An area has been designated for demonstrating the utility of marine hydrokinetic turbines in Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy. Marine renewable energy may be useful for the transition from carbon-based energy sources but there is concern for the safety of fish that might encounter turbines. Acoustic receivers that detect signals from acoustically tagged fish that pass through the tidal demonstration area and detection efficiency of tag signals might be used to estimate the likelihood of fish encountering marine hydrokinetic turbines. The method requires that tagged fish passing through the development area will be reliably detected by a receiver array. The present research tests the reliability with which passing tags are detected by suspending tags beneath GPS-tracked drifters. Drifters carrying high residency Innovasea tags that transmitted every 2 seconds were usually detected by the receiver array even in fast currents during spring tides but pulse position modulation tags were inadequate. Sometimes very few high residency tag signals were detected when fast tidal currents swept a drifter through the receiver array, so increasing the transmission interval degrades performance at the tidal energy development area. High residency tags suspended close to the sea surface were slightly less likely to be detected if they passed by during calm conditions. Previously measured detection efficiencies were found to slightly overestimate the chances of a high residency tag carried by a drifter being detected as it passed by a receiver. This works elucidates the effectiveness with which acoustically tagged fish are detected in fast, highly turbulent tidal currents and informs the application of detection efficiency measurements to calculate the probability that fish encounter a marine hydrokinetic turbine.

Semidiurnal tidal currents can exceed 5 ms−1 in Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, where a tidal energy demonstration area has been designated to generate electricity using marine hydrokinetic turbines. The risk of harmful fish-turbine interaction cannot be dismissed for either migratory or local fish populations. Individuals belonging to several fish populations have been acoustically-tagged and monitored by using acoustic receivers moored within Minas Passage. Detection efficiency ρ is required as the first step to estimate probability of fish-turbine encounter. Moored Innovasea HR2 receivers and high residency (HR) tags were used to obtain detection efficiency ρ as a function of range and current speed, for near-seafloor signal paths within the tidal energy development area. Strong tidal currents moved moorings so HR tag signals, and their reflections from the sea surface, were used to measure ranges from tags to receivers. HR2 self-signals that reflected off the sea surface showed which moorings were displaced to lower and higher levels on the seafloor. Some of the range testing paths had anomalously low ρ which might be attributed to variable bathymetry blocking the line of sight signal path. Clear and blocked signal paths accord with mooring levels. Application of ρ is demonstrated for calculation of abundance, effective detection range, and detection-positive intervals. High residency signals were better detected than pulse position modulation (PPM) signals. Providing the presently obtained ρ applies to tagged fish that swim higher in the water column, there is a reasonable prospect that probability of fish-turbine encounter can be estimated by monitoring fish that carry HR tags.

Tidal stream energy is a renewable energy resource that might be developed to offset carbon emissions. A tidal energy demonstration (TED) area has been designated in Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, for testing and installing marine hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines. Regulations require quantification of the potential for MHK turbine installations to harm local populations of marine animals. Here we use acoustic telemetry to quantify probability that post smolt Inner Bay of Fundy salmon encounter a turbine installation at the TED area. Previous work has quantified detection efficiency of Innovasea HR acoustic tags as a function of current speed and range from a moored HR2 receiver and also demonstrated that drifters carrying HR tags will be effectively detected when the drifter track crosses the array of HR2 receivers in Minas Passage. Salmon smolts were tagged and released in Gaspereau and Stewiacke Rivers, Nova Scotia, in order that the HR2 receiver array could monitor seaward migration of the post smolts through Minas Passage and particularly through the TED area. Presently we demonstrate methods by which tag signals detected by the HR2 array can be used to estimate the expected number of times that a post smolt would encounter a single near-surface MHK turbine installation during its seaward migration.

Blackcurrant leaf chlorosis associated virus (BCLCaV) was detected recently by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and proposed as a new and distinct species in the genus Idaeovirus. Genomic components of BCLCaV that were detected and confirmed include: 1) RNA-1 that is monocistronic and encodes the replicase complex; 2) a bicistronic RNA-2 that encodes a movement protein (MP) and the coat protein (CP) of the virus, with open reading frames (ORF) that overlap by a single adenine (A) nucleotide (nt) representing the third position of an opal stop codon of the MP ORF2a and the first position of the start codon of the CP ORF2b; 3) a subgenomic form of RNA-2 (RNA-3) that contains ORF2b; and 4) a concatenated form of RNA-2 that consists of a complementary and inverted RNA-3 conjoined to the full-length RNA-2. Analysis of NGS-derived paired-end reads revealed the existence of bridge reads encompassing the 3’-terminus and 5’-terminus of RNA-2 or RNA-3 of BCLCaV. The full RNA-2 or RNA-3 could be amplified using outward facing or abutting primers; also RNA-2/RNA-3 could be detected even after three consecutive RNase R enzyme treatments with denaturation at 95 ^oC preceding each digestion. Evidence was obtained indicating that there are circular forms of BCLCaV RNA-2 and RNA-3.

Six mode shapes, including bending and torsion, were documented for five different basketball rims and backboards at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, USA. The frequency and damping ratio of each mode shape were also determined. The empirical process began with the time-domain excitation and response of each rim-backboard system. The impulse of excitation came from an impact hammer separately applied to sequentially, to each node. The sinusoidal response was gathered from an accelerometer at a fixed location, node 1. Each time-domain excitation-response was then converted to a frequency domain Bode plot for each node by a B&K 2034 Signal Analyzer, giving transfer functions of output/input versus frequency. Structural Measurements System (SMS) Software was used to fit mode shapes to the Bode plots. Each of the six mode shapes were fitted to the Bode plots of each node at a specific modal frequency. Each of the six mode shapes were a function of the locations of the nodes, and the Bode plot gathered at each node. The first and second modes were critical for showing that the Energy Rebound Testing Device statistically correlated with the energy transferred to the rim and backboard. A known perturbation mass was selectively attached to the rim, to help isolate the dynamic masses and spring rates for the rim and backboard, to ascertain the kinetic energy transferred to the rim had a 95.67% inverse correlation with rim stiffness.

Daniel Yergin’s “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations” is a remarkable and groundbreaking work that addresses the ever-changing global energy landscape and its profound geopolitical implications. In this modest book review, we aim to offer a fresh perspective by re-examining the core issues from the standpoint of political geography. The aim of this article is twofold: to enrich the existing literature on political geography and to provide valuable insights to students of geography to broaden their knowledge in this field.

Neural networks require a large quantity of training spectra and detector responses in order to learn to solve the inverse problem of neutron spectrum unfolding. In addition, due to the under-determined nature of unfolding, non-physical spectra which would not be encountered in usage should not be included in the training set. While physically realistic training spectra are commonly determined experimentally or generated through Monte Carlo simulation, this can become prohibitively expensive when considering the quantity of spectra needed to effectively train an unfolding network. In this paper, we present three algorithms for the generation of large quantities of realistic and physically motivated neutron energy spectra. Using an IAEA compendium of 251 spectra, we compare the unfolding performance of neural networks trained on spectra from these algorithms, when unfolding real-world spectra, to two baselines. We also investigate general methods for evaluating the performance of and optimizing feature engineering algorithms.

With global warming, arable land in boreal regions is tending to expand into high latitude regions in the northern hemisphere. This entails certain risks; such that inappropriate management could result in previously stable carbon sinks becoming sources. Agroecological models are an important tool for assessing the sustainability of long-term management, yet applications of such models in boreal zones are scarce. We collated eddy-covariance, soil climate and biomass data to evaluate the simulation of GHG emissions from grassland in eastern Finland using the process-based model DNDC. We simulated gross primary production (GPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and ecosystem respiration (Reco) with fair performance. Soil climate, soil temperature and soil moisture at 5 cm were excellent, and soil moisture at 20 cm was good. However, the model overestimated NEE and Reco following crop termination and tillage events. These results indicate that DNDC can satisfactorily simulate GHG fluxes in a boreal grassland setting, but further work is needed, particularly in simulated second biomass cuts, the (>20 cm) soil layers and model response to management transitions between crop types, cultivation, and land use change.

The storm 'Daniel' has caused the most severe flood phenomenon that Greece has ever experienced, with thousands of hectares of farmland submerged for days. This led to sediment deposition in the inundated areas, which significantly altered the chemical properties of the soil, as revealed by extensive soil sampling and laboratory analysis. Causal relationships between soil chemical properties and sediment deposition were extracted using the DirectLiNGAM algorithm. Results of causality analysis showed that the sediment deposition affected the CaCO3 concentration in the soil. Also, causal relationships were identified between CaCO3 and available phosphorus (P-Olsen), as well as between sediment deposit depth and available manganese. The quantified relationships between the soil variables were then used to generate data using a Multiple Linear Perceptron (MLP) regressor for various levels of deposit depth (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 cm). Then linear regression equations were fitted across the different levels of deposit depth to determine the effect of deposit depth on CaCO3, P, and Mn. The results show that there is a linear slope of 0.12, -0.16, and 0.13, for CaCO3, P, and Mn with deposit depth, respectively. Statistical analysis indicates that corn growing in soils with sediment over 10 cm requires a 31.8% increase in P rate to prevent yield decline. Additional notifications regarding cropping strategies in the near future are also discussed.

Commercial development of tidal stream energy is hampered by technical and financial challenges, and impeded by uncertainty about potential environmental effects that drive environmental risk assessments and permitting (consenting) processes. The effect of greatest concern for operational tidal stream energy devices is the potential for marine animals to collide with turbine blades, resulting in injury or death. Due to the turbulent and often turbid waters that frequently characterize tidal turbine sites, there is an absence of empirical evidence about collisions with marine animals. This paucity of observations often leads to risk-averse permitting decisions that further restrict the deployment of tidal energy devices that are needed to collect this evidence. This paper relies on the framework of stressors and receptors that is used widely in marine energy studies and outlines a stepwise probabilistic methodology that applies existing knowledge to further elucidate the risk to marine animals from operational tidal turbines. A case study using striped bass from the Bay of Fundy, Canada, accompanies the methodology, to partially demonstrate its application.

Calcium signaling and lipid metabolism are crucial in the infection processes of Apicomplexans parasites. Thus, enzymes involved in these processes can be drug targets against Apicomplexans. For example, in malaria infection, in-depth research into lipid metabolic pathways is crucial in understanding the parasite's infection cycle, particularly during its erythrocytic infection cycle, which has been demonstrated to be a critical stage during the disease progression. Most enzymes that play critical roles in lipid synthesis and calcium signaling have been extensively studied; nonetheless, a vast knowledge gap still exists, especially on specific enzymes and their roles in the transmission and progression of the Apicomplexan parasites. Many types of infections caused by Apicomplexans are life-threatening and hard to treat. These intracellular parasites proliferate within parasitophorous vacuoles in their host cells. As the parasites multiply, they need to meet their high demand for nutrients such as amino acids and lipids. They can acquire nutrients through scavenging and biosynthesis. This review summarizes a few interesting, unique pathways in selected Apicomplexa and how such unique pathways can be targets for drugs.

Techniques for the controlled seeding and growth of cracks are urgently required for non-destructive testing technique evaluation, particularly for additive manufactured (AM) samples. This paper describes a method which uses a combination of tensile load and resonance excitation of notched AM samples, with in-situ monitoring of the resonance frequency serving to track crack dimensions. Mechanical low-cycle fatigue cracks, ranging in length from ~0.3 mm to ~5 mm, are successfully created in five AM samples using this technique. The samples are non-destructively characterized using optical microscopy and Nonlinear Resonance (NLR) testing. The exploitation of resonance enables the concentration of a significant number of stress cycles on the samples in much shorter timespans than conventional fatigue testing, enabling high throughput, while utilising compact components. Furthermore, the tracking of resonance frequency shift throughout the process enables non-invasive and non-contact real-time condition monitoring.

Epigenetic reprogramming using cyclic expression of Yamanaka factors has been demonstrated to rejuvenate on a systemic level in animal models with no obvious deleterious effects. Here we discuss a strategy for cyclic and systemic expression of Yamanaka factors in wild-type animals amenable for adaptation as a human therapy. This is based on the use of the little- known Amsacta moorei Entomopoxvirus vector in combination with microbubble mediated focused ultrasound-driven blood vessel permeabilization to facilitate the system-wide distribution of the virus.

The Australian tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) is home to approximately 18 percent of the nation’s total vascular plant species. Over the past century, human activity and industrial development have caused global climate changes, posing a severe and irreversible danger to the entire land-based ecosystem, and WTWHA is no exception. The current average annual temperature of WTWHA in FNQ is 24 °C. However, in the coming years (by 2030), the average annual temperature increase is estimated to be between 0.5 and 1.4 °C compared to the climate observed between 1986 and 2005. Looking further ahead to 2070, the anticipated temperature rise is projected to be between 1.0 and 3.2 °C, with the exact range depending on future emissions. We identified 84 plant species endemic to the WTWHA in FNQ, which are already experiencing climate change threats. Few of these plants are used in herbal medicines. This study comprehensively reviewed metabolomics studies conducted on these 84 plant species until now toward understanding their physiological and metabolomics responses to global climate change. This review also discusses: i) recent developments in plant metabolomics studies that can be applied to study and understand the interactions of wet tropical plants with climatic stress, ii) medicinal plants and isolated phytochemicals with structural diversity, and iii) reported biological activities of crude extracts and isolated compounds.

Despite the high prevalence of epilepsy in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) there is little information regarding whether seizure characteristics and treatment effectiveness change across age. Using an on-line survey, seizure characteristics, effectiveness of antiepileptic treatments, comorbidities and ASD diagnosis were collected from individuals with ASD and seizures. We previously reported overall general patterns of treatment effectiveness but did not examine the effect of seizure characteristics or age on antiepileptic treatment effectiveness. Such information would improve the personalized medicine approach to the treatment of seizures in ASD. Survey data from 570 individuals with ASD and clinical seizures were analyzed. Seizure severity (seizure/week) decreased with age of onset of seizures, plateauing in adolescence, with a greater reduction in generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures with age. Seizure severity was worse in those with genetic disorders, neurodevelopmental regression (NDR) and poor sleep maintenance. Carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine were reported to be more effective when seizures started in later childhood while surgery and the Atkin’s/Modified Atkin’s Diet (A/MAD) were reported to be more effective when seizures started early in life. A/MAD and the ketogenic diet were reported to be more effective in those with NDR. Interestingly, atypical Landau-Kleffner syndrome was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and NDR, suggesting a novel syndrome. These interesting findings need to be verified in independent, prospectively collected cohorts, but none-the-less these data provide some insight into novel relationships that may assist in a better understanding of epilepsy in ASD and providing insight into personalizing epilepsy care in ASD.

In recent years, many libraries and archives have started digitizing their collections thus making maps by Indigenous peoples more easily available for scholars to study. While a number of these maps were discussed by G. Malcolm Lewis in the History of Cartography series (volume 2, book 3, Chapter 4: 1984), more have since been found and disseminated. These maps are critical in understanding the historic and current land tenure of Indigenous groups. Further, Indigenous claims to land can be seen in their connections via toponymy. European concepts of territory and political boundaries did not coincide with First Nation/American Indian views resulting in the mistaken view that Natives did not have formal concepts of their territories. Further, Tribes/First Nations with cross-border territory have special jurisdictional problems. This paper will illustrate how many Native residents were very spatially cognizant of their own lands, as well as neighboring nations’ lands, overlaps between groups, hunting territories, populations, and trade networks. Currently, the Sinixt First Nation provides a perfect example of how an Aboriginal people are inputting and using a GIS representation of their territory with proper toponymy and use areas.

Rice provides ~20% of human dietary energy and, for many people, a similar share of their protein. Rice cultivation, however, produces significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, comparable to those from the aviation sector. The main GHG from rice production is methane, mostly a result of conventional rice cultivation (CRC) keeping rice fields continuously flooded during the crop cycle. There is extensive evidence that alternate wetting and drying (AWD) of rice fields substantially reduces methane emissions. AWD is one component of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an agroecological approach to the management of plants, water, soil and nutrients practiced by millions of farmers in both lowland irrigated rice and upland rainfed cultivation. Thirteen countries have included SRI in their Nationally Determined Contributions to GHG reduction or climate change mitigation. This article reviews 16 field studies of the net reduction in GHG emissions from the adoption of AWD, eight from the adoption of SRI, and two that compared SRI and AWD. Where available, the review includes data on yield and therefore on carbon dioxide-equivalent GHG emissions per kilogram of rice produced. The evidence indicates that AWD and SRI offer a similar and substantial reduction (~35–41%) in GHG emissions per hectare compared with conventional rice cultivation. However, SRI offers ~66% greater yield than CRC, and therefore greater reduction in emissions per kilogram of rice, ~54% more than AWD. The limited data directly comparing SRI and AWD support this finding. SRI also appears to have greater potential to sequester carbon in the soil. SRI lowers rice farmers’ costs of production, adds to their income and can make climate-friendly methods more attractive. Both AWD and SRI are greatly preferable to current conventional practices, but SRI offers opportunities to contribute to food security while directly addressing the drivers of climate change.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder where both T cells and B cells are implicated in pathology. However, it remains unclear how these two distinct populations cooperate to drive disease. There is ample evidence from studies in both MS patients and mouse models that Th17, B cells, and follicular T helper (TFH) cells contribute to disease. This review article describes the literature that identifies mechanisms by which Th17, TFH, and B cells cooperatively drive disease activity in MS and EAE. The curation of this literature has identified that CNS-infiltrating TFH cells act with TH17 cell to contribute to an inflammatory B cell response in neuroinflammation. This demonstrates that TFH cells and their products are promising targets for therapies in MS.

Arborists commonly investigate the extent of stem decay to assess the likelihood of stem failure when conducting tree risk assessments. Studies have shown that (i) arborists can sometimes judge the extent of internal decay based on external signs; (ii) sophisticated tools can reliably illustrate the extent of internal decay; and (iii) assessing components of tree risk can be highly subjective. We recruited 18 experienced tree risk assessors who held the International Society of Arboriculture’s Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) to assess the likelihood of stem failure due to decay after each of 5 consecutive assessments on 30 individuals of 2 genera. Five assessment techniques, in stepwise order, were 1) visual, 2) sounding the trunk with a mallet, 3) viewing a scaled diagram of the cross-section that revealed sound and decayed wood ascertained from resistance drilling, 4) viewing sonic and electrical resistance tomograms, and 5) consulting with a peer. For each technique, assessors assigned two or more likelihood of failure ratings (LoFRs) for at least 83% of trees, which were proportionally greatest after assessors viewed tomograms; the proportions did not differ among the other four assessment techniques. Covariates that influenced the distribution of LoFRs included percent of the cross-section that was decayed, and assessors’ experience using resistance drilling devices and tomography in regular practice. Practitioners should be aware that disagreement on the likelihood of tree failure exists even among experienced arborists.

Manned missions to Mars and other deep space exploration targets are expected to take place in the next 20 years. These missions will involve prolonged crew exposure to the unique space environment, increasing the risk that astronauts will experience additional physical and psychological health conditions beyond those that would be expected through normal aging on Earth. Thus, there is an acute need to develop therapeutic solutions that can withstand the harsh space environment, while maintaining astronaut health and maximizing crew capabilities to foster successful exploration-class missions. This review covers the nuanced and interdisciplinary challenge that is providing safe and effective pharmaceuticals for future deep space missions. First, the limitations of current pharmaceutical solutions are discussed; the impacts of the space environment on human health and chemical compound stability are covered, along with an evaluation of astronaut medication use on similar missions. Second, potential pharmaceutical solutions and concepts are presented for consideration. Future research should prioritize these and other potential innovations to ensure that our space programs are well equipped to maximize crew safety as astronauts explore deep space objectives.

Digital twins are an emerging technology that could be harnessed for the digitalization of the industry. Steel industry systems contain a large number of electro-hydraulic components, as proportional valves. An input-output model for a novel water proportional cartridge valve is derived from physical modelling based on fluid mechanics, dynamics, and electrical principles. The valve is a two-stage valve with two 2/2-way water proportional valves as the pilot stage and a marginally stable poppet-type cartridge valve as the main valve. The orifice equation, which is based on Bernoulli principles, is approximated by a polynomial which makes parameter estimation easier and makes modelling possible without measuring pressure of the varying control volume situated in the pilot stage part of the valve. Data were collected when the valve was operating as a component in a closed-loop system as part of a press-mill machine in a steel manufacturing plant. Parameter estimation was made by convex optimization with physical constraints to overcome problems caused by poor system excitation. For comparison, a simple linear model was derived and the least squares method used for parameter estimation. A thorough estimation of the parameters relative errors is presented. The model contains 5 parameters related to the design parameters of the valve. The modelled position output is in good agreement with experimental data for training and test data. The model can be used for real time monitoring of the valve’s status by the model parameters. One of the model parameters varies linearly with production cycles. Thus, aging of the valve can be monitored.

Viral variant analysis is a bedrock of the disease surveillance. When combined with temporospatial analysis variant analysis can further the knowledge of disease spread in a study area. This paper suggests a method to perform the analysis in an operational setting which will allow for real-time surveillance of viral variants and allow local public health professionals to rapidly respond to changes in the evolution of the disease. This method includes three main subprocesses: preprocessing, analysis, and rendering. This method can be performed across multiple software platforms. A use case is given in which it was found that this method helped a hospital system understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Northeast, Ohio.

A micro decision-making utility model under uncertainty is presented as a complementary foundation for macro coronavirus models. The micro model consists of two functions, a risk averse utility function depending on wellness and a wellness random output which is a function of the input variable called “treatment” consisting of such elements as social distance, washing hands, wearing a face mask, and others. The decision maker selects a level of treatment that maximizes her/his expected utility, given the probabilities of the respective outputs. The focus is on how changes in a person’s psychological attitude towards the macro determined (announced) probabilities affects the optimum results of the model. Such changes create a micro-macro dynamic interaction which is briefly outlined. A short discussion of the model’s behavioral implications for health policy is also given.

Experimental systems to simulate future elevated CO2 conditions in the field often have large, rapid fluctuations in CO2. To examine possible impacts of such fluctuations on photosynthesis, intact leaves of field grown plants of five species were exposed to two-minute cycles of CO2 between 400 and 800 mol mol-1 lasting a total of 10 minutes, with photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and PSII fluorescence measured at the end of each half-cycle, and also 10 minutes after the end of the cycling. Prior to the cyclic CO2 treatments, steady-state responses of leaf gas exchange and fluorescence to CO2 were determined. In four of the five species, in which stomatal conductance decreased with increasing CO2, the cyclic CO2 treatments reduced stomatal conductance. In those species, both photosynthesis and the photochemical efficiency of PSII were reduced at limiting internal CO2 levels, but not at saturating CO2. In the fifth species, there was no change in stomatal conductance with CO2, and no change in either photosynthesis or PSII efficiency at any CO2 level with CO2 cycling. It is concluded that in many, but not all, species fluctuations in CO2 may reduce photosynthesis at low CO2 partly by decreasing the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, as well as by decreasing stomatal conductance.

There is an overarching need to find alternative treatment options for malaria and this quest is more pressing in current times due to the morbidity and mortality data arising from most endemic countries and partially owing to the fact that the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has diverted much public health attention. Additionally, the therapeutic options available for malaria has been severely threatened with the emergence of resistance to almost all existing drugs by the human malaria parasite. The Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) which hitherto have been the mainstay for malaria have encountered resistance in South East Asia, a notorious ground zero for the emergence of antimalarial drug resistance. This review analyses few key druggable targets of the parasite and the potential to leverage strategic inhibitors to mitigate the scourge of malaria by providing a concise assessment of the essential proteins of the malaria parasite that could serve as targets. Furthermore, this work provides a summary of the advances made in malaria parasite biology and the potential to leverage such findings for antimalarial drug production.

Recent in vivo assays of the responses of Rubisco to temperature in C₃ plants have revealed substantial diversity. Three cultivars of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.), Holt, Fiskeby V, and Spencer, were grown in indoor chambers at 15, 20, and 25 ^oC. Leaf photosynthesis was measured over the range of 15 to 30 ^oC, deliberately avoiding higher temperatures which may cause deactivation of Rubisco, in order to test for differences in temperature responses of photosynthesis, and to investigate in vivo Rubisco kinetic characteristics responsible for any differences observed. The three cultivars differed in the optimum temperature for photosynthesis (from 15 to 30 ^oC) at 400 µmol mol^-1 external CO₂ concentration when grown at 15 ^oC, and in the shapes of the response curves when grown at 25 ^oC. The apparent activation energy of the maximum carboxylation rate of Rubisco differed substantially between cultivars at all growth temperatures, as well as changing with growth temperature in two of the cultivars. The activation energy ranged from 58 to 84 kJ mol-1, compared with the value of 64 kJ mol^-1 used in many photosynthesis models. Much less variation in temperature responses occurred in photosynthesis measured at nearly saturating CO₂ levels, suggesting more diversity in Rubisco than in electron transport thermal properties among these soybean cultivars.

One of the major areas of research in a business setting has been the effect of the transformational leadership style on workplace engagement. Much debate has taken place on the definitions of both constructs but in recent years, general agreement appears to have been reached on the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Avolio and Bass, 2004) as the measure of transformational leadership, and on workplace engagement measured by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli et al, 2006). However, in the education setting, there is much less agreement on the definition of transformational leadership. Furthermore, there is less of a focus on workplace engagement than in the business field even though available evidence suggests that workplace engagement worldwide is in crisis. This study sought to address both the lack of agreement on the transformational leadership definition and the lack of focus on workplace engagement in educational research by means of a meta-analysis. The meta-analysis resulted in a significant pooled effect size although due recognition is given to the endogeneity problem in causal studies. The endogeneity issue together with the results of the meta-analysis are discussed with a view to furthering educational leadership research.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is currently experiencing widespread crown of thorns starfish (CoTS) outbreaks as part of the fourth wave of outbreaks since 1962. It is believed that outbreaks have become more frequent on the GBR and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific associated with anthropogenic causes. The two widely accepted potential causes are (1) anthropogenic nutrient enrichment leading to increased biomass of phytoplankton, the food of the planktonic stage of larval CoTS; and (2) overfishing of predators on the juvenile to adult stages of CoTS, for example, commercial fished species such as coral trout. In this study, we show the evidence for the nutrient enrichment causation hypothesis is strong based on a large number of recent studies in the GBR. We also hypothesise that secondary outbreaks in the region between Cairns and Townsville can also be enhanced by nutrient enriched conditions associated with the annual nutrient discharge from Wet Tropics rivers.

Abstract: This study reviewed aspects of the biology of two members of the glucosinolate family, namely sinigrin and glucoraphanin and their anti-tumour and anti-microbial properties. Sinigrin and glucoraphanin are converted by the β-sulphoglucosidase myrosinase or the gut microbiota into their bioactive forms, allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) and sulphoraphanin (SFN) which constitute part of a sophisticated defence system plants developed over several hundred million years of evolution to protect them from parasitic attack from aphids, ticks, bacteria or nematodes. Delivery of these components from consumption of cruciferous vegetables rich in the glucosinolates also delivers many other members of the glucosinolate family so the dietary AITCs and SFN do not act in isolation. In-vitro experiments with purified AITC and SFN have demonstrated their therapeutic utility as antimicrobials against a range of clinically important bacteria and fungi. AITC and SFN are as potent as Vancomycin in the treatment of bacteria listed by the World Health Organisation as antibiotic-resistant "priority pathogens" and also act as anti- cancer agents through the induction of phase II antioxidant enzymes which inactivate potential carcinogens. Glucosinolates may be useful in the treatment of biofilms formed on medical implants and catheters by problematic pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and are potent antimicrobials against a range of clinically important bacteria and fungi. The glucosinolates have also been applied in the prevention of bacterial and fungal spoilage of food products in advanced atmospheric packaging technology which improves the shelf-life of these products.

Groundwater modeling is a useful tool for assessing sustainability in water resources planning. However, groundwater models are difficult to construct in regions with limited data availability. We illustrated how remote sensing data can be used leverage limited in situ data to build and calibrate a regional groundwater model in the Goulbi Maradi alluvial aquifer in Southern Niger in Western Africa. We used data from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to estimate recharge rates, the primary source of water to the aquifer. Additionally, we incorporated groundwater storage changes obtained from GRACE data from 2009 to 2021 to establish an overall water budget from which we could back-calculate groundwater withdrawals from pumping in the region. This approach allowed us to calibrate the model and then convert it to a predictive tool to analyze the impact of various assumptions about future recharge and groundwater extraction patterns associated with the development of groundwater infrastruction in the region. The results indicate that the Goulbi Maradi alluvial aquifer is sustainable, even an increase of groundwater extraction up to 28%.

Whereas bisexuality, as it existed in modernity, has been described as a ‘floating signifier', one that was problematically conflated with gender and intersex bodies, the articulation of bisexuality is now experiencing a discursive resurgence in spaces and platforms online. Through a deliberately disparate comparison between Virginia Woolf’s modernist writing and the discussions of bisexuality on the video-sharing social networking service TikTok, this essay presents a reflective reassessment of how far bisexual representation in the popular imagination has progressed and by extension, evaluate extant limitations. To realize these ambitions, I compare the reception of sexology (the new science of sexuality) in ‘high’ modernist literature with a post-modern demographic whose bisexuality is articulated in the 2020s online via TikTok’s towards what I would demarcate as a post-queer theory user base. This essay is not intended as an overview of the advancements made in psychoanalytic institutions about bisexuality nor does it set out to comment on the refinement of bisexuality’s aestheticization through time. Instead, it uses these two temporally specific moments in the cultural zeitgeist to compare and contrast how differently two different demographics articulate bisexuality, both as a written mode in modernism and as a visual apparatus online. This is less a critique of bi-erasure, but an interrogation of why and how bisexual representation, as an aestheticized subjectivity that compromises romantic, spiritual, and erotic desires for bodies of all genders, continues to be problematically restrictive.

Genetic diversity is very important in crop improvement. This study was carried out to assess the genetic diversity and the number of unique multilocus genotypes (MLGs) in cassava collection in Burkina Faso. To achieve this objective 130 cassava accessions were genotyped using 32 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The results revealed that among these markers, twelve (12) were highly informative, with the PIC values greater than 0.50, twelve (12) were moderately informative, with the PIC values ranged between 0.25 and 0.50, and eight (8) were not very informative, with the PIC values lower than 0.25. A moderate level of genetic diversity was found for the population, indicated by the average expected heterozygosity (0.45) and the observed heterozygosity (0.48). About 83.8% of unique multilocus genotypes were found in the cassava collection indicating that SSR markers seem to be most appropriate for MLGs identification. Population structure analysis based on hierarchical clustering identified two subpopulations and Bayesian approach suggested five clusters. Additionally, DAPC analysis separated the cassava accessions into 13 subpopulations. The comparison of these results and the previous study using SNP, suggest that each type of markers can be used to assessment the genetic structure of cassava grown in Burkina Faso.

This paper examines hybrid threats to maritime transportation systems, and their governance re-sponses; focusing on the congested Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) as an illustrative case study. The methodology combines secondary sources with primary data from 42 expert in-terviews, a 30-respondent survey, and two maritime security roundtables. Key findings were that ships’ critical systems are increasingly interconnected, yet aging IT infrastructure and minimal cybersecurity awareness among crews heighten risks. Meanwhile, regional terrorist groups have previously targeted shipping and shown considerable skill in exploiting online tools, aligning with broader calls for jihadist violence. Further, opportunistic piracy persists in the SOMS with the po-tential to disrupt shipping. Experts confirmed maritime cybersecurity lags other critical infra-structure sectors and needs updated governance. Initial International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines lack specificity but revisions and updated IMO guidance are in process, while Port state implementation of maritime cybersecurity standards varies. Crucially, information sharing remains inadequate, even as recorded attacks increase. Findings underscore that although major hybrid incidents have not occurred, simulations and threat actors’ capabilities demonstrate potential for catastrophic collisions or cascading disruption in congested waterways. Mitigating factors like redundancy and crew training are deficient currently. Some alignment between SOMS states on maritime security cooperation exists, but not cyber threats specifically. Key recommen-dations include an anonymous cyber-attack reporting system, reinforced training and shipboard systems, and consolidated regional frameworks. Until these priorities are addressed, the analysis concludes that hybrid vulnerabilities in this vital global chokepoint remain a serious concern.

We have now identified two thermodynamically distinct types (A and B) of energetic processes naturally occurring on Earth. Type A energy processes such as the classical heat engines, apparently well follow the second law of thermodynamics; Type B energy processes, such as the newly discovered thermotrophic function that isothermally utilizes environmental heat energy to do useful work in driving ATP synthesis, which follows the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of mass and energy) but does not have to be constrained by the second law, owing to their special asymmetric functions. Several Type-B energy processes such as asymmetric-function-gated isothermal electricity and epicatalysis have been created through human efforts. The innovative efforts on Type-B processes to enable isothermally utilizing endless environmental heat energy could help to liberate all peoples from their dependence on fossil fuel energy, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas CO2 emissions and control climate change towards a sustainable future for the humanity on Earth.

This paper explores the Wilsonian renormalization group of probe-D-branes, focusing on the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action. The analysis involves deriving the constant of motion and formulating the Wilsonian renormalization group equation. The study extends to the infrared regime, considering both zero and non-zero temperatures. Additionally, thermodynamic aspects related to the functional form of the grand potential are discussed. The investigation provides insights into the renormalization of probe-D-branes and their thermodynamic properties.

Statistical denoising techniques have been well studied, however many challenges still remain. This 9 article focuses on determining the least necessary number of significant samples in a statistical pop-10 ulation sampling, while minimizing the impact on the statistical detection of the fiber Bragg grating 11 (FBG) power spectra. This is achieved by using Bayesian decision making, small population statis-12 tics while excluding false detection. First, we investigate the impact of two-sided sliding window 13 technique applied near the cell under the test. The window size varies from 8 to 60 samples. The 14 considered maximum size of population sampling is connected with the number of wavelength 15 samples within the bandwidth of the symmetrical FBG power spectra peaks. Regarding the sym-16 metry of FBG power spectra peaks and the possible reduction of computational demands, we inves-17 tigate the impact of a one-sided sliding window. This enables to achieve less processing latency for 18 real time applications thus brings benefits to FBG-based fiber optical sensing. Both, two- and one-19 sided small population sampling techniques are then experimentally verified. Detection results are 20 analyzed in depth via calculating detection thresholds by using the small size window sliding along-21 side the waveband. From results achieved, it was found that the normality three-sigma rule does 22 not need to be followed while using the small population sampling. Experimental demonstrations 23 and analyses showed that the proposed concept of denoising and statistical threshold detection 24 based on the sliding window does not depend on the prior knowledge of probability distribution 25 functions of the FBG power spectra peaks level and background noise. We have also found that the 26 thresholds’ adaptability mainly depends on the statistical numerical characteristics of the above ad-27 ditive mixture of the FBG power spectra peaks signals and background noise.

In this comprehensive review, we delve into the realm of intention recognition within the context of digital forensics and cybercrime. The rise of cybercrime has become a major concern for individuals, organizations, and governments worldwide. Digital forensics is a field that deals with the investigation and analysis of digital evidence in order to identify, preserve, and analyze information that can be used as evidence in a court of law. Whereas, Intention recognition is a subfield of artificial intelligence that deals with the identification of agents’ intentions based on their actions and change of states. In the context of cybercrime, intention recognition can be used to identify the intentions of cybercriminals and even to predict their future actions. Employing a meticulous six-step systematic review approach, we curated research articles from reputable journals and categorized them into three distinct modeling approaches: logic-based, classical machine learning-based, and deep learning-based. Notably, intention recognition has transcended its historical confinement to network security, now addressing critical challenges across various subdomains, including social engineering attacks, AI black box vulnerabilities, and physical security. While deep learning emerges as the dominant paradigm, its inherent lack of transparency poses unique challenges in the digital forensics landscape. We advocate for hybrid solutions that blend deep learning’s power with interpretability. Furthermore, we propose the creation of a comprehensive taxonomy to precisely define intention recognition, paving the way for future advancements in this pivotal field.

We present detailed models at the hydrodynamics and decoherence phenomena observed in ideal quantum gases. The model is expressed in terms of a quantum field theory, where the action involves both hydrodynamic and decoherence terms. The density-current relation is derived, and the current Green function is introduced. The effective action for two fields is presented, and the physical field is defined in terms of the bare action. Identities such as CTP symmetry, transposition, and the Ward identity are discussed. The Green function and its inverse for different components are also explored. These notes provide a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical framework for studying the hydrodynamics and decoherence of ideal quantum gases.

This review article focuses on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming healthcare in Africa, specifically in combatting infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and antimicrobial resistance. We provide a comprehensive overview of the significance of AI in the healthcare industry, highlighting its urgency and importance in addressing these specific health challenges in Africa. We begin by discussing the role of AI in infectious disease surveillance and outbreak detection. We explore how AI technology can be employed for real-time tracking and prediction of outbreaks, providing examples of successful AI applications in infectious disease surveillance within the African context.Next, we examine the potential of AI-enabled diagnosis and treatment for faster and more accurate diagnoses of infectious diseases and NTDs. We highlight specific examples of AI applications in diagnosing and treating these diseases in Africa, showcasing the potential of AI to improve clinical outcomes and save lives.Furthermore, we focus on how AI-driven drug discovery and development can expedite the search for new treatments for infectious diseases and combat antimicrobial resistance. We present examples of AI applications in drug discovery within the African context, illustrating the potential for AI to revolutionize the development of effective therapeutics.In addition, we delve into how AI-powered public health interventions can enhance the design and implementation of targeted interventions. We explore how AI can optimize resource allocation and facilitate data-driven decision-making processes, providing examples of AI applications in public health in Africa.Finally, we address the challenges and limitations of implementing AI in combatting infectious diseases, NTDs, and antimicrobial resistance in Africa. We discuss potential barriers and ethical concerns surrounding AI applications in healthcare, aiming to encourage informed and responsible utilization of AI technologies.Overall, this review emphasizes the importance and potential of AI in combatting infectious diseases, NTDs, and antimicrobial resistance in Africa. It positions AI as a catalyst for revolutionizing healthcare in the region, leading to more effective disease surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, drug discovery, and public health interventions.

Successful fertilization treatments targeted to improve stand productivity while reducing operational complexities and cost depend on a clear understanding of soil nutrient availability under varying environmental conditions. Soil nutrient data collected from 154 forest sites throughout the Inland Northwest, USA were analyzed to examine soil nutrient characteristics on different geologic soil parent materials and to rank soil fertility. Results show that soil parent material explains significant differences in soil nutrient availability. Soils developed from volcanic rocks have the highest CEC and are relatively high in P, K, S, Mg, Cu, Ca, and B, but generally poor in N. Forest soils developed from plutonic rocks exhibit the lowest CEC and are low in N, S, K, Mg, Cu, and Ca, but higher in P. Some soils located on mixed glacial till are low only in K, Cu, Mg, and Ca, but many glacial soils are relatively rich in other nutrients, albeit the second lowest CEC. Soils developed from metasedimentary and sedimentary rocks are among those with lowest soil nutrient availability for P and B. Sulfur was found to have the highest concentrations in metasedimentary influenced soils and the least in sedimentary derived soils. Our results should be useful in designing site-specific fertilizer and nutrient management prescriptions for forest stands growing on soils developed from these major geologies within the Inland Northwest region of the United States.

This study delves into the intricate interplay between cosmology and gravity in dilaton-based models, enhancing our understanding. Exploring boundary theories coupled to gravity, we derive a four-dimensional effective theory from the cosmological constant. Dilaton gravity is then scrutinized, revealing elegant solutions and insights into brane embedding. The analysis extends to probe scalar fields, employing the WKB approximation in both conformal and non-conformal cases. In summary, this work contributes to a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between cosmology and gravity in dilaton-based frameworks.

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

Nondestructive determination of the neutron irradiation induced embrittlement of nuclear reactor pressure vessel steel is a very important and recent problem. In the frame of the so called NOMAD project, funded by the Euratom research and training program, novel nondestructive electromagnetic testing methods were applied for inspection of irradiated reactor pressure vessel steel. In this review the most important results of this project are summarized. Different methods were used and compared with each other. Measurement results were compared with the destructively determined ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) values. Three magnetic methods: 3MA (micromagnetic, multiparameter, microstructure and stress analysis), MAT (magnetic adaptive testing) and Barkhausen noise technique (MBN) were found as the most promising techniques. The results of these methods were in good confidence with each other. Good correlation was found between the magnetic parameters and the DBTT values. The basic idea of the NOMAD project is to use a multi-method/multi-parameter approach and to focus on their synergies that allows to recognise the side effects therefore supressing them at the same time. Different types of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms were tested in competition and their performances were evaluated. The important outcome of the ML technique is that not only one, but several different ML techniques could reach required precision and reliability, i.e. to keep the DBTT prediction error lower than +/-25°C threshold, which was previously not possible for any of the NDE methods as single entities. A calibration/training procedure was carried out on the merged outcome of testing methods with excellent results to predict transition temperature, yield strength and mechanical hardness for all investigated materials. Our results, achieved within NOMAD project can be useful for the future potential introduction of this (and in general, any) nondestructive evolution method.

Oscillons, fundamental to various physical domains, are examined in-depth in this paper. From Josephson junctions in superconducting circuits to classical and quantum field theories, oscillators reveal profound insights into diverse phenomena. The study primarily focuses on oscillons, distinctive field configurations with enduring localization, establishing intriguing connections with well-known models like the Sine-Gordon breather. Surprising parallels in the weak coupling limit illuminate the rich dynamics of oscillators. A semi-classical quantization method, discretizing the field into spatially homogeneous regions, exposes stability angles, providing insights into the quantum nature of oscillons. The application of this quantization framework to specific cases, including the Sine-Gordon breather, showcases its versatility. The results offer a comprehensive perspective on the quantization of oscillons, unraveling the intricate interplay between classical and quantum dynamics. In conclusion, this paper provides a profound exploration of quantum oscillators, unveiling novel connections and presenting a rigorous quantization framework. The gained insights contribute significantly to the broader understanding of oscillatory systems and their pivotal role in diverse physical phenomena.

Exercise facilitates weight control, partly through effects on appetite regulation. Single bouts of exercise induce a short-term energy deficit without stimulating compensatory effects on appetite, whilst limited evidence suggests that exercise training may modify subjective and homeostatic mediators of appetite in directions associated with enhanced meal-induced satiety. However, large variability in responses exists between individuals. This article reviews the evidence relating to how adiposity, sex and habitual physical activity modulate exercise-induced appetite, energy intake and appetite-related hormone responses. The balance of evidence suggests that adiposity and sex do not modify appetite or energy intake responses to acute or chronic exercise interventions, but individuals with higher habitual physical activity levels may better adjust energy intake in response to energy balance perturbations. The effect of these individual characteristics and behaviours on appetite-related hormone responses to exercise remains equivocal. These findings support the continued promotion of exercise as a strategy for inducing short-term energy deficits irrespective of adiposity and sex, as well as the ability of exercise to positively influence energy balance over the longer term. Future well-controlled studies are required to further ascertain potential mediators of appetite responses to exercise.

Lead-acid batteries utilised in electrical substations release hydrogen and oxygen when these are charged. These gases could be dangerous and cause a risk of fire if they are not properly ventilated. Therefore, this research seeks to design and implement a network control panel for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVACS). This is done using a specific range of controllers, which have more than thirty loops of proportional, integral and derivative (PID) control to achieve a cost-effective design. It performs the required function of extracting hydrogen, oxygen, and maintaining the desired temperature of the battery storage room within the recommended limits (i.e. 25°C ±1°C tolerance) without compromising quality as set out in the user requirement specification in Appendix-A. The system control panel allows the user to access control parameters such as changing temperature set-points, fan-speed, sensor database amongst others. The hardware is configured to detect extreme hydrogen and oxygen gas content in the battery room and ensure that the HVACS extract the gas content to the outside environment. The results of the system show that the network control panel effectively operates as per the recommended system requirements. Therefore, the effective operation of the HVACS ensures sufficient gas ventilation, thus mitigating the risk of fire in a typical battery storage room. Furthermore, the effective operation of HVACS enhances battery lifespan because of regulated operating temperature, which is conducive to minimise the effect of sulfation in lead acid Batteries (LABs).

Geomagnetic induced current (GIC) is a ground end manifestation associated with the space weather perturbations that should be greatly taken into account by the society. Although the GICs implication to the power system is not regular, it can cause large scale of system failure. In equatorial, the power system is considered safe since the most intense of geomagnetic storm happened in high latitude. However, the internal damage due to GICs which finally led to the South African power system failure has totally changed the normal perception. Therefore, a preliminary investigation on the GICs activity in equatorial region is performed to understand the space weather impact to the power system. Time derivative of the horizontal magnetic field component (dB/dt) is done to indicate the GICs activity value based on Faraday’s law. All the reported power failures are compiled to produce the threshold value of dB/dt, which possibly cause the harmful effect to the system. Then, dB/dt analysis is extended to show the pattern of GICs activity in function of magnetic latitude and local time. The results reveal that power network in equatorial region has possibly suffered by GIC. Plus, high number of intense GIC activity in this region occurred during dayside.

Pruning is one of the most important tree fruit production activities, which is highly dependent on human labor. Skilled labor is in short supply, and the increasing cost of labor is becoming a big issue for the tree fruit industry. Growers are motivated to seek mechanical or robotic solutions for reducing the amount of hand labor required for pruning. This paper reviews the research and development of sensing and automated systems for branch pruning for tree fruit production. Horticultural advancements, pruning strategies, 3D structure reconstruction of tree branches, as well as practice mechanisms or robotics are some of the developments that need to be addressed for an effective tree branch pruning system. Our study summarizes the potential opportunities for automatic pruning with machine-friendly modern tree architectures, previous studies on sensor development, and efforts to develop and deploy mechanical/robotic systems for automated branch pruning. We also describe two examples of qualified pruning strategies that could potentially simplify the automated pruning decision and pruning end-effector design. Finally, the limitations of current pruning technologies and other challenges for automated branch pruning are described, and possible solutions are discussed.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment, defined as an interdisciplinary assessment and development of an overall plan of treatment and follow-up, has become a fundamental part of clinical geriatric care. Since the 1970s, the Veterans Administration has encouraged the development of geriatric evaluation and management programs. Evolution of geriatric evaluation and management has occurred over time and many VA medical centers have transferred inpatient geriatric evaluation programs to long-term care Community Living Centers (CLC) and outpatient settings. Availability of resources and trained personnel across the continuum of care as well as administrative facilitation of collaboration between care components are critical to the efficient utilization of geriatric services. Facilities may need to prioritize their resources and utilize the most effective and relevant elements of geriatric evaluation and management according to patient population needs, available space, resources, and institutional priorities.

Ovarian cancers are curable by surgical resection when discovered early enough. Unfortunately, most ovarian cancers are diagnosed in the later stages. One strategy to identify early ovarian tumors is to screen women who have the highest risk scores. This mini review summarizes the accuracy of different methods used to assess the risk of developing ovarian cancer, including family history, BRCA genetic tests, and polygenic risk scores. The accuracy of these is compared to the maximum theoretical accuracy, revealing a substantial gap. We suggest that this gap, or missing heritability, could be caused by epistatic interactions between genes. An alternative approach to computing genetic risk scores, using chromosomal-scale length variation should incorporate epistatic interactions. Future research in this area should focus on this and other alternative methods of characterizing genomes.

Having sustained, over the course of more than two decades, record-breaking natural catastrophe losses, American insurers and reinsurers are justifiably questioning the potential linkage between anthropogenic climate change and extreme weather. Here, we explore issues pertaining to this linkage, looking at both the likely short-term implications for the insurance industry, as well as potential longer-term impacts on financial performance and corporate resilience. We begin our discussion with an overview of the implications that climate change is likely to have on the industry, especially as it relates to how catastrophic risks are construed, assessed, and managed. We then present the rudiments of an econometric analysis that explores the financial resilience of the property/casualty (P/C) industry in the face of both natural and man-made catastrophes. In this analysis, we explore the profitability consequences of several illustrative scenarios involving large-scale losses from extreme weather—specifically, a sequence of storms like those striking the U.S. in 2004—and a scenario that explores the prospect of a Katrina-scale storm in combination with a mass terror attack on the scale of 9/11. At systemic levels of aggregation, our analysis suggests a high degree of macro-resilience for the insurance industry. Moreover, we find that insurer resilience is higher for larger impacts, considering both the speed of recovery, as well as the inverse of the area under the unaffected system profile. We conclude with a summary of our findings and a closing commentary that explores the potential implications of these results for P/C insurers moving forward.

Inducible genetically defined mouse models of cancer uniquely facilitate the investigation of early events in cancer progression, however there are valid concerns about the ability of such models to faithfully recapitulate human disease. We developed an inducible mouse model of progressive lung adenocarcinoma (LuAd) that combines sporadic activation of oncogenic KRas^G12D with modest overexpression of c-MYC (KM model). Histological examination revealed a highly reproducible transition from adenoma to locally invasive adenocarcinoma within 6 weeks of oncogene activation. Laser-capture microdissection coupled with RNA-SEQ was employed to determine transcriptional changes associated with tumour progression. Upregulated genes were triaged for relevance to human LuAd using datasets from Oncomine and cBioportal. Selected genes were validated by RNAi screening in human lung cancer cell lines and examined for association with lung cancer patient overall survival using KMplot.com. Depletion of progression-associated genes resulted in pronounced viability and/or cell migration defects in human lung cancer cells. Progression-associated genes moreover exhibited strong associations with overall survival, specifically in human lung adenocarcinoma, but not in squamous cell carcinoma. The KM mouse model faithfully recapitulates key molecular events in human lung cancer and is a useful tool for mechanistic interrogation of LuAd progression.

The knowledge of what separates us genetically from our less-evolved relatives is crucial for gaining new biomedical insights about the human-chimpanzee relatedness for the use of appropriate stand-in towards the development of new treatments and diagnostic aids for various ailments. Although the genomes of humans and chimpanzees share 99% similarity, significant differences exist between the two species in their non-coding intronic regions. However, no work has been carried out in the aspects of target prediction concerning the ‘predicted homology’ in their microRNA sequences. Non-coding miRNAs which are post-transcriptional regulators of development, differentiation, growth, and metabolism, harboring the intronic regions may be crucial for expanding the horizons of our understanding. In this study, we proposed to perform the target prediction for the human-chimp miRNA homologs in the PHEX gene of the human X chromosome using various computational tools and databases. We identified a total of 1296 human miRNAs, 46, 957 gene targets, and 30, 563 targets of human and homologous chimp miRNAs respectively. Furthermore, we analysed gene interacting networks to identify the top interacting targets in both the species. Finally, we interpreted the biological importance of top-interacting miRNAs and their targets. The results demonstrated varying levels of multiplicity and cooperativity between the predicted miRNAs and target genes in the two genera. Such miRNAs may be responsible for the dysregulation of gene expression in several signaling pathways.

A scenario-based approach to the impacts of land use and climate change can help in identifying future policy directions. This study models the impacts of different land use and climate change scenarios on the forest ecosystems of South Korea to identify national-scale forest policy options. Climatically suitable forest areas for 1,031 climate vulnerable plant species were identified for current time and for 2050. We calculated change in species richness under four climate projections. We built forest conversion models and created four 2050 forest scenarios: (1) forest loss continues at current rates; (2) similar loss, but with conservation in areas with suitable future climates; (3) a reduction of loss by 50%; and (4) a combination of preservation and overall reduction of loss by 50%. We then crossed the forest conversion models with the climate-driven change in species richness, and categorized current forest areas into four classes to offer forest policy alternatives. By deploying the scenarios which preserve climatically suitable forests, the average species richness where forests converting to other land uses reduced significantly. We suggest conserving forests with suitable climates for biodiversity conservation and the establishment of forest plantations targeted to areas where species richness will decline based on our results.

An exhaustive list of thirteen instances of reports confirming experimentally the relativistic Doppler relation, are examined. For those involving longitudinal Doppler, the non-relativistic relation is seen to be confirmed, within the reported experimental accuracies, to the same degree as the standard relativistic relation. Higher values of the speed of the emitter would be required to examine further the claimed confirmations. For those reports involving saturation spectroscopy, there is much confusion over the appropriate Doppler relation to be used, together with some serious analytical flaws. For the two cases that involve transverse Doppler, there are seen to be either serious faults in the theoretical part, or intrusion from the first order effect. Therefore, the reported conclusions - that the results for the experiments confirm the relativistic SR relation - cannot be justified by any of the experimental works.

The response of carbon fixation in C3 plants to elevated CO2 is relatively larger when photosynthesis is limited by carboxylation capacity (VC) than when limited by electron transport (J). Recent experiments under controlled, steady-state conditions have shown that photosynthesis at elevated CO2 may be limited by VC even at limiting PPFD. These experiments were designed to test whether this also occurs in dynamic field environments. Leaf gas exchange was recorded every 5 minutes using two identical instruments both attached to the same leaf. The CO2 concentration in one instrument was controlled at 400 mol mol-1 and one at 600 mol mol-1. Leaves were exposed to ambient sunlight outdoors, and cuvette air temperatures tracked ambient outside air temperature. The water content of air in the leaf cuvettes was kept close to that of the ambient air. These measurements were conducted on multiple, mostly clear days for each of three species, Glycine max, Lablab purpureus, and Hemerocallis fulva. The results indicated that in all species, photosynthesis was limited by VC rather than J at both ambient and elevated CO2 both at high midday PPFDs and also at limiting PPFDs in the early morning and late afternoon. During brief reductions in PPFD due to midday clouds, photosynthesis became limited by J, The net result of the apparent deactivation of Rubisco at low PPFD was that the relative stimulation of diurnal carbon fixation at elevated CO2 was larger than would be predicted when assuming limitation of photosynthesis by J at low PPFD.

The most cited evidence for (nonbaryonic) dark matter has been an apparent lack of visible mass to gravitationally support the observed orbital velocity of matters in rotating disk galaxies. Yet measurement of the mass of celestial objects cannot be straightforward, requiring theories derived from the known physical laws along with some empirically established semi-quantitative relationship. The most reliable means for determining the mass distribution in rotating disk galaxies is to solve a force balance equation according to Newton’s laws from measured rotation curves, similar to calculating the Sun’s mass from the Earth’s orbital velocity. Another common method to estimate galactic mass distribution is to convert measured brightness from surface photometry based on empirically established mass-to-light ratio. For convenience, most astronomers commonly assumed a constant mass-to-light ratio for estimation of the so-called “luminous” or “visible” mass, which should not be expected accurate. The mass determined from rotation curve typically exhibit an exponential-like decline with galactrocentric distance, qualitatively consistent with observed surface brightness. This fact scientifically suggests variable mass-to-light ratio of baryonic matter in galaxies without the need for dark matter.

High intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi), the ratio of leaf photosynthesis to stomatal conductance, may be a useful trait in adapting crops to water-limited environments. Carbon isotope ratios can be a useful indicator of WUEi, but might not be well correlated with it if the plants compared differ substantially in mesophyll conductance. In this study, six cultivars of soybeans previously shown to differ in WUEi in indoor experiments were grown in the field in Beltsville, Maryland, and mid-day WUEi was measured on nine clear days during mid-seasons of two years. Measurement dates were chosen for diverse temperatures, and air temperatures ranged from 21 to 34 oC on the different dates. Corrected carbon isotope delta values for 13C (CID) were determined on mature, upper canopy leaves harvested during early pod filling each year. WUEi differed among cultivars both years and the differences were consistent across measurement dates. Correlations between mean WUEi and CID were not significant in either year. It is concluded that consistent cultivar differences in WUEi exist in these soybean cultivars under field conditions, but that carbon isotope ratios may not be useful in identifying them.

Pneumatic nebulizers (as variations based on the Collison nebulizer) have been widely used for producing fine aerosol droplets from a liquid material. The basic working principle of those nebulizers has been qualitatively described as utilization of the negative pressure associated with an expanding gas jet to syphon liquid into the jet stream, then to blow and shear into liquid sheets, filaments, and eventually droplets. Detailed quantitative analysis based on fluid mechanics theory is desirable, to gain in-depth understanding of the liquid aspiration mechanism among other aspects of the Collison nebulizer behaviour. The purpose of present work is to investigate the nature of negative pressure distribution associated with compressible gas jet flow in the Collison nebulizer by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, using an OpenFOAM® compressible flow solver. The value of the negative pressure associated with a gas jet flow is examined by varying geometric parameters of the jet expansion channel adjacent to the outlet of jet orifice. Such an analysis can provide valuable insights into fundamental mechanisms for liquid aspiration, helpful for designing improved pneumatic atomizer in the Aerosol Jet® direct-write system for micro-feature, high-aspect-ratio material deposition

Seeds of three C₃ and one C₄ annual weedy species were collected from agricultural fields in Beltsville, Maryland in 1966 and 2006, when atmospheric CO₂ concentrations averaged about 320 and 380 mmol mol^-1, respectively. Plants from each collection year were grown over a range of CO₂ concentrations to test for adaptation of these weedy species to recent changes in atmospheric CO₂. In all three of the C₃ species, the increase in CO₂ concentration from 320 to 380 mmol mol^-1 increased total dry mass at 24 days in plants from seeds collected in 2006, but not in plants from seeds collected in 1966. Shoot and seed dry mass at maturity was greater at the higher growth CO₂ in plants collected in 2006 than in 1966 in two of the species. Down regulation of photosynthetic carboxylation capacity during growth at high CO₂ was less in the newer seed lots than in the older in two of the species. Overall, the results indicate that adaptation to recent changes in atmospheric CO₂ has occurred in some of these weedy species.

Bank crisis can mostly be traced to a decrease in the value of bank assets. Banks are vulnerable to a number of risks. This happens in one or a combination of the following incidences; when loans turn bad and cease to perform (credit risk), when there are excess withdrawals over available funds (liquidity risk) and rising interest rates (interest rate risk). Bad credit management, market inefficiencies and operational risk, among a host others can trigger panic withdrawals by depositors with a sense of insecurity emanating from the fear of loss of investment. In fact, the failure of Barings Bank and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was attributable to varied factors spanning from non-monitoring of employee activities, management’s involvement in dubious accounting practices, unethical business practices by management, over indulging in risky and unsecured derivative trade. To guide against similar bank collapse in the near future, there should be an enhanced communication among international regulators and authorities that exercise oversight responsibilities on the security market. National bankruptcy laws should be invoked to forestall liquidity crisis so as to prevent freezing of margins and positions of solvent customers.

Context: A clinical video telehealth (CVT) program was implemented improve access and quality of dementia care to patients and their caregivers in rural areas. The program was offered as part of an established dementia clinic/geriatric primary care clinic in collaboration with five community-based outpatient clinics (CBOC’s) affiliated with the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) in middle Tennessee. Telehealth support was provided by a physician – social worker team visit. Methods: Telehealth training and equipment were provided to clinic personnel, functioning part-time with other collateral clinical duties. Patients and caregivers were referred by primary care providers and had an average of 1 to 2 CVT encounters originating at their local CBOC lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients and caregivers receiving CVT support were collected by retrospective electronic medical record (EMR) review. Results: Over a 3-year period 45 CVT encounters were performed on patient-caregiver pairs, followed for a mean of 15 (1-36) months. Some 80% patients had dementia confirmed and 89% of these had serious medical comorbidities, took an average of 8 medications, and resided at a distance of 103 (76-148) miles from the medical center. Dementia patients included 33% with late stage dementia, 25% received additional care from a mental health provider, 23% took antipsychotic medications, 19% transitioned to a higher level of care, and 19% expired an average of 10.2 months following consultation. Caregiver distress was present in 47% of family members. Consult recommendations included 64% community-based long-term care services and supports (LTSS), 36% medications, and 22% further diagnostic testing. Acceptance of the CVT encounter was 98%, with 8770 travel miles saved. Conclusion: CVT is well received and may be helpful in providing dementia care and supporting dementia caregivers to obtain LTSS for high-need older adults in rural areas.

Oxidative stress initiates and facilitates the disruption of the structural integrity of hepatic mitochondria, which leads to steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. It is now evident that mitochondrial dysfunction could be responsible for alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The challenge in treating ALD has been the limited availability of hepatoprotective agents and the lack of highly efficient delivery systems. Recent studies have shown that mitochondria-targeted therapies could address mitochondrial dysfunction (MD), which may greatly improve hepatoprotection and ALD treatment. This mini-review discusses the potential role of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants (MTAs) in the maintenance of hepatocellular integrity. This report also considers the mechanism of liver injury induced by alcohol and the progression of ALD from a mitochondrial oxidative damage perspective as well as the possible mechanistic actions of hepatoprotective antioxidants. Preliminary studies suggest the prospect of MTAs as anti-ALD and hepatoprotective agents.

Carcinus maenas (the “shore crab” or “European green crab”) is a very proficient invader (considered to be one of the world’s 100 worst invaders by the IUCN) due to its phenotypic plasticity, wide temperature and salinity tolerance, and an extensive omnivorous diet. Native to Atlantic Europe, it has established two well‐studied nonindigenous populations in the northwestern Atlantic and northeastern Pacific and less‐studied populations in Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Green crabs are eurythermal and euryhaline as adults, but they are limited to temperate coastlines due to more restrictive temperature requirements for breeding and larval development. They cannot tolerate wave‐swept open shores so are found in wave‐protected sheltered bays, estuaries and harbors. Carcinus maenas has been the subject of numerous papers, with over 1000 published in the past decade. This review provides an up‐to‐date account of the current published information on the life history and population dynamics of this very important species, including genetic differentiation, habitat preferences, physical parameter tolerances, reproduction and larval development, sizes of crabs, densities of populations, sex ratios, ecosystem dynamics and ecological impacts in the various established global populations of green crabs.

Knowledge about the formation energies of compounds is essential to derive phase diagrams of multi-component phases with respect to elemental reservoirs. The determination of formation energies using common (semi-)local exchange-correlation approximations of density functional theory (DFT) exhibits well-known systematic errors if applied to oxide compounds containing transition metal elements. In this work, we generalize, reevaluate and discuss a set of approaches proposed and widely applied in the literature to correct for errors arising from the over-binding of the O2 molecule and from correlation effects of electrons in localized transition-metal orbitals. The DFT+U method is exemplarily applied to iron oxide compounds, and a procedure is presented to obtain U values, which lead to formation energies and electronic band gaps comparable to experimental values. Using such corrected formation energies, we derive the phase diagrams for LaFeO3, Li5FeO4 and NaFeO2, which are promising materials for energy conversion and storage devices. A scheme is presented to transform the variables of the phase diagrams from the chemical potentials of elemental phases to those of precursor compounds of a solid-state reaction, which represents the experimental synthesis process more appropriately. The discussed workflow of methods can directly be applied to other transition metal oxides.

Product innovation is a crucial factor in enterprise survival. Even though there are sources from strategic theory that guides the clear comprehension towards appreciating the nexus between these two variables (product innovation and enterprise survival), there are still many lacunas that should be addressed and filled. Consequently, the need for additional empirical corroboration or support is pertinent. This study aimed at verifying the nexus between product innovation and enterprise survival, and how they are affected by the existence of antecedent variables such as competitive intensity and competitive advantage. In the methodology, this study adopts the conduct of explanatory and cross-sectional investigations through the use of structural equation modelling (SEM) to a sample of selected food and beverages enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria. Regarding the food and beverage enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria, this study discovered that competitive intensity has huge positive implication on product innovation at (0.39; t = 5.69, p < 0.05). This gives numerical evidence that, in the face of more market competition, enterprises will be pressured to adopt the model of costs reduction on products which will enhance the reduction of product prices, and will have significant impact on profit. However, the findings reveal that there is no significance between competitive advantage and product innovation at (0.002; t = 0.203, p > 0.05), and there is no significance between product innovation and enterprise survival at (-0.035; t = -1.583, p > .05). As a result, the food and beverage enterprises should concentrate more on product innovation so that they will be able to stand the intensity of competition. The results emanated from the study is germane as it make significant contribution to literature and the body of knowledge and on strategic management by enlightening that competitive intensity is a necessary inducement for product innovation.

G4v is a four-vector theory of gravitation proposed by Mead (2015, 2023a,b) which reinterprets several major results commonly celebrated for the tensor-based approach of General Relativity (GR). Here, we show that G4v obeys the correspondence principle, an important test of any relativistic theory. We derive the non-relativistic Lagrangian and Energy expressions at the limit of low speeds and potentials, complete with the correct terms for potential energy (something traditional Special Relativity is incapable of achieving). G4v could represent a new interpretation of the gravitational field with essentially the same mathematics as electromagnetism (Mead 2023a). It is also possible to interpret G4v as a very interesting (and useful) approximation of the Einstein field equations (Mead 2023b).

So-called ‘zero’ or ‘null’ tenses have often been characterized as functionally deficient forms, deprived of any inherent content. In this paper, we will focus on the semantics of a morpho-phonologically null inflectional verbal paradigm in Anindilyakwa (Groote Eylandt, N.T., Australia, which is both temporally and aspectually underspecified. Through a quantitative corpus study conducted in the paper, we establish that ‘zero inflection’ in this language, contra prior works on such tenses in general (e.g. Bybee 1990) and in Anindilyakwa in particular (Bednall 2019), presents various degrees of sensitivity to traditional Vendlerian aspectual parameters. We show that while telicity is not a significant predictor for the temporal interpretation of zero-inflected Anindilyakwa verbs, and dynamicity is a good but not very good predictor, only a very broad opposition between change-of-state (including qua boundedness) and non-change-of-state, or perfective/imperfective, gives very significant biases towards past vs. present anchoring. We also show that atomic telicity is the only categorical Aktionsart predictor for temporal anchoring in this context correctly predict the temporal anchoring of such verbs, and stativity is not biased towards present interpretations, thereby questioning currently received typological theories of the semantics of so-called ‘zero-tenses’ / aspectuo-temporally underspecified tenses.

The benefits of multi-robot systems are substantial, bringing gains in efficiency, quality, and cost, and are useful in a wide range of environments from warehouse automation, to agriculture, and even extend in part to entertainment. In multi-robot system research, the main focus is on ensuring efficient coordination in the operation of the robots, both in task allocation and navigation. However, much of this research seldom strays from theoretical bounds; there are many reasons for this, with the most prominent and impactful being resource limitations. This is especially true for research in areas such as multi-robot path planning (MRPP) and navigation coordination. This is a large issue in practice as many approaches are not designed with meaningful real-world implications in mind and are not scalable to large multi-robot systems. This survey aims to look into the coordination and path-planning issues and challenges faced when working with multi-robot systems, especially those using a prioritised planning approach and identify key areas which are not well-explored and the scope of applying existing MRPP approaches to real-world settings.

We delve into the axion-dilaton model within the supergravity framework, with a specific focus on the intricacies of domain wall construction and stability. Employing holographic vitrification, we unravel the dynamics of domain wall formation in gauge theories featuring periodic vacuum structures. Our model, incorporating a QCD-like axion term and a stabilizing dilaton, undergoes scrutiny for conductivity variations under weak disorder. The investigation reveals the model's resilience, manifesting near-perfect conductivity under mild disorder conditions. However, the rigorous mathematical motivation for the holographic setup demands further elucidation. The scattered nature of our results prompts the necessity for a more systematic interpretation of QCD phenomena and conductivity transitions. This study contributes to the mathematical understanding of the axion-dilaton model's behavior, highlighting the imperative for a refined holographic framework and a more coherent interpretation of observed phenomena.

Keywords: lactic acid; ceramide; folate; nicotinamide; Alzheimer’s disease

Flood Management remains a major problem in many urban environments. Commonly, catchment models are used to generate the data needed for estimation of flood risk; event-based and continuous-based models have been used for this purpose. Use of catchment models requires calibration and validation with a calibration metric used to assess the predicted catchment response against the recorded catchment response. In this study, a continuous model based on SWMM using the Powells Creek catchment as a case study is investigated. Calibration of the model was obtained using 25 selected events from the monitored data for the catchment. Assessment of the calibration used a normalised peak flow error. Using alternative sets of parameter values to obtain estimates of the peak flow for each of the selected events and different accuracy criteria, the best datasets for each of the accuracy criteria were identified. These datasets were used with SWMM in a continuous simulation mode to predict flow sequences for extraction of Annual Maxima Series for an At-Site Flood Frequency Analysis. From analysis of these At-Site Flood Frequency Analyses, it was concluded that the normalised peak flow error needed to be less than 10% if reliable design flood quantile estimates were to be obtained.

Existing proofs of the 4-color theorem succeeded by establishing an unavoidable set of reducible configurations. By this device, their authors showed that a minimum counterexample cannot exist. G.D. Birkhoff proved that a minimum counterexample must satisfy a connectivity property that is referred to in modern parlance as internal 6-connectivity. We show that a minimum counterexample must also satisfy a coloring property, one that we call Kempe-locking. We define the terms Kempe-locking configuration and fundamental Kempe-locking configuration. We provide a heuristic argument that a fundamental Kempe-locking configuration must be of low order and then perform a systematic search through isomorphism classes for such configurations. We describe a methodology for analyzing whether an arbitrary planar triangulation is Kempe-locked; it involves deconstructing the triangulation into a stack of configurations with common endpoints and then creating a bipartite graph of coloring possibilities for each configuration in the stack to assess whether certain 2-color paths can be transmitted from the configuration's top boundary to its bottom boundary. All Kempe-locked triangulations we discovered have two features in common: (1) they are Kempe-locked with respect to only a single edge, say $xy$, and (2) they have a Birkhoff diamond with endpoints $x$ and $y$ as a proper subgraph. On the strength of our various investigations, we are led to a plausible conjecture that the Birkhoff diamond is the only fundamental Kempe-locking configuration. If true, this would establish that the connectivity and coloring properties of a minimum counterexample to the 4-color theorem are incompatible. It would also point to the singular importance of a particularly elegant 4-connected triangulation of order 9 that consists of a triangle enclosing a pentagon enclosing a single vertex.

The positional cloning of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 (Ncf1) gene, advocating that a low oxidative burst drives autoimmune disease, demands an understanding of the underlying molecular causes. A cellular target could be T cells, which have been shown to be regulated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the pathways by which ROS mediate T cell signaling remain unclear. The adaptor molecule linker for activation of T cells (LAT) is essential for coupling T cell receptor-mediated antigen recognition to downstream responses, and it contains several cysteine residues that have previously been suggested to be involved in redox regulation. To address the possibility that ROS regulate T cell-dependent inflammation through LAT, we established a mouse strain with cysteine-to-serine mutations at positions 120 and 172 (LATSS). We found that redox regulation of LAT through C120 and C172 mediate its localization and phosphorylation. LATSS mice had reduced numbers of double-positive thymocytes and naïve peripheral T cells. Importantly, redox insensitivity of LAT enhanced T cell-dependent autoimmune inflammation in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This effect was reversed on an NCF1-mutated (NCF1m1j), ROS-deficient, background. Overall, our data shows that LAT is redox-regulated, acts to repress T cell activation, and is targeted by ROS induced by NCF1 in antigen-presenting cells (APCs).

Solid waste management in Accra is a major challenge to the Metropolitan Authorities and inhabitants. The rapidly increasing population coupled with poor capacity of the municipal and private waste management companies to management waste effectively has created issues of environmental concern. Due to poor waste managements systems, most household dispose waste indiscriminately leading to floods and health issues. The study showed that about 60% of household waste is organic materials which has the potential to be converted to compost for agriculture purpose. Meanwhile plastics and rubbers which litters the environment as well as blocking major storm drains and gutters hence creating huge environmental hazard is made of 11% of the total component of most household waste generated daily. The study also revealed that among the methods of disposing waste, dumping waste in skip containers located at authorized places was the preferred means of disposing waste by household though others also dispose waste by other means such as burying and burning. Inadequate skip containers per population of household in an area coupled with irregularity of tracks picking these containers makes skip containers dumping site ugly scene, hence creating health issues. Among the constraints that impact negatively on sustainable waste management in Accra Metropolis, economic constraints was perceived as the main challenge which affect efficient waste management. Currently the country is going through serious economic challenges so government does not release money timely to fund projects which waste management is key. Most donor partners that use to support the government with funds have either reduced or redrawn their services as they have no confidence in the state of Ghana economy. Aside the constrains, the study also indicated that factors such as poor public attitude towards waste management, poor enforcement of sanitation by-laws, inadequate and untimely release of government funds were also seen as the main factors affecting waste management.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has become a key modality in medical imaging, finding application in both brain and breast imaging. This paper discusses the current trends in NIRS for brain and breast imaging, exploring advances in multi-modal integration with modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Challenges related to spatial resolution, depth sensitivity, and the impact of extracerebral tissues on signal specificity are examined. In addition, ongoing efforts to enhance hemodynamic measurements’ quantitative accuracy. Challenges, including limited spatial resolution and tissue heterogeneity, are discussed. The discussion extends to diffuse optical tomography and ongoing instrumentation development, clinical trials and studies validating NIRS diagnostic efficacy in breast imaging. The paper emphasizes the need for standardization, integration into routine clinical practice, and motivates for future work.

Developmental modularity has long been viewed as a hierarchical organization that facilitates evolution over macro-evolutionary time through modification or co-option of preexisting modules. More recently, developmental modularity has been proposed as a micro-evolutionary mechanism capable of driving rapid evolution of novel color pattern phenotypes between closely related taxa. In this scenario, swapping allelic variants of modular cis-regulatory elements (CREs) via recombination generates novel phenotypes by shuffling preexisting color pattern modules into new arrangements. Recent evidence from Drosophila and butterflies, however, provides a series of examples in which pleiotropic CREs function in multiple developmental contexts. The potential prevalence of pleiotropy in CRE function is a major barrier to the proposed evolutionary role of CRE modules and encourages us to reconsider the relative importance of modularity for microevolutionary change. Here we first review the case for the apparent frequent exchange of modular color pattern phenotypes as a mechanism facilitating diversification. We then contrast this with recent evidence of CRE pleiotropy and argue that exchange of CRE modules should not be the default assumption, even when phenotypes look modular. Finally, we review experimental data on Heliconius butterfly wing patterns—which appear modular—and introduce the concept of evolutionary modularity as an alternative to developmental modularity. Evolutionary modularity reconciles the appearance of modularity in comparative genomic studies of Heliconius color patterns with experimental data supporting a non-modular architecture. We propose that evolutionary modularity provides a potentially important pathway for exchange of phenotypic elements between hybridizing taxa independent of the underlying developmental architecture.

This study introduces the MuhdoAge clock, a novel saliva-based epigenetic clock, designed to predict biological age with strong correlations in a healthy, disease-free cohort. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset from Muhdo Health, this research analyses saliva samples utilising the Illumina MethylationEPIC array. Through robust statistical methods, 237 significant CpG sites were identified that correlate with age-related methylation changes, exhibiting a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.652 after outlier removal, with tiered algorithmic design improving this further to 0.726 in a new dataset that combined pathologic and healthy individuals (n=2682). Comparatively, the MuhdoAge clock was evaluated against other known epigenetic clocks, demonstrating high precision in predicting biological age within healthy individuals (R² = 0.878, n=1844), emphasising its potential utility in non-invasive, large-scale applications. The clock shows promise for integration into public health strategies for monitoring and potentially mitigating age-related decline, facilitated by its ease of use and accessibility through saliva sampling. Furthermore, this study highlights the impact of lifestyle and environmental factors on biological ageing, highlighting the importance of personalised health interventions. Future research is to focus on longitudinal studies to validate these findings and explore the mechanisms underlying epigenetic age acceleration.

In this work, we propose an approach for the autonomous navigation of mobile robots using fusion of sensor data by a Double Deep Q-Network with collision avoidance by detecting moving people via computer vision techniques. We evaluate two data fusion methods for the proposed autonomous navigation approach: Interactive and Late fusion strategy. Both are used to integrate mobile robot sensors through the following sensors: GPS, IMU and, an RGB-D camera. The proposed collision avoidance module is implemented along with the sensor fusion architecture in order to prevent the autonomous mobile robot from colliding with moving people. The simulation results indicate a significant impact on the success of completing the proposed mission by the mobile robot with the fusion of sensors, indicating a performance increase (success rate) of 27% in relation to navigation without sensor fusion. With the addition of moving people in the environment, deploying the people detection and collision avoidance security module has improved about 14% the success rate when compared to that of the autonomous navigation approach without the security module. Video was developed with robot navigation using the DDQN-Late Fusion https://www.loom.com/share/684afa6a5b0148afadc9a200ab9f3483.

The aim of this study was to assess if the ovine articular cartilage serine proteinase inhibitors (SPIs) were related to the Kunitz inter-α-trypsin inhibitor (ITI) family. Ovine articular cartilage was finely diced and extracted in 6M urea and SPIs isolated by sequential anion exchange, HA affinity and Sephadex G100 gel permeation chromatography. Selected samples were also subjected to chymotrypsin and concanavalin-A affinity chromatography. Eluant fractions from these isolation steps were monitored for protein and trypsin inhibitory activity and pooled fractions assessed by affinity blotting using biotinylated trypsin to detect active SPIs and by Western blotting using antibodies to α1-microglobulin, bikunin, TSG-6 and 2-B-6 (+) CS stub epitope generated by chondroitinase-ABC digestion. This identified 2-B-6 (+) positive 220-250,120, 58 and 36 kDa SPIs. The 58 kDa SPI contained α1-microglobulin, bikunin and chondroitin-4-sulphate stub epitope consistent with its identity as the α1-microglobulin-bikunin (AMBP) precursor and was also isolated by concanavalin-A lectin affinity chromatography indicating it had N-glycosylation. Kunitz protease inhibitor (KPI) species of 36, 26, 12 and 6 kDa could be autolytically generated by prolonged storage of the aforementioned 120 and 58 kDa SPIs; chymotrypsin affinity chromatography also generated the 6kDa SPI. KPI domain 1 and 2 SPIs were separated by concanavalin lectin affinity chromatography, domain 1 displayed affinity for this lectin indicating it had N-glycosylation. KPI 1 and 2 both displayed potent inhibitory activity towards trypsin, chymotrypsin, kallikrein, leucocyte elastase and cathepsin G. Localisation of versican, lubricin and HA in the surface regions of articular cartilage represented probable binding sites for the ITI SPs with likely importance in the preservation of joint function.

It is well established the complex exponential and logarithm are multivalued functions, both failing to maintain most identities originally valid over the positive integers domain. Moreover the general case of complex logarithm, with a complex base, is hardly mentionned in mathematic litterature. We study the exponentiation and logarithm as binary operations where all operands are complex. In a redefined complex number system using an extension of the C field, hereafter named E, we prove both operations always produce single value results and maintain the validity of identities such as log_u (w v) = log_u (w) + log_u (v) where u, v, w in E. There is a cost as some algebraic properties of the addition and subtraction will be diminished, though remaining valid to a certain extent. In order to handle formulas in a C and E dual number system, we introduce the notion of set precision and set truncation. We show complex numbers as defined in C are insufficiently precise to grasp all subtleties of some complex operations, as a result multivaluation, identity failures and, in specific cases, wrong results are obtained when computing exclusively in C. A geometric representation of the new complex number system is proposed, in which the complex plane appears as an orthogonal projection, and where the complex logarithm and exponentiation can be simply represented. Finally we attempt an algebraic formalization of E.

Serendipity favors the prepared mind, but how does the brain make that lucky find? Analyzing the cerebral mechanisms behind an exceptional (albeit trivial) discovery, the author suggests that a combination of ‘concept cells’ and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis could explain how we make great discoveries.

The historic western edge of bison (Bison bison) range and the ecological processes that caused its formation are frequently debated with important implications for bison restoration across North America. We test the hypothesis that a combination of bottom-up habitat suitability and top-down harvest pressure from humans were important processes in forming the western edge of bison distribution. Using 9,384 historical journal observations from 1691 – 1928, we employ MaxEnt ecological niche modelling to identify suitable bison habitat across the Western Cordillera from bottom-up climatic, land cover, and topographic factors. We then use mixed-effect logistic regression to test if bison occurrence in journal records can be in part explained by the abundance of Indigenous humans, wolves, or grizzly bears, in addition to MaxEnt-derived habitat suitability. We find support for our hypothesis because of the limited suitable habitat in the Rocky Mountains that likely prevented westward bison dispersal from core habitat, and there was a negative relationship between bison occurrence and human harvest pressure. On this basis, we propose that intensive human harvest from large populations in the Western Cordillera, subsidized by other wildlife, salmon, and vegetation resources, is an underappreciated socioecological process that needs to be restored alongside bison populations. Co-managing bison with Indigenous people will also mitigate the adverse effects of overabundant bison and maximize the ecological and cultural benefits of bison restoration.

This is the second of a series of two papers comparing the end of life issues in human and veterinary medicine. We outline the main differences between human and animal patients such as patient communication, finance and ‘conflicts of interest’ between animal, owner and veterinarian. We discuss striking similarities between human and veterinary issues such as assessing quality of life and the primary role of the attending veterinarian or doctor being the welfare and care of the patient. This paper takes the form of an ethical argument in favour of allowing euthanasia in human medicine, by providing insights into end of life issues for humans from an independent veterinary perspective. Veterinary surgeons are well trained in the ethics of euthanasia and put it to good use in the best interest of their animal patients. Doctors in the UK are limited and unwilling to put forward a case for the option of euthanasia for those patients who face a slow and agonizing death. With advances in medical science being able to significantly prolong the dying process, autonomy for the patient demands a review of the law regarding patient choice in the UK.

Background: Previous study of sexual minorities has documented both instability in the sex of sex partners and incongruity among all three dimensions of sexual orientation (attraction, behavior and identification), but no attempt has been made to relate the two. How, if at all, does past change affect present incongruity? This study attempts, for the first time, to examine this question. Method: Using a representative probability sample of the British population (n = 15,162), the current dimensions of sexual orientation were compared across changes in sex partner type—opposite-sex only (O/Sex), same-sex only (S/Sex), or both opposite-sex and same-sex (B/Sex)— over three time periods—before 5 years ago (Time 1), 5 years to 1 year ago (Time 2), and the past year (Time 3)—for the nonheterosexual population. Differences and trends in population-weighted percentage frequencies stratified by sex were assessed by t-test or inspection of 95% confidence intervals. Results: Overall incongruity and instability were high: 74% of men and 85% of women did not report congruent lifetime sexual attraction, behavior and identification; of persons reporting any same-sex sex partners at Time 1, 82% reported a different partner type at Time 3. Most change (80% for women, 84% for men) involved a single partner type transition (transience) rather than multiple changes (fluidity) and movement toward increased heterosexual orientation (69%; 65% to O/Sex partners. From Time 1 to Time 3, 19% of persons with S/Sex partners moved to O/Sex partners; 0.1% of persons with O/Sex partners moved to S/Sex partners. Instability moderately reduced already high incongruity for the majority moving toward increased heterosexual orientation, but increased already low incongruity for the minority moving toward increased same-sex orientation. Among presently S/Sex partnered persons (comprising 12% of sexual minorities), incongruity was reported by 1.4% of persons with stable partnership history and 11% of persons with unstable partnership history (p=.0052). For all except presently S/Sex partnered persons (comprising 88% of sexual minorities), incongruity was reported by 97% of persons with stable partnership history and 86% of persons with unstable partnership history (p=.0000). Conclusion: For most sexual minority persons, partner type instability contributed to a modest reduction of high sexual minority orientation incongruity after moving toward increased heterosexual practice. Among current S/Sex partnered persons, however, instability strongly increased incongruity between identification and behavior or attraction. These results are consistent with minority stress theory but inconsistent with homosexual immutability, and counsel caution regarding legal restrictions on support for sexual minority persons moving toward increased heterosexual partnership.

Not a lot is known about either death or the dying process. Politicians and many in the medical profession in the UK tend to shy away from interfering with it by not allowing euthanasia as an end of life option for the patient. This is the first paper in a series of two, comparing the situation in human medicine and veterinary medicine, in which euthanasia is well practiced for relieving suffering at the end of an animal’s life. This first part takes the form of a literature review including best practice around end of life care, its deficiencies and the need for assisted dying. Veterinary surgeons are well trained in the ethics of euthanasia and put it to good use in the best interest of their animal patients. In countries which have legalized physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill reporting indicates that it works well, without increases in involuntary euthanasia and most importantly without intimidation of the vulnerable. However, there is still an ever increasing tendency to overuse sedation and opioids at the end of life, which merits further investigation. With advances in medical science able to significantly prolong the dying process, patient autonomy demands a review of the law in the UK.

The association between human and cat (F. catus) is well known. This domestic animal is also known for its malodorous urine and feces. The complexity of the odorous urine and feces impacts human life by triggering the human sensory organ in a negative way. The objective of this research was to identify the volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and associated odors in cat urine and feces using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and simultaneous sensory analysis of fresh and aged samples. The solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique was used to pre-concentrate the VOCs emitted from urine or feces samples. Twenty-one compounds were identified as emitted from fresh urine, whereas 64 compounds were emitted from fresh feces. A contrasting temporal impact was observed on the emission of VOCs for urine and feces. On aging, the emission increased to 36 detected chemicals for stale urine, whereas only 17 chemicals were detected in stale feces. Not all compounds were malodorous; some compounds had a pleasant hedonic smell to the human nose. Although trimethylamine, low molecular weight organic acids, and ketones were contributors to the odor to some extent, phenolic compounds and aromatic heterocyclic organic N compounds generated the most intense odors and substantially contributed to the overall malodor, as observed by this study. This work might be useful to formulate cat urine and feces odor remediation approaches to reduce odor impacts.

In recent years, advancements in brain science and neuroscience have significantly influenced the field of computer science, particularly in the domain of reinforcement learning (RL). Drawing insights from neurobiology and neuropsychology, researchers have leveraged these findings to develop novel mechanisms for understanding intelligent decision-making processes in the brain. Concurrently, the emergence of quantum computing has opened new frontiers in artificial intelligence, leading to the development of quantum machine learning (QML). This study introduces a novel model that integrates Quantum Spiking Neural Networks (QSNN) and Quantum Long Short-Term Memory (QLSTM) architectures, inspired by the complex workings of the human brain. Specifically designed for reinforcement learning tasks in energy-efficient environments, our approach progresses through two distinct stages mirroring sensory and memory systems. In the initial stage, analogous to the brain’s hypothalamus, low-level information is extracted to emulate sensory data processing patterns. Subsequently, resembling the hippocampus, this information is processed at a higher level, capturing and memorizing correlated patterns. We conduct a comparative analysis of our model against existing quantum models such as Quantum Neural Networks and their classical counterparts, elucidating its unique contributions. Through empirical results, we aim to underscore the effectiveness of our approach in optimizing energy consumption in practical scenarios.

The pursuit of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that emulates human cognitive processes is a cornerstone of ethical AI development, ensuring that emerging technologies can integrate seamlessly into societal frameworks requiring nuanced understanding and decision-making. Zero-Shot Instance Retrieval (ZSIR) stands at the forefront of this endeavour, potentially providing a robust platform for AI systems, particularly large visual language models, to demonstrate and refine cognition-aligned learning without the need for direct experience. In this paper, we critically evaluate current cognition alignment methodologies within traditional zero-shot learning paradigms, using visual attributes and word embedding generated by large AI models. We propose a unified similarity function that quantifies the cognitive alignment level, bridging the gap between AI processes and human-like understanding. Through extensive experimentation, our findings illustrate that this similarity function can effectively mirror the visual-semantic gap, steering the model towards enhanced performance in zero-shot instance retrieval. This work not only benchmarks the cognition alignment of AI, but also sets a new precedent for the development of visual language models attuned to the complexities of human cognition.}

The existence of the exclusion zone (EZ), a layer of water in which plastic microspheres are repelled from hydrophilic surfaces, has now been independently demonstrated by several groups. A better understanding of the mechanisms which generate EZs would help with understanding the possible importance of EZs in biology and in engineering applications such as filtration and microfluidics. Pollack theorizes that EZ water exists in a new phase which has a layered structure. We note several problems with Pollack's proposed structure, some of which were noted in the 1960's when a similar structure was proposed for ``polywater''. We argue that Schurr's diffusiophoresis based theory presents a compelling alternative explanation for the core EZ phenomena, although there remain other findings from Pollack's lab it does not explain. Among other things, Schurr's theory makes predictions about the growth of the EZ with time which have been confirmed by Florea et al.\ and others. In this work we also introduce and explore a novel hypothesis - that some aspects of EZ phenomena may be attributable to repulsive van der Waals forces. Finally, we touch on several possible confounding factors that make experimentation on EZs difficult, such as charged surface groups, dissolved solutes, and adsorbed nanobubbles.

The Golgi apparatus (GA) dysfunctions in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), cancer, and organelle structural biology (OSB) can provide insights into therapeutic targets, gene therapy, and drug design. Primary defects and fragmentation within the GA are implicated in a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. GA defects typically result in mislocation of proteins, accumulation of undegraded proteins, and impaired glycosylation of proteins. Inhibition of vesicular trafficking by α-synuclein (aSyn) may affect the dopamine-producing neurons and neuromodulators. GA regulates apoptosis during pathological mechanisms of neurological diseases and could provide new avenues in treatments through translation research. PD patients bearing the hereditary E46K disease mutation manifest the clinical picture of parkinsonism. How do we provide high resolution nanoimages of the GA during disease to capture dysfunction? Could we visualize the aSyn traffic jam between vesicles in the organelles ER and GA? OSB is emerging as a field as more technology advances and is more accessible. Structural studies of the GA will advance the field of neurological disease forward with an in depth understanding of dysfunction, fragmentation, and defects. Discoveries of the GA in PD, NDDs, and cancer would break new ground and provide translational medicine data of these diseases. Future research could be visualizing high angle annular dark field-STEM (HAADF-STEM) tomograms, cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET), multiplex correlative light and electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM), nanobody-assisted tissue immunostaining for volumetric EM (NATIVE) and using soft X-ray tomography (SXT) and computational reconstruction of the GA.

A theoretical account of development in mesocortical anatomy is derived from the free energy principle, operating in a neural field with both Hebbian and anti-Hebbian neural plasticity. An elementary structural unit is proposed, in which synaptic connections at mesoscale are arranged in paired patterns with mirror symmetry. Exchanges of synaptic flux in each pattern form coupled spatial eigenmodes, and the line of mirror reflection between the paired patterns operates as a Markov blanket, so that prediction errors in exchanges between the pairs are minimized. The theoretical analysis is then compared to the outcomes from a biological model of cortical neurodevelopment, in which neuron precursors are selected by apoptosis for cell body and synaptic connections maximizing synchrony and also minimizing axonal length. It is shown that this model results in patterns of connection with the anticipated mirror symmetries, at micro-, meso- and inter-arial scales, among lateral connections, and in cortical depth, explaining the spatial organization and functional significance of neuron response preferences, and compatible with features of both columnar and noncolumnar cortex. Multi-way interactions of mirrored representations provide a preliminary anatomically realistic model of cortical information processing.

Well differentiated liposarcoma (WD-LPS) is a relatively rare tumour, with less than 50 cases occurring per year in the UK. These tumours are both chemotherapy and radiotherapy resistant and present a significant treatment challenge requiring radical surgery. Little is known of the molecular landscape of these tumours and no current targets for molecular therapy exist. We aimed to carry out a comprehensive molecular characterisation of WD-LPS via whole genome sequencing, RNA-sequencing and methylation array analysis. A recurrent mutation within exon1 of FOXD4L3 was observed (chr9:70,918,189A>T; c.322A>T; p. Lys108Ter). Recurrent mutations were also observed in Wnt signalling, immunity, DNA repair and hypoxia-associated genes. Recurrent amplification of HGMA2 was observed, although this was in fact part of a general amplification of the region around this gene. Recurrent gene fusions in HGMA2, SDHA, TSPAN31 and MDM2 were also observed as well as consistent rearrangements between chromosome 6 and chromosome 12. Our study has demonstrated a recurrent mutation within FOXD4L3, which shows evidence of interaction with the PAX pathway to promote tumorigenesis.

Adenoviruses (Ads) have been extensively manipulated for the development of cancer selective replication, leading to cancer cell death or oncolysis. Clinical studies using E1-modified oncolytic Ads have shown that this therapeutic platform was safe, but with limited efficacy, indicating the necessity of targeting other viral genes for manipulation. To improve the therapeutic efficacy of oncolytic Ads, we treated the entire Ad genome repeatedly with UV-light and have isolated AdUV which efficiently lyses cancer cells as reported previously [1]. In this report, we show that no mutations were observed in the early genes (E1 or E4) of AdUV while several mutations were observed within the Ad late genes which have structural or viral DNA packaging functions. This study also reported the increased release of AdUV from cancer cells. In this study, we found that AdUV inhibits tumor growth following intratumoral injection. These results indicate the potentially significant role of the viral late genes, in particular the DNA packaging genes, to enhance Ad oncolysis.

Multiple social and environmental justice concerns are linked to urban form such as the distribution of socioeconomic class populations, healthcare spending, air pollution exposure, and human mobility. This study used 1m resolved LIDAR data to characterize land use in Salt Lake County, Utah and associate it with sociodemographic and air quality data at the census block group and zip code levels. We found that increasing tree cover was associated with higher per capita income and lower minority populations while increasing built cover was linked to lower per capita income and higher minority populations. Air quality showed less strong correlations, however, decreased non irrigated cover, increased built cover, and higher amounts of households living under poverty was related to higher long-term PM2.5 exposure. Several policy efforts have been undertaken to improve air quality and reduce negative health outcomes in Utah which are being informed by regulatory and research grade air quality sensors.

Mangroves and salt marshes are among the most productive ecosystems in the global coastal ocean. Mangroves store more carbon (739 Mg CORG ha-1) than salt marshes (334 Mg CORG ha-1), but the latter sequester proportionally more (24%) net primary production (NPP) than mangroves (12%). Mangroves exhibit greater rates of gross primary production (GPP), above-ground net primary production (NPP) and plant respiration (RC) with higher PGPP/RC ratios, but salt marshes exhibit greater rates of below-ground NPP. Mangroves have greater rates of subsurface DIC production and, unlike salt marshes, exhibit significant microbial decomposition to a soil depth of 1 m. Salt marshes release more soil CH4 and export more dissolved CH4 , but mangroves release more CO2 from tidal waters and export greater amounts of POC, DOC and DIC to adjacent waters. Both ecosystems contribute only a small proportion of GPP, RE (ecosystem respiration) and NEP (net ecosystem production) to the global coastal ocean due to their small global area, but contribute 72% of air-sea CO2 exchange from the world’s wetlands and estuaries and contribute 34% of DIC export and 17% of DOC + POC export to the world’s coastal ocean. Thus, both wetland ecosystems contribute disproportionately to carbon flow of the global coastal ocean.

Urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC, bladder cancer) remains a difficult to treat malignancy with rising incidence worldwide. In the U.S., UCC is the sixth most incident neoplasm and ~90% of diagnoses are made in those &gt;55 years of age, ~four times more commonly observed in men than women. The most important risk factor for developing bladder cancer is tobacco smoking, which accounts for ∼50% of cases followed by occupational exposure to aromatic amines and ionizing radiation. The standard of care for advanced UCC includes platinum-based chemotherapy and programmed cell death (PD-1) or programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors, administered as frontline, second-line, or maintenance therapy. UCC is highly aggressive and remains generally incurable since these cancers are associated with intrinsic and acquired drug resistance. UCC is highly lethal in the metastatic state and characterized by genomic instability, high PD-L1 expression, DNA damage-response mutations, and high tumor mutational burden. Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) achieve long-term durable responses in other cancers, their ability to achieve similar results with metastatic UCC (mUCC) is not as well-defined. Here, we discuss the novel therapies to improve the management of mUCC.

The emergence of novel pathogens is a well-known epidemiological risk, however, the unexpected emergence of a truly novel coronavirus-mediated pandemic, SARS-nCOV2 (COVID-19), underscored the significance of understanding this contagion. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented social, economic, and educational disruptions on a scale never seen before. In addition to social protocols, the development of safe, effective, affordable COVID-19 vaccines was developed within months, the cornerstone to mitigating this pandemic. We present an overview of the evolution of the SARS-nCOV2 pandemic from a historical perspective and describe its biology and behavior, especially the immunological aspects of the disease. We further provide an overview of COVID-19 therapeutics, treatment, and vaccine development. It is critical to understand the transmission mechanism of the disease to control and mitigate its progression. We describe cohort studies to identify secondary and tertiary syndromes. The transmission characteristics help its diagnosis and detection. During the pandemic, a lot of emphasis was placed on personal protection equipment. It is now concluded that the virus particles spread by aerosol dispersion. While the recommended distance may not be sufficient, the use of personal protective equipment and social distancing may be helpful in close-quarters environments. Such protocols in conjunction with safe and effective vaccines and personal hygiene are among the safe practices. While we learn from our experience, this review provides a holistic view of COVID-19, so we are better prepared for a future pandemic. In addition to a wide-spectrum automated analytics system, we also suggest that the use of artificial intelligence in conjunction with data analytics can further reduces the risk of speculatively diagnosing agents incorrectly, to eliminate future pandemic, where the novelty can be the cloud-based presumptive diagnosis.

Chemical simulants have long been used in human trials of mass decontamination to determine the efficacy of decontamination interventions against more toxic agents. Until now, reliance has mostly been on individual chemicals as surrogates to specific agents (e.g. methyl salicylate for sulphur mustard). A literature review was conducted to identify chemicals that had been previously tested on human volunteers and that represent diverse physicochemical characteristics in order to create a repository for chemical simulants. Of the 171 unique chemicals identified 78 were discounted for the risk they could pose to human volunteers, 39 were deemed suitable for use and a further 54 were considered to be possible simulants but would require further research. Suitable simulants included both solid and liquid chemicals spanning a wide range of physicochemical properties including molecular weight, octanol/ water partition coefficient, vapour pressure and solubility. This review has identified an array of potential simulants suitable for use in human volunteer decontamination studies and is of relevance to future studies on systemic absorption and surface decontamination.

This work aims to describe the early life history and the length frequency distribution of larval stages of three mesopelagic species collected near coral reef areas in the Red Sea. Larvae were collected monthly using a plankton net (500 µ) from three coastal coral reef areas surrounding Sharm El-Shekikh on the Egyptian Red Sea coast between January and December 2015. The identification of larvae was based on the author’s experience and other literature. The larvae of this species were divided into preflexion, flexion, and postflexion based on the flexion of the notochord and they were also categorized according to their size into relevant size classes. Mesopelagic fishes were represented in the collection by four species belonging to four families; Vinciguerria mabahiss (Family: Phosichthyidae), Benthosema pterotum (Family: Myctophidae), Astronesthes martensii (Family: Stomiidae; subfamily: Astronesthidae) and Trichiurus sp. (Family Scombridae). In general, a total of 3678 larvae were collected, of which 1191 belonged to mesopelagic species. The most abundant species was V. mabahiss with 677 larvae that constituted 18% of total larvae collected. The second most abundant species was B. pterotum that was represented by 485 larvae (13%). A. martensii was represented by the lowest number of larvae (29 larvae, 2%). Most larvae of the three species were in preflexion stage and more abundant in the cooler months of the year between November and April. The high number of preflexion larvae at the time may indicate the spawning of the three species in the colder times of the year.