Background: We aimed to assess the association between DII and PD and the mediation effect of DII in the association of PD with systemic inflammation. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010, 2011-2012 and 2013-2014, participants that received periodontal exam and provided dietary recall data were included. The inflammatory potential of diet was calculated via DII. Periodontitis was defined according to the 2012 case definition. The clinical outcomes of interest were mean periodontal probing (PPD), mean clinical attachment loss (CAL) and thresholds of PPD and CAL. White blood cells (WBC), segmented neutrophils and C-reactive protein (CRP) were used as proxies for systemic inflammation. The periodontal measures were regressed across DII values using adjusted multivariate linear regression. Adjusted mediation analysis appraised the influence of DII in the association of periodontitis and systemic inflammation. 10,178 participants were included. DII was significantly correlated with mean PPD, mean CAL, thresholds of PPD and CAL, WBC, segmented neutrophils and DII (p<0.01). A linear regression logistic adjusted for multiple confounding variables confirmed the association between DII and mean PPD (B = 0.02, Standard Error [SE]: 0.02, p<0.001) and CAL (B = -0.02, SE: 0.01, p<0.001). The association of mean PPD and mean CAL with both white blood cells and segmented neutrophils were mediated by DII (from 2.1 to 3.5%, p<0.001). In the 2009-2010 subset, the association of mean CAL with serum CRP was mediated by DII (52.0%, p<0.01). In conclusion, inflammatory diet and PD may be associated. Also, the inflammatory diet significantly mediated the association of leukocyte counts and systemic inflammation with periodontitis.

The utilization of primary school buildings is multifaceted, primarily due to the high occupancy density, varying thermal preferences among occupants, diverse indoor activities (such as walking, sports, and conversation), and a constant flow of individuals entering and exiting the building. This results in frequent opening and closing of external windows and doors and fluctuations in internal heat gain. Consequently, frequent interactions between the indoor and outdoor microenvironments lead to energy losses. This study conducts a comprehensive literature review on building energy loss stemming from occupant behavior and the interactions between indoor and outdoor microenvironments. Furthermore, it proposes a dynamic real-time monitoring system based on a computer data capture and visualization platform foundation for building energy loss. The research methods include data crawling, data association rule mining, and data association analysis. The research findings yield a universally applicable and informative building energy-saving design theory based on extensive data analysis. Additionally, the system presents information on occupants' behavior and the microclimate data of indoor and outdoor environments on a computer screen, facilitating human-machine communication and enabling timely adjustments to design strategies for new buildings and operation and maintenance strategies for existing buildings.

Acute respiratory viruses (ARVs) are leading cause of diseases in human worldwide. High risk individuals including children and elderly could potentially develop severe illness that could result in hospitalization or death in the worst case. Most common ARVs are Human respiratory syncytial virus, Human Metapneumovirus, Human Parainfluenza Virus, rhinovirus, coronaviruses (including SARS and MERS CoV), adenoviruses, Human Bocavirus, enterovirus (-D68 and 71), and influenza viruses. The olfactory deficits due to ARVs infection is a common symptom among patients. This mini review provides an overview of the role of SARS-CoV-2 and other common ARVs in the development of human olfactory pathophysiology. We highlight the critical need for understanding the signaling underlying the olfactory dysfunction and the development of therapeutics for this wide-ranging category of AVRs to restore the altered or loss of smell in affected patients.

Second-level hospitals face peculiarities that hinder the implementation of the hearing rescreening protocol, which are not uncommon in other settings. This study analyzes the hearing rescreening process in this kind of hospital. A total of 1130 individuals were included. In this cohort, 61.07% were newborns in the hospital who failed their first otoemission test after birth (n=679) or were unable to have the test performed (n=11), then being referred to outpatient clinic. The remaining 38.93% were individuals who were born in another hospital with their first test conducted in the outpatient clinic (n=440). A high amount of rescreenings were made outside the recommended time frame, mainly in children referred from another hospital. There was a high rate of lost to follow-up especially with otolaryngologist referrals. Neonatal Hearing screening in second level hospitals is difficult because of the staffing and time constraints. This results in longer than recommended turnaround times and interferes with the timely detection of hearing loss. This is particularly serious in outpatients. Referral of children with impaired screening to out-of-town centers leads to unacceptable loss of follow-up. A legislative support for all these rescreening issues is necessary. We discuss these findings and propose some solutions.

TThe passion of bodybuilding athletes for a symmetric, lean, heavily muscled body leads them to carry out exhausting exercise programs and restrictive eating regimens, sometimes resulting in disordered eating behaviors. This study investigates potential exacerbators on the development of disordered eating in bodybuilding and strength athletes. The study involved 103 Cypriot bodybuilding athletes of both sexes, performing at three levels: professional, recreational and strength athletes. The Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26) and The Three Factor Eating Question-naire (TFEQ-R21) were used to evaluate disordered eating and eating behaviors respectively. The current study was performed under the auspices of the Hellenic Center of Education & Treatment of Eating Disorders (KEADD). The degree of deviation between the perceived ideal body weight and the actual body weight was associated with increased risk of eating disorder. Athletes who desired a lower body weight recorded higher scores on EAT-26 overall, (p=0.001), and the subscales of dieting (p=0.01) and bulimia. (p=0.001). Cognitive restraint and emotional eating scales of TFEQ-R21 were more pronounced in the non-professional athletes. (p=0.01). The emotional eating score was higher in women. There is a need for appropriate sport-specific, gender-specific preventive intervention to deescalate the risk of eating disorder, in both profes-sional and non-professional bodybuilding athletes.

Hearing dysfunctions can be classified by type, degree, configuration, time of onset, aetiology, and finally, consequences on speech development. They can be divided into conductive, mixed, central types and sensorineural. Conductive hearing loss (CHL) results from interference with the mechanical transmission of sound through the external and middle ear; it can be congenital, as a consequence of anatomic abnormalities, but it can commonly be acquired following middle ear inflammatory pathologies. Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) results from failure to transduce vibrations to neural impulses in the cochlean and is a consequence of an irreversible damage to the differentiated cells which make up the organ of hearing and the acoustic paths at various levels. Mixed hearing loss involves a combination of these two types in the same ear. Studies in neuroscience field have shown that the prevention of cell degeneration is only possible if all the factors taken at the different stages of stem cells’ multiplication and differentiation are administered together. We have demonstrated this in a recent study on the ability of SCDSFs to prevent neurodegeneration in hippocampal cells of the CA1 zone in mice. This study confirms previous findings demonstrating that early developmental zebrafish embryo extracts could act as a modulator of senescence in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) isolated from many adult tissues. These findings have open a promising way for the approaches promoting the rejuvenation and regeneration of different tissues, by-passing stem cell transplantation. In the present clinical trial we have used SCDSFs to study the possible reversion of neurosensory hearing loss, until now considered an irreversible condition.

We explore the importance of curvature in carbonaceaous species transformation and stability, using laser-induced vaporisation to evaporate and ionise a source of curved polyaromatic hydrocarbons: carbon nanobelts. Collision impacts between species cause mass loss and the resultant ions are catalogued via mass-spectrometry. To interpret the mass spectra, we perform a series of “in-silico” simulated systematic hydrogen-loss studies using density functional theory (DFT) modelling, sequentially removing hydrogen atoms using thermodynamic stability as a selection for subsequent dehydrogenation. In an initial sequence of H2 removal, the rings are maintained through stable carbyne chain and pentagon-chain formation, giving rise to circular strained dehydrobenzoannulene species. The chains subsequently break, releasing CH and C2. While theoretical closed-cage routes are identified, they are not observed experimentally. The results can serve as a useful guide to high-energy impact conditions observed in some astrochemical environments.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are of concern to conservation biologists worldwide. However, not all organisms are affected equally by these processes, thus it is important to study the effects of living in fragmented habitats on species that differ in lifestyle and habitat requirements. In this study we examined dispersal and connectivity patterns of rodents, one endemic (Eliurus myoxinus) and one invasive (Rattus rattus), in two landscapes containing forest fragments and adjacent continuous forest patches in northwestern Madagascar. We generated genomic (RADseq) data for 66 E. myoxinus and 81 R. rattus individuals to evaluate differences in genetic diversity as well as inbreeding and connectivity in two landscapes. We found higher levels of inbreeding and lower levels of genetic diversity in E. myoxinus compared with R. rattus. We observed related dyads both within and between habitat patches and positive spatial autocorrelation at lower distance classes for both species, with a stronger pattern of spatial autocorrelation in R. rattus. Across each site we identified contrasting migration rates for each species, but these did not correspond to habitat-matrix dichotomies. The relatively low genetic diversity in the endemic E. myoxinus suggests ecological constraints that require further investigation.

Androgenetic alopecia, the most common cause of hair loss affecting both men and women, is typically treated using pharmaceutical options such as minoxidil and finasteride. While these medications work for many individuals, they are not suitable options for all. To date, the only non-pharmaceutical option that the United States Food and Drug Administration has cleared as a treatment for androgenetic alopecia is low-level laser therapy (LLLT). Various clinical trials utilizing LLLT devices of various types are available. However, a myriad of other physical treatments for this form of hair loss are reported in the literature. This review evaluated the effectiveness of microneedling, pulsed-electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy, low-level laser therapy (LLLT), fractional laser therapy, and non-ablative laser therapy for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). It also explores the potential of multimodal treatments combining these physical therapies. LLLT has the majority of evidence in the literature as a physical therapy for androgenetic alopecia. However, other physical treatments, such as non-ablative laser treatments, and multimodal approaches, such as PEMF-LLLT, seem to have the potential to be equally or more promising and merit further exploration.

The consequences of climate change and anthropogenic stressors, such as habitat loss and overexploitation, are threatening the subsistence of species and communities across the planet. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze the impact of environmental perturbations on the diversity, structure and function of ecosystems. In this work, in silico simulations of biodiversity loss were carried out on the marine food web of Caleta Potter (25 de Mayo Island, Antarctica) where global warming has caused critical changes in the abundance and distribution of benthic and pelagic communities during the last 30 years. We performed species removal considering their degree and trophic level and including four different thresholds on the occurrence of secondary extinctions. We examined the impact of extinctions on connectance, modularity and stability of the food web. We found different responses of these properties depending on the extinction criteria used, e.g., large increase in modularity and rapid decrease in stability when most-connected and relatively high-trophic level species were removed. Additionally, we studied the complexity-stability relationship of the food web founding two regimes: 1) high sensitivity to small perturbations suggesting that Potter Cove would be locally unstable, and 2) high persistence to long-range perturbations suggesting global stability of this ecosystem.

The aim of this study was to measure one-year total cost of stroke and to investigate the value of stroke care, defined as cost per QALY. The study population included 892 patients with first ever acute stroke, hemorrhagic and ischemic, (ICD-10 codes: I61, I63 and I64) admitted within 48 hours of symptoms onset to nine public hospitals located in six cities. We conducted a bottom-up cost analysis from the societal point of view. All cost components including direct medical costs, productivity losses due to morbidity and mortality and informal care costs were considered. We used an annual time horizon, including all costs for 2021 irrespective of the time of disease onset. The average cost (direct and indirect) was extrapolated in order to estimate the national annual burden associated with stroke. We estimated the total cost of stroke in Greece at €343.1 mil a year in 2021, (€10,722/patient or €23,308 per QALY). Out of €343.1 mil., 53.3% (€182.9 mil) consisted direct healthcare cost representing 1.1% of current health expenditure in 2021. Overall, productivity losses were calculated at €160.2 mil. The mean productivity losses were estimated to 116 work days with 55.1 days lost due to premature retirement and absenteeism from work, 18.5 days lost due to mortality and 42.4 days lost due to informal caregiving by family members.This study highlights the burden of stroke and underlines the need for stakeholders and policy makers to re-organize stroke care and promote interventions that have been proved as cost-effective

In this paper, we examine two strategies for boosting the performance of ensembles of Siamese networks (SNNs) for image classification using two loss functions (Triplet and Binary Cross Entropy) and two methods for building the dissimilarity spaces (FULLY and DEEPER). With FULLY, the distance between a pattern and a prototype is calculated by comparing two images using the fully connected layer of the Siamese network. With DEEPER, each pattern is described using a deeper layer combined with dimensionality reduction. The basic design of the SNNs takes advantage of supervised k-means clustering for building the dissimilarity spaces that train a set of support vector machines, which are then combined by sum rule for a final decision. The robustness and versatility of this approach are demonstrated on several cross-domain image data sets, including a portrait data set, two bioimage and two animal vocalization data sets. Results show that the strategies employed in this work to increase the performance of dissimilarity image classification using SNN is closing the gap with standalone CNNs. Moreover, when our best system is combined with an ensemble of CNNs, the resulting performance is superior to an ensemble of CNNs, demonstrating that our new strategy is extracting additional information.

Nowadays, many Muslim-majority countries have implemented a dual banking system, namely the sharia and conventional systems. The development of Islamic banks is to fulfill the Muslims' need for the existence of halal transactions in financial institutions. However, in some countries, it turns out that conventional banks still dominate the country's economy. Because of that, it is necessary to see whether there are differences in financial risk and Earnings management between Islamic and conventional banks. The samples are conventional and Islamic banks in Southeast Asia, analyzed by the purposive sampling method from 2010-2019. The analytical tool used is the statistical difference test and economometrics analysis using generalized least square (GLS) regression with panel data (time series and cross-sectional data). These models are intended to forecasting the macroeconomics effects in applying dual banking system in one country or region. The results using non parametrics means difference test showed that the first hypothesis is accepted It means that Earnings management in conventional banks is greater than in Islamic banks. The Random Model Effect (REM) for second and third hypotheses testing on Conventional banks shows the Bankruptcy Risk and NPL do not affect the dependent variable Earnings Management (LLP). While fixed effect model testing on Islamic banks, the second and third hypothesis testing is rejected. Therefor Islamic Banks the value of Bankruptcy Risk (z-score) and the value of Non-Performing Loans (NPL) do not affect Earnings management. It also means that hypothesis 2 and 3 are rejected both in conventional as well as Islamic Banking. Sensitivity analysis for conventional as well as Islamic banking altogether using fixed effect model shows that the second and third hypotheses show that the independent variables (Bankruptcy Risk and NPL) do not affect the dependent variable Earnings Management (LLP). These results can be concluded that Islamic bank are enganged in less earnings management. Therefor in the the long run there are still more research that should conduct in comparing dual banking system in one region.

Background: The loss of a co-worker always evokes complex emotions. Such a loss is particularly challenging for those who spend many hours at work and develop close interpersonal relationships with their colleagues. While many studies have examined how losing colleagues affects employees in various organizations, no research has specifically examined this topic in the school environment. Methods: This qualitative study explored the experiences of school counsellors facing the loss of colleagues from their school educational team. Twenty-one school counselors ranging in age from 28 to 61 who had lost a colleague within the past five years were examined by semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results: Three main themes emerged from the data: (1) “From Shock to Action”: School Counsellors’ Reactions to Colleague Loss; (2) “From Friendship to Conflict”: School Counsellors' Diverse Experiences with Colleague Loss; and (3) “The Burden of Care”: Coping Mechanisms for School Counsellors Facing Colleague Loss. Conclusion: This study highlights the complex experiences of school counsellors in dealing with the death of colleagues. It underscores the importance of providing long-term emotional support for counsellors throughout their careers, particularly when coping with crises and emergencies.

Estimating age at death is essential to establish a biological profile from human skeletal remains in both forensic and archeological settings. Imaging studies of skeletal age changes in adults have described metamorphosis of trabecular bone structure and bone loss in the proximal femur , as well as changes in morphology during different stages of life. This study aims to assess the utility of a digital representation of conventional X-ray films of the proximal femur for the estimation of age at death in a sample of 91 adult individuals (47 females and 44 males) of the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection. The proposed approach showed a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 17.32 years (and mean absolute error of 13.47 years) for females and an RMSE of 14.06 years (mean absolute error of 11.08 years) for males. The main advantage of this approach is the consistency in the feature detection and extraction, as X-ray images projected on the femora space will always produce the same set features to be analyzed for age estimation while more traditional methods rely heavily on operator experience which can lead to inconsistent age estimates among experts.

This article presents a new design of supporting tethers through the concept of force distribution. The transmitted force applied on tethers will be distributed on the new tether design area resulting in low acoustic energy transferred to anchor boundaries and stored energy enhancement. This technique achieves an anchor quality factor of 175,000 compared to 58,000 obtained from con-ventional tether design representing 3-fold enhancement. Also, the unloaded quality factor of the proposed design improved from 23,750 to 27,442 representing 1.2-fold improvements.

Results of profile loss measurements, including trailing edge flow details, are presented for the flow of an organic vapor through a linear turbine cascade. The so-called VKI-I blade profile from the open literature was chosen for the cascade, and the working fluid was NOVEC 649. Pitot probes and hot wire anemometry were employed to measure the flow field up and downstream of the cascade. Details of the unsteady flow caused by the trailing edge of the blades and the turbulent spectrum were investigated using hot-wire anemometry. The new organic vapor flow results were compared with literature data obtained for air and with the prediction of conventional literature loss models. It was found that under certain thermodynamic conditions, specific traditional loss models can reasonably predict organic Rankine cycle (ORC) turbines' profile loss. Still, significant deviations between the loss models and the experimental data can also occur.

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes have a substantial influence on ecosystem services. The objective of this study is to estimate LULC dynamics induced ecosystem service values (ESV) changes in Western Ethiopia. Data were acquired from Landsat images of the area for four periods (1990-2020), and 221 sample households. The areas of LULC classes and the improved ESV coefficients of Costanza et al (1997) were used estimate ESV changes in 1990-2020. Forest provides diverse provisions, regulatory, supportive and cultural services. Analysis of the Landsat images showed that forest, farmland, settlement, water body and bare-land were the major LULC classes in the study area. While forest ESV had accounted 46.1% (US$ 4.95 million) of the ESV of Wayu-Tuka district in 1990, farmland ESV constituted the largest share (63.3%, US$ 5.21 million) of the ESV of the area after 30 years (2020). The ESV of forest and bare-land showed decreasing trends in three decades (1990-2020) but the farmland service value revealed an increasing trend in the same periods. Forest ecosystem exhibited the largest service value loss (US$ 3.91 million) in 1990-2020; whereas, the service value gain of farmland was only US$ 2.2 million although farmland was responsible for the conversion of the largest area size (9,766.5 ha) from other land covers in 30 years. LULC change induced net ESV loss of the district in three decades (1990-2020) was 23.4% (US$ 2.51 million). Land conversion due to expansion of farmland (by 9,766.5 ha) and settlement (by 4,061.3 ha) was the main cause for the LULC dynamics and the significant ESV loss in 1990-2020. Thus, the government and local people should cooperate so as to curb the steady degradation of forest and its ecosystem services in Wayu-Tuka district, Western Ethiopia.

Background: Vitamin D was studied in regards to its possible impact on body mass reduction and metabolic changes in adults and children with obesity yet there were no studies assessing the impact of vitamin D supplementation during a weight management programme in children and adolescence. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of 26 weeks of vitamin D supplementation in overweight and obese children undergoing an integrated 12-months’ long weight loss programme on body mass reduction, body composition and bone mineral density. Methods: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Vitamin D deficient patients ( <30 ng/ml level of vitamin D) aged 6-14, participating in multidisciplinary weight management programme were randomly allocated to receiving vitamin D (1200 IU) or placebo for the first 26 weeks of the intervention. Results: Out of the 152 qualified patients, 109 (72%) completed a full cycle of four visits scheduled in the programme. There were no difference in the level of BMI change. Although the reduction was greater in the vitamin D vs. placebo group (-4.28 ± 8.43 vs. -2.53 ±6.10) the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.319). Similarly the reduction in fat mass – assessed both using bioimpedance and DEXa was achieved, yet the differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our study ads substantial results to support the thesis on no effect of vitamin D supplementation on body weight reduction in children and adolescents with vitamin D insufficiency undergoing a weight management programme. Trial registration no: NCT 02828228; trial registration date: 8 June 2016 registered in: ClinicalTrials.gov.

The research paper provides a mathematical framework for understanding phase shift in wave phenomena, bridging theoretical foundations with real-world applications. It emphasizes the importance of phase shift in physics and engineering, particularly in fields like telecommunications and acoustics. Key equations are introduced to explain phase angle, time delay, frequency, and wavelength relationships. The study also introduces the concept of time distortion due to a 1° phase shift, crucial for precise time measurements in precision instruments. The research also addresses infinitesimal wave energy loss related to phase shift, enriching our understanding of wave behavior, and impacting scientific and engineering disciplines.

In the last few decades, glaucoma became the second biggest leading cause of irreversible vision loss. Because of its asymptotic growth, it is not properly diagnosed until the relatively late stage. To stop the severe damage by glaucoma it is needed to detect glaucoma in its early stages. Surprisingly diabetes also be the greatest cause of glaucoma. In the modern era, artificial intelligence makes great progress in the medical image processing field. Image analysis based on machine learning gives a huge success in diagnosis glaucoma without any misdiagnosis. The aim of this proposed paper is to create an automated process that can detect glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Here various Machine Learning models are used and results of these methods are presented.

Expanding previous efforts to survey the visual opsin repertoires of the Hemiptera, this study confirms that homologs of the UV- and LW-opsin subfamilies are conserved in all Hemiptera, while the B-opsin subfamily is missing from the Heteroptera and subgroups of the Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha, i.e. aphids (Aphidoidea) and planthoppers (Fulgoroidea), respectively. Unlike in the Heteroptera, which are characterized by multiple expansions of the LW-opsin subfamily, the lack of B-opsin correlates with the presence of tandem-duplicated UV-opsins in aphids and planthoppers. Available data on organismal wavelength sensitivities and retinal gene expression patterns lead to the conclusion that, in both groups, one UV-opsin paralog shifted from ancestral UV peak sensitivity to derived blue sensitivity, thereby compensating for the lost B-opsin. Two parallel bona fide tuning site substitutions compare to 18 non-corresponding amino acid replacements in the blue-shifted UV-opsin paralogs of aphids and planthoppers. Most notably, while the aphid blue-shifted UV-opsin clade is characterized by a replacement substitution at one of the best-documented UV/blue tuning sites (Rhodopsin site 90), the planthopper blue-shifted UV-opsin paralogs retained the ancestral lysine at this position. The combined findings identify aphid and planthopper UV-opsins as a new valuable data sample for studying adaptive opsin evolution.

According to circular economy principles, the recycling and reuse of waste tyre rubber is one of the most advanced and ecological waste disposal technologies. Each year about 19 million tons of tyres are produced, and this amount is increasing each year. One of the most innovative ways to recycle rubber waste is devulcanization. There are many methods of rubber devulcanization, but the most popular are grinding and chemical. In this article devulcanized rubber granules were used for the preparation of rubber samples. Two of them were obtained by the grinding method and one by chemical devulcanization. 15 different rubber samples were produced for the experimental measurements. Multilayer constructions with two solid layers of plasterboard on both sides (GKB and GKFI) and porous acoustic material of rubber sample inside were produced. Measurements were made in an impedance tube and compared with the results of TMM analysis. The same trends of resonant frequencies were determined. According to the results, the resonant frequencies depended on the thickness of the material, since transmission loss values depended on the mass of construction. According to the test results of transmission loss, constructions with 50mm thick rubber samples had on average 3dB better results than the structures with 25mm samples and 5dB better results than structures with 12 mm thick rubber samples. In addition, it was found that higher density plasterboards (GKFI) increased the overall transmission loss value of the structure by 5 dB. The same trends were determined by the TMM method. The test results showed that multi-layered constructions with devulcanized waste rubber had high transmission loss result and could be used for sound insulating structures.

This paper explores the coordination of the agricultural cooperative to supermarket or E-commerce sup-ply chain, under the condition of quantity loss with a mixed decay function of exponential and logistical distribution. The nature of this process is analyzed, and the corresponding demand and supply functions with single- and multi-stage discount strategies are constructed respectively to create a working model. The optimal discount ratios for supermarkets and agricultural cooperatives in decentralized and central-ized decision-making modes coupled with single- and multi-stage discounts are calculated respectively. Finally, a universal optimal strategy is designed, which can be applied to various quantity decay scenarios and makes the discount strategy more generalized. The results show that discounts can coordinate supply chains more effectively; not only is fresh agricultural produce sold before it starts to rot, but the benefit conflicts arising from both supermarkets vs. cooperatives and traditional vs. E-commerce channels are equilibrated. Further, multi-stage discounts are more effective than single-stage ones, but optimal discount ratios rely on the initial quantity of fresh agricultural produce in the supply chain; its market share in the traditional distribution channel; the potential market size; retail price; the price sensitivity coefficient of the channel; the cross-elasticity coefficient of prices between different channels; and the properties of the quantity loss.

Dietary approach is essential to obesity control, but the effectiveness of changes in meal frequency (MF) as strategies for loss and maintenance of body mass remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of MF on a hypocaloric diet on weight loss, active ghrelin levels and metabolic indicators of women with obesity. This is a randomized, parallel clinical trial, including forty women, randomized in two groups, both following a hypocaloric diet, according to MF (G1 – six meals/day; G2 – three meals/day). Dietary, laboratory, anthropometric and body composition indicators were assessed, as well as energy expenditure (EE), before and after the 90 days of intervention. After intervention, both groups decreased body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, fat mass (FM), insulin and HOMA-IR. G1 increased insulin sensitivity and G2 reduced triglyceride and FM and increased fat-free mass (FFM). MF increased ghrelin levels. There were no differences in EE variables. Hypocaloric diet with different MF promoted a reduction in total weight, BMI, WC and FM and an improvement in glycidic metabolism. However, the accomplishment of the three meals/day increased the FFM and active ghrelin and reduced triglyceride, while six meals/day was more beneficial in increasing insulin sensitivity.

Purpose: to assess any differences on marginal bone loss between bone-level or tissue-level dental implants through a review of literature until September 2019. Materials and methods: MEDLINE, Embase and other database were searched by two independent authors. The search was limited to articles in English. Results: The search provided 1028 records and, after removing the duplicates through titles and abstracts screening, 45 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. For qualitative analysis 20 articles were included, 17 articles of them for quantitative analysis. A total of 1161 patients (mean age 54,4 years) and 2933 implants were observed, 1427 (Tissue-level) and 1506 (Bone-level). The survival rate and the success rate were more than 90%, except for 2 studies with a success rate of 88% and 86.2%. No studies reported any differences between groups in term of success and survival rates. Three studies showed that BL-implants had statistically less marginal bone loss (P< 0.05). Only one study reported statistically less marginal bone loss in TL-implants (P< 0.05). In the most part of the studies, differences between implant types in marginal bone loss were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Despite to the peri-implant tissue around transmucosal implants has been reported to be inflammation-free because of the absence of bacterial infiltration in the micro-gap between the fixture and abutment, no clinical and radiological differences were highlighted between groups from the included studies after a variable period of follow-up ranged between 1 to 5 years.

Evaluating the integrity of structures is an important issue in engineering applications. The use of vibration-based techniques has become a common approach to assessing cracks, which are the most often occurring damage in structural elements. When involving an inverse method, it is necessary to know the influence of the position and the geometry of the crack on the modal parameter changes. The geometry of the crack, both in size and shape, defines the damage severity (DS). In this study, we present a method (DS-SHC) used for estimating the DS for closed and open transverse cracks in beam-like structures by using the intact and damaged beam deflections under its weight and a Stochastic Hill Climbing (SHC) algorithm. After describing the procedure of applying DS-SHC, we calculate for a prismatic cantilever beam the severities for different crack types and depths. The results are tested by comparing the DS obtained with DS-SHC with those acquired from dynamic tests made using professional simulation software. We obtained a good fit between the severities determined in these two ways. Afterward, we performed laboratory experiments and find out that the severities obtained with the DS-SHC method can accurately predict the frequency changes due to the crack. Hence, these severities are a valuable tool for damage detection.

Mandibular third molar is the most frequently impacted tooth. Mandibular third molar impaction bears consequences on the adjacent mandibular second molar (MSM) like bone loss. It can be identified initially using orthopantomography (OPG). The objective is to compare the changes in the bone level distal to MSM between patients with extracted and non-extracted impacted man-dibular third molars (IMTM) using OPG. In this retrospective case-control study, 160 archived (OPGs) of 80 patients visiting the Dental Hospital of the University of Barcelona (HOUB) were randomly selected. The participants were stratified into two groups. The study group involved measuring the bone level distal to the mandibular second molar before and after the extraction of the IMTM. The control group, on the other hand, had bone levels measured twice within 3–6-month period without the extraction of the IMTM. The mean ages of patients in study and control groups were 35.5 ± 15.45 and 33 ± 16.49, respectively. Study group demonstrated signifi-cant (p < 0.05) bone gain after extraction, whereas control group demonstrated significant bone loss (p < 0.0001) after follow-up. Bone improvements were observed distal to the mandibular second molar after the extraction of the IMTM compared to those in control group.

In order to formulate a reasonable water input model for cotton fields in southern Xinjiang, scientific and rational fertilization, reduce soil carbon leaching, and improve soil carbon sequestration capacity, the undisturbed soil column leaching test was used to simulate the current field management method in the study area. Two methods of drip irrigation and flood irrigation were set up, and three irrigation and three nitrogen fertilizer levels were used to carry out the undisturbed soil column leaching test. The results showed that the amount and mode of water and nitrogen input affected the distribution and leaching loss of organic carbon and inorganic carbon in soil. When the nitrogen application rate increased from 270 kg·hm-2 to 450 kg·hm-2, the leaching loss of soluble organic carbon and soluble inorganic carbon increased significantly. When the water input increased from 6000 m3·hm-2 to 9000 m3·hm-2, the leaching loss of DOC and DIC increased significantly. The carbon leaching loss under drip irrigation was higher than that under flood irrigation. The leaching rates of DOC and DIC were the fastest under the conditions of high water ( 9000 m3·hm-2 ) and high fertilizer ( 450 kg·hm-2 ). It shows that water and nitrogen input and irrigation methods are important factors affecting soil carbon leaching. In the case of excessive water input, long-term high-frequency irrigation is the main factor affecting carbon leaching.

Agavins consumption has lead to accelerate body weight loss in mice. We investigated the changes on cecal microbiota and short chain fatty acids (SCFA) associated to body weight loss in overweight mice. Firstly, mice were fed with standard (ST5) or high fat (HF5) diet for 5 weeks. Secondly, overweight mice were shifted to standard diet alone (HF-ST10) or supplemented with agavins (HF-ST+A10) or oligofructose (HF-ST+O10), five more weeks. Cecal contents were collected before and after supplementation to determine microbiota and SCFA concentrations. At the end of first phase, HF5 mice showed a significant increase of body weight, which was associated with reduction of cecal microbiota diversity (PD whole tree; non-parametric t-test, P < 0.05), increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and reduced SCFA concentrations (t-test, P < 0.05). After diet shifted, HF-ST10 normalized its microbiota, increase its diversity and SCFA levels, whereas agavins (HF-ST+A10) or oligofructose (HF-ST+O10) led to partial microbiota restoration, with normalization of the Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio as well as higher SCFA levels (P < 0.1). Moreover, agavins noticeably enriched Klebsiella and Citrobacter (LDA > 3.0); this enrichment has not been reported previously under a prebiotic treatment. In conclusion, agavins or oligofructose modulated cecal microbiota composition, reduced extent of diversity and increased SCFA. Furthermore, identification of bacteria enriched by agavins, opens opportunities to explore new probiotics.

Keywords: Obesity; hypothalamus; appetite; glucose homeostasis; weight-loss drugs; AGRP; POMC; NTS; incretins.

The eddy current loss should be optimized to be as less as possible for the stability of permanent magnet in high speed permanent magnet synchronous motor (HSPMSM) rotor and ensure the high efficiency and low temperature of the motor. This paper analyzes the eddy current distribution in rotor, with consideration of the conflict of the thickness of sleeve and diameter of the rotor, calculating the eddy current loss (ECL) and the thermal distribution via Separation of variables method for solving Maxwell's equations with analytical hieratical model of ECL constructed. The optimization result of ECL of the HSPMSM whose power and rated speed is 30kw 48000r/min can be got by multi-objective optimization method, combined weighting coefficient method and traversal algorithm based on chaotic local search particle swarm optimization (CLSPSO), utilizing ECL analytical model and other analytical constraints. Related experiment and measurement has been implemented with new approach of loss separation.

Cochlear implantation is the therapy used for patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. For the success of the surgery, it is important that each surgical step is performed with meticulous precision, starting from the correct patient’s position on the operating table. In elderly or obese patients, this can be difficult to achieve due to cervical rigidity. In these cases, the orthopedic position is an excellent choice to perform a mastoidectomy accurately, ensuring a safe procedure and avoiding unpleasant complications.

Research indicates that brain region-specific synapse loss and dysfunction are early hallmarks and stronger neurobiological correlates of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) than counts of amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuronal loss. Even though the precise mechanisms underlying increased synaptic pruning in AD are still unknown, it has been confirmed that dysregulation of the balance between complement activation and inhibition is a crucial driver of pathology. The complement includes three distinct activation mechanisms, with activation products C3a and C5a, potent inflammatory effectors, and a membrane attack complex (MAC), leading to cell lysis. Besides pro-inflammatory cytokines, dysregulated complement proteins released by activated microglia bind to amyloid β at synaptic regions and cause microglia to engulf synapses. Additionally, research indicating that microglia-removed synapses are not always degenerating, and that suppression of synaptic engulfment can repair cognitive deficits point to an essential opportunity for intervention that can prevent the loss of intact synapses. In this study, we focus on the latest research on the role and mechanisms of complement-mediated microglial synaptic pruning at different stages of AD to find the right targets that could interfere with complement dysregulation and be relevant for therapeutic intervention at the early stages of the disease.

Salt marshes are globally important ecosystems, but many have been lost or transformed due to the impacts of global change. There have been attempts to broadly quantify salt marsh communities, especially the ubiquitous grasses which serve as foundation species such as Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens, the latter of which is being lost due to sea level rise. However, few researchers have used high-resolution geospatial imagery to quantify fine-scale changes in the distribution of grasses or to track losses of S. patens. To address this issue, we utilized a simple and rapid method of classifying geospatial marsh imagery with cloud-based machine learning in Google Earth Engine (>92% accuracy for S. patens regardless of imagery age). Our methods allowed us to characterize full landscapes (two geospatially proximal areas, >7,000 ha each) of critical salt marshes on the New Jersey coast and to evaluate fine-scale (1-m) community transformations in response to global change with imagery from 2006 to 2019. Notably, one marsh experienced very little change while the other experienced an 81.17% (1,087 ha) loss of S. patens, illuminating disparate patterns of change for two geographically proximal ecosystems. Further exploration revealed an association in the loss of S. patens with increases in streamflow and total nitrogen content in the rivers that run through each marsh. These results signify the importance of broad-scale ecological studies that evaluate fine-scale community transformations and for management strategies that do not generalize across landscapes of an ecosystem-type.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of reducing the amount of organic waste on the weight of cats in Tehran. The weight of 4192 cats was measured from spring 2016 to the end of winter 2020. They were classified into 6 age groups, 2 gender groups, and 13 geographical areas. Their weight was measured for 48 months (16 seasons). The statistical parameters analysis showed no weight loss in 2017, but since 2018, cats have been losing weight every year. They had lost about 178g of their weight in 2018. The sharpest annual decrease was observed in 2019 when about 301g of weight loss was recorded. In the winter of 2020, 115g of weight loss took place. In the spring of 2017, no weight change was observed, but in the spring of 2018, the cats lost 155g of their weight. Their weight loss intensified in the spring of 2019 and about 299g of weight loss was observed. In the summer of 2017, as in the spring of the same year, no weight loss was recorded, but for the summer of 2018, the weight loss was evident and about 205g of the weight of the cats had been reduced. The weight loss in the summer of 2019 not only continued but intensified and about 304g of weight loss was recorded for cats. Weight change was not observed in the fall of 2017 as in the spring and summer of the same year. In the fall of 2018, weight loss was recorded for cats. They had lost about 324g of their weight in the fall of 2018. Also, they experienced a weight loss of about 218g in the fall of 2019. During the spring, summer, and autumn of 2017, no weight loss was observed in the cats for the winter of 2018, but in the winter of 2019, the cats faced the most severe weight loss (seasonally). They lost about 401g of weight in the winter of 2019. Of course, in the winter of 2020, about 186g of weight loss was observed in cats. The results showed that female cats did not lose weight in 2017 but experienced weight loss in 2018 with a weight loss of 181g. The weight loss of females intensified in 2019 and 294g of weight loss was recorded. Female cats lost 186g of their weight in the winter of 2020. Male cats did not lose weight like female cats in 2017. But in 2018, a weight loss of 166g was observed in male cats. The weight loss of male cats continued in 2019 and 311g of weight loss was recorded for them. However, in 2020, unlike females, weight loss was not observed in male cats. It can be said that both sexes lost more weight in the winter of 2019 than in other seasons. In 2017, weight loss was observed only for the region of 10, and in the same year, weight gain was recorded for the region of 15. But in 2018, except for regions 3, 4, 15, and 19, weight loss was observed in other regions. In 2019, the weight loss of cats spread and weight loss was observed in all regions except the region of 12. In winter 2020, weight loss was recorded only in the region of 4. In the end, it can be concluded that the weight of cats has decreased since the spring of 2018 because the beginning of the decrease in the amount of organic waste has been recorded since the winter of 2018. So, there is a direct relationship between the weight of cats and the amount of organic waste (access to food). The amount of garbage has been decreasing since the winter of 2018, and the average weight of cats has also been decreasing since the spring of 2018 due to the decrease in access to food.

The desert locust remains a major threat to global food security. Control operations are a crucial tool to manage crisis; this research investigated the nature of control operations conducted between 2019-2021. Historical data on desert locust and control operations were obtained from the survey reports at the FAO Locust Hub and analysed with respect to survey reports, land cover types, cropland/rangeland extent and crop productivity data. We found that 16.1% of the grid cells with locust presence and 14.9% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of rangeland higher than 0.75; while 13.3% of the grid cells with locust presence and 13.2% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of croplands higher than 0.75, highlighting that locust presence and control operations were reported in both rangeland and cropland. Control operations continue to be used both to reduce overall locust numbers and to protect crops. Furthermore, through identifying which crops were most at risk, our analyses indicate that wheat production was under the highest strain during periods of increased locust infestations.

Congestion pricing has received lots of attention in the scientific discussion. Congestion pricing means that the operator increases prices at the time of congestion and the traffic demand is expected to decrease. In a certain sense, shadow prices are an optimal way of congestion pricing: users are charged shadow prices, i.e., the expectations of future losses because of blocked connections. The shadow prices can be calculated exactly from Howard’s equation, but this method is difficult. The paper presents simple approximations to the solution of Howard’s equation and a way to derive more exact approximations. If users do not react by lowering their demand, they will receive higher bills to pay. Many users do not react to increased prices but would want to know how the congestion pricing mechanism affects the bills. The distribution of the price of a connection follows from knowing the shadow prices and the probability of a congestion state. There is another interesting distribution. The network produces profit to the operator, or equivalently, blocked connections produce a cost to the operator. The average cost rate can be calculated from Howard’s equation, but the costs have some distribution. The distribution gives the risk that the actual costs exceed the average costs, and the operator should include this risk to the prices. The main result of this paper shows how to calculate the distribution of the costs in the future for congestion pricing by shadow prices and for congestion pricing with a more simple pricing scheme that produces the same average costs.

In last decades, growing migration flows have modified the obstetric clinical care, requiring specific attention by health care systems. The aim was to describe the phenomenon focusing on miscarriage (pregnancy loss at <20 weeks). Patients admitted for care at miscarriage in a six-year period (2012-17) were revised. Miscarriage rates in all ethnic groups, dichotomized in early (within the first 12 weeks of gestation) and late (at <20 weeks) pregnancy loss. Associations between women's characteristics (age, parity, inter-pregnancy interval (IPI)) were explored to elucidate any differences. A total of 1,940 patients were included, segregated in early (n = 1769, 91.2%) and late (n = 171, 8.8%) pregnancy losses. Caucasian ethnicity was the most common (87.9%), leaving the minority groups to 12.1%. Maternal age was higher among Caucasians women than other subgroups, in contrast to Asiatic patients. Nulliparity was observed in 1045 (53.9%) patient, more widespread among Caucasian and Maghrebins. A positive obstetric history counting at least one miscarriage was frequent, ranging from 22.2% to 75%, in particular among Asiatic women, while the recurrence in Caucasians. In Afro-Carribeans the most relevant rate of late miscarriage was found. By multiple regression modelling, maternal age, nulliparity and Afro-Carribean were identified as determinants. Maternal ethnicity should be considered in the management of pregnancy losses in combination with already well-defined risk factors, including age at miscarriare and nulliparity.

In healthy humans, taste sensitivity varies widely, influencing food selection and nutritional status. Chemosensory reductions have been associated with numerous pathological disorders or pharmacological interventions. Reliable psychophysical methods are crucial resources to analyze the taste function during routine clinical assessment. However, in the daily clinical routine, they are often considered to be too time-consuming. We used the Supervised Learning (SL) regression method to analyze with high precision the overall taste status of healthy controls (HC) and patients with chemosensory loss and to characterize the combination of responses that best can predict the overall taste status of two groups. Random Forest regressor allowed us to achieve our objective. The analysis of the order of importance and impact of each parameter on the prediction of overall taste status in the two groups showed that salty (low concentration) and sour (high concentration) stimuli specifically characterized healthy subjects, while bitter (high concentration) and astringent (high concentration) stimuli identified patients with chemosensory loss. The identification of these distinctions appears to be of interest to the health system since they may allow the use of specific stimuli during routine clinical assessments of taste function reducing the commitment in terms of time and costs.

Failure of various weight-loss programs and long-term maintenance of favorable body composition in all kinds of people is high, since the majority go back to old dietary patterns. Many studies have documented the efficacy of a plant-based diet (PBD) for body mass management, but there are opinions that maintaining a PBD is difficult. We aimed to evaluate the long-term success of a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle program. We investigated the differences in the obesity indices and lifestyle of 151 adults (39.6 ± SD 12.5 years), who were on our program for short (0.5–<2 years), medium (2–<5 years), or long term (5–10 years). Body-composition changes were favourable for all three groups, both genders and all participants. There were no differences in relative body-composition changes (BMI, body fat percentage and muscle mass index (MMI)) between the three groups. All participants improved their BMI (baseline mean pre-obesity BMI range (kg/m²): 26.4 ± 5.6 to normal 23.9 ± 3.8, p < 0.001), decreased body mass (–7.1 ± 8.3 kg, p < 0.001) and body fat percentage (–6.4 ± 5.6 % points, p < 0.001). Those with the highest BMI at baseline lost the most of: a) BMI units, b) total body mass and c) body fat (a) (kg/m²) (–5.6 ± SD 2.9, –2.4 ± 1.8 and –0.9 ± 1.5), b) (kg) (–16.1 ± SD 8.8, –7.1 ± 5.4 and –2.5 ± 4.5) and c) (% points) (–9.5 ± SD 5.7, –6.6 ± 4.6 and –4.7 ± 5.3) for participants who had baseline BMI in obese, overweight and normal range, respectively; p_{baseline vs. current} < 0.001 for all). 85.6% (101 out of 118) of parents of underage children (< 18 years), introduced WFPB lifestyle to their children. WFPB lifestyle program provides long-term lifestyle changes for reversal of obesity and is effective transferred to the next generation.

In dermatological practice, disturbances of the skin microbiome are found in various infectious and inflammatory dermatoses featuring one or more skin lesions with loss of tissue, directly exposing skin layers to microbial invasions. Literature data on the incidence of cutaneous-onset sepsis are, however, scarce. This retrospective observational study assessed hospital admissions for primary skin lesions with vs. without bacterial infections and sepsis during 2020-2022 in the largest emergency hospital in NE Romania. Of 509 patients 441 had infected lesions, 78 had sepsis caused by venous ulcers microbial eczema cellulitis, superinfected bullous dermatoses, erysipelas, erythroderma. Cultured samples revealed S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, E. coli, with K. pneumoniae, S. β-hemolytic associated with sepsis even if rarer. Clinical manifestations included ulcerations, erosions, fissures, excoriations, bullae, vesicles, pruritus, tumefaction, edema, fever, chills, pain, adenopathy, mildly altered mental status. Underlying chronic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, anemia, type-1 diabetes mellitus were comorbidities associated with infection and sepsis. Significant associations and risk factors, including their combined effects, are discussed to draw attention to the need for further research and adequate management to prevent sepsis in adult patients of any age presenting with infected skin lesions (especially cellulitis) and comorbidities (especially type 1 diabetes mellitus and anemia).

Background: Retinal diseases such as neovascular age related macular degeneration (nAMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) or branch-/central retinal vein occlusion (B/CRVO) have significant implications for patients' social and psychological well-being. To gain a comprehensive understanding of patients' backgrounds and attitudes, we developed an exploratory questionnaire, the Basic Care and Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (BPZ-9). Methods: The ALBATROS study aimed to assess the care situation of treatment-naïve patients diagnosed with either nAMD, DME or B/CRVO. The data collection took place at the beginning of treatment and after twelve months of anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) therapy. The BPZ-9 instrument comprises nine questions to evaluate patients’ psychological and social situation and their satisfaction with treatment. Results: Data were collected from 1.478 nAMD (mean 78 years), 445 DME (67 years), 233 BRVO (70 years) and 144 CRVO (71 years) patients at 102 study centers throughout Germany. Approximately one third of the patients was living alone and six percent were in organized care. One in four patients had difficulties to walk and one in five needed accompany for treatment. Anxiety to lose vision was present in three out of four patients at the beginning and slightly decreased to two out of three over the 12-month treatment preriod. The distress of having a retinal disease was generally higher than the distress related to treatment. Most patients reported high treatment satisfaction (73%) and felt well informed (81%). Conclusion: Patients receiving anti-VEGF therapy commonly experience impaired mobility, dependency on others, distress and the fear of vision loss.

This study aims to develop low-cost, eco-friendly and circular economy-compliant composite materials by creating three types of magnetorheological suspensions (MRSs) utilizing lard, carbonyl iron (CI) microparticles, and varying quantities of gelatin particles (GP). These MRSs serve as dielectric materials in cylindrical cells used to fabricate electric capacitors. The equivalent electrical capacitance (C) of these capacitors is measured under different magnetic flux densities (B≤160 mT) superimposed on a medium-frequency electric field (f = 1 kHz) over a period of 120 seconds. The results indicate that at high values of B, by increasing the GP content to 20 vol.% decreases the capacitance C up to about one order of magnitude compared to MRS without GP. From the measured data, the average values of capacitance Cm are derived, enabling the calculation of relative dielectric permittivities (ϵr′) and the dynamic viscosities (η) of the MRSs. It is demonstrated that ϵr′ and η can be adjusted by modifying the MRS composition and fine-tuned through the magnetic flux density B. A theoretical model based on the theory of dipolar approximations is used to show that ϵr′, η and the magnetodielectric effect can be coarsely adjusted through the composition of MRSs and finely adjusted through the values B of the magnetic flux density. The ability to fine-tune these properties highlights the versatility of these materials, making them suitable for applications in various industries, including electronics, automotive and aerospace.

Aim: the purpose of the present prospective, case series study were to report implant survival rate and marginal bone remodeling expected five years after loading using dental implants placed in in the daily practice. Material and Methods: this research was designed as an open-cohort, prospective case series study. Any completely or partially edentulous patients scheduled to receive at least one bone leve were considered eligible for this study. Primary outcomes were: cumulative implant (ISR) and prosthetic (PSR) survival rates, and any complications experienced up the five years follow-up. Secondary outcomes were: marginal bone remodeling, implant insertion torque, implant stability quotient (ISQ), and thickness of gingival biotype. Results: ninety consecutive patients (34 males and 56 females; mean age 53.2±15.4 years; range of 24–81 years), 243 implants were placed and followed for at least five years after loading (mean of 65.4±3.1 months; range of 60–72 months). The mean implant insertion torque was 42.9±4.8 Ncm (range from 15 to 45 Ncm). Overall, 83.5% of the implants (n=203) were placed with an insertion torque between 35 and 45 Ncm. At the one year follow-up, no drop-outs were recorded, but 17 patients (18.9%) with 18 restorations (12.6%) delivered on 34 implants (14%) were lost at the five years examination. At the five-year examination, six implants failed in six patients, resulting in a cumulative ISR of 97.5%. At the five-year follow-up, four prostheses failed (2.8%) resulting in a cumulative PSR of 97.2%. At the five-year examination, five complications were reported by five different patients, resulting in a prosthetic success rate of 96.5%, measured at patient level. Five years after loading, mean MBL was 0.41 ± 0.30 mm (95% CI: 0.26–0.34). Difference from the one year data was 0.04 ± 0.19 mm (95% CI: 0.01–0.07). The mean ISQ value at implant placement was 71.6 ± 5.5 (range of 45–88). Six months later, the mean ISQ was 76.7 ± 4.4 (range of 66–89). The difference was statistically significant (P=0.0001). Statistically significant higher MBL was found for smokers, and patient with thin gingival biotype. Conclusions: High implant survival and success rates could be expected with stable marginal bone remodeling up to five years after loading. Smoking and thin tissue biotype were the most important variabilities associated with higher MBL. Further research are needed to confirm these results.

Optic neuritis (ON) is the most common cause of vision loss in young adults. It manifests as acute or subacute vision loss, often accompanied by retrobulbar discomfort or pain on eye movements. Typical ON is associated with Multiple Sclerosis and is generally mild and steroid-responsive, whereas atypical forms are characterized by unusual features, such as optic disc edema, poor treatment response and bilateral involvement, and are often associated with autoantibodies against aquaporin-4 (AQP4) and Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein (MOG). However, in rare cases AQP4 and MOG antibodies will come back negative, plunging the clinician in a diagnostic conundrum. Seronegative ON warrants a broad differential diagnosis, including autoantibody-associated, granulomatous, and systemic disorders. These rare forms need to be identified promptly, as their management and prognosis is greatly different. The scope of this review is to describe possible, rarer etiologies of ON when AQP4 and MOG antibodies are negative and discuss their diagnosis and treatment.

The power function distribution is a flexible waiting time model that may provide better fit for some failure data. This paper presents the comparison of the maximum likelihood estimates and the Bayes estimates of two-parameter power function distribution. The Bayes estimates are obtained, using conjugate priors, under five loss functions consist of square error, precautionary, weighted, LINEX and DeGroot loss function. The Gibbs sampling algorithm is proposed to generate samples from posterior distributions and in result the Bayes estimates are computed. The comparison of the maximum likelihood estimates and the Bayes estimates are done through the root mean squared errors. One real-life data set is analyzed to illustrate the evaluation of proposed methods of estimation. Finally, results from the simulation are discussed to assess the performance behavior of the maximum likelihood estimates and the Bayes estimates.

The effective management of Fusarium wilt of bananas (FW) depends on the knowledge of the disease dynamics in time and space. The objectives of this work were: To estimate disease intensity and impact, and to investigate the spatial and temporal dynamic of FW. Fields planted with Silk (n = 10), Pome (n = 17) or Cavendish (n = 3) banana subgroups were surveyed in Brazil, totaling 95 ha. In each field, all plants were visually assessed and diseased plants were georeferenced. The incidence of FW and the impact of the disease on yield on a regional scale were estimated. Spatial patterns were analyzed using quadrat- and distance-based methods. FW incidence ranged from 0.09 to 41.42%, being higher in Silk fields (median = 14.26%). Impacts of epidemics on yield ranged from 18.4 to 8,192.5 kg.ha-1.year-1, with a median of 935.2 kg.ha-1.year-1. The higher economic impact of the disease was observed on Silk cultivar with a median loss of US$ 910.5 ha-1.year-1. Overall, estimated losses increased on average by US$ 109.8 ha-1.year-1 at each 1% of incidence. Aggregation of FW was detected by all analytical methods in 13 fields (1 of Cavendish, 11 of Pome and 1 of Silk). In the other 17 fields, at least one analytical method did not reject the null hypothesis of randomness. One field (5 ha), composed of six plots, was selected for spatial and temporal studies during two years with bi-monthly assessments. A sigmoidal curve represented the FW progress and the Gompertz model best fitted disease progress. The level of aggregation varied over time, and evidence of secondary infection to neighboring and distant plants were detected. FW is a widespread problem in Brazil and yield losses can be of high magnitude. Epidemiology-based management strategies can now be better established.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have attracted a great interest in nanomedical research. MNPs exhibit many important properties, particularly, magnetic hyperthermia for selective killing of cancer cells is one of them. In hyperthermia treatment, MNPs act as nano-heaters when they are under the influence of an alternating magnetic field (AMF). In this work, micromagnetic simulations have been used to investigate the magnetization dynamics of a single-domain nanoparticle of magnetite in an external AMF. Special attention is paid to the circumstances dealing with a dynamic phase transition (DPT). Besides, we focus on the influence of the orientation of the magnetic easy-axis of the MNP on the dynamic magnetic properties. For amplitudes of the external AMF above certain critical value, the system is not able to follow the magnetic field and it is found in a dynamically ordered phase; whereas for larger amplitudes, the state corresponds to a dynamically disordered phase and the magnetization follows the external AMF. Our results suggest that the way how the order-disorder DPT takes place, and both the metastable lifetime as well as the specific loss power (SLP), are strongly dependent on the interplay between the orientation of the magnetic easy-axis and the amplitude of the external AMF.

This work presents a new algorithm to resolve the problem of distribution network reconfiguration using the Tabu Search metaheuristic and voltage drop. The proposed method presents a different way to obtain the initial solution using the voltage drop, as well as a new way to generate a neighborhood of candidate solutions, based on randomness and the voltage drop, to perform a smooth and steady descent execution of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm has the main objective to reduce the active power losses in distribution networks, but it also achieves an refinement in the voltage profile. The proposed method was tested in two distribution systems, the 33-Bus and 94-Bus systems, commonly found and tested in the literature. The results of the tests show that the proposed method presents a low computational cost, achieves good solutions, and is better than the other methods found in the literature.

In this paper, under the symmetric entropy and the scale squared error loss functions, we consider the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and Bayesian estimation of the Shannon entropy and Rényi entropy of the two-parameter inverse Weibull distribution. In the ML estimation, the dichotomy is used to solve likelihood equation. In addition, the approximation confidence interval is given by the Delta method. Because the form of estimation results is more complex in the Bayesian estimation, the Lindley approximation method is used to achieve the numerical calculation. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations and a real data set are used to illustrate the results derived. By comparing the mean square error between the estimated value and the real value, it can be found that the performance of ML estimation of Shannon entropy is better than that of Bayesian estimation, and there is no significant difference between the performance of ML estimation of Rényi entropy and that of Bayesian estimation.

Background: Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a rare autoimmune condition characterized by progressive sensorineural hearing loss with hearing fluctuations over weeks to months, presenting significant challenges in both diagnosis and treatment. Due to its rarity, treatment responses and prognosis in AIED remain poorly understood. Methods: This study reviewed medical records from Taipei Medical University Hospital documented between August 2016 and August 2021. Among 67 patients experiencing fluctuating hearing loss, 11 met the diagnostic criteria for AIED and underwent regular follow-up assessments within a 5-year timeframe. ROC curve was used to discriminate the power of these prognostic parameters. Results: In this study, several factors including younger age, milder initial hearing loss, meeting criteria for bilateral Meniere's disease (MD), having an ascending audiogram pattern, longer time interval between hearing impairment attacks in contralateral ears and responding well to steroids were associated with better prognosis. ROC curve demonstrated the diagnostic value of specific parameters such as the presence of bilateral MD (AUC 0.825, 95% CI 0.640–1.000), pretreatment HI ≤ 45 dB HL (AUC 0.808, 95% CI 0.610–1.000), response to steroids (AUC 0.800, 95% CI 0.595–1.000), and ascending audiogram (AUC 0.858, 95% CI 0.683–0.858). Conclusions: This study identified key prognostic factors for AIED, providing valuable insights for predicting AIED prognosis and facilitating personalized patient management.

Underwater target detection is widely used in various applications such as underwater search and rescue, underwater environment monitoring, and Marine resources survey. However, the visibility of the underwater environment and the accuracy of target detection can be affected by complex underwater light changes and unpredictable background noise. To address these issues, we propose an improved underwater target detection algorithm based on YOLOv8n. Our algorithm focuses on three aspects. Firstly, we replace the original C2f module with Deformable Convnets v2 to enhance the adaptive ability of the target region in the convolution check feature map and extract the target region's features more accurately. Secondly, we introduce SimAm, a non-parametric attention mechanism, which can deduce and assign three-dimensional attention weights without adding network parameters. Lastly, we optimize the loss function by replacing the CIOU loss function with the Wise-IOU loss function. To conduct our experiments, we create our own dataset of underwater target detection for experimentation. Meanwhile, we also utilized the Pascal VOC dataset to evaluate our approach. The [email protected] and [email protected]:0.95 of the original YOLOv8n algorithm on the underwater target detection were 88.6% and 51.8%, respectively, and the improved algorithm [email protected] and [email protected]:0.95 can reach 91.8% and 55.9%. The original YOLOV8n algorithm was 62.2% and 45.9% [email protected] and [email protected]:0.95 on the Pascal VOC dataset, respectively. The improved YOLOV8n algorithm [email protected] and [email protected]:0.95 were 65.7% and 48.3%, respectively. The floating-point computation volume of the model is reduced by about 6%. The above experimental results prove the effectiveness of our method.

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of TXA supplemented with local infiltration analgesia (LIA) in reducing blood loss in patients undergoing total knee replacement. Materials: A retrospective study on 530 individuals with a mean age of 71,44 years after posterior stabilized total knee arthroplasty was evaluated. Patients were divided into three groups, corresponding to the method of bleeding control: I - patients without additional bleeding protocol (control group); II - patients with iV TXA administration (TXA group); III - patients with exact TXA protocol combined with intraoperative local infiltration analgesia (TXA + LIA group). Blood loss was measured as a substitute for blood loss by maximal Hb drop compared to preoperative Hb level. Results: The mean hospitalization for patients from the control group was 7.02 (SD 1.34) days, 6.08 (SD 1.06) days for the TXA group, and 5.56 (SD 0.79) for the TXA + LIA group. The most significant hemoglobin drop was found in the control group, which amounted to an average of 30.08% output value. In the TXA group, the decrease in hemoglobin was, on average, 25.17% (p<0.001), and in the TXA + LIA group, it was 23.67% (p<0.001). A decrease in the rate of allogeneic blood transfusions was observed, which was 24.4% in the control group, 9.9% in the TXA group, and 8% in TXA + LIA group (p<0.01). Conclusions: Compared to the separate administration of tranexamic acid, the combination of perioperative administration with local infiltration analgesia statistically significantly reduces blood loss in patients after total knee replacement.

Conductive hearing losses are typically present in disorders of the external/middle ear. However, there is a rare group of inner ear conditions called third windows that can also generate a conductive hearing loss. This is due to an abnormal connection between the middle and the inner ear or between the inner ear and the cranial cavity. X-linked gusher disorder is an extremely rare congenital inner ear dysplastic syndrome with such an abnormal connection due to a characteristic incomplete cochlear partition type 3 and an incomplete internal auditory meatus fundus. The disorder is inherited in an X-linked fashion due to the mutation of the POU3F4 gene. We present 2 siblings diagnosed with the condition and their long term follow ups. They both presented with audiovestibular symptoms and showed progressive mixed losses and bilateral vestibular weakness. They were treated with cochlear implant, digital amplification and with vestibular rehabilitation. Significant others around them were involved in their journey with the medical team and in both, a very favourable outcome was achieved. This is the first time that we are reporting evolving audiovestibular function with vestibular quantification in X-linked gusher disorder and emphasize on the multidisciplinary holistic approach to manage these children effectively.

: Forty-nine children who started wearing cartilage conduction hearing aids (CC-HA) before elementary school graduation (including 17 cases of bilateral hearing loss and 32 cases of unilateral hearing loss) were followed up and examined. The wearing and utilization status of CC-HA, as well as the progress to date, were evaluated. In addition, 33 participants who purchased CC-Has were interviewed to assess the wearing effect. Eleven of the 17 children with bilateral hearing loss and 25 of the 32 children with unilateral hearing loss have continued using CC-HA. In terms of wearing effect, a good wearing effect was reported, even by those with one-sided hearing loss. In cases where it is difficult to wear CC-HAs stably with pasting or ear tips, it is possible to fix them stably using commercially available hair bands and eyeglass vines. In two cases, CC-HAs were worn from the age of 0. With ingenuity and appropriate educational and medical support, it is possible to wear CC-HA from infancy.

: This paper proposes a reem-shape phononic crystal for the performance enhancement of TPoS resonators. The proposed phononic crystal offers an ultra-wide acoustic band gap that prevents energy leakage through the supporting substrate on its placement at the anchoring boundary, resulting in significant improvements in the resonator quality factor. Simulated results show reem-shape Phononic crystals generate a band gap up to 175MHz with BG of 90% and enhance the anchor quality factor from 180,000 to 6,000,000 and unloaded quality factor from 133,000 to 160,000 representing 33.3-fold and 1.2-fold improvements respectively.

In this paper, we propose a methodology for analyzing the near-field coupling between two surface mount device (SMD) inductors using a 3-dimensional electromagnetic (3D-EM) model. To develop the 3D-EM model, we first extract the effective permeability of core magnetic material in the SMD using the loss tangent in the equivalent circuit model. Then the effective permeability is used in the magnetic material for the 3D-EM modeling of SMD inductor. The validity of the proposed 3D-EM model is confirmed by comparing the impedance and S-parameters obtained from both measured and EM-simulated values for the two near-field coupled SMDs. Finally, the near-field coupling effects between the two adjacent SMD inductors are visualized in terms of magnetic coupling path visualization (CPV) using the proposed 3D-EM model, which demonstrates its usefulness for near-field coupling analysis.

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. Perusal of the literature shows that sometimes (perhaps often, as the problem has yet to be recognized or reported) prolonged duration in the treatment, especially the control where little germination occurs, can lead to loss of viability. This results in underestimation of initial viability if that treatment is used. I caution against the routine use of end-of-trial germination and viability of ungerminated seeds as an estimate of initial viability in determining germination success of various treatments. I explore ways to deal with the problem but the preference is for estimates of initial viability to be undertaken on a separate sample of seeds concurrently with the experiment as this avoids the risk of seed death during the trial.

Surgeries that take place in medicine and dentistry or during any form of childbirth results in a significant amount of blood loss. The prevalent measurement methods that surgeons and anesthesiologists utilize as the “gold - standard” has several drawbacks. There are numerous other methods to measure blood loss, which, however, due to their impracticality and limitations, are not ideal either. This paper focuses on minimally invasive neurosurgery in particular, by taking into account a surgical technique known as Endoscopic Endonasal Transphenoidal surgery (EETS), which is used to treat pituitary tumors and adenomas. Along with the review of the existing literature pertaining to blood loss management, this paper proposes a modified electrode probe method along with the concept of usage, computer interface, and the system of integration. The probe is intended to measure the hematocrit count from the collected blood under all circumstances, such that the medical practitioner is assisted to improve the blood loss management technique for better patient recovery.

The quantity of soil loss as a result of soil erosion is dramatically increasing in catchment where land resources management is very weak. In this paper, a RUSLE model-based soil loss quanti-fication technique is presented to estimate the annual soil loss and identify the severity of the erosion in the catchment. This study uses Fincha catchment in Abay river basin as the study area to quantify the annual soil loss by implementing Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model developed in ArcGIS version 10.4. Digital Elevation Model (12.5 x 12.5), LANDSAT 8 of Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), Annual Rainfall of 10 stations and soil maps of the catchment were used as input parameters to generate the significant factors. Rainfall erosivity factor (R), soil erodibility factor (K), cover and management factor (C), slope length and steepness factor (LS) and support practice factor (P) were used as soil loss quantification significant factors. A model builder for the RUSLE model was developed and raster map calcula-tion algebra was applied in ArcGIS version 10.4 to quantify the total annual soil loss. It was found that the quantified average annual soil loss ranges from 0.0 to 76.5 t ha-1 yr-1 was obtained in the catchment. The area coverage of soil erosion severity with 55%, 35% and 10% as low to moderate, high and very high respectively were identified. The information about the spatial variation of soil loss severity map generated in RUSLE model has a paramount role to alert land resources man-agers and all stakeholders in controlling the effects via implementation of both structural and non-structural mitigations. The results of the RUSLE model can also be further considered along with the catchment for practical soil loss quantification that can help for protection practices.

Increasing the quality factor (Q) of an optical resonator device has been a research focus to be utilized in various applications. Higher Q-factor means light is confined in a longer time which will produce a shaper peak and higher transmission. In this paper, we introduce a novel technique to increase further the Q-factor of a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PhC) cavity device by using an end loop-mirror (ELM). The technique utilizes and recycles the light transmission from the conventional 1D PhC cavity design. The design has been proved to work by using the 2.5D FDTD simulation with Lumerical FDTD and MODE softwares. By using the ELM technique, the Q- factor of a 1D PhC design has been shown to have increased up to 79.53 % from the initial Q value without the ELM. This novel design technique can be combined with any high Q-factor and very high Q-factor designs to increase more the Q-factor value of a photonic crystal cavity devices or any other suitable optical resonator devices. The experimental result shows that the device is measurable by adding a Y-branch component to the one-port structure and able to get the high-Q result.

Quantum noise limits the sensitivity of laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Given the state-of-the-art optics, the optical losses define the lower bound of best possible quantum-limited detector sensitivity. In this work, we come up with the configuration which allows to saturate this lower bound by converting the signal recycling cavity to be a broadband signal amplifier using an active optomechanical filter. We will show the difference and advantage of such a broadband signal recycling scheme compared with the previous white-light-cavity scheme using the optomechanical filter in [Phys.Rev.Lett.115.211104 (2015)]. The drawback is that the new scheme is more susceptible to the thermal noise of the mechanical oscillator. To suppress the radiation pressure noise which rises along with the signal amplification, squeezing with input/output filter cavities and heavier test mass are used in this work.

Indoor Positioning Systems (IPSs) are designed to provide solutions for location-based services. Wireless local area network (WLAN)-based positioning systems are the most widespread around the globe and are commonly found to have a ready-to-use infrastructure composed mostly of access points (APs). They provide useful information on signal strength to be processed by adequate location algorithms, which are not always capable of achieving the desired localization error only by themselves. In this sense, this paper proposes a new method to improve the accuracy of IPSs by optimizing some of their most relevant infrastructure components. Included are the arrangement of APs over the environment, the number of reference points (RPs), and the number of samples per location estimation test. A simulation environment is also proposed, in which the impact of key influencing factors on system accuracy is analyzed. Finally, a case study is simulated to validate an optimal combination of design parameters and its compliance with the requirements of localization error and the limited number of access points. Our simulation results clearly show that the desired localization accuracy, which is set as a goal, can be achieved while maintaining the factors already mentioned at minimal levels, which decreases both system deployment costs and computational effort.

Foveal vision loss has been shown to reduce efficient visual search guidance due to contextual cueing by incidentally learned contexts. However, previous studies used artificial (T among L-shape) search paradigms that prevent the memorization of a target in a semantically meaningful scene. Here, we investigated contextual cueing in real-life scenes that allow explicit memory of target locations in semantically rich scenes. In contrast to the contextual cueing deficits in artificial scenes, contextual cueing in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) did not differ from age-matched normal-sighted controls. We discuss this in the context of visuospatial working memory demands for which both eye-movement control in the presence of central vision loss and for memory-guided search may compete. Memory-guided search in semantically rich scenes may depend less on visuospatial working memory than search in abstract displays, potentially explaining intact contextual cueing in the former but not the latter. In a practical sense, our findings may indicate that Patients with AMD are less deficient than expected after previous lab experiments. This shows the usefulness of realistic stimuli in experimental clinical research.

Amyloids are fibrillar protein aggregates that are associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, type II diabetes and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. The process of amyloid aggregation involves three pathological protein transformations; from natively-folded conformation to the cross-β conformation, from biophysically soluble to insoluble, and from biologically functional to non-functional. While amyloids share a similar cross-β conformation, the biophysical transformation can either take place spontaneously via a homogeneous nucleation mechanism (HON) or catalytically on an exogenous surface via a heterogeneous nucleation mechanism (HEN). Here, we postulate that the different nucleation pathways can serve as a mechanistic basis for an etiological classification of amyloidopathies, where hereditary forms generally follow the HON pathway, while sporadic forms follow surface-induced (including microbially-induced) HEN pathways. Furthermore, the conformational and biophysical amyloid transformation results in loss-of-function (LOF) of the original natively-folded and soluble protein. This LOF can, at least initially, be the mechanism of amyloid toxicity even before amyloid accumulation reaches toxic levels. By highlighting the important role of non-protein species in amyloid formation and LOF mechanisms of toxicity, we propose a generalized mechanistic framework that could help better understand the diverse etiology of amyloid diseases and offer new opportunities for therapeutic interventions including replacement therapies.

Hearing impairment (HI) is a common sensory disorder that is defined as the partial or complete inability to detect sound in one or both ears. This diverse pathology is associated with a myriad of phenotypic expressions and/or syndromes. HI can be caused by various intrinsic, environmental and/or unknown factors. Some ontologies capture some relevant HI forms, phenotypes and syndromes, but there is no comprehensive knowledge portal which includes aspects specific to the HI disease state. This hampers inter-study comparability, integration and interoperability within and across disciplines. This work describes the HI Ontology (HIO) that was developed based on the Sickle Cell Disease Ontology (SCDO) model. This is a collaboratively developed resource built around the 'Hearing Impairment' concept by a group of experts in different aspects of HI and ontologies. HIO is the first comprehensive, standardized, hierarchical and logical representation of existing HI knowledge. HIO allows researchers and clinicians alike to readily access standardized HI-related knowledge in a single location and promote collaborations and HI information sharing, including epidemiological, socio-environmental, biomedical, genetic and phenotypic information. Furthermore, this ontology illustrates the adaptability of the SCDO framework for use in developing a disease-specific ontology.

An appearance model plays a crucial rule in multi-target tracking. In traditional approaches, the two steps of appearance modeling i.e visual representation and statistically similarity measure are modeled separately. Visual representation is achieved either through hand-crafted features or deep features and statically similarity is measure through a cross entropy loss function. A loss function based on cross-entropy (KL-divergence, mutual information) find closely related probability distribution for the targets. However, if the targets have similar visual representation, it ends up mixing the targets. To tackle this problem, we come up with a synergetic appearance model named Single Shot Appearance Model based on Siamese neural network. The network is trained with a contrastive loss function for finding the similarity between different targets in a single shot. The input to the network is two target patches and based on their similarity, a contrastive score is output by the network. The proposed model is evaluated on accumulative dissimilarity metric on three datasets. Quantitatively, promising results are achieved against three baseline methods.

Recently, generative adversarial networks (GANs) can be used to generate the photo-realistic image from a low-dimension random noise. It is very dangerous that the synthesized or generated image is used on inappropriate contents in social media network. In order to successfully detect such fake image, an effective and efficient image forgery detector is desired. However, conventional image forgery detectors are failed to recognize the synthesized or generated images by using GAN-based generator since they are all generated but manipulation from the source. Therefore, we propose a deep learning-based approach to detect the fake image by combining the contrastive loss. First, several state-of-the-art GANs will be collected to generate the fake-real image pairs. Then, the contrastive will be used on the proposed common fake feature network (CFFN)to learn the discriminative feature between the fake image and real image (i.e., paired information). Finally, a smaller network will be concatenated to the CFFN to determine whether the feature of the input image is fake or real. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method significantly outperforms other state-of-the-art fake image detectors.

Wind tunnels are devices that enable researchers to study the flow over objects of interest, the forces acting on them and their interaction with the flow, which is nowadays playing an increasingly important role due to noise pollution. Since the first closed circuit wind tunnel with variable cross-section was built in G¨ottingen, its Prandtl configuration has little change. The wind tunnel with Prandtl configuration has four corners and vanes, more than 50% of the total pressure loss are caused by the corners and vanes. How to reduce the total pressure loss is a world class problem in the wind tunnel design. This study attempts to propose a novel configuration of wind tunnel, where the corners have been replaced by semi-circular tunnel. Sun wind tunnel 2 has only two corners and vanes, while Sun wind tunnel 1 has no corners and vanes at all. It is expected the new wind tunnel can reduce the total pressure loss from 50% to 10%.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major source of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Patients suffering from TBI exhibit a higher susceptibility to bone loss and an increased rate of bone fractures; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. Herein, we observed significantly lower bone quality and elevated levels of inflammation in bone and bone marrow niche after controlled cortical impact-induced TBI in in-vivo CD-1 mice. Further, we identified dysregulated NFB signaling, an established mediator of osteoclast differentiation and bone loss, within the bone marrow niche of TBI mice. Ex vivo studies revealed increased osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow-derived cells from TBI mice, as compared to sham injured mice. Finally, we found bone marrow derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) from TBI mice enhanced the colony forming ability and osteoclast differentiation efficacy of bone marrow cells and activated NFB signaling genes in bone marrow-derived cells. Taken together, we provide evidence that TBI-induced inflammatory stress on bone and the bone marrow niche may activate NFB leading to accelerated bone loss. Targeted inhibition of these signaling pathways may reverse TBI-induced bone loss and reduce fracture rates.

The inhibition impacts of 1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-diamine (PTDA) on mild steel in 1 M HCl solution were investigated through weight loss method. The inhibition efficiencies of PTDA increase with increase in PTDA concentration at the temperature 303. Weight loss method indicate that PTDA is an excellent inhibitor the inhibition efficiency of 81.5% at the maximum PTDA concentration of 0.5 g/L at the temperature 303K.

This study aimed to compare the differences in durability and prestress loss between normal-weight concrete (NC) and lightweight aggregate concrete (LWC) prestressed box girders, which were constructed at the same time in the same area, so as to verify the superiority of using synthetic lightweight aggregate (LWA) made from reservoir sediments in prestressed bridges. For the NCs and LWCs used in prestressed box girders, the basic mechanical properties were tested on the one hand, and the durability properties were tested on the other hand. Then, through the prestress monitoring system, the prestress loss of the two groups of the prestressed box girders was tracked. The results of the durability test confirmed that LWC can inhibit the penetration of air, water, and chloride ions by strengthening the interfacial transition zone between the aggregate and the cement paste, thereby improving its durability. Moreover, the magnetic flux prestress loss of the NC prestressed box girder reached 8.1%. In contrast, the magnetic flux prestress losses on both sides of the LWC prestressed box girder were 4.6% and 4.9%, respectively. This verified that, under the same environmental conditions, the use of LWC produced less of a prestress loss than the use of NC.

Wet anaerobic storage of algal biomass is a promising preservation approach which can ensure continuous supply of these feedstocks to biorefineries year-round. An effective solution to preservation must ensure minimal dry matter loss and change in biochemical composition during storage. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the preservation of Nannochloropsis gaditana biomass through wet anaerobic storage and its impact on biomass quality. Prior to storage, algae sample was inoculated with two different strains of lactic acid bacteria and thereafter stored for 30 and 180 days. Each inoculant limited dry matter loss to &lt;10% (dry basis) after the storage durations. Final pH values (4.3 - 4.8) indicate that the biomass samples were properly ensiled, achieving the acidic conditions necessary for preservation. Compositional analysis of the biomass after storage showed a reduction in carbohydrate content, a relative increase in lipid content, and no significant change to the protein fraction. Glucose and galactose were the prevalent sugar monomers. The low dry matter loss and minimal compositional change indicates that wet anaerobic storage is an effective means of preserving algal biomass, ensuring a constant supply of algal biomass feedstock to a biorefinery.

Last Chance Tourism (LCT) is an increasingly popular phenomenon whereby tourists seek encounters with vanishing landscapes, cultures, and endangered species. However, there are concerns that it is not sufficiently ecologically informed, has a large carbon footprint, and may put further pressure on vulnerable ecosystems and communities. The Arctic has emerged as a major global frontier for LCT, and at the same time is at the forefront of disruptive and accelerating climate change. Here a review of important LCT literature is combined with a review of key insights from the concept of Ecological Grief, which calls for explicitly mourning the losses of formerly ecologically rich landscapes, species diversity, and traditional knowledge. While there is currently insufficient engagement with grief and mourning in LCT, Ecological Grief can provide a new research focus as well as a pathway to share empathy, concern, and sorrow between scientists, communities, and visitors—thereby offering an alternative way to critically reflect upon our connections with the vanishing cryosphere in the Anthropocene.

In this paper, a recent meta-heuristic optimization algorithm called the discrete-continuous hyper-spherical search algorithm is used to solve the mixed-integer nonlinear problem of soft open points (SOPs) and renewable distributed generators allocation along with new network reconfiguration methodology under different loading conditions to minimize the total power loss in balanced distribution systems. Multi-scenario studies, which aim to improve the investigation of the overall performance of the strategies, are conducted on IEEE 33-node and 83-node balanced distribution systems. The contributions of SOP losses to the total active losses, as well as the effect of increasing the number of SOPs connected to the system, are investigated to determine the real benefits gained from their allocation. The results obtained validate, with proper justifications, the effectiveness of allocating both SOPs and renewable distributed generators with the proposed network reconfiguration methodology to provide the best operation of distribution networks with minimum losses and enhanced power quality performance. It was also shown that SOPs successfully assist the growing integration plans of the renewable distributed generators units and can address issues related to voltage violations and network losses efficiently.

Changes in food preferences after bariatric surgery may alter its effectiveness as a treatment for obesity. We aimed to compare food reward for a comprehensive variety of food categories between patients who received a sleeve gastrectomy (SG) or a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and to explore whether food reward differs according to weight loss. In this cross-sectional exploratory study, food reward was assessed using the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire (LFPQ). We assessed liking and wanting of eleven food categories. Comparisons were done regarding type of surgery and Total Weight Loss (TWL; based on tercile distribution). Fifty-six patients (30 SG and 26 RYGB) were included (women: 70%; age: 44.0 (11.1) y). Regarding the type of surgery, scores were not significantly different between SG and RYGB, except for ‘non-dairy products – without color’ explicit liking (p = 0.04). Regarding TWL outcomes, explicit liking, explicit wanting and implicit wanting, scores were significantly higher for Good responders than Low responders for ‘No meat – High fat’ (post-hoc corrected p-value: 0.04, 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). Together, our results failed to identify major differences in liking and wanting regarding the type of surgery and tended to indicate that higher weight loss might be related to a higher reward for high protein-content food. Rather to focus only on palatable foods, future studies should also consider a broader range of food items, including protein reward.

Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare systemic necrotizing vasculitis, affecting small-to-medium sized vessels. EGPA’s clinical manifestations are heterogeneous affecting different organs and systems and the upper respiratory tract can be affected with Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) involvement. The aim of our study was to assess type manifestations at time of diagnosis in a cohort of EGPA patients and correlate findings with baseline variables (sex, age, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies –ANCA- status) and literature reports. Main ENT manifestations in our patients at time of diagnosis were: nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) (52%), turbinate hypertrophy (48%), nasal swelling (40%), rhinorrhoea (40%), chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyposis (CRSsNP) (32%), nasal bone deformities (32%), nasal crusts (20%), nasal mucosal ulcers (12%), corditis (12%), hoarseness/dysphonia (12%), hearing loss (12%), mucoceles(4%) eosinophilic rhinitis (4%). No correlations were found between sex, age, ANCA status and ENT clinical manifestations. A polymorphic ENT involvement is often observed at early stages of EGPA. The presence of nasal, sinus, ear and/or laryngeal manifestations in patients with asthma and hypereosinophilia, independently of sex, age or ANCA status, should raise allert for further investigation and differential diagnosis for EGPA. ENT specialists should be aware of their leading position in this diagnostic race.

Controlled drainage (CD) is an important agricultural measure for maintaining soil moisture and nutrients, controlling groundwater level, and increasing crop yield. In arid regions, CD can be used to improve the water supply in agriculture and reduce environmental pollution. In this study, we investigated the effect of CD, including a drainage depth of 40 cm (CWT1) and 70 cm (CWT2) during the plant growth period, free drainage (FD), and open ditch drainage (OD) on the migration of water, nutrients, and salts in the soil; the dynamics of groundwater level; the loss of soil nitrogen; and the growth of oilseed sunflower plants. Compared with FD, CD increased the water and nutrient content in the soil, reduced nitrogen loss, and enhanced the ability of the soil to continuously supply nitrogen to the oilseed sunflower plants, which benefited plant growth at later growth stages and reduced environmental pollution. During the period between irrigation at the budding stage and harvest stage, the average soil water content in the 0–20 cm soil layer in CWT1 increased by 3.67%, 4.78%, and 0.55%, respectively, compared with that in CWT2, FD, and OD. The soil mineral content in CWT1 was 25.17%, 35.05%, and 17.78% higher than that in CWT2, FD, and OD, respectively, indicating that higher soil salinity occurred at the later stage of plant growth in CWT1, which actually had little effect on the plants due to their enhanced salt tolerance and increased need for water and nutrients at that stage. In addition, CD delayed the decline in groundwater level, which allowed the plants to use groundwater at later growth stages, and as a result the yield and water use efficiency were improved. CWT1 significantly increased oilseed sunflower yield by 4.52–11.14% and increased water use efficiency by 1.16–10.8%. Moreover, CWT1 also increased the survival rate of the oilseed sunflower plants by 2.62–2.92%, and the plants demonstrated good growth. Therefore, under CD conditions, plants used soil water and nitrogen more efficiently and, as a result, their productivity was increased, and the water quality was improved.

Background: Appendicular skeletal muscle (or lean) mass (ALM) estimated using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is considered to be a preferred method for sarcopenia studies. However, DXA is expensive, has limited portability, and requires radiation exposure. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is inexpensive, easy to use, and portable; thus BIA might be useful in sarcopenia investigations. However, a large variety of models have been commercially supplied by different companies, and for most consumer products, the equations estimating ALM are not disclosed. It is therefore difficult to use these equations for research purposes. In particular, the BIA equation is often age-dependent, which leads to fundamental difficulty in examining age-related ALM loss. The aims of the current study were as follows: (1) to develop and validate an equation to estimate ALM using multi-frequency BIA (MF-BIA) based on theoretical models, and (2) to establish sarcopenia cutoff values using the equation for the Japanese population. Methods: We measured height (Ht), weight, and ALM obtained using DXA and a standing-posture 8-electrode MF-BIA (5, 50, 250 kHz) in 756 Japanese individuals aged 18 to 86-years-old (222 men and 301 women as developing equation group and 97 men and 136 women as a cross validation group). The traditional impedance index (Ht²/Z₅₀) and impedance ratio of high and low frequency (Z₂₅₀/Z₅) of hand to foot values were calculated. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with ALM as dependent variable in men and women separately. Results: We created the following equations: ALM = (0.6947 × (Ht²/Z₅₀)) + (−55.24 × (Z₂₅₀/Z₅)) + (−10,940 × (1/Z₅₀)) + 51.33 for men, and ALM = (0.6144 × (Ht²/Z₅₀)) + (−36.61 × (Z₂₅₀/Z₅)) + (−9332 × (1/Z₅₀)) + 37.91 for women. Additionally, we conducted measurements in 1624 men and 1368 women aged 18 to 40 years to establish sarcopenia cutoff values in the Japanese population. The mean values minus 2 standard deviations of the skeletal muscle mass index (ALM/Ht²) in these participants were 6.8 and 5.7 kg/m² in men and women, respectively. Conclusion: The current study established and validated a theoretical and age-independent equation using MF-BIA to estimate ALM and provided reasonable sarcopenia cutoff values.

Aero-fuel centrifugal pumps are important power plants in aero-engines. Unlike most of the existing centrifugal pumps, a combination impeller is integrated with the pump to improve its performance. First, the critical geometrical parameters of combination impeller and volute are given. Then, the effects of combination impeller on flow characteristics inside the impeller and volute are clarified by comparing simulation results with that of the conventional impeller, where the effectiveness of selected numerical method is validated by an acceptable agreement between simulation and experiment. Finally, the experiment is performed to test the external performance of studied pump. A significant feature of this study is that the flow characteristics are significantly ameliorated by reducing the flow losses emerged in impeller inlet, impeller outlet and volute tongue. Correspondingly, the head and efficiency of combination impeller are higher with comparison to conventional impeller. Consequently, it is a promising approach in ameliorating flow field and improving external performance by applying a combination impeller to an aero-fuel centrifugal pump.

Ultra-thin Fe–6.5wt.%Si ribbons with 35 μm in thickness were prepared by melt-spinning. The magnetic properties were investigated before and after annealing 1000 ºC. DC properties and low-frequency (400 Hz ~ 10 kHz) iron losses have significantly improved after heat treatment. A simplified formula based on Steinmetz law which can be used to predict the AC iron loss is presented. According to the results of some iron losses data, a simplified formula has been determined, and the extent of AC iron losses can be predicted. The results obtained from the formula predict AC iron loss to a good degree. The method developed in this work could be extended to other magnetic materials for predicting AC iron loss with greater ease.

Our findings indicate that all five phytocannabinoids reduce HG-HL-induced -cell loss likely through reducing apoptosis and pyroptosis. The protective effects of CBD, THCV, CBC, and CBN were seen in the GSIS impairment by HG-HL. Although all five phytocannabinoids tested in this research demonstrated the capability to inhibit β-cell dedifferentiation induced by HG-HL, CBD seems to be more effective compared to the other phytocannabinoids, as indicated by the specific biomarker responses of β-cells and progenitor cells to CBD.

Load balancing, energy efficiency and fault tolerance are among the most important data dissemination issues in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In order to successfully cope with the mentioned issues, two main approaches (namely, Data-centric Storage and Distributed Data Storage) have been proposed in the literature. Both approaches suffer from data loss due to memory and/or energy depletion in the storage nodes. Even though several techniques have been proposed so far to overcome the mentioned problems, the proposed solutions typically focus on one issue at a time. In this paper, we integrate the Data-centric Storage (DCS) features into Distributed Data Storage (DDS) mechanisms and present a novel approach, denoted as Collaborative Memory and Energy Management (CoMEM), to overcome both problems and bring memory and energy efficiency to the data loss mechanism of WSNs. We also propose analytical and simulation frameworks for performance evaluation. Our results show that the proposed method outperforms existing approaches in various WSN scenarios.

We develop a technique for realizing lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguides of a multi-centimeter-length with a propagation loss as low as 0.027 dB/cm. Our technique relies on patterning a chromium (Cr) thin film coated on the top surface of LNOI into a hard mask with a femtosecond laser followed by the chemo-mechanical polishing for structuring the LNOI into the waveguides. The surface roughness on the waveguides is determined to be 0.452 nm with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The approach is compatible with other surface patterning technologies such as optical and electron beam lithographies or laser direct writing, enabling high-throughput manufacturing of large-scale LNOI-based photonic integrated circuits.

The changes in storage loss, water distribution status, gel characteristics, TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen, and total plate count of cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter during cold storage at 4 °C were investigated. The storage loss, content of free water, pH, hardness, TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen value and total plate count of all cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batters significantly increased (P < 0.05) with increasing the cold storage time. Meanwhile, the content of immobilized water, whiteness, springiness, and cohesiveness decreased significantly (P < 0.05). At the same cold storage time, the sample of cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter has lower water mobility, darker colour and better texture characteristics, but the values of TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen and total plate count were not significantly different (P > 0.05). To sum up, the use of potassium bicarbonate instead of sodium tripolyphosphate could produce the cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter with better water holding capacity and gel characteristics during cold storage.

Human-driven biodiversity destruction are responsible for significant and sustained heritage losses in Africa. In Venda, northern South Africa, biodiversity losses are eroding the existence of sacred places. Such places define the essence of indigenous people’s identity and well-being. We highlight how developments in Venda such as mining and agricultural expansion since apartheid times have destroyed biodiversity in the broader landscape, undermining efforts to reduce hunger and poverty. Thathe forest, Lake Fundudzi and Phiphidi waterfalls are central to Venda mythology and legends, origins and identity and are key towards conserving current biodiversity and heritage losses.

Facial expression recognition is crucial for understanding human emotions and nonverbal communication. With the growing prevalence of facial recognition technology and its various applications, accurate and efficient facial expression recognition has become a significant research area. However, most previous methods have focused on designing unique deep-learning architectures while overlooking the loss function. This study presents a new loss function that allows simultaneous consideration of inter- and intra-class variations to be applied to CNN architecture for facial expression recognition. More concretely, this loss function reduces the intra-class variations by minimizing the distances between the deep features and their corresponding class centers. It also increases the inter-class variations by maximizing the distances between deep features and their non-corresponding class centers, and the distances between different class centers. Numerical results from several benchmark facial expression databases, such as Cohn-Kanade Plus, Oulu-Casia, MMI, and FER2013, are provided to prove the capability of the proposed loss function compared with existing ones.

The conversion of native habitats into anthropogenic ones compromises the original composition and configuration of the landscapes, influencing ecological dynamics and affecting biodiversity. Increasingly, landscape ecology has shown that these effects can only be understood if accessed at adequate spatial scales, as the scale which landscape structure is evaluated influences species responses. Here, we investigated how three variables of landscape composition (proportion of forest, coffee crop and pasture) and two of configuration (number of fragments and mean nearest neighbor distance) interfere in the richness and composition of medium and large-sized mammals considering a multiscale approach. We recorded medium and large-sized mammal species in 13 landscapes with predominantly matrices of coffee and pasture in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Then, we built distance-based linear models to identify the scale of effect of each landscape variable for both response variables considering eight scales (from 250 m to 2000 m). Finally, we verified the influence of the landscape on the richness and composition of mammals, considering the landscape variables in their respective scales of effect. We found 67% of the probable species occurring in the region. The scales of effect varied among landscape variables probably due to the different variables affect different aspects of organisms' ecological requirements. The proportion of pasture in the landscape explained the variation in species richness, while the proportion of forest explained the variation in species composition. In addition, the proportion of pasture in the landscape had a positive influence on species richness, indicating that this matrix may favor the presence of generalist species of habitat and/or this result is due to the higher concentration of species in the fragments immersed in this matrix. These results suggest that considering different responses to biodiversity is important to understand different aspects of the landscape's influence on biodiversity. In addition, the composition of the landscape is fundamental for the perpetuation of species and, therefore, both forest cover and types of matrices in the landscape must be considered to improve species conservation strategies. Finally, generalizing a spatial scale can lead to misinterpretations about the influence of the landscape on biodiversity.

Street view images can help us better understand the city environment and potential characteristics. With the development of computer vision and deep learning, the technology of semantic segmentation algorithms has become more mature. However, DeeplabV3+, which is commonly used in semantic segmentation, has shortcomings such as a large number of parameters, high requirements for computing resources, and easy loss of detailed information. Therefore, this paper proposes LM-DeeplabV3+, which aims to greatly reduce parameters and computations of the model while ensuring the segmentation accuracy. Firstly, the lightweight network MobileNetV2 is selected as the backbone network, and the ECA attention mechanism is introduced after MobileNetV2 extracts shallow features to improve the ability of feature representation; secondly, the ASPP module is improved, and on its basis, the EPSA attention mechanism is introduced to achieve cross-dimensional channel attention and important feature interaction; thirdly, a loss function named CL loss is designed to balance the training offset of multiple categories and better indicate the segmentation quality. This paper conducted experimental verification on the Cityspaces dataset, and the results showed that the mIoU reached 74.9%, which was an improvement of 3.56% compared to DeeplabV3+; the mPA reached 83.01%, which was an improvement of 2.53% compared to DeeplabV3+.

This study tests the utilization of Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones in improving the quality of eye exams in patients with hearing loss. University of Texas Medical Branch patients above 55 years of age were screened for hearing loss using SoundCheck audiometry. All 29 subjects (18 red-zone and 11 yellow-zone) answered pre-recorded Amsler grid and patient education questions that solicited precise responses. As controls, subjects were randomly administered half of the questions via headphones and half via a smartphone at normal speech volume (60 decibels). Points were awarded for responses demonstrating comprehension, and a post-exam survey was collected. Collectively, the mean score was 1.79 with headphones versus 0.96 with control on the Amsler grid segment and 1.90 with headphones versus 0.97 with control on education questions (p=0.001). Between the red and yellow zone hearing loss patients, the red-zone group answered significantly better in both Amsler (1.78 versus 0.50; p=0.0003) and education questions (1.88 versus 0.44; p&lt;0.0001) with headphones. The yellow zone group answered better with headphones overall but failed to reach significance. Post-exam survey indicated that 28 of 29 patients (97%) preferred the headphones during ophthalmic exams. Patients with severe hearing loss demonstrated better comprehension with the noise-canceling headphones; thus these devices show great promise in improving effective, compassionate communication between providers and hearing-loss patients.

Liquidity providers for asset-pair pools with constant value distri- bution, such as Balancer pools, experience some impermanent loss whenever there is price divergence in the tokens’ fiat values. In this paper, we model this impermanent loss for geometric mean invariant pools by deriving a function of two parameters. We analyze our function graphically, showing that unevenly distributed pools with large weighting disparities best mitigate the risk of impermanent loss. We conclude by providing a general protocol for liquidity providers to choose a suitable pool based on their risk tolerance and profit goals.

Diabetes is one of the fatal diseases that play a vital role in the growth of other diseases in the human body. Controlling and curing diabetes in its early stages is the most significant technique to avoid its effects of diabetes. However, lack of awareness and expensive clinical tests are the primary reasons to skip clinical diagnosis and take preventive methods in lower-income countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. From this perspective, the study aims to build an automated machine learning (ML) model, which will predict diabetes at an early stage using socio-demographic characteristics rather than clinical attributes. Because clinical features are not always known to all people from lower-income countries. To find the best fit supervised ML classifier of the model, we applied six classification algorithms and found that RF outperformed with an accuracy of 99.36%. In addition, the most significant risk factors were found based on the SHAP value by all the applied classifiers. The study reveals that polyuria, polydipsia, and delayed healing are the most significant risk factors for growing diabetes. The findings indicate that the proposed model is highly capable of predicting diabetes in the early stages.

The results of applying drilling engineering tools in planned deviated and horizontal wells of oil and gas condensate fields have been examined. The basis for the implementation of a comprehensive approach was the information obtained from drilling horizontal wells in the West and East Siberia, Volga-Ural region, and Iraqi Kurdistan. A synthetic model is considered as an example of the data, incorporating geomechanical and geological properties. As a result of the conducted audit of the geomechanical model and drilling process, the methodologies used were further developed to obtain optimal drilling fluid densities, aiming to prevent cavity formation on well walls, hydraulic fractures, and other related issues. The implementation of the Python programming language was introduced in the stages of geomechanical model preparation, resulting in a time acceleration of up to 20%. During the pre-drilling stage, technological operations were synchronized with the geomechanical model, increasing the involvement of process participants through the synchronization of knowledge areas. The interrelation between drilling technology, drilling parameters, properties of flushing fluids, and rock stability analysis was established, ensuring a 5% increase in construction speed (through NPT reduction and modification of existing tools and technological operations) and accident-free drilling of complex deviated and horizontal wells, provided that the recommended drilling parameters are followed.

The aim of the research presented here is to assess the magnitude of the burden of health limitations resulting from air pollution on the world's economies. This burden was determined by the estimated number of premature years of life lost (YLLs) or health lost (YLDs) due to air pollution-related diseases in the working-age population. Attention was drawn to the problem of existing inequalities in the global burden of national economies with different income levels. The hypothesis of a persistently high level of inequality was verified on the basis of an analysis of the convergence process in a group of 204 countries over the period 1990-2019. The results obtained indicate a strong variation in the level of health constraints caused by air pollution. The analysis of the catch-up process of the least advantaged countries (highest level of health constraints due to air pollution) did not show a positive convergence effect in the study group.

The purpose of this article is to simulate data transmission and calculate traffic parameters in SAGIN air segment for which Ad Hoc network of flying drones is considered as a model. Traffic modeling is based on the manet-routing-compare example from the ns3 simulator library, which has been supplemented with the code for calculation packet losses, throughput/goodput, and message transmission delays. The program allowed considering drones movement at both low and high speeds from 3.6 km/h to 72 km/h. The dependences of traffic losses on data transmission power, transaction sizes and data transmission rate are obtained and analyzed. The distribution of the average effective arrival rate λ and the throughput/goodput for drones has been studied. Comparing traffic characteristics in models with different numbers of drones allows judging how the required quality of service can be achieved by choosing the right transmission parameters.

Abstract: Windtech device is a novel tool for measuring the sensation of the ‘cold’. Cold poses numerous challenges for industrial operations, human survival, and living convenience. The impact of the cold is not possible to be quantified just based on temperatures; however other factors such as wind speed, humidity, irradiance have to be taken into consideration. Efforts have been made to develop combined indices such as wind chill temperature (WCT), AccuWeather RealFeel®, and others. The presented article discusses these along with the industrial standards that emphasize on the quantification of the ‘cold’. The following article introduces the Windtech device and its operating principle involving ‘heated temperature’, where the ‘heated temperature’ is affected by environmental parameters including ambient temperature, humidity, wind velocity, and irradiance. The discussed Windtech device is calibrated for operation according to the ISO 11079:2007 standard.

The passion of bodybuilding athletes for a symmetric, lean, heavily muscled body leads them to carry out exhausting exercise programs and restrictive eating regimens, sometimes resulting in disordered eating behaviors. This study investigates potential exacerbators on the development of disordered eating in bodybuilding and strength athletes. The study involved 103 Cypriot bodybuilding athletes of both sexes, performing at three levels: professional, recreational and strength athletes. The Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26) and The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21) were used to evaluate disordered eating and eating behaviors respectively. The current study was performed under the auspices of the Hellenic Center of Education & Treatment of Eating Disorders (KEADD). The degree of deviation between the perceived ideal body weight and the actual body weight was associated with increased risk of eating disorder. Athletes who desired a lower body weight recorded higher scores on EAT-26 overall, and the subscales of dieting and bulimia. Cognitive restraint and emotional eating scales of TFEQ-R21 were more pronounced in the non-professional athletes. The emotional eating score was higher in women. There is a need for appropriate sport-specific, gender-specific preventive intervention to deescalate the risk of eating disorder, in both professional and non-professional bodybuilding athletes.

Turbine generator operates with complex cooling system due to the challenge in controlling the peak temperature of the stator bar caused by ohm loss, which is unavoidable. Therefore, it is important to characterise and quantifies the thermal performance of the cooling system. The focus of the present research is to investigate the heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of typical cooling system, so-called stator ventilation duct. A real scale model was built at its operating conditions for the present study. The direction of cooling air is varied to consider its operation condition, so that there are (1) outward flow and (2) inward flow cases. In addition, the effect of (3) cross flow (inward with cross flow case) is also studied. The transient heat transfer method using thermochromic liquid crystals is implemented to measure full surface heat transfer distribution. A series of Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis is also conducted to support the observation from the experiment. For the inward flow case, the results suggest that the average Nusselt number of the 2nd duct is about 30% higher than the 3rd duct. The trend is similar with the effect of cross flow. The CFD results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

The corrosion of prestressing steel in prestressed concrete bridges is a critical issue for bridge maintenance. To assess structures with corroded strands, it is necessary to define the mechanical properties of the strands and their influence on the structural behavior. In this study, corroded strands are taken from external tendons in existing bridges and tested to define the effects of corrosion on the tensile properties of the strand. Empirical equations for the tensile strength and ductility of the corroded strand are proposed using test results. The most corroded wire governs the mechanical properties of the strand. Experiments on prestressed concrete beams with a single corroded strand are conducted to investigate the structural behavior. A reduction in the flexural strength and maximum deformation is observed from the experiment. According to the section loss of a wire in a strand and its location in a beam, the flexural capacity can be evaluated using the proposed equation. The reduced ultimate strain of the corroded strand can be the governing factor of the flexural strength.