Long-range Mechanism Research Articles

Temperature-dependent dielectric behavior of A6B2O17 (A = Zr, Hf; B = Nb, Ta) phases

We report on temperature-dependent dielectric behavior of disordered ternary A6B2O17 (A = Zr, Hf; B = Nb, Ta)-form oxides in the GHz frequency range. The microwave dielectric properties including relative permittivity, dielectric loss, and temperature-dependent relative permittivity were characterized using cylindrical dielectric resonators using a resonant post measurement technique. Dielectric measurements through the resonant post method approach generally agree with dielectric measurements of A6B2O17 bulk ceramics measured through standard resonant post techniques. Coefficients describing the temperature-dependent relative permittivity for ternary A6B2O17 phases are strongly positive, suggesting contributions to polarizability arising from long-range mechanisms potentially associated with structural disorder. These observations support the working hypothesis that material functionality can be engineered by the chemical diversity and structural disorder possible in high configurational entropy A6B2O17 phases.

Tuning Proton Conduction by Staggered Arrays of Polar Preyssler-Type Oxoclusters.

Polyoxometalates (POMs), anionic nanosized oxoclusters that can be considered as fragments of metal oxides, have been extensively studied for their diverse composition and structure, showing promise in various fields such as catalysis and electronics. Proton conduction, relevant to catalysis and electronics, has attracted interest in materials chemistry, and POM anions are advantageous in terms of their proton carrier density and mobility. Recently, polar POMs have attracted attention for their unique ferroelectric behaviors, yet they have been little studied with regard to proton conduction, as their polarity has generally been believed to have a negative impact. Here, we propose that polar POMs can be used to align polar proton carriers, such as H2O and polymers, to construct efficient proton-conducting pathways. In this study, we present ionic crystals composed of polar Preyssler-type POMs ([Xn+(H2O)P5W30O110](15-n)-, Xn+ = Ca2+, Eu3+) and K+ exhibiting ultrahigh proton conductivity surpassing 10-2 S cm-1, which is required for practical applications. In contrast, ionic crystals with nonpolar Preyssler-type POMs show an order of magnitude lower proton conductivity. Structural and spectroscopic studies combined with theoretical calculations reveal that proton carriers align with the aid of staggered arrays of polar POMs, forming a hydrogen-bonding network favorable for proton conduction. This study integrates molecular chemistry by the design of POMs and solid-state chemistry by exploring long-range proton conduction mechanisms, offering novel insights for future materials design.

Long-range charge transfer mechanism of the III2IV2 mycobacterial supercomplex

Aerobic life is powered by membrane-bound redox enzymes that shuttle electrons to oxygen and transfer protons across a biological membrane. Structural studies suggest that these energy-transducing enzymes operate as higher-order supercomplexes, but their functional role remains poorly understood and highly debated. Here we resolve the functional dynamics of the 0.7 MDa III2IV2 obligate supercomplex from Mycobacterium smegmatis, a close relative of M. tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. By combining computational, biochemical, and high-resolution (2.3 Å) cryo-electron microscopy experiments, we show how the mycobacterial supercomplex catalyses long-range charge transport from its menaquinol oxidation site to the binuclear active site for oxygen reduction. Our data reveal proton and electron pathways responsible for the charge transfer reactions, mechanistic principles of the quinone catalysis, and how unique molecular adaptations, water molecules, and lipid interactions enable the proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions. Our combined findings provide a mechanistic blueprint of mycobacterial supercomplexes and a basis for developing drugs against pathogenic bacteria.

Endoplasmic reticulum–plasma membrane contact gradients direct cell migration

Directed cell migration is driven by the front–back polarization of intracellular signalling1–3. Receptor tyrosine kinases and other inputs activate local signals that trigger membrane protrusions at the front2,4–6. Equally important is a long-range inhibitory mechanism that suppresses signalling at the back to prevent the formation of multiple fronts7–9. However, the identity of this mechanism is unknown. Here we report that endoplasmic reticulum–plasma membrane (ER–PM) contact sites are polarized in single and collectively migrating cells. The increased density of these ER–PM contacts at the back provides the ER-resident PTP1B phosphatase more access to PM substrates, which confines receptor signalling to the front and directs cell migration. Polarization of the ER–PM contacts is due to microtubule-regulated polarization of the ER, with more RTN4-rich curved ER at the front and more CLIMP63-rich flattened ER at the back. The resulting ER curvature gradient leads to small and unstable ER–PM contacts only at the front. These contacts flow backwards and grow to large and stable contacts at the back to form the front–back ER–PM contact gradient. Together, our study suggests that the structural polarity mediated by ER–PM contact gradients polarizes cell signalling, directs cell migration and prolongs cell migration.

Neutrinoless double beta decay in multiple isotopes for fingerprints identification of operators and models

Neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay is the most promising way to determine whether neutrinos are Majorana particles. There are many experiments based on different isotopes searching for 0νββ decay. Combining the searches of 0νββ decay in multiple isotopes provides a possible method to distinguish operators and different models. The contributions to 0νββ decay come from standard, long-range, and short-range mechanisms. We analyze the scenario in which the standard and short-range operators exist simultaneously within the framework of low-energy effective field theory. Five specific models are considered, which can realize neutrino mass and can contribute to 0νββ decay via multiple mechanisms. A criterion to evaluate the possibilities of future experiments to discriminate operators and models is built. We find that the complementary searches for 0νββ decay in different isotopes can distinguish the cases that contain the low-energy effective operators O1,2,5\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathcal{O}}_{1,2,5} $$\\end{document} and R-parity violating supersymmetry model. For other cases and models, the experimental searches within multiple isotopes can also more effectively constrain the parameter region than with only one isotope.

Persistent homology and topological statistics of hyperuniform point clouds

Hyperuniformity, the suppression of density fluctuations at large length scales, is observed across a wide variety of domains, from cosmology to condensed matter and biological systems. Although the standard definition of hyperuniformity only utilizes information at the largest scales, hyperuniform configurations have distinctive local characteristics. However, the influence of global hyperuniformity on local structure has remained largely unexplored; establishing this connection can help uncover long-range interaction mechanisms and detect hyperuniform traits in finite-size systems. Here, we study the topological properties of hyperuniform point clouds by characterizing their persistent homology and the statistics of local graph neighborhoods. We find that varying the structure factor results in configurations with systematically different topological properties. Moreover, these topological properties are conserved for subsets of hyperuniform point clouds, establishing a connection between finite-sized systems and idealized reference arrangements. Comparing distributions of local topological neighborhoods reveals that the hyperuniform arrangements lie along a primarily one-dimensional manifold reflecting an order-to-disorder transition via hyperuniform configurations. The results presented here complement existing characterizations of hyperuniform phases of matter, and they show how local topological features can be used to detect hyperuniformity in size-limited simulations and experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Development of long-range conductivity mechanisms in glass-like carbon

The conductivity mechanisms in glass-like carbon synthesised from SU-8 3005 photoresist are explored as a function of pyrolysis temperature (between 700–750 °C) utilising microwave dielectric spectroscopy techniques. Broadband measurements using an open-ended coaxial probe (BCP) are used to investigate the complex permittivity and conductivity as a function of frequency and show the development of long range conduction and sp2 carbon chain formation. Fixed frequency resonance measurements using microwave cavity perturbation (MCP) methods are shown as a way of measuring this transition and change in Q-factor without requiring contacts and therefore acting as a effective method for non-destructive and non-invasive measurements. Using these methods we show a clear change in the AC conductivity of glass-like carbon at a pyrolysis temperature of ∼730 °C and demonstrate how microwave cavity perturbation (MCP) can be used as a non-contact method of dielectric spectroscopy for determining the transition of conductivity mechanisms in glass-like carbon from short to long range and therefore as a method for non-destructive material quality control. We demonstrate that both BCP and MCP dielectric spectroscopy methods are effective at clearly detecting changes in the structure and conductivity mechanisms of glass-like carbon over a small pyrolysis temperature range.

Theoretical Understanding of the Long-Range Proton Transfer Mechanism in 7-Hydroxy Quinoline-Based Molecular Switches: Varma's Proton Crane and Its Analogues.

Herein, the detailed mechanism of intramolecular proton transfer in molecular switches, constructed from 7-hydroxy quinoline substituted in the eight-position C-C single axle, connected to three different proton cranes (morpholine, piperidine, and 1,3,5-dioxazine), was investigated by means of theoretical chemistry. The theoretical interpretation of the rotational mechanism and its stable structures were proposed for the well-known Varma's proton crane, based on morpholine molecule. The reliability of the theoretical simulations was confirmed by the available literature data from time-dependent IR measurements.

Image recoloring for color vision deficiency compensation using Swin transformer

People with color vision deficiency (CVD) have difficulty in distinguishing differences between colors. To compensate for the loss of color contrast experienced by CVD individuals, a lot of image recoloring approaches have been proposed. However, the state-of-the-art methods suffer from the failures of simultaneously enhancing color contrast and preserving naturalness of colors [without reducing the Quality of Vision (QOV)], high computational cost, etc. In this paper, we propose an image recoloring method using deep neural network, whose loss function takes into consideration the naturalness and contrast, and the network is trained in an unsupervised manner. Moreover, Swin transformer layer, which has long-range dependency mechanism, is adopted in the proposed method. At the same time, a dataset, which contains confusing color pairs to CVD individuals, is newly collected in this study. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, quantitative and subjective experiments have been conducted. The experimental results showed that the proposed method is competitive to the state-of-the-art methods in contrast enhancement and naturalness preservation and has a real-time advantage. The code and model will be made available at https://github.com/Ligeng-c/CVD_swin.

Transglobal spread of an ecologically relevant sea urchin parasite.

Mass mortality of the dominant coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum in the Caribbean in the early 1980s contributed to a persistent phase shift from coral- to algal-dominated reefs. In 2022, a scuticociliate most closely related to Philaster apodigitiformis caused further mass mortality of D. antillarum across the Caribbean, leading to >95% mortality at affected sites. Mortality was also reported in the related species Diadema setosum in the Mediterranean in 2022, though the causative agent of the Mediterranean outbreak has not yet been determined. In April 2023, mass mortality of Diadema setosum occurred along the Sultanate of Oman's coastline. Urchins displayed signs compatible with scuticociliatosis including abnormal behavior, drooping and loss of spines, followed by tissue necrosis and death. Here we report the detection of an 18S rRNA gene sequence in abnormal urchins from Muscat, Oman, that is identical to the Philaster strain responsible for D. antillarum mass mortality in the Caribbean. We also show that scuticociliatosis signs can be elicited in Diadema setosum by experimental challenge with the cultivated Philaster strain associated with Caribbean scuticociliatosis. These results demonstrate the Philaster sp. associated with D. antillarum mass mortality has rapidly spread to geographically distant coral reefs, compelling global-scale awareness and monitoring for this devastating condition through field surveys, microscopy, and molecular microbiological approaches, and prompting investigation of long-range transmission mechanisms.

Enhancing artistic analysis through deep learning: a graphic art element recognition model based on SSD and FPT.

For the analysis of art works, accurate identification of various elements of works through deep learning methods is helpful for artists to appreciate and learn works. In this study, we leverage deep learning methodologies to precisely identify the diverse elements within graphic art designs, aiding artists in their appreciation and learning process. Our approach involves integrating the attention mechanism into an enhanced Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) model to refine the recognition of artistic design elements. Additionally, we improve the feature fusion structure of the SSD model by incorporating long-range attention mechanism information, thus enhancing target detection accuracy. Moreover, we refine the Feature Pyramid Transformer (FPT) attention mechanism model to ensure the output feature map aligns effectively with the requirements of object detection. Our empirical findings demonstrate that our refined approach outperforms the original SSD algorithm across all four evaluation metrics, exhibiting improvements of 1.52%, 1.89%, 3.09%, and 2.57%, respectively. Qualitative tests further illustrate the accuracy, robustness, and universality of our proposed method, particularly in scenarios characterized by dense artistic elements and challenging-to-distinguish categories within art compositions.

Mechanism of long-range hydrophobic force based on cavitation of metastable liquid film

Hydrophobic force, a key driving force in colloid physicochemical system and biological macromolecular system, exhibits a distinct multi-scale effect. The prevailing scholarly consensus attributes long-range hydrophobic force to bubble bridging, facilitated by unstable liquid film cavitation, while short-range force is thought to arise from the reorganization of water molecules at the solid-liquid interface. However, a comprehensive theoretical study remains elusive. To further elucidate the mechanism of the long-range hydrophobic force based on unstable liquid film cavitation, we carry out systematic research on the long-range hydrophobic force between perfluorooctyl trichlorosilane hydrophobic particles and the surface, by utilizing atomic force microscopy (AFM) and molecular dynamics simulations. According to AFM force tests, the long-range hydrophobic force escalates incrementally with subsequent close contacts before reaching a plateau. On the tenth contact, the penetration curve exhibits a sudden jump to an adhesion distance of 502.01 nm. A distinct step in the retraction curve suggests the rupture of the cavitation bubble capillary bridge. Importantly, the classical capillary force mathematical model provides an effective fit for the penetration curve. Our calculations estimate the volume of the capillary bridge at 0.30 μm³, offering direct theoretical evidence of the unstable liquid film cavitation bubble capillary bridge. Further insights are gained from large-scale tensile molecular dynamics simulations by using GROningen MAchine for Chemical Simulations (GROMACS). The inherent correlation mechanism of the formation, evolution, and mechanical behavior of the cavitation bubble capillary bridge in the separation process of hydrophobic particles are further explored from a molecular perspective. The results demonstrate that the local pressure drop occurring at the moment of “jump-out” separation of the hydrophobic particles attracts nitrogen molecules to diffuse into the liquid film, thereby forming a cavitation bubble capillary bridge. Simultaneously, a jumping behavior is observed in the calculated spring potential curve at the moment of capillary bridge rupture. Finally, the influence of solution gas content on long-range hydrophobic force is investigated. There is a positive correlation between gas molecule content and both the growth rate of cavitation bubble capillary bridge volume and the length of capillary bridge stretch-rupture, further demonstrating the gas concentration dependence of long-range hydrophobic forces. In a word, revealing the long-range hydrophobic force mechanism based on the cavitation of unstable liquid film can enhance our understanding of the interaction between colloid physical chemistry and biological macromolecules. Meanwhile, hydrophobic force is the fundamental driving force of particle-bubble adhesion in mineral flotation system, and the revelation of its action mechanism has important guiding significance for regulating the actual mineral flotation process.

A 50 year record for perfluoroalkyl acids in the high arctic: implications for global and local transport.

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are persistent compounds that are ubiquitous globally, though some uncertainties remain in the understanding of their long-range transport mechanisms. They are frequently detected in remote locations, where local sources may be unimportant. We collected a 16.5 metre ice core on northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada to investigate PFAA deposition trends and transport mechanisms. The dated core represents fifty years of deposition (1967-2016), which accounts for the longest deposition record of perfluoroalkylcarboxylic acids (PFCAs) in the Arctic and the longest record of perfluoroalkylsulfonic acids (PFSAs) globally. PFCAs were detected frequently after the 1990s and have been increasing since. Homologue pair correlations, molar concentration ratios, and model comparisons suggest that PFCAs are primarily formed through oxidation of volatile precursors. PFSAs showed no discernible trend, with concentrations at least an order of magnitude lower than PFCAs. We observed episodic deposition of some PFAAs, notably perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) before the 1990s, which may be linked to Arctic military activities. Tracer analysis suggests that marine aerosols and mineral dust are relevant as transport vectors for selected PFAAs during specific time periods. These observations highlight the complex mechanisms responsible for the transport and deposition of PFAAs in the High Arctic.

Myosin XV is a negative regulator of signaling filopodia during long-range lateral inhibition

The self-organization of cells during development is essential for the formation of healthy tissues and requires the coordination of cell activities at local scales. Cytonemes, or signaling filopodia, are dynamic actin-based cellular protrusions that allow cells to engage in contact mediated signaling at a distance. While signaling filopodia have been shown to support several signaling paradigms during development, less is understood about how these protrusions are regulated. We investigated the role of the plus-end directed, unconventional MyTH4-FERM myosins in regulating signaling filopodia during sensory bristle patterning on the dorsal thorax of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We found that Myosin XV is required for regulating signaling filopodia dynamics and, as a consequence, lateral inhibition more broadly throughout the patterning epithelium. We found that Myosin XV is required for limiting the length and number of signaling filopodia generated by bristle precursor cells. Cells with additional and longer signaling filopodia due to loss of Myosin XV are not signaling competent, due to altered levels of Delta ligand and Notch receptor along their lengths. We conclude that Myosin XV acts to negatively regulate signaling filopodia, as well as promote the ability of signaling filopodia to engage in long-range Notch signaling. Since Myosin XV isoforms are present across several vertebrate and invertebrate systems, this may have significance for other long-range signaling mechanisms.

The frontooccipital interaction mechanism of high-frequency acoustoelectric signal.

Based on acoustoelectric effect, acoustoelectric brain imaging has been proposed, which is a high spatiotemporal resolution neural imaging method. At the focal spot, brain electrical activity is encoded by focused ultrasound, and corresponding high-frequency acoustoelectric signal is generated. Previous studies have revealed that acoustoelectric signal can also be detected in other non-focal brain regions. However, the processing mechanism of acoustoelectric signal between different brain regions remains sparse. Here, with acoustoelectric signal generated in the left primary visual cortex, we investigated the spatial distribution characteristics and temporal propagation characteristics of acoustoelectric signal in the transmission. We observed a strongest transmission strength within the frontal lobe, and the global temporal statistics indicated that the frontal lobe features in acoustoelectric signal transmission. Then, cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling was used to investigate the coordinated activity in the AE signal band range between frontal and occipital lobes. The results showed that intra-structural cross-frequency coupling and cross-structural coupling co-occurred between these two lobes, and, accordingly, high-frequency brain activity in the frontal lobe was effectively coordinated by distant occipital lobe. This study revealed the frontooccipital long-range interaction mechanism of acoustoelectric signal, which is the foundation of improving the performance of acoustoelectric brain imaging.

Sichuan Cuisine Recognition Method based on Residual Neural Network

To address issues such as the high number of parameters, significant variations among images of similar dishes, weak geometric invariance, and low recognition rates in Sichuan cuisine recognition methods, a lightweight Sichuan cuisine recognition model, RGBNet, based on residual neural network, is proposed. The model employs dilated convolutions to increase the receptive field of convolutional kernels while maintaining a consistent parameter count, thus obtaining more shallow-level features. An RGB module is constructed using asymmetric convolutions to enhance the model's geometric invariance, feature non-linear expression, and feature extraction capabilities. Finally, the DFC long-range attention mechanism is introduced to effectively capture long-range information, thereby improving adaptive learning capabilities. To validate the model's performance, the classic ChineseFoodNet benchmark dataset is utilized. A MiniChineseFood dataset is created by extracting 30 classes totaling 20,000 images for experimentation. The recognition accuracy is measured using the top1 method of image recognition performance, achieving a final image recognition accuracy of 96.62%. Compared to models such as EfficientNet, ShuffNet, FasterNet, and MobileNetV2, RGBNet demonstrates respective accuracy improvements of 16.57%, 18.52%, 17.12%, and 16.35%. This presents a novel approach for industrial food recognition.

Long-Range Charge Separation Enabled by Intramoiety Delocalized Excitations in Copolymer Donors in Organic Photovoltaic Blends.

For over two decades, most high-performance organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been made with donor:acceptor bulk heterojunctions with domain sizes limited by exciton diffusion, where charge separation mostly takes place through the dissociation of the interfacial charge-transfer (xCT) excitons. Recently, nonfullerene acceptor (NFA)-based OPVs have shown excellent compatibility to device structures with large domains in active layers. However, it remains elusive how the excitations that are distant from the interfaces are converted into free charges. Here, we report the identification of a new charge separation channel in model copolymer/NFA blends mediated by intra-moiety delocalized excitations in both planar heterojunctions and donor-enriched bulk heterojunctions. The delocalized excitations induced by interchromophore electronic interactions in copolymer donors mediate the long-range charge separation and dissociate into free charges without forming the bound xCT states first, releasing the constraints associated with the short exciton diffusion length in organic materials. The long-range charge separation mechanism uncovered in this work, in cooperation with the short-range xCT-mediated pathway, holds the potential to further optimize OPVs with diverse device structures.

Long-Range Regulation of Se Doping for Oxygen Reduction of Atomically Dispersed Sb Catalysts for Ultralow-Temperature Solid-State Zn–Air Batteries

Regulating the p-orbital valence electrons of atomically dispersed main-group metals to improve the inherent electrocatalytic activity has attracted extensive concerns. Herein, we designed and synthesized an atomically dispersed Sb–SeNC catalyst containing SbN2C2 and SeC2 structures, which have been identified by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Sb–SeNC exhibits a high activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and a Sb–SeNC-based flexible solid-state zinc–air battery (ZAB) can work efficiently at −40 °C, with a peak power density of 54.1 mW cm–2 and a rate discharge operation of about 44 h. DFT calculations further confirm the long-range regulation mechanism of the SeC2 moiety for the ORR of SbN2C2 and obtain the volcano relationship of Uonset vs the Se–N distance. When the Se–N distance is 7.4 Å, the adsorption ability of active site Sb can be regulated to an optimal state related to the RDS: *O → *OH, while the smaller Se–N distance in short-range would lead to the excessive attenuation of adsorption ability of active site and decrease of ORR activity, which therefore yields the long-range regulation effect of Se doping on the ORR activity of SbN2C2. This long-range regulation strategy may provide a promising approach to boost the catalytic activity of main-group metal catalysts to achieve its application in ultralow-temperature solid-state ZABs.

Interplay between Composition, Physicochemical Properties and Conductivity Mechanisms of Ionic Liquid-Based Electrolytes

Electrochemical energy conversion and storage (EECS) devices are a family of systems that are playing a major role in today’s efforts worldwide to decarbonize the energy infrastructure, with the ultimate goal to mitigate the greenhouse effect and reduce global warming [1]. Though EECS devices include very diverse systems such as secondary batteries, fuel cells, redox flow batteries and supercapacitors, among many others, all EECS devices share the same basic components i.e., two electrodes (where redox process take place) sandwiching a separator that allows for the selective transport of ions. In particular, the separator plays a crucial role to set some of the most relevant features of every EECS device, including the maximum power density that it can express and the durability/cyclability.Ionic liquids (ILs) have demonstrated a huge potential to enable the realization of EECS devices exhibiting an improved performance and durability. This feat is possible by leveraging on the unique features of ILs, with a particular reference to their highly customizable chemistry [2]. Suitable synthetic approaches allow to obtain systems specifically tailored to a certain application. In some instances, the best electrolytes are achieved by: (i) using the IL to soak a suitable matrix (e.g., a perfluorosulfonic acid derivative); (ii) dissolving a suitable dissociable compound (e.g., LiTFSI or δ-MgCl2) into the IL; and/or (iii) dispersing a suitable inorganic filler into the IL. The resulting IL-based electrolytes exhibit the desired features in terms of: (i) chemistry of the mobile species (e.g., the proton, lithium complexes, magnesium species); (ii) facile and selective transport of such mobile species; (iii) good compatibility with the electrodes, allowing an efficient plating/stripping of the desired metal species and minimizing undesired parasitic reactions; (iv) broad electrochemical stability window (ESW); and (v) well-controlled hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity features.The present contribution overviews our activities in the synthesis, characterization and implementation into various EECS device prototypes of IL-based electrolytes. The latter include: (i) electrolytes for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) obtained by swelling a perfluorosulfonic acid derivative with proton-conducing ionic liquids (PCILs) [3]; (ii) hybrid electrolytes for lithium batteries obtained by dispersing suitable inorganic fillers into ILs [4]; (iii) catenated ILs for multivalent batteries obtained by dissolving magnesium/aluminum/titanium halides into suitable ILs [5]; and (iv) highly hydrophobic ILs for special applications [6]. Particular efforts are dedicated to elucidate the complex interplay between: (i) the synthetic parameters; (ii) the physicochemical properties; (iii) the electric response; (iv) the long-range charge transport mechanism; and (v) the performance and durability of the IL-based electrolyte upon implementation into an EECS device prototype. Acknowledgments This work received funding from the U.S. Army Research Office under the grant W911NF-21-1-0347, from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 829145 (FETOPEN-VIDICAT) and from the University of Padova under the grant BIRD2121_01.

Anterior Insula-Associated Social Novelty Recognition: Pivotal Roles of a Local Retinoic Acid Cascade and Oxytocin Signaling.

Deficits in social cognition consistently underlie functional disabilities in a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Neuroimaging studies have suggested that the anterior insula is a "common core" brain region that is impaired across neurological and psychiatric disorders, which include social cognition deficits. Nevertheless, neurobiological mechanisms of the anterior insula for social cognition remain elusive. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap. To determine the role of the anterior insula in social cognition, the authors manipulated expression of Cyp26B1, an anterior insula-enriched molecule that is crucial for retinoic acid degradation and is involved in the pathology of neuropsychiatric conditions. Social cognition was mainly assayed using the three-chamber social interaction test. Multimodal analyses were conducted at the molecular, cellular, circuitry, and behavioral levels. At the molecular and cellular level, anterior insula-mediated social novelty recognition is maintained by proper activity of the layer 5 pyramidal neurons, for which retinoic acid-mediated gene transcription can play a role. The authors also demonstrate that oxytocin influences the anterior insula-mediated social novelty recognition, although not by direct projection of oxytocin neurons, nor by direct diffusion of oxytocin to the anterior insula, which contrasts with the modes of oxytocin regulation onto the posterior insula. Instead, oxytocin affects oxytocin receptor-expressing neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus, where serotonergic neurons are projected to the anterior insula. Furthermore, the authors show that serotonin 5-HT2C receptor expressed in the anterior insula influences social novelty recognition. The anterior insula plays a pivotal role in social novelty recognition that is partly regulated by a local retinoic acid cascade but also remotely regulated by oxytocin via a long-range circuit mechanism.