p-Toluenesulfonic acid is commercially available, non-toxic, cheap organic compound with robust stability. p-Toluenesulfonic acid is solid, non-corrosive and a strong organic acid that can be handled easily. Due to this p-toluenesulfonic acid could be the better replacement of other conventional acids like nitric acid, sulfuric acid, perchloric acid and AlCl3 in organic transformations. Moreover, p-toluenesulfonic acid could be used synergistically with other mode of catalysis like transition metal catalysis and photocatalysis. In recent years, the use of this solid organic acid in organic and polymer synthesis has grown tremendously. In this review, we present an overview of p-toluenesulfonic acid promoted various organic reactions with particular emphasis to the more recently reported methods. In some cases, we also detailed the understanding of the reactions by providing the reaction mechanism. Despite these advances, there are still many opportunities for the development of new reactions using PTSA. Industry and academia have become more conscious to adopt sustainable chemical processes using safer reagents and solvents and the use of PTSA in this context is highly significant. This review will inspire researchers for further reaction development employing p-toluenesulfonic acid.

This paper studies the flexural behavior of the bridge deck link slabs made with the Polyvinyl Alcohol-Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites (PVA-SHCC). Tensile and flexural properties of the PVA-SHCC with four volume fractions, i.e., 0%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2%, were evaluated first. Next, using the similarity theory, composite models with a geometric similarity ratio of 1: 5 were designed to represent the bridge deck with the link slabs. The models considered three materials for link slabs, including concrete, cement mortar and self-compacting PVA-SHCC; and two different curing ages at 7 and 56 days. Bending tests were performed to investigate the flexural behavior of the models. Based on the fractal theory, cracking characteristics of the models with different types of link slabs were compared, and the relationship between Df and the flexural behavior of the models were studied. Numerical models were built to correlate with the results from the bending tests. It is illustrated that the flexural behavior of the self-compacting PVA-SHCC link slab is better than that of concrete and cement mortar link slabs, where the crack initiation and propagation can be postponed.

Scedosporium species are human pathogenic fungi, responsible for chronic, localised, and life-threatening disseminated infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. Diagnosis of Scedosporium infections currently relies on non-specific CT, lengthy and insensitive culture from invasive biopsy, and time-consuming histopathology of tissue samples. At present, there are no rapid antigen tests that detect Scedosporium-specific biomarkers. Here we report the development of a rapid (30 min) and sensitive (pmol/L sensitivity) lateral-flow device (LFD) test, incorporating a Scedosporium-specific IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb), HG12, which binds to extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) antigens of between ~15 kDa and 250 kDa secreted during hyphal growth of the pathogens. The test is compatible with human serum, and allows the detection of the Scedosporium species most-frequently reported as agents of human disease (Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium aurantiacum, and Scedosporium boydii), with limits of detection (LOD) of the EPS biomarkers in human serum of ~0.81 ng/mL (S. apiospermum), ~0.94 ng/mL (S. aurantiacum), and ~1.95 ng/mL (S. boydii). The Scedosporium-specific LFD (ScedLFD) test therefore provides a potential novel opportunity for the detection of infections caused by different Scedosporium species.

High level of noise is a disturbance to the human environment. Noise in industries is also an occupational hazard because of its attendant effects on workers’ health. Noise presents health and social problems in industrial operations, and the source is related to the machineries used in the industries. One of the unique features of the noise associated with wood machinery is the level of exposure and duration. Equipment used in a factory can be extremely loud. They can produce noise at decibels high enough to cause environmental health and safety concerns. The mechanically driven transport and handling equipment, cutting, milling, shaping and dust extractor installations in the wood industry generate noise. The sources of noise pollution have increased due to non-compliance with basic safety practices. The increased use of locally fabricated machine in the industry has increased the level of noise and vibration. The effects of industrial noise pollution as discussed include: increase in blood pressure; increased stress; fatigue; vertigo; headaches; sleep disturbance; annoyance; speech problems; dysgraphia, which means reading/learning impairment; aggression; anxiety and withdrawal. As presented in this paper, noise control techniques include; sound insulation, sound absorption, vibration damping and Vibration isolation.

We explored the statistics of filtering of simple patterns on a number of deterministic and random graphs as a tractable simple example of information processing in complex systems. In this problem, multiple inputs map to the same output, and the statistics of filtering is represented by the distribution of this degeneracy. For a few simple filter patterns on a ring we obtained an exact solution of the problem and described numerically more difficult filter setups. For each of the filter patterns and networks we found a few numbers essentially describing the statistics of filtering and compared them for different networks. Our results for networks with diverse architectures appear to be essentially determined by two factors: whether the graphs structure is deterministic or random, and the vertex degree. We find that filtering in random graphs produces a much richer statistics than in deterministic graphs. This statistical richness is reduced by increasing the graph’s degree.

Cementitious materials exhibit excellent binding properties and micropore structures that support the stabilization of TiO2 nanoparticles within the matrix. Therefore, these materials are ideal for the development of functional construction products with TiO2 nanoparticles. This study investigated the degree of hydration, microstructure, and mechanical properties of cement-containing TiO2 nanoparticles. The experimental results demonstrated that TiO2 nanoparticles accelerated the hydration rate of cement, reducing the setting times. Moreover, TiO2 nanoparticles changed matrix microstructure, decreasing the porosity and improving early-age strength. Although TiO2 nanoparticles function as nucleation sites in the cement hydration reaction, the tendency of the particles to clump implies that proper dispersion should be ensured when mixing in large quantities. When developing new building materials incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles, considering the effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on the hydration reaction of cementitious materials is crucial.

In this study, a novel method is proposed to estimate surface-spectral reflectance from camera responses that combines model-based and training-based approaches. An imaging system is modeled using the spectral sensitivity functions of an RGB camera, spectral power distributions of multiple light sources, unknown surface-spectral reflectance, additive noise, and a gain parameter. The estimation procedure comprises two main stages: (1) selecting the local optimal reflectance dataset from a reflectance database and (2) determining the best estimate by applying a neural network to the local optimal dataset only. In stage (1), the camera responses are predicted for the respective reflectances in the database, and the optimal candidates are selected in the order of lowest prediction error. In stage (2), most reflectance training data are obtained by a convex linear combination of local optimal data using weighting coefficients based on random numbers. A feed-forward neural network with one hidden layer is used to map the observation space onto the spectral reflectance space. In addition, the reflectance estimation is repeated by generating multiple sets of random numbers, and the median of a set of estimated reflectances is determined as the final estimate of the reflectance. Experimental results show that the estimation accuracies exceed those of other methods.

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

The rapid advancements in satellite technology have led to a significant increase in high-resolution remote sensing (RS) images, necessitating advanced processing methods. Additionally, a patent analysis revealed a significant increase in deep learning and machine learning applications in remote sensing, highlighting the growing importance of these technologies. Therefore, this paper introduces the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN) model to remote sensing, aiming to enhance efficiency and performance in RS applications. We conducted several experiments to validate KAN's applicability, starting with the EuroSAT dataset, where we combined the KAN layer with multiple pretrained CNN models. The optimal performance was achieved with ConvNeXt, leading to the development of the KonvNeXt model. KonvNeXt was evaluated on the Optimal-31, AID, and Merced datasets for validation, and it achieved accuracies of 90.59%, 94.1%, and 98.1%, respectively. The model also showed fast processing speed, with the Optimal-31 and Merced datasets completed in 107.63 seconds each, while the bigger and more complicated AID dataset took 545.91 seconds. This result is meaningful since it achieved faster speeds and comparable accuracy compared to the existing study which utilized VIT and proved KonvNeXt's applicability for remote sensing classification tasks. Furthermore, we investigated the model's interpretability by utilizing Occlusion Sensitivity and by displaying the influential regions, it validated its potential use in a variety of domains including medical imaging and weather forecasting. This paper is meaningful in that it is the first use of KAN in remote sensing classification, proving its adaptability and efficiency.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based gene-editing has begun to transform the treatment landscape of genetic diseases. The history of the discovery of CRISPR/CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins/single guide RNA (sgRNA)-based gene-editing since the first report of repetitive sequences of unknown significance in 1987 is fascinating, instructive, and inspiring for future advances. The recent approval of CRISPR-Cas9-based gene therapy to treat patients with severe sickle cell anemia and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia has renewed hope for treating other hematologic diseases, including patients with germline predisposition to hematologic malignancies, who would benefit greatly from the development of CRISPR-based gene therapies. The purpose of this manuscript is three-fold: first, a chronological description of the history of CRISPR-Cas9-sgRNA-based gene editing; second, a brief description of the current state of clinical research in hematologic diseases, including selected applications in treating hematologic diseases with CRISPR-based gene therapy; and third, the current progress in gene therapies in inherited hematologic diseases and bone marrow failure syndromes, to hopefully stimulate efforts towards developing these therapies for patients with inherited bone marrow failure syndromes and other inherited conditions with germline predisposition to hematologic malignancies.

The thermal surface properties of graphenes and carbon materials are of crucial importance in chemistry of materials, chemical engineering, and many industrial processes. (1) Background: The determination of these surface properties is carried out using inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution which leads to the retention volume of organic solvents adsorbed on solid surfaces. This experimental and fundamental parameter actually reflects the surface thermodynamic interactions between injected probes and solid substrates. (2) Methods: The London dispersion equation and the Hamieh thermal model were used to quantify the London dispersive and polar surface energy of graphenes and carbon fibers as well their Lewis acid-base constants by introducing the coupling amphoteric constant of materials. (3) Results: The London dispersive and polar acid-base surface energies, the free energy of adsorption, the polar enthalpy and entropy, and the Lewis acid-base constants of graphenes and carbon materials were determined. (4) Conclusions: it was showed that graphene exhibited the highest values of London dispersive surface energy, polar surface energy, and Lewis’s acid-base constants. These highest characteristics of graphene justify its great potentiality and uses in many industrial applications.

The global steel industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and the adoption of green hydrogen in Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and support climate targets. This review explores the environmental, economic, technological, and social implications of using green hydrogen in DRI processes. The findings suggest that green hydrogen can reduce emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional methods, enhance energy security, and stimulate local economic development. However, high initial costs, energy efficiency concerns, and social acceptance issues remain significant barriers. The review also highlights the importance of integrating carbon capture and storage technologies, addressing logistical challenges, and considering the geopolitical implications of a shift towards green hydrogen. Green hydrogen presents a promising solution for decarbonising the steel industry but continued research, investment in infrastructure, and strategic planning are essential to overcome the challenges and drive widespread adoption.

We consider fractional integral operators $(I-T)^d, d \in (-1,1)$ acting on functions $g: \mathbb{Z}^{\nu} \to \mathbb{R}, \nu \ge 1 $, where $T $ is the transition operator of a random walk on $\mathbb{Z}^{\nu}$. We obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for the existence, invertibility and square summability of kernels $\tau (\mathbf{s}; d), \mathmb{s} \in \mathbb{Z}^{\nu}$ of $(I-T)^d $. Asymptotic behavior of $\tau (\mathbf{s}; d)$ as $|\mathbf{s}| \to \infty$ is identified following local limit theorem for random walk. A class of fractionally integrated random fields $X$ on $\mathbb{Z}^{\nu}$ solving the difference equation $(I-T)^d X = \varepsilon$ with white noise on the right-hand side is discussed, and their scaling limits. Several examples including fractional lattice Laplace and heat operators are studied in detail.

Inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution was used to determine the surface thermodynamic properties of silica particles and PMMA adsorbed on silica, and more particularly, to quantify the London dispersive energy γsd, the Lewis acid γs+ and base γs- polar surface energies of PMMA/silica composites as a function of the temperature and the recovery fraction θ of PMMA. The polar acid–base surface energy γsAB and the total surface energy of the different composites were then deduced as a function of the temperature. In this paper, the Hamieh thermal model was used to quantify the surface thermodynamic energy of poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) adsorbed on silica particles at different recovery fractions. A comparison of the new results was carried out with those obtained by applying other molecular models of the surface areas of organic molecules adsorbed on the different solid substrates. An important deviation of these molecular models from the thermal model was proved. The determination of γsd, γs+, γs-, and γsAB of PMMA in both bulk and adsorbed phases showed an important non-linearity variation of these surface parameters as a function of the temperature. The presence of maxima in the curves of γsd(T) highlighted the second order transition temperatures in PMMA showing beta-relaxation, glass transition and liquid-liquid temperatures. These three transition temperatures depended on the adsorption rate of PMMA on silica. The proposed method gave a new relation between the recovery fraction of PMMA and its London dispersive energy showing an important effect of the temperature on the surface energy parameters of adsorption of PMMA on silica. A universal equation relating γsd(T,θ) of the systems PMMA/silica to the recovery fraction and the temperature was proposed.

There are rich proper noun derivative semantic relationships in geographic entity vector data. The identification of traditional proper noun derivative semantic relationships usually requires toponym researchers to examine the source of derived toponyms by consulting a large number of toponym documents. This method cannot adapt to the mining of proper noun derivative semantic relationships for large-scale geographical entity. In this regard, this paper proposes a method of identifying the proper noun derivative semantic relationships for geographical entity by combining prompt learning and XGBoost model. This method transforms the extraction problem of proper noun derivative semantic relationships into a binary classification problem by analyzing the characteristics of the derivation relationship of toponyms in the form of toponyms and the spatial and temporal distribution of geography. Firstly, prompt learning and gaussian mixture model are used to extract and cluster the derivation words of toponyms, so as to realize the recognition of derived toponyms collections. Then, enumerate the possible proper noun derivations in the toponym set, and then the XGBoost model is used to identify the semantic relations derived from the proper noun of geographical entities. In the experiment, the recognition method of proper noun derivative semantic relationships based on prompt learning and XGBoost proposed in this paper has achieved good relationship recognition effect in the experiment. This method has certain practical value in the fields of toponym management and toponym translation.

This research was devoted to study the effect of the tacticity of PMMA on the surface physicochemical properties such as the London dispersive component of the surface energy of the polymer, the polar and dispersive free energies, the Lewis’s acid-base surface parameters, and the Lewis acid and base surface energies of atactic, isotactic and syndiotactic PMMAs as a function of the temperature. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution was used to determine the surface thermodynamic properties of PMMA at different tacticities. The experimental values of the net retention time and volume of model organic molecules adsorbed on the atactic, isotactic and syndiotactic PMMAs, were obtained by IGC technique at infinite dilution. The London dispersion interaction energy was used for the separation of the polar and dispersive energy of the different n-alkanes and polar solvents adsorbed on the different PMMA surfaces. The London dispersive surface energy γ_s^d (T) of PMMAs was determined by applying the Hamieh thermal model that took into account the effect of the temperature on the surface area of adsorbed molecules. The obtained results showed non-linear variations of γ_s^d (T) of atactic, isotactic, and syndiotactic PMMAs with three maxima characterizing the three transition temperatures of PMMAs, T_g, T_g and T_(liq-liq) with a shift of these temperatures with the isotactic and syndiotactic PMMAs. It was showed that the polar interaction free energy ∆G_a^p (T) also showed the presence of the three above transition temperatures of the polymers. The study showed an important non-linearity variation of the different acid-base parameters in the various polymer surfaces proving the highest effect of the temperature and the tacticity on these parameters. The determination of the enthalpic and entropic Lewis’s acid-base parameters showed an amphoteric character for the different PMMAs. The basicity of the atactic PMMA was about four times larger than its acidity outside the neighborhood of the transition temperatures of the polymer. Whereas, the isotactic PMMA was about 2 to 2.5 times more basic than acid, while the syndiotactic PMMA exhibited the highest basicity by showing a surface 5 to 8 times more basic than acid. However, the Lewis acid-base parameters strongly depended on the temperature and sudden variations of these surface parameters were observed around the transition temperatures largely depending on the PMMA tacticity. The determination of the polar acid and base surface energies of the three PMMAs led to the same previous transition temperatures with an important effect of the tacticity of PMMA on the values of these acid-base surface energies.

Previous high throughput screening studies indicated trans-eQTLs tend to be tissue specific. In this study, I probed if this feature can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks. eQTL data (P<5e-8) for 16,259 genes were identified and their summary association statistics were obtained from the eQTLGene database. Next, eQTLs that display both cis and trans regulatory effects were selected and the association between their corresponding genes were examined using Mendelian randomization. A total of 169 genes that exerted trans-regulatory impacts on 692 genes were identified. 90% of the genes (N=749) aggregated into a gene regulatory network significantly enriched in hemo-immune processes. The robustness of finding was confirmed through simulation. The identified network displayed the scale-free topology. This provided the reason to examine the association of the network’s hub genes with the phenome. The outcome of analyses revealed GSDMB and ORMDL3 impact several disorders of immune origin and ALDH2 overexpression contributes to obesity. This study reports trans-eQTLs can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks and describes a workflow to achieve this purpose. The network identified in this study showed scale-free topology indicating the hub genes of a GRN could be targeted to prevent disease outcomes.

The physical roots, interpretation, controversies and precise meaning of the Landauer Principle are surveyed. Landauer's principle is a physical principle pertaining to the lower theoretical limit of energy consumption of computation. It states that an irreversible change in information stored in a computer, such as merging two computational paths, dissipates a minimum amount of heat kBTln2 per a bit of information to its surrounding. The Landauer Principle is discussed in the context of fundamental physical limiting principles, such as the Abbe diffraction limit, the Margolus-Levitin limit and the Bekenstein limit. Synthesis of the Landauer bound with the Abbe, Margolus-Levitin limit and Bekenstein limits yields the minimal time of computation, which scales as τmin~hkBT. Decrease in a temperature of a thermal bath will decrease the energy consumption of a single computation, but, in parallel, it will slow the computation. The Landauer principle bridges between John Archibald Wheeler “it from bit” paradigm and thermodynamics. Experimental verifications of the Landauer Principle are surveyed. Interrelation between thermodynamic and logical irreversibility is addressed. Generalization of the Landauer principle to the quantum and non-equilibrium systems is addressed. Landauer Principle represents the powerful heuristic principle bridging the physics, information theory and computer engineering.

This study delves into the critical domain of public procurement, specifically focusing on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations within the context of South Korea. The aim of this research is to empirically scrutinize the factors influencing the impact index of SPP, with a particular emphasis on services related to labor standards. The investigation spans three years, from January 1, 2019, to July 31, 2021, encompassing state agency orders and post-implementation legal changes. Leveraging the comprehensive Korea On-line E-Procurement Sys-tem(KONEPS) platform, we meticulously collected data, ultimately culminating in 21,573 services meeting our criteria, from which 250 cases underwent an in-depth analysis. The study sheds light on the influence of social responsibility evaluation cri-teria on overall procurement scores, while also uncovering the moderating effects of various factors. The outcomes of this study offer valuable insights into the impact index of social responsibility evaluation criteria within South Korea's public procurement landscape. Factors including procurement year, classification, service period, and estimated price were identified as significant influencers. Moreover, the number and location of evalu-ation criteria items, inclusion of sincerity elements, and the evaluating agency were deemed pivotal determinants of the influence index. These findings hold profound implications for policymakers, procurement practitioners, and researchers and provide a roadmap for optimizing the utilization of social responsibility evaluation criteria to advance responsible and sustainable procurement practices. Future research avenues include conducting further study of additional moderat-ing variables, expanding datasets to encompass a broader spectrum of procurement contexts, and evaluating the long-term repercussions of social responsibility evaluation on procurement outcomes. These endeavors promise to further refine and advance public procurement practices in South Korea and beyond.

The temperature effect plays an important role for an accurate determination of the polar free energy, polar thermodynamic parameters, and enthalpic and entropic Lewis’s acid base properties of oxides, polymers and composites polymers/oxides. The adsorption of polymers on other solid surfaces is crucial in many industrial applications, coatings, paints, catalysis, colloids and adhesion processes. (1) Background: Inverse gas chromatography at infinite was used for the physico-chemical characterization of solid substrates by determining the thermodynamic parameters of adsorption of model organic solvents on solid surfaces such as polymers, metallic oxides, carbon fibers, pharmaceutical or 3D/4D printing substrates. (2) Methods: A new method based on the London dispersion equation was applied with a new parameter associating the deformation po-larizability and the harmonic mean of the ionization energies of solvent. More accurate values of the dispersive and polar interaction energies of the various organic solvents adsorbed on PMMA in bulk phase and PMMA/silica at different recovery fractions were obtained as well as the Lewis acid-base parameters and the transition temperatures of the different composites. (3) Results: This new methodology gave very interesting results on the behavior of PMMA adsorbed on silica. An important effect of the temperature and the recovery fraction on the various physicochemical and thermodynamic properties was highlighted. The variations of all interaction parameters showed the presence of three transition temperatures for the different PMMA adsorbed on silica with the various coverage rates with a shift of these temperatures for a recovery fraction of 31% (4) Con-clusions: An important variation of the polar enthalpy and entropy of adsorption, the Lewis ac-id-base parameters and the intermolecular separation distance as a function of the temperature and the recovery fraction of PMMA on silica.

We suppose that a Cooper pair (CP) will experience a damping force exerted by the condensed matter. A Langevin equation of a CP in two dimensional condensed matter is established. Following a method similar to Nelson's stochastic mechanics, generalized Schr\"{o}dinger equation of a CP in condensed matter is derived. If the CPs move with a constant velocity, then the corresponding direct current (DC) electrical conductivity can be calculated. Therefore, a Drude like formula of resistivity of CPs is derived. We suppose that the damping coefficient of CPs in two dimensional cuprate superconductors is a linear function of temperature. Then the resistivity and scattering rate of CPs turn out to be also linear-in-temperature. The origin of linear-in-temperature resistivity and Planckian dissipation in cuprate superconductors may be the linear temperature dependence of the damping coefficient of CPs.

The poly lactic acid (PLA) is one of the most used bio-derived thermoplastic polymers in 3D and 4D printing applications. The determination of PLA surface properties is of capital importance in 3D/4D printing technology. (1) Background: The surface thermodynamic properties of PLA polymer were determined by using the inverse gas chromatography (IGC) technique at infinite dilution. The determination of the retention volume of polar and non-polar molecules adsorbed on the PLA particles filling the column allowed us to obtain the dispersive, polar, and Lewis’s acid-base surface properties at different temperatures from 40 °C to 100 °C. (2) Methods: the applied surface method was based on our recent model that used the London dispersion equation and the new chromatographic parameter function of the deformation polarizability and the harmonic mean of the ionization energies of the PLA polymer and organic molecules. (3) Results: The application of this new method led to the determination of the dispersive and polar free surface energy of adsorption of molecules on the polymeric material, as well as the glass transition and the Lewis acid-base constants. (4) Conclusions: four interval temperatures were distinguished showing four zones of the variations of the surface properties of PLA as a function of the temperature before and after the glass transition.

We have repeated the experiment performed recently by Krasznahorkay et al., (Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 042501 (2016)), which may indicate a new particle called X17 in the literature. In order to get a reliable, and independent result, we used a different type of electron-positron pair spectrometer which have a more simple acceptance/efficiency as a function of the correlation angle, but the other conditions of the experiment were very similar to the published ones. We could confirm the presence of the anomaly measured at the Ex=18.15 MeV resonance, and also confirm their absence at the Ex=17.6 MeV resonance, and at Ep= 800 keV off resonance energies.

Background: Millions of people worldwide suffer from a genetic hemoglobinopathy known as sickle cell disease (SCD). It is a long-term condition marked by progressive multiorgan failure. Among SCD patients, cardiovascular complications are the main leading cause of death. Cardiovascular complication raises cardiac markers level as well as sickle cell vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC). This makes it challenging to determine the source. Methods: This research aims to identify the association between cardiac markers and myocardial infarction in SCD patients At King Abdulaziz University (KAUH) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This retrospective study was conducted from June 2022 to March 2023. All patients with SCD who were 18 years and above were enrolled. Cardiac markers' associations with age, emergency room visits, ECG, blood transfusion, hydroxyurea, anticoagulants, and mortality were analyzed. Result: 537 patient records were screened during the study period, of which 270 met the inclusion criteria. Among these, 144 (53.3%) were female. The prevalence of elevated LDH, troponin, and CK-MB among the SCD patients who visited ER for the VOC was 78.5%, 9.3%, and 6.3%, respectively. Overall, there was a significant relationship between the cardiac marker level and the number of ER visits, age and mortality (p= 0.01), but there was no significant association between the cardiac marker level and for each of the following: hydroxyurea use, antiplatelet/anticoagulant use, needing of blood transfusion and ECG abnormalities. This retrospective research shed light on the significance of cardiac marker levels in patients with SCD. The level of cardiac markers was remarkably linked with age, frequency of ER visits, and patients' states.

This study focuses on the use of gamification, specifically the UrbanGame activity, to enhance heritage education related to the Spanish Civil War bombings in Alicante. The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of active methodologies in raising cultural heritage awareness among university students. By employing a combination of collaborative work, meaningful learning, problem-based learning, discovery learning, concentration, and motivational strategies, the study involved 122 students from primary and secondary education programs. The methods included the design and implementation of the UrbanGame, followed by surveys to collect quantitative and qualitative data on students' perceptions, satisfaction, and learning outcomes. The results indicated that while collaborative work did not have a significant impact on content comprehension, skill acquisition, or value acquisition, meaningful learning showed a positive trend towards content comprehension. Problem-based learning had a weak but notable relationship with content comprehension, while motivation and concentration significantly influenced learning outcomes. Additionally, the UrbanGame activity promoted memory and cultural heritage by emotionally connecting students with local history. The findings suggest that an integrated approach that combines various active methodologies is essential for maximizing educational effectiveness and cultural promotion.

With the development of sensor and communication technologies, Internet of Things (IoT) subsystem is gradually becoming a crucial part in vehicles. It can effectively enhance functionalities of vehicles. However, new attack types are also emerged. For example, a driver with the smart key in the pocket can push the start button to start a car when. At the same time, security issues in the push-to-start scenario are alerted, such as smart key forgery. In this paper, we propose a vehicle Passive Entry Passive Start (PEPS) system that uses deep learning algorithms to recognize the driver by the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals measured by his or her smart watch. ECG signals are used for verification. Smart watches, as a new smart key of PEPS system, can replace traditional smart keys to improve security. Experiment results show that Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models have achieved the best accuracy score for identity recognition (91%) when single ECG cycle is used. However, it takes at least 30 minutes for training. The training time of Auto Encoder successfully reduces to 5 minutes. When 15 continuous ECG cycles are used, it can achieve 100% identity accuracy.

This work investigates the influence of ground albedo on the solar radiation obtained by surfaces mounted on fixed-tilt to south, one-axis, and two-axis systems. To do this, estimation of the solar radiation difference is performed by applying real albedo and zero albedo. This is done within Saudi Arabia, at 82 selected sites. Annual, seasonal, and monthly mean solar energy differences are computed as function of the site’s number, latitude, and local near-real ground albedo. The great variation in the ground-albedo values at the 82 sites (0.1 - 0.46) could be thought as having a significant effect on the solar radiation levels received on the 3 tracking modes. The analysis shows quite the opposite; a zero-albedo ground diminishes solar radiation levels by 1.43%, 3.50%, and 3.20%, respectively for the 3 modes. Therefore, in most solar engineering applications a ground albedo of 0.2 (considered as reference) can be used without losing accuracy. This is the main conclusion of the study, which must, however, be applied with caution in areas with snow cover, especially for mode-III tracking systems. In such situations the increase in solar radiation levels may be up to 15% (but ≈3.5% for mode-I and -II systems instead).

The sustainable management of public hospitals is usually threatened by long-period operating deficit, especially during the pandemic of COVID-19. This study aims at quantitatively decomposing the historical changes in the annual operating costs of public hospitals in Japan to identify the main driving forces responsible for a worsening imbalance between operating costs and income over the past two decades. A dataset of the annual operating costs of public hospitals in Japan is compiled, in which influencing factors are redefined to make the data amenable to the application of a decomposition method referred to as the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI). Using the LMDI method, the contribution of each influencing factor to the changes in public hospital operating costs was quantitatively determined. The results indicate an overall positive effect arising out of the national reform of public hospitals that aimed to reduce the operating costs of these institutions, but the rapid increase in the prices of medicines in recent years made a major contribution to the increasing operating costs. The pandemic reveals a damage on public hospitals’ financial balance but the city-wide lockdown offset part of the increased medical expense. Both long-term and short-term pricing policies are required for the sustainable management of public hospitals.

The Easternmost Mediterranean is a junction zone between the largest Earth's lithospheric segments – Eurasian and African-Arabian, and a transition area from the ocean to the continent. The latest catastrophic earthquakes in eastern Turkey require their geodynamic understanding. The two most decisive events (with magnitude (M) = 7.8 and 7.7) were observed with an interval of 9 hours on February 06, 2023, followed by a whole series of about 10,000 significative aftershocks. These tragic events led to the death of more than 60 thousand people. The above values indicate the colossal tension created in the Earth's crust. The region where these strongest earthquakes occurred is a tectonically very complex junction zone of four tectonic plates: Eurasian, Arabian, African, and Anatolian. The joint movement of these plates (consisting, in turn, of tectonic elements of different ages) occurs at an average rate of 6–15 mm per year. However, after two marked powerful shocks and a series of aftershocks, some sectors of the Anatolian plate shifted to the southwest by more than 11 meters. What happened in eastern Turkey? The interaction of numerous factors complicates the tectonic–geodynamic characteristics of the region. Let us analyze what is the most influencing component. Our recent publications (Eppelbaum et al., 2020, 2021) indicated the presence of a giant, rotating quasi-ring structure below the Easternmost Mediterranean. The GPS vector map coinciding with the gravitational trend displays the counterclockwise rotation of this structure. A review of paleomagnetic data on the projection of the discovered structure into the Earth's surface confirms its mainly counterclockwise rotation. Analysis of the magnetic field ΔZ, geoid anomalies map, and seismic tomography data commonly prove the presence of this deep anomaly. The geodynamic and structural characteristics of the region and paleobiogeographic data are consistent with the proposed physical–geological model. A widespread analysis of tectonic, petrological, and mineralogical data implies a connection between the discovered deep structure and near-surface processes. An examination of numerous publications by different authors confirms the above phenomenon’s existence. A crucial for understanding the nature of the considered seismic stress is its location near the expressed bend of the Mesozoic terrane belt, where the Arabian Plate is deeply intruded into the Alpine-Himalayan belt. Thus, the rotation of this giant deep structure may accumulate the stress effect and be one of the causative reasons for the last catastrophic geodynamic events in Eastern Turkey.

The rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to witness the introduction of innovative open-source pre-trained models, fostering advancements in various applications. One such model is Llama 2, an open-source pre-trained model released by Meta, which has garnered significant attention among early adopters. In addition to exploring the foundational elements of the Llama v2 model, this paper investigates how these early adopters leverage the capabilities of Llama 2 in their AI projects. Through a qualitative study, we delve into the perspectives, experiences, and strategies employed by early adopters to leverage Llama 2's capabilities. For the purpose of data analysis, the capabilities inherent in the Llama 2 model were employed to conduct keyword extraction from the context of the early adopters' case studies. The findings shed light on the model's strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement, offering valuable insights for the AI community and Meta to enhance future model iterations. Additionally, we discuss the implications of Llama 2's adoption on the broader open-source AI landscape, addressing challenges and opportunities for developers and researchers in the pursuit of cutting-edge AI solutions. The present study constitutes an early exploration of the Llama 2 pre-trained model, holding promise as a foundational basis for forthcoming research investigations.

The rising importance of Big Data in modern information analysis is supported by vast quantities of user data, but it is only possible to collect sufficient data for all tasks within certain data-gathering contexts. There are many cases where a domain is too novel, too niche, or too sparsely collected to adequately support Big Data tasks. To remedy this, we have created ADG Engine that allows for the generation of additional data that follows the trends and patterns of the data that’s already been collected. Using a database structure that tracks users across different activity types, ADG Engine can use all available information to maximize the authenticity of the generated data. Our efforts are particularly geared towards data analytics by identifying abnormalities in the data and allowing the user to generate normal and abnormal data at custom ratios. In situations where it would be impractical or impossible to expand the available dataset by collecting more data, it can still be possible to move forward with algorithmically expanded data datasets.

Biocidal compositions based on interpolyelectrolyte complexes and a low molecular weight antibiotic can become a promising material for creating biocidal coatings, as they combine wash-off resistance and dual biocidal action due to the biocide and the polycation. Molecular mass characteristics of polymers play essential role in physics and mechanical properties of the coatings. In this work, the properties of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMAC) coatings of various molecular weights are investigated and assumptions are made about the optimal molecular weight needed to create antibacterial compositions. To study the resistance to washing off and moisture saturation of the coatings, the gravimetric method was used, the adhesive properties of the coatings were studied by dynamometry. It has been established that an increase in molecular weight affects the wash-off resistance of coatings, but does not affect moisture absorption and adhesion mechanics of coatings. All samples of PDADMAC were demonstrated to exhibit the same antibacterial activity. Thus, when developing systems for creating antibacterial coatings, it must be taken into account that in order to create stable coatings. The requirement to use PDADMAC with a high degree of polymerization is necessary for control the desorption of coating during wash off-but not mandatory for the control of mechanical and antibacterial properties of the coating.

Among post-translational modifications of proteins, ADP-ribosylation has been studied for over fifty years, assigning to this PTM a large set of functions, including DNA repair, transcription and cell signaling. This review presents an update on the function of a large set of enzyme writers, the readers that are recruited by the modified targets, and the erasers that reverse the modification to the original amino acid residue, removing the covalent bonds formed. In particular, the review provides details on the involvement of the enzymes performing MAR/PAR cycling in cancers. Of note, there is potential for application of the inhibitors developed for cancer also in the therapy of non-oncological diseases such as the protection against oxidative stress, suppression of inflammatory responses, and the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This field of studies is not concluded, since novel enzymes are being discovered at a rapid pace.

The methods for constructing solutions to integro-differential equations of the Volterra type are considered. The equations are related to fractional conformable derivatives. Explicit solutions of homogeneous and inhomogeneous equations are constructed and a Cauchy-type problem is studied. It should be noted that the considered method is based on the construction of normalized systems of functions with respect to a differential operator of fractional order.

The FOLFOX scheme, based on the association of 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, is the most frequently indicated chemotherapy scheme for patients diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer. Nevertheless, development of chemoresistance is one of the major challenges associated with this disease. It has been reported that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is implicated in microRNA-driven modulation of tumor cells response to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin. Besides, from pharmacogenomic research it is known that overexpression of genes encoding dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD), thymidylate synthase (TYMS), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), the DNA repair enzymes ERCC1, ERCC2, and XRCC1, and the phase 2 enzyme GSTP1 impair the response to FOLFOX. It has been observed that EMT is associated with overexpression of DPYD, TYMS, ERCC1, and GSTP1. In this review we investigated the role of miRNAs as EMT promotors in tumor cells, and its potential effect on upregulation of DPYD, TYMS, MTHFR, ERCC1, ERCC2, XRCC1 and GSTP1 expression, which would lead to resistance of CRC tumor cells to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin. This constitutes a potential mechanism of epigenetic regulation involved in late-onset of acquired resistance in mCRC patients under FOLFOX chemotherapy. Expression of these biomarkers microRNA could serve as tools for personalized medicine, and as potential therapeutic targets in the future.

Background: The evolution of names, from “medical informatics” to “connected health”, implies that the evolvement of technology in health care has been shifted from technology-oriented to healthcare-oriented implementation. Connected healthcare, a healthcare platform of remote monitoring and self-management through technological measures, is suggested to contribute to the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and satisfaction of healthcare recipient enhancement. However, limited understanding of related connected health (CH) terminology may constrain its implementation. Whether CH is a Buzzword only or a practice that can contribute to an ageing society is controversial. Objective: This study aims to distinguish CH-related terminology and to identify the trend of CH through reviewing its definition, initiation, development, and evolvement, in order to offer management insights and implications. The objective is to understand what is connected and who is cared about in the connected health model, so that better applications can be addressed for the benefit of society. Method: This study reviews the evolution of names, from “medical informatics” in the 1970s to “connected health” after 2000, as well as relevant literature of CH, including e-health, telemedicine, telehealth, telecare, and m-health, to discover the trend of technology-related healthcare implementation. The current status and issues facing CH will be presented and its future trends will be explored through reviewing how changes in healthcare are managed, in addition to its operation and practice. Issues of accessibility, quality, and cost will be discussed, as well as its market status. Results: Preconditions and requirements for implementing CH are identified to select a typical case to study. Areas with a complete business ecosystem, including advanced technology and medical services, a payment system, an ageing population, geographic isolation, integrated health, and social care, are prevalent. These findings may be beneficial to designing and establishing comprehensive CH implantation and environments. Conclusion: The evidence and tendency of technological convergence create a demand for innovation and partnering with start-up companies that offer a competitive advantage in innovation. Specifically, it is necessary to innovate both the public and private operation model of the CH ecosystem. This focus will be further explored in future work.

This paper shows the firsts results of a methodological approach in which Remote Sensing technologies (Satellite imagery and LiDAR) combined with Least Cost Path algorithm on GIS are being tested like tools to overcome locally-based interpretations about populational patterns and communication routes during Flavian municipality in the Comarca de El Condado region. The identification of fourteen hypothetical communication routes between already known archaeological sites thanks to a recent archaeological prospection, and the confirmation of three sections of them and a new archaeological site demonstrate that the combined use of the aforementioned technics has a very useful to delve more deeply, more widely and at a variety of different scales into the relation between the twelve known/selected Early Roman Empire sites and the surrounding landscape in the right bank of Guadalén River. It is expected that, in next phases, this methodological approach will allow us to go deeper in analysing and understanding spatial distribution, exploitation, and interrelation between different Early Roman Empire sites, helping us to fill the aforementioned gaps in our understanding of the archaeological continuum in the region reducing time and costs.

The gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes, containing a combination of 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (iPr) and the corresponding 7-azaindole derivative (HL1-4), were prepared and structurally characterized. The complexes of the composition of [Au(iPr)(HLn)], where n = 1–4 for 5-fluoro-7-azaindole (1), 5-bromo-7-azaindole (2), 3-chloro-7-azaindole (3) and 3-iodo-7-azaindole (4), were further evaluated for their in vitro anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities. The results showed that complexes (1–4) behave as considerably cytotoxic against human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 (with IC50 = 4–9 mircoM) and cisplatin-resistant cell line A2780R (with IC50 = 5–8 microM, except for 2 with IC50 > 25 microM), providing significantly higher cytotoxicity than anticancer drug cisplatin. Moreover, they also revealed a relatively good selectivity over normal cells (MRC-5), with the values of selectivity index, SI > 2.5. The complex 4 was further studied for its cellular effects in A2780 cells by cell cycle analysis, induction of apoptosis, intracellular ROS production, activation of caspases 3/7 and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. The ability of complexes (1–4) to influence the activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB and secretion of TNF-α were evaluated, showing that complex 4 reveals comparable effects as the inflammatory drug Auranofin.

Finding sustainable renewable energy sources for energy conversion and management is still an obscure topic. This paper presents a model-based simulation for an energy conversion system using piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) technology. A dynamic mathematical model of a PEH device consists of a piezoelectric transducer, a controlled PWM rectifier, and a closed-loop buck boost converter is developed. A piezoelectric transducer converts mechanical vibrations from a wind force into an oscillating train of electrical charges. The sinewave peak-to-peak level relationship describes the changeable values of these charges, which depend on the severity of the wind vibration. The controlled PWM rectifier, in conjunction with a closed-loop buck-boost converter, converts this train of sinewave cycles into DC voltages. The control blocks of the closed-loop buck-boost converter use the perturbation and observation (P&amp;O) algorithm based on maximum power point tracking (MPPT), which adapts the operational voltage of the piezoelectric source to deliver the maximum power to load and improves the PEHS output voltage stability. A simulation program is employed to perform mathematical analysis on various wind vibration scenarios, piezoelectric sources without PWM converters, and piezoelectric vibration sources connected to a closed-loop P&amp;O converter. The crucial results of this paper demonstrate that the proposed dynamic PEHS model effectively feeds low-power electronic loads by directly adjusting the output voltage level to the set voltage, even under different vibration severity levels. As a result, the proposed PEHS dynamic model serves as a guideline for researchers in the development of self-powered sensors, which contributes to understanding sustainable energy alternatives.

Solid waste management is a major environmental challenge, especially in developing countries, with increasing amounts of waste glass (WG) and waste plastics (WP) not being recycled. In Ethiopia, managing WG and WP requires innovative recycling techniques. This study examines concrete properties with WG and WP as partial replacements for fine aggregate. Tests were conducted on cement setting time, workability, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength. Concrete grade C-25, with a compressive strength of 25 MPa, was prepared using an optimum ratio of 14% WG and 6% WP. Mechanical properties were tested at 7 and 28 days of curing. At 20% replacement, workability decreased at water-cement ratios of 0.5 and 0.6 but remained stable at 0.4. Thus, a 0.4 ratio was used. For 10% replacement, compressive strength increased by 12.55% and 6.44% on the 7th and 28th days, respectively. At 20% replacement, compressive strength decreased by 14.35% and 0.73% on the 7th and 28th days, respectively. On the 28th day, splitting tensile strength at optimum replacement was 4.3 MPa, an 8.5% reduction from the control mix. However, flexural strength increased by 19.7%, from 12.46 MPa to 15.52 MPa. Overall, WG and WP improved flexural strength but slightly reduced splitting tensile strength.

This study investigated the efficiency of scale-propellers, typically used on small drones. A scale-propeller is accepted as having a diameter of 7 to 21 inches. The Ukraine War has demonstrated the utility of relatively small, low-cost first-person view (FPV) drones, which are attritable. This investigation outlines the development of a MATLAB optimisation code, based on minimum induced loss propeller theory, which calculates the optimal chord and twist distribution for a chosen propeller operating in known flight conditions. The MATLAB code includes a minimum Reynolds number functionality, which provides the option to alter the chord distribution to ensure the entire propeller is operating above a set threshold value of Reynolds (&gt;100,000), as this has been found to be a transition point between low and high section lift-to-drag ratios. Additional functions allow plotting of torque and thrust distributions along the blade. The results have been validated on experimental data taken from an APC ‘Thin Electric’ 10” x 7” propeller, where it was found that both the chord and twist distributions were accurately modelled. The MATLAB code resulted in a 16% increase in the maximum propulsive efficiency. Further work will investigate a direct interface to SolidWorks to aid rapid propeller manufacturing capability.

The construction time of concrete structures in hydraulic tunnels is long, the construction environment is complex, and there are many influencing factors. The requirements for construction quality are high, not only to meet the strength requirements, but also to meet the design requirements of erosion resistance, crack resistance, and seepage resistance according to its specific operating environment. Therefore, evaluating the construction quality of concrete structures in hydraulic tunnels is of great significance. Considering the randomness and fuzziness of factors affecting the construction quality of concrete structures in hydraulic tunnels, this paper proposes a comprehensive evaluation model based on Combined Weighting (CWM) and Uncertainty Measurement Theory (UM). The IAHP method and CRITIC method are used to determine the subjective and objective weights of evaluation indicators, combined weighting is based on the principle of minimum entropy, and the UM method is used to evaluate the construction quality level. Finally, taking a hydraulic tunnel as an example, its construction quality grade is calculated to be III according to the evaluation model proposed in this paper, which matches with the engineering reality, and a comparative study is made with the mixture element topology theory at the same time. It is verified that the evaluation model can scientifically and reasonably evaluate the construction quality level of concrete structures in hydraulic tunnels.

This research introduces a pioneering solution to the challenges posed by gastrointestinal tract (GI) cancer in radiation therapy, focusing on the imperative task of precise organ segmentation for minimizing radiation-induced damage. GI imaging has historically used manual demarcation, which is laborious and uncomfortable for patients. We address this by introducing the ResECA-U-Net deep learning model, a novel combination of the UNet and ResNet34 architectures. Furthermore, we further augment its functionality by incorporating the Efficient Channel Attention (ECA-Net) methodology. By utilizing data from the UW-Madison Carbone Cancer Centre, we carefully investigate several image processing techniques designed to capture critical local characteristics. With its foundation in computer vision concepts, the ResECA-U-Net model is excellent at extracting fine details from GI images. Sophisticated metrics such as intersection over union (IoU) and the dice coefficient are used to evaluate performance. Our study's outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested method, yielding an impressive 96.27% Dice coefficient and 91.48% IoU. These results highlight the significant contribution that our strategy has made to the advancement of cancer therapy. Beyond its scientific merits, this work has the potential to significantly enhance cancer patients' quality of life and provide better long-term outcomes. Our work is a significant step towards automating and optimizing the segmentation process, which can potentially change how GI cancer is treated completely.

Single-phase-to-ground fault in non-effectively grounded systems poses serious public safety concern. Along with increasing deployment of low-voltage (LV) sensors, new opportunities and ways are created for solving this traditional problem in distribution systems. A new approach, identifying primary single-phase-to-ground line fault and locating it through measurement data from smart sensors deployed in the secondary side of distribution transformers, is proposed in this paper. When a fault occurs in primary distribution feeder, the transient aerial mode voltage (AMV) of each LV smart sensor is calculated. The fault line can be identified by an abrupt change value of AMV at LV side. Next, by finding the position of the maximum value of this AMV from LV sensors on the fault line, the fault location can be pinpointed to two neighboring distribution transformers. The proposed method has been proven to be efficient and reliable by simulation studies.

Polypyrrole (PPy)-capped caped silver nanowire (Ag NW) nanomaterials (core–shell rod-shaped Ag NW@PPy) were synthesized suing a one–port suspension polymerization technique. The thickness of PPy layer on the 50-nm-thickness/15-μm-length Ag NW was effectively controlled to 10, 40, 50, and 60 nm. Thin films cast from one-dimensional conductive Ag NW@PPy formed a three-dimensional (3-D) conductive porous network structure and provided excellent electrochemical performance. The 3-D Ag NW@PPy network can significantly reduce the internal resistance of the electrode and maintain structural stability. As a result, a high specific capacitance of 625 F/g at a scan rate of 1 mV/s was obtained from the 3-D porous Ag NW@PPy composite film. The cycling performance over a long period exceeding 10,000 cycles was also evaluated. We expect that our core–shell-structured Ag NW@PPy composites and their 3-D porous structure network films can be applied as electrochemical materials for the design and manufacture of supercapacitors and other energy storage devices.

Iron is an essential nutrient and necessary for biological functions from DNA replication and repair to transcriptional regulation, mitochondrial respiration, electron transfer, oxygen transport, photosynthesis, enzymatic catalysis, and nitrogen fixation. However, due to iron’s propensity to generate toxic radicals which can cause damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids, multiple processes regulate uptake and distribution of iron in living systems. Understanding how intracellular iron metabolism is optimized and how iron is utilized to regulate other intracellular processes is important to our overall understanding of a multitude of biological processes. One of the tools that the cell utilizes to regulate a multitude of functions is ligation of the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster cofactor. Fe-S clusters comprised of iron and inorganic sulfur are ancient components of living matter on earth that are integral for physiological function in all domains of life. Here we will explore the ways in which the cell utilizes Fe-S clusters to sense the intracellular environment and respond to maintain equilibrium.

In Taiwan, mountainous areas account for approximately two-thirds of the total area. The steep terrain and concentrated rainfall during typhoons cause landslides, which pose a considerable threat to mountain settlements. Therefore, models for analyzing rainfall-induced landslide hazards are urgently required to ensure adequate land use in mountainous areas. In this study, focusing on Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, we developed a landslide hazard index (IRL) to land use. Using FORMOSA-2 and SPOT-5 satellite images, data were collected before and after four typhoons (one in 2009 and three in 2013). The ArcGIS random tree classifier was used for interpreting satellite images to explore surface changes and disasters, which were used to analyze slope disturbances. The product of the maximum 3-h rolling rainfall intensity and effective accumulated rainfall was used as a rainfall trigger index (IRT). Considering environmental and slope disturbance factors, an index of slope environmental strength potential (ISESP) was developed through logistic regression (LR). Landslide hazard to land use was estimated using IRT and ISESP. The average coefficient of agreement (Kappa) was approximately 0.71 (medium to high accuracy); the overall accuracy of slope environmental strength potential analysis was approximately 80.4%. At a constant ISESP, IRT increased with the increasing hazard potential of rainfall-induced landslides. Furthermore, IRT and ISESP were positively correlated with landslide occurrence. When large ISESP values occur (e.g., fragile environment and high land development intensity), small IRT values may induce landslides.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease for which the main anti-inflammatory drugs for better disease control are steroids or corticosteroids. The use of steroids in asthma patients, in particular in uncontrolled asthma patients, is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures. A single oral corticosteroids course increases the risk of osteoporosis and continual use of inhaled corticosteroids is correlated over time to an increased risk for both bone conditions. With the use of new, available biologic therapies for asthma, perhaps even anticipating the times of their use in what are the steps of therapeutic management, in the current guidelines and with targeted strategies of prevention it may be possible to improve asthma management, preventing some comorbidities, such as osteoporosis.

The effective utilization of medium-high temperature geothermal energy is pivotal in reducing carbon emissions and plays a crucial role in developing clean energy technologies. The MiDu ge-othermal field, situated in the southeastern region of Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, lies within the Mediterranean-Himalayan high-temperature geothermal belt and is characterized by abundant geothermal resources. However, due to its considerable depth, exploration poses significant risks, resulting in a total utilization rate of less than 0.5% of the total reserves. This study employs natural seismic data to perform a tomographic analysis of the geothermal system in the Midu basin. By examining the P-wave velocity (Vp) and velocity ratio of P-wave and S-wave (Vp/Vs) at various depths, the findings reveal that the basin comprises two distinct structural layers: the thrust basement of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras and the strike-slip extensional sedimentary layer of the Cenozoic era. A low-velocity anomaly in the central basin corresponds to the loose Cenozoic sedimentary layer. In contrast, high-velocity anomalies at the basin edges correlate with boundary faults and the Mesozoic-Paleozoic strata. Below a depth of 4 km, the Red River Fault and MiDu Fault continue to dominate the basin's structure, whereas the influence of the Malipo Fault dimin-ishes. The MiDu Fault exhibits higher thermal conductivity than the Yinjie Fault. It interfaces with multiple carbonate and basalt formations characterized by well-developed pores and fractures, making it a crucial conduit for water and a control point for geothermal storage. Consequently, the existence of high temperature geothermal resources for power generation should be concentrated around the Midu fault on the western side of the basin, while the Yinjie fault area is more favorable for advancements in heating and wellness.

Eotaxin-3 is a key chemokine with a relevant role in eosinophilic esophagitis, a rare chronic immune/antigen-mediated inflammatory disorder. Eotaxin-3 is a potent activator of eosinophil emergence and migration, which may lead to allergic airway inflammation. We investigated by bioinformatics tools the protein structure and the possible effects of the known variations reported in public databases. Following a procedure already established, we created a 3D model of the whole protein and modelled the structure of 105 protein variants due to known point mutations. The effects of the amino acid substitution at the level of impact on protein structure, stability, and possibly function, were detected by the bioinformatics procedure and described in detail. A web application was implemented to browse the results of the analysis and visualize the 3D models, with the opportunity of downloading the models and analyze by the own software. Among 105 amino acid substitutions investigated, the study evidenced in 44 cases at least one change in any of the investigated structural parameters. Other 6 variations are also relevant, although a structural effect is not detected by our analysis, because they substituted amino acids highly conserved, which suggests a possible function role. All these variations should be the object of particular attention, as they may induce loss of functionality in the protein.

The intricate interplay between driver cognitive dysfunction, mental workload (MWL), and heart rate variability (HRV) provides a captivating avenue for investigation within the domain of transportation safety studies. This article presents a comprehensive review and examines cognitive hindrance stemming from mental workload and heart rate variability. It scrutinizes the mental workload experienced by drivers by leveraging data gleaned from prior studies that employed heart rate monitoring systems and eye tracking technology, thereby illuminating the correlation between cognitive impairment, mental workload, and physiological indicators such as heart rate and ocular movements. The investigation is grounded in the premise that the mental workload of drivers can be assessed through physiological cues, such as heart rate and eye movements. The study discovered that heart rate variability (HRV) and infrared (IR) measurements played a crucial role in evaluating fatigue and workload for skilled drivers. However, the study overlooked potential factors contributing to cognitive impairment in drivers and could benefit from incorporating alternative indicators of cognitive workload for deeper insights. Furthermore, investigated driving simulators demonstrated that an eco-safe driving Human-Machine Interface (HMI) significantly promoted safe driving behaviors without imposing excessive mental and visual workload on drivers. Recommendations were made for future studies to consider additional indicators of cognitive workload, such as subjective assessments or task performance metrics, for a more comprehensive understanding.

Poplars (Populus spp.) are of significant ecological and economic importance. Long-term breeding efforts were aimed mainly at obtaining fast-growing and productive plants and less considered resistance to pests. This study aimed to identify the patterns of susceptibility to Saperda carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) among Populus hybrids and pure species, considering crossing combinations and some other traits. In our research, 35 clones of poplar species and hybrids of the Ukrainian and foreign selection from the Aigeiros, Tacamahaca, and Leucoides sections were tested in 2021 and 2023 in the plantation created in 2014 in Eastern Ukraine. S. carcharias preferred infesting clones with earlier foliage development, larger diameters, and height increments. Specifically, hybrids with American maternal lineage showed the highest susceptibility, whereas those with European maternal lineage or Asian origin displayed lower infestation levels or resistance, respectively. This variability suggests a complex relationship between genetic background and pest resistance, underlining the need for a deeper understanding of the factors influencing susceptibility to S. carcharias. Selecting native species clones or creating mixed clone plantations could enhance the resilience of poplar plantations to pest threats.

A diffusion welding of coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained (UFG) specimens of titanium near-α alloy Ti-5Al-2V used in nuclear power engineering was made by Spark Plasma Sintering. The failure of the welded specimens in the conditions of hot salt corrosion and of electrochemical corrosion were shown to have preferentially intercrystalline character. In the case of presence of macrodefects, crevice corrosion of the welded joints was observed. The resistance of the alloys against the intercrystalline corrosion was found to be determined by the concentration of vanadium at the titanium grain boundaries, by the size and volume fraction of the β-phase particles and by the presence of micro- and macropores in the welded joints. The specimens of the welded joints of the UFG alloy have higher hardness, hot salt corrosion resistance and the electrochemical corrosion.

Introduction: In general, everyone believes that the smallest preterm infants should achieve normal intrauterine growth rates, but many thinks that this is not possible with current nutrition guidelines. There is resistance to giving enough nutrition for fear of "toxicity". The difference in weight Z-score between birth and a corrected gestational age (CGA) at discharge is assess in postnatal growth in our unit. Material and methods: An observational study was done between January 2018 and December 2020 where all cases that had ≤ 29 weeks of GA at birth and survived to 36 weeks corrected GA or that were discharged home. An aggressive nutrition protocol including parenteral as well as enteral nutrition was followed. Patients and their weight trajectory was plotted on the Fenton 2013 growth curve. The patients who had had a smaller WZP difference were also plotted. Results: A total of 32 cases were found. The median change in Z-score between birth and discharge of the whole group was -0.52 (IQR 0.53). Six of 32 (19%) had a more than one WZP, all of whom had severe pathologies. The median decline in Z score for this group with poor growth was 1.24 (IQR 0.22). There were 26 cases with a < 1 WZP (81%) and a median Z score fall of 0.39 (IQR 0.55). No important complications secondary to the ingested volumes or parenteral nutrition were reported. Conclusion: The group of cases with a > 1 WZP drop had severe pathologies. All the other cases had adequate growth parallel to normal weight growth charts and a few cases had some catch-up growth. The study showed that it is possible for many preterm infants to achieve normal intrauterine growth rates if they are given enough nutrition, but bigger multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Soft-Core architecture for Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) sampling is useful for mixed signal applications. Soft-core architecture for cutting edge odd or even ADC sampling with interface to block RAM memory has not been found. Soft-core architecture as a concept has become popular due to the advantage of customization for different applications as compared to general-core architecture suited for single application. The latest generation of piece wise sampling is odd sampling and was introduced in the second decade of the 20th century. Odd and even order sampling techniques are analogue in nature driven by a tuned (tuned for odd or even) mixer. This paper proposes a third-generation piece wise sampling with soft-core architecture that enables an option to select both odd and even while interfacing to memory mapping. The proposed odd/even has superior SNR performance of 6 dB as compared to existing architecture such as Mod-∆ which recorded worst performance of 18 dB. Advances in soft-core technology have allowed a niche odd/even switching field to be identified and studied, the study has also been extended to include memory architecture.

Face milling is a well known commercial process highly used in heavy industries that consumes high amount of power. Besides power issue, modern manufacturing industries are aiming for per part cost reduction keeping the product quality unimpaired. Unexpectedly if the part is rejected in any stage of manufacturing, the cost of manufacturing dramatically increases. Major cause of part rejection is excessive tool wear that imparts poor surface profile or catastrophic tool failure that causes adherence of broken tool debris onto machined surface. Furthermore, the tool wear is associated with sliding distance (frictional distance) and the tool life quantifies the cost of tools. As such, from the perspective of manufacturing industries it is imperative to optimize the surface quality parameter, cost of part, power consumption, and material removal – this is exactly what is accomplished here. By this work, it is possible to conserve power consumption, produce parts with lower cost, manufacture with uncompromising surface quality and enhanced material removal rate. Moreover, as intermediate factors of interest, the influences of sliding distance, tool life and tool flank wear on the overall machining performance are evaluated. The multi-objective optimization by Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) revealed that for improved product performance and fast manufacturing (case 1) optimum results are: feed per tooth fz = 0.25 mm/tooth, cutting speed vc = 392.6 m/min and cutting length l = 0.5 mm; for resource conservation (case 2) the optimum results are: feed per tooth fz = 0.125 mm/tooth, cutting speed vc = 392.6 m/min, cutting length l = 0.5 mm.

In this paper, we study the p-adic integral representation on Z_p of q-Bernoulli numbers arising from two variable q-Bernstein polynomials and investigate some properties for the q-Bernoulli numbers. In addition, we give some new identities of q-Bernoulli numbers.

This article, we study the sufficient conditions for the controllability of second-order impulsive partial neutral evolution differential systems with infinite delay in Banach spaces by using the theory of cosine families of bounded linear operators and fixed point theorem.

Space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry (InSAR) is now a key geophysical tool for surface deformation studies. The European Commission’s Sentinel-1 Constellation began acquiring data systematically in late 2014. The data, which are free and open access, have global coverage at moderate resolution with a 6 or 12-day revisit, enabling researchers to investigate large-scale surface deformation systematically through time. However, full exploitation of the potential of Sentinel-1 requires specific processing approaches as well as the efficient use of modern computing and data storage facilities. Here we present LiCSAR, an operational system built for large-scale interferometric processing of Sentinel-1 data. LiCSAR is designed to automatically produce geocoded wrapped and unwrapped interferograms and coherence estimates, for large regions, at 0.001° resolution (WGS-84 system). The products are continuously updated in a frequency depending on prioritised regions (monthly, weekly or live update strategy). The products are open and freely accessible and downloadable through an online portal. We describe the algorithms, processing, and storage solutions implemented in LiCSAR, and show several case studies that use LiCSAR products to measure tectonic and volcanic deformation. We aim to accelerate the uptake of InSAR data by researchers as well as non-expert users by mass producing interferograms and derived products.

Esophagogastric cancers are among the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. This review traces their chronology from 3000 BCE to the present. The first several thousand years were devoted to palliation, before advances in operative technique and technology led to the first curative surgery in 1913. Systemic therapies were introduced in 1910, and radiotherapy shortly thereafter. Operative technique improved massively over the 20th century, with operative mortality rates reducing from over 50% in 1933 to less than 5% by 1981. In addition to important roles in palliation, endoscopy became a key non-surgical curative option for patients with limited-stage disease by the 1990s. The first nonrandomized studies on combination therapies (chemotherapy +/- radiation +/- surgery) were reported in the early 1980s, with survival benefit only for subsets of patients. Randomized trials over the next decades had similar overall results, with increasing nuance. Disparate conclusions led to regional variation in global practice. Starting with the first FDA approval in 2017, multiple immunotherapies now encompass more indications and earlier lines of therapy. As standards of care incorporate these effective yet expensive therapies, care must be given to disparities and methods for increasing access.

We employ hierarchy of models (HoM) with 2, 3 and 4 parameters to reanalyze the nucleation kinetics in the electrodeposition as quantified by n(t) - “the number of nuclei vs. time” data obtained at different overvoltages from precise experiments on electrodeposition of Hg on two different types of Pt-cathodes by Ivan V. Markov and Evgenia Stoycheva [1]. The obtained two scales, nmax and , are used to rescale the original data mapping it on a master curve in coordinates . Our main result is obtained by studying further the dependence of these two scales on the overvoltage (analogue of supersaturation). Surprisingly, for one of the two cathode types - the “hemispherical single-crystal electrode” (as defined by the authors), there is discontinuity in the “ vs. overvoltage” dependence – an almost horizontal jump from 85 to 86 mV accompanied by a change in the slope of the dependence - it is ~ -1 and ~ -0.5 after. For the other cathode - “plane structureless platinum electrode”,  decreases smoothly. Combined, these two behaviors point at the so called “cusp catastrophe”. We compare our findings with published results on protein nucleation.

: Suicide is a serious public health problem, with a global mortality rate of 1.4% of all deaths worldwide, and the leading cause of unnatural death in Spain. The use of clinical simulation has proven to be a beneficial tool in the training of nursing students. Such experiences allow them to develop cognitive and affective skills that are fundamental for the detection of warning signs and use of interventions in cases of people who want to take their own lives. Working in a mental health environment can be difficult for nursing students; therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of nursing students on the approach, management and intervention of suicidal crisis through clinical mental health simulation. Methods: qualitative descriptive phenomenological study through focus groups and reflective narratives in a sample of 45 students. A thematic analysis was performed using ATLAS-ti. Results: After the analysis, three themes were obtained: (a) management and handling of emotions (b) identification of suicide motives (c) intervention in suicidal crisis. Discussion: Clinical simulation in mental health allows students to exercise clinical judgment reasoning, detect warning signs for a better treatment approach, and provide tools for effective intervention and management of patient care. The results of this study indicate that nursing students face challenges in approaching mental health clinical simulation due to lack of prior exposure.

With the increasing resistance of bacteria to current antibiotics, novel compounds are urgently needed to treat bacterial infections. Streptozotocin (STZ) is a natural product that has broad-spectrum antibiotic activity, albeit with limited use because of its toxicity to pancreatic β cells. In an attempt to derivatize STZ through structural modification at the C3 position, we performed the synthesis of three novel STZ analogues by making use of our recently developed regioselective oxidation protocol. Keto-STZ (2) shows the highest inhibition of bacterial growth (MIC and viability assays), but is also the most cytotoxic compound. Pre-sensitizing the bacteria with GlcNAc increased the antimicrobial effect, but did not result in complete killing. Interestingly, allo-STZ (3) revealed moderate concentration-dependent antimicrobial activity and no cytotoxicity towards β cells, and deoxy-STZ (4) showed no activity at all.

Background: The skin prick test (SPT) is used to diagnose sensitization to antigens. This study proposes a deep learning approach to infer wheal dimensions, aiming to reduce dependence on human interpretation. Methods: A dataset of SPT images (n=5844) was used to infer a convolutional neural network for wheal segmentation (ML model). Three methods for inferring wheal dimensions were evaluated: the ML model; the standard protocol (MA1); and approximation of the area as an ellipse using diameters measured by an allergist (MA2). The results were compared with assisted image segmentation (AIS), the most accurate method. Bland-Altman, distribution analyses, and correlation tests were applied to compare the methods. The study also compared the percentage deviation among these methods in determining the area of wheals with regular geometric shapes (n = 150) and with irregular shapes (n=150). Results: The Bland-Altman analysis showed that the difference between methods was not correlated with the absolute area. The ML model achieved a segmentation accuracy of 85.88% and a strong correlation with the AIS method (ρ=0.88), outperforming all other methods. Additionally, MA1 showed significant error (13.44±13.95%) for pseudopods. Conclusions: The ML protocol can potentially automate the reading of SPT, offering greater accuracy than the standard protocol.

The study of rare diseases is important not only for the individuals affected but also for the advancement of medical knowledge and a deeper understanding of human biology and genetics. The wide repertoire of structural information now available from reliable and accurate prediction methods provides the opportunity to investigate the molecular origins of most of the rare diseases reviewed in the Orpha.net database. Thus, it has been possible to analyze the topology of the missense mutations found in the 2,535 proteins involved in Mendelian rare diseases (MRD), which form the database for our structural bioinformatics study. The amino acid substitutions responsible for MRD show different mutation site distributions at different three-dimensional protein depths. We then predicted the depth-dependent effects of mutations for the 20,248 pathogenic variants that are present in our database. The results of this structural bioinformatics investigation are relevant, as they provide additional clues to mitigate the damage caused by MRD.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and encompasses two main subtypes, Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). IBD is frequently accompanied by extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs), with axial and peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA) being the most common. Enthesitis, an inflammation of the bone insertions of capsules, ligaments, and tendons, represents an initial lesion in SpA. However, enthesitis remains an underestimated and often obscured EIM. The early detection of subclinical enthesial involvement in IBD patients using ultrasound (US) could provide an opportunity for timely intervention. While previous meta-analyses have reported on the incidence and prevalence of SpA in IBD, specific attention to enthesitis has been lacking. Therefore, this narrative review aims to resume the current knowledge on existing IBD-SpA cohorts, focusing specifically on enthesitis.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an oncogenic virus that causes chronic liver disease in more than 80% of patients. During the last decade, efficient direct acting antivirals were introduced into clinical practice. However, clearance of the virus does not reduce risk of end-stage liver diseases to the level observed in patients that have never been infected. So, investigation of HCV pathogenesis is still warranted. Virus-induced changes in cell metabolism contribute to the development of HCV-associated liver pathologies. Here we studied the impact of the virus on the metabolism of polyamines and proline as well as on the urea cycle, which plays a crucial role in liver function. It was found that HCV strongly suppresses the expression of arginase, a key enzyme of the urea cycle, leading to accumulation of arginine and upregulates proline oxidase with a concomitant decrease in proline concentrations. Addition of exogenous proline moderately suppressed viral replication. HCV upregulated transcription but suppressed protein levels of polyamine-metabolizing enzymes. This resulted in a decrease in polyamine content in infected cells. Finally, compounds targeting polyamine metabolism demonstrated pronounced antiviral activity pointing to spermine and spermidine as compounds affecting HCV replication. These data expand our understanding of HCV’s imprint on cell metabolism.

There is remarkable morphologic and genetic heterogeneity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In a small percentage of cases of AML, increased eosinophils and/or basophils are present in the bone marrow and sometimes in the peripheral blood. This is often a puzzling diagnostic situation but also an important finding that requires special investigation. Unique chromosomal rearrangements have been correlated with an increased number of eosinophils and basophils in AML. Identification of the underlying genetic lesion that promotes eosinophilia and basophilia can dramatically change both the prognosis and the treatment of the patient. Thus clinicians must be vigilant in searching for the cause of eosinophilia and/or basophilia in patients with AML, since the different causes may lead to different treatments and survival outcomes. In this article we examine the significance of increased eosinophils and/or basophils in the context of AML, provide guidance that simplifies the differential diagnosis, and prognostic and therapeutic information about specific subtypes of AML associated with eosinophilia and/or basophilia. Evidence supporting personalized (molecularly targeted) therapy for these patients is also presented.

Bacteria play a key role in both human health and disease. One of the most prevalent harmful bacteria is E. coli which is responsible for several illnesses ranging from diarrhea, stomach cramp and fever. In this work we explore the application of moderate electric or magnetic fields for treating deionized water that is contaminated with E. coli. We found that moderate alternating electric (AC) fields (10 V/cm to 1kV/cm) and moderate static magnetic fields (10 to 65 mT) can significantly inactivate E. coli by up to 90% or more. This provides the possibilities of developing a low cost and a practical bacteria inactivation technique using electric or magnetic fields.

Fokker-Planck PDEs (incl. diffusions) for stable Lévy processes (incl. Wiener processes) on the joint space of positions and orientations play a major role in mechanics, robotics, image analysis, directional statistics and probability theory. Exact analytic designs and solutions are known in the 2D case, where they have been obtained using Fourier transform on $SE(2)$. Here we extend these approaches to 3D using Fourier transform on the Lie group $SE(3)$ of rigid body motions. More precisely, we define the homogeneous space of 3D positions and orientations $\mathbb{R}^{3}\rtimes S^{2}:=SE(3)/(\{\mathbf{0}\} \times SO(2))$ as the quotient in $SE(3)$. In our construction, two group elements are equivalent if they are equal up to a rotation around the reference axis. On this quotient we design a specific Fourier transform. We apply this Fourier transform to derive new exact solutions to Fokker-Planck PDEs of $\alpha$-stable Lévy processes on $\mathbb{R}^{3}\rtimes S^{2}$. This reduces classical analysis computations and provides an explicit algebraic spectral decomposition of the solutions. We compare the exact probability kernel for $\alpha = 1$ (the diffusion kernel) to the kernel for $\alpha=\frac12$ (the Poisson kernel). We set up SDEs for the Lévy processes on the quotient and derive corresponding Monte-Carlo methods. We verify that the exact probability kernels arise as the limit of the Monte-Carlo approximations.

The Puuc Biocultural State Reserve (PBSR is an unique model for tropical dry forest conservation in Mexico. Preserving forest biodiversity and carbon within the PBSR depends on the mainte-nance of low impact productive activities coordinated by multiple communal and private land-owners. In this study, we used state-of-the-art remote sensing data to investigate past spatial patterns in forest clearing dynamics and its relation to forest carbon density and forest plant species richness and diversity in the context of the forest conservation goals of the PBSR. We used a Landsat-based continuous change detection product for the 2000-2021 period and compared it to carbon density and tree species richness models generated from ALOS-2 PALSAR 2 imagery and national scale forest inventory data. The estimated error-adjusted area of detected annual forest clearings from the year 2000 until the year 2021 was 230,511 ha in total (+19,979 ha). The analysis of annual forest clearing frequency and area suggests that although forest clearing was significantly more intensive outside of the PBSR than within the PBSR during the entire 2000-2021 period, there is no evidence suggesting that the frequency and magnitude of forest clearing has changed over the years after the creation of the PBSR in 2011. An emergent hotspot analysis shows, however, that high spatiotemporal clustering of forest clearing events (hotspots) during the 2012-2021 pe-riod was less common than prior to 2011 and these more recent hotspots have been confined to areas outside the PBSR. After comparing forest clearing events to carbon density and tree species richness models, results show that land owners outside the PBSR often clear forests with lower carbon density and species diversity than land owners inside the PBSR. This suggests that, compared to land owners outside the PBSR, land owners within the PBSR might be practicing longer fallow periods allowing forests to attain higher carbon density and tree species richness and hence better soil nutrient recovery after land abandonment. In conclusion, our results show that the PBSR effectively acted as a stabilizing forest management scheme during the 2012-2021 period minimizing the impact of productive activities by lowering the frequency of forest clearing events and preserving late secondary forests within the PBSR. We recommend the continuation of efforts for providing alternative optimal field data collection strategies and modeling techniques to spatially predict key tropical forest attributes. The combination of these models with contin-uous change detection datasets will allow to reveal underlying ecological processes and generate information better adapted to forest governance scales.

Microplastics are a fast emerging group of contaminants. Their worldwide occurrence in water, sediment, and aquatic fauna raises questions and concerns as to their probable effects on aquatic life and ecology. This study investigates for the first time presence, abundance, and types of microplastics in water and sediment from a lagoon bordering the large urban agglomeration of Lagos in Nigeria, and renders additional information about grain size and sediment composition. Water and sediment samples were collected from four locations in the Lagos lagoon and a tributary. The abundance and distribution of microplastics in four range classes were determined for the sampled locations. Plastic particles were counted using digital microscopy, and identified with FTIR and pyrolysis GC-MS. The abundance of microplastics ranged from 310-2319 microplastic particles/kg in sediment, and 139-303 particles/m³ in water. The large discrepancy in the sediments can be explained by sediment characteristics as more microplastics were detected in the fine-grained sediments of Makoko. Fibres were the predominant shape found in all samples followed by fragments and few films whereas spheres were missing. Fibres were more abundant in water (92.6 %) than in sediments (32.5 %) while more fragments and foils occurred in sediments. The most commonly used polymers polypropylene and polyethylene were also the most detected ones in both matrices. Compared to other studies in Nigeria, our findings especially in the coarser sediments were lower while the fine-grained site revealed similar results.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 has been the greatest global threat to human health in the last three years. The most widely used methodologies for the diagnosis of COVID-19 are quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), used to detect the viral genome, and rapid antigen tests (RATs), also known as lateral flow tests, that employ specific antibodies to detect the viral spike protein. While PCR is considered the gold standard test in terms of specificity and sensitivity, it is time-consuming and requires specialized instrumentation operated by skilled personnel. In contrast, RATs can be used in-home or at point-of care but are less sensitive leading to a higher rate of false negative results. An alternative methodology for the detection of virus is the use of electrochemical biosensors that employ disposable strip electrodes to which binding of viral components elicits a change in electrical signal. Laser-scribed graphene (LSG) electrodes are attractive candidates for use as biosensors electrodes suitable for SARS-COV-2 detection due to their low-cost, patternability and ease of fabrication. In this work, we describe the development of a biosensor for COVID-19 detection that exploits a split-ester bond ligase system (termed ‘EsterLigase’) for immobilization of a virus-specific nanobody to maintain the out-of-plane orientation of the probe to ensure the efficacy of the probe-target recognition process. An anti-spike VHH E nanobody, genetically fused with the EsterLigase domain, was used as the specific probe for the spike receptor-binding domain (SP-RBD) protein as the target. The recognition between the two was measured by the change in the charge transfer resistance, determined by fitting the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) spectra. The developed LSG-based biosensor achieved a linear detection range for the SP-RBD from 15 pM to 150 nM with a sensitivity of 0.0866 [log(M)]-1 and a limit of detection (LOD) of 7.68 pM.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has proven to be effective in reducing the rate of recurrence and disease as secondary prevention (evidence-based intervention) in patients who have suffered from myocardial infarction (MI). CR is a multidisciplinary path in which the patient is followed pharmacologically, from a psychological, nutritional, nursing and physiotherapy point of view. Post-MI patients present a reduction in the performance of the diaphragm muscle, the main inspiratory muscle, and this condition can become a risk factor for further relapses or for the onset of heart failure. Despite the solidity of the international guidelines for CR, the latter are lacking in specifically indicating an evaluation and training path regarding the inspiratory muscles in post-MI patients who have not undergone cardiac surgery. The article reviews the information on the adaptation of the diaphragm post-MI and highlights the need for clearer indications for a rehabilitation process that gives importance to the diaphragm.

Cannabis has long been used for its medicinal and psychoactive properties. With the relatively new adoption of formal medicinal cannabis regulations worldwide, the study of cannabinoids, both endogenous and exogenous, has similarly flourished in more recent decades. In particular, research investigating the role of cannabinoids in regeneration and neurodevelopment has yielded promising results in vertebrate models. However, regeneration-competent vertebrates are few, whereas a myriad of invertebrate species have been established as superb models for regeneration. As such, this review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the endocannabinoid system, with a focus on current advances in the area of endocannabinoid system contributions to invertebrate neurodevelopment and regeneration.

The energy transition towards Net Zero Emission by 2060 hinges on the renewable energy power plants in Indonesia. Good practices in several countries suggest a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system using blockchain technology, supported by renewable energy (solar panels), an innovation to provide equal access to sustainable electricity while reducing the impact of climate change. The P2P energy trading concept has a higher social potential than the conventional electricity buying and selling approach, such as that of PLN (the grid management concept), but does not have a sharing element. This model implements a solar-powered mini-grid system and produces a Smart Contract that facilitates electricity network users to buy, sell, and trade electricity in rural areas via smartphones. This study aims to analyze the stakeholders' perceptions of the peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading model using blockchain technology in Gumelar District, Banyumas Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The stakeholders include households, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the State Electricity Company (PLN), the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Awina Company, and IPB University. The strength factors of this model are the freedom to generate and sell electricity (0.1) and transparency in electricity usage and sales by disclosing the amount, duration, and price of electricity (0.1). Regarding weakness factors, this model is primarily suitable for the lower middle class residing in rural or remote areas (0.02). Additionally, the intermittent electricity production to meet the substantial demand is a weakness (0.03). The opportunity factor for the model is the increase in public awareness and cooperation in using environmentally friendly, pollution-free electricity (0.12). Furthermore, there is an opportunity for additional income (0.12) and new business investment (0.12). Regarding threat factors, the model faces significant threats from the implementation aspect involving multiple parties (0.04). There is a potential threat in the form of losses for state utilities such as PLN or individuals who have already established electricity infrastructure if this program is implemented on a large scale (0.04). This model is located at the coordinate point (-0.40; 0.31), placing it in quadrant II. This indicates that the model should apply the Stability Strategy and focus on the Selective Maintenance Strategy for improvement. The stability strategy goal is to maintain the current situation by leveraging opportunities and addressing weaknesses. For effectiveness and efficiency, the strategy emphasizes fostering collaboration with PLN, which holds the legal authority as the sole utility company in Indonesia with an extensive electricity network, as well as advocating for regulations that support the independent purchase and sale of solar-powered electricity, particularly in areas without PLN network coverage.

Obesity and environmental toxins are risk factors for breast cancer, however there is limited knowledge on how these risk factors interact to promote breast cancer. Acrylamide, a probable carcinogen and obesogen, is a biproduct in foods prevalent in the obesity-inducing Western diet. Acrylamide is metabolized by cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) to the genotoxic epoxide, glycidamide, and is associated with increased risk for breast cancer. To investigate how acrylamide and obesity interact to increase breast cancer risk, female mice were fed a low-fat (LFD) or high-fat diet (HFD) and 0.7mM acrylamide-supplemented water or control water. While HFD significantly enhanced weight gain in mice, the addition of acrylamide did not significantly alter body weights compared to respective controls. Mammary epithelial cells from obese, acrylamide-treated mice had increased DNA strand breaks and oxidative DNA damage compared to all other groups. In vitro, glycidamide-treated COMMA-D cells showed significantly increased DNA strand breaks while acrylamide-treated cells demonstrated significantly higher levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species. Knockdown of CYP2E1 rescued the acrylamide-induced oxidative stress. These studies suggest that long-term acrylamide exposure through foods common in the Western diet may enhance DNA damage and CYP2E1-induced generation of oxidative stress in mammary epithelial cells, potentially enhancing obesity-induced breast cancer risk.

This study represents a significant stride in advancing furan chemistry, presenting the synthesis of high-molecular-weight polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) resin (Mw = 118,959 g/mol) from furfuryl alcohol (FA) using a co-catalytic system as against the conventional single-catalytic methods. The resulting PFA resin is fully characterised, and we conclude that it exhibits good shelf life and potential in diverse applications, serving as a standalone moulded material or contributing to composites, coatings, adhesives, and nanostructured carbons.

Even though inhalation dosimetry is determined by three factors (i.e., breathing, aerosols, and the respiratory tract), the first two categories have been more widely studied than the last. Both breathing and aerosols are quantitative variables that can be easily changed, while respiratory airway morphologies are difficult to reconstruct, modify, and quantify. Despite several methods are available for model reconstruction and modification, developing an anatomically accurate airway model and morphing it to various physiological conditions remains labor-intensive and technically challenging. The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of using an adjoint-CFD model to understand airway shape effects on vapor deposition and control vapor flux into the lung. A mouth-throat model was used, with the shape of the mouth and tongue being automatically varied via adjoint morphing, and the vapor transport being simulated using ANSYS Fluent coupled with a wall absorption model. Two chemicals with varying adsorption rates, Acetaldehyde and Benzene, were considered, which exhibited large differences in dosimetry sensitivity to airway shapes. For both chemicals, large shape deformations were explored to find the maximal possible morphing; both the maximal and intermediate deformations were simulated for morphology parametric studies. Results show that changing the mouth-tongue shape can alter the oral filtration by 3.2% for Acetaldehyde and 0.27% for Benzene under a given inhalation condition. This study demonstrates that the hybrid adjoint-CFD approach can be a practical and efficient method to investigate morphology-associated variability in inhalation dosimetry of vapors and nanomedicines.

Objective: The long-term care insurance (LTCI) system was introduced in 2000 to provide financial support for long-term care services to older adults. What is known on this topic report focuses on a comparative analysis of how the LTCI system has affected older people in Japan. Methods: We obtained data from the literature about the LTCI system, compared and analysed the collected articles, and concluded. Results: The LTCI system has improved access to long-term care services, with more older adults receiving care than before the system’s implementation. This service has improved the quality of life for many elderly individuals who require assistance with daily activities. Furthermore, the LTCI system has alleviated the financial burden of long-term care services since the insurance covers a large portion of the costs. It has made older adults maintain their independence and dignity, as they can afford the necessary care without relying solely on their savings or burdening their families. Conclusions: Japan’s LTCI system has positively impacted older adults by improving access to long-term care services and alleviating financial burdens. However, challenges such as increasing demand and variations in service quality need to be addressed to ensure the system effectively supports older people in Japan.

Ethanolic extracts of propolis collected from Apis mellifera hives have been shown to reduce Nosema ceranae infection in honey bee workers. This study aimed to determine the propolis concentration that optimizes the control of N. ceranae infection in honey bee workers. Newly emerged worker bees were individually fed 2 μL of 50% sucrose solution (w/v) containing 105 N. ceranae spores per bee, and treated with 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% ethanolic extracted propolis in 50% sucrose solution (v/v). The treated bees were maintained in cages at 34 ± 2˚C and 55 ± 5% RH throughout the study. The number of dead bees was counted and removed from the cages daily for 30 days to generate survival curves. The number of N. ceranae spores per bee (infectivity) was quantified using a hemocytometer, and the number of infected bees per hundred bees (infection rate) was determined. The survival rates of N. ceranae infected bees fed 25%, 50%, and 75% propolis (NP1, NP2, NP3, respectively) were significantly higher than those of infected bees not fed propolis (NO). Furthermore, the infectivity and infection rates of NP2 and NP3 groups were significantly lower than those of the NO group. The infectivity and infection rates of the NP1 group were not different than those of the NO group. Our data suggest that 50% and 75% propolis extracts are appropriate concentrations for treating N. ceranae infection in honey bees. Ethanolic extracted propolis can be an alternative treatment for N. ceranae infection in Western honey bees.

Climate change has emerged as a crucial global issue that significantly threatens the survival of plants. In particular, low temperature (LT) is one of the critical environmental factors that influence plant morphological, physiological, and biochemical changes during both the vegetative and reproductive growth stages. LT, including abrupt drops in temperature, as well as winter conditions, can cause detrimental effects on the growth and development of tomato plants, ranging from sowing, transplanting, truss appearance, flowering, fertilization, flowering, fruit ripening, and yields. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the comprehensive mechanisms underlying the adaptation and acclimation of tomato plants to LT at the morphological and the molecular levels. In this review, we discuss the previous and current knowledge of morphological and physiological changes, which contains major factors and traits associated with the LT stress response during the period of the vegetative and reproductive growth and development in tomato plants. Moreover, we highlight recent advances in the understanding of physiological and biochemical responses, and molecular mechanisms, including LT perception, signaling transduction, gene regulation, and fruit ripening and epigenetic regulation. The comprehensive understanding of LT response provides a solid basis to develop the LT-resistant varieties for sustainable tomato production under the ever-changing temperature fluctuations.

Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) cultivation is expanding worldwide being China, New Zealand and Italy the major producing countries. Halyomorpha halys, the brown marmorated stink bug, has been raising serious concerns to kiwifruit cultivation both in China and Italy. This study aimed at improving the chemical control efficacy against this pest by comparing two insecticide spray techniques (a conventional ray atomizer and a trumpet-modified atomizer adapted for localized spray application in kiwifruit). In fact, kiwifruit is often grown with a ‘pergola’ training system, which may reduce the effectiveness of insecticide penetration into the canopy. Experiments have been performed in naturally infested orchards of both Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis ‘Jintao’ and A. chinensis var. deliciosa ‘Hayward’ during two consecutive seasons. Furthermore, mesh cages, each containing three H. halys adults, were deployed in the orchards to assess the insects’ mortality at 1, 3, 7 and 10 days after the insecticide application with the two spray techniques. In the cultivar 'Jintao', the two systems performed similarly, while in the cultivar 'Hayward', an overall significantly higher insect mortality was recorded with the trumpet atomizer. The crop damage was also evaluated on both cultivars, simulating the grower insecticide applications with the two spray techniques. At harvest, no difference emerged between the spray techniques, which provided a significantly better protection compared to the untreated control. Further investigations in this direction are needed also considering the restriction of insecticidal active substances ongoing in European Union and the need to maximize the efficacy of the available tools.

Academic procrastination, more than merely postponing tasks, represents a significant failure in the self-regulation process of learning. Research on study skills highlights academic time management as one of the crucial elements of learning strategies and sustainable education. These abilities will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals fourth goal. Therefore, this study aimed to understand how students plan time management in school activities and its influence on study procrastination, analyzing differences between genders and the hours students spend studying. The Time Management Planning Inventory, the Study Procrastination Questionnaire, and a personal and school data sheet were used. A sample of 506 students from elementary schools in northern Portugal was utilized. The results revealed that gender and study hours significantly influence how students plan time management for school tasks in the short and long term. This variable also showed a significant impact on the procrastination of study activities. The practical implications of this study are substantial, as they provide educators and researchers insights into the factors influencing academic procrastination and the role of time management planning and study hours. These insights can be applied to develop effective strategies to reduce academic procrastination and promote sustainable education.

This research project aimed to address the growing concern about methane emissions from seaweed by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model capable of accurately predicting these emissions. The study used PANDAS to read and analyze the dataset, incorporating statistical measures like mean, median, and standard deviation to understand the dataset. The CNN model was trained using the ReLU activation function and mean absolute error as the loss function. Model performance was evaluated through MAPE graphs, comparing the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) between training and validation sets and between true and predicted emissions, and analyzing trends in yearly greenhouse gas emissions. The results demonstrated that the CNN model achieved a high level of accuracy in predicting methane emissions, with a low MAPE between the expected and actual values. This approach should enhance our understanding of methane emissions from Sargassum, contributing to more accurate environmental impact assessments and effective mitigation strategies.

The integration of magnetic observatories of many countries into the Intermagnet network has provided researchers with new opportunities to investigate many geophysical processes. The joint processing of measurement evidence from magnetic observatories located in various geolocations makes it possible to better understand the dynamics of the interaction of solar plasma fluxes with the Earth's magnetosphere. For the correct interpretation of the dynamics of physical processes, the accuracy of the time reference of measurement results is of great importance. The measurement results of local observatories were transformed to a unified ecliptic coordinate system oriented towards the Sun in order to extract small variations in the magnetic field occurring before the magnetic storm commencement. Before transforming the coordinates, a constant component equal to the average daily value of the magnetic field components was removed from the results of minute-by-minute measurements. Owing to the averaging evidence from 84 magnetic observatories of the Intermagnet network, variations in the magnetic field of cosmic origin, preceding the magnetic storm commencement were detected. The correlation analysis of these variations recorded by different observatories revealed the presence of time shifts between the data series of different observatories. Only 62% of the observatories had a relative data shift within the range of ± 1 minute. Before the joint data processing in order to efficient use of data recorded with a time shift a method for correcting time shifts has proposed.

Let BT4l denotes a subclass of bounded turning functions connected with a four-leaf-type domain. The goal of the study is to probe into coefficients of |b6|, |b7|, |b8|, the bounds of the logarithmic coefficients and the third-order determinants of H3,1, H3,2, H3,3 for functions in this class.

This study aims to spatially analyze the distribution characteristics of vacant homes in Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and understand the differences in factors causing vacant homes by type. We use a variety of statistical methods to examine these factors and identify key influencing factors such as the number of vacant stores, changes in overall population, land use complexity, and physical characteristics of land and buildings. The findings reveal that the factors contributing to the occurrence of vacant homes vary significantly by region and property type, highlighting the need for region-specific policies. For instance, in old town areas, small lot ratios and land use complexity are significant, while in rural village, the average number of floors and land use complexity play a major role. This study underscores the diversity of factors influencing vacant homes, suggesting that policies should be tailored to the unique characteristics of different regions to effectively address this issue.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) stands as a pivotal technological stride toward a sustainable future, with the practice of injecting supercritical CO2 into subsurface formations having already been an established practice for enhanced oil recovery operations. The overarching objective of CCS is to protract the operational viability and sustainability of platforms and oilfields, thereby facilitating a seamless transition towards sustainable practices. This study introduces a comprehensive framework for optimizing well placements in CCS operations, employing a derivative-free method known as Bayesian optimization. The development plan is tailored for scenarios featuring aquifers devoid of flow boundaries, incorporating production wells tasked with controlling pressure buildup and injection wells dedicated to CO2 sequestration. Notably, the wells operate under group control, signifying predefined injection and production targets and constraints that must be adhered to throughout the project’s lifespan. As a result, the objective function remains invariant under specific permutations of the well locations. Our investigation delves into the efficacy of Bayesian optimization under the introduced permutation invariance. The results reveal that it demonstrates critical efficiency in handling the optimization task extremely fast. In essence, this study advocates for the efficacy of Bayesian optimization in the context of optimizing well placements for CCS operations, emphasizing its potential as a preferred methodology for enhancing sustainability in the energy sector.

A systematic study has been conducted on barbiturate complexes of all five alkali metals Li–Cs prepared from the metal carbonates or hydroxide in aqueous solution without other potential ligands present, varying the stoichiometric ratio of metal ion to barbituric acid (BAH). Eight polymeric compounds (two each for Na, K, and Rb and one each for Li and Cs) have been characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. All contain some combination of barbiturate anion BA− (necessarily in a 1:1 ratio with the metal cation M+), barbituric acid, and water. All organic species and water molecules are coordinated to the metal centres via oxygen atoms as either terminal or bridging ligands. Coordination numbers range from 4 (for the Li complex) to 8 (for the Cs complex). Extensive hydrogen bonding plays a significant role in all the crystal structures, almost all of which include pairs of N–H…O hydrogen bonds linking BA− and/or BAH components into ribbons extending in one dimension. Factors influencing the structure adopted by each compound include cation size and reaction stoichiometry as well as hydrogen bonding.

Disk galaxies have a typical dimension of few tens of thousands of light years. It follows from the theory of general relativity that any signal originating from the galactic center will be noticed at the outskirts of the galaxy only tens of thousands of years later. This retardation effect is absent in modelling used to calculate rotation curves throughout the entire galaxy and its external gas. The considerable differences between Newtonian action at a distance predictions and observed velocities are currently removed either by assuming dark matter or by suggesting various modifications to the laws of gravity, MOND being a long standing alternative to Newtonian gravity. In previous papers we have shown that applying general relativity in a rigorous fashion without mindlessly neglecting retardation, one can explain the radial velocities of galactic matter without modifying gravity or adding unseen matter. Moreover, it was shown that dark matter effects as they appear in gravitational lensing, the Tully-Fisher relation, and mass estimations based on the virial theorem could also be explained as retarded-gravity effects. In the original main paper on the subject only one galaxy (M33) was analysed in detail. This was later amended somewhat with a published study of eleven galaxies. Here we give a more comprehensive retardation analysis of 143 galaxies of different types from the SPARC Galaxy collection. We show that in most cases we obtain an excellent fit without postulating dark matter or modifying general relativity.

Purpose of review The forest industry has deployed ICTs to improve productivity of forest supply chains. In this sense, digitalization of data flows significantly impacts wood supply chains, from forest to mills, which must react flexibly to market fluctuations of forest products. The goal of this study was to conduct a literature review on data flow implementations in management systems of wood supply chains and to evaluate their applicability in supply chains to analyze the opportunities for improving them in practice. Recent findings We utilized the ScienceDirect database, Scopus and Web of Science in order to document data flows in systems and actual applications. Due to ongoing outsourcing, the wood procurement chains, and the wood supply chains were identified in the forest industry. Several different technologies can be implemented also in wood supply chains to digitalize the data flow depending on the specific needs of organizations. In this regard, digitalization of Big Data causes significant changes in elements of supply models that should be integrated and standardized in the optimization and simulation systems. Summary A modelling guide is suggested for accurate dynamic solution of problems of forest logistics. Then, the opportunities in digitalization for connecting different data flows, technologies, and stakeholders are discussed thoroughly. We conclude that data-driven dynamic optimization, and locally implemented digitalization contributes to wood supply modeling in the establishment of standards for cloud-based platforms at time-related and sequential measures which will ensure successful forest logistics through the planning and the monitoring of wood supply chains.

Introduction: Rotavirus-induced acute diarrhoea continues to pose a significant health threat to children under 5 years old worldwide, despite the availability of effective vaccines. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, associated risk factors, and circulating genotypes of rotavirus among children under 5 admitted to Ikom Medical Centre due to diarrhea. Methodology: Stool samples were collected from 294 children under 5 with diarrhoea at Ikom Medical Centre. Rotavirus antigen detection was performed using rapid chromatographic immunoassay. Molecular techniques such as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), RT-PCR, and semi-nested multiplex RT-PCR were used to analyze rotavirus strains. Data were obtained through questionnaires, and statistical significance was assessed using the chi-square test (P < 0.05). Results: Among the 294 samples, 20.4% (60/294) tested positive for rotavirus. Significant risk factors influencing rotavirus prevalence included feeding status, toilet system, and duration of diarrhoea. The most prevalent genotype for VP7 was G4 (26.7%), and for VP4, it was genotype P[4] (23.3%). Predominant genotype combinations were G4P [4] (11.6%) and G12P[4] (6.7%), while non-typeable P[NT] was observed in 41.7% of cases. Conclusion: This study highlights the circulation of rotavirus in Ikom, Cross River State, emphasizing its neglected status despite its significant global impact on child mortality. Urgent attention is needed to address rotavirus as a serious public health concern, particularly in low-resource settings.

Canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) is caused by different viruses and bacteria. Viruses associated with CIRDC include canine adenovirus-2 (CAV-2), canine distemper virus (CDV), canine influenza virus (CIV), canine herpesvirus (CHV), canine coronavirus (CCoV) and canine parainfluenza virus (CPIV). Bacteria associated with CIRDC include Bordetella bronchiseptica, Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus, and Mycoplasma spp. The present study examined the prevalence of pathogens associated with CIRDC in specimens received by a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Georgia from 2018 to 2022. Out of 459 cases, viral agents were detected in 34% cases and bacterial agents were detected in 58% cases. A single pathogen was detected in 31% cases, while two or more pathogens were identified in 24% cases. The percentages of viral agents identified were CAV-2 (4%), CDV (3%), CPIV (16%), CCoV (7%), and CIV (2%). The percentages of bacterial agents were Bordetella bronchiseptica (10%), Mycoplasma canis (24%), Mycoplasma cynos (21%), and S treptococcus zooepidemicus (2%). Positive viral cases ranged from 2-4% for CAV-2, 1-7% for CDV, 1-4% for CHV, 9-22% for CPIV, 4-13% for CCoV, and 1-4% for CIV. Overall, the study showed that the most prevalent pathogens associated with CIRDC during the study period were CPIV, M. canis, and M. cynos.

The study, conducted at the Department of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College and associated Lok Nayak Hospital, aimed to investigate the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia among anaemic overweight and obese individuals. Fifty participants were included after screening and consent, undergoing socio-demographic assessment, clinical evaluation, and laboratory investigations. Middle to old-aged individuals predominated (Mean ± SD: 54.54 ± 11.32 years), with females comprising 62%. All subjects were obese (mean BMI: 37.27 ± 5.71 kg/m²), with common comorbidities including hypertension (68%), diabetes (36%), and obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (32%). Nutritional deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency, were prevalent, affecting 62% of subjects, with 48% having iron deficiency alone. Anemia of chronic illness was observed in 38%. Laboratory parameters showed low hemoglobin (8.53 ± 1.23 g/dL), MCV (78.75 ± 10.13 fL), and elevated ESR (20.56 ± 21.47 mm/hour) and CRP levels (4.71 ± 3.32 mg/dL), indicating inflammation. Correlation analyses revealed negative associations between BMI and serum iron/ferritin and positive associations with serum hepcidin. The study underscores the significance of addressing nutritional deficiencies and monitoring iron status in obese populations, suggesting potential associations between obesity and iron metabolism. Further research is needed to explore these relationships for clinical management implications.

This article provides a detailed analysis of non-invasive techniques for prediction and diagnosis of faults in internal combustion engines, focusing on the application of the Proknow-C and Methodi Ordinatio systematic review methods. Initially, the relevance of these techniques in promoting energy sustainability and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is discussed, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement. The systematic review conducted in the subsequent sections offers a comprehensive mapping of the state-of-the-art, highlighting the effectiveness of combining these methods in categorizing and systematizing relevant scientific literature. The results reveal significant advancements in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital signal processors (DSP) to enhance fault diagnosis, as well as underscore the crucial role of non-invasive techniques in minimizing interference in monitored systems. Finally, concluding remarks point towards future research directions, emphasizing the need to develop digital twins for internal combustion engines and identify gaps for further improvements in fault diagnosis and prediction techniques.

Holographic subsurface radar (HSR) is currently not in widespread usage. This is due to an historical perspective in the ground penetrating radar (GPR) community that the high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in most media of interest, and the inability to apply time-varying gain to the continuous wave (CW) HSR signal precludes sufficient effective penetration depth. While it is true that the fundamental physics of HSR, with its use of a CW signal, does not allow amplification of later (i.e. deeper) arrivals in lossy media (as is possible with impulse subsurface radar — ISR), HSR has distinct some distinctive advantages. The most important of these is the ability to do shallow subsurface imaging with a resolution that is not possible with ISR. In addition, the design of an HSR system is simpler than for ISR due to the relatively low-tech transmitting and receiving antennae. This paper provides a review of the main principles of HSR through an optical analogy and describes possible algorithms for radar hologram reconstruction. We also present a review of the history of development of systems and applications for HSR of the “RASCAN” type which is possibly the only holographic subsurface radar that is produced in lots. Among the subsurface imaging and remote sensing applications considered are humanitarian demining, construction inspection, surveys of historic architecture and artworks, nondestructive testing of dielectric aerospace materials, security applications, paleontology, detection of wood-boring insect damage, and others. Each application is illustrated with relevant data acquired in laboratory and/or field experiments.

Holographic subsurface radar (HSR) is currently not in widespread usage. This is due to an historical perspective in the ground penetrating radar (GPR) community that the high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in most media of interest, and the inability to apply time-varying gain to the continuous wave (CW) HSR signal precludes sufficient effective penetration depth. While it is true that the fundamental physics of HSR, with its use of a CW signal, does not allow amplification of later (i.e. deeper) arrivals in lossy media (as is possible with impulse subsurface radar — ISR), HSR has distinct some distinctive advantages. The most important of these is the ability to do shallow subsurface imaging with a resolution that is not possible with ISR. In addition, the design of an HSR system is simpler than for ISR due to the relatively low-tech transmitting and receiving antennae. This paper provides a review of the main principles of HSR through an optical analogy and describes possible algorithms for radar hologram reconstruction. We also present a review of the history of development of systems and applications for HSR of the “RASCAN” type which is possibly the only holographic subsurface radar that is produced in lots. Among the subsurface imaging and remote sensing applications considered are humanitarian demining, construction inspection, surveys of historic architecture and artworks, nondestructive testing of dielectric aerospace materials, security applications, paleontology, detection of wood-boring insect damage, and others. Each application is illustrated with relevant data acquired in laboratory and/or field experiments.

Small scale carp polyculture plays a key role for food supply in Bangladesh, however, factors including water pollution, limited infrastructure and inadequate disease management hinder its sustainability. This paper reports on a survey of 231 farmers across the 6 major carp producing regions in Bangladesh, analyzing factors including, farmers’ social aspects, farm characteristics, information on disease and approaches adopted to combat them, and biosecurity practices. Almost half (46.8%) of the farms surveyed experienced disease in carp species, with clear regional variations. Eighty four percent of farms reported carp mortalities during disease outbreak, with an average mortality level 10.23±11.81%. Clinical signs during outbreaks lasted between a week and a month, and there was a peak in disease outbreaks in two seasonal periods between June to July and October to December. Disease incidence was related to a range of factors including the farmer experience, ponds/farm type, stocked species, and biosecurity practice. A combination of disinfecting measures during pond preparation and measures during stocking, including discarding fingerling transport water off-farm, fingerling disinfection and check the health of fingerlings before stocking significantly reduced disease occurrence. Treatments involving the antibiotics, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, and azithromycin were reported as ineffective, raising concerns about non-prudent use, inadequate dosing (perhaps without appropriate veterinary guidance) and the potential for further driving antimicrobial resistance in the environment. The research unveils a concerning pattern of disease high disease incidence across small-scale carp farms in Bangladesh and the significant potential for disease spread highlights the need for responsible disposal practices. The study emphasizes the need for improving training and awareness programs are vital for addressing biosecurity and disease management challenges, ensuring sustainable aquaculture and community well-being.

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa) is a species representative of the Suina, one of the four suborders within Cetartiodactyla. In this paper, we reported our analysis of the pig TRG locus in comparison with the loci of species representative of the Ruminantia, Tylopoda and Cetacea suborders. The pig TRG genomic structure reiterates the peculiarity of the organization of Cetartiodactyla loci in TRGC “cassettes”, each containing the basic V-J-J-C unit. Eighteen genes arranged in four TRGC cassettes, form the pig TRG locus. All the functional TRG genes were expressed, and the TRGV genes preferentially rearrange with the TRGJ genes within their own cassette, which correlates the diversity of the gamma-chain repertoire with the number of cassettes. Among them, the TRGC5, located at the 5’ end of the locus, is the only cassette that retains a marked homology with the corresponding TRGC cassettes of all the analyzed species. The preservation of the TRGC5 cassette for such a long evolutionary time presumes a highly specialized function of its genes, which could be essential for the survival of species. Therefore, the maintenance of this cassette in pigs confirms that it is the most evolutionarily ancient within Cetartiodactyla, and it has undergone a process of duplication to give rise to the other TRGC cassettes in the different artiodactyl species in a lineage-specific manner.