bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dairy manure pellets and palm oil mill effluent as alternative nutrient sources in cultivating Sporosarcina pasteurii for calcium carbonate bioprecipitation
Authors: Omoregie A.I. , Muda K. , Ngu L.H. 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a process that hydrolysis urea by microbial urease to fill the pore spaces of soil with induced calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitates, which eventually results in improved or solidified soil. This research explored the possibility of using dairy manure pellets (DMP) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) as alternative nutrient sources for Sporosarcina pasteurii cultivation and CaCO3 bioprecipitation. Different concentrations (20–80 g l−1) of DMP and POME were used to propagate the cells of S. pasteurii under laboratory conditions. The measured CaCO3 contents for MICP soil specimens that were treated with bacterial cultures grown in DMP medium (60%, w/v) was 15·30 ± 0·04 g ml−1 and POME medium (40%, v/v) was 15·49 ± 0·05 g ml−1 after 21 days curing. The scanning electron microscopy showed that soil treated with DMP had rhombohedral structure-like crystals with smooth surfaces, whilst that of POME entailed ring-like cubical formation with rough surfaces Electron dispersive X-ray analysis was able to identify a high mass percentage of chemical element compositions (Ca, C and O), whilst spectrum from Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the vibration peak intensities for CaCO3. Atomic force microscopy further showed clear topographical differences on the crystal surface structures that were formed around the MICP treated soil samples. These nutrient sources (DMP and POME) showed encouraging potential cultivation mediums to address high costs related to bacterial cultivation and biocementation treatment.
Antifungal lock therapy: an eternal promise or an effective alternative therapeutic approach?
Authors: Kovács R. , Majoros L. 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Each year, millions of central venous catheter insertions are performed in intensive care units worldwide. The usage of these indwelling devices is associated with a high risk of bacterial and fungal colonization, leading to the development of microbial consortia, namely biofilms. These sessile structures provide fungal cells with resistance to the majority of antifungals, environmental stress and host immune responses. Based on different guidelines, colonized/infected catheters should be removed and changed immediately in the case of Candida-related central line infections. However, catheter replacement is not feasible for all patient populations. An alternative therapeutic approach may be antifungal lock therapy, which has received high interest, especially in the last decade. This review summarizes the published Candida-related in vitro, in vivo data and case studies in terms of antifungal lock therapy. The number of clinical studies remains limited and further studies are needed for safe implementation of the antifungal lock therapy into clinical practice.
Losing the race? Philosophy of race in U.K. philosophy departments
Authors: Chauhan Vipin , Crowley Thomas , Fisher Andrew , McCabe Helen , Williams Helen 
Published: January 2022

AbstractShould philosophy of race be taught as part of a philosophy degree? This paper argues that it should. After surveying 1,166 modules on offer in 2019–2020, across forty‐seven philosophy departments in the United Kingdom, however, the authors identified only one module devoted to philosophy of race. The paper presents this as a challenge to philosophy departments. It investigates one possible reason for this that concerns staff research interests; indeed, reading 728 staff research webpages the authors identified only twenty‐three that listed philosophy of race as a research interest. Even though this might go some way to explaining the lack of modules, however, it can’t be the whole picture. The paper suggests some areas relating to the philosophy curriculum in the United Kingdom that need some consideration.
Conceptualizing the factor structure of parents’ math anxiety and associations with children's mathematics skills
Authors: Cosso Jimena , Ellis Alexa , O'Rear Connor D. , Zippert Erica L. , Schmitt Sara A. , Purpura David J. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThere is a growing literature examining the association between parents’ math anxiety and children's mathematics skills. Previous research has considered parents’ math anxiety as a unidimensional construct that primarily focused on parents’ experiences doing mathematics themselves. However, this research did not account for parents’ experiences when doing mathematics with their children. Thus, there were two goals of the present study: (1) to identify the structure of parents’ math anxiety when considering context‐dependent situations, and (2) to determine whether parental math anxiety was related to children's early numeracy skills. We conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses using a sample of 155 preschool children (Mage = 4.20 years, SD = 0.71; 51% female). The best fitting model of parents’ math anxiety was a bifactor model, suggesting that parents’ math anxiety was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. However, structural equation models showed parent math anxiety was not a significant predictor of children's numeracy performance. These findings provide a foundation for understanding parents’ math anxiety as multidimensional and raise questions about potential mechanisms that may explain prior work finding mixed relations between math anxiety and children's numeracy performance.
Instant sedimentation in a deep Alpine lake (Iseo, Italy) controlled by climate, human and geodynamic forcing
Authors: Rapuc William , Arnaud Fabien , Sabatier Pierre , Anselmetti Flavio S. , Piccin Andrea , Peruzza Laura , Bastien Antoine , Augustin Laurent , Régnier Edouard , Gaillardet Jérôme , Von Grafenstein Ulrich 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe sedimentary processes in the deep basin of large peri‐Alpine lakes have not been studied much on long timescales due to high coring complexity of such lake systems. In 2018, a 15.5 m long sediment section was retrieved from the deep basin of Lake Iseo (Italy) at 251 m water depth. A seismic survey associated with a multi‐proxy approach using sedimentological and geochemical analyses, reveals that event deposits correspond to 61.4% of the total sedimentation during the last 2000 years. The great heterogeneity of textures, colours and grain‐size distribution between the different types of event layers can be explained by the high number of potential sources of sediment in this large lake system. By combining a proxy of sediment sources with proxies of transport processes, flood events were distinguished from destabilizations of the slopes and the main delta. The three thickest mass wasting deposits correspond to major regional earthquakes events of 1222 ce, 1117 ce and around 700 ce. From a thorough comparison with regional climatic fluctuations and human activities in the watershed, it appears that periods of high sediment remobilization can be linked to a preceding increase in erosion in the watershed mainly under human forcing. Hence, even in large catchments, human activities play a key role on erosion processes and on sediment availability, disrupting the recording of extreme events in lacustrine archive.
Overcoming Individual Limitations Through Distributed Computation: Rational Information Accumulation in Multigenerational Populations
Authors: Hardy Mathew D. , Krafft Peaks M. , Thompson Bill , Griffiths Thomas L. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractMany of the computational problems people face are difficult to solve under the limited time and cognitive resources available to them. Overcoming these limitations through social interaction is one of the most distinctive features of human intelligence. In this paper, we show that information accumulation in multigenerational social networks can be produced by a form of distributed Bayesian inference that allows individuals to benefit from the experience of previous generations while expending little cognitive effort. In doing so, we provide a criterion for assessing the rationality of a population that extends traditional analyses of the rationality of individuals. We tested the predictions of this analysis in two highly controlled behavioral experiments where the social transmission structure closely matched the assumptions of our model. Participants made decisions on simple categorization tasks that relied on and contributed to accumulated knowledge. Success required these microsocieties to accumulate information distributed across people and time. Our findings illustrate how in certain settings, distributed computation at the group level can pool information and resources, allowing limited individuals to perform effectively on complex tasks.
Measuring Spatial Perspective Taking: Analysis of Four Measures Using Item Response Theory
Authors: Brucato Maria , Frick Andrea , Pichelmann Stefan , Nazareth Alina , Newcombe Nora S. 
Published: January 2022

AbstractResearch on spatial thinking requires reliable and valid measures of individual differences in various component skills. Spatial perspective taking (PT)—the ability to represent viewpoints different from one's own—is one kind of spatial skill that is especially relevant to navigation. This study had two goals. First, the psychometric properties of four PT tests were examined: Four Mountains Task (FMT), Spatial Orientation Task (SOT), Perspective‐Taking Task for Adults (PTT‐A), and Photographic Perspective‐Taking Task (PPTT). Using item response theory (IRT), item difficulty, discriminability, and efficiency of item information functions were evaluated. Second, the relation of PT scores to general intelligence, working memory, and mental rotation (MR) was assessed. All tasks showed good construct validity except for FMT. PPTT tapped a wide range of PT ability, with maximum measurement precision at average ability. PTT‐A captured a lower range of ability. Although SOT contributed less measurement information than other tasks, it did well across a wide range of PT ability. After controlling for general intelligence and working memory, original and IRT‐refined versions of PT tasks were each related to MR. PTT‐A and PPTT showed relatively more divergent validity from MR than SOT. Tests of dimensionality indicated that PT tasks share one common PT dimension, with secondary task‐specific factors also impacting the measurement of individual differences in performance. Advantages and disadvantages of a hybrid PT test that includes a combination of items across tasks are discussed.
Tectonic hydrogen and tectonic oxygen production through deforming piezoelectric minerals in the presence of water
Authors: Xu* Huifang , Hong Kuang-Sheng , Wu Meiye , Lee Seungyeol 
Published: January 2022

ABSTRACT
A high concentration of hydrogen gas occurs in fracture zones of active faults that are associated with historical earthquakes. To explain the described phenomenon, we propose the piezoelectrochemical (PZEC) effect as a mechanism for the direct conversion of mechanical energy to chemical energy. When applied to natural piezoelectric crystals including quartz and serpentine, hydrogen and oxygen are generated via direct water decomposition. Laboratory experiments show H2 gas is generated from strained piezoelectric material due to the extremely low solubility of H2, suggesting that the deformed or strained mineral surfaces can catalyze water decomposition. If the strain-induced H2 production is significant, hydrogen measurements at monitoring sites can offer information on deformation of rocks operating at depth prior to earthquakes. Oxygen can be measured in water due to its high solubility compared to hydrogen. Our experimental results demonstrate that dissolved oxygen generated from the PZEC effect can oxidize dissolved organic dye and ferrous iron in an aqueous Fe(II)–silicate metal complex. The hydrogen and oxygen formed through stoichiometric decomposition of water in the presence of strained or deformed minerals in fault zones (including subduction zones and transform faults) may be referred to as tectonic hydrogen and tectonic oxygen. Tectonic hydrogen could be a potential energy source for deep subsurface and glacier-bedrock interface microbial communities that rely on molecular hydrogen for metabolism. Tectonic oxygen may have been an important oxidizing agent when dissolved in water during times in early Earth history when atmospheric oxygen levels were extremely low. Reported “whiffs” of dissolved oxygen before the Great Oxidation Event might have been related to tectonic activity.
B-anomalies from flavorful U(1)$$'$$ extensions, safely
Authors: Bause Rigo , Hiller Gudrun , Höhne Tim , Litim Daniel F. , Steudtner Tom 
Published: January 2022

Abstract$$U(1)^\prime $$

U

(
1
)

′

extensions of the standard model with generation-dependent couplings to quarks and leptons are investigated as an explanation of anomalies in rare B-decays, with an emphasis on stability and predictivity up to the Planck scale. To these ends, we introduce three generations of vector-like standard model singlet fermions, an enlarged, flavorful scalar sector, and, possibly, right-handed neutrinos, all suitably charged under the $$U(1)^\prime $$

U

(
1
)

′

gauge interaction. We identify several gauge-anomaly free benchmarks consistent with $$B_s$$

B
s

-mixing constraints, with hints for electron-muon universality violation, and the global $$b \rightarrow s$$

b
→
s

fit. We further investigate the complete two-loop running of gauge, Yukawa and quartic couplings up to the Planck scale to constrain low-energy parameters and enhance the predictive power. A characteristic of models is that the $$Z^\prime $$

Z
′

with TeV-ish mass predominantly decays to invisibles, i.e. new fermions or neutrinos. $$Z^\prime $$

Z
′

-production can be studied at a future muon collider. While benchmarks feature predominantly left-handed couplings $$C_9^{\mu }$$

C
9
μ

and $$C_{10}^{\mu }$$

C

10

μ

, right-handed ones can be accommodated as well.
Polytopes in all dimensional loop quantum gravity
Authors: Long Gaoping , Ma Yongge 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThe Lasserre’s reconstruction algorithm is extended to the D-polytopes with the construction of their shape space. Thus, the areas of d-skeletons $$(1\le d\le D)$$

(
1
≤
d
≤
D
)

can be expressed as functions of the areas and normal bi-vectors of the (D-1)-faces of D-polytopes. As weak solutions of the simplicity constraints in all dimensional loop quantum gravity, the simple coherent intertwiners are employed to describe semiclassical D-polytopes. New general geometric operators based on D-polytopes are proposed by using the Lasserre’s reconstruction algorithm and the coherent intertwiners. Such kind of geometric operators have expected semiclassical property by the definition. The consistent semiclassical limit with respect to the semiclassical D-polytopes can be obtained for the usual D-volume operator in all dimensional loop quantum gravity by fixing its undetermined regularization factor case by case.
Engineering the microwave to infrared noise photon flux for superconducting quantum systems
Authors: Danilin Sergey , Barbosa João , Farage Michael , Zhao Zimo , Shang Xiaobang , Burnett Jonathan , Ridler Nick , Li Chong , Weides Martin 
Published: January 2022

AbstractElectromagnetic filtering is essential for the coherent control, operation and readout of superconducting quantum circuits at milliKelvin temperatures. The suppression of spurious modes around transition frequencies of a few GHz is well understood and mainly achieved by on-chip and package considerations. Noise photons of higher frequencies – beyond the pair-breaking energies – cause decoherence and require spectral engineering before reaching the packaged quantum chip. The external wires that pass into the refrigerator and go down to the quantum circuit provide a direct path for these photons. This article contains quantitative analysis and experimental data for the noise photon flux through coaxial, filtered wiring. The attenuation of the coaxial cable at room temperature and the noise photon flux estimates for typical wiring configurations are provided. Compact cryogenic microwave low-pass filters with CR-110 and Esorb-230 absorptive dielectric fillings are presented along with experimental data at room and cryogenic temperatures up to 70 GHz. Filter cut-off frequencies between 1 to 10 GHz are set by the filter length, and the roll-off is material dependent. The relative dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability for the Esorb-230 material in the pair-breaking frequency range of 75 to 110 GHz are measured, and the filter properties in this frequency range are calculated. The estimated dramatic suppression of the noise photon flux due to the filter proves its usefulness for experiments with superconducting quantum systems.
Performance and Power Estimation of STT-MRAM Main Memory with Reliable System-level Simulation
Authors: Asifuzzaman Kazi , Verdejo Rommel Sánchez , Radojković Petar 
Published: January 2022

It is questionable whether DRAM will continue to scale and will meet the needs of next-generation systems. Therefore, significant effort is invested in research and development of novel memory technologies. One of the candidates for next-generation memory is Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM). STT-MRAM is an emerging non-volatile memory with a lot of potential that could be exploited for various requirements of different computing systems. Being a novel technology, STT-MRAM devices are already approaching DRAM in terms of capacity, frequency, and device size. Although STT-MRAM technology got significant attention of various major memory manufacturers, academic research of STT-MRAM main memory remains marginal. This is mainly due to the unavailability of publicly available detailed timing and current parameters of this novel technology, which are required to perform a reliable main memory simulation on performance and power estimation. This study demonstrates an approach to perform a cycle accurate simulation of STT-MRAM main memory, being the first to release detailed timing and current parameters of this technology from academia—essentially enabling researchers to conduct reliable system-level simulation of STT-MRAM using widely accepted existing simulation infrastructure. The results show a fairly narrow overall performance deviation in response to significant variations in key timing parameters, and the power consumption experiments identify the key power component that is mostly affected with STT-MRAM.
Decoupling Hydrogen Production and Water Oxidation in a Hybrid Solar-Driven Vanadium Redox Cell Supported By a Bipolar Membrane with Earth-Abundant Catalysts
Authors: Xiang Chengxiang("CX") 
Published: January 2022

Renewable hydrogen produced by solar water-splitting has the potential to balance the intermittent nature of the sunlight and support grid-scale energy storage. In a solar-driven water-splitting device, the cathode surface and the anode surface involve hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which are tightly coupled with each other, that is, whenever one oxygen molecule was produced at the cathode surface, two hydrogen molecules were produced at the anode surface at the same time.
In this talk, I will show some recent results on an alternative approach to solar water-splitting, where the electron and proton generated at OER was used to charge an aqueous vanadium solution in a 2.0 M sulfuric acid (pH = -0.16) electrolyte with near unity Faradaic efficiency, rather than being used directly to produce hydrogen at the cathode. The produced V2+ species in the cathode chamber was then passed through a MoCx based catalyst to produce hydrogen and to re-generate V3+ for the subsequent reduction, with an average hydrogen generation efficiency of 85% at different depths of charging. Coupled to a solar tracker, the solar-driven vanadium redox cell was charged outdoors under real-world illumination during the day and discharged at night to produce hydrogen with a daily average solar to hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of 5.8%.
(Invited) Nanoscale Design and Modification of Plasmonic Aerogels for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation
Authors: Pietron Jeremy , DeSario Paul A. , Pitman Catherine L. , Brintlinger Todd , Dunkelberger Adam , Baturina Olga A , Stroud Rhonda , Owrutsky Jeffrey C. , Rolison Debra R. 
Published: January 2022

Composite catalytic aerogels comprise a highly-flexible design motif for the creation of solar fuels photocatalysts. We exploit the compositional and interfacial design flexibility of catalytic aerogels to couple surface plasmon resonant (SPR) guests to nanometric oxidation and reduction catalysts in one hierarchical photocatalytic composite architecture. In our composite aerogels, the nanoscale TiO2 aerogel acts as a 3D-interconnected network of nanowires that couples all of the functional elements required to photogenerate molecular hydrogen from visible light and water: visible light sensitization, electron and ion transport, and oxidation and reduction catalysis.
We investigate the effects of synthetically modifying the TiO2 aerogel network and the nanoparticulate Au||TiO2 interfaces in plasmonic Au–TiO2 aerogels on light sensitization, carrier (electron–hole pair) generation, and photocatalytic H2 evolution under both broadband (i.e., UV + visible) and visible excitation. We also introduce oxidation and reduction co-catalyst nanoparticles into the plasmonic aerogels, creating composite aerogels that perform visible light SPR–driven photocatalytic reduction of water to generate H2. The nanostructured high surface–area network in the aerogel spatially and effectively separates charge while electrochemically connecting plasmonic nanoparticle sensitizers and metal nanoparticle all in one mesoscale architecture and at length scales compatible with the kinetics of each reaction.

Reference:

"Plasmonic aerogels as a 3D nanoscale platform for solar fuels photocatalysis.” P. A. DeSario, J. J. Pietron, A. Dunkelburger, T.H. Brintlinger, O. Baturina, R. M. Stroud, J. C. Owrutsky, and D. R. Rolison, Langmuir, 2017, 33, 9444–9454; doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b01117
This work is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.