Target 9.c of the 2015 United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) specifically addresses increasing access to information and communication technology (ICT) resources, and striving for universal access to the internet by 2020. The present study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the youth related national strategies implemented in this regard by a select number of countries in the Middle East region. The study does so, by relying on a spatial bivariate copula regression analysis of data on youth respondents from five countries, extracted from the 2018 Program for international students’ assessment (PISA). Focusing specifically on evaluating the availability of ICT resources to the youth population, and also identifying the impact of ICT resources on youth subjective well-being in the region, we find that except for the UAE and Qatar that have above OECD average youth performance on the ICT resource index, youth from the remaining countries reported below OECD level average access to ICT resources. The within region cross-country comparative analysis of ICT resources availability to the youth population at home, also highlighted significant heterogeneity across the five countries, post 2015 SDG adoption by UN country members. Furthermore, looking at the impact of ICT resources on youth well-being, controlling for not only cross-country spatial correlations, and factors such as home educational resources, cultural possessions at home, parental occupation status, youth expected occupation status, economic and socio-cultural status, age, gender, and grade level in school; we found that every standard deviation increase in ICT resources to the youth population in the region raises their self-expressed sense of belonging in school by 1.88% standard deviations. Given the empowering nature of ICT resources to youth, and the potential of both to support national as well as regional economic development initiatives, a concerted effort to ease ICT resources diffusion by member countries in the middle east region could assist not only each country in its own development path, but also the region as a whole to live up to its growth potential by the 2030.

The high sensitivity of chiroptical responses to conformational changes and supramolecular interactions has prompted an increasing interest in the development of chiroptical applications. However, prediction and understanding the chiroptical responses of the necessary large systems may not be affordable for calculations at high levels of theory. In order to facilitate the development of chiroptical applications, methodologies capable of evaluating the chiroptical responses of large systems are necessary. Exciton chirality method has been extensively used for the interaction between two independent chromophores through the Davydov model. For systems presenting C2 or D2 symmetry one can get to the same results by applying the selection rules. In the present article, analysis of the selection rules for systems with symmetries Cn and Dn with n = 3 and 4 is used to uncover the origin of their chiroptical responses. We hope that the use of the chiroptical symmetry analysis (CSA) for systems presenting the symmetries explored herein as well as for systems presenting higher symmetries will serve as a useful tool for the development of chiroptical applications.

Accurate forest reference and emission level (FRL, FREL) with related policies and regulations are the key determinants in establishing sustainable forest ecosystem management programmes (e.g. REDD+). This fundamental is for promoting and sustaining climate smart agricultural practices in a changing climate. With the aim to deliver better knowledge to the scientific community and policy makers on regulations and existing tools for more rigorous scientific communication when it comes to FRL and FREL accountability and policies. Thus, this review investigates forest in the changing climate and policies and underlines the performance of land use transition and intensity analysis towards deforestation with some key examples and achievements (e.g. Togo). Simply put, (i) forest as break of greenhouse gas (GHGs) and ecosystem regulator, (ii) policies and REDD+ actions, (iii) potential drivers and (iv) transition and intensity analysis approach for their accountability are discussed. In sum, impressive studies, policies and regulations are under initiations and implementations regarding the role, place and evaluation of forest losses and its ecosystem functions and services. However, there are still some gaps when it comes to: the choice of the evaluation methods in the real context of a specific ecosystem as well as the firm implementations of formulating policies in developing countries. This paper concludes with some policy measures for forest sustainability, carbon enhancement and accountability.

Owing to the growing concerns due to dwindling fossil fuel reserves, increasing energy demand and climate emergency, it is imperative to develop and deploy sustainable energy technologies to ensure future energy supply as well as transition to the net zero world. In this context, there is great potential in the biorefinery concept for supplying drop in biofuels in the form of biodiesel. Biodiesel as a fuel can certainly bridge the gap where electrification or the use of hydrogen is not feasible, for instance heavy vehicles, farm and marine transportation sector. However, biodiesel industry also leads to formation of large amount of crude glycerol as the byproduct. Crude glycerol due to presence of several impurities may not be a suitable feedstock for all high value products derived from glycerol but fits well with glycerol esterification for producing glycerol acetins, which have numerous applications. This review critically looks at the processes using nanostructured solid/liquid acid catalysts for glycerol esterification including the economic viability of the scale up.

Due to the long duration and high cost of traditional pumping tests, the response of well water level to seismic wave, earth tide, and barometric pressure provides a feasible method for determining continuous changes in aquifer hydraulic parameters. Aiming at the problem that the response phase shift of well BB water level to tidal tide M2 is greater than that of tide O1, this paper preferentially calculated the time series changes of S, Be, n and BKu based on the response mechanism of well water level to barometric pressure and earth tide and with the help of smooth moving method. Then by using the mixed flow model, the variation of transmissivity and leakage coefficient over time were simultaneously obtained, and the evolution process and characteristics of aquifer parameters near well BB caused by the Wenchuan earthquake were ultimately discussed. The calculation results are basically consistent with the previous pumping test, and have been verified and compared by using other scholars' methods. This solving process avoids the problems such as excessive dependence on initial values, multiple solutions, and unstable tide O1, which has a promoting effect on the study of the impact of seismic activity on aquifer systems.

High-wind structures were identified in the Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) ocean wind vector reanalysis for comparison with winds measured by satellite radiometers and synthetical aperture radar (SAR) instruments from February to October 2023. The comparison aims to evaluate bias, uncertainty, and spatial correlations with the goal of enhancing the accuracy of ocean wind datasets during tropical cyclones (TCs). In 10°longitude×10°latitude blocks, each containing a TC, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) winds are 6.5% and 4.8% higher than CCMP, while Advanced Scatterometer (ASCATB) is 0.8% lower. For extratropical cyclones, AMSR2 and SMAP also show stronger winds with a 5% difference, and ASCATB is about 0.3% weaker compared to CCMP. The comparison between SAR and CCMP for TC winds, sampled at the locations and time frames of SAR tiles, indicates that SAR winds around TCs are about 9% higher than CCMP winds. Using empirically defined TC structural indices, we find that the TCs observed by CCMP are shifted in locations and lack a compact core region. A Random Forest (RF) regressor was applied to TCs in CCMP with corresponding SAR observations, nearly correcting the full magnitude of low bias in CCMP statistically, with a 15m/s correction in the core region. The hierarchy of importance among the predictors is as follows: CCMP wind speed (62%), distance of SAR pixels to the eye region (21%) and eye center (7%), and distance of CCMP pixels to the eye region (5%) and eye center.

Residential burns camp programmes provide help and support to children with burn injuries by providing activities designed to build their confidence and self-esteem. Our regional burns service has been running camps for over 20 years and evaluation is an important part of assessing their effectiveness. In this study we report both qualitative and quantitative data from 10 consecutive years of burns camps. Qualitative feedback was gathered using Likert scales and free response questionnaires at the end of camp and six weeks post-camp. Three quantitative outcome measures, the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory v4, the Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES8) and the Satisfaction with Appearance Scale (SWAP) were completed before and six weeks after camp. Children and their parents/carers both reported attending burns camp was helpful for them/their child; the themes of meeting other children with burn injuries and developing confidence and self-esteem were cited as reasons. Parents/carers also reported significant improvements in their child’s physical and psychological functioning post-camp in some years. These findings confirm the importance of providing burns camp programmes for children with burn injuries as part of their post burn rehabilitation.

The construction industry has a notable negative impact on the environment; thus, the promotion of the use of timber structures is an alternative to mitigate its effects. The research develops an artificial intelligence-based decision approach in the calculation of timber structures focused on the enhancement of the sustainability of roof structures. Based on the optimization carried out through genetic algorithms and the framework established in Eurocode 5, a general set of equations has been proposed for a laminated timber roof structure. The tool, which determines the most suitable roof structure for each strength class of laminated timber, allows for the determination of the dimensions of beams and purlins and their respective separations in order to minimize wood consumption. The ultimate goal is to offer multiple solutions regarding strength classes and structural designs in order to foster informed sustainable choices that promote efficient use of resources in construction.

Self-healing systems have become essential in modern computing for ensuring continuous and secure operations while minimising downtime and maintenance costs. These systems autonomously detect, diagnose, and correct anomalies, with effective self-healing relying on accurate interpretation of system logs generated by operating systems (OS). Manual analysis of these logs in complex environments is often cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-prone, highlighting the need for automated, reliable log analysis methods. Our research introduces an intelligent methodology for creating self-healing systems for multiple OS, focusing on log classification using CountVectorizer and the Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm. This approach involves preprocessing OS logs to ensure quality, converting them into a numerical format with CountVectorizer, and then classifying them using the Naive Bayes algorithm. The system classifies multiple OS logs into distinct categories, identifying errors and warnings. We tested our model on logs from four major OS; Mac, Android, Linux, and Windows; sourced from Zenodo to simulate real-world scenarios. The model's accuracy, precision, and reliability were evaluated, demonstrating its potential for deployment in practical self-healing systems.

The increasing cancer burden is a major health concern in Arab countries with variations in cancer profiles. Given the limited oncology research output and scarce data on cancer trial participation in the Arab region, this study explored the therapeutic cancer trial landscape in Arab countries over the past 20 years. A bibliometric analysis of the PubMed database was conducted on primary publications of therapeutic trials with a participating Arab center. Arab countries participated in 320 published cancer-related therapeutic trials (2000‒2021). There was a consistent increase in the number of trials, sample size, multiregional site participation, and number of randomized trials. However, most trials were small, did not receive external funding, and included a single Arab site. Compared with Arab-only trials, trials with joint non-Arab sites were larger (p = .003) and more likely to be externally funded (p < .001). Citation numbers and journal impact factors were higher in trial publications with joint non-Arab authorship than those without (p < .001, for both). Despite improving conduct and publication records of oncology trials with Arab centers, cancer trial participation remains limited in Arab countries. Concerted efforts are required to encourage sponsorship and international collaboration in this region.

Maintaining the judiciary's power requires a high level of budgetary expenditure, but the specifics of this relationship have yet to be fully explored. Although several studies have analyzed the impact of spending in the judiciary through productivity and performance-related measures, none have employed machine learning techniques. This study examines the productivity of the judiciary based on spending and other variables using machine learning techniques, including clustering and neural networks. The final neural network model supports the results of Pearson's parametric correlation test, which found no significant correlation between expenditure and productivity. This study's findings demonstrate the importance of understanding that increased public budgetary expenditure alone is insufficient for improving the judiciary's efficiency. Instead, other administrative and technical measures are necessary to meet the demands of the Brazilian judiciary and improve service delivery rates. These findings offer important theoretical and managerial contributions to the field.

Application of the Ramsey graph theory to the analysis of physical systems is reported. Physical interactions may be very generally classified as attractive and repulsive. This classification creates the premises for the application of the Ramsey theory to the analysis of physical systems built of electrical charges, electric and magnetic dipoles. The notions of mathematical logic, such as transitivity and intransitivity relations, become crucial for understanding of the behavior of physical systems. The Ramsey theory explains why nature prefers cubic lattices over hexagonal ones for systems built of electric or magnetic dipoles. The Ramsey approach may be applied to the analysis of mechanical systems when actual and virtual paths between the states in the configurational space are considered. Irreversible mechanical and thermodynamic processes are seen within the reported approach as directed graphs. Chains of irreversible processes appear as transitive tournaments. These tournaments are acyclic; the transitive tournaments necessarily contain the Hamiltonian path. The set of states in the phase space of the physical system, between which irreversible processes are possible, is considered. The Hamiltonian path of the tournament emerging from the graph uniting these states is a relativistic invariant. Applications of the Ramsey theory to the general relativity become possible when the discrete changes in the metric tensor are assumed. Reconsideration of the concept of “simultaneity” within the Ramsey approach is reported.

The economy is a complex system, and the interactions between different agents are still not easy to quickly see-through. This complexity should reflect in a spatial dimension; in this way, tracking the tradeoffs opens a new window to the nexus of place and flow. Due to the fact, the economic systems often go through transitions and end up in another state, and this evolution is embedded in cities as the new motor of paradigm shift. To adequately represent and study these dynamics, we aim to develop an integrated method based on network analysis science and geographic economy synthesis to detect a multiscale navigator to track the transition from regional to the local level. This paper seeks to explore the specialization of regional clusters and their innovative behaviour in a particular lagging region, hence unfolding the innovation ecosystem to the smallest granularity then simulating the emergence phase of this complex system. First, our findings reveal that the local scale is relevant to start a bottom-up planning approach on policy implementation. Second, the global challenges could be addressed on a regional scale if we investigate the local complexity to unfold the innovation flow over its complex ecosystem and lead the knowledge as a critical element for inclusive transition, most probably into cities. Finally, the innovation network is an existing fact which can translate as a host for prosperity; In this line of reasoning, we intend to spatialize the track of the innovation flow to achieve transition hotspots and respond adequately to upcoming world concerns.

To fully appreciate genetics, one must understand the link between genotype (DNA sequence) and phenotype (observable characteristics). Advances in high-throughput genomic sequencing technologies and applications, so-called “-omics”, have made genetic sequencing readily available across fields in biology from applications in non-traditional study organisms to precision medicine. Thus, understanding these tools is critical for any biologist, especially those early in their career. This comprehensive review discusses the chronological development of different sequencing methods, the bioinformatics steps to analyzing this data, and social and ethical issues raised by these techniques that must be discussed and evaluated.

This study aims to understand the current state of research in urban resilience and to open a discussion about multi-level perspectives for this concept. Starting with the history of the concept of resilience, we identify three main stages in resilience concept’s evolution: conceptualization, contextualization and operationalization. Confusion occurs between sustainability and resilience, therefore we clearly separate these two concepts by creating conceptual maps. Such maps also underline the specificities of urban and regional resilience discourses. We illustrate that urban resilience research, operating within intra-urban processes, is oriented towards natural disasters, while regional resilience research, operating mostly within inter-urban processes, is oriented towards economic shocks. We show that these two approaches to resilience – urban and regional – are complementary, and we propose to integrate them into a multi-level perspective. By combining these two discourses, we propose a multi-level approach to urban resilience that takes into account both top-down and bottom-up resistance processes. In the discussion section, we propose to take the panarchy perspective as a theoretical framework for multi-level urban resilience, that explains the interactions between different levels through adaptive cycles, relationships between which can help to explain urban resilience.

JAK2 V617F is a somatic mutation associated with myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN): polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). In MPNs this mutation is associated with the germline GGCC (46/1) haplotype. Most studies consider the association of the JAK2 haplotypeGGCC_46/1 with some MPNs clinical parameters but no one analyzed the association between JAK2 haplotypeGGCC_46/1 and the onset of onco-drug resistance. Thus, we assessed for JAK2 46/1 haplotype correlation with therapy response in JAK2 V617F positive patients. Patients with MPN, selected by the Hematology Laboratory of “V. Fazzi” Hospital (LE), were analyzed with RLFP-PCR assay with rs10974944 SNP. Most of them had PV (63%) or PMF (61%). Among patients that developed onco-drug resistance, 58% had C/G genotype and only 11% had the G/G allele. No correlation between onco-drug resistance and JAK2 haplotype 46/1 variants emerged. Nevertheless, we observed that G/G allele seems to be related to MPNs evolution to myelofibrosis and to the development of onco-drug resistance clinical parameters (p-value= 0.002449; odd ratio of 3.701209). Thus, although other analyses are required, due to the narrow cardinality of sample, our findings suggest how the G/G allele could be useful for MPNs diagnosis and for the prediction of the disease outcome.

Despite Low Power Wide Area Networks’ ability to offer an extended range, it might still encounter challenges with coverage blind spots in the network. This article proposes an innovative energy-efficient nature-inspired relay selection algorithm for LoRa-based LPWAN networks, serving as a solution for challenges related to poor signal range in areas with limited coverage. A behavior swarm-inspired approach has been utilized to select the relays’ localization in the network, providing network energy efficiency and radio signal extension. These relays help bridge communication gaps, significantly reducing the impact of coverage blind spots by forwarding signals from devices with poor direct connectivity with the gateway. The proposed algorithm considers critical factors for the LoRa standard, such as the Spreading Factor or device energy budget analysis. The simulation experiments validate the proposed scheme’s effectiveness in terms of energy efficiency under diverse multi-gateway topology scenarios involving thousands of devices. Specifically, it has been verified that the proposed approach outperforms the reference method in preventing the battery depletion of relays, which is vital for battery-powered IoT devices. Furthermore, for some large-scale problems, the proposed heuristic method achieves over twice the speed of the exact method with a negligible accuracy loss of less than 2%.

In the world's first pig-to-human cardiac xenotransplant, the elevated levels of porcine cytomeg-alovirus (PCMV) are considered key factors contributing to patient mortality. This has renewed attention to PCMV, a virus widely prevalent in pigs. Currently, there are no effective drugs or vaccines targeting PCMV, and its high detection difficulty poses challenges for prevention and control research. In this study, antiviral small hairpin RNA (shRNA) was selected and inserted into the Rosa26 and miR-17-92 loci of pigs via a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in strategy. Further in vitro viral challenge experiments demonstrated that these genetically edited pig cells could effec-tively limit PCMV replication. Through this process, we constructed a PCMV-infected cell model, validated partial viral interference sites, enhanced gene knock-in efficiency, performed gene editing at two different gene loci, and ultimately demonstrated that RNA interference (RNAi) technology combined with CRISPR/Cas9 has the potential to generate pig cells with enhanced antiviral infec-tion capabilities. This opens up possibilities for the future production of pig populations with anti-viral functionalities.

The greatly diversified flowering plants (angiosperms) are the dominating and defining group in the current earth ecosystem. However, from which group by what way the flowers, especially their gynoecia (key characteristics of angiosperms), are derived have been the questions in botany unanswered over centuries. Such an embarrassing situation can be attributed to the lack of plants with partially enclosed ovules, which are supposed to be a post between gymnosperms and angi-osperms. Here we report a fossil plant that has an apparent coniferous vegetative and reproduc-tive morphologies but has a single seed partially wrapped by the subtending bract. Such a mor-phology suggests that the carpels in angiosperms may be equivalent to bracts enclosing their axil-lary seed(s). Such a non-traditional interpretation of the homology of angiosperm carpels is com-patible with various new progresses made in botany and is in line with Tomlinson’s recent hy-pothesis. Together with other fossil evidence reported recently, it appears that gynoecia in angio-sperms are derived in multiple ways.

Phased injection of natural gas into internal combustion marine engines is a promising solution for optimizing performance and reducing harmful emissions, particularly unburned methane, a potent greenhouse gas. This innovative practice distinguishes itself from continuous injection because it allows for more precise control of the combustion process with only a slight increase in system complexity. By synchronizing the injection of natural gas with the intake and exhaust valve opening and closing times while also considering the gas path in the manifolds, methane release into the atmosphere is significantly reduced, making a substantial contribution to efforts to address climate change. Moreover, phased injection improves the efficiency of marine engines, resulting in reduced overall fuel consumption, lower fuel costs, and increased ship autonomy. This technology has been tested on a single-cylinder, large-bore, four-stroke research engine designed for marine applications, operating in dual-fuel mode with diesel and natural gas. Performance was compared with that of the conventional continuous feeding method. Evaluation of the effect on equivalent CO2 emissions indicates a potential reduction of up to approximately 20%. This reduction effectively brings greenhouse gas emissions below those of the diesel baseline case, especially when injection control is combined with supercharging control to optimize the air-fuel ratio.

Vaccines decrease morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, their benefits depend on public response. During COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy and refusal were rampant, threatening public health. A thorough understand-ing of opponents' arguments is required to address the diffusion of unreliable information on social media and prevent vaccine hesitancy from developing into vaccine refusal. Accordingly, the article examines vac-cine opponents' justifications on social media. Textual content analysis of reader comments on three health-related Israeli Facebook pages was conducted. Data collection encompassed the Israeli COVID-19 vaccination period from October 2020 to May 2022. The comments were analyzed according to the health beliefs model (HBM). We found that vaccine opponents were characterized by low perceptions of the severity of the disease combined with high perceptions of the damages of the vaccine; low perceived benefits of vac-cine compliance; vaccine hesitancy and fear along with public distrust as barriers to change; and call for ac-tion to resist the vaccine and spread related anti-establishment views on the web. As vaccination hesitancy was found to develop into public distrust in the state systems and escalate into conspiracy beliefs and an-ti-vaccination activism, its early detection may prevent future vaccine resistance.

The advent of modern satellite technology has transformed observational astronomy and astrophysics, offering unprecedented insights into the large-scale behavior of gravitation and challenging established cosmological models. This technological progress has reinvigorated the study of relativistic cosmology, leading to a critical reassessment of foundational assumptions, particularly the cosmological principle, which posits that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. While this principle underpins the Standard Cosmological Model and the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker metric, emerging data has increasingly been challenging its validity. Central to this investigation are the redshift-distance and light intensity-distance relations, essential for testing cosmological models. The integration of both parametric and nonparametric redshift models provides a more comprehensive analysis, addressing discrepancies in our understanding of the universe's structure and evolution. However, unresolved mysteries, particularly concerning dark matter and dark energy, complicate these models. This research critically examines the cosmological principle using the latest observational data and scrutinizes the Friedmann model's assumptions. The study shows that galaxy formation was most rapid in the early universe, especially within the redshift range of , with notable peaks around at and These two characteristic redshift values, predicted by our standard Friedmann redshift model used in this work, are confirmed by the observational data utilized in this research. The research also highlights that dark matter plays a significantly more critical role than dark energy in the process of galaxy formation. While dark energy primarily affects the large-scale expansion of the universe, dark matter seems to go beyond the domination of local galaxy formation and evolution of cosmic structures. These findings underscore the limitations of current models and contribute to the ongoing refinement of cosmological theories, offering a clearer understanding of the universe’s evolution.

Recently, the demand for electric vehicle is increasing worldwide due to eco-friendly policies and stricter emission regulations. As a traction motor for electric vehicle, interior permanent magnet synchronous motors are mainly used. For the design of the interior permanent magnet synchronous motor, the magnetic equivalent circuit method, which is a method of lumped constant circuit, and the finite element method, which is a method of distributed constant circuit, mainly are used. Magnetic equivalent circuit method is useful for simple design through fast and intuitive parameters, but it cannot derive the distribution of magnetic field. The finite element method can derive an accurate magnetic field distribution, but it takes a long time to analyze and it is difficult to analyze intuitive design parameters. In this paper, magnetic equivalent circuit method and Carter coefficient are mixed for rotor structure design. This design method will be called the hybrid magnetic equivalent circuit method. Intuitive design parameters are derived through this hybrid magnetic equivalent circuit method. We will derive the Air gap flux density distribution according to rotor shape, no-load induced voltage, and cogging torque, and compare and verify it with the finite element method.

The issue of organizing efficient interaction between V2X system elements has become increasingly critical in recent years. Utilizing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology enables achieving the necessary balance of safety, reducing system load, and ensuring a high degree of vehicle automation. This study aims to develop a simulation system for V2X applications in various element placement configurations and conduct a numerical analysis of several V2X system interaction schemes. The research analyzes various methods, including clustering, edge computing, and fog computing, aimed at minimizing system losses. The results demonstrate that each proposed model can be effectively implemented on mobile nodes. Results also provide insights into the average expected request processing times, thereby enhancing V2X system organization. The authors propose a comprehensive model that enables the distribution and prediction of system parameters and resources for diverse computational tasks, essential for the successful implementation and utilization of V2X technology.

National heatwave plans are aimed at reducing the avoidable human health consequences due to heatwaves, by providing warnings to and improving communication between relevant stakeholders. The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of key stakeholders within plans in Belgium and the Netherlands on their responsibilities, the partnerships, and the effectiveness of the local implementation in Brussels and Amsterdam. Key informant interviews were held with stakeholders that had an important role in development of the heatwave plan in these countries, or its implementation in Brussels or Amsterdam. Care organisations, including hospitals and elderly care organisations, had a lack of familiarity with the national heatwave plan in both cities, and prioritised heat the lowest. Some groups of individuals, specifically socially isolated individuals, are not sufficiently addressed by the current national heatwave plans and most local plans. Stakeholders reported that responsibilities were not clearly described and that the national plan does not describe tasks on a local level. We recommend to urgently increase awareness on the impact of heat on health among care organisations. More emphasis needs to be given to the variety of heat risk groups. Stakeholders should be involved in the development of updates of the plans.

The authors argue that despite significant numbers of foreign workers present in the Russian labor market Russia remains unattractive for highly skilled foreign workers. The economic crisis the country has faced since 2014 has resulted in a further outflow of foreign nationals from OECD countries. So Russia has to look for employees among newcomers from the former Soviet states, the majority of whom come from Central Asia. Russian politics with regard to immigration is characterized by the collision between “geopolitical” and domestic policy rationales. On one hand, seeking to maximize its influence in the post-Soviet space Russia provides preferential conditions of employment for citizens of partner countries in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. On the other hand, the Kremlin is afraid to liberalize its approach to immigration and the integration of immigrants through fear of losing popularity among the electorate. The second substantial feature of Russian immigration politics is an extreme level of securitization of migration issues. The government considers these issues primarily through a policing lens. One cannot claim that the Russian state does not take any steps to liberalize “migratory regulation”; however, the effect of these measures is being vastly reduced by new restrictions. In addition, liberally designed laws do not bring the expected results due to the corrupt practices that pervade the whole of migration regulation.

This study investigates the transition from surface to underground mining at the Sepon Gold mine. The stability of surface slopes is assessed prior to commencing underground operations. Stope mining is adopted based on ore body characteristics and geological features. Finite element numerical analysis, employing the Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion, evaluates slope stability for surface slopes and opening stopes. The pit design comprises a 70° slope angle, 20 m height, and 10-15 m safety berm, meeting stability requirements with a factor of safety of 2.46. Underground mining design includes a 62° ore body dip, 50 m thick crown pillar to prevent surface subsidence, and 5 m wide, 5 m high stopes. Sill pillars are left for support after each level excavation. Rock bolts are employed in specific stope areas where is necessary, with continuous monitoring for surface deformation. The study analyzes the influence of stope sizes on pit wall and pit bottom stability, identifying slope failures near the hanging wall close to the pit bottom during underground mining. A slight increase in the displacement zone is observed on the upper crest of the top footwall. Overall, the findings demonstrate successful stability in the transition from surface to underground mining at Sepon Gold mine.

Chronic mountain sickness (CMS) poses a significant health risk to individuals who rapidly ascend to high altitudes, potentially endangering their lives. Inorganic nanoparticles offer an effective means of transporting and delivering drugs, protecting nucleic acids from nuclease degradation, and mediating the expression of target genes in specific cells. These nanoparticles are almost non-toxic, easy to prepare and store, possess a large surface area, exhibit good biocompatibility and degradability, and maintain good stability. They can be utilized in the treatment of CMS to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of drugs. This paper provides an overview of the impact of inorganic nanomaterials on CMS, discussing their roles as nanocarriers and their potential in CMS treatment. It aims to present novel therapeutic strategies for the clinical management of CMS and summarizes the relevant pathways through which nanomaterials contribute to plateau disease treatment, providing a theoretical foundation for future clinical research.

Redox mediators comprising I–, Co3+, and Ti3C2Tx MXene were applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). In the as-prepared DSCs (I-DSCs), wherein hole conduction occurred via the redox reaction of I−/I3− ions, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) was not altered by the addition of Ti3C2Tx MXene. The I-DSCs were exposed to light to produce Co2+/Co3+-based cells (Co-DSCs), wherein the holes were transferred via the redox reaction of Co2+/Co3+ ions. A PCE of 9.01% was achieved in a Co-DSC with Ti3C2Tx MXene (Ti3C2Tx-Co-DSC), which indicated an improvement from the PCE of a bare Co-DSC without Ti3C2Tx MXene (7.27%). It was also found that the presence of Ti3C2Tx MXene in the redox mediator increased the hole collection, dye regeneration, and electron injection efficiencies of the Ti3C2Tx-Co-DSC, leading to an improvement in both the short-circuit current and the PCE when compared with those of the bare Co-DSC without MXene.

Design and multi-objective optimization of auxetic sandwich panels (ASPs) are performed to enhance the blastworthiness of armored fighting vehicles (AFVs). Various metastructures in the form of four auxetic geometries are proposed as the sandwich core: re-entrant honeycomb (REH), double-arrow honeycomb (DAH), star honeycomb (SH), and tetra-chiral honeycomb (CH). This paper employs a combination of finite element (FE) and machine learning (ML) methodologies to evaluate blastworthiness performance. Optimization is carried out using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) method. The optimization results show significant improvements in blastworthiness performance, with notable reductions in permanent displacement and enhancements in specific energy absorption (SEA). Global sensitivity analysis (GSA) using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) reveals that cell thickness is the most critical factor affecting blastworthiness performance, followed by the number of cells and corner angle or radius for CH. The application of optimized ASP on AFVs shows promising results, with no failure occurring in the occupant floor. Furthermore, AFVs equipped with the optimized ASP DAH significantly reduce maximum displacement and acceleration by 39.00% and 43.56%, respectively, and enhance SEA by 48.30% compared to optimized aluminum foam sandwich panels (AFSPs). This study concludes that ASPs have potential applications in broader engineering fields.

A Brewer Spent Grain (BSG), the most abundant by-product of the brewing process, is mainly used in animal feed and biogas production. The aim of the present work is BSG valorization by yeast fermentation to produce carotenoids. R. mucilaginosa CBS316 was cultured on BSG syrups, supplemented or not with YE and PEP (s-Fsa and Fsa). The biomass and carotenoid production were optimized in flasks and then scaled-up in bioreactor. In flask tests, the maximum biomass concentration was 5.3 and 6.2 g/L for Fsa and s-Fsa cultures, respectively. The maximum carotenoid production was 833 μg/L in Fsa and 1159 μg/L in s-FSA. Considering that the highest specific productivity value (P 7.16 μg/g*h) was obtained with Fsa syrup, this medium was selected for the process scale-up. In bioreactor tests, the maximum concentrations of biomass (4.29 g/L) and carotenoid (396 ug/L) was reached at 72 hours of fer-mentation, 24 h later than in flask. The total carotenoid produced was 524 and 150 ug in bioreactor and flask cultures, respectively. The carotenoids production by R. mucilaginosa was obtained both in Fsa and s-Fsa syrups. The results confirm the possibility to use the syrup as it is, Fsa, thus limiting the process costs.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a highly heterogeneous and the most common form of head and neck cancer, posing significant challenges for disease management. Single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNAseq) has emerged as a valuable tool for addressing these challenges by enabling detailed characterization of the tumor microenvironment (TME) at the cellular level. This review assesses the utility of sc-RNAseq in HNSCC research, compiling current strategies employing single-cell technologies. For HNSCC etiology, sc-RNAseq allows for the construction of cellular atlases, characterization of different cell types, and investigation of key genes and processes involved in cancer initiation, development, and progression within the TME. In terms of HNSCC diagnosis and prognosis, the high resolution offered by sc-RNAseq enables the identification of cell type-specific signatures, enhancing prognostic models and disease stratifiers for more accurate patient outcome assessments. Regarding HNSCC treatment, sc-RNAseq provides insights into cellular responses to various treatments, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, contributing to improved patient stratification and personalized treatment strategies. This review highlights the unique contributions of sc-RNAseq to HNSCC research, addressing its cellular and biological complexity, and emphasizes its potential for advancing research and clinical practice in other cancer types.

Growth hormone therapy (GHT) can improve growth velocity and final height but can also accelerated the process of bone growth, which is related to structural bone modelling, both in formation and resorption. The study evaluated the capacity of bone turnover markers to predict early growth response to one year GHT in short stature children born as small for gestational age (SGA). 25 prepubertal SGA children were included. We have estimated P1NP (N-terminal procollagen type 1), CTX (C-terminal telopeptide of collagen type I), P3NP (N-terminal procollagen type III), NT-pro-CNP (amino-terminal C-type natriuretic peptide) and Ca-P metabolism using standard ECLIA, IRA and ELISA methods. A statistically significant increase in bone resorption markers (Ctx ) was found both at 6 and 12 months. P1NP bone markers increased at 6 months and after 12 months of therapy. The P3NP marker of collagen synthesis also increased after 12 months of therapy. We obtained significant increases in phosphorus levels at 6 and 12 months and similarly ALP. We have found a significant correlation between height (cm) and Ctx after 6 -12 months as well as P1NP / height (SD) after 12 months. Calcium levels significantly correlated with height (SD) after 12 months. We find a strong reaction of bone resorption and bone formation markers during growth hormone therapy that may determine their selection as prediction of GH treatment outcome in SGA children. However, the issue requires further research.

Endometriosis occurs when endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterine cavity, leading to pelvic pain, infertility, and increased risk of ovarian cancer. The present study describes the optimization and characterization of cellular spheroids as building blocks for Kenzan scaffold-free method biofabrication and proof-of-concept models of endometriosis and the endometriotic microenvironment. The spheroid building blocks must be a specific diameter (~500 m), compact, round, and smooth to withstand Kenzan biofabrication. Under optimized spheroid conditions for biofabrication, the endometriotic epithelial-like cell line, 12Z, expressed high levels of estrogen-related genes and secreted high amounts of endometriotic inflammatory factors that were independent of TNF stimulation. Heterotypic spheroids, composed of 12Z and T-HESC, an immortalized endometrial stromal cell line, self-assembled into a biologically relevant pattern, consisting of epithelial cells on the outside of the spheroids and stromal cells in the core. 12Z spheroids were biofabricated into large three-dimensional constructs alone, with HEYA8 spheroids, or as heterotypic spheroids with T-HESC. These three-dimensional biofabricated constructs containing multiple monotypic or heterotypic spheroids represent the first scaffold-free biofabricated in vitro models of endometriosis and the endometriotic microenvironment. These efficient and innovative models will allow us to study the complex interactions of multiple cell types within a biologically relevant microenvironment.

Transportation systems through the ages have seen drastic evolutions in terms of transportation methods, speed of transport, infrastructure, technology, connectivity, influence on the environment, and accessibility. The massive transformation seen in the transportation sector has been fueled by the industrial revolutions which have continued expansion and progress into the fourth industrial revolution. However, the methodologies of data collection and processing used by the many drivers of this progress differ. The significance of standardized data and its mode of collection cannot be overstated as it has a major impact on the process outcomes. In order to achieve a better understanding of the impact of this, this study methodically reviewed the literature on the subject of the data collection and processing mechanism of 4IR technologies in the context of the transport industry with an emphasis on the areas of accomplishment of several studies and drawing attention to their limitations. Although the industry has advanced significantly as a result of the adoption and application of various research studies in this field, considerable focus needs to be placed in the areas of standardized data collection and computational approaches, which will ultimately assist in achieving various benefits in the transportation industry.

This research investigates the complex transformation of the Baltic Clean and Dirty Tankers markets from 1998 to 2023. Our study quantifies the market multifractality in two distinct periods, from 1998 to 2010 and 2010 to 2023. We compare multifractal measures of the original, surrogated, and shuffled data, which indicate high multifractality and a complex market structure influenced by temporal organization and inherent volatility. Shuffled data analysis emphasizes the critical role of temporal sequences within market behaviour. Additionally, the study delves into external factors such as regulatory changes, economic disturbances, technological innovation, and environmental concerns contributing to market complexity. A distinct shift in multifractal values between the two periods suggests an evolution from crisis-induced complexities to a market influenced by diversified and modern dynamics. Our findings offer a concise understanding of the multifractal nature of the tanker markets and how global crises can impact the markets, emphasizing the importance of considering systemic risks in freight market analysis.

This work focuses on an inland area of North Sardinia (Italy), which is currently subject to depopulation and economic crisis because it is not affected by the summer tourism typical of the region. Despite this, the area shows an interesting architectural and natural heritage, as of today insufficiently known and valued. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of the Conjoint Analysis methodology on this case study aimed at supporting processes of valorisation, diversification of the tourist offer and promotion of the through the detection of the preferences of a sample of residents and visitors on a set of 9 cards (itinerary profiles) which also promote the peculiarities of small rural centres. Thus, by valorising the material and immaterial heritage and their intrinsic characteristics, it is shown that inland areas can generate an economy by offering new types of tourism, not just the typically invasive summer and maritime tourism. The research, therefore, seeks to estimate the economic value of the area from a public point of view through the WTP measured by a questionnaire of 600 interviews between inhabitants (300) and tourists (299).

A semi–numerical approach proposed many years ago for describing gravitational collapse in the post–quasi–static approximation , , , , is modified in order to avoid the numerical integration of the basic differential equations the approach is based upon. For doing that we have to impose some restrictions on the fluid distribution. More specifically, we shall assume the vanishing complexity factor condition, which allows for analytical integration of the pertinent differential equations and leads to physically interesting models. Instead, we show that neither the homologous nor the quasi–homologous evolution are acceptable since they lead to geodesic fluids, which are unsuitable for being described in the post–quasi–static approximation. Also, we prove that, within this approximation, adiabatic evolution also leads to geodesic fluids and therefore we shall consider exclusively dissipative systems. Besides the vanishing complexity factor condition, additional information is required for a full description of models. We shall propose different strategies for obtaining such an information, which are based on observables quantities (e.g. luminosity and redshift), and/or heuristic mathematical ansatz. To illustrate the method, we present two models. One model is inspired in the well known Schwarzschild interior solution, and another one is inspired in Tolman VI solution.

Emphasis on primary health care (PHC) is the most efficient and economical approach to achieving universal health coverage. The aim of the study is to examine PHC publications from 2011 to 2023 in the Asian Pacific region (APR) using the Web of Science (WoS) database. Academic papers in the WoS PHC subject category published in the APR from 2011 to 2023 were retrieved and analyzed. A total of 4,283 papers were published in the WoS PHC category from APR onwards. The annual number of published papers and their citations increased from 2011 to 2023. Australia led PHC publications in APR with 3,049 publications (71.19% of APR regional output). New Zealand had the highest number of citations per paper (13.76) and the highest mean impact factor (3.23±1.80). Publications in the WoS PHC category also covered a wide range of topics, including Medicine General Internal (64.77%), Health Care Sciences Services (21.88%), Health Policy Services and Public Environmental Occupational Health (21.36%), demonstrating the breadth of PHC research. Australia dominates the output of PHC publications in the APR. Australian Family Physician and Australian Journal of Primary Health are the leading journals publishing PHC papers in the APR.

Background: Over the past few years there has been immense evolution in various areas particularly in the areas of digital technologies wherein the pace of change is very high. Industrial areas such as operations and supply chain management together with advanced technologies such as machine learning, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, as well as the Internet of Things, create completely different forms of operational models for various industries. In the area of healthcare too, these emerging computational sophistication is introduced to revolutionise the approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat diverse diseases and illnesses. Objective: The objective of this study is to provide an extensive review of the contemporary approaches utilizing data to cope with significant mental disorders. From over 60 relevant scholarly articles published between 2011 and 2023, it discusses how tools such as predictive modelling, social media analysis, data from smartphones, and chatbots help with issues such as early detection, telemonitoring, provision of psychological support, and individualised prevention. Method: An initial literature review to analyse over 60 research articles, which include empirical studies that were conducted between 2011 and 2023. The research assessed implemented novel digital approaches to mental health interventions including big data analytics for predicting condition status, machine learning for examining social media content, behaviour monitoring through smartphone sensors, and using conversational agents or chatbots. The following is an overview of general conclusions from experimental and descriptive secondary research studies published in professional outlets concerning possible advantages and disadvantages of data science applied to important concerns in mental health. Results: Research reveals that integrating subtle e-health tools in tandem with typical treatment approaches holds the potential to expand mental health services to more or less integrate them into clients’ day-to-day lives, and practically individualize effective treatments accordingly. Technological solutions for instance allow remote risk assessment, symptom monitoring and determination of treatment compliance. New lines of virtualized paradigm solve social challenges that interfere with the conventional provision and consumption of care. However, questions of privacy and the long-term effects as well as clinical adoption are yet to be solved in a analytically distinct manner.

Introduction: This study aims to elucidate the clinical diagnostic value of S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta (S100B) in epilepsy, a topic of ongoing debate among European and Asian epilepsy research centres.Methods and analysis: A structured long-term research plan was developed, comprising three phases. Phase one involves observational studies investigating the correlation between S100B levels in serum or cerebrospinal fluid and epilepsy. Phase two integrates observational and randomised controlled data to establish baseline S100B levels across diverse epilepsy demographics, underpinning the predictive value of S100B for epilepsy. Phase three focuses on randomised controlled trials to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of S100B as an epilepsy biomarker.Ethics and dissemination: All enrolled patients will provide written consent. The ethics committee of the Second People’s Hospital of Gansu Province, Affiliated Hospital of Northwest Minzu University, China, approved the study (GSSEY2022-KY009-01).Registration: The study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023425431).

The isotopic and nuclear techniques discussed, namely: Fallout Radionuclide, Fingerprint, and Isotope Hydrology, are linked to the evaluation of soil and water degradation processes. A traditional literature review was conducted to gain the most comprehensive understanding of both the current state of the art and the subject matter, with the aim of proposing a hypothesis that integrates the synergistic convergence of these techniques in order to offer results that are more reliable. A case study is presented as a synthesis of the preceding discussion.

Embryo and fetus grow in a hypoxic environment. Intrauterine oxygen levels fluctuate throughout the pregnancy allowing the oxygen to modulate apparently contradictory functions, such as the expansion of stemness but also differentiation. We have recently demonstrated that in the last weeks of pregnancy oxygenation progressively increases, but the trend of oxygen levels during the previous weeks remains to be clarified. In the present study, umbilical venous and arterial oxygen levels, fetal oxygen extraction, oxygen content, CO2, and lactate were evaluated in a cohort of healthy newborns with gestational age &lt; 37 weeks. A progressive decrease in pO2 levels associated with a concomitant increase in pCO2 and reduction of pH has been observed starting from the 23rd week until approximately the 33-34th week of gestation. Over this period, despite the increased hypoxemia, oxygen content remains stable thanks to increasing hemoglobin concentration, which allows the fetus to becoming more hypoxemic, but not more hypoxic. Starting from the 33-34th week, fetal oxygenation increases and ideally continues following the trend recently described in term fetuses. The present study confirms that oxygenation during intrauterine life continues to vary even after placenta development, showing a clear biphasic trend. Fetuses, in fact, from mid-gestation to near-term become progressively more hypoxemic. However, starting from the 33-34th week, oxygenation progressively increases until birth. In this regard, our data suggest that the placenta is the hub that ensures this variable oxygen availability to the fetus, and we speculate that this biphasic trend is functional to the promotion, in specific tissues and at specific timing, of stemness and intrauterine differentiation.

Abstract. The increasing frequency of isolation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) limits the chances of effective antibacterial therapy of staphylococcal diseases and results in development of persistent infection such as bacteremia and osteomyelitis. The aim of this study was to identify features of the MRSAST239 0943-1505-2016 (SA943) genome, that contribute to the formation of both acute and chronic musculoskeletal infections. The analysis was performed using comparative genomics data of the dominant epidemic S. aureus lineages namely ST1, ST8, ST30, ST36, ST239. SA943 genome encodes proteins that provide resistance to the host immune system, suppress immunological memory and form biofilms. The molecular mechanisms of adaptation responsible for development of persistent infection were as follows: amino acid substitution in PBP2 and PBP2a, providing resistance to ceftaroline; loss of a large part of prophage DNA and restoration of nucleotide sequence of beta-hemolysin, that greatly facilitates escape of phagocytosed bacteria from phagosome and formation of biofilms; dysfunction of the AgrA system due to the presence of psm-mec and several amino acid substitutions in the AgrC; partial deletion of nucleotide sequence in genomic island vSAβ resulting in the loss of two proteases of Spl - operon; deletion of SD repeats in SdrE amino acid sequence.

Based on NCEP FNL 1°*1° analysis data and Xinjiang meteorological bureau area numerical operation prediction, a local precipitation event in southern Xinjiang on June 26 was analyzed, and the results showed that the water vapor involved in this process originated from the northwestern Gangetic Plain and was transported along the Indus River plain and over the northwestern end of the mountains. Driven by the Iranian low-pressure trough, water vapor at 500 hPa was transported across the northwestern end of the Gangdise Mountains, past Georgoli Peak, and northwest over the Kunlun Mountains to arrive in southern Xinjiang.

The purpose of this paper is to compare daily sunshine duration (SD) measured by Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder (CS) with three automatic instruments (Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (CM6B), pyrheliometer (CHP1) and CSD3 sunshine recorders). The comparisons are essential, since in recent decades automatic sunshine duration sensors have been systematically replacing the manual measurements affecting therefore the continuity of the CS time series. The comparisons were applied to the daily SD data of three synoptic stations (Larnaca A/P, Pafos A/P and Athalassa) where parallel measurements of manual and automatic instruments are carried out during the periods 2009-2012 and 2012-2015. The CSD3 measurements were obtained from two automatic weather stations (AWS) (Mennogia and Pentakomo) which are closed to the synoptic station of Larnaca A/P. The comparisons cover the daily and monthly sums, their statistical distributions and their relationships. The daily differences of the pairs of the sunshine recorders installed at the same location are mostly within the range of -1.0 to +1.0 h. At Larnaca, in the period 2009-2012, the pyranometric method (Gl) is higher than the CS in the summer months, while during the winter months it is lower than CS. Pafos and Athalassa showed higher values of CS comparing to Gl and the pyrheliometric method (Pr), respectively, almost throughout the year. Generally, the annual average daily differences between the different pairs range between 0.3 and 0.5 h. Regression equations were determined allowing the estimation of daily SD under different sky conditions. The closest relations between different pairs were obtained in ‘clear sky’ and ‘all sky’ conditions, as it is indicated by the high coefficient of determinations. R2 reached the values of 0.92 and 0.96 under ‘all sky’ conditions, and between 0.80 and 0.91 under ‘clear’ sky conditions, respectively. An increase in cloud cover causes an increase in the SD differences recorded by the relevant devices. Comparing statistically the different pairs using the Mann-Whitney nonparametric test which is the alternative to the Two Sample T parametric test, it was found that the medians are not statistically different. However, significant differences were only detected in the case of the pair of CS and Pr at Athalassa (2012-2015) using both tests. In the rest of the cases the differences are not statistically significant at the 5% level.

Considering the worldwide impact of heart failure, it is crucial to develop approaches that can help us comprehend its root cause and make accurate predictions about its outcome. This is essential for lowering the suffering and death rates connected with this widespread illness. Cardiomyopathies frequently result from genetic factors, and the study of heart failure genetics is advancing quickly. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most prevalent kind of cardiomyopathy, encompassing both hereditary and nongenetic abnormalities. It is distinguished by the enlargement of the left ventricle or both ventricles, accompanied by reduced contractility. The discovery of the molecular origins and subsequent awareness of the molecular mechanism is broadening our knowledge of DCM development. Additionally, it emphasizes the complicated nature of DCM and the necessity to formulate several different strategies to address the diverse underlying factors contributing to this disease. Genetic variations that can be transmitted from one generation to another can be a significant contributor to causing family or isolated DCM. Genetic variation also plays a significant role in determining susceptibility for acquired triggers for DCM. The genetic causes of DCM can have a diverse range of phenotypic expressions. It is crucial to select the most probable patients to have advantages from genetic testing. The purpose of this research is to emphasize the significance of identifying genetic DCM, the crucial relationships between genotype and phenotype, and the usefulness of genetic testing in the therapeutic care of both those affected and their relatives. This approach is expected to gain importance once treatment is guided by genotype-specific advice and disease-modifying medications.

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) can mitigate cadmium (Cd2+) toxicity in crop cultivation and aquaculture. This study investigates the impact of SeNPs on Cd-induced toxicity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a model organism, aiming to mitigate Cd damage in crops. SeNPs were synthesized using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a dispersant and vitamin C to reduce H2SeO3. Characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoparticle granulator revealed uniform, stable spherical SeNPs. Cd2+ and SeNPs of varying concentrations were introduced into culture media of wild type (CC125mt+) and cell wall defect type (CC400mt+) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Growth curves, photosynthetic pigment content, enzyme activities (T-SOD and CAT), MDA content, and ROS levels were assessed. Fluorescence induction kinetics, QA oxidation kinetics, and Cd2+ content in cells were measured to evaluate SeNPs' effect on Cd toxicity. Results showed SeNPs exacerbated Cd2+ toxicity in CC125mt+ by inhibiting growth and increasing catalase activity, indicating enhanced oxidative damage. SeNPs intensified PSII damage by Cd2+ and increased intracellular Cd2+ content, possibly exacerbating toxicity. SeNPs had no effect on Cd2+ toxicity in CC400mt+. Overall, SeNPs exacerbated Cd2+ toxicity in wild type CC125mt+ but not in cell wall defective CC400mt+. These findings caution against indiscriminate use of nano-selenium to mitigate Cd damage, stressing the importance of careful target selection, dosage, and range considerations.

Plants frequently encounter relatively low and fluctuating potassium (K+) concentrations in soil, with roots serving as the primary responders to this stress. Histone modifications, such as de-/acetylation, can function as epigenetic marks on stress-inducible genes. However, the signaling network between histone modifications and the low K+ (LK) response pathways remains unclear. This study delves into the regulatory role of Histone Deacetylase Complex 1 (HDC1) in primary root growth of Arabidopsis thaliana under K+ deficiency stress. Using a hdc1-2 mutant line, we observed that HDC1 positively regulates root growth under LK conditions. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, the hdc1-2 mutant exhibited significantly inhibited primary root growth under LK conditions, whereas HDC1-overexpression lines displayed opposite phenotypes. No significant difference was observed under HK conditions. Further analysis revealed that the inhibition of hdc1-2 on root growth was due to reduced meristem cell proliferation rather than cell elongation. Notably, the root growth of hdc1-2 shows reduced sensitivity compared to WT after auxin treatment under LK conditions. HDC1 may regulate root growth by affecting auxin polar transport and subsequently auxin sensation, as evidenced by altered expression of auxin transport genes. Moreover, our study reveals a brake function of HDC1 in the regulation of CBL-CIPK-K+ channel related genes, thereby establishing a molecular link between histone deacetylation, auxin signaling, and CBL-CIPK pathway in response to K+ deficiency.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Furthermore, patients with pancreatic cancer experience limited benefit from current chemotherapeutic approaches because of drug resistance. Therefore, an effective therapeutic strategy for patients with pancreatic cancer is urgently required. Deguelin is a natural chemopreventive drug that exerts potent antiproliferative activity in solid tumors by inducing cell death. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this activity have not been fully elucidated. Here we show that deguelin blocks autophagy and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. Autophagy induced by doxorubicin plays a protective role in pancreatic cancer cells, and suppressing autophagy by chloroquine or silencing autophagy protein 5 enhanced doxorubicin-induced cell death. Similarly, inhibition of autophagy by deguelin also chemosensitized pancreatic cancer cell lines to doxorubicin. These findings suggest that deguelin has potent anticancer effects against pancreatic cancer and potentiates the anti-cancer effects of doxorubicin. These findings provide evidence that combined treatment with deguelin and doxorubicin represents an effective strategy for treating pancreatic cancer.

Though Bangladesh is often labelled as "climate change ground zero," the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) were never considered a significant climate change hotspot until heavy rainfall and consequent landslides in 2017. This shift in problem narrative seemingly overlooks myriad environmentally unsustainable 'development' initiatives along with (il)legal deforestation. This paper examines climate change trends and impacts on the lives and livelihoods of diverse local groups in CHT. By analysing changing patterns in meteorological data and qualitative information on changes and challenges in everyday life and the livelihoods of local people, we show a shortfall of captured climate data on CHT to make a strong case for climate change. Yet, this study finds that this region is exposed to a substantial threat of land degradation, flash floods, water scarcity, landslides, and other slow and quick onsets due to a combined effect of deforestation, neoliberalised development, and slight changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. This paper calls for proactive measures to address climate change impacts by endorsing sustainable development strategies prioritizing environmental stewardship, social justice, and economic prosperity.

In this paper, we extend the KdVSKR equations in (1+1)-dimension and (2+1)-dimension to fractional KdVSKR equations with modified Riemann-Liouville derivative. The (2+1)-dimensional KdVSKR equation, which is a recent extension of (1+1)-dimensional KdVSKR equation, can model the resonances of solitons in shallow water. By means of the Hirota bilinear method, finite symmetry group method and consistent Riccati expansion method, many new interaction solutions have been derived. Soliton-cnoidal interaction solution of the (1+1)-dimensional fractional KdVSKR equation has been derived for the first time. For the (2+1)-dimensional frac-tional KdVSKR equation, two-wave interaction solutions and three-wave interaction solutions, including dark-soliton-sine interaction solution, bright-soliton-elliptic interaction solution, and lump-hyperbolic-sine interaction solution, have been derived. Impact of the fractional order on the shapes of these solutions has been illustrated by figures. Three-wave interaction solutions of fractional systems have not been reported in the existing references. The research idea in this paper can be applied to other fractional differential equations.

The common house mosquito (Culex pipiens) is a native vector for West Nile virus (WNV). Invasive species like the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and Asian bush mosquito (Aedes japonicus) are rapidly spreading through Europe, posing a major threat as vectors for dengue, chikungunya (CHIKV), and Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV). These mosquitoes share a similar ecological niche as larvae, but the carry-over effects of aquatic larval interactions to terrestrial adult stage remain largely unknown and their medical relevance requires further investigation. This study examines the context-dependency of larval interactions among Aedes albopictus, Aedes japonicus and Culex pipiens. The survival, development time, growth, and energetic storage were measured in different European populations within density-response experiments (intraspecific) and replacement experiments (interspecific) at 20°C and 26°C. Overall, Ae. japonicus was the weakest competitor, while competition between Ae. albopictus and Cx. pipiens varied with temperature. Culex pipiens was infected with WNV, Ae. albopictus with CHIKV and Ae. japonicus with JEV. While no JEV infection was observed, mosquitoes experiencing interspecific interactions during their larval stages exhibited higher infection rates and viral RNA titers for CHIKV and WNV. This increased susceptibility for viral infection after larval competition suggests a higher risk of arbovirus transmission in co-occurring populations.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between postprandial glycemic levels based on flash-monitoring and the production of intestinal hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) gases based on measurement of the amount of these gases in exhaled air. We studied 14 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 10 individuals without diabetes (control) with 3 food-load tests with simultaneous determination of gases in exhaled air and assessment of glucose levels. In 15.4% of patients with T2DM, there was a non-significant increase in exhaled H2. How-ever, all subjects in the control group had significant increase in exhaled H2. Moreover, the level of H2 in exhaled breathafter food load in patients with T2DM was lower than in normoglycemic subjects. Also, in normoglycemic subjects there was an inverse correlation between maximum glucose rise and maximum H2 in exhaled air after food load. At the same time in patients with T2DM the level of CH4 in exhaled air directly correlated with the parameters of postprandial glycemia in the test with lactulose. Confirmation of a causal relationship between decreased H2 production, increased intestinal CH4 production, and more severe postprandial glycemia may identify new therapeutic targets in the correction of postprandial glycemia in patients with T2DM.

Six bacterial strains with differing abilities to produce varying concentrations of Indole Acetic Acid were tested individually and in consortia for plant growth promoting and fitness related traits of Cicer arietinum. In all experiments the presence of the nitrogen fixer Mesorhizobium ciceri resulted in increased biomass production. In the absence of this strain, IAA Psedomonas putida and Bacillus megaterium hinder plant growth and fitness related traits. The application of mixes of the three strains always resulted in better plant performance when M. ciceri was present. Whereas P. putida has a noticeable plant growth-promoting effect B. megaterium resulted less effective. The low levels of IAA produced by the selected strains had a significantly greater positive effect on plant biomass accumulation, flower, pods and seed production as well as on total plant nitrogen and nitrogen concentration in seed than high IAA producer strains.

Abstract Background Costello syndrome (CS) is a rare RASopathy caused by a mutation in the proto-oncogene gene HRAS located on chromosome 11p15.5. It is characterized by failure to thrive, intellectual disability, coarse facies, and various cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and dermatological abnormalities. Aims This literature review describes the various dermatological manifestations of CS in hopes of guiding dermatologists to recognize this rare neurocutaneous syndrome promptly and achieving better patient outcomes. Methods PubMed, MEDLINE, and Scopus were utilized to search for articles and studies on the dermatological features and disorders present in CS. Articles were selected and screened primarily by two reviewers. In the initial article selection process, a third reviewer was included in times of contradiction between the two primary reviewers. Twenty-three articles were ultimately included for analysis. Results CS presents myriad dermatological manifestations, the most characteristic being fine, curly to wavy hair, thick, bushy eyebrows, thin but fast-growing nails, cutaneous papillomas, and loose and redundant skin. Significant cutaneous pathologies associated with CS include eczema, acanthosis nigricans, nevi, coarse facies, and hyperpigmentation. Individuals with CS are also at increased risk for heat intolerance, hyperhidrosis, and photosensitivity. Conclusions Dermatologists must be aware of CS and its dermatological manifestations to efficiently treat the comorbidities involved with this rare neurodevelopmental disorder. CS can present similarly to Cardio-facial-cutaneous syndrome, Noonan syndrome, William syndrome, and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome; thus, a keen understanding of the cutaneous differences amongst the syndromes may aid in accurate diagnosis.

Gas and power networks are tightly coupled and interact with each other due to physically interconnected facilities. In an integrated gas and power network, a contingency observed in one system may cause iterative cascading failures, resulting in network wide disruptions. Therefore, understanding the impacts of the interactions in both systems is crucial for governments, system operators, regulators and operational planners, particularly, to ensure security of supply for the overall energy system. Although simulation has been widely used in the assessment of gas systems as well as power systems, there is a significant gap in simulation models that are able to address the coupling of both systems. In this paper, a simulation framework that models and simulates the gas and power network in an integrated manner is proposed. The framework consist of a transient model for the gas system and a steady state model for the power system based on AC-Optimal Power Flow. The gas and power system model are coupled through an interface which uses the coupling equations to establish the data exchange and coordination between the individual models. The bidirectional interlink between both systems considered in this studies are the fuel gas offtake of gas fired power plants for power generation and the power supply to LNG terminals and electric drivers installed in gas compressor stations and underground gas storage facilities. The simulation framework is implemented into an innovative simulation tool named SAInt (Scenario Analysis Interface for Energy Systems) and the capabilities of the tool are demonstrated by performing a contingency analysis for a real world example. Results indicate how a disruption triggered in one system propagates to the other system and affects the operation of critical facilities. In addition, the studies show the importance of using transient gas models for security of supply studies instead of successions of steady state models, where the time evolution of the line pack is not captured correctly.

The use of nanomaterials has been increasing in recent times, and they are widely used in industries such as cosmetics, drug, food, water treatment and agriculture. The rapid development of new nanomaterials demands a set of approaches to evaluate the potential toxicity and risks related to them. In this regard, nanosafety has been using and adapting already existing methods (toxicological approach), but the unique characteristics of nanomaterials demand new approaches (nanotoxicology) to fully understand the potential toxicity, immunotoxicity and (epi)genotoxicity. Also, new technologies, such as organ-on-chip and sophisticated sensors, are under development and/or adaptation. All the information generated is used to develop new in silico approaches trying to predict the potential effects of newly developed materials. The overall evaluation of how from the production to final disposition chain of nanomaterials is evaluated under Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is becoming an important element of nanosafety considering sustainability and environmental impact. In this review we give an overview of all these elements of nanosafety.

The purpose of this systematic review is to provide second language acquisition (SLA) researchers with an overview of research trends in this field in the last ten years (2009-2019). In doing so, three international peer-reviewed journals, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Teaching Research, and The Modern Language Journal, were selected. 150 articles were systematically selected and analyzed. The analysis of data resulted in identifying six descriptive themes. Results showed that some areas of second language acquisition still need further exploration while some areas are of great interest for researchers. Some suggestions for future research as well as implications of the study were discussed in detail.

Phenolic compounds, present in plants, provide substantial health advantages, such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which enhance cardiovascular and cognitive well-being. Australia is enriched with a wide range of plants with phytopharmacological potential, which needs to be fully elucidated. In this context, we analyzed leaves of aniseed myrtle (Syzygium anisatum), lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora), and cinnamon myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia) for their complex phytochemical profile and antioxidant potential. LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS was applied for screening and characterizing these Australian myrtles’ phenolic compounds and the structure-function relation of phenolic compounds. This study identified 145 and quantified/semi-quantified 27 phenolic compounds in these Australian myrtles. Furthermore, phenolic contents (total phenolic content (TPC), total condensed tannins (TCT), and total flavonoids (TFC)) and antioxidant potential of phenolic extracts from the leaves of Australian myrtles were quantified. Aniseed myrtle was quantified with the highest TPC (52.49 ± 3.55 mg GAE/g) and total antioxidant potential than other selected myrtles. Catechin, epicatechin, isovitexin, cinnamic acid, and quercetin were quantified as Australian myrtles' most abundant phenolic compounds. Moreover, chemometric analysis further validated the results. This study provides a new insight into the novel potent bioactive phenolic compounds from Australian myrtles that could be potentially useful for functional, nutraceutical, and therapeutic applications.

Rapid urbanisation and city expansion worldwide have significantly increased impervious surfaces such as roads, buildings, and pavements. These impervious surfaces impede water infiltration into the ground, resulting in escalated surface runoff during rainfall. This has been exacerbated by climate change and heightened precipitation levels, resulting in recurrent annual flooding. Conventional drainage systems are now insufficient to cope with the amplified surface runoff, contributing to the escalating flood occurrences. Sustainable urban drainage systems such as green roofs, swales, and permeable pavements were developed as modern flood control techniques to replace the traditional drainage system approach by optimising resource utilisation and developing novel and more productive technologies. While most SUD techniques are sustainable in design, construction, and operation, permeable pavements are considered one of the least sustainable SUD techniques. This has garnered considerable attention from researchers who have been studying the design of a more sustainable permeable pavement system by utilising sustainable and recycled materials. This paper reviews the performance of permeable pavements systems using findings from extensive reviews and analyses of scientific publications on permeable pavements. It introduces a future solution and design of permeable pavements using recycled materials. The study will consist of two permeable pavement systems, one incorporating recycled materials in its layers and the other using traditional construction materials. The data collected from both systems will be compared to determine their performance.

Mitochondria are semiautonomous organelles, which are pivotal for the energy metabolism of eukaryotic cells. These organelles contain their own genetic system (mtDNA, mitogenome) that encodes to some structural RNAs and organellar proteins. The biogenesis and function of mitochondria is tightly regulated by nuclear-encoded protein cofactors. The mtDNAs of land plants are characteristically large, with a complex mode of gene organization and expression, in particularly at the post-transcriptional level. To become functional, the primary organellar transcripts undergo extensive maturation steps, which include endo- and exo-nucleolytic cleavage, RNA-base editing, and both ‘cis’- and ‘trans’-splicing events. These essential processing steps rely on the activities of a large set of nuclear-encoded factors. Among these, the RNA helicases serve as key players in organellar (mt-)RNA metabolism. This review summarizes the important roles played by these factors in regulating the highly dynamic processes of transcription, RNA processing, and translation within the mitochondria of land plants. We further discuss recent advancements in understanding how dysregulation of mitochondrial RNA helicases affects the organellar gene expression, respiratory functions, and hence the growth, development and physiology of land plants.

Although some alternative metrics have been proposed in classical gravity, the singularity problem remains unresolved perfectly. To satisfy the super-gravitational requirement of a black hole without singularities, we propose some possible finite-size structure to avoid the confused one. In this research, the degenerate Fermi electron gas is first used to reveal that the Fermi electron gas cannot shrink to a point regardless of how much energy it obtains; therefore, the singularity existing at the center becomes very unreasonable. To avoid these problems, a finite-size nucleus of the black hole is proposed and explained by the behaviors of the Fermi electron gas and Fermi neutron gas for this finite-size nuclear model. We construct the Kerr-Newman black hole by using a non-rotating but charged finite-size nucleus, a compact-like star, which is surrounded by counter-rotating and corotating electrons. Based on this model, the super-gravity the same as the one from a black hole is presented, and the speed of light observed at far-away places can be nonzero at the event horizon.

Background/Objectives: Obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) reduce life expectancy; nonoperative interventions show poor results. Individually, chitosan, acetic acid (AA), and sepiolite clay attenuate high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) via reduced energy digestibility and increased energy expenditure. We hypothesized that a chitosan–sepiolite biocomposite suspended in AA would attenuate DIO and NAFLD to a greater extent than AA alone via its more substantial adsorption of nonpolar molecules; Methods: We tested this dietary supplement in C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet, compared to supplementation of a bile-acid sequestrant (cholestyramine) and standalone AA; Results: Biocomposite supplementation attenuated DIO rate and NAFLD progression, whereas standalone AA showed mild attenuation of DIO gain and did not prevent HFD-induced hepatic fat accumulation. Biocomposite intake was accompanied by a decreasing digestibility trend counterbalanced by increased intake; hence, it did not affect energy absorption; Conclusions: Therefore, DIO attenuation was suggested to be related to higher energy expenditure, a phenomenon not found with AA alone, as supported by calculated energy expenditure using the energy-balance method. These results support further investigation of the biocomposite’s efficacy in attenuating obesity and NAFLD, specifically when applied with a restricted diet. Future studies are needed to determine this biocomposite's safety, mechanism of action, and efficacy compared to its components given separately or combined with other ingredients.

Spatial variation of indoor and outdoor PM2.5 within three states for a 5-year period is studied using regulatory and low-cost PurpleAir monitors. Most of these data were collected in an earlier study1 investigating the relative contribution of indoor-generated and outdoor-infiltrated particles to indoor exposures. About 260 regulatory monitors and ~10,000 outdoor and ~4,000 indoor PurpleAir monitors are included. Daily mean PM2.5 concentrations, correlations, and coefficients of divergence (COD) are calculated for pairs of monitors at distances ranging from 0 (collocated) to 200 km. We use a transparent and reproducible open algorithm that avoids use of the proprietary algorithms provided by the manufacturer of the sensors in PurpleAir PA-I and PA-II monitors. The algorithm is available on the PurpleAir API website under the name “PM2.5_alt”. This algorithm is validated using several hundred pairs of regulatory and PurpleAir monitors separated by up to 0.5 km. The PM2.5 spatial variation outdoors is homogeneous with high correlations to at least 10 km, as shown by the COD index under 0.2. There is also a steady improvement in outdoor PM2.5 concentrations with increasing distance from the regulatory monitors. The spatial variation of indoor PM2.5 indoors is not homogeneous even at distances <100 m. We document substantial differences between Federal Reference Methods (FRM) and Federal Equivalent Methods (FEM).

We assessed machine learning techniques (MLTs) for downscaling global climate model’s precipitation to local level in Bolivia. The skill, assumptions and uncertainty of the process are analyzed. Additionally, future projections are delivered. For that, an ensemble of 20 global climate models (GCMs) from CMIP6, with random forest (RF) and support vector machines (SVM), is used on four zones (highlands, Andean slopes, Amazon lowlands and Chaco lowlands). The downscaled series’ skill is evaluated in terms of relative errors. The uncertainty is analyzed through variance decomposition. MLTs’ skill is adequate in most cases, especially for the highlands and the Andean slopes. Moreover, RF tends to outperform SVM. Stationary assumptions are robust in the highlands and Andean slopes. Perfect prognosis assumption is poor in the highlands and Andean slopes; topographical complexity appears to be the reason. Regarding uncertainties, MLTs are the dominant source. In future projections, the highlands show shorter dry spell lengths with more frequent but less intense high rainfall events and higher annual rainfall. The Andean slopes exhibit an increased annual rainfall with a reduction in the high precipitation intensities but an increased frequency. The Amazon lowlands present a decrease in annual rainfall, and the Chaco lowlands an increase.

With the development of the Internet, The content people share contains types of text, images, and videos, and utilizing these multimodal data for sentiment analysis has become an important area of research. Multimodal sentiment analysis aims to understand and perceive emotions or sentiments in different types of data. Currently, the realm of multimodal sentiment analysis faces various challenges, with a major emphasis on addressing two key issues: 1) Inefficiency when modeling the intra-modality and inter-modality dynamics and 2) Inability to effectively fuse multimodal features. In this paper, we proposed the CCDA(Cross-Correlation in Dual-Attention) model, a novel method to explore dynamics between different modalities and fuse multimodal features efficiently. We capture dynamics at intra- and inter-modal levels by using two types of attention mechanisms simultaneously. Meanwhile, the cross-correlation loss is introduced to capture the correlation between attention mechanisms. Moreover, the relevant coefficient is proposed to integrate multimodal features effectively. Extensive experiments were conducted on three publicly available datasets, CMU-MOSI, CMU-MOSEI, and CH-SIMS. The experimental results fully confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method, and compared with the current optimal method (SOTA), our model shows obvious advantages in most of the key metrics, proving its better performance in multimodal sentiment analysis.

Our understanding of the long-term consequences of chronic ionising radiation for living organisms remains scarce. Modern molecular biology techniques are helpful tools for researching pollutant effects on biota. To reveal the molecular phenotype of plants growing under chronic radiation exposure, we sampled Vicia cracca L. plants in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and in areas with normal radiation backgrounds. We performed a detailed analysis of soil and gene expression patterns, and made coordinated multi-omics analyses of plant samples, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Chronic exposure to ionising radiation induced complex and multidirectional changes, including significant alterations in the metabolism and gene expression patterns of irradiated plants. We revealed profound changes in carbon metabolism, nitrogen reallocation, and photosynthesis. These plants were characterised by increased DNA damage, redox imbalance, and stress response reactions. The upregulation of histones, chaperones, peroxidases, and secondary metabolism were noted.

Falls are extremely damaging to the elderly. The number of elderly who have experienced falls has increased over the years, several of the elderly stay alone or in in badly maintained elderly homes. This makes a low-cost fall detection system a necessity. There has been huge improvements in terms of IoT systems, ML algorithms. Varied data sets have been collected across the world for fall detection. These data sets have a very little in common among them, in terms of user demographics, sensors used, the ADL and Fall activities Hence in this paper we present a data set that has wide user demographics, we used various sensors – such as accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and hear rate. We used wrist worn sensors to collect data. In this paper we present a detailed analysis of the data set we collected using common ML algorithms such as – Naïve Bayes (NB), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). We analyzed the performance of these algorithms for variations in accuracy with respect to age, gender, height, weight and health issues and we have identified outliers by analyzing each incorrect prediction. This paper provides the complete details of the data collection methodology, The methods used for analysis and presents the results of analysis in complete detail.

Deep learning has already revolutionised the way we process a wide range of data, in many areas of our daily life. The ability to learn abstractions and relationships from heterogeneous data, has provided impressively accurate prediction and classification tools to handle increasingly big datasets. This has a significant impact on the growing wealth of omics datasets, with the unprecedented opportunity for a better understanding of the complexity of living organisms. While this revolution is transforming the way we analyse these data, explainable deep learning is emerging as an additional tool with the potential to change the way we interpret biological data. Explainability addresses critical issues such as transparency, so important when computational tools are introduced especially in clinical environments. Moreover, it empowers artificial intelligence with the capability to provide new insights in the input data, thus adding an element of discovery to these already powerful resources. In this review we provide an overview of the transformative effects explainable deep learning is having on multiple sectors, ranging from genome engineering and genomics, from radiomics to drug design and clinical trials. We offer a perspective to life scientists, to better understand the potential of these tools, and a motivation to implement them in their research, by suggesting learning resources they can use to move their first steps in this field.

The paper presents section models for analysis of the resistance of RC members subjected to bending moment with or without axial force. To determine the section resistance the nonlinear stress-strain relationship for concrete in compression is assumed, taking into account the concrete softening. It adequately describes the behavior of RC members up to failure. For the reinforcing steel linear elastic-ideal plastic model is applied. For the ring cross-section subjected to bending with axial force the normalized resistances are derived in the analytical form by integrating the cross-sectional equilibrium equations. They are presented in the form of interaction diagrams and compared with the results obtained by testing conducted on RC columns under eccentric compression. Furthermore, the ultimate normalized bending moment has been derived for the rectangular cross-section subjected to bending without axial force. It was applied in the cross-sectional analysis of steel and concrete composite beams, named BH beams, consisting of the RC rectangular core placed inside a reversed TT welded profile. The comparisons made indicated good agreements between the proposed section models and experimental results.

The amplified Arctic warming is one of several factors influencing atmospheric dynamics. In this work, we consider a series of numerical experiments to identify the direct role of the Arctic sea ice reduction process in forming climatic trends in the northern hemisphere. Aimed at this, we used two more or less independent mechanisms of ice reduction. The first is traditionally associated with increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the historic level of 360 ppm to 450 ppm and 600 ppm. This growth increases air temperature and decreases the ice volume. The second mechanism is associated with a reduction in the reflectivity of ice and snow. We assume that comparing the results of these two experiments allows us to judge the direct role of ice reduction. The most prominent consequences of ice reduction, as a result, were the weakening of temperature gradient at the tropopause level in mid-latitudes, the slower zonal wind at 50-60∘N, intensification of wave activity in Europe, Western America, and Chukotka, and its weakening in the south of Siberia and Kazakhstan. We also consider how climate change may alter regimes such as blocking and stationary Rossby waves. The study used the INM-CM48 climate system model .

Infrared (IR) thermography is a powerful tool to measure temperature with a high space and time resolution. A particular interesting application of this technology is in the field of catalysis, where new insights to highly dynamic surface reactions are possible. This paper presents guidelines for the development of a reactor cell that can aid in the efficient exploitation of infrared thermography for the investigation of catalytic and other surface reactions. Firstly, the necessary properties of the catalytic reactor are described. In fact, special equipment must be developed to ensure the realization of true operando conditions in the IR thermography experiments. Here, we provide the guidelines to assemble a chemical reactor with an IR transmitting window through which the reaction can be studied with the infrared camera. Secondly, we analyze the requirements towards the catalytic system to be directly observable by IR thermography. This includes the need for a catalyst that provides a sufficiently high heat production (or absorption) rate. We present selected examples of catalytic reactions that can be monitored by IR thermography and showing the potential of the technology in revealing transient and steady state chemical phenomena.

Background and Objectives: Cancer as the second leading cause of death in the United States poses a huge healthcare burden. Barriers to access to advanced therapies influence the outcome of cancer treatment. In this study, we examined whether insurance types affect the quality of cancer clinical care regarding access to an important monoclonal antibody, ramucirumab. Materials and Methods: Data for 13,340 cancer patients with Purchased or Medicaid insurance from the All of Us Database were collected for this study. The Chi-square test of proportions was employed to determine the significance of patient cohort characteristics and ramucirumab usage between Purchased and Medicaid insurance groups. The independent t-test was utilized to assess the influences of other determinants on insurance types. Results: Cancer patients who are African American, with lower socioeconomic status, or with lower educational attainment are more likely to be insured by Medicaid. Analysis of survey questions demonstrated the relationship between income and education level with insurance type as Medicaid cancer patients were less likely to receive primary care and specialist physician access and more likely to request lower cost medications. In addition, those with Medicaid insurance were identified to have poorer access to expensive therapeutics like ramucirumab compared to those with Purchased insurance.  Conclusions: The inequities of the US healthcare system are observed for cancer patient care; access to physicians and therapeutics are highly varied and dependent on insurance types. Socioeconomic status determines insurance type, which unfortunately generates a significant impact on cancer treatment and disease outcome.

This text mining study delves into the multifaceted contributions of the energy sector to the Sus-tainable Development Goals (SDGs). By analyzing a wide range of academic literature, we un-cover key themes, trends, and challenges shaping the intersection of energy and sustainability. The findings reveal that the energy sector plays a pivotal role in achieving SDGs such as affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) and climate action (SDG 13). Critical issues encompass governance, policy frameworks, and technological innovations. This research underscores the need for inter-disciplinary collaboration and holistic approaches in addressing complex energy-related sus-tainability challenges. The insights derived here provide guidance to policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders seeking to harness the energy sector's potential for a more sustainable and eq-uitable future.

The global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has largely changed established business practices. The aim of the study is to present the results of eighteen-month intensive research into the effects of the pandemic on e-consumer behavior. In one of the most active e-commerce markets in Europe, the Czech Republic, we analyzed a sample of more than one and a half million Facebook users in terms of their C2B interactions on the B2C activities of the five major e-commerce market players. The measurements were carried out in three periods, which corresponded to the onset of the first wave, peak, and fading of the second wave of the pandemic. This enabled us to monitor the effect of seasonality and the stabilization of patterns of consumer behavior during the coronavirus crisis. The results suggest that a specific panic pattern of e-consumer behavior was developed at the time of the onset of the pandemic. However, as the pandemic progressed, the market has adapted to a new normal, which, as evidenced by the change in trends, appears to be a combination of the pre-pandemic and pandemic behavioral patterns. Using a statistical analysis, it was possible to identify delta of changes within the patterns of consumer behavior, thus fulfilling the final condition for creating an empirical model of the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on e-consumer behavior presented in this study.

(1) Background: Most of the existing studies focus on the evaluation of technology finance; the relationship between technology finance and technology innovation. But there are few studies on the development of technology finance and the quality of economic development in our country; (2) Methods: Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China, this paper constructs an index system to measure the development of technology finance through the improved entropy method, and tests the spatial correlation of the development of technology finance in China by Moran'I index. According to the test results, this paper constructs a spatial econometric model to empirically analyze the promoting effect of scientific, technological and financial development on high-quality economic development, and analyzes its promoting effect in different regions and different time periods; (3) Results: The results show that the quality of China's economic growth is spatially dependent, and the development of science, technology and finance can significantly promote the quality economic development in China. And the promotion coefficient of the central region is the largest, as well as the coefficient of the eastern region is the smallest. The promotion coefficient was small and not significant before 2015, and was significantly positive after 2015; (4) Conclusions: this paper puts forward the corresponding policy recommendations according to the research results.

Fire is a serious security threat that can lead to casualties, property damage, and environmental damage. However, despite the availability of object detection algorithms, challenges persist in detecting fires and smoke. These challenges include slow convergence speed, poor performance in detecting small targets, and high computational cost limiting deployments. In this paper, Fire smoke and human detection based on ConvNeXt and Mixed encoder (FCM-DETR), an end-to-end object detection algorithm based on Deformable DETR, is proposed. Firstly, we introduce ConvNeXt to take the place of Resnet, which greatly reduces the amount of computation and improves the ability to extract irregular flame features. Secondly, to effectively process multi-scale features, the original encoder is decoupled into two modules. Then Mixed encoder, an innovative encoder structure, is proposed, resulting in excellent performance of multi-scale fire and smoke features fusion. What can’t be overlooked is that the encoder block is compatible with any DETR-based models. Finally, the convergence speed is accelerated and the mean of average precision is improved by applying a novel loss function called Powerful IoU v2. The experimental results indicate that our model achieves the best detection accuracy compared to other models, with mAP reaching 66.7%, mAPs and Accuracyfire achieving impressive 50.2% and 98.05%, respectively.

Breast cancer in patients with prior breast augmentation poses unique challenges for detection, diagnosis, and management. Mastectomy rates are increasing, and patients with prior augmen-tation often have a lower body mass index, making autologous techniques unsuitable. This study aims to assess the best reconstructive option in patients with a history of subglandular or dual plane breast augmentation. Materials and methods: a prospective analysis was conducted on pa-tients who underwent breast reconstruction after mastectomy. Patients with subglandular or dual plane breast augmentation were included. Patients were divided into submuscular breast recon-struction (group 2) or prepectoral breast reconstruction (group 1) groups. Demographic and sur-gical data were collected. Results: A total of 47 patients were included, with 23 in Group 1 and 24 in the Group 2. Complications occurred in 11 patients (23.4%), with significant differences be-tween groups. The most common complication was seroma formation. Implant loss occurred in 4.3% of cases in the Group 1, while no implant loss was observed in the Group 2. Patient-reported satisfaction scores were similar between groups at 12 months postoperatively. Conclusions: sub-pectoral breast reconstruction with a tissue expander seems a safer and effective technique for pa-tients with prior breast augmentation. It resulted in fewer complications. This approach should be considered as an option for breast reconstruction after mastectomy in this cohort of patients.

The low coefficient of thermal expansion of Invar 36 represents a significant consideration in light of its potential effects, particularly in industrial applications where thermal stability is of paramount importance. In light of this, a three-step heat treatment was employed, to reduce the thermal expansion coefficient, and enhance the thermal dimensional stability. The ingots produced by vacuum induction melting were subjected to a warm rolling process at 900 °C, followed by a three-step heat treatment consisting of water quenching at 850 °C, tempering at 350 °C with a holding time of 1 hour, and aging at 100 °C for 24 hours. This process enabled the coefficient of thermal expansion to remain almost unchanged, exhibiting values between 0.5 and 0.6 x10-6/°C up to 150 °C. Following the heat treatment, the total elongation increased up to 40% as a natural consequence of the reduction of residual stresses, while a slight decrease in tensile strength was observed. The implementation of a three-step heat treatment process has facilitated an enhancement of the soft magnetic property, which has exhibited a decline in coercivity and an increase in saturation magnetization. As a consequence, three-step heat-treated invar 36 alloys are emerging as a potential candidate for utilization in the aerospace and precision electronics industries, given their satisfactory physical and mechanical characteristics.

The seed habit is the most complex and successful method of sexual reproduction in vascular plants. It represents a remarkable moment in the evolution of plants that afterwards spread on land. In particular, seed size had a pivotal role as for evolutionary success and agronomic trait, especially in the field of crop domestication. Given that crop seeds constitute one of the primary products for consumption, it follows that seed size represents a fundamental determinant of crop yield. This adaptative feature is strictly controlled by genetic traits from both maternal and zygotic tissues, although seed development and growth are also affected by environmental cues. Despite being a highly exploited topic for both basic and applied research, there are still many issues to be elucidated as for developmental biology as well as for agronomic science. This review addresses a number of open questions related to cues that influence seed growth and size, and how developmental processes are influenced by them. Besides, new insights on the genetic-molecular control of this adaptive trait are presented.

Wearing masks to protect against communicable diseases is an effective tool used in many countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Antibacterial activity, antibacterial efficiency, microbial purity and breathability properties of medical disposable masks are very important. Ag is most commonly applied to antimicrobial textiles, but several studies are known about Ag nano-particles. In this work three antimicrobial additives were used. One of them Rudolf GmBH's RUCO-BAC AGP with silver chloride (AgCl) active ingredient also has antimicrobial activity. Four compositions of the binders with antimicrobial additives were prepared and applied to one-layer nonwoven PP material using screen printing, knife over roll coating and laminating machine methods. The influence of the binder antimicrobial polymer coating on the breathability and antibacterial activity of the nonwoven PP material was evaluated. Results had showed that the composition of the polyacrylic acid binder Tubicoat Thickener LP had the least effect on their breathability and samples with the RUCO-BAC AGP formulation had showed the best antimicrobial response. Therefore, further studies of the antimicrobial coating composition were performed using the binder Tubicoat Thickener LP and antimicrobial additives of different chemical nature and concentration - RUCO-BAC AGP, BI-OME AM10 and Nano Ag aqueous dispersion. Based on the microbiological and air permeability results of the samples of the one-layer nonwoven material with coating, the samples of two-layers and three-layers of medical mask model were prepared. Microbiological studies have shown that three-layered medical mask model with RUCO-BAC AGP composition in the middle layer, in both sides of the model has antibacterial efficiency against three pathogens (E. Coli, K. Pneumoniae, an S. Aureus). The performance of this medical mask model has been found to meet requirements for type I medical masks according to the EN 14863 standard. Study have shown that the microbial purity of the mask model is CFU/g <3.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, with its highly sensitive olfactory system, has emerged as a promising tool for testing chemotaxis. In the field of cancer diagnostics, there is a growing interest in the development of non-invasive screening methods for the detection of volatile organic compounds in a patient's urine. The objective of this study was to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by evaluating the ability of a Caenorhabditis elegans-based chemotaxis assay to discriminate between urine samples from healthy individuals and patients diagnosed with breast or colon cancer. Following synchronization of the developmental stages of C. elegans, nematodes were exposed to the urine of cancer patients and healthy individuals. Subsequently, chemotactic indices were calculated for each urine sample. Our results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the chemotactic response of C. elegans to urine samples from cancer patients compared to healthy volunteers (p < 0.001). Moreover, the test exhibited promising diagnostic utility, with a sensitivity of 98%, a specificity of 62%, and a detection rate of 78%. Our findings expand on previous observations, confirming the remarkable sensitivity of C. elegans hermaphrodites to discriminating cancer-related volatile organic compounds in urine samples.

Infrared thermography is a contactless imaging technique, useful to measure surface temperature at distance which has been widely applied in animal production. The possible applications within the pig husbandry include sow heat detection, reduction of the incidence of neonatal mortality, recognition of febrile state caused by pathogens, study of metabolic efficiency, evaluation of stress caused by heat, by constraints, or by aggressive interaction and meat quality prediction. Even if this technique could be easily influenced by environmental factors, the continuous improvement in the procedures and the decrease in the cost of the equipment will allow in the next future new and more applications in swine farming.

In the process of oil and gas development and production, when the flow rate in the wellbore is large, the materials underground will be eroded, causing the operation to be unable to proceed smoothly and reducing the efficiency of oil and gas production. Therefore, optimizing the anti-erosion coating under high-speed flow conditions in wellbore is a very interesting thing. It can greatly improve operational efficiency. In this paper, laser cladding was used to prepare the new coating used in the PDC drill bit. Then, the effects of tungsten carbide and multi-layer graphene on the microstructure and properties of the tungsten carbide coating were studied. The research results indicate that, for new coatings, 60% tungsten carbide and 0.3% graphene are the optimal ratios. After adding WC, the hardness has significantly improved. However, when the WC content further increases more than 30%, the increase in hardness is relatively small. In addition, when the content of graphene is more than 0.3%, the branched structure became thicker, and not only the segregation of Cr, Si and W became very obvious again, but also the segregation of Fe occurred at the Ni enrichment site. The research results contribute to improving oil and gas production and operational efficiency under high-speed fluid flow conditions in the wellbore.

This study examines the environmental challenges faced by Malaysian industries in adhering to industrial effluent regulations with the research question, what are the challenges in complying with environmental legislations from industries? It investigates the primary factors contributing to non-compliance and the perspectives, knowledge, and needs of Malaysian industries regarding environmental compliance. This study recommends the best strategy for promoting self-compliance. Thirteen stakeholders from various industries with environmental management experience were interviewed. Over the past seven years, these industries have shown low com-pliance with the Industrial Effluent Regulation 2009, prompting an exploration of their adaptability to regulations. Challenges identified include cost, employee attitudes, technology, management support, public complaints, and jurisdictional issues. Responses varied from divergent to unified viewpoints, highlighting the complexity of compliance issues. Respondents suggested enhancing compliance through behavioral changes, including incentives, enforcement, awareness, guidance, industry ratings, management commitment, and public disclosure of emissions. Suggestions for improvement and innovative solutions emerged based on participants' experiences, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement. The study emphasizes the government's crucial role in ensuring regulation adherence but underscores the need for analyzing barriers and exploring alternative approaches. Understanding industry perspectives and strategies is essential for progress. Compliance, however, requires an analysis of the current challenges and adopting adaptive measures. It is important to understand industries' perspectives and strategies to move forward.

Bhutan lies to the East of Himalaya and it hosts around 11,248 species in all taxa. Bhutan’s lush and green forest covers 71 percent of land which comes under the five National Parks, four Wildlife Sanctuaries, 1 Strict Nature Reserve, Community Forests and biological corridors connecting different protected areas. More than half (51.44 percent) is protected by law and activities are restricted under certain circumstances. It is home to Takin (Budorcas taxicolor whitei), White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis), Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis), Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens), Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) and Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) that are globally threatened. Bhutan contributed around 23 new species between 2017 and 2020 which were new to science, and Bhutan’s biodiversity holds immense opportunities for researchers and environmental scientists as its biodiversity is in early stage of discovery. To date, Bhutan records 1 species as Extinct (EX), 1 species as Extinct in the Wild (EW) and 134 species as Vulnerable (VU), Endangered (EN) and Critically Endangered (CR) under International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. This paper aims to report a checklist of globally threatened species listed in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from Bhutan. The paper also lists down the new species that were discovered in Bhutan since 2017. More researchers are needed to discover new species from Bhutan’s rich and lush forest.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence combined with behavioral sciences have led to the development of cutting-edge tools for recognizing human emotions based on text, video, audio, and physiological data. However, these data sources are expensive, intrusive, and regulated, unlike plants which have been shown to be sensitive to human steps and sounds. A methodology is proposed to use plants as human emotion detectors. Electrical signals from plants are tracked and labeled based on video data. Labeled data are then used for classification. MLP, biLSTM, MFCC-CNN, MFCC-ResNet, and additionally, Random Forests, 1-Dimensional CNN, and biLSTM without windowing models are set using a grid search algorithm with cross-validation. Finally, best-parameterized models are trained and used with the test set for classification. The performance of this methodology is measured with a case study with 54 participants, who were watching an emotionally charged video, as ground truth their facial emotions were simultaneously measured using face emotion analysis. The Random Forest model shows the best performance, particularly in recognizing high-arousal emotions, achieving an overall weighted accuracy of 55.2% and demonstrating high weighted recall in emotions such as fear 61.0% and happiness 60.4%. The MFCC-ResNet model offers decently balanced results, with Accuracy(MFCC-ResNet)=0.318 and Recall (MFCC-ResNet)=0.324. With the MFCC-ResNet model fear and anger are recognized with 75% and 50% recall respectively. Thus, using plants as an emotion recognition tool seems worth investigating, addressing both cost and privacy concerns.

Despite increased protection globally, climate change and other anthropogenic factors have caused a significant decline in seagrass cover. Identifying the specific causes of this decline is paramount if they are to be addressed. Therefore, we identified the causes of long-term change in seagrass/submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) percentage cover and extent in the Bluefields Bay Special Fish Conservation Area (BBSFCA), a marine protected area on Jamaica’s southern coast. We used two random forest regression (RFr) models that included 2013 hydroacoustic survey SAV percentage cover data (dependent variable), and auxiliary data, reflectance data from level 2 processed 2013 Landsat 7 and 8 images and image band texture statistics maps (mean and variance) as predictors to generate 24 SAV percentage cover maps for the period 1984 – 2021 (37 years) using data from Landsat 4-5, 7 and 8 images., from which benthic features maps (SAV present, absent and coral reef) were created. Rainfall and map data were used to determine if SAV extent/area (km2) and average percentage cover and annual rainfall changed significantly over time and to evaluate the influence of rainfall. Rainfall impact on the overall spatial patterns of SAV loss, gain, and percentage cover change was assessed using a pixel-based regression. Finally, the most important spatial pattern predictors (two rainfall proxies (distance and direction from river mouth), benthic topography, depth, and hurricane exposure (a measure of hurricane disturbance)) of SAV loss, gain, and percentage cover change during 23 successive 1-to-4-year periods were identified using spatial Bayesian INLA generalized linear mixed models. SAV area/extent was largely stable with &gt; 70% mean percentage cover for multiple years. However, Hurricane Ivan (in 2004) caused a significant decline in SAV area/extent (by 1.62 km2, or a 13%) during 2002 – 2006 and a second hurricane (Dean) in 2007 delayed recovery until 2015. Additionally, rainfall declined significantly by &gt;1000 mm since 1901, and mean monthly rainfall positively influenced SAV percentage cover change. The pixel-based regression highlighted areas where mean monthly rainfall had a positive overall effect on SAV cover percentage change (across the entire bay) and gain (closer to the mouth of a river). The most frequently selected important spatial pattern predictors were the two rainfall proxies (areas closer to the river mouth were more likely to experience SAV loss and gain) and depth, with shallow areas generally having a higher probability of SAV loss and gain. Three hurricanes had significant but different impacts depending on their distance from the southern coastline. Hurricane Gilbert, which made landfall in 1988, resulted in higher SAV percentage cover loss in 1987 - 1988. Benthic locations with a northwestern/northern facing aspect (the predominant direction of Ivan’s leading edge wind bands) experienced higher SAV losses during 2002 – 2006. Although some locations impacted by Ivan and not by Dean recovered during 2006 – 2008, exposure to Ivan explained percentage cover loss during 2006 – 2008 and average exposure to (the cumulative impact of) Ivan and Dean (both with tracks close to the southern coastline) explained SAV loss during 2013 – 2015. Therefore, despite historic lows in annual rainfall, overall, higher rainfall was beneficial, multiple hurricanes impacted the site, and despite two hurricanes in three years SAV recovered within a decade. Hurricanes and a further reduction in rainfall may pose a serious threat to SAV persistence in the future.

In the contribution, through literary content analysis, we present the results of the analysis of the publication The Boy From Block 66: A WW2 Jewish Holocaust Survival True Story (2023). We are convinced that this book can be included in the teaching of Literary Education at various levels of education, especially at the level of application of the historical and integrative approach of introducing students to the literary themes of the Shoah. For two excerpts from this publication, we present several questions and tasks, the aim of which is to guide pupils to an adequate internalization of the tone of the events of the Shoah. We are convinced that (not only) this publication is an adequate narrative in which the events that connote the Shoah are presented authentically and in an attractive way for young readers, and whose presentation in this publication leads to a certain de-abstracting of them.

Objectives. The aim of the study is to identify relevant research topics based on pooled bibliometric data of International Journal of Hydrogen Energy publications from 2022-2024, collected from The Lens and ScienceDirect platforms. Data source. Bibliometric records of International Journal of Hydrogen Energy articles published in 2022-2024 from The Lens and ScienceDirect platforms were used. Programs and utilities used. VOSviewer, Scimago Graphica, Inkscape, FP-growth utility. Results. The study showed the feasibility of merging bibliometric records from the open platforms ScienceDirect and The Lens, which complement each other. The 'Fields of Study' data of The Lens can be rationally interpreted as system keywords similar to Scopus Index Keywords. The possibility of using 'Fields of Study' data in a method similar to bibliographic coupling is shown. The practicality of using an Alluvial diagram to show the co-occurrence of the four terms was demonstrated. The study also emphasizes the advisability of joint use of VOSviewer and Scimago Graphica programs for complex visualization of bibliometric analysis results. The study identified two dominant publication topics in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy for 2022-2024, which can be described in terms of: 'Catalysis, Hydrogen, Physical_chemistry, Chemical_engineering, Nanotechnology, Electrochemistry, Organic_chemistry, Materials_science' and 'Electrical_engineering, Hydrogen_production, Renewable_energy, Environmental_science, Hydrogen_economy, Hydrogen, Engineering'.

We study theoretically the Josephson diode effect (JDE) realized in a system composed of parallel-coupled double quantum dots (DQDs) sandwiched between two semiconductor nanowires deposited on an s-wave superconductor surface. Due to the combined effects of the proximity-caused superconductivity, strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman splitting inside the nanowires, a pair of Majorana bound states (MBSs) may possibly emerge at opposite ends of each nanowire. Different phase factors arisen from the superconductor substrate can be generated in the coupling amplitudes between the DQDs and MBSs prepared at the left and right nanowires, and will result in the Josephson current. We find that the critical Josephson currents in positive and negative directions are different from each other in amplitude within an oscillation period with respective to the magnetic flux penetrating through the system, a phenomenon known as the JDE. It arises from the quantum interference effect in this double-path device, and can hardly occur in system of one QD coupled to MBSs. Our results also show that the diode efficiency can reach up to 50%, and depends on the overlap amplitude between the MBSs and the energy levels of the DQDs adjustable by gate voltages. The present model is realizable within current nanofabitication technologies and may find practical use in interdisciplinary field of Majorana and Josephson physics.

Viruses can induce the fusion of infected and neighboring cells, leading to the formation of syncytia. Cell-cell fusion is mediated by viral fusion proteins on the plasma membrane of infected cells that interact with cellular receptors on neighboring cells. Viruses use this mechanism to spread rapidly to adjacent cells or escape host immunity. For some viruses, syncytium formation is a hallmark of infection and a known pathogenicity factor. For others, the role of syncytium formation in viral dissemination and pathogenicity remains poorly understood. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant patients and the leading cause of congenital infections. Clinical HCMV isolates have broad cell tropism but differ in their ability to induce cell-cell fusions, and little is known about the molecular determinants. We developed a system to analyze HCMV glycoprotein B (gB) variants in a defined genetic background. HCMV strains TB40/E and TR were used as vectors to compare the fusogenicity of six gB variants from congenitally infected fetuses with those from three laboratory strains. Five of them conferred the ability to induce fusion of MRC-5 human embryonic lung fibroblasts to one or both backbone strains, as determined by a split GFP-luciferase reporter system. The same gB variants were not sufficient to induce syncytia in infected ARPE-19 epithelial cells, suggesting that additional factors are involved. The system described here allows a systematic comparison of the fusogenicity of viral envelope glycoproteins and may help to clarify whether fusion-promoting variants are associated with increased pathogenicity.

Frequent and excessive consumption of alcohol, be it episodic or sustained misuse, ranks among the top causes of mortality globally. This comprehensive analysis seeks to elucidate how alcohol misuse precipitates death, with a particular focus on associated cardiac anomalies. Notably, the phenomenon of "Holiday Heart Syndrome," linked to binge drinking, is recognized for inducing potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Moreover, persistent alcohol consumption is implicated in the development of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a condition that underlies heart failure and arrhythmic disturbances of the heart. Additionally, individuals undergoing withdrawal from alcohol frequently exhibit disruptions in normal heart rhythm, posing a risk of death. This review further delves into additional alcohol-related mortality factors, including the heightened likelihood of hypertension, cerebrovascular accidents (strokes), and the connection between excessive alcohol use and Takotsubo syndrome.

In this study is considered the design and implementation of pilots in desalination plants, in a systematic way, to evaluate energy improvements in water desalination processes. Pilot tests with the latest generation of reverse osmosis membranes in large desalination plants are becoming increasingly common, as small-scale experiments are carried out on the operation of new generation membranes with better salt rejection and lower energy consumption, to achieve the best water quality required for each case at the lowest possible cost. In this way, pilot tests are being carried out before the decision is made whether or not to change the reverse osmosis membranes, as this represents a significant investment and we minimize the risk of making a mistake in order to ensure the best results in terms of energy consumption, operating costs and reducing the environmental impact while complying with the required water quality. In this case, the Pareto analysis is used to highlight the 2 or 3 most significant causes whose treatment affects more than 80% of the possible energy improvement to be implemented. In this sense, figure 3 below shows the Pareto diagram for the energy improvement of N plants in a given territory. A series of factors that can affect this energy improvement have been numbered from 1 to 7, such as the seawater intake, the decision on the membranes, the energy recuperators, the high-pressure pump, the decisions on the pre-treatment, the feed pump or the post-treatment. The Pareto diagram has been studied at territorial level with a total of 180 seawater desalination plants. The novelty of this article is to apply Pareto diagram to a study of a total of 180 seawater desali-nation plants at territorial level in Canary Islands.

Detailed mapping and structural observations on the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) of Iraklia island integrated by detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb ages elucidate the Mesozoic pre-subduction evolution and the Cenozoic orogenic events. Field data reveal that the Iraklia tectonostratigraphy includes a heterogeneous Lower Schist Unit juxtaposed against a Variegated Marble Unit and an overlying Upper Schist Unit. The contact is an extensional ductile-to-brittle-ductile, top-to-N shear zone, associated with the Oligo-Miocene exhumation. The DZ spectrum of the Lower Schist Unit characterized by Gondwanan/peri-Gondwanan provenance signatures points to Late Triassic maximum depositional ages (MDAs). A quartz-rich schist layer yielded Precambrian DZ ages exclusively, considered part of the pre-Variscan metasedimentary Cycladic Basement, equivalent to those observed on Ios island. A significant change occurred during the deposition of the Upper Schist Unit, revealing Late Cretaceous MDAs and a high amount of Late Paleozoic DZ ages, attesting to more internal Pelagonian source areas. The imprint of Paleotethyan vs. Neotethyan geodynamic events is revealed in the DZ U-Pb ages record. The Triassic DZ input demonstrates eroded volcanic material related to the final Paleotethys closure and the Pindos/CBU rift basin opening. Late Cretaceous metamorphic/magmatic zircons and ~48-56 Ma zircon rims constrain the onset of subduction and high-pressure metamorphism.

A comparative analysis between Bidirectional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) and Smoothing-ESO (SESO), simultaneously considering Reliability-Based Topology Optimization (RBTO) and the structure's self-weight in the case of three-dimensional elasticity, is presented in this study. Due to the important role of the existence of uncertainties in making the structural design more realistic, geometry, volumetric fraction, modulus of elasticity, compliance, and loading are considered random variables with normal probability distribution. When adopting the First Order Reliability Method (FORM), the failure probability is calculated based on the reliability index. Furthermore, considering the influence of self-weight in problems involving large structures in civil engineering, especially in the case of bridges, makes the optimal configuration more reliable for design. A series of examples are covered to validate the methods presented, showing their efficiency and robustness.

A key step in the study of tree pathology is the identification of appropriate method for inoculating pathogens of diseases in branch and trunk. Pathogens of diseases in branch and trunk are commonly inoculated through punching, burning, and toothpick inoculation. However, there is a lack of comparative analysis of the inoculation outcomes of these three methods. In this work, Six‐year‐old P. alba var. pyramidalis were inoculated with V. sordida, using punching, burning, and toothpick techniques, respectively, to investigate the differences in the effectiveness of these inoculation methods. Results reveal that the incidence rate was 93.55% in the toothpick inoculation group, significantly higher than 80.65% in the burning inoculation group (p = 0.007), while punching inoculation exhibited significant pathological responses in the early stages, with spontaneous healing in the later stage. Addi-tionally, toothpick inoculation was more efficient in inducing Valsa canker when inoculating the pathogen at the bottom of the tree, with lower intra‐ and inter‐row spacing (stand density) providing better outcomes than higher intra‐ and inter‐row spacing. The results of this study demonstrate that toothpick inoculation is an optimal option for studying the artificial inoculation of V. sordida in six‐year‐old P. alba var. pyramidalis, providing technical support for research on poplar diseases and offering a theoretical basis for the inoculation of other diseases in branch and trunk.

Boeing and Airbus developed a special testing procedure to investigate the compressive response of laminates that have been impacted (following standards ASTM D 7137 and DIN 65561). This study focuses on both experimental and numerical analysis of Kevlar plates subjected to compression after impact. To ensure high quality and appropriate mechanical properties, the composite plates were manufactured using autoclaving. The DIN 65561 protocol was followed for all three test systems. Initially, ultrasonic C-scanning was performed on all plates before testing to confirm they were free of any significant defects arising from the manufacturing process. Subsequently, low-energy impact testing was conducted at levels ranging from 0 to 8 Joules. Three specimens were tested at each energy level. After the impact, all specimens underwent ultrasonic C-scanning again to assess the internal delamination damage caused by the impactor. Finally, both pristine and impacted specimens were subjected to compressive testing using the special jig specified in DIN 65561. The compressive impact strength results obtained from these tests were plotted against the delamination area measured by C-scanning. This data was then compared to results obtained from specimens with artificial damage. Semi-empirical equations were used to fit both sets of curves. The same procedure (impact testing, C-scanning, and data analysis) was repeated to investigate the relationship between impact energy and total delamination area. Lastly, finite element modeling was employed to predict the buckling stresses that develop under compression in the impacted systems studied. These modelling approaches have demonstrated good accuracy in reproducing experimental results for CAI tests.

Heterometallic rare-earth clusters have garnered much attention because of their interest-ing solid-state structures and versatile applications in catalysis and material and polymer chemistry over the last four decades. Particular interest is rare earth–transition metal co-ordination compounds that behave as single-molecule magnets (SMMs) because of their potential use in information storage, spintronic devices, and magnetic refrigeration sys-tems. Another implementation involves using lanthanide clusters in luminescent-based sensing for environmental protection and security screening or in photocatalytic energy conversion reactions. Heterometallic rare earth complexes offer the promise of catalytic performance of many organic reactions due to their high oxygenophilicity, Lewis acidity, high coordination numbers, and ability to change the coordination environment quickly. Therefore, they are commonly applied as catalysts in asymmetric synthesis, oxidation re-actions, and CO2 conversions or as initiators in ring-opening polymerization and copoly-merization of cyclic monomers. They are also attractive single-source molecular precur-sors for functional inorganic materials. This review focused on the unique features and properties of the heterometallic rare earth complexes, which are closely correlated with their molecular structure. Our summary is a valuable resource, providing researchers with an insightful exploration of the heterometallic rare-earth complexes that demonstrated multimetallic synergy and cooperativity effects in various applications.