Tech

Wood is considered an attractive construction material for both aesthetic and environmental purposes. Construction of useful wood objects requires complicated structures and ways to connect components together. Researchers created a novel 3D design application to hugely simplify the design process and also provide milling machine instructions to efficiently produce the designed components. The designs do not require nails or glue, meaning items made with this system can be easily assembled, disassembled, reused, repaired or recycled.

Carpentry is a practice as ancient as humanity itself. Equal parts art and engineering, it has figuratively and literally shaped the world around us. Yet despite its ubiquity, carpentry is a difficult and time-consuming skill, leading to relatively high prices for hand-crafted wooden items like furniture. For this reason, much wooden furniture around us is often, at least to some degree, made by machines. Some machines can be highly automated and programmed with designs created on computers by human designers. This in itself can be a very technical and creative challenge, out of reach to many, until now.

Researchers from the Department of Creative Informatics at the University of Tokyo have created a 3D design application to create structural wooden components quickly, easily and efficiently. They call it Tsugite, the Japanese word for joinery, and through a simple 3D interface, users with little or no prior experience in either woodworking or 3D design can create designs for functional wooden structures in minutes. These designs can then instruct milling machines to carve the structural components, which users can then piece together without the need for additional tools or adhesives, following on-screen instructions.

"Our intention was to make the art of joinery available to people without specific experience. When we tested the interface in a user study, people new to 3D modeling not only designed some complex structures, but also enjoyed doing so," said researcher Maria Larsson. "Tsugite is simple to use as it guides users through the process one step at a time, starting with a gallery of existing designs that can then be modified for different purposes. But more advanced users can jump straight to a manual editing mode for more freeform creativity."

Tsugite gives users a detailed view of wooden joints represented by what are known as voxels, essentially 3D pixels, in this case small cubes. These voxels can be moved around at one end of a component to be joined; this automatically adjusts the voxels at the end of the corresponding component such that they are guaranteed to fit together tightly without the need for nails or even glue. Two or more components can be joined and the software algorithm will adjust all accordingly. Different colors inform the user about properties of the joints such as how easily they will slide together, or problems such as potential weaknesses.

Something that makes Tsugite unique is that it will factor the fabrication process directly into the designs. This means that milling machines, which have physical limitations such as their degrees of freedom, tool size and so on, are only given designs they are able to create. Something that has plagued users of 3D printers, which share a common ancestry with milling machines, is that software for 3D printers cannot always be sure how the machine itself will behave which can lead to failed prints.

"There is some great research in the field of computer graphics on how to model a wide variety of joint geometries. But that approach often lacks the practical considerations of manufacturing and material properties," said Larsson. "Conversely, research in the fields of structural engineering and architecture may be very thorough in this regard, but they might only be concerned with a few kinds of joints. We saw the potential to combine the strengths of these approaches to create Tsugite. It can explore a large variety of joints and yet keeps them within realistic physical limits."

Another advantage of incorporating fabrication limitations into the design process is that Tsugite's underlying algorithms have an easier time navigating all the different possibilities they could present to users, as those that are physically impossible are simply not given as options. The researchers hope through further refinements and advancements that Tsugite can be scaled up to design not just furniture and small structures, but also entire buildings.

"According to the U.N., the building and construction industry is responsible for almost 40% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. Wood is perhaps the only natural and renewable building material that we have, and efficient joinery can add further sustainability benefits," said Larsson. "When connecting timbers with joinery, as opposed to metal fixings, for example, it reduces mixing materials. This is good for sorting and recycling. Also, unglued joints can be taken apart without destroying building components. This opens up the possibility for buildings to be disassembled and reassembled elsewhere. Or for defective parts to be replaced. This flexibility of reuse and repair adds sustainability benefits to wood."

Converting heat into electricity is a property thought to be reserved only for stiff materials like crystals. However, researchers--inspired by the infrared (IR) vision of snakes--developed a mathematical model for converting soft, organic structures into so-called "pyroelectric" materials. The study, appearing October 21 in the journal Matter, proves that soft and flexible matter can be transformed into a pyroelectric material and potentially solves a long-held mystery surrounding the mechanism of IR vision in snakes.

When a material can convert heat into an electric impulse it is called "pyroelectric," a property typically only found in hard, inflexible substances. The mystery is how IR sensing snakes can achieve this heat-to-electricity conversion despite having naturally soft anatomy.

"People thought we could explain the IR sensing of snakes if there was a hard, pyroelectric material in their pit organ, but nobody ever found one," says Pradeep Sharma, the M.D. Anderson Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. "So, we wondered whether just as we are trying to make these soft materials pyroelectric, maybe nature is doing the same thing."

Pit vipers and other snakes, like the aliens in the Predator series, are well-known for their heat sensing. In fact, the IR vision of pit vipers is so acutely sensitive that "if an animal appears in pitch black darkness, even for a half a second 40 centimeters away, the pit viper will be able to detect it," Sharma says.

This ability is achieved by a structure called a pit organ--a hollow chamber close to the snake's nostrils containing a thin, flexible membrane. "The pit organ plays an important role in processing heat into a signal they can detect," says Sharma. "However, the missing part of the equation was how the neuron cells within the pit organ membrane convert a heat signature into electricity to create that signal."

Using the physiology of the pit organ membrane as inspiration, Sharma and his team were able to construct a mathematical model to explain how this conversion from heat to electricity could be possible in a soft organic material. "Our solution is deceptively simple," says Sharma. "Apart from more advanced design elements, to make a pyroelectric soft material all you need is to embed static, stable charges into the material and ensure they don't leak out. Then you must make sure the material is soft enough that its capable of large deformation in shape and size and has a sensitivity to temperature. If you do that, they will act pyroelectric, and that's what we've been able prove in our model. And we believe that's what exactly nature is using because this process is simple and robust."

Lab experiments using soft materials have already begun to authenticate the model, though further research is needed to confirm whether this proposed mechanism is taking place in the neuron cells of the snake's pit organ membrane. Earlier work had implicated TRPA1 protein channels located within the membrane's neuron cells as playing an important role; however, the relation of those channels to the proposed mechanism in the paper is yet unknown.

"Using this model, I can confidently create an artificial soft material with pyroelectric properties--of that there is no doubt. And we are fairly confident that we have uncovered at least part of the solution of how these snakes are able to see in the dark, says Sharma. "Now that we've developed the model, other scientists can come forward and start doing the experiments to confirm or deny whether our theory about snake IR sensing is correct."

Next, Sharma wishes to continue his research into soft matter, exploring how to manipulate them to generate electricity solely from a magnetic field. With enough research Sharma hopes to inspire the development of pyro, piezo, and magnetoelectric soft materials, expanding the possibilities of how we generate electricity.

WASHINGTON--Patients with COVID-19 and vertebral fractures are twice as likely to die from the disease, according to a study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Vertebral fractures occur when the bony block or vertebral body in the spine collapses, which can lead to severe pain, deformity and loss of height. These fractures are typically caused by osteoporosis (weak, brittle bones). Vertebral fractures are prevalent in COVID-19 patients and can influence cardiorespiratory function and disease outcomes.

"Vertebral fractures are a marker of frailty, and for the first time we show that individuals who have such fractures appear to be at increased risk of severe COVID-19," said the study's corresponding author, Andrea Giustina, M.D., Director of the Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences of the San Raffaele Vita-Salute University and IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milano, Italy. "A simple thoracic x-ray can detect these fractures and morphometric evaluation should be performed in COVID-19 patients at hospital admission."

The researchers studied the x-rays of 114 COVID-19 patients and detected thoracic vertebral fractures in 35 percent. These patients were older and more affected by high blood pressure and heart disease. They were more likely to need ventilators and were twice as likely to die compared to those without fractures. The death rate was higher in patients with severe fractures.

La Jolla, Calif. (October 21, 2020) -- Many have recently taken to the streets to demand police reform, but how has the larger public's interest in police reform changed, including the millions that could not participate in protests during the COVID-19 pandemic? And how does the interest for different types of police reform vary based on where people live?

According to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, from the Qualcomm Institute's Center for Data Driven Health at the University of California San Diego in collaboration with other leading research institutions, millions have taken to the internet in record numbers to voice their interests in police reforms by searching for information on Google.

Identifying Public Interest in Police Reforms Using Internet Search Histories

The starting point for policy making is listening to the public. Although many voices are heard through protests, petitions, and surveys, many more voices unfortunately are never heard. But are there other methods to engage and listen to the public?

Similar to how the research team previously monitored internet searches to track influenza, identify suicide ideation, and discover the rise in acute anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, this new study argues that monitoring internet searches can be an effective way to understand the policy interests of the public.

"Discussing political opinions openly in this polarized landscape is not something anyone is eager to do," said Dr. John W. Ayers, Co-Founder of the Center for Data Driven Health, Vice Chief of Innovation in the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health at UC San Diego, and lead author. "Instead when it comes to controversial issues like police reform you're far more likely to stay mum and search online about what you may be thinking. By examining internet searches decision makers can discover what issues and policies resonate with the public."

The research team monitored all Google searches emerging from the United States for January 1, 2010 through July 5, 2020 that mentioned "police" and "reform(s)" as an indicator of general interest in police reforms. To identify what potential reforms the public were interested in, the team monitored searches that mentioned "police" in combination with "immunity", "union(s)", "training", or "militarization;" all popular police reform areas that have become increasingly part of the national conversation. The team then evaluated how search volumes changed recently following the killing of Mr. George Floyd by comparing the search volumes that were observed to search volumes to what would have been expected from historical patterns.

Record National Interest in Police Reform

In the 41 days following Mr. Floyd's death, searches for police "reform(s)" hit record highs eclipsing past searches for police reform by over 150-fold. This translates into about 1,350,000 total searches for police reform with searches increasing in all 50 states and Washington DC.

"The US is at an acute historical juncture with record interest in police reforms sweeping the entire nation." said Dr. Benjamin Althouse, Principal Scientist at the Institute for Disease Modeling and study co-author. "While people are taking to the streets in protest, many more are they seeking reforms online."

Searching for Reforms to Police Unions, Training, Immunity, and Militarization

Searches for specific reform topics also set new national benchmarks. Searches for police and "union(s)" eclipsed the past all-time highs by 4.5-fold, "training" by 4.8-fold, "immunity" by 53-fold, and "militarization" by 34-fold. This translates into about 1,220,000 total searches for "union(s)", 820,000 for "training", 360,000 for "immunity," and 72,000 for "militarization."

How the States Searched for Police Reforms

Thirty-three states searched more for police "training" than any other reform topic, including AK, PA, MN, and NJ. Sixteen states searched more for police "union(s)" than any other reform topic, including WY, MS, SD, and WV. Only 2 states searched more for police "immunity" (ND and NM) and no states searched more for police "militarization" than all other topics.

The team notes important differences that emerged across the 2016 US presidential election results. States won by President Trump during the 2016 presidential election had a greater proportion of total searches for police "union(s)" (57%) compared to states won by Secretary Clinton which searched more for police "training."

"These differences highlight how states have varying needs," said Dr. Adam Poliak, a Roman Family Faculty Fellow at Barnard College, and study co-author. "Local policy makers do not need to wait for national leaders, they can use state specific trends to find the types of reforms that are best suited to their constituents' needs."

Internet Searches as a Call-To-Action for Policy Makers

Policy making depends on timely, up-to-date knowledge of the public's needs. The authors do not advocate for any specific policy position. Rather, in this study, the authors simply advocate for policy makers to use internet searches as a way to listen to and address the needs of their constituents based on real time data.

"For example the 'Justice Act' proposed by Senator Tim Scott (R) of South Carolina called for improving police training but did not mention police unions. However, given there were more searches for police unions in South Carolina and states that supported his political party during the last presidential election Senator Scott might consider including these forms in initial proposals," added Dr. Ayers.

The potential value add of search histories can be substantial, the team argues. "Currently, we evaluate the public's interest in policy using methods, like surveys, that ask specific questions relating to a specific point in time. A snapshot of sorts," said Dr. Alicia Nobles, Co-Founder of the Center for Data Driven Health, Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health at UC San Diego, and co-author. "However, monitoring internet searches gives us a more robust picture of public interest - we can capture more voices, in their own words, and in near real time engendering more democratic policy making. "

Internet Searches and Novel Big Media Data as a Scientific Resource

Internet search histories can provide insights that go beyond policy advocacy the team noted. "Researchers who study policing can similarly examine novel digital data like social media and news media," added Dr. Mark Dredze the John C. Malone Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and study coauthor "For instance, victims of nonfatal instances of police misconduct might search online for help and these digital tracings could be used to evaluate trends and the geographic distribution of misconduct in almost real-time."

Despite both the American Medical Association and American Public Health Association advocating for police reform, the team notes that health researchers have done little to advance evidence-based practice. "Few medical or public health studies focus on policing, even though policing is an increasingly important public health issue, added Dr. Eric Leas, Co-Founder of the Center for Data Driven Health, Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health at UC San Diego. "For instance, just a handful of studies among the millions archived on PubMed, the health science's research index, even mention police reform. Where data has been a barrier turning to novel data sources, like internet searches, means more work can begin now."

"The health community has extensive experience studying relevant areas, including unintended medical errors and systematic bias, and the health community can bring those insights to the topic of policing," said Dr. Davey Smith, Chief of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health at UC San Diego and study coauthor. "Everyone agrees that the public should be heard and evidence-based strategies to improve policing should be implemented. Tapping into new data that brings with it new expertise, like that medicine and public health has to offer, can realize true evidence-based reform."

People who consume a diet including flavanol-rich foods and drinks, including tea, apples and berries, could lead to lower blood pressure, according to the first study using objective measures of thousands of UK residents' diet.

The findings, published in Scientific Reports, studied the diet of more than 25,000 people in Norfolk, UK and compared what they ate with their blood pressure. In contrast to most other studies investigating links between nutrition and health, the researchers did not rely on study participants reporting their diet, but instead measured flavanol intake objectively using nutritional biomarkers - indicators of dietary intake, metabolism or nutritional status that are present in our blood.

The difference in blood pressure between those with the lowest 10% of flavanol intake and those with the highest 10% of intake was between 2 and 4 mmHg. This is comparable to meaningful changes in blood pressure observed in those following a Mediterranean diet or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. Notably, the effect was more pronounced in participants with hypertension.

Professor Gunter Kuhnle, a nutritionist at the University of Reading who led the study said:

"Previous studies of large populations have always relied on self-reported data to draw conclusions, but this is the first epidemiological study of this scale to objectively investigate the association between a specific bioactive compound and health. We are delighted to see that in our study, there was also a meaningful and significant association between flavanol consumption and lower blood pressure.

"What this study gives us is an objective finding about the association between flavanols - found in tea and some fruits - and blood pressure. This research confirms the results from previous dietary intervention studies and shows that the same results can be achieved with a habitual diet rich in flavanols. In the British diet, the main sources are tea, cocoa, apples and berries.

"The methodology of the study is of equal importance. This is one of the largest ever studies to use nutritional biomarkers to investigate bioactive compounds. Using nutritional biomarkers to estimate intake of bioactive food compounds has long been seen as the gold standard for research, as it allows intake to be measured objectively. The development, validation and application of the biomarker was only possible because of the long-term commitment of all collaborators. In contrast to self-reported dietary data, nutritional biomarkers can address the huge variability in food composition. We can therefore confidently attribute the associations we observed to flavanol intake."

An international team from the University of Reading, Cambridge University, the University of California Davis, and Mars, Incorporated studied 25,618 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk study and found that the biggest difference was observed in participants with the highest blood pressure. This suggests if the general public increased its flavanol intake, there could be an overall reduction in cardiovascular disease incidence.

Hagen Schroeter, Chief Science Officer at Mars Edge, said:

"This study adds key insights to a growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of dietary flavanols in health and nutrition. But, perhaps even more exciting was the opportunity to apply objective biomarkers of flavanol intake at a large scale. This enabled the team to avoid the significant limitations that come with past approaches which rely on estimating intake based on self-reported food consumption data and the shortcomings of current food composition databases."

Irvine, Calif. - With one of the more awe-inspiring names in the animal kingdom, the diabolical ironclad beetle is one formidable insect. Birds, lizards and rodents frequently try to make a meal of it but seldom succeed. Run over it with a car, and the critter lives on.

The beetle's survival depends on two key factors: its ability to convincingly play dead and an exoskeleton that's one of the toughest, most crush-resistant structures known to exist in the biological world. In a paper published today in Nature, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions reveal the material components - and their nano- and microscale blueprints - that make the organism so indestructible, while also demonstrating how engineers can benefit from these designs.

"The ironclad is a terrestrial beetle, so it's not lightweight and fast but built more like a little tank," said principle investigator and corresponding author David Kisailus, UCI professor of materials science & engineering. "That's its adaptation: It can't fly away, so it just stays put and lets its specially designed armor take the abuse until the predator gives up."

In its desert habitat in the U.S. Southwest, the beetle can be found under rocks and in trees, squeezed between the bark and the trunk - another reason it needs to have a durable exterior.

Lead author Jesus Rivera, a graduate student in Kisailus' lab, first learned of these organisms in 2015 during a visit to the renowned entomology museum at UC Riverside, where he and Kisailus were working at the time. Rivera collected the beetles from sites around the Inland Empire campus and brought them back to Kisailus' lab to perform compression tests, comparing the results to those of other species native to Southern California. They found that the diabolical ironclad beetle can withstand a force of about 39,000 times its body weight. A 200-pound man would have to endure the crushing weight of 7.8 million pounds to equal this feat.

Conducting a series of high-resolution microscopic and spectroscopic evaluations, Rivera and Kisailus learned that the bug's secret lies in the material makeup and architecture of its exoskeleton, specifically, its elytra. In aerial beetles, elytra are the forewing blades that open and close to safeguard the flight wings from bacteria, desiccation and other sources of harm. The ironclad's elytra have evolved to become a solid, protective shield.

Analysis by Kisailus and Rivera showed that the elytra consists of layers of chitin, a fibrous material, and a protein matrix. In collaboration with a group led by Atsushi Arakaki and his graduate student Satoshi Murata, both from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, they examined the chemical composition of the exoskeleton of a lighter flying beetle and compared it to that of their earthbound subject. The diabolical ironclad beetle's outer layer has a significantly higher concentration of protein - about 10 percent more by weight¬¬ - which the researchers suggest contributes to the enhanced toughness of the elytra.

The team also investigated the geometry of the medial suture joining the two parts of the elytra together and found that it looks very much like interlocking pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Rivera built a device inside an electron microscope to observe how these connections perform under compression, similar to how they might respond in nature. The results of his experiment revealed that, rather than snapping at the "neck" region of these interlocks, the microstructure within the elytra blades gives way via delamination, or layered fracturing.

"When you break a puzzle piece, you expect it to separate at the neck, the thinnest part," Kisailus said. "But we don't see that sort of catastrophic split with this species of beetle. Instead, it delaminates, providing for a more graceful failure of the structure."

Further microscopic examination by Rivera disclosed that the outside surfaces of these blades feature arrays of rodlike elements called microtrichia that the scientists believe act as frictional pads, providing resistance to slippage.

Kisailus sent Rivera to work with Dula Parkinson and Harold Barnard at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where they performed high-resolution experiments to pinpoint the changes within the structures in real time using extremely powerful X-rays.

The results confirmed that during compression, the suture - rather than breaking at the thinnest point - slowly delaminates without catastrophic failure. They also validated that the geometry, the material components and their assembly are critical in making the beetle's exoskeleton so tough and robust.

To further substantiate their experimental observations, Rivera and co-authors Maryam Hosseini and David Restrepo - both from Pablo Zavattieri's lab at Purdue University - employed 3D printing techniques to create their own structures of the same design. They ran tests revealing that the arrangement provides the maximum amount of strength and durability. The Purdue team's models showed that not only does the geometry enable a stronger interlock, but the lamination provides a more reliable interface.

Kisailus said he sees great promise in the ironclad beetle's exoskeleton and other biological systems for new substances to benefit humanity. His lab has been making advanced, fiber-reinforced composite materials based on these characteristics, and he envisions the development of novel ways to fuse aircraft segments together without the use of traditional rivets and fasteners, which each represent a stress point in the structure.

His team, including UC Riverside undergraduate Drago Vasile, mimicked the elliptical, interlocking pieces of the diabolical ironclad beetle's exoskeleton with carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. They joined their biomimetic composite to an aluminum coupling and conducted mechanical testing to determine if there were any advantages versus standard aerospace fasteners in binding dissimilar materials. Sure enough, the scientists found that the beetle-inspired structure was both stronger and tougher than current engineering fasteners.

"This study really bridges the fields of biology, physics, mechanics and materials science toward engineering applications, which you don't typically see in research," Kisailus said. "Luckily, this program, which is sponsored by the Air Force, really enables us to form these multidisciplinary teams that helped connect the dots to lead to this significant discovery."

Imagine a mobile phone charger that doesn't need a wireless or mains power source. Or a pacemaker with inbuilt organic energy sources within the human body.

Australian researchers led by Flinders University are picking up the challenge of 'scavenging' invisible power from low-frequency vibrations in the surrounding environment, including wind, air or even contact-separation energy (static electricity).

"These so-called triboelectric nanogenerators (or 'TENGs') can be made at low cost in different configurations, making them suitable for driving small electronics such as personal electronics (mobile phones), biomechanics devices (pacemakers), sensors (temperature/pressure/chemical sensors), and more," says Professor Youhong Tang, from Flinders University's College of Science and Engineering.

Further research aims to further develop this renewable form of energy harvesting by designing simple fabrication from cheap and sustainable materials, with high efficiency.

"They can use non-invasive materials, so could one day be used for implantable and wearable energy harvesting aims," says PhD candidate Mohammad Khorsand, co-lead author on recent papers in international journal Nano Energy.

The latest paper uses AI-enhanced mathematical modelling to compare the function of the number of segments, rotational speed and tribo-surface spacing of an advanced TENG prototype to optimise the storage and performance.

The researchers, with colleagues at the University of Technology Sydney and elsewhere, are working to improve power generation of TENGs and store the generated power on supercapacitor or battery.

"We have been able to effectively harvest power from sliding movement and rotary motion which are abundantly available in our living environment," says Professor Tang.

Gaining a better understanding of the limiting factors for the existence of stable, superheavy elements is a decade-old quest of chemistry and physics. Superheavy elements, as are called the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 103, do not occur in nature and are produced artificially with particle accelerators. They vanish within seconds. A team of scientists from GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) and the University of Jyvaeskylae, Finland, led by Dr. Jadambaa Khuyagbaatar from GSI and HIM, has provided new insights into the fission processes in those exotic nuclei and for this, has produced the hitherto unknown nucleus mendelevium-244. The experiments were part of "FAIR Phase 0", the first stage of the FAIR experimental program. The results have now been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Heavy and superheavy nuclei are increasingly unstable against the fission process, in which the nucleus splits into two lighter fragments. This is due to the ever-stronger Coulomb repulsion between the large number of positively charged protons in such nuclei, and is one of the main limitations for the existence of stable superheavy nuclei.

The nuclear fission process was discovered more than 80 years ago and is being studied intensely to this day. Most experimental data on the spontaneous fission are for nuclei with even numbers of protons and neutrons - called "even-even nuclei". Even-even nuclei consist entirely of proton and neutron pairs and their fission properties are rather well describable by theoretical models. In nuclei with an odd number of either neutrons or protons, a hindrance of the fission process when compared to the properties of even-even nuclei has been observed and traced back to the influence of such a single, unpaired constituent in the nucleus.

However, the fission hindrance in "odd-odd nuclei", containing both, an odd number of protons and an odd number of neutrons, is less well known. Available experimental data indicate that the spontaneous fission process in such nuclei is greatly hindered, even more so than in nuclei with only one odd-numbered type of constituents.

Once the fission probability is most reduced, other radioactive decay modes like alpha decay or beta decay become probable. In beta decay, one proton transforms into a neutron (or vice versa) and, accordingly, odd-odd nuclei turn into even-even nuclei, which typically have a high fission probability. Accordingly, if a fission activity is observed in experiments on the production of an odd-odd nucleus, it is often difficult to identify whether fission occurred in the odd-odd nucleus, or not rather started from the even-even beta-decay daughter, which can then undergo beta-delayed fission. Recently, Dr. Jadambaa Khuyagbaatar from GSI and HIM predicted that this beta-delayed fission process may be very relevant for the heaviest nuclei and - in fact - may be one of the main decay modes of beta-decaying superheavy nuclei.

In superheavy nuclei, which are exceedingly difficult to be produced experimentally, beta-decay has not yet been observed conclusively. For instance, in the case of the heaviest element produced at GSI Darmstadt, tennessine (element 117), only two atoms of the odd-odd nucleus tennessine-294 were observed in an experiment that lasted about one month. This small production rates limit the verification and detailed study of the beta-decay delayed fission process. Still, new experimental data to shed light on this process are best gained in exotic nuclei, like those which have an extremely unbalanced ratio of protons to neutrons. For this, the team from GSI, JGU, HIM and University of Jyväskylä has produced the hitherto unknown nucleus mendelevium-244, an odd-odd nucleus consisting of 101 protons and 143 neutrons.

The theoretical estimate suggests that beta decay of this nucleus will be followed by fission in about one out of five cases. Due to the large energy release of the fission process, this can be detected with high sensitivity, whereas beta decays are more difficult to measure. The researchers used an intense beam of titanium-50 available at GSI's UNILAC accelerator to irradiate a gold target. The reaction products of titanium and gold nuclei were separated in the Transactinide Separator and Chemistry TASCA, which guided mendelevium nuclei into a silicon detector suitable to register the implantation of the nuclei as well as their subsequent decay.

A first part of the studies, performed in 2018, led to the observation of seven atoms of mendelevium-244. In 2020, the researchers used a lower titanium-50 beam energy, which is insufficient to lead to mendelevium-244 production. Indeed, signals like those assigned to mendelevium-244 in the 2018 study were absent in this part of the data set, corroborating the proper assignment of the 2018 data and confirming the discovery of the new isotope.

All of the seven registered atomic nuclei underwent alpha decay, i.e., the emission of a helium-4 nucleus, which led to the daughter isotope einsteinium-240, discovered four years ago by a preceding experiment carried out at the University of Jyväskylä. Beta decay was not observed, which allows establishing an upper limit on this decay mode of 14 percent. If the 20 percent fission probability of all beta-decaying nuclei were correct, the total probability for beta delayed fission would be at most 2.8 percent and its observation would necessitate the production of substantially more mendelevium-244 atoms than in this discovery experiment.

In addition to the alpha-decaying mendelevium-244, the researchers found signals of short-lived fission events with unexpected characteristics concerning their number, production probability, and half-life. Their origin cannot currently be pinpointed exactly, and is in fact not readily explicable with current knowledge of the production and decay of isotopes in the region of mendelevium-244. This motivates follow-up studies to get more detailed data, which will help shed further light on the fission process in odd-odd nuclei. (BP)

The use of biomass-derived plastics is one of the prime concerns to establish a sustainable society, which is incorporated as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the use of most of the biomass-derived plastics is limited due to their low heat resistance. Collaborative research between JAIST and U-Tokyo has successfully developed the white-biotechnological conversion from cellulosic biomass into the aromatic polymers having the highest thermodegradation of all the plastics reported ever.

Developing novel energy-efficient materials using biomass is frontiers to establish a sustainable environment. Plastics lightweight in nature produced from renewable biomass are prerequisites for developing a circular economy. However, currently available bioplastics are mostly aliphatic (e.g.; PLA, PHA, PA11, etc.) and thus consists of poor thermostability, which restricts their further applications. Aromatic backbone-based polymers are widely considered for their high heat-resistance (e.g; Zylon®, Celazole®, Kapton®, etc.) but developing aromatic heterocyclic monomers from biomass are rare due to difficulty in controlling their structure.

Two specific aromatic molecules, 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (AHBA) and 4-aminobenzoic acid (ABA) were produced from kraft pulp, an inedible cellulosic feedstock by Prof. Ohnishi and his research team in U-Tokyo. Recombinant microorganisms enhanced the productivity of the aromatic monomers selectively and inhibited the formation of the side products. Prof. Kaneko and his research team in JAIST have chemically converted AHBA into 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid (DABA); which was subsequently polymerized into poly(2, 5-benzimidazole) (ABPBI) via polycondensation and processed into thermoresistant film. Also, incorporating a very small amount of ABA with DABA dramatically increases the heat-resistance of the resulting copolymer and processed film attributes to the highest thermostable plastic on record (Figure 1). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed the small ABA incorporation strengthened the interchain hydrogen bonding between imidazoles although π-conjugated benzene/heterocycle repeats have been considered as the most ideal thermoresistant plastics for around 40 years.

Organic plastic superior in thermostability (over 740 °C), was developed from inedible biomass feedstocks without using heavy inorganic fillers and thus lightweight in nature. Such an innovative molecular design of ultra-high thermoresistance polymers by controlling π-conjugation can contribute to establishing a sustainable carbon negative society, and energy conservation by weight saving.

Australian scientists have developed a new type of sensor to measure and correct the distortion of starlight caused by viewing through the Earth's atmosphere, which should make it easier to study the possibility of life on distant planets.

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, University of Sydney optical scientists have developed a sensor that can neutralise a star's 'twinkle' caused by heat variations in the Earth's atmosphere. This will make the discovery and study of planets in distant solar systems easier from optical telescopes on Earth.

"The main way we identify planets orbiting distant stars is by measuring regular dips in starlight caused by planets blocking out bits of their sun," said lead author Dr Barnaby Norris, who holds a joint position as a Research Fellow in the University of Sydney Astrophotonic Instrumentation Laboratory and in the University of Sydney node of Australian Astronomical Optics in the School of Physics.

"This is really difficult from the ground, so we needed to develop a new way of looking up at the stars. We also wanted to find a way to directly observe these planets from Earth," he said.

The team's invention will now be deployed in one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, the 8.2-metre Subaru telescope in Hawaii, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

"It is really hard to separate a star's 'twinkle' from the light dips caused by planets when observing from Earth," Dr Norris said. "Most observations of exoplanets have come from orbiting telescopes, such as NASA's Kepler. With our invention, we hope to launch a renaissance in exoplanet observation from the ground."

The research is published today in Nature Communications.

NOVEL METHODS

Using the new 'photonic wavefront sensor' will help astronomers directly image exoplanets around distant stars from Earth.

Over the past two decades, thousands of planets beyond our solar system have been detected, but only a small handful have been directly imaged from Earth. This severely limits scientific exploration of these exoplanets.

Making an image of the planet gives far more information than indirect detection methods, like measuring starlight dips. Earth-like planets might appear a billion times fainter than their host star. And observing the planet separate from its star is like looking at a 10-cent coin held in Sydney, as viewed from Melbourne.

To solve this problem, the scientific team in the School of Physics developed a 'photonic wavefront sensor', a new way to allow the exact distortion caused by the atmosphere to be measured, so it can then be corrected by the telescope's adaptive optics systems thousands of times a second.

"This new sensor merges advanced photonic devices with deep learning and neural networks techniques to achieve an unprecedented type of wavefront sensor for large telescopes,' Dr Norris said.

"Unlike conventional wavefront sensors, it can be placed at the same location in the optical instrument where the image is formed. This means it is sensitive to types of distortions invisible to other wavefront sensors currently used today in large observatories," he said.

Professor Olivier Guyon from the Subaru Telescope and the University of Arizona is one of the world's leading experts in adaptive optics. He said: "This is no doubt a very innovative approach and very different to all existing methods. It could potentially resolve several major limitations of the current technology. We are currently working in collaboration with the University of Sydney team towards testing this concept at Subaru in conjunction with SCExAO, which is one of the most advanced adaptive optics systems in the world."

APPLICATION BEYOND ASTRONOMY

The scientists have achieved this remarkable result by building on a novel method to measure (and correct) the wavefront of light that passes through atmospheric turbulence directly at the focal plane of an imaging instrument. This is done using an advanced light converter, known as a photonic lantern, linked to a neural network inference process.

"This is a radically different approach to existing methods and resolves several major limitations of current approaches," said co-author Jin (Fiona) Wei, a postgraduate student at the Sydney Astrophotonic Instrumentation Laboratory.

The Director of the Sydney Astrophotonic Instrumentation Laboratory in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney, Associate Professor Sergio Leon-Saval, said: "While we have come to this problem to solve a problem in astronomy, the proposed technique is extremely relevant to a wide range of fields. It could be applied in optical communications, remote sensing, in-vivo imaging and any other field that involves the reception or transmission of accurate wavefronts through a turbulent or turbid medium, such as water, blood or air."

Leesburg, VA, October 21, 2020--According to an open-access article in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), the use of spectral CT with electron density imaging could improve the assessment of lung lesion extent in patients with early-stage coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

"In the present study," wrote Beatrice Daoud and colleagues at Antony's Private Hospital in France, "we report the first retrospective data from the spectral chest CT findings of patients with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 (i.e., patients with positive RT-PCR test results)."

Since March 17, 2020, every patient who has had CT performed at the authors' institution for either suspected or RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 has undergone dual-layer detector-based spectral CT (IQon Spectral CT, Philips Healthcare). To evaluate the potential benefit of spectral imaging--electron density imaging, especially--two experienced thoracic radiologists reviewed the cases of four patients who each underwent two chest CT scans for confirmed COVID-19. Reconstructing the spectral CT images using the same standard soft kernel (filter B) and a similar iterative method that was used to acquire the conventional CT images, Daoud's team also compared initial conventional CT images with follow-up conventional CT images.

In all four patients, their pulmonary lesions (45 ground-glass opacities, overall) were more conspicuous on electron density images than on initial conventional CT images and were clearly confirmed on follow-up conventional CT images. Moreover, lesion extent, assessed via semiquantitative reporting scale denoting surface area involvement for each lobe, was easier to ascertain on electron density images. With Daoud and colleagues' results indicating electron density imaging improves early assessment of the extent of ground-glass opacities that could be missed by conventional CT, electron density showed the most promising results by enhancing the contrast of ground-glass opacities compared with the normal lung.

"We reviewed conventional chest CT images obtained with a parenchyma kernel and standard lung window setting, as is usually the case in everyday radiology practice," Daoud et al. explained, adding that they compared these images with conventional images obtained using a soft mediastinum kernel and standard lung window setting, conventional images obtained using a soft mediastinum kernel and narrow lung window setting, virtual low-monoenergy images, virtual high-monoenergy images, and electron density images.

"Our results suggest that the better ground-glass opacity visualization obtained using electron density imaging may be chiefly related to the increased visual noise in the image with soft kernel reconstruction and narrow lung window setting compared with electron density imaging, for which narrowing the window does not impair image quality," the authors of this AJR article concluded.

Overview:

The long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) of the strength of hippocampal excitatory synapse involved in learning and memory formation in brain have been separately explained, but the molecular mechanism that comprehensively explains them has not been elucidated. Associate Professor Dr. Tomonari Sumi, Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, and Assistant Professor Dr. Kouji Harada, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology focused on the competition of exocytosis and endocytosis of AMPA-type glutamate receptors dependent on the number of calcium ions that flow into the postsynapse of hippocampal excitatory neurons, and demonstrated the comprehensive understanding of the LTP and LTD by a large-scale mathematical model simulation.

Details:

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptor (NMDAR)-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) in synapses on hippocampal excitatory neurons are considered to be a molecular basis essential to form neural circuits involved in learning and memory. In mammalians, it is confirmed that the main factor of the induction of LTP and LTD results in an increase and decrease in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-type receptor (AMPAR) at the postsynaptic membrane depending on the calcium ion volume. However, the mechanism on the varying number of the AMPAR has not been elucidated. In addition, there are the following disputes for the main pathway for AMPAR trafficking to the postsynaptic membrane.

Penn, et al. showed that the long-range lateral diffusion of AMPAR directed from the areas other than the postsynaptic membrane (e.g. dendrite shaft) to the postsynaptic membrane is the main pathway for AMPAR trafficking for the LTP [1], and the long-range lateral diffusion pathway has been considered to be the most likely candidate as the main pathway. On the other hand, Wang et al. demonstrated the importance of the active transport of recycling endosomes containing AMPAR by molecular motor myosin Vb [2], and Wu et al. observed the exocytosis of the recycling endosomes containing AMPAR during the induction of LTP [3]. These studies embodied the elemental processes of AMPAR trafficking via the recycling endosome pathway. Currently, it is still unknown which pathway for AMPAR trafficking is the main one, but as these disputes are basically involved in the induction of LTP, it has been considered desirable to be able to explain the pathway including the induction of LTD without inconsistency.

Dr. Sumi and Dr. Harada modeled the following 4 processes involving "active" transport of recycling endosomes of AMPAR by molecular motor myosin Vb as pathway for AMPAR trafficking to the postsynaptic membrane in order to comprehensively explain the LTP/LTD.

* AKAP150 signaling complex controlling the phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of subunits, GluA1 and GluA2, that constitute AMPAR

* Endocytosis of AMPAR to the cytoplasm by a calcium-binding protein, PICK1

* Stationary active transport of recycling endosomes containing AMPAR toward postsynaptic membranes by myosin Vb

* AMPAR uptake at around postsynaptic membranes by Syt1/7-dependent exocytosis

We performed a simulation using a postsynaptic model based on these processes and succeeded in reproducing the time course of the number of AMPAR corresponding to the induction of LTD and LTD observed in the experiment. We also showed the qualitative reproducibility of the results reported such as impaired LTP induction due to interference of Myosin Vb transport, impaired LTD induction due to decreased rate of reaction of PP2B-dependent dephosphorylation of AMPAR, impaired LTP and LTD inductions due to PICK1 expression level, and impaired LTP induction in Syt1 calcium-binding domain mutant, demonstrating the validity of the model. The conclusions drawn from this simulation are as follows.

1. The LTP (or LTD) expression is caused by a phenomenon that the exocytosis triggered by the activation of Syt1/7 becomes more predominant (or inferior) than the endocytosis triggered by PICK1 activation, resulting in an increase (or decrease) in the number of AMPAR at the postsynaptic membrane.

2. The difference in calcium-dependent activation between the calcium sensors, PICK1 and Syt1, is resulted by the difference in these calcium-binding constants.

3. Myosin Vb carries the recycling endosomes containing AMPAR toward around the postsynaptic membrane by stationary ATP driven transport not dependent on calcium concentration.

4. As a result, the recycling endosomes are ready on the membranes so that they can immediately address the next Syt1-dependent exocytosis, enabling the rapid LTP induction.

5. AMPARs taken up to around the postsynaptic membrane due to exocytosis are immediately reallocated to the synapse membrane by the lateral diffusion.

Future Outlook:

The neural network model mimicking the higher brain function can learn changes of synapse coupling coefficient, and Hebbian rule is known as a most basic learning rule. The Hebbian rule and its extended/modified versions are currently used as learning rules, which are known to be closely related to NMDAR-dependent LTP. The achievement of this study provides a molecular basis for the Hebbian rule or changes of synapse binding, which is expected to be a hint to understand the high brain function from the molecular level.

Earth's magnetic fields typically switch every 200 to 300 millennia. Yet, the planet has remained steady for more than twice that now, with the last magnetic reversal occurring about 773,000 years ago. A team of researchers based in Japan now has a better understanding of the geophysical events leading up to the switch and how Earth has responded since then.

They published their results on September 1in the Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, a Springer journal.

Named for the geophysicists who discovered past geomagnetic reversals, the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal is one of the most studied paleomagnetic events, according to paper author Yuki Haneda, project researcher at the National Institute of Polar Research and a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan. Such reversals swap the magnetic poles of the planet, which could have implications for plant and animal life. Such extrapolation to life, including humans and our ancestors, depends on the duration of the magnetic flip.

Previous studies by other researchers examined samples taken from lava flows, which offer a good snapshot of moments in geophysical history, according to Haneda.

"However, lava sequences cannot provide continuous paleomagnetic records due to the nature of sporadic eruptions," Haneda said.

A series of studies based out of Italy suggested that the magnetic reversal took place within a single century -- a blink on the scale of hundreds of thousands of millennia.

"In this study, we collected new samples and conducted paleo- and rock-magnetic analyses of samples from the Chiba composite section, a continuous and expanded marine succession in Central Japan, to reconstruct the full sequence of the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal," Haneda said. The Chiba composite section is widely considered to contain the most detailed marine sedimentary record of the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal, according to Haneda, and serves as the international standard for lower boundary of the Middle Pleistocene Subseries and Chibanian Stage -- when Homo sapiens emerged as a species.

The researchers found that the geomagnetic field became unstable at least 10,000 years prior to the magnetic direction change 773,000 years ago, and the full reversal process took at least 20,000 years.

"Our data is one of the most detailed paleomagnetic record during the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal, offering deep insight into the mechanism of the geomagnetic reversal," Haneda said.

Next, the researchers will investigate how the geomagnetic reversal influenced plankton and plants, using marine microfossil and pollen data found in their samples.

How has the climate changed in the course of the earth's history? Which climatic processes have influenced the earth and its atmosphere? Paleoclimatology seeks answers to such questions in order to better understand climate changes and to derive forecasts for future climate scenarios. So-called sedimentary archives serve as a basis for this. They are rock deposits whose components and composition provide information about the temperatures and climatic conditions at the time of their formation. Correspondingly recent geological deposits provide information about the climate development in the recent history of the earth since the last ice age 20,000 years ago. Compared to widespread seawater deposits, however, sedimentary archives on the mainland - such as in the Alpine region - are very rare.

New data for palaeoclimate research

An international consortium led by the Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG) of Graz University of Technology has now made a sensational discovery in this area. In a publication for Communications Earth and Environment, the group presents newly discovered, geologically very young deposits on the Styrian Erzberg, whose importance as a sedimentary archive for paleoclimate research was investigated for the first time. "The fact that we have now found such young geological deposits, which are usually only found in marine sedimentary archives, in a continental sedimentary archive is sensational and a treasure trove of data for climate research," explains the first author of the study, Andre Baldermann of the IAG.

Low formation temperature and recent deposition age

Specifically, these are sedimentary fillings of faults and fractures which consist of the carbonate minerals dolomite, aragonite and calcite. It is known that the carbonate mineral dolomite crystallizes when seawater evaporates, which in turn requires high temperatures. Baldermann and his team have now been able to show for the first time that the mineral can also form at temperatures between zero and twenty degrees Celsius - there has been no absolute data on this so far.

In addition, the researchers discovered that these are comparatively geologically young minerals that were formed shortly after the last ice age about 20,000 years ago in a non-marine (continental) depositional area. Baldermann: "This is a novelty, as recent formations of the mineral have been restricted almost exclusively to seawater deposits until now."

Material analysis through multi-method approach

The entire range of geological investigation methods was used in the analyses. The rock samples were microscopically described and systematically classified. The mineralogical composition was determined by X-ray diffraction and the chemical properties were defined using high-resolution electron microscopy. For age dating and temperature reconstructions, the samples were analysed elementally and isotopically using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry. "The large number of results allowed us to draw conclusions about water flow, water composition, mineral growth and formation temperatures," says Baldermann.

Benefits for climate research

"Climate research works mainly by analysing marine sediments, because we have archived a large number of sediments (marine sediments, note) over the entire course of the earth's history. Continental sedimentary archives are rare and are only very rarely considered. Their deposits usually provide only little information about old environmental conditions," says Baldermann. He is convinced that the newly published data on the deposits on the Erzberg will remedy this situation and provide new perspectives on climate development of the recent past.

This research area is anchored in the Field of Expertise "Advanced Materials Science", one of the five strategic foci of TU Graz.

Research from the University of Kent, the Research centre on Interactive Media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies - RISE Ltd and the University of Cyprus has revealed that Virtual Reality (VR) technology can have significant impact on the validity of remote health appointments for those with eating disorders, through a process called Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET).

This paper demonstrates the potential value of Multi-User Virtual Reality (MUVR) remote psychotherapy for those with body shape and weight concerns.

In the study, published in Human-Computer Interaction Journal, participants and therapists were fitted with VR Head-Mounted Displays and introduced to each other within the VR system. Participant would then customize their virtual avatar according to their look (body shape and size, skin tone and hair colour and shape). Participant and therapist were then "teleported" to two Virtual Environment interventions for several discussions, building up to the Mirror Exposure.

Mirror Exposure involves confrontation in a mirror with ones' shape and body. In the MUVR, the participant faces the virtual avatar they customized to match their own physical body. Here, they were again able to adjust body shapes using virtual sliders, change clothing, skin tone, as well as hair style and colour. Clothing was then gradually reduced until the participant's avatar was in their virtual underwear.

The participant was then asked to examine each part of their body and perform adjustments while describing their feelings, thoughts and concerns with the therapist, leading to virtual exposure therapy for the patient to their body shape and size through the customised avatar.

The study found that the avatar of the therapist was vital to the participant. The cartoonish avatar facilitated greater openness from participants, whilst therapist avatars in human-form represented the idea of negative judgement. In post-session interviews, participants noted the lack of fear of judgement as enabling them to commit to the session's aims.

Dr Jim Ang, Senior Lecturer in Multimedia/Digital Systems and Supervisor of the study said: 'The potential of Virtual Reality being used in addressing health issues with patients, remotely and without the issue of potential judgement, is for VR to be utilised throughout the health sector. Without the issue of judgement, which people can fear in advance of even seeking medical advice, VR can give people the confidence to engage with and embrace medical advice. In terms of the technical capabilities, the potential for VR to aid in remote non-contact medical appointments between patients and practitioners is huge, due particular consideration in times of pandemic.'

Dr Maria Matsangidou, Research Associate at RISE Ltd and Experimental Researcher of the study said: 'Multi-User Virtual Reality is an innovative medium for psychotherapeutic interventions that allows for the physical separation of therapist and patient, providing thus more 'comfortable' openness by the patients. Exposure to patient worries about body shape and size may exhibit anxious reactions, but through the remote exposure therapy this can elicit new learning that helps the patient to shape new experiences.'