bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A survey of second-life batteries based on techno-economic perspective and applications-based analysis
Authors: Iqbal Huma , Sarwar Sohail , Kirli Desen , Shek Jonathan K. H. , Kiprakis Aristides E. 
Published: April 2023

AbstractThe penetration of electrical vehicles (EVs) is exponentially rising to decarbonize the transport sector resulting in the research problem regarding the future of their retired batteries. Landfill disposal poses an environmental hazard, therefore, recycling or reusing them as second-life batteries (SLBs) are the inevitable options. Reusing the EV batteries with significant remaining useful life in stationary storage applications maximizes the economic benefits while extending the useful lifetime before recycling. Following a critical review of the research in SLBs, the key areas were identified as accurate State of Health (SOH) estimation, optimization of health indicators, battery life cycle assessment including repurposing, End-Of-Life (EOL) extension techniques and significance of first-life degradation data on ageing in second-life applications. The inconsistencies found in the reviewed literature showed that the absence of degradation data from first as well as second life, has a serious impact on accurate remaining useful life (RUL) prediction and SOH estimation. This review, for the first time, critically surveyed the recent studies in the field of identification, selection and control of application-based health indicators in relation to the accurate SOH estimation, offering future research directions in this emerging research area. In addition to the technical challenges, this paper also analyzed the economic perspective of SLBs, highlighting the impact of accuracy in second-life SOH estimation and RUL extension on their projected revenue in stationary storage applications. Lack of standard business model based on future market trends of energy and battery pricing and governing policies for SLBs are identified as urgent research gaps.
Temporal effects on death by suicide: empirical evidence and possible molecular correlates
Authors: Bhagar R. , Le-Niculescu H. , Roseberry K. , Kosary K. , Daly C. , Ballew A. , Yard M. , Sandusky G. E. , Niculescu A. B. 
Published: April 2023

AbstractPopular culture and medical lore have long postulated a connection between full moon and exacerbations of psychiatric disorders. We wanted to empirically analyze the hypothesis that suicides are increased during the period around full moons. We analyzed pre-COVID suicides from the Marion County Coroner’s Office (n = 776), and show that deaths by suicide are significantly increased during the week of the full moon (p = 0.037), with older individuals (age ≥ 55) showing a stronger effect (p = 0.019). We also examined in our dataset which hour of the day (3–4 pm, p = 0.035), and which month of the year (September, p = 0.09) show the most deaths by suicide. We had blood samples on a subset of the subjects (n = 45), which enabled us to look at possible molecular mechanisms. We tested a list of top blood biomarkers for suicidality (n = 154) from previous studies of ours 7, to assess which of them are predictive. The biomarkers for suicidality that are predictive of death by suicide during full moon, peak hour of day, and peak month of year, respectively, compared to outside of those periods, appear to be enriched in circadian clock genes. For full moon it is AHCYL2, ACSM3, AK2, and RBM3. For peak hour it is GSK3B, AK2, and PRKCB. For peak month it is TBL1XR1 and PRKCI. Half of these genes are modulated in expression by lithium and by valproate in opposite direction to suicidality, and all of them are modulated by depression and alcohol in the same direction as suicidality. These data suggest that there are temporal effects on suicidality, possibly mediated by biological clocks, pointing to changes in ambient light (timing and intensity) as a therapeutically addressable target to decrease suicidality, that can be coupled with psychiatric pharmacological and addiction treatment preventive interventions.
Effects of Long-Term Aerobic Exercise on Perivascular Adipose Tissue Function and Akt/eNOS/NO Pathway in Obese Rats
Authors: Wang Chaoge , Zhou Jie , Gao Dongdong , Wang Yarong , Guo Lianmeng , Liang Wenhao , Shi Niujin , Cheng Ran , Wang Han , Huang Junhao , Liao Jingwen , Hu Min 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Background
Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) in obesity critically contributes to vascular dysfunction, which might be restored by long-term exercise. Protein kinase B/nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide (Akt/eNOS/NO) down-regulation within PVAT might be involved in the impaired anti-contractile function of arteries. Therefore, the present study evaluated the effect of long-term aerobic exercise on PVAT function and the potential regulator during this process.

Methods
Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into normal diet control group (NC), normal diet exercise group (NE), high-fat diet control group (HC), and high-fat diet exercise group (HE) (n = 12 in each group). Upon the establishment of obesity (20 weeks of high-fat diet), exercise program was performed on a treadmill for 17 weeks. After the intervention, circulating biomarkers and PVAT morphology were evaluated. Vascular contraction and relaxation were determined with or without PVAT. Production of NO and the phosphorylations of Akt (Ser473) and eNOS (Ser1177) within PVAT were quantified.

Results
Metabolic abnormalities, systemic inflammation, and circulating adipokines in obesity were significantly restored by long-term aerobic exercise (P < 0.05). The anti-contractile effect of PVAT was significantly enhanced by exercise in obese rats (P < 0.05), which was accompanied by a significant reduction in the PVAT mass and lipid droplet area (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the production of NO was significantly increased, and phosphorylation levels of Akt (Ser473) and eNOS (Ser1177) were also significantly promoted in PVAT by long-term aerobic exercise (P < 0.05).

Conclusion
Long-term aerobic exercise training restored PVAT morphology and anti-contractile function in obese rats, and enhanced the activation of the Akt/eNOS/NO signaling pathway in PVAT.
Controlling Uncertainty in Coalition Governments
Authors: Sozzi Fabio 
Published: April 2023

AbstractMultiparty governments are based on delegation and compromises but, at the same time, coalition parties have at their disposal several legislative instruments to keep tabs on their partners. Whereas previous studies focused on policy divisiveness and issue salience as main factors able to explain parliamentary scrutiny, in this article we suggest uncertainty as a complementary factor. In particular, we theorize that the use of parliamentary questions (PQs) is a function not only of policy characteristics but also of actors involved in coalition governance. When ministers increase intra-coalition uncertainty, cabinet parties use PQs to extract information from ministers and to reduce uncertainty in policy implementation. Statistical analyses of all written and oral parliamentary questions in the Italian Chamber of Deputies between 2006 and 2018 support our main hypothesis that when intra-coalition uncertainty increases, coalition parties ask more questions of ‘hostile’ ministers.
Testing the National Identity Argument in a Time of Crisis – Evidence from Israel
Authors: Ariely Gal 
Published: April 2023

AbstractThis article explores the national identity argument in unsettled times by using the COVID-19 pandemic as a test case. It uses a longitudinal survey among Jewish Israelis to examine whether the pandemic influenced levels of national identity and solidarity and whether it altered their relationship. The findings indicate a clear reduction in levels of solidarity, national attachment, and national chauvinism over time. They also show that the positive connection between national attachment and solidarity grew stronger, while the connection between national chauvinism and solidarity became weaker and insignificant. These findings provide complex evidence for the national identity argument.
Modelling maize yield impacts of improved water and fertilizer management in southern Africa using cropping system model coupled to an agro-hydrological model at field and catchment scale
Authors: Lam Q. D. , Rötter R. P. , Rapholo E. , Ayisi K. , Nelson W. C. D. , Odhiambo J. , Foord S. 
Published: April 2023

AbstractThis study quantifies the effect of fertilizer and irrigation management on water use efficiency (WUE), crop growth and crop yield in sub-humid to semi-arid conditions of Limpopo Province, South Africa. An approach of coupling a cropping system model (DSSAT) with an agro-hydrological model (SWAT) was developed and applied to simulate crop yield at the field and catchment scale. Simulation results indicated that the application of fertilizer has a greater positive effect on maize yield than irrigation. WUE ranged from 0.10–0.57 kg/m3 (rainfed) to 0.84–1.39 kg/m3 (irrigated) and was positively correlated with fertilizer application rate. The combined application of the variants with deficit irrigation and fertilizer rate (120:60 kg N:P/ha) for maize turned out to be the best option, giving the highest WUE and increasing average yield by up to 5.7 t/ha compared to no fertilization and rainfed cultivation (1.3 t/ha). The simulated results at the catchment scale showed the considerable spatial variability of maize yield across agricultural fields with different soils, slopes and climate conditions. The average annual simulated maize yield across the catchment corresponding to the highest WUE ranged from 4.0 to 7.0 t/ha. The yield gaps ranged from 3.0 to 6.0 t/ha under deficit irrigation combined with 120N:60P kg/ha and ranged from 0.2 to 1.5 t/ha when only applying deficit irrigation but no fertilizer. This information can support regional decision makers to find appropriate interventions that aim at improving crop yield and WUE for catchments/regions.
The relationship between Porphyromonas gingivalis and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a literature review
Authors: Kong Jinyu , Liu Yiwen , Qian Mengfan , Xing Ling , Gao Shegan 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Oesophageal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy in China and one of the major causes of death due to cancer worldwide. The occurrence of oesophageal cancer is a multifactor, multistage, and multistep process influenced by heredity, the environment, and microorganisms. Specifically, bacterial infection may be involved in the process of tissue carcinogenesis by directly or indirectly influencing tumour occurrence and development. Porphyromonas gingivalis is an important pathogen causing periodontitis, and periodontitis can promote the occurrence of various tumours. An increasing number of studies to date have shown that P. gingivalis plays an important role in the occurrence and development of oesophageal cancer. Overall, exploring how P. gingivalis promotes oesophageal cancer occurrence and development and how it affects the prognosis of these patients is of great importance for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of this type of cancer. Herein, the latest progress is reviewed.
Barriers to advance care planning among patients with advanced serious illnesses: A national survey of health-care professionals in Singapore
Authors: Malhotra Chetna , Chaudhry Isha 
Published: April 2023

AbstractObjectivesTo assess the barriers that health-care professionals (HCPs) face in having advance care planning (ACP) conversations with patients suffering from advanced serious illnesses and to provide care consistent with patients’ documented preferences.MethodsWe conducted a national survey of HCPs trained in facilitating ACP conversations in Singapore between June and July 2021. HCPs responded to hypothetical vignettes about a patient with an advanced serious illness and rated the importance of barriers (HCP-, patient-, and caregiver-related) in (i) conducting and documenting ACP conversations and (ii) providing care consistent with documented preferences.ResultsNine hundred eleven HCPs trained in facilitating ACP conversations responded to the survey; 57% of them had not facilitated any in the last 1 year. HCP factors were reported as the topmost barriers to facilitating ACP. These included lack of allocated time to have ACP conversations and ACP facilitation being time-consuming. Patient’s refusal to engage in ACP conversations and family experiencing difficulty in accepting patient’s poor prognosis were the topmost patient- and caregiver-related factors. Non-physician HCPs were more likely than physicians to report being fearful of upsetting the patient/family and lack of confidence in facilitating ACP conversations. About 70% of the physicians perceived caregiver factors (surrogate wanting a different course of treatment and family caregivers being conflicted about patients’ care) as barriers to providing care consistent with preferences.Significance of resultsStudy findings suggest that ACP conversations be simplified, ACP training framework be improved, awareness regarding ACP among patients, caregivers, and general public be increased, and ACP be made widely accessible.
Ocean Warm Skin Signals Observed by Saildrone at High Latitudes
Authors: Jia Chong , Minnett Peter J. 
Published: April 2023

AbstractThe existence of a cool sea surface skin layer in the global ocean during both day and night is generally recognized. However, a warm skin should be present if the total surface net heat flux () were to be from the atmosphere into ocean. Saildrone, an advanced uncrewed surface vehicle, has been shown to be able to provide sufficiently accurate sea skin temperature (SSTskin) and subsurface temperature (SSTdepth) data at high latitudes. Using those SST data along with meteorological parameters from a Saildrone deployed in the Arctic in the summer of 2019, some warm skin layers were identified due to the gain resulting from the combined effect of positive air‐sea temperature difference, humid surface air and cloudy skies. Furthermore, most warm skins here were found during and shortly after rainfall events. It is essential to incorporate the ability to simulate warm skin layers in the present cool skin models.
Solar Wind Protons in the Diamagnetic Cavity at Comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko
Authors: Goetz Charlotte , Scharré Lucie , Wedlund Cyril Simon , Moeslinger Anja , Nilsson Hans , Odelstad Elias , Taylor Matthew G. G. T. , Volwerk Martin 
Published: April 2023

AbstractThe plasma environment at a comet can be divided into different regions with distinct plasma characteristics. Two such regions are the solar wind ion cavity, which refers to the part of the outer coma that does not contain any solar wind ions anymore; and the diamagnetic cavity, which is the region of unmagnetized plasma in the innermost coma. From theory and previous observations, it was thought that under usual circumstances no solar wind ion should be observable near or inside of the diamagnetic cavity. For the first time, we report on five observations that show that protons near solar wind energies can also be found inside the diamagnetic cavity. We characterize these proton signatures, where and when they occur, and discuss possible mechanisms that could lead to protons penetrating the inner coma and traversing the diamagnetic cavity boundary. By understanding these observations, we hope to better understand the interaction region of the comet with the solar wind under nonstandard conditions. The protons detected inside the diamagnetic cavity have directions and energies consistent with protons of solar wind origin. The five events occur only at intermediate gas production rates and low cometocentric distances. Charge transfer reactions, high solar wind dynamic pressure and a neutral gas outburst can be ruled out as causes. We suggest that the anomalous appearance of protons in the diamagnetic cavity is due to a specific solar wind configuration where the solar wind velocity is parallel to the interplanetary magnetic field, thus inhibiting mass‐loading and deflection.
Intestinal mucus components and secretion mechanisms: what we do and do not know
Authors: Song Chunyan , Chai Zhenglong , Chen Si , Zhang Hui , Zhang Xiaohong , Zhou Yuping 
Published: April 2023

AbstractDamage to the colon mucus barrier, the first line of defense against microorganisms, is an important determinant of intestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, and disorder in extraintestinal organs. The mucus layer has attracted the attention of the scientific community in recent years, and with the discovery of new mucosal components, it has become increasingly clear that the mucosal barrier is a complex system composed of many components. Moreover, certain components are jointly involved in regulating the structure and function of the mucus barrier. Therefore, a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the functional components of the mucus layer is clearly warranted. In this review, we summarize the various functional components of the mucus layer identified thus far and describe their unique roles in shaping mucosal structure and function. Furthermore, we detail the mechanisms underlying mucus secretion, including baseline and stimulated secretion. In our opinion, baseline secretion can be categorized into spontaneous Ca2+ oscillation-mediated slow and continuous secretion and stimulated secretion, which is mediated by massive Ca2+ influx induced by exogenous stimuli. This review extends the current understanding of the intestinal mucus barrier, with an emphasis on host defense strategies based on fortification of the mucus layer.
Monolithic integration of embedded III-V lasers on SOI
Authors: Wei Wen-Qi , He An , Yang Bo , Wang Zi-Hao , Huang Jing-Zhi , Han Dong , Ming Ming , Guo Xuhan , Su Yikai , Zhang Jian-Jun , Wang Ting 
Published: April 2023

AbstractSilicon photonic integration has gained great success in many application fields owing to the excellent optical device properties and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility. Realizing monolithic integration of III-V lasers and silicon photonic components on single silicon wafer is recognized as a long-standing obstacle for ultra-dense photonic integration, which can provide considerable economical, energy-efficient and foundry-scalable on-chip light sources, that has not been reported yet. Here, we demonstrate embedded InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) lasers directly grown on trenched silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, enabling monolithic integration with butt-coupled silicon waveguides. By utilizing the patterned grating structures inside pre-defined SOI trenches and unique epitaxial method via hybrid molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), high-performance embedded InAs QD lasers with monolithically out-coupled silicon waveguide are achieved on such template. By resolving the epitaxy and fabrication challenges in such monolithic integrated architecture, embedded III-V lasers on SOI with continuous-wave lasing up to 85 °C are obtained. The maximum output power of 6.8 mW can be measured from the end tip of the butt-coupled silicon waveguides, with estimated coupling efficiency of approximately -6.7 dB. The results presented here provide a scalable and low-cost epitaxial method for the realization of on-chip light sources directly coupling to the silicon photonic components for future high-density photonic integration.
Candidate biomarkers from the integration of methylation and gene expression in discordant autistic sibling pairs
Authors: Perini Samuel , Filosi Michele ,   The Italian Autism Network, Allibrio Giovanni , Basadonne Ilaria , Benvenuto Arianna , Buono Serafino , Bravaccio Carmela , Casonato Carlo , Ceppi Elisa , Curatolo Paolo , Bernardina Bernardo Dalla , Da Ros Lucio , Darra Francesca , Eusebi Anna , Gabellone Alessandra , De Giacomo Andrea , Distefano Grazia , Donno Federica , Elia Maurizio , Fazzi Elisa , Gatta Michela , Giusto Stefania , Grittani Serenella , Lanzarini Evamaria , Malerba Giovanni , Mani Elisa , Manzi Barbara , Margari Lucia , Marzulli Lucia , Masi Gabriele , Mattei Paola , Mazzone Luigi , Molteni Massimo , Muglia Pierandrea , Musumeci Sebastiano , Narzisi Antonio , Pascotto Antonio , Pari Cinzia , Parmeggiani Antonia , Petruzzelli Maria Giuseppina , Raffagnato Alessia , Ratti Emiliangelo , Rossaro Maria Paola , Riccio Maria Pia , Rizzini Paolo , Scifo Renato , Siracusano Martina , Tancredi Raffaella , Tiberti Alessandra , Trabetti Elisabetta , Traverso Annalisa , Venuti Paola , Zoccante Leonardo , Zuddas Alessandro , Domenici Enrico 
Published: April 2023

AbstractWhile the genetics of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been intensively studied, resulting in the identification of over 100 putative risk genes, the epigenetics of ASD has received less attention, and results have been inconsistent across studies. We aimed to investigate the contribution of DNA methylation (DNAm) to the risk of ASD and identify candidate biomarkers arising from the interaction of epigenetic mechanisms with genotype, gene expression, and cellular proportions. We performed DNAm differential analysis using whole blood samples from 75 discordant sibling pairs of the Italian Autism Network collection and estimated their cellular composition. We studied the correlation between DNAm and gene expression accounting for the potential effects of different genotypes on DNAm. We showed that the proportion of NK cells was significantly reduced in ASD siblings suggesting an imbalance in their immune system. We identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) involved in neurogenesis and synaptic organization. Among candidate loci for ASD, we detected a DMR mapping to CLEC11A (neighboring SHANK1) where DNAm and gene expression were significantly and negatively correlated, independently from genotype effects. As reported in previous studies, we confirmed the involvement of immune functions in the pathophysiology of ASD. Notwithstanding the complexity of the disorder, suitable biomarkers such as CLEC11A and its neighbor SHANK1 can be discovered using integrative analyses even with peripheral tissues.