It is highly likely that the wearing of face masks reduces the rate of respiratory infections (e.g. SARS-CoV-2), to protect both the user and those around them. This paper sets out to review the areas that effect the efficacy of masks, the materials, design, hygiene and fit testing, in order to make recommendations as to how to make mask from resources found in most homes for when commercial models are unavailable. This paper finds that a mask constructed with a filter made from high thread count cotton is likely to provide a reasonable level of protection (~70% filtration) and that if a layers of other materials such as chiffon or silk is added the filtration may be much higher (~90%). There is also some promise in less available materials such as vacuum cleaner bags and air conditioner filters. Examples of fabric and rigid designs are reviewed but most are limited by the fit to the users which is hard to determine in a home setting. It would be extremely helpful if a method was devised for people to test or be tested for the fit of home made masks. In the mean time careful thought should be given to whether the user judges a good fit. Users should also be careful to practice other means of hygiene and distancing.

Precision agriculture (PA) is a holistic, sustainable, innovative systems approach that assists farmers in production management. Adopting PA could improve sustainable food security and community economic sustainability. Developing an understanding of PA adoption attributes is needed to assist extension practitioners to promote adoption and better understand the innovation adoption phenomena. A systematic review of literature was conducted to investigate PA adoption. Thirty-three publications were examined, and four themes were found among the reviewed publications. The results were interpreted using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations framework to address the research objectives. Of the reviewed literature, we found relative advantage and compatibility were two dominant attributes to strengthen the adoption of PA, and the complexity attribute was rarely used to promote the adoption of PA. This study shows that change agents do not fully use five attributes of innovation when they promote PA technology to stakeholders to adopt. Thus, we recommend studies from the agricultural extension specialists’ perspectives in the future may determine contributions to motivate farmers’ adoption of PA, in particular related to complexity.

The Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor (RGNEF) protein encoded by the ARHGEF28 gene has been implicated in the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Biochemical and pathological studies have shown that RGNEF is a component of the hallmark neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in ALS-affected neurons. Additionally, a heterozygous mutation in ARHGEF28 has been identified in a number of familial ALS (fALS) cases that may give rise to one of two truncated variants of the protein. Little is known about the normal biological function of RGNEF or how it contributes to ALS pathogenesis. To further explore RGNEF biology we have established and characterized a yeast model and characterized RGNEF expression in several mammalian cell lines. We demonstrate that RGNEF is toxic when overexpressed and forms inclusions. We also found that the fALS-associated mutation in ARGHEF28 gives rise to an inclusion-forming and toxic protein. Additionally, through unbiased screening using the split-ubiquitin system, we have identified RGNEF interacting proteins, including two ALS-associated proteins. Functional characterization of other RGNEF interactors identified in our screen suggest that RGNEF functions as a microtubule regulator. Our findings indicate that RGNEF misfolding and toxicity may cause impairment of the microtubule network and contribute to ALS pathogenesis.

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increases in some healthcare-associated infections. We investigated the impact of the pandemic on rates and molecular epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) within one VA Hospital. We anticipated that the potential widespread use of antibiotics for pneumonia during the pandemic might increase CDI rates given that antibiotics are a major risk for CDI. Hospital data on patients with CDI and recurrent CDI (rCDI) were reviewed pre-COVID-19 pandemic (2015 to 2019) and during the pandemic (2020 - 2021). Restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) strain typing was performed on CD isolates recovered from stool samples collected from 10/2019 – 3/2022. CDI case numbers declined 43.2% in 2020 – 2021 compared to the annual mean over the previous 5 years. Stool test positivity rate was also lower during the COVID-19 pandemic (14.3% vs. 17.2%; P = 0.013). Although inpatient volume declined, rates of CDI among inpatients were reduced by 34.2% in 2020 – 2021. Mean monthly cases of rCDI also declined significantly after 2020 [3.38 (95% CI: 2.89 – 3.87) vs. 1.92 (95% CI: 1.27 – 2.56); P = <0.01]. Prior to the pandemic, REA group Y was the most prevalent CD strain among the major REA groups (27.3%). During the first wave of the pandemic from March 8, 2020, through June 30, 2020, there was an increase in the relative incidence of REA group BI (26.7% vs. 9.1%. After adjusting for CDI risk factors, a multivariable logistic regression model revealed that odds of developing an REA group BI CDI increased during the first pandemic wave (OR 6.41, 95% CI: 1.03 – 39.91) compared to the pre-pandemic period. In conclusion, the incidence of CDI and rCDI decreased significantly during the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, REA BI (Ribotype 027), a virulent, previously epidemic CD strain and frequently associated with hospital transmission and outbreaks, reappeared as a prevalent strain during the first wave of the pandemic.

The aim of this article is to establish a new class of unified integrals associated with the generalized Lommel-Wright functions, which are expressed in terms of Wright Hypergeometric function.Some integrals involving trigonometric,generalized Bessel function and Struve functions are also indicated as special cases of our main results.further, with the help of our main results and their special cases, we obtain two reduction formulas for the Wright hypergeometric function.

This article integrates existing theory from distributed computing and cryptology with anecdotal material from the cryptocurrency industry, to provide a comprehensive description of the minimum requirements of the hypothetical academic blockchain. The paper argues that such a community could significantly reduce the biases and misconduct that now exist in the academic peer review process. Theory suggests such a system could operate effectively as a distributed encrypted telecommunications network where nodes are anonymous, do not trust each other, and there is minimal central authority. To incentivize the academic community to join such a proposed community, the paper proposes a pseudo-cryptocurrency called litcoin (literature coin). This litcoin-based system would create economic scarcity based on proof of knowledge (POK), which is a synthesis of the proof of work (POW) mechanism used in bitcoin, and the proof of stake (POS) mechanism used in various altcoin communities. The paper argues that the proposed POK system would enable the academic community to more effectively develop the research it finds valuable.

Wildlife conservation is an important component of environmental sustainability and can be improved by reviewing the performance of its three major models – common pool, top-down regulatory, and private resource -- under varying environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Generally, the private resource model is the most sustainable because it provides the best incentives to balance the needs of humans and wildlife, to maintain general wildlife habitat, and to adapt quickly to changing environmental and/or socioeconomic conditions. Top-down or “command and control” regulation, however, can be employed as a model of last resort if the private resource model shows signs of failing to protect specific species from local extirpation or extinction, which it is most likely to do for migratory species, species with close commercial substitutes, and species with no direct commercial value. Top-down regulators may also be needed to enforce property rights arrangements like catch shares and to monitor resources that remain in the common pool in the event that socioeconomic or environmental conditions change sufficiently to trigger the tragedy of the commons.

The manuscript surveys the special functions of the Fox-Wright type. These functions are generalizations of the hypergeometric functions. Notable representatives of the type are the Mittag-Leffler functions and the Wright function. The integral representations of such functions are given and the conditions under which these function can be represented by simpler functions are demonstrated. The connection with generalized fractional differential and integral operators is demonstrated and discussed.

Additive Friction Extrusion Deposition (AFED) is a recently developed additive manufacturing technique that promises high deposition rates at low forces. Due to the novelty of the process, the underlying phenomena and their interactions are not fully understood, and in particular the processing strategy and tool design are still in their infancy. This work contributes to the state of the art of AFED through a comprehensive analysis of its working principles and an experimental program including a representative sample component. The working principle and process mechanics of AFED are broken down into their individual components. Forces, their origins and effects on the process are described, and measures of process efficiency and theoretical minimum energy consumption are derived. Three geometrical features of the extrusion die are identified as most relevant to the active material flow, process forces and deposition quality: the topography of the inner and outer circular surfaces and the geometry of its extrusion channels. Based on this, the experimental program investigates seven different tool designs in terms of efficiency, force reduction and throughput. The experiments using AA 6061-T6 as feedstock show that AFED is capable of both high material throughput (close to 550 mm³/s) and reduced substrate forces: For example, the forces for a run at 100 mm³/s remained continuously below 500 N, and for a run at 400 mm³/s below 3500 N. Material flow and microstructure of the AFED are assessed from the macrosections. Significant differences are found between the advancing and retracting sides for both process effects and material flow. Banded structures show strong similarities to other solid state processes. The fabrication of the sample components demonstrates that AFED is already capable of producing industrial grade components. In mechanical testing, interlayer bonding defects result in a more brittle failure behavior in the direction of the structure, in the microstructure show strong similarities to other solid-state processes. The manufacturing of the sample components demonstrates that AFED is already capable of producing industrial grade components. In mechanical tests, interlayer bonding defects result in a more brittle failure behavior in the direction of the structure, while in the horizontal direction of the structure mechanical properties corresponding to a T4 temper have been achieved.

Airway epithelial cells (AECs) play a key role in maintaining lung homeostasis, epithelium regeneration and the initiation of pulmonary immune responses. To isolate and study murine AECs investigators have classically used short and hot (1h 37°C) digestion protocols. Here, we present a workflow for efficient AECs isolation and culture, utilizing long and cold (20h 4°C) dispase II digestion of murine lungs. This protocol yields a greater number of viable AECs compared to an established 1h 37°C dispase II digestion. Using a combination of flow cytometry and immunofluorescent microscopy, we demonstrate that compared to the established method, the cold digestion allows for recovery of a 3-fold higher number of CD45-CD31-EpCAM+ cells from murine lungs. Their viability is increased compared to established protocols, they can be isolated in larger numbers by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), and they result in greater numbers of KRT5+p63+ colonies in vitro. Our findings demonstrate that temperature and duration of murine lung enzymatic digestion have a considerable impact on AEC yield, viability, and ability to form colonies in vitro. We believe this workflow will be helpful for studying lung AECs and their role in the biology of lung.

The Colebrook equation is a popular model for estimating friction loss coefficients in water and gas pipes. The model is implicit in the unknown flow friction factor . To date, the captured flow friction factor can be extracted from the logarithmic form analytically only in the term of the Lambert -function. The purpose of this study is to find an accurate and computationally efficient solution based on the shifted Lambert -function also known as the Wright -function. The Wright -function is more suitable because it overcomes the problem with the overflow error by switching the fast growing term of the Lambert -function to the series expansions that further can be easily evaluated in computers without causing overflow run-time errors. Although the Colebrook equation transformed through the Lambert -function is identical to the original expression in term of accuracy, a further evaluation of the Lambert -function can be only approximate. Very accurate explicit approximations of the Colebrook equation that contains only one or two logarithms are shown. The final result is an accurate explicit approximation of the Colebrook equation with the relative error of no more than 0.0096%. The presented approximations are in the form suitable for everyday engineering use, they are both accurate and computationally efficient.

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

The NF-κB (nuclear factor K-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) transcription factor family is critical for modulating the immune proinflammatory response throughout the body. During the resting state, inactive NF-κB is sequestered by IκB in the cytoplasm. Proteasomal degradation of IκB activates NF-κB, mediating its translocation into the nucleus to act as a nuclear transcription factor in the upregulation of proinflammatory genes. Stimuli that initiate NF-κB activation are diverse, but are canonically attributed to proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Downstream effects of NF-κB are cell type specific and, in the majority of cases, result in activation of pro-inflammatory cascades. Acting as the primary immune responders of the central nervous system, microglia exhibit upregulation of NF-κB upon activation in response to pathological conditions. Under such circumstances, microglial crosstalk with other cell types in the central nervous system can induce cell death, further exacerbating the disease pathology. In this review, we will emphasize the role of NF-κB in triggering neuroinflammation mediated by microglia.

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels and hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels share similar structures but have opposite gating polarity. Kv channels have a strong coupling ( >109) between the voltage sensor (S4) and the activation gate: when S4s are activated the gate is open to >80%, but when S4s are deactivated, the gate is open < 10-9 of the time. Using noise analysis, we show that the coupling between S4 and the gate is < 200 in HCN channels. In addition, using voltage clamp fluorometry, locking the gate open in a Kv channel drastically altered the energetics of S4 movement. In contrast, locking the gate open or decreasing the coupling between S4 and the gate in HCN channels had only minor effects on the energetics of S4 movement, consistent with a weak coupling between S4 and the gate. We propose that this loose coupling is a prerequisite for the reversed voltage gating in HCN channels.

With reference to electromagnetic interaction and Abdus Salam’s strong (nuclear) gravity, 1) Square root of ‘reciprocal’ of the strong coupling constant can be considered as the strength of nuclear elementary charge. 2) ‘Reciprocal’ of the strong coupling constant can be considered as the maximum strength of nuclear binding energy. 3) In deuteron, strength of nuclear binding energy is around unity and there exists no strong interaction in between neutron and proton. $G_s\cong 3.32688\times {10}^{28}{\mathrm{m}}^3{\mathrm{kg}}^{-1}{\sec }^{-2}$ being the nuclear gravitational constant, nuclear charge radius can be shown to be, $R_0\cong \frac{2G_s{m}_p}{c^2}\cong 1.24\mathrm{fm}.$ $e_s\cong \left(\frac{G_s{m}_p^2}{\hslash c}\right)e\cong 4.716785\times {10}^{-19}\mathrm{C}$ being the nuclear elementary charge, proton magnetic moment can be shown to be, ${\mu }_p\cong \frac{e_s\hslash }{2m_p}\cong \frac{e{G}_s{m}_p}{2c}\cong 1.48694\times {10}^{-26}\mathrm{J}{.\mathrm{T}}^{-1}.$ ${\alpha }_s\cong {\left(\frac{\hslash c}{G_s{m}_p^2}\right)}^2\cong 0.1153795$ being the strong coupling constant, strong interaction range can be shown to be proportional to $\exp \left(\frac{1}{{\alpha }_s^2}\right).$ Interesting points to be noted are: An increase in the value of ${\alpha }_s$ helps in decreasing the interaction range indicating a more strongly bound nuclear system. A decrease in the value of ${\alpha }_s$ helps in increasing the interaction range indicating a more weakly bound nuclear system. From $Z\cong 30$ onwards, close to stable mass numbers, nuclear binding energy can be addressed with, ${\left(B\right)}_{A_s}\cong Z\times \left\{\left(\frac{1}{{\alpha }_s}+1\right)+\sqrt{\sqrt{30\times 31}}\right\}\left(m_n-m_p\right)c^2\approx Z\times 19.66\mathrm{MeV}.$ With further study, magnitude of the Newtonian gravitational constant can be estimated with nuclear elementary physical constants. One sample relation is, $\left(\frac{G_N}{G_s}\right)\cong \frac{1}{2}{\left(\frac{m_e}{m_p}\right)}^{10}\left[\sqrt{\frac{G_F}{\hslash c}}/\left(\frac{\hslash }{m_{e}c}\right)\right]$ where $G_N$ represents the Newtonian gravitational constant and $G_F$ represents the Fermi’s weak coupling constant. Two interesting coincidences are, ${\left(m_p/m_e\right)}^{10}\cong \exp \left(1/{\alpha }_s^2\right)$ and $2G_s{m}_e/c^2\cong \sqrt{G_F/\hslash c}.$

We interviewed 48 people including local communities, ex hunters and protected area management professionals. The purpose of the interviews was to understand the motivations for, and the nature of, illegal hunting of prey species of iconic predators - tigers and leopards - in the northern section of Bardia National Park. Participants reported that hunting of prey species occurs mostly in spring and autumn and is less common during the summer. In the past, hunting was primarily for the purposes of obtaining meat for household consumption. Since the introduction of a road network in the region, opportunities to sell wild meat at ad-hoc ‘highway markets’ have developed. The purported medicinal properties of wild meat was also cited as a driver for illegal hunting. Mostly, locally hand-made guns are used for hunting and the use of dogs in hunting was often reported. Protected area managers informed that illegal hunting problems in the study area are associated with a lack of presence of park authorities, remoteness and underdevelopment and poverty of the community. Our study suggested that skills development training for local community members might reduce dependency on wild meat for household consumption and earning thereby reducing illegal hunting.

Background: Antibiotic lock therapy is an interventional modality used for treatment and prevention of central-line associated bloodstream infections. Stability and compatibility data for combinations are lacking, limiting clinical use. Objective: Compatibility and stability of daptomycin lock solutions in combination with azithromycin, gentamicin, and heparin or sodium citrate were evaluated up to 96 hours. Methods: Eight candidate lock solutions were prepared for compatibility and stability testing. All solutions were prepared in glass vials, and included daptomycin 1mg/mL in varying combinations with heparin 100 – 1,000 units/mL, trisodium citrate, azithromycin and/or gentamicin. Lactated Ringer’s solution was added as a diluent in a sufficient quantity to bring the total volume up to 5mL. Drug stability in the admixture was determined by the degradation of the components. The quantification of drugs was performed using Waters Alliance HPLC using Phenomenex Luna C8 (2), 150*2.6mm, 5µ column. A gradient run was executed for 20 minutes with 0.45% ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, pH 3.25 as eluent A and acetonitrile as eluent B at a flow rate of 1.0mL/min. Each solution was visually inspected for particulates and color change. Lock solutions were tested in triplicate. Results: Daptomycin degradation was <10% for all solutions at 48 hours, and for 7 of the 8 solutions at 72 hours. Gentamicin degradation was <5% for solutions in combination with daptomycin and trisodium citrate. No physical incompatibilities were detected. Conclusion: Study data support the stability and compatibility of daptomycin with additives in solution, allowing for fewer exchanges and longer dwell times for a lock solution. The addition of azithromycin or gentamicin may offer synergy and/or extended spectrum of activity. Daptomycin bioactivity with trisodium citrate needs confirmation.

Culex quinquefasciatus is an important target for vector control because of its ability to transmit pathogens that cause disease. Most populations are resistant to pyrethroids and often to organophosphates, the two most common classes of active ingredients used by public health agencies. A knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation, resulting in a change from a leucine to phenylalanine in the voltage gated sodium channel, is one mechanism contributing to the pyrethroid resistant phenotype. Enzymatic resistance has also been shown to play a very important role. Recent studies have shown strong resistance in populations even when kdr is relatively low which indicates factors other than kdr may be larger contributors to resistance. In this study, we examined on a statewide scale (over 70 populations), the strength of the correlation between resistance in the CDC bottle bioassay and the kdr genotypes and allele frequencies. Spearman correlation analysis showed only moderate (-0.51) and weak (-0.29) correlation between the kdr genotype and permethrin and deltamethrin respectively. The frequency of the kdr allele was an even weaker correlate. These results indicate, in contrast to Aedes aegypti, assessing kdr in populations of Culex quinquefasciatus is not a good surrogate for phenotypic resistance testing.

Teaching through English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been a strategic move in some European and Asian countries as part of their educational internationalisation. A large number of studies on EMI teaching have appeared in the last decade. The majority of these report on issues and concerns at macro-level including: the lack of structured policy guidance, EMI lecturers and students’ low level of English proficiency, and a shortfall of research informed training programs for EMI lecturers. Up to date, there is little research into EMI in-class teaching and learning. Lived experience in EMI in-class practice has been largely ignored. To fill this gap, this research explored a group of academics’ in-class EMI practice in a Chinese university. Their teaching process through EMI was observed and recorded, with data analysed through a multiple theoretical lens. Data reveal that EMI teaching is a complicated issue and can be neither standardised nor prescribed. It needs to be addressed as a pedagogy responding to and influenced by local context, driven by language, culture and education systems. This research is expected to provide insight for the development of localised institutional guidelines for EMI teaching and lecturers’ professional development in EMI teaching.

The microbial colonisers of plastics – the ‘plastisphere’ – can affect all interactions that plastics have with their surrounding environments. While only specifically characterised within the last 10 years, at the beginning of 2021 there were 140 primary research and 65 review articles that investigate at least one aspect of the plastisphere. We gathered information on the locations and methodologies used by each of the primary research articles, highlighting several aspects of plastisphere research that remain understudied: (i) the non-bacterial plastisphere constituents; (ii) the mechanisms used to degrade plastics by marine isolates or communities; (iii) the capacity for plastisphere members to be pathogenic or carry antimicrobial resistance genes; and (iv) meta-OMIC characterisations of the plastisphere. We have also summarised the topics covered by the existing plastisphere review articles, identifying areas that have received less attention to date – most of which are in line with the areas that have fewer primary research articles. Therefore, in addition to providing an overview of some fundamental topics such as biodegradation and community assembly, we discuss the importance of eukaryotes in shaping the plastisphere, potential pathogens carried by plastics and the impact of the plastisphere on plastic transport and biogeochemical cycling. Finally, we summarise the future directions suggested by the reviews that we have evaluated and suggest other key research questions.

The details of the solar flare production mechanisms are not yet completely understood. One of the standing questions is the anisotropy of the X-ray flux, especially in strong flares. It can be studied indirectly by analysing the characteristics of flares at different positions on the visible disc. In this paper, the durations, peak and integral fluxes of strong (X-class) solar flares from cycles 22--25 are considered with respect to their apparent position on the Sun. It is found that there exists a significant north--south asymmetry in all three parameters, which also varies depending on the phase of the solar cycle (with general predominance of the south). This confirms the results of previous studies. A weaker and less significant east--west asymmetry is found as well, partly supported by literature. A previously undetected centre-to-limb asymmetry is reported (in favour of the limb) in all three parameters. All three asymmetries are enhanced during the solar minimum, which could hint at their connection to the large scale magnetic structuring of the Sun. The prevalence of strong solar flares near the limb at the solar minimum has clear space weather warning implications.

Since 1742, the year in which the Prussian Christian Goldbach wrote a letter to Leonhard Euler with his Conjecture in the weak version, mathematicians have been working on the problem. The tools in number theory become the most sophisticated thanks to the resolution solutions. Euler himself said he was unable to prove it. The weak guess in the modern version states the following: any odd number greater than 5 can be written as the sum of 3 primes. In response to Goldbach's letter, Euler reminded him of a conversation in which he proposed what is now known as Goldbach's strong conjecture: any even number greater than 2 can be written as a sum of 2 prime numbers. The most interesting result came in 2013, with proof of weak version by the Peruvian Mathematician Harald Helfgott, however the strong version remained without a definitive proof. The weak version can be demonstrated without major difficulties and will not be described in this article, as it becomes a corollary of the strong version. Despite the enormous intellectual baggage that great mathematicians have had over the centuries, the Conjecture in question has not been validated or refuted until today.

In this article, many experimental similarities between electromagnetic fields (which are applied in systems of electrons, atoms, and liquids) and strong interaction fields (which are applied in systems of quarks, nucleons, and nuclei) are reviewed. The currently accepted theories describing electromagnetic fields differ fundamentally from those describing strong fields. Therefore, the many similarities are quite surprising, and some are not adequately explained even today. Several such unexplained similarities are listed among the top open problems in particle physics, such as the “EMC effect,” the “proton spin crisis,” and the “strong CP problem.” This paper highlights, for the first time, the underlying common characteristics of these problems, potentially offering valuable contribution to future explanations.

Chelating gels may assist initially in root canal preparations to help establish a glide path. While irrigation surveys have investigated liquid chelators, and gels to a minor extent, no endodontic survey has focused on EDTA gels, and why clinicians use them. All 395 members of the Australian Society of Endodontology (ASE) were emailed an 11-question survey concerning chelation gel usage via Qualtrics. Paper copies were also distributed at ASE events. Descriptive statistics was performed for practitioner and chelating gel data. Cross-tabulations of practitioner type with case percentage usage of gels were analyzed with the chi square test (adjusted P value <0.0083). The overall response rate was 181/395 (46%). For 174 eligible responses, those who never/rarely used a gel was: endodontic residents 12/14 (86%), endodontists 53/71 (75%), general dentists 39/86 (45%), and other members 0% (0/3). Most gel users said that gels helped establish a glide path. Those who never/rarely used chelating gels commented that they held no benefits over liquid EDTA. Endodontists were less likely to use a chelation gel than general dentists (P <0.0083). Older members had higher gel usage than younger members (P <0.0083), indicating a possible trend to diminished gel usage over time amongst ASE members.

A partial or complete pulpotomy is a type of vital pulp therapy (VPT) that aims to remove the in-flamed, infected pulp, leaving behind healthy, vital pulp that is capable of healing. VPT has gained renewed popularity as a treatment option in permanent mature posterior teeth with irre-versible/moderate-severe pulpitis, its high success rates matching that of root canal treatment (RCT). There is currently no consensus regarding diagnostic and prognostic predictors of success of pulpotomies for managing such cases. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review to identify and analyze how these factors affect the outcome of treatment. A literature search using the PRISMA guidelines was undertaken using PubMed and Scopus on July 7, 2023. A total of 22 studies met the inclusion criteria and were qualitatively analyzed by two reviewers. The follow-ing diagnostic and prognostic factors were recognized and discussed; presenting signs and symptoms, periapical diagnosis, bleeding time, indicators of inflammation (bleeding time, con-centration of inflammatory biomarkers), patient age and medical status, the depth, activity and location of caries, and restorative factors. Based on the studies assessed, there is limited evidence to support their prognostic value. Further research is necessary to identify solid predictors of outcome.

The evolutionary transition from single-celled to multicellular individuality requires organismal fitness to shift from the cell-level to the cell group. This reorganization of fitness occurs by allocating the two components of fitness, survival and reproduction, between two specialized cell types in the multicellular group – soma and germ, respectively. How does the genetic basis for such fitness reorganization evolve? One possible mechanism is the co-option of life-history genes present in the unicellular ancestors of a multicellular lineage. Single-celled organisms must regulate their investment in survival and reproduction in response to environmental changes, particularly decreasing reproduction to ensure survival when stressed. Such stress response life-history genes can provide the foundation for the genetic basis for cellular differentiation in multicellular lineages. The regA gene family in volvocine green algae provides a model system to study how this co-option occurs. We discuss the origin and evolution of the volvocine regA gene family, including regA – the gene that controls somatic cell development in the model organism Volvox carteri. We hypothesize that the co-option of life history trade-off genes is a general mechanism involved in the transition to multicellular individuality, making volvocine algae and the regA family a useful template for similar investigations in other lineages.

Eurytoma erythrinae Gates & Delvare (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), is an important biological control agent of the erythrina gall wasp (EGW), Quadrastichus erythrinae Kim (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), an invasive species native likely originating in eastern Africa, that is a threat to Erythrina trees in Hawaii and worldwide. Thousands of Erythrina trees in Hawaii succumbed to EGW since 2005 and died within few years of infestation. The endemic wiliwili tree, Erythrina sandwicensis, an important component of Hawaii’s dry forests, and one of few deciduous native trees were severely impacted by this wasp. Early during the invasion by EGW it became evident that the endemic species may be driven to extinction, and exploration programs for natural enemies of the EGW started in December 2005. East Africa was selected as the start point for natural enemy exploration owing to high native Erythina species richness. Several gall formers were found in Tanzania and a putative color variant type of Q. erythrinae was detected in association with three ectoparasitoids. During January 2006, the dominant parasitoid of this gall former was introduced to Hawaii and described as the new species, E. erythrinae. It was found in Ghana, and South Africa attacking other gall wasp species on Erythrina. Eurytoma erythrinae was a voracious ectoparasitoid feeding as a predator on 1 – 5 adjacent EGW immatures to complete its development. Host specificity studies that included seven non-target gall-forming species showed no evidence of attraction or parasitism by this parasitoid. Mean ± SEM longevity of host deprived females (40.4 ± 2.2 days) was significantly higher than males (20.5 ± 1.1 days). Host feeding enhanced longevity of ovipositing female (51.3 ± 1.5 days). Female’s peak fecundity (105 – 239 offspring /female), host feeding biology, short life cycle (18.4 ± 0.1 days), and synchronization with the host, were additional desirable attributes of E. erythrinae. The parasitoid was approved for field release in Hawaii in November 2008. A total of 3998 wasps were distributed on six Hawaiian Islands, with establishment in less than a year. Impacts on high density infestations of EGW were sufficient to prevent tree deaths. Limited rates of parasitism on low density galled leaves, flowers, and seedpods necessitated the consideration for releasing a second parasitoid, Aprostocetus nitens (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). We report on the reproductive characteristics, and host specificity of E. erythinae that could be of importance for classical biocontrol programs in areas with EGW problem.

Here we analyze three well-known conjectures: (i) the existence of infinitely-many twin primes, (ii) Goldbach’s strong conjecture, and (iii) Polignac’s conjecture. We show that the three conjectures are related to each other. In particular, we see that in analysing the validity of the Goldbach’s strong conjecture, one must consider also the existence of an infinite number of twin primes. As a consequence of how we approach this analysis, we also observe that if this conjecture is true, then so is Polignac’s conjecture. Our first step is an analysis of the existence of infinitely-many twin primes numbers. For this, using the formula 4((n−1)!+1) ≡ −n (mod n(n + 2)) – satisfied if and only if (n, n + 2) are twin primes –, together with Wilson’s theorem, we obtain conditions that must be met for two numbers to be twin primes. Our results, obtained from an analytic and functional study, lead us to conclude that there may exist infinitely-many twin primes. Next, we consider the validity of the Goldbach’s strong conjecture. After showing that the conjecture is true for the first even numbers, we notice a pattern that we analyze for any even number, reducing it to three cases: (i) when the even number 2n is two times a prime number n; (ii) when the even number 2n is such that n = 2m, with 2m − 1 and 2m + 1 twin primes; (iii) all other cases, i.e., for any 2n even number ∀n ∈ N with n > 1, n prime or not, with independence of n = 2m being 2m−1 and 2m+1 twin primes or not. In this last case we show that one can always find a certain r ∈ N such that 1 < r < n satisfying that n−r and n+r are primes, so that their sum is 2n. In this case we use the reduction to absurd method, and our results lead us to conclude that Goldbach’s strong conjecture is true to the best of our calculations, as well as the Polignac’s conjecture.

There are gravitational field and baryonic matter (star, planet, gases etc.) in our world; gravitational field is much more fundamental for that the relativistic mass of the gravitational field of a neutron star is almost 10²¹ times the mass of the neutron star. And, it is astonishing that the relativistic mass density of the gravitational field on the surface of a neutron star can be larger than the mass density of the neutron star. It is well known that, in the weak gravitational field a light line appears a straight line while in the strong field it is a curved line. It is stressed that the result measured in the strong field is more fundamental for that in a galaxy the measurable object is generally with strong field. It results in that the way that the result measured on the Earth with weak field is used as the universal standard need be revised as gravity is studied in the scale of a galaxy. It seems that a new theory of gravity need be developed for the new observations.

This paper is given to the investigation of warm inflation using Modified Chaplygin gas in the background of locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi Identity type I. We find out the field equations and perturbations parameters such as; scalar power spectrum, scalar spectral index, scalar potential and tensor to scalar ratio under slow roll approximation. We find out these parameters in directional of Hubble parameter during the Logamediate inflationary regime in weak and strong case. These comological parameters shows that the anisotropic model is also compatible WMAP$7$ with recent observational data Planck $2018$.

The neuroglial extracellular matrix (ECM) provides critical support and physiological cues for the proper growth, differentiation, and function of neuronal cells in the brain. However, in most in vitro settings that study neural physiology, cells are grown as monolayers on stiff surfaces that maximize adhesion and proliferation, and therefore lack the physiological cues that ECM in native neuronal tissues provides. Macromolecular crowding (MMC) is a biophysical phenomenon based on the principle of excluded volume that can be harnessed to induce native ECM deposition by cells in culture. Here, we show that MMC using two species of Ficoll with vitamin C supplementation significantly boosts deposition of relevant brain ECM by cultured human astrocytes. Dopaminergic neurons co-cultured on this astrocyte-ECM bed prepared under MMC treatment showed longer and denser neuronal extensions, a higher number of pre ad post synaptic contacts, and increased physiological activity as evidenced by higher frequency calcium oscillation, compared to standard co-culture conditions. When the pharmacological activity of various compounds was tested on MMC-treated co-cultures, their responses were enhanced, and for apomorphine, a D2-receptor agonist, it was inverted in comparison to control cell culture conditions, thus emulating responses observed in in vivo settings. These results indicate that macromolecular crowding can harness the ECM-building potential of human astrocytes in vitro forming an ultra-flat 3D microenvironment that makes neural cultures more physiological and pharmacological relevant.

In the dynamic landscape of E-commerce, the proliferation of user-generated queries regarding products highlights the critical need for advanced automatic question answering (AQA) systems. These systems are instrumental in harnessing the vast array of information available online to deliver immediate and informative responses to potential buyers. Recognizing the complexity of such queries, which often require synthesis of reviews, product specifications, and responses to similar questions, we introduce a sophisticated model, the Comprehensive E-commerce Answer Generation System (CEAGS). This model adeptly navigates the challenges posed by irrelevant data and sentiment ambiguity in user-generated content. Our approach leverages a dual-phase process of relevance determination and sentiment clarity, setting the stage for a transformative response generation mechanism. Empirical analyses reveal the superiority of CEAGS, with our relevance assessment framework outstripping existing models by a notable margin in precision metrics, and our answer generation module achieving unprecedented gains in content preservation and coherence. Notably, CEAGS marks a pioneering contribution to the E-commerce domain by integrating disparate information sources to formulate responses that are not only accurate but also contextually rich and user-centric.

In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative interview study, which highlights the difficulties and challenges with quantifying carbon emissions, and discusses how to move productively through these challenges by drawing insights from studies of deep uncertainty. Our research study focuses on the digital sector and was governed by the research question: how do practitioners researching, working or immersed in the broad area of sustainable digitisation (researchers, industry, NGOs, and policy representatives) understand and engage with quantifying carbon? Our findings show how stakeholders struggled to measure carbon emissions across complex systems, the lack of standardisation to assist with this, and how these challenges led stakeholders to call for more data to address this uncertainty. We argue that calls for more data to address this uncertainty obscure the fact that there will always be uncertainty, and that we must learn to govern from within it.

Downwind odor characteristics can be very different depending upon the size of the upwind point-source, interim topography, and wind conditions. At one extreme, the downwind odor plume from a relatively large, confined animal feeding operation (CAFO), located on a flat open plain and under stable, near-straight-line wind conditions can be rather broad, sustained and predictable relative to a fixed receptor site downwind. In contrast, the plume from a small point-source (e.g., a roof vent stack) located on irregular topography and under rapidly shifting wind conditions can be intermittent and fleeting. These transient odor events can be surprisingly intense and offensive, in spite of their fleeting occurrence and perception. This work reports on efforts to optimize an environmental odor sampling strategy, which is optimized for the challenges of (1) sampling of such transient odor 'spikes' and (2) the prioritization of odors/odorants from multiple, closely co-located point-sources, under such transient event conditions. Protocol refinement has emerged by way of 2 environmental odor assessment projects which have been undertaken on behalf of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The challenge of transient odor events has been mitigated utilizing rapid, odor cued whole-air grab capture sampling into metalized-FEP gas sampling bags, followed by immediate adsorption transfer onto SPME fibers or sorbent tubes for stabilization during the shipment and storage interval between collection and final analysis. Initial results demonstrated approximately 11 fold increases in target odorant yields for 900 mL sorbent tube transfers from 2-3 second 'burst' odor event bag-captures, as compared to equivalent direct collections at the same downwind receptor location but during perceived (stable) odor 'lull' periods. Results-to-date targeting refinement and field trials of this integrated environmental odor assessment strategy are presented. Preliminary application targeting general odor sampling and point-source differentiation utilizing tracer gases is also presented.

Plant diseases and pests reduce crop yields, accounting for global crop losses of 30% to 50%. In conventional agricultural production systems, these losses are typically controlled by applying chemical pesticides. However, public pressure is mounting to curtail agrochemical use. In this context, employing beneficial endophytic microorganisms is an increasingly attractive alternative to the use of conventional chemical pesticides in agriculture. A multitude of fungal endophytes are naturally present in plants, producing enzymes, small peptides and secondary metabolites due to their bioactivity, can protect hosts from pathogens, pests and abiotic stresses. The use of beneficial endophytic microorganisms in agriculture is an increasingly attractive alternative to conventional pesticides. The aim of this study was to characterize fungal endophytes isolated from apparently healthy, feral wine grapes in eastern Canada that have grown without agrochemical inputs for decades. Host plants ranged from unknown seedlings to long-lost cultivars not widely propagated since the 1800s. HPLC-MS was used to identify unique endophyte-derived chemical compounds in the host plants, while dual-culture competition assays showed a range in endophytes’ ability to suppress the mycelial growth of Botrytis, which is typically controlled in viticulture with pesticides. Twelve of the most promising fungal endophytes isolated were identified using multilocus sequencing and morphology, while DNA barcoding was employed to identify some of their host vines. These fungal endophyte isolates, which consisted of both known and putative novel strains, belonged to seven genera in six families and five orders of Ascomycota. Exploring the fungal endophytes in these specimens may yield clues to the vines’ survival and lead to the discovery of novel biocontrol agents.

Background: Handover is a critical process for ensuring quality and safety in healthcare. Considerable research suggests that poor handover results in significant morbidity, mortality, dissatisfaction, and excess financial costs. Despite this, little formal attention, education, and evaluation has been given to handover. There is also paucity of data on the opinions of practitioners on the safety of handover.Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the perceived risk, degree of patient harm and the systems used to support handover, and to understand how this varied by care setting, type of clinical practice, location, or level of experience. Methods: An open, anonymous and confidential online questionnaire covering: (a) respondent characteristics; (b) peer-to-peer handover; (c) internal referrals; (d) discharges and transfers between organisations; and (e) leading and improving handover was conducted with healthcare practitioners and managers from various settings. Results: We gathered a total of 432 completed responses from 26 countries. The average reported performance of handover was rated as 3.9 out of 5.For each type of handover, 12 - 14% reported errors occurring more than weekly. Of those that knew the outcome of such errors, between 29% and 34% reported that they had witnessed moderate or severe harm. 12% and 17% of respondents believed that handover was high or very high risk (See table 4). These respondents were more likely to have witnessed moderate or severe harm, or to be more senior.A wide combination of handover systems was utilised by respondents. 28% - 32% relied exclusively on EPRs (with or without face-to-face contact). 21% used Office documents such as Word and Excel for peer-to-peer handover, and over 30% used hand-written or manual systems. Conclusions: This study suggests the need to do more — and go further — to improve communication and reduce risk during all types of handovers. Clinical leaders should find ways to train and support handover with effective systems, with less experienced staff being the primary focus. More research is needed to demonstrate the interventions that improve the safety of handover.

AAs the global energy market undergoes a wholesale transformation accelerated by the need to decarbonise, a rapid transition to renewable energy and the mass deployment of distributed energy resources, autonomous energy networks or microgrids are emerging as an attractive mechanism for the delivery of electricity to end users. Yet in Australia, at least, relatively little is known about key aspects of microgrids that are fundamental to their successful deployment, not least the more commercial and economic elements rather than the purely technical. Drawing on the extant global literature on microgrids, this paper explores the most important of these aspects including business models, ownership and investment. Identifying the ambiguity, inconsistency and uncertainty evident in many of the feasibility studies currently in train across Australia, this paper highlights specific areas for future research that need to be addressed if the full potential of microgrids is to be realised in the context of a global energy transition both domestically and internationally.

At nuclear scale, we present three heuristic relations pertaining to strong and electroweak coupling constants. With these relations, close to beta stability line, it is possible to study nuclear binding energy with a single energy coefficient of magnitude $\left(\frac{1}{{\alpha }_s}\right)\left[\frac{e^2}{4\pi {\epsilon }_0{R}_0}\right]\approx 10.0\text{MeV}\text{.}$ With reference to up and down quark masses, it is also possible to interpret that, nuclear binding energy is proportional to the mean mass of $\left[\left(2m_u+m_d\right)\text{and}\left(m_u+2m_d\right)\right]\approx 10.0\text{MeV}.$

New setting is introduced to study the global powerful alliance. Global powerful alliance is about a set of vertices which are applied into the setting of neutrosophic graphs. Neighborhood has the key role to define this notion. Also, neighborhood is defined based on strong edges. Strong edge gets a framework as neighborhood and after that, too close vertices have key role to define global powerful alliance based on strong edges. The structure of set is studied and general results are obtained. Also, some classes of neutrosophic graphs excluding empty, path, star, and wheel and containing complete, cycle and r-regular-strong are investigated in the terms of set, minimal set, number, and neutrosophic number. Neutrosophic number is used in this way. It’s applied to use the type of neutrosophic number in the way that, three values of a vertex are used and they’ve same share to construct this number. It’s called “modified neutrosophic number”. Summation of three values of vertex makes one number and applying it to a set makes neutrosophic number of set. This approach facilitates identifying minimal set and optimal set which forms minimal-global-powerful-alliance number and minimal-global-powerful-alliance-neutrosophic number. Two different types of sets namely global-powerful alliance and minimal-global-powerful alliance are defined. Global-powerful alliance identifies the sets in general vision but minimal-global-powerful alliance takes focus on the sets which deleting a vertex is impossible. Minimal-global-powerful-alliance number is about minimum cardinality amid the cardinalities of all minimal-global-powerful alliances in a given neutrosophic graph. New notions are applied in the settings both individual and family. Family of neutrosophic graphs has an open avenue, in the way that, the family only contains same classes of neutrosophic graphs. The results are about minimal-global-powerful alliance, minimal-global-powerful-alliance number and its corresponded sets, minimal-global-powerful-alliance-neutrosophic number and its corresponded sets, and characterizing all minimal-global-powerful alliances, minimal-t-powerful alliance, minimal-t-powerful-alliance number and its corresponded sets, minimal-t-powerful-alliance-neutrosophic number and its corresponded sets, and characterizing all minimal-t-powerful alliances. The connections amid t-powerful-alliances are obtained. The number of connected components has some relations with this new concept and it gets some results. Some classes of neutrosophic graphs behave differently when the parity of vertices are different and in this case, cycle, and complete illustrate these behaviors. Two applications concerning complete model as individual and family, under the titles of time table and scheduling conclude the results and they give more clarifications and closing remarks. In this study, there’s an open way to extend these results into the family of these classes of neutrosophic graphs. The family of neutrosophic graphs aren’t study deeply and with more results but it seems that analogous results are determined. Slight progress is obtained in the family of these models but there are open avenues to study family of other models as same models and different models. There’s a question. How can be related to each other, two sets partitioning the vertex set of a graph? The ideas of neighborhood and neighbors based on strong edges illustrate open way to get results. A set is global powerful alliance when two sets partitioning vertex set have uniform structure. All members of set have more amount of neighbors in the set than out of set and reversely for non-members of set with less members in the way that the set is simultaneously t-offensive and(t-2)-defensive. A set is global if t=0. It leads us to the notion of global powerful alliance. Different edges make different neighborhoods but it’s used one style edge titled strong edge. These notions are applied into neutrosophic graphs as individuals and family of them. Independent set as an alliance is a special set which has no neighbor inside and it implies some drawbacks for these notions. Finding special sets which are well-known, is an open way to purse this study. Special set which its members have only one neighbor inside, characterize the connected components where the cardinality of its complement is the number of connected components. Some problems are proposed to pursue this study. Basic familiarities with graph theory and neutrosophic graph theory are proposed for this article.

New setting is introduced to study the global offensive alliance. Global offensive alliance is about a set of vertices which are applied into the setting of neutrosophic graphs. Neighborhood has the key role to define this notion. Also, neighborhood is defined based on strong edges. Strong edge gets a framework as neighborhood and after that, too close vertices have key role to define global offensive alliance based on strong edges. The structure of set is studied and general results are obtained. Also, some classes of neutrosophic graphs containing complete, empty, path, cycle, star, and wheel are investigated in the terms of set, minimal set, number, and neutrosophic number. Neutrosophic number is defined in new way. It’s first time to define this type of neutrosophic number in the way that, three values of a vertex are used and they’ve same share to construct this number. It’s called “modified neutrosophic number”. Summation of three values of vertex makes one number and applying it to a set makes neutrosophic number of set. This approach facilitates identifying minimal set and optimal set which forms minimal-global-offensive-alliance number and minimal-global-offensive-alliance-neutrosophic number. Two different types of sets namely global-offensive alliance and minimal-global-offensive alliance are defined. Global-offensive alliance identifies the sets in general vision but minimal-global-offensive alliance takes focus on the sets which deleting a vertex is impossible. Minimal-global-offensive-alliance number is about minimum cardinality amid the cardinalities of all minimal-global-offensive alliances in a given neutrosophic graph. New notions are applied in the settings both individual and family. Family of neutrosophic graphs is studied in the way that, the family only contains same classes of neutrosophic graphs. Three types of family of neutrosophic graphs including m-family of neutrosophic stars with common neutrosophic vertex set, m-family of odd complete graphs with common neutrosophic vertex set, and m-family of odd complete graphs with common neutrosophic vertex set are studied. The results are about minimal-global-offensive alliance, minimal-global-offensive-alliance number and its corresponded sets, minimal-global-offensive-alliance-neutrosophic number and its corresponded sets, and characterizing all minimal-global-offensive alliances. The connection of global-offensive-alliances with dominating set and chromatic number are obtained. The number of connected components has some relations with this new concept and it gets some results. Some classes of neutrosophic graphs behave differently when the parity of vertices are different and in this case, path, cycle, and complete illustrate these behaviors. Two applications concerning complete model as individual and family, under the titles of time table and scheduling conclude the results and they give more clarifications. In this study, there’s an open way to extend these results into the family of these classes of neutrosophic graphs. The family of neutrosophic graphs aren’t study deeply and with more results but it seems that analogous results are determined. Slight progress is obtained in the family of these models but there are open avenues to study family of other models as same models and different models. There’s a question. How can be related to each other, two sets partitioning the vertex set of a graph? The ideas of neighborhood and neighbors based on strong edges illustrate open way to get results. A set is global offensive alliance when two sets partitioning vertex set have uniform structure. All members of set have more amount of neighbors in the set than out of set. It leads us to the notion of global offensive alliance. Different edges make different neighborhoods but it’s used one style edge titled strong edge. These notions are applied into neutrosophic graphs as individuals and family of them. Independent set as an alliance is a special set which has no neighbor inside and it implies some drawbacks for these notions. Finding special sets which are well-known, is an open way to purse this study. Special set which its members have only one neighbor inside, characterize the connected components where the cardinality of its complement is the number of connected components. Some problems are proposed to pursue this study. Basic familiarities with graph theory and neutrosophic graph theory are proposed for this article.

We report the use of Einstein rings to reveal the quantized and dynamical states of space-time in a region of impressed gravitational field as predicted by the Nexus Paradigm of quantum gravity. This in turn reveals the orbital speeds of objects found therein and the radius of curvature of the quantized space-time. Similarities between the Nexus graviton and the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) in the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm are highlighted. However unlike the singular isothermal sphere, the Nexus graviton does not contain singularities or divergent integrals. This solves the core cusp problem. In this work, data from a sample of fifteen Einstein rings published on the Cfa-Arizona Space Telescope Lens Survey (CASTLES) website is used to probe the quantized properties of space-time.

Cognitive Computing has become somewhat of a rallying call in the technology world, with the promise of new smart services offered by industry giants like IBM and Microsoft. The recent technological advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have thrown into the public sphere some old questions about the relationship between machine computation and human intelligence. Much of the industry and media hype suggests that many traditional challenges have been overcome. On the contrary, our simple examples from language processing demonstrate that present day Cognitive Computing still struggles with fundamental, long-standing problems in AI. An alternative interpretation of cognitive computing is presented, following Licklider's lead in adopting man-computer symbiosis as a metaphor for designing software systems that enhance human cognitive performance. A survey of existing proposals on this view suggests a distinction between weak and strong versions of symbiosis. We propose a Strong Cognitive Symbiosis which dictates an interdependence rather than simply cooperation between human and machine functioning, and introduce new software systems which were designed for cognitive symbiosis. We conclude that strong symbiosis presents a viable new perspective for the design of cognitive computing systems.

The electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is the new alternative method to deliver nicotine. In 2007, the United States introduced vaping devices on the market. Due to their attractive taste and lack of adverse effects, these vaping devices have gained popularity among youth and adults. However, there has been increasing evidence that vaping can cause severe lung injury, and these devices release toxic chemicals into the body. E-cigarettes are recognized as a global threat to public health. Nicotine, the most prevalent chemical in vaping devices, is associated with neurological problems and cognitive decline. Long-term use of e-cigarettes can cause adverse health problems, including respiratory illnesses, asthma, bronchitis, and lung inflammation. In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially declared vaping-associated illness EVALI (e-cigarette or Vaping Product Associated Lung Injury). The US Surgeon General published an alarm in December 2016 that e-cigarette consumption among adolescents and teens in the US is a "major public health concern" and that more young people are now vaping than smoking traditional cigarettes and cigars. Since its commercial introduction in 2003, modern electronic cigarettes (or E-cigarette s) have become increasingly popular with smokers, non-smokers, and those who used to smoke who have switched to them. With such a rise in consumption, people are becoming more aware of the irritating, harmful, and perhaps cancer-causing effects on the lungs. (Chadi et al., 2019; Dinardo & Rome, 2019; Lyzwinski et al., 2022; Marrocco et al., 2022; O’Callaghan et al., 2022)

The importance of a properly regulated immune response has been explored through various research-oriented methods. It has proved that having an effective and well-regulated immune response helps prevent many minors and serious diseases. Any kind of dysregulation in the working of the immune system may lead to severe consequences. An autoimmune disorder is one such consequence in which the component of the immune system starts targeting self-cells of the body, treating them as self-antigen producing autoantibodies and immune complexes resulting from the failure of immune responses both at a central and peripheral level. Currently, many autoimmune disorders are prevailing across the world, and new diseases need attention.In this review, we have written about the functions of T cell, LncRNAs and also some interactions between the LncRNAs and miRNAs in the pathogenesis of Multiple sclerosis (MS), Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Type 1 diabetes (T1D), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To find the functions of these autoimmune disorders we have done intensive literature search during this we also found that GAS5 and MALAT are common in MS, SLE, T1D, RA. And finally, we have also mentioned the therapeutic drugs which neutralizes the different cluster of differentiation (CDs) and also suppresses the T cell differentiation in MS, SLE and RA. For T1D therapeutic strategies and various types of insulin are mentioned.

New setting is introduced to study the alliances. Alliances are about a set of vertices which are applied into the setting of neutrosophic graphs. Neighborhood has the key role to define these notions. Also, neighborhood is defined based on the edges, strong edges and some edges which are coming from connectedness. These three types of edges get a framework as neighborhood and after that, too close vertices have key role to define offensive alliance, defensive alliance, t-offensive alliance, and t-defensive alliance based on three types of edges, common edges, strong edges and some edges which are coming from connectedness. The structure of set is studied and general results are obtained. Also, some classes of neutrosophic graphs containing complete, empty, path, cycle, bipartite, t-partite, star and wheel are investigated in the terms of set, minimal set, number, and neutrosophic number. In this study, there’s an open way to extend these results into the family of these classes of neutrosophic graphs. The family of neutrosophic graphs aren’t study but it seems that analogous results are determined. There’s a question. How can be related to each other, two sets partitioning the vertex set of a graph? The ideas of neighborhood and neighbors based on different edges illustrate open way to get results. A set is alliance when two sets partitioning vertex set have uniform structure. All members of set have different amount of neighbors in the set and out of set. It leads us to the notion of offensive and defensive. New ideas, offensive alliance, defensive alliance, t-offensive alliance, t-defensive alliance, strong offensive alliance, strong defensive alliance, strong t-offensive alliance, strong t-defensive alliance, connected offensive alliance, connected defensive alliance, connected t-offensive alliance, and connected t-defensive alliance are introduced. Two numbers concerning cardinality and neutrosophic cardinality of alliances are introduced. A set is alliance when its complement make a relation in the terms of neighborhood. Different edges make different neighborhoods. Three types of edges are applied to define three styles of neighborhoods. General edges, strong edges and connected edges are used where connected edges are the edges arising from connectedness amid two endpoints of the edges. These notions are applied into neutrosophic graphs as individuals and family of them. Independent set as an alliance is a special set which has no neighbor inside and it implies some drawbacks for this notions. Finding special sets which are well-known, is an open way to purse this study. Special set which its members have only one neighbor inside, characterize the connected components where the cardinality of its complement is the number of connected components. Some problems are proposed to pursue this study. Basic familiarities with graph theory and neutrosophic graph theory are proposed for this article.

We report the strong coupling between plasmonic surface lattice resonances (SLRs) and photonic Fabry-Pérot (F-P) resonances in a microcavity embedded with two-dimensional periodic array of metal-insulator-metal nanopillars. For such a plasmonic-photonic system, we show that the SLR can be strongly coupled to the F-P resonances of both the odd- and even orders, and that the splitting energy reaches as high as 138 meV in the visible regime. We expect that this work will provide a new scheme for strong coupling between plasmonic and photonic modes.

In this short communication, we conducted first-principles calculations to explore the stability of boron monochalcogenides (BX, X=S, Se or Te), as a new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials. We predicted BX monolayers with two different atomic stacking sequences of ABBA and ABBC, referred in this work to 2H and 1T, respectively. Analysis of phonon dispersions confirm the dynamical stability of BX nanosheets with the both 2H and 1T atomic lattices. Ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations reveal the outstanding thermal stability of all predicted monolayers at high temperatures over 1500 K. BX structures were found to exhibit high elastic modulus and tensile strengths. It was found that BS and BTe nanosheets can show high stretchability, comparable to that of the graphene. It was found that all predicted monolayers exhibit semiconducting electronic character, in which 2H structures present lower band-gaps as compared with 1T lattices. The band-gap values were found to decrease from BS to BTe. According to the HSE06 results, 1T-BS and 2H-BTe show respectively, the maximum (4.0 eV) and minimum (2.06 eV) electronic band-gaps. This investigation introduces boron monochalcogenides as a novel class of 2D semiconductors with remarkable thermal, dynamical and mechanical stability.

We suggest a new solution to the strong CP problem. The solution is based on the proper use of the boundary conditions for the QCD generating functional integral. It obeys the principle of renormalizability of Quantum Field Theory and does not involve new particles like axions.

This paper first explains the theory of the origin of force from a new perspective, explaining that the origin of all forces is caused by the "missing of energy in the time dimension" (non-conservation in a certain period of time), and constructs a unified theory of force on this basis. Then, through the unified theory of force, the following phenomena are reinterpreted: (1) The common origin of the inverse square law of gravitation and electromagnetic force; (2) The origin of the repulsive force of electrons and protons at small distances; (3) The mystery of the rotation curve of galaxies and the new explanation of "dark matter"; (4) explain the origin of the magnetic field; (5) Predict that moving magnets have the same radiation effect as charged particles (electron magnetic moments also have radiation effects); (6) Reinterpret Maxwell's displacement current; (7) Reinterpret synchrotron radiation and bremsstrahlung; (8) Explain that the strong and weak forces are short-range forces; (9) Predict the true structure of black holes and the origin of gravitational waves;(10) Possible explanation for the origin of the speed of light.

Packaged water consumption has grown rapidly in urban areas of many low and middle income countries, but particularly in Ghana. However, the sources of water used by this growing packaged water industry and its implications for water resource management and transport-related environmental impacts have not been described. This study aimed to assess the spatial distribution of regulated packaged water production in Ghana, both in relation to demand and for natural mineral water, to hydrogeological characteristics. 764 addresses for premises licenced to produce packaged water from 2009-2015 were mapped and compared to regional sachet water consumption and beverage import/export data examined. We find evidence to suggest packaged water is transported shorter distances in Ghana than in developed countries. For natural mineral waters, producers should be able to address the most widespread water quality hazards (including high salinity, iron and nitrates) in aquifers used for production through reverse osmosis treatment. The study suggests there is scope to integrate beverage product and groundwater regulatory databases to support groundwater management.

In recent years the yield of fruits and vegetables have been decreasing in Colombia, threatening national food security. Analysis of crop production data may lead to identifying cropping systems that have shown better adaptability to changes in climatic and non-climatic factors associated with agricultural production. The open database AGRONET keeps data of the agricultural activities conducted in Colombia, allowing to find the information organized by crops, regions and years; each row of the database registers farm information in Colombia. Aiming to identify resilient crops systems, agricultural data of fruits and vegetables were analyzed. First, trends in crop production were studied by year and locations, detecting the regions and crops with highest yields in the period from 2006 until 2020. Then, mixed linear regression and principal components analysis were applied to elucidate the relation between non-climatic factors and crop yield. In Colombia, vegetable production was more efficient than fruits, observing yields of 10.23 and 13.33 t ha^-1, respectively. On the other hand, the Colombian central region showed high yields for vegetables, while for fruits this was exhibited in northern and eastern locations. In the present study, yield variation responded to changes in the location of crop systems, while years had no effect on vegetable production. Furthermore, the price of the agricultural product and the cost of fertilizers were associated with the yield of the analyzed crops systems. In Colombia, carrot, cabbage, tomato papaya and pineapple are resilient crops whose yield increases especially by the regions where they are cultivated.

We examine data assimilation coupling between meteorology and chemistry in the stratosphere from both weak and strong coupling strategies. The study was performed with the Canadian operational weather prediction Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model coupled online with the photochemical stratospheric chemistry developed at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, described in Part I. Here, the Canadian Meteorological Centre’s operational variational assimilation system was extended to include errors of chemical variables and cross-covariances between meteorological and chemical variables in a 3D-Var configuration, and we added the adjoint of tracer advection in the 4D-Var configuration. Our results show that the assimilation of limb sounding observations from the MIPAS instrument on board Envisat can be used to anchor the AMSU-A radiance bias correction scheme. Also, the added value of limb sounding temperature observations on meteorology and transport is shown to be significant. Weak coupling data assimilation with ozone-radiation interaction is shown to give comparable on meteorology whether a simplified linearized or comprehensive ozone chemistry scheme is used. Strong coupling data assimilation, using static error cross-covariances between ozone and temperature in a 3D-Var context, produced inconclusive results with the approximations we used. We have also conducted the assimilation of long-lived species observations using 4D-Var to infer winds. Our results showed the added value of assimilating several long-lived species, and an improvement in the zonal wind in the Tropics within the troposphere and lower stratosphere. 4D-Var assimilation also induced a correction of zonal wind in the surf zone and a temperature bias in the lower tropical stratosphere

POH (Peri Orbital Hyperpigmentation) represents a minor clinical entity that attracts immense aesthetic damages and it generates social integration difficulties. This review focuses on the etiopathogenic causes of this entity, differentiating and reclassifying this defect as having, on the one hand, genetic causes of melanic hyperproduction – for Fitzpatrick cutaneous phototypes IV and V – and, on the other hand, both genetic and acquired vascular causes, in individuals with light-coloured skin phototypes. Hence, there is a big difference in the field of pathogenic treatment, for the two entities. In addition, this study notes the direct relationship between skin aging and POH, especially for aquired vascular causes. In this reasoning, other aesthetic deficiencies of the skin in the palpebral area should be also considered, like: blepharochalasis, wrinkles, the anatomical causes of the lower eyelid shading, symmetrical or asymmetric suborbital oedema. All of these issues will complicate the therapeutic decision and subsidiary, the pharmaceutical advice. In this context, the review shows the guidelines for a honest councelling of the patients, pointing the efficiency limit for the topical pharmaceutical medication (depigmentants, exfoliants) versus the necessity of minimally invasive or/ and surgical treatments (in blefarochalasis).

This study proposes a machine-learning-based framework for detecting mechanical damage in pipelines, utilizing physics-informed datasets collected from simulations for mechanical damage. The framework provides an effective workflow from dataset generation to damage detection and identification for three types of pipeline events: welds, clamps, and corrosion defects. While the study initially focused on optimizing the CNN structure using various advanced optimizers, it also investigated the impact of sensing systems on data classification and the effect of noise on classification performance. The study's analysis highlights the importance of selecting the appropriate sensing system for the specific application. The authors also found that the proposed framework is robust to experimentally relevant levels of noise, suggesting its applicability in real-world scenarios where noise is present. Overall, this study contributes to the development of a more reliable and effective method for detecting mechanical damage in pipelines. The proposed framework provides an effective workflow for damage detection and identification, and the findings on the impact of sensing systems and noise on classification performance add to its robustness and reliability.

We prove a quasi-pseudometric version of the strong Ekeland principle proved by P. Georgiev and T. Suzuki.

To understand the mystery of final unification, in our earlier publications, we proposed that, 1) There exist three atomic gravitational constants associated with electroweak, strong and electromagnetic interactions; and 2) There exists a strong interaction elementary charge (e_s) in such a way that, it's squared ratio with normal elementary charge is close to inverse of the strong coupling constant. In this context, starting from lepton rest masses to stellar masses, we have developed many interesting and workable relations. We noticed that, electroweak field seems to be operated by a primordial massive fermion of rest energy 585 GeV. It can be considered as the zygote of all elementary particles and galactic dark matter. Proceeding further, with a characteristic fermion-boson mass ratio of 2.27, quarks can be classified into quark fermions and quark bosons. Considering strong charge conservation and electromagnetic charge conservation, fractional charge quark fermions and quark bosons can be understood. Quark fermions that generate observable massive baryons can be called as Fluons. Quark bosons that generate observable mesons can be called as Bluons. By considering a new hadronic fermion of rest energy 103.4 GeV, rest masses of fluons and bluons can be estimated and there by baryon masses and meson masses can be estimated.

Solving environmental odor issues can be confounded by many analytical, technological, and socioeconomic factors. Considerable know-how and technologies can fail to properly identify odorants responsible for the downwind nuisance odor and mitigate it for the affected citizenry. We propose enabling solutions to environmental odor issues by utilizing troubleshooting techniques developed for the food, beverage, and consumer products industries. We showed that the downwind odorant impact-priority ranking process can be definable and relatively simple. The initial challenge is the prioritization of environmental odor character from the perspective of the impacted citizenry downwind. In this research, we aim at summarizing three natural models of the rolling unmasking effect (RUE) and discuss them more systematically in the context of the proposed downwind environmental odor prioritization approach. Regardless of the size and reach of an odor source, a simplification of odor character and composition typically develops with downwind dilution. The extreme odor simplification-upon-dilution was demonstrated for two plant varieties, prairie verbena and Virginia pepperweed. Their downwind odor frontal boundaries were dominated by single, character-defining odorants; p-cresol-dominated ‘barnyard’ odor, and benzyl mercaptan-dominated ‘burnt match’ odor, respectively. The P.T. porcupine downwind odor frontal boundary was dominated by two potent, character-defining odorants: (1) ‘onion’/‘body odor’ odorant #1 and (2) ‘onion’/‘grilled’ odorant #2. In contrast with their downwind boundary simplicities, each odor source presented considerable compositional complexity and composite character difference near the source. The proposed RUE approach’s ultimate significance is the illustration of naturally occurring phenomena that explain why some environmental odors and their sources can be challenging to identify and mitigate using the analytical only approach (focused on compound identities and concentrations). These approaches rarely move beyond comprehensive lists of compounds being emitted by the source.

Optical power splitters play a crucial role as the fundamental building blocks for many integrated optical devices. They should have low losses, broad bandwidth, and a high tolerance to fabrication errors. Adiabatic optical power splitters inherently possess these qualities while being compatible with foundry processes well-suited for mass-production. The long device lengths of adiabatic power splitters, however, are a limiting factor to achieve compact device sizes, which must be reduced. Here, we use a polynomial taper profile optimization algorithm to design 1×2 and 2×2 adiabatic power splitters with significantly shorter lengths than their adiabatic counterparts. The best performing 1×2 and 2×2 power splitters have 20 μm and 16 μm coupling lengths, respectively. Our designs have minimum feature sizes ranging from 140 nm to 200 nm, and our measurements averaged across 9 different chips show excellent consistency in performance for devices with 180 nm and 200 nm minimum features. Both the 1×2 and 2×2 adiabatic optical power splitters have excess losses less than 0.7 dB over a 100 nm bandwidth, with a standard deviation lower than 0.3 dB. Furthermore, our measurements show greater than 20 dB extinction ratios over 130 nm bandwidth. We also demonstrate the design of 1×2 power splitters with arbitrary splitting ratios, where splitting ratios ranging from 50:50 to 94:6 were achieved with standard deviations between 2% and 6%.

In this preliminary investigation, a concise molecular docking study using the Pyrx program screened thousands of compounds against the active site of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. The Virtual Screening library was employed to assess binding energetics scores, focusing on identifying candidates with high Vina Scores. Eight compounds, including Tetrophan, Imatinib, Amentoflavone, Alprazolam, Bilobetin, Bafetinib, Nilotinib, and Ginketin, emerged as promising candidates with significant binding energies.Recognizing compounds that strongly bind to HIV-1 reverse transcriptase holds potential for antiretroviral drug development in the fight against HIV infection. Subsequently, the study evaluated the toxicity properties of these candidates using pKCSM. Amentoflavone, a natural biflavonoid found in Ginkgo biloba and Nilotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, demonstrated lower overall toxicity profiles compared to other candidates. Further toxicity analysis using Pro-Tox-II revealed Amentoflavone's higher predictive LD50, lower toxicity class, and reduced probabilities of hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and moderate immunotoxicity compared to Nilotinib. While Nilotinib, a pharmaceutical drug, exhibited higher probabilities of adverse effects in these categories. In summary, Amentoflavone and Nilotinib present as promising candidates with lower toxicity concerns. Amentoflavone, as a natural substance, showcases a more favorable toxicity profile than Nilotinib, offering valuable insights for potential therapeutic applications.

This work is a natural extension of the author’s previous work: “Multiple scattering theory for heterogeneous elastic continua with strong property fluctuation: theoretical fundamentals and applications” (arXiv:1706.09137 [physics.geo-ph]), which established the foundation for developing multiple scattering model for heterogeneous elastic continua with either weak or strong fluctuations in mass density and elastic stiffness. Polycrystalline material is another type of heterogeneous materials that widely exists in nature and extensively used in industry. In this work, the corresponding multiple scattering theory for polycrystalline materials with randomly oriented anisotropic crystallites is developed. To validate the theory, the theoretical results for a series of materials such as OFHC copper, 304 stainless steel, and Inconel 600 are compared to experimental measurements and the numerical results obtained using finite element simulations. Detailed analysis shows that the new theory is capable of predicting the dispersion and attenuation of polycrystals with satisfactory accuracy. The results also show the new model can give an estimate on the average grain size with a relative error equal to or less than ten percent. As applications in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation, we calculated the dispersion and attenuation coefficient of one of the most important polycrystalline materials in aeronautics engineering: high-temperature titanium alloys. The effects of grain symmetry, grain size, and alloying elements on the dispersion and attenuation behaviors are examined. Key information is obtained which has significant implications for quantitatively evaluating the average grain size, monitoring the phase transition, and even estimating gradual change in chemical composition of titanium components in gas turbine engines. For applications in seismology, the velocities and Q-factors for both hexagonal and cubic polycrystalline iron models for the Earth’s uppermost inner core are obtained in the whole frequency range. Using the realistic material parameters of iron under the high temperature and high-pressure conditions calculated from ab initio simulations, the numerical results show that the Q-factors range from 0.001 to 0.05, which shows good agreement with that inferred from real seismic data. The new model predicts the velocity of longitudinal waves varies between ± 1% to ± 5 % relative to the Voight average velocity, while the velocity of transverse waves varies from ± 10% to ± 20%, which gives promising explanation to the abnormally slow transverse velocity observed in practical measurements. The numerical results support the conjecture that the Earth’s uppermost inner core is a solid polycrystalline medium. The comprehensive numerical examples show the new model is capable of capturing the most important scattering features of both ultrasonic and seismic waves with satisfactory accuracy. This work provides a universal, quantitative model for characterization of a large variety of polycrystalline materials. It also can be extended to incorporate more complicated microstructures, including ellipsoidal grains with or without textures, and even multi-phase polycrystalline materials. The new model demonstrates great potential of applications in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and inspection of aerospace and aeronautic structures. It also provides a theoretical framework for quantitative seismic data explanation and inversion for the material composition and structural formations of the Earth’s inner core.

We present simple relations for nuclear stability and nuclear binding energy with respect to three gravitational constants associated with electroweak, strong and electromagnetic interactions.

The parts obtained by FFF technology are anisotropic in any direction; while the whole part constitutes out of layers, each of the layers include one or more perimeters of shell and the infill with density from 0 to 100%. Mechanical performance of FFF parts depends on its shape, orientation, constitution and 3D printing parameters. A classification for shapes of parts obtained by FFF and stressed during its operation is provided. For the most questionable class (parts with interrupted shell critically stressed on interlayer boundaries) a representative sample and testing apparatus is developed. Different approaches to the sample shape modification were applied and tested. The part shape optimization resulted in increment of the force, required to fracture the part from 483 to 1096 N.

We construct a repeated quantum game with public goods by the quantum entanglement and strong reciprocity. By using the paradigm of quantum game analysis, we obtain that both the quantum entanglement and strong reciprocity are helpful to intensify cooperation and achieving Pareto optimality. In addition, under an example which is greenhouse green viable planting industry, we verify that the quantum entanglement and strong reciprocity have a positive role in cooperation.

Controllable, quantum-strong correlations of polarization states can be implemented with multi-photon independent states. Polarization-based photonic quantum correlations can be traced back to the overlap of the polarization Stokes vectors on the Poincaré sphere between two polarization filters. The quantum Rayleigh scattering prevents a single photon from propagating in a straight line inside a dielectric medium, and it also provides a mechanism for the projective measurement of polarization. Complexities associated with single-photon sources and detectors can be eliminated because the quantum Rayleigh scattering in a dielectric medium destroys entangled photons. Entanglement-free, identical sources and processing devices give rise to correlations rather than these being caused by “quantum nonlocality”. These analytic developments were prompted by the vanishing expectation values of the Pauli spin vector for a single photon of maximally entangled photonic Bell states.

Chess is an interesting game for artificial intelligence research and an entertaining hobby and sport for a growing number of people. However, humans differ greatly in their ability to play. Typically, the Elo rating is used to determine a player's skill and to predict who will win. When differences in Elo are too great the weaker player is almost guaranteed to lose. While on one hand, the Elo rating allows players to be matched to equally well-playing opponents, it also to some degree restricts the games to be played between equally strong opponents since otherwise the result is known beforehand. Here a handicap system where stronger players remove pieces at the start of the game is evaluated. Specifically, the effect each removed piece or combination of pieces have on a player. Interestingly, pieces do not always reduce the Elo of a player by a predefined amount, but their effect depends strongly on the player's current Elo. The results presented here are from playing the computer engine Stockfish because data about humans playing this scheme is limited. However, the results make direct predictions about the effect of piece removal on Elo.

The purpose of this paper is to bring to light a method through which the global in time existence for arbitrary large in H¹ initial data of a strong solution to 3D periodic Navier-Stokes equations follows. The method consists of subdividing the time interval of existence into smaller sub-intervals carefully chosen. These sub-intervals are chosen based on the hypothesis that for any wavenumber m, one can find an interval of time on which the energy quantized in low-frequency components (up to m) of the solution u is lesser than the energy quantized in high-frequency components (down to m) or otherwise the opposite. We associate then a suitable number m to each one of the intervals and we prove that the norm ||u(t)||_H1 is bounded in both mentioned cases. The process can be continued until reaching the maximal time of existence T_max which yields the global in time existence of strong solution.

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

The strong coupling between individual quantum emitters and resonant optical micro/nanocavities is beneficial to understand light and matter interactions. Here we propose a plasmonic nanoantenna placed on a metal film to achieve an ultra-high electric field enhancement in the nanogap and ultra-small optical mode volume. The strong coupling between a single quantum dot and the designed structure is investigated in detail by both numerical simulations and theoretical calculations. When a single QD is inserted into the nanogap of the silver nanoantenna, scattering spectra show remarkably large spectral splitting and typical anti-crossing behavior of the vacuum Rabi splitting, which can be realized in the scattering spectra by varying the nanoantenna thickness. Our work shows a possible way to enhance light-matter interaction at a single quantum emitter limit, which can be useful for future quantum and nanophotonic applications.

The evidence is presented for the long-range previtreous changes of two static properties: dielectric constant ( ) and its strong electric field related counterpart - the nonlinear dielectric effect (NDE). Notable is the evidence for the functional characterizations of (T) temperature changes by the ‘Mossotti Catastrophe’ formula, and NDE vs. T evolution by the relations resembling one developed for critical liquids. The analysis of dynamic properties based on the activation energy index excluded the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) relation as a validated tool for portraying the evolution of the primary relaxation time. Such a result questions the commonly applied ‘Stickel operator’ routine as the reliable tool for determining the dynamic crossover temperature. It is worth stressing that the strong electric field radically affects the distribution of relaxation times, the form of the evolution of the primary relaxation time as well as the fragility. Obtained results support the concept of a possible semi-continuous phase transition hidden below Tg. Studies were carried out in supercooled squalene, the material with extremely low electric conductivity, strongly elongated molecule, and vitally important for biology and medicine related issues.

An attempt is made to model the atomic nucleus as a combination of bound and free or unbound nucleons. Due to strong interaction, bound nucleons help in increasing nuclear binding energy and due to electroweak interaction, free or unbound nucleons help in decreasing nuclear binding energy. In this context, with reference to proposed 4G model of final unification and strong interaction, recently we have developed a unified nuclear binding energy scheme with four simple terms, one energy coefficient of 10.1 MeV and two small numbers 0.0016 and 0.0019. In this paper, by eliminating the number 0.0019, we try to fine tune the estimation procedure of number of free or unbound nucleons pertaining to the second term with an energy coefficient of 11.9 MeV. It seems that, some kind of electroweak interaction is playing a strange role in maintaining free or unbound nucleons within the nucleus. It is possible to say that, strong interaction plays a vital role in increasing nuclear binding energy and electroweak interaction plays a vital role in reducing nuclear binding energy. Interesting observation is that, Z can be considered as a characteristic representation of range of number of bound isotopes of Z. For medium, heavy and super heavy atoms, beginning and ending mass numbers pertaining to bound states can be understood with 2Z+0.004Z^2 and 3Z+0.004Z^2 respectively. With further study, neutron drip lines can be understood. Based on this kind of data fitting procedure and by considering the mass ratio of pions and electroweak bosons, existence of our 4G model of electroweak fermion of rest energy 584.725 GeV can be confirmed confidently.

Scattering of elastic waves in heterogeneous media has become one of the most important problems in the field of wave propagation due to its broad applications in seismology, natural resource exploration, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and biomedical ultrasound. Nevertheless, it is one of the most challenging problems because of the complicated medium inhomogeneity and the complexity of the elastodynamic equations. A widely accepted model for the propagation and scattering of elastic waves, which properly incorporates the multiple scattering phenomenon and the statistical information of the inhomogeneities is still missing. In this work, the author developed a multiple scattering model for heterogeneous elastic continua with strong property fluctuation and obtained the exact solution to the dispersion equation under the first-order smoothing approximation. The model establishes an accurate quantitative relation between the microstructural properties and the coherent wave propagation parameters and can be used for characterization or inversion of microstructures. Starting from the elastodynamic differential equations, a system of integral equation for the Green functions of the heterogeneous medium was developed by using Green’s functions of a homogeneous reference medium. After properly eliminating the singularity of the Green tensor and introducing a new set of renormalized field variables, the original integral equation is reformulated into a system of renormalized integral equations. Dyson’s equation and its first-order smoothing approximation, describing the ensemble averaged response of the heterogeneous system, are then derived with the aid of Feynman’s diagram technique. The dispersion equations for the longitudinal and transverse coherent waves are then obtained by applying Fourier transform to the Dyson equation. The exact solution to the dispersion equations are obtained numerically. To validate the new model, the results for weak-property-fluctuation materials are compared to the predictions given by an improved weak-fluctuation multiple scattering theory. It is shown that the new model is capable of giving a more robust and accurate prediction of the dispersion behavior of weak-property-fluctuation materials. Numerical results further show that the new model is still able to provide accurate results for strong-property-fluctuation materials while the weak-fluctuation model is completely failed. As applications of the new model, dispersion and attenuation curves for coherent waves in the Earth’s lithosphere, the porous and two-phase alloys, and human cortical bone are calculated. Detailed analysis shows the model can capture the major dispersion and attenuation characteristics, such as the longitudinal and transverse wave Q-factors and their ratios, existence of two propagation modes, anomalous negative dispersion, nonlinear attenuation-frequency relation, and even the disappearance of coherent waves. Additionally, it helps gain new insights into a series of longstanding problems, such as the dominant mechanism of seismic attenuation and the existence of the Mohorovičić discontinuity. This work provides a general and accurate theoretical framework for quantitative characterization of microstructures in a broad spectrum of heterogeneous materials and it is anticipated to have vital applications in seismology, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and biomedical ultrasound.

The idea of strong and weak adjacencies between vertices has been generalized into fuzzy graphs and intuitionistic fuzzy graphs (IFGs) and it is an important part of making decisions. However, one or two membership degrees are not always sufficient for making decisions on real-world problems that need an answer of types “yes, neutral, and no". Consequently, in previous work, we generalized the concept into picture fuzzy graphs (PFGs) where each element in the PFG has membership, neutral, and non-membership degrees. Moreover, we constructed the notion of the coloring of PFGs based on strong and weak adjacencies between vertices. In this paper, we investigate some properties of the chromatic number of PFGs based on the concept of strong and weak adjacencies between vertices. According to the properties, we construct an algorithm to find the chromatic number of PFGs. The algorithm is usefull when we work with large PFGs. Further, we improve the method to implement the PFG’s coloring for determining traffic signal phasing at an intersection. A case study has also been done to evaluate the method.

Some time ago, Kobayashi et al. experimentally studied the so-called Lee-Naughton-Lebed's (LNL) angular effect in strong electric fields [K. Kobayashi, M. Saito, E. Omichi, and T. Osada, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{96}, 126601 (2006)]. They found that strong electric fields split the LNL conductivity maxima in $\alpha$-(ET)$_2$-based organic conductor and hypothetically introduced the corresponding equation for conductivity. In this Letter, for the first time we suggest quantum mechanical theory of the LNL angular oscillations in moderately strong electric fields. In particular, we demonstrate that the obtained by us approximate theoretical formula coincides with the hypothetical one and well describes the above mentioned experiments.

Weight thresholding (WT) is a method intended to decrease the number of links within weighted networks that may otherwise be excessively dense for network science applications. WT aims to remove links to simplify the networks by holding most of the features of the original network. Here, we test the robustness and the efficacy of the node attack strategies on real-world networks subjected to WT that remove links of higher weight (strong links). We measure the network robustness along node removal with the largest connected component (LCC). We find that the real-world networks under study are generally stable in terms of robustness when subjected to WT. Nonetheless, WT by strong link removal changes the efficacy of the attack strategies and the rank of node centralities. Also, WT by strong link removal may trigger a greater change in node centrality rank than WT by removing weak links. Network science research finding important/influential nodes in the network has to consider that simplifying the network with WT methodologies may change the node centrality.

Nondipole terms in the atom-laser interaction arising due to the presence of a magnetic component in an electromagnetic wave and its inhomogeneity lead to nonseparability of the center-of-mass (CM) and electron variables in the neutral atom and, as a consequence, to its acceleration. We investigate this effect as well as the accompanying excitation and ionization processes for the hydrogen atom in strong (1012 - 2×1014 W/cm2) linearly polarized short-wavelength (5eV ≲ℏω≲ 27 eV) electromagnetic pulses of about 8 fs duration. The study has been carried out within the framework of a hybrid quantum-quasiclassical approach in which the coupled time-dependent Schrödinger equation for an electron and the classical Hamilton equations for the CM of an atom are simultaneously integrated. Optimal conditions with respect to the frequency and intensity of the electromagnetic wave for the acceleration of atoms without their noticeable ionization are found in the analyzed region.

We show that the compound samarium hexaboride is a strong topological insulator using the eigenvalues of the space inversion operator in the low-energy limit of the periodic Anderson model. Additionally, we assume the presence of the ferromagnetic exchange interaction (M). A Dirac cone like feature in the surface state energy spectra is observed for M equals zero in a certain parameter range. For M not equal to zero, there is no Kramers degeneracy. We have been able to show that this phase corresponds to the quantum anomalous Hall state by calculating Berry curvature and the Chern number. Using Floquet theory, we further show that the access to a novel state with broken time reversal symmetry is possible due to the normal incidence of circularly polarized optical field on the surface of the compound despite M being absent.

Chan and colleagues in their paper titled “Human origins in a southern African palaeo-wetland and first migrations” (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1714-1) report 198 novel whole mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences and infer that ‘anatomically modern humans’ originated in the Makgadikgadi–Okavango palaeo-wetland of southern Africa around 200 thousand years ago. This claim relies on weakly informative data. In addition to flawed logic and questionable assumptions, the authors surprisingly disregard recent evidence and debate on human origins in Africa. As a result, the emphatic and high profile conclusions of the paper are unjustified.

Current study aims to evaluate the possibilities to increase part strength by optimizing the FFF process parameters. Five different CAD models of parts with same coupling dimensions but different shape inherited from a recent study were converted into test samples with Ultimaker 2 3D printer. The main measure of success was the sample strength, defined as the load at which the first crack in the stressed area of the part appeared. Three different modifications to the FFF process with verified positive effect on interlayer bonding were applied. First modification included raising the extrusion temperature and disabling printed part cooling. Second modification consisted in reduction of the layer thickness. Third modification combined the effects of the first and the second ones. For four out of five shapes tested applied process modifications resulted in significant strengthening of the part. The shape that exhibited the best results was subject to further research by creating special printing mode. The mode included fine-tuning of three technological parameters on different stages of the part fabrication. As result it was possible to increase the part strength by 108% only by tuning printing parameters of the best shape designed with increasing its weight by 8%.

The ‘inverse problem’ of mass spectrometric molecular identification (‘given a mass spectrum, calculate/predict the 2D structure of the molecule whence it came’) is largely unsolved, and is especially acute in metabolomics where many small molecules remain unidentified. This is largely because the number of experimentally available electrospray mass spectra of small molecules is quite limited. However, the forward problem (‘calculate a small molecule’s likely fragmentation and hence at least some of its mass spectrum from its structure alone’) is much more tractable, because the strengths of different chemical bonds are roughly known. This kind of molecular identification problem may be cast as a language translation problem in which the source language is a list of high-resolution mass spectral peaks and the ‘translation’ a representation (for instance in SMILES) of the molecule. It is thus suitable for attack using the deep neural networks known as transformers. We here present MassGenie, a method that uses a transformer-based deep neural network, trained on ~6 million chemical structures with augmented SMILES encoding and their paired molecular fragments as generated in silico, explicitly including the protonated molecular ion. This architecture (containing some 400 million elements) is used to predict the structure of a molecule from the various fragments that may be expected to be observed when some of its bonds are broken. Despite being given essentially no detailed nor explicit rules about molecular fragmentation methods, isotope patterns, rearrangements, neutral losses, and the like, MassGenie learns the effective properties of the mass spectral fragment and valency space, and can generate candidate molecular structures that are very close or identical to those of the ‘true’ molecules. We also use VAE-Sim, a previously published variational autoencoder, to generate candidate molecules that are ‘similar’ to the top hit. In addition to using the ‘top hits’ directly, we can produce a rank order of these by ‘round-tripping’ candidate molecules and comparing them with the true molecules, where known. As a proof of principle, we confine ourselves to positive electrospray mass spectra from molecules with a molecular mass of 500Da or lower, including those in the last CASMI challenge (for which the results are known), getting 49/93 (53%) precisely correct. The transformer method, applied here for the first time to mass spectral interpretation, works extremely effectively both for mass spectra generated in silico and on experimentally obtained mass spectra from pure compounds. It seems to act as a Las Vegas algorithm, in that it either gives the correct answer or simply states that it cannot find one. The ability to create and to ‘learn’ millions of fragmentation patterns in silico, and therefrom generate candidate structures (that do not have to be in existing libraries) directly, thus opens up entirely the field of de novo small molecule structure prediction from experimental mass spectra.

The geometry of mesoscopic inhomogeneities plays an important role in determining the macroscopic propagation behaviors of elastic waves in a heterogeneous medium. Non-equiaxed inhomogeneities can lead to anisotropic wave velocity and attenuation. Developing an accurate scattering theory to describe the quantitative relation between the microstructure features and wave propagation parameters is of fundamental importance for seismology and ultrasonic nondestructive characterization. This work presents a multiple scattering theory for strongly scattering elastic media with general tri-axial heterogeneities. A closed analytical expression of the shape-dependent singularity of the anisotropic Green’s tensor for the homogeneous reference medium is derived by introducing a proper non-orthogonal ellipsoidal coordinate. Renormalized Dyson’s equation for the coherent wave field is then derived with the help of Feynman’s diagram technique and the first-order-smoothing approximation. The exact dispersion curves and the inverse Q-factors of coherent waves in several representative medium models for the heterogeneous lithosphere are calculated numerically. Numerical results for small-scale heterogeneities with the aspect ratio varying from 1 to 7 show satisfactory agreement with those obtained from real earthquakes. The results for velocity dispersion give rise to a novel explanation to the formation mechanism of different seismic phases. The new model has potential applications in seismology and ultrasonic microstructure characterization.

Here we report a new synthetic protocol based on Microwave- Assisted Synthesis (MAS) for the preparation in higher yields of zinc and copper MOFs based on different bis(pyrazolyl)-tagged ligands ([M(BPZ)]n where M = Zn(II), Cu(II), H2BPZ = 4,4′-bipyrazole, [M(BPZ-NH2)]n where M = Zn(II), Cu(II); H2BPZ-NH2 = 3-amino-4,4’-bipyrazole, and [Mx(Me4BPZPh)] where M = Zn(II), x = 1; Cu(II), x = 2; H2Me4BPZPh = bis-4′-(3′,5′-dimethyl)- pyrazolylbenzene) and a detailed study of their antibacterial activity, tested against Gram-negative (E. coli) and Gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria, as representative agents of infections. The results show that all MOFs exert a broad-spectrum activity and strong efficiency in bacterial growth inhibition, with a mechanism of action based on surface contact of MOFs particles with bacterial cells through the so-called “chelation effect” and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, without a significant release of Zn(II) and Cu(II) ions. In addition, morphological changes were elucidated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and bacterial cell damage was further confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) test.

The viscoelastic properties and structure parameters have been investigated for aqueous solutions of wormlike micelles of cationic surfactant erucyl bis(hydroxyethyl) methylammonium chloride with long C22 tail in the presence inorganic salt KCl. The salt content has been varied to estimate linear to branched transition conditions due to screening of the electrostatic interaction in the networks. The local cylindrical structure and low electrostatic repulsion was obtained by SANS data. The drastic power law dependencies of rheological properties on surfactant concentrations were obtained at intermediate salt content. Two power law regions were detected in semi-dilute solutions related to “unbreakable” and “living” micellar chains. The fast contour length growth with surfactant concentration was demonstrated that is in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

This study aimed to investigate the potential of Cord Blood Stem Cell-derived exosome vesicles (CBSC-EVs) in regulating cancer growth and preventing cellular damage. The study aimed to examine the effects of CBSC-EVs on CHL1 cancer cells and healthy fibroblasts. The study results reveal that CBSC-EVs have an anti-cancer/antioxidant effect on CHL1 cancer cells without inducing any toxic effects on healthy lymphocytes. Further analysis of CBSC-EVs revealed the presence of seven miRNAs (noncoding RNA molecules), including three from the Let 7 family, two from the Let 5 family, and two novel miRNAs. The function of the novel miRNAs was the main focus of the study. To assess the efficacy of CBSC-EVs, CHL1 cells (a type of malignant melanoma cell line) and human fibroblasts were grouped into different treatments. One group of those cell lines were treated with CBSC-EVs, and in the second group, the cells were transfected with either miRNA inhibitor Novel 1 (miRNA IN1) plus CBSC-EVs or miRNA inhibitor Novel 2 (miRNA IN2) and CBSC-EVs to knock down those novel miRNAs in the CBSC-EVs. Therefore, by comparing these groups, the function of novel miRNAs is more understandable. In this study, the Comet assay was employed to evaluate cancer cells' DNA damage and CCK8 to measure cell viability. The findings revealed that CBSC-EVs caused an increase in DNA damage in CHL1 cells compared to cells without treatment (p

As there exist no repulsive forces in strong interaction, in a hypothetical approach, strong interaction can be assumed to be equivalent to a large gravitational coupling. Based on this concept, strong coupling constant can be defined as a ratio of the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force associated with proton, neutron, up quark and down quark. With respect to the product of strong coupling constant and fine structure ratio, we review our recently proposed two semi empirical relations and coefficients 0.00189 and 0.00642 connected with nuclear stability and binding energy. We wish to emphasize that- by classifying nucleons as ‘free nucleons’ and ‘active nucleons’, nuclear binding energy can be fitted with a new class of ‘three term’ formula having one unique energy coefficient. Based on the geometry and quantum nature, currently believed harmonic oscillator and spin orbit magic numbers can be considered as the lower and upper “mass limits” of quark clusters.

Amyloids are fibrillar protein aggregates that are associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, type II diabetes and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. The process of amyloid aggregation involves three pathological protein transformations; from natively-folded conformation to the cross-β conformation, from biophysically soluble to insoluble, and from biologically functional to non-functional. While amyloids share a similar cross-β conformation, the biophysical transformation can either take place spontaneously via a homogeneous nucleation mechanism (HON) or catalytically on an exogenous surface via a heterogeneous nucleation mechanism (HEN). Here, we postulate that the different nucleation pathways can serve as a mechanistic basis for an etiological classification of amyloidopathies, where hereditary forms generally follow the HON pathway, while sporadic forms follow surface-induced (including microbially-induced) HEN pathways. Furthermore, the conformational and biophysical amyloid transformation results in loss-of-function (LOF) of the original natively-folded and soluble protein. This LOF can, at least initially, be the mechanism of amyloid toxicity even before amyloid accumulation reaches toxic levels. By highlighting the important role of non-protein species in amyloid formation and LOF mechanisms of toxicity, we propose a generalized mechanistic framework that could help better understand the diverse etiology of amyloid diseases and offer new opportunities for therapeutic interventions including replacement therapies.

Ship pilots and maritime safety administration have an urgent need for more accurate and earlier warnings on strong wind gusts. This study firstly investigates the “Oriental Star” cruise ship cap-sizing event in 2015, one of the deadliest shipwreck events in recent years, and explores all related hydro-meteorological components in a global mesoscale model. It is found that, rather than the missing signal in raw surface wind prediction, the cumulus precipitation variable (CP) increases dramatically during the accident occurrence, which significantly corresponds to the sub-grid strong wind gust. The effective lead-time can be extended from 24hr (deterministic model) to 48hr (en-semble model). This finding is then verified in another two recent deadly cruise boat accidents. The introduction of the new variable is bearing the hope of improvement to the current maritime safeguard system, on predicting sub-grid strong wind gusts for small-size cruise boats in offshore and inland rivers. Finally, an automatic-response system is developed to provide economical con-vection prediction via Inmarsat email communication, aiming to explore operational severe con-vective gust early-warning and appropriate numerical mesoscale model application.

The upper ocean heat content in the equatorial Pacific usually serves as a primary precursor for an upcoming El Niño, while the strong atmospheric perturbations such as westerly wind burst and easterly wind surge sometimes play a decisive role in determining the final intensity of the event. The tropical Pacific Ocean has just experienced a rare 3-year La Niña, which accumulated a huge amount of warm water in the western basin by the winter of 2022. Using a state-of-the-art climate prediction system, here we show that the restored warm water is sufficient to boost a strong El Niño toward the end of 2023, and that an extreme event could take place if a few sizable westerly wind bursts would occur in spring and early summer. This prediction is not sensitive to initial errors within the tropical Pacific, but may be subject to some uncertainties brought about by influences from elsewhere.

Patriarchy culture is formed indirectly through a concept of a man as a head of family or the holder of the highest position. It leads to viewpoint that catcalling is assumed normally. Although catcalling seems like a compliment, but it is quite different with the exact compliment. The basic difference from them both is a compliment comes to sincerely from its giver, meanwhile catcalling is aimed to harass indirectly to women. This study aims to give an information and solution about the catcalling expansion in public areas especially by women community. The use of method to finish this study is qualitative design from literature sources for the last four years about problems of catcalling. The result of this study is giving information about catcalling by providing data and looking for solution related to catcalling phenomenon.

We review the basics of nuclear binding energy scheme assumed to be associated with the existence of a new strong elementary charge associated with square root of reciprocal of the strong coupling constant.

In our recent publications, based on strong and electroweak interactions, we have developed a completely new formula for estimating nuclear binding energy. With reference to currently believed Semi Empirical Mass Formula (SEMF), we call our formula as ‘Strong and Electroweak Mass Formula’ (SEWMF). Our formula constitutes 4 simple terms and only one energy coefficient of magnitude 10.1 MeV. First term is a volume term, second term seems to be a representation of free nucleons associated with electroweak interaction, third term is a radial term and fourth one is an asymmetry term about the mean stable mass number. In this paper, we make an attempt to understand and estimate the maximum binding energy associated with any mass number. It can be expressed as, for A > 4, $\left(BE\right)_A\cong \left[A-0.000935A^2-A^{1/3}-A^{-1/2}\right]$ MeV. We are working on refining the 4^th term with even-odd corrections, shell corrections and other microscopic corrections. Proceeding further, stable mass numbers and super heavy mass numbers can be understood with a relation of the form, $\left[\textrm{RoundOff}\left(\left(Z+2.9464\right)^{1.2}-1.7165\right)\right]\pm\left[0,1\right]\pm\left(2n\right)$ where $n \cong 0,1,2$. It needs a review with respect to even-odd proton numbers and other microscopic corrections.

Copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S) is a low-cost, earth-abundant, and non-toxic thermoelectric material for applications in the middle-high temperature range (&gt;650 K). Although 3D printing these materials can simplify their manufacturing, elevated temperatures observed during sintering impair their crystal structure and energy conversion efficiency. In this study, we demonstrated a novel post-processing methodology to revert the thermoelectric properties of the 3D printed Cu2-xS materials back to the unimpaired state via sulfur infusion. After printing and sintering, sulfur was infused into the specimens under vacuum to optimize their crystal structure and achieve high thermoelectric efficiency. Chemical analysis and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) tests showed that after the sulfur infusion process, the Cu/S ratio was reverted close to the stoichiometric level. 3D printed Cu2-xS showed p-type thermoelectric behavior with electrical conductivity peaking at 143 S-cm-1 at 750 K and Seebeck coefficient of 175 µV-K-1 at 627 K. Figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.0 at 780 K was achieved which is the highest value ever reported for a 3D printed Cu2-xS thermoelectrics at this temperature. Fabrication of environmentally friendly thermoelectric materials with extended dimensional freedom and conversion efficiency has the potential to impact the thermoelectric industry with new energy conversion applications and lowered manufacturing costs.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the respiratory infection known as COVID-19. From an immunopathological standpoint, coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 induce an increase in a variety of T-helper 1 (Th1) and inflammatory cytokines and chemokines including interleukins IL-1, IL-6, CCL2 protein and CXCL10 protein. In the absence of proven antiviral agents or an effective vaccine, substances with immunomodulatory activity may be able to inhibit inflammatory and Th1 cytokines and/or yield an anti-inflammatory and/or Th2 immune response to counteract COVID-19 symptoms and severity. This report briefly describes four unconventional but commercially accessible immunomodulatory agents that could be employed in clinical trials to evaluate their effectiveness at alleviating disease symptoms and severity: Low-dose oral interferon-alpha, microdose DNA, low-dose thimerosal and phytocannabinoids.

A Berry geometrical phase is identified in a strongly metastable system containing dynamically responsive clathrate hydrate structures within a crystal-fluid material. High energy degeneracy in the associated chemistry produces local stability and false vacuum conditions that lead to non-extensive and non-additive contributions in the fundamental thermodynamic relation. Application of Ginzburg-Landau theory and the scaling laws reveals a coherence length and a penetration depth for a macro-scale dual superconductor. The coherence length determines non-extensive volume changes whilst its inverse gives the Higgs mass. The penetration depth determines the extent of QCD vacuum suppression whilst its inverse gives the vector boson mass together with indirect manifestation as non-additive hyperbolic curvature. Simultaneous emergence of the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting phase transition is consistent with gauge-invariant coupling of the scalar field to the Yang-Mills action in QCD. The discovery of an energy gap in the gradient energy term of the system Lagrangian is associated with a critical correlation length revealed in the transition from a gapped to a gapless superconducting state. Together with the emergence and absorption of the Higgs-like scalar field, a mechanism for describing a renormalized QCD mass gap arises.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) affects human respiratory function causing COVID-19 disease. Safe natural products with potential antiviral phytochemicals with benefits to control high-altitude sickness could be adopted as adjunct therapy for COVID-19. The red petals of Rhododendron arboreum, commonly available and consumed in the Himalayan region may have phytochemicals with potential antiviral properties against COVID-19 targets.Purpose: This study was aimed to profile the secondary metabolites of R. arboreum petals, to assess their absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) properties and evaluate their antiviral potential by docking against COVID-19 targets such as SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) that mediates the viral replication and entry into the host respectively.Methods: The phytochemicals of R. arboreum petals were mainly profiled using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) and ¹H-NMR. In addition, the phytochemicals reported from the literature were tabulated. The ADME properties of the phytochemicals were predicted using SwissADME tool. Molecular docking simulation of the phytochemicals against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) were carried out using PyRx.Results: R. arboreum petals were found to be rich in appreciable proportions of secondary metabolites such as Quinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 2,4-Quinolinediamine, Coumaric acid, Caffeic acid, Epicatechin, Catechin, 3-Hydroxybenzoic acid, Shikimic acid, Protocatechuic acid, Epicatechin gallate, Quercetin, Quercetin-O-pentoside, Quercetin-O-rhamnoside, Kaempferol-O-pentoside and Kaempferol. Several of these phytochemicals were reported to exhibit inhibitory activities against a range of viruses. From the molecular docking studies, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, Epicatechin and Catechin showed strong binding affinity with SARS-CoV-2 M^pro and human ACE2 receptor.Conclusion: This report showed that R. arboreum petals are rich in several antiviral phytochemicals that also docked against SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro and Human ACE2 receptor. This is the first report highlighting R. arboreum petals as a reservoir of antiviral phytochemicals with potential for synergetic activities. The outcomes merit further in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on R. arboreum phytochemicals to develop natural formulations against COVID-19 disease for therapeutic benefits.

The research introduces the concept of Strong Energy (SE) as a force that encompasses all the different forms of energy in the universe. The study aims to create a mathematical framework that can describe the relationship between these different types of energy and how they can be converted from one form to another. The paper explores the theoretical implications of this model and investigates how it aligns with established physics principles like the conservation of energy and fundamental forces. The paper also discusses potential experiments and the impact this research could have on cosmology, particle physics, and our understanding of energy. This work sets the stage for future research in this area of study.

The coastline in the Ca Mau and the Kien Giang provinces of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta has been severely eroded in recent decades. Pile-Rock Breakwaters (PRBW) are one of the most widely adopted structures for controlling shoreline erosion in this region. These structures are effective for wave energy dissipation, stimulating sediment accumulation, and facilitating the restoration of mangrove forests. These breakwaters are generally considered to be best-engineering practice however there is currently insufficient scientific evidence with regard to specific structural design aspects. This can lead to PRBW structures being compromised when deployed in the field. This study uses a physical model of a PRBW in a laboratory to investigate several design parameters, including crest width and working states (i.e. submerged, transition, and emerged), and investigates their relationship with the wave transmission coefficient, wave reflection coefficient, and wave energy dissipation. To investigate these relationships further, empirical formulas were derived for PRBWs under different sea states and crest widths to aid the design process. The results showed that PRBW width had a significant influence on the wave energy coefficients. The findings revealed that the crest width of the breakwater is inversely proportional to the wave transmission coefficient (K_t) under the emerged state. The crest width is also proportional to the wave reduction efficiency and wave energy dissipation in both working states (i.e., submerged and emerged states). The front wave disturbance coefficient (K_f) was found to be proportional to the wave reflection coefficient, and the wave height in front of the structure was found to increase by up to 1.4 times in the emerged state. The wave reflection coefficient requires special consideration to reduce the toe erosion in the structure. Lastly, empirical equations including linear and non-linear formulas were compared with previous studies for different classes of breakwaters. These empirical equations will be useful for understanding the wave transmission efficiency of PRBWs. The findings of this study provide important guidance for PRBW design in the coastal area of the Mekong Delta.

Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) is a bacterium that causes infections, particularly in immunocompromised patients. Treatment is challenging due to biofilm formation by AB strains, which hinders antibiotic effec-tiveness and promotes drug resistance. The aim of our study was to analyze the biofilm-producing capacity of AB isolates from various forms of infections in relation to biofilm-related genes and their drug resistance. We tested one hundred isolates for biofilm formation using the crystal violet microplate method. Drug re-sistance analyses were performed based on EUCAST and CLSI guidelines, and biofilm genes were detected using PCR. All tested strains were found to form biofilms, with 50% being ICU strains and 72% classified as strong biofilm-producers. Among these, 87% were extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and 2% were extra extensively drug-resistant (E-XDR). The most common gene set was bap, bfmS, csuE, and ompA, found in 57% of all isolates. Our research has shown that, regardless of the form of infection, biofilm-forming strains can be expected among AB isolates. The emergence of E-XDR and XDR strains among non-ICU infections highlights the necessity for the rational use of antibiotics to stop or limit the further acquisition of drug re-sistance by A. baumannii.

Acetyleugenol is a phytochemical compound with broad effect against infectious diseases and tumors. Here, we extracted, characterized and elucidated the structure of acetyeugenol, for the first time, from the leaves of Acacia nilotica (L.)―a well-known medicinal plant. The broad antibacterial potential of acetyleugenol was first confirmed against seven bacterial pathogenic isolates with best activity against Proteus sp., Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcu aureus, and Streptococcus pneumonia, which showed similar or better zone of inhibition to that of the control amoxicillin. To further investigate its effect against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, acetyleugenol and its indole and phenyl analogs were subjected to molecular docking experiments against two potential tuberculosis drug targets―MtPknE and MtPknB Ser/Thr protein kinases. The results reveal that all of the analogs have improved docking scores comparing to the acetyleugenol. The indole analogs EUG-1 and EUG-3 were more effective with better docking scores for MtPknE with –11.08 and –10.05 kcal/mol, respectively. Similar results were obtained for the MtPknB. In contrast, only the EUG-2 phenyl analog has given rise to similar docking scores for both targets. This opens the door for further comprehensive studies on these acetyleugenol analogs with in vitro and in vivo experiments to validate and get more insights into their mechanisms of action.

Horseshoe crabs represent the most ancestral chelicerate lineage characterized by marine ecology and the possession of lateral compound eyes. While considered living fossils, recent studies reported an unusual number of Pax6 transcription factor genes in the Atlantic horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. Pax genes encode a family of ancient metazoan transcription factors, which comprise seven subfamilies. Among these, the members of the Pax6 subfamily confer critical functions in the development of the head, the visual system, and further body plan components. Arthropods are characterized by two Pax6 subfamily homologs that were discovered in Drosophila and named eyeless (ey) and twin of eyeless (toy). However, whole genome sequence searches uncovered three homologs of ey and two homologs of toy in L. polyphemus. These numbers are explained by the occurrence of three whole genome duplications (WGD) in the lineage to the last common ancestor of L. polyphemus and its closely related three additional members of the extant horseshoe crab species cluster. Here we report comparative sequence evidence for the functional conservation of the five L. polyphemus Pax6 transcription factor homologs. Our analyses reveal that all paralogs are conserved in the approximately 135 million-year-old horseshoe crab species cluster and that they evolve under strong purifying selection. These findings identify subfunctionalization as the likeliest post-WGD outcome for the five Pax6 homologs. While awaiting confirmation by gene expression studies, this scenario would reconcile the discrepancy between the WGD-expanded gene repertoires and phenotypic stasis in the horseshoe crabs.

The present study illustrates the strong effect of geometrical parameters on the magneto-structural properties of Co2MnSi glass-coated microwires prepared using the Taylor-Ulitovsky method. Thus, two samples with different geometrical aspect ratios (ρ= d / D) have been fabricated, where d is the metallic nuclei diameter and D is the total diameter of the Co2MnSi microwire. The XRD analysis shows a significant change by modifying the aspect ratio, for ρ = 0.46 the main peak with miller indices (220) is recognized as an A2-type disordered cubic structure. Meanwhile, in the sample with a low aspect ratio, ρ = 0.31, the perfect L21 ordered cubic structure is attained. In addition, a decrease in average grain size from 36.62 nm to 28.07 nm by increasing the aspect ratio from 0.46 to 0.31 is observed. The magnetic characterization has been done in a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields. Both of Co2MnSi samples show ferromagnetic behavior in a whole measuring temperatures range. A significant increase in coercivity and normalized reduced remanence by decreasing the aspect ratio is observed. The change in the magnetic properties is attributed to the modification in the microstructure, which is induced during the fabrication process. Such a dependence on the microstructure and magnetic properties on the ρ-ratio can be associated either with the internal stresses distribution and magnitude or with different quenching rates of microwires with different aspect ratios. The current findings demonstrate the tunability of microstructure and magnetic properties of Co2MnSi-glass-coated microwires simply, by a small modification in the geometric properties during the manufacturing process and without excreting any additional post-processing. The variation in geometric parameters of Co2MnSi glass-coated microwires allows us to tune magnetic properties and structure, which is essentially advantageous for sensing devices development.