Ningbo University

AbstractThis study investigates the relaxation mechanisms of pyrrole and pyrrole‐water clusters (C4H5N‐(H2O)n, where ) following N‐2s ionization of pyrrole. Using various theoretical methods, we focus on the influence of water molecules and charge transfer on these non‐radiative relaxation pathways. Our simulations included pyrrole solvated in 494 explicit water molecules equilibrated at 300 K and also employed a polarizable continuum model (PCM) to make the system more realistic and gain additional insights. In hydrated environments, the hydrogen bonding network between pyrrole and surrounding water molecules facilitates enhanced non‐radiative relaxation pathways following inner valence ionization. Since these are hydrogen bonding systems, we have explored the possibility of proton transfer, which could occur in conjunction with other electronic decay processes.

ABSTRACTThis paper studies identification and estimation of the average treatment effect of a latent treated subpopulation in difference‐in‐difference designs when the observed treatment is differentially (or endogenously) mismeasured for the truth. Common examples include misreporting and mistargeting. We propose a two‐step estimator that corrects for the empirically common phenomenon of one‐sided misclassification in the treatment status. The solution uses a single exclusion restriction embedded in a partial observability probit to point identify the latent parameter. We demonstrate the method by revisiting two large‐scale national programs in India: one where pension benefits are underreported and second where the program is mistargeted.

Abstract The usage of the manual mercury sphygmomanometer to measure blood pressure (BP) is universally regarded as the gold standard, but its use has decreased globally due to concerns about potential mercury toxicity. Automated BP devices have become more popular, though their accuracy in detecting hypertension hasn’t been studied extensively. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 301 adult female students of the University of Delhi with the aim to assess the degree of agreement between standard manual mercury sphygmomanometer and automated BP monitor (Omron JPN1). Three consecutive BP readings were taken on the left arm by a certified medical doctor using both instruments. Bland Altman plots were created to assess the degree of agreement between the two BP devices and to test the accuracy of automated BP monitor in detecting hypertensive adults. The automated BP monitor underestimated the systolic BP measurement by 4 mmHg and diastolic BP measurement by 7 mmHg as determined by Bland Altman plot. Based on international validation protocols, a mean difference of < 5 ± 8 mmHg was established to assess the level of agreement between the two devices. The automatic BP monitor did not show complete agreement with the “gold standard” mercury sphygmomanometer. With growing restrictions on the use of mercury sphygmomanometers, its replacement with an equivalent mercury-free validated device is urgently needed.

AbstractAggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) reduces luminescence and compromises brightness in solid‐state displays, necessitating strategies to mitigate its effects for enhanced performance. This study presents cost‐effective method to mitigate ACQ of pyrene by co‐assembling polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons within low molecular weight gelator. Synthesized from readily available materials – cholesteryl chloroformate and pentaerythritol – in one‐step reaction, gelator incorporates four cholesteryl units, reported to promote robust supramolecular gels in various solvents. Encapsulation of pyrene in a supramolecular host has effectively addressed the challenge of ACQ in the solid‐state. Utilizing steady‐state and time‐resolved spectroscopic techniques, we probed the excimer formation dynamics across solution, powder, and xerogel phases. Through time‐resolved emission spectra (TRES) and time‐resolved area‐normalized emission spectra (TRANES), we observed the monomer‐to‐excimer transition under various conditions. In solution, this transition occurs in a single step, characterized by a single isoemissive point (~443 nm) observed in TRANES. In powder, two isoemissive points (~445 nm and ~485 nm) were observed, indicating more complex process with an additional relaxed or trap state. The xerogel phase revealed an intricate excimer formation pathway, involving three isoemissive points (~418 nm, ~442 nm, and ~423 nm). These observations suggest multiple intermediate states in monomer‐excimer transition and distinct dynamics in the solid matrix.

Land-use change and increased human–livestock–wildlife interactions have generated numerous possibilities for viral spillover, demanding enhanced surveillance in biodiverse regions. We investigated adenovirus diversity in small mammals, an understudied host taxon, from a forest-plantation mosaic in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. We observed high prevalence (up to 39.39%) and identified five lineages of adenoviruses with unique mutations in the dominant small mammal species, Rattus satarae. These lineages significantly differed from other known murine adenoviruses (p-distance > 25%), indicating the likelihood of novel adenoviruses in this endemic small mammal and suggesting potential for unexplored DNA virus diversity in the region.

Publicly accessible large language models like ChatGPT are emerging as novel information intermediaries, enabling easy access to a wide range of science-related information. This study presents survey data from seven countries ( N = 4320) obtained in July and August 2023, focusing on the perception and use of GenAI for science-related information search. Despite the novelty of ChatGPT, a sizable proportion of respondents already reported using it to access science-related information. In addition, the study explores how these users perceive ChatGPT compared with traditional types of information intermediaries (e.g. Google Search), their knowledge of, and trust in GenAI, compared with nonusers as well as compared with those who use ChatGPT for other purposes. Overall, this study provides insights into the perception and use of GenAI at an early stage of adoption, advancing our understanding of how this emerging technology shapes public understanding of science issues as an information intermediary.

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a devastating disease with poor clinical outcomes, which is mainly because of delayed disease detection, resistance to chemotherapy, and lack of specific targeted therapies. The disease’s development involves complex interactions among immunological, genetic, and environmental factors, yet its molecular mechanism remains elusive. A major challenge in understanding PDAC etiology lies in unraveling the genetic profiling that governs the PDAC network. To address this, we examined the gene expression profile of PDAC and compared it with that of healthy controls, identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These DEGs formed the basis for constructing the PDAC protein interaction network, and their network topological properties were calculated. It was found that the PDAC network self-organizes into a scale-free fractal state with weakly hierarchical organization. Newman and Girvan’s algorithm (leading eigenvector (LEV) method) of community detection enumerated four communities leading to at least one motif defined by G (3,3). Our analysis revealed 33 key regulators were predominantly enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Cell adhesion molecules, Leukocyte transendothelial migration pathways; positive regulation of cell proliferation, positive regulation of protein kinase B signaling biological functions; G-protein beta-subunit binding, receptor binding molecular functions etc. Transcription Factor and mi-RNA of the key regulators were obtained. Recognizing the therapeutic potential and biomarker significance of PDAC Key regulators, we also identified approved drugs for specific genes. However, it is imperative to subject Key regulators to experimental validation to establish their efficacy in the context of PDAC.

ABSTRACTEvolutionary novelty has been one of the central themes in the field of evolutionary biology for many years. Structural and functional innovations such as scales in the reptiles, fins in the fishes and mammary glands in the mammals have been the focus of the studies. Insights obtained from these studies have shaped the criterion for the identification of novelty as well as provide the framework for studying novelty. In this article, I argue that unicellular organisms present an excellent opportunity for the investigation of evolutionary novelty. Even though bacteria share some fundamental aspects of novelty with higher organisms, there are definite departures. Here, I outline these departures in four different contexts: criterion for the identification of novelty, types of evolutionary novelties, level of biological complexity that bacteria embody and, most importantly, the role of the environment. Identifying the role of the environment allows the categorisation of novelty as probable or improbable and adaptive or latent. This categorisation of novel traits, based on the role of the environment, can facilitate the study of novelty in bacteria. Insights obtained from such studies are crucial for understanding the fundamental aspects of evolutionary novelty.

States routinely intervene in the pricing and allocation of capital and labor when engaging in industrial policy. Drawing on evidence from China, where a landlord state imposed a state monopoly on urban land, this article shows how interventions in the pricing and allocation of land can also be put into the service of industrial policy. Much like other tools of industrial policy, state pricing and allocation of land requires a strong state, manifested through state building efforts to impose control over land resources. In the case of China, these state building efforts spurred a broad growth coalition, spanning local governments, real estate developers, urban homeowners, and ultimately banks and even peri-urban villagers; the political breadth of this growth coalition redirected the landlord state away from its industrial policy origins and toward frenetic real estate investment.

Modern language models such as bidirectional encoder representations from transformers have revolutionized natural language processing (NLP) tasks but are computationally intensive, limiting their deployment on edge devices. This paper presents an energy-efficient accelerator design tailored for encoder-based language models, enabling their integration into mobile and edge computing environments. A data-flow-aware hardware accelerator design for language models inspired by Simba, makes use of approximate fixed-point POSIT-based multipliers and uses high bandwidth memory (HBM) in achieving significant improvements in computational efficiency, power consumption, area and latency compared to the hardware-realized scalable accelerator Simba. Compared to Simba, AxLaM achieves a ninefold energy reduction, 58% area reduction and 1.2 times improved latency, making it suitable for deployment in edge devices. The energy efficiency of AxLaN is 1.8 TOPS/W, 65% higher than FACT, which requires pre-processing of the language model before implementing it on the hardware. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Emerging technologies for future secure computing platforms’.

We consider income-source-dependent tax evasion and show that this is a generalisation of the well-known endowment effect. We show that loss aversion, moral costs, mental accounting and risk preferences play a role in explaining key features of source-dependent tax evasion. We provide evidence of the first direct link between subject-specific loss aversion and tax evasion, which is central to most successful modern theoretical accounts of tax evasion. We provide some evidence that risk aversion strengthens the cautionary effect of loss aversion and risk loving behaviour attenuates, or reverses, it. However, the underlying effect is also influenced by the source of income. Evasion is increasing in the tax rate and decreasing in the audit penalty, as predicted. Our study provides novel theoretical insights; proposes new methods in the estimation of the underlying behavioural parameters; and confirms the central predictions of the theory, while pointing out challenges for further developments that existing theory is unable to account for. JEL: C91, C92, D82, D91, G21