bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Braidwood Mgmt. v. Becerra & a Texas District Court’s Decision to Stop Enforcement of Preventive Care Coverage Requirements under the ACA
Authors: Geisler Sabrina 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThis article discusses how in March of 2023 a District Court in Texas enjoined the U.S. government from enforcing certain preventive care requirements under the ACA for private health insurers. The current order by the Court enjoined enforcement of the ACA preventive care requirements based on those recommendations made on or after the date of March 23, 2010, by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This article discusses the Court’s analysis and the remedy the Court decided on after finding violations under the RFRA and Appointments Clause. The article also discusses the implications and effects of this decision on whether previously covered services that the ACA didn’t allow cost sharing for will now have cost sharing by private health insurers and how that will affect consumers. The article concludes that despite lack of enforcement, private health insurers should not require cost sharing for previously covered services that the ACA didn’t allow cost sharing for before this most recent decision. Cost sharing for previously covered services would increase costs for those enrolled in private health insurance plans and could lead to a reduction in access to preventive services and healthcare.
CVS Health’s Acquisition of Oak Street Health Reconfirms Market Viability of Private Equity Investment in Value-Based Payment Models for Primary Care
Authors: Grant Andrew 
Published: June 2023

AbstractFor over a decade and for the foreseeable future, federal agencies have made efforts to promote value-based care through various incentive schemes, such as the recent “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care.” Federal incentive schemes and other “macro tailwinds” have brought in private equity investors, especially in the context of primary care for Medicare beneficiaries. Oak Street Health and its private equity backers were pioneers in this space, applying buy-and-build strategies to create “next-generation” primary care networks “that focus largely or entirely on Medicare Advantage enrollees.” Although Oak Street Health persuasively established a workable “playbook” for private equity investment in value-based care, and forecasts have been favorable, the ultimate market viability of this value-based playbook hinges on whether or not private equity investors can locate corporate buyers. The market viability of such a strategy has now been reconfirmed by the acquisition of Oak Street Health by CVS Health (“CVS”), announced February 8, 2023, and closed May 2, 2023, especially given that the incentives and the efficiencies associated with this deal are likely to be applicable to large-scale vertically integrated “payvider” corporations more generally. This Recent Transaction Comment examines CVS’s acquisition of Oak Street Health to consider what factors might lead vertically integrated health care corporations to acquire value-based primary care networks in the future, and what knock on effects such acquisitions might have on future private equity buyouts in health care.
One new species and three new records in the genus Porpidia from China
Authors: Zuo Qi-Jia , Wang Lei , Zhang Lu-Lu 
Published: June 2023

AbstractFour species of Porpidia are newly reported from China, including one species new to science (Porpidia crystallina) and three records (Porpidia umbonifera, P. seakensis and P. cf. contraponenda) new to China. Porpidia crystallina is characterized by a macrocarpa-type exciple containing crystals, a Cinereorufa-green epihymenium, large ascospores and a lack of secondary metabolites. Morpho-anatomical, chemical and phylogenetic analyses were carried out to elucidate the placement of the species and to support the delimitation of the new taxon. Detailed taxonomic descriptions, ecological and chemical characters, and illustrations are provided for each species. A key to all known Chinese Porpidia species is also provided.
Algorithms for Detecting Sub‐Pixel Elevated Temperature Features for the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Designated Observable
Authors: Shreevastava Anamika , Hulley Glynn , Thompson James 
Published: June 2023

AbstractOne of the top priorities of the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Earth Observing System is the detection and retrieval of elevated temperature features (ETF) usually found in the vicinity of active fires and volcanic activity. We test the ability of currently proposed midwave (MIR: 3–5 μm) and thermal infrared (TIR: 8–12 μm) bands to detect ETF within the 400–1200 K range. Specifically, our investigation aims to compare and contrast the use of the 4 and 4.8 μm MIR bands. We use land surface temperature data obtained by the airborne Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) instrument over active fire and lava flows to model at‐sensor SBG radiances in the 3–12 μm range. This is achieved using the Temperature Emissivity Uncertainty Simulator (TEUSim) with the designated/proposed SBG MIR and TIR band characteristics. For ETF detection, we applied the Normalized Thermal Index (NTI) and Enhanced Thermal Index (ETI) to determine a suitable threshold for a wide range of ETF sizes and temperatures. We find that combining an NTI threshold of −0.7 followed by an ETI threshold of 0.02 accurately identifies ETFs at a 97% rate. Sensor noise up to 0.5 K has negligible effects on ETF detection in the 400–1200 K range. The currently proposed SBG MIR and TIR bands are sufficient to detect unsaturated ETFs caused by wildfire and volcanic activities at a ∼3 day revisit and subpixel ETF area of ∼9 m2 (at 500 K) that is unattainable by current satellite TIR instruments.
Probing Gravity Waves in the Middle Atmosphere Using Infrasound From Explosions
Authors: Vorobeva Ekaterina , Assink Jelle , Espy Patrick Joseph , Renkwitz Toralf , Chunchuzov Igor , Näsholm Sven Peter 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThis study uses low‐frequency, inaudible acoustic waves (infrasound) to probe wind and temperature fluctuations associated with breaking gravity waves (GWs) in the middle atmosphere. Building on an approach introduced by Chunchuzov et al., infrasound recordings are used to retrieve effective sound‐speed fluctuations in an inhomogeneous atmospheric layer that causes infrasound backscattering. The infrasound was generated by controlled blasts at Hukkakero, Finland, and recorded at the IS37 infrasound station, Norway in the late summers 2014–2017. Our findings indicate that the analyzed infrasound scattering occurs at mesospheric altitudes of 50–75 km, a region where GWs interact under non‐linearity, forming thin layers of strong wind shear. The retrieved fluctuations were analyzed in terms of vertical wave number spectra, resulting in an approximate power law that corresponds to the “universal” saturated spectrum of atmospheric GWs. The power law wavenumber range corresponds to vertical atmospheric scales of 33–625 m. The fluctuation spectra were compared to theoretical GW saturation theories as well as to independent wind measurements by the Saura medium‐frequency radar near Andøya Space Center around 100 km west of IS37, yielding a good agreement in terms of vertical wavenumber spectrum amplitudes and slopes. This suggests that the radar and infrasound‐based effective sound‐speed profiles represent low‐ and high‐wavenumber regimes of the same “universal” GW spectrum. The results illustrate that infrasound allows for probing fine‐scale dynamics not well captured by other techniques, suggesting that infrasound can provide a complementary technique to probe atmospheric GWs.
Linewidth narrowing in self-injection-locked on-chip lasers
Authors: Alkhazraji Emad , Chow Weng W. , Grillot Frédéric , Bowers John E. , Wan Yating 
Published: June 2023

AbstractStable laser emission with narrow linewidth is of critical importance in many applications, including coherent communications, LIDAR, and remote sensing. In this work, the physics underlying spectral narrowing of self-injection-locked on-chip lasers to Hz-level lasing linewidth is investigated using a composite-cavity structure. Heterogeneously integrated III–V/SiN lasers operating with quantum-dot and quantum-well active regions are analyzed with a focus on the effects of carrier quantum confinement. The intrinsic differences are associated with gain saturation and carrier-induced refractive index, which are directly connected with 0- and 2-dimensional carrier densities of states. Results from parametric studies are presented for tradeoffs involved with tailoring the linewidth, output power, and injection current for different device configurations. Though both quantum-well and quantum-dot devices show similar linewidth-narrowing capabilities, the former emits at a higher optical power in the self-injection-locked state, while the latter is more energy-efficient. Lastly, a multi-objective optimization analysis is provided to optimize the operation and design parameters. For the quantum-well laser, minimizing the number of quantum-well layers is found to decrease the threshold current without significantly reducing the output power. For the quantum-dot laser, increasing the quantum-dot layers or density in each layer increases the output power without significantly increasing the threshold current. These findings serve to guide more detailed parametric studies to produce timely results for engineering design.
Functional convergence in slow-growing microbial communities arises from thermodynamic constraints
Authors: George Ashish B , Wang Tong , Maslov Sergei 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
The dynamics of microbial communities is complex, determined by competition for metabolic substrates and cross-feeding of byproducts. Species in the community grow by harvesting energy from chemical reactions that transform substrates to products. In many anoxic environments, these reactions are close to thermodynamic equilibrium and growth is slow. To understand the community structure in these energy-limited environments, we developed a microbial community consumer-resource model incorporating energetic and thermodynamic constraints on an interconnected metabolic network. The central element of the model is product inhibition, meaning that microbial growth may be limited not only by depletion of metabolic substrates but also by accumulation of products. We demonstrate that these additional constraints on microbial growth cause a convergence in the structure and function of the community metabolic network—independent of species composition and biochemical details—providing a possible explanation for convergence of community function despite taxonomic variation observed in many natural and industrial environments. Furthermore, we discovered that the structure of community metabolic network is governed by the thermodynamic principle of maximum free energy dissipation. Our results predict the decrease of functional convergence in faster growing communities, which we validate by analyzing experimental data from anaerobic digesters. Overall, the work demonstrates how universal thermodynamic principles may constrain community metabolism and explain observed functional convergence in microbial communities.
Next generation of astronauts or ESA astronaut 2.0 concept and spotlight on immunity
Authors: Jacob Pauline , Oertlin Christian , Baselet Bjorn , Westerberg Lisa S. , Frippiat Jean-Pol , Baatout Sarah 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAlthough we have sent humans into space for more than 50 years, crucial questions regarding immune response in space conditions remain unanswered. There are many complex interactions between the immune system and other physiological systems in the human body. This makes it difficult to study the combined long-term effects of space stressors such as radiation and microgravity. In particular, exposure to microgravity and cosmic radiation may produce changes in the performance of the immune system at the cellular and molecular levels and in the major physiological systems of the body. Consequently, abnormal immune responses induced in the space environment may have serious health consequences, especially in future long-term space missions. In particular, radiation-induced immune effects pose significant health challenges for long-duration space exploration missions with potential risks to reduce the organism’s ability to respond to injuries, infections, and vaccines, and predispose astronauts to the onset of chronic diseases (e.g., immunosuppression, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, gut dysbiosis). Other deleterious effects encountered by radiation may include cancer and premature aging, induced by dysregulated redox and metabolic processes, microbiota, immune cell function, endotoxin, and pro-inflammatory signal production1,2. In this review, we summarize and highlight the current understanding of the effects of microgravity and radiation on the immune system and discuss knowledge gaps that future studies should address.
Neutral buoyancy and the static perception of upright
Authors: Jenkin Heather , Jenkin Michael , Harris Laurence R. , Herpers Rainer 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe perceptual upright results from the multisensory integration of the directions indicated by vision and gravity as well as a prior assumption that upright is towards the head. The direction of gravity is signalled by multiple cues, the predominant of which are the otoliths of the vestibular system and somatosensory information from contact with the support surface. Here, we used neutral buoyancy to remove somatosensory information while retaining vestibular cues, thus “splitting the gravity vector” leaving only the vestibular component. In this way, neutral buoyancy can be used as a microgravity analogue. We assessed spatial orientation using the oriented character recognition test (OChaRT, which yields the perceptual upright, PU) under both neutrally buoyant and terrestrial conditions. The effect of visual cues to upright (the visual effect) was reduced under neutral buoyancy compared to on land but the influence of gravity was unaffected. We found no significant change in the relative weighting of vision, gravity, or body cues, in contrast to results found both in long-duration microgravity and during head-down bed rest. These results indicate a relatively minor role for somatosensation in determining the perceptual upright in the presence of vestibular cues. Short-duration neutral buoyancy is a weak analogue for microgravity exposure in terms of its perceptual consequences compared to long-duration head-down bed rest.
Identification of ecdysone receptor target genes in the worker honey bee brains during foraging behavior
Authors: Iino Shiori , Oya Satoyo , Kakutani Tetsuji , Kohno Hiroki , Kubo Takeo 
Published: June 2023

AbstractEcdysone signaling plays central roles in morphogenesis and female ovarian development in holometabolous insects. In the European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), however, ecdysone receptor (EcR) is expressed in the brains of adult workers, which have already undergone metamorphosis and are sterile with shrunken ovaries, during foraging behavior. Aiming at unveiling the significance of EcR signaling in the worker brain, we performed chromatin-immunoprecipitation sequencing of EcR to search for its target genes using the brains of nurse bees and foragers. The majority of the EcR targets were common between the nurse bee and forager brains and some of them were known ecdysone signaling-related genes. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that some EcR target genes were upregulated in forager brains during foraging behavior and some were implicated in the repression of metabolic processes. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that EcR and its target genes were expressed mostly in neurons and partly in glial cells in the optic lobes of the forager brain. These findings suggest that in addition to its role during development, EcR transcriptionally represses metabolic processes during foraging behavior in the adult worker honey bee brain.
Interaction of various-sized particles in river flow
Authors: Fan Niannian , Zhong Qiang , Nie Ruihua , Liu Xingnian 
Published: June 2023

AbstractSediment transport is essential to the source-sink systems; however, the interaction between two complex multiscale nonlinear systems, turbulence of the river flow and wide size sediment, has heretofore restricted our understanding of sediment motion. We have conducted flume experiments deploying a video-based technique that records sediment transport rate of each particle size at 1 s resolution. The observations reveal detailed interactions between flow and particles of sizes ranging from 0.5 to 32 mm, such that small suspended particles (< ~ 5 mm) keep swirling in the wake vortices of the keystones (larger than 20 mm) until large to very-large-scale coherent structures destroy the wake vortices and bring the small particles downstream. Keystones destabilize consequently as the surrounding small and intermediate particles move, and in turn, a group of sheltered particles is entrained following the dislodging of the keystones. This heuristic model highlights the interactions of turbulence and different-sized particles.
The effect of combined drought and trace metal elements stress on the physiological response of three Miscanthus hybrids
Authors: Krzyżak Jacek , Rusinowski Szymon , Sitko Krzysztof , Szada-Borzyszkowska Alicja , Stec Radosław , Janota Paulina , Jensen Elaine , Kiesel Andreas , Pogrzeba Marta 
Published: June 2023

AbstractDrought is a serious threat worldwide and has a significant impact on agricultural production and soil health. It can pose an even greater threat when it involves land contaminated with trace metal element (TMEs). To prevent desertification, such land should be properly managed and growing Miscanthus for energy or raw material purposes could be a solution. The effects of drought and TMEs were studied in a pot experiment on three different Miscanthus hybrids (conventional Miscanthus × giganteus, TV1 and GNT10) considering growth parameters, photosynthetic parameters and elemental composition of roots, rhizomes and shoots. GNT10 was characterised by the weakest gas exchange among the hybrids, which was compensated by the highest number of leaves and biomass. The strongest correlations between the studied parameters were found for TV1, which might indicate a high sensitivity to TME stress. For M × g and GNT10, the main mechanisms for coping with stress seem to be biomass management through number of shoots and leaves and gas exchange. The main factor determining the extent of accumulation of TMEs was the amount of water applied in the experimental treatment, which was related to the location of the plant in the aniso-isohydric continuum. GNT10 was the most resistant plant to combined stress, while it responded similarly to TV1 when drought and trace metal elements were applied separately.
First-principles demonstration of band filling-induced significant improvement in thermodynamic stability and mechanical properties of Sc$$_{1-x}$$Ta$$_{x}$$B$$_{2}$$ solid solutions
Authors: Mopoung Kunpot , Ektarawong Annop , Bovornratanaraks Thiti , Alling Björn 
Published: June 2023

AbstractMixtures of different metal diborides in the form of solid solutions are promising materials for hard-coating applications. Herein, we study the mixing thermodynamics and the mechanical properties of AlB$$_{2}$$

2

-structured Sc$$_{1-x}$$

1
-
x

Ta$$_{x}$$

x

B$$_{2}$$

2

solid solutions using the first-principles method, based on the density functional theory, and the cluster-expansion formalism. Our thermodynamic investigation reveals that the two diborides readily mix with one another to form a continuous series of stable solid solutions in the pseudo-binary TaB$$_{2}$$

2

$$-$$
-
ScB$$_{2}$$

2

system even at absolute zero. Interestingly, the elastic moduli as well as the hardness of the solid solutions show significant positive deviations from the linear Vegard’s rule evaluated between those of ScB$$_{2}$$

2

and TaB$$_{2}$$

2

. In case of Sc$$_{1-x}$$

1
-
x

Ta$$_{x}$$

x

B$$_{2}$$

2

, the degrees of deviation from such linear trends can be as large as 25, 20, and 40% for the shear modulus, the Young’s modulus, and the hardness, respectively. The improvement in the stability as well as the mechanical properties of Sc$$_{1-x}$$

1
-
x

Ta$$_{x}$$

x

B$$_{2}$$

2

solid solutions relative to their constituent compounds is found to be related to the effect of electronic band filling, induced upon mixing TaB$$_{2}$$

2

with ScB$$_{2}$$

2

. These findings not only demonstrate the prominent role of band filling in enhancing the stability and the mechanical properties of Sc$$_{1-x}$$

1
-
x

Ta$$_{x}$$

x

B$$_{2}$$

2

, but also it can potentially open up a possibility for designing stable/metastable metal diboride-based solid solutions with superior and widely tunable mechanical properties for hard-coating applications.
Metals (Ga, In) decorated fullerenes as nanosensors for the adsorption of 2,2-dichlorovinyldimethylphosphate agrochemical based pollutant
Authors: Akpe Michael A. , Okon Gideon A. , Louis Hitler , Benjamin Innocent , Akem Martilda U. , Brown Onyebuenyi I. , Adalikwu Stephen A. , Adeyinka Adedapo S. 
Published: June 2023

AbstractOwing to the fact that the use of 2,2-dichlorovinyldimethylphosphate (DDVP) as an agrochemical has become a matter of concern due to its persistence and potential harm to the environment and human health. Detecting and addressing DDVP contamination is crucial to protect human health and mitigate ecological impacts. Hence, this study focuses on harnessing the properties of fullerene (C60) carbon materials, known for their biological activities and high importance, to develop an efficient sensor for DDVP. Additionally, the sensor's performance is enhanced by doping it with gallium (Ga) and indium (In) metals to investigate the sensing and trapping capabilities of DDVP molecules. The detection of DDVP is carefully examined using first-principles density functional theory (DFT) at the Def2svp/B3LYP-GD3(BJ) level of theory, specifically analyzing the adsorption of DDVP at the chlorine (Cl) and oxygen (O) sites. The adsorption energies at the Cl site were determined as − 57.894 kJ/mol, − 78.107 kJ/mol, and − 99.901 kJ/mol for Cl_DDVP@C60, Cl_DDVP@Ga@C60, and Cl_DDVP@In@C60 interactions, respectively. At the O site, the adsorption energies were found to be − 54.400 kJ/mol, − 114.060 kJ/mol, and − 114.056 kJ/mol for O_DDVP@C60, O_DDVP@Ga@C60, and O_DDVP@In@C60, respectively. The adsorption energy analysis highlights the chemisorption strength between the surfaces and the DDVP molecule at the Cl and O sites of adsorption, indicating that the O adsorption site exhibits higher adsorption energy, which is more favorable according to the thermodynamics analysis. Thermodynamic parameters (∆H and ∆G) obtained from this adsorption site suggest considerable stability and indicate a spontaneous reaction in the order O_DDVP@Ga@C60 > O_DDVP@In@C60 > O_DDVP@C60. These findings demonstrate that the metal-decorated surfaces adsorbed on the oxygen (O) site of the biomolecule offer high sensitivity for detecting the organophosphate molecule DDVP.