Potential Rise Research Articles

A brief exposure to toluene vapor alters the intrinsic excitability of D2 medium spiny neurons in the rat ventral striatum.

Although volatile organic solvents such as toluene are used for commercial and industrial uses, they are often voluntarily inhaled for their intoxicating and euphoric effects. Research into the effects of inhalants such as toluene on brain function have revealed actions on a variety of ligand-gated and voltage-activated ion channels involved in regulating neuronal excitability. Previous work from this laboratory has also shown that brief exposures to toluene vapor induce changes in the intrinsic excitability and synaptic transmission of neurons within the medial prefrontal cortex and ventral tegmental area that vary depending on projection target. In the present study, we recorded current-evoked spiking of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core and shell in adolescent rats exposed to an intoxicating concentration of toluene vapor. Compared to air controls, firing of NAc core MSNs in Sprague-Dawley rats was not altered 24 h after exposure to 10,500 ppm toluene vapor while spiking of NAc shell MSNs was enhanced at low current steps but reduced at higher current steps. When the rheobase current was used to putatively identify MSN subtypes, both "D1-like" and "D2-like" MSNs within the NAc shell but not core showed toluene-induced changes in firing. As toluene may itself have altered the rheobase resulting in misclassification of neuron subtype, we conducted additional studies using adolescent D2-Cre rats infused with a Cre-dependent mCherry reporter virus. Following toluene vapor exposure, spiking of NAc shell D2+ MSNs was enhanced at low current steps but inhibited at higher currents as compared to air controls while there were no differences in the firing of NAc shell D2- MSNs. The toluene-induced change in NAc D2+ shell MSN firing was accompanied by alterations in membrane resistance, rheobase, action potential rise time and height with no changes noted in D2- MSNs. Overall, these data add to a growing literature showing that brief exposures to intoxicating concentrations of toluene vapor causes selective alterations in the excitability of neurons within the addiction neurocircuitry that vary depending on sub-region, cell-type and projection target.

MultiIB-TransUNet: Transformer with multiple information bottleneck blocks for CT and ultrasound image segmentation.

Accurate medical image segmentation is crucial for disease diagnosis and surgical planning. Transformer networks offer a promising alternative for medical image segmentation as they can learn global features through self-attention mechanisms. To further enhance performance, many researchers have incorporated more Transformer layers into their models. However, this approach often results in the model parameters increasing significantly, causing a potential rise in complexity. Moreover, the datasets of medical image segmentation usually have fewer samples, which leads to the risk of overfitting of themodel. This paper aims to design a medical image segmentation model that has fewer parameters and can effectively alleviateoverfitting. We design a MultiIB-Transformer structure consisting of a single Transformer layer and multiple information bottleneck (IB) blocks. The Transformer layer is used to capture long-distance spatial relationships to extract global feature information. The IB block is used to compress noise and improve model robustness. The advantage of this structure is that it only needs one Transformer layer to achieve the state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance, significantly reducing the number of model parameters. In addition, we designed a new skip connection structure. It only needs two 1× 1 convolutions, the high-resolution feature map can effectively have both semantic and spatial information, thereby alleviating the semanticgap. The proposed model is on the Breast UltraSound Images (BUSI) dataset, and the IoU and F1 evaluation indicators are 67.75 and 87.78. On the Synapse multi-organ segmentation dataset, the Param, Hausdorff Distance (HD) andDice Similarity Cofficient (DSC) evaluation indicators are 22.30, 20.04 and 81.83. Our proposed model (MultiIB-TransUNet) achieved superior results with fewer parameters compared to other models.

Implications of strategic photovoltaic deployment on regional electricity self-sufficiency by 2050: A case study in Iraq

The study explored the impact of strategic photovoltaic (PV) deployment on regional electricity self-sufficiency in Iraq, offering key insights into the advantages and challenges of transitioning towards an energy-independent system by 2050. Findings indicate a noteworthy contribution of rising PV supply towards improved self-sufficiency, with a PV supply of 83.1 TWh catering to a total demand of 66.2 TWh in 2022, achieving a 76% self-sufficiency level. This suggests PV generation covers 76% of the districts electricity needs, thus bolstering energy security by reducing external energy source reliance. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the significance of expanded rooftop PV capacity to augment self-sufficiency and decrease dependency on conventional energy. Predictions suggest a potential rise in rooftop utilization for PV installations from 66% in 2022 to 88% by 2050, accentuating the need for policy initiatives to endorse and incentivize rooftop PV system adoption. The paper offers several recommendations, including the creation of supportive regulatory frameworks for PV integration, the introduction of financial incentives, capacity building initiatives, public awareness campaigns, grid modernization efforts, and regional energy planning which incorporates PV deployment considerations and sets self-sufficiency targets..

Arm's Length Principle Analysis on Tax Avoidance through Transfer Pricing Post- Pandemic (Covid-19): A Proposed Study

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced society to adapt to technological advancement and decision-making behavior in corporate management. In response, companies implemented transfer pricing strategy to ease the tax burden in order to optimize expenditure efficiency and maximize profitability. Besides its commonality among multinational companies, researchers observed that transfer pricing had been utilized significantly between related domestic companies, which may bring potential loss of state tax revenue. On the other hand, in principle, transfer pricing is legal and tax-wise permitable as long as it applies the arm’s length principle. This research was conducted in the form of case study with the objective to analyze the application of arm’s length principle on tax avoidance activity through transfer pricing between domestic companies by exploring its theoretical model. The analysis comprises five methods, namely the price comparison method between independent parties, the resale price method, the cost-plus method, the profit-sharing method, and the transactional net profit method. The evaluation of a company’s arm’s length principle can be utilized as a basis for recommendation, both for related companies to optimize tax planning and for policymakers to mitigate the risk of losing state revenue. This study is imperative in understanding post-Covid-19 impact on corporations as a mean of adaptation and going concern– specifically on how transfer pricing among specially-related domestic companies have become a cost-cutting effort. This study is expected to bring guidance for the following researches and contribution for government in overcoming the potential rise of domestic transfer pricing postpandemic.
 Keywords: arm’s length principle, domestic company, transfer pricing, tax avoidance

Identifying photoelectron releasing order in strong-field dissociative ionization of H2.

Driven by intense laser fields, the outgoing photoelectrons in molecules possess a quiver motion, resulting in the rise of the effective ionization potential. The coupling of the field-dressed ionization potential with abundant molecular dynamics complicates the laser-molecule interactions. Here, we demonstrate an approach to resolve photoelectron releasing order in the dissociative and non-dissociative channels of multiphoton ionization driven by an orthogonally polarized two-color femtosecond laser pulse. The photoelectron kinetic energy releases and the regular nodes in the photoelectron angular distributions due to the participation of different continuum partial waves allow us to deduce the field-dressed ionization potential of various channels. It returns the ponderomotive energy experienced by the outgoing electron and reveals the corresponding photoionization instants within the laser pulse. Our results provide a route to explore the complex strong-field ionization dynamics of molecules using two-dimensional photoelectron momentum spectroscopy.

Forkhead Box P4 promotes the proliferation of cells in colorectal adenocarcinoma

Abstract Objectives Forkhead Box P4 (FOXP4) is a transcription factor that promotes tumor formation and progression. However, studies on its roles in colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRAC) and cell proliferation regulation are few to date. This work investigates the expression of FOXP4 in CRAC, explores the characteristic of FOXP4 in different clinicopathological features, and analyzes its regulation of cell proliferation. Methods The GEPIA database was used to predict the trend of FOXP4 expression in colon cancer and normal mucosa. Tumor tissue and normal paracancerous mucosal tissue were sampled from 64 cases diagnosed with CRAC and who were receiving radical surgery at Tianjin Hospital from January 2017 and December 2022. FOXP4 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were detected by the immunohistochemistry EnVision method. The colon cancer cell lines SW480, HCT15, and SW620 and the normal colon cell line NCM460 were selected, and expression of FOXP4 was detected by the Western blot method. The siRNA-FOXP4 plasmid was synthesized and transfected with SW480 and HCT15 cell lines, respectively, to establish si-FOXP4 groups, and empty vector transfection group (NC-FOXP4) and blank control group (NC) was set up. The expression levels of FOXP4 and PCNA were detected by the Western blot method, while the cell proliferation activity was assessed using CCK-8. Normally distributed quantitative data were compared between two and more groups with ANOVA (SNK-based pairwise comparison), while intergroup enumeration data comparisons were performed through χ 2 test and assessed through linear correlation analysis. Results GEPIA-based prediction shows a potential rise in FOXP4 expression in colon cancer. The rate of positive FOXP4 expression is significantly higher in CRAC tissue than in normal mucosa (p<0.05). The difference in FOXP4 is statistically significant in the comparison of maximum tumor diameter and depth of invasion in CRAC (p<0.05) but not in the comparison of gender, age, degree of differentiation, tumor focus, tumor embolism, and lymph node metastasis (p>0.05). The expression levels of FOXP4 and PCNA in CRAC are positively correlated (p<0.05). FOXP4 expression is significantly higher in cell lines SW480, HCT15, and SW620 than in cell line NCM460. The cell proliferation activity and PCNA expression are significantly lower in si-FOXP4 group than in NC-FOXP4 and NC groups for cell lines SW480 and HCT15. Conclusions FOXP4 is highly expressed and has a proliferative effect on tumor cells in CRAC.

Full-wave electromagnetic analysis of lightning strikes to wind farm connected to medium-voltage distribution lines

This paper studies the voltages developed on a wind turbine (WT) and a medium-voltage distribution line (MVDL) connected to a wind farm subjected to lightning strikes and located on frequency-dependent (FD) soils. The ground potential rise (GPR), voltages at the blade tip and on phase conductors of the MVDL are calculated using the full-wave electromagnetic software XGSLab® employing the rigorous Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) method. The wind farm comprises four wind turbines with interconnected grounding systems using cables buried in resistivity soils of 1,000 and 5,000 Ω m. The voltages are computed for the first positive impulse (FPI) of 100-kA 10/350μs and for the subsequent negative impulse (SNI) of 50-kA, 1/200μs. Results have shown that voltage peaks increase notably as the soil resistivity increases. When the WTs are assumed, oscillations in the GPR waveforms for the SNI occur due to the multiple reflections between the blade and the turbine’s base. However, the voltages for the FPI present smooth time-domain responses. Furthermore, the overvoltages developed at the MVDL are significantly dependent on the soil resistivity and lightning current waveform.

Tower-foot grounding model for EMT programs based on transmission line theory and Marti's model

This paper proposes a tower-foot grounding system model compatible with EMT programs which might be useful for the simulation of lightning transients in overhead lines. The proposed model is based on the solution of the telegrapher's equations and the application of the classical Marti's transmission line model. The model is implemented in the Alternative Transients Program (ATP) and validated considering a benchmark electromagnetic model. Its accuracy is evaluated and shown both in terms of the simulated ground potential rise (GPR) and line overvoltages developed through the insulator strings due to lightning currents. Finally, the model accuracy is also demonstrated in terms of the line backflashover outage rate.

Seasonal variability in Antarctic ice shelf velocities forced by sea surface height variations

Abstract. Antarctica's ice shelves resist the flow of grounded ice towards the ocean through “buttressing” arising from their contact with ice rises, rumples, and lateral margins. Ice shelf thinning and retreat reduce buttressing, leading to increased delivery of mass to the ocean that adds to global sea level. Ice shelf response to large annual cycles in atmospheric and oceanic processes provides opportunities to study the dynamics of both ice shelves and the buttressed grounded ice. Here, we explore whether seasonal variability of sea surface height (SSH) can explain observed seasonal variability of ice velocity. We investigate this hypothesis using several time series of ice velocity from the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS), satellite-based estimates of SSH seaward of the RIS front, ocean models of SSH under and near RIS, and a viscous ice sheet model. The observed annual changes in RIS velocity are of the order of 1–10 m a−1 (roughly 1 % of mean flow). The ice sheet model, forced by the observed and modelled range of SSH of about 10 cm, reproduces the observed velocity changes when sufficiently large basal drag changes near the grounding line are parameterised. The model response is dominated by grounding line migration but with a significant contribution from SSH-induced tilt of the ice shelf. We expect that climate-driven changes in the seasonal cycles of winds and upper-ocean summer warming will modify the seasonal response of ice shelves to SSH and that nonlinear responses of the ice sheet will affect the longer trend in ice sheet response and its potential sea-level rise contribution.

Oxide Electric Field-Induced Degradation of SiC MOSFET for Heavy-Ion Irradiation

This work presents an experimental study of heavy-ion irradiation with different particle linear energy transfer (LET), gate biases, and drain biases. The results reveal that when the irradiation biases are low, the SiC MOSFET does not experience single event effect (SEE) and the electrical properties remain unchanged (the devices are in the safe operating area (SOA)). However, the oxide breakdown voltage of the device is significantly decreased due to the latent damage generated by the irradiation. The experimental results, along with TCAD simulations, suggest that the latent damage induced by the irradiation in the gate oxide is closely related to the peak electric field in the gate oxide at the time of particle incidence. This peak electric field is determined by the potential difference between the two sides of the gate oxide, which is affected by the particle LET, gate biases, and drain biases together. The high potential is determined by the combined effect of the LET and the drain-source voltage. The impact ionization of the particle by the applied electric field causes the accumulation of holes in the JFET oxide, which leads to a decrease in the doping of the N− epitaxial layer and eventually causes a rise in the high potential near the JFET oxide. The low potential is determined by the gate bias, and the negative bias applied to the gate can further increase the potential difference between the two sides of the oxide, causing an increase in the peak electric field in the gate oxide and aggravating the gate oxide damage.

On the modeling of additive manufacturing: Printing process and printed structures

With decades of development, Additive Manufacturing (AM) grows significantly and has been used in a wide range of applications. Although AM was introduced for production of prototypes, it is now being utilized for fabrication of functional end-use products. Therefore, structural integrity and mechanical strength of additively manufactured parts have become of significant importance. The rise of potentials of AM process motivate research and industry to use modeling techniques to support the process and product development by reducing costly and time consuming experiments. In the current study, we have demonstrated two simulation case studies: (a) modeling of AM process, and (b) modeling of additively manufactured parts. Simufact additive manufacturing software is used which provides simulation solution for all metal manufacturing process. Simufact is used to examine the development of residual stresses during the thermal treatment in selective laser melting process. We also used commercial Finite Element (FE) software Abaqus to simulate structural integrity of additively manufactured adhesive joints. We demonstrated how FE modeling can be employed to reveal the impact of printing parameters of the adherends of the joints on to their mechanical performances and their cohesive fracture. The outcome of this study can be utilized for implementation of simulation and computational modeling into the future designs of additively manufactured components.

Differences in Ia proprioceptive input to spinal motoneurons between male and female rats.

Male and female rats differ in muscle fibre composition, related motor unit contractile properties, and muscle spindle density but not number. On the other hand, their motoneurons' intrinsic properties, excitability and firing properties are similar. The aim of this study was to investigate whether apparent sex differences in body mass and muscle force influence the proprioceptive input from muscle spindles to motoneurons. Medial gastrocnemius motoneurons were investigated intracellularly in deeply anaesthetised male and female rats. Monosynaptic Ia excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were evoked using electrical stimulation of primary afferents from homonymous muscle. Data were analysed using a mixed linear model. The central latencies of EPSPs were 0.38-0.80 ms, with no differences in means between males and females. The maximum EPSP amplitude varied between 2.03 and 8.09 mV in males and 1.24 and 6.79 mV in females. The mean maximum EPSP amplitude was 26% higher in males than in females. The mean EPSP rise time, half-decay time and total duration did not differ between the sexes. EPSP amplitudes correlated with the resting membrane potential, input resistance and EPSP rise time in both sexes. The observed sex differences in the Ia proprioceptive input may be related either to mechanical loading differences in males and females associated with their different body mass or hormonal differences influencing the levels of neuromodulation in spinal circuits. The results highlight the importance of taking sex into consideration in the studies on the influence of afferent inputs on MN excitability.

Numerical Investigation of the Use of Electrically Conductive Concrete-Encased Electrodes as Potential Replacement for Substation Grounding Systems

This paper presents a numerical investigation regarding the possibility of using electrically conductive concrete (ECON) combined with concrete-encased electrode (CEE) technology to develop new substation grounding systems (SGSs) called ECON-EE as a replacement for conventional copper or galvanized steel grounding grids. In the first step, the validation of the commercial FEM software used to perform grounding system analysis was performed in terms of the grid resistance (RG), ground potential rise (GPR), and step and touch voltages, using a symmetrical 70 m × 70 m conventional copper SGS. Next, several numerical simulations of an ECON-EE grounding system with the same dimensions as the conventional copper grid used for FEM software validation were performed. Thus, several parameters of the ECON-EE grounding system were studied, such as the geometry, dimensions, and resistivity of ECON and the diameter of the rebar. The numerical results obtained permit us to demonstrate that ECON-EE grounding systems can perform better than conventional SGSs equipped with vertical rods, particularly in the case of high ground resistivity. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the two main ECON-EE parameters affecting the grounding resistance and the touch and step voltages are the section area and the resistivity of the ECON. As discussed in detail in this paper, the proposed ECON-EE grounding system can offer several advantages compared to conventional SGSs in terms of efficiency and durability, as well as in terms of simplicity of conception and implementation.

Rapid neurogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells through electrochemical stimulation

The neurogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) has been substantially handicapped with the choice of chemical or electrical stimulations for long durations. We demonstrate an innovative strategy of stimulation with <1.0 V for <200 s to achieve hMSCs differentiation towards neural progenitor cells within 24 h and their commitment towards differentiation to neurons on day 3 with the use of three-electrode electrostimulation. Stimulated hMSCs (ES hMSCs) showed elevated expression of neural-specific markers and mitochondrial membrane potential. A voltage bias of ±0.5 V and ±1.0 V did not show any adverse effect on cell viability and proliferation, whereas cells stimulated with ±1.5 V showed an upsurge in the dead cell populations. With the progression of time after stimulation, a rise in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP, ΔΨ M) was observed in the ES hMSCs and thereby generating intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), acting as a key messenger to induce neuronal differentiation. The stratagem may provide insightful handles to circumvent neurodifferentiation impediments, a focal issue for regenerative medicine.

‘A tide of homeless, drug-addicted and mentally ill people’: Representing homeless people in MailOnline content

Councils across England are warning of a rise in the number of homeless people as Covid-19 pandemic protections such as the eviction ban are withdrawn (Watts et al., 2022). At the same time, research suggests that more people in England could become homeless by 2024 due to, inter alia, the cost-of-living crisis (The Guardian, 2022). This paper considers how homeless people and homelessness are represented in the biggest UK online news brand, MailOnline. Using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis, it unveils the consistent dehumanisation, criminalisation and pathologisation of homeless people in articles published in 2021. Through a micro-linguistic analysis, it uncovers the discursive strategies used by journalists to represent homeless people negatively, such as functionalisation, individualisation, the use of statistics, and metaphors of natural disaster. The paper argues that these representations could contribute to a moral panic surrounding homelessness at a time when one might expect greater understanding due to the potential rise in homelessness. More research is needed to understand the ways in which these discourses map onto homelessness policies and are received by members of the British public.

Presence and statistics of a discontinuous potential distribution in the plume of an electric propulsion hollow cathode

The extraction voltage of an electric propulsion hollow cathode is mainly deposited in its plume region, and is usually believed to be proportional to the plasma oscillation amplitude. However, this was not the case in some recent results. To understand the reason for this, this study has measured the potential distribution and oscillation amplitude distribution in the plume of a hollow cathode, and checked whether the correlation between the two was affected by changing keeper materials and keeper biases. We found a discontinuous potential rise (‘step region’) in the middle of the plume, the voltage of which occupied over 40% of the total discharge voltage. The step region was sensitive to exterior electron emission, and could shift its location in a ∼18 mm range according to an increase/decrease of oscillation amplitude. However, its voltage remained almost unchanged and, as a result, the total extraction voltage remained constant regardless of amplitude changes. Statistics indicated that the step region was related to electron–electron non-equilibrium, with splitting and recombination between electron energy probability function multi-components, each at different flow states and trapping states. It was suspected that shockwaves and streaming instabilities were involved. Because the step region was accompanied by stronger oscillations and higher ion energies, inclusion of this plasma structure should be necessary to promote cathode test accuracy.

Transient analysis of power transmission towers above lossy ground with frequency dependent electrical parameters considering the water content of soil

Adequate soil modeling is fundamental to assessing the grounding impedance of the grounding system and the transient responses in power systems. This paper aims to investigate three soil models with electrical parameters varying with frequency and water content, namely Smith-Longmire, Scott, and Messier models, and their impact on the ground potential rise (GPR) waveforms of vertical grounding rods. Besides that, the transient induced voltages across the string of insulators induced are also investigated for lightning currents representative first, and subsequent return strokes are employed. The harmonic grounding impedance (HGI) is calculated for rods of 3, 15, and 30 m buried in frequency-dependent (FD) soil model using commercial electromagnetic software (FEKO) with the Method of Moments (MoM) for a range of 100 Hz to 10 MHz. Simulation results show a significant modification of the calculated HGI beyond a particular frequency. The induced transient GPR waveforms show a notable reduction in their voltage peaks when the FD soil model is compared with those computed using the frequency-independent (FI) soil model. Finally, a backflashover analysis is carried out that demonstrates its dependence on the rod length, water content, and the specific soil model employed.

Lightning Impulse Current Tests on some Electroconductive Fabrics

On the search of lightweight lightning protection materials that can be used as part of Lightning Protection Systems (LPS), we investigate some types of electroconductive fabrics by applying several high lightning impulse currents in laboratory. Samples of four commercially available electroconductive textiles were analyzed: two rip-stop, a plain-weave, a non-woven, and additionally a carbon-impregnated polymeric film. Under laboratory conditions, each sample was subject to several subsequent lightning-like currents, recording both voltage and current signals. Optical and scanning electron microscope observations were performed after tests, revealing some patterns or morphological changes on the fabric surface. Despite these changes, the investigated conductive textiles withstand the several lightning impulse currents applied. Results suggest that some conductive fabrics could be used in personal mobile shelters, to protect human beings against the earth potential rise caused by a close lightning discharge.

Research on Lightning Current Shunting Characteristics Between Tower and Ground Wires Based on Field Test and Numerical Simulation

When lightning strikes the transmission tower, lightning current is shunted between the ground wires and the tower. The shunting changes the current waveform in the tower, which may affect the potential rise of the tower and the grounding device. A field test is conducted on a 220 kV transmission line and the characteristics of lightning current shunting are obtained in this paper. The test results are compared with the simulation results, which verifies the feasibility of the commonly used simulation models. The main influencing factors of the shunting are discussed. The results show that the current in the tower changes obviously in our case compared to the applied impulse current. The high frequency components of the impulse current mainly enter the tower, which leads to a steeper current waveform in the tower. The difference is closely related to the waveform of the applied impulse current. The slower the impulse current waveform, the greater the difference between the front time and amplitude of the current in the tower and that of the original impulse current. Although part of the current flows along ground wires, this phenomenon may put forward higher requirements for the tower grounding device.

Comparison of Grounding Resistance Using Grounding Rod Electrodes with Different Fault Current Types in Podzolic Soil at Prabumulih Substation

For protection against electric shock in electrical equipment, particularly in control or instrument installations in substation equipment, a quality earthing system is required. The earthing system is also affected by soil resistivity with different soil types. In the equipment grounding system, knowledge of the types of electrodes and the type of soil is required. At the Prabumulih substation, Podzolic soil is required to evaluate the stress distribution that happens in the soil in order to reduce Ground Potential Rise (GPR). In addition to obtaining the economic value of the rod electrode type employed. In this study the resistivity value of the podzolic soil type is very decisive so that the resistivity value of the podzolic soil type at the pre-selection substation land is 150 Ωm.