The arterial network in healthy young adults is thought to be structured to minimise wave reflection in conduit arteries, producing an ascending aortic pressure waveform with three key features: early systolic peak, negative systolic augmentation, and diastolic hump. One-dimensional computer models have provided significant insights into arterial haemodynamics, but no previous models of the young adult have exhibited these three features. Since the latter was likely to be related to unrepresentative or non-optimised impedance properties of the model arterial networks, we developed a new ‘YoungAdult’ model that incorporated 1) a novel and more accurate empirical equation for approximating wave speeds, based on area and relative distance to elastic-muscular arterial transition points, 2) optimally-matched arterial junctions, and 3) an improved arterial network geometry that eliminated ‘within-segment’ taper (which causes wave reflection in conduit arteries) whilst establishing ‘impedance-preserving’ taper. These model properties led to wave reflection occurring predominantly at distal vascular beds, rather than in conduit arteries. The model predicted all three typical characteristics of an ascending aortic pressure waveform observed in young adults. When compared with non-invasively acquired pressure and velocity measurements (obtained via tonometry and Doppler ultrasound in 7 young adults), the model was also shown to reproduce the typical waveform morphology observed in the radial, brachial, carotid, temporal, femoral, and tibial arteries. The YoungAdult model provides support for the concept that the arterial tree impedance in healthy young adults is exquisitely optimised, and it provides an important baseline model for investigating cardiovascular changes in ageing and disease states.

We report on the occurrence of natural Magnesium Alumina Silicate Hydrate (M-(A)-S-H) cement at Feragen and Leka in eastern and western Trøndelag Norway, respectively. Both occurrences are located in the sub-arctic climate zone and form in glacial till and moraine material deposited on ultramafic rock during the Weichselian glaciation. Weathering of serpentinized peridotite dissolve brucite and result in a relative high pH alkaline fluid that subsequently reacts with the felsic minerals of the till (quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar) to form a cement consisting of an amorphous material or a mixture of nanocrystalline Mg-rich phyllosilicates, including illite. The presence of plagioclase in the till results in the enrichment of alumina in the cement, i.e., forms M-A-S-H instead of the M-S-H cement. Dissolution of quartz results in numerous etch-pits and negative quartz crystals filled with M-A-S-H cement. Where the quartz dissolution is faster that the cement precipitation, a honeycomb-like texture is formed. Compositionally the cemented till (tillite) contains more MgO and has a higher loss of ignition than the till, suggesting that the cement is formed by a MgO fluid that previously reacted with the peridotite. The M-(A)-S-H cemented till represent a new type of duricrust, coined magsilcrete. The study of natural Mg-cement provides information on peridotites as a Mg-source for Mg-cement and as a feedstock for CO2 sequestration.

Imbalance of homeostasis between the microbial communities and the host system leads to dysbiosis in oral micro flora. DMTU (1,3-di-m-tolyl-urea), is a biocompatible compound that was shown to inhibit Streptococcus mutansbiofilms by inhibiting its communication system (quorum sensing). Here, we hypothesized that DMTU is able to inhibit multispecies biofilms. We developed a multispecies oral biofilm model comprising an early colonizer Streptococcus gordonii, a bridge colonizer Fusobacterium nucleatum, and late colonizers Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. We performed comprehensive investigations to demonstrate the effect of DMTU on planktonic cells and biofilms. Our findings showed that DMTU inhibits and disrupts multispecies biofilms without bactericidal effects. Mechanistic studies revealed significant down regulation of biofilm and virulence related genes in P. gingivalis. Taken together, our study highlights the potential of DMTU to inhibit polymicrobial biofilm communities and their virulence.

The links between mindfulness, savoring positive experiences, and depressive symptoms have been well-established in the literature. Nevertheless, little has been done to disentangle the prospective relations among these constructs. Clarifying the longitudinal relations is crucial, as it enables researchers and practitioners to discern potential trajectories of mental health interventions. In this study, 180 emerging adults between 18 and 27 years old were recruited twice at 3 months apart to complete self-reported measures including mindfulness, savoring positive experiences, and depressive symptoms. Cross-lagged path analysis indicated that savoring the moment was predictive of mindfulness three months later, whereas depressive symptoms were predictive of both mindfulness and savoring the moment three months later, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, and family income. Additionally, mindfulness, savoring positive experiences, and depressive symptoms were significantly correlated at baseline. The present study evidenced short-term inversed effects of depressive symptoms on mindfulness and savoring the moment, as well as a positive effect of savoring the moment on mindfulness. Hence, interventions gearing towards symptom reduction of depression are likely to carry concurrent and prospective benefits of psychological functioning, namely the ability to be present in the moment and to savor. Taken together, reducing depressive symptoms may be crucial in fostering psychological well-being.

Abstract: As a low-input crop, Miscanthus offers numerous advantages that, in addition to agricultural applications, permits its exploitation for energy, fuel, and material production. Depending on the Miscanthus genotype, season, and harvest time as well as plant component (leaf versus stem), correlations between structure and properties of the corresponding isolated lignins differ. Here, a comparative study is presented between lignins isolated from M. x giganteus, M. sinensis, M. robustus and M. nagara using a catalyst-free organosolv pulping process. The lignins from different plant constituents are also compared regarding their similarities and differences regarding monolignol ratio and important linkages. Results showed that the plant genotype has the weakest influence on monolignol content and interunit linkages. In contrast, structural differences are more significant among lignins of different harvest time and/or season. Analyses were performed using fast and simple methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Data was assigned to four different linkages (A: b-O-4 linkage, B: phenylcoumaran, C: resinol, D: b-unsaturated ester). In conclusion, A content is particularly high in leaf-derived lignins at just under 70 % and significantly lower in stem and mixture lignins at around 60 % and almost 65 %. The second most common linkage pattern is D in all isolated lignins, the proportion of which is also strongly dependent on the crop portion. Both stem and mixture lignins, have a relatively high share of approximately 20 % or more (maximum is M. sinensis Sin2 with over 30 %). In the leaf-derived lignins, the proportions are significantly lower on average. Stem samples should be chosen if the highest possible lignin content is desired, specifically from the M. x giganteus genotype, which revealed lignin contents up to 27 %. Due to the better frost resistance and higher stem stability, M. nagara offers some advantages compared to M. x giganteus. Miscanthus crops are shown to be very attractive lignocellulose feedstock (LCF) for second generation biorefineries and lignin generation in Europe.

Building on a framework of risk transmission to children of depressed parents, the present study investigated the associations between parents’ self-compassion, parent’s depressive symptoms, and child adjustment. A total 189 Chinese parents (101 mothers) whose children were 2-8 years old were recruited to complete a questionnaire, including measures of self-compassion, depressive symptoms and children’s prosocial behavior, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Findings indicated mediation effects, in that parents’ depressive symptoms mediated the associ-ation between their self-compassion and child adjustment outcomes, namely children’s internal-izing and externalizing problems, after controlling the effects of monthly family income, child gender, and parent gender. Competing hypothesis suggested that parents’ self-compassion did not moderate between parents’ depressive symptoms and child adjustment outcomes. Hence, the association between parental depressive symptoms and child adjustment was not dependent on the level of parents’ self-compassion. As an implication, researchers and practitioners should be made aware of the protective role of parents’ self-compassion in the family context.

Arterial ageing is thought to cause a diastolic-to-systolic shift in the return time (RT) of backward waves to central arteries. However, current methods of estimating RT—inflection point, zero crossing, and foot methods—depend on a single waveform feature and produce systolic RT throughout life. We propose a novel centroid method that accounts for the entire backward pressure waveform and develop a ground truth RT (GTRT), which can be used in computational models to test the accuracy of RT estimation methods. Linear wave tracking was implemented in a one-dimensional systemic arterial tree model and GTRT was calculated as the amplitude-weighted mean RT of backward waves at the ascending aorta. Using a virtual cohort of 1200 patients, the centroid RT was closest to GTRT compared to the zero crossing, inflection point, and foot methods; mean differences (limits of agreement) were -8 (-47,30), vs -42 (-136,52), -78 (-305,149), and -197 (-379,-15) ms, respectively. The sensitivity of the methods to changes in RT was also assessed in ten sheep. A balloon catheter in the descending thoracic aorta was used to generate a backward-running pulse that arrived at the ascending aorta at different times during diastole or systole, allowing the “bulk” RT of the backward-running wave ensemble to be manipulated. Only the centroid method was sensitive to both diastolic and systolic changes in RT. We conclude that the accuracy and robustness of the centroid method make it most suitable for evaluating the diastolic-to-systolic shift in RT of backward waves with ageing.

Commercial sleep devices and mobile-phone applications for scoring sleep are gaining ground. In order to provide reliable information about the quantity and/or quality of sleep, their performance needs to be assessed against the current gold-standard, i.e. polysomnography (PSG; measuring brain, eye and muscle activity). We here assessed some commercially available sleep trackers, namely; a commercial activity tracker: Mi band (Xiaomi, BJ, CHN), a scientific actigraph: Motionwatch 8 (CamNTech, CB, UK), and a much used sleep application: Sleep Cycle (Northcube, GOT, SE). We recorded 27 nights in healthy sleepers using PSG and these devices. Surprisingly, all devices had very poor agreement with the gold standard. Sleep parameter comparisons revealed that specifically the Mi band and the sleep cycle application had difficulties in detecting wake periods which negatively affected the total sleep time and sleep efficiency estimations. However, all 3 devices were good in detecting the most basic parameter, the actual time in bed. In summary, our results suggest that, to-date; available sleep trackers do not provide meaningful sleep analysis but may be interesting for simply tracking times in bed. A much closer interaction with the scientific field seems necessary if reliable information shall be derived from such devices in the future.

Yogic and meditative traditions have long held that the fluctuations of the breath and the mind are intimately related. While respiratory modulation of cortical activity and attentional switching are established, the extent to which electrophysiological markers of attention exhibit synchronization with respiration is unknown. To this end, we examined 1) frontal midline theta-beta ratio, an indicator of attentional control state known to correlate with mind wandering episodes and functional connectivity of the executive control network; 2) pupil diameter (PD), a known proxy measure of locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic activity; and 3) respiration for evidence of phase synchronization and information transfer (multivariate Granger causality) during quiet restful breathing. Our results indicate that both TBR and PD are simultaneously synchronized with the breath, suggesting an underlying oscillation of an attentionally relevant electrophysiological index that is phase-locked to the respiratory cycle which could have the potential to bias the attentional system into switching states. We highlight the LC’s pivotal role as a coupling mechanism between respiration and TBR, and elaborate on its dual functions as both a chemosensitive respiratory nucleus and a pacemaker of the attentional system. We further suggest that an appreciation of the dynamics of this weakly coupled oscillatory system could help deepen our understanding of the traditional claim of a relationship between breathing and attention.

Background: The vegetative state (VS)/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) denotes brain-injured, awake patients who are seemingly without awareness. Still, up to 15% of these patients show signs of covert consciousness when examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or EEG, which is known as cognitive motor dissociation (CMD). Most experts prefer the term unresponsive wakefulness syndrome to avoid the negative connotations associated with vegetative state and to highlight the possibility for CMD. However, the perception of VS/UWS by the public has never been studied systematically. Methods: Using an online crowdsourcing platform, we recruited 1297 participants from 32 countries. We investigated if vegetative state and unresponsive wakefulness syndrome might have a different influence on attitudes towards VS/UWS and CMD. Results: Participants randomized to be inquired about the vegetative state believed that CMD was less common (mean estimated frequency in unresponsive patients 38.07% ± SD 25.15) than participants randomized to unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (42.29% ± SD 26.63; p=0.016). Attitudes towards treatment withdrawal were similar. Most participants preferred unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (60.05%), although a sizeable minority favored vegetative state (24.21%; difference 35.84%, 95% CI 29.36 to 41.87; p<0.0001). Searches on PubMed and Google Trends revealed that unresponsive wakefulness syndrome is increasingly used by academics but not lay people.Discussion: Simply replacing vegetative state with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome may not be fully appropriate given that 1 of 4 prefer the first term. We suggest that physicians take advantage of the controversy around the terminology to explain relatives the concept of CMD and its ethical implications.

Titania is one of the most comprehensively studied nanostructures due to its widespread applications in production of catalytic, gas- sensing and corrosion- resistance materials [1]. M-polynomial of nanotubes has been vastly investigated as it produces many degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters capturing structural and chemical properties. These indices are used in the development of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) in which the biological activity and other properties of molecules are correlated with their structure like boiling point, stability, strain energy etc of chemical compounds. In this paper, we determine M-polynomials of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes and recover important topological degree based indices of them to theoretically judge these nanotubes. We also use Maple to plot surfaces associated to different types of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes.

In this paper, we propose an imagined speech-based brain wave pattern recognition using deep learning. Multiple features were extracted concurrently from eight-channel Electroencephalography (EEG) signals. To obtain classifiable EEG data with fewer number of sensors, we placed the EEG sensors on carefully selected spots on the scalp. To decrease the dimensions and complexity of the EEG dataset and to avoid overfitting during the deep learning algorithm, we utilized the wavelet scattering transformation. A low-cost 8-channel EEG headset was used with MATLAB 2023a to acquire the EEG data. The Long-Short Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network (LSTM-RNN) was used to decode the identified EEG signals into four audio commands: Up, Down, Left, and Right. Wavelet scattering transformation was applied to extract the most stable features by passing the EEG dataset through a series of filtration processes. Filtration has been implemented for each individual command in the EEG datasets. The proposed imagined speech-based brain wave pattern recognition approach achieved a 92.50% overall classification accuracy. This accuracy is promising for designing a trustworthy imagined speech-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) future real-time systems. For better evaluation of the classification performance, other metrics were considered, and we obtained 92.74%, 92.50% and 92.62% for precision, recall, and F1-score, respectively.

The role of geodata technologies in humanitarian action is arguably indispensable in determining when, where and who needs aid before, during and after a disaster. However, despite the advantages of using geodata technologies in humanitarianism (i.e., fast and efficient aid distribution), several ethical challenges arise including privacy. The focus has been on individual privacy, however, in this article we focus on group privacy whose debates has recently gained attention. We approach privacy through the lens of informational harms that undermine autonomy of groups and control of knowledge over them. Using demographically identifiable information (DII) as a definition for groups, we first assess how these are derived from geodata types used in humanitarian DRRM. Secondly, we discuss four informational harm threat models: (i) biases from missing/underrepresented categories, (ii) the mosaic effect – unintentional sensitive knowledge discovery from combining disparate datasets, (iii) misuse of data (whether it is shared or not); and (iv) cost-benefit analysis (cost of protection vs. risk of misuse). Lastly, borrowing from triage in emergency medicine, we propose a geodata triage as a possible method for practitioners to identify, prioritize, and mitigate these four group privacy harms.

Four decades of proteasome research have yielded extensive information on ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. The archetype of proteasomes is a 20S barrel-shaped complex that does not rely on ubiquitin as a degradation signal but can degrade substrates with a considerable unstructured stretch. Since roughly half of all proteasomes in most eukaryotic cells are free 20S complexes, ubiquitin-independent protein degradation may coexist with ubiquitin-dependent degradation by the highly regulated 26S proteasome. This article reviews recent advances in our understanding of the biochemical and structural features that underlie the proteolytic mechanism of 20S proteasomes. The two outer α-rings of 20S proteasomes provide a number of potential docking sites for loosely folded polypeptides. The binding of a substrate can induce asymmetric conformational changes, trigger gate opening, and initiate its own degradation through a protease-driven translocation mechanism. Consequently, the substrate translocates through two additional narrow apertures augmented by the β-catalytic active sites. The overall pulling force through the two annuli results in a protease-like unfolding of the substrate and subsequent proteolysis in the catalytic chamber. Although both proteasomes contain identical β-catalytic active sites, the differential translocation mechanisms yield distinct peptide products. Non-overlapping substrate repertoires and product outcomes rationalize cohabitation of both proteasome complexes in cells.

In order to investigate the coordination chemistry of O-alkyl N-aryl thiocarbamate ligands, BiI3 has been reacted with two equivalents of MeOC(=S)N(H)Ph in MeCN solution to afford the dinuclear title compound complexes [{I2Bi(μ2-I)2BiI2}{1-MeOC(=S)N(H)Ph}4] 1. Compound 1 has been characterized by IR, UV and NMR spectroscopy, the dinuclear framework has be ascertained by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study performed at 100 K.

The reaction of arylidene-α-amino esters with electrophilic alkenes to yield the Michael type addition compounds is optimized using several phosphines as organocatalysts. The transformation is very complicated due to the generation of several final compounds, including those derived from the 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. For this reason, the selection of the reaction conditions is a very complex task and the slow addition of the acrylic system is very important to complete the reaction. The study of the variation of the structural components of the starting imino ester is performed as well as the expansion of other electron-poor alkenes. The crude products have a purity higher than 90% in most cases without any purification. A plausible mechanism is detailed based on the bibliography and the experimental results. The synthesis of pyroglutamate entities, after reduction of the imino group and cyclization, is performed in high yields. In addition, the hydrolysis of the imino group, under acidic media, represents a direct access to glutamate surrogates.

Thanks to advanced semiconductor microfabrication technology, chip-scale integration and miniaturization of lab-on-a-chip components, silicon-based optical biosensors have made significant progress for the purpose of point-of-care diagnosis. In this review, we provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in evanescent field biosensing technologies including interferometer, microcavity, photonic crystal, and Bragg grating waveguide-based sensors. Their sensing mechanisms and sensor performances, as well as real biomarkers for label-free detection, are exhibited and compared. We also review the development of chip-level integration for lab-on-a-chip photonic sensing platforms, which consist of the optical sensing device, flow delivery system, optical input and readout equipment. At last, some advanced system-level CMOS-chip packaging examples are presented, indicating the commercialization potential for the low cost, high yield, portable biosensing platform leveraging CMOS processes.

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

Hepcidin-25 was identified as the main iron regulator in the human body by binding to the sole iron-exporter ferroportin. Studies showed that the N-terminus of hepcidin is responsible for this interaction, the same N-terminus that encompasses a small copper(II)-binding site known as ATCUN (amino terminal Cu(II)- and Ni(II)- binding) motif. Interestingly, this copper-binding property is largely ignored in most papers dealing with hepcidin-25. In this context, detailed investigations of the formed complex of hepcidin-25 with copper could reveal insights into its biological role. The present work is mainly focused on the study of the metal-bound form of hepcidin-25, which could be considered the biologically active form. The first part is devoted to the reversed-phase chromatographic separation of copper-bound and copper-free hepcidin-25, which was achieved by applying basic mobile phases containing 0.1% ammonia. Further, mass spectrometry (tandem mass spectrometry MS/MS, high resolution mass spectrometry HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were employed to characterize the copper-peptide. Lastly, a 3D model of hepcidin-25 with bound copper(II) is presented. The identification of metal complexes and potential isoforms and isomers, from which the latter usually are left undetected by mass spectrometry, led to the conclusion that complementary analytical methods are needed to characterize a peptide calibrant or reference material comprehensively. Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) and chiral amino acid analysis (AAA) should be considered among others.

Over the past decades, overweight and obesity has become a global epidemic and the leading threat for death. To prevent the serious risk, an overweight or obese individual must apply a long-term weight-management strategy to control food intake and physical activities, which is however, not easy. Recently, with the advances of information technology, more and more people can use wearable devices and smartphones to obtain physical activity information, while they can also access various health-related information from Internet online social networks (OSNs). Nevertheless, there is a lack of an integrated approach that can combine these two methods in an efficient way. In this paper, we address this issue and propose a novel mobile-social framework for health recognition and recommendation, namely, H-Rec². The main ideas of H-Rec² include (1) to recognize the individual's health status using smartphone as a general platform, and (2) to recommend physical activity and food intake based on personal health information, life science principles, and health-related information obtained from OSNs. To demonstrate the potentials of the H-Rec² framework, we develop a prototype that consists of four important components: (1) an activity recognition module that senses physical activity using accelerometer, (2) a health status modeling module that applies a novel algorithm to generate personalized health status index, (3) a restaurant information collection module that collects relevant information from OSN, and (4) a restaurant recommendation module that provides personalized and context-aware recommendation. To evaluate the prototype, we conduct both objective and subjective experiments, which confirm the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system.

While microcredits are, by the development practitioners, repeatedly hailed as a useful measure of development policy, this empirical research in Bangladesh arrives at different results: the governing and disciplinary measures are necessary to trigger the best possible repayment success. Based on interviews with the microfinance beneficiaries, loan officers, and microfinance experts in Bangladesh, I chart some of the most frequently used governing and disciplinary techniques including fictitious proximity of loan officers, their fields of visibility and surveillance processes. The “success” of credit delivery is a neoliberal stance that ensures the ceaseless debt repayment process using the intentional and planned conduct, capitalizing social capital and credit honour reputation, surveillance over business enterprises, use of equivocal language and different forms of deception. The development strategy through microfinance in Bangladesh is a development “dispositif” with a changing shift in its declared social missions.

Rapid in vitro assessment of antimicrobial drug efficacy under clinically relevant pharmacokinetic conditions is an essential element of both drug development and clinical use. Here we present an overview of a novel integrated methodology for rapid assessment of such efficacy, particularly against emergence of resistant bacterial strains, as jointly researched by the authors in recent years. This methodology enables rapid in vitro assessment of antimicrobial efficacy of a single or multiple drugs in combination, following clinically relevant pharmacokinetics. The proposed methodology entails (a) automated collection of longitudinal time-kill data in an optical-density instrument; (b) processing of collected time-kill data with the aid of a mathematical model to de-termine optimal dosing regimens under clinically relevant pharmacokinetics for a single or mul-tiple drugs; and (c) in vitro validation of promising dosing regimens in a hollow fiber system. Proof-of-concept of this methodology through a number of in vitro studies is discussed. Future directions for refinement of optimal data collection and processing are discussed.

In this study, a numerical simulation of fluid flow through railway ballast in the time domain is presented, providing a model for unsteady-state flow. It is demonstrated that the position of the free surface with respect to time can also be used to solve the steady flow case. The effect of ballast fouling is included in the model to capture the realistic behavior of railway ballast, which is critical to understanding the impact of flooding. A thorough comparison with a range of previous studies, including theoretical and experimental approaches, is made and very close agreement is obtained. The significant impact of ballast fouling on fluid flow and its potential consequences for railway infrastructure are highlighted by the simulation. Valuable insights into the behavior of water flow through porous media and its relevance to railway ballast management are offered by this study.

In Uganda, the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is often infested by a complex of insect pests, but the bean stem maggots, aphids, bean leaf beetles, and flower thrips are the most important. Whereas yield losses due to these pests have been established, there is limited information on their population dynamics at different stages of crop growth and their effect on yield and yield components. In order to describe the population dynamics of selected common bean pests at various phases of bean crop growth, and their impact on yield and yield components, a study was carried out in Uganda during 2016 second rains and 2017 first rains in three agro-ecological zones. Bean fly, bean aphids, bean leaf beetles, whitefly, striped bean weevil, leaf hoppers, and caterpillars of Lepidopteran species were the main insects observed. Pesticide spray schedules were imposed to generate different populations of insect pests whose effects on yield and its components were determined. The findings indicate that spray regimes significantly influenced the abundance of bean fly, aphids, whitefly, striped bean weevil, and leaf hoppers but not bean leaf beetles and caterpillars. Additionally, except caterpillars, insect pests were significantly influenced by crop growth stages, but only aphids, whiteflies, bean flies and leaf hoppers exhibited a significant negative relationship with grain yield. Furthermore, yield and yield components varied significantly between spray regimes, agro-ecological zones, and seasons. Our study is important in informing growers on the stage of crop growth at which management tactics such as use of insecticides can be applied for different insect pests.

RAxML-NG is a new phylogentic inference tool that replaces the widely-used RAxML and ExaMLtree inference codes. Compared to its predecessors, RAxML-NG offers improvements in accur-acy, flexibility, speed, scalability, and user-friendliness. In this chapter, we provide practicalrecommendations for the most common use cases of RAxML-NG: tree inference, branch supportestimation via non-parametric bootstrapping, and parameter optimization on a fixed tree topo-logy. We also describe best practices for achieving optimal performance with RAxML-NG, inparticular, with respect to parallel tree inferences on computer clusters and supercomputers. AsRAxML-NG is continuously updated, the most up-to-date version of the tutorial described inthis chapter is available online at: https://cme.h-its.org/exelixis/raxml-ng/tutorial .

The efficiency success status of organization built environment assets management needs robust and comprehensive maintenance processes which depends on the efficiency of the contract information documents for the maintenance management within the assets life cycle and achieve positive return of the investments. Therefore, this paper highlights on the appropriate interactive approach to structuring information flow scope of the asset facilities management contract for construction projects based on GIS and BIM integration processes, sustainability standards, and As-built contractual documents of the project to support the organization owner and stakeholder to improve the asset management processes. Using expert interviews with comprehensive understand for the information type in several facility management contracts conducted in common Organization types based on reviewing available international facility management standards manual and contract of procedures for different services types, and required information flow inside international facility management firms. The study classify and build significant integrated information and data flow model contract drafting with measures and indicators of performance efficiency as guideline for monitoring, technically evaluating, and financially procedures for performance efficiency and quality of services provided in the facilities management contract for King Faisal University campus projects as a case study.

Antioxidant activity is an essential feature required for oxygen-sensitive merchandise and goods, such as food and corresponding packaging as well as materials used in cosmetics and biomedicine. For example, vanillin, one of the most prominent antioxidants, is fabricated from lignin, the second most abundant natural polymer in the world. Antioxidant potential is primarily related to the termination of oxidation propagation reactions through hydrogen transfer. The application of technical lignin as a natural antioxidant has not yet been implemented in the industrial sector, mainly due to the complex heterogeneous structure and polydispersity of lignin. Thus, current research focuses on various isolation and purification strategies to improve the compatibility of lignin material with substrates and enhancing its stabilizing effect. This contribution presents antioxidant capacity studies of various lignins depending on purification degree of the raw material. In detail, the antioxidant potential of lignin-based compounds is studied using the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay. The purification procedure was monitored by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and showed that double-fold selective extraction is the most efficient purification procedure (confirmed by UV-Vis, FTIR, HSQC and 31P NMR spectroscopy, SEC and XRD analysis). Results are discussed regarding the dependency of antioxidant activity on lignin structure and biomass source. Thus, lignins obtained from industrial black liquor are compared with beech wood samples. In addition, the influence of lignin isolation (kraft versus organosolv) is discussed. Values of the antioxidant activity (DPPH inhibition) of kraft lignin fractions were 62-68% while beech and spruce/pine-mixed lignins showed values between 26, 64 and 42%, respectively. TPC values of the different isolated kraft lignin fractions varied between 26-35%, while beech, spruce/pine lignins were 34, 30 and 34%, respectively. Storage decreased the TPC values and increased the DPPH inhibition.

.Various synthetic nematicides are currently used effectively in the control of plant parasitic nematodes. However, these nematicides have adverse effects on humans and the environment. Neem oil is eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic nematicides. The effectiveness of repeated neem oil application in suppressing the root-knot nematodes infestation in figs seedlings was therefore examined in this study, both in its natural form (10 ml/L) and in its nano-emulsion form (5 and 7 ml/L). The recorded reduction parameters of M. incognita were J2/250g soil, galls and egg masses / 5g roots of infected fig seedlings were measured at that time, and the effects of these natural additives were compared with the Fosthiazate (Krenkel 75%EC). The impact of such soil amendments on some typical plant parameters, the total microbial count of soil, and the overall enzymatic activity of the fig rhizosphere were also included. Obtained results revealed that the soil population density of root knot nematode suppressed by 80.3% , reduction of nematode egg masses (60.4%) due to the application of nano-emulsion of neem oil (at 7ml/L). Present work recommend the use of nano-emulsion of neem oil as one of the effective and eco-friendly means to reduce the root- knot nematode on fig .

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health threat globally, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Both human and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTBC) genetic variation affect TB outcomes, but few studies have examined if and how the two genomes interact to affect disease. We hypothesize that long-term coexistence between human genomes and MTBC lineages modulate disease to affect its severity. We examined this hypothesis in our TB household contact study in Kampala, Uganda, in which we identified 3 MTBC lineages of which one, L4.6-Uganda, is clearly derived and hence recent. We quantified TB severity using the Bandim TBscore and examined the interaction between MTBC lineage and human single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genome-wide, in two independent cohorts of TB cases (N=149 and N=127). We found a significant interaction between a SNP in PPIAP2 and the Uganda lineage (combined p=4x10-8). PPIAP2 is a pseudogene that is highly expressed in immune cells. Pathway and eQTL analyses indicated potential roles between coevolving SNPs and cellular replication and metabolism as well as platelet aggregation and coagulation. This finding provides further evidence that host-pathogen interactions affect clinical presentation differently than host and pathogen genetic variation independently, and that human-MTBC coevolution is likely to explain patterns of disease severity.

The antiradical and antimicrobial activity of lignin and lignin-based films are both of great interest for applications such as food packaging additives. The polyphenol structure of lignin in addition to the presence of O-containing functional groups is potentially responsible for these activities. This study used DPPH assays to discuss the antiradical activity of HPMC/lignin and HPMC/lignin/chitosan films. The scavenging activity (SA) of both binary (HPMC/lignin) and ternary (HPMC/lignin/chitosan) systems was affected by the percentage of the added lignin: the 5% addition showed the highest activity and the 30% addition had the lowest. Both, scavenging activity and antimicrobial activity are depending on the biomass source showing the following trend: organosolv of softwood > Kraft of softwood > organosolv of grass. Testing the antimicrobial activities of lignins and lignin-containing films showed high antimicrobial activities against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria at 35 °C and at low temperatures (0-7 °C). Purification of kraft lignin has a negative effect on the antimicrobial activity while storage has positive effect. The lignin release in the produced films affected the activity positively and the chitosan addition enhances the activity even more for both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Testing the films against spoilage bacteria that grow at low temperatures revealed the activity of the 30% addition on HPMC/L1 film against both B. thermosphacta and P. fluorescens while L5 was active only against B. thermosphacta. In HPMC/lignin/chitosan films the 5% addition exhibited activity against both B. thermosphacta and P. fluorescens.

The preparation of transition metal salt ammine complexes having oxidizing anions is a great challenge due to the reaction between the ammonia and oxidizing anions during the synthesis of these materials. However, they have an important role in the development of new oxidants in organic chemistry and especially as precursors in the preparation of mixed metal oxides and alloys in controlled temperature thermal decomposition reactions. Therefore, the synthetic procedures to prepare the complexes of transition metal permanganate, pertechnetate, and perrhenate (VIIB group tetraoxometallates) salts with ammonia as ligand or co-ligand have been comprehensively reviewed. The available data about the structure and spectroscopic properties of these compounds, including the hydrogen bonds that act as redox reaction centers under their thermal decomposition are given and evaluated. Their thermal decomposition processes and products have been summarized. The available pieces of information about their role in organic oxidation reactions like the oxidation of benzyl alcohols, and regeneration of oxo-compounds from oximes and phenylhydrazones including the kinetics of these processes have also been collected.

Grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits are some of the major attributes that enhance uptake and utilisation of improved cowpea varieties. Therefore, there is need for a better understanding of the genetic variation and inter-relationships among these quality traits in cowpea to integrate them in cowpea breeding programs. The study was conducted to determine genetic variability among 306 cowpea genotypes for grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits and to understand the interrelationships among these traits for exploitation in breeding programs. The results showed highly significant differences (P

Internet of Things (IoT) opens new horizons by enabling automated procedures without human interaction using IP connectivity. IoT deals with devices, called things which are represented as any item from our daily life that is enhanced with computing or communication facilities. Among various mobile communications, Zigbee communication is broadly used in controlling or monitoring applications due to its low data rate and low power consumption. Securing IoT systems have been the main concern for the research community. In this paper, different security-threats of Zigbee networks in IoT platform have been addressed to predict the potential security threats of Zigbee protocol and a Security Improvement Framework (SIF) has been designed for intelligent monitoring in an office environment. Our proposed SIF can predict and protect various potential malicious attacks in the Zigbee network and respond accordingly through a notification to the system administrator. This framework (SIF) is designed to make automated decisions immediately based on real-time data which are defined by the system administrator. Finally, the designed SIF has been implemented in an office security system as a case study for real-time monitoring. This office security system is evaluated based on the capacity of detecting potential security attacks. The evaluation results show that the proposed SIF is capable of detecting and protecting several potential security attacks efficiently enabling more secure way of intelligent monitoring.

Sweetness drives consumption of added sugars, so understanding how individuals differ is important for developing strategies to lower sugar intake. However, methods to assess hedonic response to sweetness vary, making results across studies difficult to integrate. We compared methods to measure optimal sucrose concentration in 21 healthy adults (1) using paired-comparison preference tracking vs. ratings of liking, (2) with participants in the laboratory vs. at home, and (3) using aqueous solutions vs. vanilla milk. Tests were replicated on separate days to assess test-retest reliability. Test-retest reliability was similar between laboratory and home testing, but tended to be better for vanilla milk and preference tracking. Optimal sucrose concentration was virtually identical between laboratory and home, slightly lower when estimated via preference tracking, and about 50% lower in vanilla milk. However, individual optimal sucrose concentration correlated strongly between Methods, test Locations, and Stimuli. More than 50% of the variability in optimal sucrose concentration could be attributed to consistent differences among individuals while much less variability was attributable to differences in Methods, test Locations or Stimuli. These results demonstrate convergent validity between measures of preference and liking, support testing at home to lower participant burden, and suggest that aqueous solutions can be useful proxies for some commonly consumed beverages for measuring individual differences.

Mitochondria are constantly subjected to stressful conditions due to their unique physiology and organization. The resulting damage leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, which underlies many pathophysiological conditions. Hence, constant surveillance is required to closely monitor mitochondrial health for sound maintenance of cellular metabolism and thus, for viability. In addition to internal mitochondrial chaperones and proteases, mitochondrial health is also governed by host cell protein quality control systems. The Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS) and autophagy constitute the main pathways for removal of damaged or superfluous proteins in the cytosol, nucleus, and from certain organelles such as the ER and mitochondria. Although stress-induced ubiquitin-dependent degradation of mitochondrial outer membrane proteins has been widely studied, mechanisms of intramitochondrial protein ubiquitination have remained largely elusive due to the predominantly cytosolic nature of UPS components, separated from internal mitochondrial proteins by a double membrane. However, recent research has illuminated examples of intramitochondrial protein ubiquitination pathways and highlighted their importance under basal and stressful conditions. Owing to the dependence of mitochondria on the error-prone process of protein import from the cytosol, it is imperative that the cell eliminate any accumulated proteins in the event of mitochondrial import deficiency. Apparently, a significant portion of this activity involves ubiquitination in one way or another. In the present review article, following a brief introduction to mitochondrial protein quality control mechanisms, we discuss our recent understanding of intramitochondrial protein ubiquitination, its importance for the basal function of mitochondria, metabolic implications, and possible therapeutic applications.

Aims: A community-based multi-component intervention (increasing awareness of the importance of physical activity in chronic illness management through reading comic books, training regarding warm-up stretching exercises, identifying facilitators and barriers to exercise through photosharing, supporting self-reflection and development of action plans) was developed to promote physical activity (PA) among patients with diabetes and hypertension. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention on health behaviour (walking) and health outcomes. Design: A non-randomized controlled trial with waitlisted control and pre- and post-measures. Setting: Community centres for the elderly. Participants: A total of 204 older adults with diabetes and/or hypertension were recruited. They were assigned to either the intervention group (IG) or waitlisted to the control group (CG). Intervention: Under the supervision of a nurse, six weekly group meetings were arranged in community centres for the elderly in which the participants freely exchanged their views regarding the barriers and facilitators of regular physical activity. Participants were encouraged to take photos in their neighbourhood or at home and brought these photos to share at the group meetings. The photos showed both the barriers and the facilitators to PA. In the last meeting, each participant worked out a plan to perform PA in the coming four weeks. Measures: PA referred to the number of steps taken per day and it was measured by a Garmin Accelerometer at baseline, Week 6 and Week 10. Other measures included the nine-item Self-Efficacy Scale for Exercise - Chinese version (SEE-C), the 23-item Chinese Barriers to Exercise Scale and Senior Fitness Tests. Generalised Estimating Equations (GEE) models compared the outcomes over time between IG and CG. Results: A statistically significant difference in the changes in the average number of steps taken daily between the two groups at Week 10 (mean difference = 965.4; 95% confidence interval: 92.2, 1838.6, p = 0.030) was observed, although the difference at Week 6 was non-significant (mean difference = 777.6; 95% confidence interval: −35.3, 1590.5, p = 0.061). IG participants also showed significant improvements in lower body strength (mean difference = 0.967; 95% confidence interval: 0.029, 1.904, p = 0.043) and lower limb flexibility (mean difference = 2.068; 95% confidence interval: 0.404, 3.731, p = 0.015) at Week 10 compared to CG participants. Conclusion: This multi-component intervention improved the participants’ physical activity level and physical fitness, particularly in lower limb flexibility and body strength.

The ribonuclease H (RNase H) active site of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) is the only viral enzyme not targeted by approved antiretroviral drugs. Using a fluorescence-based in vitro assay, we screened 65,239 compounds at a final concentration of 10 µM to identify inhibitors of RT RNase H activity. We identified 41 compounds that exhibited 50% inhibitory concentration (i.e., IC50) values &lt; 1.0 µM. Two of these compounds, 2-(4-methyl-3-(piperidin-1-ylsulfonyl)phenyl)benzo[d]isothiazol-3(2H)-one (1) and ethyl 2-(2-(3-oxobenzo[d]isothiazol-2(3H)-yl)thiazol-4-yl)acetate (2), which both share the same benzisothiazolone pharmacophore, demonstrate robust antiviral activity (50% effective concentrations of 1.68 ± 0.94 µM and 2.68 ± 0.54, respectively) in the absence of cellular toxicity. A limited structure-activity relationship analysis identified two additional benzisothiazolone analogs, 2-methylbenzo[d]isothiazol-3(2H)-one (3) and N,N-diethyl-3-(3-oxobenzo[d]isothiazol-2(3H)-yl)benzenesulfonamide (4), which also resulted in inhibition of RT RNase H activity and virus replication. Compounds 1, 2 and 4, but not 3, inhibited the DNA polymerase activity of RT (IC50 values ~ 1 to 6 µM). In conclusion, benzisothiazolone derivatives represent a new class of multifunctional RT inhibitors that warrants further assessment for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.

Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption benefits the health of populations, particularly those in East and Southeast Asian countries, which have undergone an unprecedented change in their food environments in the last decade. This current systematic review is the first to study determinants—facilitators, barriers, and moderators—associated with FV consumption in East and Southeast Asia. In a search of the literature, we consulted five electronic academic databases of English peer-reviewed papers published between 2010 and 2020 and found 31 studies. Results of these studies show that individuals strongly perceive FVs as being higher quality and safe and trust in their benefits, and food businesses with modernized systems have significantly fostered the consumption of FVs. A main barrier to FV consumption, however, is financial concerns, exacerbated by food businesses with FV unavailability and urbanization-induced FV price inflation and dietary patterns. Further hindering FV consumption are demographics and shopping patterns. The fragmented and conditionalized findings of the 31 studies require standardized FV consumption measurements. Unlike the impact of FV consumption determinants and their interactions in Western countries, those in Asia, particularly countries other than China, have been substantially understudied. Therefore, as the research gaps in studies of food environments and FV consumption in East and Southeast Asia urgently demand scholarly attention, this paper proposes recommendations that favour the consumption of FVs.

From a differential geometric perspective, information geometry (IG) aims to characterise the structure of statistical geodesic models. The research done for this paper offers a novel method for modelling the information geometry of a queuing system. From the perspective of IG, the manifold of the transient M/M/infinity queue is described in this context. The Fisher Information matrix (FIM) as well as the inverse of (FIM), (IFIM) of transient M/M/infinity QM are devised. In addition to that, new results that uncovered the significant impact of stability of QM on the existence of (IFIM) are obtained. Moreover, the Geodesic equations of motion of the coordinates of the underlying transient are obtained. Also, it is revealed that stable QM is developable (i.e., has a zero Gaussian curvature) and has a non-zero Ricci Curvature Tensor (RCT). Novel stability dynamics of transient M/M/iInfinity queue manifold is revealed by discovering the mutual dual impact between the behaviour of (RCT) and the stability(instability) phases of M/M/Infinity QM. Furthermore, a new discovery that presents the significant impact of stability of queue manifold and the continuity of the unique representation between M/G/1 queue manifold and Ricci Curvature Tensor (RCT). The information matrix exponential (IME) is devised. Also, it is shown that stability of the devised (IME) enforces the instability of M/M/ Infinity QM. More interestingly, novel relativistic info-geometric queueing theoretic links are revealed .

This article introduces a novel payload structure, which has been experimentally proven to have smaller impact force while the carried internal electronics remains intact. The study describes in details how materials and geometric structures were chosen based on information analysis. It is clarified how possible geometric structures and materials can be chosen to yield optimal efficiency. Finite element method simulations were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties of several geometric structures, which has led to the dodecahedron form. For the frame, Polylactic Acid were chosen as an optimal material. A low air pressure test for parts of the structure, and also the whole structure were carried out with successful results. Drop tests, with force measuring sensors and high speed videos, were carried out for measuring and comparing the maximal impact force of classical payloads and the novel one. Laboratory and real life tests demonstrated that the developed new structure is safer and it is applicable.

This is a study on fractals existing in music. The application case is the composition DIAPHONIES of Michael Paouris. Sliding-window fractal analysis indicate areas of continuous fractality dipped in non-fractal areas of possibly deterministic and stochastic nature. Diverging cases of pronounced non-fractal areas are addressed and also areas of mixed fractality and non-fractality. Many segments exhibit persistency-P (2

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

Abstract Background: Chronic pain is common among older adults and is associated with adverse physical and psychological outcomes. Given the expected burden and limited healthcare resources, an innovative and cost-effective method to manage chronic pain should be developed. Peer volunteers (PVs) have been used as an affordable alternative to professional services to help patients manage their chronic conditions including pain with success and acceptance. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences and perceptions of PVs in a peer-led pain management program among nursing home residents. Methods: This longitudinal study formed part of a wider research study, a clustered randomised controlled trial, which investigates the effectiveness of a 12-week peer-led pain management program (PAP) in relieving chronic pain and enhancing pain self-efficacy among nursing home residents. Quantitative data were collected from questionnaires (demographics, pain situation and pain knowledge) for all PVs. Qualitative data (PVs’ experiences in leading the PAP, their perceived benefits, limitations and barriers encountered, its usefulness to the participants and recommendations for improving the PAP) were collected from focus group for a selected sample at baseline (before attending the training) and at week 12 (upon completion of the PAP). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and NVivo 8. Results: A total of 46 PVs were recruited (34 female, 74%), with mean±SD age of 61.0±5.1 years. Thirty-one PVs reported to have chronic pain. Before the training, self-rated pain knowledge was 39.1±20.4 (maximum 100 points). When actual pain knowledge was assessed, a mean pain knowledge score of 86.1±10.6 points was found. There was a significant difference between the self-rated pain knowledge and the pain knowledge score (p<0.001). PVs reported to have improvement in their knowledge and skills. No PVs reported negative comments regarding their role in the PAP, although experienced barriers such as communication, space and privacy were reported. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence that peer-led pain management program is feasible. Barriers identified may benefit the design and planning of future PAP. Trial registration: ClincalTrials.gov (NCT03823495), 30 January 2019. (Retrospectively registered).

In this paper, inspired by recent articles of G. Anatriello and G. Vincenzi (see \cite{Ana}), and G. Cerda-Morales (see \cite{Cer1,Cer2}), we will introduce the third-order $\overline{h}$-Jacobsthal and third-order $\overline{h}$-Jacobsthal--Lucas sequences and their associated quaternions. The new results that we have obtained extend most of those obtained in \cite{Cer2}.

The mechanism of ciprofloxacin action involves interference with transcription and replication of bacterial DNA, which results in elevated oxidative stress, and bacterial cell death. Vorinostat was shown to induce oxidative DNA damage. In the current work, the possibility for interactive effect of vorinotat on ciprofloxacin-induced cytotoxicity against a number of reference bacteria was investigated. Standard bacterial strains were Escherichia coli ATCC 35218, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17978, Proteus mirabilis ATCC 12459, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 13883, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ATCC 43300), and Streptococcus pneumoniae (ATCC 25923). The antibacterial activity of ciprofloxacin with or without pretreatment of bacterial cells by vorinostat was examined using disc diffusion procedure and determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and zones of inhibition of bacterial growth. All tested bacterial strains showed sensitivity to ciprofloxacin. When pretreated with vorinostat, significantly larger zones of inhibition and smaller MIC values were observed in all bacterial strains compared ciprofloxacin alone. As a conclusion, current results showed the possible agonistic properties for vorinostat when it is used together with ciprofloxacin. Future research will be focus on molecular mechanisms possible for such interactive effect.

Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has significant negative effects on health and behavior in childhood including depression, failure to thrive, neurocognitive impairment, and behavioral issues. It is strongly associated with an increased risk for chronic adult disease such as obesity and diabetes, accelerated atherosclerosis, and endothelial dysfunction. Accumulating evidence suggests that adult-onset non-communicable diseases may originate from early life through a process by which an insult applied at a critical developmental window causes long-term effects on the structure or function of an organism. Recently, much attention has been paid to the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of adult disease susceptibility. Epigenetic mechanisms that influence adaptive variability include histone modifications, non-coding RNAs, and DNA methylation. This review will highlight what is currently known about the phenotypic associations of epigenetic modifications in pediatric OSA and will emphasize the importance of epigenetic changes as both modulators of chronic disease and potential therapeutic targets.

African indigenous herbs and medicinal plants are extensively reported for their protective and therapeutic potential against Diabetes. However, most of the constituent phytochemicals that may account for the therapeutic activity are largely uninvestigated. Exploring novel phytochemical–target interactions in silico could help to provide useful insights into the mechanism underpinning the biological activities of these plants and their constituent phytochemicals. The aim of this study was to explore the interactions of terpene struc-tures previously reported from selected African antidiabetic with two emerging drug targets in diabetes. Structure-based virtual screening was used to screen 107 terpene structures against DPP-4 and PTP1B enzymes. The MD simulation, MM-GBSA free energy calculation and DFT were used to clarify the inter-actions of the in silico hits with the target enzymes. Molecular docking, post-docking Prime MM-GBSA analysis revealed the top terpenes with high binding affinity with the active site regions of DPP-4 and PTP1B. Ensemble docking revealed three triterpenes viz: cucurbitacin B (T1), 6-Oxoisoiguesterin (T4) and 20-Epi-isoiguesterinol (T2) as in silico hits which exhibit strong interaction potential with critical residues that define the catalytic triad (Ser630 and His740); oxyanion cavity (Ser631); hydrophobic S1 pocket (Tyr662) and the charged S2 pocket (Arg125) in the active site region of DPP-4. The interactions of these compounds with DPP-4 exhibited structural stability and conformational flexibility during 100 ns full atomistic MD simulation as indicated by the structure dynamics parameters including RMSD, RoG, SASA and hydrogen bond number. The post-MD MM/GBSA calculations further revealed the stability of the triterpene-DPP-4 complexes. Furthermore, Frontier molecular orbital calculations showed that, the triterpenes possess high interaction potential with the enzyme. The triterpenes showed desirable ADMET properties and drug-likeness. Therefore, cucurbitacin B, 6-Oxoisoiguesterin and 20-Epi-isoiguesterinol are recommended for experimental validation.

A new set of basis functions is presented. The foundation in mathematics is established. To reconstruct a signal, it is compared to the Fourier basis functions. The M-basis functions' potential applications are also presented.

In this work, anchoring of cinchona derivatives to trifunctional cores (hub approach) was demonstrated to obtain size-enlarged organocatalysts. By modifying the cinchona skeleton in different positions, we prepared four C3-symmetric size-enlarged cinchona derivatives (hub-cinchonas), which were tested as organocatalysts and their catalytic activities were compared with the parent cinchona (hydroquinine) catalyst. We showed that in the hydroxyalkylation reaction of indole, hydroquinine provides good enantioselectivities (up to 73% ee), while the four new size-enlarged derivatives gave significantly lower values (up to 29% ee) in this reaction. Anchoring cinchonas to trifunctional cores was found to facilitate nanofiltration-supported catalyst recovery using PolarClean alternative solvent. The C3-symmetric size-enlarged organocatalysts were completely rejected by all the applied membranes, whereas the separation of hydroquinine was found to be insufficient using organic solvent nanofiltration. Furthermore, the asymmetric catalysis was successfully demonstrated in the case of Michael reaction of 1,3-diketones and trans-β-nitrostyrene using Hub3-cinchona (up to 96% ee) as a result of the positive effect of the C3-symmetric structure using a bulkier substrate. This means an increased selectivity of the catalyst in comparison to hydroquinine in the latter Michael reaction.

Gastric perforations and leaks are significant complications that can arise from various gastrointestinal disorders and surgical interventions. Over the past decade, endoscopic techniques have emerged as effective method for managing these conditions. Furthermore, as endoscopic resection techniques have grown in popularity, the risk of acute and delayed perforations has also grown. This review aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the endoscopic management strategies employed in the management of gastric perforations and leaks. We will discuss the etiology, diagnostic modalities, and various endoscopic techniques utilized, and emerging trends in endoscopic management. Our attempt in writing this review paper is to educate and guide clinicians in making informed decisions when faced with gastric perforations and leaks.

In this paper, we first define the concepts of r-fuzzy soft α-open (semi-open and δ-open) sets on fuzzy soft topological spaces based on the article Aygunoglu et al. (Hacet. J. Math. Stat., 43 (2014), 193-208), and the relations of these sets with each other are established. In addition, we introduce the concepts of fuzzy soft δ-closure (δ-interior) operators, and study some properties of them. Also, the concept of r-fuzzy soft δ-connected sets is introduced and studied with help of fuzzy soft δ-closure operators. Thereafter, we define the concepts of fuzzy soft α-continuous (β-continuous, semi-continuous, pre-continuous and δ-continuous) functions, which are weaker forms of fuzzy soft continuity, and some properties of these functions along with their mutual relationships are discussed. Moreover, a decomposition of fuzzy soft α-continuity and a decomposition of fuzzy soft semi-continuity is obtained. Finally, as a weaker form of a fuzzy soft continuity, the concepts of fuzzy soft almost (weakly) continuous functions are defined, and some properties are specified. Additionally, we explore the notion of continuity in a very general setting called, fuzzy soft (L, M, N, O)-continuous functions and a historical justification is introduced.

Cadmium telluride (CdTe), a metallic dichalcogenide material, has been utilized as an absorber layer for thin film-based solar cells with appropriate configurations, and the SCAPS-1D structures program has been used to evaluate the results. In both known and developing thin film photovoltaic systems, a CdS thin film buffer layer has been frequently employed as a traditional n-type heterojunction partner. In this study, numerical simulation was used to find a suitable non-toxic material for the buffer layer instead of CdS, among various types of buffer layers (ZnSe, ZnO, ZnS, and In2S3), and carrier concentrations for the absorber layer (NA) and buffer layer (ND) were varied to determine the optimal simulation parameters. carrier concentrations (NA from 2 x 1012 cm-3 to 2 x 1017 cm-3 and ND from 1 x 1016 cm-3 to 1 x 1022 ??−3) have been differed. The results showed that the CdS as buffer layer based CdTe absorber layer solar cell has the highest efficiency (?%) of 17.43%. Furthermore, high conversion efficiencies of 17.42% and 16.27% have been found for ZnSe and ZnO based buffer layers, respectively. As a result, ZnO and ZnSe are potential candidates for replacing the CdS buffer layer in thin-film solar cells. Here, the absorber (CdTe) and buffer (ZnSe) layers were chosen to improve the efficiency by finding the optimal density of the carrier concentration (acceptor and donor). The simulation findings above provide helpful recommendations for fabricating high-efficiency metal oxide-based solar cells in the lab.

This paper presents an advanced microstructural analysis of the AlSiMg, Ti64 and N700 powders used for additive manufacturing. The internal microstructure of the regular and irregular powder grains were characterized down to atomic resolution by using scanning electron microscopy and high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy.The accretionary forms on top of the irregular AlSiMg powder grains exhibit a slightly coarse microstructure with a network of eutectic Si consisting of nano-crystallites, suggestinga slower cooling than the grain itself that contain a predominately amorphous Si network. A nm thin amorphous C layer on the surface of some Ti64 plasma atomized powder grains promoted the attachment of satellites and growth of envelopes. In case of gas atomized N700 powder grains, we identified thin oxide and carbon amorphous layers as well as metal segregations at the interface between the grain body and the accretionary forms.

This work presents updated reconstructions of watershed runoff to San Francisco Estuary from tree-ring data to AD 903, coupled with models relating runoff to freshwater flow to the estuary and salinity intrusion. We characterize pre-development freshwater flow and salinity conditions in the estuary over the past millennium and compare this characterization with contemporary conditions to better understand the magnitude and seasonality of changes over this time. This work shows that the instrumented flow record spans the range of runoff patterns over the past millennium (averaged over five, ten, twenty and one hundred years), and thus serves as a reasonable basis for planning-level evaluations of historical hydrologic conditions in the estuary. Over annual timescales we show that, although median freshwater flow to the estuary has not changed significantly, it has been more variable over the past century compared to pre-development flow conditions. We further show that the contemporary period is generally associated with greater spring salinity intrusion and lesser summer-fall salinity intrusion relative to the pre-development period. Thus, salinity intrusion in summer and fall months was a common occurrence under pre-development conditions and has been moderated in the contemporary period due to the operations of upstream reservoirs, which were designed to hold winter and spring runoff for release in summer and fall. This work also confirms a dramatic decadal-scale hydrologic shift in the watershed from very wet to very dry conditions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; while not unprecedented, these shifts have been seen only a few times in the past millennium. This shift resulted in an increase in salinity intrusion in the first three decades of the 20th century, as documented through early records. Population growth and extensive watershed modification during this period exacerbated this underlying hydrologic shift. Putting this shift in the context of other anthropogenic drivers is important in understanding the historical response of the estuary and in setting salinity targets for estuarine restoration. By characterizing the long-term behavior of San Francisco Estuary, this work supports decision-making in the State of California related to flow and salinity management for restoration of the estuarine ecosystem.

This study reports the synthesis and characterization of novel per-fluorinated organic polymers with azo- and azomethine-based linkers using nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The polymers reveal variations in the fluorine content via the incorporation of decafluorobiphenyl and hexafluorobenzene linkers, which enhanced their hydrophobic nature. The rich fluorine polymers were slightly soluble in THF and have shown molecular weights between 4886 to 11948 g/mol. All polymers exhibit thermal stability in the range of 350-500°C, with varying thermal stability depending on the fluorine and nitrogen content. Conjugation of the polymers was confirmed through changes in the UV-Vis spectra, with a hypsochromic shift observed in all cases, more pronounced in azo-based fluorinated chains due to H-bonding on the nitrogen sites, chain conformations, and planarity. The optical band gap (Eg) of the polymers was determined from the UV-Vis data, with the Eg values of the azo-based fluorinated polymers being 1 eV higher than those of their corresponding linkers. The cross-linking formation was characterized by porosity measurements, with the azo-based polymer exhibiting the highest surface area of 770 m²/g with a pore volume of 0.35 cm³/g, while the open-chain azomethine-based polymer exhibited the lowest surface area of 285 m²/g with a pore volume of 0.0872 cm³/g. Porous structures with varied hydrophobicities were investigated as adsorbents for separating water-benzene and water-phenol mixtures and selectively binding methane/carbon dioxide gases from the air. The most hydrophobic polymers containing the decafluorbiphenyl linker were suitable for benzene separation, while the best methane uptake values were 6.14 and 3.46 mg/g for DAB-Z-1O and DAB-A-1O, respectively. DAB-Z-1h, with the highest surface area and rich in nitrogen sites, exhibited the highest CO₂ uptake at 298 K (17.25).

Eyes are quintessential complex traits and our understanding of their evolution guides models of trait evolution in general. A long-standing account of eye evolution argues natural selection favors morphological variations that allow increased functionality for sensing light (Darwin 1859; v. Salvini-Plawen and Mayr 1977; Nilsson and Pelger 1994; Nilsson 2013). While certainly true in part, this focus on visual performance does not entirely explain why diffuse photosensitivity persists even after eyes evolve, or why eyes evolved many times, each time using similar building blocks. Here we briefly review a vast literature indicating most genetic components of eyes historically responded to stress caused directly by light, including UV damage of DNA, oxidative stress, and production of aldehydes. We propose light-induced stress had a direct and prominent role in the evolution of eyes by bringing together genes to repair and prevent damage from light-stress, both before and during the evolution of eyes themselves. Stress-repair and stress-prevention genes were perhaps originally deployed as plastic responses to light and/or as beneficial mutations genetically driving expression where light was prominent. These stress-response genes sense, shield, and refract light but only as reactions to ongoing light stress. Once under regulatory-genetic control, they could be expressed before light stress appeared, evolve as a module, and be influenced by natural selection to increase functionality for sensing light, ultimately leading to complex eyes and behaviors. Recognizing the potentially prominent role of stress in eye evolution invites discussions of plasticity and assimilation and provides a hypothesis for why similar genes are repeatedly used in convergent eyes. Broadening the drivers of eye evolution encourages consideration of multi-faceted mechanisms of plasticity/assimilation and mutation/selection for complex novelties and innovations in general.

Is the amount of “greenness” within a 250-meter, 500-meter, 1000-meter or a 2000-meter buffer surrounding a person’s home a good predictor of their physical health? The evidence is inconclusive. We reviewed Web of Science articles that used geographic information systems buffer analyses to identify trends between physical health, greenness, and distance within which greenness is measured. Our inclusion criteria were: (1) use of buffers to estimate residential greenness; (2) statistical analyses that calculated significance of the greenness-physical health relationship; and (3) peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2007 and 2017. To capture multiple findings from a single article, we selected our unit of inquiry as the analysis, not the article. Our final sample included 260 analyses in 47 articles. All aspects of the review were in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Analyses were independently judged as more, less, or least likely to be biased based on the inclusion of objective health measures and income/education controls. We found evidence that larger buffer sizes, up to 2,000m, better predicted physical health than smaller ones. We recommend that future analyses use nested rather than overlapping buffers to evaluate to what extent greenness not immediately around a person’s home (i.e., within 1,000-2,000m) predicts physical health.

We have investigated the antiferromagnetic phase transition in the frustrated and multiferroic hexagonal manganites $h$-(Y$_{0.98}$ Eu$_{0.02}$)MnO$_3$ (YEMO) and $h$-YMnO$_3$ (YMO). Elastic neutron scattering has been used to study in detail the phase transition in YMO and YEMO in zero pressure and in YMO at a hydrostatic pressure of 1.5~GPa. In zero pressure, we find the critical temperature $T_{\rm N} = 72.11(5)$~K and 71.3(1)~K and the critical exponent $\beta = 0.206(3)$ and 0.22(2), for YEMO and YMO, respectively. This is in agreement with earlier work by Roessli {\em et al.}. In applied hydrostatic pressure of 1.5~GPa, the ordering temperature increases to $T_{\rm N} = 75.2(5)$~K, in agreement with earlier reports, while $\beta$ is unchanged. Inelastic neutron scattering was used to determine the anisotropy spin wave gap at the phase transition, expected from spin wave theory to close with a critical exponent $\beta'$ identical to the one of the order parameter, $\beta' = \beta$. Our results indicate that the gap in YEMO indeed closes at $T_{\rm N}=72.4(3)$~K with $\beta' = 0.24(2)$, while the in-pressure gap in YMO closes at 75.2(5)~K with an exponent of $\beta' =0.19(3)$. In addition, the low-temperature anisotropy gap was found to have a slightly higher absolute value under pressure. The consistent values obtained for $\beta$ in the two systems support the likelihood of a new universality class for triangular, frustrated antiferromagnets.

Background: As the only place in a store where all customers must pass through and wait, the checkout lane may be particularly influential over consumer purchases. Because most foods and beverages sold at checkout are unhealthy (e.g., candy/sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and salty snacks), policymakers and advocates have expressed growing interest in healthy checkout policies. To understand the extent to which such policies could improve nutrition equity, we as-sessed the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of purchasing items from checkout. Methods: We assessed self-reported checkout purchasing and sociodemographic characteristics in a national convenience sample of adults (n=10,348) completing an online survey in 2021. Re-sults: Over one-third (36%) of participants reported purchasing foods or drinks from checkout during their last grocery shopping trip. Purchasing items from checkout was more common among men; adults <55 years of age; low-income consumers; Hispanic, non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black consumers; those with at least a bachelor’s degree; parents; and consumers diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (p-values<0.05). Conclusions: Purchasing foods or beverages from store checkouts is common and more prevalent among low-income and racial and ethnic minority groups. These results suggest that healthy checkout policies have the potential to improve nutrition equity.

Evolutionary psychology theories propose that contact with green, natural environments may benefit physical health, but little comparable evidence exists for brown, natural environments, such as the desert. In this study, we examined the association between “brownness” and “greenness” with fasting glucose among young residents of El Paso, Texas. We defined brownness as the surface not covered by vegetation or impervious land within Euclidian buffers around participants’ homes. Fasting glucose along with demographic and behavioral data was obtained from the Nurse Engagement and Wellness Study (N = 517). We found that residential proximity to brownness was not associated with fasting glucose when modeled independently. In contrast, we found that residential greenness was associated with decreased levels of fasting glucose, despite the relatively low levels of greenness within the predominantly desert environment of El Paso. A difference between the top and bottom greenness exposure quartiles within a 250 m buffer was associated with a 3.5 mg/dL decrease in fasting glucose levels (95% confidence interval: -6.2, -0.8). Our results suggest that within the understudied context of the desert, green vegetation may be health-promoting to a degree that is similar to other, non-desert locations in the world that have higher baselines levels of green.

Software engineering is a comprehensive process that requires developers and team members to collaborate across multiple tasks. In software testing, bug triaging is a tedious and time-consuming process. Assigning bugs to the appropriate developers can save time and maintain their motivation. However, without knowledge about a bug's class, triaging is difficult. Motivated by this challenge, this paper focuses on the problem of assigning the suitable developer to new bug by analyzing the history of developers’ profiles and analyzing history of bugs for all developers using machine learning-based recommender systems. Explainable AI (XAI) is AI that humans can understand. It contrasts with "black box" AI, which even its designers can't explain. By providing appropriate explanations for results, users can better comprehend the underlying insight behind the outcomes, boosting the recommender system's effectiveness, transparency, and confidence. In this paper, we propose two explainable models for recommendation. The first one is an explainable recommender model for personalized developers generated from bug history to know what the preferred type of bug is for each developer. The second model is an explainable recommender model based on bugs to generate the best developer for each bug from bug history.

This study measures key indicators of perceived precarity and decent working conditions and their relative effects on life satisfaction of workers in small and medium-sized enterprises. Using a random sample survey, we interviewed 103 workers in four districts of Sylhet division in Bangladesh. Utilizing Smart PLS application for structural equation modeling, we iterated the samples 1000 times which resulted in a new sample size standing at 499. We used a Likert-type five-point scaling technique, with appropriate items related to the latent constructs of the model, for path analysis. We found perceived precariousness has the highest causal relations with a path coefficient of 0.706 with social dialogue (an indicator of decent working conditions) followed by 0.539 with working hour issue, 0.345 with life satisfaction and 0.301 with the unacceptable work issue. The importance-performance map analysis confirms that perceived precarity is the most critical construct for worker’s life satisfaction. Thus, in a ceteris paribus situation, an increase of one point in the performance on the perceived precarity is expected to increase in the performance on the life satisfaction by a total effect level of 0.428. Therefore, we recommend further attention should be paid by the policymakers to the issue of consciousness of the precarity at the workplace for a better life satisfaction of workers.

Cariogenic oral biofilms cause a considerable amount of recurrent dental caries around composite restorations every year, resulting in unprosperous oral health status and expensive restorative treatment for many patients. Quaternary ammonium monomers that can be copolymerized with the current dental resin systems have been increasingly explored for modulation of dental plaque biofilm growth over dental composite surfaces. Here, we investigated the effect of bis(2-methacryloyloxyethyl) dimethylammonium bromide (QADM), against human overlying mature oral biofilms grown intra-orally in human participants for 7 and 14 days, for the first time. Seventeen volunteers wore palatal devices containing composite specimens containing 10% by mass of QADM or a control composite without QADM. After 7 and 14 days, the adherent biofilms were collected for determination of bacterial counts via colony-forming unit (CFU) counts. The biofilm viability, chronological changes, and percentage coverage were also determined by live/dead staining. QADM composites caused a significant inhibition of S. mutans biofilm formation for up to seven days. No difference in the CFU values were found for the 14-day period. Our findings suggest that (1) QADM composite was successful in inhibiting 1-3 day biofilms in the oral environment in vivo; (2) QADM significantly reduced the portion of S.mutans group in a time course where patients at high risk of caries would develop initial enamel carious lesions; and (3) stronger antibiofilm activity is required for the control of mature long-term cariogenic biofilms. These results provide a perspective on the value of integrating bioactive restorative materials with traditional caries management approaches into clinical practice. Contact-killing strategies via dental materials aiming to prevent or at least reduce high numbers of cariogenic bacteria seem to be a promising approach in patients at high risk of recurrence of dental caries around composites.

The treatment of the bulky Rind-based dibromosilanes, (Rind)2SiBr2 (2) [Rind = 1,1,7,7-tetra-R1-3,3,5,5-tetra-R2-s-hydrindacen-4-yl: EMind (a: R1 = Et, R2 = Me) and Eind (b: R1 = R2 = Et)], with two equivalents of tBuLi in Et2O at low temperatures resulted in the formation of blue solutions derived from the diarylsilylenes, (Rind)2Si: (3). Upon warming the solutions above −20 °C, the blue color gradually faded, accompanying the decomposition of 3 and yielding the cyclic hydrosilanes (4) via intramolecular C−H bond insertion at the Si(II) center. The molecular structures of the bulky Eind-based 3b and 4b were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Thus, at −20 °C, blue crystals were formed (Crystal-A), which were identified as mixed crystals of 3b and 4b. Additionally, colorless crystals of 4b as a singular component were isolated (Crystal-B), whose structure was also determined by an X-ray diffraction analysis. Although the isolation of 3 was difficult due to their thermally-labile nature, their structural characteristics and electronic properties were discussed based on the experimental findings complemented by computational results. We also examined the hydrolysis of 3b to afford the silanol, (Eind)2SiH(OH) (5b).

The human landscape transforming activity contributes to the global change of vegetation in different forms. Hunting is one of the most ancient human landscape-shaping activities. Feeders for hunting are particularly disruptive to vegetation. In the present study, we conducted a vegetation survey in these highly disturbed places. We are investigating the vegetation dynamics over several years in in the turkey oak–sessile oak zone, in two areas with different moisture and shade conditions (forest and clearing). One important background factor is changes in precipitation and temperature. The novelty of our present study lies in the fact that the observation takes place with continuous disturbance, where the human influence is very large. Our results confirm that the weed infestation be detectable at bait sites over a long period, and the interannual changes were typical in every year, according to the fact that in August, more weed species are usually present with a greater cover at the bait sites. The main meteorological factors played a role in the degree of weed infestation in each year. There was a higher proportion of vegetation regeneration in wetter years, while dry periods do not favor successional processes. With the drying of the climate, the disturbed areas are constantly losing their natural value, but wetter weather is not an automatic solution either. A more precise understanding of vulnerable systems and careful planning of treatment interventions is necessary.

The misuse of antibiotics during the last decades led to the emergence of multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria. This phenomenon constitutes a major public health issue. Consequently, the discovery of new antibacterials in the short term is crucial. Colicins, due to their antibacterial properties, thus constitute good candidates. These toxin proteins, produced by E. coli to kill enteric relative competitors, exhibit cytotoxicity through ionophoric activity or essential macromolecule degradation. Among the 25-colicin types known to date, colicin M (ColM) is the only one colicin interfering with peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Accordingly, ColM develops its lethal activity in E. coli periplasm by hydrolyzing the last peptidoglycan precursor, lipid II, into two dead-end products, thereby leading to cell lysis. Since the discovery of its unusual mode of action, several ColM orthologs have also been identified based on sequence alignments; all of the characterized ColM-like proteins display the same enzymatic activity of lipid II degradation and narrow antibacterial spectra. This publication aims at being an exhaustive review about what is currently known on this new family of antibacterial enzymes as well as on their potential use of food preservatives or therapeutic agents.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an extremely rare vascular sarcoma with variable aggressive clinical behavior. In this retrospective study we aimed to investigate prognostic factors based on clinicopathologic findings in a molecular/immunohistochemical confirmed nationwide multicenter cohort of 57 EHE. Patients had unifocal disease (n=29), multifocal disease (n=5), lymph node metastasis (n=8) and/or distant metastasis (n=15) at the time of diagnosis. The overall survival rate was 69.6% at 1 year and 50.5% at 5 years. Survival did not correlate with sex, age or histo-pathological parameters. No survival differences were observed between multifocal and metastatic disease suggesting that multifocality represents early metastases and treatment options are limited in comparison to unifocal disease. In unifocal tumors, survival could be predicted using the risk stratification model of Shibayama et al. dividing the cases into low (n=4), intermediate (n=15) and high (n=3) risk-groups. Larger tumor size (>3cm) and higher mitotic count (>1/10HPF) was asso-ciated with progressive unifocal disease course. Lymph node metastases at time of diagnosis oc-curred in 14.0% of the cases and was mainly associated with tumor localization in the head and neck area proposing lymph node dissection. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the aggressive behavior of EHE, emphasize the prognostic value of a previous described risk stratification model and may provide new insights regarding tumor focality, therapeutic strategies and prognosis.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with metabolic dysfunction, particularly in those with increased risk factors. Artificial sweeteners (AS) are often promoted as a healthier alternative, yet findings remain conflicting as to their effects on metabolic function. Further, there is a lack of data exploring the interaction between AS and high-fat diets (HFD). We therefore examined the effects of HFD and the AS Acesulfame-potassium (Ace-K) on glucose intolerance and adipose tissue physiology in male and female C57BL/6 mice. 40 mice were randomised to receive either a) a control diet (CDCon; standard control diet/water), b) control diet and Ace-k (CDAS; CD/7.5mM AS in drinking water), c) HFD (HFCon; HFD (45%kcal from fat)/water), or d) HF and AS (HFAS; HFD/7.5mM AS in drinking water) for 6 weeks. A HFD increased body weight in male and female mice independently of AS supplementation. AS induced sex-specific effects protecting against HFD-induced hyperglycaemia and adipocyte hypertrophy in male mice and reducing inflammatory gene expression in the adipose tissue. Conversely in females, AS induced hyperinsulinemia in HFD mice and increased expression of immune-related genes. These findings suggest that supplementation of HFD with AS exacerbates metabolic dysfunction in female mice. This work supports the importance of studying sexually dimorphic responses to an altered nutritional environment and highlights the need for further investigation into the intake of AS, particularly in those already at risk of metabolic disease such as the obese or overweight.

Transplant oncology is a relatively new field in which transplantation is used to treat patients who would otherwise be unresectable. New anticancer treatment paradigms using tumor and transplant immunology and cancer immunogenomics are emerging. In turn, liver transplantation (LT) has become a potential therapy for certain patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) with liver metastasis, hepatocellular (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), and metastatic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) to the liver. Although there are established criteria for LT in HCC, the evidence regarding LT as a treatment modality for certain gastrointestinal malignancies is still debated. The aim of this review is to highlight updates in the role of LT for certain malignancies, including HCC, metastatic CRC, hilar CCA, and neuroendocrine tumor (NET), as well as contextualize LT use and discuss controversies in transplant oncology.

The healthcare sector in Kuwait has been nurtured for many decades by the government where the Ministry of Health (MoH) controls up to 80 percent of the country’s health services. General and specialized public hospitals represent a significant proportion of health expenditures in Kuwait; amidst dwindling health resources, a declining global oil market in an oil-dependent welfare state, and a heavy reliance on a non-national clinical workforce. Although healthcare services in public sector hospitals are at highly subsidized rates, causing private sector involvement in healthcare to be considerably low, the growing demands for private delivery of care burgeoned participation of private hospitals in Kuwait, and improving hospital efficiency and productivity is more critical and timelier than ever. This paper aims to analyze public health system efficiency and hospital performance in the State of Kuwait, where we begin by evaluating the input-oriented technical efficiency (TE) of MoH hospitals in 2015-2019 and identifying potential areas for efficiency improvement by exploring influencing institutional and environmental factors. Over the five years between 2015 and 2019, TE in MoH hospitals has decreased by an average of 2.98% solely based on technical regress, where the six MoH general hospitals reported a pooled mean efficiency of 86.58%, and the nine sampled MoH specialized hospitals had a five-year pooled average of 65.47% efficiency. MoH policymakers should focus on improving allocative efficiency in the public health system, and healthcare policy reforms should focus on strengthening management structures in Kuwait’s public hospitals to improve production efficiency and financial sustainability.

Two experiments were conducted to develop a Nano green manganese and assess its effect on grapevines. The first experiment was microbiological, where several incorporation strategies were utilized to enrich the yeast with manganese, as follows: (1) adding manganese to the liquid medium (growth phase), (2) adding after 24 h of incubation (non-growth phase). As the results, growth phase reduced the possibility of medium contamination. Manganese concentration in the yeast cells was increased as that of manganese sulphate in the medium. Manganese incorporation in yeast cells was 99.93% higher than that of the medium at 0.0195 g/l of manganese. Although the concentration of manganese in the medium raised the OD of yeast cell biomass, manganese sulphate had no passive influence on it. The second experiment was horticultural, done on Flame Seedless grapevines, since both active fresh and frozen yeast enriched with manganese resulted from the first experiment were sprayed twice a year at 10 or 20 cm3/l comparing with manganese sulphate, and manganese chelate. The results demonstrated that yeast extracts in both forms increased the yield and improved fruit properties. The most effective treatment on vegetative growth, yield and fruit properties was the frozen yeast enriched with manganese at 20 cm3/l.

Metal powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) builds metal parts layer by layer upon a substrate material. The strength of this interface between substrate and printed material is important to characterize, especially in applications where the substrate is retained and included in the finished part. This paper studied the tensile and torsional strengths of wrought and additively manufactured (through PBF) SS316L and compared them to specimens composed of half wrought material and half PBF material. The PBF specimens consistently exhibited higher strength and lower ductility than the wrought specimens. The hybrid PBF/wrought specimens performed similarly to the wrought material. In no specimens did any failure appear to occur at or near the interface between wrought substrate and PBF material. In addition, most of the deformation in the PBF/wrought specimens appeared to be limited to the wrought portion of the specimens. These results are consistent with microscopy showing smaller grain size in the PBF material, which often leads to increased strength in SS316L due to the Hall-Petch relationship.

In situ aircraft observations in typhoons have been scarce. This paper documents and analyses the aircraft and dropsonde data collected in Super Typhoon Saola (2023) over the northern part of the South China Sea. The wind and turbulence structures of the typhoon are investigated. The turbulence intensities are quantified in terms of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and eddy dissipate rate (EDR), and these data are compared with other available estimates of turbulence intensities, such as those based on weather radars, meteorological satellites, and numerical weather predic-tion (NWP) models. It is found that the TKE and EDR are closely correlated, and they are con-sistent with the weather radar/satellite observations as well as NWP-based outputs. Furthermore, the boundary layer inflow, vertical wind profiles, and atmospheric stability are analysed based on the dropsonde observations. The analysed results would advance the understanding of typhoon structures and offer references for the validation of remote sensing observations and NWP models.

We describe the innate and adaptive immune system trajectory in Multi-system inflammatory syndrome of childhood (MIS-C), at acute(within 72 hours of hospitalization), resolution (at clinical improvement) and convalescent phase. In our cohort, in the acute phase, 68% of the children were SARS-CoV-2 seropositive, with hypercytokinenemia (high interleukin(IL)-1beta,IL-6,IL-8,IL-10,IL-17, interferon gamma), procoagulant state, myocardial dysfunction, activated neutrophils and monocytes; differential T and B cell subset lymphopenia; activated chemokine receptor type-7 positive and gamma-delta T cell subsets; antigen presenting cells had reduced HLA-DR expression; and B-cell class-switch responses occurred with illness resolution. MIS-C is an immunopathogenic illness associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections in children.

In this paper a full state feedback control of a double inverted pendulum on a cart (DIPC) are designed and compared. Modeling is based on Euler-Lagrange equations derived by specifying a Lagrangian, difference between kinetic and potential energy of the DIPC system. A full state feedback control with H infinity and H 2 is addressed. Two approaches are tested: open loop impulse response and a double inverted pendulum on a cart with full state feedback H infinity and H 2 controllers. Simulations reveal superior performance of the double inverted pendulum on a cart with full state feedback H infinity controller.

In this work, we develop a self-consistent physical model of bubbles in a gas solid two-phase flow. Using the Peng-Robonson state equation and a detailed specific heat ratio equation of bubbles, we obtain the kinetic equations of the bubbles on the basis of the Ergun equation, thermodynamic equations, and kinetic equations. It is found that the specific heat ratio of bubbles in such systems strongly depends on bubble pressures and temperatures, which play an important role in the characteristics of the bubbles. The theoretical studies show that with increasing height in the systems, the gas flow rate shows a downward trend. Moreover, the larger particles in the gas solid flows are, the greater the gas velocity is. The bubble sizes increase with the increasing heights of the gas solid systems, and then decrease. The bubble velocity is affected by the gas velocity and the bubble size, which gradually increase and eventually quasi-stabilize. This shows that gas and solid phases in a gas solid two-phase flow interact with each other and a self-consistent system comes into being. The theoretical results have exhibited important value as a guide for understanding the properties and effects of bubbles in gas solid two-phase flows.

The narrow process window during intercritical annealing and discontinuous yielding have limited the commercialisation of medium Mn steels. In this study, a double annealing process based on the commercial continuous annealing line is proposed. The cold-rolled medium Mn steels were first fully austenitized and quenched during the first annealing, followed by the intercritical annealing for reverted austenite transformation. The microstructure of duplex lath-shaped austenite and ferrite is produced and the steel exhibit a desirable continuous yielding during tensile deformation. Al is added into the medium Mn steel to enlarge the process window and to improve partitioning efficiency of Mn. The produced steel is more robust with temperature fluctuation during the industrial process due to the enlarged intercritical region. Mn partitioning is more efficient owing to elevated annealing temperature, which results in the improvement of ductility in the Al-added steel with increased austenite stability.

Using the h-index to assess individual researchers is not only unethical and unfair but also inaccurate and misleading. This index fails to offer a reliable measure of a researcher's impact based on their citation scores. Beyond statistical and conceptual considerations, authorship practices, especially in the case of multi-authored publications, give rise to significant problems that often go unnoticed. While some modifications of the h-index have been proposed to mitigate these weaknesses, the fundamental deficiencies persist. Most of these flaws have been effectively addressed by the c-score, a composite citation index. The c-score excludes self-citations, normalizes the number of citations by considering the number of authors in each paper, and takes into account first, single, and last authorship. This approach provides a more realistic measure of the impact of each individual researcher based on raw citations.

In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results. As a result of this content mining, 688,112 results from 50,845 articles were extracted. In order to provide a comprehensive set of data, the statistical results are supplemented with metadata from the article they originate from. The dataset is provided in a comma separated file (CSV) in long-format. For each of the 688,112 results, 20 variables are included, of which seven are article metadata and 13 pertain to the individual statistical results (e.g., reported and recalculated p-value). A five-pronged approach was taken to generate the dataset: (i) collect journal lists, (ii) spider journal pages for articles, (iii) download articles, (iv) add article metadata, and (v) mine articles for statistical results.

In this paper, we investigate a new $q$-analogue of the higher order degenerate Changhee polynomials and numbers, which are called the Witt-type formula for the $q$-analogue of degenerate Changhee polynomials of order $r$. We can derive some new interesting identities related to the degenerate $(h,q)$-Changhee polynomials and numbers.

In this paper, we investigate a new $q$-analogue of the higher order degenerate Changhee polynomials and numbers, which are called the Witt-type formula for the $q$-analogue of degenerate Changhee polynomials of order $r$. We can derive some new interesting identities related to the degenerate $(h,q)$-Changhee polynomials and numbers.

The fitting and modeling of skewed, complex, symmetric, and asymmetric datasets is an exciting research topic in many fields of applied sciences, notably lifetime, medical, and financial sciences. The Heavy tailed Nadarajah Haghighi model is introduced by compounding the heavy tailed family and Nadarajah Haghighi distribution in this paper. The so obtained model has three parameters accounting for the scale and shape of the distribution. The proposed distribution's fundamental characteristics such as probability density, cumulative distribution, hazard rate, and survival functions are provided, and several key statistical properties are established, and several entropy information measures are proposed. The estimation of model parameter is performed via the ML procedure. Further, different simulation experiments are conducted to demonstrate the performance of proposed estimator’s using some measure, like the average estimate, the average bias, and associated mean square error. Finally, we are applied our proposed model to analyze three different real datasets. In our illustration, we are compared the practicality of the recommended model with several well-known competing models.

Primary energy consumption is one of the key drivers of global CO₂ emissions that, in turn, heavily depend on the efficiency of involved technologies. Either the improvement in technology efficiency or the expansion of non-fossil fuel consumption require large investments. The planning and financing of such investments, by policy makers or global energy firms, require, in turn, reliable measures of associated global spreads and their evolution in time. In this paper, our main contribution is the introduction of index measures for accessing global spreads (that is, measures of inequality or inhomogeneity in the statistical distribution of a related quantity of interest) of technology efficiency and CO₂ emission in primary energy consumption. These indexes are based on the Gini index, as used in economical sciences, and generalised entropy measures. Regarding primary energy sources, we consider petroleum, coal, natural gas and non-fossil fuels. Between our findings, we attest some stable relations in the evolution of global spreads of technology efficiency and CO₂ emission, and a positive relation between changes in global spreads of technology efficiency and use of non-fossil fuel.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, and despite advances in treatment, survival rates are still low; therefore, the development of novel drugs is imperative. Acetylcorynoline (ACN) is derived from Corydalis ambigua. The effect of ACN on colon cancer is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated its potential effects. Our data showed that ACN inhibited cell viability and proliferation. Moreover, ACN induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by inhibiting cell growth. In the present study, we hypothesized that ACN regulates c-Myc through CNOT2 or MID1IP1. ACN reduced the protein expression of oncogenic genes, decreased c-Myc half-life, and rapidly inhibited the serum stimulation response. Moreover, knockdown of CNOT2 and MID1IP1 with ACN increased apoptosis and further reduced the expression of oncogenes. In addition, ACN exhibited a synergistic effect with low-dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and doxorubicin (Dox). Collectively, our data demonstrates that ACN inhibited c-Myc expression through CNOT2 and MID1IP1 and induced apoptosis. These findings indicate the potential of ACN as a therapeutic agent against colon cancer.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with hyperspectral imagers have emerged as an essential technology for the characterization of inland water bodies. The high spectral and spatial resolutions of these systems enable the retrieval of a plethora of optically-active water quality parameters via band ratio algorithms and machine learning methods. However, fitting and validating these models requires access to sufficient quantities of in situ reference data which are time-consuming and expensive to obtain. In this study, we demonstrate how the Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM), a Bayesian realization of the Self-organizing Map, can be used to visualize high-dimensional hyperspectral imagery and extract spectral signatures corresponding to unique endmembers present in the water. Using data collected across a North Texas pond, we first apply the GTM to visualize the distribution of captured reflectance spectra revealing small-scale spatial variability of water composition. Next, we demonstrate how the nodes of the fitted GTM can be interpreted as unique spectral endmembers. Using extracted endmembers together with the normalized spectral similarity score, we are able to efficiently map the abundance of near shore algae as well as the evolution of a rhodamine tracer dye used to simulate water contamination by a localized source.

This paper discusses a passive control issue for Nonlinear Time-Varying (NTV) systems subject to stability and attenuation performance. Based on the modeling approaches of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model and the Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) model, a Parameter-Dependent Polynomial Fuzzy (PDPF) model is constructed to represent the NTV systems. According to Parallel Distributed Compensation (PDC) concept, a parameter-dependent polynomial fuzzy controller is built to achieve robust stability and passivity of PDPF model. Furthermore, the passive theory is applied to achieve the performance constraining the disturbance effect on the PDPF systems. To develop the stability criteria, by introducing a parameter-dependent polynomial Lyapunov function, one can derive some stability conditions which belong to the term of Sum-Of-Squares (SOS) form. Based on the Lyapunov function, two stability criteria are proposed to design the corresponding PDPF controller such that the NTV system is robustly stable and passive. Finally, a numerical example is applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed stability criterion.

Contamination of the environment with nano- and microplastic particles exerts a threatened impact on the aquatic ecosystems and sustainable catfish aquaculture. The presence of nanoplastics has been found to have a detrimental impact on both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The present study examines the effect of polystyrene nanoplastics on DNA, erythrocytes, oxidative status and renal of catfish in addition to the potential protective effects of Chlorella vulgaris bioremeditation and selenium to hinder this effect. Six equal groups of fish were used as follows: Group 1: served as a control group and received water free from PS NPs; Group 2: was exposed to PS NPs at a concentration of 5mg/L; Group 3: was exposed to PS NPs (5mg/L) + selenium (1mg/kg diet); Group 4: was exposed to PS NPs (5mg/L) + C. vulgaris (25g/kg diet); Group 5: was supplemented with C. vulgaris (25g/kg diet); and Group 6: was supplemented with selenium (1mg/kg diet). The results indicated that PS NPs induced oxidative stress by significantly elevating MDA activities and slightly reducing antioxidant biomarkers, resulting in DNA damage, increased frequency of micronuclei, erythrocyte alterations, and numerous histopathological alterations in kidney tissue. Selenium and C. vulgaris significantly ameliorated the oxidative/antioxidant status, reduced DNA damage, micronucleus frequency, erythrocyte alterations, and morphology of kidney tissue. Nevertheless, further research is needed to evaluate in detail the mechanism behind the toxicity with nano-microplatics in aquatic system.

Endometriosis occurs when endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterine cavity, leading to pelvic pain, infertility, and increased risk of ovarian cancer. The present study describes the optimization and characterization of cellular spheroids as building blocks for Kenzan scaffold-free method biofabrication and proof-of-concept models of endometriosis and the endometriotic microenvironment. The spheroid building blocks must be a specific diameter (~500 m), compact, round, and smooth to withstand Kenzan biofabrication. Under optimized spheroid conditions for biofabrication, the endometriotic epithelial-like cell line, 12Z, expressed high levels of estrogen-related genes and secreted high amounts of endometriotic inflammatory factors that were independent of TNF stimulation. Heterotypic spheroids, composed of 12Z and T-HESC, an immortalized endometrial stromal cell line, self-assembled into a biologically relevant pattern, consisting of epithelial cells on the outside of the spheroids and stromal cells in the core. 12Z spheroids were biofabricated into large three-dimensional constructs alone, with HEYA8 spheroids, or as heterotypic spheroids with T-HESC. These three-dimensional biofabricated constructs containing multiple monotypic or heterotypic spheroids represent the first scaffold-free biofabricated in vitro models of endometriosis and the endometriotic microenvironment. These efficient and innovative models will allow us to study the complex interactions of multiple cell types within a biologically relevant microenvironment.

The considerable biological and medicinal activities of pyridazines has stimulated considerable research on efficient syntheses of these derivatives. In the last decade, microwave irradiation has generally been used for the energy source. As demonstrated in recent studies, pressure reactor “Q-tubes” may be used to accelerate several of these reactions in a more optimal and safer manner (compared to microwaves). In these studies there has been postulated a pathway for the formation of pyridazino[5,4,3-de][1,6]naphthyridine derivatives . In this paper we consider this pathway, and an alternate pathway, for several reactions. Contrary to the suggestion in these studies the pathway in which initial dimerization of malononitrile was postulated could be excluded based on chemical evidence. The reactions performed were the reaction of arylhydrazonals 1a,b with benzylidinemalononitrile which afforded in Q-tube the 3-acyl-4-aryl-1-phenyl-6-amino-1,4-dihydropyridazines, and the reaction of arylhydrazonals 1a,b, malononitrile 9 and aromatic aldehydes 10a-g in Q-tubes which afforded the tricyclic systems 12a-n whose structure could be established by X-ray crystal structure determination. In conclusion, we have added to the work of the recent studies by excluding a reaction pathway for one of their reaction products.

The World Health Organization(WHO) in 2016 considered mHealth as: “the use of mobile wireless technologies including smart devices such as smartphones and smartwatches for public health” as an important resource for health services delivery and public health given their ease of use, broad reach and acceptance. WHO emphasizes the potential of this technology to increase access to health information, services and skills as well as promoting positive changes in health behaviors and management of diseases. In this regard, the capability of smartphones and smartwatches for m-health monitoring as well as verification of the patient the signal has become an important component of mHealth system. Most of the smartwatches could extract more than one bioelectrical signal therefore, therefore they provide suitable platform for extracting health data for e-monitoring. The existing approaches have not considered the integrity of data obtained from these smart devices. Therefore, it is important that the integrity of the collected data be verified continuously through user authentication. This could be done using any of the bioelectrical signals extracted and transmitted for e-monitoring. In this article, a smartwatch is used for extracting bioelectrical signal before decomposing the signal into sub-bands of Detail and Approximation Coefficient for user authentication. To select suitable features using biorthogonal wavelet decomposition of signal from a non-intrusive extraction, a detailed experiment is conducted extracting suitable statistical features from the bioelectrical signal from 30 subjects using different biorthogonal wavelet family. Ten features are extracted using Biorthogonal wavelet to decompose the signal into three levels of sub-band Detail and Approximation Coefficient and features extracted from each level the decomposed Detail and Approximation Coefficients. Comparison analysis is done after the classification of the extracted features based on the Equal Error Rate (EER). Using Neural Network (NN) classifier, Biorthogonal Wavelet Detail Coefficient Sub-band level 3 of bior1.1 achieved the best result of EER 13.80% with the fusion of the best sub-band three levels of bior1.1 achieving a better result of 12.42% EER.

A modular approach to the construction of electric machines, drive systems, power supply systems is a new direction of modern technology development. Especially, the modular approach is promising for electric vehicles due to such positive aspects as increased efficiency, fault tolerance, overall reliability, safety, enhanced control capabilities, etc. In this work, the modular approach is comprehensively applied to an EV powertrain system, which includes a dual three-phase (DTP) BLDC motor with two machine modules of an asymmetric configuration, two battery modules and a supercapacitor module (SCM). The proposed H–H configuration of modular EV powertrain system includes four voltage source inverters that combine the power modules with the open ends of the windings (OEW) of the module machine armature, and provide control of their operation. Based on the developed mode system of the OEW machine module operation for EV traction and braking, a general control algorithm for the proposed configuration of the modular EV powertrain system has been developed. It combines the control of the operating modes with the functions of maintaining the required SOC level of the SCM and equalizing the SOCs of the two battery modules. The conducted simulation and experimental studies confirmed the workability and effectiveness of the proposed solutions.

In this paper, we study the convergence of new implicit iterations dealing with n-tupled fixed point results for nonlinear contractive-like mappings on W-hyperbolic metric spaces. Herein, we demonstrate that our newly implicit iteration schemes have faster rate of convergence than implicit S-iteration process, implicit Ishikawa and Mann type iteration processes. Furthermore, a numerical simulation to improve our theoretical results is obtained.

Let R be a commutative ring with identity and m, n be positive integers. In this paper, we introduce the class of (m,n)-prime ideals which lies properly between the classes of prime and (m,n)-closed ideals. A proper ideal I of R is called (m,n)-prime if for a,b∈R, a^{m}b∈I implies either aⁿ∈I or b∈I. Several characterizations of this new class with many examples are given. Analougus to primary decomposition, we define the (m,n)-decomposition of ideals and show that every ideal in an n-Noetherian ring has an (m,n)-decomposition. Furthermore, the (m,n)-prime avoidance theorem is proved.

We report on metastable defects introduced in n-type 4H-SiC material by epithermal and fast neutron irradiation. The epithermal and fast neutron irradiation defects in 4H-SiC are much less explored compared to electron or proton irradiation induced defects. In addition to silicon vacancy (Vsi) and carbon antisite-carbon vacancy (CAV) complex, the neutron irradiation has introduced four deep level defects, all arising from the metastable defect, the M-center. The metastable deep level defects were investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), high-resolution Laplace DLTS (L-DLTS) and isothermal DLTS. The existence of the fourth deep level M4, recently observed in ion implanted 4H-SiC, has been additionally confirmed in neutron irradiated samples. The isothermal DLTS technique has been proven as a useful tool for studying the metastable defects.

The current work reports the upper bound of the state variable of the of the Pointwise Steady Fluid Flow Approximation (PSFFA) model of non-stationary M/Ek/1 queueing system.

Wind energy is one of the most attractive renewable energy sources because of its low operating, maintenance, and production costs as well as its low environmental impact. The goal of this study is to discover the best locations in Bangladesh where wind farms can be built and operated efficiently. This study applied the GIS and AHP methodologies to examine the eight important parameters upon which the suitability of locations is highly dependent. This analysis finds that Bangladesh has large regions appropriate for wind farm installation, with 3718.76 km² and 16631.14 km² classified as "very high" and "high" suitability, respectively. It was also observed that wind speed, land slope, and elevation each had a height-weighted criterion of 32 %, 27 %, and 12 %, respectively, when picking suitable locations. However, the viability of this study in identifying suitable sites has been evaluated based on ROC and AUC techniques and found satisfactory as per AUC value. The knowledge gained from this study will help the sustainable and renewable energy development authority (SREDA), Bangladesh to expedite the renewable energy investment process and will ensure the great certainty. The findings of this research can be considered as baseline information in the wind energy sector.

A number of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) encountered by military, commercial, and civilian aircraft have been reported to be structured craft that exhibit 'impossible' flight characteristics. We consider a handful of well-documented encounters, including the 2004 encounters with the Nimitz Carrier Group off the coast of California, and estimate lower bounds on the accelerations exhibited by the craft during the observed maneuvers. Estimated accelerations range from almost 100g to 1000s of g's with no observed air disturbance, no sonic booms, and no evidence of excessive heat commensurate with even the minimal estimated energies. In accordance with observations, the estimated parameters describing the behavior of these craft are both anomalous and surprising. The extreme estimated flight characteristics reveal that these observations are either fabricated or seriously in error, or that these craft exhibit technology far more advanced than any known craft on Earth. In many cases, the number and quality of witnesses, the variety of roles they played in the encounters, and the equipment used to track and record the craft favor the latter hypothesis that these are indeed technologically advanced craft. The observed flight characteristics of these craft are consistent with the flight characteristics required for interstellar travel. That is, if these observed accelerations were sustainable in space, then these craft could easily reach relativistic speeds within a matter of minutes to hours and cover interstellar distances in a matter of days to weeks, proper time.

Recently, the environment is being put under constantly increasing pressure. Globally, water shortage is considered as one of the most serious environmental problems which affect human life and plant wealth. Iraq is highly affected by water deficit in many regions. In particular, Al-Najaf region is selected to be under evaluation for the current and future water resources shortage. This study is based on the collected data for rainfall, evaporation, flow-rate, groundwater, water needed for irrigation, and daily uses for the period between 2000 and 2018. The Artificial Neural Network, normal distribution, and lognormal distribution type III are applied for analyzing the collected data in addition to predict the water shortage for year 2050. Results show a water shortage in years 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2017 only for the selected period. A Simulink model is constructed using Matlab to increase the credibility of the estimated results and gives accurate results for the groundwater and surface water needed. Where in 2050, it is found that it needs to use the groundwater source by 0.024 x 10⁹ m³ to support the surface water source which is represented by the Euphrates River. The study shows the extent of inefficient management of water resources in Al-Najaf region.

Texas ranks first in number of natural hazard fatalities in the United States (U.S.). Based on data culled from the National Climatic Data Center databases from 1959 to 2016, the number of hydrometeorological fatalities in Texas have increased over the 58-year study period, but the per capita fatalities have significantly decreased. Spatial review found that flooding is the predominant hydrometeorological disaster in a majority of the Texas counties located in “Flash Flood Alley” and accounts for 43% of all hydrometeorological fatalities in the state. Flooding fatalities are highest on “Transportation Routes” followed by heat fatalities in “Permanent Residences”. Seasonal and monthly stratification identifies Spring and Summer as the deadliest seasons, with the month of May registering the highest number of total fatalities dominated by flooding and tornado fatalities. Demographic trends of hydrometeorological disaster fatalities indicated that approximately twice as many male fatalities occurred during the study period than female fatalities, but with decreasing gender disparity over time. Adults are the highest fatality risk group overall, children most at risk to die in flooding, and the elderly at greatest risk of heat-related death.

The philosophy of testing statistical hypothesis is a natural consequence and functional extension of mathematical analysis of Probability. Along with the concept of recurrence when applied to random sequences and functions, it leads to the analysis of a priori and posterior which implies testing statistical hypothesis. Testing statistical hypothesis also involves algebraic, functional and dimensional considerations, which are found in the works of Laplace. Aspects of mathematical analysis such as universality of solutions, Laws of Large Numbers, Entropy, Information, and various functional dependencies are the main factors explained in the five properties that lead to implication of testing statistical hypothesis. Various interesting examples with modern scientific significance from genetics, astrophysics, and other areas give methodological access to answers of different problems and phenomena which are involved in the logic of testing statistical hypothesis.