Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
Broadband electromagnetic absorption up to 1473 K enabled by dielectric frequency-dispersion engineering in ceramic composites
Effectiveness of treadmill-based virtual-reality biofeedback training to improve gait function in children and adolescents with congenital and acquired brain injury
Children’s outdoor play at early learning and child care centres: Examining the impact of environmental play features on children’s play behaviour
Early learning and child care centres are critical settings to support children’s regular, repeated and quality time spent in outdoor play. Gibson’s theory of affordances highlights the importance of the human-environment relationship, emphasizing how children use environmental information to inform their behaviour. This study aims to understand the association between children’s outdoor play behaviour and common environmental play features in early learning and child care outdoor play spaces, through the behaviour patterns of children. Children’s play behaviour was collected via observational behaviour mapping at eight early learning and child care centres in the Greater Vancouver region between September 2021 and November 2022, as part of the PROmoting Early Childhood Outside study. A multivariate logistic regression model examined the association between outdoor play behaviour and environmental play features, via odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. The results indicate environmental play features, including gardening areas, playhouses, climbing structures and tricycle paths supported increased opportunities for children’s outdoor play. Gardening areas, playhouses, sandboxes, outdoor stages and fixed water features provided opportunities for exploratory play, while climbing structures and trike paths provided opportunities for physical play. Opportunities for diverse forms of play were less realized in dedicated open play areas, with the availability of loose parts and moveable equipment primarily influencing these spaces. The results of this study have important implications for future early learning and child care outdoor space design. Further research should consider children’s dynamic movement and transition between outdoor affordances, and the influence of loose parts on the use of environmental play features.
Quantum walk comb in a dual waveguide quantum cascade laser
Fast graph convolutional models incorporating matrix factorization for predicting microbe-disease associations
Abstract Revealing the relationship between microbe and disease is of great significance to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. To overcome the expensive cost and trial-and-error settings, a series of in-silico methods have been proposed to predict microbe-disease association. However, the predictive performance of the current methods is modest. In this paper, we propose a new computational method based on Fast Graph Convolutional and Matrix Factorization, called FGCNMF, which addresses microbe-disease association prediction as a binary classification task by learning embedding representation of nodes on a microbe-disease network. We integrate background information from both microbe and disease spaces into the same global network framework, and use the randomized Singular Value Decomposition algorithm to obtain high-quality initial embedding representations of node. Then, Fast Spatial Convolution is implemented to enhance the embedding representations. Finally, using the enhanced representation of node pairs as input, and using Extra-Trees classifier to predict the final label. Experimental results demonstrate that FGCNMF has improved performance in comparison with other state-of-the-art computational methods on the benchmark datasets.
Sticking our nose into the Sonorini tribe: A new genus and species of snake (Squamata: Colubridae: Sonorini) from the Balsas Basin of Mexico
The colubrid snake tribe Sonorini, which is largely composed of semifossorial and fossorial species, has undergone a series of taxonomic changes in the last few decades. New species have been added, multiple genera have been synonymized, and phylogenetic relationships have been tested using molecular systematics. Our field explorations of the dry Balsas Basin within the Mexican state of Puebla recently resulted in the procurement of two specimens of an unknown Sonorini species. Based on an integrative methodology of genetic and morphological data, we conclude that these specimens represent a hitherto unnamed genus and species, which we describe herein. This new genus is closely related to the other monotypic, Mexican endemic genera Pseudoficimia and Sympholis , but is easily diagnosable from them.
Intrinsically disordered regions facilitate target search to drive promoter selectivity by a yeast transcription factor
Artifact-free preparation of biological samples for SEM by optimized water freeze-drying
Understanding the menstrual health self-care practices and experiences among women with physical disabilities in rural Nepal: A qualitative study
Background Women with disabilities often face significant challenges in promoting and practicing menstrual health, which compromises their quality of life and overall well-being. Limited studies have been conducted on women with physical disabilities and their self-care practices related to menstrual health in rural Nepal. Thus, this study aims to explore the differential experience and self-care practices for menstrual health among married women with physical disabilities in Karnali Province of Nepal. Methods The study used an exploratory qualitative method utilizing purposive sampling. Data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, in which 31 married women with disabilities participated. A thematic analysis approach was employed, in which codes were generated inductively and organized into sub-themes, then consolidated into themes, which were subsequently presented as the findings supported by excerpts. Result The majority of the participants relied on gut feelings, and bodily symptoms such as head itches, mood swings, an increase in body temperature, home remedies for period cramps, and self-examination of the colour, odour, and consistency of menstrual blood for self-management. Participants self-tested for pregnancy in case of missed period while self-monitoring their blood pressure and menstrual blood for health diagnosis. The participants had misconceptions such as passing on disability to their fetus due to pain-management medication, practiced seclusion, avoided consumption of dairy products, fruits, and foods, and had limited knowledge, access, and misinformation regarding menstrual products beyond cotton clothes and menstrual pads, which suggests low self-awareness regarding menstrual health management. Conclusion Access to disability-inclusive menstrual health information through optimal utilization of digital platforms and community sensitization events, knowledge and access to diverse menstrual product choices, mobilization of community volunteers for social and behaviour change initiatives, and the self-care inclusive health policies promoting social protection and menstrual health self-care provisions are key for decreased sexual and reproductive morbidity, and improved quality of life among women living with disability.
Hierarchical core–shell DNA condensates enable programmable information storage and encryption
Drip fertigation improves cumin productivity, essential oil content, water use efficiency and profitability in arid zones of Rajasthan
A mouse model of early sporadic tau pathology induces neurogenic plasticity in the hippocampus
Alzheimer’s disease varies by sex but is broadly characterized by widespread neurodegeneration and the accumulation of insoluble amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, at the earliest stages of the disease cell death and pathological tau are localized to the entorhinal cortex. In particular, the lateral entorhinal cortex, and its functions in object-related memory, are among the most vulnerable in aging. Notably, the entorhinal cortex projects directly to the dentate gyrus subregion of the hippocampus, where neurogenesis proceeds throughout adult life. Immature, adult-born neurons provide plasticity at the entorhinal-dentate pathway and they may be uniquely responsive, or vulnerable, to early entorhinal tau pathology. To test this, we injected a human tau-expressing recombinant adeno-associated virus (hTau) into the lateral entorhinal cortex and used male and female AsclCreER mice to birthdate downstream dentate neurons born in early postnatal development or adulthood. Consistent with known roles in neurodegeneration, lateral entorhinal hTau expression caused a loss of mushroom spines in downstream dentate gyrus neurons of male and female mice and reduced dendritic complexity of adult-born neurons in male mice. Presynaptic hTau also increased neurogenesis levels and increased the density of thin spines on adult-born neurons in both male and female mice. Consistent with spine addition, hTau increased the slope of the synaptic input-output curves; amongst adult-born neurons, this was due to a specific effect on synapses in male mice. hTau did not alter the magnitude of long-term potentiation at entorhinal synapses onto adult- or developmentally-born neurons. Thus, in a novel model of early sporadic tau pathology, there are changes consistent with neurodegeneration but also compensatory neuroplastic changes, caused in part by neurogenesis. Since immature neurons have also been identified in the human dentate gyrus, a similar neurogenic plasticity may help maintain entorhinal-hippocampal formation in pathological aging.
Numerically exact configuration interaction at quadrillion-determinant scale
OPERA net Otsu driven performance enhanced image restoration algorithm
How much genetic information in RNA form can be protected by a CCMV virus-like particle?
The capsid protein of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) has been used extensively for in vitro packaging of heterologous RNA. The associated virus-like particles (VLPs) are spherical with a 3nm-thick/28nm-diameter protein shell and are therefore limited in the amount of RNA they can package. As shown in earlier work, when RNA lengths are longer than ~3500nt the RNA is no longer self-assembled exclusively into a single VLP. Rather, it is shared by two or more 28nm-diameter capsids in the form of doublets, triplets, and higher-order multiplets, with the RNA threaded through the naturally- occurring ~1.5nm-diameter holes in the 180-subunit/icosahedrally-symmetric protein shells. Consistent with this fact we find in the present work that 3500nt is the maximum length of packaged RNA that is fully protected under strong RNase digestion conditions.
Sustainable purification-free synthesis of N–H ketimines by solid acid catalysis
Abstract Among imines, nitrogen-unprotected ketimines ( N –H ketimines) are valuable precursors to nitrogen-containing compounds. However, their applications are limited compared with those of nitrogen-protected ketimines ( N –R ketimines) owing to difficulties in synthesis and purification. We develop remarkably simple methods for synthesizing and isolating high-purity N –H ketimines and N –H ketimine hydrochlorides via the dehydration–condensation of ketones with stoichiometric ammonia, generated in situ with inorganic solid acid catalysts. Our methods offer exceptionally broad substrate scope, use non-toxic and reusable catalysts, do not require tedious synthetic steps, are inexpensive, and are suited to large-scale production. Additionally, ketones can be easily converted to N –R ketimines, α-aminonitriles, and hydantoins in one pot via N –H ketimines. All products can be isolated by filtration or concentration; other purification methods, such as column chromatography, are not required. This study guides the advancement of the design of new transition metal catalysts and pharmaceutical synthesis.
Investigating the vibration characteristics of vector thrusters under rolling condition
New investigations of the Hjortspring boat: Dating and analysis of the cordage and caulking materials used in a pre-Roman iron age plank boat
The Hjortspring boat is the only intact example of a prehistoric sewn plank boat ever found in Scandinavia. Built from lime wood planks lashed together with cordage, the boat represents the maritime technology used by some of Northern Europe’s earliest seafarers. This article reports new analysis of the cordage and caulking material used in the construction of the Hjortspring boat. We provide the first ever direct date for the boat based on materials from the original excavation finds, with lime bast cordage from the boat carbon dated to between 381 and 161 BCE. We report the results of GC-MS analysis of the material used to caulk the boat, which shows that it was made from a mixture of animal fat and pine pitch. We argue that the use of pine pitch in the boat’s construction indicates that the boat was not built on the Jutland peninsula and instead came from a region with more abundant pine forests. Based on the dispersal of pine forests in Northern Europe during the first millennium BCE, we propose the Baltic Sea Region east of Rügen and Scania as a likely source for the boat and its crew. We also analyze intact cordage fragments and imprints of cordage on caulking material in order to describe the sewing and rope-making techniques that were used to construct the boat. Finally, we report on the discovery of a partial human fingerprint found on a fragment of caulking material. This remarkable fingerprint provides a direct link to the ancient seafarers who used this boat. Together, these results shed new light on methods and materials used to build Scandinavia’s first plank boats and raise new questions regarding our understanding of early maritime societies in Northern Europe.