Unique Branch Research Articles

‘Canadian Rangers: Community, Autonomy, and Sovereignty’

Indigenous members of the Canadian Forces (CF) are an integral part of the organization, working and fighting alongside their non-Indigenous colleagues all over the world. As a non-combative sub-set of the CF, however, the Canadian Rangers are a unique branch of the Reserves that are without compare. Functioning primarily for their communities, the Rangers represent the potential for the CF to effectively work with Indigenous communities and culture, while maintaining CF operational objectives in the Arctic. This article explores how the Rangers balance the sovereignty of their communities with the aims of the CF by integrating Indigenous cultures, language, and ways of knowing into their operational and capabilities, while remaining semi-autonomous from the CF culture and hierarchy. This article concludes that while the Rangers are an example of the potential for Indigenous and Canadian partnerships, there is also an alarming disparity and inequitable access to secure full-time employment and healthcare. Moreover, Rangers face many of the same issues as those in the communities they strive to serve. Therefore, this article argues that if Canada is serious about reconciliation and creating more opportunities for Indigenous persons in the Arctic, then part of that aim should also include providing the Rangers with the same support other areas of the CF are privileged to receive.

Graphdiyne-like Porous Organic Framework as a Solid-Phase Sulfur Conversion Cathodic Host for Stable Li-S Batteries.

As a unique branch of Li-S batteries, solid-phase sulfur conversion polymer cathodes have shown superior stability with fast ion-transfer kinetics and high discharge capacities owing to the mere existence of short-chain sulfur species during charging/discharging. However, representative compounds such as sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) and polyaniline (SPANI) suffer from low sulfur contents and poor cycling performances under large current densities due to the sulfurization occurring only on polymers' surface. Here, a graphdiyne-like porous organic framework, denoted as GPOF, is synthesized and used as a host for enabling solid-phase sulfur conversion. Plenty of unsaturated bonds in GPOF provide sufficient reaction sites to bind sulfur chains, resulting in a high active sulfur content in the cathode. Moreover, the microporous GPOF possesses suitable cavities to accommodate the volume expansion, leading to favorable long-term cycling stability. As a result, the sulfurized GPOF cathode (SGPOF-320) displays outstanding electrochemical stability with negligible capacity decline after 250 cycles at 0.2 C with an average discharge capacity of 925 mA h g-1. Our work applies a facile procedure to produce sulfur conversion porous polymer cathodes, which could provide a proper way for exploring more suitable cathode materials for high-performance Li-S batteries.

English

BACKGROUND Oral and maxillofacial pathology, is the very foundation of dentistry. It is a branch of dentistry where research meets clinical practice with the use of histopathology, cytopathology, haematology, immunohistochemistry, clinical biochemistry, microbiology, molecular science, forensic odontology, and a lot more, making it a unique and rare branch in its own way. It acts as a backbone of dental science, by investigating the causes, processes, and effects of the disease affecting the oral and maxillofacial region. Therefore, this branch requires timely up-gradation to analyse health data, research findings and treatment techniques to offer a diagnostic and therapeutic recommendation for individual patients. The application of digital technology in oral pathology is on the verge of becoming a standard of care, thereby eliminating the need for practising pathology on a conventional microscope. Globally, pathological laboratories need to be more efficient than before. Therefore, automation and digitalization are required to not only increase the efficiency, growth, quality, and capacity but also to standardise the processes. The purpose of this article is to introduce the readers, the incorporation of new ideas and technologies in the lab for a better and faster diagnosis, and would also like to explain the concept of standardizing the method of recording and maintaining the dental or medical records of the patients, and also standardizing the lab reports. KEY WORDS Innovation, Robotics, Digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, Upgradation, Maxillofacial Region

Phylogenetic relationships in the genus Podoserpula and description of P. aliweni, a new species from Chile

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic analyses based on a three-locus nuclear data set (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, the 5′ end of the 28S, and the largest subunit of RNA polymerase I) supported the pagoda fungus (Podoserpula, Amylocorticiales) as a monophyletic group most closely related to species of Anomoporia, which is nonmonophyletic, and Amyloathelia. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of specimens sampled in Australia, Chile, China, Madagascar, and New Zealand divided Podoserpula into two major lineages: Clade A containing Australian and New Zealand collections designated P. pusio and the Chinese species P. ailaoshanensis, which have basidiospores with no reaction to Melzer’s reagent, and Clade B, which includes a species described from Chile, P. aliweni, and specimens originating from Australia, Chile, Madagascar, and New Zealand with dextrinoid basidiospores. Podoserpula aliweni forms a unique branch in the phylogenetic tree and differs from its most closely related taxon by 1.8–2.1% in the ITS region. The new species exhibits a tree-like habit with a white to concolorous stipe-like base with the hymenophore’s main subcylindrical axis bearing up to 18 superimposed pilei, slightly enrolled white margins shading from yellowish white to orange-yellow toward the center, and ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid basidiospores measuring 4.0–4.5 × 3.5 µm. Ecologically, P. aliweni occurs during the rainy season, often gregariously on dried branches or wet soil under Nothofagus dombeyi or N. obliqua and has a distribution range of more than 600 km in southern Chile. This study extends the known distributional range and increases our knowledge on the phylogenetic diversity and taxonomy in Podoserpula.

Cadaveric study of arterial renal anatomy and its surgical implications in partial nephrectomy.

Partial nephrectomy is gaining, nowadays, more interest in oncologic kidney surgery. This type of surgery requires the good knowledge of vascular renal anatomy to make it safe and to guarantee good functional and oncological outcomes. This paper exposes the clinical implication of the arterial renal anatomy in nephron-sparing surgery. This is a cadaveric study of 71 human kidneys performed at Charles Nicolle mortuary. The right and left kidneys with surrounding tissues were removed en bloc with the adjacent part of the aorta and inferior vena cava, cleared and studied. Colored resin was injected in each artery, vein, and urinary ducts, with a specific color code for each structure. Corrosion technique was used to eliminate the surrounding tissue, leaving only the colored resin matrix. The Ternon anatomic classification of the inferior polar artery, based on its emergence point was used. Multiple renal arteries were noted in 9.85% of casts. Anterior and posterior division of main renal artery was found in 95.7% of cases. Posterior segmental artery crossed posteriorly the upper caliceal infundibulum and the renal pelvis in 93% of cases. The upper renal pole was vascularized by an apical segmental artery in 16.9% of cases and a superior polar artery in one case (1.4%). The mid pole of the kidney was supplied by a unique anterior branch and a single posterior branch in 40% of cases. Inferior polar artery was found in 52 casts (73.23%). Type I of Ternon was found in 6 casts (11.53%), Type II in 25 cases (48.07%), Type III in 19 cases (36.53%), Type IV in 2 cases (3.84%), and type V in 13 casts (25%). Renal vascular anatomy presents large variations. Good knowledge of the segmental arterial anatomy of the kidney is a primordial to a safe partial nephrectomy. Good preoperative vascular mapping can be of great help for the surgeon.

Capturing the Missing Carbon Cage Isomer of C84 via Mutual Stabilization of a Triangular Monometallic Cyanide Cluster.

Monometallic cyanide clusterfullerenes (CYCFs) represent a unique branch of endohedral clusterfullerenes with merely one metal atom encapsulated, offering a model system for elucidating structure-property correlation, while up to now only C82 and C76 cages have been isolated for the pristine CYCFs. C84 is one of the most abundant fullerenes and has 24 isomers obeying the isolated pentagon rule (IPR), among which 14 isomers have been already isolated, whereas the C2v(17)-C84 isomer has lower relative energy than several isolated isomers but never been found for empty and endohedral fullerenes. Herein, four novel C84-based pristine CYCFs with variable encapsulated metals and isomeric cages, including MCN@C2(13)-C84 (M = Y, Dy, Tb) and DyCN@C2v(17)-C84, have been synthesized and isolated, fulfilling the first identification of the missing C2v(17)-C84 isomer, which can be interconverted from the C2(13)-C84 isomer through two steps of Stone-Wales transformation. The molecular structures of these four C84-based CYCFs are determined unambiguously by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Surprisingly, although the ionic radii of Y3+, Dy3+, and Tb3+ differ slightly by only 0.01 Å, such a subtle difference leads to an obvious change in the metal-cage interactions, as inferred from the distance between the metal atom and the nearest hexagon center of the C2(13)-C84 cage. On the other hand, upon altering the isomeric cage from DyCN@C2(13)-C84 to DyCN@C2v(17)-C84, the Dy-cage distance changes as well, indicating the interplay between the encapsulated DyCN cluster and the outer cage. Therefore, we demonstrate that the metal-cage interactions within CYCFs can be steered via both internal and external routes.

Cardiac vagal tone: a neurophysiological mechanism that evolved in mammals to dampen threat reactions and promote sociality.

Cardiac vagal tone: a neurophysiological mechanism that evolved in mammals to dampen threat reactions and promote sociality.

Terminal Epitope-Dependent Branch Preference of Siglecs Toward N-Glycans.

Siglecs are sialic acid–binding immunoglobulin-like lectins that play vital roles in immune cell signaling. Siglecs help the immune system distinguish between self and nonself through the recognition of glycan ligands. While the primary binding specificities of Siglecs are known to be divergent, their specificities for complex glycans remain unclear. Herein, we determined N-glycan binding profiles of a set of Siglecs by using a complex asymmetric N-glycan microarray. Our results showed that Siglecs had unique terminal epitope-dependent branch preference when recognizing asymmetric N-glycans. Specifically, human Siglec-3, -9, and -10 prefer the α1-3 branch when Siaα2-6Galβ1-4GlcNAc terminal epitope serves as the binding ligand but prefer the opposite α1-6 branch when Siaα2-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc epitope serves as the ligand. Interestingly, Siglec-10 exhibited dramatic binding divergence toward a pair of Neu5Ac-containing asymmetric N-glycan isomers, as well as their Neu5Gc-containing counterparts. This new information on complex glycan recognition by Siglecs provides insights into their biological roles and applications.

Assessing population structure and body condition to inform conservation strategies for a small isolated Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) population in southwest China.

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) population in Nangunhe National Nature Reserve in China represents a unique evolutionary branch that has been isolated for more than twenty years from neighboring populations in Myanmar. The scarcity of information on population structure, sex ratio, and body condition makes it difficult to develop effective conservation measures for this elephant population. Twelve individuals were identified from 3,860 valid elephant images obtained from February to June 2018 (5,942 sampling effort nights) at 52 camera sites. Three adult females, three adult males, one subadult male, two juvenile females, two juvenile males and one male calf were identified. The ratio of adult females to adult males was 1:1, and the ratio of reproductive ability was 1:0.67, indicating the scarcity of reproductive females as an important limiting factor to population growth. A population density of 5.32 ± 1.56 elephants/100 km2 was estimated using Spatially Explicit Capture Recapture (SECR) models. The health condition of this elephant population was assessed using an 11-point scale of Body Condition Scoring (BCS). The average BCS was 5.75 (n = 12, range 2-9), with adult females scoring lower than adult males. This isolated population is extremely small and has an inverted pyramid age structure and therefore is at a high risk of extinction. We propose three plans to improve the survival of this population: improving the quality and quantity of food resources, removing fencing and establishing corridors between the east and wet parts of Nangunhe reserve.

Evaluation of morphological indicators of the first mature sturgeon females from eggs in artificial conditions

Sturgeon species of fish are a unique branch of the relict fish fauna. Species biodiversity, features of biology, a wide range, nutritional value, all taken together, made it possible to distinguish this group of fish in an independent direction-sturgeon breeding. In the last century, Russia accounted for up to 90% of the world’s stocks of these fish species. According to the number and species composition of sturgeon, the Caspian basin occupied a dominant position. Nevertheless, over the past 15-20 years, there has been a landslide undermining of the unique stocks of sturgeon fish in this reservoir. The main reason for the reduction of sturgeon stocks is the excess of the removal of populations over their replenishment. Against this unfavorable background, it became necessary to form broodstock in order to compensate for the decreasing number of wild breeders. To solve this problem, two main directions have been formed in sturgeon breeding – the domestication of wild fish and the cultivation of mature breeders in artificial conditions on the principle of “from eggs to eggs”. In the article, fish-biological and physiological indices of the first mature females of beluga grown in the natural background annual dynamics of water-medium temperature by the principle “from eggs to eggs”.

Unveiling the Disaccharide-Branched Glycosaminoglycan and Anticoagulant Potential of Its Derivatives.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are conserved polysaccharides composed of linear repeating disaccharides and play crucial roles in multiple biological processes in animal kingdom. However, saccharide-branched GAGs are rarely found, except the fucose-branched one from sea cucumbers. There was conjecture about the presence of disaccharide-branched GAG since 30 years ago, though not yet confirmed. Here, we report a GAG containing galactose-fucose branches from Thelenota ananas. This unique branch was confirmed as d-Gal4S(6S)-α1,2-l-Fuc3S by structural elucidation of oligosaccharides prepared from T. ananas GAG. Bioassays indicated that oligomers with a larger degree of polymerization exhibited a potent anticoagulation by targeting the intrinsic tenase. Heptasaccharide was proven as the minimum fragment retaining the anticoagulant potential and showed 92.6% inhibition of venous thrombosis in vivo at sc. of 8 mg/kg with no obvious bleeding risks. These results not only solve a long-standing question about the presence of disaccharide-branched GAG in Holothuroidea, but open up new opportunities to develop safer anticoagulants.

Darcy-Forchheimer porous medium effect on rotating hybrid nanofluid on a linear shrinking/stretching sheet

Purpose The purpose of this study is to find the multiple branches of the three-dimensional flow of Cu-Al2 O3/water rotating hybrid nanofluid perfusing a porous medium over the stretching/shrinking surface. The extended model of Darcy due to Forchheimer and Brinkman has been considered to make the hybrid nanofluid model over the pores by considering the porosity and permeability effects. Design/methodology/approach The Tiwari and Das model with the thermophysical properties of spherical particles for efficient dynamic viscosity of the nanoparticle is used. The linear similarity transformations are applied to convert the partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The system of governing ODEs is solved by using the three-stage Lobatto IIIa scheme in MATLAB for evolving parameters. Findings The system of governing ODEs produces dual branches. A unique stable branch is identified with help of stability analysis. The reduced heat transfer rate has been shown to increase with the reduced ϕ2 in both branches. Further, results revealed that the presence of multiple branches depends on the ranges of porosity, suction and stretching/shrinking parameters for the particular value of the rotating parameter. Originality/value Dual branches of the three-dimensional flow of Cu-Al2 O3/water rotating hybrid nanofluid have been found. Therefore, stability analysis of the branches is also conducted to know which branch is appropriate for the practical applications. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is novel and there is no previously published work relevant to the present study.

Mathematical approach to analysis of therapeutic properties of four important flowers mentioned in Siribhoovalaya- An ancient Indian multilingual manuscript

Pushpayurveda is considered to be a unique branch of ayurvedic medicine which was first conceived by Jain monks as early as 9 th century. Various ancient Indian manuscripts contain notes about the use of flowers for medicinal applications. The petals of flowers could be directly administered orally or can be made into the form of juice, decoction and or by mixing with other active ingredients. ‘Siribhoovalaya’, a multilingual literature written by Jain monk Kumudendu muni mentions the application of eight important flowers for the purification of mercury. In the present study, the antibacterial and antioxidant analysis of extracts of four of the eight mentioned flowers- Panasa, Padari, Kedige, Krishnapushpa was carried out. The results of antioxidant analysis were studied in detail with the help of modern mathematical software MATHEMATICA. Combination of all four flowers was found to be effective against B. cereus , S. aureus and S. marcescenes . The antioxidant activity was found reduced when a combination of the four flowers were used. The extract of Ketaki showed significantly higher antioxidant activity compared to all the other extracts. The whole study is carried out based on the standard tests of hypotheses, using ANOVA and the correlation effect is studied using regression models.

Clostridium fessum sp. nov., isolated from human faeces.

An obligately anaerobic, Gram-stain-positive and spore-forming strain, SNUG30386T was isolated from a faecal sample of a healthy Korean subject. The strain formed a round ivory-coloured colony and cells were chained rods with tapered ends, approximately 2.0-2.5×0.6-0.8 μm in size. The taxonomic analysis indicated that strain SNUG30386T was within the family Lachnospiraceae. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the closest species to strain SNUG30386T was Clostridium symbiosum (95.6 %), followed by Enterocloster asparagiformis (94.8 %), Enterocloster clostridioformis (94.8 %) and Enterocloster lavalensis (94.6 %). The evolutionary tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences demonstrated that strain SNUG30386T had split apart at a unique branch point far from other close relatives. Its DNA G+C content was 48.3 mol% calculated from the whole genome sequence. The major cellular fatty acids were C16 : 0 and C14 : 0. Compared to those of the closely related species, strain SNUG30386T showed distinct biochemical activities such as being unable to utilize most of carbon sources except d-glucose and l-arabinose. As a result, based on its unique phylogenetic clade and taxonomic characteristics, we conclude that strain SNUG30386T represents a novel species within the genus Clostridium, for which the name Clostridium fessum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the novel species is SNUG30386T (=KCTC 15633T= JCM 32258T).

Resilience-Based Optimal Recovery Strategy for Cyber–Physical Power Systems Considering Component Multistate Failures

This article investigates optimal recovery strategy of components for maximizing the resilience of the cyber–physical power system (CPPS), where a component represents a unique node or branch, such as generating stations and communication transmission lines. The proposed optimization model is built as a multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem to incorporate system resilience, cascading failures of the CPPS, the diversity of recovery resources, execution modes of recovery activities, precedence of damaged components, as well as the availability, cost, and time of recovery resources. The failure propagation mechanisms are characterized by a cascading failure model, which is further embedded in the optimization model to quantify the system real-time performance during the recovery process, and determine whether repaired components can be reconnected to the system. The system resilience is quantified using a proposed time-dependent annual composite resilience metric based on a compound Poisson process. The proposed optimization model is solved using a modified simulated annealing algorithm. The system that couples the IEEE 30-bus model and a small-world communication network is used as a testbed to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach. Comparisons with existing optimization models in the literature show the superiority of the proposed model.

Microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia caused by trigeminocerebellar artery.

In this operative video, the authors demonstrate the case of a 53-year-old woman who presented with typical right trigeminal neuralgia by a trigeminocerebellar artery (TCA). The TCA was first defined by Marinković as a unique branch of the basilar artery supplying both the trigeminal nerve root and the cerebellar hemisphere. As a result of the close relationship between this vessel and the nerve root, the TCA might compress the nerve root, thereby causing trigeminal neuralgia. However, few cases of trigeminal neuralgia caused by TCA have been reported. This video shows the microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia by the TCA.The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/UnGsCQRK6aY

Controlled over-growth for nail-like and urchin-like cobalt with enhanced CO hydrogenation activity

Cobalt catalysts have great potentials towards CO hydrogenation. Herein, a facial H2 pressure-controlled strategy was developed to synthesize two typical branched cobalt nanostructures: nail-like cobalt and urchin-like cobalt. The H2-controlled over-growth mechanisms have been proposed, and supported by both experiments and DFT calculations. The over-growth of Co nanocrystals can be finely controlled by the selective and competitive adsorption between H2 and OAm molecules on cobalt surface. Both nail-like cobalt and urchin-like cobalt exhibit superior CO hydrogenation activity to ordinary Co nanoparticles, due to their HCP phase, unique branch structure with high specific area, and more exposed active (1 0 −1 1) crystal facets.

Smart branch and droop controller based power quality improvement in microgrids

Abstract This paper presents two unique smart branch controller for compensating several power quality disturbances. The first proposed intelligent branch controller comprises a series transformer with its indirectly controlled impedance by secondary voltage injection. Further, the smart controller is made adaptive and flexible. It is installed at the point of common coupling (PCC), where PCC voltage & load current can be locally acquired without the presence of a communication channel, which then tracks its references as pure sinusoidal waveforms. Therefore without any filter requirement, harmonic elimination is done by the smart branch controller. The proposed smart controller can be applied in microgrids (MGs) for multi-objective optimization of power quality (PQ). For proper elimination of harmonics and to enhance the quality of power supply, the smart branch is optimized by a droop controller, which delivers power to a constant current source and eliminates harmonics by providing an appropriate quantity of harmonic voltage to the inverter voltage. The total harmonic distortion (THD) becomes 23.06% for the voltage and 6.24% for the current with droop controller, whereas, with an only smart branch into the power network, the THD becomes 26.47% for the voltage and 12.30% for the current. The simulation result concludes that the discussed optimized smart branch-based droop controller reduces drastically THD. Also, a separate study has been performed on the improvement of PQ by second proposed smart controller called as Photovoltaic Distribution Static Compensator (PV-DSTATCOM) grid-tied system using an adaptive reweighted zero attracting (RZA) control algorithm with perturbation and by applying maximum power point tracking technique (MPPT) for a three-phase system. The converter with PV array along with an active filter feature known as PV-DSTATCOM is required to convert the DC voltage into AC and for the improvement of the PQ by limiting harmonic distortions. It is concluded from the simulation results that the use of the RZA strategy presents an excellent steady state and transient response. The proposed PV grid-tied system is capable of working round the clock for both constant and variable irradiation and linear loads. The system is termed as smart as it can perform both modes automatically sensing the PV power and is capable of multi-directional power flow. The proposed method performs dual functions of improving PQ by working as DSTATCOM and also transfers power to the load and the grid obtained from PV array.

Molecular characterization of avian leukosis virus subgroup J in Chinese local chickens between 2013 and 2018

Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) was first isolated from broiler chickens in China in 1999; subsequently, it was rapidly introduced into layer chickens and Chinese local chickens. Recently, the incidence of ALV-J in broiler and layer chickens has significantly decreased. However, it has caused substantial damage to Chinese local chickens, resulting in immense challenges to their production performance and breeding safety. To systematically analyze the molecular characteristics and the epidemic trend of ALV-J in Chinese local chickens, 260 clinical samples were collected for the period of 2013–2018; 18 ALV-J local chicken isolates were identified by antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and subgroup A-, B-, and J-specific multiplex PCR. The whole genomic sequences of 18 isolates were amplified with PCR and submitted to GenBank. Approximately, 55.5% (10/18) of the 18 isolates demonstrated a relatively high homology (92.3–95.4%) with 20 ALV-J early-isolated local strains (genome sequences obtained from GenBank) in gp85 genes clustering in a separated branch. The 3ʹ untranslated region (3ʹ UTR) of the 18 isolates showed a 195–210 and 16–28 base pair deletion in the redundant transmembrane region and in direct repeat 1, respectively; 55.5% (10/18) of the 18 isolates retained the 147 residue E element. The U3 gene of 61.1% (11/18) of the 18 isolates shared high identity (94.6–97.3%) with ALV-J early-isolated local strains. These results implied that the gp85 and U3 of ALV-J local chicken isolates have rapidly evolved and formed a unique local chicken branch. In addition, it was determined that the gene deletion in the 3′UTR region currently serves as a unique molecular characteristic of ALV-J in China. Hence, the obtained results built on the existing ALV-J molecular epidemiological data and further elucidated the genetic evolution trend of ALV-J in Chinese local chickens.

From Embroidered Painting to Needle Words

Starting from the unique branch of China’s traditional Jiangnan embroidery, titled embroidered painting, this paper analyzes the height of this phenomenon, expounds its research value of art history, and discusses its influence on today’s Chinese embroidery art. It thinks in parallel with the so-called “loom thinking” of the West, so as to draw out the concept of needle words and consider the works of several artists in the field of fiber art.