Distinctive Features Research Articles

The subarctic ancient Lake El'gygytgyn harbours the world's northernmost 'limnostygon community' and reshuffles crangonyctoid systematics (Crustacea, Amphipoda).

The northward distribution limit of groundwater fauna is generally dictated by the extent of glacial ice sheets during the Pleistocene. However, some taxa can be found far above this limit, sometimes on isolated oceanic islands, implying long-term survival in subglacial subterranean refugia. Here we report a peculiar assemblage comprising two new depigmented and blind (stygomorphic) amphipods from the subarctic ancient lake El'gygytgyn (northern Far East): Palearcticarellus hyperboreus sp. nov. and Pseudocrangonyx elgygytgynicus sp. nov. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on five markers confirm their affinity to Crangonyctidae and Pseudocrangonyctidae, respectively. Fossil-calibrated molecular dating indicates that the ages of both species predate the onset of Pleistocene glaciations by at least an order of magnitude. Although both species are clearly adapted for subterranean life and are related to groundwater taxa, they are only known from the lake waters (5-170-m depth). Despite being nested within Pseudocrangonyctidae, P. elgygytgynicus has an atypical third uropod that preserves a vestigial inner ramus, a trait characteristic to the monotypic sister family Crymostygidae. Given that this character was the main distinguishing feature between the two families, we propose merging Crymostygidae with Pseudocrangonyctidae. Our findings represent the world's northernmost record of stygomorphic amphipods, emphasising their relictual biogeography and the importance of Lake El'gygytgyn as a long-term, high latitude refugium for ancient pre-glacial fauna. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3A51D1F8-E65D-4A3A-B663-D5C40272E68B.

Classifying Female Sexual Homicide Offenders: A Latent Class Analysis of Murder Arrestees in the U.S.

ABSTRACTResearch on sexual homicides has primarily focused on male offenders, and thus little is known about female offenders who perpetrated sexual homicides. This study aimed to develop the first statistical classification of female single‐victim (SV) sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) using the U.S. FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports database that spanned over a 47‐year period (1976–2022). A latent class analysis (LCA) was computed to detect subtypes of female SHOs in a sample of 158 offenders. Findings of the LCA identified two unique classes of female SHOs exist within the data: White intra‐familial offenders and Black extra‐familial offenders. The distinguishing features of these two classes were the offender's racial group, the victim's age and racial groups, the offender‐victim relationship, the geographical urbanness level of crime location, and weapon use. This empirically‐derived offender classification can be informative to law enforcement agents and security professionals in their investigative strategies.

Idiopathic Annular Ventricular Arrhythmias

Idiopathic arrhythmias originating from the mitral and tricuspid annuli are commonly encountered in clinical practice. This review focuses on distinguishing features of ventricular arrhythmias arising from these structures and the importance of distinguishing idiopathic arrhythmias from those associated with structural heart disease. Each region along the mitral and tricuspid annuli (including the cardiac crux and para-Hisian region) is then discussed separately, with a particular emphasis on the ablation strategies and pitfalls for each. Although this review series is centred around idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias, the strategies for ablation techniques in these regions are broadly applicable.

Diversity in Chemotherapy-Induced Cachexia.

Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that chronic administration of cytotoxic drugs (e.g., chemotherapy) may contribute to the occurrence of skeletal muscle wasting and weakness/fatigue (i.e., cachexia). Doxorubicin, folfiri, and cisplatin are known to promote cachexia by triggering common alterations such as skeletal muscle atrophy, protein breakdown, and mitochondrial dysfunction, whereas each also possesses distinguishing features in terms of the activated molecular pathways. Similarly, commonalities exist between different cancer types including the development of muscle wasting early in treatment that can persist for years. The impact of treatment for gastrointestinal, head and neck and non-small cell lung cancers on the development of cachexia and survival outcomes is well documented. However, a disconnect occurs between preclinical studies on cachexia, which are often performed on younger mice, and clinical studies on cachexia, which are focused on patients over 60 years old. Yet, several preclinical studies have examined the impact of age on chemotherapy-induced cachexia. Finally, sex differences have been identified in both preclinical and clinical studies focused on the onset of cachexia consequential to chemotherapy administration and raise the question of whether treatments for this condition should be based on sex specificities. In conclusion, while cancer cachexia has been widely studied for its impact on patients affected by various malignancies, the effects of chemotherapy on the development of cachexia are less explored. Here, we examine diversity in chemotherapy-induced cachexia with respect to specific types of chemotherapy regimens and cancer, as well as differences based on age and sex.

Design innovative perspectives of thermally radiative flow of chemically reactive magnetized nanofluid capturing bioconvection and Joule heating aspects

The distinguishing thermophysical features of nanofluids make them possibly advantageous in enhancing transfer of heat. The applications of nanofluids in industrial cooling, cooling tower detection, imaging, microelectronic cooling, crossbreed motor proficiency, transparent sunscreen, crack-resistant paint, nuclear reactor cooling, thermal transport, enhanced oil recovery, and architecture have diversified extensively in recent years. Scientific research has shown an enormous spike in fascination with non-Newtonian nanofluids in the past few decades. The stress in non-Newtonian fluids varies nonlinearly with the rate of deformation. These fluids are used in material processing, bioengineering, polymeric fluids, oil reservoir design, and the chemical and nuclear industries. There have been several non-Newtonian models presented forth. The Williamson fluid model is one example of such a model that has a shear-thinning behavior. The current article explanate analysis of (3D) Williamson fluid flow considering various physical features which plays vital role to raise the heat transportation rate. Through transformations procedure the governing physical problem is simplified and then solved via bvp4c in MATLAB. Acquired data are tabulated and graphically presented, and the impacts of relevant parameters on concentration-microorganisms and temperature have been examined numerically. According to the accomplishments, the concentration profile is anticipated to decline as the stretching rate parameter and Brownian motion parameter values grow. By boosting the magnetic parameter, the microorganism profile advances, but the bioconvection Peclet number reveals an opposite tendency.

Aristolochia pulvinata, a new species of Aristolochiaceae from Yunnan, Southwest China

Aristolochia pulvinata Yi-Fan Wang & Zhi-Jian Yin, a new species of Aristolochia subgenus Siphisia (Aristolochiaceae) from Yunnan Province, southwest China, is described and illustrated. Aristolochia pulvinata is distinguished by its unique characters: an elevated and thickened pulvinate structure in the inferior calyx limbs of its perianth. Morphologically, it resembles A. ovatifolia, A. melanocephala, A. utriformis, and A. luudamcui due to the similar thickening on the calyx limb region, but it differs in terms of degree, surface texture, color, and angle, as well as leaf morphology. This species, discovered and known only from one region, is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR) according to IUCN categories and criteria. This publication includes detailed morphological illustrations of A. pulvinata, with comparative photo plates and a table that highlights distinguishing features relative to similar species.

Hamartomas and Choristomas of the Oral Cavity: A New Perspective

AbstractHamartomas and choristomas are malformations that often manifest at birth, usually seen as a discrete, localized mass or as multiple masses that resemble a neoplasm, but not a true neoplasm with the exception in choristomas that the cells and tissues are not normally found at that location. Clear etiology and pathogenesis are not found. In addition, the distinguishing features of these masses are not certain. It is essential to differentiate between hamartomas, choristomas, and other oral cavity masses in order to provide proper management. In this study, a new perspective is provided for hamartomas and choristomas of the oral cavity.

Synthesis, DPPH Radical Scavenging, Cytotoxic Activity, and Apoptosis Induction Efficacy of Novel Thiazoles and Bis-thiazoles.

Heterocyclic materials-containing thiazoles exhibited incredible importance in pharmaceutical chemistry and drug design due to their extensive biological properties. Synthesis of thiazoles and bis-thiazoles from the reaction of 2-((6-Nitrobenzo[ d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)methylene)hydrazine-1-carbothioamide with hydrazonoyl chlorides in dioxane and in the existence of triethylamine as basic catalyst. The antioxidant, in vitro antiproliferative, and cytotoxicity efficacy of thiazoles and bis-thiazoles were measured. In this work, novel series of 5-methyl-2-(2-(-(6-nitrobenzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)methylene) hydrazinyl)-4-(aryldiazenyl)thiazoles (4a-f) were prepared via the reaction of hydrazonoyl chlorides 2a-f with 2-((6-nitrobenzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)methylene)hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (1) in dioxane and employing triethylamine as basic catalyst. Following the same procedure, bisthiazoles (6, 8, and 10) have been synthesized by utilizing bis-hydrazonoyl chlorides (5, 7, and 9) and carbothioamide 1 in a molar ratio (1:2), respectively. The distinctive features in the structure of isolated products were elucidated by spectroscopic tools and elemental analyses. The antioxidant, in vitro anti-proliferative, cytotoxicity, and anti-cancer efficacy of thiazoles and bis-thiazoles were evaluated. Compounds 4d and 4f were the most potent antioxidant agents. Gene expression of apoptosis markers and fragmentation assay of DNA were assessed to explore the biochemical mechanism of synthesized products. Thiazoles significantly inhibited cell growth and proliferation more than bis-thiazoles. They induced apoptosis through induction of apoptotic gene expression P53 and downregulation of antiapoptotic gene expression Bcl-2. Moreover, they induced fragmentation of DNA in cancer cells, indicating that they could be employed as anticancer agents by inhibiting tumor growth and progression and can be considered effective compounds in the strategy of anti-cancer agents' discovery. Synthesis, DPPH Radical Scavenging, Cytotoxic activity, and Apoptosis Induction Efficacy based on Novel Thiazoles and Bis-thiazoles.

Article: Income Tax Considerations Pertaining to Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of organizations have arisen that are native to blockchain technology. Recent data shows that these decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that are essentially ‘living on the blockchain’ are becoming increasingly popular. They are attracting substantial amounts of funds, operating both in the Web3 space and off-chain, and creating a significant source of novel tax issues. The existing tax academic research on DAOs is often limited to US domestic tax issues following from the DAO’s legal treatment. This article outlines (part of) the existing income tax landscape for the DAOs and some of the arising income tax challenges. The focus is on the general principles of domestic and international income tax systems. The authors argue that the DAOs create fundamental and practical tax issues potentially leading to income taxed ‘nowhere’. Existing tax frameworks cannot fully embed the DAOs and allow them to maintain their distinguishing features. The incorporation of DAOs does not necessarily solve the tax issues and even exacerbates them in certain cases. The authors call upon domestic and international legislators and policymakers to aim for more tax certainty for shareholders and further tax research of the DAOs.

Photon Shells, Black Hole Shadows, and Accretion Toroids

We analyze the properties of the Kerr black hole (BH) photon shell, focusing on the influence of aggregates of corotating and counterrotating toroids (ringed accretion disks, hereafter RAD), orbiting in the BH photon shell (photon shell “obscuration”). The particular case of a corotating accretion disk orbiting in the BH ergoregion is also investigated. We study influence on the BH shadow boundary, fixing the conditions under which it is possible to observe the ergoregion and RAD “imprint” on the shadows boundary. In general, remarkable differences appear between the counterrotating photon components of the boundary with respect to the corotating ones. Various regions of the shadow boundary generated from orbital regions linked to the aggregates of orbiting structures have been analyzed. In particular, we investigate the bound unstable spherical photon orbits in the ergoregion, or at the inversion point, where (toroidal) ϕ̇=0 , or with the impact parameter ℓ = 0 to characterize the effects of the frame dragging on the boundary. Five main classes of BHs have been identified by distinguishable features of their photon shells (and shadow boundaries) in the context of the orbiting RAD.

Frontal Deactivation and the Efficacy of Statistical Learning: Neural Mechanisms Accompanying Exposure to Visual Statistical Sequences.

Statistical learning is the cognitive ability to rapidly identify structure and meaning in unfamiliar streams of sensory experience, even in the absence of feedback. Despite extensive studies, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this phenomenon still require further clarification under varying cognitive conditions. Here, we examined neural mechanisms during the first exposure to visually presented sequences in 47 healthy participants. We used two types of visual objects: abstract symbols and pictures of cartoon-like animals. This allowed us to compare informational processing mechanisms with defined distinguishing features. Participants achieved better performance for sequences with easy-to-name than difficult-to-name abstract stimuli. fMRI results revealed greater activation in widespread brain regions in response to random versus statistical sequences for all stimuli types. Behavioral accuracy was associated with increased deactivation of the ventromedial pFC for easy-to-name statistical versus random sequences. For difficult-to-name statistical versus random sequences, performance correlated with dmPFC deactivation. ROI analysis showed a generally positive involvement of the caudate head in sequence processing with significantly stronger activity during the first run of performing the task. Functional connectivity analysis of prefrontal deactivation regions revealed significant connectivity with nodes of the salience network for both object types and inverse connectivity with the caudate head only for easy-to-name objects. The results indicated that distinct subregions of pFC modulate task performance depending on the visual stimulus characteristic. They also showed that among striatal regions, only the head of the caudate was sensitive to initial exposure to visual statistical information.

Markarian Multiwavelength Data Center (MMDC): A Tool for Retrieving and Modeling Multitemporal, Multiwavelength, and Multimessenger Data from Blazar Observations

The Markarian Multiwavelength Data Center (MMDC) is a web-based tool designed for accessing and retrieving multiwavelength and multimessenger data from blazar observations. MMDC facilitates the construction and interactive visualization of time-resolved multiband spectral energy distributions of blazars by integrating (i) archival data from over 80 catalogs and databases, (ii) optical data from all-sky survey facilities such as the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, Zwicky Transient Facility, and Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, and (iii) newly analyzed data sets in the optical/UV band from Swift-UVOT, in the X-ray band from Swift-X-Ray Telescope and NuSTAR observations, and the high-energy γ-ray band from Fermi-Large Area Telescope observations. MMDC distinguishes itself from other online platforms by the large quantity of available data. For instance, it includes data from all blazar observations by Swift and NuSTAR, as well as the results of detailed spectral analysis in the γ-ray band during different emission states, covering the period from 2008 to 2023. Another important distinguishing feature of MMDC is its ability to enable precise, self-consistent theoretical modeling of the observed data using machine learning algorithms trained on leptonic and lepto-hadronic models, which consider the injection of particles and all relevant cooling processes. MMDC is an innovative tool that significantly enhances blazar research by providing a comprehensive framework for data accessibility, analysis, and theoretical interpretation, thereby advancing our understanding of blazar emissions and the underlying astrophysical processes.

Prototype matching-based meta-learning model for few-shot fault diagnosis of mechanical system

The efficacy of advanced deep-learning diagnostic methods is contingent mainly upon sufficient trainable data for each fault category. However, gathering ample data in real-world scenarios is often challenging, rendering these deep-learning techniques ineffective. This paper introduces a novel Prototype Matching-based Meta-Learning (PMML) approach to address the few-shot fault diagnosis under constrained data conditions. Initially, the PMML’s feature extractor is meta-trained within the Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning framework, utilizing multiple fault classification tasks from known operational conditions in the source domain to acquire prior meta-knowledge for fault diagnosis. Subsequently, the trained feature extractor is employed to derive meta-features from few-shot samples in the target domain, and metric learning is conducted to facilitate swift and precise few-shot fault diagnosis, leveraging meta-knowledge and similarity information across sample sets. Moreover, instead of utilizing all target domain samples, the prototype of each fault category is used to capture similarity information between support and query samples. Concurrently, BiLSTM is employed to selectively embed the meta-feature prototype, enabling the extraction of more distinguishable metric features for enhanced metric learning. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed PMML is validated through a series of comparative experiments on two fault datasets, demonstrating its outstanding performance in addressing both zero-shot and few-shot fault diagnosis challenges.

Protestant Elements in the Piers Plowman Texts of Robert Crowley and Takamiya MS 23

Abstract Recent studies of Robert Crowley’s editions of Piers Plowman emphasize Crowley’s fidelity to the manuscript tradition and efforts to produce an accurate and comprehensible text. The present article supports this assessment by comparing Crowley’s editions with New Haven, Beinecke Library, MS Takamiya 23 (olim Sion College, MS Arc. L.40. 2/E), a manuscript produced about the same time as the Crowley editions and closely related to Crowley’s principal exemplar. Censorship and other doctrinal alterations are infrequent in Takamiya 23 but unambiguous. While the great majority of unique readings have no evident motive beyond linguistic modernization, the Takamiya scribe also, in a few instances, harmonized the language of the medieval poem with sixteenth-century English Bibles and made discrete interpretative changes that sometimes align with Crowley’s outlook and sometimes seemingly depart from it. Another distinguishing feature of Takamiya 23 is the scribe’s apparent lack of interest in ‘prophetic’ passages, a salient focus of recent scholarship. For a more adequate account of the sixteenth-century reception of Piers Plowman, students may need to look beyond both ‘Protestantism’ and ‘prophecy’.

A Diagnostic Approach to Improving the Energy Efficiency of Production Processes—2E-DAmIcS Methodology

This article presents the issue of energy waste in manufacturing processes, focusing on reducing unnecessary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A significant challenge in modern production is identifying and minimizing energy waste, which not only increases operational costs but also contributes to environmental degradation. An improvement methodology referred to as 2E-DAmIcS is proposed. A distinguishing feature of the methodology is a risk map of energy waste in the production process. Application of the methodology is demonstrated using the example of a lead–acid battery production process. It is shown that even small but well-diagnosed changes to the process make it possible to significantly reduce energy consumption. The proposed methodology offers practical tools for managers and decision-makers in various industries to systematically identify and minimize energy waste. It highlights the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration among specialists in technology, energy consumption, and statistical analysis to optimize energy use. By applying this approach, companies can achieve both financial savings and environmental benefits, contributing to more sustainable production practices.

Estimating an Elephant Population Size Through Local Ecological Knowledge

In planning and monitoring measures to protect wildlife in an area, it is important to have a reliable baseline estimate of population size and trends. There has been minimal published information on a small population of elephants, a keystone and endangered species, in a large area west of Etosha National Park in Namibia, known locally as the Northern Highlands. It is a highly remote, mountainous area in which it is difficult to count elephants. It is semi-desert, where the protection of wildlife is at increasing risk from climate change events, and research on the elephant population is a priority. We interviewed 34 community game guards in the Northern Highlands, focusing on the number of elephants and distinguishing features in known groups. Based on the collated knowledge, and analysis to reduce double counting of known groups, we estimate that there are between 78 and 212 elephants in the Northern Highlands, with a best estimate of 128. The wide range is an indication of the current uncertainties in the method. However, we conclude that this low-cost method, if adapted based on lessons from this pilot study, would be applicable for longer-term ecological monitoring in areas that have a low population density.

RC-DETR: Improving DETRs in crowded pedestrian detection via rank-based contrastive learning

The variants of DEtection TRansformer (DETRs) have achieved impressive performance in general object detection. However, they suffer notable performance degradation in scenarios involving crowded pedestrian detection. This decline primarily occurs during the training phase, where DETRs are constrained solely by pedestrian labels. This limitation leads to the production of indistinguishable image features between visually similar pedestrians and background elements, resulting in incorrect detections. To address this issue, this paper introduces a rank-based contrastive learning method, which constructs an additional and specific constraint for each indistinguishable training sample to produce distinguishable image features. Unlike previous methods that rely solely on pedestrian labels to achieve a consistent confidence score, our approach relies on multiple constraints and aims to ensure the correct rank of detection results, with confidence scores of pedestrians consistently surpassing those of background elements. Specifically, we first filter out some training samples that could interfere with our delineation of indistinguishable and distinguishable training samples. Then, based on the confidence score rank, we divide the rest of the training samples into distinguishable positive and negative training samples and indistinguishable positive and negative training samples. Finally, we combine these training samples into multiple positive and negative pairs and utilize these sample pairs to train DETRs via contrastive learning. Our method can be plugged into any DETRs and does not increase any overhead on inference. Extensive experiments on three DETRs show that our method achieves superior performance. Especially on the Crowdhuman dataset, our method achieved the state-of-the-art 38.9% MR.

Sarcoidosis in Beryllium Exposed Workers: A Case-Case Study.

Despite the utility of the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT), distinguishing sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown etiology, from chronic beryllium disease (CBD), has long posed a diagnostic challenge. It is unclear if beryllium-exposed sarcoidosis cases (Be-exp-Sarc) are clinically distinct from CBD, or are misdiagnosed cases of CBD. We performed a case-case study of 40 beryllium-exposed individuals diagnosed with Be-exp-Sarc compared to 40 frequency-matched CBD cases. We compared demographics, exposure, clinical, physical, and radiographic characteristics and HLA DBPI E69 genotype. Compared to CBD, Be-exp-Sarc cases were diagnosed at a younger age, had lower lung function, were less likely to have normal radiographic imaging, were more likely to have massive adenopathy and extra-thoracic manifestations and were more likely to have been prescribed systemic immunosuppressive therapy. Be-exp-Sarc tended to have fewer years of beryllium exposure, but there were no significant differences in the amount of beryllium exposure. HLA DPBI E69 was present in 53% of Be-exp-Sarc cases, not different from the general population, versus 92% of CBD cases (p < 0.001). While a number of differences were observed, the only absolute distinguishing features were lack of confirmed beryllium sensitization in Be-exp-Sarc and lack of extra-thoracic manifestations in CBD. These findings suggest that Be-exp-Sarc may be distinct from CBD, and beryllium or some other workplace exposure may possibly play an as yet to be defined etiologic role, although the possibility that these cases could be due to selection bias from heightened surveillance in beryllium workforces cannot be excluded.

Enhanced Many-Body Quantum Scars from the Non-Hermitian Fock Skin Effect.

In contrast with extended Bloch waves, a single particle can become spatially localized due to the so-called skin effect originating from non-Hermitian pumping. Here we show that in kinetically constrained many-body systems, the skin effect can instead manifest as dynamical amplification within the Fock space, beyond the intuitively expected and previously studied particle localization and clustering. We exemplify this non-Hermitian Fock skin effect in an asymmetric version of the PXP model and show that it gives rise to ergodicity-breaking eigenstates-the non-Hermitian analogs of quantum many-body scars. A distinguishing feature of these non-Hermitian scars is their enhanced robustness against external disorders. We propose an experimental realization of the non-Hermitian scar enhancement in a tilted Bose-Hubbard optical lattice with laser-induced loss. Additionally, we implement digital simulations of such scar enhancement on the IBM quantum processor. Our results show that the Fock skin effect provides a powerful tool for creating robust nonergodic states in generic open quantum systems.

Phylogenetic reconstruction of Tuberolachnini and Lachninae (Insecta, Hemiptera): Morphological and molecular analyses revealed a new tribe

BackgroundLachninae (Insecta: Aphididae) represent a fascinating group of aphids that are traditionally divided into five tribes. Among these, members of the tribe Tuberolachnini exhibit remarkable morphological and biological diversity. One genus of this group, Miyalachnus, known from Japan, is characterized by unique features. Our study aimed to re-examine the tribal classification within Lachninae, with a focus on the diverse Tuberolachnini and the previously understudied genera Miyalachnus and Sinolachnus.ResultsWe conducted a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis using four genes (COI, COII, CytB, and EF1α), employing both maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods on a combined dataset. Our findings challenge the monophyly of Tuberolachnini. The analyses revealed that Miyalachnus and Sinolachnus are phylogenetically distinct from the core Tuberolachnini genera (Nippolachnus, Pyrolachnus, and Tuberolachnus), instead showing a closer relationship with Tramini. Specifically, the Miyalachnus clade forms a sister clade to the clade containing Sinolachnus and Tramini.ConclusionsOn the basis of these molecular results, corroborated by morphological evidence, we propose to erect a new tribe within the Lachninae-Miyalachnini trib. nov. with Miyalachnus as the type genus. We also provide updated taxonomic diagnoses for the remaining tribes and discuss their relationships as well as distinguishing features.