bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Coal fly ash: an emerging material for water remediation
Authors: Singh N. B. , Agarwal Anupam , De Anindita , Singh Pragya 
Published: June 2022

AbstractCoal fly ash (CFA) is a byproduct of thermal power plant and collected from flue gases by separator. Composition of CFA depends on the type of coal used and it has both crystalline and amorphous character. It is considered to be an environmental pollutant and used in number of areas. CFA is a useful material and widely used in cement production and as a promising adsorbent for water remediation. CFA used for remediation of wastewater solves problems related to water quality issues and waste management. The physical properties such as porosity, surface area, morphology, and chemical composition (iron oxide, alumina, silica, titania, etc.) make CFA efficient material for wastewater treatment. CFA is also converted to geopolymer, which is used as an adsorbent and photocatalyst. Dye, organic compounds, toxic heavy metal ions, etc. have been removed using CFA and modified CFA adsorbents. Different adsorption efficiencies have been reported for different adsorbate and CFA adsorbents. Numbers of adsorption isotherm and kinetic models have been discussed.
How Flexible, Slit and Rigid Barriers Mitigate Two‐Phase Geophysical Mass Flows: A Numerical Appraisal
Authors: Kong Yong , Guan Mingfu , Li Xingyue , Zhao Jidong , Yan Haochen 
Published: June 2022

AbstractFlexible, slit, and rigid barriers are common countermeasures to mitigate natural geophysical mass flows, but presently, quantitative comparisons of their performance are lacking, due to the challenges involved in accurately representing the multi‐body and multi‐phase interactions. This study presents a numerical appraisal on this issue using a physics‐based coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD‐DEM). A geophysical flow is considered as a mixture of discrete gap‐graded particles (DEM) and a continuous viscous slurry (CFD), whereas a permeable and deformable barrier structure can be modeled by DEM. The in‐flow multiphase interactions and flow‐barrier interactions can be rigorously modeled by a coupling scheme between DEM and CFD. Our numerical simulations reasonably capture both field and experimental observations on key features of flow‐barrier interactions and barrier responses. The different intercepting mechanisms of three barriers via pile‐up and runup modes are revealed by qualitative and quantitative characterizations. Flexible barriers perform the best under runup mode regarding much larger peak load reduction ratios (up to 89%) due to their high permeability and Fr‐dependent load‐deflection behavior. We further compile a barrier‐specific design diagram that suggests existing analytical models calibrated by limited experiments may underestimate the peak impact for slit and rigid barriers due to their neglect of large solid particles in the impinging flows while leading to overestimations for flexible barriers owing to inappropriate representations of barrier permeability and structural deformability. Our findings may offer a basis for model improvements and developments in practical barrier selection and design.
DNMT3b protects centromere integrity by restricting R-loop-mediated DNA damage
Authors: Shih Hsueh-Tzu , Chen Wei-Yi , Wang Hsin-Yen , Chao Tung , Huang Hsien-Da , Chou Chih-Hung , Chang Zee-Fen 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis study used DNA methyltransferase 3b (DNMT3b) knockout cells and the functional loss of DNMT3b mutation in immunodeficiency-centromeric instability-facial anomalies syndrome (ICF) cells to understand how DNMT3b dysfunction causes genome instability. We demonstrated that R-loops contribute to DNA damages in DNMT3b knockout and ICF cells. More prominent DNA damage signal in DNMT3b knockout cells was due to the loss of DNMT3b expression and the acquirement of p53 mutation. Genome-wide ChIP-sequencing mapped DNA damage sites at satellite repetitive DNA sequences including (peri-)centromere regions. However, the steady-state levels of (peri-)centromeric R-loops were reduced in DNMT3b knockout and ICF cells. Our analysis indicates that XPG and XPF endonucleases-mediated cleavages remove (peri-)centromeric R-loops to generate DNA beaks, causing chromosome instability. DNMT3b dysfunctions clearly increase R-loops susceptibility to the cleavage process. Finally, we showed that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in centromere are probably repaired by error-prone end-joining pathway in ICF cells. Thus, DNMT3 dysfunctions undermine the integrity of centromere by R-loop-mediated DNA damages and repair.
Mendel's First Law: partisan interests and the parliament of genes
Authors: Veller Carl 
Published: June 2022

AbstractMendel’s First Law requires explanation because of the possibility of ‘meiotic drivers’, genes that distort fair segregation for selfish gain. The suppression of drive, and the restoration of fair segregation, is often attributed to genes at loci unlinked to the drive locus—such genes cannot benefit from drive but do suffer its associated fitness costs. However, selection can also favour suppressors at loci linked to the drive locus, raising the question of whether suppression of drive usually comes from linked or unlinked loci. Here, I study linked and unlinked suppression in a two-locus model with initial stable polymorphism at the drive locus. I find that the invasion rate of suppressors is a decreasing function of the recombination fraction between the drive and suppressor loci. Surprisingly, the relative likelihood of unlinked vs. linked suppression increases with the strength of drive and is insensitive to the fitness costs of the driver allele. I find that the chromosomal position of the driver influences how rapidly it is suppressed, with a driver in the middle of a chromosome suppressed more rapidly than a driver near the tip. When drive is strong, only a small number of chromosomes are required for suppression usually to derive from unlinked loci. In contrast, when drive is weak, and especially when suppressor alleles are associated with fitness costs, suppression will usually come from linked loci unless the genome comprises many chromosomes.
The cryptic seismic potential of the Pichilemu blind fault in Chile revealed by off-fault geomorphology
Authors: Jara-Muñoz J. , Melnick D. , Li S. , Socquet A. , Cortés-Aranda J. , Brill D. , Strecker M. R. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe first step towards assessing hazards in seismically active regions involves mapping capable faults and estimating their recurrence times. While the mapping of active faults is commonly based on distinct geologic and geomorphic features evident at the surface, mapping blind seismogenic faults is complicated by the absence of on-fault diagnostic features. Here we investigated the Pichilemu Fault in coastal Chile, unknown until it generated a Mw 7.0 earthquake in 2010. The lack of evident surface faulting suggests activity along a partly-hidden blind fault. We used off-fault deformed marine terraces to estimate a fault-slip rate of 0.52 ± 0.04 m/ka, which, when integrated with satellite geodesy suggests a 2.12 ± 0.2 ka recurrence time for Mw~7.0 normal-faulting earthquakes. We propose that extension in the Pichilemu region is associated with stress changes during megathrust earthquakes and accommodated by sporadic slip during upper-plate earthquakes, which has implications for assessing the seismic potential of cryptic faults along convergent margins and elsewhere.
Generation of ultrahigh-brightness pre-bunched beams from a plasma cathode for X-ray free-electron lasers
Authors: Xu Xinlu , Li Fei , Tsung Frank S. , Miller Kyle , Yakimenko Vitaly , Hogan Mark J. , Joshi Chan , Mori Warren B. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe longitudinal coherence of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) in the self-amplified spontaneous emission regime could be substantially improved if the high brightness electron beam could be pre-bunched on the radiated wavelength-scale. Here, we show that it is indeed possible to realize such current modulated electron beam at angstrom scale by exciting a nonlinear wake across a periodically modulated plasma-density downramp/plasma cathode. The density modulation turns on and off the injection of electrons in the wake while downramp provides a unique longitudinal mapping between the electrons’ initial injection positions and their final trapped positions inside the wake. The combined use of a downramp and periodic modulation of micrometers is shown to be able to produces a train of high peak current (17 kA) electron bunches with a modulation wavelength of 10’s of angstroms - orders of magnitude shorter than the plasma density modulation. The peak brightness of the nano-bunched beam can be O(1021A/m2/rad2) orders of magnitude higher than current XFEL beams. Such prebunched, high brightness electron beams hold the promise for compact and lower cost XEFLs that can produce nanometer radiation with hundreds of GW power in a 10s of centimeter long undulator.
Structural basis of resistance to herbicides that target acetohydroxyacid synthase
Authors: Lonhienne Thierry , Cheng Yan , Garcia Mario D. , Hu Shu Hong , Low Yu Shang , Schenk Gerhard , Williams Craig M. , Guddat Luke W. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractAcetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) is the target for more than 50 commercial herbicides; first applied to crops in the 1980s. Since then, 197 site-of-action resistance isolates have been identified in weeds, with mutations at P197 and W574 the most prevalent. Consequently, AHAS is at risk of not being a useful target for crop protection. To develop new herbicides, a functional understanding to explain the effect these mutations have on activity is required. Here, we show that these mutations can have two effects (i) to reduce binding affinity of the herbicides and (ii) to abolish time-dependent accumulative inhibition, critical to the exceptional effectiveness of this class of herbicide. In the two mutants, conformational changes occur resulting in a loss of accumulative inhibition by most herbicides. However, bispyribac, a bulky herbicide is able to counteract the detrimental effects of these mutations, explaining why no site-of-action resistance has yet been reported for this herbicide.
Macromolecule conformational shaping for extreme mechanical programming of polymorphic hydrogel fibers
Authors: Wang Xiao-Qiao , Chan Kwok Hoe , Lu Wanheng , Ding Tianpeng , Ng Serene Wen Ling , Cheng Yin , Li Tongtao , Hong Minghui , Tee Benjamin C. K. , Ho Ghim Wei 
Published: June 2022

AbstractMechanical properties of hydrogels are crucial to emerging devices and machines for wearables, robotics and energy harvesters. Various polymer network architectures and interactions have been explored for achieving specific mechanical characteristics, however, extreme mechanical property tuning of single-composition hydrogel material and deployment in integrated devices remain challenging. Here, we introduce a macromolecule conformational shaping strategy that enables mechanical programming of polymorphic hydrogel fiber based devices. Conformation of the single-composition polyelectrolyte macromolecule is controlled to evolve from coiling to extending states via a pH-dependent antisolvent phase separation process. The resulting structured hydrogel microfibers reveal extreme mechanical integrity, including modulus spanning four orders of magnitude, brittleness to ultrastretchability, and plasticity to anelasticity and elasticity. Our approach yields hydrogel microfibers of varied macromolecule conformations that can be built-in layered formats, enabling the translation of extraordinary, realistic hydrogel electronic applications, i.e., large strain (1000%) and ultrafast responsive (~30 ms) fiber sensors in a robotic bird, large deformations (6000%) and antifreezing helical electronic conductors, and large strain (700%) capable Janus springs energy harvesters in wearables.
A highly conserved core bacterial microbiota with nitrogen-fixation capacity inhabits the xylem sap in maize plants
Authors: Zhang Liyu , Zhang Meiling , Huang Shuyu , Li Lujun , Gao Qiang , Wang Yin , Zhang Shuiqing , Huang Shaomin , Yuan Liang , Wen Yanchen , Liu Kailou , Yu Xichu , Li Dongchu , Zhang Lu , Xu Xinpeng , Wei Hailei , He Ping , Zhou Wei , Philippot Laurent , Ai Chao 
Published: June 2022

AbstractMicrobiomes are important for crop performance. However, a deeper knowledge of crop-associated microbial communities is needed to harness beneficial host-microbe interactions. Here, by assessing the assembly and functions of maize microbiomes across soil types, climate zones, and genotypes, we found that the stem xylem selectively recruits highly conserved microbes dominated by Gammaproteobacteria. We showed that the proportion of bacterial taxa carrying the nitrogenase gene (nifH) was larger in stem xylem than in other organs such as root and leaf endosphere. Of the 25 core bacterial taxa identified in xylem sap, several isolated strains were confirmed to be active nitrogen-fixers or to assist with biological nitrogen fixation. On this basis, we established synthetic communities (SynComs) consisting of two core diazotrophs and two helpers. GFP-tagged strains and 15N isotopic dilution method demonstrated that these SynComs do thrive and contribute, through biological nitrogen fixation, 11.8% of the total N accumulated in maize stems. These core taxa in xylem sap represent an untapped resource that can be exploited to increase crop productivity.
COVID-19 hospitalizations forecasts using internet search data
Authors: Wang Tao , Ma Simin , Baek Soobin , Yang Shihao 
Published: June 2022

AbstractAs the COVID-19 spread over the globe and new variants of COVID-19 keep occurring, reliable real-time forecasts of COVID-19 hospitalizations are critical for public health decisions on medical resources allocations. This paper aims to forecast future 2 weeks national and state-level COVID-19 new hospital admissions in the United States. Our method is inspired by the strong association between public search behavior and hospitalization admissions and is extended from a previously-proposed influenza tracking model, AutoRegression with GOogle search data (ARGO). Our LASSO-penalized linear regression method efficiently combines Google search information and COVID-19 related time series information with dynamic training and rolling window prediction. Compared to other publicly available models collected from COVID-19 forecast hub, our method achieves substantial error reduction in a retrospective out-of-sample evaluation from Jan 4, 2021, to Dec 27, 2021. Overall, we showed that our method is flexible, self-correcting, robust, accurate, and interpretable, making it a potentially powerful tool to assist healthcare officials and decision making for the current and future infectious disease outbreaks.
Changes in the lipidome of water buffalo milk during intramammary infection by non-aureus Staphylococci
Authors: Ceciliani Fabrizio , Audano Matteo , Addis Maria Filippa , Mitro Nico , Lecchi Cristina , Ghaffari Morteza H. , Albertini Mariangela , De Carlo Esterina , Vecchio Domenico , Di Vuolo Gabriele , Cappelli Giovanna , Tangorra Francesco , Piccinini Renata , Bronzo Valerio , Caruso Donatella 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis study aimed to determine the lipidome of water buffalo milk with intramammary infection (IMI) by non-aureus staphylococci (NAS), also defined as coagulase-negative staphylococci, using an untargeted lipidomic approach. Non-aureus Staphylococci are the most frequently isolated pathogens from dairy water buffalo milk during mastitis. A total of 17 milk samples from quarters affected by NAS-IMI were collected, and the lipidome was determined by liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The results were compared with the lipidome determined on samples collected from 16 healthy quarters. The study identified 1934 different lipids, which were classified into 15 classes. The abundance of 72 lipids changed in NAS-IMI milk compared to healthy quarters. Significant changes occurred primarily in the class of free fatty acids. The results of this study provided first-time insight into the lipidome of dairy water buffalo milk. Moreover, the present findings provide evidence that NAS-IMI induces changes in water buffalo milk's lipidome.
Muscle regeneration affects Adeno Associated Virus 1 mediated transgene transcription
Authors: Mollard Amédée , Peccate Cécile , Forand Anne , Chassagne Julie , Julien Laura , Meunier Pierre , Guesmia Zoheir , Marais Thibaut , Bitoun Marc , Piétri-Rouxel France , Benkhelifa-Ziyyat Sofia , Lorain Stéphanie 
Published: June 2022

AbstractDuchenne muscular dystrophy is a severe neuromuscular disease causing a progressive muscle wasting due to mutations in the DMD gene that lead to the absence of dystrophin protein. Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based therapies aiming to restore dystrophin in muscles, by either exon skipping or microdystrophin expression, are very promising. However, the absence of dystrophin induces cellular perturbations that hinder AAV therapy efficiency. We focused here on the impact of the necrosis-regeneration process leading to nuclear centralization in myofiber, a common feature of human myopathies, on AAV transduction efficiency. We generated centronucleated myofibers by cardiotoxin injection in wild-type muscles prior to AAV injection. Intramuscular injections of AAV1 vectors show that transgene expression was drastically reduced in regenerated muscles, even when the AAV injection occurred 10 months post-regeneration. We show also that AAV genomes were not lost from cardiotoxin regenerated muscle and were properly localised in the myofiber nuclei but were less transcribed leading to muscle transduction defect. A similar defect was observed in muscles of the DMD mouse model mdx. Therefore, the regeneration process per se could participate to the AAV-mediated transduction defect observed in dystrophic muscles which may limit AAV-based therapies.
Highly tunable low frequency metamaterial cavity for vibration localization
Authors: Park Hong Woo , Seung Hong Min , Choi Wonjae , Kim Miso , Oh Joo Hwan 
Published: June 2022

AbstractMetamaterial cavity has gathered much attention recently due to its capability of localizing vibration energy. Despite the active research, however, there are still big technical challenges not solved yet. Especially, there has been no approach to maximize the wave localization performance of metamaterial cavity; therefore, there has been a possibility that obtained cavity mode does not show sufficiently high performance. Also, there is a tunability issue that whole metamaterials should be re-designed to tune the cavity frequency. Here, we present the metamaterial cavity system that can control its cavity mode frequency from 589 to 2184 Hz by adjusting the cavity length from 140 to 60 mm without re-designing the whole metamaterial based on the broad bandgap. Also, the performance of the obtained cavity mode can be improved by adjusting the length of the side beam attached to the metamaterial; the displacements are amplified more than 18–110 times. Consequently, one may easily obtain the highly localized vibration energy at the desired frequency by adjusting two geometric parameters based on the proposed metamaterial cavity system. Numerical and experimental supports are provided to validate our new metamaterial cavity system. This metamaterial cavity system is expected to provide a guideline for localizing vibration energy in various applications, such as energy harvesting, sensing or vibration dissipation.
Semiconductor nanowire metamaterial for broadband near-unity absorption
Authors: Tekcan Burak , van Kasteren Brad , Grayli Sasan V. , Shen Daozhi , Tam Man Chun , Ban Dayan , Wasilewski Zbigniew , Tsen Adam W. , Reimer Michael E. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe realization of a semiconductor near-unity absorber in the infrared will provide new capabilities to transform applications in sensing, health, imaging, and quantum information science, especially where portability is required. Typically, commercially available portable single-photon detectors in the infrared are made from bulk semiconductors and have efficiencies well below unity. Here, we design a novel semiconductor nanowire metamaterial, and show that by carefully arranging an InGaAs nanowire array and by controlling their shape, we demonstrate near-unity absorption efficiency at room temperature. We experimentally show an average measured efficiency of 93% (simulated average efficiency of 97%) over an unprecedented wavelength range from 900 to 1500 nm. We further show that the near-unity absorption results from the collective response of the nanowire metamaterial, originating from both coupling into leaky resonant waveguide and transverse modes. These coupling mechanisms cause light to be absorbed directly from the top and indirectly as light scatters from one nanowire to neighbouring ones. This work leads to the possible development of a new generation of quantum detectors with unprecedented broadband near-unity absorption in the infrared, while operating near room temperature for a wider range of applications.
A miRNAs catalogue from third-stage larvae and extracellular vesicles of Anisakis pegreffii provides new clues for host-parasite interplay
Authors: Cavallero S. , Bellini I. , Pizzarelli A. , Arcà B. , D’Amelio S. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractAnisakids are widespread marine parasites of medical, veterinary and economic relevance. They infect marine natural hosts but humans can accidentally acquire the fish-borne zoonosis anisakiasis by ingesting infected raw fishes or mollusks. Among the several species described, Anisakis pegreffii is one of the main etiological agent of the disease, in particular in the Mediterranean area. Despite the growing evidence of miRNAs involvement in host-parasite interplay, and the emerging role of exosomal microvesicles in shuttling them between different cell types (and sometime across species), no information on miRNAs from any Anisakis species is presently available. In this study we isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by Anisakis pegreffii infective third-stage larvae (L3) and analyzed by RNA-seq small RNAs from both L3 and EVs. We showed by nanoparticle tracking analysis that L3 release in culture medium particles of size compatible with the one of extracellular vesicles. A catalogue of 156 miRNAs from A. pegreffii was compiled by sequence comparison to evolutionary close species and miRNA prediction software. Using differential expression analysis, we identified a small number of highly abundant miRNAs in larvae and extracellular vesicles fractions whose potential biological relevance may deserve future investigation. Finally, A. pegreffii miRNAs were compared to those described in other parasitic helminths and predicted targets among human genes were searched, suggesting their potential involvement during infection.
Double-pulsed wave packets in spontaneous radiation from a tandem undulator
Authors: Kaneyasu T. , Hosaka M. , Mano A. , Takashima Y. , Fujimoto M. , Salehi E. , Iwayama H. , Hikosaka Y. , Katoh M. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractWe verify that each wave packet of spontaneous radiation from two undulators placed in series has a double-pulsed temporal profile with pulse spacing which can be controlled at the attosecond level. Using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer operating at ultraviolet wavelengths, we obtain the autocorrelation trace for the spontaneous radiation from the tandem undulator. The results clearly show that the wave packet has a double-pulsed structure, consisting of a pair of 10-cycle oscillations with a variable separation. We also report the characterization of the time delay between the double-pulsed components in different wavelength regimes. The excellent agreement between the independent measurements confirms that a tandem undulator can be used to produce double-pulsed wave packets at arbitrary wavelength.