Grain refinement is an effective approach to enhance the comprehensive properties of alloys. In industrial production, Al-5Ti-1B master alloys are commonly used to refine the microstructure of aluminum alloys. However, the grain refinement potency of Al-Ti-B master alloys is limited and can’t meet the requirements for the high-performance aluminum alloy applications. It has been demonstrated that adding trace amount of micro-alloying element La to the aluminum alloy melt inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy can further refine the solidification microstructure. Previous research indicates that the addition of 0.06 wt% La is sufficient to achieve an ideal α-Al grain refinement. Our recent experimental results demonstrated that for an Al-Mg alloy of high Mg content inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy, the optimal addition level of La is about 0.02 wt%.<br> Solidification experiments were carried out for Al-Mg alloys inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy and different addition levels of micro-alloying element La. It is demonstrated that the trace addition of micro-alloying element La shows a further grain refinement effect on Al-Mg alloy and reduces the nucleation undercooling of α-Al. A model was proposed for the segregation behavior of micro-alloying element La at the interface between the Al alloy melt and TiB<sub>2</sub>. The mechanism of the enhancement in the efficiency of TiB<sub>2</sub> particles to nucleate α-Al by micro-alloying element La was clarified. The calculation results indicated that La shows a strong segregation tendency to the interface between the Al melt and TiB<sub>2</sub> particles, reduces the interfacial energy and contact angle between TiB<sub>2</sub> and α-Al, enhancing the efficiency of TiB<sub>2</sub> to nucleate α-Al, and further refining α-Al grains.

Even without detailed instruction from the brain, spinal locomotor circuitry generates coordinated behavior characterized by left-right alternation, segment-to-segment propagation, and variable-speed control. While existing models have emphasized the contributions of cellular- and network-level properties, the core mechanisms underlying rhythmogenesis remain incompletely understood. Further, neither family of models has fully accounted for recent experimental results in zebrafish and other organisms pointing to the importance of cell-type-specific intersegmental connectivity patterns and recruitment of speed-selective subpopulations of interneurons. Informed by these experimental findings and others, we developed a hierarchy of increasingly detailed models of the locomotor network. We find that coordinated locomotion emerges in an inhibition-dominated network in which connectivity is determined by intersegmental phase relationships among interneurons and variable-speed control is implemented by recruitment of speed-selective subpopulations. Further, while structured excitatory connections are not necessary for rhythmogenesis, they are useful for increasing peak locomotion frequency, albeit at the cost of smooth transitions at intermediate frequencies, suggesting a basic computational trade-off between speed and control. Together, this family of models shows that network-level interactions are sufficient to generate coordinated, variable-speed locomotion, providing new interpretations of intersegmental excitatory and inhibitory connectivity, as well as the basic, recruitment-based mechanism of speed control.

Even without detailed instruction from the brain, spinal locomotor circuitry generates coordinated behavior characterized by left–right alternation, segment-to-segment propagation, and variable-speed control. While existing models have emphasized the contributions of cellular- and network-level properties, the core mechanisms underlying rhythmogenesis remain incompletely understood. Further, neither family of models has fully accounted for recent experimental results in zebrafish and other organisms pointing to the importance of cell-type-specific intersegmental connectivity patterns and recruitment of speed-selective subpopulations of interneurons. Informed by these experimental findings and others, we developed a hierarchy of increasingly detailed models of the locomotor network. We find that coordinated locomotion emerges in an inhibition-dominated network in which connectivity is determined by intersegmental phase relationships among interneurons and variable-speed control is implemented by recruitment of speed-selective subpopulations. Further, while structured excitatory connections are not necessary for rhythmogenesis, they are useful for increasing peak locomotion frequency, albeit at the cost of smooth transitions at intermediate frequencies, suggesting a basic computational trade-off between speed and control. Together, this family of models shows that network-level interactions are sufficient to generate coordinated, variable-speed locomotion, providing new interpretations of intersegmental excitatory and inhibitory connectivity, as well as the basic, recruitment-based mechanism of speed control.

Apples are widely consumed in many nations across the world, with about 40% of the world's population eating apples on a regular basis. Many health-promoting aspects have been linked to the consumption of fresh apples, and as a result, the scientific community has focused heavily on the identification and measurement of bioactive chemicals in this food. The progress made in the quali-quantitative determination of phenolic chemicals in apples during the previous five years is highlighted in this article. The most modern methodologies for extracting the target components from apples, as well as the analytical methodologies used for the separation, identification, and quantification of phenolic acids, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and flavonoids, have received special attention. The primary characteristics of “traditional” extraction procedures (i.e., maceration, ultrasound-assisted extraction) as well as more novel protocols incorporating sophisticated extraction techniques, such as MAE, have been outlined (microwave-assisted extraction). The importance of HPLC in defining the phenolic profile has also been investigated, with the most recent results obtained employing mass spectrometry-based detection techniques being presented. Furthermore, the most frequent processes for quantifying the total amount of the cited classes of phenolic compounds, as well as spectrophotometric protocols for evaluating the antioxidant capabilities of rice phenolic extracts (i.e., FRAP, DPPH, ABTS, and ORAC), have been described.

BackgroundXanamemTM (Emestedastat) is an oral, selective 11β‐HSD1 inhibitor designed to reduce cortisol production in the brain under development for the treatment of AD. Clinical trials have demonstrated adequate target engagement by PET, improvements in cognitive performance in healthy older adults, and attenuation of decline in pTau181‐elevated clinically diagnosed AD patients at doses of 10mg daily. The recent positive results from the XanaCIDD trial in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) validate the target as well as the 10mg daily dose of Xanamem.MethodXanaCIDD was a Phase 2, proof‐of‐concept trial of 10 mg Xanamem daily in MDD patients with a current depressive episode (HamD >17) and a cognitive deficit (DSST at least 0.5 SD below age and educational norms). Participants were randomized in a double‐blind design 1:1 to Xanamem 10mg or placebo for 6 weeks (Week 6), with 4 weeks follow‐up (Week 10). The primary endpoint was a customized Cogstate test battery (CTB) comprising three tests of attention and working memory at Week 6. Secondary endpoints included assessment of depression with the MADRS and Participant Global Impression of Severity scores (PGI‐S). Clinical effect sizes were described by the Cohen’s d statistic (Cd) with ≥0.2 considered to be clinically meaningful.ResultBoth active and placebo groups improved substantially on the Cogstate CTB slightly favoring placebo (p=0.17). In the mITT population (n=165), a clinically and statistically significant benefit on MADRS was seen at Week 10 (2.7 points, Cd=0.43, p<0.05). In 76 patients taking SSRI medication, Xanamem benefit on MADRS was greater at the same timepoint (4.5 points, Cd=0.63, p=0.03). Xanamem showed a trend towards higher response rates at Week 10 (50% MADRS reduction, 34% Xanamem vs. 22% placebo, p=0.08). Trends towards improvement in PGI‐S scores favored the Xanamem group from Week 2 and were clinically significant at Weeks 4, 6 and 10 (p<0.2). There was a low incidence of treatment‐related adverse events which were generally mild or moderate and similar between treatment groups.ConclusionThese data suggest validation of the hypothesis that controlling CNS tissue cortisol production may be beneficial for the treatment of AD as well as MDD.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of hospitalizations among adults. Following bivalent respiratory syncytial virus prefusion F (RSVpreF) vaccine licensure and implementation, two studies have documented population-level reductions in RSV hospitalizations in the United Kingdom (UK), ranging from 30% to 62% in England and Scotland, respectively. Separately, vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies have been conducted in a number of settings. The question arises: Is there a relationship between these population-level reductions in RSV hospitalizations and real-world VE estimates from the first season post-implementation of bivalent RSVpreF, and do the impact findings reflect what would be expected from the VE estimates? Publicly available estimates for end-of-season-1 (EOS1) bivalent RSVpreF VE against RSV-related hospitalization were identified. Using these VE estimates, the expected vaccine impact across all potential vaccine coverage values was calculated using the formula impact = VE * uptake. We additionally estimated expected VE based on the impact findings from the RDD analyses. Six real-world studies evaluating bivalent RSVpreF VE were identified from the United States, UK, and Denmark; they documented 67-91% bivalent RSVpreF VE against RSV-related hospitalizations. Calculated impact using these six VE estimates closely aligned with the measured results estimated from the UK analyses. VEs calculated in turn from impact estimates ranged from 91% [Scotland] to 76% [England], closely aligning with expected results. These early results indicate that the extent of expected population-level impact achieved can be reliably predicted from VE studies and national coverage data. Bivalent RSVpreF use can have a substantial public health and economic impact by reducing RSV-related hospitalizations, as seen in this initial UK vaccination program. Protection of older adults from severe RSV disease is off to a promising start and implementation efforts to boost vaccine uptake should be a priority for health care workers, public health practitioners, and policymakers.

Let G be a finite group. A subgroup H of G is called weakly H C − embedded in G if there exists a normal subgroup T of G such that H G = HT and H g ∩ N T ( H ) ≤ H for all g ∈ G , where H G is the normal closuer of H in G. A subgroup H of G has a supersolvable supplement in G if there exists a supersolvable subgroup K of G such that G = HK . In this paper, we investigate the structure of G under the assumption that certain subgroups of G of prime power orders either are weakly H C − embedded in G or have supersolvable supplements in G. Our results improved and generalized some recent results in the literature.

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study investigates students’ beliefs and behaviors regarding generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) utilization for college coursework and the role of instructors’ course policies and messaging in students’ decision-making. Guided by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we note areas of change and stability in students’ GenAI perceptions and practices within and across semesters using short-term longitudinal data collection over the course of three semesters. Initial findings supported TPB as a viable framework for predicting students’ frequency of submitting AI-generated work as their own, yet more recent results only partially support the model. Results highlight shifts in course policy and instructor message framing and sidedness regarding GenAI and changes in how messaging predicts student perceptions. In particular, the prevalence and impact of two-sided messages changed significantly over time. Theoretical and practical implications for instructional communication are discussed.

The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is the leading interpretation in our current understanding of quantum thermalization. Recent results uncovered strong connections between quantum correlations in thermalizing systems and the structure of free probability theory, leading to the notion of full ETH. However, most studies have been performed for ergodic systems and it is still unclear whether or how full ETH manifests in ergodicity-breaking models. We fill this gap by studying standard probes of full ETH in ergodicity-breaking quantum circuits, presenting numerical and analytical results for interacting integrable systems. These probes can display distinct behavior and undergo a different scaling than the ones observed in ergodic systems. For the analytical results we consider an interacting integrable dual-unitary model and present the exact eigenstates, allowing us to analytically express common probes for full ETH. We discuss the underlying mechanisms responsible for these differences and show how the presence of solitons dictates the behavior of ETH-related quantities in the dual-unitary model. We show numerical evidence that this behavior is sufficiently generic away from dual-unitarity when restricted to the appropriate symmetry sectors.

Some models have been developed recently to calculate and analyze the electronic origin of the nuclear magnetic shielding tensor. We present here the most recent results of calculations performed with the Geometric Elimination of the Small Component (GESC) model, which represents a partial improvement of the Linear Response Elimination of the Small Component (LRESC) model, particularly concerning diamagnetic contributions. We have found that the accuracy of the diamagnetic contributions obtained with the GESC model is higher than the one obtained with the LRESC model for any molecular system. The difference between the LRESC (σdLRESC) and the four-component (σpp) methods is mainly due to the Fermi contact mechanism (σFC,LRESC). In the case of the GESC model, the contribution of such electronic mechanism is lowered by a factor of 5/7 with respect to σpp. Furthermore, the next important mechanism that contributes to the differences between σdLRESC and σpp is known as DiaK (σDiaK), being its values close to half of that due to σFC,LRESC. We analyze here the electronic mechanisms involved in the NMR shielding of halogen atoms of the following family of compounds: HX, IX, and AtX, where X = H, F, Cl, Br, I, At, and the shielding of the central atoms in the following family of molecules: Sn4-iXi and PbH4-iXi with i = 1-4 and X = H, F, Cl, Br, I. The calculations were performed at the LRESC-HF/DFT and GESC-HF/DFT levels of theory together with four-component DHF.

Physical-layer security can aid in establishing secure telecommunication networks including cellular, Internet of Things, and telemetry networks, among others. Channel sounding techniques and/or telemetry systems for reporting channel conditions, coupled with superior wiretap code design are necessary to implement such secure systems. In this paper, we present recent results in best wiretap coset code design for the binary erasure wiretap channel. We define equivocation matrices, and showcase their properties and utility in constructing good, and even the best, wiretap codes. We outline the notion of equivalence for wiretap coset codes, and use it to reduce the search space in exhaustive searches for best small codes. Through example, we show that the best codes do not exist for some code sizes. We also prove that simplex codes are better than codes repeating one column multiple times in their generator matrix.

Abstract We study the stability and possible fates of little red dots (LRDs) under the stellar-only interpretation of their observational features. This is performed by a combination of analyzing the relevant timescales in their stellar dynamics and also the application of recent numerical results on the evolution of the densest stellar systems. We find that these objects typically have t age ∼ t coll &lt; t relax and are therefore in an unexplored regime never observed before for a stellar system and are potentially highly unstable to runaway collisions. We study different scenarios for the evolution of LRDs and conclude that in a fair fraction of those systems, the formation of a massive black hole (MBH) by runaway stellar collisions seems unavoidable, in all the possibilities studied within the stellar-only interpretation. This evolutionary path would naturally explain many of the problematic characteristics of Little Red Dots, including that these objects are probably transient in the history of the Universe, that most of them would not emit X-rays since they would not yet have become MBHs, and once they do, they would constitute a significant portion of the mass of LRDs. We conclude that LRDs are the most favorable known places to find a recently formed MBH seed or, in the process of formation, that are most probably formed directly within the supermassive range.

At resonance, the optical response of a homogeneous medium to incident light is governed by temporal dispersion, which induces changes in the refractive index (RI). However, recent experimental results reveal RI enhancements exceeding the fundamental limit of 5 in spatially confined systems. Herein, we study the off-resonance enhancement of RI in sub-5 nm gold nanoparticles using electronic light scattering (ELS). We discuss that the RI driven by the distribution and dynamics of excited-state charge carriers can be locally boosted through the breaking of spatial symmetry in matter. These findings are critical for optically probing RI variations in spatially confined media using ELS.

As part of its upgrade for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the CMS Collaboration has chosen a novel High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) to replace the endcap calorimeters. The HGCAL features fine segmentation in both the transverse and longitudinal directions, resulting in approximately six million readout channels in total. HGCAL will play a crucial role in the CMS Level-1 trigger system, where its high granularity combined with a 40 MHz sampling rate presents significant challenges for data handling and real-time processing.The HL-LHC environment, with up to 200 simultaneous proton-proton interactions per bunch crossing, will produce an intense background rate in the forward regions. Efficient background rejection will therefore be essential for maintaining trigger performance. To meet these demands, several types of HGCAL-based trigger primitives have been developed to provide complementary inputs to the trigger algorithms.At the detector level, trigger cells and module energy sums are constructed directly within the HGCAL front-end ASICs. These quantities are then transmitted off-detector to a two-stage FPGA-based system, consisting of roughly 200 ATCA boards, where they are used to build higher-level trigger objects. These include three-dimensional clusters, well suited for use in particle-flow algorithms, as well as projective tower energy sums that provide a complete two-dimensional energy map of the calorimeter.Reconstructing these objects is a complex and demanding task, given the enormous data throughput. The algorithms must meet stringent hardware and latency constraints while maintaining optimal reconstruction performance in the challenging HL-LHC conditions. The implementation of these algorithms in hardware is now underway, accompanied by ongoing optimization of their parameters. The current status of the HGCAL trigger primitive generation system, together with recent results on the implementation and optimization of its reconstruction algorithms, will be presented.

Effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in thyroid cancer: A systematic review.

The evolution of queen competitions to boost productivity.

Abstract This paper presents the design, capabilities, and recent experimental outcomes of the EBL2 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) beamline research facility developed at TNO for advanced nanolithography component testing. The facility delivers high-brightness 13.5 nm EUV radiation with pulse powers up to 4.2 W and integrates a suite of in situ metrology tools—including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal infrared imaging, and EUV photodiodes—within a controlled gas environment. These tools enable real-time, non-destructive characterization of photomasks and pellicles under EUV and EUV-induced plasma exposure. The paper details the system’s architecture and highlights its suitability for accelerated lifetime testing. Recent results include the identification of degradation mechanisms in Ru-Ta absorber materials, EUV-induced oxidation in multilayer mirrors, and the absence of radiation-induced outgassing in SiN pellicles. The combination of ellipsometry and XPS has proven particularly effective in correlating optical and chemical surface changes. These findings support the development of robust materials for next-generation EUV lithography

Based on the linearized Maxwell-fluid equations, this paper investigates how an electron–ion plasma responds to a short-term current variation with respect to the generation of electromagnetic waves. It is shown that Langmuir waves can be triggered in the high-frequency range, the direct conversion of which is directly associated with the generation of type III radiation. In contrast to the classical approach of Ginzburg and Zhelezniakov [“On the possible mechanisms of sporadic solar radio emission (radiation in an isotropic plasma),” Sov. Astron. 2, 653 (1958)], after which beam-excited Langmuir waves in a two-step process are converted into electromagnetic radiation, the presented mechanism works without any parametric decay and wave coalescence. Rather, electric field oscillations at the electron plasma frequency can be triggered by different pulses of the driving current, e.g., by the sudden (uncompensated) net current onset of the strahl at t = 0 in a core-strahl plasma or by given temporal current variations, which may occur as transient phenomena if the solar wind is disturbed by shocks, magnetic switch-backs or other discontinuities. The application of current pulses that imitate the beam–plasma instability may generate type III radiation with double-peak frequency spectra, often observed on satellites. Moreover, suitable current profiles enable the simultaneous excitation of type III emission and whistler waves. Measurements of Langmuir waves, type III radiation, and whistler waves on board various satellites in the solar wind, and in particular some of the recent results of the Parker Solar Probe, are interpreted in the light of the theoretical model. The fluid approach is confirmed by the results of fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, presented in the Appendix.

Antifungal echinocandins: Historical discovery, comprehensive structure-activity relationships, resistance mechanisms and future developments.

Let $t(H;G)$ be the homomorphism density of a graph $H$ into a graph $G$. Sidorenko's conjecture states that for any bipartite graph $H$, $t(H;G)\geq t(K_2;G)^{|E(H)|}$ for all graphs $G$. It is already known that such inequalities cannot be certified through the sums of squares method when $H$ is a so-called trivial square. In this paper, we investigate recent results about Sidorenko's conjecture and classify those involving trivial versus non trivial squares. We then present some computational results. In particular, we categorize the bipartite graphs $H$ on at most 7 edges for which $t(H;G)\geq t(K_2;G)^{|E(H)|}$ has a sum of squares certificate. We then discuss other limitations for sums of squares proofs beyond trivial squares.