Terms Of Changes Research Articles

Spin-orbit entangled moments and magnetic exchange interactions in cobalt-based honeycomb magnets BaCo2(XO4)2 (X = P, As, Sb)

Co-based honeycomb magnets have been actively studied recently for the potential realization of emergent quantum magnetism therein such as the Kitaev spin liquid. Here we employ density functional and dynamical mean-field theory methods to examine a family of the Kitaev magnet candidates BaCo2(XO4)2 (X = P, As, Sb), where the compound with X = Sb being not synthesized yet. Our study confirms the formation of Mott insulating phase and the Jeff = 1/2 spin moments at Co2+ sites despite the presence of a sizable amount of trigonal crystal field in all three compounds. The pnictogen substitution from phosphorus to antimony significantly changes the in-plane lattice parameters and direct overlap integral between the neighboring Co ions, leading to the suppression of the Heisenberg interaction. More interestingly, the marginal antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor Kitaev term changes sign into a ferromagnetic one and becomes sizable at the X = Sb limit. Our study suggests that the pnictogen substitution can be a viable route to continuously tune magnetic exchange interactions and to promote magnetic frustration for the realization of potential spin liquid phases in BaCo2(XO4)2.

Manipulating Floquet-driven topological insulator with off-resonant elliptically polarized light in presence of hexagonal fermi surface warping.

The irradiation of topological insulator surface with elliptically polarized light modifies the topological properties in a phase-dependent manner impacting the Floquet Chern number which is a crucial topological invariant associated with such driven systems. Employing Floquet theory in presence of hexagonal warping term in the Dirac fermion Hamiltonian under off-resonant conditions, we derive an effective Hamiltonian that highlights distinct features in the Floquet-Dirac surface states. Specifically, we identify a helicity and ellipticity-dependent mass term in the quasi-static Hamiltonian, breaking time reversal symmetry. This mass term changes sign with variations in the helicity and ellipticity of incident radiation, potentially driving the system into trivial or Floquet-Chern topological insulating phases. We calculate the Berry curvature associated with the bandstructure and the resulting anomalous Hall conductivity, finding a strong dependence on the ellipticity and amplitude of the radiation.

Evaluation of a Reiki Volunteer Program within Two Cancer Infusion Centers

Reiki is a biofield therapy from Japan currently used in many US hospitals. Evidence supports Reiki's effectiveness for addressing cancer and treatment-related symptoms such as pain and anxiety. However, no study to date has assessed changes in nausea following Reiki received during infusion treatments or assessed patients from multiple healthcare locations. To evaluate a Reiki program for outpatients with cancer and other chronic illnesses receiving infusion treatments (e.g., chemotherapy) at two University Hospitals infusion centers. Participants in the outpatient infusion clinics completed Edmonton Symptom Assessment System measures of pain, fatigue, anxiety, nausea, and well-being before and after receiving a 15-20-minute Reiki session during their infusion. Data analysis included means and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of single-session effects on measures where the pre-session score was ≥1 and analysis of post-session comments. Between March 2022 and February 2024, 392 Reiki sessions were provided to 268 unique patients (mean age 63.3 ± 13.9, 57.5% female, 71.6% White, 26.5% Black/African American). Participants reported clinically significant mean [95% CI] improvements (≥1 unit) in pain (-1.78 [-2.38, -1.18]), fatigue (-1.33 [-1.85, -0.82]), anxiety (-2.09 [-2.68, -1.50]), nausea (-2.30 [-2.95. -1.62), and wellbeing (1.37 [0.95, 1.79]). Participants also commented that the Reiki session was a positive experience helpful for promoting relaxation and symptom reduction. Outpatients receiving Reiki during infusion reported clinically significant improvements in all symptoms, high levels of satisfaction, and a qualitatively positive healing experience. More research is needed to assess long term changes following Reiki, including with an expanded program at additional healthcare locations.

How Skilful Are Cloud Cover Products in Representing Observed Cloudiness in Québec?

ABSTRACT In this study, we performed, for the first time, a detailed analysis of cloudiness in Québec using station based observations and evaluated the trustworthiness of various satellite and reanalysis based cloud cover products. We found only 12 stations with observational time series long enough for providing robust analysis due to various issues related to observing methods and recording of information during the 1990s. Our results showed that Québec can be fairly cloudy throughout the year with annual mean cloud cover fraction ranging between 0.5 and 0.7 with autumn being the cloudiest season at most station locations. We also found a significantly increasing trend in cloudiness in the winter season over Québec during 1982–2012 (∼2–6% per decade depending on the location). Among the cloudiness products evaluated in this study, a satellite based cloudiness product (i.e. based on AVHRR) performed best in representing the observed cloudiness over Québec including the wintertime increasing trend. Two reanalysis based cloudiness products (i.e. ERA5 and NARR) also performed well in representing the observed cloudiness indicated by high correlations, relatively lower mean biases and smaller root mean square errors. However, the reanalysis products did not capture well the observed seasonal trends. All products showed relatively larger biases in the winter season except JRA-25 reanalysis product. During the warmer months, however, JRA-25 showed largest biases followed by MERRA-2 reanalysis product. JRA-25 and MERRA-2 also had lower correlation for annual and winter means and highest root mean square errors for all seasons. Furthermore, based on two skill scores, we found that the ERA5, AVHRR and NARR performed relatively better than JRA-25 and MERRA-2. Based on these results we conclude that the satellite product and the two reanalysis products can be useful resources (as observational proxies) along with station based observations for understanding long term changes in cloudiness of this region and also potentially evaluating regional climate model simulations.

Microbial education plays a crucial role in harnessing the beneficial properties of microbiota for infectious disease protection in Crassostrea gigas.

The increase in marine diseases, particularly in economically important mollusks, is a growing concern. Among them, the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) production faces challenges from several diseases, such as the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) or vibriosis. The microbial education, which consists of exposing the host immune system to beneficial microorganisms during early life stages is a promising approach against diseases. This study explores the concept of microbial education using controlled and pathogen-free bacterial communities and assesses its protective effects against POMS and Vibrio aestuarianus infections, highlighting potential applications in oyster production. We demonstrate that it is possible to educate the oyster immune system by adding microorganisms during the larval stage. Adding culture based bacterial mixes to larvae protects only against the POMS disease while adding whole microbial communities from oyster donors protects against both POMS and vibriosis. The efficiency of immune protection depends both on oyster origin and on the composition of the bacterial mixes used for exposure. No preferential protection was observed when the oysters were stimulated with their sympatric strains. Furthermore, the added bacteria were not maintained into the oyster microbiota, but this bacterial addition induced long term changes in the microbiota composition and oyster immune gene expression. Our study reveals successful immune system education of oysters by introducing beneficial microorganisms during the larval stage. We improved the long-term resistance of oysters against critical diseases (POMS disease and Vibrio aestuarianus infections) highlighting the potential of microbial education in aquaculture.

RecGOBD: Accurate Recognition of Gene Ontology Related Brain Development Protein Functions through Multi-Feature Fusion and Attention Mechanisms

Abstract Motivation Protein function prediction is important in bioinformatics, driven by the increasing availability of protein sequence data from high-throughput sequencing technologies. Traditional methods for determining protein functions are costly and time-consuming, highlighting the need for computational approaches. Deep learning models are powerful tools in this area, but many are not optimized for brain development-related datasets. Understanding protein functions in brain development is essential for studying neurodevelopmental disorders. To address this, we developed RecGOBD (Recognition of Gene Ontology-related Brain Development protein function), designed to predict protein functions related to key brain development processes. Result RecGOBD focuses on ten critical Gene Ontology (GO) terms associated with brain development, extracting and embedding the protein sequences linked to these terms. Using advanced pre-trained models, we generated embeddings that capture both sequence and structural information, and applied attention mechanisms to align them with relevant GO terms. RecGOBD’s category attention layer improves prediction accuracy for brain development-related terms. Evaluated against five models using AUROC, AUPR, and Fmax metrics, RecGOBD outperformed in all measures. We also applied the model to predict protein functions related to autism spectrum disorder and analyzed how protein site mutations affect GO term changes. These results highlight RecGOBD’s potential for advancing protein function prediction, particularly in brain development, offering valuable insights into neurodevelopmental disorder research. Availability and implementation All Python codes associated with this study are available at https://github.com/ZL-Xia/RECGOBD.git. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics Advance online

An input-output approach to study the impact of carbon taxes in (almost) every country

Some forty carbon tax initiatives have been adopted, and more countries are evaluating the possibility of implementing this instrument every year. However, there is significant heterogeneity in tax rates, type of covered emissions, and regulated sectors, which is explained by the different levels of environmental concern and cost that each country is willing to assume. In this context, the present study simulates various scenarios of carbon taxes in (almost) every country in the world to contribute to the global design of climate change policies. Specifically, input-output tables and sectoral CO2 emissions of each country are used to calibrate the environmental extension of the Leontief price model, obtaining the impacts on prices, production, and emissions at the sectoral, national, or global level. The results show that the same effective tax rate can have very different effects in each country, mainly explained by the composition of the energy matrix. In addition, global CO2 emissions would be reduced by 0.10% ∼ 0.23% for each dollar of CO2 tax applied to all sectors and countries. Finally, a more outstanding commitment from rich countries and larger developing countries is required to contribute more decisively to combating climate change in the short term.

The Contribution of Musical Terminology in Vocal Works to Performers’ Perception of Emotions

Musical terminology is the most indispensable part of the performer’s interpretation of the work, which promotes the development of the story plot and promotes the emotional fluctuations of the performer. This paper will take the opera excerpt “Les tringles des sistres” as the entry point, and explore the promoting changes of the musical terms appearing in the music to the performers’ emotional perception. Combined with the collected data and my own singing experience, this paper will analyze the music terms, emotional expression, music aesthetics and music emotional perception in multiple aspects. Based on their genres, music noumenon and other aspects, this paper expounds the promoting effect of music terms on performers’ emotional perception, and analyzes the promoting effect of music terms in vocal music works on performers’ emotional perception from the aspects of music aesthetics, stimulating effect of attention, music perception and music emotion perception.

Does depression with current suicidal ideation lead to treatment-resistant depression? Two large naturalistic cohorts of outpatients with depression and current suicidal ideation

As treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is linked to suicidal behaviors and suicidal risk is a predictor of TRD, depression with current suicidal ideation (SI) may lead to TRD. Early identification of TRD risk factors in patients with depression and current SI is crucial. The aims of our study were: i) to identify risk factors for depression non-remission and TRD in patients with depression and current SI; ii) to assess if SI at baseline mediated the relationship between depression severity at baseline and depression remission at week 6. We analyzed data from two large, prospective, naturalistic French cohorts of adult outpatients with depression (DSM-IV criteria) followed for 6 weeks after starting or changing antidepressants (LUEUR and GENESE). Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, along with early symptom improvement, were compared between patients with and without current SI using logistic regression models (univariate and multivariate). Patients with antidepressant change or initiation were analyzed separately. Those without depression remission at week 6 after an antidepressant change were considered TRD cases. In patients with antidepressant change, the major predictor of non-remission was poorer early improvement (at week 2) of anxiety. For patients with treatment initiation, SI at baseline mediated the relation between depression severity at baseline and depression remission. Depression severity at baseline alone did not explain depression remission. Clinicians should systematically target with specific pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments anxiety and SI and assess their changes in the short term to increase the chance of depression remission in depressed patients with current SI.

Comparison of short term recovery in patients with midportion Achilles tendinopathy with varying degrees of kinesiophobia treated with the Silbernagel protocol: A prospective single cohort analysis

ObjectiveTo assess short term recovery between individuals with Achilles tendinopathy with varying degrees of kinesiophobia when treated with the Silbernagel protocol. Secondarily to investigate short term change in degree of kinesiophobia. DesignProspective single cohort analysis. SettingUniversity/Clinical. Participants116 participants with midportion Achilles tendinopathy were grouped from their baseline Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) score: Low (≤33), Medium (34–41), and High (≥42). Main outcome measuresSymptom severity, Achilles tendon structure, and function were assessed at baseline and 8-weeks following initiation of the Silbernagel protocol. Differences in recovery between TSK groups were analyzed. ResultsNo group by time interactions were observed for symptoms, structure, or function. A significant interaction of group by time was observed for TSK score. The Medium (n = 66) and High (n = 28) TSK groups significantly decreased TSK score after 8 weeks by 2.4 and 4.4 points respectively while the Low TSK group (n = 22) did not change. ConclusionThere were no differences in short term recovery of symptoms, Achilles tendon structure, and function in individuals with midportion Achilles tendinopathy treated with the Silbernagel protocol regardless of baseline degree of kinesiophobia. Those with moderate and high levels of kinesiophobia at baseline decreased TSK score in the short term.

The Financial Consequences of the Covid-19 Health Crisis on Walloon Municipalities in the short term, and the Resulting Changes in the longer term

The Financial Consequences of the Covid-19 Health Crisis on Walloon Municipalities in the short term, and the Resulting Changes in the longer term

Long term changes in Chalk groundwater quality in East Anglia, UK

Groundwater abstraction quantity from the Chalk is limited to what is sustainable. Water quality data collected in the 1970s and 1980s have been compared with modern water quality monitoring data for 25 public supply abstraction sites. This comparison has established that there has been both substantial (magnitude) and significant (statistical) change in composition at all sites. Identified changes generally represent real changes in groundwater composition. At some sites in the south of the area considered, water that is not the result of present-day recharge processes is being replaced by water from present-day recharge. It is also clear that, at those sites where ancient brackish water is known to be present at depth, it is generally not being mobilised by pumping. In the north of the area, changes are more subtle but there is a tendency of groundwater composition to approach the regional average, apart from calcium which is trending higher. Nitrate has not increased here, suggesting that reduction is a still-active process. Thus, although quantity has been sustained, quality is changing but not to a degree that impacts potable use.

Short term changes in des-acyl ghrelin following bariatric surgery

Short term changes in des-acyl ghrelin following bariatric surgery

Phase composition of sputter deposited tungsten thin films

Sputter deposited tungsten thin films are studied by X-ray diffraction. Two phases can be identified: α-W and β-W based on the observed (110), and (200) and (210) Bragg reflections, respectively. With increasing film thickness (50 to 200 nm), the phase composition shifts from β-W towards α-W. No influence of the base pressure (3 × 10−3–3 × 10−5 Pa) on the phase composition is observed. Also the influence of the argon pressure (0.3 to 0.7 Pa) is rather weak. The strongest shift towards α-W composed thin films is obtained by increasing the discharge power (50 to 250 W). This trend is further studied by energy flux measurements using a calorimetric probe. These measurements rule out a strong change of the substrate temperature, and an impact of the energy flux scaled by the deposition rate (total energy per deposited atom). Test particle Monte Carlo simulations reveal the importance of the momentum of the reflected argon neutrals on the phase composition. The maximum energy of these species is mainly defined by the discharge voltage, and is higher than the directional dependent displacement energy of W. Despite the significant correlation between phase composition and the number of displacement per deposited atom, there is a strong scatter of the phase composition. As the deposition conditions were varied in random way, changes of the target erosion profile, and the changing discharge voltage over each series are probably partially responsible for the observed scatter. This scatter is also enhanced by the long term changes in the phase composition towards the more thermodynamic stable α-W phase.

Numerical studies of hydrodynamic relativistic astrophysical jet: The modification of vorticity transport equation

In this Letter, we have carried out the two-dimensional numerical simulation of axisymmetric relativistic jet in cylindrical coordinates by employing higher order finite volume method in PLUTO [Mignone et al., “PLUTO: A numerical code for computational astrophysics,” Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 170, 228 (2007)] solver. The modified vorticity transport equation has been proposed for relativistic flow by taking the curl of the momentum equation, which shows significant change in the baroclinic vorticity production term due to relativistic effect. Both mathematical analysis and numerical results show that the vorticity production term due to baroclinic torque is heavily influenced due to the presence of specific enthalpy gradient and square of Lorentz factor gradient in a relativistic fluid flow.

Küreselleşme sonrası Türkiye’de dış ticaret açığının reel efektif döviz kuru ve dış ticaret hadleriyle modellenmesi: NARDL yaklaşımı

Fluctuations in the real effective exchange rate and changes in the terms of trade can cause predictable or unpredictable changes in the overall economy. The most important consequences of these fluctuations and changes are the effects of regional or global economic crises on macroeconomic variables (employment, unemployment, inflation, GDP, balance of payments, foreign trade deficit). Anticipating the consequences of the dynamic effects of these changes is crucial for policymakers. This study analyzes the effects of changes in CPI-based real effective exchange rates and terms of trade on the trade deficit in 1994-2022. Since the impact of CPI-based real effective exchange rate and terms of trade changes on the trade deficit is likely to be asymmetric, the Nonlinear Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) method is used in this study, and it is concluded that the factor that affects the trade deficit the most is the decline in the terms of trade. One of the most important reasons why the foreign trade deficit does not decrease at the desired level, even in periods of depreciation of the TL, is the decline in the country’s terms of trade.

Designing for Sustained Motivation: A Review of Self-Determination Theory in Behaviour Change Technologies

Abstract Recent years have seen a surge in applications and technologies aimed at motivating users to achieve personal goals and improve their wellbeing. However, these often fail to promote long-term behaviour change, and sometimes even backfire. We consider how self-determination theory (SDT), a metatheory of human motivation and wellbeing, can help explain why such technologies fail, and how they may better help users internalize the motivation behind their goals and make enduring changes in their behaviour. In this work, we systematically reviewed 15 papers in the ACM Digital Library that apply SDT to the design of behaviour change technologies (BCTs). We identified 50 suggestions for design features in BCTs, grounded in SDT, that researchers have applied to enhance user motivation. However, we find that SDT is often leveraged to optimize engagement with the technology itself rather than with the targeted behaviour change per se. When interpreted through the lens of SDT, the implication is that BCTs may fail to cultivate sustained changes in behaviour, as users’ motivation depends on their enjoyment of the intervention, which may wane over time. An underexplored opportunity remains for designers to leverage SDT to support users to internalize the ultimate goals and value of certain behaviour changes, enhancing their motivation to sustain these changes in the long term.

Methane retrieval from MethaneAIR using the CO2 proxy approach: a demonstration for the upcoming MethaneSAT mission

Abstract. Reducing methane (CH4) emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) sector is crucial for mitigating climate change in the near term. MethaneSAT is an upcoming satellite mission designed to monitor basin-wide O&G emissions globally, providing estimates of emission rates and helping identify the underlying processes leading to methane release in the atmosphere. MethaneSAT data will support advocacy and policy efforts by helping to track methane reduction commitments and targets set by countries and industries. Here, we introduce a CH4 retrieval algorithm for MethaneSAT based on the CO2 proxy method. We apply the algorithm to observations from the maiden campaign of MethaneAIR, an airborne precursor to the satellite that has similar instrument specifications. The campaign was conducted during winter 2019 and summer 2021 over three major US oil and gas basins. Analysis of MethaneAIR data shows that measurement precision is typically better than 2 % at a 20×20 m2 pixel resolution, exhibiting no strong dependence on geophysical variables, e.g., surface reflectance. We show that detector focus drifts over the course of each flight, likely due to thermal gradients that develop across the optical bench. The impacts of this drift on retrieved CH4 can mostly be mitigated by including a parameter that squeezes the laboratory-derived, tabulated instrument spectral response function (ISRF) in the spectral fit. Validation against coincident EM27/SUN retrievals shows that MethaneAIR values are generally within 1 % of the retrievals. MethaneAIR retrievals were also intercompared with retrievals from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). We estimate that the mean bias between the instruments is 2.5 ppb, and the latitudinal gradients for the two data sets are in good agreement. We evaluate the accuracy of MethaneAIR estimates of point-source emissions using observations recorded over the Permian Basin, an O&G basin, based on the integrated-mass-enhancement approach coupled with a plume-masking algorithm that uses total variational denoising. We estimate that the median point-source detection threshold is 100–150 kg h−1 at the aircraft's nominal above-surface observation altitude of 12 km. This estimate is based on an ensemble of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) large-eddy simulations used to mimic the campaign's conditions, with the threshold for quantification set at approximately twice the detection threshold. Retrievals from repeated basin surveys indicate the presence of both persistent and intermittent sources, and we highlight an example from each case. For the persistent source, we infer emissions from a large O&G processing facility and estimate a leak rate between 1.6 % and 2.1 %, higher than any previously reported emission levels from a facility of its size. We also identify a ruptured pipeline that could increase total basin emissions by 2 % if left unrepaired; this pipeline was discovered 2 weeks before it was found by its operator, highlighting the importance of regular monitoring by future satellite missions. The results showcase MethaneAIR's capability to make highly accurate, precise measurements of methane dry-air mole fractions in the atmosphere, with a fine spatial resolution (∼ 20×20 m2) mapped over large swaths (∼ 100×100 km2) in a single flight. The results provide confidence that MethaneSAT can make such measurements at unprecedentedly fine scales from space (∼ 130×400 m2 pixel size over a target area measuring ∼ 200×200 km2), thereby delivering quantitative data on basin-wide methane emissions.

Exploring putative enteric methanogenesis inhibitors using molecular simulations and a graph neural network.

Atmospheric methane (CH4) acts as a key contributor to global warming. As CH4 is a short-lived climate forcer (12 years atmospheric lifespan), its mitigation represents the most promising means to address climate change in the short term. Enteric CH4 (the biosynthesized CH4 from the rumen of ruminants) represents 5.1% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 23% of emissions from agriculture, and 27.2% of global CH4 emissions. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate methanogenesis inhibitors and their underlying modes of action. We hereby elucidate the detailed biophysical and thermodynamic interplay between anti-methanogenic molecules and cofactor F430 of methyl coenzyme M reductase and interpret the stoichiometric ratios and binding affinities of sixteen inhibitor molecules. We leverage this as prior in a graph neural network to first functionally cluster these sixteen known inhibitors among ~54,000 bovine metabolites. We subsequently demonstrate a protocol to identify precursors to and putative inhibitors for methanogenesis, based on Tanimoto chemical similarity and membrane permeability predictions. This work lays the foundation for computational and de novo design of inhibitor molecules that retain/ reject one or more biochemical properties of known inhibitors discussed in this study.

Gender Role Mindset and Beliefs about Own Personal Goals as a Guide for Young People's Behaviors towards the Romantic Partner.

Dating violence (DV) is a form of intentional abuse carried out in young couples, which over the years has increasingly gained attention for its pervasiveness and high frequency. The present study represents an effort to expand and deepen the literature on factors associated with DV perpetration. The sample consisted of 225 Italian young people who completed an online survey. A model was tested, in which DV perpetration is affected by the presence of gender stereotypes and personal values oriented to power and dominance (i.e., self-enhancement) and to universalism and interest in others (i.e., self-transcendence) through the mediation of the perception of the romantic relationship quality, controlling for age. Sex was also considered in the model. The findings showed that self-enhancement and self-transcendence were, respectively, linked positively and negatively to a negative perception of the relationship quality, which in turn explained DV perpetration. The results also suggested that hostile sexism, self-enhancement and being male were directly linked to DV perpetration, thus representing potential risk factors for it. The study suggests the importance of working on gender role beliefs and personal orientation to power, which guide the way people perceive their romantic relationships and behave toward their partners, providing interesting insights for the implementation of DV prevention programs. Moreover, the findings highlight the importance of working with families and other educational agencies to foster a change in cultural terms.