Journals
2026 EN
Brigaud Emmanuelle · Carron Robin · Anders Royce
+4 more
This study examined whether human perception of humanoid robots’ moral responses could be influenced by robots’ perceived capacity to express emotions, and why people usually attributed them more utilitarian choices by assessing moral thinking across perspectives (robots vs . human agents). Two experimental conditions were designed. QTrobot was shown in avideo presenting two classic sacrificial dilemmas (the Trolley and Footbridge dilemmas). In the condition with emotion, QTrobot expressed emotions while presenting the dilemmas, whereas in the condition without emotion it did not. Participants were required to predict the robot’s action in each dilemma and to complete the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale (OUS) from its perspective in order to measure perceived moral thinking. These data were compared to participants’ own responses on the same tasks (i.e. OUS and dilemmas). Participants attributed more utilitarian responses to QTrobot (as measured through dilemmas and the OUS) than to themselves, regardless of condition. They also perceived QTrobot’s moral thinking as more utilitarian, based not only on stronger endorsement of impartiality, but also on stronger tolerance of causing harm to one person to benefit the greater good. These results deepen our understanding of how people perceive the morality of robots compared to humans, and highlight promising avenues for future research.
Journals
2026 EN
Hecht Stephen S · Carmella Steven G · Basu Saonli
+14 more
Human exposure to toxicants and carcinogens occurs via polluted air, the diet, occupational settings, endogenous processes, and tobacco products. The glutathione- S -transferase detoxification pathway resulting in the excretion of mercapturic acids is one of the most important human systems for processing and excreting toxicants and carcinogens. Maximizing effectiveness of this pathway through dietary modifications can potentially decrease the impact of such exposures. We conducted a two-site clinical trial with a crossover, single blind (to participants) design, randomized to order of product receipt comparing levels of selected urinary mercapturic acids when participants consumed a drink made from freeze-dried watercress (3× daily, 2 weeks) naturally containing 2-phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) vs. a placebo drink containing maltodextrin (3× daily, 2 weeks) with a 4-week washout between the treatment periods. Two hundred forty participants (157 F) were recruited and 188 (125 F, 152 non-smokers) were compliant and completed the study. Among compliant subjects, urinary mercapturic acid detoxification products of acrolein, acrylonitrile, benzene, crotonaldehyde, methacrolein, and methyl vinyl ketone increased significantly ( P ≤ 0.002), with the largest increases being observed for the mercapturic acids of acrolein (65.6%) and benzene (37.3%), both P < 0.001. Consumption of a drink, three times daily, prepared from freeze-dried watercress containing PEITC (total of approximately 40 mg/day) significantly increased the detoxification of 6 of 7 environmental toxicants and carcinogens monitored. The results indicate that watercress consumption can ameliorate exposure to environmental toxicants and carcinogens. These results are particularly timely and relevant to exposures to atmospheric pyrolysis products resulting from wildfires.
Journals
2026 EN
Viswanathan Anushka · Elia Serena · Le Steven Q
+6 more
Molecular genetic testing is increasingly used in clinical care to identify genetic variants and their impact on disease burden. However, variants of uncertain significance (VUS) hamper the utility of molecular diagnostic testing. In patients presenting with Hunter Syndrome and VUS in the IDS gene, clinical testing for iduronate-2-sulfatase enzyme activity has been the mainstay to determine whether a variant is likely damaging. However, enzyme assays alone fail to predict disease severity. In this study, we developed an image-based cellular assay using genome-engineered cells with IDS variants to determine whether a specific variant causes morphological changes that are associated with disease. Specifically, we generated twelve mutant cell lines and documented both IDS biochemical activity and reproducible phenotypic differences therein. Next, we examined patient-derived cell lines and found the same phenotypic differences compared to parental controls. The morphological changes were complex, but measured on a single scale, which we termed PathScore LC . To determine whether the observed changes are specific to IDS, we reintroduced a recombinant human IDS enzyme (rhIDS) to rescue both the biochemical and phenotypic changes of these cells. We found a partial rescue in the presence of corrective levels of IDS enzyme. Finally, we examined the differences in gene expression and found that a recombinant enzyme was not sufficient to fully restore transcriptional changes in the mutant lines at the time points studied. This proof-of-concept study establishes preliminary validation of the method and sets the stage for future functional studies and broader IDS variant testing.
Journals
2026 EN
Charlton Steven · Matveiakin Andrei · Radchenko Danylo
+1 more
We define a Hopf algebra of polylogarithms of an arbitrary field, which is a candidate for a conjectural Hopf algebra of framed mixed Tate motives. Our definition is elementary and mimics Goncharov’s construction of higher Bloch groups. We also discuss the Hodge and motivic realizations of the Hopf algebra of polylogarithms.
Journals
2026 EN
Lund Steven P · Iyer Hari
Forensic expert opinions profoundly influence legal outcomes, yet how judges, jurors, and lawyers should interpret these opinions and what information helps them do so remains underexplored. We highlight the Bayesian solution provided by Morris (1971, 1974, 1977). Rather than adopting expert assessments at face value, recipients assign weight to expert opinions through their own uncertainties regarding what opinions experts would provide under each considered proposition. This “performance uncertainty” is distinct from recipients’ uncertainty about which proposition is true. Validation data reduce performance uncertainty, enabling recipients to weight expert opinions based on demonstrated performance. We illustrate this framework through examples spanning categorical conclusions, likelihood ratios, ranges, and multiple experts, demonstrating how it accommodates case-specific factors, incomplete information, and varying recipient beliefs. Though recipients will not conduct explicit computations, the key implication of Bayesian reasoning remains that, regardless of an expert’s opinion scale, judicial stakeholders require access to detailed performance data to make scientifically defensible interpretations of expert opinions. Restricted access to validation data prevents recipients from updating their performance beliefs with empirical evidence, leaving interpretations dependent on whatever initial assumptions each recipient brings. Science in forensics requires not just generating validation data but ensuring meaningful access for those interpreting expert opinions.
Journals
2026 EN
Patera Alessandra · Cova Federico · Bouffetier Victorien
+6 more
FaXToR is the first hard X‐ray imaging beamline built and commissioned at the Spanish synchrotron light source ALBA, and therefore the start of user operation marks the introduction of a new imaging user community to the facility. FaXToR has pushed the implementation of a multi‐scale, multimodal approach to investigate the morpho‐structural changes of a number of materials within a range of applications, including biomedicine, material science, cultural heritage and paleontology. In this work, we describe the FaXToR beamline optical layout and the beam properties and we provide details on the flexible in‐house design of the endstation. Beamline commissioning results are presented as well. Finally, an overview of its main applications is provided, defining the main strategic program the beamline will develop during its lifetime.
International Union of Crystallography
Journals
2026 EN
Bellec Ewen · Leake Steven J. · Levi Mor
+3 more
Bragg coherent diffraction imaging (BCDI) is a lens‐less technique capable of imaging the strain in a particle in the size range from 20 nm up to several micrometres. This indirect measurement technique, used in X‐ray synchrotrons or free‐electron lasers all over the world, requires an inversion step using iterative algorithms in order to recover the real‐space complex object encoding the particle shape and deformation field. However, artefacts such as scattering peaks called `aliens' from nearby particles can affect the accuracy of the final reconstruction and require meticulous and time‐consuming manual masking of the raw data. This becomes problematic for BCDI reconstructions during an experiment and/or for large volumes of data. Here, we explore the potential of machine learning, and specifically clustering techniques, to speed up this procedure while keeping the maximum spatial resolution of the object reconstruction. We also provide a user‐friendly Python Jupyter notebook program available on Github.
International Union of Crystallography
Journals
2026 EN
Lovstedt Alex · Dempsey Stephen H. · Kass Steven
The crystal structures of eleven 3‐ and 4‐pyridyl borate salts with a variety of cations are reported. These are potassium trifluoro(pyridin‐3/4‐yl)borate, K + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − , 1 and 2 (as the monohydrate), tetrabutylammonium trifluoro(pyridin‐3/4‐yl)borate, C 16 H 36 N + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − , 3 and 4 , tetraphenylphosphonium trifluoro(pyridin‐3/4‐yl)borate, C 24 H 20 P + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − , 5 and 6 , tetrakis(3,5‐dimethoxyphenyl)phosphonium trifluoro(pyridin‐3/4‐yl)borate, C 32 H 36 O 8 P + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − , 7 and 8 , and tetrakis[4‐(dimethylamino)phenyl]phosphonium trifluoro(pyridin‐3/4‐yl)borate, C 32 H 40 N 4 P + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − , 9 and 10 , and the hemihydrate, C 32 H 40 N 4 P + ·C 5 H 4 BF 3 N − ·0.5H 2 O, 10h . The effects of the position of the pyridine N atom and the identity of the cations on the crystal packing of the salts are examined. The N…H and F…H anion–cation contacts and the Hirshfeld surface compositions of the anions for the salts containing organic cations are compared to the reactivity of the salts in a low‐polarity solvent to look for trends between solid‐state features and solution‐state reactivity.
International Union of Crystallography
Resource
2026 EN
Reza Hosseininejad · Steven Recoskie · Patrick Zdunich
+2 more
Hybrid and electric aircraft offer a viable solution to reducing the environmental impact of conventional aviation, which aligns with the industry’s intention to reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining safety and operational standards. However, current limitations in battery production technology and the insufficient robustness and accuracy of existing algorithms in Battery Management Systems (BMS) for monitoring and estimating battery states, including State of Charge (SOC) and State of Health (SOH), pose significant challenges in the adoption of electrifying technologies in aviation applications. This paper proposes an approach for SOC estimation by combining advanced model-based concepts into the aviation environment that have not been implemented before. This method is applied to an aircraft’s Energy Storage System (ESS) by integrating merged sets of third-order Equivalent Circuit Models (ECM) representing battery dynamics at the module level. A novel dual-model filtering structure is introduced, in which a Dual Filter (DF) architecture enables concurrent estimation of internal resistance and SOC bias at the module level. The DF structure is deployed based on the Smooth Variable Structure Filter (SVSF), in which one filter provides the estimated internal resistance vector, while the other filter estimates the SOC bias. These filters are embedded within the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) framework, which lets the algorithm utilize a mixture of several model-filter structures at each time step with respect to the discharge rate. Instead of using off-line and simulated data, the developed methods are implemented and tested in real-time in the laboratory and on a hybrid electric aircraft. This work enables safer and more efficient hybrid-electric aircraft operations by reducing SOC estimation error to below 1%.
Resource
2026 EN
Dale Cillessen · Ana Paola Aranzola · Zane W. Cohick
+11 more
Additive manufacturing of ceramics is revolutionizing the field of electromagnetics by providing functionally graded volumes in which lattice density can be controlled within a 3D volume. Periodic structures can now be 3D printed in electromagnetically-low-loss materials such as alumina. By modulating strut sizes within individual unit cells in a larger lattice, the density of a structure can be spatially varied arbitrarily by changing the ratio of ceramic material and interstitial space within each cell. The variations in density directly impact the effective permittivity for RF wavelengths of interest (typically between 5 and 10 times the length of the lattice unit cell size). In this study, four lattice architectures (Oct Vertex Centroid, IsoTruss, Fluorite, and Kelvin) were printed with vat-photopolymerization additive manufacturing to explore the printability of lattice volumes with relevant unit cell dimensions to yield a wide range of effective permittivity values enabling future development of novel ceramic lens structures.