New study reveals key to sustainable, eco-friendly next-generation polymers for various uses

Researchers harness the power of tailored, seed-induced assembly of supramolecular polymers to produce revolutionary materials

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHIBA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: DEPICTION OF THE SEEDED SUPRAMOLECULAR POLYMERIZATION PROTOCOL (A) AND THE ASSOCIATED TIME-DEPENDENT CHANGES (B). SUPRAMOLECULAR POLYMERS OBTAINED BY OPEN-ENDED AND CLOSED-ENDED SEEDS (C AND D, RESPECTIVELY). view more 

CREDIT: SHIKI YAGAI FROM CHIBA UNIVERSITY

Supramolecular polymers are a new class of polymers that are currently being evaluated for material applications. These interesting compounds also play an important role in cellular activities in the body. "Supra," as the name suggests, is attributed to some unique properties that go beyond those of conventional polymers. Unlike traditional polymers, which are held together by strong, irreversible covalent bonds, supramolecular polymers are held together by weaker, reversible hydrogen bonds. They can reversibly assemble and disassemble, are highly versatile, and can be used for developing targeted drug delivery therapies, sensors to detect pollutants, diagnostic markers, energy storage devices, personal care products, and self-repairing and recyclable materials. Their excellent recyclability makes them wonderful candidate molecules for sustainable applications; however, there is one roadblock—researchers have yet to understand how to control their polymer growth.

 

There have, however, been advancements in this aspect. Researchers are now able to build "unlikely" polymers by triggering their assembly with "seeds," enabling control their polymer growth. There are two main mechanisms through which this seed-induced self-assembly occurs: primary nucleation or elongation, where the polymer grows from its end, and secondary nucleation, where new molecules join the polymer by sticking to its surface. The distinction between these processes is important because it enables researchers to better control and manipulate the growth of these unique polymers. Unfortunately, in most cases of seeded self-assembly, primary and secondary nucleation can be difficult to tell apart.

 

To tackle this issue, a group of researchers led by Professor Shiki Yagai from Chiba University aimed to compare and study the impact of these two processes while delineating the role of precisely controllable "seeded supramolecular polymerization." Their goal was to figure out how different seed shapes affect the formation of new supramolecular polymers; their findings were first published on May 10, 2023, and subsequently appeared in Volume 59, Issue 48 of Chemical Communications on June 18, 2023. Prof. Yagai tells us what motivated the team to pursue this topic of research: "Because of the difficulty in controlling polymerization, supramolecular polymers have not yet reached the point of practical application even though three decades have passed since their establishment as a concept." He is convinced, however, that because of their versatility, further research in this area is likely to lead to widespread applications of these self-organizing polymers in our daily lives.

 

For their experiments, the researchers used two supramolecular polymers as "seeds." While a closed-ended ring-shaped seed was used in a previous study, an open-ended, helicoidal seed was newly prepared. They found that when the open-ended, helicoidal seed was used, it acted as a template for the target molecules to attach and grow longer. On the other hand, when the closed-ended ring-shaped seed was used, it did not elongate itself, but rather served as a surface where new molecules could attach and form clusters, like a platform for new structures.

 

This research shows that the type of seed used in self-assembling supramolecular polymers influences the way the molecules assemble, and the final shape of the formed structures. This opens up exciting possibilities for various applications, from self-repairing and more easily recyclable materials to more advanced drug delivery systems, sensing technologies, and energy storage devices. As Prof. Yagai states, "By understanding these assembly processes, we can design and develop the next generation of more precise and environmentally friendly polymers with tailored structures and properties. The practical application of supramolecular polymers will enable us to produce plastic materials with lower energy consumption and reduce the energy required for recycling."

 

The ability to manipulate these versatile, self-assembling polymers at the molecular level offers great potential for addressing complex challenges and creating innovative, sustainable solutions in fields ranging from healthcare to environmental sustainability.

 

 

About Professor Shiki Yagai

Prof. Shiki Yagai is the Head of the Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering at the Institute for Advanced Academic Research (IAAR), Chiba University. His research focuses on the study and development of novel and unique molecular assemblies. He is particularly interested in supramolecular self-assembly systems, such as supramolecular polymers, stimuli-responsive molecular aggregates, smart soft materials, including liquid crystals and organogels, and solution-processable organic materials for optoelectronics. Prof. Yagai is an esteemed member of the Editorial Boards of journals like Responsive Materials, Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews, and Scientific Reports.

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JOURNAL

Chemical Communications

DOI

10.1039/D3CC01587D 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Distinct seed topologies enable comparison of elongation and secondary nucleation pathways in seeded supra molecular polymerization

IRON IS MAGICK

Unveiling the secrets of liquid iron under extreme conditions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THESE FINDINGS PAVE THE WAY FOR A MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE PUZZLING PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF LIQUID FE. view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO TECH

Iron is the most abundant element by mass on Earth. Despite being so common and well-studied, iron still manages to puzzle scientists by exhibiting electric and magnetic behaviors that are not fully comprehensible. In particular, the physical properties of liquid iron—which makes up most of the Earth’s core—have been the subject of much debate among physicists and geoscientists.

The problem is that certain predictions about liquid iron’s properties are difficult to experimentally verify due to the extreme conditions required to ascertain them. For example, liquid iron’s resistivity, which is the inverse of electrical conductivity, has only been measured up to 51 GPa pressure and 2900 K temperature. This is because it is challenging to keep the iron sample’s shape and chemical composition intact within current high-pressure apparatus.

Against this backdrop, a research team including Associate Professor Kenji Ohta from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan has recently achieved a breakthrough by measuring the electrical properties of liquid iron under extreme experimental conditions. As explained in their paper, which was published in Physical Review Letters, this was possible thanks to two new techniques that they developed.

Both techniques involved the use of a diamond anvil cell (DAC) that exerts incredibly high pressure on a sample by compressing it between the flat faces of two opposing diamonds. In the first technique, the researchers used a sapphire capsule to contain the iron sample in the DAC while heating it using a laser and electric current. “The idea was to keep the geometry of the iron sample unchanged during melting and to minimize temperature differences inside the sample,” explains Dr. Ohta. 

The second technique involved a radically different approach. Instead of preserving the sample’s shape during the melting process by encapsulating it, the researchers used powerful lasers to ‘instantly’ melt the iron. The goal was to quickly and simultaneously measure millisecond-resolved resistance, x-ray diffraction, and temperature of the molten sample before it had enough time to change its geometry. This innovative strategy enabled the team to measure the resistivity of liquid iron at pressures and temperatures up to 135 GPa and 6680 K, respectively.

Satisfied with the results, Dr. Ohta remarks: “Our measurements provide the experimentally constrained resistivity of liquid iron at pressures more than two times higher than those in previous experiments.”

Notably, the measurements revealed that the resistivity of liquid iron does not vary much with temperature. Moreover, it follows existing theoretical estimates at higher pressures quite well, including the anomalous decrease around 50 GPa, likely indicative of a gradual magnetic transition. This is important because there are some discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental data on the resistivity of liquid iron, especially at pressures below 50 GPa. Thus, the results of this study will help clarify the origin of these discrepancies and help physicists develop more accurate models and theories about the behavior of iron. In turn, this could lead to a more comprehensive understanding of terrestrial cores, as well as related phenomena such as planetary magnetic fields.

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JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.266301 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Measuring the electrical resistivity of liquid iron to 1.4 Mbar

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Jun-2023

European bird communities move to cooler areas, but mountain ranges and coastlines ‘control the traffic’

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

 

IMAGE: ALPINE CHOUGHS ONLY LIVE IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS. FOR THEM, WIDE LOWLANDS CAN ACT AS BARRIERS FOR SHIFTING FROM ONE MOUNTAIN REGION TO ANOTHER view more 

CREDIT: ALEKSI LEHIKOINEN

A recent study shows that European bird communities have shifted northeastward in the past 30 years. These shifts are faced with obstacles such as mountain ranges and coastlines. Overall, bird communities are moving towards cooler areas but not fast enough to keep up with increasing temperatures.

Climate change has profound effects on ecosystems and on the compositions of species communities globally. However, until now biodiversity has not always responded to climate change in an expected manner, leaving many questions unanswered. In a recently published scientific study covering nearly all European bird species, researchers studied the effects of large-scale obstacles, such as mountain ranges and coastlines, on the climate change-driven shifts of bird communities during the past 30 years.

“Two-thirds of the bird communities moved to cooler areas during the past 30 years, shifting an average 100 kilometres, especially towards the north and east”, explains PhD Emma-Liina Marjakangas, one of the study co-leaders from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

The shifts were clearly governed by large-scale obstacles. In particular, bird communities shifted greater distances when they were located further away from coastlines, indicating that coastlines operate as barriers stopping the communities from keeping up with climate change.

“Coastal communities are in particular danger of disappearing under climate change, as they often consist of rare and unique species”, highlights PhD Laura Bosco, the other study co-leader from the University of Helsinki.

Overall, bird communities are shifting at a slower rate than the climate is warming. For some communities, this could mean that local climatic conditions become unsuitable for some species that are concurrently unable to move to better suited areas because obstacles are blocking the way. Such communities may be facing extinction. The study shows that even highly mobile species like birds can be hindered by barriers, such as mountains or coastlines, and thus be prevented from following rapid shifts in temperature.

“From a Finnish perspective, this could mean that species like the nuthatch, the middle spotted and green woodpeckers or the marsh tit are facing challenges in shifting from Sweden or the Baltics to cooler areas in Finland because the Baltic Sea acts as a barrier between the areas. When single species are blocked by barriers, the composition of the entire communities will be affected”, Bosco describes.

The study is based on breeding bird atlases from the 1980s and 2010s covering the entire European continent, and it was published in the international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Mountains can act as distribution barriers even for bird species. Flamingos avoid crossing high-altitude mountains

CREDIT

Aleksi Lehikoinen

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2213330120 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Ecological barriers mediate spatiotemporal shifts of bird communities at a continental scale

Towards rapid tissue regeneration

DTU researchers create a scaffold for instant healing of bone.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DENMARK

 

IMAGE: FIGURE 1. (A) SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE (A) BONE STRUCTURE AND ITS COMPOSITION RANGING FROM NANOMETERS TO MICROMETRES AND (B) DEVELOPMENT OF BIOMIMETIC SCAFFOLDS CONTAINING THE VARIOUS STEPS FOR PREPARING A COMBINATORIAL HYDROGEL/SCAFFOLD. HTTPS://PUBS.ACS.ORG/DOI/FULL/10.1021/ACSAMI.3C01717 view more 

CREDIT: ILLUSTRATION: DOLATSHAHI-PIROUZ ET AL.

A team at DTU Health Tech led by Associate Professor Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz have made a leap forward in tissue regeneration by creating a multi-levelled scaffold that encompasses properties of native bone on both the nano, micro and macro scale.

In a recent paper in the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal, the researchers describe the discovery of near-perfect bone healing in a rat model after only eight weeks, using their scaffold—and without using growth factors.

In addition, the scaffold is combinatorial and can simultaneously release several essential bone minerals while covering mechanical properties, i.e., the compressive strength needed to match those of cancellous human bone.

The implications of these results are enormous, and our aim is now to lower the healing time to 4 weeks and reach almost instant tissue regeneration without using endocrine factors and cells. We will also be looking into whether this could be used for other tissues," says Associate professor at DTU Health Tech and corresponding author Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirous.

FDA approved materials

By incorporating stem cells, more bioactive components such as collagen and gelatin, coatings that increase native cell migration into the scaffolds, and electromagnetic stimulation, it could pave the way for rapid healing of soldiers suffering from critical musculoskeletal fractures or civilians suffering from traumatic injuries. These people are hospitalized for months, with a long road to recovery.

Notably, this new scaffold was made primarily from glass, alginate and nano silicate— already FDA-approved materials. Thanks to its FDA-approved status, hurdles for regulatory clearance are significantly reduced. This means the scaffold can be used more confidently and efficiently in clinical settings, accelerating development and improving patient outcomes.

"I believe this discovery could be a game-changer in the field of tissue regeneration, and I hope to see this technology being used to help those in need," says Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz.

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JOURNAL

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

DOI

10.1021/acsami.3c01717 

ARTICLE TITLE

Multi-leveled Nanosilicate Implants Can Facilitate Near-Perfect Bone Healing

IT'S A MOUTHFUL

Bentham Science announces its publication of new ebook "Fractal Antenna Design using Bio-inspired Computing Algorithms Sustainable Development"

Harnessing fractal algorithms for innovative and sustainable antenna design

Book Announcement

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS

Fractal antennas, known for their self-similar repeating patterns across different scales, have long captivated scientists and engineers due to their unique properties. By harnessing the power of bio-inspired computing algorithms, researchers have unlocked the full potential of fractal antenna design, revolutionizing the capabilities of wireless communication systems.

In a new Bentham Science book, Fractal Antenna Design using Bio-inspired Computing Algorithms Sustainable Development, the authors explain the methodology of designing and testing fractal antennas.

Drawing inspiration from nature's elegant designs, the authors show how bio-inspired computing algorithms provide a novel and efficient way to optimize antenna performance. These algorithms emulate the complex optimization processes found in biological systems, such as genetic algorithms and swarm intelligence, enabling the creation of fractal antennas with enhanced efficiency, improved bandwidth utilization, and superior signal reception.

The fusion of fractal geometry and bio-inspired computing algorithms has resulted in fractal antennas that exhibit exceptional performance characteristics. Antenna designs achieve superior signal quality, increased coverage range, and enhanced resistance to interference, enabling reliable and efficient wireless communication in diverse environments.

These designs also offer unparalleled versatility, accommodating a wide range of frequencies and applications. Their inherent self-similarity enables scalability, allowing antennas to be seamlessly miniaturized for compact devices or expanded for large-scale installations. This adaptability opens up exciting possibilities across industries, including telecommunications, Internet of Things (IoT), satellite communication, and beyond. By leveraging bio-inspired computing algorithms, fractal antennas optimize resource utilization, resulting in improved energy efficiency and reduced network congestion. These antennas intelligently allocate available bandwidth and dynamically adapt to changing conditions, maximizing spectral efficiency and minimizing power consumption.

The commitment to cutting-edge research based on nature-inspired designs enables researchers and engineers to develop products and systems that are future-proof and sustainable in the long term.  As wireless technologies advance and new frequency bands emerge, fractal antennas can be readily adapted and optimized, making them an invaluable asset for evolving communication systems.

 

For more information about the book or to acquire a copy, please visit the Bentham Science website: https://www.eurekaselect.com/ebook_volume/3524

 

About the Authors:

Balwinder S. Dhaliwal

He is working as Associate Professor in Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh, India. He received a Ph.D. degree from IKG Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, India in 2016 in the field of fractal antenna design. He is a member of IEEE, ISTE, IE(I) and has been listed in the Who’s Who in the world. His research interests include design and optimization of fractal antennas, 3D printed antennas, wearable antennas, ANN ensemble development, hybrid soft computing algorithms’ development, and digital filter design.

Suman Pattnaik

She received her Ph.D. in electronics engineering from Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, Punjab, India in 2019. She did her Master’s in engineering in electronics & communications engineering from Punjab University (PU), Chandigarh, India in 2011 and did her AMIE from The Institution of Engineers in 1996. Her research interests include biomedical engineering, neural networks, and soft computing techniques and also have a good hand on Sci-lab.

Shyam Sundar Pattnaik*

He received the Ph.D. degree in engineering from Sambalpur University, India, in 1992. He was the vice chancellor of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Rourkela, from 2014 to 2017. He also worked in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Utah, USA. He is a fellow of IETE, a life member of ISTE, senior member of IEEE, and has been listed in the Who’s Who in the world. He was a recipient of National Scholarship, BOYSCAST Fellowship, SERC Visiting Fellowship, INSA Visiting Fellowship, UGC Visiting Fellowship, and best paper award. Recently, he received a Certificate of Commendation for Sponsored projects, Gold Medal (Certificate of Excellence) for the year 2018, and Leading Educationalist.

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DOI

10.2174/97898151363571230101 

New driver for shapes of small quark-gluon plasma drops?

Results point to importance of internal structure of nucleons—and need for new measurements to disentangle other contributions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

 

IMAGE: THE SOLENOIDAL TRACKER AT RHIC (THE RELATIVISTIC HEAVY ION COLLIDER) IS A HOUSE-SIZED PARTICLE DETECTOR MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS STAR. IT SPECIALIZES IN TRACKING THOUSANDS OF PARTICLES THAT STREAM OUT OF RHIC COLLISIONS. BY LOOKING FOR CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PAIRS OF PARTICLES EMERGING FROM DIFFERENT TYPES OF COLLISIONS, SCIENTISTS ARE GAINING NEW INSIGHT INTO THE SUBATOMIC BUILDING BLOCKS THAT MAKE UP ORDINARY MATTER. view more 

CREDIT: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

UPTON, NY—New measurements of how particles flow from collisions of different types of particles at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have provided new insights into the origin of the shape of hot specks of matter generated in these collisions. The results may lead to a deeper understanding of the properties and dynamics of this form of matter, known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

QGP is a soup of the quarks and gluons that make up the protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei at the heart of all visible matter in the universe. Scientists think the entire universe was filled with QGP just after the Big Bang some 14 billion years ago, before protons and neutrons formed. RHIC, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, creates QGP by colliding the nuclei of atoms at nearly the speed of light. The collisions melt the boundaries of the protons and neutrons, momentarily freeing the quarks and gluons from their confinement within these ordinary nuclear building blocks (collectively called nucleons).

The new analysis of data from RHIC’s STAR detector suggests that the shape of the QGP created in collisions of small nuclei with large ones may be influenced by the substructure of the smaller projectile—that is, the internal arrangement of quarks and gluons inside the protons and neutrons of the smaller nucleus. This is in contrast to publications on data from RHIC’s PHENIX detector, which reported that the QGP shape was determined by the larger-scale positions of the individual nucleons and thus the shapes of the colliding nuclei.

“The question of whether the shape of the QGP is determined by the positions of the nucleons or by their internal structure has been a longstanding inquiry in the field. The recent measurement conducted by the STAR collaboration provides significant clues to help resolve this question,” said Roy Lacey, a professor at Stony Brook University and a principal author of the STAR paper.

As it turns out, the differences in the STAR and PHENIX results may be due to the way the two detectors made their respective measurements, each observing the QGP droplets from a different perspective.

Tracking two-particle correlations

As the STAR collaboration reports in a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, their measurements come from an analysis of particles emerging mostly at the center of their detector, all around the beampipe. By looking at the angles between pairs of particles in this “midrapidity” region, physicists can detect whether there are more particles flowing in particular directions.

“You use one particle to determine the direction and use another to measure the density around it,” said Jiangyong Jia, a physicist at Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University. The closer the particles are in angles, the higher the density/more particles in that direction.

These flow patterns can be established by pressure gradients associated with the shape of QGP. The STAR team analyzed the flow patterns from three different collision systems: single protons colliding with gold nuclei; two-nucleon deuterons (one proton and one neutron) colliding with gold; and three-nucleon helium-3 nuclei (two protons and one neutron) colliding with gold. The data were collected over three separate runs in 2014 (helium), 2015 (protons), and 2016 (deuterons).

The flow results from PHENIX were based on correlations between particles at midrapidity with particles emitted far out in the forward region of their detector. That analysis found that the specks of QGP and flow patterns established across these three collision systems were associated with the shape of the projectile colliding with the gold nucleus: Spherical protons created circular drops of QGP with uniform flow, elongated two-particle deuterons produced elongated drops and elliptical flow patterns, and roughly triangular three-particle helium-3 nuclei produced triangular blobs of QGP with a correspondingly stronger triangular flow.

“You could see a clear imprint of the shape of the nucleus on the elliptic and triangular flow measurements from PHENIX,” said James Dunlop, the Associate Chair for Nuclear Physics in the Physics Department at Brookhaven Lab.

In contrast, according to Shengli Huang, a Stony Brook University research scientist who led the STAR analysis, “STAR’s ‘v3’ triangular flow patterns were all the same as one another, no matter which projectile we looked at. It seems that the imprint of the triangular shape of the helium-3 nucleus, producing more pronounced v3 flow patterns than the other two systems, is absent.  Our findings indicate that nucleon substructure fluctuations play a more important role in determining the QGP shape than do changes in the number of nucleons and their positions.”

Takahito Todoroki, an assistant professor from Tsukuba University, conducted an independent cross-check of the STAR analysis and found the same result.

A question of perspective

“Both sets of measurements from STAR and PHENIX have been rigorously checked by independent teams within both collaborations, and there is no question about the results,” said Dunlop.

Theorists have proposed some explanations.

“While the STAR results can be interpreted as subnucleon fluctuations playing an important role in determining the QGP geometry and smearing out the influence of the triangular shape, and the PHENIX results indicate that the QGP shape is dictated by the nucleon position fluctuations, the experiments are not necessarily inconsistent,” said Brookhaven Lab theorist Bjoern Schenke. “Taking into account the fact that the blob of QGP changes along the longitudinal direction could explain the differences.”

As Jiangyong Jia explained, “When a collision creates QGP, you don’t produce just a slice of QGP; you can imagine it as a cylinder along the beam direction. If you go to the forward end of the cylinder, the geometry might not be the same as if you look right at the middle of this cylinder. There could be a lot of fluctuations along the beam direction.”

Whereas STAR measures at midrapidity, the PHENIX analysis of correlations between particles at midrapidity with longitudinally distant “forward” particles may reflect this longitudinal evolution of the QGP. That difference in perspective may explain the different results.

A recent theoretical analysis led by Schenke found evidence for such longitudinal fluctuations. That work, which also includes subnucleon fluctuations, suggests that longitudinal variation in the QGP could explain at least part of the difference between the STAR and PHENIX v3 results.

“These results underscore the richness of QGP physics, and the importance of comparing results from different detectors,” Dunlop said.

Future analyses

The STAR physicists have a plan to explore these explanations by analyzing additional data from deuteron-gold collisions, collected by STAR in 2021. These measurements made use of upgraded components of STAR installed in the forward region of that detector in the time since the original deuteron-gold data were collected.

“By analyzing these data, we should be able to do both measurements—look at middle-middle particle correlations, and middle-forward correlations—in the same detector,” said Huang.

If the scientists confirm both the results published in this paper and the previous results from PHENIX, it would be clear evidence of the longitudinal fluctuations in the QGP.

In addition, RHIC also ran collisions between two beams of oxygen nuclei for part of the run in 2021. Analyzing those data between collisions of roughly spherical nuclei each made of 16 nucleons could help disentangle the impact of the subnucleon fluctuations from the nuclear shape.

“By adding more nucleons, we dilute the influence of the fluctuations within each nucleon,” Jia said. “We already know that in gold-gold collisions, with 197 nucleons, the subnucleon fluctuations do not influence the flow patterns, but what happens if you pick something that is not so big?”

“Because we have the same collision system (deuteron-gold), now we can repeat the previous PHENIX and STAR measurements in the same experiment with the same collision system. This will allow us to directly quantify how much any observed longitudinal variation is contributing to the difference between the results from STAR and PHENIX.”

This research was funded by the DOE Office of Science (NP), the U.S. National Science Foundation, and a range of international organizations and agencies listed in the scientific paper. The STAR team used computing resources at the Scientific Data and Computing Center at Brookhaven Lab, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Open Science Grid consortium.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

Follow @BrookhavenLab on Twitter or find us on Facebook.

This illustration shows the interplay of three possible sources of triangular flow in asymmetric collisions such as deuteron-gold: fluctuations in nucleon position (nuclear shape), fluctuations in nucleon position plus their inner quark and gluon constituents, and fluctuations along the beam direction commonly referred to as longitudinal decorrelations.

CREDIT

Brookhaven National Laboratory

JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.242301 

ARTICLE TITLE

Measurements of the elliptic and triangular azimu­thal anisotropies in central 3He+Au, d+Au and p+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV

Our mind in the pandemic’s grip: How has COVID-19 shaped our daydreams and nighttime dreams?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TURKU

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the mental well-being of individuals worldwide. A recent study examines the relationship between COVID-19-related concerns, anxiety, and worry, and the emotional quality of daydreaming and nighttime dreaming during these challenging times.

We spend a large part of our days immersed in our inner experiences – daydreaming during the day and dreaming during the night. While there has been a lot of research on the effects of COVID on different aspects of people’s lives, we know little about how the pandemic has shaped people’s inner experiences.

A newly published study, conducted by an international team of researchers at the University of Turku, Finland, and UK and Australia, sought to understand how worry about COVID-19 is linked to the emotional content of daydreaming and nighttime dreaming.

In this study, more than a hundred of participants were asked how worried, anxious, and concerned they were during the COVID-19 pandemic. People also reported their daydreams every evening their nighttime dreams every morning upon awakening.

Analysis of more than 3000 reports of daydreams and nighttime dreams revealed a clear association between worry about COVID-19 during a particular day and the emotional quality of their daydreams the same day. Specifically, on days when people experienced more worry about COVID-19, they also experienced more negative emotions and less positive emotions during daydreaming.

Individual differences play a major role

Unlike previous studies, worry about COVID-19 on a particular day was not related to the emotional quality of nighttime dreams or more nightmares. However, those individuals who generally tended to worry more about COVID-19, also tended to have more negative dreams.

These results suggest that daily fluctuations in worry may play a more significant role in shaping individuals' inner experiences during the day than during the night.

"These findings do show that our experiences during the day are associated with our nighttime experiences, but our dreams seem to rely more on particular individual differences rather than what exactly happens during the day. This is important because these differences may explain why some individuals may have better or worse mental health and well-being," comments Dr. Pilleriin Sikka, lead researcher of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University (US).

The study's results also indicate the need to rely less on general questionnaires and to use more longitudinal measures that capture day-to-day variations in COVID-19 worry and inner experiences.

The researchers are now conducting a follow-up study, trying to understand whether the pandemic may have some lingering effects on people’s inner experiences. If you are interested in participating in the study, please follow this link:

> Mind Research Study

The research results have been published in the Emotion journal on 22 June 2023.

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JOURNAL

Emotion

DOI

10.1037/emo0001255 

ARTICLE TITLE

COVID-19 on Mind: Daily Worry About the Coronavirus Is Linked to Negative Affect Experienced During Mind-Wandering and Dreaming

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Jun-2023

New study suggests informing readers about journalism’s societal importance and financial challenges could boost online newspapers’ subscription revenues

New research uncovers how online publications may successfully persuade readers to purchase subscriptions for paywalled content

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

New research by City, University of London and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) has found that combining certain messages when advertising online newspaper subscriptions can increase readers’ willingness to pay for content.

The study, led by Professor Neil Thurman, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at City along with Dr Bartosz Wilczek and Ina Schulte-Uentrop from LMU, and published in the International Journal of Communication, reveals how a sales pitch mentioning both the financial pressures faced by news outlets and how subscribers support independent journalism significantly enhances a reader’s willingness to pay for content.

The growth of social media and new forms of online information sharing have led to fears about the financial sustainability of independent, high quality journalism. Leading publications such as The Times, Financial Times and The Telegraph already rely on revenues from digital subscribers, but they – and other publications – face challenges in growing their online subscription bases.

Although revenues from online paywalls are becoming more and more important, the willingness to pay for an online newspaper subscription remains low. According to the Reuters Institute, only 9 per cent of Britons paid for online news in the last year.

In this new study, Professor Thurman conducted an experiment with 815 participants from the United Kingdom, who were assigned one of 16 different versions of an online subscription pitch with varied wording and emphasis on key messages. Four different advertising messages were presented both alone and in combination: support of a newspaper’s independent, inclusive, and watchdog journalism (the ‘normative’ message); the difficult financial situation of the news industry (the ‘price transparency’ message); personalisation and online exclusivity; and the offer of being part of a community.

Out of all the online subscription pitches, the one that contained both the normative and price transparency messages was revealed as the most effective in increasing a reader’s willingness to pay for content.

Professor Thurman said:

“In a highly competitive environment that is increasingly digital, newspapers need to move away from traditional ways of funding their high quality, independent journalism.

“A key source of funding will be online subscribers. However, in a cost of living crisis people may not see an online newspaper subscription as strictly necessary, or decide that cheaper alternatives are available.

“This study provides new insights that could help newspapers to boost online subscription revenue, and shows just how important it is to make readers aware of the value of paid-for content.”

‘On the effectiveness of advertising messages in promoting newspapers’ online subscriptions’ by Dr Bartosz Wilczek, Ina Schulte-Uentrop and Professor Neil Thurman is published in International Journal of Communication.

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

On the effectiveness of advertising messages in promoting newspapers’ online subscriptions’