bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Upcycling Plastic Waste into Valuable Carbon Nanomaterials
Authors: Chi Ling , Omar Shaikh Muhammad 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe global issue of plastic waste accumulation is now widely acknowledged as a significant environmental challenge that affects all aspects of life, economies, and natural ecosystems worldwide. Hence, it is crucial to develop sustainable solutions to traditional disposal methods. One promising solution involves upcycling plastic waste into valuable carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and carbon nanofibers, among others. This critical review provides an overview of the problems associated with plastics, including their various types and properties, as well as their significant impact on the environment and the methods currently employed for waste management. Furthermore, it delves into recent advancements in upcycling plastic waste into carbon nanomaterials through four state‐of‐the‐art methods with the potential for scaling up and enabling industrial applications: thermal decomposition, flash joule heating (FJH), chemical vapor decomposition (CVD), and stepwise conversion. For each method, highly influential and seminal papers were selected, and their research approaches and observed results were thoroughly analysed. This upcycling approach transforms plastic waste into valuable resources, promoting a waste‐to‐value concept that reduces environmental impact and supports the circular economy. By creating new materials from discarded plastics, it addresses waste management challenges while generating economic value.
Intelligent botnet detection in IoT networks using parallel CNN‐LSTM fusion
Authors: Jiang Rongrong , Weng Zhengqiu , Shi Lili , Weng Erxuan , Li Hongmei , Wang Weiqiang , Zhu Tiantian , Li Wuzhao 
Published: August 2024

SummaryWith the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of terminal devices is rapidly growing and at the same time, their security is facing serious challenges. For the industrial control system, there are challenges in detecting and preventing botnet. Traditional detection methods focus on capturing and reverse analyzing the botnet programs first and then parsing the extracted features from the malicious code or attacks. However, their accuracy is very low and their latency is relatively high. Moreover, they sometimes even cannot recognize the unknown botnets. The machine learning based detection methods rely on manual feature engineering and have a weak generalization. The deep learning‐based methods mostly rely on the system log, which does not take into account the multisource information such as traffic. To address the above issues, from the perspective of the botnet features, this paper proposes an intelligent detection method over parallel CNN‐LSTM, integrating the spatial and temporal features to identify botnets. Experimental demonstrate that the accuracy, recall, and F1‐score of our proposed method achieve up to over 98%, and the precision, 97.8%, is not the highest but reasonable. It reveals compared with the existing start‐of‐the‐art methods, our proposed method outperforms in the botnet detection. Our methodology's strength lies in its ability to harness the multifaceted information present in IoT traffic, offering a more nuanced and comprehensive analysis. The parallel CNN‐LSTM architecture ensures that spatial and temporal data are processed concurrently, preserving the integrity of the information and enabling a more robust detection mechanism. The result is a detection system that not only performs exceptionally well in a controlled environment but also holds promise for real‐world application, where the rapid and accurate identification of botnets is paramount.
N, F Co‐Doped Carbon Derived from Spent Bleaching Earth Waste as Oxygen Electrocatalyst Support
Authors: Aghabarari Behzad , Ebadati Esmat , Cebollada Jesús , Fernández‐Inchusta David , Victoria Martínez‐Huerta María 
Published: August 2024

AbstractAffordable nitrogen and fluorine co‐doped carbon nanostructure was prepared from the hazardous industrial waste of edible oil refinery, spent bleaching earth (SBE), and used as raw material for obtaining high‐performance non‐noble metal bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts. Waste SBE contains 35 % residue non‐saturated oil as a carbon source and the assistance of montmorillonite (MMT) as the template. This study converts waste SBE into a fluorine‐doped carbon nanostructure through a pyrolysis process followed by removing the aluminosilicate layers of the MMT by HF etching. Furthermore, the impregnation of the support with Co and Fe nitrates readily gives rise to N, F co‐doped carbon (NFC) electrocatalysts, as confirmed by XPS analysis. Electrochemical results evidenced that the Co‐NFC catalyst proved to be a valuable bifunctional competitor for oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media, showing activity in both reactions and superior stability compared with the Fe‐NFC catalyst in accelerated tests. This work offers a straightforward, economical, and eco‐friendly strategy for designing N, F co‐doped carbon‐based electrocatalysts for oxygen reactions in electrochemical devices.
Spectroscopic Investigation of the Quadruplex DNA‐Binding Properties of 9‐Aryl‐Substituted Isoquinolinium Derivatives
Authors: Groß Philipp , Druzhinin Sergey I. , Schönherr Holger , Ihmels Heiko 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe spectroscopic investigation of the binding properties of berberine‐type 9‐aryl‐substituted isoquinolinium derivatives with G‐quadruplex DNA (G4‐DNA) are presented. Photometric titrations show that these ligands bind with high affinity to the telomeric G4‐DNA form 22AG (K=1.0–44×105 M−2). Furthermore, fluorimetric analysis of thermal DNA denaturation (FRET melting) reveals a significant thermal stabilization of G4‐DNA 22AG upon association with the methoxy‐substituted derivatives. As an analytically useful property, the derivatives with a phenyl substituent or with additional electron‐donating groups show a very weak fluorescence intensity, which increased significantly upon G4‐DNA complexation (fluorescence light‐up effect). Additional time‐resolved fluorescence spectroscopy indicated increased fluorescence lifetimes of the DNA‐bound 9‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐substituted derivative, when interacting with the quadruplex‐forming strand 22AG. Notably, the changes of the steady‐state and time‐resolved emission properties of the ligand are more pronounced with G4‐DNA than with duplex DNA so that the combination of these complementary methods may be used for the selective G4‐DNA detection.
Visitation patterns of endangered grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) in a forest clearing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Authors: Fastré C. , Igwili B. , Van de Perre F. , van der Hoek Y. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), once abundant, has become increasingly threatened due to the combined effects of capture for the global pet trade and habitat loss. Although grey parrots are well studied in captivity, effective conservation efforts require a better understanding of their ecological requirements in the wild. The aim of this paper is to quantify grey parrot behaviours across the annual cycle. To do that, we studied groups of grey parrots gathering in a natural forest clearing in the Nkuba Conservation Area, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using parrot counts and focal sampling, combined with descriptive statistics, we found that an average of 40 grey parrots visited the clearing each day, following a regular pattern in which they first perched in the trees surrounding the clearing, vocalizing loudly, until the group landed in the clearing to feed, drink and interact with each other. Generalized linear models (GLMs) and generalized additive models (GAMs) showed that the time at which parrots arrived, landed at, and left clearings was influenced by the weather, seasonality and the month of the year. We also found that parrots shortened their visits when disturbed by predators or the presence of humans. Although the underlying mechanisms for grey parrot visits to forest clearings remains unclear, the consistency of this behaviour observed elsewhere in Africa and the feeding observed in the clearing in this study suggest that these area support important foraging habitat for the wild grey parrots. Therefore, ensuring the availability of such clearings is paramount to the long‐term survival of the species. We suggest that future efforts to protect grey parrots in their native habitats focus on identifying clearings visited by parrots, monitoring these clearings and allowing parrots to visit them without disturbance or risk of capture.
Eco‐evolutionary origins and diversification in a megadiverse hotspot: Arthropods in the Greater Cape Floristic Region
Authors: Samways Michael J. , Pryke James S. , Gaigher René , Deacon Charl 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe Greater Cape Floristic Region at the southern tip of Africa is a global megadiversity hotspot. The region's biodiversity has been driven by a long history of topographic, climatic, and sea level change coupled with geological uplift, and without being exposed to any major climate events such as glaciations since the breakup of Gondwana. Among arthropods, this long history has led to the survival of many ancient lineages, manifested by much disparity followed by considerable speciation in more recent times, with the emergence of many cryptic species flocks. There is much convergence among the various taxa and functional groups in how they have responded to the various environmental filters of the past. There has also been the development of a great many morphological, behavioral, and microhabitat specialisms, associated with both topography and particular habitats, as well as interactions with other organisms. Morphological and molecular advances are elucidating how this megadiversity came about. There are indications that among the arthropod fauna, especially species that are small‐sized and have cryptic lifestyles, many more taxa remain to be discovered. Here, we review the eco‐evolutionary trends that have occurred in this region and that have resulted in such remarkable arthropod diversity. Conservation of the arthropod fauna requires recognition of this historical biogeography and ecology. Instigation of approaches over wide areas is required so as to encompass all this diversity.
Performance of unmarked abundance models with data from machine‐learning classification of passive acoustic recordings
Authors: Fiss Cameron J. , Lapp Samuel , Cohen Jonathan B. , Parker Halie A. , Larkin Jeffery T. , Larkin Jeffery L. , Kitzes Justin 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe ability to conduct cost‐effective wildlife monitoring at scale is rapidly increasing due to the availability of inexpensive autonomous recording units (ARUs) and automated species recognition, presenting a variety of advantages over human‐based surveys. However, estimating abundance with such data collection techniques remains challenging because most abundance models require data that are difficult for low‐cost monoaural ARUs to gather (e.g., counts of individuals, distance to individuals), especially when using the output of automated species recognition. Statistical models that do not require counting or measuring distances to target individuals in combination with low‐cost ARUs provide a promising way of obtaining abundance estimates for large‐scale wildlife monitoring projects but remain untested. We present a case study using avian field data collected in the forests of Pennsylvania during the spring of 2020 and 2021 using both traditional point counts and passive acoustic monitoring at the same locations. We tested the ability of the Royle–Nichols and time‐to‐detection models to estimate the abundance of two species from detection histories generated by applying a machine‐learning classifier to ARU‐gathered data. We compared abundance estimates from these models with estimates from the same models fit using point‐count data and to two additional models appropriate for point counts, the N‐mixture model and distance models. We found that the Royle–Nichols and time‐to‐detection models can be used with ARU data to produce abundance estimates similar to those generated by a point‐count‐based study but with greater precision. ARU‐based models produced confidence or credible intervals that were on average 31.9% (±11.9 SE) smaller than their point‐count counterpart. Our findings were consistent across two species with differing relative abundance and habitat use patterns. The higher precision of models fit using ARU data is likely due to higher cumulative detection probability, which itself may be the result of greater survey effort using ARUs and machine‐learning classifiers to sample significantly more time for focal species at any given point. Our results provide preliminary support for the use of ARUs in abundance‐based study applications, and thus may afford researchers a better understanding of habitat quality and population trends, while allowing them to make more informed conservation recommendations and actions.
Quantifying the effects of nest management and environmental change on demography of an endangered sea turtle
Authors: Ross Beth E. , Boggie Matthew A. , Anders Angela , Shaver Donna 
Published: August 2024

AbstractUnderstanding the demographic drivers of reintroduced and translocated populations is critical for species establishment and persistence. Given the large number of resources required to conduct ongoing reintroduction and reinforcement programs, additional information on population responses to management practices could help identify key actions that best benefit a species while ensuring economic feasibility. An integrated population model (IPM) can be used to assess and forecast the demographic consequences of different management practices and the interrelationship between management effects, population dynamics, and environmental change. We used an IPM to inform the potential impacts of nest management practices and global climate change on the vital rates of the Texas nesting colony of the endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle. We used the IPM to estimate population parameters including adult survival, population growth rate, and abundance of nesting females in Texas. Additionally, given potential future scenarios for management and environmental change, we used the IPM to forecast population change and estimate the probability of persistence of the Texas population under future environmental and management scenarios. Future scenarios for nest management that had some level of management (i.e., not all nests were left in situ) resulted in population growth rates that were likely stable or increasing. Scenarios in which all nests were left in situ resulted in stable or decreasing population growth rates as well as a probability of extirpation from Texas >1 (p(N = 0 in 2100) = 0.25–0.72). Despite uncertainty in forecasted abundance and population growth rates under all scenarios, our model still predicted stable or increasing population growth rates with a continuation of current nest management practices. In contrast, we found that reduced population growth was expected with reduced nest management effort, and population decline and extirpation was expected with no management. Our IPM framework provides an example of how future management scenarios can be evaluated critically to determine population changes through time under future environmental uncertainty.
Phosphoantigen recognition by Vγ9Vδ2 T cells
Authors: Herrmann Thomas , Karunakaran Mohindar Murugesh 
Published: August 2024

AbstractVγ9Vδ2 T cells comprise 1–10% of human peripheral blood T cells. As multifunctional T cells with a strong antimicrobial and antitumor potential, they are of strong interest for immunotherapeutic development. Their hallmark is the eponymous Vγ9Vδ2 T‐cell antigen receptor (TCR), which mediates activation by so‐called “phosphoantigens” (PAg). PAg are small pyrophosphorylated intermediates of isoprenoid synthesis of microbial or host origin, with the latter elevated in some tumors and after administration of aminobisphosphonates. This review summarizes the progress in understanding PAg‐recognition, with emphasis on the interaction between butyrophilins (BTN) and PAg and insights gained by phylogenetic studies on BTNs and Vγ9Vδ2 T cells, especially the comparison of human and alpaca. It proposes a composite ligand model in which BTN3A1‐A2/A3‐heteromers and BTN2A1 homodimers form a Vγ9Vδ2 TCR activating complex. An initiating step is the binding of PAg to the intracellular BTN3A1‐B30.2 domain and formation of a complex with the B30.2 domains of BTN2A1. On the extracellular surface this results in BTN2A1‐IgV binding to Vγ9‐TCR framework determinants and BTN3A‐IgV to additional complementarity determining regions of both TCR chains. Unresolved questions of this model are discussed, as well as questions on the structural basis and the physiological consequences of PAg‐recognition.
Modulation of the K/BxN arthritis mouse model and the effector functions of human fibroblast‐like synoviocytes by liver X receptors
Authors: Domínguez‐Luis María Jesús , Castro‐Hernández Javier , Santos‐Concepción Sergio , Díaz‐Martín Ana , Arce‐Franco Mayte , Pérez‐González Natán , Díaz Mercedes , Castrillo Antonio , Salido Eduardo , Machado José David , Gumá Mónica , Corr Maripat , Díaz‐González Federico 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe role of liver X receptors (LXR) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains controversial. We studied the effect of LXR agonists on fibroblast‐like synoviocytes (FLS) from RA patients and the K/BxN arthritis model in LXRα and β double‐deficient (Nr1h2/3−/−) mice. Two synthetic LXR agonists, GW3965 and T0901317, were used to activate LXRs and investigate their effects on cell growth, proliferation and matrix metalloproteinases, and chemokine production in cultured FLS from RA patients. The murine model K/BxN serum transfer of inflammatory arthritis in Nr1h2/3−/− animals was used to investigate the role of LXRs on joint inflammation in vivo. LXR agonists inhibited the FLS proliferative capacity in response to TNF, the chemokine‐induced migration, the collagenase activity in FLS supernatant and FLS CXCL12 production. In the K/BxN mouse model, Nr1h2/3−/− animals showed aggravated arthritis, histological inflammation, and joint destruction, as well as an increase in synovial metalloproteases and expression of proinflammatory mediators such as IL‐1β and CCL2 in joints compared with wild type animals. Taken together, these data underscore the importance of LXRs in modulating the joint inflammatory response and highlight them as potential therapeutic targets in RA.
N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes RuII(Arene) and their Application as ROMP Catalysts, Antioxidant and Anticancer Agents
Authors: Troiano Rubina , Iacopetta Domenico , D'Amato Assunta , Mariconda Annaluisa , Ceramella Jessica , Catalano Alessia , Stefania Sinicropi Maria , Longo Pasquale 
Published: August 2024

AbstractN‐Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) play an important role in metal complex catalysis and stabilisation, providing stability under non‐inert conditions and a high σ‐donor capacity. They are crucial ligands for the synthesis of organometallic compounds like RuII‐complexes, which can operate as very active catalysts for a variety of chemical transformations and functionalizations. RA(Ruthenium‐arene)NHC complexes, known for their piano‐stool structure, stabilise Ru(II) oxidation state by occupying three ruthenium coordination sites with a η6‐coordinated arene ligand. The development of dual‐acting RuII‐arene complexes has sparked increased interest in their catalytic and biological properties. Because of their broad spectrum, metal complexes can give distinct mechanisms of pharmacological action from organic drugs. This study aimed to explore the impact of ligand amphiphilicity and counterion on bioactivity, designing a family of compounds with the NHC ligand bearing an ester moiety and switching the wingtip substituent from methyl to benzyl units. All synthesized compounds were tested in norbornene ROMP, a benchmark reaction for RuII potential catalysts and as anticancer and antioxidant compounds.
Vicarious facilitation of facial responses to pain: Does the others' expression need to be painful?
Authors: Göller Peter J. , Reicherts Philipp , Lautenbacher Stefan , Kunz Miriam 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIntroductionPrior exposure to others' facial expressions of pain can lead to a facilitation of pain responses, including its corresponding response channel, namely facial responses to pain. It has been questioned, however, whether this vicarious pain facilitation occurs only when observing others' pain or whether the observation of other negative expressions can trigger similar facilitation of facial responses to pain. The study aimed to test this, by comparing the impact of viewing others' facial expressions of pain versus another negative expression (sadness) and two control expressions (neutral, happiness) on facial responses to pain.MethodParticipants (N = 56; 31 females), watched short video clips of computer‐generated facial expressions (pain, sadness, neutral & happiness) before they received painful and non‐painful heat stimuli. Facial responses were analysed using the Facial Action Coding System. In addition, subjective and autonomic responses were assessed.ResultsThe prior exposure to others' expressions of pain and sadness versus neutral did not lead to significantly increased facial responses to pain. Likewise, subjective and autonomic pain responses were not facilitated. However, viewing others' expressions of happiness, consistently reduced facial as well as subjective and autonomic responses to pain compared to others' negative or neutral expressions. This dampening effect was not observed for non‐painful heat.DiscussionFacial and other pain responses were most strongly affected by prior exposure to others' facial expressions of happiness, which led to a pain‐dampening effect. In contrast, the evidence for vicarious facilitation of pain was rather weak in the present study, with no evidence of pain‐specificity.Significance StatementFacial responses to pain – along with subjective and autonomic responses – are reduced when observing others' expressions of happiness, demonstrating pain modulation by positive affective social signals, which may also transfer to clinical contexts.
Geometry and thermal regime of the southern outlet glaciers of Qaanaaq Ice Cap, NW Greenland
Authors: Lamsters Kristaps , Karušs Jānis , Ješkins Jurijs , Džeriņš Pēteris , Ukai Shinta , Sugiyama Shin 
Published: August 2024

AbstractGlaciers and ice caps surrounding the Greenland Ice Sheet are found to be sensitive to warming climate thus the knowledge of their thickness and internal structure is substantial to determine their future impact on sea level and local environment. Still, in situ glaciological measurements of such glaciers are very scarce. Here, we present the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and uncrewed aerial vehicle surveys conducted on the two southern outlet glaciers of Qaanaaq Ice Cap in NW Greenland. GPR measurements reveal up to 170 m thick ice and the lack of englacial hyperbolae indicating no developed en/subglacial drainage system. The glaciers consist mainly of radar transparent facies characteristic for cold ice, while limited scattering facies appear closer to the glacier's terminus beneath the thinnest ice and are attributed to debris inside the ice. Results show that the glaciers flow into narrow V‐shaped valleys suggesting spatio‐temporally limited subglacial erosion and restricted possible distribution of temperate ice in the past. The comparison of the ice thickness measurement data with global ice thickness model estimates shows considerable discrepancies emphasising the need of modelling improvements in the case of narrow valley and outlet glaciers.