Recent media reports commented about a possible antidiabetics’ misuse issue related to molecules promoted as a weight-loss treatment in non-obese people. We evaluated here available pharmacovigilance misuse/abuse signals related to semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, in comparison to other GLP-1 receptor agonists (albiglutide; dulaglutide; exenatide; liraglutide; lixisenatide; tirzepatide) and the phentermine-topiramate combination. To that aim, we analysed the Food and Drug Administration-FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) dataset, performing a descriptive analysis of adverse event reports (AER) and calculating related pharmacovigilance measures, including the reporting odds ratio (ROR) and the proportional reporting ratio (PRR). During January 2018-December 2022, a total of 31,542 AER involving the selected molecules were submitted to FAERS; most involved dulaglutide (n=11,858; 37.6%) and semaglutide (n=8,249; 26.1%). In comparing semaglutide vs the remaining nolecules, the AER ‘drug abuse’, ‘drug withdrawal syndrome’, ‘prescription drug used without a prescription’ and ‘intentional product use issue’ respective PRR values were 4.05, 4.05, 3.60 and 1.80 (all<0.01). The same comparisons of semaglutide vs the phentermine-topiramate combination were not associated with any significant differences. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study documenting the misusing/abusing potential of semaglutide in comparison with other GLP1 analogues and the phentermine-topiramate combination. Current findings will need to be confirmed by further empirical investigations to fully understand the safety profile of those molecules.

This paper aims to determine the effect of local corrosion at three different corrosion areas, the 1. entire area, 2. constant moment area, and 3. constant shear area, on the flexural performance of RC beams. To analyze this, an experimental study was carried out to prepare two series of RC beams (200×300×2800mm) created with three different degree of corrosion inducing local rebar corrosion. Furthermore, two-series of experimental tests were conducted under different loading types by monotonic and cyclic loading. It was observed that strength capacity reduction grows in the order of the corroded RC specimens induced: the 1. entire area > 2. constant moment area > 3. constant shear area, as the average corrosion rate increases. Our test results further show that the yield and ultimate strength was kept nearly equivalent to the uncorroded RC specimen by the average corrosion rate of 10% and 15%, respectively. Over these corrosion rates, the yield strength and ultimate strength dropped significantly. Compared to test results under a monotonic loading condition, the structural capacity under a cyclic loading condition decreased with a more pronounced tendency for each corrosion case as the corrosion rate increased. A longitudinal crack was developed throughout and adjacent to the corrosion areas, as the corrosion rate increased. Thus, we can infer that strength reduction may be strongly influenced by this longitudinal crack.

Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) over prime fields relies on scalar point multiplication realized by point addition and point doubling. Point addition and point doubling operations consist of many modular multiplications of large operands (256 bits for example), especially in projective and Jacobian coordinates which eliminate the modular inversion required in affine coordinates for every point addition or point doubling operation. Accelerating modular multiplication is therefore important for high-performance ECC. This paper presents the hardware implementations of modular multiplication algorithms, including 1) Interleaved modular multiplication (IMM), 2) Montgomery modular multiplication (MMM), 3) Shift-sub modular multiplication (SSMM), 4) SSMM with advance preparation (SSMMPRE), and 5) SSMM with CSAs and sign detection (SSMMCSA) algorithms, and evaluates their execution time (the number of clock cycles and clock frequency) and required hardware resources (ALMs and registers). Experimental results show that SSMM is 1.76 times faster than IMM, and SSMMCSA is 3.21 times faster than IMM. We also present the ECC hardware implementations based on the Secp256k1 protocol in affine, projective, and Jacobian coordinates using the IMM, SSMM, SSMMPRE, and SSMMCSA algorithms, and investigate their cost and performance. Our ECC implementations can be applied to the design of hardware security module systems.

Recent media reports commented about a possible antidiabetics’ misuse issue related to molecules promoted as a weight-loss treatment in non-obese people. We here evaluated available pharmacovigilance misuse/abuse signals related to semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, in comparison to other GLP-1 receptor agonists (albiglutide; dulaglutide; exenatide; liraglutide; lixisenatide; tirzepatide) and the phentermine-topiramate combination. To that aim, we analysed the Food and Drug Administration-FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) dataset, performing a descriptive analysis of adverse event reports (AER) and calculating related pharmacovigilance measures, including the reporting odds ratio (ROR) and the proportional reporting ratio (PRR). During January 2018-December 2022, a total of 31,542 AER involving the selected molecules were submitted to FAERS; most involved dulaglutide (n=11,858; 37.6%) and semaglutide (n=8,249; 26.1%). In comparing semaglutide vs the remaining antidiabetics, the AER ‘drug abuse’, ‘drug withdrawal syndrome’, ‘prescription drug used without a prescription’ and ‘intentional product use issue’ respective PRR values were 4.05, 4.05, 3.60 and 1.80 (all<0.01). The same comparisons of semaglutide vs the phentermine-topiramate combination were not associated with any significant differences. To our best, this is the first study documenting the misusing/abusing potential of semaglutide in comparison with other novel antidiabetics and the phentermine-topiramate combination. Current findings will need to be confirmed by further empirical investigations to fully understand the safety profile of those molecules.

Unmetamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites provide important information concerning the formation and evolution of organic matter, such as amino acids. However, terrestrial contamination remains a valid concern when investigating the organic inventory of meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Accordingly, JAXA’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx have been launched with the task of returning uncontaminated C-type asteroid material to Earth. The successful Hayabusa2 mission has a very limited sample size (5.4 g). Therefore, many conventional compound specific techniques will struggle to detect amino acids above detection limit with available sample amounts (~several mg to 10’s of mg) being much smaller than those typically used. Here a novel method utilizing ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap-mass spectrometry is validated and applied to very small meteorite samples, thus providing an approach that can overcome the small sample size constraints of sample return missions. The method is highly sensitive, enabling the detection of amino acids in the carbonaceous chondrites Murchison (2.28 mg) and Orgueil (2.30 mg). Furthermore, quantitation was possible for many of the detected amino acids in Murchison and Orgueil. Using the data presented here, both the amino acid reservoirs of Murchison and Orgueil and the potential application of this method to sample return samples are discussed.

Partial shading on solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays is a prevalent problem in photovoltaic systems that impair the performance of PV modules and is responsible for reduced power output as compared to that in standard irradiance conditions thereby resulting in the appearance of multiple maximas on panel output power characteristics. These maxims contribute to mismatch power losses among PV modules. The mismatch losses depend on shading characteristics together with different interconnected configuration schemes of PV modules. The research presents a comparative analysis of partial shading effects on a 4 x4 PV array system connected in series(S), parallel (P), serries-parallel (SP),total-cross-tied (TCT),central-cross-tied(CCT),bridge-linked(BL),bridge-linked total cross-tied (BLTCT) ,honey-comb(HC), honey-comb total-cross-tied (HCTCT) and ladder (LD) configurations using MATLAB/Simulink. The PV module SPR-X20-250-BLK was used for modeling and simulation analysis. Each module is comprised of 72 number of PV cells and a combination of 16 PV modules was employed for the contextual analysis. Accurate mathematical modeling for the HCTCT configuration under partial shading conditions (PSCs) is provided for the first time and is verified from the simulation. The different configuration schemes were investigated under short-narrow,short-wide,long-narrow,long-wide, diagonal, entire row distribution, and entire column distribution partial shading condition patterns with mathematical implementation and simulation of passing clouds. The performance of array configurations is compared in terms of maximum power generated ), mismatch power loss (∆), relative power loss ) and the fill factor (FF). It was inferred that on average, TCT configuration yielded maximum power generation under all shading patterns among all PV modules interconnection configurations with minimum mismatch power losses followed by hybrid and conventional PV array configurations respectively.

One of the most important objectives of the studies worldwide is to improve the performance of automotive engines to reduce fuel consumption and environmental pollution. Accordingly, the principal motivation of this research study is improving the tribological behavior of the piston ring/cylinder liner interfaces as a promising and straightforward approach in automotive fuel economy and increasing engine durability using Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ nanomaterials as smart nano-lubricant additives that adapted to different operating conditions by replenishing mechanisms anti-friction and anti-wear in automotive engines.

Over the past few decades, the growth of the urban population has been remarkable. Nowadays, 50% of the population lives in urban areas, and forecasts point that by 2050 this number will reach 70%. Today, 64% of all travel made is within urban environments and the total amount of urban kilometers traveled is expected to triple by 2050. Thus, seeking novel solutions for urban mobility becomes paramount for 21st century society. In this work, we discuss the performance of vehicular networks. We consider the metric Delta Network. The Delta Network characterizes the connectivity of the vehicular network through the percentage of travel time in which vehicles are connected to roadside units. This article reviews the concept of Delta Network and extends its study through the presentation of a general heuristic based on the definition of scores to identify the areas of the road network that should receive coverage. After defining the general heuristic, we show how small changes in the score computation can generate very distinct (and interesting) patterns of coverage, each one suited to a given scenario. In order to exemplify such behavior, we propose three deployment strategies based on simply changing the computation of scores. The results show that the strategies derived from the general heuristic are very interesting, all of them deploying roadside units in a circle pattern around the traffic epicenter.

In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits-Tools-Organisation-People-Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach. Finally, it identifies key challenges such as organizational culture and performance measurements, and provides practical recommendations to overcome them for a successful CoP implementation.

Background/Objectives: Dental implants have become a cornerstone of restorative dentistry, providing a long-lasting method for tooth replacement. The level of osseointegration has a big impact on the biomechanical stability at the bone-implant contact (BIC), which determines how long these implants will work. However, the exact consequences of changing osseointegration levels on different implant designs, especially in bones with variable densities, are not well known. Three short dental implants were tested in this study: BioMet 3iT3, Straumann® Standard Plus Short Regular Neck (SPS-RN), and Straumann® Standard Plus Short-Wide Neck (SPS-WN). 3D finite element analysis (FEA) was used to look at how well they worked biomechanically. This paper tests the implants at four stages of osseointegration: 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% in both high-density (Bone Type III) and low-density (Bone Type IV) cancellous bone. It also created and examined realistic CAD models under static occlusal loading conditions to assess stress distribution and major strains at the bone-implant contact.; Results: The study discovered that as osteointegration increases, von Mises stress and principal strains go down significantly for all implant types. The SPS-WN implant had the lowest strain values, especially for bone with low density. These reductions demonstrate increased mechanical stability as the bone-implant inter-face becomes more capable of dispersing mechanical stresses, minimizing the potential for localized deformation and bone resorption.; Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of achieving optimum osseointegration to reduce mechanical stress and increase the lifespan of dental implants. The SPS-WN type implant performed better in biomechanical tests than the others, especially when bone conditions were not ideal. This makes it a great choice for clinical applications that need long-term implant success.Keywords: x

This article provides a literature review on tubal carcinoma to offer an updated insight into its preventative strategies, diagnosis, treatment, and oncological surveillance. In addition to the search string utilized, the authors' focus extended to key scientific studies, consensus statements, guidelines, and relevant case reports essential for the proper clinical management of the disease, providing a methodologically well-structured literature review combined with the practical expertise in the oncological field. The article also includes two emblematic clinical cases that emphasize the importance of understanding the physiopathology and the current state of the art in the anatomopathological advancements of tubal/ovarian/peritoneal carcinoma, often assimilated into a single clinical entity.

Great Himalayan range with regions namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and high altitude parts of north eastern states inherently experience high solar exposure, cold, arid climate and significantly challenging geography. With a scarcity of affordable public housing projects in these regions a grid enabled low energy residential prototype is proposed having the capability to operate on nearly zero consumption of heating and cooling energy with the application of indigenous and contemporary energy efficient passive design techniques. Preliminary study, development of design and reading of simulation results were applied for the performance and benefit analysis of the low energy building prototype. Analysis of the climatic zone further classified and narrowed the design criterion by confirming upon beneficial architectural components proven to be energy efficient. These architectural components include, optimization of direct solar gain and orientation of building envelope, modified trombe wall system, traditional sunrooms, solar chimney with openable vents, efficient spatial planning and compliance of relevant parameters such as window-wall-ratio (WWR). The proposed low energy housing for the economically weaker section is estimated to save nearly 50% of active fuel based household heating energy. Site has been planned in such a way that about 100% of required electricity can be generated from on site renewable energy for the proposed infrastructure, it is proven more beneficial if additional electricity is generated to offset the power supply and result in lower or subsidized electricity bills. Design is compliant to different codes relevant to energy conservation and low-income housing with an embodied carbon of about 1.2 kgCO2/m2 per dwelling unit giving ‘A’ grade in cradle to gate impacts. The findings and performance of this prototype can serve as a guideline for energy efficient design in low income group housing situated in severe cold and arid regions of India such as Ladakh (U.T.).

Background: The objectives were to evaluate: the safety and immunogenicity of nonavalent human papillomavirus (nHPV) vaccine in adult Spanish women living with HIV (WLHIV); the prevalence of anal and cervical dysplasia and nHPV vaccine genotypes in anus and cervix; and risk factors for high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in anal mucosa. Methods In this single-center, open-arm, non-randomized clinical trial, nHPV vaccine was administered at 0, 2, and 6 months to WLHIV enrolled between February 2020 and November 2023, measuring vaccine antibody titers pre-vaccination and at 2, 6, and 7 months after the first dose. Cervical and anal cytology and HPV PCR genotyping studies were performed. Women with abnormal cytology and/or anal or cervical HPV infection at baseline underwent high-resolution anoscopy and/or colposcopy. Results: 122 participants were included with mean age of 49.6 years: 52.5% smoked; 10.7% had anal-genital condylomatosis; 38.5% infection by HR-HPV in anus and 25.4% in cervix, most frequently HPV-16; 19.1% had AIN1 and 3.1% CIN1 and CIN2. Vaccine administration did not modify viral-immunological status (CD4 [809±226.8 cells/uL vs. 792.35 ±349.95; p=0.357]) or plasma HIV load (3.38±4.41 vs. 1.62±2.55 cop/uL [log]; p=0.125). Anti-HPV antibodies ([IQR: 0-0] vs. 7.63 nm [IQR: 3.46-19.7]; p=0.0001) and seroconversion rate (8.2% vs. 96.7% [p=0.0001]) were increased at 7 versus 0 months. There were no severe vaccine-related adverse reactions; injection-site pain was reported by around half of participants. HR-HPV infection in anus was solely associated with concomitant cervix infection (HR 5.027; 95% CI: 1.009-25.042). Conclusions: nHPV vaccine in adult WLHIV is immunogenic and safe.

The firmware developed for the readout and trigger processing of the information emerging from BIS78-RPC Muon Spectrometer chambers in the ATLAS experiment at CERN, is presented here, together with data processing techniques, data acquisition software and tests of the readout chain system, on the road to make these chambers operational in the ATLAS experiment. This work is performed in the context of the BIS78-RPC project, which deals with the pilot deployment of a new generation of sMDT+RPC chambers in the experiment. Such chambers are planned to be fully deployed in the whole barrel inner layer of the Muon Spectrometer during the Phase-II upgrade of the ATLAS experiment. On-chamber front-ends include an amplifier, a discriminator ASIC and an LVDS transmitter. The signal is digitized by CERN HPTDC chips and then processed by an FPGA which is the heart of the readout and trigger processing, using various techniques. The work presented here is a continuation of the work presented in [1].

The responses of inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session were compared between 7 postmenopausal (57±2 y) and 8 premenopausal females (44±3 y) during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle, when estrogen and progesterone are highest, and. HIIT consisted of 10 x 1 min running intervals (90% maximum heart rate) separated by 1 min recovery intervals. Blood samples were collected at baseline (fasted), pre-exercise (postprandial), and 0, 30 and 90 min post-HIIT and analyzed for interleukin (IL-6) and 10 (IL-10), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and BDNF. IL-6 significantly increased from pre-exercise to 0 min post-HIIT in postmenopausal (+40%, p=0.01) but 30 min post-HIIT in premenopausal females (+60%, p=0.02). IL-6 remained elevated at 90 min post-HIIT in premenopausal (+104%, p=0.05) and to a higher degree in postmenopausal (+385%, p&lt;0.001). IL-10 showed no response. TNF-α increased from pre- to 0 min post-HIIT (+10%, p=0.05), then decreased to below pre-exercise at 30 min (-10%, p=0.02) and 90 min (-5%, p=0.04) in both groups. BDNF increased immediate post-HIIT in premenopausal (+60%, p&lt;0.001) but not postmenopausal females. The differences in IL-6 and BDNF response to HIIT between pre and postmenopausal females provide evidence of the role of female reproductive hormones in the regulation of these exercise-induced responses.

The effect of H2S with high concentrations on catalytic dry reforming of methane (DRM) process has seldom been focused on previously. Herein, a thermodynamic analysis of the DRM reactions in the presence of H2S with the concentration varying in 0-20 vol% was conducted firstly. Several typical types of catalysts including MgO, NiO/MgO and LaNiO3 in different states were prepared for executing DRM at 800 C, 0.1 MPa in the feed of 20 vol% CO2 and 20 vol% CH4 balanced with N2. The catalytic performance of each catalyst for DRM process under conditions of absence and presence of H2S was compared. A promotion effect of increasing H2S concentration on both the conversions of CO2 and CH4 and the molar yields of CO and H2 was observed on all the catalysts especially the MgO and the pristine NiO/MgO. While a significant decline in catalytic activity of either the reduced NiO/MgO or the reduced LaNiO3 catalyst after adding H2S, moderate reactant conversions still sustained. The results of process analysis and catalyst structure characterization suggest that H2S participation can contribute to the increment in CO2 and CH4 conversion, and active S-adsorbed species may play the key role of catalysis in the reactions involving H2S.

The new unique technology for granulation of metals and nonmetallic melts is presented in the paper. It was created on the newly developed controlled film flow disintegration with rapid cooling of the droplets and solidified granules in amorphous state. Three new phenomena discovered by us created the base for 3 different methods for granulation of metals and nonmetallic melts in a wide range of granules’ sizes. Electromagnetic resonance method allows producing granules of metals in the range of 1 mm and over. The soliton-like vibrational regime is available for production of any granulation material in the range 0.1-1 mm. Moreover, the shockwave regime is applicable for producing particles from 10 micrometers by size. All methods produce particles of the stated size with a narrow distribution by size: deviation from the average size no more than 50%. The other known methods do not produce granules with such high cooling rate, which can realize the amorphous state and cannot regulate size of particles in such bright but narrow range from 10 micrometers to 1-2 mm.

A novel technique suitable for propulsion of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is discussed in this paper. This approach utilizes the rotational energy of airborne gyro rotors and converts it into translational propulsion for the vehicle. The energy conversion is achieved by generating precisely directed centrifugal force pulses through short-duration rotor unbalances. The accurate control of the timing and magnitude of these unbalances is crucial for successful propulsion generation. Our first-order theory of controlled unbalance propulsion (CUP) predicts the potential for achieving high translational accelerations and vehicle velocities up to orbital levels. Power saving levitation of UAVs can be attained. In this paper, we provide traceable evidence that pulsed centrifugal propulsion is based on well-established laws of physics and can be realized using state-of-the-art technologies.

Agricultural activities are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon emissions from agricultural land use (CEALU) have become a hot issue across the world. However, few scholars explored the impact of agricultural land policies on carbon emissions, such as the High-standard farmland construction(HSFC) in China.Thus，by relying on provincial panel data for China for the period 2005-2017, the effect of the high-standard basic farmland construction policy on carbon emissions from agricultural land use per unit area and its regional differences were quantitatively analyzed using the difference-in-difference (DID) model. The results showed that: 1) China's CEALU per unit area presented a fluctuating upward trend during the period 2005-2017, from 392.58 kg/ha to 457.72 kg/ha, with an average annual growth rate of 1.31%. 2) The high-standard farmland construction(HSFC) policy produced a significant carbon emission reduction effect in agricultural land use, and reduced the CEALU per unit area by 10.80% on average. With the promotion of this policy, its carbon emission reduction effect in agricultural land use presented an overall increasing trend. 3) The carbon emission reduction effect of the high-standard farmland construction policy in agricultural land use was significant in central China, but non-significant in eastern China and western China.

Fluorescent bioprobes are invaluable tools for visualizing live cells and deciphering complex biological processes by targeting intracellular biomarkers without disrupting cellular functions. In addition to protein-binding concepts, fluorescent probes utilize various mechanisms, including membrane, metabolism, and gating-oriented strategies. This study introduces a novel fluorescent mechanism distinct from existing ways. Here, we developed a B-cell selective probe, CDrB, with unique transport mechanisms. Through SLC-CRISPRa screening, we identified two transporters, SLCO1B3 and SLC25A41, by sorting out populations exhibiting higher and lower fluorescence intensities, respectively, demonstrating contrasting activities. We confirmed that SLCO1B3, with comparable expression levels in T and B cells, facilitates the transport of CDrB into cells, while SLC25A41, overexpressed in T lymphocytes, actively exports CDrB. The observation suggests that SLC25A41 plays a crucial role in discriminating between T and B lymphocytes. Furthermore, it reveals the potential for reversible localization of SLC25A41 to demonstrate its distinct activity. This study is the first report to unveil a novel strategy of SLC by exporting the probe. We anticipate that this research will open up new avenues for developing fluorescent probes.

The high-quality development of urban-rural integration is a vital component of China's economy, serving as a strategic response to the in-depth deployment of new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies. This integration is underscored by the promotion of entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers, which acts as a driver for fostering high-quality development in urban-rural areas through market competition. The resulting influx of resources and commodities with similar characteristics plays a crucial role in bridging the urban-rural divide. To maintain objectivity, it is important to adopt a balanced approach and refrain from using biased language. This study delves into the connotation and internal mechanism of the high-quality development of urban-rural integration, centering on the principle of 'quality'. Specifically, it examines the role of entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers, and evaluates its direct impact and transmission mechanism. The research employs balanced panel data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region spanning from 2003 to 2021. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers serves as a catalyst for promoting high-quality urban-rural development through the construction of a virtuous cycle, whereby resource factors and commodity services are exchanged. Moreover, this deep integration yields diverse effects across economic, spatial, demographic, social, and ecological domains, underscoring the necessity of continued support for entrepreneurship in agriculture, rural areas, and among farmers to facilitate a seamless urban-rural economic cycle and fully realize the benefits of high-quality development.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have garnered considerable attention in academic and industrial circles due to their potential applications in flat panel displays and solid-state lighting technologies, leveraging the advantages offered by organic electroactive derivatives over their inorganic counterparts. The thin and flexible design of OLEDs enables the development of innovative lighting solutions, facilitating the creation of customizable and contoured lighting panels. Among the diverse electroactive components employed in the molecular design of OLED materials, the benzophenone core has attracted much attention as fragment for synthesis of organic semiconductors. On the other hand, the benzophenone also functions as a classical phosphor with high intersystem crossing efficiency. This characteristic makes it as compelling candidate for effective reverse intersystem crossing, potentially leading to the development of thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters. These emitting materials witnessed a pronounced interest in recent years due to their incorporation in metal-free electroactive frameworks and the capability to convert triplet excitons into emissive singlet excitons through reverse intersystem crossing (RISC), consequently achieving exceptionally high external quantum efficiencies (EQEs). This review article comprehensively overviews the synthetic pathways, thermal characteristics, electrochemical behaviour and photo-physical properties of the derivatives based on benzophenone. Furthermore, we explore their applications in OLED devices, both as host materials and emitters, shedding light on the promising opportunities that benzophenone-based compounds present in advancing OLED technology.

The altitude of the habitat is one of the important regulators of species survival. Kaçkar Mountains National Park is located in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. This is the first study on the benthic diatom flora of the high mountain lakes in Kaçkar Mountains National Park, which is situated between 2782 and 3075 m a.s.l. A total of 84 diatom species were identified from benthic communities of 15 habitats in summer (19 July, 28 August) and autumn (10 September) months of 2020. The genus Pinnularia (13 species) formed the basis of the taxonomic list followed by Eunotia (5 species), Navicula (5 species), and Frustulia (4 species) genera, respectively. The waters in all the studied lakes were fresh, low-saline, with low-alkaline or circumneutral pH and organically uncontaminated as evidenced by prevailed bioindicator groups. Statistical methods and comparative floristic results confirm the role of the lake altitude for the diatom species distribution. Species richness was higher in lakes with lower altitude, but a statistical approach also revealed a tendency for it to increase with altitude if species richness increased. Further studies will be needed to continue exploring this pattern. In the first round of analysis, diatom species groups were categorized according to IUCN categories, revealing one potentially threatened and one rare species. To protect studied high mountain lakes, their ecological conditions must be constantly monitored in the Kaçkar Mountains National Park.

Gut microbiota dysfunction is a key factor affecting chronic kidney disease (CKD) susceptibility. Puerariae Lobatae Radix (PLR), a traditional Chinese medicine and food homologous herb, is known to promote gut microbiota homeostasis, however, its role in renoprotection remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and potential mechanism of PLR to alleviate CKD. An 8-week 2% NaCl-feeding murine model was applied to induce CKD and evaluate the therapeutic effect of PLR supplementary. After gavage for 8 weeks, PLR significantly alleviated CKD-associated creatinine, urine protein increasement and nephritic histopathological injury. Moreover, PLR protected kidney from fibrosis by reducing inflammatory response and down-regulating the canonical Wnt / β-catenin pathway. Further, PLR rescued gut microbiota dysbiosis and protected high salt-induced gut barrier dysfunction. We found enrichment of Akkermansia and Bifidobacterium after PLR intervention, the relative abundance of which were in positive correlation with normal maintenance of renal histology and function. Next, fecal microbiota transplantation experiment verified that the positive effect of PLR on CKD was at least partially exerted through gut microbiota reestablishment and down-regulation of the Wnt / β-catenin pathway. Our study provides evidence for new function of PLR on kidney protection and put forward a potential therapeutic strategy target for CKD.

(1) Background: CTA has validated the use of pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT) attenuation as a credible indicator of coronary inflammation and plays a crucial role in coronary artery disease (CAD). This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of high-dose statins on PCAT attenuation at coronary lesion sites and changes in plaque distribution; (2) Methods: Our prospective observational study included 52 patients (mean age 60.43) with typical chest pain, a low-to-intermediate likelihood of CAD, and documented atheromatous plaque through CCT. We utilized advanced features of the CaRi-Heart® and syngo.via Frontier® systems to assess coronary plaques and changes in PCAT attenuation; (3) Results: Changes in plaque morphology were investigated, revealing significant alterations. Notably, in mixed plaques, calcified portions increased (p &lt; 0.0001), while non-calcified plaque volume (NCPV) decreased (p = 0.0209). PCAT attenuation generally decreased after one year and remained low, indicating reduced inflammation in the following arteries: LAD (p = 0.0142), LCX (p = 0.0513), and RCA (p = 0.1249). The CaRi-Heart® risk also decreased significantly (p = 0.0041). Linear regression analysis demonstrated a correlation between increased PCAT attenuation and higher volumes of NCPV (p &lt; 0.0001, r = 0.3032) and lipid-rich plaque volume (p &lt; 0.0001, r = 0.3281); (4) Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that high-dose statin therapy significantly reduces CAD risk factors, inflammation, and plaque vulnerability, as evidenced by the notable decrease in PCAT attenuation, a critical indicator of plaque progression.

There are many applications of anomaly detection in IoT domain. IoT technology consists of large number of interconnecting digital devices not only generating huge data continuously but also making real-time computations. Since IoT devices are highly exposed due to Internet, they frequently meet with the challenges of illegitimate accesses in the form of intrusions, anomaly, fraud, etc. Identifying these illegitimate accesses in IoT domain can be an exciting research problem. In numerous applications fuzzy clustering and rough set theory have been successfully employed. As the data generated in IoT domains are high-dimensional, the clustering methods used for lower dimensional data cannot be applied efficiently. In this article, mixed approaches consisting of nano topology and fuzzy clustering techniques are proposed for anomaly detection. First of all, the nano topology is generated to find lower dimensional apace and then a couple of well-known fuzzy clustering techniques are employed on it for the efficient anomaly detection. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches is evaluated using time-complexity analysis, experimental studies with a synthetic dataset and a real-life dataset along with comparative studies with traditional fuzzy clustering approaches namely fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithm, Gustafson-Kessel (GK) Algorithm, Gath-Geva (GG) Algorithm, Mahalanobis Distance based Fuzzy C-Means algorithm (M-FCM), and Common Mahalanobis Distance based Fuzzy C-Means algorithm (CM-FCM). Experimentally, it has been found that the proposed approaches outperform the aforesaid algorithms in terms of detection rates, accuracy rates, false alarm rates and computational times.

Trio-based exome sequencing and high-resolution HLA typing were employed to analyze three patients with autoimmune adrenal insufficiency (AAI), including those with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) type 2, as well as their parents. Benign or likely benign variants of the AIRE gene were identified in all participants of the study. These variants, coupled with clinical data and the results of antibody studies to type I interferons, helped to exclude APS-1. Patients with APS-2, in contrast to patient with AAI, inherited distinct variants of unknown significance in the CLEC16A gene, which is associated with autoimmune diseases including AAI. Various risk alleles in other genes associated with autoimmunity were identified in all patients. HLA typing of second class loci revealed alleles related to APS types 2, 3, and 4. Nevertheless, the frequencies of the haplotypes identified are substantial in the healthy Russian population, precluding from regarding these alleles as genetic determinants linked to APS development. Immunological examination can detect antibody carriers and predict the risk of autoimmune disease development. In the future, to identify genetic predictors of autoimmune endocrinopathies, it is recommended to analyze the whole genome of patients and their relatives, examining clinically relevant variants in non-coding regions.

Recently, “mature” silkworms (MS) of Bombix mori have been considered as a potential nutraceutical, with a number of health benefits reported for steamed and lyophilized MS powder (SMSP). However, no obesity-related effects have been reported for SMSP. In the present study, anti-obesity effects of SMSP were investigated in adult mice in vivo, aged 12 weeks at the onset of drug administration, fed normal diet (ND) and high-fat diet (HFD), respectively, for 12 weeks. SMSP significantly suppressed body weight gain, intra-abdominal adipose tissue, and food efficiency in both ND-fed and HFD-fed adult mice. In addition, SMSP significantly decreased food intake and liver weight in HFD-fed mice, indicating that SMSP suppressed appetite and simultaneously reduced the conversion of feed into body weight in HFD-fed mice. SMSP also significantly lowered serum levels of glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, asparagine transaminase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase. However, SMSP had no significant effect on the weights of kidney, spleen, and thymus and serum levels of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. Taken together, the above results suggest that SMSP has potent anti-obesity effects and is safe for long-term use as a potential therapeutic and/or nutraceutical in both obese patients and non-obese individuals.

Fly ash cement has rarely been used in Japan, mainly because its strength development is slower than ordinary Portland cement. In this research, the effect of the new fly ash cement with both high alite (C3S) cement and fly ash modified by electrostatic belt separation method on cracking resistance of precast concrete prepared by steam curing was studied. The mechanical and shrinkage properties of the proposed fly ash concrete were compared with those of concrete made using OPC cement without fly ash. In order to study the cracking tendency of precast concrete with the proposed fly ash cement, thermal stress analysis was conducted taking into consideration of the experimental data of concrete properties with the different concrete mix proportions. A standard precast concrete box culvert model was used in this 3D FEM analysis and the distribution of temperature and relative humidity in cross section and induced restraint stress during and after steam curing were discussed. Steam-cured concrete with fly ash and high alite cement developed higher compressive strength on the first day of age than concrete with OPC. The proposed fly ash concrete developed high cracking resistance in the early days. On the other hand, the results showed that the drying shrinkage at later ages was the main cause of cracking.

Abstract: Agriculture uses plastic products for containers, packaging, tunnels, drip irrigation tub-ing, mulches. Large amounts of plastics are used as mulches on the soil surface for vegetable pro-duction (tomato, cucumber, watermelon, strawberry, vine) to reduce the weed competition, in-crease water and fertilizer use efficiency and enhance crop yield. Portugal uses around 4,500 t/year of polyethylene plastic to cover approximately 23,000 ha of agricultural land and only a small amount is recovered for recycling or secondary uses because of dirt with soil, vegetation, pesticide and fertilizers. Cleaning and decontaminating polyethylene mulch are costly and commercial technology is often not accessible nor economically viable in the current economic Portuguese situation. Most plastic mulch is composed of polyethylene that degrades slowly and produces a large quantity of residues in soil with negative impact in the environment. In the present study, the effects of long-term cultivation of blueberry using green 100% high density polyethylene mulch, in the south Portugal were evaluated for soil chemical and biological changes. High density green plastic mulch did not contaminate the topsoil with di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and heavy metals, buttotal nitrogen and organic carbon concentrations, electric conductivity and microbial activity were reduced in the planting row compared with bare soil, without mulching. Further-more, the presence of plastic mulch did not affect negatively the presence of nematodes, and the Rhabditida (bacterial feeders) increased in the planting and covered row.

A fluorescent probe, N'-((3-methyl-5-oxo-1-phenyl-4, 5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene)-2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carbohydrazide (MPMC), was synthesized and characterized. Characterizations of the synthetic MPMC were conducted by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). The fluorescence emission behaviors of probe MPMC towards diverse metal ions were detected and the probe exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity towards Cu2+ over other metal ions via quenching of its fluorescence. Furthermore, the existence of other metal actions made no difference on the fluorescence intensity of the MPMC-Cu2+ system apparently, that is, MPMC displayed a good anti-interference ability. Job’s plot of MPMC and copper ions indicated the detection limit was 15.16 nM (R2=0.9612) for the assayed actions, with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 for MPMC and Cu2+. Additionally, the color of MPMC probe solution changed from nearly colorless to yellow in the presence of Cu2+ in visible light, which the color change could be observed by the naked eye. Similarly, the color resolved bright yellow into blue in ultraviolet light. Also reusability studies indicated that MPMC probe was reusable. The pH effect of probe MPMC to Cu2+ had a broad range of pH detection 4.0 to 11.0. The response time of MPMC probe for determining Cu2+ was within 1 min. The recognition of Cu2+ by MPMC performed on pre-treated paper under sunlight and UV light both had a distinct colour change. Thus, the solid-state method for detecting Cu2+ with the naked-eye, was both economical and convenient.

A new approach to the treatment of wound lesions, which are complicated by the presence of polyresistant microflora and a possible immunodeficiency background has been proposed. It involves treating the wound surface with high-intensity pulsed optical radiation of a continuous spectrum, continuously covering the entire UV range (from 200 to 400 nm), visible and near infrared region of the spectrum. A pulsed xenon lamp is used as a radiation source. A description of the design and technical characteristics of the developed device for high-intensity optical irradiation "Zarnitsa-A", which implements the proposed medical technology for wound therapy, is represented. The results of preclinical studies of the apparatus in vitro and in vivo are represented hereinafter. The article shows that the apparatus exposure has pronounced bactericidal and wound-healing properties. The apparatus action reliably provides higher rates of wound healing compared to the use of only a typical antibacterial and wound healing agent – “Levomekol” ointment.

We performed the accuracy assessment of three different Normalized Difference Water Indices (NDWIs) in water bodies during April 2019, a period in which floods occurred in a large proportion of the Southwest of the Buenos Aires Province (Argentina). The accuracy of the estimations using spaceborne medium-resolution multi-spectral imaging, and the reliability of three NDWIs to highlight shallow water features in satellite images, was evaluated using a high resolution airbone imagery as ground-truth. It is shown that these indices computed using Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 imagery are only loosely correlated to the actual flooded area in shallow waters. Indeed, NDWI values vary significantly depending on the satellite mission used and the type of index computed.

This study propounds a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based polyurethane (PU) foams aiming to curtail this nonrenewable resource's continued and uncontrolled use. Coconut fatty acid distillate (CFAD) and crude glycerol (CG), both wastes from vegetable oil processes, were utilized for bio-based polyol production for rigid PU foam application. The raw materials were subjected to catalyzed glycerolysis with alkaline-alcohol neutralization and bleaching. The resulting polyol possessed properties suitable for rigid foam application with an average OH number of 215 mg KOH/g, acid number of 7.2983 mg KOH/g, and Gardner color value of 18. The polyol was used to prepare rigid PU foam, and its properties were determined using FTIR, TGA/DTA, and UTM. Additionally, the cell foam morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in which most of its structure revealed an open-celled network and quantified at 92.71% open cell content using pycnometric testing. The PU foam thermal and mechanical analysis results showed an average compressive strength of 70.59 kPa, thermal conductivity of 46.50 mWm-1K-1, and density of 32.79 kgm-3. These properties showed its applicability as thermal insulating foam, thus, demonstrating the potential use of CFAD and CG in commercial polyol and PU foam production.

Emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) of anthropogenic origins are ubiquitous in environmental compartments, including aquatic systems. Thus, EOCs have attracted considerable research and public attention due to their potential human and ecological health risks. However, compared to other aquatic environments such as wastewater systems, comprehensive reviews focussing on the occurrence and human health risks of EOCs in drinking water systems are still lacking. Therefore, to address this knowledge gap, the current review posits that drinking water systems harbour a cocktail of toxic EOCs, which pose public health risks via multiple exposure routes. In the present review, global evidence is examined to track EOCs along the source-pathway-receptor-impact-mitigation (SPRIM) continuum. Evidence shows that, various groups of EOCs, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, solvents, plasticizers, endocrine disrupting compounds, gasoline additives, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), food colourants, artificial sweeteners, and musks and fragrances, have been detected in drinking water systems. The anthropogenic sources of EOCs detected in drinking water systems, including wastewater systems and industrial emissions, are summarized. Further, the behaviour and fate of EOCs in the drinking water systems, including removal processes are discussed. Once in drinking water systems, human exposure to EOCs may occur via ingestion of contaminated drinking water and cooked foods, and possibly dermal contact and inhalation. The high-risk environments, and risk factors and behaviours predisposing humans to EOC exposure are discussed. Evidence on the human health risks of the various EOCs and a critique of the data are presented. Notably, besides inferential data, quantitative epidemiological evidence directly relating the occurrence of EOCs in drinking water systems to specific adverse human health outcomes is still scarce. Lastly, future research directions, including the need for quantitative public health risk assessment, and the application of emerging detection tools are discussed.

Finding anomalies in the real-time system is recognized as one of most challenging study in information security. It has so many applications like IoT, and Stock-Market. In any IoT system the data generated are real-time, and temporal in nature. Since due to the extreme exposure to Internet and interconnectivity of devices, the IoT systems often face issues like fraud, anomalies, intrusions etc. Discovering anomaly in such domain can be interesting. Clustering and rough set theory have been tried in many cases. Considering the time-stamp associated with IoT data, time-dependent patterns like periodic clusters can be generated which could be helpful for the efficient detection of anomalies by providing more in-depth analysis of the system. In this paper, a mixed method comprising of nano topology, a modified k-means clustering and an interval superimposition technique is used for finding fuzzy periodic clusters in the subspace generated by the nano topology. For every clusters there will be an associated sequence of time-intervals where it exists. The sequence time-intervals accompanying with each clusters may exhibit some remarkable patterns. For example, there may exist different types of periodicity namely yearly, monthly, daily, and hourly etc. For finding such fuzzy periodicity, an operation called interval-superimposition has been used. The time-intervals associated with each cluster are superimposed if they have reasonable overlapping. Each superimposed time-interval generates a fuzzy time-interval. The data instances are thought to be anomalous if they either belong to sparse clusters or don't belong to any clusters. The efficacy of the method can be assessed by means of both time-complexity analysis and comparative studies with existing clustering-based anomaly detection algorithms with a real-life and a synthetic dataset. It can been found experimentally that our method can extract anomaly with 98% of accuracy and it runs cubic time approximately.

This paper presents a proposal for a non-isolated bidirectional converter (NIBC) controlled by a deep neural network (DNN) to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging, which contributes to the development of more efficient and sustainable transportation and energy systems. The DNN controller manages power flow in both directions, making it possible to charge electric vehicles (EVs) and discharge power from EVs to the grid with improved efficiency and performance compared to traditional control methods. The non-isolated topology used in this proposal offers several benefits, including reduced cost, smaller size, and higher efficiency. To train the DNN controller, a large dataset of simulations was used, and the results were validated with a hardware setup. The real-time performance of the DNN controller was compared to a proportional-integral (PI) based controller through simulated results. The findings of the study show that the DNN controller outperforms traditional PI controllers.

TiNi alloys are very widely used materials for implant fabrication. When applied as rib replacement, they are required to be manufactured as combined porous-monolithic structure, ideally with a thin porous part well-adhered to its monolithic substrate. Additionally, good biocompatibility, high corrosion resistance and mechanical durability are also highly demanded. So far, all these parameters were not achieved in one material, which is why active search in the field is still underway. In the present work, we prepared new porous-monolithic TiNi materials by sintering a TiNi powder (0-100 µm) on monolithic TiNi plates followed by surface modification with high-current pulsed electron beam. The obtained materials were evaluated by a set of surface and phase analysis methods, after which their corrosion resistance and biocompatibility (hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and cell viability) were evaluated. Finally, cell growth tests were conducted. In comparison with flat TiNi monolith, the newly-developed materials were found to have better corrosion resistance, also demonstrating good biocompatibility and potential for cell growth on their surface. Thus, the newly-developed porous-on-monolith TiNi materials with different surface porosity and morphology show promise as potential new-generation implants for rib endoprostheses.

Brevibacillus laterosporus (Bl) is a Gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium belonging to the Brevibacillus brevis phylogenetic cluster. Globally, insect pathogenic strains of the bacterium have been isolated, characterised, and some activities patented. Two isolates, Bl 1821L and Bl 1951, exhibiting pathogenicity against the diamondback moth and mosquitoes, are under development as a biopesticide in New Zealand. However, due to the suspected activity of putative antibacterial proteins (ABPs), the endemic isolates often grow erratically. Various purification methods including size exclusion chromatography, sucrose density gradient centrifugation, polyethylene glycol precipitation, and ammonium sulphate precipitation employed in this study enabled the isolation of two putative antibacterial proteins of ~30 kD and ~48 kD from Bl 1821L and one putative antibacterial protein of ~30 kD from Bl 1951. Purification of the uninduced cultures of Bl 1821L and Bl 1951 also yielded the protein bands of ~30 kD and ~48 kD on SDS-PAGE which indicated their spontaneous induction. Disc diffusion assay was used to determine the antagonistic activities of the putative ABPs. Subsequent transmission electron microscope (TEM) examination of purified putative antibacterial protein-containing solution showed the presence of encapsulin (~30 kD) and polysheath (~48 kD) like structures. Although only the ~30 kD protein was purified from Bl 1951, both structures were seen in this strain under TEM. Furthermore, while assessing the antibacterial activity of some fractions of Bl 1951 against Bl 1821L in size exclusion chromatography method, population of Bl 1821L persister cells was noted. Overall, this work added a wealth of knowledge for the purification of the HMW proteins (bacteriocins) of the Gram-positive bacteria including Bl.

An extended classification of active RC- and RLC- filters with Sallen-Key architectures, including those created in the last three years, is proposed. This makes it possible to formulate new design directions for an extended family of active RC- and RLC- Sallen-Key filters (PF, LPF, HPF, RF) for the tasks of high-speed and ultra-fast analog-to-digital signal conversion.

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa) is a species representative of the Suina, one of the four suborders within Cetartiodactyla. In this paper, we reported our analysis of the pig TRG locus in comparison with the loci of species representative of the Ruminantia, Tylopoda and Cetacea suborders. The pig TRG genomic structure reiterates the peculiarity of the organization of Cetartiodactyla loci in TRGC “cassettes”, each containing the basic V-J-J-C unit. Eighteen genes arranged in four TRGC cassettes, form the pig TRG locus. All the functional TRG genes were expressed, and the TRGV genes preferentially rearrange with the TRGJ genes within their own cassette, which correlates the diversity of the gamma-chain repertoire with the number of cassettes. Among them, the TRGC5, located at the 5’ end of the locus, is the only cassette that retains a marked homology with the corresponding TRGC cassettes of all the analyzed species. The preservation of the TRGC5 cassette for such a long evolutionary time presumes a highly specialized function of its genes, which could be essential for the survival of species. Therefore, the maintenance of this cassette in pigs confirms that it is the most evolutionarily ancient within Cetartiodactyla, and it has undergone a process of duplication to give rise to the other TRGC cassettes in the different artiodactyl species in a lineage-specific manner.

High-content fluorescence microscopy combines the efficiency of high-throughput techniques with the ability to extract quantitative information from biological systems. The planarian community has developed sensitive and robust assays for whole animals, yet cell based assays, despite their practical aspects, have not been explored to the same extent. Here we describe a modular collection of detailed protocols adapted for fixed planarian cells that enable multiplexed measurements of biomarkers in microwell plates. Methods include the detection of RNA transcripts by RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization combined with tyramide signal amplification using hapten-labeled riboprobes. In addition, immunocytochemical protocols for quantifying proliferating cells by the detection of phosphorylated histone H3 as well as 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation into the nuclear genome are described. The assays are compatible with planarians of virtually any size, as the tissue is disaggregated into a single cell suspension before fixation and staining. By sharing many reagents with established planarian whole mount staining protocols, preparation of samples for high-content microscopy adoption requires little additional investment. Recommendations for successful experimental workflows and common sources of errors are discussed.

Optical characterization and thermal aging tests are performed on a sputter-deposited coating, consisting of SiO₂/Cr₂O₃/Cr/Cr₂O₃ layers, designed and developed as a selective solar absorber to be used for unconcentrated solar thermal applications. Both measurements are performed by using a home-made apparatus, which mimics a flat plate collector under high vacuum. A Performance Criterion (PC_η(T)), based on absorber efficiency is proposed, and a forecast of service lifetime is obtained. As a result of the thermal aging tests, the selective solar absorber under study appears to be highly efficient at mid temperatures (up to 573 K) and thermally stable at temperatures (up to 690 K).

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of DNA methylation in the regulation of in vitro and in vivo cartilage formation. Based on the data of an RNA chip-assay performed on chondrifying BMP2-overexpressing C3H10T1/2 cells, the relative expression of Tet1 (tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 1), Dnmt3a (DNA methyltransferase 3) and Ogt (O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase) genes was examined with RT-qPCR in mouse cell-line based and primary micromass cultures. RNA probes for in situ hybridization were used on frozen sections of 15-day-old mouse embryos. DNA methylation was inhibited with 5-azacytidine during culturing. We found very strong but gradually decreasing expression of Tet1 throughout the entire course of in vitro cartilage differentiation along with strong signals in the cartilaginous embryonic skeleton. Dnmt3a and Ogt expressions did not show significant changes with RT-qPCR and gave weak in situ hybridization signals. Inhibition of DNA methylation applied during early stages of differentiation reduced cartilage-specific gene expression and cartilage formation. In contrast, it had stimulatory effect when added to differentiated chondrocytes. Our results indicate that the DNA demethylation-inducing Tet1 is a significant epigenetic factor of chondrogenesis, and inhibition of DNA methylation exerts distinct effects in different phases of in vitro cartilage formation.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is the most common sensory disorder in the elderly. It is associated with aging and hair cell death due to oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Although transgenic mice and long-term cultures for induction of aging have been used to study ARHL, there are presently no ARHL animal models stimulated by intermittent environmental change for aging. In this study, an ARHL animal model was established by inducing continuous oxidative stress to promote short-term aging of cells, determined based on the expression of the hearing loss-induced phenotype and aging related factors in the short term. The incidence of hearing loss was significantly different among the groups subjected to intermittent hypoxic environment, high-fat diet (HFD), and injection with D-galactose. Continuous oxidative stress and HFD were factors that accelerated cellular aging. Increase in UCP2 affected oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. CDH23, SLC26A4, KCNQ4, Myo7a, and Myo6, which are ARHL-related factors, were modified by oxidative stress in cells of the hearing organ. We found that intermittent hypoxic, HFD, and galactose injection accelerated cellular aging in the short term. Thus, we anticipate that the development of this hearing loss animal model, which reflects intermittent environmental changes, will benefit future research on ARHL.

In the Quaternary paleosciences, the rationale behind analogical inference presupposes that former natural changes can be explained by causes operating now, although their intensity and rates can vary through time. In this paper we synthesise synthetize the results of different modern analog studies and discuss their value to obtain the best inferences from high resolution past records. This synthesis is based on the following: 1) The monthly monitoring of calcite precipitation reveals a strong connection with primary producers and between-years variability; this precipitation produces a seasonal signal with imprint on varve formation. 2) Clear pollen sedimentation peaks occur in spring/summer and fall/winter that coincide with temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and winds; this pattern converges with the two-layer coupled varves representing the same seasonality. 3) We assess the lake’s contemporary oxygenation dynamics over a three- year period; a combination of sedimentary REDOX proxies revealed different scenarios of oxic/anoxic shifts since 1500 CE. 4) We investigate presence of seasonality in the production/distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers and derived temperature estimates in soils and particulate matter. Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers signatures and some derived temperature estimates proxies appear to mainly depend on the non-seasonal shifts in soil properties. 5) Currently we examine relationships and similarities between extant phytoplankton and derived pigments in water and traps, and their correspondence with subfossil pigments; some preliminary results are presented here.Keywords: high resolution, endogenic varves, calcite precipitation, pollen sedimentation, meromixis, freshwater glycerol dialkyl tetraether, subfossil pigments, long-term ecology.

This paper presents a method to detect and classify the high impedance fault that occur in the medium voltage distribution network using discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The network is designed using Matlab software and various faults such as high impedance, symmetrical and unsymmetrical fault have been applied to study the effectiveness of the proposed ANFIS classifier method. This is achieved by training the ANFIS classifier using the features (standard deviation values) extracted from the three phase fault current signal by DWT technique for various cases of fault with different values of fault resistance in the system. The success and discrimination rate obtained for identifying and classifying the high impedance fault from the proffered method is 100% whereas the values are 66.7% and 85% respectively for conventional fuzzy based approach. The results indicate that the proposed method is more efficient to identify and discriminate the high impedance fault accurately from other power system faults in the system.

Almond is worldwide consumed and renowned as a valuable healthy food. In spite of this, it is also a potent source of allergenic proteins able to trigger several mild to life-threatening immunoreactions. Food processing proved to alter biochemical characteristics of proteins, thus affecting the respective allergenicity. In this paper we investigated the effect of autoclaving, preceded or not by a hydration step, on the biochemical and immunological properties of almond proteins. Any variation in the stability and immunoreactivity of almond proteins extracted from the treated materials, were evaluated by total protein quantification, ELISA assay and protein profiling by electrophoresis-based separation (SDS-PAGE). The autoclaving alone was found to weakly affect almond proteins stability, despite what observed for the combination of hydration and autoclaving, which resulted in a loss of approximately 70% of total protein content compared to untreated sample, and in a final negligible immunoreactivity, as well. The final SDS-PAGE protein pattern recorded for almonds hydrated and autoclaved disclosed significant changes. In addition, the same samples were further submitted to in vitro simulated gastro-duodenal (GI) digestion to evaluate potential changes induced by these processing on allergens digestibility. Digestion products were identified by HPLC-HRMS/MS analysis followed by software-based data mining, and complementary information were provided by analyzing the proteolytic fragments lower that 6 kDa in size. The autoclave based treatment was found not to alter the allergens digestibility, whereas an increased susceptibility to proteolytic action of digestive enzymes was observed in almonds subjected to the combination of prehydration and autoclaving. Finally, the residual immunoreactivity of the GI resistant peptides was investigated in-silico by bioinformatic tools, confirming that by following both approaches, no epitopes survived the almond digestion, thus demonstrating the potential effectiveness of these treatments to reduce almond allergenicity.

As shown in former papers, the nonadiabatic Heisenberg model presents a novel mechanism of Cooper pair formation generated by the strongly correlated atomic-like motion of the electrons in narrow, roughly half-filled "superconducting bands". These are energy bands represented by optimally localized spin-dependent Wannier functions adapted to the symmetry of the material under consideration. The formation of Cooper pairs is not the result of an attractive electron-electron interaction but can be described in terms of quantum mechanical constraining forces constraining the electrons to form Cooper pairs. There is theoretical and experimental evidence that only this nonadiabatic mechanism operating in superconducting bands may produce eigenstates in which the electrons form Cooper pairs. These constraining forces stabilize the Cooper pairs in any superconductor, whether conventional or unconventional. Here we report evidence that also the experimentally found superconducting state in bismuth at ambient as well as at high pressure is connected with a narrow, roughly half-filled superconducting band in the respective band structure. This observation corroborates once more the significance of constraining forces in the theory of superconductivity.

This research focuses on the effect of trampling on vegetation in high-mountain ecosystems through the electromagnetic spectrum’s interaction with plant pigments, cell structure, water content and other substances that have a direct impact on leaf properties. The most heavily visited part of the High Tatras in Poland was divided into polygons and, after selecting the dominant species within alpine swards, a detailed analysis of trampled and reference patterns was performed. An ASD FieldSpec 3 was used to acquire high-resolution spectral properties of plants, their fluorescence and the leaf chlorophyll content with the ts-ta temperature index and fraction of accumulated radiation in the range of photosynthesis (fAPAR) used as reference data. The results show that, along tourist trails, vegetation adapts to trampling with the impact depending on the species. A lower chlorophyll value was confirmed by a decrease in fluorescence, and the state of cellular structures was degraded in trampled compared to reference species, with a lower leaf reflectance. Also, at the extreme, trampling can eliminate certain species such as Luzula alpino-pilosa.

(1) Background The SKT is a short cognitive performance test designed to assess impairments in memory and cognitive abilities such as attention and speed of information processing. In 2019, new regression-based norms for the English version of the SKT were calculated applying data from older cognitively healthy adults living in the US, Ireland and Australia (the norming sample) The study has two aims: to establish valid cut-offs for distinguishing between no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (1), and to cross-validate the new norms for detecting MCI and dementia (2) in a community sample of older adults with clinical diagnoses; (2)Methods: The validation sample included 142 older adults (mean age=87.7, SD=3.55) from the Sydney Memory and Aging Study (MAS Study). Participants were classified as having normal cognition, MCI, or dementia through a consensus diagnosis as well as by the SKT; (3)Results: The sensitivity of the SKT for the differentiation of cognitive impairment (MCI or dementia) from normal cognition was 80.6%. The convergence between the SKT and the consensus diagnoses was 60.1% for all three diagnostic groups. The correlation between the SKT and the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III), a well validated measure of cognitive ability in older adults, was r = 0.3;. (4) Conclusions: In sum, it can be stated that the SKT is a valid tool for detecting early stages of cognitive impairment, performing very well in discriminating between no cognitive impairment and cognitive impairment (MCI or dementia).

This study explores the optimization of the admission process at the Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito through data anal- ysis. By integrating advanced tools like Power BI, Python Flask, and data mining techniques, a model has been developed to improve student selection and retention, enabling more informed and effective decisions. The results indicate that applying data science not only facilitates efficient data management but also promotes more inclusive and equitable educational poli- cies. This pioneering approach in the field of higher education in Colombia offers a frame- work for future research and technological de- velopments, highlighting the vital importance of data science in improving educational and administrative processes.

In today's world, the significance of reducing energy consumption globally is increasing, making it imperative to prioritize energy efficiency in the 5th Generation (5G) networks. However, it is crucial to ensure that these energy-saving measures do not compromise the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as user experience, quality of service (QoS), or other important aspects of the network. To address this challenge, advanced wireless technologies have been incorporated into the design of 5G networks across various network layers. Given the rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technology trends such as Machine Learning (ML), which is considered a subset of AI, the integration of such trends into 5G networks has become a significant area of research. The primary objective of this survey is to analyze AI integration into 5G networks for enhanced energy efficiency. By exploring this intersection between AI and 5G, we aim to identify potential strategies and techniques for optimizing energy consumption while maintaining the desired network performance and user experience.

Every firm is devoted to polishing and fine-tuning its maintenance strategy. More exactly, when we develop robust and efficient preventive and conditional maintenance approaches, our objective is to combine performance and robustness to increase maintenance decision-making. This, in turn, leads to a reduction in system failures and a subsequent drop in related expenses. This impulse drives the origin of this essay: to provide fresh criteria that allow us to improve and optimize maintenance techniques. Furthermore, our study has been realistically utilized via the deployment of condition-based maintenance (CBM) techniques, which are commonly regarded as a critical lever that allows firms to gain a competitive advantage in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. Combining both perfect and imperfect maintenance actions into CBM strategies appears to be an effective technique to obtain high economic performance and robustness in the maintenance strategies of the companies. Following this idea, we propose and optimize in this paper a set of criteria enabling the combined assessment of the mean economic performance and the resilience of various kinds of maintenance techniques. The advantage of the proposed criterion is that it adapts to different types of maintenance strategies and provides access to a simple and relevant evaluation model. Thanks to this new criterion, we will be able to choose the better maintenance strategies that have more performance and robustness between these strategies for a system with more or less stable behavior. The Monte Carlo Method is incorporated into the comparative assessment of maintenance methods, adding a layer to the evaluation of the performance and robustness of each adaptation in decision-making.

Sports are framed within the context of the Olympic spirit and are, therefore, within the vision and mission of the Olympic Committee, aimed at “building a better world”. This is identified as a fundamental value and sustainability is therefore explicitly considered to be a “working principle” of this. In this research an analysis of the performance of professional European football teams publicly listed on stock markets, restating the income statements according to the Value-Added perspective is carried out. This takes into account the effective sustainable contribution in the distribution of added value with reference to the human, structural, debt, infrastructural, and risk capitals of these organisations. The Value-Added Statement is considered as a part of the broader CSR Reporting and can be traced back to the late 1970s. However, it is in widespread contemporary use and is regarded as being both a credible and a tested measure. In this paper, the authors apply a slightly modified and simplified version of this tool to these publicly listed European football clubs as a proxy for wider professional sport. This research demonstrates that, although professional sports clubs are profit-oriented, the distribution of wealth generated by the added value is unbalanced. In most cases, at least in financial terms, shareholders are the most disadvantaged and athletes are the most rewarded.

Is it true that the nuclear technology applied to electric energy generation offers a clean, safe, reliable and affordable i.e. sustainable alternative? Yes it is, but its impact on the environment strongly depends on the implementation bearing residual risks due to a human factor, technical failures or natural catastrophes. A full response is therefore difficult and can first be given when the wicked multi-disciplinary problems get well formulated and “solved”. These problems have multi-dimensional nature lying at the interface between: necessary R&D effort, the industrial deployment and the technology impact in view of the environmental sustainability including the management of produced hazardous waste. This enormous complexity indicates that just a description of the problem might represent a problem. The paper proposes a holistic approach to assess the nuclear energy systems potential with respect to sustainable performance applying Multi-criteria decision analysis with a suitable objective tree and a multi-level criteria structure and examines the trading-off techniques for ranking of the alternatives. The framework proposes a multi-criteria and multi-stakeholders treatment which can be used as a pre-decisional support towards an implementation of nuclear fuel cycles adapted to national preferences and priorities. Proposed approach addresses some aspects of the environmental footprint of nuclear energy systems. Advanced nuclear fuel cycles, previously investigated by the NEA/OECD expert group WASTEMAN, are analyzed as a case study. Sustainability facets of waste management, resource utilization and economics are in focus.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010 calls for the Nearly Zero Energy Standard for new buildings from 2021 onwards: Buildings using “almost no energy” are powered by renewable sources or energy produced by the building itself. For residential buildings, this ambitious new standard has already been reached. But for other building types this goal is still far away. The potential of these buildings to meet a Nearly Zero Energy Standard was investigated by analyzing ten case studies representing non-residential buildings with different uses. The analysis shows that the primary characteristics common to critical building types are a dense building context with a very high degree of technical installation (such as hospital, research and laboratory buildings). The large primary energy demand of these types of buildings cannot be compensated by building and property-related energy generation including off-site renewables. If the future Nearly Zero Energy Standard were to be defined with lower requirements because of this, the state related properties of Bavaria suggest that the real potential energy savings available in at least 85% of all new buildings would be insufficiently exploited. Therefore, it would be useful to instead individualize the legal energy verification process for new buildings to distinguish critical building types such as laboratories and hospitals.

This study established a relationship between computerized accounting information systems (CAISs) and performance of SMS business enterprises in Burao, Somaliland. The main three objectives of this study were; (1) to assess the impact of computerized accounting information System on the performance of SMS business enterprises in Burao. (2) To measure the role of CAIS in the control system and management performance of SMS business enterprises in Burao. (3) To measure the impact of CAIS on the financial and operational performances in SMS business enterprises in Burao. The research approach of the study was quantitative research approach. The data used in this study was primary data obtained from the results of questionnaire survey on respondents. It was also utilized secondary data from the national documents, reports, different books, published materials and websites on the topic under the study. Using Slovene's formula, a sample size of 150 was used to collect data from respondents at SMS business enterprises in Burao through purposive sampling techniques. The data was analyzed through use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Reliability test and Validity test were also employed to test consistency of the measure and validity of data collected. The research findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between CAIS and the Performance of SMS business enterprises in Burao. This study recommended that SMS business should take advantage of the excellent benefits derivable from the adaption of well-designed CAIS because this will help to achieve a high and acceptable standard of quality in the performance of their business operations. The Management of SMS business enterprises (using CAIS) will benefit from this study understanding the impact of CAIS on their business practices. The academic generation and researchers will also benefit from the study in terms of literature review in matters of computerized accounting systems. In other terms, this will act as a point of reference for other future researchers.

Results-Based Financing (RBF) in pediatrics, in regions with scarce resources like Northern Uganda, provides an innovative approach to enhancing healthcare delivery. RBF aligns financial incentives with desired health outcomes, boosting service quality, efficiency, and effectiveness by tying compensation to achieving specific, measurable health targets. Lacor and Kalongo hospitals, before the introduction of RBF, faced numerous challenges, including limited resources, staffing shortages, and inconsistent quality of care. RBF adoption requires critical health outcomes to target, such as lowering child mortality rates, enhancing vaccination coverage, and increasing the frequency of timely prenatal care visits. The empirical application of RBF in pediatric services at Lacor and Kalongo Hospital from 2018 to 2024 shows improved healthcare quality and outcomes. Healthcare systems can identify ways to implement RBF models better, ensuring that financial incentives effectively contribute to attaining superior health outcomes.

In the construction sector, the integration of biobased materials has emerged as a pivotal aspect of EU policies, aimed at promoting sustainable practices throughout the value chain to mitigate resource consumption and carbon emissions. This paper explores the development and validation activities of a bio-based façade system within the Basajaun H2020 project, focusing on enhancing the utilization of biobased components within building envelopes to replace conventional solutions with eco-friendly alternatives. This paper reports the methodologies employed to detect requirements and outline the testing protocols undertaken to validate the façade system design devised within the project focusing on the original façade components as the bio composite profile. Vision and opaque façade modules are prototyped and tested following curtain wall standards standard for performance and acoustic assessments, to showcase the efficacy of the developed solution. The conducted tests demonstrate the feasibility of integrating bio-based components into building envelopes, aligning with project expectations, and prevailing standards for curtain wall façade solutions. Notably, the designed façade system meets technical conditions and project objectives. Nevertheless, the research underscores the need for further refinements to facilitate solution industrialization and explore broader market applicability. Future efforts will focus on addressing these improvements and assessing the scalability of the solution.

This study empirically analyzes the effectiveness of resource optimization utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) within cloud computing environments. It compares systems that have been transitioned from a Monolithic structure to Microservices Architecture (MSA) with those adopting a simple Rehost strategy, to validate the operational efficiency of two systems whose resource efficiency has been enhanced compared to traditional legacy systems. The research is based on systems that determined resource efficiency post-cloud migration using APM tools. It points out the limitations of traditional heuristic operation methods in resource optimization, which lead to issues such as application performance degradation, resource over-allocation, and increased operational costs. This study aims to overcome the conventional resource optimization standards that depended on the average peak usage of CPU and memory infrastructure, by introducing AI-based optimization tools, and applying on-premise standards to cloud and container environments to achieve resource optimization. The paper emphasizes the importance of resource optimization through AI-based automation tools, exploring the possibilities of resolving real-world application performance issues in cloud environments, reducing unnecessary resource usage costs, and cutting down on labor risks and operational expenses. Through this, it presents strategic directions on how AI technology can offer financial and operational advantages in managing cloud resources.

Drydocking a ship is essential to the routine maintenance process during its service/operational life. During the drydocking time, various surveys/inspections are carried out per requirements of the classification society, flag administration, and statutory bodies, particularly the underwater items. For shipyards, optimum utilization of drydock capacity (deadweight) is the most considered factor to optimize the physical performance indicators like drydock occupancy rate, capacity utilization rate, and drydock utilization. However, in real life, even after mobilizing all available resources to achieve the optimum usage rate, the overall physical performance could be higher or lower or not up to the expectation. The average size (deadweight) of ships calling to the drydock is observed to be far below the expected capacity, resulting in under-utilization of installed capacity. However, although the drydock occupancy rate is satisfactory, even 100%. For a substantial amount of time, the drydock has been under-utilized in terms of capacity utilization and drydock utilization rate. Drydocking activities of ships in two (2) drydocks of a shipyard are collected and analyzed. Various physical performance indicators (PPIs) are calculated. They are diagnosed year-wise and presented in tabular and graphical form to demonstrate their behavior over the operating period. Authors have investigated the behavior of the above-mentioned physical performance indicators to justify, technically, the selection of capacity of a drydock. A further attempt has been made to propose some recommendations and guidelines from technical viewpoints for the selection criteria of a drydock capacity based on available resources.

Lithium-ion batteries with improved energy densities have made understanding the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) generation mechanisms that cause mechanical, thermal, and chemical failures more complicated. SEI processes reduce battery capacity and power. Thus, a review of this area's understanding is important. It is essential to know how batteries degrade in EVs to estimate battery lifespan as it goes, predict, and minimize losses, and determine the ideal time for a replacement. Lithium-ion batteries used in EVs mainly suffer two types of degradation: calendar degradation and cycling degradation. Despite the existence of several existing works in the literature, several aspects of battery degradation remain unclear or have not been analyzed in detail. This work presents a systematic review of existing works in the literature. The results of the present investigation provide insight into the complex relationships among various factors affecting battery degradation mechanisms. Specifically, this systematic review examined the effects of time, side reactions, temperature fluctuations, high charge/discharge rates, depth of discharge, mechanical stress, thermal stress, and the voltage relationship on battery performance and longevity. The results revealed that these factors interact in complex ways to influence the degradation mechanisms of batteries. For example, high charge currents and deep discharges were found to accelerate degradation, while low temperatures and moderate discharge depths were shown to be beneficial for battery longevity. Additionally, the results showed that the relationship between cell voltage and State-of-Charge (SOC) plays a critical role in determining the rate of degradation. Overall, these findings have important implications for the design and operation of battery systems, as they highlight the need to carefully manage a range of factors to maximize battery performance and longevity. The result is an analysis of the main articles published in this field in recent years. This work aims to present new knowledge about fault detection, diagnosis, and management of lithium-ion batteries based on battery degradation concepts. The new knowledge is presented and discussed in a structured and comprehensive way.

In this paper, intrusion detection systems are thoroughly investigated utilizing the CSE-CIC-IDS-2018 dataset. The research is divided into three key phases: first, applying Data Cleaning, Exploratory Data Analysis, and Data Normalization techniques (min-max and z-score) for preparing data across distinct classifiers. Second, feature importance is reduced using a combination of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Random Forest (RF), with the goal of improving processing speed and decreasing model complexity. This stage comprises a comparison with the entire dataset. Finally, machine learning algorithms (XGBoost, CART, DT, KNN, MLP, RF, LR, and Bayes) are applied to specific features and preprocessing approaches. Surprisingly, the XGBoost, DT, and RF models outperform in both ROC values and CPU runtime. Following evaluation, which includes PCA and RF feature selection, an optimal set is produced.

This paper explores the latest developments in electrolysis technology, a key player in the transition to sustainable energy systems. Electrolysis, despite currently contributing a small share to global hydrogen production, holds immense potential for producing green hydrogen. The study delves into the efficiency of electrolysis systems, emphasizing ongoing efforts to enhance energy conversion rates. It investigates the impact of high-temperature electrolysis on reducing electricity consumption, thus making the process more efficient. The paper discusses the various challenges in the research on water electrolysis and underscores the critical role electrolysis plays in integrating renewable energy sources. The study emphasizes the need for continuous advancements in electrolysis technology to bridge existing gaps, making a compelling case for its pivotal role in the green hydrogen revolution.

Advanced composite materials have drawn significant interest in the last years as an alternative to traditional materials due to their higher performance. However, industry struggle to provide low-cost, higher occupational safety, lower footprint with composites, making them suitable for holistic analyses. Therefore, the material design becomes an essential element that can impact the competitiveness, particularly in terms of productivity, circularity, safety, sustainability, and quality of the value chain. The Material Design-for-eXcellence is a state-of-art methodology for material performance multi-dimensional assessment along its life cycle phases, either useful to support ma-terial selection for new products or also to new material design support optimizing resource effi-ciency. In this methodology, the material behaviour and its multiple characteristics assessment, and the manufacturing processes efficiency are evaluated. The framework considers the analogy of product design holistic approaches, as Lean Design-for-X, to organize and assess the mul-ti-dimensional performance for each “X” Material Property. In this work, it was possible to observe that the bio-based composites solutions could be a good sustainable alternative for several sectors. Every day researchers are creating more new materials, having a diversity of properties at different scales, Material Design-for-eXcellence must also in the near future consider other factors. Hence, additional studies are thus foreseen to explore and develop this new tool.

The airline sector is critical in today's globalized society, supporting the efficient movement of people and products worldwide. Airlines are continuously looking for methods to enhance their operational performance to remain competitive in the face of increased competition. This study focuses on the application of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques to improve low-cost carrier (LCC) also known or low-cost (budget) airlines' ground operational performance. MCDM techniques have gained considerable attention in recent years to address complex decision problems with multiple conflicting goals. This research aims to bridge this gap by proposing a comprehensive framework that combines MCDM techniques to enhance airline operational strategies to increase performance. The study utilizes qualitative and quantitative data, drawing on previously published materials on MCDM techniques in the aviation sector. It utilizes fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodologies. A case study is conducted to evaluate the ground operational performance of three airline companies based in Türkiye, considering five main criteria and 18 sub-criteria. The findings of this research will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of operational performance in the airline sector. It also highlights the implications and limitations of the research and suggests future research directions.

Dance is physically demanding, requiring physical fitness(PF) that includes upper body, lower body, core fitness, and balance for successful performance. Whether PF changes as dancers advance from when they enter(freshmen) to when they graduate from their collegiate program(seniors) is unclear. We prospectively compared collegiate dancers’ freshman-to-senior PF. We recorded PF of the upper body strength-endurance(push-ups, n=number), core strength-endurance(front, left-side, right-side, and extensor plank hold times, s=seconds), lower body power(Single-leg-hop-SLH distances % Height; Leg Symmetry Index: LSI=higher/lower*100, %), and balance(Anterior Reach Balance,%Leg-Length, LL; LSI balance=higher/lower*100, %) in 25 collegiate dancers(23 females, 2 males; freshmen age=18.2±0.6yrs). Paired t-tests(p&lt;.05) compared measures from freshmen-senior years. Across their collegiate programs, dancers’ PF remained unchanged: upper body strength-endurance push-ups numbers(p=.93), core strength-endurance plank times(left:p=.44, right:p = .67, front:p=.60, p=.22), SLH distances(left: p =.44, right:p =.85) and SLH symmetry(p=0.16). Dancers’ right leg balance(p =.08) remained similar, while the left balance(p =.02) improved with better symmetry(p&lt;.001) in senior balance scores. Overall, dancers’ PF did not change across their collegiate programs, except for greater left leg balance scores. Findings suggest that practitioners can use collegiate dancers’ freshmen baseline PF when devising rehabilitation programs and making return to activity decisions post injury throughout their dance programs.

Background: This practice guideline was developed by the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Task Force, which was composed of clinical and methodological experts. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health and its Health Holding Company commissioned this guideline project to support the realization of the Vision 2030's healthcare transformation pillar. Methods: The guideline synthesis was guided by the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT methodology. Results: The final adoloped guideline addressed 12 clinical questions on blood pressure management in patients with CKD through a set of recommendations and performance measures. The recommendations included antihypertensive agents in children, non-renin angiotensin system inhibition (Non-RASi) vs RASi in adults, intensive vs standard blood pressure targets, early vs late assessment for kidney replacement therapy (KRT), late vs early preparation strategy for KRT, CKD symptoms during assessment for KRT or conservative management, initiation of KRT in patients with deteriorating CKD, choice of KRT modality or conservative management in certain CKD patient groups, changing or discontinuing KRT modalities, review frequency for KRT or conservative management, and Information, education and support. Conclusions: These conditional recommendations were based on low to very low certainty of evidence that highlights the need for high-quality randomized trials comparing different antihypertensive agents in patients with CKD.

Recent progress in deep learning has led to accurate and efficient generic object detection networks. Training of highly reliable models depends on large datasets with highly textured and rich images. However, in real-world scenarios, the performance of the generic object detection system decreases when (i) occlusions hide the objects, (ii) objects are present in low-light images, or (iii) they are merged with background information. In this paper, we refer to all these situations as challenging environments. With the recent rapid development in generic object detection algorithms, notable progress has been observed in the field of object detection in challenging environments. However, there is no consolidated reference to cover state-of-the-art in this domain. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents the first comprehensive overview, covering recent approaches that have tackled the problem of object detection in challenging environments. Furthermore, we present the quantitative and qualitative performance analysis of these approaches and discuss the currently available challenging datasets. Moreover, this paper investigates the performance of current state-of-the-art generic object detection algorithms by benchmarking results on the three well-known challenging datasets. Finally, we highlight several current shortcomings and outline future directions.

The aim of this research was to investigate the mass, substances and energy flow through two-stroke low speed Diesel engines. For this reason, a zero-dimensional model of the combustion in the engine was developed with a calculated amount and composition of exhaust gases. Due to the large amount of oxygen in the exhaust gases, a ratio of real air consumption and stoichiometric amount of air required for combustion of injected fuel was set. The calculated ratio showed that the engine consumes four times more air than needed for combustion in AFR_stoich. In this work it is called the Air Consumption Factor or Ratio and has not been mentioned in scientific literature before. Air Consumption Ratio is defined as a factor of dry or humid air. To be more comprehensive, a modified diagram of composition of the flow in and out of a two-stroke fuel injection engine and the cylinder was drawn.

Homeostasis and its interaction with gene expression in the development and maintenance of living systems is discussed in order to formulate a new method to diagnose and treat diseases on this causative level. This includes an inquiry into the unsolved homeostasis problems of: location (where in the cell are calculations performed?), communication (what language used?), identity (set of plans/hierarchy of set points?) and computational (mechanisms used to make necessary adjustments?). As these functions require the processing of vast amounts of information which is communicated at every level of organization including the mechanisms of epigenetics, different computer models are discussed, with examples for each; analog, digital and the possibility of quantum biological. Each one allows certain properties and cell functions to emerge. The difference between functional homeostasis and dysfunctional homeostasis is discussed with strategies to indirectly study them in terms of epigenetic signatures. Hormesis is discussed as a mechanism to reverse the epimutations, leading to a method of treatment to almost any chronic disease. These topics are discussed as being a whole interconnected system.

ATTO 565, a Rhodamine-type dye, has garnered significant attention due to its remarkable optical properties, such as a high fluorescence quantum yield, it is a relatively stable structure, and has low biotoxicity. ATTO 565 has found extensive applications in combination with microscopy technology. In this review, the chemical and optical properties of ATTO 565 are introduced, along with the principles behind them. Then, the functionality of ATTO 565 in confocal microscopy, stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, single-molecule tracking (SMT) techniques, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is discussed. These studies demonstrate that ATTO 565 plays a crucial role in areas such as biological imaging and single-molecule localization, thus warranting further in-depth investigation. Finally, we present some prospects and concepts for the future applications of ATTO 565 in the fields of biocompatibility and metal ion detection.

We present an analysis of high-resolution, near-infrared (NIR) spectra relative to the solar transit of Venus of 5-6 June 2012, as observed with the Facility Infrared Spectropolarimeter (FIRS) at the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico. These observations offer the unique opportunity to probe the upper layers (between ∼84 and 150 km in altitude) of a thick, CO2-dominated atmosphere with the transmission spectroscopy technique – a proxy for future studies of highly-irradiated atmospheres of Earth-sized exoplanets. We were able to visually identify absorption lines from the two most abundant CO2 isotopologues, and from the main isotopologue of CO in the retrieved spectrum of Venus. Furthermore, we perform a cross-correlation analysis of the transmission spectrum using transmission templates generated with petitRADTRANS. With the cross-correlation technique, it was possible to confirm detections of both CO2 isotopologues and CO. Additionally, we retrieve a cross-correlation signal for O3 on Venus. We demonstrate the feasibility of high-resolution, ground-based observations to study the chemical inventory of planetary atmospheres, employing techniques commonly used in exoplanet characterization.

It is an utmost importance to characterize drug candidates as early in the development pipeline as possible. Appropriate application of the emerging high throughput analytical techniques unlocks the opportunities to obtain experimental data for in vitro absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) profiling of large compound libraries which is crucial for selection of lead compounds. In an usual scenario, only one drug candidate will be selected from thousands of early compounds based on several stability and screening results. A high to medium throughput screening approaches could significantly accelerates the subsequent research and production phases. Traditionally, the analysis of metabolic stability assays heavily relies on high throughput LC-MS/MS techniques to meet with the lead profiling demands. In this study presented an innovative experimental approach that can offer a refreshing alternative. Laser Assisted Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LA-REIMS) is a quick and efficient method for characterizing complex biological samples without laborious sample preparation and chemical separation. Therefore, using an automated LA-REIMS well plate reader as fast as 8 seconds per sample, we assessed the oxidative metabolic stability of active agents using biomimetic metalloporphyrin-based oxidative model reactions at various pH for commercially available drug substances and compared stability measurements with traditional HPLC-DAD-MS results.

Background: Infantile tibia vara (ITV) is a rare proximal tibia deformity in infancy, leading to progressive knee varus. High tibial osteotomy is commonly practiced but has high recurrence rates. This study analyzed factors affecting treatment failure and recurrence in children undergoing opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) for ITV. Methods: We retrospectively studied children with ITV who had OWHTO with press-fit cancellous bone allograft between 2000 and 2020, with ≥2-year follow-up. Outcomes included recurrence (knee varus with tibiofemoral angle >10°), complications, and reintervention. Results: We analyzed 39 knees in 29 patients (mean age: 4.8 ± 1.9 years; median follow-up: 7.4 years). Recurrence occurred in 22 cases (56%). Age at surgery significantly influenced recurrence, with rates of 16% before age 5 versus 95% later (hazard ratio: 12.0, p = 0.001). Langenskiöld stage also affected recurrence (β-coefficient: 2.7, 95% C.I. 1.0–4.5, p = 0.002; pseudo-R-squared: 0.50, p = 0.001), with recurrence in all stage III IV or higher cases. Conclusions: Early diagnosis and treatment before age 45, ideally with Langenskiöld stage III or lower, are crucial for stable correction with OWHTO alone. Late, high-grade ITV may require combined, acute or gradual, and/or staged correction. Further evidence is needed for optimal management.

In this work we looked for a stable and accurate procedure to perform feature selection in datasets with a much higher number of predictors than individuals, as in Genome-Wide Association Studies. Due to the instability in feature selection when many potential predictors are measured, a variable selection procedure is proposed that combines several replications of shrinkage regression models. A weighted formulation is used to define the final predictors. The procedure is applied to investigate Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) predictors associated to Alzheimer’s disease in the Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. Two data scenarios are investigated: one considering only the set of SNPs and another with the covariates age, sex, educational level and APOE4 genotype. The SNP rs2075650 and the APOE4 genotype are given as risk factors for AD, which is in line with the literature, and other four new SNPs are pointed, opening new hypotheses for in vivo analyses. These experiments demonstrate the potential of the new method for stable feature selection.

This study explores optimizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite constellation scheduling for multi-imaging missions in densely targeted areas using an in-house developed Modified Dynamic Programming (MDP) algorithm. By employing Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) to define the mission planning problem, the research aims to maximize observation of high-value targets within restricted planning horizons. Numerical simulations, covering a wide range of target numbers and satellite configurations, reveal the MDP algorithm’s superior mission allocation efficiency, enhanced success rates, and reduced revisit times, compared to the Greedy algorithm. The findings underscore the MDP algorithm’s improved operational efficiency and planning robustness for complex imaging tasks, demonstrating significant advancements over traditional approaches.

Analysis of complex DNA mixtures is limited by the selected genetic markers characterized and assay technology. Small panels of short tandem repeats (STRs) are the current standards in most countries. Extension of STRs with hundreds of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is now commercially available. The current set of extension SNPs focus on phenotypic and biogeographic ancestry informative SNPs. Larger panels with thousands of SNPs have been developed that can identify up to 10 contributors to forensic DNA samples. Herein, multiple sets of SNPs were selected with the focus of increasing the upper limit of detectable contributors. Larger SNP panel sets with lower minor allele frequency (MAF) alleles can detect large numbers of contributors to in silico mixtures of randomly selected profiles from the 1,000 Genomes project. These results provide a path to enable characterization of complex DNA mixtures that are currently impossible to analyse.

Ridge regression is one of the most popular shrinkage estimation methods for linear models. Ridge regression effectively estimates regression coefficients in the presence of high-dimensional regressors. Recently, a generalized ridge estimator was suggested by generalizing the uniform shrinkage of ridge regression to the non-uniform shrinkage, which was shown to perform well under sparse and high-dimensional linear models. In this paper, we introduce our newly developed R package “g.ridge” (the first version published on 2023-12-07 at https://cran.r-project.org/package=g.ridge) that implements both the ridge estimator and generalized ridge estimators. The package equips with the generalized cross-validation for automatic estimation of shrinkage parameters. The package also includes a convenient tool for generating a design matrix. By simulations, we test the performance of the R package under sparse and high-dimensional settings with the normal and skew-normal error distributions. From the simulation results, we conclude that the generalized ridge estimator is superior to the benchmark ridge estimator based on “glmnet”, and hence, it can be the most recommended estimator under sparse and high-dimensional models. We demonstrate the package using the intracerebral hemorrhage data.

Cervical cancer, primarily caused by high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) types 16 and 18, is a major global health concern. Persistent HR-HPV infection can progress from reversible pre-cancerous lesions to invasive cervical cancer, which is driven by the oncogenic activity of human papillomavirus (HPV) genes, particularly E6 and E7. Traditional screening methods, including cytology and HPV testing, have limited sensitivity and specificity. This review explores the ap-plication of p16/Ki-67 dual-staining cytology for cervical cancer screening. This advanced im-munocytochemical method allows for simultaneously detecting p16 and Ki-67 proteins within cervical epithelial cells, offering a more specific approach for triaging HPV-positive women. Dual staining and traditional methods are compared, demonstrating their high sensitivity and negative predictive value but low specificity. The increased sensitivity of dual staining results in higher detection rates of CIN2+ lesions, which is crucial for preventing cervical cancer progression. However, its low specificity may lead to increased false-positive results and unnecessary biopsies. The implications of integrating dual staining into contemporary screening strategies, particularly considering the evolving landscape of HPV vaccination and changes in HPV genotype prevalence are also discussed. New guidelines and further research are necessary to elucidate the long-term effects of integrating dual staining into screening protocols.

Ultra-low radioactive titanium alloy is a promising material for the manufacture of low-background detectors, which are being developed for experiments in astroparticle physics and neutrino astrophysics. Structural titanium is manufactured on an industrial scale from titanium-sponge. The ultra-low-background titanium-sponge can be produced on an industrial scale with a contamination level of less than 1 mBq/kg of uranium and thorium isotopes. The pathways of contaminants during the industrial production of structural titanium have been analyzed. The measurements have been carried out using two methods: inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and gamma-spectroscopy using high-purity germanium detectors (HPGe). It has been shown that the level of contamination with radioactive impurities does not increase during remelting of titanium-sponge and mechanical processing. We examined titanium-alloys samples obtained at different stages of titanium production, namely, an electrode compaction, a vacuum arc remelting with a consumable electrode (VAR), and a cold rolling of titanium-sheets. It has been found out that all studied samples will be a source of uranium and thorium contamination of the final titanium-alloys. It has been established that the only product allowed obtaining ultra-low-background titanium was the VT1-00 which is manufactured without master alloys addition..

We are introducing a highly efficient 48-channel ultrasound beamforming system ideal for ultrasound endoscopy applications. The system includes a transmitter and a receiver, which allow for low-area, high-resolution imaging acquisition. The transmitter uses a charge redistribution HV (high voltage) scheme to generate three-level pulses that actuate the transducer, implemented with the standard CMOS process for optimal cost and power savings. Meanwhile, the receiver features a sub-array structure and a delay generator that reduces area usage. To achieve high-resolution ultrasound imaging acquisition with low computational power, we developed the Shift Coherence Factor (SCF) algorithm, which is hardware-friendly. This approach delivers a lateral resolution over 20% better than the conventional delay and sum (DAS) algorithm, with a contrast ratio of over 30 dB. The system was implemented in a 180 nm standard CMOS process with an area of 24.98 mm2, power consumption of 8.23 mW per channel, achieving a delay resolution of 8.33 ns, and a low-area implementation of 0.52 mm2 per channel. The system offers high-quality imaging acquisition with minimal additional area and power consumption, which has great potential for 3D imaging or catheterized ultrasound systems.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have ushered in a technological revolution with their remarkable impact on diverse sectors of our daily lives. These versatile devices known for their outstanding display and lighting capabilities, have become indispensable components in various industries including smartphones, tablets, televisions, and automotive applications. This paper delves into the development of a group of twisted donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) derivatives incorporating bicarbazole and benzophenone structures for potential use as blue emitters in OLEDs. The synthesized compounds, namely DB14, DB23 and DB29, were designed with various alkyl side chains to enhance their film forming properties as for blue emitters. Characterization and evaluation of these derivatives included photophysical, electrochemical, thermal, and electroluminescent analysis. Some of the OLED devices incorporating these emitters demonstrated promising performance with maximum current efficiency (CEmax) of 2.6 cd/A and external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 5.3%. Notably, the DB23 emitter exhibited the highest EQE among all devices. The study also emphasizes the influence of host-guest energy transfer, optimal doping concentrations, and molecular structures on device performance. This research not only contributes to the understanding of advanced OLED materials but also provides insights into designing efficient blue emitters for future display and lighting applications, thereby advancing the field of organic electronics.

In order to study the collapse failure of shaft wall of high depth inclined ore-pass under ore impact wear behavior, 25 ore-passes in a deep mine in Yunnan, China were investigated. Considering the ore-pass structural characteristics and the impact wear effect of ore on shaft wall, the shaft wall damage model of high depth inclined ore-pass is constructed based on the contact mechanics theory. Furthermore, No. 1#, 2#, 3# and 9# ore-passes of the mine are taken as examples for analysis, and the three results of theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and engineering case are used for comparison and verification. The shaft wall damage degree is predicted, and the damage mechanism between total shaft wall damage volume Qtol and ore-pass depth H, ore-pass dip angle θ, inclined angle of chute α, shaft diameter D and ore block size P is quantitatively investigated. The results show that the rationality of the proposed model is verified by numerical analysis and field engineering situations. Moreover, the deeper ore-pass depth H, the more shaft wall damage volume Qtol with the increase of collision frequency. Qtol increases exponentially with P and increases gradually with D. With the increase of θ or α, Qtol increases generally first and then decreases. Therefore, Qtol can be effectively reduced by selecting the appropriate structure parameters of ore-pass and adopting the technology of drilling straight ore-pass. This work provides technical support for long period safe operation of high depth inclined ore-pass.

TiNbZrTa alloys are promising for multidisciplinary applications, such as refractory and biomedical purposes due to their high thermal stability and non-toxicity. Hardness and elastic modulus are among the key features for their adequate industrial applications. The influence of porosity and Ti/Ta ratio were investigated on TiNbZrTa alloys produced by three different processing routes, i.e., (i) blend element and posterior press and sintering (BE + P&amp;S), (ii) mechanical alloying with press and sintering (MA + P&amp;S), and (iii) arc melting and casting. Atomic diffusion was improved during processing, resulting in lower porosity in the following order: casting &lt; MA + P&amp;S &lt; BE + P&amp;S. Ta offered limited atomic diffusion due to its high melting point compared to other constituent elements. Thus, the total porosity of alloys increased with increasing the Ta contents, i.e., by lowering the Ti/Ta ratio. However, the Ti/Ta ratio did not considerably affect the bonding energy or the elastic modulus. Hardness was increased significantly in dense alloys compared to the porous ones. However, porosity and Ti/Ta ratio did not show a clear trend in hardness among the porous alloys.

Thermally-assisted-occupation density functional theory (TAO-DFT) has been an efficient electronic structure method for studying the ground-state properties of large electronic systems with multi-reference character over the past few years. To explore the time-dependent (TD) properties of electronic systems (e.g., subject to an intense laser pulse), in this work, we propose a real-time (RT) extension of TAO-DFT, denoted as RT-TAO-DFT. Besides, we employ RT-TAO-DFT to study the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) spectra and related TD properties of molecular hydrogen H2 at the equilibrium and stretched geometries, aligned along the polarization of an intense linearly polarized laser pulse. The TD properties obtained with RT-TAO-DFT are compared with those obtained with the widely used time-dependent Kohn-Sham (TDKS) method. In addition, issues related to the possible spin-symmetry breaking effects in the TD properties are discussed.

Microarray patches (MAPs) have the potential to be a safer, more acceptable, easier to use, and more cost-effective means for the administration of vaccines than injection by needle and syringe. Here, we report findings from a randomized, partially double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase I trial using the Vaxxas high-density MAP (HD-MAP) to deliver a measles rubella (MR) vaccine. Healthy adults (N = 63, age 18–50 years) were randomly assigned 1:1:1:1 to four groups: uncoated (placebo) HD-MAPs, low-dose MR HD-MAPs (~3,100 median cell-culture infectious dose [CCID50] measles, ~4,300 CCID50 rubella); high dose MR-HD-MAPs (~9,300 CCID50 measles, ~12,900 CCID50 rubella); or a sub-cutaneous (SC) injection of an approved MR vaccine, MR-Vac (≥1,000 CCID50 per virus). The MR vaccines were stable and remained viable on HD-MAPs when stored at 2–8°C for at least 24 months. When MR HD-MAPs stored at 2–8°C for 24 months were transferred to 40°C for 3 days in a controlled temperature excursion, loss of potency was minimal, and MR HD-MAPs still met World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications. MR HD-MAP vaccination was safe and well-tolerated; any systemic or local adverse events (AEs) were mild or moderate. Similar levels of binding and neutralizing antibodies to measles and rubella were induced by low-dose and high-dose MR HD-MAPs and MR-Vac. The neutralizing antibody seroconversion rates at day 28 after vaccination for the low-dose HD-MAP, high-dose HD-MAP and MR-Vac groups were 37.5%, 18.8% and 35.7% respectively for measles and 37.5%, 25.0% and 35.7% respectively for rubella. Most participants were seropositive for measles and rubella antibodies at baseline, which appeared to negatively impact the number of participants that seroconverted to vaccines delivered by either route. The data reported here suggest HD-MAPs could be a valuable means for delivering MR-vaccine to hard-to-reach populations and support further development. Clinical trial registry number: ACTRN12621000820808.

The sensitivity of exercise ECG is marginally sufficient for detection of mild reduction of coronary blood flow in patients with early coronary atherosclerosis. Here we describe the application of new technique of ECG registration/analysis – ultrahigh resolution ECG (UHR ECG) – for early detection of myocardial ischemia (MIS). The utility of UHR ECG vs. conventional ECG (C ECG) was tested in anesthetized rats and pigs. Transmural MIS was induced in rats by the ligation of the left coronary artery (CA). In pigs, subendocardial ischemia of variable extent was produced by stepwise inflation of balloon within the right CA causing 25-100% reduction of its lumen. In rats, a reduction in power spectral density (PSD) in high-frequency (HF) channel of UHR ECG was registered at 60 s after ischemia (power 0.81±0.14 vs. 1.25±0.12 mW at baseline, p<0.01). This was not accompanied by any ST segment elevation on C ECG. In pigs, PSD in HF channel of UHR ECG was significantly decreased at 25% reduction of CA lumen, while ST segment on C ECG remained unchanged. In conclusion, UHR ECG enabled earlier detection of transmural MIS compared to C ECG. PSD in HF-channel of UHR ECG demonstrated greater sensitivity in the settings of subendocardial ischemia.

This study investigated defect formation and strain distribution in high Mg content Al-Mg alloys during normal rolling and cross-rolling processes. The finite element analysis (FEA) revealed the presence of wave defects and strain localization-induced zipper cracks in normal cold rolling, which were confirmed by experimental results. The concentration of shear strain played a significant role in crack formation and propagation. However, the influence of wave defects was minimal in the cross-rolling process, which exhibited a relatively uniform strain distribution. Nonetheless, strain concentration at the edge and center regions led to the formation of zipper cracks and edge cracks, with more pronounced propagation observed in the experiments compared to FEA predictions. Furthermore, texture evolution was found to be a crucial factor affecting crack propagation, particularly with the development of the Goss texture component which is observed by electron backscattered diffraction analysis at bending points. The Goss texture hindered crack propagation, while the Brass texture allowed cracks to pass through. This phenomenon was consistent with both FEA and experimental observations. To mitigate edge crack formation and propagation, potential strategies involve promoting the formation of the Goss texture at the edge through alloy and process conditions, as well as implementing intermediate annealing to alleviate stress accumulation. These measures can enhance the overall quality and reliability of Al-Mg alloys during cross-rolling processes. In summary, understanding the mechanisms of defect formation and strain distribution in Al-Mg alloys during rolling processes is crucial for optimizing their mechanical properties. The findings of this study provide insights into the challenges associated with wave defects, strain localization, and crack propagation. Future research and optimization efforts should focus on implementing strategies to minimize defects and improve the overall quality of Al-Mg alloys in industrial applications.

Standards are not only crucial for obtaining a certification for practical use, but also an essential guidance for inferring how and what to simulate as well test experimentally. This paper examines the potential applicability of existing standards from various domains, including aerospace and automotive, to Wing-Structure- Integrated high-pressure Hydrogen Tanks (SWITHs). It highlights the associated challenges and uncertainties, acknowledging the absence of a single, all-encompassing standard for SWITHs. We embark on an exploration aimed at identifying alternative standards that are best suited for SWITHs. The analysis scrutinizes existing standards that could potentially facilitate SWITH certification, with a particular focus on the inclusivity of externally loaded hydrogen tanks. Assessment criteria are established to filter standards that best meet the needs of SWITHs. Through this process, we identify two key standards that present themselves as the most promising alternatives. Moreover, we delineate the technical constraints involved in selecting the maximum nominal working pressure for high-pressure tanks intended for burst tests. Our findings reveal a current upper limit of 525 bar, imposed by the limitations of existing test facilities. The study underscores that these standards should serve as flexible guiding frameworks rather than rigid protocols, encouraging progressive development in the SWITH field.

To improve the understanding of soil–pile interaction of laterally loaded piles, the quasi-static test of pile group foundation in silty clay with 5 foundation piles arranged in cross shape is carried out. The direct measurement-based p–y curves at different depths showed nonlinear behavior, in which the initial stiffness and ultimate soil reaction increased as the depth increased. The loading displacement amplitude corresponding to the failure of each foundation pile in the high axial compression reinforced concrete pile group foundation is given as follows: the front-end nappe foundation pile (#3 pile) is 6mm, the middle pile is 16mm, the front-end nappe foundation pile is 20mm, and the loading displacement amplitude of side pile is 24mm. In silty clay, due to the existence of pile group effect, the edge effect has little effect on the horizontal foundation bed coefficient of foundation pile in pile group, while the influence of masking effect on the horizontal foundation bed coefficient of each foundation pile in pile group is not related to the position of pile, but only to the existence of masking effect, and the influence of different columns of masking effect on the horizontal foundation bed coefficient is the same.

A novel hybrid CSP-PV power plant is presented. Instead of the integration used in current hybrid power plants, where part of the PV production is charged into the thermal energy storage system through electrical resistors, the proposed system integrates both PV and thermal solar fields using a high-temperature heat pump. Both the heat pump and the heat engine are based on Brayton supercritical CO2 thermodynamic cycles. Such integration allows for charging the molten salts storage as if a central tower receiver field supplied the thermal energy, whereas parabolic trough collectors are employed. Unlike conventional hybrid plants, where the storage of PV production leads to a decrease in power injected into the grid throughout the day, the power injected by the proposed system remains constant. The heat engine efficiency is 44.4%, and the COP is 2.32. The LCOE for a 50 MWe plant with up to 12 hours of storage capacity is 171 $/MWh, which is lower than that of existing CSP power plants with comparable performance. Although the cost is higher compared to a PV plant with batteries, this hybrid system offers two significant advantages: it eliminates the consumption of critical raw materials in batteries, and all the electricity produced comes from a synchronous machine.

The western Sulige gas field is a new and key reserve area for the rolling development of the Sulige gas field in China. However, due to the complex gas–water relationship and the difficulty in identifying gas and water formation, the scale and benefit deployment of the gas field are seriously restricted. In particular, almost all of the wells in the area produce water and no water measurement has been carried out for any single well, which leads to an unclear understanding of the dynamic characteristics of the production wells, thus affecting the productivity calculations of the gas wells and the overall regional productivity evaluation. Based on the testing data for a gas well, the impacts of the reservoir property parameters on the gas and water production were analyzed by combining the production performance and static geological characteristics. It was determined that the physical parameters K, Kh, and φSg had good positive correlations with gas production but not with water production; thus, effective prediction cannot be obtained for water production in gas well testing. After the analysis of the liquid loading law, the gas wells were classified into three types: continuous liquid carrying production, slight liquid loading, and liquid loading wells. In general, up to 96% of the gas wells were liquid loaded. According to the different production performances exhibited in the different stages of the gas wells, five types of methods for diagnosing water production wells were proposed (gas testing, pilot production, gas–liquid two-phase measurement testing, liquid level detection, and production performance analysis), as well as the diagnostic criteria and corresponding solutions. To obtain real-time water production data for each well and investigate the change of water-gas ratio (WGR) during the whole production process, a water production splitting method for gas wells based on three-dimensional geological modeling and numerical simulation combined with the constraints of the total water production of gas gathering stations was explored and established. The splitting results can be used to evaluate the water and gas productivity of gas wells and determine the best deliquification period. The gas well productivity when water production was considered was about 10% lower than that when water production was not considered. The best deliquification period was determined to be 125 days for wells with small water production, 20 days for wells with moderate water production, and 3 days for wells with serious water production. The results of this study could provide technical support for the scientific evaluation of gas well production indicators, reduction of development costs, and improvement of oil recovery.

The purpose of this research was to analyze the moderating effect of clean energy innovation on the relationship between corporate carbon footprint and corporate profits in those industrial sectors associated with high demand for fossil fuels in which it is "hard to abate" CO₂e emissions. It used a longitudinal research design, in particular a panel study under a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, based on partial least squares. For the longitudinal moderation analysis, this research employed the Bayesian method by defining a multiple-indicator latent growth curve model (B-LGC model). A global sample was used consisting of 7,827 firm-year observations between 2015 and 2021 corresponding to 167 international firms. The results revealed a very significant impact of the corporate carbon footprint on corporate profits. Likewise, the results showed that innovations in clean energy, when measured as the consumption of renewable energy, positively moderates the relationship between the greenhouse gas emissions from the value chain associated with Scope 3 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, and the gross profit margin obtained. Besides the academic contribution represented by the moderating effect of clean energy innovation, these findings imply that a more detailed understanding of the emissions of the entire value chain (Scope 3 CO₂e) by executives and managers of high emitting CO₂e companies represents an effective mechanism to obtain higher profits, create competitive advantages and, at the same time, achieve a net zero emissions strategy. More importantly, public policy makers will be able to use these results to revise CO₂e-related policies paying more attention to the Scope 3 CO₂e emissions produced by these companies, to formulate regulatory and control mechanisms that stimulate clean energy innovation.

Objectives: Although pitch reception poses a great challenge for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), formal auditory training (e.g., high variability phonetic training, HVPT) has been shown to provide direct benefits in pitch-related perceptual performances such as lexical tone recognition for CI users. As lexical tones in spoken language are expressed with a multitude of distinct spectral, temporal, and intensity cues, it is important to determine the sources of training benefits for CI users. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a rigorous fine-scale evaluation with the categorical perception (CP) paradigm to control the acoustic parameters and test the efficacy and sustainability of HVPT for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients. The main hypothesis was that HVPT-induced perceptual learning would greatly enhance CI users’ ability to extract the primary pitch contours from spoken words for lexical tone identification and discrimination. Furthermore, individual differences in immediate and long-term gains from training would likely be attributable to baseline performance and duration of CI use. Design: Twenty-eight prelingually deaf Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners with CIs were tested. Half of them received five sessions of HVPT within a period of three weeks. The other half served as control who did not receive the formal training. Two classical CP tasks on a tonal continuum from Mandarin Tone 1 (high-flat in pitch) to Tone 2 (mid-rising in pitch) with fixed acoustic features of duration and intensity were administered before (pretest), immediately after (posttest), and 10 weeks post training termination (follow-up test). Participants were instructed to either label a speech stimulus along the continuum (i.e., identification task) or determine whether a pair of stimuli separated by zero or two steps from the continuum was the same or different (i.e., discrimination task). Identification function measures (i.e., boundary position and boundary width) and discrimination function scores (i.e., between-category score, within-category score, and peakedness score) were assessed for each child participant across the three test sessions.Results: Linear mixed-effects (LME) models showed significant training-induced enhancement in lexical tone categorization with significantly narrower boundary width and better between-category discrimination in the immediate posttest over pretest for the trainees. Furthermore, training-induced gains were reliably retained in the follow-up test 10 weeks after training. By contrast, no significant changes were found in the control group across sessions. Regression analysis confirmed that baseline performance (i.e., boundary width in the pretest session) and duration of CI use were significant predictors for the magnitude of training-induced benefits. Conclusions: The stringent CP tests with synthesized stimuli that excluded acoustic cues other than the pitch contour and were never used in training showed strong evidence for the efficacy of HVPT in yielding immediate and sustained improvement in lexical tone categorization for Mandarin-speaking children with CIs. The training results and individual differences have remarkable implications for developing personalized computer-based short-term HVPT protocols that may have sustainable long-term benefits for aural rehabilitation in this clinical population.

Diffuse interstitial lung diseases (DILD) are a heterogeneous group of over 200 entities, some with dramatical evolution and poor prognostic. Because of their overlapping clinical, physiopathological and imagistic nature, successful management requires early detection and proper progression evaluation. This paper tests a complex networks (CN) algorithm for imagistic aided diagnosis fitness for the possibility of achieving relevant and novel DILD management data. 65 DILD and 31 normal high resolution computer tomography (HRCT) scans were selected and analyzed with the CN model. The algorithm is showcased in two case reports and then statistical analysis on the entire lot shows that a CN algorithm quantifies progression evaluation with a very fine accuracy, surpassing functional parameters’ variations. The CN algorithm can also be successfully used for early detection, mainly on the ground glass opacity Hounsfield Units band of the scan.

Miscanthus holds a great potential in the frame of the bioeconomy and yield prediction can help improving Miscanthus logistic supply chain. Breeding programs in several countries are attempting to produce high-yielding Miscanthus hybrids better adapted to different climates and end-uses. Multispectral images acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Italy and in the UK in 2021 and 2022 were used to investigate the feasibility of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of novel Miscanthus hybrids for yield prediction and crop traits estimation. An intercalibration procedure was performed using simulated data from the PROSAIL model to link vegetation indices (VIs) derived from two different multispectral sensors. Random forest algorithm estimated with good accuracy yield traits (light interception, plant height, green leaf biomass and standing biomass) using VIs time series and predicted yield using peak descriptor derived from VIs time series with 2.3 Mg DM ha-1 of RMSE. The study demonstrates the potential of UAVs multispectral in HTP applications and in yield prediction for providing important information needed to increase sustainable biomass production.

Plant geneticists and breeders have used marker technology since the 1980s in quantitative trait locus (QTL) identification. Marker-assisted selection is effective for large-effect QTL but has been challenging to use with quantitative traits controlled by multiple minor effect alleles. Therefore, genomic selection (GS) was proposed to estimate all markers simultaneously, thereby capturing all their effects. However, breeding programs are still struggling to identify the best strategy to implement it into their programs. Traditional breeding programs need to be optimized to implement GS effectively. This review explores the optimization of breeding programs for variety release based on aspects of the breeder’s equation. Optimizations include reorganizing field designs, training populations, increasing the number of lines evaluated, and leveraging the large amount of genomic and phenotypic data collected across different growing seasons and environments to increase heritability estimates, selection intensity, and selection accuracy. Breeding programs can leverage their phenotypic and genotypic data to maximize genetic gain and selection accuracy through GS methods utilizing multi-trait and, multi-environment models, high-throughput phenotyping, and deep learning approaches. Overall, this review describes various methods that plant breeders can utilize to increase genetic gains and effectively implement GS in breeding .

For the first time, few-layer graphene (FLG) nanosheets were synthesized by the method of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) from biopolymers (starch and lignin). We suggested that biopolymers (lignin, tree bark) and polysaccharides, in particular starch, could be an acceptable source of native cycles for the SHS process. The carbonization of biopolymers under the conditions of the SHS process was chosen as the basic method of synthesis. Chemical reactions, under the conditions of the SHS process, proceed according to a specific mechanism of nonsothermal branched-chain processes, which are characterized by the joint action of two fundamentally different process-accelerating factors - avalanche reproduction of active intermediate particles and self-heating. The method of obtaining FLG nanosheets included the thermal destruction of hydrocarbons in a mixture with an oxidizing agent. We used biopolymers as hydrocarbons and ammonium nitrate as an oxidizing agent. Thermal destruction was carried out in the mode of SHS, heating the mixture in a vessel at a speed of 20–30 oC/min to 150-200 oC and keeping at this temperature for 15–20 min with the discharge of excess gases into atmosphere. A combination of spectrometric research methods, supplemented by electron microscopy data, has shown that the particles of the carbonated product powder in their morphometric and physical parameters correspond to FLG nanosheets. An X-ray diffraction analysis of the indicated FLG nanosheets was carried out, which showed the absence of formations with a graphite crystal structure in the final material. The surface morphology was also studied and the features of the IR absorption of FLG nanosheets were analyzed. It is shown that the developed SHS method makes it possible to obtain FLG nanosheets with linear dimensions of tens of microns and a thickness of not more than 1-5 graphene layers (several graphene layers).