Copper toxicity has been a selective pressure on the sea-ice bacteria due to its widespread occur-rence in Antarctica. Here, with a combined biochemical and metabolomic approach, the Cu2+ ad-aptation mechanisms of Antarctic bacteria were analyzed. Heavy metal resistance pattern of Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Cd2+ > Hg2+ > Zn2+ was observed. Copper treatment did increase the activity of antioxidants and enzymes, maintaining cellular redox state balance and normal cell division and growth. Metabolomics analysis demonstrated that fatty acids, amino acids, and carbohydrates played dominant roles in copper stress adaptation. The results indicated that the adaptation mechanisms of strain O5 to copper stress included protein synthesis and repair, accumulation of organic per-meable substances, up-regulation of energy metabolism, and formation of fatty acids. This study increases the resistance mechanism understanding of Antarctic strains to heavy metals in extreme environments.

PAHs contaminants have toxic, carcinogenic, and even mutagenic properties. Screening bacteria from different sources capable of carrying out the biodegradation of PAHs is important for mapping and mobilization purposes and applying them to polluted hydrocarbon environments. The study aimed to compare the biodegradation power of two types of bacteria isolated from different sources against PAHs. The method applied is the interaction between bacterial suspen-sion and pyrene contaminated waste for 30 days. Biodegradation products in organic compounds were analyzed using GC/MS and FTIR. The analysis results found several indications of the performance of bacterial biodegradation, namely: the aggressiveness of biodegradation of Bl bacteria against pyrene was relatively more dominant than Sb bacteria. The percentage of to-tal bacterial biodegradation for product type Sb was (39.00 %), and that of the product of bacteri-al degradation type Bl (was 38.29 %). The biodegradation products of the test bacteria (Bl and Sb) were relatively similar to pyrene, in the form of alcohol and carboxylic acid organic com-pounds. It was concluded that there was no significant difference in biodegradation per-formance between Bl and Sb bacteria on for pyrene. Both types of bacterial isolates from differ-ent sources can carry out the function of biodegradation of pyrene.

Background: Process mining (PM) exploits event logs to obtain meaningful information about the processes that produced them. As the number of applications developed on cloud infrastructures is increasing, it becomes important to study and discover their underlying processes. However, many current PM technologies face challenges in dealing with complex and large event logs from cloud applications, especially when they have little structure (e.g., clickstreams). Methods: Using Design Science Research, this paper introduces a new method, called Cloud Pattern API – Process Mining (CPA-PM), that enables discovering and analyzing cloud-based application processes using PM in a way that addresses many of these challenges. CPA-PM exploits a new application programming interface (API), with an R implementation, for creating repeatable scripts that preprocess event logs collected from such applications. Results: Applying CPA-PM to a case with real and evolving event logs related to the trial process of a Software-as-a-Service cloud application led to useful analyses and insights, with reusable scripts. Conclusion: CPA-PM helps producing executable scripts for filtering event logs from clickstream and cloud-based applications, where the scripts can be used in pipelines while minimizing the need for error-prone and time-consuming manual filtering.

The varved sediments of the Pyrenean Lake Montcortès (Pallars Sobirà, Lleida) embody a unique continuous high-resolution (annual) paleoarchive of the last 3000 years for the circum-Mediterranean region. A variety of paleoclimatic and paleoecological records have been retrieved from these uncommon sediments that have turned the lake into a regional reference. Present-day geographical, geological, ecological and limnological features of the lake and its surroundings are reasonably well known but the lack of a local weather station has prevented characterization of current climate, which is important to develop modern-analog studies for paleoclimatic reconstruction and to forecast the potential impacts of future global warming. Here, the local climate of the Montcortès area for the period 1955-2020 is characterized using a network of nearby stations situated along an elevational transect in the same river basin of the lake. The finding of statistically significant elevational gradients for annual and monthly average temperature and precipitation has enabled to estimate these parameters and their seasonal regime for the lake site. A representative climograph has been shaped with these data that can serve as a synthetic descriptive and comparative climatic tool. The same analysis has provided climatic data for modern-analog studies useful to improve the interpretation of sedimentary records in climatic and ecological terms. In addition, the seasonal slope shifting of the climatic elevational gradients has been useful to gain insights about possible future climatic trends under a warming scenario.

Products derived from Cannabis sativa have gained increased interest and popularity. As these products become common amongst the public, the heath and potential therapeutic values associated with hemp have become a premier focus of research. While the psychoactive and medicinal properties of Cannabis products have been extensively highlighted in literature, the antibacterial properties of CBD have not been explored in depth. This research serves to examine the antibacterial potential of CBD against Salmonella newington and Salmonella typhimurium. In this study we observed bacterial response to CBD exposure through biological assays, bacterial kinetics, and fluorescence microscopy. Additionally, comparative studies between CBD and ampicillin were conducted against Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella newington to determine comparative efficacy. Furthermore, we observed potential resistance development of our Salmonella spp. against CBD treatment.

Spent batteries recycling is an important way to obtain low-cost graphite. Nevertheless, the obtaining of crystalline graphite with a rather low density of defects is required for many applications. In the present work, high-quality graphites have been obtained from different kinds of spent batteries. Black masses from spent alkaline batteries (batteries black masses, BBM), and lithium-ion batteries from smartphones (smartphone black masses, SBM) and electric and/or hybrid vehicles (lithium-ion black masses, LBM) were used as starting materials. A hydrometallurgical process was then used to obtain recycled graphites by acidic leaching. Different leaching conditions were used depending on the type of the initial black mass. The final solids were characterized by a wide set of complementary techniques.

In the present study, we studied the effect of apolipoprotein A-1 (APOA1) on the spatial and molecular characteristics of bone marrow adipocytes, using well-characterized ApoA1 knockout mice. APOA1 is a central regulator of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) metabolism, and thus HDL; our recent work showed that deficiency of APOA1 increases bone marrow adiposity in mice. We found that ApoA1 deficient mice have greatly elevated adipocytes within their bone marrow compared to wild type counterparts. Morphologically, the increased adipocytes were similar to white adipocytes, and displayed proximal tibial-end localization. Marrow adipocytes from wild type mice were significantly fewer and did not display bone-end distribution pattern. The mRNA levels of the brown/beige adipocyte-specific markers Ucp1, Dio2, Pat2, Pgc1a, and the expression of leptin were greatly reduced in the ApoA1 knock-out in comparison to the wild-type mice. In the knock-out mice adiponectin was remarkably elevated. In keeping with the close ties of hematopoietic stem cells and marrow adipocytes, we found that the elevated adiposity in the ApoA1 knock out mice is associated with a significant reduction of the hematopoietic stem cells and common myeloid, but not common lymphoid, progenitors. Moreover, the “beiging”-related marker osteopontin and the angiogenic factor VEGF were also reduced in the ApoA1 knock-out mice, further supporting the notion that APOA1, and most probably HDL-C, regulate bone marrow microenvironment, favouring beige/brown adipocyte characteristics.

This study was designed to assess the suppressive effects of various anaerobically digested slurries (ADSs), and the microorganisms inhabiting them, against Fusarium wilt in spinach. We used five different ADSs from a range of source materials (dairy cow manure, sewage sludge, food garbage, pig manure, night soil sludge), combined in different proportions. All five raw ADSs suppressed the growth of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. spinaciae (Fos) on agar plates using a co-culture test. In contrast, filtrate ADSs did not suppress the growth of Fos. In total, 32 bacterial strains were isolated from five ADSs, and 8 isolates showed antagonistic activities against Fos. Based on 16S rDNA sequences, the strain AD-3 isolated from ADS from dairy cow manure belonged to Bacillus velezensis. Genome analysis revealed that AD-3 had two kinds of genes related to the production of the non-ribosomal lipopeptides, fengycin/plipastatin (pps genes), and surfactin (srf genes). In pot assays, inoculation of AD-3 (1.0 × 106 CFU·g−1 dry soil) into Fos-infected soil (1.0 × 105 bud-cells·g−1 dry soil) significantly reduced the severity of Fusarium wilt disease at 28 d after seedling. The percentage reductions in disease severity in two replicates were 64.3% and 44.3%, respectively. Thus, bacterial strain AD-3 could be applied to reduce Fusarium wilt in spinach.

In this paper a new monolithic Eulerian formulation in the framework of non-classical continuum is presented for the analysis of fluid-strucutre interaction problems. In this respect, Cosserat continuum theory taking into account the micro-rotational degrees of freedom of the particles is considered. Continuum description of the model and variational formulation of the governing flow dynamics for non-classical -fluid-structure interaction nCFSI is presented. The model is analyzed by computing a well known benchmark problem by Hecht and Pironneau [16]. The algorithmic description is presented and implemented using FreeFEM++. Code is validated with the benchmark solution of Turek and Hron [38] in case of flow around a flag attached with cylinder. New microstructral behavior of the solution is studied and numerical simulations and results are shown in the form of figures. Some interesting feature of the flow is observed and microstructural characteristics are discussed.

Abstract: Due to their rapid evolution and their impact on health care, be-ta-lactamases, protein degrading beta-lactam antibiotics, are used as generic model of protein evolution. Therefore, we investigated the mutation effects in two distant beta-lactamases TEM-1 and CTX-M-15. Interestingly we found a site with a complex pattern of genetic interactions. Mutation G251W in TEM-1 is in-activating the protein’s function just as the reciprocal mutation W251G in CTXM-15. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that mutation G has been entrenched in TEM-1 background: while rarely observed throughout the phylogeny it is es-sential in TEM-1. Using a rescue experiment in TEM-1 G251W mutant, we could identify sites that alleviates the deviation from G to W. While few of these muta-tions could potentially involve local interactions, most of them were found on distant residues in the 3D structure. Many well-known mutations having an impact on protein stability, such as M182T, were recovered. Our results there-fore suggest that entrenchment of an amino acid may rely on diffuse interactions among multiple sites with a major impact on protein stability.

Groundwater models serve as support tools to among others: assess water resources, evaluate management strategies, design remediation systems and optimize monitoring networks. Thus, the assimilation of information from observations into models is crucial to improve forecasts and reduce uncertainty of their results. As more information is collected routinely due to the use of automatic sensors, data loggers and real time transmission systems; groundwater modelers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of using sophisticated tools to perform model calibration in combination with sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. Despite their usefulness, available approaches to perform this kind of analyses still present some challenges such as non-unique solution for the parameter estimation problem, high computational burden and a need of a deep understanding of the theoretical basis for the correct interpretation and use of their results, in particular the ones related to uncertainty analysis. We present a brief derivation of the main equations that serve as basis for this kind of analysis. We demonstrate how to use them to estimate parameters, assess the sensitivity and quantify the uncertainty of the model results using an example inspired by a real world setting. We analyze some of the main pitfalls that can occur when performing such kind of analyses and comment on practical approaches to overcome them. We also demonstrate that including groundwater flow estimations, although helpful in constraining the solution of the inverse problem as shown previously, may be difficult to apply in practice and, in some cases, may not provide enough information to significantly constrain the set of potential solutions.

Mechanical power and motion are often transmitted by the gear-rotor-bearing system. When there are fitting clearances between the housing and outer ring in bearings, complex vibration responses will be generated, which makes the operating status difficult to identify. Therefore, for analyzing dynamic responses, a dynamic model of gear-rotor-bearing systems with bearing fitting clearances is proposed. In the model, the bearing system with fitting clearances and gear pair system are combined, and the coupling relationship is determined by the gyroscopic mo-tion of the shaft. The friction force and collision force caused by fitting clearances are also con-sidered, which are simulated by the Coulomb friction model and Hertz theory. The result shows that the meshing stiffness will also be excited by the bearing displacement. When there are fit-ting clearances on the bearing, the amplitude modulation of the bearing outer raceway to the system time-domain response is intensified, and the multiple harmonic frequency of bearings and gear pairs are generated on the spectrum, as well as defect frequencies of gear pairs. As the fitting clearance is increased, the higher multiple harmonic responses will be caused. Although the response amplitude of the gearbox is increased by raising the input speed, multiple harmon-ic responses are suppressed, which makes the system mainly vibrate at the fundamental fre-quency. Then, the dynamic model and the vibration analysis are experimentally verified.

An updated, binary-coded message has been developed for transmission to extraterrestrial intelligences in the Milky Way galaxy. The proposed message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the Solar System’s time-stamped position in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitized depictions of the Solar System, and Earth’s surface. The message concludes with digitized images of the human form, along with an invitation for any receiving intelligences to respond. Calculation of the optimal timing during a given calendar year is specified for potential future transmission from both the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope in China and the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in northern California to a selected region of the Milky Way which has been proposed as the most likely for life to have developed. These powerful new beacons, the successors to the Arecibo radio telescope which transmitted the 1974 message upon which this expanded communication is in part based, can carry forward Arecibo’s legacy into the 21st century with this equally well-constructed communication from Earth’s technological civilization.

Background. The treatment of coronary stenosis relies on invasive high risk surgical assessment to generate the fractional flow reserve diagnostics index, a ratio of distal to proximal pressures in respect of coronary atherosclerotic plaque causing stenosis. Non-invasive methods are therefore a need of the times. This study proposes an extensible mathematical description of the coronary vasculature that permits rapid estimation of the coronary fractional flow reserve. Methods. By adapting an existing closed loop model of human coronary blood flow, the effects of large vessel stenosis and microvascular disease on fractional flow reserve were quantified. Several simula-tions generated flow and pressure information which was used to compute fractional flow re-serve under a spectrum of conditions including focal stenosis, diffuse stenosis, and microvascular disease. Sensitivity analysis stratified the influence of model parameters on the index. The model was simulated as coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations and numerically solved us-ing an implicit higher order method. Results. Large vessel stenosis affected fractional flow re-serve. The model predicts that the presence, rather than severity, of microvascular disease affect coronary flow deleteriously. Sensitivity analysis revealed that heart rate may not affect the index. Conclusions. The model provides a computationally inexpensive instrument for future in silico coronary blood flow investigations as well as clinical-imaging decision making. A combination of focal and diffuse stenosis appears to be essential in reducing the index. In addition to pressure measurements in the large epicardial vessels, diagnosis of microvascular disease is essential. The independence of the index with respect to heart rate suggests that computationally inexpensive steady state simulations may provide sufficient information to reliably compute the index.

Purpose –The basic purpose of this paper is to find out the librarians perceptions, skills, most effective and constrains to use social media for the marketing purposes in the University libraries and to examine how these libraries perceive the importance of social media marketing. Design/methodology/approach –A nation-wide online survey on University libraries in the Pakistan was conducted to flourish this study, and a total number of 161 responses were used to analyze collected data. Findings –This study revealed the application of social media in university Libraries is very high .The results also disclosed that University libraries observe social media as a substantial tool to increase marketing of library sources and services anticipate to increase their use. Practical implications –The findings of this study can help as a parameter for University libraries when engaging social media for marketing purposes in their libraries. Originality/value –This study calculated the present situation of social media use for marketing in the University Libraries environment, a background that has been under-study in the literature, from these perspectives: perceptions, Skills, effectiveness, practices and constrains

School meals can have a key function in promoting children’s health. However, simply providing a free school meal is not a guarantee that pupils will actually eat the food. The purpose of this study was to explore factors influencing pupils’ participation in free school meal schemes in Oslo The study has a qualitative research design, inspired by grounded theory. Data were collected through interviews with pupils, teachers and parents, and participant observations in two schools participating in a pilot project funded by Oslo Municipality. Line-by-line coding, memo writing and a constant comparative technique were used to analyse the data. One primary school and one lower-secondary school in different districts in Oslo that were implementing two different free school meal models. 39 pupils (5th–10th grade), 15 parents and 12 school employees were included. Four main factors related to pupils’ participation to free school meals emerged from the analysis: the popularity of the food served, the attraction to the nearby shopping centre, social aspects and predictability. To promote pupils’ participation in free school meal schemes, schools need to solve the challenges of balancing between healthy food and popular but often unhealthy food. Children and parents involvement, regularity of the meals provision, a good flow of information and the creation of a friendly eating environment are recommended

The excess use of unsafe pesticides and mineral fertilizers in agriculture has led to serious health problems and environmental pollution. Nanotechnology has been solving these problems by providing nanoparticles (NPs) with excellent performance. By green synthesis of nanoparticles from plants, animals, and microbes, the use of hazardous and toxic chemicals has become limited. Nanoparticles have excellent performance in many fields such as electronics, cosmetics, automobiles, catalysis, biosensors, bioengineering, etc. NPs also showed excellent performance in agriculture by improving crop production and food quality. Various nano-based agroparticles that have conducted many smart and efficient agricultural systems involving nanopesticides, nanofertilizers, nanoherbicides etc. Apart from enhancing the food production, these materials operate some other functions like as identifying disease in plants, control release of nutrients, delivery of nutrients at target sites, etc. various nanofertilizers such as Fe, Mn, N, K, Mo, P, CNTs and P showed excellent targeted delivery performance. Nanopesticides and many nanoformulations have showed excellent pest protection performance. Here we reviewed the sources of nanomaterials and their excellent performance in agriculture.

In this study, the influence of graphene oxide nanoparticles on the bond-slip behavior of fiber and fly ash based geopolymer paste was examined. Geopolymer paste incorporating graphene oxide nanoparticles solution was cast in half briquetted specimens and embedded with a fiber. Three types of fibers were used: steel, polypropylene, and basalt. The pullout test was performed at two distinct speeds: 1 mm/second and 3 mm/second. Results showed that the addition of graphene oxide increased the compressive strength of geopolymer by about 7%. The bond-slip responses of fibers embedded in geopolymer mixed with graphene oxide exhibited higher peak stress and toughness as compared to those embedded in normal geopolymer. Each fiber type also showed different mode of failure. Both steel and polypropylene fibers showed full bond-slip responses due to their high ductility. Basalt fiber, on the other hand, because of its brittleness, failed by fiber fracture mode which showed no-slip in pull out responses. Both bond strength and toughness were found to be rate sensitive. The sensitivity was higher in graphene oxide/geopolymer than in conventional geopolymer.

Social networks have become the scenario with the greatest potential for the circulation of disinformation, hence there is a growing interest in understanding how this type of information is spread, especially in relation to the mechanisms used by disinformation agents such as bots, trolls, among others. In this scenario, the potential of bots to facilitate the spread of disinformation is recognised, however, the analysis of how they do this is still in its initial stages. Taking into consideration what was previously stated, this paper aimed to model and simulate scenarios of disinformation propagation in social networks caused by bots based on the dynamics of this mechanism documented in the literature. For achieving the purpose, System dynamics was used as the main modelling technique. The results present a mathematical model, as far as disinformation by this mechanism is concerned, and the simulations carried out against the increase in the rate of activation and deactivation of bots. Thus, the preponderant role of social networks in controlling disinformation through this mechanism, and the potential of bots to affect citizens, is recognised.

This article addresses the problem of formation control of a quadrotor and one (or more) marine vehicles operating at the surface of the water with the end goal of encircling the boundary of a chemical spill, enabling such vehicles to carry and release chemical dispersants used during ocean cleanup missions to break-up oil molecules. Firstly, the mathematical models of the Medusa class of marine robots and quadrotor aircrafts are introduced, followed by the design of single vehicle motion controllers that allow these vehicles to follow a parameterized path individually using Lyapunov based techniques. At a second stage, a distributed controller using event triggered communications is introduced, enabling the vehicles to perform cooperative path following missions according to a pre-defined geometric formation. In the next step, a real time path planning algorithm is developed that makes use of a camera sensor, installed on-board the quadrotor. This sensor enables the detection in the image of which pixels encode parts of a chemical spill boundary and use them to generate and update in real time a set of smooth B-spline based paths for all the vehicles to follow cooperatively. The performance of the complete system is evaluated by resorting to 3-D simulation software, making it possible to simulate visually a chemical spill. Results from real water trials are also provided for parts of the system, where two Medusa vehicles are required to perform a static lawn-mowing path following mission cooperatively at the surface of the water.

In this study, we propose a solution process for realizing color glass for building integrated pho-tovoltaic (BIPV) systems by spin coating a color solution composed of a pearlescent pigment mixed in a norland optical adhesive (NOA) matrix. Color solutions are made from mixing pearlescent pigments in NOA63. Compared to a physical vapor deposition process, color coatings are achieved by spin coating in a relatively simple and inexpensive process at room temperature. The optical properties can be easily controlled by adjusting the spin coating speed and the concentra-tion of the pearlescent pigments. The produced color glasses achieved a high transmittance of 85% or more in the visible wavelength range, except the wavelength spectrum exhibiting the maxi-mum reflectance. In addition, we propose a one-step lamination process of color glass on a solar cell by leveraging on the adhesive property of the NOA matrix. This eliminates the cost and pro-cess of additional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) layer or other materials used in the conventional lamination process. The color glass produced through this study has stability that does not change its properties over time. Therefore, it is expected to be applied to the BIPV solar module market where aesthetics and energy efficiency are required.

The corona (COVID-19) pandemic offers an opportunity for dealing with persistent problems, through a transformative recovery process. It is a crisis that offers opportunities for dealing with three interrelated crises: the ecological crisis (climate change, loss of biodiversity, resource depletion, pollution and ecosystem destruction), the confidence crisis (people losing trust in government, politics, companies, regular news channels, science, each other and the future), and the inequality crisis (the widening of the gap between rich and poor). Our argument is that sustainability transitions will not succeed without a different economy and another social contract with the associated rights and duties of care (for the environment and the well-being of others, including future generations). A different social contract is not only desirable from the point of view of sustainability and fairness, justice and equality, but is also necessary to restore citizens' trust in politics, government, companies and each other. In the paper we discuss mechanisms towards a Natural Social Contract, systemic leverage points for system transformations and possibilities for co-evolutionary governance by actor coalitions interested in transformative change. The combination of those three elements helps to synchronize different agendas and reduce the chance that they will work against each other.

Intratumoral heterogeneity associates with more aggressive disease progression and worse patient outcomes. Understanding the reasons enabling the emergence of such heterogeneity remains incomplete, which restricts our ability to manage it from a therapeutic perspective. Technological advancements such as high-throughput molecular imaging, single-cell omics and spatial transcriptomics now allow recording the patterns of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in a longitudinal manner, thus offering insights into the multi-scale dynamics of its evolution. Here, we review latest technological trends and biological insights from molecular diagnostics as well as spatial transcriptomics, both of which have witnessed a burgeoning growth in recent past in terms of mapping heterogeneity within tumor cell types as well as stromal constitution. We also discuss ongoing challenges, indicating possible ways to integrate insights across these methods to have a systems-level spatiotemporal map of heterogeneity in each tumor, and a more systematic investigation of implications of heterogeneity for the patient outcomes.

Rice production in the Tonle Sap basin is one of the main drivers for economic and social development in Cambodia. The Tonle Sap basin has experienced many different forms of disasters while more attention has been drawn to drought disaster. The objective of this study is to assess the impacts of drought on agriculture and food security through a case study of the Baribo basin, a sub-basin of Tonle Sap basin, Cambodia. Ground observations and satellite-based products were used for drought assessment from 1985 to 2008 which was the period with relatively good data quality. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standard Vegetation Index (SVI) were selected for meteorological and agricultural droughts assessment, correspondingly. Both SPI and SVI consistently suggested that drought is a major natural hazard causing food insecurity in the target basin. The highest drought intensity (DI) and severity (DS) occurred between 1993-1994 and the longest drought duration (DD) occurred between 2002 and 2006. The most severe damage to rice production was in 2004, affecting about 46% of the total cultivated area. The analysis showed that drought duration had a strong relationship with the affected area growing rice as well as food insecurity in the Tonle Sap basin.

The formation and propagation of cracks occurs through irreversible dislocation movements at notches, material defects and grain boundaries. Since this process is partly thermally controlled, the resistance to dislocation movements at low temperatures increases. This slows both fatigue initiation and fatigue crack propagation. From recent experimental data, it can be seen that fatigue crack growth is accelerated below the fatigue transition temperature (FTT) that correlates with the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) found by well-known fracture mechanics tests, i.e., Charpy impact, fracture toughness, and CTOD. Hence, this study investigates the relation between FTT and DBTT in S500 high-strength steel base material and welded joints at low temperatures using fatigue crack growth, fracture toughness tests as well as scanning electron microscopy. From the tests, an almost constant decrease in fatigue crack propagation rate is determined with decreasing test temperature even below the DBTT.

One of the most important challenges in the Machine and Deep Learning areas today is to build good models using small datasets, because sometimes it is not possible to have large ones. Several techniques have been proposed in the literature to address this challenge. This paper aims at studying the different available Deep Learning techniques and performing a thorough experimentation to analyze which technique or combination thereof improves the performance and effectiveness of the models. A complete comparison with classical Machine Learning techniques was carried out, to contrast the results obtained using both techniques when working with small datasets. Thirteen algorithms were implemented and trained using three different small datasets (MNIST, Fashion MNIST, and CIFAR-10). Each experiment was evaluated using a well-established set of metrics (Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1, and the Matthews correlation coefficient). The experimentation allowed concluding that it is possible to find a technique or combination of them to mitigate a lack of data, but this depends on the nature of the dataset, the amount of data, and the metrics used to evaluate them.

Obturator herniæ are a quite rare type of abdominal hernia, accounting for less then 1% of all abdominal wall hernias and for 0.2-1.6% of patient with a small bowel obstruction. The obturator canal is the only portion of the obturator foramen that is not obliterated by the membrane of the same name and hosts the obturator neurovascular bundle; it is, for this reason, a locus minoris resistentiae, through which obturator hernias are formed, generally in elderly, multiparous women. Despite the fact that Computed Tomography offers the possibility of a quick, correct preoperative diagnosis, often signs and symptoms of obturator herniæ are quite unspecific; considering that, at the same time, patients with an obturator hernia are generally elderly, with concurrent conditions, this might cause delays in the diagnosis and treatment and produces the high postoperative mortality rates that obturator herniæ yield

Smart materials represent an elegant class of (macro)-molecules endowed with the ability to react to chemical/physical changes in the environment. Herein, we prepared new photo responsive azobenzenes possessing halogen bond donor groups. The X-ray structures of two molecules highlight supramolecular organizations governed by unusual noncovalent bonds. In azo dye I-azo-NO2, the nitro group is engaged in orthogonal H···O···I halogen and hydrogen bonding, linking the units in parallel undulating chains. As far as compound I-azo-NH-MMA is concerned, a non-centrosymmetric pattern is formed due to a very rare I···π interaction involving the alkene group supplemented by hydrogen bonds. The Cambridge Structural Database contains only four structures showing the same I···CH₂=C contact. For all compounds, an ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopic analysis confirms the formation of halogen bonds in solution through a recognition process with chloride anion, and the reversible photo-responsiveness is demonstrated upon exposing a solution to UV light irradiation. Finally, the intermediate I-azo-NH2 also shows a pronounced color change due to pH variation. These azobenzenes are thereby attractive building blocks to design future multi-stimuli responsive materials for highly functional devices.

Patients living with cancer often experience serious adverse events due to their condition or its treatments. Those events may lead to a critical care unit admission or even result in death. One of the most important but challenging part of care is to build a caring plan according to the patient’s wishes, meeting his goals and values. Advance directives (ADs) allow everyone to give their preferences in advance regarding life sustaining treatments, continuation, and withdrawal or withholding of treatments in case one is not able to speak his mind anymore. While the absence of ADs is associated with a greater probability of receiving unwanted intensive care around the end of his life, their existence correlates with the respect of the patient’s desires and his greater satisfaction. Although progress has been made to promote ADs’ completion, they are still scarcely used among cancer patients in many countries. Several limitations to their acceptation and use can be detected. Efforts should be made to provide tailored solutions for the identified hindrances. This narrative review aims to depict the situation of ADs in the oncology context, and to highlight the future areas of improvement.

To explore the spatial network structure characteristics and driving effects of carbon emission intensity in China's construction industry, the investigation combined the modified gravity model and social network analysis method to deeply analyze the spatially associated network structure characteristics and driving effects of carbon emission intensity in China's construction industry, based on the measurement of carbon emission data of China's construction industry from 2006 to 2017. The results show that the regional differences of carbon emission of construction industry are significant, and the carbon emission intensity of construction industry show a fluctuation trend. The overall network of carbon emission intensity shows an obvious “core-edge” state, the hierarchical network structure is gradually broken. Economically developed provinces generally play a leading role in the network, and play an intermediary role to guide other provinces to develop together with them. Among the network blocks, most of the blocks play the role of “brokers”. The block with the leading economic development has a strong influence on the other blocks. The increase of network density, the decrease of network hierarchy and network efficiency will reduce the construction carbon emission intensity.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are the need of the hour due to growing climate change problems linked with the transportation sector. Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS), which is accountable for certifying safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LiB), is the most vital part of an EV. LiB has auspicious gravimetric energy density but the heat generation due to chemical reactions inside a LiB during charging and discharging causes temperature rise which has a direct effect on LiB performance and safety. This study specifically focuses on aircooled BTMS, defines different types of air-cooled BTMS (active and Passive), discusses limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS, and investigates different optimization techniques and parameters to improve performance of air-cooled BTMS. Maintaining temperature within optimum range and uniform temperature distribution between cells of a battery pack are the major design parameters for improving the performance and efficiency of air-cooled BTMS. Various optimization techniques including cell arrangement with a battery pack, air-flow channel optimization, and air inlet/outlet position variations are discussed and each technique is thoroughly reviewed. Finally, it’s noted that passive air-cooled BTMS is not that effective for long-distance vehicles so most researchers shifted their focus toward active air-cooled BTMS. Active air-cooled BTMS requires a lot of power for effective performance. Lastly, the most recent field of air-cooled BTMS technology which is Air-Hybrid BTMS is discussed and declared a very promising solution for overcoming major limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS.

Critical illness has been recognized to acutely influence bone metabolism and, consequently, bone mineral density. The main purpose of this study was to describe bone metabolism changes in adult survivors of critical illness in the attempt to correlate changes with severity scores. It is an open, prospective, observational, monocentric study on patients admitted to the ICU was conducted, evaluating bone metabolism at baseline (within 72 hours of ICU admission), 6 months, and 12 months. Fifty-nine patients admitted to the ICU (63% males), mean age 58 ± 16 years, were enrolled. Of these, 20 patients (34%) completed the one-year follow up. At baseline, bone resorption showed an increase, which was maintained at 6 months, with normalization at 12 months. Patients showed, in a majority of cases, hypovitaminosis D with hyperparathyroidism at baseline with subsequent normalization. A trend towards a correlation was described between severity scores and serum 25(OH) vitamin D and bone turnover marker levels. These results contribute to the confirmation of a positive association between critical illness requiring ICU and bone metabolism changes. This study poses the bases for further studies to evaluate bone health in ICU patients.

(1) Background: Patients with schizophrenia have higher mortality, with cardiovascular diseases being the first cause of mortality. This study aims to estimate the excess risk of hospital admission for cardiovascular events in schizophrenic patients, adjusting for comorbidity and risk factors. (2) Methods: The APNA study is a dynamic prospective cohort of all residents in Navarra, Spain. 505889 people over 18 years were followed for five years. The endpoint was hospital admissions for a cardiovascular event. Direct Acyclic Graphs (DAG) and Cox regression were used. (3) Results: Schizophrenic patients had a Hazard Ratio (HR) of 1.414 (95% CI 1.031-1.938) of hospital admission for a cardiovascular event after adjusting for age, sex, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking, low income, obesity, antecedents of cardiovascular disease, and smoking. In non-adherent to antipsychotic treatment schizophrenia patients, the HR was 2.232 (95% CI 1.267-3.933). (4) Conclusions: Patients with schizophrenia have a higher risk of hospital admission for cardiovascular events than persons with the same risk factors without schizophrenia. Primary care nursing interventions should monitor these patients and reduce cardiovascular risk factors.

Although the relations between sleep and academic performance have been extensively examined, how sleep predicts future academic performance (e.g., 2 -3 years) remains to be further investigated. Using wearable smartwatches and a self-report questionnaire, we tracked sleep activities of 45 college students over a period of approximate half a month to see whether their sleep activities predicted their academic performance, which was estimated by grade point average (GPA). Results showed that both nighttime sleep awakening frequency and its consistency in the tracking period were not significantly correlated with the GPA for the courses taken in the semester during sleep tracking (current GPA). However, both nighttime sleep awakening frequency and its consistency inversely predicted the GPA for the rest of the courses taken after that semester (future GPA). Moreover, students with more difficulty staying awake throughout the day obtained lower current and future GPAs, and students with lower inconsistency of sleep quality obtained lower future GPA. Together, these findings highlight the importance of nighttime sleep awakening frequency and consistency in predicting future academic performance and emphasize the necessity of assessing the consistency of sleep measures in future studies.

The risk related to embankment dam breaches needs to be evaluated in order to prepare emergency action plans. The physical and hydrodynamic parameters of the flood wave generated from dam-failure event correspond to various breach parameters such as width, slope and formation time. This study aimed to simulate dam-breach failure scenario of Yabous dam (NE Algeria) and analyze its influence on areas (urban and natural environments) downstream the dam. The simulation was completed using the sensitivity analysis method in order to assess the impact of breach parameters on the dam-break scenario. The propagation of flood wave associated to dam-break was simulated using the one-dimensional HEC-RAS hydraulic model. This study ap-plied a sensitivity analysis of three breach parameters (slope, width, and formation time) in five sites selected downstream the embankment dam. The simulation showed that the maximum flow of the flood wave recorded at the level of the breach was 8768 m3/s, which gradually attenuated along the river course to reach 1579.2m3/s at about 8.5km downstream the dam. This study estab-lished the map of flood-prone areas that illustrated zones threatened with the flooding wave trig-gered by the dam failure due to extreme rainfall events. The sensitivity analysis showed that flood wave flow, height and width revealed positive and similar changes for the increase in adjustments (±25% and ±50%) of breach width and slope in the 5 sites. However, flood wave parameters of breach formation time showed significant trends that changed in the opposite direction compared to breach slope and width.

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) has been used in the literature to monitor the gas-liquid separation. However, the image reconstruction algorithms used in the studies take a considerable amount of time to generate the tomograms, which is far above the time scales of the flow inside the inline separator and, as a consequence, the technique is not fast enough to capture all the rele-vant dynamics of the process, vital for control applications. This article proposes a new strategy based on the physics behind the measurement and simple logics to monitor the separation with a high temporal resolution by minimizing both the amount of data and the calculations required to reconstruct one frame of the flow. To demonstrate its potential, the electronics of an ERT system are used together with a high-speed camera to measure the flow inside an inline swirl separator. For the 16-electrode system used in this study, only 12 measurements are required to reconstruct the whole flow distribution with the proposed algorithm, 10x less than the minimum number of measurements of ERT (120). In terms of computational effort, the technique was shown to be 1000x faster than solving the inverse problem non-iteratively via the Gauss-Newton approach, one of the computationally cheapest techniques available. Therefore, this novel algorithm has the potential to achieve measurement speeds in the order of 104 times the ERT speed in the context of inline swirl separation, pointing to flow measurements at around 10kHz while keeping the aver-age estimation error below 6 mm in the worst case scenario.

Patients in intensive care unit often lose a considerable fraction of their gut microbiome due to exposure of broad-spectrum antibiotics and other reasons. Dysbiosis often results in prolonged diarrhea and increase occurrence of multi-drug resistant pathogens in the colon with clinical consequences not yet well understood. Restoring the microbioma by faecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is a plausible therapeutic possibility, so far only documented in case reports and case series using very heterogeneous methodologies. Before FMT in critically ill can be tested in randomised controlled trials, there is a burning need to describe a standardized operating procedure (SOP) of the whole process, respecting the specifics of critically ill population, such as the risk of disrubted intestinal barrier and time critical nature of the procedure. We describe the SOP that has been developed for experimental use in critically ill patients by a multidisciplinary team of intensivists, gastroenterologist and microbiologist based on feedback from regulatory authority (State Institue of Drug Control of the Czech Republic). The hallmarks of these SOPs are multi-donor freshly frozen transplantate quaranteeded for 3 months consisting of 7 aliqutes from 7 unrelated healthy donors, and administered by rectal tube. In this paper we discuss the rationale for this SOP and the process of its development in details and release the full proposed SOP is in the form of online appendix.

The efficacy of predicting geochemical parameters with a 2-chain workflow using spectral data as the initial input is evaluated. Spectral measurements spanning the approximate 400-25000nm spectral range are used to train a workflow consisting of a non-negative matrix function (NMF) step, for data reduction, and a random forest regression (RFR) to predict 8 geochemical parameters. Approximately 175000 spectra with their corresponding chemical analysis were available for training, testing and validation purposes. The samples and their spectral and chemical parameters represent 9399 drillcore. Of those, approximately 20000 spectra and their accompanying analysis were used for training and 5000 for model validation. The remaining pairwise data (150000 samples) were used for testing of the method. The data are distributed over 2 large spatial extents (980 km2 and 3025 km2 respectively) and allowed the proposed method to be tested against samples that are spatially distant from the initial training points. Global R2 scores and wt.% RMSE on the 150000 validation samples are Fe(0.95/3.01), SiO2(0.96/3.77), Al2O3(0.92/1.27), TiO(0.68/0.13), CaO(0.89/0.41), MgO(0.87/0.35), K2O(0.65/0.21) and LOI(0.90/1.14), given as Parameter(R2/RMSE), and demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of predicting the 8 parameters and is stable enough, in the environment tested, to extend beyond the training sets initial spatial location.

Vaccine uptake is one of the indicators that has been used to guide immunization programs. This study aimed to evaluate whether the measles vaccine uptake is predicted by measles vaccine hesitancy. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in urban districts in Khartoum state in February 2019. Measles vaccine uptake among children was measured as either fully vaccinated or partially/not vaccinated. The Parents Attitude about Childhood Vaccination (PACV) scale was used to measure measles vaccine hesitancy. Multivariate logistic regression was run to identify the predictors of measles vaccination uptake controlling for sociodemographic variables and the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% CI were calculated. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was performed, besides area under the curve (AUC) for the PACV was computed. Data was collected from 495 participants. We found that measles vaccine hesitancy (PACV scores) predicted the uptake of measles vaccine after controlling other potential social confounders such as mother’s age and the number of children (aOR 1.055, 95% CI 1.028-1.028). Additionally, the ROC for the PACV yielded area under the curve (AUC 0.686 (95% CI 0.620-0.751, P <0.001). Our findings show that measles vaccine hesitancy in Sudan directly influences the uptake of the measles vaccine. Addressing the determinants of vaccine hesitancy through communication strategies will improve vaccine uptake.

Hydrogel antibacterial agent is an ideal antibacterial material because of it could diffuses antibacterial molecules into the decayed area by providing a suitable microenvironment and the hydrogel acts as a protective barrier on the decay interface. The biocompatibility and biodegradation make the removal process easily which were widely used in medical fields. However, there have been few reports on its application for controlling postharvest diseases in fruit. In this study, the Chitosan-Ag (CS-Ag) complex hydrogels were prepared using the physical crosslinking method, which used for controlling postharvest diseases in grape. The prepared hydrogels were stable for a long period at room temperature. The structure and surface morphology of CS-Ag composite hydrogels were characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR, SEM, and XRD. The inhibitory effects of CS-Ag hydrogel on disease in grape caused by P. expansum, A. niger and B. cinerea were investigated both in vivo and in vitro. The remarkable antibacterial activity of CS-Ag hydrogels was mainly due to the synergistic antibacterial and antioxidant effects of CS and Ag. Preservation test showed that the CS-Ag hydrogel had positive fresh-keeping effect. This revealed CS-Ag hydrogels plays a critical role in controlling fungal disease in grape.

The main purpose of study is to identify the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the green financing of banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in an emerging economy such as Bangladesh. Also, this study shows the green banking activities of the banks and NBFIs during the pandemic. To analyze the impact of the pandemic on green financing, secondary data were obtained from the quarterly and annual reports of Bangladesh Bank (BB) on green financing as well as the annual reports and websites of 61 banks and 34 NBFIs in Bangladesh for the period 2021–2019. Subsequently, the study deployed dependent t-test statistics, growth rate (year-on-year), descriptive statistics, relative percentage changes, and varying tables and graphs to analyze the obtained secondary data. The empirical findings revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in green finance for all banks and NBFIs compared to before the epidemic, indicating that the pandemic had no negative impact on the total green finance growth of all banks and NBFIs. On the other hand, compared to the pre-pandemic period, bank-wise growth in green financing was higher for state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs), specialized banks (SDBs), and private commercial banks (PCBs) but lower for foreign-owned commercial banks (FCBs) during the COVID-19 epidemic. This suggests that the pandemic does not affect the expansion of green finance by SOCBs, SDBs and PCBs but significantly impacted the growth of green financing by FCBs. Furthermore, the research findings showed that the total outstanding and classified loans within the green finance investment decrease for both banks and NBFIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated that the Bangladeshi banks’ level of automation towards green banking were satisfactory during the pandemic. Therefore, major policy implications for the green economic recovery by the government, BB, and managers of the banks and financial institutions in emerging economies like Bangladesh were discussed.

This paper presents the monitoring of an extremely eroding phenomenon (ravine) near Ciurila, Cluj County, Romania, using UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) technologies, taking into account the objectives of SDG 15 of the UN resolution, which refers to life on earth. In this sense, the results of a monitoring through sustainable and non-invasive technologies are presented, follo-wing three cycles of observations, carried out between June 2019 and April 2021.The paper aims to present the advantages and limitations of such a study , as well as the importance of monitoring erosion phenomena (in this case, ravines) for the ecosystem, but also for the nearby inhabitants. Software and technologies are used that allow the automatic calculation of the volume of the ravine and the displacements between the different measurement cycles, which allows obtaining objective conclusions and pro-posing further measures.

Recent climatic disasters (dzudzs) and uncontrolled massive breeding endangered valuable ge-netic resources of Mongolian goats labored by five thousand years of evolution in extremes of Al-tai mountains and Gobi deserts. Meanwhile, Mongolian goats has never been characterized by genomic data. We used Illumina Goat SNP50 to investigate phylogenic relationships and genetic risks in 5 local Mongolian populations: Erchim (N=37) from geographically remote Darkhat Valley in the northern mountains, Ulgii Red (N=35) and Dorgon (N=28) from the western mountain region, Buural (N=34) from the western steppe and mountain areas and Gobi Gurvan Saikhan (N=33) from semi-arid steppe area in the South Gobi region. ROH analyses, estimated populations sizes and Fst values showed South Gobi and Darkhat Valley goats to be of a high risk of inbreed-ing that however appear to be of distinct origin (artificial selection vs geographical isolation). In-dices of genetic differentiations between Mongolian goats were relatively low compared to Euro-pean breeds. Meanwhile, we suggest direct comparison is not fully appropriate given that Mongo-lian breeds were not subjected to intense selection. Darkhat Valley goats were clearly differentiat-ed from other Mongolian breeds according to various types of analyses. Phylogenetic relationships within XXX breeds of the rest of the world plotted Mongolian goats between some Russian (Altai, Orenburg) and Chinese populations (Nanjiang and Qinggeli). Thus, present study (i) highlights demographic history Mongolian goats and (ii)provides unified SNP-data called for support deci-sions in conservational genetics. Finally, our work (iii) raises a question of how exactly these data should be compared to make objective choices.

Surround modulation is a phenomenon whereby costimulation of the extra-classical receptive field and classical receptive field would modulate the visual responses induced individually by classical receptive field. However, there lacks systematic study about surround modulation properties existing in avian optic tectum. In this study, neuronal activities are recorded from pigeon optic tectum, and the responses to moving and flashed squares and bars of different sizes are compared. The statistical results showed that most tectal neurons presented surround suppression as stimuli size grew larger both in moving and flashed paradigms, and the suppression degree induced by larger flashed square was comparable with that by moving one when it crossed near the cell’s RF center, which corresponds to fully surrounding condition. The suppression degree grew weaker when the stimuli move across the RF border, which corresponds to partially surrounding condition. Meanwhile, the fully surround suppression induced by flashed square was also more intense than partially surrounded by flashed bars. The results provide new insight for understanding the spatial arrangement of lateral inhibitions from feedback or feedforward streams, which would help to make clear the generation mechanism of surround modulation found in avian optic tectum.

The paper deals with the Compound Inverse Rayleigh distribution, shown to constitute a proper model for the characterization of the probability distribution of extreme values of wind-speed, a topic which is gaining growing interest in the field of renewable generation assessment, both in view of wind power production evaluation and the wind-tower mechanical reliability and safety. The first part of the paper illustrates such model starting from its origin as a generalization of the Inverse Rayleigh model - already proven to be a valid model for extreme wind-speeds - by means of a continuous mixture generated by a Gamma distribution on the scale parameter, which gives rise to its name. Moreover, its validity to interpret different field data is illustrated, also by means of numerous numerical examples based upon real wind speed measurements. Then, a novel Bayes approach for the estimation of such extreme wind-speed model is proposed. The method relies upon the assessment of prior information in a practical way, that should be easily available to system engineers. In practice, the method allows to express one’s prior beliefs both in terms of parameters, as customary, and/or in terms of probabilities. The results of a large set of numerical simulations – using typical values of wind-speed parameters - are reported to illustrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method. The validity of the approach is also verified in terms of its robustness with respect to significant differences compared to the assumed prior information.

Offsite construction is increasingly being presented as a way to increase housing delivery and reduce the housing crisis. Housing Associations play a pivotal role in the delivery of affordable homes and therefore offsite construction could be beneficial in alleviating the crisis. For offsite construction uptake to increase, the conceptual and pragmatic advantages and challenges surrounding offsite housing in relation to evolving social domestic needs to be explored and understood. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the viability of offsite construction as not only a full-service solution to social housing provision, but an integral strategic partner for meeting the range of specialised fabrication needs for these new properties. A literature review is carried out to explore the conceptual and pragmatic advantages and challenges encountered by HAs adopting offsite construction methods. The paper also investigates which the housing tenures are most suited to offsite construction technology. The paper highlighted that whilst individual case studies and example homes offer one mode of justification for Housing Associations to move forward, it is the cumulative effect of cost savings, sustainability, specialised skill sets, labour reduction, structural innovation, and rate of construction that should be weighed and incorporated into this consideration-making process.

This study focused on the impact of the treatment with the hypomethylating agent 5-Azacitidine on the redox status and inflammation in 24 MDS patients. Clinical and genetic features of MDS patients were recorded and peripheral blood samples were used to determine the activity of the endogenous antioxidant defense system (superoxide dismutase, SOD, catalase, CAT, glutathion peroxidase, GPx, and reductase, GRd, activities), markers of oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation, LPO, and advanced oxidation protein products, AOPP). Moreover, pro-inflammatory cytokines and plasma nitrite plus nitrate levels as markers of inflammation, and CoQ10 plasma levels, were also measured. Globally, MDS patients showed less redox status in terms of a reduction in the GSSG/GSH ratio and in the LPO levels, and increased CAT activity compared with healthy subjects, with not changes in SOD, GPx and GRd activities, and AOPP levels. When analyzed the evolution from early- to advanced stages of the disease, the GPx activity, GSSG/GSH ratio, LPO and AOPP increased, with a reduction in CAT. GPx changes were related with the presence of risk factors such as high-risk IPSS-R or mutational score. Besides, there was an increase in IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α plasma levels, with further increase of IL-2 and IL-10 from early to advanced stage of the disease. However, we did not observe any association between inflammation and oxidative stress. Finally, 5-azacitidine treatment generates oxidative stress in MDS patients, without affecting inflammation levels, suggesting that oxidative status and inflammation are two independent processes.

Gene expression variations of plant leaf are investigated by irradiating seed and leaf with oxygen or air plasmas. Enhancement of leaf growth is induced by oxygen plasma irradiation on seeds, which is supported by increased gene expression for protein synthesis, oxidative-reduction reactions and decreased gene expression concerning DNA methylation and histone modification. Suppression of leaf growth is observed by the oxygen plasma, which would be owing to increased gene expression concerning heat shock protein and redox reaction, and decreased expression of photosynthesis and glycoprotein. Also, gene expression variation due to air plasma irradiation is almost same as that of oxygen plasma. Active oxygen species are major factors in both oxygen and air plasmas for the variation of gene expressions in plant.

Ammonia known as harmful gas that could impact on health and environment. Typically, ammonia gas emitted by fertilizer industry, rubber factory, etc. There are many options for advance industry to control ammonia gas pollution, absorption tower using water scrubber and using activated carbon as adsorption reaction could be an option. But for middle- and lower-class industry, it is common in Indonesia, as seen on many rubber factories, ammonia gas pollution is serious problem to control, actually they have used wet scrubber but eficiency is lower about 47%. This study measure performance for ammonia elimination as gas pollutant using absorption tower and adsorption tower in laboratory scale. Using electrochemical gas sensor, we measure both ammonia concentration for inlet and outlet simultaneously to settle saturation point of these two types of ammonia emission control. In conclusion, Ammonia absorbed in water proportional to saturation time and absorbent volume. Highest absorbed ammonia concentration 1.538 mg/L on 4000 mL absorbent. For Adsorption system, saturation time proportional and correlated to adsorbent weight and Adsorption capacity reverse correlated to adsorbent weight. Optimum adsorption point can be achieved from intersection curve between saturation time and adsorption capacity which is 1200 grams adsorbent

Museums increasingly recognize the need to address advances in digital culture which impact the expectations and needs of their audiences. Museum collections of real objects need to be presented both on their own premises and digitally online, especially as social media becomes more and more influential in people’s everyday lives. We investigate these challenges magnified by advances in digital and computational media and culture looking particularly at recent and relevant reports on changes in the ways museums interact with the public. We find that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many of the changes driving museum transformation. We believe that museums must be more prepared than ever to adapt to unabated technological advances set in the midst of cultural and social revolution, now intrinsic to the digital landscape in which museums are inevitably connected and participating across the global digital ecosystem where they inevitably find themselves entrenched.

Development of the central nervous system (CNS) depends on accurate spatiotemporal control of signalling pathways and transcription programs. Forkhead Box G1 (FOXG1) is one of the master regulators that plays fundamental roles in forebrain development, from the timing of neurogenesis to the patterning of the cerebral cortex. Mutations in the FOXG1 gene cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder called FOXG1 syndrome, also known as congenital form of Rett syndrome. Patients presenting with FOXG1 syndrome manifest a spectrum of phenotypes ranging from severe cognitive dysfunction and microcephaly to social withdrawal and communication deficits with varying severities. To develop and improve therapeutic interventions, there has been considerable progress towards unravelling the multi-faceted functions of FOXG1 in neurodevelopment and pathogenesis of FOXG1 syndrome. Moreover, recent advances in genome editing and stem cell technologies, as well as increased yield of information from high throughput omics opened promising and important new avenues in FOXG1 research. In this review, we provide a summary of clinical features and emerging molecular mechanisms underlying FOXG1 syndrome, and explore disease-modelling approaches in animals and human-based systems to highlight prospects of research and possible clinical interventions.

Ordinary computing machines prohibit self-reference because it leads to logical inconsistencies and undecidability. In contrast, the human mind can understand self-referential statements without necessitating physically impossible brain states. Why can the brain make sense of self-reference? Here, we address this question by defining the Strange Loop Model, which features causal feedback between two brain modules, and circumvents the paradoxes of self-reference and negation by unfolding the inconsistency in time. We also argue that the metastable dynamics of the brain inhibit and terminate unhalting inferences. Finally, we show that the representation of logical inconsistencies in the Strange Loop Model leads to causal incongruence between brain subsystems in Integrated Information Theory.

Background: Supportive supervision has lately been gaining traction in various national health systems as an effective way of boosting the performance of community health workers in a constructive and sustainable way. However, not much is known about the basis/mandate of supportive supervision and its approach in maternal and child health programs in India. The current analysis contributes to a clearer understanding of the paradigms within which supportive supervision is envisioned to operate within India and identifies potential strengths and areas requiring attention. Method: Document analysis of implementation documents such as guidelines/ operational manuals/operationalization modules/ training modules of nationally implemented maternal and child health programs, with data extraction according to a pre-determined domain-based template. Results: Many of the documents reviewed do not mention supportive supervision at all. In the few documents where supportive supervision is mentioned, the paradigms within which it is supposed to operate (who will do it, when will it be done, how to do it, training and logistic support, reporting formats, etc.) have not been clearly identified in most programs. Conclusion: Even though supportive supervision is being increasingly identified as an effective way of performative improvement in national health programs in India, more effort needs to be put into identifying and enforcing the tenets of supportive supervision in practice, in order to bring about the desired change.

Technological advances such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, social media, geographic information systems represent a building block of the digital transformation that supports the resilience of the food supply chain (FSC) and increases its efficiency. This paper reviews the literature surrounding digitalization in FSCs. A bibliometric and key-route main path analysis was carried out to objectively and analytically uncover the knowledge development in digitalization within the context of sustainable FSCs. The research began with the selection of 2140 articles published nearly over five decades. Then, the articles were examined according to several bibliometric metrics such as year of publication, countries, institutions, sources, authors, and keywords frequency. A keyword co-occurrence network was generated to cluster the relevant literature. Findings of the review and bibliometric analysis indicate that research at the intersection of technology and the FSC has gained substantial interest from scholars. On the basis of keyword co-occurrence network, the literature is focused on the role of information communication technology for agriculture and food security, food waste and circular economy, and the merge of the Internet of Things and blockchain in the FSC. The analysis of the key-route main path uncovers three critical periods marking the development of technology-enabled FSCs. The study offers scholars a better understanding of digitalization within the agri-food industry and the current knowledge gaps for future research. Practitioners may find the review useful to remain ahead of the latest discussions of technology-enabled FSCs. To the authors’ best knowledge, the current study is one of the few endeavors to explore technology-enabled FSCs using a comprehensive sample of journals articles published during the past five decades.

Phenotypic characterization of crop genotypes is an essential yet challenging aspect of crop management and agriculture research. Digital sensing technologies are rapidly advancing plant phenotyping and speeding-up crop breeding outcomes. However, off-the-shelf sensors might not be fully applicable and suitable for agriculture research due to diversity in crop species and specific needs during plant breeding selections. Customized sensing systems with specialized sensor hardware and software architecture provide a powerful and low-cost solution. This study designed and developed a fully integrated Raspberry Pi-based LiDAR sensor named CropBioMass (CBM), enabled by internet of things to provide a complete end-to-end pipeline. The CBM is a low-cost sensor, provides high-throughput seamless data collection in field, small data footprint, injection of data onto the remote server, and automated data processing. Phenotypic traits of crop fresh biomass, dry biomass, and plant height estimated by CBM data had high correlation with ground truth manual measurements in wheat field trial. The CBM is readily applicable for high-throughput plant phenotyping, crop monitoring, and management for precision agricultural applications.

Our work uses Iterative Boltzmann Inversion (IBI) to study the coarse-grained interaction between 20 amino acids and the representative carbon nanotube CNT55L3. IBI is a multi-scale simulation method that has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. It can effectively modify the coarse-grained model derived from the Potential of Mean Force (PMF). IBI is based on the distribution result obtained by All-Atom molecular dynamics simulation, that is, the target distribution function, the PMF potential energy is extracted, and then the initial potential energy extracted by the PMF is used to perform simulation iterations using IBI. Our research results have gone through more than 100 iterations, and finally, the distribution obtained by coarse-grained molecular simulation (CGMD) can effectively overlap with the results of all-atom molecular dynamics simulation (AAMD). In addition, our work lays the foundation for the study of force fields for the simulation of the coarse-graining of super-large proteins and other important nanoparticles.

As a potential motivation, psychological empowerment stimulates employees' work behaviors, and it determines the degree of effort and duration of employees' work. Only when employees are psychologically empowered, will they have an impact on their behavior when they believe that they are trusted. This paper chose to set the independent variable as the employee's perceived trust and the dependent variable as the company's work performance, and explored the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the two. The psychological empowerment of employees had a positive impact on work performance. Employees with high psychological empowerment tended to be proactive in their work, and had more input in the work, which in turn encouraged employees to have higher work performance. The four dimensions of psychological empowerment can positively affect employee task performance, and the ability and influence of psychological empowerment had a positive impact on relationship performance. Psychological empowerment as a whole perception played a part of the mediating role between the perception of superior dependency and task performance, and it played a part of the mediating role between perception of superior dependency and relationship performance. As a whole perception, psychological empowerment played a part of mediating role between perceived information disclosure and task performance, and part of mediating role between perceived information disclosure and relationship performance. In the study of perceived trust and work performance, this article focused on the mediating role of psychological empowerment, and further understood the internal mechanism of perceived trust.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is considered vital to the success of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Systems Thinking has been identified as a core competency necessary to incorporate into ESD. Systems Thinking orientated ESD learning tools, established methods of assessment of sustainability skills, and studies to demonstrate effectiveness of such learning tools, are all lacking. There is a wealth of experience in the System Dynamics field regarding the application of Systems Thinking and simulation to environmental problems, sustainability and systems education. Many System Dynamicists regard simulation as essential for teaching Systems Thinking. The substantial body of research into the design of effective simulation-based learning environments (SBLEs) can also inform ESD initiatives. This research describes a randomised controlled trial (n=106) to investigate whether an online sustainability learning tool that incorporates Systems Thinking and System Dynamics simulation increases understanding of a specific problem and supports transfer of knowledge to a second problem with a similar systemic structure. The effects of Systems Thinking and simulation were tested separately and in combination. The learning tool was designed for a single online learning session. Simulation was found to increase ESD learning outcomes significantly, and also to support transfer of skills, although less significantly.

Transparent, flexible, biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets were modified by bioactive polymer-fibronectin top layers for the attachment of cells and growth of muscle fibers. Towards this end, PET sheets were grafted with 4-(dimethylamino)phenyl (DMA) groups from the in situ generated corresponding diazonium compound. The arylated sheets served as macro-hydrogen donors for benzophenone and the growth of poly(2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) top layer by surface-confined free radical photopolymerization. The PET-PHEMA sheets were further grafted with fibronectin (FBN) through the 1,1-carbonyldiimidazole coupling procedures. The bioactive PET-PHEMA-I-FBN was then employed as a platform for the attachment, proliferation and differentiation of eukaryotic cells which after a few days gave remarkable muscle fibers, of ~120 µm length and ~45 µm thickness. We demonstrate that PET-PHEMA yields a fast growth of cells followed by muscle fibers of excellent levels of differentiation compared to pristine PET or standard microscope glass slides. The positive effect is exacerbated by crosslinking PHEMA chains with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate at initial HEMA/EGDMA concentration ratio = 9/1. This works conclusively shows that in situ generated diazonium salts provide aryl layers for the efficient UV-induced grafting of biocompatible coating that beneficially serve as platform for cell attachment and growth of muscle fibers. Beyond this work, diazonium coupling agents constitute the corner stone of next generation processes for building flexible platforms for cell adhesion and uses thereof.

The choice of effective biocides used for routine hospital practice should consider the role of disinfectants in the maintenance and development of local resistome and how they might affect antibiotic resistance gene transfer within the hospital microbial population. Currently, there is little understanding of how different biocides contribute to eDNA release that may contribute to gene transfer and subsequent environmental retention. Here we investigated how different biocides affected the release of eDNA from mature biofilms of two opportunistic model strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 (PA) and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (SA) and contribute to the hospital resistome in the form of surface and water contaminants and dust particles. The effect of four groups of biocides including alcohols, hydrogen peroxide, quaternary ammonium compounds, and polymeric guanidines were evaluated using PA and SA biofilms. Most biocides, except for PHMG-Cl and 70% ethanol, caused substantial eDNA release and PHMG-Cl was found to block biofilm development when used at concentrations of 0.5% and 0.1%. This might be associated with the formation of DNA-PHMG-Cl complexes as PHMG-Cl is predicted to bind to AT base pairs by molecular docking assays. PHMG-Cl was found to bind high molecular DNA and plasmid DNA and continued to inactivate DNA on surfaces even after four weeks. PHMG-Cl also effectively inactivated biofilm-associated antibiotic resistance gene eDNA released by a pan-drug-resistant Klebsiella strain which demonstrates the potential of PHMG-Cl as a new surface-active agent to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance in hospital settings.

Psychedelics are drugs capable of eliciting profound alterations in the subjective experience of the users, sometimes with long-lasting consequences. Because of this, psychedelic research tends to focus on human subjects, given their capacity to construct detailed narratives about the contents of their consciousness experiences. In spite of its relevance, the interaction between serotonergic psychedelics and language production is comparatively understudied in the recent literature. This review is focused on two aspects of this interaction: how the acute effects of psychedelic drugs impact on speech organization regardless of its semantic content, and how to characterize the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs by analyzing the semantic content of written retrospective reports. We show that the computational characterization of language production is an emergent powerful tool to predict the therapeutic outcome of individual experiences, relate the effects elicited by psychedelics with those associated with other altered states of consciousness, draw comparisons between the psychedelic state and the symptomatology of certain psychiatric disorders, and investigate the neurochemical profile and mechanism of action of different psychedelic drugs. We conclude that researchers studying psychedelics can considerably expand the range of their potential scientific conclusions by analyzing brief interviews obtained before, during and after the acute effects. Finally, we list a series of questions and open problems that should be addressed to further consolidate this approach.

Having valid and reliable tools that help health professionals to assess fear in children undergoing medical procedures is essential to offer humanized and quality of care in the paediatric population. The aim of this study was to develop the cross-cultural adaptation and the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the “Child Medical Fear Scale” in its shortened version (CMFS-R). The design consisted of two phases, first of cross-cultural adaptation and second of the psychometric validation of the CMFS-R with a sample of 262 children from Spain. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess construct validity and the Cronbach alpha and the adjusted item-total score correlation coefficients were performed to study reliability. The results confirmed internal consistency and construct validity of the Spanish version of the CMFS-R, indicating that the scale has an acceptable level of validity and reliability. Therefore, this study brings a new version of the scale to assess fear related to medical procedures for use in the Spanish paediatric population.

Migraine is a primary headache disorder characterized by unilateral throbbing, pulsing headache, which lasts for hours to days, and the pain can interfere with daily activities. It exhibits various symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, sound, and odors and physical activity consistently contributes to worsening pain. Despite the intensive research, little is still known about the pathomechanism of migraine. It is widely accepted that migraine involves activation and sensitization of the trigeminovascular system. It leads to the release of several pro-inflammatory neuropeptides and neurotransmitters and causes a cascade of inflammatory tissue responses including vasodilation, plasma extravasation secondary to capillary leakage, edema, and mast cell degranulation. Convincing evidence obtained in rodent models suggests that neurogenic inflammation is assumed to contribute to the development of a migraine attack. Chemical stimulation of the dura mater triggers activation and sensitization of the trigeminal system and causes numerous molecular and behavioral changes; therefore, this is a relevant animal model of acute migraine. This review article discusses the emerging evidence supporting the involvement of neurogenic inflammation and neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of migraine, presenting the most recent advances in preclinical research and the novel therapeutic approaches to the disease.

This paper proposes a solution for the development of microclimate monitoring for Low Voltage / High Voltage switchgear using the PRTG Internet of Things (IoT) platform. This IoT-based real time monitoring system can enable predictive maintenance to reduce the risk of electrical station malfunctions due to unfavorable environmental conditions. The combination of humidity and dust can lead to unplanned electrical discharges along the isolators inside a low or medium voltage electric table. If no predictive measures are taken, the situation may deteriorate and lead to significant damage inside and outside the switchgear cell. Thus, the mentioned situation can lead to unprogrammed maintenance interventions that can conduct to the change of the entire affected switchgear cell. Using a low-cost and efficient system, the climate conditions inside and outside the switchgear is monitored and transmitted remotely to a monitoring center. From the results obtained using a 365-day time interval, we can conclude that the proposed system is integrated successfully in the switchgear maintaining process, having as result the reducing of maintenance costs.

Urban air quality is increasingly being studied as a fraction of the world's population is now living in megacities. In this study, particulate matter (PM) along Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines, is investigated in terms of its ability to induce genetic damage on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Size-segregated roadside air samples were obtained from 2015-2016 near the university gate and analyzed using in vitro micronucleus and cytokinesis-block proliferation tests. While cellular proliferation was unaffected by 0 – 0.1 kg·m-3 of PM1.0 and PM2.5, PBL cells treated with PM2.5 displayed significantly higher micronucleus count (p = 0.03) compared to the cells treated with PM1.0. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy revealed greater amounts of Cd, Ca, Pb, K, Na, and Zn in PM2.5 compared to PM1.0. The results indicate the differences in composition of the two size fractions of air particulates are associated with their genotoxicities.

Kininogens are multidomain glycoproteins found in the blood of most vertebrates. They are important in the blood coagulation cascade pathways - in intrinsic pathway activation leading to thrombin generation partially independently from tissue factor dependent extrinsic pathway, connecting blood coagulation with the kallikrein-kinin system. Nothing is known about the shape on atomic level therefore the endeavor to obtain the good-quality spatial structure of kininogens is important for a better understanding of their role in disease and treatment. Application of cryo-EM is important for solving the spatial structure of kininogens, drawing new frontiers in understanding the function and opening new pathways for drug development.

This study examined the tail dependency structure of sovereign credit risk and three global risk factors in BRICS countries using copulas approach, which is known for its ability to provide the “true” tail correlation based on the correct marginal distribution. The empirical results show that global market risk sentiment comoves with sovereign CDS spreads across BRICS countries under extreme market events, with Brazil having the highest co-dependency followed by China, Russia, and South Africa. Furthermore, oil price volatility is the second biggest risk factor correlated with sovereign CDS spreads for Brazil and South Africa while exchange rate risk exhibits very small co-dependence with sovereign CDS spreads under extreme market conditions dominated by tail events. On the contrary, exchange rate risk is the second largest risk factor co-moving with China and Russia’s sovereign CDS spreads while oil price volatility exhibits the lowest co-dependence to CDS in these countries. Between oil price and currency risk, evidence of single risk factor dominance is found for Russia where exchange rate risk is largely dominant. These results suggest that BRICS policymakers might consider financial sector regulations that mitigate risks spill-over such as targeted capital controls when markets are distressed.

Radiation Fireballs are singular phenomena which involve severe thermal radiation and consequently, they need to be duly assessed and prevented. Although the radiative heat transfer produced by a sphere is relatively well known, the shadowing measures implemented to control the fireball’s devastating effects have frequently posed a difficult analytical instance, mainly due to its specific configuration. In this article, since the usual solving equations for the said cases are impractical, the authors propose a novel graphic-algorithm method that sorts the problem efficiently for different kinds of obstructions and relative positions of the fireball and the defenses. Adequate application of this method may improve the safety of a significant number of facilities exposed to such risks.

At INFN-LNS, and in collaboration with the ATOMKI laboratories, an innovative multi-diagnostic system with advanced analytical methods has been designed and implemented. This is based on several detectors and techniques (Optical Emission Spectroscopy, RF systems, Interfero-polarimetry, X-ray detectors) and here we focus on high resolution spatially-resolved X-ray spectroscopy, performed by means of a X-ray pin-hole camera setup operating in the 0.5−20 keV energy domain. The diagnostic system was installed at a 14 GHz Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source (ATOMKI, Debrecen), enabling high precision X-ray spectrally-resolved imaging of ECR plasmas heated by hundreds of Watts. The achieved spatial and energy resolution were 0.5 mm and 300 eV at 8 keV, respectively. We here present the innovative analysis algorithm that we properly developed for obtaining Single Photon-Counted (SPhC) images providing the local plasma emitted spectrum in a High-Dynamic-Range (HDR) mode, by distinguishing fluorescence lines of the materials of the plasma chamber (Ti, Ta) from plasma (Ar). This method allows a quantitative characterization of warm electrons population in the plasma (and its 2D distribution) which are the most important for ionization, and also to estimate local plasma density and spectral temperatures. The developed post-processing analysis is also able to remove the readout noise, that is often observable at very low exposure times (msec). The setup is now under update including fast shutters and trigger systems in order to allow simultaneously space and time-resolved plasma spectroscopy during transients, stable and turbulent regimes.

There are several causes of hypoxia during and after surgery, and atelectasis is a common symptom that occurs during surgery. In particular, elderly patients are more vulnerable to hypoxia due to their existing lung diseases or respiratory muscle weakness. This study presents the cases of two elderly patients who developed hypoxia during total hip arthroplasty under general anesthesia. Positive end expiratory pressure, recruitment maneuver, and increased fraction of inspired oxygen improved hypoxia only temporarily, and patients’ oxygen saturation level again dropped to 79%–80%. We suspected that hypoxia was caused by atelectasis and, therefore, re-sumed spontaneous respiration. Thereafter, both the patients showed an improvement in hypoxia. Intraopera-tive hypoxia that is suspected to be caused by atelectasis can be improved by securing sufficient lung volume for respiration through increased muscle tone with spontaneous respiration

To reduce the carbon emissions during heating in the manufacturing process, microwaves have attracted significant attention. Microwave has a lot of advantages rather than traditional heating method such as rapid heating, lower thermal damage and eco-friendly process. In order to apply microwaves to manufacturing process, uniform and efficient heating is required. We have analyzed the effect of various design parameters such as cavity heights, the application of the reflector, and the number and positions of waveguides for uniform and efficient heating by numerical simulation and verified that by experiment. The results showed that a slight change in the cavity height altered the electromagnetic field distribution and heating parameters, such as the coefficient of variance and power absorption efficiency. With reflectors installed, uniform heating was achieved and power absorption was improved, with the spherical reflector showing the maximum efficiency. The use of double waveguides heated the target material in a uniform manner. An increase in the power supply also led to uniform heating. This large-scale analysis will be helpful in applying microwaves to actual industrial sites.

Glycine is an important neurotransmitter in vertebrates, performing both excitatory and inhibitory actions. Synaptic levels of glycine are tightly controlled by the action of two glycine transporters, GlyT1 and GlyT2, located on the surface of glial cells and glycinergic or glutamatergic neurons, respectively. Glycinergic neurotransmission in invertebrates has so far only been investigated in a very limited number of species, and, although it was suggested that its functions are to some extent conserved with vertebrates, the evolution of glycinergic neurotransmission remains very poorly understood. Here, by combining phylogenetic and gene expression analyses, we characterized the glycine transporter complement of amphioxus, an important invertebrate model for studying the evolution of chordates. We show that amphioxus possesses three glycine transporter genes, two of which (GlyT2.1 and GlyT2.2) are closely related to GlyT2 of vertebrates, while the other (GlyT) is a member of an ancestral clade of deuterostome glycine transporters. While expression of GlyT2.2 is predominantly non-neural, GlyT and GlyT2.1 are widely expressed in the amphioxus nervous system and are characterized by differential expression in neurons and glia, respectively. However, in vertebrates, glycinergic neurons express GlyT2 and glia GlyT1, suggesting that the evolution of the chordate glycinergic system was accompanied by complex genetic remodeling leading to the paralog-specific inversion of gene expression. Albeit this genetic divergence between amphioxus and vertebrates, we found strong evidence for a general conservation of the role of glycinergic neurotransmission during larval swimming, allowing us to hypothesize that the neural networks controlling the rhythmic movement of chordate bodies are homologous.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. These outcomes are interdependent, and both rely on the capacity of NbS to support and enhance the health of an ecosystem: its biodiversity, the condition of its abiotic and biotic elements, and its capacity to function normally despite environmental change. However, while understanding of ecosystem health outcomes of nature-based interventions for climate change mitigation is growing, the outcomes of those implemented for adaptation remain poorly understood with evidence scattered across multiple disciplines. To address this, we conducted a systematic review of the outcomes of 109 nature-based interventions for climate change adaptation using 33 indicators of ecosystem health across eight broad categories (e.g. diversity, biomass, ecosystem functioning and population dynamics). We showed that 88% of interventions with positive outcomes for climate change adaptation also reported measurable benefits for ecosystem health. We also showed that interventions were associated with a 67% average increase in local species richness. All eight studies that reported benefits in terms of both climate change mitigation and adaptation also supported ecosystem health, leading to a triple win. However, there were also trade-offs, mainly for forest management and creation of novel ecosystems such as monoculture plantations of non-native species. Our review highlights two major limitations of research to date. First, only a limited selection of metrics are used to assess ecosystem health and these rarely include key aspects such as functional diversity and habitat connectivity. Second, taxonomic coverage is poor: 67% of outcomes assessed only plants and 57% did not distinguish between native and non-native species. Future research addressing these issues will allow the design and adaptive management of NbS to support healthy and resilient ecosystems, and thereby enhance their effectiveness for meeting both climate and biodiversity targets.

The SARS-CoV-2 polybasic furin cleavage site is still a missing link. Remarkably, the two arginine residues of this protease recognition site are encoded by the CGG codon, which is rare in Betacoronavirus. However, the arginine pair is common at viral furin cleavage sites, but are not CGG-CGG encoded. The question is: Is this genetic footprint unique to the SARS-CoV-2? To address the issue, using Perl scripts, here I dissect in detail the NCBI Virus database in order to report the arginine dimers of the Betacoronavirus proteins. The main result reveals that a group of Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (isolates: camel/Nigeria/NVx/2016, host: Camelus dromedarius) also have the CGG-CGG arginine pair in the spike protein polybasic furin cleavage region. In addition, CGG-CGG encoded arginine pairs were found in the orf1ab polyprotein from HKU9 and HKU14 Betacoronavirus, as well as, in the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein from few SARS-CoV-2 isolates. To quantify the probability of finding the arginine CGG-CGG codon pair in Betacoronavirus, the likelihood ratio (LR) and a Markov model were defined. In conclusion, it is highly unlikely to find this genetic marker in betacoronaviruses wildlife, but they are there. Collectively, results shed light on recombination as origin of the virus CGG-CGG arginine pair in the S1/S2 cleavage site.

Objectives To delineate the features of ischemic stroke patients and their caregivers that may predict distress, depression, and anxiety symptoms in the caregivers. Methods The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS), Zarit Burden Interview (22 item-ZBI), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) were used to assess caregivers' burden, stress, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. We performed partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in order to delineate a multi-step mediation model.Results In this study, 97 stroke patients and their caregivers were included. Multiple regression analysis revealed that ZBI-personal strain and stroke of other determined etiology explained 15.0 percent of the variance in the HADS depression score (p=0.001). We discovered that the caregiver's underlying disease and the National Institute Stroke Score (NIHSS) of the patients explained 13.6 percent of the variance in the total ZBI score of the caregivers (p=0.001). The total ZBI score, the presence of lacunar circulation infarction in the patients, and the caregiver's underlying disease explained 40.9 percent of the variance in the total PSS score of the caregivers (p <0.001). Moreover, PLS analysis showed that the NIHSS and the caregiver's underlying disease had significant indirect effects on the HADS score which were mediated by the ZBI score. Conclusions A large part of the variance in stress and depressive scores in caregivers of ischemic stroke patients is determined by the patient's disability, dependency, cognition, and stroke phenotypes, as well as the caregiver's health status and burden. Screening for the aforementioned factors in ischemic stroke caregivers is critical.

A recent report from the American Heart Association in 2018 shows that over 103 million American adults have hypertension. The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) (EC 3.4.15.1) is a dipeptidyl carboxylase that, when inhibited, can reduce blood pressure through the renin-angiotensin system. ACE inhibitors are used as a first-line medication to be prescribed to treat hypertension, chronic kidney disease, heart failure among others. It has been suggested that ACE inhibitors can reduce the symptoms in mouse models. Despite the benefits of ACE inhibitors, previous studies also have suggested that alterations in the ACE gene are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurological diseases. In mice, overexpression of ACE in the brain reduces symptoms of the AD-model systems. Thus, we find opposing effects of ACE on health. To clarify the effects, we dissect the functions of ACE as follows: (1) angiotensin-converting enzyme that hydrolyzes angiotensin I to make angiotensin II in the renin-angiotensin system; (2) amyloid-degrading enzyme that can hydrolyze beta-amyloid and reduce amyloid toxicity. The efficacy of the ACE inhibitors is well established in humans, while the knowledge specific to AD remains to be open for further research. We provide an overview of ACE and inhibitors that link a wide variety of age-related comorbidities from hypertension to Alzheimer’s disease to aging. ACE also serves as an example of the middle-life crisis theory that assumes deleterious events during the midlife, leading to age-related later events.

This study measures the technical and scale efficiency of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and input slacks using Data Envelop Analysis (DEA) model and identifies the determinants of efficiencies of MSEs by employing ordinary least square (OLS) econometrics model. A sample of 375 randomly selected MESs are included in the study. The study found that the average technical and scale efficiency of MSEs are relatively low; technical efficiency averaged at 30 percent and 38.4 percent under constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) assumptions, respectively. Besides, the overall average scale efficiency score of MSEs was estimated at 77.8 percent. The highest mean technical and scale efficiencies were registered in the construction (71.8 percent) and manufacturing (85.7 percent) sectors, respectively. Whereas, the lowest technical and scale efficiency goes to urban agriculture sector and service sector, with 38.9 percent and 67.2 percent, respectively. The level of inputs, enterprise age and sector, human capital, labor productivity variables significantly affect relative technical efficiency level of MSEs with different directions while variables such as start-up capital, gender of the enterprise manager and availability of support from the government identified statistically not significant in determining the MSEs’ technical efficiency.

Following Smolin, we proceed to unification of general relativity and quantum theory by operating solely with events, i.e., without appealing to physical systems and space-time. The universe is modelled as a dendrogram (finite tree) expressing the hierarchic relations between events. This is the observational (epistemic) model; the ontic model is based on p-adic numbers (infinite trees). Hence, we use novel mathematics—not only space-time but even real numbers are not in use. Here, the p-adic space (which is zero dimensional) serves as the base for the holographic image of the universe. In this way our theory relates to p-adic physics; in particular, p-adic string theory and complex disordered systems (p-adic representation of Parisi matrix for spin glasses). Our Dendrogramic-Holographic (DH) theory matches perfectly with the Mach’s principle and Brans-Dicke theory. We found surprising informational interrelation between the fundamental constants, h, c, G, and their DH-analogues, h(D), c(D), G(D). DH-theory is part of Wheeler’s project on the information restructuring of physics. It is also a step towards the Unified Field theory. The universal potential V is nonlocal, but this is relational DH-nonlocality. V can be coupled to the Bohm quantum potential by moving to the real representation. This coupling enhanced the role of the Bohm potential.

Main purposes and research question: Wheat is the second largest grain crop by tonnage in the world and the largest in Denmark. Given the observed, adverse impacts on wheat yields of climate change and the importance of wheat in the human diet, the purpose of this study was to use life cycle assessment to compare conventional wheat farming with indoor vertical farming using hydroponics. Methods: Life Cycle Assessment was used to assess the base case systems up to the “farm gate” for 1 tonne of wheat grain. The processes contributing most of the impacts were identified, and scenarios were assessed to determine how much the impacts could be reduced. Results: The conventional system outperformed the base case vertical system in every impact category, due to the electricity consumption in the lighting system. The scenarios included increasing the efficiency of the LED lighting and using 100% wind energy, but the conventional system still outperformed the vertical system by significant margins in all impact categories. This was due to the low photosynthetic conversion efficiency and the high energy density of wheat. Conclusions: Until significant improvements are made to lighting efficiency, the photosynthesis conversion efficiency of wheat, new wheat variants designed for vertical gardens and the sustainability of electricity supply, conventional wheat production will be environmentally preferable and vertical gardens would be advised to focus on food products with low energy densities.

Every petroleum processing industry produces sewage sludge containing several types of poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) components. The degradation of PAH components by physical, biological and chemical methods is not efficient. The use of marine sponge symbiont bacteria is considered an alternative method in the degradation and reduction of PAHs com-pared to the previous method. This study aims to explore the potential and performance of a consortium of sponge symbiont bacteria in degrading anthracene and pyrene. There are three types of bacteria (Bacillus pumilus strain GLB197, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain SLG510A3-8, Acineto-bacter calcoaceticus strain SLCDA 976) were mixed to form a consortium. The interaction between the bacterial consortium suspension and PAH components was measured at 5-day intervals for 25 days. The biodegradation performance of bacteria on PAHs samples was determined based on five biodegradation parameters. The analysis results showed a decrease in the concentration of anthracene (21.89%) and pyrene (7.71%), equivalent to a ratio of 3: 1. The data was followed by a decrease in the abundance of anthracene (60.30%) and pyrene (27.52%), an equivalent ratio of 2: 1. The level of degradation of the pyrene component is lower than that of the anthracene compo-nent, presumably due to the higher toxicity of pyrene and the more stable molecular structure, making it difficult for bacterial cells to destroy it. The biodegradation products are organic compounds of alcohol, aldehyde, carboxylic acids and a small proportion of aromatic hydrocarbon components. Keywords: performance; biodegradation; bacterial consortium; marine sponge; PAHs

As a relatively high percentage of adenoma polyps are missed, a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) tool based on deep learning can aid the endoscopist in diagnosing colorectal polyps or colorectal cancer in order to decrease polyps missing rate and prevent colorectal cancer mortality. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a deep learning method and has achieved better results in detecting and segmenting specific objects in images in the last decade than conventional models such as regression, support vector machines or artificial neural networks. In recent years, based on the studies in medical imaging criteria, CNN models have acquired promising results in detecting masses and lesions in various body organs, including colorectal polyps. In this review, the structure and architecture of CNN models and how colonoscopy images are processed as input and converted to the output are explained in detail. In most primary studies conducted in the colorectal polyp detection and classification field, the CNN model has been regarded as a black box since the calculations performed at different layers in the model training process have not been clarified precisely. Furthermore, I discuss the differences between the CNN and conventional models, inspect how to train the CNN model for diagnosing colorectal polyps or cancer, and evaluate model performance after the training process.

The advancement of precision medicine critically depends on the robustness and specificity of the carriers used for the targeted delivery of effector molecules in the human body. Numerous nanocarriers have been explored in vivo, to ensure the precise delivery of molecular cargos via tissue-specific targeting, including the endocrine part of the pancreas, thyroid, and adrenal glands. However, even after reaching the target organ, the cargo-carrying vehicle needs to enter the cell and then escape from lysosomal destruction. Most of artificial nanocarriers suffer from intrinsic limitations that either prevent them from completing the specific delivery of the cargo. In this respect, extracellular vesicles (EVs) seem to be the natural tool for payload delivery due to their versatility and low toxicity. However, EV-mediated delivery is not selective and usually short-ranged. By inserting the viral membrane fusion proteins into exosomes, it is possible to increase the efficiency of membrane recognition and also ease the process of membrane fusion. This review describes the molecular details of the viral-assisted interaction between the target cell and extracellular vesicles. We also discuss the question of the usability of viral fusion proteins in developing extracellular vesicle-based nanocarriers with higher efficacy of payload delivery. Finally, this review specifically highlights the role of Gag and RNA binding proteins in RNA sorting into extracellular vesicles.

The rapid growth of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector requires additional infrastructure, such as more micro-datacenters and telecom stations, to support the higher internet speeds and low latency requirements of 5G net-works. The increased power requirements of the new ICT technologies necessitate the proposal of new power supplies in an attempt to retain the increase in energy demand and running costs. This work provides an in-depth theoretical analysis on the losses of the individual stages of commercially available PSU and proposes a new multicell PSU, Buck-PFC converter, which offers a higher overall efficiency at varying load levels. The theoretical results are verified using simulation results, via PSIM Thermal Module, and using experimental data. The results indicate that multi-cell structures can improve the overall PSU ef-ficiency by 1.2% at 50% rated power and more than 2.1% at full power. Finally, taking into consideration the economic implica-tions of this study, it is shown that the proposed multicell structure may increase the PSU costs by 10.78% but the payback pe-riod is in the order of just 3.3 years.

In this work, the cross-linked PMMA-based dental resins scraps were submitted to pyrolysis to recover MMA (Methylmethacrylate). The thermal degradation of cross-linked PMMA-based dental resins scraps was analyzed by TG/DTG to guide the operating conditions in pilot scale. The pyrolysis experiments carried out in a reactor of 143L, at 345, 405, and 420°C, 1.0 atmosphere. The reaction liquid products obtained at 345°C, physicochemical characterized for density, kinematic viscosity, and refractive index. The chemical composition of liquid products obtained at 345°C, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 110 minutes, at 405°C, 50, 70, and 130 minutes, and at 420°C, 40, 50, 80, 100, 110, and 130 minutes determined by GC-MS. The experiments show that liquid phase yields were 55.50%, 48.73%, and 48.20% (wt.), at 345, 405, and 420°C, respectively, showing a smooth sigmoid behavior, decreasing with increasing temperature, while that of gas phase were 31.69%, 36.60%, and 40.13% (wt.), respectively, increasing with temperature. The liquid products density, kinematic viscosity, and refractive index obtained at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 110 minutes, varied between 0.9227 and 0.9380 g/mL, 0.566 and 0.588 mm2/s, and 1.401 and 1.414, respectively, showing percentage deviations between 0.74 and 2.36%, 7.40 and 10.86%, and 0.00 and 0.92%, respectively, compared to standard values for density, kinematic viscosity, and refractive index of pure MMA at 20 °C. The GC-MS identified in the reaction liquid products at 345, 405, and 420°C, 1.0 atm, esters of carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, and aromatics, showing concentrations of MMA between 83.454 and 98.975% (area.). For all the depolymerization experiments, the concentrations of MMA in the liquid phase, between 30 and 80 minutes, reach purities above 98% (area.), decreasing drastically with increasing reaction time after 100 minutes, thus making it possible to depolymerize the cross-linked PMMA-based dental resins scraps by pyrolysis to recover MMA. The optimum operating conditions to achieve high MMA concentrations, as well as elevated yields of liquid reaction products were 345 °C and 80 minutes.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a genetically complex disease that results from a multistep transformation of normal to malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for the initiation and heterogeneous evolution of MM remain largely unknown. A fundamental step needed to understand the oncogenesis of MM and its response to therapy is the identification of driver mutations. The introduction of gene expression profiling (GEP) in MM was an important step in elucidating the molecular heterogeneity of MM and its clinical relevance. Since some mutations in myeloma occur in non-coding regions, studies based on the analysis of mRNA provide more comprehensive information on the oncogenic pathways and mechanisms relevant to MM biology. In this review, we discuss the role of gene expression profiling in understanding the biology of multiple myeloma together with the clinical manifestation of the disease, as well as its impact on treatment decisions and future directions.

Acute chemical ablation of lateral line hair cells is an important tool to understand lateral line-mediated behaviors in free-swimming fish larvae and adults. However, lateral line-mediated behaviors have not been described in fish larvae prior to swim bladder inflation, possibly because single doses of ototoxin do not effectively silence lateral line function at early developmental stages. To determine if ototoxins can effectively silence the lateral line during early development, we repeatedly expose zebrafish larvae to the ototoxin neomycin during a 36-hour period from 3-4 days post-fertilization (dpf). We use simultaneous transgenic and vital dye labeling of hair cells to compare 6- hour and 12-hour repeated treatment timelines and neomycin concentrations between 0–400 µM in terms of larval survival, hair cell death, regeneration, and functional recovery. Following exposure to neomycin, we find that the emergence of newly functional hair cells outpaces cellular regeneration, likely due to the maturation of ototoxin-resistant hair cells that survive treatment. Furthermore, hair cells of 4 dpf larvae exhibit faster recovery compared to 3 dpf larvae. Our data suggest that the rapid functional maturation of ototoxin-resistant hair cells limits the effectiveness of chemical-based methods to disrupt lateral line function. Furthermore, we show that repeated neomycin treatments can continually ablate lateral line hair cells between 3–4 dpf in larval zebrafish.

Trypanosome brucei, the causative agent of African sleeping sickness, harbours a highly ordered, subpellicular microtubule cytoskeleton that defines many aspects of morphology, motility and virulence. This array of microtubules is associated with a large number of proteins involved in its regulation. Employing proximity-dependent biotinylation assay (BioID) using the well characterized cytoskeleton-associated protein CAP5.5 as a probe we identified CAP50 (Tb927.11.2610). This protein colocalizes with the subpellicular cytoskeleton microtubules but not with the flagellum. Depletion by RNAi results in defects in cytokinesis, morphology and partial disorganization of microtubule arrays. Published proteomics data indicate a possible association of CAP50 with two other, yet uncharacterized, cytoskeletal proteins, CAP52 (Tb927.6.5070) and CAP42 (Tb927.4.1300), which were therefore included in our analysis. We show that their depletion causes phenotypes similar to those described for CAP50 and that they are essential for cellular integrity.

Circular Economy involves structural changes in traditional business models and consumers’ behaviour toward recycled products. The recycling of PET products has been increasing but there is still a gap between consumption and demand for PET packaging in Brazil. In this research, the waste reduction was examined under a projective scenario to the current ecological purposes in Brazil for reducing environmental pollution. In that manner, this paper aimed to comprehend the intention to purchase recycled PET products of Brazilian consumers. With a non-probabilistic and convenience sample, the study counts 422 participants. The method employed was based on Structural Equation Modelling and Partial Least Squares, used to test the hypotheses of causality among the variables. Results showed the perception of low quality about recycled products reduced consumers’ intention to purchase. Also, the sustainability of recycled products positively influenced the intention to purchase. In addition, recycled products presented a negative impact on the perceived safety, which could influence the purchase of recycled products in Brazil. We conclude that the image that Brazilian consumers have about recycled products positively affects the intention to purchase.

Many models with structures of matter associated with a structure of extra spatial dimensions have been proposed in recent decades. On employing a further generalisation from the local 4-dimensional spacetime form to a general form for proper time, we describe how matter fields resembling the Standard Model of particle physics can be accommodated far more directly than with a higher-dimensional spacetime theory. The successful identification of key features of visible matter in this non-spatial sector of extra dimensions in turn motivates seeking a candidate for dark matter residing in the original extra spatial dimension sector, and provides a close guide for the explicit form this invisible matter might take. We describe how such Standard Model and dark matter sectors in different extra-dimensional branches of generalised proper time are gravitationally connected through their common root in the local 4-dimensional spacetime and consider further possible mutual interactions and implications in comparison with existing dark matter models. A yet further possible branch of generalised proper time can be connected with dark energy models, hence in principle accounting for all three major components of cosmological structure within this framework.

This paper aims to investigate the rate of expansion and extraction within the solar system. We carried out the Solar system expansion calculations to do such a review. The Universe is expected to look the same from every point in it. After the big bang, Universe is expanding at some speed. Astrophysicists have been in a race to measure precisely how fast the Universe is expanding since Hubble announced that galaxies were systematically moving away from Milky Way Galaxy with a current speed in 1929. Hubble’s observations came after Einstein’s general relativity, which inspired the big bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe has created billions of years ago with an explosion and started to expand until today. The expansion of the Universe mostly happens in vast spaces, so clusters of galaxies move away from each other. For example, raising bread during baking will expand, but the raisings will stay the same size while moving each other to expand the bread. Observers have proven that an object (galaxies, a cluster of planets) held together by gravity has a patch of nonexpanding space produced by a gravitational field. However, some observers claimed the solar system is not expanding, while others claimed it is expanding. Does our solar system expand in an expanding Universe? The cosmological expansion of local systems is reviewed in the modern cosmological models. We showed answers related to this question with the help of literature. This review article revisited the proof of the Solar System’s expansion and its speed with about 0.32 nm/s in an expanding Universe.

This is a study of Political Economy on religion and migration management in the United States of America (USA). This paper offers a review of migrants-citizens relations in the USA, with attention to the pendulum effect, moving from integration policies (open doors and melting pot agenda) to official persecution (raids and deportations), with a high social opportunity cost. There has been a split between the State and civil society, causing civil disobedience and sanctuary network across the country. Also, it is paid attention to the American post-modern paradox, as a result of culture wars and identity politics that imply a violation of American constitutional principles (i.e. religious liberty, freedom of movement, to pursuit the happiness). Special attention is paid to the development of the Sanctuary Movement, as an ongoing example of the sociocultural upheaval bringing grassroots society into confrontation with powerful elites by promoting resistance and offering help to the needy, even if this results in sanctions. This movement was revitalized after the values crisis of 2008, but it has also been polarized between those who follow the traditional approach to socio-religious action in the form of peaceful civil disobedience, and those who follow the ideological anti-system and communitarian approach, which causes greater tension for the immigrants themselves

The present paper proposes a fractal analysis of the Covid-19 dynamics in 45 European countries. We introduce a new idea of using the box-counting dimension of the epidemiologic curves as a means of classifying the Covid-19 pandemic in the countries taken into consideration. The classification can be a useful tool in deciding upon the quality and accuracy of the data available. We also investigated the reproduction rate, which proves to have significant fractal features, thus enabling another perspective on this epidemic characteristic. Moreover, we studied the correlation between two meteorological parameters: global radiation and daily mean temperature and two Covid-19 indicators: daily new cases and reproduction rate. The fractal dimension differences between the analysed time series graphs could represent a preliminary analysis criterion, increasing research efficiency. Daily global radiation was found to be stronger linked with Covid-19 new cases than air temperature (with a greater correlation coefficient -0.386, as compared with -0.318), and consequently it is recommended as the first-choice meteorological variable for prediction models.

The Covid-19 pandemic spreads in waves for a year and a half, despite significant worldwide efforts, the development of biochemical diagnostic methods and population vaccination. One of the reasons for the infection spread is the impossibility of early disease detection through biochemical diagnostics, since biochemical processes slowly develop in a body. At the same time, well known that behavioral characteristics of a person, measured based on reflex movements, are capable for inertialess assessment of psychophysiological parameters. Vibraimage technology is the method of head micromovements video processing by inter-frame difference accumulation and converting spatial and temporal characteristics of the inter-frame difference into behavioral and psychophysiological parameters. Here we shown that behavioral parameters measured by vibraimage changed during COVID-19 infection. The identification of changes signs in behavioral parameters detected by AI trained on patients and controls. The best diagnostic accuracy (higher 94%) obtained using instantaneous values of behavioral parameters measured with the following vibraimage settings: 10Hz frequency of basic measurements; 25 inter-frame difference accumulations and averaging the diagnostic results over period of at least 5 seconds. COVID-19 diagnoses by behavioral parameters showed earlier (5-7 days) detection of the disease compared to symptoms and positive results of biochemical RT-PCR testing. Proposed method for COVID-19 diagnosis indicates infected persons within 5 seconds video processing using standard television cameras (web, IP) and computers, allows mass testing/selftesting and will stop the pandemic spread. We assume that head micromovements analysis for diagnosis of various diseases is possible not only with the help of vibraimage technology. Further research of human head micromovement analysis will help stop the COVID-19 pandemic and will contribute to the development of new contactless and environmentally friendly methods for early diagnosis of diseases.

Due to the renewed variation in government and political systems inside and outside countries, and with the high tariffs at borders, the latter have become an outlet for terrorism and smugglers. Therefore, each country seeks to develop its own protection system, and the technologies used in these systems vary according to the severity and the importance of the installations to be protected, it is found that some of them are expensive and unnecessary, but other have good and variable levels of efficiency. Consequently, the idea of designing a surveillance system that can monitor and control access becomes indispensable. In the same context, this work is of crucial strategic and geopolitical importance. It combines pre-existing alarm and monitoring methods and revolutionary Internet of Things (IoT) application products, of which Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Optical Fiber Sensors (OFS) are part of this application. This article presents the distribution of wireless radar nodes accompanying with a Bragg fiber sensor to identify each rolling intruder incoming the zone to be monitored, from the determination of its speed, weight and wheelbase distance.

Among the leading causes of cancer mortality, prostatic adenocarcinoma (PaC) is at second to lung carcinoma, but it is the most commonly happening non-cutaneous malignancy in elderly men in the world. Therapeutic options for PaC depend on age, growth & stage of malignancy, the desired outcomes and shortcomings of available treatment, estimated cost and patient compliance. Patients older than 60 years with a sluggish localized tumor may be placed on active surveillance, otherwise go with transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), prostate artery embolization (PAE) and pelvic lymphadenectomy with/without radiation therapy. For metastatic PC androgen-deprivation therapy is an option with or without surgery. These agents decline the body’s testosterone production or block its activity by gonadotropin- releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues including leuprolide acetate and goserelin acetate implant. The hormone’s activity can be stopped by androgens antagonist such as flutamide, bicalutamide and nilutamide along with chemotherapeutic agents, such as taxanes (e.g., docetaxel, paclitaxel) but after all the disease relapses in 20-30% of patients. So, new immunological or vaccine-based therapeutic moieties have been investigated to meet the objective of providing selectivity to cancerous cells and desired therapeutic outcomes with less/no harmful effects to normal cells. The chimeric version, oncolytic poliovirus and human rhinovirus i.e. PVSRIPO is most promising feature in cancer therapeutics and activate innate immunity by neutrophils infiltration via PAMP & DAMP pathways while Sipuleucel-T expresses major histocompatibility complex (MHC) which can stimulate CD4+ helper T-cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells and ultimately activate the acquired immunity against cancer cells. In this article, we have discussed the role of genetic predisposition and chemotherapeutic approaches including oncolytic poliovirus for the treatment of PaC in order to better understanding of tumor biology and mechanisms involved in chemotherapeutic drugs based resistance.

By means of X-ray computed microtomography (XCMT) the existence of a developed microporous structure having an average pore diameter of ~3.5 μm and pore content of ~1.1 vol.% has been revealed in unirradiated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). It has been found that the combined action of gamma radiation (absorbed dose per PTFE of ~170 kGy) and high temperatures (327-350 °C) leads to the disappearance of the microporous structure and the formation of several large pores with sizes from 30 to 50 μm in the bulk of thermal-radiation modified PTFE (TRM-PTFE). It has been established by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that the thermal-radiation modification of PTFE leads to an increase in the interplanar spacings, the degree of crystallinity and volume of the unit cell, as well as to a decrease in the size of crystals and the X-ray density of the crystalline phase in comparison with the initial polymer. It is assumed that the previously established effect of improving the deformation-strength and tribological properties of the TRM-PTFE can be due not only to the radiation cross-linking of polymer chains but also to the disappearance of the micropore system and to the ordering of the crystalline phase of PTFE.

The main purpose of bovine colostrum, being the milk secreted by a cow after giving birth, is to transfer passive immunity to the calf. The calves have an immature immune system as they lack immunoglobulins (Igs). Subsequently, the supply of good quality bovine colostrum is required. The quality of colostrum is classified by low bacterial counts and adequate Ig concentrations. Bacterial contamination can contain a variety of human pathogens or high counts of spoilage bacteria, which becomes more challenging with emerging use of bovine colostrum as food and food supplements. There is also a growing risk for the spread of zoonotic diseases originating from bovines. For this reason, processing based on heat treatment or other feasible techniques are required. This review provides an overview of literature on the microbial quality of bovine colostrum and processing methods to improve its microbial quality and keep its nutritional values as food. The highlights of this review are: high quality colostrum is a valuable raw material in food products and supplements, the microbial safety of bovine colostrum is increased using appropriate processing-suitable effective heat treatment, which does not destroy the high nutrition value of colostrum, the heat treatment processes are cost-effective compared to other methods, and heat treatment can be performed in both small- and large-scale production.

This study analyses 749 drawings of five female Bornean orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) at Tama Zoological Park in Japan. We searched for differences between individuals but also tried to identify possible temporal changes among the drawings of one individual, Molly, who drew almost 1,300 drawings from 2006 to 2016. An analysis of the drawings was carried out after collecting quantitative and qualitative variables. Our findings reveal evidence of differences in the drawing style of the five individuals as well as creative changes in Molly’s drawing style throughout her lifetime. Individuals differed in terms of the colours used, the space they filled but also the shapes (fan patterns, circles or loops) they drew. Molly drew less and less as she grew older, and we found a significant difference between drawings produced in winter, when orang-utans were kept inside and had less activity, and those produced during other seasons. Our results suggest that the drawing behaviour of these five orang-utans is not random and that differences among individuals might reflect differences of styles, states of mind but also motivation to draw.

Suitable soil structure and nutrient security are important for plant growth and development, characteristics of soil fractal dimension and distribution of physical and chemical properties and their interactions play an important role in studying the stability of soil structure and water and fertilizer cycles. As a sustainable management model, intercropping has positive benefits for erosion control, spatial optimization of resources, as well as improving system productivity. The effects of four intercropping methods on soil fractal dimension and physicochemical properties were investigated by intercropping Salvia miltiorrhiza with forage and S. miltiorrhiza with forest under typical karst rock desertification habitats in Guizhou. The results showed that soil nutrient content of intercropping was significantly higher than that of monoculture, the organic carbon content of soil grown under forest is higher than other treatments, and there was a non-significant change in soil water content of intercropping compared with monoculture. The soil fine-grained matter of intercropping was significantly higher than that of monoculture, while the soil fractal dimension showed a tendency to become larger with the increase of fine-grained matter. The intercropping planting, due to its component types and spatial and temporal configurations, leads to differences in soil water and fertilizer interactions, which can be combined with other ecological restoration measures to optimize the composite model and jointly promote the restoration and development of ecologically fragile areas.

Abstract: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with extensive genetic and aetiological heterogeneity. While the underlying molecular mechanisms involved remain unclear, significant progress has been facilitated by recent advances in high-throughput transcriptomic, epigenomic and proteomic technologies. Here, we review recently published ASD proteomic data and compare proteomic func-tional enrichment signatures to those of transcriptomic and epigenomic data. We iden-tify canonical pathways that are consistently implicated in ASD molecular data and find an enrichment of pathways involved in mitochondrial metabolism and neurogenesis. We identify a subset of differentially expressed proteins that are supported by ASD tran-scriptomic and DNA methylation data. Furthermore, these differentially expressed proteins are enriched for disease phenotype pathways associated with ASD aetiology. These proteins converge on protein-protein interaction networks that regulate cell pro-liferation and differentiation, metabolism and inflammation which demonstrates a link between canonical pathways, biological processes and the ASD phenotype. This review highlights how proteomics can uncover potential molecular mechanisms to explain a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodevelopmental pathology.