The absence of interdental papillae leads to the appearance of black triangle. For most patients, the appearance of these triangles is an important reason for concern and affects their social relationships. Multiple reconstruction techniques have been developed with different degrees of success and predictability. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of hyaluronic acid (HA) injected into interproximal papillae six months after injection and to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis. After a systematic review, five articles were selected: a clinical randomised controlled trial and four clinical trials. In total, eighty-five patients with a deficiency in upper papillae in the front of the maxilla and jaw were included in the study. The height variable was evaluated (mm) six months after HA injection. In total, one hundred and four interproximal papillae were studied. Three articles showed an important difference in favour of intervention. The total result regarding in the injection of AH was favourable with an approximate average filling of 0.7 mm in the height of the interdental papilla. The injection of HA for the reconstruction of deficient papillae in the region of the upper and lower maxilla was a possible option treatment strategy.

The health emergency caused by Covid 19 highlighted the food dependency of many cities in the world and Cali and the cities of Valle del Cauca were no exception as they depended on food flows from other regions and countries, so these Entities are part of the corporate food system, to which their rulers delegated food security for their inhabitants. In the same territory and for the last nine years, a second-level organization has been consolidating that brings together 14 peasant agroecological markets and that despite strict confinement measures was able to continue supplying food to consumers in the municipalities of influence that have supported this initiative. The foregoing leads to think that said organization can become a platform for an agroecological food system of regional scope, for which the characteristics that said system should have according to a model based on the principles of agroecology were evaluated.

In recent years, online social networks have received important consideration in spatial modelling fields given the critical information that can be extracted from them for events in real time; one of the most latent issues is that regarding various natural disasters such as earthquakes. Although it is possible to retrieve data from these social networks with embedded geographic information provided by GPS, in many cases this is not possible. An alternative solution is to reconstruct specific locations using probabilistic language models, more specifically those based on Name Entity Recognition (NER), which extracts names from a user’s description about an event occurring in a specific place (e.g., a collapsed building on a specific avenue). In this work, we present a methodology to use twitter as a social sensor system for disasters. The methodology scores NER locations with a kernel density estimation function for different subtopics originating from a natural disaster and that maps them into a geographic space is proposed. The proposed methodology is evaluated with tweets related to the 2017 earthquake in Mexico.

In recent years, online social media information has been subject of study in several data science fields due to its impact on users as a communication and expression channel. Data~gathered from online platforms such as Twitter has the potential to facilitate research over social phenomena based on sentiment analysis, which usually employs Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to interpret sentimental tendencies related to users opinions and make predictions about real events. Cyber attacks are not isolated from opinion subjectivity on online social networks. Various security attacks are performed by hacker activists motivated by reactions from polemic social events. In this paper, a methodology for tracking social data that can trigger cyber attacks is developed. Our main contribution lies in the monthly prediction of tweets with content related to security attacks and the incidents detected based on ℓ1 regularization.

Mpox (monkeypox) is a zoonotic disease that has been endemic in African countries for decades, with a recent outbreak in several countries around the world. A 39-year-old male with HIV-HBV coinfection and poor adherence to antiretroviral treatment, who was severely immunocompromised and had a concurrent diagnosis of Mpox infection, presented to our hospital with disseminated dermatosis (over 350 lesions), perianal ulcers, odynophagia, oral intolerance, diarrhea, and soft-tissue bacterial superinfection of the lower extremities. Laboratory results were consistent with HBV infection, with an absolute CD4 cell count of 40 cells/uL and a positive PCR result for Mpox. An abdominopelvic CT scan showed evidence of severe proctitis and perineal soft-tissue infection. After 65 days of Mpox PCR, new lesions in the vesicular stage continued to appear, eventually developing hemodynamic instability and sepsis, resulting in a fatal outcome. Our case highlights the importance of intentionally looking for risk factors such as HIV/HBV coinfection and evaluating immune status (CD4 cell count) in patients with severe Mpox infection because it could be related to higher mortality.

With an increasing demand for quality of care and lower costs, hospitals are looking for industry-based methods to improve efficiency in their processes. This study aims to reduce waste in a public hospital in Mexico by improving the medical supply process for the operating room. To this end, a lean healthcare (LH) implementation following the DMAIC approach (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) is carried out. We analyze the value stream of the supply process, including main surgical procedures and their related medical supplies, and identify different causes of inefficiency, which are evaluated and controlled through different tools, including a value stream map, Kanban, and the 5S program. As a result, five types of waste were reduced. Over-processing requests were reduced by 15.3%, defective identification numbers were reduced by 46.5%, redundant processing was improved by 94.8%, near 2.8% of the unnecessary inventory was reduced, and transportation waste was reduced by up to 16.7%. Finally, the lead-time for the main supplies was reduced by 33 days. This work demonstrates that LH and DMAIC are effective in reducing waste and are highly conducive to improving sustainability in healthcare processes. Moreover, it provides practical insights for practitioners regarding the implementation of LH in public hospitals in developing countries.

Alzheimer´s Disease (AD) has currently no effective treatment; however, preventive measures can significantly delay the progress/onset of the disease. Thus, accurate and early prediction of risk is an important strategy to alleviate the AD burden. Neuroinflammation is a major factor prompting the onset of the disease. Inflammation exerts its toxic effect via multiple mechanisms. Amongst others, it is affecting gene expression via modulation of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), such as miRNAs. Recent evidence supports that inflammation can also affect long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) expression. While the association between miRNAs and inflammation in AD has been extensively studied, the role of lncRNAs in neurodegenerative diseases has been less explored. In this review, we focus on lncRNAs and inflammation in the context of AD. Furthermore, since plasma-isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly recognized as an effective monitoring strategy of brain pathologies, we have focused on the studies reporting dysregulated lncRNAs in EVs isolated from AD patients and controls. The revised literature shows a positive association between pro-inflammatory lncRNAs and AD. However, the reports evaluating lncRNAs alterations in EVs isolated from plasma of patients and controls, although still limited confirm the value of specific lncRNAs associated with AD as reliable biomarkers. This is an emerging field that will open new avenues to improve risk prediction, patients’ stratification and may lead to the discovery of potential novel therapeutic targets for AD

Parallel manipulators with multiple end-effectors bring us interesting advantages over conventional parallel manipulators such as improved manipulability, workspace and avoidance of singularities. In this work the kinematics of a five-bar planar parallel manipulator equipped with two end-effectors is approached by means of the theory of screws. As an intermediate step the displacement analysis of the robot is also investigated. The input-output equations of velocity and acceleration are systematically obtained by resorting to reciprocal-screw theory. In that regard the Klein form of the Lie algebra se(3) of the Euclidean group SE(3) plays a central role. In order to exemplify the method of kinematic analysis, a case study is included. Furthermore, the numerical results obtained by means of the theory of screws are confirmed with the aid of special software like ADAMS.^TM

Background: Caring for a loved one can be rewarding but also associated with substantial caregiver burden, developing mental outcomes and affecting happiness. Eventually, these physical and psychological disorders can lead to an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system. Meditation has been found to offer multiple benefits to relieve these disorders and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a four-week 16-hour presential meditation program on physiological and psychological parameters and vagal nerve activity in high-burden caregivers, comparing the results with those not receiving this program. Methods: A non-randomized repeated-measures controlled clinical trial was conducted, dividing participants between intervention and control groups by convenience allocation because random assignment was ethically inappropriate. Results: After the meditation program, the experimental group showed a significant reduction in anxiety levels (F= 24.92, p<0.001), a non-significant amelioration of depression levels (F= 1.75, p=0.19), and significantly improved heart rate variability (F= 8.40, p<0.05) and SDNN (F=15.59, p<0.05). Conclusions: Meditation can be a useful therapy to enhance the mental health and autonomic nervous system balance of informal caregivers, improving symptoms of physical and mental overload.

The increasing demand for higher inclusion cleanliness levels motivates the control over the formation and evolution of inclusions in the steel production process. In this work, the evolution of the chemical composition and size distribution of inclusions throughout a slab production process of Al-killed steel, including ladle furnace (LF) treatment and continuous casting (CC), was followed. The initial solid Al2O3 and Al2O3-MgO inclusions were modified to liquid Al2O3-CaO-MgO inclusions during LF treatment. The evolution of the size distributions during LF treatment was associated with the growth and removal of inclusions, as new inclusions were not created after the deoxidation process, according to a population density function (PDF) analysis. Additionally, the size distributions tended to be similar as the LF treatment progressed regardless of their initial features, whereas they differed during CC. Analysis of the upper tails of the distributions through generalized extreme values theory showed that inclusion distributions shifted from larger to smaller sizes as the process progressed. There were great changes in the distributions of large inclusions throughout the LF treatment and between the end of the LF treatment and the start of the CC process. Additionally, distributions of large inclusions differed at the end of the LF treatment, whereas such differences decreased as CC progressed.

Foundational and state-of-the-art anomaly detection methods through power system state estimation are reviewed. The traditional components for bad data detection such as chi-square testing, residual-based methods, and hypothesis testing are discussed to explain the motivations for recent anomaly detection methods given the increasing complexity of power grids, energy management systems, and cyber-threats. In particular, state estimation anomaly detection based on data-driven quickest change detection and artificial intelligence are discussed and directions for research are suggested with particular emphasis on considerations of the future smart grid.

The reactive nature of traditional frequency stability methods can lead to delayed corrective actions and unnecessary loss-of-load. This work presents a distributed model predictive control method for proactive power system frequency stability. Dynamic state estimation model is derived through a particle filter. By being able to estimate the future state of frequency, corrective actions can be taken before the system reaches a critical condition. Proactive approach makes it possible to optimize the response to a disturbance, which results in a decrease of the amount of compensation utilized. The method is tested via Matlab simulations based on Kundur's Two-Area System, and the IEEE 14-Bus system. Performance metrics are provided and evaluated against other contemporary solutions found in literature. Easy-to-derive model, without hard-to-design parameters, indicate potential towards real-life applications.

Syndemics theory has been applied to study interactions between biomedical and social factors leading to clustering of diseases. Because syndemics theory focuses on interactions that enhance risk, the concept of vulnerability is central to this approach. We conducted a scoping review to better understand how syndemics theory helped to define, operationalize, and tackle issues of vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Original research, review, and opinion pieces elaborating on syndemics, vulnerability and COVID-19, published between December 2019 and October 2022 and available in PubMed, were eligible. We analysed 40 records and identified three framings of syndemics operating during this period: (1) interactions between COVID-19, diseases/health conditions and specific social factors; (2) interactions between COVID-19 and social determinants of health; and (3) impacts of COVID-19 on specific populations. Emerging conceptualizations described vulnerability to COVID-19 as a systemic issue; explained the impact of COVID-19 control measures on increased vulnerability; and presented COVID-19 as a syndemic on its own. However, this theory's potential for deepening our understanding of vulnerability during this pandemic was constrained by superficial explorations of the interactions between biomedical and social spheres, and insufficient theoretical and methodological support from the social sciences.

Instead of the conventional 0 and 1 values, bipolar reasoning uses -1, 0, +1 to describe double-sided judgements in which neutral elements are halfway between positive and negative evaluations (e.g., “uncertain” lies between “impossible” and “totally sure”). We discuss the state-of-the-art in bipolar logics and recall two medieval forerunners, i.e., William of Ockham and Nicholas of Autrecourt, who embodied a bipolar mode of thought that is eminently modern. Starting from the trivial observation that “once a wheat sheaf is sealed and tied up, the packed down straws display the same orientation”, we work up a new theory of the bipolar nature of networks, suggesting that orthodromic (i.e., feedforward, bottom-up) projections might be functionally coupled with antidromic (i.e., feedback, top-down) projections via the mathematical apparatus of presheaves/globular sets. When an entrained oscillation such as a neuronal spike propagates from A to B, changes in B might lead to changes in A, providing unexpected antidromic effects. Our account points towards the methodological feasibility of novel neural networks in which message feedback is guaranteed by backpropagation mechanisms endowed in the same feedforward circuits. Bottom-up/top-down transmission at various coarse-grained network levels provides fresh insights in far-flung scientific fields such as object persistence, memory reinforcement, visual recognition, Bayesian inferential circuits and multidimensional activity of the brain. Implying that axonal stimulation by external sources might backpropagate and modify neuronal electric oscillations, our theory also suggests testable previsions concerning the optimal location of transcranial magnetic stimulation’s coils in patients affected by drug-resistant epilepsy.

Set theory faces two difficulties: formal definitions of sets/subsets are incapable of assessing biophysical issues; formal axiomatic systems are complete/inconsistent or incomplete/consistent. To overtake these problems reminiscent of the old-fashioned principle of individuation, we provide formal treatment/validation/operationalization of a methodological weapon termed “outer approach” (OA). The observer’s attention shifts from the system under evaluation to its surroundings, so that objects are investigated from outside. Subsets become just “holes” devoid of information inside larger sets. Sets are no longer passive containers, rather active structures enabling their content’s examination. Consequences/applications of OA include: a) operationalization of paraconsistent logics, anticipated by unexpected forerunners, in terms of advanced truth theories of natural language, anthropic principle and quantum dynamics; b) assessment of embryonic craniocaudal migration in terms of Turing’s spots; c) evaluation of hominids’ social behaviors in terms of evolutionary modifications of facial expression’s musculature; d) treatment of cortical action potentials in terms of collective movements of extracellular currents, leaving apart what happens inside the neurons; e) a critique of Shannon’s information in terms of the Arabic thinkers’ active/potential intellects. Also, OA provides an outer view of a) humanistic issues such as the enigmatic Celestino of Verona’s letter, Dante Alighieri’s “Hell” and the puzzling Voynich manuscript; b) historical issues such as Aldo Moro’s death and the Liston/Clay boxing fight. Summarizing, the safest methodology to quantify phenomena is to remove them from our observation and tackle an outer view, since mathematical/logical issues such as selective information deletion and set complement rescue incompleteness/inconsistency of biophysical systems.

When an edge is removed, a cycle graph Cn becomes a n-1 tree graph. This observation from extremal set theory leads us to the realm of set theory, in which a topological manifold of genus-1 turns out to be of genus-0. Starting from these premises, we prove a theorem suggesting that a manifold with disjoint points must be of genus-0, while a manifold of genus-1 cannot encompass disjoint points.

In the past years, consumers have increased their interest to buy healthier food products, rejecting those products with more additives and giving preference to the fresh ones. Moreover, the current environmental situation has made society more aware of the importance of reducing the production of plastic and food waste. In this way and considering the Food Industry need of reducing the food spoilage along the food chain, edible coating has been considered as an eco-friendly food packaging that can replace traditional plastic packaging providing an improvement in the product’s shelf-life. Edible coating are thin layers applied straightaway on the food materials’ surface, that are made of biopolymers that usually incorporate other elements, such as nanoparticles or essential oils, to improve their physicochemical properties. These materials must provide a barrier that can prevent the pass of water vapor and other gasses, the microbial growth, the moisture loss, and the oxidation, so the shelf-life could be extended. The aim of this review was to compile the current data available to give a global vision of the formulation process and the different ways to improve the characteristics of the coats applied in both fruits and vegetables. In this way, the suitability of compounds in by-products produced during the Food Industry chain were also considered for the edible coating production.

In this research article we solve the problem of synchronization and anti-synchronization of chaotic systems described by discrete and time-delayed variable fractional order differential equations. To guarantee the synchronization and anti-synchronization of these systems, we use the well-known PID control theory and the Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory for discrete systems of variable fractional order.We illustrate the results obtained through simulation with examples, in which it can be seen that our results are satisfactory, thus achieving synchronization and anti-synchronization of chaotic systems of variable fractional order with discrete time delay.

The Benford method can be used to detect manipulation of epidemiological or trial data during the validation of new drugs. We extend here the Benford method after having detected particular properties for the Fibonacci values 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 of the first decimal of 10 runs of official epidemiological data published in France and Italy (positive cases, intensive care, and deaths) for the periods of March 1 to May 30, 2020 and 2021, each with 91 raw data. This new method – called “BFP” for Benford-Fibonacci-Perez - is positive in all 10 cases (i.e. 910 values) with an average of favorable cases close to 80%, which, in our opinion, would validate the reliability of these basic data.

Purpose: To assess the tolerability, safety, and efficacy of an ophthalmic topical formulation containing helenalin from Arnica montana and hyaluronic acid 0.4% (HA) in patients with mild to moderate dry eye disease (DED) exhibiting positive Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) test results. Methods: Tolerability and safety were evaluated in 24 healthy subjects. Participants were in-structed to routinely apply one drop of the formulation three times a day in the study eye, for a period of two weeks, followed by a clinical follow-up of 21 days. Efficacy was studied in 48 DED patients randomized into Study (Group 1/ receiving the study formulation) or Control (Group 2/ Receiving HA 0.4% eye lubricant) groups, for 4 weeks. Assessments included MMP-9 positivity, conjunctival impression cytology (CIC), Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), non-invasive tear film breakup time (NIF-BUT), non-invasive average breakup time (NIAvg-BUT), ocular surface staining, Schirmer's test, and meibomiography. A crossover design with a four-week follow-up was applied to the control group. Results: Healthy subjects receiving the study formulation exhibited good tolerability and no ad-verse events. Group 1 showed significant MMP-9 reduction (25% positivity rate) unlike Group 2 (87.5% positivity rate). Group 1 displayed improved CIC (33.3% vs. 0% SSD) compared to Group 2 (29.1%). OSDI and NIF-BUT scores improved in both groups (p < 0.001). Only Group 1 showed improved NIAvg-BUT and Schirmer’s test scores (p < 0.001), while Group 2 did not (p > 0.05). MMP-9-positive subjects shifted from 25% to 91.6% in Group 1 and 87.5% to 20.8% in Group 2 after the follow-up. Conclusion: The topical formulation containing helenalin from Arnica montana and hyaluronic acid is well tolerated and has a good safety profile. Our formulation reduces DED sympto-matology and modulates the ocular surface inflammatory process; this is evidenced by the en-hancement of CIC, the improvement of DED-related tear film status, and the reduction of MMP-9 positivity rate.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we run for all INDIA mutations and variants a biomathematical numerical method for analysing mRNA nucleotides sequences based on UA/CG Fibonacci numbers proportions (Perez, 2021). In this study, we limit ourselves to the analysis of whole genomes, all coming from the mutations and variants of SARS-CoV2 sequenced in India in 2020 and 2021. We then demonstrate - both on actual genomes of patients and on variants combining the most frequent mutations to the SARS-CoV2 Wuhan genomes and then to the B.1.617 variant - that the numerical Fibonacci AU / CG metastructures increase considerably in all cases analyzed in ratios of up to 8 times. We can affirm that this property contributes to a greater stability and lifespan of messenger RNAs, therefore, possibly also to a greater INFECTUOSITY of these variant genomes. Out of a total of 108 genomes analyzed: - None ("NONE") of them contained a number of metastructures LOWER than those of the reference SARS-CoV2 Wuhan genome. - Eleven (11) among them contained the same number of metastructures as the reference genome. - 97 of them contained a GREATER number of metastructures than the reference genome, ie 89.81% of cases. The average increase in the number of metastructures for the 97 cases studied is 4.35 times the number of SARS-CoV2 UA/CG 17711 Fibonacci metastructures. Finally, we put a focus on B.1.617.2 crucial exponential growth Indian variant. Then, we demonstrate, by analyzing the main worldwide 19 variants, both at the level of spikes and of whole genomes, how and why these UA / CG metastuctures increase overall in the variants compared to the 2 reference strains SARS-CoV2 Wuhan and D614G.

The aim of this work is to introduce a mathematical model representing the evolution of the temperature in a vegetation cover and the ground underneath it. Vegetation, and its interaction with soil, plays a very important role in the protection of soil surface from the action of sun and precipitations. A reduction in the vegetated mass increase the risk of desertification, soil erosion or surface runoffs which which can give rise to soil loss and sediment retention. These processes can favour climate change and global warming, which are major concerns nowadays. The mathematical model presented takes into account the main processes involved in vegetation cover and the interaction with the soil, among which, we can mention the Leaf Area Index, which is a dimensionless quantity defined as the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground surface area, or albedo and co-albedo which are clearly influenced by the vegetation. It is also considered a nonlinear heat capacity in the soil which incorporates the latent heat of fusion, when the phase change takes place. The numerical technique used to solve the mathematical model is based on a finite volume scheme with Weighted Essentially Non Oscillatory technique for spatial reconstruction and the third order Runge-Kutta Total Variation Diminishing numerical scheme is used for time integration. Some numerical examples are solved to obtain the distribution of temperature both in the vegetation cover and the soil.

The unexploited unification of general relativity and quantum physics is a painstaking issue that prevents physicists to properly understanding the whole of Nature. Here we propose a pure mathematical approach that introduces the problem in terms of group theory. Indeed, we build a cyclic groupoid (a nonempty set with a binary operation defined on it) that encompasses both the theories as subsets, making it possible to join together two of their most dissimilar experimental results, i.e., the commutativity detectable in our macroscopic relativistic world and the noncommutativity detectable in the quantum, microscopic world. This approach, combined with the Connes fusion operator, leads to a mathematical framework useful in the investigation of relativity/quantum mechanics relationships.

Mechanical properties such as shape, volume and size affect the dynamics of biological systems. Most of the current methodological approaches are inclined to remove the existence of holes and impurities from systems’ description, regarding them as routes toward mechanical failure. On the contrary, we suggest that the occurrence of holes might be of utmost functional importance, allowing reversible transformations of cellular structures. The focus here is on the widespread occurrence of intracytoplasmic holes, that deeply modifies the topology of living cells and provides researchers with novel operational tools to investigate intracellular dynamics. We take as example the prokaryotic gas vesicles, i.e., intracellular cavities filled with gases spreading from the nearby medium. The mechanical and topological cellular properties dictated by intracytoplasmic holes are investigated, focusing on the physical constraints imposed by their very existence. For instance, the presence of gas vesicles breaks the cytoplasmic homogeneity, leading to inhomogeneity in functional activities and modifications in intracellular flows. Also, a topological approach to cytoplasmic holes suggests novel physiological roles for gas vesicles. For example, the gas vesicles’ ability to increase/decrease cellular volumes provides a mechanism that counteracts the detrimental effects of the surface/volume ratio. In conclusion, a structural/methodological approach based on the occurrence of holes testifies once again how the simple biophysical structure alone can dictate the function.

Ramsey’s economic theory of saving (RTS) estimates how much of its commodities a nation should save to safeguard the well-being of future generations. Since RTS retains many attractive qualities such as simplicity, strength, breadth and generality, here we ask if it would be useful to investigate biophysical issues. Specifically, we focus on a biological topic that lends itself as a backdrop for the study of the imbalance between intake and expenditure, i.e., the evaluation of the multicellular living organisms’ energetic requirements and constraints. Our problem is to find at each time the optimum distribution and the right balance of the cellular energy budget between consumption and storage: how much must a living organism spare to increase its chances of survival over long periods? Suggesting how to find the optimum allocation of the available energy between expenditure and saving at each time, RTS approaches to biological energy budgets may have a wide range of experimental applications, such as: a) optimization of the long-term survival chances of either immortalized cell cultures, or beneficial bacterial colonies and exogenous probiotic mixtures; b) eradication of detrimental biofilms, such as, e.g., heart valves’ Streptococcus colonies; c) novel anti-stress and anti-ageing strategies.

Ramsey’s theory (RAM) from combinatorics and network theory goes looking for regularities and repeated patterns inside structures equipped with nodes and edges. RAM represents the outcome of a dual methodological commitment: by one side a top-down approach evaluates the possible arrangement of specific subgraphs when the number of graph’s vertices is already known, by another side a bottom-up approach calculates the possible number of graph’s vertices when the arrangement of specific subgraphs is already known. Since natural neural networks are often represented in terms of graphs, we suggest to utilize RAM for the analytical and computational assessment of a peculiar structure supplied with neuronal vertices and axonal edges, i.e., the human brain connectome. We discuss how a RAM approach in neuroscientific issues might be able to locate and trace unexplored motifs shared between different cortical and subcortical subareas. Furthermore, we will describe how notable RAM outcomes, such as the Ramsey’s theorem and the Ramsey’s number, could contribute to uncover still unknown anatomical connexions endowed in neuronal networks and unexpected functional interactions among grey zones of the human brain.

The unexploited unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics (QM) prevents the proper understanding of the micro- and macroscopic world. Here we put forward a mathematical approach that introduces the problem in terms of negative curvature manifolds. We suggest that the oscillatory dynamics described by wave functions might take place on hyperbolic continuous manifolds, standing for the counterpart of QM’s Hilbert spaces. We describe how the tenets of QM, such as the observable A, the autostates ψa and the Schrodinger equation for the temporal evolution of states, might work very well on a Poincaré disk equipped with rotational groups. This curvature-based approach to QM, combined with the noncommutativity formulated in the language of gyrovectors, leads to a mathematical framework that might be useful in the investigation of relativity/QM relationships. Furthermore, we introduce a topological theorem, termed the punctured balloon theorem (PBT), which states that an orientable genus-1 surface cannot encompass disjoint points. PBT suggests that hyperbolic QM manifolds must be of genus ≥ 1 before measuring and genus zero after measuring. We discuss the implications of PBT in gauge theories and in the physics of the black holes.

We suggest that the 14^th century scholar Nicholas of Autrecourt can be regarded as a precursor of the paraconsistent logics developed around 1950. We show how the Sorbonne licentiatus in theology provided in his few extant writings a refutation of both the principle of explosion and the law of non-contradiction, in accordance with the tenets of paraconsistent logics. This paves the way to the most advanced theories of truth in natural language and quantum dynamics.

The dynamical processes of living systems are characterized by the cooperative interaction of many units. This claim enables us to portray the embryo-fetal development of the central and peripheral nervous systems in terms of assemblies of building blocks. We describe how the structure and arrangement of nervous fibers is - at least partially - dictated by biophysical and topological constraints. The far-flung field of soft-matter polymers/nematic colloids sheds new light on the neurulation in mammalian embryos, suggesting an intriguing testable hypothesis: the development of the central and peripheral nervous systems might be correlated with the occurrence of local thermal changes in embryo-fetal tissues. Further, we show a correlation between the fullerene-like arrangement of the cortical microcolumns and the Frank-Kasper phases of artificial quasicrystals assemblies. The last, but not the least, we explain how and why the multisynaptic ascending nervous fibers connecting the peripheral receptors to the neocortical areas can be viewed as the real counterpart of mathematical tools such as knot theory and braid groups. Their group structure and generator operations point towards a novel approach to long-standing questions concerning human sensation and perception, leading to the suggestion that the very arrangement and intermingling of the peripheral nervous fibers contributes to the cortical brain activity. In touch with the old claims of D’Arcy Thompson, we conclude that the arrangement and the pattern make the function in a variety of biological instances, leading to countless testable hypotheses.

Once a wheat sheaf has been sealed and tied up, its packed down straws display the same orientation and zero-divergence. This observation brings us to the mathematical notion of presheaf, i.e., a topological structure in which diverging functions are locally superimposed. We show how the concepts of presheaves and the correlated globular sets, borrowed from category theory and algebraic topology, allow a well-founded mathematical approach to otherwise elusive activities of the brain. The mathematical assessment of brain functions in terms of presheaves: a) explains why spontaneous random spikes synchronize; b) leads to the counterintuitive intuition of antidromic effects in neuronal spikes: when an entrained oscillation propagates from A to B, changes in B lead to changes in A. We provide testable previsions: a) we suggest the proper locations of transcranial magnetic stimulation’s coils to improve the clinical outcomes of drug-resistant epilepsy; b) we advocate that axonal stimulation by external sources backpropagates and alters the neuronal electric oscillatory frequency. Further, we describe how the hierarchical information transmission inside globular sets provides fresh insights concerning different issues at various coarse-grained scales, such as object persistence, memory reinforcement in spite of random noise, Bayesian inferential circuits.

Visual imagery, i.e., the mental experience of an object occurring in the absence of external visual stimulus, might encompass diverse content according to different observers. Further, subjectively experienced time is encoded in the later entorhinal cortex. Starting from these two observations, and considering Einstein’s account of spacetime, we show how, in terms of special relativity, the content of visual imagery is not stationary and fixed, rather depends on the standpoint of the observer. We elucidate how the subjective definition of time (perceived by our mind as static) might give rise to modifications in the length of the imagined object which are experimentally assessable and quantifiable. In particular, based on recent neuroscientific literature, we show how changes in our mental time windows are able to squeeze the visual content of mental imagery.

Dewetting transition - a concept borrowed from fluid mechanics - is a physiological process which takes place inside the hydrophobic pores of ion channels. This transient phenomenon causes a metastable state which forbids water molecules to cross the microscopic receptors’ cavities. This leads to a decrease of conductance, a closure of the hole and, subsequently, severe impairment of cellular performance. We suggest that artificially-provoked dewetting transition in ion channels’ hydrophobic pores could stand for a molecular candidate to erase detrimental organisms, such as viruses, bacteria and cancer cells. We describe a novel type of high-affinity monoclonal antibody, which: a) targets specific trans-membrane receptor structures of harmful or redundant cells; b) is equipped with lipophilic and/or hydrophobic fragments that prevent physiological water flows inside ion channels. Therefore, we achieve an artificial dewetting transition inside receptors’ cavities which causes transmembrane ionic flows discontinuity, channel blockage and subsequent damage of morbid cells. As an example, we describe dewetting monoclonal antibodies targeting the M2 channel of the Influenza A virus: they might prevent water to enter the pores, thus leading to virion impairment.

Causal relationships lie at the very core of our scientific description of biophysical phenomena. Nevertheless, observable facts such as chaotic dynamics, symmetry breaks, long-range collisionless neural interactions, zero-value energy singularities, particle/wave duality, ecological approaches to visual perception elude cause effect inductive explanations. We illustrate how simple topological claims, seemingly useless and far away from scientific inquiry (e.g., “given at least some wind on Earth, there must at all times be a cyclone or anticyclone somewhere”; “if one stirs to dissolve a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee, it appears there is always a point without motion”; “at any moment, there is always a pair of antipodal points on the Earth’s surface with equal temperatures and barometric pressures”) describe a real world, made of projections and mappings unsupplied with causality. Unavoidable, necessary, passive, spontaneous changes in systems’ shapes, dimensions and symmetries incarnate biophysical quantifiable counterparts of abstract mathematical concepts. Real features arising from topological mechanisms do not require causal powers to be produced, because are independent of exerted physical forces, energetic fields’ actions and thermodynamic constraints. Providing examples that shed novel interpretative light on phenomena such as double slit experiments, cellular mechanisms and brain function, we conclude as follows: countless scientific matters can be accessed through methodological weapons which not just break causality, replace temporal correlations and probabilistic a priori knowledge of previous cases, but also permit augments in available information devoid of entropy increases and energy losses.

Geometry deals both with analogical thinking and physical/biological observables. Naïve, common-sense descriptions of objects’ shapes and systems’ trajectories in geometric phase spaces may help experimental investigation. For example, very different biological dynamics, as the developmental growth patterns of the oldest known animal (the extinct Dickinsonia) and the human brain electric oscillations, display a striking analogy: when encompassed in abstract geometric spaces, their paths describe the same changes in curvature: from convex, to flat, to concave and vice versa. This dynamical behavior, anticipated by Nicholas de Cusa in his analogical account of “coincidentia oppositorum” (1440), helps to describe widespread biological paths in the manageable terms of concave, flat and convex curves on donut-like structures. Every trajectory taking place on such toroidal manifolds can be located, through a topological technique called Hopf fibration, into a four-dimensional space. We discuss how the correlation between Hopf fibration and Navier-Stokes equations allows us to treat the above-mentioned biological and neuroscientific curved paths in terms of flows taking place into a viscous fluid medium that can be experimentally assessed and quantified.

We describe cosmic expansion from the standpoint of an observer’s comoving horizon. When the Universe is small, the observer detects a large amount of the total cosmic bits, which number is fixed. Indeed, information, such as energy, cannot be created or destroyed in our Universe, i.e., the total number of cosmic bits must be kept constant, despite the black hole paradox. When the Universe expands, the information gets ergodically “diluted” in our isotopic and homogeneous Cosmos. This means that the observer can perceive just a lower number of the total bits, due the decreased density of information in the cosmic volume (or its surrounding surface, according to the holographic principle) in which she is trapped by speed light’s constraints. Here we ask: how does the second law of thermodynamics enter in this framework? Could it be correlated with cosmic expansion? The correlation is at least partially feasible, because the decrease in the information detected by a local observer in an expanding Universe leads to an increase in detected cosmic thermodynamic entropy, via the Bekenstein bound and the Laudauer principle. Reversing the classical scheme from thermodynamic entropy to information entropy, we suggest that the quantum vacuum’s cosmological constant, that causes cosmic expansion, could be one of the sources of the increases in thermodynamic entropy detected by local observers.

The French-Swiss Professor in inductive philosophy Richard Avenarius (1843-1896), the father of empirio-criticism together with Ernst Mach, is one of the most underrated and misunderstood philosophers ever. It mostly depends upon his terminology, which displays an insurmountable difficulty. However, influenced by the most innovative proposals of his times of transition between the idealistic/rationalist legacies and the new Materialism/scientific interpretation of reality – i.e, by cultural evolutionism, linguistics, biomechanics, entropy/energy and, above all, by the newborn experimental psychology-, he produced a complete system of philosophy and innovative methods of investigation of the laws of knowledge. Hints (chunk, scrap, fragments) of his original ideas can be found not only in philosophers of mind after him - such as Gestalt, phenomenalism, behaviourism, functionalism and cybernetics, autopoiesis, dynamical systems theory, embedded/embodied mind, free-energy principle of the brain – but also in recent neuroscientific theories – nervous transduction, electric spikes, cracking of neural code, multisensory integration -. Our aim is to provide the first chronological English summary of his masterpiece, the “Kritik”, to give the possibility to the (almost) totally unaware English speakers to appreciate such a neglected and innovative thinker.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we suggest a biomathematical numerical method for analysing mRNA nucleotides sequences based on UA/CG Fibonacci numbers proportions. This method is used to evaluate then compare the spike genes related to the main SARS-CoV2 VARIANTS currently circulating within the world population. The 10 main results proposed to be reproduced by peers are: 1/ SARS-CoV2 genome and spike evolution in one year 2020-2021. 2/ SARS-CoV2 Origins. 3/ Comparing 11 reference variants spikes. 4/ analysing 32 CAL.20C California variant patients spikes. 5/ Toward a meta mRNA Fibonacci gene end message code. 6/ Analysing S501 UK, S484 South Africa and « 2 mutations » INDIA variants. 7/ Suggesting a possible variants spike mRNA palindrome symmetry metastructure improving mRNA stability then infectiousness. 8/ Analysing Fibonacci Metastructures in the mRNA coding for the vaccines PFIZER and MODERNA. 9/ Does the CG-rich modification of the synonymous codons of the spikes of the 2 mRNA vaccines affect the expression and quantity of SARS-CoV2 antibodies? 10/ The exceptional case of the Brazilian variant P.1. Particularly, we suggest the following conjecture at mRNA folding level : CONJECTURE of SARS-CoV2 VARIANTS: The growth of long Fibonacci structures in the shape of "podiums" for almost all of the variants studied (UK, California, South Africa, India, etc.) suggests the probable folding of the Spike mRNA in the form of a "hairpin", which can strengthen the cohesion and the lifespan of this mRNA. Finally, we show that these kinds of Fibonacci matastructures disapear TOTALLY by analysing the published mRNA sequences of PFIZER and MODERNA vaccines. One fact is certain, the two mRNAs of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will result in a low functionality of the spike vaccine. This is because their designers by seeking greater stability, have doped to build CG rich sequences which, as soon as they are inserted into the human host, will, paradoxically, seek to mutate, like SARS-CoV2 variants, towards CG ==> UA forms in order to improve their STABILITY and LIFETIME. We conclude using new biomathematics theoretical methods (Master code and numerical standing waves), and comparing the Spikes of the two vaccines Moderna and Pfizer, that there will be very probable differences in stability and shelf life of the two respective mRNAs vaccines. However, “State of the Art” analyzes will disclose that their two protein sequences are strictly identical. By modified their synonymous codons using different strategies, no one can guarantee that the quantity of antibodies generated will be identical in the two cases. We wish to draw attention to the great ADAPTATION power - at the global scale of their genomes - of the most infectious VARIANTS, such as the BRAZIL 20J / 501Y.V3 variant (P.1). This is very worrying for the VACCINES <==> VARIANTS run: We demonstrate how the Brazilian variant P.1 which becomes uncontrollable in Brazil in April 2021 has a level of organization of long metastructures of 17,711 bases covering the genome which is 3.6 more important than that of the 2 reference genomes SARS-CoV2 and worldwide D614G. We suggest that this high level of overall structure of this variant contributes to the stability of this genome and, might explain its greater contagiousness.

In (Venetz et al., 2019), authors rebuilt the essential genome of Caulobacter crescentus through the process of chemical synthesis rewriting and studied the genetic information content at the level of its essential genes. Then, they reduced the native Caulobacter crescentus native Caulobacter NA1000 genome sequence real genome ( 4042929 bp ) to the 785,701-bp reduced synthetic genome. Here we demonstrate the existence of a palindromic-like mirror structure that exists in real genomes and disappears totally in the synthetic genome. This biomathematic meta-organization is based on characteristic proportions of Fibonacci numbers between DNA single strand nucleotides proportions TC / AG on the one hand and TG / AC on the other hand. In both cases, we suggest that this meta-structure enhances the three-dimensional cohesion of the two DNA strands of the genome. We then generalize this study to the different synthetic genomes and synthetic cells published by the Craig Venter Institute on Mycoplasma Mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 (in 2010), JCVI-syn3.0 (in 2016) and JCVI-syn3A (in 2019). Finally, in the discussion section, we extend this study to synthetic genomes of E-Coli and Yeast chromosome XII.

The discovery of a simple numerical formula for the projection of all the atomic mass of life-sustaining CONHSP bioatoms leads to the emergence of a set of Nested CODES unifying all the biological, genetic and genomic components by unifying them from bioatoms up to 'to whole genomes. In particular, we demonstrate the existence of a digital meta-code common to the three languages ​​of biology that are RNA, DNA and amino acid sequences. Through this meta-code, genomic and proteomic images appear almost analogous and correlated. The analysis of the textures of these images then reveals a binary code as well as an undulatory code whose analysis on the human genome makes it possible to predict the alternating bands constituting the cariotypes of the chromosomes. The application of these codes to perspectives in astrobiology, in Cancers basic research and the emergence of binary codes and regions of local stability (voting process), whose fractal nature we demonstrate, is illustrated.

The current health crisis derived from COVID 19 has become a serious threat to humanity. The collateral effects related to economic aspects are affecting companies, workers and, of course, families in general. The problems of financial insolvency are frequently present in debtors who have contracted a debt with their creditor. Therefore, the objective of the study is focused on modeling a debt restructuring proposal, through three hypothetical scenarios in which the debt is reconvened when some documents have expired and others are yet to expire. In each of the scenarios, the mathematical model is designed and subsequently corroborated in an Excel spreadsheet. The predominant variables in the restructuring are the adjustment rates used to update the past due promissory notes and the discount rates of those promissory notes that have not yet expired, capitalizations, transaction costs and, if applicable, whether the debt is in foreign currency. In this case, it is converted to the local currency, then the spot exchange rate is used.

In this work we present a new algorithm that achieves the perfect Shannon secret by means of the XOR function and a method that we call multiple key reuse. The algorithm has two execution modes: message authentication and data encryption. The XOR encryption scheme allows for batch encryption and exhibits Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Furthermore, based on our fundamental algorithm, we have developed a new strategy for blockchain implementation that does not require Proof of Work (PoW), but defines a fair mechanism for miner selection and secure addition of blocks to the chain. Since our method is mainly based on the Boolean XOR function, the strength of the cryptosystem can be directly established thanks to its mathematical properties. Due to the risk that quantum computers represent for current cryptosystems based on prime factorization or discrete logarithm, we postulate that our method represents a promising alternative in the quantum era for the security of communications between Internet of Things devices as well as Blockchain technology.

In an analogous manner as occurred during the development of a connected metabolism that at some point reached characteristics associated with what is called ‘life’ ―due mainly to a catalytic closure phenomenon when chemicals started to autocatalyze themselves forming a closed web of chemical reactions― it is here proposed that cognition and consciousness (or features associated with them) arose as a consequence of another type of closure within the nervous system, the brain especially. Proper brain function requires an efficient web of connections and once certain complexity is attained due to the number and coordinated activities of the brain cell networks, the emergent properties of cognition and consciousness take place. Seeking to identify main features of the nervous system organization for optimal function, it is here proposed that while catalytic closure yielded life, neuroglial closure produced cognition/consciousness.

Background: Citicoline, a medical food, lacks proven efficacy for ischemic stroke and has uncertainties around its harms. The continued prescription should be reevaluated given the more robust, high-quality Evidence against that medical food. This essay is based on a recent Cochrane review and uses only one all-cause mortality as the primary outcome. Therefore, the essay should be considered as something other than an updated Cochrane review but like a reflection based on Evidence-based Medicine and Philosophy of Science analysis. Question Research: Why citicoline (a medical food) should not be prescribed to treat people with acute ischemic stroke: The certainty of the Evidence.? Objective: Demonstrate from evidence-based medicine and philosophy of science perspective that citicoline should not be prescribed for acute ischemic stroke due to lack of efficacy and harm uncertainties. Search publications: We searched in PubMed and Cochrane Library from 2020 until 30 October 2023. We, furthermore, used engineering machines Bing and Google Scholar to detect additional papers. Additionally, we also reviewed reference lists of the retrieved publications and review articles and searched the websites of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). Selection criteria: We included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized clinical trials, clinical guidelines focused on acute ischemic stroke and comparing citicoline versus placebo or no intervention. We excluded narrative reviews, observational studies and ongoing trials. Data collection and analysis: We identified only new randomized clinical trials and assessed the risk of bias in seven domains. The other eight trials were already included in the mentioned Cochrane review. The systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses were assessed using McMaster University guidelines. We estimated risk ratios (RRs) for that outcome. We measured statistical heterogeneity using the I² statistic. We conducted our analyses using the fixed effect model. We did not use the GRADE approach due to what is shown in a Cochrane review published in 2020 by Martí-Carvajal et al. We used the RevMan 5.4 software from Cochrane Collaboration to conduct the forest plot. We used a Trial Sequential Analysis with Copenhagen Trial Unit Software. We estimated a Bayes factor from the relative risk and 95% confidence interval. Results: We identified only one new RCT (N = 99) reported mortality data and three clinical guidelines. We conducted a new meta-analysis with nine trials (N = 4461) having a high risk of bias and showing little to no difference in mortality between citicoline and placebo (17.1% vs 18.4%; RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.06; I2 = 0%). The Bayes factor was 0.7, indicating weak Evidence for the null over the alternative hypothesis. Trial sequential analysis suggested sufficiency of Evidence for mortality. No guidelines recommend citicoline. Conclusions: This essay reassessed citicoline for acute ischemic stroke after the 2020 Cochrane review. Adding a new RCT further supported the lack of mortality benefit with citicoline. The overall evidence quality could be better. Analyses using evidence-based medicine and philosophy of science approaches do not support prescribing citicoline due to a lack of efficacy substantiation and potential harms.

Depression continues to be a glaring global challenge. The most worrisome trend is eating up the youthful generation more than anyone could predict years back. As Addis & Martell (2004) note, these adolescents end up succumbing to conditions that can be traced wholly from depression. Behavioral activation can be a rewarding intervention that will go a long way in cutting down on these cases and ensure the youthful global population's lives are safeguarded if applied and monitored to ensure correct and collective implementation processes and systems. The insights and arguments presented in the research paper will focus on the utility of behavioral activation in reducing depression cases among adolescents.

Analyses of faculty citation activity usually focus on counts as a function of author characteristics such as rank, gender, previous citation levels, and other factors influencing productivity and career path. Citation analyses of publications consider aspects such as number of authors, author reputation, author order, length of the title, methodology, and impact factors of the publication. While publication topics or discipline are considered to be important factors, they are more difficult to analyze, and therefore performed less frequently. This paper attempts to do that for the field of urban planning. Urban planning is multi-disciplinary and includes consideration of social, economic, technological, environmental, and political systems that shape human settlement patterns. It has been suspected that some topics are more “popular” and have larger audiences, therefore are cited more often. Using nearly 15,000 urban planning publications, this paper presents an analysis of topics to assess which are cited most frequently. The classification of publications was performed using a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a machine learning (ML) approach to text classification, using citation data from Google Scholar. The citation levels for the resulting categories are analyzed and discussed.

The cornea is an avascular tissue which has attracted much attention by the uniqueness of its anatomical characteristics, it has, in proportion, an enormous size, in relation to the number of vessels, because on average few cells in the organism are away more than 30 microns of a blood vessel. However, the cornea, with a diameter of between 11 and 12 mm, is a unique example. It has been tried to explain the notable absence of blood vessels in the cornea, arguing that corneal tissues are able to take oxygen directly from the air. In this article we are explaining that based on the physicochemical characteristics of molecular oxygen and the cell membrane, cytoplasm, water, and cellular metabolism, it is not possible that epithelial corneal cells directly take oxygen from the air, instead, corneal cells have molecules that can dissociate the water molecules thereby these cells, like any other eukaryotic cells, take the oxygen from the intracell water, like plants.

Use of porous titanium (Ti) and Ti alloys in orthopedic implants or in light structures requires processing routes that could generate an as-much-as possible control in the pores amount, shape, size and connectivity. In this work, a colloidal approach to the processing of Ti porous structures by the inside foaming of a porogen into a gelled high solid content aqueous suspension of Ti powders, is presented. The prepared slurries contained different amounts of Methyl Cellulose (MC) as gelling agent (8, 10 and 12 g/L) and ammonium bicarbonate (BA) as porogen (15, 20, 25 wt. %). The gel-casted samples were heated at mild temperatures ranging (60, 70 and 80 °C) to promote the gelation and produce, at the same time, the porosity by the thermal decomposition of the ammonium bicarbonate. Different structures are obtained depending on the combination of the study variables

The catalytic parameters describing enzyme catalysis are discussed in the context of the design of de novo enzymes. It is shown that high values of the catalytic efficiency may in some cases reflect tight substrate binding and lead to an immediate levelling-off of rates to reach a low plateau, an undesirable scenario for many industrial applications. It is argued that increasing the catalytic rate constant should be a main target in de novo enzyme engineering.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the activities of daily living using the Barthel Index, before and after the infection by SARS-COV-2 and to see if the results vary according to sex. Methods: The activities of daily living of 68 cohabiting geriatric patients, 34 men and 34 women, in 2 nursing homes were measured before and after SARS-COV-2 infection using the Barthel index. Results: The Covid 19 infection affects the performance of daily life activities in institutionalized elderly in nursing homes, and it does so especially the older the subject, regardless of sex. Conclusions: The Covid 19 pandemic, in addition to having claimed some victims, especially in the elderly population, has reduced the ability of these people to carry out their activities of daily life, considerably worsening their quality of life despite have been able to overcome the disease.

The management of urban water has evolved from single-function systems to more sustainable designs promoting society and nature as inputs to engineer novel infrastructure. In transdisciplinary research, co-design refers to a design thinking strategy in which people jointly frame a problem-solution. This article presents a conceptual framework to assess a case study focusing on the process of co-design and implementation of green infrastructure as a prototype for stormwater management. The evaluation is carried out from a self-reflective post-implementation perspective. Research activities are translated into the framework to evaluate conditions shaping the trajectory of the prototype. As a result, key aspects driving the research regarding levels of stakeholder participation and dimensions of power are identified. Planning resilient co-design strategies to retrofit urban spaces is necessary to avoid unintended consequences, especially at the initial experimental stages. This study aims to contribute to the continuous improvement of pilot strategies in urban spaces by providing a framework for a structured evaluation of research experiences.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a relatively frequent, chronic disease that impacts significantly the patient’s quality of life. Although many therapeutic options are available, additional approaches are needed because many patients either do not respond to current therapies or show significant side effects. Cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) is a cytokine with potent cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties. The purpose of this study was to assess if the administration of CT-1 could reduce colon damage in mice with experimental UC. UC was induced with 5% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in the drinking water. Some mice received i.v. dose of CT-1 (200 µg/kg) 2 hours before and 2 and 4 days after DSS administration. Animals were followed during 7 days after DSS. The severity of UC was measured by standard scores. Colon damage was assessed by histology and immunohistochemistry. Inflammatory mediators were measured by Western blot and PCR. CT-1 administration to DSS-treated mice ameliorated both the clinical course (disease activity index), histological damage, inflammation (colon expression of TNF-α, IL-17, IL-10, INF-γ, and iNOS), and apoptosis. Our results suggest that CT-1 administration before UC induction improves the clinical course, tissue damage and inflammation degree in DSS-induced UC in mice.

It remains unclear in the literature what is the cause of the so-called alkali-carbonate reaction (ACR) damage to concrete yet, a consensus is reached when considering dedolimitization as non-expansive. However, expansion and cracks as distress features are often attributed to alkali-silica reaction (ASR) when evidence of a reactive mineral is found in the aggregate. Evidently, different types of aggregates may produce different types and degrees of damage. Therefore, this work aims to assess the damage to concrete generated and propagated by the so-called ACR susceptible reactive Kingston coarse aggregate through mechanical testing (i.e., direct shear test), microscopy (the damage rating index – DRI), and other techniques. Distinct induced expansion levels (i.e., 0%, 0.05%, 0.12%, and 0.20%) were selected to compare the distress caused by ACR to concrete affected by ASR. Result show that the behaviour of ACR, namely as captured through the DRI, is inconsistent with that of ASR thus attesting to ACR being a distinct distress mechanism.

: For a long time, atherosclerosis has been regarded as a mere lipid deposit in the blood vessels. However, in the recent years a growing body of experimental and clinical evidence have highlighted the role of inflammation and immunity as a central mechanism of disease. Moreover, in the last decade the coming of next-generation sequencing and its application to large human population has broken the barrier between inflammation and cancer. Indeed, acquired mutation in key genes related to the control of hematopoiesis and myeloproliferation have paved the way to establish the new concept of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. This phenomenon is being considered not such “indeterminate”, but as an emerging cardiovascular risk factor. Thus, this may explain the mechanisms of myeloproliferation and inflammation in atherosclerosis. And in a bidirectional journey, it has helped to explain the extremely high cardiovascular risk in cancer survivors, in particular in myeloprolfierative neoplasm patients. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms may pave the way for the future early diagnosis and potential preemptive treatments of the leading worldwide cause of death.

One of the non-linear phenomena that affect high bandwidth and long reach communication systems is the non-linear phenomenon called four-wave mixing (FWM). Unfortunately, the simulation of such systems aiming to obtain their design parameter limitations require more time as the number of channels increases. In this paper, we propose a new high-performance computational model to obtain optimal design parameters in a multi san Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system, limited by FWM and the intrinsic Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise of optical amplifiers employed in each segment. The simulation in this work provides a complete optical design characterization and compares the efficiency and speed improvement of the proposed parallelization model versus a previous sequential model. Additionally, an analysis of the computational complexity of parallel model is presented, where two parallel implementations are used. First, Open Multi−Processing (OpenMP), based on the use of a central, multi-core processing unit is used and secondly the Compute Unified Device Arquitecture (CUDA), which is based on the use of graphics processing unit. Results show that parallelism improves to up to 40 times the performance of the simulation when nested parallelization with CUDA is used, over de sequential method and up to 6 times compared with the implementation with OpenMP using 12 processors. Within our parallel implementation, it is possible to simulate with an increased number of channels, that was unpractical in the sequential simulation.

This review evaluates the trajectory and sustainability of the global and Mexican aquaculture industry. Globally, the sector is experiencing rapid growth, catalyzed by evolving consumption patterns and technological advancements. Notwithstanding the benefits, environmental concerns necessitate an urgent shift towards sustainable practices. The focus then narrows to Mexico's aquaculture, tracing its history from the late 19th century. With an emphasis on species diversification, the country's sector demonstrates resilience and potential, with an impressive yield of 249,613.71 tons in 2021 despite regional consolidation. However, persistent challenges such as technological limitations, funding shortages, and access to quality seeds hinder progress. Risks, including disease outbreaks, negative environmental impact, economic volatility, regulatory compliance, and climate change, further underscore the need for sustainable strategies. With government support and unique geographical and climatic advantages, Mexico shows promise for a significant % growth projection of 25% over the next five years. This review underscores the importance of embracing technological innovation, implementing sustainable practices, and enacting supportive legislation for the long-term success of the aquaculture sector worldwide, with a particular focus on Mexico.

A new formalism is introduced that makes it possible to elucidate the physical and geometric content of quantum spacetime. It is based in the Minimum Group Representation Principle (MGRP). Within this framework new results for entanglement and geometrical/topological phases are found and implemented in cosmological and black hole space-times. Our main results here are: {\bf(i)} We find the Berry phases for inflation and for the cosmological perturbations and express them in terms of the observables, as the spectral scalar and tensor indices, $n_S$ an $n_T$, and the tensor to scalar ratio $r$. The Berry phase for de Sitter inflation is imaginary with the sign describing the exponential acceleration. {\bf(ii)} The pure entangled states in the minimum group (metaplectic) $Mp(n)$ representation for quantum de Sitter space-time and black holes are found. {\bf(iii)} For entanglement, the relation between the Schmidt type representation and the physical states of the $Mp(n)$ group is found: This is a {\it new non-diagonal} coherent state representation complementary to the known Sudarshan diagonal one. {\bf(iv)} Mean value generators of $Mp(2)$ are related to the adiabatic invariant and topological charge of the spacetime (matrix element of the transition $-\infty < t < \infty$). {\bf(v)} The basic {\it even} and {\it odd} $n$-sectors of the Hilbert space are intrinsic to the quantum spacetime and its discrete levels (in particular continuum for $n \rightarrow \infty$), they do not require any extrinsic generation process as the standard Schrodinger cat states, and are {\it entangled}. {\bf(vi)} The gravity or cosmological domains in one side and another of the Planck scale are {\it entangled}. Examples: The quantum primordial trans-Planckian de Sitter vacuum and the classical late de Sitter vacuum today; the central quantum gravity reqion and the external classical gravity region of black holes. The classical and quantum dual gravity regions of the space-time are entangled. {\bf(vii)} The general classical-quantum gravity duality is associated to the Metaplectic $Mp(n)$ group symmetry which provides the complete full covering of the phase space and of the quantum space-time mapped from it.

To implement renewable energy resources, microgrid systems have been adopted and developed into the technology of choice to assure mass electrification in the next decade. Microgrid systems have a number of advantages over the conventional utility grid systems, however, it faces severe instability issues due to continually increasing constant power loads. To improve the stability of the entire system, load side compensation technique is chosen because of its robustness and cost effectiveness. In this particular occasion, a sliding mode controller is developed for microgrid system in the presence of CPL to assure certain control objective of keeping the output voltage constant at 480V. After that, the robustness analysis of the sliding mode controller against parametric uncertainties is presented. The sliding mode controller robustness against parametric uncertainties, frequency variations, and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) are illustrated in this paper. Later, the performance of the PID and sliding Mode controller is compared in case of nonlinearity, parameter uncertainties, and noise rejection to justify the selection of Sliding Mode controller over PID controller. All the necessary calculations are reckoned mathematically and results are verified in the virtual platform such as MATLAB/Simulink with the appreciable outcome.

Thermostatically controlled loads have great potential to make a significant contribution to improving energy efficiency in the building sector, which is responsible for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. This, in addition to the environmental damage, represents a huge expense in the electricity bill. Therefore, it is very important to train engineers on how to design energy management systems for TCLs. With this goal in mind, it would be very useful to have a simulation-based educational tool (SBET) to understand thermostatically controlled loads, their characteristics and possibilities in energy efficiency. In addition, it would be very useful if this tool could be introduced in engineering curricula to help students to be better trained and enter the labor market with more opportunities. Based on the shortcomings detected, this work develops a SBET specifically designed to teach about TCLs (SBET-TCLs), both about their intrinsic characteristics and their better management. To verify the developed SBET-TCL, it has been tested in a real scenario: A survey was carried out among the students of the subject 'Alternative Energy Sources' of the degrees of Industrial Engineering. The results show that the use of SBET-TCL has very positive effects on the learning process.

In industrial environments, nesting consists in cutting or extracting pieces from a material sheet, with the purpose of minimizing the surface of the sheet used. This problem is present in different types of industries, such as shipping, aeronautics, woodworking, footwear, and so on. In this work, the aim is to find an acceptable solution to solve complex nesting problems. The research developed is oriented to sacrifice accuracy for speed so as to obtain robust solutions in less computational time. To achieve this, a greedy method and a genetic algorithm have been implemented, being the latter responsible for generating a sequence for the placement of the pieces, where each piece is placed in its current optimal position with the help of a representation system for both the pieces and the material sheet.

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.

Turbulence is a fluid dynamic problem refractory to mathematical treatment. Examining a theoretical model of liquid water flowing in a cylinder at different Raleigh numbers, we propose a novel approach to elucidate the first stages of turbulent flows. The weakly bonded molecular assemblies of liquid water form a fluctuating branched polymer in which every micro-cluster displays different density. Against the common view of liquid water as an incompressible and continuous fluid, we suggest that the occurrence of transient local aggregates could be able to generate the vortices and eddies that are the hallmarks of turbulence. We quantify the local changes in velocity, diameter and density required to engender “obstacles” to the average flow. Then, we show how these microstructures, equipped with different Raleigh numbers and characterized by high percolation index, could generate boundary layers that contribute to micro-vortices production. We conclude that the genesis of turbulence cannot be assessed in terms of collective phenomena, rather is sustained, among many other factors, by the underrated microscopic inhomogeneities of fluids like liquid water.

The literature on substance use usually extracts conclusions from data with correlational methods. Our study shows the usefulness of complementing ordered logistic regression (OLR) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to assess factors inducing cannabis consumption in a sample of 1,935 teenagers. OLR showed a significant influence of gender (odd ratio (OR) =0.383, p<0.0001), parental monitoring (OR=0.587, p=0.0201); religiousness (OR=0.476, p=0.006); parental tolerance to substance use (OR=42.01, p<0.0001) and having close peers that consume substances (OR=5.60, p<0.0001). FsQCA has allowed fitting linkages between factors from a complementary perspective. (1) Coverage (cov) and consistency (cons) attained by solutions explaining use (cons=0.808, cov=0.357) are clearly lower than by recipes of non-use (cons=0.952, cov=0.869) (2) The interaction of gender, a tolerant family to use and the attitude toward substances by peers is very consistent to explain cannabis use. (3) The most important recipe explaining resistance to cannabis is simply parental disagreement with substance consumption (cons=0.956, cov=0.861) (4) Factors as gender, religiosity, parental monitoring and age show also a relevant impact on attitude toward cannabis use. However, whereas some of them impact symmetrically on use and non-use this does not follow in factors such as parental monitoring or age.

In the Mediterranean area, vegetation dynamics and phenology analyzed over a long time can have an important role in highlighting changes in land use and cover as well as the effect of climate change. Over the last 30 years, remote sensing has played an essential role in bringing about these changes thanks to many types of observations and techniques. Satellite images are to be considered an important tool to grasp these dynamics and evaluate them in an inexpensive and multidisciplinary way thanks to Landsat and Sentinel satellite constellations. The integration of these tools holds a dual potential: on one hand, allowing to obtain longer historical series of reflectance data, while on the other hand, making data available with a higher frequency even within a specific timeframe. The study aims to conduct a comprehensive cross-comparison analysis of long-time series pixel values in the Mediterranean regions. For this scope comparisons between Landsat-7 (ETM+), Landsat-8 (OLI), and Sentinel-2 (MSI) satellite sensors were conducted based on surface reflectance products. We evaluated these differences using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Major Axis linear regression (RMA) analysis on points extracted from over 15,000 images across the Mediterranean basin area from 2017 to 2020. Minor but consistent differences were noted, necessitating the formulation of suitable adjustment equations to better align Sentinel-2 reflectance values with those of Landsat-7 or Landsat-8. The results of the analysis are compared with the most used harmonization coefficients proposed in the literature, revealing significant differences. The root mean square deviation, the mean difference and the orthogonal distance regression (ODR) slope show an improvement of the parameters for both models used (OLS and RMA) in this study. The discrepancies in reflectance values lead to corresponding variations in the estimation of biophysical parameters, such as NDVI, showing an increase in the ODR slope of 0.3. Despite differences in spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics, we demonstrate that integration of these datasets is feasible through the application of band-wise regression corrections for a sensitive and heterogeneous area like those of the Mediterranean basin area.

Autophagy is a multistep catabolic process through which misfolded, aggregated or mutated proteins and damaged organelles are internalized in membrane vesicles called autophagosomes and ultimately fused to lysosomes for degradation of sequestered components. The multi-step nature of the process offers multiple regulation points prone to be deregulated and cause different human disease, but also offers multiple targetable points for designing therapeutic strategies. Cancer cells have evolved to use autophagy as an adaptive mechanism to survive under extremely stressful conditions within tumor microenvironment, but also to increase invasiveness and resistance to anti-cancer drugs such as chemotherapy. This review collects all clinical evidences of autophagy deregulation during cholangiocarcinogenesis together with all pre-clinical reports evaluating compounds that modulate autophagy to induce cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cell death. Altogether, experimental data suggests an impairment of autophagy during initial steps of CCA development and increased expression of autophagy markers on established tumors and in invasive phenotypes. Pre-clinical efficacy of autophagy modulators promoting CCA cell death, reducing invasiveness capacity and resensitizing CCA cells to chemotherapy open novel therapeutic avenues to design more specific and efficient strategies to treat this aggressive cancer

There is a formal analogy between the evolution of the universe, when this is seen as a trajectory in the minisuperspace, and the worldline followed by a test particle in a curved spacetime. The analogy can be extended to the quantum realm, where the trajectories are transformed into wave packets that give us the probability of finding the universe or the particle in a given point of their respective spaces: the spacetime in the case of the particle and the minisuperspace in the case of the universe. The wave function of the spacetime and the matter fields, all together, can then be seen as a super-field that propagates in the minisuperspace and the so-called third quantisation procedure can be applied in a parallel way as the second quantisation procedure is performed with a matter field that propagates in the spacetime. The super-field can thus be interpreted as made up of universes propagating, i.e. evolving, in the minisuperspace. The analogy can also be used in the opposite direction. The way in which the semiclassical state of the universe is obtained in quantum cosmology allows us to obtain, from the quantum state of a field that propagates in the spacetime, the geodesics of the underlying spacetime as well as their quantum uncertainties or dispersions. This might settle a new starting point for a different quantisation of the spacetime.

Grid modernization has been ushered in by rising electricity consumption, deteriorating infrastructure, and increasing reliability concerns for electric utilities. New advances, collectively referred to as the smart grid, include modern electronics, technology, telecommunications, and computing capabilities. Smart grid telecommunication frameworks provide two-way communication to support grid operations. Software-defined networking (SDN) has been proposed as a method of monitoring and controlling telecommunication networks, enabling increased smart grid visibility, control, and security. However, being connected to telecommunications infrastructure means that smart grid networks are exposed to cyber-attacks. Attackers may use unauthorized access to intercept messages, inject false data into system measurements, flood communication channels with false data packets, or target centralized controllers to cripple network control. Defense and security techniques against these threats are constantly evolving, necessitating an up-to-date, comprehensive study analyzing cyber attacks and defense methods for smart grid networks. Previous smart grid security surveys do not contain recent techniques and to our knowledge most, if not all, address only one type of attack type and/or one type of defense. This survey considers the latest security techniques, simultaneous multi-pronged cyber attacks and defensutilityes to meet the challenges of the next-generation SDN smart grid research with the goal of identifying future research needs, describing the open security challenges, and exposing both emerging threats and their potential impact on SD-SG deployment.

Physical properties like shape, volume and size affect the dynamics of biological systems. Along these lines, we focus on the topological properties of biological fluids and their biochemical and physiological outcomes. We take as a paradigmatic example the salivary fluid and describe how its topological features may affect the physiopathology of the oral cavity. Topological approaches assess the general properties of saliva, ignoring small-scale physical details such as density, flow rate, stiffness, viscosity. Specifically, the mucin aggregates scattered in the salivary fluid can be tackled in terms of topological holes, i.e., vortical clusters that modify the direction, flow, impulse, local rate-of-change and velocity of saliva. While the current methodological approaches are inclined to remove the effects of impurities assessing systems as homogeneous structures, we argue that the occurrence of mucins breaks up the salivary fluid’s homogeneity, leading to unexpected biophysical modifications. We suggest that every collected salivary sample is not reliable for accurate clinical and experimental investigation, since it displays highly local as well as variable chemical, physical and biological features, not reflecting the current physiological state of the oral cavity. Therefore, the assessment of a single salivary sample is not fully reproducible and cannot provide information about the biophysical, enzymatic and microbiological content of the whole saliva. In sum, the very topological features of the saliva - such as volume, shape, antipodal cells, vortex area, whirling fluid mass, segmentation, discretization, triangulation, node numbering - produce unnoticed biological consequences and network connectivity features with intriguing operational implications.

The central dogma of molecular biology dictates that, with only a few exceptions, information proceeds from DNA to protein through an RNA intermediate. Examining the enigmatic steps from prebiotic to biological chemistry, we take another road suggesting that primordial peptides acted as template for the self-assembly of the first nucleic acids polymers. Arguing in favour of a sort of archaic “reverse translation” from proteins to RNA, our basic premise is a Hadean Hearth where key biomolecules such as amino acids, polypeptides, purines, pyrimidines, nucleosides and nucleotides were available under different prebiotically plausible conditions, including meteorites delivery, shallow ponds and hydrothermal vents scenarios. Supporting a protein-first scenario alternative to the RNA world hypothesis, we propose the primeval occurrence of short peptides termed “selective amino acid- and nucleotide-matching oligopeptides” (henceforward SANMAOs) that noncovalently bind at the same time the polymerized amino acids and the single nucleotides dispersed in the prebiotic milieu. We describe the chemical features of this hypothetical oligopeptide, its biological plausibility and its virtues from an evolutionary perspective. We provide a theoretical example of SANMAO’s selective pairing between amino acids and nucleosides, simulating a poly-Glycine peptide that acts as a template to build a purinic chain corresponding to the glycine’s extant triplet codon GGG. Further, we discuss how SANMAO might have endorsed the formation of low-fidelity RNA’s polymerized strains, well before the appearance of the accurate genetic material’s transmission ensured by the current translation apparatus.

La minería es una industria intensiva en energía que requiere una fuente estable de electricidad. Con el aumento de la demanda de minerales y la disminución de las leyes, se espera que la demanda de energía aumente en un 36% para el 2035. Este aumento de la demanda depende del uso de combustibles fósiles ya que la electricidad producida y comprada en las empresas mineras se basan principalmente en el caso de los combustibles fósiles, los costos de los sistemas de almacenamiento de energía solar y eólica han caído a una escala sin precedentes, lo que alienta a las empresas mineras a probar estas tecnologías.Entre los factores que influyen en el uso de energía renovable, se encuentra el beneficio a la comunidad en la etapa de operación y cierre o post-cierre de un proyecto minero, el siguiente factor es el perfil de consumo eléctrico o demanda es importante para el cálculo de su almacenamiento o no, de las energías renovables a utilizar. Como tercer factor está el cálculo del consumo en los procesos. Los rangos de penetración determinarán si es posible su almacenamiento de energía, y si es posible utilizar control híbrido (solar - eólico), para ello es importante el uso de herramientas digitales como el programa Holmer, es una herramienta importante que técnica y económica.El gobierno debe tener una perspectiva que ayude en los temas regulatorios necesarios para impulsar proyectos de energía renovable con diferentes incentivos e intereses según el contexto minero.

This article addresses the emergence of a niche for sustainable agricultural production in the province of García Rovira, Colombia. It examines the intervention of the Colombian planning regime, which implements agendas for sustainable territorial development. However, these agendas are not adequately aligned with provincial realities, resulting in a productive decline. From a multi-level perspective, a niche of production linked to the landscape is identified, highlighting sustainable practices and innovation. The study seeks to understand how planning influences the emergence of such niches and what factors boost their transition to sustainability. Through a mixed methodology, growing sectors are highlighted, and the profiles of the producers involved are outlined. The main conclusion is that the planned intervention is inefficient, as the niche of sustainable production emerges without its clear influence. Therefore, it is proposed to re-evaluate planning using alternative analysis frameworks to detect emerging productive dynamics, serving as a basis for future plans.

Background and objectives: In the current context, the 2021 presidential elections in Peru distance from the social objective, not being objectively represented, that is why we analyze their validity, we determine the distances between the parties if they are extreme, the correspondences with the departments and their prospects, in the surveys we propose which departments influence the results. Methods: We use a mixed methodology, qualitative analysis, it will be multidimensional with the support of statistical methods and programs such as R Studio, worddj, Gephi, and Iramuteq. The quantitative analysis will be through factor analysis, correspondence and discriminant analysis to the data of the election Results and conclusions: The textual analysis mentions that there are dimensions such as the social issue, the results of the surveys and democracy that are far apart, regarding the electoral issue. This inculcates to work both on the part of the organisms that carry out these processes, as well as the initiative of the candidates, and the media. Regarding the quantitative analysis, it is detailed that the representative parties must be greater than 4.0 million voters, to make representative parties at the national level. The classification regarding the percentage of votes is given in three groups, highlighting the independence of the Peru Libre political party in these . In the correspondence analysis we can detail that both Fuerza Popular and Peru Libre are extremist parties. The vast majority of Peruvian citizens have an ideological tendency, intermediate between both parties. The prospective projections with a cross section give a victory to the Peru Libre party. In the discriminant analysis, the sample for the surveys focuses on 7 departments that does not include the Peruvian capital.

In this review, we aimed to understand the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and preeclampsia severity in infected pregnant women. Pregnant women with SARS- CoV-2 infection have been shown to have a significantly increased risk of maternal death, ICU admission, preterm delivery, and stillbirth compared with those without infection. The risk of preeclampsia also increases in pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2, particularly in those with severe symptoms. We emphasize the im-portance of specialized clinical management to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes in this situation. The association between COVID-19 and preeclampsia (PE) is likely due to multiple mechanisms, including the direct effects of the virus on trophoblast function and the arterial wall, acute atherosis, local inflammation leading to pla-cental ischemia, exaggerated inflammatory responses in pregnant women, SARS-CoV-2-related myocardial injury, cytokine storm, and thrombotic microan-giopathy. Emphasis has been placed on the potential impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women, specifically in relation to thrombotic complications, placental dysfunction, and cardiovascular dysfunction. Undoubtedly, one of the diagnostic tools to differentiate between COVID-19-induced preeclampsia-like syndrome and true preeclampsia is the use of biomarkers, such as the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio. We wish to highlight the potential for COVID-19-induced myocardial injury in pregnant women and the associated in-crease in maternal mortality rate. Vaccination against COVID-19 in the general population and in pregnant women in particular, drastically reduced the severity of the disease. There is an urgent need to continue the follow-up of these women and their children to detect the appearance of sequelae of the disease or peristent COVID 19

The La Oroya metallurgical complex reveals a process of structural or power pathology, where economic and environmental social policies lead to a citizenry without systemic freedom, characterized by environmental contamination (PAMA executed on average 67%, some processes with 0%) and sanitary (plumbosis 8.39 to 10.28 μg / dL), the economic dependence of this industry is also observed, which caused the weakening of the communities to maintain autonomy over their own destinies.The Doe Run Peru, operated the metallurgical complex, creating added value to the extractive-export chain of mineral concentrate, but also took advantage of the legal loopholes, the little coordination between the State institutions and the little authority of the supervisory institutions to get the most out of it, complying with the law in some cases, but without moral quality in some others, such as health in the oroinos.Government institutions must have strong links that provide a normative framework with prospects with sustainable development, where the beneficiary is society and not only certain interest groups. The economic benefits of the metallurgical complex operation are multiple, which begin with labor, the purchase and sale of materials and services, the collection of taxes and energy.

The unexploited unification of quantum physics, general relativity and biology is a keystone that paves the way towards a better understanding of the whole of Nature. Here we propose a mathematical approach that introduces the problem in terms of group theory. We build a cyclic groupoid (a nonempty set with a binary operation defined on it) that encompasses the three frameworks as subsets, representing two of their most dissimilar experimental results, i.e., 1) the commutativity detectable both in our macroscopic relativistic world and in biology; 2) and the noncommutativity detectable both in the microscopic quantum world and in biology. This approach leads to a mathematical framework useful in the investigation of the three apparently irreconcilable realms. Also, we show how cyclic groupoids encompassing quantum mechanics, relativity theory and biology might be equipped with dynamics that can be described by paths on the twisted cylinder of a Möbius strip.

Intestinal gases are usually discarded as physiologically inert, useless sub-products of colonic fermentation that must be expelled to prevent discomfort and meteorism. Starting from the observation that many living beings use exogenous and/or endogenous gases to attain evolutionary benefits, we question whether intestinal gases in healthy humans could have underestimated physiological effects, either intestinal or extra-intestinal. We examine gaseous volume, composition, source and local distribution in proximal as well as distal gut, providing extensive data that may serve as reference for future studies. We analyze each one of the most abundant intestinal gases and describe their diffusive patterns, active trans-barrier transport dynamics, chemical properties, intra-/extra-intestinal metabolic effects mediated by intracellular, extracellular, paracrine and distant actions. Discussing the physical properties of the whole intestinal gaseous mixture, we illustrate how changes in volume/pressure can be generated by two different mechanisms, namely, physical muscular gut contraction and biological colonic fermentation, with quite different metabolic outcomes. The experimental gas laws suggest that the gaseous exchanges between lumen and bloodstream are impaired by muscular contraction and improved by muscular relaxation. In turn, the surface-area-to-volume ratio suggests that the gaseous exchanges are impaired by microorganismal overproduction and improved by microorganismal reduction. Further, theoretical stochastic approaches from probability theory indicate that the non-turbulent, random paths of gas molecules inside colonic haustra do not homogenously spread over the whole mucosal surface. This means that the intestinal area available for lumen/blood metabolic exchanges is much less than expected not just in disease states, but also in healthy individuals.

Neuroscientists are able to detect physical changes in information entropy in available neurodata. However, the information paradigm is inadequate to fully describe nervous dynamics and mental activities such as perception. This paper provides an effort to build explanations to neural dynamics alternative to thermodynamic and information accounts. We recall the Banach–Tarski paradox (BTP), which informally states that, when pieces of a ball are moved and rotated without changing their shape, a synergy between two balls of the same volume is achieved instead of the original one. We show how and why BTP might display this physical and biological synergy meaningfully, making it possible to tackle nervous activities. The anatomical and functional structure of the central nervous system’s nodes and edges allows to perform a sequence of moves inside the connectome that doubles the amount of available cortical oscillations. In particular, a BTP-based mechanism permits scale-invariant nervous oscillations to amplify and propagate towards far apart brain areas. Paraphrasing the BPT’s definition, we could state that: when a few components of a self-similar nervous oscillation are moved and rotated throughout the cortical connectome, two self-similar oscillations are achieved instead of the original one. Furthermore, based on topological structures, we illustrate how, counterintuitively, the amplification of scale-free oscillations does not require information transfer.

Physical measurements might display range values extending towards infinite. The occurrence of infinity in physical equations, such as the black hole singularities, is a troublesome issue that causes many theories to break down when assessing extreme events. Different methods, such as re-normalization, have been proposed to avoid detrimental infinity. Here a novel technique is proposed, based on physical geometrical considerations and the Alexander Horned sphere, that permits to undermine infinity in physical equations. In this unconventional approach, a continuous monodimensional line becomes an assembly of countless bidimensional lines that superimpose in quantifiable knots and bifurcations.

During the exploration of the surrounding environment, the brain links together external inputs, giving rise to perception of a persisting object. During imaginative processes, the same object can be recalled in mind even if it is out of sight. Here, topological theory of shape provides a mathematical foundation for the notion of persistence perception. In particular, we focus on ecological theories of perception, that account for our knowledge of world objects by borrowing a concept of invariance in topology. We show how a series of transformations can be gradually applied to a pattern, in particular to the shape of an object, without affecting its invariant properties, such as boundedness of parts of a visual scene. High-level representations of objects in our environment are mapped to simplified views (our interpretations) of the objects, in order to construct a symbolic representation of the environment. The representations can be projected continuously to an environmental object that we have seen and continue to see, thanks to the mapping from shapes in our memory to shapes in Euclidean space.

Starting from unidentified objects moving inside a two-dimensional Euclidean manifold, we propose a simple method to detect the topological changes that occur during their reciprocal interactions and shape morphing. This method, which allows the detection of topological holes development and disappearance, makes it possible to solve the uncertainty due to disconnectedness, lack of information and absence of objects’ sharp boundaries, i.e., the three troubling issues which prevent scientists to select the required proper sets/subsets during their experimental assessment of natural and artificial dynamical phenomena, such as fire propagation, wireless sensor networks, migration flows, neural networks’ and cosmic bodies’ analysis.

Here we show how a recently-introduced method from algebraic topology, namely proximal planar vortex 1-cycles, might be helpful in detecting hidden features of the shapes and holes in images, therefore contributing to the solution of both cold and fresh forensic cases. In particular, we test the efficacy of this technique by assessing one of the most puzzling cases of recent history, i.e., Aldo Moro’s death. Terrorists of the Red Brigades claimed that they killed Moro when he was placed inside the trunk of a car,shooting him with a barrage of bullets. We demonstrate, based on the analysis of the photographs taken during the autoptic procedure, that the terrorist’s account does not hold true. Our results, showing different series of shots, point towards a three-step execution, with the first phasestaking place outside the car. In conclusion, the novel forensic analysis method introduced in this paper permits the evaluation of a collection of vortex cycles/nerves equipped with a connectedness proximity, which makes it possible to assess unexpected spatial clusters in photographs.

The entangled antipodal points on black hole surfaces, recently described by t’Hooft, display an unnoticed relationship with the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. Taking into account this observation and other recent claims, suggesting that quantum entanglement takes place on the antipodal points of a S³ hypersphere, a novel framework can be developed, based on algebraic topological issues: a feature encompassed in an S² unentangled state gives rise, when projected one dimension higher, to two entangled particles. This allows us to achieve a mathematical description of the holographic principle occurring in S². Furthermore, our observations let us to hypothesize that a) quantum entanglement might occur in a four-dimensional spacetime, while disentanglement might be achieved on a motionless, three-dimensional manifold; b) a negative mass might exist on the surface of a black hole.

Starting from the tenets of human imagination, i.e., the concepts of lines, points and infinity, we provide a biological demonstration that the skeptical claim “human beings cannot attain knowledge of the world” holds true. We show that the Euclidean account of the point as “that of which there is no part” is just a conceptual device, untenable in our physical/biological realm: terms like “lines, surfaces and volumes” label non-existent, arbitrary properties. We also elucidate the psychological and neuroscientific features hardwired in our brain that lead us humans to think to points and lines as truly occurring in our environment. Therefore, our current scientific descriptions of objects’ shapes, graphs and biological trajectories in phase spaces need to be revisited, leading to a proper portrayal of the real world’s events. In order to provide also a positive account, we view miniscule bounded physical surface regions as the basic objects in a biological context in a traversal of spacetime instead of the usual Euclidean points. Our account makes it possible to erase a painstaking problem that causes many theories to break down and/or being incapable of describing extreme events: the unwanted occurrence of infinite values in equations, such as singularity in the description of black holes. We propose a novel approach, based on point-free geometrical standpoints, that banishes infinitesimals and leads to a tenable physical/biological geometry. We conclude that points, lines, volumes and infinity do not describe the world, rather they are fictions introduced by ancient surveyors of land surfaces.

We investigate some of the fundamental features of the interaction of mixed kaleidoscope states, namely, particular statistical mixtures of coherent states, with two-level atoms in the Jaynes-Cummings model framework. We begin our analysis by calculating the von Neumann entropy of the field which is determined with help of the virtual atom method. Oscillations appear in this entropy that indicate a state of purity greater than the initial state, {it i.e.}, a purification of the initial state is achieved. In this oscillatory region, we obtain the field Wigner function that resembles Schrodinger's cats.

Lifespan extension was recently achieved in Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes by mitochondrial stress and mitophagy, triggered via iron depletion. Conversely in man, deficient mitophagy due to Pink1/Parkin mutations triggers iron accumulation in patient brain and limits survival. We now aimed to identify murine fibroblast factors, which adapt their mRNA expression to acute iron manipulation, relate to mitochondrial dysfunction and may influence survival. After iron depletion, expression of the plasma membrane receptor Tfrc with its activator Ireb2, the mitochondrial membrane transporter Abcb10, the heme-release factor Pgrmc1, the heme-degradation enzyme Hmox1, the heme-binding cholesterol metabolizer Cyp46a1, as well as the mitophagy regulators Pink1 and Parkin showed a negative correlation to iron levels. After iron overload, these factors did not change expression. Conversely, a positive correlation of mRNA levels with both conditions of iron availability was observed for the endosomal factors Slc11a2 and Steap2, as well as for the iron-sulfur-cluster (ISC)-containing factors Ppat, Bdh2 and Nthl1. Positive correlation only after iron depletion was observed for the iron export factor Slc40a1, mitochondrial iron transporters Slc25a28, Abcb7 and Abcb8, mitochondrial ISC-containing factors Glrx5, Nfu1, Bola1 and Abce1, cytosolic Aco1 and Tyw5, as well as nuclear Dna2, Elp3, Pold1 and Prim2. The latter are regulators of nucleotide synthesis and DNA quality control, which have known importance for growth and lifespan. The only Pink1-/- triggered transcript modulation was the reduced expression of the ISC-containing ribosomal factor Abce1. These mammalian findings support previous fly data that Pink1 influences co-translational quality control via Abce1, as well as mitophagy. Our findings provide the first systematic survey how iron dosage triggers homeostatic transcriptional regulations and elucidate how iron deprivation results in mitophagy.

This article investigates the vibration analysis of the mast on the bridge top of a 28-meter tugboat, in the quasi-static regime. The study aims to determine the natural frequencies using an equivalent dynamic model of the mast and considers the accelerations of different degrees of freedom of the vessel. Practical design and reinforcement strategies for the local bridge top structure are proposed, utilizing numerical and analytical tools. The investigation explores various alternatives to optimize the structural arrangement. By analyzing the modal behavior, insights are provided for efficient design and reinforcement. The results contribute to understand the mast's vibration characteristics, offering guidance for similar structures. The study employs numerical and analytical methods, enhancing the optimization of the mast's behavior. It determines natural frequencies, proposes practical design strategies, and explores alternatives for structural optimization. The findings provide insights for shipbuilding and mast design applications in other vessels and industries such as radar mast, compass deck and guyed mast.

The socioeconomic sectors increasingly rely on prompt and affordable tools to predict climatic conditions. This study uses a decision tree classifier model to identify similar monthly ENSO 3.4 indices from March 2001 to February 2011 through monthly historical ENSO3.4 indices (December 1950 – February 2001). Historical monthly ENSO3.4 indices were used to extract available high-resolution monthly historical precipitation grids (1950-2001) for Mexico and constructed monthly ensembles (March 2001 – February 2011 hindcasts). Formerly, a precipitation categorization of monthly observed and simulated precipitation (2001-2011 hindcasts) was employed. Thereafter, global vector data and spatial map assessments were performed seasonally (winter, spring, summer, and fall). Global KSS and HSS metrics indicated the model approach has skill, especially in the spring and fall. Spatial metrics exposed large areas with hit rates > 0.60 in winter and spring, though in winter and spring (dry seasons), it was due to the precipitation categorization hindcast and observed were within the first classification. Lower hit rates, but still acceptable (> 0.40), were detected in summer and fall (during the rainy season and at the end, respectively) because more precipitation classifications were tested and prone to miss. Spatial Spearman correlations provided specific areas of significant model performances and found that high hit rates during the winter and spring are spurious. Meanwhile, it was also found that during the fall the model approach is reliable in most of Mexico, followed by the spring, and in constraint areas in summer and winter across the country. It also appears that dominant ENSO neutral events followed by balanced ENSO cooling and warming events do not prefer the model skill. Overall, the empirical method shows promise (low-cost human and computational resources if ENSO indices expose certainty in its Lead months to forecast) and has the potential to be used in other developing countries influenced by El Niño phenomena.

Mexico is currently facing important water management challenges. Cities in the country are facing water scarcity and at the same time, they struggle with floods during the raining season. The water sensitive urban design (WSUD) approach has proved to be helpful in tackling urban water challenges such as floods and water scarcity and it is being implemented in cities around the world. The WSUD approach highlights the role of both the water cycle and the water utilities systems, when transitioning towards a water sensitive stage. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyse the current situation of the water cycle and the water utility (SIAPA). To do so, we have selected the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (MAG) and proposes a case study approach. Within our case of study, we answer two questions: 1) What are the causes of water scarcity and flooding in the MAG? and 2) What are the proposals to solve these problems under a WSUD approach? By answering these questions, we identified that the water management in the MAG corresponds to a single purpose infrastructure. This type of management does not contribute to solve the problems of water scarcity and floods. The water supply policy is based only on the construction of large dams disregarding the storage and use of rainwater, and reuse of greywater, and water-conservation devices. In order to transition towards a water sensitive stage, a WSUD approach that includes multi-purpose infrastructure should be considered. Such as green roofs, swales, rainwater gardens, infiltration trenches, etc.

Leaf temperature (T_leaf) influences photosynthesis and respiration. Currently, there is a growing interest on including lianas in productivity models due to their increasing abundance, and their detrimental effects on net primary productivity in tropical environments. Therefore, understanding the differences of T_leaf between lianas and trees is important for future of forest on whole ecosystem productivity. Here we determined the displayed leaf temperature (T_d= T_leaf – ambient temperature) of several species of lianas and their host trees during ENSO and non-ENSO years to evaluate if the presence of lianas affects the T_d of their host trees, and if leaves of lianas and their host trees exhibit differences in T_d. Our results suggest that close to midday, the presence of lianas does not affect the T_d of their host trees; however, lianas tend to have higher values of T_d than their hosts across seasons, in both ENSO and non-ENSO years. Although lianas and trees tend to have similar physiological-temperature responses, differences in T_d could lead to significant differences in rates of photosynthesis and respiration based temperature response curves. Future models should thus consider differences in leaf temperature between these life forms to achieve robust predictions of productivity.

Coronaviruses are pathogens recognized for having an animal origin, commonly associated with terrestrial environments. However, although in a few cases, there are reports of their presence in aquatic organisms like fish, frogs, waterfowls and marine mammals. None of these cases has led to human health effects when contact with these infected organisms has taken place, whether they are alive or dead. Aquatic birds seem to be the main group carrying and circulating these types of viruses among healthy bird populations. Although the route of infection for CoVID-19 by water or aquatic organisms has not yet been observed in the wild, the relevance of its study is highlighted because there are cases of other viral infections known to have been transferred to humans by aquatic biota. It is encouraging to know that aquatic species, such as fish, marine mammals, and amphibians, shows very few cases of coronaviruses and that some other aquatic animals may also be a possible source of cure or treatment against then, as some evidence with algae and marine sponges suggest.

Globally, between 10% and 15% of couples experience infertility. Given the high demand for Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART), there is growing interest in exploring modifiable factors influencing their outcomes. In this context, the objective of this review was to investigate the impact of adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD), recognized for its benefits in reproductive health, on ART outcomes. Methodology: A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA methodology. International databases were consulted, selecting studies published between 2010 and 2023, in English and Spanish, involving patients aged 18-55, and examining intermediate and/or clinical outcomes of ART. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and animal studies were excluded. Results: Of the 9 included articles, 5 found statistically significant associations between adherence to the MD and positive outcomes in ART, such as a higher number and quality of embryos, clinical and biochemical pregnancy, and live births. However, other studies found no such associations. Conclusions: There is a potential association between adherence to the MD and ART outcomes. The evidence is very limited, necessitating further investigation.

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a challenge for global health services, affecting millions and leading hundreds to end-stage liver disease each year. This comprehensive review explores the interactions between HBV and the host, examining their impact on clinical outcomes. HBV infection encompasses a spectrum of severity, ranging from acute hepatitis B to chronic hepatitis B, which can potentially progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), characterized by low HBV DNA levels in hepatitis B surface antigen-negative individuals, can reactivate and cause acute hepatitis B. The identification of diverse HBV genotypes reveals distinct geographical distributions and associations with clinical outcomes. Moreover, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the host genome have been linked to several clinical outcomes, including cirrhosis, HCC, OBI, hepatitis B reactivation, and spontaneous clearance. The immune response plays a key role in controlling HBV infection by eliminating infected cells and neutralizing HBV in the bloodstream. Furthermore, HBV can modulate host metabolic pathways involved in glucose and lipid metabolism and bile acid absorption, further influencing disease progression. HBV clinical outcomes correlate with three levels of viral adaptation. In conclusion, the clinical outcomes of HBV infection could result from complex immune and metabolic interactions between the host and HBV. These outcomes can vary among populations and are influenced by HBV genotypes, host genetics, environmental factors, and lifestyle. Understanding the degrees of HBV adaptation is essential for developing region-specific control and prevention measures.

We show that, as in the case of the principle of minimum action in classical and quantum mechanics, there exists an even more general principle in the very fundamental structure of quantum space-time: This is the principle of minimal group that allows to consistently and simultaneously obtain a natural description of the spacetime dynamics and the physical states admissible in it. The theoretical construction is based on the physical states that are average values of the generators of the Metaplectic group Mp(n) , the double covering of SL(2C) in a vector representation, with respect to the coherent states carrying the spin weight. Our main results here are: (i) There exists a connection between the dynamics given by the Metaplectic group symmetry generators and the physical states (mappings of the generators through bilinear combinations of the basic states). (ii) The ground states are coherent states of the Perelomov-Klauder type defined by the action of the Metaplectic group which divide the Hilbert space into even and odd states mutually orthogonal. They carry a spin weight 1/4 and 3/4 respectively from which, two other basic states can be formed. (iii) The physical states, mapped bilinearly with the basic 1/4 and 3/4 spin weight states, plus their symmetric and antisymmetric combinations, have spin contents s = 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2 and 2. (iv) The generators realized with the bosonic variables of the harmonic oscillator introduce a natural supersymmetry and a superspace whose line element is the geometrical Lagrangian of our model. (v) From the line element as operator level, a coherent physical state of spin 2 can be obtained and naturally related to the metric tensor. (vi) The metric tensor is naturally discretized by taking the discrete series given by the basic states (coherent states) in the n number representation, reaching the classical (continuous) space-time for n going to infinity. (vii) There emerges a relation between the eigenvalue of our coherent state metric solution and the black hole area (entropy) as A_{bh}/4 l_{p}^{2} = I alpha I relating the phase space of the metric found g_{ab} and the black hole area A_{bh} through the Planck length l_{p}^{2} and the eigenvalue I alpha I of the coherent states. As a consequence of the lowest level of the quantum discrete space-time spectrum, eg the ground state associated to n = 0 and its characteristic length, there exists a minimum entropy related to the black hole history.

In the smart city, information and communications technologies (ICTs) are proposed as solutions to urban challenges, including sustainability concerns. While sustainability commonly refers to economic and environmental dimensions, the concept also contains a social component. Our study asked how smartphone applications (apps) address social sustainability challenges in urban transport, if at all. We focused on transport disadvantages experienced due to low income, physical disability, and language barriers. A review of 60 apps showed that transport apps respond to these equity and inclusion issues in two ways: (a) by employing universal design in general-use apps; including cost-conscious features; and providing language options (b) by specifically developing smartphone apps for persons with disabilities. The article discusses the study by positioning it in the literature of smart cities as well as socially sustainable transport.

In the last two decades, the discovery of various pathways involved in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have led to the development of biologically-driven targeted therapies. Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs), angiogenic growth factors, von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene mutations and oncogenic miRNAs play essential roles in the pathogenesis and drug resistance of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. These insights have led to the development of VEGF inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors and immunotherapeutic agents which have significantly improved outcomes of patients with advanced RCC. HIF inhibitors will be a valuable asset in the growing therapeutic armamentarium of RCC. Various histone deacetylase (HDAC)inhibitors, including selenium and agents such as PT2385 and PT2977, are being explored in various clinical trials as potential HIF inhibitors to ameliorate the outcomes of RCC patients. In this article, we will review the current treatment options and highlight the potential role of selenium in the modulation of drug resistance biomarkers expressed in ccRCC tumors.

Natural rocks are highly heterogeneous due to various geological processes that constantly alter their properties. The accumulation, deposition, and cementation of mineral and organic particles continuously modify the spatial characteristics of rock properties. Property variability or anisotropy is commonly observed in most rock types and influences strength, transport, and thermal conductivity behavior. This unpredictability presents a significant challenge for laboratory testing. Binder-jet additive manufacturing (3D printing) has emerged as a valuable technology for characterizing rock properties in geoscience and engineering. This study proposes a methodology to evaluate the variability and repeatability of mechanical properties of 3D-printed sandstones during binder-jet additive manufacturing. The mechanical properties were analyzed statistically for samples located in various parts of the 3D printer build volume. The results showed that the 3D-printed sandstones exhibited significant variations in their strength and stiffness properties when measured from samples produced within the same build volume during binder-jet additive manufacturing. The Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) varied from 23 to 38 MPa, with an average value of 29 MPa. The Young's modulus, on the other hand, ranged from 1.5 to 4.05 GPa, with an average value of 2.33 GPa. The variability of the mechanical properties, quantified by the standard deviation, decreased when the entire population of 3D-printed sandstones was divided into smaller samples situated at different elevations of the build platform.

Asthma is a heterogeneous and very complex group of diseases, which includes different clinical phenotypes depending on symptoms, progression, exacerbation pattern or response to treatment among other characteristics. The allergic phenotype is the most frequent, especially in pediatric asthma. It is characterized by sensitization (production of specific IgE) to allergens, and frequent comorbidity with rhinitis and atopic dermatitis. An allergen is a substance that triggers the production of specific IgE antibodies in susceptible individuals, who present symptoms that will depend on the type and intensity of the allergenic load and the tissue where the interaction occurs. Airborne allergens cause their effects in the respiratory tract and eyes, and can be indoor or outdoor, perennial or seasonal. Although allergens such as mites, pollens or animal dander are generally considered as a single particle, it is important to note that they contain different molecules which could trigger distinct specific IgE molecules on different patients.The key points that a physician who treats asthma should be aware of are:

This study presents a novel method based in ray tracing for analyzing wave propagation in composites, specifically tailored for Structural Health Monitoring applications. The method offers distinct advantages over the commonly used Finite Element Method mainly in computational resource utilization, that has become a limiting factor for this kind of analyses. The ray tracing method is evaluated against a number of example cases representing structural details such as thickness changes, stringers or simulated damages and it highlights the significance of ray tracing to study wave propagation under these conditions and how it can serve as a valuable tool for structural health monitoring.

We reelaborate on the basic properties of PT symmetry from a geometrical Perspective. The transfer matrix associated with these systems induces a Möbius transformation in the complex plane. The trace of this matrix classifies the actions into three types that represent rotations, translations, and parallel displacements. We find that a PT invariant system can be pictured as a complex conjugation followed by an inversion in a circle. We elucidate the physical meaning of these geometrical operations and link them with measurable properties of the system.

In this article, a critical reflection is made that involves questioning the notion of historic urban landscapes profiled in the Memorandum of Vienna (UNESCO, 2005) and the Paris Recommendation (UNESCO, 2011) as a conceptual paradigm on which to base urban conservation in the 21st century. Its limited methodological development and the assumption of change as an inherent part of the urban condition constitutes the source of many of the problems and difficulties posed by management and protection of contemporary cities, since there is no consensus as to what the acceptable limits of change should be in historic urban landscapes - difficulties that become ever more apparent, given the background of Weberian administrative doctrines present in current governance models. Likewise, the concept of Buffer Zones as a landscape management tool is analyzed, with the aim of establishing new methodological proposals that enable spatial organization to be regulated by defining areas of harmonization that are made up of flexible and multifunctional spaces for cooperation where territorial scale comes into contact with modernization of the historical fabric.

Burkina Faso is a sub-Saharan African country with a high poverty rate that has quadruplicated its population in the last half fifty years, that is, from 4.5 to 18 million inhabitants. Such demographic changes together with an intense migration process from rural areas to large cities, among other issues, are contributing to a rapid process of socio-cultural transformation. In this context, changes in both traditional and contemporary housing are analyzed and a complete ther-mo-hygrometric evaluation is carried out by processing significant data from on-site measure-ments to shed new light on the response of the said dwellings to the environmental and local cultural values. Results show that the introduction of land ownership linked to climate change and the increasing scarcity of natural resources are forcing native ethnic groups to modify their traditional ways of life, threatening their subsistence. Consequently, we can prove that the new building typologies are not in the least suitable for the climatic conditions nor the rich cultural heritage of Burkina Faso. This fact, negatively affects the possibility of revitalizing vernacular and environmentally-oriented solutions for the contemporary world and the necessary advance to-wards a more sustainable architecture.