bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development and characterization of pectin and chitosan films incorporated with a new cross‐linking agent
Authors: Liu Bing , Ye Hong‐bin , Liang Qiu‐yan , Jiang Liang‐liang , Chen Miao‐miao , Yang Shan‐bin 
Published: December 2022

AbstractBACKGROUNDIn this study, a new crosslinking agent (CA) containing whey protein, papin, glycerin, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), was prepared. The effects of CA content (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40%, v/v) on food packaging properties, crystallinity, microstructure, and antioxidant properties of pectin‐CA and chitosan‐CA composite films were analyzed. The results of this research offer a theoretical basis for engineering improved films for food packing.RESULTSPectin‐CA (30%) and chitosan‐CA (40%) composite films showed the best light transmission, water retention, breathability, plasticity, and antioxidant activity. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that these composite films exhibited a uniform and homogeneous structure without obvious pores. Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that the amino acids and EGCG in CA were bonded to the film substrate (pectin/chitosan) via electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and covalent bonding, which led to an improvement in the film's properties.CONCLUSIONThe CA has broad application prospects in food packaging as a cross‐linking agent and antioxidant. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Derivation of the Transient and Steady Optical States from the Poles of the S‐Matrix
Authors: Ben Soltane Isam , Colom Rémi , Stout Brian , Bonod Nicolas 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe electromagnetic response of optical systems can be described by scattering operators, S, that link the incoming fields onto the system to the outgoing fields emerging from it. Considerable efforts have been devoted to retrieve the spectral response of the optical systems by expanding the S‐matrix in terms of its singularities. Here a planar optical cavity that allows to derive analytical expressions of poles (in the case of lossless materials) and residues, and reflection/transmission Fresnel coefficients in the harmonic domain is considered. This singularity expansion is used to derive the impulse response function (IRF) of the cavity with respect to the poles of the S‐matrix. The singular expression of the IRF consists of contributions oscillating at the excitation frequency and exponentially decaying contributions that impact signals only during the transient regimes. The convergence of this approach is thoroughly discussed in the case of a dispersive and metallic slab. The convergence is achieved by increasing the number of poles in the singularity expansion. It can also be achieved by considering only the poles within the spectral range of interest plus a fictive resonant term encapsulating the contribution of the singularities outside this spectral range.
RGB‐Color Image Analysis for Determination of Birefringence of Micro‐Films and Columnar Coatings
Authors: Ryu Meguya , Han Molong , Grineviciute Lina , Hu Jingwen , Moein Tania , Honda Reo , Katkus Tomas , Tobin Mark J. , Vongsvivut Jitraporn , Tolenis Tomas , Nishijima Yoshiaki , Ng Soon Hock , Juodkazis Saulius , Morikawa Junko 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe birefringence analysis of thin m SiO2 films deposited via evaporation at a glancing angle of to the normal on resist pillar arrays on Si and nanopatterned SiO2 substrates is carried out by spectral and color (red–green–blue [RGB]) imaging modes. Retardance and birefringence of the films deposited over flat and structured regions can be distinguished with only ≈1% difference between neighboring regions for the visible spectral range using RGB numerical analysis of images. The Michel‐Lévy color map is used for color rendering of birefringence to make quantitative measurements by numerical RGB color filtering. It is shown that by using at 530 nm waveplate inserted at angle to the cross polarizer‐analyzer setup, the range of changes in chromaticity xy‐coordinates expands approximately twice upon angular rotation of a birefringent sample. This facilitates a better signal‐to‐noise determination of birefringence. The proposed method with ‐plate color shifting can be directly used to determine birefringence from step‐like spectral features in reflection and transmission polariscopy. Direct measurement of birefringence () and retardance of SiO2 chevron film is carried out using Berek compensator as a benchmark.
Directional Lasing in Coupled InP Microring/Nanowire Systems
Authors: Wong Wei Wen , Wang Naiyin , Jagadish Chennupati , Tan Hark Hoe 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe realization of on‐chip microlasers with out‐of‐plane, controllable emission direction has been one of the core research themes in modern photonics. Traditional approaches for directional light scattering, including plasmonic nanoantennas and passive dielectric metasurfaces, are not suitable for on‐chip integration due to potential metallic contamination and reliance on external light sources. Meanwhile, achieving directional emission in active III–V microcavity lasers remains challenging due to geometrical symmetry and large free‐space coupling losses. Here, a novel approach is presented to realize directional lasing in an all‐dielectric, bottom‐up grown material system by coupling the laser emission from an InP microring cavity into a vertical nanowire at the ring center, which function as the photon source and directional antenna in the system, respectively. Efficient optical coupling is facilitated by enhanced light scattering at specific sidewall facets of the microring cavity, which can be engineered deterministically during epitaxial growth. Through Fourier imaging, out‐of‐plane laser emission with antenna‐like far‐field directivity in the coupled system is demonstrated. Furthermore, the emission directivity and side mode suppression in the coupled system can be improved significantly by tuning the geometric parameters of the system. The way for low power consumption, on‐chip microlasers with tunable emission directionality is paved here.
Quantification of MR spectra by deep learning in an idealized setting: Investigation of forms of input, network architectures, optimization by ensembles of networks, and training bias
Authors: Rizzo Rudy , Dziadosz Martyna , Kyathanahally Sreenath P. , Shamaei Amirmohammad , Kreis Roland 
Published: December 2022

PurposeThe aims of this work are (1) to explore deep learning (DL) architectures, spectroscopic input types, and learning designs toward optimal quantification in MR spectroscopy of simulated pathological spectra; and (2) to demonstrate accuracy and precision of DL predictions in view of inherent bias toward the training distribution.MethodsSimulated 1D spectra and 2D spectrograms that mimic an extensive range of pathological in vivo conditions are used to train and test 24 different DL architectures. Active learning through altered training and testing data distributions is probed to optimize quantification performance. Ensembles of networks are explored to improve DL robustness and reduce the variance of estimates. A set of scores compares performances of DL predictions and traditional model fitting (MF).ResultsEnsembles of heterogeneous networks that combine 1D frequency‐domain and 2D time‐frequency domain spectrograms as input perform best. Dataset augmentation with active learning can improve performance, but gains are limited. MF is more accurate, although DL appears to be more precise at low SNR. However, this overall improved precision originates from a strong bias for cases with high uncertainty toward the dataset the network has been trained with, tending toward its average value.ConclusionMF mostly performs better compared to the faster DL approach. Potential intrinsic biases on training sets are dangerous in a clinical context that requires the algorithm to be unbiased to outliers (i.e., pathological data). Active learning and ensemble of networks are good strategies to improve prediction performances. However, data quality (sufficient SNR) has proven as a bottleneck for adequate unbiased performance—like in the case of MF.
Incidence and causes of overdiagnosis of myasthenia gravis
Authors: Andrapalliyal Nirmal , Claytor Benjamin , Li Yuebing 
Published: December 2022

AbstractIntroduction/AimsWe have encountered non‐myasthenic patients being given a diagnosis of myasthenia gravis (MG). This study aims to investigate the frequency of, and factors contributing to, overdiagnosis of MG.MethodsThis is a retrospective analysis of patients referred to our tertiary neuromuscular center for evaluation due to a previously suspected/confirmed MG diagnosis during a 6‐year span.ResultsA total of 531 patients sought a second opinion regarding their MG diagnosis, and 77 (14.5%) were found to have non‐myasthenic conditions. A total of 11 patients tested positive for acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies. Repeated AChR antibodies became negative in five patients while in four patients, AChR binding antibody titers were persistently low. In seven patients, striational antibody was the only positive antibody identified. In 25 patients, a prior electrodiagnostic (EDX) study was deemed positive, including 14 patients with abnormal repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) and 12 with abnormal single fiber electromyography (SFEMG). Technical issues were noted on prior RNS studies in 8 patients, and repeat RNS was negative in 10 patients. In eight patients with previously abnormal SFEMG, results showed minimal or equivocal abnormalities. In two patients, a repeat SFEMG was normal. Further analysis revealed atypical clinical presentation, deceptively positive ice pack test, clinically insignificant antibody result and misleading EDX finding as main contributors to MG overdiagnosis.DiscussionOverdiagnosis of MG is not uncommon, and occurs more frequently in seronegative patients. To make an accurate diagnosis of MG, there is a need to recognize atypical presentations, and avoid overreliance on minor or non‐specific serological and electrodiagnostic findings.
Multi‐view side information‐incorporated tensor completion
Authors: Tian Yingjie , Yu Xiaotong , Fu Saiji 
Published: December 2022

AbstractTensor completion originates in numerous applications where data utilized are of high dimensions and gathered from multiple sources or views. Existing methods merely incorporate the structure information, ignoring the fact that ubiquitous side information may be beneficial to estimate the missing entries from a partially observed tensor. Inspired by this, we formulate a sparse and low‐rank tensor completion model named SLRMV. The ‐norm instead of its relaxation is used in the objective function to constrain the sparseness of noise. The CP decomposition is used to decompose the high‐quality tensor, based on which the combination of Schatten ‐norm on each latent factor matrix is employed to characterize the low‐rank tensor structure with high computation efficiency. Diverse similarity matrices for the same factor matrix are regarded as multi‐view side information for guiding the tensor completion task. Although SLRMV is a nonconvex and discontinuous problem, the optimality analysis in terms of Karush‐Kuhn‐Tucker (KKT) conditions is accordingly proposed, based on which a hard‐thresholding based alternating direction method of multipliers (HT‐ADMM) is designed. Extensive experiments remarkably demonstrate the efficiency of SLRMV in tensor completion.
Areas of Outstanding Nineteenth Century Beauty: Historic landscape characterisation analysis of protected areas in England
Authors: Stratigos Michael J. , Ward Caroline , Hatfield Jack H. , Finch Jonathan 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Establishing and expanding protected areas (PAs) has become a key conservation tool in efforts to halt global declines in biodiversity. Given the ubiquity of past and present human influence, PAs inevitably include landscapes and seascapes with varying levels of human modification.

We briefly review the geographical biases in England's terrestrial PA network, noting that landscape‐scale PAs (National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) across England disproportionately occupy rugged upland terrain of low agricultural value as a result of the specific history of PA creation, but that this also biases which historic landscapes compose PAs.

We explore these biases using Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC). Analysis of HLC revealed that PAs in our focal region in northern England are defined by land‐use changes and landscape reorganisation processes of the 18th and 19th centuries, primarily that of enclosure. The impact this landscape transformation had on biodiversity should now form a priority for further research.

This historic landscape influence on PA designation has resulted in PAs being typically owned by large estates with consequences for their biodiversity, management and wider social impact (e.g. greater wealth inequalities).

The results highlight that historic landscape perspectives are useful to address conservation priorities and practices related to the protection of biodiversity and could be especially helpful in understanding the interaction between biodiversity protection and historic land‐uses, ownership, management, access and other social impacts.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Highly interconnected porous monolithic and beaded polymers using high internal phase emulsion polymerization: tuning porous architecture through synthesis variables
Authors: Ponrathnam Timothy , Behere Isha , Ponrathnam Surendra , Ingavle Ganesh 
Published: December 2022

AbstractOpen porous polymeric materials have gained popularity due to their exceptional properties and applications in tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery, enzyme immobilization and catalysis support. This study developed a novel two‐stage approach to create networked, crosslinked poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate‐co‐N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide) HEMA‐MBA beads. The first part involves producing an oil‐in‐water‐in‐oil high internal phase emulsion (HIPE). This is followed by suspension polymerization using a redox initiator pair. In this study, a mixed surfactant combination with low and high hydrophilicity–lipophilicity balance surfactants was identified and successfully utilized to prepare a stable oil‐in‐water‐in‐oil HIPE. The effect of crosslinker concentration (i.e. crosslink density), surfactant concentration and monomer‐to‐porogen ratio on pore architecture and surface area were successfully evaluated. In addition, a new protocol was developed to synthesize HEMA‐MBA monoliths using an oil‐in‐water HIPE method at ambient temperature using a redox initiator pair. The effect of crosslink density and oil phase on pore architecture and surface area was evaluated. Key variables affecting the morphology of porous HEMA‐MBA beads and monoliths were identified and quantified, allowing future development of porous HEMA‐based polymer beads and monoliths with tunable morphologies which are suitable for numerous applications, especially in the biomedical field. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry.
Modeling protein–nucleic acid complexes with extremely large conformational changes using Flex‐LZerD
Authors: Christoffer Charles , Kihara Daisuke 
Published: December 2022

AbstractProteins and nucleic acids are key components in many processes in living cells, and interactions between proteins and nucleic acids are often crucial pathway components. In many cases, large flexibility of proteins as they interact with nucleic acids is key to their function. To understand the mechanisms of these processes, it is necessary to consider the 3D atomic structures of such protein–nucleic acid complexes. When such structures are not yet experimentally determined, protein docking can be used to computationally generate useful structure models. However, such docking has long had the limitation that the consideration of flexibility is usually limited to small movements or to small structures. We previously developed a method of flexible protein docking which could model ordered proteins which undergo large‐scale conformational changes, which we also showed was compatible with nucleic acids. Here, we elaborate on the ability of that pipeline, Flex‐LZerD, to model specifically interactions between proteins and nucleic acids, and demonstrate that Flex‐LZerD can model more interactions and types of conformational change than previously shown.
Effect of evolution of the C‐terminal region on chaperone activity of Hsp70
Authors: Zhang Hong , Hu Huimin , Wu Si , Perrett Sarah 
Published: December 2022

AbstractDynamic interdomain interactions within the Hsp70 protein is the basis for the allosteric and functional properties of Hsp70s. While Hsp70s are generally conserved in terms of structure, allosteric behavior, and some overlapping functions, Hsp70s also contain variable sequence regions which are related to distinct functions. In the Hsp70 sequence, the part with the greatest sequence variation is the C‐terminal α‐helical lid subdomain of substrate‐binding domain (SBDα) together with the intrinsically disordered region. Dynamic interactions between the SBDα and β‐sandwich substrate‐binding subdomain (SBDβ) contribute to the chaperone functions of Hsp70s by tuning kinetics of substrate binding. To investigate how the C‐terminal region of Hsp70 has evolved from prokaryotic to eukaryotic organisms, we tested whether this region can be exchanged among different Hsp70 members to support basic chaperone functions. We found that this region from eukaryotic Hsp70 members cannot substitute for the same region in Escherichia coli DnaK to facilitate normal chaperone activity of DnaK. In contrast, this region from E. coli DnaK and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hsp70 (Ssa1 and Ssa4) can partially support some roles of human stress inducible Hsp70 (hHsp70) and human cognate Hsp70 (hHsc70). Our results indicate that the C‐terminal region from eukaryotic Hsp70 members cannot properly support SBDα–SBDβ interactions in DnaK, but this region from DnaK/Ssa1/Ssa4 can still form some SBDα–SBDβ interactions in hHsp70 or hHsc70, which suggests that the mode for SBDα–SBDβ interactions is different in prokaryotic and eukaryotic Hsp70 members. This study provides new insight in the divergency among different Hsp70 homologs and the evolution of Hsp70s.
Effects of insulin‐like peptide 7 in Bemisia tabaciMED on tomato chlorosis virus transmission
Authors: Xu HuiNan , Zhang ZhanHong , Zhang Zhuo , Peng Jing , Gao Yang , Li KaiLong , Chen Jianbin , Du Jiao , Yan Shuo , Zhang DeYong , Zhou XuGuo , Shi XiaoBin , Liu Yong 
Published: December 2022

AbstractBACKGROUNDTomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) is a semi‐persistent plant virus that is primarily transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). It causes a serious disease that lowers tomato yield. Insulin‐like peptide (ILP), an insulin homolog, regulates trehalose metabolism in a variety of insects. In a previous study, we discovered that trehalose metabolism is required for whiteflies to transmit ToCV effectively. Furthermore, transcriptome sequencing revealed that the BtILP7 gene was highly expressed in B. tabaci infected with ToCV. Therefore, the whitefly ILP7 gene may facilitate the transmission of ToCV and be an attractive target for the control of whiteflies and subsequently ToCV.RESULTSThe ToCV content in B. tabaci MED was found to be correlated with BtILP7 gene expression. Subsequent RNA interference (RNAi) of the BtILP7 gene had a significant impact on B. tabaci MED's trehalose metabolism and reproductive capacity, as well as ability to transmit ToCV.CONCLUSIONSThese results indicate that the BtILP7 gene was closely related to ToCV transmission by regulating trehalose metabolism and reproduction behavior, thus providing a secure and environmentally friendly management strategy for the control of whiteflies and ToCV‐caused disease. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Field evaluation of glutathione and glutamic acid as host marking pheromones for control of Tephritid fruit flies in a mango orchard in Kenya
Authors: Cheseto Xavier , Kirwa Hillary , Mohamed Samira Abuelgasim , Ekesi Sunday , Beck John J , Torto Baldwyn 
Published: December 2022

AbstractBACKGROUNDTephritid fruit flies are a major constraint to the global production of horticultural crops. In Africa, an array of native and alien invasive fruit fly species represents a key challenge to the horticultural industry. In an effort to develop a safer management tool for these pests, we previously identified glutathione (GSH) and glutamic acid (GA), as the host marking pheromones (HMPs) of Ceratitis cosyra and Ceratitis rosa, respectively. Here, we report on the effectiveness of these compounds (GSH and GA) in reducing natural fruit fly population infestations in mango orchards. Mango trees at two different agroecological zones in Kenya were sprayed with HMPs, and the fruits sampled periodically and assessed for fruit fly emergence. Fruit fly emergence data were compared to two controls, the positive control using spot spraying of food bait (SS), and the negative control using water (W).RESULTSThe two HMPs and SS substantially decreased fruit fly emergence from the sampled mangoes. GSH and GA treated mangoes showed reduced C. cosyra and C. rosa infestation by ~70–75% relative to control (W), and with variation noted in the pheromone applied and the recovered fruit fly species. The adult emergence in pheromone‐treated plants compared favorably with the positive control SS. However, the HMPs had little impact on reducing Bactrocera dorsalis infestation of mangoes.CONCLUSIONThe decrease in fruit fly emergence in sampled mango fruits from HMP treated trees corroborate previous laboratory results and support the prospect of using HMPs in the management of African fruit fly species. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Pressure‐based beat‐to‐beat right ventricular ejection fraction and Tau from continuous measured ventricular pressures in COVID‐19 ARDS patients
Authors: Gaertner Matthias , Glocker Raymond , Glocker Felix , Hopf Hans‐Bernd 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWe evaluated pressure‐based right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) and diastolic isovolumetric relaxation time constant (Tau) from continuously (up to 30 days) invasive measured right ventricular pressures in mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID‐19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We retrospectively calculated beat‐to‐beat ejection fraction from right ventricular pressures and dp/dt maximum and minimum in 39 patients treated between October 1st, 2020 and June 30th, 2021. After performing a stepwise logistic regression with survival as a dependent variable, we divided the patients into survivors and nonsurvivors based on their 60‐day mortality. Independent outcome variables were the values of RVEF and Tau over time after insertion of the right ventricular probe along with right ventricular systolic and diastolic pressures (RVSP) and the estimated pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (ePAD). RVEF increased significantly over time in the survivors (estimate: 0.354; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.18–0.53; p < 0.001) but remained unchanged in the nonsurvivors. Tau increased significantly in the nonsurvivors (estimate: 0.001; 95% CI: 0.0004–0.0018; p < 0.002) but not in the survivors. On the last measurement day, RVSP and ePAD were significantly lower while RVEF was significantly higher in the survivors compared to the nonsurvivors. In COVID‐19 ARDS patient's, calculation of beat‐to‐beat RVEF and Tau from continuously invasive measured right ventricular pressures seems to unravel contrary trends in RVEF with an increase in the surviving and a decrease in the nonsurviving patients. Tau remained unchanged in the surviving but increased in the nonsurviving patients over time.