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Chlorite coats are widely recognized as a key element in preserving sandstone porosity because it can inhibit the growth of quartz cements. However, the alteration of chlorite coats and its potential influences on sandstone porosity are rarely discussed. Therefore, this work used reactive transport models under different petrographic and geochemical conditions to investigate the influence of chlorite coats on sandstone porosity in a major dissolution window (100 °C). The HCO3-rich (CO2-charged) and HCO3-depleted (organic acids-charged) waters were injected to induce mineral dissolution and precipitation. The results indicate that the alteration of chlorite coats may result in sandstone porosity reduction. The HCO3-rich water leads to a porosity decrease mainly through the precipitation of magnesite and siderite resulting from chlorite dissolution. In contrast, the HCO3-depleted water causes a porosity decrease mainly through the redistribution of kaolinite and quartz cements. Factors, including pCO2, organic acid concentration, coat coverage, coat thickness, and grain size, have secondary influences on net porosity change. In comparison, factors, including chlorite mineralogy, detrital lithology, and the reduction of K-feldspar dissolution rate caused by chlorite coat, have negligible influences. The alteration of chlorite coats may introduce significant mis-interpretation to the analysis of the relationship between chlorite coats and sedimentary facies. Moreover, the actual impact of pore-filling chlorite on porosity reduction may be either underestimated or overestimated. Therefore, the alteration of chlorite coats should be taken into consideration in future studies.

We discuss a class of selection rules which i) do not come from group actions on fields, ii) are exact at tree level in perturbation theory, iii) are increasingly violated as the loop order is raised, and iv) eventually reduce to selection rules associated with an ordinary group symmetry. We start from basic field-theoretical examples in which fields are labeled by conjugacy classes rather than representations of a group, and discuss generalizations using fusion algebras or hypergroups. We also discuss how such selection rules arise naturally in string theory, such as for non-Abelian orbifolds or other cases with non-invertible worldsheet symmetries., Comment: 22 pages + three appendices

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) began operation with 1 kW beam power for scientific users in May 2022 upon completion of 8 years of project construction. The ramp-up to the ultimate beam power of 400 kW, planned over a 6-year period, will enable the facility to reach its full potential for scientific discovery in isotope science and applications. In December 2023, a record-high beam power of 10.4 kW uranium was delivered to the target. Technological developments and accelerator improvements are being made over the entire facility and are key to completion of the power ramp-up. Major technological developments entail the phased deployment of high-power beam-intercepting systems, including the charge strippers, the charge selection systems, the production target, and the beam dump, along with support systems, including non-conventional utilities (NCU) and remote handling facilities. Major accelerator improvements include renovations to aging legacy systems associated with experimental beam lines and system automation for improved operational efficiency and better machine availability. Experience must be gained to safely handle the increased radiological impacts associated with high beam power; extensive machine studies and advanced beam tuning procedures are needed to minimize uncontrolled beam losses for the desired operating conditions. This paper discusses the technological developments and accelerator improvements with emphasis on major R&D efforts.

We propose that generalized symmetries in some string-constructed QFTs are given by twisted K-theory, so as to be manifestly compatible with T-duality. We thus have even-form and odd-form symmetries determined by $K^*_N(\partial X)$, the twisted K-theory as D-brane charges on the asymptotic boundary $\partial X$ of internal geometry $X$ with twist class $N$. For these QFTs, "$p$-form symmetries" are no longer separately well-defined for individual $p$, but instead mixed up. We discuss 6D ADE-type (2,0) SCFTs and some 6d (1,0) LSTs as examples and demonstrate their twisted K-theoretic symmetries to be compatible with T-duality., Comment: 5 pages + supplemental material; v2: reference added, phrasing adjusted, and typos fixed

We show that the low-energy effective actions of two ten-dimensional supersymmetric heterotic strings are different by a $\mathbb{Z}_3$-valued discrete topological term even after we turn off the $E_8\times E_8$ and $Spin(32)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fields. This will be demonstrated by considering the inflow of normal bundle anomaly to the respective NS5-branes from the bulk. We also find that the $Spin(16)\times Spin(16)$ non-tachyonic non-supersymmetric heterotic string has the same non-zero $\mathbb{Z}_3$-valued discrete topological term. We will also explain the relation of our findings to the theory of topological modular forms. The paper is written as a string theory paper, except for an appendix translating the content in mathematical terms. We will explain there that our finding identifies a representative of the $\mathbb{Z}/3$-torsion element of $\pi_{-32}\mathrm{TMF}$ as a particular self-dual vertex operator superalgebra of $c=16$ and how we utilize string duality to arrive at this statement., Comment: 20 pages + an appendix, 2 figures; v2: notations changed and references added

In public-health crises, members of multilingual communities must be able to access, understand, trust and act upon behaviour-change messaging. The role of translators is therefore critical, not only for the relaying of information but also in the transcreation of texts, understood as adaptation to suit the characteristics of an intended audience. Failure to use transcreation may produce messaging that is culturally inappropriate and thus ineffective. This study analyses healthcare resources created by governments in Australia with a view to identifying formatting and other visual features that would benefit from transcreation. A mixed-method approach combined numerical evaluation of four documents using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and a bottom-up thematic analysis of the way the same texts were discussed by 58 members of a broad range of ethnocultural and linguistic groups in Victoria, Australia. The findings point to a need to go beyond the linguistic aspects of the translation and take into account the discourse organisation, layout, images and cultural appropriateness of health messaging. The implications of applying the PEMAT criteria are not only that start texts will become more accessible and better able to facilitate understanding-based trust relations, but also that translators are well placed to participate in the transcreations that may be required in the various target languages.

Rapid urbanization in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to place two-thirds of its population in concrete-dominated urban landscapes by 2050. While diverse architectural facades define the unique appearance of these urban systems. There remains a significant gap in our understanding of the composition, assembly, and ecological potential of microbial communities on building exteriors. Here, we examined bacterial and protistan communities on building surfaces along an urbanization gradient (urban, suburban and rural regions), investigating their spatial patterns and the driving factors behind their presence. A total of 55 bacterial and protist phyla were identified. The bacterial community was predominantly composed of Proteobacteria (33.7% to 67.5%). The protistan community exhibited a prevalence of Opisthokonta and Archaeplastida (17.5% to 82.1% and 1.8% to 61.2%, respectively). The composition and functionality of bacterial communities exhibited spatial patterns correlated with urbanization. In urban buildings, factors such as facade type, light exposure, and building height had comparatively less impact on bacterial composition compared to suburban and rural areas. The highest bacterial diversity and lowest Weighted Average Community Identity (WACI) were observed on suburban buildings, followed by rural buildings. In contrast, protists did not show spatial distribution characteristics related to facade type, light exposure, building height and urbanization level. The distinct spatial patterns of protists were primarily shaped by community diffusion and the bottom-up regulation exerted by bacterial communities. Together, our findings suggest that building exteriors serve as attachment points for local microbial metacommunities, offering unique habitats where bacteria and protists exhibit independent adaptive strategies closely tied to the overall ecological potential of the community.

BACKGROUND: The concept of treat-to-target (T2T), a treatment strategy in which treatment is directed to reach and maintain a defined goal such as remission or low disease activity (LDA), has been explored for several diseases including rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, a comprehensive review of T2T in all rheumatic diseases has not recently been undertaken. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of a T2T strategy in the management of adult patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. METHODS: PUBMED, EMBASE and CINAHL were searched from January 1990 to December 2023 using key words related to a T2T strategy and rheumatic diseases; T2T strategy clinical trials or observational studies were included. Clinical, physical function and radiologic outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and adverse events (AEs) of the T2T strategies were investigated and a random-effect meta-analysis was conducted for the most commonly used outcomes in RA studies. RESULTS: The search identified 7896 studies, of which 66 fit inclusion criteria, including 50 in RA, 3 in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), 1 in spondyloarthritis (SpA) and 12 in gout. For the studies comparing a T2T strategy with usual care (UC) in RA, 83.3% (20/24) showed a T2T strategy could achieve significantly better clinical outcomes, and the meta-analysis showed that patients treated with a T2T strategy were more likely to be in remission (pooled RR: 1.68 (1.47-1.92), p<0.001] and achieve DAS-28 response (pooled standardised mean difference (SMD): 0.47 (0.26-0.69), P<0.001] at 1 year than patients treated with UC. Sensitivity analyses showed that a T2T strategy with a predefined treatment protocol had better clinical efficacy than that without protocol. In terms of improving physical function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), 11/19 (57.9%) studies found a T2T strategy was significantly more likely to achieve these than UC, with the meta-analysis for

Urban sustainability is a key to achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Secure and efficient provision of food, energy, and water (FEW) resources is a critical strategy for urban sustainability. While there has been extensive discussion on the positive effects of the FEW nexus on resource efficiency and climate impacts, measuring the extent to which such synergy can benefit urban sustainability remains challenging. Here, we have developed a systematic and integrated optimization framework to explore the potential of the FEW nexus in reducing urban resource demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Demonstrated using the Metropolis Beijing, we have identified that the optimized FEW nexus can reduce resource consumption and GHG emissions by 21.0 and 29.1%, respectively. These reductions come with increased costs compared to the siloed FEW management, but it still achieved a 16.8% reduction in economic cost compared to the business-as-usual scenario. These findings underscore the significant potential of FEW nexus management in enhancing urban resource efficiency and addressing climate impacts, while also identifying strategies to address trade-offs and increase synergies.

We develop and compare e-variables for testing whether k samples of data are drawn from the same distribution, the alternative being that they come from different elements of an exponential family. We consider the GRO (growth-rate optimal) e-variables for (1) a ‘small’ null inside the same exponential family, and (2) a ‘large’ nonparametric null, as well as (3) an e-variable arrived at by conditioning on the sum of the sufficient statistics. (2) and (3) are efficiently computable, and extend ideas from Turner et al. (2021) and Wald (1947) respectively from Bernoulli to general exponential families. We provide theoretical and simulation-based comparisons of these e-variables in terms of their logarithmic growth rate, and find that for small effects all four e-variables behave surprisingly similarly; for the Gaussian location and Poisson families, e-variables (1) and (3) coincide; for Bernoulli, (1) and (2) coincide; but in general, whether (2) or (3) grows faster under the alternative is family-dependent. We furthermore discuss algorithms for numerically approximating (1).

In this dissertation, we study the generalized symmetries in supergravities and superconformal field theories from the string theory perspective. Part one is devoted to the study of string universality in high spacetime dimensions. Answering this question requires us to combine the following two approaches. In the "top-down" approach, We focus on supergravity theories in 7, 8, and 9 dimensional spacetime with 16 supercharges. We emphasize two discrete aspects of these theories: generalized global symmetries and frozen singularities. We give an exhaustive classification of IIB supergravity theory in 8D, particularly emphasizing these two discrete aspects. In the "bottom-up" approach, we present a consistency condition of general 8D supergravity theories involving their higher-form symmetries use it to rule out many global structures of the gauge groups in 8D supergravity theories that do not admit string theory constructions. Part two studies the generalized global symmetries of geometrically-engineered quantum field theories via string theory. We examined branes wrapping on relative topological cycles that give heavy defects that are charged under generalized global symmetries, which can then be used to construct new lower-dimensional theories. By investigating the string theory origin of the topological operators, we provide a general construction of these topological operators in the context of geometric engineering as branes wrapped on the homological cycles in the asymptotic boundary of the internal geometry. We illustrate this proposal by determining non-invertible 2-form symmetries in 6D superconformal field theories. Furthermore, by wrapping type IIB 7-brane on the entire asymptotic boundary of the internal manifold, we explicitly give a unified string-theoretic construction of two different types of field-theoretic non-invertible duality defects., Comment: Ph.D. Dissertation

Within the framework of relative and absolute quantum field theories (QFTs), we present a general formalism for understanding polarizations of the intermediate defect group and constructing non-invertible duality defects in theories in $2k$ spacetime dimensions with self-dual gauge fields. We introduce the polarization pair, which fully specifies absolute QFTs as far as their $(k-1)$-form defect groups are concerned, including their $(k-1)$-form symmetries, global structures (including discrete $\theta$-angle), and local counterterms. Using the associated symmetry TFT, we show that the polarization pair is capable of succinctly describing topological manipulations, e.g., gauging $(k-1)$-form global symmetries and stacking counterterms, of absolute QFTs. Furthermore, automorphisms of the $(k-1)$-form charge lattice naturally act on polarization pairs via their action on the defect group; they can be viewed as dualities between absolute QFTs descending from the same relative QFT. Using this formalism, we present a prescription for building non-invertible symmetries of absolute QFTs. A large class of known examples, e.g., non-invertible defects in 4D $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang--Mills, can be reformulated via this prescription. As another class of examples, we identify and investigate in detail a family of non-invertible duality defects in 6D superconformal field theories (SCFTs), including from the perspective of the symmetry TFT derived from Type IIB string theory., Comment: 48 pages + appendices, 7 figures, 2 tables

OBJECTIVE: In trials of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the SLE Responder Index (SRI) is the most commonly used primary efficacy end point but has limited validation against long-term outcomes. We aimed to investigate associations of attainment of a modified version of the SRI (mSRI) with key clinical outcomes in SLE patients with up to 5 years of follow-up. METHODS: We used data from a large multicenter, longitudinal SLE cohort in which patients received standard of care. The first visit with active disease (defined as SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 [SLEDAI-2K] score ≥6) was designated as baseline, and mSRI attainment (defined as a reduction in SLEDAI-2K ≥4 points with no worsening in physician global assessment ≥0.3 points) was determined at annual intervals from baseline up to 5 years. Associations between mSRI attainment and outcomes including disease activity, glucocorticoid dose, flare, damage accrual, Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS), and remission were studied. RESULTS: We included 2,060 patients, with a median baseline SLEDAI-2K score of 8. An mSRI response was attained by 56% of patients at 1 year, with similar responder rates seen at subsequent annual time points. Compared to nonresponders, mSRI responders had significantly lower disease activity and prednisolone dose and higher proportions of LLDAS and remission attainment at each year, and less damage accrual at years 2 and 3. Furthermore, mSRI responder status at 1 year predicted clinical benefit at subsequent years across most outcomes, including damage accrual (odds ratio [OR] range 0.58-0.69, P < 0.05 for damage accrual ORs at all time points). CONCLUSION: In SLE patients with active disease receiving standard of care, mSRI attainment predicts favorable outcomes over long-term follow-up, supporting the clinical meaningfulness of SRI attainment as an SLE trial end point.

This paper presents and analyzes a novel fossil-fuel–free trans-critical energy storage system that uses CO2 as the working fluid in a closed loop shuttled between two saline aquifers or caverns at different depths: one a low-pressure reservoir and the other a high-pressure reservoir. Thermal energy storage and a heat pump are adopted to eliminate the need for external natural gas for heating the CO2 entering the energy recovery turbines. We carefully analyze the energy storage and recovery processes to reveal the actual efficiency of the system. We also highlight thermodynamic and sensitivity analyses of the performance of this fossil-fuel–free trans-critical energy storage system based on a steady-state mathematical method. It is found that the fossil-fuel–free trans-critical CO2 energy storage system has good comprehensive thermodynamic performance. The exergy efficiency, round-trip efficiency, and energy storage efficiency are 67.89%, 66%, and 58.41%, and the energy generated of per unit storage volume is 2.12 kW·h/m3, and the main contribution to exergy destruction is the turbine reheater, from which we can quantify how performance can be improved. Moreover, with a higher energy storage and recovery pressure and lower pressure in the low-pressure reservoir, this novel system shows promising performance.

This paper presents and analyzes a novel fossil-fuel–free trans-critical energy storage system that uses CO2 as the working fluid in a closed loop shuttled between two saline aquifers or caverns at different depths: one a low-pressure reservoir and the other a high-pressure reservoir. Thermal energy storage and a heat pump are adopted to eliminate the need for external natural gas for heating the CO2 entering the energy recovery turbines. We carefully analyze the energy storage and recovery processes to reveal the actual efficiency of the system. We also highlight thermodynamic and sensitivity analyses of the performance of this fossil-fuel–free trans-critical energy storage system based on a steady-state mathematical method. It is found that the fossil-fuel–free trans-critical CO2 energy storage system has good comprehensive thermodynamic performance. The exergy efficiency, round-trip efficiency, and energy storage efficiency are 67.89%, 66%, and 58.41%, and the energy generated of per unit storage volume is 2.12 kW·h/m3, and the main contribution to exergy destruction is the turbine reheater, from which we can quantify how performance can be improved. Moreover, with a higher energy storage and recovery pressure and lower pressure in the low-pressure reservoir, this novel system shows promising performance.

OBJECTIVE: Evidence for the utility of medications in settings lacking randomized trial data can come from studies of treatment persistence. The present study was undertaken to examine patterns of medication use in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using data from a large multicenter longitudinal cohort. METHODS: Prospectively collected data from the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration cohort including disease activity (SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 [SLEDAI-2K]) and medication details, captured at every visit from 2013-2018, were used. Medications were categorized as glucocorticoids (GCs), antimalarials (AM), and immunosuppressants (IS). Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the time-to-discontinuation of medications, stratified by SLE disease activity. RESULTS: Data from 19,804 visits of 2,860 patients were analyzed. Eight medication categories were observed: no treatment; GC, AM, or IS only; GC plus AM; GC plus IS; AM plus IS; and GC plus AM plus IS (triple therapy). Triple therapy was the most frequent pattern (31.4% of visits); single agents were used in 21% of visits, and biologics in only 3%. Time-to-discontinuation analysis indicated that medication persistence varied widely, with the highest treatment persistence for AM and lowest for IS. Patients with a time-adjusted mean SLEDAI-2K score of ≥10 had lower discontinuation of GCs and higher discontinuation of IS. CONCLUSION: Most patients received combination treatment. GC persistence was high, while IS persistence was low. Patients with high disease activity received more medication combinations but had reduced IS persistence, consistent with limited utility. These data confirm unmet need for improved SLE treatments.

The center-flavor symmetry of a gauge theory specifies the global form of consistent gauge and flavor bundle background field configurations. For 6d gauge theories which arise from a tensor branch deformation of a superconformal field theory (SCFT), we determine the global structure of such background field configurations, including possible continuous Abelian symmetry and R-symmetry bundles. Proceeding to the conformal fixed point, this provides a prescription for reading off the global form of the continuous factors of the zero-form symmetry, including possible non-trivial mixing between flavor and R-symmetry. As an application, we show that this global structure leads to a large class of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ SCFTs obtained by compactifying on a $T^2$ in the presence of a topologically non-trivial flat flavor bundle characterized by a 't Hooft magnetic flux. The resulting "Stiefel--Whitney twisted" compactifications realize several new infinite families of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ SCFTs, and also furnish a 6d origin for a number of recently discovered rank one and two 4d $\mathcal{N} = 2$ SCFTs., Comment: 69 pages + appendices, 2 figures, 9 tables, 1 attached Mathematica notebook; v2: PRD version

String and 5-brane junctions are shown to succinctly classify all known 8d ${\cal N}$=1 string vacua. This requires an extension of the description for ordinary $[p,q]$-7-branes to consistently include O7$^+$-planes, which then naturally encodes the dynamics of $\mathfrak{sp}_n$ gauge algebras, including their higher-form center symmetries. Central to this analysis are loop junctions, i.e., strings/5-branes which encircle stacks of 7-branes and O7$^+$'s. Loop junctions further signal the appearance of affine symmetries of emergent 9d descriptions at the 8d moduli space's boundaries. Such limits reproduce all 9d string vacua, including the two disconnected rank (1,1) moduli components., Comment: 47 pages + appendices, 8 figures, long table in Appendix C

We determine the higher symmetries of 5d SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a $\mathbb{C}^3 / \Gamma$ background for $\Gamma$ a finite subgroup of $SU(3)$. This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is non-toric (when $\Gamma$ is non-abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of $\Gamma$ has fixed loci). The BPS states of the theory are encoded in a 1d quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of $\Gamma$ detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase., Comment: v2: 42 pages, 5 figures, reference added, typos corrected, clarifications added

Background: The unmet need in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with the current standard of care is widely recognised, but few studies have quantified this. The recent definition of treat-to-target endpoints and other thresholds of uncontrolled disease activity provide an opportunity to formally define unmet need in SLE. In this study, we enumerated the prevalence of these states and examined their association with adverse outcomes. Method(s): Data were collected prospectively in a 13-country longitudinal SLE cohort between 2013 and 2019. Unmet need was defined as never attaining lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS), a time-adjusted mean SLEDAI-2K (AMS) > 4, or ever experiencing high disease activity status (HDAS; SLEDAI-2K >=10). Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using SF36 (v2) and damage accrual using the SLICC-ACR SLE Damage Index (SDI). Result(s): A total of 3384 SLE patients were followed over 30,313 visits (median [IQR] follow-up 2.4 [0.4, 4.3] years). Eight hundred thirteen patients (24%) never achieved LLDAS. Median AMS was 3.0 [1.4, 4.9]; 34% of patients had AMS > 4. Twenty-five per cent of patients had episodes of HDAS. Each of LLDAS-never, AMS>4, and HDAS-ever was strongly associated with damage accrual, higher glucocorticoid use, and worse HRQoL. Mortality was significantly increased in LLDAS-never (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 4.98 [2.07, 12.0], p<0.001) and HDAS-ever (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) [95% CI] = 5.45 [2.75, 10.8], p<0.001) patients. Conclusion(s): Failure to achieve LLDAS, high average disease activity, and episodes of HDAS were prevalent in SLE and were significantly associated with poor outcomes including organ damage, glucocorticoid exposure, poor quality of life, and mortality.Copyright © 2022, The Author(s).

Low activation isotopic boron (11B) based magnesium diboride (Mg11B2) superconductors doped with biomass-derived activated carbon were synthesized using 11B and magnesium powder via solid-state reaction. The effect of carbon doping on the lattice structure and superconducting properties of Mg11B2 bulks were evaluated using X-ray powder diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and magnetization measurements. Precise refinement of structural parameters indicates successful substitution of carbon in Mg11B2 bulks. The critical current density (Jc) of carbon doped Mg11B2 synthesized at 650 °C was enhanced more than two times compared with the pure Mg11B2 bulk. Similar improvement was observed for the Mg11B2 bulks heat-treated at 800 °C. This enhancement is due to successful substitution of biomass-derived carbon with high surface area into Mg11B2 lattice. The flux pinning mechanism of pure and doped Mg11B2 bulks were investigated using the Dew-Hughes model. This study provides information regarding enhancement of the Jc of low activation Mg11B2 superconductors suitable for next-generation fusion magnets.

We determine the higher symmetries of 5D SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a C3/r background for r a finite subgroup of SU(3). This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is nontoric (when r is non-Abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of r has fixed loci). The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states of the theory are encoded in a 1D quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of r detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase.

We determine the higher symmetries of 5D SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a C3/r background for r a finite subgroup of SU(3). This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is nontoric (when r is non-Abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of r has fixed loci). The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states of the theory are encoded in a 1D quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of r detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase.

We determine the higher symmetries of 5D SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a C3/r background for r a finite subgroup of SU(3). This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is nontoric (when r is non-Abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of r has fixed loci). The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states of the theory are encoded in a 1D quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of r detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase.

BACKGROUND: The unmet need in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with the current standard of care is widely recognised, but few studies have quantified this. The recent definition of treat-to-target endpoints and other thresholds of uncontrolled disease activity provide an opportunity to formally define unmet need in SLE. In this study, we enumerated the prevalence of these states and examined their association with adverse outcomes. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively in a 13-country longitudinal SLE cohort between 2013 and 2019. Unmet need was defined as never attaining lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS), a time-adjusted mean SLEDAI-2K (AMS) > 4, or ever experiencing high disease activity status (HDAS; SLEDAI-2K ≥10). Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using SF36 (v2) and damage accrual using the SLICC-ACR SLE Damage Index (SDI). RESULTS: A total of 3384 SLE patients were followed over 30,313 visits (median [IQR] follow-up 2.4 [0.4, 4.3] years). Eight hundred thirteen patients (24%) never achieved LLDAS. Median AMS was 3.0 [1.4, 4.9]; 34% of patients had AMS > 4. Twenty-five per cent of patients had episodes of HDAS. Each of LLDAS-never, AMS>4, and HDAS-ever was strongly associated with damage accrual, higher glucocorticoid use, and worse HRQoL. Mortality was significantly increased in LLDAS-never (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 4.98 [2.07, 12.0], p<0.001) and HDAS-ever (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) [95% CI] = 5.45 [2.75, 10.8], p<0.001) patients. CONCLUSION: Failure to achieve LLDAS, high average disease activity, and episodes of HDAS were prevalent in SLE and were significantly associated with poor outcomes including organ damage, glucocorticoid exposure, poor quality of life, and mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency and determinants of achieving the lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS), and the effect of LLDAS attainment on disease flare and damage accrual in a prospective, single-center cohort of Chinese lupus patients. METHODS: Baseline and follow-up data from consecutive patients at the Peking University First Hospital were collected from January 2017 to June 2020. RESULTS: A total of 185 patients were enrolled, with median (range) disease duration at enrolment of 2.3 (0.8-7.7) years, and median follow-up of 2.2 (1.0-2.9) years. By the end of the study, 139 (75.1%) patients had achieved LLDAS at least once; 82 (44.3%) patients achieved LLDAS for ≥ 50% of observations. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that 24-h urinary total protein (UTP; per g) (OR = 0.447, 95%CI [0.207-0.968], p = 0.041), serum creatinine (Scr; per 10 µmol/L) (OR = 0.72, 95%CI [0.52-0.99], p = 0.040), and C3 level (per 100 mg/L) (OR = 1.60, 95%CI [1.18-2.17], p = 0.003) at recruitment had independent negative associations with achieving LLDAS for ≥ 50% of observations. Kaplan-Meier analyses showed a significant reduction in flare rate with increased proportion of time in LLDAS. Attainment of LLDAS in at least 50% of observations was an independent protective factor for damage accrual (OR = 0.19, 95%CI [0.04-0.99], p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective Chinese cohort, LLDAS was an attainable goal in clinical practice. Nephritis-related markers (UTP and Scr) and C3 level at recruitment negatively influenced achievement of LLDAS. LLDAS achievement was significantly protective from flare and damage accrual. KEY POINTS: • Low disease activity status (LLDAS) is an achievable target during SLE treatment in China. Urine protein, serum creatinine, and C3 level at recruitment independently affect LLDAS achievement in this group of Chinese lupus patients. • As a treatment target, LLDAS achievement has a highly protective effect for preventing flare an

String and 5-brane junctions are shown to succinctly classify all known 8d ${\cal N}$=1 string vacua. This requires an extension of the description for ordinary $[p,q]$-7-branes to consistently include O7$^+$-planes, which then naturally encodes the dynamics of $\mathfrak{sp}_n$ gauge algebras, including their higher-form center symmetries. Central to this analysis are loop junctions, i.e., strings/5-branes which encircle stacks of 7-branes and O7$^+$'s. Loop junctions further signal the appearance of affine symmetries of emergent 9d descriptions at the 8d moduli space's boundaries. Such limits reproduce all 9d string vacua, including the two disconnected rank (1,1) moduli components., Comment: 47 pages + appendices, 8 figures, long table in Appendix C

We determine the higher symmetries of 5d SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a $\mathbb{C}^3 / \Gamma$ background for $\Gamma$ a finite subgroup of $SU(3)$. This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is non-toric (when $\Gamma$ is non-abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of $\Gamma$ has fixed loci). The BPS states of the theory are encoded in a 1d quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of $\Gamma$ detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase., Comment: v2: 42 pages, 5 figures, reference added, typos corrected, clarifications added

Topological duality defects arise as codimension one generalized symmetry operators in quantum field theories (QFTs) with a duality symmetry. Recent investigations have shown that in the case of 4D $\mathcal{N} = 4$ Super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory, an appropriate choice of (complexified) gauge coupling and global form of the gauge group can lead to a rather rich fusion algebra for the associated defects, leading to examples of non-invertible symmetries. In this work we present a top down construction of these duality defects which generalizes to QFTs with lower supersymmetry, where other 0-form symmetries are often present. We realize the QFTs of interest via D3-branes probing $X$ a Calabi-Yau threefold cone with an isolated singularity at the tip of the cone. The IIB duality group descends to dualities of the 4D worldvolume theory. Non-trivial codimension one topological interfaces arise from configurations of 7-branes "at infinity" which implement a suitable $SL(2, \mathbb{Z})$ transformation when they are crossed. Reduction on the boundary topology $\partial X$ results in a 5D symmetry TFT. Different realizations of duality defects, such as the gauging of 1-form symmetries with certain mixed anomalies and half-space gauging constructions, simply amount to distinct choices of where to place the branch cuts in the 5D bulk., Comment: v4: 62 pages, 22 figures, clarifications added, typos corrected

The modern approach to $m$-form global symmetries in a $d$-dimensional quantum field theory (QFT) entails specifying dimension $d-m-1$ topological generalized symmetry operators which non-trivially link with $m$-dimensional defect operators. In QFTs engineered via string constructions on a non-compact geometry $X$, these defects descend from branes wrapped on non-compact cycles which extend from a localized source / singularity to the boundary $\partial X$. The generalized symmetry operators which link with these defects arise from magnetic dual branes wrapped on cycles in $\partial X$. This provides a systematic way to read off various properties of such topological operators, including their worldvolume topological field theories, and the resulting fusion rules. We illustrate these general features in the context of 6D superconformal field theories, where we use the F-theory realization of these theories to read off the worldvolume theory on the generalized symmetry operators. Defects of dimension 3 which are charged under a suitable 3-form symmetry detect a non-invertible fusion rule for these operators. We also sketch how similar considerations hold for related systems., Comment: v3: 21 pages + references, 1 figure; clarifications added, reference added

Young type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects 15% of the population, with a noted increase in cases, and T2D-related male infertility has become a serious issue in recent years. The current study aimed to explore the improvements of alginate oligosaccharide (AOS)-modified gut microbiota on semen quality in T2D. The T2D was established in young mice of 5 weeks of age with a blood glucose level of 21.2 ± 2.2 mmol/L, while blood glucose was 8.7 ± 1.1 mM in control animals. We discovered that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) of AOS-improved microbiota (A10-FMT) significantly decreased blood glucose, while FMT of gut microbiota from control animals (Con-FMT) did not. Sperm concentration and motility were decreased in T2D to 10% to 20% of those in the control group, while A10-FMT brought about a recovery of around 5- to 10-fold. A10-FMT significantly increased small intestinal Allobaculum, while it elevated small intestinal and cecal Lactobacillus in some extent, blood butyric acid and derivatives and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and testicular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), EPA, and testosterone and its derivatives. Furthermore, A10-FMT improved liver functions and systemic antioxidant environments. Most importantly, A10-FMT promoted spermatogenesis through the improvement in the expression of proteins important for spermatogenesis to increase sperm concentration and motility. The underlying mechanisms may be that A10-FMT increased gut-beneficial microbes Lactobacillus and Allobaculum to elevate blood and/or testicular butyric acid, DHA, EPA, and testosterone to promote spermatogenesis and thus to ameliorate sperm concentration and motility. AOS-improved gut microbes could emerge as attractive candidates to treat T2D-diminished semen quality. IMPORTANCE A10-FMT benefits gut microbiota, liver function, and systemic environment via improvement in blood metabolome, consequently to favor the testicular microenvironment to improve spermatogenesis process and to boost T2D-diminished

Background Clinical data suggest that male reproductive dysfunction especially infertility is a critical issue for type 1 diabetic patient (T1D) because most of them are at the reproductive age. Gut dysbiosis is involved in T1D related male infertility. However, the improved gut microbiota can be used to boost spermatogenesis and male fertility in T1D remains incompletely understood. Methods T1D was established in ICR (CD1) mice with streptozotocin. Alginate oligosaccharide (AOS) improved gut microbiota (fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from AOS improved gut microbiota; A10-FMT) was transplanted into the T1D mice by oral administration. Semen quality, gut microbiota, blood metabolism, liver, and spleen tissues were determined to investigate the beneficial effects of A10-FMT on spermatogenesis and underlying mechanisms. Results We found that A10-FMT significantly decreased blood glucose and glycogen, and increased semen quality in streptozotocin-induced T1D subjects. A10-FMT improved T1D-disturbed gut microbiota, especially the increase in small intestinal lactobacillus, and blood and testicular metabolome to produce n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to ameliorate spermatogenesis and semen quality. Moreover, A10-FMT can improve spleen and liver functions to strengthen the systemic environment for sperm development. FMT from gut microbiota of control animals (Con-FMT) produced some beneficial effects; however, to a smaller extent. Conclusions AOS-improved gut microbiota (specific microbes) may serve as a novel, promising therapeutic approach for the improvement of semen quality and male fertility in T1D patients via gut microbiota-testis axis.

High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is known to be associated with reduced male fertility and decreased semen quality in humans. HFD-related male infertility is a growing issue worldwide, and it is crucial to overcome this problem to ameliorate the distress of infertile couples. For the first time, we discovered that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) of alginate oligosaccharide (AOS)-improved gut microbiota (A10-FMT) ameliorated HFD-decreased semen quality (sperm concentration: 286.1 ± 14.1 versus 217.9 ± 17.4 million/mL; sperm motility: 40.1 ± 0.7% versus 29.0 ± 0.9%), and male fertility (pregnancy rate: 87.4 ± 1.1% versus 70.2 ± 6.1%) by benefiting blood and testicular metabolome. A10-FMT improved HFD-disturbed gut microbiota by increasing gut Bacteroides (colon: 24.9 ± 1.1% versus 8.3 ± 0.6%; cecum: 10.2 ± 0.7% versus 3.6 ± 0.7%) and decreasing Mucispirillum (colon: 0.3 ± 0.1% versus 2.8 ± 0.4%; cecum: 2.3 ± 0.5% versus 6.6 ± 0.7%). A10-FMT benefited gut microbiota to improve liver function by adjusting lipid metabolism to produce n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (blood: 55.5 ± 18.7 versus 20.3 ± 2.4) and docosahexaenoic acid (testis: 121.2 ± 6.2 versus 89.4 ± 6.7), thus ameliorating HFD-impaired testicular microenvironment to rescue spermatogenesis and increase semen quality and fertility. The findings indicated that AOS-improved gut microbiota may be a promising strategy to treat obesity or metabolic issues-related male infertility in the future.

We determine the higher symmetries of 5D SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a C3/r background for r a finite subgroup of SU(3). This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is nontoric (when r is non-Abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of r has fixed loci). The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states of the theory are encoded in a 1D quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of r detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase.

A novel integrated single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cell - anaerobic membrane bioreactor (ScMFC-AnMBR) system was designed. It involved an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and a single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cell (ScMFC) being constructed in a common reaction chamber to enhance methane production and reduce membrane fouling in the AnMBR. Results indicated that ScMFC-AnMBR delivered a stable micro-bioelectric field environment with a voltage output of 95 ± 4 mV. Compared with conventional AnMBR (C-AnMBR), methane production using this system increased by 35.89%. Soluble microbial product (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) dropped by 65.3% and 43.1%, respectively. Particularly, the transmembrane pressure (TMP) in the operating cycle was in a slow growth status with the maximum value of only 18.5 kPa. The bioelectric field helped aceticlastic methanogens (Methanosaeta) replace hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanobacterium) as the dominant methanogens via electron transfer under a closed-circuit scenario. As syntrophic bacteria of methanogens (Syntrophobacter, Smithella and Syner-01) and exoelectrogens of Desulfovibrio were selected by the bioelectric field and gained a stable foothold, bio-foulant (Megasphaera) was significantly reduced. The complex microbial synergism in ScMFC-AnMBR greatly improved the methanogenic performance, thus effectively alleviated membrane fouling and prolonged the operation cycle of the system. Demonstrated here is the feasibility of practical application.

Discrete short steel fibres were proposed to be mixed with concrete for arresting cracks and enhancing the post-cracking resistance. It has been proven in previous tests that spiral steel fibres possessed markedly higher bonding to concrete matrix, leading to significantly improved performance of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in terms of crack controllability, impact resistance, deformability and energy absorption capability. However, at the initial stage of cracking, SFRC reinforced with spiral fibres has relatively lower resistance to crack opening as compared to that reinforced with other types of steel fibres because of spiral shape stretching. To overcome this shortcoming, in the present study, short hooked-end steel fibres that exhibit high pull-out resistance at the crack initiation stage were mixed with spiral steel fibres in the normal-strength concrete matrix. A total volume fraction of 1% of hybrid steel fibres was mixed to cast SFRC specimens. With various mix ratios between spiral and hooked-end fibres considered, five batches of SFRC specimens were tested. Uniaxial compressive tests and four-point bending tests were carried out to compare the mechanical properties of SFRC materials with hybrid fibres while three-point bending tests on SFRC structural beams under static, drop-weight impact and post-impact static loading tests were conducted to investigate the structural performances. An equal dosage of hooked-end and spiral fibres was found to outperform other blend proportions to provide synergetic reinforcement to concrete matrix in terms of post-cracking resistance, energy absorption capacity and post-impact performance.

Improving the efficiency of using energy and decreasing impacts on the environment will be an inevitable choice for future development. Based on this direction, three kinds of medium (modified anaerobic digestion wastewater, anaerobic digestion wastewater and a standard growth medium BG11) were used to culture microalgae towards achieving high-quality biodiesel products. The results showed that microalgae culturing with anaerobic digestate wastewater could increase lipid content (21.8%); however, the modified anaerobic digestion wastewater can boost the microalgal biomass production to 0.78 ± 0.01 g/L when compared with (0.35–0.54 g/L) the other two groups. Besides the first step lipid extraction, the elemental composition, thermogravimetric and pyrolysis products of the defatted microalgal residues were also analysed to delve into the utilisation potential of microalgae biomass. Defatted microalgae from modified wastewater by pyrolysis at 650 °C resulted in an increase in the total content of valuable products (39.47%) with no significant difference in the content of toxic compounds compared to other groups. Moreover, the results of the life cycle assessment showed that the environmental impact (388.9 mPET2000) was lower than that of raw wastewater (418.1 mPET2000) and standard medium (497.3 mPET2000)-cultivated groups. Consequently, the method of culturing microalgae in modified wastewater and pyrolyzing algal residues has a potential to increase renewable energy production and reduce environmental impact.

The advancement of deep learning (DL) technology and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) remote sensing has made it feasible to monitor coastal wetlands efficiently and precisely. However, studies have rarely compared the performance of DL with traditional machine learning (Pixel-Based (PB) and Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) methods) in UAV-based coastal wetland monitoring. We constructed a dataset based on RGB-based UAV data and compared the performance of PB, OBIA, and DL methods in the classification of vegetation communities in coastal wetlands. In addition, to our knowledge, the OBIA method was used for the UAV data for the first time in this paper based on Google Earth Engine (GEE), and the ability of GEE to process UAV data was confirmed. The results showed that in comparison with the PB and OBIA methods, the DL method achieved the most promising classification results, which was capable of reflecting the realistic distribution of the vegetation. Furthermore, the paradigm shifts from PB and OBIA to the DL method in terms of feature engineering, training methods, and reference data explained the considerable results achieved by the DL method. The results suggested that a combination of UAV, DL, and cloud computing platforms can facilitate long-term, accurate monitoring of coastal wetland vegetation at the local scale.

Climate change is reshaping our planet.Warming surface waters, acidification, and deoxygenation are the most critical effects of climate change in aquatic environments. Increasing mean water temperatures modify species distribution, alters their basal metabolic rates, the occurrence and intensity of marine diseases, and the timing of pivotal biological events, among others. Ocean acidification results in physiological stress and inhibits the growth and calcification of endo- and exo-skeletons, while ocean deoxygenation, and particularly hypoxic events, may alter the distribution, aerobic scope, and survival of organisms (Reid et al., 2019). As climate change is projected to continue over this century and beyond, it is expected that the above-mentioned stressors will be intensified, further altering the structure, and functioning of marine ecosystems (Benedetti et al., 2021). Understanding and predicting the effects of climate change is one of the most pressing challenges in marine science, since this knowledge has an impact on fisheries, aquaculture, conservation, and applied ecology. Under this scenario, this Research Topic was conceived for updating and increasing the knowledge of ocean water rise on the biology and physiology of aquatic species, resulting in a Research Topic of four works on crustaceans, fish, and phytoplankton.

Discrete short steel fibres were proposed to be mixed with concrete for arresting cracks and enhancing the post-cracking resistance. It has been proven in previous tests that spiral steel fibres possessed markedly higher bonding to concrete matrix, leading to significantly improved performance of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in terms of crack controllability, impact resistance, deformability and energy absorption capability. However, at the initial stage of cracking, SFRC reinforced with spiral fibres has relatively lower resistance to crack opening as compared to that reinforced with other types of steel fibres because of spiral shape stretching. To overcome this shortcoming, in the present study, short hooked-end steel fibres that exhibit high pull-out resistance at the crack initiation stage were mixed with spiral steel fibres in the normal-strength concrete matrix. A total volume fraction of 1% of hybrid steel fibres was mixed to cast SFRC specimens. With various mix ratios between spiral and hooked-end fibres considered, five batches of SFRC specimens were tested. Uniaxial compressive tests and four-point bending tests were carried out to compare the mechanical properties of SFRC materials with hybrid fibres while three-point bending tests on SFRC structural beams under static, drop-weight impact and post-impact static loading tests were conducted to investigate the structural performances. An equal dosage of hooked-end and spiral fibres was found to outperform other blend proportions to provide synergetic reinforcement to concrete matrix in terms of post-cracking resistance, energy absorption capacity and post-impact performance.

A novel integrated single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cell - anaerobic membrane bioreactor (ScMFC-AnMBR) system was designed. It involved an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and a single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cell (ScMFC) being constructed in a common reaction chamber to enhance methane production and reduce membrane fouling in the AnMBR. Results indicated that ScMFC-AnMBR delivered a stable micro-bioelectric field environment with a voltage output of 95 ± 4 mV. Compared with conventional AnMBR (C-AnMBR), methane production using this system increased by 35.89%. Soluble microbial product (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) dropped by 65.3% and 43.1%, respectively. Particularly, the transmembrane pressure (TMP) in the operating cycle was in a slow growth status with the maximum value of only 18.5 kPa. The bioelectric field helped aceticlastic methanogens (Methanosaeta) replace hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanobacterium) as the dominant methanogens via electron transfer under a closed-circuit scenario. As syntrophic bacteria of methanogens (Syntrophobacter, Smithella and Syner-01) and exoelectrogens of Desulfovibrio were selected by the bioelectric field and gained a stable foothold, bio-foulant (Megasphaera) was significantly reduced. The complex microbial synergism in ScMFC-AnMBR greatly improved the methanogenic performance, thus effectively alleviated membrane fouling and prolonged the operation cycle of the system. Demonstrated here is the feasibility of practical application.

We determine the higher symmetries of 5D SCFTs engineered from M-theory on a C3/r background for r a finite subgroup of SU(3). This resolves a longstanding question as to how to extract this data when the resulting singularity is nontoric (when r is non-Abelian) and/or not isolated (when the action of r has fixed loci). The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states of the theory are encoded in a 1D quiver quantum mechanics gauge theory which determines the possible 1-form and 2-form symmetries. We also show that this same data can also be extracted by a direct computation of the corresponding defect group associated with the orbifold singularity. Both methods agree, and these computations do not rely on the existence of a resolution of the singularity. We also observe that when the geometry faithfully captures the global 0-form symmetry, the abelianization of r detects a 2-group structure (when present). As such, this establishes that all of this data is indeed intrinsic to the superconformal fixed point rather than being an emergent property of an IR gauge theory phase.

Compactifications of the CHL string to eight dimensions can be characterized by embeddings of root lattices into the rank 12 momentum lattice $\Lambda_M$, the so-called Mikhailov lattice. Based on this data, we devise a method to determine the global gauge group structure including all $U(1)$ factors. The key observation is that, while the physical states correspond to vectors in the momentum lattice, the gauge group topology is encoded in its dual. Interpreting a non-trivial $\pi_1(G) \equiv {\cal Z}$ for the non-Abelian gauge group $G$ as having gauged a ${\cal Z}$ 1-form symmetry, we also prove that all CHL gauge groups are free of a certain anomaly (arXiv:2008.10605) that would obstruct this gauging. We verify this by explicitly computing ${\cal Z}$ for all 8d CHL vacua with rank$(G)=10$. Since our method applies also to $T^2$ compactifications of heterotic strings, we further establish a map that determines any CHL gauge group topology from that of a "parent" heterotic model., Comment: 21 pages + appendix; v2: typos corrected, published version

We explore higher-form symmetries of M- and F-theory compactified on elliptic fibrations, determined by the topology of their asymptotic boundaries. The underlying geometric structures are shown to be equivalent to known characterizations of the gauge group topology in F-theory via Mordell--Weil torsion and string junctions. We further study dimensional reductions of the 11d Chern--Simons term in the presence of torsional boundary $G_4$-fluxes, which encode background gauge fields of center 1-form symmetries in the lower-dimensional effective gauge theory. We find contributions that can be interpreted as 't Hooft anomalies involving the 1-form symmetry which originate from a fractionalization of the instanton number of non-Abelian gauge theories in F-/M-theory compactifications to 8d/7d and 6d/5d., Comment: 35 pages + appendices and references, 6 figures; v2: typos corrected, references added, published version

Motivated by its potential use in constraining the structure of 6D renormalization group flows, we determine the low energy dilaton-axion effective field theory of conformal and global symmetry breaking in 6D conformal field theories (CFTs). While our analysis is largely independent of supersymmetry, we also investigate the case of 6D superconformal field theories (SCFTs), where we use the effective action to present a streamlined proof of the 6D a-theorem for tensor branch flows, as well as to constrain properties of Higgs branch and mixed branch flows. An analysis of Higgs branch flows in some examples leads us to conjecture that in 6D SCFTs, an interacting dilaton effective theory may be possible even when certain 4-dilaton 4-derivative interaction terms vanish, because of large momentum modifications to 4-point dilaton scattering amplitudes. This possibility is due to the fact that in all known $D > 4$ CFTs, the approach to a conformal fixed point involves effective strings which are becoming tensionless., Comment: 38 pages, 2 figures

Crab crossing scheme is an essential collision scheme to achieve high luminosity for the future colliders with large crossing angles. However, when bunch length of one or both colliding beams is comparable with the wavelength of the crab cavity voltage, the nonlinear dependence of the crabbing kick may present a challenge to the beam dynamics of the colliding beams and impact the beam quality and the luminosity lifetime. In this paper, the results of nonlinear dynamics in the crab crossing scheme are presented, using both analytical and numerical approaches. The result indicates that higher-order synchrobetatron resonances may be excited in the crab crossing scheme with large crossing angle, which causes the beam quality deterioration and luminosity degradation. The studies also reveal possible countermeasures to suppress the synchrobeta resonance, hence mitigate the degradation of beam quality and luminosity.

This paper describes a new modeling framework for microscopic to reservoir-scale simulations of hydraulic fracturing and production. The approach builds upon a fusion of two existing high-performance simulators for reservoir-scale behavior: the GEOS code for hydromechanical evolution during stimulation and the TOUGH+ code for multi-phase flow during production. The reservoir-scale simulations are informed by experimental and modeling studies at the laboratory scale to incorporate important micro-scale mechanical processes and chemical reactions occurring within the fractures, the shale matrix, and at the fracture-fluid interfaces. These processes include, among others, changes in stimulated fracture permeability as a result of proppant behavior rear-rangement or embedment, or mineral scale precipitation within pores and microfractures, at µm to cm scales. In our new modeling framework, such micro-scale testing and modeling provides upscaled hydromechanical parameters for the reservoir scale models. We are currently testing the new modeling framework using field data and core samples from the Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS), a recent field-based joint research experiment with intense monitoring of hydraulic fracturing and shale production in the Wolfcamp Formation in the Permian Basin (USA). Below, we present our approach coupling the reservoir simulators GEOS and TOUGH+ informed by upscaled parameters from micro-scale experiments and modeling. We provide a brief overview of the HFTS and the available field data, and then discuss the ongoing application of our new workflow to the HFTS data set.

The ever increasing demands placed upon machine performance have resulted in the need for more comprehensive particle accelerator modeling. Computer simulations are key to the success of particle accelerators. Many aspects of particle accelerators rely on computer modeling at some point, sometimes requiring complex simulation tools and massively parallel supercomputing. Examples include the modeling of beams at extreme intensities and densities (toward the quantum degeneracy limit), and with ultra-fine control (down to the level of individual particles). In the future, adaptively tuned models might also be relied upon to provide beam measurements beyond the resolution of existing diagnostics. Much time and effort has been put into creating accelerator software tools, some of which are highly successful. However, there are also shortcomings such as the general inability of existing software to be easily modified to meet changing simulation needs. In this paper possible mitigating strategies are discussed for issues faced by the accelerator community as it endeavors to produce better and more comprehensive modeling tools. This includes lack of coordination between code developers, lack of standards to make codes portable and/or reusable, lack of documentation, among others.

A measurement of the magnitude of the electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) larger than that predicted by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is expected to have a huge impact on the search for physics beyond the SM. Polar diatomic molecules containing heavy elements experience enhanced sensitivity to parity (P) and time-reversal (T)-violating phenomena, such as the eEDM and the scalar-pseudoscalar (S-PS) interaction between the nucleons and the electrons, and are thus promising candidates for measurements. The NL-eEDM collaboration is preparing an experiment to measure the eEDM and S-PS interaction in a slow beam of cold BaF molecules [P. Aggarwal et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 72, 197 (2018)]. Accurate knowledge of the electronic structure parameters, Wd and Ws, connecting the eEDM and the S-PS interaction to the measurable energy shifts is crucial for the interpretation of these measurements. In this work, we use the finite field relativistic coupled cluster approach to calculate the Wd and Ws parameters in the ground state of the BaF molecule. Special attention was paid to providing a reliable theoretical uncertainty estimate based on investigations of the basis set, electron correlation, relativistic effects, and geometry. Our recommended values of the two parameters, including conservative uncertainty estimates, are 3.13 ±0.12×1024Hzecm for Wd and 8.29 ± 0.12 kHz for Ws