The early failure of glaucoma surgery is mainly caused by an overly fibrosis at the subconjunctival space causing obliteration of the filtration bleb. Because fibrosis has a suspected basis of genetic predisposition, we have undertaken a prospective study to identify upregulated profibrotic genes in a population of glaucoma patients with signs of conjunctival fibrosis and early postoperative surgical failure. Clinical data of re-operated fibrosis patients, hyperfibrosis patients re-operated more than once in a short time, and control patients with no fibrosis were recorded and analyzed at each follow-up visit. Conjunctival-Tenon surgical specimens were obtained intraoperatively to evaluate the local expression of a panel of genes potentially associated with fibrosis. In order to correlate gene expression signature with protein levels, we quantified secreted proteins in primary cultures of fibroblasts from patients. Expression of VEGF-A, IL-8, C-MYC, and CDKN1A was induced in the conjunctiva of hyperfibrosis patients. VEGF-A and IL-8 protein levels were also increased in fibroblast supernatants. We propose that these proteins may act as biomarkers of conjunctival fibrosis in glaucoma patients undergoing filtering surgery. Molecular markers could be crucial for early detection of patients at high risk of failure of filtration surgery leading to more optimal and personalized treatments.

The study of fractures in the subsurface is very important in unconventional reservoirs since they are the main conduits for hydrocarbon flow. For this reason, a variety of equivalent medium theories have been proposed for the estimation of fracture and fluid properties within reservoir rocks. We experimentally investigated the feasibility of applying the Galvin model in fractured tight stones. For this proposal, three artificial fractured tight sandstone samples with the same background porosity (11.7% ± 1.2%) but different fracture densities of 0.00, 0.0312, and 0.0624 were manufactured. The fracture thickness was 0.06 mm and the fracture diameter was 3 mm in all the fractured samples. Ultrasonic P- and S-wave velocities were measured at 0.5 MHz in a laboratory setting in dry and water-saturated conditions in directions at 0°, 45°, and 90° to the fracture normal. The results were compared with theoretical predictions of the Galvin model. The comparison showed that model predictions significantly underestimated P- and S- wave velocities as well as P-wave anisotropy in water-saturated conditions, but overestimated P-wave anisotropy in dry conditions. By analyzing the differences between the measured results and theoretical predictions, we modified the Galvin model by adding the squirt flow mechanism to it and used the Thomsen model to obtain the elastic moduli in high- and low-frequency limits. The modified model predictions showed good fits with the measured results.

The use of smart grids has enabled a number of planning methods to be developed to optimize energy costs, Peak to Average Ratios (PARs), and consumer satisfaction for load management in industrial, commercial, and domestic sectors. From a technical point of view, achieving optimal outcomes requires Demand Side Management (DSM). In smart grids, utility companies and electric users communicate two-way using digital technology to make a sustainable and economic system. This paper proposes a novel framework within which an Energy Management Controller (EMC) keeps track of each appliance, its operational time, and the costs associated with them. Customers of smart grids are motivated to shift their Off-Peak Hours (OPH) from Peak Hours by presenting incentives in OPH. The metering devices would also save customers costs by preventing load shifting between high- and low-cost periods. In addition, the study proposes the bacterial foraging algorithm and grasshopper optimization algorithm for lessening power price and PAR without compromising user comfort (UC) through appliance planning. The simulation results on a practical test system advocate the high effectiveness and reliable performance of the proposed model.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has emerged as a major health care concern in modern society, primarily due to lifestyle changes and dietary habits. Obesity-induced insulin resistance is considered as the major pathogenic factor in T2DM. In this study, we have investigated the effect of vindoline, an indole alkaloid of Catharanthus roseus on insulin resistance, oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in high glucose induced insulin resistant L6-myoblast cells, and dexamethasone (IR inducer)/1L-β (inflammation inducer) induced dysfunctional 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Results showed that dexamethasone induced dysfunctional 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with different concentrations of vindoline significantly enhanced basal glucose consumption, accompanied by increased expression of GLUT-4, IRS-1 and adiponectin. Vindoline treatment significantly suppressed the ROS production and upregulated pro-inflammatory mediators in IL-1β induced dysfunctional adipocytes. Similarly, vindoline treated insulin resistant L6 myoblasts exhibited significantly enhanced glycogen content accompanied with upregulation of IRS-1 and GLUT-4. Thus, in vitro studies of vindoline in insulin resistant skeleton muscle and dysfunctional adipocytes confirmed that vindoline treatment significantly mitigate insulin resistance in myotubes and improves functional status of adipocytes. These results demonstrated that vindoline has the potential to be used as a therapeutic agent to ameliorate obesity-induced T2DM associated insulin resistance profile in adipocytes and skeletal muscles.

Farmers are continually looking for new reliable, objective and non-invasive methods for evaluation of ewe condition. Live weight (LW) and body condition score (BCS) are used by farmers as a basis to determine the condition of the animal. Body composition is an important aspect of monitoring animal condition. The body composition is the amount of fat, lean and bone; knowing the amount of each is important because the information can be used for better strategic management interventions. Experiments were conducted to establish the relationship between body composition and body parameters, at key life’s stages (weaning and pre-mating), using measurements automatically determined by an image processing ap-plication at Lincoln University sheep farm for 88 Coopworth ewes. Computerized Tomography technology was used to develop relationship with body parameters and a subset was used to validate the predicted model. Multivariate linear regression (MLR), artificial neural network (ANNs) and regression tree (RT) statistical analysis methods were evaluated to determine their efficacy to predict body fat, lean and bone. The results showed a correlation between fat, lean and bone determined by CT and the fat, lean, bone weight estimated by live weight and body parameters calculated using the image processing application with R2 values of 0.90 for fat, 0.72 for lean and 0.50 for bone using ANNs statistical model. From these results, farmers can utilize accurate measures of fat which will enhance nutritional and management practices.

The sepiolite/ZrO2 composites were prepared by sepiolite (Sep) modification with zirconium propoxide in toluene, at room temperature for 24 h (Sep –ZrI) or 95 °C for 4h (sample Sep –ZrII). The efficiency of the obtained adsorbents for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions at initial pH = 4 and pH = 8, was investigated. Characterization of the samples showed that higher temperature of synthesis for shorter time provided slightly higher content of amorphous Zr-phase, which was deposited on sepiolite fibers as a thin layer and agglomerated nanoparticles. Compared to Sep, the composites had lower point of zero charge and higher specific surface area and pore volume. The adsorption kinetics follows the pseudo second-order model. The adsorption capacities of the composites were approximately the same at both initial pH and higher at initial pH = 4 than at pH = 8. The XPS and ATR-FTIR of Sep-ZrI before and after adsorption identified the formation of inner-sphere complexes as the mechanism of phosphate adsorption. The slow release during desorption with NaOH solution confirmed strong bonds of phosphates with the surface of the composites.

The location of Israel at the junction of three continents leads to a unique faunal combination of Palearctic and Afrotropic zoogeographic origins. Following systematic revisions over the past sixty years and the discovery of new species, the only available key to the pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) of Israel (Beier 1963) has become outdated. We provide here an up-to-date checklist of the pseudoscorpion species of Israel including distribution maps, and the first illustrated identification key of the Israeli fauna based on morphological characters. Prior to our study this fauna comprised twelve families, 26 genera and 52 morphospecies, including several “subspecies”. We increase this number and list 61 pseudoscorpion morphospecies that belong to 28 genera and fourteen families. Most species are Palearctic and Mediterranean, and only a few are Afrotropic. Two families new to Israel are reported here for the first time: Syarinidae and Cheiridiidae. Both families are cosmopolitan and have representatives in the Mediterranean region. The putative new species are presented here at a genus level and will be described separately elsewhere.

The olive wide genetic variability can be used to overcome some of the challenges faced by olive growing, including climate warming. One effect of climate warming in olive is the difficulty to fulfill the chilling requirements for flowering due to high winter temperatures. In the present work, we evaluate seven olive cultivars for their adaptation to high winter temperatures by comparing their flowering phenology in the standard Mediterranean climate of Cordoba, Southern Iberian Peninsula, with the Subtropical climate of Tenerife, Canary Islands. Flowering phenology in Tenerife was significantly earlier and longer than in Cordoba. However, genotype seems to have little influence on the effects of lack of winter chilling temperatures as in Tenerife. This even though the cultivars studied have a high genetic distance between them. In fact, all the cultivars tested in Tenerife flowered the three years under study but showing asynchronous flowering bud burst. Only ‘Arbequina’ showed an earlier day of full flowering than the rest of cultivars. The results observed here could be of interest to refine the phenological simulation models and including of the length of the flowering period. More genetic variability should be evaluated in warm winter conditions to look for adaptation to climate warming.

Confined masonry (CM) is a construction system which consists of masonry wall panels enclosed by vertical and horizontal reinforced concrete confining elements. The presence of these confining elements distinguishes CM from unreinforced masonry system and makes this technology suitable for construction of structures in regions subjected to intense seismic or wind actions. CM construction has been used in many countries and regions, and has performed well in past earthquakes. The purpose of the paper is to review past research studies related to the seismic in-plane and out-of-plane behaviour of CM structures. The authors have identified the key design and construction parameters which were considered in past research studies and have performed statistical analyses to establish their influence on the seismic performance of CM buildings. For the purpose of this study the authors have compiled databases of previous experimental studies on CM wall specimens which were used for statistical analyses. Finally, the paper discusses research gaps and needs for future research studies which would contribute to the understanding of seismic behaviour and failure mechanisms of CM walls.

The risks for complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection are higher in obese individuals. Obesity is a state of chronic low-grade inflammation, with high leptin levels due to leptin resistance, high basal levels of other pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, MCP-I and IL-6, and low adiponectin levels, thus contributing to a state of defective innate immunity as well as impaired B and T cell responses. Obesity is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension. It has been observed that pre-existence of these diseases confers a higher risk of severe SARS CoV2 infection as well as the need for intensive care; even below the age of 60 years if their body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30 kg/m2, and even more so if it is > 35 kg/m2. The metabolic factors contributing to the changes in altering the immune mechanisms in obese individuals and how this enhances the susceptibility to infection and development of serious SARS-CoV2 infection have been the subject of many debates. Future development of targeted therapy and guidelines will be benefited by greater understanding into these metabolic pathways.

The study investigates the effects of immobilizing the fungi on the straw's performance as an oil sorbent. The buoyancy of the straw with fungi was found to be unaffected by the immobilization process. Even when sorbed with oil, the straw floated on the water’s surface throughout the 14-day test period. The sorption kinetics of the oil appeared similar in straw with and without immobilized fungi, regardless of beaker shaking. However, the fraction of non-extractable oil was higher in the straw with fungi and shaking compared to the straw without shaking. This observation suggests the potential initiation of oil mining. Based on these results, it is suggested that instead of leaving the straw with fungi and oil in the water, removing it may be beneficial and allow for oil degradation and straw decomposition on land.

Background: Chronic, non-cancer pain represents a serious public health and economic issue affecting approximately 20% of the global population. Chronic pain can affect many aspects of patient’s lives, including mental health, employment, and relationships. Current medical management is largely focussed on investigating and managing acute pain. Patients and clinicians are now increasingly aware of the potential benefits of combined treatments or complex interventions in alleviating chronic pain. These approaches include both physical interventions, such as exercise or yoga, as well as psychological support including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and talking therapies. Methods: This study used network meta-analyses to explore the prevalence of complex interventions in pain management, and the effects of these interventions on quality of life, using outcome measures including intensity of chronic pain, assessment of functional disability and participant’s psychological state. Results: Psychological interventions were associated with improvements in pain intensity and depression. Exercise and manipulation technique-based treatments provided a statistically significant reduction in pain intensity. This effect was enhanced when exercise and CBT were combined. Mensendieck somatocognitive therapy (MSCT) plus standard gynaecological treatment (STGT) treatments appeared to have a better effect on chronic pain than multimodal exercise plus CBT treatment. Combined MSCT and STGT treatment, and multimodal exercise plus CBT treatments, reduced pain intensity, whilst MSCT+STGT treatments had a slightly better effect than exercise plus CBT treatment.Conclusions: Complex interventions have become more popular with patients as the risks associated with other interventions including surgery and pharmacological management have become better understood. These interventions can have a significant positive effect both on the physical and psychological health of patients. The analysis presented in this study suggests that further work is warranted in this area and that additional studies are required, both in more geographically diverse locations, and with larger cohorts.

Astrocytes have been implicated in a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, with the literature indicating harmful or beneficial roles on a case-by-case basis. On such conditions, these cells are capable of secreting several inflammatory factors and also promote synapse elimination and remodeling. These responses are possible because they sense their surroundings via several receptors, including metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5). However, mGluR5 activation in astrocytes under neuroinflammatory conditions can be neuroprotective or have the opposite effect. In this work, we investigated the role of mGluR5 in hiPSC-derived astrocytes subjected to pro-inflammatory stimulation by recombinant TNF-α (rTNF-α). Our results show that mGluR5 blockade by CTEP is capable of reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α) release in rTNF-α-stimulated astrocytes, but, in contrast, leads to an augmented expression of the pan-reactive marker SERPINA3. Additionally, CTEP enhances synaptoneurosomes phagocytosis by astrocytes in both non-stimulated and TNF-α-stimulated conditions, indicating that mGluR5 blockade alone is enough to drive synaptic material engulfment. Finally, mGluR5 antagonism as well as rTNF-α stimulation leads to a reduction in the expression of synaptogenic molecules. Altogether, these data suggest a complex role for mGluR5 in human astrocytes, since its blockage may have beneficial and detrimental effects under inflammatory conditions.

The diffusion of New Ways of Working (NWW) is an important trend in contemporary organi-zations. Many related empirical studies have been produced, but none have focused on differences in employees’ perceptions of the opportunity to use NWW according to organization sector (pri-vate, semi-public, public). This study, based on neoinstituionalism and HR attributions theory, investigated these differences via a survey (n=2693) of employees at private (n=358), semi-public (n=204), and public (n=2131) organizations. The results show that public employees reported less opportunity to use NWW than their private and semi-public counterparts. Furthermore, private sector employees were more likely to attribute well-being and productivity benefits to NWW than their public sector and semi-public counterparts. We also show that institutional and organiza-tional variables specific to the characteristics of organizations in the three sectors partially ex-plain the degree of perceptions with respect to the opportunity to use NWW.

Hubei, Hunan and Henan Provinces are located in Central China, a region with extensive transport networks and trade. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the causative agent of pine wilt disease, is spreads mainly through human activities. In order to further understand the genetic structure of PWN in Central China, we studied the genetic information of PWN populations in this region and compared the genetic relationship with strains from Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. We found that the HB (Hubei) 15, HEN (Henan) 20, HN (Hunan) 07, HN08 and HN10 had significantly more SNPs and homozygotes than other strains from Central China, and their most frequent mutant genotypes also differed from other strains. The clustering results indicated that HB15, HEN 20, HN07, HN08 and HN10 were genetically distinct from other strains and closely related to Guangdong strains. We also observed significant genetic variation among strains in Henan province, suggesting that some of them might have different transmission sources than those from Hubei and Hunan provinces. The results provide a basis for tracing the origin and spread of PWD in China.

With the popularization of natural gas and the requirements for environmental protection, the development and utilization of natural gas is particularly important. The status of natural gas in China's oil and gas exploration and development is constantly improving, and the country is paying more and more attention to the exploitation and utilization of natural gas. The Upper Paleozoic tight sandstone in the Ordos Basin is characterized by low porosity, low permeability and large area of concealed gas reservoirs. By injecting CO2 into the formation, the recovery of natural gas can be improved, and at the same time, the stable storage of CO2 can be achieved to achieve a win-win situation of CO2 emission reduction and utilization. Injecting greenhouse gas CO2 into gas reservoirs for storage and improving recovery has also become a hot research issue. In order to improve the recovery efficiency of tight sandstone gas reservoir, this paper takes the complex tight sandstone of Upper Paleozoic in Ordos Basin as the research object, through indoor physical simulation experiments, carried out the influence of displacement rate, fracture dip angle, core permeability, core dryness and wetness on CO2 gas displacement efficiency and storage efficiency, and analyzed the influence of different factors on CO2 gas displacement efficiency and storage efficiency to improve the recovery and storage efficiency. The research results show that under different conditions, when the CO2 injection pore volume is less than 1PV, the relationship between the CH4 recovery rate and the CO2 injection pore volume is linear, and the tilt angle is 45 °. When the CO2 injection pore volume exceeds 1PV, the CH4 recovery rate increases slightly with the increase of displacement speed, the recovery rate of CO2 displacement CH4 is between 87% - 97%, and the CO2 breakthrough time is 0.7PV-0.9PV. In low-permeability and low-speed displacement cores, the diffusion of CO2 molecules is more significant. The lower the displacement speed is, the earlier the breakthrough time of CO2 is, and the final recovery of CH4 slightly decreases. Gravity has a great impact on CO2 storage and enhanced recovery. The breakthrough of high injection and low recovery of CO2 is earlier, and the recovery of CH4 is about 3.3% lower than that of low injection and high recovery. The bound water makes the displacement phase CO2 partially dissolved in the formation water, and the CO2 breakthrough lags about 0.1PV. Ultimately, CH4 recovery factor and CO2 storage rate are higher than those of dry core displacement. The research results provide theoretical data support for CO2 injection to improve recovery and storage efficiency in complex tight sandstone gas reservoirs.

Cardiac damage has been attributed to SARS-Cov-2-related pathology contributing to increased risk of vascular events. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a parameter of functional neurocardiac integrity with low HRV constituting an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Whether structural cardiac damage translates into neurocardiac dysfunction in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 remains poorly understood. Hypothesized mechanisms of possible neurocardiac dysfunction in COVID-19 comprise direct systemic neuroinvasion of autonomic control centers, ascending virus propagation along cranial nerves and cardiac autonomic neuropathy. While the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and the cytokine cascade in general has been studied extensively, the interplay between the inflammatory response caused by SARS-CoV-2 and autonomic cardiovascular regulation remains largely unclear. We reviewed the current literature on the potential diagnostic and prognostic value of autonomic neurocardiac function assessment via analysis of HRV in patients with COVID-19. Furthermore, we discuss potential therapeutic targets of modulating neurocardiac function in this high-risk population.

This paper aimed to describe an atlas of the head of the crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata), applying advanced imaging techniques such as MRI. Furthermore, by combining the images acquired through these techniques with anatomical gross sections, we obtained an adequate description of the structures that form the CNS and associated structures of this species. This anatomical information could serve as a valuable diagnostic tool for the clinical evaluation of different pathological processes in porcupines such as abscesses, skull malformations, fractures, and neoplasia.

Visual inertial SLAM algorithms enable robots to autonomously explore and navigate in unknown scenes. However, most of the current SLAM systems highly rely on static environment assumptions, which fails in the exsitence of motional objects in the real environment. To improve the robustness and localization accuracy of SLAM systems in dynamic scenes, this paper proposes a visual-inertial SLAM framework that fuses semantic and geometric information, called DA-VINS. First, this paper presents a dynamic object classification method based on feature’s current motion state, which obtains temporary static features in the environment. Secondly, a features dynamics check module based on IMU prior and adjacent frame’s geometry constraint is designed to calculate dynamic factors. It also verifies the classification results of temporary static features. Finally, a dynamic adaptive bundle adjustment module based on the features’ dynamic factors is designed to adjust the weights of features in nonlinear optimization. We evaluated our method in public and our dataset. The results show that D-VINS is one of the most real-time, accurate, and robust systems in dynamic scenes.

We consider a specific holographic model in the limit where the gauge field does not couple to the rest of of the holographic fields (gravity and scalar sector) and investigate a phase of matter at zero charge density, a realistic feature that may have implications for disordered strange metals. We then pick a specific form of the gauge coupling $Z(\alpha)$ with a certain disorder realization and argue that this provides a hard-gapped insulator with exponentially-suppressed conductivity by holographic methods. The limit is non-trivial: as there is backreaction at zero density amount, surviving in the coupled case.

Objectives: Understanding the intersection of age, ethnicity, and disability will become increasingly important as the global population ages and becomes more diverse. By 2060, Hispanics will comprise 28% of the U.S. population. This study examines critical associations between sensory impairment, social isolation, and cognitive functioning among Hispanic older adults. Methods: Our sample consisted of 557 Hispanic older adults that participated in Rounds 1-3 or Rounds 5-7 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Longitudinal mediation models across a three-year span were estimated using Mplus with vision, hearing, and dual sensory impairment predicting cognitive functioning directly and indirectly through social isolation. Results: Findings indicated that cognitive functioning was concurrently and, in certain cases, longitudinally predicted by vision and dual sensory impairment, and by social isolation. Contrary to expectations, vision and hearing impairment were not predictive of social isolation. Dual sensory impairment was associated with social isolation, yet no significant indirect associations were found for sensory impairments predicting cognitive functioning through social isolation. Discussion: The finding that social isolation did not mediate the relationship between sensory impairment and cognitive decline among Hispanic older adults in the U.S. is contrary to findings from other studies that were not specifically focused on this population. This finding may be evidence that culturally motivated family support and intergenerational living buffer the impact of sensory impairments in later life. Findings suggest that Hispanic older adults experiencing dual sensory impairments may benefit from interventions that foster social support and include family members.

Concern about the planet's future has motivated governments around the world to adopt policies that promote more responsible energy consumption. Reducing emissions of the principal cause of climate change man-made greenhouse gases requires greater system efficiency and the utilization of renewable energy sources. The generation of electricity is the single largest source of hazardous pollutants, followed by the transportation sector. This is true due to the extreme reliance on petroleum and its derivatives that these industries have. Electric mobility is receiving more attention from businesses, governments, and academic institutions as a means to reduce the negative impacts of current energy consumption. Without measures to address common technical issues, electric vehicles would strain electrical infrastructure. In order to determine the best strategy for switching operations and feeder reconfiguration, this research presents a helpful hybrid genetic algorithm particle swarm optimization (HGAPSO) method. Meet transmission limits while decreasing real power losses and enhancing the system's bus voltage profile. The effects of HGAPSO on power losses and voltage distributions in the network are analyzed. Then, a report is produced contrasting GA and PSO. This cross-breeding of GA and PSO led to HGAPSO. This important problem can be solved more effectively with the use of new or improved algorithms. To find the optimal reconfiguration and properly rearrange transmission network interconnection, it employs a plethora of heuristic optimization algorithms. The objective is to limit bus voltage variations while maintaining the system's radial topology and minimizing power usage. The reliability and performance of the procedure were evaluated using MATLAB's IEEE 33-bus communication network. The outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, which cuts down on power waste during standalone runs and speeds up the processing time.

The Na+/K+ ATPase is a protein involved in the active transport of ions across the cellular membrane. Ouabain is a cardiotonic glycoside that, by inhibiting the Na+/K+ pump, interferes with cell processes mediated directly by the pump, but also indirectly influences other cellular processes, such as cellular cycle and proliferation, growth, cell differentiation, angiogenesis, migration, adhesion and invasion. We used the SK-BR-3 breast cancer cell line, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) in vitro for determining the changes induced by Ouabain in concentration of 10-5 M, 10-6 M, 10-8 M, 10-9 M on these cellular types, employing specific methods: SEM for morphological evaluation; immunocytochemistry, flowcytometry to assess immunophenotypical markers expression, cell cycle and Annexin V/PI assay for cellular proliferation and viability testing; flowchamber assay to evaluate functional adhesion behavior; RT-PCR for Na+/K+ ATPase subunits molecular expression. Being indicative of the pro-apoptotic and inhibitory effect of Ouabain on tumor invasion and metastasis, the results support the addition of Ouabain to the oncological therapeutic arsenal, trailing the “repurposing drugs” approach.

The objective was to evaluate the metabolic and performance differences in primiparous Nellore cows, which became pregnant at 14 or 24 months. Thirty-eight primiparous Nellore cows, which were bred for first pregnancy at 14 or 24-mo of age, with 202 ± 5 days of gestation were divided into two treatments according to breeding age: 14 or 24 months in the breeding season. Cows were evaluated for weight, body condition score (BCS), carcass characteristics, milk yield and blood parameters: glucose, total proteins, albumin, urea, beta-hydroxybutyrate (β-OHB), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), progesterone, and for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). There was an in-teraction (p < 0.01) between age at first pregnancy and time for body weight, where 24-mo cows were heavier, but both categories loss weight at parturition which concomitant decrease in the BCS (p < 0,01). However, BW of 24-mo remained stable (p > 0.05) after parturition. Milk yield was higher in 24-mo cows (p < 0.01). Interaction between sampling time and breading age was observed for Longissimus muscle area (p < 0.01) and tended for Longissimus muscle depth, where 24-mo cows had greater values in prepartum. Calves born from the cows bred at 24-mo, where was higher (p < 0.01) from 160 days of age until weaning at 240 days. Glucose, urea, total proteins, albumin and NEFA were affected (p < 0.01) by the parturition data-point. There was an interaction (p < 0.01) between breading age and sampling period for β-OHB. Progesterone concentration was greater in 24-mo cows (p < 0.01). It was concluded that primiparous cows that became pregnant at 14 or 24 months of age have different nutritional and metabolic responses.

Understanding the spatial distribution pattern and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in urban areas is of great significance for the development of urban planning and the implementation of public management policies in the context of rapid aging. Accurately identifying the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in the city requires a comprehensive analysis of multiple indicators and large-scale data. Taking Wuhan city as an example, this article measures the spatial distribution characteristics and evolution trend of the elderly population from 2000 to 2020 at the street/township level, based on the fifth, sixth, and seventh census data, using methods such as kernel density hotspot detection, spatial clustering analysis, and standard deviation ellipse analysis. The results show that: ① there are significant differences in the aging spatial pattern between the central area and the suburban areas of Wuhan; ② overall, Wuhan's aging rate shows a typical "core-periphery" growth mode in space, while the density of the elderly population has significant spatial aggregation characteristics and shows an evolution trend of "centralized concentration, peripheral outliers, axial development, and near-field growth"; ③the center of gravity of the elderly population remains relatively stable over time.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common brain injury, seen in sports, falls, vehicle, or workplace injuries. Concussion is the most common type of mTBI. Assessment of impairments from concussion are evolving, with oculomotor testing suggested as a key component in a multi-modality diagnostic protocol. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of one eye-tracking system, the EyeGuide Focus. Seventy-five healthy adolescent and adult participants (adolescents: n=28; female=11, male=17, mean age 16.5 ± 1.4 years; adults n=47; female=22; male=25, mean age 26.7 ± 7.0 years) completed three repetitions of the EyeGuide Focus within the one session. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis showed the EyeGuide Focus had overall good reliability (ICC 0.79, 95%CI: 0.70, 0.86). However, a familiarization effect showing improvements in subsequent trials was noticeable in both cohorts (p<0.001) with adolescent participants showing greater familiarisation effects than adults. No differences were observed between sexes (p=0.69). Overall, the EyeGuide Focus was found to be reliable, but the observation of familiarization effects suggests that a standardized protocol of a minimum of three trials be employed, similar to other eye-movement testing applications.

After Frankland first synthesized organotin compounds for the first time in 1849, their broad range of applications, including in industry and agriculture, resulted in a substantial increase in demand for organotin (IV) compounds after the 1940s. Because of the broad range of coordination numbers and molecular geometry that could result in numerous features, the structural diversity of organotin (IV) compounds is of great interest. Organotin (IV) dithiocarbamate has recently received attention as a therapeutic agent among organotin (IV) compounds. The hybrid complex individual properties of organotin (IV) and the dithiocarbamate moieties form a synergy of action stimulating increased biological activity. Organotin (IV) components have been shown in cytotoxicity studies to play a crucial role in cytotoxicity. Ligands serve to target and react to molecules while preventing unwanted changes in biomolecules. Organotin (IV) dithiocarbamate compounds have also been discovered to exhibit a broad range of cellular, biochemical, and molecular effects, with their toxicity largely determined by their structure. This review discusses the potential cytotoxicity effect of organotin(IV) dithiocarbamate, as well as its synthesis, elemental and spectroscopy analysis.

We present the case of a 35-year-old patient without pathological history who developed hemopneumothorax due to altitude barotrauma during a commercial airline flight. The computed tomography of the chest identified the presence of emphysema "blebs" and bubbles, and the histopathological examination of the lung fragment obtained during the diagnostic and therapeutic thoracoscopy identified elements suggestive for the diagnosis of respiratory bronchiolitis associated with desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP).

More than 3 years have passed since the emergence of COVID-19. On May 8, 2023, COVID-19 in Japan was downgraded to Category 5 by the Infectious Disease Control Law. In Japan, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, cases of infection and deaths from severe disease were few compared with those of Western countries. However, in the medical field, screening for COVID-19 was given top priority, resulting in confusion and proving disadvantageous for many patients, also the overreaction to COVID-19 as the most important issue in society can be attributed largely to statements by infectious disease experts. In addition, the mRNA vaccine emerged in 2021, and most of the population was vaccinated up to two times within a short period of less than 1 year because infectious disease experts strongly promoted vaccination. After 2022, when vaccination progressed, and the Omicron strain, which is an attenuated strain, became the mainstay of the SARS-CoV-2, the number of severe cases of COVID-19 decreased significantly; however, the number of infected people increased dramatically instead. A significant portion of the population is thought to have hybrid immunity due to vaccination plus natural infection and maintains high antibody titers. Henceforth, additional vaccination should be given preferentially to those who will benefit most from it. Conversely, measures against COVID-19 caused serious damage to the economy and society. Policies that not only address countermeasures against infection, but also those that encompass the economy and society as a whole are necessary.

To develop a lower-cost, excellent performance, and environmentally friendly phe-nol-formaldehyde (PF) resin, soybean meal was used to modify PF resin, and soybean meal-phenol-formaldehyde (SMPF) resins were prepared. Their physicochemical properties and curing performance were investigated, showing that SMPF resins have higher curing tempera-tures than PF resin. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results indicated that the cross-linking reaction occurred between the amino groups of soybean protein and the hy-droxymethyl phenol. Moreover, with the addition of soybean meal, the viscosity of SMPF in-creased while the gel time decreased. It is worth mentioning that SMPF-2 resin has favorable viscosity, short gel time, low curing temperature (135.78 °C), and high water resistance and bonding strength (1.01 MPa). Finally, all the plywoods bonded with SMPF resins have good water resistance and bonding strength, which could meet the Standard (GB/T 17657-2013, type I) for plywood. The optimized SMPF resins showed the potential application to replace part of PF resin in the wood industry.

In this study, the focus is on the drop test simulation of an MR (Magnetorheological) damper-based main landing gear (MRMLG), aiming to explore multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) dynamic models during aircraft landing. Three different 6-DOF dynamic models are proposed in this work and their drop performances are compared with results achieved one of commercial softwares. The proposed models include a nonlinear aircraft model (NLAM), a linearized approximated aircraft model (LAAM) linearizing from the nonlinear equations of motion in NLAM, and a fully approximated aircraft model (FAAM) which linearizes the MRMLG's strut force model. In order to evaluate drop performance of the aircraft landing gear system with MR dampers, a 7-DOF aircraft model incorporating the nonlinear MRMLG is formulated using RecurDyn. The principal comparative param-eters are the coefficient of determination (R2) for system response of each model with Re-curDyn model and root mean square error (RMSE) which is the ensembles of CG dis-placement data for each model. In addition, the ensemble of time series data is created for diverse drop scenarios, providing valuable insights into the performance of the proposed drop test models of the aircraft landing gear system featuring MR dampers.

The theory of special relativity has reexamined and reconstructed the concepts of space and time, which are indispensable for describing physical laws, consequently instigating a major revolution in physics in general. Although the correctness of the special theory of relativity has been con-firmed by many observations and experiments, it is unclear why the "principle of relativity" and the "principle of the constant speed of light," which form the basis of the idea, are valid. Moreo-ver, although special relativity has advanced our understanding of time, our understanding of the fundamental question, "What is time?" is still limited. The theory of special relativity regards space as a four-dimensional construct consisting of one-dimensional time and three-dimensional space. This paper proposes an alternative framework, wherein real space is uniform and isotropic four-dimensional space, and elementary particles are waves that propagate through this four-dimensional space at a constant speed. This new perspective provides evidence to support two of Einstein’s key principles—the "principle of relativity" and the "principle of the constant speed of light." Furthermore, this model clarifies what time is and why time flows at a constant rate from the past to the future.

The engagement of the arresting hook with the arresting cable is a critical maneuver that is essential to the safe operation of aircraft landing on aircraft carrier. A comprehensive understanding of the engagement process dynamics is necessary to optimize landing performance and ensure the safety and efficiency of carrier operations. In this paper, an efficient and accurate simulation and analysis method is presented for studying the arresting hook engaging arresting cable process. The Finite Element Method and Multibody Dynamics (FEM-MBD) approach is employed. By establishing a rigid-flexible coupling model encompassing the aircraft frame, arresting hook, carrier deck and arresting gear system, the dynamic model for the engagement process is obtained. The model incorporates multiple coordinate systems to effectively capture the relative motion between the rigid and flexible components, enabling a thorough understanding of the dynamics characteristics. The analysis conducted in this paper takes into account various factors, including the material properties of the components, the characteristics of the arresting gear system, and the state of the aircraft during the engagement process. The analysis method is verified by comparing the simulation results with experiments of arresting hook rebound obtained from reference. Finally, simulations are performed to analyze the engagement process under different touchdown points and rolling angle of aircraft. The simulation results provide valuable insights into the distribution of stresses during the arresting hook and cable engagement, the center of gravity variations, as well as the response of the tire touch and rollover cable under specific scenarios. The proposed rigid-flexible coupling arresting dynamics model in this paper enables effective analysis of the dynamic behavior during arresting hook engaging arresting cable. The results obtained from this analysis offer valuable insights into the performance of the engagement process, which can be used to improve the design of carrier-based aircraft and techniques for carrier landing.

Chronic non-cancer pain is a highly debilitating condition affecting approximately 20% of the global population. Chronic pain may lead to significant physical disability, emotional distress, social isolation and financial burden. Whilst^. pharmacological therapies remain the cornerstone of pain management in non-cancerous chronic pain, factors including the current opioid epidemic have led to non-pharmacological techniques becoming a more attractive proposition. We explored the prevalence of medical device use and their treatment efficacy in non-cancer pain management. A systematic methodology was developed, peer reviewed and published in PROSPERO (CRD42021235384). Key words of medical device, pain management devices, chronic pain, lower back pain, back pain, leg pain and chronic pelvic pain using Science direct, PubMed, Web of Science, PROSPERO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PorQuest and ClinicalTrials.gov. All clinical trials, epidemiology and mixed methods studies that reported the use of medical devices for non-cancer chronic pain management published between the 1^st of January 1990 and the 30^th of April 2022 were included. 13 studies were included in systematic review, of these 6 were used in the meta-analysis with 173 participants. Our meta-analysis for pain reduction in each study showed that transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation combined with instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization treatment and pulsed electromagnetic therapy produced significant treatment on chronic lower back pain patients. Pooled evidence revealed the use of medical device related interventions resulted in 0.7 degree of pain reduction under a 0-10 scale. Significant improvement in disability scores, with a 7.44 degree reduction in disability level compared to a placebo using a 50 score range was also seen. The application of medical devices in patients with chronic pain has gained popularity due to increasingly cost effective techniques, minimally invasiveness and greater awareness of risks associated with pharmacological management. Our analysis has shown that the optimal use of medical devices in a sustainable manner requires further extensive research, needing larger cohort studies with greater gender parity, in a more diverse range of geographical locations.

In the Mediterranean Sea, there are two critical issues affecting marine benthic biocenosis: the sedimentation process and the increasing trend in marine biodiversity loss. These processes are very marked along the western side of Calabria coastline where siltation is one of the main reasons for the regression of Posidonia beds in the regional coastal waters. This research aims to investigate the relationships between the geomorphological features of the debris source areas, represented by fluvial basins, and the distribution of Posidonia meadows. So, a geomorphological study of the Tyrrhenian fluvial basins with area greater than 200 km2 and its correlation with the mapping of the meadows in the Calabria Tyrrhenian waters was carried out. Furthermore, in order to assess the increased level of burial in a Posidonia oceanica meadow and its health state over time, a program of Posidonia monitoring was undertaken between 2000 and 2010, in a test area located in the Marine Regional Park of Isca (Calabria, Southern Italy). The results of this survey highlighted that, at the beginning of the study period, for a silting rate of 4 - 5 cm/year, the meadow suffered a reduction of its photosynthetic ratio with a rate of mortality of 50%. In the following years, the siltation rate reach 12 cm/year in 2010 and the meadow began to disappear. Therefore, the marine pollution by sedimentation represents a serious factor for the regression of Posidonia oceanica meadows, enhancing the risk of a gradual loss in marine biodiversity.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics can pose the risks of spreading mutant strains that show antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with negative impact on management of bacterial infections and economic implications on healthcare systems. Research and development of natural antibacterial agents could be a priority in the next years to improve number of effective antibacterial molecules and to reduce AMR phenomenon and its development. The present study identified the most effective concentration and contact time of Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil (TEO) to obtain bactericidal effect in vitro against different Gram + and Gram – bacterial strains. Six clinically isolated (wild types) bacterial strains, (Citrobacter freundii, Enterococcus feciorum, Proteus mirabilis, Acinetobacter cioffi, Pasteurella putrefaciens, Klebsiella pneumoniae) and two ATCC (Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans) were tested after 1min, 3min and 5min of contact with TEO. Preliminary results on S. aureus after 24h incubation revealed a TEO concentration of 9.28mg/mL (w/v) that completely inhibited bacteria growth keeping cell viability. Total suppression of bacterial growth at all tested contact times was observed for all tested bacterial strains and the results were confirmed after 48h incubation. Bacterial growth suppression was confirmed even with presence of organic component. These preliminary results showed in vitro antimicrobial efficacy of TEO against different Gram+ and Gram- bacterial strains. Future studies are necessary to confirm the reproducibility of these results even on other strains and to define exactly the molecular mechanisms of EOs, in order to consider TEO as a valid alternative of classic antibiotic therapies and subsequently to reduce the occurrence of AMR.

Due to their excellent physicochemical properties, fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), are used in a variety of applications, but they are potent greenhouse gases. Therefore, they have been blanketed into the list of phase-out under the international protocols or treaties. In this work, the updated statistics of the Taiwan’s national inventory report (NIR) were used to analyze the trends of F-gases (i.e., HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3) emissions during the period of 2000-2020. Furthermore, the regulatory strategies and measures for reducing the emissions of the four F-gases will be summarized to be in accordance with the national and international regulations. With the progressive efforts by the regulatory requirements and the industry’s voluntary reduction, the total F-gases emissions indicated a significant increase from 2,462 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) in 2000 to the peak value (i.e., 12,643 kilotons) of CO2eq in 2004, but sharply decreased from 10,284 kilotons of CO2eq in 2005 to 3,906 kilotons of CO2eq in 2020. It was also found that the most commonly used method for controlling the emissions of F-gases from the semiconductor and optoelectronic industries was based on the thermal destruction-local scrubbing technology.

Antibiotic therapy is a cornerstone of modern medicine, yet the development of antibiotic re-sistance threatens to render these therapies ineffective. The gut microbiota, a complex ecosystem of microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract, plays a critical role in modulating anti-biotic efficacy and resistance. This review delves into the intricate relationship between gut mi-crobiota, antibiotic therapy, and resistance, and discusses the potential applications of gut mi-crobiota research in guiding personalized antibiotic therapy and resistance mitigation strategies. Recent advancements in metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics have demon-strated the potential for tailored antibiotic regimens that minimize collateral damage to com-mensal bacteria and reduce the risk of resistance. Adjuvant therapies such as probiotics, prebi-otics, and synbiotics have shown promise in restoring gut microbial balance and mitigating the adverse effects of antibiotic therapy. We address the challenges associated with this emerging field including the need for standardized methodologies, ethical considerations, and interdisci-plinary collaboration. With continued interdisciplinary collaboration and the implementation of standardized methodologies, gut microbiota research can contribute to the global fight against antibiotic resistance and improve patient outcomes.

The response of boreal vegetation to global warming has shown a weakening trend over the last three decades. However, in previous studies, models of vegetation activity responses to temperature change have often only considered changes in mean daily temperature (Tmean), with the diurnal temperature range (DTR) being neglected. The goal of this study is to evaluate the temporal trends of the relationships between two temperature factors (Tmean and DTR) and vegetation activity across the boreal regions on both annual and seasonal timescales, by simultaneously employing satellite and climate datasets. We found that the interannual partial correlation between growing season (GS) NDVI and Tmean (RNDVI−Tmean) showed a significant decreasing trend over the last 34 years. At the seasonal scale, RNDVI−Tmean shows a significant upward trend in the spring, while in the summer and autumn, RNDVI−Tmean exhibits a significant downward trend. The temporal trend characteristics of the partial correlation between NDVI and DTR (RNDVI−DTR), at both the GS and seasonal scales, are fully consistent with RNDVI−Tmean. The area with a significant decrease in GS RNDVI−Tmean and RNDVI−DTR accounted for approximately 44.40% and 41.21% of the boreal region with the 17-year moving window, respectively. In stark contrast, the area exhibiting a significant increasing trend in GS RNDVI−Tmean and RNDVI−DTR accounted for only approximately 14.65% and 13.59% of the boreal region with the 17-year moving window, respectively. With respect to the seasonal patterns of RNDVI−Tmean and RNDVI−DTR, the area with a significant upward trend in spring was greater than that with a significant downward trend. Nevertheless, more areas had a significant downward trend of RNDVI−Tmean and RNDVI−DTR in summer and autumn than had a significant upward trend. Overall, our research reveals a weakening trend in the impact of temperature on vegetation activity in the boreal regions, and contributes to a deeper understanding of the vegetation response to global warming.

Background: Portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) have shown efficacy in delivering adequate oxygen for various patient scenarios; however, there is a lack of research on POCs’ efficacy across different respiratory rates specifically among COPD patients. Methods: This bench study was conducted using the IngMar Medical Active Servo Lung 5000 attached to flexible tubing, which simulated an adult patient’s nares. An oxygen analyzer (Maxtec Handi+) was connected to the tubing 6 inches below the nares to estimate the inspired oxygen concentration at the adult trachea. A standard nasal cannula was placed in the simulated patient nares, which was also attached to each POC. The IngMar Lung was programmed to simulate a COPD patient at the following respiratory rates: 15, 20, 30, and 40 breaths/min. POC devices were then compared to an oxygen wall outlet and a standard oxygen concentrator (non-portable CAIRE device). The POCs included the CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort (with Autosat), CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort (without Autosat), Inogen G4, Inogen G5, Phillips SimplyGo Mini, GCE Zen-O lite, Drive Medical iGo2, and Kingon POCs. Descriptive statistics and ANOVAs were computed to determine statistically significant differences between POCS and control devices (wall oxygen and standalone oxygen concentrator). Results: Across most respiratory rate scenarios, the wall oxygen and standalone oxygen concentrator (control group) resulted higher oxygen measurements compared to the POCs. Among the POCs on setting 2, the highest oxygen measurement for 15, 30, and 40 breaths/min was the CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort with AutoSat on sensitivity 5 (24.43%, 24.81%, and 25.0%, respectively). On setting 2, the 20 breaths/min highest oxygen measurement was the Inogen G4 (24.43%). For setting 5, the highest oxygen measurement for 15 breaths/min and 40 breaths/min was the CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort without AutoSat (31.56% and 26.13%, respectively), while the highest oxygen measurement for 20 breaths/min was the Inogen G5 (30.26%), and the highest oxygen measurement for 30 breaths/min was the CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort with AutoSat on sensitivity level 5 (27.89%). Conclusions: The oxygen administered through the wall and the standalone CAIRE oxygen concentrator all delivered higher oxygen levels compared to the POCs (with the exception of the 40 breaths/min scenario on setting 2). However, among the POCs, the CAIRE Freestyle Comfort with AutoSat, CAIRE Freestyle Comfort without AutoSat, and the Inogen G4 all performed the best among the various breathing rate scenarios.

Background: The prevalence of obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, has reached epidemic levels. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of various cancers, including gastrointestinal ones. Recent evidence has suggested that obesity disproportionately impacts males and females with cancer, resulting in varied transcriptional and metabolic dysregulation. Methods: This study aimed to elucidate the differences in the metabolic milieu of adenocarcinomas of the gastrointestinal (GI) track both related and unrelated to sex in obesity. To demonstrate these obesity and sex-related effects, we utilized three primary data sources: serum metabolomics from obese and non-obese patients assessed via the Biocrates MxP Quant 500 mass spectrometry-based kit, the ORIEN tumor RNA-sequencing data for all adenocarcinoma cases to assess the impacts of obesity, and publicly available TCGA transcriptional analysis to assess GI cancers and sex-related differences in GI cancers specifically. We applied and integrated our unique transcriptional metabolic pipeline in combination with our metabolomics data to reveal how obesity and sex can dictate differential metabolism in patients. Results: Differentially expressed genes (DEG) analysis of ORIEN obese adenocarcinoma as compared to normal-weight adenocarcinoma patients resulted in large-scale transcriptional reprogramming (4029 DEGs, adj. p < 0.05 and |logFC|>0.58). Gene Set Enrichment and metabolic pipeline analysis showed genes enriched for pathways relating to immunity (inflammation, and CD40 signaling, among others) and metabolism. Specifically, we found alterations to steroid metabolism and tryptophan/kynurenine metabolism in obese patients, both of which are highly associated with disease severity and immune cell dysfunction. These findings were further confirmed using the TCGA colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (ESCA) data, which showed similar patterns of increased tryptophan catabolism for kynurenine production in obese patients. These patients further showed disparate alterations between males and females when comparing obese to non-obese patient populations. Alterations to immune and metabolic pathways were validated in 6 patients (2 obese and 4 normal weight) via CD8+/CD4+ peripheral blood mononuclear cell RNA-sequencing and paired serum metabolomics, which showed differential kynurenine and lipid metabolism, which corresponded with altered T-cell transcriptome in obese populations. Conclusions: Overall, obesity is associated with differential transcriptional and metabolic program in various disease sites. Further, these alterations, like kynurenine and tryptophan metabolism, which impact both metabolism and immune phenotype, vary with sex and obesity together. This study warrants further in-depth investigation into obesity and sex-related alterations in cancers that may better define biomarkers of response to immunotherapy.

Skin pigmentation ensures efficient photoprotection and relies on the pigment melanin, which is produced by epidermal melanocytes and transferred to surrounding keratinocytes. While the molecular mechanisms of melanin synthesis and transport in melanocytes are now well characterized, much less is known about melanin transfer and processing within keratinocytes. Over the past few decades, distinct models have been proposed to explain how melanin transfer occurs at the cellular and molecular levels. However, this remains a debated topic as up to four different models have been proposed, with evidence presented supporting each. Here, we review the current knowledge on the regulation of melanin exocytosis, internalization, processing and polarization. Regarding the different transfer models, we discuss how these might co-exist to regulate skin pigmentation under different conditions, i.e. constitutive and facultative skin pigmentation or physiological and pathological conditions. Moreover, we discuss recent evidence that sheds light on the regulation of melanin exocytosis by melanocytes and internalization by keratinocytes, as well as how melanin is stored within these cells in a compartment that we proposed to be named melanokerasome. Finally, we review the state of the art on the molecular mechanisms that lead to melanokerasome positioning above the nuclei of keratinocytes, forming supranuclear caps that shield the nuclear DNA from UV radiation. Thus, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms regulating skin pigmentation, from melanin exocytosis by melanocytes and internalization by keratinocytes, to processing and polarization within keratinocytes. A better knowledge of these molecular mechanisms will clarify long lasting questions in the field that are crucial for the understanding of skin pigmentation and can shed light on fundamental aspects of organelle biology. Ultimately, this knowledge can lead to novel therapeutic strategies to treat hypo- or hyper-pigmentation disorders, which have a high socio-economic burden to patients and healthcare systems worldwide, as well as having cosmetic applications.

In this work, an novel flow-electric field coupling configuration for enhanced Zn-Cd cementation was designed and utilized. A series of tests were conducted to explore the optimization of Zn-Cd cementation process and its mechanism.Firstly, the various characterisations of the cadmium sponge at different locations in the device were compared and it was concluded that the purity of the cadmium sponge was optimal from the anode surface. The generation and stripping of cadmium sponge was revealed for the first time by cross-sectional electron microscopy. The four stages of the apparent reaction in the system were analysed in relation to the pH, cadmium concentration and cadmium sponge flaking at each flow rate. It was proved that the separation of cadmium sponge mainly occurred in the third phase. Secondly, by comparing the morphology and specific surface area of cadmium sheep at different flow rates, the optimum flow field velocity was identified as 30 ml/s. Six flow field configurations were compared and preferred. The results demonstrate that the LCAH modulation results in a more sparse structure of the cadmium sponge, which is more easily exfoliated from the zinc anode surface by fluid impact. This was considered to be the most beneficial flow field configuration for improving the cadmium cementation rate and reducing the cost of the reaction. Further, the reaction steps of the system were analysed. The diffusion process under different flow field configurations was confirmed by calculations to follow first order kinetics. The diffusion coefficient of LACH proved to be the highest in the comparative tests and this result was also supported by the apparent experimental results.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are expected to have a great impact in the manufacturing industry, optimizing time and resource cost by enabling applications such as predictive maintenance (PM) of production machines. A necessary condition for this is the availability of high quality data collected as close as possible to the process in question. With the advent of 5G equipped multi sensor platforms (MSPs), high sampling rate data can be collected and transmitted for processing in real time. This poses a data security challenge, since this data may give valuable insight into confidential business information of companies. Federated learning (FL) enables the training of AI models with data from multiple sources without it leaving the shop floor, by utilizing distributed computing resources available on premise. This paper introduces an architecture of FL based on data collected from 5G MSPs for enabling PM in industrial environments and discusses its potential benefits and challenges.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a heterogeneous disease of the central nervous system that is governed by neural tissue loss and dystrophy during its progressive phase, with complex reactive pathological cellular changes. The immune-mediated mechanisms that promulgate the demyelinating lesions during the relapses of acute episodes are not characteristic of chronic lesions during progressive MS. This has limited our capacity to target the disease effectively as it evolves within the central nervous system white and gray matter, thereby leaving neurologists without effective options to manage individuals as they transition to a secondary progressive phase. The current review highlights the molecular and cellular sequelae that have been identified to cooperate and/or contribute to neurodegeneration that identifies individuals with progressive forms of MS. We emphasize the need for appropriate monitoring via known and novel molecular and imaging biomarkers that can accurately detect and predict progression for the purposes of newly designed clinical trials that may demonstrate efficacy of neuroprotection and potentially neurorepair. To achieve neurorepair, we focus on the modifications required in the reactive cellular and extracellular milieu, in order to enable endogenous cell growth as well as transplanted cells that can integrate and/or renew the degenerative MS plaque.

Modelling both long and short-term user interests from historical data is crucial for accurate recommendations. However, unifying these metrics across multiple application domains can be challenging, and existing approaches often rely on complex, intertwined models which can be difficult to interpret. To address this issue, we propose a lightweight, plug-and-play interest enhancement module that fuses interest vectors from two independent models. After analyzing the dataset, we identify deviations in the recommendation performance of long and short-term interest models. To compensate for these differences, we use feature enhancement and loss correction during training. In the fusion process, we explicitly split long-term interest features with longer duration into multiple local features. We then use a shared attention mechanism to fuse multiple local features with short-term interest features to obtain interaction features. To correct for bias between models, we introduce a comparison learning task that monitors the similarity between local features, short-term features, and interaction features. This adaptively reduces the distance between similar features. Our proposed module combines and compares multiple independent long-term and short-term interest models on multiple domain datasets. As a result, it not only accelerates the convergence of the models but also achieves outstanding performance in challenging recommendation scenarios.

The current work investigates the auxetic tensile deformation behavior of the inversehoneycomb structure with 5 × 5 cells made of biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-coterephthalate) (PBAT). Fused deposition modeling, an additive manufacturing method, produced such specimens. Residual stress (RS) and warpage, more or less, always exist in such specimens due to layer-by-layer fabrication, i.e., repeated heating and cooling. The RS influences the auxetic deformation behavior, but its measurement is challenging due to the very fine structure. Instead, the finite-element(FE)-based process simulation realized by an ABAQUS plug-in numerically predicts the RS and warpage. The predicted warpage shows a negligible slight deviation compared to the design topology. This process simulation also delivers the temperature evolution of a small volume material, revealing the local cyclic heating and cooling. The achieved RS serves as the initial condition for the FE model used to investigate the auxetic tensile behavior. With the outcomes from FE calculation without considering RS at hand, the effect of the RS on the deformation behavior is discussed for the global force-displacement curve, the structural Poisson’s ratio evolution, the deformed structural status, the stress distribution, and evolution, where the first three and the warpage are also compared with experimental results. Furthermore, the FE simulation can easily provide the global stress-strain flow curve with the total stress calculated from the elemental ones.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health concern worldwide, and it poses a significant threat to human, animal, and environmental health. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics have contributed significantly to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance, which may lead to significant economic consequences like reduced productivity and increased healthcare costs. Nanotechnology offers a promising platform for addressing this challenge. Nanoparticles have unique properties that make them highly effective in combating bacterial infections by inhibiting the growth and survival of multidrug-resistant bacteria in three areas of health: human, animal, and environmental. To conduct an economic evaluation of surveillance in this context, it is crucial to have a comprehension of the connections to be addressed by several nations by implementing national action policies based on the One Health strategy. This review provides an overview of the progress made thus far and presents potential future directions to optimize the impact of nanobiotics on AMR.

Keywords: head-and-neck cancer; chemoradiation; cisplatin; carboplatin; loco-regional control; metastases-free survival; overall survival; toxicity.

Software engineering is a comprehensive process that requires developers and team members to collaborate across multiple tasks. In software testing, bug triaging is a tedious and time-consuming process. Assigning bugs to the appropriate developers can save time and maintain their motivation. However, without knowledge about a bug's class, triaging is difficult. Motivated by this challenge, this paper focuses on the problem of assigning the suitable developer to new bug by analyzing the history of developers’ profiles and analyzing history of bugs for all developers using machine learning-based recommender systems. Explainable AI (XAI) is AI that humans can understand. It contrasts with "black box" AI, which even its designers can't explain. By providing appropriate explanations for results, users can better comprehend the underlying insight behind the outcomes, boosting the recommender system's effectiveness, transparency, and confidence. In this paper, we propose two explainable models for recommendation. The first one is an explainable recommender model for personalized developers generated from bug history to know what the preferred type of bug is for each developer. The second model is an explainable recommender model based on bugs to generate the best developer for each bug from bug history.

We aimed to explore symptoms severity and adherence to therapy for patients with myelofibrosis treated with ruxolitinib in Bulgaria. It is a prospective, non-interventional study performed at the Specialized hospital for active treatment of hematological diseases in Sofia during 2022 - 2023. Date of diagnosis, demographic characteristics, clinical indicators, ruxolitinib dose, and other data points were collected. Clinical indicators were assessed at baseline, in the middle and at the end of observation. Severity of symptoms was measured with MPN-SAF TSS and adherence to therapy with the Morisky 4 questionnaire 6 times during the observation. The mean age of diagnosis was 58.5 years, with the average duration of disease of 3 years. Pa-tients’ laboratory results were within physiological ranges, with spleen size experiencing a con-stant decrease. The average value for the severity of the symptoms per MPN-SAF TSS results decreased significantly, indicating better disease control. The average adherence to therapy did not change and remained high at around 9 points, except for one patient. In conclusion the treatment of myelofibrosis patients with ruxolitinib decreased symptoms se-verity and spleen size. Patients were adherent to the therapy over the observed period but as treatment duration increases the risk of adherence decreasing.

The triangulation process represents a violation of the boundary between parental and child relational subsystems which, in turn, affects family dynamics and relationships. The paper, with distinct reference to marital conflict and divorced couples, describes the main causes of the triangulation process and its impact on children (and adolescents) as significant third participants within the parental conflict. Besides, it fo-cuses on long-term consequences associated with triangulation process to parental conflict exposure, that can adversely affect the well-being of children during their life-cycle, and even into adulthood. A data-search was carried out for articles to be included in the review and articles were retrieved from different electronic databases (first: Scopus and Web of Science, then: PsychINFO, Google Scholar, EBSCO and ScienceDirect,). After having initially considered 152 articles, 58 studies were selected for this research. A qualitative analysis was conducted on selected studies, focusing on: (1) different types of triangulation commonly used in intergenerational family relationships; (2) an updated summary of the research around the impact of triangulation on the well-being of children and the parent-child conflict; and (3) the main characteristics of successful intervention of preventative and psychotherapeutic treatments. In conclusion, the results, examining the long-term effects of the triangulation process, highlight the developmental paths of children that are more exposed and at risk, and focuses on the importance of preventing the intergenerational transmission of marital conflict, as a way to reduce mental health costs and to improve the well-being of children and families who are all involved in these conflicting and destructive dynamics.

The contribution aims to bring forth a novel synthesis route in developing transparent UV-LED curable coatings accounting various exposure options. A selection of perfluoropolyether (PFPE)-urethane methacrylate and acrylate resins, free-radical photo-initiator Omnirad 2100, and two distinct silane based crosslinking agents were blended under a weight ratio of 75:20:5 (without crosslinker) and 70:15:5:10, respectively. The coatings were cured under a UV-LED 4 x 3 matrix light emitting source, in a chamber under controlled atmosphere, by means of an in-house developed conveyor belt type platform, at different conveyor belt speed (5, 50, 150, 250, and 500 mm/s). The morphologies of fabricated coatings were characterized by FTIR revealing high conversion rates (e.g., from 98 to 100%) for increased exposure time as resulted from the 5 or 50 mm/s values, on all combinations. Dynamic-mechanical and optical properties of UV-LED cured transparent coatings were also investigated. A negative shift of a glass transition temperature values with a decrease in exposure time, in all combinations, from about 60 °C to 30 °C, along with storage moduli lowering in the glassy plateau further favor on higher exposure times for curing. The refractive indices of polymers were from 1.38 to 1.40, whereas the thermo-optic coefficients are showing minor changes around value of 2.55∙10-4 K-1.

The synthesis 2-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol is of great significance because of its widely application in industry, and the development of highly efficient catalyst is necessary to the alkylation of p-cresol and tert-butyl alcohol. Here, an efficient and mild method was established, caprolactam was chosen as hydrogen-bonding acceptor, p-toluenesulfonic acid was employed as hydrogen-bonding donor, and deep eutectic solvent (DES) was prepared to catalyze the alkylation reaction. The structure of the DES catalyst was characterized by 1H NMR spectra, thermogravimetric analysis and fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR). In addition, response surface design based on Box-Behnken method was employed to optimize the alkylation reaction process parameters, the study of reaction kinetics was also carried out subsequently. The recycle performance of the catalyst was evaluated by recovery experiments, and a good result was obtained. Comparing with the literature reported, we here provide a mild method to the synthesis of 2-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol.

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) based sensors exhibit enormous potential in the areas of medical diagnosis, food safety regulation and environmental monitoring. While, the broadband spectral lineshape of LSPR hampers the observation of wavelength shifts in sensing processes, thus preventing their widespread applications in sensors. Here, we describe an improved plasmonic sensor based on Fano resonances between LSPR and Rayleigh anomaly (RA) in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) meta-grating, which is constructed by silver nanoshells array, an isolation grating mask and a continuous gold film. The MIM configuration offers more freedoms to control the optical properties of LSPR, RA and the Fano resonance between them. Strong couplings between LSPR and RA form a series of narrowband reflection peaks (with a linewidth of ~20 nm in full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a reflectivity closing to 100%) within a LSPR based broadband extinction window in experiment, making the meta-grating promising for applications of high-efficiency reflective filters. While, a well-optimized Fano resonance between LSPR and RA by carefully adjusting the angles of incident light can switch such nano-device to an improved biological/chemical sensor with the figure of merit (FOM) large than 60 and capability for detecting the local refractive index changes caused by the bonding of target molecules on surface of the nano-devices. The figure of merit of hybrid sensor in detection of target molecules is 6 and 15 times higher than the simple RA and LSPR based sensors, respectively.

Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are one of the main causes of hospitalization and mortality causing substantial economic burden to healthcare systems globally. As opposed to the previous belief that respiratory infections are caused by a single pathogen, studies have shown that most RTIs are a result of a combination of bacterial and/or viral pathogens infecting the host. The clinical manifestation of RTIs is very similar (i.e., syndrome), often showing Influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms. While COVID-19 has dominated ILI over the past few years, there are many other pathogens that are responsible for ILI. In addition, it is not uncommon to have coinfections with multiple pathogens in patients presenting with ILI and that such coinfections can even exacerbate the disease severity of RTIs. Therefore, an insight into coinfections can help with accurate disease prognosis, patient care management and outcomes. The goal of this study was to identify the different organisms in symptomatic patients presenting with ILI.

In this paper, through high-temperature tensile tests of 55NiCrMoV7 steel, the high-temperature fracture behavior, microstructure evolution and carbide distribution characteristics of both thermal-mechanical coupling zone (fracture zone) and thermal stress zone (clamping zone) at different temperatures were studied. Intrinsic relationship between high temperature fracture and carbides types, distribution and size were revealed and evolution mechanism of microstructure near cracks in 55NiCrMoV7 hot-working die steel during high temperature deformation was clarified. Samples were stretched at different temperatures from 25 °C to 700 °C, and microscopic examinations were carried out by using SEM and TEM. The results showed that: With the increase of temperature, tensile strength and yield strength decreased, elongation and reduction of area increased, and fracture mode changed from brittle fracture to ductile fracture by transition temperature at about 400℃. During high temperature deformation, the grain dislocation density decreased, the tempered martensite decomposed, recovered, recrystallized, and then grain grew. M7C3 and M23C6 carbides precipitated and grew along the grain boundary, and a small amount of fine granular MC carbides were dispersed in the grain. The work done by the external force on the deformation zone would cause the temperature of it to be higher than tensile temperature, which provides thermodynamic conditions for the re-dissolution of small carbides near the fracture zone and the grain growth of large carbides, resulting in the decrease of small carbides and increase of large carbides in thermal-mechanical coupling zone.

Hundreds of millions of people on the planet are affected by malnourishment. This contributes to the vulnerability of large swaths of the population, especially children under five years old extremely vulnerable to diseases and even death in the least developed countries. Today, by providing a substantial share of global protein intake, as well as fatty acids and micronutrients, fisheries contribute to global food security. As fish stocks in the upper sea levels have already been over-exploited, there might not be enough in supplying food security, deep-sea fisheries have been increasingly discussed to address this problem. Some mesopelagic fishes show the potential to provide important nutrients. Another way of supplying food security might be through using mesopelagic fish as fish feed. However, fishing in the mesopelagic zone could lead to severe ecological problems and the impact on the biological carbon pump is uncertain. This paper highlights and juxtaposes different perspectives regarding exploitation pathways of the fish riches of deep seas and reviews best practice model projects that deal with uncertainties related to fishery management in the mesopelagic zone.

Considering the current energy environment, both efficient and environmentally friendly solutions have to be developed for building construction. Bio-based building materials offer new perspectives through their insulating and natural humidity regulation capacities. Nevertheless, these materials are as complex as they are promising and grey areas still remain regarding their behavior. Their water sorption and desorption curves recorded in experimental work demonstrate a hysteresis phenomenon and, although plausible hypotheses have been formulated in the literature, there is currently no consensus on its causes. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that no reference considers the hydrophilic nature of the resource. Yet this is a specificity of raw material coming from the plant world. In this context, this paper explores the microstructure and chemical composition of plant aggregates to propose a new explanation for the hysteresis. It is based on recent work demonstrating the existence of differentiated hydrogen bonds between the water sorption and desorption phase in cellulose. Obviously, hysteresis also has an origin at the molecular scale. Lastly, the hypothesis put forward here is supported by the swelling of bio-based materials that has been observed at high relative humidity and this study aims to identify a link between the mechanical (swelling/shrinking) of bio-based materials and their hygroscopic behavior. This leads to a better understanding of the hydro-mechanical coupling of these materials.

The injectable hydrated calcium phosphate bone-like paste (hCPP) have been developed with suitable nanoscale characteristics and unindered injection through 23G standard needles. In vitro assays showed the cytocompatibility of hCPP with mesenchymal embryonic C3H10T1/2 cell cultures. The hCPPs were identified to be composed of aggregated nano-sized particles with sphere-like shapes with low crystallinity. The ability of serum proteins (FBS) to adsorb on hCPP particles was also studied. The hCPP demonstrated high protein adsorption capacity, thereby indicating its potential in various biomedical applications. The results of the in vivo assay upon subcutaneous injection in Wistar rats indicated the nontoxicity and biocompatibility of experimental hCPP, as well as the gradual resorption of hCPP, comparable to the period of bone regeneration. The data obtained are of great interest for the development of commercial highly effective osteoplastic materials for bone tissue regeneration and augmentation.

The analysis concerned a thin-walled plate with a circular central hole made of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) material. The test object was subjected to a tensile test to investigate the cracking mechanism of the composite structure. The tests were performed using two independent test methods experimentally and numerically. In the experiment, the force was recorded as a function of elongation of the tensile plate and the elongation of the plate was investigated using an Aramis non-contact optical measurement system. As part of the numerical analysis, an FEM model adequate to the experimental conditions was performed in the Abaqus system. The fracture process was modeled using the extended finite element method XFEM. This approach enabled the structure of the composite to be investigated over the full range of tensile loading. The behaviour of the circular hole plate before the damage symptoms was investigated, the damage initiation force was determined, then the initial cracking and delamination of the layers were analysed, as well as the crack propagation process leading to the complete failure of the composite structure (cracking of all laminate layers).

Deep-Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a a highly effective and safe medical treatment that improves the lives of patients with a wide range of neurological and psychiatric deceases, and has been consolidated as a first-line tool in the treatment of these conditionsin the last two decades. Closed Loop Deep-Brain Stimulation (CLDBS) pushes this tool further by automatically adjusting the stimulation parameters to the brain response in real time. In this context, this paper presents a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) and a Neurostimulator circuits fabricated in the low-power/low-voltage 65 nm CMOS process from the TSMC, which were designed targeting implantable applications. To achieve the best trade-off between input-referred noise and power consuption, metaheuristic algorithms were employed to determine and optimizes the dimentions of the LNA devices during the design phase. The measurement results showed that the LNA had a gain of 40.6 dB, a 3 dB bandwidth spanning over three decades from 10 Hz to 8.6 kHz, and a power consumption of 6.19 uW. Simulations results indicated an input-referred noise of 4.86 uVrms for the LNA. The circuit of the Neurostimulator is a programmable Howland Current-Pump, whose measurements showed its ability to generate currents with arbitrary shapes ranging from between 325 uA to +318 uA. The simulations showed a quiescent power consumption of 0.13 W with a zero neurostimulation current. The LNA and the Neurostimulator circuits are supplied with 1.2 V voltage and occupy a microdevice area of 145 um x 311 um and 88 um x 89 um, respectively, making them suitable for implantation in applications involving Closed Loop Deep-Brain Stimulation.

Soil is an extremely significant resource for human survival, and agglomerates, as the basic unit of soil structure, not only enhance soil fertility and control the biological validity of nutrients, but also strengthen the soil's erosion resistance. The mass application of fertilizers may have a significant impact on crop growth and soil structure, and the rational application and dispensing of fertilizers will be an urgent issue to be addressed. Therefore, the effect of fertilizer application on the stability of water-stable soil aggregates needs to be studied under different meteorological and soil conditions to draw more general and feasible conclusions. Our Meta-analysis of data from 220 of 56 published studies found that fertilizer application increased mean weight diameter (MWD) by an average of 18% compared to the no-fertilizer treatment. Among the nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and organic (OM) fertilizer treatments, the organic fertilizer treatment had a greater stimulatory effect on MWD (26%). Among the different fertilizer levels, low level of phosphorus (<40kg·hm-2·yr-1), high level of N (>120kg·hm-2·yr-1), and low level of organic fertilizer (<5000kg·hm-2·yr-1) increased MWD by 19%, 14%, and 41% respectively. Across soil types and land use types, the response to MWD was positive for red soils and paddy fields, and the stimulatory effect of organic fertilizer was more significant compared to chemical fertilizer. The regression model showed that the response ratio of MWD was negatively correlated with the response ratio of soil pH and bulk density (BD), and positively correlated with the response ratio of soil organic carbon (SOC) and microbial mass carbon (MBC). Meanwhile, the PLS-SEM model showed that average annual temperature was the main factor affecting the stability of soil aggregates, and the average annual rainfall is the secondary factor. Therefore, this study found that the long-term use of organic fertilizers in place of some chemical fertilizers was more effective than chemical fertilizer alone. Temperature and rainfall have greater effects on the response of fertilizer to soil aggregate stability.

High nitrate and fluoride contamination in groundwater cause a variety of disorders, including methemoglobinemia, teratogenesis, and dental and skeletal fluorosis. The present work assesses the non-carcinogenic health risks posed by nitrate and fluoride in infants, children, and adults using the USEPA method. Groundwater samples were collected from 36 wells and boreholes in three central Saudi Arabia study areas. Nitrate concentrations varied from 0.70 to 47.00 mg/L. None of the 36 studied boreholes had nitrate levels that exceeded WHO guidelines (50.00 mg/L). Fluoride ranged from 0.63 to 2.00 mg/L, and 30.55% of the fluoride samples (11 out of 36) exceeded the WHO recommendations for acceptable drinking water (1.5 mg/L). The average hazard index (HI) values for adults, children, and infants were 0.99, 2.59, and 2.77, respectively. Water samples surpassed the safety level of 1 for adults, children, and infants at 44.44, 97.22, and 100%, respectively. Accordingly, water samples from Jubailah and a few from Wadi Nisah may expose infants, children, and adults to non-cancer health concerns. Infants and children are more vulnerable to non-carcinogenic health risks than adults, possibly due to their lower body weight.

The comprehensive anabolic effects of insulin throughout the body, in addition to the control of glycemia, also include ensuring lipid homeostasis and anti-inflammatory modulation, especially in adipose tissue (AT). The prevalence of obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, has been increasing worldwide on a pandemic scale with accompanying syndemic health problems, including glucose intolerance, insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes. Impaired tissue sensitivity to insulin or IR paradoxically leads to diseases with an inflammatory component despite hyperinsulinemia. Therefore, an excess of visceral AT in obesity initiates chronic low-grade inflammatory conditions that interfere with insulin signaling via insulin receptor (INSR). Moreover, in response to IR, hyperglycemia itself stimulates a primarily defensive inflammatory response associated with the subsequent release of numerous inflammatory cytokines and a real threat of organ function deterioration. In this review, all components of this vicious cycle are characterized with particular emphasis on the interplay between insulin signaling and both the innate and adaptive immune responses related to obesity. Increased visceral AT accumulation in obesity should be considered the main environmental factor responsible for the disruption in the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in the immune system, resulting in autoimmunity and inflammation.

Ningxiang pig is renowned breed for its exceptional meat quality, but it possesses suboptimal carcass traits. To elucidate the genetic architecture of meat quality and carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs, we assessed heritability and executed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) concerning carcass length, backfat thickness, meat color parameters (L.LD, a.LD, b.LD), and pH at two postmortem intervals (45 minutes and 24 hours) within a Ningxiang pig population. Heritability estimates ranged from moderate to high (0.30 ~ 0.80) for carcass traits and from low to high (0.11 ~ 0.48) for meat quality traits. We identified 21 significant SNPs, the majority of which were situated within previously documented QTL regions. Furthermore, the HMGA1 gene emerged as a pleiotropic gene correlated with carcass length and backfat thickness. The ADGRF1, FKBP5, and PRIM2 genes were associated with carcass length, while the NIPBL gene was linked to backfat thickness. These genes hold potential for use in selective breeding programs targeting carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs.

Developing new energy is critical to China's green and low-carbon development. And the New Energy Demonstration City Policy (NEDCP) is a vital innovation policy that inspires the development of new energy. Is the NEDCP facilitating green and low-carbon development, if so, how? Employing unbalanced panel data from 2003 to 2017, the impact of NEDCP on green and low-carbon development was studied by using the "difference in difference" (DID) model. We find that this policy can take significantly role. After various robustness tests, our results are still valid. According to the heterogeneity analysis, non-resource and non-old industrial base cities have a greater positive impact from this policy. The mechanism analysis denotes that the positive policy effect works through upgrading the industrial structure and stimulating urban innovation. The substantial empirical evidence presented in this article supports the continued promotion and implementation of new energy demonstration cities.

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning (DL), and computer vision have revolutionized various industrial processes through image classification and object detection. State-of-the-art Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Object Detection (OD) technologies, such as YOLO and PaddleOCR, have emerged as powerful solutions for addressing challenges in recognizing textual and non-textual information on printed stickers. However, a well-established framework integrating these cutting-edge technologies for industrial applications still needs to be discovered. In this paper, we propose an innovative framework that combines advanced OCR and OD techniques to automate visual inspection processes in an industrial context. Our primary contribution is a comprehensive framework adept at detecting and recognizing textual and non-textual information on printed stickers within a company, harnessing the latest AI tools and technologies for sticker information recognition. Our experiments reveal an overall macro accuracy of 0.88 for the sticker OCR across three distinct patterns. Furthermore, the proposed system goes beyond traditional Printed Character Recognition (PCR) by extracting supplementary information, such as barcodes and QR codes present in the image, significantly streamlining industrial workflows and minimizing manual labor demands.

In urban areas, deep excavation-induced ground deformation may damage adjacent existing structures and is conventionally evaluated by levelling at installed settlement points. However, a small number of measurements cannot represent the total change in ground deformation adjacent to excavation sites. Furthermore, significant local subsidence may occur in places where settlement points have not been installed and only noticed after an accident. For deep excavation sites located in urban areas, paved pedestrian sidewalks are often located adjacent to sites, and construction activity can cause these paving blocks to displace. This study introduces a method to detect paving block displacement adjacent to deep excavation sites using terrestrial photogrammetry. A digital camera creating point cloud data (PCD) and an acquisition method satisfying the frontal and side overlap requirements were demonstrated. To investigate the displacement detection and measurement capabilities by PCD analysis, an experimental program was conducted, including a PCD comparison containing the uplift, settlement, and horizontal paving block displacement and reference data. The cloud-to-cloud distance computation algorithm was adopted for PCD comparison. Paving block displacement was detected for displacements of 5, 7.5, and 10 mm in the uplift, settlement, and horizontal directions; however, the horizontal displacements were less clear. PCD analysis enabled satisfactory measurements between 0.024 and 0.881 mm for the vertical-displacement cases, but a significant error was observed for the horizontal-displacement cases owing to the cloud-comparison algorithm. The measurement blind spot of limited settlement points was overcome by the proposed method that detected and measured paving block displacement adjacent to excavation sites.

Aim: to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing literature concerning the applications of positron emission tomography (PET)-radiomics in lung cancer patients candidates or undergoing immunotherapy. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted on databases and web sources. English-language original articles were considered. The title and abstract were in-dependently reviewed to evaluate study inclusion. Papers duplicate, out-of-topic, review or edi-torials articles and letters to editors were excluded. For each study, the radiomics analysis was assessed based on the relies on radiomics quality score (RQS 2.0). The review was registered on the PROSPERO database with the number CRD42023402302. Results: 15 papers were included, 13 were qualified as conventional radiomics approaches, and two were as Deep Learning radiomics. The content of each study was different, indeed, 7 papers investigated the potential role of radiomics to predict PD-L1 expression and tumor microenvironment before starting immunotherapy. Moreo-ver, 2 were relative to the prediction of response and 4 investigated the utility of radiomics to predict the response to immunotherapy. Finally, 2 papers were relative to the prediction of adverse events due to the immunotherapy. Conclusions: radiomics is promising in the evaluation of TME and for the prediction of response to immunotherapy, but some limitations should be overpassed.

Changes in the dates of phenological phases of plants and insects reflect changes in climate. The aim of the study was to determine the phenological patterns and interrelationships of spring-flowering entomophilous plants (Corylus avellana L., Alnus incana Moench., Tussilago farfara L., Salix caprea L., Acer platanoides L., Taraxacum officinale L., Prunus L., Malus domestica Mill.) and the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in response to climate change. The research was carried out at Vokė Branch of the Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, using data from phenological observations during 1961–2020. The results of the studies showed that over a 60-year period, a trend towards earlier dates of all phenological events studied was observed. Significant and larger-scale changes occurred starting from the decade 1981–1990. Throughout the entire study period, with the exception of one decade, the dates of honeybee emergence on flowers correlated reliably with the dates of entomophilous plant phenophases. Due to the advance of plants phenophase dates the synchrony with honeybee emergence dates changes however, these changes had a positive effect on the foraging conditions of overwintering honeybees.

Polymeric wet-strength agents are important additives used in the paper industry to improve the mechanical properties of paper products, especially when they come in contact with water. These agents play a crucial role in enhancing the durability, strength, and dimensional stability of paper products. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the different types of wet-strength agents available and their mechanisms of action. We will also discuss the challenges associated with the use of wet-strength agents and the recent advances in the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly agents. As the demand for more sustainable and durable paper products continues to grow, the use of wet strength agents is expected to increase in the coming years.

Here, one hundred patients (50 smokers and 50 non-smokers) clinically diagnosed with COVID-19 were studied. Yet, bioinformatics was used to predict epitopes on Tobacco mosaic virus coat protein (TMV-CP) to produce antibodies towards SARS-CoV-2. Death was three times higher in non-smokers than in smokers. However, biochemical parameters did not separate the groups. Bioinformatics analysis predicted the presence of B-cell epitopes in TMV-CP, suggesting the production of antibodies anti-TMV-CP in smoker patients. Smokers may develop severe forms of COVID-19, but survival was superior in the evaluated group than in non-smokers. Anti-TMV-CP antibodies, potentially present in smokers, might act as a pro-immune agent against SARS-CoV-2 at earlier stages of infection. These data are helpful for future studies assessing COVID-19 in smokers.

Nowadays, the European Union and the governments of the different countries have focused on the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the 2030 agenda, something that has been translated into education itself. Video Games, Gamification, and Game Based Learning have become different strategies and tools to enhance the learning process and some of the growing approaches used by teachers to develop sustainable education in the classrooms. This research aims to analyze the characteristics to promote sustainability in education using games and technology, specifically its learning benefits for Higher Education. A systematic review of the literature was conducted following the PRISMA methodology. At first, 2025 documents were found which, after the filtering phases, the number of articles has been reduced to nine, which subsequently were analyzed in depth. The results indicated that among the benefits of the use of games mediated by technologies are the following: it favors education for sustainability and it promotes the educational inclusion and the work of various social skills such as collaborative and cooperative work. Also, showed an increase of the number of publications between 2019 and 2023, reflecting the growing interest in the topic. However, there are some research gap in this field.

Methane (CH4) emissions from agricultural sources make a significant contribution to the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for calculating greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture is responsible for approximately 10% of total CH4 emissions from anthropogenic sources. CH4 is mainly emitted from livestock farming, especially from cattle production during enteric fermentation and from manure. The article describes the results of multivariate statistical analyzes carried out on data collected in 1961–2020 based on the data for 30 countries with the largest cattle population. The trends of temporal changes in cattle population were evaluated and groups of countries with similar patterns in the study period were distinguished. Variables which are correlated with changes in the number of cattle were indicated. Forecasts of cattle population and CH4 emission related to cattle for the coming years are presented.

City zones have become increasingly overcrowded as a result of the extensive population widening ratio and the swift relocation of people from villages. The traffic monitoring process is a major issue in these areas due to the massive traffic flow on the roads. This research proposed a cluster-based improved authentication and communication scheme for an Intelligent Transportation System in Vehicular AdHoc Networks (VANETs). Our primary objective is to optimize resource sharing in vehicular communication. We enhanced the reliability, scalability, and stability of fast-moving VANETs by introducing cluster-based routing schemes for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications. We used a third-party certification authority for vehicle authentication to address security and privacy concerns. Our proposed schemes support minimizing the end-to-end (E2E) delay and route request, in addition to reducing link failure. Our schemes’ leading yield includes throughput enhancement, TCP Socket Initialization time minimization, TCP handshake response speedup, and DNS lookup improvement. The schemes are centred on short-range peer-to-peer (P2P) wireless communication in a 400-meter radius cluster. This includes innovative P2P wireless communications on VANET using minimized resources. The proposed schemes deliver a secure authentication mechanism with a securely generated vehicle authentication key provided by a certification authority. Furthermore, we have developed RESTful APIs in vehicular communication for implementation purposes, and also offered and implemented algorithms for resource sharing regarding V2V and V2I communication. Ultimately, we evaluated the performance of our experiments.

Nepal is one of the most seismically active regions in the world, as highlighted by the recent devastating 2015, Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake and a robust assessment of seismic hazard is paramount for the design of earthquake-resistant structures. In this study we present a new probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) model for Nepal. We considered data and findings from recent scientific publications, which allowed us to develop a unified homogenized seismicity catalogue, propose alternative Seismic Source Characterization (SSC) models including up-to-date parameters of major thrust faults like Main Frontal Thrust – MFT and Main Boundary Thrust – MBT, while also considering existing SSC models and various hazard modelling strategies within a logic tree framework. The sensitivity analyses show the hazard levels are generally higher for SSC models integrating the major thrust faults, followed by homogenous volume sources and smoothed seismicity approach. The hazard maps covering entire Nepal is presented as well as the Uniform Hazard Spectra (UHS) for 5 selected locations (Kathmandu, Pokhara, Biratnagar, Nepalganj and Dipayal) at return periods of 475- and 2,475-years considering Vs,30=760 m/s. The results obtained are generally consistent with most recent studies. However, a notable variability in hazard levels and several discrepancies with respect to the Nepal Building Code NBC105: 2020 [1] and Global Hazard Model, GEM [2] are noted and possible causes are discussed.

The administration of regional neuraxial analgesia for pain relief during labor is widely recognized as a safe and effective method involving medication delivery into the epidural or subarachnoid space in the lower back. This study proposes an innovative semantic image segmentation methodology emphasizing enhanced interpretability using convolutional Random Fourier Features and layer-wise weighted class-activation maps tailored explicitly for foot segmentation in regional analgesia monitoring. Namely, our contribution is twofold: i) a novel Random Fourier Features layer is introduced to deal with image data to enhance three well-known architectures (FCN, UNet, and ResUNet); ii) three novel quantitive measures are presented to evaluate the interpretability of a given deep learning model devoted to segmentation tasks. Our approach is rigorously evaluated on a demanding dataset of foot thermal images from pregnant women who received epidural anesthesia. Its small size and considerable variability characterize the dataset. Our validation results demonstrate that the proposed methodology not only achieves competitive foot segmentation performance but also significantly enhances the explainability of the process, rendering it well-suited for applications such as epidural insertion during labor.

The nursing home (NH) population becomes increasingly frail, suffering several chronic ill-nesses, high symptom severity, and short remaining lifespan after admission; all this requires skilled, well-organized professional care. Little is known about how NH managers influence the caring and learning environment (CLE) to ensure competencies in meeting NH patients’ needs. The aim of this study is to explore how NH managers influence the CLE to provide basic nursing education for students and apprentices, in order to improve it. This study applies a qualitative design, using multiple methods and focusing on NHs as a context involving complex adaptive systems and on basic nursing as a complex issue. NH managers express a constant struggle to keep workloads manageable, and NHs come across as exhausted organizations with little surplus. Both managers and staff look for ways to execute the work with as little effort as pos-sible and mainly stick to well-established routines. Not participating directly in either daily caring or placement learning, NH managers influence the CLE indirectly through taming and coping strategies, largely using taming strategies that lead to serious unintended outcomes. Coping strategies involve leading collaborative processes in holding environments that are feasible with their workload and roles as managers.

Primary stability is an important factor for dental implant success. In the past years, a new method for bone site preparation was introduced, named osseodensification (OD). OD produces a condensation of the trabecular portion of the bone, increasing bone-to-implant contact and primary stability. This study aims to compare the effect of OD in cylindrical and conical implants to conventional instrumentation. A total of 40 implants, divided in 4 groups, were placed in porcine tibia: cylindrical conventional (1a); cylindrical OD (1b); conical conventional (2a); and conical OD (2b). Each implant was measured for implant stability quotient (ISQ), insertion torque (IT) and removal torque (RT). Group 2b showed the higher values for each of the evaluated parameters; groups 1b and 2b showed better results than 1a and 2a, respectively. Regarding IT and RT, group 1b achieved higher values than group 2a, but not for ISQ. The inter-groups comparison showed significant difference between groups 1a vs 2a, 1a vs 2b and 1b vs 2b for ISQ, and 1a vs 1b and 1a vs 2b for RT analysis. OD resulted in improved ISQ, IT and RT of both cylindrical and conical implants. Conical implants groups showed higher ISQ, but cylindrical OD resulted in higher IT and RT, compared to conical conventional ones.

Excessive intake of fluoride, one of the trace elements to maintain health, leads to liver injury. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine monomer with good antioxidant and hepatoprotective function. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of TMP on liver injury induced by acute fluorosis. A total of 60 1-month-old male Institute of Cancer Research mice without carriage of pathogenic bacteria were selected. All mice were fed adaptively for one week, and then randomly divided into 5 groups: control (K) group, model (F) group, low-dose (LT) group, medium-dose (MT) group and high-dose (HT) group. The control and model group were given distilled water, while 40 mg/kg (LT), 80 mg/kg (MT) and 160 mg/kg (HT) TMP were fed by gavage for two weeks with the maximum gavage volume of mice is 0.2ml/10g/d. Except for the control group, all groups were given fluoride (35 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection on the last day of the experiment. The results of this study showed that compared with the model group, TMP alleviated the pathological changes of liver induced by fluoride and improved the ultrastructure of liver cells; TMP significantly decreased the levels of ALT, AST and MDA (P <0.05), and increased the levels of T-AOC, T-SOD and GSH (P <0.05). The results of mRNA detection showed that TMP significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, CAT, GSH-Px and SOD in liver compared with model group (P <0.05). In conclusion, TMP can inhibit oxidative stress by activating Nrf2 pathway and alleviate liver injury induced by fluoride.

In this study we propose a semi-parametric, parsimonious Value at Risk forecasting model, based on quantile regression and machine learning methods, combined with readily available market prices of option contracts from the over-the-counter foreign exchange rate interbank market. We aim at improving existing methods for VaR prediction of currency investments using machine learning. We employ two different methods - ensemble methods and neural networks. Explanatory variables are implied volatilities with plausible economic interpretation. The forward-looking nature of the model, achieved by the application of implied volatilities as risk factors, ensures that new information is rapidly reflected in Value at Risk estimates. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to utilize information in the volatility surface, combined with machine learning and quantile regression, for VaR prediction of currency investments. The proposed ensemble models achieve good estimates across all quantiles. The light gra-dient-boosting machine model and the categorical boosting model both yield estimates which are better than, or equal to, those of the benchmark model. The neural network models are in general quite unstable.

Collatz conjecture states that an integer $n$ reduces to $1$ when certain simple operations are applied to it. Mathematically, the Collatz function is written as $f^k(n) = \frac{3^kn + C}{2^{z}}$, where $z, k, C \geq 1$. Suppose the integer $n$ violates Collatz conjecture by reappearing as $2^in$, where $i \geq 1$, then the equation modifies to $n \left(1 - \frac{3^k}{2^{z}2^i}\right) = \frac{C}{2^{z}2^i}$. The article takes an elementary approach to this problem by calculating the bounds on the values of $\frac{C}{2^{z}2^i}$ and $1 - \frac{3^k}{2^{z}2^i}$. Correspondingly, an upper limit on the integer $n$ is placed that can re-appear in the sequence. The integer $n$ lies in the $(-\infty, 5)$ range, and the limit on the number of odd steps is $k < 3$. Finally, it is shown that no integer chain exists that does not lead to 1.

The article's purpose is a citation analysis of the impact of scientific publications by authors of different gender compositions. The PageRank method was chosen to calculate the citation impact of scientific publications, and the citation has also estimated the impact of scientific publications based on the number of citations. The normalized citation impact of scientific publications is calculated according to nine subsets of scientific publications that correspond to patterns of different gender compositions of authors. Also, these estimates were calculated for each country with which the authors of the publications are affiliated. The Citation database was chosen for the scientometric analysis Network Dataset ( ver . 13). The dataset includes more than 5 million scientific publications and 48 million citations. The main subject areas of scientific publications in this database are computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, engineering, etc. The results indicate that articles with a predominantly male composition are cited more than articles with a mixed or female composition of authors in this direction. Analysis of advantages in dynamics indicates that in the last decade for developed countries, there has been a decrease in the connection between the citation impact of scientific publications and the gender composition of their authors. However, the obtained results still confirm the presence of gender inequality in science, which may be related to socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, natural homophily, and other factors that contribute to the appearance of gender gaps. An essential consequence of overcoming these gaps, including in science, is ensuring the rights of people in all their diversity.

The Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, is an innovative digital payment solution that offers increased convenience, speed, and cost-effectiveness to consumers and businesses alike. However, there is limited literature available on the characteristics of this nascent technology, the depth and breadth of the various business LN-related applications as well as relevant adoption/implementation challenges. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the LN’s characteristics, its potential in enhancing business operations and its applicability across different sectors, while taking into account adoption and implementation challenges. We apply a narrative review methodology using a semi-systematic approach to examine new and emerging business models empowered by the LN and its characteristics, topology, performance, privacy, and security. We analyze the data to identify key themes and trends in the literature, offering a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature. Based on the findings, we provide several clusters of fruitful areas for future research directions. The findings of this study will help businesses make more informed decisions about adopting and leveraging the LN to improve their operations and enhance customer experience.

CRCMSS/pMMR contain a significantly increased fraction of TREM2+ macrophages (TAMs) and CD66+ neutrophils (TANs) together with decrease of CD4-CD8-CD3+ double negative T lymphocytes (DNTs); no differences were revealed by the analysis of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell populations. A fraction of tumor-infiltrating T-cells display an exhausted phenotype, co-expressing PD-1 and TIM-3. Remarkably, expression of PD-L1 on fresh tumor cells and TAMs was undetectable even after in vitro stimulation with interferon-γ. These findings confirm the immune suppressive microenvironment of CRCMSS/pMMR characterized by dense infiltration of TAMs, occurrence of TANs, lack of DNTs, T-cell exhaustion and interferon-γ unresponsiveness by host and tumor cells. Appropriate bypass strategies should consider these combinations of immune escape mechanisms in CRCMSS/pMMR.

The use of the voice of the customer as a main input to guide decision making towards customer centricity strategies has become a necessity for companies. This research proposes a structured method of textual processing using the KDD (Knowledge Discovery Databases) methodology applied to the tweets of users of Colombian public sector companies, through the analysis of temporal sentiments and topic modeling to identify the areas in which actions should be taken to improve the perception of service. To fulfill such purpose, tweets from January to June 2022 are processed, followed by a temporal analysis of the evolution of the sentiment based on 3 enriched dictionaries; after, the LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis) algorithm is implemented to find the areas with ailment for the user, in addition to propose a method to homologate the CIER (Comisión de Integración Energética Regional) survey. Finally, metrics are detailed to follow up the perception of the service. It is concluded that for the Acueducto the topic with the highest number of complaints is related to "Water truck request", for Enel "Servide Outages" and for Vanti: " Case solution and request information". Also, the homologation of 3 of the 5 pillars on which the CIER survey is based is presented.

The aim of this study was to develop and assess the reliability and validity of an innovative field test that measures lower limb explosive power in basketball players (i.e., alactic anaerobic capacity) for the dominant and non-dominant leg. The test examines the performance of vertical, horizontal, and combined movements while holding the ball – similar to penetration of the basket or layup. Such capabilities are required throughout basketball practice and games, combined with upper and lower body coordination. The study included 22 male basketball players, ages 16-18, members of an elite youth league team in Israel. To assess validity, the participants performed the test for each leg, followed by nine standardized tests that were developed for a range of ball games, including basketball. To assess reliability, the participants performed a retest of the unique test 72-hours later. Our findings indicate the validity and reliability of the proposed anaerobic alactic field test for basketball players, for the dominant and non-dominant leg. Moreover, strong correlations were seen between the novel test and the standardized tests, with a high correlation for horizontal explosive power (0.5<r<0.7), a very high correlation for vertical explosive power (0.7<r<0.9), and a nearly perfect correlation for the two combined (r>0.9). In conclusion, this unique field test for basketball players could assist coaches in developing and applying optimal training programs and game plans, for players individually, and for the team as a whole. As the test measures each leg separately, it could also offer an assessment tool following players’ injuries.

Amphetamine is a psychostimulant drug with a high risk of toxicity and death when misused. Abuse of amphetamines is associated with an altered organic profile, which includes omega fatty acids. Low omega fatty acid levels are linked to mental disorders. Using the Comparative Toxicogenomic Database (CTD), we investigated the chemical profile of the brain in amphetamine-related fatalities and the possibility of neurotoxicity. We classified amphetamine cases as low (0-0.5 g/ml), medium (&gt;0.5 to 1.5 g/ml), and high (&gt;1.5 g/ml) based on amphetamine levels in brain samples. All three groups shared 1-octadecene, 1-tridecene, 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosane, and oleylamide. We identified chemical-disease associations using the CTD tools and predict an association between docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acids and curated conditions like autistic disorder, disorders related to cocaine, Alzheimer's disease, and cognitive dysfunction. An amphetamine challenge may cause neurotoxicity in the human brain due to a decrease in omega-3 fatty acids and an increase in oxidative products. Therefore, in cases of amphetamine toxicity, supplement therapy may necessitate preventing omega-3 fatty acid deficiency.

Land registry is one of the instruments most mentioned by public actors in land management in Benin to solve land problems faced by the country. Its implementation and functioning depend not only on technical actions but also on political will. Through a methodology based on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group, as well as on the theory of "change in public action" by P. Muller (2005), legal and institutional changes have been observed in the implementation of the cadastral project. It is a project whose political component is readable through government action and the legal reforms carried out. At the technical level, the land data collected are processed by computer systems that can facilitate the mass production of land titles.

Photovoltaic(PV) power generation is highly nonlinear and stochastic. Accurate prediction of PV power generation plays a crucial role in grid connection as well as the operation and scheduling of power plants. To predict the PV power combination model, this paper suggests a method based on Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN), Nonlinear Auto-Regressive Neural Networks with Exogenous Input (NARXNN), Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Network, and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) algorithms. To attempt to reduce the non-smoothness of PV power, the weather variable features with the greatest effect on PV power are first identified by correlation analysis. Following this, the PV power modal decomposition is split and reorganized into a new feature matrix. Finally， a NARX is used to obtain preliminary PV power components and residual vector features， and the PV power is predicted by combining three models of LightGBM， LSTM, and NARX and then the final prediction results are obtained by combining the PV power prediction results using error inverse method weighted optimization. The prediction results demonstrate that the model put forth in this paper outperforms those of other models and validate the model's validity by utilizing real measurement data from Andre Agassi College in the United States.

MALDI-TOF is now considered as a relevant tool for the identification of arthropods, including lice and fleas. However, the duration and conditions of storage, such as in ethanol, which is frequently used to preserve these both ectoparasites, could impede their classification. The purpose of the present study was to assess the stability of MS profiles from Pediculus humanus corporis lice and Ctenocephalides felis fleas preserved in alcohol from one to four years and kinetically submitted to MALDI-TOF MS. A total of 469 cephalothoraxes from lice (n=170) and fleas (n=299) were tested. The reproducibility of the MS profiles was estimated based on the log score values (LSVs) obtained for query profiles compared to the reference profiles included in the MS database. Only MS spectra from P. humanus corporis and Ct. felis stored in alcohol for less than one year were included in the reference MS database. Approximately 75% of MS spectra from lice (75.2%, 94/125) and fleas (74.4%, 122/164) specimens stored in alcohol during 12 to 48 months, queried against the reference MS database, obtained a relevant identification. An accurate analysis revealed a significant decrease in the proportion of identification for both species stored for more than 22 months in alcohol. It was hypothesized that incomplete drying was responsible of MS spectra variations. Then, 45 lice and 60 fleas were subjected to longer drying periods from 12 to 24 hours. The increase in the drying period improved the proportion of relevant identification for lice (95%) and fleas (80%). This study highlighted that a correct rate of identification by MS could be obtained for lice and fleas preserved in alcohol for up to four years, on the condition that the drying period was sufficiently long for accurate identification.

In a complex working environment, the fault signal of the gearbox is greatly affected by the outside world, and fault feature recognition is difficult, so the fault diagnosis accuracy is difficult to meet the expected requirements. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a gearbox fault diagnosis method based on an optimized stacked denoising auto encoder (SDAE) and kernel extreme learning machine (KELM). Firstly, the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm in Adaptive Weight (SAPSO) was adopted to optimize the SDAE network structure, and the number of hidden layer nodes, learning rate, noise addition ratio and iteration times were adaptively obtained to make SDAE obtain the best network structure. Then, the best SDAE network structure was used to extract the deep feature information of weak faults in the original signal. Finally, the extracted fault features are fed into KELM for fault classification. Experimental results show that, compared with existing commonly used methods of fault diagnosis, the fault diagnosis model proposed in this paper can reduce the influence of noise in the original signal can better learn the deep-level features in the original signal and has higher diagnosis accuracy, faster diagnosis speed and good generalization in fault diagnosis.

Fire regimes in mountain landscapes of southern Europe have been shifting from their baselines due to rural abandonment and fire exclusion policies. Understanding the effects of fire on biodiversity is paramount to implement adequate management. Herein, we evaluated the relative role of burn severity and heterogeneity on bird abundance in an abandoned mountain range located in the biogeographic transition between the Eurosiberian and Mediterranean region (the Natural Park ‘Baixa Limia–Serra do Xurés’). We surveyed the bird community in 206 census plots distributed across the Natural Park, both inside and outside areas affected by wildfires over the last 11 years (from 2010 to 2020). We used satellite images of Sentinel 2 and Landsat missions to quantify the burn severity and heterogeneity of each fire within each surveyed plot. We also accounted for the past land use (forestry or agropastoral use) by using a land cover information for year 2010 derived from satellite image classification. We recorded 1,735 contacts from 28 bird species. Our models, fitted by using GLMs with Poisson error distribution (pseudo-R²_-average of 0.22 ± 0.13), showed that up to 71% of the modelled species were linearly correlated with at least one attribute of the fire regime. The spatiotemporal variation in burnt area and severity were relevant factors for explaining the local abundance of our target species (39% of the species; Akaike weights > 0.75). We also found a quadratic effect of at least one fire regime attribute on bird abundance for 60% of the modeled species. The past land use, and its legacy after 10 years, was critical to understand the role of fire (Akaike weights > 0.75). Our findings confirm the importance of incorporating remotely sensed indicators of burn severity into the toolkit of decision makers to accurately anticipate the response of birds to fire management.

The military taxonomy of class indices for chemical and biological warfare agents considers halogenated tear agents (CS) to be incapacitating causing local pain and discomfort with associated reflexe. The removal yield of the organic substances present in the water depends on the environmental conditions, on the chemical composition of the water and on the chemical substance dissolved in the water, which constitutes the substrate of the metabolic activities of the microorganisms that use these substances in the biochemical reactions of the cellular enzyme complexes. The two -CN groups in the malonic nitrile molecule are strongly electron-attracting and activate the CH2 group to which they are linked, and because of this, malononitrile has the role of a methylene component in condensation reactions with aldehydes or ketones. The results obtained after analyzing the degree of hydrolysis in the samples that contained the biological suspension indicated that no CBM metabolites were detected in any biological sample, regardless of the test concentration, analyzed 24 h after incubation. In the parallel samples, the aqueous solutions of CBM without biological treatment had metabolites in the samples., at 30 minutes the degree of hydrolysis is 0.21%, at 60 minutes, the degree of hydrolysis is 5.42%, after 90 minutes, the degree of hydrolysis is 6.19%, and after 24 hours. the degree of hydrolysis is 23.41%. Chemical substances in contact with microorganisms are used by them in the biochemical processes in which they are involved, the retention time and biodegradation capacity have led to an increased effect of the metabolism of toxic substances, in metabolic reactions, organic substances are the source of carbon and energy for biochemical processes. The tests performed indicate that the suspension of Chlorella sp. consumed the entire amount of CBM and metabolites from the analyzed samples The tests prove that the biological material can be used for the decontamination of the affected areas.

Saltwater intrusion in the rapidly developing city of Da Nang in central Vietnam is currently causing various water-related challenges, including inadequate water supply and water pollution. An integrated SWAT-MODFLOW numerical model was used to investigate the origin and mechanism of saltwater in Holocene and Pleistocene aquifers. Geophysical and isotopic approaches were used to validate the SEAWAT model applied for simulating saltwater intrusion. The results suggest that the ebb and flow of tides, as well as water levels in rivers primarily impact coastal aquifers. However, effective water resource planning and management, along with maintaining the natural recharge of fresh water from local rain during the rainy season, could enable the rational and efficient utilization of groundwater, reducing saltwater intrusion in many areas. During the dry season, groundwater is recharged from higher altitude areas. The current saltwater intrusion mainly occurs along the rivers up to the hydraulic dam. Simulated models, using scenarios of stop abstracting groundwater, but changing to the use of surface water for drinking water, show that the area of saline water shrinks quickly after 30 years, reducing from 59.6 km2 to 39.5 km2 and from 40.2 km2 to 28.6 km2 in Holocene and Pleistocene, respectively.

The organic coating of bridge steel girders is subjected to physical scratches, corrosion, and aging in natural weathering. The breakdown of the coating may cause serviceability and safety problems if left unnoticed. A hyperspectral imaging method is proposed to detect the condition of steel coatings based on coating-responsive features in reflectance spectra. A field test was conducted on the real-world bridge which shows obvious signs of degradation. The hyperspectral signature enables an assessment of the coating health and defect severity. The results indicated that the coating scratch can be effectively located in the domain of a hyperspectral image and the scratch depth can be determined by mapping a scratch depth indicator (SDI=R532nm / R641nm). Rust sources and products in steel girders can be identified by the unique spectral signatures and the rust stains (and thus stain areas) scattered on the coating can be pinpointed at pixel level by the corrosion rust indicators. The chemical integrity of a topcoat is demonstrated by the short-wave infrared spectroscopy and the topcoat degradation can be evaluated by the absorption at 8000 cm-1 and 5850 cm-1.

Active learning has demonstrated its effectiveness regarding the improvement of the capacities of abstraction, comprehension, and development of cognitive, expression and relationship skills of the students. In this study, the redesign and implementation of an electromagnetism course for engineering students is presented, under the methodology of Backward Design (BD), recognized for its attributes for the development of active learning and its possibility of specifying the fun-damentals and principles of engineering education in the development of syllabus in higher ed-ucation. The purposes of this study were: 1) To implement the Backward Design (BD) methodology to develop argumentative, purposeful and interpretive skills in an electromagnetism course; 2) Design and apply rubrics to evaluate tests and laboratory reports, determine the level that best suits the knowledge, skills and competencies of students. 3) Assess the perception of students regarding the use of the methodology, their contributions to the development and understanding of the concepts of the course. The results of this educational research experience shown that the BD teaching approach was pedagogical and significantly superior to conventional models towards improving knowledge and skills of electromagnetism based on Hake's statistic (h) reached 0.73 that allow us to conclude that there was a learning gain in the students.

In the last decade several projects have been developed for the digitization and semantization of cultural heritage data. They were developed to preserve and maintain this heritage, but bringing it closer to all types of users and allowing access to this information to other sectors such as tourism, education, etc. In these developments, web technologies are combined, along with the use of knowledge graphs and interactive visualisation tools. Although remarkably interesting projects have been developed, in those projects, the data visualization tools are usually focused on the project context. This makes it difficult to reuse these jobs. Additionally, there are peculiarities of cultural heritage data considered with little depth, such as uncertainty, spatial and temporal granularity, as well as other aspects, such as relationships between data. In this article, these problems are described and based on other works such as VUMO or VISO, the design of an ontology that formalizes how to visualise this information is proposed, considering these problems. In addition, the development of a platform that allows the visualisation of this information through a web application and its evaluation of its use in projects such as SILKNOW, or Arxiu Valencià del Disseny is exposed

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is the most severe manifestation of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), has been recognized as a major hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) catalyst. However, the molecular mechanism of NAFLD-NASH-HCC sequence remains unclear and a specific and effective treatment for NASH has not yet been established. The progress in this field depends on the availability of reliable preclinical models which show the steady progress to NASH, liver cirrhosis, and HCC. However, most of NASH mouse models that have been described to date develop NASH generally for more than 24 weeks and there is an uncertainty of HCC development. To overcome such shortcomings of experimental NASH studies, we established a novel NASH-HCC mouse model with very high reproducibility, generality, and convenience. We treated male C57BL/6J mice with a newly developed choline-deficient and methionine-restricted high-fat diet (CDMRHFD) for 60 weeks. Treatment of CDMRHFD for 3 weeks revealed marked steatosis, lobular inflammation, and fibrosis, histologically diagnosed as NASH. Liver cirrhosis was observed in all mice with 36-week treatment. Liver nodule emerged at 12 weeks of the treatment, and diameter >2 mm liver tumors developed in all mice at 24 weeks of the treatment. In conclusion, our rapidly progressive and highly reproducible NASH-liver cirrhosis-HCC model is helpful for preclinical development and research on the pathogenesis of human NAFLD-NASH-HCC. Our mouse model would be useful for the development of novel chemistry for NASH-HCC-targeted therapies or HCC prevention strategies.