Complex Set Research Articles

Bernstein–Remez inequality for algebraic functions: A topological approach

By taking full advantage of the structure of complex algebraic curves and by using compactness arguments, in this paper we give a self-contained proof that holomorphic algebraic functions verify a uniform Bernstein–Remez inequality. Namely, their growth over a bounded, open, complex set is uniformly controlled by their size on a compact complex subset of sufficiently high cardinality. Up to our knowledge, the first known demonstration on the existence of such an inequality for a specific subset of algebraic functions is contained in Nekhoroshev’s 1973 breakthrough on the genericity of close-to-integrable Hamiltonian systems that are stable over long time. Despite its pivotal rôle, this passage of Nekhoroshev’s proof has remained unnoticed so far. This work aims at extending and generalizing Nekhoroshev’s arguments to a modern framework. We stress the fact that our proof is different from the one contained in Roytwarf and Yomdin’s seminal work (1998), where Bernstein-type inequalities are proved for several classes of functions.

Hephaestus : Codesigning and Automating 3D Image Registration on Reconfigurable Architectures

Healthcare is a pivotal research field, and medical imaging is crucial in many applications. Therefore finding new architectural and algorithmic solutions would benefit highly repetitive image processing procedures. One of the most complex tasks in this sense is image registration, which finds the optimal geometric alignment among 3D image stacks and is widely employed in healthcare and robotics. Given the high computational demand of such a procedure, hardware accelerators are promising real-time and energy-efficient solutions, but they are complex to design and integrate within software pipelines. Therefore, this work presents an automation framework called Hephaestus that generates efficient 3D image registration pipelines combined with reconfigurable accelerators. Moreover, to alleviate the burden from the software, we codesign software-programmable accelerators that can adapt at run-time to the image volume dimensions. Hephaestus features a cross-platform abstraction layer that enables transparently high-performance and embedded systems deployment. However, given the computational complexity of 3D image registration, the embedded devices become a relevant and complex setting being constrained in memory; thus, they require further attention and tailoring of the accelerators and registration application to reach satisfactory results. Therefore, with Hephaestus , we also propose an approximation mechanism that enables such devices to perform the 3D image registration and even achieve, in some cases, the accuracy of the high-performance ones. Overall, Hephaestus demonstrates 1.85× of maximum speedup, 2.35× of efficiency improvement with respect to the State of the Art, a maximum speedup of 2.51× and 2.76× efficiency improvements against our software, while attaining state-of-the-art accuracy on 3D registrations.

Quantitative Diagnosis of Water Resources Carrying Capacity Obstacle Factors Based on Connection Number and TOPSIS in Huaibei Plain

To further quantitatively assess the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) system and analyze and identify the regional water resources carrying state and the physical mechanism of the state change, WRCC and obstacle factor diagnosis were carried out. In this paper, we proposed the mobility matrix to determine the connection number components, considered the dynamic attributes of the difference degree coefficient, and calculated it using the semi-partial subtraction set pair potential and triangular fuzzy number, so as to construct the quantitative diagnosis method of regional WRCC obstacle factors based on the connection number and TOPSIS. The results applied to six cities in the Huaibei Plain showed that the WRCC fluctuated around grade 2 and was in a poor state, which was mainly due to the insufficient support force; the water resources carrying state of the six cities gradually improved from 2011 to 2018, but the state became worse in 2019, which was related to the low precipitation in that year, the reduction in water resources, and the high degree of water resource utilization. The WRCC of Fuyang and Huainan was worse than that of the other four cities; over the 9 years, the average grades of Fuyang and Huainan were 2.26 and 2.43, while those of Huainan, Bozhou, Suzhou, and Bengbu were 2.19, 2.12, 2.05, and 2.05, respectively. The key obstacles limiting the improvement in the WRCC of the Huaibei Plain were per capita water resources, annual water production modulus, per capita water supply, vegetation coverage ratio, utilization ratio of water resources, water consumption per 104 yuan value-added by industry, and population density. In time, the key obstacle factors in neighboring years generally tended to have similarity, and conversely appeared as a difference; in space, neighboring regions showed similarity and conversely presented as a difference. The results of this study can offer technical support and a decision-making basis for water resources management in the Huaibei Plain. The method constructed in this paper is extremely interpretive, easy to calculate, highly sensitive, and reliable in application results, which opens up a new perspective for the rational determination of the connection number and the difference degree coefficient and provides a new intelligent way to determine the state of a complex set pair system and its causal mechanism analysis and diagnosis of obstacle factors.

The Interplay of Physiological and Biochemical Response to Short-Term Drought Exposure in Garlic (Allium sativum L.).

The impacts of global climate change and a rapid increase in population have emerged as major concerns threatening global food security. Environmental abiotic stress, such as drought, severely impairs plants' morphology, physiology, growth, and yield more than many other environmental factors. Plants use a complex set of physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms to combat the negative effects caused by drought-induced stress. The aim of this study was to investigate morphological, spectral, physiological, and biochemical changes occurring in 30 garlic accessions exposed to short-term drought stress in a greenhouse setting and to identify potential early drought-induced stress markers. The results showed that, on average, garlic plants exposed to drought conditions exhibited a decrease in assimilation, transpiration, and stomatal conductance of 39%, 52%, and 50%, respectively, and an average increase in dry matter and proline content of 10.13% and 14.29%, respectively. Nevertheless, a significant interaction between the treatment and accessions was observed in the investigated photosynthetic and biochemical parameters. The plants' early response to drought ranged from mild to strong depending on garlic accession. Multivariate analysis showed that accessions with a mild early drought response were characterized by higher values of assimilation, transpiration, and stomatal conductance compared to plants with moderate or strong early drought response. Additionally, accessions with strong early drought response were characterized by higher proline content, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant capacity as measured by FRAP compared to accessions with mild-to-moderate early drought response.

Extent and significance of the Racklan–Forward Orogen in Canada: far-field interior reactivation during Nuna assembly

Abstract Mesoproterozoic orogenesis is well established on the western and southern flanks of Laurentia in the well-known Racklan–Forward and Mazatzal orogens, but its significance within the previously assembled interior of the supercontinent Nuna has not been established. We examine regional isotopic and structural evidence for Mesoproterozoic deformation in the c. 1.7–1.63 Ga Hornby Bay, Elu, Thelon and Athabasca intracontinental basins, and present evidence for Mesoproterozoic reactivation of Paleoproterozoic structures in the Wopmay and Trans-Hudson orogens. The Racklan–Forward Orogeny in the interior of north Laurentia comprises north–south-trending, high-angle, east-vergent folds and thrusts that occur across a region 1660 km wide and over 1000 km long, stretching from the Yukon to near Hudson Bay and from Banks Island to below the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. The structures progress from ductile amphibolite and greenschist facies in the Racklan type area to sub-greenschist facies and ultimately brittle or brittle-ductile in the far foreland, showing a predominant thick-skinned style typical of many intracontinental orogens. We present compiled low-temperature thermochronological data, including ages of spatially associated uraninite mineralization, to characterize the scope of reactivation of basement structures in the Archean Rae craton in Nuna's interior. We compare the nature of widespread far-field reactivation in the Racklan–Forward Orogen with other orogens of Nuna's assembly to show it is unusual for Nuna's peripheral margin. We suggest that c. 1.6 Ga continent–continent collision of North Australia with NW Laurentia propagated stresses far into the interior as a result of combined favourable pre-existing structural grain and a weak subcontinental lithospheric mantle in the Rae craton due to repeated episodes of refertilization across 500 Ma of accretion and intrusion. Cratons that experience the complex, two-sided collision and protracted upper plate setting during supercontinent assembly noted herein may be particularly susceptible to extensive foreland propagation of peripheral orogens.

Germanium: distribution, migration and accumulation in the natural environment

In this paper we attempt to generalize information published in the scientific literature about the distribution, migration and accumulation of chemical forms of germanium in the natural environment, with the main attention paid to the content of this trace element in various components of the environment. Despite the fact that germanium is found in the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere it is one of the least studied elements in mineral and geochemical terms. It belongs to rare scattered elements with a relatively high migration capacity in the earth's crust and on its surface. Depending on the physical and chemical conditions, the mineral and lithogenesis of germanium can exhibit different properties, which determines the variety of ways of its migration. The nature and form of migration of germanium in the natural environment is not determined only by its chemical properties but also by a complex set of reactions of interaction with various underground water addendums, the granulometric and chemical-mineralogical composition of soil-forming rocks and soils, biogenic and technogenic processes. Studies have shown that the content of germanium in natural waters, soils and plants can vary widely and depends on many factors. In particular, its concentration in groundwater and surface water depends on the natural geological environment, pressure, temperature, meteorological and anthropogenic factors; soil by their type, region, features of soil-forming processes, chemical composition of the parent rocks, climatic conditions and amounts of organic substances; in plants by their species and varietal facilities, the growth stage of the plants, the availability of soils by this element, the forms of germanium compounds in the soil (inorganic or organic), the ability of soil to retain labile form of germanium and climatic conditions. Analysis of the actual content of germanium in diets indicates an insufficient level of provision of the human body with this trace element, due to its low concentrations in food and water. However, it has been suggested that any products with a high content of germanium may pose a risk to human health through its toxic effects.

Border Carbon Adjustments: Should Production or Consumption be Taxed?

AbstractBorder Carbon Adjustments (BCAs) may play an important role in lowering the economic costs of greenhouse gas mitigation and in overcoming political-economy constraints on the use of carbon taxes or equivalent measures. A carbon tax plus a full BCA could deal with the competitiveness challenges arising from carbon taxes by using the WTO's National Treatment principle to apply equal levies on domestic production and on imports, and by symmetrically rebating the carbon tax on exports in the manner of a value-added tax (VAT) export rebate. This approach would shift the base for carbon taxation from production to demand and potentially achieve substantial reductions in the cost of cutting emissions. It would avoid the massive measurement and compliance problems associated with BCAs based on foreign emission intensities. By contrast, import-only BCAs distort prices of importables relative to exportables; create divisive trade conflicts and deterioration in the terms of trade for developing countries; and likely require development of complex sets of import preferences.

ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING MATERNAL MORTALITY IN THE CASE OF POOR COUNTRIES

This article presents an observational study aimed at understanding the complex set of factors influencing maternal mortality, the prevalence of anemia among non-pregnant women, and road traffic injuries among HIV-infected women in poor countries. Using panel data from 10 poor countries as sample observations from around the world, econometric models were developed to explore the complex relationships between maternal mortality and important health indicators.

Stressful life events during the perimenopause: longitudinal observations from the seattle midlife women’s health study

BackgroundMidlife is a time of increased responsibilities for women who have multiple roles including taking care of children, caring for elderly parents, managing households, and working outside the home. With little time for themselves, women additionally experience stressful life events (SLEs). The purpose of this study was to describe the longitudinal patterns of SLEs of women during midlife and to identify predictors of the SLE longitudinal patterns using baseline data of socio-economic factors and demographic characteristics.MethodsWomen who were part of the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study (SMWHS), a longitudinal study spanning more than 23 years, who had SLEs measured at baseline and at years 2, 7, and 10 were included in these analyses (N = 380 women at baseline). The Life Event Scale (LES), a 70-item scale based on a yes/no response and a Likert-based scoring system with 0 (no effect) to 4 (large effect), was used to determine the total and impact scores of midlife women. The LES was adapted to midlife women from the Norbeck Scale for younger, pregnant women. Analytic strategies consisted of a group-based trajectory model (GBTM) to examine subgroups of women with similar exposure to SLEs using socio-economic factors (gross family income, education, race/ethnicity, employment), demographic variables (age, marital status, being a parent), and menopausal transition stage to differentiate trajectories over time.ResultsApproximately 86% of women had medium high exposure to undesirable SLEs with a slight decrease (65.5%), or a sharp decrease (20.1%), over 10 years. The majority (approximately 64%) had moderate, sustained impact ratings, while approximately 35% had impact ratings that decreased over time. Most women (approximately 88%) reported desirable life events, which were sustained over the ten years, and which may help to balance or offset the high ratings of undesirable stressful life events. The rated impact of these desirable events decreased slightly over time for 65% of the sample. Socio-economic factors, demographic variables, and menopausal transition stages were not significant predictors of any of the four GBTMs.ConclusionMidlife women experience SLEs throughout the menopausal transition. Most of these midlife women had had a large amount of sustained stress over 10 years although all trajectories decreased to some extent over time. Since the menopausal transition stages were not significant predictors of the ratings of SLEs, a more complex set of factors, including social as well as biological, may explain the ratings of the women over the course of this ten-year observational study.

In Search of Disentanglement in Tandem Mass Spectrometry Datasets.

Generative modeling and representation learning of tandem mass spectrometry data aim to learn an interpretable and instrument-agnostic digital representation of metabolites directly from MS/MS spectra. Interpretable and instrument-agnostic digital representations would facilitate comparisons of MS/MS spectra between instrument vendors and enable better and more accurate queries of large MS/MS spectra databases for metabolite identification. In this study, we apply generative modeling and representation learning using variational autoencoders to understand the extent to which tandem mass spectra can be disentangled into their factors of generation (e.g., collision energy, ionization mode, instrument type, etc.) with minimal prior knowledge of the factors. We find that variational autoencoders can disentangle tandem mass spectra data with the proper choice of hyperparameters into meaningful latent representations aligned with known factors of variation. We develop a two-step approach to facilitate the selection of models that are disentangled, which could be applied to other complex and high-dimensional data sets.

Complexity, Diversity, Homogeneity and Topology Measures Re-Define Biological Tumor Aggressiveness as a Function of Intercellular Connectivity

Similarity between patterns of cellular self-organization in primary tumor and in its normal counterpart underlies the concept of biological tumor aggressiveness. That subjective parameter is supposed to correlate with both dynamics of local tumor growth and the risk of progression. Subjective evaluation during the microscopic examination is inaccurate. The co-application of fractal geometry and algebraic topology offers a novel perspective. A set of prostate carcinomas comprising all patterns of self-organization was classified according to complexity and entropy to investigate how complexity relates to topology of the patterns. Prostate carcinomas evolve from order to disorder along the increasing entropy as many physical dynamic complex systems do. Carcinomas can be classified into the classes of complexity equivalence according to both the values of the global fractal dimensions D0 or D1 and the Shannon entropy H. Topological measures, such as the bottleneck distance or the Wasserstein distance reveal different topology in very low- and low-aggressive prostate carcinomas (class C1, C2, C3) in comparison with high-aggressive carcinomas (class C6, C7). This is contingent on the appearance of infiltrating cancer cells. While the persistent homology entropy Hph remains similar in all classes, the persistent barcode entropy Hpb is significantly decreased in class C1 and increased in class C7 in comparison with the other ones. Patterns of self-organization can now be defined according to changes in intercellular connectivity by the set of complexity, diversity, homogeneity, and topology measures.

OVERVIEW OF THE COASTAL TEXAS MEGA PROJECT

The Texas Gulf coast is a complex system with numerous narrow inlets and broad back bays with intricate river and bayou networks. Due to its complex settings, the Texas coast is susceptible to extreme compound flooding due to fluvial, pluvial, and surge during hurricanes and tropical storms. Five of the top six largest tropical cyclone rainfall totals in the continental U.S. have occurred in Texas (USACE 2021a). The Texas coast is also one of the United States most dynamic regions in terms of population and economic growth. According to the Bureau of Economic Geology, twenty five percent of the population and thirty three percent of the economic resources of Texas are located along the 360 mile long coast. The objective of the Coastal Texas Study was to improve our capabilities to prepare for, resist, recover and adapt to extreme events. A “Multiple Lines of Defense” strategy was used in the Coastal Texas study to design cost-effective, environmentally friendly solutions that will reduce risks of storms impacting the coastal communities and restore important wildlife habitat at the same time.

Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings, Oscar Odena (ed.) (2023)

Reviewe of: Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings, Oscar Odena (ed.) (2023) New York: Routledge Press, 290 pp., ISBN 978-1-03203-719-6, h/bk, £90

Bayesian Inferences on Uncertain Ranks and Orderings: Application to Ranking Players and Lineups

It is common to be interested in rankings or order relationships among entities. In complex settings where one does not directly measure a univariate statistic upon which to base ranks, such inferences typically rely on statistical models having entity-specific parameters. These can be treated as random effects in hierarchical models characterizing variation among the entities. In this paper, we are particularly interested in the problem of ranking basketball players in terms of their contribution to team performance. Using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States, we find that many players have similar latent ability levels, making any single estimated ranking highly misleading. The current literature fails to provide summaries of order relationships that adequately account for uncertainty. Motivated by this, we propose a Bayesian strategy for characterizing uncertainty in inferences on order relationships among players and lineups. Our approach adapts to scenarios in which uncertainty in ordering is high by producing more conservative results that improve interpretability. This is achieved through a reward function within a decision theoretic framework. We apply our approach to data from the 2009–2010 NBA season.

Validation of Skin Perfusion Monitoring by Imaging PPG versus Laser Speckle Imaging

Abstract Assessment of skin perfusion can reveal signs of deterioration and help to prevent critical states. Commonly applied clinical tests to capture skin perfusion are subjective and often hard to quantify. Laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA) is a technique that can capture skin perfusion at high spatial and temporal resolution. LASCA requires, however, a complex setting and is not suited for monitoring under clinical conditions. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) might be an easy to use alternative. However, direct comparisons of LASCA and iPPG, and thus proves of iPPG’s capabilities to capture skin microperfusion, are rare. In this work, we compare the longitudinal development of the amplitude of green channel and near-infrared iPPG and LASCA after application of a hyperemic test. Our results show statistically significant increases in amplitude over time in all modalities. The maximum increase in median normalized amplitude is 1.281 for the green channel, 0.594 for near-infrared and 1.111 for LASCA. Median Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of the amplitude for green channel and LASCA is r= 0.89 and r= 0.71 for near-infrared and LASCA.

The ethics of care in community music

A common theme in the articles published in IJCM issue 16:3 is that of the ethics of care. Regardless of context, from retirement care homes to prisons, community music, as it originates in the impulse of ‘intervention’, is premised on care. Although individual instances of community music activity may be governed by rules and policies of a sponsoring organization, community music, as a field held together by its commitment to shared ideals, must grapple with the ethics of care on a voluntary basis. The articles by Clorinda Panebianco and Melani Fouche, Debra Joubert, Tarina Wilkinson and Liesl van der Merwe, Deanna Yerichuk and Cynthia Kinnunen, Iris Kennedy and Margaret S. Barrett, and Edward D. Messerschmidt all help to advance our understandings of care in community music. The issue concludes with two book reviews: Laura Risk reviews Josephine Miller’s (2022) Community-based Traditional Music in Scotland: A Pedagogy of Participation; Lee Willingham reviews Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings (2023), edited by Oscar Odena.

Prediction of protein interactions is essential for studying biomolecular mechanisms.

Structural characterization of protein interactions is essential for our ability to understand and modulate physiological processes. Computational approaches to modeling of protein complexes provide structural information that far exceeds capabilities of the existing experimental techniques. Protein structure prediction in general, and prediction of protein interactions in particular, has been revolutionized by the rapid progress in Deep Learning techniques. The work of Schweke etal. (Proteomics 2023, 23, 2200323) presents a community-wide study of an important problem of distinguishing physiological protein-protein complexes/interfaces (experimentally determined or modeled) from non-physiological ones. The authors designed and generated a large benchmark set of physiological and non-physiological homodimeric complexes, and evaluated a large set of scoring functions, as well as AlphaFold predictions, on their ability to discriminate the non-physiological interfaces. The problem of separating physiological interfaces from non-physiological ones is very difficult, largely due to the lack of a clear distinction between the two categories in a crowded environment inside a living cell. Still, the ability to identify key physiologically significant interfaces in the variety of possible configurations of a protein-protein complex is important. The study presents a major data resource and methodological development in this important direction for molecular and cellular biology.

Collective Behavior of Asperities Before Large Stick‐Slip Events

AbstractThe multi‐scale roughness of a fault interface is responsible for multiple asperities that establish a complex and discrete set of real contacts. Since asperities control the initiation and evolution of the fault slip, it is important to explore the intrinsic relationships between the collective behavior of local asperities and the frictional stability of the global fault. Here we propose a novel analog experimental approach, which allows us to capture the temporal evolution of the slip of each asperity on a faulting interface. We find that many destabilizing events at the local asperity scale occurred in the slip‐strengthening stage which is conventionally considered as the stable regime of a fault. We compute the interseismic coupling to evaluate the slipping behaviors of asperities during the slip‐strengthening stage. We evidence that the interseismic coupling can be affected by the elastic interactions between asperities through the embedding soft matrix. Scaling laws of natural slow slip events are reproduced by our setup in particular the moment‐duration scaling. We also evidence an unexpected persistency of a disordering of the asperities through the seismic cycles despite the relaxation effects of the large slip events.

Relocation of Earthquake Hypocenter Using Double-Difference Method in Western Part of Sumatera

The western part of Sumatra has a fairly complex tectonic setting where there is a convergent meeting between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate. These plates form a subduction zone and also the Sumatran Fault. The subduction zone and the Sumatran Fault cause many earthquakes in western Sumatra. This study will identify the location of the earthquake hypocenter, which is quite accurately obtained by relocating the hypocenter and making a cross-section in order to analyze the subduction zone and the Sumatran Fault. Hypocenter relocation can be done using the double difference (DD) method using the hypoDD program. This study used data on the arrival time of P and S waves from BMKG in the range of January 2016 to December 2020. The results of the relocation indicate that contains several earthquakes in groups with an average depth of fewer than 60 km that is close to the main source of the earthquake, namely the subduction zone and the Sumatran Fault, so it can be said that this area has a high level of seismicity.

Relationship between fluorescence and IR parameters of oil inclusions and crude oils in the Dongpu Depression (Bohai Bay Basin, China)

The Dongpu Depression is an important petroliferous basin in China with abundance of hydrocarbons. The fluorescence characteristics of inclusion oils and their relationship with the present-day produced crude oils have never been systematically studied in the basin scale. This knowledge can further clarify ambiguities in petroleum system modeling and support exploration efforts in the area. To this end, core samples and crude oils were collected from the Shahejie Formation (Paleogene) in the Dongpu Depression to perform fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy from the source rock and the reservoir. Results show that the fluorescence characteristics of oil inclusions in the source rocks are consistent with oil inclusions in the reservoirs in the northern part of the depression, showing blue, green, yellow and orange fluorescence colors; whereas orange fluorescence is absent in the southern part in inclusions. Moreover, lack of a robust relationship between λmax and QF-535 suggests crude oils have gone through secondary alterations towards becoming heavy oil. Herein, comparison between the IR (CH2/CH3) and fluorescence parameters (λmax and QF-535) illustrates that CH2/CH3, although is suitable for organic matter thermal maturity assessment, cannot be directly applied to the expelled oils. Moreover, the occurrence of orange fluorescing oils in the horsts can be accounted for a higher hydrocarbon potential in these areas. Additionally, establishing a clear relationship between fluorescence and IR parameters failed in certain strata or structural unit, proving a complex tectonic setting of the depression. Overall, this study reveals the geologic nature of the Dongpu Depression is very complicated, which means additional analytical studies to resolve the oil-source correlation problem, in particular, would be necessary.