bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploring the impact of dogs on the human-cat relationship in private homes
Authors: Clarkson Sara T. , Kogan Lori R. , Grigg Emma K. 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Despite the growing numbers of dogs and cats cohabiting in US households, little research has focused on the influence of dogs on the human-animal bond of their feline roommates. The present study investigated whether cohabiting with a dog has an impact on the human-cat bond and the ways in which cats interact with humans. Based on existing knowledge of the differences between human-dog and human-cat interactions, we predicted that cats who have lived with a dog for at least 1 year will exhibit differences in the bond and interaction frequency with their owners. A 46-item survey was administered to 682 US cat owners via social media (SM) and Mechanical Turk (MTurk), Amazon’s crowdsourcing service, to collect data on demographics, interaction frequency, behavioral issues, and pet-owner bond. Although owners in cat-only households tended to report slightly higher bond scores with their cats (

μ

SM
= 30.34;

μ

Mturk
= 28.32) than owners in mixed households (

μ

SM
= 29.33;

μ

Mturk
= 27.42), the differences were small, and the association between household type and bond score was not significant (
p
SM
= 0.973,
p
MTurk
= 0.124). Owners who engaged in more frequent active interactions with their cats had higher bond scores. These results indicate that spending more time engaging in active interactions with one’s cat is associated with a stronger bond, and the frequency of these interactions may be more important than the presence of a cohabiting dog.
Entropy and the Stirling engine
Authors: Romanelli Alejandro 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
The thermodynamic approach developed in the Romanelli (2017 Am. J. Phys.
85 926–31). achieves, among other things, an adequate description of the experimental pressure-volumes diagrams of Stirling engines. However, an unusual and relevant result of such an approach is that, during part of its cycle, the working gas reaches temperatures above and below the temperatures of the two thermal reservoirs that keep the engine running. Within this framework, the present paper essentially shows that the predictions of the above model are not in conflict with the second law of thermodynamics. Analytical expressions for the entropies of the working gas and the environment are developed, and the definition of efficiency is discussed. The theoretical results are applied numerically to a specific Stirling engine.
Fresnel–Arago laws: an easily feasible demonstration and laboratory exercise for students
Authors: Ivković Saša S , Jovanović Jelena S , Obradović Bratislav M 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
The basic premise of this work was to create a simple experimental setup for the demonstration of Fresnel–Arago laws and the realization of an experimental exercise. An Iceland calcite is used as a beam splitter, and by adding a diverging lens (commonly used to magnify the image), a large image of overlapping spots is obtained at a short distance, visible to a wide audience. Additionally, by placing a diverging lens at different distances from the calcite, the level of the spots overlapping can be changed. The interference image is photographed by a smartphone and processed by one of the available applications for quantitative image processing. The experiment was carried out using red and green laser light. The same setup, with a diverging lens, also allows the reconstruction of the original Fresnel and Arago experiment with a thin metal cylinder. Quick and easy construction, relatively simple processing of the interference image, without the use of expensive devices (CCD camera, beam splitter, beam expander), and the good agreement between the nominal and measured laser light wavelengths, make this setup very suitable for realization as a student exercise for undergraduate and master’s students.
Study of thermodynamic properties of N particles in one-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential
Authors: Bhattacharyya Satadal , Mitra Joydip 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
We have calculated the partition function and hence the energy and the specific heat of a two-particle system in n numbers of finite nondegenerate energy levels of equal spacing distributed according to classical and quantum statistics. We have then extended our study for N identical particles placed in 1D harmonic oscillator potential. It is observed that the specific heat of bosons and fermions are exactly the same in this potential at any temperature, and at high temperature the results are similar to that for the classical particles. The partition function of a system of two particles placed in 2D harmonic oscillator potential has also been determined as comparison.
How to measure the current–voltage characteristics of Ohmic conductors and superconductors
Authors: Romano Paola 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
A comparison between two different techniques useful to measure the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of conducting materials or devices will be presented, suitable for an undergraduate laboratory devoted to the electrical measurements. First, I–V curves of linear resistors with known nominal resistance are measured by using the simplest version of a DC method and an AC method, in order to settle the experimental procedure. Then, nonlinear I–V curves of a superconductor are measured with the same procedures at different temperatures down to 77 K.
Influence of structural characteristics of a Si nanoparticulate anode on all-solid-state Li-ion batteries
Authors: Ohta Ryoshi , Hiraoka Takeo , Shibano Yuki , Kawamura Hiroaki , Kawamoto Koji , Tanaka Toshimi , Takeuchi Akira , Dougakiuchi Masashi , Fukuda Kenichi , Kambara Makoto 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Si nanoparticles with independently controlled size and oxygen content have been produced by plasma spraying physical vapor deposition followed by the retarded oxidation. These nanoparticles are used as the negative electrode of all-solid-state batteries with sulfide solid electrolyte, and the influence of size and oxygen content on battery performance has been analyzed. The cells containing Si nanoparticles smaller than 150 nm with the oxygen content x in SiO
x
smaller than 0.1 have attained relatively high capacity and a good stable cyclability simultaneously after 50 cycles. This could be due to the formation of unique and uniform synaptic-like Si network with small Si nanoparticles within the electrode maintaining a firm contact with the Cu foil, which contrasts to large lateral crack formation for the cell with large Si particles.
Size reduction and water dispersibility improvement of hexagonal boron nitride particles by femtosecond laser irradiation in water
Authors: Muneoka Hitoshi , Koike Takeru , Ito Tsuyohito , Terashima Kazuo , Miura Eisuke 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Controlling the size and surface state of inorganic particles, which strongly influence their dispersibility in solvents, is important for diverse applications. Intense femtosecond laser pulses can induce plasma formation in material–dispersed solvents and interact with both materials and solvents. In this study, femtosecond laser pulses are employed to modify hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) particles dispersed in water, with the aim of evaluating the effects of the femtosecond laser process on the size reduction and surface modification of hBN particles. Shadowgraph imaging reveals the formation of the reactive environment in hBN–dispersed water, resulting from the ionization of water molecules which leads to the generation of OH radicals. Evaluation of the hBN particle sizes suggests an overall reduction from 160 to 110 nm after 60 min of irradiation and the generation of nanodots between 5 and 10 nm in size. In addition, it is confirmed that the number of particles with higher zeta potentials increases after the samples are laser-irradiated, suggesting a change in the surface state. Consequently, the duration of hBN particle dispersion in water is significantly increased, with an improvement of at least one order of magnitude, for the laser-irradiated samples. This study presents a demonstration of the formation of a reaction field that affects hBN particles in size and dispersibility in water.
Dynamic stabilisation of magnetic fields measured inside a magnetically shielded room using an external coil system
*
Authors: Zhao Jiye , Tian Pengtao , Sun Jinji , Zhang Haifeng 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) system based on optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) requires a magnetically shielded room (MSR) to establish a stable near-zero field environment. Affected by external environmental electromagnetic interference, the magnetic noise in the MSR will become very severe. In order to overcome this problem, this paper proposes a method for dynamic stabilisation of magnetic fields measured inside a MSR using an external coil system. Firstly, the field form of the external compensation coil was analysed by taking the AC characteristics of the material into consideration. Then, the linear characteristic of the control system is studied and a high performance magnetic noise suppression controller is designed based on the environment noise characteristics. Finally, simulation and experimental are carried out through a self-developed 1250 mm × 1250 mm × 2100 mm MSR, which indicates that the proposed method can effectively suppress dynamic magnetic fluctuation and noise.
Gain and mode purity filtering dual polarized OAM beam generation using cavity waveguide-based 3D transmitarray
Authors: Cao Yuanxi , Zhang Jiahao , Yang Zhanbiao , Wu Sifan , Li Jianxing , Yan Sen 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
A 3D transmitarray (TA) is proposed to generate dual-polarized orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams with gain and mode purity filtering responses. The TA units are realized by square cavity filters with the same passband and different orders and inner widths, resulting in different coupling cavity numbers. The evanescent modes in the coupling cavities will greatly decrease the propagation constant, thus generating a large phase variation. The square structure of the cavity filter makes it able to support dual-polarized wave propagation with the same phase delay and insert loss. Based on these transmission characteristics, eight different TA units are designed to realize a 3-bit phase gradient within the passband of 25.4–26.7 GHz. It should be emphasized that the dispersed transmission phase and magnitude of the eight TA units in the stopbands will deteriorate the purity of the OAM beam. Therefore, the gain and mode purity filtering responses can be realized simultaneously. In order to verify the performance of the proposed OAM TA design, a TA prototype with the mode number l = −1 is fabricated by 3D printing technology. The TA can realize the maximum gain of 25.9 dB in the passband, and the rejection level is below −15.0 dB within the main beam direction. The purities of dual-polarized OAM beams are over 0.5 in the passband, and the cross-polarization is below −16.5 dB. The advantages of the OAM TA, including gain-filtering and mode purity-filtering responses, dual-polarization, and high efficiency make it a promising solution for millimeter-wave OAM sensing and communication applications.
Large Rabi splitting energy in resonant quasi-BIC WSe2 metasurfaces
Authors: Fan Leipeng , You Shaojun , Gao Chenggui , Yu Yangyang , Zhou Chaobiao 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Strong coupling between excitons in transition metal dichalcogenides and cavities has attracted much attention in recent years, while the Rabi splitting values are usually small, which limits its further applications. In this work, we propose a WSe2 metasurface that supports quasi bound states in the continuous (QBIC) to realize a large Rabi splitting value by adjusting the effective overlap of the exciton with the resonance modes. The designed metasurface consists of composite nanoholes of WSe2. By changing the relative position of the nanoholes and modifying the symmetry of the structure, two QBIC modes are excited, and they mainly localize the electric field inside the device. By tuning the oscillator strength of WSe2, the strong coupling between excitons in WSe2 and QBIC modes is realized, resulting in Rabi splitting energies of 468 meV and 472 meV, respectively. This work provides insights into enhancing light-matter interactions and expands the potential applications of strong coupling.
ECT image reconstruction based on sensitive field expansion and optimization
Authors: Huang Guoxing , Li Chao , Wang Jingwen , Sun Juntao , Zhang Yu 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is an efficient method for addressing the issue of two-phase flow monitoring. Most current methods result in low image reconstruction accuracy due to soft field issues. This paper propose an ECT image reconstruction method based on sensitive field expansion and optimization, which improve reconstruction efficiency and accuracy. Firstly, a sensitivity field optimization method based on flow pattern identification was proposed. The flow pattern recognition determines the flow pattern to which the input signal belongs and selects the sensitive field for the corresponding flow pattern. Secondly, a sensitive field expansion method based on feature extraction is proposed. The ECT image is modeled as a finite rate of innovation signal, sampled using an exponential reproducing kernel. Feature information is extracted from the input signal for data fusion, and the optimized sensitive field is expanded into a new sensitive field distribution matrix by zero-padding and random reorganization. Then, based on optimized and expanded sensitive fields, a sparse image reconstruction method is proposed. Image reconstruction by constructing comprehensive observation equation to obtain the original permittivity distribution vector of the ECT system using the sparsity of the sensitivity matrix and capacitance signal. Finally, the ECT hardware system and the upper computer measurement and imaging integration software are designed. The experimental results show that the method outperforms other existing algorithms in terms of imaging indexes, has better imaging results.
Speckle noise reduction on aligned consecutive ultrasound frames via deep neural network
Authors: Mikaeili Mahsa , Bilge Hasan Şakir , Kılıçaslan İsa 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Despite the benefits of ultrasound (US) imaging systems for medical diagnosis and treatment, US images are prone to low resolution and contrast due to US’s inherent attributes, as well as affected by speckle noise that directly influences their quality. In retrospective studies, diverse filters have been applied to minimize the effects of speckle noise and enhance the quality of US images. In this article, we propose a method of enhancing US images inspired by synthetic aperture imaging, which provides high-resolution images by adding low-resolution images and measuring the probe’s movement. Our proposed method does not involve synthetic aperture imaging but compensates for the motion effect in the temporal dimension, aligns consecutive images, and stacks aligned images to suppress speckle noise and consequently enhance the resolution of US images. We exploited deep neural network (DNN) models to estimate motion parameters between consecutive US images. In a new database of US images, we also collected the images’ position-related information implicitly measured in inertial measurement units, which was exploited as a ground truth for motion parameters between consecutive images. Compared with other image-enhancing techniques involving conventional filters and DNN modalities, our method demonstrated superiority in enhancing the quality of US images. We also found that estimating motion parameters directly influenced the success of the image-stacking process. As in ablation studies in DNNs, we additionally investigated the effect of dropping some images in the temporal dimension, which revealed that contextual differences and excessive rates of movement in successive US images weakens the image-stacking process and thus the potential enhancement of US images.
Novel silicene-mesoporous silica nanoparticles conjugated gemcitabine induced cellular apoptosis via upregulating NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation suppresses pancreatic cancer growth in vitro and in vivo
Authors: Chen Yuhang , Cheng Chien-Shan , Yang Peiwen , Dong Shu , Chen Lianyu 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Pancreatic cancer’s high fatality rates stem from its resistance to systemic drug delivery and aggressive metastasis, limiting the efficacy of conventional treatments. In this study, two-dimensional ultrathin silicene nanosheets were initially synthesized and near-infrared-responsive two-dimensional silicene-mesoporous silica nanoparticles (SMSNs) were successfully constructed to load the clinically-approved conventional pancreatic cancer chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine. Experiments on nanoparticle characterization show that they have excellent photothermal conversion ability and stability. Then silicene-mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with gemcitabine nanoparticles (SMSN@G NPs) were employed in localized photothermal therapy to control pancreatic tumor growth and achieve therapeutic effects. Our research confirmed the functionality of SMSN@G NPs through immunoblotting and apoptotic assays, demonstrating its capacity to enhance the nuclear translocation of the NF-κB p65, further affect the protein levels of apoptosis-related genes, induce the apoptosis of tumor cells, and ultimately inhibit the growth of the tumor. Additionally, the study assessed the inhibitory role of SMSN@G NPs on pancreatic neoplasm growth in vivo, revealing its excellent biocompatibility. SMSN@G NPs have a nice application prospect for anti-pancreatic tumors.
Fermat’s principle in high school classes: an experimental approach using video analysis
Authors: Silva E S , Perez G A C , de Oliveira A L , de Jesus V L B 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
This work presents an experimental approach to Fermat’s principle using a video analysis investigation applied to two high school classes whose students have basic knowledge of kinematics. The results indicate that without knowledge of advanced calculations, the students could verify the minimum time required for the light to travel between the two points compared to other alternative paths. This work aims to advise students to genuine scientific investigations, as contemporary literature demands.
Explaining Grover’s algorithm with a colony of ants: a pedagogical model for making quantum technology comprehensible
Authors: Schalkers Merel A , Dankers Kamiel , Wimmer Michael , Vermaas Pieter 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
The rapid growth of quantum technologies requires an increasing number of physicists, computer scientists, and engineers who can work on these technologies. For educating these professionals, quantum mechanics should stop being perceived as incomprehensible. In this paper we contribute to this change by presenting a pedagogical model for explaining Grover’s search algorithm, a prominent quantum algorithm. This model visualizes the three main steps of Grover’s algorithm and, in addition to explaining the algorithm itself, introduces three key principles of quantum mechanics: superposition, interference, and state collapse at measurement. The pedagogical model, visualized by a video, is called the ant colony maze model. It represents the search problems as finding the exit of a maze, and visualizes Grover’s search algorithm as a strategy by which a colony of ants finds that exit.
Fano cavity test and investigation of the response of the Roos chamber irradiated by proton beams in perpendicular magnetic fields up to 1 T
Authors: Blum Isabel , Wong Jing Syuen , Godino Padre Krishna , Stolzenberg Jessica , Fuchs Hermann , Baumann Kilian-Simon , Poppe Björn , Looe Hui Khee 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this work is to investigate the response of the Roos chamber (type 34001) irradiated by clinical proton beams in magnetic fields. Approach. At first, a Fano test was implemented in Monte Carlo software package GATE version 9.2 (based on Geant4 version 11.0.2) using a cylindrical slab geometry in a magnetic field up to 1 T. In accordance to an experimental setup (Fuchs et al
2021), the magnetic field correction factors

k

Q

B

⃗

of the Roos chamber were determined at different energies up to 252 MeV and magnetic field strengths up to 1 T, by separately simulating the ratios of chamber signals

M

Q

/

M

Q

B

⃗

,

without and with magnetic field, and the dose-conversion factors

D

w
,
Q

B

⃗

/

D

w
,
Q

in a small cylinder of water, with and without magnetic field. Additionally, detailed simulations were carried out to understand the observed magnetic field dependence. Main results. The Fano test was passed with deviations smaller than 0.25% between 0 and 1 T. The ratios of the chamber signals show both energy and magnetic field dependence. The maximum deviation of the dose-conversion factors from unity of 0.22% was observed at the lowest investigated proton energy of 97.4 MeV and

B

⃗

= 1 T. The resulting

k

Q

B

⃗

factors increase initially with the applied magnetic field and decrease again after reaching a maximum at around 0.5 T; except for the lowest 97.4 MeV beam that show no observable magnetic field dependence. The deviation from unity of the factors is also larger for higher proton energies, where the maximum lies at 1.0035(5), 1.0054(7) and 1.0069(7) for initial energies of

E

0

= 152, 223.4 and 252 MeV, respectively. Significance. Detailed Monte Carlo studies showed that the observed effect can be mainly attributed to the differences in the transport of electrons produced both outside and inside of the air cavity in the presence of a magnetic field.