Recently, various applications of indoor location-based services using Wi-Fi fingerprint data have been studied. However, since fingerprint data collected at a specific location does not have continuous information between signals and correlation information between signals, path data cannot exist in principle. Therefore, most indoor positioning technologies are based on predicting the position of a stationary positioner at a specific location based on signal data collected at a specific location in the indoor space. Due to the discontinuous nature of these signals, they are unable to account for user movement. Therefore, there is a need for techniques to improve the accuracy of indoor positioning in moving situations. This paper proposes a method for enriching all data points with relevant information to obtain improved indoor positioning results and an improved technique for generating movement path data. The proposed technique generates relevant information with continuity by expressing data points as Bounding Boxes (BB) and subsequently clustering them using grid cells. Through the proposed method, we represented and expanded the indoor location data, which consists of data points, as BB. However, data points represented by BB do not have any adjacency information with each other, and as a result, it is not possible to create a movement path between neighboring BB. To solve the problem, we used clustering, a machine learning technique that categorizes data points into groups, to group BBs. This was done by constructing a YOLO (You Only Look Once) grid cell that included all BBs and clustered them into grid cells that were divided into specific regions through the suggestion phase. The clustering results align with the indoor structure of the building, indicating that the data points have been appropriately clustered. BBs inside a grid cell are contained within a moveable area and have related information. We also generated association information between neighboring grid cells through the proposal technique, and then generated path information that can be traveled between grid cells. In this paper, we use the movement path information generated from a dataset as training data for machine learning, and through this, we propose an enhanced indoor positioning technology.

Chilling injury (CI), which causes seed browning in pepper, may arise following long-term cold storage, and is a major cause of postharvest losses. To explore potential strategies of minimizing the associated postharvest losses, the present study investigated the optimal pepper harvest time that could reduce levels of seed browning, in addition to the relationship between fruit maturity and seed browning. Fruit harvested 15 days after flowering (DAF) were sensitive to cold storage at 4°C and exhibited 100% seed browning (CI index, 4.0); in contrast, the seed browning rate of fruit harvested 35 DAF was 10% (CI index, 0.4) within 7 d of cold storage. Seed antioxidant activity was higher in seeds harvested at early stages (15 DAF to 20 DAF) than in seeds harvested at later stages (40 DAF to 50 DAF) at the beginning of storage. Pericarps of fruit harvested at 50 DAF exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. Lipoxygenase, catalase, and peroxidase activity, and the expression levels of cell wall-related genes, pectin methylesterase-like protein, and endo-β-1,4-glucanase were higher in seeds of immature fruit harvested 15 DAF than in seeds of mature fruit harvested 35 DAF. The endosperm separated from the seed coat in fruit harvested 35 DAF and the seeds did not brown under low-temperature storage. The lack of seed browning observed in mature fruit under low-temperature storage could be attributed to physical protection provided by the seed coat rather than cold stress resistance conferred by antioxidants.

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

The effect of CO2 pre-treatments on tomato quality prior to cold storage was investigated using physiochemical and transcriptome changes. Three hours CO2 treated fruits were firmer than untreated fruits and had a good appearance even after being transferred from 4°C storage to 20°C for 8 d. CO2 pretreatment with cold storage showed a synergistic effect on delayed ripening through reduced respiration; these tomatoes exhibited a lower lycopene content than untreated fruit under cold storage. Tomatoes treated with 30% CO2 had fewer pits than untreated fruits subjected to chilling temperatures, even after being transferred to 20°C for 8 d. Functional enrichment analyses from transcriptome and metabolome commonly showed that CO2-responsive genes or metabolites were involved in the sucrose and starch and biosynthesis of secondary metabolisms. The most frequently detected domain, ethylene-responsive factor domain and reduced glycolysis provide insights into the mechanism that CO2 regulates tomato quality.

The main focus when developing software is to improve the reliability and stability of a software system. When software systems are introduced, these systems are used in field environments that are the same as or close to those used in the development-testing environment; however, they may also be used in many different locations that may differ from the environment in which they were developed and tested. In this paper, we propose a new software reliability model that takes into account the uncertainty of operating environments. The explicit mean value function solution for the proposed model is presented. Examples are presented to illustrate the goodness-of-fit of the proposed model and several existing non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models and confidence intervals of all models based on two sets of failure data collected from software applications. The results show that the proposed model fits the data more closely than other existing NHPP models to a significant extent.

“A Picture is worth a thousand words”. Given an image, humans are able to deduce various cause-and-effect captions of past, current, and future events beyond the image. The task of visual commonsense generation aims at generating three cause-and-effect captions (1) what needed to happen before, (2) what is the current intent, and (3) what will happen after for a given image. However, such a task is challenging for machines owing to two limitations: existing approaches (1) directly utilize conventional vision-language transformers to learn relationships between input modalities, and (2) ignore relations among target cause-and-effect captions but consider each caption independently. We propose Cause-and-Effect BART (CE-BART) which is based on (1) Structured Graph Reasoner that captures intra- and inter-modality relationships among visual and textual representations, and (2) Cause-and-Effect Generator that generates cause-and-effect captions by considering the causal relations among inferences. We demonstrate the validity of CE-BART on VisualCOMET and AVSD benchmarks. CE-BART achieves SOTA performances on both benchmarks, while extensive ablation study and qualitative analysis demonstrate the performance gain and improved interpretability.

Taiwan developing offshore wind power to promote green energy and self-electricity production. In this study, a Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) was set up at Chang-Hua development zone one on the sea and 10km away from the seashore. At Lidar location, WRF (3.33km & 2km grid lengths) model and WAsP were used to simulate the wind speed at various elevations. Three days mean wind speed of simulated results were compared with Lidar data. From the four wind data sets, developed five different comparisons to find an error% and R-Squared values. Comparison between WAsP and Floating Lidar was shown good consistency. Lukang meteorological station 10 years wind observations at 5m height were used for wind farm energy predictions. The yearly variation of energy predictions of traditional and TGC wind farm layouts are compared under purely neutral and stable condition. The one-year cycle average surface heat flux over the Taiwan Strait is negative (-72.5 (W/m2) and 157.13 STD), which represents stable condition. At stable condition TGC (92.39%) and 600(92.44%), wind farms were shown higher efficiency. The Fuhai met mast wind data was used to estimate roughness length and power law exponent. The average roughness lengths are very small and unstable atmosphere.

This study investigated defect formation and strain distribution in high Mg content Al-Mg alloys during normal rolling and cross-rolling processes. The finite element analysis (FEA) revealed the presence of wave defects and strain localization-induced zipper cracks in normal cold rolling, which were confirmed by experimental results. The concentration of shear strain played a significant role in crack formation and propagation. However, the influence of wave defects was minimal in the cross-rolling process, which exhibited a relatively uniform strain distribution. Nonetheless, strain concentration at the edge and center regions led to the formation of zipper cracks and edge cracks, with more pronounced propagation observed in the experiments compared to FEA predictions. Furthermore, texture evolution was found to be a crucial factor affecting crack propagation, particularly with the development of the Goss texture component which is observed by electron backscattered diffraction analysis at bending points. The Goss texture hindered crack propagation, while the Brass texture allowed cracks to pass through. This phenomenon was consistent with both FEA and experimental observations. To mitigate edge crack formation and propagation, potential strategies involve promoting the formation of the Goss texture at the edge through alloy and process conditions, as well as implementing intermediate annealing to alleviate stress accumulation. These measures can enhance the overall quality and reliability of Al-Mg alloys during cross-rolling processes. In summary, understanding the mechanisms of defect formation and strain distribution in Al-Mg alloys during rolling processes is crucial for optimizing their mechanical properties. The findings of this study provide insights into the challenges associated with wave defects, strain localization, and crack propagation. Future research and optimization efforts should focus on implementing strategies to minimize defects and improve the overall quality of Al-Mg alloys in industrial applications.

The beautiful and stable posture is essential for ballet. Especially the pirouette which dancers balance themselves on their one leg is one of the most impressive postures. During the pirouette motion, loads from the rotation and the body weight are concentrated to the one leg. Proper ballet shoes can reduce the muscle burden and improve the stability. Four types of shoes; bare feet, running shoes, pointe shoes, and dance sneakers are analyzed. The motion capture system and SIMM are used for the analysis of muscle burden and stability during pirouette. The major 6 muscles in the leg (beceps femoris long head, beceps femoris short head, soleus, rectus femoris, gastrocnemius medialis, and gastrocnemius lateralis) are analyzed, and the effect of rotating velocity is considered. Dance sneakers are outstanding for improving the stability and lessening the muscle burdens in all conditions for beginners. That comes from the design feature of the divided shoe soles and protecting the ankle of the axis leg. With the results and analysis, the direction for design optimization of ballet shoes is suggested. Consequently, this research is about the verification of sports equipment using computer simulation with the musculoskeletal model from a scientific viewpoint of biomechanics.

OBJECTIVE: Although 3D-printed anatomic models are not new to medicine, the high costs and lengthy production times entailed have limited their application. Our goal was developing a new and less costly 3D modeling method to depict organ-tumor relations at faster printing speeds. METHODS: We have devised a method of 3D modeling using DICOM images. Coordinates are extracted at a specified interval, connecting them to create mesh-work replicas. Adjacent constructs are depicted by density variations, showing anatomic targets (ie, tumors) in contrasting color. RESULTS: An array of organ solid-tumor models were printed via Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printer at significantly less cost ($0.05/cm3) and time expenditure (1.73 min/cm3; both, p<.001). Printed models helped promote visual appreciation of organ-tumor anatomy and adjacent tissues. Our mesh-work 3D thyroidal prototype reproduced glangular size/contour and tumor location, readily approximating the surgical specimen. CONCLUSIONS: This newly devised mesh-type 3D printing method may facilitate anatomic modeling for personalized care and improve patient awareness during informed surgical consent.

Changes in coastal topography can affect the ecological environment and marine industries. In this study, we analyzed the patterns and causes of changes in shoreline and undersea topography in the Nakdong River estuary in the southeast of South Korea using depth and shoreline surveys of the estuary, as well as data on discharge, suspended sediments, and precipitation in the Nakdong River basin. The results showed that erosion and sedimentation occurred repeatedly owing to complex factors such as the discharge of the estuary and invasion by open sea waves. However, no clear unilateral trend was observed. Unlike previous survey data, a large amount of erosion occurred in the second half of 2020. Previously, sedimentation was the main process, but erosion occurred rapidly, which was observed in the summer of 2020 when the erosion was three times higher than that in other periods owing to the severe rainy season and torrential rains for over a month. In addition, regarding the flow rate and force of the river water outflow, the amount of discharge increased rapidly, causing erosion. Moreover, a strong typhoon in the summer of 2020 affected the topography of the estuary.

Dysregulation of cartilage homeostasis and the changes in the density and the architecture of the subchondral bone were postulated as a potent mechanically pathological activity contributing to osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is a new, none invasive and effective method in the treatment of animal OA model. In the current study, we demonstrated that shockwave induced the expression of protein-disulfide isomerase-associated 3 (Pdia-3) which is a multifunctional protein hypothesized to be a significant mediator for 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)₂D₃) signaling pathway using two-dimensional electrophoresis. Histological analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were verified and observed that the expression of Pdia-3 at 2 weeks was significantly higher than that of any other group at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-shockwave treatment in early OA knee of rat. The other factors of the 1α,25(OH)₂D₃ rapid membrane signaling pathway including extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 (ERK1), osteopontin (OPG), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13) were measured and significantly increased by qPCR at 2 weeks post-shockwave treatment in early OA knee. Our proteomic data revealed significant Pdia-3 expression in microenvironments of joint tissue that could be actively responded to ESWT, which may potentially regulate biological function of chondrocytes and osteoblasts in the treatment of OA knee.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with a suitable photosensitizer molecule is a promising anticancer treatment. We evaluated two chlorin molecules as potential photosensitizers, methyl pyropheophorbide a (MPPa) and N-methoxyl purpurinimide (NMPi), against A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro as well as in A549 tumor-bearing mice in vivo. Cell viability, microscopy, and FACS analyses were performed for the in vitro studies. MPPa and NMPi showed high phototoxicity in vitro, which was dependent on the concentration of the photosensitizers as well as the light irradiation time. In the animal study, tumor volume change, tumor surface alterations, and H&E and TUNEL staining analyses were performed and compared between small (tumor volume of <50 mm³) and large (tumor volume of >50 mm³) size of initial tumors. MPPa and NMPi showed high anticancer efficacy against small-size tumors, indicating that early treatment with PDT is effective. Especially, repeated two times PDT with NMPi allowed almost complete eradication against small-size tumors. However, MPPa and NMPi were not effective against large-size tumors. In conclusion, the two chlorin derivatives, MPPa and NMPi, show good anticancer efficacy as promising photosensitizers for PDT in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, their activity in vivo was significantly dependent on the initial tumor size in mice, which confirms the importance of early cancer treatment.

Definitive surgical resection is the preferred treatment for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Research into genetic alterations, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, in early stage NSCLC remains insufficient. Here, we investigated the prevalence of genetic alterations in early-stage NSCLC and the association between EGFR mutation and recurrence after complete resection. Between January 2019 and December 2021, 659 patients with NSCLC who underwent curative surgical resection at a single regional cancer center were recruited. We compared the clinical and pathological data between the recurrence and non-recurrence groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to predict the risk factors for recurrence. Among the 659 enrolled cases, the most common histology was adenocarcinoma (74.5%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (21.7%). The prevalence of EGFR mutation was 43% (194/451). Among them, L858R point mutation and exon 19 deletion was 52.3% and 42%, respectively. ALK rearrangement was found at 5.7% (26/453), and ROS1 fusion was found at 1.6% (7/441). The recurrence rate of the entire population was 19.7%. In multivariate analysis, the presence of EGFR mutation, stage II or III (vs. stage I), and pathologic subtype (presence of solid type) were associated with recurrence. Among the recurred group, 86.5% of the patients with EGFR mutation experienced distant recurrence compared to only 66.7% of wild-type (p = 0.016), with no significant difference in median disease-free survival (p = 0.983). In conclusion, the prevalence of EGFR mutation, ALK rearrangement, and ROS1 fusion was 43.0%, 5.7%, and 1.6%, respectively in patients with early-stage NSCLC who underwent curative resection. Along with stage II/III and solid pathologic subtype, EGFR mutation was an independent risk factor for recurrence. In the recurrence group, the rate of distant metastasis was higher in patients with EGFR mutation than in those with wild-type.

Various vestibuloplasty techniques have been reported to increase the attached mucosa (AM) and vestibular depth around dental implants. However, these surgical methods have disadvantages, such as limitations in manipulation, necessity of suturing, postoperative discomfort, swelling, and pain. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of laser-assisted periosteal fenestration (LA-PF) in treating a patient with a shallow vestibule and insufficient AM around dental implants. The LA-PF technique was performed using an Er:YAG laser. First, a partial-thickness apically positioned flap (APF) was performed. Horizontal periosteal fenestration was performed using an Er:YAG laser to expose the bones. Periosteal suturing was not required. After 12 months, sufficient AM and deepened vestibule were obtained and maintained. Thus, the LA-PF technique may be a simple and predictable treatment modality for vestibuloplasty around dental implants.

The aim of this work is to study the phase transformations, microstructures and mechanical properties of the martensitic stainless steel (MSS) 410 deposits produced by laser powder-directed energy deposition (LP-DED) additive manufacturing. The LP-DED MSS 410 deposits underwent the post heat treatment in austenitizing at 980℃ for 3hrs and followed by different tempering treatment at the temperatures of 250, 600, and 750℃ for 5hrs, respectively. The analyses of phase transformations and microstructural evolutions of LP-DED MSS 410 were carried out using X-ray diffraction, SEM-EDS, and EBSD. Vickers hardness and tensile strength properties were also measured to analyze the effects of the different tempering heat treatments. It reveals that as-built MSS 410 has very fine lath martensite and high hardness of about 480HV1.0 and tensile strength of about 1280 MPa, but elongation was very lower than the post heat treated ones. Precipitations of chromium carbide (Cr23C6) were most commonly observed at the grain boundaries and the entire matrix at the tempering temperatures of 600℃ and 750℃. In general, the tensile strengths de-creased from 1381MPa to 688MPa as tempering temperatures increased up to 750℃ from 250℃. Additionally, as the tempering temperature increased, the chromium carbide and tempered mar-tensite structures became coarser.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between smartphone addiction of middle school students and smartphone usage types, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stress, interpersonal problems, and parenting attitude. This study was also performed with the aim of verifying the relationships among depression, ADHD, perceived stress, interpersonal problems, and parenting attitude, which are predictors of smartphone addiction. The subjects of this study were 487 local middle school students (234 males and 253 females). The measurement instruments used were the smartphone addiction scale, depression scale (PHQ-9), ADHD scale (K-ARS), perceived stress scale (PSS), interpersonal problem scale (KIIP-SC), and the parenting attitude scale. This study identified the relationships between the variables with correlation analysis and examined the predictors of smartphone addiction with hierarchical multiple regression analysis. According to the study results, the factors that influenced smartphone addiction were gender, stress, and interpersonal problems. In addition, when the confounding variables of smartphone addiction were controlled to examine the effects of smartphone usage types on smartphone addiction, social media use and music/videos were found to have a positively significant effect on smartphone addiction while study had a negatively significant effect. The order of the usage types with the highest influence on smartphone addiction was enjoying music/videos, social media use, and study. This suggests that selective intervention depending on the main smartphone usage type can be effective.

Urbanization and industrialization processes in Mongolia have been significant and rapid for the last half-century. During this period, changes in political and economic systems, growth in the population, and the occasional harsh climate conditions were subject to fluctuations in the natural resource usage. The total Ecological Footprint (EF) in Mongolia has increased from 6.8 million global hectares (gha) in 1961 to 14.6 million gha in 2012. However, Biocapacity (BC) has decreased from 50.6 million gha in 1961 to 39.0 million gha in 2012. The study shows that grazing land Footprint and carbon uptake land Footprint are the two major contributors of the recent intensified use of biological resources. To ensure stable economic development and sustainable use of natural resources, environmental planning is required to consider both the population’s pressure on the environment and the ecosystem’s regeneration capacity, simultaneously. We have proposed a few possible strategies for sustainable utilization of grazing land Footprint and carbon Footprint. For grazing land Footprint, efficient management of both herding practice and number of animals should be considered. In case of carbon Footprint, it is estimated that with the improved combustion efficiencies of coal-based power plants and the maximum use of renewable energy, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Mongolia can be reduced up to 30% compared to the base line business as usual case in 2030.

Standardized protocols were specifically designed and developed for clinical information collection and obtaining trio genomic information from infants affected with congenital anomalies (CA) and their parents, as well as securing human biological resources. Two large areas of these protocols include clinical and genomic information collection on CA which were difficult to diagnose using pre-existing screening methods. The following are three essential items for the clinical information collection protocol: establishment of a consent system for collecting and utilizing research resources, establishment of criteria for target patient selection, and collection of clinical and epidemiological information. A total of 138 cases consisting of 45 families of infants with CA and their parent trios have provided human-derived resources and genomic information. Whole genome sequencing data have been generated for all participants, and standardized protocols for resource collection and manufacturing have been developed. Phenotype information according to the Human Phenotype Ontology term and major test findings were recorded. It is important to keep updating and recording clinical symptoms and genetic diagnosis that are newly added or changed over time. The unique significance of this study is to develop a protocol that enables long-term tracking by adding growth and development tests that reflect important characteristics of newborns. By using these clinical and genetic information collection protocols for CA, it will be possible to establish an essential platform for early genetic diagnosis and diagnostic research, and further present new genetic diagnostic guidelines in the near future.

Recently, federated learning (FL) has been receiving great attention as an effective machine learning method to avoid the security issue in raw data collection as well as to distribute the computing load to edge devices. However, even though wireless communications is a essential part for implementing FL in edge networks, there have been a few works that analyze the effect of wireless networks on FL. In this paper, we investigate FL in small-cell networks where multiple base stations (BSs) and users are located according to homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP) with different densities. We comprehensively analyze the effects of geographic node deployment on the model aggregation in FL on the basis of stochastic geometry-based analysis. We derive the closed-form expressions of coverage probability with tractable approximations and discuss the minimum required BS density for achieving a target model aggregation rate in small-cell networks. Our analysis and simulation results provide insightful information for understanding the behaviors of FL in small-cell networks, and it can be exploited as a guideline for designing the network facilitating the wireless FL.

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic roles of various immunohistochemical markers in urothelial carcinoma in situ (uCIS) through a meta-analysis and review of diagnostic test accuracy. Immunohistochemical markers CK20, CD44, AMACR, and p53 were evaluated in the present study. We analyzed the expression rates of immunohistochemical markers and compared their diagnostic accuracies. The estimated expression rates were 0.803 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.726–0.862), 0.142 (95% CI: 0.033–0.449), 0.824 (95% CI: 0.720–0.895), and 0.600 (95% CI: 0.510–0.683) for CK20, CD44, AMACR, and p53, respectively. In the comparison between uCIS and reactive/normal urothelium, the expression of CK20, AMACR, and p53 in uCIS was significantly higher than in reactive/normal urothelium. CD44 showed significantly lower expression in uCIS than in the reactive/normal urothelium. Among the markers, AMACR had the highest sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio. The AUC on SROC was the highest for CK20. In conclusion, immunohistochemical markers, such as CK20, CD44, AMACR, and p53, can be useful in differentiating uCIS from reactive/normal urothelium.

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic roles of GATA3 immunohistochemistry in urothelial carcinoma (UC) through a meta-analysis. We investigated GATA3 immunohistochemical expression rates and performed a subgroup analysis based on tumor site, study location, and histological subtypes. The overall survival rates of patients with GATA3-positive and negative UC were compared. The estimated GATA3 expression rate was 0.748 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.704–0.787). GATA3 expression rates in the urinary bladder and urinary tract were 0.775 (95% CI: 0.727–0.818) and 0.614 (95% CI: 0.426–0.774), respectively. The GATA expression rates of noninvasive and invasive UCs were 0.965 (95% CI: 0.938–0.980) and 0.644 (95% CI: 0.581–0.702), respectively. In invasive UCs, there was a significant difference in GATA3 expression between non-muscular invasion and muscular invasion subgroups (0.937, 95% CI: 0.883–0.967 vs. 0.753, 95% CI: 0.645–0.836). GATA3 expression was the highest in the microcytic subtype among the histologic subtypes (0.952, 95% CI: 0.724–0.993). There was a significant correlation between GATA3 expression and better prognosis (hazard ratio: 0.402, 95% CI: 0.311–0.521). Taken together, GATA3 expression significantly correlated with low-stage and better prognosis in UC. GATA3 expression is highly variable across histological subtypes and it is careful interpreting GATA3 expression.

In this paper, we define new kind of Daehee numbers, the degenerate Daehee numbers of the third kind, using degenerate log function as generating function. We obtain some identities for the degenerate Daehee numbers of the third kind associated with the Daehee, degenerate Daehee and degenerate Daehee numbers of the second kind. In addition, we derive a differential equation associated with the degenerate log function. We deduce some identities from the differential equation.

Abstract: Background: The optimal strategy for the microelimination of HCV within community settings remains ambiguous. We evaluated the percentage of participants who achieved linkage to care (LTC) following the conclusion of the screening campaign, and examined the diverse factors influencing LTC among these individuals. The effectiveness of recall intervention for the non-LTC population and its barriers were analyzed. Methods: We initiated an HCV patients recall program to identify the HCV participants who might not be treated after the HCV screening campaign. A program staff recalled HCV participants who lost to follow-up through the telephone from March 2019 to June 2019. They were informed of HCV treatment's importance, efficacy, availability, and safety. Result: Among 185 HCV-infected participants, 109 (58.9%) HCV-infected participants had obtained LTC. Compared with those who had LTC, those without LTC were older, lower education levels, were less aware of their HCV infection, less frequently lived in urban areas, and had less health insurance. At the end of the recall program, 125 (67.6 %) persons had liked to care. The proportion of LTC increased by 8.7 %. 119 persons had an HCV RNA test, and 82 (68.9%) had viremia. Of 82 patients with viremia, 78 (95.1%) received antiviral therapy. 76 (97.4 %) of them achieved a sustained virological response. Conclusion: After a community screening campaign, 59 % of participants with anti-HCV positive had LTC. The recall program can increase by 9 %. However, there were still 32% of HCV participants who couldn't be linked to care. Outreach care for non-LTC patients is a way worth trying to achieve micro-elimination of HCV in the rural community.

In this paper, we present a study of various ZnO/SiO2-stacked thin film structures for flexible micro-energy harvesting devices. Two groups of micro-energy harvesting devices, SiO2/ZnO/SiO2 micro-energy generators (SZS-MGs) and ZnO/SiO2/ZnO micro-energy generators (ZSZ-MGs), were fabricated by stacking both SiO2 and ZnO thin films, and the resulting devices were characterized. With a particular interest in the fabrication of flexible devices, all the ZnO and SiO2 thin films were deposited on ITO-coated PEN substrates using an RF magnetron sputtering technique. The effects of the thickness and/or position of the SiO2 films on the device performance were investigated by observing the variations of output voltage in comparison with that of a control sample. As a result, compared to the ZnO single-layer device, all the ZSZ-MGs showed much better output voltages, while all the SZS-MG showed only slightly better output voltages. Among the ZSZ-MGs, the highest output voltages were obtained from the ZSZ-MGs where the SiO2 thin films were deposited using a deposition power of 150 W. Overall, the device performance seems to depend significantly on the position as well as the thickness of the SiO2 thin films in the ZnO/ SiO2-stacked multilayer structures, in addition to the processing conditions.

Using the World Bank Global Findex Database for 91 countries in 2014, 2017, and 2021, we examine whether fintech levels influence bank performance and whether fintech’s interaction with GDP per capita causes differential effects on bank performance globally. Since fintech levels were already very high for rich countries when the World Bank started providing fintech development statistics in 2014, we estimate AbFintech by regressing fintech levels on GDP per capita by year. AbFintech is the difference between the fintech level and its fitted values. Then, using multiple regression analyses, we investigate the impact of AbFintech on bank performance worldwide, focusing on the differential effects of AbFintech and GDP levels on bank performance. We find AbFintech significantly increases bank performance, primarily in less developed countries. Specifically, AbFintech increases banks’ ROA in the least developed countries and net interest margin in the 75th percentile countries. Also, AbFintech decreases the cost-to-income ratio in the 75th percentile countries, while it increases the ratio in the most developed countries. AbFintech does not affect the ratio of noninterest income to total income, regardless of the level of economic development.

Various vaccines have been developed in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the safety of vaccines has become an important issue. COVID-19 vaccines-related central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating diseases (CNS IDDs) have been reported recently. We present one case of AstraZeneca vaccine-related myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease and literature review another 78 patients published from January 2020 to October 2022. Patients were divided into three vaccine groups (viral vector, mRNA and inactivated vaccines) for further analyses. Among 79 patients with COVID-19 vaccines-related CNS IDDs, 49 (62%) cases received viral vector vaccines, 20 (25.3%) received mRNA vaccines and 10 (12.7%) received inactivated vaccines. Twenty-seven cases (34.2%) were confirmed with autoantibodies, including 15 patients (19%) with anti-MOG, 11 (13.9%) with anti-aquaporin 4 (AQP4), and one (1.3%) with both antibodies. Significantly, more males developed CNS IDDs post viral vector vaccines compared to mRNA and inactivated vaccines. Patients receiving mRNA vaccines were older than other groups. Furthermore, mRNA and inactivated vaccines correlated more with anti-AQP4 antibodies, while viral vector vaccines showed higher MOG positivity. The research suggests potential associations between COVID-19 vaccines-related CNS IDDs and gender, age, and autoantibodies, contingent on vaccine types. Protein sequence analysis implies similarities between the S protein and AQP4/MOG. Further studies may elucidate the mechanisms of CNS IDDs, aiding vaccine selection for specific groups.

Changes in extreme weather patterns are expected under climate change. In this study, a risk assessment was conducted using 4 building damage history datasets and 33 weather datasets (precipitation, wind speed, snow, and temperature) from 230 regions in South Korea to quantitatively analyze and predict building damage caused by potential future natural disasters. Decision tree analysis was used to evaluate building damage risk in 230 regions. The decision tree model to determine the risk of flood, gale, and typhoon was generated, which excluded gales, with less damage. The weight (variable importance) and limit value (damage limit) of the weather variables ware derived using the decision tree model. Using these two factors, we assessed the building damage risk in 230 regions in South Korea until 2100. The number of regions at risk of flood damage increased by more than 30% in average. Conversely, regions at risk of snowfall damage decreased by more than 90%. The regions at risk of typhoons decreased by 57.5% on average, and the number of regions at high risk of typhoon damage increased by up to 62.5% in RCP 8.5. These results can be used as objective data to minimize future building damage throughout South Korea, representing the first step towards sustainable development in the region with respect to disaster response.

Taiwan’s auditors have suffered from processing excessive audit data, including drawing audit evidence. This study advances sampling techniques by integrating machine learning with sampling. This machine learning integration helps avoid sampling bias, keep randomness and variability, and target the risker samples. We first apply a Naive Bayes classifier to classify data into some classes. Next, a user-based, item-based, or hybrid approach is employed to draw audit evidence. The representativeness index is the primary metric for measuring the representativeness of audit evidence. The user-based approach denotes the selection of samples between two percentiles in a class as audit evidence. It may be equivalent to a combination of monetary and variable sampling methods. The item-based approach represents the choice of risky samples as audit evidence. It may be identical to a combination of non-statistical and monetary sampling methods. Auditors can hybridize those user-based and item-based approaches to balance representativeness and riskiness in selecting audit evidence. Three experiments show that sampling using machine learning integration has the benefits of drawing unbiased samples, handling complex patterns, correlations, and unstructured data, and improving efficiency in sampling big data. However, the limitations are the classification accuracy output by machine learning algorithms and the range of prior probabilities.

Stress can reduce the accuracy of radiation therapy owing to muscle contraction and changes in breathing patterns. This study aimed to predict stress in patients before each treatment session using artificial intelligence (AI) from biological signals to enhance treatment accuracy. We measured 123 stress cases in 41 patients and calculated stress scores by analyzing seven stress-related features derived from heart rate variability obtained from photoplethysmography. The study analyzed stress score distribution and observed its trend changes throughout the treatment. Before-treatment information was used to predict changes in stress features during treatment. AI models included both non-pre-trained (Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Transformer) and pre-trained (ChatGPT) models. The performance was evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation, exact match ratio, accuracy, recall, precision, and F1 score. More than 90% of the patients experienced stress during radiation therapy. From all the classifications, LSTM and prompt engineering GPT4.0 had the highest accuracy (feature classification, LSTM: 0.703, GPT4.0: 0.659, stress classification: LSTM: 0.846, GPT4.0: 0.769). Our research pioneers the use of AI and biological signals for stress prediction in radiation therapy, potentially identifying patients needing psychological support, and suggesting methods to improve radiotherapy effectiveness through stress management.

The objective of this study is to investigate the aquatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether with four different glyoxal concentrations (0, 1.4, 2.3 and 6.3%) in response to global chemical regulations, e.g., European Union Classification, Labeling and Packaging (EU CLP). Tests of the aquatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether on 11 freeze-dried microbial strains, Microcystis aeruginosa, Daphnia magna and zebrafish embryos were designed as an initial stage for toxicity screening, and were performed with the standardized toxicity test guidelines. Glyoxal-containing cellulose ether showed no significant toxic effects in the toxicity tests for the 11 freeze-dried microbial strains, Daphnia magna and zebrafish embryos. Alternatively, 6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether led to more than a 60% reduction of Microcystis aeruginosa growth after 7 days of exposure. Approximately 10% developmental abnormalities (e.g., bent spine) in zebrafish embryos were also observed in the group exposed to 6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether after 6 days of exposure. These results imply that <6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether results in non-toxic effects on the acute toxicity of aquatic organisms. However, ≥6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether may affect the health of aquatic organisms with long-term exposure. In order to better evaluate the eco-safety of cellulosic products contained in glyoxal, further studies regarding the toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether with long-term exposure are required. The results from this study allow us to evaluate the auatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulosic products, under EU chemical regulations, on the health of aquatic organisms.

(1) Background: This study aimed to evaluate whether the implementation of a modified blood sampling protocol, which focused on need-based laboratory testing and minimized venous sampling by replacing it with point-of-care testing (POCT) via capillary puncture, successfully reduced iatrogenic blood loss, incidence of anemia, and frequency of blood transfusion in extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWIs) without negatively affecting neonatal outcomes. (2) Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 313 ELBWIs of gestational age (GA) between 23 and 28 weeks, born between 2013 and 2019. The infants were divided into two groups: before (period I) and after (period II) the implementation of the modified blood sampling protocol in January 2016. Propensity score matching was conducted to minimize selection bias. Clinical data, including the frequency and amount of blood sampling, frequency and volume of blood transfusion, and clinical characteristics, such as gestational age, birth weight, and neonatal outcome data, were collected and compared between the two groups. (3) Results: No significant differences in the GA or birth weight between the two periods were observed. The total sampling volume during a month after birth (16.7 ± 4.1 mL vs. 15.6 ± 4.4 mL, P=0.03) and total sampling volume during hospital days (51.4 ± 29.7 mL vs. 44.3 ± 27.5 mL, P=0.04) in period II were significantly lower than that in period I. There were no differences in the mortality or morbidity between the two periods. Although the transfusion frequency and amount did not have significant differences between the periods, we observed a positive correlation between the transfusion frequency and sampling volume (coefficient: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.08–0.11). (4) Conclusions: The modified blood sampling protocol effectively reduced the iatrogenic blood loss without negatively affecting the neonatal outcomes.

This study aims to evaluate the climate-change response of greening persistently vacant houses and barren sites in deteriorated high-density residential areas in old downtown metropolitan areas. The current status of building demolition sites in Ami-dong and Chojang-dong, Busan Metropolitan City, was examined. In this area, of the 340 vacant houses from 2017, 246 (72.35%) remained persistently vacant till 2020. In 2020, 213 barren sites were neglected after building demolition. Amongst these sites, 177 (83.10%) were paved with concrete. Persistently vacant houses and barren sites were afforested, and the climate-change response was quantified in terms of flood reduction and CO2 mitigation in four scenarios (current, concrete, ground cover plants, and trees). Runoff analysis was performed using the Korea low-impact development model (K-LIDM) to assess flood mitigation. The tree scenario showed average runoff mitigations of 1.71%, 2.38%, and 3.06% in the long-term, 30-year, and 2-year rainfall scenarios, respectively. Additionally, 3058 deciduous broadleaf trees may be planted in the study area to promote CO2 mitigation. Thus, an additional annual carbon fixation of 62,123.78 kg CO2 may be expected. The greening of vacant houses and demolished sites was effective in all aspects of the climate-change response, and tree-based greening exhibited the most significant effect.

This study proposes and validates a novel combustion control system for Oil-Fired Boilers aimed at reducing air pollutant emissions through flame image prediction. The proposed system is easily applicable to existing ships. Traditional proportional combustion control systems supply fuel and air at fixed ratios according to the set steam load, without considering the emission of air pollutants. To address this, a stable and immediate control system is proposed, which adjusts the air supply to modify the combustion state. The combustion control system utilizes oxygen concentration predictions from flame images via SEF+SVM as control inputs, and applies Internal Model Control (IMC)-based Proportional-Integral (PI) control for real-time combustion control. Due to the complexity of modeling the image-based system, IMC parameter tuning through experimentation is essential for achieving effective control performance. Experiments conducted on a 3000 kg/h marine oil-fired boiler in actual operation optimized the controller parameters for stability and responsiveness, and validated their effectiveness. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed system to improve combustion efficiency and reduce emissions of air pollutants. This study provides a feasible and effective solution for enhancing the environmental performance of marine oil-fired boilers. Given its ease of application to existing ships, it is expected to contribute to sustainable air pollution reduction across the maritime environment.

Since electrical resistivity of concrete can be measured in a more rapid and simple way than chloride diffusivity, it should be primarily regular quality control of the electrical resistivity of concrete which provides the basis for indirect of quality control of concrete durability during the concrete construction. If this is realized, the electrical resistivity of concrete can be a crucial parameter to establish maintenance strategy for marine concrete structures. Electrical resistivity of concrete is important to estimate two processes involved in corrosion of reinforcement: initiation (chloride penetration) and propagation (corrosion rate). The resistivity of concrete structure exposed to chloride indicates the risk of early corrosion damage, because a low resistivity is related to rapid chloride penetration and to high corrosion rate. Concrete resistivity is a geometry-independent material property that describes the electrical resistance, which is the ratio between applied voltage and resulting current in a unit cell. The current is carried by ions dissolved in the pore liquid. While some data exist on the relationship between moisture content on electrical resistivity of concrete, very little research has been conducted to evaluate the effect of chloride on the conduction of electricity through concrete. The purpose of this study is to examine and quantify the effect of pore water and chloride content on surface electrical resistivity measurement of concrete. It was obvious that chloride content had influenced the resistivity of concrete and the relationship showed a linear function. That is, concrete with chloride ions had a comparatively lower resistivity. Chloride can lead to underestimate the electrical resistivity of concrete. Conclusively, this paper suggested the quantitative solution to depict the electrical resistivity of concrete with various chloride contents.

Bayesian nonlinear mixed effects models for data in the form of continuous, repeated measurements from a population, also known as Bayesian hierarchical nonlinear models, are a popular platform for analysis when interest focuses on individual specific characteristics and relevant uncertainty quantification. Due to the limitation of computational power, this framework was relatively dormant until the late 1980s, but in recent years, the statistical research community saw vigorous development of new methodological and computational techniques for these models, the emergence of software, and wide application of the models in numerous industrial and academic fields. This article presents an overview of the formulation, interpretation, and implementation of Bayesian nonlinear mixed effects models and surveys recent advances and applications.

In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether an automated molecular diagnostic method based on PCR-reverse blot hybridization assay can discriminate between human Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-positive and -negative FFPE tissues and to compare the relative mRNA expression levels of various host immune markers between MTB-infected and uninfected human tissues using quantitative reverse transcription (qRT) PCR. A total of 52 human FFPE tissue samples from various regions of the body, including the lungs, lymph nodes, tendons, colon, and appendix, were collected and used for the molecular identification of Mycobacterium species and analysis of cytokine mRNA expression. As a result, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IP-10, CXCL9, CXCL11, and GM-CSF mRNA expression levels in MTB-infected tissues were significantly higher than those in uninfected samples. Additionally, the differences in the mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ, CXCL9, and GM-CSF between MTB-infected and uninfected tissues were statistically significant were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Correlation curve analysis indicated that the mRNA expression of IFN-γ was inversely proportional to that of IP-10 and that the mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, CXCL9, CXCL11, GM-CSF, and TNFR were proportional and well-correlated. Furthermore, to establish marker profiles for detecting MTB infection, the statistically significant expression levels of three markers were combined. We confirmed that the combined profile of IFN-γ, CXCL9, and GM-CSF expression levels was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Although the mRNA expression patterns of host immune markers may vary according to MTB infection status, these patterns may be highly correlated and can be simultaneously used as an additional indicator for diagnosing TB.

Antibiotic beads were used to treat surgical infections. In this study, polylactide–polyglycolide (PLGA) was mixed with vancomycin, osteogenic enhancer lithium chloride (LiCl), and hot com-pressing to form PLGA-vancomycin-LiCl delivery beads to treat bone infection. An elution method was employed to characterize the in vitro release characteristics of the vancomycin and the Li over a 42-day period. The released profiles lasted for more than 42 days for vancomycin and 28 days for Li. The concentration of vancomycin in each sample was well above the breakpoint sensitivity. Lithium co-treatment enhanced the bactericidal effect of vancomycin. Released Li and vancomycin increased mRNA or protein expressions of osteogenic markers of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In vivo, the PLGA delivery systems were implanted into the rabbit distal femoral cavities and the cavity fluid content was aspirated and analyzed at each time point. The released Li and vancomycin lasted more than 6 weeks, and vancomycin concentrations were much above the breakpoint sensitivity. Four rabbits in each group were killed at 8 weeks for histologic observation. More mature bone tissue was shown in the Li treatment group. This study provides a PLGA drug delivery system to meet the requirements of patients with bone infections.

Mechanical ventilation (MV), used in patients with acute lung injury (ALI), induces diaphragmatic myofiber atrophy and contractile inactivity, termed ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase- (PI3K-) is crucial in modulating fibrogenesis during the reparative phase of ALI; however, the mechanisms regulating the interactions among MV, myofiber fibrosis, and PI3K- remain unclear. We hypothesized MV with or without bleomycin treatment would increase diaphragm muscle fibrosis through the PI3K- pathway. Five days after receiving a single bolus of 0.075 units bleomycin intratracheally, C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 6 or 10 mL/kg MV for 8 h after receiving 5 mg/kg of AS605240 intraperitoneally. In wild-type mice, bleomycin exposure followed by MV 10 mL/kg prompted significant increases in disruptions of diaphragmatic myofibrillar organization, transforming growth factor-1, oxidative loads, Masson’s trichrome staining, extracellular collagen levels, positive staining of -smooth muscle actin, PI3K- expression, and myonuclear apoptosis (P &lt; 0.05). Decreased diaphragm contractility and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor- coactivator-1 levels were also observed (P &lt; 0.05). MV-augmented bleomycin-induced diaphragm fibrosis and myonuclear apoptosis were attenuated in PI3K-γ-deficient mice and through AS605240-induced inhibition of PI3K- activity (P &lt; 0.05). MV-augmented diaphragm fibrosis after bleomycin-induced ALI is partially mediated through PI3K-γ. Therapy targeting PI3K-γ may ameliorate MV-associated diaphragm fibrosis.

According to many research groups, high glucose induces over production of superoxide anions, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in general is the link between high glucose levels and the toxicities seen at cellular levels. Respiratory complex anomalies could lead to the production of ROS. Calcium [Ca2+], at physiological levels serves as a second messenger in many physiological functions. Accordingly, mitochondrial calcium [Ca2+]m overload leads to ROS production which could be lethal to the mitochondria through various mechanisms. The F1F0-ATPase (ATP syn-thase or complex V) is the enzyme that is responsible for catalyzing the final step of oxidative phosphorylation. It does so by coupling the translocation of protons in the mitochondrial in-termembrane space and shuttling them to the mitochondrial matrix for ATP synthesis to take place. Mitochondrial complex V T8993G mutation specifically blocks the translocation of protons across the intermembrane space thereby blocking ATP synthesis leading to Neuropathy, Ataxia and Retinitis Pigmentosa Syndromes (NARP). This study seeks to explore the possibility of [Ca2+]m overload mediating the pathological roles of high glucose in defective respiratory chain mediated mitochondrial stress. The NARP cybrids are the in vitro experimental models for the cells with F1FO-ATPase defects, these cells harbor 98% of mtDNA T8993G mutation. Their coun-terparts 143B osteosarcoma cell lines are the parental cell lines used for comparisons. We uncov-ered that, NARP cells mediated and enhanced the death of the cells (apoptosis) when incubated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and high glucose respectively as depicted by the MTT assay of cell viability. Furthermore, using the fluorescence probe-coupled laser scanning confocal imag-ing microscopy, NARP cells significantly enabled mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) formation and enhanced the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). Elucidating the mechanisms of sugar enhanced toxicity on mitochondria would help in the fu-ture to alleviate the symptoms of patients associated with (NARP) syndromes.

White spot lesions (WSLs), a side effect of orthodontic treatment, can result in reversible and unaesthetic results. Graphene oxide (GO) with a bioactive glass (BAG) mixture(BAG@GO) was added to Low Viscosity Transbond XT(LV) in a ratio of 1, 3, 5%. The composite’s characterization and its physical and biological properties were verified with scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD); its microhardness, shear bond stress (SBS), cell viability, and adhesive remnant index (ARI) were also assessed. Efficiency in reducing WSL was evaluated using antibacterial activity of S. mutans. Anti-demineralization was analyzed using a cycle of the acid-base solution. Adhesives with 3 or 5 wt.% of BAG@GO showed significant increase in microhardness compared with LV. The sample and LV groups showed no significant differences in SBS or ARI. The cell viability test confirmed that none of the sample groups showed higher toxicity compared to the LV group. Antibacterial activity was higher in the 48-hour group than in the 24-hour group; the 48-hour test showed that BAG@GO had a high antibacterial effect, which was more pronounced in 5 wt.% of BAG@GO. Anti-demineralization effect was higher in the BAG@GO-group than in the LV-group; the higher the BAG@GO concentration, the higher the anti-demineralization effect.

Gastric inflammation-related disorders are commonly observed digestive system illnesses char-acterized by the activation of proinflammatory cytokines, particularly tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). This results in the induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)/prostaglandin E2 (PEG2) and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9). These factors contribute to the pathogenesis of gastric in-flammation disorders. We examined the preventive effects of Lonicera japonica Thunb. ethanol ex-tract (Lj-EtOH) on gastric inflammation induced by TNF-α in normal GES-1 cells. The GES-1 cell line was used to establish a model that simulated the overexpression of COX-2/PGE2 and MMP-9 proteins induced by TNF-α, to examine the anti-inflammatory properties of Lj extracts. The re-sults indicated that Lj-EtOH exhibits significant inhibitory effects on COX-2/PEG2 and MMP-9 ac-tivity, attenuates cell migration, and provides protection against TNF-α-induced gastric inflam-mation. The protective effects of Lj-EtOH are associated with the modulation of COX-2/PEG2 and MMP-9 through activation of TNFR–ERK 1/2 signaling pathways as well as the involvement of c-Fos and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathways. Based on our findings, Lj-EtOH ex-hibits a preventive effect on human gastric epithelial cells. Consequently, it may represent a novel treatment for the management of gastric inflammation.

This study develops an intelligent fire suppression device that links microcapsule-based IoT to extinguish early fires, such as blind spots that cannot be seen by humans or places that are difficult to recognize fires. The microcapsule is a micro-unit collection that collects Novak 1230 gas generated in the semiconductor production process. The microcapsule is molded into a form with a fire suppression function, and when a fire occurs, the molded body explodes and absorbs ambient oxygen to suppress the fire. The complex sensor IoT executes smoke and heat detection generated when a fire is suppressed within 10 seconds, which derives the reliability of the detector by notifying the fire and detecting the ignition point through communication linkages such as Ieee 485 and WiFi or LoRa.

With the rapid spread of carbon trading in the global economy, the interactions of prices between carbon (or clean/renewable energy) and traditional fossil energies such as coal and oil have raised growing attention, but little research have discussed their dynamic volatility spillover and time-varying correlation. The purpose of this study is to investigate these issues, for the weekly data of EUA futures, Biofuel and Brent oil prices from 25 October 2009 to 5 July 2020. We employ the VAR-GARCH model with the BEKK specification. Our results are summarized as follows. At first, we identified the sudden changes and the volatility persistence in the three markets, and also confirmed that the volatility of the markets has changed significantly over time. Secondly, we find that there are a weak volatility spillover effect among the three markets, while a strong spillover effect between the EUA and Brent oil markets. Lastly, in financial markets, the EUA can be used as a hedging portfolio for the Biofuel and Brent oil markets. These results can help investors to well compose their portfolios and manage their investment risks, and help potential pollutant emission sources to join in carbon market in a cost-effective way.

This study focuses on the development and evaluation of an AI-based digital therapeutic prototype for adolescent mental health management and disaster response. The system integrates real-time monitoring, AI-driven conversation analysis, personalized psychological treatment programs, and multimodal data analysis. An algorithm was developed to detect gaslighting and verbal abuse using a BERT-based classification model, achieving 85% accuracy in gaslighting detection and 87% ac-curacy in verbal abuse detection. Additionally, a disaster psychological recovery support module was included, which demonstrated a 30% improvement in users' stress reduction rates in simulated disaster scenarios. The results of this study suggest that such digital therapeutic approaches can significantly contribute to early intervention in adolescent mental health issues and provide effec-tive support during disasters. The developed prototype demonstrates the potential of AI and digital technology to innovate mental health management and disaster response strategies.

Research on piezo-composite actuators has been actively conducted over the past two decades as a response to strong demand for light, compact actuators to replace electro-magnetic motor actuators in micro robots, small flying drones, and compact missile systems. Layered piezo-composite unimorph actuators have been studied to provide active vibration control of thin-walled aerospace structures, control the shapes of aircraft wing airfoils, and control the fins of small missiles, because they require less space and provide better frequency responses than conventional electro-magnetic motor actuator systems. However, based on the limited actuation strains of conventional piezo-composite unimorph actuators with poly-crystalline piezoelectric ceramic layers, they have not been implemented effectively as actuators for small aerospace vehicles. In this study, a lightweight piezo-composite unimorph actuator (LIPCA-S2) was manufactured and analyzed to predict its flexural actuation displacement. It was found that the actuated tip displacement of a piezo-composite cantilever could be predicted accurately using the proposed prediction model based on the nonlinear properties of the piezoelectric strain coefficient and elastic modulus of a piezoelectric single crystal.

The plant Allium hookeri, belonging to the Allium genus, has a history of being used both as a common food ingredient and in herbal medicine. It has recently been reported to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. A. hookeri has been also shown to exhibit neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory activities, but the active compounds responsible for these effects have not been identified in previous studies. This study aimed to perform a metabolite profiling using an HRESI-qTOF MS/MS-based molecular networking approach and identify the active compounds from A. hookeri that target senescent cell-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) inhibitory effects, which contribute to neuroprotective activities. As a result, ten compounds, including one new flavonoid (2) and nine known compounds (1 and 3–10), were identified, and their biological activity was tested. The most potent compound was N-trans-feruloyltyramine (7), which inhibited SASP markers and contributed to the senomorphic activities of A. hookeri. These findings suggest that the phenolamides from A. hookeri could be a promising source of bioactive compounds for preventing senescence-associated diseases.

Energy and Environment Tax is used globally as a means of environment policy. Energy and Environment tax plays an important role as a driving force for the conversion to environmentally friendly energy. The basic tax principles considered in the design of energy and environmental taxation increases the efficiency of policy instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation based on tax principles, namely, equity, efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, and accountability and to suggest directions for improvement. This study applied a methodology that provides policy implications, such as reviewing existing literature and comparing energy and environmental taxes. Results of this study show that South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation is negative in terms of equity, simplicity, and accountability. South Korea’s current energy and environmental tax is regressive to income classes and complex tax structures and it does not objectively measure the impact of energy and environmental taxation. However, energy and environmental taxation is evaluated positively in terms of efficiency and flexibility because it meets the greenhouse gas reduction policy and operates a flexible tax rate. The results of this analysis provide policy implications for reorganizing South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation

Cardiovascular-related diseases are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. An understanding of heart movement based on images plays a vital role in assisting the procedure in the postoperative and postoperative processes. In particular, if the shape information can be provided in real-time using the electrocardiogram(ECG) signal using this information, the heart’s movement information can be used for cardiovascular analysis and imaging guides during surgery. In this paper, we propose creating a 3D+t cardiac coronary artery model that is rendered in real-time according to the ECG signal. Hierarchical cage-based deformation modeling is used to generate mesh deformation used during the procedure according to the ECG signal. We match the blood vessel’s lumen obtained from the ECG-gated 3D+t CT angiography taken at the multiple cardiac phases to derive the optimal deformation. Splines for 3D deformation control points were used to continuously represent the obtained deformation at the multi-view according to the ECG signal. To verify the proposed method, we compared the manually segmented lumen and results of the proposed method for eight patients. The average distance and dice coefficient between the two models was 0.543mm and 0.735, respectively. The required time for registration of the 3D coronary artery model is 23.53 seconds/model. rendering speed to derive the model according to the ECG signal after generating the 3D+t model is faster than 120 FPS.

Functional connectivity (FC) is a potential candidate that can increase the performance of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in the elderly because of its compensatory role in neural circuits. However, it is difficult to decode FC by current machine learning techniques because of a lack of its physiological understanding. To investigate the suitability of FC in BCI for the elderly, we propose the decoding of lower- and higher-order FCs using a convolutional neural network (CNN) in six cognitive-motor tasks. The layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP) method describes how age-related changes in FCs impact BCI applications for the elderly compared to younger adults. Seventeen younger (24.5±2.7 years) and twelve older (72.5±3.2 years) adults were recruited to perform tasks related to hand-force control with or without mental calculation. CNN yielded a six-class classification accuracy of 75.3% in the elderly, exceeding the 70.7% accuracy for the younger adults. In the elderly, the proposed method increases the classification accuracy by 88.3% compared to the filter-bank common spatial pattern (FBCSP). LRP results revealed that both lower- and higher-order FCs were dominantly overactivated in the prefrontal lobe depending on task type. These findings suggest a promising application of multi-order FC with deep learning on BCI systems for the elderly.

The Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) entropy has been used in a wide variety of problems for more than a century. It is well known that BG entropy is extensive, but for certain systems such as those dictated by long-range interactions, the entropy must be non-extensive. Tsallis entropy possesses non-extensive characteristics, which is parametrized by a variable q (q = 1 being the classic BG limit), but unless q is determined from microscopic dynamics, the model remains but a phenomenological tool. To this date very few examples have emerged in which q can be computed from first principles. This paper shows that the space plasma environment, which is governed by long-range collective electromagnetic interaction, represents a perfect example for which the q parameter can be computed from micro-physics. By taking the electron velocity distribution function measured in the heliospheric environment into account, and considering them to be in quasi equilibrium state with electrostatic turbulence known as the quasi-thermal noise, it is shown that the value corresponding to q = 9/13 = 0.6923 may be deduced. This prediction is verified against observation made by spacecraft, and it is shown to be in excellent agreement.

Wireless Sensor Network is an emerging technology and the collaboration of wireless sensors becomes one of the active research areas to utilize sensor data. Various sensors collaborate to recognize the changes of a target environment, to identify, if occurs, any radical change. For the accuracy improvement, the calibration of sensors has been discussed, and sensor data analytics are becoming popular in research and development. However, they are not satisfactorily efficient for the situations where sensor devices are dynamically moving, abruptly appearing or disappearing. If the abrupt appearance of sensors is a zero-day attack and the disappearance of sensors is an ill-functioning comrade, then sensor data analytics of untrusted sensors will result in an indecisive artifact. The pre-defined sensor requirements or meta-data based sensors verification is not adaptive to identify dynamically moving sensors. This paper describes a deep-learning approach to verify the trustworthiness of sensors by considering the sensor data only, without having to use meta-data about sensors or to request consultation from a cloud server. The contribution of this paper includes 1) quality preservation of sensor data for mining analytics and 2) authenticity verification of dynamically moving sensors with no external consultation.

Antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) plays a pivotal role in infection prevention and treatment related to musculoskeletal surgery. The release efficacy of antibiotics from ALBC is closely tied to its surface area, yet little is known about the effective release depth. To investigate the relationship between surface area, volume, and antibiotic elution, spheric ALBC specimens with consistent outer diameters but different internal metal sphere diameters were prepared. Two vancomycin doses were utilized in ALBC specimens with an outer diameter of 35 mm: high (4 g) and low (1 g). Each dosage group included five specimens containing embedded metal spheres with diameters of 15, 25, 29, 32, or 33 mm. The resulting shell-like ALBC specimens had thicknesses of 10 mm, 5 mm, 3 mm, 1.5 mm, or 1 mm, respectively. The specimens were immersed in sterile phosphate buffer solution, and antibiotic elution was measured at designated sampling times (1, 3, 6, 10, 24, 48, 72, and 168 hours). Methylene blue was employed to visualize penetration depth. Vancomycin elution did not display statistically significant differences between high- and low-dose groups. In both groups, specimens with 1 mm thickness exhibited a higher vancomycin release efficiency (high-dose group: 18560±5474 μg, 6.7%; low-dose group: 2017±419 μg, 2.6%), decreasing sharply in thicker ALBC specimens. Methylene blue penetration depth showed no apparent difference between high-dose and low-dose groups. ALBC thickness does not significantly impact antibiotic elution, while surface area and antibiotic dose exert notable effects. These in vitro findings offer potential applications in clinical treatments for musculoskeletal infections.

Energy taxation is used globally as a means of energy policy. Energy tax plays an important role as a driving force for the conversion to environmentally friendly energy. The basic tax principles considered in the design of energy taxation increases the efficiency of policy instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate South Korea’s energy taxation based on tax principles, namely, equity, efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, and accountability and suggest directions for improvement. This study applied a methodology that provides policy implications, such as reviewing existing literature and comparing energy taxes. Results of this study show that South Korea’s energy taxation is negative in terms of equity, simplicity, and accountability. South Korea’s current energy tax is regressive to income classes and complex tax structures and it does not objectively measure the impact of energy taxation. However, energy taxation is evaluated positively in terms of efficiency and flexibility because it meets the greenhouse gas reduction policy and operates a flexible tax rate. The results of this analysis provide policy implications for reorganizing South Korea’s energy taxation.

This study numerically analyzed the effect of composition and temperature and oxygen concentration changes on the selfignition characteristics of n-heptane/methane blended fuels in order to cope with development of alternative fuels and international environmental regulations. CHEMKIN-PRO is used as the analysis program and the LLNL model is used as the reaction model. The numerical results revealed that on autoignition and ignition delay time were sensitive to changes in fuel composition and oxygen concentration. As the methane ratio increases, OH radicals causing ignition are delayed in generation and the concentration is lowered, thus longer the ignition timing. The oxygen concentration in the mixed fuels are changed to simulate the exhaust gas recirculation and a numerical analysis in then performed. As the oxygen concentration decreases, the ignition delay time longer because the nitrogen gas acts as a thermal load in the combustion chamber.

A fast and effective determination method of different species of vegetable seeds oil is vital in the plant oil industry. The near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) method was developed in this study to massively analyze the oil and moisture contents of Camellia gauchowensis Chang and C. semiserrata Chi seeds kernels. In the prediction models of NIRS, the levels of accuracy obtained were sufficient for C. gauchowensis Chang and C. semiserrata Chi, the correlation coefficient of which oil were 0.983 and 0.962, respectively, while which of moisture were 0.937 and 0.907, respectively. The near infrared spectrum of crush seeds kernels was more precise compared to intact kernels. Based on the calibration models of the two Camellia species, the NIRS predictive oil contents of C. gauchowensis Chang and C. semiserrata Chi seeds kernels were 48.71 ± 8.94% and 31.71 ± 7.39%, respectively, and the NIRS predictive moisture contents were 4.39 ± 1.08% and 3.49 ± 0.71%, respectively. Compared with the traditional chemical measurement, the rapid, precise measurement of oil and moisture of C. gauchowensis Chang and C. semiserrata Chi seeds kernels can be actualized by NIRS method.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients are particularly susceptible to respiratory infections like influenza, which exacerbate symptoms and increase healthcare utilization. While smoking cessation and influenza vaccination are recommended preventive measures, their combined impact on healthcare resource utilization is underexplored. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) assesses comorbidity burden in COPD patients and may influence healthcare outcomes. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 357 COPD patients, evaluating smoking cessation success over one year and influenza vaccination receipt, stratifying patients by CCI scores. Healthcare utilization outcomes included emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and medical expenses. Results showed that 51.82% of patients quit smoking and 59.66% received influenza vaccination, with higher comorbidity prevalence in advanced COPD stages (p=0.002). Both smoking cessation and influenza vaccination independently correlated with decreased emergency room visits, hospital admissions, days, and costs. Patients who both quit smoking and received influenza vaccination exhibited the lowest healthcare utilization rates. In conclusion, smoking cessation and influenza vaccination significantly reduce healthcare resource utilization in COPD patients, with the combination yielding synergistic benefits, particularly in those with lower CCI scores. Integrating these interventions and comorbidity management in COPD strategies is essential for optimizing patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency.

Powdery mildew disease, caused by Sphaerotheca fusca, is a major disease affecting cucumbers cultivated in greenhouses. This study was conducted to find defense genes induced by DL-3-amino-butyric acid (BABA) and powdery mildew in cucumber. The 2000 and 5000 mg/L BABA treated cucumber exhibited disease severity of 25% and 5%, respectively, whereas the water treated cucumber leaves were severely infected, with a disease severity of 90%. BABA did not effect spore germination of the powdery mildew pathogen,. showing BABA is not antifungal agent against the pathogen. In quantitative real-time PCR analysis, BABA treated cucumber upregulated transcriptional level of the defense genes CsPAL, CsPR3,CsPR1, CsLOX1, CsLOX23, Cs LecRK6.1, CsWRKY20, and Cupi4 in cucumber to maximum levels at 48 h, whereas CsLecRK6.1 reached maximum expression after 24 h and futher salicylic acid (SA) levels were significantly increased in BABA-treated cucumber plants. In addition, the infected cucumber with powdery mildew enhanced the expression levels from1.6 to 47.3 fold of the defense genes PAL, PR3, PR1, Lox1, Lox 23, LecRK6.1, WRKY20, and Cupi4 compared to heathy cucumber. The results suggests the BABA induced defense response is associated with SA signal pathway-dependent systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in cucumber, which is involved in plant resistance mechanisms.

The log interpretation and evaluation of Chang 8 tight sandstone reservoir in Longdong West area, Ordos Basin, is facing great challenges due to the existence of low resistivity contrast oil pays. To better guide the exploration of oil resources in this area, the characteristics and control mechanism of low resistivity contrast oil pays were studied in this research. Firstly, according to the relative value of apparent resistivity increase rate of the target formation, the reservoir was divided into two types: low resistivity contrast oil pay (LRCP) and high resistivity oil pay (HRP). Then, the reservoir characteristics were studied by comparing and analyzing the experimental data, formation water data and logging data collected from the two reservoir types. On this basis, the control mechanism of LRCP was studied and summarized into reservoir micro factors and regional macro factors, respectively. It is found that the reservoir rock composition between LRCP and HRP is basically the same. Compared with HRP reservoir, the average porosity and permeability of LRCP reservoir are relatively better, but the pore structure is relatively poorer because of the high content of micro pores. When the filling pressure of crude oil is sufficient enough, the high oil saturation can be formed in LRCP reservoir. The high irreducible water saturation and high formation water salinity are the main micro factors reduced the reservoir resistivity. Besides, the difference of hydrocarbon expulsion capacity of source rock and the regional difference of formation water salinity are the macro factors influenced the distribution of LRCP and HRP from vertical and horizontal of the region. The formation of LRCP is controlled by the comprehensive influence of reservoir micro factors and regional macro factors. And the comprehensive consideration of the influence of micro factors and macro factors on LRCP is suggested during the log interpretation and evaluation.

Xinjiang, as a climate-sensitive region in northwest China, holds significant importance in studying extreme weather events for agricultural production and socioeconomic development. Based on data from 52 meteorological stations and 23 extreme climate indicators in Xinjiang from 1960 to 2021, the 5a moving average, linear trend estimation, climate tendency rate, and GIS spatial analysis methods are used to analyze the distribution and change characteristics of extreme climate. The results revealed that from 1960 to 2021, TXx, TNx, TXn, TNn, FD, ID, TN10p, TX10p, and WSDI showed a significant upward trend, while SU, TR, TN90p, TX90p, and CSDI showed a significant downward trend. What is more, the range of changes in the extreme temperature indexes from 1990 to 2021 is higher than that of 1960 to 1989. The high-value areas of extreme indexes are primarily concentrated in the northern part, while the high-value areas of cold event indexes are mainly distributed in the southern part. The upward/downward trends all accounting for over 80.00% of the entire region. The Rx1day, Rx5day, PRCPTOT, R95p, R99p, R10, R20, and R25 showed a significant growth trend from 1960 to 2021, and the range of change in the extreme precipitation indexes from 1990 to 2021 was lower than that from 1960 to 1989. Moreover, their high-value areas and high climate tendency areas are mainly concentrated in the northern and western parts of Xinjiang, with upward trends all accounting for over 71.00% of the entire region. The research results provide theoretical foundations for formulating climate risk strategies in the northwest region of China.

We introduce the lower chaos grade of a real-valued function F defined on the Markov triple (E,μ,Γ), where μ is a probability measure and Γ is the carré du champ operator. As an application of this concept, we obtain the better estimate of the four moments theorem for Markov diffusion generators worked by Bourguin et al (2019). For our purpose, we need to find the largest number except zero in the set of eigenvalues corresponding to its eigenfunction in the case where the square of a random variable F, coming from a Markov triple structure, can be expressed as a sum of eigenfunctions, We give some examples of eigenfunctions of the diffusion generators such as Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, Jacobi and Romanovski-Routh. In particular, two bounds, called the four moments theorem and fourth moment theorem respectively, will be provided for the normal approximation of the case where a random variable F comes from eigenfunctions of a Jacobi generator.

Hypoeutectic Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys are promising candidates for use in automobile parts. Therefore, various attempts have been made to develop alternative casting technologies to improve the mechanical properties of cast alloys. In this study, the effects of modification with different levels of strontium (Sr) on primary and eutectic silicon (Si) in hypoeutectic Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys were investigated. Using a gravity cast process, the Sr-modified samples were prepared from melts with four levels (100, 200, 300, and 400 ppm) of Sr. In addition, the wear properties of the cast samples were studied using a block-on-ring wear-testing machine. The sizes of the primary Si phases increased with increasing Sr content in the alloys. Moreover, more finely dispersed eutectic Si was observed with higher Sr content. In frictional wear tests, the specific wear rates of the test specimens decreased as the Sr content increased from 200 to 400 ppm. Coarse Si phases are considered to act as solid lubricants in the contact region during sliding.

Using traditional methods based on detection rules written by human security experts, there is a significant challenge in accurately detecting many network threats that are increasingly becoming sophisticated. In order to deal with the limitation of the traditional methods, network threat detection techniques utilizing artificial intelligence technologies such as machine learning are being extensively studied. Research has also been conducted on analyzing various string patterns in network packet payloads through natural language processing techniques to detect attack intent. However, due to the nature of packet payloads containing binary data as well as text data, a new approach is needed that goes beyond typical natural language processing techniques. In this paper, we study a token extraction method optimized for payloads using n-gram and byte pair encoding techniques. Furthermore, we generate embedding vectors that can understand the context of the packet payload using algorithms such as Word2Vec and FastText. We also compute the embedding of various header data associated with packets, such as IP addresses and ports. Given the combination of these features, we ensemble a text 1D-CNN and a multi-head attention network in a novel fashion. We validated the effectiveness of our classification technique with the CICIDS2017 open dataset and over half a million data collected by The Education Cyber Security Center (ECSC) currently operating in South Korea. The proposed model showed remarkable progress compared to previous studies, demonstrating a highly accurate classification performance with an F1-Score of 0.998. Our model can also preprocess and classify 150,000 network threats per minute to help security agents in the field divert their time to analyzing more complex attack patterns.

Changes in crude oil price affect the shipping freight market in three different channels. This study explores the dependence structure between oil prices and maritime freight rates to identify the strongest channel. Therefore, it investigates the relationship between oil prices and three major maritime freight rates; the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index (BDTI), and the Baltic Clean Tanker Index (BCTI). We employ the decomposition method, not studied in the existing literature. The copula approach identifies the time-varying effects and asymmetry in the tail dependence structure between oil prices and freight rates. The main results of this analysis are as follows. The decomposed components display different conditional dependence patterns, and asymmetry is revealed in the upper and lower tail dependence. In the long run, we find more dependence in extreme periods like the financial crises. In short-run fluctuations, we find the dependence increases in an economic boom. The implications of the results suggest that dependence can vary over time and may change depending on extreme events, implying that the complementary strategies of the long run and short run should be different.

This study reports rapid hydrolysis, acylation, and lipolysis with lipase B from Candida antarctica (CalB) and nanofructosome encapsulated CalB (CalB@NF) enzymes immobilized on silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles (Si-MNPs). Enzymatic hydrolysis was confirmed for conversion to p-nitrophenol (p-NP, λex=400 nm) from p-nitrophenyl butyrate (p-NPB, λex=270 nm), and various catalytic parameters such as Km, Vmax, and Kcat were calculated from Michaelis-Menten and Lineweaver-Burk plot. Efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis was in the order of CalB > Si-MNPs@CalB > CalB@NF > Si-MNPs@CalB@NF, and reusability was much better with the enzyme immobilized on Si-MNPs than with the native enzyme. Enzymatic acylation was confirmed by the formation of benzyl benzoate (λex=229 nm) from benzoic anhydride (λex=240 nm), and efficiency exceeded 99% in all samples. Finally, enzymatic lipolysis was confirmed by the decomposition of olive oil to fatty acid such as oleic acid (λex=230 nm) using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), column chromatography, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H -NMR). The lipases immobilized on Si-MNPs have the advantage of good thermal stability and reusability and are thus applicable to a wide range of industries.

(1) Background: Extremely low alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels are be-ing recognized as a risk factor of increasing mortality in the elderly in relation to frailty. In the elderly, both frailty and ischemic stroke are not only common, but also associated with mortality. This study aimed to investigate whether extremely low ALT levels increase the all-cause mortality rate in the elderly after ischemic stroke. (2) Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 901 patients with ischemic stroke admitted to a university-affiliated hospital between February 2014 and April 2019. The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed to determine whether extremely low ALT lev-els are an independent risk factor of mortality in elderly patients after ischem-ic stroke. (3) Results: This study enrolled 323 older adults (age ≥65 years) who were first diagnosed with ischemic stroke. The mean age of the participants was 76.5 ± 6.6 years, mean survival time was 37.1 ± 20.4 months, and the num-ber of deaths was 96 (29.7%). The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analy-sis revealed that the risk factors for all-cause mortality in the elderly after is-chemic stroke were age, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, serum creatinine, and extremely low ALT level (<10 U/L) at the time of diag-nosis (adjusted hazard ratio: 3.243, 95% confidence interval: 1.945–5.408; P < 0.001) (4) Conclusions: Extremely low ALT level at the time of diagnosis (<10 U/L) is an independent risk factor that increases the mortality rate in the el-derly after ischemic stroke.

(1)Background:The purpose of the study was conducted to investigate the recovery of heart rate according to the performance level and rest interval conditions during 65%1RM bench press exercise;(2)Methods:The subjects of this study were eight healthy male college studentsin their 20 (years) attending University C. 1RM was measured before theexperiment, and the exercise sequence of six rest intervals (30sec, 1, 2, 3, 4,5min) was randomly selected and cross-distribution experiment. The experimental measurement was conducted a total of six times according to the rest interval condition (six conditions) once every 3 days to minimize the learning effect. The data was verified with repeated measures Two-way ANOVA and Contrast's repeated method was applied for post-comparison;(3)Results: First, the amount of exercise and the number of repetitions statistically substantially dropped (p&lt;.001) as the number of sets rose, and a greater decline was shown when the rest periods got shorter. Second, the heart rate after exercise was increased significantly (p&lt;.01) as the set progressed in the long rest interval conditions (4, 5min), and the heart rate after rest was increased statistically significantly (p&lt;,05) as the set progressed in the short rest interval conditions (30sec, 1min). Third, the heart rate recovery rate (%) was able to perform more repetitions than in the short rest interval condition due to the relatively high physiological recovery of the neuromuscular and circulatory system under the long rest interval condition;(4)Conclusions: Therefore, according to the rest conditionduring the 65%1RM bench press exercise conducted in this study, the restinterval condition of 2~3min may be effective in improving muscular endurance,and the rest interval condition of 4~5min may be effective in improving muscular hypertrophy. As a result of this study, there was a significant difference in exercise performance (repetition) and physiological recovery depending on the rest interval condition according to the set progress during the same intensity resistance exercise. Through this, it is judged that it is possible to adjust the amount of exercise appropriate for the purpose of training by adjusting not only the intensity during resistance exercise but also the rest interval between sets.

The development of technology that combines supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries by externally connecting them in parallel is ongoing. This study examines the correlation between the volume ratio and electrical characteristics of a cell made by internally connecting a battery capacitor with Li4Ti5O12 as the anode active material and a supercapacitor in parallel. It was found that increasing the volume occupied by the battery capacitor in the cell led to increased cell energy and resistance, resulting in decreased output characteristics. Conversely, increasing the volume occupied by the supercapacitor in the cell led to a decrease in the IR drop during discharge and cell temperature when evaluating cycle characteristics with a current of 20C. The study also examined the behavior of the current distributed during the charging and discharging process based on the volume ratio of the supercapacitor and the battery capacitor. Analyzing the correlation between the volume ratio and electrical characteristics of supercapacitors and battery capacitors could potentially lead to the development of a new type of energy storage device.

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

Zinc cobalt oxide-zinc hydroxide (ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2) microspheres were successfully fabricated on carbon cloth via a sample hydrothermal method. The surface morphology of these microspheres and their efficacy in degrading methyl violet were further modulated by varying the thermal annealing temperatures. The manipulation of thermal annealing temperatures was pivotal in adjusting the porosity of ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2 microspheres to amplify their photocatalytic performance. Various analytical techniques were utilized to evaluate the physical and chemical properties of the ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2 microspheres, including field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field-emission transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy. Compared to untreated ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2 microspheres, those subjected to thermal annealing exhibited increased specific surface area and light absorption capacity, rendering them highly effective photocatalysts under UVC light exposure. Subsequent studies have confirmed the superior performance of ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2 microspheres as a reusable photocatalyst for degrading methyl violet and tetracycline. Additionally, trapping experiments during the photodegradation process involving ZnCo2O4-Zn(OH)2 microspheres have identified hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and superoxide radicals (·O2–) as the primary reactive species.

Globally increasing antibiotic resistance has been connected to the use of antibiotics in medical, veterinary, and agricultural medicine, contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Asia and Europe. The main objective of this study was to correlations of antimicrobial-resistant of various pathogens in three compartments: humans, animals and the environment in India and Germany. A systematic search was carried out in Medline via PubMed, Google Scholar, and science direct, including studies published in 2022. Out of 532 papers, 24 were considered for meta-analysis. This study reveals that in India, β-lactam is highly resistant in animals. Quinolone, on the other hand, was highly resistant in humans. Furthermore, in the environment and integrated studies, aminoglycosides and β-lactams is resistant. While in Germany, a high rate of AMR resistance in all three sectors was reported in β-lactam. However, E. coli was the most frequent pathogen in both countries and is highly resistant to β-lactam, followed by cephalosporin in all the compartments. Monitoring and evaluating antibiotic-sensitivity patterns and developing proper antibiotic regimens may lead to improved outcomes for inhibiting and controlling E. coli infections in various parts of the world.

This study aimed to compare the prognosis and characteristics of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with first-line atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (AB) combination therapy and hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). We retrospectively assessed 179 and 72 patients treated with HAIC and AB combination therapy, respectively, between January 2018 and January 2023. The progression-free survival of patients treated with HAIC was significantly superior than that of patients treated with AB (P&lt;0.05), but there was no significant difference in overall survival and objective response rate (ORR) between the two groups (P=0.1056 and P=0.137, respectively). After propensity score matching (PSM), our data revealed that there was no significant difference in PFS between patients who received AB combination therapy and HAIC therapy (P=0.8888). However, patients who received AB combination therapy had significantly better overall survival than those who received HAIC therapy (P=0.0133). In addition, after PSM, significant differences in ORR and disease control rate were not observed. In conclusion, our propensity score study reveals that patients treated with AB therapy have a significantly longer OS than those treated with HAIC.

This paper presents an interpretable support vector machine (SVM) and its application to rehabilitation assessment. We introduce the concept of nearest boundary point to standardize the one-class SVM decision function and determine the shortest path for data from abnormal cases to become those from normal cases. This analytical approach is computationally simple and provides a unique solution. The nearest boundary point of abnormal data can also be used to analyze the cause of abnormal classification and indicate countermeasures for normalization. These properties render the proposed interpretable SVM valuable for medical assessment applications and other problems that require careful consideration of classification results for treatment. Simulation and application results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

The allocation of funding for higher education typically focuses on competition in neoliberal mechanisms. Surprisingly, much less attention has been paid to considering the effect of fund locations for sustainable development through public goods purposes in neoliberal contexts. This study aims to examine specific funding schemes and determine the influential factors impacting funding for teaching, research, and public goods transformation. Taking Taiwan's Higher Education Sprout Project (HESP) as an example, we explored the effect of policy initiatives on public goods transformation towards sustainable development. The data were collected from the Ministry of Education and Scopus databases. First, a regression analysis was conducted to determine which factors influence the effect of funding allocations in academic institutes. Second, we used logistic regression to detect the effects of the system and the sector. Third, we used partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to explore the causal effects among the selected impact variables on expected outcomes. Finally, we used the bootstrap method to demonstrate the model’s robustness. Our study found that only diversity was shown in private technology groups receiving less HESP funding. At the same time, it did not widen the differences in the sector and system in the transformation process. Our findings suggest that funding allocations will not affect teaching and research based on sectors and systems. In contrast, this study demonstrates that transforming public goods through special funding can play a critical role in leading sustainable development in higher education.

The objective of this work is to analyze the improvement of heat transfer in trapezoidal fin heat exchangers using numerical simulation. Heat exchangers are essential components frequently used in contemporary electronic gadgets to effectively disperse heat produced by high-power components. Nevertheless, as electronic devices continue to advance and become more powerful, the heat transfer capacity of heat exchangers is facing more requirements, therefore requiring enhanced heat dissipation efficiency. Afterwards, various fin angles were adjusted, and the heat transmission efficiency was compared. Modifying the angles can significantly improve the effi-ciency of convective heat dissipation. Moreover, it has been found that employing an optimized trapezoidal fin structure can further enhance the efficiency of heat transfer. The results indicate that trapezoidal fin heat exchangers provide superior heat dissipation efficiency compared to conventional heat exchangers. This is important for enhancing the thermal dissipation capabili-ties of electrical gadgets, hence guaranteeing steady functionality and extending their longevity. Subsequent study might explore supplementary methods to boost heat transmission in different heat exchanger configurations in order to meet the growing requirements for heat dissipation.

The production of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli is often challenged by cytoplasmic expression due to proteolytic degradation and inclusion body formation. Extracellular expression can overcome these problems by simplifying downstream processing and improving protein yields. This study aims to compare the efficiency of two Bacillus subtilis chitosanase signal peptides in mediating extracellular secretion in E. coli. We identified a naturally occurring mutant signal peptide (mCsn2-SP) from B. subtilis CH2 chitosanase (CH2CSN), which is characterized by a deletion of six amino acids in the N-region relative to the signal peptide (Csn1-SP) from B. subtilis CH1 chitosanase (CH1CSN). The CH1CSN and CH2CSN genes were cloned into the pET-11a vector and protein secretion was evaluated in E. coli BL21(DE3) host cells. Expression was induced with 0.1 mM and 1 mM IPTG at 30°C for one and three days. CH2CSN showed higher secretion levels compared to CH1CSN under all experimental conditions, especially with 0.1 mM IPTG induction for 3 days, which resulted in a 2.37-fold increase in secretion. These results suggest that signal peptide deletion variants may have an effect on protein secretion efficiency and help to further understand the function of signal peptides.

During the last two decades, energy poverty has captured a growing attention of researchers and policymakers due to its strong association with economic poverty and poor economic performance. This study uses a broad set of macro level indicators and makes the first attempt to measure energy poverty and its impact on economic growth of Pakistan over the period 1990 to 2017. In particular, our energy poverty indicator considers four main dimensions of energy poverty, namely, energy services, clean energy, energy governance and energy affordability. Our main results show that though the overall energy poverty has reduced in Pakistan during the selected sample period, the country shows an increasing dependence on polluted energy supply in order to meet its growing demand of energy. In second stage of the investigation, we test the neoclassical growth theory where we incorporate energy poverty along with human capital as source of economic growth. Our cointegration results reveal a strong relationship between energy poverty and economic growth that is also dynamically stable in short run. These strong negative linkages between energy poverty with economic growth for the sample economy complement the previous literature on the subject.

This study estimates the effects of double long memory and structural breaks on the persistence level of six major cryptocurrency markets. We apply the Bai and Perron’s structural break test, Inclán and Tiao’s iterated cumulative sum of squares (ICSS) algorithm, and the fractionally integrated generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (FIGARCH) model with different distributions. The results show that long memory and structural breaks characterize the conditional volatility of cryptocurrency markets and confirm our hypothesis that ignoring structural breaks leads to an underestimation of the persistence of volatility modelling. The ARFIMA-FIGARCH model with structural breaks and a skewed Student–t distribution fits the cryptocurrency market’s price dynamics well.

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) has emerged as a new concept that links CSR activities to marketing, enabling corporations to pursue both building company-consumer partnership and gaining sustainable mutual benefits that are elicited from the partnership. Among various cause-related marketing activities, on-line cause-related advertising is the most commonly used one. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of on-line cause-related advertising and moderating role of ethical consumption propensity. In particular, this study intends to contribute to successful development of on-line cause-related advertising strategy by focusing on the relationship between the four factors: customers' perception of on-line cause-related advertising, brand-consumer relationship, brand attachment and loyalty. The results of this study are as follows: First, customers' perception of on-line cause-related advertising was related positively to consumer-brand- relationship. Second, brand-consumer relationship was related positively to brand attachment and customer loyalty. Third, brand attachment was related positively to customer loyalty. Furthermore, from the consumer’s psychological viewpoint, ethical consumption propensity had a significant moderating effect to between customers' perception of cause-related advertising and brand-consumer relationship as well as brand attachment. The results of this study may contribute to the existing literature as an new empirical attempt to examine the effect of the on-line cause-related advertising.

The role of coalesced bainite in hydrogen embrittlement of tempered martensitic steels was investigated. Results showed that the coalesced bainite significantly enhanced the hydrogen embrittlement resistance by restricting hydrogen accumulation at the prior austenite grain boundaries, thus shifting the hydrogen-assisted failure mode from intergranular to transgranular fracture.

Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that continuously change their shape. Their main function is ATP production; however, they are additionally involved in a variety of cellular phenomena, such as apoptosis, cell cycle, proliferation, differentiation, reprogramming, and aging. The change in mitochondrial morphology is closely related to the functionality of mitochondria. Normal mitochondrial dynamics are critical for cellular function, embryonic development, and tissue formation. Thus, defect in proteins involved in mitochondrial dynamics that control mitochondrial fusion and fission can affect cellular differentiation, proliferation, cellular reprogramming, and aging. Here we review the processes and proteins involved in mitochondrial dynamics and its various associated cellular phenomena.

Abstract. Graphene family (GF)-Calcium phosphate (CaP) composites, holds great potential as components of bone regeneration materials. GF nanomaterials can be modified physically as well as chemically, which are to be biomimetic, mechanically to be hard due to their capability to support exceptional mechanical, thermal and electronic properties. These biocompatible GF composites coated on the calcium phosphate can enhance and tolerate stem cell growth and differentiation, proliferation into various lineages or interact with bioorganisms. The development in CF-CaP materials and their physicochemical/biointeractions and strategies towards osteoblasts is a great concern to promote faster healing and reconstructions of large bone imperfections or defects. In this review, we explain the influence of the CF-CaP and summarize recent developments on designing CF-CaP architectures as multifunctional bone regeneration platforms. We have also explored the typical biological applications concerning these CF-CaP based bioactive nanocomposites. Furthermore, the future viewpoints and evolving challenges will also be emphasized. Due to the shortage of full-length reviews in this emerging research field, this review would be caught great attention and encourage various new chances across a wider range of disciplines.

Machine learning offers advanced tools for efficient management of radio resources in modern wireless networks. In this study, we leverage a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach, specifically the Parameterized Deep Q-Network (DQN), to address the challenging problem of power allocation and user association in massive multiple-input multiple-output (M-MIMO) communication networks. Our approach tackles a multi-objective optimization problem aiming to maximize network utility while meeting stringent quality of service requirements in M-MIMO networks. To address the non-convex and nonlinear nature of this problem, we introduce a novel multi-agent DQN framework. This framework defines a large action space, state space, and reward functions, enabling us to learn a near-optimal policy. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of our Parameterized Deep DQN (PD-DQN) approach when compared to traditional DQN and RL methods. Specifically, we show that our approach outperforms traditional DQN methods in terms of convergence speed and final performance. Additionally, our approach shows 72.2 % and 108.5 % improvement over DQN methods and RL method respectively in handling large-scale multi-agent problems in M-MIMO networks.

Background: The associations between long-term exposure to particulate matters (PM) in residential ambiance and obesity are comparatively less elucidated among young adults. Methods: Using 2017 Community Health Survey data with aged 19−29 participants in 25 communities, Seoul, the relationship between obesity and long−term PM10 levels of living district was examined. We defined obesity as overweight (25≤BMI&lt;30) or obese (30≤BMI) using Body Mass Index (BMI) from self-reported anthropometric information. Analysis was conducted sampling weighted logistic regression models by fitting municipal PM10 levels according to individual residence periods with 10 years and more residing in a current municipality. Socio-demographic factors were adjusted over all models and age−specific effect was explored among aged 19–24 and 25–29. Results: Total study population are 3,655 [men 1,680 (46.0%) and aged 19–24 1,933 (52.9%)] individuals. Among the communities with greater level of PM10; 2001–2005, associations with obesity were increased for overall with residence period; 10 years ≤ [Odds ratio, OR 1.071, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 0.969–1.185], 15 years ≤ [OR 1.118, 95% CI 1.004–1.245], and 20 years ≤ [OR 1.156, 95% CI 1.032–1.294]. However, decreased associations were detected for PM10; 2006–2010, and age–specific effects were modified according to the residence period. Conclusions: Although currently PM10 levels are decreasing, higher levels of PM10 exposure at the residential area during the earlier life-time may contribute in increasing obesity among young adults.

Some of the recent large-scale national projects in South Korea are delayed or suspended due to belated responses to risk occurring on site. Currently, the Far East District (FED) project is being implemented to relocate the US Army bases from Yongsan to Pyeongtaek. Because of lack of experience and understanding about the characteristics of such a project, the deadline of taking over to the US Army Korea has been missed. This study identifies problems of each participant in the Yongsan Relocation Plan (YRP) of the US Army Korea with respect to construction project management and establishes a risk management strategy reflecting characteristics of FED project. To derive significant risk factors influencing YRP, various field data like weekly and monthly reports and other reports on construction condition are analyzed, and experts’ advices are collected and a survey is conducted. Mediators and latent variables are ultimately obtained. Furthermore, a structural equation model is used to both analyze and evaluate complex causal relations among many variables of YRP. The impact of risk factors on the schedule, quality and cost of the project is analyzed. In particular, the case of Site A is examined to see how the project is affected by those risk factors.

This study delves into the essential characteristics of the Metaverse and its impact on the real world. The Metaverse, a parallel universe composed of countless 3D virtual worlds, has become a hot topic in technology. With the development of advanced technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence, the Metaverse is gradually changing people's lifestyles and work methods, expanding the boundaries of the digital economy. This study profoundly investigates the attributes of the Metaverse, such as asset digitization, application scenario-based, scope economy, industry universality, integrated innovation, and the platform ecosystem. Additionally, we propose a theoretical framework to aid in understanding and shaping this emerging field. We conducted a thorough study and analysis of a specific case, explored the key features of the Metaverse, unveiled the profound impact of Metaverse characteristics on social and economic development, and verified our theoretical framework with this case. This research provides new perspectives and methods for academic studies and offers robust support and guidance for practical applications and decision-making.

The increased consumption of high fat-containing foods has been linked to the prevalence of obesity and abnormal metabolic syndromes. Rhizopus oligosporus, a fungus in the family Mucoraceae, is widely used as a starter for homemade tempeh. Although R. oligosporus can prevent the growth of other microorganisms, it grows well with lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Lactobacillus plantarum can produce β-glucosidase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of glucoside isoflavones into aglycones (with greater bioavailability). Therefore, the development of a soybean-based functional food by the co-inoculation of R. oligosporus and L. plantarum is a promising approach to increase the bioactivity of tempeh. In this study, the ameliorative effect of L. plantarum in soy tempeh on abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperglycemic rats was evaluated. The co-incubation of L. plantarum with R. oligosporus during soy tempeh fermentation reduced the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, HbA1c, serum glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, free fatty acid, insulin, and low-density lipoprotein contents and significantly increased the high-density lipoprotein content in HFD rats. It also increased the LAB counts as well as the bile acid, cholesterol, triglyceride, and short-chain fatty acid contents in the feces of HFD rats. Our results suggested that the modulation of serum glucose and lipid levels by LAB occurs via alterations in the internal microbiota, leading to the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis and promotion of lipolysis. Tempeh, produced with both L. plantarum and R. oligosporus, may be a beneficial dietary supplement for individuals with abnormal carbohydrate metabolism.

Entrepreneurship has been viewed as an opportunity for economic development and changing economic scenarios in global markets. Women are viewed as a reservoir of entrepreneurial talent, so they can be growth engines in novel markets. Previous studies have considered entrepreneurship as the most effective way towards the economic empowerment of women. Female students engaged in entrepreneurial education have been addressed persistently, while what transforms them in an education process is still unclear. Considering the transforming global economy and its influence on higher education, this study aims to detect female students transforming entrepreneurial competency, mindset, and intention into sustainable entrepreneurship. Using a self-compiled survey, we targeted 752 female students to investigate their entrepreneurial competency, mindset, and intention. SPSS and AMOS were used to transform the data for interpretation. We assumed that the impact of female students’ entrepreneurial competency could be modified by an entrepreneurial mindset and result in entrepreneurial intention. To detect this causal relationship, this study employed reliability, factor, structural equation modeling (SEM), and bootstrap-ping analyses to verify the evidence. The result of the SEM confirms that female students’ entrepreneurial competency will, through their entrepreneurial mindset, impact entrepreneurial intention. With bootstrapping, 5000 samples were collected, and it was demonstrated that the measure constructs were still reliable in the model. This study found that there is a mediation effect between entrepreneurial competency and entrepreneurial intention. The entrepreneurial mindset plays a crucial role in the transformation process. Without an entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial competency cannot exert a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. The findings can help reinvent related entrepreneurial education in higher education.

Low-complexity ultrasound systems are increasingly desired for wearable point-of-care ultra-sound and massive-channel ultrasound for 3-D matrix imaging. However, the system complexity is closely associated with the imaging capabilities, remaining as a challenge. To resolve this limitation, this study revisits the general structures of analog and digital beamformers and in-troduces a hybrid approach to implement efficient ultrasound systems. The suggested hybrid beamforming takes two stages, where the first analog stage partially beamforms M-channel RF signals to N sum-out data (M-to-N beamforming), and the second digital stage beamforms N partial sums to single final beamformed data (N-to-1 beamforming). Our approach was systematically designed and implemented, which was demonstrated with a customized 64-channel 1-D phased array using a tissue mimicking phantom. The demonstrated results indicate that the analog-digital hybrid beamforming can be applied to any kind of arrays for sophisticated 3-D imaging and tiny wearable ultrasound applications.

The proper hydrogenation of Hyper-coal (HPC) using 1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydroquinoline (THQ) was able to decrease the oxygen content and adjust the molecular structure of HPC for preparing the spinnable pitch with high softening point (SP). The spinnable pitch prepared from the THQ-soluble (QS) fraction of HPC as a precursor consisted more naphthenic carbon groups than that prepared from the 1-methylnaphthalene (1-MN) soluble (MNS) fraction of HPC. The HPC-QS derived pitch showed excellent spinnability even the SP of 260°C, and the tensile strength of the resultant carbon fiber was up to 1350 MPa with a diameter around 8 µm by only heat treatment at 800°C for 5 min.

The Cav3.2 T-type calcium channel is implicated in various pathological conditions, including cardiac hypertrophy, epilepsy, autism, and chronic pain. Phosphorylation of Cav3.2 by multiple kinases plays a pivotal role in regulating its calcium channel function. The calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine phosphatase, calcineurin, interacts physically with Cav3.2 and modulates its activity. However, it remains unclear whether calcineurin dephosphorylates Cav3.2, the specific spatial regions on Cav3.2 involved, and the extent of the quantitative impact. In this study, we elucidated the serine/threonine residues on Cav3.2 targeted by calcineurin using quantitative mass spectrometry. We identified six serine residues in the N-terminus, II-III loop, and C-terminus of Cav3.2 that were dephosphorylated by calcineurin. Notably, a higher level of dephosphorylation was observed in the Cav3.2 C-terminus, where calcineurin binds to this channel. Additionally, a previously known CaMKII-phosphorylated site, S1198, was found to be dephosphorylated by calcineurin. Furthermore, we also discovered that a novel CaMKII-phosphorylated site, S2137, underwent dephosphorylation by calcineurin. In CAD cells, a mouse central nervous system cell line, membrane depolarization led to an increase in the phosphorylation of endogenous Cav3.2 at S2137. Mutation of S2137 affected the calcium channel function of Cav3.2. Our findings advance the understanding of Cav3.2 regulation not only through kinase phosphorylation but also via calcineurin phosphatase dephosphorylation.

Surface area and pore size distribution of Eucalyptus samples pretreated by different methods were determined by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique. Three methods were applied to prepare cellulosic biomass samples for BET measurements: air, freeze, and critical point drying (CPD). Air and freeze drying caused severe collapse of biomass pore structures, but CPD effectively preserved biomass morphology. Surface area of CPD prepared Eucalyptus samples was determined to be 58–161 m2/g, whereas air and freeze dried samples were 0.5–1.3 and 1.0–2.4 m2/g, respectively. Average pore diameter of CPD prepared Eucalyptus samples were 61–70Å. CPD preserved Eucalyptus sample morphology by replacing water with a non-polar solvent, CO2 fluid, which prevented hydrogen bond reformation in the cellulose.

This paper examines interlinkages and hedging opportunities between nine major cryptocurrencies for the period between 30 September 2015 and 4 June 2020, which notably includes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak lasting from early 2020 through the end of the sample period. The results of dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) analysis using a minimum connectedness approach show a high degree of correlation between cryptocurrencies throughout the sample period. However, the correlations reach their minimum values during the COVID-19 pandemic, which indicates that cryptocurrencies acted as a hedge or safe haven during the stressful period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The weight of cryptocurrencies was significantly reduced and their hedging effectiveness varied greatly during the pandemic, which indicates that investors’ preferences changed during the COVID-19 period.

In this paper, we present an improved 100CMM regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) designed for low-emission combustion, capable of processing over 95% of volatile organic compound (VOC) gas emissions at generating sites. The existing RTO system features a cylindrical drum structure that cyclically introduces and discharges VOC gas into a rotating disk, achieving excellent energy efficiency with a heat recovery rate exceeding 95%. However, the driving force exerted on the rotating disk in the RTO combustion chamber causes increased wear around the rotating shaft, leading to untreated gas being released through the outlet due to the channeling phenomenon. Additionally, prolonged use can result in operational issues such as rotation stoppages or explosions caused by pollutant discharge, dust accumulation, and thermal expansion at high temperatures of up to 800°C. To address these challenges, we designed an enhanced rotating plate drive unit while ensuring the stable operation of the RTO combustion chamber. Considering that the combustion chamber can reach temperatures of up to 920°C when processing high-concentration VOC gas, the gas burner has been designed with a diameter of 125 mm, and the outlet dimensions are set to 650 mm x 650 mm to effectively discharge high-temperature waste heat. The heat storage material in the combustion chamber is configured with a ceramic block thickness, and the outer diameter and height of the combustion chamber are set at 250 mm, 2,530 mm, and 1,875 mm, respectively, to optimize the gas residence time and the insulation material thickness. Empirical experiments were conducted to analyze changes in VOC removal efficiency, nitrogen oxide emission concentration, and total hydrocarbon (THC) concentration, ultimately evaluating the economic performance of the 100CMM RTO.

Abstract: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a continually advancing respiratory disorder, characterized by enduring airflow limitation along with long-lasting inflammation in the airways. An expanding pool of evidence is emphasizing how mitochondrial dysfunction directly impacts the development and progression of COPD. This comprehensive review delves deeper into the intricate cellular and molecular biology of mitochondria within the framework of COPD, spotlighting significant alterations in structure and function that accompany mitochondrial dysfunction. In this narrative, we delve into the observed changes in mitochondrial shape, behavior, and respiratory chain complex alterations seen in individuals afflicted with COPD. The discussion includes implications on cellular signaling pathways and how this affects the natural process of programmed cellular death (apoptosis) and cellular aging, particularly in reference to COPD. Additionally, we consolidate ongoing therapeutic strategies, honing in on the management of COPD through a focus on mitochondrial dysfunction. Prominent among these strategies is the potential role of antioxidants and mitochondrial biogenesis inducers, which are emerging as promising fields of intervention. Furthermore, we embark on an overview of the possible use of mitochondrial biomarkers as innovative tools in diagnosing COPD, evaluating disease progression, and monitoring the efficacy of COPD treatments. As we unravel the rather complex interplay between mitochondrial biology and COPD, this review highlights the critical importance of formulating treatments that target mitochondrial dysfunction. The ultimate goal of these strategic interventions is to slow down the rate of COPD progression and significantly improve patient outcomes. Lastly, though our understanding of the nexus between COPD and mitochondrial dysfunction has significantly enhanced, ample scope remains for further investigation. Improved insights into the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction, discovered biomarkers, and targeted therapies could encompass a revolutionary step towards comprehensive disease management. The future of COPD treatment seems to lean towards a combination of strategies, prioritizing not only the management of symptoms but also focused on preserving and restoring lung function, improving physical capacity, and enhancing quality of life for COPD patients.

Objectives: Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by elevated platelet counts and an increased risk of thrombotic events, including ischemic strokes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from consecutive ischemic stroke patients with ET between March 2014 and February 2023. Results: This case series describes the clinical presentation, radiological features, and management of five patients with ET-associated ischemic strokes, all harboring the JAK2 mutation. The diverse radiological findings suggest that both large and small vessel diseases may be influenced by the prothrombotic state induced by ET. A significant elevation in platelet count was observed to correlate with the emergence of new acute infarctions in some cases. Conclusions: The study highlights combined use of antiplatelet and cytoreductive therapy in preventing secondary stroke events in patients with ET and JAK2 mutations. The heterogeneity of stroke patterns in this population necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and tailored therapeutic approaches.

Individual investors often struggle to predict stock prices due to the limitations imposed by the computational capacities of personal laptop Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) when running intensive deep learning models. This study proposes solving these GPU constraints by integrating deep learning models with technical analysis methods. This integration significantly reduces analysis time and equips individual investors with the ability to identify stocks that may yield potential gains or losses in an efficient manner. Thus, a comprehensive buy and sell algorithm, compatible with average laptop GPU performance, is introduced in the study. This algorithm offers a lightweight analysis method that emphasizes factors identified by technical analysis methods, thereby providing a more accessible and efficient approach for individual investors. To evaluate the efficacy of this approach, we analyzed the performance of eight deep learning models: LSTM (4 layers), CNN, BiLSTM (4 layers), CNN Attention, BiGRU CNN BiLSTM Attention, BiLSTM Attention CNN, CNN BiLSTM Attention, and CNN Attention BiLSTM. These models were used to predict stock prices for Samsung Electronics and Celltrion Healthcare. The CNN Attention BiLSTM model displayed superior performance among these models, with the lowest validation mean absolute error value. In addition, an experiment was conducted using WandB Sweep to determine the optimal hyperparameters for four individual hybrid models. These optimal parameters were then implemented in each model to validate their back-testing rate of return. The CNN Attention BiLSTM hybrid model emerged as the highest-performing model, achieving an approximate rate of return of 5 percent. Overall, this study offers valuable insights into the performance of various deep learning and hybrid models in predicting stock prices. These findings can assist individual investors in selecting appropriate models that align with their investment strategies, thereby increasing their likelihood of success in the stock market.

The indigenous communities across the globe especially in the rural areas consume locally available plants known as Traditional Food Plants (TFPs) for their nutritional and health-related needs. Recent research shows that many of the traditional food plants are highly nutritious as they contain health beneficial metabolites, vitamins, mineral elements and other nutrients. Excessive reliance on the mainstream staple crops has its own disadvantages. TFPs are nowadays considered important crops of the future and can act as supplementary foods for the burgeoning global population. They can also act as emergency foods in times of pandemics and other situations like COVID-19. The current situation necessitates locally available alternative nutritious TFPs for sustainable food production. To increase the cultivation or improve the traits in TFPs, it is essential to understand the molecular basis of the genes that regulate some important traits such as nutritional components and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. The integrated use of modern omics and gene editing technologies provide great opportunities to better understand the genetic and molecular basis of superior nutrient content, climate-resilient traits and adaptation to local agroclimatic zones. Recently, realising the importance and benefits of TFPs, scientists have shown interest in the prospection and sequencing of traditional food plants for their improvements, further cultivation and mainstreaming. Integrated omics such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and ionomics are successfully used in plants and have provided a comprehensive understanding of gene-protein-metabolite networks. Combined use of omics and editing tools has led to successful editing of beneficial traits in few TFPs. This suggests that there is ample scope of integrated use of modern omics and editing tools/techniques for improvement of TFPs and their use for sustainable food production. In this article, we highlight the importance, scope and progress towards improvement of TFPs for valuable traits by integrated use of omics and gene editing techniques.

With the widespread Application of Virtual Reality (VR) in education, optimizing foreign language learning in VR has become a focal point of research. This paper introduces a comprehensive theoretical framework (VR-CCL) based on constructivism and cognitive load theory to enhance foreign language learning in VR. Through a literature review, we explore the applications of VR in education, foreign language learning theories, and prior works on technology-assisted language learning. We further detail the three main components of the VR-CCL framework and validate its effectiveness through two case studies: Duolingo VR and Rosetta Stone VR. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limitations of the framework and its implications for educators and developers.

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes, including stereolithography (SL), can fabricate complex ceramic parts layer by layer using computer-aided design (CAD) models. A ceramic slurry with high solid loading is usually used in SL to fabricate the desired shape, which is further sintered to produce the final part. The traditional SL system utilizes a tank filled with printable material, known as a vat, which for ceramic slurry contributes several limitations and operational difficulties, and further renders it non-recyclable mainly due to its high viscosity and the fragility of the green state. In this study, we utilized a continuous film supply (CFS) printer integrated with a tape casting system using in-house-designed ceramic slurry to print standard prototype specimens. Various printing parameters, including viscosity, layer thickness control, and slurry recycling efficiency, were studied. In addition, post-processing optimizations of the prototype, characterizations, and the microhardness of sintered samples were studied to determine their properties and compare them with traditional methods. The effectiveness of slurry reusability was demonstrated by printing with original and recycled slurry to produce consistent densification of final parts. Post-processing was optimized to achieve a relative sinter density of 99.02% and microhardness of 12.59 GPa. This method provides new opportunities to realize dense complex ceramic features with final properties comparable to those produced by subtractive machining and traditional SL. Furthermore, slurry recycling helps to reduce the overall cost and material consumption.