This article addresses the trajectory tracking between two non-identical systems with chaotic properties. We employ the Rossler chaotic and RCL-shunted Josephson junctions model in similar phase space to study trajectory tracking. In order to achieve the goal tracking, we afford two stages to approximate the target tracking. The first stage utilizes the active control technique to transfer the output signal from the RCLs-J system into the quasi-Rossler system. Then next, the RCLs-J system employs the proposed the iterative learning control scheme and the control signal from the drive system to trace the trajectory of Rossler system. The numerical results demonstrate the proposed method and the tracking system is asymptotically stable.

This research not only dedicated a less restrictive method of iteration-varying function for a learning control law to design a controller but also synchronize two nonlinear systems with free time-delay. In addition, the mathematical theory of system synchronization has proved rigorously and the theory verified through an example to demonstrate the behavior of each parameter in the theory. The design of a controller using the iterative learning control law is significant for robotic tracking. The controller in this research generates a feed-forward control input using the error dynamics among the drive-response systems. The error dynamics satisfies the Lyapunov function and the combination of output errors, which respectively represented relative estimated differences of the drive-response systems. The iterative learning control rule serves the function of a filter adding previous control error after the end of each iteration. The numerical example of a synchronous system is given a Lorenz system for driving and another with the iterative learning control law for response under different initial condition. The results verify and demonstrate the proposed mathematical theory. The simulation exhibits consistency in the behavior of each parameter to match mathematical theory.

A series of dinuclear copper(I) N,C,N- and P,C,P-carbodiphosphorane (CDP) complexes using multidentate ligands CDP(Py)2 (1) and (CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) have been isolated and characterized. Detailed structural information was gained by single crystal XRD analyses of nine representative examples. The common structural motive is the central double ylidic carbon atom with its characteristic two lone-pairs involved into binding of two geminal L-Cu(I) fragments at Cu-Cu distances in the range 2.55 – 2.67 Å. In order to enhance conformational rigidity within the characteristic Cu-C-Cu triangle, two types of chelating side arms were symmetrically attached to each phosphorus atom: two 2-pyridyl functions in ligand CDP(Py)2 (1) and its dinuclear copper complexes 2-9 and 11, as well as two diphenylphosphinomethylene functions in ligand CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) and its di- and mononuclear complexes 14-18. Neutral complexes were typically obtained via reaction of 1 with Cu(I) species CuCl, CuI, and CuSPh or via salt elimination reaction of [(CuCl)2(CDP(Py)2] (2) with sodium carbazolate. Cationic Cu(I) complexes were prepared upon treating 1 with two equivalents of [Cu(NCMe)4]PF6, followed by the addition of either two equivalent of an aryl phosphine (PPh3, P(C6H4OMe)3) or one equivalent of a bisphosphine ligands DPEPhos, XantPhos or dppf. For the first time carbodiphosphorane CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) could be isolated upon treating its precursor [CH(dppm)2]Cl (12) with NaNH2 in liquid NH3. A protonated and a deprotonated derivative of ligand 13 were prepared and their coordination was compared to neutral CDP ligand 13. NMR analysis and DFT calculations reveal, that the most stable tautomer of 13 does not show a CDP (or carbone) structure in its uncoordinated base form. For most of the prepared complexes, photoluminescence upon irradiation with UV light at room temperature was observed. Quantum yields (PL) were determined to 36% for dicationic [(CuPPh3)2(CDP(Py)2)](PF6)2 (4) and to 60% for neutral [(CuSPh)2(CDP(CH2PPh2)2] (16).

A mild, efficient, and photocatalytic synthesis of 6-phosphorylated phenanthridines via tandem radical addition/cyclization/aromatization of 2-isocyanobiphenyls with diarylphosphine oxides is reported. The method features operational simplicity, metal-free conditions, using low-cost rose Bengal as catalyst and sustainable air as terminal oxidant at room temperature, and providing the desired products in moderate to good yields.

Insurers act as institutional investors and underwriters of risk, therefore improving their own environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance is important for the transmission of ESG values to all other economic sectors. We analyze ESG scores of worldwide Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers during 2012-2022, and show that more sustainable insurers have high operating leverage, although their combined ratios and z-scores reveal that they are financially stable. Additional results for the US subsample illustrate that stocks issued by sustainable insurers deliver positive excess returns. Overall, these findings suggest that sustainable practices are associated with the ability of insurers to execute business and create value. This is important for insurance managers, investors, and policy makers, as insurers play a prominent role in promoting economic growth and stability.

Oleuropein, glycosylated secoiridoid present in olive leaves is known to be an important antioxidant phenolic compound. We studied the antioxidant effect of low doses of oleuropein aglycone (3,4-DHPEA-EA) and oleuropein aglycone peracetylated (3,4-DHPEA-EA(P)) in murine C2C12 myocytes treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Both compounds were used at a concentration of 10 μM and were able to inhibit cell death induced by the H2O2 treatment, with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) being more. Under our experimental conditions, H2O2 efficiently induced the phosphorylated-active form of JNK and of its downstream target c-Jun. We demonstrated, by Western blot analysis, that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) was efficient in inhibiting the phospho-active form of JNK. This data suggests that the growth arrest and cell death of C2C12 proceeds via the JNK/c-Jun pathway. Moreover, we demonstrated that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) affects the myogenesis of C2C12 cells; because MyoD mRNA levels and the differentiation process are restored with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) after treatment. Overall, the results indicate that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) prevents ROS-mediated degenerative process in a genomic and epigenomic manner by functioning as an efficient antioxidant.

Oleuropein, glycosylated secoiridoid present in olive leaves is known to be an important antioxidant phenolic compound. We studied the antioxidant effect of low doses of oleuropein aglycone (3,4-DHPEA-EA) and oleuropein aglycone peracetylated (3,4-DHPEA-EA(P)) in murine C2C12 myocytes treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Both compounds were used at a concentration of 10 μM and were able to inhibit cell death induced by the H2O2 treatment, with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) being more. Under our experimental conditions, H2O2 efficiently induced the phosphorylated-active form of JNK and of its downstream target c-Jun. We demonstrated, by Western blot analysis, that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) was efficient in inhibiting the phospho-active form of JNK. This data suggests that the growth arrest and cell death of C2C12 proceeds via the JNK/c-Jun pathway. Moreover, we demonstrated that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) affects the myogenesis of C2C12 cells; because MyoD mRNA levels and the differentiation process are restored with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) after treatment. Overall, the results indicate that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) prevents ROS-mediated degenerative process in a genomic and epigenomic manner by functioning as an efficient antioxidant.

Oleuropein, glycosylated secoiridoid present in the olive leaves, is known as an important antioxidant phenolic compound. We studied the antioxidant effect of low dose of oleuropein aglycone (3,4-DHPEA-EA) and oleuropein aglycone peracetylated (3,4-DHPEA-EA(P)) in murine C2C12 myocytes treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Both compounds were used at a concentration of 10 μM and were able to inhibit cell death induced by H2O2 treatment, with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) being more. Under our experimental conditions H2O2 efficiently induced the phosphorylated-active form of JNK and of its downstream target c-Jun. We demonstrated, by Western blot analysis, that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) was efficient in inhibiting the phospho-active form of JNK. This data suggest that growth arrest and cell dead of C2C12 proceeds via the JNK/c-Jun pathway. Moreover, we demonstrated that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) affects myogenesis of C2C12 cells; because the MyoD mRNA levels and the differentiation process are restored after treatment with 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P). Overall, the results indicate that 3,4-DHPEA-EA(P) prevents ROS-mediated degenerative process by functioning as an efficient antioxidant.

The development of microelectronics is always driven by reducing transistor size and increasing integration, from the initial micron-scale to the current few nanometers. The photolithography technique for manufacturing the transistor needs to reduce the wavelength of the optical wave, from ultraviolet, deep, to the existing extreme ultraviolet light. One approach toward decreasing the working wavelength is using lithography based on beyond extreme ultraviolet radiation (BEUV) with a wavelength around 7 nm. The BEUV lithography relies on advanced reflective optics such as periodic multilayer film X-ray mirrors (PMMs). PMMs are artificial Bragg crystals having alternate layers of “light” and “heavy” materials. The periodicity of such a structure is relatively half of the working wavelength. Since a BEUV lithographical system contains at least 10 mirrors, optics’ reflectivity becomes a crucial point. The increasing of a single mirror's reflectivity by 10% will increase the system’s overall throughput by 6 times. In this work, the properties and development status of PMMs, particularly for BEUV lithography, were reviewed to gain a better understanding of their advantages and limitations. Emphasis was given to materials, design concepts, structure, deposition method, and optical characteristics of these coatings.

The impact of riparian wetlands on the cycling, retention and export of nutrients from land to water varies according to local environmental conditions and is poorly resolved in catchment management approaches. To determine the role a specific wetland might play in a catchment mitigation strategy, an alternative approach is needed to the high frequency and spatially detailed monitoring programme that would otherwise be needed. Here, we present a new approach using a combination of novel and well-established geochemical, geophysical and isotope ratio approaches. This was developed and tested against a 2-year high-resolution sampling programme in a lowland permeable wetland in the Lambourn catchment, UK. The monitoring programme identified multiple pathways and water sources feeding into the wetland, generating large spatial and temporal variations in nutrient cycling, retention and export behaviours within the wetland. This complexity of contributing source areas and biogeochemical functions within the wetland were effectively identified using the new toolkit approach. We propose that this technique could be used to determine the likely net source/sink function of riparian wetlands prior to their incorporation into any catchment management plan, with relatively low resource implications when compared to a full high frequency nutrient speciation and isotope geochemistry-based monitoring approach.

Anthropogenic activities have increased the amount of urban wastewater discharged into natural aquatic reservoirs confining in them a high amount of nutrients and organics contaminants. Several studies have reported that an alternative to reduce those contaminants is using consortiums of microalgae and endogenous bacteria. In this research, a genome-scale biochemical reaction network is reconstructed for the co-culture between the microalga Chlorella vulgaris and the bacterium Pesudomonas aeruginosa. Metabolic Pathway Analysis (MPA), is applied to understand the metabolic capabilities of the co-culture and to elucidate the best conditions in removing nutrients such as Phosphorus (inorganic phosphorous and phosphate) and Nitrogen (nitrates and ammonia). Theoretical yields for Phosphorus removal under photoheterotrophic conditions are calculated, determining their values as 0.042 mmol of PO₄/ g DW of C. vulgaris, 19.53 mmol of inorganic Phosphorus /g DW of C. vulgaris and 4.90 mmol of inorganic Phosphorus/ g DW of P. aeruginosa. Similarly, according to the genome-scale biochemical reaction network the theoretical yields for Nitrogen removal are 10.3 mmol of NH₃/g DW of P. aeruginosa and 7.19 mmol of NO₃ /g DW of C. vulgaris. Thus, this research proves the metabolic capacity of these microorganisms in removing nutrients and their theoretical yields are calculated.

Plasminogen (Plg) is the inactive form of plasmin (Plm) that exists in two major glycoforms, referred to as glycoforms I and II (GI and GII). In the circulation, Plg assumes an activation-resistant 'closed' conformation via interdomain interactions and is mediated by the lysine binding site (LBS) on the kringle (KR) domains. These inter-domain interactions can be readily disrupted when Plg binds to lysine/arginine residues on protein targets or free L-lysine and analogues. This causes Plg to convert into an 'open' form which is crucial for activation by host activators. In this study, we investigated how various ligands affect the kinetics of Plg conformational change using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). We began by examining the open and closed conformations of Plg using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled with SAXS. Next, we developed a high throughput (HTP) 96-well SAXS assay setup. This method enables us to determine the Kopen value, which is used to compare ligands’ effect on Plg conformation directly. Based on our analysis using Plg GII, we have found that the Kopen for ε-aminocaproic acid (EACA) is approximately three times greater than that of Tranexamic acid (TXA), which is widely recognized as a highly effective ligand. We demonstrated further that Plg undergoes a conformational change when it binds to the C-terminal peptides of the inhibitor α2-antiplasmin and receptor Plg‑RKT. Our findings suggest that, besides the C-terminal lysine, internal lysine(s) are also necessary for the formation of open Plg. Finally, we compared the conformational changes of Plg GI and GII directly and found that the closed form of GI, which has an N-linked glycosylation, is less stable. To summarize, we have successfully determined the response of Plg to various ligand/receptor peptides by directly measuring the kinetics of its conformational changes.

(1) Background: P-cadherin (CDH3) is a transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role in maintaining the structural integrity of epithelial tissue and homeostasis. Its role in carcinogenesis remains a subject of debate, as its behavior can vary depending on the molecular context and the specific tumor cell model under study. In this study, we explored the role of P-cadherin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and the mechanism underlying its function. (2) Methods: We analyzed P-cadherin expression in HNSCC patients using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. For in vitro functional analysis, we conducted proliferation, migration, invasion, and western blot assays after either suppressing or overexpressing P-cadherin. For in vivo functional analysis, we utilized mouse xenograft models. (3) Results: P-cadherin was significantly overex-pressed in tumor samples compared to normal samples in the TCGA-HNSCC cohort. P-cadherin knockdown resulted in decreased proliferation, migration, and invasion compared to control cells, while P-cadherin overexpression increased cell proliferation and migration in HNSCC cells. We discovered that c-Met functioned as an upstream regulator of P-cadherin. Surprisingly, we found that P-cadherin knockdown increased the phosphorylation of c-Met and STAT3. Combining P-cadherin siRNA with the c-Met inhibitor SU11274 resulted in a more effective reduction in HNSCC cell growth, both in vitro and in vivo, compared to either treatment alone. (4) Conclusions: Our study uncovered a previously unknown aspect of P-cadherin-mediated c-Met regulation. The enhanced activation of c-Met/STAT3 following P-cadherin inhibition could be responsible for the survival of resistant tumor cells. Therefore, dual inhibition of P-cadherin and c-Met may be a potentially effective approach for treating HNSCC.

This paper investigates pseudo-polymorphism in 2-pyridylmethoxy derivatives of p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene (PyC4), p-tert-butyldihomooxa-calix[4]arenes (PyHOC4), and p-tert-butylhexahomotrioxacalix[3]arenes (PyHO3C3), presenting 11 crystal structures with 15 crystallographically independent molecules. The macrocycle of PyC4 is smaller and less flexible with respect to those of PyHOC4 and PyHO3C3 and in solution, the cone conformation of these three molecules exhibit different point symmetries: C4, Cs and C3, respectively. A correlation is observed between the macrocycle's structural rigidity and the number of pseudo-polymorphs formed. The more rigid PyC4 displays a higher number (6) of pseudo-polymorphs compared to PyHOC4 and PyHO3C3, which exhibit a smaller number of crystalline forms (3 and 2, respectively). The X-ray structures obtained show that the conformation of the macrorings is primarily influenced by the presence of an acetonitrile guest molecule within the cavity, with limited impact from crystal packing and intermolecular cocrystallized solvent molecules. Notably, both calix[4]arene derivatives produce host-guest complex with acetonitrile, while the most flexible and less aromatic PyHO3C3 do not give crystals with acetonitrile as guest. Intertwined 1D and 2D solvent channel networks were observed in the PyHOC4-hexane and in the PyHO3C3-H2O-MeOH crystal structures, respectively, while the other pseudopolymorphs of PyHOC4 and PyHO3C3 and all PyC4 crystal forms exhibit a closely packed crystal structures without open channels.

The Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel (CMH) methodology is a suite of tests applicable to particular tables of count data. Inference is conditional on the treatment and outcome totals on each stratum being known before sighting the data. The CMH tests are important for analyzing randomised blocks data when the responses are categorical rather than continuous. This overview will first review the traditional CMH tests and then explore new alternative presentations of the ordinal CMH tests. Next the ordinal CMH tests will be extended so they can be used to test for higher moment effects. Finally unconditional analogues of the extended CMH tests will be developed.

The past few years have brought substantial progress toward understanding how human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) enters the remarkably wide spectrum of cell types and tissues that the virus infects. Neuropilin-2 and platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRa) were identified as receptors, respectively, for the trimeric and pentameric glycoprotein H/glycoprotein L (gH/gL) complexes that in large part govern HCMV cell tropism, while CD90 and CD147 were also found to play roles during entry. X-ray crystal structures for the proximal viral fusogen, glycoprotein B (gB), and for the pentameric gH/gL complex (pentamer) have been solved. A novel virion gH complex consisting of gH bound to UL116 instead of gL was described, and findings supporting the existence of a stable complex between gH/gL and gB were reported. Additional work indicates that the pentamer promotes a mode of cell-associated spread that resists antibody neutralization, as opposed to the trimeric gH/gL complex (trimer), which appears to be broadly required for the infectivity of cell-free virions. Finally, viral factors such as UL148 and US16 were identified that can influence the incorporation of the alternative gH/gL complexes into virions. We will review these advances and their implications for understanding HCMV entry and cell tropism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of the current healthcare system and needs a paradigm change, which is holistic, and community based illustrated by the healing wheel. The present paper proposes that existential positive psychology (PP 2.0) represents a promising approach to meet the rising needs in palliative care. This framework has a twofold emphasis on (a) How to transcend and transform suffering as the foundation for wellbeing, and (b) how to cultivate our spiritual and existential capabilities to achieve personal growth and flourishing. We propose that these objectives can be achieved simultaneously through dialectical palliative counselling, as illustrated by Wong’s integrative meaning therapy (Wong, 2020) and Lo’s Conceptual Model of CALM Therapy in palliative care (Lo et al., 2014). We then discuss existential suffering in general and at the last stage of life in particular; we also review recent research and interventions on existential suffering in palliative patients. Finally, we outline the objectives and the strategies of IMT in providing palliative counselling for palliative care and hospice patients.

The environment is seldom optimal for plant growth and changes in abiotic and biotic signals, including temperature, water availability, radiation and pests, induce plant responses to optimise survival. The New Zealand native plant species and close relative to Arabidopsis thaliana, Pachycladon cheesemanii grows under environmental conditions that are unsustainable for many plant species. Here we compare the responses of both plant species to different stressors (low temperature, salt and UV-B radiation) to help understand how P. cheesemanii can grow in such harsh environments. The stress transcriptomes were then determined and comparative transcriptome and network analyses discovered similar and unique responses within species between different stresses, and between the two plant species. A number of widely studied plant stress processes were highly conserved in A. thaliana and P. cheesemanii. However, in response to cold stress, Gene Ontology terms related to glycosinolate metabolism were only enriched in P. cheesemanii. Salt stress was associated with alteration of the cuticle and proline biosynthesis in A. thaliana and P. cheesemanii, respectively. Anthocyanin production may be a strategy to cope with UV-B radiation stress in P. cheesemanii only. These results allowed us to construct broad stress response pathways in A. thaliana and P. cheesemanii and identify possible novel plant strategies that help mitigate environmental stress.

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) landscapes are valued for their biodiversity, water retention, fire mitigation, aesthetics, and recreation opportunities. Across North America, some aspen populations are experiencing population declines as they face uninhibited ungulate browsing, drought, fire suppression, insects, disease, and inappropriate management. Increased human development and recreational use within aspen landscapes can serve as additive stressors, though there is a dearth of literature examining these elements. At a popular recreational area in Utah, USA, identifying the cause of apparent decline within a larger aspen community is complicated by development upstream and recreation-related activities. We sought to: 1) assess the overall condition of the aspen at the site, 2) understand key variables that influence aspen conditions, and 3) elucidate how aspen fitness varies across the site. We collected data from forty-five plots using established aspen sampling methods, including ungulate presence, tree characteristics, soil chemistry, and environmental descriptors. Results suggest that a combination of higher levels of browsing and elevated soil sodium may be causing premature mortality and limiting aspen recruitment in a portion of the study area. These findings will inform future management at this site, as well as similar recreational forest settings experiencing compound stressors.

Measurements of complex magnetic permeability, μ(f,H)=μ′(f,H)-iμ″(f,H) and dielectric permittivity ε(f,H)=ε′(f,H)-iε″(f,H), in the frequency range, f of (0.4-7) GHz, and polarizing field, H of (0–135) kA/m, were performed, for a kerosene-based ferrofluid with magnetite nanoparticles. Based on these measurements, the phenomenon of ferromagnetic resonance was highlighted and some microwave propagation parameters of the ferrofluid were determined: the attenuation constant, α(f,H), and the reflection coefficient, R(f,H), at the air-material interface. Knowing these parameters we proposed a theoretical model establishing for the first time a new equation that allows the calculation of the overall reflection coefficient, Rw(f,H), of a ferrofluid with thickness d, deposited on a totally reflective support, following multiple internal reflections of the electromagnetic wave in the material. The results show that by increasing both, H, and d, the parameter, Rw(f,H) presents a minimum that decreases from 0.90 (for d=2mm) to 0.64 (for d=10 mm), at frequency f=5 GHz, which indicates an increase in the absorption of the electromagnetic wave by the ferrofluid. The obtained results are useful in the study of some materials that could be used as electromagnetic absorbers in the microwave range, by the determination of the overall reflection coefficient, Rw(f,H), controlled both by the thickness, d , of the absorber and by the external applied field, H.

Viscoelastic testing (VET) by both TEG and ROTEM has demonstrated hypercoagulability early in Covid Associated Coagulopathy (CAC). Additional VET studies demonstrated fibrinolytic shutdown late in a majority of severely ill Covid-19 patients with associated elevation of D-dimer. Elevated d-dimer confirms that coagulation, followed by fibrinolysis, has occurred. These findings imply that, during CAC, three enzymes—thrombin, Factor XIIIa and plasmin—must have acted in sequence. However, limitations in standard VET analyses preclude exploration of the earliest phases of clot induction, as well as clot formation and clot dissolution in flowing blood. Herein we describe a novel method illuminating aspects of this unexplored area. In addition, we created an ex vivo blood flow model in which the interactions of thrombin, Factor XIII and plasmin with fibrinogen can be studied, allowing determination of Soluble Fibrin (SF), the highly unstable form of fibrin that precedes the appearance of a visible clot. This model allows determination of the SF level at which fibrin microclots begin to form and the length of time the resulting microclots persist under normal fibrinolytic attack. In addition, the flow model allows exploration of the late fibrinolytic shutdown that VET has previously demonstrated in CAC through standard methodology.

Reactions of quinones with compounds containing an amino group can produce a wide variety of addition or substitution products that depend on reactivity of both quinone and amino derivative. 6,7-Dichloropyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole-8,9-diones undergo selective nucleophilic substitution reaction with different benzohydrazides and α-hydroxy-p-quinone imine derivatives stabilized by strong intramolecular hydrogen bond were isolated. Synthesized compounds represent a combination of several structural motifs: benzimidazole core fused with α-hydroxy-p-quinone imine which contains a benzamido fragment. The protonation/deprotonation processes were investigated in a solution using UV-Vis spectroscopy and 1H NMR titration experiment. X-ray crystallography analysis revealed a set of weak non-covalent interactions such as intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking. Additionally, the redox behavior of 6,7-dichloropyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole-8,9-dione and its p-imino derivative was investigated in acidic and neutral environment using cyclic voltammetry measurements. Cathode material based on 6,7-dichloropyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole-8,9-dione could act as potential effective active electrode in aqueous electrolyte batteries, however further optimization is required.

Laser scanning systems make use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to acquire accurately georeferenced sets of dense 3D point cloud data. The information acquired using these systems produces better knowledge about the terrain objects which are inherently 3D in nature. The LiDAR data acquired from mobile, airborne or terrestrial platforms provides several benefit over conventional sources of data acquisition in terms of accuracy, resolution and attributes. However, the large volume and scale of LiDAR data have inhibited the development of automated feature extraction algorithms due to the extensive computational cost involved in it. Moreover, the heterogeneously distributed point cloud, which represents objects with varying size, point density, holes and complicated structures pose a great challenge for data processing. Currently, geospatial database systems do not provide a robust solution for efficient storage and accessibility of raw data in a way that data processing could be applied based on optimal spatial extent. In this paper, we present Global LiDAR and Imagery Mobile Processing Spatial Environment (GLIMPSE) system that provides a framework for storage, management and integration of 3D LiDAR data acquired from multiple platforms. The system facilitates an efficient accessibility to the raw dataset, which is hierarchically represented in a geographically meaningful way. We utilise the GLIMPSE system to automatically extract road median from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) point cloud. In the first part of this paper, we detail an approach to efficiently retrieve the point cloud data from the GLIMPSE system for a particular geographic area based on user requirements. In the second part, we present an algorithm to automatically extract road median from the retrieved LiDAR data. The developed road median extraction algorithm utilises the LiDAR elevation and intensity attributes to distinguish the median from the road surface. We successfully tested our algorithms on two road sections consisting of distinct road median types based on concrete and grass-hedge barriers. The use of GLIMPSE improved the efficiency of the road median extraction in terms of fast accessibility to ALS point cloud data for the required road sections. The developed system and its associated algorithms provide a comprehensive solution to the user's requirement for an efficient storage, integration, retrieval and processing of large volumes of LiDAR point cloud data. These findings and knowledge contribute to a more rapid, cost-effective and comprehensive approach to surveying road networks.

Abstract: Sand-cement bound screed floor layers are at risk for work-related low back pain, lumbosacral radicular syndrome and knee osteoarthritis given their working technique of level-ling screed with their trunk bended and mainly supported by their hands and knees. To reduce the exposure of the physical demands of bending of the trunk and kneeling, a manually moved screed levelling machine was developed for floor layers in the Netherlands. The aim of this pa-per is to estimate the potential health gain of the manually moved screed levelling machine on the risk of low back pain (LBP), lumbosacral radicular syndrome (LRS) and knee osteoarthritis (KOA) compared to the traditional working technique. The potential health gain was assessed using the epidemiological population estimates of the Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) and the Potential Impact Fraction (PIF) combined with work-related risk estimates for these three disorders from systematic reviews. The percentage of workers exceeding these risk esti-mates was based on worksite observations among in total 28 floor layers. For LBP, 16/18 work-ers were at risk using the traditional working technique with PAF=38%, and for the manually moved screed levelling machine this was 6/10 with PIF=13%. For LRS, these data were 16/18 with PAF=55% and 14/18 with PIF=18% and for KOA, 8/10 with PAF=35% and 2/10 with PIF=26%. A manually moved screed levelling machine might have a significant impact on the prevention of LBP, LRS and KOA among floor layers in the Netherlands and a health impact assessment is a feasible approach to assess health gains in an efficient way.

The article concerns a relatively small but important fragment of John Paul II's pastoral activity, namely his pilgrimages to Poland: the nature of these pilgrimages, their historical background and teaching - especially to the extent that went beyond the immediate and Polish context. The text is the result not only of reading papal statements, but also of personal observation of the political and social atmosphere. The first two parts contain a concise description of the Pope's eight pilgrimages to Poland (before and after the political transformation). The third highlights out the main universal themes raised by the Pope: the dignity of the person, truth and freedom. During consecutive pilgrimages to Poland, he deepened and expanded the themes of his teaching. This collection of his sermons and speeches to Poles constitutes a comprehensive (devoid of redundant repetitions and omissions) treatment of important social, philosophical and theological issues. John Paul II, when speaking to Poles and about Poles, did not lose his universal perspective; he appealed both to Christians and to all people of good will. Papal pilgrimages to Poland are a significant part of modern Polish history, and their message is a valuable intellectual and spiritual gift.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health threat associated with serious clinical consequences worldwide. The WHO reports an estimated 58 million people globally living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with 1.5 million new cases and over 350,000 deaths annually due to HCV-related diseases. Despite the existence of multiple diagnostic methods, the accessibility of diagnosis and treatment is often hindered across the continent by limited resources, insufficient healthcare infrastructure, and low public awareness of Hepatitis C virus Hepatitis C virus infection is a major public health concern in African countries, which have the highest prevalence rates of HCV in the world (1–26%). Egypt, African country which had the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C virus infection in the world. Its national hepatitis C elimination initiative emerges as an exemplary case of success an having screened over 60 million individuals, and treated more than 4 million, thereby markedly diminishing both the prevalence and incidence of the disease. The strategies employed by Egypt offer critical insights and adaptable frameworks for other African Countries facing analogous challenges. The Aim of this Review is to highlight the triumphs and hurdles of Egypt's approach, while also providing strategic guidance for African Countries to accelerate the journey towards the eradication of hepatitis C.

It has been suggested that primordial planets could have formed in the early Universe and the missing baryons in the Universe could be explained by primordial free-floating planets of solid hydrogen. Many such planets were recently discovered around the old and metal poor stars and such planets could have formed at early epochs. Another possibility for missing baryons in the Universe could be that these baryons are admixed with DM particles inside the primordial planets. Here we discuss the possibility of admixture of baryons to the DM primordial planets discussed earlier. We consider gravitationally bound DM objects with the DM particles constituting them varying in mass from 20 to100GeV. Different fractions of DM particles mixed with baryonic matter in forming the primordial planets are discussed. For the different mass range of DM particles forming DM planets, we have estimated the radius and density of these planets with different fractions of DM and baryonic particles. It is found that for heavier mass DM particles with the admixture of certain fractions of baryonic particles, the mass of the planet increases and can reach or even substantially exceed Jupiter-mass. The energy released during the process of merger of such primordial planets is discussed. Also the energy required for the tidal breakup of such an object in the vicinity of a black hole is also discussed.

Directed energy deposition (DED) parameters were determined for near-β alloy Ti-55511 by employing statistical design of experiments (DOE) methods. Parameters resulting in fully dense freeform deposits were identified using two sequential DOEs. Single laser tracks were printed with several laser power, traverse rate, and powder feed rate settings in an initial DOE to identify promising build parameters. Capture efficiency and effective deposition rate were used to characterize and rank the single track deposits. The best parameters were then used to print solid cube with various X-Y and Z-overlaps (different hatch spacing, HS, and layer thickness, ZS) in a second DOE. Suitable deposition parameters were selected based on cube density and microstructure and were used to fabricate larger tensile samples for mechanical testing. Multiple parameter sets were found to provide dense Ti-55511 deposits with acceptable mechanical properties and parametric models showed statistical significance.

Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) are two vital parameters of the body medically used for diagnosing short/long term illness. Out-of-the-body, non-contact HR/RR measurement remains a challenge due to imprecise readings. “Invisible” wearables integrated into day-to-day garments has the potential to produce precise readings with comfortable user experience. Sleep studies and patient monitoring benefit from “Invisibles” due to longer wearability without significant discomfort. This paper suggests a novel method to reduce the footprint of sleep monitoring devices. We use a single silver-coated nylon fabric band integrated into a substrate of standard cotton/nylon garment as a resistive elastomer sensor to measure air and blood volume change across the chest. We introduce a novel event-based architecture to process data at the edge device and describe two algorithms to calculate real-time HR/RR on ARM Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M4F microcontrollers. RR estimations show a sensitivity of 99.03% and a precision of 99.03% for identifying individual respiratory peaks. The two algorithms used for HR calculation show a mean absolute error of 0.81±0.97 and 0.86±0.61 beats/minute compared to a gold standard ECG-based HR. The event-based algorithm converts the respiratory/pulse waveform into instantaneous events, therefore, reducing the data size by 40-140 times and requires 33% less power to process and transfer data. Further, we show that events hold enough information to reconstruct the original waveform, retaining pulse, and respiratory activity. We suggest fabric sensors and event-based algorithms would drastically reduce the device footprint and increase the performance for HR/RR estimations during sleep studies providing better user experience.

With the global increase of photovoltaic (PV) modules deployment in recent years, the need to explore and realize their reported failure mechanisms has become crucial. Despite PV modules being considered reliable devices, failures and extreme degradations often occur. Some degradations and failures can be minor and cause no critical harm if within the expected range. Others, may start mildly and then deteriorate faster to become catastrophic, especially in harsh environments. This paper conducts a state-of-the-art literature review to scan PV failures, types, and their root cause based on PV’s constructed components (from protective glass to junction-box). It outlines the hazardous consequences beyond PV module failures, describing what harm they can bring to the PV system. As we delve into the literature, it becomes clear that every component is vulnerable to certain types of failures; some can deteriorate within themselves, and others infect further PV components resulting in emerging more severe failures. In the end, the review briefly summarises PV failure detection techniques, emphasising electrical characterization techniques, and disclosing the need to engage more electrical parameters. Most importantly, this review can prepare the stage for the PV research community to identify the most prevalent degradation processes. This, in turn, encourages researchers to investigate them throughout modelling and experimental studies to forecast them at the early onset in order to protect the PV systems from hazardous malfunctions.

The teaching and learning environment have changed significantly over the last decade with the integration of an increasing amount of information and communication technologies, especially in distance education due to global pandemics, total lockdowns, isolation, and quarantine periods. The number of numerous virtual and non-virtual tools involved in educational processes is growing day by day. In terms of technological innovations used in learning environments, many researchers and educators are trying their best to bring more creative ideas into the technology- based learning environments. Although higher educational institutions have greatly benefited from the growing number of hardware and software resources in the educational process, they have also faced some setbacks that have harmed the learning processes. These technologies have in turn complicated some of the processes in the learning atmosphere. Therefore, we take Spanish teaching course as an example to present the challenging smarter teaching and learning systems that higher educational institutions face today.

Pressure drop and flow pattern of oil-water flows were investigated in a 19 mm ID clear polyvinyl chloride pipe consisting of U-bend with radius of curvature of 100 mm. The range for oil and water superficial velocities tested were and respectively. Measurements were carried out under different flow conditions in a test section that consisted of four different parts: upstream of the bend, at the bend and at two redeveloping flow locations after the bend. The result indicated that the bend had limited influence on downstream flow patterns. However, the shear forces imposed by the bend caused some shift flow pattern transition and bubble characteristics in the redeveloping flow section after the bend relative to develop flow before the bend. Generally, pressure gradient at all the test sections increased with both oil fraction and water superficial velocity and there was a sharp change of pressure gradient profile during phase inversion. The transition point where phase inversion occurred was always within the range of . Pressure losses differed at the various test sections and the difference was strongly linked to the superficial velocity of the phases and the flow pattern. At high mixture velocity, pressure losses at the redeveloping section after the bend were higher than that at the bend and that for fully developed flows. At low mixture velocity, pressure losses at the bend are higher than in the straight sections. Pressure drop generally decreased with level of flow development downstream of the bend.

This article focuses on generating an alternative in order to identify traffic officers during driving. This research employed the latest You Only Look Once (YOLO) model, using a six-phase methodology: data collection, data preparation involving resizing and labeling, implementation of various filters to avoid overfitting, model training, prediction evaluation, and result interpretation. The YOLO model was applied across three iterations using a dataset of 1862 images. To enhance training efficiency and detection speed, the graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration was utilized, further enhancing the experimental process. The results of this study revealed that the YOLOv8x variant produced the most promising results. This proposed model attained a remarkable F1 score of 0.95, bolstered by a confidence score of 0.631, with the potential for an increase to 0.80 in confidence without significantly compromising the F1-score. These findings are poised to make a substantial contribution to the broader research landscape, particularly in advancing the effectiveness of detection models for traffic officers.

This study assessed the periodic fluctuations among microbial biomass Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P), and the consequences of variations in altitude and abiotic factors on the soil microbial biomass (C, N and P) in a temperate mixed-oak pine forest of Central Himalaya. This research was directed at three forest stands along an altitudinal gradient. Samples were collected in triplicates, seasonally from each selected site and microbial C, N and P were determined through the fumigation extraction method. Microbial biomass C, N and P decreased significantly (P<0.01, correlation coefficient -0.985, -0.963, -0.948, respectively) with increasing altitude, while the rainy season showed the highest values, and winter season revealed the least values. Microbial biomass C, N and P showed positive correlation with silt particles, water holding capacity, bulk density, porosity, soil moisture, organic C, total N and P, and negative correlations with sand particles and soil pH. The microbial biomass C showed strong associations with soil microbial N (r=0.80, P<0.01) and P (r=0.89, P<0.01) contents, while the soil microbial biomass N and P also showed strong positive correlation (r=0.92, P< 0.01). Soil microbial biomass was greatly influenced by the altitude and abiotic variables whereas, weakly by temporal variation. The microbial C: N ratio indicated that fertility of soil is influenced by the species assemblage. Our findings suggest that high microbial biomass and low C: N ratio during rainy season could be considered as a strategy to conserve nutrients by temperate mixed-oak pine forest ecosystem.

Natural fibers have attracted increasing interest as an alternative to produce environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. Particularly, hemp fibers have revealed to be widely used in various industrial applications due to their extremely unique properties. However, hemp can generate a large amount of agro-waste, and results in an attractive source of biopolymers for the development of low-cost materials in alternative to the raw materials and conventional petroleum-based plastics. In addition, deep eutectic solvents (DESs), a new type of truly green solvents, have been tested to remove gums, lignin, and other non-cellulosic components from hemp fibers. Reusing these components dissolved into the DESs to fabricate new materials directly by electrospinning is a very attractive but still unexplored endeavor. Thus, this innovative research to venture new upcycling pathways is focused on the fabrication of composite nanofibers by electrospinning of a gel-based blend of Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and hemp agro-waste (HW) dissolved into choline chloride (ChCl) : Glycerol (1:2) and ChCl : Urea (1:2) DES mixtures. The results obtained revealed that the produced nanofibers displayed uniform appearance with diameters ranging from 257.72 ± 65.63 nm to 380.78 ± 133.98 nm. In addition, the mechanical properties of the electro-spun composite nanofibers produced from the gel-based blends of HW dissolved in DESs and PVA (HW-DESs_PVA) were found to be superior, resulting in an enhanced tensile strength and Young’s modulus. Furthermore, the incorporation of HW into the nanofibers was able to provide bioactive antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Overall, this study demonstrated a promising, more sustainable, and eco-friendly way to produce electrospun composite nanofibers using HW in a circular economy perspective.

The rest-breaking agent, hydrogen cyanamide (HC), can substitute insufficient chill unit accumulation in Vitis vinifera and induce uniform bud-break; however, due to its toxicity it is being banned. In South Africa, red seedless grapes, including V. vinifera Crimson Seedless (CS), are the largest table grape export group; therefore, replacing HC in V. vinifera CS is crucial. This study aimed to confirm the molecular triggers induced by HC and assess the bud-break-enhancing abilities of commercial plant biostimulants. Forced bud-break assay experiments using V. vinifera CS single-node cuttings and a small-scale field trial were performed. Results demonstrated that increased chill unit accumulation (CUA), reduced HC efficacy. Bud-break started between 10 and 20 days after treatment, irrespective of final CUA. The small-scale field trial found that HC3 % resulted in a slightly delayed bud-break rate, whilst biostimulants were similar to the negative control. The treatment of dormant grapevine compound buds with nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hypoxia trigger dormancy-release to a certain extent, supporting the molecular models proposed for HC action. NO, H2O2, and hypoxia, in combination with PBs, may potentially replace HC; however, this needs to be confirmed in future experiments.

The annual budget for the United States National Park Service was roughly three billion dollars in 2016. This is distributed amongst 405 National Parks, 23 national scenic and historic trails, and 60 wild and scenic rivers. Entrance fees and concessions generate millions of dollars in income for the National Park Service; however, this metric fails to account for the total value of the National Parks. In failing to consider the value of the ecosystem services provided by the National Parks we fail to quantify and appreciate the contributions our parks make to society. This oversight allows us to continue to underfund a valuable part of our natural capital and consequently damage our supporting environment, national heritage, monetary economy, and many of our diverse cultures. We explore a simple benefits transfer valuation of the United States national parks using National Land Cover Data from 2011 and ecosystem service values determined by Costanza (et al). This produces an estimate suggesting the parks provide $84 billion / year in ecosystem service value. If the natural infrastructure 'asset' that is our national park system had a budget comparable to a piece of commercial real estate of this value, the annual budget of the National Park Service would be roughly an order of magnitude larger at something closer to $30 billion rather than $3 billion.

Water splitting plays an important role in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical conversion of energy devices. Electrochemical water splitting by the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a straightforward route to produce hydrogen (H2), which requires an efficient electrocatalysts to minimize energy consumption. Recent advances have created a rapid rise in new electrocatalysts, particularly those based on non-precious metals. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of the recent developments of ternary and quaternary 6d-group transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) based electrocatalysts for water splitting, especially for HER. Detailed discussion is organized from binary to quaternary TMCs including, surface engineering, heterostructures, chalcogen substitutions, and hierarchically structural design in TMCs. Moreover, emphasis is placed on future research scope and important challenges facing these electrocatalysts for further development in their performance towards water splitting.

This paper presents an investigation into the influence of drag-reducing polymer (DRP) on the flow of water inside and around U-bends. The DRPs tested were partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and two different molecular weight polyethylene oxides (PEO). The Reynolds number and in-situ concentration ranges of water and DRP were and respectively. The test section was made up of clear polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) pipes that contained two U-bends with radii of curvature (R) of 100 and 200 mm as well as straight sections of 19-mm ID. Higher pressure gradient was recorded in the under-developed flow section after the bend. Drag reduction (DR) increased with in-situ concentration of the DRP and the flowrate up to some threshold values. The concentration and flowrate thresholds were about 20 ppm and 1.07 m/s respectively. DR differed among the different sections considered with the highest values recorded for developed flows upstream of the bend and the least values recorded in the bend. DR at station 1 (immediately after the bend) was generally lower than that at station 2 (further downstream). P-K Plots showed that, the DR envelop for developed flow in straight pipes did not apply to the bend and the under-developed flow section. DR increased with polymer molecular weight and ionic strength in straight sections. However, molecular weight (and polymer shearing) had limited effect on DR in the bends. DR characteristics at the bend suggested that there was a different or additional mechanism. The effect of bend curvature ratio on DR was predominant after the U-bend. The larger the ratio of pipe diameter to bend diameter, the lower the DR in the redeveloping sections after the bend. For R = 100 mm, the highest DR recorded for fully developed flows before bend, in the bend, at stations 1 and 2 were 57, 31, 36 and 33% respectively while that for R = 200 mm were 64, 28, 42 and 49% respectively.

This work addresses the lot-sizing and production scheduling problem of multi-stage multi-product food industrial facilities. More specifically, the production scheduling problem of the semi-continuous yogurt production process, for two large-scale Greek dairy industries, is considered. Production scheduling decisions are taken using two approaches: i) an optimization and ii) a rule-based approach, followed by a comparative study. A MILP model is applied for the optimization of short-term production scheduling of the two industries. Then, the same problems are solved using the commercial scheduling tool ScheduleProTM, which derives scheduling decisions, using simulation-based techniques and empirical rules. It is concluded that both methods, despite having their advantages and disadvantages, are suitable for addressing complex food industrial scheduling problems. The optimization-based approach leads to better results in terms of operating cost reduction. On the other hand, the complexity of the problem and the experience of production engineers and plant operators can significantly impact the quality of the obtained solutions for the rule-based approach.

Copper-catalyzed and organocopper-involved reactions are of great significance in organic synthesis. To have a deep understanding of the reaction mechanisms, the structural characterizations of organocopper intermediates become indispensable. Meanwhile, the structure-function relationship of organocopper compounds would advance rational design and development of new Cu-based reactions and organocopper reagents. Compared to the mono-carbonic ligand, the C,N- and C,C-bidentate ligands better stabilize the unstable organocopper compounds. The bidentate ligands can chelate to the same copper atom via ?2-mode, forming a mono-cupra-cyclic compounds with at least one acute C-Cu-C angle. When the bidentate ligands bind to two copper atoms via ?1-mode at each coordinating site, the bimetallic macrocyclic compounds will form nearly linear C-Cu-C angles. The anionic coordinating sites of the bidentate ligand can also bridge two metals via ?2-mode, forming organocopper aggregates with Cu-Cu interactions and organocuprates with contact ion pair structures. The reaction chemistry of some selected organocopper compounds is highlighted, showing their unique structure-reactivity relationships.

Introduction: The treatment of peritoneal dialysis in end-stage renal disease is increasing in clinical practice. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of far-infrared radiation therapy on inflammation and the cellular immunity of patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. Materials and Methods: We recruited 56 patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, and we included 32 patients from the experimental group and 24 patients from the control group in the final analysis. The experimental evaluation in our study was as follows: (1) We used abdominal computed tomography to measure the diameter and degree of hardening of the abdominal veins and large blood vessels to explore the changes in abdominal blood vessels. (2) The study compared the effects of peritoneal dialysis using albumin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, white blood cell, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Hs-CRP clearance rate, and HBAlC. (3) We compared the cytokine concentration of blood between the two groups while controlling for GM-CSF, IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-18, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-12p70, TNF-α, and IL-1β. Results and Discussion: (1) There was no significant difference in the abdominal blood vessels of the experimental group relative to the control group according to abdominal CT measured over 6 months. (2) Our study demonstrates the statistically significant effect of FIR therapy on the following parameters: albumin (p = 0.048*), creatinine (p = 0.039*), and Hs-CRP (p < 0.001**) decreased significantly, and glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, p = 0.043*) and glucose (p < 0.001**) increased significantly. Our study found that, in the experimental group, albumin and creatinine decreased significantly due to FIR therapy for 6 months. However, our study also found that, in the experimental group, glucose (p < 0.001**) increased significantly due to FIR therapy for 6 months. Peritoneal dialysis combined with FIR can reduce the side effects of glucose in dialysis buffer, which interferes with peritoneal inflammation and peritoneal mesothelial cell fibrosis. In addition, we also found that, in the experimental group, Hs-CRP (p < 0.001**) decreased significantly due to FIR therapy for 6 months. (3) No statistical significance in the inflammatory cytokines related to FIR therapy differences was observed in our study. IFN-γ (p = 0.124), IL-12p70 (p = 0.093), IL-18 (p = 0.213), and TNF-α (p = 0.254) did not exhibit significant improvements in peritoneal dialysis with FIR treatment over 6 months. IFN-γ and IL-18 in the plasma of patients in the experimental group and the control group were higher in the third month than in the first month. Conclusion: We found that the effect of peritoneal dialysis improved significantly with FIR therapy, and significant improvements in the peritoneal permeability and inflammatory response were observed. end-stage renal disease; peritoneal dialysis; far-infrared therapy (FIR)

A review of influence of drag-reducing agents on curved pipe flows is presented in this work. In addition, this review outlined proposed mechanism, friction factor and fluid flux models for drag-reducing agents in curved pipe flows. Our finding reveals that drag reduction by additives in curved pipes is quite significant but generally lower than the corresponding drag reduction in straight pipes. It decreases with increase in curvature ratio and more pronounced in the transition and turbulent flow regimes. Drag reduction strongly depends on the polymers and surfactants’ concentrations as well as the bubble fraction of micro-bubbles. It is also reported that drag reduction in curved pipes depends on temperature and existence of dissolved salts in the fluids. Maximum drag reduction asymptote differed between straight and curved pipes and between polymer and surfactant. No definite conclusion could be drawn as regards drag reduction for two-phase flow in curved pipes due to the limited studies in this area. Many questions such as the mechanism of drag reduction in curved pipes and how drag-reducing agents interact with secondary flows still remained unanswered. Hence, some research gaps have been identified with recommendations for areas of future researches.

This paper discusses the tectonics of the St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago (SPSPA) in the Equato-rial Atlantic Ocean, based on the joint-system geometry which show a North-South shorten-ing/transpressional uplift tectonism, is active leading to exhumation of the sub-oceanic mantle. These islets are the summits of a sigmoidal submarine ridge formed by mantle ultramafic rocks. The ridge is crossed by the principal transform deformation zone of the northern transform fault of the St. Paul Multifault System. The South flank ridge exposes serpentinized mantle perido-tites, while the North flank exposes strongly deformed/fractured ultramylonites, recording duc-tile and brittle deformation at lithospheric conditions. The SPSPA show multiple joint systems cutting mylonitic foliation of the exposed rocks, forming three main families: high-angle paral-lel joints of tectonic origin, serpentinization-related joints with random direction and load-release low-angle parallel joints. The tectonic joints show an average direction of N31°E and N28°W, forming a conjugate system with a N1ºW compression axes, coherent with a trans-pressive stress field. Accordingly, the earthquakes focal mechanism close to the islets also shows N-S compression. The previously reported active uplift with an average rate of 1.5 mm/year and the directions of the joint system here reported agreeing with a present-day active N-S compres-sive field at a high angle with the direction of the transform fault.

β-Ga2O3 is a well-known semiconductor material for power devices and other applications. Recently, β-Ga2O3 has also been reported as a scintillator material with a light yield of approximately 8400 ph./MeV, scintillation decay time of &lt;1 μs, and density of 6.44 g/cm3. In this study, 2-inch diameter β-Ga2O3 single crystals were prepared by oxide crystal growth using the cold crucible (OCCC) method under various oxygen partial pressures. In the OCCC method, as in the cold crucible method, a high frequency is applied directly to the oxide materials, which are heated and melted, and the melt is held by the outermost solid material itself that is cooled by water using a copper hearth. In the OCCC method, crystal growth is performed while rotating the seed crystal, as in the Czochralski method, to increase the crystal diameter. The optical properties and radiation responses of the crystals grown under various oxygen partial pressures were evaluated.

For the last two decades, an increasing demand for low-cost adsorbents for drinking water treatment has been challenged in the rural areas of developing countries that have problems with arsenic (As) contamination. In this work, spent bleaching earth (SBE), a residual material that is formed during the process of refining vegetable oil, has been utilized to prepare the new magnetic adsorbent Fe-SBE/C by modifying its surface area through calcination and co-precipitation with iron. The experimental results demonstrate that Fe-SBE/C exhibits a substantial adsorption capacity towards both arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). Optimal pH conditions were found to be pH 10 for As(III) and pH 3 for As(V), resulting in adsorption percentages of 76.7% and 94.1%, respectively. Other experimental parameters such as calcination conditions, adsorbent dosage, iron-loading ratio, and the presence of co-existing ions were thoroughly investigated. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption processes follow the Elovich and intraparticle diffusion models, suggesting a combined adsorption mechanism of boundary layer control and chemisorption. Furthermore, the isotherm followed the Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 202.61 μg g-1 for As(III) and 187.61 μg g-1 for As(V). Through thermodynamic analysis and reinforcement by activation energy data, this research validates that the observed adsorption process is indicative through chemisorption. The regeneration study revealed the potential for multiple cycles of arsenic removal, highlighting the practical applicability of Fe-SBE/C in environmental contexts. In conclusion, the findings of this study underscore the efficacy of Fe-SBE/C in arsenic removal and present it as a promising and environmentally friendly solution for mitigating arsenic pollution.

The aim of the present study was to provide initial validity evidence of a Greek translation of the 24-item Brunel Mood Scale, referred to as the BRUMS-Greek, a measure of anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, tension, and vigour. Data were collected from 1,417 Greek adult exercise participants and 369 physically inactive adults, totaling 1,786 adults (male = 578, female = 1,208) aged 18–64 years (M = 34.73 ± 11.81 years). Given the large univariate and multivariate non-normality, confirmatory factor analyses treating responses as ordered categorical variables was conducted, which supported the hypothesised six correlated-factor measurement model. Internal consistency reliability of BRUMS-Greek subscales was supported via Cronbach alpha coefficients. Construct validity of scales was supported (a) via correlations in the hypothesised direction with trait positive and negative affect, (b) with more positive and less negative moods reported immediately after participation in a single exercise class compared to pre-exercise mood, and (c) with exercise participants reporting more positive and less negative mood states compared to physically inactive adults. Women reported higher tension and lower vigour scores than men. Tension scores were higher and confusion scores lower among younger participants (≤ 35 years) than older participants (≥ 36 years). Participants with obesity reported higher negative mood scores than those who were underweight or normal weight. In sum, the BRUMS-Greek demonstrated acceptable psychometric characteristics, and is proposed to be a suitable measure for use with exercise participants, physically inactive adults, and other Greek populations to explore research questions related to mood.

We introduce the notion of p-adic magic contraction on p-adic Hilbert space. We derive p-adic Halmos dilation, p-adic Egervary N-dilation, p-adic von Neumann inequality and p-adic Sz.-Nagy dilation for p-adic magic contraction.

Materials based on platinum metals with very good catalytic activity were tested in the reduction of p–nitrophenol (pNP) to p–aminophenol (pAP). The majority of presented catalytic materials are based on the adsorption of p–nitrophenol on the surface of the catalyst simultaneously with molecular hydrogen, coming from sodium borohydride in an aqueous medium, which reduces it. In the present paper, a catalytic material based on osmium dispersed in n–decanol or n–dodecanol is presented, which also works as an emulsion membrane, for the absorption of p–nitrophenol and molecular hydrogen at the n–alcohol aqueous solution interface. The hydrogenation of p–nitrophenol is carried out in a reaction and separation column in which the acid receiving phase emulsion is dispersed in the osmium nanodispersion, in n–alcohols. This emulsion circulates from the base of the column to its upper part in co-current or counter-current with the source phase consisting of p–nitrophenol and sodium borohydride. Experiments show that the circulation of counter-current phases is superior to that in co-current, and the emulsion based on n–decanol is more efficient than the one based on n–dodecanol. The increase in the pH difference between the source and receiving phases leads to the increase in the conversion of p–nitrophenol to p–aminophenol. The efficiency of separation of the reaction product in the receiving phase is lower than the conversion at the same operating time. The apparent catalytic rate constant (kapp) of the new catalytic material based on the emulsion membrane with nanodispersion of osmium nanoparticles (0.1×10−3 for n–dodecanol and 0.9×10−3 for n-decanol) is lower by an order of magnitude compared to those based on adsorption on catalysts from platinum metal group. The advantage of the tested membrane catalytic material is that it extracts p–aminophenol in the acid receiving phase. The paper proposes a mechanism of the studied reduction system.

The effective Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system can improve the reliability, safety and economic benefits of microgrid operation. In this research, the lower central controller and upper WEB monitoring system are connected by the SCADA system which is as the hub of microgrid intelligent monitoring platform. This system contains a set of specific functions programmed by Java as a middleware which can provide control and communication between the central controller and the upper monitoring system. The system realizes the real-time data acquisition and storage, the control instructions parsing and transmitting, the microgrid security and stability, the load balancing and resource recovery of the microgrid. All that functions have been tested and verified in the actual operation.

Since the discovery of transposable elements (TEs) in Maize in the 1940s by Barbara McClintock [1] transposable elements have been described as junk, as selfish elements with no benefit to the host, and more recently as major determinants of genome structure and genome evolution. TEs are DNA sequences that are capable of moving to new sites in the genome and make additional copies while doing so. To limit the propagation of TEs, host silencing mechanisms are directed at transposon-encoded genes that are required for mobilization. The mutagenic properties of TEs, the potential of TEs to form new genes and affect gene expression, together with the host silencing mechanisms shape eukaryotic genomes and drive genome evolution. While TEs constitute more than half of the genome in many higher eukaryotes, transposable elements in the nematode C. ele-gans form a relatively small proportion of genome, about 15% [2]. Genetic studies of transposon silencing and the discovery of RNAi in C. elegans, propelled C. elegans to the forefront of studies of RNA-based mechanisms that silence TEs. Here, I will review the transposable elements that are present and active in the C. elegans genome, and the host defense mechanisms that silence these elements.

L-Theanine, a unique non-protein amino acid, is an important bioactive component of green tea. Previous studies have shown that L-theanine has many potent health benefits, such as anti-anxiety effect, regulation of immune response, relaxing neural tension, reducing oxidative damage. However, little is known concerning whether L-theanine can improve the clearance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage in organisms. Here, we reported that L-theanine treatment increased ATP production and improved mitochondrial morphology to extend the lifespan of UVC-exposed nematodes. Mechanistic investigations showed that L-theanine treatment enhanced the removal of mtDNA damage and extended lifespan by activating autophagy, mitophagy, mitochondrial dynamics, and mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) in UVC-exposed nematodes. In addition, L-theanine treatment also up-regulated the expression of genes related to mitochondrial energy metabolism in UVC-exposed nematodes. Our study provided a theoretical basis for the possibility that tea drinking may prevent mitochondrial related diseases.

The success of composite materials is attributed to the nature of bonding at the nanoscale and the resulting structure-related properties. This study reports the interaction, electronic, and optical properties of diamond nanothread/polymers (cellulose and epoxy) and boron nitride nanotube/calcium silicate hydrate composites using density functional theory modeling. Our findings indicate that the interaction between the nanothread and polymer is due to van der Waals-type bonding. Minor modifications in the electronic structures and absorption spectra are noticed. Conversely, the boron nitride nanotube and calcium silicate hydrate composite display an electron-shared type of interaction. The electronic structure and optical absorption spectra of the diamond nanothread and boron nitride nanotube in all configurations studied in the aforementioned composite systems are well maintained. Our findings offer an electronic-level perspective into the bonding characteristics and electronic-optical properties of diamond nanothread/polymer and boron nitride nanotube/calcium silicate hydrate composites for developing next-generation materials.

In this paper, we define and investigate modified p-Leonardo, p-Leonardo-Lucas and p-Leonardo sequences as special cases of the generalized Leonardo sequence. We present Binet's formulas, generating functions, Simson formulas, and the summation formulas for these sequences. Moreover, we give some identities and matrices related with these sequences. Furthermore, we show that there are close relations between modified p-Leonardo, p-Leonardo-Lucas, p-Leonardo numbers and Fibonacci, Lucas numbers.

Background: When we talk about zoonoses, it is undeniable that we have a human and animal population that has been isolated in studies over time. Besides human and animal health, zoonoses also impact the economy and society. Therefore, the integration of the analysis in this area is essential to optimize resources in public health decisions. We have new challenges in public health that we need to overcome in a more comprehensive method such as One Health. For better measures in public health, the dual burden of zoonoses seems a logical way to determine the integral impact of such diseases in society and thus take better measures to prevent and reduce the impact of these diseases. Methods: We follow the guidelines for “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We search human and animal zoonoses on Embase, Ovid Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, from an unrestricted period until November 2021. For the search, we consider the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) for the human zoonotic burden and the animal zoonotic burden in monetary terms. A librarian collaborates to optimize the search string for the databases, and two reviewers screen eligible articles (first by title, then by abstracts, and finally, by full-text assessment.) For the analysis, we aim to convert the burden of zoonoses of all selected studies into the zoonotic Disability Adjusted Life Years (zDALYs) – including the human and animal components. Discussion: The study results will provide information on published studies that have accounted for the dual burden of zoonoses (both human and animal health aspects.) In addition, the synthesis of the available literature will address the knowledge gap in this area in order to know to what extent it is possible to convert the burden of human zoonoses to the animal burden of zoonoses and integrate them into a more comprehensive approach (dual burden of zoonoses.)

It was believed that the construction of large dams in the upper tributary basin of the Chao Phraya River (CPR) has caused sediment load reduction in the CPR system by 75–85%. Based on historical and observed river flow and sediment data measured during 1922–2019, we investigated the effects of three large dams, the Sirikit, Naresuan, and Khwae Noi dams, on river runoff and sediment loads supplied to the CPR using Mann-Kendall (MK) test and the double mass curve (DMC). Results from this study revealed that the Nan River contributed approximately 40% and 57% of the runoff and total sediment load (TSL) to the CPR, respectively. The water regulation by the Naresuan diversion dam has mainly caused the reduction on annual runoff and TSL downstream of each dam. The results from this study also reveal that the sediment load observed at the headwater (C.2) of the CPR still increased after the construction of the Sirikit dam due to the expansion of irrigation areas downstream of the dam and the channel improvement in the lower reach of Nan River. After the three major dams were operated, the sediment load at C.2 reduced by 31% compared that discharging during the pre-construction period.

This study addresses the problem of accurately predicting azimuth and elevation angles of signals impinging on an antenna array employing Machine Learning (ML). Using the information obtained at a receiving system when a transmitter’s signal hits it, a Decision Tree (DT) model is trained to estimate azimuth and elevation angles simultaneously. Simulation results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed DT-based method, showcasing its ability to predict the Direction of Arrival (DOA) in diverse conditions beyond the ones present in the training dataset, i.e., the results display the model’s generalization capability. Additionally, the comparative analysis reveals that DT-based DOA estimation outperforms the state-of-the-art MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm, establishing DTs as competitive alternatives for DOA estimation in signal reception systems.

In this paper, we prove the existence of three solutions for a $p$-Kirchhoff problem with $\psi$-Hilfer fractional derivative. To be more precise, we use the variational method and we prove that the associated functional energy admits a critical point in each of the three constructed sets, these critical points are weak solutions for a studied problem. Moreover, by definition of these sets, one of these solutions is positive, the second is negative, and the third one change sign. At the end of this work, we present an example to validate our main results.

Innovative tissue engineering biomimetic hydrogels based on hydrophilic polymers have been investigated for their physical and mechanical properties. 5% to 25% by volume loading PHEMA-nanosilica glassy hybrid samples were equilibrated at 37°C in aqueous physiological isotonic and hypotonic saline solutions (0.15 and 0.05 M NaCl) simulating two limiting possible compositions of physiological extracellular fluids. The glassy and hydrated hybrid materials were characterized both for dynamo-mechanical properties and equilibrium absorptions in the two physiological-like aqueous solutions. Mechanical and the morphological modifications occurring in the samples have been described. The 5% volume nanosilica loading hybrid nanocomposite composition showed mechanical characteristics in the dry and hydrated states that were comparable to those of cortical bone and articular cartilage, respectively, and then chosen for further sorption kinetics characterization. Sorption and swelling kinetics were monitored up to equilibrium. Changes in water activities and osmotic pressures in the water-hybrid systems equilibrated at the two limiting solute molarities of the physiological solutions have been related to the observed anomalous sorption modes using the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter approach. The bulk modulus of the dry and glassy PHEMA-5% nanosilica hybrid at 37°C has been observed to be comparable with the values of the osmotic pressures generated from the sorption of isotonic and hypotonic solutions. The anomalous sorption modes and swelling rates are coherent with the difference between osmotic swelling pressures and hybrid glassy nano-composite bulk modulus: the lower the differences the higher the swelling rate and equilibrium solution uptakes. Bone tissue engineering benefits of use of tuneable biomimetic scaffold biomaterials that can be “designed” to act as biocompatible and biomechanically active hybrid interfaces are discussed.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious condition linked to immune-system dysfunction. Myositis-specific/associated antibodies (MSA/MAA) play a role in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) and interstitial lung disease (ILD), but their significance in PH remains unclear. We believe the presence of these antibodies, may be underestimated. This study analyzed adult PH patients without pre-existing IIM for MSA/MAA prevalence using a line-blot assay. We compared PH patients with and without ILD signs to a cohort clinically suspected of IIM/ILD (n=558). Our PH cohort (n=121) showed a significantly higher prevalence of overall weak positive MSA/MAAs and positive overlap syndrome-associated MAAs than the suspected IIM/ILD group (p

High-resolution forecasting of vegetation type shifts may prove essential for anticipating and mitigating the impacts of future climate change on bird populations. Here, we used the US Forest Service Ecological Response Unit (ERU) classification to develop and assess vegetation-based breeding habitat profiles for eight owl species occurring in foothills and mountains of the southwestern US. Shifts in mapped habitat were forecast using an ecosystem vulnerability model based on the pre-1990 climate envelopes of ERUs and the A1B moderate IPCC emission scenario of future climate. For five of the eight owl species, regional breeding habitat extent was projected to decline by at least 60% by 2090. Three species, the boreal owl (Aegolius funereus; at the trailing edge of its distribution), flammulated owl (Psiloscops flammeolus), and northern pygmy-owl (Glaucidium gnoma) were projected to experience the steepest habitat-loss rates, or 85%, 85%, and 76%, respectively. Projected vegetation shifts overlaid with well-documented flammulated owl breeding populations showed complete or near complete loss of habitat by 2090 in areas of montane forest currently supporting dense aggregations of owl territories. Generalist or lower-elevation owl species were predicted to be less impacted, while for the whiskered screech-owl (Megascops trichopsis), the contraction of current habitat was nearly offset by a projected northward expansion. In general, the results of this study suggest high exposure to climate change impacts for upper-elevation forest owls of semi-arid southwestern North America. Long distance migration and low natal philopatry may prove important to some montane owl populations for adapting to regional loss of habitat.

Rocas Atoll is a unique environment in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, hosting a large number of endemic species and studies on the chemical diversity emerging from this biota are rather scarce. Therefore, the present work aims to assess the metabolomic diversity and pharmacological potential of the microbiota from Rocas Atoll. A total of 76 bacteria were isolated and cultured in liquid culture media to obtain crude extracts. About one third (34%) of these extracts were considered cytotoxic against human colon adenocarcinoma HCT-116 cell line. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis revealed that the bacteria producing cytotoxic extracts are mainly from the Actinobacteria phylum, including Streptomyces, Salinispora, Nocardiopsis and Brevibacterium genera, and in a smaller proportion from Firmicutes phylum (Bacillus). The search in the GNPS spectral library unveiled a high chemodiversity being produced by these bacteria, including rifamycins, antimycins, desferrioxamines, ferrioxamines, surfactins, surugamides, staurosporine and saliniketals, along with several unidentified compounds. Using an original approach, molecular network successfully highlighted groups of compounds responsible for the cytotoxicity of crude extracts. DEREPLICATOR+, a recently developed in silico tool (GNPS), allowed the identification of derivatives of the macrolide novonestimycin, as the cytotoxic compounds into the extracts produced by Streptomyces BRB-298 and BRB-302. Overall, these results highlighted the pharmacological potential of bacteria from this singular Atoll.

The use of cobalt-iron (VaCoFe) core is investigated as an alternative to silicon-iron (FeSi) on the design of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSM). A spoke-type IPMSM geometry is optimized considering FeSi and VaCoFe cores for a torque range up to 40 N.m, providing a general comparative analysis between materials, considering the application of a 4-motor competition vehicle’s powertrain. A genetic optimization algorithm is applied over a hybrid analytical/finite-element model of the motor to provide sufficiently accurate electromagnetic and thermal results within a feasible time. VaCoFe can result in an estimated increase of up to 5 % in efficiency for the same torque, or up to 64 % torque increase for the same efficiency level. After optimization, and using a detailed time-dependent model, a potential 3.2 % increase in efficiency, a core weight reduction of 4.1 %, and a decrease of 9.6 % in the motor’s core volume was found for the VaCoFe at 20 Nm. In addition, for the same motor volume, the VaCoFe allows an increase of 51.9 % of torque with an increase of 1.1 % of efficiency, when compared with FeSi.

This study provides a thorough review and analysis of the evolution of the Greek vehicle fleet over the last ~30 years, which is next used for the generation of high granularity fleet projections and for the estimation of relevant environmental benefits by 2030. The integrated methodology developed takes also into account vehicle clustering and the Brown’s Double Simple Exponential Smoothing technique that together with the adoption of COPERT based emission factors allow for the estimation of the anticipated emissions in 2030. Expected 2030 emissions levels suggest a reduction across all pollutants in comparison to 2018, ranging from 3.7% for PM10 to 54.5% for NMVOC (and 46% for CO, 14% for SO2, 28% for NOX and 21% for CO2). We find that Greece is on track with national goals concerning the reduction of air pollution from the transportation sector, stressing the positive contribution of EVs and new, "greener" vehicles, and setting new challenges for the further improvement of the sector beyond the 2030 outlook.

Keywords: mHealth; peritoneal dialysis; functionality; usability

Yerba maté, an herbal tea derived from Ilex paraguariensis, has previously been reported to be protective against obesity-related and other cardiometabolic disorders. Using high-resolution respirometry and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, the effects of four weeks of yerba maté consumption on mitochondrial efficiency and cellular redox status in skeletal muscle, adipose, and liver, tissues highly relevant to whole body metabolism, were explored in healthy adult mice. Yerba maté treatment increased mitochondrial oxygen consumption in adipose, but not in other tissues examined. Yerba maté increased ATP concentration in skeletal muscle and decreased ATP concentration in adipose. Combined with observed changes in oxygen consumption, these data yielded a significantly higher ATP:O2, a measure of mitochondrial efficiency, in muscle and a significantly lower ATP:O2 in adipose, which were consistent with yerba maté-induced weight loss. Yerba maté treatment also altered the hepatic glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) redox potential to a more reduced redox state, suggesting potential protective effects against oxidative stress and preservation of cellular function. Together, these data indicate beneficial, tissue-specific effects of yerba maté supplementation on mitochondrial bioenergetics and redox states in healthy mice that are protective against obesity.

Cryptosporidiosis is a common illness in young cattle that causes high morbidity and some mortality. A common prophylactic treatment are halofuginone products but it seems likely disease could be reduced by other other pharmacological products or some management strategies. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analyses on key outcomes for treatment of calves before and after 5 days of age with any management strategy, any nutritional strategy or any non-halofuginone product. A systematic literature search was undertaken with data extracted for outcomes = oocyst shedding, diarrhea, mortality and weight gain. Experiments had to describe results for same age animals in contemporary arms. Control animals had to be observed concurrently in planned experiments (pre-post and case-control studies were not eligible). Both randomized and other clinically controlled trials were eligible. Results were subgrouped by study design and outcomes were described in detail where at least two articles described the same treatment strategy. 55 articles were found. Significantly lower incidence of oocyst shedding, diarrhea burden and mortality was reported in many experimental arms, especially when animals started treatment before 5 days old. Weight gain was not mostly affected by treatment, however, by three weeks of age. The evidence base is at least encouraging but insufficient about paromomycin, bumped kinase inhibitors and azithromycin treatment, especially for diarrhea and oocyst shedding, given late or early. Azithromycin is the most promising of these.

Herein we report the expansion of the chemical space available from the chitin, accessible via the biogenic N-platforms 3A5AF, M4A2C and di-HAF. The biologically active heteroaromatics furo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-one and furo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-amine can be selectively accessed from 3A5AF and M4A2C, respectively. The chiral pool synthon di-HAF is a viable substrate for the Achmatowicz rearrangement, providing streamlined access to 2-aminosugars possessing a versatile hydroxymethyl group at C5.

Some peptide-based drugs including oxytocin, vasopressin, ziconotide, pramlintide, nesiritide, and octreotide, contain one intramolecular disulfide bonds. A novel and reusable monodispersed silica nanosphere-supported Pt(IV) complex (SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV)) was synthesized via a four-step procedure and used for formation of intramolecular disulfide bonds in peptides. TEM and chemical mapping results for the Pt(II) intermediates and for SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) show that the silica nanospheres possess a monodisperse spherical structure and contain uniformly distributed Si, O, C, N, Cl, and Pt. The valence state of Pt on the silica nanospheres was characterized by XPS. The Pt(IV) loaded on SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was 0.15 mmol/g, as determined by UV-vis spectrometry. Formation of intramolecular disulfides in six dithiol-containing peptides of variable lengths by use of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was investigated and the relative oxidation yields were determined by HPLC. In addition, peptide 1 (Ac-CPFC-NH2) was utilized to study the reusability of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV). No significant decrease in the relative oxidation yield was observed after ten reaction cycles. Moreover, the structure of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) after being used ten cycles was determined to be similar to its initial one, demonstrating the cycling stability of the complex.

The objective was to conduct a scoping review and produce a publicly available database characterizing the design and reporting elements of the literature on dietary added sugars and select health outcomes. Relevant studies published from 1990 – 2021 were identified to create a database containing information on study and population characteristics, reported added sugars source and concentrations, diet energy balance, total energy intake, and outcome measures related to body composition, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus. There were 245 publications identified, 22% of which describe interventions and 78% describe observational studies. Publications pertaining to added sugars have risen dramatically since 2010, led by studies primarily assessing body composition (36%) or cardiovascular health (32%), including adults (65%), measuring liquid-only sources of added sugars (56%). Over 65% of studies reported total energy intake, 61% controlled for total energy intake in the design and analysis, and fewer than 5% of studies reported the energy balance of subjects. There has been a significant increase in research on added sugars since 2010, with substantial heterogeneity across all facets of methodology – study designs, exposures and outcomes of interest, terminology, and reporting of dietary intake data – thus limiting the ability to synthesize evidence in this scope of literature. This evidence map highlights gaps and important areas for improvement to strengthen the state of research to better inform future policies and dietary recommendations on added sugars.

A recent survey that determined heavy metal concentrations in an abandoned Hg mine in Palawan, Philippines, found the occurrence of Hg with As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, Tl, V, and Zn. While the Hg originated from the mine waste calcines as supported by previous studies, the critical knowledge about the origin of the other heavy metals remains to be unknown. Our study investigated the sources of heavy metal pollution surrounding the abandoned Hg mine; and assessed the soil and sediment quality, ecological risks, and health risks associated with these toxic metals. Multivariate analyses, such as hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and Pearson correlation analysis, were used to identify the heavy metal sources from the results of a previous paper. Our results showed that Fe, Ni, Cr, Co, and Mn are associated with the ultramafic geology of the study, whereas As, Ba, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, Tl, V, and Zn are likely due to historical mining and processing of cinnabar from 1953-1976. The mine waste calcines were used as construction material for the wharf and as land filler for the adjacent communities. The modified contamination factor (mCdeg) showed that the coast of Honda Bay is highly contaminated, while the inland areas, including the rivers, are very- to ultra-highly contaminated. There is a considerable ecological risk associated with the heavy metals, wherein Ni, Hg, Cr, and Mn contribute an average of 46.3 %, 26.3 %, 11.2 %, and 9.3 % to the potential ecological risk index (RI), respectively. The overall mean hazard index (HI) for both adults (1.4) and children (12.1) exceeded 1, implying the probability of non-carcinogenic adverse effects. The mean total cancer risk over a lifetime (LCR) for both adults (1.19×10-3) and children (2.89×10-3) exceeded the tolerable threshold of 10-4, suggesting a potentially high risk for developing cancer mainly by Ni, Co, and Cr exposure.

Most people living in Europe's cities are still exposed to levels of air pollution deemed harmful by the World Health Organization. In the modern world, air pollution is the foremost concern because of its impact in human health and economy. This strong connection appears gaining a lot of concern, driven by new installed low-cost electrochemical sensors monitoring systems. Highly accuracy, real-time monitoring, daily and yearly statistics, data access from experts or simple users, low-cost equipment and forecasting needs, enforce the market to develop new air quality monitoring systems using advanced technologies and protocols. In this study, a comparison via low-cost electrochemical sensors and of static, fixed site measurement monitoring station, is taking place in Athens, Greece, along with the data quality and Air Quality Index (AQI) including data accuracy and quality of data concerning adverse health effects due to air pollution. The findings presented in this work, relate to different flexible and affordable alternatives adopted during the evaluation and calibration of low-cost gas sensors for the monitoring. The significance of the positive results is particularly useful, especially considering the founding for interference, environmental conditions affections and air quality information including indexes and health recommendations for a specific location.

Understanding the evolutionary role of environmentally-induced phenotypic variation (i.e., environmental plasticity) is an important issue in developmental evolution. One of the major physiological responses to environmental changes is cellular stress, which is counteracted by a generic stress reaction that detoxifies the cell, refolds proteins, and repairs DNA damage. In this paper, we elaborate on a previous finding suggesting that the cell differentiation cascade of human decidual stromal cells, a cell type critical for embryo implantation and the maintenance of pregnancy, evolved from a cellular stress reaction. We hypothesize that the stress reaction in these cells was elicited ancestrally through the inflammation caused by embryo attachment and invasion. We describe a model, Stress-Induced Evolutionary Innovation (SIEI), whereby ancestral stress reactions and their corresponding pathways can be transformed into novel structural components of body plans, such as new cell types. After reviewing similarities and differences between SIEI and the “plasticity first hypothesis” (PFH) of evolution, we argue that SIEI is a distinct form of plasticity-based evolutionary change because it leads to the origin of novel structures rather than the adaptive transformation of a pre-existing character.

Brazil became a major player in the global beef market, after the market liberalization in the 1990’s, and experiencing a substantial development. Nonetheless, the environmental impact of beef production associated with land use and greenhouse gas emissions has been under discussion. The necessity of increased adoption of sustainable technologies, however, may preclude some farmers to keep up to date with technological advances. This article describes the major historical changes in beef farming and how they have been shifting production systems toward a sustainable intensification of grass-fed beef, with likely impacts for farmers. We combined an extensive literature review, public data and our own insights, as senior researchers, to achieve that. The trajectory shown here evidenced the substantial technological development underway in Brazilian beef farming, with strong support of public policies for decarbonizing agriculture. Nonetheless, the pace of this sustainable transition may affect small to medium farmers unable to cope. Our recommendations, therefore, involve a broad program of technical assistance and training on sustainable technologies and other supportive practices, including financial and digital literacy. Additionally, we suggest an alternative credit system, with progressive borrowing allowances to ensure financial resources to support a sustainable and inclusive transition of Brazilian beef farming.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently added snakebite envenoming to the priority list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). It is thought that ~75% of mortality following snakebite occurs outside the hospital setting, making the temporal gap between a bite and antivenom administration a major therapeutic challenge. Small molecule therapeutics (SMTs) have been proposed as potential pre-referral treatments for snakebite to help address this gap. Herein, we discuss the characteristics, potential uses and development of SMTs as potential treatments for snakebite envenomation. We focus on SMTs that are secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) inhibitors and metalloprotease (MP) inhibitors.

The paper reports an analytical study of two problems of Rayleigh-Bénard convection(RBC): one in a Newtonian liquid occupying an axi-symmetric cylindrical enclosure(CE) and second in a two-dimensional rectangular enclosure(RE). Linear stability analysis is employed to obtain information on the onset of convection in terms of a critical Rayleigh number, Ra, as a function of the aspect ratio, Ro. The nature and the flow structures of the convective cells, at the onset of convection, are predicted theoretically by plotting the streamlines for different values of Ro. Not so shallow(Ro&lt;1 or Ro≪1), and very shallow enclosures(Ro≫1) are considered. Concepts of cell-width and the wave number are respectively used in these two types of enclosures. An explicit analytical expression for the number of cells as a function of Ro is obtained theoretically. Exact prediction of the critical value of Ra, viz., Rac, as a function of Ro is also made. These are new findings in the case of both CE and RE. The fundamental differences between the problems of CE and RE are also highlighted.

The spread of multidrug-resistant mycobacterium strains requires the development of new approaches to combat diseases caused by these pathogens. For that, photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a promising approach. In this study, a tricarbocyanine (TCC) is used for the first time as a near-infrared (740 nm) activatable PDI photosensitizer to kill mycobacteria with deeper light penetration. For better targeting, a novel tricarbocyanine dye functionalized with two trehalose units (TCC2Tre) is developed. The photodynamic effect of the conjugate against mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is evaluated. Under irradiation, TCC2Tre causes more effective killing of mycobacteria compared to the photosensitizer without trehalose conjugation, with 99.99% dead vegetative cells of M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis. In addition, effective photoinactivation of dormant forms of M. smegmatis is observed after incubation with TCC2Tre. Mycobacteria treated with TCC2Tre are more sensitive to 740 nm light than the Gram-positive Micrococcus luteus and the Gram-negative Escherichia coli. For the first time, this study demonstrates the possibility of in vitro PDI of mycobacteria including the fast-growing M. smegmatis and the slow-growing M. tuberculosis using near-infrared activatable photosensitizers. These findings are useful for the development of new efficient alternatives to antibiotic therapy.

This article introduces existential wellbeing (EWB) as one of the most ignored but also the most important kind of wellbeing, especially for people who experience life-limiting diseases and need palliative care (Wong & Yu, 2021). This article will not only review the literature regarding the nature and practice of existential wellbeing in palliative care, but also propose a preliminary Existential Wellbeing Scale. EWB is defined as the quality-of-life characterized by living well and dying well in spite of pain, obstacles, and the shadow of death; wellbeing within the context of human suffering can only be fully understood from the perspective of existential positive psychology (EPP), dedicated to the study of sustainable wellbeing based on the foundation of transcending suffering. The basic tenets of EPP are (1) redefining positivity or wellbeing in terms of seeing and being the light in the darkness; (2) focusing on the dialectical process of navigating an adaptive balance; and (3) re-orienting one’s life attitude from egotism to self-transcendence (Wong, 2023a). More specifically, EWB depends on some combination of the following experiences: (1) Prior experience of overcoming adversity; (2) Existential intelligence (Gardner, 2020) in addressing existential concerns; (3) Existential wisdom of the soul (Wong 2022a; Wong, Ho, et al, 2023a) to achieve existential wellbeing and sustainable flourishing; (4) Spiritual wellbeing based on spiritual values such as faith, hope, and love (Wong, 2023); (5) Knowledge of meaning-focused coping (Eisenbeck et al., 2021); and (6) The new paradigm of self-transcendence (Reed & Haugan, 2021; Wong, Arslan et al., 2021; Wong, Ho et al., 2023b) to transcend and transform suffering into wellbeing and triumph.

Mass transfer restrictions of scaffolds are currently hindering the development of three-dimensional (3D), clinically viable, and tissue engineered constructs. For this situation, a 3D poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/hydroxyapatite porous scaffold, which was much favorable for transfer of nutrients to and waste products from the cells in the pores, was developed in this study. The 3D scaffold had an innovative structure, including macropores with diameters of 300−450 μm for cell ingrowth and microchannels with diameters of 2−4 μm for nutrition and waste exchange. The mechanical strength in wet state was strong enough to offer the structural support. The typical structure was more beneficial for the attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs). The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium (Ca) deposition were evaluated on the differentiation of rBMSCs, and the results indicated that the microchannel structure was very favorable for differentiating rBMSCs into maturing osteoblasts. For repairing rabbit radius defects in vivo, there was rapid healing in the defects treated with the 3D porous scaffold with microchannels, where the bridging by a large bony callus was observed at 12 weeks post-surgery. Based on the results, the 3D porous scaffold with microchannels was a promising candidate for bone defect repair.

Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cells and make up about 70% of white blood cells in human blood and play a critical role as the first line of defense in the innate immune response. They also help regulate the inflammatory environment to promote tissue repair. However, in cancer, neutrophils can be manipulated by tumors to either promote or hinder tumor growth depending on the cytokine pool. Studies have shown that tumor-bearing mice have increased levels of neutrophils in peripheral circulation, and that neutrophil-derived exosomes can deliver various cargos, including lncRNA and miRNA, which contribute to tumor growth and degradation of extracellular matrix. Exosomes derived from immune cells generally possess anti-tumor activities and induce tumor-cell apoptosis by delivering cytotoxic proteins, ROS generation, H2O2 or activation of Fas-mediated apoptosis in target cells. Engineered exosome-like nanovesicles have been developed to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs precisely to tumor cells. However, tumor-derived exosomes can aggravate cancer-associated thrombosis through the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps. Despite the advancements in neutrophil-related research, a detailed understanding of tumor-neutrophil crosstalk is still lacking and remains a major barrier in developing neutrophil-based or targeted therapy. This review will focus on the communication pathways between tumors and neutrophils, and the role of neutrophil-derived exosomes (NDEs) in tumor growth. Additionally, potential strategies to manipulate NDEs for therapeutic purposes will be discussed.

Concrete cracks and local damage can affect the bond performance between concrete and steel bars, thereby reducing the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Compared with general concrete crack repair methods, biomineralization repair not only has effective bonding capabilities but is also particularly environmentally friendly. In view of this, this study aimed to apply biomineralization technology to repair damaged fiber-reinforced lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC). Two groups of LWAC specimens were prepared. The control group used lightweight aggregates (LWAs) without bacterial spores and nutrient sources, and the experimental group used LWAs containing bacterial spores and nutrient sources. These specimens were first subjected to compression tests and pull-out tests, respectively, and thus were damaged. After the damaged specimen healed itself in different ways for 28 days, secondary compression and pull-out tests were conducted. The self-healing method of the control group involved placing the specimens in an incubator. The experimental group was further divided into experimental group I and experimental group II. The self-healing method of experimental group I was the same as that of the control group. The self-healing method of experimental group II involved soaking the specimen in a mixed solution of urea and calcium acetate for two days, and then taking it out and placing it in an incubator for two days, with a cycle of four days. The test results showed that, compared with the control group specimens, the relative bond strength ratio of the experimental group II specimens increased by 17.9%. Moreover, the EDS and XRD analysis results confirmed that the precipitate formed at the crack was calcium carbonate, which improved the compressive strength and bond strength after self-healing. This indicates that the biomineralization maintenance method used in experimental group II is more effective.

The main objective of this work is the assessment of the annual number of hospital admissions for respiratory disease (HARD) due to the exposure to in-healable particulate matter (PM10), within the greater Athens area (GAA), Greece. Towards this aim, the time series of the particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10μm (PM10) recorded in six monitoring stations located in the GAA, for a 13-year period 2001-2013, is used. Initially, a descriptive statistical treatment of PM10 concentrations took place. Furthermore, the AirQ2.2.3 software developed by the WHO was used to evaluate adverse health effects by PM10 in the GAA during the examined period. The results show that, during the examined period PM10 concentrations present a significant decreasing trend. Also, the mean annual HARD cases per 100,000 inhabitants ranged between 20 (suburban location) and 40 (city centre location). Approximately 70% of the annual HARD cases are due to city centre residents. In all examined locations, a declining trend in the annual number of HARD cases is appeared. Moreover, a strong relation between the annual number of HARD cases and the annual number of days exceeding the European Union daily PM10 threshold value was found.

The separator membrane is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries, separating the anode and cathode and controlling the number and mobility of the lithium ions. Among the polymer matrices most investigated for battery separators are poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymers poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE), poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP), and poly(vinylidene fluoride-cochlorotrifluoroethylene) (PVDF-CTFE), due to their excellent properties such as high polarity and the possibility of controlling the porosity of the materials through binary and ternary polymer/solvent systems, among others. This review presents the recent advances on battery separators based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymers for lithium-ion batteries. It is divided in the following sections: single polymer and co-polymers, surface modification, composites and polymer blends. Further, a critical comparison between those membranes and other separator membranes is presented, as well as the future trends on this area.

Condition-specific competition, when environmental conditions alter the outcome of competition, can foster the persistence of resident species after the invasion of a competitively superior invader. We test whether condition-specific competition can facilitate the areawide persistence of the resident and principal West Nile virus vector mosquito Culex pipiens with the competitively superior invasive, Aedes albopictus, in water from different urban container habitats. (2) Methods: We tested the effects of manipulated numbers of A. albopictus on C. pipiens survival and development in water collected from common functional and discarded containers in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The experiment was conducted with typical numbers of larvae found in field surveys of C. pipiens and A. albopictus and container water quality. (3) Results: We found increased densities of A. albopictus negatively affected the survivorship and development of C. pipiens in water from discarded containers but had little effect in water from functional containers. This finding was driven by water from trash cans, which allowed consistently higher C. pipiens survival and development and had greater mean ammonia and nitrate concentrations that can promote microbial food than other container types. (4) Conclusions: These results suggest that the contents of different urban containers alter the effects of invasive A. albopictus competition on resident C. pipiens, that trash cans, in particular, facilitate the persistence of C. pipiens, and that there could be implications for West Nile virus risk as a result.

When present in specific amounts in the air, the colorless, odorless, and tasteless gases monoxide and carbon dioxide may either replace oxygen in red blood cells (CO) or increase the respiratory rate causing cardiac arrhythmias (CO2), leading to death. Commercial sensors take around 8 h to detect levels of CO (50 PPM), causing moderate poisoning. SnO2 presents controlled interactions with the atmosphere using conductance and vacancy adjustments to capture electrical properties. However, the selectivity of gas detection by SnO2 can still be improved, thus also increasing the application possibilities. The present study aimed to optimize the sensing of CO and CO2 in SnO2 using palladium functionalization. The vapor-liquid-solid method synthesized a network of SnO2 nanobelts decorated with palladium nanoparticles. The sensitivity of the sensors for CO and CO2 were evaluated, characterizing parameters such as response time, a wide range of CO and CO2 concentrations, and temperature. In the seventh measurement cycle, the sensor response for different concentrations of gases in consecutive cycles showed a sensitivity of up to 125% for CO in 60 s. Furthermore, we observed increased sensor sensitivity with material doping with nanoparticles from 130 ppm to 1360 ppm in 30 seconds to CO. Conclusion: The results provide a better understanding of the sensitivity of SnO2 in palladium-decorated nanoparticles, offering insights for detecting low CO concentrations quickly. The behavior of these doped nanosensors showed us the importance of considering them as a practical possibility for detecting these gases of importance to human health.

In this paper, we present a new concept of the generalized core orthogonality (called the C-S orthogonality) for two generalized core invertible matrices $A$ and $B$. $A$ is said to be C-S orthogonal to $B$ if $A^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}B=0$ and $BA^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}=0$, where $A^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}$ is the generalized core inverse of $A$. The characterizations of C-S orthogonal matries and the C-S additivity are also provided. And the connection between the C-S orthogonality and C-S partial order has been given using their canonical form. Moreover, the concept of the strongly C-S orthogonality is defined and characterized.

ABSTRACT Purpose: Tongue image analysis for disease diagnosis is an ancient traditional non-invasive diagnosis technique widely used by traditional medicine practitioners. Deep Learning based multi-label disease detection models offer tremendous potential to clinical decision support systems, by facilitating preliminary diagnosis. Methods: In this work, we propose a multi-label disease detection pipeline, where in observation and analysis of tongue images captured and received via smartphones assist in predicting the health status of an individual. All images are voluntarily given by subjects consulting collaborating physicians. Images thus acquired are first and foremost classified either into a diseased or a normal category by a 5-fold cross-validation algorithm using a convolution neural network (MobileNetV2) model for binary classification. Once the diseased label is predicted, the image is used to diagnose multiple diseases using the prediction algorithm based on DenseNet121. Results: Average accuracy of 93 % was achieved in classifying diseased from normal healthy tongue by detection model with MobileNetV2 architecture. Multilabel disease classification produced more than 90% accurate results for the seven class labels considered. Conclusion: AI based image analysis shows promising results and an extensive dataset could provide further improvements to this approach. Rather than employing high-cost sophisticated image capturing setup, experimenting with smartphone images opens opportunity to provide preliminary health status to individuals on smartphone prior to further line of treatment and diagnosis.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), has emerged as an attractive state-of-the-art tool for precisely fabricating functional materials with complex geometries, championing several advancements in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and therapeutics. However, this technology has an untapped potential for biotechnological applications, such as sensor and biosensor development. By exploring these avenues, the scope of 3D printing technology can be expanded and pave the way for groundbreaking innovations in the biotechnology field. Indeed, new printing materials and printers would offer new possibilities for seamlessly incorporating biological functionalities within the growing 3D scaffolds. Herein, we review the extrusion-based 3D printing modalities emphasizing biosensor applications. We highlighted the application of natural, synthetic, and composite biomaterials as 3D-printed soft hydrogels. Emphasis was placed on the approach by which the sensing molecules were introduced during the fabrication process. Finally, the future perspective was provided.

BACKGROUNDː The so-called Low Cardiac Output Syndrome (LCOS) is one of the most common complications in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease undergoing corrective surgery. LCOS requires high concentrations of inotropes to support cardiac contractility and improve cardiac output, allowing for a better systemic perfusion. To date, serum lactate concentrations and central venous oxygen saturation (ScVO2) are the most commonly used perfusion markers, but they are not completely reliable to identify a state of global tissue hypoxia. The study aims to evaluate whether the venoarterial carbon dioxide difference/arterial-venous oxygen difference ratio [P(v-a)CO2/C(a-v)O2] can be a good index to predict the development of LCOS in the aforemen-tioned patients, so as to treat it promptly. METHODSː This study followed a population of 98 children undergoing corrective cardiac surgery from June 2018 to October 2020 at the Department of Cardiac Surgery of University Hospital Inte-grated Trust and their subsequent admission at the Postoperative Cardiothoracic Surgery Intensive Care Unit. During the study, central arterial and venous blood gas analysis were carried out before and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) (pre-CPB and post-CPB), at admission to intensive care unit, before and after extubation and at any time of instability or modification of the patient’s clinical and therapeutic conditions. RESULTSː The data analysis shows that 46.9% of the children developed a LCOS (in line with the current literature) but that there is no statistically significant association between the P(v-a)CO2/C(a-v)O2 ratio and LCOS onset. Despite the limits of statistical significance, however, a 31% increase in the ratio emerged from the pre-CPB phase to the post-CPB phase when LCOS is present. CONCLUSIONSː This study confirms a statistically significant association between the most used markers in adult patients (serum lactate concentration, ScVO2 and oxygen extraction ratio-ERO2) measured in the pre-CPB phase and the incidence of LCOS onset, especially in patients with he-modynamic instability before surgery.

Land degradation and climate change are among the main threats to the sustainability of ecosystems worldwide. Therefore, the restoration of degraded landscapes is essential to maintain the functionality of ecosystems, especially those with greater social, economic and environmental vulnerability. Nevertheless, policy-makers are frequently challenged by deciding on where to prioritize restoration actions, which usually includes to deal with multiple and complex needs under an always short budget. If these decisions are not taken based on proper data and processes, restoration implementation can easily fail. To help decision-makers taking informed decisions on where to implement restoration activities, we have developed a semiautomatic geospatial platform to prioritize areas for restoration activities based on ecological, social and economic variables. This platform takes advantage of the potential to integrate R coding, Google Earth Engine cloud computing and GIS visualization services to generate an interactive geospatial decision-maker tool for restoration. Here, we present a prototype version called "RePlant alpha" which was tested with data from the Central Zone of Chile. This exercise proved that integrating R and GEE was feasible, and that the analysis, with at least six indicators and for a specific region was also feasible to implement even from a personal computer. Therefore, the use of a virtual machine in the cloud with a large number of indicators over large areas is both possible and practical.

This study presents the synthesis and electrochemical evaluation of nitrogen-doped vanadium oxide (N-V2O3/C) as a cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), using a hydrothermal method. Compared to undoped V2O3/C, N-V2O3/C exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity, capacity, and electrochemical kinetics, attributed to the incorporation of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen. Initial charge-discharge cycles indicate phase transitions to amorphous vanadium oxides, enhancing conductivity. N-V2O3/C shows a high specific capacity of 168.4 mAh g−1 at 10 A g−1 and remarkable reversibility, highlighted by the transient existence of intermediate species during cycling. Optimal electrochemical performance is achieved with a vanadium to nitrogen molar ratio of 2:3, indicating the significant impact of nitrogen doping concentration on the material’s efficiency. This work underscores the potential of N-V2O3/C as a superior cathode material for AZIBs.

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is the clinical manifestation of the respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). While primarily recognized as a respiratory disease, it is clear that COVID-19 is systemic illness impacting multiple organ systems. One defining clinical feature of COVID-19 has been the high incidence of thrombotic events. The underlying processes and risk factors for the occurrence of thrombotic events in COVID-19 remain inadequately understood. While severe bacterial, viral or fungal infections are well recognized to activate the coagulation system, COVID-19 associated coagulopathy is likely to have unique mechanistic features. Inflammatory-driven processes are likely primary drivers of coagulopathy in COVID-19, but the exact mechanisms linking inflammation to dysregulated hemostasis and thrombosis are yet to be delineated. Cumulative findings of microvascular thrombosis has raised question if the endothelium and microvasculature should be a point of investigative focus. Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) and its protease, ADAMTS13 play important role in the maintenance of microvascular hemostasis. In inflammatory conditions, imbalanced VWF-ADAMTS13 characterized by elevated VWF levels and inhibited and/or reduced activity of ADAMTS13 has been reported. Also, an imbalance between ADAMTS13 activity and VWF antigen is associated with organ dysfunction and death in patients with systemic inflammation. A thorough understanding of VWF-ADAMTS13 interactions during early and advanced phases of COVID-19 could help better define the pathophysiology, guide thromboprophylaxis and treatment and improve clinical prognosis.

P-band radar remote sensing applied during the Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) mission has shown great potential for estimation of root zone soil moisture. When retrieving the soil moisture profile (SMP) from P-band radar, a mathematical function describing the vertical moisture distribution is required. Because only a limited number of observations are available, the number of free parameters of the mathematical model must not exceed the number of observed data. For example, a second order polynomial that contains 3 free parameters was presumed based on in-situ SMP data. The polynomial is currently parameterized based on 3 backscatter observations provided by AirMOSS (i.e. one frequency at three polarizations of HH, VV and HV). In this paper, a more realistic, physically-based SMP model containing 3 free parameters is derived based on a solution to Richards’ equation for unsaturated flow in soils. Evaluation of the new SMP model based on both numerical simulations and measured data revealed that it exhibits greater flexibility for fitting measured and simulated SMPs than the currently applied polynomial. It is also demonstrated that the new SMP model can be reduced to a second order polynomial at the expense of fitting accuracy.

The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the Tyme Wear smart shirt is as reliable and valid in detecting personalized ventilatory thresholds when compared to the Parvo Medics TrueOne 2400. In this validation study, 19 subjects were recruited to conduct two graded exercise test (GXT) trials. Each GXT trial was separated by seven to ten days of rest. During the GXT, gas exchange and heart rate data were collected by the TrueOne 2400 (TRUE) in addition to the ventilation data collected by the Tyme Wear smart shirt (S-PRED). Gas exchange data from TRUE was used to detect VT1 and VT2. TRUE and S-PRED VT1 and VT2 were compared to determine the reliability and validity of the smart shirt. Of the 19 subjects, data from 15 subjects were used during analysis. S-PRED exhibited excellent (ICC &gt; 0.90) reliability for detection of VT1 and VT2 utilizing time point and workload and moderate (0.90 &gt; ICC &gt; 0.75 ) reliability utilizing heart rate. TRUE exhibited excellent reliability for detection of VT1 and VT2 utilizing time point, workload, and heart rate. When compared to TRUE, S-PRED appears to underestimate the VT1 workload (p &gt; 0.05) across both trials and heart rate (p &lt; 0.05) for trial 1. However, S-PRED appears to underestimate VT2 workload (p &lt; 0.05) and heart rate (p &lt; 0.05) across both trials. The result from this study suggests that the Tyme Wear smart shirt is less valid but is comparable in reliability when compared to the gold standard. Moreover, despite the underestimation of S-PRED VT1 and VT2, the S-PRED detected personalized ventilatory thresholds will provide an adequate training workload for most individuals. In conclusion, the Tyme Wear smart shirt provides easily accessible testing to establish threshold-guided training zones but does not devalue the long-standing laboratory equivalent.

Pure monocular 3D reconstruction is an ill-posed problem that has attracted the research community's interest due to the affordability and availability of RGB sensors. SLAM, VO, and SFM are disciplines formulated to solve the 3D reconstruction problem and estimate the camera’s ego-motion, so many methods have been proposed. However, most of these methods were not evaluated in large datasets, under various motion patterns, had not been tested under the same metrics, and most of them had not been evaluated following a taxonomy, making their comparison and selection difficult. In this research, we performed a comparison of ten publicly available SLAM and VO methods following a taxonomy, including one method for each category of the primary taxonomy, three machine learning-based methods, and two updates of the best methods, to identify the advantages and limitations of each category of the taxonomy and test if the addition of machine learning or the updates made on those methods improved them significantly. Thus, we evaluated each algorithm under the TUM-Mono benchmark and performed an inferential statistical analysis to identify significative differences through its metrics. Results determined that sparse-direct methods significantly outperformed the rest of the taxonomy, and fusing them with machine learning techniques significantly improves the performance of geometric-based methods from different perspectives.

Traceability is the ability to determine the path of a product from purchase to consumption to determine when and where it originated. This paper aimed to determine the factors that influence fishers’ decision-making to participate in tuna traceability program, it also explores the determinants of fish catch for small-scale fishers and the feasibility of implementing tuna traceability in the Davao Gulf, Philippines. The result of the interview showed that the significant factors that highly affected the decision-making of fishers in implementating tuna traceability program: boat capacity, fishing hours and communication of fishers (P≤0.05). Household size, years in community, fishing hours, volume of fish sold, and the fishers' communication in the fishing ground (P≤0.05) were other factors that determined the daily catch of the fishers. The results of this study showed that fishers from the Davao Gulf were willing to be part of traceability program that would sustain and increase the value of their fish catch. Moreover, communication was shown to be critically needed in such programs adjusting it for the fish catch to remain fresh or of good quality. Our study will help in deterring and mitigating illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) through fish catch traceability.

Renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC) comprises over 75% of all renal tumors and arises in the epithelial cells of the proximal convoluted tubule. Molecularly ccRCC is characterized by copy number alterations (CNAs) such as the loss of chromosome 3p and VHL inactivation. Additional driver mutations (SETD2, PBRM1, BAP1, and others) promote genomic instability and tumor cell metastasis through the dysregulation of various metabolic and immune-response pathways. Many researchers identified mutation, gene expression, and proteomic signatures for early diagnosis and prognostics for ccRCC. Despite a tremendous influx of data regarding DNA alterations, gene expression, and protein expression, the incorporation of these analyses for diagnosis and prognosis of RCC into the clinical application has not been implemented yet. In this review, we focused on the molecular changes associated with ccRCC development, along with gene expression and protein signatures, to emphasize the utilization of these molecular profiles in clinical practice. These findings, in the context of machine learning and precision medicine, may help to overcome some of the barriers encountered for implementing molecular profiles of tumors into the diagnosis and treatment of ccRCC.

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) presents an enormous global healthcare challenge, especially among rural communities due to limited access. To overcome this, many low- and middle-income countries are resorting to task shifting, using community health workers (CHWs) for diabetes management. However, its successful implementation depends on the practice behaviours and knowledge of these workers. This cross-sectional study from rural South India aimed to evaluate the proficiency of 275 CHWs in diabetes screening and management. A customized questionnaire, developed through experts and government was used to evaluate the practice behaviours and knowledge. Analytical methodologies consisted of descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and mosaic plots for comprehensive data interpretation. Results showed significant deficiencies of mean correct practice behaviours at 48 and 50% respectively. The identified gaps included diabetes diagnosis, HbA1c testing, diet, self-management, complications screening and risk assessment. In several areas, correct practice behaviour was reported by a relatively large number of CHWs despite incorrect answers to the related knowledge questions such as referral to the health centres, self-management and calculation of diabetes risk assessment. Addressing these deficiencies requires a thorough needs assessment and tailored training for improved diabetes management by CHWs. Training of CHWs, should not only identify prior knowledge and/or behaviour but also their interrelationship to help create a robust and flexible set of practice behaviours.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress triggers a series of signaling and transcriptional events termed the unfolded protein response (UPR). Severe ER stress is associated with the development of fibrosis in different organs including lung, liver, kidney, heart, and intestine. ER stress is an essential response of epithelial and immune cells in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Crohn’s disease. Intestinal epithelial cells are susceptible to ER stress-mediated damage due to secretion of a large amount of proteins that are involved in mucosal defense. In other cells, ER stress is linked to myofibroblast activation, extracellular matrix production, macrophage polarization, and immune cell differentiation. This review focuses on the role of UPR in the pathogenesis in IBD from an immunologic perspective. The roles of macrophage and mesenchymal cells in the UPR from in vitro and in vivo animal models are discussed. The links between ER stress and other signaling pathways such as senescence and autophagy are introduced. Recent advances in the understanding of the epigenetic regulation of UPR signaling are also updated here. The future directions of development of the UPR research and therapeutic strategies to manipulate ER stress levels are also reviewed.

The main objective of this study is to apply structural equation modeling with partial least squares and based on covariance to assess the satisfaction of residential electricity consumers. The methodology used compares the results of both structural equation models to indicate the model that best fits the problem of measuring the satisfaction of residential consumers of electricity concessionaires and licensees. The sample used in the survey contained questionnaire responses from 86.175 individuals considering the period from 2014 to 2018. The constructs evaluated were satisfaction, quality, value, loyalty, and trust. Confidence interval analysis shows that all weights are significant, demonstrating the importance of all the indicators that represent the constructs. The trust, quality, and value constructs can explain 74.4% of the variability of the satisfaction construct, so the explanatory capacity of this relationship is considered substantial. Finally, the evaluation of the performance of the service provided by the electric energy concessionaires/licensees, measured by customer satisfaction, allows for the continuous improvement of services and meeting, even if minimally, the expectations of its consumers.