This research investigates the effect of pre-soaking treatment on plant-based aggregate using a wet grout binder to formulate a high-strength lightweight concrete (HSLWC). The surface modification utilising a novel grout soaking technique with various water-to-cement (w/c) ratios indicated a new method of approach for the recent development of lightweight plant-based aggregate (LWPA). In this experiment, the fresh and hardened properties of modified LWPA lightweight concrete were assessed by verifying their workability, densities, compressive and split tensile strengths towards the modulus of elasticity. The results showed that pre-soaking plant-based lightweight aggregate (w/c: 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2) slightly increased the density of the samples compared to untreated LWPA. The oven-dry density of treated and untreated LWPA is controlled in the range of HSLWC. The outcomes indicated that the workability of the surface- modified LWPA has significant improvement up to 40% in 6 min for (TDS)/0.6 sample compared to the original LWPA. The mechanical properties of the LWPA concrete with surface modification method exhibit substantial increment of compressive strength, split tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity were recorded at 22%, 26%, and 34%, respectively. Significantly, the findings from this scientific method revealed that the pre-soaking treatment method on LWPA has shown to be a highly recommended technique in improving interfacial bonding while performing as one of the most promising solutions to improve the properties of lightweight concrete.

The implementation of green roofs as sustainable urban drainage systems provides benefits for stormwater control and the environment and is always more encouraged. In this paper, the estimation of the probability of vegetation survival without irrigation has been proposed as a guide to choose the proper values for the design parameters; in particular the growing medium thickness has been related to the average return interval of the water content at the end of the dry period. Moreover the study represents an improvement of the analytical probabilistic approach since a chain of consecutive rainfall events has been considered, in order to take into account the possibility that the storage capacity is not completely available at the beginning of each event because of the pre-filling from more than one previous rainfall as typically happens for green roofs. Finally, developed equations have been validated by means of their application to two case studies, respectively in northern and southern Italy.

Purpose The gradual increase in geriatric issues and global imbalance of the ratio between patients and healthcare professionals has created a demand for intelligent systems with the least error-prone diagnosis results to be used by less medically trained persons and save clinical time. This paper aims at investigating the development of an image-based colourimetric analysis. The purpose of recognising such tests is to support wider users to begin a colourimetric test to be used at homecare settings, telepathology, etc. Design/methodology/approach The concept of an automatic colourimetric assay detection is delivered by utilising two cases. Training Deep Learning (DL) models on thousands of images of these tests using transfer learning, this paper i) classifies the type of the assay, and ii) classifies the colourimetric results. Findings This paper demonstrated that the assay type can be recognised using DL techniques with 100% accuracy within a fraction of a second. Some of the advantages of the pre-trained model over the calibration-based approach are robustness, readiness and suitability to deploy for similar applications within a shorter period of time. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to provide Colourimetric Assay Type Classification (CATC) using DL. Humans are capable to learn thousands of visual classifications in their life. Object recognition may be a trivial task for humans, due to photometric and geometric variabilities along with the high degree of intra-class variabilities it can be a challenging task for machines. However, transforming visual knowledge into machines, as proposed, can support non-experts to better manage their health and reduce some of the burdens on experts.

Kersting’s groundnut is an important source of protein and essential nutrients that contribute to food security in West Africa. However, the crop is still underexploited by the populations and under-researched by the scientific community. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of 217 Kersting’s groundnut accessions from five origins using 886 DArTseq markers. Gene diversity was low and ranged from 0.049 to 0.064. The number of private alleles greatly varied among populations (42–192) and morphotypes (40–339). Moderate to very high levels of selfing and inbreeding were observed among populations (s=56–85%, F_IS=0.389–0.736) and morphotypes (s=57–82%, F_IS=0.400–0.691). Moreover, little to very high genetic differentiations were observed among populations (0.006≤F_IS≤0.371) and morphotypes (0.029≤F_IS≤0.307). Analysis of molecular variance partitioned 38.5% of the genetic variation among and 48.7% within populations (P<0.001). Significant isolations by distance were detected between populations (R²=0.612, P=0.011) and accessions (R²=0.499, P<0.001). Discriminant analysis of principal components and neighbour joining consistently distinguished eight distinct clusters. These data provide a global picture of the existing genetic diversity for Kersting’s groundnut and will guide the choice of breeding strategies to increase production.

The zebrafish is now an important model organism for cancer biology studies and provides some unique and complementary opportunities in comparison to the mammalian equivalent. The translucency of zebrafish has allowed in vivo live imaging studies of tumour initiation and progression at the cellular level thus providing novel insights into our understanding of cancer. Here we summarise and discuss available transgenic zebrafish tumour models and what we have gleaned from them with respect to cancer inflammation. In particular, we focus on the host inflammatory response toward transformed cells during the pre-neoplastic stage of tumour development. We discuss features of tumour associated macrophages and neutrophils in mammalian models and present evidence which supports the idea that these inflammatory cells promote early stage tumour development and progression. Direct live imaging of tumour initiation in zebrafish models has shown that the intrinsic inflammation induced by pre-neoplastic cells is tumour promoting. Signals mediating leukocyte recruitment to pre-neoplastic cells in zebrafish correspond to signals mediating leukocyte recruitment in mammalian tumours. The activation state of macrophages and neutrophils recruited to pre-neoplastic cells appears to be heterogenous, as seen in mammalian models, which provides an opportunity to study the plasticity of innate immune cells during tumour initiation. Although several potential mechanisms are described that might mediate the trophic function of innate immune cells during tumour initiation in zebrafish, there are several unknowns that are yet to be resolved. Rapid advancement of genetic tools and imaging technologies for zebrafish will facilitate research into the mechanisms that modulate leukocyte function during tumour initiation and identify targets for cancer prevention.

Calibrating ecological models or making decisions with them is an optimisation problem with challenging methodological issues. Depending on the optimisation formulation, there may be a large variety of optimisation configurations (e.g. multiple objectives, constraints, stochastic criteria) and finding a single acceptable solution may be difficult. The challenges are exacerbated by the high computational cost and the non linear or elusive mathematical properties that increased with the complexity of numerical models. From the feedbacks of practitioners, the need for a guideline for conducting optimisation of complex models has emerged. In this context, we propose a practical guide for the complex model optimisation process, covering both calibration and decision-making. The guide sets out the workflow with recommendations for each step based on existing tools and methods usually scattered throughout the literature. This guide is accompanied with an ODDO template (Overview, Design, Details of Optimisation) to standardise the published description of model-based optimisation and suggests research directions.

This study introduces a novel method for early prediction of Kimchi cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis (Lour.) Hanelt) height, utilizing drone imagery and a long short-term memory (LSTM) model. The research was conducted on a testbed at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (NAS) in South Korea, encompassing two distinct soil types (loam and sandy loam) to investigate their impact on growth. High-resolution drone images were captured throughout the growing season to generate a canopy height model (CHM) for estimating plant height at various stages. Missing height data were interpolated using a logistic growth curve, and an LSTM model was trained on this data to predict the final height of Kimchi cabbage at harvest. Three LSTM models were developed using time-series data collected at 29, 36, and 44 days after planting (DAP). The model trained on data from DAP 44 demonstrated the highest accuracy with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.83, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.48 cm, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 3.26 cm, outperforming models trained on earlier data. Color-coded maps were generated to visualize the spatial distribution of predicted Kimchi cabbage heights, revealing variations in growth patterns across the testbed and confirming the model's potential for site-specific management. Considering the trade-off between accuracy and prediction timing, the model trained on DAP 36 data (MAE = 2.77 cm) was deemed optimal for informing cultivation management decisions. This research demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating drone imagery, logistic growth curves, and LSTM models for early and accurate prediction of Kimchi cabbage height. The proposed technology enables data-driven decision-making for farmers, facilitating timely interventions based on predicted growth patterns. This could lead to improved crop yields, resource optimization, and a more sustainable agricultural future. Future research will focus on refining the model's accuracy and exploring its applicability to other crops, further expanding the potential of precision agriculture technologies.

Background: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a progressive and incurable condition that prompts the exploration of interventions to slow its advancement and enhance the quality of life. The cortical brain waves could have a role in the process of executive function deterioration, increasing dementia symptoms. Objective: To interrogate the effects of physical exercise, and non-invasive brain stimulation, both in electrophysiological behavior of the brain, the executive functions, and dementia symptoms in older adults with AD. Methods: One hundred and sixteen older adults were grouped (n=22 each): GAE (AD, PMED+NIBS), GCP (AD, PMED), GCN (AD, NIBS), GCS (control, no intervention). Binaural beats were used as a non-invasive brain stimulation, physical exercise, or both, were applied during 16 weeks. Pre/post measurements included Alpha Band, and SMR Rhythms, executive functions, and dementia symptoms. Results: GCS showed no significant changes (p>0.05). GCN and GCS slightly enhanced inhibitory control (p>0.05) and working memory (p>0.05). In contrast, GCP and GAE improved executive function (p

Objective: To examine variations in end-of-life care for breast cancer, heart failure, and dementia patients. Data and methods: Data from four Norwegian health registries were linked using a personal identification number. Longitudinal trends over 365 days and the type of care on the final day of life were analyzed using descriptive techniques and logistic regression analysis. Results: Patients with dementia were most commonly placed in nursing homes, while patients with heart failure and breast cancer were more frequently hospitalized. Breast cancer and heart failure patients had a higher likelihood of dying at home. The presence of general practitioners increased the probability of home-based end-of-life care for cancer patients, while non-physician healthcare workers increased the likelihood of home-based care for the other patient groups. Conclusion: Diagnoses, individual characteristics, and service availability are all associated with the place of death in end-of-life care.

Sentiment analysis plays a crucial role in understanding customer feedback, guiding product development, and informing business decisions. This paper introduces term sentiment entropy (TSE), a novel weighting method that leverages the distribution of sentiment labels associated with words to enhance text classification accuracy. TSE complements traditional TF-IDF techniques by capturing the nuances of sentiment variation across different contexts. Experiments across diverse public datasets demonstrate TSE's potential to improve sentiment analysis performance, especially in capturing subtle sentiment shifts and adapting to specific domains. While computational cost and label quality pose challenges, TSE offers a promising avenue for refining sentiment analysis and opening new research frontiers.

In this paper, we study the constrained minimization problem for an energy functional which is related to the following Kirchhoff type equation \begin{equation*} -\Big(\eta+b\big(\int_{\R^{3}}|\nabla u|^{2}dx\big)^{s}\Big)\Delta u+V(x)u=\mu u +\lambda|u|^{p}u,\end{equation*} where $b$ is a positive constant, parameters $\eta\geq0, \lambda>0$, exponents $s>0$, $0

The demand for precise indoor localization services is steadily increasing. Among various methods, fingerprint-based indoor localization has become a popular choice due to its exceptional accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and ease of implementation. However, its performance degrades significantly as a result of multipath signal attenuation and environmental changes. In this paper, we propose an indoor localization method based on fingerprints using self-attention and long short-term memory (LSTM). By integrating a self-attention mechanism and LSTM network, the proposed method exhibits outstanding positioning accuracy and robustness in diverse experimental environments. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated under two different experimental scenarios, which involve 2D and 3D moving trajectories, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach achieves an average localization error of 1.76 m and 2.83 m in the respective scenarios, outperforming the existing state-of-the-art methods by 42.67% and 31.64%.

Fungi belong to the species with the highest biodiversity and high potential for use in biotechnology and industry. Therefore, their long-term quality conservation is very important and it is necessary to continuously develop new methods and improve existing methods. Currently, cryopreservation appears to be the best available technique for the preservation of fungi. This study summarises the latest trends and advances in fungal cryopreservation over the last 7 years, i.e. findings from scientific publications from 2017 to 2023 dealing with cryopreservation of both basidiomycetes and non-basidiomycete fungi. The work analyzed the studied organisms and the cryopreservation method used, focused on the use of new procedures and modifications of existing methods; summarized the conditions for successful cryopreservation, such as cryopreservation time and temperature, as well as the substrate and cryoprotectant used.

Considering future tasks in soil health, resources management and environmental protection, farmers are challenged to develop sustainable strategies for managing soil and land resources. In this study, the long-term sustainability of two fertilization strategies, - current, with synthetic fertilizers (SYN) vs conservative, with organic sources of nitrogen (organic amendments plus green manure with a legume - CONS) - was assessed in a processing tomato/durum wheat rotation. The EPIC model was used, validated with field data then run to simulate the management for 30 years under 3 current and future climates. Yield, soil organic carbon (SOC) stock change, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrate leaching were considered as sustainability indicators. Under all the future climate scenarios, tomato yield increased in CONS, remaining almost stable in SYN. Wheat yield increased both in CONS and SYN, but the average yield in CONS was considerably lower than in SYN. NUE and nitrate leaching followed the same trend, both decreasing in CONS, while WUE was higher in CONS compared to SYN. The effect of CONS on SOC was always positive. Thus, the alternative N fertilization strategy proposed can be a favorable option for maintaining soil health and a sustainable crop production.

Dynamic neural networks (DNN) are types of artificial neural networks (ANN) that are designed to work with sequential data where context in time is important. In contrast to traditional static neural networks that process data in a fixed order, dynamic neural networks use information about past inputs, which is important if dynamic of a certain process is emphasized. They are widely used in natural language processing, speech recognition and time series prediction. In industrial processes, their use is interesting for the prediction of difficult-to-measure process variables. In an industrial process of isomerization, it is crucial to measure the quality attributes affecting the octane number of gasoline. Process analyzers that are commonly used for this purpose are expensive and subject to failures, therefore, in order to achieve continuous production in case of malfunction, mathematical models for estimating the product quality attributes are imposed as a solution. In this paper, mathematical models were developed using dynamic recurrent neural networks (RNN), i.e., their subtype of a long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture. The results of the developed models were compared with the results of several types of other data-driven models developed for an isomerization process, such as multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural networks, support vector machines (SVM) and dynamic polynomial models. The obtained results are satisfactory, which suggests a good possibility of application.

Coronavirus infection disease -2019 (COVID-19) was a global pandemic with high mortality and morbidity, that lead to an increased health burned all over the world. Although the virus affects mostly pulmonary tract, cardiovascular implications were often among COVID-19 positive patients, and are predictive for poor outcomes. Increased values of myocardial biomarkers such as Troponin I or NT-proBNP were proven to be risk factors for respiratory failure (26). Although the risk of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) was greater in acute-phase of COVID-19, there were lower rates of hospitalization for ACS, due to patient’s hesitation for presenting at the hospital (22). Hospitalized ACS patients with COVID-19 infection, had a prolonged symptom-to-first medical contact time, and longer door-to-balloon time. The mechanisms of myocardial injurie in COVID -19 patients are not still not clear, most often is incriminated: the down-regulation of ACE2 inhibitors, endothelial disfunction, pro-coagulant status, increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 survivors that presented an acute myocardial infarction by reviewing existing data.

Urban rail transit offers advantages like high safety, energy efficiency, and environmental friendliness. With cities rapidly expanding, travelers are increasingly using rail systems, heightening demands for passenger capacity and efficiency while also pressuring these networks. Passenger flow forecasting is an essential part of transportation systems. Short-term passenger flow forecasting for rail transit can estimate future station volumes, providing valuable data to guide operations management and mitigate congestion. This paper investigates short-term forecasting for Suzhou's Shantang Street station. Shantang Street's high commercial presence and distinct weekday versus weekend ridership patterns make it an interesting test case. Wavelet denoising and LSTM modeling were combined to predict short-term flows, comparing the results to standalone LSTM and SVR approaches. This study illustrates that the adopted algorithms exhibit good performance for passenger prediction. The LSTM model with wavelet denoising proved most accurate, demonstrating applicability for short-term rail transit forecasting and practical significance.

This study investigates the long-term impact of soil tillage systems and crop residue incorporation on agrophysical properties. A long-term field experiment has been conducted since 1999 at the Ex-perimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy. According to the latest edition of the International Soil Classification System, the soil in the experimental field was classified as Planosol, with a silty medium loam texture at a depth of 0–20 cm and a silty light loam at a depth of 20–40 cm. This investigation aimed to assess the long-term impact of reduced tillage systems, straw, and green manure combinations on soil physical properties, including soil shear strength, and soil aggregate stability. Studies were carried out on winter wheat crops in 2014, 2017, and 2023. The treatments were arranged using a split-plot design. In a two-factor field experiment, one part of the experimental field had straw removed, while the other part had the entire straw yield chopped and spread at harvest (Factor A). The subplot factor (Factor B) included three different tillage sys-tems: conventional deep ploughing, cover cropping for green manure with no-till, and no-tillage. Soil samples were analysed in the Laboratory of Agrobiology at Vytautas Magnus University Ag-riculture Academy. The findings indicate that long-term application of reduced tillage significantly increases soil shear strength. Shallower tillage depths lead to higher soil shear strength, while the effect of spreading plant residues is relatively lower. Long-term tillage of different intensities, spreading plant residues, and catch crop cultivation for green manure did not significantly affect soil structure. However, soil structural stability was found to be highly dependent on soil tillage. Cover cropping for green manure with no-till and no-tillage positively affected soil aggregate sta-bility in the upper (0–10 cm) and 10–25 cm layers.

Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with high incidence in children and adolescents characterized by motor hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. MRI-based evidences support that neuroanatomical abnormalities as the volume reduction of neocortex and hippocampus are shared by several neuropsychiatric diseases as schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. In addition, it is well documented the abnormal development and postnatal pruning of dendritic spines of neocortical neurons in schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. A recent report using the prenatal nicotine exposure murine model of ADHD support a delay in spine maturation in CA1 neurons correlated with impaired working memory and hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). In vivo spine imaging show that dendritic spines are dynamic structures exhibiting Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity triggering intracellular cascades involving glutamate receptors, calcium influx and remodeling of F-actin network. The LTP-induced insertion of postsynaptic glutamate receptors is associated to the enlargement of spine head and long-term depression (LTD) to the spine shrinkage. In this review, we summarize recent evidence emerged from meta-analysis of brain imaging data from ADHD patients, risk loci from global genome-wide analysis and new reports focused on spine molecular structure and dynamics using in vivo imaging in neocortex and hippocampus.

Introduction: The choice of Cardiac Preservation Solution (CPS) for myocardial protection at the time of heart procurement remains controversial and uncertainties persist regarding its effect on the early and midterm Heart Transplantation (HTx) outcomes. Thus, we retrospectively analyzed our adult HTx performed with two different CPS, during a period of 12 years, in terms of hospital mortality, mid-term survival, inotropic score, primary graft dysfunction and rejection score. Methods: From January 2009 to December 2020, 154 adult HT were performed in our hospital. Patients were divided in two groups according to the CPS used: St. Thomas (n=75, group P 1) and HTK-Custodiol (n=79, group P 2). The choice of CPS was related to an institutional policy; from 2009 to 2015, St. Thomas solution was exclusively used, and after that, HTK-Custodiol alone. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of preoperative and intraoperative features. Postoperatively, the Custodiol group showed significantly lower inotropic score (p&lt;0.0001), mean rejection score (p= 0.036) and 30 days mortality (p=0.0068). The use of HTK-Custodiol was the only variable that improved midterm survival (HTK-Custodiol vs St Thomas, HR= 0.20 (95% CI: 0.069 -0.6) p=0.0039). Conclusion: In our single center experience, using HTK-Custodiol as myocardial protection during heart procurement leads to improved outcomes after HTx, including postoperative inotropic score, rejection score, 30-days mortality and midterm survival.

Multivariate predictive analysis of the Stream-Water (SW) parameters (discharge, water level, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and specific conductance) is a pivotal task in the field of water resource management during the era of rapid climate change. The highly dynamic and evolving nature of the meteorological and climatic features have a significant impact on the temporal distribution of the SW variables in recent days making the SW variables forecasting even more complicated for diversified water-related issues. To predict the SW variables, various physics-based numerical models are used using numerous hydrologic parameters. Extensive lab-based investigation and calibration are required to reduce the uncertainty involved in those parameters. However, in the age of data-informed analysis and prediction, several deep learning algorithms showed satisfactory performance in dealing with sequential data. In this research, a comprehensive Explorative Data Analysis (EDA) and feature engineering were performed to prepare the dataset to obtain the best performance of the predictive model. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network regression model is trained using over several years of daily data to predict the SW variables up to one week ahead of time (lead time) with satisfactory performance. The performance of the proposed model is found highly adequate through the comparison of the predicted data with the observed data, visualization of the distribution of the errors, and a set of error matrices. Higher performance is achieved through the increase in the number of epochs and hyperparameter tuning. This model can be transferred to other locations with proper feature engineering and optimization to perform univariate predictive analysis and potentially be used to perform real-time SW variables prediction.

The main objective of this paper is to identify the major research areas of ChatGPT through term and keyword co-occurrence network mapping techniques. For conducting the present study, total of 577 publications were retrieved from the Lens database for the network visualization. The findings of the study showed that “chatgpt” occurrence in maximum number of times followed by its related terms such as artificial intelligence, large language model, gpt, study etc. This study will be helpful to library and information science as well as computer or information technology professionals.

This study numerically evaluated the long-term and stable trends of meandering channel planform at different mean annual subcritical flows based on a depth-averaged linearized meander evolution model. The calculation cases included an idealized sine-generated meander with moderate max-deflection angle and a typical natural meander - Jiyun River (in China). Within the increase of the selection of the mean annual width-depth ratio in a certain scope, the results showed some specific phase characteristics of channel centerline evolution: (1) the meander straightening trend became weaker in phase 1 (B/H ≤ 16.5) and gradually turned into the meander developing trend in phase 2 (B/H ≤ 27) with the overall immunity to flow magnitude; (2) the symmetric development form along the transverse direction perpendicular to the flow average direction was broken starting from the downstream tail in phase 3 (B/H ≤ 28.9), meantime accompanied by the highlight of flow effects when the mean annual B/H exceeded 28; (3) in phase 4 (B/H ≤ 29.5), there occurred obvious incipience and jump process of the channel sensitivity responding to flow when the selected B/H crossed 29.3, which were very similar to the transition process from the laminar flow to turbulent flow. Besides, the initial sinuosity and curvature-ratio indicator could contribute much to the channel evolutionary state, as demonstrated in the comparison between natural Jiyun River case and the correspondingly idealized sine-generated meander case with the same level of mean annual B/H. This research provides innovation spaces for deeper meander mechanism exploration and effective riparian management.

Working memory (WM) is a brain system for short-term storage and manipulation of information and plays an important role in complex cognitive tasks. In the synaptic theory of WM memorized elements are stored in the form of short-term potentiated connections in a sample population of neurons. In this paper, we show that such populations can be formed due to the mechanisms of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) – the phase dependence associated with the ratio of the pulse times of the interacting neurons. We propose a WM model considering two types of plasticity: short-term plasticity and STDP. We have shown formation of neuronal clusters encoding items in the WM model, that can be formed by external stimulation of a group of neurons due to the mechanisms of STDP and hold and reactivated by short-term plasticity mechanisms. The dynamic formation of neuronal clusters instead of pre-formed clusters gives additional flexibility to the model.

Background: Heart rate variability is a non-invasive, measurable, and established autonomic nervous system test. Long-term COVID-19 sequelae are unclear; however, acute symptoms have been studied. Objectives: To determine autonomic cardiac differences between long COVID-19 patients and heathy controls and evaluate associations among symptoms, comorbidities, and laboratory findings. Methods: This single-center study included long COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. The heart rate variability (HRV), a quantitative marker of autonomic activity, was monitored for 24 h using an ambulatory electrocardiogram system. HRV indices were compared between case and control groups. Symptom frequency and inflammatory markers were evaluated. The significance level of 5% (p-value 0.05) was adopted. Results: A total of 47 long COVID-19 patients were compared to 42 healthy controls. Patients averaged 43.8 (SD14.8) years old, and 60.3% were female. In total, 52.5% of patients had moderate illness. Post-exercise dyspnea was most common (71.6%), and 53.2% lacked comorbidities. COVID-19 patients had 4 times more dyslipidemia. CNP, D-dimer, and CRP levels were elevated (p-values of 0.0098, 0.0023, and 0.0015, respectively). The control group had greater SDNN24 and SDANNI (OR = 0.98 (0.97 to 0.99; p = 0.01)). Increased low-frequency (LF) indices in COVID-19 patients (OR = 1.002 (1.0001 to 1.004; p = 0.030)) and high-frequency (HF) indices in the control group (OR = 0.987 (0.98 to 0.995; p = 0.001)) were also associated. Conclusions: Patients with long COVID-19 had lower HF values than healthy individuals. These variations are associated with increased parasympathetic activity, which may be related to long COVID-19 symptoms and inflammatory laboratory findings.

This paper presents the development and implementation of a machine learning model to estimate the future price of commodities in the Brazilian market from technical analysis indicators. For this, two databases were obtained regarding the commodities sugar, cotton, corn, soybean and wheat, which were submitted to the steps of data cleaning, pre-processing and subdivision. From the pre-processed data, recurrent neural networks of the long short-term memory type were used to perform the prediction of data in the interval of 1 and 3 days ahead. These models were evaluated using mean squared error, obtaining an accuracy between 0.00010 and 0.00037 on the test data for 1 day ahead and 0.00015 to 0.00041 for 3 days ahead. However, based on the results obtained, it can be stated that the developed model obtained a good prediction performance for all commodities evaluated.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) in long-term care (LTC) faced and continue to experience significant emotional and psychological distress throughout the pandemic. Despite this, little is known about the unique experiences of LTC workers. This scoping review synthesizes existing research on the experiences of HCWs in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, data were extracted from six databases from inception of the pandemic to June 2022. Among 3,808 articles screened, 40 articles were included in the final analysis. Analyses revealed three interrelated themes: carrying the load (moral distress); building pressure and burning out (emotional exhaustion); and working through it (a sense of duty to care). Given the impacts of the pandemic on both HCW wellbeing and patient care, every effort must be made to address the LTC workforce crisis and evaluate best practices for supporting HCWs experiencing mental health concerns during and post-COVID-19.

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

Important policy developments in dementia and palliative care in nursing homes between 2010 and 2015 in Flanders, Belgium might have influenced which people die in nursing homes and how they die. We aimed to examine differences between 2010 and 2015 in the prevalence and characteristics of residents with dementia in nursing homes in Flanders, and their palliative care service use and comfort in the last week of life. We used two retrospective epidemiological studies, including 198 residents in 2010 and 183 in 2015, who died with dementia in representative samples of nursing homes in Flanders. We found a 23%-point increase in dementia prevalence (P-value<0.001), with a total of 11%-point decrease in severe to very severe cognitive impairment (P=0.04). Controlling for this difference in resident characteristics, in the last week of life, there were increases in the use of pain assessment (+20%-point; P<0.001) and assistance with eating and drinking (+10%-point; P=0.02) but no change in total comfort. The higher prevalence of dementia in nursing homes with no improvement in residents’ total comfort while dying emphasize an urgent need to better support nursing homes in improving their capacities to provide timely and high-quality palliative care services to more residents dying with dementia.

There are a large number of wildlife and insect species that are in trouble on this planet, and most believe that monarch butterflies in eastern North America are too, because of the well-publicized declines of their winter colonies in central Mexico in the last 25 years. A small number of studies over the last decade have cast doubt on this claim by showing declines are not evident at other stages of the annual cycle. To determine how extensive this pattern is, I conducted an exhaustive review of peer-reviewed and grey literature on (eastern) monarch population censuses and studies, conducted across all seasons, and extracted data from these sources to evaluate how monarch abundance has or has not changed over time. I identified 20 collections of data that included butterfly club reports, compilations of citizen-science observations, migration roost censuses, long-term studies of isotopic signatures, and even museum records. These datasets range in duration from 15 years to over 100 years, and I endeavored to also update each with information from the most current years. I also re-examined the winter colony data after incorporating historical records of colony measurements dating back to 1976. This represents the most complete and up-to-date synthesis of information regarding this population. When I examined the long-term trajectory within each dataset a distinct pattern emerged. Modest declines are evident within the winter colonies (over the full 45 year dataset), and, within three censuses conducted during the spring recolonization. Meanwhile, 16 completely separate monitoring studies conducted during the summer and fall (and from varying locations) revealed either no trend at all or in fact an increase in abundance. While each of these long-term studies has inherent limitations, the fact that all 16 sources of data show the same pattern is undeniable. Moreover, this evidence is consistent with recently-conducted genetic work that shows a lack of decline. Collectively, these results indicate that despite diminishing winter colonies and spring migrations, monarchs in eastern North America are capable of rebounding fully each year, implying that milkweed is not limiting within their collective range. Moreover, there is no indication from these data that the summer population was ever truly diminished by changing agricultural practices in the Midwest that reduced milkweed in crop fields within that region. It is possible that the larger population is not as dependent on Midwestern agricultural milkweed as once thought, and/or that monarchs are adapting to increasingly human-altered landscapes. These results are timely and should bear on the upcoming USFWS decision on whether the monarch requires federal protection in the United States. Importantly, they argue that despite losses of many insects globally, the eastern North American monarch population is not in the same situation.

Banks are normally offered two kinds of deposit accounts. It consists of deposits like current/saving account and term deposits like fixed or recurring deposits. For enhancing the maximized profit from bank as well as customer perspective, term deposit can accelerate uplifting of finance fields. This paper focuses on likelihood of term deposit subscription taken by the customers. Bank campaign efforts and customer detail analysis can influence term deposit subscription chances. An automated system is approached in this paper that works towards prediction of term deposit investment possibilities in advance. This paper proposes deep learning based hybrid model that stacks Convolutional layers and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) layers as predictive model. For RNN, Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) is employed. The proposed predictive model is later compared with other benchmark classifiers such as k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Decision tree classifier (DT), and Multi-layer perceptron classifier (MLP). Experimental study concludes that proposed model attains an accuracy of 89.59% and MSE of 0.1041 which outperform well other baseline models.

Precipitation downscaling is widely employed for enhancing the resolution and accuracy of precipitation products from general circulation models (GCMs). In this study, we propose a novel statistical downscaling method to foster GCMs’ precipitation prediction resolution and accuracy for monsoon region. We develop a deep neural network composed of convolution and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent module to estimate precipitation based on well-resolved atmospheric dynamical fields. The proposed model is compared against GCM precipitation product and classical downscaling methods in the Xiangjiang River Basin in South China. Results show considerable improvement compared to the ECMWF-Interim reanalysis precipitation. Also, the model outperforms benchmark downscaling approaches, including 1) quantile mapping, 2) support vector machine, and 3) convolutional neural network. To test the robustness of the model and its applicability in practical forecast, we apply the trained network for precipitation prediction forced by retrospective forecasts from ECMWF model. Compared to ECMWF precipitation forecast, our model makes better use of the resolved dynamical field for more accurate precipitation prediction at lead time from 1 day up to 2 weeks. This superiority decreases along forecast lead time, as GCM’s skill in predicting atmospheric dynamics being diminished by the chaotic effect. At last, we build a distributed hydrological model and force it with different sources of precipitation inputs. Hydrological simulation forced with the neural network precipitation estimation shows significant advantage over simulation forced with the original ERA-Interim precipitation (with NSE value increases from 0.06 to 0.64), and the performance is just slightly worse than the observed precipitation forced simulation (NSE=0.82). This further proves the value of the proposed downscaling method, and suggests its potential for hydrological forecasts.

Speech/music classification that facilitates optimized signal processing from classification results has been extensively adapted as an essential part of various electronics applications, such as multi-rate audio codecs, automatic speech recognition, and multimedia document indexing. In this paper, a new technique to improve the robustness of speech/music classifier for 3GPP enhanced voice service (EVS) using long short-term memory (LSTM) is proposed. For effective speech/music classification, feature vectors implemented with the LSTM are chosen from the features of the EVS. Experiments show that LSTM-based speech/music classification produces better results than conventional EVS under a variety of conditions and types of speech/music data.

Although the majority of mobile phone (MP) users do not attribute adverse effects on health or well-being to MP-emitted radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs), the exponential increase in the number of RF devices necessitates continuing research aimed at the objective investigation of such concerns. In this work, we investigate the effects of acute exposure from Long Term Evolution (LTE) MP EMFs on thermal pain threshold in healthy young adults. We use a protocol that was validated in a previous study in a capsaicin-induced hyperalgesia model, and was also successfully used to show that exposure from an RF source mimicking a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) MP led to mildly stronger desensitization to repeated noxious thermal stimulation relative to the sham condition. Using the same experimental design, we did not find any effects of LTE exposure on thermal pain threshold. The present results are in accordance with previous evidence suggesting that effects are likely to be placebo/nocebo effects and are unrelated to the brief acute LTE EMF exposure itself. The fact that this is dissimilar to our previous results on UMTS exposure implies that RF modulations might differentially affect pain perception, and points to the necessity of further research in the topic.

Purpose: To analyze the five-year results of Trabectome ab interno trabeculectomy of a single glaucoma center. Method: In this retrospective interventional single-center case series, data of 93 patients undergoing ab interno trabeculotomy between September 2010, and December 2012 were included. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed using success criteria defined as postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) ≤21 mm Hg, or >20% reduction from preoperative IOP, and no need for further glaucoma surgery. Risk factors for failure were identified using Cox proportional hazards ratio (HR). Results: The retention rate for five years follow-up was 66%. The cumulative probability of success at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years was 82.6%, 76.7%, 73.9%, 72.3%, and 67.5%. Risk factors for failure were lower baseline IOP (HR=0.27, P=0.001), younger age (HR=0.25, P=0.02), and higher central corneal thickness (HR=0.18, P= 0.01). Pseudoexfoliation was associated with a higher success rate (HR= 0.39, P=0.02). IOP was decreased significantly from 20.0±5.6 mmHg at baseline to 15.6±4.6 mmHg at 5-year follow-up (P=0.001). The baseline number of glaucoma medications was 1.8±1.2, which decreased to 1.0±1.2 medications at 5 years. Conclusion: Trabectome surgery was associated with a good long-term efficacy and safety profile in this single-center case series with a high retention rate. A higher baseline IOP, older age, thinner cornea, and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma were associated with a higher success rate.

This paper presents our approaches for the SMM4H’24 Shared Task 5 on the binary classification of English tweets reporting children’s medical disorders. Our first approach involves fine-tuning a single RoBERTa-large model, while the second approach entails ensembling the results of three fine-tuned BERTweet-large models. We demonstrate that although both approaches exhibit identical performance on validation data, the BERTweet-large ensemble excels on test data. Our best-performing system achieves an F1-score of 0.938 on test data, outperforming the benchmark classifier by 1.18%.

Motivation is essential in education, with highly motivated learners engaging more deeply with content and more ably transferring knowledge to new contexts. However, the validity of scales to measure motivation has been underexplored in pre-clerkship medical education. This study evaluates the validity of the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) for measuring motivation among pre-clerkship medical students in post-situational and short-term contexts. Using a sample of n = 156 students from the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, SIMS was tested for construct validity with attention paid to content, response process, internal structure, relationships to other variables, and consequences of use evidence. Small modifications from present to past tense in English were made for clarity following focus group feedback, and content validity was ensured via expert consultation. SIMS demonstrated strong internal consistency with a satisfactory Cronbach’s alpha for all subscales and anticipated patterns of correlations. Factor analysis confirmed appropriate factor loadings, with a stronger model fit for the short-term context, and no observed adverse effects on student engagement. These findings support the robustness of SIMS in capturing intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation in pre-clerkship medical students, highlighting its applicability for short-term and situational motivational assessment.

A community-level nutrition intervention was implemented among tribal children (3 to 6 years) in Telangana, India. The one-year intervention involved six nutrient-rich formulations of millet-pulse-groundnut based products, suited to local taste preferences. Anthropometric measurements of height, weight and Mid-Upper-Arm -Circumference (MUAC) along with haemoglobin (Hb) levels were monitored at baseline and endline. The treatment group showed considerable gain in height (3.2 cm), weight (1.68 kg) and MUAC (0.33 cm), over the control group. Paired t-test indicated significant differences (p<.01) between pre- and post-intervention anthropometric measurements. Positive shifts were observed in wasting (WHZ; -1.2 ±1.3 to -0.9± 1), stunting (HAZ; -1.8±1.6 to -0.3±1.3) and underweight (WAZ; -1.9±1.2 to -0.7±1) among treatment group. Hb levels in the treatment group also improved significantly from 9.70 ± 0.14 g/dl (moderately-anaemic) to 11.08 ± 0.13 g/dl (non-anaemic). Post-intervention Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) involving mothers and teachers confirmed the positive impact. Thus, nutritional intervention formulated using climate resilient millets, pulses and groundnut, promotes dietary diversity and improves the nutrition & health status of children.

Empowering teachers with Critical Thinking and understanding of sustainability is vital for guiding students’ informed decisions and actions in today’s world. Higher education needs innovative, student-centered methods like case-based teaching in order to promote Critical Thinking and the principles of Education for Sustainable Development. The aim of the study was to explore and evaluate pre-service teachers' Critical Thinking when engaged with case studies in a practicum preparation course centered on Education for Sustainable Development. Nine undergraduate students in Teacher Education participated in the study and answered four case studies. The case studies’ responses were analyzed through a bottom-up content analysis revealing eight higher-order categories. While approaching the case studies, student-teachers followed thinking processes similar to the processes proposed by the iterative models of Critical Thinking as perceived by Garrison (1991) and/or Brookfield (1987). Nevertheless, in some cases, pre-service teachers’ disengagement was evident. The rubric assessment highlighted that the responses fell under three profiles, namely the “Deficient Critical Thinker”, the “Emerging Critical Thinker” and the “Competent Critical Thinker”. The findings emphasize the need for targeted and individualized teaching interventions in teacher higher education programs aiming at Education for Sustainable Development complying with the learning needs of student-teachers’ Critical Thinking profiles.

Agriculture is one of the indispensable fields for the survival of mankind. Potatoes also have a significant role in the field of agriculture. The quality and quantity of potatoes are significantly impacted by several diseases, such as early blight and late blight, and manual interpretation of these leaf diseases is time-consuming and inconvenient. Fortunately, leaf appearance is used to detect diseases in potato plants. Productivity will considerably rise if the infections are detected early. Different types of image processing methods and machine learning methods are used for early recognition of those diseases from leaf images so that the product losses are decreased significantly. For the incredible and marvelous performance of CNN, it is the most popular deep learning method that is used immensely for the recognition of leaf diseases from images. Several pretrained deep learning models, such as VGG16, ResNet50, InceptionV3, MobileNetV2, Xception, and a deep learning model developed using CNN, are employed for potato leaf disease classification and recognition on the same dataset. The transfer learning technique is applied to the pretrained model and the data augmentation technique is applied to the Proposed CNN model for potato disease classification from leaf samples. Compared to pretrained models, the proposed CNN model offers the lowest loss and highest accuracy for potato leaf disease detection while using fewer parameters and layers. It achieves the best performance with a test accuracy of 99.33% compared to other Pretrained models used in the diagnosis of potato leaf disease.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of global cancer-related mortality resulting in ~1.8 million deaths annually. Systemic, molecular targeted, and immune therapies have provided significant improvements of survival outcomes for patients. However, drug resistance usually arises and there is an urgent need for novel therapy screening and personalized medicine. 3D patient-derived organoid (PDO) models have emerged as a more effective and efficient alternative for ex vivo drug screening than 2D cell culture and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. In this review, we performed an extensive search of lung cancer PDO-based ex vivo drug screening studies. Lung cancer PDOs were successfully established from fresh or biobanked sections/biopsy of lung tumors, PDXs, and pleural affusion. PDOs were subject to ex vivo drug screening with chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immune therapy agents. PDOs mainly recapitulated the genomic alterations, transcriptomic landscape and drug sensitivity of primary tumors. Although sample sizes of the previous studies were limited and some technical challenges remained, PDOs showed promise to screen novel therapy drugs. With the technical advance of high throughput, tumor-on-chip, combined microenvironment, and air-liquid interface (ALI), the drug screening using PDOs would serve better for precision care of lung cancer patients.

Body Expression (BE) has been defined in the past decades as a discipline within Physical Education (PE) with very particular characteristics and a strong emotional component. In this study, a programme of this discipline was applied to university Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (PASS) students from six consecutive academic years: three prior to and three during the pandemic. A pre-post design was used to determine how the BE programme affected the university students' self-concept (SC). To do so, a questionnaire with a multidimensional approach to this construct was administered, whose dimensions were closely related to the BE programme's characteristics. The results revealed significant improvements in the final SC, compared to the initial SC. Men reported lower SC values than women before the programme implementation, but higher at the end. Therefore, the change was larger in men, so the programme may have had an equalising effect between groups. It was also verified that the pandemic had particularly affected women.

Passive and forced drinking harm was prevalent but less recognized in Chinese adolescents. We educated adolescents on such harm to reduce their intention to drink. Students (n=1244) from 7 secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in a video-based health talk on passive and forced drinking harm. Paired t-test was used to assess their change in knowledge of passive and forced drinking, health and social harm of drinking after the health talk. McNemar's chi-squared test and adjusted multivariable logistic regression (AOR) were used to assess their change in intention to drink and intention to quit. Students were less likely to drink (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.19-0.42) and more likely to quit drinking (OR 3.50, 1.10-14.6) after the health talk. Increased knowledge of passive drinking was associated with less intention to drink (AOR 0.93, 0.90-0.97), increased knowledge of health harm (adjusted b 0.06, 0.05-0.08), and social harm of drinking (adjusted b 0.12, 0.10-0.16). Similar associations were observed in forced drinking (intention to drink: AOR 0.87, 0.79-0.96; health harm: adjusted b 0.16, 0.12-0.19; social harm: adjusted b 0.36, 0.28-0.43). We showed preliminary evidence that the health talk on passive and forced drinking reduced the intention to drink in adolescents.

The likelihood of pre-hypertensive young adults developing hypertension has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Despite the fact that aerobic exercise training (AET) has demonstrated positive results in lowering high blood pressure, the efficacy of different types of AET among pre-hypertensive young adults has not been well-established. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and continuous moderate-intensity training (CMT) on blood pressure (BP) of physically inactive pre-hypertensive young adults. 32 adults (age 20.0±1.1 years and BMI 21.5±1.8) were randomly assigned into 3 groups: HIIT, CMT and control (CON). HIIT and CMT groups participated in 5 weeks of AET; while the CON group followed a DASH diet plan only. The HIIT protocol consisted of 1:4 minute work to rest ratio of participants 80%-85% heart rate reserve (HR-reserve) and 40%-60% HR-reserve respectively for 20-minutes, CMT group exercised at 40%-60% of HR-reserve continuously for 20-minutes. In both HIIT and CMT groups, systolic blood pressure (SBP) (3.8±2.8 mmHg, P=0.002 VS 1.6±1.5 mmHg, P=0.011) was significantly reduced. While, significant reductions in the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (2.9±2.2 mmHg, P=0.002) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (3.1±1.6mmHg, P<0.0005) were noted only in the HIIT group. No significant differences in SBP (-0.4±3.7 mmHg, P=0.718), DBP (0.4±3.4 mmHg, P=0.714), or MAP (0.1±2.5mmHg, P= 0.892) were observed in the CON group. Both HIIT and CMT decreased the BP in physically inactive pre-hypertensive young adults; however, HIIT yielded more beneficial results in terms of reducing the SPB, DBP and MAP.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was first reported in the U.S. on December 29, 2019 and has spread rapidly throughout the country, affecting individuals with varying severity due to their risk status. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 45.4% of US adults are at higher risk for complications from coronavirus disease because of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, hypertension, or cancer. In this study, we developed a mathematical model to assess the impact of a COVID-19 vaccine among low and high risk groups. Numerical simulations shows vaccinating both low and high risk groups simultaneously, rather than prioritizing the vaccine on high risk group only, further reduces the daily mortality. The result supports the need for an aggressive vaccination program, regardless of whether individuals are within the low or high risk population.

The basic principles of geological risk calculation through Probability of Success (PoS) are mostly applied for numerical estimation of additional hydrocarbon existence in proven reservoirs or potential hydrocarbon discoveries in selected geological regional subsurface volume. It can be tailored and validated for a comprehensive input dataset collected in the selected petroleum province, adapted by dividing up geological events into several probability categories and classes. The most applied categories are (existence of) reservoir rocks, traps and isolators, source rocks, migration pathways and preservation conditions for hydrocarbons The methodology results in unique probability values as multiplication of independent statistical events, which can also be applied in the assessment of a potential hydrocarbon discovery of desired minimal volume and its value in any virtual currency like risk-neutral dollars. Such methodology has been extensively developed in the last decades in the Croatian subsurface, mostly in the Croatian part of the Pannonian Basin System (CPBS). Through the adaptation of geological categories, it was also applied in hybrid, i.e., stochastical, models developed in the CPBS (Drava Depression). Stochastically estimation of porosity was already applied. As the robustness of this methodology is very high, it was also modified to estimate the influence of water-flooding in increasing oil recovery in some proven Neogene sandstone reservoirs in the CPBS (Sava Depression). This new modification is being presented to be applied to geological risk calculation, intending to assess the safety of geological environment in deep wells, where depleted radioactive fuel would be disposed, a subject of great importance. The case study encompassed the magmatic and metamorphic rocks in the pre-Neogene basement of the CPBS. For disposal purpose, these are regionally lithologies considered as to be the safest ones considering petrophysical values, water saturation, recent weathering and tectonic activity.

This study was aimed at investigating the protective effects of glass ionomer cement (GIC) and surface pre-reacted glass ionomer (S-PRG) fillers used as dental restorative materials on demineralization of bovine enamel. GlasIonomer FX ULTRA (FXU), Fuji IX GP Extra (FIXE), CAREDYNE RESTORE (CDR) were used as GICs. PRG Barrier Coat (BC) was used as the S-PRG filler. They were incubated in a lactic acid solution (pH = 4.0) for 6 d at a temperature of 37 °C. The mineral was etched from the enamel surface, and a large number of Ca and P ions were detected in solution. The Al, F, Na, Sr, and Sr ions were released in GICs and S-RPG fillers. The Zn ion was released only in CDR and the B ion was released only in BC. The presence of apparent enamel prism peripheries was observed after 6 d of treatment for the group containing only enamel blocks. pH values for the FXU, FIXE, CDR, BC, and enamel block groups after 6 d were 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 5.9, and 5.1, respectively. Therefore, the observed pH neutralization effect suppressed progression of caries due to the release of several ions from the restoratives.

Prestress loss evaluation in prestressed strand is essential for prestressed structures. However, the sensors installed outside the duct can only measure the total prestress loss. The sensors attached on strand inside the duct also have several problems, such as inadequate durability in an aggressive environment, vulnerable damage at tensioning and so on. This paper proposes a new installation method for long-gauge fiber Bragg grating (LFBG) sensor to prevent accidental damage. Then the itemized prestress losses were determined in each stage of the pre-tensioning and post-tensioning according to the LFBG measurements. We verified the applicability of the LFBG sensors for prestress monitoring and the accuracy of the proposed prestress loss calculation method during pre-tensioning and post-tensioning. In the pre-tensioning case, the calculated prestress losses had less deviation from the true losses than those obtained from foil-strain gauges, and the durability of the LFBG sensors was better than foil-strain gauges, whereas in post-tensioning case, the calculated prestress losses were close to those derived from theoretical predictions. Finally, we monitored prestress variation in the strand for 90 days. The itemized prestress losses at each stages of post-tensioning were obtained by the proposed calculation method to show the prospect of the LFBG sensors in practical evaluation.

We propose a notion of $(q,\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra, which generalizes the notions of $(\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra and $q$-differential graded algebra. We construct two examples of $(q,\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra, where the first one is constructed by means of generalized Clifford algebra with two generators (reduced quantum plane), where we use a $(\sigma,\tau)$-twisted graded $q$-commutator. In order to construct the second example, we introduce a notion of $(\sigma,\tau)$-pre-cosimplicial algebra.

The purpose of current study was to investigate the expression characteristic of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in peripheral blood of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and their potentials as diagnostic biomarkers for pre-diabetes and T2DM. In present study, the circRNAs in the peripheral blood from 6 healthy individuals and 6 T2DM patients were collected for microarray analysis. The results indicated that there were 489 differentially expressed circRNAs, of which 78 were upregulated and 411 were downregulated in the T2DM group. Then we selected 5 circRNAs as the candidate biomarkers under a stricter screening criteria and further verified them in another cohort (control group, n=20; pre-diabetes group, n =20; T2DM group; n=20). 3 of the 5 circRNAs presented upregulated expression in the experimental groups, including 2 circRNAs of the T2DM group that had higher expression than the pre-diabetes group. Hsa_circ_0054633 was identified to have the largest area value under the carve (AUC). In another independent cohort (control group, n=60; pre-diabetes group, n=63; T2DM group, n=64), the diagnostic capacity of hsa_circ_0054633 was tested. The results showed that the AUC for the diagnosis of pre-diabetes was 0.751(95% confidence interval=[0. 666-0.835], P＜0.001) while it was 0.793 ([0.716-0.871], P＜0.001) for the diagnosis of T2DM. After including the risk factors of T2DM, the AUC increased to 0.841 ([0.773-0.910], P <0.001) and 0.834 ([0.762-0.905], P <0.001), respectively. Hsa_circ_0054633 presented a certain diagnostic capability for pre-diabetes and T2DM.

Understanding and preventing the “great obstetrical syndromes” has been the focus of pregnancy research for decades. The combined global impact from these syndromes on maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality is compounded by increased long-term risk of adverse health effects following pregnancy. Accumulating evidence indicates that conditions such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, spontaneous preterm labour, and stillbirth, are syndromes with etiologic heterogeneity that share common pathophysiologic pathways involving placental dysfunction. Recently, the importance of the interaction between fetal and maternal genomes has been extended to include the epigenetic impact of pre-existing maternal pathophysiology on placental development and highlights the importance of nutritional and environmental factors in altered placentation. Validated first-trimester screening algorithms for preeclampsia can identify high-risk women and prophylactic treatment with low-dose aspirin can be initiated. High-risk women can be monitored during the second trimester using clinical assessment, ultrasound, and biochemical markers, that are able to predict complications prior to the development of clinical signs and symptoms. The integration of lifestyle interventions, pregnancy screening, and medical management represents a conceptual advance in pregnancy care. This approach has the potential to significantly reduce pregnancy complications, maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, adverse health outcomes later in life, and health-care costs.

This study challenges the prevailing belief in the necessity of complex models for accurate forecasting by demonstrating the effectiveness of parsimonious econometric models, namely ARCH(1) and GARCH(1,1), over deep learning robust approaches, such as LSTM and 1D-CNN neural networks, in modeling historical volatility within pre-emerging stock markets, specifically the Moroccan and Bahraini stock markets. The findings suggest reevaluating the balance between model complexity and predictive accuracy. Future research directions include investigating the potential existence of threshold effects in market capitalization for optimal model performance. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of volatility dynamics and enhances forecasting models’ effectiveness in diverse market conditions.

Transport electrification is essential for reducing CO2 emissions, and technologies such as hybrid and range-extended electric vehicles will play a crucial transitional role. Such vehicles employ an internal combustion engine for on-board chemical energy conversion. The Wankel rotary engine should be an excellent candidate for this purpose, offering high power-to-weight ratio, simplicity, compactness, perfect balance, and low cost. Until recently, however, it has not been in production in the automotive market, due, in part, to relatively low combustion efficiency and high fuel consumption and unburnt hydrocarbon emissions, which can be traced to constraints on flame speed, an elongated combustion chamber, and relatively low compression ratios. This work uses large-eddy simulation to study the in-chamber flow in a peripherally ported 225cc Wankel rotary engine, providing insight into these limitations. Flow structures created during the intake phase play a key role in turbulence production but presence of the pinch point inherent to Wankel engine combustion chambers inhibits flame propagation. Two efficiency-enhancement technologies are introduced as disruptive solutions: (i) pre-chamber jet ignition and (ii) the two-stage rotary engine. These concepts overcome the traditional efficiency limitations and show that Wankel rotary engine design can be further enhanced for its role as a range extender in electrified vehicles.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is widely used in clinics and research due to its accurate disease identification and non-invasive nature. MRI is based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), which is also extensively employed in various fields. NMR and its modern versions involve intricate pre-processing steps before data analysis. These steps are initially processed in the time domain and subsequently in the frequency domain. While our previous review focused on time domain pre-processing (https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202310.2032/v1), this review delves into the mathematical and statistical aspects of frequency domain pre-processing. We discuss essential pre-processing steps like phase error correction, baseline correction, solvent filtering, calibration and alignment, reference deconvolution, binning/bucketing and peak picking, peak fitting/deconvolution and compound identification, integration and quantification, normalization and transformation. Furthermore, we offer practical recommendations for each step.

This study was designed to extend the literature on multicomponent interventions for the children of deaf adults (CODA) population. This study used two evidence-based behavior intervention strategies: pre-session pairing (PSP) and independent group contingency (GC). These strategies have been successfully used to decrease off-task behavior in elementary school children with various abilities and diverse backgrounds. However, the research on multicomponent interventions has yet to examine their effects on the CODA population in inclusive classrooms. This study used a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants with an ABC sequence to examine teacher-implemented PSP with independent GC in reducing the off-task behavior of three CODAs in an inclusive classroom at a public elementary school. The results show that the intervention successfully decreased off-task behavior for all participating CODAs. The results suggest that CODAs can adapt to classroom rules and expectations when PSP and independent GC are systematically applied to them in classrooms.

Spiral steroids (SS) are a newly discovered type of steroid. Originally, they were described as cardiotonic glycosides because they cross-reacted with digoxin-specific antibodies (Digoxin-Like-Materials-DLM). SS differ from the classical steroids in several ways: [a] they are steroid phosphodiester conjugates and displace digoxin from digoxin-specific antibodies, [b] in contrast to all other steroids, cholesterol is not a precursor, [c] SS have more than 21 carbon atoms; the extra atoms form a 5th ring which includes a lactone, [d] SS bind to NaK-ATPase in membranes rather than receptors in the nucleus. SS have been identified by HPLC- mass spectroscopy in extracts from mammals, birds, and oysters but were not detected in plant extracts. Overall, SS seem to be key components in regulating potassium electrolytes during pregnancy and its related diseases – specifically pre-eclampsia and necrotizing enterocolitis.

The issue of sustainability has long been the subject of interest of the architecture engineering and construction sector. All three aspects of sustainability - economic, environmental and social - can be affected through appropriate construction waste management. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is one of the largest worldwide waste streams, therefore it is given great attention by all stakeholders (investors, contractors, authorities, etc.). Researches have shown that one of the main barriers to insufficiency CDW recovery is inadequate policies and legal frameworks to manage CDW. It is also one of the EU's environmental priorities. Aim of the article is to confirm the economic potential of construction and demolition waste audit processing through case study. A pre-demolition waste audit has been processed for unused building of shopping center in the town Snina in Slovakia. Subsequently, a comparison of economic parameters (waste disposal costs and transport costs) of recommended CDW management was performed. This comparison confirmed the economic benefits of environmentally friendly construction waste management methods according to the waste audit results, which will also increase the sustainability of construction projects. In addition, the cost parameters of selected waste disposal methods could be another dimension of building information modelling.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal form of brain tumor, characterized by rapid growth and surrounding tissue invasion. The current standard treatment is surgery followed by radiotherapy, and concurrent chemotherapy, typically with temozolomide. Although extensive research has been performed over the past years to develop an effective therapeutic strategy for the treatment of GBM, efforts have not provided major improvements in the overall survival of patients with GBM. Thus, new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. A major challenge in the development of therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders is overcoming the blood–brain barrier (BBB). In this context, the intranasal (IN) route of drug administration has been proposed as a non-invasive alternative route to directly targeting the CNS. In fact, this route of drug administration may bypass the blood-brain barrier and reduce systemic side effects. Recently, formulations have been developed to further enhance nose-to-brain transport, mainly with the use of nano-sized and nanostructured drug delivery systems. The focus of this review will be on the strategies developed to deliver a number of anticancer compounds for the treatment of GBM using the nasal administration. In particular, the specific properties of nanomedicines proposed for the nose-to-brain delivery will be critically evaluated. The number of preclinical and clinical data reviewed support the idea that nasal delivery of anticancer drugs might represent a breakthrough advancement in the fight against GBM.

The growth of photosynthetic organisms requires specific ranges of temperature and photosynthetically active radiation that are technically difficult to achieve and control, especially in outdoors cultures. In such cases, a typical meteorological sequence can be a useful tool to estimate the growth of photosynthetic organisms. This work proposes a new methodology based on long-term meteorological sequences to simulate the growth of photosynthetic organisms. A case of study that addresses the simulation of the growth of microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) in Riosequillo, north of the Madrid region (Spain), is shown for the four seasons of the year, and these estimates are then compared with the observed results of an experimental microalgae culture in domestic wastewater. The results also show great agreement with the probability distribution function of the biomass concentration per day, obtaining the best results for typical meteorological sequences of summer and spring. The methodology seems to confirm the representativeness of typical meteorological sequences and also allows the identification of the most likely production scenarios for the feasibility analysis of projects, which has potential application in decision-making processes.

Background: Accurate sales forecasting in the mobile phone industry is critical to informed decision making by both the government and corporations. This study seeks to enhance mobile phone sales predictions by incorporating brand exposure as a predictive factor, hence addressing the gap left by the existing forecasting models that do not consider the impact of brand awareness. Method: This study thereby indicates a quantification method for brand exposure that merges word-of-mouth reviews with online search data. Word2Vec is used to extract initial keywords from a word-of-mouth corpus, whereas time-lag correlation analysis refines the core keywords. Later, PCA synthesizes brand exposure. The attention-LSTM framework hereby develops a forecasting model of mobile phone sales, effectively combining long short-term memory networks with the ability to capture time series dependencies and an attention mechanism to reduce data redundancy. Results: By considering brand exposure, the experiments demonstrate that the attention-LSTM model decreases the RMSE and MAPE indicators by 2.02% and 0.96%, respectively. In addition, compared with the ARIMA, SVR, BP neural network, and LSTM models, the attention-LSTM model decreases the average percentage errors by 6.52%, 3.42%, 2.56%, and 0.81%, respectively. Conclusion: Attention-LSTM captures dynamic sales trends very well and holds great significance over traditional models. Overall, including brand exposure, this model is very strong for the interpretation of mobile phone sales predictions, which has important implications in terms of policy as well as corporate strategies.

The finite-time turnpike property describes the situation in an optimal control problem where an optimal trajectory reaches the desired state before the end of the time interval and remains there. We consider a machine learning problem with a neural ordinary differential equation that can be seen as a homogenization of a deep ResNet. We show that with appropriate scaling of the quadratic control cost and the non-smooth tracking term the optimal control problem has the finite-time turnpike property, that is the desired state is reached in the interior of the time interval and the optimal state remains there until the terminal time $T$. This property is useful to achieve a compromise between the depth of the network and the size of the optimal system parameters which we hope will be useful to determine optimal depths for neural network architectures in the future.

The high penetration of distributed energy resources poses significant challenges to the dispatch and operation of power systems. Improving the accuracy of short-term load forecasting (STLF) can optimize grid management, leading to increased economic and social benefits. Currently, some simple AI and hybrid models has issues to deal with and struggle with multivariate dependencies, long-term dependencies, and non-linear relationships. This paper proposes a novel hybrid model for short-term load forecasting (STLF) that integrates multiple AI models with Lasso regression using the stacking technique. The base learners include ANN, XgBoost, LSTM, Stacked LSTM, and Bi-LSTM, while Lasso regression serves as the meta-learner. By considering factors such as temperature, rainfall, and daily electricity prices, the model aims to more accurately reflect real-world conditions and enhance predictive accuracy. Empirical analyses on real-world datasets from Australia and Spain show significant improvements in forecasting accuracy, with a substantial reduction in Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) compared to existing hybrid models and individual AI models. This research highlights the efficiency of the stacking technique in improving STLF accuracy, suggesting potential operational efficiency benefits for the power industry.

The increasing growth in knowledge about functioning of the nervous system of mammals and humans, as well as the significant neuromorphic technologies development in recent decades, have led to the emergence of a large number of brain-computer interfaces and neuroprosthetics for the regenerative medicine tasks. Neurotechnologies have traditionally been developed for therapeutic purposes to help or replace motor, sensory or cognitive abilities damaged by injury or disease. They also have significant potential for memory enhancement. However, there are still no fully developed neurotechnologies and neural interfaces capable of restoring or expanding cognitive functions, in particular memory, in mammals or humans. In this regard, the search for new technologies in the field of restoration of cognitive functions is an urgent task of modern neurophysiology, neurotechnology and artificial intelligence. Hippocampus is an important brain structure connected to memory and information processing in the brain. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach based on deep neural networks for prediction of hippocampal signals in CA1 region based on received biological input in CA3 region. We compare results of prediction for two widely used deep architectures: reservoir computing (RC) and long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. Proposed study can be viewed as a first step in the complex task of the development of a neurohybrid chip, which allows one to restore memory functions in the damaged rodent hippocampus.

The physiological process of iodine uptake in the thyroid is used for 131I treatment of thyroid diseases. Children are more sensitive to radiation compared to adults and may react differently to 131I exposure. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects on thyroid protein expression in young and adult rats one year after 131I injection, and identify potential biomarkers related to 131I exposure, absorbed dose, and age. Twelve Sprague Dawley Rats (young and adults) were i.v. injected with 50 kBq or 500 kBq 131I and were killed twelve months later. Twelve untreated rats were used as age-matched controls. Quantitative proteomics, statistical analysis and evaluation of biological effects was performed. The effects of irradiation were most prominent in young rats. Protein biomarker candidates were proposed related to age, absorbed dose, thyroid function and cancer and a panel was proposed for 131I exposure. In conclusion, the proteome of rat thyroid was differentially regulated twelve months after low-intermediate dose exposure to 131I in both young and adult rats. Several biomarker candidates are proposed for 131I exposure, age, and many of them are known to be related to thyroid function or thyroid cancer. Further research on human samples are needed for validation.

This study explores the application of the Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) algorithm to the field of meteorology, specifically for the short-term nowcasting of severe convective weather events such as hail, convective wind gust (CG) and thunderstorms, short-term heavy rain(STHR) in Gansu. Training data comes from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and real-time ground observations, the performance of the proposed FCN model based on 2017 to 2021 training datasets demonstrate a high prediction accuracy, with an overall error rate of 16.6%. Furthermore, the model exhibited an error rate of 18.6% across both severe and non-severe weather conditions when testing against the 2022 dataset. Operational deployment in 2023 has yielded an average Critical Success Index (CSI) of 24.3%, a Probability of Detection (POD) of 62.6%, and a False Alarm Ratio (FAR) of 71.2% for these convective events. It is noteworthy that the predicting performance for STHR was particularly effective with the highest POD and CSI, as well as the lowest FAR. CG and hail predictions had comparable CSI and FAR scores, although the POD for CG surpassed that for hail. The FCN model’s optimal performance for hail prediction occurred at the 4th, 8th, and 10th forecast hours, while for CG, the 6th hour was most accurate, and for STHR, the 2nd and 4th hours were most effective. These findings underscore the FCN model's ideal suitability for short-term forecasting of severe convective weather, presenting extensive prospects for the automation of meteorological operations in the future.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and being born small for gestational age (SGA) are two distinct conditions with different implications for child development. IUGR is associated with greater perinatal morbidity and mortality and can be identified by additional abnormalities (pathological Doppler sonography, oligohydramnios, lack of growth in the interval, estimated weight <3rd percentile). IUGR may also be present in neonates with birth weights above the 10th percentile. Recognizing fetuses being “at risk” of a higher perinatal mortality and morbidity rate in order to monitor them accordingly and deliver them in good time is still challenging. This review article summarizes approaches to increase the diagnostic accuracy of IUGR and presents current concepts of pathophysiology with a focus on oxidative stress and consecutive inflammatory and metabolic changes. Since prenatal influences affect the risk of later diseases, we also discuss the need for interdisciplinary follow-up strategies during childhood and look at future scientific challenges. It should be emphasized that prenatal and postnatal care of IUGR neonates should be regarded as a continuum.

Air quality is one of the most concerning problems in major industrialized cities in the world. Prediction of future air quality is highly relevant to public health. In some big cities, multiple air quality measurement stations are deployed at different locations to monitor air pollutants, such as NO2, CO, PM 2.5 and PM 10, over time. At every monitoring time stamp t, we observe one station×feature matrix xt of the pollutant data, which represents a spatio–temporal process. Traditional methods on prediction of air quality typically use data from one station or can only predict a single pollutant (such as PM 2.5) at a time, which ignores the spatial correlation among different stations. Moreover, the air pollution data are typically highly nonstationary, We propose a de-trending graph convolutional LSTM (long short term memory) to continuously predict the whole station×feature matrix in the next 1 to 48 hours, which not only captures the spatial dependency among multiple stations by replacing an inner product with convolution, but also incorporates the de-trending signals (transform a nonstationary process to a stationary one by differencing the data) into our model. Experiments on the air quality data of the city Chengdu and multiple major cities in China demonstrate the feasibility of our method and show promising results.

Arctic sea ice prediction holds significant importance for facilitating Arctic route planning, optimizing fisheries management, and advancing the field of sea ice dynamics research. While various deep learning models have been developed for sea ice prediction, they predominantly operate at the seasonal or sub-seasonal scale, often focusing on localized areas, and few cater to full-region daily scale prediction. This study introduces the use of spatiotemporal sequence data prediction models, namely, the convolutional LSTM (ConvLSTM) and predictive recurrent neural network (PredRNN), for the prediction of sea ice concentration (SIC). Our analysis reveals that, when solely utilizing SIC historical data as the input, the ConvLSTM model outperforms the PredRNN model in SIC prediction. To enhance the model's capacity to capture spatiotemporal relationships between multiple variables, we expanded the range of input data types to form the ConvLSTM-multi and PredRNN-multi models. Experimental findings demonstrate that the ConvLSTM-multi model excels in assimilating the influence of reanalysis data on sea ice within the sea ice edge region, thus exhibiting superior performance in predicting daily Arctic SIC over the subsequent 10 days. Furthermore, sensitivity tests on various model parameters highlight the substantial impact of sea surface temperature and prediction date on the accuracy of daily sea ice prediction. Additionally, meteorological and oceanographic parameters primarily affect the prediction accuracy of the thin ice region at the edge of the sea ice.

Generally, when cognitive radio users are in Underlay mode, through the analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum in time, frequency, space, and field of multiple dimensional data accounts for judging the inherent correlation of the radio spectrum used/idle state, this is the realization of cognitive radio users (secondary users, SUs) efficient access to the foundation of the limited spectrum resources. Therefore, how to efficiently use of spectrum status of each SU implementation of reception multidimensional combination forecasting is the core of this paper addressing the problem. In this paper, we propose a deep-learning hybrid model called TensorGCN-LSTM based on the tensor data structure. The model treats SUs deployed at different spatial locations under the same frequency and the spectrum status of SUs themselves under different frequencies in the task area as nodes and constructs two types of graph structures. Graph convolutional operations are used to sequentially extract corresponding spatial-domain and frequency-domain features from the two types of graph structures. Then, the long short-term memory (LSTM) model is used to fuse the spatial, frequency, and temporal features of the cognitive radio environment data. Finally, the prediction task of the spectrum distribution situation is accomplished through fully connected layers. Specifically, the model constructs a tensor graph based on the spatial similarity of SUs' locations and the frequency correlation between different frequency signals received by SUs, which describes the electromagnetic wave's dependency relationship in spatial and frequency domains. LSTM is used to capture the electromagnetic wave's dependency relationship in the temporal domain. To evaluate the effectiveness of the model, we conducted ablation experiments on LSTM, GCN, GC-LSTM, and TensorGCN-LSTM models using simulated data. The experimental results show that our model achieved better prediction performance in RMSE, and the correlation coefficient R2 of 0.8753 also confirmed the feasibility of the model.

The rapid ageing of populations around the World is creating complex challenges for national governments. The establishment of sustainable and equitable long-term care systems for old and dependent people is one of the main issues of social policy in developed countries. The aim of this work is to define a cost model for residential and day care centres for dependent persons in Cantabria (Spain). The cost model will make it possible to establish the theoretical cost of attending to the needs of the different types of dependent persons in the different types of care centres, and the methodology used could be extrapolated to other regions. The daily cost per user for elderly residential care is €53.72. The cost per user in elderly day centres (5 days) is 32.56 euros. In residential centres for people with disabilities, the values range between €47.41 and €75.25 depending on the category of the centre. In three categories of centres the public price is not enough to cover the cost (physical disability, intellectual disability, mental illness – low care), and therefore the administration should reconsider their public prices for these kind of centres if they want to really contribute to the sustainability of these residential care centres. This research will have important implications for policy-makers in a context of fulfilment of SDGs and where better support for old and disabled people and their carers, as well as fair and efficient financing of social care services, are essential to address the current and future challenges of dependency.

This study uses machine learning to predict the convergence results of the Duffing equation with and without damping. The Duffing equation represents a nonlinear second-order differential equation with interesting behavior in undamped free vibration and forced vibration with damping. Convergence alternates randomly between 1 and -1 in undamped free vibration, depending on initial conditions. For forced vibration with damping, multiple factors influence vibration patterns. We utilize the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method to collect convergence results for both conditions. Machine learning techniques, specifically the long short term memory (LSTM) and LSTM-Neural Network (LSTM-NN) method, are employed to predict these convergence values. The LSTM-NN model is a hybrid approach that combines the LSTM method with the addition of hidden layers of neurons. Both the LSTM and LSTM-NN models are thoroughly explored and analyzed in this research. The research process involves three stages: data preprocessing, training, and verification. The results show that the LSTM-NN model becomes more adept at predicting binary datasets, boasting an impressive accuracy of up to 98%. However, when it comes to predicting multiple solutions, the traditional LSTM method outperforms the LSTM-NN approach.

The deployment of a manufacturing execution system (MES) holds promising potential in facilitating the accumulation of a substantial amount of inspection data. Low quality levels in discrete manufacturing environments are the result of multi-factor coupling and failure to find quality issues in a timely manner within manufacturing settings may trigger the propagation of defects downstream. Currently, most of the inspection quality methods are direct measurement followed by manual judgment. The integration of deep learning methods provides a feasible way to identify defects in a timely manner, thus improving the acceptance rate of factories. This paper focuses on the design of a data-driven quality prediction and control model around discrete manufacturing characteristics, and use fuzzy theory to evaluate the quality level of production stages. Building Multivariate Long and short-term memory learning hidden quality representations to extract predictions from multi-level inspection data in manufacturing systems. Finally, by validating the data of actual produced water dispensers according to three evaluation indexes, RMSE, MAE, MAPE, the results show that Multivariate Long and short-term memory has better prediction performance.

Friction has long been an important issue in multibody dynamics. Static friction models apply appropriate regularization techniques to convert the stick inequality and the non-smooth stick-slip transition of Coulomb’s approach into a continuous and smooth function of the sliding velocity. However, a regularized friction force is not able to maintain long-term stick. That is why, dynamic friction models were developed in the last decades. The friction force depends herein not only on the sliding velocity but also on internal states. The probably best known representative, the LuGre friction model, is based on a fictitious bristle but realizes a too simple approximation. The recently published second order dynamic friction model describes the dynamics of a fictitious bristle more accurately. Its performance is compared here to stick-slip friction models, developed and launched not long ago by commercial multibody software packages.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) encompasses a wide variety of decision-making problems that affect business and supply chain performance as a whole. Since most of these problems involve uncertainty and hesitation on the part of Decision Makers (DMs), various studies have emerged recently that present SCM applications of techniques based on Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Sets (HFLTSs) and HFLTS extensions. Given the relevance of this subject and the lack of literature review studies, this study presents a systematic review of HFLTS and HFLTS extension applications to SCM decision-making problems. In order to answer a set of research questions, the selected papers have been classified in accordance with a group of factors that are pertinent to the origins of these studies, SCM, HFLTSs, and decision-making. The results demonstrate that the Source and Enable processes have been studied with greater frequency, while the most common problems have to do with supplier selection, failure evaluation, and performance evaluation. The companies of the automotive sector and Sustainable SCM and Green SCM strategies predominate in the analyzed studies. Even though most of the studies use techniques based on HFLTSs, we have identified applications of seven distinct HFLTS extensions, with Double Hierarchy Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Sets and Probabilistic Linguistic Term Sets being the most utilized. The identification of gaps in the literature presents avenues for future studies focused on innovative applications, integrations of techniques, comparisons of techniques, group decision-making, and validation procedures for new models. The results of this study offer a panorama of the state of the art in regard to this subject and can help researchers and practitioners develop new studies which involve the use of methods that employ HFLTSs and HFLTS extensions in SCM decision-making problems.

This report is a narrative of a certified nurse working on a long-term rehabilitation ward for patients with dementia in Japan during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time visitation restrictions had been implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 causing psychological distress for patients and their families which nurses had to cope with . The nurse was interviewed twice September–October 2020. The recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Three themes were identified relating to changes in care in response to the pandemic which nurses had to adapt to: the risk of collapse of family members’ roles, anxiety caused by patients forgetting family members and family memories and increased disorientation. During the pandemic, nursing care needs to adapt, ensuring that family attachments and ties continue and minimizing the disruption caused by the pandemic, while ensuring that everyone remains Covid-safe.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. A key factor in assessing the risk of cardiovascular disease is left ventricular functional evaluation. Left ventricular (LV) systolic function is evaluated by measuring the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) using echocardiography data. Therefore, quick and accurate left ventricle segmentation is important for estimating the LVEF. However, it is difficult to accurately segment the left ventricle due to changes in the shape and area of the left ventricle during cardiac cycles. In this study, we proposed a framework that considers changes in the shape and area of the left ventricle during the cardiac cycle by applying the convolutional long short-term memory (CLSTM) approach. In addition, we evaluated the left ventricular segmentation and multidimensional quantification of the proposed system in comparison to manual and automated segmentation methods. In addition, to assess the validity of CLSTM, the values of multi-dimensional quantification metrics were compared and analyzed using graphs and Bland–Altman plots on a frame-by-frame basis. We demonstrated that the CLSTM method effectively segments the left ventricle by considering the LV activity. In conclusion, we demonstrated that LV segmentation based on our framework may be utilized to accurately estimate LVEF values.

A long-term forecast study on the electricity demand of Taoussa of Mali is conducted in this paper, with various scenarios of socioeconomic and technological conditions. The analysis tool, which is applied in scenarios simulation, is the Model for Analysis of Energy Demand from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The analysis results are annual electricity demand and peak load forecast for the electrification from the period 2020 to 2035. During the planning period, the analysis results show that the electricity demand will increase to 49.40 MW (332.57 GWh) for the low scenario (LS), 66.46 MW (472.61 GWh) for the reference scenario (RS), and 89.47 MW (635 GWh) for the high scenario (HS). In addition, the total electricity demand increased at an average rate of 8.13% in the LS, 10.31% in the RS and 12.56% in the HS in all sectors. The electricity peak demand is expected to grow at 7.92%, 10.53% and 12.91% corresponding to the three scenarios; in this case, the system peak demand in 2035 will increase to 64.88 MW for the LS, 92.2 MW for the RS and 126.22 MW, the days of peak load are between 17th -23rd in May. The Industry sector will be the biggest electricity consumer of Taoussa area.

Even brief epileptic seizures can lead to activity-dependent structural remodeling of neural circuitry. Animal models show that the functional plasticity of synapses and changes in the intrinsic excitability of neurons can be crucial for epileptogenesis. However, the exact mechanisms underlying epileptogenesis remain unclear. We induced epileptiform activity in rat hippocampal slices for 15 min using a 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) in vitro model and observed hippocampal hyperexcitability for at least 1 hour. We tested several possible mechanisms of this hyperexcitability, including changes in intrinsic membrane properties of neurons, presynaptic and postsynaptic alterations. Neither input resistance nor other essential biophysical properties of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons were affected by epileptiform activity. The glutamate release probability also remained unchanged, as the frequency of miniature EPSCs and the paired amplitude ratio of evoked responses did not change after epileptiform activity. However, we found an increase in the AMPA/NMDA ratio, suggesting alterations in the properties of postsynaptic glutamatergic receptors. Thus, the increase in excitability of hippocampal neural networks is realized through postsynaptic mechanisms. In contrast, the intrinsic membrane properties of neurons and the probability of glutamate release from presynaptic terminals are not affected in a 4-AP model.

One of the key challenges of stock trading is the stock prices follow a random walk process, which is a special case of a stochastic process, and are highly sensitive to new information. A random walk process is difficult to predict in the short-term. Many linear process models that are being used to predict financial time series are structural models that provide an important decision boundary, albeit not adequately considering the correlation or causal effect of market sentiment on stock prices. This research seeks to increase the predictive capability of linear process models using the SPDR S\&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the CBOE Volatility (VIX) Index as a proxy for market sentiment. Three econometric models are considered to forecast SPY prices: (i) Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), (ii) Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH), and (iii) Vector Autoregression (VAR). These models are integrated into two technical indicators, Bollinger Bands and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), focusing on forecast performance. The profitability of various algorithmic trading strategies is compared based on a combination of these two indicators. This research finds that linear process models that incorporate the VIX Index do not improve the performance of algorithmic trading strategies.

This study introduces a comparative analysis of two deep learning (multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLP-NN) and the long short term memory networks (LSTMN)) models for transit travel time prediction. The two models were trained and tested using one-year worth of data for a bus route in Blacksburg, Virginia. In this study, the travel time was predicted between each two successive stations to all the model to be extended to include bus dwell times. Additionally, two additional models were developed for each category (MLP of LSTM): one for only segments including controlled intersections (controlled segments) and another for segments with no control devices along them (uncontrolled segments). The results show that the LSTM models outperform the MLP models with a RMSE of 17.69 sec compared to 18.81 sec. When splitting the data into controlled and uncontrolled segments, the RMSE values reduced to 17.33 sec for the controlled segments and 4.28 sec for the uncontrolled segments when applying the LSTM model. Whereas, the RMSE values were 19.39 sec for the controlled segments and 4.67 sec for the uncontrolled segments when applying the MLP model. These results demonstrate that the uncertainty in traffic conditions introduced by traffic control devices has a significant impact on travel time predictions. Nonetheless, the results demonstrate that the LSTMN is a promising tool that can has the ability to account for the temporal correlation within the data. The developed models are also promising tools for reasonable travel time predictions in transit applications.

Only two percent of Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients respond to standard care and survive beyond 36 months (long-term survivors, LTS) while the majority survive less than 12 months (short-term survivors, STS). To understand the mechanism leading to poor survival, we analyzed publicly available datasets of 113 STS and 58 LTS. This analysis revealed 198 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that characterize aggressive tumor growth and may be responsible for the poor prognosis. These genes belong largely to the GO-categories “epithelial to mesenchymal transition” and “response to hypoxia”. In this paper we applied upstream analysis approach which involves state-of-art promoter analysis and network analysis of the dysregulated genes potentially responsible for short survival in GBM. Binding sites for transcription factors associated with GBM pathology like NANOG, NF-κB, REST, FRA-1, PPARG and seven others were found enriched in the promoters of the dysregulated genes. We reconstructed the gene regulatory network with several positive feedback loops controlled by five master regulators – IGFBP2, VEGFA, VEGF165, PDGFA, AEBP1 and OSMR which can be proposed as biomarkers and as therapeutic targets for enhancing GBM prognosis. Critical analysis of this gene regulatory network gives insights on mechanism of gene regulation by IGFBP2 via several transcription factors including the key molecule of GBM tumor invasiveness and progression, FRA-1. All the observations are validated in independent cohorts and their impact on overall survival is studied.

Background: This study investigated the prevalence of worsening problems using Post Stroke Checklist (PSC) at 3, 6, and 12 months post-stroke and their associations with health-related quality of life. Methods: In stroke patients admitted between June 2014 and December 2015, PSC and EuroQol-5Dthree level (EQ-5D-3L) were assessed at post-stroke 3 (n=181), 6 (n=175), and 12months (n=89). The prevalence of worsening problems and its association withEQ-5D-3L at post-stroke 3 and 6months were analyzed. Results: An average of 0.59 (range 0–12), 1.47 (range 0–12), and 1.00 (range 0–10) worsening problems per patient was identified at 3, 6, and 12months after stroke, respectively. The most frequently and continuously identified worsening problems were mood disturbances (reported by 8.8%, 16.0% and13.5% of patients at 3, 6, and 12 months post-stroke, respectively). Worsening mobility was significantly associated with worse EQ-5D index at post-stroke 3 months (β,-0.583; 95% CI, -1.045 to -0.120). The worsening of mobility and communication was significantly associated with worse EQ-5D index at post-stroke 6 months (mobility: β,-0.170; 95% CI, -0.305 to -0.034, communication: β,-0.164; 95% CI, -0.309 to -0.020). Conclusions: PSC may be useful for the detection of various subjective worsening problems during serial clinical follow-up after stroke. Appropriate rehabilitation and management strategy to solve the identified problems could improve the quality of life in stroke survivors.

Riparian restoration is an important objective for landscape managers seeking to redress the widespread degradation of riparian areas and the ecosystem services they provide. This study investigated the long-term outcomes of ‘one-off’ restoration activities undertaken in the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment, NSW, Australia. The objective of the restoration was to protect and enhance riparian vegetation and control erosion, and consequently reduce sediment and nutrient delivery into the Murrumbidgee River. To evaluate the outcomes 10 years after restoration, rapid riparian vegetation and geomorphological assessments were undertaken at 29 sites spanning the four different restoration methods used (at least five replicates per treatment), as well as at nine comparable untreated sites. We also trialed the use of aerial imagery to compare width of riparian canopy vegetation and projective foliage cover prior to restoration with that observed after 10 years. Aerial imagery demonstrated the width of riparian canopy vegetation and projective foliage cover increased in all restored sites, especially those with native plantings. The rapid assessment process indicated that 10 years after riparian restoration, the riparian vegetation was in a better condition at treated sites compared to untreated sites. Width of riparian canopy vegetation, native mid-storey cover, native canopy cover and seedling recruitment were significantly greater in treated sites compared to untreated sites. Geomorphological condition of treated sites was significantly better than untreated sites, demonstrating the importance of livestock exclusion to improve bank and channel condition. Our findings illustrate the value of ‘one-off’ restoration activities in achieving long-term benefits for riparian health. We have demonstrated that rapid assessments of the vegetation and geomorphological condition can be undertaken post-hoc to determine the long-term outcomes, especially when supported with analysis of historical aerial imagery.

Over the past decades, overweight and obesity has become a global epidemic and the leading threat for death. To prevent the serious risk, an overweight or obese individual must apply a long-term weight-management strategy to control food intake and physical activities, which is however, not easy. Recently, with the advances of information technology, more and more people can use wearable devices and smartphones to obtain physical activity information, while they can also access various health-related information from Internet online social networks (OSNs). Nevertheless, there is a lack of an integrated approach that can combine these two methods in an efficient way. In this paper, we address this issue and propose a novel mobile-social framework for health recognition and recommendation, namely, H-Rec². The main ideas of H-Rec² include (1) to recognize the individual's health status using smartphone as a general platform, and (2) to recommend physical activity and food intake based on personal health information, life science principles, and health-related information obtained from OSNs. To demonstrate the potentials of the H-Rec² framework, we develop a prototype that consists of four important components: (1) an activity recognition module that senses physical activity using accelerometer, (2) a health status modeling module that applies a novel algorithm to generate personalized health status index, (3) a restaurant information collection module that collects relevant information from OSN, and (4) a restaurant recommendation module that provides personalized and context-aware recommendation. To evaluate the prototype, we conduct both objective and subjective experiments, which confirm the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system.

In this paper, we consider a fourth-order suspension bridge equation with nonlinear damping term |u_t|^m-2u_t and source term |u|^p-2u. We give necessary and sufficient condition for global existence and energy decay results without considering the relation between m and p. Moreover, when p>m, we give sufficient condition for finite time blow-up of solutions. The lower bound of the blow-up time T_max is also established. It worth to mention that our obtained results extend the recent results of Wang (J. Math. Anal. Appl., 2014) to the nonlinear damping case.

Commercial buildings are a significant consumer of energy worldwide. Logistics facilities, and specifically warehouses, are a common building type yet under-researched in the demand-side energy forecasting literature. Warehouses have an idiosyncratic profile when compared to other commercial and industrial buildings with a significant reliance on a small number of energy systems. As such, warehouse owners and operators are increasingly entering in to energy performance contracts with energy service companies (ESCOs) to minimise environmental impact, reduce costs, and improve competitiveness. ESCOs and warehouse owners and operators require accurate forecasts of their energy consumption so that precautionary and mitigation measures can be taken. This paper explores the performance of three machine learning models (Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)), three deep learning models (Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)), and a classical time series model, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) for predicting daily energy consumption. The dataset comprises 8,040 records generated over an 11-month period from January to November 2020 from a non-refrigerated logistics facility located in Ireland. The grid search method was used to identify the best configurations for each model. The proposed XGBoost models outperform other models for both very short load forecasting (VSTLF) and short term load forecasting (STLF); the ARIMA model performed the worst.

Measuring host communities' perceptions and attitudes towards tourism development has been increasingly common since the mid-1970s. The greater the growth of the tourism industry worldwide, the more relevant it has become to assess the impact of tourism activity on the local residents. In this paper we present the results of a study carried out in two EU countries highly dependent on tourism act though at a different stage of development. Our findings are based on qualitative and quantitative data obtained via a questionnaire survey designed in pre-covid 19 times to analyze the perceptions and attitudes of tourism college students from Croatia and Spain, today’s tourism employers and employees, towards tourism development in sun and sea desti-nations. Our aim is to contrast the hypothesis that the nationality of our sample is a significant variable when evaluating the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the development of the tourism industry. Croatia’s workforce, the most highly dependent on the EU travel and tourism industry show to be much more aware of the negative impacts of tourism development than their Spaniards counterparts; showing a tourism workforce more reluctant to further tourism development.

It is axiomatic to underscore that a well-managed education system is deemed globally as one of the crucial prerequisites for not only the growth and development of every society or geopolitical space but also one of the veritable hallmarks of a diversified and functional economy that will, in the long run, culminate in economic emancipation of the people. The education industry faces enormous challenges in several countries in Africa, and Nigeria is not an exception. Even though education remains the bedrock or superstructure on which other societal structures such as politics, culture, religion, economics, etc. are laid; it is quite disheartening that education in Nigeria is not effectively and efficiently managed for economic diversification and emancipation of the recipients of such education. Indeed, the industry faces innumerable challenges, especially in contemporary times than in the pre-colonial era when the education system was essentially functional. The hydra-headed nature of the challenges with Nigeria’s educational system has inevitably resulted in different dimensions of economic quagmires entangling the country and making most of its citizens find it extremely difficult to eke out and or survive. The level of dysfunctionalities in various sections of the education system has made it seemingly intractable to palliate the economic predicaments that have been confronting the country let alone emancipate it from the monoculture of its overdependence on oil. The author of this treatise is diagnostic in his approach to understanding the intricacies of the challenges that frontally battle the Nigerian education system and deprive it of being a veritable tool for a functional economy as well catalyst for the economic emancipation of its people. The paper, through the analyses of relevant literature, amplifies the conceptual and operational dimensions of the identified challenges, offers probable suggestions on the ways by which the challenges can be tackled and finally draws a conclusion.

Scaffold guided breast tissue regeneration (SGBTR) can both transform reconstructive and cosmetic breast surgery. Implant-based surgery is the most common method. However, there are inherent limitations as there is replacement of tissue rather than regeneration. Regenerating autologous soft tissue has the potential to provide a more like-for-like reconstruction with minimal morbidity. Our SGBTR approach regenerates soft tissue by implanting additively manufactured bioresorbable scaffolds filled with autologous fat graft. A pre-clinical large animal study was conducted implanting 100 ml breast scaffolds (n=55) made from medical-grade polycaprolactone in 11 minipigs for 12 months. Various treatment groups were investigated where immediate or delayed autologous fat graft, as well as platelet rich plasma were added to scaffolds. Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging was performed on explanted scaffolds to determine volume and distribution of regenerated tissue. Histological analysis was performed to confirm tissue type. At 12 months we were able to regenerate and sustain a mean soft tissue volume of 60.9 4.5 ml (95% CI) across all treatment groups. There was no evidence of capsule formation. There were no immediate or long-term post-operative complications. In conclusion, we were able to regenerate clinically relevant soft tissue volumes utilizing SGBTR in a pre-clinical large animal model.

This longitudinal study examined the development of executive function and calibration accuracy in pre-adolescents. Two hundred sixty two students(127 females) from grades 4 (n = 91), 5 (n = 89) and 6 (n = 82) took measures of executive function and performance calibration in a sport task, three times within a period of 20 months. A latent growth curve modeling analysis showed a significant relation between the rates of change of executive function and calibration. Further, the results showed a dynamic interplay in the development of executive function and calibration. There were significant inter-individual differences in the estimated population means both in executive function and calibration and in the rate of change of executive function, but not in the rate of change for calibration. The age of the participants had a positive effect only on the estimated population mean of executive function.

Urbanization influences food culture, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where there is an increasing consumption of processed and pre-packaged foods. This shift is contributing to a rise in non-communicable diseases. Food labeling standards are crucial for regulating manufacturing practices and aiding consumers in making healthy food choices. We aimed to assess the compliance of local and imported pre-packaged snacks with Tanzanian and international labeling standards in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 snack products. A checklist based on Tanzanian and Codex labeling standards was used to evaluate adherence. We also examined factors influencing adherence, such as product origin, price, category, purchase location, and package size. The majority of the snacks demonstrated partial adherence to labeling standards. Imported products showed significantly better full adherence to both Tanzanian and International standards. Notably, over half of the products used English for labeling, and infrequently used the recommended World Health Organization Front-of-Pack nutrition Labeling. Product category, origin, and package size were significantly associated with higher levels of International standard adherence (p<0.05). The inadequate adherence to mandatory labeling standards, scarce use of Swahili and FoPL highlight the need to strengthen labeling practices and potential challenges faced by consumers in understanding nutritional information. Thus, strengthening and emphasizing good labeling practices is of urgency as we seek to address diet-related Non-communicable diseases.

With the targets of petroleum exploration transferred to the deep and ancient strata, abundant oil and gas resources have been found in the Lower Paleozoic and older strata in central and western China. Due to complex evolutionary processes including multiple episodes of hydrocarbon accumulation and ubiquitously accompanied by secondary alterations, significant uncertainties were remained for the generation time and accumulation processes of these revealed petroleum. In this paper, relative pure Re and Os elements existing in the asphaltene fractions of Lower Cambrian solid bitumen collected from the Guangyuan area, western Sichuan Basin, SW China and another Middle–Lower Ordovician heavy oils in the Aiding area of the Tahe oilfield in the Tarim Basin, NW China were successfully obtained by the sample pre-treatments, and Re–Os isotopic analysis was subsequently carried out for the dating of these two petroleum. The Re–Os isotopic composition indicates a generation time of Guangyuan bitumen to locate between 572 Ma and 559 Ma, corresponding to the late Sinian period of Neoproterozoic era. By the means of Re–Os isochron ages, initial 187Os/188Os ratios, and carbon isotopic compositions, the Lower Cambrian bitumen is supposed to be originated from source rocks of the Doushantuo Formation in the Sinian strata and subsequently migrated into the reservoirs of Dengying Formation. These previously reserved petroleum had been transformed to present bitumen by the destruction of reservoirs caused by tectonic uplift. The Re–Os dating results of Middle–Lower Ordovician heavy oil of Tarim Basin supposed that it was formed between 450 Ma to 436 Ma, corresponding to the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian system, and the generated petroleum is likely to migrate into the Middle–Lower Ordovician karst reservoirs to form early oil reservoirs. With tectonic uplift, these oil reservoirs were degraded and reformed to be present heavy oil reservoirs.

Forest fires are part of a set of natural disasters that have always affected regions of the world typically characterized by a tropical climate with long periods of drought. However, due to climate change in recent years, other regions of our planet have also been affected by this phenomenon, never seen before. One of them is certainly the Italian peninsula, and especially the regions of southern Italy. For this reason, the scientific community, as well as remote sensing one, is highly concerned in developing reliable techniques to provide useful support to the competent authorities. In particular, three specific tasks have been carried out in this work: (i) fire risk prevention, (ii) active fire detection, and (iii) post-fire area assessment. To accomplish these analyses, the capability of a set of spectral indices, derived from spaceborne remote sensing (RS) data, is assessed to monitor the forest fires. The spectral indices are obtained from Sentinel-2 multispectral images of the European Space Agency (ESA), which are free of charge and openly accessible. Moreover, the twin Sentinel-2 sensors allow to overcome some restrictions on time delivery and observation repeat time. The performance of the proposed analyses were assessed experimentally to monitor the forest fires occurred in two specific study areas during the summer of 2017: the volcano Vesuvius, near Naples, and the Lattari mountains, near Sorrento (both in Campania, Italy).

Artificial groundwater recharge is commonly used for drinking water supply. The resulting water quality is highly dependent on the raw water quality. In many cases, pre-treatment is required. Pre-treatment improves the drinking water quality, although how and to what extent it affects the subsequent pond water quality and infiltration process, is still unknown. We evaluated two treatment systems by applying different pre-treatment methods for raw water from a eutrophic and temperate lake. An artificial recharge pond was divided into two parts, where one received raw water, only filtered through a micro-screen with 500 µm pores (control treatment), while the other part received pre-treated lake water using chemical flocculation with polyaluminium chloride (PACl) combined with sand filtration, i.e. continuous contact filtration (contact filter treatment). Water quality such as cyanobacterial biomass, microcystin-LR as well as organic matter and nutrients were measured in both treatment processes. We found cyanobacterial biomass and microcystin-LR level after the contact filter treatment was significantly different from the control treatment and also significantly different in the pond water. In addition, with contact filter treatment, total phosphorus (TP) and organic matter removal were significantly improved in the end water, TP was reduced by 96 % (< 20 µg/L) and the total organic carbon (TOC) was reduced by 66 % instead of 55 % (TOC content around 2.1 mg/L instead of 3.0 mg/L). This full-scale onsite experiment demonstrated effective pre-treatment would benefit a more stable water quality system, with less variance and lower cyanotoxin risk. In a broader drinking water management perspective, the presented method is promising to reduce cyanotoxin risk, as well as TP and TOC, which are all predicted to increase with global warming and extreme weather.

Sentinel-3 synergy (SYN) VEGETATION (VGT) products were designed to provide continuity to SPOT/VEGETATION (SPOT VGT). In past years, important changes have been implemented in the SYN VGT processing baseline. Since the PROBA-V mission acted as a gap filler between SPOT VGT and Sentinel-3, and in principle a continuous series of data products from the combined data archives of SPOT VGT (1998 – 2014), PROBA-V (2013-2020) and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT (from 2018 onwards) is available to users, consistency of Sentinel-3 SYN VGT with both the latest SPOT VGT (VGT-C3) and PROBA-V (PV-C2) archives is highly relevant. Spatio-temporal intercomparison of the combined time series of VGT-C3, PV-C2 and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT 10-day NDVI composite products with an external reference from LSA-SAF, and the intercomparison of Sentinel-3 SYN V10 products with a climatology of VGT-C3 resp. PV-C2 for 3 distinct periods with different levels of product quality have shown that the subsequent processing baseline updates have resulted in better quality products. It is therefore essential to reprocess the entire Sentinel-3 SYN VGT archive: a uniform data record of standard SPOT VGT, PROBA-V and Sentinel-3 SYN VGT products, spanning over 25 years, would provide valuable input for a wide range of applications.

Cuffless sphygmomanometers may be useful alternative blood pressure monitors for screening and home healthcare. The main requirements for these devices are accuracy in the resting state, accuracy during dynamic blood pressure changes, and long-term stability. Intermittent measurements can ensure that the accuracy of active measurements mirrors that of measurements in the resting and dynamic states. This brief report proposes a new protocol to evaluate long-term stability based on a comparison with a medically approved cuff-based automated sphygmomanometer rather than an auscultatory sphygmomanometer. Dynamic changes in blood pressure are not usually assessed based on intermittent measurement with an over-the-counter (OTC) sphygmomanometer. Thus, validation testing focused on the accuracy of the OTC cuffless sphygmomanometer in the resting state and the long-term stability of the device, and the results were similar to those of the cuff-based sphygmomanometer. Further research and discussions are necessary to develop standards derived from high-quality evidence for manufacturers of OTC sphygmomanometers.

This paper investigates portfolio optimization methodologies and short-term investment strate-gies in the context of the cryptocurrency market, focusing on ten major cryptocurrencies from January 2020 to November 2023. We employ high frequency data and utilize the Kurtosis Mini-mization methodology, alongside other optimization strategies, to construct and evaluate port-folios under different rebalancing frequencies. The empirical analysis reveals that cryptocurren-cies exhibit significant volatility, skewness, and kurtosis, necessitating sophisticated portfolio management techniques. We find that the Kurtosis Minimization methodology consistently outperforms other optimization strategies, delivering optimal returns to investors, particularly in shorter-term investment horizons. We demonstrate the diversification benefits of integrating cryptocurrencies into multi-asset portfolios and emphasize the importance of regular portfolio rebalancing in the volatile cryptocurrency market. Our findings offer insights for portfolio man-agers and investors seeking to optimize their investment outcomes in the cryptocurrency market, highlighting the importance of risk management, diversification, and dynamic portfolio man-agement strategies.

Long-term care (LTC) settings are increasingly used for palliative care in Japan. This study aimed to assess the proportion of LTC settings that provide palliative care services for older clients with advanced dementia in Japan and the trends across the types of settings. A nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted between November 2022 and January 2023, targeting 1,000 geriatric hospitals (GHs), 1,000 geriatric health services facilities (GHSFs), and 1,000 home nursing care stations (HNCSs). The palliative care practices for older patients with advanced dementia and their families in the agencies were assessed. Less than half of the GHs supported family participation or the spiritual needs of their older clients with dementia, while many had access to pain and symptom assessments and analgesic prescriptions by physicians. Less than half the GHSFs used pain assessment tools, assessed and supported family caregivers' pain and distress, and supported family participation in palliative care. More than 80% of the HNCSs practiced most of the listed palliative care. Current palliative care practices for older adults with dementia vary among GHs, GHSFs, and HNCSs. This emphasizes the need for targeted approaches to improve the provision of palliative care for patients with dementia across LTC settings in Japan.

The influences of doped hole transporting layer (HTL) on the performances of perovskite solar cells were studied. The influences of electrostatic and surface roughness effect by solvent additive doping were compared. The electrostatic effect of solvent additive doping was compared by addition of 1,8-diiodooctane and 1,8-dichlorooctane to the HTL layer. The surface roughness effect of solvent additive doping was examined using atomic force microscopy. The perovskite crystallinity by doping HTL was studied by X-ray diffraction. The conductivity of HTL was measured using four probe methods and was higher for doped devices. Enhanced conductivity of PEDOT:PSS film was also proved using fluorescence emission quenching. Long-term stability of the device was enhanced by doping HTL. The device with solvent additive exhibited much enhanced stability, retained over 80% of the initial PCE for 400 hours, while PCE of the device without solvent additive decreased to less than 80% after 200 hours. A very weak power microwave treatment was used for post-annealing of the fully fabricated devices. Post-annealing enhanced the lifetime of the device. Comparing different size of cells, the device lifetime was decreased as the cell area increased and as the size of the cell increased, the extent of lifetime enhancement by doping was increased.

Pure silver as well as silver compounds have been used as antiseptics for centuries. Nowadays, the most frequently applied form of silver is a nanoparticle form. Several studies demonstrate the ability of silver nanoparticles and silver salts to accumulate in the brain of laboratory ani-mals as well as the ability of silver nanoparticles to influence behavioral and cognitive functions of laboratory mammals. For the first time, the influence of a silver salt, in particular, silver citrate on the change dynamics of behavioral and cognitive functions of laboratory mice at the daily oral exposure during 30, 60, 120 and 180 days is investigated in the present research. We observed the anxiety increase after 30 days of the exposure as well as the ability of mice to adapt to the prolonged oral exposure of silver citrate manifested in the anxiety decrease, increase of locomotor activity and the tendency of long-term contextual memory improvement. Increase of locomotor activity and memory improvement might be associated with the sensitivity increase and regarded as compensatory mechanism to anxiety increase. The observed phenomenon is classified as a hormetic effect. A comparison with the analogous study implemented polyvi-nylpyrrolidone coated silver nanoparticles is carried out. It was concluded that the nanoform is more neurotoxic.