Like all RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 shows high mutation rate, which has led to the emergence of new variants. Among them, Gamma and Delta developed at the turn of 2020-2021 in Amazonas and India, two ecoregions characterized by hot-humid weather, very similar to that of the summer season due to climate change in Italy, the first Western country to have been hit hard by COVID-19 and to experience lockdown restrictions in a democratic framework of 58,85 million people. Methods: during the state of national health emergency and the Draghi government, the Civil Defense Department daily released the aggregate data coming from the Ministry of Health, the Higher Institute of Health, the Independent Provinces and the Italian Regions, in order to inform about the pandemic situation in Italy. Among these data there were the number of deaths, hospitalizations in intensive care units (ICU), non-ICU patients, contagions, and performed swabs. By means of a team effort, we have collected and elaborated all these data, comparing COVID-19 pandemic in Italy during the summers 2020 (following the nationwide lockdown), 2021 and 2022. Results: from summer 2020 (before mass vaccination) to summers 2021 (after primary mass vaccination) and 2022 (after booster mass vaccination) all pandemic trend indicators have showed a sharp worsening in Italy. COVID-19 deaths increased by ≈298% and ≈834%, ICU hospitalizations by ≈386% and ≈310%, non-ICU hospitalizations by ≈224% and ≈600%, contagions by ≈627% and ≈6.850% (i.e. ≈68,50 times), swabs by ≈354% and ≈370%, and the mean positivity rate passed from ≈1% to ≈2% and ≈20%, respectively. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted in any climate, including areas with hot and humid weather, and the emergence of variants adapted to hot-humid climate may result in summer COVID-19 outbreaks, even in neither tropical nor subtropical countries. Although COVID-19 vaccines can confer cross-protection against newly emerging variants, this cross-immunity is obviously not absolute but limited, also taking into account that vaccine protection wanes considerably after 6 months. It follows that a subject vaccinated at the beginning of winter will not be completely covered in the height of summer, without forgetting the unvaccinated. As a final remark, the long nationwide lockdown made it possible to flatten SARS-CoV-2 circulation and, therefore, its negative impact on Italy during summer 2020.

There are no theorems (proven theories) in the biological sciences. We propose that the 3 31 nt minihelix tRNA evolution theorem be universally accepted as one. The 3 31 nt minihelix theorem completely describes evolution of type I and type II tRNAs from ordered precursors (RNA repeats and inverted repeats). Despite diversification of tRNAome sequences, statistical tests overwhelmingly support the theorem. Furthermore, the theorem relates the dominant pathway for the origin of life on Earth, specifically, how tRNAomes and the genetic code may have coevolved. Alternate models for tRNA evolution (i.e., 2 minihelix, convergent and accretion models) are falsified. In the context of the pre-life world, tRNA was a molecule that via mutation could modify anticodon sequences and teach itself to code. We relate the clearest history to date of the chemical evolution of life on Earth. From analysis of tRNA evolution, ribozyme-mediated RNA ligation was a primary driving force in evolution of complexity during the pre-life to life transition on Earth.

Infertility” is a condition defined by the failure to establish a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse or due to an impairment of a person’s capacity to reproduce either as an individual or with his/her partner’. The authors have set out to succinctly investigate, explore and assess infertility treatments harnessing the potential of stem cells to effectively and safely treat infertility, in addition to the legal and regulatory complexities at the heart of stem cell research, with an overview of the legislative state of affairs in six major European countries. In couples who cannot benefit from assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to treat their infertility, stem cells-based approaches have been shown to be a highly promising approach. Nonetheless, lingering ethical and immunological uncertainties require more conclusive findings and data before such treatment avenues can become mainstream and applied large scale. The isolation of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is ethically controversial, since their collection involves the destruction of human embryonic tissue. Overall, stem cell research has resulted in important new breakthroughs in the treatment of infertility. The effort to untangle the complex web of ethical and legal issues associated with such therapeutic approaches will have to rely on evidence-based, broadly shared standards, guidelines and best practices to make sure that the procreative rights of patients can be effectively reconciled with the core values at the heart of medical ethics.

In this article we estimate the level of Control of Corruption for 193 countries in the period 2011-2020 using data from the ESG World Bank Database. Various econometric techniques are applied i.e.: Panel Data with Random Effects, Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Pooled OLS, WLS. Results show that “Control of Corruption” is positively associated, among others, to “Government Effectiveness” and “Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism”, while it is negatively associated among others to “Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Value Added as Percentage of GDP” and “GHG Net Emissions/Removals by LUCF”. A cluster analysis implemented with the k-Means algorithm optimized with the Elbow Method shows four clusters. A confrontation among eight Machine Learning algorithms is proposed for the prediction of Control of Corruption. Polynomial Regression is the best predictor for the training data. The level of Control of Corruption is expected to growth by 10.36% on average.

This paper proposes and demonstrates, in full scale, a novel type of energy geostructure (“the Climate Road”) that combines a ground source heat pump (GSHP) with a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) by utilizing the gravel roadbed simultaneously as energy source and rainwater retarding basin. The Climate Road measures 50m x 8m x 1m (length, width, depth) and has 800 m of geothermal piping embedded in the roadbed, serving as the heat collector for a GSHP that supplies a nearby kindergarten with domestic hot water and space heating. Model analysis of operational data from 2018-2021 indicates sustainable annual heat production levels around 0.6 MWh per meter road, with a COP of 2.9-3.1. The continued infiltration of rainwater to the roadbed increases the amount of extractable heat by an estimated 17% compared to the case of zero infiltration. Using the developed model for scenario analysis we find that draining rainwater from three single family houses and storing 30% of the annual heating consumption in the roadbed, increases the predicted extractable energy by 56% compared to zero infiltration with no seasonal energy storage. The Climate Road is capable of supplying three single family houses with heating, cooling and rainwater management year-round.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has pulled us all a few steps back, were we never shake hands or hug each other when we meet our friends and family after a gap, but instead we greet them by saying Namaste and joining our hands together. As we all know, COVID-19 spreads through air and the only way to shield ourselves is by maintaining a safe distance from one another. Methodology: In order to conduct a meta-analysis on the number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala and India, the data was retrieved from various sites hosted by the government bodies. The data for analysis was collected from May 2020 to July 2020. The average number of days required to reach every 5000 fresh cases were also calculated using this data. COVID-19 has affected all the economy holistically regardless of financial, behavioral, or societal aspects. Conclusion: Lifting of the lockdown in a step by step process keeping in mind the necessities for the nation was a thoughtful act, but the people who mistook this opportunity and did not remain in quarantine after coming from abroad was recognized as the reasons behind the sudden and uncontrolled rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala, India. The government authorities had no other option but to lift the restrictions to reduce the economic burdens that had already affected the daily wage worker and farmers prompting them to give up their lives.

With Internet of Things (IoT) gaining presence throughout different industries a lot of new technologies have been introduced to support this undertaking. Implications on one such technology, wireless systems allowed for the use of different communication methods to achieve the goal of transferring data reliably, with more cost efficiency and over longer distances. Anywhere from a single house with only a few IoT devices such as a smart light bulb or a smart thermostat connected to the network, all the way to a complex system that can control power grids throughout countries, IoT has been becoming a necessity in everyday lives. This paper presents an overview of the devices, systems and wireless technologies used in different IoT architectures (Healthcare, Vehicular Networks, Mining, Learning, Energy, Smart Cities, Behaviors and Decision Making), their upbringings and challenges to this date and some foreseen in the future.

The recent Google’s claim on breakthrough in quantum computing is a gong signal for further analysis of foundational roots of (possible) superiority of some quantum algorithms over the corresponding classical algorithms. This note is a step in this direction. We start with critical analysis of rather common reference to entanglement and quantum nonlocality as the basic sources of quantum superiority. We elevate the role of the Bohr’s principle of complementarity¹ (PCOM) by interpreting the Bell-experiments as statistical tests of this principle. (Our analysis also includes comparison of classical vs genuine quantum entanglements.) After a brief presentation of PCOM and endowing it with the information interpretation, we analyze its computational counterpart. The main implication of PCOM is that by using the quantum representation of probability, one need not compute the joint probability distribution (jpd) for observables involved in the process of computation. Jpd’s calculation is exponentially time consuming. Consequently, classical probabilistic algorithms involving calculation of jpd for n random variables can be over-performed by quantum algorithms (for big values of n). Quantum algorithms are based on quantum probability calculus. It is crucial that the latter modifies the classical formula of total probability (FTP). Probability inference based on the quantum version of FTP leads to constructive interference of probabilities increasing probabilities of some events. We also stress the role the basic feature of the genuine quantum superposition comparing with the classical wave superposition: generation of discrete events in measurements on superposition states. Finally, the problem of superiority of quantum computations is coupled with the quantum measurement problem and linearity of dynamics of the quantum state update.

The influence and importance of research and development (R&D) for business sustainability have gained increasing interests, especially in the high-tech sector. However, the efforts of R&D might cause complex and mixed impacts on the financial results considering the associated expenses. Thus, this study aims to examine how R&D efforts may influence business to improve its financial performance considering the dual objectives: the gross and the net profitability. This research integrated a rough-set-based soft computing technique and multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to explore this complex and yet valuable issue. A group of public listed companies from Taiwan, all in the semiconductor sector, was analyzed as a case study. Initially, more than 30 variables were considered, and the adopted soft computing technique retrieved 14 core attributes—for the dual profitability objectives—to form the evaluation model. The importance of R&D for pursuing superior financial prospects is confirmed, and the empirical case demonstrates how to guide an individual company to plan for improvements to achieve its long-term sustainability by this hybrid approach.

This research answers the knowledge gap regarding the explanation of the quantum jump of the electron. This scientific paper aims to complete Einstein’s research regarding general relativity and attempt to link general relativity to quantum laws.

This research answers the knowledge gap regarding the explanation of the quantum jump of the electron. This scientific paper aims to complete Einstein’s research regarding general relativity and attempt to link general relativity to quantum laws.

This research answers the knowledge gap regarding the explanation of the quantum jump of the electron. This scientific paper aims to complete Einstein’s research regarding general relativity and attempt to link general relativity to quantum laws.

This research answers the knowledge gap regarding the explanation of the quantum jump of the electron. This scientific paper aims to complete Einstein’s research regarding general relativity and attempt to link general relativity to quantum laws.

A method for estimating river water surface elevation (WSE) from Landsat imagery using the river inundation area - water surface elevation (RIA-WSE) rating curve constructed from the U.S. Geological Survey Topobathymetric Elevation Model (TEM) data was developed and tested at six gauging stations along the upper Mississippi River. The Otsu's automatic threshold selection algorithm was employed for the image classification and estimation of inundation areas within each pre-defined polygon around each gauging station. In addition to the commonly used green-band based water indices, Landsat 8 and 9 OLI's ultra-blue, blue, and red band-based water indices were also tested in this study, which resulted in twenty different water indices: NDWIv (Normalized Difference Water Index), MNDWI1v and MNDWI2v (Modified Normalized Difference Water Index), AWEIsv (Automatic Water Extraction Index with shadow), and AWEInsv (AWEI without shadow), where v represents the visible light band used in the water index. At each station, about 60-80 Landsat 8 or 9 images during 2013-2023 were used for assessing the performances of the twenty water indices through comparing the estimated WSEs with the measured WSEs. Results showed that the ultra-blue or red band-based AWEIs yielded the most accurate estimations of WSEs among the twenty tested water indices.

In our recent publications, based on strong and electroweak interactions, we have developed a completely new formula for estimating nuclear binding energy. With reference to currently believed Semi Empirical Mass Formula (SEMF), we call our formula as ‘Strong and Electroweak Mass Formula’ (SEWMF). Our formula constitutes 4 simple terms and only one energy coefficient of magnitude 10.1 MeV. First term is a volume term, second term seems to be a representation of free nucleons associated with electroweak interaction, third term is a radial term and fourth one is an asymmetry term about the mean stable mass number. In this paper, we make an attempt to understand and estimate the maximum binding energy associated with any mass number. It can be expressed as, for A > 4, $\left(BE\right)_A\cong \left[A-0.000935A^2-A^{1/3}-A^{-1/2}\right]$ MeV. We are working on refining the 4^th term with even-odd corrections, shell corrections and other microscopic corrections. Proceeding further, stable mass numbers and super heavy mass numbers can be understood with a relation of the form, $\left[\textrm{RoundOff}\left(\left(Z+2.9464\right)^{1.2}-1.7165\right)\right]\pm\left[0,1\right]\pm\left(2n\right)$ where $n \cong 0,1,2$. It needs a review with respect to even-odd proton numbers and other microscopic corrections.Very interesting point to be noted is that based on the concept of “binding energy per nucleon”, the most complicated Avogadro number and Unified atomic mass unit can be estimated in a unified approach.

Abstract:The digital landscape is rapidly reshaping under the influence of AI-powered cloud-based e-commerce platforms (PCEPs). These platforms leverage the transformative power of AI to personalize customer experiences, optimize pricing strategies, enhance security, and streamline operations, offering businesses a significant competitive edge. However, challenges surrounding data privacy, algorithmic bias, and potential job displacement raise crucial ethical questions regarding widespread AI adoption in e-commerce.This study delves into the untapped potential and ethical considerations of PCEPs, distinguishing itself by proposing practical strategies for responsible development and ethical implementation.Objectives: Investigate the transformative potential of PCEPs: Personalized product recommendations:Analyze effectiveness and potential bias. Dynamic pricing strategies:Explore impact on consumer fairness and market stability. Enhanced fraud detection:Evaluate accuracy and privacy implications. Optimized supply chain management:Assess efficiency gains and job displacement risks. Critically analyze the ethical considerations of AI in e-commerce: Data privacy:Assess current practices and develop mitigation strategies. Algorithmic bias:Identify potential sources and propose solutions for fairer decision-making. Job displacement:Evaluate impacts and propose reskilling initiatives. Propose comprehensive and practical strategies for responsible PCEP development and implementation: Transparency:Enhance user awareness and control over data usage. Fairness:Design AI systems to mitigate bias and uphold consumer rights. Accountability:Establish clear guidelines and oversight mechanisms for ethical AI development.Conclusion: While PCEPs offer a plethora of transformative benefits, their ethical implementation is paramount. By adhering to principles of transparency, fairness, and accountability, businesses can unlock the full potential of PCEPs while minimizing potential risks and shaping the future of online commerce in a sustainable and equitable manner

Cancer is a complex and devastating disease that has engaged scientists and researchers for decades. Despite tremendous efforts, previous hypotheses about cancer development have not achieved significant breakthroughs. Evolutionary Cancer Cell Biology (ECCB) is a novel and emerging branch of oncological science that provides an evolutionary perspective on the origin of cancer. It reveals that the cancer genome evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, long before multicellular organisms such as metazoans and humans emerged. ECCB aims to unify all evolutionary insights, hypotheses, and theories into a cohesive framework. It investigates the intricate relationship between cancer genomics and ancient pre-metazoan genes that emerge when normal cells transform into cancer cells. It challenges the conventional wisdom of cancer research by suggesting that cancer could arise through intrinsic cellular mechanisms without genetic alterations and mutations. Furthermore, it postulates that somatic mutations are only secondary, downstream events in the process of oncogenesis.

This study continued the analysis of immunization with the receptor binding domain (RBD) associated with the adjuvants Dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA) and Saponin (Sap) (RBD+DDA/Sap) or Aluminum hydroxide (AH) and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) of Neisseria meningitidis (RBD+AH/OMV); from adult to old age and assessed maternal-fetal transference of antibodies. Outbred Swiss mice were immunized with 2 intramuscular (IM) doses with the antigenic preparations RBD+DDA/Sap, RBD+AH/OMV or RBD alone. The humoral immune response was evaluated using ELISA, avidity-ELISA, Immunoblotting and a Omicron-surrogate-neutralization assay (BA.1), while the cellular immune response was analyzed by ELISpot. Our previous work studied the IgG response; here, we verified that IgM levels were higher right after the immunization doses, but, as IgG, it persisted until 368 days after the immunization. The avidity of IgM increased from low to intermediate-to-high after the booster dose. RBD+DDA/Sap presented neutralizing indexes against Omicron at days 47 and 176, while RBD+AH/OMV showed neutralization on days 21, 47 and 176. Cellular response, measured 465 days after immunization, revealed IFN-Y and IL-4 secretion. The offspring of RBD+DDA/Sap had detectable antibodies, which decreased around 45 days after birth, the last point we analyzed. The results suggested that DDA/Sap is a promising adjuvant mixture to enhance humoral and cellular immune response against SARS-CoV-2, improving maternal-fetal transference of antibodies; cross-reactivity with Omicron variant; and the maintenance of antibodies for a long period.

Diseases caused by arboviruses are on the increase worldwide. In addition to arthropod bites, most arboviruses can be transmitted via accessory routes. Products of human origin (labile blood products, solid organs, hematopoietic stem cells, tissues) present a risk of contamination for the recipient if the donation is made when the donor is viremic. This narrative review describes the risks of acquiring certain arboviral diseases from human products, mainly solid organs and hematopoietic stem cells, in the French context. Mainland France and its overseas territories are exposed to a complex array of imported and endemic arboviruses, which differ according to their respective location. The main risks considered in this study are infections by West Nile virus, dengue virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus. The ancillary risks represented by Usutu virus infection, chikungunya and Zika are also addressed more briefly. For each disease, the guidelines issued by the French High Council of Public Health, which is responsible for issuing guidelines to mitigate the risks associated with products of human origin and for supporting public health policy decisions, are briefly outlined. The aim of this review is also to contribute to the standardization of recommendations at international level in areas with the same viral epidemiology.

Diagnostics is believed to drive about 70% of medical interventions, but this may not be true for all demographics. With more than 30% of the African population living in extreme poverty ($1.9 per day - 2022); and healthcare costs competing unfavorably against unbridled access to antibiotics and herbal concoctions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, how do you convince such a people to choose diagnostics first? More importantly, how do you design a medical device targeted at meeting the diagnostic needs of this demographic? In developing diagnostic devices for such a market, what is worth sacrificing? How dire is the need for advanced technologies in devices developed for such a demographic? These are questions that remain unaddressed by the technological breakthroughs and current research in medical device development, especially for infectious disease diagnostics. The objective of this paper is to underscore critical concerns which must be considered in the bid to successfully design medical diagnostic devices for Africa and perhaps, other limited-resource settings. It is also written as a suggestive guidance document for researchers whose interest is in the development of infectious disease diagnostic platforms for rural Africa and similar limited-resource environments.

The survival analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset is a well-known method to discover the gene expression-based prognostic biomarkers of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). A cutoff point is usually used in survival analysis for the patients' dichotomization in the continuous gene expression. There is some optimization software for cutoff determination. However, the software's predetermined cutoffs are usually set at the median or quantiles of gene expression value to perform the analyses. There are also few clinicopathological features available on their pre-processed data sets. We applied an in-house workflow, including data retrieving and pre-processing, feature selection, sliding-window cutoff selection, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard modeling for biomarker discovery. In our approach for the TCGA HNSCC cohort, we scanned human protein-coding genes to find optimal cutoff values. After adjustment with confounders, the clinical tumor stage and the surgical margin involvement are independent risk factors for patients' prognosis. According to the resulting tables with Bonferroni-adjusted P value under the optimal cutoff and the hazard ratio, three biomarker candidates, CAMK2N1, CALML5, and FCGBP, are significantly associated with the patients' overall survival. We validated this discovery by using the other independent HNSCC dataset (GSE65858). Thus, we suggest the transcriptomic analysis could help for biomarker discovery.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) are increasingly becoming relevant actors flying through the airspace and will assume much more importance in the future perspective. In order to allow their safe integration with manned conventional traffic in non-segregated airspaces, in accordance with the overall Air Traffic Management (ATM) paradigm, specific enabling technologies are needed. As well known, among the enabling technologies identified as crucial for RPAS integration into the overall ATM system, the Detect and Avoid (DAA) technology is fundamental. In the meantime, to support extended surveillance, the universal introduction on-board of aircraft of cooperative Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) is increasingly implemented, having the potential to allow coverage of the whole airspace also in remote areas not usually covered by conventional radar surveillance. In this paper, the experimental results are presented and discussed that have been obtained through the real-time validation, with hardware and human in the loop (RTS-HIL) simulations, of an automatic ADS-B based Separation Assurance and Collision Avoidance System aimed to support RPAS automatic operations as well as remote pilot decision making. In the paper, after an introductory outline of the Concept of Operations (ConOps) of the system and of its architectural organization, while also providing basic information about the main system functionalities, the description is reported of the tests that have been carried out and the obtained results are described and discussed, in order to emphasize the performances and limitations of the proposed system. In particular, not only the quantitative performances obtained are reported and commented but also the feedbacks received by the pilots in order to improve the system are described, for instance in terms of preferred typology of conflict resolution manoeuver elaborated by the system.

We consider the financial planning problem of a retiree wishing to enter a retirement village at a future uncertain date. The date of entry is determined by the retiree's utility and bequest maximisation problem within the context of uncertain future health states. In addition, the retiree must choose optimal consumption, investment, bequest and purchase of insurance products prior to her full annuitisation on entry to the retirement village. A hyperbolic absolute risk-aversion (HARA) utility function is used to allow necessary consumption for basic living and medical costs. The retirement village will typically require an initial deposit upon entry. This threshold wealth requirement leads to exercising the replication of an American put option at the uncertain stopping time. From our numerical results, active insurance and annuity markets are shown to be a critical aspect in retirement planning.

With reference to Planck scale Hubble parameter, super luminal expansion speeds, super luminal rotation speeds and Mach’s principle, we review the current cosmological observations. With our revised assumptions, it is possible to show that, at H₀ =70 km/sec/Mpc, current cosmic temperature, age, radius, mass, mass density and rotational kinetic energy are 2.721 K, 4.41 x 1017 sec, 90 billion light years, 1.14654 x 1054 kg, 0.0482 times the current critical density and 0.6667 times the current critical energy density respectively. Based on the estimated current mass density and current rotational kinetic energy density, current cosmic dark matter density can be shown to be 0.2851 times the current critical density. Initial and current expansion speeds are 3 x 108 m/sec and 3.56 x 109 m/sec respectively. Proceeding further, we developed two interesting methods for understanding cosmic scale factor with reference to a temperature of 3000 K, redshift of 1100 and age of 3,69,000 years. Finally we would like to suggest that, with increasing cosmic age and increasing cosmic expansion speed, current universe is expanding with a speed of 11.885c. Magnitude of the future cosmic expansion speed depends on the magnitude of the future Hubble parameter. By knowing the time to time future cosmic temperatures, corresponding future Hubble parameters can be estimated and corresponding future cosmic expansion speeds can also be estimated.Proceeding further, a unified model of evolving quantum cosmology can be developed.

Endometrial preparation is crucial in in vitro fertilization (IVF) protocols to create optimal conditions for embryo implantation and pregnancy. Successful embryo nidation requires a receptive endometrium, which is influenced by factors such as endometrial thickness, hormonal environment, autocrine and paracrine growth factors, and the presence of resident and non-resident stem cells within the endometrium basalis. Synchronization between endometrial and embryonic development is also essential. Endometrial preparation, whether achieved through spontaneous cycles, natural cycles with minimal support, ovulation induction, or hormone replacement therapy (HRT), results from a combination of biochemical and biophysical conditions, each independent of the others. These conditions are difficult to pinpoint within a fixed period (Window of Implantation, WOI) using any specific examination due to the variability in estrogen and progesterone production rates, their metabolic clearance rates (MCR) when administered exogenously, and their metabolism when given systemically, topically, or orally. These variations also occur in different phenotypes and over different durations. Moreover, the synchronization of endometrial preparation with incomplete decidualization and the uncertain duration of the implantation window pose challenges. It is also unknown if there are compliance mechanisms similar to diapause seen in other species. This review aims to outline a clinical approach that, while not an absolute clinical recommendation due to the lack of definitive certainties, assists in understanding complementary phenomena and provides a useful orientation for clinical practice.

This comprehensive analysis thoroughly examines the topic of adversarial attacks in artificial intelligence (AI), providing a detailed overview of the various methods used to compromise machine learning models. It explores different attack techniques, ranging from the simple Fast Gradient Sign Method (FGSM) to the intricate Carlini and Wagner Attack (C&W), emphasising the wide range of adversarial approaches and their intended goals. The discussion also distinguishes between targeted and non-targeted attacks, highlighting the adaptability and versatility of these malicious efforts. Additionally, the study delves into the realm of black-box attacks, revealing the capability of adversarial strategies to compromise models even with limited knowledge. Real-life examples illustrate the tangible consequences and potential dangers of adversarial attacks in various fields such as self-driving cars, multimedia, and voice assistants. These cases highlight the difficulties in ensuring the legitimacy and dependability of AI-powered technologies and programs. The article stresses the importance of ongoing research and innovation to address the growing difficulties posed by advanced methods like deepfakes and disguised voice commands in preserving the security of AI systems. This study provides valuable insights on how different adversarial strategies and defence mechanisms interact within AI. The results emphasise the urgent need for stronger and more secure AI models to combat the increasing number of adversarial threats in today's AI landscape. These findings can guide future research and innovations in developing more resilient AI technologies that can better withstand various adversarial vulnerabilities and challenges.

This paper intends to discuss SSLs, how they work, their advantages and drawbacks. It will end with the author’s thoughts on the efficacy of the system and whether it is a viable solution for the majority of network security problems or if those drawbacks prevent that.

Rescaling of rainfall requires measurements of rainfall rates over many dimensions. This paper develops one approach using 10 m vertical spatial observations of the Doppler spectra of falling rain every 10 seconds over intervals varying from 15 up to 41minutes in two different locations and in two different years using two different Micro-Rain Radars (MRR). The transformation of the temporal domain into spatial observations uses the Taylor ‘frozen’ turbulence hypothesis to estimate an average advection speed over an entire observation interval. Thus, when no other advection estimates are possible, this paper offers a new approach for estimating the appropriate frozen turbulence advection speed by minimizing power spectral differences between the ensemble of purely spatial radial power spectra observed at all times in the vertical and those using the ensemble of temporal spectra at all heights to yield statistically reliable scaling relations. Thus, it is likely that, MRR and other vertically pointing Doppler radars may often help to obviate the need for expensive and immobile large networks of instruments in order to determine such scaling relations, but not the need of those radars for surveillance.

The goods and services produced by forest vegetation ecosystem are the driving force for the rapid, high-quality and sustainable development of human society. In history, with the increase of population and economic development, there is an increasing demand for the quantity and variety of forest vegetation ecosystem products and services in a country or a region. To meet the demands, most of the original forest has become farmland, plantation and grass and crops land. As a result, the plant water relationship changed from equilibrium to non-equilibrium, which easily led to soil drought, soil degradation and vegetation decline in dry years or waste of soil water in rainy years in most of water-limited regions. In order to solve the question and realize the sustainable utilization of soil water resources and the high-quality sustainable development of forest, it is necessary to apply the limit theory of plant utilization of soil water resources and the vegetation carrying capacity theory in the critical period of plant-water relationship regulation to adjust the relationship between plant growth and soil moisture to obtain the maximum yield and benefit and realize high-quality and sustainable development.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to determine (a) the overall preclinical character; (b) the cumulative cutoff values and the risk ratio, and (c) the factors associated with severity by a unidimensional and multidimensional analysis on 2173 Sars-Cov2 patients. METHODS: The machine learning study population consisted of 2173 patients (1587 mild and non symptoms patients, 377 moderate patients, 209 severe patients). The status of the patients was recorded from September 2021 to March 2022. RESULTS: The Covid19 Severity directly links with a significant correlation to Age, Score index of the chest X-ray, percentage and quantity of neutrophils, Albumin, C reactive protein, and ratio of Lymphocytes. Their important cut off values (from regression analysis) respectively are: 77.56 years old (the mild-moderate group), 5.53 (the mild-moderate group) and 10.51 (the moderate-severe group), 84.80% (the mild-moderate group) and 87.74%(the moderate-severe group), 11.77G/L (the moderate-severe group), 29.73g/L (the moderate-severe group), 7.46mg/dL (the mild-moderate group), 6.32% (the moderate-severe group). Their significant (p<0.0001) R score correlation with the severity of Covid19, are: 0.44, 0.52 and 0.52, 0.33 and 0.44, 0.42, -0.43, 0.40, -0.41. Their significant risk ratio (p<0.00001) from the meta-analysis, respectively are: 4.19 [3.58-4.95], 3.29 [2.76-3.92] and 3.03 [2.4023;3.8314], 3.18 [2.73-3.70] and 3.32 [2.6480;4.1529], 3.15 [2.6153;3.8025], 3.4[2.91-3.97], 0.46 [0.3650;0.5752] (p<0.00001), 0.34 [0.2743;0.4210]. The pair ALT – Leucocytes and Transferrin – Anion Chloride get the most important correlation shift. ALT – Leucocytes show the important negative link (R=-1, p<0.00001) in the mild group to the significant positive correlation in the moderate group (R=1, p<0.00001). Transferrin–anion Chloride has an important positive association (R=1, p<0.00001) in the mild group with a significant negative correlation in the moderate group (R=-0.59, p<0.00001). The network map and HCA show that in the mild-moderate group, the closest neighbors with the Covid19 severity are ferritins, Age. Then there is C-reactive protein, SI of X-ray, Albumin, and Lactate dehydrogenase, which are the next close neighbors of these three factors. In the moderate-severe group, the closest neighbors with the Covid19 severity are Ferritin, Fibrinogen, Albumin, the quantity of Lymphocytes, SI of X-ray, white blood cells count, Lactate dehydrogenase, and quantity of neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: Complete multidimensional study in 2173 Covid19 patients in Vietnam shows the whole picture of all the preclinical factors, which may become the clinical reference marker for surveillance and diagnostic management

In the standard model (SM) and general relative theory (GR) based on the 4-D Minkowski space, the graviton and photon are massless. In that case, two particles with the positive masses are attracted to each other by the gravitational (graviton) waves. The origin of the attractive gravitational force is not understood in terms of SM and GR. In the present work, the 3-D quantized space model (TQSM) based on the 4-D Euclidean space is applied to explain the attractive gravitational force. The repulsive Coulomb force between two particles with the positive charges is explained by using the destructive interference of the electric waves emitted from two particles. Therefore, the destructive interference of the gravitational (graviton) waves emitted from two particles with the positive masses should make the repulsive gravitational force (F_r). The observance of the attractive gravitational force (F_g) indicates the non-zero graviton mass because the attractive gravitational force can be explained if the gravitational (graviton) waves are the oscillating mass waves. The masses lost during the destructive interference of the gravitational (graviton) waves are converted to the gamma rays. These induced gamma rays make the new attractive force (F_a). The observed attractive gravitational force (F_g) should be originated by the equation of F_g = F_a – F_r > 0. This can explain the reason why the gravitational force (F_g) between the elementary particles is so weak when compared with the Coulomb forces. The properties of elementary particles in terms of the TQSM model are analyzed by the wave mechanics of G, E and M waves of the 3-D quantized photon space. The G wave is the time fluctuations along the (absolute) time axis and E (electric) and M (magnetic) waves are the space fluctuations along the space axes. The elementary particles exist as the particle forms with the constant (rest) masses (m) at the low speed. The elementary particles at the high speed have the (particle) wave forms with the oscillating masses or the particle forms with the relativistic masses (gm). The graviton has the very small mass moving with the very high-speed close to the light speed of c. This means that most of the gravitons exist as the graviton wave forms. The particle waves are coupled with the photon waves (2EM, gamma rays) because of the energy conservation. It is concluded that the gravitational waves are the coupled oscillating forms (GEM waves) of the graviton waves and photon waves. The existence of the wave forms for the particles can explain the double slit experiment for the electron beams. And the attractiveness of the dark matter, weak and strong forces is explained by the virtual two boson processes with the TC symmetry and total energy conservation. All elementary bosons and neutrinos are considered as the wave forms with the high speed close to the light speed of c. Because of the charge and energy conservations, only the neutrino oscillations and dark matter (baston) oscillations are allowed.

Recent discoveries of potential ice particles and ice-cemented regolith on celestial bodies like the Moon and Mars have ushered in new opportunities for developing technologies to extract water, facilitating future space missions and activities on these celestial surfaces. This study delves into the potential for water extraction from regolith through an experiment designed to test water recuperation from regolith simulant under varying gravitational conditions. The resultant water vapor extracted from the regolith is re-condensed on a substrate surface and collected in liquid form. Three types of substrates, hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and grooved, are explored. The system’s functionality was assessed during a parabolic flight campaign simulating three distinct gravity levels: microgravity, lunar gravity, and Martian gravity. Our findings reveal that the hydrophobic surface demonstrates the highest efficiency due to drop-wise condensation, and lower gravity levels result in increased water condensation on the substrates. This experiment aims to provide insights into in-situ water recovery, which is pivotal for establishing economically-sustainable water supplies for future missions.

In the absence of a treaty protocol or verification regime, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) instituted Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) as a mechanism to increase confidence in compliance, by enhancing transparency and mitigating ambiguities regarding states parties’ biological activities. While a promising tool to support treaty compliance, low participation, concerns regarding the completeness and accuracy of CBM submissions, a dearth of analysis, and restricted access to many submissions have limited CBMs’ value. Through interviews with 53 international experts—38 from BWC delegations and 15 independent experts—we identified concrete opportunities to increase CBMs’ value while mitigating the burden on states parties. This study supports states parties’ efforts in the BWC Working Group on the Strengthening of the Convention, as part of a series of research on BWC assurance that aims to characterize challenges around BWC verification and increase certainty in BWC compliance.

Abstract: A prevalence boundary (PB) marks the point in prevalence where the false omission rate, RFO=FN/(TN+FN), exceeds the tolerance limit for missed diagnoses. Objectives were to mathematically analyze rapid antigen test (RAgT) performance, determine why PBs are breeched, and evaluate the merits of testing three times over five days, now required by the US Food and Drug Administration for asymptomatic persons. Equations were derived to compare test performance patterns, calculate PBs, and perform recursive computations. An independent July 2023 FDA-university-commercial evaluation of RAgTs provided performance data used in theoretical calculations. Tiered sensitivity/specificity comprise: Tier-1) 90%, 95%; Tier-2) 95%, 97.5%; and Tier-3) 100%, ≥99%, respectively. Repeating a T2 test improves the PB from 44.6% to 95.2% (RFO 5%). In the FDA-university-commercial evaluation, RAgTs generated sensitivity of 34.4%, which improved to 55.3% when repeated, then 68.5% with the third test. With RFO=5%, PBs were 7.37/10.46/14.22%, respectively. PB analysis suggests RAgTs should achieve clinically proven sensitivity of 91.0-91.4%. When prevalence exceeds PBs, missed diagnoses can perpetuate virus transmission. Repeating low-sensitivity RAgTs delays diagnosis. In homes, high-risk settings, and hotspots, PB breaches may prolong contagion, defeat mitigation, facilitate new variants, and transform outbreaks into endemic disease. Molecular diagnostics can help avoid these potential vicious cycles

Digital technologies have changed the way supply chain operations are structured. In this article, we conduct systematic syntheses of literature on the impact of new technologies on supply chains and the related cyber risks. A taxonomic/cladistic approach is used for the evaluations of progress in the area of supply chain integration in the Industrial Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, with a specific focus on the mitigation of cyber risks. An analytical framework is presented, based on a critical assessment with respect to issues related to new types of cyber risk and the integration of supply chains with new technologies. This paper identifies a dynamic and self-adapting supply chain system supported with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) and real-time intelligence for predictive cyber risk analytics. The system is integrated into a cognition engine that enables predictive cyber risk analytics with real-time intelligence from IoT networks at the edge. This enhances capacities and assist in the creation of a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and threats that arise when edge computing nodes are deployed, and when AI/ML technologies are migrated to the periphery of IoT networks.

Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people globally and requires careful management to avoid serious long-term complications, including heart and kidney disease, stroke, and loss of sight. The present standard-of-care for type 1 diabetes is exogenic insulin substitutional therapy. The most advanced stretegies in this area is the development of hybrid-closed loop system and the producing of long-acting insulins. Progresses in stem cell therapies have started to revolutionize the care of patients with type 1 diabetes; however, significant challenges remain including the limited islets availability, difficulties in maintaining the viability, the heterogeneity within a complex pathology and in patients’ responses to treatment. On the way, a considerable amount of efforts in maximizing the islet transplantation effectiveness by controlling the advantageous of different stem cell approaches. With the availability and the use of big data, the concept of precision medicine is gaining wide attention worldwide and could bring the dream of “presonlaized” therapies as a reality in the near future. Here we review the current range of treatments available as well as recent pre-clinical breakthroughs in the field of personlaized medicine for type 1 diabetes.

High average power narrow-linewidth tunable solid-state lasers in the wavelength region between 2 to 3 μm are attractive light sources for many applications. This paper reports a narrow-linewidth widely-tunable laser system based on the polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnSe elements pumped by the repetitively-pulsed 2.1 µm Ho3+:YAG laser operating at the tens of kilohertz pulse rate. An advanced procedure of ZnSe-element doping and surface improvement was applied to increase the laser-induced damage threshold, which resulted in an increase of the output power of the Cr2+:ZnSe laser system. The high-average-power laser system comprised double master-oscillators and power amplifiers: Ho3+:YAG and Cr2+:ZnSe laser oscillators, and Ho3+:YAG and Cr2+:ZnSe power amplifiers. The output wavelength was widely tuned within 2.3-2.7 µm by an acousto-optical tunable filter inside the Cr2+:ZnSe master oscillator cavity. The narrow-linewidth operation at the pulse repetition rate of 20-40 kHz in a high-quality beam with the average output power up to 9.7 W was demonstrated.

Using multi-color flow cytometry analysis, we studied the immunophenotypical differences between leukemic blasts/LSCs from patients with AML/MDS and hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from patients in complete remission (CR) following their successful treatment. The panel of markers included CD34, CD38, CD45RA, CD123 as representatives for a hierarchical hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) classification as well as programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Rather than restricting the evaluation on a 2- or 3-dimensional analysis, we applied a t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) approach to get a deeper insight and segregation between leukemic and normal HPSCs. For that purpose, we created a t-SNE map, which resulted in the visualization of 27 cell clusters based on their similarity concerning the composition and intensity of antigen expression. Two of these clusters were “leukemia-related” containing a great proportion of CD34⁺/CD38^- hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or CD34⁺ cells with a strong coexpression of CD45RA/CD123, respectively. CD34⁺ cells within the latter cluster were also highly positive for PD-L1 reflecting their immunosuppressive capacity. Beyond this proof of principle study, the inclusion of additional markers will be helpful to refine the differentiation between normal HSPCs and leukemic cells, particularly in the context of minimal disease detection and antigen-targeted therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, we suggest a protocol for the assignment of new cell ensembles in quantitative terms, via a numerical value, the Pearson coefficient, based on a similarity comparison of the t-SNE pattern with a reference.

Oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), the fraction of oxygen that tissue extracts from blood, is an es-sential biomarker for directly assessing tissue viability and function in neurologic disorders. For quantitative mapping of OEF, an integrative model of quantitative susceptibility mapping and quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent magnitude (QSM+qBOLD or QQ) was recently pro-posed. However, QQ assumes Gaussian noise in both susceptibility and multi-echo gradient echo (mGRE) magnitude signals for OEF estimation. This assumption is unreliable in low sig-nal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regions like disease-related lesions, risking inaccurate OEF estimation and potentially impacting clinical decisions. Addressing this, our study presents a novel multi-echo complex QQ (mcQQ) that models realistic noise in mGRE complex signals. The proposed mcQQ was implemented using a deep learning framework (mcQQ-NET) and compared with the existing deep learning-based QQ (QQ-NET) in simulations, ischemic stroke patients, and healthy subjects. Both mcQQ-NET and QQ-NET used identical training and testing datasets and schemes for a fair comparison. In simulations, mcQQ-NET provided more accurate OEF than QQ-NET. In the sub-acute stroke patients, mcQQ-NET showed a lower average OEF ratio in lesions relative to unaf-fected contralateral normal tissue than QQ-NET. In the healthy subjects, mcQQ-NET provided uniform OEF maps, similar to QQ-NET, but without unrealistically high OEF outliers in areas of low SNR. Therefore, mcQQ-NET improves OEF accuracy by better reflecting realistic data noise characteristics.

In this paper, we thoroughly explore the complex realm of cryptography, examining its historical, cultural, and metaphorical aspects. We delve into the roots of cryptography, tracing back to its Ancient Greek origins where it meant the study of secure and hidden writing. We also reveal the historical significance of cryptography in times of war and conflict, showcasing how it has been a vital tool for encoding messages and maintaining confidentiality. Furthermore, we uncover the surprising connection between cryptography and love, highlighting moments from history, such as the encrypted letters between Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen during the French Revolution, which showcase the human desire to communicate and connect even during times of turmoil. This paper delves into the cultural and metaphorical representations of cryptography, with a specific focus on the iconic characters Alice and Bob and how they are reinterpreted in different cultural contexts. The paper draws parallels between the complexities of the intertwining of logical, emotional, technical, and personal narratives in cryptographic discourse, offering insights into the lasting legacy of cryptographic metaphors in explaining complex concepts and emphasising the universal human desire for secure and intimate connections.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter CRPD) has provided a radical imperative for the reform of mental health and capacity legislation around the world. The interpretation of the CRPD has been controversial, ranging from complete abolition of detention, forcible treatment and substitute decision making, to acceptance that elements of these measures need to be retained but based on non-discriminatory criteria, additional safe-guards and a comprehensive shift towards supported decision-making. While the potential ef-fects of the CRPD on mental health social work and social work generally are considerable given their shared commitment towards social justice, to date there has been no review of research evi-dence exploring their relationship. In addressing this knowledge gap, this study held a prelimi-nary discussion with practitioners and academics at the European Association of Social Work Mental Health Special Interest Group in Amsterdam 2022, followed by a scoping literature re-view on the question: What impact, if any, has the CRPD had on social work practice? The review produced four main findings: impact on legislation; positive impact on practice; limited impact on practice; and impact on social work education and research. In sum, while there were some positive indications of social work and mental health social work practice being influenced by the CRPD, these were scant. Barriers to change included tendencies among some social workers to practise substitute decision-making, in part related to resourcing and policy contexts, and under-standings of disability aligned to individualised/medical rather than social perspectives. The results indicate that legal reform on its own is insufficient to impact social work practice, and that realising the potential of the CRPD will necessitate good quality training, as well as improv-ing social workers’ knowledge of the human rights of people with mental impairment.

Mereotopology is a concept rooted in analytical philosophy. The phase-field concept is based on mathematical physics and finds applications in materials engineering. The two concepts seem to be disjoint at a first glance. While mereotopology qualitatively describes static relations between things like x isConnected y (topology) or x isPartOf y (mereology) by first order logic and Boolean algebra, the phase-field concept describes the geometric shape of things and its dynamic evolution by drawing on a scalar field. The geometric shape of any thing is defined by its boundaries to one or more neighboring things. The notion and description of boundaries thus provides a bridge between mereotopology and the phase-field concept. The present article aims to relate phase-field expressions describing boundaries and especially triple junctions to their Boolean counterparts in mereotopology and contact algebra. An introductory overview on mereotopology is followed by an introduction to the phase-field concept already indicating first relations to mereo- topology. Mereotopological axioms and definitions are then discussed in detail from a phase-field perspective. A dedicated section introduces and discusses further notions of the isConnected relation emerging from the phase-field perspective like isSpatiallyConnected, isTemporallyConnected, isPhysicallyConnected, isPathConnected and wasConnected. Such relations introduce dynamics and thus physics into mereotopology as transitions from isDisconnected to isPartOf can be described.

Chronic HCV infection and associated liver cancer impose a heavy burden on the healthcare system. Direct acting antivirals eliminate HCV, unless it is drug resistant, and partially reverse liver disease, but they cannot cure HCV-related cancer. Possible remedy could be a multi-component immunotherapeutic vaccine targeting both HCV-infected and malignant cells, also those not infected with HCV. To meet this need we developed a two-component DNA vaccine based on the highly conserved core protein of HCV to target HCV-infected cells, and a renowned tumor associated antigen telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) based on the rat TERT, to target malignant cells. Their synthetic genes were expression-optimized, and HCV core was truncated after aa 152 (Core152opt) to delete the domain interfering with immunogenicity. Core152opt and TERT DNA were highly immunogenic in BALB/c mice, inducing IFN-γ/IL-2/TNF-α response of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Also, DNA-immunization with TERT enhanced cellular immune response against luciferase encoded by a co-delivered plasmid (Luc DNA). However, DNA-immunization with Core152opt and TERT mix resulted in abrogation of immune response against both components. A loss of bioluminescent signal after co-delivery of TERT and Luc DNA into mice indicated that TERT affects the in vivo expression of luciferase directed by the immediate early cytomegalovirus and interferon-β promoters. Panel of mutant TERT variants was created and tested for their expression effects. TERT with deleted N-terminal nucleoli localization signal and mutations abrogating telomerase activity still suppressed the IFN-β driven Luc expression, while the inactivated reverse transcriptase domain of TERT and its analogue, enzymatically active HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, exerted only weak suppressive effects, implying that suppression relied on the presence of the full-length/nearly full-length TERT, but not its enzymatic activity. The effect(s) could be due to interference of the ectopically expressed xenogeneic rat TERT with biogenesis of mRNA, ribosomes and protein translation in murine cells, affecting the expression of immunogens. HCV core can aggravate this effect, leading to early apoptosis of co-expressing cells, preventing the induction of immune response.

As a complementary and alternative medicine in the western countries for decades, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for more than 2000 years in China. Because of the characteristics of the philosophical style and the unknown mechanism of action, TCM sometimes has been biasedly described as "fraught with pseudoscience". From the scientific basis of the systems biology, here we promoted a novel medical model called the entropic systems medicine which could be applied to scientize TCM in future. In entropic systems medicine, TCM and Western modern biomedicine target the different variables of the entropic system. For instance, while Western modern biomedicine directly targets the phenotypes and its SOCs of macrostates, TCM differently targets the microstates, entropy and entropic force to generate SOTFs gradually causing the differentiated syndromes to be slowly rearranged. The prerequisites to modernize TCM are the entropic systems biology having been well established so that the variables could be precisely monitored and mathematically calculated.

first_pagesettingsOrder Article ReprintsOpen AccessArticleThe Carbon Footprint of Spanish University Websitesby Sonia Sanchez-Cuadrado ¹ andJorge Morato ^2,*1Department of Library and Information Science, Complutense University of Madrid, 28010 Madrid, Spain²Department of Computer Science, Carlos III University of Madrid, Leganes, 28911 Madrid, Spain^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5670; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135670 (registering DOI)Submission received: 31 May 2024 / Revised: 22 June 2024 / Accepted: 23 June 2024 / Published: 3 July 2024(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Education in the Digital Society: Applying Communication Technologies and Digital Tools to Education) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions NotesAbstractThe consumption of digital content is essential for economic and scientific development, leading to a high dependence on information and communication technologies, which significantly impacts the environment. Quantifying this ecological impact is challenging due to its intangible nature and the diversity of factors. This research focuses on assessing the energy consumption and CO₂ production of Spanish university websites to evaluate their levels of digital pollution and environmental impact. The calculation of the carbon footprint considers factors related to energy consumption and the use of green or renewable energies. The findings indicate that only 17% of university websites can be considered environmentally friendly. There are significant differences in CO₂ consumption and emissions depending on whether the websites implement environmentally sound practices. This study highlights the lack of initiatives aimed at reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with web information management. The study shows that Spanish universities have the potential to contribute to the reduction in CO₂ emissions by implementing sustainable development practices on their websites. Furthermore, it fosters awareness about technology usage and its environmental impact, promoting the adoption of green and sustainable approaches.

"Redesigning Education: A Transformative Approach" outlines comprehensive strategies for re-forming educational systems from primary to secondary levels to promote holistic student de-velopment. Traditional educational models fail to address diverse learning needs and cultivate critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. This study introduces innovative approaches such as personalized education through AI, wellness schools, professional skill development programs, and social and emotional learning (SEL) integration. The methodology includes an extensive literature review of contemporary educational books, peer-reviewed articles, and case studies from highly developed European countries, ensuring that the proposed strategies are grounded in credible and current research. Key reforms include continuous professional development for teachers, enhanced teacher training and support, comprehensive counseling services, and robust support systems for students. Strengthening school-family collaboration and promoting multiculturalism through inclusive policies and cultural events are emphasized. Additionally, upgrading school infrastructure to create safe and welcoming learning environments is essential for student prosperity. The proposed educational reforms aim to create an inclusive, innovative, and supportive learning environment, ensuring students thrive academically, emotionally, and socially. By integrating these comprehensive reforms, the study seeks to develop effective educational systems that foster student well-being and excellence, equipping future generations for success in a rapidly evolving world.

To investigate factors associated with the success of switching to faricimab for type 1 macular neovascularization (MNV) refractory to intravitreal aflibercept (IVA). This retrospective cohort study included patients with type 1 MNV who were switched to faricimab because they were refractory to IVA at two centers. The main outcome was an extension of the treatment interval after 6 months, and factors related to the success or failure of the extension and visual and anatomical outcomes were assessed. The analysis included 43 eyes of 43 patients. Extended dosing intervals of more than 2 weeks were identified in 14 eyes (32.6%). A short dosing interval before the switch, the absence of polypoidal lesions, and a thin central choroidal thickness before the switch were identified as factors involved in successful extension. For patients with refractory type 1 MNV, switching to faricimab is a safe and potential option to extend from existing dosing intervals.

The aim of the studies was to test the hydraulic pressure losses along the length, local pressure losses, absolute and relative roughness values of the pipeline walls made of modern polymer material. The article presents the results of the experimental studies of hydraulic resistance of pipelines from modern polymer materials, the method of theoretical determination of resistance coefficients in the VALTEC ISO 21003 metal polymer pipeline, the classification and method of determining the values of local hydraulic resistance coefficients of T-Junctions are given, the dependence for determining the Darcy λ hydraulic friction coefficient associated with the value of the equivalent hydraulic roughness coefficient of the inner surface of pipes and the Reynolds number. The experimental data of the hydraulic coefficient of friction Darcy λ was compared with the known theoretical relationships of A.D. Altschul, Colbrooke for smooth pipes, Colbrooke and White, an alternative to the Colbrooke-White, Offengenden equation for low-shear pipes and pipes from polymer materials with Reynolds numbers Re>10^4. Dependence of hydraulic coefficient of friction on relative equivalent roughness of pipeline walls and Reynolds number, specific energy loss per one linear meter on total flow rate in system of hydraulically short pipeline is obtained. The empirical dependence of values of coefficients of local resistance ζ=f(Q2/Q3) from a ratio of the divided expenses of Q2/Q3 of the equal-pass T-Junction α=90 the pipeline to a branch up, on pass in the direct T-Junction and division of streams at various internal pipeline diameters of VALTEC.

In our recent publications pertaining to 4G model of final unification and based on strong and electroweak interactions, we have developed a completely new formula for estimating nuclear binding energy. With reference to currently believed Semi Empirical Mass Formula (SEMF), we call our formula as ‘Strong and Electroweak Mass Formula’ (SEWMF). Our formula constitutes 4 simple terms and only one energy coefficient of magnitude 10.1 MeV. First term is a volume term, second term seems to be a representation of free nucleons associated with electroweak interaction, third term is a radial term and fourth one is an asymmetry term about the mean stable mass number. Considering this kind of approach, nuclear structure can be understood in terms of strong and weak interactions and cold nuclear fusion like complicated concepts can be understood in a theoretical approach positively. In this paper, by considering the accountability of we are making an attempt to improve the applicability and effectiveness of SEWMF. Number 0.00125 being a workable electroweak coefficient for Z=6 to 132 and A=2Z to 3.5Z, number of free nucleons assumed to be associated with electroweak interaction can be expressed as Improved asymmetry term can be expressed as, where represents the light house like stable mass number. With reference to old version, our improved binding energy formula can be expressed as, We are working on its possible modification for mass numbers less than the stable mass numbers. Following this approach, it is possible to show that nuclear binding energy scheme is associated with strong and weak interactions and is practically independent of Coulombic repulsions. Proceeding further, currently believed cold nuclear fusion assumed be associated with hydrated metals can be understood and can be confirmed with strong and weak interactions independent of coulombic repulsions. We are very confident to say that our approach will certainly motivate modern science community in this new direction.

Gilbert's syndrome (GS) is a common hereditary condition characterized by mild increases in serum bilirubin levels due to inherited defects in bilirubin metabolism. This review, based on data from peer-reviewed articles and journals spanning from 1977 to January 2024, provides a comprehensive overview of over four decades of research on GS. Early studies primarily focused on defining the clinical and genetic characteristics of the syndrome, laying the foundation for subsequent investigations. More recent research has delved into the genetic mechanisms underlying the reduced expression of bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, which has significantly enhanced our understanding of the pathogenesis of GS. Furthermore, recent studies have shed light on the clinical implications of GS, including its association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and mortality risk, highlighting the complex interplay between genetic factors, bilirubin metabolism, and clinical outcomes. Despite its generally benign nature, thorough research is essential to fully understand the impact of GS on patients' lives. This review emphasizes the importance of ongoing research to deepen our understanding of GS and its broader implications.

Many academics are critical of the current publishing system, but it is difficult to create a better alternative. This review relates to the Sciences and Social Sciences, and discusses the primary purpose of academic journals as providing a seal of approval for perceived quality, impact, significance, and importance. The key issues considered include the role of anonymous refereeing, continuous rather than discrete frequency of publications, avoidance of time wasting, and seeking adventure. Here we give recommendations about the organization of journal articles, the roles of associate editors and referees, measuring the time frame for refereeing submitted articles in days and weeks rather than months and years, encouraging open access internet publishing, emphasizing the continuity of publishing online, academic publishing as a continuous dynamic process, and how to improve research after publication. Citations and functions thereof, such as the journal impact factor and h-index, are the benchmark for evaluating the importance and impact of academic journals and published articles. Even in the very top journals, a high proportion of published articles are never cited, not even by the authors themselves. Top journal publications do not guarantee that published articles will make significant contributions, or that they will ever be highly cited. The COVID-19 world should encourage academics worldwide not only to rethink academic teaching, but also to re-evaluate key issues associated with academic journal publishing in the future.

The use of naturally available materials not conforming to traditional specifications or standards, in the base and sub-base layers of road pavement structures, stabilised with New-age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME), have been tested, implemented and successfully verified through Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) in South Africa. This was made possible through the development and use of a design procedure addressing fundamental principles and based on scientific concepts, which are universally applicable. The understanding of and incorporation of the chemical interaction between the mineralogy of the materials and a NME stabilising agent (compatibility between the chemistry of the reactive agents and material mineralogy) into the design approach is key to achieving the required engineering properties. Stabilised materials evaluation is done using tests indicative of the basic engineering properties (physics) of compressive strengths, tensile strengths and durability. This article describes the basic materials design approach developed to ensure that organofunctional nano-silane modified emulsions can successfully be used for pavement layer construction utilising naturally available materials, at a low risk. The enablement of the use of naturally available materials in all pavement layers can have a considerable impact on the unit cost and life-cycle costs of road transportation infrastructure. TRANSLATE with x English ArabicHebrewPolish BulgarianHindiPortuguese CatalanHmong DawRomanian Chinese SimplifiedHungarianRussian Chinese TraditionalIndonesianSlovak CzechItalianSlovenian DanishJapaneseSpanish DutchKlingonSwedish EnglishKoreanThai EstonianLatvianTurkish FinnishLithuanianUkrainian FrenchMalayUrdu GermanMalteseVietnamese GreekNorwegianWelsh Haitian CreolePersian TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal Back

This paper delves into the intricate nature of the different essence interactions that shape our perceived reality, leveraging a blend of existing empirical data and original experiments. Through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing quantum mechanics, general physics, metaphysics, philosophy, and spiritualism, it seeks to elucidate the fundamental interplays governing phenomena such as gravity, mass, electromagnetism, force, motion, and quantum mechanics. This exploration promises a reexamination and unification of these principles, offering novel perspectives on the extraordinary phenomena that underpin our reality. By comprehending and manipulating these interactions, the potential arises to orchestrate reality towards desired ends. This study not only unveils compelling avenues for scientific advancement but also proposes transformative technologies and concepts, including light-speed transportation, remote viewing, communication with the deceased, alchemy, and the realization of what is commonly perceived as magic. These visionary notions not only push the boundaries of current understanding but also provide a captivating glimpse into the future possibilities that may await humanity.

This comprehensive study delves into the implementation and effectiveness of the flipped classroom model in engineering EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) courses in Taiwan. Situated within the strategic framework of Taiwan's Bilingual Nation 2023 policy, this research aims to enhance the global competitiveness of Taiwan's semiconducting manufacturing engineering sector. The study’s primary focus is on understanding the perceptions and learning outcomes of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students in engineering courses. Through a methodical approach using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests, the study analyzes data from 33 junior engineering students specializing in mechanical and mechatronic fields. The findings highlight a significant positive influence of the flipped classroom model on various aspects of student learning, including increased engagement, heightened creativity, and enhanced problem-solving skills. Additionally, the study emphasizes the critical role of timely L1 support in facilitating effective learning in EMI settings. These outcomes not only demonstrate the flipped classroom's viability as a sustainable educational approach but also provide crucial insights for educators and policymakers. By aligning cutting-edge teaching methods with the evolving needs of engineering education, this study contributes to the discourse on educational innovation. It ultimately guides the development of future engineering programs that cater to diverse student needs and fosters the cultivation of skilled engineering professionals.

The regulatory approvals of tumor agnostic therapies have led to reevaluation of the drug development process. Conventional models of drug development are histology-based. On the other hand, tumor agnostic drug development of a new drug (or combination) focuses on targeting a common genomic biomarker in multiple cancers, regardless of histology. Basket-like clinical trials with multiple cohorts allow clinicians to evaluate pan-cancer efficacy and toxicity. There are currently 8 tumor agnostic approvals granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This includes two immune checkpoint inhibitors, and 5 targeted therapy agents. Pembrolizumab is an anti-PD-1 antibody that was the first FDA approved tumor agnostic treatment for unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) solid tumors in 2017. It was later approved for tumor mutational burden-high (TMB-H) solid tumors, although the TMB cut-off used is still debated. Subsequently, in 2021, another anti-PD-1 antibody, Dostarlimab was also approved for dMMR solid tumors in the refractory setting. Patients with fusion-positive cancers are typically difficult to treat due to their rare prevalence and distribution. Gene rearrangements or fusions are present in a variety of tumors. neurotrophic tyrosine kinase (NTRK) fusions are present in a range of pediatric and adult solid tumors in varying frequency. Larotrectinib and entrectinib were approved for neurotrophic tyrosine kinase (NTRK) fusion-positive cancers. Similarly, selpercatinib was approved for Rearranged During Transfection (RET) fusion-positive solid tumors. FDA approved the first combination therapy of dabrafenib, a B-Raf Proto-Oncogene Serine/Threonine Kinase (BRAF) inhibitor, plus trametinib, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) inhibitor for patients 6 months or older with unresectable or metastatic tumors (except colorectal cancer) carrying BRAFV600E mutation. The most recent FDA tumor agnostic approval is of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-Dxd) for HER2-positive solid tumors. It is important to identify and expeditiously develop drugs that have the potential to provide clinical benefit across tumor types.

In this research paper, we address the critical role of data security in the rapidly evolving FinTech sector. We explore the challenges and strategies for establishing robust data security systems, emphasizing the consequences of data breaches and common vulnerabilities. The paper highlights the efficacy of technologies like encryption, blockchain, and cloud security, supported by real-world case studies from leading FinTech companies. Additionally, we examine regulatory frameworks and standards essential for maintaining data security. Concluding with the proposal of an integrated security system model, the paper underscores the synergy between technological innovation, regulatory compliance, and proactive risk management in the FinTech industry

Whether the different NR-AMPs could ever be utilized as drugs not only against prokaryotic (bacteria) pathogens but eukaryotic (fungal pathogens, and parasitic protists) depends on the side effects. To get experimental experience about the option of applying EPB-produced antimicrobials to pathogens, and parasites of veterinary significance, we present here the results of an in vitro, and an accompanying in vivo study on chicken. In the in vitro study, we tested the cytotoxic potential of the cell-free conditioned culture media (CFCM) of three entomopathogenic bacterium species, - X. budapestensis, DSM16342 (EMA); X. szentirmaii DSM16338 (EMC); Photorhabdus luminescens ssp. akhurstii TT01 - on chicken tissue culture cells, namely, on the Leghorn Male Hepatoma (LMH), [92] cells, (a permanent confluent hepato-carcinoma cell line). Each CFCM proved rather cytotoxic in this test. In the in vivo study, we fed freshly hatched male broiler chickens for 42 days with XENOFOOD [39] which contained autoclaved cultures of EMA, and EMC). These bacteria were grown on standard chicken (starter and grower) [HM3] [u4] feed, and the whole culture was used as a “food supplement”. [HM5]. It had been known that these EPB species cannot grow that is, not viable) atbody temperature (above 33 C).

We conducted a comparative study on the development of two synthetic methods. The solvent-free synthesis is a green chemistry method developed in a bid to ameliorate environmental adverse effects of the conventional solvent-based synthesis. The synthesis of novel dichloro and polymethoxy p-nitrophenylhydrazones through solvent free technique gave moderate to high yields which were however lower than those of the solvent-based method. The established solvent-free approach has several benefits, including universality and simplicity of the approach, catalyst-free conditions, non-use of an organic solvent, quick reaction time, fast and efficient workup, and un-solvated pure products in moderate to high yields.

This case study explores the transformative effects of emergent digital technologies, particularly augmented reality (AR), on literacy engagement and reading for pleasure. The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education implemented the UAE Storytime programme, utilising AR to create an interactive literacy experience for young learners. The programme incorporated bilingual episodes, featuring stories based on local and global contexts, with 3D objects and interactive games to enhance understanding. The results indicate a positive correlation between the use of AR and literacy engagement. A high proportion of learners scanned the QR codes to access the AR objects, which enhanced their engagement and understanding of the stories. The programme fostered a learner agency, engaged family members in the learning process, and established a sense of global community. The study recommends the integration of similar initiatives into the curriculum to promote collaboration, creativity, and holistic learning experiences.

In advanced world stroke is one of the disabling cause of death that can be managed with thrombolysis if presents early despite further risk of intracerebral haemorrhage. Secondary prevention is an important objective in ischaemic stroke where recurrence is very high with subsequent stroke. Carotid End Arterectomy impact a definitive and effective role for both symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid stenosis for secondary stroke prevention in selective cases. Thrombolysis is a potential primary management for certain group whereas carotid surgery employs secondary preventative measure in a specified ischaemic stroke group.

This study focuses on examining various approaches for Tensor Decompositions (TDs) and their potential applications in satellite imaging (SI) and deep learning (DL). The research highlights how these decompositions can contribute to the advancement of SI and DL, providing valuable insights for future utilization of TDs in research. It explores how these techniques contribute to the advancement of SI and DL methods, providing insights into their potential applications and suggesting future research directions. The study aims to enhance the use of TDs techniques to further advance research efforts in these fields. More importantly, the current investigation offers a thorough analysis of the potential advantages and reasons for employing TDs techniques in different domains, including satellite imaging and deep learning. The aim is to enhance research outcomes by utilizing TDs. The review also identifies unresolved issues and proposes future directions for further investigation in this field. Fundamentally, these proposed open problems will open new grounds to the research community to articulate, innovate, and provide more real-life applications to improve the current state of the art by delving into a wider vision for a higher-level performance of both satellite imaging (SI) and deep learning (DL). Looking at the bigger scenario, this also suggests that TDs could be potentially employed to revolutionize existing machine learning technologies as well as the current space AI industry.

We work within a Winterberg framework where space, i.e., the vacuum, consists of a two component superfluid/super-solid made up of a vast assembly (sea) of positive and negative mass Planck particles, called planckions. These material particles interact indirectly, and have very strong restoring forces keeping them a finite distance apart from each other within their respective species. Because of their mass compensating effect, the vacuum appears massless, charge-less, without pressure, net energy density or entropy. In addition, we consider two variable models, where, , is Newton’s constant, and, , increases with an increase in cosmological time. We argue that there are at least two competing models for the quantum vacuum within such a framework. The first follows a strict extension of Winterberg’s model. This leads to nonsensible results, if increases, going back in cosmological time, as the length scale inherent in such a model will not scale properly. The second model introduces a different length scale, which does scale properly, but keeps the mass of the Planck particle as, the Planck mass. Moreover we establish a connection between ordinary matter, dark matter, and dark energy, where all three mass densities within the Friedman equation must be interpreted as residual vacuum energies, which only surface, once aggregate matter has formed, at relatively low temperatures. The symmetry of the vacuum will be shown to be broken, because of the different scaling laws, beginning with the formation of elementary particles. Much like waves on an ocean where positive and negative planckion mass densities effectively cancel each other out and form a zero vacuum energy density/ zero vacuum pressure surface, these positive mass densities are very small perturbations (anomalies) about the mean. This greatly alleviates, i.e., minimizes the cosmological constant problem, a long standing problem associated with the vacuum.

This literature review investigates the morphological and behavioral significance of the horns of Carnotaurus sastrei, a theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period. Through a comprehensive analysis of fossil specimens, comparative anatomy, and biomechanical modeling, this review explores the evolutionary adaptations and potential functions of these distinctive cranial structures. The horns of Carnotaurus are hypothesized to serve multiple roles, including species recognition, thermoregulation, and intraspecific combat. Our findings suggest that its cranial horns likely served a primary role in species recognition, intimidating rivals and signaling mating readiness. It also could have been used occasionally in head-butting contests, potentially as a display of dominance, but likely did not play a role in thermoregulation. Additionally, we examine the ecological context in which Carnotaurus lived, assessing how environmental factors could have influenced the development of such features. The implications of this study extend to broader discussions on the functional morphology and adaptive strategies of theropod dinosaurs, highlighting the complex relationship between form and function in the evolutionary history of predatory dinosaurs like Carnotaurus sastrei.

Pro-regenerative lipid mediator 1 (PreM1) is a specialized pro-resolving lipid mediator capable of promoting wound healing and regenerative functions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), en-dothelial cells, and macrophages. The third-degree (3o) burn healing and regenerative functions of MSCs are also enhanced by ACgel1, an arginine and chitosan-based protein-mimic hybrid hy-drogel. Adipose-tissue derived microvascular fragments (MVFs) are native vascularization units and a rich source of MSCs, endothelial cells, and perivascular cells for tissue regeneration. Here we describe an innovative PreM1-MVFs-ACgel1 construct that incorporates PreM1 and MVFs into ACgel1 via optimal design and fabrication is capable of delivering PreM1 to 3o burn wounds at least up to 7 days post-burn (dpb), and of scaffolding and delivering MVFs, which promoted 3o burn the healing in mice, including vascularization and collagen formation. The re-epithelization and closure of 3o burn wounds were promoted by ACgel1, MVFs, PreM1, MVFs-ACgel1, PreM1-ACgel1, or PreM1-MVFs-ACgel1 at certain time-point(s) while PreM1-MVFs-ACgel1 was most effective. The PreM1-ACgel1 and MVFs-ACgel1 also promoted blood vessel regeneration of the 3o burns. These PreM1- and/or MVFs- functionalized ACgel1 have nonexistent or minimal graft-donor requirements and are promising adjuvant therapies for overcoming the drawbacks of current skin grafting or substituting for treating severe deep burns.

The use of chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-T cells) for the treatment of patients with malignant haematological diseases has become a well-established application, for conditions such as refractory or relapsed B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL), B cell lymphomas (BCL), and multiple myeloma (MM). Nearly 35,000 patients have received autologous CAR-T cells for the treatment of these conditions only in the USA. Since their approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017, over 1200 clinical trials have been initiated globally and there are at least 10 different CAR-T cells with approval by different regulatory agencies around the globe. In the USA the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 6 commercial CAR-T cells that are widely distributed worldwide. At the time of this writing, several clinical trials have been performed in patients with solid tumours such as glioblastoma, renal and pancreatic cancer, as well as in patients with autoimmune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), idiopathic inflammatory myositis (IIM), and systemic sclerosis (SS). There are also several studies showing the potential benefit of CAR-T cells for other non-malignant diseases such as asthma and even fungal infections. In this review, without pretending to cover all the current areas of treatments with CAR-T cells, we offer a brief summary of some of the most relevant aspects of the use of CAR-T cells for some of these conditions.

Increased screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic and the accelerated incorporation of technology into daily practices have directly contributed to the increased prevalence of eye disease. The human eye is not built for continual technological use and must adjust to exposure to digital screens. Overexposure to technology can result in eye strain and an increased risk of eye diseases such as myopia with complications later in life, including retinal tears, cataracts, and macular degeneration. As vision and ocular diseases become more prevalent, the study of eye diseases, including their causes and treatments, is especially relevant. There is a need to prevent ocular diseases before they become a burden to individuals, their families, and their communities by better understanding the pathophysiology of ocular diseases. Several ocular diseases are thought to be caused by imbalances in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and autophagy. ROS refers to a class of highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules that can undergo damaging reactions with other molecules in the cell. Autophagy is a cellular process of self-eating whereby damaged, harmful, or dead material in cells is broken down to maintain cellular homeostasis. This paper discusses the role of ROS and autophagy in the pathogenesis of computer vision syndrome (CVS), digital eye strain (DES), myopia, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), optic nerve crush injury (OCN), optic nerve gliomas, and retinoblastoma. Lifestyle changes such as limiting screen time, ensuring adequate exposure to evening sunlight, and using blue light protection measures or protective eyewear are important in the prevention of eye disease. Nutrition also contributes significantly to eye health. A balanced diet rich in vitamins and antioxidants may help to prevent ROS and autophagy imbalance-induced eye disease. Medical and surgical treatments become necessary when preventative measures fail. This paper also addresses how government measures to decrease the onset of eye disease, including targeted programs to increase access to fresh vegetables and fruits in food deserts, are a critical macro-level avenue to reduce eye disease prevalence in the US, which according to the National Eye Institute, costs $139 billion yearly.

This work is a physical review, with elements of additions and thinning, on the methods of theoretical studies of nonlinear electrophysical phenomena in crystals with ion-molecular chemical bonds (CIMB). Crystals of this class include ionic dielectrics (characterized by high ionic conductivity), layered crystals, a special case of which are hydrogen-bonded crystals (HBC), defined as proton semiconductors and dielectrics (PSD).A scientific review (comparative analysis and justification of various approximations) was carried out on the methods of constructing and solving a generalized quasi-classical kinetic equation describing the mechanism of nonlinear relaxation polarization and conductivity processes in dielectric materials with ion-molecular chemical bonds (a special case is hydrogen-bonded crystals (HBC)) in a wide temperature range (1-1550 K) and polarizing field strengths (0.1-1000 V/m) at alternating field frequencies of the order of 1 kHz - 1000 MHz. The most important variant of the equations of the kinetic theory of dielectric relaxation in this work is the generalized non-linear by polarizing field quasi-classical kinetic equation of ionic (in HBC, proton) relaxation, based on the particle number balance equation (conductivity ions) in potential wells and having (in these models) the meaning of the ion current continuity equation (in HBC, protons), solved by the method of successive approximations by decomposition into infinite power series by degrees of a small dimensionless comparison parameter. It was found that in the area of ​ ​ weak fields (0.1-1 MW/m) at temperatures T = 50 - 550 K, for a number of ionic dielectrics (including HBC and similar dielectric properties and lattice structure) the generalized quasi-classical kinetic equation transforms to the linearized Fokker – Planck equation and, in the region of low (50-100K) and higher temperatures (250-550 K) begin to manifest non-linear polarization effects due to respectively proton tunneling (in the case of HBC) and volume charge relaxation (in the case of the HBC and for a wider class of ionic dielectrics). At ultra-low (1-10 K) temperatures in the region of weak fields (0.1-1 MW/m) and ultra-high temperatures (550-1550 K) in the region of strong fields (10-1000 MW/m), the contribution of this kind of effects to polarization is significantly enhanced. The effect of nonlinearities on relaxation times for microscopic acts of proton transitions across a potential barrier (assumed to be parabolic) is investigated. Nonlinear effects at volume-charge polarization in the hydrogen-bonded crystals (HBC) in alternating electric field, in radio frequency range are investigated. From the solution of the system of nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations (macroscopic kinetic equation) and Poisson, with blocking electrodes, using Fourier series, a recurrent (convenient for use in any approximation of perturbation theory) expression is constructed for complex amplitudes of relaxation modes of volumetric charge. Complex dielectric permittivity (CDP) is calculated as a series decomposition over even frequency harmonics of a variable field. The effect of quantum proton transitions and polarizing field parameters (strength, frequency) on the nonlinear properties of proton semiconductors and dielectrics has been established.

There are many molecules used as drug carrier. TUD-1 is a newly synthesized mesoporous silica (SM) molecule possess two important features; consists of mesoporous so it is very suitable to be drug carrier in addition to that it has the ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the effect of TUD-1 appears to act as cell death inducer, regardless of whether it is necrosis or apoptosis. Unfortunately, recent studies indicate that a proportion of cells undergo necrosis rather than apoptosis, which limits the use of TUD-1 as a secure treatment. On the other hand, lithium considered as necrosis inhibitor element. Hence, current study based on the idea of production a new Li/TUD-1 by incorporated mesoporous silica (TUD-1 type) with lithium in order to produce a new compound that has the ability to activate apoptosis by mesoporous silica (TUD-1 type) and at the same time can inhibit the activity of necrosis by lithium. Herein, lithium was incorporated in TUD-1 mesoporous silica by using sol-gel technique in one step synthesis procedure. Moreover, lithium was incorporated in TUD-1 with different loading in order to form different active sites such as isolated lithium ions, nanoparticles of Li2O, and bulky crystals of Li2O. The ability of the new compounds to induce apoptosis and prevent necrosis was evaluated on three different types of cancer cell lines which are; liver HepG-2, Breast MCF-7 and colon HCT116. The obtained results show that Li/TUD-1has the ability to control necrosis and thus reduce the side effects of treatments containing silica in the case of lithium has been added to them, especially in chronic cases. This has been demonstrated by the significant increase in the IC50 value and cell viability comparing to control groups. Consequently, the idea is new, so it definitely needs more develop and test with materials that have more apoptotic impact than silica in order to induce apoptosis without induction of necrosis.