bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
CircUCK2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma development by upregulating UCK2 in a mir-149-5p-dependent manner
Authors: Shen Minghai , Zhang Qinghua , Pan Wanneng , Wang Bei 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) participate in the regulation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) progression. The objective of this study was to explore the function and mechanism of circUCK2 in HCC development.

Methods
The RNA levels of circUCK2, miR-149-5p and uridine–cytidine kinase 2 (UCK2) were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). EdU incorporation assay and colony formation assay were respectively performed to analyze cell proliferation and colony formation. Wound healing assay and transwell assay were conducted for cell migration and invasion. Flow cytometry was used for cell apoptosis analysis. Western blot assay was conducted to determine the protein levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) and UCK2. Dual-luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay and RNA pull-down assay were conducted to confirm the interaction between miR-149-5p and circUCK2 or UCK2. The xenograft model was established to explore the role of circUCK2 in tumor growth in vivo.

Results
CircUCK2 level was elevated in HCC, and circUCK2 depletion suppressed HCC cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion and accelerated cell apoptosis. Mechanistically, circUCK2 could positively modulate UCK2 expression by interacting with miR-149-5p. Furthermore, the repressive effects of circUCK2 knockdown on the malignant behaviors of HCC cells were alleviated by UCK2 overexpression or miR-149-5p inhibition. The promoting effects of circUCK2 overexpression on HCC cell malignancy were alleviated by UCK2 silencing or miR-149-5p introduction. Additionally, circUCK2 knockdown hampered tumor growth in vivo.

Conclusion
CircUCK2 contributed to HCC malignant progression in vitro and in vivo via targeting miR-149-5p/UCK2 axis, demonstrating that circUCK2 might be a novel therapeutic target for HCC.
Bumps on the back: An unusual morphology in phylogenetically distinct Peridinium aff. cinctum (= Peridinium tuberosum; Peridiniales, Dinophyceae)
Authors: Gürkan Selin , Stemplinger Benedikt , Rockinger Alexander , Knechtel Johanna , Gottschling Marc 
Published: January 2024

AbstractTo determine the intraspecific variability of microscopic organisms such as dinophytes is challenging, but can be achieved using cultured material. Unusual morphologies of Peridinium tuberosum assigned to the Peridinium cinctum species group have been described as bulges on the posterior end of the cell a hundred years ago and more, but its taxonomic significance is unclear at present. We collected field material in Germany and Poland in order to establish strains to study cell morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy. For the cultured material, DNA sequence data from the rRNA operon was gained as well and included in molecular phylogenetics (including 22 new partial rRNA sequences). Two new, closely related ribotypes were detected, and all strains showed the principle morphology of P. cinctum having an asymmetric epitheca, a large first apical plate and a sulcus extending onto the epitheca. In the single-strain GeoM*979 assigned to one of the two new ribotypes, cells with bulges appeared rarely but consistently, mostly on the hypotheca, but other variations also occurred. Overall, cells of this strain display traits not observed before while studying cultured P. cinctum, and this distinction is further supported by molecular data and additional details of epithecal opening. However, there does not remain enough information to determine strain GeoM*979 as a separate species (namely P. tuberosum) and therefore, it is identified as Peridinium aff. cinctum until further notice.
Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Alchemilla vulgaris and Helichrysum arenarium for methylene blue and 4-nitrophenol degradation and antibacterial applications
Authors: Kahraman Havva Tutar 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThis study aimed to evaluate the concept of green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (silver nanoparticles, AgNPs) by plant extracts without using any toxic or hazardous materials. Alchemilla vulgaris (AV) and Helichrysum arenarium (HA) are used as capping and reducing agents to synthesize AgNPs (as coded AV-AgNPs and HA-AgNPs). Both synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV–visible spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results of characterization exhibited that AgNPs were successfully synthesized. They are highly well-dispersed, mostly spherical shape with an average size 15–20 nm. Catalytic reduction of methylene blue (MB) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) was assessed using synthesized AgNPs as nano-catalysts in the presence of NaBH4. The catalytic activity of the synthesized AgNPs revealed significant results in terms of degradation of MB and 4-NP to 4-AP (4-aminophenol). The reduction reactions of MB and 4-NP happen within 6–7 min using synthesized AV-AgNPs and HA-AgNPs in the presence of NaBH4. According to the reusability analysis, synthesized AgNPs demonstrated excellent degradation performances by the more than 94% removal efficiency maintained after five reuse cycles. In addition, antibacterial activities of AgNPs were investigated against Escherichia coli (E. coli; Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus; Gram-positive bacteria) by using quantitative well-diffusion method and the inhibition zones were determined using Mueller–Hinton agar (MHA) media. AV-AgNPs and HA-AgNPs showed strong antibacterial activities against E. coli with in inhibition zone diameters 25.5 and 25 mm, respectively. AV-AgNPs and HA-AgNPs were also extremely effective on S. aureus with high inhibition zone values of 22 and 24 mm, respectively. Finally, the fabricated silver nanoparticles could be excellent candidates for the separation of hazardous materials.
Diabetic retinopathy screening guidelines for Physicians in India: position statement by the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) and the Vitreoretinal Society of India (VRSI)-2023
Authors: Agarwal Manisha , Rani Padmaja Kumari , Raman Rajiv , Narayanan Raja , L. Sreenivasamurthy , Virmani Anil , Rajalakshmi Ramachandan , Chandrashekhar Sudha , Makkar Brij Mohan , Agarwal Sanjay , Palanivelu Mahesh Shanmugam , Srinivasa Muralidhar Naveenam , Ramasamy Kim 
Published: January 2024

AbstractDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness among working-age adults worldwide. India is the diabetes capital of the world and one in five adults is said to have diabetes in India. With the increase in diabetes, there is an increasing burden of diabetic retinopathy (DR). All patients with diabetes have a risk of losing vision due to DR. The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy is 12.5%; out of which, 4% are said to have vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR) The early stages of DR are symptomless, necessitating a proactive screening for an early detection of DR in all people with diabetes before they develop VTDR. This is a position statement jointly developed by RSSDI (Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India) and VRSI (Vitreo Retinal Society of India) to provide guidelines for Physicians on DR screening in India. These guidelines emphasize the need for regular DR screening of all people with diabetes. It is recommended that the Physicians establish an effective DR screening model in their clinics, eg., a non-mydriatic fundus camera utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for fundus photography to identify referral or non-referral DR. This will facilitate early detection and timely referral to an ophthalmologist thereby preventing VTDR. The need to create public awareness regarding blindness due to DR and a collaboration between Physicians and ophthalmologists for the management of diabetes, opportunistic screening of DR, and timely management of DR may play a crucial role in decreasing the burden of blindness secondary to diabetes.
Static Load Testing of Instrumented Screw Piles in Soft Soil Deposits
Authors: Verumandy Kanagesperan , Arulrajah Arul , Mirzababaei Mehdi , Rajeev Pathmanathan 
Published: January 2024

AbstractWith the rapid development across major cities, low-capacity screw piles are adopted by builders as a viable economical option in managing risk involving settlement in soft soil deposits. Although the required installation torque and the capacity of a screw pile can be correlated to the soil shearing resistance at the interface of its shaft and helical plates, the correlated ultimate capacity of the pile is specific only to undrained conditions. Therefore, if the water table fluctuates within the embedment length of the pile, the correlated ultimate strength is not valid. This poses a serious design concern in over-consolidated fills. Therefore, due to the uncertainty associated with the compressive capacity of installed screw piles in soft saturated deposits, it is advantageous to perform a static load test to verify the serviceability and ultimate loads. In this study, four static load tests were carried out on screw piles at four different construction sites in the city of Melbourne, to study the load transfer mechanism at various levels of axial loading and subsequent unloading/reloading stages. In one of the sites, the screw pile was equipped with miniature transducers to monitor the generated total stress and pore-water pressure during the installation and post-installation. The results of this study indicated that a static load test can accurately estimate the real bearing capacity of a screw pile which differs significantly from the design geotechnical strength calculated using theoretical equations. It was concluded that in the absence of a pile load test, it is rational to adopt a geotechnical reduction factor of 0.4 and neglect the skin friction capacity of the screw pile to provide a safe foundation design.
Move schedules: fast persistence computations in coarse dynamic settings
Authors: Piekenbrock Matthew , Perea Jose A. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractMatrix reduction is the standard procedure for computing the persistent homology of a filtered simplicial complex withmsimplices. Its output is a particular decomposition of the total boundary matrix, from which the persistence diagrams and generating cycles are derived. Persistence diagrams are known to vary continuously with respect to their input, motivating the study of their computation for time-varying filtered complexes. Computing persistence dynamically can be reduced to maintaining a valid decomposition under adjacent transpositions in the filtration order. Since there are$$O(m^2)$$O(m2)such transpositions, this maintenance procedure exhibits limited scalability and is often too fine for many applications. We propose a coarser strategy for maintaining the decomposition over a 1-parameter family of filtrations. By reduction to a particular longest common subsequence problem, we show that the minimal number of decomposition updatesdcan be found in$$O(m \log \log m)$$O(mloglogm)time andO(m) space, and that the corresponding sequence of permutations—which we call aschedule—can be constructed in$$O(d m \log m)$$O(dmlogm)time. We also show that, in expectation, the storage needed to employ this strategy is actually sublinear inm. Exploiting this connection, we show experimentally that the decrease in operations to compute diagrams across a family of filtrations is proportional to the difference between the expected quadratic number of states and the proposed sublinear coarsening. Applications to video data, dynamic metric space data, and multiparameter persistence are also presented.
50-Channel Ionoacoustic Sensor for 60 MeV Proton Beam Characterization in Hadron Therapy Applications
Authors: Vallicelli Elia Arturo , Tambaro Mattia , Cosmi Mattia Oliver , Baschirotto Andrea , De Matteis Marcello 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThis paper presents the design of a piezoelectric multichannel sensor optimized for sensing weak ionoacoustic signals generated at the Bragg peak (BP) of pulsed proton beams, with interesting possible applications in real-time monitoring of oncological hadron therapy treatments. To overcome current single-channel detector limitations and acquire the weak acoustic signals of clinical scenarios (60–200 MeV proton energy and few mGy dose deposition), the hereby presented detector overcomes the state-of-the-art approach (based on time-domain correlation i.e., averaging different beam pulses) by using spatial correlation (i.e., averaging signals from different detector channels) to increase the SNR without increasing the delivered dose. The detector design is tailored around the experimental environment characteristics (signal amplitude, signal frequency, relative BP-detector position) of a clinical proton beam (60 MeV, 2 mGy/pulse dose deposition). The detector design was characterized by a complete cross-domain simulation of the physical (proton beam), acoustic (wave propagation) and electrical (sensor and electronics frequency response and noise) environments. It achieves a clear 10 dB single-pulse SNR (2 mGy total dose) and allows to locate the BP with 125 μm precision (< 3% w.r.t. the particle range). Finally, the detector was experimentally validated by a piezoelectric acoustic testbench and has shown the capability to localize an acoustic source in 2D with sub-millimeter accuracy by using a multilateration-based BP detection algorithm.
Performance and Efficiency Exploration of Hardware Polynomial Multipliers for Post-Quantum Lattice-Based Cryptosystems
Authors: Antognazza Francesco , Barenghi Alessandro , Pelosi Gerardo , Susella Ruggero 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe significant effort in the research and design of large-scale quantum computers has spurred a transition to post-quantum cryptographic primitives worldwide. The post-quantum cryptographic primitive standardization effort led by the US NIST has recently selected the asymmetric encryption primitive Kyber as its candidate for standardization and indicated NTRU, as a valid alternative if intellectual property issues are not solved. Finally, a more conservative alternative to NTRU, NTRUPrime was also considered as an alternate candidate, due to its design choices that remove the possibility for a large set of attacks preemptively. All the aforementioned asymmetric primitives provide good performances, and are prime choices to provide IoT devices with post-quantum confidentiality services. In this work, we present a comprehensive exploration of hardware designs for the computation of polynomial multiplications, the workhorse operation in all the aforementioned cryptosystems, with a thorough analysis of performance, compactness and efficiency. The presented designs cope with the differences in the arithmetics of polynomial rings employed by distinct cryptosystems, benefiting from configurations and optimizations that are applicable at synthesis time and/or run time. In this context, we target a use case scenario where long-term key pairs are used, such as the ones for VPNs (e.g., over IPSec), secure shell protocols and instant messaging applications. Our high-performance design variants exhibit figures of latency comparable to the ones needed for the execution of the symmetric cryptographic primitives also included in the Post-Quantum schemes. Notably, the performance figures of the designs proposed for NTRU and NTRU Prime surpass the ones described in the related literature.
Artificial intelligence in Finance: a comprehensive review through bibliometric and content analysis
Authors: Bahoo Salman , Cucculelli Marco , Goga Xhoana , Mondolo Jasmine 
Published: January 2024

AbstractOver the past two decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced rapid development and is being used in a wide range of sectors and activities, including finance. In the meantime, a growing and heterogeneous strand of literature has explored the use of AI in finance. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing research on this topic and to identify which research directions need further investigation. Accordingly, using the tools of bibliometric analysis and content analysis, we examined a large number of articles published between 1992 and March 2021. We find that the literature on this topic has expanded considerably since the beginning of the XXI century, covering a variety of countries and different AI applications in finance, amongst which Predictive/forecasting systems, Classification/detection/early warning systems and Big data Analytics/Data mining /Text mining stand out. Furthermore, we show that the selected articles fall into ten main research streams, in which AI is applied to the stock market, trading models, volatility forecasting, portfolio management, performance, risk and default evaluation, cryptocurrencies, derivatives, credit risk in banks, investor sentiment analysis and foreign exchange management, respectively. Future research should seek to address the partially unanswered research questions and improve our understanding of the impact of recent disruptive technological developments on finance.
A Synthesis of Global Coastal Ocean Greenhouse Gas Fluxes
Authors: Resplandy L. , Hogikyan A. , Müller J. D. , Najjar R. G. , Bange H. W. , Bianchi D. , Weber T. , Cai W.‐J. , Doney S. C. , Fennel K. , Gehlen M. , Hauck J. , Lacroix F. , Landschützer P. , Le Quéré C. , Roobaert A. , Schwinger J. , Berthet S. , Bopp L. , Chau T. T. T. , Dai M. , Gruber N. , Ilyina T. , Kock A. , Manizza M. , Lachkar Z. , Laruelle G. G. , Liao E. , Lima I. D. , Nissen C. , Rödenbeck C. , Séférian R. , Toyama K. , Tsujino H. , Regnier P. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe coastal ocean contributes to regulating atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by taking up carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). In this second phase of the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP2), we quantify global coastal ocean fluxes of CO2, N2O and CH4 using an ensemble of global gap‐filled observation‐based products and ocean biogeochemical models. The global coastal ocean is a net sink of CO2 in both observational products and models, but the magnitude of the median net global coastal uptake is ∼60% larger in models (−0.72 vs. −0.44 PgC year−1, 1998–2018, coastal ocean extending to 300 km offshore or 1,000 m isobath with area of 77 million km2). We attribute most of this model‐product difference to the seasonality in sea surface CO2 partial pressure at mid‐ and high‐latitudes, where models simulate stronger winter CO2 uptake. The coastal ocean CO2 sink has increased in the past decades but the available time‐resolving observation‐based products and models show large discrepancies in the magnitude of this increase. The global coastal ocean is a major source of N2O (+0.70 PgCO2‐e year−1 in observational product and +0.54 PgCO2‐e year−1 in model median) and CH4 (+0.21 PgCO2‐e year−1 in observational product), which offsets a substantial proportion of the coastal CO2 uptake in the net radiative balance (30%–60% in CO2‐equivalents), highlighting the importance of considering the three greenhouse gases when examining the influence of the coastal ocean on climate.
Crustal Heterogeneity of Antarctica Signals Spatially Variable Radiogenic Heat Production
Authors: Li L. , Aitken A. R. A. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractGeothermal heat flow (GHF) is a key basal boundary condition for Antarctic ice‐sheet flow. Large‐scale variations are resolved by several recent models but knowledge of the smaller‐scale variations, crucial for ice sheet dynamics, is limited by unresolved variations in crustal radiogenic heat production. To define this at continent‐scale we use 3D gravity inversion constrained by seismic Moho estimates to identify variations in crustal composition and geometry beneath thick ice. Geochemically‐defined empirical relationships between density and heat production capture the global average trend and its variability, and allow to estimate from upper‐crust density spatial variations in radiogenic heat production. Significant variations are observed typically 1.2–1.6 μW/m3, and as high as 2 μW/m3 in West Antarctica. The contribution to GHF from these heat‐production variations is similarly variable, typically 16–24 mW/m2 and up to 60 mW/m2. The mapped variations are significant for correctly representing GHF in Antarctica.
Observed Extreme Freshening in the Central Andaman Sea Induced by Strong Positive Indian Ocean Dipole
Authors: Liu Yanliang , Sangmanee Chalermrat , Su Qinglei , Li Chao , Li Zhi , Fang Yue , Khokiattiwong Somkiat , Yu Weidong 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has been extensively studied for its significant impact on salinity distribution in tropical regions. However, its off‐equatorial influence in the northeastern Indian Ocean (IO) has received limited documentation thus far. In October 2019, a buoy in the central Andaman Sea (AS) observed an extreme freshening event that resulted in intensified upper‐ocean stratification and increased internal wave activities. The salt budget evaluation revealed the dominant role of horizontal advection. Interannual variability in autumn and winter sea surface salinity (SSS) showed a significant correlation with the IOD. Extreme freshening was observed exclusively during strong positive IOD (pIOD) years. This freshening primarily resulted from the outflow of low‐salinity water from the northeastern coast of the AS, driven by an anomalous anti‐cyclonic coastal‐trapped circulation exclusive to strong pIODs in the northeastern IO. This circulation tends to hinder southward freshwater transport in the western region while enhancing it in the eastern region. This circulation pattern is primarily influenced by Kelvin wave forcing, which is triggered by robust equatorial easterly anomalies that are typically more pronounced during strong pIOD events and weaker during weak pIOD events. The anticipated increase in the frequency of extreme freshening events due to the greenhouse warming has the potential to significantly modify the salinity distribution and freshwater transport in the future.
A Four‐Dimensional Variational Constrained Neural Network‐Based Data Assimilation Method
Authors: Wang Wuxin , Ren Kaijun , Duan Boheng , Zhu Junxing , Li Xiaoyong , Ni Weicheng , Lu Jingze , Yuan Taikang 
Published: January 2024

AbstractAdvances in data assimilation (DA) methods and the increasing amount of observations have continuously improved the accuracy of initial fields in numerical weather prediction during the last decades. Meanwhile, in order to effectively utilize the rapidly increasing data, Earth scientists must further improve DA methods. Recent studies have introduced machine learning (ML) methods to assist the DA process. In this paper, we explore the potential of a four‐dimensional variational (4DVar) constrained neural network (NN) method for accurate DA. Our NN is trained to approximate the solution of the variational problem, thereby avoiding the need for expensive online optimization when generating the initial fields. In the context that the full‐field system truths are unavailable, our approach embeds the system's kinetic features described by a series of analysis fields into the NN through a 4DVar‐form loss function. Numerical experiments on the Lorenz96 physical model demonstrate that our method can generate better initial fields than most traditional DA methods at a low computational cost, and is robust when assimilating observations with higher error outside of the distributions where it is trained. Furthermore, our NN‐based DA model is effective against Lorenz96 physical models with larger variable numbers. Our approach exemplifies how ML methods can be leveraged to improve both the efficiency and accuracy of DA techniques.