The Third Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) has specified the Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) radio access technology in Releases 14 and 15, with a focus on facilitating direct communication between vehicles through the sidelink PC5 interface. This interface offers a robust cloud-native core network with end-to-end network slicing functionality. The performance of di-rect vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications has been improved by using the sidelink interface, which allows for network infrastructure by-pass. Sidelink transmissions make use of orthogonal resources that are either centrally allocated (Mode 1) or chosen by the vehicles themselves (Mode 2). The development of radio access technologies that enable dependable and low-latency vehicular communications has become of utmost relevance with the rise in interest in connected and autonomous vehicles. This is especially necessary when there are heavy traffic conditions and patterns. We thoroughly examined the New Radio (NR) sidelink’s performance under various vehicle densities, speeds, and distance settings. Thus, by evaluating sidelink’s strengths and drawbacks, we are able to optimize resource allocation to obtain maximum coverage in urban areas. The performance evaluation is conducted on Network Simulator 3 (NS3.34/5G-LENA) utilizing various network metrics such as average packet reception rate, throughput, and latency.

Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.

The etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains largely unclear. Among other biological hypotheses, researchers have evidenced an imbalance in the endocannabinoid (eCB) system, which regulates some functions typically impaired in ASD, such as emotional responses and social interaction. Also, cannabidiol (CBD), the non-intoxicating component of Cannabis sativa, has been recently approved for treatment-resistant epilepsy. Seizures represent frequent medical comorbidities of ASD and could be responsible for the onset or worsening of behavioral problems. Thus, it has been hypothesized that cannabinoids could be useful in improving some ASD symptoms. Our systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and aimed to summarize the literature regarding the use of cannabinoids in ASD. After searching in Web of Knowledge^TM, PsycINFO, and Embase, we included ten studies (eight papers and two abstracts). Four ongoing trials were retrieved in ClinicalTrials.gov. Findings are promising, as cannabinoids appeared to improve problem behaviors, sleep, hyperactivity, and communication deficits, with limited cardiac and metabolic side effects. Interestingly, they generally allowed to reduce the number of prescribed medications and decreased the frequency of seizures in epileptic patients. Mechanisms of action could be linked to the excitatory/inhibitory imbalance found in people with ASD. However, further trials need to be implemented with better characterization and homogenization of samples, and well-defined outcomes.

Energy storage systems will play a key role for individual users in the future smart grid. They serve two purposes: (i) handling the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources for a more reliable and efficient system, and (ii) preventing the impact of blackouts on users and allowing for more independence from the grid, while saving money through load-shifting. In this paper we investigate the latter scenario by looking at a neighbourhood of 25 households whose demand is satisfied by one utility company. Assuming the users possess lithium-ion batteries, we answer the question of how each household can make the best use of their individual storage system given a real-time pricing policy. To this end, each user is modelled as a player of a non-cooperative scheduling game. The novelty of the game lies in the advanced battery model, which incorporates charging and discharging characteristics of lithium-ion batteries. The action set for each player comprises day-ahead schedules of their respective battery usage. We analyse different user behavior and are able to obtain a realistic and applicable understanding of the potential of these systems. As a result, we show the correlation between the efficiency of the battery and the outcome of the game.

Keywords: Baseband, GeoSurf Constellation, Interference, Linear Distortions, Passband, Time Delay, Rain attenuation, Synthetic Storm Technique, ultra–wideband.

Digital terrestrial television is now implemented in many world wide countries and is now mature. Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial, second generation (DVB-T2) is the European standard adopted or deployed by European and African countries which uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation to achieve a good throughput performance. However, its main particularity is the number of subcarriers operated for OFDM modulation which is high (up to 32768). Also, mobile reception is planned in DVB-T2 in addition to rooftop antenna and portable receptions planned in DVB-T. But, the main challenge of DVB-T2 for mobile reception is the presence of Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) which degrades the system performance by inducing an InterCarrier Interference (ICI) on DVB-T2 signal. This paper evaluates the system performance in the presence of the CFO when Gaussian noise and TU6 channel are applied. Universal Filtered Multicarrier (UFMC) and Non Uniform Constellations (NUCs) have previously demonstrated good performances in comparison with OFDM and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) in DVB-T2. The impact of CFO on the UFMC and NUCs based DVB-T2 system is additionally investigated in this work. The results demonstrate that the penalties induced by CFO insertion in UFMC and NUCs based DVB-T2 are highly reduced in comparison to those for the native DVB-T2. At a BER of 10−3, the CFO penalties induced by the native DVB-T2 are respectively 0.96 dB and 4 dB when only AWGN is used and when TU6 is additionally considered. The penalties are equals to 0.84 dB and 0.2 dB for UFMC/NUCs based DVB-T2.

Hydrazine (N2H4) plays an important role in industrial production, but it is highly toxic, leakage or exposure will pollute the environment and cause serious harm to the human body. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an important gas signaling molecule, but its excessive intake can cause a variety of diseases. However, due to the lack of two-color probes capable of detecting both N2H4 and SO2, the ability to monitor the crosstalk of these substances is limited. Therefore, it is necessary to find a simple and effective method for dual-response detection of N2H4 and SO2 in environmental systems and organisms. Here, we developed a two-response fluorescence probe PI-CO-NH based on FRET regulation to detect N2H4 and SO2. The experimental results show that the probe has high selectivity and sensitivity, excellent stability, low cytotoxicity and high cell permeability, can visualize N2H4 and SO2 in living cells, and has good mitochondrial targeting ability. It is worth noting that the ability of the probe to detect N2H4 in different soil samples and test strips was successfully verified. PI-CO-NH provides a platform for the analysis and visualization of two biologically active and environmentally important species, which has great potential in the analysis and monitoring of environmental pollutants.

Enhanced electrical activity in detrusor smooth muscle (DSM) cells is a key factor in detrusor overactivity which causes overactive bladder pathological disorders. Transient receptor potential melastatin-4 (TRPM4) channels, calcium-activated cation channels, play a role in regulating DSM electrical activities. These channels likely contribute to depolarizing the DSM cell membrane, leading to bladder overactivity. Our research focuses on understanding TRPM4 channel function in mouse DSM cells using computational modeling. We aimed to create a detailed computational model of the TRPM4 channel based on existing electrophysiological data. We employed a modified Hodgkin-Huxley model with an incorporated TRP-like current to simulate action potential firing in response to current and synaptic stimulus inputs. Validation against experimental data showed close agreement with our simulations. Our model is the first to analyze the TRPM4 channel's role in DSM electrical activity, potentially revealing insights into bladder overactivity. In conclusion, TRPM4 channels are pivotal in regulating human DSM function and TRPM4 channel inhibitors could be promising targets for treating overactive bladder.

In the plot under study, rice is grown under anaerobic conditions by means of flood irrigation that maintains a constant water depth during most of the crop cycle. Thus, water requirements reach a very high volume of about 12,000 m3/ha. At the outlet there is a drainage channel where there are no measuring devices. Its control will allow us to establish practices to reduce the high water consumption. We have designed a long-throated flume that can cover the entire range of flow rates to measure, between 0.02 and 0.05 m3/s in this case. Since the drainage channel has a trapezoidal cross section and is built on land, the throat of the flume will also be trapezoidal to ease the transition between the two sections and reduce head losses. A new procedure has been developed that allows to directly design the dimensions of the narrowed section, side slope and bottom width, by previ-ously choosing the modular limit, the sill height and the length of the throat more in accordance with the characteristics of the channel where the flume is to be installed. The analysis of the obtained results demonstrates the accuracy and feasibility of the presented procedure.

Ovarian cysts are linked to hormone imbalances and altered gene expressions, but the connection between cysts and ion channel expression is understudied. This study explored the role of TWIK-related acid-sensitive K+ (TASK) channels in bovine ovarian cyst formation. The ovarian follicles were split into small (5 to 10 mm in diameter) and large (> 25 mm in diameter) groups. Among the measured K+, Na+, and Cl- concentrations in follicular fluid (FF) obtained from small-sized follicles (SF) and large-sized follicles (LF), the K+ concentration was significantly lower in LFFF. Quantitative PCR, western blot, and immunocytochemistry data revealed that TASK-3 expression levels significantly decreased by approximately 50% in both LF and granulosa cells obtained from LF (LFGCs) compared to the corresponding controls. The TASK-3 protein was localized to the plasma membrane of GCs. The diameter of LFGCs was larger than that of SFGC. The cell swelling response to exposure to a hypotonic solution (200 mOsm/L) was highly reduced in TASK-3-overexpressing cells compared to vector-transfected cells. TASK-3-knockdown cells showed arrested growth. Senescence markers were detected in LFGCs and TASK-3-knockdown cells. These findings suggest that reduced TASK-3 expression in LF is associated with the inhibition of GC growth, leading to senescence and cyst formation.

Optical networks, characterized by using optical fibers as a transmission medium, constitute the fundamental infrastructure employed today by network operators to deliver services to users. As network capacity is one of the key factors influencing optical network performance, it is important to comprehend its limitations and have the capability to estimate its value. In this context, we revisit the concept of capacity from various perspectives, including channel capacity, link capacity, and network capacity, thus providing an integrated view of the problem. Hence, we review the fundamental concepts behind optical networks, along with the basic physical phenomena present in optical fiber transmission and provide methodologies for estimating the different types of capacities, mainly using simple formulations. In particular, we propose a method to evaluate the network capacity that relies on the optical reach to account for physical layer aspects, in conjunction with capacitated routing techniques for traffic routing. We apply this method to three reference networks and obtain capacities ranging from tens to hundreds of Terabits/s. Whenever possible, we also compare our results with published experimental data to understand how they relate.

The Cav3.2 T-type calcium channel is implicated in various pathological conditions, including cardiac hypertrophy, epilepsy, autism, and chronic pain. Phosphorylation of Cav3.2 by multiple kinases plays a pivotal role in regulating its calcium channel function. The calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine phosphatase, calcineurin, interacts physically with Cav3.2 and modulates its activity. However, it remains unclear whether calcineurin dephosphorylates Cav3.2, the specific spatial regions on Cav3.2 involved, and the extent of the quantitative impact. In this study, we elucidated the serine/threonine residues on Cav3.2 targeted by calcineurin using quantitative mass spectrometry. We identified six serine residues in the N-terminus, II-III loop, and C-terminus of Cav3.2 that were dephosphorylated by calcineurin. Notably, a higher level of dephosphorylation was observed in the Cav3.2 C-terminus, where calcineurin binds to this channel. Additionally, a previously known CaMKII-phosphorylated site, S1198, was found to be dephosphorylated by calcineurin. Furthermore, we also discovered that a novel CaMKII-phosphorylated site, S2137, underwent dephosphorylation by calcineurin. In CAD cells, a mouse central nervous system cell line, membrane depolarization led to an increase in the phosphorylation of endogenous Cav3.2 at S2137. Mutation of S2137 affected the calcium channel function of Cav3.2. Our findings advance the understanding of Cav3.2 regulation not only through kinase phosphorylation but also via calcineurin phosphatase dephosphorylation.

For massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, the minimum mean square error (MMSE) scheme provides close to optimal recognition but involves inverting the high-dimensional matrix. A Gauss-Seidel (GS) detector based on conjugate gradient and Jacobi iteration (CJ) joint processing is introduced to address this problem. Firstly, the signal is initialized with the best of the three initialization regimes for faster algorithm convergence. Secondly, the signal is processed together with CJ. Finally, the pre-processed result is transferred to the GS detector. The simulation results indicate that the proposed iterative algorithm has a lower BER performance than the GS and improved iterative scheme based on GS in channels with different correlation levels.

Electroencephalography (EEG) signals provide valuable insights into various activities of the human brain, including the detection of mental stress, which is a complex physiological and psychological response. However, the challenge lies in identifying mental stress accurately while mitigating the limitations associated with a large number of EEG channels. This includes issues such as computational complexity, the risk of overfitting, and the increased setup time for electrode placement, which can be cumbersome for real-life applications. Therefore, it is crucial to develop EEG channel selection algorithms that enable the creation of a wearable device capable of assessing mental stress in real-life scenarios. This study introduces a novel channel selection method aimed at identifying highly accurate channels for detecting mental stress. Our approach, known as the Correlation Coefficient of Hjorth Parameters (CCHP), assesses the correlation between activity, mobility, and complexity in the time domain to nominate the most relevant channels. By selecting channels that exhibit high correlation with the stress task while being uncorrelated with each other, CCHP significantly reduces the number of EEG channels required, without compromising accuracy or performance. To evaluate the effectiveness of CCHP, we conducted experiments using the DEAP public dataset. Comparing our results with other recent algorithms that utilize the full set of EEG channels, CCHP achieved a superior classification accuracy of 81.56% using only eight EEG channels. Furthermore, CCHP outperformed existing channel selection methods by an impressive 8%. These findings strongly indicate that the CCHP algorithm shows great promise in the design of a wearable application for mental stress detection, utilizing a minimal number of EEG channels.

Currently, the Israeli energy industry faces the challenge of a considerable increase in solar electricity production. Being a relatively isolated system, the significant expansion of solar electricity may cause problems with electricity quality. The electrical storage installation can resolve this problem. In Israel's situation, the optimal solution can be the creation of a channel between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. The channel can solve three closely related problems: the increased production of desalinated water for domestic, industrial, and agricultural needs; the prevention of a permanent Dead Sea level decline and its imminent disappearance; the development of hydro-pumping electrical storage stations; and the creation of numerous PV facilities in the Negev area for national electricity generation. However, a detailed analysis should be done for the estimation of the possible increase of solar electric generation with the consideration of a stochastic PV outcome and a potential ability to use the Dead Sea for the brine discharge from electrical hydro-storage plants.

How language mediates emotional perception and experience is poorly understood. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined the explicit and implicit processing of emotional speech to differentiate the relative influences of communication channel, emotion category and task type in the prosodic salience effect. Thirty participants (15 women) were presented with spoken words denoting happiness, sadness and neutrality in either the prosodic or semantic channel. They were asked to judge the emotional content (explicit task) and speakers’ gender (implicit task) of the stimuli. Results indicated that emotional prosody (relative to semantics) triggered larger N100 and P200 amplitudes with greater delta, theta and alpha inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) values in the corresponding early time windows, and continued to produce larger LPC amplitudes and faster responses during late stages of higher-order cognitive processing. The relative salience of prosodic and semantics was modulated by emotion and task, though such modulatory effects varied across different processing stages. The prosodic salience effect was reduced for sadness processing and in the implicit task during early auditory processing and decision-making but reduced for happiness processing in the explicit task during conscious emotion processing. Additionally, across-trial synchronization of delta, theta and alpha bands predicted the ERP components with higher ITPC values significantly associated with stronger N100, P200 and LPC enhancement. These findings reveal the neurocognitive dynamics of emotional speech processing with prosodic salience tied to stage-dependent emotion- and task-specific effects, which can reveal insights to research reconciling language and emotion processing from cross-linguistic/cultural and clinical perspectives.

Human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) potassium channel is well-known contributor to drug-induced cardiotoxicity and therefore an extremely important target when performing safety assessments of drug candidates. Ligand-based approaches in connection with quantitative structure active relationships (QSAR) analyses have been developed to predict hERG toxicity. Availability of the recent published cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure for the hERG channel opened the prospect for using structure-based simulation and docking approaches for hERG drug liability predictions. In recent time, the idea of combining structure- and ligand-based approaches for modeling hERG drug liability has gained momentum offering improvements in predictability when compared to ligand-based QSAR practices alone. The present article demonstrates uniting the structure-based SILCS (site-identification by ligand competitive saturation) approach in conjunction with physicochemical properties to develop predictive models for hERG blockade. This combination leads to improved model predictability based on Pearson’s R and percent correct (represents rank-ordering of ligands) metric for different validation sets of hERG blockers involving diverse chemical scaffold and wide range of pIC50 values. The inclusion of the SILCS structure-based approach allows determination of the hERG region to which compounds bind and the contribution of different chemical moieties in the compounds to blockade, thereby facilitating the rational ligand design to minimize hERG liability.

Abstract The last mile has to deliver the goods at the right time and at the right cost for business logistics services to enhance the customer service experience. The objective of this paper is to examine the challenges of retail omni-channel distribution influencing the effective last mile fulfilment operations processes in the apparel group (organisation phase). It further establishes the extent of how the last mile for demand-driven store replenishment influences the level of retailers’ order fulfilment (in full and on time) (environment phase). This paper, persistently assesses the contribution of integrated information systems on brick and mortar and virtual omni-channel distribution networks to improve timeousness, order accuracy and fill rate (technology phase). The mixed method has triangulated the methods from both quantitative methodology using frequencies and binomial testing and subjective thematic analysis of qualitative data from interviewees. The sample of 175 questionnaires were received with a response rate is 85 per cent (148 responses). The main findings of the paper revealed that the current order fulfilment process aligned with the last mile is effective on the basis of the fill rate, lead time and order condition of orders delivered via store economy and store express.

The paper deals with the navigation data exchange between two satellites moving in a swarm. It is focused on reduction of the inter-satellite demanded communication channel capacity taking into account dynamics of the satellites relative motion and possible erasing in the channel the navigation data. The feedback control law is designed ensuring regulation of the relative satellites motion. The adaptive binary coding/decoding procedure for the satellites navigation data transmission over the limited capacity communication channel is proposed and studied for the cases of ideal and erasure channels. Dependence of the regulation time on the data transmission rate is numerically evaluated. Results of the numerical study of the closed-loop system performance and accuracy of the data transmission algorithm on the communication channel bitrate and erasure probability are obtained based on the extensive simulations. These results provide dependence of the required load of the communication channel on the desired quality of the regulation process. It is shown that both data transmission error and regulation time depend inversely proportional on the communication rate, and that for the significantly high data transmission rate erasure of data in the channel with probability up to 0.3 does not make an effect on the regulation time.

We propose a deep-learning approach for the joint MIMO detection and channel decoding problem. Conventional MIMO receivers adopt a model-based approach for MIMO detection and channel decoding in linear or iterative manners. However, due to the complex MIMO signal model, the optimal solution to the joint MIMO detection and channel decoding problem (i.e., the maximum likelihood decoding of the transmitted codewords from the received MIMO signals) is computationally infeasible. As a practical measure, the current model-based MIMO receivers all use suboptimal MIMO decoding methods with affordable computational complexities. This work applies the latest advances in deep learning for the design of MIMO receivers. In particular, we leverage deep neural networks (DNN) with supervised training to solve the joint MIMO detection and channel decoding problem. We show that DNN can be trained to give much better decoding performance than conventional MIMO receivers do. Our simulations show that a DNN implementation consisting of seven hidden layers can outperform conventional model-based linear or iterative receivers. This performance improvement points to a new direction for future MIMO receiver design.

Miscarriage due to blastocyst implantation failure occurs in up to two-thirds of all miscarriage cases in human. The calcium ion has been shown to be involved in many cellular signal transduction pathways as well as in the regulation of cell adhesion, which is necessary for the embryo implantation process. Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDs) during early gestation results in disruption of intrauterine implantation and uterine reception, leading to implantation failure. In this study, ovarian estrogen (E2), bisphenol A (BPA), or 4-tert-octylphenol (OP), with or without ICI 182,780 (ICI) were injected subcutaneously from gestation day 1 to gestation day 3 post-coitus. The expression levels of the calcium transport genes were assessed in maternal uteri and implantation sites. The number of implantation sites was significantly low in the OP group, and implantation sites were absent in the E2 and EDs+ICI groups. There were different calcium transient transport channel expression levels in uterus and implantation site samples. The levels of TRPV5 and TRPV6 gene expression were significantly increased by EDs with/without ICI treatment in uterus. Whereas, TRPV5 and TRPV6 gene expression were significantly lower in implantation sites samples. NCX1 and PMCA1 mRNA levels were significantly decreased by OP and BPA in the implantation site samples. Compared to vehicle treatment in uterus, both the MUC1 mRNA and protein levels were markedly high in all but the BPA group. Taken together, these results suggest that both BPA and OP can impair embryo implantation through alteration of calcium transport gene expressions and by affecting uterine receptivity.

The Conus genus includes around 500 species of marine mollusks with a peculiar production of venomous peptides known as conotoxins (CTX). Each species is able to produce up to 200 different biological active peptides. Common structure of CTX is the low number of aminoacids stabilized by disulfide bridges and post-translational modifications that give rise to different isoforms. µ and µ-O CTX are two isoforms that specifically target voltage-gated sodium channels. These, by inducing the entrance of sodium ions in the cell, modulate the neuronal excitability by depolarizing plasma membrane and propagating the action potential. Hyperxcitability and mutations of sodium channels are responsible for perception and transmission of inflammatory and neuropathic pain states. In this review, we describe the current knowledge of µ-CTX interacting with the different sodium channels subtypes, the mechanism of action and their potential therapeutic use as analgesic compounds in the clinical management of pain conditions.

The basis of orchard production are rootstocks that reduce the vigor of sweet cherry trees. However, not all rootstocks for this species can be easily propagated using traditional methods by stooling or cutting. Some of these must be propagated using the in vitro culture method. This results in their high price and, consequently, the price of maiden sweet cherry trees. The experiment assessed the growth of maiden trees of selected sweet cherry varieties ('Bellise', 'Earlise', 'Lapins', 'Vanda') depending on the method of the semi-dwarf GiSelA 5 rootstock propagation. Additionally the intensity of life processes taking place in the obtained maiden trees was also examined. One type of this rootstock, obtained by cheaper method from softwood cuttings, was compared with the another propagated using the in vitro method. There were no significant differences in the percentage of maiden trees obtained in both types of rootstocks propagation method and in the two years of study. The efficiency of maiden trees varied little and ranged from 77.43% to 87.74% depending on the factors considered. The vigor of maiden trees growth in the first year of the study was stronger than in the second one. Only the diameter of maiden trees stem varied (from 7% to 39%), depending on the variety considered. With the exception of one variety, maiden trees produced on rootstock propagated from stem cuttings were characterized by a much larger diameter for the three varieties, ranging from 23% to 29% compare to in vitro. Also with this method of propagation, the rootstocks had a better developed root system and the maiden trees had a greater fresh mass. However, most often, no significant differences were found between the methods of propagation, only when comparing the years of research. The activity of life processes of maiden sweet cherry trees varied and no constant regularities were found. The only regularity observed was that maiden trees in the second year of the experiment were more often characterized by lower levels of the tested life parameters (Pn, E, C and Int.CO2), which was associated with worse growth results.

BackgroundContextualising the narrative on energy efficiency as the first fuel in the clean energy transition, the energy efficiency first principle (EE1) was introduced in EU energy and climate policy with the Energy Union communication in 2015 and made nonbinding with the EU Governance Regulation in 2018. In 2023, the EU legislators made EE1 legally binding to apply in policy, planning and investment decisions exceeding 100 million euros each and 175 million euros in the transport sector across all sectors that affect the energy system. Understanding the process through which new legislation is developed and adopted is important for understanding the policy itself, why it was designed in the way it was. Understanding the contextualisation of EE1 is particularly important since it introduced a paradigm shift in EU energy and climate policy. Better knowledge of the process of transformative policy change is important for policy and governance towards a clean energy transition for climate neutrality.ResultsApplying the multiple streams framework as a theoretical lens for analysing policy processes, this paper determines the policy process and the agency of policy entrepreneurs to make EE1 legally binding, from problem formulation to final adoption. Based on qualitative text analysis of policy documents, position papers and reports from EU negotiations, combined with interviews of key actors, the study shows how non-profit and non-governmental organisations such as the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG), as well as the European Commission and the rotating Council Presidency, were critical policy entrepreneurs for coupling the problem, policy and politics streams. RAP together with ECF and EEFIG considered the unequal treatment of energy supply and energy demand in energy policy to hamper efficient use of the energy system and suggested the EE1 principle to overcome this problem. Using a broad set of strategies related to cultural-institutional entrepreneurship, such as attention- and support seeking strategies, linking strategies, relational management strategies, and arena strategies, they persuaded the European Commission to propose legislation on EE1. But the initial framing was too technical. for decision-makers to understand. The coupling of the problem–policy package to politics was performed once a policy window was opened by external and internal events such as the Paris Agreement on climate change, the entering office of the Ursula von der Leyen European Commission in late 2019, and the energy crisis in Europe following Russia’s second war on Ukraine. Climate change and security of supply were problems that decision-makers could understand. ConclusionsIt is concluded that coalition-building is important for policy entrepreneurs to gain broad acceptance for their policy proposals. In addition, timing is of great importance for policy entrepreneurs being able to couple a package of problems and policy solutions to the political stream. Political decision-makers must be receptive to the problem and its policy solution. This happens when a policy window of opportunity is opened. In this case, the policy entrepreneurs proposed a solution to what they perceived of as a problem almost seven years before the politics stream was mature and receptive. This led policy entrepreneurs to use ‘salami tactics’ to sequentially introduce policy change whit bits and pieces of the proposed policy instrument being implemented over a long period. It also highlights the need for endurance of policy entrepreneurs.But the study also raises ethical issues that policy entrepreneurship may not only be positive to democratic governance for the clean and just energy transition. The agency of policy entrepreneurs is often technocratic and non-transparent, and they take the role of political decision-makers but with no formal decision-making power, reducing possibilities to claim accountability, legitimacy and justice.

The advancement of technology and the availability of specialized digital signal processing chips have made digital filter design and implementation more feasible in a variety of fields, including biomedical engineering. This paper makes two key contributions. First, it uses a genetic algorithm to optimize the coefficients of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters. Second, it conducts a case study on using genetic algorithms to optimize FIR filters for electrocardiogram (ECG) biomedical signal noise removal. The goal of the proposed filter design approach is to achieve the desired signal bandwidth while minimizing the side lobe level and eliminating unwanted signals using a genetic algorithm. The results of the comprehensive analysis of the impact of different genetic operators show that the genetic algorithm-based filter outperforms conventional filter designs.

Steady-state Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are performed for a leading-edge inflatable wing for airborne wind energy applications. Expanding on previous work where only the inflatable leading edge tube was considered, eight additional inflatable strut tubes that support the wing canopy are now included. The shape of the wing is considered to be constant. The influence of the strut tubes on the aerodynamic performance of the wing and the local flow field is assessed, considering flow configurations with and without side-slip. The simulations show that the aerodynamic performance of the wing decreases with increasing side-slip component of the inflow. On the other hand, the chordwise struts have little influence on the integral lift and drag of the wing, irrespective of the side-slip component. The overall flow characteristics are in good agreement with previous studies. In particular, it is confirmed that at a low Reynolds number of Re=10^5, a laminar separation bubble exists on the suction side of this hypothetical rigid wing shape with perfectly smooth surface. The destruction of this bubble at low angles of attack impacts negatively on the aerodynamic performance.

Demand-Side Management (DSM) is an essential tool to ensure power system reliability and stability. In future smart grids, certain portions of a customer’s load usage could be under the automatic control of a cyber-enabled DSM program, which selectively schedules loads as a function of electricity prices to improve power balance and grid stability. In this scenario, the security of DSM cyberinfrastructure will be critical as advanced metering infrastructure and communication systems are susceptible to cyber-attacks. Such attacks, in the form of false data injections, can manipulate customer load profiles and cause metering chaos and energy losses in the grid. The feedback mechanism between load management on the consumer side and dynamic price schemes employed by independent system operators can further exacerbate attacks. To study how this feedback mechanism may worsen attacks in future cyber-enabled DSM programs, we propose a novel mathematical framework for (i) modeling the nonlinear relationship between load management and real-time pricing, (ii) simulating residential load data and prices, (iii) creating cyber-attacks, and (iv) detecting said attacks. In this framework, we first develop time-series forecasts to model load demand and use them as inputs to an elasticity model for the price-demand relationship in the DSM loop. This work then investigates the behavior of such a feedback loop under intentional cyber-attacks. We simulate and examine load-price data under different DSM-participation levels with three types of random additive attacks: ramp, sudden, and point attacks. We conduct two investigations for the detection of DSM attacks. The first studies a supervised learning approach, with various classification models, and the second studies the performance of parametric and nonparametric change point detectors. Results conclude that higher amounts of DSM participation can exacerbate ramp and sudden attacks leading to better detection of such attacks, especially with supervised learning classifiers. We also find that nonparametric detection outperforms parametric for smaller user pools, and random point attacks are the hardest to detect with any method.

There are dozens of approved, investigational and experimental antiviral agents. Many of these agents cause serious side effects, which can be revealed only after drug administration. Identification of the side effects prior to drug administration is challenging. Here we describe an ex vivo approach for studying immuno- and neuro-modulatory properties of antiviral agents, which could be associated with potential side effects of these therapeutics. The approach combines drug toxicity/efficacy tests and transcriptomics, which is followed by cytokine and metabolite profiling. We demonstrated the utility of this approach with several examples of antiviral agents. We also showed that the approach can utilize different immune stimuli and cell types. It can also include other omics techniques, such as genomics and epigenomics, to allow identification of individual markers associated with adverse reactions to antivirals with immuno- and neuro-modulatory properties.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease whose etiology is currently unknown. This paper presents a novel theory in which ALS is caused by an impairment of the alpha2de;ta subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), most likely due to autoimmune targeting. I show how the impairment mechanistically induces chronic calcium, which in turn explains the major clinical, epidemiological, and pathological evidence known about the disease. The same theory explains the major variant of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) that greatly overlaps with ALS.

In 2023, we proposed the modified Delay and Doppler Profiler (mDDP) as an inter-carrier interference (ICI) countermeasure for underwater acoustic OFDM mobile communications in a multipath environment. However, the performance improvement in computer simulation and pool experiments was not significant. In a subsequent study, the accuracy of the Channel Transfer Function (CTF), which is the input for the mDDP channel parameter estimation, was considered insufficient. Then a 2-step mDDP was devised. This paper presents simulations of underwater OFDM communications using 1- to 3-step mDDPs. The simulation conditions are a two-wave multipath environment where the receiving transducer moves at a speed of 0.3 m/sec and is subjected to a Doppler shift in the opposite direction. As NumCOL, the number of taps in the multi-tap equalizer which removes ICI, was increased, Bit Error Rate (BER) of 0.016 at NumCOL = 1 was significantly reduced by a factor of approximately 40 to BER of 0.00041 at NumCOL = 41 for the 2-step mDDP.

: Human settlements have historically thrived near rivers for navigation, trade, and availability of water supply and resources. Night light data, representing economic activities provide a novel approach to studying the interactions between human activity and rivers over time. Here, we use the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) stable night light data from 2000-2013 as a proxy for human presence and activities to quantify the statistical relationships between night light presence and intensity in the Indus Basin, Asia. We test how these data are affected by proximity to trunk channels and by channel type (single/multi-thread) in the study area. We find that night light presence is enhanced by 26% within a 0 to 5 km proximity range of the Indus River and its tribu-taries, relative to the basin as a whole. We interpret this to represent increased human presence and activity within this zone. However, the mean intensity is lower near the river and higher away from the river signifying denser settlements, such as towns and cities which are preferentially located away from the Indus and its tributaries. Moreover, the enhancement of lit pixels signifying human presence and activities is increased by 18% near single-thread sections of the Indus River, compared to segments of the Indus displaying multi-thread morphologies. We suggest that this is due to the enhanced stability of single-threaded channels, relative to mobile multi-threaded channel reaches. This study demonstrates how night lights are an important tool to constrain the relationship between human presence and river dynamics in large catchments such as the Indus, and we suggest this data will have an important role in assessing differential flood spatial and social vulnerability at a regional scale.

Magnetorheological (MR) fluid is recognized as one of intelligent materials that is widely used for various kinds of controllable devices since its rheological characteristics can be controlled by an external magnetic field (or input current). However, the density mismatch of the compositions between iron particles and carrier oil leads to inevitable sedimentation. Therefore, many works on the sedimentation problem of MR fluids have been carried out to improve the sedimentation stability using appropriate additives, surfactants, nanoparticles, particle coating as well as using several carrier oils with different densities. However, a study on the effect of the current magnitudes and profiles on the sedimentation is considerably rare. This study experimentally investigates the sedimentation behaviors due to the different current magnitudes and different profiles such as square and sine wave. It is shown that average sedimentation rate is 98.61% by applying 1 A of the square wave, while it is 97.83% under the sine type of the current. It is also identified that the higher intensity of the applied current results in stronger electromagnetic which can slow down the sedimentation rate. The results presented in this work are very helpful in designing a controller which provides the input current in terms of the magnitude and profile configuration.

FV (finger vein) identification is a biometric identification technology that extracts the features of FV images for identity authentication. To address the limitations of CNN-based FV identification, particularly the challenge of small receptive fields and difficulty in capturing long-range dependencies, an FV identification method Let-Net(Large kernel and attention mechanism Network) was introduced, which combines local and global information. Firstly, Let-Net employs large kernels to broaden the receptive field and incorporates depthwise convolution with residual connections to reduce parameter count. Secondly, Let-Net integrates an attention mechanism to enhance the information flows in channels and spaces for more comprehensive and distinctive FV feature extraction. The experimental results on nine public datasets show that Let-Net has excellent identification performance, and the EER and accuracy rate on the FV_USM dataset can reach 0.04% and 99.77%. The parameter number and FLOPs of Let-Net are only 0.89M and 0.25G, which means that the time cost of training and reasoning of the model is low, and it is easier to deploy and integrate into various applications.

The evolutionary conserved STING-cGAS pathway represents one of the most important cytosolic DNA sensing systems that is activated in response to viral invasion and/or damaged integrity of the nuclear envelope. The key outcome of this pathway is the production of IFN, which subsequently stimulates hundreds of genes. In oncology, the situation is a complex one since this pathway may serve either anti- or pro-oncogenic roles in a context-dependent fashion. The prevailing understanding is that when the innate immune response is activated by sensing cytosolic DNA, such as from ruptured micronuclei, it results in the production of interferon which attracts cytotoxic cells to destroy tumors. However, in tumor cells that have adjusted to significant chromosomal instability, particularly in relapsed, treatment-resistant cancers, the cGAS–STING pathway often supports cancer progression. In these cells, the pathway initiates a non-canonical nuclear factor κB transcriptional response, fostering the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, we review this intricate pathway in conjunction with cancer progression and development of new treatment modalities.

Carnivorous waterbirds have been reported to enhance wetlands diversities, control pests, bio-indicators of ecological conditions, and act as indicators of potential disease outbreaks. They also provide important ecosystem services to indigenous communities residing along wetlands. Regardless of their importance, global waterbirds populations are declining. Despite their ecological contribution to wetlands functions and ecosystem services, piscivore waterbirds have been re-ported to compete with piscivorous fish and fishermen. The aim of this study was to compare piscivorous waterbirds species and functional diversity between fish protected areas (FPA) and non-fish protected area (NFPA) in two tributaries of Zambezi River in Namibia. We also measured the degree to which patterns of guild structure between piscivore waterbirds and fish were similar between FPA and non-FPA. Species diversities were determined by calculating the Shannon Diversity Index. We calculated taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and community-based trait diversity indices for each tributary. Generally, species diversities were not significantly different between FPA and NFPA (P > 0.05). However, all functional diversities indices calculated were significantly different between FPA an NFPA (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). This was partly due to food item, weight and movement type that were associated with each site.

With the rapid development of big data, artificial intelligence, and Internet technologies, the human-human contact and human-machine interaction have produced an explosive growth of voice data. Rapidly identifying the speaker's identity and retrieving and managing his or her speech data in the massive amount of speech data has become a major challenge for intelligent speech applications in the field of information security. This research proposes a vocal recognition technique based on information adversarial training for speaker identity recognition in massive audio and video, and speaker identification when oriented to the information security domain. The experimental results show that the method projects data from different scene channels all onto the same space and dynamically generates interactive speaker representations. It solves the channel mismatch problem and effectively improves the recognition of speaker's voice patterns across channels and scenes. It is able to separate overlapping voices when multiple people speak at the same time and reduce speaker separation errors. It realizes speaker voice recognition for information security field and achieves 89% recall rate in massive database, which has practical application value for intelligent application field.

The increasing amount of data transmitted through digital broadcasting and communication channels requires efficient transmission methods that make the most of limited resources such as frequency, time, and power. The layered division multiplexing (LDM) system, which is adopted by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standard, is considered one of a solution for achieving efficient transmission. Additionally, the layered time-division multiplexing (LTDM) and time layered division multiplexing (TLDM) systems have been developed as well. These layered transmission systems, utilizing multiple physical layer pipes (PLPs), offer a wide range of services including mobile and rooftop TV. To compare the efficiencies of different layered transmission systems, the article introduces the concept of normalized channel capacity. This measure allows for a fair comparison among the systems by taking into account the specific channel capacity requirements of each service. By summing the normalized channel capacities, a method is proposed to select the most efficient transmission system among the four systems: LDM, LTDM, TLDM, and time division multiplexing (TDM). The Lagrange multiplier method is employed to find the parameters that maximize the sum of the normalized channel capacities in these systems. Through simulations conducted with the determined parameters, it is demonstrated that the LDM system exhibits the highest efficiency among the four systems.

A micro energy harvesting device proposed in the literature, is numerically studied. It consists of two bluff bodies in a micro-channel and a flexible diaphragm at its upper wall. Vortex shedding behind bodies induces pressure fluctuation causing vibration of the diaphragm that converts me-chanical energy to electrical by means of a piezoelectric membrane. Research on enhancing vortex shedding is justified due to the low power output of the device. Amplitude and frequency of un-steady pressure fluctuation on the diaphragm center are numerically predicted. Vortex shedding severity is mainly assessed in terms of pressure amplitude. The CFD model set-up is described in detail and appropriate metrics to assess energy harvesting potential are defined. Several cases are simulated to study the effect of inlet Reynolds number and channel blockage ratio on the prospec-tive performance of the device. Furthermore, the critical blockage ratio leading to vortex shedding suppression is sought. Higher inlet velocity for a constant blockage ratio is found to enhance vor-tex shedding and pressure drop. Great blockage ratio values, but lower than the critical one, seem to provide great pressure amplitudes in the expense of moderate pressure drop. There is evidence that the field is fruitful for research and relevant directions are provided.

Enhancing underwater images in epicontinental sea is a challenging problem owing to the influence of ocean currents, the refraction, absorption and scattering of light by suspended particles, and the weak illumination intensity. Recently, different methods have relied on the underwater image formation model and deep learning techniques to restore the underwater image, but they tend to degrade underwater image, interference of background clutter and miss boundary details of blue regions. Improved image fusion and enhancement algorithm based on a priori dark channel is proposed in this paper. Image edge features sharpening and dark detail enhancement by homomorphism filtering in CIELab color space is realized. In RGB color space, the multi-scale retinal with color restoration (MSRCR) algorithm is used to improve color deviation and enhance color saturation, and the contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) algorithm is used to de fog and enhance image contrast. Finally, according to the dark channel images of the three processing results, the final enhanced image is obtained by linear fusion of multiple images and multiple channels. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method on various datasets.

The effects of residual stress in a tungsten gate on a polysilicon channel in scaled 3D NAND flash memories were investigated using a technology computer-aided design simulation. The NAND strings with respect to the distance from the tungsten slit were also analyzed. The scaling of the spacer thickness and hole diameter induced compressive stress on the polysilicon channel. Moreover, the residual stress of polysilicon in the string near the tungsten slit had greater compressive stress than the string farther away. The increase in compressive stress in the polysilicon channel degraded the Bit-Line current (Ion) because of stress-induced electron mobility deterioration. Moreover, a threshold voltage shift (△Vth) occurred in the negative direction because of conduction band lowering.

We propose a new approach of extending the laser filament plasma channel. By adding a circular aperture quartz plate before the focusing lens, the extension of the plasma channel is doubled. The effects of different diameters, thicknesses of the circular aperture quartz plate and different pulse energies on the length of the plasma channel were investigated. The experimental results show that the thickness of the quartz plate and the depth of the hole have little effects on the plasma channel of the filament, and the diameter of the hole in the center of the quartz plate has a significant effect on the length of the optical filament. The moving-focus model is used to explain the extension of the optical filament.

In this paper, we first investigate secure communications for a two-hop interference relay system in the wireless Internet of Things (IoT), where K source-destination pairs communicate in the presence of an eavesdropper. Explicitly, we jointly design source, relay and destination matrices upon minimizing total mean-squared error (MSE) of all legitimate destinations while keeping the MSE at eavesdropper above a certain threshold. We illuminate that the joint design of the source, relay and destination matrices subject to both secrecy and transmit power constraints. More specifically, we proposed an efficient iterative distributed algorithm to simplify the process of the joint design for optimal source, relay and destination matrices. Furthermore, the convergence of the iterative distributed algorithm is described. Additionally, the performances of the proposed algorithm, including both its secrecy rate and MSE, are characterized with the aid of simulation results. We demonstrate that our proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional approach. As a benefit, secure communications can be guaranteed by using the proposed algorithm for the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) interference relay IoT network in the presence of an eavesdropper.

Enteric septicemia of catfish, columnaris disease, and streptococcosis, caused by Edwardsiella ictaluri, Flavobacterium columnare, and Streptococcus iniae, respectively, are the most common bacterial diseases of economic significance for the pond-raised channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus industry. Several management practices are used by catfish farmers to prevent large financial losses from these diseases such as the use of commercial antibiotics and other chemicals. In order to discover environmentally benign alternatives, using a rapid bioassay, we evaluated a crude extract from the roots of muscadine Vitis rotundifolia against these fish pathogenic bacteria and determined that the extract was most active against F. columnare. Subsequently, several isolated compounds from the root extract were further evaluated against F. columnare. Among these isolated compounds, (+)-hopeaphenol (2) and (+)-vitisin A (3) were found to be the most active against F. columnare, with 24-h 50% inhibition concentrations of 4.0±0.7 and 7.7±0.6 mg/L, respectively, and minimum inhibitory concentrations of 9.1±0 mg/L for each compound. Efficacy testing of 2 and 3 is necessary to further evaluate the potential for these compounds to be used as antibacterial agents for managing columnaris disease.

Endothall dipotassium salt and monoamine salt are herbicide formulations used for controlling submerged aquatic macrophytes and algae in aquatic ecosystems. Microbial activity is the primary degradation pathway for endothall. To better understand what influences endothall degradation, we conducted a mesocosm experiment to 1) evaluate the effects of different water and sediment sources on degradation, and 2) determine if degradation was faster in the presence of a microbial community previously exposed to endothall. Endothall residues were determined with LC-MS at intervals to 21 days after endothall application. Two endothall isomers were detected. Isomer-1 was abundant in both endothall formulations, while isomer-2 was only abundant in the monoamine endothall formulation and was more persistent. Degradation did not occur in the absence of sediment. In the presence of sediment degradation if isomer-1 began after a lag phase of 5-11 days and was almost complete by 14 days. Onset of degradation occurred 2-4 days sooner when the microbial population was previously exposed to endothall. We provide direct evidence that the presence and characteristics of sediment are of key importance in the degradation of endothall in an aquatic environment, and that monoamine endothall has two separate isomers that have different degradation characteristics.

Dislocation is one of the major challenges in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) image stitching. In this paper, we propose a new dynamic programming for seamlessly stitching UAV images using optical flow. Our solution consists of two steps: Firstly, an image-matching algorithm is used to correct the images so that they are in the same coordinate system. Secondly, a new dynamic programming algorithm is develop based on the concept of a stereo dual-channel energy accumulation using optical flow. A new energy aggregation and traversal strategy is adopted in our solution, which can find a more optimal seam line for adjacent image stitching. Our algorithm overcomes the theoretical limitation of the classical Duplaquet algorithm. Experiments show that the algorithm can effectively solve the dislocation problem in UAV image stitching. Beyond that, our solution is also direction-independent, which has more adaptability and robustness for UAV images.

Objective Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases, affecting more than 20 % of the population. The side effects experienced due to antihypertensive medications such as tired-ness, muscle pain, and insomnia are often a significant predictor of poor adherence to therapy. The goal of the current study is to present the frequency, type, seriousness, and severity of adverse drug reactions reported to the BDA via Individual Case Safety Reports (ICSR) and following differentiation of messages found in more than one patient. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the reported adverse drug reactions (ADR) reported in the Bulgarian Drug Agency database after treatment with antihyperlipidemic medicines, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) - inhibitors, and sartans for the period 2017-2021. Each ICSR form was observed and data for suspected medicine and type of adverse reaction was analyzed. Results The total number of processed notifications for adverse drug reactions (ADR) included in the database is 142. The highest number of ADRs was reported for ARB (58), followed by antihyperlipidemic medicines (55) and ACE inhibitors (29.) Most of the assessed adverse events experienced by more than one patient fall into the probable and related categories based on Global Introspection method classification. Therefore, they have been investigated and are consistent with exposure in the population. Conclusion Cardiovascular medicines from the groups of ACE inhibitors, sartans and statins are with high share of reported ADRs in the BDA system. Some of them are severe and need further investigation.

Electricity demand forecasting has been a real challenge for power system scheduling in the different levels of the energy sectors. Various computational intelligence techniques and methodologies have been employed in the electricity market for load forecasting; although, scant evidence is available about the feasibility of each of these methods considering the type of data and other potential factors. This work introduces several scientific, technical rationale behind intelligent forecasting methods, based on the work of previous researchers in the field of energy. The fundamental benefits and main drawbacks of the aforementioned methods are discussed in order to depict the efficiency of each approach in various situations. In the end, a proposed hybrid strategy is represented.

Near-field (NF) integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has the potential to revolutionize future wireless networks. It enables simultaneous communication and sensing operations on the same radio frequency (RF) resources using a shared hardware platform, maximizing resource utilization. NF-ISAC systems can improve communication and sensing performance compared to traditional far-field (FF) ISAC systems by employing the unique propagation characteristics of NF spherical waves with an additional distance dimension. Despite its potential, the NF-ISAC literature covers just a few specialized topics. A comprehensive survey encompassing all aspects of NF-ISAC systems has thus far been lacking. To this end, this paper systematically explores the prodigious potential of NF-ISAC technology. Specifically, an in-depth analysis of both NF and FF systems is provided, investigating their applicability in communication and sensing scenarios. Various channel model scenarios for NF and FF are discussed, emphasizing their distinguishing features. The advantages and philosophies of ISAC are further explored, opening opportunities to investigate both narrow-band and wide-band systems within NF ISAC. Case studies and simulation examples for each NF-ISAC design philosophy are provided to gain deeper insights into these system designs. An extensive literature review of existing NF-ISAC studies is conducted, exploring various methodologies, potentials, prospects, and conclusions. Finally, prospective research areas, remaining challenges, and applications of future NF-ISAC systems are discussed.

The growing interest in Kv7.2/7.3 agonists originates from the involvement of these channels in several brain hyperexcitability disorders. In particular, Kv7.2/7.3 mutants have been clearly associated with epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) as well as with a spectrum of focal epilepsy disorders, often associated with developmental plateauing or regression. Nevertheless, there is a lack of available therapeutic options, considering that retigabine, the only molecule used in clinic as broad-spectrum Kv7 agonist, has been withdrawn from the market in the late 2016. This is why several efforts have been made both by both academia and industry in the search for suitable chemotypes acting as Kv7.2/7.3 agonists. In this context, in silico methods have played a major role, since the precise structures of different Kv7 homotetramers have been only recently disclosed. In the present review the computational methods used for the design of Kv.7.2/7.3 small molecule agonists and the underlying medicinal chemistry are discussed in the context of their biological and structure-function properties.

Presynaptic Ca²⁺-influx through voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels (VGCC) is a key signal for synaptic vesicle release. Synaptic neurexins can partially determine the strength of transmission by regulating VGCCs. However, it is unknown whether neurexins modulate Ca²⁺-influx via all VGCC subtypes similarly. Here, we performed live cell imaging of synaptic boutons from primary hippocampal neurons with a Ca²⁺-indicator. We used the expression of inactive and active Cre recombinase to compare control to conditional knockout neurons lacking either all or selected neurexin variants. We found that reduced total presynaptic Ca²⁺-transients caused by the deletion of all neurexins were primarily due to the reduced contribution of P/Q-type VGCCs. The deletion of neurexin1α alone also reduced the total presynaptic Ca²⁺-influx but increased Ca²⁺-influx via N-type VGCCs. Moreover, we tested whether the decrease of Ca²⁺-influx induced by activation of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1-receptor) is modulated by neurexins. Unlike earlier observations emphasizing a role for β-neurexins, we found that the decrease of presynaptic Ca²⁺-transients induced by CB1-receptor activation depended more strongly on the presence of α-neurexins in hippocampal neurons. Together, our results suggest that neurexins have unique roles in the modulation of presynaptic Ca²⁺-influx through VGCC subtypes and that different neurexin variants may affect specific VGCCs.

Dynamic optical structural color is always desired in various display applications and usually involves active materials. Full-color generation, especially bi-directional full-color generation in both reflective and transmissive modes, without any active materials included has been rarely investigated. Herein, we demonstrate a scheme of bi-directional full-color generation based on a plasmonic metasurface modulated by rotation of the polarization angle of the incident light without varying the geometry and the optical properties of the materials and the environment where the metasurface resides. The metasurface unit cell consists of plasmonic modules aligning in three directions and is patterned in a square array. The metasurface structural color device generates full colors in both reflection and transmission. Based on the proposed polarization-dependent structural color, information encoding of three multiplexed animal images and quick-responsive (QR) codes is demonstrated to verify the efficient information encoding and decoding of the proposed scheme. The animals can be seen under different polarization incidence and the QR codes can be successfully decoded by the polarization rotation in transmission. The proposed bi-directional full-color generation metasurface has great potential in applications such as kaleidoscope generation, anti-counterfeiting, dynamic color display, and optical information encoding.

The vagina is an essential component of the female reproductive system and is responsible for providing female sexual satisfaction. Vaginal smooth muscle contraction plays a crucial role in various physiological processes, including sexual arousal, childbirth, and urinary continence. In pathophysiological conditions such as pelvic floor disorders, aberrations in vaginal smooth muscle function can lead to urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. A set of cellular and sub-cellular physiological mechanisms regulates the contractile properties of the vaginal smooth muscle cells. Calcium influx is a crucial determinant of smooth muscle contraction, facilitated through voltage-dependent calcium channels and calcium release from intracellular stores. Comprehensive reviews on smooth muscle biophysics are relatively scarce within the scientific literature, likely due to the complexity and specialized nature of the topic. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive description of alterations in the cellular physiology of vaginal smooth muscle contraction. The benefit associated with this particular approach is that conducting a comprehensive examination of the cellular mechanisms underlying contractile activation will enable the creation of more targeted therapeutic agents to control vaginal contraction disorders.

This study unveils verapamil's compelling cytoprotective and proliferative effects on pancreatic β-cells amidst diabetic stressors, spotlighting its unforeseen role in augmenting cholecystokinin (CCK) expression. Through rigorous investigations employing MIN6 β-cells and zebrafish models under type 1 and type 2 diabetic conditions, we demonstrate verapamil's capacity to significantly boost β-cell proliferation, enhance glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and fortify cellular resil-ience. A pivotal revelation of our research is verapamil's induction of CCK, a peptide hormone known for its role in nutrient digestion and insulin secretion, which signifies a novel pathway through which verapamil exerts its therapeutic effects. Furthermore, our mechanistic insights reveal that verapamil orchestrates a broad spectrum of gene and protein expressions pivotal for β-cell survival and adaptation to immune-metabolic challenges. In vivo validation in a zebrafish larvae model confirms verapamil's efficacy in fostering β-cell recovery post-metronidazole inflic-tion. Collectively, our findings advocate for verapamil's reevaluation as a multifaceted agent in diabetes therapy, highlighting its novel function in CCK upregulation alongside enhancing β-cell proliferation, glucose sensing, and oxidative respiration. This research enriches the therapeutic landscape, proposing verapamil not only as a cytoprotector but also as a promoter of β-cell re-generation, thereby offering fresh avenues for diabetes management strategies aimed at pre-serving and augmenting β-cell functionality.

We study electrohydrodynamic (EHD) linear (in)stability of microfluidic channel flows, i.e. the stability of interface between two-shearing viscous (perfect) dielectrics exposed to an electric field in large aspect ratio microchannels. We then apply our results to particular microfluidic systems known as electroosmotic (EO) pumps. Our results are detailed analytical expressions for the growth rate of two-dimensional EHD modes in Couette-Poiseuille flows in the limit of small Reynolds number ($R$); the expansions to both zeroth- and first-order-$R$ are considered. The growth rates are complicated functions of viscosity-, height-, density- and dielectric-constant ratio, as well as of wavenumbers and voltages, and to our knowledge have not been presented before in literature. To make the results more useful, e.g., for voltage-control EO pump operations, we also derive equations for the impending voltages of the neutral stability curves that divide stable from unstable regions in voltage-wavenumber stability diagrams. The voltage equations and the stability diagrams are given for all wavenumbers. We finally outline the flow regimes in which our first-order-$R$ voltage corrections could potentially be experimentally measured. Our work gives the insight into the coupling mechanism between electric field and shear flow in parallel-planes channel flows, correcting an erroneous attempt from literature. Our general analysis enables us also to refine the renowned instability mechanism due to viscosity stratification, i.e., the case of pure shear instability, when the first-order-$R$ voltage correction equals zero.

Multi-channel and multi-parameter near-infrared spectrometers (NIRS) have gradually become a new research direction and hot spot due to their ability to provide real-time, continuous, comprehensive indicators of multiple parameters. However, multi-channel and multi-parameter detection may lead to crosstalk between signals. There is still a lack of benchmarks on the evaluation of reliability, sensitivity, stability and response consistency of the NIRS instrument. In this study, a set of test methods (the ink drop test, multi-channel crosstalk test and multi-parameter crosstalk test) for analysis crosstalk and verifying the reliability of NIRS were conducted to test experimental verification on a multi-channel (8-channel), multi-parameter (4-parameter) NIRS instrument independently developed by our team. Results show that these tests can be used to analyze the signal crosstalk and verify the reliability, sensitivity, stability and response consistency in the NIRS instrument. This study contributes to the establishment of benchmarks for the NIRS instrument crosstalk and reliability testing. These novel tests have the potential to become the benchmark for the NIRS instrument reliability testing.

To study the influence of electrothermal effect of ESD protection device on the reliability of inte-grated circuit,a theoretical model of ESD protection device thermal resistance is constructed in the paper based on the Conservation of Energy Principle. By analyzing the temperature relativity between electricity parameter and thermology parameter of ESD protection device characterized by self-heating thermal resistance, the quantitative relationship expression of physical parameter and geometric parameter is obtained, which can be used to improve ESD protection device elec-tro-thermal effect. The simulation testing and the real tape-out testing of ESD protection device self-heating thermal resistance based on ggNMOS are shown and compared. It is concluded that self-heating thermal resistance is an effective index for the protection device electrothermal char-acterization. Based on the established model, the self-heating thermal resistance could be decreased to improve the homogeneity of the heat transference. The uneven distribution of device temperature can be reduced, and the overall reliability of chips can be improved.

Recent advances in synthetic membranes allow their use in fields as diverse as food and agriculture, biotechnology, industrial wastewater treatment, and potable water production. Among the newly developed technologies, nanofiltration for liquids and more particularly for desalination of seawater or saline aquifers are actively pursued. However, current solid-state membranes performance is limited, which calls for the development of novel formulations for membranes offering both high permeability (ion and water flux) and ion differentiation (selectivity), usually considered antagonist features. We report the development of hybrid nanoporous membranes made of solid-state polymeric carbonate track-etched (PCTE) thin films in which biological ion channels such as Gramicidin A (GA), alpha-hemolysin (α-HL), and outer-membrane protein F (OmpF) aquaporin are confined and graphene oxide (GO) conjugated cobalt ion selective binding peptide motifs (Copep) are adsorbed, referring as bioinspired and biomimetic approaches, respectively. These solid-state nanoporous membranes are attracting widespread attention since they offer scalability, mechanical robustness, selectivity, controlled pore dimension and shape, for water sustainability. The ion permeability, ion diffusion coefficient and selective ion recognition are evaluated via nanofiltration, cell diffusion kinetics, and UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy to gain insights into the role of key performance parameters including effective ion confinement in track-etched pores, rich surface chemistry, and peptide-induced channel for selective ion transport. These findings provide new avenues for artificial ion channels by synergistic combination of eco-friendly material design such as GO enabled by bio-molecular recognition chemistry.

Spider toxin SNX-482 is a cysteine-rich peptide that interferes with calcium channel activity by binding to voltage-sensing domains of CaV2.3 subtype. Two general binding mechanisms are present in nature: direct binding from the aqueous phase or through lateral diffusion from the membrane, the so-called reduction in dimensionality mechanism. In this work, via coarse-grained and atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we have systematically studied the spontaneous partitioning of SNX-482 with membranes of different anionic compositions and explored via diffusional analysis both binding mechanisms. Our simulations revealed a conserved protein patch that inserts within the membrane, a preference for binding towards partially negatively charged membranes, and that electrostatics drives membrane binding. Finally, diffusivity calculations showed that the toxin diffusion along the membrane plane is an order of magnitude slower than the aqueous phase suggesting that the critical factor in determin-ing the SNX-482-CaV2.3 binding mechanism is the affinity between the membrane and SNX-482

Many clustering approaches succeed in pattern segmentation in many applications. This unsupervised segmentation should be effective to reduce an expert labelling time: i.e, they must be able to detect the number of patterns and identify them in a sequence or map with the right cuts. Several direct and hierarchical clustering approaches are compared for this task. A divisive spectral clustering architecture with a no-cut criteria is also proposed. This new algorithm achieves promise segmentation of spatial UCI databases and marine time series compared to other approaches.

Market channel choice makes important contributions to the incomes and other livelihood attributes among smallholder farmers in developing countries. Often considered from a number of perspectives, the dominant view articulated suggests an advantageous integration into formal market channels. This position is questioned as it has implications for smallholder farmers’ food security and rural incomes. Using a mixed methods approach, the study collected primary data from 174 smallholder farmers and applied both a descriptive and multinomial logit regression model to analyze factors contributing to cocoyam production and market channel choices among respondents in the study area. Findings indicate that financial returns and available markets were key factors in cocoyam production, while amount received was a driver of market channel choice among 89% of respondents who sold directly at farm-gate. Farmers’ age (p=0.044), household size (p=0.043), distance to market (p=0.021), additional income (p=0.017) and amount received (p=0.014) were significant variables (p<.05) in the determinants of market channel choice. The study recommended improving market information provision and strengthening farmer associations which will enable smallholder farmers in rural communities to make informed choices with respect to produce price, access other markets and consolidate their collective market bargaining position.

Lung cancer remains the leading cancer killer worldwide. Early diagnosis can effectively increase the patient cure rate but existing diagnostic methods limit early lung cancer diagnosis. Therefore, development of a simple but efficient lung cancer screening method is important to improvement of both the diagnosis rate and the survival rate of lung cancer patients. In this study, ten photosensitive materials with high sensitivity and high specificity were screened accurately to construct a microarray sensor that can rapidly identify six types of lung cancer biomarkers in exhaled breath. Results from hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and difference maps showed that the classification of the analytes agreed with structure similarity laws. The detection results from parallel experiments and structurally similar analytes, in turn, cluster into a group; the fingerprints of the different analytes have specific response regions. The well-screened sensor chip fabrication workload and cost were both reduced by approximately two thirds, while the microfluidic device sensitivity and stability increased by approximately 1.3 times their corresponding values before optimization. The dual-channel device also offers real-time contrast detection and synchronous parallel detection functions and has potential application prospects for use in extensive screening of high-risk populations for lung cancer.

Let us all take a moment to talk, once again, about this new coronavirus pandemic that the world has been facing since November 2019 and about its global response. After a short period marked by the pandemic underestimation risk by most governments, the Western world went nuts and overreacted, most probably so as not to be accused of inaction. In many cases, the overall benefits of the chosen policies were not sufficiently questioned, which resulted in many side effects on global health .The medical motto “primum non nocere”, a moral principle everyone should at least consider following, was evidently not taken into account. It has been overlooked, and the virus has become an obsession, to the extent that nearly everything else, even the most valuable things in life, is still now under appreciated if not simply ignored. This review highlighted facts against this simplistic, one-dimensional view.

Corticosteroids are extensively used in medicine for their powerful anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. However, their psychiatric side effects—such as mood disturbances, anxiety, and psychosis—are significant yet often underappreciated. This review provides a comprehensive exploration of corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disorders, with a focus on their underlying mechanisms and clinical implications. We examine how corticosteroids influence the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to dysregulation of stress responses and alterations in neurotransmitter levels, particularly dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate. These changes are linked to structural abnormalities in key brain areas such as the hippocampus and amygdala, which are implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, psychosis, and conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders. This review highlights the need for healthcare providers to be vigilant in recognizing and managing corticosteroid-induced psychiatric symptoms, especially in vulnerable populations with pre-existing mental health conditions. The complex relationship between corticosteroid type, dose, duration, and mental health outcomes is explored, emphasizing the importance of personalized treatment approaches to mitigate psychiatric risks. Given the widespread use of corticosteroids, there is an urgent need for more focused research on their psychiatric side effects. This review underscores the importance of patient education and careful monitoring to ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes while minimizing mental health risks associated with corticosteroid therapy.

In the traditional power system, customers respond to their primary electricity consumption pattern based on price or incentive to take additional advantages. By developing energy hubs (EHs) where electricity, heat, natural gas and other forms of energy are coupled together, all types of energy customers even the inelastic loads can participate in demand response (DR) program. This novel vision has led to the concept of "integrated demand response (IDR)". IDR programs (IDRPs) in EHs involve coordinating multiple DR activities across different energy systems, such as buildings, industrial complexes, and transportation networks. The main purpose of IDR is that multi-energy users can respond not only by shifting or reducing energy consumption from the demand side, but also by changing the type of energy consumed, in response to the dispatching center. The integration of IDRPs in EHs can help to reduce energy costs, improve grid stability, and increase the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in the power system. Moreover, by synchronizing DR activities across different energy systems, IDRPs can provide additional benefits, such as improved energy efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and increased resilience to power outages and other disruptions. In this paper, we provide a review, assessment, and classification of fundamental principles, modeling techniques and optimization methods for IDR programs in EHs.

This study utilizes repeated geoacoustic mapping to quantify the morphodynamic response of the nearshore to storm-induced changes. The aim of this study was to quantitatively map the nearshore zone of Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) to determine what changes in bottom sediments, benthic fauna and fish habitat are attributable to storm events including hurricane Sandy and the passage of hurricane Joaquin. Specifically, (1) the entire domain of the National Parks Service offshore area was mapped with side-scan sonar and multibeam bathymetry at a resolution comparable to that of the existing pre-storm survey, (2) a subset of the benthic stations were resampled that represented all sediment strata previously identified, and (3) newly obtained data were compared to that from the pre-storm survey to determined changes that could be attributed to specific storms such as Sandy and Joaquin. Capturing event specific dynamics requires rapid response surveys in close temporal association of the before and after period. The time-lapse between the pre-storm surveys for Sandy and our study meant that only a time and storm integrated signature for that storm could be obtained whereas with hurricane Joaquin we could identify impacts to the habitat type and geomorphology more directly related to that particular storm. This storm impacts study provides for the National Park Service direct documentation of storm-related changes in sediments and marine habitats on multiple scales: from large scale, side-scan sonar maps and interpretation of acoustic bottom types, to characterize as fully as possible habitats from 1 to 10 m up to many kilometer scales, as well as from point benthic samples within each sediment stratum and these results can help guide management of the island resources.

In recent years, UAV-enabled wireless energy transfer (WET) has attracted significant attention for its ability to provide efficient and stable power for ground devices by flexibly navigating 3-dimensional (3-D) space and utilizing the favorable line-of-sight (LoS) channels. Meanwhile, energy beamforming utilizing multiple antennas has been touted as a key technology to substantially enhance the radio frequency (RF)-based WET efficiency by focusing energy beams towards devices in desirable directions. However, energy beamforming design for UAV-enabled WET systems has not been studied, despite its tremendous utility. In this paper, we propose a joint design of the UAV’s altitude and channel statistics based energy beamforming to minimize the overall charging time required for all energy havesting devices (EHDs) to meet their energy demands, while alleviating the additional resources and cost for channel estimation. Unlike previous works that considered only the LoS dominant channel without small-scale fading, we adopt a more general air-to-ground (A2G) Rician fading channel, where the LoS probability as well as the Rician factor depends on the UAV’s altitude. To tackle the highly non-convex and non-linear problem, we first examine a single EHD scenario in order to draw insights by deriving an optimal energy beamformihng in a closed-form, and then devise the efficient methods to jointly design the altitude and energy beamforming for a multiple EHDs scenario. Our numerical results exhibit that the proposed joint design considerably reduce the overall charging time, while benefiting from significantly lowering the computational complexity compared the conventional methods.

Nipa palm is a plant of great value to communities due to its social, environmental, and economic benefits. Effective management of the supply chain for products derived from nipa palm resources is essential to provide communities with suitable channels for selling each type of product. This study aims to map the supply chain structure of six different nipa palm products. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 100 households engaged in nipa palm cultivation. The analysis focused on the characteristics of the products, existing challenges, and the current supply chain dynamics. The findings revealed that among the six products, palm sugar had the highest production volume. The most significant challenges identified were related to labor shortages and limited marketing channels. To achieve sustainable supply chain management, it is crucial to maintain a balance between supply and demand. The study recommends exploring appropriate marketing channels for each product, with particular emphasis on online platforms that allow communities to sell directly to consumers.

This paper introduces a class of symmetric ciphering systems with a finite secret key, which provides ideal secrecy, autonomy in key generation and distribution, and robustness against the probabilistic structure of messages (Ideally Secret Autonomous Robust – ISAR system). The ISAR system is based on wiretap polar codes constructed over an artificial wiretap channel with a maximum secrecy capacity of 0.5. The system autonomously maintains a minimum level of key equivocation by continuously refreshing secret keys without needing additional key generation and distribution infrastructure. Thus, this class of systems generalizes Shannon's ideal and strongly ideal ciphering systems. Additionally, it can transform any stream ciphering system with a finite secret key of known length into an ISAR system without the necessity of knowing and/or changing its algorithm. Therefore, this class of system strongly supports privacy, a critical requirement for contemporary security systems. The ISAR system's reliance on wiretap polar coding for strong secrecy ensures resistance to passive attacks with known plaintext messages. Furthermore, resistance to passive attacks on generated keys follows directly from ideal secrecy and autonomy. The results presented offer an efficient methodology for synthesizing this class of systems with predetermined security margins and a complexity of the order of nlogn, where n is the block length of the applied polar code.

The next generation network requires not only ultra high data rate, global coverage and connectivity, but also reducing network deployment costs and energy consumption. The emergence of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology provides an effective way to improve efficiency and reduce cost, while the passive elements bring new challenges of channel estimation (CE) and beam tracking. For a RIS-aided multiple-input and single-output (MISO) system, in this paper, to achieve the channel state information (CSI), we propose a principle component analysis (PCA) based staged channel estimation method. Based on the estimated channel, we propose a deep learning (DL) based beam tracking scheme to realize low-complexity RIS reflection coefficient design, which effectively improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the user side. Simulation results verify our proposed channel estimation scheme based on PCA and beam tracking scheme based on DNN for the semi-active RIS-aided MISO systems can obtain approximate performances with much lower computational complexity.

With the burgeoning growth of online retail, the issue of counterfeit products has become a significant threat to both consumer trust and brand integrity, posing challenges to sustainable market practices. Online retail platforms are promoted to redesign their channel structures and enhance brand traceability to tackle counterfeits using blockchain technology. To investigate the interactions between blockchain technology and the channel structures of online retail platforms, we design a game theory model incorporating a manufacturer with(out) blockchain participation selling products via an online retail platform that operates an agency channel and/or a reselling channel. We show that the critical trade-off of blockchain participation comprises the brand assurance effect of the blockchain, the channel competition intensification effect, and the blockchain adoption cost. The platform is capable of strategically designing the channel structure to encourage (while discouraging) blockchain participation by the manufacturer. Our analysis highlights the complementarity between blockchain participation and the channel structure. Furthermore, the effect of the consumer’s belief in the reselling channel, the commission fee in the agency channel, and the substitutability between channels are investigated in depth. The research provides valuable insights for online retail platforms and policymakers seeking to foster a sustainable and trustworthy e-commerce ecosystem.

Elevated blood glucose levels, known as glycemia, play a significant role in sudden cardiac arrest, often resulting in sudden cardiac death, particularly among those with diabetes. Understanding the internal mechanisms has been a challenge for healthcare professionals, leading many research groups to investigate the relationship between blood glucose levels and cardiac electrical activity. Our hypothesis suggests that glucose-sensing biophysics mechanisms in cardiac tissue could clarify this connection. To explore this, we adapted a single-compartment, computational model of the human atrial node's action potential. We incorporated glucose-sensing mechanisms with voltage-gated sodium ion channels using ordinary differential equations. Parameters for the model were based on existing experimental studies to mimic the impact of glucose levels on atrial node action potential firing. Simulations using voltage clamp and current clamp techniques showed that elevated glucose levels decreased sodium ion channel currents, leading to a reduction in the sinoatrial node action potential frequency. In summary, our mathematical model provides a cellular-level understanding of how high glucose levels can lead to bradycardia and sudden cardiac death.

Malaria parasites increase their host erythrocyte’s permeability to obtain essential nutrients from plasma and facilitate intracellular growth. In the human P. falciparum pathogen, this increase is mediated by the plasmodial surface anion channel (PSAC) and has been linked to CLAG3, as encoded by one member of the conserved clag multigene family. Whether paralogs encoded by other clag genes also contribute to PSAC formation or serve unrelated roles remains unknown. Here, we generated transfectant lines carrying epitope-tagged versions of each CLAG. Each paralog colocalized with CLAG3, with concordant trafficking via merozoite rhoptries to the host erythrocyte membrane of newly-invaded erythrocytes. Each also exists within infected cells in at least two forms: an alkaline-extractable soluble form and a form integral to the host membrane. Like CLAG3, CLAG2 has a variant region cleaved by extracellular protease but CLAG8 and CLAG9 are protease-resistant. Paralog knockout lines, generated through CRISPR/Cas9 transfection, exhibited uncompromised growth in PGIM, a modified medium with more physiological nutrient levels; this finding is in marked contrast to a recently reported CLAG3 knockout parasite. CLAG2 and CLAG8 knockout lines exhibited compensatory increases in transcription of remaining clags and associated rhoph genes, yielding increased PSAC-mediated uptake to specific solutes. We also report distinct transport properties of these knockout lines, suggesting partially overlapping roles of CLAG paralogs in PSAC activity. We propose that the nutrient channel pore is formed by a higher order assembly of CLAG proteins at the host membrane.

Predictions of mean values of statistical variables of large scale turbulent flow by the widely used basic k-ϵ model and a new fundamentally based model are verified against published results of Direct Numerical Simulations DNS of the Navier-Stokes equations. The verification concerns turbulent channel flow at shear Reynolds numbers of 950, 2000 and 104. The basic k-ϵ model is largely based on empirical formulations accompanied by calibration constants. This contrasts with the new model where descriptions of leading statistical quantities are based on the general principles of statistical turbulence at large Reynolds number. Predicted values of major output variables such as turbulent viscosity, diffusivity of passive admixture, temperature, and fluid velocities compare well with DNS in case of the new model. Significant differences are seen in case of the basic k-ϵ model.

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

Compressed Sensing (CS) MRI has shown great potential in enhancing time efficiency. Deep learning techniques, specifically Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), have emerged as potent tools for speedy CS-MRI reconstruction. Yet, as the complexity of deep learning recon-struction models increases, this can lead to prolonged reconstruction time and challenges in achieving convergence. In this study we present a novel GAN-based model that delivers superior performance without escalating model complexity. Our generator module, built on the U-net architecture, incorporates dilated residual (DR) networks, thus expanding the network's receptive field without increasing parameters or computational load. At every step of the downsampling path, this revamped generator module includes a DR network, with the dilation rates adjusted according to the depth of the network layer. Moreover, we have introduced a channel attention mechanism (CAM) to distinguish between channels and reduce background noise, thereby fo-cusing on key information. This mechanism adeptly combines global maximum and average pooling approaches to refine channel attention. We conducted comprehensive experiments with the designed model using public domain MRI datasets of the human brain. Ablation studies af-firmed the efficacy of the modified modules within the network. Compared to other relevant models, our proposed model exhibits exceptional performance, achieving not only excellent sta-bility but also outperforming other networks in terms of Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The model presents a promising pathway for enhancing the efficiency and quality of CS-MRI reconstruction.

With the dramatic increase in the number of mobile users and wireless devices accessing the network, the performance of the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems has been severely challenged. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), one of the potential technologies for the sixth generation (6G), has received a lot of attention. Since it is easier to deploy, consumes less power, and is inexpensive. RIS is an electromagnetic metamaterial that serves to reconfigure the wireless environment by adjusting the phase, amplitude and frequency of the wireless signal. To maximize channel transmission efficiency and improve the reliability of communication systems, the acquisition of channel state information (CSI) is essential. Therefore, an effective channel estimation method guarantees the achievement of excellent RIS performance. This paper conducts a comprehensive investigation of the existing channel estimation methods of RIS, analysis and comparison of channel model building and CSI acquisition schemes in different frequency bands, in addition to a comprehensive description of generic channel estimation methods, with a focus on the application of deep learning. Finally, we conclude the paper and provide an outlook in the future development of RIS channel estimation.

Due to the numerous heat sources in electronic equipment, the periodic nature of stream-wise flow occurs in a cooling channel so often, necessitating the development of an effective technique to improve the heat-cooling convection in such a situation. This paper investigates thermal convection enhancement in a heated-block duct through the periodic boundary conditions using the element-by-element (EBE) treatment in a semi-implicit projection finite element method (FEM) through preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) solver. This paper used the time-mean Nusselt number ratio, friction factor, and thermal performance to study how installing rectangular cylinders in the channel works with periodic boundary conditions varying Reynolds numbers (100, 175, and 250). The outcomes show that the rectangular cylinders installed stream-wise above an upstream block promote thermal convection in the heated-block duct. However, increasing the number of rectangular cylinders can raise friction factor. As a result, the case for periodic boundary conditions with a rectangular cylinder above every two blocks has the best thermal performance.

The membrane potential or resting potential of the neuron has been the subject of many studies. Although this theory explains the generation and maintenance of the membrane potential by direct or even facilitated diffusion, there are too many contradictions to doubt that these forces are sufficient or even at work in a process whose initial conditions are of rare complexity. The aim of this article is to show that already in the past, a competing theory has been developed whose hypothesis seems more scientifically sound. To confirm this last theory, Hirohisa Tamagawa carried out an experiment of great simplicity which makes it possible to invalidate the current theory and to question the teaching and the knowledge in Biology and Biophysics.

The generation and maintenance of membrane potential is a fundamental part of Membrane Pump Theory. One of the key points of this hypothesis is based on a natural or facilitated molecular diffusion through several types of ion channels and pumps like the Na/K ATPase. Following the principles of chemistry, electrostatics and geometry, it becomes clear that ion channels cannot function in this way. The ions channels cannot by their location have both a filter function and be ion concentrators, and the Na/K pump by its position in the membrane and by the proposed assumptions is not able to perform its regulatory function. The current model must absolutely be revised according to the current state of our knowledge and allow an advance in the understanding of the phenomena opening new research perspectives.

Our study provides guidelines on how to build long-term customer relationship in the non-contract mechanism context. More specifically, the findings show that special, social, and core benefits influence calculative commitment, and operational and special benefits influence affective commitment. This study also supports that calculative and affective commitment play a crucial role in understanding multi-channel agencies’ loyalty. In sum, this study revealed that calculative and affective commitment can be considered as partial or full mediators in the relationship between RBs (relational benefits) and loyalty. This study not only contributed to the existing SET (social exchange theory) and RBs paradigm but also provided practical implications for food distribution management.

Two desirable functions of healthy soil are nutrient cycling and pest suppression. We review recent literature on the contributions of soil microarthropods to soil health through their intersecting roles in decomposition and nutrient cycling and direct and indirect suppression of plant pests. Microarthropods can impact soil and plant health directly by feeding on pest organisms or serving as alternate prey for larger predatory arthropods, and indirectly, by mediating the ability of crop plants to resist or tolerate insect pests and diseases through interactions with the decomposition food web in support of plant nutrition. Soil fauna, including microarthropods, are key regulators of decomposition at local scales but their role at larger scales is unresolved. Future research priorities include the incorporation of multi-channel omnivory into food web modeling and understanding the vulnerability of our soil carbon to increased global temperatures.

Background: We investigated ion channels at the skin, including peripheral nerve endings, which serve as output machines and molecular integrators of many pruritic inputs mainly received by multiple G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Methods: Based on the level of chronic kidney disease–associated pruritus (CKD-aP), subjects were divided into two groups: non-CKD-aP (no or slight pruritus; n=12) and CKD-aP (mild, moderate, or severe pruritus; n=11). Skin samples were obtained from the forearm or elbow during operations on arteriovenous fistulas. We measured ion channels expressed at the skin, including peripheral nerve endings by RT-PCR: Nav1.8, Kv1.4, Cav2.2, Cav3.2, BKCa, Anoctamin1, TRPV1, TRPA1, and ASIC. Results: Expression of Cav3.2, BKCa, and anoctamin1 was significantly elevated in patients with CKD-aP. On the other hand, expression of TRPV1 was significantly reduced in these patients. We observed no significant difference in the levels of Cav2.2 or ASIC between subjects with and without CKD-aP. TRPA1, Nav1.8，and Kv1.4 were not expressed. Conclusions: It was concluded that this greater difference in expression of ion channels at the skin tissue including specific for cutaneous peripheral nerve endings in CKD patients with CKD-aP may increase generator potential related to itching.

Hypertension is a common and growing medical problem that leads to enormous cardiovascular and kidney disease worldwide. While many drugs exist to treat hypertension, there is large individual variation in how a given individual responds to different agents, which contributes to dismal rates of hypertension control. While demographic factors predict which drugs may work better in certain individuals, a great degree of this variation has a genetic basis. In recent years, genome wide association studies have begun to identify specific gene variants that predict drug response to particular agents. This review identifies the major genetic variants influencing antihypertensive response that have emerged from this growing body of work. For novel genetic variants without a previously known biologic basis in blood pressure, it is crucial to validate initial findings in subsequent studies. This information may eventually lead to a more personalized approach to hypertension management that will improve blood pressure control and patient outcomes. The integration of this large amount of data and its real world application will be highly challenging, but strategies to accomplish this are discussed.

The controls of depositional environments on reservoir quality have been evaluated in terms of porosity and permeability of the Gabo Field, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Data used in this research include Well logs, Core data and photos, and grain size analysis for Wells 51 and 52 in the study area. Standard methods as applicable in petrophysical and sedimentological analysis has been adopted. Thirteen reservoir units have been identified in wells 51 and 52 which had 5 reservoirs cored each. The lithofacies units of the identified reservoirs across the study area, comprise pebbly sands, coarse -, medium -, fine- and very fine-grained sands, sandy mud, silty sands and heteroliths. The heteroliths – very fine-grained silty muds are highly bioturbated. Ophiomorpha and skolithos are the major trace fossils with sedimentary structures (ripple lamination, wavy lenticular and planar beds, cross bedded sands, coarsening and fining upward). The facies associations interpreted for the study area are Channel and Coastal barrier systems and the environment of deposition as distributary channel, upper and lower shoreface. The sedimentary processes that deposited facies ranged from high energy regimes, reworking by waves to low energy with periodic influx of silts and muds. The average porosity and permeability for reservoirs in Well 51 is 16.7% and 1317 Md, reservoirs in Well 52 is 28.2% and 2330Md whereas porosity range for the study area is 2% - 32% and permeability is 1.2 – 10600 Md. The reservoir quality reservoir of the sand units in Well 51 (7, 9 and 13) and Well 52 (5, 7, 9, 11 and 13) is excellent - good, this is because of the dynamics environments of deposition (upper shoreface and distributary channel) as well as the mechanisms that play out during deposition such as bioturbation, sorting, sedimentary structures formed. Whereas the poor quality across the reservoirs especially the lower shoreface and prodelta facies is as result of lack bioturbation, connectivity, multiplicity of burrows that may have been plugged by clay and intercalation of shale and sand (heteroliths). This research has shown that environments of deposition have direct influence the reservoir quality in terms of porosity and permeability.

There have been a great number of investigations about the influence of weak magnetic fields on biological systems, such as isolated cells and whole organisms. This is also a subject of considerable medical concern since old epidemiologic observations have indicated a possible tumorigenic effect of these fields. Their mechanism of action, however, is not firmly established. A large number of biological effects of electromagnetic fields have been attributed either to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or to the entrance Ca²⁺ in the cell. A new biochemical pathway is proposed that covers these two possibilities: the primary effect of the magnetic field would be by the mechanism of radical pairs resulting in the production of ROS; these could activate the ion channels TRPM2 producing cellular inflow of Ca²⁺, which would induce the calcium dependent effects. Thus, a large number of biological effects observed up to the present could be explained.

The purpose of this work is to optimize angular extrusion for sever plastic deformation of tubular specimens. A finite element model (FEM) was built in Deform-3D^® for three extrusion dies and analyzed. The dies were ECAP (135°), TCAP with external groove of 90° (denoted as TCAP-e) and TCAP with internal groove of 90° (denoted as TCAP-i). The analysis for process parameters (such as coefficient of friction-μ, die angles-ѱ and φ, temperature - T, and radius ratio-R) showed that TCAP-i was the optimal die in processing Al6063 tubes based on strain and load distribution of the model. The TCAP-i die model was further optimized for different parameters namely die angles, coefficient of friction, deformation ratio and temperature. The results showed that at constant process temperature of 25 °C, the optimal TCAP-i has the following parameters: φ₂=80⁰, Ѱ₁=30⁰, Ѱ₂=80⁰, Ѱ₃=30⁰, μ =0.4 and R =1.5.

In airborne sensor networks (ASNs), the media access control (MAC) protocol is facing with serious unfairness problem due to the traditional protection mechanism of air-to-air communications among aircrafts. Actually by using the binary exponential back-off algorithm at high traffic loads to minimize collisions among users, the latest successful node can always benefit from this kind of MAC to obtain channel resources. Moreover, when taking the existence of the hidden nodes in ASNs into account, the inaccurate traffic load information will further aggravate the system’s unfairness. In this paper, a neighbor-channel-aware (NCA) protocol is proposed to improve the fairness of MAC protocol in ASNs. In the proposal, the NCA frame is firstly added and exchanged between neighbor nodes periodically, which helps to resolve the inaccurate traffic load information, so as to avoid reducing the probability of successful message transmission. Then a traffic-loading based back-off algorithm is involved to make the neighbor nodes cooperatively adjust the inter-frame space (IFS) interval to further reduce the unfairness. The simulation results show that, the proposed MAC protocol can guarantee the satisfied fairness, simultaneously avoiding heavy network overloads to protect key messages’ successful transmissions in ASNs.

A new mesogenic non-symmetric dimeric monomer with a terminal olefin function, forming a twist bend nematic (Ntb) as well as a nematic (N) phase was synthesized, using an enhanced synthetic methodology, which avoids isomerization of the terminal double bond in the preparation of the dimer. This monomer was attached to a pentamethyldisiloxane group, resulting in SmA LC phase behaviour of the ensuing material. Linking the monomer to a siloxane main chain resulted in nematic phase behaviour. Detailed studies with the Ntb phase forming dimer DTC5C7 show full miscibility of the dimer and the new LC polymer in the LC state, suggesting that the side-chain LC polymer forms a Ntb phase as the low temperature nematic phase. Copolymerizing the monomer with a cyanobiphenyl based monomer allows to tune the glass transition and phase behavior further.

Power systems have been going through a barrage of transformations due to the recent developments in the field, such as deregulation and restructuring of the electric power supply chain, the proliferation of distributed generation (DG), and advancements in information and communications technologies. These have significantly impacted the approach to the planning, design, and operation of active distribution networks or systems. Due to this constant change, the system has become more complex to plan, maintain, and control. In this paper, the benefits, and challenges of active distribution systems relative to traditional passive and active distribution systems are evaluated and investigated while the management and operational characteristics of demand-side resources in Active Distribution Systems (ADS) are studied. In a typical ADS, there exist several vulnerabilities and threats that eventually pose a challenge in the control and automation of substations. These vulnerabilities and threats are reviewed, and potential mitigation measures are suggested. Also in this paper, the communication technologies, and their implementation in terms of control and automation capabilities in active distribution networks are also studied. From this work, it is concluded that communication technologies play an integral role in the realization of a more active distribution networks and that the internet of energy (IoE) is a major player in ADS in the reduction of faults due to human error, fast responses, and improving the stability of power supply. Cyber threats are also and will still be a continuous challenge in smart metering technologies and in substation automation systems (SAS) which will require frequent evaluation and mitigation measures so as not to prevent the power supply system from collapsing.

In this work, an algorithm for the scheduling of household appliances to reduce the energy cost and the peak-power consumption is proposed. The system architecture of a home energy management system (HEMS) is presented to operate the appliances. The dynamics of thermal and non-thermal appliances is represented into state-space model to formulate the scheduling task into a mixed-integer-linear-programming (MILP) optimization problem. Model predictive control (MPC) strategy is used to operate the appliances in real-time. The HEMS schedules the appliances in a dynamic manner without any a priori knowledge of the load-consumption pattern. At the same time, HEMS responds to the real-time electricity market and the external environmental conditions (solar radiation, ambient temperature etc). Simulation results exhibit the benefits of proposed HEMS by showing the reduction of up to 47% in electricity cost and up to 48% in peak power consumption.

Hypertension is a frequent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and the prevalence rate is continuously rising. Multiple pathophysiological mechanisms are responsible for hypertension, necessitating a combination of drugs from different classes for best management. Combination therapy is five times more effective in decreasing blood pressure compared to escalating the dose of a single agent. As per the ACCOMPLISH trial analysis, coupling a renin-angiotensin system inhibitor with a calcium channel blocker is more effective than the combination of a renin-angiotensin system inhibitor with diuretics in reducing major cardiovascular events, cardiovascular-related mortality, and the progression of chronic kidney disease. The renin-angiotensin system can be suppressed by inhibiting the angiotensin-converting enzyme or angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R), resulting, in decreased vascular smooth muscle contraction, heart performance, and reduced aldosterone synthesis. Calcium channel blockers work by inhibiting L-type calcium channels, reducing heart performance via negative inotropic, chronotropic, and bathmotropic effects, along with reducing vascular smooth muscle contraction. Diuretics exert their antihypertensive impact by changing body fluid volume and electrolytes. Initially, hypertension treatment commences with a single medication but often, different classes of two or more antihypertensive medications are necessary for achieving the target blood pressure goal. Sometimes, for Resistant hypertension four different classes of antihypertensive medications are necessary to reach the target blood pressure goal.

Marine sand, in addition to oil and gas resources, is the second largest marine mineral resource. The rational development and utilization of marine sand resources are conducive to the growth of the marine economy. Marine sand can be categorized into surface marine sand and buried marine sand. Buried marine sand deposits are buried beneath the sea floor, making it challenging to locate them due to their thin distribution. Consequently, there exist numerous technical difficulties associated with marine sand exploration. In this study, various geophysical methods such as sub-bottom profile survey and single-channel seismic survey were employed in the northern offshore waters of the South China Sea along with offshore engineering geological drilling. As a result, two distinct marine sand bodies were delineated within the study area. Additionally, five reflective interfaces (R0, R1, R2, R3 and R4) were identified from top to bottom. These interfaces can be divided into five seismic sequences: A2, B2, C2, D2 and E2 respectively. Three sets of strata were recognized: the Quaternary Holocene Marine sedimentary layer (Q4m), the Upper Pleistocene alluvial layer, and the diluvial sedimentary layer (Q3al+pl) as well as the Upper Pleistocene Marine sedimentary layer (Q3m). Sequence A2 and B2 corresponded to Quaternary Holocene Formation (Q4m) within the study area while sequence C2 corresponded to B2 as well as upper Pleistocene alluvial and alluvial deposits (Q3al+pl), which represent one of the main occurring layers of sand in this region. Lastly, E2 represents a layer composed mainly of silty clay and round gravel known as upper Pleistocene marine sediment layer (Q3m). In total, two ore bodies containing marine sand have been discovered during this study. The estimated total resource amounts approximately 46 million m³ with an average thickness around 11 meters.

Fractional delay-Doppler (DD) channel estimation in Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) systems poses a significant challenge considering the severe effects of Inter-Path Interference (IPI). To this end, several algorithms have been extensively explored in literature for accurate low-complexity channel estimation in both integer and fractional DDs scenarios. In this work, we develop a variant of the state-of-the-art Delay-Doppler Inter-Path Interference Cancellation (DDIPIC) algorithm which progressively cancels the IPI as estimates are obtained. The key advantage of the proposed approach is that it requires only a final refinement procedure reducing the complexity of the algorithm. Specifically, the time difference in latency between the proposed approach and the DDIPIC algorithm is almost proportional to the square of the number of estimated paths. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the other channel estimation schemes achieving lower Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) and Bit Error Rate (BER).

Abstract: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare disorder of glucose metabolism and is the most common cause of severe and persistent hypoglycemia (hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia, HH) in the neonatal period and childhood. Most cases are caused by mutations in the ABCC8 and KCNJ11 genes that encode the ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP). We present the correlation between genetic heterogeneity and the variable phenotype in patients with early-onset hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia caused by ABCC8 gene mutations. In the first patients, which presented persistent severe hypoglycemia since the first day of life, molecular genetic testing revealed the presence of a homozygous mutation in the ABCC8 gene [deletion in the ABCC8 gene c.(2390+1_2391-1)_(3329+1_3330- 1)del] correlated with a diffuse form of hyperinsulinism (the parents being healthy heterozygous carriers). In the second patient, the onset was on the third day of life with severe hypoglycemia, and genetic testing identified a heterozygous mutation in the ABCC8 gene c.1792C&gt;T (p.Arg598*) inherited on the paternal line, which led to the diagnosis of focal form of hyperinsulinism. To locate the focal lesions, (18)F-DOPA (3,4-dihydroxy-6-[18F]fluoro-L-phenylalanine) PET/CT was recommended (an investigation that cannot be carried out in the country), but the parents refused to carry out the investigation abroad. In this case, early surgical treatment could have been curative. In addition, the second child also presented secondary adrenal insufficiency requiring replacement therapy. At the same time, she developed early recurrent seizures that required antiepileptic treatment. We emphasize the importance and of molecular genetic testing for diagnosis, management and genetic counseling in patients with HH.

This study introduces a low-cost solution provided by a specialized source measure unit (SMU), offering an alternative to conventional source meter units. Through precise IV curve measurements for graphene-channel FETs, the SMU demonstrates its capability in accurately characterizing these devices with minimal noise and high accuracy. This cost-effective solution presents a promising avenue for researchers and developers seeking reliable tools for sensor development and characterization, providing valuable insights into the behavior of graphene-channel FETs and the effect of surface illumination without the need for expensive equipment. Additionally, the SMU was validated with known passive and active components, along with probe station integration for microscale connection, ensuring its effectiveness in capturing accurate measurements. The SMU’s focus on collecting IV curves, coupled with its ability to identify device defects, such as Schottky junctions, contributes to its utility in quality testing for semiconductor devices. Its low-cost nature makes it accessible for various research endeavors, enabling efficient data collection and analysis for graphene-based sensor applications.

Originally developed as a chemotherapeutic agent, miltefosine (hexadecylphosphocholine) is an inhibitor of phosphatidylcholine synthesis with proven antiparasitic effects. It is the only oral drug approved for the treatment of Leishmaniasis and American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas Disease). Although its precise mechanisms are not yet fully understood, miltefosine exhibits broad-spectrum anti-parasitic effects primarily by disrupting the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis of the parasites while sparing the human hosts. In addition to its inhibitory effects on phosphatidylcholine synthesis and cytochrome c oxidase, miltefosine has been found to affect the unique giant mitochondria and the acidocalcisomes of parasites. Both of these crucial organelles are involved in Ca2+ regulation. Furthermore, miltefosine has the ability to activate a specific parasite Ca2+ channel that responds to sphingosine, that is different to its L-type VGCC human ortholog. Here, we aimed to provide an overview of recent advancements of the anti-parasitic mechanisms of miltefosine. We also explored its multiple molecular targets and investigated how its pleiotropic effects translate into a rational therapeutic approach for patients afflicted by Leishmaniasis and American Trypanosomiasis. Notably, miltefosine's therapeutic effect extends beyond its impact on the parasite to also affect positively the host's immune system. These findings enhance our understanding on its multi targeted mechanism of action. Overall, this review sheds light on the intricate molecular actions of miltefosine highlighting its potential as a promising therapeutic option against these debilitating parasitic diseases.

Environmental responsibility and economic benefits have promoted the development of closed-loop supply chain (CLSC), and shortages and channels are considered to be two important issues in CLSC. This paper explores ordering and channel decisions in CLSC with new and differentiated remanufactured products, and considers the price and sales effort-dependent demands, as well as the proportion of emergency orders determined by emergency order costs and backorder losses, and establishes an integrated and decentralized CLSC game models. We introduce a stochastic sales effort, which affects two types of products. Numerical results show that sales effort and the order quantity of new and remanufactured products exhibit concave and convex functions, respectively. Wherein, the upper limit of sales effort has a greater impact on supply chain decisions. High sales efforts can serve as a means of coordinating dispersed supply chains. Moreover, in different cases, decisions of integrated channel are better than those of decentralized channel. Finally, whether the supply chain adopts an emergency order strategy depends on the relative cost of emergency orders and out of stock costs. According to the research in this article, some management insights are also provided.

A mathematical model that comprehensively captures the real behavior of riverbed deformation, encompassing all pertinent effects, is developed. The underwater slope reformation process, with the generatrix aligned along the flow velocity in the model, is considered. A numerical model is introduced to calculate the flow involving a deformable bottom, and the model's validation is established through rigorous analysis of experimental findings. The research firmly confirms the suitability of the proposed mathematical and numerical model for describing deformations in uneven and unsteady river flows, including the movement of dredging slots and channel quarries. The model's minimal equation count and reliance on empirical constants demonstrate the model's efficiency. The model's predictions align strongly with experimental data, although optimal values of empirical coefficients vary slightly across different experiments. Hence, there is a call for further investigation to derive more universally applicable closure relationships for the model. The importance of validating the model with reliable field data and its potential extension to accommodate hydraulically diverse soils is emphasized. Such an extension is feasible due to the concentration transfer equation, enabling independent calculations for particle fractions of varying sizes as long as the total particle concentration in the stream remains within reasonable limits. This dedicated research contributes significantly to understanding riverbed deformations and advancing accurate modeling and management of riverine environments.

The partial information decomposition (PID) framework is concerned with decomposing the information that a set of random variables has with respect to a target variable into three types of components: redundant, synergistic, and unique. Classical information theory alone does not provide a unique way to decompose information in this manner and additional assumptions have to be made. Inspired by Kolchinsky's recent proposal for measures of intersection information, we introduce three new measures based on well-known partial orders between communication channels and study some of their properties.

This paper is our attempt on the basis of physical theory to bring more clarification on the question ``What is life?'' formulated in the well-known book of Schr\"odinger in 1944. According to Schr\"odinger, the main distinguishing feature of biosystem's functioning is the ability to preserve its order structure or, in the mathematical terms, to prevent increasing of entropy. Since any biosystem is fundamentally open, it is natural to use open system's theory. However, Schr\"odinger's analysis shows that the classical theory is not able to adequately describe the order-stability in a biosystem. Schr\"odinger should also appeal to the ambiguous notion of negative entropy. We suggest to apply the quantum theory. As is well-known, behaviour of the quantum von Neumann entropy crucially differs from behaviour of the classical entropy. We consider a complex biosystem $S$ composed of many subsystems, say proteins, or cells, or neural networks in the brain, i.e., $S=(S_i).$ We study the following problem: if the composed system $S$ can preserve the ``global order'' in the situation of increase of local disorder and if $S$ can preserve its entropy while some of $S_i$ increase their entropies We show that within quantum information theory the answer is positive. The significant role plays entanglement of the subsystems states. In the absence of entanglement, increasing of local disorder generates disorder increasing in the compound system $S$ (as in the classical regime).