bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploration of an atomic‐scale boron additive in SiAlON ceramics
Authors: McGarrity Kade A. , Tumurugoti Priyatham , Ning Kaijie , George Christy , Yan Yonggang , Wang Kun , Shulman Holly 
Published: April 2024

AbstractSiAlON ceramics are of interest for high‐risk applications such as biomedical implants and combustion engine turbines. This work is part of a larger study aimed at leveraging atomic‐ or molecular‐scale additives to control the densification, microstructures, and ultimate structural properties of SiAlONs. Here, we investigate the effects of boron in silicon nitride‐based ceramics. The present work demonstrates a possible chemical method for controlling the microstructural development of SiAlONs by incorporating boric acid (H3BO3) into the starting powder blend. Raman spectroscopy and 11B solid‐state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance cooperatively indicate that after sintering, boron exists in threefold coordination with nitrogen in the turbostratic boron nitride (t‐BN) structure. The results of this work indicate that the incorporation of boron and generation of t‐BN bonding in the SiAlON system result in a narrower grain size distribution, a suppression of second phases such as yttrium aluminosilicates, and ultimately, increased flexure strength. A separate fractographic study showed that SiAlONs fabricated with 3 wt% boric acid exhibited fracture origins such as subtle surface flaws or cracks, while lower dopant levels and undoped SiAlONs typically failed from flaws such as inclusions or large grains. It is argued that the modification of the intergranular glass chemistry and resulting generation of t‐BN reduces atomic diffusion through the grain boundary phase and inhibits the crystallization of second phases as well as exaggerated grain growth that often characterizes the development of β′‐SiAlON.
Synthesis and Characterization of a Cyclic Trimer of a Chiral Spirosilabifluorene
Authors: Nakazono Rina , Hu Weizhe , Hirose Takashi , Amaya Toru 
Published: April 2024

AbstractA chiral shape‐persistent macrocyclic compound (Si‐[3]), designed by the C/Si substitution in the spiro‐atom of spirobifluorene in the cyclic trimer (C‐[3]), has been successfully synthesized in this study. The C/Si substitution made the spiro‐conjugation and energy levels of HOMO and LUMO decrease. Due to the silicon substitution, the macrocyclic compound Si‐[3] was able to be degraded by fluoride ions, but its reaction rate was slower than that of the unsubstituted spirosilabifluorene, showing the chemical stability of Si‐[3]. Furthermore, the chiroptical properties of Si‐[3] with D3‐symmetric macrocyclic structure were investigated, and (P,P,P)‐Si‐[3] showed a high emission quantum yield (Φf=80 %) and moderate dissymmetry factor of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) (glum,exp=−1.2×10−3). According to the time‐dependent density‐functional theory (TD‐DFT) calculations using polarizable continuum model (PCM), the bright CPL from Si‐[3] was explained by a planarization of one bisilafluorenyl moiety at the excited state, which is responsible for the almost fully‐allowed radiative transition with a short emission lifetime of τf=1.89 ns.
Microstructure‐based modeling of primary cilia mechanics
Authors: Mostafazadeh Nima , Resnick Andrew , Young Y.‐N. , Peng Zhangli 
Published: April 2024

AbstractA primary cilium, made of nine microtubule doublets enclosed in a cilium membrane, is a mechanosensing organelle that bends under an external mechanical load and sends an intracellular signal through transmembrane proteins activated by cilium bending. The nine microtubule doublets are the main load‐bearing structural component, while the transmembrane proteins on the cilium membrane are the main sensing component. No distinction was made between these two components in all existing models, where the stress calculated from the structural component (nine microtubule doublets) was used to explain the sensing location, which may be totally misleading. For the first time, we developed a microstructure‐based primary cilium model by considering these two components separately. First, we refined the analytical solution of bending an orthotropic cylindrical shell for individual microtubule, and obtained excellent agreement between finite element simulations and the theoretical predictions of a microtubule bending as a validation of the structural component in the model. Second, by integrating the cilium membrane with nine microtubule doublets and simulating the tip‐anchored optical tweezer experiment on our computational model, we found that the microtubule doublets may twist significantly as the whole cilium bends. Third, besides being cilium‐length‐dependent, we found the mechanical properties of the cilium are also highly deformation‐dependent. More important, we found that the cilium membrane near the base is not under pure in‐plane tension or compression as previously thought, but has significant local bending stress. This challenges the traditional model of cilium mechanosensing, indicating that transmembrane proteins may be activated more by membrane curvature than membrane stretching. Finally, we incorporated imaging data of primary cilia into our microstructure‐based cilium model, and found that comparing to the ideal model with uniform microtubule length, the imaging‐informed model shows the nine microtubule doublets interact more evenly with the cilium membrane, and their contact locations can cause even higher bending curvature in the cilium membrane than near the base.
Investigating the Serum Albumin Binding Behavior of Naphthalimide Based Fluorophore Conjugates: Spectroscopic and Molecular Docking Approach
Authors: Gupta Rohini , Paul Kamaldeep 
Published: April 2024

AbstractIn the present study, naphthalimide‐pyrazole‐benzothiazole based fluorescent analogs were synthesized by substituting different primary and secondary amines on the naphthalimide nucleus and were evaluated for their sensitivity and selectivity towards serum albumin. Among various synthesized analogues compound 25 showed the most significant change with serum albumin and was further studied for selective detection and mode of interaction with serum albumin. Here, we compared the binding interaction of fluorescent probe 25 for variation/detection of two 76 % structurally resembling proteins HSA and BSA, by spectroscopic experiments. The compound shows more selectivity for HSA and BSA with a higher binding constant and evident visible change in the emission spectra of two serum albumins among different bioanalytes. The mode of interaction of 25 with human serum albumin and bovine serum albumin was investigated by FT‐IR, circular dichroism, and DLS techniques to find out the change in the microenvironment and variation in the structure of serum albumin proteins. Higher binding affinity and specific selectivity of 25 with a limit of detection of 0.69 μM and 1.4 μM towards HSA and BSA compared to other bioanalytes make it a significant fluorescent probe for quantitatively detecting serum albumins at the very early stage of many fatal diseases.
Bringing proton therapy to India: The recent article from Gupta et al. on revolutionizing cancer treatment in India
Authors: Mendenhall Nancy P. 
Published: April 2024

Gupta et al. have outlined a rational approach for bringing the promising emerging technology of proton therapy to India. Their roadmap is based on consensus‐driven prioritization systems (American Society for Radiation Oncology guidelines), careful assessment of population needs, and careful consideration of economics.
Neurodegenerative disease pathways are perturbed in patients with cancer who self‐report cognitive changes and anxiety: A pathway impact analysis
Authors: Oppegaard Kate R. , Mayo Samantha J. , Armstrong Terri S. , Dokiparthi Vasuda , Melisko Michelle , Levine Jon D. , Olshen Adam B. , Anguera Joaquin A. , Roy Ritu , Paul Steven , Cooper Bruce , Conley Yvette P. , Hammer Marilyn J. , Miaskowski Christine , Kober Kord M. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackgroundCancer‐related cognitive impairment (CRCI) and anxiety co‐occur in patients with cancer. Little is known about mechanisms for the co‐occurrence of these two symptoms. The purposes of this secondary analysis were to evaluate for perturbed pathways associated with the co‐occurrence of self‐reported CRCI and anxiety in patients with low versus high levels of these two symptoms and to identify potential mechanisms for the co‐occurrence of CRCI and anxiety using biological processes common across any perturbed neurodegenerative disease pathways.MethodsPatients completed the Attentional Function Index and the Spielberger State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory six times over two cycles of chemotherapy. Based on findings from a previous latent profile analysis, patients were grouped into none versus both high levels of these symptoms. Gene expression was quantified, and pathway impact analyses were performed. Signaling pathways for evaluation were defined with the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database.ResultsA total of 451 patients had data available for analysis. Approximately 85.0% of patients were in the none class and 15.0% were in the both high class. Pathway impact analyses identified five perturbed pathways related to neurodegenerative diseases (i.e., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington disease, Parkinson disease, prion disease, and pathways of neurodegeneration–multiple diseases). Apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress were common biological processes across these pathways.ConclusionsThis study is the first to describe perturbations in neurodegenerative disease pathways associated with CRCI and anxiety in patients receiving chemotherapy. These findings provide new insights into potential targets for the development of mechanistically based interventions.
DEVS: Secure and optimal decentralized energy trading scheme for Electric Vehicle and Charging Station using game theory
Authors: Kakkar Riya , Agrawal Smita , Tanwar Sudeep 
Published: April 2024

SummaryWith the advent and popularity of electric vehicles (EVs), the intelligent transportation system has adopted them as an alternative to fossil fuel or gasoline vehicles owing to their benefits of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, it becomes critical to schedule the vast EVs at the charging station (CS) efficiently while maintaining security, privacy, and optimality during the energy trading. Therefore, we propose a blockchain and zero‐sum game theory‐based energy trading scheme, that is, DEVS, for optimal and secure EV charging at the CS. We incorporate the Interplanetary File System with the blockchain to ameliorate the cost‐efficiency and reliability of EV energy trading. Furthermore, we implement the zero‐sum game theory between players EV and CS to yield an optimal payoff based on pure and mixed strategies during the energy trading procedure. Moreover, we deploy and execute the smart contract (SC) of the blockchain‐based proposed DEVS scheme in the Remix integrated development environment to secure EV energy trading transactions. Additionally, the security of the proposed DEVS scheme is checked and analyzed using a fuzzing‐based Echidna tool for protected energy trading. Finally, the performance evaluation of the proposed DEVS scheme is analyzed using various standard metrics such as profit comparison based on strategies, energy price comparison, CS profit comparison for pure strategy (based on arrival time), convergence comparison, and profit (EV and CS) at saddle point and mixed strategy to avail preserved and optimal energy trading for EVs.
Adsorption Structures, Vibrational Raman Spectra and Chemical Binding Properties of Thioglycolic Acid on Cu(111) Surfaces: A DFT Study
Authors: Chen Lai‐Ke , Xiao Yuan‐Hui , Lin Jian‐De , Sajid Zubia , Zhou Jian‐Zhang , Wu De‐Yin , Tian Zhong‐Qun 
Published: April 2024

AbstractCopper is widely used in everyday life and industrial production because of its good electrical and thermal conductivity. To overcome copper oxidation and maintain its good physical properties, small organic molecules adsorbed on the surface of copper make a passivated layer to further avoid copper corrosion. In this work, we have investigated thioglycolic acid (TGA, another name is mercaptoacetic acid) adsorbed on copper surfaces by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations and a periodical slab model. We first get five stable adsorption structures, and the binding interaction between TGA and Cu(111) surfaces by using density of states (DOS), indicating that the most stable configuration adopts a triple‐end binding model. Then, we analyze the vibrational Raman spectra of TGA adsorbed on the Cu(111) surface and make vibrational assignments according to the vibrational vectors. Finally, we explore the temperature effect of the thermodynamically Gibbs free energy of TGA on the Cu(111) surface and the antioxidant ability of the small organic molecular layer of copper oxidation on the copper surface. Our calculated results further provide evidences to interpret the stability of adsorption structures and antioxidant properties of copper.
Electrochemical Synthesis of Hollow Nanoparticles via Anodic Transformation of Metastable Core‐Shell Precursors
Authors: Park Joon Ho , Kang Taeyeon , Ahn Hyun S. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractRecent advances in electrosynthesis of nanomaterials expanded structural and compositional variations accessible by the electrochemical method; however, reliably synthesizable morphological variety fall shy of that available by conventional solvothermal synthesis. In this communication, electrochemical preparation of surfactant‐free hollow nanoparticles is demonstrated. By anodic conversion of core‐shell precursors with metastable cores, hollowed nickel nanoparticles with uniform dimensions were synthesized and characterized. Implementation of TEM grids as the working electrodes, identical location tracking of the morphological evolution of single particles to anodic stimulus has been demonstrated. The synthesized nanoparticles were employed as catalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction and exhibited catalytic rates that compare favorably to the Pt/C benchmark. This marks the first pure electrochemical synthesis of hollow nanoparticles and shall contribute to the structural diversification of electrosynthesized nanomaterials.
Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging reveals abnormal white matter and glymphatic function in active young boxers
Authors: Huang Wenjing , Ma Laiyang , Yan Jiahao , Hu Wanjun , Liu Guangyao , Wang Rui , Zhang Jing 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThe neurological effects and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of sports‐related concussion (SRC) in active young boxers remain poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the impairment of white matter microstructure and assess changes in glymphatic function following SRC by utilizing neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) on young boxers who have sustained SRC. A total of 60 young participants were recruited, including 30 boxers diagnosed with SRC and 30 healthy individuals engaging in regular exercise. The assessment of whole‐brain white matter damage was conducted using diffusion metrics, while the evaluation of glymphatic function was performed through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis along the perivascular space (DTI‐ALPS) index. A two‐sample t‐test was utilized to examine group differences in DTI and NODDI metrics. Spearman correlation and generalized linear mixed models were employed to investigate the relationship between clinical assessments of SRC and NODDI measurements. Significant alterations were observed in DTI and NODDI metrics among young boxers with SRC. Additionally, the DTI‐ALPS index in the SRC group exhibited a significantly higher value than that of the control group (left side: 1.58 vs. 1.48, PFDR = 0.009; right side: 1.61 vs. 1.51, PFDR = 0.02). Moreover, it was observed that the DTI‐ALPS index correlated with poorer cognitive test results among boxers in this study population. Repetitive SRC in active young boxers is associated with diffuse white matter injury and glymphatic dysfunction, highlighting the detrimental impact on brain health. These findings highlight the importance of long‐term monitoring of the neurological health of boxers.
Electrochemical sensing strategies for on‐site testing of pathogenic nucleic acids
Authors: Kanno Yusuke , Masui Shuzo , Ota Yusuke , Saito Ryoichi , Nisisako Takasi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractRapid and reliable on‐site pathogen testing is crucial for diagnosing and managing human health. Nucleic acids (NAs) containing genetic information are valuable target molecules for pathogen testing, and sensitive and rapid detection of NAs using electrochemical approaches has been intensively investigated. Detection approaches for NAs are diverse and compatible with current gene amplification methods and continue to expand with the development of novel functional materials and molecules. The variety of electrochemical sensing devices also continues to expand, and more practical testing is being pursued. This review outlines the latest detection approaches and basic guidelines for NA detection. Furthermore, this review provides an overview of electrochemical sensing devices that utilize novel and unique materials and functions and comprehensively discusses their advantages.
Rice Straw‐Derived Biochar as Anode Material for Lithium‐Ion Battery: A Step toward Sustainable Development
Authors: Bhatia Drishti , Saroha Anil K. 
Published: April 2024

In the present study, sustainable upscaling of rice straw, an agri‐residue, is explored as the way to obtain active material to prepare anode for use in lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). The biochar having high carbon and low silica content is prepared by initial chemical treatment of rice straw followed by its pyrolysis. The pristine and modified biochar are characterized using Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller surface area, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, carbon hydrogen nitrogen sulphur elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, X‐Ray power diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman analysis and the modified biochar show an enhancement in graphitic carbon content. A coin cell is assembled using anode prepared from modified biochar. The coin cell is subjected to electrochemical testing and had a discharge capacity of 352 mA.h g−1. Further, the coin cell is tested for 100 cycles and a columbic efficiency of 99.7% was obtained. Therefore, biochar derived from pyrolysis of rice straw has the potential to be used as anode material for LIBs.
Effect of 1 wt% Dimethyl Sulfoxide on the Electrical and Photovoltaic Parameters of Schottky Diodes and Organic Solar Cells Based on PEDOT:PSS
Authors: Kacus Hatice 
Published: April 2024

Herein, the electrical conductivity of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)–poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) polymer is improved by adding dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and electrical characterization of the obtained Schottky diode and organic solar cell (OSC) devices are performed from I–V measurements under the light and dark conditions. The scanning electron microscope images of the poly(3‐hexylthiophene):[6,6]‐phenylC61‐butyric acid methylester active layer and PEDOT:PSS layer are obtained. The series resistance (Rs), barrier height (Фb), and ideality factor (n) parameters are obtained from different techniques as a function of light and dark conditions. Furthermore, photovoltaic parameters are calculated for n‐Si/PEDOT:PSS/Au device without DMSO doping and with DMSO doping as a parameter of the light condition and the interface state densities of these devices are obtained for light and dark conditions. DMSO organic solvent improves the short‐circuit current density (Isc), power convert efficiency (or η), open circuit‐voltage (Voc), shunt resistance (Rsh), and series resistance (Rs) values of OSCs. In summary, DMSO solvent rearranges the conductive of PEDOT:PSS, decreases the work function of this conductive polymer (≈5 eV), decreases energy loss in the charge transportation, and increases photovoltaic parameters of Schottky barrier diode and OSC devices.
Pseudo‐dynamic testing, repairability, and resilience assessment of a large‐scale steel structure equipped with self‐centering column bases
Authors: Elettore Elena , Freddi Fabio , Latour Massimo , Piluso Vincenzo , Rizzano Gianvittorio 
Published: April 2024

AbstractRecent destructive seismic events have underlined the need for increasing research efforts devoted to the development of innovative seismic‐resilient structures able to reduce seismic‐induced direct and indirect losses. Regarding steel Moment Resisting Frames (MRFs), the inclusion of Friction Devices (FDs) in Beam‐to‐Column Joints (BCJs) has emerged as an effective solution to dissipate the seismic input energy while ensuring a damage‐free behavior. Additionally, recent studies have demonstrated the benefits of implementing similar damage‐free solutions for Column Bases (CBs). In this context, the authors have recently experimentally investigated a Self‐Centering CB (SC‐CB) aimed at residual drift reduction. Previous experimental tests only focused on the response of isolated SC‐CBs under cyclic loads. Conversely, the present paper advances the research through an experimental campaign on a large‐scale steel structure equipped with the proposed SC‐CBs, providing valuable insights into the global structural response and improved repairability. A set of eight Pseudo‐Dynamic (PsD) tests were conducted considering different records and configurations of the structure. The experimental results highlighted the effectiveness of the SC‐CBs in minimizing the residual interstory drifts and protecting the first‐story columns from damage, thus enhancing the structure's resilience. Moreover, the consecutive PsD tests allowed investigating the effectiveness of the reparation process in restoring the seismic performance of the ‘undamaged’ structure. An advanced numerical model was developed in OpenSees and validated against the global and component‐level experimental results. Incremental Dynamic Analyses were finally performed to investigate the influence of the SC‐CBs on the structure's seismic response while accounting for the record‐to‐record variability.