The low relative humidity (RH) levels in a greenhouse during the daytime in a strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch) cultivation period negatively affect the growth of strawberry related to photo-physiology. Therefore, this study was conducted to confirm an efficient RH management method by analyzing the phenotypic characteristics related to photo-physiology by controlling the RH in a greenhouse during the daytime with a fog system. Strawberry plants were grown respectively in a greenhouse affected by natural RH changes (control) and in a greenhouse with 40% ~ 50% RH adjusted during the daytime using a fog system. In the greenhouse, with controlled RH, the temperature decreased, and the RH was higher in the initial growth stage of strawberry planting than the control. It was observed a significant increase in the survival rate of the strawberry plant, as well as the incidence of powdery mildew, was lowered. In addition, the photosynthetic rate and OJIP chlorophyll a fluorescence transients related to photosystem II efficiency of strawberry leaves were significantly higher in the fog treatment than in the control. In winter, during the day, the number of days on which the temperature dropped below 20℃ has increased, the greenhouse temperature with controlled RH was lower due to the fog system. When the yield per strawberry plant in January and February was investigated, the control was higher than the RH treatment. Therefore, RH management using a fog system must be controlled at a level where a temperature range is adequate for plant growth, in which the efficient control of these parameters increases strawberry productivity.

.Purpose: This paper presents a comparative analysis of state-of-the-art DIR algorithms in the context of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) radiation therapy. Materials and Methods: We used a dataset of head and neck cancer patients within the Cancer Image Archive, which includes 31 patients with 3D CT image data from pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and post-treatment stages of radiotherapy. We applied DIR algorithms to two datasets, one for pre-treatment to mid-treatment registration and another for mid-treatment to post-treatment registration, by aligning one CT image to another CT image. To quantitatively analyze the patient data, we focused on the spinal cord, optic nerve, brain stem, cochlea, and PTV as the OAR datasets. To verify the DIR algorithm, we used two non-learning-based methods, SyN and NiftyReg, as well as three deep learning-based methods, Voxelmorph, Cyclemorph, and Transmorph. We trained a deep learning model by adjusting the ratio of the training dataset, validation dataset, and test dataset to 7:1:2. Results: The average DSCs of SyN and NiftyReg, the non-learning-based methods, were 0.74±0.06 and 0.70±0.12, respectively. The deep learning-based methods, Voxelmorph, Cyclemorph, and Transmorph, had average DSCs of 0.72±0.08, 0.68±0.11, and 0.69±0.13, respectively. The deep learning DIR algorithm produced transformed outputs of OAR/PTV in a shorter time than other models, including commercial and conventional mathematical algorithms (At Inference(sec/images), Voxelmorph: 0.36, Cyclemorph: 0.3, Transmorph: 5.1, SyN: 140, NiftyReg: 40.2). Conclusions: In conclusion, our study provides a comprehensive comparison of commercial DIR algorithms with traditional and deep learning-based DIR methods. Our results demonstrate that commercial DIR algorithms outperform traditional DIR methods in terms of accuracy and efficiency. However, we also show that deep learning-based DIR methods have the potential to achieve similar performance to commercial algorithms with proper training and optimization. Our findings suggest that both commercial and deep learning-based DIR methods have their respective advantages and limitations, and the choice of method should depend on the specific requirements of the clinical application. Overall, our study contributes to ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy and efficiency of DIR methods for better patient outcomes.

Blood image intensity has been used to detect erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). However, it does not give an information on biophysical properties of blood sample under continuous ESR. In this study, three physical properties, including, τ₀, ESR_τ, and AI_I, are suggested to quantify mechanical variations of blood under continuous ESR. To demonstrate the proposed method, blood sample is loaded into a driving syringe. The blood flow rate is set in a periodic on–off pattern. Blood sample is then supplied into a capillary chip, and microscopic blood images are captured at specific intervals. Blood shear stress is quantified from the interface of blood stream in the coflowing channel. Both τ₀ and ESR_τ are then obtained by analyzing the blood shear stress. Simultaneously, the AI_I is evaluated by analyzing the image intensity of blood flow. According to the experimental results, the τ₀ exhibits consistent trends with respect to hematocrit as well as diluent. The ESR_τ and AI_I showed a reciprocal relationship each other. Three suggested properties represented substantial differences for suspended blood samples (i.e., hardened red blood cells, different concentration of dextran solution and fibrinogen). In conclusion, the present method can detect variations of blood sample under continuous ESR effectively.

Evaluating soil quality across various altitudinal gradients, both with and without vegetative cover, is crucial for the proper functioning of soil and optimal crop growth, thereby contributing to the sustainability of agroecosystems. Although the altitudinal gradient significantly influences soil quality, the ability to predict this quality, expressed through an index, in soils with and without vegetative cover, is still insufficiently explored. This study aimed to assess soil quality in the Jun Jun micro-watershed, located in the Tungurahua region, Ecuador. To achieve this objective, three categories of altitudinal gradients were selected: less than 2800 meters above sea level (masl), between 2800 and 2900 masl, and greater than 2900 masl. A total of 24 soil samples were collected in the mentioned gradients, considering both areas with and without vegetative cover. The indicators used included chemical and biological parameters such as soil organic carbon (OC), earthworm density (WD), earthworm biomass (WB), organic matter (OM), pH, total nitrogen (TN), and organic carbon (OC). The results revealed that in areas with altitudinal gradients below 2800 masl, soil quality index values were higher compared to other altitudes. In vegetated areas, a decrease in index values was observed as the altitudinal gradient increased, indicating a deterioration in soil quality with altitude. These findings are significant in providing a quantitative assessment of the effects of altitudinal gradient and vegetative cover influence on soil quality.

The frame construction of an apartment complex that consists of multiple buildings encounters various uncertainties, owing to the complex relationships among units of work. Currently, the period of such a construction is calculated based on the number of floors of the highest building in the complex. This study quantitatively analyzes an apartment frame construction period using a queue model and evaluates the validity of the estimated period. In this regard, a methodology is proposed for analyzing the construction period by applying the concept of a customer and a server. A case study on the duration of an apartment frame construction is conducted with Korea Land and Housing Corporation, which has supplied the largest number of apartments in South Korea. It was found that the stable state of a queue system was observed when the rate of server utilization was applied to the basement and aboveground floors. However, a stable state was not reached on the ground floor. This study includes non-working days in its calculation and quantitatively analyzes uncertainty factors during construction. Therefore, the findings can be practically utilized to quantitatively plan the durations of work units in an apartment frame construction.

This article analyzes the Franco-Spanish invasion of Vietnam from 1858 to 1860. Research is based on documents such as correspondence, reports, archives and diplomatic treaties as well as monographs from the time France intended to invade Vietnam through missionary activities until the end of the Franco-Spanish invasion. The article focuses on three basic issues that are the causes of the alliance, the evolution of the French and Spanish coalition invasion in Vietnam and its impact on stakeholders. The research results on the Franco-Spanish invasion of Vietnam indicated that the invasion carried out by this alliance was more special than that of the other French coalitions before. The invasion was based on an alliance without any commitment to the interests and responsibilities of the parties. The goals of France and Spain in this invasion were different. That led to conflict between France and Spain during the invasion and the fall of the alliance. France achieved its goal through an invasion that turned Vietnam into a colony, while Spain had barely achieved its desire to have commercial and missionary interests in the area.

Effective and rapid mixing is essential for various chemical and biological assays. The present work reports a simple and low-cost micromixer based on magnetofluidic actuation. The device takes advantage of magnetoconvective secondary flow, a bulk flow induced by an external magnetic field, for mixing. A paramagnetic stream of diluted ferrofluid and a non-magnetic stream are introduced to a straight microchannel. A permanent magnet placed next to the microchannel induced a non-uniform magnetic field. The magnetic field gradient and the mismatch in magnetic susceptibility between the two streams create a body force, which leads to rapid and efficient mixing. The micromixer reported here could achieve a high throughput and a high mixing efficiency of 90 % in a relatively short microchannel.

Recent progress in the fabricating flexible electronics has been developed significantly due to the increased interest of the flexible electronics which can be applied to enormous fields not only to conventional electronic devices but to bio/eco electronic devices. Flexible electronics can be applied to wide range of fields such as flexible display, flexible power storage, flexible solar cells, wearable electronics and healthcare monitoring devices. Recently, flexible electronics are being attached on the skin and even implanted into human body to monitor the bio-signals and for treatment purpose. To improve the electrical characteristic and the mechanical properties of flexible electronics, nanoscale fabrications using novel nano-materials are required. Advanced in nanoscale fabrication methods allow construction of the active materials that can combine with the ultra-thin soft substrate to form flexible electronics with high performances and reliability. In this review, wide range of nanoscale fabrication methods for flexible electronics classified in either top-down or bottom-up approaches such as conventional photolithography, soft lithography, nanoimprint lithography, growth, assembly and chemical vapor deposition(CVD) will be reported with specific fabrication processes and results. Here, our aim is to introduce various fabrication methods that can be used to fabricate the flexible electronics.

Micro elastofluidics is a transformative branch of microfluidics, leveraging fluid-structure interaction (FSI) at the microscale to enhance the functionality and efficiency of various microdevices. This review paper elucidates the critical role of advanced computational FSI methods in the field of micro elastofluidics. By focusing on the interplay between fluid mechanics and structural responses, these computational methods facilitate the intricate design and optimisation of microdevices such as microvalves, micropumps, and micromixers, which rely on the precise control of fluidic and structural dynamics. In addition, these computational tools extend to the development of biomedical devices, enabling precise particle manipulation and enhancing therapeutic outcomes in cardiovascular applications. Furthermore, this paper addresses the current challenges in computational FSI and highlights the necessity for further development of tools to tackle complex, time-dependent models under microfluidic environments and varying conditions. Our review highlights the expanding potential of FSI in micro elastofluidics, offering a roadmap for future research and development in this promising area.

Bovine mastitis (BM) has been causing great economic and financial losses in the dairy industry worldwide and one of its major pathogenic agents is S. aureus. BM treatment still relies on antibiotics. The extensive use of antimicrobials gives rise to bacterial strains such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and mupirocin-resistant S. aureus (MuRSA). This study aimed to investigate and compare the prevalence of MRSA and MuRSA and antimicrobial susceptibility in S. aureus isolates from bovine mastitis milk in conventional and organic dairy farms. Milk samples were taken from mastitis-infected cattle in 6 conventional and 7 organic dairy farms from South Korea. According to the Food Codex, 163 suspected S. aureus colonies were isolated from the pooled milk samples from each farm. Further rapid coagulase test confirmed 11 out of 74 isolates from 4 conventional farms (CF1, CF2, CF3, CF4) while 17 out of 89 isolates from 3 organic farms (OF1, OF2, OF3) exhibited coagulase activity. Multiplex PCR amplification showed that the nuc gene marker for S. aureus was found in all coagulase-positive isolates from OF 1 and at least one isolate from CF1, CF2, CF3, and CF4. Conversely, only 2 isolates from CF2 contained mecA gene for MRSA while none had the mupA gene for MuRSA. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that conventional farm isolates were more resistant to antibiotics particularly, against ampicillin and tetracycline, and, in turn, could imply a potential to develop multidrug resistance if stringent measures to control antimicrobial use in dairy farms is not implemented properly.

The onset of leaf senescence is triggered by external cues and internal factors such as phytohormones and signaling pathways involving transcription factors (TFs). Abscisic acid (ABA) strongly induces senescence and endogenous ABA levels are finely tuned by many senescence-associated TFs. Here, we report on the regulatory function of the senescence-induced TF OsWRKY5 TF in rice (Oryza sativa). OsWRKY5 expression was rapidly upregulated in senescing leaves, especially in yellowing sectors initiated by aging or dark treatment. A T-DNA insertion activation-tagged OsWRKY5-overexpressing mutant (termed oswrky5-D) promoted leaf senescence under natural and dark-induced senescence (DIS) conditions. By contrast, a T-DNA insertion oswrky5-knockdown mutant (termed oswrky5) retained leaf greenness during DIS. Reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) showed that OsWRKY5 upregulates the expression of genes controlling chlorophyll degradation and leaf senescence. Furthermore, RT-qPCR and yeast one-hybrid analysis demonstrated that OsWRKY5 indirectly upregulates the expression of senescence-associated NAC genes including OsNAP and OsNAC2. Precocious leaf yellowing in the oswrky5-D mutant might be caused by elevated endogenous ABA concentrations resulting from upregulated expression of ABA biosynthesis genes OsNCED3, OsNCED4, and OsNCED5, indicating that OsWRKY is a positive regulator of ABA biosynthesis during leaf senescence. Furthermore, OsWRKY5 expression was significantly suppressed by ABA treatment, indicating negative feedback regulation of OsWRKY5 expression by ABA. OsWRKY5 is a positive regulator of leaf senescence that upregulates senescence-induced NAC genes leading to expression of ABA biosynthesis and chlorophyll degradation genes.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become indispensable energy storage devices for various applications, ranging from portable electronics to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. The performance and reliability of LIBs depend on several key components, including the electrodes, separators, and electrolytes. Among these, the choice of binder materials for the electrodes plays a critical role in determining the overall performance and durability of LIBs. This review introduces polymer binders that have been traditionally used in the cathode, anode, and separator materials of LIBs. Furthermore, it explores the problems identified in traditional polymer binders and examines the research trends in next-generation polymer binder materials for lithium-ion battery as alternatives.

Marine algae have been considered as abundant source of bioactive compounds with cosmeceutical potential. Recently, a great deal of interest has focused on the health-promoting effects of marine bioactive compounds. Carbohydrate is a major and abundant constitute of marine algae that have been utilized in cosmetic formulations, such as moisturizing and thickening agents. In addition, marine carbohydrates have been suggested as promising bioactive biomaterials for various skin beneficial properties, such as anti-oxidant, anti-melanogenic and anti-skin aging. Therefore, marine algae carbohydrates have potential of skin health benefits for value-added cosmeceutical application. The present review focused on the various biological capacities and potential skin health benefits of bioactive marine carbohydrates.

Obesity and overweight are associated with many metabolic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, which are closely related to a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise. Aerobic exercise effectively increases the high-density lipoproteins-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and decreases the triglyceride (TG) levels. The consumption of Cuban policosanol (Raydel®) is also effective in enhancing the HDL-C quantity and HDL functionality to treat dyslipidemia and hypertension. On the other hand, no study has examined the effects of a combination of high-intensity exercise and policosanol consumption in obese subjects to improve metabolic disorders. In the current study, 17 obese subjects (average BMI 30.0±1.1 kg/m2, eight male and nine female) were recruited to participate in a program combining exercise and policosanol (20 mg) consumption for 12 weeks. After completion, their BMI, waist circumference, total fat mass, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreased by approximately 15% (p=0.022), 12.7% (p=0.008), 33% (p=0.006), 11% (p<0.046), and 13% (p=0.007), respectively. In the serum lipid profile, at week 12, they showed a remarkable decrease in the total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels, up to 17% (p<0.019) and 54% (p<0.002) from the baseline, respectively. Although the serum HDL-C was increased by approximately +12% from the baseline, the percentage of HDL-C in TC, HDL-C/TC (%), was increased by up to +32% (p=0.007) at week 12. The serum coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) level was increased 1.2-fold in all participants at week 12 from the baseline. In particular, the male participants showed a 1.4-fold increase (p=0.027) from the baseline. The larger increase in serum CoQ10 was correlated with the larger increase in the serum HDL-C during 12 weeks. The hepatic function parameters were improved; the serum -glutamyl transferase decreased at week 12 by up to 55% (p<0.007), while the aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase levels decreased within the normal range. In the lipoprotein level, the extent of oxidation and glycation were reduced significantly in VLDL and LDL, with a remarkable decrease in the TG content in particles. The antioxidant abilities of HDL2 and HDL3, such as paraoxonase (PON) and ferric ion reduction ability (FRA), were enhanced significantly by up to 1.8-fold (p<0.001) and 1.6-fold (p<0.001) at week 12. The particle size and number of HDL2 were increased up to +10% during the 12 weeks with a remarkable decrease in the TG content, glycation extent, oxidation up to 32% (p=0.032), 18% (p=0.043), and 11% (p=0.023), respectively. The particle number and diameter of HDL3 were increased by up to +9% with a remarkable increase in the PON activity, FRA activity, and TC content of +82% (p<0.001), +56% (p<0.001), and +32% (p=0.009), respectively. Expression of apolipoproteinA-I in HDL2 and HDL3 were significantly elevated more in both gender around 30~48% with more distinct band intensity and less glycation at week 12. These improvements in HDL quality and functionality were linked to the higher survivability of adult zebrafish and their embryos. Under the co-presence of carboxymethyllysine (CML), a microinjection of HDL2 to zebrafish embryo from week 0 resulted in approximately 47% survivability with developmental defects and attenuated speed. On the other hand, the HDL2 microinjection from week 12 resulted in remarkably higher survivability (~ 70%). In conclusion, 12 weeks of Cuban policosanol (Raydel®, 20 mg) consumption with high-intensity exercise showed significant improvement in blood pressure, body fat mass, blood lipid profile without liver damage, CoQ10 metabolism, and renal impairment. At week 12, all participants showed a remarkable decrease in oxidation and glycation extent in the VLDL and LDL with a decrease in the TC and TG content. Significant enhancement of the qualities and functionalities in HDL2 and HDL3 by the policosanol consumption were also detected: increase in apoA-I content, TC content, particle size, and particle numbers along with antioxidant abilities, such as PON and FRA.

Knowledge graphs (KGs) play a crucial role in many applications, such as question answering, but incompleteness is an urgent issue for their broad application. Much research in knowledge graph completion (KGC) has been performed to resolve this issue. The methods of KGC can be classified into two major categories: rule-based reasoning and embedding-based reasoning. The former has high accuracy and good interpretability, but a major challenge is to obtain effective rules on large-scale KGs. The latter has good efficiency and scalability, but it relies heavily on data richness and cannot fully use domain knowledge in the form of logical rules. We propose a novel method that injects rules and learns representations iteratively to take full advantage of rules and embeddings. Specifically, we model the conclusions of rule groundings as 0-1 variables and use a rule confidence regularizer to remove the uncertainty of the conclusions. The proposed approach has the following advantages: 1) It combines the benefits of both rules and knowledge graph embeddings (KGEs) and achieves a good balance between efficiency and scalability. 2) It uses an iterative method to continuously improve KGEs and remove incorrect rule conclusions. Evaluations on two public datasets show that our method outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods, improving performance by 2.7% and 4.3% in mean reciprocal rank (MRR).

Due to wood’s susceptibility to fire, it is crucial to treat wood-based materials with flame retardants, especially in construction applications. This study investigated the effectiveness of various grooving types, including transverse, longitudinal, both transverse and longitudinal, and surface grooving, in enhancing larch's vacuum pressure impregnation process. The results revealed that transverse grooving provided a slightly greater impregnation advantage than longitudinal grooving. Moreover, exceptional impregnation performance was observed in larch samples subjected to both longitudinal and transverse grooving and surface grooving, exhibiting a remarkable improvement of 214,7 % compared to untreated larch.

Third-generation biomass production utilizing microalgae exhibits sustainable and environmentally friendly attributes, along with significant potential as a source of physiologically active compounds. However, the process of screening and localizing strains that are capable of producing high-value-added substances necessitates a significant amount of effort. In the present study, we have successfully isolated the indigenous marine diatom Odontella aurita OAOSH22 from the East coast of Korea. Subsequently, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of its morphological, molecular, and biochemical characteristics. Afterwards, comprehensive analysis was conducted on the morphological, molecular, and biochemical characteristics, along with testing for optimal growth conditions. The morphological characteristics of the isolate were observed using optical and electron microscopes, and it exhibited typical features of O. aurita. Additionally, the molecular phylogenetic inference derived from the sequence of the small-subunit 18S rDNA confirmed the classification of the microalgal strain as O. aurita. This isolate has been confirmed to contain 7.1 mg g-1 dry cell weight (DCW) of fucoxanthin, a powerful antioxidant substance, in terms of dry cell weight (DCW). In addition, this isolate contains 11.1 mg g-1 DCW of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which is one of the nutritionally essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, this indigenous isolate exhibits a significant potential as a valuable source of bioactive substances for various bio-industrial applications.

Separation and detection of cells and particles in a suspension are essential for various applications, including biomedical investigations and clinical diagnostics. Microfluidics realizes the miniaturization of analytical devices by controlling the motion of a small volume of fluids in microchannels and microchambers. Accordingly, microfluidic devices have been widely used in particle/ cell manipulation processes. Different microfluidic methods for particle separation include dielectrophoretic, magnetic, optical, acoustic, hydrodynamic, and chemical techniques. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a method for manipulating polarizable particles’ trajectories in non-uniform electric fields using unique dielectric characteristics. It provides several advantages for dealing with neutral bioparticles owing to its sensitivity, selectivity, and noninvasive nature. This review provides a detailed study on the signal-based DEP methods that use the applied signal parameters, including frequency, amplitude, phase, and shape for cell/particle separation and manipulation. Rather than employing complex channels or time-consuming fabrication procedures, these methods realize sorting and detecting the cells/particles by modifying the signal parameters while using a simple device. In addition, these methods can significantly impact clinical diagnostics by making low-cost and rapid separation possible.

The high prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is well-established, with p16 expression being a strong predictor. HPV-related tumors exhibit unique mechanisms targeting p16 and p53 proteins. However, re-search on HPV prevalence and the combined predictive value of p16 and p53 expression in head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (HNCSCC), especially in Asian populations, is limited. This retrospective study surveyed 62 HNCSCC patients (2011–2020), excluding those with facial warts or other skin cancers. All patients underwent wide excision and biopsy. Immuno-histochemical staining for HPV, p16, and p53 yielded both positive and negative results. The relevance of each marker was investigated by categorizing the tumor locations into high-risk (Area H) and mid-risk (Area M) zones based on recurrence frequency. Of the 62 patients, 20 (32.26%) were male, with an average age of 82.27 years (26–103). Area H included 19 cases (30.65%), with the eyelid and lip being the most common sites (five cases, 8.06%). Area M in-cluded 43 cases (69.35%), with the cheek being the most common site (29 cases, 46.77%). p16 ex-pression was positive in 24 patients (38.71%), p53 expression in 42 patients (72.58%), and HPV in five patients (8.06%). No significant association was found between p16 expression and HPV presence (p > 0.99), with a positive predictive value of 8.33%. This indicates that p16, a surrogate marker of HPV in OPSCC, is not a reliable marker for HPV in HNCSCC. This study enhances our understanding of the relationship between HPV, p53, and p16 in HNCSCC in Asian populations and offers valuable insights for further research.

A nanocomposite rod-shaped structure with single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) embedded in polypyrrole (PPy) doped with nonafluorobutanesulfonic acid (C4F), SWCNT/C4F-PPy, was synthesized using emulsion polymerization. The hybrid ink was then directly coated on a polyimide film interdigitated with the Cu/Ni/Au electrodes via a screen-printing technique to create a flexible film sensor. The sensor film showed a response of 1.72% at 25 °C/atmospheric pressure when acetone gas of 5 ppm was injected, which corresponds to almost 95% compared to the Si wafer-based array interdigitated with the Au electrode. Additionally, C4F was used as a hydrophobic dopant of PPy to improve the stability of humidity and to produce a highly sensitive film-type gas sensor that provides stable detection even in humid conditions.

Alginate, a biopolymer promising in food, biomedical, pharmaceutical, and electronic materials industries, is characterized by its biodegradability, biocompatibility, low toxicity, and gel-forming properties. It is most abundantly found in brown algae. However, conventional dilute acid and alkali extraction methods face limitations in commercialization due to their long processing time, low throughput, and high solvent requirements. In this study, a microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) process for sodium alginate was designed to improve extraction efficiency. Solid/liquid ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction solvent concentration were major variables affecting sodium alginate extraction from Undaria pinnatifida(sea mustard). They were then statistically optimized using response surface methodology. Under optimal conditions (13.27 g/L, 91.86 ℃, 2.51 %(w/v), and 15 min), the yield was 38.41 %, which was 93.43 % of the theoretical content of sodium alginate in Undaria pinnatifida. Our work has confirmed the productivity and industrial feasibility of efficient extraction of sodium alginate from marine biomass, and we hope that it will serve as an encouraging case for the application of biopolymers as one of the desirable options for alternative petrochemicals to construct a sustainable society.

Short-range Internet of Things (IoT) sensor nodes operating at 2.4 GHz need to provide ubiquitous wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with energy-efficient, wide-range output power (POUT) and fully integrated on a single chip for wireless body area networks (WBANs) and wireless personal area networks (WPANs) using low-power Bluetooth (BLE) and Zigbee standards. The proposed fully integrated transmitter (TX) utilizes a digitally controllable current-mode class-D (CMCD) power amplifier (PA) with a second harmonic distortion (HD2) suppression to reduce VCO pulling in an integrated system while meeting harmonic limit regulations. The CMCD PA is divided into 7-bit slices that can be reconfigured between differential and single-ended topologies. Duty cycle distortion compensation is performed for HD2 suppression, and an HD2 rejection filter and a modified C-L-C low-pass filter (LPF) reduce HD2 further. Implemented in a 28 nm CMOS process, the TX achieves a wide POUT range of from 12.1 to -31 dBm and provides a maximum efficiency of 39.8% while consuming 41.1 mW at 12.1 dBm POUT. The calibrated HD2 level is -82.2 dBc at 9.93 dBm POUT, resulting in a transmitter figure of merit (TX_FoM) of -97.52 dB. Higher order harmonic levels remain below -41.2 dBm even at 12.1 dBm POUT, meeting regulatory requirements.

Little is known about the effect of statin use in lung cancer development in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We analyzed the database of the National Health Insurance Service to further investigate the clinical impacts of statin on lung cancer development and overall survival (OS) in IPF patients. The analysis included 9,182 individuals diagnosed with IPF, of which 3,372 (36.7%) were statin users. Compared to statin non-users, the time from diagnosis of IPF to lung cancer development and OS were longer in statin users in IPF patients. In Cox proportional hazard regression models, higher statin compliance, statin use, and being female had an inverse association with lung cancer risk, while older age at diagnosis of IPF and smoking history were associated with higher risk of lung cancer in IPF patients. For OS, statin use, female sex, higher exercise frequency, and diabetes were associated with longer survival. In contrast, older age at diagnosis of IPF and smoking history were associated with shorter OS in IPF patients. These data from a large population indicate that statin had an independent protective association with lung cancer development and mortality in IPF patients.

The combination of wet-lab experimental data on multi-site combinatorial mutations and machine learning is an innovative method in protein engineering. In this study, we present an improved innovative sequence–activity relationship (innov'SAR) methodology based on novel descriptors and digital signal processing (DSP) to construct a predictive model. In this improved approach, 21 experimental (R)-selective amine transaminases from Aspergillus terreus (AT-ATA) were used as an input to predict higher thermostability than that predicted using the existing data. We successfully improved the determination coefficient (R2) of the model from 0.66 to 0.92. In addition, root mean square deviation (RMSD) and root mean square fluctuation (RMSF) were estimated and conformation analysis based on molecular dynamics simulations was performed to verify the enhanced thermal stability of the screened mutants. The improved innov'SAR algorithm enhanced the predictive accuracy, suggesting a method for modifying the stability of AT-ATA, which may help in directed evolutionary screening and open up new avenues for protein engineering.

In the context of high-temperature water vapor treatment, Zn-Mg-Al alloy-coated steel sheets exhibit the emergence of a black surface. This study aims to explore the factors and mechanisms contributing to surface blackening by inducing black surfaces on Zn-Mg-Al alloy-coated steel sheets, which were fabricated through molten coating subjected to water vapor treatment at 150 degrees Celsius. The surfaced composition was predominantly identified as ZnO, a zinc oxide film, validated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Morphological analysis of the surface and cross-section post-water vapor treatment revealed a disrupted lamellar structure with diffused features, resulting in the formation of an oxide film. Optical properties analysis demonstrated an increased absorbance and a decreased bandgap energy after water vapor treatment, indicative of an augmented blackening effect. Consequently, the high-temperature water vapor treatment led to the formation of oxides on the surface, with the highly reactive Mg and Al extracting oxygen from the predominantly present ZnO surface. This process resulted in the creation of an oxygen-deficient oxide, ultimately causing surface blackening.

We study latching dynamics in the adaptive Potts model network, through numerical simulations with randomly and also weakly correlated patterns, and we focus on comparing its slowly and fast adapting regimes. A measure, Q, is used to quantify the quality of latching in the phase space spanned by the number of Potts states S, the number of connections per Potts unit C and the number of stored memory patterns p. We find narrow regions, or bands in phase space, where distinct pattern retrieval and duration of latching combine to yield the highest values of Q. The bands are confined by the storage capacity curve, for large p, and by the onset of finite latching, for low p. Inside the band, in the slowly adapting regime, we observe complex structured dynamics, with transitions at high crossover between correlated memory patterns; while away from the band latching transitions lose complexity in different ways: below, they are clear-cut but last so few steps as to span a transition matrix between states with few asymmetrical entries and limited entropy; while above, they tend to become random, with large entropy and bi-directional transition frequencies, but indistinguishable from noise. Extrapolating from the simulations, the band appears to scale almost quadratically in the p - S plane, and sublinearly in p - C. In the fast adapting regime the band scales similarly, and it can be made even wider and more robust, but transitions between anti-correlated patterns dominate latching dynamics. This suggest that slow and fast adaptation have to be integrated in a scenario for viable latching in a cortical system. The results for the slowly adapting regime, obtained with randomly correlated patterns, remain valid also for the case with correlated patterns, with just a simple shift in phase space.

This study aims to understand the global environment of COVID-19 management and guide future policy directions after the pandemic crisis. To this end, we analyzed a series of the World Economic Forum’s COVID-19 response reports through text mining and network analysis. These reports, written by experts in diverse fields, discuss multidimensional changes in socioeconomic situations, various problems created by those changes, and strategies to respond to national crises. Based on 3,897 refined words drawn from a morphological analysis of 26 reports (as of the end of 2020), this study analyzes the frequency of words, the relationships among words, the importance of specific documents, and the connection centrality through text mining. In addition, network analysis helps develop strategies for sustainable response to and management of national crises through identifying clusters of words with a similar structural equivalence.

Acoustic emission (AE) is caused by the sudden release of energy by a material as a result of material degradation related to deformation, crack, or fault within a solid. The same situation also occurs in leaks caused by turbulence in the fluid around the leak. In this study, analytical modeling for AE due to leakage through a circular pinhole in a gas storage cylinder was performed. The displacement fields responsible for AE, excited by the concentrated force (CF) associated with the turbulent flow though the pinhole, were derived by solving the Navier-Lamé equation. The CF as an excitation source was formulated in terms of a fluctuating Reynolds stress (FRS) and spatial Green’s function. In particular, a series of experiments were conducted under different operating conditions to explore the characteristics of the AE signals due to leak in a gas cylinder. Finally, the simulation and experimental results were compared to verify the accuracy of the simulation results.

: Cnidium officinale Makino, a perennial crop in the Umbeliperae family, is harvested in the summer for medicinal purposes. The average temperature in Korea has recently increased, and consequently, the area used to cultivate C. officinale has been reduced, and plant disease and soil sickness have increased. In this study, rhizosphere bacteria were isolated from C. officinale, and their antagonistic activity evaluated against Fusarium solani, which is a major issue during repeated cultivation. Twenty-eight strains were isolated from the root and rhizosphere soil, of which seven showed antagonistic activity against F. solani and were further investigated. An in planta test found that the dead rate of shoots was significantly lower in the group inoculated with PT1 isolated from the root tissue and that the fresh and dry weights were also higher, when compared with the other groups. PT1 was thus considered to have antagonistic activity against F. solani. The 16S rRNA analysis identified the PT1 as Leclercia adecarboxylata, and downstream studies confirmed the production of enzymes related to antagonism, such as siderophore and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. The phosphorous solubilizing ability and secretion of related enzymes were also confirmed. The results indicate that PT1 could be utilized as a PGPR to help control fusarium wilt.

Mutations in the SACS gene are associated with autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay disease (ARSACS) or complex clinical phenotypes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). This study aimed to identify SACS mutations in a Korean CMT cohort with cerebellar ataxia and spasticity. As a result, eight pathogenic SACS mutations in four families were identified as the underlying causes of these complex phenotypes. The prevalence of CMT families with SACS mutations was determined to be 0.3%. All the patients showed sensory, motor, and gait disturbances with increased deep tendon reflexes. Lower limb magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was done in four patients, and all had fatty replacements. Of note, they all had similar fatty infiltrations between the proximal and distal lower limb muscles, different from the neuromuscular imaging feature in most CMT patients without SACS mutations who had distal dominant fatty involvement. Therefore, these findings were considered a characteristic feature in CMT patients with SACS mutations. Although further studies with more cases are needed, our results highlight lower extremity MRI findings in CMT patients with SACS mutations and broaden the clinical spectrum. We suggest screening for SACS in recessive CMT patients with complex phenotypes of ataxia and spasticity.

To assess the usefulness of an attachable video laryngoscope (AVL) by attaching a camera and monitor to a conventional Macintosh laryngoscope (CML). Normal and tongue edema airway scenarios were simulated using a manikin. Twenty physicians performed tracheal intubations using CML, AVL, Pentax AWS® (AWS), and McGrath MAC® (MAC) in each scenario. Ten physicians with more than 10 cases of clinical experience with tracheal intubation using CML were included in the skilled group. Ten physicians with less than 10 cases of clinical experience with tracheal intubation using CML were included in the unskilled groups. The time required to intubate and the success rate were recorded. The degree of difficulty of use and glottic view assessment scored by participants. All 20 participants successfully completed the study. There was no difference in the success rate and time required for tracheal intubation in the normal airway scenarios. For the skilled group, in the tongue edema airway scenario, the AWS had the highest success rate (100%) followed by AVL (60%), MAC (60%), and CML (20%) (p = 0.001). The time required to intubate with the AWS was significantly shorter than with AVL (10.2 vs 22.3 s; p=0.002) or MAC (10.2 vs 23.7 s; p=0.001). There was no significant (p &gt; 0.05) difference between AVL and MAC. The degree of Difficulty of Use for AVL was significantly lower than that for CML (7.8 vs 2.8; p &lt; 0.001). There was no significant (p &gt; 0.05) difference between AVL and other video laryngoscopes. AVL had a higher rate of successful tracheal intubation than CML in the tongue edema scenario. AVL showed a similar success rate and time of tracheal intubation to the MAC. Therefore, AVL may be a possible alternative video laryngoscope device.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of rhizome extract of Dioscorea batatas (Dioscoreae Rhizoma, Chinese Yam) and its bioactive compound, allantoin, on myoblast differentiation and mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle cells. Yams were extracted in water and the extract was analyzed by HPLC. The expression of C2C12 myotubes differentiation and mitochondrial biogenesis regulators were determined by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR or Western blot. The glucose levels and total ATP contents were determined by glucose consumption, glucose uptake and ATP assays, respectively. Treatment with yam extract (1 mg/mL) and allantoin (0.2 and 0.5 mM) significantly increased of MyHC expression compared with non-treated myotubes. Yam extract and allantoin significantly increased the expression of mitochondrial biogenesis regulating proteins, PGC1?, Sirt-1, NRF-1, and TFAM, as well as the phosphorylation of AMPK and ACC in C2C12 myotubes. Furthermore, yam extract and allantoin significantly increased the glucose uptake levels and the ATP contents. Finally, HPLC analysis revealed that the yam extract contained 1.53% of allantoin. Yam extract and allantoin, stimulated myoblast differentiation into myotubes and increased energy production through upregulation of mitochondrial biogenesis regulators. These findings indicate that yam extract and allantoin can help to prevent the skeletal muscle dysfunction through stimulation of energy metabolism.

The global shrimp farming industry is impacted by various infectious diseases, leading to marked production losses. Virulent Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains (VPAHPND) and other Vibrio species cause acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in shrimp. We isolated a binary toxin PirA/B-bearing V. campbellii strain (HJ-2023) from a Korean shrimp farm. The biochemical characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility of HJ-2023 were analyzed and compared to those of PirA/B-bearing VPAHPND. Non-AHPND-causing V. campbellii was the control. The pathogenicity of each strain was analyzed in white-leg shrimp. Phylogenetic analysis classified the isolated HJ-2023 strain as V. campbellii. Biochemical tests confirmed distinct properties of HJ-2023, compared to the genetically similar V. harveyi group. The AHPND-causing toxin gene of HJ-2023 showed 100% similarity to the rpoD gene of VCAHPND. An antibiotic disc susceptibility test indicated that HJ-2023 showed resistance to ampicillin, clindamycin, lincomycin, and erythromycin, which is effective against gram-positive bacteria, and showed weak sensitivity to gentamycin. Furthermore, HJ-2023 was 25% less toxic than VPAHPND but could be lethal during aquaculture-related outbreaks. These results highlight the complexity and virulence of AHPND-causing strains through multiple pathways and confirm the pathogenicity of V. campbellii, which increases the risk posed by AHPND to shrimp aquaculture. Our findings could help prevent AHPND.

The economic development and infrastructure of a nation are closely interrelated. In addition, public trust in national infrastructure facilities is closely linked to the preservation of the advantages provided by these facilities to the public. Since the 1970s, Korea has achieved exponential economic growth over a short period of time and the number of infrastructure facilities has increased correspondingly. This compressed economic development has been underpinned by the national infrastructure, whose safety and usability have been excluded from the scope of the development. However, after around 30 years, structural deterioration coupled with general insensitivity to safety in today’s society has considerably reduced public trust in using the infrastructure. Realistically, policies that mainly focus on developing new technologies related to infrastructure construction have led to practical limitations that discourage the development of technologies for maintenance or inspection. Furthermore, current maintenance works face certain limitations caused by various reasons: insufficient budget, increasing number of infrastructure facilities requiring maintenance, shortage of manpower, and rapidly increasing number of aging infrastructure facilities. To overcome these limitations, a new approach is required that is different from general inspection methods under the existing rules and regulations. In this context, this study aimed to explore the efficiency of bridge inspection and maintenance by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that could observe inaccessible areas, could be conveniently and easily controlled, and could offer high economic benefits. To this end, various tests were performed on elevated bridges, and suitable UAV images were obtained. The obtained UAV images were inspected by using machine vision technology, thereby excluding subjective evaluations by humans. Methods for enhancing the objectivity of the inspection were also discussed. The test results showed that both the efficiency and objectivity of the proposed method were better than those of the existing bridge maintenance and inspection methods.

As medical care aiming to maintain the quality of life for elderly patients is increases, implant treatment for elderly patients is increasing worldwide. Therefore, we aimed to investigate implant stability and the reliability of different measuring devices according to implant placement site and duration in patients aged over 65 years. The study evaluated 60 implants in 60 patients aged ≥ 65 years. The implant placement sites were divided into six evenly distributed sections (n=10) i.e., maxillary right- posterior, A; maxillary anterior, B; maxillary left-posterior, C; mandibular right-posterior, D; mandibular anterior, E; mandibular left-posterior, F. Participants visited the hospital seven times: preoperatively, 1V; implant surgery, 2V; stitch removal, 3V; 1-month follow-up, 4V; 2-months follow-up, 5V; before final-restoration delivery, 6V; and after final-restoration delivery, 7V. The implant stability was evaluated with the Osstell Mentor (ISQ), Periotest M (PTV), and Anycheck (IST). The mean values of ISQ, PTV, and IST were analyzed (α=.05). ISQ, PTV, and IST results of 5V and 6V were significantly higher than those of 2V (P<.05). The lowest ISQ results occurred in E location at 5V and 6V (P<.05). In all mandibular locations, IST results of 7V were significantly higher than those of 2V, 3V, 4V, and 5V (P<.05). ISQ results were negatively correlated with PTV and positively correlated with IST, and PTV was negatively correlated with IST. By considering various factors that affect implant stability, the appropriate implant load application time was determined. This could help increase the implant success rate in elderly patients. And as a diagnostic device for implant stability for evaluation of osseointegration in elderly patients, Anycheck was also able to prove its relative reliability compared to Osstell ISQ Mentor and Periotest M.

We investigated experimentally, analytically and numerically the formation process of double emulsion formations under dripping regime in a tri-axial co-flow capillary device. The results show that mismatches of core and shell droplets under a given flow condition can be captured both experimentally and numerically. We propose a semi-analytical model using the match ratio between the pinch-off length of the shell droplet and the product of the core growth rate and its pinch-off time. The mismatch issue can be avoided if the match ratio is lower than unity. We considered a model with the wall effect to predict the size of the matched double emulsion. The model shows slight deviations with experimental data if the Reynolds number of continuous phase is lower than 0.06, but asymptotically approaches to good agreement if the Reynolds number increases from 0.06 to 0.14. The numerical simulation generally agrees with the experiments under various flow conditions.

Gravity played an important role in the development of life on earth. The effect of gravity on a living organisms can be investigated by controlling the magnitude of gravity. Most reduced gravity experiments are conducted on the lower earth orbit (LEO) in the International Space Station (ISS). However, running experiments in ISS face challenges such as high cost, extreme condition, lack of direct accessibility, and long waiting period. Therefore, researchers have developed various ground-based devices and methods to perform reduced gravity experiments. However, the search for life outside the earth requires more intensive research. Advancements in conventional methods and the development of new tools are required for this purpose. The advantages of Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) devices make them an attractive option for simulating microgravity. This paper briefly reviews the advancement of LOC technologies for simulating microgravity in a earth-based laboratory.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) is effective for the manipulation of fluids and particles in microscale. The current approach of integrating interdigitated transducers (IDTs) for SAW generation into microfluidic channels involves complex and laborious microfabrication steps. These steps often require the full access to clean room facilities and hours to align the transducers to the precise location. This work presents an affordable and innovative method for fabricating SAW-based microfluidic devices without the need of clean room facilities and alignment. The IDTs and microfluidic channels are fabricated in the same process and thus precisely self-aligned in accordance with the device design. With the use of the developed fabrication approach, a few types of different SAW-based microfluidic devices have been fabricated and demonstrated for particle separation and active droplet generation.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are energy-efficient; however, the coordinating ligand can affect their stability. Sky-blue phosphorescent Pt(II) complexes with a C^N chelate, fluorinated-dbi (dbi = [1-(2,4-diisopropyldibenzo[b,d]furan-3-yl)-2-phenyl-1H-imidazole]), and acetylactonate (acac)(1)/picolinate (pic)(2) ancillary ligands were synthesized. The molecular structures were characterized using various spectroscopic methods. The Pt(II) coordination sphere in 2 exhibited a distorted square-planar geometry, with several intra- and inter-molecular interactions involving Cπ⋯H/Cπ⋯Cπ stacking. Complex 1 emitted bright sky-blue light (λmax = 485 nm) with a moderate photoluminescent quantum efficiency of 0.37 and short decay time (6.1 µs) compared to those of 2. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations suggested that the electronic transition of 1 arose from ligand(C^N)-centered π–π* transitions combined with metal-to-ligand charge transfer transitions (MLCT), whereas that of 2 arose from MLCT and ligand(C^N)-to-ligand(pic) charge transfer (LLCT), with minimal contribution from the C^N chelate to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. Multi-layered phosphorescent OLEDs using 1 as a dopant and a mixed host, 3,3-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-1,1-biphenyl:3-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-1,1-biphenyl (mCBP)/9-(3’-carbazol-9-yl-5-cyano-biphenyl-3-yl)-9H-carbazole-3-carbonitrile (CNmCBPCN) were successfully fabricated. At a 10% doping of 1, a current efficiency of 13.6 cd A−1 and external quantum efficiency of 8.4 % at 100 cd m−2 were achieved. These results show that the ancillary ligand in phosphorescent Pt(II) complexes must be considered.

Trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) is a form of radiation therapy performed for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via selective intra-arterial injection of Yttrium-90 loaded microspheres. This was a multicenter retrospective study of consecutive patients with HCC who underwent TARE between July 2009 and May 2019. Using pre-treatment computed tomography imaging, the total cross-sectional area (cm2) of the abdominal skeletal muscle at the third lumbar vertebra was measured. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated by normalizing the muscle area to patient height. In total, 347 patients (median age, 65 years; 284 male) were included in the study. A total of 108 (31.1%) patients had portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and 126 (36.3%) were classified as sarcopenic. The median overall survival (OS) was 28.1 months (95% CI, 24.8-35.7) and median progression-free survival was 8.0 months (95% CI, 6.4-9.4). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that sarcopenia (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36; 95% CI, 1.00-1.85, p = 0.05), PVTT (HR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.33-2.49, p &lt; 0.01), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (≥200 ng/mL) (HR 1.41; 95% CI, 1.04-1.92, p = 0.03), and albumin-bilirubin grade (2-3) (HR 1.74; 95% CI, 1.24-2.43, p &lt; 0.01) were independently associated with poor OS. TARE provided favorable long-term outcomes for patients with advanced HCC. Pre-treatment sarcopenia independently associated with survival, suggesting its utility as a surrogate biomarker for identifying TARE candidates.

For efficient electrode development in an electrolysis system, Fe₂O₃, MnO, and heterojunction Fe₂O₃-MnO materials were synthesized via a simple sol-gel method. These particles were coated on a Ni-foam electrode, and the resulting material was used as an electrode to be used during an oxygen evolution reaction (OER). A 1000-cycle OER test in a KOH alkaline electrolyte indicated that the heterojunction Fe₂O₃-MnO/NF electrode exhibited the most stable and highest OER activity: it exhibited a low overvoltage (n) of 370 mV and a small Tafel slope of 66 mV/dec. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that the excellent redox performance contributed to the synergy of Mn and Fe, which enhanced the OER performance of the Fe₂O₃-MnO/NF electrode. Furthermore, the effective redox reaction of Mn and Fe indicated that the structure maintained stability even under 1000 repeated OER cycles.

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

In South Korea, in line with the increasing need for a reliable water supply following the continuous increase in water demand, the Smart Water Grid Research Group (SWGRG) was officially launched in 2012. With the vision of providing water welfare at a national level, SWGRG incorporated information and communications technology in its water resource management, aiming at the development of core technologies for a Smart Water Grid consisting of intelligent microgrids and a demonstration and tests of the developed technologies through a field operation in a living lab. The living lab was built in Block 112 of YeongJong Island, Incheon, South Korea (area of 17.4 km2, population of 8,000), where Incheon International Airport, a hub of Northeast Asia, is located. In this location, water is supplied through a single submarine pipeline, making the place optimal for responses to water crises and the construction of a water supply system during emergencies. From 2017 to 2019, ultrasonic wave type smart water meters and IEEE 802.15.4g advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) networks were installed at 527 sites of 958 consumer areas in the living lab, and core element technologies (intelligent water source management and distribution system, smart water distribution network planning/control/operation strategy establishment, AMI network and device development, integrated management of bi-directional smart water information), and operation solutions (smart water statistics information, real-time demand-supply analysis, decision support system, real-time hydraulic pipeline network analysis, smart DB management, and water information mobile application) were developed through a field operation and testing.

Developing high performance HVAC system using natural refrigerants including carbon dioxide (CO₂) has been important in respect of environmental preservation and associated technologies. Thus studies to optimize the HVAC (heating ventilation air conditioner) system using natural refrigerants through clarifying the cycle performance characteristics are necessary. The CO₂ heat pump system using air and water sources was consisted to examine its performance characteristics, and by varying conditions of several factors that affect or characterize the system performance like the amount of refrigerant charge, EEV (electronic expansion valve) opening, and internal heat exchanger under cooling mode. The performance characteristics of CO₂ heat pump system were tested by using an air enthalpy calorimeter. In the case of the CO₂ heat pump system without internal heat exchanger, the opening of #3 EEV and #4 EEV was 60% and refrigerant charge amount was 5,600g. However, in the case of that with internal heat exchanger, the best performance was obtained when the opening of #2 EEV is 20%. From the present studies, it was observed that the performance variation and operational characteristics of the CO₂ heat pump system were affected by design factors like refrigerant charge amount, EEV opening, and internal heat exchanger and thereby, the configuration on an optimal operation conditions of the system was enabled.

With the rapid development of MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical Systems) fabrication technologies, manifolds microelectrodes with various structures and functions have been designed and fabricated for applications in biomedical research, diagnosis and treatment through electrical stimulation and electrophysiological signal recording. The flexible MEMS microelectrodes exhibit multi-aspect excellent characteristics beyond stiff microelectrodes based on silicon or SU-8, which comprising: lighter weight, smaller volume, better conforming to neural tissue and lower fabrication cost. In this paper, we mainly reviewed key technologies on flexible MEMS microelectrodes for neural interface in recent years, including: design and fabrication technology, flexible MEMS microelectrodes with fluidic channels and electrode-tissue interface modification technology for performance improvement. Furthermore, the future directions of flexible MEMS microelectrodes for neural interface were described including transparent and stretchable microelectrodes integrated with multi-aspect functions and next-generation electrode-tissue interface modifications facilitated electrode efficacy and safety during implantation. Finally, the combinations among micro fabrication techniques with biomedical engineering and nanotechnology represented by flexible MEMS microelectrodes for neural interface will open a new gate to human lives and understanding of the world.

Transient receptor potential melastatin-8 (TRPM8) is a cation channel that is activated by cold and “cooling agents” such as menthol and icilin, which induce a cold sensation. Stimulation of TRPM8 activates an intracellular signaling cascade that ultimately leads to a change in the gene expression pattern of the cells. Here, we investigated the TRPM8-induced signaling pathway that links TRPM8 channel activation to gene transcription. Using a pharmacological approach, we show that inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5 kinase alpha (PIP5K), an enzyme essential for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, attenuated TRPM8-induced gene transcription. Analyzing the link between TRPM8 and Gq proteins, we show that pharmacological inhibition of the beta gamma subunits impairs TRPM8 signaling. In addition, genetic studies showed that TRPM8 requires an activated Galpha subunit for signaling. In the nucleus, the TRPM8-induced signaling cascade triggers an activation of the transcription factor AP-1, a complex consisting of a dimer of basic region leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors. Here, we identified the bZIP protein c-Jun as an essential component of AP-1 within the TRPM8-induced signling cscade. In summary, with PIP5K, Gq subunits and c-Jun we have identified key molecules in the TRPM8-induced signaling from the plasma membrane to the nucleus.

Paper-based analytical devices have been substantially developed in recent decades. Many fabrication techniques for paper-based analytical devices have been demonstrated and reported. Herein we report a relatively rapid, simple, and inexpensive method for fabricating paper-based analytical devices using parafilm hot pressing. We studied and optimized the effect of the key fabrication parameters, namely pressure, temperature, and pressing time. We discerned the optimal conditions, including pressure of 3.8 MPa (3 tons), temperature of 80oC, and 3 minutes of pressing time, with the smallest hydrophobic barrier size (821 µm) being governed by laminate mask and parafilm dispersal from pressure and heat. Physical and biochemical properties were evaluated to substantiate the paper functionality for analytical devices. Wicking speed in the fabricated paper strips was slightly slower than that of non-processed paper, resulting from reducing paper pore size. A colorimetric immunological assay was performed to demonstrate the protein binding capacity of the paper-based device after exposure to pressure and heat from the fabrication. Moreover, mixing in two-dimensional paper-based device and flowing in a three-dimensional counterpart were thoroughly investigated, demonstrating that the paper device from this fabrication process is potentially applicable as analytical devices for biomolecule detection. Fast, easy, and inexpensive parafilm hot press fabrication presents an opportunity for researchers to develop paper-based analytical devices in resource-limited environments.

The ability to express and recognize emotion via facial expressions is well known to change with age. The present study investigated the differences in the facial recognition and facial expression of the elderly (n = 57) and the young (n = 115) and measure how each group uses different facial muscles for each emotion with Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In facial recognition task, the elderly did not recognize facial expressions better than young people and reported stronger feelings of fear and sad from photographs. In making facial expression task, the elderly rated all their facial expressions as stronger than the younger, but in fact, they expressed strong expressions in fear and anger. Furthermore, the elderly used more muscles in the lower face when making facial expressions than younger people. These results help to understand better how the facial recognition and expression of the elderly change, and show that the elderly do not effectively execute the top-down processing concerning facial expression.

Heavy metals, including arsenic from abandoned mines, are easily transported with sediment and deposited in water bodies such as reservoirs and lakes, creating critical water quality issues when they are released. Understanding the leaching of heavy metals is necessary for developing efficient water quality improvement plans. This study investigated how arsenic leaches from different soil types and responds to hydrologic conditions to identify areas susceptible to arsenic contamination. In this study, batch- and column-leaching tests and sequential extraction procedures were used to examine arsenic leaching processes in detail. The results showed that most arsenic-loaded sediments accumulated in the vicinity of a reservoir inlet, and arsenic in reservoir beds have a higher leaching potential than those from agricultural land and river beds. Arsenic deposited at the bottom of reservoirs had higher mobility than that in the other soils, and arsenic leaching was closely associated with the acidity of water. In addition, arsenic leaching was found to be responsive to seasons (wet or dry) as its mobilization is controlled by organic compounds that vary over time. The results suggested that temporal variations in the hydrochemical composition of reservoir water should be considered when defining a management plan for reservoir water quality.

Smartphone-based point-of-care testing (POCT) is rapidly emerging as an alternative to traditional screening and laboratory testing, particularly in resource-limited settings. In this proof-of-concept study, we present a smartphone- and cloud-based artificial intelligence quantitative analysis system (SCAISY) for relative quantification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific IgG antibody lateral flow assays that enables rapid and accurate evaluation of test strips. By capturing an image with a smartphone camera, SCAISY quantitatively analyzes antibody levels and provides results to the user. We analyzed changes in antibody levels over time in over 248 individuals, including vaccine type, number of doses, and infection status, with a standard deviation of less than 10%. We also tracked antibody levels in six participants before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Finally, we examined the effects of lighting conditions, camera angle, and smartphone type to ensure consistency and reproducibility. This study suggests that SCAISY is a simple and powerful tool for real-time public health surveillance, enabling the acceleration of quantifying SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies generated by either vaccination or infection and tracking of personal immunity levels.

: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the association of certain genetic alterations and intraoperative fluorescent activity of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in brain metastasis (BM) of lung adenocarcinoma. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 72 patients who underwent surgical resection of BM from lung adenocarcinoma at our institute for 5 years. Cancer cell infiltration was estimated by the intraoperative fluorescent activity of 5-ALA, and genetic alterations were analyzed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). The sensitivity and specificity for detecting cancer cell infiltration using 5-ALA were 87.5% and 96.4%, respectively. Genes associated with cell cycle regulation (p = 0.003) and cell proliferation (p = 0.044) were significantly associated with positive fluorescence activity of 5-ALA in the adjacent brain tissue. Genetic alterations in cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation were also associated with shorter recurrence-free survival (p = 0.013 and p = 0.042, respectively) and overall survival (p = 0.026 and p = 0.042, respectively) in the multivariate analysis. The results suggest that genetic alterations in cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation are associated with positive fluorescence activity of 5-ALA in the adjacent infiltrative brain tissue and influence the clinical outcome of BM of lung adenocarcinoma.

Microstructured surfaces are renowned for their unique properties, such as waterproofing and low adhesion, making them highly applicable in the biomedical field. These surfaces play a crucial role in influencing cell response by mimicking the native microenvironment of biological tissues. In this study, we engineered a series of biomimetic micropatterned surfaces using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to explore their effects on primary breast cancer cell lines, contrasting these effects with those observed on conventional flat surfaces. The surface topography was varied to direct cells’ attachment, growth, and morphology. Our findings elucidate that surface-free energy is not merely a background factor but plays a decisive role in cell dynamics, strongly correlating with the spreading behaviour of breast cancer cells. Notably, on micropillar surfaces with high surface-free energy, an increase in the population of cancer cells was observed. Conversely, surfaces characterised by lower surface-free energies noted a reduction in cell viability. Moreover, the structural parameters, such as the gaps and diameters of the pillars, were found to critically influence cellular dispersion and adherence, underscoring the importance of the microstructures’ topography in biomedical applications. These insights pave the way for designing advanced microstructured surfaces tailored to specific cellular responses, opening new avenues for targeted cancer therapies and tissue engineering.

This article explored how some state policies on rehabilitation, protection and utilization of mangroves are implemented at two locals; namely, Ca Mau provice and its sub-unit Ngoc Hien District as well as Ho Chi Minh City and its sub-unit Can Gio District and what are considered as emgerging issues in the implementation process. The study employed mixed research methods including document and thematic analysis, in-depth interviews, and group discussion. The findings showed that state policies would be adapted through the ways in which these two locals manage to silmultaneously orient their work toward accommodating the madates placed upon them and cope with the reality of socio-economic difficulties at their levels. The findings also showed some issues that need to consider addressing; namely, locals’ struggles to fill the gaps between written and implemented policies in mangrove rehabilitation, conflict among sectors and stakeholders in mangrove utilization and protection, problems in guaranteeing adequate budget for in-need-locals, inconsistence in policies on "forest: water surface” ratio in mangrove-shrimp farm, and unintended consequences in forest thinning and exploitation regimes. Based on the finding analysis, the articles discussed lessons learned from the policy implementation process on mangrove rehabilitation, management and forest allocation to household in the south of Vietnam.

It is crucial to forecast the water demand accurately for supplying water efficiently and stably in a water supply system. In particular, accurately forecasting short-term water demand helps in saving energy and reducing operating costs. With the introduction of the Smart Water Grid (SWG) in a water supply system, the amount of water consumption is obtained in real time through an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) sensor, which can be used for forecasting the short-term water demand. The models widely used for water demand forecasting include the autoregressive integrated moving average, radial basis function-artificial neural network, quantitative multi-model predictor plus, and long short-term memory. However, there is a lack of research on assessing the performance of models and forecasting the short-term water demand by applying the data on the amount of water consumption by purpose and the pipe diameter of an end-use level of the SWG demonstration plant in each demand forecasting model. Therefore, in this study, the short-term water demand was forecasted for each model using the data collected from the AMI, and the performance of each model was assessed. The Smart Water Grid Research Group installed ultrasonic-wave-type AMI sensors in the block 112 located in YeongJong Island, Incheon, and the actual data used for operating the SWG demonstration plant were adopted. The performance of the model was assessed by using the residual, root mean square error (RMSE), normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) as indices. The water demand forecast was slightly underestimated in models that employed the assessment results based on the RMSE and NRMSE. Furthermore, the forecasting accuracy was low for the NSE due to a large number of negative values; the correlation between the observed and forecasted values of the PCC was not high, and it was difficult to forecast the peak amount of water consumption. Therefore, as the short-term water demand forecasting models using only time and the amount of water consumption have limitations in reflecting the characteristics of consumers, a water supply system can be managed more precisely if other factors (weather, customer behavior, etc.) influencing the water demand are applied.

System-of-systems (SoS) evolution is a complex and unpredictable process. Although various principles to facilitate collaborative SoS evolution have been proposed, there is a lack of experimental data validating their effectiveness. To address these issues, we present an Agent-Based Model (ABM) for SoS evolution in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) , serving as a quantitative analysis tool for SoS research. By integrating multiple complex and rational behaviors of individuals, we aim to simulate real-world scenarios as accurately as possible. To simulate the SoS evolution process, our model employs multiple agents with autonomous interactions and incorporates external environmental variables. Furthermore, we propose three evaluation metrics: evolutionary time, degree of variation, and evolutionary cost, to assess the performance of SoS evolution. Our study demonstrates that enhanced information transparency significantly improves the evolutionary performance of distributed SoS. Conversely, the adoption of uniform standards only brings limited performance enhancement to distributed SoSs. Although our proposed model has limitations, it stands out from other approaches that utilize Agent-Based Modeling to analyze SoS theories. Our model focuses on realistic problem contexts and simulates realistic interaction behaviors. This study enhances the comprehension of SoS evolution processes and provides valuable insights for the formulation of effective evolutionary strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel transfer learning regularization method based on knowledge distillation. Recently, transfer learning methods have been used in various fields. However, the problems such as knowledge loss still occur during the process of transfer learning to a new target dataset. To solve these problems, there are various regularization methods based on knowledge distillation techniques. In this paper, we propose a transfer learning regularization method based on feature map alignment used in the field of knowledge distillation. The proposed method is composed of two attention based submodules: self-pixel attention (SPA) and global channel attention (GCA). The self-pixel attention submodule utilizes both the feature maps of the source and target models, so that it provides an opportunity to jointly consider the features of the target and the knowledge of the source. The global channel attention submodule determines the importance of channels through all layers, unlike the existing methods that calculate these only within a single layer. Accordingly, transfer learning regularization is performed by considering both the internal of each single layer and the depth of the entire layer. Consequently, the proposed method using both of these submodules showed overall improved classification accuracy than the existing methods in classification experiments on commonly used dataset.

Dermal interstitial fluid (ISF) is a novel source of biomarkers that can be considered as an alternative to blood sampling for disease diagnosis and treatment. Nevertheless, in vivo extraction and analysis of ISF are challenging. On the other hand, microneedle (MN) technology can address most of the challenges associated with dermal ISF extraction and is well-suited for long-term, continuous ISF monitoring as well as in situ detection. In this review, we first briefly summarise the different dermal ISF collection methods and compare them with MN methods. Next, we elaborate on the design considerations and biocompatibility of MNs. Subsequently, the fabrication technologies of various MNs used for dermal ISF extraction, including solid MNs, hollow MNs, porous MNs and hydrogel MNs, are thoroughly explained. In addition, different sensing mechanisms of ISF detection will be discussed in detail. Subsequently, we identify the challenges and propose the possible solutions associated with ISF extraction. A detailed investigation is provided for the transport and sampling mechanism of ISF in vivo. Also, the current in vitro skin model integrated with the MN arrays will be discussed. Finally, future directions to develop a point-of-care (POC) device to sample ISF are proposed.

Various peptides or non-structural amino acids are recognized by their specific target proteins and perform biological role in various pathways in vivo. Understanding the interactions between target protein and peptides (or non-structural amino acids) provides key information on the molecular interactions, which can be potentially translated to the development of novel drugs. However, it is experimentally challenging to determine the crystal structure of protein-peptide complexes. To obtain structural information on substrate recognition of peptide-recognizing enzyme, X-ray crystallographic studies were performed using triglycine (Gly-Gly-Gly) as main-chain of peptide. The crystal structure of Parengyodontium album Proteinase K in complex with triglcyine was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. Two different bound conformations of triglycine were observed at the substrate recognition site. The triglycine backbone forms stable interactions with β5-α4 and α5-β6 loops of main-chain. One of the triglycine-binding conformations was identical with the binding mode of a peptide-based inhibitor from a previously reported crystal structure of Proteinase K. Triglycine has potential application X-ray crystallography to identify substrate recognition sites in peptide binding enzymes.

The KcsA is a prokaryotic potassium-oriented channel, which is sourced from the Streptomyces lividans soil bacteria. From extensive studies that have been carried over the KcsA potassium channel, it has been proved that various factors enable the gating and shuttling of the potassium ions into and out of the cells. Some of the factors include the different concentration of protons in the inside and outside membrane. The other factor is the existence of the selectivity filter equipped in the exit of channel pore, which enables the movement of the K⁺ ions. Not only are potassium ions present in the channel but also sodium ions. Potassium and sodium ions are the ions that are essential in the conductivity of a cell because of their charge. An intuitive idea about why K⁺ ions are at least 10,000 times more permeant than Na⁺ ions is presented in various entities. The hypothesis is that the selectivity ratio is probably related to the successive entry of Na⁺ ions, based on the premise that the ratio seems to be relevant to unpredictable quantities caused by Brownian corrosion of ions.

This study was conducted to improve the white index (WI) by preparing thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) for wallpaper. The thermal properties, foam expansion ratio and WI were studied depending on the particle size of colloidal silica in the preparation of TEMs. As a result, the TEMs with small particles of colloidal silica showed the best results for whiteness and yellowing. Additionally, TGA results indicated that it was highly possible that colloidal silica with small particle sizes was physically or chemically attached to the surface of the TEMs that led to an improvement in whiteness at high temperatures.

Surface area and pore size distribution of Eucalyptus samples pretreated by different methods were determined by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique. Three methods were applied to prepare cellulosic biomass samples for BET measurements: air, freeze, and critical point drying (CPD). Air and freeze drying caused severe collapse of biomass pore structures, but CPD effectively preserved biomass morphology. Surface area of CPD prepared Eucalyptus samples was determined to be 58–161 m2/g, whereas air and freeze dried samples were 0.5–1.3 and 1.0–2.4 m2/g, respectively. Average pore diameter of CPD prepared Eucalyptus samples were 61–70Å. CPD preserved Eucalyptus sample morphology by replacing water with a non-polar solvent, CO2 fluid, which prevented hydrogen bond reformation in the cellulose.

Aim: To improve risk stratification in early-stage endometrial cancer (EC), we performed mo-lecular classification, and L1CAM immunohistochemistry (IHC) for additional risk assessment. Method: We analyzed archival tumor tissue from 247 early-stage EC patients. POLE mutations were detected using a Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction assay and Sanger sequencing, while the mismatch repair (MMR) status was determined by MMR protein IHC and MSI test. Additionally, we conducted IHC of p53 and L1CAM. Results: The 247 ECs were categorized into four subgroups: POLE-mutated (13.0%), MMR-deficient (27.9%), p53-abnormal (8.5%), and non-specific molecular profile (NSMP, 50.6%). We further subcategorized NSMP subgroup into NSMP-L1CAMneg (44.9%) and NSMP-L1CAMpos (5.7%), which we refer to as the molecu-lar-L1CAM classification. The molecular-L1CAM classification was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) (p <0.001, each). Similarly, the simplified L1CAM-p53 categorization, for practical use, remained an independent prognostic factor for RFS and OS (p <0.001, p =0.003, respectively). Conclusion: Integrating the molecu-lar-L1CAM classification or the simplified L1CAM/p53 categorization can enhance risk stratifi-cation in early-stage EC, providing valuable prognostic information to guide treatment deci-sions and improve patient outcomes.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which block the activity of cyclooxygenase (COX) isoenzymes and inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandin, have been used for pain relief. We have developed a method to separate a mixture of three NSAIDs, such as aspirin, paracetamol, and naproxen, using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). An isocratic mobile phase consisting of acidic water and acetonitrile was selected to run at a low flow rate, such as 0.8 mL/min. The mixture of three NSAIDs was injected at a low volume into a C18 column that was 150 mm in length and characterized using a UV detector at 230 nm. We identified three peaks in the chromatogram indicating the three compounds. The elution time of the peaks was less than 10 minutes. To identify multiple peaks on the isocratic flow using a short column, further studies are required regarding the proposed method to generate microfluidic devices for nanoLC.

As climate changes, our daily life has been much influenced by abnormal meteorological phenomena such as heavy rainfall, heat wave, heavy snowfall, and fine dust. Atmospheric air quality is worsening day by day and indoor air quality is also affected by interconnected daily activities throughout the inside and outside of buildings and houses. Nowadays, pollutants from various sources are emitted, transformed by sunlight, vapor, and ozone and transported into the city from country to country. Due to these reasons, there have been high demands to monitor the transportation of particulate matters and improve air quality. Monitoring of pollutants and identification of type and its concentration enables us to track and control its generation and consequently find out the solution. However, monitoring of pollutants, especially, particulate matter generation and its transportation is still not fully operated in atmospheric air due to its open nature and meteorological factors. Even though indoor air is relatively easy to monitor and control than outdoor in the aspect of specific volume and contaminant source, but it still needs to consider the meteorological parameters because indoor air is not fully separated from the outdoor air flow and contaminants transportation. In this study, optical approach using spectral sensor was attempted to reveal the feasibility of wavelength and chromaticity values of reflected light from specific particles. From the analysis of reflected light of various particulate matters according to different liquid additives, parameter studies were performed to investigate which experimental conditions can contribute to the enhanced selective sensing of particulate matters. Five different particulate matters such as household dust, soil, talc powder, gypsum powder and yellow pine tree pollen were utilized and observed to elucidate the relationship between property of particulate matter and detected light spectrum. Applicable approaches to assist current particle matter sensors and improve the selective sensing were suggested.

Prenatal diagnosis of clubfoot traditionally relied on two-dimensional ultrasonography. To enhance diagnosis and predict postnatal outcomes, we examined the parameters that differentiate pathological clubfoot using three-dimensional ultrasonography. In our retrospective study, we examined the findings of prenatal ultrasound and the postnatal outcomes of pregnancies with suspected congenital clubfoot between 2018 and 2021. Based on the three-dimensional perspective, we measured the angles of varus, equinus, calcaneopedal block and forefoot adduction and compared the sonographic variables between the postnatal treated and non-treated groups. We evaluated 31 pregnancies (47 feet) with suspected clubfoot using three-dimensional ultrasonography. After delivery, a total of 37 feet (78.7%) underwent treatment involving serial casting only or additional Achilles tenotomy. The treated group showed significantly greater hindfoot varus deviation (60.5° vs. 46.6°, p=0.026) and calcaneopedal block deviation (65.6° vs. 26.6°, p &lt;0.05) compared to the non-treated group. The calcaneopedal block had an area under the curve of 0.98 with a diagnostic threshold of 46.2 degrees (sensitivity of 97%, specificity of 90%, positive predictive value of 97%, and negative predictive value of 90%). During prenatal evaluation of clubfoot using three-dimensional ultrasonography, the calcaneopedal block deviation has the potential to predict postnatal treatment.

Water pollution, intensified by the release of hard-to-degrade pollutants, poses severe threats to ecosystems, human health, and economic development. The existing advanced oxidation processes often involve high operational costs and may result in secondary pollution, highlighting the necessity for innovative and more sustainable solutions. To address these challenges, our study introduces a cost-effective and eco-friendly corona discharge barrier plasma discharger for wastewater treatment. Through the central composite design/response surface methodology, a high decolorization rate of 98% of methylene blue (MB) within 10 minutes was achieved by optimizing parameters such as pH and voltage. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the generation of reactive oxygen species via this device was discussed in detail and the degradation pathways of MB were described. Moreover, this device is also very energy-efficient, with a low energy density and electrical energy per order of 0.15 watt/mL and 5.79 kWh/m³/order, respectively. In conclusion, the plasma discharger developed in this study provides a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution for dye wastewater treatment. This research contributes significantly to the advancement of sustainable dye wastewater management practices, offering an innovative method that meets both environmental and economic objectives.

Recently, cobalt iron boron (CoFeB) thin films have been widely investigated to apply to magnetic sensors, due to their high magnetic moment, anisotropy, and stability. However, most of these studies are conducted on rigid silicon substrates. For more diverse applications of magnetic sensors and angle sensors, it is important to explore the properties of ferromagnetic thin films grown on non-rigid deformable substrates. Here, using representative deformable substrates such as polyimide (PI), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that can be bent or stretched, we report experimental comparison of in-plane magnetic field angle-dependent properties of the amorphous Ta/CoFeB/MgO/Ta thin film which is grown on those deformable substrates. We investigate effects of substrate roughness, tensile stress, characteristics of deformable substrates, and sputtering process on the change of magnetic properties like coercive field (Hc), remanence over saturation magnetization (Mr/Ms), and their biaxial characteristics. This work presents unconventional foundations for exploring deformable magnetic sensors capable of detecting magnetic field angle.

Land use/land cover (LULC) and climate changes are two main factors directly affecting hydrologic conditions. However, very few studies in Vietnam have investigated changes in hydrological process under the impact of climate and land use changes on a basin scale. The objective of this study is to assess the individual and combined impacts of land use and climate changes on hydrological processes for the Nam Rom river basin, Northwestern Viet Nam using Remote Sensing (RS) and Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) model. SWAT model was used for hydrological process simulation. Results indicated that SWAT proved to be a powerful tool in simulating the impacts of land use and climate change on catchment hydrology. The change in historical land use between 1992 and 2015 strongly contributed to increasing hydrological processes (ET, percolation, ground water, and water yield), whereas, climate change led to significant decrease of all hydrological components. The combination of land use and climate changes significantly reduced surface runoff (-16.9%), ground water (-5.7%), water yield (-9.2%), and sediment load (-4.9%). Overall climatic changes had more significant effect on hydrological components than land use changes in the Nam Rom river basin during the 1992–2015. Under impacts of projected land use and climate change scenarios in 2030 on hydrological process of the upper Nam Rom river basin indicate that ET and surface flow are more sensitive to the changes in land use and climate in the future. In conclusion, the findings of this study will basic knowledge of the effects of climate and land-use changes on the hydrology for future development of integrated land use and water management practices in Nam Rom river basin.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of dual-task training, including cognitive tasks, on cognitive and bodily functioning and β-amyloid levels in Alzheimer's dementia patients. The subjects were 34 inpatients diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia at a nursing hospital located in Gyeongsansi, South Korea. The patients were randomly divided into a dual-task group (n = 16) and a single-task group (n = 18). The dual-task group performed cognitive tasks at the same time as exercising tasks, while the single-task group performed only exercise tasks. Each group was trained for 30 minutes three times a week for eight weeks. The Mini-Mental State Examination was used to measure the patients’ cognitive function. Static and dynamic balance were measured to evaluate bodily functioning. Static balance was measured using Biorescue, while dynamic balance was measured using the Berg Balance Scale. Blood analysis was performed to measure levels of β-amyloid, which is known to cause Alzheimer's dementia. Both groups exhibited statistically significant improvements in gait function after the training (p < .05). The dual-task group exhibited statistically significant differences in cognitive function, static and dynamic balance function, and β-amyloid levels after training (p < .05). A significant difference was observed between the two groups (p < .05). Dual-task activities were found to be effective in improving cognitive and bodily functioning and reducing β-amyloid levels in Alzheimer's dementia patients. Therefore, dual-task training is thought to be an effective method of treating and preventing Alzheimer's dementia.

Saikosaponin (SS) a is a compound with various pharmacological properties and easily degraded into SSb1 and SSg in acid condition. In present work another two new degradation products of SSa formed under acid hydrolytic condition were detected and isolated by analytical and semi-preparative liquid chromatography technology, furthermore their structures were characterized as hydroxyl-saikosaponin a and SSb2 by spectral analysis, which is not only essential in stability-indicating method development and validation but also could be used as a worst case to assess the analytical method performance of SSa. Moreover their structural transformation pathways were also proposed.

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

Corresponding to the principles of biological synapses, an essential prerequisite for hardware neural networks using electronics devices is continuous regulation of conductance. We implemented artificial synaptic characteristics in a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM with a superlattice structure under optimized identical pulse trains. Based on atomically controlling the Ge switch in the phase transition that appears in the GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattice structure, multiple conductance states were implemented by applying the appropriate electrical pulses. Furthermore, we found that the bidirectional switching behavior of a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM can achieve a desired resistance level using the pulse width. Therefore, we also fabricated a Ge2Sb2Te5 PCM and designed a pulse scheme based on the phase transition mechanism to compare to the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM. We designed an identical pulse scheme that implements linear and symmetrical LTP and LTD based on the iPCM mechanism. As a result, the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM showed relatively excellent synaptic characteristics by implementing gradual conductance modulation, a nonlinearity value of 0.32, and LTP/LTD 40 conductance states using identical pulses trains. Our results demonstrate the general applicability of the artificial synaptic device for potential use in neuro-inspired computing and next generation non-volatile memory.

Although there are a large number of databases available for regulatory elements, bottleneck has been created by the lack of bioinformatics tools for predicting types of mechanisms underlying actions of regulatory elements. To reduce the gap, we developed ARabidopsis Transcription regulatory Factor Domain-domain interaction Analysis Tool- Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), Oligomerization, GO analysis (ART FounDATion-LOG), a useful toolkit for protein-nucleic acid interactions (PNI) and protein-protein interactions (PPI) analysis based on domain-domain interaction (DDI). LLPS, protein oligomerization, structural properties of protein domains, and protein modifications are major components in orchestrating spatio-temporal dynamics of PPI and PNI. Our goal is to integrate PPI/PNI information into development of prediction model for identifying important genetic variants in peach. The program unified inter-database relational keys by protein domains for facilitating inference from the model species. Key advantage of the program lies in the integrated information of related features: LOG, structural characterization of domain (e.g. domain linker, intrinsically disordered regions, DDI, domain-motif (peptide) interaction, beta-sheet and transmembrane helices), and post-translational modification. We provided simple tests to demonstrate how to use the program. The program may be applied to other eukaryotic organisms. The program codes and data are freely available for download at and https://sourceforge.net/projects/artfoundation-log/.

Ecological connectivity, as a research method related to spatial ecology and conservation biology, has attracted increasing attention from researchers at home and abroad in recent years. Habitat connectivity, as a key link in ecological connectivity, is of great significance to promote offshore ecological restoration and protection. However, there has been less systematic research about habitat connectivity, which lacks corresponding theories and practices. Therefore, this paper discusses habitat connectivity from three aspects: (1) the concept of habitat connectivity is introduced and clarified, (2) the application of connectivity in artificial habitat and adjacent waters and its relationship with biodiversity conservation are reviewed and illustrated with examples, and (3) the future development trends of this research direction are summarized and prospected, in order to provide a scientific basis and useful reference for the related work of offshore restoration projects in China. Generally, this paper argues that an increase in human behavior irreversibly destroys the connectivity of marine habitats and threatens the temporal scales of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, the theoretical research results and practical experience of ecological connectivity should be fully applied to marine ecosystems, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems should be encouraged and supported in ways that promote natural recovery.

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungus that becomes pathogenic and problematic under certain biological conditions. C.albicans may cause painful and uncomfortable symptoms, as well as deaths in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, early detection of c.albicans is essential. However, conventional detection methods are costly, slow and inaccessible to women in remote or developing areas. To address these concerns, we have developed a wearable and discrete naked-eye detectable, colorimetric platform for c.albicans detection. With some modification, this platform is designed to be directly adhered to existing feminine hygiene pads. Our platform is rapid, inexpensive, user-friendly, disposable and only requires three steps: i) addition of vaginal fluid onto sample pads; ii) addition of gold nanoparticle gel and running buffer, and iii) naked eye detection. Our platform is underpinned by selective thiolated aptamer-based recognition of 1,3-β-D glucan molecules- a hallmark of c.albicans cell walls. In the absence of c.albicans, wearable sample pads turn bright pink. In the presence of c. albicans, the wearable pads turn dark blue due to significant nanoparticle target-induced aggregation. We demonstrate naked eye colorimetric detection of 4.4 ×106 c.albicans cells per ml. We believe that this proof-of-concept platform has the potential to have a significant impact on women’s health, globally.

The emergence of diverse infections worldwide, which is a serious global threat to human existence, necessitate the urgent development of novel therapeutic candidates that can combat these diseases with efficacy. Isatin, a secondary metabolite from tryptophan is considered a privileged scaffold and favorable pharmacophore with a unique structural moiety and varied chemical and biological properties resulting in its widespread applications by medicinal chemists. Molecular hybridization is one of the most common and important techniques use in the synthesis of their bioactive hybrids in drug discovery. This review containing published articles from 2005 to 2022 focuses on isatin hybrids which have been synthesized and reported in the literature alongside a discussion on their biological properties. The purpose of this review is to set up the direction for the design and development of isatin-hybrids with tailored biological properties as effective therapeutic candidates inspired by nature.

Ningxiang pig is renowned breed for its exceptional meat quality, but it possesses suboptimal carcass traits. To elucidate the genetic architecture of meat quality and carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs, we assessed heritability and executed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) concerning carcass length, backfat thickness, meat color parameters (L.LD, a.LD, b.LD), and pH at two postmortem intervals (45 minutes and 24 hours) within a Ningxiang pig population. Heritability estimates ranged from moderate to high (0.30 ~ 0.80) for carcass traits and from low to high (0.11 ~ 0.48) for meat quality traits. We identified 21 significant SNPs, the majority of which were situated within previously documented QTL regions. Furthermore, the HMGA1 gene emerged as a pleiotropic gene correlated with carcass length and backfat thickness. The ADGRF1, FKBP5, and PRIM2 genes were associated with carcass length, while the NIPBL gene was linked to backfat thickness. These genes hold potential for use in selective breeding programs targeting carcass traits in Ningxiang pigs.

Recycling waste products is an environmental-friendly activity that can bring benefits to accompany, saving manufacturing costs and improving economic efficiency. For the beer industry, recycling bottles can reduce manufacturing costs and reduce the industry's carbon footprint. This paper presents a model for a multi-objective collection-distribution center location and allocation problem in a closed loop supply chain for the beer industry, in which the objective is to minimize total costs and transportation pollution. Uncertainties in the form of randomness and fuzziness are jointly handled in this paper to ensure a more practical problem solution, for which returned bottle sand unusable bottles are considered fuzzy random variables. A heuristic algorithm based on priority-based global-local-neighbor particle swarm optimization (pb-glnPSO) is applied to ensure reliable solutions for this NP-hard problem. A case study on a beer operation company is conducted to illustrate the application of the proposed model and demonstrate the priority-based global-local-neighbor particle swarm optimization.

Flow sensing in hostile environment is of increasing interest for applications in automotive, aerospace, and chemical and resource industries. Compared to their counterparts, thermal flow sensors are attractive candidates due to the ease of fabrication, lack of moving parts and higher sensitivity. Recently, a number of thermal flow sensor prototypes have been reported in the literature demonstrating the measurement of fluid flows under hostile conditions. This paper summarizes the concept of thermal flow sensing, operational modes and transduction mechanisms. Then, the choice of materials and their corresponding properties are presented in details. The paper also reports recent progress in the development of thermal flow sensors for harsh environment. In addition, the issues and considerations in packaging are reviewed. Finally, we conclude the review with the future prospects.

Based on a constant volume combustion chamber, the initial ambient pressure effect on combustion performance and flame propagation of the active and passive pre-chamber ignition systems were studied. Compared with the passive pre-chamber, the active pre-chamber can significantly expand the lean combustion limit, enhance the ignition and combustion performance, and speed up the combustion of the main combustion chamber. At slightly lean combustion conditions, the heat release performance has a positive correlation with the initial ambient pressure. As the premixed λ increases, the heat release performance and the initial ambient pressure begin to become negatively correlated. Ignition delay can be minimized by controlling the excess air coefficient in the pre-chamber close to the stoichiometric ratio. The high ambient pressure in the constant volume chamber greatly reduces the mixture entrainment ability of the jet flame at lean combustion conditions, thereby reducing the combustion speed and peak heat release rate.

To date, various chimeric lysins have been developed as efficacious antibiotics against multidrug-resistant bacteria, but direct comparisons of their antibacterial activities have been difficult due to the preparation of multiple recombinant chimeric lysins. Previously, we reported an E. coli cell-free expression method to screen better chimeric lysins against Staphylococcus aureus, but we still needed to increase the amounts of expressed proteins enough to be able to detect them non-isotopically for quantity comparisons. In this study, we improved the previous cell-free expression system by adding a previously reported artificial T7 terminator and reversing the different nucleotides between the T7 promoter and start codon to those of the T7 phage. The new method increased the expressed amount of chimeric lysins enough for us to detect them using Western blotting. Therefore, the qualitative comparison of activity between different chimeric lysins has become possible via the adjustment of the amount variables between samples without protein purification. We applied it to select more active chimeric lysins derived from our previously reported chimeric lysin (ALS2). Finally, we compared the antibacterial activities of our selected chimeric lysins with reported chimeric lysins (ClyC and ClyO) and lysostaphin, and determined the rank orders of antibacterial activities on different S. aureus strains in our experimental conditions.

Obesity, which is characterized by an excessive accumulation of body fat, is one of the critical factors causing metabolic syndrome. Many studies have been performed to identify appropriate agents to control obesity, but toxicity remains a problem. Herein, we identified that phenylbutyrate (PBA), which has been used to treat urea cycle disorder with very low toxicity for a long time, efficiently inhibited high fat-induced body weight gain in a diet-induced obesity mouse model (DIO model). PBA treatment decreased body fat mass and increased lean composition. Moreover, PBA increased brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity by increasing glucose uptake, thereby improving glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance. Interestingly, PBA could induce the expression of phosphofructokinase (PFKL), a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway, and knocking down PFKL dramatically repressed the expression level of Ucp1 as well as those of Prdm16, Cidea, Pgc1α, and Pparγ, which are marker genes for BAT activation. These results strongly suggested that PBA could increase energy expenditure by increasing BAT activity via the induction of PFKL. Taken together, PBA could be used as a therapeutic agent for people with obesity to prevent the development of metabolic syndrome.

Recently, research on ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) with the characteristics of ultra-high strength, high toughness, and high durability has been actively conducted from materials to actual structural applications. However, research on experimental methods that reflect the unique characteristics of UHPC, which are different from those of normal concrete, is insufficient. To solve the difficulties in applying the compressive creep test method for normal concrete to UHPC and to verify the validity of the recently proposed ASTM C 1856 standard test method, this study performed compressive creep tests on UHPC with variables of specimen size, sustained load intensity, fiber length, and strain measuring method. Two types of cylindrical specimens of ϕ100 × 200 mm and ϕ75 × 150 mm were used for a specimen size variable. The sustained load intensities of 10% to 40% based on the specified compressive strength of 150 MPa were applied. Two types of steel fiber lengths of 13 mm and 19.5 mm in the UHPC mix were used as a variable, and three strain measuring methods of the embedded strain gauge method, the attached strain gauge method, and the strain meter with stud measured the change in length of the UHPC specimens. The experimental results showed that the strain meter method using the standard rod had limitations due to the error in the verification process using the standard rod and the observation error of the measurer, and the sustained load intensity is preferable to 15% to 40% of the actual compressive strength. It was found that it is possible to perform a compressive creep test for UHPC using a specimen with a size of ϕ75 mm or more, and the fiber length did not affect the creep behavior of UHPC up to 19.5 mm. As a result of comparing the UHPC creep test results with the creep prediction model, the B3 model was found to most accurately predict the UHPC creep behavior. The creep coefficient pattern of the B3 model was very similar to the measured results, and well reflected the effects of the mixing ratio and compressive strength of UHPC.

With the rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the emergence of new strains is an intriguing question. This paper presents an evolutionary theory to analyze the mutations of the virus and identify the conditions that lead to the generation of new strains. We represent the virus variants using a 4-letter sequence based on amino acid mutations on the spike protein and employ an n-distance algorithm to derive a variant phylogenetic tree. We show that the theoretically-derived tree aligns with experimental data on virus evolution. Additionally, we propose an A-X model, utilizing the set of existing mutation sites (A) and a set of randomly generated sites (X), to calculate the emergence of new strains. Our findings demonstrate that a sufficient number of random iterations can predict the generation of new macro-lineages when the number of sites in X is large enough. These results provide a crucial theoretical basis for understanding the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

Gas flaring is commonly used by industrial plants for processing oil and natural gases in the atmosphere, and hence is an important anthropogenic source for various pollutants including CO₂, CO, and aerosols. This study evaluates the feasibility of using satellite data to characterize gas flaring form space by focusing on the Khanty Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug in Russia, a region that is well known for its dominatingly gas flaring activities. Multiple satellite-based thermal anomaly data products at night are inter-compared and analyzed, including MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Terra level-2 Thermal Anomalies product (MOD14), MODIS Aqua level-2 Thermal Anomalies product (MYD14), VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) Active Fires Applications Related Product (VAFP), and VIIRS level-2 data based Nightfire product (VNF). The analysis compares and contrasts the efficacy of these sensor products in detecting small, hot sources like flares on the ground in extremely cold environments such as Russia. We found that the VNF algorithm recently launched by NOAA has the unprecedented accuracy and efficiency in characterizing gas flares in the region owing primarily to the use of Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) bands. Reconciliation of VNF’s differences and similarities with other nighttime fire products is also conducted, indicating that MOD14/MYD14 and VAFP data are only effective in detecting those gas flaring pixels that are among the hottest in the region. Validation of VNF product of gas flaring location with Google Earth images are made. It is shown that that VNF’s estimates of gas flaring area (the area of gas flaming) agree well the counterparts from Google images with a linear correlation of 0.91, highlighting its potential use for routinely monitoring emissions of gas flaring from space.

Ehretia laevis Roxb. (Boraginaceae) has been extensively used as a traditional remedy for the treatment of a diverse range of ailments related to the respiratory system, the gastrointestinal tract, the reproductive system, and against several infections. This review critically assesses and documents, for the first time, the fragmented information on E. laevis, including its botanical description, folklore uses, bioactive phytometabolites and pharmacological activities. The goal is to explore this plant therapeutically. Ethnomedicinal surveys reveal that E. laevis has been used by tribal communities in Asian countries for the treatment of various disorders. Quantitative and qualitative phytochemical investigations of E. laevis showed the presence of important phytoconstituents such as pentacyclic triterpenoids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, fatty acids, steroids, alkaloids, aliphatic alcohols, hydrocarbons, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Fresh plant parts, crude extracts, fractions and isolated compounds have been reported to exhibit broad spectrum of therapeutic activities viz., antioxidant, antiarthritic, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antidiarrheal, antidysenteric, wound healing and anti-infective activities. E. laevis is shown to be an excellent potential source of drugs for the mitigation of jaundice, asthma, dysentery, ulcers, diarrhea, ringworm, eczema, diabetes, fissure, syphilis, cuts and wounds, inflammation, liver problems, venereal and infectious disorders. Although few investigations authenticated its traditional uses but employed uncharacterized crude extracts of the plant, the major concerns raised are reproducibility of therapeutic efficacy and safety of plant material. The outcomes of limited pharmacological screening and reported bioactive compounds of E. laevis suggest that there is an urgent need for in-depth pharmacological investigations of the plant.

Singing melody extraction is the task that identifies the melody pitch contour of singing voice from polyphonic music. Most of the traditional melody extraction algorithms are based on calculating salient pitch candidates or separating the melody source from the mixture. Recently, classification-based approach based on deep learning has drawn much attentions. In this paper, we present a classification-based singing melody extraction model using deep convolutional neural networks. The proposed model consists of a singing pitch extractor (SPE) and a singing voice activity detector (SVAD). The SPE is trained to predict a high-resolution pitch label of singing voice from a short segment of spectrogram. This allows the model to predict highly continuous curves. The melody contour is smoothed further by post-processing the output of the melody extractor. The SVAD is trained to determine if a long segment of mel-spectrogram contains a singing voice. This often produces voice false alarm errors around the boundary of singing segments. We reduced them by exploiting the output of the SPE. Finally, we evaluate the proposed melody extraction model on several public datasets. The results show that the proposed model is comparable to state-of-the-art algorithms.

We study the Gaudin models with gl(1|1) symmetry that are twisted by a diagonal matrix and defined on tensor products of polynomial evaluation gl(1|1)[t]-modules, extending all the results of to the twisted case. Namely, we give an explicit description of the algebra of Hamiltonians (Gaudin Hamiltonians) acting on tensor products of polynomial evaluation gl(1|1)[t]-modules and show that there exists a bijection between common eigenvectors (up to proportionality) of the algebra of Hamiltonians and monic divisors of an explicit polynomial written in terms of the highest weights and evaluation parameters. In particular, our result implies that each common eigenspace of the algebra of Hamiltonians has dimension one. We also give dimensions of the generalized eigenspaces.

Resection of malignant lesions in the oral and maxillofacial area causes functional and morphological defects. To recover from these defects, reconstruction surgery is needed such as a primary closure or a flap. There are advantages and disadvantages to the method of using the primary closure and the flap, and the choice of procedure is entirely up to a surgeon. The purpose of this study is to evaluate availability of primary closure in patients. For 10 years from January 2010 to May 2020, patients who recovered using flaps after removing malignant lesions from the oral cavity and those who closed the lesion using primary closure were investigated. The investigation was conducted by searching the database of the hospital. There were 85 patients who removed malignant lesions in the oral and maxillofacial area, and among them 16 patients closed the soft tissue defects using primary closure. Operation time, histologic types, stages, wound status, and period of hospitalization according to the patients' medical records were investigated retrospectively. Between the staging and the primary closure, statistically significant differences were observed between stage I and stage II patients in 13 patients using the primary closure. (P=0.046). Statistically significant differences were identified between operation time and primary closure, with an average of 4.02 hours (P=0.015). The average period of hospitality for patients who underwent primary closure was 13.4 days, compared to 26.7 days for those who underwent flap surgery. This difference was statistically significant (P=0.0003). This study evaluated the use of primary closure in patients who underwent resection of malignant lesions in the oral and maxillofacial area. Although the majority of patients underwent reconstruction with flaps, our results showed that primary closure can be a viable option for certain patients with early-stage lesions. Therefore, oral and maxillofacial surgeons should carefully consider various evaluation criteria and select appropriate reconstruction methods to optimize functional and aesthetic outcomes for each patient.

Background: Breast cancer is a commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Human MutT homolog 1 (MTH1) is found to be elevated in breast tumors and cancer cells are addicted to MTH1 for sur-vival. Pharmacological inhibition of MTH1 may be potentially beneficial in the treatment of breast cancer. Methods: MA-24 was screened by malachite green colorimetric assay from MTH1 inhibitors and the kinetic characteristics of MA-24 was assessed. Binding features of MA-24 with MTH1 was as-certained through molecular docking, and cytotoxic activity of MA-24 was validated in vitro and in vivo. Target engagement assays, comet assay and western blot confirmed that the intracellular target and mechanism of MA-24. Results: MA-24 with potent antitumor bioactivity both in vitro and in vivo. MA-24 competitively inhibited the MTH1 and further induce DNA strand breaks, leading to increased apoptosis of cancer cells depending on upregulation of cleaved-caspase 3 – cleaved-PARP axis. Especially, MA-24 exhibited a powerful efficacy and safety in vivo (tumor growth inhibition rate: 61.8%). Conclusions: MA-24 possesses a broad spectrum of breast cancer cytotoxicity and offered valuable insights for overcoming the challenges of chemotherapy-related toxicity, which holds great po-tential for further development MA-24 as an anti-cancer drug.

Partial negative allosteric modulators (NAM) of the mGlu5 receptor are an excellent alternative to full antagonists and NAMs because they retain some therapeutic effects and, at the same time, have a much broader therapeutic window. Here, we investigated whether partial mGlu5 NAM, M-5MPEP induced a fast and sustained antidepressant-like effect, characteristic of rapid-acting antidepressant drugs (RAADs) like ketamine, in C57BL/6J mice. M-5MPEP caused a rapid, dose-dependent antidepressant-like action in the tail suspension test (TST) 60 min after injection. This effect was antagonized by an AMPA receptor antagonist (NBQX) and a TrkB receptor antagonist (ANA-12) but not by 5HT1A and 5HT2A/2C receptor antagonists. Furthermore, M-5MPEP (30 mg/kg) induced sustained antidepressant-like effects 24 h after the last of four administrations. These effects were revealed in the splash test, designed to measure apathy-like state, and in the TST. Western blot and ELISA analyses indicated the involvement of the TrkB/BDNF pathway in the sustained M-5MPEP effects. Additionally, prolonged effects of M-5MPEP were entirely reversed by the TrkB receptor antagonist ANA-12 in both the splash test and the TST, confirming the critical role of TrkB receptor activation in the sustained antidepressant-like effect of M-5MPEP. Importantly, M-5MPEP enhanced the subthreshold dose of (R)-ketamine in the TST, indicating both substances' convergent mechanisms of action and the possibility of their practical use in treating depression.

Plant-derived compounds have been historically used for the treatment of various diseases and an important source of several clinically useful anti-cancer agents. The Artemisia annua is known as a medicinal herb that is effective against cancer. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether ethanol extracts of Artemisia annua could increase an anti-cancer effect against LS174T cells. Our results show that Artemisia annua extracts (AAE) induces apoptosis through the regulation of mitochondria outer membrane potential. We demonstrate that apoptosis is induced by p53-dependent manner when cells were treated with Nutlin-3 (MDM2 inhibitor) and LY294002 (Akt inhibitor). In addition, the apoptotic effect was also observed in the p53-independent manner through pifithrin-α (p53 inhibitor) and celecoxib (COX-2 inhibitor) treatment. As in in vitro, AAE induced apoptotic effects and regulated apoptosis-related proteins in LS174T xenograft model. Taken together, these results suggest that Artemisia annua extracts exerts an anti-cancer effect through p53-independent manner, as well as p53-dependent manner by p53´ translocation in LS174T colon cancer cells.

With the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there is a need for efficient management of patients with mild or no symptoms, which account for the majority. The aim of this study is to introduce the structure and operation protocol of a living and treatment support centre (LTSC) operated by Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea. The existing accommodation facility was converted into a 'patient centre' where patients was isolated. A few Medical staff here performed medical tests and responded to emergencies. Another part of the LTSC was 'remote monitoring centre'. In this center, patients’ self-measured vital signs and symptoms were monitored twice a day, and the medical staff staying here provided video-consultation via a smartphone. During the 3 weeks from March 5 to March 26, 2020, 113 patients were admitted and treated. LTSC could be an efficient alternative to hospital admission in pandemic situation like COVID-19.

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) enables determination of room-temperature structures without causing radiation damage. Using an optical pump-probe or mix-and-injection, SFX enables the intermediate state visualization of a molecular reaction. In SFX experiments, serial and stable microcrystal delivery to the X-ray interaction point is vital for reasonable data collection and efficient beam time. The Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL) facility established SFX instruments at a nanocrystallography and coherent imaging (NCI) experimental station. Various sample delivery methods, including injection, fixed-target scanning, and hybrid methods, have been developed and applied to collect XFEL diffraction data. Herein, we review the currently available sample delivery methods for SFX at the NCI experimental station at the PAL-XFEL. This article will help PAL-XFEL users access the SFX system for their experiments.

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is the key technology promised to be applied in next-generation networks in the near future. In this study, we propose a multi-points cooperative relaying (MPCR) NOMA model instead of just using a relay as the previous studies. Based on the channel state information (CSI), the base station (BS) selects a closest user equipment (UE) and sends a superposed signal to this UE as a first relay node. We have assumed that there are N UEs in the network and Nth UE, which is farthest from BS, has the poorest quality signal transmitted from the BS compared other UEs. Nth UE received the forwarded signal from N-1 relaying nodes that are UEs with better signal quality. At the ith relaying node, it detect its own symbol by using successive interference cancellation (SIC) and will forward the composite signal to the next closest user, namely i+1th UE, and include an excess power which will use for energy harvesting (EH) intention at the next UE. By these, the farthest UE in network can be significantly improved. In addition, closed-form expressions of outage probability for users over both the Rayleigh and Nakagami-m fading channels are also presented. Analysis and simulation results performed by Matlab software which are presented accurately and clearly show that the effectiveness of our proposed model and this model consistents with the multi-access wireless network in future.

This paper reports the design, development, and testing of a novel, yet simple and low-cost portable device for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2. The device performs loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and provides visually distinguishable images of the fluorescence emitted from the samples. The device utilises an aluminium block embedded with a cartridge heater for isothermal heating of the sample and a single-board computer and camera for fluorescence detection. The device demonstrates promising results within 20 minutes using clinically relevant starting concentrations of the synthetic template. Time-to-signal data for this device are considerably lower compared to standard qPCR machine (~10-20 minutes vs &gt;38 minutes) for 1×105 starting template copy number. The device in its fully optimized and characterized state can potentially be used as simple to operate, rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive platform for population screening as well as point-of-need SARS-CoV-2 detection and patient management.

During the high-speed flight of a vehicle in the atmosphere, surface friction with the air generates aerodynamic heating. The aerodynamic heating phenomenon can create extremely high temperatures near the surface. These high temperatures impact material properties and the structure of the aircraft, so thermal deformation measurement is essential in aerospace engineering. This paper revisits high-temperature deformation measurement using the digital image correlation (DIC) technique under high-intensity blackbody radiation with a precise speckle pattern fabrication and a heat haze reduction method. The effect of speckle pattern on the DIC measurement has been thoroughly studied at room temperature, but high-temperature measurement studies have not reported such effects so far. We found that the commonly used methods to reduce the heat haze effect could produce incorrect results. Hence, we propose a new method to mitigate heat haze effects. An infrared radiation heater was employed to make an experimental setup that could heat a specimen up to 950 ℃. First, we mitigated image saturation using a short-wavelength bandpass filter with blue light illumination, a standard procedure for high-temperature DIC deformation measurement. Second, we studied how to determine the proper size of the speckle pattern under a high-temperature environment. Third, we devised a reduction method for the heat haze effect. As proof of the effectiveness of our developed experimental method, we successfully measured the deformation of stainless steel 304 specimens from 25 ℃ to 800 ℃. The results confirmed that this method can be applied to the research and development of thermal protection systems in the aerospace field.

A sintered wick was formed in a heat pipe through the process of sintering a mixture of copper powder with particle sizes of 100㎛ and 200㎛, mixed with a pore-forming agent. On application to the heat pipes. The thermal resistance of heat pipes containing a sintered wick was calculated for different tilting angles (0°, 45°, and 90°) according to the type of powder, thickness of the sintered wick, and the filling ratio of the working fluid. The heat transfer efficiencies were evaluated through temperature tests. The capillary force, which is closely related to heat transfer efficiency, is determined by the effective pore radius resulting from the sintering of the copper powder. Furthermore, it was observed that the heat transfer performance of the heat pipe was at its best when the working fluid filling ratio was 30%. Additionally, the width of the wick was found to have a direct correlation with the heat transfer performance.

The semi-enclosed estuary is very susceptible to changes in the physical and environmental characteristics of the inflow from the land and the coastal sea weather and so the continuous and comprehensive monitoring is necessary for managing the estuary. Nevertheless, the standard procedure or schematic framework has not been proposed appropriately to determine how many instruments are necessary and where they need to be deployed to detect critical changes. Therefore, the present work proposes a systematical strategy for the deployments of the monitoring array by using the combination of the graphical optimization with the objective mapping technique. In order to reflect the spatiotemporal characteristics of the bay, the representative variables and eigenvectors are determined by the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF), and the cosine angle among them are calculated for a design index of optimization. At the recommended locations, the sampled representative variables are interpolated to reconstruct their spatiotemporal distribution and compared with the distributions of the true values. Analysis confirms that the selected locations, even with a small number of points, can be used for on-site monitoring. Also, the present framework suggests how to determine installable regions for real-time monitoring stations, which reflect the global and local characteristics of the semi-enclosed estuary.