Alignment Patterns Research Articles

Age-related changes in cervical sagittal alignment: based on 625 Chinese asymptomatic subjects.

This work aimed to provide a comprehensive description of cervical alignment including cranial arch and caudal arch according to age, thus offering a reference database for cervical deformity treatment. Total 150 males and 475 females aged at 48-88 were enrolled from August 2021 to May 2022. Radiographic parameters were measured, including Occipito-C2 angle (O-C2), C2-7 angle (C2-7), cranial arch, caudal arch, T1-slope (T1s), and C2-7 sagittal vertical axis (C2-7 SVA). Pearson correlation coefficient was employed in analyzing associations among sagittal parameters and between age and each parameter. Five groups were set according to different age stages, namely group with age 40-59 (N = 77), group with age 60-64 (N = 189), group with age 65-69 (N = 214), group with age 70-74 (N = 97), and group with age exceeding 75 (N = 48). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was applied to compare multi-sets of cervical sagittal parameters (CSPs). Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used in assessing the relationships of various cervical alignment patterns with age groups. T1s exhibited the strongest correlation with C2-7 (r = 0.655) and caudal arch (r = 0.561), and moderately correlated with cranial arch (r = 0.355). The positive correlations between age and C2-7 angle (r = 0.189, P < 0.001), cranial arch (r = 0.150, P < 0.001), caudal arch (r = 0.112, P = 0.005), T1s (r = 0.250, P < 0.001), as well as C2-7 SVA (r = 0.090, P = 0.024) were observed. Moreover, two progressive growths of C2-7 were shown after 60-64 and 70-74years old, respectively. Thereof, cranial arch increased greatly after the age of 60-64, followed by a relative stability in the degeneration. The notable growth of caudal arch was observed after the age of 70-74, and the growth remained stable when exceeding the age of 75. The difference between cervical alignment patterns and age groups was obvious (Fisher's exact test P < 0.001). This work explored in detail the normal reference values of cervical sagittal alignment including cranial arch and caudal arch under different age groups. Age-related changes in cervical alignment depended on the increase in the cranial and caudal arches in different proportions with age.

Lexically driven patterns of contact in alignment systems of languages of the northern Upper Amazon

AbstractDespite ample attention in the literature for alignment patterns and case frames more generally, we know very little about how these elements of grammar spread from one language to another in a contact situation. Achieving a better understanding of this will help explain areal patterns in alignment and grammatical relation marking. In this contribution, we zoom in on a contact situation in the foothills of North-West Amazon, where languages of the Quechuan and Tukanoan families are in contact, and where previous authors have suggested that grammatical relation marking shows many potential contact effects. We find that, despite the absence of loanwords, abstract lexico-grammatical information associated with individual lexical items may spread from one language to another, especially within the class of sensation predicates. These can be characterized as lexically driven diffusion patterns, without formal borrowing, consistent with an overall characterization of the area’s sociolinguistics as loanword-avoiding.

A new electoral map? Brexit, realignment and the changing geography of party support in England

Critical elections theory has linked fundamental changes in electoral geography to realignment. In the UK there has been much debate over whether Britain is going through a period of realignment and the extent to which this can be attributed to Brexit. In this paper we assess how far the 2016 EU referendum has contributed to creating a new electoral geography. The 2019 UK General Election was characterised by far-reaching changes to geographical patterns of support for the major parties, with Labour losing many of its ‘red-wall’ seats to the Conservatives, especially those which voted strongly for Brexit. Meanwhile, Labour strengthened its position in the Remain-leaning metropolitan heartlands. We provide a detailed examination of how the geography of support for the ruling Conservative Party changed over-time, before and after the referendum, and the extent to which the new electoral map reflects the geography of Brexit. We find that geographical patterns of party alignment did change abruptly after the 2016 referendum, a pattern which is not consistent with the gradually evolving electoral geography. Moreover, the changes appear to be driven almost entirely by the electoral sorting of voters on either side of the Brexit divide. This suggests that the Brexit electoral shock was a major contributing factor to the reshaping of England's electoral geography.

"Grand-piano sign" as a femoral rotational indicator in both varus and valgus knees: a simulation study of anterior resection surface in total knee arthroplasty.

The "Grand-piano sign" is a popular indicator of the appropriate rotational alignment of the femoral component during total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The aim of the study was to investigate the shape of the anterior femoral resection surface of varus and valgus knees. A cohort of 80 varus knees and 40 valgus knees (hip-knee-ankle angle > 2° for varus and < -2° for valgus knees) matched for age, sex, height, body weight, and KL grade was made using propensity score matching. Virtual TKA was performed using 3 patterns of components (anterior flange flexion angles of 3°, 5°, and 7°). The anterior femoral resection surface was evaluated for 3 patterns of rotational alignments: parallel to the surgical epicondylar axis (NR, neutral rotation), 3° internal rotation (IR), and 3°external rotation (ER) relative to the surgical epicondylar axis. In each anterior femoral resection surface, the vertical height of medial and lateral condyles was measured, and the ratio of the medial to the lateral height (M/L ratio) was evaluated. The M/L ratio in NR for both varus and valgus knees was 0.57 to 0.64, with no significant difference between the cohorts (p value > 0.05). The M/L ratio showed a similar pattern of increasing at IR and decreasing at ER in both varus and valgus knees. The variation in the M/L ratio with malrotation in valgus knees was smaller than in varus knees. During TKA, the anterior femoral resection surface was similar in varus and valgus knees; however, the variation with malrotation was smaller in valgus knees than in varus knees. TKA for valgus knees requires precise surgical technique and careful intraoperative assessment. IV, Case series.

Work–faith integration in the neoliberal age: Women professionals’ alignment of evangelical identity with professional identity in South Korea

Prior studies on work–faith integration have only explained professionals’ negotiation of religious and professional identities within one occupational setting, overlooking how the negotiation diverges in the soaring force of neoliberal regime that intersects with gendered workplace culture. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Korean evangelical women professionals, the article demonstrates how women, proportionately more religious than men, arrive in the alignment of two identities at the workplace. The research finds two patterns of alignments: (1) individual moralising, which is achieved through displaying the narratives of calling and participating in expressive activities, and (2) selective compartmentalising, which is obtained through the practices of setting flexible boundaries and turning evangelical language off. Bringing a neoliberal and gendered perspective to the categorisation of workplaces, this study argues that women are likely to display higher degrees of faith and more evangelical language within less neoliberal-oriented, feminised workplaces than in neoliberal-oriented, masculine ones.

Fisheye-based visual aligned regulation for wheeled mobile robots

In this paper, a fisheye-based visual servo regulation method is proposed for wheeled mobile robots, which utilizes motion planning algorithms to provide trajectories for driving the robot to desired poses in an aligned pattern. To satisfy the wide field-of-view (FOV) requirement in robotic systems, the image projection model of fisheye is analyzed, and derivation and estimation of homography for fisheye vision are implemented to facilitate robotic pose calculation. Compared with traditional visual regulation schemes, motion planning and trajectory tracking techniques are combined to make mobile robots reach given poses in the frontal aligned style, which guarantees the robot to move smoothly and is extendable such as for car-like robots. Desired image trajectories are calculated reversely by the fisheye model with respect to the planned geometric path, and then a tracking controller is employed for maneuvering the mobile robot. Simulation and comparative experimental results are collected to verify effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Multimodal Development in Children's Narrative Speech: Evidence for Tight Gesture-Speech Temporal Alignment Patterns as Early as 5 Years Old.

This study aims to analyze the development of gesture-speech temporal alignment patterns in children's narrative speech from a longitudinal perspective and, specifically, the potential differences between different gesture types, namely, gestures that imagistically portray or refer to semantic content in speech (i.e., referential gestures) and those that lack semantic content (i.e., non-referential gestures). This study uses an audiovisual corpus of narrative productions (n = 332) from 83 children (43 girls, 40 boys) who participated in a narrative retelling task at two time points in development (at 5-6 and 7-9 years of age). The 332 narratives were coded for both manual co-speech gesture types and prosody. Gestural annotations included gesture phasing (i.e., preparation, stroke, hold, and recovery) and gesture types (in terms of referentiality, i.e., referential and non-referential), whereas prosodic annotations included pitch-accented syllables. Results revealed that by ages 5-6 years, children already temporally aligned the stroke of both referential and non-referential gestures with pitch-accented syllables, showing no significant differences between these two gesture types. The results of the present study contribute to the view that both referential and non-referential gestures are aligned with pitch accentuation, and therefore, this is not only a characteristic of non-referential gestures. Our results also add support to McNeill's phonological synchronization rule from a developmental perspective and indirectly back up recent theories about the biomechanics of gesture-speech alignment, suggesting that this is an inherent ability of oral communication.

Alignment Patterns of Romanesque Churches Dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in Soria, Spain

Previous studies have reported that in southern Spain some medieval churches are aligned to sunrise on the canonical equinox, independent of their dedication, and to sunrise on 15th August, for dedications to the Virgin of the Assumption. This paper aims to identify precedents of this tradition in the province of Soria (northeast Spain), where the campaign by Christians to recapture territory held by the Muslims was accomplished in the first third of the twelfth century. This Reconquista was followed by a repopulation process and the building of a large number of rural churches in the Romanesque Repopulation style until the middle of the thirteenth century, many of which are preserved. The paper studies a set of 73 parish churches dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption in Soria, with a subsample of 44 ascribed to the Romanesque. Their azimuths were measured from georeferenced orthophotographs. The normalised sums of probability densities have been computed for azimuths and declinations, and subjected to quantitative statistical assessment by using the confidence envelope curve and total peak area methods. The results reveal that 50% of the churches in the Romanesque subsample have intended alignment patterns. About two thirds of these were aligned toward the “sol aequinoctialis”, which can be evoked by (1) true east (astronomical equinox), and (2) sunrise on 21st or 25th March in the Julian calendar, the dates of the ecclesiastical and canonical equinox, respectively. The remaining third were aligned towards sunrise on 15th August. Data allows discussion on the accuracy in the involved practical methods used for alignments and on some relevant questions on the origin and spread of this tradition.

Monogenetic volcanism in subduction settings: comparative statistical study of the Sierra Chichinautzin and Los Tuxtlas Volcanic Fields in Mexico

Monogenetic fields present significant diversity, yet this diversity has not been fully quantified, and its origin remains elusive. We studied two large subduction-related fields in Mexico, the Sierra Chichinautzin and Los Tuxtlas, that have distinct crustal stress regime and structures, magma compositions, vent types, and climatic conditions. Using recently available 5-m resolution topographical data, we located all the eruptive centers, studied their spatial distribution and analyzed scoria cone shapes in detail, calculating morphometric parameters for the best preserved. We then applied a set of statistical tools to analyze and compare the patterns of vent distribution, vent alignment, and diversity in cone shapes in these two fields. We observe that, despite their distinct setting, the two fields are similar in terms of vent distribution and cone morphology, which shows that this type of data cannot be used alone to infer the tectonic, magmatic, and climatic context of monogenetic fields. It also confirms previous results that the diversity in cone shapes (slope, height-to-diameter ratio) reflects processes that are common to all cones (e.g., ballistic emplacement followed by scoria avalanching on slopes), and hence do not vary significantly (at field-scale) with external parameters. Differences in the crustal stress regime had no apparent impact on vent distribution as the dikes followed active faults, irrespective of their motion. Climatic differences did not affect the shape variety of the studied cones probably because of their young ages (< 50,000 years old) and their location in a vegetated environment. The fields nevertheless differ in size and vent density, as well as scoria cone shape complexity and volume, which can be attributed to differences in the geometry of the magma source for its impact on the closeness of the dikes feeding the activity. Differences in the relative proportion of small cones in both fields are likely due to factors impacting eruptive style such as magma-water interaction, magma composition, and/or fissure lengths.

Material extrusion of highly-loaded silicon nitride aqueous inks for solid infilled structures

The material extrusion technique of direct ink writing (DIW) has garnered recent interest for the ability to create near-net shapes using polymer and/or ceramic based inks using low-cost commercially-available equipment. While most foundational work in the field has shown promise for single-walled structures, the nature of the circular cross-section of extruded ink has led to the reported issue of interfilament voids when multi-walled structures are attempted. In addition, particularly for ceramic-loaded aqueous inks, multi-walled structures have proven difficult to dry post-processing without cracking or void formation. In this study, DIW was used to produce bulk infilled samples of silicon nitride (Si3N4), a high-temperature ceramic of interest for various high-temperature aerospace, automotive, and structural applications. Here, an ink feedstock was developed and modified from an aqueous-based Si3N4 suspension previously developed for room-temperature injection molding. Tailoring the rheological properties for DIW to exhibit low yield stresses (< 100 Pa), and low equilibrium storage moduli (<1000) resulted in little to no interstitial void defects which are common with the infilled aligned print pattern. A drying analysis varying humidity and sample size revealed that bulk infilled samples required a controlled humidity around 90% for the initial drying phase to produce defect free samples. Through careful control of the ink rheology and drying kinetics, mechanical test bars were sintered to high density (∼95%) with four-point flexural strengths greater than 500 MPa (in-line with other reported values for similar sintering conditions). There was no discernable effect of nozzle size (i.e. 1.2 mm or 0.6 mm) on resulting flexural strength, indicating strong interfilament welding. In fact, X-ray CT analysis of fractured mechanical test bars revealed microstructures with minimal large pores (i.e > 100 µm) and no pore channels observed between printed filaments, common issues reported in other works on solid infilled DIW.

The language of knee alignment : updated definitions and considerations for reporting outcomes in total knee arthroplasty.

Orthopaedic surgeons are currently faced with an overwhelming number of choices surrounding total knee arthroplasty (TKA), not only with the latest technologies and prostheses, but also fundamental decisions on alignment philosophies. From 'mechanical' to 'adjusted mechanical' to 'restricted kinematic' to 'unrestricted kinematic' - and how constitutional alignment relates to these - there is potential for ambiguity when thinking about and discussing such concepts. This annotation summarizes the various alignment strategies currently employed in TKA. It provides a clear framework and consistent language that will assist surgeons to compare confidently and contrast the concepts, while also discussing the latest opinions about alignment in TKA. Finally, it provides suggestions for applying consistent nomenclature to future research, especially as we explore the implications of 3D alignment patterns on patient outcomes.Cite this article: Bone Joint J2023;105-B(2):102-108.

Fluidity in argument indexing in Komnzo

AbstractThis article addresses the verb morphology of Komnzo, a language of Southern New Guinea. It provides a description of verb indexing in Section 1, which is followed by a corpus analysis of a small class of verbs. Komnzo verb morphology encodes transitivity by distinct alignment patterns in the verb morphology, which I call ‘verb templates.’ Templates encode participant constellation, e.g. transitive or ditransitive, as well as event structure, e.g. dynamic versus stative. The system allows for some fluidity as to which lexemes can be used in which template. In addition to the description, the main contribution of the article lies in an in-depth examination of the interaction between lexical semantics and the morphological structure in Komnzo. This article takes an empirical approach, which draws on evidence from a text corpus of over 12 h of natural speech and comprises more than 12,000 inflected verb forms.

Pattern of global spin alignment of ϕ and K*0 mesons in heavy-ion collisions.

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange1, a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a considerable challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, in which quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely ϕ and K*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields2-6, that is, an effective proxy description within the standard model and quantum chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields.

Directionality quantification of in vitro grown dorsal root ganglion neurites using Fast Fourier Transform

BackgroundThe directionality analysis of the neurite outgrowths is an important methodology in neuroscience, especially in determining the behavior of neurons grown on silicon substrates. New methodHere we aimed to describe the methodology for quantification of the directionality of neurites based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). We performed an image analysis case study that incorporates several software solutions and provides a rapid and precise technique to determine the directionality of neurites. In order to elicit aligned or unaligned neurite growth patterns, we used adult and newborn dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons grown on silicon micro-pillar substrates (MPS) with different pillar widths and spacing. ResultsCompared to the control glass surfaces the neonatal and adult N52 and IB4 DRG neurites exhibited regular growth patterns more pronounced in the MPS regions with s narrow pillar spacing range. The neurites were preferentially oriented along three directional axes at 30°, 90°, and 150°. ConclusionThe proposed methodology showed that FFT analysis is a reliable and easily reproducible method that can be successfully used to test growth patterns of DRG neurites grown on different substrates by considering the direction and angle of the neurites as well as the size of the soma.

Spin polarization and alignment in heavy-ion collisions

We report the measurements of global spin polarization of hyperons (PΛ) from FAIR, RHIC and LHC energies. The PΛ continues to follow an increasing trend at √SNN &lt; 7.7 GeV indicating that enormous vorticity prevails even in hadronic dominant region. New measurements of local spin polarization (Pz,2) from isobar collisions follow the same pattern observed in previous RHIC and LHC energies. An observable motivated by predicted baryonic Spin Hall Effect, the net local polarization (Pz,2net), show a negative value in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 19.6 and 27 GeV. The first Pz measurement with respect to third order harmonic in 200 GeV RHIC isobar collisions shows a non-zero sine modulation, indicating the presence of complex vortical structure in the medium. Surprising new patterns of spin alignment (ρ00) for various vector mesons (K*0, K*±, ϕ and J/ψ emerged at both RHIC and LHC energies. The large deviation in ρ00 of several species poses challenge to the theory.

Second Harmonic Generation Morphometry of Muscle Cytoarchitecture in Living Cells.

The architectural structure of cells is essential for the cells' function, which becomes especially apparent in the highly "structure functionally" tuned skeletal muscle cells. Here, structural changes in the microstructure can have a direct impact on performance parameters, such as isometric or tetanic force production. The microarchitecture of the actin-myosin lattice in muscle cells can be detected noninvasively in living cells and in 3D by using second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy, forgoing the need to alter samples by introducing fluorescent probes into them. Here, we provide tools and step-by-step protocols to guide the processes of obtaining SHG microscopy image data from samples, as well as extracting characteristic values from the image data to quantify the cellular microarchitecture using characteristic patterns of myofibrillar lattice alignments.

Strain Gradient Programming in 3D Fibrous Hydrogels to Direct Graded Cell Alignment (Small Methods 1/2023)

Inside Front Cover In article number 2201070, Lesman and co-workers use controlled geometry and external stretch to generate programmable gradients in strain and fiber alignment across 3D biological gels, leading to spatial controlled over cell alignment patterns. It provides a new technology for mechanobiology and tissue engineering applications.

Whole genome analyses for c-type cytochromes associated with respiratory chains in the extreme thermophile, Thermus thermophilus.

In thermophilic microorganisms, c-type cytochrome (cyt) proteins mainly function in the respiratory chain as electron carriers. Genome analyses at the beginning of this century revealed a variety of genes harboring the heme c motif. Here, we describe the results of surveying genes with the heme c motif, CxxCH, in a genome database comprising four strains of Thermus thermophilus, including strain HB8, and the confirmation of 19 c-type cytochromes among 27 selected genes. We analyzed the 19 genes, including the expression of four, by a bioinformatics approach to elucidate their individual attributes. One of the approaches included an analysis based on the secondary structure alignment pattern between the heme c motif and the 6th ligand. The predicted structures revealed many cyt c domains with fewer β-strands, such as mitochondrial cyt c, in addition to the β-strand unique to Thermus inserted in cyt c domains, as in T. thermophilus cyt c552 and caa3 cyt c oxidase subunit IIc. The surveyed thermophiles harbor potential proteins with a variety of cyt c folds. The gene analyses led to the development of an index for the classification of cyt c domains. Based on these results, we propose names for T. thermophilus genes harboring the cyt c fold.

Investigation of the Oriented Structure Characteristics of Shale Using Fractal and Structural Entropy Theory

Unconventional shale reservoirs and typical fine-grained rocks exhibit complicated, oriented features at various scales. Due to the complex geometry, combination and arrangement of grains, as well as the substantial heterogeneity of shale, it is challenging to analyze the oriented structures of shale accurately. In this study, we propose a model that combines both multifractal and structural entropy theory to determine the oriented structures of shale. First, we perform FE–SEM experiments to specify the microstructural characteristics of shale. Next, the shape, size and orientation parameters of the grains and pores are identified via image processing. Then fractal dimensions of grain flatness, grain alignment and pore orientation are calculated and substituted into the structural entropy equation to obtain the structure-oriented entropy model. Lastly, the proposed model is applied to study the orientation characteristic of the Yan-Chang #7 Shale Formation in Ordos Basin, China. A total of 1470 SEM images of 20 shale samples is analyzed to calculate the structure-oriented entropy (SOE) of Yan-Chang #7 Shale, whose values range from 0.78 to 0.96. The grains exhibit directional arrangement (SOE ≥ 0.85) but are randomly distributed (SOE &lt; 0.85). Calculations of samples with different compositions show that clay and organic matters are two major governing factors for the directivity of shale. The grain alignment pattern diagram analyses reveal three types of orientation structures: fusiform, spider-like and eggette-like. The proposed model can quantitatively evaluate the oriented structure of shale, which helps better understand the intrinsic characteristics of shale and thereby assists the successful exploitation of shale resources.

Abstract B010: Dynamics of fibril collagen remodeling in early DCIS invasions: integrating in silico modeling and tumor histology

Abstract Progression from a ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to an invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) involves changes in the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) fibril patterns before and during the development of ductal microinvasions, i.e., small cohorts of tumor cells that breach the duct and migrate through the stroma. We used a combination of mathematical modeling (with the hybrid agent-based model silicoDCIS) and advanced image analysis techniques applied to histological and fluorescent images in order to identify the rules of cell-ECM interactions that guide the emergence of various alignment patterns of the ECM fibrils. This includes the three tumor associated collagen signatures (TACS) previously observed in laboratory experiments. This integrated approach provides an in silico tool for testing biomechanical hypotheses of tumor cell-tumor matrix interactions. These findings can be compared to the patient histology samples and may help to define criteria for identification of DCIS to IDC transition and future development of new diagnostic methods. Citation Format: Katarzyna A. Rejniak, Sharan Poonja, Shreya Mathur, Mehdi Damaghi, Marilyn Bui. Dynamics of fibril collagen remodeling in early DCIS invasions: integrating in silico modeling and tumor histology [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Rethinking DCIS: An Opportunity for Prevention?; 2022 Sep 8-11; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2022;15(12 Suppl_1): Abstract nr B010.