Generic System Research Articles

Ferrospintronic Order in Noncentrosymmetric Antiferromagnets: An Avenue toward Spintronic‐Based Computing, Data Storage, and Energy Harvesting

A ferroic order, ferrospintronic (FSp) order, arising in some magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry is reported on. Emerging from a macroscopic spontaneous symmetry breaking of both the time reversal T and the spatial inversion, while maintaining the symmetry, the order parameter is given by the dipolar moment of the spin density . Herein a model is advanced that fulfills the symmetry requirements mentioned earlier and its properties are investigated. With the aid of a mean‐field theory, its stability against thermal fluctuations is studied and evidence of truly ferroic states that result from breaking its symmetry is provided. Three predictions that can be checked experimentally to distinguish this class of materials from other compounds are provided. In the first place, it is illustrated that FSp systems host the potential for multiferroic behavior. Second, it is shown that the generic FSp system responds under strain by generating spin currents that can be used in spintronic devices, therefore showing a piezospintronic effect. Finally, it is proven that domain walls in the FSp order parameter lead to magnetoresistive effects. All of the findings mentioned earlier are a significant breakthrough in spintronics and multiferroic phenomena and they have wide‐ranging implications for advancing materials and technologies, particularly in computing and energy harvesting.

Optogenetic Control of the Mitochondrial Protein Import in Mammalian Cells.

Mitochondria provide cells with energy and regulate the cellular metabolism. Almost all mitochondrial proteins are nuclear-encoded, translated on ribosomes in the cytoplasm, and subsequently transferred to the different subcellular compartments of mitochondria. Here, we developed OptoMitoImport, an optogenetic tool to control the import of proteins into the mitochondrial matrix via the presequence pathway on demand. OptoMitoImport is based on a two-step process: first, light-induced cleavage by a TEV protease cuts off a plasma membrane-anchored fusion construct in close proximity to a mitochondrial targeting sequence; second, the mitochondrial targeting sequence preceding the protein of interest recruits to the outer mitochondrial membrane and imports the protein fused to it into mitochondria. Upon reaching the mitochondrial matrix, the matrix processing peptidase cuts off the mitochondrial targeting sequence and releases the protein of interest. OptoMitoImport is available as a two-plasmid system as well as a P2A peptide or IRES sequence-based bicistronic system. Fluorescence studies demonstrate the release of the plasma membrane-anchored protein of interest through light-induced TEV protease cleavage and its localization to mitochondria. Cell fractionation experiments confirm the presence of the peptidase-cleaved protein of interest in the mitochondrial fraction. The processed product is protected from proteinase K treatment. Depletion of the membrane potential across the inner mitochondria membrane prevents the mitochondrial protein import, indicating an import of the protein of interest by the presequence pathway. These data demonstrate the functionality of OptoMitoImport as a generic system with which to control the post-translational mitochondrial import of proteins via the presequence pathway.

Spacecraft to Spacecraft Absolute Tracking for Autonomous Navigation of a Distributed Space System from Relative Sensors

Navigation for a distributed space system can be fully and autonomously provided by relative measurements between vehicles under non-linear dynamics, thereby removing any need for external observation. This paper derives the observability of a generic distributed system using relative measurements through an investigation of non-linear dynamical moments. The absolute state becomes observable due to second and higher dynamical moments that produce differential motion between vehicles, while the relative state observability is a function of the full system motion as traditionally expected. The results from observability analysis are leveraged to instantiate simulations which demonstrate observability for a distributed space system with relative optical measurements. The simulations assess uncertainty via a linearized covariance analysis in various settings including Keplerian, perturbed Keplerian, and cislunar dynamics. This navigation method excels when targets have highly differential motion and falters as the difference subsides. Therefore, highly perturbed environments with multiple targets generate the best results.

First detection of Jingmen tick virus in Corsica with a new generic RTqPCR system

Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) is a recently discovered segmented RNA virus, closely related to flaviviruses. It was identified for the first time in 2014, in China and subsequently in Brazil. Following this discovery, JMTV-related sequences have been identified in arthropods, vertebrates (including humans), plants, fungus, and environmental samples from Asia, America, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. Several studies suggest an association between these segmented flavi-like viruses, termed jingmenviruses, and febrile illness in humans. The development of rapid diagnostic assays for these viruses is therefore crucial to be prepared for a potential epidemic, for the early detection of these viruses via vector surveillance or hospital diagnosis. In this study, we designed a RT-qPCR assay to detect tick-associated jingmenviruses, validated it and tested its range and limit of detection with six tick-associated jingmenviruses using in vitro transcripts. Then, we screened ticks collected in Corsica (France) from different livestock species, in order to determine the distribution of these viruses on the island. In total, 6269 ticks from eight species were collected from 763 cattle, 538 horses, 106 sheep, and 218 wild boars and grouped in 1715 pools. We report the first detection of JMTV in Corsica, in Rhipicephalus bursa, Hyalomma marginatum and R. sanguineus ticks collected from cattle and sheep. The highest prevalence was found in the Rhipicephalus genus. The complete genome of a Corsican JMTV was obtained from a pool of Rhipicephalus bursa ticks and shares between 94.7% and 95.1% nucleotide identity with a JMTV sequence corresponding to a human patient in Kosovo and groups phylogenetically with European JMTV strains. These results show that a Mediterranean island such as Corsica could act as a sentinel zone for future epidemics.

Identifying the bottleneck and its shifts for the nexus across water supply, power generation and environment systems: Hehuang, China

Identifying the bottleneck is the key to alerting and preventing unexpected failures of the nexus across water supply, power generation, and environment (WPE) systems. However, the bottleneck identification is challenged by the unclear concept of bottleneck as well as the difficulty of simulating complex emergent behaviors. Here, we develop a generic framework for identifying the bottleneck for the WPE nexus, which is defined as the subsystem that has the highest risk of leading to the failure of WPE nexus. First, the evolution of uncertainties of the state variables of WPE nexus is simulated by a generic stochastic dynamical system. Next, the propagation matrix, accumulation ratio (AR), and risk contribution ratio are defined as effective metrics and tools to identify the system bottleneck. Finally, the effects of human decisions and input stochasticity on the shifts of bottleneck are analyzed using sensitivity and scenario analysis. The WPE system in Hehuang Region, China, is selected as a case study. Results indicate that: (a) The effects of human decisions on ARs can be superimposed, suggesting a “superimposition method” for policy-making of Hehuang Region; (b) The subsystems can be classified as “endogenous” or “exogenous”, depending on the sources of accumulated uncertainties that are from local inputs, or inputs from the other subsystems; (c) There exist multiple bottlenecks at the same time that could shift from one subsystem to another, which complicates the prevention of the failures of WPE nexus. For the Hehuang Region, water and energy subsystems are more likely to be bottlenecks at the beginning stage, while society and environment subsystems are more likely to be bottlenecks at the steady stage. This study provides the first attempt to identify the bottleneck within the WPE nexus, which helps to provide realistic insights for preventing unexpected failures.

The repertoire of G-protein-coupled receptor variations in the Japanese population 54KJPN.

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest superfamily in the human genome and the major targets for the market drugs. Recent massive genomics studies revealed numerous natural variations in the general population. 54KJPN is the most extensive Japanese population genomics study, curating the whole genome sequences from about 54,000 individuals. Here, by analyzing 390 non-olfactory GPCR genes in the 54KJPN dataset, we annotated 25,443 missense single-nucleotide variations. Among them, we found 120 major variations that appear with an allele frequency greater than 0.5, including variations that occurred on posttranslational modification sites. Structural alignment of GPCRs using the generic numbering system in the GPCRdb reveals enrichment of alterations in the conserved arginine residue within the DRY motif, which contributes to downstream G-protein signaling. A comparison with the worldwide 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP) dataset found 23 variations that were present exclusively in the 54KJPN dataset. This study will be the basis for future pharmacogenomics studies for the Japanese population.

Reusable Generic Clinical Decision Support System Module for Immunization Recommendations in Resource-Constraint Settings.

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are routinely employed in clinical settings to improve quality of care, ensure patient safety, and deliver consistent medical care. However, rule-based CDSS, currently available, do not feature reusable rules. In this study, we present CDSS with reusable rules. Our solution includes a common CDSS module, electronic medical record (EMR) specific adapters, CDSS rules written in the clinical quality language (CQL) (derived from CDC immunization recommendations), and patient records in fast healthcare interoperability resources (FHIR) format. The proposed CDSS is entirely browser-based and reachable within the user's EMR interface at the client-side. This helps to avoid the transmission of patient data and privacy breaches. Additionally, we propose to provide means of managing and maintaining CDSS rules to allow the end users to modify them independently. Successful implementation and deployment were achieved in OpenMRS and OpenEMR during initial testing.

Supporting students’ wellbeing through a virtual resilience application during COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) impacted learning experiences of students around the world. To limit the spread of the infectious virus, public health officials had to implement various measures that included lockdowns and physical isolation. Such measures also impacted students’ access to support systems and negatively impacted their overall wellbeing. Through this project, students at a community college were offered access to a virtual resilience training through the Headversity application. The Headversity application provides training in six skills namely, mental health, mindfulness, self-expertise, energy management, hardness and mental fitness. Students completed a pre and post survey designed to gather their experiences. The Headversity service provider shared the performance indicators every 3 months. The performance indicators showed the skills that was accessed more frequently and the skills that needed more attention. A total of 346 students enrolled to use the application. Of these, 163 enrolled to complete the survey. It was evident from students’ feedback that the virtual application was easy to navigate, helped them to train on relevant skills and was timely given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a few students indicated that they would have preferred contact with a trainer rather than getting generic support system through the application.

Genuine non-Gaussian entanglement of light and quantum coherence for an atom from noisy multiphoton spin-boson interactions

Harnessing entanglement and quantum coherence plays a central role in advancing quantum technologies. In quantum optical light-atom platforms, these two fundamental resources are often associated with a Jaynes-Cummings model description describing the coherent exchange of a photon between an optical resonator mode and a two-level spin. In a generic nonlinear spin-boson system, more photons and more modes will take part in the interactions. Here we consider such a generalization: the two-mode multiphoton Jaynes-Cummings (MPJC) model. We demonstrate how entanglement and quantum coherence can be optimally generated and subsequently manipulated in experimentally accessible parameter regimes. A detailed comparative analysis of this model reveals that nonlinearities within the MPJC interactions produce genuinely non-Gaussian entanglement, devoid of Gaussian contributions, from noisy resources. More specifically, strong coherent sources may be replaced by weaker, incoherent ones, significantly reducing the resource overhead, though at the expense of reduced efficiency. At the same time, increasing the multiphoton order of the MPJC interactions expedites the entanglement generation process, thus rendering the whole generation scheme again more efficient and robust. We further explore the use of additional dispersive spin-boson interactions and Kerr nonlinearities in order to create spin coherence solely from incoherent sources and to enhance the quantum correlations, respectively. As for the latter, somewhat unexpectedly, there is not necessarily an increase in quantum correlations due to the augmented nonlinearity. Towards possible applications of the MPJC model, we show how, with appropriately chosen experimental parameters, we can engineer arbitrary NOON states as well as the tripartite W state. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Kohn-Sham fragment energy decomposition analysis.

We introduce the concept of Kohn-Sham fragment localized molecular orbitals (KS-FLMOs), which are Kohn-Sham molecular orbitals (MOs) localized in specific fragments constituting a generic molecular system. In detail, we minimize the local electronic energies of various fragments, while maximizing the repulsion between them, resulting in the effective localization of the MOs. We use the developed KS-FLMOs to propose a novel energy decomposition analysis, which we name Kohn-Sham fragment energy decomposition analysis, which allows for rationalizing the main non-covalent interactions occurring in interacting systems both in vacuo and in solution, providing physical insights into non-covalent interactions. The method is validated against state-of-the-art energy decomposition analysis techniques and with high-level calculations.

Ligand requirements for immunoreceptor triggering

Leukocytes interact with other cells using cell surface receptors. The largest group of such receptors are non-catalytic tyrosine phosphorylated receptors (NTRs), also called immunoreceptors. NTR signalling requires phosphorylation of cytoplasmic tyrosine residues by SRC-family tyrosine kinases. How ligand binding to NTRs induces this phosphorylation, also called NTR triggering, remains controversial, with roles suggested for size-based segregation, clustering, and mechanical force. Here we exploit a recently developed cell-surface generic ligand system to explore the ligand requirements for NTR triggering. We examine the effect of varying the ligand’s length, mobility and valency on the activation of representative members of four NTR families: SIRPβ1, Siglec 14, NKp44 and TREM-1. Increasing the ligand length impairs activation via NTRs, despite enhancing cell-cell conjugation, while varying ligand mobility has little effect on either conjugation or activation. Increasing the valency of the ligand, while enhancing cell-cell conjugation, does not enhance activation at equivalent levels of conjugation. These findings are more consistent with a role for size-based segregation, rather than mechanical force or clustering, in NTR triggering, suggesting a role for the kinetic-segregation model.

Superquantization rule for multistability in driven-dissipative quantum systems

Abstract We present a superquantization rule which indicates the possible robust stationary states of a generic driven-dissipative quantum system. Multistability in a driven cavity mode interacting with a qudit is revealed hence within a simple intuitive picture. The accuracy of the superquantization approach is confirmed by numerical simulations of the underlying quantum model. In the case when the qudit is composed of several two-level emitters coupled homogeneously to the cavity, we demonstrate the robustness of the superquantized steady states to single-emitter decay.

Assessing the potential impacts of exotic reptile species advertised for sale in the South African pet trade

Assessing the impacts of non-native species is essential for preventing, monitoring and eradicating introduced species. In South Africa, impact assessment has been adopted for species introduced through various pathways, including the legal and illegal wildlife trade. We conducted a comprehensive literature search to collate information on the impacts associated with 76 non-native reptiles sold as pets in South Africa, using the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS), Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT), and Socio-Economic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT). Using GISS, we found that 12 species were associated with environmental impacts (E_GISS), and 10 had socio-economic impacts (SE_GISS). For EICAT and SEICAT, 12 species had environmental and seven had socio-economic impacts, respectively. Despite extensive research efforts, most (82 %) of the evaluated species had no documented impacts, implying that these species are unlikely to have significant impacts. Environmental impact scores differed between GISS and EICAT, indicating that both schemes should be used when assessing environmental impacts. In contrast, while the socio-economic impact scores of GISS and SEICAT were comparable, both schemes provide a comprehensive assessment by capturing different aspects. Popular pet species such as the Iguana iguana, Python bivittatus, and Trachemys scripta elegans, already introduced in the country, scored the highest impacts in all schemes, prompting strict monitoring and policy development regarding their trade. Using multiple impact schemes, we show that despite extensive research efforts, 82 % of reptile species sold as pets in South Africa have no documented impacts. Concerningly, species with documented impacts showed high environmental but minor socio-economic impacts.

TAP with ease: a generic recommendation system for trigger-action programming based on multi-modal representation learning

The escalating popularity of smart devices has given rise to an increasing trend wherein users leverage customized trigger-action programming (TAP) rules within the Internet of Things (IoT) to automate various aspects of their lives. This article addresses the challenge of effectively combining functions provided by many smart devices and online services by introducing a novel multi-modal representation learning model called TAP-TAG. This model integrates both textual and graph structures inherent in TAP rules, offering a holistic method to rule recommendation. TAP-TAG comprises two branches: the Knowledge Graph Embedding model, which projects triplets extracted from the TAP dataset into embeddings, and convolution neural networks that extract semantic features from the textual content of TAP rules. Extensive experiments are conducted on real-world TAP datasets to evaluate our model’s ability to recommend relevant rules based on user preferences. The experimental results show that TAP-TAG can outperform the state-of-the-art method by 5% in Precision@5, indicating that TAP-TAG is highly effective in providing accurate and diverse recommendations for TAP rules.

Методы оценки исходов в клинических исследованиях у пациентов с АНЦА-ассоциированными васкулитам

Immunosuppressive therapy significantly improved survival of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV). However, the adverse effects of therapy, particularly glucocorticosteroids, along with the accumulation of organ damage and a deterioration in the quality of life, have become the leading factors contributing to the disease burden. The development of a core outcome set and assessment tools is a current problem of research methodology to improve their quality and uniformity of data. Disease activity and damage assessed by the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS v.3) and the Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI), respectively, as well as patient-reported outcomes (PRO) and mortality are approved as the core set domains. The main assessment tools for PRO include the AAV-specific PRO questionnaire (AAV-PRO), the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36 v.2) and three generic Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) instruments (fatigue, physical functioning, and pain interference). There are also a number of tools specific for the particular manifestations of the disease, such as glomerulonephritis, asthma or chronic rhinosinusitis.

Short-term voltage stability analysis in power systems: A voltage solvability indicator

This paper presents an analytical study for short-term voltage stability based on a novel indicator. First, it is shown that the reduced Jacobian matrix of network equations can be transformed to obtain an approximately symmetric matrix which is usually positive definite when the system under study is stable. The minimum eigenvalue of the matrix is suggested as a short-term Voltage Solvability Indicator (VSI). Then, properties of the reduced conductive matrix and susceptance matrix which have significant impacts on VSI are examined. The focus of the study is power systems with multiple constant power injections, while VSI can also be applied to analyze the impact of generic power system models. It is shown that as the penetration level of constant power injections increases, VSI decreases and the system becomes more vulnerable to voltage collapse. Finally, the relationship between the eigenvalues of the reduced Jacobian matrix and the structure-preserving Jacobian matrix is established. As a result, the suggested VSI can be efficiently computed by exploring the sparsity of structure-preserving Jacobian matrix of network equations. Case studies of several test systems including a simplified 575-machine 8117-bus East China power system are reported, demonstrating the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.

Resist and recover: Introducing a spring theory for modeling disaster resilience.

This paper presents a new approach for quantitatively modeling the resilience of a system that has been disrupted by a sudden-impact event. It introduces a new theoretical model that explicitly incorporates representations of the enabling and inhibiting forces that are inherent within postdisruption recovery behavior. Based on a new, more comprehensive measure of resilience that is able to capture both negative and positive deviations in performance, a generic mass-spring system is then used to illustrate the applicability of the theoretical model. The interplay between the enabling and inhibiting forces that is revealed by the new model provides a new theoretical basis for understanding the complexity of resilience and disaster recovery. With the addition of the new resilience measure, it lends support for defining and characterizing a new type of resilient behavior: unstableresilience.

Discussing the limitations of unconditional stability indicators in evaluating thermoacoustic quality of burners with flames

Assessing the thermoacoustic performance of designed combustors, with a focus on the stability quality factor, is crucial. Thermoacoustic instability in combustion appliances arises from intricate interactions among unsteady combustion, heat transfer, and (maybe) acoustic modes within the system. Accurate prediction of system stability requires modeling all components, including the burner with flame. Traditionally, the burner in the presence of combustion is represented as an acoustically (active) two-port block with passive upstream and downstream acoustic terminations. The dispersion relation of the thermoacoustic system is commonly used for anticipating eigen-frequencies and assessing stability. However, practical scenarios often lack specific information about upstream and downstream terminations during development. This raises a critical question: How can the thermoacoustic performance of burners and their associated flames be evaluated without specified acoustics? This article addresses this question by exploring the concept of unconditional stability in a generic two-port thermoacoustic system. The unconditional stability criteria have been used as quality indicators in designing electrical devices. This rich toolbox has been introduced in thermoacoustics. We first scrutinize assumptions underlying two most known unconditional stability-based criteria called [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] factors, connecting them to the general thermoacoustic problems. Then, the application of these criteria in assessing the thermoacoustic quality of burners with flames are discussed. This investigation revealed that while they are able to accurately predict the histogram of unstable frequencies and critical frequency bands, their use as reliable indicators to assess thermoacoustic quality in burners are not recommended due to their mathematical limitations and high level of conservatism of these factors.

OptiSAIL: A system for the simultaneous retrieval of soil, leaf, and canopy parameters and its application to Sentinel-3 Synergy (OLCI+SLSTR) top-of-canopy reflectances

This paper describes the selected algorithm for the ESA climate change initiative vegetation parameters project. Multi- and hyper-spectral, multi-angular, or multi-sensor top-of-canopy reflectance data call for an efficient generic retrieval system which can improve the consistent retrieval of standard canopy parameters as albedo, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR) and their uncertainties, and exploit the information to retrieve additional parameters (e.g. leaf pigments). We present a retrieval system for canopy and sub-canopy parameters (OptiSAIL), which is based on a model comprising SAIL (canopy reflectance), PROSPECT-D (leaf properties), TARTES (snow properties), a soil model (soil reflectance anisotropy, moisture effect), and a cloud contamination model. The inversion is gradient based and uses codes created by Automatic Differentiation. The full per pixel covariance-matrix of the retrieved parameters is computed. For this demonstration, single observation data from the Sentinel-3 SY_2_SYN (synergy) product is used. The results are compared with the MODIS 4-day LAI/fAPAR product and PhenoCam site photography. OptiSAIL produces generally consistent and credible results, at least matching the quality of the technically quite different MODIS product. The system is computationally efficient with a rate of 150 pixel s−1 (7 ms per pixel) for a single thread on a current desktop CPU using observations on 26 bands. Not all of the model parameters are well determined in all situations. Significant correlations between the parameters are found, which can change sign and magnitude over time. OptiSAIL appears to meet the design goals and puts real-time processing with this kind of system into reach.

A generic type system for higher-order Ψ-calculi

The Higher-Order Ψ-calculus framework (HOΨ) by Parrow et al. is a generalisation of many first- and higher-order extensions of the π-calculus. In this paper we present a generic type system for HOΨ-calculi. It satisfies a subject reduction property and can be instantiated to yield both existing and new type systems for calculi, that can be expressed as HOΨ-calculi. In this paper, we consider the type system for termination in HOπ by Demangeon et al. Moreover, we derive a new type system for the ρ-calculus of Meredith and Radestock and present a type system for non-interference for mobile code.