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

Oriental melons have a relatively short shelf life as they are harvested during the summer season and susceptible to cold-induced injuries. Typical chilling injury when stored at 4℃ is expressed as browning of the fruit suture. To prolong the shelf life and reduce browning of the fruit, the effects of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), X-tend modified atmosphere (MA)/modified humidity (MH) bulk packaging (XF), and polyethylene (PE) packaging, on oriental melons were investigated during storage at 4℃ and 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. The O2 concentrations in PE packages stored at 4℃ and 10℃ ranged from 17.4–18.5%, whereas those in XF packages were reduced to 16.3–16.6%. The CO2 content of XF package (4.2–4.6%) was higher than that of PE package (1.4–1.9%) stored at 4℃ or 10℃. Relative humidity (RH) saturated in the PE packages but not in the XF packages after seven days of storage. Furthermore, PE packages performed better at maintaining melon weight and firmness than XF packages during storage at 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. PE and XF packages effectively reduced the browning index of the peel and white linear sutures of oriental melons compared with the unpackaged control during cold storage at 4℃, and this observation was maintained at the retail display condition at 20℃. The enhanced CO2 levels, reduced O2 levels, and optimal RH values that were provided by the MAP, prevented the browning symptoms and improved the marketability and shelf life of oriental melons.

Correlations among estrus cycle, pyometra, and canine diabetes mellitus (CDM) have been described since the late 1950s, and substantial progress in understanding mechanisms beyond was achieved nowadays. Progesterone-related diabetes mellitus (PRDM) in dogs is known for its particular potential for diabetes remission. Thus, a deep understanding of the physiopathological aspects involved is crucial to postulate treatment guidelines to improve the PRDM remission rate, as well as to inform preventive measures. This narrative review aims to provide relevant detailed information on 1) canine estrus cycle and its impact on CDM etiology and management, 2) the role of pyometra as a further cause of insulin resistance, and 3) useful individual therapeutic and preventive strategies. Pharmacological annulment of progesterone effects, as well as inflammatory and progesterone-related conditions resolution in association with adequate exogenous insulin therapy, and residual beta cell function, are key aspects to achieve remission, or at least to improve diabetic clinical control. In this way, spaying should be considered mandatory in most PRDM cases. Preventive measures against CDM can include spaying recommendations; however, individual-based recommendations should be considered since castration may be associated with some long-term health issues.

This study aimed to characterize the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression in the bovine mammary gland and to infer their functions in dietary response to 5% linseed oil (LSO) or 5% safflower oil (SFO). Twelve cows (six per treatment) in mid lactation were fed a control diet for 28 days followed by a treatment period (control diet supplemented with 5% LSO or 5% SFO) of 28 days. Mammary gland biopsies were collected from each animal on day-14 (D-14, control period), D+7 (early treatment period) and D+28 (late treatment period) and were subjected to RNA-Sequencing and subsequent bioinformatics analyses. Functional enrichment of lncRNA was performed via potential cis regulated target genes located within 50 Kb flanking regions of lncRNAs and having expression correlation of >0.7 with mRNAs. A total of 4955 lncRNAs (325 known and 4630 novel) were identified which potentially cis targeted 59 and 494 genes in LSO and SFO treatments, respectively. Enrichments of cis target genes of lncRNAs indicated potential roles of lncRNAs in immune function, nucleic acid metabolism and cell membrane organization processes as well as involvement in Notch, cAMP and TGF-β signaling pathways. Thirty-two and 21 lncRNAs were differentially expressed (DE) in LSO and SFO treatments, respectively. Six genes (KCNF1, STARD13, BCL6, NXPE2, HHIPL2 and MMD) were identified as potential cis target genes of six DE lncRNAs. In conclusion, this study indicated potential roles for lncRNAs in mammary gland immune functions and development and provided potential candidate genes and pathways via which lncRNAs can function in diet responses.

Centralized/Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RAN) are deployed in converged fixed-mobile networks to exploit the flexibility coming from joint application of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN). In this context, optical links connecting C-RAN nodes, possibly based on the Ethernet standards, may carry traffic with different requirements in terms of latency and throughput. This paper considers the problem of traffic aggregation on C-RAN optical Ethernet links with latency control for fronthaul traffic and throughput capability for backhaul traffic. Integrated hybrid nework technique is applied to show how time transparency can be enforced for Ethernet encapsulated Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) traffic while allowing statistical multiplexing of backhaul traffic. Simulation results show the effectiveness of segmentation of backhaul traffic to allow exploitation of the available bandwidth even with high capacity CPRI options.

The blood count is crucial for assessing bone marrow's cell production and differentiation during infections, gauging disease severity, and monitoring therapeutic responses. The profile of blood count in chronic form of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) has been insufficiently explored. To better understand the changes in hematological cells in different stages of the PCM chronic form, we evaluated the blood count, including immature blood cells in automated equipment, before and during the treatment follow-up of 62 chronic PCM patients. Predominantly male (96.8%) with an average age of 54.3 (SD 6.9) years, participants exhibited pre-treatment conditions such as anemia (45.2%), monocytosis (38.7%), and leukocytosis (17.7%) which became less frequent after clinical cure. Anemia was more prevalent in severe cases. Notably, hemoglobin and reticulocyte hemoglobin content increased, while leukocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, immature granulocytes, and platelets decreased. Chronic PCM induced manageable hematological abnormalities, mainly in the red blood series. Monocytosis, indicating monocytes' role in PCM's immune response, was frequent. Post-treatment, especially after achieving clinical cure, significant improvements were observed in various hematological indices, including immature granulocytes and reticulocyte hemoglobin content, underscoring the impact of infection on these parameters.

Fluorescent bioprobes are invaluable tools for visualizing live cells and deciphering complex biological processes by targeting intracellular biomarkers without disrupting cellular functions. In addition to protein-binding concepts, fluorescent probes utilize various mechanisms, including membrane, metabolism, and gating-oriented strategies. This study introduces a novel fluorescent mechanism distinct from existing ways. Here, we developed a B-cell selective probe, CDrB, with unique transport mechanisms. Through SLC-CRISPRa screening, we identified two transporters, SLCO1B3 and SLC25A41, by sorting out populations exhibiting higher and lower fluorescence intensities, respectively, demonstrating contrasting activities. We confirmed that SLCO1B3, with comparable expression levels in T and B cells, facilitates the transport of CDrB into cells, while SLC25A41, overexpressed in T lymphocytes, actively exports CDrB. The observation suggests that SLC25A41 plays a crucial role in discriminating between T and B lymphocytes. Furthermore, it reveals the potential for reversible localization of SLC25A41 to demonstrate its distinct activity. This study is the first report to unveil a novel strategy of SLC by exporting the probe. We anticipate that this research will open up new avenues for developing fluorescent probes.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) play a significant role in the aging processes, further regarding as a hallmark of aging. Despite the importance, a lack of monitoring tools has hampered the study of relationship between AGEs and aging. Here, we firstly report a novel AGEs-selective probe, AGO. AGO presented its ability to detect AGEs more sensitively than a conventional approach of measuring autofluorescence from AGEs. In addition, we confirmed that AGO can detect AGEs depending on kinetics, reflecting by a preference to ribose-derived AGEs. Finally, AGO revealed its competence to visualize glycation products in glycation mimicking model, made by collagen framework. We believe that this study will enrich molecular toolboxes to understand physiological processes of AGEs during aging processes.

As argued by ‘Declaration of Concrete Environment (2010)’ of Korea and ‘Declaration of Asian Concrete Environment (2011)’ of six Asian countries, concrete as a single material has lately shown extremely large impact on environmental issues such as climate change. Assessment of environmental impact from concrete material and production has considerable importance. Concrete is a major material used in the construction industry that emits a large amount of substances with environmental impacts during its life cycle. Accordingly, technologies for the reduction in and assessment of the environmental impact of concrete from the perspective of Life Cycle Assessment must be developed. At present, the studies in relation to greenhouse gas emission from concrete are being carried out globally as a countermeasure against climate change. In this study, a sustainable concrete mix design algorithm was designed using correlation analyses, and its carbon emission and cost reduction performances were assessed. Using correlation analyses, the concrete strength, w/b and s/a ratios, and CO₂ emissions were identified as major variables of concrete mix design that influenced other variables. Also, this study aims to evaluate the CO₂ emission reduction performance of the algorithm-deduced sustainable concrete mix design, and therefore, the CO₂ emissions of the sustainable concrete mix design are compared with those of the actual concrete mix design applied to the construction of the office building A in South Korea.

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

Piperine, an active plant alkaloid from black pepper (Piper nigrum), has several pharmacological effects: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory, which involves inhibiting molec-ular events associated with various stages of cancer development. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms of action of piperine in relation to its potential anticancer effect on head and neck cancer cells. Parameters related to neoplastic potential, analysis of cyto-kine, protein and gene expression were investigated in the head and neck cancer cell lines (HEp-2 and SCC-25) treated with piperine. The results of the tests indicated that piperine modified mor-phology, inhibited viability and the formation of cell colonies. Piperine promoted genotoxicity by triggering apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in G2/M and S. A decrease in cell migration was also observed, and decreased expression of MMP2/9 genes. Piperine also reduced the expression of inflammatory molecules (PTGS2 and PTGER4), regulated the secretion of cytokines (IF-y and IL-8) and modulated the expression of ERK and p38. These results suggest that piperine exerts anti-cancer effects on tumor cells, and could be a promising natural treatment by regulating signaling pathways associated with head and neck cancer.

IgE-mediated wheat allergy is a gluten-related disorder. Wheat is one of the five most common food allergens in children. However, the natural history of IgE-mediated wheat allergy has seldom been described in the research literature. This study presents the current state of knowledge about the IgE-mediated wheat allergy in children.

Purpose: Carotid intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) increases risk of territorial cerebral ischemic events, but different sequences or criteria have been used to diagnose or quantify carotid IPH. The purpose of this study was to compare manual segmentation and semi-automatic segmentation for quantification of carotid IPH on magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition with gradient-echo (MPRAGE) sequences. Methods: Forty patients with 16–79% carotid stenosis and IPH on MPRAGE sequences were reviewed by two trained radiologists with more than five years of specialized experience in carotid plaque characterization with carotid plaque MRI. Initially, the radiologists manually viewed the IPH based on the MPRAGE sequence. IPH volume was then measured by three different semi-automatic methods, with high signal intensity 150%, 175%, and 200%, respectively, above that of adjacent muscle on the MPRAGE sequence. Agreement on measurements between manual segmentation and semi-automatic segmentation was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: There was near-perfect agreement between manual segmentation and the 150% and 175% criteria for semi-automatic segmentation in quantification of IPH volume. The ICC of each semi-automatic segmentation were as follows: 150% criteria: 0.861, 175% criteria: 0.809, 200% criteria: 0.491. The ICC value of manual vs. 150% criteria and manual vs. 175% criteria were significantly better than the manual vs. 200% criteria (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The ICC of 150% and 175% criteria for semi-automatic segmentation are more reliable for quantification of IPH volume. Semi-automatic classification tools may be beneficial in large-scale multicenter studies by reducing image analysis time and avoiding bias between human reviewers.

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of composite scaffolds in combination of fibroin and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in bone tissue engineering. Fibroin is a useful biomaterial and is a major component of silk yarns composed of fibrous proteins. Improving for binding efficiency in bone formation after implanted scaffold, CMC was added to fibroin. CMC could improve injectable characters in bone substitutes by adding in scaffold material, fibroin. The porous shapes, porosity, surface wettability, water absorption, and thermal properties of the CMC added fibroin scaffold were better than fibroin only scaffold. For tissue engineering of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), BMSCs isolated from mice were seeded onto the scaffold, and the cell proliferation rate was measured. alkaline phosphatase activity in BMSCs was higher in the scaffold containing CMC than that in the scaffold containing fibroin alone. The expression levels of osteocyte marker genes and proteins were increased in the CMC scaffold. The biocompatibility and hydrophilicity of CMC scaffolds play important roles in the growth and proliferation of osteocytes. Furthermore, the CMC scaffold design proposed in this study could play an important role in facilitating cartilage, ossification, and nerve differentiation of BMSCs.

The APOE locus has garnered significant clinical interest because of its association with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and longevity. This genetic association appears across multiple genes in the APOE locus. Despite the apparent differences between AD and longevity, both conditions share a commonality of aging-related changes in mitochondrial function. This commonality is likely due to accumulative biological effects, partly exerted by the APOE locus. In this study, we investigated changes in mitochondrial structure/function-related markers using oxidative stress-induced human cellular models and postmortem brains (PMBs) from individuals with AD and normal controls. Our results reveal a range of expressional alterations, either up- or down-regulated, in these genes in response to oxidative stress. In contrast, we consistently observed an upregulation of multiple APOE locus genes in all cellular models and AD PMBs. Additionally, the effects of AD status on mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA CN) varied depending on APOE genotype. Our findings imply a potential coregulation of APOE locus genes, possibly occurring within the same topologically associating domain (TAD) of the 3D chromosome conformation. The coordinated expression of APOE locus genes could impact mitochondrial function, contributing to the development of AD or longevity. Our study underscores the significant role of the APOE locus in modulating mitochondrial function and provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of AD and aging, emphasizing the importance of this locus in clinical research.

Ozonated oil has several benefits for humans, as it contributes to numerous interventions, maintaining the quality of life and the well-being of individuals. Being a natural product, it has few or almost no side effects. Thus, the study aimed to verify the sensitivity and/or resistance of fixed o “Ozonated” and “Non-Ozonated” oils from Mauritia flexuosa (Buriti), Carapa guaianensis (Andiroba) and essential “Ozonated” oils from Menta piperita (Mint), Eugenia caryophyllus (Clove) in different concentrations, against internationally known bacteria from the American Type Culture Collection – ATCC, comparing with the “Non-Ozonated” versions of the respective oils, using the Agar diffusion technique. Thus, it is evident that the ozonation of the fixed oils of Buriti and Andiroba, as well as the essential oils of Mint and Clove, provided significant results, although they were statistically different. The Buriti and Andiroba oil were ineffective in inhibiting microorganisms. On the other hand, the essential oil of Mint and Clove obtained similar activity of inhibition of microorganisms. With regard to Ozonation, the Essential Oil of “Ozonated” Clove provided greater activity than the “Non-Ozonated” one, which inhibited only one tested microorganism, in addition to producing changes in its chemical composition, requiring individualized studies for the ozonation of each essential oil.

Nowadays the dynamism induced by the constant change of strategic decisions on the markets produces an extra difficulty in the management of an organization. The strategic decisions made by managers can become obsolete in a short period of time. One of the major difficulties in managing a commercial organization is to predict, with some precision degree, the impact some strategic decisions have on the financial results. Business Intelligence (BI) is an area widely used to help managers to make strategic decisions. But the methods used, behind the scenes, to achieve the conclusions are kept secret by BI company-based services. Modelling the environment can be a good option to study the impact of an action, provided by a strategic decision, in a real environment. A good model should give an approximate result of an action applied to a previous state of the environment. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are proven to be excellent in modeling environments with some level of data noise. The same strategic action can have different results in different organizations. A tool that allows an evaluation of a strategic action applied to an environment should have a major importance in the management scope. Modeling the environment should save time and money for the organization to improve the performance of the strategic plan. If one evaluates the state of the environment after a strategic action being applied, it can be possible to mitigate the risk of failure of the strategic plan. As we will be able to verify, it is possible to use ANNs to model strategic environments that should allow the prediction of sales and operating results by the used strategies with some precision, although the level of success will be directly related with the user’s necessity.

This study investigates the land surface temperature (LST) distribution from thermal infrared data for analyzing the characteristics of surface coverage using the Vegetation-Impervious-Soil (VIS) approach. A set of ten images, obtained from Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper, between 2001 and 2010, were used to study the urban environmental conditions of 47 neighborhoods of Porto Alegre city, Brazil. Porto Alegre has had the smallest population growth rate of all 27 state capitals in the last two decades in Brazil, with an increase of 11.55% in inhabitants from 1,263 million in 1991 to 1,409 million in 2010. We applied the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory in order to test the influence of the economically-related scenario on the spatial nature of social-environmental arrangement of the city at neighborhood scale. Our results suggest that the economically-related scenario exerts a non-negligible influence on the physically driven characteristics of the urban environmental conditions as predicted by EKC theory. The linear inverse correlation R2 between household income (HI) and LST is 0.36 and has shown to be comparable to all other studied variables. Future research may investigate the relation between other economically-related indicators to specific land surface characteristics.

With the increasing demand for precise condition monitoring and diagnosis of gas-insulated switchgears (GIS), it has become a challenge to improve the detection sensitivity of partial discharge (PD) induced in the GIS spacer. This paper deals with the elimination of the capacitive component from the phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) signal generated in GIS spacer based on the discrete wavelet transform. Three types of typical insulation defects were simulated using PD cells. The single PD pulses were detected and were further used to determine the optimal mother wavelet. As a result, the bior6.8 was selected to decompose the PD signal into 8 levels and the signal energy at each level was calculated. The decomposed components related with capacitive disturbance were discarded whereas those associated with PD were de-noised by a threshold and a thresholding function. Finally, the PRPD signals were reconstructed using the de-noised components.

This work aims to investigate the effect of catalyst content and reaction time by catalytic upgrading from pyrolysis vapors of residual fat at 450 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, on the yields of reaction products, physicochemical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, refractive index, and acid value) and chemical composition of organic liquid products (OLP), over a catalyst fixed bed reactor, in semi pilot scale. Pellets of Red Mud chemically activated with 1.0 M HCl were used as catalysts. The experiments were carried out at 450 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, using a process schema consisting of a thermal cracking reactor of 2.0 L coupled to a catalyst fixed bed reactor of 53 mL, without catalyst and using 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0% (wt.) Red Mud pellets activated with 1.0 M HCl, in batch mode. Samples of liquid phase products were withdrawn during the course of reaction at 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 min in order to analyze the process kinetics. The physicochemical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, acid value, and refractive index) of OLP were determined by official methods. The chemical functions present in OLP determined by FT-IR and the chemical composition by GC-MS. The thermal catalytic cracking of residual fat show OLP yields from 54.4 to 84.88 (wt.%), aqueous phase yields between 2.21 and 2.80 (wt.%), solid phase yields (coke) between 1.30 and 8.60 (wt.%), and gas yields from 11.61 to 34.22 (wt.%). The yields of OLP increases with increasing catalyst content while those of aqueous, gaseous and solid phase decreases. For all the thermal and thermal catalytic cracking experiments, the density, kinematic viscosity, and acid value of OLP decreases with increasing reaction time. The GC-MS of liquid reaction products identified the presence of hydrocarbons (alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes, and aromatics) and oxygenates (carboxylic acids, ketones, esters, alcohols, and aldehydes). For all the thermal and thermal catalytic cracking experiments, the hydrocarbon content within OLP increases with reaction time, while those of oxygenates decrease, reaching concentrations of hydrocarbons up to 95.35% (area.). The best results for the physicochemical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, and acid value) and the maximum hydrocarbon content of OLP were obtained at 450 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, using a catalyst fixed bed reactor, with 5.0% (wt.) Red Mud pellets activated with 1.0 M HCl as catalyst.

Abstract: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a progressive uncurable neurodegenerative disease affect-ing millions worldwide. Various methods, including drug therapies and light emission diode (LED) irradiation, are promising alternatives for preventing and reducing the rapid progression of neurodegenerative diseases, also stimulating the reconstructing of neural tissue structures. In this study, we evaluated the neuroprotective and restorative effects of taurine combined with LED on human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y), under oxidative stress condition, a considerable modulator in AD. We evaluated LED at the wavelength of 660 nm and taurine under different concentrations before and after exposing SH-SY5Y cells to different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), assessing mitochondrial activity by the MTT colorimetric test and labeling live cell mitochondria by fluorescence using MitoTracker Orange. Cell viability was also evaluated by the trypan blue exclusion assay, and we verified cellular morphological structures by scan-ning electron microscopy (SEM). It was observed that neuroprotective effects are achieved by both LED and taurine when cells are exposed to them and later are stressed with H2O2. Compar-ing both agents, LED irradiation is sufficient to stimulate cell proliferation, representing an af-fordable candidate to contribute against neurodegeneration.

Objective: In this work, we evaluated the chemical composition by chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, antimicrobial and insecticidal activity of essential oils (TrEO) and nanoeffu-sion (NTrEO) of oil from Tetradenia riparia leaves. We also evaluated the acute toxicity in Mus musculus. The results showed that S. aureus showed greater susceptibility to TrEO, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 125 µg.mL-1, when compared to P. aeruginosa, E. coli, which presented a MIC of 250 µg.mL-1. There was a greater toxic effect on TrEO (LC50 = 630.29 µg.mL-1) and NTrEO (LC50 = 713.68 µg.mL-1) larvae, effect on pupae (LC50 = 630.29 µg.mL-1) and NTrEO (LC50 = 713.68 µg.mL-1) and ovicide (LC50 = 631.184 µg.mL-1) and NTrEO (LC50 = 146.701 µg.mL-1) of Ae. aegypti after 24 h of exposure, when compared to other exposure periods. Chemical analysis re-vealed 20 components, aromadendrene oxide (23.47%) being the main component. Female and male mice were used to assess toxicity and oral administration of NTrEO to mice did not result in acute toxicity. Thus, the essential oil of T. riparia and its nanoemulsion have insecticidal and an-timicrobial potential for Ae. aegypti, S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and has a high toxicological safety threshold at the concentrations evaluated in this study.

The tambaqui Colossoma macropomum is the main species of edible fish originating from fish farming in the Amazon region. This study aimed to determine and compare the hematological and biochemical parameters of tambaqui from fish farms in municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Two fish farms were sampled in a semi-excavated pond-type breeding system in each of the five towns investigated (Presidente Figueiredo, Manaus, Iranduba, Manacapuru and Novo Airão), totaling ten breeders. On each farm, ten specimens were captured, totaling 100 animals. Blood was collected by caudal puncture, and hematological and biochemical parameters were determined using the methodology described for teleosts fish. For the erythrogram in the variables of hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration and erythrocytes, significant differences were observed in Iranduba and Novo Airão, demonstrating indications of anemic processes and dehydration. For plasma biochemistry, low levels were observed in fish from Iranduba and Novo Airão. High values in lipid compounds were found in tambaqui from Manacapuru. High intraspecific variation was found in the leukogram and thrombogram, which determined similarities between tambaqui from different farms and municipalities. On the other hand, fish from Manacapuru have an inappropriate diet, indicated by the high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides found in the blood.

The real-time Railway Traffic Management Problem (rtRTMP) is discussed in the field of railway transportation. In this paper, rtRTMP is considered for planning shunting routes based on the use of routing methods on a spatial-temporal graph. An approach and algorithm of Spatial-Temporal Graph formation for rail yard transportation network is proposed. The idea is to construct an undirected loop-free Double Vertex Graph for determining optimal shunting routes consisting of several half-runs for several trains shunting under draw-out tracks capacity constraints. Experimental results on the rail yard simulation model are presented.

The objective of this work was to investigate the deacidification of bio-oils (BOs) from triglyceride-based biomass through the application of liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) in a simple stage, using methanol and water as a binary solvent and feed/solvent ratio of 1/1. For this, the effects of process parameters such as the water content present in the solvent, the content of carboxylic acids present in the bio-oil, and the extraction temperature on the deacidification process through the efficiency and distribution coefficient were evaluated, as well as the effects of such parameters on the quality of deacidified bio-oils through physical-chemical analyzes and GC-MS analysis. The results show that such process parameters significantly affect the quality of deacidified bio-oils. The ideal condition to have the highest acid removal, i.e., the highest deacidification efficiency (72.65%), is the one in which the deacidification process is performed with aqueous methanol (5% water) at 35 °C and for BOs that have a total acid number (TAN) equal to 24.38 mg KOH/g. Therefore, the process of deacidification by LLE using aqueous methanol is a promising alternative for removing carboxylic acids and other oxygenated compounds, contributing significantly to the upgrading or improving biofuels produced by catalytic thermal cracking.

This paper proposes a novel phase-resolved partial discharge (PRPD) sensor embedded in MV-class bushing for high-accuracy insulation analysis. The design, fabrication, and evaluation of a PRPD sensor embedded in MV-class bushing aimed to detect partial discharge (PD) pulses that are phase-synchronized with the applied primary HV signals. A prototype PRPD sensor was composed of a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) with dual-sensing electrodes, utilizing a capacitive voltage divider (CVD) principle for voltage measurement and D-dot principle for PD detection, and a signal transducer with passive elements. A PD simulator was prepared to emulate typical PD defects, i.e., a metal protrusion. The voltage measurement precision of the prototype PRPD sensor was satisfied with the accuracy class of 0.2 specified in IEC 61869-11, as the maximum corrected voltage error ratios and corrected phase errors in 80%, 100%, and 120% of the rated voltage (13.2 kV) were less than 0.2% and 10 minutes, respectively. In addition, the prototype PRPD sensor had good linearity and high sensitivity for PD detection compared with a conventional electrical detection method. According to performance evaluation tests, the prototype PRPD sensor embedded in the MV-class bushing can measure PRPD patterns phase-synchronized with the primary voltage without any additional synchronization equipment or system. Therefore, the prototype PRPD sensor holds potential as a substitute for conventional commercial PD sensors. Consequently, this advancement could lead to the enhancement of power system monitoring and maintenance, contributing to the digitalization and minimization of power apparatus.

Morphological and phylogenetic (45S nrDNA+RPB1 gene) analyses of three glomoid spore-producing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi revealed the presence of two new species be-longing to the genus Glomus in the family Glomeraceae. In the field, Glomus highlandensis sp. nov. was found in a saltmarsh of the Scottish Highlands and in maritime sand dunes of the Baltic Sea in Poland, both saline environments, while G. mongioie sp. nov. originates from the Italian Alps. Phylogenetic placement analysis using environmental sequences indicated that G. highlandensis could have likely worldwide distribution while G. mongioie seems to be a rare species in the world. The molecular and phylogenetic analysis provided important insights about the presence of ribosomal variants in Glomus, with potential negative implication in phylogeny and species recognition.

In this paper, we consider a make-to-order supply chain which satisfies demand that is dependent on both price and quoted lead -time. The manufacturer chooses the lead -time and the order quantity, and the retailer sets the revenue shares. The interactions between the manufacturer and the retailer are modelled as a Nash Game, and the existence and uniqueness of pure strategy equilibrium are demonstrated. A mechanism that enables the supply chain to coordinate the decisions of the members is developed. Lastly, we also analyze how the supply chain system parameters impact the optimal supply chain decisions and the supply chain performance.

Surface treatment of implants facilitates osseointegration, with nanostructured surfaces exhibiting accelerated peri-implant bone regeneration. This study compared bone-to-implant contact (BIC) in implants with hydroxyapatite (HA), sand-blasted and acid-etched (SLA), and SLA with calcium (Ca)-coated (XPEED®) surfaces. Seventy-five disk-shaped grade 4 Ti specimens divided into three groups were prepared, with 16 implants per group tested in New Zealand white rabbits. Surface characterization was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), digital microscopy, and a contact angle analyzer. Cell viability, proliferation, and adhesion were assessed using MC3T3-E1 cells. Apatite formation was evaluated using modified simulated body fluid (m-SBF) incubation. After 4 weeks of healing, the outcomes reviewed were BIC, bone area (BA), removal torque tests, and histomorphometric evaluation. Microstructure analysis revealed irregular pores across all groups, with the XPEED group exhibiting a nanostructured Ca-coated surface. Surface characterization showed a crystalline CaTiO3 layer on XPEED surfaces, with evenly distributed Ca penetrating the implants. All surfaces provided excellent environments for cell growth. The XPEED and SLA groups showed significantly higher cell density and viability with superior osseointegration than HA (p &lt; 0.05); XPEED exhibited the highest absorbance values. Thus, XPEED surface treatment improved implant performance, biocompatibility, stability, and osseointegration.

Mothers of children with a specific clinical condition such as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) may experience higher levels of stress predisposing them to a poorer perception of quality of life and alterations in nutritional status. The aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status and quality of life perception of mothers caring for children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. This research was conducted from July to September 2022, with mothers of children aged 5 to 10 years with diabetes. Data were collected through an online questionnaire including soci-oeconomic information, anthropometric data, clinical data of the children, and the WHO-QOL-abbreviated quality of life questionnaire. For statistical analysis, Statistical Package for Social Science 24 was used. Fifty-five mothers of children with diabetes were evaluated. Over 33% of the mothers were overweight and reported a regular perception of quality of life. Higher BMI was associated with poorer perception of quality of life in the psychological and self-assessment domains, and longer diagnosis time was associated with better perception of quality of life in the physical, psychological, and environmental domains. Therefore, it is understood that actions aimed at improving the quality of life of these mothers are necessary.

The rise of multi-sided digital platforms has transformed the global economy, enabling individuals and companies to create, deliver, and capture value through innovative connections and network effects. While scholars have studied the core strategy concepts and proposed platform architectures, less attention has been paid to the long-term sustainability of these platforms. This paper addresses this gap by examining the relationship between sustainability and platform architecture. Specifically, it asks what mechanisms characterize digital platforms for sustainability, and whether there are design choices that optimize the business model for sustainability. Using a mixed-methods approach that draws on platform literature, business models, and sustainable innovation, the paper develops an integrative framework to identify elements and design choices in platform businesses which support sustainability outcomes. The framework is then used to classify the business models of the identified platforms, revealing specific design choices for platform architecture that can optimize their business models for sustainability. This contribution to existing literature provides an artifact that allocates key decisions on value creation, delivery, and capture that are key to platforms and includes an additional layer to optimize them for long-term sustainability. As digital platforms continue to drive the economy, this research is relevant not only to platform practitioners, but also to policy makers and society at large.

Native and exotic fruits from the Amazon have varied characteristics, with aroma being a decisive factor in attracting and accepting them and their medicinal use as a nutraceutical supplement. This work aimed to analyze the chemical constituents of the volatile concentrates of some Myrtaceous fruit species sampled in the Brazilian Amazon. The fruit's pulps were subjected to simultaneous distillation-extraction, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze their volatile chemical composition. In the volatile concentrate of Eugenia stipitata (Araçá-boi) were identified α-pinene (17.5%), citronellyl butanoate (15.6%), and pogostol (13.5%) as primary constituents; in Eugenia uniflora (Ginja) were curzerene (30.5%), germacrone (15.4%), atractylone (13.1%), and (E)-β-ocimene (11.1%); in Myrciaria dubia (Camu-Camu) were α-pinene (55.8%), (E)-β-ocimene (13.1%), and α-terpineol (10.0%); in Psidium guajava (Goiaba) were (2E)-hexenal (21.7%), hexanal (15.4%), caryophylla-4(12),8(13)-dien-5-β-ol (10.5%), caryophyllene oxide (9.2%), and pogostol (8.3%); and in Psidium guineense (Araçá) were limonene (25.2%), ethyl butanoate (12.1%), epi-β-bisabolol (9.8%), and α-pinene (9.2%). The analyzed fruit species' volatile concentrates presented a significant diversity of constituents with a predominance of functional groups, such as monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and fatty acid derivatives, originating from the plant's secondary metabolism and representing significant importance regarding their nutritional and medicinal uses.

In this paper we investigate in different scenarios the feasibility of using massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) to boost the throughput and coverage performances with high energy efficiency, considering sub-6 GHz, mmWave and THz bands. With that objective, a centralized radio access network (C-RAN) suitable for beyond fifth generation (B5G) systems is considered, where we integrate the base stations (BSs) with multiple RISs and devices or user equipment. RISs with a large number of quasi-passive reflecting elements constitute a low-cost approach capable of shaping the radio wave propagation and improve wireless connectivity. We consider a scenario where multiple RISs are combined with mMIMO in the uplink in order to provide connectivity to Smart City (thousands of active low power devices) wirelessly, in the 3.6GHz and 28GHz bands. We also address a scenario where RISs are adopted with mMIMO in the downlink so as to offer connectivity to a Stadium with Pitch, (thousands of active user equipment) in the 28GHz band. Finally, we have also studied the connectivity at 100GHz of a Factory where several RIS panels replacing most of the BSs equipped with mMIMO assure improved throughput and coverage. We concluded that RISs are capable of improving the performance in any of these analyzed scenarios at the different frequency bands, justifying that they are a key enabling technology for 6G.

Complete digraphs are referred to in the combinatorics literature as tournaments. We consider a family of semi-simplicial complexes, that we refer to as ``tournaplexes'', whose simplices are tournaments. In particular, given a digraph G, we associate with it a ``flag tournaplex'' which is a tournaplex containing the directed flag complex of G, but also the geometric realisation of cliques that are not directed. We define several types of filtrations on tournaplexes, and exploiting persistent homology, we observe that flag tournaplexes provide finer means of distinguishing graph dynamics than the directed flag complex. We then demonstrate the power of these ideas by applying them to graph data arising from the Blue Brain Project's digital reconstruction of a rat's neocortex.

: The objetive of this study was to evaluated the quality of sleep, degree of drowsiness, and stress index of dentistry students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study was conducted among dentistry students from two universities, obtaining data at baseline and 10 months after the pandemic. The Pittsburgh questionnaire, Epworth sleepiness scale, and Cohen perceived stress scale were used to assess sleep quality, sleepiness index, and stress level, respectively. Statistical analyses were performed using Generalized Estimating Equations, with binary, ordinal, and linear logistic regression. Results: Baseline sleep quality had a positive influence on sleep quality compared with the assessment after 10 months. Drowsiness is influenced by factors, such as the time of assessment, income of up to one salary, and physical activity. There was greater drowsiness 10 months after the pandemic. High stress levels were observed during both assessments. Female sex, deteriorated family relationships, and lack of physical activity increase the risk of stress. Conclusion: The quality of sleep was positively affected during the pandemic period, remaining high, and drowsiness increased.

The security of several full homomorphic encryption (FHE) schemes depends on the hardness of the approximate common divisor (ACD) problem. The analysis of attack and defense against the system is one of the frontiers of cryptography research. In this paper, the performance of existing algorithms, including orthogonal lattice, simultaneous diophantine approximation, multivariate polynomial and sample pre-processing are reviewed and analyzed for solving the ACD problem. Orthogonal lattice (OL) algorithms are divided into two categories (OL-$\land$ and OL-$\vee$) for the first time. And an improved algorithm of OL-$\vee$ is presented to solve the GACD problem. This new algorithm works well in polynomial time if the parameter satisfies certain conditions. Compared with Ding and Tao's OL algorithm, the lattice reduction algorithm is used only once, and when the error vector $\mathbf{r}$ is recovered in Ding et al.'s OL algorithm, the possible difference between the restored and the true value of $p$ is given. It is helpful to expand the scope of OL attacks.

The papaya mealybug Paracoccus marginatus is an invasive, polyphagous pest and poses a quarantine threat to tropical and subtropical countries. Infested commodity internationally should be undergoing phytosanitary treatment, while irradiation is recommended to replace methyl bromide fumigation. Dose-response tests were conducted on the 2-, 4-, and 6-d-old eggs and gravid females of P. marginatus using the X-ray radiation doses of 15–105 Gy with an interval of 15 Gy, respectively. Radiotolerance was compared using fiducial overlapping and lethal dose ratio (LDR) test, resulting in insignificant difference except for LDR test at LD90 (leading 90% mortality at 95% confidence level (CL)); the estimated dose for 99.9968% mortality at 95% CL was 176.5–185.2 Gy, which was validated in the confirmatory tests using gamma irradiation because gammy and X-rays have equal biological effect on pests. Therefore, a total of estimating 60,386 gravid females of papaya mealybug irradiated with 146.8–185.0 Gy resulted in no F1 nymphs developing. Eggs can therefore be used as an alternative to gravid females for dose-response tests; the recommended minimum dose for phytosanitary treatment of P. marginatus on infested commodity is 185 Gy, with treatment efficacy ≥ 99.9950% at 95% CL.

An algorithm is presented for a micro-model of a mining dump truck movement, which allows determining the optimal speed and acceleration of a vehicle, considering the change of the road grade. The structure of the simulation macro-model of an excavator-and-dump truck complex has been developed. The procedure for integrating a micro-model of a dump truck movement into a simulation model is shown. As a result of a series of experiments with a macro-model, the influence of open pit roads grade on the performance and efficiency of excavator-and-dump truck complexes was established. The necessity of considering in simulation excavator-and-dump truck complexes the speed regulation of dump trucks depending on the change in road grade is shown.

Extracts of Cordyceps militaris which possess the bioactive capacity such as antimicrobial activity and DPPH-free radical scavenging capacity, are applied to the serum product. This finished serum product has been evaluated the in vitro bioactivity and the stability with expect to find out a good extract with a suitable percentage used for serum product as natural materials on preservatives and antioxidation.

Salmonella infections can lead to intestinal inflammation and metabolic disorders in birds. However, whether ARA metabolism is involved in Salmonella-induced intestinal inflammation remains unclear. This experiment investigated the changes in cecal flora and arachidonic acid (ARA) metabolism in Hainan Wenchang chickens infected with S. Typhimurium using 16s rDNA sequencing and targeted metabolomics. The results showed that the levels of ARA metabolites were increased in the cecum tissue of Wenchang chickens after infection with S. Typhimurium, including prostaglandin E2, prostaglandin F2α, lipoxin A4, ±8(9)-EET, ±11(12)-EET, and ±8,9-DiHETrE. The content of key enzymes for ARA production and metabolism (PLA2 and COX-2) in chicken cecum tissues was increased after S. Typhimurium infection. The relative mRNA levels of inflammatory factors were also increased after infection, including IFN-γ, TGF-β1, IL-4, and IL-6. In HD11 cells, the use of a cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor reduced the increased levels of COX-2 and PGF2α induced by S. Typhimurium infection and effectively reduced the inflammatory response. In addition, the number of beneficial genera (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Odorobacterium) in the cecum of Wenchang chickens was significantly reduced after infection with S. Typhimurium. In this study, we revealed the structure of the cecal flora of Wenchang chickens infected with S. Typhimurium and demonstrated that S. Typhimurium can mediate the onset and development of intestinal inflammation through the activation of the metabolic pathway of ARA cyclooxygenase in Wenchang chickens. The results can provide data support and theoretical support for the prevention and control of avian salmonellosis.

The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term clinical outcomes and quality of life measures for two fixation methods in the setting of displaced femoral neck fractures. The two groups included fixation with multiple cancellous screws (group 1) and telescopic femoral neck screws and small locking plate device (Targon FN) (group 2). Patients underwent reduction and internal fixation with either multiple cancellous screws or Targon FN device from March 2000 to January 2012. Failure endpoints included nonunion, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and revision surgery. Patient reported outcome measures included chronic pain, ability to ambulate, and the use of ambulation assistive devices. Statistical analysis demonstrated a statistically significant lower rate of non-union and overall complication in the Targon FN group (p value < 0.001 and p value = 0.005 respectively). Logistic regression analysis showed that operative fixation with the Targon FN device decreased the odds ratio for overall complication by a factor of 0.34 (P = 0.02). There were no statistically significant differences between groups 1 and 2 in patient reported outcomes (chronic pain (p-0.21), ability to ambulate (p- 0.07), and the use of ambulation assistive device (p-0.07)). When compared to traditional cancellous screw fixation of femoral neck fractures, the Targon FN device has significantly lower complications rates and equivalent patient reported outcomes.

We are witnessing a progressive divestment of some institutions with strong traditions and skills in physical modelling and their consequent impoverishment, to the detriment of numerical modelling. For many reasons, the economic imperatives and the exponential growth of computational means and numerical methods should certainly not be excluded. In this work, we aimed to highlight the new requirements of the recent sophisticated developments in physical modelling, precisely due to the new needs imposed on them by mathematical and numerical modelling and the growing risks in civil construction works. In this context, reflections are reported, justified by scientific and real-world examples, on the need for maintenance and reinforcement of investments in physical modelling, both to support the scientific community and to design buildings of significant economic, social and environmental impact.

The purpose of this study is to examine the self-esteem levels of visually handicapped individuals who do sports and do’t do sports. There were 106 sportsmen and 94 persons with visual handicapped (200 in total) who participated in the research clubs in the province of Izmir. As the sub-problems, the relationship between the genders of participant who visually handicapped and not visually handicapped was investigated. The study consists of two parts. In the first part, the demographic characteristics of the participants were determined; in the second part Rosenberg Self Value scale consisting of 10 questions was used. Data were analyzed with SPSS 18.00 package program. T test, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics were applied to test hypotheses of the study. The research found that there is a significant difference between the self-esteem levels of individuals with and without visually handicapped sports (P <0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the self-esteem levels of the sportsmen and the sportswomen (P> 0,05). There was no significant difference in the self-esteem levels of visually handicapped individuals who played individual sports and team sports (P> 0,05). As a result, it has been seen that sports have a positive effect on self-esteem in visually handicapped individuals and they contribute and hold to life more meaningful.

The industrial sector plays a crucial role in driving global economic growth by creating employ-ment opportunities, generating local income, and significantly contributing to each country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the manufacturing industry is responsible for produc-ing a substantial amount of polluting effluents, which can harm the environment and compromise the life quality of future generations if not appropriately treated. Various methods, including physical, chemical, and biological processes, have been employed in the treatment of industrial ef-fluents. Filamentous fungi, in particular, have garnered attention as effective bioremediation agents due to their ability to produce enzymes capable of degrading recalcitrant compounds and adsorb different pollutant molecules. This study aimed to assess the collective body of research on using white and brown rot fungi to remove phenolic compounds from industrial effluents. The research employed a systematic review, incorporating scientometric analysis, with the primary goal of constructing a comprehensive overview of the evolution of this technology over time. The analysis also aimed to scrutinize its geographical distribution and identify gaps and trends within these research inquiries. Data for the study were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) data-base using specific search terms (("white rot fung*" OR "brown rot fung*") AND (phenol* OR phenoloxidase OR "polyphenol oxidase*") AND (wastewater OR effluent* OR bioremediation)). The time frame considered ranged from 1945 to 2023, resulting in 464 publications. After refine-ment, 109 studies were selected for further analysis, focusing on using filamentous fungi in the bi-oremediation of industrial effluents. The findings revealed that white rot fungi were the most studied in industrial effluent remediation processes, accounting for 96.3% of the studies assessed, followed by brown rot fungi at 2.7%. Filamentous fungi demonstrate significant potential for treating industrial effluents due to their high capacity to degrade phenolic compounds, especially in wastewater from olive mills, paper production industries, and distilleries. Among the investi-gated species, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, Trametes versicolor, and Lentinula edodes have been the most extensively researched for this application. Notably, cultures with free cells (64.15%) stood out compared to cultures with immobilized cells, and cultures with isolated fungi surpassed microbial consortia. Geographically, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, and Brazil emerged as the most prominent countries in publications related to this area during the evaluated period.

Using the Super-SBM method, this study calculates the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2011 to 2019. Then, using the systematic GMM model, spatial Durbin model, and mediating effect model, it examines the direct effect, spatial effect, and influence mechanism of the digital economy (DE) on CEE. It was found that (1) the DE significantly promoted regional CEE, but had a negative effect on CEE in provinces with high economic correlation; (2) mechanism studies showed that the DE improved CEE by reducing energy intensity, promoting industrial upgrading and green technology innovation; (3) regional heterogeneity analysis found that the DE significantly improved CEE in eastern provinces, but not in central and western provinces. DE improves CEE in provinces with high level of economic development, but decreases CEE in provinces with low level of economic development.This paper provides some empirical and theoretical references for the development of DE to improve CEE.

The Neotropical region is one of the most diverse regions of the globe in terms of macro-organismic species. Regarding the microbial world, however, little is known about the diversity and biogeography patterns of micro-organisms in the Neotropics. In this context, the study of several microbial taxonomic groups is still missing and/or incomplete, such as the protists. Our goal here was to summarize the available information of Neotropical protists, focusing on molecular data from environmental continental samples, to explore what these data evidence on their ecology and biogeography. For this, we reviewed the findings from all articles that focused on or included the terrestrial protists using metabarcoding approach and identified the gaps and future perspectives in this research field. We found that Neotropical protists diversity patterns seem to be, at least in part, congruent with that of macro-organisms and, different than plants and bacteria, just weakly explained by environmental variables. We argue that studies with standardized protocols including different biomes are necessary to fully characterize the ecology and biogeography on Neotropical protists. Furthermore, dismember evolutionary lineages and functional guilds of protists are important to better understand the relationship between diversity, dispersal abilities and functionality of particular taxa of protists in their habitats.

The influenza virus has been the primary cause of the pandemic, posing a constant threat to human society. Due to its genetic evolution and continuous outbreak, antiviral research currently focuses on exploring a novel lead agent. A comprehensive antiviral screening discovered a marine bacterium whose extract exerted excellent efficacy against influenza viruses. Parerythrobacter sp. M20A3S10, a novel strain under the family Erythrobacteraceae, could produce carotenoids exhibiting antiviral and anticancer activity by enhancing the cellular immune system. Post-treatment of M20A3S10 extract showed outstanding therapeutic indexes: against influenza virus A/PR8 (H1N1) [selectivity index (SI) = 24.0], A/Wisconsin/15/2009 (H3N2) (SI = 30.1) and B/Florida/78/2015 (SI = 38.2). Comparably, the effectiveness was demonstrated against Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus type 2 (DENV2) with an SI of 22.5 and 24.1, respectively, namely broad-spectrum activity. Of note, the antiviral responses resulted from the common replication mechanism between IAV, ZIKV, and DENV2. The stimulation of apoptosis-mediated cellular immunity prevented the viral release and protected the host, suggesting that switching from necroptosis to apoptosis is a novel antiviral target. Although the specific compound affecting the antiviral activity was not identified, its promising efficacy with broad activity will contribute to developing a strategy for preventing future pandemics.

Text mining is a technological trend often highlighted in the continuous exchange of information through interconnected media. Its applicability goes beyond private organizations, as the public sector also requires it to treat textual information regarding services offered. Within this scenario, public security emerges as a prominent user of text mining that seeks to ensure the construction of data and knowledgebases to support decision-making about law enforcement actions to ensure citizen welfare. The primary objectives of this article are: (i) to develop a survey to identify text mining applications, techniques, opportunities, and challenges in public security, and (ii) to outline research directions concerning these topics and provide insights so that interested researchers can develop new studies. The literature was searched within four databases: Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Web of Science. A filtering process was applied to extract the works most aligned with the target theme, resulting in the selection of 194 of the most relevant works for a literature review. There were identified nineteen key applications of text mining related to public security and the most recurrent techniques and technologies reported between 2014 to 2021, supporting outlining three axes for future directions: one with possible expansion of objectives for new research; another on changes and adaptations in scopes for the methodological context; and the last one on expansions and changes in application scenarios based on the literature.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been subject of extensive scientific investigation in the last three decades and, currently, are one of the type of compounds most studied to be potentially applied in a wide range of distinct catalytic processes. Pristine MOF compounds provide several intriguing benefits for catalytic applications, including high interior surface areas and densities of active sites, allowing high catalytic reaction rates per volume, post-synthesis modified with com-plementary catalytic groups, enabling multiple functional groups to catalyze the reaction. Most of large-scale catalytic applications, including those in fuel processing, gas emission reduction and chemical synthesis, nevertheless the pristine MOFs often reveal limited stabilities and opportuni-ties for regeneration at high temperatures. As a result, the real applications of MOFs in these tech-nologies are likely to be constrained, and their controlled thermal modification aiming the prepa-ration of MOF-derivative compounds has been applied to induce crystalline structural changes and increase their structural stability, enhancing its potential applicability in more severe catalytic processes. Recent advances concerning the use of this strategy to boost the catalytic potential of the MOF-derivative compounds are outlined in this short-review article.

Cervical cancer is caused by a persistent and high-grade infection, caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which, when entering cervical cells, alters their physiology and generates serious lesions. HPV 18 - is among those most involved in carcinogenesis in this region, but there are still no drug treatments that cause cure or total remission of lesions caused by HPV. Knowing that L-Asparaginase is an amidohydrolase, which plays a significant role in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the treatment of specific cancers, due to its antitumor properties, some studies have demonstrated its cytotoxic effect against cervical cancer cells. However, the commercial version of this enzyme has side effects, such as hypersensitivity, allergic reactions and silent inactivation due to the formation of antibodies. To mitigate these adverse effects, several alternatives have been explored, including the use of L-asparaginase from other microbiological sources, which is the case with the use of the fungus Aspergillus niger, a high producer of L-asparaginase. The study investigated the influence of the type of fermentation, precipitant, purification, characterization and in vitro cytotoxicity of L-asparaginase. The results revealed that semisolid fermentation produced higher enzymatic activity and protein concentration of A. niger. The characterized enzyme showed excellent stability at pH 9.0, temperature of 50ºC, resistance to surfactants and metallic ions, and an increase in enzymatic activity was also noted with the organic solvent ethanol. Furthermore, it exhibited low cytotoxicity in GM and RAW cells, and significant cytotoxicity in HeLa cells. These findings indicate that L-asparaginase derived from Aspergillus niger may be a promising alternative for pharmaceutical production. Its attributes, including stability, activity and low toxicity in healthy cells, suggest that this modified enzyme could overcome challenges associated with antitumor therapy.

Water plays a vital role in the healthy growth of pears. Early detection of water stress can play a significant role in the timely management of water deficiency for pear yield. Most current methods are labour-intensive, time-consuming, only provide point measurements, and could be destructive. In this research, a real-time non-destructive method using a push-broom hyperspectral system (400-1000nm) was used to collect hyperspectral image data and detect the water stress of the pear seedling leaves. To build a reliable prediction model, machine learning techniques were used. The Successive Projections Algorithm (SPA) was applied for optimal wavelength selection. In particular, CNN was applied to obtain the features of key wavelengths. Both the CNN features and key wavelengths were put into RR-MLR, BLR and ENN for analysis. The training accuracy of the three modellings all reach the accuracy above 70% after about 100 epochs, while combination of CNN features outperformed the mere main spectra analysis. This research demonstrated that hyperspectral imaging coupled with machine learning techniques could be applied to predict the water content of pear leaves predict non-destructively.

This investigation aimed to explore the impact of acute and regular physical exercise on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels in individuals with obesity. Using the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study design (PICOS) approach, the inclusion criteria were defined as follows: i) population - individuals with overweight or obesity of any age or gender; ii) intervention - acute or chronic interventions involving aerobic or anaerobic methodologies; iii) comparator - for acute effect studies, pre- and post-evaluations served as comparators, while interventions included at least one experimental group or the inclusion of a control group; iv) outcome - BDNF variability concerning the applied methodology; v) study design - restricted to experimental studies exclusively. Conducted in August 2022, the searches were carried out on PubMed, Academic Search Complete, and Web of Science. The risk of bias was assessed using the Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies (RoBANS) tool. Out of 98 potentially relevant articles, 16 met the eligibility criteria, encompassing 23 trials. Substantial heterogeneity was observed for both acute (I2 = 80.4%) and long-term effects (I2 = 88.7%). Additionally, RoBANS analysis indicated a low risk of bias for the included studies. The study's findings revealed a significant increase in the concentration of circulating BDNF in individuals with obesity compared to the control group following acute exercise. However, such an effect was not evident in the context of long-term physical exercise, with a small effect size (ES = 0.49) recorded in the latter scenario. The observed significant increase in BDNF levels post-acute exercise suggests a potential acute response mechanism contributing to the intricate interplay between exercise and neurotrophic factors in this population. Nevertheless, the absence of a similar effect in the context of long-term physical exercise implies a potential adaptation or ceiling effect. These findings underscore the importance of considering both the duration and nature of exercise interventions when exploring the neurobiological responses associated with obesity and exercise. The study provides valuable insights for future research and clinical implications in understanding the nuanced relationship between exercise, neurotrophic factors, and obesity.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of a flow training program based on mindfulness applied to young and adult elite handball athletes. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, descriptive data analysis approach was carried out. The sample included 105 athletes (51 female and 54 male). The athletes were divided into two groups: i) experimental (n = 53) and ii) control (n = 52). The results of the repeated ANOVA indicated that the experimental group achieved significant improvements compared to the control group in decision making (n2p=.086), mental well-being (n2p=.045), dispositional flow state (n2p=.103), non-judgment (n2p=.040), refocusing (n2p=.052) and mindful trait in daily life (n2p=.058). In the linear regression test, the factor non-judgment was identified as a predictor of decision making (F(103)=7.99, p=.006) and the predictor for the mental well-being were dispositional flow state (F(102)=29.2, p

This study presents the comparison of heat transfer capacity and pressure drop characteristics between a basic fin-tube heat exchanger and a modified heat exchanger with the structural change of branch tubes and coiled turbulators. All experiments were carried out using an air-enthalpy type calorimeter based on the method described in ASHRAE standards, under heat exchanger experimental conditions. 14 different kinds of heat exchangers were used for the experiment. Cooling and heating capacities of the turbulator heat exchanger were excellent, compared to the basic one. As the insertion ratio of the coiled turbulator and the number of row increased, the heat transfer performance increased. However, the capacity per unit area was more effective in 4 rows than 6 rows, and the cooling performance of the 6 row turbulator heat exchanger (100% turbulator insert ratio) was down to about 6% than that of 4 row one. As the water flow rate and the turbulator insertion ratio increased, the pressure drop of the water side increased. This trend was more pronounced in 6 rows. In the cooling condition, the pressure drop on the air side was slightly increased due to the generation of condensed water, but was insignificant under the heating condition. The power consumption of the pump was more affected by the water flow rate than the coiled turbulator. The equivalent hydraulic diameter of a tube by the turbulator was reduced and then the heat transfer performance was improved. Thus, the tube diameter was smaller, the heat flux was better.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

Berberis koreana Palibin is an endemic plant native to Korea. In this study, we aimed to study seed germination in this species using a water imbibition experiment, gibberellic acid (GA3) treat-ment (0, 10, 100, or 1000 mg·L−1), cold stratification (0, 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks at 4 °C), a move-along experiment, and phenology studies. In the water imbibition experiment, the weight of the seeds increased by more than 120% in 24 h. Analysis of the internal and external morphological char-acteristics of the seed revealed that the embryo was already fully grown from the fruit and did not grow thereafter. The final germination percentages for cold stratification at 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks at 4 °C were 12, 32, 59, 59, and 71%, respectively. In the move-along experiment and phe-nology studies, a longer low-temperature treatment period resulted in a higher germination percentage. However, the GA3 treatment had little effect on seed germination. Our results indi-cate that B. koreana exhibits intermediate physiological seed dormancy.

Lemonomycin (1) was first isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces candidus in 1964. The complete chemical structure was not elucidated until 2000 with extensive spectroscopic analysis. Lemonomycin is currently known as the only glycosylated tetrahydroisoquinoline antibiotic. Its potent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis and complex architecture make it an ideal target for total synthesis. In this short review, we summarize the research status of lemonomycin for biological activity, biosynthesis and chemical synthesis. The unique deoxy aminosugar-lemonose was proposed to play a crucial role in biological activity, as shown in other antibiotics, such as arimetamycin A, nocathiacin I, glycothiohexide α, and thiazamycins. Given the self-resistance of the original bacterial host, the integration of biosynthesis and chemical synthesis to pursue efficient synthesis and further derivatization is in high demand for the development of novel antibiotics to combat antibiotic-resistant infections.

This article offers a pragmatic ‘epistemology of wargaming’ which views wargames as immersive ‘thought experiments’ in which the human players involved use their experiential, empirical, and theoretical knowledge – together with whatever cognitive models they are able to deploy, or develop anew – to generate a conceptual, operational understanding of the adversarial scenario in which they are immersed; and exploit this understanding to craft tactical decisions designed to optimise the likelihood they will achieve their strategic objectives. From this perspective, contemporary interest in the use of ‘AI’-enabled tools to augment the validity of wargaming outputs – where these outputs constitute the decisions players make and the insights such decisions reveal – might most purposefully focus on: the design and implementation of wargames (to strengthen the architecture these provide to support immersive decision-making); and the analysis of players’ decisions (to better understand the cognitive models these involve and reflect). While the focus we suggest might disappoint those keen to replace human players with (semi-) autonomous decision-making machines, as long as the principal objectives of wargaming are to assess and enhance the decision-making capabilities of human players and human personnel, ‘AI’-enabled applications can only ever play a supporting role (albeit a potentially invaluable one) in the design, presentation, implementation, and analysis of wargames. As Irving Berlin might have it: ‘AI’ might soon be able to do most things better than us, but it can never replace humans when only a human will do.

Higher traffic density in Russian cities and less uniform traffic due to congestions are reasons for increased emissions of pollutants contained in exhaust gases of vehicles. The paper presents the modeling results of pollutant dispersion in Magnitogorsk. The analysis of these results shows that now many blocks of flats and social infrastructure of the city are in a zone with an excess of maximum allowable concentration of pollutants. Having summarized the methodological framework formulated by Russian and foreign researchers, the authors systemized the existing methods used to decrease pollutants produced by vehicles. It is proposed to choose an optimal combination of such methods applying a developed mathematical model. By adopting an optimal combination of the methods, it is possible to ensure minimum air pollutant emissions from vehicles, allocating limited financial resources. The mathematical modeling of the solutions on changing traffic density and structure and implementing methods used to decrease pollutants on one of the Magnitogorsk crossroads with the heaviest traffic is used to draw a conclusion about efficiency of the designed model used as a tool for strategic planning of development and transformation of street networks.

The sustainable development and operation of mining enterprises as major sources of economic growth in many countries is determined by both a balance of economic, environmental, and social objectives and the resources required to achieve these objectives. Transportation is one of the main resources at open pits. It accounts for up to 70% of open pit operating expenses. Various parameters of transportation means should be coordinated both with the parameters of the open pit and meet the conditions of its operation. The problem of selecting a dump truck model in the paper is solved using a universal system of selection criteria developed using an original methodology. The two-level system of criteria includes all currently known selection criteria. The peculiarity of the methodology is the use of the multi-criteria FUCOM method for ranking the criteria. In addition, it is proposed to differentiate the criteria evaluations according to the experts' competence levels. Sets of criteria for evaluation by experts of different levels are proposed. The obtained criterion ranks are recommended to be used by managers of mining enterprises to choose a dump truck model. The presented methodology is suitable for the development of new systems of criteria, considering significant changes in operating conditions or the emergence of factors not considered in this study. Evaluation of all models of dump trucks on the market using the developed system of criteria is envisaged by the authors in a future study.

Over the last few decades, many countries, especially Caribbean island ones, have been challenged by the devastating consequences of natural disasters, which pose a significant threat to human health and safety. Timely information related to the distribution of vulnerable population and critical infrastructure are key for an effective disaster relief. OpenStreetMap (OSM) has repeatedly been shown to be highly suitable for disaster mapping and management. However, large portions of the world, including countries exposed to natural disasters, remain unmapped. In this study, we propose a methodology that relies on remotely sensed measurements (e.g. VIIRS, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1) and derived classification schemes (e.g. forest and built-up land cover) to predict the completeness of OSM building footprints in three small island states (Haiti, Dominica and St. Lucia). We find that the combinatorial effects of these predictors explain up to 94% of the variation of the completeness of OSM building footprints. Our study extends the existing literature by demonstrating how remotely sensed measurements could be leveraged to evaluate the completeness of OSM database, especially in countries at high risk of natural disasters. Identifying areas that lack coverage of OSM features could help prioritize mapping efforts, especially in areas vulnerable to natural hazards and where current data gaps pose an obstacle to timely and evidence-based disaster risk management actions.

In this paper, the current technologies of the regenerative shock absorber systems have been categorized and evaluated. Three drive modes of the regenerative shock absorber systems, namely the direct drive mode, the indirect drive mode and hybrid drive mode are reviewed for their readiness to be implemented. The damping performances of the three different modes are listed and compared. Electrical circuit and control algorithms have also been evaluated to maximize the power output and to deliver the premium ride comfort and handling performance. Different types of parameterized road excitations have been applied to vehicle suspension systems to investigate the performance of the regenerative shock absorbers including that of the nonlinear regenerative shock absorber. The research gaps for comparison of the different drive modes and the nonlinearity analysis of the regenerative shock absorbers are identified and, the corresponding research questions have been proposed for future work.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis was responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2022. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB); however, it has limited protective efficacy in adults. In this study, we constructed a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing Ag85B from M. tuberculosis using a novel attenuated vaccinia virus (KVAC103). We then analyzed the immunogenicity of prime-boost inoculation strategies using recombinant KVAC103 expressing Ag85B (rKVAC85B) compared to BCG. In both the rKVAC85B prime-boost and the BCG prime-rKVAC85B boost inoculation regimens, rKVAC85B induced the generation of specific IgG and the secretion of IFN-γ by immune cells. In vitro analysis of Mycobacterium growth inhibition revealed a comparable immune-mediated pattern of outcomes. Furthermore, bacterial loads in the lungs were significantly lower in mice inoculated with the BCG prime-rKVAC85B boost, than in the BCG-only group following a rechallenge infection with both H37Rv and HN878 strains of M. tuberculosis. These findings collectively suggest that KVAC103, incorporated into a viral vector, is a promising candidate for a novel TB vaccine platform that is effective against multiple TB strains, including H37Rv and HN878, and that rKVAC85B effectively stimulates immune responses against TB infection.

This article aimed to evaluate, using statistical tools, the generation and composition of urban solid waste (MSW) in the city of Belém, Pará, from nine urban collection sectors in the municipality, and the average nominal income of the population. Approximately 900kg of urban solid waste were col-lected from the municipality in the period from 2021 to 2022. Statistical tests were carried out on hypotheses with 5% significance in comparative evaluations, and their respective average nominal incomes. The results indicated that the organic fraction corresponds to 55.57% of the waste generated in the municipality, 14.26% is inert waste (potentially contaminating) and 0.67% is miscellaneous waste. It was observed that the waste generated by families with high purchasing power tends to contain higher percentages of recyclables, while in families with lower purchasing power the highest percentages tend to be organic. Knowledge of the generation of MSW is fundamental for the choice and dimensioning of operations and processes involved in the management chain at the municipal level. The decentralization of services offered based on solid waste management would enable greater success in serving the population.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of protected areas is critical for forest conservation policies and priorities. To evaluate their effectiveness, we used 30-m resolution forest cover change data between 1990 and 2010 for ~4,000 protected areas and analyzed the relationships of the effectiveness of protected areas with socio-economic variables. Our results show that protected areas in the Tropics avoided 83,500 ± 21,200 km2 of deforestation during the 2000s. Brazil’s protected areas have the largest amount of avoided deforestation of 50,000 km2. We also show the amount of international aid received by tropical countries compared to the effectiveness of protected areas. International aid had major benefits in Latin America led by Brazil while tropical Asian countries used the resource ineffectively. Our results demonstrate that protected areas have been relatively more efficient in countries where deforestation pressures were increasing, and governance and forest change monitoring capacity are important factors for enhancing the efficacy of international aid.

Bovine Dewclaw Dermatitis (BDCD) is a hoof disease characterized by inflammation of the second and fifth accessory digits and the skin in this region. This pathology is poorly described in the literature; however, it has recently been observed in beef cattle in the Amazon Biome, Brazil. The objective of this study was to identify the epidemiological factors associated with BDCD onset in cattle in the analyzed biome. Samples were collected from eight farms with extensive breeding systems located in Xinguara, Rondon do Pará, Curionópolis, and Ipixuna do Pará, in the state of Pará, Brazil. A total of 706 Nellore and Nellore crossbred with taurine bovine of both sexes were evaluated, with males aged between 2–4 years and a mean weight of 650 kg and females aged between 2–11 years and a mean weight of 400 kg. Distal extremities were inspected during cattle management, and in case of dewclaw lesions, a specific examination was carried out after proper restraint. Bovine were diagnosed with BDCD in all farms analyzed. Of the 706 cattle inspected, 49 (6.94%) showed BDCD, of which 19 (38.77%) were Nellore and 30 (61.22%) were crossbred. This was the first study to determine BDCD’s occurrence in extensive farming systems in the Amazon re-gion, also showing that pastures with large amounts of stumps and stones, the physical structure of pens, and trauma and injury incidence during animal management are the most important pre-disposing factors for the onset of BDCD.

Moral observer-licensing happens when people condone others’ morally questionable conducts due to their history of moral behaviors. We investigated in four studies (N = 808) this phenomenon in the context of cyberspace and its contributing factors and boundary conditions. Study 1 determined what participants perceived as typically moral and immoral behaviors in cyberspace. Then in Study 2, participants condemned less a story character’s online immoral behavior when they were informed of the character’s prior online moral behavior than when they were not, which indicates moral observer-licensing in cyberspace. Study 3 confirmed the presence of moral observer-licensing in cyberspace and further demonstrated that a character’s prior moral or immoral behavior online respectively reduces or intensifies the negativity of the character’s subsequent immoral behavior. Finally, Study 4 showed that participants who identified with the victim in a hypothetical scenario showed less forgiveness and more condemnation of a character’s immoral behavior than those who identified with the perpetrator or the bystander. These findings are of theoretical and practical significance for our understanding of cyber ethics.

Objective. It is unknown whether the public accurately estimate socioeconomic health inequality and whether they wish to see it reduced or eliminated. Methods. Representative samples of the UK and US indicated the perceived and ideal lifespan of people working in “higher managerial/professional” and “routine” occupations. We present perceived and desired lifespan ratios for each sample and for key socio-demographic variables. Results. The UK public estimated the lifespan of professionals to be 5.9% longer than routine workers (true value of 5.8%), and 67.8% (UK) and 53.7% (US) participants correctly identified that professionals live longer than routine workers. In both populations, the median respondent expressed equal ideal lifespans for routine workers and professional workers. Conclusion. The UK public appear well-appraised on the average lifespan for professionals and routine workers. Across nationalities and most socio-demographic groups, the median respondent was aware of social class inequalities in lifespan and preferred that they be eliminated.

In the case of long-stator linear drive, unlike rotative drives for which speed or position sensors are a single unit attached to the shaft, these sensors extend along the guideway. The position signals transmitted from maglev vehicle can’t meet the need of the real-time propulsion control in the on-ground inverter power substations. In this paper the design of the propulsion inverter control system with a position estimator for driving long-stator synchronous motor in high speed maglev train is proposed. The experiments have been carried out at the 150m long guideway in O-song test track. To investigate the performance of the position estimator, the propulsion control system with and without the position estimator are compared. The result confirms that the proposed strategy can meet the dynamic property need of propulsion inverter control system for driving long-stator linear synchronous motors

The second external cause of death from unintentional injuries is falls in people over 60, a worldwide public health problem. Associated factors are identified early in Primary Health Care. Thus, we analyze professional narratives about older adults/old age and the organization of services in the presence of fall-inducing frailty. A structured narrative was applied under the following stages: understanding the context; setting/plot/character analysis; and interpretive synthesis. Data were collected from August to November 2022, distributing 21 health professionals in three Narrative Focus Groups. In the analyses, the collective conceptions dialogued with Bourdieu’s Epistemology of field, habitus, and capital. Among the results, technical and common sense representations of older adults were simultaneously observed, along with the belief of old age as a problematic life stage. Care is centered on the installed disease/ailment. Encouraging autonomy and self-care emerges in integrative health practices, which older adults underestimate. Professionals access the lives of older adults according to their habitus, which, in turn, is structured (structuring) in the disputes for installed capital. Thus, the care provided disregards subjectivities and symbolic systems associated with falls.

Carotid atherosclerotic lesions are a major cause of cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Identification and quantification of carotid plaques are important for categorizing the vulnerability of plaques for rupture and assessing the impact of treatments. The irregularity of plaque surface is associated with previous plaque rupture and plays an important role in the risk of stroke. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop and validate novel vulnerability biomarkers from three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) images by analyzing the surface morphological characterization of carotid plaque using fractal geometry features. 3D box-counting and 3D blanket are the two types of 3D fractal dimension that were employed to describe the smoothness of plaques. This fractal dimension analysis tool was used to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin using 3DUS carotid images, which were acquired from 6 patients treated with atorvastatin with 80 mg daily and 5 patients with placebo. The Student's T Test results showed that those two fractal features were effective for detecting the statin-related changes in carotid atherosclerosis with p<0.0068 and p<0.015 respectively, suggesting that 3D fractal dimension measurements can be used effectively to analyze the surface characteristics of carotid plaques, especially for evaluating the impact of the treatment.

Diopatra neapolitana (Delle Chiaje, 1841) is one of the most exploited polychaete species in European waters, particularly in Ria de Aveiro, a coastal lagoon in mainland Portugal, where the overexploitation of this resource has led to a generalized decline of local populations. In an attempt to reduce the impact of harvesting, several management actions were implemented, but, illegal poaching still fuels a parallel economy that threats the sustainable use of this marine resource. The present study evaluated the combination of fatty acid profiles and elemental fingerprints of the whole body and jaws, respectively, of D. neapolitana collected from four harvesting locations within Ria de Aveiro in order to determine if their geographic origin could be correctly assigned post-harvesting. Results showed that both fatty acid profiles and elemental fingerprints differ significantly among locations, discriminating the geographic origin with higher accuracy when combining these two natural barcodes than when employing each individually. The present work can therefore contribute for the implementation of an effective management plan for the sustainable use of this marine resource, making possible to detect if D. neapolitana was sourced from no take zones and if it was collected from the place of origin claimed by live baits traders.

Parenting has been robustly associated with offspring psychosocial development, and these effects are likely reflected in brain development. However, the claim that parenting influences offspring brain development in humans, as measured by structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), is subject to numerous methodological limitations. To interpret the state of the parenting and brain development literature, we review these limitations. Four limitations are common. First, most literature has been cross-sectional. Where longitudinal, studies rarely included multiple assessments of brain structure or function, precluding measurement of actual brain development. Second, parenting has largely been measured via selfor parent-report, as opposed to observational assessment. Third, there has been a focus on extreme forms of developmental adversity which do not necessarily lie on a continuum with normative parenting. Fourth, although not a limitation per se, studies have generally focused on negative as opposed to positive parenting behaviours. While not all studies are subject to all these limitations, the study of parenting in relation to offspring brain development is in its infancy.

Since its inception in December 2019, Covid-19 has challenged the global scientific community. Some treatments were used in this infection, but doubts still persist regarding the use of medications ¹. More severe cases complicate with endothelial dysfunction, excess thrombin synthesis and decreased fibrinolysis which, associated with hypoxemia, lead to a hypercoagulability state ² and some authors indicate the use of anticoagulants for these ³. For mild cases, doubts remain regarding this indication. We will report the case of a patient with mild symptoms of covid-19, complicated by inferior mesenteric vein thrombosis.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as a promising solution to tackle bacterial infections and combat antibiotic resistance. However, their clinical application has been hindered by their vulnerability to protease degradation and toxicity towards mammalian cells. To overcome these challenges, our study aims to develop a method to enhance the stability and safety of AMPs, applicable to effective drug-device combination products. KR12 antimicrobial peptide was chosen and in order to further enhance its delivery and efficacy, HIV TAT protein-derived cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) was fused to form CPP-KR12. A new product, CPP-KR12@Si, was developed by forming silica nanoparticles with self-entrapped CPP-KR12 peptide using the biomimetic silica precipitability due to its cationic nature. Peptide delivery from CPP-KR12@Si to bacteria and cells was delivered at a slightly delayed rate with improved stability against trypsin treatment and a reduction in cytotoxicity over CPP-KR12. Finally, the antimicrobial potential of CPP-KR12@Si/bone graft substitute (BGS) combination product was demonstrated, which is coated with CPP-KR12 in the form of nanoparticles on the surface of BGS. Self-entrapped AMP in silica nanoparticles is a safe and effective AMP delivery method that will be useful for developing a drug/device combination product for tissue regeneration.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of urban garden activities on participants' Perceived restorativeness, resilience, sense of community, and stress reduction. Ninety individuals who agreed to participate to the experiment were divided into experimental and control groups. To collect data 16 sessions of urban garden activities were conducted every two weeks from May to November of 2022. Perceived Restorativeness Scale, Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale, Sense of Community Index, and Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument were employed to measure participants’ psychological effects. To evaluate physiological effect salivary cortisol tests were performed. The results of the study revealed that urban gardening activities influenced on participants' physiological and psychological reactions in positive ways.

Post-operative chemotherapy is still required for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), and nanocarrier-based drug delivery has been identified as one of the most effective methods. However, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and non-specific delivery to non-tumor tissues can significantly limit drug accumulation in tumor tissues and cause damage to nearby normal tissues. This study describes a targeted cancer therapy approach that uses AS1411 aptamer-conjugated nanospheres, 100-300 nm in size, loaded with doxorubicin (Dox) to selectively identify tumor cells overexpressing nucleolin (NCL) proteins. The study demonstrates that the active target model, which employs aptamer-mediated drug delivery, is more effective than nonspecific enhanced permeability and maintenance (EPR)-mediated delivery and passive drug delivery in improving drug penetration and maintenance in tumor cells. Additionally, the study shows the potential for anticancer effects through 3D spheroidal and in vivo GBM xenograft models. The DNA-protein hybrid nanospheres utilized in this study offer numerous benefits, such as efficient synthesis, structural stability, high drug loading, dye labelling, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. When combined with nanospheres, the 1411 aptamer has been shown to be an effective drug delivery carrier for precisely targeting tumors. This combination has the potential to produce anti-tumor effects in active targeted therapy of GBM.

Preventing the rebound of black and odorous water bodies is critical for improving the ecological environment of water bodies. This study investigated the effect and mechanism of in-situ improvement of sediment microenvironment by nitrate in tailwater of wastewater treatment plants combined with aerobic denitrifying bacteria under low-DO regulation (TailN+CFM+LDO). On the 60th day of remediation, the dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential in the overlying water increased to 5.6 mg/L and 300 mV, respectively, the acid volatile sulfide in the sediment decreased by 70.4%, and the organic matter in the sediment was reduced by 62.7%, in which the HFOM was degraded from 105 g/kg to 56 g/kg, and the potential risk of water reverting to black and odorous conditions significantly decreased. Amplicon sequencing analysis revealed that the relative abundance of electroactive bacteria Thiobacillus and Pseudomonas with denitrification capacity was found to be significantly higher in the TailN+CFM+LDO group than in the other remediation groups. Functional prediction of 16S sequencing results indicated that both the quantity and activity of critical microbial enzymes involved in nitrification and denitrification processes could enhance in the TailN+CFM+LDO group. These results improved our understanding of the improvement of the sediment microenvironment and could thus facilitate its application.

Molecular transport and quantum tunneling of H2 and H2O molecules through nanoporous gra-phene is studied using computational modeling and first principles density functional theory. It is demonstrated that molecules with sufficiently high kinetic energies can tunnel through the na-nopores. It is also demonstrated that molecules can be trapped in front of the nanopore or behind it. These investigations help us learn the behavior of molecules in and around nanopores of gra-phene. They also help us learn fundamentals of molecular tunneling. We believe, nanoporous gra-phene can play important roles for gas separation and nanofiltration.

This paper examines how remittances contribute to the democratisation process in Bangladesh. The endogeneity issue between remittances and democracy is tackled by employing the Structural VAR (SVAR) approach. It is found that while remittances respond to innovations in the macro-political variables, remittances also have important impact on these variables. Our results build a synergy between two opposing findings in the politics literature where on one hand remittances flows stabilise autocracies, while on the other hand they foster the prospect for democratisation. In particular, we demonstrate that a shock in remittances flows will have a negative but transitory impact on democracy. Initially there will be a bout of autocratic episodes which will be eventually eliminated and democracy will be restored to its original level in three to five years. However, using an alternative measure for democracy with the aid of principal-component analysis, we find that after the fifth year following a shock in remittances flows, a small but positive permanent effect on democracy is observable that do not revert to zero at end of the ten period horizon.

The aim of this study was to examine usual daily micronutrient intake of Chinese children based on data from the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey. We analyzed data from 4 to 17-year-old participants, who provided dietary data on 3 consecutive days combined with the household weighing method in 2011. Usual daily intake of each nutrient was estimated using a mixed effects model based on the China Food Composition published in 2002 and 2004. The means, medians and percent below Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) were reported for selected micronutrients, including calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamin C. For sodium and potassium, means and the distribution of intakes were compared to the Adequate Intake (AI) level. The average usual daily intakes of all micronutrients increase with age and the intakes of boys higher than girls in the same age group. The average of calcium intakes increased from 272mg/d in 4-6y to 391mg/d in 14-17y, but the percentage of inadequate calcium intake remained very high (>96%). The prevalence of inadequacy of calcium was the highest among the mineral nutrients reported in this study. As the requirement of micronutrient increased with age, the percentage of subjects with inadequate intake increased in 11-17 age groups. Among the 14-17y, the percentages of study participants with dietary intakes of calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamin C below the EAR were 96.8%, 18.8%, 37.6%, 72.8%, 36.8%, 91.8%. 85.9% and 75.5%, respectively. Among the 11-13y, the percentages of study participants with dietary intakes of iron, zinc and vitamin A below the EAR were 23.5%, 41.5%, and 41.6%, respectively. Thus, the micronutrients deficiency is a problem in Chinese Children. Nutrition education and intervention programs are needed to address the nutritional gaps.

(1) The present study investigated the effect of orally administered Limosilactobacillus fermentum HY7302 (HY7302) on the relationship between ocular tissue and the microbiome in the corneal injured dry eye mice model. (2) 0.1% benzalkonium chloride (BAC) was applied to the ocular surface for 14 days to induce corneal injury in male Balb/c mice. During the BAC treatment period, HY7302 (1 × 108 CFU/kg/day or 1 × 109 CFU/kg/day) or omega-3 positive control (200 mg/kg/day) were administered orally (n = 8/group). To examine signaling pathways affected by HY7302 treatment, the in vitro effects of HY7302 on tight junctions and the inflammatory response were investigated in a mouse colon epithelial cell line, CMT-93. (3) BAC exposure decreased tear production, induced ocular inflammation and corneal epithelial detachment, and altered gut microbiota. However, oral administration of HY7302 restored tear secretion and decreased corneal epithelial detachment in BAC-treated corneal injury mice. Further, HY7302 alleviated corneal inflammation via modulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression and alterations in gut microbiota composition. (4) These findings suggest that the gut–eye axis interaction between gut microbiota and eye tissue affects disease severity in corneal injury, and that alteration of the microbiota by HY7302 could improve eye health by regulating the inflammatory response.

Codium fragile, a green algae, exhibit biological properties. In this study, we examined the effect of Codium fragile extract (CFE) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. As the administration of CFE increased, the proliferation of Akkermansia muciniphila, which is key player in metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, increased. After CFE administration for 10 weeks, acetic acid was revealed as the major metabolite in mouse cecum and β-glucuronidase activity in mouse feces is decreased. Further, CFE significantly alleviates the acute intestinal injury induced by DSS administration, including DAI scores and colon length. MPO activity in the colon was significantly reduced in the CFE-fed group, which indicated that CFE could inhibit neutrophils infiltration and inflammation in mice. In conclusion, a protective effect of CFE against DSS colitis suggests its clinical use for IBD patients.

Background: Extremely rare progressive diseases like Sedaghatian-type Spondylometaphyseal Dysplasia (SSMD) can be neonatally lethal and therefore go undiagnosed or are difficult to treat. Recent sequencing efforts have linked this disease to mutations in GPX4, with consequences in the resulting enzyme, glutathione peroxidase 4. This offers potential diagnostic and therapeutic avenues for those suffering from this disease, though the steps toward these treatments is often convoluted, expensive, and time-consuming. Main body: The CureGPX4 organization was developed to promote awareness of GPX4-related diseases like SSMD, as well as support research that could lead to essential therapeutics for patients. We provide an overview of the 21 published SSMD cases and have compiled additional sequencing data for four previously unpublished individuals to illustrate the genetic component of SSMD, and the role of sequencing data in diagnosis. We outline in detail the steps CureGPX4 has taken to reach milestones of team creation, disease understanding, drug repurposing, and design of future studies. Conclusion: The primary aim of this review is to provide a roadmap for therapy development for rare, ultra-rare, and difficult to diagnose diseases, as well as increase awareness of the genetic component of SSMD. This work will offer a better understanding of GPx4-related diseases, and help guide researchers, clinicians, and patients interested in other rare diseases find a path towards treatments.

The impact of organizational accreditation and professional certification and the evidence-based measurable impact of those for both academic programs and affiliates is one of specific interest to universities and individuals in the healthcare management field [1]. The authors’ analysis examined the impact of hiring graduates from higher education programs that held external accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Graduates’ affiliation with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) professional healthcare leadership organization was also assessed as an independent variable. Study outcomes focused on these graduates’ respective healthcare organization’s performance measures (cost, quality, and access) to assess the researchers’ inquiry into the perceived value of a CAHME-accredited graduate degree in healthcare administration and a professional ACHE affiliation [2]. The results from this study found no effect of CAHME accreditation or ACHE affiliation on healthcare organization performance outcomes. The study findings support the need for future research surrounding healthcare administration professional graduate degree program characteristics and leader development affiliations, as perceived by various industry stakeholders.

Upon inbreeding, the architecture of the inbreeding load shifts as selection purges strongly deleterious recessive mutations and drift fixes many milder ones. Most small inbred populations show limited genetic variation while crosses between such populations commonly express pronounced heterosis, confirming fixation. In contrast, purging appears to be limited in that inbred populations often retain substantial inbreeding depression. In addition we have the enigma Darwin noted: purely selfing taxa are unknown. Because both purging and fixation reduce inbreeding depression and load, another mechanism must exist to sustain these. Background selection and the associations that develop among alleles in small inbred populations will shift the architecture of the load potentially creating blocks of recessive mutations linked in repulsion. This would generate pseudo-overdominance that could sustain these “PODs” and inbreeding load. Recombination and crosses between lineages could erode PODs. Crosses between populations fixed for different mutations would generate high pseudo-overdominance, enhancing heterosis and potentially POD formation. New recessive mutations arising within PODs would reinforce overdominance. PODs should generate clear genetic signatures including genomic hotspots of heterozygosity and linkage disequilibrium containing alleles at intermediate frequency generating segregating load. Results from several simulation and empirical studies match these predictions. Further simulations and comparative genomic analyses are needed to rigorously test whether PODs exist in sufficient strength and number to generate persistent inbreeding depression and load in inbred lineages.

(1) The purpose of this study was to compare the percentages of quarterly change for each of the variables analysed (height, weight, body fat percentage and muscle mass) as a function of the quarter in a sample of adolescent football players. (2) The sample consisted of young male football players of different categories belonging to a high-performance football academy, (more than 5 years in football and have spent 1 full year at the academy). (3) Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed for the anthropometric variable, P_value

Railway has been used as one of the most crucial means of transportation in public mobility and economic development. For efficiently operating railways, the electrification system in railway infrastructure, which supplies electric power to trains, is essential facilities for stable train operation. Due to its important role, the electrification system needs to be rigorously and regularly inspected and managed. This paper presents a supervised learning method to classify Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) data into ten target classes representing overhead wires, movable brackets and poles, which are recognized key objects in the electrification system. In general, the layout of railway electrification system shows a strong regularity of spatial relations among object classes. The proposed classifier is developed based on Conditional Random Field (CRF), which characterizes not only labeling homogeneity at short range, but also the layout compatibility between different object classes at long range in the probabilistic graphical model. This multi-range CRF model consists of a unary term and three pairwise contextual terms. In order to gain computational efficiency, MLS point clouds is converted into a set of line segments where the labeling process is applied. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used as a local classifier considering only node features for producing the unary potentials of CRF model. As the short-range pairwise contextual term, Potts model is applied to enforce a local smoothness in short-range graph. While, long-range pairwise potentials are designed to enhance spatial regularities of both horizontal and vertical layouts among railway objects. We formulate two long-range pairwise potentials as the log posterior probability obtained by Naïve Bayes classifier. The directional layout compatibilities are characterized in probability look-up tables which represent co-occurrence rate of spatial relations in horizontal and vertical directions. The likelihood function is formulated by multivariate Gaussian distributions. In the proposed multi-range CRF model, the weight parameters to balance four sub-terms are estimated by applying the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD). The results show that the proposed multi-range CRF can effectively classify detailed railway elements, representing the average recall of 97.66% and the average precision of 97.07% for all classes.

Wireless Powered Communication Networks (WPCN), which has attracted much attention of researchers, also been recently recommended in 5^th generation (5G) wireless networks. With the help of the WPCN, the reliability and battery life of wireless low-power devices can be improved. In this paper, we investigate throughput and ergodic capacity in WPCN-assisted amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying system, considering two transmission modes including delay-tolerant and delay-limited. As important achievement, we propose symmetric energy harvesting protocol, namely time power switching relaying (TPSR) in order to find maximal throughput. In particular, both time switching and power switching coefficients in this schemes are considered. Unlike most of the previous works, we further focus on impact of outdated channel state information (CSI) in this WPCN. In order to evaluate information processing efficiency, the performance can be substantially improved by optimally harvesting time and power coefficients of the received signal at relay node for energy and information extraction, and by deploying several scenarios. By deploying Monte Carlo simulation, it is confirmed that the system performance is more sensitive to CSI estimation error, noise variance, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and resulting in other reasonable computations of TPSR need be deployed to obtain QoS requirement.

Public restrooms are often a hub of microbial contamination, and the examination of bacterial contamination in these facilities can serve as an important indicator of the transmission of infectious diseases. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination in public restrooms based on the economic class of the building. Samples were collected from various spots in 32 restrooms found in 10 shopping malls, classifying them into two categories: upper-end restrooms and lower-end restrooms. The findings showed that the level of contamination was higher in the lower-end restrooms, with the seat being the most contaminated area. The most dominant Gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci species, making up 86% of the identified Gram-positive isolates. The most dominant Gram-negative bacteria identified were Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic sensitivity test results revealed the presence of multi-drug resistant bacteria among the Gram-positive and negative isolates, including Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus kloosi, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In conclusion, the study underscores the significance of monitoring bacterial contamination in public restrooms and the need for measures to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Further research is crucial to gain a complete understanding of the bacterial contamination in public restrooms and their resistance patterns, to ensure the safety and health of the public. The implementation of improved cleaning practices and hands-free designs in restrooms can help reduce the risk of cross-contamination and prevent the spread of diseases.

Cement production contributes to about 7% of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Despite our best efforts, we cannot find a competitive substitute that is both reliable and environmentally friendly. The simplest way to solve the problem is to rationalize the resources and try to minimize its use by substitute them with other materials. A concrete that contains a substantial amount of fly ash is already available, but its use is limited by the current shortage in the market and reduced initial resistance. In this context, ternary mixtures have been used to conduct an experiment. A significant volume of cement has been replaced with fly ash and metakaolin, which serves as a correction factor for the performance. In this work the main advantages and disadvantages of the simultaneous use of these two additions, which may reveal to be very interesting with high volumes of substitution will be presented. The performance of this ternary mixture is very promising. Provide a wide range of possibilities for replacing cement, maintaining or even improving its mechanical and durability properties. A solution for an ecological concrete with enhanced performance for general use in construction as an alternative to conventional concrete.

Early and accurate mapping of winter canola planting areas provides critical support for sustainable cropland management. Although some methods have been proposed to map the winter canola at the flowering or later stage, mapping winter canola planting areas at the early stage is still challenging, due to the insufficient understanding of the multi-source remote sensing features sensitive for winter canola mapping. This study proposed an early-stage winter canola area mapping method by using the combination of optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. We analyzed the spectral features, backscatter coefficients, and textural features of winter canola based on Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 images. Random forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification models were built to map winter canola based on early-stage images and field samples in 2017 and then apply the best model to corresponding satellite data in 2018-2022. Results showed that: (1) The red edge and near-infrared-related spectral features were most important for the mapping of early-stage winter canola, followed by VV, DVI and GOSAVI, which also showed greater differences than the other features; (2) Based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data, winter canola could be earliest mapped around 130 days prior to ripening (i.e., early overwinter stage) with the F-score over 0.85 and the OA over 81%; (3) Adding Sentinel-1 could improve the OA by about 2%-4% and the F-score by about 1% -2% in winter canola mapping. (4) The F-score of winter canola mapping based on the classifier transfer approach in 2018-2022 varied between 0.75 and 0.97, and the OA ranged from 79% to 86%. This study demonstrates the potential of early-stage winter canola mapping using the combination of Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 images, which could provide valuable and timely information for stakeholders and decision makers.

Ocean wave energy conversion as one of the renewable clean energy sources is attracting the research interests of many people. This review introduces different types of power take-off technology of wave energy converters. The main focus is the linear direct drive power take-off devices as they have the advantages for ocean wave energy conversion. The designs and optimizations of power take-off systems of ocean wave energy converters have been studied from reviewing the recently published literature. Also, the simple hydrodynamics of wave energy converters have been reviewed for design optimization of the wave energy converters at specific wave sites. The novel mechanical designs of the power take-off systems have been compared and investigated in order to increase the energy harvesting efficiency.

Gas gangrene refers to severe necrotizing syndromes in soft tissues of animals caused by Clos-tridium. Five species of histotoxic clostridia are responsible for myonecroses. These agents require a port of entry, such as skin punctures with needles contaminated with bacterial spores. The present case report describes the clinicopathological findings of gas gangrene in a male Quarter horse living in the Brazilian Amazon biome. Clinical examination revealed clinical signs of toxemia and an enlarged left limb. The anamnesis found the administration of medication to this limb. The animal died five hours after its arrival at the veterinary hospital. At necropsy, histopathological lesions characterized by intense muscle necrosis, liquefaction, and gas formation were observed, suggestive of Clostridium lesions, which were confirmed by multiplex PCR. C. septicum was the etiological agent identified.

Despite a growing concern over sustainability in tourism, research on this domain regarding, specifically, lake destinations, is still scarce. Although perceptions on lake destinations have been studied, no study is known that analyses the impact of visitors’ perceptions on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Thus, this paper aims to develop and test a model to analyse the effect of lake visitors’ perceptions of destination’s sustainability on both satisfaction and loyalty towards lake destinations. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Shchuchinsk-Burabay resort area, an important lake destination in northern Kazakhstan. The results support the proposed lake destination loyalty model, tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Sustainability proved to be decisively influential, with water quality being the dimension with the highest impact on satisfaction with the lakes, along with a positive key impact of the absence of congestion. In addition, both water quality and lack of congestion had a significant indirect impact on satisfaction with the lake destination, and on loyalty. Based on the research findings, theoretical conclusions and practical implications are drawn.

The EPR paradox was caused by the provision that quantum variables must have pre-existing values. This type of “hidden property realism” was later falsified by Bell’s Theorem. Yet, modern interpretations of quantum entanglement still insist on the reality of pre-existing properties, whether explicitly or implicitly. Instead, they treat Bell’s inequality as a Locality Criterion. This is a questionable practice, considering that classical joint measurements also violate such inequalities for mutually exclusive wave properties. In particular, consecutive measurements of polarization produce the same coefficients of correlation as parallel measurements with polarization-entangled quanta, yet they are explicitly local. Nonetheless, they also require nonlocal interpretations if pre-existing properties are taken for granted. The solution is to reject the models with pre-existing properties for both classical and quantum wave-like phenomena.

This article assumes that collaborators who adopt a positive-sum, prosocial perspective can build trust-based relationships, which is equivalent to collaborative ability (CA). To improve a collaborator’s CA, we anticipated that content based upon a model of positive-sum collaboration, founded upon ancestral behaviours presented as social norms, might alter a zero-sum, proself, collaborator’s perspective. However, we also postulated that learner’s willingness to engage in positive-sum content may rely on pre-existing prosociality. Intervention participant’s prosociality was assessed via self-assessment of their emotional intelligence (EQ), quality of life (QoL), and goal orientation (GO). Learner’s engagement in online content was assessed by the three stage reached: examine website front matter; examine website content; learn website content. Tukey’s multiple comparison showed a statistically significant difference between stages one and three, in the mean of respondent’s self-assessed QoL. This suggests that participants who wished to learn content had, on average, higher quality of life, and potentially therefore greater prosociality. In general, these findings support a claim that any intervention designed to increase individual prosociality may need to consider the target population’s reticence to engage.

This study aims to spatially analyze the distribution characteristics of vacant homes in Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and understand the differences in factors causing vacant homes by type. We use a variety of statistical methods to examine these factors and identify key influencing factors such as the number of vacant stores, changes in overall population, land use complexity, and physical characteristics of land and buildings. The findings reveal that the factors contributing to the occurrence of vacant homes vary significantly by region and property type, highlighting the need for region-specific policies. For instance, in old town areas, small lot ratios and land use complexity are significant, while in rural village, the average number of floors and land use complexity play a major role. This study underscores the diversity of factors influencing vacant homes, suggesting that policies should be tailored to the unique characteristics of different regions to effectively address this issue.

Among magnetoelectric (ME) heterostructures, ME laminates of the type Metglas-like / PVDF (magnetostrictive+piezoelectric constituents) have shown the highest induced ME voltages, usually detected at the magnetoelastic resonance of the magnetostrictive constituent. This ME coupling happens because of the high cross-correlation coupling between magnetostrictive and piezoelectric material, and is usually associated with a promising application scenario for sensors or actuators. In this work we detail the basis of the operation of such devices, as well as some arising questions (as size effects) concerning their best performance. Also, some examples of their use as very sensitive magnetic fields sensors or innovative energy harvesting devices will be presented At the end, the challenges, future perspectives and technical difficulties that will determine the success of ME composites for sensor applications are discussed.