Complex Arrangement Research Articles

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Observation of formation and local structures of metal-organic layers via complementary electron microscopy techniques

Metal-organic layers (MOLs) are highly attractive for application in catalysis, separation, sensing and biomedicine, owing to their tunable framework structure. However, it is challenging to obtain comprehensive information about the formation and local structures of MOLs using standard electron microscopy methods due to serious damage under electron beam irradiation. Here, we investigate the growth processes and local structures of MOLs utilizing a combination of liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, cryogenic electron microscopy and electron ptychography. Our results show a multistep formation process, where precursor clusters first form in solution, then they are complexed with ligands to form non-crystalline solids, followed by the arrangement of the cluster-ligand complex into crystalline sheets, with additional possible growth by the addition of clusters to surface edges. Moreover, high-resolution imaging allows us to identify missing clusters, dislocations, loop and flat surface terminations and ligand connectors in the MOLs. Our observations provide insights into controllable MOL crystal morphology, defect engineering, and surface modification, thus assisting novel MOL design and synthesis.

Temporomandibular disorders. Part 5: surgical management

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a complex arrangement with high functional requirements. Surgery is therefore only considered when conservative management has not been successful. Surgery may not always benefit and carries the risk of the condition worsening. There is a range of techniques available to the surgeon. The most commonly used is arthrocentesis and this is also the least invasive. The end-stage option for patients is total joint replacement. Whichever surgery the patient has received, it is likely that they will be in need of careful management by the primary care team for their continuing care. This article, the fifth in a series of six, outlines the scope of TMJ surgery. CPD/Clinical Relevance: A range of techniques is available for TMJ surgery, and many post-surgery patients will require routine dental management in the primary care setting.

Utilization of gelatin methacryloyl scaffolds in the regeneration of tooth and its supporting tissues

<p class="abstract">Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) due to its good biocompatibility, modifiable physical properties, and promotion of cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation, serves as excellent scaffolds in tissue engineering and regeneration. These properties of GelMA make it a suitable choice for engineering of tooth and its supporting tissues. The complex spatial arrangement of the tooth along with the anisotropic nature of different tissues associated with it, make its regeneration challenging. Bioprinted GelMA scaffolds offer a great potential in mimicking the tooth architecture. In this study, GelMA scaffold was constructed by one pot method. The Fourier Transfer Infra red spectroscopy of GelMA confirmed the presence of amide bond at 1650 cm-1 (C=O stretching), 1550-1 (C-N stretching) and 1450-1. As evident from previous studies, the application of GelMA in whole tooth regeneration has not been studied exhaustively. However, GelMA has produced effective results in the regeneration of individual tooth components as well as the tooth germ. Therefore, this scaffold is proposed to be used in the whole tooth regeneration process because of its cytocompatiblity, cellular adhesion and tuneable mechanical properties.</p>

The blockchain challenge for Sweden's housing and mortgage markets

This paper investigates how blockchain technology may alter the defining mechanisms of residential real estate transactions in Sweden. It departs from the assumption that blockchain applications do not merely change complex socio-economic, organisational and governance arrangements of mature housing and mortgage markets. Rather, they may trigger resistance among incumbents in the current organisational model, which will drive incremental change. This analysis shows that housing transactions in Sweden are long and complex endeavours, underpinned by exclusivity, uncertainty and information inequalities. A public-private consortium led by Lantmäteriet – a Swedish government agency – has pioneered the use of blockchain technology for the conveyance of a house to address these deficiencies. This project has not moved beyond the proof-of-concept phase, while the socio-technical organisation of transactions has evolved. Insights from institutional and evolutionary approaches help conceptualise how technologically induced and qualitatively different structures and functional effects may change the way housing and mortgage markets will work, thereby highlighting both disruptive potentialities and limitations of blockchain applications for the legacy design underpinning the current Swedish housing transaction system. Following a forensic empirical approach, this paper dissects the organisational architecture, key practices and the linked network of actor groups running Sweden's property and mortgage markets. Results illustrate that understanding concrete blockchain-induced changes and their unintended consequences requires closer scholarly attention at the scale of actor networks, the types of knowledge and technologies, and the micro-geographies in which they are embedded. Such in-depth understanding enables better-informed assessments of the blockchain challenge for complex housing and mortgage markets.

Novel NO2 semicarbazone ligand and its metal complexes as VEGFR‐2 inhibitors: Synthesis, spectral characterization, density functional theory calculations, molecular docking, and antimicrobial and antitumor evaluation

A novel semicarbazone NO2 ligand, H2L, was synthesized. The ligand reacted with several metal ions such as Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Fe(III), Cr(III), and Mn(II) in a molar ratio 1:1 (M:L). The H2L ligand and its metal complexes were characterized by electronic, infrared, mass, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron spin resonance spectra, as well as elemental analysis, thermal analysis, molar conductance, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The Coats–Redfern equations were used to calculate the kinetic parameters (Ea, A, ΔH, ΔS, and ΔG) of the thermal decomposition stages. The H2L ligand acts as dianionic NO2 tridentate in all complexes and coordinates through enolate oxygen, azomethine nitrogen, and deprotonated OH group. The geometrical arrangements in all metal complexes were octahedral geometries. Based on density functional theory (DFT) level implemented in the Gaussian 09 program at B3LYP/6‐311G(d,p) level, the molecular structural parameters of the ligand and its metal complexes were calculated, and the theoretical data were connected with the experimental results. The antimicrobial activity of the current compounds was examined against Gram‐positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis), Gram‐negative bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli), yeast (Candida albicans), and fungus (Aspergillus fumigatus). The antitumor activity of the ligand and its metal complexes was investigated against HepG2 cell line, which revealed promising IC50 values comparable with that of Cis‐platin. All synthesized compounds were also subjected to molecular docking studies to investigate their binding pattern and affinity for the VEGFR‐2 active site and correlated with antitumor data.

Intersections of caste, class, and gender in healthcare sanitation work in India: Social work imperatives for restructuring marginalized women's care work

AbstractHousekeeping and sanitary workers are crucial for the functional efficiency and hygiene of healthcare facilities. In India, women from oppressed castes and backward classes are predominantly recruited in these occupations. The work, regarded as “polluting,” is stigmatized, devalued, and lies at the historical and sociocultural intersections of caste, class, and gender. In the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, this paper utilizes the concepts of “feminization of labor” and “care ethics” to read caste into an intersectional theoretical analysis of the organization of marginalized women's labor in such essential, yet invisibilized healthcare work. An exploratory narrative review of literature focusing exclusively on marginalized healthcare housekeepers and sanitation workers in India is undertaken and supplemented with a critical analysis of labor laws and policies to trace the sustained reproduction of the caste‐based sexual division of labor in these occupations. I propose that their exploitative terms and conditions are sustained by what I refer to as the “feminine caste contract” – a complex sociopolitical and legal arrangement of precarious, casteist, and gendered work conditions. Recognizing the exploitation inherent in this contract, recommendations are made for social work education and practice to play a key role in restructuring marginalized women's labor in essential care work.

Angiofibroma of soft tissue: Current status of pathology and genetics.

Angiofibroma of soft tissue (AFST) is a new soft tissue tumor entity described in the 2020 World Health Organization Classification of Soft Tissue and Bone Tumors. It most often arises in the lower extremities of middle-aged adults and pursues a benign clinical course with a low rate of non-destructive local recurrence. Histologically, the lesion consists of uniform bland spindle cells in a fibromyxoid stroma with a prominent vascular network. The vascular component forms a complex arrangement of small, thin-walled branching blood vessels. By immunohistochemistry, AFST is variably positive for epithelial membrane antigen, desmin, smooth muscle actin, CD34, CD68, CD163 and estrogen receptor. The exact etiology of AFST remains unknown, but it appears genetically distinct, with a balanced t(5;8)(p15;q13) translocation resulting in a fusion of aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) and nuclear receptor coactivator 2 (NCOA2). Knowledge of this recently described entity is important because it can mimic a variety of intermediate and malignant soft tissue tumors, including solitary fibrous tumor, low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma, myxoid liposarcoma and low-grade myxofibrosarcoma. We review AFST, with an emphasis on the diagnostic spectrum, recent molecular genetic features and the differential diagnosis.

Histological and immunohistochemical study of gilthead seabream tongue from the early stage of development: TRPV4 potential roles

BackgroundTaste buds, the morphofunctional units for taste perception, transduce gustatory stimuli using G protein-coupled receptors and a complex arrangement of ion channels, among which TRPV4, a member of the TRP superfamily. Studies on taste buds development on gilthead seabream are unknown, and the TRPV4 expression on fish taste cells studies were conducted only on zebrafish. MethodsIn our study, we have investigated the histological features of the gilthead seabream tongue dorsal surface from the earliest stage of development using Masson trichrome with aniline blue staining. Additionally, the TRPV4 expression pattern was studied by means of immunohistochemical labeling and quantitative RT-PCR. ResultsWe have recorded for the first time on gilthead seabream lingual dorsal surface the presence of, stage-specific, three types of taste buds: type I, type II and type III in larvae, juveniles and adults respectively. At 40 days post-hatching, taste buds were mature-looking. TRPV4 expression was detected in a subpopulation of taste cells of larvae, juveniles, and adults. Furthermore, TRPV4 was expressed in the basal epithelial cells of the tongue at the larvae and juvenile stage, while this expression pattern was more diffused within all the epithelial cell layers in the adult. ConclusionOur findings presume a taste sensory role of TRPV4 in the three stage-specific taste buds and oral epithelia of gilthead seabream. In addition to its sensory role on the epithelial cell layers, we hypothesize that TRPV4 is implicated in epithelial cells differentiation and membrane protection.

3D-printed biomimetic artificial muscles using soft actuators that contract and elongate.

Biomimetic machines able to integrate with natural and social environments will find ubiquitous applications, from biodiversity conservation to elderly daily care. Although artificial actuators have reached the contraction performances of muscles, the versatility and grace of the movements realized by the complex arrangements of muscles remain largely unmatched. Here, we present a class of pneumatic artificial muscles, named GeometRy-based Actuators that Contract and Elongate (GRACE). The GRACEs consist of a single-material pleated membrane and do not need any strain-limiting elements. They can contract and extend by design, as described by a mathematical model, and can be realized at different dimensional scales and with different materials and mechanical performances, enabling a wide range of lifelike movements. The GRACEs can be fabricated through low-cost additive manufacturing and even built directly within functional devices, such as a pneumatic artificial hand that is fully three-dimensionally printed in one step. This makes the prototyping and fabrication of pneumatic artificial muscle-based devices faster and more straightforward.

International organisations as 'custodians' of the sustainable development goals? Fragmentation and coordination in sustainability governance.

It is widely assumed that the fragmentation of global governance can affect coordination efforts among international institutions and organisations. Yet, the precise relationship between the fragmentation of global governance and the extent to which international organisations coordinate their activities remains underexplored. In this article, we offer new empirical evidence derived from the so-called custodianship arrangements in which numerous international organisations have been mandated to coordinate data collection and reporting for 231 indicators of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These complex custodianship arrangements provide a fertile testing ground for theories on the relationship between fragmentation and coordination because the institutional arrangements for each of the 17 SDGs have emerged bottom-up with varying degrees of fragmentation. Through a comparative approach covering 44 custodian agencies and focusing on the most and least fragmented custodianship arrangements, we make three key contributions. First, we offer a novel operationalisation of institutional fragmentation and coordination. Second, we present empirical evidence in support of the claim that fragmentation negatively affects coordination. Third, we provide nuances to this claim by identifying factors that affect the strength of this relationship. Based on our analysis, we suggest further steps that might facilitate coordination in global sustainability governance.

Complex arrangement of early pyroclastic and intrusive rock records onset of intraplate Dunedin Volcano

Little is understood about the birth of composite volcanoes because products of early eruptive activity are buried by products of later eruptions. The oldest rocks of the Dunedin Volcano (active 16.0–11.0 Ma) are exposed at Otapahi (Allans Beach) and allow us to study the inception of a long-lived composite volcano. Seven rock units are visible at Otapahi, investigated with fieldwork and detailed componentry. A bedded deposit of phonolitic pumice clasts is vertically cross-cut by at least three diatreme deposits, as well as a compositionally diverse array of dikes emplaced penecontemporanously with the diatremes. The complicated cross cutting relationships among diatremes and different generations of dikes allow inference of the relative timing of events. Componentry revealed lithic clasts from the underlying Cenozoic sedimentary sequence and basement schist in the oldest diatreme, thus indicating it quarried to basement depths. A lack of coherent cognate igneous clasts in the oldest diatreme is also consistent with the earliest eruption in the area having formed the ~60 m thick bedded pumice deposit. Younger diatremes lack any identified lithic fragments from underlying strata but contain abundant basaltic clasts with compositions matching those of dikes injected penecontemporaneously. The increase of igneous clasts in the younger diatreme deposits, together with the decreasing number of cross-cutting dikes records a chaotic succession of diatreme formation and repeated dike intrusion. This interplay of exogeneous with endogenous processes built an early submarine eruptive centre, and initiated development of a long-lived intraplate composite volcano with activity that persisted across the next 5 million years.

Structural Biology of Cilia and Intraflagellar Transport.

Cilia are ubiquitous microtubule-based eukaryotic organelles that project from the cell to generate motility or function in cellular signaling. Motile cilia or flagella contain axonemal dynein motors and other complexes to achieve beating. Primary cilia are immotile and act as signaling hubs, with receptors shuttling between the cytoplasm and ciliary compartment. In both cilia types, an intraflagellar transport (IFT) system powered by unique kinesin and dynein motors functions to deliver the molecules required to build cilia and maintain their functions. Cryo-electron tomography has helped to reveal the organization of protein complex arrangement along the axoneme and the structure of anterograde IFT trains as well as the structure of primary cilia. Only recently, single-particle analysis (SPA) cryo-electron microscopy has provided molecular details of the protein organization of ciliary components, helping us to understand how they bind to microtubule doublets and how mechanical force propagated by dynein conformational changes is converted into ciliary beating. Here we highlight recent structural advances that are leading to greater knowledge of ciliary function.

The overlooked complexity of avian brood parasite-host relationships.

The relationships between avian brood parasites and their hosts are widely recognised as model systems for studying coevolution. However, while most brood parasites are known to parasitise multiple species of host and hosts are often subject to parasitism by multiple brood parasite species, the examination of multispecies interactions remains rare. Here, we compile data on all known brood parasite–host relationships and find that complex brood parasite–host systems, where multiple species of brood parasites and hosts coexist and interact, are globally commonplace. By examining patterns of past research, we outline the disparity between patterns of network complexity and past research emphases and discuss factors that may be associated with these patterns. Drawing on insights gained from other systems that have embraced a multispecies framework, we highlight the potential benefits of considering brood parasite–host interactions as ecological networks and brood parasitism as a model system for studying multispecies interactions. Overall, our results provide new insights into the diversity of these relationships, highlight the stark mismatch between past research efforts and global patterns of network complexity, and draw attention to the opportunities that more complex arrangements offer for examining how species interactions shape global patterns of biodiversity.

Draft Genome Sequence of Clostridium botulinum Subtype bont/A5(B2').

ABSTRACTHere, we report the draft genome sequence of Clostridium botulinum strain CDC76130, which harbors a rare botulinum toxin gene (bont) complex arrangement of bont/A5 and truncated bont/B2 within the same ha toxin gene cluster.

The hydrodynamic analysis of multiple hydrofoils translating in tandem in presence of a free surface

Hydrofoils find its presence in various engineering applications including high speed marine crafts, blades of hydro-kinetic turbines etc. So, depending on the type of marine application, the foils are arranged in different complex arrangements (i.e. in line, or in tandem) that can alter flow dynamics of the working fluid flowing around them. In order to design efficient marine propulsion systems, it is important to study the effect of different arrangements of hydrofoil systems on its hydrodynamic characteristics (lift, drag, pressure coefficient, velocity contour, etc). In this study, the numerical simulation of fluid flow over a tandem hydrofoils is carried out in presence of a free surface. The present study is limited for a constant Reynolds number of 166,784.8, and at a Froude number of 0.57. The unsteady RANS equations are solved using the volume of fluid (VOF) method embedded in commercial software STAR-CCM+ incorporating [Formula: see text] turbulence model. The first part of the study focuses on varying spacing ratios ( l/ c) that range from 0.1 to 4. In the second part of the study, the angle of attack of the downstream hydrofoil was varied over zero degrees to stall keeping the upstream hydrofoil at a zero degree angle of attack. For both studies, pressure and velocity distributions, lift as well as drag coefficients were evaluated. It is concluded that the presence of a free surface in a close proximity to the foils, different spacing between the hydrofoils, and varying angle of attacks of the downstream hydrofoil have significant effects on the overall performance.

Gromov–Witten theory and invariants of matroids

We use techniques from Gromov–Witten theory to construct new invariants of matroids taking value in the Chow groups of spaces of rational curves in the permutohedral toric variety. When the matroid is realizable by a complex hyperplane arrangement, our invariants coincide with virtual fundamental classes used to define the logarithmic Gromov–Witten theory of wonderful models of arrangement complements, for any logarithmic structure supported on the wonderful boundary. When the boundary is empty, this implies that the quantum cohomology ring of a hyperplane arrangement’s wonderful model is a combinatorial invariant, i.e., it depends only on the matroid. When the boundary divisor is maximal, we use toric intersection theory to convert the virtual fundamental class into a balanced weighted fan in a vector space, having the expected dimension. We explain how the associated Gromov–Witten theory is completely encoded by intersections with this weighted fan. We include a number of questions whose positive answers would lead to a well-defined Gromov–Witten theory of non-realizable matroids.

High-reliability data processing and calculation of microstructural parameters in hydroxyapatite scaffolds produced by vat photopolymerization

The accurate determination of mass transport and microstructural properties within highly-porous trabecular bone specimens and substitutes still represents a challenge due to the complex arrangement in the three-dimensional space, where adjacent pores can be hardly identified due to the open-cell disordered structure resulting from the reciprocal alternation of struts and voids. In the present study, the complete set of mass transport properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds produced by digital light processing (DLP)-based vat photopolymerization was determined by applying the recent Ergun-Wu resistance model. Input data include the intrinsic permeability of the scaffolds, obtained by acoustic experimental measurements, and the equivalent pore diameter, calculated as a function of total porosity and average trabecular size from accurate micro-computed tomography (μ-CT) scans. The results, corroborated by an accurate and robust statistical analysis, were compared with previous literature data and confirmed a feasible and concrete application of DLP-derived HA scaffolds in clinical practice.

Infrastructuring alternative markets: Enabling local food exchange through patchworking

The aim of this paper is to advance our understanding of the complex material arrangements involved in the formation of AFNs by applying the concept of market infrastructure and turning our attention to the process of infrastructuring. Based on an ethnographic study of REKO rings, a network of local food markets, we show how disparate elements, e.g. digital interfaces, parking locations, and Swish (an electronic payment system), are interconnected and configured to form the REKO ring market infrastructure patchwork – an infrastructure made by linking together previously unrelated elements and re-purposing them. We then demonstrate how this patchwork infrastructure enables the formation of market actors, coordination of the market actors’ activities, and the qualification and valuation of foods, thereby making the exchange of alternative food possible. Our analysis of infrastructure patchworking illustrates a different type of infrastructure-making resulting in a temporary and fragile infrastructure which, despite its instability, enables exchange. Drawing on this analysis we argue that the potential of AFNs to take form and impact contemporary modes of food provisioning cannot be understood without exploring the process of infrastructuring.

Statistical shape analysis of brain arterial networks (BAN)

The arterial networks in the human brain, termed brain arterial networks or BANs, are complex arrangements of individual arteries, branching patterns, and interconnectivity. BANs play an essential role in characterizing and understanding brain physiology, and one would like tools for statistically analyzing the shapes of BANs. These tools include quantifying shape differences, comparing populations of subjects, and studying the effects of covariates on these shapes. This paper mathematically represents and statistically analyzes BAN shapes as elastic shape graphs. Each elastic shape graph consists of nodes, or points in 3D, connected by 3D curves, or edges, with arbitrary shapes. We develop a mathematical representation, a Riemannian metric and other geometrical tools, such as computations of geodesics, means, covariances, and PCA, for helping analyze BANs as elastic graphs. We apply this analysis to BANs after dividing them into four components—top, bottom, left, and right. The framework is then used to generate shape summaries of BANs from 92 subjects and study the effects of age and gender on shapes of BAN components. While gender effects require further investigation, we conclude that age has a clear, quantifiable effect on BAN shapes. Specifically, we find an increased variance in BAN shapes as age increases.