High temperature titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace hot parts, however, the thermal barrier temperature of 600 oC limits its service temperature. In this paper, a two-step hot-dip plating method is proposed to prepare the composite coating containing Ce on the surface of titanium alloy, which can make the oxidation resistance temperature of titanium alloy reach 800 oC The microstructure, phase composition and element distribution of Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si hot-dip coating, Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si pre-oxidation coating and Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si high-temperature oxidation coating were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The results show that the Ti-Al-Si hot-dip coating containing Ce is mainly composed of (Ti,Ce)(Al,Si)3 alloy phase layer, and the Ti-Al-Si pre-oxidation coating containing Ce is mainly composed of Ti-Al binary system phase layer and dense Al2O3 layer rich in CeO2. Ce in the high temperature oxidation coating of Ti-Al-Si containing Ce is mainly distributed in Ti3Al, TiAl, TiAl3+Ti5Si3 mixed phase layer and Al2O3. The addition of Ce can promote the formation of continuous Al2O3 layer, improve the uniformity of composite coating, prevent the spread of cracks, and improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of Ti-Al-Si coating.

The generation of eucalypt sawdust has increased in Uruguay with the expansion of pulp and paper industrial sites. Currently, most of this readily available feedstock is either not used or applied for producing heat and power by combustion in biomass boilers. In this work, eucalypt sawdust was subjected to steam explosion as the first step for cellulosic ethanol production within the biorefinery concept. The effect of sawdust moisture content, pretreatment temperature and residence time were evaluated, along with the influence of water washing of steam-exploded solids on enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation yields. After steam explosion, 60% xylans and 97% acetyl groups were recovered mainly as oligomers and acetic acid in the pretreatment liquor. Eucalypt sawdust moisture content affected the enzymatic hydrolysis performance and glucan conversion efficiency. Water washing after pretreatment improved hydrolysis efficiencies and ethanol production yields by 10% with respect to the unwashed pretreated solids at the same experimental condition. The best ethanol yields were obtained using PSSF (pre-saccharification and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation) after pretreatment at 205°C for 10 min, using sawdust with an 8% moisture content. In this case, 227 L ethanol and 40 kg total xylose (including xylo-oligomers) were obtained per ton of dry eucalypt sawdust.

The structural stability of γ-boron is investigated using Raman spectra under high pressures up to 126 GPa at ambient temperature. The pressure dependence of all the Raman-active modes of the γ-boron is reported. We also observe amusing changes within the B3g and B1g Raman-active vibrational modes, which results in the phenomenon of merging first and then separating of the Raman peaks. In addition to the Raman measurements, the changes in crystal structure and force constants are calculated to reasonably explain the discrepancy between the two Raman modes in response to pressure. The results of the continuous shifts for all Raman modes with increasing pressure indicate that γ-boron remains stable below this pressure value, with no changes in either symmetry or structure.

In this paper, through high-temperature tensile tests of 55NiCrMoV7 steel, the high-temperature fracture behavior, microstructure evolution and carbide distribution characteristics of both thermal-mechanical coupling zone (fracture zone) and thermal stress zone (clamping zone) at different temperatures were studied. Intrinsic relationship between high temperature fracture and carbides types, distribution and size were revealed and evolution mechanism of microstructure near cracks in 55NiCrMoV7 hot-working die steel during high temperature deformation was clarified. Samples were stretched at different temperatures from 25 °C to 700 °C, and microscopic examinations were carried out by using SEM and TEM. The results showed that: With the increase of temperature, tensile strength and yield strength decreased, elongation and reduction of area increased, and fracture mode changed from brittle fracture to ductile fracture by transition temperature at about 400℃. During high temperature deformation, the grain dislocation density decreased, the tempered martensite decomposed, recovered, recrystallized, and then grain grew. M7C3 and M23C6 carbides precipitated and grew along the grain boundary, and a small amount of fine granular MC carbides were dispersed in the grain. The work done by the external force on the deformation zone would cause the temperature of it to be higher than tensile temperature, which provides thermodynamic conditions for the re-dissolution of small carbides near the fracture zone and the grain growth of large carbides, resulting in the decrease of small carbides and increase of large carbides in thermal-mechanical coupling zone.

In pursuit of carbon neutrality, the demand for metals that are necessary for the development of clean energy technologies is rapidly increasing. Metallurgical waste, such as slag, presents a promising secondary source of these key metals. This research aims to develop an eco-friendly hydrometallurgical process to recover Cu, Ni, and Co from discarded copper/nickel slag. The high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) was used to selectively leach Ni, Cu, and Co from the fayalite slag, yielding high leaching efficiencies of 99.9%, 89.4%, and 99.9%, respectively, with low Fe and Si tenors to the pregnant leach solution (PLS). The solvent extraction (SX) technique utilizing LIX 984N was used to selectively extract and enrich copper from the dilute PLS to about 23 g/L Cu with a very low Fe concentration of 0.05 g/L. Potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) solution was used to form Ni and Co xanthate complexes from the raffinate solution. Nickel was selectively recovered using ammonia solution, while cobalt xanthate complex was thermally decomposed and recovered as cobalt oxide solids of about 25 wt.% Co. A comprehensive process flowsheet is presented, furthermore, to realize the real application of the developed slag cleaning process, a preliminary economic evaluation was performed.

The functions of annexin A1 (ANXA1) that is expressed on membranes and in cytoplasmic granules have been fully described. Nonetheless, the role of this protein in protecting against DNA damage in the nucleus is still emerging and requires further investigation. Here, we investigated the involvement of ANXA1 in DNA damage response in placental cells. Placenta was collected from ANXA1 knockout mice (AnxA1-/-) and pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The placental morphology and ANXA1 expression, which are related to the modulation of cellular response markers in the presence of DNA damage, were analyzed. Total area of AnxA1-/- placenta was smaller because of reduced labyrinth zone, enhanced DNA damage, and impaired base excision repair (BER) enzymes, which resulted in the induction of apoptosis in the labyrinthine and junctional layers. The placentas from pregnant women with GDM showed reduced expression of AnxA1 in the villous compartment, increased DNA damage, apoptosis, and reduction of enzymes involved in the BER pathway. Our translational data provide valuable insights into the possible involvement of ANXA1 in the response of placental cells to oxidative DNA damage and represent advancement in investigations on the mechanisms involved in placental biology.

Hyper duplex stainless steels, HDSS, are a new alloy group of duplex stainless steels with the highest corrosion resistance and mechanical properties among the existing modern stainless steel. Due to the addition of extra high content of alloying elements, e.g. Cr, Ni, Mo, etc., the crystallization behavior of the δ-ferrite from the liquid is of vital importance for controlling the steel properties. In this work, the effect of cooling rate (i.e. 4°C/min and 150 °C/min) on the growth process of δ-ferrite in S33207 during the solidification process was investigated using high-temperature confocal scanning laser microscopy (HT-CLSM) in combination with electron microscopes and thermodynamic calculation. The results showed that the solidification mode of S33207 steel was a ferrite-austenite type (FA mode). L→δ transformation occurred at a certain degree of supercooling, and merging occurred during the growth of δ phase dendrites. Similar microstructures were observed after solidification under these two different cooling rates. The variation of area fraction of δ ferrite at the free surface and temperature as well as time during solidification of S33207 steels were calculated at different cooling rates of 4 °C/min and 150 °C/min, respectively. The current HT-CLSM study provides in-situ experimental evidence to confirm that a low cooling rate favored the growth of primary δ-ferrite, whereas a high cooling rate favored the nucleation of primary δ-ferrite during the solidification process. The post-microstructure as well as composition evolution is also briefly investigated. This work shed light on the real time insights for the crystallization behavior of hyper duplex stainless steels during solidification, which aims to contribute to the process control of manufacturing of this steel grade.

Abstract: Pomegranate peels are important source of polyphenols with remarkable interest in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. An improved extraction of total polyphenolic com-pounds (TPC) from pomegranate peels by Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) was achieved. A Box Hunter & Hunter (BHH) followed by Central Composite Design (CCD) were performed to assess the effect of the process variables on TPC release. The statistic designs indicate that the best TPC extraction (234.85 mg GAE/gdm) by means of SSF occurs, at 42°C, 50 % moisture, pH 5.0, mineral solution (g/L): NaNO3 (3.83), KH2PO4 (1.52), MgSO4 (4.66) and KCl (1.52) at 36 h. At the best fer-mentation conditions, TPC (248.78±1.24 mgGAE/gdm) increased 5.96-fold than values previously reported and antioxidant activity [AA] increased 5.81-fold than the value obtained before the SSF optimization. High-valued citric acid, α and β punicalin, α and β punicalagin, punigluconin, gal-loyl-HHDP hexoside and ellagic acid molecules were identified. The increased extraction of TPC by SSF provides a suitable alternative for pomegranate peels valorization through the re-covery of molecules with high added value with potential use in food, pharmacy and cosmetic industries; a diversification in the use of food agroindustry by-products is obtained as approach to the circular economy model through biotechnological processes.

With the aim to improve cladding coating quality and prevent cracking, this paper established an extreme high-speed laser cladding thermo-mechanical coupling simulation model to study the evolution of the temperature field and residual stress distribution. Process parameters that impacted the macroscopic morphology of single-pass coatings were investigated. Numerical calculations and temperature field simulations were performed based on the process parameter data to validate the effect of the temperature gradient and cooling rate on the coating structure and the residual stress distribution. The results showed that a good coating quality could be achieved using a laser power of 2400 W, a cladding rate of 20 m/min, and a powder feeding rate of 20.32 g/min. The coatings’ cross-sectional morphology corresponded well with the temperature distribution predicted by numerical modeling of the melt pool. The microstructure of the molten coatings is affected by the temperature gradient and cooling rate, which vary greatly from the bottom to the middle to the top. Maximum residual stress appears between the bonding region of the coatings and the substrate, and the coatings themselves have significant residual stress in the form of tensile strains that are mostly distributed in the direction of the laser cladding speed.

This paper analyzed the main diseases of the friction high-strength bolt (FHSB) joints in order to study the characteristics of the corrosion products of the joints in steel bridge and the influence factors. Seven representative FHSB connection pairs and eight steel plate samples were selected from the Dongying Shengli Yellow River Bridge, which has been in operation for 33 years. Then Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the microscopic morphology and chemical composition of the corroded surface of the samples. Finally, this paper discussed the relationship between the corroded sample surface and the environmental corrosion. The research results showed that construction quality problems, such as non-standard hole expansion, segmental slab joint dislocation and contact surface pollution, accelerated corrosion of the contact surface. With the increase of corrosion degree of joints, the contact surface of aluminum spraying layer gradually changed from a rugged and dense state to a smooth and porous powder state. With the corrosion of the steel plate substrate, the contact surface gradually changed from a fluffy stratified state to a surface bonding state. It was inferred that the friction coefficient of the FHSB connection node on the corroded aluminum sprayed contact surface first decreased and then increased. The corroded node samples detected not only a large number of S and Cl elements, but also the oxides of Mn, Si and other elements as well as FeS. It was speculated that node corrosion was also related to atmospheric (acid rain) and industrial dust and other corrosive environments. Almost all samples detected the component SiO2 of the Yellow River soil, as well as Mg, Ca, K, Na and other elements at the same time, which is basically consistent with the component elements of the Yellow River soil. Therefore, it was inferred that it was related to the inclusion of the Yellow River soil.

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of different intensity normalization (IN) methods on the overall survival (OS) radiomics models’ performance of MR sequences in primary (pHGG) and recurrent high-grade glioma (rHGG). Methods: MR scans acquired before radiotherapy were retrieved from two independent cohorts (rHGG C1: 197, pHGG C2: 141) from multiple scanners (15, 14). The sequences are T1 weighted (w), contrast-enhanced T1w (T1wce), T2w, and T2w-FLAIR. Sequence-specific significant features (SF) associated with OS, extracted from the tumour volume, were derived after applying 15 different IN methods. Survival analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazard (CPH) and Poisson regression (POI) models. A ranking score was assigned based on the 10-fold cross-validated (CV) concordance index (C-I), mean square error (MSE), and the Akaike information criterion (AICs), to evaluate the methods’ performance. Results: Scatter plots of the 10-CV C-I and MSE against the AIC showed an impact on the survival predictions between the IN methods and MR sequences (C1/C2 C-I range: 0.62-0.71/0.61-0.72, MSE range: 0.20-0.42/0.13-0.22). White stripe showed stable results for T1wce (C1/C2 C-I: 0.71/0.65, MSE: 0.21/0.14). Combat (0.68/0.62, 0.22/0.15) and histogram matching (HM, 0.67/0.64, 0.22/0.15) showed consistent prediction results for T2w models. They were also the top-performing methods for T1w in C2 (Combat: 0.67, 0.13; HM: 0.67, 0.13), however, only HM achieved high predictions in C1 (0.66, 0.22). After eliminating IN impacted SF using Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient, a mean decrease in the C-I and MSE of 0.05 and 0.03 was observed in all four sequences. Conclusion: The IN method impacted the predictive power of survival models. Thus, performance is sequence-dependent.

Evolutionary ecology may be described as explaining ecology through evolution and vice versa, but one may also view it as an integration of the two fields, where one takes the view that ecology and evolution are inseparable, and one can only begin to understand the biology of organisms by synthesizing the two fields. An example of such a synthesis is the biology of high fecundity and the associated concept of sweepstakes reproduction, or skewed individual recruitment success. As an illustration we consider selection at linked sites under various dominance and epistasis mechanisms in a diploid population evolving according to random sweepstakes and experiencing recurrent bottlenecks. Using simulations we give a few examples of the impact of the stated elements on selection. We show that depending on the dominance mechanisms random sweepstakes can shorten the time to fixation (conditional on fixation) of the fit type at all sites. Bottlenecks tend to increase the fixation time, with random sweepstakes counteracting the effects of bottlenecks on the fixation time. Understanding the effect of random sweepstakes, recurrent bottlenecks, dominance mechanisms and epistasis on the fate of selectively advantageous mutations may help with explaining genetic diversity in natural highly fecund populations possibly evolving under sweepstakes reproduction.

The turbulent Poiseuille flow between two parallel plates is one of the simplest possible physical situations, and it has been studied intensively. In this paper, we propose a modified Prandtl-van Driest mixing length that satisfies both boundary conditions and wall damping effects. With our new formulations, we numerically solve the problem and, moreover, propose an approximate analytical solution of mean velocity. As applications of our solution, an approximate analytical friction coefficient of turbulent Poiseuille flow is proposed.

Background: Some patients who have recovered from COVID-19 have experienced a range of persistent symptoms or the appearance of new ones after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. These symptoms can last from weeks to months, impacting everyday functioning to a significant number of patients. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis based on an online, self-reporting questionnaire was conducted in Ecuador from April to July 2022. Participants were invited by social media, radio, and TV to voluntarily participate in our study. A total of 2103 surveys were included in this study. We compared socio-demographic variables and long-term persisting symptoms at low (< 2,500 m) and high altitude (>2,500 m).Results: Overall, 1100 (52.3%) responders claimed to have long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of these symptoms were reported by women (64.0%), the most affected group was young adults (68.5%), and the majority of long-haulers were mestizos (91.6%). We found that high altitude residents were more likely to report persisting symptoms (71.7%) versus those living at lower altitudes (29.3%). The most common symptoms were fatigue or tiredness (8.4%), hair loss (5.1%) and difficulty concentrating (5.0%). The highest proportion of persisting symptoms was observed among those who received an incomplete vaccine scheme.Conclusions: This is the first study describing post-COVID symptoms' persistence in low and high-altitude residents. Our findings demonstrate that women, especially those aging between 20-40, are more likely to describe sequalae associated with post-COVID. We also found that living at a high altitude was associated with earlier onset and longer symptom duration. Finally, we found a greater risk to report long lasting symptoms among women, those with previous comorbidities and those who had a severer acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Mixture of abramis brama (freshwater bream), carassius carassius (crucian carp), and sander lucioperca (pike perch) scales was used for the preparation of fish scale powder containing about 26.5 wt. % of removed when heating components preferably of organic nature, and 63.5 wt. % of mineral components. Fish scale powder enriched with inorganic components was prepared from washed, dried, and ground fish scale mixture using vibration sieving. Inorganic powders consisting of hydroxyapatite and magnesium whitlockite were obtained via heat treatment of this fish scale powder at 800-1000 oC. Particles of these inorganic powders consisted of sintered grains with dimensions less than 100 nm after heat treatment at 800 oC, less than 200 nm after heat treatment at 900 oC, and 100-500 nm after heat treatment at 1000 oC. Fish scale powder enriched with inorganic components as well as heat-treated inorganic powders consisting of hydroxyapatite and magnesium whitlockite can be recommended for the production of different materials such as ceramics or composites.

In the diagnosis of olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB), the presence of S-100–positive sustentacular cells surrounding the tumor is important; however, these are also present in normal nasal sinus epithelium. Although ONB often has a different final diagnosis, complete resection of the tumor has a good prognosis and minimally affects the patient's treatment plan. When the tumor extends around the internal carotid artery (ICA), complete resection is difficult due to the high risk of vascular injury; revascularization using a high-flow bypass can avoid this complication. In the present case, the tumor was located in the left sphenoid sinus and extended around the ICA. Preoperative biopsy tissue was positive for neuroendocrine markers and slightly positive for S-100 protein, leading to a diagnosis of ectopic ONB. High-flow bypass revascularization with trapping of the ICA allowed complete tumor resection. The postoperative histopathological diagnosis was neuroendocrine carcinoma, showing no S-100 protein–positive cells. There was no sign of recurrence two and a half years after surgery without additional treatment. This case demonstrates that the presence of S-100 protein–positive cells in ONB may be misleading. Although misdiagnosis of ectopic ONB should be anticipated, a complete resection of the tumor is an effective treatment strategy.

Solidification cracking is a major obstacle when joining dissimilar alloys using additive manufacturing. In this work, location-specific solidification cracking susceptibility has been investigated using an integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) approach for a graded alloy formed by mixing P91 steel and Inconel 740H superalloy. An alloy derived from a mixture of 26 wt.% P91 steel and 74 wt.% Inconel 740H, with high configurational and total entropy, was fabricated using wire-arc additive manufacturing. Microstructure characterization revealed intergranular solidification cracks, which increased in length along with the build height. With inputs from experiments, such as secondary dendrite arm spacing, the DICTRA (diffusion-controlled transformations) module within the Thermo-Calc software was used to model location-specific solidification cracking susceptibility. The top region, with the highest cooling rate, has the highest solidification cracking susceptibility and is in good agreement with the experimentally observed crack length. From Scheil simulations, it was deduced that pronounced segregation of Nb and Cu within the cracks increased the solidification range by suppressing the solidus temperature. The overall solidification cracking susceptibility and freezing range was highest for the 26 wt.% P91 alloy amongst the mixed compositions between P91 steel and 740H superalloy, proving that solidification characteristics play a major role in alloy design for additive manufacturing.

Phenotypic characterization of crop genotypes is an essential yet challenging aspect of crop management and agriculture research. Digital sensing technologies are rapidly advancing plant phenotyping and speeding-up crop breeding outcomes. However, off-the-shelf sensors might not be fully applicable and suitable for agriculture research due to diversity in crop species and specific needs during plant breeding selections. Customized sensing systems with specialized sensor hardware and software architecture provide a powerful and low-cost solution. This study designed and developed a fully integrated Raspberry Pi-based LiDAR sensor named CropBioMass (CBM), enabled by internet of things to provide a complete end-to-end pipeline. The CBM is a low-cost sensor, provides high-throughput seamless data collection in field, small data footprint, injection of data onto the remote server, and automated data processing. Phenotypic traits of crop fresh biomass, dry biomass, and plant height estimated by CBM data had high correlation with ground truth manual measurements in wheat field trial. The CBM is readily applicable for high-throughput plant phenotyping, crop monitoring, and management for precision agricultural applications.

Capacitor banks are widely used in current electrical transmission systems in order to improve power quality and increase efficiency. Utilizing high voltage components such as, shunt capacitors in the power grid imposes new challenges to the system which are required to be addressed. One of these challenges is corona discharges that can have negative impacts on capacitor banks such as power loss, insulator erosion followed by equipment failure, and radio interference. Although previous studies have almost exclusively focused on optimization of corona suppression rings for transformers and transmission lines, no specific studies have conducted regarding high voltage capacitor banks. This paper presents a novel study concerning verification and development of corona discharge suppression models on AC and DC capacitor banks with two different voltage levels. The employed method is based on the Maxwell’s equations and finite element method (FEM) which is implemented with the help of COMSOL Multiphysics© software. Results have verified the necessity of suppression methods as well as the efficiency of proposed solutions. Corona inception voltage levels are identified and effective factors on its appearance are reviewed. Analyses of proposed solutions have shown significant improvements in optimization of corona suppression methods as well as enhancement of maintenance maneuverability.

This article discusses a transformer-free, high-efficiency DC-DC converter besides renewable energy applications. The traditional buck-boost, classic Zeta, Sepic, and Cuk converter does have the benefits of a simple design, low cost, as well as the capacity to execute voltage step-up and step-down. Conversely, because of the detrimental consequences of the parasitic constraints of the device, the voltage conversion gain of the traditional DC-DC converter is much more restricted and the efficiency is also significantly smaller, whereas this proposed converter does have a higher voltage gain and efficiency because it is used in a single power switch, resulting in reduced switching losses and voltage stress. The said converter's design is very simple, which simplifies the operation control and reduces switching and conduction losses, leading to an efficiency of 97.4 percent. This converter seems to have the same capabilities as the Zeta converter, including continuous desired output current and desired buck-boost operation. Such an article offers the operation principle and steady evaluation, as well as a comparison with other existing high step-up configurations. The proposed converter employs a fuzzy logic controller, which improves the voltage level as well as reduces the time taken to set the voltage output of a conventional PI and ANN controller, especially in comparison to the FLC controller. For deployment, Experimental Result and MATLAB/Simulink has been used, and the modeling results indicate that the proposed controller performance has improved

Biofuels have many environmental and practical benefits as a transportation fuel. They are among the best alternatives to fossil fuels due to their capacity for negative carbon emissions, which is vital for archiving the global ambition of a Net-Zero Economy. However, conventional biofuel production takes place on inland sites and relies on freshwater and edible crops (or land suitable for edible crop production), which has led to the food vs fuel debate. It also suffers technical and economical barriers due to the energy balance and the cost of production compared to fossil fuels. Establishing a coastal integrated marine biorefinery (CIMB) system for the simultaneous production of biofuels, high-value chemicals, and other co-products could be the ultimate solution. The proposed system is based on coastal sites and relies on marine resources including seawater, marine biomass (seaweed) and marine microorganisms (marine yeasts and marine microalgae). The system will not require the use of arable land and freshwater in any part of the production chain and will be linked to offshore renewable energy sources to increase its economic and environmental value. This article aims to introduce the CIMB system as a potential vehicle for addressing global warming and speeding the global effort on climate change mitigation as well as increasing global water, food and energy security. I hope this perspective may serve to draw attention into research funding for this approach.

Background: Patients with severe chronic kidney disease (CKD G4-G5) often have chronically elevated high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) values above the 99th percentile of the upper reference limit. In these patients, optimal cutoff levels for diagnosing non-ST-elevation acute cor-onary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) requiring revascularization remain undefined. Methods: Of 11,912 patients undergoing coronary angiography from 2012 to 2017 for suspected NSTE-ACS, 325 (3%) had severe CKD. Of these, 290 with available serial hs-cTnT measurements were included and 300 matched patients with normal renal function were selected as a control cohort. Results: Diagnostic performance for patients with severe CKD was high at presentation and similar to that of the control population (AUC, 95% CI: 0.81, 0.75-0.87 versus 0.85, 0.80-0.89, p=0.68) and the ROC-derived cutoff value at presentation was 4 times higher compared to the conventional 99th percentile. Combining the ROC-derived cutoff levels for hs-cTnT at presentation and absolute 3-hour changes, sensitivity increased to 98%, PPV and NPV improved up to 93% and 86%, re-spectively. (4) Conclusions: In patients with severe CKD and suspected ACS the diagnostic accu-racy of hs-cTnT for the diagnosis of NSTE-ACS requiring revascularization is improved by using higher assay specific cutoff levels combined with early absolute changes.

Growth benefits of high speed rail (HSR) for enterprises are not automatic, but require a buoyant local economy and a robust strategy. Against above background, main objectives of ex-ante case study have been to investigate local socio-economic and spatial impacts of proposed HSR project around Ahmedabad station area on Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR corridor, analyze the opportunities and challenges of HSR development and draw policy implications. Qualitative research methodology has been used to elicit the perceptions and perspectives of randomly selected 43 small, medium and large enterprises. Data has been analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study reveals that HSR induced greater human interaction will activate local economy, improve business efficiency and generate employment. Frequent travels on business trips can influence enterprises decision to settle near HSR station for easy access and likely to promote realty development. The proposed HSR project should be developed in synergy with urban dynamics of cities in transition and metropolitan service cities. Poor public transport connectivity is likely to be a major challenge in improving HSR accessibility and enhancing overall impacts of HSR, which can be improved by developing an integrated urban transport system, for which cooperation of all stakeholders and coherence with firms’ strategies is essential.

This paper presents two designs of high-efficiency polarizer reflectarray antennas able to generate a collimated beam in dual-circular polarization using a linearly polarized feed, with application to high-gain antennas for data transmission links from a Cubesat. First, an 18 cm x 18 cm polarizer reflectarray operating in the 17.2 - 22.7 GHz band has been designed, fabricated and tested. The measurements of the prototype show an aperture efficiency of 52.7% for right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) and 57.3% for left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), both values higher than those previously reported in related works. Then, a dual-band polarizer reflectarray is presented for the first time, which operates in dual-CP in the frequency bands of 20 and 30 GHz. The proposed antenna technology enables a reduction of the complexity and cost of the feed chain to operate in dual-CP, as a linear-to-circular polarizer is no longer required. This property, combined with the lightweight, flat profile and low fabrication cost of printed reflectarrays, makes the proposed antennas good candidates for Cubesat applications.

This review highlights normal and tumor tissue vasculature, immunological changes, and phenotypic alterations (VIP model) as fundamental in abscopal interaction. In the stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and immunotherapy era, we are moving toward “immunological radiation planning,” i.e., radiation scheduling with abscopal effect as a vital endpoint as well. Towards this end, this manuscript presents specific diagrammatic tumor models to optimize the outcome of abscopal response in SBRT, based on the principle of the four R’s - Repair, Redistribution, Repopulation, and Reoxygenation of radiotherapy. The article highlights the importance of restricting the dose of SBRT to < 10 Gy per fraction, appropriate use of dose painting, and concomitant/delayed SBRT boost potential. Current literature indicates that immunotherapy should not precede but follow SBRT within seven days. Included is the review of integrating “cyclical” antiangiogenics, immune adjuvants/immune-metabolites as abscopal effect enhancers with SBRT. The importance of proton, carbon-ion SBRT is dealt with briefly. Proposed six fundamental requirements for augmentation of the abscopal cascade are listed. The existing exploratory results need to develop a definitive strategy amidst complex interactions in SBRT, immunotherapy, immune-adjuvants, & abscopal effects. We now have enough literature evidence to convert “abscopal by chance” to “abscopal by design” by harmonized combinatorial approach.

We propose a chemical language processing model to predict polymers’ glass transition temperature (Tg) through a polymer language (SMILES, Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) embedding and recurrent neural network. This model only receives the SMILES strings of polymer’s repeat units as inputs and considers the SMILES strings as sequential data at the character level. Using this method, there is no need to calculate any additional molecular descriptors or fingerprints of polymers, and thereby, being very computationally efficient and simple. More importantly, it avoids the difficulties to generate molecular descriptors for repeat units containing polymerization point `*’. Results show that the trained model demonstrates reasonable prediction accuracy on unseen polymer’s Tg. Besides, this model is further applied for high-throughput screening on an unlabeled polymer database to identify high-temperature polymers that are desired for applications in extreme environments. Our work demonstrates that the SMILES strings of polymer’s repeat units can be used as an effective feature representation to develop a chemical language processing model for predictions of Tg. The framework of this model is general and can be used to construct structure-property relationships for other polymer’s properties.

In the last decade, readily available electronic devices have created unprecedented opportunities for teens to access a wide variety of information and media – both positive and negative – on the internet. Despite the increasing number of initiatives taking place worldwide intended to assess and mitigate the online risks encountered by children and adolescents, there is still a need for a better understanding of how adolescents use the internet and what consequences they may face. We conducted a cross sectional online survey of a convenience sample of 733 8th and 9th grade students in Utah. The survey contained eight questions regarding students’ exposure to three types of online risk scenarios: content risk, contact risk, and commercial risk. Independent variables included students’ online behaviors, use of social media and private messaging apps, and adult supervision of online activities. Logistic and negative binomial regression models indicated that female gender, social media use, and chatting with strangers were associated with exposure to multiple unsafe online scenarios. Our results provide critical information to practitioners involved in the development of educational initiatives by building a profile of potentially risky online behaviors and allow them to tailor their initiatives to meet the needs of more vulnerable populations.

The work focused on the development of high-temperature electrical insulation coatings for film photovoltaics. The idea was into replacing the electroconductive metal dispersed phase in siloxane high-temperature coating to ceramic particles with phonon thermal conductivity. The slurry of industrial composition based on polysiloxane lacquer and thermally conductive paste containing zinc oxide was centrifuged to obtain a thin, optically transparent coating with the destruction temperature of over 600 °C. Topology, electrical properties, and thermal conductivity of the resulting film were investigated. The mathematical model of thermal processes in films in the course of heating was figured out. Quantitatively the relation of thermal conductivities of a control sample and a sample with a heat-conducting filler was established. The effectiveness of using this technology is shown.

In view of the preparation for a post-LHC collider, the high-energy physics (HEP) community started from 2010 to discuss various options, including the use of HTS for very high field dipoles. Therefore, a small program was set in Europe aiming at exploring the possibility of using HTS for accelerator quality magnets. Based on various EU funded programs, though at modest levels, has enabled the European community of accelerator magnets to start getting experience in HTS and addressing a few issues. The program was based on use of REBCO tapes to form 10 kA Roebel cables, to be used to wind small dipoles of 30-40 mm aperture in the 5 T range. The dipoles are designed to be later inserted in a background dipole field (in Nb3Sn), to reach eventually a field level in the 16-20 T range, beyond the reach of LTS. The program is currently underway: more than 1 km tape of high performance (Je &gt; 500 A/mm2 at 20 T, 4.2 K has been manufactured and characterized, various 30 m long Roebel cables have been assembled and validated up to 13 kA, a few dipoles have been wound and tested, reaching at present 4.5 T in stand-alone (while a dipole made from race track coils with no-bore exceeded 5 T using stacked tape cable) and a test in a background field is being organized.

This paper reviews state of the art Additive Manufactured (AM) IN718 alloy intended for high temperature applications. AM processes have been around for decades and have gained traction in the past five years due to the huge economic benefit it brings to manufacturers. It is crucial for the scientific community to look into AM IN718 applicability in order to see a step-change in the production. Microstructural studies reveal that the grain structure plays a significant role in determining the fatigue lifespan of the material. Controlling IN718 respective phases such as the ϒ’', δ and Laves phase is seen to be crucial. Literature reviews have shown that the mechanical properties of AM IN718 were very close to its wrought counterpart when treated appropriately. Higher homogenization temperature and longer ageing were recommended to dissolve the damaging phases. Various surface enhancement techniques were examined to find out their compatibility to AM IN718 alloy that is intended for high temperature application. Laser shock peening (LSP) technology stands out due to the ability to impart low cold work which helps in containing the beneficial compressive residual stress it brings in high temperature fatigue environment.

The use of cow bones for biomaterial is still limited; accordingly, the cow bones waste has low economic value. Basically, a human’s and a cow’s bones are the same in terms of their forming compound. Aluminum (Al) has the potential to combine with hydroxyapatite (HAp) to make metal matrix composites (MMC) that have the potential for biomaterials. Compatible elements to be combined with Al and HAp are magnesium (Mg), titanium (Ti), and Copper (Cu), used self-high propagating temperatures synthesis (SHS). MMC can be processed to be a useful, solid product. Applying pressure to the SHS reaction and heating process may result in biomaterial composite product consisting of some matrix materials such as Al come from cans materials used in the experiment was HAp that was processed from cow bones calcination, added by can that contained aluminum and wetting agent, namely magnesium. The exothermic temperature was 800-900°C. The compaction process was done to allow materials to be bound. Based on the ASTM F138 standard for element of biomaterials, the porosity value was below 30% and hardness level above 40 HV. Cow bones and can-based composite sample with the composition of HAp-Al-Mg: 85%-10%-5% met the standard since the hardness value was: 73.3 HV with a porosity value of 29.88%.

At different heat treatment temperatures, the hardness and flexural strength of M2 high-speed steel selective laser melting (SLM) parts show mixed trends. When the heat treatment temperature is 260°C, the hardness and flexural strength of the M2 high-speed steel SLM part are decreased, but the hardness difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the M2 high-speed steel SLM part is also reduced. When the heat treatment temperature is 560°C, the hardness and flexural strength of the M2 high-speed steel SLM part are almost close to that of the original M2 high-speed steel SLM part, and the performance gradient in the sample is improved, and the overall structure is uniform. When the subsequent heat treatment temperature is 860 °C, the hardness of the SLM parts reaches a minimum, with an average value of 24 HRC. However, the flexural strength exceeds that of the original SLM parts. Moreover, the microstructure of the sample is uniform, which significantly improves the anisotropy of performance.

Conventional radiation therapy uses white X-rays that consist of a mixture of X-ray waves with various energy levels. In contrast, a monochromatic X-ray (monoenergetic X-ray) has a single energy level. Irradiation of high Z elements with a synchrotron generated monochromatic X-ray with the energy at or higher than the K-edge energy of the element results in the production of the Auger electrons that cause DNA damage leading to cell killing. Delivery of high Z elements into cancer cells and tumor mass can be facilitated by the use of nanoparticles. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been shown to be effective in delivering high Z elements to cancer cells. A proof of principle experiment was reported that demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. This opens up a possibility to pursue the Auger cancer therapy by the combined use of MSNs loaded with high Z elements and monochromatic X-rays. Similar cancer therapies using other types of quantum beams such as neutron, proton and carbon ion beams can be envisioned.

The paper provides information on significant contamination of real laboratory water with hydrophilic microimpurities. This fact suggests that researchers are practically dealing with microdispersed systems. However, this fact is usually neglected in the discussions of the causes of the anomalous properties of water. We will show that, when exposed to various factors of physical nature, water demonstrates reactions of the same type, namely, increased pH and electrical conductivity, reduced redox potential and viscosity, and enhanced bioavailability. Each exposure is accompanied by the destruction of aggregates of the dispersed phase and its transition to a fine-dispersed state. The relationship between this phenomenon and the change in the physicochemical properties of water is discussed.

The origin and significance of the tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) units and the familiar metabasite xenoliths they host in the Yangtze Craton, China, remain controversial, and resolving these issues is important if we are to understand the evolution of the early Yangtze Craton. We focused on biotite–tremolite schist xenoliths in the Archean TTG units of the Kongling high-grade metamorphic terrane, and U–Pb dating of their zircons yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages of ca. 3.00 Ga, which provides a minimum age for the formation of the pre-metamorphic basic igneous rock. The host TTGs and late intrusive granitic dikes yield three groups of upper intercept ages at 2.87–2.88, 2.91–2.94, and 3.07 Ga, and a concordant age at 2.94 Ga, which suggest that the Yangtze continental nucleus underwent three important metamorphic–magmatic events in the Mesoarchean at ca. 3.00, 2.94, and 2.87 Ga. The biotite–tremolite schists have high ratios of K₂O/Na₂O and high contents of CaO, Cr, and Ni, thus showing the characteristics of high-K calc-alkaline island-arc volcanic rocks (basalt–andesite) that form by the partial melting of subducted oceanic crust. The data also provide further proof that a Mesoarchean metamorphic basement exists in the Yangtze Plate. Derivation of the magmatic protoliths of the biotite–tremolite schist enclaves from an oceanic crust during slab subduction, and the presence of these xenoliths within the TTG suite, indicate the existence of the initiation of plate tectonics during the Mesoarchean (≤2.94 Ga).

We report fabrication of crystalline microresonators of high quality (Q) factors with a controllable wedge angle on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI). Our technique relies on femtosecond laser assisted chemo-mechanical polish which allows us to achieve ultrahigh surface smoothness as critically demanded by high Q microresonator applications. We show that by refining the polish parameters, Q factors as high as 4.7 × 10⁷ can be obtained and the wedge angle of the LNOI can be continuously tuned from 9° to 51°.

Real-time evolution of the electron densities under excitations in La₂CuO₄ was calculated by the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The author found, for the first time, under excitations, the electron cloud of Cu²⁺ changes obviously and the characteristic frequencies are 83 meV and 36 meV, respectively, for two different modes. The results are unexpected and close to that of lattice vibrations. The results show that the electron cloud of Cu²⁺ (just like the lattice) can be the electron-pairing medium in high temperature copper oxide superconductors.

As metabolomics is widely used in the study of disease mechanisms, more and more studies have found that metabolites play an important role in the occurrence of diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects and mechanisms of quercetin in high-fat-sucrose diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development using nontargeted metabolomics. A rat model of NAFLD was established by feeding with a HFD for 30 and 50 days. Results indicated quercetin exhibited hepatoprotective activity in HFD-induced NAFLD rats in 30 days by regulating fatty acids related metabolites (adrenic acid, etc.), inflammation related metabolites (arachidonic acid, etc.), oxidative stress related metabolites (2-hydroxybutyric acid) and other differential metabolites (citric acid, etc.). However, quercetin couldn’t improve NAFLD in 50 days maybe it couldn’t reverse the inflammation condition induced by long-term high-fat diet. These data indicate that dietary quercetin may be beneficial to NAFLD at early stages. Furthermore, combining metabolomics and experimental approaches opens up avenues of effects and mechanisms of drugs for complex diseases.

In this work we present the results obtained with an artificial neural network (ANN) which we trained to predict the expected output of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) process, while exploring a multi-dimensional parameter space. We argue on the utility and efficiency of the ANN model and demonstrate its ability to predict the outcome of HHG simulations. In this case study we present the results for a loose focusing HHG beamline, where the changing parameters are: the laser pulse energy, gas pressure, gas cell position relative to focus and gas cell length. The physical quantity which we predict here using ANN is directly related to the total harmonic yield in a specified spectral domain (20-40 eV). We discuss the versatility and adaptability of the presented method.

It was demonstrated during the past decade that ultra-short intense laser pulse tightly focused deep inside a transparent dielectric generates the energy density in excess of several MJ/cm$^3$. Such energy concentration with extremely high heating and quenching rates leads to unusual solid-plasma-solid transformation paths overcoming kinetic barriers to formation of previously unknown high-pressure material phases, which are preserved in the surrounding pristine crystal. These results were obtained with the pulse of Gaussian shape in space and in time. Recently it was shown that the Bessel-shaped pulse could transform much larger amount of a material and allegedly create even higher energy density than that was achieved with the Gaussian (GB) pulses. Here we present a succinct review of previous results and discuss the possible routes for achieving higher energy density employing the Bessel beams (BB) and take advantage of its unique properties.

Wildland fires are responsible for large socio-economic impacts. Fires affect the environment, damage structures, threaten lives, cause health issues, and involve large suppression costs. These impacts can be mitigated via accurate fire spread forecast to inform the incident management team. We show that a fire forecast system based on a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model coupled with a wildland fire behavior model can provide this forecast. This is illustrated with the Chimney Tops II wildland fire responsible for large socio-economic impacts. The system is run at high horizontal resolution (111 m) over the region affected by the fire to provide a fine representation of the terrain and fuel heterogeneities and explicitly resolve atmospheric turbulence. Our findings suggest that one can use the high spatial resolution winds, fire spread and smoke forecast to minimize the adverse impacts of wildland fires.

Human factors are the most relevant issues contributing to adverse events in obstetrics. Specific training of Crisis Resource Management (CRM) skills (i.e., problem solving and team management, resource allocation, awareness of environment, and dynamic decision-making) are now widespread and are often based on High Fidelity Simulation. In order to be used as a guideline in simulated scenarios, they need to be translated into specific and observable behavioral markers. To this purpose, we developed a set of observable behaviors related to the main elements of CRM in the delivery room. The observational tool was then adopted in a two-days seminar on obstetric hemorrhage where teams working in obstetric wards of six Italian hospitals took part to simulations. The tool was used as guide for the Io and as a peer-to-peer feedback. It was then rated for its usefulness in facilitating the reflection upon one’s own behavior, its ease of use, and its usefulness for the peer-to-peer feedback. The ratings were highly positive, around 4 in a 5-point scale. The CRM observational tool is therefore a useful, quick and easy solution to facilitate the debriefing, the peer-to-peer feedback and, most of all, the transfer of safe behavior from simulation to everyday practice.

Continuous ultrasonic in-situ monitoring for industrial applications is difficult owing to the high operating temperatures in industrial fields. It is expected that ultrasonic transducers consisting of CaBi4Ti4O15(CBT)/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT) sol-gel composite could be one solution for ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) above 500 C because no couplant is required and CBT has a high Curie temperature. To verify the high temperature durability, CBT/PZT sol-gel composite films were fabricated on titanium substrates by spray coating, and the CBT/PZT samples were tested in a furnace at various temperatures. Reflected echoes with a high signal-to-noise ratio were observed up to 600 C. A thermal cycle test was conducted from room temperature to 600 C, and no significant deterioration was found after the second thermal cycle. To investigate the long-term high-temperature durability, a CBT/PZT ultrasonic transducer was tested in the furnace at 600 °C for 36 h. Ultrasonic responses were recorded every 3 h, and the sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio were stable throughout the experiment.

Background: Studies employing next-generation sequencing (NGS) show that the oral fungal community (mycobiome) is far more complex than hitherto thought. However, the role of the oral mycobiome in health and disease, including oral carcinogenesis, has not been explored. Objective: To characterize the mycobiome associated with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Tissue biopsies [cases: 25 OSCC; controls: 27 intra-oral fibro-epithelial polyp (FEP)] were collected from oral and maxillofacial units in Sri Lanka. Total DNA was extracted and subjected to sequencing of the fungal ITS2 region using Illumina’s 2x300 bp chemistry. High quality, non-chimeric merged reads were classified to species level using a BLASTN-algorithm with UNITE’s named species sequences as reference. Downstream analyses were performed using QIIME and LEfSe. Results: 364 species representing 160 genera and 2 phyla (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) were identified, with Candida and Malassezia making up 48% and 11% of the average mycobiome, respectively. However, only 5 species and 4 genera were detected in ≥50% of the samples. The species richness and diversity were significantly lower in OSCC. At the genus level, Candida, Hannaella and Gibberella were overrepresented in OSCC while Alternaria and Trametes were more abundant in FEP. Species-wise, C. albicans, C. etchellsii and Hannaella luteola-like species were enriched in OSCC while Malassezia restricta, Aspergillus tamarii, Alternaria alternate, Cladosporium halotolerans, and Hanseniaspora uvarum-like species were the most significantly abundant in FEP. Conclusions: A dysbiotic mycobiome dominated by C. albicans was found in association with OSCC. Whether this dysbiosis plays a role in oral carcinogenesis warrants further investigation.

Studies on the possible association between bacteria and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain inconclusive, largely due to methodological variations/limitations. The objective of this study was to characterize the species composition as well as functional attributes of the bacteriome associated with OSCC. DNA obtained from 20 fresh OSCC biopsies (cases) and 20 deep-epithelium swabs (matched control subjects) were sequenced for the V1-V3 region using Illumina’s 2x300 bp chemistry. High quality, non-chimeric merged reads were classified to species level using a prioritized BLASTN-algorithm. Downstream analyses were performed using QIIME, PICRUSt, and LEfSe. Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. polymorphum was the most significantly overrepresented species in the tumors followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Campylobacter sp. Oral taxon 44, while Streptococcus mitis, Rothia mucilaginosa and Haemophilus parainfluenzae were the most significantly abundant in the controls. Functionally, genes involved in bacterial mobility, flagellar assembly, bacterial chemotaxis and LPS synthesis were enriched in the tumors while those responsible for DNA repair and combination, purine metabolism, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, ribosome biogenesis and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis were significantly associated with the controls. This is the first epidemiological evidence for association of F. nucleatum and P. aeruginosa with OSCC. Functionally, an “inflammatory bacteriome” is enriched in OSSC.

In the case of long-stator linear drive, unlike rotative drives for which speed or position sensors are a single unit attached to the shaft, these sensors extend along the guideway. The position signals transmitted from maglev vehicle can’t meet the need of the real-time propulsion control in the on-ground inverter power substations. In this paper the design of the propulsion inverter control system with a position estimator for driving long-stator synchronous motor in high speed maglev train is proposed. The experiments have been carried out at the 150m long guideway in O-song test track. To investigate the performance of the position estimator, the propulsion control system with and without the position estimator are compared. The result confirms that the proposed strategy can meet the dynamic property need of propulsion inverter control system for driving long-stator linear synchronous motors

Originally developed to image the shadow region of the central black hole in Sagittarius A* and in the nearby galaxy M87, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) provides deep, very high angular resolution data on other AGN sources too. The challenges of working with EHT data have spurred the development of new image reconstruction algorithms. This work briefly reviews the status of the EHT and its utility for observing AGN sources, with emphasis on novel imaging techniques that offer the promise of better reconstructions at 1.3 mm and other wavelengths.

This study investigates the critical role of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) in enhancing the e-commerce user experience. In an increasingly competitive digital marketplace, effective SRM practices are essential for optimizing supply chain operations and meeting customer expectations. The research employs a qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders, extensive literature review, and case studies to explore various dimensions of SRM. Key findings reveal that strategic supplier selection criteria, including quality, cost efficiency, reliability, innovation, and sustainability, are pivotal in ensuring a robust and adaptable supply chain. Effective communication practices, such as transparency, frequent updates, and digital tools, foster strong supplier relationships and enable timely issue resolution. Performance management strategies, centered on KPI monitoring and continuous improvement, support operational excellence and customer satisfaction. Risk management practices, including diversification, contingency planning, and advanced analytics, are crucial for mitigating disruptions and ensuring supply chain resilience, as highlighted by the challenges posed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological integration with blockchain, AI, IoT, data analytics, and automation enhances efficiency, transparency, and decision-making capabilities in SRM. Furthermore, the study underscores the evolving integration of sustainability and ethical sourcing into SRM strategies, reflecting broader corporate responsibility goals. Ultimately, this research contributes to understanding how effective SRM strategies drive competitive advantage in e-commerce by enhancing supply chain reliability, responsiveness, and customer-centricity. As e-commerce continues to evolve, adapting and innovating SRM practices will be vital for companies aiming to sustain growth and meet the dynamic demands of global markets.

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) plays a pivotal role in enhancing delivery performance within the e-commerce sector, yet understanding its nuanced impacts remains crucial for optimizing operational efficiencies and customer satisfaction. This qualitative research explores the intricate dynamics of SRM in e-commerce, focusing on strategic alignment, technological integration, trust, collaboration, and risk management as key determinants of delivery reliability. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, the study reveals that strategic alignment of supplier capabilities with firm objectives is fundamental for maintaining a responsive and synchronized supply chain. Technological integration, including AI-driven analytics and blockchain applications, emerges as critical for real-time monitoring and adaptive decision-making, thereby improving delivery accuracy and efficiency. Trust and collaboration are identified as essential pillars for building resilient supplier relationships, fostering transparent communication and joint problem-solving. Effective risk management practices, such as supplier diversification and contingency planning, mitigate disruptions and ensure consistent delivery performance. Despite these benefits, challenges such as technological adoption barriers, cultural differences, communication complexities, resource constraints, and supplier reliability issues persist, necessitating strategic interventions. Recommendations include investing in advanced SRM technologies, promoting cultural understanding, enhancing communication protocols, allocating adequate resources, and fostering collaborative initiatives with suppliers. These strategies aim to overcome challenges and optimize SRM practices, ultimately enhancing delivery performance and competitiveness in the e-commerce landscape.

Digital transformation process gained significant research interest over the past years especially when related with achievements in sustainability goals. Even though there exist growing research regarding various aspects of digital transformation and sustainability procedure, a more detailed analysis is needed in different national environments. Proposed study empirically analyzes the Greek managers’ perspective for the relationship between digital management intensity and environmental performance. Almost 60 Greek senior managers from various organizational sectors were interviewed, while a synthetic index already developed from previous studies was used. Results indicate that Greek companies are not fully exploit digital technologies to further develop their environmental practices. Digital transformation strategy is contributing effectively to environmental strategies in the case of reducing emissions of waste and avoid environmental accidents, while in the rest of cases emerging technologies play a less important role and not as a part of an holistic digital strategy.

Promoting sustainable consumer behavior is now an obligation under new European legislation, requiring Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for accurate environmental impact evaluation. Portugal is a key textile producer, edge in competitiveness in sustainable textile production, driven by electricity-reduced carbon footprint and closed-loop manufacturing. Additionally, while simple spreadsheets can estimate a product's carbon footprint, openLCA software, combined with ecoinvent database, greatly enhances environmental footprint calculations by integrating diverse impact categories, otherwise difficult to estimate. In this study, openLCA is used to evaluate the environmental footprint of a white T-shirt made in Portugal, with 50% recycled cotton from post-industrial wastes combined with 50% organic cotton from Turkey, to assist the design of environmental key performance indicators (KPI). The RECIPE and EF method (adapted) are used to calculate the environmental impacts and allow aggregation in a single score. The KPI related to the global warming impact is validated using a spreadsheet calculator. We propose an “Envi-Score” based on an A to E classification for benchmarking and better communication with the buyers. E is set as the normalized environmental impact of the European benchmark for a mixture material T-shirt encompassing cradle-to-gate boundaries. The introduction of recycled cotton proves to be environmentally beneficial over organic and conventional cotton. Organic cotton proves to be beneficial in comparison with conventional cotton for most environmental categories, except to the ones affected by the lower production yield, for example Land Use. The hotspots for the main impact categories are identified and finally proposed a labelling scheme, to clearly inform about the environmental performance of the products and avoid greenwashing, with the “Envi-Score” rate, carbon footprint, land use and water depletion.

The performance of laser beams in tracking Lissajous scan trajectories is severely limited by beam jitter. To enhance the performance of fast steering mirror (FSM) control in tracking Lissajous scan trajectories, this paper proposed a fractional order active disturbance rejection controller (FOADRC) and verified its effectiveness in improving system scanning tracking accuracy. A dynamic mathematical model of fast steering mirror was studied and the design of parameters for the control mode of the closed-loop system was determined. A reduced order linear active disturbance rejection controller suitable for FSM systems was designed and the corresponding fractional order proportional differentiation (FOPD) controller were determined according to the mathematical model. The use of the designed controller enabled high-performance tracking of high-frequency Lissajous scanning curves (X-axis 500 Hz, Y-axis 350 Hz) and met the need for high-frequency repetitive scanning. The controller has the characteristics of simple implementation and low computational complexity and is suitable for closed-loop control applications in engineering.

The Ames/quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) International Challenge Projects held during 2014–2017 and 2020–2022, evaluated the performance of various predictive models. Despite the significant insights gained, the rules allowing participants to select prediction targets introduced ambiguity in model performance evaluation. This reanalysis identified the highest-performing prediction model, assuming a 100% coverage rate (COV) for all prediction target compounds and an estimated performance variation due to changes in COV. All models from both projects were evaluated using balance accuracy (BA), Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), F1 Score (F1), and the first principal component (PC1). After normalizing the COV, a correlation analysis with these indicators was conducted, and the evaluation index for all prediction models in terms of the COV was estimated. In total, 109 models, the highest estimated BA (76.9) at 100% COV was MMI-VOTE1, reported by Meiji Pharmaceutical University (MPU). The best models for MCC, F1, and PC1 were all MMI-STK1, also reported by MPU. All models reported by MPU ranked in the top four. MMI-STK1 was estimated to have F1 scores of 59.2, 61.5, and 63.1 at COV levels of 90%, 60%, and 30%, respectively. These findings highlight the current state and potential of the Ames prediction technology.

The energy-intensive sector of the cement industry needs to find technologically advanced methods to produce cement with as little energy as possible, without polluting the environment and without sacrificing the quality (fineness) of the cement. In addition, the stress on the machines changes the behavior of the data. By combining the k-means method, two (2) feature selection methods, nine (9) machine learning methods, and the differential evolution (DE) method, a dynamic system is created where the user determines the key performance indicators (KPIs) each time. The user has the potential to control the distribution of the data, the input of machine learning models, and the ability to switch the system to the suggested values without damage. The selection of the best-performing models is based on the normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE). The DE method optimizes the dynamic objective function. The optimal values of the manipulated variables are evaluated compared to the value of the objective function from the actual values of the variables. In all experiments, the recommendations are acceptable. The final results show an improvement in the operation of both the cement mill and kiln compared to the current operating condition.

As the control brain of the petrochemical plant, blast resistant performance requirements of the petrochemical control room should be guaranteed when the vapor cloud explosion occurs in the petrochemical production process. 3D-Kagome truss core sandwich structure is a kind of blast resistant material with high energy absorption. Considering the influence factors of the radius of the truss core rod and thickness of the upper and lower panels, in this paper, blast resistant performance of a real steel petrochemical control room with 3D-Kagome truss core sandwich wall is analyzed. With the optimization goal of plastic deformation energy and panel displacement, the optimal wall thickness and radius of the truss core rode are obtained. The optimized blast resistant wall is assembled, and the dynamic response of the steel petrochemical control room with the 3D-Kagome truss core sandwich blast resistant wall is analyzed. The simulation results show that the truss core layer does not dissipate the blast energy effectively when the radius ratio of the truss core rod is larger than 2.7% of the total thickness of the wall; with the increase of the thickness of the upper and lower panels, the proportion of plastic deformation energy of the truss core layer increases gradually and then tends to be a stable proportion value, that is about 90%; When the thickness ratio of the panel is 6.7% of the total one of the wall and the radius ratio of the truss core rod is 2.7% of the total thickness of the wall, the optimal blast resistant 3D-Kagome sandwich wall is determined.

Recently, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) introduced the New Radio (NR) technology for Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to enable delay-sensitive and bandwidth-hungry applications in vehicular communication. The NR system is strategically crafted to complement the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) infrastructure, particularly to support advanced services such as the operation of automated vehicles. It is widely anticipated that the 5th generation (5G) NR system will surpass LTE C-V2X in terms of achieving superior performance in scenarios characterized by high throughput, low latency, and enhanced reliability, especially in the context of congested traffic conditions and a diverse range of vehicular applications. This article will provide a comprehensive literature review on vehicular communications from Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) to NR V2X. Subsequently, it delves into a detailed examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in NR V2X technology. Finally, we proceed to elucidate the process of creating and analyzing an open-source 5G NR V2X module in network simulation-3 (ns-3) and then demonstrate the NR V2X performance in terms of different key performance indicators implemented through diverse operational scenarios.

Telemedicine and remote survey of physiological parameters may significantly increase the health and safety of people working in extreme environmental conditions, like firefighters, maintain rescuers, soldiers, and others. We highlight this problem and give an overview of the historical development and the actual status of systems available. Ruggedized systems, as small, lightweight, and flexible as possible, are needed to optimize the goal of increasing occupational health and safety of persons at risk and maximizing their performance during missions.

Solar heating technology is a promising solution to promote China to achieve the “3060 double carbon” target as soon as possible. And seasonal thermal storage (STS) can effectively solve the mismatch problem of solar heating systems between the supply and demand of thermal energy. Due to the instability of solar radiation resources and heat demand, it is necessary to analyze the dynamic response characteristics of the system. Yet, related studies are still scarce. In this study, a solar heating system with a solar tower receiver and STS was introduced in north China. The dynamic performance of the system is analyzed with a dynamic simulated method in a typical day or typical operation modes, and the switch mechanism between multiple operation modes is also revealed. The impact of different heating strategies on system performance was analyzed. Results showed that the solar fraction of the system reached 89.4% in the third year, which was 3.6% higher than the first year. The quality-quantity heating operation strategies can be effective ways to improve the discharge efficiency of STS and the system performance without any heat pump. The electricity consumption of the pump on the heating side could be significantly reduced by 44.6% compared with the quality control.

Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy has high specific strength, good corrosion resistance, fracture toughness and fatigue resistance. It is one of the most important structural materials in the fields of aviation, aerospace, weapons, transportation and so on, which plays a huge role in the field of aerospace.In order to optimize the strength, toughness and corrosion properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy, alloying has always been the focus of research on Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy. The effects of main alloying elements, trace alloying elements and rare earth elements on the microstructure and properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu aluminum alloy were briefly introduced in the paper, and the future research directions were prospected.

This study compares the effects of lecture-based instruction and process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL)-based instruction on the self-efficacy performance of Grade 12 students. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was adopted to investigate and assess the impact of POGIL-based instruction versus lecture-based instruction on students’ performance as measured by three types of cognitive outcomes; Knowing, Applying and Reasoning (KAR). Two government high schools in Alain were selected as research sites, one for the boys and one for the girls. The total number of participants was approximately 110 students (N=110); 54 were assigned to treatment groups (25 girls and 29 boys), and 56 were assigned to control groups (27 girls and 29 boys). The treatment group was taught a circular motion unit in physics using POGIL-based instruction, while the control group was taught the unit using lecture-based instruction. The study's findings showed statistically significant differences between students of the control group and the treatment group in favour of the latter regarding their science performance, self-efficacy and science-related attitudes. Moreover, positive correlations were found between participants’ performance at the KAR test, self-efficacy and scientific attitudes towards scientific inquiry after the intervention. In conclusion, it is recommended to shift teaching towards POGIL-based instruction due to its positive impact on students’ performance and self-efficacy. It is also suggested to replicate the study to include government and private schools, elementary and high schools, teachers and advisors.

Bamboo engineering materials are green, high-strength, tough, durable, and structurally safe, and have promising application prospects in various modern green and low-carbon buildings. To invest the vibration behavior of new bamboo bundle veneer -laminated lumber (BLVL) for use in floor slabs, this study designed two kinds of full-scale vibration tests under a pedestrian load: an extraction hammer impact test, and a static concentrated load test, it is expected to provide theoretical and data support for the application of bamboo bundle veneer laminated composite materials in the construction field. The results showed that the self-oscillation frequency and mid-span deflection of the BLVL composite met the requirements of multiple relevant regulations when used as the structural material of floor slabs. The BLVL floor slab had a higher flexural stiffness and better vibration-damping performance than the OSB floor slab. The first-order self-oscillation frequency of the BLVL composite floor slab was 13.769 Hz, the damping ratio of the first three orders of modalities was 1.262–2.728%, and the maximum static deflection in the span of the joist was 0.932 mm under a 1 kN concentrated load. The 1 kN static deflection of the BLVL was reduced by 22.33%, and the root mean square (RMS) acceleration of the walking load response was significantly lower than that of the OSB floor slab. The preparation of BLVL composite materials by homogeneous lamination of bamboo bundle veneer and wood veneer may help improve the vibration behavior of bamboo-wood structures such as floor slabs and walls.

Strong numerical and functional response of owls to voles in cyclic environments is well known, but there is insufficient knowledge from boreonemoral region, in particular, with depleted populations of the small mammals. In this study we describe the dynamics of the small mammal population in Latvia from 1991 to 2016 and link them to owl population characteristics. We used food niche breadth, number of fledglings and population trends to describe the numerical response of six owl species to dampened small mammal population cycles. We found temporarily in-creasing food niche breadth in tawny and Ural owls. There were no other responses in tawny owl, whereas the breeding performance of three forest specialist species – pygmy, Tengmalm`s and Ural owls – were similar to vole crash years in Fennoscandia. Moreover, the populations of forest specialist owls are decreasing and the change in Ural owl can be attributed to the depletion of small mammal populations. We found evidence of carry-over effect in eagle owl arising from strong correlation of declining breeding performance with the small mammal abundance indices in previous autumn. We conclude that dampening of the small mammal population cycles is an important covariate to overwhelming impacts of habitat destruction with stronger response in more specialized (to prey or habitat) species.

Nowadays, energy saving is considered a key issue worldwide, as it brings a variety of benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing demand for energy imports, and lowering costs on a household and economy-wide level. Researchers and building designers are looking to optimize building efficiency by means of new energy technologies. Changes in existing buildings can also be made to reduce energy consumption and costs. These may include the usage of new heat transfer fluids based on nanofluids. In this work, an extended experimental campaign (from February 2020 to March 2021) has been carried out on an educational building in the Campus of University of Salento, Lecce – Italy, in order to evaluate the increase in performance of the HVAC system, due to the usage of a nanofluid. The results show that, under optimal operating conditions, plant performance improves more than 10%, with average daily peaks of about 15%.

Proposed as a response to the increasing global need for environmental protection, a green port balances economic vibrancy and environmental protection. However, because exhaust emissions (e.g., CO2 or sulfide) are difficult to monitor in and around ports, data on such emissions are often incomplete, which hinders research on this topic. To remedy this problem, this study aimed to formulate a method for collecting CO2 emissions data at their source; this method was applied to collect real-world operating data from a large container-handling company in Taiwan. Specifically, to account for undesirable outputs, we formulated a method that combines (1) data envelopment analysis based on a modified slack-based measure and (2) a multichoice goal programming approach. We found that rubber-tired gantry cranes are the greenest and should be used. Our findings aid port managers in selecting port equipment that best balances between environmental protection and profitability.

Estimating the remaining useful life (RUL) of components is a crucial task to enhance the reliability, safety, productivity, and to reduce maintenance cost. In general, predicting the RUL of a component includes constructing a health indicator ( ) to infer the current condition of the component, and modelling the degradation process, to estimate the future behavior. Although many signal processing and data-driven based methods were proposed to construct the , most of the existing methods are based on manual feature extraction techniques, and need the prior knowledge of experts, or rely on a large amount of failure data. Therefore, in this study, a new data-driven method based on the convolutional autoencoder (CAE) is presented to construct the . For this purpose, the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) technique is used to convert the raw acquired vibrational signals into a two-dimensional image; then, the CAE model is trained by the healthy operation dataset. Finally, the Mahalanobis Distance (MD) between the healthy and failure stages is measured as the . The proposed method is tested on a benchmark bearing dataset and compared with several other traditional construction models. Experimental results indicate that the constructed exhibits a monotonically increasing degradation trend and has a good performance to detect incipient faults.

One of the robust explanation related to sociological educational inequality is Bourdieu’s cultural reproduction theory. Admittedly, prior work investigated that children’s cultural capital (CC) have significant effects on educational success. Although, it remain unclear in the context of developing countries specifically Vietnam. Also, how children’s conversion mechanism of CC works and drive educational success. Meanwhile, Bourdieu theory argue that CC effects educations outcomes largely via teachers biasness by using support of school grades, in contrast some of the scholars argue that absorption of children’s CC may directly transmit into educational abilities and skill development. This study employed partial least square structural equation modelling to analyze 5th grades students’ data collected from educational policy and data center. This study argue that conversion mechanism grounded on CC dimensions. This study provide implications for the policy makers and future researchers.

Façade elements are a building component that satisfies multiple performance parameters. Among other things, “advanced façades” take advantage of hybrid solutions, such as assembling laminated materials. In addition to the enhanced mechanical properties that are typical of optimally composed hybrid structural components, these systems are energy-efficient, durable, and offer lighting comfort and optimal thermal performance, an example of which is the structural solution developed in collaboration with the University of Zagreb and the University of Ljubljana within the Croatian Science Foundation VETROLIGNUM project. The design concept involves the mechanical interaction of timber and glass load-bearing members without sealing or bonding the glass-to-timber surfaces. Following earlier research efforts devoted to the structural analysis and optimization of thus-assembled hybrid Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)-glass façade elements, in this paper, special focus is given to a thermal and energy performance investigation under ordinary operational conditions. A simplified numerical model representative of a full-size building is first presented by taking advantage of continuous ambient records from a Live-Lab mock-up facility in Zagreb. Afterwards, a more detailed Finite Element (FE) numerical analysis is carried out at the component level to further explore the potential of CLT–glass façade elements. The collected numerical results show that CLT–glass composite panels can offer stable and promising thermal performance for façades similar to national and European standard requirements.

Facade elements are known to represent a building component with multiple performance parameters to satisfy. Among others, “advanced facades” take advantage of hybrid solutions, like the assemblage of laminated materials. In addition to enhanced mechanical properties that are typical of optimally composed hybrid structural components, these systems are energy-efficient, durable, and offer lightening comfort and optimal thermal performance. This is the case of the structural solution developed in joint research efforts of the University of Zagreb and the University of Ljubljana, within the Croatian Science Foundation VETROLIGNUM project. The design concept involves the mechanical interaction of timber and glass load-bearing members, without sealing or bonded glass-to-timber surfaces. Laminated glass infilled timber frames are recognized as a new generation of structural members with relevant load-carrying capacity (and especially the enhancement of earthquake resistance of framed systems), but also energy-efficient and cost-effective solutions.

Gas Path Analysis and matching turbine engine models to experimental data are inverse problems of mathematical modelling which are characterized by parametric uncertainty. This results from the fact that the number of measured parameters is significantly lower than the number of components’ performance parameters needed to describe the real engine. In these conditions, even small measurement errors can result in a high variation of results, and obtained efficiency, loss factors etc. can appear out of the physical range. The current methods of engine model identification have developed considerably to provide stable, precise and physically adequate solutions. Presented in this work is an estimation method of engine components’ parameters based on multi-criteria identification which provides stable estimations of parameters and their confidence intervals with the known measurement errors. A priori information about the engine, its parameters and performance is used directly in the regularised identification procedure. The mathematical basis for this approach is the fuzzy sets theory. Forming objective functions and scalar convolutions synthesis of these functions is used to estimate gas-path components’ parameters. A comparison of the proposed approach with traditional methods showed that its main advantage is high stability of estimation in the parametric uncertainty conditions. Regularization reduces scattering, excludes incorrect solutions which do not correspond to a priori assumptions, and also helps to implement the Gas Path Analysis at the limited number of measured parameters. The method can be used for matching thermodynamic models to experimental data, Gas Path Analysis and also adapting dynamic models for the needs of the engine control system.

Emotion detection from the text is an important and challenging problem in text analytics. The opinion-mining experts are focusing on the development of emotion detection applications as they have received considerable attention of online community including users and business organization for collecting and interpreting public emotions. However, most of the existing works on emotion detection used less efficient machine learning classifiers with limited datasets, resulting in performance degradation. To overcome this issue, this work aims at the evaluation of the performance of different machine learning classifiers on a benchmark emotion dataset. The experimental results show the performance of different machine learning classifiers in terms of different evaluation metrics like precision, recall ad f-measure. Finally, a classifier with the best performance is recommended for the emotion classification.

Low-cost RGB-D cameras are increasingly used in several research fields including human-machine interaction, safety, robotics, biomedical engineering and even Reverse Engineering applications. Among the plethora of commercial devices, the Intel RealSense cameras proved to be among the best suitable devices, providing a good compromise between cost, ease of use, compactness and precision. Released on the market in January 2018, the new Intel model RealSense D415 has a wide acquisition range (i.e. ~160-10000 mm) and a narrow field of view to capture objects in rapid motion. Given the unexplored potential of this new device, especially when used as a 3D scanner, the present work aims to characterize and to provide metrological considerations on the RealSense D415. In particular, tests are carried out to assess the device performances in the near range (i.e. 100-1000 mm). Characterization is performed by integrating the guidelines of the existing standard (i.e. the German VDI/VDE 2634 part 2 normative) with a number of literature-based strategies. Performance analysis is finally compared against latest close-range sensors, thus providing a useful guidance for researchers and practitioners aiming to use RGB-D cameras in Reverse Engineering applications.

This study investigated live animal performance and carcass characteristics of Australian prime lambs fed oil based polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) enriched pellets in a feedlot system. The tested hypothesis was that supplementation of lambs with a variety of dietary oil based PUFA enriched pellets would enhance growth and carcass characteristics compared with the control lambs on lucerne only. Seventy-two, 6 months old White Suffolk x Corriedale first-cross prime lambs with an average liveweight (LWT) of 35.7 ± 0.9 kg were allocated to six treatment groups in a completely randomised experimental design. The treatments were: (1) control: lucerne hay only; or lucerne hay plus wheat-based pellets infused with 50 ml/kg DM of oils from (2) rice bran (RBO); (3) canola (CO); (4) rumen protected (RPO); (5) flaxseed (FO) and (6) safflower (SO) dietary sources. All lambs had ad libitum access to lucerne hay and clean fresh water. Supplemented lambs were fed 1kg of pellet/head/day for 10 weeks. Feed intake, final LWT, average daily gain (ADG), body conformation and carcass characteristics of lambs in the supplemented groups were all greater than for the control group. SO lambs had the lowest ADG of 190.3 g/day. RBO and CO treatments had the lowest feed cost per unit gain of AU$ 3.0/kg. Supplemented lambs had similar over the hooks (OTH) incomes that were all higher than that of the control group. This empirical evidence-based data demonstrated that supplementation of lambs with RBO and CO had comparatively lower feed costs without compromising ADG, carcass characteristics and OTH income.

In the fifth generation communication system, millimeter wave (mmWave) networks will coexist with traditional micro wave (μWave) networks, which allows for higher data transmission rate and better user experience. In this paper, we give a comprehensive framework of mathematical models and analytical methods for multi-tier mmWave and μWave hybrid caching networks based on stochastic geometry. We propose an association strategy by assuming average biased-received power association and Rayleigh fading. Accordingly, by using a D-ball approximating blockage model of mmWave networks, expressions of the cell association probability and the coverage probability of the hybrid networks are derived. Also, we use the average successful delivery probability as the performance metric to analyze the existing caching placement strategies. Simulation results validate the accuracy of our analytical conclusions.

Aligning supply chain and marketing functions is crucial for high-tech startups aiming to successfully launch new products in competitive markets. This qualitative research explores the strategies, challenges, benefits, and best practices associated with supply chain and marketing alignment in high-tech startups. Through a detailed analysis of case studies and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals, the study identifies key insights into how startups can effectively integrate these functions to enhance operational efficiency, market responsiveness, customer satisfaction, and risk management. The findings reveal that successful alignment requires the formation of cross-functional teams, leveraging integrated technologies like CRM and ERP systems, establishing regular inter-departmental communication, and developing joint performance metrics. These strategies foster collaboration and ensure that supply chain and marketing efforts are coordinated towards shared goals. However, startups face challenges such as differing departmental objectives, resource constraints, communication barriers, and technological limitations, which hinder effective alignment. Benefits observed from effective alignment include improved operational efficiency through streamlined processes, enhanced market responsiveness to adapt quickly to changing demands, increased customer satisfaction by delivering products that meet market expectations, and better risk management through proactive identification and mitigation of supply chain and market risks. Best practices identified include fostering a culture of collaboration, investing in technology for data integration and transparency, aligning strategic objectives across functions, and continuously monitoring and adjusting alignment strategies. Integration of broader elements such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence, marketing, and supplier relationship management further enriches the alignment framework. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how high-tech startups can strategically align their supply chain and marketing functions to achieve competitive advantage and sustainable growth in dynamic market environments.

Gradients of smooth functions with non-independent variables are relevant for exploring complex models and for the optimization of functions subjected to constraints. In this paper, we investigate new and simple approximations and computations of such gradients by making use of independent, central and symmetric variables. Such approximations are well-suited for applications in which the computations of the gradients are too expansive or impossible. The derived upper-bounds of the biases of our approximations do not suffer from the curse of dimensionality for any $2$-smooth function, and theoretically improve the known results. Also, our estimators of such gradients reach the optimal (mean squared error) rate of convergence (i.e., $\mathcal{O}(N^{-1})$) for the same class of functions. Numerical comparisons based on a test case and a high-dimensional PDE model show the efficiency of our approach.

Evaluation of drug permeability using cell monolayers is an important in vitro assay in the process of drug development, to identify compounds with favourable pharmacokinetics that may proceed to in vivo studies. When allowed to differentiate on permeable filters for at least 21 days, monolayers of Caco-2 cells develop morphological and functional properties similar to those of the intestinal epithelium. Permeability through Caco-2 monolayers is thus particularly relevant to assess drug absorption after oral administration. The major drawback of this assay is its very low throughput, with the cell monolayers being used in a single permeability assay. We have previously proposed a protocol to allow the re-use of the Caco-2 monolayer on additional permeability assays during the stable period and shown that cell monolayer integrity is maintained. In this work we evaluate the effect of re-use on the permeability of several reference compounds that permeate through passive pathways and show that the cell monolayers can be re-used twice in additional permeability assays. Preliminary results were also obtained regarding active transport pathways, and a new methodology is proposed to quantify the contribution from passive and active transport. This is a major step towards the full validation of the re-use methodology proposed, which at least triplicates the throughput of this important in vitro assay.

The use of optical fibers is increasing in modern aircraft because it helps solve challenges of size, weight, communication, and reliability in new aircraft generation. This work describes a video and power transmission system using optical fibers (PoF) for in-flight entertainment (IFE) system application. We present the benefits and the limitations of this application, and we perform two practical experiments to demonstrate their performance. It used off-the-shelf devices in the experiments, such as one 15-W semiconductor laser operating at 808 nm, GaAs photovoltaic converters, optical transmitters and receivers, and video monitors. The power and video signals were transmitted using two 50-m multimode fibers. In addition, we proposed and tested two types of energy transformation units (ETU), which are responsible for supplying electrical energy to the IFE video monitor and the optical fiber receiver.

p-type Ag-N dual acceptor doped ZnO thin films with long electrical stability were deposited by DC magnetron reactive co-sputtering technique. After deposition, the films were annealed at 400 °C for one hour in a nitrogen-controlled atmosphere. The deposited films were amorphous. However, after annealing they crystallize in the typical hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. The Ag-N dual acceptors were incorporated substitutionally in the structure of zinc oxide and achieving that the three samples presented the p-type conductivity in the ZnO. Initial electrical properties showed a low resistivity of from 1 to10^{−3} Ω.cm, Hall mobility of tens cm2/V.s and a hole concentration from 10^{17} to 10^{19} cm^{−3}. The electrical stability analysis reveals that the p-type conductivity of the ZnO:Ag,N films is very stable and does not revert to n-type, even after 36 months of aging. These results reveal the feasibility of using these films for applications in short-wavelength or transparent optoelectronic devices.

During the high-speed flight of a vehicle in the atmosphere, surface friction with the air generates aerodynamic heating. The aerodynamic heating phenomenon can create extremely high temperatures near the surface. These high temperatures impact material properties and the structure of the aircraft, so thermal deformation measurement is essential in aerospace engineering. This paper revisits high-temperature deformation measurement using the digital image correlation (DIC) technique under high-intensity blackbody radiation with a precise speckle pattern fabrication and a heat haze reduction method. The effect of speckle pattern on the DIC measurement has been thoroughly studied at room temperature, but high-temperature measurement studies have not reported such effects so far. We found that the commonly used methods to reduce the heat haze effect could produce incorrect results. Hence, we propose a new method to mitigate heat haze effects. An infrared radiation heater was employed to make an experimental setup that could heat a specimen up to 950 ℃. First, we mitigated image saturation using a short-wavelength bandpass filter with blue light illumination, a standard procedure for high-temperature DIC deformation measurement. Second, we studied how to determine the proper size of the speckle pattern under a high-temperature environment. Third, we devised a reduction method for the heat haze effect. As proof of the effectiveness of our developed experimental method, we successfully measured the deformation of stainless steel 304 specimens from 25 ℃ to 800 ℃. The results confirmed that this method can be applied to the research and development of thermal protection systems in the aerospace field.

The development of photocurable compositions is in high demand for the manufacture of func-tional materials for electronics, optics, medicine, energy, etc. The properties of the final pho-to-cured material are primarily determined by the initial mixture, which needs to be tuned for each application. In this study we propose to use simple systems based on di(meth)acrylate, polyimide and photoinitiator for the preparation of new photo-curable compositions. It was es-tablished that a fluorinated cardo copolymide (FCPI) based on 2,2-bis-(3,4-dicarboxydiphenyl)hexafluoropropane dianhydride, 9,9-bis-(4-aminophenyl)fluorene and 2,2-bis-(4-aminophenyl)hexafluoropropane (1.00:0.75:0.25 mol) has excellent solubility in di(met)acrylates. This made it possible to prepare solutions of FCPI in such monomers, to study the effect of FCPI on the kinetics of their photopolymerization in situ and the properties of the resulting polymers. According to the obtained data, the solutions of FCPI (23 wt.%) in 1,4-butanediol diacrylate (BDDA) and FCPI (15 wt.%) in tetraethylene glycol diacrylate were tested for the formation of the primary protective coatings of the silica optical fibers. It was found that the new coating of poly(BDDA–FCPI23%) can withstand prolonged annealing at 200°C (72 h), which is comparable or superior to the known most thermally stable photo-curable coatings. The proposed approach can be applied to obtain other functional materials.

China's economic development has shifted from high speed to high quality. This study constructs an evaluation index for China’s high-quality development utilizing a new development concept. The entropy method and cluster analysis were used to assess the level of high-quality development in China between 2015 and 2021. Kernel density estimation method was employed to explore spatiotemporal dynamics. The results reveal significant differences in the level of economic development among provinces in China; the eastern region is significantly better than the central, northeastern, and western regions. From the perspective of the sub-item evaluation, challenges with uneven, uncoordinated, and insufficient economic development exist in various Chinese provinces.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by inflammation and cardiovascular complications. Our study aimed to investigate subclinical and early indicators of systolic myocardial dysfunction in SLE patients using advanced echocardiographic methods and biomarkers. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 102 SLE patients without known cardiac impairment and 51 healthy controls. Demographics, disease characteristics, laboratory results, disease activity (SLEDAI) and organ damage (SDI) indices were recorded. Left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) and myocardial work indices were assessed by utilizing speckle tracking echocardiography. In addition, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), high sensitivity troponin (hsTn) and N-terminal-pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels were measured in blood samples. Results: In comparison to controls, SLE patients had significantly higher GLS (-19.94±2.71%vs-21.15±1.55%, p&lt;0.001) and global wasted work (GWW) (94±71mmHg%vs71±49 mmHg%, p=0.025). Notably, NT-proBNP and hsTn were threefold and twofold higher in SLE group compared to control group, respectively (p&lt;0.001). Within SLE cohort, patients with at least moderate disease activity (SLEDAI≥4) both biomarkers were significantly elevated than those with low disease activity (SLEDAI&lt;4). Conclusion: Advanced echocardiographic parameters combined with specific biomarkers have a promising role in detecting systolic dysfunction at an early phase in SLE patients, potentially enabling timely interventions to mitigate cardiovascular risk.

Wafer-scale blue micro-light-emitting diode (micro-LED) arrays are fabricated with a pixel size of 12 μm, a pixel pitch of 15 μm, and a pixel density of 1692 pixels per inch, achieved by optimizing the properties of e-beam-deposited and sputter-deposited indium tin oxide (ITO). Although the sputter-deposited ITO (S-ITO) films exhibit a densely packed morphology and lower resistivity compared to those of the e-beam-deposited ITO (E-ITO) films, the forward voltage (VF) values of a micro-LED with the S-ITO films are higher than those with the E-ITO films. The VF values for a single pixel and for four pixels with E-ITO films are 2.82 V and 2.83 V, respectively, while the corresponding values for S-ITO films are 3.50 V and 3.52 V. This was attributed to ion bombardment damage and nitrogen vacancies in the p-GaN layer. Surprisingly, the VF variations of a single pixel and of four pixels with the optimized E-ITO spreading layer from five different regions are only 0.09 V and 0.10 V, respectively. This extremely uniform VF variation is suitable for realizing micro-LED displays to be used in AR and VR applications, circumventing the bottleneck in the development of long-lifespan and high-brightness organic LED devices for industrial mass production.

We introduce a series of twisted donor-acceptor (D-A) carbazole-benzophenone based electroactive bipolar derivatives that were synthesized through the reaction of 4-fluorobenzophenone with various partially alkylated 3,3’-bicarbazoles. The comprehensive structural characterization of these compounds is provided. These amorphous materials exhibit suitable glass transition temperatures ranging from 57 to 102 °C and demonstrate high thermal stability, with decomposition temperatures reaching 400 °C. Moreover, the developed materials exhibit elevated photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY) of up to 75.5% and favorable HOMO-LUMO levels, along with suitable triplet-singlet state energy values. Due to their good solubility and suitable film-forming properties, all the compounds were evaluated as blue emitters dispersed in 4,4’-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,10-biphenyl (CBP) host for the fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in concentration dependent experiments. Among these experiments, the device containing 15 wt% of the guest 4-(9’-{2-ethylhexyl}-[3,3’]-bicarbazol-9-yl)benzophenone demonstrated the best characteristics, achieving maximum brightness of 3581 cd/m2, current efficiency of 5.7 cd/A, power efficiency of 4.1 lm/W and external quantum efficiency of 2.7%.

This paper investigates portfolio optimization methodologies and short-term investment strate-gies in the context of the cryptocurrency market, focusing on ten major cryptocurrencies from January 2020 to November 2023. We employ high frequency data and utilize the Kurtosis Mini-mization methodology, alongside other optimization strategies, to construct and evaluate port-folios under different rebalancing frequencies. The empirical analysis reveals that cryptocurren-cies exhibit significant volatility, skewness, and kurtosis, necessitating sophisticated portfolio management techniques. We find that the Kurtosis Minimization methodology consistently outperforms other optimization strategies, delivering optimal returns to investors, particularly in shorter-term investment horizons. We demonstrate the diversification benefits of integrating cryptocurrencies into multi-asset portfolios and emphasize the importance of regular portfolio rebalancing in the volatile cryptocurrency market. Our findings offer insights for portfolio man-agers and investors seeking to optimize their investment outcomes in the cryptocurrency market, highlighting the importance of risk management, diversification, and dynamic portfolio man-agement strategies.

Shape-shifting polymers usually require not only reversible stimuli-responsive ability, but also strong mechanical properties. A novel shape-shifting photochromic hydrogel system was designed and fabricated through embedding hydrophobic spiropyran (SP) into double polymeric network (DN) by micellar copolymerization. Here, sodium alginate (Alg) and poly acrylate-co-methyl acrylate-co-spiropyran (P(SA-co-MA-co-SPMA)) were employed as the first network and the second network respectively to realize high mechanical strength. After soaked in the CaCl2 solution, the carboxyl groups in the system undergo metal complexation with Ca2+ to enhance the hydrogel. Moreover, after the hydrogel is exposed to UV-light, the closed isomer of spiropyran in the hydrogel network can be converted into an open zwitterionic isomer MC, which is considered to interact with Ca2+ ions. Interestingly, Ca2+ and UV-light responsive programmable shape of the copolymer hydrogel can recover to its original form by immersing in pure water. Since its excellent metal ion and UV-light stimuli-responsive and mechanical properties, the hydrogel has potential applications in the field of soft actuators.

Artistic image completion is fundamental for the preservation and restoration of invaluable art paintings and it has experienced significant progress through the implementation of deep learning methodologies. Despite these advancements, challenges persist, even with sophisticated approaches like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), particularly in achieving optimal results for high-resolution paintings. Small-scale texture synthesis and the inference of missing information from distant contexts present persistent issues, leading to distortions in lines and unnatural colors, especially in art paintings with complicated structures and textures. Concurrently, patch-based image synthesis has evolved by incorporating global optimization on the image pyramid to enhance structural coherence and details. However, methods relying on gradient-based synthesis encounter obstacles related to directionality, inconsistency, and the heavy computational burdens associated with solving the Poisson equation in non-integrable gradient fields. This paper introduces a groundbreaking approach, integrating Weighted Similarity-Confidence Laplacian Synthesis, to comprehensively address these challenges and advance the field of artistic image completion. This proposal addresses challenges not only in high-resolution artistic image completion but also makes a significant contribution to the broader field of patch-based synthesis by utilizing the Laplacian pyramid for enhanced edge-aware correspondence search. Experimental result confirms the effectiveness of our approach, offering promising outcomes for the preservation and restoration of art paintings with complicated details and irregular missing regions.

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an inherited disorder that impairs motile cilia, essential for respiratory health, with a reported prevalence of 1 in 16,309 within Hispanic populations. Despite having the RSPH4A [c.921+3_921+6del (intronic)] founder mutation in 70% of Puerto Rican patients, the characterization of the ciliary dysfunction remains unidentified due to the unavailability of advanced diagnostic modalities like High-Speed Video Microscopy Analysis (HSVA). Our study implemented HSVA for the first time on the island as a tool to better diagnose and characterize the RSPH4A [c.921+3_921+6del (intronic)] founder mutation in Puerto Rican patients. By applying HSVA, we analyzed the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) and pattern (CBP) in native Puerto Rican patients with PCD. Our results showed decreased CBF and a rotational CBP linked to the RSPH4A founder mutation in Puerto Ricans, presenting a novel diagnostic marker that could be implemented as an axillary test into the PCD diagnosis algorithm in Puerto Rico. The integration of HSVA technology in Puerto Rico substantially enhances the framework for PCD evaluation and diagnosis, facilitating prompt detection and early intervention for improved disease management. This initiative, demonstrating the potential of HSVA as an adjunctive test within the PCD diagnostic algorithm, could serve as a blueprint for analogous developments throughout Latin America.

The utilization of selective laser melting (SLM) for high entropy alloys (HEAs) holds significant promise in commercial applications, and substantial experimental research efforts have been directed toward this domain. To take advantage of the reported experimental data of SLM manufactured (SLM-ed) HEAs and reduce unnecessary experimentation, this study incorporates machine learning (ML) techniques for the phase and tensile properties prediction of SLM-ed HEAs, thus presenting a novel avenue for accelerating the discovery of new SLM-ed HEAs. Through the adjustment of material descriptors and machine learning models, a model has been developed with an impressive accuracy of 93.8% in distinguishing between face-centered cubic (FCC), body-centered cubic (BCC), and dual-phase (FCC+BCC). Additionally, optimized models have been devised for the prediction of tensile properties, namely ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS), and elongation (δ), achieving noteworthy MAPEs (mean absolute percentage errors) of 10.33%, 8.55%, and 28.48%, respectively. Furthermore, several HEAs were fabricated using SLM, and the experimental outcomes exhibited a favorable alignment with the predicted results. These efforts carry significant implications in advancing the utilization of SLM for HEAs.

This study concerns calculation and comparison of Fe, Co, Ni and Cu deposition rates in tungsten codeposition process based on electrodeposition of numerous tungsten alloys. 8 different tungsten alloys containing from 2 to 5 metals were electrodeposited in constant conditions in order to compare exact reduction rates. Calculated rates enabled control of the alloy composition precise enough to obtain a high-entropy WFeCoNiCu alloy with well-balanced composition. Introduction of copper to form the quinternary alloy was found to catalyze the whole process, increasing deposition rates of all components of the high-entropy alloy.

To enhance the applicability of dual-phase high-entropy alloys (HEAs) like Fe32Cr33Ni29Al3Ti3, fabricated via selective laser melting (SLM), a focus on improving their mechanical properties is essential. As part of this effort, heat treatment was explored. This study compares the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-printed sample with those cooled in water after undergoing heat treatment at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1200 ℃ for 1 hour. Both pre- and post-treatment samples reveal a dual-phase microstructure comprising FCC and BCC phases. Although heat treatment led to a reduction in tensile and yield strength, it significantly increased ductility compared to the as-printed sample. This strength-ductility trade-off is related to changes in grain sizes with ultrafine grains enhancing strength and micron grains optimizing ductility, also the influence of the content of FCC/BCC phases and dislocation density. In particular, the sample heat-treated at 1000 °C for 1 hour and then water-cooled exhibited a better combination of strength and ductility, a yield strength of 790 MPa, and an elongation of 13%. This research offers innovative perspectives on crafting dual-phase HEA of Fe32Cr33Ni29Al3Ti3, allowing for tailorable microstructure and mechanical properties through a synergistic approach involving SLM and heat treatment.

Oxidoreductase (OXR) enzymes are in high demand for biocatalytic applications in food industry and cosmetics: glucose oxidase (GOx), cellobiose dehydrogenase (CBDH), bioremediation: horseradish peroxidase (HRP), laccase (LAC), and medicine for biosensors and miniature biofuel cells (GOx, CBDH, LAC, HRP). They can be used in a soluble form and/or within the yeast cell walls expressed as chimeras on the surface of yeast cells (YSD), such as P. pastoris and S. cerevisiae. However, most of the current studies suffer from either low yield for soluble enzyme expression or low enzyme activity when expressed as chimeric proteins using YSD. This is always the case in studies dealing with heterologous expression of oxidoreductase enzymes, since there is requirement not only for multiple OXR genes integrations into the yeast genome (super transformations), and codon optimization, but also very careful design of fermentation media composition, and fermentation conditions during expression due to need for adding transition metals (copper, iron), and metabolic precursors of FAD and heme. Therefore, scientists are still trying to find optimal formula using above mentioned approaches, and most recently also using protein engineering and directed evolution for additional increase in the yield of recombinant enzyme production. In this review article we will cover all the current state of the art technologies and most recent advances in the field that yielded high expression level for some of these enzymes in specially designed expression/fermentation systems. We will also tackle and discuss new possibilities for further increase in fermentation yield by the cutting-edge technologies such are directed evolution, protein and strain engineering, high-throughput screening methods based on in vitro compartmentalization, flow cytometry and microfluidics.

Under high-frequency operating conditions, the high-speed solenoid valve (HSV) experiences energy loss and heat generation, which significantly impact its operational lifetime. Reducing the energy loss of HSV without compromising its opening response characteristics poses a significant challenge. To address this issue, a finite element simulation model of HSV coupled with a current feedback model is constructed to investigate the synergistic effects of dynamic response and energy loss. Predictive models for the opening response time, HSV driving energy, and Joule energy using Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) are established. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization study on the current driving strategy using Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) is conducted. After optimization, although there was a 6.24% increase in the opening response time, both HSV drive energy and Joule energy were significantly reduced by 15.67% and 22.49%, respectively. The proposed multi-objective optimization method for HSV driving strategy holds great significance in improving its working durability.

Chilean jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) is recognized as one of the most valuable pelagic resources across the southeast Pacific Ocean. Despite its nutritious properties it is an underused resource due to its rapid spoilage. The use of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) for the processing of aquatic products could be an efficient alternative to cold storage since HHP might inactivate microbial pathogens and slow down spoilage microorganisms, therefore extending the product’s shelf life. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of HHP at 450 and 550 MPa for 3 min on the physicochemical properties of jack mackerel muscle undergoing pre- and post-rigor mortis stage and further storage for 26 days at 4°C. pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, trimethylamine, color, water-holding capacity, and texture were assessed. The proximate composition, pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, trimethylamine, color, water holding capacity, and texture, showed significant changes between untreated and treated samples, while the water holding capacity was virtually unaffected. Overall results showed an acceptable and long-lasting edible quality of Trachurus murphyi stored at 4°C when preserved through HHP. These findings suggest that the HHP might be able to industrially scale the production of highly physicochemical superior and minimally processed fish products.

We present a new penalized method for estimation in sparse logistic regression models with group structure. Group sparsity suggests us to consider the Group Lasso penalty. Being different from penalized log-likelihood estimation, our method can be viewed as a penalized weighted score function method. Under some mild conditions, we provide non-asymptotic oracle inequalities promoting group sparsity of predictors. A modified block coordinate descent algorithm based on a weighted score function is also employed. The net advantage of our algorithm over the existing Group Lasso-type procedures is that the tuning parameter can be pre-specified. The simulations show that this algorithm is considerably faster and more stable than competing methods. Finally, we illustrate our methodology with two real data sets.

Advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) have a wide range of applications in equipment safety and lightweight design, and enhancing the strength of AHSS to the ultra-high level of 2 GPa is currently a key focus. In this study, a new process of thermo-mechanical control process followed by direct quenching and partitioning (TMCP-DQP) is developed based on Fe-0.4C-1Mn-0.6Si (wt.%) low-alloy steel, and the effects of microstructure evolution on mechanical properties under TMCP-DQP process and conventional hot rolled quenched and tempered process (HR-QT) are comparatively studied. The results show that the TMCP-DQP process not only shortened the processing steps but also achieved outstanding comprehensive mechanical properties. The TMCP-DQP steel exhibits a tensile strength of 2.23 GPa, accompanied by 11.9% elongation and a Brinell hardness of 624 HBW, with an impact toughness of 28.5 J at -20 ℃. In contrast, the HR-QT steel exhibits tensile strengths ranging from 2.16 GPa to 1.7 GPa and elongations between 5.2% and 12.2%. The microstructure of TMCP-DQP steel primarily consists of lath martensite, containing thin-film retained austenite (RA), nanoscale rod-shaped carbides, and a minor number of nanoscale twins. The volume fraction of RA reaches 7.7%, with an average carbon content of 7.1 at.% measured by three-dimensional atom probe tomography (3DAP). Compared to the HR-QT process, the TMCP-DQP process results in finer microstructure, with a prior austenite grain (PAG) size of 11.91 μm, forming packets and blocks with widths of 5.12 μm and 1.63 μm. The TMCP-DQP process achieves the ultra-high strength of low-alloy steel through the synergistic effects of grain refinement, dislocation strengthening, and precipitation strengthening. The dynamic partitioning stage stabilizes the RA through carbon enrichment, while the relaxation stage reduces a small portion of the dislocations generated by thermal deformation, and the self-tempering stage eliminates internal stresses, all guaranteeing considerable ductility and toughness. The TMCP-DQP process may offer a means for industries to streamline their manufacturing processes and provide a technological reference for producing 2.2 GPa grade AHSS.

Background High Mobility Group Box-1 (HMGB-1) is implicated in the pathogenesis of thrombosis and cancer. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate its potential role as a diagnostic biomarker of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The study population included N=100 prospectively recruited patients with a novel diagnosis of HCC. We compared circulating HMGB-1 levels between 34 healthy controls, HCC patients with PVT (N=22), and HCC patients without PVT (N=78). Results HCC patients without PVT showed significantly higher median HMGB-1 serum levels (8.2 [5.5-13.1] ng/ml) than those observed in the case of HCC with PVT (5.5 [4.4-8.5] ng/ml; p=0.012) and in healthy controls (4.1 [3.1-8.2] ng/ml; p&lt;0.001). Among HCC patients, at univariate analysis, the presence of PVT was associated with higher median age (p=0.036), larger major cancer node diameter (p&lt;0.001), and lower HMGB-1 serum level (p=0.012). At multivariate analysis, the presence of PVT maintained a positive association with major node diameter p=0.001) and an inverse association with serum HMGB-1 levels (p=0.003). Conclusions These findings indicate that serum HMGB-1 bears an inverse association with PVT complicating HCC at the time of diagnosis and suggest that serum HMGB-1 depletion may mark PVT development in cirrhotic patients with HCC.

The semantic segmentation of high-resolution remote sensing images (HR-RSI) is crucial for a wide range of applications, such as precision agriculture, urban planning, natural resource assessment, and ecological monitoring. However, accurately classifying pixels in HR-RSI faces challenges due to densely distributed small objects and scale variations. Existing techniques, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and other methods for hierarchical feature extraction and fusion of remote sensing image, often do not achieve the desired accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called the Hierarchical Rich-scale Fusion Network (HRFNet) to address these challenges. HRFNet utilizes advanced information rating and image partition techniques to extract rich-scale features within image layers. This allows for the adaptive exploration of both local and global contextual information. Moreover, we introduce a structured intra-layer to inter-layer feature aggregation module, which enables the adaptive extraction of fine-grained details and high-level semantic information from multi-layer feature maps in a highly flexible manner. Extensive experimentation has been conducted to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method. Our results demonstrate that HRFNet outperforms existing techniques, achieving state-of-the-art (SOTA) results on benchmark datasets, specifically the ISPRS Potsdam and Vaihingen datasets.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between the type of conization, the volume and dimensions of the cone, with the persistence/recurrence of CIN 2-3, presence of affected margins and post-cone HR-HPV positivity. Methods: 227 women treated with LLETZ and histologically confirmed CIN2-3 were evaluated between 1996 and 2006 and followed up until June 2016. Age, type of resection according to IFCPC 2011, volume, cone dimensions, margins were studied. of resection, post-cone high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) status and viral load. Determinants of HR-HPV positivity were estimated using unconditional logistic regression and time to recurrence was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: Persistent/recurrent CIN2-3 was found in 12 cases (5.2%), type 1 conization was performed in 81 patients, with 5 recurrences (6.1%), type 2 in 101 patients, with 6 recurrences (5 .9%) and type 3 resection in 45 women, with 1 recurrence (2.2%). Volume and dimensions were not associated with recurrence. The Log-Rank Test did not show a significant difference between the 3 treatments (p= 0.18). The free margins in type 1 were 37%, in type 2 resection 61% and in type 3 71% (p=0.001). Resection type 1 had 15% HR-HPV post positive cone, type 2 reached 16% and type 3 had 9%, this difference being non-significant (p=0.58). The incidence of recurrence at 36 months in type 1 resection was 0.08%, in type 2 treatment it was 0.04% and in type 3 resection it was 0.0%. Conclusions : Type 3 resection had a higher proportion of free margins and lower post-cone HR-HPV positivity, with a lower incidence of persistence/recurrence.

Introduction: Desmoid tumor (DT) is a rare benign neoplasm rising from muscle aponeurosis, having been associated mostly with trauma or pregnancy. DT has an infiltrative and locally aggressive growth pattern and usually does not metastasize. However, it has a high recurrence and complication rate. When they occur in pregnancy, are all pregnancies and deliveries taken as individual case for optimal management by the physicians and midwifes, who need to be cautious in finding the optimal delivery mode for patients, which depends on tumor size, location, behavior and past history. Study Objectives: We present a case report of a large desmoid tumor of the anterior abdominal wall in a 29-year-old woman in pregnancy, presenting a delivery problem, which resolved in surgical management. Moreover, we are bringing a systematic review of the literature to provide an overview on pathomechanism, symptoms, diagnostics and treatment management of the pregnant women affected by DT. Results: The authors report a case of pregnant women who underwent systemic oncological treatment for abdominal wall desmoid tumor and have been pregnant afterwards. The observational conservative management was chosen with an elective cesarean section at the 38+4 pregnancy week with uncomplicated postpartum follow-up. Conclusion: Pregnancy-associated desmoid tumors are very rare and optimal management of this tumor is not well established, despite some guidelines for non-pregnant patients. The authors reviewed the literature focusing on the actual modern management of desmoid tumors at all, including patients during the pregnancy, as well.