This article describes the study and digital implementation of a system onboard a TMS 3208F28335 ® DSP for vector control of the bearing motor speed with 4 poles split winding with 250W of power. Smart techniques: ANFIS and Neural Networks were investigated and computationally implemented to evaluate the bearing motor performance under the following conditions: operating as an estimator of uncertain parameters and as a speed controller. Therefore, the MATLAB program and its toolbox were used for the simulations and the parameter adjustments involving the structure ANFIS (Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System) and simulations with the Neural Network. The simulated results showed a good performance for the two techniques applied differently: the estimator and a speed controller using both a model of the induction motor operating as a bearing motor. The experimental part for velocity vector control uses three control loops: current, radial position, and speed, where the configurations of the peripherals, that is, the interfaces or drivers for driving the bearing motor.

There are different ways to analyse energy absorbance (EA) in the human auditory system. In previous research, we developed a complete finite element model (FEM) of the human auditory system. In this mentioned work, the external auditory canal (EAC), middle ear, and inner ear (spiral cochlea, vestibule, and semi-circular canals) were modelled based on human temporal bone histological sections. Multiple acoustic, structure and fluid-coupled analyses were conducted using the FEM to perform harmonic analyses in the 0.1–10 kHz range. Once the FEM had been validated with published experimental data, the FEM numerical results were used to calculate the EA or energy reflected (ER) by the tympanic membrane. This EA was also measured in clinical audiology tests which were used as a diagnostic parameter. A mathematical approach was developed to calculate the EA and ER, with numerical and experimental results showing adequate correlation up to 1 kHz. Another published FEM had adapted its boundary conditions to replicate experimental results. Here, we recalculated those numerical results by applying the natural boundary conditions of human hearing and found that the results almost totally agreed with our FEM. This boundary problem is frequent and problematic in experimental hearing test protocols: the more invasive they are, the more the results are affected. One of the main objectives of using FEMs is to explore how the experimental test conditions influence the results. Further work will still be required to uncover the relationship between the middle ear structure and EA to clarify how to best use FEMs. Moreover, the FEM boundary conditions must be more representative in future work to ensure their adequate interpretation.

Quantitative evaluation of the musical timbre and its variations is important for the analysis of audio recordings and computer-aided music composition. Using the FFT acoustic descriptors and their representation in an abstract timbral space, variations of a sample of monophonic sounds of chordophones (violin, cello) and aerophones (trumpet, transverse flute, and clarinet) sounds are analyzed. It is concluded that the FFT acoustic descriptors allow us to distinguish the timbral variations of the musical dynamics, including crescendo and vibrato. Furthermore, using the Random Forest algorithm, it is shown that the FFT-Acoustic provides a statistically significant classification to distinguish musical instruments, family of instruments, and dynamics. We observed a better behavior for the FFT-Acoustic descriptors when classifying pitch compared to some timbral features of Librosa.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale in the context of outdoor physical activities. In order to do this, we carried out a research in some Primary and Secondary school l located in western Andalucía (Spain), with kids aged 9-12 years old [M= 11.22; SD= 1.07), therefore a sample of 455 students (228 boys= 50.1% 227 girls = 49.9% = 50.1) was used]. Descriptive, exploratory and confirmatory analyses were conducted. We also analyzed several factors such as internal consistency, composite reliability, average variance extracted and convergent validity. Afterwards, differences by gender and school year were also studied. Data showed the need to eliminate many of the items from the original scale, giving as a result a model of 5 items with satisfactory fit in the confirmatory analysis. The ANOVA statistical test carried out in terms of sex and school year didn’t show any tangible difference between the target groups.

This work explored and contrasted the effect of microstructure on the tensile properties of AlSi10Mg alloys generated by transient directional solidification depending on variations in cooling rate and Magnesium (Mg) content (i.e., 0.45 and 1wt.% Mg), with a focus on understanding the dendritic growth and phases constitution. Optical and Scanning electron (SEM) microscopies, CALPHAD and thermal analysis were used to describe the microstructure, forming phases and resulting tensile properties. The findings showed that the experimental evolution of the primary dendritic spacing is very similar when both directionally solidified (DS) Al-10wt.% Si-0.45wt.% Mg and Al-10wt.% Si-1wt.% Mg alloys samples are compared. The secondary dendritic spacing was lower for the alloy with more Mg, especially considering the range of high growth velocities. Moreover, a greater fraction of (Al+Si+Mg2Si) ternary eutectic islands surrounding the -Al dendritic matrix was noted for the alloy with 1wt.% Mg. As a result of primary dendritic spacings greater than 180 m related to lower cooling rates, slightly higher tensile properties were attained for the Al-10wt.% Si-0.45wt.% Mg alloy. In contrast, combining dendritic refining (< 150 m) and larger Mg2Si fraction, fast solidified DS Al-10wt.% Si-1wt.% Mg samples exhibited higher tensile strength and elongation. The control of cooling rate and fineness of the dendritic array provided a new insight related to the addition of Mg in slightly higher levels than conventional ones, capable of achieving a better balance of tensile properties in AlSi10Mg alloys.

Solid waste management is challenging in many countries, especially developing economies. The impacts of the pandemic continue to be felt and have indicated secondary impacts on waste management. This work draws on data on household solid waste (HSW), healthcare waste (HCW), and recyclables collected in the Rio de Janeiro municipality, analyzed from January 2018 to December 2022. As expected, the collection of HCW in Rio de Janeiro municipality experienced a noticeable increase in 2020 and 2021, with an average of 46.9 tons and 54.3 tons collected, respectively. Notably, 2021 saw a significant 30% increase compared to 2019 (p-value<0.001). No significant difference was observed in recyclables collected from 2018 to 2021. The average recyclable amount was 3,638 and 3,747 tons per month in 2020 and 2021. In contrast, the monthly amount was equal to 4,819.5 tons in 2022, representing an increase higher than 32% compared to previous years (p-value<0.05). Our findings can be used to adapt and improve waste systems to cope with similar emergency scenarios in the future, serving as a template for municipalities with similar challenges.

This paper conducts an extensive literature review focusing on the utilisation of crack tip plasticity as a crucial parameter in determining and enhancing crack growth models. The review encompasses a comprehensive analysis of various methodologies, predominantly emphasising numerical simulations of crack growth models while also considering analytical approaches. Although experimental investigations are not the focus of this review, their relevance and interplay with numerical and analytical methods are acknowledged. The paper critically examines these methodologies, providing insights into their advantages and limitations. Ultimately, this review aims to offer a holistic understanding of the role of crack tip plasticity in the development of effective crack growth models, highlighting the synergies and gaps between theoretical, experimental, and simulation-based approaches.

This article presents a method that uses a semi-automatic algorithm for the detection and analysis of microcracks in steel test specimens using binarized image analysis. It obtains the length along the crack path in contrast to previous methods that have obtained linear length, thereby achieving a closer approximation to its actual value. Additionally, this method automatically calculates the COD and COA parameters with measurement deviations in micrometres, thus providing greater precision than previous methods proposed to date.

Asthma is a significant public health concern. This study identified the provinces with the highest morbidity and mortality rates due to asthma among the working-age population (15-69 years) in the Republic of Ecuador. The secondary objective was to explain the possible differences attribut-able to occupational exposure. This nationwide ecological and exploratory study was conducted in 24 provinces between 2016 and 2019. Government databases were used as sources of infor-mation. Standardized rates were calculated for codes the J45 and J46. The hospitalization mor-bidity rate for asthma decreased from 6.51 to 5.76 cases per 100,000 working-age population, and the mortality rate has consistently been low and stable from 0.14 to 0.15 deaths per 100,000 working-age population. Geographic differences between the provinces were evident. The risk of hospitalization and death due to asthma was higher in the Pacific coast (five provinces) and the Andean region (two provinces). The high rates observed in provinces with greater agricultural and industrial development could be the main determinants of national heterogeneity and could act as occupational risk factors. The contribution of occupational hazards in each province should be examined in depth through ad hoc studies. These findings provide valuable information for creating public policies aimed at promoting and safeguarding the respiratory health of the popu-lation, particularly that of workers.

In the provinces of the region, empirical constructions reached maximum points with these practices. The effects and pathologies appear as physical, chemical and mechanical failures in pillars, walls and roofs, generating uncertainty for the user. The current powerful design can detect the interior deterioration of coatings in adobe, brick and concrete constructions, and prevent collapses, material and economic losses. Experimental methods performed affirm the serious validity. The accuracy of the simulation and design provide a pre-test reliability of 95%. Five piles constructed of various materials participate in the prototype performance test, there is a correlation (R=0.9997) between the magnetic field range "B" (cm) and density "ρ" (g/cm³), also by increasing the current (i) in transit Q1 and coil L1, the induction of the "B" increases proportionally until penetrating the density of the wall of the building, having 5% reading error.

In this paper, the power quality of interconnected microgrids is managed using a Model Predictive Control (MPC) methodology which manipulates the power converters of the microgrids in order to achieve the requirements. The control algorithm is developed for the microgrids working modes: grid-connected, islanded and interconnected. The results and simulations are also applied to the transition between the different working modes. In order to show the potential of the control algorithm, a comparison study is carried out with classical Proportional-Integral Pulse Width Modulation (PI-PWM) based controllers. The proposed control algorithm not only improves the transient response in comparison with classical methods but also shows an optimal behavior in all the working modes, minimizing the harmonics content in current and voltage even with the presence of non-balanced and non-harmonic-free three-phase voltage and current systems

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) requires a complete staging at diagnosis that may have prognostic and therapeutic implications. The role of bone marrow (BM) biopsy (BMB) is contro-versial in the era of nuclear-imaging techniques. We performed a comparative review of 25 studies focused on BM evaluation at DLBCL diagnosis, including at least two of the following techniques: BMB, flow cytometry, and positron emission tomography (PET-FDG). The report about BM involvement (BMi), diagnostic accuracy and prognostic significance was collected and compared among techniques. A concordance analysis between BMB, FCM and PET was also per-formed, and we deeply evaluated the implications of the different types of BMi: concordant by LBCL or discordant by low-grade B-cell lymphoma for both BMB and FCM, and focal or diffuse uptake pattern for PET. As main conclusion, BMB, FCM and PET are complementary tools which provide different and clinically relevant information in the assessment of BMi in newly DLBCL.

One of the most common complications of neurogenic bladder secondary to spinal cord injury (SCI) is urinary incontinence, possibly related to bladder-emptying methods and changes in quality of life. This study aimed to identify the occurrence of this complication in adults with SCI and analyze its relationship with bladder-emptying methods, satisfaction, and lifestyle. This is a quantitative, exploratory, cross-sectional study. The variables were collected using the Bowel and Bladder Treatment Index during a telephone interview with 290 participants from February to November 2021. According to the results, 70% of the participants were male and 74.1% performed clean intermediate catheterization (CIC) as the main bladder-emptying method. Moreover, 55.6% were considered incontinent in the last year. Emptying by normal urination and bladder reflex triggering had a statistically significant relationship with urinary incontinence. A statistical association was observed between all the variables of satisfaction and lifestyle with urinary incontinence. Although CIC reduced urine leakage, a considerable number of participants still presented with frequent urine leakage. Urinary incontinence negatively altered satisfaction with the bladder-emptying method, effectiveness of bladder management, quality of life, and personal and social relationships.

Understanding tourist behaviour during and after major tourism crises is essential to help destinations recover. The COVID-19 pandemic, a period of uncertainty and risk, makes it relevant to assess factors that influence travel intentions. There has been little research on tourist behaviour during health crises and, in particular, on perceived health risk and uncertainty effects on travel intentions. This study was carried out during the first months of the pandemic in Brazil and aims to investigate the role of health risk perception and intolerance of uncertainty on travel intentions for 2020 and 2021. We applied an online survey to 1,150 Brazilian participants from March to May of 2020. Our findings indicate that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived probability of contracting it, and expected pandemic duration are significant predictors of travel intentions for both years. This paper sheds new light on tourist behaviour in the context of global health crises.

In Tunisia, olive is the most cultivated fruit crop while in the north where rainfall exceeded 400mm.year-1, the olive growing area is in widely extension in marginal soil with high slope gradient. Thus, the inclusion of cover crops is a sustainable solution to increase the ecosystem productivity, improve the soil fertility and oil yields. But, in Tunisia a few study were investigated the effect of legumes cover crop on the olive productivity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term (two cropping seasons s 2021 and 2022) effects of different seeded cover crops and soil management practices on the cover crops and soil characteristics, as well as enzymes activities and related microbial diversity. Six intercropping were tested in rainfed olive orchards (cv.Chétoui): Spontaneous vegetation (Spont), Wheat, Vetch, Oat, Fenugreek, mixture Vetch-Oat and compared to control (3 periodic tillage/year without intercropping). During the first cropping season, cover crops were cut as animal feed and only residues were incorporated into the soil. While, during the second year, all cover crops biomass were incorporated into the soil. Results indicate that the dry biomass and carbon uptake were significantly higher in grasses species (Wheat and Oat). But, highest level of nitrogen was found in Fenugreek cover crops. As compared to control, all cover crops including spontaneous vegetation increased soil organic matter and macronutrient level, mainly phosphorus. The most activity of β-glucosidase, phosphatase and arysulphatase was found in the cover crops plot of wheat and oat. In addition, this study improve that the utilization of the carbon sources was dominated by amides, amine and amino-acids in the fenugreek plot; while it was dominated by polymers and carboxylic acids in the case of wheat and oat.

Antisepsis of the hands of medical personnel is one of the most important steps in the process of patient care, since direct contact can cause the cross-transfer of potentially pathogenic microorganisms at surgical sites.This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of microorganisms on the hands of 131 surgeons in a university hospital before the surgical procedure. Swabs were collected from each clinician's hands before and after handwashing. The samples were placed in a transport medium and immediately delivered to a private Clinical Analysis Laboratory from São Luis-Maranhão. The microorganisms were identified by ionization source mass spectrometry and matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI-TOF), and antibiotic susceptibility tests (AST) were performed using the Vitek2 automated system. The results showed a high frequency (100%) of microorganisms before handwashing, but after surgical antisepsis, the rate dropped significantly (p&lt;0.05) to 27.5%. Gram-positive cocci and rods were the most common microbes, followed by gram-negative bacilli species. The effectiveness of hand antisepsis was 72.5%. The ideal would be 100% efficacy, that is, 0% microorganisms in all surgeons. It is logical that the presence of any organism, no matter how infrequent it may be, will always represent a great risk of postoperative infection for any patient.

The development of the smart city concept and the inhabitants’ need to reduce travel time, as well as society’s awareness of the reduction of fuel consumption and respect for the environment, lead to a new approach to the classic problem of the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) applied to urban environments. This problem can be formulated as “Given a list of geographic points and the distances between each pair of points, what is the shortest possible route that visits each point and returns to the departure point?” Nowadays, with the development of IoT devices and the high sensoring capabilities, a large amount of data and measurements are available, allowing researchers to model accurately the routes to choose. In this work, the purpose is to give solution to the TSP in smart city environments using a modified version of the metaheuristic optimization algorithm TLBO (Teacher Learner Based Optimization). In addition, to improve performance, the solution is implemented using a parallel GPU architecture, specifically a CUDA implementation.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) inhibition by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on grip force modulation (GFM) for both hands during a unimanual task. Methods: GFM induced by manual action-verb listening was evaluated for each hand in a unimanual task, and the motor-evoked potentials (MEP) were recorded for both left and right hemispheres prior to and following the left IPS inhibition. Left IPS inhibition was obtained by rTMS (5 min of 1.0 Hz, 60% of maximal stimulator output) of the international 10–20 system P3 point. Seven healthy right-handed subjects were evaluated. Results: One-way repeated measures ANOVA found that MEP amplitude and duration increased following IPS inhibition in the left hemisphere and did not change in the right hemisphere. Language-induced modulation did not change in the left hemisphere, while it was significantly attenuated in the right hemisphere. Since IPS inhibition increased the left primary motor cortex (M1) excitability, the maintenance of language-induced modulation intensity suggests it was also attenuated. Conclusion: Left IPS inhibition increased left M1 excitability without changing right M1 excitability, while attenuating the language-induced GFM for both the left and right hands.

Abstract: MicroRNAs can interfere with a protein function by suppressing their messenger RNA translation or the synthesis of its related factors. The function of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is essential to the proper formation and function of the nervous system and is seen to be regulated by many microRNAs. However, understanding how microRNAs influence BDNF actions within cells requires a wider comprehension of their integrative regulatory mechanisms. Aim: In this literature review, we have synthesized the evidence of microRNA regulation on BDNF in cells and tissues, and provided an analytical discussion about direct and indirect mechanisms that appeared involved in BDNF regulation by microRNAs. Methods: Searches were conducted on PubMed.gov using the terms “BDNF” AND “MicroRNA” and “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” AND “MicroRNA”, updated on September 1st, 2023. Papers without open access were requested from the authors. One hundred and seventy-one papers were included for review and discussion. Results and Discussion: The local regulation of BDNF by microRNAs involves a complex interaction between a series of microRNAs with target proteins that can either inhibit or enhance BDNF expression, at the core of cell metabolism. Therefore, understanding this homeostatic balance provides resources for the future development of vector-delivery-based therapies for the neuroprotective effects of BDNF.

Introduction: The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Spanish prison institutions has led to a series of necessary changes to adapt and provide an effective response. Materials and Methods: This research was conducted from an interpretative paradigm with a phenomenological perspective, interpreting the experiences of nursing professionals in Spanish prison institutions. Focus groups were conducted with professionals who worked before and after the emergence of antiretroviral treatments through the Microsoft Teams platform, using the ATLAS Ti v.9 software. The project received approval from the Ethics Committee of the UJI university. Results: Limited dissemination of news in the press regarding HIV/AIDS and Spanish prisons was observed. Changes occurred in organizational, material, and personnel resources, requiring adaptation among nursing professionals. The available resources and difficulties are described, along with patient perspectives, the role of professionals, their environment, and their experiences, both positive and negative. Discussion and Conclusions: There is minimal visibility of the problem, and a description is provided of an adaptation process to the environment compatible with the Callista Roy´s model.

The growing urgency for sustainable energy solutions necessitates a deeper understanding of the environmental impacts of renewable technologies. This article aims to synthesize and analyze Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) in this domain, providing a comprehensive perspective. We systematically categorize 2,923 articles into four communities: (1) Photovoltaic systems, (2) Wind energy systems, (3) Materials for auxiliary industry of photovoltaic and wind systems, and (4) Solar thermal systems. A comparative analysis is conducted to identify methodological consistencies and disparities across these communities. The findings reveal diverse methodological approaches and a range of environmental impacts, highlighting the complexities in assessing renewable energy systems. The article underscores the significance of material selection in photovoltaic and wind systems, providing a critical overview of the current state of LCA research in renewable energy and stressing the need for standardized methodologies. It also identifies gaps in recent research, offering insights for future studies focused on integrating environmental, economic, and social considerations in renewable energy assessments.As a case study, an LCA was used to evaluate two energy supply methods for a sensor network: one connected to the public grid and another powered by a photovoltaic panel. The off-grid system, while more environmentally friendly by reducing reliance on non-renewable energy sources, posed challenges due to the high environmental impact of battery production and disposal. Integrating environmental assessments provides a robust framework for making informed decisions on sustainable technologies. The findings are critical for projects that balance technological needs with sustainability goals.

(1) Context: Cancer triggers significant changes in family dynamics. It is noteworthy that coping and problem-solving skills, particularly in situations involving cancer in children and adolescents, have not been adequately explored in the context of family adaptation. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of family interventions in coping to improve problem-solving skills in parents and/or caregivers of children and adolescents during and after oncological treatment. (2) Methods: This is a scoping review following the recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute and the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR), from 2014 to 2024, in the databases LILACS, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PUBMED. (3) Results: Forty-five studies were eligible. Coping strategies were categorized as follows: (1) positive attitudes (including a sense of courage and hope, family support to enhance resilience, and future planning), (2) caregiver empowerment (involving acceptance of diagnosis, emotional distancing, and coping through religiosity), and (3) communication skills (encompassing professional communication, horizontal dialogue with healthcare teams, and sincere communication with friends and family). (4) Conclusions: Over time, families develop coping and problem-solving strategies that influence changes in family functioning patterns, aiding them in accepting, reinterpreting, and reframing ideas and feelings associated with neoplasia.

The body of evidence available in paediatrics population is limited for making clinical decisions regarding pharmacotherapy optimization of tacrolimus. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of CYP3A5 genetic polymorphisms and their relationship with tacrolimus requirements in paediatric population. This was a longitudinal cohort study, with two-year follow-up of 77 patients under 18 who had liver transplant over the period 2009-2012 at the Paediatric Hospital J. P Garrahan. Tacrolimus levels from day 5 to 2-year post-transplant were obtained from hospital records of routine therapeutic drug monitoring. The genotyping of CYP3A5 (CYP3A5*1/*3 or *3/*3) were performed in liver biopsies of both the donor and the recipient. Recipients frequency of CYP3A5 *1 expression was 37.1% and 32.2% for Donors. Patient who received an organ expresser showed lower Co/dose especially after 90 days post-surgery. The role of each polymorphism is different according to days after transplantation proceeds and it must be taken into account to optimize the benefits of TAC therapy during the post-transplant induction and maintenance phase.

Background: School meals represent a significant supply of nutrients for children in Brazil, especially those in conditions of social vulnerability. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) in meals served in public elementary schools in four municipalities in the state of Bahia, Brazil, and assess the risk posed to children's health. Methods: Ninety-six samples were collected from 16 schools, freeze-dried, and subjected to microwave-assisted digestion. The As, Cd, and Pb levels were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The risk assessment was based on calculating each element's hazard quotient (HQ). Results: None of the samples reached or exceeded the tolerable levels for the elements analyzed. Pb was the metal that obtained the most significant result, reaching maximum levels of 39-157 µg.kg-¹. Conclusions: No element exceeded the PTWI proposed by JECFA; thus, the toxic metal content in school meals poses a negligible risk to children´s health.

The alcoholic fermentation process with agitation/static, followed by the acetic fermentation submerged in banana was evaluated. Kinetics parameters of alcoholic fermentation for the maximum ethanol/glycerol metabolites in agitated process was 29 and 27 h, and in static 47 and 45 h, respectively. For acetic fermentation, the kinetics parameters were medium time of 39.9 h, acetic acid yield of 53.1% and acetic acid productivity of 0.216 g/Lh. Wines from agitated/static process presented 5.73 and 6.81% (v/v) of alcohol content, respectively. Wine obtained by the static process presented higher concentrations of volatile compounds. The vinegar showed 49.2 g/L of acetic acid and the esters concentrations were higher than in wine. The wine and vinegar minerals were consistent with amount observed in the pulp, with an increase in sulphur concentration after alcoholic fermentation and decrease after acetic fermentation. Products showed chemical and composition of sensory and nutritional interest.

The giant challenge breeding flood-irrigated rice is to identify superior genotypes that present high-yielding with specific grain qualities, resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, excellent adaptation to the target environment. Thus, the objectives of this study were to propose a bayesian multi-trait model, estimate genetic parameters, and select flood-irrigated rice genotypes with better genetic potentials in different evaluation environments. For this, twenty-five rice genotypes belonging to the flood-irrigated rice improvement program were evaluated. The grain yields, grain length, width and thickness, grain length, and grain width and weight of 100 grains in the agricultural year 2016/2017. The experimental design used in all experiments was a randomized block design with three replications. The Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm estimated genetic parameters and genetic values. The grain thickness trait was considered highly heritable, with a credibility interval ranging from: h^2: 0.9480; 0.9440; 0.8610, in environments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The grain yields showed a low correlation estimate between grain thickness and 100-grain weight, in all environments, with a credibility interval ranging from (ρ= 0.5477; 0.5762; 0.5618 and 0.5973; 0.5247; 0.5632, grain thickness and 100-grain weight, in environments 1, 2, and 3, respectively). The Bayesian multi-trait model proved to be an adequate strategy for the genetic improvement of flood-irrigated. Genotypes 2 and 15 had similar potential in the three environments, they should be selected as high-performance multi-trait genotypes for the genetic breeding of flood-irrigated rice in the program.

So that the levels of water stress are not harmful to the development of the crop and affect its productivity, its detection and monitoring are necessary, and it can occur in different ways. One of them is through the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI). This index quantifies water stress through the normalization of leaf temperature between the maximum and minimum plant temperatures as a function of evaporation conditions. The responses of a low-cost infrared (IR) sensor were crossed with image processing through segmentation by the Excess Green model to develop a water stress detection system using CWSI. A soil/plant temperature map was generated through a point-to-point scan of the IR sensor. And when it overlaid with a segmented image of the experimental area, only points identified as plants had their temperature values maintained. The Non-Water-Stressed Baseline (NWSB) equation was parameterized for the same conditions of the experiment and external environmental. The experimental area was divided into three different treatments, maintained under stable water conditions throughout the experiment and the system was able to identify stably different stress values between treatments. Although the relationship between crop and environment affected the results, this work showed that using an irrigation system based on CWSI is possible.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most common type of genetic variation found in individual’s DNA sequences. SNPs can occur in both coding and non-coding regions of the genome and can affect gene expression, protein function, and disease susceptibility. In this systematic review we evaluate the influence of SNPs as a biomarker in the assessment of oral mucositis (OM) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. The study selection process involved screening 66 articles from different platforms, and after removing duplicates and excluding irrelevant articles, 23 articles were included for full-text evaluation. The main characteristics and findings of the selected articles are presented and discussed. We conclude that SNPs can be used as a reliable biomarker for the assessment of OM in HNC patients, and further research is needed to explore the potential of SNPs in personalized medicine for HNC treatment.

The description of stellar interiors remains as a big challenge for the nuclear astrophysics community. The consolidated knowledge is restricted to density regions around the saturation of hadronic matter $\rho _{0} = 2.8\times 10^{14} {\rm\ g\ cm^{-3}}$, regimes where our nuclear models are successfully applied. As one moves towards higher densities and extreme conditions up to five to twenty times $\rho_{0}$, little can be said about the microphysics of such obejects. Here, we employ an MCMC strategy in order to access the variability of polytropic three-pircewised models for neutron star equation of states. With a fixed description of the hadronic matter we explore a variety of models for the high density regimes leading to stellar masses up to 2.5 $M_{\odot}$. In addition, we also discuss the use of a Bayesian power regression model with heteroscedastic error. The set of EoS from LIGO was used as inputs and treated as data set for testing case.

Efficient alternatives in energy production and consumption are constantly investigated by increasingly strict policies. In this way, the pollutant emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect reduce and sustainability of the electricity sector increase. With more than a third of the world's energy consumption, buildings have great potential to contribute these sustainability goals. Additionally, with growing incentives in the Distributed Generation (DG) and Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, it is believed that Smart Buildings (SBs) can be a key in the field of residential energy sustainability in the future. In this work, an energy management system in SBs are developed to reduce the power demanded of a residential building. In order to balance the demand and power provided by the grid, microgrids such as Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), EVs and Photovoltaic Generation panels (PV) are used. Here, a Mixed Binary Linear Programming formulation (MBLP) is proposed to optimize the charge and discharge scheduling of EVs and also BESS. In order to show the efficiency of the model, a case study involving three scenarios and an economic analysis is considered. The results point a 65% reduction in peak load consumption supplied by grid and a 28.4% reduction in electricity consumption costs.

Nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H) is a multipurpose material with its varied application in solar cells as a transparent front contact, intermediate reflector, back reflector layer and even tunnel layer for passivating contacts, owing to easy tailoring of its optical properties. In this work, we systematically investigate the influence of gas mixture (SiH4, CO2, PH3 and H2), RF power and process pressure on the optical, structural and passivation properties of thin n-type nc-SiOx:H films prepared in an industrial, high throughput, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactor. We provide a detailed description of the n-type nc-SiOx:H material develop-ment using various characterization techniques (SEM, EDX, Raman spectroscopy, and spectro-scopic ellipsometry) with a focus on the relationship between the material properties and the pas-sivation they provide to n-type c-Si wafers characterized by their effective carrier lifetime (τeff). Further, we also outline the parameters to be kept in mind while developing different n-type nc-SiOx:H layers for different solar cell applications. We report a tunable optical gap (1.8 – 2.3 eV) for our n-type nc-SiOx:H films as well as excellent passivation properties with τeff up to 3.5 ms (iVoc ~ 715 mV) before annealing. Oxygen content plays an important role in determining the crystallinity and hence passivation quality of the deposited nanocrystalline silicon oxide films.

Abstract: Panfacial fractures are complex injuries involving multiple regions of the facial skele-ton simultaneously, which may necessitate multiple surgeries over a relatively short period. They are often associated with polytrauma and other injuries including brain trauma, which re-quire either immediate airway management, prolonged intubation, or repeated intubations for staged surgeries. Given the frequent need for intermaxillary fixation and the potential involve-ment of the central nasal complex or skull base, conventional oro-tracheal or nasotracheal intu-bation often presents challenges. Submental intubation is the most reported method of airway management with the aim to avoid tracheostomy and its related complications. A review of the different techniques of airway management in the elective treatment of panfacial fractures was performed focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Most of the literature consisted of retrospective studies, with only one prospective study comparing submental intu-bation to tracheostomy in panfacial fractures. There is abundant literature that favours the sub-mental intubation for its rapid establishment and low complication rate. Other techniques less reported were retromolar intubation, nasotracheal to orotracheal switch, tracheostomy or crico-thyroidotomy. An algorithm for the management of the airway in panfacial fractures is pre-sented.

Geoenvironmental engineering involves defining solutions for complex problems, such as containment systems management, contaminant transport control, wastewater management, remediation of contaminated sites and valorization of geomaterials and wastes. In the last years, energy harvesting (EH) - or energy scavenging - methods and technologies have been developed to reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources, namely fossil fuels, and nuclear power, also responding to the increase of energy demands for human activities and to fulfill sustainable development goals. EH in geoenvironmental works and surrounding soil and water environment include a set of processes for capturing and accumulating energy from several sources considered deemed wasted or unusable associated to soil dynamics, stress and strain of geomaterials, hydraulic, vibrations, biochemical, light, heating and wind sources can be potential EH systems. Therefore, this work presents a review of the literature and critical analysis on the main opportunities for EH capturing, accumulating and use in geoenvironmental works, among basic electric concepts and mechanisms, analyzing those works in complex conditions involving biological, chemical, mechanical, hydraulic, and thermal coupled actions, concluding with the main investigation and challenges within geoenvironmental aspects for EH purpose.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection triggers various events from molecular to tissue level, which in turn is given by the intrinsic characteristics of each patient. Given the molecular diversity characteristic of each cellular phenotype, the possible cytopathic, tissue and clinical effects are difficult to predict, which determines the heterogeneity of COVID-19 symptoms. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2 on various cell types, focusing on the development of COVID-19, which in turn may lead, in some patients, to a persistence of symptoms after recovery from the disease, a condition known as long COVID. We describe the molecular mechanisms underlying virus-host interactions, including alterations in protein expression, intracellular signaling pathways, and immune responses. In particular, the article highlights the potential impact of these cytopathies on cellular function and clinical outcomes, such as immune dysregulation, neuropsychiatric disorders, and organ damage. The article concludes by discussing future directions for research and implications for the management and treatment of COVID-19 and Long-COVID.

The unstable international economic situation is reflected in the supply chain stress, lack or increased cost of some raw materials, fuel or semi-finished products is forcing organizations to perform new optimization initiatives in the utilization of their equipment and assets pointed to obtain the maximum value from them, while maintaining and even improving the quality of their products. The achievement of these objectives involves the reduction or minimization of equipment downtime to maintain the advantage over their competitors and ensure the organization's competitiveness. The intelligent maintenance system (IMS) provides adequate support for decision-making related to equipment maintenance, since poor maintenance results in unplanned stoppages, with the consequent additional cost and increased customer dissatisfaction, and an over-maintenance can result in an additional labor cost, time and the replacement of parts that are in good conditions. The utilization of new tools and technologies introduced by Industry 4.0 offers multiple opportunities for enhancement through communication and computerized data processing, aiming to improve the maintainability of a hydrogen compressor using neural networks based on attention mechanisms combined with linear regression.

The industry is increasingly relying on fish for toxicity assessment. However, current guidelines for toxicity assessment focus on teratogenicity and mortality. From an ecotoxicological point of view, however, these endpoints may not reflect the “full picture” of possible deleterious effects that can nonetheless result in decreased fitness and/or inability to adapt to a changing environment, affecting whole populations. Therefore, assessing sublethal effects add relevant data covering different aspects of toxicity at different levels of analysis. Impacts of toxicants on neurobehavioral function have the potential to affect many different life-history traits, and are easier to assess in the laboratory than in the wild. We propose that carefully-controlled laboratory experiments on different behavioral domains – including anxiety, aggression, and exploration – can increase our understanding of the ecotoxicological impacts of contaminants, since these domains are related to traits such as defense, sociality, and reproduction, directly impacting life-history traits. The effects of selected contaminants on these tests are reviewed, focusing on larval and adult zebrafish, showing that these behavioral domains are highly sensitive to small concentrations of these substances. These strategies suggest a way forward on ecotoxicological research using fish.

Considering the various problems caused by infiltration in civil construction, this study aimed to identify the most appropriate waterproofing methods for different types of surfaces. A study was conducted on the mechanisms of water infiltration on surfaces and the waterproofing methods available on the market, focusing on asphalt blankets, in addition to a literature review highlighting state-of-the-art on this topic. A case study was also conducted in residence in Nova Lima, Brazil, analyzing different waterproofing techniques, including their characteristics and stages. Among the conclusions, it is highlighted that the implementation of adequate project, installation, inspection, and maintenance techniques can significantly reduce the waterproofing failure rate and repair costs and that the excellent choice of materials, along with the skill of the labor force in the application, is fundamental to guarantee the adequate performance of these materials in buildings.

In this paper we use the Mellin convolution theorem, which is related to Perron's formula. Also we introduce new explicit formulae for arithmetic function which generalize the explicit formulae of Weil for other arithmetic functions different from the Von-Mangoldt function.

Commonly, professors, students and researchers from universities around the world use software distributed under a license agreement for computer simulation purposes, which requires a computer with considerable hardware capabilities. Consequently, this implies a high cost to conduct simulations that require implementing numerical methods in all areas of engineering, particularly in the field of robotics and nonlinear control. This paper presents the design and results analysis of a low-cost and open-source frugal computer simulation tool with applications to robotic nonlinear control, for instance, for numerical simulations of manipulator robot control based on dynamic models. Using a single board minicomputer with with reduced computing power, Raspberry Pi, together with free software, GNU-Octave, trajectory tracking control simulations in the joint space of a Selective Conformal Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) are achieved by solving a system of nonlinear differential equations, represented in matrix form, which includes the control law and the system model. The results of the proposed alternative are compared by running the same simulation code on a laptop computer using MATLAB and GNU Octave, which show minimal deviations and reasonable time complexity. Moreover, considering the frugality curve calculated for this approach, in addition to the low acquisition cost of the simulation software tool, it would allow the creation of a simulation laboratory in some universities with budgetary constraints for educational and research purposes.

The international literature shows a polarised debate on the impacts of climate change on migration. Some studies find a positive linkage, whereas others find a negative one. It is, without a doubt, a complex process better considered case-specific. There is no available information on the relationship between climate change and migration in Colombia, despite past research exploring each of these subjects independently. This study intends explicitly to investigate this linkage gap. Consequently, this paper's essential contribution is that it builds a bridge between climate change scenarios and migratory science for the first time in Colombia. Despite their limitations, the theoretical and methodological framework suggested by IOM (2009b pp. 86, Section B, Chapter II) is demonstrated in this study to be very valid since it provides a methodology to predict where future flows will occur (based on past evidence). The methodological approaches of SLA and NELM explained in section A in the IV Chapter are also valuable for analysing and approaching this study's conclusions. The primary conclusions of this study indicate that the "Coffee Region," Valle, and Atlantic (or Caribbean Coast) provinces that mainly send emigrants to Spain and the US are the key internal regions responsible for most of the international migration from Colombians. The same areas are especially vulnerable to the impacts of upcoming climate change in the A1B scenario produced by the IDEAM (2010) for 2040 and 2100. Thus, future flows of migrants are expected from these regions (2040-2100). However, issues such as visa requirements or the costs associated with migration constitute international barriers to this flow. The sensitivity of these regions can also be associated with internal migration flows, more armed conflict, and forced displacement in a cyclical process. Theoretically, a resurgence of Colombia's armed conflict and displacement due to climate change can be expected. However, the need for empirical studies in Colombia to support this analysis is imperative and is the most crucial recommendation arising from this study.

Buildings are subject to intrinsic and extrinsic failures at all stages of the construction process, i.e., design to occupancy (i.e., use) as several failure types can affect them. There are three basic steps for researching building failures: listing, cataloging, and solving/deciding whether highlighting the least invasive and lowest cost intervention. Therefore, this research presents some methods used in construction for the intervention prioritization and seeks to illustrate the most suitable methodology for different settings failure x diagnosis x intervention. Therefore, the most traditional tools are shown: BASICO, SWIFT, FEMEA, AAF, and GUT matrix, where a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses is carried out. After that, a case study on maintenance services for the moisture on the building facades was performed. Finally, the GUT matrix and the FMEA method are the best results

The partial information decomposition (PID) framework is concerned with decomposing the information that a set of random variables has with respect to a target variable into three types of components: redundant, synergistic, and unique. Classical information theory alone does not provide a unique way to decompose information in this manner and additional assumptions have to be made. Inspired by Kolchinsky's recent proposal for measures of intersection information, we introduce three new measures based on well-known partial orders between communication channels and study some of their properties.

The main objective of this work is to study the effects of carbon nanotubes (CNT) on the strength and electrical properties of cement mortar. Molecular dynamic simulations (MDS) were carried out for the mechanical and electrical properties of the cementitious composite and the associated mechanisms. To model the atomic structure of the Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates (C-S-H) gel, tobermorite 11Å was chosen. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) embedded in tobermorite structure were tested numerically. In particular, the effect of the concentration of CNT in cement paste was studied. An innovative experiment of electrical characterization of a cementitious composite of carbon nanotubes has been developed.

In this work, an embroidered textile moisture sensor is presented. The sensor is based on a capacitive interdigitated structure embroidered on a cotton substrate with an embroidery conductor yarn composed by 99% pure silver plated nylon yarn 140/17 dtex. In order to evaluate the sensor sensitivity, the impedance of the sensor has been measured by means of a LCR meter from 20 Hz to 20 kHz on a climatic chamber with a sweep of the relative humidity from 25% to 65% at 20 ºC. The experimental results show a clear and controllable dependence of the sensor impedance with the relative humidity. Moreover, the reproducibility of the sensor performance subject to the manufacturing process variability and washing process is also evaluated. The results show that the manufacturing variability introduce a moisture measurement error up to 4%. The washing process impact on the sensor behavior after applying the first washing cycle implies a sensitivity reduction higher than 14%. Despite these effect, the textile sensor keeps its functionality and can be reused in standard conditions. Therefore, these properties point out the usefulness of the proposed sensor to develop wearable applications on health and fitness scope including the user needs to have a life cycle longer than one-time use

The aim of the present study was to investigate the acute effect of caffeine supplementation on performance in official soccer matches. In double-blind, randomized crossover design, 13 professional soccer players performed two complete matches, with Caffeine (CAF) (6 mg/kg) and placebo (PLA) supplementation. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed that there was no effect of supplementation on the total distance covered (p = 0.536; ŋp² =0.033) or the total distance covered at different speeds (p = 0.453; ŋp² = 0.048), acceleration or deceleration (p = 0.387; ŋp² = 0.063) number of sprints (p = 0.521; µ² = 0.035) Heart Rate mean (p = 0.484; ŋp² = 0.042) Heart Rate maximum (p = 0.110; ŋp² = 0.199), Rate Perceived Effort (p = 0.151) or efficiency index (p = 0.480). Therefore, acute caffeine supplementation not effective to increase the performance of soccer players in official matches.

Background: The objectives were to evaluate: the safety and immunogenicity of nonavalent human papillomavirus (nHPV) vaccine in adult Spanish women living with HIV (WLHIV); the prevalence of anal and cervical dysplasia and nHPV vaccine genotypes in anus and cervix; and risk factors for high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in anal mucosa. Methods In this single-center, open-arm, non-randomized clinical trial, nHPV vaccine was administered at 0, 2, and 6 months to WLHIV enrolled between February 2020 and November 2023, measuring vaccine antibody titers pre-vaccination and at 2, 6, and 7 months after the first dose. Cervical and anal cytology and HPV PCR genotyping studies were performed. Women with abnormal cytology and/or anal or cervical HPV infection at baseline underwent high-resolution anoscopy and/or colposcopy. Results: 122 participants were included with mean age of 49.6 years: 52.5% smoked; 10.7% had anal-genital condylomatosis; 38.5% infection by HR-HPV in anus and 25.4% in cervix, most frequently HPV-16; 19.1% had AIN1 and 3.1% CIN1 and CIN2. Vaccine administration did not modify viral-immunological status (CD4 [809±226.8 cells/uL vs. 792.35 ±349.95; p=0.357]) or plasma HIV load (3.38±4.41 vs. 1.62±2.55 cop/uL [log]; p=0.125). Anti-HPV antibodies ([IQR: 0-0] vs. 7.63 nm [IQR: 3.46-19.7]; p=0.0001) and seroconversion rate (8.2% vs. 96.7% [p=0.0001]) were increased at 7 versus 0 months. There were no severe vaccine-related adverse reactions; injection-site pain was reported by around half of participants. HR-HPV infection in anus was solely associated with concomitant cervix infection (HR 5.027; 95% CI: 1.009-25.042). Conclusions: nHPV vaccine in adult WLHIV is immunogenic and safe.

The growing interest related to the proposal of formal definition of a new geological period that has being called “Anthropocene” has introduced a buzzing dynamics in the scientific community, but its conduct is perhaps due to various interests involved in a discussion that has long surpassed the contours of the so-called “Geosciences”. Themes such as “Climate Change or Drift”, “Global Warming”, “Massive Extinction of Species” and “Loss of bio and geodiversity”, among others, are the wheel of a geomorphogenetic dynamics of anthropocentric origin, which leads the debate. But are the conditions for the formal establishment of a new morphosedimentary cycle following the Meghalayanian (Upper Holocene) Age? This work pursues a line of thought that seeks to answer these and other questions, based on the official position of the institutes that have the scientific competence for the formalization under consideration, and the formal criteria that should be considered for this purpose.

This paper outlines the ongoing development of a specialised mobile application to address the mental health needs of vulnerable populations in the European Union (EU). Conducted as a mixed-methods research within two EU Science and Technology Cooperation Actions, the study prioritises stakeholder feedback to identify features for initial testing and strategies to improve application uptake, using critical digital health analysis. With a focus on marginalised groups such as refugees, migrants and socio-economically disadvantaged individuals, the application aims to provide an accessible and culturally sensitive platform for mental health support, integrating evidence-based interventions such as cognitive behavioural techniques and mindfulness exercises. Key features include multilingual support, habit tracking, personalised recommendations for support and services, and real-time crisis intervention. Collaboration with stakeholders and ongoing rigorous usability testing are driving the refinement process to ensure usability, acceptability and effectiveness, underscoring the importance of user engagement in technology-based mental health interventions in the EU context and highlighting the importance of collaborative science and technology for societal benefit.

Spinal cord injury is a traumatic injury that causes a catastrophic state in patients due to neuronal deficits, loss of motor and sensory function, and this is due to secondary deleterious events subsequent to mechanical damage that expands the death of neural cells beyond the initial trauma. One of the most important events is inflammation, which activates molecules like pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha) that provoke a toxic environment, inhibiting axonal growth and exacerbating CNS damage. As there is no effective treatment, one of the strategies developed is neuroprotection to preserve healthy neural tissue and reduce neuroinflammation. Some of the neuroprotective treatments that have been practiced are the use of cell therapy, the administration of peptides and molecules or supplements that have been shown to favor an anti-inflammatory environment, and help to preserve the cells and tissues surrounding the injured area, favoring axonal growth and improving locomotor function. In this review we will explain some of these strategies used in different animal models of spinal cord injury, their activity as modulators of the immune system and the benefits they have shown.

Recently Palle has investigated the chiral vorticity and Cartan torsion in neutrino asymmetries. In his case he addressed this problem in Goedel s like anisotropic Einstein-Catan cosmology. In this paper we discusse how these ideas applied to sheared Bianchi types I Einstein-Cartan (EC) neutrino amisotropic cosmology, affect the handness of neutrinos in the universe. Actually here a novel concept of the chiral metric is introduced where metric functions also possess two distinct signs as in neutrino flipping or helicity. The axial anomaly equation for neutrinos in the presence of torsion and metric chirality is shown to produce left-handed neutrinos from right-handed torsion. Metric chirality is shown to be able to define how the metric would behave far away of neutrino density. Chiral flipping of the chiral neutrinos in the presence of torsion is also investigated. It is shown that when the chiral torsion is left-handed the chemical chiral potential vanishes as the universe expands.

The cell’s capacity to integrate and respond to spatial information is a crucial feature of morphogenesis and development. The Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) pathway is a signaling mechanism, widely conserved across metazoans, providing spatial orientation along the plane of an epithelium in morphogenic processes ranging from insect wing patterning to mammalian cochleae. Although the core genes involved in the PCP pathway have been molecularly identified in the 1990s, the PCP signaling mechanism remains controversial. In this article I discuss the main players and previous models of PCP signaling reported in the literature, and propose a new model. According to it PCP is established through an homophobic signal by transmembrane protein Frizzled (Fz): 1) a Fz signal in one cell repeals Fz itself in the adjacent cell, thereby generating symmetry breaking; 2) the instructive PCP signal is conveyed through Fz interaction with atypical cadherin Flamingo (Fmi). More broadly, homophobic signaling may represent a novel mechanism for cell-cell signaling of spatial information through modulation of cell adhesion rather than canonical ligand-receptor binding.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an essential analyte for detecting neurodegenerative diseases and in-flammatory processes and plays a crucial role in pharmaceutical, food industry, and environmental monitoring. However, conventional H2O2 detection methods have drawbacks such as lengthy analysis time, high costs, and bulky equipment. Non-enzymatic sensors have emerged as promising alternatives to overcome these limitations. In this study, we introduce a simple, portable, and cost-effective non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor based on carbon black (CB) and silver nano-particle-modified δ-FeOOH (Ag/δ-FeOOH), integrated into a disposable electrochemical cell (DCell). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), confirmed successful CB and Ag/δ-FeOOH immo-bilization on the DCell working electrode. Electrochemical investigations revealed that the DCell-CB//Ag/δ-FeOOH sensor exhibited an approximately twofold higher apparent heterogene-ous electron transfer rate constant than the DCell–Ag/δ-FeOOH sensor, capitalizing on CB ad-vantages. Moreover, the sensor displayed excellent electrochemical response for H2O2 reduction, boasting a low detection limit of 22 µM and a high analytical sensitivity of 214 μA mM-1 cm-2. Notably, the DCell-CB//Ag/δ-FeOOH sensor exhibited outstanding selectivity for H2O2 detection, even in potential interferents such as dopamine, uric acid, and ascorbic acid. Furthermore, the sensor demonstrated its suitability for monitoring H2O2 in complex biological samples, as evidenced by H2O2 recoveries ranging from 92% to 103% in 10% fetal bovine serum. These findings underscore the considerable potential of the DCell-CB//Ag/δ-FeOOH sensor for precise and reliable H2O2 monitoring in diverse biomedical and environmental applications.

Background and objectives: The language-induced grip force modulation (GFM) can be used to better understand the link between the language and motor functions as an expression of the embodied language. However, the contribution of each brain hemisphere to the language-induced GFM is still unclear. Using six different action verbs as stimuli, this study evaluated the GFM of the left hand in unimanual task to characterize the left- and right-hemisphere contributions. Materials and Methods: The left-hand GFM of 20 healthy consistent right-handers subjects was evaluated using the verbs “to write”, “to hold”, “to pull”(left-lateralized central processing actions), “to draw”, “to tie”, and “to drive” (bi-hemispheric central processing actions) as linguistic stimuli. The time between the word onset and the first interval of statistical significance regarding the baseline (RT) was also measured. Results: The six verbs produced language-induced GFM. The modulation intensity was similar for the six verbs, but the RT was variable. The verbs “to draw”, “to tie”, and “to drive”, whose central processing of the described action is bihemispheric showed a longer Rt compared to the other verbs. Conclusions: The possibility that an action is performed by the left-hand does not interfere with the occurrence of GFM when this action verb is employed as linguistic stimulus. Therefore, the language-induced GFM seems mainly rely on the left hemisphere, and the engagement of the right hemisphere seems to slow down the increase in the GFM intensity.

An accurate, economical, and reliable device for detecting falls in persons ambulating with the assistance of an orthopedic walker is crucially important for the elderly and patients with limited mobility. Existing wearable devices such as wristbands are not designed for walker users, and patients may not wear them at all times. This research proposes a novel idea of attaching an internet-of-things (IoT) device with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor directly to an orthopedic walker to perform real-time fall detection as well as activity logging. A dataset is collected and labeled for walker users in four activities, including idle, motion, step, and fall. Classic machine learning algorithms are evaluated using the dataset by comparing their classification performance. Deep learning with convolutional neural network (CNN) is also explored. Furthermore, the hardware prototype is designed by integrating a low-power microcontroller for onboard machine learning, an IMU sensor, a rechargeable battery, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The research results show the promise of improved safety and well-being of walker users.

Suicide is defined as the action of harming oneself with the intention of dying. It is estimated that worldwide one suicide occurs every 40 seconds, making it a major health problem. Studies in families have suggested that suicide has a genetic component, around the world studies have been carried out in search of genetic variants associated with suicidal behavior, these variants could be useful as potential biomarkers to identify people at risk of suicide. In this area in Mexico, some studies of variants in genes related to neurotransmission and other important pathways have been carried out and a possible association of variants located in genes has been suggested: SLC6A4, SAT-1, TPH-2, ANKK1, GSHR, SCARA50, RGS10, STK33, COMT, and FKBP5. This systematic review shows the genetic studies on the Mexican population. This article contributes by compiling the existing information on genetic variants and genes associated with suicidal behavior, said variants in the future could be used as potential biomarkers to identify people at risk of suicide.

N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA) is an endocannabinoid-like compound first encountered within lipid fractions of specific foods and has intrigued researchers since the 1950s due to its therapeutic effects. This study aims to explore the therapeutic promise held by PEA as an anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agent. Therapeutic impact of PEA reverberates across diverse physiological systems, as the central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, vascular network, digestive and respiratory system. Additionally, it was effective in pain management, reduction of inflammation and immune responses. These attributes have fostered collaborations targeting conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral ischemia, neuroinflammation, general inflammation, pain, coagulopathy, steatohepatitis, and acute lung injury. PEA operates both independently and in synergy with other compounds, like paracetamol, luteolin, and oxymetazoline. This efficacy stems from its interactions with pivotal targets including PPARα, PPAR-δ, PPAR-γ, CB1, CB2, GPR55, and TRPV1. Additionally, PEA exerts a direct influence on the inflammatory cascade, orchestrating precise adjustments in immune responses. Numerous animal studies have elucidated the inherent potential of PEA. Nevertheless, the imperative of reinforcing clinical investigation is evident. This review notably underscores the pivotal necessity for methodologically rigorous clinical trials to definitively establish the translational efficacy of PEA in ameliorating diverse inflammatory pathologies within the human milieu.

Different types of disasters, whether natural or human character, lead to the significant loss of human lives. In the latter case, the quick action of identification of corpses and human remains is mandatory. There are a variety of protocols to identify victims, however, genetics is one of the tools that allow an exact identification of the victim. However, several factors may interfere with this identification, from the biological samples’ degradation not allowing the analysis of nuclear information, to failure to dispose of biological samples from family members. Access to certain family members could be a determinant of the proper choice of genetic markers that allow the identification of the victim, or his/her inclusion in a given genetic maternal or paternal lineage. With the new advances in the genetic field, it is expected to allow soon the identification of victims from disasters only with his/her biological postmortem samples, being possible to draw a robot portrait and its most likely physical characteristics. In all cases, genetics is the only modern tool with universal character and can be used in essentially all biological samples, giving and identification of more or less accurate statistical character, depending on whether nuclear or lineage markers are used.

The relationship between perception of anxiety and quality of life in caregivers of children with autism was verified. To verify quality of life, the Short Form Healthy Survey Item was used; perception of anxiety was assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory. 80 caregivers of children with autism participated, with 68.7% of caregivers being mothers. Of the total number of caregivers, 68.8% had a severe level of anxiety. Regarding quality of life, they demonstrated greater impairment in Limitation due to physical aspects, Limitation due to emotional aspects, Vitality and Pain. Caregivers with severe anxiety levels had worse quality of life in the domains of pain (p = 0.012), social aspects (p =&lt; 0.001), limitation due to emotional aspects (p = 0.001) and mental health (p =&lt; 0.001). However, in the functional capacity domain, caregivers with a moderate level of anxiety had a better physical capacity score (p = 0.001). There was a negative correlation between the general anxiety score and the general physical (p = 0.029) and general emotional component of quality of life (p =&lt; 0.001). It was found that caregivers of children with ASD present losses related to psychological factors, quality of life and the lack of social support.

The main objective of this investigation was to study the effect of organizational competencies development practices on turnover intentions and whether affective commitment explains this relationship. Another of the study's objectives was to test whether these relationships vary ac-cording to the generation to which the participant belongs. The study sample consisted of 2123 participants working in Portuguese organizations. The results indicate that organizational com-petencies development practices (training, individualized support, and functional rotation) nega-tively and significantly affect turnover intentions and that affective commitment mediates this re-lationship. However, these relationships vary according to the participant's generation. For Gen-eration Y and Generation X, this mediating effect is found in all dimensions of organizational competencies development practices. For the baby boomer generation, there is only a mediating effect of affective commitment in the relationship between individualized support and turnover intentions. These results indicate that human resources should consider the generation to which the participant belongs when implementing competencies development practices.

In this work, two embroidered textile moisture sensors are characterized with three different conductive yarns. The sensors are based on a capacitive interdigitated structure embroidered on a cotton substrate with an embroidered conductor yarn. The performance comparison of 3 different type of conductive yarns has been addressed. In order to evaluate the sensor sensitivity, the impedance of the sensor has been measured by means of a LCR meter from 20 Hz to 20 kHz on a climatic chamber with a sweep of the relative humidity from 30% to 65% at 20 ºC. The experimental results show a clear and controllable dependence of the sensor impedance with the relative humidity and the used conductor yarns. This dependence points out the optimum conductive yarn to be used to develop wearable applications for moisture measurement.

Millimeter wave antennas have significance for high-speed, high-capacity wireless communication, delivering substantial advantages and an array of applications. This literature review analyzes the historical development, assessment of performance, difficulties with design, and contemporary applications in telecommunications, radar systems, and imaging. It covers the development of technology, especially within the context of 5G and beyond, and focuses at several antenna designs that deal with technical issues including reduction and impedance matching. The review also studies the effect of design on efficiency and bandwidth, identifying research gaps and potential futures, notably in terms of 5G technology. The commitment to develop millimeter wave antenna technology for next-generation wireless networks is evident, underlining the need of continued research and development.

The Autopoiesis and Cognition Theory (ACT), by Maturana and Varela, based on the notions of Biological Closure and Structural Coupling, is a well-known theory on how to understand biological organization [1, 2, 3]. Although, for example, the Free Energy Principle framework evokes some entailments of autopoiesis in a more formal setting [4, 5]; and ACT has been used in many fields, its impact has been restricted because it lacks quantitative analysis. Here we present a theoretical framework grounded in accepted and well-developed ideas from Mathematics and Physics which advance the understanding of the Principles of Biological Organization under the guidance of Biological Closure and Structural Coupling. The disciplines of Differential Geometry/Topology, Mechanics and Complex Dynamical Systems provide a powerful, elegant, and well-established body of knowledge to support our Biological Organization Principles (BOP) framework. In particular, Stochastic Mechanics and KAM theory (from Kolmogorov, Arnold and Moser theorem) allow us to develop, using the notions of Biological Closure and Structural Coupling, a central core of BOP termed Dynamical Closure Mechanism. Under the proposed framework, a wide variety of bio- logical phenomena can be understood, shedding new light on biological explanations. However, an understanding of biological organization may require the re-evaluation of dogmas on how we think on biology as it seems inescapable that what is needed is an integration of analysis and notions derived from mathematics, physics, and biology to generate a new landscape of ideas.

Abstract: Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology has been empowering the quality of the construction activity in all sectors: multidisciplinary designs development; construction planning and monitoring; building management and maintenance. A BIM environment aggre-gates several disciplines and different professional skillsets and in order to control and improve the quality of a BIM project, a BIM manager is required. The BIM manager has the responsibility to coordinate all tasks involved in a building design and associated activities usually workout over the project documents. This professional can access to the distinct discipline models, located in a shared platform, and request for amendments if inconsistencies are detected. The topic of the present study is illustrated with three building cases were distinct specific projects, disciplines and tasks were elaborated: collaboration between disciplines (architecture, structures and con-struction); structural analyses and reinforcement details; quantity take-off of materials and cost estimation; construction scheduling and simulation. Although there are still limitations in the implementation of BIM methodology in all sectors and stages, within the construction industry, BIM has been bringing an important improvement in the quality of a building design, reflected in the quality of the final product. The present study put in evidence the BIM manager role in pro-jects that aggregates several disciplines and experts, bringing an important contribution in the quality of a building design. BIM methodology is a current demand in the construction industry supported on advanced technology and in an adequate management of projects.

The search for new food products that promote consumers health has always been of great interest. The dairy industry is perhaps the best example regarding the emergence of new products with claimed health benefits. Cheese whey (CW), the by-product resulting from cheese production, and second cheese whey (SCW), which is the by-product of whey cheese manufacture, have proven to be potential ingredients for the development of food products with improved nutritional characteristics and other functionalities. Nowadays, due to their nutritional quality, whey products have gained a prominent position among healthy food products. However, for long, CW and SCW were usually treated as waste or as animal feed. Due to their high organic content, these by-products can cause serious environmental problems if discarded without appropriate treatment. Small and medium size dairy companies do not have equipment and structure to process whey and second cheese whey. In these cases, generally, they are used for animal feed or discarded without an appropriate treatment, being the cause of several constraints. There are several studies regarding CW valorization and there is a wide range of whey products in the market. However, in the case of SCW remains a lack of studies regarding its nutritional and functional properties, as well as ways to reuse this by-product in order to create economic value and reduce environmental impacts associated to its disposal.

Fungal infections caused by Candida spp. are responsible for high hospital morbidity and mortality rates. Therefore, there is a continuous search for new antifungal medicines, particularly ones with anti-Candida activity. This review analyzed articles published between 2002 and 2023 considering the anti-Candida activity of chemical compounds identified or isolated in plants of the Anacardiaceae family. In addition, the in-silico prediction of the isolated compounds described was performed. The analysis of 35 studies showed that extracts, essential oils, and compounds from the anti-Candida activity were frequently determined in vitro using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The most commonly tested species were Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, C. krusei, and C. guilliermondii, respectively. Essential oils were the most used form (37% of the studies). The isolated compounds with antifungal effects include cardanol, estragole, trans-anethole, β-caryophyllene, myrcene, catechin-3-o-rhamnoside, β-sitosterol-3-O-glucoside, 24Z-isomasticadienolic acid, oleanolic acid, and oleanolic aldehyde. The in-silico evaluation of those isolated compounds revealed the compounds' drug-likeness and possible antifungal activity. However, some of them showed high toxicity. In conclusion, compounds from the Anacardiaceae family show promise for developing new therapeutic antifungal drugs, especially in combination with conventional antifungals.

Sword-duels are interesting, from a game-theoretical perspective, as they correspond to sudden-death interactions between players (i.e., defeat means removal from the game), and where victory/defeat depend on not just skill, but also luck. Analyzing probabilities of victory streaks, given a certain level of self and others' skill, is thus relevant for any application domain that can be modeled in the same way. This paper takes inspiration from Miyamoto Musashi, famously undefeated for 61 duels, and implements a Markov-chain Monte-Carlo simulation approach to evaluate this scenario. Results suggest that a 61 victory streak can be probabilistically observed when skill level is roughly 6.5 times that of the average duelist, and with 95\% confidence when skill level is roughly 1000 times that of the average duelist. More generally, this paper provides a method for determining chances of victory streaks in game-theoretical sudden-death encounters, when both "skill" and "luck" contribute to the outcome of the encounter. Specific scenarios can be modeled by modifying the utilized Markov chain and adjusting sampled distributions as required.

This study assesses the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model using a high-resolution spatial grid (1 km) with various combinations of physical parameterization packages to simulate a severe event in August 2021 in the southeastern Brazilian coast. After determining the optimal set of physical parameterizations for representing wind patterns during this event, a year-long evaluation was conducted, covering forecast horizons of 24, 48, and 72 hours. The simulation results were compared with observational wind data from four weather stations. The findings highlight variations in the efficacy of different physical parameterization sets, with certain sets encountering challenges in accurately depicting the peak of the severe event. The most favorable results were achieved using a combination of Tiedtke (cumulus), Thompson (microphysics), TKE (boundary layer), Monin-Obukhov (surface layer), Unified-NOAH (land surface), and RRTMG (shortwave and longwave radiation). Over the one-year forecasting period, the WRF model effectively represented the overall wind pattern, including forecasts up to three days in advance (72-hour forecast horizon). Generally, the statistical metrics indicate robust model performance, even for the 72-hour forecast horizon, with correlation coefficients consistently exceeding 0.60 at all analyzed points. While the model proficiently captured wind distribution, it tended to overestimate northeast wind speed and gust intensities. Notably, forecast accuracy decreased as stations approached the ocean, exemplified by the ATPM station.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology have been optimizing the construction activity in all sectors: multidisciplinary designs development; construction planning and monitoring; building management and maintenance. A BIM environment aggregates several disciplines and different skillsets and in order to control and improve the quality of a BIM project, a BIM manager is required. The BIM manager has the responsibility to coordinate all tasks involved in a building design and associated activities usually workout over the project documents. The professional can access to various discipline models, located in a shared board, and request for amendments if inconsistencies are detected. The present study issue is illustrated with three building cases were distinct specific projects, disciplines and tasks were elaborated: collaboration between disciplines (architecture, structures and construction); structural analyses and reinforcement details; quantity take-off of materials and cost estimation; construction scheduling and simulation. Although there are limitations in the implementation of BIM methodology in all sectors and stages, within the construction industry, BIM have been bringing an important improvement in the quality of a building design, reflected in the quality of the final product. BIM methodology is a current demand in the construction industry supported on advanced technology and in an adequate management of projects, were the BIM manager has an important role.

Probabilistic latent semantic analysis is a statistical technique developed for information retrieval and spanned many fields. It yields intuitive and solid results. However, the rigidity of the assumptions and the iterative nature derived from the Expectation-maximization algorithm generate several problems, dividing detractors and enthusiasts. In this manuscript, we first describe the Probabilistic latent semantic analysis. After, we discuss reformulations that attempt to solve these problems. We pay special attention to the works relating Probabilistic latent semantic analysis and the Singular value decomposition Theorem. Also, Probabilistic latent semantic analysis can be the basis for other techniques, such as kernelization or probabilistic transfer learning, and those that extend the descriptive character of the Principal component analysis to an inferential tool and open a window of opportunities.

Imbalance in the oxidative status in neurons, along with mitochondrial damage, are common characteristics in some neurodegenerative diseases. The maintenance in energy production is crucial to face and recover from the oxidative damage and the coexistence of different sources of energy production, such as mitochondrial and glycolytic ATP, allows faster adaptative mechanisms to situations of high energy demand and may help in the maintenance of neuronal function in stress situations. Fingolimod phosphate is a drug with neuroprotective and antioxidant actions, used in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. This work has been performed in a model of oxidative damage on neuronal cell cultures exposed to menadione, in presence or absence of fingolimod phosphate. We have studied the mitochondrial function and several pathways related with glucose metabolism, including oxidative, glycolytic and pentose phosphate in neuronal cells cultures. Our results showed a beneficial effect on neuronal survival probably based in the recovery of all, oxidative balance, glycolysis and pentose phosphate, promoted by fingolimod phosphate. These effects are mediated, at least in part by the interaction with its specific receptor. These actions would make this drug a potential tool to the treatment of neurodegenerative processes, either to slow progression or alleviate symptoms.

Brushless Synchronous Machines (BSM) are replacing conventional synchronous machines with static excitation in generation facilities due to the absence of sparking and lower maintenance. However, this excitation system makes challenging measuring electric parameters in the rotor. This fact highly difficult the detection of ground faults, which are the most common type of electrical fault in electric machines. In this paper, a ground fault detection method for BSM is proposed. It is based on an inductive AC/DC rotating current sensor installed in the shaft. In case of a ground fault in the rotating parts of the BSM, a fault current will flow through the rotor’s sensor, inducing voltage in its stator. Analyzing the frequency components of the induced voltage the detection of a ground fault in the rotating elements is possible. The ground faults detection method proposed covers the whole rotor and discern between DC and AC sides. To corroborate the detection method, experimental tests have been performed using a prototype of this sensor connected to laboratory synchronous machines achieving satisfactory results.

In the field of robotics education, introductory courses would ideally utilize heavy industrial arms for hands-on learning. This would provide students with valuable experience in joint programming, which involves direct control of each joint motor in the arm to accomplish desired path planning and differential movements. This practice requires consideration of the physical dynamics of the arm. However, the use of heavy industrial arms has several drawbacks. They are large and expensive, require specialized maintenance, can pose safety risks, and they typically do not allow for direct control of the joint motors. One solution is to use a small, lightweight, toy-like arm. While these are cost-effective and provide direct access to the joint motors without posing safety risks, their lightweight construction means they exhibit minimal dynamic behavior, which limits their educational value. Another solution involves a robotic arm simulator that uses a virtual arm. However, a virtual arm doesn't offer the same level of hands-on engagement and excitement as a physical arm. We propose a hybrid solution that combines a small physical arm with a virtual arm. This approach provides students with the experience of working with an industrial arm, but without the associated difficulties. We demonstrate how this approach successfully improved the completion rate of joint programming assignments, offering a promising solution for practical robotics education.

Proteins and DNA exhibit key physical chemical properties that make them advantageous for building nanostructures with outstanding features. Both DNA and protein nanotechnology have growth notably and proved to be fertile disciplines. The combination of both types of nanotechnologies is helpful to overcome the individual weaknesses and limitations of each one, paving the way for the continuing diversification of the structural nanotechnologies. Recent studies have implemented a synergistic combination of both biomolecules to assemble unique and sophisticate protein-DNA nanostructures. These hybrid nanostructures are highly programmable and display remarkable features that create new opportunities to build in the nanoscale. This review focuses on the strategies deployed to create hybrid protein-DNA nanostructures. Here, we will discuss strategies such as polymerization, spatial directing and organizing, coating, rigidizing or folding DNA into particular shapes or moving parts. The enrichment of structural DNA nanotechnology by incorporating protein nanotechnology has been clearly demonstrated and still shows a large potential to create useful and advanced materials with cell-like properties or dynamic systems. It can be expected that structural protein-DNA nanotechnology will open new avenues in the fabrication of nano-assemblies with unique functional applications and enrich the toolbox of bionanotechnology.

With the increment of the aging population in recent years, neurodegenerative diseases exert a major global disease burden, essentially as a result of the lack of treatments that can stop the disease progression. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is an example of a neurodegenerative disease, that affects millions of people globally, with no effective treatment. Natural compounds have emerged as a viable therapy to fill a huge gap in AD management, and in recent years, mostly fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, RNA-based therapeutics have become a hot topic in the treatment of several diseases. Treatments of neurodegenerative diseases face significant limitations due to the complex and interconnected pathways that lead to their hallmarks and, also due to the necessity to cross the blood–brain barrier. Nanotechnology has contributed to surpass this bottleneck in the treatment of AD, by promoting safe and enhanced drug delivery to the brain. In particular, exosome-like nanoparticles, a hybrid delivery system combining exosomes and liposomes' advantageous features, are demonstrating great potential in the treatment of central nervous system diseases.

Maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) is a mineral formed from magnetite oxidation at low temperatures, an intermediate metastable term of the magnetite to hematite oxidation and could be mixed with both. It has magnetic susceptibility similar to magnetite, crystal structure close to magnetite with which it forms a solid solution, while compositionally it equals hematite. Maghemite is thus easily misidentified as magnetite by X-ray diffraction and/or as hematite by spot chemical analysis in iron ore characterization routines. Nonstoichiometric magnetite could be quantified in samples of Brazilian soils and iron ores by the Rietveld method using a constrained refinement of the X-ray patterns. The results were confirmed by reflected light microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, thus qualitatively validating the method. X-ray diffraction with the refinement of the isomorphic substitution of Fe2+ by Fe3+ along the magnetite-maghemite solid solution could help to suitably characterize maghemite in iron ores, allowing for the evaluation of its ultimate influence on mineral processing, by affecting its surface and breakage properties.

(1) Background: Grapes and their associated by-products (as grape pomace, GP) stand out for their polyphenol content, which makes them a source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant capacity. The aim of this research was to determine if the inclusion of 50 g/kg of GP in the diet of hens could enrich egg with antioxidants and to study its effect on internal and external egg quality parameters. (2) Methods: A trial was conducted with two genetic lines of hens, which were fed either a control diet or a diet containing 50 g/kg of GP. Performance, internal and external egg quality, and egg yolk content of vitamins E and A, and gallic acid were determined; (3) Results: In eggs laid by hens fed GP diet, Haugh units and yolk colour score were enhanced, and eggshell became thinner, but without affecting the breaking strength. No dietary effect was observed on vitamin contents in yolk. Higher gallic acid content was observed in yolk of eggs laid by hens fed the GP diet, suggesting that some dietary phenolic compounds could be transferred to the eggs. Hen genetics influenced egg weight, albumen Haugh units, shell thickness and α- and γ-tocopherol concentration in yolks; (4) Conclusions: Dietary inclusion of GP improved the internal quality of eggs, enriching yolks with a phenolic compound, but reduced shell thickness.

Natural fibers have attracted increasing interest as an alternative to produce environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. Particularly, hemp fibers have revealed to be widely used in various industrial applications due to their extremely unique properties. However, hemp can generate a large amount of agro-waste, and results in an attractive source of biopolymers for the development of low-cost materials in alternative to the raw materials and conventional petroleum-based plastics. In addition, deep eutectic solvents (DESs), a new type of truly green solvents, have been tested to remove gums, lignin, and other non-cellulosic components from hemp fibers. Reusing these components dissolved into the DESs to fabricate new materials directly by electrospinning is a very attractive but still unexplored endeavor. Thus, this innovative research to venture new upcycling pathways is focused on the fabrication of composite nanofibers by electrospinning of a gel-based blend of Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and hemp agro-waste (HW) dissolved into choline chloride (ChCl) : Glycerol (1:2) and ChCl : Urea (1:2) DES mixtures. The results obtained revealed that the produced nanofibers displayed uniform appearance with diameters ranging from 257.72 ± 65.63 nm to 380.78 ± 133.98 nm. In addition, the mechanical properties of the electro-spun composite nanofibers produced from the gel-based blends of HW dissolved in DESs and PVA (HW-DESs_PVA) were found to be superior, resulting in an enhanced tensile strength and Young’s modulus. Furthermore, the incorporation of HW into the nanofibers was able to provide bioactive antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Overall, this study demonstrated a promising, more sustainable, and eco-friendly way to produce electrospun composite nanofibers using HW in a circular economy perspective.

Coagulation is the most sensitive step in drinking water treatment. Underdosing may not yield the required water quality, whereas overdosing may result in higher costs and excess sludge. Traditionally, the coagulant dosage is set based on bath experiments performed manually. Therefore, this test does not allow real-time dosing control, and its accuracy is subject to operator experience. Alternatively, solutions based on machine-learning (ML) have been evaluated as a computer-aided alternative. Despite these advances, there is open debate on the most suitable ML method applied to the coagulation process, capable of the most highly accurate prediction. This study addresses this gap, where a comparative analysis between ML methods was performed. As a research hypothesis, a novel data-driven fuzzy inference system (FIS) should provide the best performance due to its ability to deal with uncertainties inherent to complex processes. Although ML methods have been widely investigated, only a few studies report hybrid neuro-fuzzy systems applied to coagulation. Thus, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study thus far to address the accuracy of this novel data-driven FIS for such application. The novel FIS provided the smallest error (0.86), indicating a promising alternative tool for real-time and highly accurate coagulant dosing in drinking water treatment.

Summer annual species are the most widely grown crops in the Upper Midwest, but reliance on a summer annual system has led to excessive soil and nutrient loss when crops are not present. Integrating winter rye (Secale cereale L.), known for its hardiness and environmental benefits, into the rotation can address these issues. However, there's limited understanding of the phenotypic diversity in winter rye during key growth stages that overlap with the typical planting dates for corn (Zea mays L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr], and late-planted crops like dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate changes in biomass accumulation and quality of winter rye and triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) cultivars at three growth stages. Twenty cultivars were assessed over the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 growing seasons across three environments in Minnesota. Winter rye and triticale were harvested for biomass at the tillering, booting, and soft dough growth stages and rye biomass yield and quality [i.e., crude protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and 48-hour digestibility (NDFD)] were determined following harvest. Overall, there was little variation in each parameter among the cultivars within a location and growth stage. NDFD had some variation at the soft dough stage where digestibility ranged from 273 to 324 g kg-1 at the Crookston site and 332 to 406 g kg-1 at the St. Paul site. The lack of difference between cultivars indicates a wide range of choice when selecting a winter rye cultivar.

Background: Extremametly lean athletes could have difficulty for adaptive eating (intuitively or consciously) during ad libitum refeed. Aims: we verificate if there is a relation between adaptive eating and coping strategies with energy intake in a model of refeed proposed for bodybuilders. Methods: Fourteen male bodybuilders (29.6±3.1yrs; 85.6±6.8kg, ≥6 competitions) completed the 4-week each consisting of a 5 days of energy restriction following 2 days of refeed. Dietary assessment, body composition (ultrasound), Recovery stress questionnaire (REST-Q) and BRUMS (Brunel mood scale) were accessed pre and post; Coping Function Questionnaire (CFQ), Mindful Eating Scale version 2 (MES 2) and the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) was used at 4th week. Results: The refeed day resulted in a daily caloric increment of ~44% compared to the average energy intake on the energy restriction days, culminating in a weekly calorie deficit of ~27% and a drop in body mass of 3.1±1.4% with relation to initial values. The most reduced body fat and preserved or gained lean mass. The energy consumption during refeed maintained an inverse relationship with the perception of satiety (r=-0.9; p<0.01), total scores of IES 2 (r=-0.82; p<0.01), as well as with the confidence in hunger and satiety cues (r=-0.62; p=0.02) and congruence in food-body choice (r=-0.56; p=0.04) dimensions. Coping based in emotions maintained a relationship with the total scores of IES 2 (r=0.54; p<0.05) and an inverse relationship with energy intake during refeed (r=-0.42; p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that a higher perception of internal hunger and satiety signals and higher scores in intuitive eating may contribute to energy intake adequate, even when high scores of coping based in emotions are present.

The strong couplings among ecological, economic, social and technological processes explains the complexification of human-made systems, and phenomena such as globalization, climate change, the increased urbanization and inequality of human societies, the power of information, and the COVID-19 syndemics. Among complexification’s essential features are non-decomposability, asynchronous behavior, components with many degrees of freedom, increased likelihood of catastrophic events, irreversibility, nonlinear phase spaces with immense combinatorial sizes, and the impossibility of long-term, detailed prediction. Sustainability for complex systems implies enough efficiency to explore and exploit their dynamic phase spaces and enough flexibility to coevolve with their environments. This in turn means solving intractable nonlinear semi-structured dynamic multi-objective optimization problems, with conflicting, incommensurable, non-cooperative objectives and purposes, under dynamic uncertainty, restricted access to materials, energy and information, and a given time horizon, aiming at enhancing the co-evolutionary power of the Biosphere and its human subsystems. Giving the high-stakes, the need for effective, efficient, diverse solutions, their local-global, present-future effects, and their unforeseen short, medium and long-term impacts, achieving sustainable complex systems implies the need for Sustainability-designed Universal Intelligent Agents, harnessing the strong functional coupling between human, artificial and nonhuman biological intelligence in a no-zero-sum game to achieve sustainability.

Data creation is often the only way for researchers to produce basic geospatial information for the pursuit of more complex tasks and procedures such as those that lead to the production of new data for studies concerning river basins, slope morphodynamics, applied geomorphology and geology, urban and territorial planning, detailed studies, for example, in architecture and civil engineering, among others. This exercise results from a reflection where specific data processing tasks executed in Google Sketchup (Pro version, 2018) can be used in a context of interoperability with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software. The focus is based on the production of contour lines and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) using an innovative sequence of tasks and procedures in both environments (GS and GIS). It starts in Google Sketchup (GS) graphic interface, with the selection of a satellite image referring to the study area—which can be anywhere on Earth's surface; subsequent processing steps lead to the production of elevation data at the selected scale and equidistance. This new data must be exported to GIS software in vector formats such as Autodesk Design Web format—DWG or Autodesk Drawing Exchange format—DXF. In this essay the option for the use of GIS Open Source Software (gvSIG and QGIS) was made. Correcting the original SHP by removing “data noise” that resulted from DXF file conversion permits the author to create new clean vector data in SHP format and, at a later stage, generate DEM data. This means that new elevation data becomes available, using simple but intuitive and interoperable procedures and techniques which confgures a costless work flow.

The circular economy (CE) has emerged as a viable alternative for tackling the problems caused by rising consumption, including solid waste (SW). The present study conducted a meta-analysis of research published between 2012 and 2022 on CE and solid waste management (SWM). A bibliometric analysis was used from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. By studying the articles, we briefly discussed the connections between them and how one contributes to the evolution of the other. Some findings point to greater collaboration between Italy and Bolivia, followed by China and Malaysia. However, they move away from the traditional axes as the United States and Canada. In addition, it was found that the adoption of reuse and selective collection, in fact, allow the reduction of the volume of discarded materials. In this way, it was possible to conclude that a greater connection between CE and GRS makes it possible to optimize the useful life of landfills through the treatment of organic waste and recycling, to encourage waste picker cooperatives and selective collection programs, and to reduce the financial costs of the system as a whole, making it more durable and sustainable.

Purpose To analyse diagnostic and therapeutic impact of molecular imaging TNM (miTNM) stage obtained with 18F-DCFPyL versus 18F-Fluorocholine in head to head comparison in biochemical recurrence (BCR) prostate cancer (PCa). Material and methods Patients with BCR PCa after radical treatment with previous 18F-Fluorocholine-PET/CT (negative or oligometastatic disease) were derived to 18F-DCFPyL-PET/CT. Patients were classified attending to: grade group, EAU classification, PSA, PSA doubling time (PSAdt) and PSA velocity (PSAvel). The overall detection rate (DR) and miTNM stage according to PROMISE criteria were assessed for both radiotracers and also correlation (Kappa). The influence of PSA and kinetics on both PET/CT (DR and miTNM) and predictive value of unfavourable kinetics on miTNM were determined. Cut-off PSA, PSAdt and PSAvel values able to predict PET/CT results were determined. Change in miTNM and treatment derived of 18F-DCFPyL information with respect to 18F-Fluorocholine was also evaluated. Results We studied 138 patients. 18F-DCFPyL showed a higher DR than 18F-Fluorocholine (64.5% vs 33.3%). 18F-DCFPyL and 18F-Fluorocholine detected T in 33.3% versus 19.6%, N in 27.5% versus 13.8%, M in 30.4% versus 8.7%. Both tracers DR showed significant associations with PSA and PSAvel. Significant association was only found between miTNM and PSA on 18F-Fluorocholine-PET/CT (p=0.033). For 18F-Fluorocholine and 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT a PSAdt cut-off of 4.09 and 5.59 months, respectively, were able to predict M stage. 18F-DCFPyL changed therapeutic management in 40/138 patients. Conclusion 18F-DCFPyL provides a higher DR and superior miTNM staging than 18F-Fluorocholine in restaging BCR, especially with high PSA and unfavourable PSA kinetics, showing a fair agreement to 18F-Fluorocholine.

Most research on colostrum quality and colostrum management focuses on maternal IgG transfer to the newborn calf. However, in addition to being a source of antibodies, colostrum has other components that influence passive immune transfer, nutrition, gut maturation, and thermoregulation. In this review, the constituents in the bovine colostrum, as well as their variation, are explored and it is discussed the biological role of colostrum on the newborn calf. Protein is the nutrient in higher concentration and fat is the nutrient with the most variation. There is a pronounced amplitude in the total solids content of colostrum, but the average concentration does not vary much between studies (24.7%). Bovine colostrum major components can vary with several factors, such as the region, season, breed, dry period length, and nutritional aspects of the dam. Bioactive components, cells, and microbiome variability are less understood, besides IgG. Regardless, they play crucial distinct roles in the physiological development of the newborn. However, a multi-interactive effect between these components, cells, and microorganisms is more likely to occur. Recently researched components in colostrum like miRNA, nucleo(t)sides, the milk fat globule membrane, oligosaccharides, minor proteins, and the microbiome are examples of promising interest areas of study.

Putting value to ecosystem services is something that society still refuses or simply ignores because it is not aware of the benefits that ecosystems provide us. In fact, people should be aware that a good understanding of ecosystem services can lead to win-win situations. Being aware of the importance of preserving the ecosystem and attaching value to its services will enable the development of self-sustaining strategies and appropriate policies for better ecological governance. Decades of over exploitation of natural resources, introduction and spread of alien species and, also, climate change, forest fires among other threats, have fostered biodiversity loss. The European Union Biodiversity Strategy has as one of its main goals to stop biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystem services; if possible, to recover the most threatened and degraded ecosystems, based on 20 Actions divided into 6 Targets. The present work falls within the scope of Action 5 of Target 2 – Improve knowledge of ecosystems and their services in the EU. The specific focus of this study is the Site of Community importance “Dunas de Mira, Gândara and Gafanhas” (Portugal) and the assessment of its ecosystem services, in accordance with the methodology proposed by the MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services) Working Group. The work currently under way, a small segment of which is presented here, aims to identify, map and, when possible, assign value to the ecosystem services. For this purpose, modern GIS technologies will be used. This approach was implemented using a combination of data and tasks, including the photo-interpretation of Sentinel 2 (COPERNICUS Program) satellite imagery. The data geoprocessing tasks and image segmentation were developed using QGIS software and IMPACT Toolbox software (developed by the Joint Research Center – JRC, of the European Union), respectively. The analysis of Land Use and Burned Areas maps for the SCI "Dunas de Mira, Gândara and Gafanhas" led us to conclude that Forests ecosystems, the most affected by the fire of October 2017, continue to have the greatest expression in the area under study even though they have lost more than 50% of the area, and their services were also the ones most affected by the fire.

The aim of this paper is to establish a valid procedure for better understanding all the phenomena associated with the high-speed machining of Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) composites. Both rectangular and circular specimens were machined at high speeds (up to 50 m/min) in order to understand what occurred for all values of fiber orientation angles during machining operations. An innovative testing methodology was proposed and studied to investigate the phenomenon of burr formation and thus understand how to avoid it during machining operations. To this end, the forces arising during the machining process and the roughness of the resulting surface, were carefully studied and correlated with the cutting angle. Additionally, the cutting surface and chip morphology formed during cutting tests were examined using a high-speed camera. Close correlations are found between the variations of the cutting forces' signals and the trends of the roughness and the morphology of the machined surface.

A nanostructured electrochemical bi-sensor system for analysis of milks has been developed using the Layer by Layer technique. The non-enzymatic sensor [CHI+IL/CuPcS]2, is a layered material containing a negative film of the anionic sulfonated copper phthalocyanine (CuPcS) acting as electrocatalytic material, and a cationic layer containing a mixture of an ionic liquid (IL) (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) that enhances the conductivity and chitosan (CHI) that facilitates the enzyme immobilization. The biosensor ([CHI+IL/CuPcS]2-GAO) results from the immobilization of galactose oxidase on the top of the LbL layers. FTIR, UV-vis and AFM have confirmed the proposed structure and cyclic voltammetry has demonstrated the amplification caused by the combination of materials in the film. Sensors have been combined to form an electronic tongue for milk analysis. Principal Component Analysis has revealed the ability of the sensor system to discriminate between milk samples with different lactose content. Using PLS-1 calibration models, correlations have been found between the voltammetric signals and chemical parameters measured by classical methods. PLS-1 models provide excellent correlations with lactose content. Additional information about other components such as fats, proteins and acidity can also be obtained. The method developed is simple and the short response time permits its use in assaying milk samples on-line.

Objective: to evaluate the effects of excitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the international 10-20 system P3 point (intraparietal sulcus region) in chronic patients with a frontal lesion and parietal sparing due to stroke on the impaired upper (UL) and lower limb (LL) as measured by Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA). Methods: three patients (C1: 49.83/2.75, C2: 53.17/3.83, C3: 63.33/3.08 years-old at stroke/ years post-stroke, respectively) received two weeks (five days/ week) of rTMS at 10 Hz of P3. A patient was treated in similar conditions with a sham coil (S1: 56.58/4.33). No complimentary therapy was delivered during the study. Patients were evaluated before, after- and two months post-treatment (A1, A2 and A3, respectively). Results: we found increased scores for LL in motor function subsection for C1 and C3 and in sensory function for C2 by A2 that remained at A3. We also found an increased score for UL motor function for C2 and C3, but the score decreased by A3 for C2. C3 score for UL range of motion increased by A3 compared to A1 and A2. Conclusion: In a variable way, P3 excitatory rTMS increased FMA scores in different upper and lower limb subsections of our three treated patients.

The gap of standardization for conducted and field coupled electromagnetic interferences (EMI) in the 2–150 kHz frequency range can lead to Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) problems. This is caused by power systems such as PWM controlled rectifiers, photovoltaic inverters or charging battery units in electric vehicles. This is a very important frequency spectral due to interferences generate in a wide range of dives and, specifically, communication problems in the new technologies and devices incorporated to the traditional grid to convert it into Smart Grid. Consequently, it is necessary to provide new solutions to attenuate this kind of interferences, which involve finding new materials able to filter the electromagnetic noise. This contribution is focused on characterizing the performance of different cable ferrite compositions in order to determine the effectiveness of most common materials such as MnZn and NiZn and a new range based on nanocrystalline solutions. This analysis procedure is carried out through two methods: theoretical method by determining the insertion loss through measuring impedance parameter and proposing a new empirical technique based on measuring directly the insertion loss parameter. Therefore, the main aim of this characterization process is to determine the performance of these cable ferrites to reduce the interferences in this controversial frequency range. From the results obtained, it is possible to deduce that nanocrystalline cable ferrites provide the best performance to filter the electromagnetic noise in the 2-150 kHz frequency range.

The increasing availability of longitudinal data (repeated numerical observations of same units at different times) requires the development of flexible techniques to automatically detect common errors in such data. Besides obvious and easily identifiable cases, such as missing or out-of-range data, large longitudinal dataset often present problems not easily traceable by the techniques used for generic datasets. In particular, elusive and baffling problems are i) inversion of one or more values from one unit to another; ii) anomalous jumps in the series of values, iii) errors in the timing of the values due to a recalculation operated by the data providers to compensate previous errors. This work proposes a statistical-mathematical approach based on a system of indicators that is able to capture the complexity of the described problems by working at the formal level, regardless of the specific meaning of the data. The proposed approach identifies suspect erroneous data and is applicable in a variety of contexts. We implement this approach in a relevant database of European Higher Education institutions (ETER) by analyzing Total academic staff, that is one of the most important variables, used in empirical analysis as proxy of size and also considered by policy makers at European level.

The interest in random fiber lasers (RFLs), first demonstrated one decade ago, is still growing and their basic characteristics have been studied by several authors. RFLs are open systems that present instabilities in the intensity fluctuations due to the energy exchange among their non-orthogonal quasi-modes. In this work, we present a review of the recent investigations on the output characteristics of a continuous-wave erbium-doped RFL, with emphasis on the statistical behavior of the emitted intensity fluctuations. A progression from the Gaussian to Lévy and back to the Gaussian statistical regime was observed by increasing the excitation laser power from below to above the RFL threshold. By analyzing the RFL output intensity fluctuations, the probability density function of emission intensities was determined, and its correspondence with the experimental results was identified, enabling a clear demonstration of the analogy between the RFL phenomenon and the spin-glass phase transition. A replica-symmetry-breaking phase above the RFL threshold was characterized and the glassy behavior of the emitted light was established. We also discuss perspectives for future investigations on RFL systems.

The rationalization and modeling of an electric discharge in a fluid require the knowledge of electron swarm parameters. In this work, transport coefficients of alcohols, including methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol are reported. The electron energy distribution function, mean energy, reduced mobility, and diffusion coefficient, are calculated using the two-term expansion of the electron Boltzmann equation in the frame of BOLSIG+ and the Monte Carlo collision code METHES. For such, experimental and theoretical values of the electron-alcohol collision cross-section, covering a range of electron impact energy from 1 eV to 1000 eV, are employed. A temperature of 300K, reduced fields E/N between $1-10^4$ Td (1Td = $10^{-21}~\rm Vm^2$), and Plasma density of $10^{19}~\rm m^{-3}$ were used in simulations. The calculated coefficients are compared with data available from previous studies.

The population’s mobility in urban areas is a necessary variable in the modeling of risk scenarios caused by atmospheric contamination. The inclusion of this concept makes static models more dynamic while considering people within a city to be an entity with complex mobility processes. We propose a conceptual and methodological tool to make the representation of the social, economic and territorial components, as well as the patterns in the population´s mobility to delimitate risk areas for human health by exposure of contaminants. In the volatile organic compounds (VOC), benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene (BTEX) are amongst the most dominant substances in fugitive vapor emissions in gas stations (GS). In urban areas, the exposure to BTEX by residential proximity and proximity to other facilities, which cause intra-urban agglomeration, can impact and affect human health. This model seeks to facilitate the focalization, identification and prioritization of risk areas by BTEX environmental contamination. This article goes beyond de conceptual framework. It suggests methodological and instrumental aspects to be applied in other cities. The government agencies must consider these results when establishing rules, permissions and procedures to reduce environmental pollution for managing the risk in a complex urban environment.

Defensive behavior is a function of specific survival circuits, the “aversive brain system”, that are thought to be conserved across vertebrates, and involve threat detection and the organization of defensive responses to reduce or eliminate threat. In mammals, these circuits involve amygdalar and hypothalamic subnuclei and midbrain circuits. The increased interest in teleost fishes as model organisms in neuroscience created a demand to understand which brain circuits are involved in defensive behavior. Telencephalic and habenular circuits represent a “forebrain circuit” for threat processing and organization of responses, being important to mounting appropriate coping responses. Specific hypothalamic circuits organize neuroendocrine and neurovegetative outputs, but are the less well-studied in fish. A “midbrain circuit” is represented by projections to interneurons in the optic tectum which mediate fast escape responses via projections to the central gray and/or the brainstem escape network. Threatening stimuli (especially visual stimuli) can bypass the “high road” and directly activate this system, initiating escape responses. Increased attention to these circuits in an evolutionary framework is still needed.

Body-Esteem Scale is an assessment tool for adolescents and adults that evaluate three dimensions of self-evaluations of one’s body. Body-Esteem Scale has been translated and validated in some countries since America down to Europe. Lack of translation and reliability evidence in Portugal was detected. This study aimed to translate and test the validity and reliability of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA) in students in the context of Portuguese higher educa-tion. A total of 173 students (60.7% are female) with a mean age of 19.7 (standard deviation = 2.2) years participated. Categorical Principal Component Analysis was used to assess the underlying dimensions of BESAA. Construct validity was evaluated through correlation with the Appearance Schemas Inventory – Revised and a three-factor model (“Appearance”, ‘‘Weight’’ and “Attribu-tion’’) was established. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to verify the construct validity of the instrument. Items that had factor weights (λ)<.40 were removed, as well as those that were considered redundant by the modification indices estimated by the Lagrange Multipliers (LM) method (LM>11, p<.001). We observed high correlations between theoretically similar factors, and low correlations between different factors. The Portuguese BESAA showed adequate validity and reliability.

Rising consumer demand for more safety, healthy and fresh-like food has given new concepts for food packaging. Besides, the growing concern with environmental issues has increased the search for materials from non-petroleum sources and biodegradable ones. Thus, active films based on biopolymers loaded with natural active compounds have potential to be used as food packaging. However, there are a lot of lipophilic active compounds that are a problem to incorporate in hydrophilic matrices, such as polysaccharides and proteins. One way to overcome these challenges is adding these compounds encapsulated in O/W emulsions. The incorporation of emulsion in biopolymeric matrix has influence in the film properties, such as mechanical, barrier, optical, among other. In this way, this review aims to point out the main characteristics of the emulsions systems encapsulating active compounds and its influence in the film properties and to present and discus critically the recent advances in the area.

Product Development Process is widely known among industry and automobile companies. With the advance of technology and the need to improve product efficiency, many companies have been applying Lean Thinking principles. Their benefits lead those companies to implement their concepts and tools, like Value Stream Design in Indirect Areas, Obeya, Just-in-time (JIT) which is based on the production control system developed and implemented by Toyota. This article describes the case study of the implementation of Lean Product &amp; Process Development (LPPD) on the current Product Development Process (PDP) in an automotive company. The PDP was created by the organization and adapted from Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP). The main findings were a Value Stream Design model of an improved PDP as a useful and successfully contribution for the company. These improvements reduced the product development lead time from 700 days to 369 days. The process efficiency increased from 68% to 85%. The communication and transparency between the cross-functional team (CFT) was improved and show promise for achieving a successful launch of new products.

Innovative tissue engineering biomimetic hydrogels based on hydrophilic polymers have been investigated for their physical and mechanical properties. 5% to 25% by volume loading PHEMA-nanosilica glassy hybrid samples were equilibrated at 37°C in aqueous physiological isotonic and hypotonic saline solutions (0.15 and 0.05 M NaCl) simulating two limiting possible compositions of physiological extracellular fluids. The glassy and hydrated hybrid materials were characterized both for dynamo-mechanical properties and equilibrium absorptions in the two physiological-like aqueous solutions. Mechanical and the morphological modifications occurring in the samples have been described. The 5% volume nanosilica loading hybrid nanocomposite composition showed mechanical characteristics in the dry and hydrated states that were comparable to those of cortical bone and articular cartilage, respectively, and then chosen for further sorption kinetics characterization. Sorption and swelling kinetics were monitored up to equilibrium. Changes in water activities and osmotic pressures in the water-hybrid systems equilibrated at the two limiting solute molarities of the physiological solutions have been related to the observed anomalous sorption modes using the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter approach. The bulk modulus of the dry and glassy PHEMA-5% nanosilica hybrid at 37°C has been observed to be comparable with the values of the osmotic pressures generated from the sorption of isotonic and hypotonic solutions. The anomalous sorption modes and swelling rates are coherent with the difference between osmotic swelling pressures and hybrid glassy nano-composite bulk modulus: the lower the differences the higher the swelling rate and equilibrium solution uptakes. Bone tissue engineering benefits of use of tuneable biomimetic scaffold biomaterials that can be “designed” to act as biocompatible and biomechanically active hybrid interfaces are discussed.

The partial information decomposition (PID) framework is concerned with decomposing the information that a set of (two or more) random variables (the sources) has about another variable (the target) into three types of information: unique, redundant, and synergistic. Classical information theory alone does not provide a unique way to decompose information in this manner and additional assumptions have to be made. One often overlooked way to do this decomposition is using a so-called measure of union information – which quantifies the information that is present in at least one of the sources – from which a synergy measure stems. In this paper, we introduce a new measure of union information based on adopting a communication channel perspective, compare it with existing measures, and study some of its properties. We also include a comprehensive critical review of characterizations of union information and synergy measures that have been proposed in the literature.