Exit strategy of COVID-19 crisis and pathways of Vaccination

There is a strong coordinated effort by vaccination groups all over the world to put an end to the current crisis of COVID-19. The Mass vaccination first started in the UK on 8th December 2020 and soon afterward covered all of the globe. Now sufficient data are available to analyse and compare some results to explore many aftereffects of vaccination. Some influence variables on transmissions of the disease were discussed e.g., mass vaccination, lockdown and seasonality. To address seasonality, similarities between COVID-19 and seasonal Flu are discussed to gain useful insight. Like Flu, seasonality was shown to play a dominant role in transmissions of COVID-19 in the Eu-rope and US. In terms of mass vaccination, adverse reactions after vaccination received attention, as health and safety issues of the general public are of prime importance. Apart from direct side effects, the secondary effect of mass vaccination needs attention too. After the initiation of vaccination programme , almost all countries experienced a sudden surge of transmission and most countries had to impose strict lockdown measures. Many countries, those showed a low prevalence of the disease, suddenly showed a steep jump after the onset of mass vaccination. Some countries even followed a synchronized pattern between the rate of transmissions and the variation of vaccine doses; the pattern seemed distinct with the sudden steep rise/fall in vaccine doses (e.g., countries India, Indonesia among others). In that context, fast mutation of the virus and new variants after mass vaccination and possible mechanisms/consequences were discussed. Balanced discussion, critical and open analyses are desperately needed in the current crucial stage. Debating, questioning and criticism are always the foundation of good science and the main pillars to its progress. Following that objective, it is an effort to explore pragmatically, areas relating to the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and the exit strategy via the pathway of vaccination. Policymakers, academics, patients and common people will be greatly benefitted from such critical, transparent and balanced analyses.

Key interactions in the trimolecular complex consisting of the rheumatoid arthritis-associated DRB1*04:01 molecule, the major glycosylated collagen II peptide and the T-cell receptor

ObjectivesRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease strongly associated with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II allele DRB1*04:01, which encodes a protein that binds self-peptides for presentation to T cells. This study characterises the autoantigen-presenting function of DRB1*04:01 (HLA-DRA*01:01/HLA-DRB1*04:01) at a molecular level for prototypic T-cell determinants, focusing on a post-translationally modified collagen type II (Col2)-derived peptide.MethodsThe crystal structures of DRB1*04:01 molecules in complex with the peptides HSP70289-306, citrullinated CILP982-996 and galactosylated Col2259-273 were determined on cocrystallisation. T cells specific for Col2259-273 were investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with DRB1*04:01-positive RA by cytofluorometric detection of the activation marker CD154 on peptide stimulation and binding of fluorescent DRB1*0401/Col2259-273 tetramer complexes. The cDNAs encoding the T-cell receptor (TCR) α-chains and β-chains were cloned from single-cell sorted tetramer-positive T cells and transferred via a lentiviral vector into TCR-deficient Jurkat 76 cells.ResultsThe crystal structures identified peptide binding to DRB1*04:01 and potential side chain exposure to T cells. The main TCR recognition sites in Col2259-273 were lysine residues that can be galactosylated. RA T-cell responses to DRB1*04:01-presented Col2259-273 were dependent on peptide galactosylation at lysine 264. Dynamic molecular modelling of a functionally characterised Col2259-273-specific TCR complexed with DRB1*04:01/Col2259-273 provided evidence for differential allosteric T-cell recognition of glycosylated lysine 264.ConclusionsThe MHC-peptide-TCR interactions elucidated in our study provide new molecular insights into recognition of a post-translationally modified RA T-cell determinant with a known dominant role in arthritogenic and tolerogenic responses in murine Col2-induced arthritis.

Stability of CubeSat Clocks and Their Impacts on GNSS Radio Occultation

Global Navigation Satellite Systems’ radio occultation (GNSS-RO) provides the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere (UTLS) vertical atmospheric profiles that are complementing radiosonde and reanalysis data. Such data are employed in the numerical weather prediction (NWP) models used to forecast global weather as well as in climate change studies. Typically, GNSS-RO operates by remotely sensing the bending angles of an occulting GNSS signal measured by larger low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. However, these satellites are faced with complexities in their design and costs. CubeSats, on the other hand, are emerging small and cheap satellites; the low prices of building them and the advancements in their components make them favorable for the GNSS-RO. In order to be compatible with GNSS-RO requirements, the clocks of the onboard receivers that are estimated through the precise orbit determination (POD) should have short-term stabilities. This is essential to correctly time tag the excess phase observations used in the derivation of the GNSS-RO UTLS atmospheric profiles. In this study, the stabilities of estimated clocks of a set of CubeSats launched for GNSS-RO in the Spire Global constellation are rigorously analysed and evaluated in comparison to the ultra-stable oscillators (USOs) onboard the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC-2) satellites. Methods for improving their clock stabilities are proposed and tested. The results (i) show improvement of the estimated clocks at the level of several microseconds, which increases their short-term stabilities, (ii) indicate that the quality of the frequency oscillator plays a dominant role in CubeSats’ clock instabilities, and (iii) show that CubeSats’ derived UTLS (i.e., tropopause) atmospheric profiles are comparable to those of COSMIC-2 products and in situ radiosonde observations, which provided external validation products. Different comparisons confirm that CubeSats, even those with unstable onboard clocks, provide high-quality RO profiles, comparable to those of COSMIC-2. The proposed remedies in POD and the advancements of the COTS components, such as chip-scale atomic clocks and better onboard processing units, also present a brighter future for real-time applications that require precise orbits and stable clocks.

Exploring the Effects of Economic Complexity and the Transition to a Clean Energy Pattern on Ecological Footprint From the Indian Perspective

The study explores the association between economic complexity, globalization, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the ecological footprint in the case of India from 1990–2018. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) is applied to measure the long-run elasticity, while the vector error correction model (VECM) is applied to classify the causal path. The empirical findings demonstrate that economic complexity, globalization process, and renewable energy consumption play a dominant role in minimizing environmental degradation. In contrast, economic growth and non-renewable energy consumption are more responsible for increasing the pollution level in both the short and long run. Furthermore, the VECM outcomes disclose that there is long-run causality between ecological footprint and economic complexity. Moreover, the empirical outcomes are robust to various robustness checks performed for analysis to the consistency of our main results. The Indian government/policymakers should encourage a more environmentally friendly production process and eco-friendly technologies in exports to minimize environmental degradation.

Measuring the free energy of hard-sphere colloidal glasses

Free energy is a key thermodynamic observable that controls the elusive physics of the glass transition. However, measuring the free energy of colloidal glasses from microscopy images is challenging due to the difficulty of measuring the individual particle size in the slightly polydisperse glassy systems. In this paper, we carry out experiments and numerical simulations of colloidal glasses with the aim to find a practical approach to measure the free energy from colloidal particles at mild polydispersity. We propose a novel method which requires only the particle coordinates from a few confocal microscopy snapshots to estimate the average particle diameter and use it as an input for our experimental free energy measurements. We verify our free energy calculations from Cell Theory with the free energy obtained by Thermodynamic Integration. The excellent agreement between the free energies measured using the two methods close to the glass transition packing fraction highlights the dominant role played by \emph{vibrational} entropy in determining a colloidal glass's free energy. Finally, the noticeable free energy difference calculated from uniform and conjectured particle sizes emphasizes the sensitivity on particle free volumes when measuring free energy in the slightly polydisperse colloidal glass.

Curvature and self-assembly of semi-conducting nanoplatelets

Semi-conducting nanoplatelets are two-dimensional nanoparticles whose thickness is in the nanometer range and controlled at the atomic level. They have come up as a new category of nanomaterial with promising optical properties due to the efficient confinement of the exciton in the thickness direction. In this perspective, we first describe the various conformations of these 2D nanoparticles which display a variety of bent and curved geometries and present experimental evidences linking their curvature to the ligand-induced surface stress. We then focus on the assembly of nanoplatelets into superlattices to harness the particularly efficient energy transfer between them, and discuss different approaches that allow for directional control and positioning in large scale assemblies. We emphasize on the fundamental aspects of the assembly at the colloidal scale in which ligand-induced forces and kinetic effects play a dominant role. Finally, we highlight the collective properties that can be studied when a fine control over the assembly of nanoplatelets is achieved.

Margin Trading Program, External Profit Pressure and Enterprise Financialization—A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on Double Difference Model

Based on the urgent need of the real economy to “get away from fictitious to substantial”, this paper constructs a quasi-natural experiment based on the margin trading program gradually implemented in China in 2010 and studies the influence of the margin trading program on the financialization level of the target company by using the difference-in-difference method. The results show that, because of the dominant role of financing transactions in margin trading programs in China’s capital market, financing transactions drive up the share prices of listed companies, which leads to an excessive easing of the financing constraints of listed companies and short-sighted behavior of executives, which has a significant role in promoting enterprise financialization. Moreover, the driving effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises, enterprises with a high degree of financing constraint, and enterprises with a low degree of marketization. Economic policy uncertainty will restrain the positive effect of margin trading programs on enterprise financialization through information and governance mechanisms. In contrast, the “branding” effect caused by the financial connection of senior executives will intensify the positive relationship between margin trading programs on enterprise financialization levels. When considering the intermediary effect, we find that the margin trading program will result in the optimistic deviation of analysts’ earnings forecasts and cause the external profit pressure of enterprises, thus increasing the financialization trend. This study is of great theoretical significance and practical value for evaluating the policy effect of the margin trading program, improving this policy, investigating the influencing factors of enterprise financialization, and promoting the real economy to move from fictitious to substantial.

ДОЦІЛЬНІСТЬ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ СТЕРИЧНО УСКЛАДНЕНИХ АЦЕНАФТЕНОВИХ СПОЛУК У СКЛАДІ ПРОТИКОРОЗІЙНОЇ КОМПОЗИЦІЇ

Goal. Synthesis and study of the effect of the inhibitory component – sterically complicated acenaphthene compounds – on the effectiveness of the protective composition to prevent corrosion of metal products during the period of temporary preservation.Method. Coke-chemical acenaphthylene was isolated from the absorbing and anthracene fractions of coal tar, the bromination of which led to 1,2-dibromocenaphthene. Subsequent alkylation of azine bases with 1,2-dibromacenaphthene yielded a number of sterically complex acenaphthene compounds. In the conditions of simulation aggressiveness of NSS environment the influence of synthesized additives on efficiency of anticorrosive composition is investigated (ISO 9227:2017). Research methods: chromatography, synthesis, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, corrosion tests.Results. On the basis of low-demand, available and inexpensive components of coke production, a number of substances with high anti-corrosion properties were synthesized – Quaternary azine salts with acenaphthene fragment. It was determined that the greatest resistance to the destructive effects of corrosive NSS environment according to the results of accelerated atmospheric corrosion tests was demonstrated by a composite coating containing an inhibitory additive – 1-(2-bromo-1,2-dihydroacenaphthylen-1-yl) quinoline bromide. The dominant role of the structure of the inhibitory additive on the manifestation of anticorrosive properties of the protective composition is shown. The influence of the ratio of components of paints and varnishes on their technological and anti-corrosion properties has been studied. The obtained results allow to create a new formulation of the domestic competitive protective composition to prevent corrosion of the metal for the period of temporary preservation.Scientific novelty. The role of 1,2-dibromacenaphthene as a promising alkylating agent in the synthesis of inhibitory additives - sterically complicated acenaphthene compounds has been determined.Practical significance. The optimal content of inhibitory components – Quaternary azine salts with acenaphthene fragment – for the development of a formulation of an effective anti-corrosion composition for the period of temporary preservation of metal products.