By relying on cellular metabolic activity rather than dyes, this system minimizes nonspecific interactions and contamination, making it more reliable than traditional methods prone to false readings. These results highlight the potential of the mEos4b-TR system as a superior alternative for rapid, precise bacterial viability assessments, particularly in determining antibiotic susceptibility. This preliminary study demonstrates the system’s differentiation of viable and non-viable cells, suggesting its potential application in future studies involving novel antibacterial agents to refine antibiotic sensitivity testing.
Polarization-sensitive photoresponse in few-layer ZrSe3 photodetectors
Authors: Alcázar Ruano Pedro L , Vaquero Daniel , Sánchez Viso Estrella , Li Hao , Mompeán Federico , Domínguez-Adame Francisco , Castellanos-Gomez Andres , Quereda Jorge 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
We present an in-depth spectral characterization of the fundamental optical and optoelectronic properties of few-layer ZrSe3, a layered semiconductor of the group IV–V transition metal trichalcogenide family known for its in-plane anisotropic structure and quasi-1D electrical and optical characteristics. Our comprehensive analysis, conducted at both room temperature and in cryogenic vacuum, reveals that ZrSe3 exhibits pronounced excitonic features in its optical spectra, which are highly sensitive to light polarization. These features are also evident in photocurrent spectra, presenting a strongly dichroic photoresponse with dichroic ratios exceeding 4 for excitation on resonance with the main exciton level. By comparing optical and optoelectronic spectral measurements, we elucidate the contributions of optically generated excitons to photocurrent. This work addresses substantial gaps of information in earlier literature for ZrSe3 and advances the understanding of its unique symmetry and optical properties, paving the way for its application in nonlinear optoelectronic devices.
Highly electrically conductive polyether composites with modified graphene
Authors: Hu Faping , Nie Yongjie , Liu Ronghai , Cao Jinmei 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
With the continuous improvement in the voltage, power, and capacity levels of high-voltage transmission and substation equipment, the problems of power loss and equipment failure caused by the abnormal heating of electrical contact parts are becoming increasingly severe. In the present study, to address this problem, graphite was exfoliated into thin layers of graphene using liquid-phase mechanical exfoliation, ultrasonic dispersion, and spray-drying techniques and incorporated into polyether composites to increase its electrical conductivity. The effects of the graphene content on the electrical conductivity, high-temperature resistance, wear reduction, and antiwear properties of the polyether composites were investigated. The results indicated that when 4 wt% graphene was added, the high-temperature resistance of the graphene–polyether composite (GPC) increased to 330 °C, and the volume resistivity decreased to 6.5 × 103 Ω·cm. Moreover, the contact-resistance coefficient of the GPC was reduced to 0.87 and 0.73 after it was coated on Cu and Al rows, respectively, which significantly increased the electrical conductivity of the electrical contact area. The most significant improvements in friction-reduction and antiwear properties were obtained for the polyether composites from this formulation. GPC has excellent electrical conductivity, high-temperature resistance, wear reduction, and antiwear properties and thus can substantially improve the quality of electrical connections when applied to electrical contact tips.
Study on the effect of modification methods and content of attapulgite on the flame retardancy of polybutylene terephthalate
Authors: Ren Shibo , Xu Jianlin , Niu Lei , Yang Penghui 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
This paper examines the influence of modification methods and the content of attapulgite (ATP) on the flame retardancy of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). Different samples of ATP with varying modification methods and contents were blended with PBT to create composites. The composition, stability, flame retardancy, and mechanical properties of the composites were analyzed. The effect mechanism of ATP modification methods and content on the flame retardancy of PBT was analyzed. The results indicate that the addition of ATP enhanced the carbonization and flame retardancy of PBT. The addition of ATP reduced the impact strength of PBT. The inclusion of ball milled modified attapulgite (mp-ATP) resulted in an increase in the tensile strength of PBT. Furthermore, the inclusion of mp-ATP led to a mitigated decrease in the impact strength. The composites with 11%mp-ATP/PBT had the best comprehensive performance. Compared with pure PBT, the peak value of thermal release rate decreased by 70.2%, the total heat release decreased by 27.3%, and the tensile strength increased by 2.9%.
Advancing biomedical applications: antioxidant and biocompatible cerium oxide nanoparticle-integrated poly-ε-caprolactone fibers
Authors: Jahan Ummay Mowshome , Blevins Brianna , Minko Sergiy , Reukov Vladimir V 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are expressed at high levels in many diseases, can be scavenged by cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2NPs). CeO2NPs can cause significant cytotoxicity when administered directly to cells, but this cytotoxicity can be reduced if CeO2NPs can be encapsulated in biocompatible polymers. In this study, CeO2NPs were synthesized using a one-stage process, then purified, characterized, and then encapsulated into an electrospun poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) scaffold. The direct administration of CeO2NPs to RAW 264.7 Macrophages resulted in reduced ROS levels but lower cell viability. Conversely, the encapsulation of nanoceria in a PCL scaffold was shown to lower ROS levels and improve cell survival. The study demonstrated an effective technique for encapsulating nanoceria in PCL fiber and confirmed its biocompatibility and efficacy. This system has the potential to be utilized for developing tissue engineering scaffolds, targeted delivery of therapeutic CeO2NPs, wound healing, and other biomedical applications.
Performance optimization of ammonium dinitramide-based liquid propellant in pulsed laser ablation micro-propulsion using LIBS
Authors: JIANG 蒋 Luyun 陆昀 , CHEN 陈 Yutong 雨桐 , MAO 毛 Chentao 晨涛 , HAN 韩 Jianhui 建慧 , CHEN 陈 Anmin 安民 , YE 叶 Jifei 继飞 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
The efficacy of spacecraft propulsion systems significantly depends on the choice of propellant. This study utilized laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to investigate the impact of different fuel types, fuel ratios, and laser energies on the plasma parameters of ammonium dinitramide (ADN)-based liquid propellants. Our findings suggest that 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (AMIMDCA) as a fuel choice led to higher plasma temperatures compared to methanol (CH3OH) and hydroxyethyl hydrazine nitrate (HEHN) under the same experimental conditions. Optimization of the fuel ratio proved critical, and when the AMIMDCA ratio was 21wt.% the propellants could achieve the best propulsion performance. Increasing the incident laser energy not only enhanced the emission spectral intensity but also elevated the plasma temperature and electron density, thereby improving ablation efficiency. Notably, a combination of 100 mJ laser energy and 21wt.% AMIMDCA fuel produced a strong and stable plasma signal. This study contributes to our knowledge of pulsed laser micro-ablation in ADN-based liquid propellants, providing a useful optical diagnostic approach that can help refine the design and enhance the performance of spacecraft propulsion systems.
Quantum state tomography based on infidelity estimation
Authors: Wang Yong , Liu Lijun , Dou Tong , Li Li , Cheng Shuming 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Quantum state tomography is a cornerstone of quantum information technologies to characterize and benchmark quantum systems from measurement statistics. In this work, we present an infidelity-based least-squares estimator, which incorporates the state purity information and provides orders of magnitude higher tomography accuracy than previous ones. It is further enhanced with the randomized toolbox of direct fidelity estimation, making it applicable to large-scale quantum systems. We validate the proposed estimators through extensive experiments conducted on the IBM Qiskit simulator. The results also demonstrate that our estimator admits an

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infidelity scaling with Pauli sample size N for (nearly) pure states. Further, it enables high-precision pure-state tomography for systems of up to 25-qubit states, given some state priors. Our method provides a novel perspective on the union of underlying tomography technique and state properties estimation.
The Lottocratic Mentality
Authors: Lafont Cristina , Urbinati Nadia 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
In recent years, there has been great excitement about new forms of citizen participation, such as citizens’ assemblies or deliberative polls that involve ordinary citizens in political decision-making. Many see these innovations as the best solution to the current crisis of democracy. The most radical among them propose replacing elections with the random selection of ordinary citizens, transforming electoral democracy into a lottocracy. These developments are driven by a lottocratic mentality that is deeply transforming our understanding of democracy, political equality, representation, freedom, and much more. This mentality is catching on in public debates, inspiring the organization of citizens’ assemblies worldwide, and bridging democratic and nondemocratic regimes in the vision of a unified global order based on problem-solving allotted assemblies, free from electoral competition. The lottocratic mentality is the focus of this book. Our analysis shows that it amounts to a worrisome form of technopopulism that justifies conferring legislative power on randomly selected assemblies based on a mixture of populist and technocratic grounds. The lottocratic mentality legitimizes the antidemocratic idea that the many should be “ruled” by “the few” chosen by chance. Against this view, we show how lottery-based institutions could be used with the democratic aim of empowering the citizenry but only if the lottocratic mentality is rejected.
The Targets of Lottocracy Revisited
Authors: Lafont Cristina , Urbinati Nadia 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
This chapter focuses on the fundamental institutions that the lottocratic mentality holds responsible for the current crisis of democracy: elections and voting, representation, and political parties. According to lottocrats, these institutions are unreformable because they are inherently incompatible with political equality, foster corruption, and partisan divisions, and justify the need for compromise. Against this view, the chapter emphasizes the dimension of collective self-governing power associated with voting: the political nature of representation, its accountability to citizens, and its advocacy and representativeness function; and finally, it dwells on political parties to argue that they are not merely functional to electoral democracy but are the expression of political freedom in action. Parties grow as soon as citizens are free to express themselves in the light of day. Presumably, they would emerge even in a lottocratic regime. The problem is that once disconnected from electoral forms of accountability, parties would pose the polis the following dilemma: either falling into an arbitrary system of political influence or activating a censorious and repressive system.
The Technocratic Conception Of Politics
Authors: Lafont Cristina , Urbinati Nadia 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
In this chapter, we show that the flip side of the apolitical conception of representation as “embodiment” is a depoliticized conception of politics. If citizens are homogeneous and agree on what they collectively want, then the only question left to decide is how best to get there. The task of politics is just technical problem-solving. The lottocratic mentality is a peculiar form of technopopulism. What the technocratic view of politics misses is that political decisions are not only a matter of knowledge but also a matter of freedom: the freedom to decide in which political direction a community would like to go, which values and goals it aims to prioritize, which risks it is willing to take, and so on. This is the freedom that citizens would lose if lottocratic proposals were implemented: a few individuals would make political decisions as they see fit, and the citizenry would blindly obey them.
DeepRSMA: a cross-fusion-based deep learning method for RNA–small molecule binding affinity prediction
Authors: Huang Zhijian , Wang Yucheng , Chen Song , Tan Yaw Sing , Deng Lei , Wu Min 
Published: November 2024

Abstract

Motivation
RNA is implicated in numerous aberrant cellular functions and disease progressions, highlighting the crucial importance of RNA-targeted drugs. To accelerate the discovery of such drugs, it is essential to develop an effective computational method for predicting RNA–small molecule affinity (RSMA). Recently, deep learning-based computational methods have been promising due to their powerful nonlinear modeling ability. However, the leveraging of advanced deep learning methods to mine the diverse information of RNAs, small molecules, and their interaction still remains a great challenge.

Results
In this study, we present DeepRSMA, an innovative cross-attention-based deep learning method for RSMA prediction. To effectively capture fine-grained features from RNA and small molecules, we developed nucleotide-level and atomic-level feature extraction modules for RNA and small molecules, respectively. Additionally, we incorporated both sequence and graph views into these modules to capture features from multiple perspectives. Moreover, a transformer-based cross-fusion module is introduced to learn the general patterns of interactions between RNAs and small molecules. To achieve effective RSMA prediction, we integrated the RNA and small molecule representations from the feature extraction and cross-fusion modules. Our results show that DeepRSMA outperforms baseline methods in multiple test settings. The interpretability analysis and the case study on spinal muscular atrophy demonstrate that DeepRSMA has the potential to guide RNA-targeted drug design.

Availability and implementation
The codes and data are publicly available at https://github.com/Hhhzj-7/DeepRSMA.
Economics and optimal investment policies of Attackers and Defenders in cybersecurity
Authors: Ebel Austin , Mitra Debasis 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Our thesis is that economics and investment policies are vital factors in determining the outcome of cybersecurity conflicts. For our economic framework, we borrow from the pioneering work of Gordon and Loeb, in which the Defender optimally trades off investments for lower likelihood of its system breach. Our two-sided model has in addition an Attacker, assumed to be rational and also guided by economic considerations in its decision-making, to which the Defender responds. The model is a simplified adaptation of a model proposed during the Cold War for weapons deployment in the USA. Our model is a Stackelberg game and, from an analytic perspective, a Max–Min problem. The complexity of the analysis is due to the non-convexity of the objective function in the optimization. The Attacker’s possible actions add substantially to the risk to the Defender, and the Defender’s rational, risk-neutral optimal investments in general substantially exceed the optimal investments predicted by the one-sided Gordon–Loeb model. We obtain a succinct set of three decision types that categorize all of the Defender’s optimal investment decisions. Also, the Defender’s optimal decisions exhibit discontinuous behavior as the prior vulnerability of its system is varied. Results for two limiting cases of the model corresponding to an Extreme Attacker and an Extreme Defender are given. The analysis is supplemented by extensive numerical illustrations. The results from our model open several major avenues for future work.
Modified reconstruction procedure in subtotal esophagectomy with retrosternal gastric pull up to reduce anastomotic leakage: a propensity score-matched analysis
Authors: Okumura Tomoyuki , Miwa Takeshi , Murotani Kenta , Numata Yoshihisa , Watanabe Toru , Hashimoto Isaya , Kamiyama Koki , Tazawa Kenichi , Yamagishi Fuminori , Fujii Tsutomu 
Published: November 2024

Summary
One risk factor for anastomotic leakage (AL) after esophagectomy with retrosternal gastric reconstruction is excessive compression of the gastric tube at the thoracic inlet. In this study, we evaluated the effect of our modified procedure to reduce AL by placing the esophagogastric anastomosis below the thoracic inlet. Between January 2008 and December 2022, 174 consecutive patients underwent subtotal esophagectomy with retrosternal gastric pull up, followed by circular stapler anastomosis in our hospitals. After January 2016, the gastric tube was pulled down to place the anastomosis below the suprasternal notch. Postoperative CT then measured the level of esophagogastric anastomosis (LEA). Comparing cases before and after revision (conventional group, n = 65 vs. test group, n = 109), AL was significantly reduced from 11 (16.9%) to 3 (2.8%) cases (P = 0.002). After propensity score matching, AL was observed in 14% (8/57) and 0% (0/57) cases in the conventional and test groups, respectively (P = 0.006). Smaller circular stapler size (P &lt; 0.001), less intraoperative blood loss (P &lt; 0.001), and lower LEA (P &lt; 0.001) were observed in the test group than in the conventional group. Multivariate analysis revealed that anastomotic procedure (OR [95%CI], 0.01[0.00–0.46], P = 0.008), and body mass index (OR [95%CI], 6.92[1.10–135.01], P = 0.038) were the independent risk factors for the development of AL. Our modified procedure to avoid compression of the gastric tube at the thoracic inlet is suggested to noninvasively reduce the risk of AL in the subtotal esophagectomy with retrosternal reconstruction.