A High Energy X-Ray Diffraction Investigation Of Sodium Phosphate Glasses Doped With Less Than 5 Mol% Praseodymium Oxides

Rare earth phosphate glasses (REPGs) are excellent materials for high energy (103 - 106 J) / high peak power ( 1012 - 1015 W) lasers. Previous work of the rare earth doped sodium phosphate glasses with compositions (R2O3)x(Na2O)y(P2O5)1-x-y where R= Nd, Eu and Dy, 0.04 \u3c x \u3c 0.13 showed that the intensity of the emission spectra increases with decreasing R2O3 content. In this study, praseodymium doped sodium phosphate glasses with even lower praseodymium oxide concentrations, (Pr2O3)x(Na2O)yP2O5)1-x-y , where 0.005 \u3c x \u3c 0.05 were processed and characterized focusing on the region where the lasing efficiency is possibly going to peak. Emission spectra for the glass samples were measured to study how the florescence efficiency change with Pr3+ concentration. High Energy X-ray diffraction technique was used to study the atomic-scale structure of the rare-earth doped sodium phosphate glass samples. Structural features such as inter-atomic distances, coordination numbers and their dependence on the concentration of the rare earth oxides were gained from analyzing pair distribution functions extracted from diffraction data

Updated SARS-CoV-2 Single Nucleotide Variants and Mortality Association

Since its outbreak in December 2019, COVID-19 has caused 100,5844,555 cases and 2,167,313 deaths as of Jan 27, 2021. Comparing our previous study of SARS-CoV-2 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) before June 2020, we found out that the SNV clustering had changed considerably since June 2020. Apart from that the group SNVs represented by two non-synonymous mutations A23403G (S: D614G) and C14408T (ORF1ab: P4715L) became dominant and carried by over 95% genomes, a few emerging groups of SNVs were recognized with sharply increased monthly occurrence ratios up to 70% in November 2020. Further investigation revealed that several SNVs were strongly associated with the mortality, but they presented distinct distribution in specific countries, e.g., Brazil, USA, Saudi Arabia, India, and Italy. SNVs including G25088T, T25A, G29861T and G29864A were adopted in a regularized logistic regression model to predict the mortality status in Brazil with the AUC of 0.84. Protein structure analysis showed that the emerging subgroups of non-synonymous SNVs and those mortality-related ones in Brazil were located on protein surface area. The clashes in protein structure introduced by these mutations might in turn affect virus pathogenesis through conformation changes, leading to the difference in transmission and virulence. Particularly, we found that SNVs tended to occur in intrinsic disordered regions (IDRs) of Spike (S) and ORF1ab, suggesting a critical role of SNVs in protein IDRs to determine protein folding and immune evasion

Terahertz Magnon-Polaritons in TmFeO3

Magnon-polaritons are shown to play a dominant role in the propagation of terahertz (THz) waves through TmFeO3 orthoferrite, if the frequencies of the waves are in the vicinity of the quasi-antiferromagnetic spin resonance mode. Both time-domain THz transmission and emission spectroscopies reveal clear beatings between two modes with frequencies slightly above and slightly below this resonance, respectively. Rigorous modeling of the interaction between the spins of TmFeO3 and the THz light shows that the frequencies correspond to the upper and lower magnon-polariton branches. Our findings reveal the previously ignored importance of propagation effects and polaritons in such heavily debated areas as THz magnonics and THz spectroscopy of electromagnons. It also shows that future progress in these areas calls for an interdisciplinary approach at the interface between magnetism and photonics

Lipopolysaccharide-induced depression-like model in mice: meta-analysis and systematic evaluation

Depression is a complex and biologically heterogeneous disorder. Recent studies have shown that central nervous system (CNS) inflammation plays a key role in the development of depression. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression-like model in mice is commonly used to studying the mechanisms of inflammation-associated depression and the therapeutic effects of drugs. Numerous LPS-induced depression-like models in mice exist and differ widely in animal characteristics and methodological parameters. Here, we systematically reviewed studies on PubMed from January 2017 to July 2022 and performed cardinal of 170 studies and meta-analyses of 61 studies to support finding suitable animal models for future experimental studies on inflammation-associated depression. Mouse strains, LPS administration, and behavioral outcomes of these models have been assessed. In the meta-analysis, forced swimming test (FST) was used to evaluate the effect size of different mouse strains and LPS doses. The results revealed large effect sizes in ICR and Swiss mice, but less heterogeneity in C57BL/6 mice. For LPS intraperitoneal dose, the difference did not affect behavioral outcomes in C57BL/6 mice. However, in ICR mice, the most significant effect on behavioral outcomes was observed after the injection of 0.5 mg/kg LPS. Our results suggests that mice strains and LPS administration play a key role in the evaluation of behavioral outcomes in such models

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover.

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Uncertainty Analysis of Parameters in SST Turbulence Model for Shock Wave-Boundary Layer Interaction

Shock wave-boundary layer interactions (SWBLIs) have a tremendous influence on the performance of hypersonic vehicles. For the numerical simulation of such engineering flows, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) still occupies an irreplaceable role. However, parameters of turbulence models in RANS have substantial uncertainties, which impact the reliability of simulation results. Thus, the aim of the present study is to conduct an uncertainty analysis on parameters in the shear-stress transport (SST) turbulence model for the simulation of SWBLIs. In the current work, uncertainty quantification was performed first. A surrogate model was constructed by the non-intrusive polynomial chaos (NIPC) method to propagate uncertainties from model parameters to the quantities of interests (QoIs) and quantify them. In the subsequent sensitivity analysis, the key parameters were identified for such flow by calculating the Sobol index of each parameter for various QoIs. The results indicate that uncertainties of model parameters led to non-negligible uncertainties in those QoIs, particularly in skin friction and wall heat flux. The parameters α1, σω1, β1 were identified as primary contributors through the sensitivity analysis. Moreover, the specific effects of the three parameters on the flow prediction were analyzed by changing the parameters’ values separately

Analysis of the Impact of Remanufacturing Process Innovation on Closed-Loop Supply Chain from the Perspective of Government Subsidy

Efficient and low-cost remanufacturing can be achieved through process innovation. Consequently, the question of whether government subsidies for remanufacturing process innovation will stimulate improvement in this area and thus affect the closed-loop supply chain is worth discussing. To answer this question, we establish a closed-loop supply chain model consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, taking into account both remanufacturing process innovation and government subsidy. This is done in order to explore the impact of remanufacturing process innovation on the closed-loop supply chain from the perspective of government subsidies. Moreover, the government subsidizes the manufacturer according to the improvement of remanufacturing process innovation levels. Specifically, we analyze the optimal decisions and the social welfare in two models—the benchmark model without government subsidy, and the government subsidy model. Our main findings are threefold. The optimal decisions of the two models vary with the proportion of new products’ production cost and remanufactured products’ production cost. The government subsidy for process innovation does not necessarily improve the profits of the manufacturer, the retailer, and the supply chain system. Moreover, there is a threshold; the government subsidy can hurt the retailer’s profits, and the retailer has no motivation to participate in the sale of new products when the government subsidy is below that threshold. The government subsidy for process innovation does improve overall social welfare and has a lesser environmental impact. The conclusions are also verified by numerical analysis

Neighborhood Built and Social Environment Influences on Lifestyle Behaviors among College Students in a High-Density City: A Photovoice Study

Based on the social ecological approach, a photovoice study was conducted to explore how neighborhood built and social environments facilitate or hinder college students’ lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, active transportation, and dietary behavior. A total of 37 college students took photos about neighborhood built and social environments that may affect their physical activity, dietary behavior, and active transportation, and shared their perceptions about how neighborhood built and social environments influence their lifestyle behaviors. Our findings demonstrated that the availability and accessibility of services, school facilities, and home facilities affected physical activity and dietary behaviors among college students. Moreover, the well-developed transportation facilities and networks benefit college students’ active transportation. Environments-based interventions are recommended in future research to better understand the associations between neighborhood built and social environments and lifestyle behaviors in college students

Ethnic tourism in Singapore

This report explores the ever-present conflict between cultural heritage and commercialised tourism in Singapore’s context. This is especially relevant due to the introduction of manmade attractions in recent years, such as the Singapore Flyer and the Integrated Resorts (IRs). A survey was conducted to gather tourists’ opinions on the cultural heritage tourism scene, specifically ethnic tourism, in Singapore. The findings indicated that culture-related attractions have a substantial appeal in Singapore, despite respondents giving a relatively low attractiveness rating for “Culture & History” as an aspect of Singapore. In fact, tourists are more likely to enjoy visits to culture-related attractions compared to those classified as “Fun and Entertainment”. In addition, respondents were asked to elaborate on their experiences and perspectives on authenticity of the ethnic districts of Singapore, namely Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam. Some differences were noted among the three ethnic districts, such as a perceived higher overall authenticity for Little India compared to Chinatown and Kampong Glam. This study thus contributes to the understanding of cultural heritage (ethnic heritage) as a form of sustainable tourism in Singapore.BUSINES