This study investigates the influence of economic growth on CO2 emissions levels in three developed countries—Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, and South Korea—based on their status as high-income countries. We test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis using the time series approaches to check the relationship and direction of causality among the variables over a sample spanning 1974–2020. The results show an inverted U-shaped short-run relationship in all three countries. In the long run, only South Korea supports the EKC hypothesis. Further, Granger causality results indicate the existence of causality. These long-run causal relationships between economic growth and emissions recommend one policy implication that wealthy governments must expand investments in renewable clean energy projects and R&D, with regulatory measures to suppress harmful environmental procedures and support environmentally friendly development.

Polyphenols, long-used components of medicinal plants, have drawn great interest in recent years as potential therapeutic agents because of their safety, efficacy, and wide range of biological effects. Approximately 74% of the world's population still uses plant-based medicines, indicating the ongoing significance of phytochemicals for human health. The study emphasizes the growing body of research examining the role of polyphenols in uncovering their anti-adipogenic and anti-obesity properties. Functions of polyphenols including phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, glycosides, and phenolic acids are distinct due to changes in chemical diversity, and structural characteristics. This review methodically investigates the mechanism of how naturally occurring polyphenols mediate obesity and metabolic function. To this end, hormonal control of hunger has the potential to inhibit pro-obesity enzymes such as pancreatic lipase, the promotion of energy expenditure, and the modulation of adipocytokine production. Specifically, polyphenols affect insulin, a hormone that is essential for regulating blood sugar, and they also play a role in part in a complex web of factors that affect the progression of obesity. This review also explores the immunomodulatory properties of polyphenols, providing insight into their ability to improve immune function. The effects of polyphenols on gut health, improving the number of commensal bacteria, cytokine production suppression, and immune cell mediation, including natural killer cells and macrophages. Taken together, continuous studies are required for prudent and precise mechanisms underlying polyphenols' therapeutic potential in obesity and immunomodulation. In the interim, this review emphasizes the holistic approach to health and promotes the consumption of a wide range of foods and drinks high in polyphenols. This review lays the groundwork for future developments, indicating that the components of polyphenols and their derivatives may provide the answer to urgent worldwide health issues. This compilation of the body of knowledge paves the way for future discoveries in the global treatment of pressing health concerns in obesity and metabolic diseases.

Swarf of aluminum alloy with high corrosion resistance and ductility was successfully converted into fine hydroreactive powders via its ball milling with silver powder and either lithium chloride or gallium. The later substances significantly intensified particle size reduction, while silver formed ‘cathodic’ sites (Ag, Ag2Al) promoting Al corrosion in aqueous saline solutions with hydrogen generation. The diffraction patterns, microphotographs, and elemental analysis results demonstrated partial aluminum oxidation in the samples and their contamination with tungsten carbide from milling balls. Those effects were responsible for obtaining hydrogen yields lower than expected. For AlCl3 solution at 60 °C, Al–LiCl–Ag, Al–LiCl, Al–Ga–Ag, and Al–Ga composites delivered (84.6±0.2), (86.8±1.4), (80.2±0.5), and (76.7±0.7)% of the expected hydrogen respectively. Modification with Ag promoted Al oxidation thus providing higher hydrogen evolution rates. The samples with Ag were tested in CaCl2 solution as well, for which the reaction proceeded much slower. At a higher temperature (80 °C) after 3 h of experiment, the hydrogen yields for Al–LiCl–Ag and Al–Ga–Ag powders were (46.7±2.1) and (31.8±1.9)%. The tested Ag-modified composite powders were considered promising for hydrogen generation and had a potential for further improvement to provide higher performance.

Policy initiatives by the United Nations and EU institutions have emphasized the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to fulfill a significant role in the green transition, and that they tend to fall short of the achievement of this objective. Multiple studies indicate that HEIs assign high importance to the integration of environmental sustainability on a strategic level but generally lack dedicated policies of integration in operational aspects. This paper analyzes the state of the art on research on HEI sustainability and maps institutional sustainability self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines. The mapping was conducted in four prominent research areas: 1) sustainability integration in educational activities, pedagogical perspectives, and systemic transformations; 2) benchmarking sustainability of organizational transformation and operational op-timization, and links between developmental priorities and educational settings; 3) whole-system approaches focusing on the design and implementation of whole-institution sustainability plans; and, 4) HEI sustainability culture and operations. Best practices were selected on criteria of 1) the effectiveness of self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines in each respective research area; 2) the degree of integration of systems thinking and/or modelling; and 3) the incorporation of qualitative indicators for stakeholder engagement.

The Dongtangzi large Zn-Pb deposit is located in the southwest of the Fengxian-Taibai (abbr. Fengtai) ore cluster in the west Qinling orogen, whose origin has been controversial, positing diverse genesis mechanisms such as sedimentary-exhalative (SEDEX), sedimentary-reformed, and epigenetic hydrothermal type. In this work, based on detailed observation and systematic study on ore geology, the results of high-precision Rb-Sr isotopic dating on sulfides of the main orebody and Sm–Nd isotopic dating on associated carbonates have been carried out, which yield isochron ages of 211.6 ± 2.6 Ma and 211 ± 4 Ma, respectively. In-situ S-Pb isotopic studies show that the ore related sulfides display a narrow range of δ³⁴S values from 1.1 ‰ to 10.2 ‰, with ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 18.07 to 18.27, 15.64 to 15.66, and 38.22 to 38.76, respectively. While the pyrite of sedimentary period and the granite porphyry dike have δ³⁴S values vary from 15.8 to 21.4‰, and from 2.1 to 4.3‰ (with ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 18.09 to 18.10, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 15.59 to 15.61, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 38.17 to 38.24) respectively. Combining the regional geology, we propose that the Dongtangzi Zn-Pb deposit is the product of multi-stage epigenetic hydrothermal fluid processes, driven by late Triassic regional tectono-magmatic activities in regional extensional regime, with metallic materials originate from a mixture of Triassic magmatic processes and metamorphic basement.

Cosmetic surgery is the subfield of plastic surgery that enhances appearance mainly for aesthetic reasons. Currently, cosmetic surgery interventions are highly considered appealing and popular all around the world. Several factors have contributed in this rapidly evolving field such as scientific and economic development, breaking down barriers and cultural norms, globalization, social media and mental disorders. Nowadays, the morality of cosmetic surgery is facing many dilemmas due to its benefits and drawbacks. It is proven that the advantages of cosmetic surgery include improved body confidence, mental health, and function. Additionally, aesthetic corrections can upscale the quality of life and create career opportunities for special targeted groups. Also, cosmetic surgery has a major impact in gender affirmation procedures. Although, herein we also describe the disadvantages of this widely developing field such as minor and major medical complications, potential postoperative risks and addiction in plastic surgeries associated with damaging economic issues. Lack in self-confidence, altered mental health status and ethical crisis consist another negative aspects of aesthetic surgery’s impact.

This manuscript employs a surface stress-driven nonlocal model to explore the combined effects of long-range interaction and surface energy on higher vibration modes of functionally graded nanobeams. The nanobeam theory, based on Bernoulli-Euler kinematics, incorporates surface effects such as surface elasticity, surface residual stresses, surface density, and rotary inertia. Hamilton's principle is applied to derive the governing equation with size-dependent considerations. The main outcomes of a parametric investigation, considering four different kinematic boundary conditions (Cantilever, Simply-Supported, Clamped-Pinned, and Doubly-Clamped) while varying the nonlocal parameter and material gradient index, are presented and discussed. Additionally, the normalized natural frequencies for the second, third, fourth and fifth modes of vibrations are provided and analyzed for each case under study. The results underscore the model's effectiveness in capturing surface energy effects on the overall dynamic behavior of functionally graded Bernoulli-Euler nanobeams, offering a cost-effective approach for designing and optimizing nano-scaled structures.

Flow experience, characterized by deep immersion and complete engagement in a task, is highly recognized for its positive psychological impacts. However, previous studies have been restricted to use a single type of task, and the exploration on its neural correlates has been limited. This study aimed to explore the neural correlates of flow experience with the employment of multifac-eted flow-induction tasks. Six tasks spanning mindfulness, artistic tasks, free recall, and varying levels of Tetris complexity (easy, flow, and hard conditions) were employed to have a relatively complete coverage of the known flow-induction tasks for a better induction of individualized flow experience. Twenty-eight participants were recruited to perform these six tasks, with a sin-gle-channel prefrontal electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Significant positive correlations were observed between the subjective flow scores of individual’s best-flow-experience task and the EEG activities at delta, gamma, and theta bands, peaking at latencies around 2 minutes after task onset. The outcomes of our multiple regression analysis yield a maximum coefficient of de-termination (R²) of 0.279. Our findings report the EEG correlates of flow experience in naturalistic settings and highlight the potential of portable and unobtrusive EEG technology for an objective measurement of flow experience.

Agricultural crops productivity is heavily influenced by the strength of their seeds. Current methods for testing seed vigor, such as the germination rate and tetrazolium test, rely on time-consuming human visual inspections. Computer Vision, a crucial technology in smart production processes, offers an automated alternative and is increasingly applied in digital agriculture processes. Here we propose a method that combines YOLOv8 and morphological analysis of seeds using X-ray images to aid seed quality analysts in classifying seed lots based on their physiological potential. We examined the internal morphology of three seed lots and generated X-ray images to train a YOLOv8-based model with a post-segmentation module. This model assessed various parameters such as the total seed area, area filled by the embryo and endosperm, length, width, and calculated the percentage occupied by the embryo and endosperm in relation to the total seed area. Subsequently, seeds were classified into four categories based on the internal area occupied by the endosperm and embryo. Our findings reveal the robust performance of the YOLOv8 model in segmenting and classifying despite the challenges posed by a relatively small dataset. Notably, the proposed model achieved an impressive accuracy of up to 95.6% in identifying and segmenting the endosperm over 1,500 epochs with just 15 training images. The endosperm/seed area ratio, particularly within the 50-60% range covering over 50% of the samples, emerged as a significant metric for evaluating the viability of seed batches.

The detrimental consequences of soil pollution caused by crude oil or petroleum products are immense, leading to land degradation, property damage, and rendering agricultural practices ineffective. Extensive research has been conducted in the field of soil remediation, but further studies are still required to explore additional details of the remedial process. As a result, this study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of Vernonia Galamensis and Vernonia Amygdalina, commonly known as bitter leaf, in remediating hydrocarbon-contaminated soil. In the analysis of micro-organisms, it was found that the bitter leaf extracts contained three types of bacteria: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. The leaf extracts were prepared using different methods, including sun drying, room drying, and using them in their wet form, which were then blended into the contaminated soil. The study also took into consideration three different types of soil: sandy-loamy soil, clay soil, and swamp soil. These advanced techniques and considerations are relevant to the topic of revolutionizing soil remediation, as they explore the potential of bitter leaf extracts and different soil types in effectively mitigating the effects of hydrocarbon contamination.The findings revealed that the wet blended extracts of Vernonia performed exceptionally well in the remediation process, surpassing a 50% reduction in the initial contamination levels. The study involved utilizing a quantity of bitter leaf ranging from 10g to 40g, which was added to the contaminated soils and monitored for a duration of 40 days. Remarkably, this approach led to a significant decrease in the concentration of contaminants within the soil, indicating the effectiveness of the bitter leaf extracts in the remediation process. Towards the conclusion of the study, predictive models were constructed to forecast the impact of hydrocarbon content, as well as the levels of lead, zinc, and chromium in the soil. These variables served as the dependent variables in the models, while the mass of bitter leaf, the duration of treatment, and the pH of the soil were considered as independent variables. Significantly, the models achieved a level of significance of less than 0.05, indicating their statistical validity. Furthermore, the r2 value, which represents the goodness of fit, demonstrated an appreciable level of accuracy in predicting the remediation effects. These results highlight the potential of the developed models in assessing and predicting the remedial outcomes of hydrocarbon contamination using bitter leaf extract.

The emerging industry of offshore wind turbines mounted on floating bases has garnered significant attention from both academia and industry. The desire to understand the complex physics of these floating structures has led to the development of numerical and physical modelling techniques. While physical testing has traditionally been employed, there is a growing focus on cost-effective and accurate high-fidelity numerical modelling as a potential alternative or supplement. However, commonly used numerical engineering tools in the offshore industry are considered mid- to low-fidelity and may lack the desired precision for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs). Given the complexity of these simulation codes, it is crucial to validate their accuracy. To address this, the International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Technology Collaboration Programme initiated various research endeavors, including the Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration (OC3), Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continuation (OC4), Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continuation with Correlation (OC5), and the recent Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration Continued with Correlation and Uncertainty (OC6) projects. This study offers a comprehensive survey of the simulation tools available for FOWTs which were part of OC projects, focusing particularly on horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and highlighting their capabilities and fundamental theories.

Weather has significant impact on growth and plants development. It is important to analyze the influence of changing climate conditions on expression of plants agronomical characters. Two flax varieties were grown from 1987 to 2018 in the North-West of Russia. Whether conditions and their influence on flax agronomic characters were analyzed using variance and correlations analyses. Significant influence of year conditions on the manifestation of all evaluated characters was revealed. Starting from June high temperatures accelerate the development of plants at all stages. Prolongation of germination - flowering period is the most important for fiber productivity improvement. Oppositely, for formation of high quality fiber fast ripening in hot weather after flowering is preferable. Such data give possibility to predict the amount and quality of yield. Usage of weather conditions data also permits to compare results obtained in different years. Suggested method of year’s meteorological conditions classification can be used in other genebanks for systematization and analyses of crops field evaluation results. Correlation analyses reviled 3 correlated pleiades: (1) pleiade of productivity, (2) pleiade of fiber quality and yield, (3) pleiade of the growing season phases duration, the sums of active temperatures and precipitation during each period. Great influence of growing conditions on economically valuable traits indicates the necessity of searching for genotypes with stable characters manifestation for breeding new varieties, which will give stable yield and fiber of good quality.

The digital economy promotes economic development, industrial upgrading, and environmental protection. This article calculates the green total factor productivity (GTFP) based on the SBM-DDF model and uses the entropy method and principal component analysis to calculate the digital economy index. We use panel data from 282 Chinese cities to test the driving effect of the digital economy on green total factor productivity. The study results show that the digital economy significantly increases GTFP, and the heterogeneity of this impact is further explored. We also explored the mechanism of the digital economy in promoting green. The digital economy can indirectly increase industrial production efficiency by promoting innovation in green technologies.

Clothing consumers mostly purchase, use, and dispose of clothing products in a linear business model. This approach pollutes the environment and causes economic and social crises in the ecosystems. This study evaluates the amount of generated postconsumer clothing waste (PCCW) and proposes recycling as a sustainable waste management approach. Data were collected to understand disposal behavior of consumers with 474 respondents selected from households in Bahir Dar city. The findings show that all the determinant factors on the PCCW generation level except religion were significant. The most frequently disposed type of clothing waste is jeans-trouser (51%). The CEBM was used to develop alternative products from a jeans-based clothing waste. The jean's fiber and fabric-reinforced composite materials were developed using unsaturated polyester resin as a sustainable way of PCCW management strategy. The shredded form fiber-reinforced composite was found to have a smoother surface than that of the chopped or cut fabric-reinforced composite. The product was characterized by physical and mechanical properties. The study can be further extended to the scope of the entire consumers in Ethiopia and alternative recyclable products can be studied.

The utilization of smart IoT devices, commonly referred to as digital twins, is aimed at the digitalization of human knowledge within aquaculture processes. This involves the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies, including information-based management with big data and modeling, to automate machinery and gain comprehensive insights into the aquaculture environment and fish farm conditions. The ultimate objective is to empower farmers to make informed decisions, furnishing them with objective data to enhance their capacity in monitoring and controlling the various factors impacting fish production. As a result, farming decisions can be fine-tuned to enhance fish health and optimize farm output. In the context of large and modern aquaculture farms, technological innovation becomes imperative to automate processes, minimize labor requirements, and streamline fish feeding operations. Remarkably, the literature currently offers limited discussions on the digital transformation of aquaculture through the application of digital twin methodologies. A prior study underscores the critical influence of factors such as market prices and fish survival rates on the profitability of offshore caging culture. In this study, we embark on an analysis of the prerequisites for establishing a digital twin infrastructure tailored to intelligent fish feeding management. This infrastructure is designed to facilitate the integration of technology and data-driven decision-making, ultimately enhancing the efficiency of fish feeding processes. The proposed architecture for the fish feeding digital twin encompasses various digital twin components, encompassing water quality forecasting, fish population assessment, fish metrics estimation, fish feed prediction, and evaluation of fish feeding intensity. Furthermore, we optimize the daily fish feeding process through reinforcement learning algorithms. Finally, we implement a cloud-based AIoT system that provides the runtime environment for executing digital twins and controlling our intelligent fish feeding machinery. Experimental findings underscore the efficacy of the proposed digital twin system in significantly improving traditional fish feeding processes, notably in terms of reducing food costs and labor requirements.

This study analyzes tree diversity and its ecological importance value in silvopastoral systems in the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR), Ecuador, along an altitudinal gradient of 400-2000 masl. Twenty-six plots distributed in low (400-700 masl), medium (701-1600 masl) and high (1601-2000 masl) zones were used. The Shannon index and the Importance Value Index (IVI), based on abundance, dominance and relative frequency, were estimated. The results show variations in the diameter structure of the trees, influenced by factors such as settlement history and pasture management. The lower and middle zones showed higher tree density and diversity, linked to regeneration and the presence of nearby forests. Species of high commercial value, such as Cedrela odorata and Jacaranda copaia, were common, reflecting knowledge of the local timber market. In the lower and middle zones, the 10 most important species accounted for more than 70% of the trees, and up to 96% in the upper zone, indicating the need for further research on abundance factors and promotion of diversification in pastures. A total of 51 tree species were identified, mostly native, 64.7% are classified by the IUCN as "Least Concern", 31.4% as "Not Evaluated", and 3.9% as "Vulnerable", specifically highlighting Cedrela odorata and Cedrela Montana. The study concludes with policy recommendations related to the importance of trees in silvopastoral systems for the conservation of species and the livelihoods of local communities, highlighting the need for responsible management of Amazonian pasturelands.

This research paper examines the effects, advantages, challenges, and economic aspects of a research town. The study concludes that inclusion and diversity not only constitute fundamental values but also serve as crucial drivers of business success and sustained competitiveness. Universities play a central role in shaping the prosperity of the research town by functioning as knowledge hubs, fostering collaboration, nurturing talent, and contributing to the broader innovation ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between universities and industries within the cluster establishes a dynamic and resilient environment for research and development. The presence of startups within the research cluster introduces novel ideas, enhancing the overall vibrancy and competitiveness of the local economy. In an era where social media algorithms increasingly influence people's choices, the potential for foreign interference emerges as a significant threat.

This study evaluated the effects of high-temperature and high-pressure treatment on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of carrot extracts. The total polyphenol and flavonoid content of heated carrot extract increased as the heating temperature increased, with 403.93 mg GAE/100 g and 53.14 mg CE/100 g at 150°C. DPPH and ABTs radical scavenging activity (IC50) of heated carrot extract also increased as the heating temperature increased, with 4.65 mg/mL and 7.31 mg/mL, respectively, at 150°C. The reducing power increased with the heating temperature. Heated carrot extract did not exhibit any temperature- or concentration-dependent cytotoxicity. Nitric oxide (NO) generation was suppressed as the heating temperature and NO production increased. The heated carrot extract showed a decrease in the production of dose-dependent TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 compared to the control group. The above results show that heated carrot extract had effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Urbanization in one of the more important phenomena affecting biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Some organisms can cope with urban challenges, and changes in birds’ acoustic communication have been widely studied. Although changes in the timing of the daily organization of acoustic communication have been previously reported, there is a significant gap regarding possible variations in song structure between dawn and dusk choruses. Considering that urbanization potentially imposes different soundscapes for the dawn and dusk choruses, we postulate two hypotheses: i) there are “natural” variations in song parameters between dawn and dusk choruses, and ii) such parameters within the city will vary in response to urban noise. We studied urban and extra-urban populations of Chiguanco Thrush in La Paz, Bolivia, measuring for their dawn and dusk choruses: song length, song sound pressure, minimum, maximum, range and dominant frequency, and the proportion of songs produced. The results support our two hypotheses: in natural and urban conditions dawn songs were louder and with larger bandwidths, and within the city, the frequency of the entire song rises along with increasing amplitude. Understanding structural variations between dawn and dusk choruses could allow for better interpretation of how some bird species cope with urban challenges.

Environmental pollution is becoming ubiquitous; it has a negative impact on the ecosystem diversity and worsens the quality of human life. This review discusses the possibility of applying the Plant Microbial Fuel Cells (PMFC) technology for concurrent processes of electricity generation, purification of water and soil ecosystems from organic pollutants, in particular, from synthetic surfactants and heavy metals. The review describes the PMFC functioning mechanisms and highlights the issues of the PMFC environmental application. Generally, this work summarizes different approaches to the PMFC development and to the potential usage of such hybrid bioelectrochemical systems for the environmental protection.

Vasculitis diseases include Kawasaki Disease (KD), Kawasaki Disease Shock Syndrome (KDSS), Multisystem Inflammatory Syndromes (MIS), Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HS) or IgA Vasculitis, and additional vasculitis diseases. These diseases are often preceded by infections or immunizations. Disease incidence rates are higher in children than adults. These diseases have been extensively studied, but understanding of the disease etiology remains to be established. Many studies have failed to demonstrate an association between these vasculitis diseases and vaccination. Here, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is used to demonstrate that, in certain rare cases, the number of cases of KD, MIS, and HS is higher than background following vaccination. These rare cases are predicted to occur in individuals with genetic risk factors who produce antibody titer levels above primary immune response level. Herein, the model of humoral immune response antibodies bound to antigens (pathogen or vaccine) creating immune complexes is proposed. These immune complexes are proposed to bind Fc receptors on immune cells and platelets resulting in cell activation and release of inflammatory molecules including histamine and serotonin. Immune complexes and inflammatory molecules including serotonin and histamine likely trigger vasculitis. Elevated serotonin and likely histamine drive initial vasoconstrictions disrupting blood flow. Increased blood flow pressure from cardiac capillary vasoconstrictions is predicted to trigger coronary artery aneurysms in some patients. For KDSS and MIS patients, these cardiac capillary vasoconstrictions are predicted to result in ischemia followed by ventricular dysfunction. Ongoing ischemia can result in long-term cardiac damage. Cases associated with pathogens are likely to have persistent infections triggering disease onset.

Mercury (Hg) pollution not only poses a threat to the environment but also adversely affects the growth and development of plants, with potential repercussions for animals and humans through bioaccumulation in the food chain. Maize, a crucial source of food, industrial materials, and livestock feed, requires special attention in understanding the genetic factors influencing mercury accumulation. Developing maize varieties with low mercury accumulation is vital for both maize production and human health. In this study, a comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using an enlarged SNP panel comprising 1.25 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 230 maize inbred lines across three environments. The analysis identified 111 significant SNPs within 78 quantitative trait loci (QTL), involving 169 candidate genes under the Q model. Compared to the previous study, the increased marker density and optimized statistical model led to the discovery of 74 additional QTL, demonstrating improved statistical power. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that most genes participate in arsenate reduction and stress responses. Notably, GRMZM2G440968, associated with the significant SNP chr6.S_155668107 of axis tissue, encodes a cysteine proteinase inhibitor, suggesting its potential role in alleviating Hg toxicity by inhibiting cysteine. Haplotype analyses provided further insights, indicating that lines carrying hap3 exhibited the lowest mercury content compared to other haplotypes. In summary, our study significantly enhances the statistical power of GWAS, identifying additional genes related to mercury accumulation and metabolism. These findings offer valuable insights into unraveling the genetic basis of mercury content in maize and contribute to the development of maize varieties with low mercury accumulation.

Anesthetics reduce cardiac functions and lower blood pressure (BP), potentially causing excessive BP reduction in dehydrated patients or those with heart conditions, such as coronary artery disease (CAD). Considering the increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease with age, anesthesiologists must be cautious about BP reduction during general anesthesia in older adults. In the present case, an undiagnosed CAD patient in a hypovolemic state experienced a significant systolic blood pressure drop to the 50s during propofol and sevoflurane anesthesia. Despite the use of vasopressors, excessive hypotension persisted, leading to anesthesia suspension. Subsequent cardiac examinations, including computed tomography heart angio and calcium score, and coronary angiogram, revealed a near total occlusion of the left main coronary artery and the formation of collateral circulation. After 5 days of hydration and anticoagulation medications and confirmation of normovolemic state, general anesthesia was attempted again and successfully induced; a normal BP was maintained throughout the surgery. Thus, it is important to conduct a thorough cardiac evaluation and maintain normovolemia for general anesthesia in older adults.

Urbanization influences food culture, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where there is an increasing consumption of processed and pre-packaged foods. This shift is contributing to a rise in non-communicable diseases. Food labeling standards are crucial for regulating manufacturing practices and aiding consumers in making healthy food choices. We aimed to assess the compliance of local and imported pre-packaged snacks with Tanzanian and international labeling standards in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 snack products. A checklist based on Tanzanian and Codex labeling standards was used to evaluate adherence. We also examined factors influencing adherence, such as product origin, price, category, purchase location, and package size. The majority of the snacks demonstrated partial adherence to labeling standards. Imported products showed significantly better full adherence to both Tanzanian and International standards. Notably, over half of the products used English for labeling, and infrequently used the recommended World Health Organization Front-of-Pack nutrition Labeling. Product category, origin, and package size were significantly associated with higher levels of International standard adherence (p<0.05). The inadequate adherence to mandatory labeling standards, scarce use of Swahili and FoPL highlight the need to strengthen labeling practices and potential challenges faced by consumers in understanding nutritional information. Thus, strengthening and emphasizing good labeling practices is of urgency as we seek to address diet-related Non-communicable diseases.

Three new species of genus Caridina are described from the northernmost part of Australia. Caridina darwin n. sp. resembles Caridina temasek Choy & Ng, 1991 from Singapore but differs in the armature of the rostrum, development of epipods on pereiopods and in lacking an appendix interna on male´s first pleopods. Caridina magnovis n. sp. resembles Caridina serratirostris de Man, 1892 but differs from this species in the armature of the ventral margin of the rostrum, a shorter stylocerite, a stouter carpus of first pereiopod, number and size of spiniform setae on third and fifth pereiopods, the shape of the preanal carina and in egg size. Caridina wilsoni n. sp. resembles Caridina gracilirostris de Man, 1892 but differs in egg size and some length to wide ratio of segments of the pereiopods. Detailed morphological descriptions of all three new species are given. A molecular phylogeny (mt DNA 16S) supports the morphospecies hypotheses and illustrates the phylogenetic relationship with morphologically similar species from outside Australia.

Circadian rhythm disruption is increasingly considered an environmental risk factor for the development and exacerbation of inflammatory bowel disease. We have reported in a previous study that nychthemeral dysregulation is associated with an increase in intestinal barrier permeability and inflammation in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. To investigate the effect of circadian rhythm disruption on the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota (GM). Sixty male C57BL/6J mice were divided initially to two groups, the shifted group (n=30) exposed to circadian shifts for three months and the non-shifted group (n=30) under a normal light-dark cycle. The mice of the shifted group were cyclically housed for five days under the normal 12:12 hour light-dark cycle followed by another five days under reversed light-dark cycle. At the end of the three months a colitis was induced by 2 % DSS given in the drinking water of 30 mice. Animals were then divided into four groups (n=15 per group), sham group non-shifted (Sham-NS), sham group shifted (Sham-S) and DSS non-shifted (DSS-NS) and DSS shifted (DSS-S). Fecal samples were collected from rectal content to investigate changes in GM composition by DNA extraction followed by high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The mouse GM was dominated by three phyla: Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio decreased in mice with induced colitis. The richness and diversity of the GM were reduced in the colitis group, especially in the group with inverted circadian rhythm. Moreover, GM composition was also modified in the inverted circadian rhythm group, with an increase in Alloprevotella, Turicibacter, Bacteroides and Streptococcus genera. Circadian rhythm inversion exacerbates GM dysbiosis to a less rich and diversified extent in a DSS-induced colitis model. These findings shows a possible interplay between circadian rhythm disruption, GM dynamics, and colitis pathogenesis.

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a serious condition that significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and the severity of type 2 diabetes, also impacting on the development and evolution of other chronic diseases. Predicting metabolic syndrome is a complex task due to the multifactorial nature of this condition, which involves a combination of various risk factors such as abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. The complex interplay of these factors makes it challenging to predict the syndrome. Both genetic predisposition and environmental factors also contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome affects diverse populations with different ethnicities, lifestyles, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Prediction models, in addition, need to account for population heterogeneity and consider variations in risk factors across different groups. The present study analyzed data from participants in a cohort from Mexico City to identify key risk factors in men and women, addressing the presence of unbalanced data. In order to tackle the issues posed by data imbalance data, SMOTE and ADASYN were applied to assess significant differences in the selection of risk factors for MetS prediction. Random Forest and RPART models using ADASYN and SMOTE demonstrated better performance, achieving a balanced accuracy of approximately 87%. In women, they highlighted sleep quality, anxiety factors, tobacco consumption, and nutritional components. In the case of men, stronger associations were identified with the social development index and factors related to gout in parents.

Global warming and the global energy crisis are two major challenges humanity is currently confronting that are pressuring the scientific community to find efficient, low cost and environmentally sustainable solutions. Within this context, hydrogen has emerged as a clean and efficient energy carrier promising to replace the environmentally hazardous fossil fuels. The present study, of relevance to the water splitting domain, concerns the synthesis of two novel hybrid structures, based on perovskite materials functionalized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The water electrolysis catalytic activity of these new materials was evaluated in a strongly alkaline medium. Perovskite-based modified electrodes were manufactured through four different procedures. The samples displayed electrocatalytic activity for the O2 evolution reaction and the most active electrode was the one obtained by drop-casting a mixture of LaMnO3:Ag/PVP, Carbon Black and Nafion on graphite support. The study is aimed at and succeeds in increasing the scientific database concerning the role of perovskite oxides in the water splitting field.

Hen egg is a bioavailable and a palatable source of protein, fatty acids and vitamins. Egg being a bird embryo, it is adapted as an important part of a high quality carnivore and scavenger diet through evolution. The biological value of egg protein is near to 100 % with the ten essential amino acids, excluding taurine, required by cats and dogs. Functions of over 400 bioactive proteins are growingly recognized in targeting to support pet health. Egg shell membrane contains several of these biomolecules and has shown effect on joint and skin health, anti-inflammatory and antimi-crobial effect in adaptive immunity as well as in gastrointestinal disorders, such as metabolic diseases and obesity. The lipid composition of eggs is unique for an animal product with two-thirds of un-saturated fatty acids consisting of linoleic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and do-cosahexaenoic acid. Eggs are also a diverse source of vitamins providing both water and fat soluble vitamins, especially choline. The nutritional value of an egg assists in maintaining health and shows potential supporting the mobility, cognitive and gastrointestinal health as well as skin repair.

Blood-based biomarkers for early detection of recurrence have a significant clinical impact on the improved management of breast cancer patients, as cancer recurrence results in poor prognosis. This study aimed to investigate if the measurement of blood endocan in breast cancer patients with high ESM1 expression could be an effective tool to detect postoperative recurrence compared with existing tumor markers. Blood was collected before and after the tumor resection from the mouse models of breast cancer, and endocan levels were measured while visualizing metastatic recurrence with noninvasive luminescence imaging. In clinical settings, blood was withdrawn from 16 breast cancer patients before and after the tumor resection, and the effect of lumpectomy on blood endocan level was evaluated. Additionally, the blood endocan from 20 patients diagnosed with postoperative recurrence was measured, and their positivity rate for endocan was compared with that for serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) or cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3). Our preclinical and clinical experiments revealed that blood endocan levels reflected tumor burden. Furthermore, over 60% of patients suffering from postoperative recurrence who tested negative for CEA or CA15-3 were positive for endocan. Our results support the clinical significance of endocan in breast cancer patients for detecting breast cancer recurrence.

Polyhymnia (33 Polyhymnia) is a main belt asteroid in our solar system with a diameter of around 54km. The density of asteroid 33 Polyhymnia, located in the main asteroid belt, is calculated to be 75g/cc. Researchers have speculated the possibility that Polyhymnia could be composed of high-density superheavy elements near atomic number 164. Here we propose that Polyhymnia could be an asteroid composed of degenerate Dark Matter (DM) and there could be many such asteroids in our solar system (this is following our earlier work suggesting Planet Nine could be such an object).

Sleep is a fundamental human need: sleep disruption, in fact, causes an increase in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms and pro-inflammatory responses. Sci-entific literature is finally starting to pay attention to the central role of sleep-wake rhythm alterations for patients health. Oxaliplatin is used extensively for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer and other malignancies, with increased frequency of use in recent years. This study aims to understand the effects of sleep-wake rhythm alterations on health and quality of life on cancer patients treated with oxaliplatin. Study has been conducted through the creation and distribution of questionnaires to patients to inves-tigate the potential alteration of the sleep-wake quality. Evaluating the influence of the collected variables on sleep quality, only liver and biliary tract and pancreas tumor lo-calization, in males, and previous difficulty sleeping, and anxiety, worries and stress, in females, resulted statistically significant. The results obtained may serve as foundation for designing awareness campaigns and updating of patients, healthcare personnel and caregivers, to improve health and quality of patients life.

Abstract:High-pressure water jet technology has received extensive attention and application due to its high efficiency and environmental protection characteristics. The high-pressure water jet nozzle is its core component, and the research on the high-pressure water jet nozzle is conducive to improving the jet performance and improving the jet efficiency. This paper introduces the characteristics of water jet and the working principle of pure water jet, abrasive water jet, pulsed water jet and cavitation water jet, reviews the theoretical analysis and experiment of the predecessor's nozzle, briefly explains the application of high-pressure water jet and looks forward to the development trend of this technology.

The risk of nitrate contamination became a reality for Fairmont in Minnesota, when water rich in NO3-N exceeded the drinking water standard of 10-mg/L. This was unexpected because this city draws its municipal water from a chain of lakes that were fed primarily by shallow groundwater under row-crop land use. Spring soil thaw drives cold water into subsurface pipe where almost no NO3-N reduction occurs. This paper focuses on NO3-N reduction before entering the lakes and no other nitrogen management practices in the watershed. A novel denitrifying bioreactor was constructed behind a sediment forebay which then flowed into a chamber covered by a greenhouse, before entering a woodchip bioreactor. In 2022 and 2023, water depth, dissolved oxygen, and temperature were measured at several locations and continuous NO3-N concentration at the entry and exit of the bioreactor. The results showed better performance at a low water depth with lower dissolved oxygen, and higher water temperature. The greenhouse raised the inlet temperature in 2022 but did not in 2023. The forebay and the greenhouse may have impeded the denitrification process due to the high dissolved oxygen concentrations in the influent and the stratification of dissolved oxygen caused by algae in the bioreactor.

Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are currently available for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. SGLT2i act by inhibiting renal SGLT2, thereby increasing glucosuria and lowering serum glucose. Recent trials are emerging supporting a role for SGLT2i irrespective of the diabetic status pointing towards that SGLT2i have other mechanisms of actions beyond blood sugar control. In this review, we will shed light on the role of this group of medications that act as SGLT2i in non-diabetics focusing on pre-clinical and clinical data highlighting the mechanism of renoprotection and effects of SGLT2i in the non-diabetic kidneys.

In this work, the degassing process of corn seeds was experimentally and numerically analyzed by removing air or other gases from around the seeds, specifically from the seed coating, in a rough vacuum chamber. The two complementary variants are employed to understand and optimize this process to improve the quality and germination rate of the seeds. Several experiments were conducted with well-established durations and masses of corn seeds at different temperatures to observe and record the behavior of the system, facilitating the modeling of the degasification process in the vacuum compartment. Modeling the degasification operation in the vacuum chamber allowed for determining the pressure profiles on the vacuum chamber and its lid. Numerical simulations were either conducted using a simulation program developed in the Visual Basic Applications (VBA) language for Microsoft Excel to model the degassing process in the vacuum chamber, or with the assistance of specialized software (transient structural analysis and simulation program in the ANSYS Workbench environment). Statistical analysis of the correlation between experimental and estimated pressure values revealed that both the proposed mathematical model and the solution method are well-chosen, with differences expressed through the absolute error (EA) being very small. Structural dynamic analysis carried through the Finite Element Method (FEM) highlights that the chosen materials for manufacturing the vacuum chamber vessel (316 stainless steel) or the chamber lid (transparent acrylic plastic) are durable and capable of withstanding the desired pressure and temperature demands in the seed treatment process. Additionally, through structural dynamic analysis, it was possible to study the deformation of system components, providing a detailed perspective on their structural distribution.

Background: The use of wearable devices has burgeoned over the past decade, including wearables for infants and young children. Typically, such devices assess a single modality, and few have undergone scientific validation. To address this gap, we developed an infant wearable platform, LittleBeats™, that integrates electrocardiogram (ECG), motion, and audio sensors on a single printed circuit board to permit daylong remote assessments of infants and caregivers in home environments. Objective: Complementing our prior reports focused on LittleBeats™ data collected among infants and children in the home context, our main objective here is to present a technical validation of each sensor modality against established laboratory protocols and gold-standard equipment. Materials and Methods: We conducted five studies, including assessments of (a) interbeat interval (IBI) data obtained from the LittleBeats™ ECG sensor versus the gold-standard BIOPAC among adults (Study 1, N=16) and infants (Study 2, N=5), (b) performance of automated activity recognition (upright vs. walk vs. glide vs. squat ) among adults using accelerometer data obtained from LittleBeats™ versus Google Pixel 1 smartphone (Study 3, N=12), and (c) performance of speech emotion recognition (SER; Study 4, N=8) and automatic speech recognition (ASR; Study 5, N =12) algorithms among adult samples using audio data from LittleBeats™ versus smartphone. Results: Results for IBI data obtained from the LittleBeats™ ECG sensor indicate acceptable mean absolute percent error (MAPE) rates for both the adults (MAPE = 5.29% to 5.97%; Study 1) and infants (MAPE =0.96% to 1.66%; Study 2) across low- and high-challenge sessions, as well as expected patterns of change in respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) across sessions. For activity recognition (Study 3), LittleBeats™ data showed good to excellent performance (Accuracy = 89%, F1-score=88%; Cohen’s kappa =.79), although the smartphone outperformed LittleBeats™ by less than 4%. Finally, performance on the SER applied to LittleBeats™ versus smartphone audio data (Study 4) indicated comparable performance, with a matched-pairs test indicating no significant difference in error rates (p=.26). On the ASR task (Study 5), the best performing algorithm yielded relatively low word error rates, although LittleBeats™ (4.16%) versus smartphone (2.73%) error rates are somewhat higher. Discussion: Taken together, results from these controlled laboratory studies conducted predominantly with adults indicate that the LittleBeats™ sensors yield data quality that is largely comparable to those obtained from gold-standard devices and protocols that have been used extensively in prior research. The advantages of the LittleBeats™ platform is the (a) integration of multiple sensors into one platform that was (b) designed specifically for use with infants and young children. Leveraging data from the multiple modalities and fine-tuning postprocessing steps to further increase data quality, combined with assessing data quality among infants and young children in their natural environments, will be key next steps in this research program.

Background: Alopecia areata is a skin disease that affects patients’ quality of life and social participation. Objective: To quantify the economic burden of alopecia areata and to map health services utilization among patients with alopecia areata.Materials and methods: Prospective and retrospective data sources, using both top-down and bottom-up approaches to estimate direct and indirect costs and to map health service utilization associated with alopecia areata in Romania in 2022.Results: In our study, the total cost of alopecia areata in Romania for 2022 was estimated at 46.289 million EUR for adult patients and 1.89 million EUR for pediatric patients, encompassing both mild and severe cases. The breakdown reveals that both mild and severe cases incurred the highest costs due to associated expenses, medical services, and treatment. As for children, the highest alopecia-related expenses were represented by associated expenses and treatment costs (for both severity levels).Conclusion: This is the first study to quantify the burden of alopecia areata in Romania. Additional studies are needed due to a low sample size. However, considering our estimations based on external data sources, alopecia areata should be considered when planning health service distribution.

Little is known about the effect of nitrogen nutrition on seedling susceptibility to seed-borne pathogens. We have previously shown that seedlings grown under high nitrate (5 mM) conditions are less susceptible than those grown under low nitrate (0.1 mM) and ammonium (5 mM) in the Arabidopsis-Alternaria brassicicola pathosystem. However, it is not known how seedling metabolism is modulated by nitrogen nutrition, nor what is its response to pathogen infection. Here, we addressed this question using the same pathosystem and nutritive conditions, examining germination kinetics, seedling development, but also shoot ion contents, metabolome and selected gene expression. Nitrogen nutrition clearly altered the seedling metabolome. A similar metabolomic profile was observed in inoculated seedlings grown at high nitrate levels and in not inoculated-seedlings. High nitrate levels also led to specific gene expression patterns (e.g. polyamine metabolism), while other genes responded to inoculation regardless of nitrogen supply conditions. Furthermore, the metabolites best correlated with high disease symptoms were coumarate, tyrosine, hemicellulose sugars and polyamines, and those associated with low symptoms were organic acids (tricarboxylic acid pathway, glycerate, shikimate), sugars derivatives and β-alanine. Overall, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of high nitrate nutrition on seedling susceptibility is likely due to nutritive and signaling mechanisms affecting developmental plant processes detrimental to the pathogen. In particular, it may be due to a constitutively high tryptophan metabolism, as well as down regulation of oxidative stress caused by polyamine catabolism.

Background and objectives: Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain significantly impacts physical activity and quality of life in the elderly, potentially influencing mortality. This study explored the relationship between MSK pain, physical activity, muscle mass, and mortality among older adults. Material and Methods: We studied 1000 participants of the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging (KLoSHA), a prospective, population-based cohort study of people aged 65 years or older. Survival status was tracked over a 5-year period. Correlations between Low back pain (LBP), knee pain, regular exercise, appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM), and other variables were analyzed. Logistic regression analyzes were used to identify independent risk factors for mortality. Results: Of the total participants, 829 (82.9%) survived after a 5-year period. Survivors tended to be younger, had a higher BMI, and were more active in regular exercise. In contrast, non-survivors exhibited a higher prevalence of both LBP and knee pain, along with increased instances of multiple MSK pain. Lower ASM correlated moderately with LBP and knee pain, whereas higher ASM was associated with regular exercise Lower ASM was moderately associated with LBP and knee pain, while higher ASM correlated with engagement in regular exercise. There was a moderate correlation between LBP and knee pain, both of which were associated with a lack of regular exercise. Age, sex, ASM, and regular exercise were significant predictors, even though MSK pain itself did not directly predict all-cause mortality. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the independent association between ASM, regular exercise, and mortality. Although MSK pain did not directly correlate with all-cause mortality, the non-survivor group had higher levels of both single and multiple MSK pain. Recognizing the interplay of MSK pain, physical activity, and muscle mass for older adults, the research underscores the need for holistic strategies to enhance health outcomes in older individuals with MSK pain.

We propose Context-aware Feature Transformer Network (CaFTNet), a novel network for human pose estimation. To address the issue of limited modeling of global dependencies in convolutional neural networks, we design Transformerneck to strengthen the expressive power of features. Transformerneck directly substitutes the 3×3 convolution in bottleneck of HRNet with Contextual Transformer (CoT) block, while reducing the complexity of the network. Specifically, CoT first produces keys with static contextual information through 3×3 convolution. Then, relying on the query and contextualization keys, the dynamic contexts are generated through two concatenated 1×1 convolutions. Static and dynamic contexts are eventually fused as an output. Additionally, for the multi-scale networks, in order to further refine the features of the fusion output, we propose an Attention Feature Aggregation Module(AFAM). Technically, given an intermediate input, AFAM successively deduces attention maps along channel and spatial dimensions. Then, Adaptive refinement module(ARM) is exploited to activate the obtained attention maps. Finally, the input undergoes adaptive feature refinement through multiplication with the activated attention maps. Through the above studies, our lightweight network provides a powerful clue for detection of keypoints. Experiments are implemented on the COCO and MPII datasets. The model achieves 76.2 AP on the COCO val2017. Compared to other methods with the CNN as the backbone, CaFTNet reduces the number of parameters by 72.9 %. On the MPII, our method uses only 60.7% of the number of parameters, acquiring semblable results to other methods with the CNN as the backbone.

Clinical screening tests for balance and mobility often fall short of predicting fall risk. Cognitive distractors and unpredictable external stimuli, common in busy natural environments, contrib-ute to this risk, especially in the elderly. Less is known about the effects of upper sensory-motor coordination such as coordinating one’s hand with an external stimulus. We combined move-ment sonification and affordable inertial motion sensors to develop a task for the precise meas-urement and manipulation of full-body interaction with stimuli in the environment. In a double-task design, we studied how a supra-postural activity affected quiet stance. The supra-postural task consisted of rhythmic synchronization with a repetitive auditory stimulus. The stimulus was attentionally demanding because it was being modulated continuously. The participant’s hand movement was sonified in real-time, and their goal was to synchronize their hand move-ment with the stimulus. In the unpredictable condition, the tempo changed at random points in the trial. A separate sensor recorded postural fluctuations. Young healthy adults were compared to elderly participants without known risk of falling. Results supported the hypothesis that su-pra-postural coordination would entrain postural control. The effect was stronger in the elderly, supporting the idea that diminished reserve capacities reduce the ability to isolate postural con-trol from sensory-motor and cognitive activity.

To investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) application on carbon metabolism and yield of flag leaves and grains of spring wheat under drip irrigation in Xinjiang, a split - plot design was adopted from 2020 to 2021, with strong gluten wheat Xinchun 37 (XC37) and medium gluten wheat Xinchun 6 (XC 6) as the main plot factor and different nitrogen application rates as subplot factor. Four nitrogen application rates of 0, 210, 255 and 300 kg·hm-2 (CK2, B1, A1 and CK1, respectively) were set to analyze and compare the nitrogen response of key enzyme activity, soluble sugar, sucrose and starch content in flag leaves and grains to control yield formation. The results showed that with the increase of nitrogen application, Sucrose phosphate synthetase (SPS) and sucrose synthetase (SS) in flag leaves, SS in seeds, activities of adenosine diphosphate pyrophosphorylase (ADPG - PPase), soluble starch synthase (SSS), bound starch synthase (GBSS) and starch branching enzyme (SBE) in seeds, contents of soluble sugar and sucrose and yield in flag leaves increased first increasing and then decreasing. The A1 treatment (255 kg·hm-2) showed significant differences compared to other treatments, with increases of 7.95–158.33%, 8.69–155.12%, 7.65–53.25%, 5.41–62.83%, 2.85–85.52%, 3.08–57.30%, 8.87–79.16%, 9.33–196.55%, 9.43–112.78%, and higher levels of amylose, amylopectin, and total starch content than other treatments by 1.86–30.38%, 10.58–83.69%, and 7.96–63.09%, respectively. Correlation and stepwise regression analysis indicate highly significant positive correlation between yield and solube sugar and sucrose of flag leaves and grains, as well as their key emzymes and starch. Among them, soluble sugar in grains, amylopectin, and sucrose in grains have the greatest impact on the yield of XC37, determining 84.5% of its yield. SSS, soluble sugars in grains, amylopectin, and SBE have the greatest impact on the yield of XC 6, determining 80.4% of its yield. The starch shows a highly significant positive correlation with ADPG - PPase, SSS, GBSS, and SBE. There is a significant interaction effect between nitrogen application rate and variety, with better performance observed in Xinchun 37 compared to Xinchun 6. Under drip irrigation conditions in arid areas, nitrogen application of 255 kg·hm-2 can effectively regulate the metabolism of sucrose to starch in flag leaves and grains of spring wheat, which is conducive to the accumulation of starch in grains and the formation of yield.

Treatment options for sarcopenia are currently limited, primarily relying on two main therapeutic approaches: resistance-based physical activity and dietary interventions. However, details about specific nutrients in the diet or supplementation are unclear. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between nutrient intake and lean mass, function, and strength. Data were derived from the Gothenburg H70 birth cohort study in Sweden, including 719 70-year-olds born in 1944 (54,1 % females). For independent variables, the diet history method (face-to-face interviews) was used to estimate habitual food intake during the preceding three months. Dependent variables were gait speed (muscle performance), hand grip strength (muscle strength) and appendicular lean soft tissue index (ALSTI). Linear regression analyses were performed to analyze the relationship between the dependent variables and each of the covariates. Several nutrients were positively associated with ALSTI, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (DHA, EPA), selenium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin equivalent, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, and protein. After correction for multiple tests, there were no remaining correlations with handgrip and gait speed. Findings of positive correlations for some nutrients with lean mass suggest a role for these nutrients for maintaining muscle volume. These results can be used to inform clinical trials to expand the preventive strategies and treatment options for individuals at risk of muscle loss and sarcopenia.

The persistent threat of cancer remains a significant hurdle for global health, prompting the exploration of innovative approaches in the quest for successful therapeutic interventions. Cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9), a central player in transcription regulation and cell cycle progression, has emerged as a promising target to combat cancer. Its pivotal role in oncogenic pathways and the pressing need for novel cancer treatments has propelled CDK9 into the spotlight of drug discovery efforts. This article presents a comprehensive study that connects a multidisciplinary approach, combining computational methodologies, experimental validation, and the transformative PROTAC (Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera) technology. By uniting these diverse techniques, we aim to identify, characterize, and optimize a new class of degraders targeting CDK9. We explore these compounds for kinase inhibitory properties and potential to induce targeted protein degradation, offering a novel and potentially more sustainable approach to cancer therapy. This cohesive strategy expresses the interface between computational predictions and experimental insights, with the ultimate goal of advancing the development of effective anticancer therapeutics targeting CDK9.

Global pose refinement is a significant challenge within Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) frameworks. For LIDAR-based SLAM systems, pose refinement is integral to correcting drift caused by the successive registration of 3D point clouds collected by the sensor. A divergence between the actual and calculated platform path characterizes this error. In response to this challenge, we propose a linear, parameter-free model, which uses a closed circuit for global trajectory corrections. Our model maps rotations to quaternions and uses Spherical Linear Interpolation (SLERP) for transitions between them. The intervals are established from the constraint set by the Least Squares (LS) method on rotation closure and are proportional to the circuit's size. Translations are globally adjusted in a distinct linear phase. Additionally, we suggest a coarse-to-fine pairwise registration method, integrating Fast Global Registration and Generalized ICP with multiscale sampling and filtering. The proposed approach is tested on three varied datasets of point clouds, including Mobile Laser Scanners and Terrestrial Laser Scanners. These diverse datasets affirm the model's effectiveness in 3D pose estimation with substantial pose differences and efficient pose optimization in larger circuits.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common malignant tumor of the pancreas, carrying a poor prognosis, in most cases patients being diagnosed in a nonresectable stage. Image-based artificial intelligence (AI) models implemented in tumor detection, segmentation and classification could improve diagnosis with better treatment options and increased survival. This review included papers published in the last 5 years and describes the current trends in AI algorithms used in PDAC. We analyzed the applications of AI in detection of PDAC, segmentation of the lesion and classification algorithms used in differential diagnosis, prognosis, and histopathological and genomic prediction. The results show lack of multi-institutional collaboration and stresses the need for bigger datasets in order for AI models to be implemented in a clinically relevant manner.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a high suicide-risk mental disorder. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between temperament and character traits with suicide probability, suicide attempt and perceived stress level in patients with BD. A total of 39 euthymic patients with bipolar disorder who had a history of suicide attempt and 39 euthymic patients without a history of suicide attempt were included in this study. Sociodemographic and clinical data form, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5-Clinician Version (SCID-5/CV), Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Suicide Probability Scale were used for obtaining the data. HDRS, PSS and SPS scores of the group comprised of patients who attempted suicide were higher than the other group. There was no significant difference between the group of patients who had attempted suicide and the other group in terms of temperament characteristics. In the group of patients who had attempted suicide, self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (CO) scores were lower and self-transcendence (ST) score was higher than the other group. HA and ST were positively and SD negatively associated with SPS scores. In the regression analysis for suicide risk, the factors most associated with suicide risk were high HDRS and low CO score. Low SD in BD, high ST with CO may be associated with suicide attempt. Alongside low SD, high HA and ST may be associated with suicidal ideation. Treating residual depressive symptoms can reduce the risk of suicide.

Background: Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is an uncommon and aggressive pediatric central nervous system neoplasm. However, a universal clinical consensus or reliable prognostic evaluation system for this malignancy is lacking. Our study aimed to develop a risk model based on comprehensive clinical data to assist in clinical decision-making. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study by examining data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) repository, spanning 2000 to 2019. The external validation cohort was sourced from the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University, China. To discern independent factors affecting overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS), we applied Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and Random Forest (RF) regression analyses. Based on these factors, we structured nomogram survival predictions and initiated a dynamic online risk-evaluation system. To contrast survival outcomes among diverse treatments, we used propensity score matching (PSM) methodology. Molecular data with the most common mutations in AT/RT were extracted from the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) database. Results: The annual incidence of AT/RT showed an increasing trend (APC, 2.86%; 95% CI:0.75-5.01). Our prognostic study included 316 SEER database participants and 27 external validation patients. The entire group had a median OS of 18 months (range 11.5 to 24 months) and median CSS of 21 months (range 11.7 to 29.2). Evaluations involving C-statistics, DCA, and ROC analysis underscored the distinctive capabilities of our prediction model. An analysis via PSM highlighted that individuals undergoing triple therapy (integrating surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) had discernibly enhanced OS and CSS. The most common mutations of AT/RT identified in the COSMIC database were SMARCB1, BRAF, SMARCA4, NF2, and NRAS. Conclusions: In this study, we devised a predictive model that effectively gauges the prognosis of AT/RT and briefly analyzed its genomic features, which might offer a valuable tool to address existing clinical challenges.

Type IVc Pili (T4cP), also known as Tad or Flp pili, are long thin microbial filaments, which are made-up of small-sized pilins. These appendages serve different functions in bacteria including attachment, biofilm formation, surface sensing, motility, and host colonization. Despite their relevant role in diverse microbial lifestyles, knowledge about T4cP in bacteria that establish symbiosis with legumes, collectively referred to as rhizobia, is still limited. Sinorhizobium meliloti contains two clusters of T4cP-related genes: flp-1 and flp-2, which are located on the chromosome and pSymA megaplasmid, respectively. Bundle-forming pili associated to flp-1 have been involved in competitive nodulation of alfalfa plants but the role of flp-2 remains elusive. In this work, we have performed a comprehensive bioinformatic analyses of T4cP genes in the highly competitive S. meliloti strain GR4 and investigated the role of its flp clusters in pilus biogenesis, motility and in the interaction with alfalfa. Single and double flp cluster mutants were constructed in the wild-type genetic background as well as in a flagellaless derivative strain. Our data demonstrate that both chromosomal and pSymA flp clusters are functional in pili biogenesis, and contribute to surface translocation and nodule formation efficiency of GR4. In this strain, the presence of flp-1 in the absence of flp-2 reduces competitiveness for nodule occupation.

Obesity entails metabolic alterations across multiple organs, highlighting the role of inter-organ communication in its pathogenesis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are communication agents in physiological and pathological conditions and although they have been associated with obesi-ty-comorbidities, their protein cargo in this context remain largely unknown. To decipher the messages encapsulated in EVs, we isolated plasma derived EVs from diet induced obese murine models. Obese plasma EVs exhibited a decline in protein diversity while control EVs revealed significant enrichment in protein folding functions, highlighting the importance of proper folder in maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Previously, we revealed that gut derived EVs proteome holds particular significance in obesity. Here, we compared plasma and gut EVs and identified four proteins exclusively present in the control state of both EVs, revealing the potential for a non-invasive assessment of gut health by analyzing blood derived EVs. Given the relevance of post-translational modifications (PTMs), we observed a shift in chromatin-related proteins from glycation to acetylation in obese gut EVs, suggesting a regulatory mechanism targeting DNA transcription during obesity. This study provides valuable insights into novel roles of EVs and protein post-translational modifications in the intricate mechanisms underlying obesity, shed-ding light on potential biomarkers and pathways for future research.

To win a taekwondo competition, more points must be scored, and the key to scoring points is to improve the motor performance of the kick. The wing kick is an offensive and defensive maneuver. Core stability appears to be important for improving athletic performance, but the specific relationship and effect of core stability on athletic performance in the aerial phase of taekwondo is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between core stability and athletic performance in taekwondo in order to provide appropriate theoretical support for training and to help coaches and athletes to improve athletic performance. A total of 16 subjects (height: 167.34±9.2 cm; weight: 61±8.96 kg; age: 24.7±3.25 years) were studied. Data were captured using 13 infrared cameras at 120Hz, kinematic and kinetic data were captured using a motivated motion capture system, and the data were exported to Visual3D in order to calculate the execution time of the aerial phase, the angular momentum of the left lower extremity, and MVC analysis of the EMG using EMG works. The core stability level of the subjects were measured using the Sahrmann Core Stability Test (SCST) to correlate with the other data, and then the subjects were grouped according to their core stability levels and the data from both groups were analyzed with t-tests. Results During the double fly lifting of aerial segments, SCST levels showed a very strong negative correlation with execution time (r= -0.739) and there was a statistically significant difference in execution time between high and low SCST levels (p &lt; 0.001), and the desired negative correlation was also seen in lower limb angular momentum X-axis (thigh r= -0.6294, shank r= -0.536, foot r= -0.6175), especially in the X-axis. The left rectus femoris (LRF) data had greater activation in the low SCST group(p=0.0019*). Through this experiment, we found that athletes with high core stability had faster execution times, lower angular momentum, and higher core muscle activation. Therefore, we conclude that incorporating core stability training into taekwondo training has the potential to improve kicking performance.

We assessed the association between cirrhosis and severe COVID-19-related outcomes among people with laboratory-diagnosed COVID-19 infection in British Columbia, Canada. We used data from the British Columbia (BC) COVID-19 Cohort, a population-based cohort that integrates data on all individuals tested for COVID-19 with data on hospitalizations, medical visits, emergency room visits, prescription drugs, chronic conditions, and deaths in the Canadian province of BC. We included all individuals, aged ≥ 18 who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, from January 01, 2021, to December 31, 2021. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between cirrhosis status and COVID-19-related hospitalization and ICU admission. Of the 162,509 individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were included in the analysis, 768 (0.5%) had cirrhosis. In the multivariable models, cirrhosis was associated with increased odds of hospitalization (aOR=1.97, 95% CI: 1.58 – 2.47) and ICU admission (aOR=3.33, 95% CI: 2.56 – 4.35). In the analyses stratified by age, we found that the increased odds of ICU admission among people with cirrhosis were present in all the assessed age-groups. Cirrhosis is associated with increased odds of hospitalization and ICU admission among COVID-19 patients.

The rescue, digitisation, quality control, preservation and utilization of long and high quality meteorological and climate records, particularly related to historical marine data, are crucial for advancing our understanding of the Earth's climate system. In combination with land and air measurements, the historical marine records serve as foundational pillars in linking present and past weather and climate information, offering essential insights into natural climate variability, extreme events in marine areas, baseline data for assessing current changes, and inputs for en-hancing predictive climate models and reanalyses. This paper provides an overview of marine data rescue activities covering the past centuries, presents and highlights several ongoing projects across the world and how the data are used in an integrative and international framework. Current and future continuous efforts in data rescue, digitisation, quality control and the de-velopment of temporally high resolution meteorological and climatological observations from the Sea, will greatly help to further complete our understanding and knowledge of the Earth system including extremes, as well as improving the quality of reanalysis.

With the increase of global human activities, a large number of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) generated by industrial activities such as coal combustion, traffic and so on enter sediments on continental shelves. However, there is currently a lack of understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution of TMPs on continental shelves, as well as the sedimentary effects they cause. This review work comprehensively analyzes the source, morphology, composition, and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of TMPs. Then it elucidates their magnetic contribution to sedimentary environments in continental shelf seas, as well as the influence of heavy metals and active iron. At the same time, the existing problems and future development directions of TMPs on continental shelves are summarized.

The procedures used to create modern cars require extensive thought in various relevant scientific domains. Arguably, the most challenging obstacle facing the automobile sector is managing production facilities by integrating software production lines and CI/CD. All this is determined by market demands, the engine of a vehicle, and the complexity of assembling the entire car and installing its corresponding embedded software. As a result, concerns about various types of global change have grown, as well as the lack of the ability to use fossil fuels, creating a substantial impact on the purchase and sale of modern automobiles. The research foundation is reflected in covering strategies for the deployment and administration of software, as well as opportunities for business improvement in particular production processes. This article strives to provide a summary of a scientific investigation of original equipment manufacturers, market segmentation, and the effects of global market changes on automotive manufacturing by examining the correlation between certain changes in the purchase of a specific brand and the powertrain of a vehicle. The research tries to examine numerous datasets from the United States of America and Washington State, on the basis of which we may estimate possible future changes in the automotive industry’s sales.

Solar energy adoption worldwide has expanded exponentially due to a surge in international interest in producing clean energy and the declining cost of solar power plants and their technology. It is anticipated that by 2050, solar will have surpassed fossil fuels to become the primary source of energy. However, one of the main challenges associated with solar energy production is the instability of photovoltaic (PV) power generation because of weather changes. Short-term forecasting of the power output of photovoltaic systems is essential for efficient management of the power grid and energy markets. This paper aims to evaluate the ability of deep learning (DL) models to provide accurate forecasting of hourly global horizontal irradiance (GHI) using different sets of features, including weather and aerosol variables along with solar radiation components. The results show that the best forecast skills are achieved by the long short-term memory autoencoder (LSTM-AE) model.

During deep-sea mining, the heavy metals pollutants can cause contamination in the marine environment. In this paper, the multiphasic coupling model is established to describe the heavy metal migration process during deep-sea mining, which takes the effects of convection-diffusion, adsorption-desorption and sedimentation-resuspension of heavy metals in the aquatic environment into full consideration. Due to the advantages of Lattice Boltzmann method, it is adopted to numerically solve the multiphasic coupling model and achieve the simulation for heavy metal migration process during deep-sea mining. In addition, taking Cadmium as an example, the concentration variations are discussed and analyzed in detail. Based on the established model and Lattice Boltzmann method, the concentration distribution of heavy metals can be accurately described to provide the reasonable bases for the evaluation of marine environmental protection.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of patients suffering from chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) and tissue loss treated with primary isolated femoral bifurcation endarterectomy (FBE) or with FBE combined with bypass surgery. Methods: This retrospective study was performed in a tertiary university based care center. Between January 2008 and December 2019 a prospectively collected database of patients suffering from CLTI and tissue loss and undergoing either primary FBE (group A) or FBE in combination with bypass surgery (group B) was analysed. Study endpoints were ulcer healing, primary and secondary patency rate, limb salvage and survival. Results: In total, FBE was performed in 73 and FBE with bypass in 60 patients. Between both groups there were no significant differences regarding demographic data or the Global Limb Anatomic Staging System (GLASS) grade III and IV of femoropopliteal lesions. After 3 years, ulcer healing could be achieved in 72% of FBE and in 75% of FBE with bypass patients. The primary patency rate was 95% and 91% for FBE and 83% and 80% for FBE with bypass after one and three years, respectively. The 3-year limb salvage rate was 78% for FBE and 84% for FBE with bypass. The secondary patency rate after one and three years was 99% and 97% for FBE and 93% and 88% for FBE with bypass. Conclusion: FBE and FBE with bypass are equally effective for ulcer healing in cases of combined CFA and superficial femoral artery lesions. There was no significant difference between both groups regarding primary and secondary patency

It is unavoidable that the characteristics of the robot system alter inexactly or cannot be correctly determined during movement and are impacted by external disturbances. There are many adaptive control methods, such as sliding control or neural control, to improve the quality of trajectory tracking for robot motion systems. Still, those methods require a large amount of computation related to solving the problem of constrained nonlinear optimization problem. The article presents some techniques for determining an intelligent controller's online learning function parameters, including two circuits: the inner circuit is a state feedback linearized controller, and the outer course is an Interactive learning controller and does not use the robot's mathematical mode with function parameters online optimal learning and intelligent online learning closely following the joint model to stabilize the robot system. Finally, the 2-DOF planar robot simulation is performed on Matlab software R2022b. The findings indicate that outstanding tracking performance is achievable.

The core motivation for this study emanates from Voronin S.'s seminal work on the universality of the zeta function. This universality positions the zeta function as a pivotal element in the conceptual framework of global artificial intelligence, suggesting its potential as a foundational component. A critical barrier to harnessing this promising universality has been the absence of efficient algorithms capable of actualizing this concept.

Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is one of the leading causes of death in developing countries. This global health burden is worsened by the emergence of multi-drug resistance, which calls for new interventions to address the pandemic and medicinal plants remain a source for the new interventions. This study aimed to investigate the in vitro immunomodulatory effects of three plants used traditionally for the treatment of PTB in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Eradication of Mycobacterium. tuberculosis in the lung tissue, requires the pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype. Thus, a plant extract with a high potential for anti-tuberculosis effects is expected to produce a high concentration of nitric oxide (NO) as the indicator for the pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype. To test this effect, lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages were cultured and treated with the ethanolic crude extracts of three plants: Anthrixia philycoides, Lippia javaniva, and Sanicula elata at concentrations of 50µg/ml, 100µg/ml, and 200 µg/ml. After 24h, 50µl Griess reagent was added to the plates and absorbance was measure at 540nm. A standard curve of sodium nitrite dissolved in culture media was used to determine the concentration of NO in each sample. The results showed Anthrixia philycoides, and Lippia javanica, as anti-inflammatory when compared with the positive control, while Sanicula elata pro-inflammatory, producing a high amount of NO, compared with the positive control. Our results revealed the polarizing activity of Sanicula elata on macrophages towards M1 phenotype, with evidence of the nitric oxide production, warranting further in-vivo investigations of medicinal plant for anti-TB activity.

In Einstein’s Special Relativity(SR), time is treated as one of the four dimensions within spacetime and is relative in nature. Typically, a photon clock serves as the illustrative device in the time dilation thought experiment, featuring a single photon bouncing between two mirrors. However, the present paper identifies a fundamental flaw in this thought experiment, hence challenging its validity. Contrary to SR, this paper asserts that time is a consequence of motion. Space and time should be treated differently as proposed by classical mechanics. Importantly, this stance does not challenge the concept of curved space in General Relativity (GR), but rather questions the idea of relative time, as employed in both SR and GR. The absence of time dilation also dispels the twin paradox, prompting a necessary reassessment of the second postulate of relativity to ensure a more precise depiction of relativistic effects.

(1) Background: Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) in myocardial infarction associated cardiogenic shock is subject to debate. This analysis aims to elucidate the impact of MCS timing on patient outcomes, based on data from the PREPARE CS registry.; (2) Methods: PREPARE CS prospective registry included consecutive patients experiencing cardiogenic shock (SCAI Classes C-E) and were referred for cardiac catheterization. Present analysis included a subset, in whom MCS was used and underwent coronary intervention due to myocardial infarction. Patients were categorized into Upfront group versus Procedural group, depending on the timing of MCS introduction in relation to PCI. Endpoint was the in-hospital mortality; (3) Results: In total 71 patients were included. MCS was started prior to PCI in 33 (46%) patients (Upfront), whereas 38 (54%) received MCS during or after PCI initiation (Procedural). Baseline characteristics and hemodynamic parameters were comparable. The Upfront group had a higher utilization of Impella® device compared to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (67% vs 33%), while the Procedural group exhibited a balanced use (50% vs 50%). Most patients suffered of multi-vessel disease in both groups (82% vs 84%, respectively; p=0.99) and most patients required complex PCI procedure, the latter was more prevalent in the Upfront group (94% vs 71%, respectively; p=0.02). Rates of complete revascularization were comparable (52% vs 34%, respectively; p=0.16). Procedural CPR was significantly more frequent in the Procedural group (45% vs 79%, p&lt;0.05), still in-hospital mortality was similar (61% vs 79%, respectively; p=0.12); (4) Conclusions: Upfront implantation of MCS in myocardial infarction associated CS did not provide in-hospital survival benefit.

Covid-19 is an airborne disease, with the vast majority of infections occurring indoors. By comparison, little transmission occurs outdoors. Here, we investigate the airborne transmission pathways that differentiate the indoors from outdoors, and conclude that profound differences exist, which help to explain why SARS-CoV-2 transmission is much more prevalent indoors. Near and far-field transmission pathways are discussed along with factors that affect infection risk, with aerosol concentration, air entrainment, thermal plumes, and occupancy duration all identified as being influential. In particular, we present the fundamental equations that underpin the Wells-Riley model, and show the mathematical relationship between inhaled virus particles and quanta of infection. A simple model is also presented for assessing infection risk in spaces with incomplete air mixing. Transmission risk is assessed in terms of aerosol concentration using simple 1D equations, followed by a description of thermal plume-ceiling interactions. With respect to this, we present new experimental results using Schlieren-visualisation and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach. Pathways of airborne infection are discussed, with the key differences identified between indoors and outdoors. In particular, the contribution of thermal and exhalation plumes is evaluated, and the presence of near-field/far-field feedback loop postulated, which is absent outdoors.

Pediatric brain tumors are the most common solid tumors in children, causing the highest number of cancer-related deaths at young ages. Although existing therapies have improved the 5-year overall survival rate of PBT patients, some high-risk brain tumors continue to resist current treatments. Additionally, the survivors endure devastating long-term side effects, including cognitive defects and sensory and endocrinal dysfunctions. In the past two decades, immunotherapies have evolved significantly, with great success in many cancers. Immunotherapies developed specifically for PBTs also show promising results. Currently, scores of clinical trials are underway to evaluate the safety and feasibility of a wide-range of immunotherapeutics for PBTs, and this review overviews the most recent advances, including the exciting progress made toward treating medulloblastoma, pediatric glioma, and ependymoma. We summarized the cutting-edge immunotherapies under development, including immune checkpoint blockade, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, natural killer (NK)-cell therapy, cancer vaccines, and oncolytic virus therapy. We find that the results from the recently concluded or ongoing clinical trials on safety and feasibility are very encouraging; however, non-responsiveness and tumor recurrence still haunt them. While this review judges the scope of the current immunotherapies, it also lays out strategies to find alternate solutions for persisting issues.

Our understanding of the divergence of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mobile elements from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) has not improved substantially since the crystallization hypothesis (explaining transition from cellular machinery to cellular life) was proposed by Woese. Here, we propose a hypothesis for the simultaneous emergence of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mobile elements by sequential and concrete biochemical and cellular pathways. According to the hypothesis, the LUCA was a non-free-living pool of single operon type genomes composed of single-stranded (ss) RNA, double-stranded (ds) RNA, RNA/DNA hybrid, ssDNA, or dsDNA at an ancient submarine alkaline vent. Each dsDNA operon was transcribed by different systems in σ, TFIIB, or TBP genomes. Upon the fusion of multiple dsDNA operons by recombinase, the transcription system (in the σ, TFIIB, or TBP genome) was preferentially selected, leading to the first genetic linkage (described by Morgan). Vertical inheritance eventually led to Bacteria (σ genome) and Archaea (TBP genome). Eigen’s paradox (error catastrophe) can be overcome by the parallel gain of DNA replication and DNA repair mechanisms in both genomes. Enlarged DNA enabled efficient local biochemical reactions. Both genomes independently recruited lipids to facilitate reactions by forming coacervates (liquid droplets) at the chamber of the vent, leading to the lipid divide. Bilayer lipid membrane formation, proto-cell formation with a permeable membrane, proto-cell division, and the evolution of membrane-associated biochemistry are presented in detail. Simultaneous crystallization of systems in non-free-living bacteria and non-free-living archaea triggered the co-crystallization of primitive viruses and mobile elements. An arms race between non-free-living cells and primitive viruses finally led to free-living cells with a cell wall and mature viruses at the original vent. Cells and viruses spread to all vents on the planet, explaining the universality of the genetic code on Earth. The proposed scenario provides a plausible explanation for the origin of diverse taxa from the LUCA vertical and horizontal gene transfer.

Despite well-documented health benefits of probiotics Saccharomyces, its application in oral health has not been comprehensively assessed. Dental caries is a transmissible disease initiated by acid production of cariogenic bacteria and yeast, such as Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans, on tooth enamel and followed by subsequent enamel demineralization. Here, we investigated the effect of two Saccharomyces strains (Saccharomyces boulardii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on S. mutans-C. albicans cross-kingdom interactions using a cariogenic planktonic model. Viable cells, pH changes and gene expression were measured. S. cerevisiae and S. boulardii inhibited the growth of C. albicans either in dual-, or multi-species conditions. Saccharomyces also inhibited C. albicans hyphal formation. Furthermore, Saccharomyces reduced the acidity of the culture medium which usually plummeted below pH 5 when S. mutans and C. albicans were present in the model. The presence of Saccharomyces maintained the culture medium above 6 even after overnight incubation, demonstrating a protective potential against dental enamel demineralization. S. boulardii significantly downregulated S. mutans atpD and eno genes expression. Overall, our results shed light on a new promising candidate, Saccharomyces, for dental caries prevention due to its potential to create a less cariogenic environment marked by a neutral pH and reduced growth of C. albicans.

In 2021 the total world cement production was estimated at 4.1 billion tonnes and the annual CO2 emissions from cement plants reached almost 2.8 billion metric tonnes. In the last years many ef-forts have been made for manufacturing low-CO2 cements. In this regard, a great attention has been paid towards calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements for both their peculiar technical prop-erties and the environmentally friendly features mainly related to their manufacturing process. Moreover, the use of blended cements composed by CSA binders and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) could represents a powerful tool for both reducing the CO2 footprint and pro-ducing more durable environmentally friendly materials. In this paper, the possibility of using reservoir sediments (RS), calcined at 830°C, as SCMs in blended-CSA cements was investigated. Four binders were submitted to hydration and physico-mechanical tests for curing periods com-prised in the interval 4 hours-56 days. X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and differential thermal–thermogravimetric analyses were employed as main characterization techniques. It was found that thermally treated RS are very interesting inasmuch as their utilization allows a CSA clinker dilution, thus implying both a decrease of CO2 emissions and a reduction of costs related to CSA cement production.

Human activities and natural events alter the earth’s surface and pose a constant threat to the environment. Thus, accurately monitoring and predicting these changes in a timely manner is crucial to provide solutions and mitigate the environmental consequences beforehand. This research introduces a novel framework, called HCD-Net, for change detection using bi-temporal hyperspectral images. The framework is based on double-stream deep feature extraction and an attention mechanism. The first stream focuses on deep feature extraction through 3D convolution layers and 3D Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) blocks. The second stream focuses on deep feature extraction through 2D convolution and 2D SE blocks. The extracted deep features are then concatenated and fed to dense layers for decision-making. The efficiency of HCD-Net is compared to the state-of-the-art change detection methods. Additionally, the bi-temporal Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral dataset was used for further evaluation of the change detection results. The results show that HCD-Net has a higher accuracy and the lowest false alarm rate, where the overall classification accuracy is above 96%, and the kappa coefficient is over 0.9.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health concern among traumatized children and adolescents. The specific objective is to describe post-traumatic stress disorder in children (6 to 12 years old) and adolescents (12 to 18 years old). This comprehensive review compiles the clinical interventions targeting PTSD in this age group and systematizes the empirical evidence about their efficacy. Methods: The PRISMA method was used to present and evaluate the clinical interventions implemented for PTSD. Results: Significant symptoms of PTSD include avoidance, overstimulation, and flashbacks, typically accompanied by a depressed mood and anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Systemic Therapy, Play Therapy, Exposure Therapy, Relaxation Techniques, and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy are essential interventions for the treatment of patients between the ages of 6 and 18. CBT, particularly Trauma-focused CBT, is the most effective and extensively used therapy for dealing with cases of juvenile PTSD, according to the findings of the vast majority of previous research. Conclusions: The present systematic review summarizes the findings of several studies on psychotherapeutic interventions for PTSD in children and adolescents. PTSD in this population differs from PTSD in adults, necessitating various age-appropriate approaches and therapeutic models.

In this study, changes in the microstructure of coal tar pitch during successive processes, including pyrolysis, polycondensation, and crystallization, were examined in connection with the resulting variations in structure factors, as measured by XRD analysis, and functional groups, as confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. To this end, four zones were defined based on variations in crystallinity, which were indicated by d002 and Lc. Each zone was further characterized by interpreting crystallinity development in relation to changes in functional groups and specimen height. At around 400 °C, polycondensation occurred as the C-Har and C-Hal peaks decreased in intensity. These peak reductions coincided with the formation of mesophase spheres, resulting in enhanced crystallinity. Subsequently, at around 500 °C, the peak intensity of C-H and COOH decreased, which was attributed to the release of large amounts of gasses. This led to sharp volume changes and a temporary reduction in crystallinity. All these results suggest that changes in the functional groups of coal tar pitch at lower temperatures (600 °C or less) during the carbonization process are closely associated with variations in its crystallinity. The major findings of the present study provide valuable insights for designing highly effective processes in the manufacturing of synthetic graphite blocks using CTP as a binder material, including by selecting appropriate temperature ranges to minimize volume expansion and crystallinity degradation and determining the lowest possible carbonization temperature to ensure adequate binder strength.

Adults with obesity experience high rates of disability and rapid functional decline. Identifying movement dysfunction early can direct intervention and disrupt disability development, however subtle changes in movement are difficult to detect with the naked eye. This study evaluated how a portable, inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based motion capture system compares to a laboratory-based optokinetic motion capture (OMC) system for evaluating gait kinematics in adults with obesity. Ten adults with obesity performed overground walking while equipped with the OMC and IMU systems. Fifteen gait cycles for each participant were extracted for 150 total cycles analyzed. Kinematics were compared between OMC and IMU across the gait cycles (coefficient of multiple correlations), at clinically significant time points (interclass correlations), and over clinically relevant ranges (Bland Altman plots). Sagittal plane kinematics were most similar between systems, especially at the knee. Sagittal plane joint angles at clinically meaningful timepoints were poorly associated except for ankle dorsiflexion at heel strike (ρ=0.38) and minimum angle (ρ=0.83). Most motions had more than 5° difference between systems across the range of angles measured. IMU-based motion capture shows promise for detecting subtle gait changes in adults with obesity. However, more work is needed before this method can replace traditional OMC.

Abstract: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) aims to achieve measles elimination by 2015. Since the beginning of elimination efforts in early 2000, there has not been a study tracking the national incidence over time. Thus, we described the distribution and incidence rates (IR) of measles in all 13 provinces of KSA from 2002 – 2012. This should give policymakers a clear picture about how to improve measles surveillance and accelerate elimination efforts. Using the national measles notification data reported to the Ministry of Health from 2002 through 2012 from all 13 provinces of KSA. Trends in annual measles IR stratified by age, gender, nationality, province, month, and immunization status in KSA were determined. There were 9,643 confirmed cases of measles reported in KSA from 2002 – 2012. Most were reported from Makkah (21.9%) and were among the age group 0 – 14 years of age. Madinah province showed a continuous IR increase from 2009. Baha province has been measles free since 2008. KSA could eliminate measles by 2015 by maintaining high vaccination coverage in the population and improving public health surveillance.

The increasing complexity of the space flight program and the increase in the duration of missions require improvement of psychological monitoring tools for astronauts in orbit. The article summarizes the experience of using quantitative content analysis of communication between the crews and the Mission control center (MCC). This method allows to assess dynamics of astronaut’s psycho-emotional state, to identify the communicative style, and to detect the communication phenomena of board-MCC communication. The method is based on a combination of coping strategies approach by Lazarus and Folkman as well as B.F. Lomov’s concept about the three functions of communication. We found influence of workload on the structure and volume of communication, defined the main stable communication styles of crewmembers, and confirmed presence of the emotional transfer phenomenon. We detected that astronauts successfully solve problems that arise in orbit using the capabilities of their communication style. An ineffective MCC communication style the leads to the psycho-emotional ill-being manifesting in emotional transfer phenomenon. The presence of “third quarter” phenomenon was not confirmed by materials from six-month space flights.

Orogenic antimony-gold deposits contribute significantly to the global antimony resource base. China's orogenic antimony-gold deposits are primarily in southern Tibet. Investigations indicate that antimony combines and migrates with sulfur hydroxides in ore-forming fluids. Previous research on fluid inclusions in orogenic antimony-gold ores with sedimentary rock accommodation revealed the presence of organic inclusions, including liquid hydrocarbons, alongside common components such as CO2, H2O, CH4, and NaCl. However, the impact of liquid hydrocarbons on antimony migration and mineralization is still de-batable. To investigate the transportability of antimony by liquid hydrocarbons in orogenic antimony ores, we selected n-dodecanethiol and n-dodecane as the subjects. We measured the solubility and occurrence form of antimony in these compounds at various temperatures and durations. The results indicate that after 5 and 10 days of reaction at 100 °C, the antimony concentrations in the n-dodecanethiol and n-dodecane groups were 67.44±7.62 ppm, 75.15±16.74 ppm, 1.40±1.02 ppm, and 3.02±3.09 ppm, respectively. At 150 °C for 5 and 10 days, the respective concentrations were 50.58±5.39 ppm, 77.26±45.20 ppm, 2.66±3.08 ppm, and 2.41±2.03 ppm. At 200 °C for 5 and 10 days, the corresponding concentrations were 339.76±71.94 ppm, 218.97±25.03 ppm and 6.53±7.17 ppm, 2.27±0.82 ppm (n=3). The measured solubility of antimony in the n-dodecanethiol group increased gradually with rising temperature. The solubility of antimony in the n-dodecane group was low and notably inferior to that observed in the n-dodecanethiol group. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis demonstrated a distinct thiol (R-SH) peak at 163.31 eV and compound peaks of antimony reacting with thiols at 162.06 and 160.87 eV. This suggests that antimony predominantly forms complexes with thiols for migration. Our findings suggest that specific liquid hy-drocarbon components, predominantly thiols, can interact with antimony at metallogenic temperatures and persist in ore-forming fluids, facilitating migration and mineral enrichment. Earlier experimental studies on gold and crude oil have indicated that liquid hydrocarbons also play an essential role in the transportation and enrichment of gold during the formation of gold deposits, thus indicating that liquid hydrocarbons possess the considerable potential to act as an ore-forming fluid during orogenic antimony-gold deposit formation in southern Tibet.

Stresses due to drought and high soil salt content are the most severe threats to global rice pro-duction, causing a significant decline in rice yield. Therefore, this study examined the effects of treatment with various plant extracts on the stresses on rice plants associated with drought and high salinity. Additionally, this study examined various physiological and biochemical parameters such as growth, photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll content, and lipid peroxidation in rice plants after treatment with selected plant extracts under drought and salt stress conditions. Out of the eleven extracts tested, four extracts, namely soybean leaf, soybean stem, Chinese chive, and onion extracts, were found to effectively reduce drought stress. A reduction of only 24-37% in shoot fresh weight was observed in rice plants under drought stress that were treated with these ex-tracts compared to the 78% reduction observed in control plants. In addition, rice plants under salt stress which were treated with soybean leaf, soybean stem, moringa (Moringa oleifera), and Undaria pinnatifida extracts were observed to have lower reductions in shoot fresh weight (3-23%) com-pared to the control plants (43%). The effectiveness varied with the concentrations of the plant ex-tracts. Water content was higher in the rice plants treated with extracts than in the control plants after 6 days of drought and salt stress, but not after 4 days of drought and salt stress. Although photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) and electron transport rate (ETR), and the content of pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoid) varied based on the types and levels of stress and the extracts that the rice plants were treated with, generally photosynthetic efficiency and pigment contents were higher in the treated rice compared to control plants than in the control plants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as the superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels increased as the duration of the period of stress increased. ROS and MDA levels were lower in the treated rice compared to control plants. Proline and soluble sugar accumulation also increased as the duration of the stressperiod increased. However, proline and soluble sugar ac-cumulation were lower in the treated rice compared to control plants. Generally, all the parame-ters investigated in this study were similar regardless of the plant extract used for treating the rice plants. Thus, extracts found to be effective in this study can be used to alleviate the adverse effects of stress on rice crops associated with drought and high salinity soil.

Climate warming profoundly affect vegetative growth, flowering phenology and sexual reproduction of plants, therefore the ornamental value of wild flowers. Despite this, the extent and mechanism of the impact remain unclear. Here, we conducted warming experiment for two growing seasons (1.89 ℃ in 2017 and 2.37 ℃ in 2018 increases) with infrared heaters to examine the effects of warming on ornamental value of wild flower I. oxyanthera, endemic to China, in Mount Emei. We fitted generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and generalized linear model (GLM) to examine how warming affected plant morphology and floral traits. We evaluated comprehensive ornamental value based on plant morphology and flowering characteristics using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and disentangled the impact of the two traits on ornamental value using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) under the ambient and warming treatments. Warming decreased significantly plant height and crown width, while increased branch number and single leaf area. Warming also decreased vexillum length, corolla tube length, nectar spur length and pedicel length. In addition, warming shortened flowering duration per plant and reduced flower number, while there was no significant effect on flower longevity, flower color at full-bloom stage between the control and warming treatment. Therefore, comprehensive ornamental value under warming was lower than that under the control. Pedicel length, flower color, flower longevity and flowering duration per plant were the main factors of affecting comprehensive ornamental value. PLS-SEM showed that warming had an indirect negative effect on ornamental value via direct negative effects on flowering traits. Collectively, these results indicate that although promoting vegetative growth, short-term warming decreased significantly ornamental value of I. oxyanthera due to warming-caused smaller flowers and shorter flowering duration.

Through long-term Rayleigh lidar observations during 2010-2022, atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) activities in the middle atmosphere (30–65 km) are statistically investigated at Haikou (110.3°E, 19.9°N) in China. In total, 827 quasi-monochromatic AGW events are identified from the lidar dataset, and the vertical wavelength, observed wave period, and vertical propagation direction of dominant waves are extracted for each AGW event by analyzing the power spectra of wave-induced temperature perturbations. It is revealed that 81.7% of all AGW events were associated with upward-propagating waves, and the proportion of upward-propagating AGWs reached a maximum in autumn and a minimum in winter. The most common vertical wavelengths and wave periods were 6–11 km and 4–10 hours, respectively. In particular, 68 AGW events associated with simultaneous upward and downward propagating waves were observed by lidar, corresponding to 8.2% of the events. The occurrence of such special AGW phenomena is qualitatively discussed, and multiple formation mechanisms may exist. Comparisons are made with previously reported lidar observation results, and the statistical features of AGW activity in the low-latitude middle atmosphere may vary over a relatively wide range depending on the location and altitude. However, a majority of AGWs propagate upward in the middle atmosphere.

This study investigated the chemical composition, and total phenolic content(TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant activity Reziz date pomace extracted using different solvent system. The recovery, bioaccessibility, and stability of bioactive compounds were evaluated using In vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The results showed that pomace rich source of fiber but low in fat, and protein. Extraction data revealed that methanol, and ethanol were the most effective solvent for TPC and TFC extraction with higher antioxidant activity. In vitro gastrointestinal digestibility significantly affected recovery, bio-accessibility and stability of bioactive compounds. The TPC, TFC, and antioxidant activities were significantly increased after the mouth digestion but decreased during the gastric and intestinal digestion. The bioaccessibility of polyphenol and flavonoid were 35.22% and 23.57% respectively after the intestinal digestion. The chyme insoluble fraction (pellet) showed higher bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity compared to the chyme soluble fraction. The high fiber content of the date pomace seemed to affect the bioaccessibility of the bioactive compounds. TPC or TFC and the antioxidant activity determined by DPPH and ABTS were found to have a positive correlation with the oral, gastric, and intestinal digestion. The GC-MS analysis of digested date pomace in mouth, gastric, or intestinal digestion revealed an increase in the number of peaks (compounds) compared to the undigested sample. According to these findings, Ruzeiz date pomace could be utilized as a bioactive ingredient source in formulation of functional foods to promote healthy life.

Background: Learning arrangements in health care profession education are increasingly taking place in digital environments. VR in nursing education, as one of the digital elements, is the subject of controversial debate. On the one hand it supports the authenticity of case studies by adding realistic perspectives and information. On the other hand, the costs of developing and maintaining software and hardware hinder long-term implementation. Methods: In this paper, we describe our findings and insights from two different research projects focused on the incorporation of digital tools, particularly virtual reality (VR), into nursing education. Based on the German context, our aim is to promote the adoption of innovative digital methods in nursing education and to offer invaluable experiences from the field. Results: Starting with a brief recapitulation of the projects, we then elucidate the pedagogical strategies for embedding VR-driven scenarios in nursing education. Based on our experiences during the projects we identify various positive aspects, such as change of perspective and simulating acute situations. Key findings: Although potential drawbacks remain, we advocate long-term implementation and specific use of VR at the interface between theory and practice. Nevertheless it is crucial to establish regular evaluation observing the value of digitalisation, especially VR; for nursing education.

The circular supply chain was applied to many industries in the past studies, whereas the rubber recycling industry has not been explored in detail yet. Therefore, this study indentified the key factors of the circular supply chain used in remanufactured products, thereby perfecting its framework. This study put forward 5 aspects and 19 criteria for reference, so that companies in the rubber recycling industry are able to clearly know the direction of implementation when con-structing the circular supply chain for remanufactured products. This study integrated expert opinions with the fuzzy Delphi method and the fuzzy decision making trial and evaluation laboratory proposed key factors, and performed the ranking of importance. The results have displayed that key aspects include the circular business model (A3), increasing the value of resources in the supply chain (A4), and risk management of the circular supply chain (A2). The factors that the rubber recycling industry needs to pay attention to are: optimizing the production process (C2), sharing data in the product lifecycle (C4), effectively tracking and recycling products (C5), redesigning remanufactured products (C13), enhancing resource efficiency (C16), and identifying waste composition and separating materials (C14) . Based on the abovementioned, we had a discussion in this study.

Space–air–ground integrated network (SAGIN) is considered as an enabler for the sixth-generation (6G) networks. By integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial (satellite, aerial) networks, SAGIN seem to be a quite promising solution to provide reliable connectivity everywhere and all the time. Their availability can be further enhanced if hybrid free space optical (FSO)/radio frequency (RF) links are adopted. In this paper, the performance of a hybrid FSO/RF communication system operating in SAGIN has been analytically evaluated. In the considered system, a high altitude platform station (HAPS) is used to forward the satellite signal to the ground station. Moreover, the FSO channel model assumed takes into account the turbulence, pointing errors and path losses, while for the RF links, a relatively new composite fading model has been considered. In this context, a new link selection scheme has been proposed that is designed to reduced the signaling overhead required for the switching operations between the RF and FSO links. The analytical framework that has been developed is based on the Markov chain theory. Capitalizing on this framework, the performance of the system has been investigated using the criteria of outage probability and the average number of link estimations. The numerical results presented reveal that the new selection scheme offers a good compromise between performance and complexity.

In Active Flow Control (AFC) applications, to activate the boundary layer the use of pulsating flow has notorious energy advantages versus constant blowing/suction jet injections. For a given AFC application, five parameters, jet location and width, inclination angle, frequency of injection and momentum coefficient need to be tuned. Two main devices are nowadays capable of injecting pulsating flow with the sufficient momentum coefficient to delay the boundary layer separation, these are the Zero Net Mass Flow actuators (ZNMFA) and the Fluidic Oscillators (FO). In the present research, a novel FO configuration is analyzed for the first time at relatively high Reynolds numbers, fluid is considered as incompressible. After obtaining the typical linear correlation between the incoming Reynolds number and the outlet flow oscillating frequency, the effect of outlet width and mixing chamber wedge inclination angle dimensional modifications is addressed, modifications of the outlet width are observed to create large variations on the FO performance. The origin of the self-sustained oscillations is also analyzed in the present manuscript and greatly helps in clarifying the forces acting on the jet inside the mixing chamber. In fact we can conclude saying that the current FO configuration is pressure driven although the mass flow forces appear to be a much more relevant than in previous FO configurations studied.

The design of thin-walled structures is commonly based on the solutions of linear boundary-valued problems, formulated within well-developed theories for elastic plates and shells. However, in modern appliances, especially in MEMS design, it is necessary to take into account non-linear mechanical effects that become decisive for flexible elements. Among substantial non-linear effects, that significantly change the deformation properties of thin plates, are the effects of residual stresses caused by incompatibility of deformations, which inevitably arise during the manufacture of ultra-thin elements. The development of new methods of mathematical modeling of residual stresses and incompatible finite deformations in plates is the subject of the paper. To this end the local unloading hypothesis is used. It makes possible to define smooth fields of local deformations (inverse implant field) for the mathematical formalization of incompatibility. The main outcomes are field equations, natural boundary conditions and conservation laws, derived from least action principle and variational symmetries with account of implant field. The derivations were carried out in the framework of elasticity theory for simple materials and, over and above, within the Cosserat’s theory of a two-dimensional continuum. As illustrative examples the distributions of incompatible deformations in a circular plate are considered.

The most effective method of determining the coordinates of the railway track axis is mobile satellite measurements. However, there are situations when the satellite signal may be disturbed (due to field obstructions) or completely disappear (e.g. in tunnels). Then the ability to measure the value of the directional angle of a moving rail vehicle using an inertial system comes in handy. The directional angle is determined on a topographic map as the angle between the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis (or the direction of a tangent to the track axis) and the reference direction, which is the north. The article presents a method for determining the directional angle of a railway line based on appropriate measurement data. The latter should be Cartesian coordinates of the track axis, allowing for the visualization of a given railway route and obtaining a general orientation about its course. The presented proposal for solving the problem refers to the assumptions made in the method of determining the curvature of the railway track axis using the moving chord.

Remotely sensed data acquired by multispectral sensors can be used to monitor soil moisture (SM) across a larger land area than in situ monitoring alone. Although there have been wide-ranging applications of remote sensing tools in SM estimation on many ecosystems, there is a limited understanding of their accuracy in restored wetlands. The objective of this study was to examine the potential of remotely sensed data from Landsat-9, Sentinel-1A SAR, and Blackswift E2 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in predicting SM in a restored wetland complex in the Gunnison Basin of Colorado. We tested two response variables, gravimetric SM and volumetric SM, to determine which indicator of SM was better predicted with remotely sensed data. We also tested the accuracy of remotely sensed data in predicting SM at different soil depths. Overall, satellite and UAS indices predicted gravimetric SM better than volumetric SM. The Normalized Difference Red Edge (NDRE) index from Blackswift E2 UAS had the best prediction of GSM at the depth of 0 to 5 cm (R2 = 0.86, RMSE = 7.41). Results from the study provide information on the accuracy of remotely sensed data for SM monitoring on restored wetlands.

The feeling of emotional self-efficacy helps people understand how to handle positive and negative emotions. Emotion regulation indicates the process that helps modulate emotions, to adapt suitably to the demands of the environment. This study has a two-fold aim. Firstly, it analyses the relationships among emotion regulation; the personality traits of extraversion and emotional stability; and the feeling of efficacy of positive and negative emotions in an adolescent population. Secondly, it analyses the mediating role of personality traits (extraversion and emotional stability) in the relationship between emotion regulation and self-efficacy for positive and negative emotions. There were 703 adolescents who took part (49.9% male and 50.1% female) aged between 15 and 18 years (M=15.86, TD=0.30). The results observe the significant relationships among emotion regulation; the personality traits of extraversion and emotional stability; and self-efficacy for positive and negative emotions. The structural equation model confirms that the link between emotion regulation and self-efficacy is direct and is also mediated by the personality traits of extraversion and emotional stability. The study confirms that emotional self-efficacy beliefs are connected to the emotional regulation strategies used. Effective emotional regulation favours self-perception and emotional coping. There is a discussion about the results, which are connected to previous research.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a leading cause of healthcare acquired infections. The severity of the infections is multifactorial including virulence and antimicrobial resistance properties. The objective of the study was to investigate the virulence determinants of K. pneumoniae strains colonizing patients hospitalized in the intensive care units (ICU) of a tertiary hospital in Uganda. A hospital based cross-sectional study involving 103 patients admitted in the ICU of Mulago National Referral hospital was conducted from January 2022 to April 2022. A total of 31 identified clinical strains of K. pneumoniae isolated from rectal swabs of the same number of patients were characterized. Susceptibility testing of colistin was performed by broth microdilution method, thereafter, 5 colistin resistant K. pneumoniae were purposefully selected for whole genome sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis was performed using established web-based tools to detect virulence genes, sequence type and other genomic features. Numerous virulence factor genes related to pathogenicity of K. pneumoniae were identified. They ranged from those related to colonization to those of persistence and dissemination including capsule genes (wzi), siderophore systems; yersiniabactin (ybt15), aerobactin (iutA), enterobactin (entC, entD, entF, entS, fepB, fepD, fepG, fes), and salmochelin (iroN), secretion systems; type II (T2SS) and type VI (T6SS-1). Furthermore, the isolates harbored outer membrane protein (ompA) gene, biofilm synthesis gene (fimH) and several adhesion genes. The results demonstrate the dual-risk of K. pneumoniae strains combining high level of virulence and colistin resistance which is a great concern as it leads to unmanageable infection outbreaks with high morbidity and mortality.

Nanoindentation load-depth (P-h) plots is the basis for determination of mechanical properties of the samples and is especially vital for thin coatings deposited on substrates of various mechanical makeup from amorphous-brittle (borosilicate glass) to Silicon (having different crystallographic texture) to ductile substrates like stainless steel as well other aspects like indenter tip shape. The elastic-plastic response by simulated P-h plots as per modified empirical relations have been presented. The outcomes of this computational studies enlighten the database on the P-h plots for various coating/substrate systems and shall aid in the analysis of experimental P-h plots obtained,

The purpose of this study was to 1) examine the impact of various types of heat processing used by consumers (water bath cooking WBC, oven convection roasting OCR, grilling G, pan frying PF) on the selenium content and its retention in goose breast meat (with and without skin); 2) Estimation of coverage of this element's daily requirement in adults after consuming 100 g of goose breast meat. The material used in the study comprised 36 breast muscles cut from carcasses of 17-week-old White Koluda geese. The moisture, ash, and selenium were determined in both raw and thermally processed muscles. It has been concluded that various methods of heat processing significantly impact cooking loss, moisture, ash and selenium content of meat. The heat processing increased the selenium content of the muscle regardless of the presence of skin, which affects the possibility of covering adults' Nutrient Reference Values-Requirements (NRV-R) for this element in the range of 33.3-44.8%. Goose breast meat can be a valuable component of a diversified diet. It provides many nutrients. It is also a safe source of selenium. It is unlikely that adult consumers, even those who eat goose regularly, will exceed this element's upper tolerable intake level.

This study introduces a cybernetic control and architectural framework for a robotic fish avatar operated by a human. The behavior of the robot fish is influenced by the electromyographic (EMG) signals of the human operator, triggered by stimuli from the surrounding objects and scenery. An deep artificial neural network (ANN) with perceptrons classifies EMG signals, discerning the type of muscular stimuli generated. The research unveils a fuzzy-based oscillation patterns generator (OPG) designed to emulate functions akin to a neural central pattern generator, producing coordinated fish undulations. The OPG generates swimming behavior as an oscillation function, decoupled into coordinated step signals, right and left, for a dual electromagnetic oscillator in the fish propulsion system. Furthermore, the research presents an underactuated biorobotic mechanism of the subcarangiform type, comprising a two-solenoid electromagnetic oscillator, an antagonistic musculoskeletal elastic system of tendons, and a multi-link caudal spine composed of helical springs. The biomechanics dynamic model and control for swimming, as well as the ballasting system for submersion and buoyancy, are deduced. Experimental results encompass EMG pattern recognition, OPG, and coordinated fish locomotion, with additional topics illustrated through numerical simulations.

Sexual selection involving female choice or female preference (‘inter-sexual’ selection) or male-male competition (‘intra-sexual’ selection) is one of the key mechanisms for evolutionary diversification and speciation. In particular, sexual selection is recently suggested to be an important mode to drive the evolution of “novel” phenotype (i. e. “evolutionary novelty”). Despite extensive studies performed on sexually selected traits or male-specific ornaments (or weapon-like structures) with respect to their evolutionary origin and history and fitness benefits, relatively little is known about the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying their developmental process. However, with advances of genomic technologies (including whole transcriptome analysis using Next Generation Sequencing [NGS] techniques; RNA-Seq), progresses have been made to unveil the genetic background underpinning diverse sexually selected traits in different animal taxa. In the present review, we compile empirical data on the genes, genetic mechanisms or regulatory pathways underlying various sexually selected traits to explore whether the “common” genetic architectures shape the development and evolution of those traits across evolutionarily distant animal lineages. We show that the recruitment of pre-existing genetic network for a new purpose (i.e. gene network “co-option”) is rather widespread in the development and evolution of sexually selected traits, indicating that particular genes or gene-sets are repeatedly involved in different sexually selected traits. Information of genes or genetic mechanisms regulating the development of sexually selected traits would be an essential piece to complete a whole picture of the origin and evolution of sexually selected traits.

Sequential properties can violate Bell-type inequalities without direct influence on each other, but only if detected in pairs. This is demonstrated below with theoretical arguments, and with a straightforward toy model. Rotating arrows can have transient qualities that produce maximal Bell violations with predetermined values. Any non-signaling phenomenon (classical, or non-classical) can also be interpreted as local.

The goal was to assess dental students' perception of digital technologies after participating in a CAD/CAM exercise for scanning, designing, and manufacturing computer-aided provisional fixed dental restorations. A survey was conducted among second-year dental students (pre-D2 and post-D2), first- (D1, negative control), third-, and fourth-year dental students (D3 and D4, positive controls). Only OSU College of Dentistry students who completed the activity and completed the surveys were included. Seven questions were rated, which evaluated changes in knowledge, skill, interest, the importance of technology availability in an office, patients' perception of technology, the importance of having the technology, and the expected frequency of clinics utilizing the technology. Statistical analysis was performed with a significance level of 0.05. A total of 74 pre-D2 and 77 post-D2 questionnaires were completed. Additionally, 63 D1, 43 D3, and 39 D4 responded to the survey. Significant differences were found for "knowledge" and "skill" between pre-D2 and post-D2, and pre-D2 and control groups (p<0.001). There was a significant difference between post-D2 and all controls for “interest” (p=0.0127) and on practice preference for technology availability (p<0.05). There were significant results between post-D2 and all controls regarding the importance of technology availability in an office (p<0.001) and the expected frequency of clinics utilizing the technology (p=0.01). No significance was found for "patient's value of technology" and "the importance of having the technology". The presence of technology in the practice and educational academic environments significantly improved students’ interest and perception of knowledge and skill.

The purpose of the research is to investigate the unique solvability of a nonlocal boundary value problem for a loaded equation of parabolic-hyperbolic type in a special domain. Methods: Using representations of a general regular solution, the existence and uniqueness of the problem posed is proved. Results: A new method for proving the unique solvability of nonlocal boundary value problems for one loaded equation of mixed type in a special domain has been formed and developed. Conclusions: The obtained results make it possible to solve some problems of genetics, immunology, transonic gas dynamics and thermal physics, which are associated with displacement.

This study aimed to investigate the interactions between corn particle size (PS) and conditioning temperature (CT) on the performance, carcass traits, intestinal morphology, and immune responses in broilers fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet. A total of 360, one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into six dietary treatments in a 2×3 factorial arrangement, consisting of two corn PS (finely ground with geometric mean diameter (GMD) of 357 µm (PSF) vs. coarsely ground corn with GMD of 737 µm (PSC), and three CT [unconditioned (CTU), conditioned at 75◦C (CT75) and 90◦C (CT90)]. Birds accommodated in 30 pens with five replicates and 12 chicks per each. There was no interaction between corn PS and CT on growth performance and immune response of broilers at any growth phases. However, during the starter (0-10d) period, the average daily weight gain (ADWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of PSF-fed birds were significantly improved compared to those fed PSC (P<0.05). During the starter (0-10d) and grower (11-24d) periods, increasing the conditioning temperature of corn increased the ADWG, while in the starter phase only the CT75 caused a lower FCR (P<0.05). Broilers fed PSF corn showed lowest FCR during the finisher (25-42d) period compared to those fed PSC (P<0.05). Conditioning corn at 75ºC reduced FCR during the finisher (25-42d) period compared to the birds fed CTU and CT90 corn (P<0.05). In whole experimental periods (1-42d), PSF and CT75 treatment increased the ADWG compared to the PSC and CTU (P<0.05). The CT75 treatment improved primary total anti-sheep red blood cell (SRBCs) titer (IgT) and IgM and secondary IgT and IgG responses compared to the other experimental groups (CTU and CT90) (P<0.05). No significant PS × CT interaction was found on Newcastle disease (ND) antibody titer of broiler chickens (P>0.05). Feeding CT75 corn reduced duodenum and jejunum relative length compared to the birds fed diets containing CTU corn. Significant PS×CT interactions (P<0.05) were observed for villus height, villus height to crypt depth, crypt depth, muscle thickness, and absorption surface area of jejunum. The highest carcass yield observed in PSF-CT75-group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the use of finely ground corn (PSF) conditioned at 75℃ (CT75) was beneficial to growth performance, development of the digestive tract, jejunum histomorphometry and the immune responses of broilers.

Extensive genomic analyses of Enterococcus cecorum isolates from sepsis outbreaks in broilers suggests a polyphyletic origin likely arising from core genome mutations rather than gene acquisition. This species is normal intestinal flora in avian species with particular isolates associated with osteomyelitis. More recently, the species has been associated with sepsis outbreaks affecting broilers during the first 3 weeks post hatch. Understanding the genetic and management basis of this new phenotype is critical for developing strategies to mitigate this emerging problem. Phylogenomic analyses of 227 genomes suggest that sepsis isolates are polyphyletic and closely related to both commensal and osteomyelitis isolate genomes. Pangenome analyses detect no gene acquisitions that distinguish all sepsis isolates. Core genome SNP analyses identify a number of mutations, affecting protein coding sequence, that are enriched in sepsis isolates. Analysis of the protein substitutions supports mutational origins of sepsis isolates.

Electrolysis stands as a pivotal method for environmentally sustainable hydrogen production. However, the formation of gas bubbles during the electrolysis process poses significant challenges by impeding the electrochemical reactions, diminishing cell efficiency, and dramatically increasing energy consumption. Furthermore, the inherent difficulty in detecting these bubbles arises from the non-transparency of the wall of electrolysis cells. Additionally, these gas bubbles induce alterations in the conductivity of the electrolyte, leading to corresponding fluctuations in the magnetic flux density outside of the electrolysis cell, which can be measured by externally placed magnetic sensors. By solving the inverse problem of the Biot-Savart Law, we can estimate the conductivity distribution as well as the void fraction within the cell. In this work, we study different approaches to solve the inverse problem including Invertible Neural Networks (INNs) and Tikhonov regularization. Our experiments demonstrate that INNs are much more robust to solving the inverse problem than Tikhonov regularization when the level of noise in the magnetic flux density measurements is not known or changes over space and time.

The construction sector is considered as a major consumer of virgin materials and contributor to waste generation. Therefore, it is essential to rethink current waste management practices, for example, by applying circular economy principles to building demolition, such as deconstruction. Deconstruction involves dismantling a building with the aim of maintaining the highest possible value for its materials and maximize their recovery potential. This study aims to guide the construction sector towards deconstruction to support its efforts to transform itself toward a more sustainable industry. It focuses on a regional case study in the province of Québec (Canada) presenting five buildings to be deconstructed. First, the study presents the outcomes of our analysis of the current situation. Second, it identifies the issues and obstacles encountered and proposes avenues to improve the current process based on solutions identified in the literature and the recommendations of the manager, the contractor involved in the deconstruction process, as well as experts in the construction industry. Finally, it proposes an improved deconstruction process. Our research approach is inspired from Lean thinking and follows Action Research methodology.