A careful examination of the fundamentals of electromagnetic theory shows that due to the underlying mathematical assumptions required for Stokes' Theorem, global charge conservation cannot be guaranteed in topologically non-trivial spacetimes. However, in order to break the charge conservation mechanism we must also allow the electromagnetic excitation fields D, H to possess a gauge freedom, just as the electromagnetic scalar and vector potentials $\varphi$ and A do. This has implications for the treatment of electromagnetism in spacetimes where black holes both form and then evaporate, as well as extending the possibilities for treating vacuum polarisation. Using this gauge freedom of D, H we also propose an alternative to the accepted notion that a charge passing through a wormhole necessarily leads to an additional (effective) charge on the wormhole's mouth.

Collisional mountain belts commonly develop intramontane basins from mechanical and isostatic subsidence during orogenic development. These frequently display a relict top surface, evidencing a change interval from basin infilling to erosion often via capture or overspill. Such surfaces provide markers that inform on orogenic growth patterns via climate and base level interplay. Here, we describe the top surface from the Sorbas Basin, a key intramontane basin within the Betic Cordillera (SE Spain). The surface is fragmentary comprising high elevation hilltops and discontinuous ridges developed onto the variably deformed final basin infill outcrop (Gochar Formation). We reconstruct surface configuration using DEM interpolation and apply ¹⁰Be/²⁶Al cosmonuclides to assess surface formation timing. The surface is a degraded Early Pleistocene erosional pediment developed via autogenic switching of alluvial fan streams under stable dryland climate and base level conditions. Base level lowering since the Middle Pleistocene focused headwards incision up interfan drainages, culminating in fan head capture and fan morphological preservation within the abandoned surface. Post abandonment erosion has lowered the basin surface by 31 m (average) and removed ~5.95 km³ of fill. Regional basin comparisons reveal a phase of Early Pleistocene surface formation, marking landscape stability following the most recent Pliocene-Early Pleistocene mountain building. Post-surface erosion rate quantification is low and in accordance with ¹⁰Be denudation rates typical of the low uplift Betic Cordillera.

The paper is considering of the basic differential equations of hydrodynamics: the equation of continuity and motion. On the simplest example, it is shown that the equation of continuity in a system with the equation of motion leads to contradictions and erroneous results of modeling. A more correct form of the continuity equation is described. It is shown that the equations of motion can be written in the form of complete differentials. Three possible integral forms of the equations of motion are presented. As a conclusion, the existence and smoothness of the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are considered.

In the early 1980s it was well established that Leray solutions of the unforced Navier-Stokes equations in Rn decay in energy norm for large time. With the works of T. Miyakawa, M. Schonbek and others it is now known that the energy decay rate cannot in general be any faster than t^-(n+2)/4 and is typically much slower. In contrast, we show in this note that, given an arbitrary Leray solution u(.,t), the difference of any two Stokes approximations to the Navier-Stokes flow u(.,t) will always decay at least as fast as t^-(n+2)/4, no matter how slow the decay of || u(.,t) ||_L2 might happen to be.

Two-dimensional periodic Stokes flow of viscous incompressible fluid in a rectangular cavity with constant velocities applied to the top and bottom walls is considered. The study of chaotic advection regimes is reduced to the sequential solving of two problems. To solve the first problem, the analytical method of superposition, that allows to obtain any desired accuracy of the velocity field, is used. To solve the second problem, which is associated with obtaining the trajectories of individual fluid particles, numerical calculations of the Cauchy problem were performed. An analysis of the boundary conditions accuracy was performed based on the control of local integration. The advection of the selected volume of fluid in the rectangular cavity under the periodic motion of walls for a finite period time based on piecewise spline cubic interpolation is modelled. The obtained numerical results agree with well-known experimental data.

Unwanted proteins and metabolic waste in cerebral spinal fluid are cleared from the brain by meningeal and nasal lymphatics, and perineural sheath of cranial nerves; however, the distribution and clearance of CSF along the subarachnoid space of the entire spinal cord is not fully understood. It was hypothesized that the anatomical resolution of Cryo-Fluorescence Tomography (CFT) could provide the visual evidence of clearance across the spinal cord at each level of the vertebral column. To that end, isoflurane anesthetized mice were infused into the lateral cerebroventricle with 5.0 µl of quantum dots [QdotR 605 ITKTM amino (PEG)] over two mins. Mice were allowed to recover (ca 2-3 min) and remained awake and ambulatory for 5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes after which they were euthanized, and the entire intact body frozen at -800. The entire mouse was sectioned and imaged to produce an isotropic voxel resolution of 35 µm. Both white light and fluorescent images were captured after each slice to produce high resolution three-dimensional volumes for each mouse. CFT highlighted the circulation of tracer throughout the ventricular system and central canal of the spinal cord and the entire subarachnoid space of the CNS. Signal could be visualized in the nasal cavity, deep cervical lymph nodes, thoracic lymph nodes and more superficial submandibular lymph nodes as early as 15 min post infusion. Fluorescent signal could be visualized along the dorsal root ganglia and down the proximal extension of the spinal nerves of the thoracic and lumbar segments at 30 min. There was significant accumulation of tracer in the lumbar and sacral lymph nodes between 15- 60 min. The dense fluorescent signal in the thoracic vertebrae noted at 5- and 15-mins post infusion was significantly reduced by 30 min. Indeed, all signal in the spinal cord was ostensibly absent by 120 min except for trace amounts in the coccyx. The brain still had some residual signal at 120 min. These data show that Qdots with a hydrodynamic diameter of 16-20 nm rapidly clear from the brain of awake mice. These data also clearly demonstrate the rapid distribution and efflux of trace along a major length of the vertebral column and the potential contribution of the spinal cord in the clearance of brain waste.

Into the frame of the French TANDEM project (Tsunamis in the Atlantic and the English ChaNnel: Definition of the Effects through numerical Modelling) Principia has been working on the development and qualification of two in-house CFD software’s: the 2D EOLE-SV (Saint Venant) model for simulation of large scale tsunami propagation from the source up to coastal scale and the 3D EOLE-NS (Navier-Stokes) model dedicated to tsunami coastal impact modelling. This paper presents a large range of test cases carried out into the frame of the project and dedicated to the validation of numerical codes in various tsunami wave conditions. The main aspects of phenomena such as wave generation, propagation and coastal impact are investigated on academic situations. A real case simulation is concerned as well, the devastating 2011 Tohoku event which is compared with in-situ data.

This paper attempts to clarify an long-standing issue about the number of unknowns in the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS). This study shows that all perspectives regarding the numbers of unknowns in the RANS stem from the misinterpretation of the Reynolds stress tensor. The current literature consider that the Reynolds stress tensor has six unknown components; however, this study shows that the Reynolds stress tensor actually has only three unknown components, namely the three components of fluctuation velocity. This understanding might shed a light to understand the well-known closure problem of turbulence.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the significance of vaccine hesitancy in shaping vaccination outcomes. Understanding the factors underpinning COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy is crucial for tailoring effective vaccination strategies. This cross-sectional study, conducted in three communities across the United States and Lebanon, employed surveys to assess respondents' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding COVID-19 infection and vaccination. Among the 7,196 participants, comprising 6,775 from the US and 422 from Lebanon, vaccine hesitancy rates were comparable at 12.2% and 12.8%, respectively. Notably, a substantial proportion of respondents harbored misconceptions, such as attributing the potential to alter DNA (86.4%) or track individuals (92.8%) to COVID-19 vaccines, and believing in the virus's artificial origins (81%). Primary determinants of hesitancy included perceptions that the vaccine poses greater risk than the infection itself (aOR = 8.7 and 9.4, respectively) and negative recommendations from healthcare providers (aOR = 6.5 and 5.4, respectively). Conversely, positive endorsements from healthcare providers were associated with reduced hesitancy (aOR = 0.02 and 0.4, respectively). Targeting healthcare providers to dispel misinformation and elucidate COVID-19 vaccine risks holds promise for enhancing vaccination uptake.

The lab-on-a-chip concept, enabled by microfluidic technology, promises the integration of multi-ple discrete laboratory techniques into a miniaturised system. Research into microfluidics has generally focused on the development of individual elements of the total system (often with rela-tively limited functionality), without full consideration for integration into a complete fully opti-mised and miniaturised system. Typically, the operation of many of the reported lab-on-a-chip devices is dependent on the support of a laboratory framework. In this paper, a demonstrator platform for routine laboratory analysis is designed and built, which fully integrates a number of technologies into a single device with multiple domains such as fluidics, electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics, and photonics. This facilitates the delivery of breakthroughs in research, by incorpo-rating all physical requirements into a single device. To highlight this proposed approach, this demonstrator microsystem acts as a fully integrated biochemical assay reaction system. The re-sulting design determines enzyme kinetics in an automated process and combines reservoirs, three-dimensional fluidic channels, optical sensing, and electronics in a low-cost, low-power and portable package.

The oil and gas industry faces increasing pressure to remove people from dangerous offshore environments. Robots present a cost-effective and safe method for inspection, repair and maintenance of topside and marine offshore infrastructure. In this work, we introduce a new immobile multi-sensing robot, the Limpet, which is designed to be low-cost and highly manufacturable, and thus can be deployed in huge collectives for monitoring offshore platforms. The Limpet can be considered an instrument, where in abstract terms, an instrument is a device that transforms a physical variable of interest (measurand) into a form that is suitable for recording (measurement). The Limpet is designed to be part of the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub System, which consists of the offshore assets and all the robots (UAVs, drones, mobile legged robots etc.) interacting with them. The Limpet comprises the sensing aspect of the ORCA Hub System. We integrated the Limpet with Robot Operating System (ROS), which allows it to interact with other robots in the ORCA Hub System. In this work, we demonstrate how the Limpet can be used to achieve real-time condition monitoring for offshore structures, by combining remote sensing with signal processing techniques. We show an example of this approach for monitoring offshore wind turbines. We demonstrate the use of four different communication systems (WiFi, serial, LoRa and optical communication) for the condition monitoring process. By processing the sensor data on-board, we reduce the information density of our transmissions, which allows us to substitute short-range high-bandwidth communication systems with low-bandwidth long-range communication systems. We train our classifier offline and transfer its parameters to the Limpet for online classification, where it makes an autonomous decision based on the condition of the monitored structure.

This paper proposed an explicit and simple representation of velocity fluctuation and the Reynolds stress tensor in terms of the mean velocity field. The proposed turbulence equations are closed. The proposed formulations reveal that the mean vorticity is the key source of producing turbulence. It is found that there are no velocity fluctuation and turbulence if there were no vorticity. As a natural consequence, the laminar- turbulence transition condition was obtained in a rational way.

The polarised emission from AGN jets carries information about the physical conditions at the emitting plasma elements while its temporal evolution probes the physical processes that introduce variability and dynamically modify the local conditions. Here we present the analysis of multi-frequency radio linear and circular polarisation datasets with the aim to exactly quantify the conditions in blazar jets. Our analysis includes both the careful treatment of observational datasets and numerical modelling for the reproduction of synthetic polarisation curves that can be compared to the observed ones. In our approach the variability is attributed to traveling shocks. The emission from the cells of our jet model is computed with radiative transfer of all Stokes parameters. The model also accounts for Faraday effects which map the low-energy particle populations. We present two extreme cases in terms of the significance of Faraday conversion in the production of circular polarisation. As we show, in both regimes the model gives realistic reproduction of the observed emission.

A consistent theory of quantum entanglement requires that constituent single-particle states belong to the same Hilbert space, the coherent eigenstates of a complete set of operators in a given representation, defined with respect to a shared continuous parameterization. Formulating such eigenstates for a single relativistic particle with spin, and applying them to the description of many-body states, presents well-known challenges. In this paper, we review the covariant theory of relativistic spin and entanglement in a framework first proposed by Stueckelberg and developed by Horwitz, Piron, et.\ al. This approach modifies Wigner's method by introducing an arbitrary timelike unit vector $n^\mu$ on which one induces a representation of $SL(2,C)$, rather than induce on the spacetime momentum $p^\mu$. Generalizing this approach, we construct relativistic spin states on an extended phase space $\{(x^\mu,p^\mu),(\zeta^\mu,\pi^\mu)\}$, inducing a representation on the momentum $\pi^\mu$, thus providing a novel dynamical interpretation of the timelike unit vector $n^\mu = \pi^\mu / M$. Studying the unitary representations of the Poincar\'e group on the extended phase space allows us to define basis quantities for quantum states and develop the gauge invariant electromagnetic Hamiltonian in classical and quantum mechanics. We write plane wave solutions for free particles and construct stable singlet states, and relate these to experiments involving temporal interference, analogous to the spatial interference known from double slit experiments.

This paper showed that turbulence closure problem is not an issue at all. All mistakes in the literature regarding the numbers of unknown quantities in the Reynolds turbulence equations stem from the misunderstandings of physics of the Reynolds stress tensor, i.e., all literature has stated that the symmetric Reynolds stress tensor has six unknowns; however, it actually has only three unknowns, i.e., the three components of fluctuation velocity. We showed the integral-differential equations of the Reynolds mean and fluctuation equations have exactly eight equations, which equal to the numbers of quantities in total, namely, three components of mean velocity, three components of fluctuation velocity, one mean pressure and one fluctuation pressure. With this understanding, the closed Reynolds Navier-Stokes turbulence equations of incompressible flows were formulated. This study may help to solve the puzzle that has eluded scientists and mathematicians for centuries.

This article addresses the generic dynamic decision problem of how to achieve sustained market growth by increasing two interdependent organizational resources needed (1) to increase and (2) to sustain demand. The speed and costs of increasing each resource are different. Failure to account for this difference has been reported to lead to policies that drive a quick increase of demand followed by decline. Three generic policies derived from the literature have been implemented in a system dynamics model. Simulation shows that all three policies can generate sustained exponential growth but differ in performance. These results suggest that even policies which risk generating overshoot and collapse can avoid it. This poses two questions for further research: (1) what is the reasoning of human decision-makers when choosing between these policies and (2) how can the important but easily overlooked features of such decision situations be made sufficiently salient to be accounted for?

Early reporting of the introduction and establishment of exotic species is of paramount importance for successful management. Here we report the introduction and rapid spread of the Bare-eyed Pigeon, Patagioenas corensis, on the binational island of Saint-Martin, West Indies. This range-restricted species naturally occurs in the arid coastal areas of Columbia and Venezuela and nearby islands. Its introduction on Saint-Martin represents an expansion of about 1000 km beyond its established native range. Using observations recorded in e-bird and results from a recent field survey, we show that since its introduction, most probably between late 2012 and early 2013, the species is expanding fast in Saint-Martin and has recently broadened its habitat to include anthropized, built areas. The expansion of Bare-eyed Pigeon on Saint-Martin and the neighbouring Leeward Islands, possibly facilitated by climate change in the future, could be a threat to both native columbid species and other bird species, through competition for resources. We therefore recommend to local authorities and stakeholders to rapidly eradicate the species or at least prevent its further spread on Saint-Martin, possibly though listing it as a game species, while it is still possible to do so.

In this work, we study a boundary control problem for the evolutionary Stokes equations, under mixed boundary conditions, in two and three dimensions. The Stokes equation is a valuable tool in cardiovascular biomechanics, especially for modeling blood flow in low-velocity and high-viscosity conditions. Its application in the microvasculature, the design of medical devices, and the study of cardiovascular diseases helps improve the understanding and treatment of various pathological conditions. We provide a comprehensive theoretical framework to address the analysis and the derivation of a system of first-order optimality conditions that characterizes the solution of the control problem. Finally, solution-finding algorithm is proposed and illustrated with some simulations.

In this paper, we establish the existence and uniqueness results of the fractional Navier-Stokes evolution equation using the Banach fixed point theorem, where the fractional order β is in the form of the Atangana-Baleanu Caputo fractional order. The iterative method combined with the Laplace transform and Sumudu transform are employed to find the exact and approximate solutions of the fractional Navier-Stokes equation of a one-dimensional problem of unsteady flow of a viscous fluid in a tube. Mathematica software is used to present the solutions graphically.

For the solution existence condition of the Navier-Stokes equation, we propose a conjecture as follows: "\emph{The Navier-Stokes equation has a solution if and only if the determinant of flow velocity gradient is not zero, namely $\det (\bm \nabla \bm v)\neq 0$.}"

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.

The main purpose of this article is to consider the smoothness control of a weak solution after some moment if there is known solution regularity until this moment. The necessary tools can be varied. It is possible to control kinetic energy dissipation to fix moment or changing of velocity square or summability of acceleration square to fix at point time.

In this paper, for the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, a self-closed turbulence model without any adjustable parameter is formulated and a simple model is proposed. The validation rule for self-closed turbulence model is rigorously derived from the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation. The rule is not effected by turbulence modelling on the Reynolds stresses. As an application, two dimensional turbulent boundary layers, and plate turbulent boundary layers have been formulated.

A well known technique to enhance the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of repetitive signals is to average them. The coherent parts of the signal add up constructively while the incoherent parts are averaged out. The prerequisite is that the signals are acquired under conditions of high repeatability, i.e.\ the signals must be sufficiently similar. In the present technical note we describe an efficient method for maintaining signal similarity by ensuring spatial and temporal proximity of laser waveform signals obtained by a sensor operated from an airborne platform. The method makes use of a few auxiliary parameters such as laser pulse repetition rate, mirror rotation rate, platform altitude, and flight speed. The method can be extended to be operated in real time.

Context: The compartmental description, well-known from the description of infection diseases and epidemics, is applied to describe the temporal evolution of the baryonic matter in interstellar gas and stars. The introduction of gaseous and stellar fractions of the total baryonic matter as the basic dynamical variables is advantageous because it allows to apply the description to a variety of astrophysical systems. Aims: The competition of spontaneous star formation, stellar feedback and stellar evolution is theoretically investigated to understand the baryonic matter cycle including luminous baryonic matter in main-sequence stars and weakly luminous matter in white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes (referred to as locked-in matter). Of particular interest is the understanding of the cosmic star formation history and the present-day gas fraction with compartmental models. Methods: For stationary rates of spontaneous star formation, continuous stellar feedback and stellar evolution exact analytical solutions of the time evolution of the fractions of gaseous, luminous stellar and locked-in stellar matter are derived. The accuracy of the analytical solutions is proven by the favorite comparison with the exact numerical solutions of the dynamical equations. Results: The observed cosmological star formation rate and the integrated stellar density as a function of redshift are reasonably well explained by the compartmental model without triggered star formation by the competition of spontaneous star formation and stellar evolution whereas the influence of stellar feedback is less important. The action of stellar evolution provides a significant redshift dependent reduction factor when calculating the integrated stellar density from the star formation rate. Without stellar evolution the observations cannot be reproduced very well. Then the fits to the observation allow us conclusions on the relative importance of spontaneous star formation, stellar evolution and feedback in the early universe after the recombination era until today. The gas, luminous star and locked-in stellar matter fractions indicate that the vast majority of the baryons in the present-day universe resides in the form of locked-in stellar matter in white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

Recognition, decoding and tracking of vortex patterns is of increasing importance in many fields reaching from astronomical observation of distant galaxies to turbulence phenomena in liquids or gases. Currently, coherent light beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) are of particular interest for optical communication, metrology, micro-machining or particle manipulation. One common task is to identify characteristic spiral patterns in pixelated intensity maps at real-world signal-to-noise ratios. Recently, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was applied to the quantitative analysis of spiral interference patterns of OAM beams. Our study considers this approach in more detail. It is demonstrated that specific information can be extracted by combining conformal mapping by polar transform with determining one- or two-dimensional angular frequency spectra either in spatially fixed or scanning mode. Results of proof-of-principle experiments are presented.

In a series of recent papers we developed a formulation of general relativity in which spacetime and the dynamics of matter evolve with a Poincaré invariant parameter τ. In this paper we apply the formalism to derive the metric induced by a `static’ event evolving uniformly along its t-axis at the spatial origin x=0. The metric is shown to vary with t and τ, as well as spatial distance r, taking its maximum value for a test particle at the retarded time τ=t−r/c. In the resulting picture, an event localized is space and time produces a metric field similarly localized, where both evolve in τ. We first derive this metric as a solution to the wave equation in linearized field theory, and discuss its limitations by studying the geodesic motion it produces for an evolving event. By then examining this solution in the 4+1 formalism, which poses an initial value problem for the metric under τ-evolution, we clarify these limitations and indicate how they may be overcome in a solution to the full nonlinear field equations.

Heat stress (HS) is a strong stress factor that significantly affects the metabolism of dairy cows. The aim of the present study was to investigate how HS affects some biochemical indicators in the blood of dairy cows reared in Bulgaria. The study was conducted on a cattle farm with a capacity of 500 Holstein cows, loose housed in a free stall barn shed type. The research was carried out in three seasons - summer, autumn and winter, and a total of 77 samples were taken from the cows of the farm - 30 blood samples for each season. The cows included in the study were from 30 to 60 days in milk (DIM). Temperature and humidity data were taken from the closest to the farm weather station. Based on the conducted research, it was found that the HS reported during the summer season had a significant impact on the following blood parameters: glucose, urea, total protein and cortisol. In summer, blood glucose values were low and ranged from 1.32 to 1.63 mmol/l in cows on different lactations. Probably because of these low glucose levels, high levels of total protein, ranging from 76.92 to 86.10 g/l, were reported in cows from the first to third lactation. This protein was used by cows to provide energy from non-carbohydrate sources and as a residual product, higher blood urea levels were reported in summer, ranging from 4.79 to 5.23 mmol/l. As proof of the stressful influence of heat on the metabolism of the examined cows, the cortisol values in the summer were in the upper reference norms - 38.44 nmol/l or higher and reached 59.09 nmol/l.

Trail detection in mixed canopy ecosystems has important implications for forest management, monitoring, and conservation, although active sensor technology for sub-canopy trail detection is still developing. In order to assess the effectiveness of UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)-borne lidar (light detection and ranging) data for small trails (< 2.5m width) in mixed forest canopy cover, we collected lidar data and trail characteristics (canopy cover and trail width) and created a high definition surface model map from the resulting lidar data, and also a high-resolution satellite imagery map using Google Earth. Through participatory mapping methods, seven respondents with limited prior geospatial experience completed a rapid identification of trails on both maps. Respondents’ trails were georeferenced in order to compare the rate of detectability between maps. We found greater detection on the lidar-derived map compared to the Google Earth map. Detectability in Google Earth maps was positively correlated with wider trails and trials with lower canopy. In lidar maps, trail detectability increased with wider trails, but canopy cover had no effect on detection rates. Our data indicate that a mixed-method approach that combines UAV-mounted lidar with high-resolution satellite imagery and participatory mapping increases rapid detection rates of small trails under varying canopy cover and trail widths.

The bark of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) is used as a food additive and herbal medicine for various inflammatory disorders and cancer in Eastern Asia. RVS exerted anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, but whether this effect occurs in macrophages after oral administration has not been determined. We used a thioglycollate-induced peritonitis model to obtain macrophages from mice given RVS. We examined the systemic inflammatory response to intraperitoneal LPS. RVS-treated mice had an increased population of peritoneal exudate cells expressing CD11b and SRA. Increased uptake of Alexa Fluor 488-labeled acetylated lipoprotein was observed in monocyte-derived macrophages from RVS-treated mice. When these cells from the RVS group were stimulated with LPS, the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- and interleukin (IL)-6 in the supernatant decreased, but the level of IL-12 increased. The surface expression of CD86 was reduced, but surface expression of class II MHC molecules was increased. RVS suppressed the serum levels of LPS-induced TNF- and IL-6. RVS enhanced monocyte differentiation in thioglycollate-induced peritonitis by increasing scavenger receptor expression and activity. Macrophages isolated from mice given RVS responded differently to LPS. These findings demonstrate that RVS confers selective anti-inflammatory activity without causing the overall inhibitory effects on immune cells.

The genus Rhodotorula includes basidiomycetous oleaginous yeast species. R. babjevae can produce compounds of biotechnological interest such as lipids, carotenoids and biosurfactants from low value substrates such as lignocellulose hydrolysate. High-quality genome assemblies are needed to develop genetic tools and to understand fungal evolution and genetics. Here, we combined short- and long-read sequencing to resolve the genomes of two R. babjevae strains, CBS 7808 (type strain) and DBVPG 8058 at chromosomal level. Both genomes have a size of 21 Mbp and a GC content of 68.2%. Allele frequency analysis indicated tetraploidy in both strains. They harbor 21 putative chromosomes with sizes ranging from 0.4 to 2.4 Mb. In both assemblies, the mitochondrial genome was recovered in a single contig, which shared 97% pairwise identity. The pairwise identity between the majority of chromosomes ranges from 82% to 87%. We found indications for strain-specific extrachromosomal endogenous DNA. 7,591 protein-coding genes and 7,607 associated transcripts were annotated in CBS 7808 and 7,481 protein-coding genes and 7,516 associated transcripts in DBVPG 8058. CBS 7808 has accumulated a higher number of tandem duplications than DBVPG 8058. We identified large translocation events between putative chromosomes and a high genetic divergence between the two strains.

Polyhydroxyalkanotes (PHA) are bio-based microbial biopolyesters with stiffness, elasticity, crystallinity and degradability tunable by the monomeric composition, bio-production strategy and post-synthetic processing; they display biological alternatives for diverse technomers of petrochemical origin. This, together with the fact that their monomeric and oligomeric in vivo degradation products do not exert any toxic or elsewhere negative effect to living cells or tissue of humans or animals, makes them highly stimulating for various applications in the medical field. The article provides an overview of PHA application in the therapeutic, surgical and tissue engineering area, and reviews strategies to produce PHA at purity levels high enough to be used in vivo. Tested applications of differently composed PHA and advanced follow-up products as carrier materials for controlled in vivo release of anti-cancer drugs or antibiotics, as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as guidance conduits for nerve repair or as enhanced sutures, implants or meshes are discussed from both a biotechnological and a material-scientific perspective. Particular attention is devoted to the adaptation of traditional polymer processing techniques for production of medicine-related devices based on PHA, such as melt-spinning, melt extrusion, or solvent evaporation, and to emerging processing techniques like 3D-printing, computer-aided wet-spinning, laser perforation, or electrospinning.

An open source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver has been incorporated into the WindNinja modeling framework widely used by wildland fire managers as well as researchers and practitioners in other fields, such as wind energy, wind erosion, and search and rescue. Here we describe incorporation of the CFD solver and evaluate its performance compared to the conservation of mass (COM) solver in WindNinja and previously published large-eddy simulations (LES) for three field campaigns conducted over isolated terrain obstacles of varying terrain complexity: Askervein Hill, Bolund Hill, and Big Southern Butte. We also compare the effects of two important model settings in the CFD solver and provide guidance on model sensitivity to these settings. Additionally, we investigate the computational mesh and difficulties regarding terrain representation. Two important findings from this work are: (1) the choice of discretization scheme for advection has a significantly larger effect on the simulated winds than the choice of turbulence model and (2) CFD solver predictions are significantly better than the COM solver predictions at windward and lee side observation locations, but no difference was found in predicted speed-up at ridgetop locations between the two solvers.

Astrocytes are considered to possess a noticeable role in brain metabolism and as a partners in neuron-glia cooperation contribute to synthesis, bioconversions and regulation of the flux of substrates for neuronal metabolism. With the aim to investigate to which extend are human astrocytes metabolizing amino acids and by which compounds are they enriching their surrounding we employed the metabolomics analysis of their culture media by 1H-NMR. In addition, we compered the composition of media with either 5 mM or 25 mM glucose. The quantitative analysis of culture media by 1H-NMR revealed that astrocytes readely dispose from their milieu glutamine, branched-chain amino acids, and pyruvate with significantly high rate, while they enrich the culture media with lactate, branched-chain keto acids, citrate, acetate, ketone bodies, and alanine. The hyperglycemia suppressed the capacity of astrocytes to release branched-chain amino acids while stimulating the generation of ketone bodies. Our results highlight the active involvement of astrocytes in metabolism of several amino acids, and the regulation of key metabolic intermediates. The observed metabolic activities of astrocytes provide valuable insights into their roles in supporting neuronal function, brain metabolism, and intercellular metabolic interactions within the brain. Understanding the complex metabolic interactions between astrocytes and neurons is essential for elucidating brain homeostasis and the pathophysiology of neurological disorders.

Predicting the growth response of seedlings from the environmental responses of photosynthesis and metabolism may be improved by considering the dynamics of non-structural carbohydrate, NSC, over a diurnal cycle. Attenuation of growth metabolism when NSC content is low could explain why some NSC is conserved through the night. A dynamic model, incorporating diurnal variation in NSC, was developed to simulate growth of seedlings hour-by-hour. I compared predictions of this model to published growth and NSC data for seedlings that varied according to temperature, light, day length, or CO₂. Prolonged-darkness experiments showed a temperature dependent upper limit on the respiration capacity. Respiration was attenuated as NSC was depleted. Furthermore, when NSC was high at dawn, inhibition of photosynthesis could attenuate the accumulation of NSC under low temperature, or high light, or high CO₂. These concepts were used to simulate plant metabolism and growth rates and diurnal variation of NSC in tomato seedlings under two light levels and various temperatures. Comparison of other results using the same model parameters showed the dynamic model could predict results for starch and starch-less plants, and when growth was affected by CO₂ enrichment and day length.

Current research on smart cities is primarily focused on the area of applicability of information and communication technologies. However, in the context of a multidisciplinary approach, it is also necessary to pay attention to the resilience and converged security of individual infrastructures. Converged security represents a particular security type based on a selected spectrum of certain convergent security types of, assuming the creation of a complementary whole. Considering the outputs of the analysis of security breaches manifestations, this kind of security makes it possible to detect emerging security breaches earlier (still in the symptom stage), thus providing a more efficient and targeted solution suitable for building smart city infrastructure. In its essence, the article refers the practical application of the theoretical principles of converged security presented in the publication to a functional sample, deployed and tested in practical conditions of selected smart city infrastructure protection and resilience. Considering the nature of the practical application, the convergence of a wider spectrum of smart security alarm systems in the context of resilience assessment is defined. In the beginning, the general principles of security/ safety and the need for their convergence are presented. In this context, the mathematical model called Converged Resilience Assessment method is presented for better understanding. Subsequently, PSIM and SIEM systems are described as a technological concept that can be used for resilience assessment. The most beneficial part is the structural, process and functional description of the Converged Security and Information Management System (CSIM) using the concept of smart security alarm systems converged security.

This article considers the basic psychological needs theory and tries to determine how much autonomy support from a coach is required for basic psychological needs and how autonomy, competence, relatedness, and the psychological motivational climate can explain task and ego involvement in a group of young elite ice hockey players. Our three hypotheses were as follows: autonomy support from the coach will have an impact on motivational involvement, all three basic needs will have an impact on motivational involvement, and motivational involvement will be explained by the motivational climate. A total of 175 male elite ice hockey players from Norway, ranging in age from 15 to 18 years old, answered questionnaires about autonomy support, perceived motivational climate, achievement goal orientation, and basic psychological needs. A multiple regression analysis was run to predict ego–task involvement using autonomy support from the coach, the need for autonomy, the need for competence, the need for relatedness, the task climate, and the ego climate. The only two variables that statistically significantly predicted ego–task involvement were autonomy support from the coach and the ego climate. The analysis revealed that the athletes had a higher score on task than ego involvement, but when this was transformed into two variables (high and low) for task and ego involvement, we found that most players scored high for both task and ego involvement. We found that autonomy from the coach had a positive relationship with a high score for players on both task and ego involvement. We also found that the three basic psychological needs had no impact on the motivational involvement of the athletes. Lastly, we found that the ego climate had an impact on the motivational involvement. There was a positive relationship between a high score for the ego climate and a high score for both ego and task involvement.

The main object of this work is to establish the existence and uniqueness of a solution to the 3D Navier-Stokes (NS) system for an incompressible fluid with viscosity. The nonlinearity of the NS system, as well as the need to estimate velocity and pressure for every value of the viscosity parameter [1] make them challenging to solve. In this regard, in the present work, we study the Navier-Stokes system, which describe the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid and the solution was obtained for velocity and pressure in an analytical form. In addition, the found pressure distribution law, which is described by a Poisson type equation and plays a fundamental role in the theory of Navier-Stokes systems in constructing analytic smooth (conditionally smooth) solutions.

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

A method of solution to solve the compressible unsteady 3D Navier-Stokes Equations in cylindrical co-ordinates coupled to the continuity equation in cylindrical coordinates is presented in terms of an additive solution of the three principle directions in the radial, azimuthal and z directions of flow. A dimensionless parameter is introduced whereby in the large limit case a method of solution is sought for in the boundary layer of the tube. A reduction to a single partial differential equation is possible and integral calculus methods are applied for the case of a body force directed to the centre of the tube to obtain an integral form of the Hunter-Saxton equation. Also an extension for a more general body force is shown where in addition there is a rotational force applied.

Based on author's previous work [Sun, B. The Reynolds Navier-Stokes Turbulence Equations of Incompressible Flow Are Closed Rather Than Unclosed. Preprints 2018, 2018060461 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201806.0461.v1)], this paper proposed an explicit representation of velocity fluctuation and formulated the Reynolds stress tensor in terms of the mean velocity field. The proposed closed Reynolds Navier-Stokes turbulence formulations reveal that the mean vorticity is the key source of producing turbulence.

This paper shown that turbulence closure problem is not an issue at all. All mistakes in the literature regarding the numbers of unknown quantities in the Reynolds turbulence equations stem from the misunderstandings of physics of the Reynolds stress tensor, i.e., all literatures have stated that the symmetric Reynolds stress tensor has six unknowns; however, it actually has only three unknowns, i.e., the three components of fluctuation velocity. We shown the integral-differential equations of the Reynolds mean and fluctuation equations have exactly eight equations, which equal to the numbers of quantities in total, namely, three components of mean velocity, three components of fluctuation velocity, one mean pressure and one fluctuation pressure. That is why we claim in this paper, that the Reynolds Navier-Stokes turbulence equations of incompressible flow are closed rather than unclosed. This study may help to solve the puzzle that has eluded scientists and mathematicians for centuries.

This article addresses a challenge modeling novices face in model conceptualization: the recognition of behavior modes. Despite behavior modes being at the heart of system dynamics modeling, there is no unifying taxonomy for them, making them harder to learn for beginners. The article proposes criteria a taxonomy should satisfy, critically reviews previous taxonomies in the literature, and then introduces a new consistent taxonomy based on slope and curvature with mode names that refer only to visual cues and free of references to prior mathematical or domain-specific knowledge. Evidence from an exploratory experiment suggests that novices actually have difficulties classifying curves when using previous taxonomies. Links from these elementary modes to analogous terms in other taxonomies in diverse disciplines allow this taxonomy to be related to other ones. The article concludes by mentioning relevant limitations and future steps.

Functional gastro-intestinal disorders (FGID) including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are frequently handled by self-management with over the counter (OTC) products such as hyoscine butylbromide (HBB), alone or in combination with paracetamol, and natural products such as peppermint oil. To obtain real-world information, we have performed an anonymous pharmacy-based patient survey among 1686 users of HBB, HBB + paracetamol and peppermint oil. Based on the distinct but overlapping indications for the three OTC products, multiple logistic regression was applied to compare them in users reporting gastrointestinal cramps and pain, bloating, flatulence, or IBS as cardinal symptom. All three treatments reduced symptoms and associated impairments of work/daily chores, leisure activities, and sleep by approximately 50%. Based on the four cardinal symptoms and the four dependent continuous variables of interest (change of intensity of symptoms and of the three impairment domains) a total of 16 logistic regression models were applied. HBB, HBB + paracetamol, and peppermint oil had similar reported overall effectiveness in those models. Gender, age, baseline symptom severity and impairment in one of three domains had small and inconsistent effects on perceived treatment success. We provide evidence that HBB, HBB + paracetamol, and peppermint oil have comparable effectiveness in their approved indications under real-world conditions in an OTC setting.

Tungsten oxides play a pivotal role in a variety of modern technologies e.g., switchable glasses, wastewater treatment, and modern gas sensors. Metallic tungsten is used as armor material, for e.g., gas turbines as well as future fusion power devices. In the first case, oxides are desired as functional materials, while in the second case, oxides can lead to catastrophic failures, so avoiding the oxidation of tungsten is desired. In both cases, it is crucial to understand the reactivity of tungsten oxides with other chemicals. In this study, the different reactivities of tungsten oxides with the highly-oxophilic beryllium are studied and compared. Tungsten-(IV)-oxide and tungsten-(VI)-oxide layers are prepared on a tungsten substrate. In the next step, a thin film of beryllium is evaporated on the samples. In consecutive steps, the sample is heated in steps of 100 K from r. t. to 1273 K. The chemical composition is investigated after each experimental step by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of all involved core levels as well as the valence band. A model is developed to analyze the chemical reactions after each step. In this study, we find that tungsten trioxide was already reduced by beryllium at r. t. and started to react to form the ternary compounds BeWO₃ and BeWO₄ at temperatures starting from 673 K. However, tungsten dioxide is resistant to reduction at temperatures of up to 1173 K. In conclusion, we find WO₂ to be much more chemically resistant to the reduction agent Be than WO₃.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are microbial biopolyesters utilized as “green plastics”. Their production under controlled conditions resorts to bioreactors operated in different modes. Because PHA biosynthesis constitutes a multiphase process, both feeding strategy and bioreactor operation mode need smart adaptation. Traditional PHA production setups based on batch, repeated batch, fed-batch or cyclic fed-batch processes are often limited in productivity, or display insufficient controllability of polyester composition. For highly diluted substrate streams like it is the case for (agro)industrial waste streams, fed-batch enhanced by cell recycling were recently reported as a viable tool to increase volumetric productivity. As emerging trend, continuous fermentation processes in single-, two-, and multi-stage setups are reported, which bring the kinetics of both microbial growth and PHA accumulation into agreement with process engineering, and allow tailoring PHA´s molecular structure. Moreover, we currently witness an increasing number of CO2-based PHA production processes using cyanobacteria; these light-driven processes resort to photobioreactors similar to those used for microalgae cultivation, and can be operated both discontinuously and continuously. This development goes in parallel to the emerging use of methane and syngas as an abundantly available gaseous substrates, which also calls for bioreactor systems with optimized gas transfer. The review sheds light on the challenges of diverse PHA production processes in different bioreactor types and operational regimes using miscellaneous microbial production strains such as extremophilic Archaea, chemoheterotrophic eubacteria and phototrophic cyanobacteria. Particular emphasize is dedicated to the limitations and promises of different bioreactor-strain combinations, and to efforts devoted to upscaling these processes to industrially relevant scales.

Incobotulinumtoxin A and Yoga-like Isometric Exercise in Adolescent Idiopathic Lumbar Scoliosis – a randomized pilot study Abstract: Background: Approximately 90% of scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic (AIS). From its first appearance at 10-14 until age 18 it is most vulnerable to deterioration; young people are most susceptible to the condition worsening. An effective non-surgical means of remediation would be welcome. Design: Randomized control two-arm study, assessing the safety and efficacy of combining incobotulinum injections with yoga to reverse lumbar and thoracolumbar AIS. Methods: In a private clinic setting, non-pregnant healthy 12 – 18 year-olds were either taught a symmetrical “placebo” yoga pose (control sub-group 1), given the side plank (Vasisthasana) done thrice daily with placebo injection (control sub-group 2) or given the thrice-daily side-plank with botulinum injection (Intervention group 3). Injection: 33 IU of incobotulinum toxin type A (Xeomin) injected into concave-side lumbar paraspinals and quadratus lumborum at L2-3 and the psoas muscle at L3-4, or injected similarly with placebo. Randomization by Random.com. Objective: Assess whether muscular asymmetry treated with botulinum toxin injection and the side-plank are safe and effective in AIS. Results: Outcome: Twelve intervention and 12 placebo patients (Groups 1 + 2), 12 -18 years old completed the three-month study period. Mean daily side-plank time = 165 seconds. Mean initial lumbar curvature was 36.9 degrees (SD 14.36), (p<0.0001); mean curvature at 3 weeks was 29.5 degrees. (SD 14.23) (p<0.0001); mean curvature at 3 months was 26.0 degrees (SD 12.81) Onset vs 3-month value: p<0.0001. Two patients in Group 3 complained of shoulder pain, and 2 of wrist pain that resolved when the side-plank was done on the elbow. Conclusion: Muscle asymmetry appears relevant to AIS treatment. Incobotulinum injections combined with the side-plank done with the convex side downward may be safe and helpful in adolescent idiopathic lumbar scoliosis.

Aims: To review canine rabies, mass parental vaccination, human post-exposure prophylaxis, gene therapy and costs for fighting rabies. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Animal Science – Other, Nelwan Institution for Human Resource Development, Indonesia, between December 2017 and March 2018. Methodology: The author searched the Pubmed Database at NCBI for articles on rabies disease published between 2007 and 2018. All articles were open access and in English. For rabies virus examination, Seller’s test was used. In this article, references written by the author and other relevant publications were included. The author reviewed a rabies dog case kept at Nelwan Institution for Human Resource Development. Results: The dog showed clinical signs such as inappetance, urinary frequency and soaking in a small, juicy drain. Currently, to treat rabies, no drugs are available. For rabies prevention, vaccination is the best way. To eradicate rabies, mass vaccination in dogs, post-exposure prophylaxis, and gene therapy should be used. Fort rabies disease eradication, minimum of 70% of the dog population should receive the vaccination. In addition, humans with category II exposure should receive a rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin. Conclusion: To eradicate rabies, vaccinations are required. In addition, gene therapy can eliminate rabies from the infected neurons by using rAAV-N796. CRISPR/Cas9 system in combination with the MMEJ-based method. Furthermore, mass parental vaccination, post-exposure prophylaxis, and gene therapy can reduce costs in controlling rabies disease.

Salmon farming has been blamed for the collapse of the sea trout (Salmo trutta) fishery in Loch Maree on Scotland’s west coast despite the absence of any direct evidence. Stocks of west coast demersal marine fish, especially around the Clyde Estuary have also declined over a similar time span. The decline of these marine fish stocks can be attributed to the removal of the “three-mile fishing limit” in 1984 by UK Government legislation. Sea trout inhabit the same inshore waters as targeted demersal fish and can be caught as by-catch. Comparisons of the decline of demersal species and the sea trout from Loch Maree and the west coast show a high degree of correlation. Stocks of whiting (Merlangius merlangus) from inshore waters have found to consist of small fish which mirrors the stock makeup of the Loch Maree sea trout stock.

This paper describes the dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) method for obtaining glass transition temperature and the onset of crystallinity of skim milk powder (SMP). The methodology consists of exposing SMP samples to numerous constant temperatures, T, and water activities, a_w, and measuring the relaxation time. Measurements are based on changes in the loss-tangent height at its peak frequency. Glass transition times are identified at peaks in the loss-tangent height versus time curve and the onset of crystallinity times are identified when the loss-tangent height collapses. The analysis leads to two boundary curves: glass transition T_g, a_w curve and the onset of crystallinity T_c, a_w curve. They separate the SMP stable (long shelf life) and unstable (short shelf life) regions. Two curve fitting algorithms were developed for (a) a_w², t_g curve where t_g is the time to glass transition and a_w², t_c curve where time t_c is the time to onset of crystallinity and (b) T_g, a_w and T_c, a_w boundary curves. Finally, the DRS data are compared to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results.

This is a methodological contribution to reference mode development in system dynamics model conceptualization. Existing behavior mode taxonomies-developed for various modeling phases-provide no comprehensive method for mode classification based on an exhaustive set of mutually exclusive modes, and derivation of questions the simulation model should answer. Novice modelers need such guidance. The article proposes a conceptual framework for systemic behavior with a hierarchical taxonomy of elementary, composite, and overlaid modes. A structured method identifies the intervals of each respective mode, orders them into episodes and then condenses the variables’ episodes to systemic episodes. Each transition then gives rise to a fundamental question for the model under development. Three classical cases illustrate the application and contrast the proposed taxonomy to others in the extant literature. The article then discusses some validation criteria referring to reference modes and their link to the dynamic hypothesis, current limitations, and questions for further research.

The importance of Muscovy ducks in industrial poultry production is growing; however, little is known about the physiology of their reproductive cycles. This study investigated the influence of male biostimulation on female ducks before the commencement of the laying phase. A total of 15 female Muscovites were kept in contact with a male duck until the point of laying, while 15 other females were kept without any contact with a male conspecific. Before reaching egg-laying maturity, the cloacae of 29 adult ducks were subjected to daily clinical assessments. The evaluations yielded four unique categories of outcomes, determined by assessing factors such as the degree of redness and protrusion of the mucous membrane, moisture level, and swelling of the cloacal sphincter muscle. In terms of biostimulation, the findings demonstrated that, on average, ducks in contact with males laid the first egg 16 days earlier than isolated ducks. Furthermore, there was no significant difference observed in the mean initial egg weight between both groups (p = 0.841). The changes in the cloacal morphology indicated significant morphological changes 25–26 days before laying. Efforts to improve Muscovy production and develop biotechnological techniques to modify the reproductive cycle will benefit from these advancements.

Previous evidence in support of a slowly acting (scale of 100s of seconds) and volume-transmitted component of cholinergic signaling was based largely on studies using measures of extracellular brain acetylcholine (ACh) levels which required several minutes to generate a single data point and typically employed AChEsterase inhibitors (AChEIs) to foster the measurement of ACh. Moreover, collecting such data points in correlation with relatively stable behavioral states has supported the view that extracellular ACh levels vary at a relatively slow rate. Here we argue that forebrain cholinergic signaling is exclusively phasic (milliseconds to perhaps seconds), unlikely to be volume-transmitted, and that previous neurochemical evidence and associated behavioral correlates may be re-interpreted in terms of integrated phasic cholinergic activity and specific behavioral and cognitive operations. The highly potent catalytic enzyme for ACh, AChE, limits the presence of an ambient extracellular ACh level and thus renders it unlikely that ACh influences target regions via relatively slow changes in extracellular ACh concentrations. Real-time amperometric recordings of cholinergic signaling have suggested a specific function of rapid, phasic or transient cholinergic signaling in attentional contexts. Optogenetic studies support a causal relationship between these transients on behavior. Combined electrochemical and neurophysiological recordings revealed that the powerful behavioral control by cholinergic transients involves the generation of high-frequency oscillations. Such oscillations are thought to recruit efferent circuitry to (re)activate dormant task sets. Evidence showing the impact of genetic variations of the capacity of cholinergic synapses likewise can be interpreted in terms of their impact on the ability to sustain generation of repeated phasic cholinergic signals, as opposed to effects on ambient ACh levels. Further, while notions of slowly-changing, sleep stage-associated variations in extracellular ACh levels and their functions are widely accepted, the evidence is in fact limited. An alternative hypothesis offers a role for high-frequency cholinergic transient signaling during REM sleep. By employing a theoretical framework that focuses on the phasic and causative characteristics and functions of cholinergic signaling, results from human cognitive neuroscience studies of cholinergic function may be substantially clarified and simplified. Compared to the current treatment of cholinergic deficits using AChEIs, the conceptualization of forebrain cholinergic signaling as wired, phasic, and causative predicts that drugs that either rescue transient presynaptic signaling or amplify or rescue the postsynaptic impact of phasic signals will be more efficacious in treating age- and dementia-related cognitive and cognitive-motor disorders.

Glioblastoma is a highly malignant brain tumor consisting of heterogeneous cellular population. The transformed metabolism of glioblastoma cells supports their growth and division on the background of their milieu. One might hypothesize that the transformed metabolism of a primary glioblastoma could be well adapted to limitations in the variety and number of substrates imported into the brain parenchyma and present it their microenvironment. Additionally, the phenotypic heterogeneity of cancer cells could promote the variations among their metabolic capabilities regarding the utilization of available substrates and release of metabolic intermediates. With the aim to identify the putative metabolic footprint of different types of glioblastoma cells, we exploited the possibility for separation of polar and ionic molecules present in culture media or cell lysates by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). The mass spectrometry (MS) was then used to identify and quantify the eluted compounds. The introduced method allows the detection and quantification of more than 150 polar and ionic metabolites in single run, those may be present either in culture media or cell lysates and provide data for polaromic studies within metabolomics. The method was applied to analyze the culture media and cell lysates derived from two types of glioblastoma cells, T98G and U118. The analysis revealed that even the both types of glioblastoma cells share several common metabolic aspects, they also exhibit differences in their metabolic capability. This finding agrees with the hypothesis about metabolic heterogeneity of glioblastoma cells. Furthermore, the combination of both analytical methods, HILIC-MS, provides a valuable tool for metabolomic studies based on the simultaneous identification and quantification of a wide range of polar and ionic metabolites - polaromics.

The field of applied behavior analysis has been directly involved in both research and applications of behavioral principles to improve the lives of captive zoo animals. Thirty years ago, Forthman and Ogden (1992) wrote one of the first papers documenting some of these efforts. Since that time, considerable work has been done using behavioral principles and procedures to guide zoo welfare efforts. The current paper re-examines and updates Forthman and Ogden’s original points, with attention to the five categories they detailed: (1) promotion of species-typical behavior, (2) reintroduction and repatriation of endangered species, (3) animal handling, (4) pest control, and (5) animal performances. In addition, we outline three current and future directions for behavior analytic endeavors: (i) experimental analyses of behavior and the zoo, (ii) applied behavior analysis and the zoo, and (iii) within-subject methodology and the zoo. The goal is to provide a framework that can guide future behavioral research in zoos, as well as create applications based on these empirical evaluations.

The success of deep learning (DL) in offline brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) has not yet translated into efficient online applications. This is due to three primary challenges. First, most DL solutions are designed for offline decoding, making the transition to online decoding complex and unclear. Second, the use of sliding windows in online decoding increases the computational complexity of DL training. Third, DL models typically require large amounts of training data, which are often scarce in BCI applications. To address these issues and enable real-time decoding, even across different subjects without calibration data, we first introduce a novel approach called real-time adaptive pooling (RAP). RAP modifies the pooling layers of existing offline DL models towards the online decoding requirements. Additionally, it significantly reduces the computational demand during training by jointly decoding consecutive windows. To reduce the amount of training data required, our approach leverages different levels of domain adaptation. We show how different settings enable different adaptation solutions. The results demonstrate that our approach is both powerful and can be calibration-free, providing a robust and practical solution for real-time BCI applications. These findings pave the way for the development of co-adaptive and highly efficient DL-based online BCI systems.

We address the dynamics of two-dimensional Navier-Stokes models with infinite delay and hereditary memory, whose kernels are a much larger class of functions than the one considered in the literature, on a bounded domain. We prove the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions by means of Faedo-Galerkin method. Moreover, we establish the existence of global attractor for the system with the existence of a bounded absorbing set and asymptotic compact property.

The recent past has witnessed a growing interest in technologies for creating chatbots. Advances in Large Language Models for natural language processing are underpinning rapid progress in chatbot development, and experts predict revolutionary changes in the labour market as many manual tasks are replaced by virtual assistants in a range of business functions. As the new technology becomes more accessible and advanced, more companies are exploring the possibilities of implementing virtual assistants to automate routine tasks and improve service. This article reports on qualitative inductive research undertaken within a chatbot development team operating in a major international enterprise. The findings identify critical success factors for chatbot projects, and, based on the in-depth case study, a model is put forward to aid the manageability of chatbot implementation. The presented model can serve as an exemplar guide for researchers and practitioners working on the design, development and implementation of virtual assistants. It is flexible and applicable in a wide range of business contexts, linking strategic business goals with execution steps. It is particularly applicable for teams with no experience of chatbot implementation, reducing uncertainty and managing decisions and risks throughout the project lifecycle, thereby increasing the likelihood of project success.

We studies the initial value problem for the fractional Navier-Stokes-Coriolis equations, which obtained by replacing the Laplacian operator in the Navier-Stokes-Coriolis equation by the more general operator $(-\Delta)^\alpha$ with $\alpha>0$. We introduce function spaces of the Besove type characterized by the time evolution semigroup associated with the general linear Stokes-Coriolis operator. Next, we establish the unique existence of global in time mild solutions for small initial data belonging to our function spaces characterized by semigroups in both the scaling subcritical and critical settings.

The textile and clothing (T&C) industry is not usually viewed as an exemplar of sustainable de-velopment and the circular economy, as the industry has hitherto made its products in linear fashion, with relatively little recycling of the finished goods. This article examines the industry’s approach to the core sustainability concept and the circular economy in particular, through a re-view of the available academic literature, evidence from corporate sustainability reports and websites, and feedback from an online survey of industry professionals. The role of digital technology deployment in engendering sustainability and the circular economy in the industry is also explored. The study finds that whilst sustainability is now firmly embedded at the strategic level in the vast majority of companies studied, attitudes towards the circular economy remain fickle. The use of digital technologies in support of sustainability objectives is also limited at present, but the article concludes that the need to meet compliance requirements and new cus-tomer perceptions of sustainability will speed the transition to circular economy activities, facili-tated by greater exploitation of digital technologies. Building upon the research findings, existing models and an initial conceptual framework, a simple operational model for initiating such a transition for small-to-medium sized enterprises in the T&C industry is put forward.

Mitochondria are involved in the regulation of cellular energy metabolism, calcium homeostasis, and apoptosis. For mitochondrial quality control, dynamic processes, such as mitochondrial fission and fusion, are necessary to maintain shape and function. Disturbances of mitochondrial dynamics lead to dysfunctional mitochondria which contribute to the development and progression of numerous diseases, including Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Compelling evidence put forward that mitochondrial dynamics play a significant role in the metabolism-secretion coupling of pancreatic β cells. The disruption of mitochondrial dynamics is linked with defects in energy production and increased apoptosis, ultimately impairing insulin secretion and β cell death. This review provides an overview of altered mitochondrial dynamics in pancreatic β cells using ge-netic/pharmacologic approaches, and how these affect insulin secretion.

This article explores how digitalisation is impacting the hospitality industry and assesses the evolving role of Information Technology (IT) strategy in the digitalisation process. The research approach is qualitative and inductive, based on six in-depth interviews with senior IT professionals in the hospitality industry. Findings indicate significant differences in the role of IT strategy in guiding digitalisation in the companies studied. The depth of information provided by the interviewees supports the development and application of a model that profiles the companies regarding their degree of digitalisation and technology integration. Analysis of interview material allows the identification of key properties for successful digitalization: process agility, workforce adaptability, and technology manageability, along with a clear data culture and ensured cybersecurity. However, disparate systems and technologies, and a lack of data integrity, are key issues that leave hospitality companies with difficult choices in progressing digitalisation initiatives. The applied model and identification of key properties for successful digitalisation contribute to the development of related theory and can also be used as a reference point for senior IT professionals working in the industry.

The purpose of this paper is to compare daily sunshine duration (SD) measured by Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder (CS) with three automatic instruments (Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (CM6B), pyrheliometer (CHP1) and CSD3 sunshine recorders). The comparisons are essential, since in recent decades automatic sunshine duration sensors have been systematically replacing the manual measurements affecting therefore the continuity of the CS time series. The comparisons were applied to the daily SD data of three synoptic stations (Larnaca A/P, Pafos A/P and Athalassa) where parallel measurements of manual and automatic instruments are carried out during the periods 2009-2012 and 2012-2015. The CSD3 measurements were obtained from two automatic weather stations (AWS) (Mennogia and Pentakomo) which are closed to the synoptic station of Larnaca A/P. The comparisons cover the daily and monthly sums, their statistical distributions and their relationships. The daily differences of the pairs of the sunshine recorders installed at the same location are mostly within the range of -1.0 to +1.0 h. At Larnaca, in the period 2009-2012, the pyranometric method (Gl) is higher than the CS in the summer months, while during the winter months it is lower than CS. Pafos and Athalassa showed higher values of CS comparing to Gl and the pyrheliometric method (Pr), respectively, almost throughout the year. Generally, the annual average daily differences between the different pairs range between 0.3 and 0.5 h. Regression equations were determined allowing the estimation of daily SD under different sky conditions. The closest relations between different pairs were obtained in ‘clear sky’ and ‘all sky’ conditions, as it is indicated by the high coefficient of determinations. R2 reached the values of 0.92 and 0.96 under ‘all sky’ conditions, and between 0.80 and 0.91 under ‘clear’ sky conditions, respectively. An increase in cloud cover causes an increase in the SD differences recorded by the relevant devices. Comparing statistically the different pairs using the Mann-Whitney nonparametric test which is the alternative to the Two Sample T parametric test, it was found that the medians are not statistically different. However, significant differences were only detected in the case of the pair of CS and Pr at Athalassa (2012-2015) using both tests. In the rest of the cases the differences are not statistically significant at the 5% level.

Increasing traffic loads and changes in code provisions lead to deficits in shear and flexural capacity of many existing highway bridges. Therefore, a lot of structures in Europe and North America are expected to require refurbishment and strengthening in the future. This projection is based on the current condition of many older road bridges. Different strengthening methods for bridges exist to extent their service life, all having specific advantages and disadvantages. By applying a thin layer of carbon textile reinforced mortar (CTRM) to bridge deck slabs and the webs of prestressed concrete bridges, the fatigue and ultimate strength of these members can be increased significantly. The CTRM-layer is a combination of a corrosion resistant carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) fabric and an efficient mortar. In this paper, the strengthening method and the experimental results obtained at RWTH Aachen University are presented.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient and plays an important role in plant growth and physiology. In addition, N is also the limiting nutrient in most terrestrial ecosystems. The increasing use of N fertilizers increases agricultural production, but also has negative impacts on biodiversity, water quality and increases emissions of greenhouse gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and nitrous oxide (N2O) into the atmosphere. N2O is a strong greenhouse gas and the product of microbial transformation processes of N introduced into soil and groundwater (nitrification and denitrification). The production of N2O in soils is highly dependent on oxygen and water content, soil temperature and texture and the available amount of reactive nitrogen (NO3- or NH4+). In agricultural soils, N2O emissions are also influenced by the type of fertilizer used, crops grown, soil pH and NO3- concentration. Refined forms of land management, such as the cultivation of legumes, can reduce the use of fertilizers and thus also the emission of N2O. Legumes can use symbiotic nodule bacteria (rhizobia) to bind atmospheric N2 and make it available to the plant. Non-symbiotic soil microorganisms such as cyanobacteria or other heterotrophic and autotrophic prokaryotes are also able to fix N2. Furthermore, the N2-fixing enzyme nitrogenase, which is specific for most organisms, is not specific for other N2 compounds, especially N2O. To study the N2 and N2O fixation potential of soils and legumes, experiments with isotope-enriched N-gases (100 mol% 15N2 and 15N2O) were performed. Three different soil types (forest, meadow and wetland) as well as legume plants inoculated with rhizobia bacteria (Rhizobium leucaneae) (Leucaena leucocephala) were incubated in microcosms with different mixing ratios of N2 and N2O over a period of one week. The measured 15N enrichment was then used to determine the biological uptake rates. Both in plants and in soils admixtures of up to 40% N2O had no influence on the N2 fixation rate. N2 uptake rates were 1.2 ± 0.4 ug N gdw-1 d- 1in forest and grassland soils and 3.9 ± 1.2 ug N gdw-1 d- 1 in wetland soils. In contrast, the N2 fixation rates of leguminous plants were significantly higher (130 ± 40 ug N gdw-1 d- 1), with the highest accumulation not in root nodules but in the roots. In both plants and soil, the N2O fixation of 0.2 ± 0.1 ug N gdw-1 d- 1 could only be measured from a concentration of 4 vol%. The results indicate that both soils and legumes have a high potential to bind atmospheric nitrogen in the form of both N2 but not N2O. The fate of nitrogen in soil needs to be further investigated. N2 fixation seems to play an important role in wetland soils. Legumes in particular have the potential for NH4+ input and N2O reduction, as most of the solid nitrogen has been transferred to the roots, which can contribute significantly to soil nutrient input.

Based on hospital capacities, facts from past experience with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus and the number of dark infections during the second wave (DII = 2D2), a reasonable limiting value of 140/D2 for the 7-day incidence per 100,000 persons (MSDIHT) and a second wave herd immunization threshold fraction value of 0.26 in Germany were calculated. If the MSDIHT is held below this limiting value, the German hospital system can cope with the number of new seriously infected persons without any triage decisions. On the basis of the SIRV epidemics model, the classical threshold values for herd immunization were calculated for 18 countries. For these countries, the dates regarding when herd immunization against the second COVID-19 wave will be reached were estimated

"Metaverse" as a term came to the fore in 2021 when Facebook rebranded its corporate identity to Meta, and signaled its intention to invest at least $10 billion in developing the concepts and related products that year. However, there is still little consensus in defining what constitutes the metaverse, although there is a widespread, though not universal, agreement that it will bring a wide range of benefits across society. More specifically, the advent, and continuing evolution, of the metaverse has strategic and operational implications for, and impacts on, industry and business at large. Adopting an inductive, interpretivist approach, this exploratory research article presents case examples of the guidance on the responsible development of the metaverse provided by two IT business services companies. The article identifies the major risks and responsibilities associated with the metaverse and assesses how companies might address these responsibilities. Very little research has been published in this area and this article attempts to make a small contribution to filling this gap in the literature. The article finds that responsibilities are largely in line with those currently associated with corporate digital responsibility, and concludes that the strategic impact and extent of regulatory change will depend on the nature of the metaverse that materialises in the forthcoming decade.

Pharmacy personnel often answer telephones to respond to pharmacy customers (subjects) who received messages from automated systems. This research examines the communication process in terms of how users interact and engage with pharmacies after receiving automated messages. No study has directly addressed automated telephone calls and subjects’ interactions. The purpose of this study is to test the interpersonal communication (IC) process of uncertainty in subjects in receipt of automated telephone calls from pharmacies. Subjects completed a survey of validated scales for Satisfaction (S); Relevance (R); Quality (Q); Need for Cognitive Closure (NFC). Relationships between S, R, Q, NFC, and subject preference to an automated telephone call (ATC) were analyzed to determine whether subjects contacting pharmacies display information seeking behavior. This research demonstrates that seeking information occurs if subjects: are dissatisfied with the content of the ATC; perceive that the Q of the ATC is high; perceive that the Q of ATC is high, and like receiving the ATC or with high NFC, and do not like receiving ATCs. Other interactions presented complexities amongst uncertainty and tolerance of NFC within the IC process.

The urban heat island (UHI) and its intensity is one of the phenomena that are of determining importance for the comfort of living in cities and their sustainable development in the face of deepening climate change. The study is objectively difficult due to the large dynamics like land cover and the considerable diversity of land use patterns in urban areas. Various approaches and methods are used in research practice, based both on ground measurements and in the use of remote methods and satellite information. However, most of these approaches provide information with problematic spatial and temporal resolution, making them difficult to apply for sustainable urban planning purposes, which require adequate information provision. This paper presents the results of the application of thermal photogrammetry based on the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), combined with geographic information systems (GIS), in the study of surface urban heat island intensity (SUHI), at the local level for the largest housing complex in Bulgaria - Lyulin district of the capital of Sofia city. The studies were carried out during a heat wave in July 2023. A difference of 16.5oC was found between locations with SUHI occurrence and suburban areas. The information benefits of locally addressed data and their direct applicability are discussed to support decision-making processes in the planning and management of urban areas, including their climate adaptation and sustainable development.

The autosomal recessive disorder Ataxia-Telangiectasia is caused by dysfunction of the stress response protein ATM. In the nucleus of proliferating cells, ATM senses DNA double-strand breaks and coordinates their repair. This role explains T-cell dysfunction and tumor risk. However, it remains unclear whether this function is relevant for postmitotic neurons and underlies the cerebellar atrophy, since ATM is cytoplasmic in postmitotic neurons. Here, we used ATM-null mice that survived early immune deficits by bone-marrow transplantation, and reached initial neurodegeneration stages at 12 months of age. Global cerebellar transcriptomics demonstrated ATM depletion to trigger upregulations in most neurotransmission and neuropeptide systems. Downregulated transcripts were found for the ATM interactome component Usp2, many non-coding RNAs, ataxia genes Itpr1, Grid2, immediate early genes and immunity factors. Allelic splice changes affected prominently neuropeptide machinery, e.g. Oprm1. Validation experiments with stressors were performed in human neuroblastoma cells, where ATM localized only to cytoplasm, similar to brain. Effect confirmation in SH-SY5Y cells occurred after ATM depletion and osmotic stress better than nutrient / oxidative stress, not after ATM kinase inhibition or DNA stressor bleomycin. Overall, we provide pioneer observations from a faithful A-T mouse model, which suggest general changes in synaptic and dense-core vesicle stress adaptation.

As a result of extensive research in the field of mobile robots (rovers) and swarms, a number of algorithms exist to assist them for executing a mission in the three levels of software architecture: strategic (interaction loop level), tactic (planning) and operational (sensing, control and actuation). They allow them to achieve their goals while adapting to their environment through a multitude of methods designed for each situation. For this reason, a literature review of the latest research conducted in previous years is required to identify new research trends in human-swarm interaction applied to help humans in hazardous environment such as militarized zone. In this paper, we will present some interesting algorithms for interactive and autonomous mobile robots acting in swarms in an open and crowded environment. A discussion will focus on comparing different algorithms and their advantages and disadvantages.

The main foundations of the standard $\Lambda $CDM model of cosmology are that: 1) The redshifts of the galaxies are due to the expansion of the Universe plus peculiar motions; 2) The cosmic microwave background radiation and its anisotropies derive from the high energy primordial Universe when matter and radiation became decoupled; 3) The abundance pattern of the light elements is explained in terms of primordial nucleosynthesis; and 4) The formation and evolution of galaxies can be explained only in terms of gravitation within a inflation+dark matter+dark energy scenario. Numerous tests have been carried out on these ideas and, although the standard model works pretty well in fitting many observations, there are also many data that present apparent caveats to be understood with it. In this paper, I offer a review of these tests and problems, as well as some examples of alternative models.

The paper will examine in detail (a) the norms that can be featured under the category "Green Deal" connected to the European Commission, (b) their application to Spain and (c) the different patterns of action and development models that have been shaped by this framework over the last 20 years. These patterns are particularly relevant currently, as the Covid crisis has highlighted the importance of advancing towards new patterns of local sustainability endowed with higher resilience. The notion of cognitive sustainability will be one of the added value to current reflections on sustainability in general and energetic sustainability in particular.

The optical complexity of coastal waters is mostly caused by the water discharged from land carrying optical components (such as dissolved and particulate matter) into coastal bays and estuaries, and increasing the attenuation of light. This paper aims to investigate the links between in-water optical properties in four Swedish bays (from the northern Baltic proper up to the Bothnian bay) and the land use and land cover (LULC) and the hydrology in the respective catchment of each bay. The optical properties were measured in situ over the last two decades by various research and monitoring groups while the LULC in each bay was classified using the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service based on Landsat 8 and Sentinel-3 data. The absorption coefficient of coloured dissolve organic matter at 440 nm, aCDOM (440), and its spectral slope factor, SCDOM, were mostly correlated to natural land cover classes (Wetland, Meadow) acting as sources of CDOM, while Agricultural and Urban classes seem to act as sinks. The Agricultural class was also found to be a sink for suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) whilst Coniferous and Mixed Forests as well as Meadows acted as a sources. SPOM seems to mostly originate from Natural classes, possibly due to the release of pollen and other organic matter. Overall, the methods applied here allow for a better understanding of effects of land used and land cover on the bio-optical properties, and thus coastal water quality, on a macroscopic scale.

This study explores how the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and spatial visualization can inform food governance in Chile, focusing on socio-demographic and geographical determinants affecting food consumption patterns. A national household database (n=4,407) provided by the “Family Support Program of Food Self-Sufficiency” (FSPFS) of the Ministry of Social Development and Family was analyzed. The findings revealed that Chilean vulnerable households were led mostly by women (86.6%), with an age average of 55.9 15.6 years old, versus 68.9 12.9 years in the case of men. The intake frequency analysis showed that dairy, fruits, and vegetables were below the recommended values in at least half of the households, and that fats and sugars were above recommended levels. Regarding the HDDS [0-189], the national average was of 91.4 ± 20.6 and was significantly influenced by the number of minors in the households, water access, food access issues, and residing in the Zona Sur. Finally, the spatial visualization showed that the Zona Central had higher consumption of fruits and vegetables, while the extreme zones Norte Grande and Zona Austral showed higher intakes of fats and sugars. These findings emphasize the importance of leveraging data insights like HDDS and spatial visualization to enhance food security and inform food governance strategies.

Management of Australia’s largest river system, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is controversial, addressing conflicting demands from stakeholders, including irrigators, the agriculture industry, indigenous groups, and the environmental lobby. Oversight is concentrated in a single agency, the MDB Authority, but climate change and the water market have contributed to uncertainty over the Basin’s environmental sustainability. This paper reports on preliminary research in South Australia’s Riverland, one of Australia’s most important wine, citrus, nuts, and stone fruit production areas. It focuses on the Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT), supplying water to irrigators, primarily horticulturalists. It investigates the chief risks perceived and future-plans in face of concerns over variable water flows and economic uncertainty. Using sequential mixed methods, a questionnaire survey supplied information from a sample of irrigators, covering land use, on-farm environmental actions, risks, decision making, recent and proposed changes to farm management, and attitudes to the MDB Plan and the water market. Focus groups and interviews then enabled key topics to be addressed in greater depth. The RIT’s contribution to river restoration is highlighted, with its plans for additional on-farm water stewardship investigated. There are high levels of uncertainty regarding future viability of smallholdings, including unintended consequences from the water market (e.g., increasing areas under water hungry almonds), the role of water brokers, and environmental viability of the river system linked to climate change. More optimistic voices point to increased diversity of production, resilience of the local horticultural industry, and new entrants in the form of hobby and part-time producers.

The temporal evolution of pandemics described by the susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR)-compartment model is sensitively determined by the time dependence of the infection (a(t)) and recovery (u(t)) rates regulating the transitions from the susceptible to the infected and from the infected to the recovered compartment, respectively. Here approximated SIR-solutions for different time dependencies of the infection and recovery rates are derived which are based on the adiabatic approximation assuming time-dependent ratios k(t)=u(t)/a(t) varying slowly in comparison to the typical time characteristics of the pandemic wave. For such slow variations the available analytical approximations from the KSSIR-model, valid for a stationary value of the ratio k, are used to insert a-posteriori the adopted time-dependent ratio of the two rates. Instead of investigating endless different combinations of the time dependencies of the two rates a(t) and u(t) a suitably parameterized reduced time dependence of the ratio k(tau) is adopted. Together with the definition of the reduced time this parameterized ratio k(tau) allows us to cover a great variety of different time dependencies of the infection and recovery rates. The agreement between the solutions from the adiabatic approximation in its four different studied variants and the exact numerical solutions of the SIR-equations is remarkably good providing strong confidence in the accuracy of the proposed adiabatic approximation.

This paper examines the challenges to justice in Tanzania posed by the proliferation of anonymous social media accounts and the dissemination of offensive and harassing content. The study analyzes the legal frameworks governing online content in Tanzania, including the Electronic and Postal Communications Act and the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulation of 2018, and highlights their shortcomings in identifying the publishers of such content. The paper also discusses the Legal and Human Rights Center's challenge to the EPOCA regulation and the authorities and responsible organs identified to deter, adjudicate, and open court processes in dealing with alleged offenses arising from online published content. Ultimately, the paper argues that a better understanding of the hindrances to justice in Tanzania must consider the paucity of legal frameworks governing published and online social media content. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, legal practitioners, and civil society organizations seeking to promote accountability and protect human rights in Tanzania.

The outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues to affect millions of people around the world. The absence of a globally distributed effective treatment makes the exploration of new mechanisms of action a key step to address this situation. Stabilization of non-native Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) of the nucleocapsid protein of MERS-CoV has been reported as a valid strategy to inhibit viral replication. In this study, the applicability of this unexplored mechanism of action against SARS-CoV-2 is analyzed. During our research, we were able to find three inducible interfaces of SARS-CoV-2 N protein NTD, compare them to the previously reported MERS-CoV stabilized dimers, and identify those residues that are responsible for their formation. A drug discovery protocol implemented consisting of docking, molecular dynamics and MM-GBSA enabled us to find several compounds that might be able to exploit this mechanism of action. In addition, a common catechin skeleton was found among many of these molecules, which might be useful for further drug design. We consider that our findings could motivate future research in the fields of drug discovery and design towards the exploitation of this previously unexplored mechanism of action against COVID-19.

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor microemboli (CTM) have been shown to correlate negatively with patient survival. Actual CTC counts before and after treatment can be used to aid in prognosis of patient outcomes. The presence of circulating tumor materials (CTMat) can advertise the presence of metastasis before clinical presentation, enabling early detection of relapse. Importantly, emerging evidence is indicating that cancer treatments can actually increase the incidence of CTCs and metastasis in pre-clinical models. Subsequently, the study of CTCs, their biology and function are of vital importance. Emerging technologies for the capture of CTC/CTMs and CTMat are elucidating vitally important biological and functional information that can lead to important alterations in how therapies are administered. This paves the way for the development of a “liquid biopsy” where treatment decisions can be informed by information gleaned from tumor cells and tumor cell debris in the blood.

Fundamental science and applied research and technology development (RTD) are facing significant challenges that particularly compound to the notorious credibility, reproducibility, funding and sustainability crises. The underlying, serious shortcomings are substantially amplified by a metrics-obsessed publication culture, and a growing cohort of academics fishing for fairly stagnant (public) funding budgets. This work presents, for the first time, a groundbreaking strategy to successfully address these severe issues; the novel strategy proposed here leverages the distributed ledger technology (DLT) “blockchain” to capitalize on cryptoeconomic mechanisms, such as tokenization, consensus, crowdsourcing, smart contracts, reputation systems as well as staking, reward and slashing mechanisms. This powerful toolbox, which is so far widely unfamiliar to traditional scientific and RTD communities (“TradSci”), is synergistically combined with the exponentially growing computing capabilities for virtualizing experiments through digital twin methods in a future scientific “metaverse”. Project contributions, such as hypotheses, methods, experimental data, modelling, simulation, assessment, predictions and directions are crowdsourced using blockchain, and captured by so-called non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”). The so enabled, highly integrative approach, termed decentralized science (“DeSci”), is destined to move research out of its present silos, and to markedly enhance quality, credibility, efficiency, transparency, inclusiveness, sustainability, impact, and sustainability of a wide spectrum of academic and commercial research initiatives.

Local thermal comfort (TC) and draught rate (DR) has been studied widely. There has been more meaningful research performed in controlled boundary condition situations than in actual work environments involving occupants. TC conditions in office buildings in Estonia have been barely investigated in the past. In this paper, the results of TC and DR assessment in five office buildings in Tallinn are presented and discussed. Studied office landscapes vary in heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system parameters, room units and elements. All sample buildings were less than six years old, equipped with dedicated outdoor air ventilation system and room conditioning units. The on-site measurements consisted of TC and DR assessment with indoor climate questionnaire (ICQ). The purpose of the survey is to assess the correspondence between HVAC design and the actual situation. Results show, whether and in what extent the standard-based criteria for TC is suitable for actual usage of the occupants. Preferring one room conditioning unit type or system may not guarantee better thermal environment without draught. Although some HVAC systems observed in this study should create the prerequisites for ensuring more comfort, results show that this is not the case for all buildings in this study.

Chamois are mountain ungulates (Subfamily Caprinae) which inhabit several medium and high altitude mountain ranges from southern Europe to the Near East. The first findings of Sarcocystis cysts in the musculature of chamois were reported in the 1970s. However, only limited work on the epidemiology of sarcocystosis and identification of the species of Sarcocystis in chamois has been done in the past. The present work was part of a comprehensive study on the parasites of chamois in Germany aiming to provide, for the first time, data on the prevalence and intensity of Sarcocystis infection in native Alpine chamois using histology examination of heart and/or diaphragm tissue samples collected from 216 chamois (40 kids and 176 chamois ranging of one up to 18 years of age). Sarcocysts were detected in either heart or diaphragm of 167/216 chamois (77.3%) with 131 of 183 heart samples and 127 of 215 diaphragm samples testing sarcocyst positive. Of the 181 chamois with both heart and diaphragm available (34 kids and animals up to 18 years of age), sarcocysts were detected in heart and/or diaphragm of 142 animals translating in an overall 78.5% prevalence of Sarcocystis infection (95%CI 72.5% - 84.4%). Sarcocysts were more frequently recorded in heart vs. diaphragm (72.4% vs. 56.4%; p=0.0021), and diaphragm positivity was associated with heart positivity (p=0.0001). Sarcocyst positivity (heart and/or diaphragm) was significantly (p<0.001) lower in kids than in the older chamois (27.1% vs. 88.6%, respectively) but prevalence did not differ between the sexes, regardless of the chamois’ age (p>0.3). Intensity of infection was generally low (<10 sarcocysts per cm² muscle cut) in both heart positive and diaphragm positive animals (94.7% and 93.7%, respectively) with heart yielding higher sarcocyst counts than diaphragm (p<0.001). Both heart and diaphragm sarcocyst counts were significantly (p<0.001) lower in kids than in the older chamois. Sarcocystis infection was demonstrated to be prevalent in chamois in Germany but intensity is apparently low. Further studies are desired to identify the species of Sarcocystis parasitizing the chamois using both phenotypic and molecular characteristics.

The Gauss model for the time evolution of the first corona pandemic wave allows to draw conclusions on the dark number of infections, the amount of heard immunization, the used maximum capacity of breathing apparati and the effectiveness of various non-pharmaceutical interventions in different countries. In Germany, Switzerland and Sweden the dark numbers are 7.4 +/- 6.1, 11.1 +/- 8.5 and 25 +/- 25, respectively. Our method of estimating dark numbers from modeling both, infection and death rates simultaneously spares these countries the laborious, time-consuming and costly medical testing for antibodies of large portions of the population. In Germany the total number of infected persons, including the dark number of infections by the first wave is estimated to be 1.06 +/- 0.60 million, corresponding to 1.28 +/- 0.72 percent of the German population. We work out direct implications from these predictions for managing the 2nd and further corona waves.

Background Compliance with research ethics legislation is crucial for protecting people's rights in clinical trials. Researchers can alert publishers when they have concerns about possible non-compliance with this legislation by other authors, and this opportunity for independent scrutiny is important. Nevertheless, some alerts may turn out to be unfounded due to a misunderstanding of the legislation. Methods We present the analysis of the article by F. Franck et al., « Raising concerns on questionable ethics approvals - a case study of 456 trials from the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection», in which the authors explain having sent numerous emails to different publishers to express their concerns about potential ethical breaches in publications from a single French institution. We analyzed in detail the 248 studies that the authors present as suspects. We have also studied the texts of French law. Results Our detailed analysis of these 248 studies discovered that only 8 of them report research involving humans. All the others are secondary research on existing biological samples. In France, as in many other countries, secondary research on biological samples does not involve human subjects. Conclusions Assessing the ethical conformity of scientific publications must be based on a precise knowledge of the legislation and a rigorous analysis of these publications. When researchers who alert publishers confuse research involving the human person with research not involving the human person, the publishers are in danger of being misled by these unfounded alerts. This can have deleterious consequences.

Stueckelberg-Horwitz-Piron (SHP) electrodynamics formalizes the distinction between coordinate time (measured by laboratory clocks) and chronology (temporal ordering) by defining 4D spacetime events x^μ as functions of an external evolution parameter τ. Classical spacetime events x^μ (τ) evolve as τ grows monotonically, tracing out particle worldlines dynamically and inducing the five U(1) gauge potentials through which events interact. Since Lorentz invariance imposes time reversal symmetry on x⁰ but not τ, the formalism resolves grandfather paradoxes and related problems of irreversibility. The action involves standard first order field derivatives but includes a higher order τ derivative that while preserving gauge and Lorentz invariance removes certain singularities and makes the related QFT super-renormalizable. The resulting field equations are Maxwell-like but τ-dependent and sourced by a current that represents a statistical ensemble of instantaneous events distributed along the worldline. The width λ of this distribution defines a correlation time for the interactions and a mass spectrum for the photons that carry the interaction. As λ becomes very large, the photon mass goes to zero and the field equations become τ-independent Maxwell’s equations. Maxwell theory thus emerges as an equilibrium limit of SHP, in which λ is larger than any other relevant time scale. Particles and fields are not constrained to mass shells in SHP theory, and by exchanging mass may produce pair creation/annihilation processes at the classical level. On-shell evolution with fixed particle masses is restored through a self-interaction associated with the 5D wave equation.

Disruptive selection arises when extreme phenotypes have a fitness advantage compared to more intermediate phenotypes. Theory and evidence suggest that intraspecific resource competition is a key driver of disruptive selection. However, while competition can be indirect (exploitative) or direct (interference), the role of interference competition in disruptive selection has not been tested, and most models of disruptive selection assume exploitative competition. We experimentally investigated whether the type of competition affects the outcome of competitive interactions using a system where disruptive selection is common: Mexican spadefoot toads (Spea multiplicata). Spea tadpoles develop into alternative resource-use phenotypes: carnivores, which consume fairy shrimp and other tadpoles, and omnivores, which feed on algae and detritus. Tadpoles intermediate in phenotype have low fitness when competition is intense, as they are outcompeted by the specialized tadpoles. Our experiments revealed that the presence of carnivores significantly decreased foraging behavior in intermediate tadpoles, and that intermediate tadpoles had significantly lower growth rates in interference competition treatments with carnivores but not with omnivores. Interference competition may therefore be important in driving disruptive selection. As carnivore tadpoles are also cannibalistic, the ‘fear’ effect may have a greater impact on intermediate tadpoles than exploitative competition alone, similarly to non-consumptive effects in predator-prey or intraguild relationships.

Nickel-base superalloys like VDM 780 may possess a high content of Cr and Co. This influences solution energies of phase-forming elements like Al and Ta (γ′-phase), Nb (γ′′- and δ-phase), and Ti (η-phase). We perform density functional theory studies of a nickel matrix at 0 K with high concentrations of either Co and Cr and calculate the influence of these elements on solution energies. In the case of Co, the solution energy can be predicted well by the nearest-neighbor interaction in the Co-rich matrix. For Cr, the effect is more complicated because Cr has a larger ionic radius and changes the magnetic state of the material. The effect of a Cr-rich matrix on the energy of Co is dominated by magnetic effects, interactions with the other elements by elastic deformation of the lattice.

This article is a theoretical contribution to mental model research, which currently has different threads. Whereas some researchers focus on the perceived causal structure, others also include decision policies and decisions. We focus on the link between recognized causal structure (“mental models of dynamic systems”) and policies, proposing Johnson-Laird’s theory of mental models as the link. The resulting framework hypothesizes two types of systematic mental model errors: (1) misrepresentation of the system’s structure and (2) failure to deploy relevant mental models of possibilities. Examination of three experiments through this lens reveals errors of both types. Therefore, we propose that the cognitive theory of mental models opens a path to better understand how people construct their decision policies and develop interventions to reduce such mental model errors. The article closes by raising several questions for empirical studies of the reasoning process leading from mental models of dynamic systems to decision policies.

The Universe is treated as an unbound thermodynamic system in which two forces of Nature compete: Attractive gravity loss and repulsive entropic gain. Entropic gain, although not presently considered a force of Nature, is otherwise well known and can be expressed with the gas laws. The Universe at the time of last scattering was all gas. Its instant gain is expressed as gas pressure. When the Gibbs equation is properly applied to this unbound gas, the resulting atomic Hubble parameter is found to be exclusively dependent on baryon density, giving a constant and perpetual two-to-one gain/loss ratio. Instant loss to gravity cannot offset gas pressure in this “thermal equation”. By contrast, the Friedmann equation, a ΛCDM foundation, treats baryon mass as accreted, having little if any entropic gain. These two equations are actually equivalent. Expanding accreted matter at its comoving critical density is herein shown to behave exactly like a freely expanding gas. However, neither equation includes all of today’s Universal kinetic energy, and cannot by themselves fully account for observed stellar movement. The present paper proposes the plausible existence of highly energetic or “suprathermal” free electrons which comprise about half of the intergalactic medium’s kinetic total. It is this suprathermal energy which Λ expresses. The fluid equation, another ΛCDM foundation, eliminates entropic gain from the Gibbs equation. Additionally, rest mass’s Einstein energy E=Mc² is treated as a thermal variable. These two assumptions, isoentropy and energy conflation, led astronomers to populate Λ as they followed the prior art.

Bosons are particles that can occupy the same quantum state. Identical classical particles are considered distinguishable, but with bosons this is no longer the case. With bosons 1 and 2 in states α and β, the compound state function, ΨS=(1/2)Ψα(1)Ψβ(2)+Ψβ(1)Ψα(2), does not change when the particles are interchanged, i.e., there is one state where classically there would be two. This leads to boson statistics, which is different from Boltzmann statistics in that it favors putting more particles in the same state. For a sufficiently low temperature, it is possible that all bosons aggregate in the ground state where they effectively form a single megaparticle. We cover boson statistics and show how and why Bose-Einstein condensation can occur. We also show how growing networks like the WWW, the economy, or citation networks in scientific literature can follow boson statistics. Analyses of Bose-Einstein condensation have generally assumed a bath with a temperature, i.e., a thermal equilibrium where random collisions lead to a Gaussian-noise-term. However, many setups in physics involve conversion or transport of energy, i.e., nonequilibrium. Nonequilibrium noise is commonly characterized by the frequent occurrence of large kicks, i.e., outliers. We model this by implementing α-stable noise. No temperature exists in that case. We find that Bose-Einstein condensation is still theoretically possible, but probably much harder to engineer. Social and economic traffic is also often best modeled as nonequilibrium and our results may be significant in these contexts.

Researchers and organizations are pursing 100 Day Vaccine Development to reduce the impact of any new pandemic-causing virus. They propose monitoring viral emergence and developing vaccines for discovered viruses which would undergo safety testing in humans. If one of these viruses emerges, phase III trials would then take place. There are two problems with this approach - first, phase III trials are too long for the 100-day goal and second, the virus that emerged might not have been discovered in their surveillance. An alternative approach would be to first develop vaccines for viral families similar to the pan coronavirus vaccines being proposed for next generation COVID vaccines. Phase III trials for them would be run even if a virus in the family wasn’t having an outbreak. If a virus in a family for which a vaccine has been developed has an outbreak and the phase III trialed vaccine is not effective against it, develop a booster based on the phase III trialed vaccine. Since booster development and approval takes less than 100 days, the 100 Day Vaccine Development goal would be met.

Abstract Objective Variations of sex characteristics (VSC) are atypical genetic, hormonal, gonadal and anatomical sex traits that require holistic medical management. The Chicago Consensus statement 2006 introduced the requirement that multidisciplinary teams organise the transition of care from pediatric to adult services. Yet, the evidence that the transitional care is in place is scarce. The aim of this paper is to examine the implementation of transition of care for people with VSC. Method Seven focus groups were conducted with health care professionals and peer support groups in care teams in Central, Northern and Western Europe. The data from the focus groups were examined using reflexive thematic analysis. Results The participants in the study stated that the transition of care has been implemented in the last two decades. The quality of care depends on available resources and variation of sex characteristics. However, there are significant hurdles to adequate transition of care as there is lack of time and resources. Lack of adult care providers and psychosocial support leaves young adults and adults with VSC navigating the health care system often alone. Conclusion The outcome of the study shows that the transition of care is organized through the department of pediatric endocrinology. The quality of care varies due to resources and variation. Lack of adult specialists and psychosocial support represent the biggest obstacle for young adults and adults to navigate the healthcare system and for the improvement in provision of healthcare to adults, especially psychosocial support.

The structures of Ag complexes with dimethyl amino phenyl substituted phtalocyanine m[dmaphPcAg]q of various charges q and in two lowest spin states m were optimized using the B3LYP method within the D4h symmetry group and its subgroups. The most stable reaction intermediate in the supposed photoinitiation reaction is 3[dmaphPcAg]-. Group-theoretical analysis of the optimized structures and of their electron states reveals two symmetry-descent mechanisms. Stable structures of maximal symmetry of complexes 1[dmaphPcAg]+, 3[dmaphPcAg]+, 2[dmaphPcAg]0 and 4[dmaphPcAg]2- correspond to the D4 group as a consequence of the pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect within unstable D4h structure. Complexes 4[dmaphPcAg]0, 1[dmaphPcAg]-, 3[dmaphPcAg]- and 2[dmaphPcAg]2- with double degenerate electron ground states in D4h symmetry structures undergo a symmetry descent to stable structures corresponding to maximal D2 symmetry not because of a simple Jahn-Teller effect but due to hidden pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect (strong vibronic interaction between excited electron states). The reduction of the neutral photoinitiator causes symmetry descent to its anionic intermediate because of vibronic interactions that must significantly affect the polymerization reactions.

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.

We present a general theory of estimation of analysis error covariances based on cross-validation as well as a geometric interpretation of the method. In particular we use the variance of passive observation–minus-analysis residuals and show that the true analysis error variance can be estimated, without relying on the optimality assumption. This approach is used to obtain near optimal analyses that are then used to evaluate the air quality analysis error using several different methods at active and passive observation sites. We compare the estimates according to the method of Hollingsworth-Lönnberg, Desroziers et al., a new diagnostic we developed, and the perceived analysis error computed from the analysis scheme, to conclude that, as long as the analysis is near optimal, all estimates agree within a certain error margin.

The Gauss model for the time evolution of the first corona pandemic wave rendered useful in the estimation of peak times, amount of required equipment, and the forecasting of fade out times. At the same time it is probably the simplest analytically tractable model that allows to quantitatively forecast the time evolution of infections and fatalities during a pandemic wave. In light of the various descriptors such as doubling times and reproduction factors currently in use to judge about lock-downs and other measures that aim to prevent spreading of the virus, we hereby provide both exact, and simple approximate relationships between the two relevant parameters of the Gauss model (peak time and width), and the transient behavior of two versions of doubling times, and three variants of reproduction factors including basic reproduction numbers.

Since the 1990s, the understanding of how and where politics is made has changed radically. Scholars such as Ulrich Beck and Maria Bakardjieva have discussed how political agency is enacted outside of conventional party organizations, and political struggles increasingly focus on single issues. Over the past two decades, this transformation of politics has become common knowledge, not only in academic research but also in the general political discourse. Recently, the proliferation of digital activism and the political use of social media is often understood to enforce these tendencies. This article analyzes the Pirate Party in relation to these theories, relying on almost 30 interviews with active Pirate Party members in Sweden, the UK, Germany, the USA, and Australia. The Pirate Party was initially formed in 2006, focusing on copyright, piracy, and digital privacy. Over the years, it has developed into a more general democracy movement, with an interest in a wider range of issues. This article analyses how the party’s initial focus on information politics and social media connects to a wider range of political issues and to other social movements, such as Arab Spring protests and Occupy Wall Street. Finally, it discusses how this challenges the understanding of information politics as a single issue agenda.

The susceptible-infected-recovered/removed-vaccinated (SIRV) epidemics model is an important generalization of the SIR epidemics model as it accounts quantitatively for the effects of vaccination campaigns on the temporal evolution of epidemics outbreaks. Additional to the time-dependent infection ($a(t)$) and recovery ($\mu (t)$) rates, regulating the transitions between the compartments $S\to I$ and $I\to R$, respectively, the time-dependent vaccination rate $v(t)$ accounts for the transition between the compartments $S\to V$ of susceptible to vaccinated fractions. An accurate analytical approximation is derived for arbitrary and different temporal dependencies of the rates which is valid for all times after the start of the epidemics for which the cumulative fraction of new infections $J(t)\ll 1$. As vaccination campaigns automatically reduce the rate of new infections by transferring susceptible to vaccinated persons, the limit $J(t)\ll 1$ is even better fulfilled than in the SIR-epidemics model. The comparison of the analytical approximation for the temporal dependence of the rate of new infections $\jt(t)=a(t)S(t)I(t)$, the corresponding cumulative fraction $J(t)$, and $V(t)$, respectively, with the exact numerical solution of the SIRV-equations for different illustrative examples proves the accuracy of our approach. The considered illustrative examples include the cases of stationary ratios with a delayed start of vaccinations, and an oscillating ratio of recovery to infection rate with a delayed vaccination at constant rate. The proposed analytical approximation is self-regulating as the final analytical expression for the cumulative fraction $\jinf $ after infinite time allows us to check the validity of the original assumption $J(t)\le \jinf \ll 1$.

The dynamical equations of the susceptible-infected-recovered/removed (SIR) epidemics model play an important role to predict and/or analyze the temporal evolution of epidemics outbreaks. Crucial input quantities are the time-dependent infection ($a(t)$) and recovery ($\mu (t)$) rates regulating the transitions between the compartments $S\to I$ and $I\to R$, respectively. Accurate analytical approximations for the temporal dependence of the rate of new infections $\dot{J}(t)=a(t)S(t)I(t)$ and the corresponding cumulative fraction of new infections $J(t)=J(t_0)+\int_{t_0}^tdx\dot{J}(x)$ are available in the literature for either stationary infection and recovery rates and for a stationary value of the ratio $k(t)=\mu (t)/a(t)$. Here a new and original accurate analytical approximation is derived for general, arbitrary and different temporal dependencies of the infection and recovery rates which is valid for not too late times after the start of the infection when the cumulative fraction $J(t)\ll 1$ is much less than unity. The comparison of the analytical approximation with the exact numerical solution of the SIR-equations for different illustrative examples proves the accuracy of the analytical approach.