In the present work a novel, portable and innovative eNose composed of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor array based ZIF-8, and ZIF-67 nanocrystals (pure and combined with gold nanoparticles) as sensitive layers has been tested as a non-invasive system to detect and differentiate disease markers, such as acetone, ethanol and ammonia, related with early diagnosis of diabetes mellitus through exhaled breath. The sensors have been prepared by spin coating, achieving continuous and homogenous sensitive layers. Low concentrations (5 ppm, 10 ppm and 25ppm) of the marker analytes were measured, obtaining high sensitivities, good reproducibility, short time response and fast signal recovery.

This article develops a duality principle and a related convex dual formulation suitable for a large class of models in physics and engineering. The results are based on standard tools of functional analysis, calculus of variations and duality theory. In particular, we develop applications to a model in non-linear elasticity.

This article develops duality principles and related convex dual formulations suitable for the local optimization of non-convex primal formulations for a large class of models in physics and engineering. The results are based on standard tools of functional analysis, calculus of variations and duality theory. In particular, we develop applications to a Ginzburg-Landau type equation.

Current acceleration in digital innovations, unexpected challenges in our social interactions, acceleration to virtualization, limitation in our physical spaces, and unpredictable changes in our Old lifestyles - as originated from the COVID-19 global pandemic 2020 - continue to provide us with a framework, rapidly updating under our eyes, of the modifications our world is undergoing by pursuing into a New “digital age”. Or, as many scholars say nowadays, into the New Normal! These are shared and deep changes that concretely stress their effects on how ideally a city should function. Forcing us to reflect on the capability to achieve shared choices and visions for the future by taking vantage from both the New digital platforms and New suddenly opened paths. In the pages of this article authors, through different but shared viewpoints, propose an answer to the topic of "Governance 3.0", addressing the attempt of a radical change of those paradigms, now consolidated, within which the spatial dimensions, in which we live and act, are shaped. Also analyzing the relationship between Technocracy and Democracy as defined by Khanna, it is argued that it is possible to realize new forecasts and acquire a more democratic and participatory (inclusive) dimension of Governance, also thanks to new digital technologies, by exploring the general unconscious "feeling" of people, through anonymous data collection and without any direct or indirect interference with it. The analysis of the "Sentiment", already developed in other fields but easily exportable within the urban discipline, can be considered as the beginning of hybrid practices where digital and analogic find a compromise to make the "Urbs" more attractive and inclusive, while the "Civitas", connected to the Internet, can contribute to the optimization of services, of the "Polis" and a new social/spatial reorganization.

This article develops duality principles and numerical results for a large class of non-convex variational models. The main results are based on fundamental tools of convex analysis, duality theory and calculus of variations. More specifically the approach is established for a class of non-convex functionals similar as those found in some models in phase transition. Finally, in the last section we present a concerning numerical example and the respective software.

Cash crops are agricultural crops intended to be sold for profit as opposed to subsistence crops, meant to support the producer, or to support livestock. Since cash crops are intended for future sale, they translate into large financial value when considered on a wide geographical scale, so their production directly involves financial risk. At a national level, extreme weather events including destructive rain or hail, as well as drought, can have a significant impact on the overall economic balance. It is thus important to map such crops in order to set up insurance and mitigation strategies. Using locally generated data -such as municipality-level records of crop seeding- for mapping purposes implies facing a series of issues like data availability, quality, homogeneity etc. We thus opted for a different approach relying on global datasets. Global datasets ensure homogeneity and availability of data, although sometimes at the expense of precision and accuracy. A typical global approach makes use of spaceborne remote sensing, for which different land cover classification strategies are available in literature at different levels of cost and accuracy. We selected the optimal strategy in the perspective of a global processing chain. Thanks to a specifically developed strategy for fusing unsupervised classification results with environmental constraints and other geospatial inputs including ground-based data, we managed to obtain good classification results despite the constraints placed. The overall production process was composed using ``good-enough" algorithms at each step, ensuring that the precision, accuracy, and data-hunger of each algorithm was commensurate to the precision, accuracy, and amount of data available. This paper describes the tailored strategy developed on the occasion as a cooperation among different groups with diverse backgrounds, a strategy which is believed to be profitably reusable in other, similar contexts. The paper presents the problem, the constraints and the adopted solutions; it then summarizes the main findings including that efforts and costs can be saved on the side of Earth Observation data processing when additional ground-based data are available to support the mapping task.

We consider a Mean Field Games model where the dynamics of the agents is given by a controlled Langevin equation and the cost is quadratic. A change of variables, introduced in [13], transforms the Mean Field Games system into a system of two coupled kinetic Fokker-Planck equations. We prove an existence result for the latter system, obtaining consequently existence of a solution for the Mean Field Games system.

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

Current acceleration in digital innovations, the unexpected challenges in our social interactions, open access to virtualization, huge limitation in our physical spaces, and unpredictable changes in our old lifestyles - as originated from the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020 - continue to provide us with a framework, rapidly updating under our eyes, of the modifications our world is undergoing by pursuing into the “new digital age”. Or, as many scholars say nowadays, into the new normal! These are shared and deep changes that, regardless of their permanence or temporariness in the time, concretely stress, ever more greatly, their “own” effects on how ideally a city should function. Forcing us to reflect on the real ability to achieve choices and visions for the future by taking vantage from the new digital platforms. In the pages of this article authors, through different eyes but sharing an early response to the matter of new Governance, explore the theme of a radical change of those already consolidated paradigms and, therefore, of the innovations that are transforming the way we understand our society and its technologic advancements, economics, and culture, as defined through dimensions of time and space. This article identifies a methodologic vision for acquiring a more democratic and participatory (inclusive) dimension in the newest configuration of contemporary cities, the new smart city, and in the possible innovations in reading the common sentiments and wishes through the new digitalized world. The analysis investigates how ICT is altering the meanings/ideas of “urban planning”, driving us toward a more effective “governance” through a citizen-centred digital approach. Indeed, city governance's success must be measured based on the “listening capacity” of the inhabitants and the facilities that we are capable to provide to citizens. “Sentiment Analysis” tool is tested as a useful tool to achieve these aims.

This article develops dual variational formulations for a large class of models in variational optimization. The results are established through basic tools of functional analysis, convex analysis and duality theory. The main duality principle is developed as an application to a Ginzburg-Landau type system in superconductivity in the absence of a magnetic field. In the first sections, we develop new general dual convex variational formulations, more specifically, dual formulations with a large region of convexity around the critical points which are suitable for the non-convex optimization for a large class of models in physics and engineering. Finally, in the last section we present some numerical results concerning the generalized method of lines applied to a Ginzburg-Landau type equation.

Recent measurements in the MRX laboratory plasma [J.Yoo et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 145101 (2024)] have evidenced the role of lower hybrid drift waves produced during magnetic reconnections in producing an effective anomalous resistivity and heating of electrons. A detailed modelization of the energy transfer from the waves to electrons is missing, though. In this work, we attempt such an exercise using a Hamiltonian test-particle model for wave-electron interaction, valid for low-β weakly collisional plasmas. Quantitative agreement with MRX results is found.

Keywords: SAR; interferometry; bistatic

The Stochastic Optimisation Software (SOS) is a Java platform facilitating the algorithmic design process and the evaluation of metaheuristic optimisation algorithms. It reduces the burden of coding miscellaneous methods for dealing with several bothersome and time-demanding tasks such as parameter tuning, implementation of comparison algorithms and testbed problems, collecting and processing data to display results, measuring algorithmic overhead, etc. SOS provides numerous off-the-shelf methods including 1) customised implementations of statistical tests, such as the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test and the Holm-Bonferroni procedure, for comparing performances of optimisation algorithms and automatically generate result tables in PDF and LaTeX formats; 2) the implementation of an original advanced statistical routine for accurately comparing couples of stochastic optimisation algorithms; 3) the implementation of a novel testbed suite for continuous optimisation, derived from the IEEE CEC 2014 benchmark, allowing for controlled activation of the rotation operator. each testbed function. Moreover, this article comments on the current state of the literature in stochastic optimisation and highlights similarities shared by modern metaheuristics inspired by nature. It is argued that the vast majority of these algorithms are simply a reformulation of the same methods and that metaheuristics for optimisation should be simply treated as stochastic processes with less emphasis on the inspiring metaphor behind them.

Motivated by the importance of entanglement and correlation indicators in the analysis of quantum systems, we study the equilibrium and the residual entropy in a two-species Bose Hubbard dimer when the spatial phase separation of the two species takes place. We consider both the zero and non-zero-temperature regime. We present different kinds of residual entropies (each one associated to a different way of partitioning the system), and we show that they strictly depend on the specific quantum phase characterizing the two species (supermixed, mixed or demixed) even at finite temperature. To provide a deeper physical insight into the zero-temperature scenario, we apply the fully-analytical variational approach based on su(2) coherent states and provide a considerbly good approximation of the entanglement entropy. Finally, we show that the effectiveness of residual entropy as a critical indicator at non-zero temperature is unchanged when considering a restricted combination of energy eigenstates.

The use of haptic devices in rehabilitation of impaired limbs has become rather popular, given the proven effectiveness in promoting recovery. In a standard framework, such devices are used in rehabilitation centers, where patients interact with virtual tasks, presented on a screen. To track their sessions, kinematic/dynamic parameters or performance scores are recorded. However, as Internet access is now available at almost every home, and in order to reduce the hospitalization time of the patient, the idea of doing rehabilitation at home is gaining wide consent. Medical care programs can be synchronized with the home rehabilitation device; patient data can be sent to the central server that could redirect to the therapist laptop (tele-healthcare). The controversial issue is that the recorded data do not actually represent the clinical conditions of the patients according to the medical assessment scales, forcing them to frequently undergo clinical tests at the hospital. To respond to this demand, we propose the use of a bilateral master/slave haptic system that could allow the clinician, who interacts with the master, to assess remotely and in real time the clinical conditions of the patient that uses the home rehabilitation device as the slave. In this paper, we describe a proof of concept to highlight the main issues of such an application, limited to one degree of freedom, and to the measure of the stiffness and range of motion of the hand.

In recent years, the term quantum-like has been increasingly used in different disciplines, including neurosciences, psychological and socio-economical disciplines, claiming that some investigated phenomena show “something” in common with quantum processes and, therefore, they can be modeled using a sort of quantum formalism. Therefore, the increasing use of the term quantum-like calls for defining and sharing its meaning in order to properly adopt it and avoid possible misuse. In our opinion, the concept of quantum-like may be successfully applied to macroscopic phenomena and empirical sciences other than physics when at least two conditions are satisfied: a) the behavior of the investigated phenomena show logical analogies with quantum ones; b) it is possible to find a criterion of truth based on an experiential/scientific approach applied to a probabilistic model of description of the phenomena. This is only a first, small step in the approach to the concept of quantum-like, hopefully helpful to promote further discussion and achieve a better definition.

Microwave Power Modules (MPM) are high power devices largely used for radar applications. An MPM is a hybrid combination of a Solid-State Power Amplifier (SSPA) as a driver and a Traveling wave tube amplifier (TWT) as the final high power stage. Power equalizer is often used to flat the TWT output power gain owing to its big gain fluctuations in the operating frequency range. This paper deals with an optimal design and development of a fully-coaxial easy-tunable power equalizer for an X-band MPM. The structure utilizes a coaxial waveguide as the main transmission line and a coaxial cavity loaded with absorbing material as the resonant unit. A sensitivity analysis of the coaxial cavity length, the thickness of the absorbing disc and inserted depth of the probe on the attenuation amplitude and resonant frequency is carried out. The transmission characteristic curves and the voltage standing wave ratio curves show a good compromise in terms of transferred power and adaptive matching impedance at the input and output ports. The measured results show that the equalization curve meets the requirements well and prove that this structure is practical and effective.

Agricultural Production today has to deal with different challenges. It has to increment production for a continuously increasing population, reducing the environmental burdens on the natural systems. In conventional agriculture, this is possible through the increase of inputs, especially nutrients, which, however, are responsible for the biggest part of emissions. It becomes more complicated though, adopting sustainable agricultural practices, to improve the quality and the quantity of agricultural production reducing the inputs use. Plant growth regulators are described in the literature for the significant role in securing crop management of modern agriculture. Therefore, this joint field experiment has been carried out on a pear orchard (Pyrus communis L. cv. Abate Fètel) in Emilia Romagna (Italy) by Fondazione Navarra and TIMAC AGRO Italia S.p.A., to test the “less for more” theory which consists in getting more and better agricultural produce using fewer inputs. Preliminary results of two consecutive years have confirmed our assumption as it was possible to substantially reduce the total fertilisation units applied, improving significantly quantitative and qualitative production indicators (i.e. flower and fruit density, fruit set (%), the average weight of fruits (g) and the total yield (t/ha)). Results have also shown a positive correlation between plant growth regulators and agronomic efficiency of pears.

We studied the link between carbon and water fluxes to understand the response of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) to water availability conditions of three different potato water regimes cropping systems [full irrigation (FI), deficit irrigation (DI) and rainfed (RF)]. Through the eddy covariance technique, we measured CO₂ and water vapor exchanges and determined surface resistances, omega factor, and inherent water use efficiency (IWUE). Additionally, continuous plant growth determinations of leaf area index (LAI) and specific leaf area (SLA) were made over the three cropping systems. The RF potato was a net carbon source (NEE = 187.21 ± 3.84 g C m⁻²), while both, FI (NEE= −311.96 ± 12.82 g C m⁻²) and DI (−17.3 ± 4.6 g C m⁻²) were a net carbon sink. Greater sink activity is due to high fluxes of gross primary productivity (GPP) [where the GPP > ecosystem respiration (R_eco)] and evapotranspiration (ET), and the high efficiency in the exchange of carbon and water. Without water limitations, the larger canopy, with greater photosynthetic activity (GPP/R_eco > 2) as well as with low internal resistance offers a greater area for water and carbon exchange, and the highly coupled and synchronized ET – GPP fluxes are primarily controlled by the radiative environment. The lower sink capacity of the DI potato crop and the carbon source activity from the RF, are consequences of a smaller area for water and carbon exchange due to the smaller canopy, and a low IWUE from decoupled and desynchronized carbon and water exchange caused by unbalanced restrictions on ET and GPP fluxes. Specifically, at DI potato, ET remained at a high rate, while GPP was reduced by means of non-stomatal limitations. In the rainfed potato, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) played a significant role increasing midday canopy resistance (Rc) up to 13 times compared to irrigated sites, when VPD was around 0.8 kPa. In consequence, ET and GPP fluxes decreased together, but GPP decreased more than ET because of stomatal and non-stomatal limitations.

Dissimilar welds between ferritic and austenitic steels represent a good solution for exploiting the best performance of stainless steels at high and low temperatures and in aggressive environments, while minimizing costs. Therefore, they are widely used in nuclear and petrochemical plants, however, due to the different properties of the steels involved, the welding process can be challenging. Fusion welding can be specifically addressed to connect low-carbon, or low-alloy steels, with high-alloy steels, which have similar melting point. Welding of thick plates can be performed with electric arc in multiple passes or in a single pass by means of a laser beam equipment. Since microstructure and consequently mechanical properties of the weld are closely related to composition, the choice of the filler metal and processing parameters, which in turn affects the dilution rate, plays a fundamental role. Numerous technical solutions were proposed for welding dissimilar steels and much research was developed on the weldment metallurgy; therefore, this article is aimed at a review of the most recent scientific literature on the issues relating to the fusion welding of ferritic / austenitic steels. Two specific sections are dedicated respectively to electric arc and laser beam welding; finally, metallurgical issues, related to dilution and thermal field are debated in the discussion section.

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate five glacierized river basins that are global in coverage and vary in climate. The river basins included the Narayani (Nepal), Vakhsh (Central Asia), Rhone (Switzerland), Mendoza (Central Andes, Argentina), and Central Dry Andes (Chile) with a total area of 85,000 km2. A modified SWAT snow algorithm was applied in order to consider spatial variation of associated snow melt /accumulation by elevation band across each subbasin. In the previous studies, melt rates varied as a function of elevation resulting from an air temperature gradient while the snow parameters were constant throughout the entire basin. A major improvement of the new snow algorithm is separating the glaciers from seasonal snow based on their characteristics. Two SWAT snow algorithms were evaluated in simulation of monthly runoff from glaciered watershed: 1) the snow parameters are lumped (i.e. constant throughout the entire basin) and 2) the snow parameters are spatially variable based on elevation band-subbasin (i.e. modified snow algorithm). Applying the distributed SWAT snow algorithm improved the model performance in simulation of monthly runoff with snow-glacial regime, so that mean RSR decreased to 0.49 from 0.55 and NSE increased to 0.75 from 0.69. Improvement of model performance was negligible in simulation of monthly runoff from the basins with monsoon runoff regime.

Extensive genome structure variation, such as copy number variations (CNVs) and presence/absence variations, is the basis for the remarkable maize genetic diversity; however, the effect of CNVs on maize herbivory defense remains largely underexplored. Here, we report that the naturally occurring duplication of the maize 9-lipoxygenase gene, ZmLOX5, leads to increased resistance of maize to herbivory by fall armyworms (FAW). Previously, we showed that ZmLOX5-derived oxylipins are required for defense against chewing insect herbivores and identified several inbred lines, including Yu796, that contained duplicated CNVs of ZmLOX5, referred to as Yu796-2×LOX5. To test whether introgression of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus into the herbivore-susceptible B73 background that contains a single ZmLOX5 gene is a feasible approach to increase resistance, we generated a series of near-isogenic lines that contained either 2, 1 or 0 copies of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus in the B73 background by six back crosses (BC6). Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) confirmed the successful introgression of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus in B73. The resulting B73-2×LOX5 inbred line displayed increased resistance against FAW associated with increased expression of ZmLOX5, increased wound-induced production of its primary oxylipin product, the α-ketol, 9-hydroxy-10-oxo-12(Z),15(Z)-octadecadienoic acid (9,10-KODA), and the downstream defense hormones regulated by this molecule, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (12-OPDA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Surprisingly, wound-induced JA-Ile production was not increased in B73-2×LOX5, resulting from the increased JA catabolism. Furthermore, B73-2×LOX5 displayed enhanced drought tolerance likely due to increased ABA and 12-OPDA content. Taken together, this study revealed that the duplicated CNV of ZmLOX5 quantitively contributes to maize antiherbivore defense and presents proof-of-concept evidence that the introgression of naturally occurring duplicated CNVs of a defensive gene into the productive, but susceptible, crop varieties is a feasible breeding approach for enhancing plant resistance to herbivory and tolerance to abiotic stress.

Soil-borne Trichoderma spp. have been extensively studied for their biocontrol activities against pathogens and growth promotion ability with plants. However, the beneficial effect of Trichoderma on inducing resistance against insect herbivores has been considered only recently. Among diverse Trichoderma species, consistent with previous reports, we showed that root colonization by T. virens triggered induced systemic resistance (ISR) to leaf-infecting fungal pathogens. Whether T. virens induces ISR to insect pests has not been tested before. In this study, we investigated whether T. virens affects jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthesis and defense against fall armyworm (FAW) and western corn rootworm (WCR). Unexpectedly, the results showed that T. virens colonization of maize seedlings grown in autoclaved soil suppressed wound-induced production of JA, resulting in reduced resistance to FAW. Similarly, the bacterial endophyte Pseudomonas chlororaphis 30-84 suppressed systemic resistance to FAW due to reduced JA. Further comparative analyses of the systemic effects of these endophytes when applied into sterile or non-sterile field soil showed that both T. virens and P. chlororaphis 30-84 triggered ISR against hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Colletotrichum graminicola in both soil conditions, but only suppressed resistance to FAW in sterile soil. In contrast to the effect on FAW defense, T. virens colonization of maize roots suppressed WCR larvae survival and weight gain. This is the first report suggesting the potential role of T. virens as a biocontrol agent against WCR.

The carbohydrate antigen Sda is expressed on cells and secretions of the vast majority of Caucasians. The epitope is formed by a terminal GalNAc residue β4-linked to a α3-sialylated galactose. Different carbohydrate chains N- or O-linked to glycoproteins can be terminated by this epitope. The final step of Sda biosynthesis is catalyzed by the GalNAc transferase B4GALNT2. In this review, we will discuss the multifaceted aspects of B4GALNT2/Sda biology. In particular, we will see its implications in fertility and pregnancy, in susceptibility to infectious diseases, in chronic kidney diseases and in Duchene muscular dystrophy. In particular, we will show its regulation and prognostic implications in cancer.

Granular cell tumors (GCTs), known also as Abrikossoff tumors, are rare tumors that originates from Schwann cells that primarily localize in the tongue, skin, and submucosal tissues and involve the gastrointestinal tract in 11% of cases. We present a case of a young woman who first presented to our centre in 2018, for an EGDS to assess a thickening of the esophageal wall, seen on a CT. In that occasion, a diagnosis of Abrikossoff tumor was made. She underwent endoscopic resection with subsequent yearly follow-up without evidence of recurrence. 5 Years later, on a routine colonoscopy, we found numerous white submucosal formations in all of the explored tracts, with a histological examination compatible with GCT. Her daughter presented with a white nodule on her tongue, also diagnosed as GCT. Her daughter was also diagnosed with GCT of the tongue a few months later.

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are the proteinaceous aggregates formed by the amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) that is deposited inside the brain as amyloid plaques. The accumulation of aggregated Aβ may initiate or enhance pathologic processes in AD. According to the amyloid hypothesis any agent that has the capability to inhibit Aβ aggregation and/or destroy amyloid plaques represents a potential disease modifying drug. In 2023, a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody (lecanemab) against the Aβ soluble protofibrils was approved by US FDA for AD therapy thus providing compelling support to the amyloid hypothesis. To acquire a deeper insight on the in vivo Aβ aggregation, various animal models, including aged herbivores and carnivores, non-human primates, transgenic rodents, fish and worms are widely exploited. This review is based on the recent data obtained using transgenic animal AD models and presents experimental verification of the critical role in Aβ aggregation seeding of the interactions between zinc ions, Aβ with the isomerized Asp7 (isoD7- Aβ) and the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

We present a very computationally light and fast approximation algorithm and then verify it with genetic algorithm and simulated annealing. We show that our algorithm is on par with GA and SA in terms of output produced while having a tightly bounded time complexity. Our algorithm works best when there is a strong positive correlation between the reliability of a component and its cost. We present two algorithms with the same essence. One of them is system cost bounded and the other is target reliability bounded. Our proposed algorithm works on a subsystem level redundancy instead of component level redundancy.

Sustainability in material purchasing is a growing area of research. Goods purchasing decisions strongly affect transportation path flows, vehicle consolidation, inventory levels and related obsolescence costs. Within a global sourcing context, companies experience the need of new decision making approaches capable to consider a large variety of factors, also linked with society and environment. Environmental impact assessment has become a key requirement for materials purchasing and transportation decisions since global warming is a rising concern both in academic and industrial researches. In fact, it is well known that the freight transport industry is responsible for large amounts of carbon emissions contributing to global warming. In this paper, we initially analyse and compare the environmental economic policies established by the International Governments in relation to the carbon trading systems adopted. Then, we develop a multi-objective lot sizing approach useful in practice to define the sustainable quantity to purchase when a Cap and Trade mitigation policy is present. We further analyse the model behaviour according to different carbon price values by demonstrating that carbon prices are still far too low to motivate managers towards sustainable purchasing choices.

This article develops applications of the generalized method of lines to numerical solutions of the time-independent, incompressible Navier-Stokes system in fluid mechanics. We recall that for such a method, the domain of the partial differential equation in question is discretized in lines (or more generally in curves), and the concerning solutions are written on these lines as functions of the boundary conditions and the domain boundary shape.

We continue in this paper to illustrate the implications of the Dual Model of Liquids (DML) by deriving the expression for the isochoric specific heat as function of the collective degrees of freedom available at a given temperature and analyzing its dependence on temperature. Two main tasks will be accomplished. First, we show that the expression obtained for the isochoric specific heat in the DML is in line with the experimental results. Second, the expression will be compared with the analogous one obtained in another theoretical dual model of the liquid state, the Phonon Theory of Liquid Thermodynamics. This comparison will allow to get interesting insights about the number of collective degrees of freedom available in a liquid and on the value of the isobaric thermal expansion coefficient, two quantities that are related to each other in this framework.

The aims of this study are to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of Cambodian household’s rice production and trying to determine its main influencing factors using the stochastic frontier production function. The study utilized primary data collected from 301 rice farmers in three selected districts of Battambang by structured questionnaires. The empirical results indicated the level of household rice output varied according to differences in the efficiency of production processes. The mean TE is 0.34 which means that famers produce 34% of rice at best practice at the current level of production inputs and technology, indicates that rice output has the potential of being increased further by 66% at the same level of inputs if farmers had been technically efficient. Furthermore, between 2013-2015 TE of household’s rice production recorded -14.3% decline rate due to highly affected of drought during dry season of 2015. Moreover, evidence reveals that land, fertilizer, and pesticide are the major influencing input factors of household’s rice production, while disaster, education of household head, family size and other crops’ cultivated area are core influencing factors decreasing TE. Conversely, the main influencing factors increasing TE are irrigated area, number of plot area and sex of household head.

The aims of this study are to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of Cambodian household’s rice production and trying to determine its main influencing factors using the stochastic frontier production function. The study utilized primary data collected from 301 rice farmers in three selected districts of Battambang by structured questionnaires. The empirical results indicated the level of household rice output varied according to differences in the efficiency of the production processes. The mean TE is 0.34 which means that famers produce 34% of rice at best practice at the current level of production inputs and technology, indicates that rice output has the potential of being increased further by 66% at the same level of inputs if farmers had been technically efficient. Furthermore, between 2013-2015, TE of household’s rice production recorded -14.3% decline rate due to highly affected of drought during dry season of 2015. Moreover, evidence reveals that land, fertilizer, and pesticide are the major influencing input factors of household’s rice production, while disaster, education of household head, family size and other crops’ cultivated area are core influencing factors decreasing TE. Conversely, the main influencing factors increasing TE are irrigated area, number of plot area and sex of household head.

The present study aims to measure the technical efficiency and establish core factors effecting rice production in Cambodia. Four-years dataset generated from the central government document “Profile on Economics and Social” of entire 25 provinces between 2012-2015 and the stochastic production frontier model (SFA) was applied. The results indicated that the level of output (quantity) of Cambodian rice production varied according to the different level of capital investment in agricultural machineries, total rice actual harvested area, and technically fertilizers application within provinces. Furthermore, evidence revealed the overall mean efficiency of rice production is 78.4% implies that there is still room to further improve technical efficiency by given the same level of inputs and technology. More importantly, the findings revealed that irrigation, production technique and amount of agricultural supporting staffs are being as the most important influencing factors of rice production’s technical efficiency in Cambodia. In conclusion, present study strongly recommends the development of irrigation systems and good water management practices to be considered and bring into more effective actions by the central government as well as related agencies for improving rice production in Cambodia in addition to capital investment and improving technical skills of supporting staffs and rural farmers.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in adopting novel sensing technologies for the continuous monitoring of structural systems. In this respect, Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) sensors are widely used in several applications, including Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Thanks to their significantly lower cost, ease of installation on the structure, and lower power consumption, they enable extensive, pervasive, and battery-less monitoring systems. This paper presents an innovative high-performance device for SHM applications, based on a low-noise triaxial MEMS accelerometer, providing a guideline and insightful results about the opportunities and capabilities of these devices. Sensor nodes have been designed, developed, and calibrated to meet structural vibration monitoring and modal identification requirements. These components include a protocol for reliable command dissemination through the network and data collection, and improvements to software components for data pipelining, jitter control, and high-frequency sampling. Devices were tested in the lab using shaker excitation. Results demonstrate that MEMS-based accelerometers are a feasible solution to replace expensive piezo-based accelerometers. Deploying MEMS is promising to minimize sensor node energy consumption. Time and frequency domain analysis show that MEMS can correctly detect modal frequencies, useful parameters for damage detection. The acquired data from the test bed were used to examine the functioning of the network, data transmission, and data quality. The proposed architecture has been successfully deployed in a real case study to monitor the structural health of the Marcus Aurelius Exedra Hall within the Capitoline Museum of Rome. The performance robustness was demonstrated and the results showed that the wired sensor network provides dense and accurate vibration data for structural continuous monitoring.

Cotton is the most ubiquitous and profitable fiber with diverse industrial and domestic applications. Grown in over 100 countries, it has a global market value of about $40 billion and employs over 350 million people from fields to textile mills, contributing about 7% of total labor-force recruitment in developing economies. Cotton has an indeterminate growth habit and an extensive tap root system affected by soil physicochemical and environmental conditions. There is a consensus among experts that conventional cotton cultivation still has a long way to attain sustainability, which is essential if cotton will maintain its competitive edge over other natural and synthetic fibers like hemp, polyesters, and rayon. Despite several efforts already committed to growing cotton sustainably, sustainability has eluded cotton cultivation globally because of the intense farm inputs (freshwater, pesticides, and heavy-duty equipment) needs, especially in developing economies. Some of the technological advancements towards achieving the goal of sustainable cotton cultivation include the development of new varieties, improved irrigation and mulching and precision agriculture techniques, application of remote sensing and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) combined with image processing, and the introduction of autonomous and multi-purpose robotic platforms for growing and harvesting cotton. This review attempts to evaluate the successes already achieved by stakeholders in moving cotton towards sustainable production and identify areas where efforts are still needed to reach sustainable production and improved profitability goals for cotton with projections for future research directions.

Keywords: olfactory rehabilitation; chronic pain; fMRI;

Revealing the spatial distribution mechanism of the coupling effect between soil water and salt is essential for managing saline-alkali farmland. This study utilized the multifractal method to analyze soil water and salt under varying water content levels in arid saline-alkali farmland. Soil samples were collected on the second (S1), fifth (S2), eighth (S3), eleventh (S4), and fourteenth (S5) days after a rainfall event. The findings showed that a significant decrease in soil water content, contrasting with an increase in soil salt content throughout the soil layers post-rainfall. As water content decreased, the spatial variability of soil water initially increased from S1-3 and then decreased, while the spatial variability of soil salt decreased. The spatial distribution between soil water and salt exhibited a high correlation at S3-4 (with relative water content of soil ranging from 0.52 to 0.75) due to their coupling effect. However, soil salt was unevenly leached by rainfall at high water content levels (S1-2) and precipitated at low water content levels (S5), resulting in low spatial variability correlations between soil water and salt. This study elucidated the coupling process of soil water and salt, identifying their spatiotemporal distribution mechanism in dryland agricultural areas.

Whereas a vast literature exists on satellite-based mapping of rice paddy fields in Asia, where most of the global production takes place, little has been produced so far that focuses on the European context. Detection and mapping methods that work well in the Asian context will not offer the same performances in Europe, where different seasonal cycles, environmental contexts, and rice varieties make distinctive features dissimilar to the Asian case. In this context, water management is a key clue; watering practices are distinctive for rice with respect to other crops, and within rice there exist diverse cultivation practices including organic and non-organic approaches. In this paper, we focus on satellite-observed water management to identify rice paddy fields cultivated with a traditional agricultural approach. Building on established research results, and guided by the output of experiments on real-world cases, a new method for analysing time series of Sentinel-1 data has been developed, which can identify traditional rice fields with a high degree of reliability. This work is a part of a broader initiative to build space-based tools for collecting additional pieces of evidence to support food chain traceability; the whole system will consider various parameters, whose analysis procedures are still at their early stages of development.

In this study, the external magnetic field emitted by a wireless power transfer (WPT) system and the internal electric field induced into human body models during recharging operations of a compact electric vehicle (EV) are evaluated. To this aim an ad-hoc formulation for the source modeling is coupled with a commercial software that performs numerical dosimetry. Specifically, two realistic anatomical models both in a driving position and in a standing posture are considered, and the chassis of the EV is modeled either as a currently employed aluminum alloys and as a futuristic carbon fiber composite panel. Aligned and misaligned coil configurations of the WPT system are considered as well. The analysis of the obtained results shows that the ICNIRP reference levels are exceeded in the driving position, especially for the carbon fiber chassis, whereas no exceedance is observed in terms of basic restrictions, at least for the considered scenarios.

More than 20 years after the discovery of the first anelloviruses (AVs), they still remain a mysterious group of viruses. To date, there is no clear understanding of their impact on the host organism, although information is emerging about their participation in various pathologies. However, it is well known that AVs are an important component of the human virome. In the current study we assessed the abundance of AVs in viromes from four nasal and pharyngeal samples from children with respiratory symptoms using a metagenomic approach. It is worth noting that three patients had known respiratory viruses and one did not have any. Regarding AVs, they were detected in all samples, namely Torque teno mini virus (TTMV). The greatest abundance and diversity of AVs (Torque teno virus (TTV), TTMV and Torque teno midi virus (TTMDV)) were shown in a diseased patient with an absence of respiratory viruses, which may indicate the potential involvement of AVs in the maintenance of respiratory symptoms. An activated immune system to combat the main pathogens, against the background of which the number of AVs decreases, is discussed as a possible reason for the reduced diversity of anellome in other patients. We also compared the results of the metagenomic approach and qPCR for major respiratory viruses, which were in agreement. In addition, metagenomic sequencing made it possible to obtain additional data on viral genomes in order to establish their taxonomic identification and characterize individual viral profiles in patients from the Siberian part of Russia.

Electrospun ultrathin fibers based on binary compositions of polylactide (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with different ratios of polymer components from 0/100 to 100/0 wt. % were studied. Using a combination of thermal (DSC) and relaxation (EPR) measurements, the effect of biopolymers content on the characteristics of the crystal structure of PLA and PCL and the diffusive rotational mobility of the stable TEMPO radical in the amorphous regions of PLA/PCL compositions was shown. It was revealed that after PLA and PCL blending, significant changes in the degree of crystallinity of PLA, PCL segmental mobility, sorption capacity of the radical as well as activation energy of rotational diffusion in the amorphous regions of PLA/PCL composition are observed. The characteristic region of biopolymers’ composition from 50/50 to 30/70 % PLA/PCL blends ratio was found, where the inversion transition of PLA from dispersive medium to dispersive phase where an inversion transition is assumed when the continuous medium of the PLA transforms into a discrete phase. The performed studies made it possible for the first time to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the system component ratio on the structural and dynamic characteristics of the PLA/PCL film material at the molecular level.

Background: Tibial shaft fractures are the most common of long bone fractures. The gold standard for management is locked intramedullary nailing. The freehand method under fluoroscopic monitoring is the most often utilized method for distal screw locking. Electromagnetic guidance-based distal screw locking methods have gained popularity recently. The study's objective is to evaluate the system using electromagnetic tracking data against the free-hand technique. Methods: Sixty-three patients who received intramedullary nailing for tibial shaft fractures at our institute between January 2018 and May 2022, were included in this study. Two groups of patients were distinguished: Group FH underwent freehand distal locking and intramedullary nailing, while Group SS underwent electromagnetically guided locking. Radiation exposure period, as well as dose area product, were noted and statistically compared. Results: In terms of dose area product, a mean value of 43.57±31.57 cGy/cm2 in group FH and a mean value of 27.62±11.20 cGy/cm2 in group SS (p < 0.05) was assessed. Concerning the duration of surgery a mean value of 128.83±26.51 minutes was reported in group FH and a mean value of 126.42±48.31 minutes in group SS (p > 0.05). Conclusions: This study confirms the use of electromagnetic-guided locking distal screws reduces the total time of exposure to ionizing radiation, with no difference in operating time.

Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD) is not only associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as T2DM and obesity, but it is also an independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. MASLD has been shown to be independently related to endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. MASLD is characterized by a chronic proinflammatory response that, in turn, may induce a prothrombotic state. Several mechanisms such as endothelial and platelet dysfunction, changes in the coagulation cascade, decreased fibrinolytic activity can contribute to induce the prothrombotic state. Platelets are players and addresses of metabolic dysregulation; obesity and insulin resistance are related to platelet hyperactivation. Furthermore, platelets can exert a direct effect on liver cells, particularly through the release of mediators from granules. Growing data in literature support the use of antiplatelet agent as a treatment for MASLD. The use of antiplatelets drugs seems to have potential clinical implication for the prevention of HCC patients with MASLD, since platelets contribute to fibrosis progression and cancer development. This review aims to summarize the main data on the role of platelets in the pathogenesis of MAFLD and its main complications such as cardiovascular events and the development of liver fibrosis. Furthermore, we will examine the role of antiplatelet therapy not only in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular events but also as a possible anti-fibrotic and anti-tumor agent.

The ability of S. aureus to infect humans and cause a wide range of infections so efficiently is a consequence of the many variant virulence factors that it can produce. Superantigens (SAgs) make up a group of them and include staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE). The main objective of this study was to detect enterotoxin gene cluster (EGC) in S. aureus isolates that caused infections in Paraguayan children in the year 2017, through an observational and cross-sectional study. The detection of the EGC including the seg, sei, sem, sen, seo, and seu genes, was carried out by end-point PCR. 181 S. aureus isolates were collected, most of them caused skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI, n=140, 77%) and came from children under 6 years 50% (n=90). At least one SE gene was detected in 96% (174/181) of isolates and 24% (44/181) carried the entire EGC. An association between methicillin resistance and seg, sei, seo, and seu gene carriage (p ≤0.05) was observed. A high prevalence of EGC was detected in S. aureus isolates collected from infected children attending the main health care centers in Paraguay, its importance is due to the potential of these toxins to aggravate staphylococcal infections.

This paper analyses the application of deep learning techniques for predicting wave overtopping events in port environments using sea state and weather forecasts as inputs. The study was conducted in the outer port of Punta Langosteira, A Coruña, Spain. A video recording infrastructure was installed to monitor overtopping events from 2015 to 2022, identifying 3709 overtopping events. The data collected was merged with actual and predicted data for the sea state and weather conditions during the overtopping events, creating three datasets. We used these datasets to create several machine learning models to predict whether an overtopping event would occur based on sea state and weather conditions. The final models achieved a high accuracy level during the training and testing stages: 0.81, 0.73, and 0.84 average accuracy during training and 0.67, 0.48, and 0.86 average accuracy during testing, respectively. The results of this study have significant implications for port safety and efficiency, as wave overtopping events can cause disruptions and potential damage. Using deep learning techniques for overtopping prediction can help port managers take preventative measures and optimize operations, ultimately improving safety and helping to minimize the economic impact that overtopping events have on the port's activities.

“De-[Constructing] Growth” is offered as a deeper and more useful conceptualization that avoids the negative connotations of, and resistance to, “degrowth” by decoupling profit from unsustainable consumption, production, and inequality.

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) co-polymers show relatively higher in vivo degradation rate compared to other PHAs thus they received a great deal of attention for a wide range of medical applications. Nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with poorly water soluble anticancer drug docetaxel (DCX) were produced using poly 3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate, P(3HB-co-4HB), co-polymers biosynthesised from Cupriavidus sp. USMAA1020 isolated from Malaysian environment. Three co-polymers with different molar proportions of 4-hydroxybutirate (4HB) were used: 16% (PHB16), 30% (PHB30) and 70% (PHB70) 4HB-containing P(3HB-co-4HB). Blank and DCX loaded nanoparticles were then characterized for their size and size distribution, surface charge, encapsulation efficiency and drug release. Pre-formulation studies showed that an optimised formulation could be achieved through the emulsification/solvent evaporation method using PHB70 with the addition of 1.0% PVA, as stabilizer and 0.03% VitE-TPGS, as surfactant. DCX-loaded PHB70 nanoparticles (DCX-PHB70) gave the desired particle size distribution in term of average particles sizes around 150 nm and narrow particle size distribution (PDI below 0.100). The encapsulation efficiencies result showed that at 30% w/w drug-to-polymer ratio: DCX- PHB16 NPs were able to encapsulate up to 42% of DCX; DCX-PHB30 NPs encapsulated up to 46% of DCX and DCX-PHB70 NPs encapsulated up to 50% of DCX within the nanoparticles system. Approximately 60% of DCX was released from the DCX-PHB70 NPs within 7 days for 5%, 10% and 20% of drug to polymer ratio while for the 30% and 40% drug to polymer ratios, an almost complete drug release (98%) after 7 days of incubation was observed.

In the past decades, one of the most widely reported phenomena on Caribbean reefs is the general fall in coral cover and rise in macroalgae. Reefs with low coral cover and high macroalgal abun-dances are often presumed to provide poorer ecosystem functions and services. In this study, we assessed the condition of coral reefs on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica and determined how eight key ecosystem metrics varied in response to differential coral and fleshy macroalgae covers. Most reefs surveyed had high fleshy macroalgae and low live coral covers, with an average (± SD) of 31 ± 28% and 14 ± 13% per site. We found that the rugosity, urchin density, fish richness, total fish biomass, large fish density, and the potential fishery value of the reef were higher in sites with low fleshy macroalgae covers (>10%). The value of many of the ecosystem metrics estimated for coral reefs of the region appears to be lower than what’s been reported for other areas in the Caribbean, which may be related to the high macroalgae covers found on the reefs. Our results concur with the prevailing paradigm that an increase in macroalgae abundance could reduce the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs.

The assessment of existing bridges constitutes a serious challenge for the researchers since their safety evaluation is a complex task due to several sources of uncertainty affecting the parameters identified in the knowledge process. In particular, a high level of uncertainties may arise in the case of prestressing systems requiring special investigation strategies and experimental technologies. The paper aims to investigate how the knowledge uncertainties influence the safety assessment of existing post-tensioned bridges. The semi-probabilistic approach is used, and uncertainties related to the knowledge process are described considering the number of tests, the confidence level assumed for the estimation of the problem parameters, and the measurement errors of in-situ tests. Results concerning a typical post-tensioned bridge are reported and the variability of the outcomes is discussed and compared with a reference case of “perfect knowledge”. The main results of the study confirm the general robustness of the semi-probabilistic Eurocodes safety format and provide an overview of dispersion due to different choices about the number of tests and confidence level. The measurement errors may lead to significant under-estimation of the computed structural capacity with respect to the reference one.

This paper investigates a range of popular differential evolution (DE) configurations to identify components responsible for emergence of structural bias – a recently identified tendency of algorithms to prefer some regions of search space over others, for reasons unrelated to objective function values. Previous work has explored this tendency for genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimisation (PSO), finding a relationship between population size and extent of structural bias, hence highlighting potential weaknesses of those algorithms. In current article, we focus on DE, extend the investigation to include consideration of an algorithmic component that is often overlooked – constraint handling mechanism. Towards this end, a wide range of DE configurations was tested here. Results suggest that DE is generally robust to structural bias. Unlike the case with GA and PSO, population size seems to have no influence on DE structural bias. Only one of variants studied – DE/current-to-best/1/bin – shows clear signs of bias, however, we show that this effect is mitigated by a judicious choice of constraint handling technique. These findings contribute towards explaining widespread success of DE variants in algorithm comparison studies; its robustness to structural bias represents the absence of a factor that may confound other algorithms.

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

The simplest possible structural transition that an electronic system can undergo is Wigner crystallization. The aim of this short review is to discuss the main aspects of three recent experimets on the one dimensional Wigner molecule, starting from scratch. To achieve this task, the Luttinger liquid theory of weakly and strongly interacting fermions will be shortly addressed, together with the basic properties of carbon nanotubes that are require. Then, the most relevant properties of Wigner molecules will be addressed, and finally the experiments will be described.

Background: The practice of self-medication is common worldwide and is an important component of medical self-care. However, the practice can be dangerous and is linked to various risks for the patients and the entire community. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with self-medication among Bangladeshi adults. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between April and June 2021 among Bangladeshi adults (aged >19 years) using convenient sampling. A total of 1320 data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a standardized questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with self-medication practice (SMP). Results: Overall, 41% of adults in our survey reported SMP. The most common illnesses that prompted SMP were common cold/flu (66.4%), gastric problems (65%), and headache (64.4%). The most frequent reasons for SMP were to get better services (30.59%), perceive SMP without side effects (23.28%), and save time with effectiveness (14.56%). Potential risk factors included 10 years (AOR = 1.91; 95% CI: 1.04 - 3.50) and >12 years of schooling (AOR = 5.03; 95% CI: 2.27 - 11.15), being a businessman (AOR = 4.64; 95% CI: 1.74 - 12.37), having ≤6 family members (AOR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.40 - 3.24), being a member of a social group (AOR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.10 - 2.12), a health status check after every six months (AOR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.08 - 2.13), and current ill-health (AOR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.06 - 1.87). Protective factors identified included ≤30 years of age (AOR = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.17 - 0.93), and practice of modern (AOR = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.22- 0.69) and herbal (AOR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.21- 0.97) healing types. Conclusion: More than one-third of the study participants reported practicing self-medication. Increasing the community’s awareness of the extreme consequences of SMP and not just the average experience might sway individuals away from SMP, and implementing strict jurisdiction could be a way to minimize the SMP.

The paper presents a method to assess the effect of electrolyte additives on the energy capacity of Pb-acid batteries. The method applies to any chemically unreactive additive, including suspensions and gels. The approach is thermodynamically based and it leads to the definition of a region of admissible concentrations –the battery’s admissible range– where the battery can undergo an indefinite number of charge/discharge cycles without suffering permanent damage. An experimental procedure to determine this range is presented. The obtained results provide a way to assess the potential of electrolyte additives to improve the energy capacity of Pb-acid batteries. The same results also provide a means to determine the additive concentration that produces the maximum energy capacity increase of the battery. The paper closes with an example of application of the proposed approach to a practical case.

In this work, we synthesized chitosan grafted-poly acrylic acid (CS-g-PA) through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). We also studied the adsorption process of copper and lead ions onto CS-g-PA surface. Adsorption equilibrium studies indicated pH 4.0 as the best pH for the adsorption process, while the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb2+ ions was 98 mg*g-1 and for Cu2+ was 164 mg*g-1, higher adsorption capacities than chitosan alone (CS), where Pb2+ was only 14.8 mg*g-1and Cu2+ was 140 mg*g-1, respectively. Furthermore, the adsorption studies indicated that Langmuir model describes all the experimental data. All these results suggest that the new CS-g-PA polymers had potential as adsorbent for hazardous and toxic metal ions produced by different industries.

Biodiversity has become an issue of global anxiety over the past decades due to its rapid decline worldwide. Bangladesh as one of the most densely populated countries in the world is no more exception. The country, although, was once very rich in biodiversity, during the last few decades as a consequence of the rapid reduction in forest area, urbanisation, habitat modification, unsustainable natural resources use and collection and overall climate change it has decreased alarmingly. Of late, the government, as a signatory of various regional and international conservation treaties, has taken various initiatives to improve country’s dwindling biodiversity. This paper reviews the present situation of biodiversity in Bangladesh, management trends and major causes of biodiversity loss. A separate statutory body is fundamental to ensure conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits arisen from biodiversity in the country.

To improve efficacy and safety of sunscreen emulsions, UV‐filter skin permeation could be kept as low as possible by reducing UV‐filter content or changing emulsion composition. In this work, different lipid phase ratio (12, 14 and 16% w/w) were assessed for their ability to affect the technological and sensory properties of O/W emulsions in which bemotrizinol (BMTZ), a broad spectrum sunscreen agent, was incorporated free or loaded into nanostructured lipid nanocarriers (NLC) to reduce its release from the vehicle and, hence, its skin permeation. The following technological properties were evaluated in vitro by suitable methodologies: spreadability, viscosity, pH, occlusion factor, BMTZ release, sun protection factor (SPF). Sensory attributes were assessed by trained panelists in three different phases: before/during pick‐up, rub‐in, after application. Raising the lipid phase ratio led to an increase of viscosity and to a corresponding drop of spreadability while the incorporation of BMTZ‐loaded NLC determined a decrease of occlusion factor and an increase of SPF. No BMTZ release was observed from all emulsions. Sensory attributes were mainly affected by lipid phase ratio. These results suggest that lipid phase ratio and BMTZ incorporation into NLC could contribute to determine technological and sensory properties of O/W emulsions.

Precise monitoring of individual crop growth and health status is crucial for precision agriculture practices. However, traditional manual inspection methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and often lack the spatial resolution required for detailed analysis. This research addresses the need for efficient and high-resolution crop monitoring by leveraging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery and advanced computational techniques. The primary objective was to develop a methodology for precise identification, extraction, and monitoring of individual corn crops throughout their growth cycle. This was achieved by integrating UAV-derived data with image processing, computational geometry, and machine learning techniques. UAV imagery was ac-quired bi-weekly at altitudes of 40m and 70m, capturing the entire growth cycle of a corn crop from planting to harvest. A time-series Canopy Height Model (CHM) was generated by analyzing the differences between the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and the Digital Surface Model (DSM) derived from the UAV data. Local spatial analysis and image processing techniques were em-ployed to determine the local maximum height of each crop. Subsequently, a Voronoi data model was developed to delineate individual crop canopies, successfully identifying 13,000 out of 13,050 corn crops in the study area. For enhanced accuracy in canopy size delineation, vegetation indices were incorporated into the Voronoi model segmentation, refining the initial canopy area esti-mates by eliminating interference from soil and shadows. The proposed methodology enables precise estimation and monitoring of crop canopy size, height, biomass reduction, lodging, and stunted growth over time, providing valuable insights for precision agriculture practices. This work contributes to the scientific community by demonstrating the potential of integrating UAV technology, computational geometry, and machine learning for accurate and efficient crop mon-itoring at the individual plant level.

This study develops a structure for mapping native vegetation in a transition area between Brazilian Cerrado and Atlantic Forest from integrated spatial information from the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites. Most studies use this data separately, however, the integrated use of optical sensors with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors can improve the methodology for classifying land use and land cover (LULC). The fusion of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, for example, can increase the accuracy of mapping algorithms, using complementary information, such as spectral, backscattering, polarimetry, and interferometry. The study area comprises the Lobo Reservoir Hydrographic Basin, which is part of an environmental conservation unit protected by Brazilian law and with significant human development. LULC were classified, using the random forest deep learning algorithm. The classifying attributes were backscatter coefficients, polarimetric decomposition, and interferometric coherence for radar data (Sentinel-1), and optical spectral data, comprising bands in the red edge, near infrared, and shortwave infrared (Sentinel-2). The attributes were evaluated in three settings in which the SAR and optical data were evaluated separately (C1 and C2, respectively) and in an integrated manner (C3). The study found greater accuracy for C3 (96.54%), an improvement of nearly 2% compared to C2 (94.78%) and more than 40% in relation to C1 (55.73%). The classification algorithm encountered significant challenges in identifying wetlandsin C1, but performance improved in C3, enhancing differentiation by stratifying a greater number of classes during training and facilitating visual interpretation during sampling. Accordingly, the use of SAR and optical data becomes an alternative to optimize LULC mapping in tropical regions, due to the limited influence of atmosphere on images in the microwave range.

In this study, we address the formidable challenge of solving large-scale Max-Cut problems (MCP). We introduce a rapid computational procedure utilizing a hybrid 1-flip/r-flip local search heuristic. This innovative strategy significantly reduces the computational time required for MCP problems while consistently generating solutions of exceptional quality. The paper presents substantial computational insights, showcasing the effectiveness of our approach on very-large-scale Max-Cut instances with varying densities. Our proposed heuristic is rigorously evaluated by comparing its performance against a quantum annealing solver, leveraging a multi-start Tabu Search framework. The results underscore the potency of this unique combination as an efficient and effective solution for large-scale QUBO problems. Notably, our hybrid heuristic consistently delivers high-quality solutions within the stringent CPU time limits of 600 seconds, demonstrating its efficacy across Max-Cut instances ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 variables. This research contributes to advancing the state-of-the-art in large-scale QUBO problem-solving, offering a powerful and time-efficient approach with broad applicability.

Majorana bound states in topological superconductors have attracted intense research activity in view of applications in topological quantum computation. However, they are not the only example of topological bound states that can occur in such systems. We here study a model in which both Majorana and Tamm bound states compete. We show both numerically and analytically that, surprisingly, the Tamm state remains partially localized even when the spectrum becomes gapless. Despite this fact, we demonstrate that the Majorana polarization shows a clear transition between the two regimes.

This paper proposes two max-pooling engines, named the RTB-MAXP engine and the CMB-MAXP engine, with a scalable window size parameter for FPGA-based convolutional neural network (CNN) implementation. The max-pooling operation for the CNN can be decomposed into two stages, i.e., a horizontal axis max-pooling operation and a vertical axis max-pooling operation. These two one-dimensional max-pooling operations are performed by tracking the rank of the values within the window in the RTB-MAXP engine and cascading the maximum operations of the values in CMB-MAXP engine. Both the RBM-MAXP engine and the CMB-MAXP engine were implemented using VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) and verified by simulations. They have been employed for and tested in our CNN accelerator targeting at the CNN model YOLOv4-CSP-S-Leaky for object detection.

The paper focuses on the application of a multilevel, integrative and territorial approach to the protection of cultural heritage through planning instruments in Serbia. It points out the problems of the sectoral approach and discusses international recommendations that can be integrated into the planning methodology. The case study is the area of Djerdap National Park, which has an already established international and national importance. The research suggests that the cultural heritage in the area, with the exception of the Roman limes, is still recognized at the level of individual localities. The study emphasizes the importance of aligning all levels of governance to safeguard the whole spatial entity rather than focusing solely on its particular areas. The interna-tional and national importance of the planning area contributes to the strengthening of awareness of heritage and its institutional protection. However, the vitality of the area, which is key to its sustainable development, comes from the local level. Planning documents contribute to the inte-gration of local values and local communities into development programs and projects.

Glycosidic linkage analysis was conducted on the unfractionated polysaccharides in the alcohol-insoluble residues (AIRs) prepared from six red seaweeds (Gracilariopsis sp., Prionitis sp., Mastocarpus papillatus, Callophyllis sp., Mazzaella splendens, and Palmaria palmata) using GC-MS/FID analysis of partially methylated alditol acetates (PMAAs). The cell walls of P. palmata primarily contained mixed-linkage xylans and small amounts of sulfated galactans and cellulose. In contrast, the unfractionated polysaccharides of the other five species were rich in galactans displaying diverse 3,6-anhydro-galactose and galactose linkages with varied sulfation patterns. Different levels of cellulose were also observed. This glycosidic linkage method offers advantages for cellulose analysis over traditional monosaccharide analysis that is known for underrepresenting glucose in crystalline cellulose. Relative linkage compositions calculated from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements showed that anhydro sugar linkages generated more response in the latter detection method. This improved linkage workflow presents a useful tool for studying polysaccharide structural variations across red seaweed species. Furthermore, for the first time, relative linkage compositions from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements, along with normalized FID and total ion current (TIC) chromatograms without peak assignments, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the technique's potential to differentiate various red seaweed species.

This study presents the synthesis and electrochemical evaluation of nitrogen-doped vanadium oxide (N-V2O3/C) as a cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), using a hydrothermal method. Compared to undoped V2O3/C, N-V2O3/C exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity, capacity, and electrochemical kinetics, attributed to the incorporation of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen. Initial charge-discharge cycles indicate phase transitions to amorphous vanadium oxides, enhancing conductivity. N-V2O3/C shows a high specific capacity of 168.4 mAh g−1 at 10 A g−1 and remarkable reversibility, highlighted by the transient existence of intermediate species during cycling. Optimal electrochemical performance is achieved with a vanadium to nitrogen molar ratio of 2:3, indicating the significant impact of nitrogen doping concentration on the material’s efficiency. This work underscores the potential of N-V2O3/C as a superior cathode material for AZIBs.

Using density functional theory (DFT), the density of states of NH4V3O8 (NVO) was analyzed pre and post-oxygen defects (Od) formation. The findings revealed a reduced bandgap in NVO after Od introduction, emphasizing the role of Od in enhancing conductivity of the material, thus improving its electrochemical attributes. Through the water bath method, both NVO and its oxygen-deficient counterpart, (NH4)2V10O25⸱8H2O (NVOd), were synthesized as potential cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). Experimental outcomes resonated with DFT predictions, highlighting the beneficial role of oxygen defects in boosting electrical conductivity. Notably, the refined material displayed a remarkable capacity of 479.3 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1, underscoring its promise for advanced energy storage solutions.

A total of 473 metabolites were identified from 4 sour cherry genotypes using UPLC-TOF-MS. Untargeted metabolomics revealed the dominant chemical groups present in sour cherries. PCA showed that the diversity in sour-cherry metabolites was due to the genotype differences indicating iditol, malic acid, chlorobenzene, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, and pyroglutamic acid as the predominant contributors. The variable importance in the projection (VIP > 1.0) in partial least-squares–discriminant analysis described 20 biomarker metabolites, representing the cherry metabolome profiles. A heatmap of Pearson’s correlation analysis between the 20 biomarker metabolites and antioxidant activities identified seven antioxidant determinants that displayed the highest correlations with different types of antioxidant activities. This study of correlating metabolomics and antioxidant activities elucidated that the higher nutritional value and biological functions of select sour cherry genotypes can be useful for the development of nutraceutical and functional foods.

Meningitis is a severe disease associated with death in children under five with highest rates of infections under age of one. Vaccines for Neisseria meningitides and Haemophilus influenza are used to prevent the main causative agents of meningitis. Administration of H. influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine is recommended at 2, 4 and 6 months with a booster dose at 18 months. N. meningitidis has two commercially available vaccines, the pure polysaccharide is recommended at 24 months meanwhile the protein-conjugated vaccines at 12 months. We sought in this study to examine if coadministering the vaccines for the two main meningitis causing bacteria might be synergistic as a preliminary step towards the possibility of shuffling immunization schedule. So, we coadministered Hib vaccine with commercially available vaccines either quadrate (ACWY) polysaccharide meningococcal (Men) or conjugated meningococcal (Nim) vaccines in Balb/C mice (n = 6/group) and compared to each vaccine administered separately and controls. Thirty-five days post immunization, we measured specific antibodies titers. Hib vaccine increased Men antibody titers significantly for serotypes Y and W. When Hib vaccine was coadministrated with Nim, antibody titer for Y, W and A significantly increased. For serotype C, there was no significant difference in antibody titers among immunized groups. As for effect of meningococcal vaccines on Hib, Men significantly increased Hib antibody titers while Nim had no effect. Collectively, our data suggested that coadministration of Hib and Men or Nim vaccines was safe and had synergistic effect on immune responses elicited to both vaccines. Further studies are needed before immunization schedule modifications. Such immunization schedule recommendation should provide better protection against this life-threatening disease in young children.

In the Mediterranean Sea, there are two critical issues affecting marine benthic biocenosis: the sedimentation process and the increasing trend in marine biodiversity loss. These processes are very marked along the western side of Calabria coastline where siltation is one of the main reasons for the regression of Posidonia beds in the regional coastal waters. This research aims to investigate the relationships between the geomorphological features of the debris source areas, represented by fluvial basins, and the distribution of Posidonia meadows. So, a geomorphological study of the Tyrrhenian fluvial basins with area greater than 200 km2 and its correlation with the mapping of the meadows in the Calabria Tyrrhenian waters was carried out. Furthermore, in order to assess the increased level of burial in a Posidonia oceanica meadow and its health state over time, a program of Posidonia monitoring was undertaken between 2000 and 2010, in a test area located in the Marine Regional Park of Isca (Calabria, Southern Italy). The results of this survey highlighted that, at the beginning of the study period, for a silting rate of 4 - 5 cm/year, the meadow suffered a reduction of its photosynthetic ratio with a rate of mortality of 50%. In the following years, the siltation rate reach 12 cm/year in 2010 and the meadow began to disappear. Therefore, the marine pollution by sedimentation represents a serious factor for the regression of Posidonia oceanica meadows, enhancing the risk of a gradual loss in marine biodiversity.

Top-down models are defined by hardware architects to provide information on the utilization of the different hardware components. The target is to isolate the users from the complexity of the hardware architecture while giving them insight into how efficiently the code is using the resources. In this paper, we explore the applicability of 4 top-down models defined for different hardware architectures powering state-of-the-art HPC clusters (Intel Skylake, Fujitsu A64FX, IBM Power9, and Huawei Kunpeng 920) and propose a model for AMD Zen 2. We study a parallel CFD code used for scientific production to compare these 5 Top-Down models. We evaluate the level of insight achieved, the clarity of the information, the ease of use, and the conclusions that each one allows us to reach.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common complication after preterm birth. Pasteurized donor human milk (DHM) has increasingly become the standard of care for very preterm infants over the use of preterm formula (PF) if mother’s own milk (MOM) is unavailable. Studies have reported beneficial effects of DHM on BPD. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies on the effects of DHM on BPD and other respiratory outcomes. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of RCT’s could not demonstrate that supplementation of MOM with DHM reduced BPD when compared to PF (3 studies, risk ratio [RR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.60–1.32). However, meta-analysis of observational studies showed that DHM supplementation reduced BPD (8 studies, RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.67–0.90). An exclusive human milk diet reduced the risk of BPD, compared to a diet with PF and/or bovine milk-based fortifier (3 studies, RR 0.80, 95% CI 0.68–0.95). Feeding raw MOM, compared to feeding pasteurized MOM, protected against BPD (2 studies, RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.62–0.96). In conclusion, our data suggest that DHM protects against BPD in very preterm infants, but pasteurization of human milk reduces the benefit.

The research reported on this paper was aimed at improving the overall efficiency of a PDO certified artisanal cheese production process. Being a PDO certified foodstuff by the EU, it is considered to have properties and qualities determined by the geographical environment in which is made, with its production taking place in a specific and determined geographical location, in this case the Serra da Estrela region. In that sense, the authors conducted a mapping according to a systemic perspective of the processes involved in the context of manufacturing and distribution of certified Serra da Estrela cheese. Numerous methods were used throughout the process, such as a systemic design analysis, and techniques derived from ethnographic methods, which led to the collection of data in the field and consequently provided the immersion of the researcher in genuine work situations. Critical points were identified and emphasized in the systemic map with the purpose of encouraging initiatives to address and overcome the gaps and inefficiencies detected. The systemic design analysis triggered the development of design work. Observations following an ethnographic approach identified ergonomic risks in cheese making during the process of cutting excess chips, fostering the emergence of musculoskeletal disorders at the wrist. A tool that fits best to the task at hand was developed. A prototype of the new tool enabled collecting feedback from use in the work context, in order to inform product development. The domains of agricultural production and microbiology, considering the specific microorganisms developed trough the ripening process of the cheese, turned out to be aspects of high importance for the issue under focus, contributing to a broader understanding of the ripening process and its risks, simultaneously improving the efficiency and success of cheese production. If it were not for the systemic analysis, which served as a link between the boundaries of distinct domains such as the risk of microorganism contamination, ergonomics, energy efficiency, legislation and regulation policies, transportation challenges and economic viability, approached throughout the research. Simultaneously creating bridges between them, the various problems might not have been detected in the first place, as they are usually addressed in specialized disciplines, predetermined by the restrictions of each specific area of knowledge. As a consequence of the development of this research, which was based on an analysis that sought to establish possible connections between various disciplines and tried to constantly maintain a holistic perspective, making new connections and observing the issues from a new angle, apart from the already established methodologies. All this allowed to lay out the seeds for the development of a plan to tackle the critical points identified by the systemic analysis reported in this paper.

Wheat is widely grown in the Mediterranean region, where plants frequently face water shortages. Recently, more attention to rationalizing irrigation water has been increased due to the adoption of sustainable agricultural systems. Therefore, two field trials were conducted at the Agriculture Research Station of Nubaria, Egypt, in two consecutive seasons (2017/2018 and 2018/2019) to examine three irrigation regimes' effects, i.e., 60, 80, and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) combined with foliar ascorbic acid (AsA) or vitamin B2 (VB2) on yield and water productivity of wheat in two separate experiments. A split-plot design was used with three replicates. Irrigation treatments occupied the main plots, while the subplot in the first experiment was placed by ascorbic acid (AsA) and vitamin B2 in the second experiment. Results indicated that 100% ETc produced higher wheat yield and its attributes and insignificantly surpassed 80% ETc. Compared to the unsprayed plots, the foliar application of 6 mM ascorbic acid or 2.0 mM vitamin B2 significantly increased grain yield, components, and water use efficiency. The interaction between irrigation regimes (100% ETc or 80% ETc) and foliar application of 6.0 mM ascorbic acid or 2.0 mM vitamin B2 resulted in the highest values with no significant difference. Foliar application of ascorbic acid or vitamin B2 saved 20% of irrigation water while yielding a reduction that did not exceed 10%. The biplot graph of treatments x traits (TT) was a useful statistical tool for examining the impact of treatments on yield and its characteristics and identifying the links between these factors. Results suggest that riboflavin or ascorbic acid may have a potential role as an effective antioxidant for enhancing the tolerance for drought stress in wheat.

This article presents a case study on the structural assessment of a reinforced concrete (RC) foundation exposed to low temperatures. The foundation supports a 19,500 m³-capacity tank with low-temperature (-89°C) ethane. Icing and bubbling were observed on the tank’s surface soon after it started operations. Condensation was also observed at the bottom of the 0.8 m-depth RC slab, which raised concerns about the structural condition of the concrete. This study provides details of the field and analytical investigations conducted to assess the structural condition of the foundation. Heat transfer finite element (FE) analyses were performed to examine the concrete sections subjected to low temperatures. It was found that the ethane leakage produced a low temperature on the top side of the concrete foundation of +9.7°C. Overall, the temperatures calculated by the FE analyses were in good agreement with actual field measurements, within a ±5% accuracy. The simplified heat transfer equation for porous media used in this study was sufficiently accurate to model the effects of the ethane leakage in the concrete foundation, provided the ambient temperature at the site is taken into account in the analysis. The results also confirm that reinforcing bars can be neglected in the thermal analysis of massive concrete slabs. The results from the field measurements and FE analyses confirmed that the structural integrity of the RC foundation was never compromised. The approaches, methods and techniques discussed in this article are deemed suitable to solve the practical and scientific challenges involved in the structural assessment and repairs of large special structures. Accordingly, they can serve as useful reference and guidance for engineers and practitioners working in the field of forensic engineering.

The study of angular correlations of heavy-flavor particles in hadronic collisions can provide crucial insight into the heavy-quark production, showering and hadronization processes. The comparison with model predictions allows us to discriminate among different approaches for heavy-quark production and hadronization, as well as different treatments of the underlying event employed by the models to reproduce correlation observables. In ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where a deconfined state of matter, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), is created, heavy-flavor correlations can shed light on the modification of the heavy-quark fragmentation due to interaction of charm and beauty quarks with the QGP constituents, as well as characterize their energy loss processes while traversing the medium. Insight into possible emergence of collective-like mechanisms in smaller systems, resembling those observed in heavy-ion collisions, can also be obtained by performing correlation studies in high-multiplicity proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions. In this review, the most recent and relevant measurements of heavy-flavor correlations performed in all collision systems at the LHC and RHIC will be presented, and the new understandings that they provide will be discussed.

Explosive boiling is a fast phase transition from an ultra-thin liquid film to vapor under an extremely high heat flux, which typically has been studied using molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) method. The present MDS study investigated the explosive boiling of a liquid argon nanofilm over different solid copper surfaces with different nanowall patterns including parallel and cross nanowalls. For each surface, atomic motion trajectories, number of liquid and vapor argon atoms, heat flux, and, mainly, onset time of explosive boiling were investigated. The simulation results indicated that explosive boiling occurs earlier on parallel and cross nanowall surfaces than on an ideally smooth surface, regardless of the topology and configuration of nanowalls. Moreover, the results revealed that by using the cross nanowall surfaces, the onset time of explosive boiling decreased by 0.7–4% compared to the parallel nanowall surfaces. In addition, it was found that the onset time of explosive boiling strongly depends on the potential energy barrier and the movement space between nanowalls for both parallel and cross nanowall surfaces. Furthermore, simulation findings showed that even though increasing the height of cross nanowalls increases heat flux and temperature of the fluid argon domain, it does not necessarily result in a shorter onset time of explosive boiling. These findings demonstrate the capability of cross nanowall surfaces for explosive boiling, thereby could be utilized in future surface design for thermal management applications.

Tissue-like phantoms are widely used as a model for mimicking the optical properties of live tissue. This paper presents the results of a diffusion reflection method as well as fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy measurements of fluorescein-conjugated gold nanorods in solution as well as inserted in solid tissue-imitating phantoms. A lack of consistency between the fluorescence lifetime results of the solutions and the phantoms raises a question about the ability of tissue-like phantoms to maintain the optical properties of inserted contrast agents.

The implementation of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is changing the scenario in the surgical treatment of early-stage cervical cancer and the oncologic safety of replacing bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy with SLN biopsy is currently under investigation. One of the undisputed values of SLN biopsy is its diagnostic accuracy in detecting low-volume metastases (LVM) via pathologic ultrastaging. In early-stage cervical cancer, the reported incidence of LVM ranges from 4 to 20%. The prognostic impact and the role of adjuvant treatment in patients with LVM is still unclear. Some non-prespecified analyses in prospective studies showed no impact on the oncologic outcomes compared to node-negative disease. However, the heterogeneity of the studies, the differences in the disease stage and the use of adjuvant treatment, and the concomitant pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) make any conclusion on this topic hard. Current guidelines suggest considering micrometastasis (MIC) as a node-positive disease, while isolated tumor cells (ITC) as a node-negative disease, with a low level of evidence. This review aims to highlight the unanswered questions about the definition, identification, prognostic and therapeutic role of LVM and underline the present and future challenges we are facing. We hope this review will guide further research, giving robust evidence on LVM and their impact on clinical practice.

In 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimated that there were 68,928 mustangs living on United States public lands in 10 western states. The agency uses Appropriate Management Levels to determine the number of mustangs who need to be removed from the land. Once removed and processed, mustangs are sent to adoptions or sales events or retained in short-or long-term holding facilities. Adoptions and sales are the leading avenues for rehoming mustangs; however, the number of horses the BLM can place fluctuates annually and never approaches the greater number removed from the range. To explore opportunities for increasing the number of mustang adoptions, we conducted in-depth interviews with 23 horse trainers located on the U.S. East Coast, asking about participants’ training programs, relationships with horses, perceptions of mustangs, and challenges that mustangs face in the dressage and eventing industries. Participants had varying experiences with mustangs; however, all were willing to work with a mustang in some capacity. Participants voiced the need for more satellite adoption locations on the East Coast to decrease barriers to acquiring a mustang, notably cost and time, and for expanding existing training programs to include eventing and dressage.

We report the relative humidity (R.H.) sensing response of a resistive sensor, employing sensing layers based on a ternary nanohybrid comprising holey carbon nanohorns (CNHox), potassium chloride (KCl), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at mass ratios 7/1/2, 6.5/1.5/2, and 6/2/2 (w/w/w/w). The sensing structure comprises a silicon substrate, a SiO2 layer, and interdigitated transducer (IDT) electrodes. The sensing film is deposited on the sensing structure via the drop-casting method. The sensing layers' morphology and composition are investigated through Scanning Electron Microscopy (S.E.M.) and RAMAN spectroscopy. The ternary hybrid-based thin film resistance increases when the sensors are exposed to R.H., ranging from 0% to 100%. The manufactured devices show a room temperature response comparable to a commercial capacitive R.H. sensor and are characterized by excellent linearity, rapid response time, and good sensitivity. The presented sensors exhibit superior performance in terms of sensitivity compared to other similarly manufactured and tested sensors that employ a CNHox-based sensing layer. We explain the sensing role of each constituent of the ternary hybrid nanocomposites based on their chemical and physical properties, electronic properties, and affinity for water molecules. Different alternative sensing mechanisms are considered and discussed, such as the decreasing number of holes in the holey CNHox at the interaction with water molecules, proton conduction, and PVP swelling.

Annually, more than 1.5 million preventable new hepatitis B (HBV) infections continue to occur, with an estimated global burden of 296 million individuals living with chronic hepatitis B infection. This substantial health challenge results in over 820,000 annual deaths attributed to complications such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV vaccination remains the cornerstone of public health policy to prevent chronic hepatitis B and its related complications. It serves as a crucial element in the global effort to eliminate HBV, as established by the World Health Organization (WHO), with an ambitious 90% vaccination target by 2030. However, reports on global birth dose coverage reveal substantial variability, with an overall coverage rate of only 46%. This comprehensive review thoroughly examines global trends in HBV vaccination coverage, investigating the profound impact of vaccination on HBV prevalence and its consequences across diverse populations, including both high-risk and general demographics. Additionally, the review addresses the formidable challenges and facilitating factors essential for achieving WHO's HBV vaccination coverage objectives and elimination strategies in the coming decade and beyond.

This study presents a platform for ex-vivo detection of cancer nodules, addressing automation of medical diagnoses in surgery and associated histological analyses. The proposed approach takes advantage of the property of cancer to alter the mechanical and acoustical properties of tissues, because of changes in stiffness and density. A force sensor and an ultrasound probe were combined to detect such alterations during force-regulated indentations. To explore the specimens, regardless of their orientation and shape, a scanned area of the test sample was defined using shape recognition applying optical background subtraction to the images captured by a camera. The motorized platform was validated using seven phantom tissues, simulating the mechanical and acoustical properties of ex-vivo diseased tissues, including stiffer nodules that can be encountered in pathological conditions during histological analyses. Results demonstrated the platform’s ability to automatically explore and identify the inclusions in the phantom. Overall, the system was able to correctly identify up to 90.3% of the inclusions by means of stiffness in combination with ultrasound measurements, paving pathway towards robotic palpation during intraoperative examinations.

Early discharge after childbirth has led to a rise in neonatal readmission, becoming a major concern in recent decades. Our research aimed to identify the risk factors and incidence of neonatal readmission, as well as explore preventive measures. Our study at the Clinical Hospital of Pediatrics in Ploiești, Romania included 108 neonates admitted during the neonatal period. This accounted for 2.06% of all admissions (5226). The most prevalent cases were malnutrition (25%), fever (20.3%) and bronchiolitis (17.5%). Diarrhea and infectious gastroenteritis were also observed (14.8%), along with acute rhinoconjunctivitis (9.2%) and late onset sepsis (3.7%). No deaths were recorded. The most significant characteristics identified were number of children (p<0.001) and age at maternity discharge (p<0.001). By following the prevention rules, malnutrition, feeding errors, and infections can be avoided. This includes practicing proper hand hygiene for both mothers and medical staff, as well as educating and demonstrating to mothers the benefits of breastfeeding. In addition, all newborns discharged from the maternity ward should benefit from follow-up at 7-10 days of life. Our results confirm the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team and endorse promoting breastfeeding. Implementing quality control measures and regularly evaluating the surveillance program will help improve its effectiveness.

This paper presents a piezoresistive pressure sensor with a shield layer for improved stability. Compared with the conventional piezoresistive pressure sensors, p-type piezoresistors are covered by an n-type shield layer, which is formed by ion implantation. The proposed pressure sensors have been successfully fabricated by bulk micromachining techniques. The impact of electrical field on piezoresistors is studied by simulation. The temperature drift of the pressure sensor has been investigated by both simulation and experimental measurement. Characteristics of developed pressure sensors are tested from -40 C to 125 C. A sensitivity of 0.022 mV/V/KPa and a maximum non-linearity of 0.085% FS are measured for the fabricated sensor in a pressure range of 1 MPa. The temperature coefficients of resistance of shielded piezoresistors are found to be smaller than those of un-shielded ones. It is demonstrated that the shield layer is able to reduce the drift caused by electrical field and ambient temperature variation.

This study presents head losses (hL) and loss coefficients (K) obtained experimentally for schedule 40 PVC pipe elbows, with 90o and 45o in small commercial diameters of ½ to 1½ inches that are commonly used in small networks. The investigation was conducted on a system constructed with short pipes and fittings necessary to measure, direct, and control flow, as well as to evaluate pressure head losses at elbows. Simple water flow was used with rates of 0.342 to 0.980 lps (Q), which generated moderate Reynolds numbers (Re) of 13337 to 80221. It was found that hL showed dependence on the velocity head in all elbows, as well as that hL are greater as the diameter increases for same velocity head. The K values in the elbows tended to be constant when Q > 0.75 lps, but for Q < 0.75 lps the K coefficient increased inversely proportional to Q, becoming larger as the diameter increased. Likewise, the K coefficient tended to increase as Re decreased, while K tended to be constant as Re increased. The results of the experimental coefficient were compared against K values reported in the literature, where significant similarities and discrepancies were found.

Background: Tele-rehabilitation has grown significantly in the past years, especially in 2020 when it has been a crucial tool for supporting patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the context of tele-rehabilitation, serious games have a significant role. However, realizing software for serious games capable of responding to the variety of user needs is resource demanding. Methods: we present Proteo, a modular framework for developing serious games from scratch, but with the ability of providing a high-level interface for game customization by therapists and researchers. We also present two serious game implementation examples with analysis of end user’s and therapists/researchers’ satisfaction. Results: by involving a group of 11 specialized therapists and 9 end users we analyzed the Proteo user’s satisfaction. We found that therapists and end users scored high level of involvement, and the therapists scored also high level of suitability. More in depth, both groups showed significant differences between positive and negative feeling, with positive feeling scoring higher than negative ones. Finally, concerning Users’ level of suitability the condition of successfulness of the system, ability to control, clarity and helpfulness were reported as high while the difficulty of the system and the difficulty of the task were reported as low. Conclusions: the proposed framework is a step forward in providing a comprehensive open-source, modular framework, to develop serious games for tele-rehabilitation. Proteo is distributed with a MIT license and available to researchers on GitHub and has been well accepted by the users we involved in the evaluation tests.

In this project, four of fibers Bragg gratings were fabricated by injecting different volumes of liquids (star line Glass Mechanix optical adhesive material, olive oil diluted with ethanol) into the hollow core fiber. The amplitude splitting interferometric technique with a high resolution specially designed translation stage was used for the fabrication process. The fabrication was done using ultraviolet laser operated at wavelength 405nm. The fabricated Bragg length of the four fibers is equal to 3.8 cm. The results presented fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with successful fabrication at 653.3 nm Bragg reflected wavelength.

This review focuses on the emerging evidence for the association between estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF) and metabolic risk factors. Given the challenges associated with directly measuring cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in large populations, eCRF presents a practical alternative for predicting metabolic health risks. A literature search identified six relevant cohort studies from 2021 to 2024 that investigated the association of eCRF with hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and obesity. The review findings highlight a consistent inverse relationship between higher eCRF and lower incidence of metabolic risks in line with CRF cohort studies. This review highlights the importance of low eCRF as a primordial indicator for metabolic risks and underscores the need for broader application. Future research directions should include exploring eCRF's predictive accuracy across diverse populations and health outcomes and testing its real-world applicability in healthcare and public health settings.

Establishment of protected areas (PAs) is one of the key global conservation strategies that currently cover approximately 15% of the earth’s land surface. Globally, PA networks are designed to curb the growing anthropogenic pressures in areas with high biological diversity. Despite the importance of PAs in conserving the vanishing biodiversity and unique habitats, many of them are in critical condition due to poor governance thus functioning below the expected level. Moreover, in many developing countries, the PA coverage is below the global standard. Recognizing their contemporary role in conservation, governments have recently agreed to expand the global PA coverage to 17% by the year 2020 (Aichi target 11). This book with eight chapters from different regions of the world provides an overview of the PAs governance, institutional mechanisms, conservation benefits, limitations and challenges associated with their respective policy discourse, integrated management, and functional attributes. Protected areas expect to to play an important role in the long rn in conservation and protection of biodiversity and ecosystems particularly in countries where population pressure and habitat loss are high. Regular intervention, political commitment, and effective governance are essential for the sustainability of PAs across the world. Here, we also attempted to shed some light on future development clues for the sustainable management and monitoring of PAs worldwide.

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

A facilitative transport system exists on the blood brain barrier (BBB) that has been tacitly assumed to be a path for glutamate entry to brain. But glutamate is a non-essential amino acid whose brain content is much greater than plasma, and studies in vivo show that glutamate does not enter brain in material quantities except in those small regions with fenestrated capillaries (circumventricular organs). The situation became understandable when luminal (blood facing) and abluminal (brain facing) membranes were isolated and studied separately. Facilitative transport of glutamate and glutamine exist only on the luminal membranes whereas Na+-dependent transport systems for glutamate, glutamine and some other amino acids are present only on the abluminal membrane. The Na+-dependent cotransporters of the abluminal membrane are in a position to actively transport amino acids from the extracellular fluid (ECF) into the endothelial cells of the BBB. These powerful secondary active transporters couple the energy of the Na+-gradient to move glutamate and glutamine into the ECF whereupon glutamate can exit to blood on the luminal facilitative glutamate transporter. Glutamine may also exit brain on a separate facilitative transport system that exists on the luminal membranes or glutamine can be hydrolyzed to glutamate within the BBB thereby releasing ammonia that is freely diffusible. The γ-glutamyl participate cycle participates indirectly by producing oxoproline (pyroglutamate) that stimulates almost all secondary active transporters yet discovered in the abluminal membranes of the BBB.

Energy consumption of processors and memories is quickly becoming a limiting factor in the deployment of large computing systems. For this reason it is important to understand the energy performance of these processors and to study strategies allowing to use them in the most efficient way. In this work we focus on computing and energy performance of the Knights Landing Xeon Phi, the latest Intel many-core architecture processor for HPC applications. We consider the 64-core Xeon Phi 7230, and profile its performance and energy efficiency using both its on-chip MCDRAM and the off-chip DDR4 memory as the main storage for application data. As a benchmark application we use a Lattice Boltzmann code heavily optimized for this architecture, and implemented using several different arrangements of the application data in memory (data-layouts, in short). We also assess the dependence of energy consumption on data-layouts, memory configurations (DDR4 or MCDRAM), and number of threads per core. We finally consider possible trade-offs between computing performance and energy efficiency, tuning the clock frequency of the processor using the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technique.

In forensic acoustics, a possible area of analysis is represented by unwanted sound that 1 is perceived as a source of intrusion or disturbance within a certain auditory context. This context 2 is defined as the "auditory scene" and refers to the set of sounds present in a specific environment. 3 The presence of unwanted sounds in the auditory scene can cause a wide range of negative effects, 4 including disturbance, discomfort, moral or immoral harm, and other types of negative impact on the 5 health and well-being of individuals exposed to noise. In 2022, the technical specification UNI/TS 6 11844:2022 dedicated to the measurement and analysis of intrusive noise was published. The standard 7 introduces the concept of intrusive noise and defines its calculation methods based on environmental 8 measurements. The purposes of this technical specification is to provide an objective support to 9 methods already in used in acoustic disputes, where the assessment of the annoyance of a noise is 10 often a subjective evaluation of the technician. This work delves into the application to some real 11 cases, identifying the potentiality and the limits of the standardized method.

Wearable Biosensor Technology (WBT) has emerged as a transformative tool in the educational system over the past decade. This systematic review encompasses a comprehensive analysis of WBT utilization in educational settings over a 10-year span (2012-2022), highlighting both the evolution of this field and its integration to address challenges in education by integrating technology to solve specific educational challenges, such as enhancing student engagement, monitoring stress and cognitive load, improving learning experiences, and providing real-time feedback for both students and educators. By exploring these aspects, the review sheds light on the potential implications of WBT for the future of learning. A rigorous and systematic search of major academic databases, including Google Scholar and Scopus, was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Relevant studies were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The articles selected were assessed for methodological quality and bias using established tools. The process of data extraction and synthesis followed a structured framework. Key findings include the shift from theoretical exploration to practical implementation with the EEG being the predominant measurement, aiming to explore mental states, physiological constructs, and teaching effectiveness. Wearable biosensors are significantly impacting the educational field, serving as an important resource for educators and a tool for students. Their application has the potential to transform and optimize academic practices through sensors that capture biometric data, enabling the implementation of metrics and models to understand the development and performance of students and professors in an academic environment, as well as to gain insights into the learning process.

A new class of nano-cube core-shell heterostructures containing Ag coating on the top of WO₃ was fabricated. Physical vapor deposition was used to produce WO₃ based nano-heterostructures. All kind of wet toxic chemical process was avoided to make the process simple and contaminant free. Sputtering of WO₃ and a subsequent thermal annealing process was done to create nano-cubes of WO₃. After that, sputtering of Ag was performed to form the Ag-WO₃ core-shell nano-heterostructures (CSNH). The CSNHs were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The morphologies, elemental analysis, interfaces, crystallinity, phases, and chemical compositions were analyzed. The bottom-up growth of WO₃ nanocubes was studied using different time periods at 900°C. Ag coating was also studied before and after annealing. Finally, an optical property (band gap) was also analyzed using Tauc plot derive from absorption spectra. The tailoring the band gap of WO₃ from ~2.9eV to ~ 2.45 eV was observed while Ag-WO₃ CSNH formed.

Chicory, a horticultural crop cultivated worldwide, presents many botanical varieties and local biotypes. Among these, Italian radicchio group cultivars of pure Cichorium intybus L. and interspecific hybrids with Cichorium endivia L., as the “Red of Chioggia” biotype which in turn includes several phenotypes. This study deals with a pipeline for the marker-assisted breeding of F1 hybrids: it presents the genotyping-by-sequencing results of four elite inbred lines using a RADseq approach and an original molecular assay based on CAPS markers for screening mutants with nuclear male-sterility in radicchio of Chioggia. Two thousand nine hundred fifty-three SNP-carrying RADtags were identified and used to compute the actual estimates of homozygosity, and overall genetic similarity and uniformity of the populations, as well as to determine their genetic distinctiveness and differentiation. Molecular data were further used to investigate the genomic distribution of the RADtags among the two Cichorium species, allowing their mapping in 1,131 and 1,071 coding sequences in chicory and endive, respectively. In parallel, an assay to screen the genotype at the male-sterility locus Cims-1 was developed to discriminate wild-type and mutant alleles of the causative gene myb80-like. Moreover, a RADtag mapped close to this genomic region proved the potential application of this method for future marker-assisted selection tools. Finally, combining the genotype information of the core collection, the best ten individuals from each inbred line were selected to compute the observed genetic similarity as a measure of uniformity as well as the expected homozygosity and heterozygosity estimates scorable by the putative progenies derived from selfing (pollen parent) and full-sibling (seed parent) or pair-wise crossing (F1 hybrids). This predictive approach was conducted as a pilot study for understanding the potential application of RADseq in improving molecular breeding strategies aimed at the development of inbred lines and F1 hybrids in leaf chicory.

The current communication presents the application of a consolidated model combination strategy to analyze the medium-term carbon fluxes in two Mediterranean pine wood ecosystems. The modelling strategy is based on the use of a NDVI-driven parametric model, Modified C-Fix, and of a bio-geochemical model, BIOME-BGC, the outputs of which are combined taking into account the actual development phase of each ecosystem. The two pine ecosystems examined correspond to an old-growth forest and to a secondary succession after clearcuts, which differently respond to the same climatic condition during a ten-year period (2013-2022). Increasing dryness, in fact, exerts a fundamental role in controlling the gross primary and net ecosystem production of the mature stand, while the effect of forest regeneration is prevalent for the uprising of the same variables in the other stand. In particular, the simulated net carbon exchange fluctuates around 200 g C m-2 year-1 in the first stand and rises to over 600 g C m-2 year-1 in the second stand; correspondingly, the accumulation of new biomass is nearly undetectable in the former case while becomes notable in the latter. The study therefore supports the potential of the applied strategy for predicting the forest carbon balances consequent on diversified natural and human-induced factors.

Documenting cultural heritage by using artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial for preserving the memory of the past and a key point for future knowledge. However, modern AI technologies make use of statistical learners that lead to self-empiricist logic, which, unlike human minds, use learned non-symbolic representations. Nevertheless, it seems that it is not the right way to progress in AI. If we want to rely on AI for these tasks, it is essential to understand what lies behind these models. Among the ways to discover AI there are the senses and the intellect. We could consider AI as an intelligence. Intelligence has an essence, but we do not know whether it can be considered “something” or “someone”. Important issues in the analysis of AI concern the structure of symbols -operations with which the intellectual solution is carried out- and the search for strategic reference points, aspiring to create models with human-like intelligence. For many years, humans, seeing language as innate, have carried out symbolic theories. Everything seems to have skipped with the advent of Machine Learning. In this paper, after a long analysis of history, the rule-based and the learning-based vision, we propose KERMIT as a unit of investigation for a possible meeting point between the different learning theories. Finally, we propose a new vision of knowledge in AI models based on a combination of rules, learning and human knowledge.

Graphene hybrid-filler polymer composites have emerged as prominent materials that revolutionize heavy industries. This study encapsulates the in-depth analysis of different influential factors such as filler/graphene type, aspect ratios, dispersion methods, filler-matrix compatibility, fiber orientation, synergistic effects, different processing techniques, and post-curing conditions that affect the processing, properties and determine the resultant applications of graphene hybrid polymer composites. Additionally, it discusses the substantial role of graphene collaboration with other fillers such as carbon nanotubes, silica, nano-clays and metal oxides to produce functionalized hybrid polymer composites with synergistically enhanced tailored properties to offer solutions for heavy industries like aerospace, automotive, electronics, and energy harvesting. The review concludes with some suggestions and outlook on the future of these composite materials by emphasizing the need for continued research to fully optimize their potential.

This paper presents a system for identification of wind features, such as gusts and wind shear. These are of particular interest in the context of energy-efficient navigation of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The proposed system generates real-time wind vector estimates and a novel algorithm to generate wind field predictions. Estimations are based on the integration of an off-the-shelf navigation system and airspeed readings in a so-called direct approach. Wind predictions use atmospheric models to characterize the wind field with different statistical analyses. During the prediction stage, the system is able to incorporate, in a big-data approach, wind measurements from previous flights in order to enhance the approximations. Wind estimates are classified and fitted into a Weibull probability density function. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is utilized to determine the shaping and scale parameters of the distribution, which are employed to determine the most probable wind speed at a certain position. The system uses this information to characterize a wind shear or a discrete gust and also utilizes a Gaussian Process regression to characterize continuous gusts. The knowledge of the wind features is crucial for computing energy-efficient trajectories with low cost and payload. Therefore, the system provides a solution that does not require any additional sensors. The system architecture presents a modular decentralized approach, in which the main parts of the system are separated in modules and the exchange of information is managed by a communication handler to enhance upgradeability and maintainability. Validation is done providing preliminary results of both simulations and Software-In-The-Loop testing. Telemetry data collected from real flights, performed in the Seville Metropolitan Area in Andalusia (Spain), was used for testing. Results show that wind estimation and predictions can be calculated at 1 Hz and a wind map can be updated at 0.4 Hz. Predictions show a convergence time with a 95% confidence interval of approximately 30 s.