Our previous study demonstrated that the acute high-dose rate (3.3 Gy/minute) gamma irradiation of postnatal day 3 (P3) mice with 5Gy induced depression and drastic neuropathological changes in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of the adult mice. The present study investigated the effects of chronic low-dose-rate (1.2mGy/h) gamma irradiation from P30 to P180 with a cumulative dose of 5Gy on animal behaviour, hippocampal cellular change, miRNA and mRNA expression in the hippocampus and blood in female mice. The radiation exposure did not significantly affect the animal's body weight and neuropsychiatric changes such as anxiety and depression examined by neurobehavioural tests including open field, light-dark box, elevated plus maze, tail suspension test and forced swim test. Immunohistochemical staining did not detect any obvious loss of mature and immature neurons (NeuN and DCX) or any inflammatory glial response (IBA1, GFAP, and PDGFR1). Nevertheless, r-H2AX foci in the stratum granulosum of the dentate gyrus were significantly increased, suggesting the chronic low dose rate irradiation induced persistent DNA damage foci in mice. miRNA sequencing and qRT-PCR indicated an increased expression of miR-448-3p and miR-361-5p, but decreased expression of miR-193a-3p in the mouse hippocampus. Meanwhile, mRNA sequencing and qRT-PCR showed a reduced expression of Ccn1, Fli1, Fosb, Ets1, Hs3st5, and Eif4ebp1, but enhanced expression of Cort, Foxh1, and Opalin. Database searching by miRDB and TargetScan predicted that FLI1 and HS3ST5 are the targets of miR-448-3p, and Eif4ebp2 is the target of miR-361-5p. miRNA/mRNA sequencing and qRT-PCR results in blood showed the increased expression of miR-6967-3p and the decreased expression of its target S1pr5. The interactions of these miRNAs and mRNAs may contribute to the chronic low dose rate radiation-induced persistent DNA damage.

Three-dimensional flexible piezoresistive porous sensors have been used in health diagnosis and wearable devices. By utilizing 3D printed sacrificial mold casting with highly conductive polymer composites, porous sensors with high conductivity and complex structures were achieved. Traditional conductive polymer composites are usually heated using external heat sources, which are time and energy consuming. However, in this study, conductive porous sensors with triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures were manufactured using self-resistance electric heating by utilizing the conductive nature of the polymers. The porous structures were designed based on Diamond (D), Gyroid (G), and I-WP (I) unit cells of the TPMS. The use of self-resistance electric heating has improved the compression performance and piezoresistive response of the structures. Among these structures, the D-based structure exhibited the maximum response strain (61 %), with a corresponding resistance response value of 0.97, which increased by 10.26 % compared to that of the structures heated by using the external heat sources. This study offers a new perspective on designing and optimizing porous materials with specific functionalities, particularly in the realm of flexible and portable piezoresistive sensors.

In data-scarce regions, prudent planning and precise decision-making for sustainable development especially in agriculture remains a challenging task due to the lack of correct information. Remotely sensed satellite images provide a powerful source for assessing land use land cover (LULC) classes and crop identification. Applying Remote Sensing (RS) in conjunction with the Geographical Information System (GIS) and modern tools/ algorithms of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning has been proven effective for strategic planning and integrated resources management. The (this)study was conducted in the canal command area of the Lower Chenab Canal system in Punjab, Pakistan. Crop features/ classes were assessed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) algorithm. The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) 250 m and Landsat 5 TM (thematic mapper) images were deployed for NDVI time-series analysis with unsupervised classification technique to get LULC classes that helped to discern cropping pattern, crop rotation, and the area of specific crops, which were then used as a key input for agricultural mechanization planning and resources management. The accuracy of the LULC map was 78%, assessed by the error matrix approach. Limitations of high-resolution RS data availability and the accuracy of the results are the concerns observed in this study that could be managed by the availability of good quality local sources and advanced techniques of processing, which will make it more useful and applicable for regional agriculture and environmental management.

This paper critically reviews the convergence between Business Ecosystem Theory and Social Network Theory in sustainability studies. While both frameworks view organizations as part of larger, interconnected systems, they can be differentiated by six key dimensions: unit of analysis, focus, decomposability, types of relationships, market segment, and worldview. To better reflect real-world phenomena, this paper argues for a new stream of theoretical convergence that is practical, reliable, generalizable, and reproducible. Specifically, it proposes shifting from interoganizational networks to interfunctional networks, which reduces complexity, enhances stability over time, and provides a clearer theoretical distinction. This is illustrated through a case study of Tesla Inc.’s ecosystem, built from data presented in the company’s 10K form, which also serves as an example of the emergence of a new strategic construct named the Business Ecosystem Footprint. This construct could assist managers in understanding where their organization stands within the network of functions, guiding them in making informed decisions about resource allocation and diversification, specifically aimed at supporting financial goals as well as sustainability and decarbonization objectives. The article concludes by suggesting potential research agendas, such as automating ecosystem mapping, exploring the constraints of the new construct, and testing new hypotheses related to firm performance.

Background: Telemonitoring systems in cardiology have shown potential in improving chronic cardiovascular disease (CVD) management. This study aims to evaluate the impact of telemonitoring, mainly through mobile applications, on patient outcomes such as self-care, blood pressure control, quality of life, and hospitalization. Methods: We systematically reviewed studies assessing telemonitoring methods for patients with chronic CVD. The analysis included studies from various geographic regions and healthcare settings, focusing on qualitative outcomes without performing a meta-analysis. Results: Telemonitoring was found to aid in maintaining blood pressure and significantly enhance self-care abilities. Improvements in quality of life were observed in some studies, though results varied. Most studies indicated telemonitoring could effectively manage blood pressure and reduce hypertension-related complications. However, the heterogeneity of interventions and outcomes measured across trials posed challenges for a comprehensive meta-analysis. Conclusions: Integrating telemonitoring systems into routine care can significantly improve disease management and patient outcomes for chronic CVD patients. Future research should standardize telemonitoring interventions and outcome measures, conduct long-term studies, and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these systems. Greater blindness in future randomized controlled trials and more studies on atrial fibrillation are also necessary. Significant potential exists for telemonitoring to improve patient outcomes and assist in managing chronic illnesses.

Flavonoids are secondary plant metabolites involved in biological activity that are present in plentiful proportions in many plant origin foods and beverages. Owing to their chemical difference and qualities that make them beneficial for human health, they have received a lot of focus in research. This review therefore presents an account on the chemical structure of flavonoids, food sources and their metabolism with emphasis on bioavailability. And they also examine their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, cardiovascular protective, neuroprotective, and antimicrobial properties and reveal related molecular processes. In addition, it overviews the clinical data concerning their possible use in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Some of the problems that attend current flavonoid research are also dealt with; such issues as variation in the bioactivity of flavonoids and scarcity of clinical studies. This review is designed to present current state of knowledge and to provoke further research concerning the further potential of flavonoids in enhancing human health.

Addressing within field spatial variability for nitrogen management to avoid over and under-use of nitrogen is crucial for optimizing crop productivity and ensuring environmental sustainability. In this study we investigated the economic, environmental and agronomic benefits of variable rate nitrogen application in potato (Solanum tuberosum). An online visible and near infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy sensor we utilized to predict soil moisture content (MC), pH, total organic carbon (TOC), extractable phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) using a partial least squares regression (PLSR) models. The crop's normalized difference vegetation Index (NDVI) from Sentinel-2 satellite images was incorporated to online measured soil data to derive fertility management zones (MZs) maps, after homogenous raster and clustering analyses. The MZs maps were categorized into high fertile (VR-H), medium-high fertile (VR-MH), medium-low fertile (VR-ML), and low fertile (VR-L) zones. A parallel strip experiment compared variable rate nitrogen (VR-N) with uniform rate (UR) treatments, adjusting nitrogen levels based on fertility zones as: 50% less for VR-H, 25% less for VR-MH, 25% more for VR-ML, and 50% more for VR-L zones compared to the UR treatment. Results showed that the VR-H zone received a 50% reduction in N fertilizer input and demonstrated a significantly higher crop yield compared to the UR treatment. This implies a potential reduction in negative environmental impact by lowering fertilizer costs while maintaining robust crop yields. In total, the VR -N treatment received an additional 1.2 Kg/ha of nitrogen input, resulting in a crop yield increase of 1.89 tons/ha. The relative gross margin for the VR-N treatment compared to the UR treatment 374.83 €/ha, indicating substantial profitability for the farmer. To further optimize environmental benefits and profitability, additional research is needed to explore site-specific application of all farm resources through precision agricultural technologies.

Background. The role of exercise programs during Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment is considered particularly supportive in fostering positive psychological and behavioral changes. The aim of this feasibility study was to explore the acute effects of cycling exercise in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) environment on attentional control and self-efficacy expectations of indi-viduals undergoing SUD treatment. Methods. A total of 20 individuals (mean age of 37.75 years) enrolled in a SUD treatment program participated in the study. They were instructed to complete a single session of cycling with a self-selected duration within the IVR system. Results. Following the cycling session, pre-post measures indicated a statistically significant im-provement in self-efficacy expectations and attentional control measured with the Stroop test. The results revealed that participants expressed high levels of intention for future use, inter-est/enjoyment, and positive attitudes toward the IVR exercise system. Qualitative data indicated that participants found the IVR exercise system enjoyable, expressed a strong intention to use it, and did not encounter technical difficulties or negative emotions. Conclusions: In conclusion, it seems that engaging in a brief period of self-selected exercise within a virtual environment can result in temporary activation of cognitive changes, heightened self-efficacy expectations, and a motivating approach to increasing physical activity participation among individuals with SUD, thus suggesting the feasibility of this approach.

SUDEP is a sudden death in a person with epilepsy, without evidence of a seizure before death. While its cause is still unclear, various factors have been linked to seizure onset and cardiopulmonary function. Studies have shown that although 91.3% of epilepsy patients want information on premature death, only 31% of them receive it. The numbers emphasize the need for open and sensitive communication by medical professionals. It is important to choose the appropriate moment for the conversation, avoiding periods of stress and ensuring emotional stability in the patient, as well as clear, appropriate and easy to comprehend information about SUDEP. To facilitate this, knowing the patient's level of knowledge is essential. Education on the warning signs of seizures and SUDEP can help take precautions and can decrease the incidence of the phenomenon itself. Effective epilepsy care requires a comprehensive plan, including medication adherence and lifestyle changes. Regular communication and collaboration between the patient, caregiver and health professionals are essential for the effective management of epilepsy, so just as epilepsy has a fluid, changeable course of disease and follow-up appointments are very important, the topic of SUDEP is not a one-time conversation either.

Objectives: There has been limited research on injuries related to subway incidents. Our study seeks to examine the seriousness of these injuries and the duration of hospital stays following subway accidents. This research has the potential to enhance the treatment of trauma patients and deepen our understanding of injuries associated with subway incidents.Methods: This is a retrospective, single-center study of patients with subway-related injuries admitted to a level 1 trauma center from 2016 to 2023. Patients were identified based on the cause and injury mechanism of subway-related trauma incidents. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analyses were performed on length of stays and ISS, with significance set at p < 0.01.Results: Over 8 years, we identified 383 patients who presented with subway injuries to our Level 1 ACS verified Trauma Center. 80.7 % of patients were male and 19.3% were females. The mean (SEM) age of the cohort was 47.36, with a standard deviation of 17.72. The mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 10.39, with a standard deviation of 11.01. The mean for Emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) is 12.33 (hours), 1.73 (days) for Intensive care unit (ICU) LOS, and 8.26 (days) for hospital (H) LOS. The age range which has the highest number of subway-related trauma incidents was in their 30s (n=82, 21.4%), followed by the age range 50 to 60 (n = 63, 16.4%), in their 40s (n= 62, 16.2%), and 20s (n= 57,14.9%). The ANOVA analysis shows significant differences in quality of care indicators (ED LOS, ICU LOS, HLOS, and ventilator days) based on injury severity metrics, with p-values below 0.05. Higher ISS are linked to longer lengths of stay and increased ventilator use. Pearson correlation analysis shows ED LOS negatively correlates with ICU LOS and ISS, demonstrating minor injuries may result in shorter ICU stays and no escalation of trauma care. Additionally, ICU LOS and HLOS are positively correlated, and both are moderately correlated with ISS, suggesting that more severe injuries lead to longer ICU and hospital stays. All correlations are significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).Conclusion: The individuals in the age group of 20 to 60 years experienced the highest trauma related to subways. The number of injured males was higher than females. Non-Hispanic individuals showed higher injury rates compared to Hispanic individuals. Injury rates in Whites were higher, followed by Blacks and Asians. The most common combinations of severe injuries were in the head, thorax, lower extremities, abdomen, and spine. Injured patients suffered from severe head and thorax injuries, which consequently affected the length of their hospital and ICU stay.

PgRMC1 (progesterone receptor membrane component 1) is a progesterone-binding protein highly expressed in various cancer cells. Its expression has been associated with cancer development, chemoresistance, and poor prognosis in breast cancer through the regulation of drug and sterol metabolism, cell cycle, and apoptosis. However, the precise functions of PgRMC1 remain unclear. We examined PgRMC1 expression in breast cancer tissues and analyzed its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and treatment response (n=112). PgRMC1 expression was detected in breast cancer tissue, while no immunoreactivity for PgRMC1 was observed in normal breast tissue. Notably, PgRMC1 expression levels were high in the HER2 subtype. Among patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, those with a poor pathological response had significantly higher PgRMC1 expression than those with a good response. PgRMC1 overexpression in breast cancer cell lines reduced chemosensitivity. Real-time qPCR analyses revealed that PgRMC1 induced the expression of differentiation markers, including CDH1 and KRT19, indicating that PgRMC1 is involved in the suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and mammary luminal epithelial differentiation. Our findings suggest that PgRMC1 may contribute to chemoresistance and serve as a putative biomarker for assessing neoadjuvant chemotherapy sensitivity.

This research analysed the distribution of publicly awarded funding, by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) to defined University Groups and compared it against the aim and objectives of UKRI’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) strategy. Previous work has identified failures in the allocation of research awards, with some groups being under-represented in successful bids. UKRI have acknowledged the situation needs to improve yet concern exists over whether change has been enacted. Publicly accessible information provided freely by UKRI was used in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the current position. The results showed that the marginalisation of groups applies at a University Group level, with over-representation of the elite universities of the Russell Group in successfully funded project bids. The data shows how, both in total financial expenditure and in the number of projects financed, the awarding of research funding to the universities with the largest popular base, namely the group identified as Post-92 universities, is relatively very small. These universities, as identified by measurements such as social inclusion within university rankings, contribute to greater equality of opportunities for student populations and reduce the impact of economic discrimination. By greatly minoritizing the Post-92 universities through funding UKRI is effectively reducing access for their disadvantaged students.

Plants are subjected to abiotic stresses throughout their developmental period. Abiotic stresses include drought, salt, heat, cold, heavy metals, nutritional element and oxidative stresses. Improving plant response to various environmental stresses is critical for plant survival and perpetuation. The WRKY transcription factors have special structure (WRKY structural domains), which enable WRKY transcription factors to have different transcriptional regulatory functions. The WRKY transcription factors can not only regulate abiotic stresses response and plant growth and development by regulating phytohormone signalling pathways, but also promote or suppress the expression of downstream genes by binding to the W-box [TGACCA/TGACCT] in the promoters of their target genes. In addition, WRKY transcription factors not only interact with other families of transcription factors to regulate plant defence responses in abiotic stresses, but also self-regulate by recognizing and binding to W-boxes in their own target genes to regulate their defence responses to abiotic stresses. However, in recent years, research reviews on the regulatory roles of WRKY transcription factors in higher plants are scarce and shallow. In this review, we focus on the structure and classification of WRKY transcription factors, as well as the identification of their downstream target genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the response to abiotic stresses, which can improve the tolerance ability of plants in abiotic stress and we also look forward to their future research directions, with a view to providing theoretical support for the genetic improvement of crop abiotic stresses tolerance.

In the early decades of the 19th century, the deaf population in the eastern US and Canada was distributed across a vast area. After the 1817 founding of the American School for the Deaf (ASD) in Hartford, CT and the subsequent establishment of schools for the deaf in New York City (NYSD), Philadelphia, and many other US states, hundreds of deaf students called these schools home for several years. After leaving school, the early American Deaf community faced a challenge: How would the community maintain its social and linguistic ties across a vast geographical area once community members had dispersed to their hometowns? In this paper we analyze the attendance registries of two large gatherings of deaf individuals in Hartford in the years 1850 and 1854. These were among the largest and earliest known gatherings of deaf adults. The demographic data included in these registries open a window onto the evolving American Deaf community of the mid-19th century. Our analyses of the attendees’ school affiliations, ages, and marital status show that the signing community that had taken root among students at schools in Hartford and New York persisted among the adult graduates of those schools in towns across the northeastern US. We compare the places of residence of ASD and NYSD alumni in 1850 and 1854 to their hometowns when they first enrolled at school. Our comparisons suggest the mid-19th-century signing community had become more urban; it was centered to a greater extent in populous cities such as New York, Boston, and Hartford than had been true when the attendees had enrolled in school. We consider how the geography of deafness in the 19th century might inform our understanding of the sources of regional variation in ASL. We also consider how early cross-regional interactions may have inhibited such regional variation.

Background/Objective: The Dark Web has played a pivotal role in the progress and sophistication of cybercrime. It provides an incubation network beyond the reach of traditional search engines where cybercriminals create and display exploit kits, offers illicit goods and services, and exchange confidential insider intelligence. Cybercriminals are extremely adept at selecting targets, applying tools to achieve their objectives, and minimizing red tape. The increasing sophistication of cybercriminals and the exponential rise of cybercrime against critical infrastructure underlines the necessity of identifying emerging threats. The objective of this research is to investigate the evolving threats within the Dark Web including crimeware-as-a-service and the integration of AI/ML into cyberattacks to inform risk management strategies and strengthen security measures.Research Problem: The exponential rise in cybercrime against critical infrastructure reflects growing sophisticationpresenting a significant challenge to organizations and society. The motivation behind cybercrime is fundamentally driven by self-greed which has contributed drastically to the magnitude and changes in methods used by cybercriminals to enhance profitability. The impact of cybercrime on business organizations presents an adverse impact on society and carries significant risks for the progress of individuals and the world at large. As cybercriminals adopt new technologies and services such as crimeware-as-a-service, identifying emerging trends becomes crucial to developing proactive strategies for the detection and prevention of cyber threats.Methodology: This research employs a systematic literature review approach to analyze emerging trends in cybercrime originating from the Dark Web. The review includes scholarly articles, news sources, and blog posts sourced from platforms like Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, and various libraries. The key focus is to answer questions regarding the relationship between the Dark Web and cybercrime, accelerating cybercrime activities, and the benefits and implications of these new trends.Results: Key findings of this paper range from the rise of crimeware-as-a-service attacks and the increasing use of artificial intelligence and/or machine learning capabilities by cybercriminals to automate attacks across various businesses and organizations are also propounded along with information related to entry points and cybercrime attack pathways. The emergence of sophisticated cybercrime techniques, including ransomware-as-a-service, targeted attacks using AI, and exploitation of IoT vulnerabilities, are identified as critical trends. Social engineering, malware, and the rise of remote work have expanded the attack surface for cybercriminals.Discussion: As the use of cybercrime continues to metamorphose, the identification of new threats and extrapolation of emerging trends is critical to investigate the challenges associated with the monitoring and detection of illegitimate activities on the Dark Web as well as for the establishment of proactive risk management strategies and implementation of robust security measures. The research highlights the transformation of cybercrime into a structured and scalable ecosystem driven by technological advancements and service-based attack models. Cybercriminals now leverage AI/ML increasing the sophistication and success of their attacks. The commoditization of cybercrime has enabled less skilled individuals to participate amplifying the volume and diversity of threats faced by organizations.Conclusion: As cybercrime continues to evolve and adopt emerging technologies, organizations must remain vigilant and adaptable. The findings emphasize the need for proactive risk management, continuous monitoring of cybercrime trends, and robust security measures to mitigate the increasing threats originating from the Dark Web. Future research should focus on deeper exploration of AI-driven attacks and the development of more advanced countermeasures to safeguard critical infrastructure.

Chemical combinations are believed to reduce drug toxicity, delay cancer cell growth, and achieve enhanced efficacy compared with single active drugs. This research investigated the synergistic effect of DOX and Zm-093, a new sulfonamide derivative, on improving the potential for inducing apoptosis in breast cancer (BC) cell lines. First, the Zm-093 compound was synthesized and its structure was confirmed by FT-IR and NMR. Then, the IC50 values for DOX and Zm-093 were calculated to be 1.21 and 51.24 μM, respectively. To investigate the synergistic effect, Compusyn software was utilized to calculate the combination index (CI). Different methods, including western blotting, flow cytometry, and TUNEL, were used to evaluate the potential synergistic effects of these compounds on inducing apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Combining the indexes obtained at all concentrations revealed synergistic results. The proapoptotic proteins Bax, tBid, and caspase-3, however, increased 2.4, 3.3, and 5.7 times more than those in the control group. Flow cytometry analysis and the TUNEL method in cells treated with DOX and Zm-093 showed that apoptosis was significantly higher than in other groups. The results confirmed the synergistic effect of DOX and ZM-093 on apoptotic factors expression in MCF-7 cells.

Segment Anything Model 2 (SAM 2) is a state-of-the-art development by Meta AI Research, designed to address the limitations of its predecessor, SAM, particularly in the realm of video segmentation. SAM 2 employs a transformer-based architecture enhanced with streaming memory, enabling real-time processing for both images and videos. This advancement is important given the exponential growth of multimedia content and the subsequent demand for efficient video analysis. Utilizing the SA-V dataset, SAM 2 excels in handling the intricate spatio-temporal dynamics inherent in video data, ensuring accurate and efficient segmentation. Key features of SAM 2 include its ability to provide real-time segmentation with minimal user interaction, maintaining robust performance even in dynamic and cluttered visual environments. This study provides a comprehensive overview of SAM 2, detailing its architecture, functionality, and diverse applications. It further explores the model's potential in improving practical implementations across various domains, emphasizing its significance in advancing real-time video analysis.

Today, various dietary supplements are taken to improve endurance performance during physical activity. These supplements have proven to be very successful in controlling and balancing various hormone levels and have contributed to the prevention and healing of metabolic disorders and physical injuries. In this study, we sought to investigate the effects of the ACTN3 gene and nutrient supplementation, including beta-alanine, ashwagandha, L-carnitine, and iron, on athletic performance. The ACTN3 gene has been identified as a potential genetic determinant of athletic performance, particularly in activities that require high levels of power and strength. This study investigated the interaction between the ACTN3 gene and supplementation and highlighted the potential for personalized approaches to improve athletic performance. 24 subjects per group, were randomized in a parallel-group design to examine the effects of supplementation on the ACTN3 gene and athletic performance over a 21-day intervention period. Participants in the intervention were divided into four groups of six members each. The same subjects who did not take supplements formed the control group. In addition, the subjects were divided into 4 groups (G1, G2, G3, and G4), each consisting of subgroups of control and a treated. All treated groups (TG1, TG2, TG3, and TG4) received 4 supplements for 21 days, namely S1 (ashwagandha), S2 (iron), S3 (beta-alanine) and S4 (L-carnitine), together with the 4 control groups, i.e. CG1, CG2, CG3 and CG4, who received no supplements during the same period. In particular, this study determines the effect of these 4 supplements on actn3 gene expression, testosterone, cholesterol and BUN levels of the participants. The P-values determined for all parameters showed statistically significant values and the final result showed that all supplements had positive effects on the tested parameters. The result showed a highly significant difference between the intake of supplements before and after the intake of 24 athletes per group on the ACTN3 gene expression level and biochemical indicators.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) is an enigmatic, ultra-rare genetic disorder characterized by progressive heterotopic ossification, wherein soft connective tissues undergo pathological transformation into bone structures. This incapacitating process severely limits patient mobility and poses formidable challenges for therapeutic intervention. Predominantly caused by missense mutations in the ACVR1 gene, the disorder has hitherto defied comprehensive mechanistic understanding and effective treatment paradigms. This write-up offers a comprehensive overview of the contemporary understanding of FOP's complex pathobiology, underscored by advances in molecular genetics and proteomic studies. We shed light on targeted therapy, spanning genetic therapeutics, enzymatic and transcriptional modulation, stem cell therapies, and innovative immunotherapies. We also focused on the intricate complexities surrounding clinical trial design for ultra-rare disorders like FOP, addressing fundamental statistical limitations, ethical conundrums, and methodological advancements essential for the success of interventional studies. We advocate for the adoption of a multi-disciplinary approach that converges bench-to-bedside research, clinical expertise, and ethical considerations to tackle the challenges of ultra-rare diseases like FOP and comparable ultra-rare diseases. Overall, this article serves a dual role: as a definitive scientific resource for ongoing and future FOP research and as a call to action for innovative solutions to address methodological and ethical challenges that impede progress in the broader field of medical research for ultra-rare conditions.

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also know as 3D Printing (3DP), is a widely used layer-by-layer manufacturing process, it is evolving rapidly both in research and industry. Among all AM methods, Material Extrusion (ME) is one of the most popular techniques. Based on ME, another new AM method is developed, which is Low-cost Metal Material Extrusion (LCMME). In this newly developed process, pure metallic parts could be fabricated after sintering the metal infused additively manufactured parts. Both AM and sintering process parameters will have influence on the quality of the final pure metallic parts. In this research, several statistics methods were used to analyze the data gotten from the experiment. Then two Machine Learning (ML) algorithms were used to predict the Surface Roughness (SR) of the final specimens. Additionally, the results show that the neural network (NN) is more accurate than the support vector regression (SVR) on prediction.

Vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) was covalently bonded onto graphene oxide. Several methods, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, were used to demonstrate the presence of VTES on the surface of graphene oxide and the creation of this covalent link. Following that, different quantities of the resultant vinyltriethoxysilane functionalized graphene oxide (VTESFGO) were mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to form VTESFGO/PVA nanocomposite films (NCFs) with a 3-dimensional network structure. The creation of these NCFs and the presence of a three-dimensional network were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The three-dimensional network structure provided these NCFs extraordinary characteristics. The mechanical and thermal stability, oxygen transfer rate (OTR), and water resistance pressure (WRP) of the NCFs were investigated. The nanocomposite film (NCF) with the highest weight percentage of VTESFGO (3.0 wt.%) was 47.5% more thermally stable than pure PVA, with an oxygen transmission rate of 0.3 cm3/m2 per day and a water resistance pressure of 780 mm/cm2. However, as the weight percentage of VTESFGO increased, the mechanical strength of the NCFs decreased as a result of silanol self-condensation, resulting in particulate formation, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy.

Background and Objectives: Zonulin (Zo) is a molecule that has been identified as an intestinal permeability marker in recent years. It has been previously linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, but its role in chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Zo and systemic inflammation (SI), endothelial dysfunction (ED), and especially renal functions, in patients with CKD. Materials and Methods: One hundred sixty-three participants were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups (patient and control), according to the presence of CKD. Results: A total of 104 patients with CKD (mean age: 58.9 ±1.4) and 59 control subjects (mean age: 59.0 ±1.1) were included, with similar age (p = 0.934) and gender (p = 0.196) between the groups. In the comparison analysis, plasma Zo levels in the CKD group (166.16 ± 53.54) were significantly higher than those in the control group (143.30 ± 60.92) (p < 0.001). In the correlation analysis, the serum Zo level showed a positive correlation with claudin-3 (r = 0.612, p < 0.001), IL-6 (r = 0.307, p < 0.001), and creatinine (r = 0.313, p < 0.001) and a negative correlation with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (r = -0.320, p < 0.001) and TC (r = -0.074, p = 0.047). Additionally, according to a linear regression analysis, the Zo level was significantly associated with GFR after adjusting for age and SBP (β value = -0.918, p = 0.012). Conclusion: High serum Zo levels in patients with CKD reflected increased intestinal permeability and were associated with impaired renal function. Moreover, it was thought that Zo level could be associated with SI, but novel clinical studies are needed to elucidate its relationship with ED.

The inherent uncertainties in traditional hydrological models present significant chal-lenges for accurately simulating runoff. Combining machine learning models with tradi-tional hydrological models is an essential approach to enhancing the runoff modeling capabilities of hydrological models. However, research on the impact of mixed models on runoff simulation capability is limited. Therefore, this study uses the traditional hy-drological model SIMHYD and the machine learning model LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) to construct two coupled models: a direct coupling model and a dynamically improved predictive validity hybrid model. These models were evaluated using the US CAMELS dataset to assess the impact of the two model combination methods on runoff modeling capabilities. The results indicate that the runoff modeling capabilities of both model combination methods were improved compared to individual models, with the dynamically improved predictive validity hybrid model demonstrating the optimal mod-eling capability. Compared to LSTM, this hybrid model showed a 12.8% increase in the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) median value for daily runoff during the validation pe-riod, a 28.4% increase in the NSE median value for high flows compared to SIMHYD, this hybrid model showed a 12.5% increase in the NSE median value for daily runoff during the validation period, a 23.6% increase in the NSE median value for high flows, and a significant improvement in the stability of low-flow runoff simulations. In per-formance testing involving varying training period lengths, the PE_trend model trained for 12 years exhibited the best performance, showing a 3.5% and 1.5% increase in the median NES compared to training periods of 6 years and 18 years, respectively

Background: While the prevalence of obesity and its negative effects on graft steatosis in liver transplantation are well recognized, the impact of obesity in the absence of hepatic steatosis, fibrosis, and inflammation in deceased donor livers remains unclear. This knowledge gap may affect the decision to adopt a transplant strategy and influence the following outcomes. Methods: A donor population-based cohort study was performed on 35,529 donors who received liver biopsy from 1987 to 2024. Donor BMI was categorized and assessed for its association with liver conditions, including macrovesicular steatosis, microvesicular steatosis, liver fibrosis, and portal infiltrates. Multivariable logistic regression and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression models were employed to explore both linear and nonlinear relationships between BMI and the specified liver conditions. Results: In a cohort of 35,529 donors, donor livers from higher BMI groups exhibited higher percentages of macro-steatosis, micro-steatosis,advanced fibrosis and portal infiltrate.Logistic regression indicated obesity as an independent predictor of liver histology assessment: for higher risk with moderate-servere macro-steatosis (OR 2.29, 95% CI 2.11–2.49, p < 0.001),moderate-servere micro-steatosis (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.57–1.87, p < 0.001), portal infiltrate (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.3–1.45, p < 0.001) and advanced fibrosis (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.94–1.14, p < 0.001). Restricted cubic spline regression depicted J-shaped with moderate-servere macro-steatosis and portal infiltrate,a U-shaped advanced fibrosis, and a upside down U-shaped with moderate-servere micro-steatosis,P for for nonlinearity <0.0001),respectively. Subgroup analyses identified interactions with factors such as gender, hypertension, and hepatitis C, highlighting BMI’s complex influence on liver histology and reinforcing its role in liver donor evaluation. Conclusion: This donor population-based cohort study found a different association pattern between donor BMI and liver biopsy outcomes,integrating BMI into donor liver assessments could enhance decision-making during transplantation, potentially reducing organ discard rates and improving transplant success by identifying high-risk organs earlier.

The adoption of Data Networks and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) has become crucial for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. However, SMEs often face challenges such as resource limitations and security vulnerabilities, which hinder their ability to fully leverage these technologies. This systematic review examines the role of Data Networks and APIs in enhancing operational efficiency within SMEs, focusing on key metrics such as speed, cost reduction, scalability, and security challenges. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we conducted a systematic search across multiple databases including Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar. Studies published between 2014 and 2024, focused on SMEs and addressing the role of Data Networks and APIs in operational efficiency, were included. A total of 49 studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed for key outcomes related to operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and security risks. The review found that Data Networks and APIs significantly improve operational efficiency by increasing process speed (12% increase), reducing operational costs (8% reduction), and enhancing overall productivity. However, security challenges, particularly related to API vulnerabilities, were a major concern, with cyberattacks on APIs increasing by 400% in Q1 2023 alone. Despite these risks, the benefits of implementing Data Networks and APIs in SMEs, particularly in terms of scalability and real-time data processing, were evident across industries. Data Networks and APIs offer substantial improvements in operational efficiency for SMEs, though security remains a significant challenge. Future efforts should focus on developing security frameworks tailored to SMEs while maintaining the operational benefits of these technologies. Further research is needed to explore scalable and secure API models for SMEs.

As the smallest member of the fullerene family, C20 is yet to be discovered in planetary nebulae. In this work, we present a quantum chemical study via density functional theory (DFT) on the ionization tolerance of this molecule in the space environment. Considering that the ionization and excitation phenomena play key roles in alerting the lifetime of a molecule, we examined both ground and excited electronic states potential energy surfaces (PES) of C20 and its cations C20q+. Our theoretical results indicate that the C20 cage tolerates a positive charge as high as 13+ via characterizing local minimum geometries on both mentioned electronic states. We also explored theoretically and systematically, scenarios in which the electronic structure of neutral C20 is excited to very high spin multiplicity (beyond triplet state) and local minimum molecular geometries with cage structure are well characterized. We anticipate that such structural resistance to excitation and ionization deliver a prolonged lifetime necessary for the spectroscopic detection of this interesting molecule and its cations in space and potentially in planetary nebulea (PN).

This study encourages volunteer managers to innovate when enhancing volunteers' organizational commitment by adopting the new variable of psychological ownership, thus creating new management practices and systems. The findings indicate that psychological ownership significantly affects organizational commitment and can also enhance it through the partial mediating effect of volunteer motivation. Evidently, psychological ownership can become a major factor influencing volunteer retention. Consequently, two innovative management strategies are suggested to foster volunteer organizational commitment: Firstly, construct a diverse knowledge base for volunteer managers, facilitating a cognitive shift in leaders to enhance leadership, achieve better information sharing, and collaboration using diverse knowledge. Secondly, treat the organization's volunteers as a subsystem, develop psychological ownership as the foundation for system operations, integrate the volunteer system with the staff system through a decentralized decision-making structure, 'empower' the volunteer system, and stimulate members' sense of participation and responsibility, thereby fostering innovation and continuous improvement.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for the eradication of poverty, and China has proposed the Rural Revitalization Strategy based on the achievements of its poverty alleviation efforts in 2020. As a vital component of this strategy, the impact of land transfer on farmers' income growth has become a hot topic in both theoretical and practical sectors. This paper utilizes data from the CFPS database for the years 2010-2018 to construct OLS regression models and a Heckman two-stage model to analyze the effects of land transfers on the incomes of different types and sources among farmers. The empirical results show: First, land transfers do promote income growth among farmers, but the effect is primarily positive for those transferring out land, with negligible impact on those acquiring land. Second, the impact of land transfers varies between different types of income for transferees and transferors. Wage income contributes up to 88.26% to the income growth of transferors, a significantly higher rate than the decrease in business income; however, the increase in business income for transferees does not offset the decline in wage income, leading to no significant change in overall income. Further sensitivity analysis using the Heckman two-stage model confirms the robustness of these findings. The conclusions of this study provide theoretical and empirical evidence to optimize land transfer policies, enhance participation in land transfers, and ultimately achieve the mission of rural revitalization.

Traditionally, professionals in the tourism sector have been encouraged to segment their market based on socio-demographic variables. However, the multifaceted nature of tourist activity calls for consideration of psychological factors to effectively shape marketing strategies. This study aims to provide insights for tourism industry practitioners by investigating the roles of tourists’ personalities and travel motivations in shaping their activities, and commitment to sustainability in Cumbria, home to UNESCO World Heritage Sites like The Lake District National Park, and Hadrian's Wall. Data was collected using quantitative methods to identify correlations between personality traits, travel motivations, and tourist activities. Additionally, a qualitative focus group with SME representatives from Cumbria provided insights into their understanding of the model. The findings provide significant insights into how the relationship between personality traits, travel motivations and tourist activities benefit tourism SMEs. By comprehending tourist behaviour, SMEs can tailor their offerings to appeal to the right audience, mitigating the adverse effects of overtourism, and therefore do more than allude to the concept of sustainability. Using these insights, SMEs could make informed decisions and create more effective marketing strategies, fostering sustainable practices that benefit both their customers and the long-term viability of their businesses and the destination.

This study introduces a novel method that combines Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) with conformal prediction to revolutionize the domain of stock ticker forecasting. Our approach enhances prediction accuracy and offers dependable prediction intervals to gauge uncertainty, surpassing current GAN-based techniques in unpredictable market scenarios. We made a validation using AAPL stock data, showing the ability of our model to generate accurate forecasts and reliable assessments of prediction uncertainty. The prediction intervals generated provide investors and risk managers with a powerful tool to make informed decisions. Our approach represents a notable advancement in financial prediction as it improves the clarity and reliability of forecasts. By incorporating conformal prediction into the GAN framework, the reliability of forecasts is improved, providing a thorough evaluation of uncertainty that is crucial for successful risk management. This framework has the potential to transform the field of predictive analytics in finance. It shows a solution that balances accuracy and uncertainty quantification. The results clearly show the effectiveness of this method, paving the way for its potential application in a wide range of financial prediction scenarios.

Social support in working with beggars and vagrants has always been and still is a challenge for all social protection systems. This paper aims to analyze the social work system in working with vagrants and beggars, starting with the presentation of the concept and seeking to evaluate the evolution of this particular sector of the social protection system in Romania, presenting, on one hand, the legislative changes and, also, the situation found in reality which could be (slightly) different. In the paper we describe two research models, a case study, which starts from the situation found in Romania and is based on the model of good practice (social enterprises) developed by Nicolae Minovici in the interwar period (1934) and also presents the opinion of citizens from Craiova city, investigated during a sociological survey conducted in 2021-2022 on a sample of 1494 persons, on the opportunity to set up such centers for beggars and vagrants in Romania. The article seeks to extract the good practices used by the national system for the purpose of comparing and issuing proposals to regulate and improve the current situation in Romania.

Motivated by experimental success in designing linear amphiphilic copolymers with selective demicellization capabilities through head-to-tail depolymerization triggered by specific stimuli, we advanced the design paradigm by increasing the number of triggering groups on the copolymer chain through architectural modifications. Utilizing molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the demicellization and cargo release dynamics of linear and miktoarm copolymers, featuring one, two and three hydrophobic block or branches, each capable for head-to-tail depolymerization. Our findings revealed that, under stoichiometric trigger molecule concentrations, miktoarms with three branches exhibited consistently faster depolymerization rates than those with two branches and linear copolymers. Conversely, at constant trigger molecule concentrations, the depolymerization rates of copolymers exhibited more complex behavior influenced by two opposing factors: the excess of trigger molecules, which increased with a decrease in the number of hydrophobic branches or blocks, and simultaneous head-to-tail depolymerization, which intensified with an increasing number of branches. Our study elucidates the intricate interplay between copolymer architecture, trigger molecule concentrations, and depolymerization dynamics, providing valuable insights for the rational design of amphiphilic copolymers with tunable demicellization and cargo release properties.

We use the Maximum Overlap Discrete Wavelet Transform (MODWT) to analyse the interconnectedness between the stock markets of continental Europe and the BRICS countries. More specifically, we examine the presence of financial contagion in the stock markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa subsequent to the EuroZone Sovereign Debt Crisis (EZDC). We find evidence of co-movement and volatility spillover at short time scales between the Eurozone equity market and the equity markets in South Africa and Russia, with the Eurozone stock market leading the BRICS markets. The presence of co-movement in short time scales is indicative of the presence of financial contagion. No financial contagion is observed in the Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian stock markets during the European sovereign debt crisis. The absence of financial contagion observed in these three BRICS countries during the European sovereign debt crisis suggests that policymakers in these countries should prioritise addressing idiosyncratic shock channels.

The use of individual protective covers (IPCs) to protect newly planted citrus trees from HLB infection is being widely adopted in Florida, an HLB endemic citrus producing area. It is known that IPCs positively influence most horticultural traits, increasing tree growth, flush expansion, and leaf size enabling trees to sustain a balanced carbohydrate metabolism by preventing CLas infection and induced higher leaf chlorophyll levels. This may result in more productive trees. However, as the tree grows IPCs eventually are removed, typically between 2 and 3 years after initial installation. Once IPCs are removed, trees become exposed to the ACPs and ultimately become infected. In this work we covered trees from Valencia sweet orange with IPCs for 30 months, until the trees entered fruit bearing age. We investigated how IPC protection of newly planted trees for 30 months influenced fruit quality and yield of ‘Valencia’ trees for three consecutive seasons after IPC removal compared to non-covered trees. The use of IPCs kick-started the newly planted citrus trees, resulting in more yield and fruits with better internal and external quality. After 30 months of IPC protection, tree canopies were larger and denser supporting more fruit per tree than in non-protected trees for three consecutive seasons even though by the end of the first season after IPC removal trees were HLB positive. Tree height, scion diameter, canopy volume, and leaf area were significantly improved as compared to non-covered trees. Additionally, fruit quality was significantly improved in the three seasons following IPC removal as compared to non-covered trees. However, a decline in quality was measurable in fruit from IPC trees after the second harvesting season, with trees affected by HLB. Based on the results from this study, we conclude that benefits from IPC protection may last for at least three consecutive seasons once trees enter the productive age despite CLas-infection within 12 months after IPC removal.

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), leading to elevated mortality rates among patients. We aimed to evaluate the levels of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), global longitudinal strain (GLS), ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hsTn), in SLE patients and to explore their relationship with clinical parameters. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 82 SLE patients without evident cardiac or kidney impairment and 41 age- and sex matched healthy controls. We comparatively evaluated CAVI, GLS, VAC, and hsTn between SLE patients and controls, and we assessed their association among SLE patients with disease activity based on the SELENA-SLEDAI Activity Index. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of CAVI and hsTn within the SLE cohort. Results: In comparison to healthy controls, SLE patients presented with significantly higher CAVI, GLS and hsTn levels, while VAC was significantly reduced (p&lt;0.001). Further, SLE patients with active disease (SELENA-SLEDAI≥4) exhibited higher levels of CAVI and troponin than those with inactive disease (p&lt;0.001). SLEDAI was an independent predictor of CAVI, while VAC and SLEDAI were independent determinants of hsTn in SLE cohort. Conclusion: SLE patients displayed abnormal levels of CAVI, VAC, GLS, and troponin compared to healthy individuals. Our findings implicate the potential of those CV novel CVD risk factors to refine screening and therapeutic strategies for this specific population.

This paper explores the application of Blockchain technology in food traceability, focusing specifically on olive oil. It addresses the significant challenges in the food industry, such as verifying authenticity and detecting harmful substances. The research highlights the potential of Blockchain to enhance traceability by leveraging its decentralized and secure architecture, which en-sures data integrity and facilitates rapid monitoring throughout the supply chain. The paper also examines the synergy between Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT), which is critical for real-time tracking in product production. The research conducted has led to a practical demonstration through a web application connected to the Ethereum test network, designed for the quality control of olive oil via smart contracts. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of Blockchain technology and its transformative potential in ensuring food traceability, particularly for high-value commodities like olive oil.

Anxiety is a prevalent mental health disorder that significantly impairs daily functioning and social interactions. While pharmacological treatments can be effective, they are often limited by challenges such as treatment resistance, side effects, and relapse. Electroacupuncture (EA) has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological intervention for anxiety, though its mechanisms of action remain largely unexplored. This study investigates the role of microglial cells in anxiety and examines how EA influences microglial morphology and function in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in a model of social isolation-induced anxiety. Using a socially isolated mouse model, we assessed anxiety-like behaviors through the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and Open Field Test (OFT), and conducted biochemical analyses and immunofluorescence imaging to evaluate NOX2 expression, microglial activation, and oxidative stress markers. Our results show that EA significantly alleviates anxiety-like behaviors, reduces NOX2 expression in BLA microglia, lowers reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and enhances microglial morphology. These findings suggest that EA exerts its anxiolytic effects by modulating oxidative stress and microglial activity in the BLA, offering new insights into the cellular mechanisms by which EA may aid in anxiety management.

A review discusses recent research findings spanning the last two decades concerning ultrasonic technologies applicable to the oil, gas, and coal sectors. Various experiments conducted in laboratories have demonstrated the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness of ultrasound in recovering and processing oil, bitumen, coal, and oil shale. Ultrasound enhances formation permeability, coal gas permeability, and oil viscosity, particularly when delivered in short, powerful pulses at medium frequencies. Combining ultrasound with traditional recovery methods has shown promising results, boosting recovery efficiency by up to 100%. At the same time, ultrasonic treatment reduces the use of traditional reagents, thereby reducing environmental pollution. Moreover, ultrasound treatment shows potential in tasks such as separating oil-water emulsions, desulfurization, dewaxing oil, coal enrichment, and extracting valuable metals from metal-bearing shales through hydrometallurgical leaching. However, widespread industrial implementation of ultrasonic technology necessitates further field and mathematical research.

The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionising industries by enhancing connectivity among people, systems, and objects. With IoT device numbers predicted to rise from 9.7 billion in 2020 to 29 billion by 2030, its integration into supply chain management is increasingly critical, improving transparency, efficiency, and decision-making. This study focuses on evaluating the impact of IoT on supply chain efficiency within five Nigerian companies, a region where IoT's potential remains largely untapped due to infrastructural and technological challenges.Methods: The research employed a quantitative methodology, with purposive sampling used to select 50 participants across the 5 selected companies, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of IoT's influence across diverse sectors. A structured questionnaire was administered online to 10 senior managers from each selected company, collecting data on IoT adoption levels, applications, and impacts on supply chain performance. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 27, employing descriptive analysis and regression and correlation tests to examine the relationship between IoT adoption and supply chain metrics.Results: The analysis revealed a significant adoption rate of 74.4% across the companies, with notable enhancements in supply chain metrics. Specifically, a negative correlation coefficient of -0.345 was observed between IoT adoption and lead time, although this was not statistically significant (p=0.053). Inventory turnover showed marked improvement, with 60% of companies reporting increased efficiency in inventory management. Order accuracy saw substantial improvements, with 17 out of 43 respondents (39.5%) rating it as significantly enhanced. Despite these positive trends, challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and high implementation costs were significant barriers, affecting the full realization of IoT benefits.Conclusion and Recommendations: The study concludes that while IoT adoption shows promise in enhancing supply chain operations in Nigeria, the benefits are unevenly realized, largely influenced by existing infrastructural deficits and high initial costs. Recommendations include enhancing digital infrastructure, developing supportive regulatory frameworks, and implementing pilot projects to better integrate IoT solutions tailored to specific operational needs. Investing in local expertise and fostering public-private partnerships are also critical for overcoming barriers to IoT adoption and leveraging its full potential for supply chain enhancement in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: This study focusses on diagnosis of stages of AD (Alzheimer’s disease) including MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) from two data modalities - gene expression and clinical data of ADNI (Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative ) participants using multiclassification. The gene expression dataset is highly imbalanced and of HDLSS (high-dimensional and low-sample-size) characteristics. This is the only study where multiclassification based AD stage diagnosis is done to identify multiple stages of Alzheimer. We are able to achieve the best multiclassification result in both the modalities and identify new genetic biomarkers. METHODS: Combination of XGBoost and SFBS (“Sequential Floating Backward Selection”) methods is used to select features. We are able to select the most effective 95 gene probsets out of 49,386. For clinical study data, 8 most effective biomarkers could be selected using SFBS. For both genomic and clinical data, DL (‘Deep Learning’) classifier is used to identify stages - CN (Cognitive Normal), MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment), AD (Alzheimer’s Disease / Dementia). Because of high data imbalance in genomic data, border line oversampling is used for model training and original data for validation. RESULT & DISCUSSION: With clinical data, we achieved ‘ROC AUC’ scores 0.97, 0.95, 0.94 for CN, MCI, Dementia stage respectively . We achieve ‘ROC AUC’ scores 0.75, 0.74, 0.70 for CN, MCI, Dementia stage respectively and 0.67 for both micro average F1 scores and micro weighted F1 score. This is the best result so far for AD stage diagnosis from gene expression profile data through multiclassification with ADNI data. Results reflect that our multiclassification model can efficiently handle the imbalanced data of HDLSS nature to identify samples of minority class. MAPK14, ZNF835, MID1, HLA-DQA1, TEP1 are some of the new genes found to be associated with AD risk. DRAXIN, HSPA12B, USP47 etc. are found to be AD preventive or suppressor.

In recent decades the Mediterranean area observed an increase in large fires, despite the decrease in the number of fire ignitions, following a worldwide tendency. Climate change has been the main culprit for large burnt areas, and alterations of forest ecosystems, resulting in the increased recurrence of forest fires. In Portugal, the analogous trend resulted in the destruction of large rural, urban and industrial areas, where after the 2017 months of June and October catastrophic events, the government implemented the 2019 specific policies for preventing fire outbreaks and defending the forest against fires. This compulsory policy demanded that landowners and local governments alike needed to contact specific authorities requesting authorization for their intentions to clean properties in and around urban areas, roads, and forest limits. Despite policy and careful monitoring, ignitions still occur, and in many cases resulting from the implementation of such policies. The study analyses the before and after policy implementation, considering 6904 ignitions records from the period between 2014 and 2023 from the central area of Portugal, covering the transition area between the agricultural fields of the Tagus valley and the Monte-junto-Estrela Mountain range, the district of Santarém. The authorization to use fire in clearance practices is granted according to a set of weather conditions, temperature, wind intensity, and relative humidity, when analyzing fire ignitions with the average daily wind intensity at the site of the occurrence, we observed that more than half of wildfires occur on days with winds between 10 and 20 Km/h, whereas intensities greater than 30 Km/h only 1% of the total occurrences, and of these 22% occurred due to the use of fire in the burning of agricultural leftovers and cut and piled bushes. The circulation of the thermal depression in the Iberian Peninsula gives rise to increasing intensity throughout the day, reaching a maximum in the late afternoon, this factor combined with the misjudgment of safe conditions leads us to suggest stricter intervals and the need for awareness of daily variation in conditions.

The increasing demand for operational efficiency in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) has sparked interest in Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodologies. LSS integrates Lean’s waste elimination focus with Six Sigma’s variability reduction, offering a comprehensive framework for process improvement. Despite its potential, SMEs face unique challenges in implementing LSS, such as financial limitations and resistance to change. This systematic review evaluates the application of LSS in SMEs, analyzing its impact on operational, financial, and quality performance across different industries and geographical regions. The study identifies key success factors, barriers, and research gaps while proposing regression models to predict financial gains associated with LSS adoption. The review followed PRISMA guidelines, sourcing literature from SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar published between 2014 and 2024. The inclusion criteria targeted studies involving LSS implementation in manufacturing SMEs. Data extraction included study characteristics, methodologies, and outcomes. A risk of bias assessment was conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The synthesis involved descriptive statistics, effect measures, and sensitivity analyses. Out of 150 initially identified studies, 109 met the inclusion criteria. The findings demonstrate that LSS implementation significantly improves operational performance, with 77.98% of studies showing reductions in cycle time and defect rates. Financial outcomes, including cost savings and ROI, showed moderate to large effects, with 63.58% of the reviewed studies reporting cost reductions. Quality improvements were noted across studies, particularly in First Pass Yield, with 67% of studies demonstrating enhanced quality metrics. The geographic distribution indicated strong research activity in India (23.85%), the United States (6.42%), and Europe (5.50%). Both developed (46.79%) and developing (45.87%) economies contributed extensively. Key barriers included resource constraints (reported in 45% of studies) and resistance to change (noted in 31%). LSS offers substantial benefits for SMEs, driving process efficiency, cost reduction, and quality improvements. However, challenges such as limited resources and organizational resistance must be addressed for successful adoption. This review provides insights into best practices, highlights research gaps, and suggests areas for future investigation, emphasizing the need for customized LSS strategies tailored to the unique contexts of SMEs.

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process for joining metallic alloys and dissimilar metals. It has emerged as an alternative technology for welding high strength alloys that are difficult to join with conventional techniques. FSW is used to produce products with better mechanical properties. Now a days aluminum alloys have been widely used in several industrial applications such as aerospace, marine, automobile and commercial applications due to their light weight structure, better mechanical properties and high corrosion resistance.In this work, three welding parameters such as spindle speed, welding speed and plunge depth were considered for friction stir welding. FSW was carried out between dissimilar aluminum alloy plates (AA6061 and AA 8011) to produce butt joint.A Box-Behnken design with three factors and three levels was chosen to minimize the number of experimental conditions .The tensile strength and hardness of the welded regions were evaluated. The optimum level settings and the major parameters that influence the joint strength were obtained by Box-Behnken design.

The insufficient of fish meal has been become a prominent problem with the development of the aquaculture industry. Therefore, it is great significance that replacement fish meal using other protein sources for the sustainable development of aquaculture industry. In this study, fermented cottonseed meal (FCM) and fermented rapeseed meal (FRM) were used to replace fish meal in Chinese mitten crab. The ratio of FCM and FRM were set according to 1:2, 1:1, and 2:1, and were supplemented into 25% fish meal (FM-25) and 15% fish meal (FM-15) diets, respectively, to formulated 6 kinds of experimental diets. The feeding duration was 8 weeks. The results showed that the weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of crabs fed the diets containing 25% fish meal were significantly higher than crabs fed 15% fish meal diets. At 25% fish meal level, the WG and SGR of crabs fed the diet with 1FCM:1FRM were significantly higher than those fed the 1FCM:2FRM and 2FCM:1FRM diets. At 25% fish meal level, the crude lipid (CL) content of crabs fed the diet with 1FCM:2FRM were significantly higher than those fed the 2FCM:1FRM and 1FCM:1FRM. At 25% fish meal level, the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and peroxidase (POD) of crabs fed the diet with 1FCM:2FRM were significantly higher than those fed the 2FCM:1FRM and 1FCM:1FRM. At 25% fish meal level, the relative expression of peroxiredoxin (PRX) of crabs fed the diet with 1FCM:1FRM were significantly higher than those fed the 2FCM:1FRM and 1FCM:2FRM. In summary, diets supplemented with a mixture of fermented cotton meal and fermented rapeseed meal (1:1) can significantly improve the growth and antioxidant capacity of Chinese mitten crab.

Fusarium wilt (FW) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cucumerinum (Foc) of cucumber is a destructive soil-borne disease in cucumber (Cucumis sativus.L). There is limited knowledge on molecular mechanisms to FW resistance-mediated defense responses in cucumber. In this study, metabolome and transcriptome profiling were carried out in two FW, resistant (NR) and susceptible (NS), near isogenic lines (NILs) before and after Foc inoculation. The NILs showed consistent and stable FW resistances in multiple greenhouse and laboratory screening tests. Widely targeted metabolomic analysis identified differentially accumulated metabolites (DMAs) with significantly more accumulation in NR in response to Foc infection including many phenolic acid and flavonoid compounds from the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. Transcriptome analysis identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the NILs upon Foc inoculation including genes for secondary metabolite biosynthesis in or transcription factor genes regulating the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. Joint analysis of the metabolomic and transcriptomic data identified DAMs and DEGs closely associated with biosynthesis of phenolic acid and flavonoid DAMs. The association of these compounds with NR-conferred FW resistance was exemplified by in vivo assays in which two phenolic acid compounds, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and diisooctyl phthalate, and the flavonoid compound gallocatechin 3-O-gallate were shown to have significant inhibitory effect on Foc growth. The antifungal effect of three compounds seems to be a novel finding. We conclude that phenolic acids and flavonoids play an important role in NR mediated FW resistance in cucumber.

When limited area models of the hydrodynamics of the atmosphere and of the ocean are 1 run over an extended time, variability unrelated to external "drivers" emerge - this variability is 2 colloquially named "hydrodynamical noise" or just "noise". This article summarises what we have 3 learned in the past few years about the properties of such noise, and the implications for numerical 4 experimentation and analysis. The presence of this noise can be identified easily in ensembles of 5 numerical simulations, and it turns out that the intensity of the noise is closely linked to the scale- 6 dependent "memory". At the system level, this "memory" term as given by Hasselmann’s Stochastic 7 Climate model plays a key role. In the case of marginal seas, the process of baroclinic instability 8 modulated by tides and the formation of seasonal thermoclines are significant aspects. Some more 9 general aspects are discussed, such as the applicability of the Stochastic Climate model to systems 10 outside of atmospheric and oceanic dynamics, the irreversibility of tipping points and the challenges 11 of detecting changes beyond a noise level and of the attribution of causes of change.

The tactile Internet (TI) characterises the transformative paradigm that aims to support real-time control and haptic communication between humans and machines, heavily relying on a dense network of sensors and actuators. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising enabler of TI that enhances interactions between sensors and actuators, which are collectively considered as users, thus supports multiple users simultaneously in sharing the same resource block (RB), consequently offering remarkable improvements in spectral efficiency and latency. This article proposes a novel downlink power domain NOMA (PD-NOMA) communication scenario for TI by considering multiple users and a base station. The signal-to-interference noise ratio (SINR), sum rate, and fair power allocation (PA) coefficients are mathematically derived in the NOMA system model. The simulations are performed with two-user and three-user scenarios to evaluate the system performance in terms of bit error rate (BER), sum rate and latency between NOMA and traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes. Moreover, outage probability is analysed with varying fixed power allocation (PA) coefficients in the NOMA scheme. Finally, we present the outage probability, sum rate and latency analyses for fixed and derived fair PA coefficients, thus promoting dynamic PA and user fairness by efficiently utilising the available spectrum.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a significant public health threat due to its ability to cause severe gastrointestinal diseases in humans, ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening conditions such as hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). As the primary reservoir of STEC, cattle play a crucial role in its transmission through contaminated food and water, posing a considerable risk to human health. This comprehensive review explores host-pathogen interactions during STEC colonization of the bovine gut, focusing on the role of gut microbiota in modulating these interactions and influencing disease outcomes. We integrated findings from published transcriptomics, proteomics, and genomics studies to provide a thorough understanding of how STEC adheres to and colonizes the bovine gastrointestinal tract. The insights from this review offer potential avenues for the development of novel preventative and therapeutic strategies aimed at controlling STEC colonization in cattle threby reducing the risk of zoonotic transmission.

The development of analog rice, apart from being an effort to diversify food, also has the potential to be develop as functional food in fulfilling the nutrients needed by a community. Katuk leaf is known for its ability to accelerate breast milk production for lactating women which is inseparable from sterol as bioactive content. This study aimed to determine the best formulation of analog rice made from cassava flour, banana flour, Katuk leaf powder and soy lecithin that was sensory acceptable, in a shape resembling rice, and able to fulfill the nutritional needs of lactating women. Analog rice was produced using extruder machine before the physical and sensory properties analyses were carried out, followed by the chemical properties analysis. Formulation C (80% cassava flour, 20% banana flour, 3% Katuk leaf powder and 0.5% soy lecithin) was obtained as the best or most preferred formulation based on sensory analysis which the grain shaped oval round resembling original rice and had green-brownish color, fluffy texture, distinct aroma and taste derived from the raw material used. Therefore, this research is expected to support the development of analog rice for providing the main staple food for fulfilling the lactating women’s nutrition.

Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, and requires effective disaster response and rehabilitation measures, particularly for vulnerable populations. This study aimed to investigate the current state of disaster preparedness in municipalities and identify gaps in support for vulnerable populations during disasters. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to March 2023, targeting officers in disaster countermeasures-related municipal departments. The survey assessed municipality awareness of vulnerable populations, understanding of their support needs, and the status of support systems during emergency evacuations. Overall, 51.2% of municipalities responded, of whom 86.4% were aware of vulnerable populations in their areas. However, only 54.5% had a clear understanding of their support needs. A small proportion of municipalities (18.2%–36.4%) had comprehensive support systems in place for vulnerable populations during emergency evacuations. Only 4.5% of municipalities were familiar with the concept of disaster rehabilitation, but 63.6% expressed interest in discussing evacuation plans with medical professionals. The findings reveal significant gaps in municipalities’ awareness and preparedness on disaster rehabilitation measures for vulnerable populations. This highlights the need for increased training, resources, and collaboration between local governments and healthcare professionals to ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable populations during disasters.

Circles, semicircles and its derived circular sectors are ubiquitous both in human creations and in the natural realm. However, mathematically speaking they have always represented a certain level of enigma or even mysticism since ancient times for being such a perfect shape that enclosed the irrational value that we now call π. Such figure was relatively unknown until the seventeenth century; polymaths like Guarini even equated it, after so many centuries, to the Archimedes fraction of 22/7 or sometimes 25/8 which, giving a value 3.125 introduces a considerable degree of error; Eventually, Lambert had to demonstrate, well advanced the eighteenth century that π was actually an irrational number. In recent years, the author has worked with sections of spheres and other curved bodies as related to radiative heat transfer and applied to the finding of form factors pertaining to such special geometries, to the point of defining new postulates. The main theorems so far enunciated refer to the radiative exchange between circles and half disks, but recently the possibility to treat circular sectors has arrived, thanks to the research already conducted in which, by virtue of Cabeza-Lainez first postulate, we are able to know the form factor of any spherical segment over itself, discarding in this way, the former uncertainties that appeared when dealing with the inner side of spherical surfaces. As it is known, to find the exact expression of the configuration factor by integration alone is mostly a tedious task and the results are not readily available as it has been frequently proved. In the said problem of the circular sectors, the author could integrate the first two steps of the basic formulation for radiant exchange. Subsequently, the novelty of the procedure lies in introducing a finite differences approximation for the third and fourth integrals which still remain unsolved, once that we have been able to find the first and second integrals of the form factor. This possibility had not been identified by former research. This sole output provides us with an ample variety of scenarios previously unforeseen. As a consequence, we would be able to analyze with more precision but freely, the spatial transference of radiant heat for figures composed of circular sectors such as spherical sectors like quarters or octaves of spheres. Many architectural, industrial or aircraft modules and objects fall into this category. We already know that spherical shapes cannot be discretized with any accuracy as there are no spherical tiles of the same size, therefore we hope to overcome with our finding a persistent extent of error. In this situation we are able to reduce a considerable amount of hindrances in the progress of thermal radiation science, due to the advances hereby presented. As the new formulations found can be adapted for algorithms, they will be integrated in simulation procedures with significant avail. Our achievement may be considered timely in the effort invested to square the elements of mathematics for radiative transfer. Important sequels are already being derived for radiation in the entrance to tunnels, aircraft design, low-energy building construction and also lighting and HVAC industries to cite just a few.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model could be an appropriate econometric framework for characterizing the dynamics of the U.S. public debt/GDP ratio after the Bretton Woods collapse. Our preferred SETAR specifications are capable in capturing the main stylized facts of the U.S. public debt/GDP ratio between 1974 and 2024. In addition, the estimated SETAR models are consistent with several theoretical frameworks that seek to explain the behavior of the U.S. public debt/GDP ratio before and after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Finally, the paper provides some arguments on why the previous studies that use the exponential smooth threshold autoregressive (ESTAR) models, or SETAR-type models for the first differences of the U.S. public debt/GDP ratio, are potentially mis-specified, both on econometric and economic grounds.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a challenge for the whole world and it had major secondary effects on humans and environmental health. The viral infection induced, in many situations, secondary bacterial infections, especially enteric infections by destabilizing the balance of the gastrointestinal microbiota. The large-scale use of antibiotics and biocides both for curative and preventive purposes has determined an increase in bacterial resistance and at the same time the possibility of pathogenic microorganisms’ multiplication and their dissemination to natural environments. Wastewater is the main vector of faecal microorganisms that favour their dissemination into natural aquatic ecosystems. The present paper aimed to analyze the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the microbiological quality of wastewater from sewage treatment plants in Romania and its impact on receiving rivers. In order to highlight different and important areas of Romania, 3 cities from the east, center and west were selected for a microbiological evaluation of their WWTPs influent and effluent between ante-Covid-19 and Covid-19 pandemic peak period, when the Covid-19 pandemic had a direct impact on WWTPs microbial composition. Our study showed a higher contamination with fecal bacteria linked to a higher Covid-19 incidence. The increased usage of pharmaceutical compounds, at their turn, increased the number of resistant bacteria reaching the environment via WWTP effluents.

Background and Aims: Stroke is a leading cause of seizures and epilepsy in adults, but current guidelines lack strong recommendations for treating post-stroke seizures (PSE). This study aims to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of lacosamide combined with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in patients with PSE and atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: In this prospective longitudinal study, 53 patients with PSE and AF, admitted from 2022 to 2023, received NOACs for AF management and lacosamide for seizure control. A control group of 53 patients with cardioembolic stroke, receiving NOACs, was matched by age, sex, and NIHSS scores to ensure comparability. Results: Over 24 months, 16 patients in the study group and 15 in the control group experienced new embolic events, with no significant difference between groups. Seizure control improved significantly in the study group, with reduced frequency and severity. No severe adverse effects from lacosamide were observed. Conclusions: The combination of NOACs and lacosamide is a safe and effective treatment for patients with AF and PSE, not increasing the risk of recurrent ischemic or hemorrhagic events. Further studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-ups are needed to confirm these findings and optimize treatment protocols.

Polyalcohol liquefaction can be done by acid or basic catalysis producing polyols with different properties. This study compared the mechanical properties of foams produced using polyols from liquefied Cytisus scoparius obtained by acid and basic catalysis and using two different foam catalysts. The differences were monitored using FTIR analysis. Acid-catalyzed liquefaction yielded 95.1 %, with the resultant polyol having an OH index of 1081 mg KOH/g while basic catalysis yielded 82.5 %, with a similar OH index of 1070 mg KOH/g. Generally, compressive strength with dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL) ranged from 16 - 31 kPa (acid-liquefied polyol) and 12 -21 kPa (base-liquefied polyol), while with stannous octoate (TIN), it ranged from 17 - 42 kPa (acid) and 29 - 68 kPa (base). Increasing water content generally decreased the compressive modulus and strength of foams. Higher water content led to a higher absorption at 1670 cm-1 in the FTIR spectrum due to the formation of urea. Higher isocyanate indices generally improved compressive strength, but high amounts led to unreacted isocyanate that could be seen by a higher absorption at 2265 cm-1 and 3290 cm-1. DBTL was shown to be the best foam catalyst due to higher trimer conversion seen in the spectra by a higher absorption at 1410 cm-1. Acid and base-derived polyols lead to different polyurethane foams with different FTIR spectra, particularly with a higher absorption at 1670 cm-1 for foams from acid-derived liquefaction.

This study examines the exchange rate rebound effects of the Central Bank intervention in the selected ECOWAS economies. An empirical understanding of these effects is very important to trade adjustment as well as the macroeconomic stability in these countries. Using the panel data modelling framework, the study finds that the impact of the Central Bank intervention on exchange rate is insignificant and it does not lead to the exchange rate rebound. In addition, money supply as well as monetary policy rate implemented by the monetary authorities significantly influences the level of exchange rate in a positive direction.

To identify the effect of frailty on loneliness of older adults receiving home care, considering their socioeconomic and homebound status. This cross-sectional study enrolled 218 individuals aged ≥65 years receiving home-based health services “Help at Home” in the Region of Evrytania, Greece, after an open invitation by Municipality authorities from March to June 2022. Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) was used for the evaluation of frailty, UCLA Loneliness Scale version 3 for loneliness and social isolation was accessed through five questions (living alone, frequency of interaction with children, relatives, friends, and participation in social organizations). The mean age of the participants was 81.48 ± 9.06, 61.9% were female, 54.1% experienced high levels of loneliness (UCLA-3 mean 45.76 ±11.10 [range 20-68]), and 46.3% of the participants identified as socially isolated. Also, 58.3% of the individuals were classified as frail (TFI mean 5.95 ± 3.07, [TFI range 0-13], with 57.3% experiencing physical frailty, 43.6% psychological frailty, and 27.1% social frailty. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) placing UCLA-3 as the dependent variable revealed that loneliness and across all domains of TFI were significantly higher in participants with frailty (total frailty [yes] 49.27 vs. [no] 40,87 p &lt;0.001) particularly, (physical frailty [Yes]=48.99 vs. [No]=41.42, p &lt;0.001, psychological: 48.60 vs. 43.57 p &lt;0.001 and social: 53.38 vs. 42.94 p &lt;0.001) compared to non-frail individuals, even after adjusting for potential confounding effects (covariates: gender, age, marital status, family status, living status, educational level, annual income, chronic diseases, homebound status, and social isolation). Our data analysis confirmed that frailty is a significant risk factor for higher levels of loneliness among older adults who received home-based healthcare.

This article is devoted to the problem of genetically coding of inherited cyclic structures in biological bodies, whose life activity is based on a great inherited set of mutually coordinated cyclic processes. The author puts forward and arguments the idea that the genetic coding system is capable of encoding inherited cyclic processes because it itself is a system of cyclic codes connected with Boolean algebra of logic. In other words, the physiological processes in question are cyclical because they are genetically encoded by cyclic codes. In support of this idea, the author presents a set of his results on the connection of the genetic coding system with cyclic Gray codes, which are one of many known types of cyclic codes. This opens up the possibility of using for modeling inherited cyclic biostructures those algebraic and logical theories and constructions that are associated with Gray codes and have long been used in engineering technologies: Karnaugh maps, Hilbert curve, Hadamard matrices, Walsh functions, dyadic analysis, etc. Additionally, the connections of these constructions with statistical rules of genomic DNAs and binary-genomic numbers are considered.

When experiencing a variety of family negative events, families recognized as having high family resilience maintain and improve family functioning. It is important, therefore, to be able to assess families lacking in family resilience in order to prevent, reduce, or ameliorate family symptoms. The purpose of this study was to clarify the state of exerted family resilience in order to create an assessment scale for insufficiencies in family resilience (IFR). Family resilience is defined as “when a family becomes aware of family symptoms, its power to autonomously and actively improve its own family functions.” The results of a literature review of 22 cases from 16 studies on family resilience and the results of 28 semi-structured interviews with 28 parenting-age families in Japan were qualitatively categorized, and directed content analysis was conducted based on the Concentric Sphere Family Environment Theory. A total of 157 labels, with a total of 23 categories and 47 subcategories, such as “Can utilize relatives,” “Family members can communicate with members of other families,” “Family members can share information,” “All family members can communicate with one another,” “All family members can cooperate with one another,” and “Can share time with family,” was revealed. Thus, a variety of diverse aspects contributing to a family’s resilience, including family member interactions, entire family interactions, use of social resources, and religious and spiritual support, were revealed. The results of this study should be linked to the creation of the IFR.

A microwave technique prepared a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) by grafting two hydrophilic monomers onto a polysaccharide substrate. The monomers used are acrylic acid (AA) or acrylamide (AM) to graft onto a pullulan substrate (PUL) to form PUL-g- AA (SAP1) and PUL-g- AM (SAP2), respectively. The monomers (AM/AA) graft together onto a PUL substrate to form PUL-g-(AM/AA) (SAP3). Grafting parameters such as grafting efficiency with percentage, conversion of monomer to polymer, gel content, water retention, water adsorption capacity, and swelling kinetics were determined. Additionally, the effect of environmental pH (2, 4, 7, 9, and 12) and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant was evaluated, where SDBS was added by 1,2,3,4 and 5 mM to form (SAP4 to SAP8). FTIR results show that AM grafted on PUL through an aliphatic C-N bond, while AA grafting occurred through a single C-C bond. The grafting efficiency with AM is higher than with AA, as well as their gel contents. Water absorbance capacity increased with grafting of AA or AM separately, and water retention was enhanced. The highest absorbent capacity, water retention, gel content, and grafting parameters values were obtained with 3 mM SDBS content and pH7. The swelling kinetics showed that the increases in the theoretical and experimental swelling equilibriums were 72 % and 82%, respectively, at SAP6 compared to the values of these parameters in SAP3. The water absorption capacity of the hydrogel increases with increasing pH to 7 and then gradually decreases. XRD improves the crystallinity and crystalline size of the hydrogel after grafting polymerization for AM/AA into PUL, in addition to enhancing thermal stability. On the contrary, FE-SEM demonstrated that SDBS improves the porosity and pore size of the hydrogel surface in SAP6.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the drivers and outcomes of the brand love derived from consumption experiences in the automobile retail sector. We examine the effects of consumers’ perceptions of perceived service quality and the trust they feel towards a car dealership (cognition) on emotions and brand love (affection), and the effects of brand love on consumers´ behavioural intentions (conation). This research provides insights into customer brand love in the automobile industry.

Medicinal plants have been a cornerstone of traditional medicine systems for centuries, offering a vast array of bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential. However, the identification, characterization, and elucidation of the pharmacological properties of these plants have often been challenging due to their complex chemical composition and diverse biological activities. Bioinformatics, with its interdisciplinary approach combining biology, computer science, and information technology, presents a powerful toolkit for the systematic study of medicinal plants. This review provides an overview of bioinformatics methodologies and resources that can facilitate the identification, phytochemical analysis, pharmacological investigation, and conservation of medicinal plants. It highlights the integration of omics technologies, computational algorithms, database resources, and molecular modeling techniques in advancing our understanding of medicinal plants' therapeutic potential and their applications in drug discovery and development.

Background: Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) effectively halt disease progression in HIV infections, complete eradiation of the virus remains elusive. Additionally, challenges such as long-term ART toxicity, drug resistance, and the demanding regimen of daily and lifelong ad-herence required by ART highlight the imperative need for alternative therapeutic and preventa-tive approaches. In recent years, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) have emerged as promising candidates, offering potential for therapeutic, preventative and possibly curative in-terventions against HIV infection. Objective: This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the passive immunization of bNAbs in HIV-1 infected individuals. Main findings: Recent findings from clinical trials have highlighted the potential of bNAbs in treatment, prevention, and in the quest of an HIV-1 cure. While monotherapy with a single bNAb is insufficient in maintaining viral suppression and preventing viral escape, ultimately leading to viral rebound, combination therapy with potent, non-overlapping epitope-targeting bNAbs have demonstrated prolonged viral suppression and delayed time to rebound by effec-tively restricting the emergence of escape mutations, albeit largely in individuals with bNAb-sensitive strains. Additionally, passive immunization of bNAb have provided ‘proof-of-concept’ for antibody-mediated prevention against HIV-1 acquisition, although com-plete prevention was not obtained. Therefore, further research on the use of bNAbs in HIV-1 treatment and prevention remains imperative.

Creativity in virtual work environments and its influence on emotional exhaustion is a relationship with inconclusive results. Furthermore, autonomy, when it loses its original purpose of acting as a job resource, takes on an ambiguous role that needs further research. Objective: To analyze the relationship between creativity and emotional exhaustion, along with the role assumed by work autonomy in this link, in an online work context. Methodology: The sample is formed by 448 employees with university studies. The statistical analysis is done through a simple moderation process. Results: Creativity and work autonomy mitigate emotional exhaustion. Control over work surely reduces the impact of work related stressors, and this safety climate promotes adaptive and original responses that improve employees' emotional health. However, when creative demands coincide with an autonomy that extends working hours, instead of establishing limits, this supposed benefit becomes a demand that prevents employees from disconnecting until emotionally exhausting them. Conclusion: A virtual work environment is an ideal habitat for creativity and self-management to improve employees' emotional health, as long as work autonomy acts as a resource.

Technology is in the way to reach in its climax but the basic understanding of science in many phenomena is still awaited even though the nature witnesses it. Scientific research reveals strong analogy between photon and electron. When an atom deals neutral state, it levitates electron of outer ring from the back surface while placing the bit-energy at front surface. Gravitation behavior of that electron starts at the centre of relaxation point by including the force of side pole where the pulling force of nearby unfilled state of that atom from the front surface results into depict forcing energy shape like Gaussian distribution symbol with both ends turned called unit photon. The inertia is being involved at each stage of changing direction of that electron by introducing the disappearances of forces of two poles against the appearances of forces of two opposite poles during rest to motion and motion to rest in the first half-cycle. The same is the case in the second half-cycle of that electron during rest to motion and motion to rest but it is under different introduction of the disappearances of forces against appearances of forces. However, at stage of levitating or gravitating period of electron, only one force is being involved at one time where the opposite force is disappeared. The uninterrupted confined inter-state electron-dynamics of atom under the availability of several bits of bit-energy results into generate forcing energy shape like a wave. Two bits of bit-energy where shape of bit for first half-cycle is like integral symbol and second half-cycle is like opposite integral symbol which are being placed along the configuring trajectory of inter-state electron-dynamics during forward-direction cycle and two bits of bit-energy shape in opposite order are being placed along the trajectory of inter-state electron-dynamics during back-direction cycle. Generating forcing energy of unit photon in each cycle is pushing to the rear side by remaining connected till the electron is not restoring the state of rest. Silicon atom is considered as a model system under neutral state. Uninterrupted confined inter-state electron-dynamics result into generate forcing energy that can travel immeasurable length and unavailability of necessitating bit-energy at any interrupted stage result into generate an overt photon. Inter-state electron-dynamics for at least two cycles generate an overt photon –a photon length twice to unit photon. Under certain interaction of unit photon, it divides equally into two bits of bit-energy instead of dividing into tits and bits of heat. The mechanism of generating photon characteristic current by the electron of neutral state atom validates that atoms are four-dimensional discs at centre of dealing no force. An isolated electron is being grounded under directed forcing energy to impinge a neutral state atom where the gained instantaneous velocity under merged energy resulting into distort atom at that point. Matter changes the role of energy and force under various sorts of interactions. Here, heat energy and photon energy explore matter at atomic and electron levels, thus, devise basis of science to describe.

The analysis of the key factors which prevent or contribute to the promotion and development of the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in order to meet the sustainability goals represents an important issue which worth being investigated, especially in the situation in which entering in bilateral relations inside this contract has a powerful meaning in achieving new climate targets, developing and improving the use of green energy, and promoting a sustainable green economy. The main goal of this research is to identify and analyze the main factors which help or pre-vent the promotion and development of a PPA, in order to meet the sustainability goals by promoting a green economy. For this research survey based on comparative analysis, questionnaires and interviews with energy experts, Spearman’s correlation matrix and IBM SPSS Statistics for Window are also used. The results suggest that although there are positive interest and an open attitude towards the PPA from both sides (sellers and buyers), but there is still place for improvement, the lack of knowledge or the insufficient measures taken so far being two of the reasons way until now in Romania we do not have a developed PPA market and the level of knowledge regarding this type of mechanism is quite low.

This study provides a detailed investigation into the pathways through which microplastics from urban sources are transported to marine ecosystems, their distribution across different environments, and their impacts on marine life. Utilizing a combination of water and sediment sampling across urban, riverine, and marine environments, the research quantitatively assesses the concentration and types of microplastics present, and evaluates the ecological consequences of their accumulation in marine ecosystems. The findings reveal a significant concentration of microplastics in all examined environments, with the highest levels detected in urban areas, closely linked to industrial activities and inadequate waste management practices. The study documents a variety of microplastic polymers, with polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being the most prevalent. A substantial impact on marine organisms was observed, including evidence of microplastic ingestion across a wide range of species and indications of stress and physical damage to coral reefs. Seasonal variations indicate that microplastic concentrations peak during periods of high rainfall, suggesting urban runoff as a critical pathway for microplastic transport. The study concludes with recommendations for improving waste management practices, enhancing public awareness and engagement in plastic recycling efforts, and implementing policies aimed at reducing the production and use of single-use plastics. This research underscores the urgent need for coordinated actions to mitigate the pervasive issue of microplastic pollution, highlighting the role of urban management and policy interventions in safeguarding marine ecosystems.

In our study we investigated the accelerated aging process of PLA under 253.7 nm UV-C irradiation with the use of GPC, NMR, FTIR, DSC methods and formal kinetic analysis. The results of GPC and DSC indicated a significant degree of destructive changes in PLA macromol-ecules, while spectroscopic methods NMR and FTIR showed maintenance of PLA main structural elements even after a long time of UV exposure. In addition to that, the GPC method displayed the formation of a high-molecular fraction starting from 24 hours of irradiation, and an increase in its content after 144 hours of experiment. It has been showed for the first time that a distinctive feature of prolonged UV exposure is the occurrence of intra- and intermolecular radical recom-bination reactions, leading to the formation of a high-molecular fraction of PLA decomposition products. This causes the observed slowdown of the photolysis process. It was concluded that photolysis of PLA is a complex of physicochemical processes, the mechanism of which depends on morphological changes in a solid phase of the polymer under UV radiation.

Delayed Gastric Conduit Emptying (DGCE) occurs in 15-39% of patients who underwent esophagectomy. Intra-Pyloric Injection of Botulinum Toxin (IPBT), Pneumatic Balloon Dilation (PBD), and the same session combination (BTPD), represent the main endoscopic procedures, but comparative data are currently unavailable. We retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data on all consecutive patients with DGCE treated endoscopically with IPBT, PBD, or BTPD. ISDE Diagnostic Criteria were used for DGCE diagnosis and classification. Gastric Outlet Obstruction Score was used for clinical staging. All patients undergoing IPBT received 100 UI of toxin, while those undergoing PBD were dilated up to 20mm. Clinical success (CS) was defined as the resolution of symptoms/resumption of feeding at discharge or expanding dietary intake at any rate. Recurrence was defined as symptom relapse after more than 15 days of well-being requiring endoscopic/surgical intervention. 64 patients (81.2% male, 90.6% Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy, 77.4% adenocarcinoma), median age 62 years (IQR 55-70), were enrolled: 18 (28.1%) in the IPBT group, 24 (37.5%) in the PBD group and 22 (34.4%) in the BTPD group. No statistically significant differences were found in the baseline characteristics, surgical techniques, and median follow-up among the three groups. BTPD showed a higher CS rate (100%) compared to the PD and BTPD groups (p=0.02) and Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test revealed that the BTPD group was associated both with a significatively shorter mean time to refeed of 1.16 days (95% CI 0.8-1.5; p=0.001) and a shorter median time to discharge of 1 day (95% CI 1-3; p=0.0001). Endoscopic management of DGCE remains challenging. Waiting for further strong evidence, BTPD can offer patients a higher clinical efficacy rate and a shorter time to refeed and be discharged.

Phishing emails pose a significant threat to cybersecurity worldwide. There are already tools that mitigate the impact of these emails by filtering them, but these tools are only as reliable as their ability to detect new formats and techniques for creating phishing emails. In this paper we investigated how traditional models and transformer models work on the classification task of identifying if an email is phishing or not. We realized that transformer models, in particular DistilBERT, BERT, and RoBERTa had a significantly higher performance compared to traditional models like Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Naive Bayes. The process consisted in using a large and robust dataset of emails and applying preprocessing and optimization techniques to maximize the best result possible. roBERTa showed its outstanding capacity to identify phishing emails by achieving the maximum accuracy of 0.9943. Even though they were free successful, traditional models performed marginally worse; SVM performed the best, with an accuracy of 0.9854. The results emphasize the value of sophisticated text processing methods and the possibility of transformer models to improve email security by thwarting phishing attempts.

This study aimed to develop a high-quality dry emulsion incorporating omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acid-rich ostrich oil for use as a dietary supplement. Extracted from abdominal adipose tissues using a low-temperature wet rendering method, the ostrich oil exhibited antioxidant properties, favorable physicochemical properties, microbial counts, heavy metal levels, and fatty acid compositions, positioning it as a suitable candidate for an oil-in-water emulsion and subsequent formulation as a dry emulsion. Lecithin was employed as the emulsifier due to its safety and health benefits. The resulting emulsion, comprising 10% w/w lecithin and 10% w/w ostrich oil, was stable, with a droplet size of 3.93 ± 0.11 μm. This liquid emulsion underwent transformation into a dry emulsion to preserve the physicochemical stability of ostrich oil, utilizing Avicel® PH-101 or Aerosil® 200 through a granulation process. Although Aerosil® 200 exhibited superior adsorption, Avicel® PH-101 granules surpassed it in releasing the ostrich oil emulsion. Consequently, Avicel® PH-101 was selected as the preferred adsorbent for formulating the ostrich oil dry emulsion. The dry emulsion, encapsulated with a disintegration time of 3.11 ± 0.14 min for ease of swallowing, maintained microbial loads and heavy metal contents within acceptable limits. Presented as granules containing butylated hydroxytoluene, the dry emulsion showcased robust temperature stability, suggesting the potential incorporation of animal fat into dry emulsions as a promising dietary supplement.

This paper presents a novel privacy-preserving approach, Fed-CNN1D (Federated Convolutional Neural Network 1D), based on federated learning for monitoring air quality and classifying different activities of daily living in indoor spaces. The system employs six different types of sensors to collect measurement parameters, which are then used to train a 1D CNN model locally for activity recognition. The proposed model is lightweight and edge deployable, making it suitable for real-time applications. Experiments were conducted using an air quality dataset specifically curated for Activity of Daily Living (ADL) classification. The results demonstrate that our approach Fed-CNN1D achieves 96.50% accuracy, 96.27% F1-Score, 96.54% precision, 96.21% recall, 0.11% loss, with low communication cost of 0.099Mb, and a swift detection time of 15 ms.

Over the last fifty years, management plans have become more descriptive with regard to potential sustainability of forest systems, raising questions about the feasibility of implementing management activities and ensuring sustainability of a wide variety of ecosystem services. To assess this issue, we conducted a survey among forest planning and operation research communities to understand their perceptions regarding the potential of a sample of sustainability statements currently used in forest plans to be incorporated into optimization models or other mathematical operations. The results revealed that only a few statements from the sample were deemed to have relatively mature or firm methodologies and data to enable inclusion in modern mathematical models for land use optimization. These statements were mostly related to economic sustainability, offering quantifiable information such as a non-declining flow of wood products over time and limits on the amount of timber harvested per decade. In contrast, sociocultural and, to some extent, ecological statements regarding sustainability were generally perceived to be more difficult to translate into mathematical modeling efforts. Particularly challenging were statements corresponding to sustaining natural or scenic characteristics of a forest. These findings may be attributed to various factors, including a lack of measurable indicators for sustainability and a potential lack of understanding about the modeling components and their interactions with planned management activities.

Critical realism emerged from the philosophical writings of Roy Bhaskar, and has evolved into a philosophy of social science research using the model of “dialectical critical realism” (DCR) which begins with the researcher’s assumptions that the structures being researched have a real, ontological grounding which is independent of the researcher. This approach has proved fruitful in British and European social science research, but has had less influence in North America. We outline DCR’s four level model for understanding society and its changing social structures through “the pulse of freedom”. DCR has been used by Marxists, Muslims, Catholics and secular scholars who engage fruitfully in morphogenic dialogues leading to a critical realist understanding of society and social research, which transcends positivist and social constructionist models. Examples of DCR’s application in the fields of childhood research, child abuse, education, and research on organisations are outlined to illustrate the working of this new research paradigm. We are enthusiastic in our advocacy of DCR as a model of qualitative research, and for constructing models of positive social change, and are particularly impressed by the substantive and theoretical expositions of DCR by Priscilla Anderson, Matthew Wilkinson and Margaret Archer, whose work we document and review.

A simulation is performed to analyze the forces that arise in a conducting DNA-like double helix in the field of a microwave electromagnetic wave under half-wave resonance conditions. The helix is comprised of twenty-and-a-half turns and has geometric parameters proportional to the size of an actual DNA molecule. The forces acting on the strands of a double helix, both in the central region and at the edges of the helix, are investigated. It has been demonstrated that the afore-mentioned forces induce a change in the shape of the helix, specifically mutual repulsion of the strands, as well as their stretching and twisting in the field of electromagnetic waves. As opposed to a pair of parallel straight conductors, there is a radial repulsion of strands in all regions of a double DNA-like helix, including the center and the edges. This unique interaction of currents in a double DNA-like helix can be attributed to its pitch angle, a characteristic that has been estab-lished through empirical evidence. Consequently, exposure to an electromagnetic wave under half-wave resonance can damage the double helix. Conversely, the impact of electromagnetic waves has the potential to introduce novel avenues for controlling the shape of the double helix. These nonlinear effects must be considered for both actual DNA molecules and double DNA-like helices that serve as components of metamaterials and metasurfaces.

This paper explores the utilization of ensemble models and learning analytics techniques to predict student academic performance. With the advent of educational big data, institutions are increasingly leveraging advanced analytics to gain insights into student learning patterns and optimize educational outcomes. Ensemble models, which combine the predictive power of multiple algorithms, offer a robust approach to enhance prediction accuracy. The performance of the ensemble models was analyzed and compared using the Open University Learning Analytics Dataset, which consists of sources such as demographic information, historical performance data, and engagement metrics for 23,344 students. The evaluation of various ensemble models across different classification scenarios revealed that the proposed stacking model consistently emerges as the best-performing model, excelling in both multi-class and binary classification tasks.

The aim of this study was to identify factors, that influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the use of public e-procurement. The use of IT solutions promotes sustainable development. Hence, there is a need to conduct research that will allow for the best possible adjustment of e-procurement solutions in order to implement them as widely as possible in business practice. This study used a quantitative exploratory survey-based approach. The obtained research results were analyzed using statistical methods, including factor analysis PCA. Factor analysis identified three main satisfaction factors and two dissatisfaction factors in e-procurement use, highlighting the importance of support, intuitiveness, and security in user satisfaction. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing a nuanced understanding of the factors influencing user satisfaction and dissatisfaction within e-procurement systems, specifically highlighting the role of intuitive design and technical support. It offers a unique perspective by integrating these insights with the specific requirements of public procurement, thereby filling a gap in research on enhancing user experience in the context of sustainable purchasing practices.

The physiological impact of walking in nature was quantified via continuous heart rate variabil-ity (HRV), pre- and post-walk saliva cortisol measures, and self-reported mood and mindfulness scores for N=17 participants who walked “The Green Road” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. For N=15 of the participants, HRV analysis revealed two main groups: group 1 individuals who had a 104% increase (mean) in root mean square standard deviation (RMSSD) and 47% increase (mean) in standard deviation of NN values (SDNN) indi-cating an overall reduction in physiological stress from walking the Green Road, and group 2 in-dividuals who had a decrease (mean) of 42% and 31% in these respective HRV metrics signaling an increase in physiological stresses. Post-walk self-reported scores for vigor and mood disturb-ance were more robust for the Green Road than for a comparable urban road corridor and showed that higher HRV during the walk was associated with improved overall mood. Saliva cortisol was lower after taking a walk for all participants and showed that walking the Green Road elicited a significantly larger reduction in cortisol of 53% on average when compared with 37% of walking along an urban road. It is also observed that the order in which individuals walked the green road, and urban road also impacted their cortisol response with those walking the urban road before the green showing a substantial reduction in cortisol, suggesting a possible attenuation effect of walking the green road first. These findings provide quantitative data demonstrating the stress-reducing effects of being in nature, thus supporting the health benefit value of providing access to nature more broadly in many settings.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often goes unrecognized despite common symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and impaired quality of life (QoL). CPAP is the gold standard treatment for OSA, but optimal daily usage and time needed for observable effects remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the short-term effects of CPAP on daytime sleepiness and QoL in patients with severe OSA. Medical records were collected from 87 patients with severe OSA who initiated CPAP therapy. Also, validated questionnaires were used before and after one month of CPAP to analyze QoL - the Calgary Sleep Apnea Quality of Life Index (SAQLI), the Cues to CPAP Use Questionnaire (CCUQ), and daytime sleepiness - the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of CPAP usage. Of the total participants aged 55.6±12.5, 77% were males, and 62% were CPAP adherent. Reductions in daytime sleepiness (ESS) were noted, as well as improvements in both overall QoL (SAQLI) and specifically in the domains of daily functioning, social interactions, emotional well-being, and symptom perception. Important cues for CPAP usage recognized by patients were physicians’ instructions and physicians’ worry regarding patients' condition. Furthermore, multiple regression revealed higher SAQLI scores and lower ESS scores as positive predictors of CPAP usage, along with lower AHI after one month of CPAP being associated with sufficient adherence.

This study investigates the structured spatial organization through a focus on streets, blocks and buildings, proposing them as fundamental components in conceptualizing cities as layered pal-impsests. Former Ottoman capital city, Bursa, serve as case study due to its rich evolutionary history and the potentiality of the urban heritage values/elements they demonstrate. Following the “Tanzimat” Era, a period marked by modernization and renewal, the urban fabric of Ottoman capital cities underwent significant reforms aimed at aligning them with the principles of mo-dernity. Maps dating back to the 19th century serve as the most illustrative sources for compre-hending the evolving character and layout of these cities. The foundational aspects of the charac-ter and appearance of the historic environment played crucial roles not only in shaping the mod-ern city but also in preserving and enhancing urban heritage areas by harmonizing them with contemporary urban conditions. Factors such as street age, street hierarchy, block typology, and the localization of historical landmarks are indispensable for grasping the developmental trajec-tory of these cities, offering insights that bridge spatial scales and span across historical eras. Employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, this research builds upon descrip-tive and analytical approaches to urban morphology. The methodology entails comprehensive morphological analysis, which involves assessing changes and persistence in the urban fabric of selected heritage site, both pre-existing and post-modernization, drawing from its historically scientific maps. The analysis focuses on abstracting key attributes such as type, configuration, size, and the relationship between the elements.

Throughout history, the pursuit of diagnosing and predicting crop yields has evidenced genetics, environment, and management practices' intertwined roles in achieving food security. However, the sensitivity of crop phenotypes and genetic responses to weather and climate remains unclear, hampering the identification of the underlying abilities of plants to adapt to climate change. We hypothesize that the PAWN global sensitivity analysis (GSA) coupled with a genetic by environment (GxE) model -built of environmental covariance and genetic markers structures- can evidence the contributions of climate on the predictability of maize yields in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada (US-CA). The GSA-GxE modeling framework estimates the relative contribution of climate variables such as solar radiation, temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity on improving maize yield predictions in US-CA. We use an improved version of the Genomes to Fields (G2F) initiative multi-dimensional database to build the environmental covariance matrices for the proposed GSA-GxE framework. The PAWN indices show that the aggregated GxE model’s highest sensitivity levels over US-CA were attributed to solar radiation, temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity. In one-third of the locations, rainfall was the primary climate variable responsible for maize yield predictability. Also, a consistent pattern of top sensitivity indices by location indicates that Relative Humidity, Solar Radiation, and Temperature were distributed as the main or the second most relevant drivers of maize yield predictability.

This study explores the development and characterization of ceramic rod reinforced TWIP (Twinning Induced Plasticity) steel matrix composites, fabricated using a lost foam casting process. The incorporation of ceramic rods aims to enhance the mechanical properties of TWIP steel, which is known for its excellent plasticity. Mechanical testing demonstrated a significant improvement in flexural strength and ductility, with the composite exhibiting over double the strength of the unreinforced TWIP steel. Heat treatment at 500°C for 60 minutes further enhanced these properties, increasing the composite's flexural strength to 1023 MPa and improving its ductility. The observed improvements are attributed to the synergistic effects of the hard ceramic reinforcement and the ductile matrix, as well as the microstructural modification conferred by heat treatment. These findings suggest that ceramic rod reinforced TWIP steel composites are promising materials for applications requiring a combination of high strength and ductility.

This study builds on our previous Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that assessed the applications and performance of zk-SNARK, zk-STARK, and Bulletproof Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proof (NIZKP) protocols. To address identified research gaps, we designed and implemented a benchmark comparing these three protocols using a dynamic MiMC hash application. We evaluated performance across four general-purpose programming libraries and two programming languages. Our results show that zk-SNARK produced the smallest proofs, while zk-STARK generated the largest. In terms of proof generation and verification times, zk-STARK was the fastest, and Bulletproof the slowest. Interestingly, zk-SNARK proofs verified marginally faster than zk-STARK, contrary to other findings. These insights enhance our understanding of the functionality, security, and performance of NIZKP protocols, providing valuable guidance for selecting the most suitable protocol for specific applications.

The dynamic equilibrium of iron homeostasis has an important role in sustaining metabolic and neurological functions during human life. Iron excretion is modest and unregulated hence this overall equilibrium is tightly regulated in normal conditions by increasing deficient or limiting excessive iron assimilation. Here we focus on neural tissue overload, dyshomeostasis that is preceded by excessive assimilation, disturbances in internal homeostasis or both. Normal steps in iron homeostasis include its uptake across the apical membrane of the enterocytes in a mildly acidic duodenal milieu by the major importer of ferrous iron, Divalent Metal Transporter 1 (DMT1) (Nramp2/DCT1/SLC11A2, solute carrier family 11 member 2) [1, 2], responsible for the uptake of Non-Transferrin Bound Iron (NTBI) and divalent metals [3], passage through enterocytes bound to a chaperone and crossing the basal membrane via the only known cellular ferrous iron exporter, ferroportin [4] with the iron bound to transferrin (Tf) as it exits. Cells in peripheral tissues largely utilize circulating iron after uptake by receptor-mediated endocytosis of Tf-bound Iron [5]. Derangement of duodenal NTBI absorption of iron and heavy metals is influenced by systemic iron metabolism associated with inflammation that leads to iron accumulation into peripheral tissues and potential development of neurodegenerative diseases, involving distribution and fine regulation of DMT1 also in the central nervous system, where inflammatory-related acidosis influences DMT1 uptake, via its action as a proton cotransporter. Pharmacological strategies to inhibit NTBI transport selectively will be illustrated in relationship to protection, particularly neuroprotection, against iron overload associated with acidosis, inflammation, neuroinflammation and subsequent neurodegeneration.

The circadian clock is an autonomous timekeeping system evolved by organisms to adapt to external changes, regulating a variety of important physiological and behavioral processes. Recent studies have shown that the sirtuin family of histone deacetylases is involved in regulating the expression of clock genes and plays an important role in maintaining the normal rhythm of clock gene expression and behavior. Moreover, sirtuins are regulated directly or indirectly by the circadian clock system. The mutual regulation between the circadian clock and sirtuins is likely involved in a variety of signal transduction and metabolism processes. In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms and research progress on the intertwined relationship between the circadian clock and sirtuins, highlighting sirtuins as molecular links between metabolic control and circadian rhythms and offering our perspectives on future developments in the field.

(1) Background: Considering the autoimmune nature with genetic predisposition of alopecia areata, and the immunomodulatory properties of some probiotics, the present study was conducted in patients with alopecia areata. (2) Method: A 24-weeks randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of an oral probiotic intake in severity of alopecia areata and the effect on skin and gut microbiota. 3) Results: The number of alopecia areata plaques decresed in 56% of patients in the probiotic group vs. 30% in the placebo group. Patients with improvement on the affected skin surface area, showed a results of 45% and 20% in probiotic and placebo groups, respectively. For "activity", "inactivity” and "regrowth", an improvement in 55%, 67% and 55% of patients was respectively observed in the probiotic group, compared to 50%, 40% and 30% in the placebo group. No changes were observed in the gut microbiota during the intervention period. Regarding skin microbiota, changes were detected in the probiotic group, with reductions in characteristic genera during the study. (4) Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first clinical trial assessing the efficacy of a probiotic in patients with alopecia areata. This probiotic mixture improves the course and modify the skin microbiota of these patients.

With an aging population, the prevalence of geriatric diseases is increasing, especially among older individuals who live alone. This study investigates the potential of using TV viewing patterns to detect these diseases by analyzing variables such as daily average viewing time, peak viewing hours, and channel-switching behaviors. Significant correlations between TV viewing patterns and early indicators of geriatric diseases (depression, activities of daily living (ADL) performance, and cognitive function) were found. The correlations between the Korean form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS) and daily average viewing time and excessive channel switching were 0.320 and 0.308, respectively. The Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index (KMBI) showed correlations of -0.313 with daily average viewing time and -0.352 with excessive channel switching. Participants were divided into groups based on scores, and significant differences in peak viewing hours were observed among the different groups. The Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K) groups showed significant differences at 3, 4, and 5 PM. The KGDS and KMBI groups showed significant differences at 8 PM and midnight and 1 AM and 2 AM, respectively. These findings suggest that TV viewing patterns can serve as effective early diagnostic indicators for geriatric diseases.

Cancer and infectious diseases are two of the world's major public health problems. Gemcitabine (GEM) is an effective chemotherapeutic agent against several types of cancer. In this study, we developed macrocapsules by incorporating GEM into a chitosan matrix blended with magnetite and zeolite. The physico-chemical characterization of the precursor materials and the new delivery system was carried out by HRTEM-ED, XRD, FESEM-EDS, FT-IR, TGA, encapsulation efficiency (%E.E.) and release profiles at pH 7.4 and 5.0. Cell viability tests on A549 and H1299 cell lines and microbiological properties against staphylococcal strains were performed. Our results revealed the successful production of hemispherical capsules with an average diameter of 1.22 mm, a rough surface and characteristic FT-IR material interaction bands. GEM encapsulation rates exceeded 80%, and release profiles were well-controlled over 24 hours at tested pH levels. Notably, cell viability in H1299 cells was lower than the free GEM control. Moreover, the formulation exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis, highlighting its dual action as a chemotherapeutic and antimicrobial agent. This dual effect underscores the potential of these macrocapsules as innovative delivery system for treating lung cancer in patients who are also at risk of infectious diseases and who are immunosuppressed.

This study explores the impact of multi-user interaction, group work, and simulations within virtual worlds on language learning and the development of intergroup empathy. Two distinct research projects were conducted, involving a total of 241 participants aged 19-45. The language learning study engaged 116 participants in diverse interactive experiences, while the intercultural study had 125 participants collaborating in multicultural groups and participating in perspective-taking simulations. Both studies employed qualitative data collection methods, including surveys, interviews, and observations. The findings suggest that the combination of networking strategies, collaborative learning, and simulations within virtual worlds contributes to improvements in learners' language proficiency, confidence, and empathy towards diverse social groups. Participants reported increased motivation and engagement, attributed to the immersive and interactive nature of the virtual environments. The studies highlight the importance of collaboration and reflection in facilitating language acquisition and intercultural understanding. Technical challenges were identified as potential barriers to implementation. The results demonstrate the potential of virtual worlds to enhance language education and foster empathy in diverse societies, offering valuable insights for educators and researchers. However, the findings may be limited by the specific contexts and sample sizes of the studies, warranting further research to explore the generalizability and long-term impact of virtual world interventions. not exaggerate the main conclusions.

The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of family physicians regarding testicular cancer and testicular self-examination. This study was conducted with 307 physicians, including family physician specialists, family physician residents, contracted family physician specialist assistants (SAHU), and general practitioners, who agreed to participate in the study. All participants were administered a 33-item questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic questions and questions about testicular cancer and testicular self-examination, developed through literature review. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 software. 307 family physician specialists, family physician residents, SAHU residents and general practitioners participated in the study. 10.4% of the participants were working as family medicine specialists, 67.4% as family physician assistants, 13.7% as SAHU residents and 8.5% as general practitioners. The mean time spent in the profession was found to be 5.93±5.89. 65.8% of the participants thought that they had partially sufficient knowledge about testicular cancers. 57.7% of the participants stated that they did not know how testicular self-examination was performed. 49.7% of male participants stated that they had never done testicular self-exam before. While 95.8% of the participants thought that regular testicular self-examination was beneficial, 71.0% stated that they did not recommend testicular self-examination to their male patients. 53.4% of the participants thought that testicular self-examination was important; It was determined that 79.2% of them thought it was as important as breast self-examination. The rate of stating that all of the risk factors presented for testicular cancer are risks was found to be statistically significantly higher in specialist family physicians than in general practitioners and resident family physicians. The study revealed that family physicians lacked sufficient knowledge about testicular cancer and testicular self-examination, leading them not to recommend self-testicular examination to patients due to inadequate knowledge. In light of these findings, although self-testicular examination may not be recommended as a screening method, increasing awareness and knowledge among both family physicians and the public is crucial.

Background: in this paper, a new physical penetration technology for transdermal administration with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) characteristics - Fu’s cupping therapy (FCT) - was established and studied by in-vitro and in-vivo experiments; the penetration effect and mechanism of FCT physical penetration technology (FCT-PPT) was preliminarily discussed. Method: Indomethacin (IM) as a model drug，by transdermal in vitro tests the establishment of the high，medium and low reference were finished as the chemical permeation system；chemical penetration enhancers and iontophoresis as a reference，the percutaneous penetration effect of FCT for IM patch was evaluated with 7 species diffusion kinetics model and in vitro drug distribution；naproxen as an internal standard，using UPLC-MS/MS technology，the IM quantitative analysis method in vivo was established，and pharmacokinetic parameters (AUC0-t，AUC0-∞，AUMC0-t，AUMC0-∞, Cmax and MRT) as indicators were used evaluate to FCT penetration role in vivo；in the same time，the group used 3K factorial design to study joint synergistic penetration effect on FCT and chemical penetration enhancers (CPEs)；by SEM and TEM，the skin micro and ultrastructural changes of the stratum corneum (SC) surface were observed, to explore pay tank penetration mechanism. Results: In vitro and in-vivo skin permeation experiments revealed that both the total cumulative percutaneous amount and in-vivo percutaneous absorption amount (AUC and AUMC) of indomethacin that permeated SD mouse skin using FCT techniques were greater than the amount observed using CPE and iontophoresis: Firstly, in contrast to the control group, the indomethacin percutaneous rate (PR) of the FCT lower group (FCTL) was 35.52%, and the enhancement ratio (ER) at 9h was 1.76X, which was roughly equivalent to the penetration enhancing effect of the CPEs and iontophoresis; secondly, the indomethacin PR of the FCT middle (FCTM) group and the FCT high intensity group (FCTH) were respectively 47.36% and 54.58%, ER at 9h were separately 3.58X and 8.39X; thirdly, pharmacokinetic studies showed that in-vivo indomethacin percutaneous absorption of the FCTs was higher than that of the control group, that of the FCTM group was slightly higher than that of the CPEs group, and that of the FCTM group was significantly higher than that of the others. Meanwhile, the variance analysis indicated that the combination of the FCT penetration enhancement method and the CPE method had beneficial effects in penetration enhancing of the skin: the significance level of the CPE method was 0.0004, which was apparently lower than the 0.001, meaning the difference was markedly significant; the significance level of the FCT was under 0.0001, its difference markedly significant; and the significance level of factor interaction A×B was lower than 0.0001, indicating that its difference of the synergism was markedly significant. Moreover, SEM and TEM images showed that the SC surfaces of SD rats treaded with FCT-PPT was damaged, and hard to observe the complete surface structure with its SC pores growing bigger and its special “brick structure” becoming looser, indicating that it broke the barrier function of skin, which revealed potentially a major route of skin penetration. Conclusion: FCT, as percutaneous penetration new technologies, has penetration effects significantly, with Chinese characteristics and highly clinical value, worth promoting development.

Due to the deteriorating state of surface waters and the resulting reduction in their availability for the population, efforts have been undertaken to develop a biodegradable or compostable water filtration system capable of reducing the amount of harmful bacteria in this environment. The aim of this research was to develop nonwovens using the classic needle-punching method with commercially available polylactide (PLA) polymer, and subsequently, to select appropriate concentrations of modifiers to create systems with antibacterial properties. The resulting composites could potentially serve as filtration materials for the purification of surface waters. Nanoparticles such as zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and silver were employed in this research. These compounds exhibit antibacterial properties and are insoluble in water. To confirm the bactericidal activity of the additives, biological tests were conducted, and the distribution of these additives on the structure of the filtration material was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) detector.

Melanin is extensively distributed in organisms and believed to be synthetized by tyrosinase (TYR), leading to aberrant coloring and skin conditions when over-produced. Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl.) flowers contain large amounts of bioactive substances currently few studied on their suppressive capabilities to melanin synthesis. Its isolate product (LFP) was obtained by ethanol solution extraction and resin purification, of which the inhibitory mechanism on TYR activity was elaborated by enzyme kinetics and multi-spectroscopy determinations and the impact on related proteins’ expression in mouse melanoma B16 cells was analyzed with Western blotting. HPLC-MS analysis indicated that LFP was identified into 137 compounds, with 12 including flavonoids (quercetin, isorhamnoin, p-coumaric acid, etc.), cinnamic acid and its derivatives as well as benzene and its derivatives owning TYR inhibitory activities. LFP inhibited TYR activity in a concentration-dependent manner with its IC50 value being 2.8 mg/mL and an anti-competitive mechanism involved altering the enzyme's conformation. LFP reduced the expression of TYR, TRP1, and TRP2 in melanoma B16 cells, hence inhibiting the synthesis of melanin. Considered collectively, LFP would be a viable option for treating hyperpigmentation caused by tyrosinase, providing a theoretical basis for the value-added utilization of loquat flower resource in beauty and aging related functional products.

Methylene blue (MB) is a dye hazardous pollutant widely used in several industrial processes that represents a relevant source of water pollution. Thus, the research of new systems to avoid its environmental dispersion, represents an important goal. In this work, an efficient and sustainable nanocomposite material based on green gold nanoparticles for MB water remediation, was developed. Starting from reducing and stabilizing characteristics of compounds naturally present in Lambrusco winery waste (grape marc) extracts, green gold nanoparticles (GM-AuNPs) were synthesized and deposited on a supporting membrane to create an easy and stable system for water MB decontamination. GM-AuNPs, with a specific plasmonic band at 535 nm, and the modified membrane were firstly characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the presence of two breeds of crystalline shapes, triangular platelets and round-shaped pentatwinned nanoparticles, respectively. The crystalline nature of GM-AuNPs was also confirmed from XRD. The photo-catalytic performance of the modified membrane was evaluated under natural sunlight radiation obtaining a complete MB degradation (100%) in 116 minutes. A pseudo-first-order kinetic described the photocatalytic process with a rate constant k equal to 0.044 ± 0.010 min-1. The modified membrane demonstrated high stability since it was reused, without any treatment, for 3 months and for at least 20 cycles maintaining the same performances. GM-AuNPs-based membrane was also tested with other water pollutants (methyl orange, 4-nitrophenol and rhodamine B revealing a high selectivity towards MB.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a severe and invariably fatal disease affecting both domestic and wild felines with limited effective therapeutic options available. By considering the significant immunomodulatory effects of vitamin E observed in both animal and human models under physiological and pathological conditions, we have provided a full in-silico investigation of vitamin E and related compounds and their effect on the crystal structure of feline infectious peritonitis virus 3C-like protease (FIPV-3CLpro). This work revealed the β-tocotrienol and δ-tocotrienol analogues as inhibitor candidates for this protein, suggesting their potential as possible drug compounds against FIP or their supplementary use with current medicines against this disease.

Financing frameworks for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are lacking in developing countries. This study develops and recommends a financing framework for water and sanitation PPP infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe. The framework model integrates the Public Private Partnership models, sources of finance for water and sanitation PPPs, and the drivers of water and sanitation PPP finance. Both the public and private sources of finance are instrumental for financing water and sanitation PPP projects. Tobit econometric models are applied on data collected from both international and domestic data banks. The time frame for the analysis is a 25-year period running from 1996 ending 2021. Capital market variables, bank market development and economic affluence drive the financing of water and sanitation Public Private Partnership infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe. The study recommends the application of the developed framework in the water and sanitation Public Private Partnership infrastructure financing policy, for developing countries.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and highly metastatic type of tumor. TNBC is often enriched in tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs), which support cancer growth in part by counteracting tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Prior studies identified the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) as a pro-tumor methyltransferase in primary and metastatic TNBC. We hypothesized that EZH2 inhibition in TNBC cells per se would exert anti-tumor activity by altering the tumor immune microenvironment. To test this hypothesis, we used CRISPR to generate EZH2-knockout (KO) and overexpressing lines from parent (wild-type -WT) 4T1 cells, an established murine TNBC model. In vitro, EZH2 KO and OE cells showed little change in replicative capacity and invasiveness, but marked changes in surface marker profile and cytokine/chemokine secretion compared to WT cells. On in vivo injection, EZH2 KO cells showed significantly reduced primary tumor growth and a 10-fold decrease in lung metastasis compared to WT cells, while EZH2 OE cells were unchanged. Compared to WT tumors, TIN:TIL ratios were greatly reduced in EZH2 KO tumors but unchanged in EZH2 OE tumors. Our findings show a tumor-intrinsic role of EZH2 in the 4T1 TNBC model in regulating TIN/TIL poise, primary tumor progression and lung metastasis in vivo.

The present paper offers a reading of three selected novels by two Anglophone Arab writers Diana Abujaber and Fadia Faqir. Our reading is fundamentally based on a philosophical post-humanist perception of other ethnic minorities as being inferior and un-human. In interpreting the three novels, Arabian Jazz (2003), My Name is Salma (2007) and Willow Trees Don’t Weep (2014), a main concern is to bring to light how Arabs –and Muslims –have been zombified and de-humanized in Western mainstream media and culture based on a biased stigmatization and stereotyping of a large heterogeneous ethnic group wherein religions, traditions, languages and cultures are diverse. Also, a pivotal preoccupation is going to be the exiling journey of the protagonists from their homelands to Western countries, and how these journeys contribute to the post-humanization of the self, the identity and the culture of Arab displaced immigrants.

This paper aims to present a robust computational technique utilizing finite difference schemes for accurately solving time fractional reaction-diffusion models, which are prevalent in chemical and biological phenomena. The time-fractional derivative is treated in the Caputo sense, addressing both linear and nonlinear scenarios. The proposed schemes were rigorously evaluated for stability and convergence. Additionally, the effectiveness of the developed schemes was validated through various linear and nonlinear models, including the Allen-Cahn equation, the KPP-Fisher equation, and the Complex Ginzburg-Landau oscillatory problem. These models were tested in one, two, and three-dimensional spaces to investigate the diverse patterns and dynamics that emerge. Comprehensive numerical results were provided, showcasing different cases of the fractional order parameter, highlighting the schemes' versatility and reliability in capturing complex behaviors in fractional reaction-diffusion dynamics.

This study analyzes the efficacy of trapezius muscle electromyography (EMG) in discerning mental states, namely stress and meditation. Fifteen healthy participants were monitored to assess their physiological responses to mental stressors and meditation. Sensors were affixed to both the right and left trapezius muscles to capture EMG signals, while simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) was conducted to validate cognitive states. Our analysis of various EMG features, considering frequency ranges and sensor positioning, revealed significant changes in trapezius muscle activity during stress and meditation. Notably, low-frequency EMG features facilitated enhanced stress detection. For accurate stress identification, sensor configurations can be limited to the right trapezius muscle. Furthermore, the introduction of a novel method for determining asymmetry in EMG features suggests that applying sensors on bilateral trapezius muscles can improve the detection of mental states. This research presents a promising avenue for efficient cognitive state monitoring through compact and convenient sensing.