Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) has been proposed as biomarker for fertility in cattle, yet this associative relationship appears to be influenced by heat stress. Objective was to test serum AMH and AMH-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as markers potentially predictive of reproductive traits in heat-stressed dairy cows. The study included 300 Holstein cows that were genotyped using BovineSNP50 (54,000 SNP) after blood samples were collected and DNA extracted. A genome wide association study was then executed. Nine intragenic SNPs within the pathways that influence the AMH gene were found important with multiple comparisons adjustment test (p<1.09x10-6). A further validation study was performed in an independent Holstein cattle population, which was divided into moderate (MH; n=152) and severe heat-stressed (SH; n=128) groups, and subjected to a summer reproductive management program. Serum AMH was confirmed as a predictor of fertility measures (p<0.05) in MH but not in SH group. Cows were genotyped using the TaqMan allelic discrimination method and qPCR, which revealed four SNPs as predictive markers for serum AMH (p<0.01), reproductive traits (p<0.01) and physiological variables (p<0.05). These SNPs were in the genes AMH, IGFBP1, LGR5 and TLR4. In conclusion, both serum AMH concentrations and AMH-related SNPs appear to be associated with fertility traits in dairy cows managed during summer.

Large doses of steroids are integral to R-CHOP, a first-line systemic therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). Patients on R-CHOP often develop clinically significant hyperglycemia from steroids. There is evidence of harms from steroid-induced hyperglycemia in the context of chemotherapy which are associated with a reduction in overall survival [1, 2]. The objective of our study was to characterize the effect of steroid-induced hyperglycemia on outcomes of R-CHOP chemotherapy for DLBCL. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 188 patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP through CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB) from January 01, 2010 to December 31, 2014. Patients diagnosed with DLBCL were identified through the Manitoba Cancer Registry. The CCMB electronic medical record was reviewed to examine association between steroid-induced hyperglycemia and subsequent infection, including febrile neutropenic events, and overall survival (OS). Results: Patients who developed hyperglycemia with steroid exposure became hyperglycemic during their first R-CHOP cycle. No significant differences in OS or rates of infection were found between the two groups. Conclusions: Patients destined to develop steroid-induced hyperglycemia declare themselves early in the course of steroid exposure. No statistically significant reduction in overall survival attributable to steroid-induced hyperglycemia was found.

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) provide active and authentic scientific involvement to tens of thousands of students each year. Through this process, CUREs offer the benefits of increased learning outcomes, improved equity, and increased retention in STEM. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, research and teaching labs have limited capacity. Some universities are closed for in-person learning altogether, and others are likely to face emergency shut-downs throughout the year. In this setting, the inability to conduct experiments limits a core aspect of CUREs. Without experimentation as a basis for student engagement, interest, and broader relevance, true course-based research this year becomes a major challenge. We suggest that this limitation provides a moment to enhance CUREs with research-enriching learning activities that are obtainable while away from the bench. In this essay we outline a variety of these student-centered activities and review their benefits in terms of student interest, learning, and equity. While useful during emergency teaching transitions during COVID-19, we make the case that these new evidence-based practices for CUREs will also be helpful for the enrichment of research-based learning beyond the current crisis.

D-Aspartate and D-Serine serve as primary agonists at glutamate receptors, playing a crucial role in modulating synaptic plasticity and cell migration within the central nervous system. The pre-cise regulation of their levels is essential and intricately linked to the expression of their synthetic and catabolic enzymes, which are, in turn, primarily influenced by epigenetic modifications. In a comprehensive analysis, we examined the methylation profiles of the promoters and transcription start sites of critical genes associated with D-Aspartate and D-Serine metabolism in human post-mortem brain tissues sourced from normal individuals and those diagnosed with schizo-phrenia. Our approach involved a qualitative method capable of identifying specific families of methylated alleles known as epialleles, sharing a common pattern of methylated non-contiguous CpGs, referred to as cores. These methylated traits exhibit stability and consistency within com-plex populations of diverse DNA-methylated molecules. Our findings reveal brain area-specific methylation signatures to the DDO, DAO and DAOA genes serving as distinctive markers that differentiate normal brain areas from those affected by schizophrenia. These methylation patterns align with the reported high D-Aspartate and low D-Serine levels observed in schizophrenic brain areas. The study suggests a potential link between epigenetic modifications and the dysreg-ulation of these neurotransmitters in schizophrenia.

A Brewer Spent Grain (BSG), the most abundant by-product of the brewing process, is mainly used in animal feed and biogas production. The aim of the present work is BSG valorization by yeast fermentation to produce carotenoids. R. mucilaginosa CBS316 was cultured on BSG syrups, supplemented or not with YE and PEP (s-Fsa and Fsa). The biomass and carotenoid production were optimized in flasks and then scaled-up in bioreactor. In flask tests, the maximum biomass concentration was 5.3 and 6.2 g/L for Fsa and s-Fsa cultures, respectively. The maximum carotenoid production was 833 μg/L in Fsa and 1159 μg/L in s-FSA. Considering that the highest specific productivity value (P 7.16 μg/g*h) was obtained with Fsa syrup, this medium was selected for the process scale-up. In bioreactor tests, the maximum concentrations of biomass (4.29 g/L) and carotenoid (396 ug/L) was reached at 72 hours of fer-mentation, 24 h later than in flask. The total carotenoid produced was 524 and 150 ug in bioreactor and flask cultures, respectively. The carotenoids production by R. mucilaginosa was obtained both in Fsa and s-Fsa syrups. The results confirm the possibility to use the syrup as it is, Fsa, thus limiting the process costs.

In this paper, we have established Hermite-Hadamard inequalities for r-preinvex functions via fractional integrals.

The Ptarmigan and Tom mesothermal gold deposits are located 10 km to the northeast of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in northern Canada. Both gold deposits comprise a series of en echelon veins that are hosted within upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies ~2630 Ma (peak) rocks. Supracrustal units across the craton are intruded by the ca. 2610–2605-Ma granodiorite, tonalite, monzodiorite, quartz diorite, and affiliated rocks of the Concession Suite. Hydrothermal apatite is a common accessory mineral in both mineralized and non-mineralized quartz veins in the metasedimentary host rocks that constitute the Ptarmigan and Tom deposits. This study characterizes and compares turbidite-hosted hydrothermal apatite from the Ptarmigan and Tom deposits, non-mineralized veins adjacent to the ore body, and magmatic apatite from proximal LCT-pegmatites. Using electron probe microanalyses (EPMA), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), micro-XRF, and cathodoluminescence (CL), the major, minor, and trace element abundances have been quantified and mapped. In addition to utilizing this data to determine if the chemistry of apatite can be used to constrain the source of hydrothermal fluids, the apparent age of the apatite is also evaluated utilizing in situ U-Pb dating. The distribution and abundance of major, minor, and trace elements from in situ recovered apatite were studied to characterize the nature of mineralizing fluids. Most apatite from mineralized and non-mineralized veins show different Mn, Sr, and Pb contents, as well as chondrite-normalized rare-earth element (REE) and Y abundance patterns. REEs display five unique chondrite-normalized patterns: (1) negative sloped pattern with slight negative Eu anomaly, (2) a flat pattern with a positive Eu anomaly, (3) a positive slope with a negative Eu anomaly, (iv) light rare earth element (LREE) depleted pattern with positive Eu anomaly, and (v) bell-shaped pattern with a negative Eu anomaly. The REE patterns reflect both the source of the auriferous hydrothermal fluids and, perhaps, co-precipitating mineral phases. Apatite from the Ptarmigan vein occurs with both: (1) a flat pattern with a positive Eu anomaly and (2) bell-shaped pattern with a negative Eu anomaly. The bell-shaped and flat patterns typify orogenic gold deposits. Vein-hosted apatite commonly displays compositional zoning with a characteristic yellow cathodoluminescence (CL) emission spectra with darker cores and brighter rims. The cores have lower REE, whereas the rims are notably higher in REE. It is thought that the darker cores in CL images reflect a transition from an early low REE hydrothermal fluid to one enriched in REE. The hydrothermal apatite age of 2585 ± 15 Ma is consistent with the intrusions of the 2605 and 2590 Ma two-mica granites of the Prosperous Suite and associated LCT pegmatites.

It's challenging to achieve robust lane detection depending on single frame when considering complicated scenarios. In order to detect more credible lane markings by using sequential frames, a novel approach to fusing vision and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is proposed in this paper. The hough space is employed as the space where lane markings are stored and it's calculated by three steps. Firstly, a basic hough space is extracted by Hough Transform and primary line segments are extracted from it. In order to measure the possibility about line segments belong to lane markings, a CNNs based classifier is introduced to transform the basic hough space into a probabilistic space by using the networks outputs. However, this probabilistic hough space based on single frame is easily disturbed. In the third step, a filtering process is employed to smooth the probabilistic hough space by using sequential information. Pose information provided by IMU is applied to align hough spaces extracted at different times to each other. The final hough space is used to eliminate line segments with low possibility and output those with high confidence as the result. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach has achieved a good performance.

Molecular overtone transitions provide optical frequency transitions sensitive to variation in the proton-to-electron mass ratio (μ = m_p/m_e). However, robust molecular state preparation presents a challenge critical for achieving high precision. Here, we characterize infrared and optical-frequency broadband laser cooling schemes for TeH⁺, a species with multiple electronic transitions amenable to sustained laser control. Using rate equations to simulate laser cooling population dynamics, we estimate the fractional sensitivity to μ attainable using TeH⁺. We find that laser cooling of TeH⁺ can lead to significant improvements on current μ variation limits.

The nuclear lamina consists of a dense fibrous meshwork made of nuclear lamins, Type V intermediate filaments, and is ~14 nm thick according to recent cryo-electron tomography studies. Recent advances in light microscopy have extended the resolution to a scale allowing for the fine structure of the lamina to be imaged in the context of the whole nucleus. We review quantitative approaches to analyze the imaging data of the nuclear lamina as acquired by structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), as well as the requisite cell preparation techniques. In particular, we discuss the application of steerable filters and graph based methods to segment the structure of the four mammalian lamin isoforms (A, C, B1, and B2) and extract quantitative information.

Human genetic studies have long been vastly Eurocentric, raising a key question about the generalizability of these study findings to other populations. Because humans originated in Africa, these populations retain more genetic diversity, and yet individuals of African descent have been tremendously underrepresented in genetic studies. The diversity in Africa affords ample opportunities to improve fine-mapping resolution for associated loci, discover novel genetic associations with phenotypes, build more generalizable genetic risk prediction models, and better understand the genetic architecture of complex traits and diseases subject to varying environmental pressures. Thus, it is both ethically and scientifically imperative that geneticists globally surmount challenges that have limited progress in African genetic studies to date while meaningfully including African investigators, as greater inclusivity and enhanced research capacity affords enormous opportunities to accelerate genomic discoveries that translate more effectively to all populations. We review the advantages and challenges of studying the genetic architecture of complex traits and diseases in Africa. For example, with greater genetic diversity comes greater ancestral heterogeneity; this higher level of understudied diversity can yield novel genetic findings, but some methods that assume homogeneous population structure and work well in European populations may work less well in the presence of greater diversity and heterogeneity in African populations. Consequently, we advocate for methodological development that will accelerate studies important for all populations, especially those currently underrepresented in genetics.

Preterm delivery can be precipitated by infection, and preterm infants are at heightened risk of postnatal infection. Little is known about the ontogeny of inflammatory biomarkers in extremely preterm infants. We hypothesized that suspected prenatal infection (chorioamnionitis or spontaneous preterm labor) and clinically diagnosed postnatal infection would be associated with unique biomarker signatures, and those patterns would be influenced by the degree of prematurity. Venous blood was collected daily for the first week and weekly for up to 14 additional weeks from 142 neonates born at 22-32 weeks gestation. A custom array was utilized to measure monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were obtained from the electronic medical record. 90 infants had suspected prenatal infection and 63 were diagnosed with postnatal infection. Independent of gestational age at delivery, MCP-1 was significantly increased (P < 0.001) in association with maternal preeclampsia, but MCP-1 was decreased (P<0.01) and CRP was increased (P<0.05) in the presence of chorioamnionitis. IL-6 and CRP were both increased in infants diagnosed with postnatal infection with peak levels observed on days 2 and 3, respectively. In conclusion, suspected prenatal and postnatal infections and non-infectious complications of pregnancy are associated with unique biomarker profiles, independent of gestational age. In those clinically diagnosed with a postnatal infection in the absence of antenatal infection concerns, IL-6 increases before CRP, emphasizing a potential role for expanded biomarker screening if antibiotics are initially avoided in infants born exclusively for maternal indications.

In this paper, we classify the function space of all real-valued functions on R denoted as F(R,R) into 28 distinct blocks. Each block contains elements that share common features in terms of the cardinality of their sets of continuity and differentiability. Alongside this classification, we introduce the concept of the Connection, which reveals a special relationship structure between four well-known real-valued functions in real analysis: the Cantor function, Dirichlet function, the Thomae function, and the Weierstrass function. Despite the significance of this field, several perspectives remain unexplored.

With 500+ papers and 20+ books spanning many scientific disciplines, Mark Burgin has left an indelible mark and legacy for future explorers of human thought and information technology professionals. In this paper, I discuss his contribution to the evolution of machine intelligence using his general theory of information (GTI) based on my discussions with him and various papers I co-authored during the past eight years. His construction of a new class of digital automata to overcome the barrier posed by the Church-Turing Thesis, and his contribution to Super-Symbolic Computing with Knowledge Structures, Cognizing Oracles, and Structural Machines are leading to practical applications changing the future landscape of information systems. GTI provides a model for the operational knowledge of biological systems to build, operate, and manage life processes using 30+ trillion cells capable of replication and metabolism. The schema, and associated operations derived from GTI are also used to model a digital genome specifying the operational knowledge of algorithms executing the software life processes with specific purposes using replication and metabolism. The result is a digital software system with a super-symbolic computing structure exhibiting autopoietic and cognitive behaviors that biological systems also exhibit. We discuss here one of these applications.

Brevibacillus laterosporus (Bl) is a Gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium belonging to the Brevibacillus brevis phylogenetic cluster. Globally, insect pathogenic strains of the bacterium have been isolated, characterised, and some activities patented. Two isolates, Bl 1821L and Bl 1951, exhibiting pathogenicity against the diamondback moth and mosquitoes, are under development as a biopesticide in New Zealand. However, due to the suspected activity of putative antibacterial proteins (ABPs), the endemic isolates often grow erratically. Various purification methods including size exclusion chromatography, sucrose density gradient centrifugation, polyethylene glycol precipitation, and ammonium sulphate precipitation employed in this study enabled the isolation of two putative antibacterial proteins of ~30 kD and ~48 kD from Bl 1821L and one putative antibacterial protein of ~30 kD from Bl 1951. Purification of the uninduced cultures of Bl 1821L and Bl 1951 also yielded the protein bands of ~30 kD and ~48 kD on SDS-PAGE which indicated their spontaneous induction. Disc diffusion assay was used to determine the antagonistic activities of the putative ABPs. Subsequent transmission electron microscope (TEM) examination of purified putative antibacterial protein-containing solution showed the presence of encapsulin (~30 kD) and polysheath (~48 kD) like structures. Although only the ~30 kD protein was purified from Bl 1951, both structures were seen in this strain under TEM. Furthermore, while assessing the antibacterial activity of some fractions of Bl 1951 against Bl 1821L in size exclusion chromatography method, population of Bl 1821L persister cells was noted. Overall, this work added a wealth of knowledge for the purification of the HMW proteins (bacteriocins) of the Gram-positive bacteria including Bl.

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.

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.

We developed two human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)/human embryonic stem cell-specific glycan-recognizing mouse antibodies, R-10G and R-17F, using the Tic (JCRB1331) hiPSC line as an antigen. R-10G recognizes a low-sulfate keratan sulfate, and R-17F recognizes lacto-N-fucopentaose-1. To evaluate the general characteristics of stem cell glycans, we used the hiPSC line 201B7 (HPS0063), a prototype iPSC line. Using an R-10G affinity column, an R-10G-binding protein was isolated. The protein yielded a single but very broad band from 480 to 1,236 kDa by blue native gel electrophoresis. After trypsin digestion, the protein was identified as podocalyxin by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. According to Western blotting, the protein reacted with R-10G and R-17F. The R-10G positive band was resistant to digestion with glycan-degrading enzymes, including peptide N-glycanase, but the intensity of the band was decreased significantly by digestion with keratanase, keratanase II, and endo-β-galactosidase, suggesting the R-10G epitope to be a keratan sulfate. These results suggest that keratan sulfate-type epitopes are shared by hiPSCs. However, the keratan sulfate from 201B7 cells contained a polylactosamine disaccharide unit (Galβ1-4GlcNAc) at a significant frequency, whereas that from Tic cells consisted mostly of keratan sulfate disaccharide units (Galβ1-4GlcNAc(6S)). In addition, the abundance of the R-10G epitope was significantly lower in 201B7 cells than in Tic cells.

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.

Nine crossbred finishing barrows randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments were used to investigate the effects of dietary lysine on muscle growth related metabolic and signaling pathways. Muscle samples were collected from the longissimus dorsi of individual pigs after feeding the lysine-deficient, lysine-adequate, or lysine-excess diet for 5 weeks, and the total RNA was extracted afterwards. Affymetrix Porcine Gene 1.0 ST Array was used to quantify the expression levels of 19,211 genes. A total of 674 transcripts were differentially expressed (P ≤ 0.05); 60 out of 131 transcripts (P ≤ 0.01) were annotated in the NetAffx database. Ingenuity pathway analysis showed that dietary lysine deficiency may lead to (1) increased muscle protein degradation via the ubiquitination pathway as indicated by the up-regulated DNAJA1, HSP90AB1 and UBE2B mRNA, (2) reduced muscle protein synthesis via the up-regulated RND3 and ZIC1 mRNA, (3) increased serine and glycine synthesis via the up-regulated PHGDH and PSPH mRNA, and (4) increased lipid accumulation via the up-regulated ME1, SCD, and CIDEC mRNA. Dietary lysine excess may lead to (1) decreased muscle protein degradation via the down-regulated DNAJA1, HSP90AA1, HSPH1, and UBE2D3 mRNA, and (2) reduced lipid biosynthesis via the down-regulated CFD and ME1 mRNA.

The study aims to explore gender differences in smoking and drinking in three Asian cities—Hanoi, Shanghai and Taipei, and assesses the magnitude of these gender differences across cities. A total of 17,016 adolescents and young adults, aged 15 to 24 years, residing in both urban and rural area of Hanoi, Shanghai and Taipei were selected by multistage sampling methods and surveyed by face to face interview. The gender differences are significant for smoking-only, drinking-only, and both behaviors in each city. With respect to smoking-only, males are more than 30.66 times as likely to report it compared with females in Hanoi, followed by Shanghai and Taipei. The above trend holds true when further examining drinking-only and both smoking and drinking. The magnitude of gender differences in smoking-only, drinking-only, and both behaviors widely vary across the three cities. Future research is needed to further examine the mechanisms behind these gender differences and how these differences may be utilized to prevent and reduce smoking and drinking in the adolescent and young adult population.

Uncovering hidden mixture correlation among variables have been investigating in the literature using mixture R-vine copula models. These models are hierarchical in nature. They provides a huge flexibility for modelling multivariate data. As the dimensions increases, the number of the model parameters that need to be estimated is increased dramatically, which becomes along with huge computational times and efforts. This situation becomes even much more harder and complicated in the mixture Regular vine models. Incorporating truncation method with mixture Regular vine models will reduce the computation difficulty for the mixture based models. In this paper, tree-by-tree estimation mixture model is joined with the truncation method, in order to reduce the computational time and the number of the parameters that need to be estimated in the mixture vine copula models. A simulation study and a real data applications illustrated the performance of the method. In addition, the real data applications show the affect of the mixture components on the truncation level.

A popular approach to learning about admixture from population genetic data is by computing the allele-sharing summary statistics known as f-statistics. Compared to some methods in population genetics, f-statistics are relatively simple, but interpreting them can still be complicated at times. In addition, f-statistics can be used to build admixture graphs (multi-population trees allowing for admixture events), which provide more explicit and thorough modeling capabilities but are correspondingly more complex to work with. Here, I discuss some of these issues to provide users of these tools with a basic guide for protocols and procedures. My focus is on the kinds of conclusions that can or cannot be drawn from the results of f₄-statistics and admixture graphs, illustrated with real-world examples involving human populations.

The oral administration of (R)-3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, allows inducing a beneficial level of blood ketone bodies without the adverse effects due to the adhesion to a ketogenic diet. Several studies documented the therapeutic effectiveness of the (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate in treating neurodegenerative diseases as well as its boosting activity of athletic and cognitive performances during prolonged physical exercises. Further studies considering this ketone body ester for therapy of other pathologies are also underway. In the present work, we describe the synthesis of (R)-3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate through the enantioselective transesterification of racemic ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate with (R)-1,3-butanediol catalyzed by immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL-B). The enantiopure (R)-1,3-butanediol was in turn obtained from the kinetic resolution of the racemate by CAL-B catalyzed acetylation with vinyl acetate. The economy of the synthetic procedure has been improved by recycling the unreacted (S) enantiomers of the ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate and 1,3-buatnediol after stereochemical inversion achieved by tosylation and SN2 with ammonium acetate. The overall procedure allows to incorporate up to 70% of the starting racemic reagents into the final product.

Deuterostomes make a sudden appearance in the fossil record during the Early Cambrian. Two deuterostome groups, the chordates and the vetulicolians, are of particular interest for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of the Cambrian evolutionary event. Lagerstätten in China and elsewhere have dramatically improved our understanding of the range of variation in these ancient animals. Cephalochordate and vertebrate body plans are well established at least by Cambrian Series 2. Taken together, roughly a dozen chordate genera and fifteen vetulicolian genera document an explosive radiation of deuterostomes at the base of the Cambrian. A new vetulicolian (••• nov. gen. nov. sp.) with a polygonal anterior section and a narrow, unsegmented posterior region (‘tail’) bearing possible myotomes provides new insight into the affinities of the various body plans that emerged during the Early Cambrian. It seems clear that the advent of deuterostomes near the Cambrian boundary involved both a reversal of gut polarity and a two-sided retinoic acid gradient, with a gradient discontinuity at the midpoint of the organism that is reflected in the sharp division of vetulicolians into anterior and posterior sections.

The current generation of nuclear reactors are evolutionary in design, mostly based on the technology originally designed to power submarines, and dominated by Light Water Reactors. The aims of the GenIV consortium are driven by sustainability, safety and reliability, economics, and proliferation resistance. The aims are extended here to encompass the ultimate and universal vision for strategic development of energy production, the ‘perpetuum mobile’ – at least as close as possible. We propose to rethink nuclear reactor design with the mission to develop a system which uses no fresh resources and produces no fresh waste during operation as well as generates power safe and reliably in economic way. The results of the innovative simulations presented here demonstrate that, from a theoretical perspective, it is feasible to fulfil the mission through the reuse of spent nuclear fuel from currently operating reactors as the fuel for a new reactor. The produced waste is less burdensome than current spent nuclear fuel which is used as feed to the system. However, safety, reliability and operational economics will need to be demonstrated to create the basis for the long term success of nuclear reactors as a major carbon free, sustainable, and applied highly reliable energy source.

The compatibility between the de Sitter Swampland conjecture and Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz $F(\bar{R})$ theories with a flat FLRW metric is studied. We first study the standard $f(R)$ theories and show that the only way in which the dS conjecture can be made independent of $R$ is by considering a power law of the form $f(R)\sim R^{\gamma}$. The conjecture and the consistency of the theory puts restrictions on $\gamma$ to be greater but close to $1$. For the $F(\bar{R})$ theories described by its two parameters $\lambda$ and $\mu$ we use the equations of motion to construct the function starting with an ansatz for the scale factor in the Jordan frame of the power law form. By doing a conformal transformation on the three metric to the Einstein frame we can obtain an action of gravity plus a scalar filed by relating the parameters of the theory. The non-projectable and projectable cases are studied and the differences are outlined. The $F(\bar{R})$ function obtained consists of terms of the form $\bar{R}^{\gamma}$ with the possibility of having negative power terms. The dS conjecture leads to inequalities for the $\lambda$ parameter, in both versions it gets restricted to be greater but close to $1/3$. For the general case in which $\mu$ and $\lambda$ are considered as independent, the action contains an extra term but we propose that the conjecture is still applicable. Once again the non-projectable and projectable cases are studied. The $F$ function obtained has the same form as before, the consistency of the theory and the dS conjecture lead to a set of inequalities on both parameters that are studied numerically. In all cases $\lambda$ is restricted by $\mu$ around $1/3$ and we obtain $\lambda\to1/3$ if $\mu\to0$. Finally we consider the $f(R)$ limit $\mu,\lambda\to1$ and we obtain consistent results.

Microbicides, topical antiseptic agents, and a revolutionary advance in HIV prevention aim to prevent the entry of infectious agents into the human body, thus stopping the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Microbicides represent the promise of a new age in preventive measures against one of the world's most pressing health challenges. In addition to their direct antiviral effects during HIV transmission, microbicides also influence vaginal mucosal immunity. This article reviews microbicides by presenting different drug classifications and highlighting significant representatives from each group. It also explains their mechanisms of action and presents information about vaginal mucosal immune responses, emphasizing the critical role they play in responding to HIV during sexual transmission. For each chemical compound, the article provides a brief overview of relevant preclinical and clinical research, emphasizing their potential as microbicides.The article offers insights into the multifaceted impact of microbicides, which signify a pivotal step forward in the pursuit of effective and accessible pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

The Food and Drug Administration’s 2011 Process Validation Guidance and International Council for Harmonization Quality Guidelines recommend continued process verification (CPV) as a mandatory requirement for pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and other regulated industries. As a part of product life cycle management, after process characterization in stage 1 and process qualification and validation in stage-2, CPV is performed as stage-3 validation during commercial manufacturing. CPV ensures that the process continues to remain within a validated state. CPV requires the collection and analysis of data related to critical quality attributes, critical material attributes, and critical process parameters on a minimum basis. Data is then used to elucidate process control regarding the capability to meet predefined specifications and stability via statistical process control tools. In statistical process control, control charts and Nelson rules are commonly used throughout the industry to monitor and trend data to ensure that a process remains in control. In the control chart, the mean value is taken as the center line, and 3σ limits are placed on either side of the center line. In CPV, manufactured lots are summarized, trended, and discussed at a cross-functional level at pre-defined intervals (either weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly) based on the batch run rate. A cross-functional team assesses details regarding 1) violation frequency, 2) statistical strength of the signal, 3) violation magnitude and its impact on process or quality, and 4) any potential root causes for out-of-expectation or out-of-trend signals. The cross-functional team must analyze whether any signal identified by the control chart is reliable and must determine whether corrective action should be taken and justify the decision in the CPV meeting minutes based on statistical strength and reliability of the signal. However, basic control charts are susceptible to false alarms and nuisance alarms. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the assumptions behind control charts and the inherent false alarm rates for different Nelson rules. In this article, the authors have detailed the assumptions behind the usage of control charts, the rate of false alarms for different Nelson rules, the impact of skewness and kurtosis of a data distribution on the false alarm rate, and methods for optimizing control chart design by reducing false alarm rates and nuisance signals.

In this work, we explore a the different forms of a new type of modified gravity, namely f(φ) gravity. We construct the Big Rip type for the energy density and the curvature of the universe. We show that dark energy is a result of the transformation of the field φ mass (dark matter) to energy. In addition, we provide that Ω_{m}≈0,050, Ω_{DM}≈0,2, Ω_{DE}≈0,746, is in excellent agreement with observation data. We explore a generalized formalism of braneworld modified gravity. We also construct a new field equations, which generalize the Einstein field equations. We provide a relation between the extra dimension in 3-brane with the vacuum energy density. We show that the energy density of matter depends directly on the number of dimensions. We manage to find the value of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling α=1/4 which is a good agreement with the results in the literature, this correspondence creates a passage between f(R) gravity and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, this comparison leads to a number of bulk dimensions equal to D=10¹²¹+4.

This work provides critical commentary on and corrections of a recently published taxonomy of Montiaceae. Valid citation and publication dates of novel taxa per the International Code of Nomenclature for Plants, Algae, and Fungi are summarized.

Montiaceae (Portulacineae) comprise a clade of at least 268 species plus ca. 27 subspecific taxa primarily of western North America, the Chilean Floristic Region, and temperate Australasia. This work uses existing phylogenetic metadata to elaborate a new cladistic taxonomic synthesis. A total of 24 taxa are validated, nine new and 15 necessary nomenclatural recombinations. Hypotheses of Montiaceae historical biogeographical, ecological, and phenotypic evolution are evaluated in light of recent metadata and in terms of classical, contemporary, and novel systematic and evolutionary epistemology.

This article analyses entropy changes triggered by specific events in deterministic and indeterministic systems. Article considers a simple model consisting of water in a cuvette, an ice cube in the device above the cuvette and a random number generator (RNG) that controls the probability of dropping the ice into water. Article introduces the entropic potential Z(T, A) of an event A occurred in a system R at the moment Т₀, which describes the influence of the event A to the entropy of the system R in the future (for the moments T>Т₀). The entropic potential of an event Z(T,A) can be calculated as the difference between the mathematical expectations of entropy of the system R for the moment T (T>Т₀) made immediately before and immediately after the event A as Z(T, A) = Ŝ_T(Т₀+dT) - Ŝ_T(Т₀-dT). Article also presents examples of calculations of the entropic potentials of events in indeterministic systems with different probabilities of events. Since real-life systems are mostly indeterministic, the entropic potentials of events in real-life usually have non-zero values. The entropic potentials of the events "useful" for the system are negative, and entropic potentials of the events "harmful" for the system are positive.

Vitamin D, unlike the micronutrients, vitamins A, E and K, is largely obtained, not from food, but by the action of solar UV light on its precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol, in skin. With the decline in UV light intensity in winter, most skin production of vitamin D occurs in summer. Because no defined storage organ or tissue has been found for vitamin D, it has been assumed that adequate vitamin D status in winter can only be maintained by oral supplementation. Skeletal muscle cells have now been shown to incorporate the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) from blood into the cell cytoplasm where it binds to cytoplasmic actin. This intracellular DBP provides an array of specific binding sites for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) which diffuses into the cell from the extracellular fluid. When intracellular DBP undergoes proteolytic breakdown, the bound 25(OH)D is then released and diffuses back into blood. This uptake and release of 25(OH)D by muscle, accounts for the very long half-life of this metabolite in the circulation. As 25(OH)D concentration in blood declines in winter, its cycling in and out of muscle cells appears to be upregulated. Parathyroid hormone is the most likely factor enhancing the repeated cycling of 25(OH)D between skeletal muscle and blood. This mechanism appears to have evolved to maintain adequate vitamin D status in winter.

Vitamin D, unlike the micronutrients, vitamins A, E and K, is largely obtained, not from food, but by the action of solar UV light on its precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol, in skin. With the decline in UV light intensity in winter, most skin production of vitamin D occurs in summer. Because no defined storage organ or tissue has been found for vitamin D, it has been assumed that adequate vitamin D status in winter can only be maintained by oral supplementation. Skeletal muscle cells have now been shown to incorporate the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) from blood into the cell cytoplasm where it binds to cytoplasmic actin. This intracellular DBP provides an array of specific binding sites for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) which diffuses into the cell from the extracellular fluid. When intracellular DBP undergoes proteolytic breakdown, the bound 25(OH)D is then released and diffuses back into blood. This uptake and release of 25(OH)D by muscle, accounts for the very long half-life of this metabolite in the circulation. As 25(OH)D concentration in blood declines in winter, its cycling in and out of muscle cells appears to be upregulated. Parathyroid hormone is the most likely factor enhancing the repeated cycling of 25(OH)D between skeletal muscle and blood. This mechanism appears to have evolved to maintain adequate vitamin D status in winter.

A significant portion of the harvested land base in western Canada is becoming old enough or entering a phase where thinning is a legitimate option. A comprehensive review of the existing knowledge of commercial thinning (CT) treatments applied to pine and spruce-dominated stands in Alberta was conducted, with particular regard to the intensity, the timing of interventions, method and impacts on crop tree growth responses. Although the geographical focus of this review is Alberta, information on this topic is more complete in other areas of North America, and Europe, where there is a long history of density management. In areas of eastern North America, our review revealed that CT from below, with tree removal levels from 27 to 43% of the basal area could increase the merchantable wood volume from 11 to 60 m3 ha-1, depending on stand age and intensity of thinning. For Alberta conditions, and considering the risks, we conclude that commercial thinning basal area removal should be in the range of 25 to 40%, depending on a variety of factors such as species, wind firmness and insect or disease incidence and risk. Thinning too aggressively and/or too late will increase the blowdown risk but the literature is fairly consistent in suggesting that live crown ratios should be >40% to maximize the chance of growth response and minimize the blowdown risk. In cases where stands are also threatened by stressors such as drought, wind, and insect or disease outbreaks, CT treatments likely offer the potential at limiting the overall risk, but localized knowledge and experience are critical. It is intended that the information presented may support ongoing and future research trials and growth and yield (G&Y) model development with regard to potential CT treatments to apply and the likely results of practical application to commercial forestry.

This paper presents a comprehensive and adaptive framework for orchid conservation programs illustrated with data from published and unpublished case studies. There is a specific focus on West Australian terrestrial orchids, but many of the approaches have universal relevance. Aspects of the framework include (1) setting appropriate objectives, (2) establishing effective collaborations between scientists, volunteers and regulators to fill knowledge and funding gaps, (3) use of survey and demographics data to determine extinction risks and management requirements for species, (4) effective habitat management to overcome threats such as grazing, (5) finding potential new habitats by modelling climate and site data, (6) investigating the effectiveness of pollinators and (7) using seed baiting to detect mycorrhizal fungi. The relative cost and effectiveness of different methods used to propagate orchids for translocation are compared. Methods known to be successful, in order of complexity, include placement of seed in situ, vegetative propagation, symbiotic germination in non-sterile organic matter, symbiotic germination in sterile culture, asymbiotic sterile germination and clonal division in tissue culture. These form a continuum of complexity, cost, time required, faculties needed, as well as the capacity to maintain genetic diversity and produce seedlings preadapted to survive in situ. They all start with seed collection and lead to seed storage, living collections used as tuber banks and seed orchards, as well as translocation for conservation. They could also lead to commercial availability and sustainable ecotourism, both of which are needed to reduce pressure on wild plants. Overall, there has been a strong preference to use relatively complex, expensive and time-consuming methods for orchid conservation, despite evidence that simpler approaches have also been successful. These simpler methods, which include in situ seed placement and non-sterile germination on inorganic substrates, should be trialled in combination with more complex orchid propagation methods as part of an adaptive management framework. It is essential that orchid conservation projects harness the unique biological features of orchids, such as abundant seed production and mycorrhizal fungi which are far more widespread than their hosts. This is necessary to increase the efficiency and coverage of recovery actions for the largest and most threatened plant family.

This paper develops mathematical models examining possible roles of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in the development of autism. This is done by demonstrating that mathematical operations on normalized data from the Stanford study (K.J. Parker, 2016), which establishes a correspondence between severity of autism in children and their oxytocin blood levels, generates a graph that is the same as the graph of mathematical operations on a normalized theoretical model for the severity of autism. This procedure establishes the validity of the theoretical model and the significance of oxytocin receptors in autism. A steady-state model follows, explaining the constant baseline concentrations of oxytocin observed in the cerebral spinal fluid and blood in terms of the neuromodulation by oxytocin of oxytocin receptors on the magnocellular neurons that produce oxytocin in nuclei in the hypothalamus. The implications of these models for possible roles of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in autism is considered for several unrelated conditions that may be associated with autism. These are: oxytocin receptor desensitization and down-regulation as factors during labor in offspring autism development; reductions in the oxytocin receptor numbers in the fixed oxytocin receptor expression that occurs before birth; MAST Immune System disease; and the excess number of dendritic spines from lack of pruning observed in brains of autistic people. Research into the feasibility of generating magnocellular neurons and other neurons from adult stem cells is suggested as a way of doing invitro studies of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors to assess the validity of theories presented in this paper.

Montiaceae comprise a clade of at least 270 species plus about 20 accepted subspecific taxa, primarily of western America and Australia. The present paper is the first of a two-part work that seeks to evaluate evolutionary theory via metadata analysis of Montiaceae. In particular, it uses metadata analysis to evaluate the theory in theory-laden methods that have been applied in evolutionary analyses of Montiaceae. This part focuses on phylogeny and phylogeography. The second part focuses on phenotypic and ecological diversification. An emergent theme in this paper is the degree to which historical idiosyncrasy during Montiaceae evolution misleads quantitative methods of evolutionary reconstruction and phylogeographic interpretation. This suggests that idiosyncraticity itself is a fundamental property of evolution. The second part of this work elaborates this notion as the Principle of Evolutionary Idiosyncraticity. The present part describes idiosyncraticity in molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographic data and uses this notion to refine ideas on Montiaceae evolution. Phylogenetic metadata conflicts and conflicting phylogeographic interpretations are discussed. I conclude that, owing to PEI, quantitative methods of evolutionary analysis cannot be globally accurate, though they are useful heuristically. In contrast, classical narrative analysis is robust in the face of PEI.

Calandrinia speciosa Lehm. and Calandrinia spectabilis Otto & Dietr. are 1830s-vintage validly-published names of Chilean plant species evidently pertaining to taxa currently classified in Cistanthesect. Cistanthe (Montiaceae). The taxonomic status of both names is problematic, because they were not typified or illustrated, their precise Chilean provenance is unknown, and their diagnoses/descriptions might apply to more than one species. Both names have been and continue to be applied taxonomically haphazardly. The existence of two later conceptually heterotypic synonyms of C. speciosa Lehm, viz. C. speciosa Lindl. non Lehm. and C. speciosa Hook. non Lehm., has exacerbated the confusion. The present work summarizes the history of the application of these names in botanical taxonomy and horticulture. Both likely, but not unequivocally, refer to plants of the later-described, typified, and otherwise well-documented species Calandrinia laxiflora Phil. [≡ Cistanthe laxiflora (Phil.) Peralta & D.I. Ford]. But persistent ambiguities justify proposals to reject both C. speciosa and C. spectabilis.

The present paper reviews evidence for ecological evolution of Montiaceae. Montiaceae (Portulacineae) comprise a family of ca. 275 species and ca. 25 subspecific taxa of flowering plants distributed mainly in extreme western America, with additional endemism elsewhere, including other continents and islands. They have diversified repeatedly across steep ecological gradients. Based on narrative analysis, I argue that phylogenetic transitions from annual to perennial life history have been more frequent than suggested by computational phylogenetic reconstructions. I suggest that a reported phylogenetic correlation between the evolution of life history and temperature niche is coincidental and not causal. I demonstrate how statistical phylogenetic comparative analysis (PhCA) missed evidence for marked moisture niche diversification among Montiaceae. I discount PhCA evidence for the relation between Montiaceae genome duplication and ecological diversification. Based on the present analysis of Montiaceae evolution, I criticize the premise of the prevalent statistical approach to PhCA, which tests Darwinian deterministic hypotheses against stochastic evolutionary null models. I discuss theoretical/empirical evidence that evolution is neither stochastic, nor Darwinistically-determined, but idiosyncratic. Idiosyncraticity describes the outcome of a stochastically perturbed nonlinear chaos-like process. The Principle of Evolutionary Idiosyncraticity (PEI) is based on the evolutionary theory of Natural Drift, which maintains that determinism in evolution is a property of the organism and not, as maintained by the theory of Natural Selection, its traits or its milieu. This determinism is characteristic of chaotic functions, which are absolutely determinate, generate self-similarity, but remain absolutely unpredictable. PEI explains precisely observations that evolution proceeds not linearly, but chaotically, producing both quasi-linear fractal-like patterns and non-linear jumps. PEI has ramifications for all areas of macroevolutionary research. In particular, it demonstrates both the fallacy and futility of the statistical PhCA approach that interprets evolutionary causes in terms of evolutionary correlations. However, statistical methods of PhCA can be applied heuristically and fruitfully to reveal idiosyncraticity and discover evolutionary novelty. This, in turn, is demonstrated by the emergence of statistical anomalies in evolutionary analyses of Montiaceae.

A wealth of Full Waveform (FW) LiDAR data are available to the public from different sources, which is poised to boost the extensive application of FW LiDAR data. However, we lack a handy and open source tool that can be used by potential users for processing and analyzing FW LiDAR data. To this end, we introduce waveformlidar, an R package dedicated to FW LiDAR processing, analysis and visualization as a solution to the constraint. Specifically, this package provides several commonly used waveform processing methods such as Gaussian, adaptive Gaussian and Weibull decompositions, and deconvolution approaches (Gold and Richard-Lucy (RL)) with users’ customized settings. In addition, we also developed functions to derive commonly used waveform metrics for characterizing vegetation structure. Moreover, a new way to directly visualize FW LiDAR data is developed through converting waveforms into points to form the Hyper Point cloud (HPC), which can be easily adopted and subsequently analyzed with existing discrete-return LiDAR processing tools such as LAStools and FUSION. Basic explorations of the HPC such as 3D voxelization of the HPC and conversion from original waveforms to composite waveforms are also available in this package. All of these functions are developed based on small-footprint FW LiDAR data, but they can be easily transplanted to the large footprint FW LiDAR data such as Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) data analysis. It is anticipated that these functions will facilitate the widespread use of FW LiDAR and be beneficial for better estimating biomass and characterizing vegetation structure at various scales. The package and code examples can be found at https://github.com/tankwin08/waveformlidar.

The authors argue that despite significant numbers of foreign workers present in the Russian labor market Russia remains unattractive for highly skilled foreign workers. The economic crisis the country has faced since 2014 has resulted in a further outflow of foreign nationals from OECD countries. So Russia has to look for employees among newcomers from the former Soviet states, the majority of whom come from Central Asia. Russian politics with regard to immigration is characterized by the collision between “geopolitical” and domestic policy rationales. On one hand, seeking to maximize its influence in the post-Soviet space Russia provides preferential conditions of employment for citizens of partner countries in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. On the other hand, the Kremlin is afraid to liberalize its approach to immigration and the integration of immigrants through fear of losing popularity among the electorate. The second substantial feature of Russian immigration politics is an extreme level of securitization of migration issues. The government considers these issues primarily through a policing lens. One cannot claim that the Russian state does not take any steps to liberalize “migratory regulation”; however, the effect of these measures is being vastly reduced by new restrictions. In addition, liberally designed laws do not bring the expected results due to the corrupt practices that pervade the whole of migration regulation.

Quasi-solid composited electrolytes were produced by LiFSI initiated polymerized poly-(Dioxolane) (PDOL) with garnet-LLZO (Li7La2Zr3O12) nanofibers and used in lithium-metal batteries. Linear sweep voltammetry shows that the initial oxidation voltage of 4.6 V for Gel-10% (G10, 10% wt. LLZO in PDOL) vs Li/Li+. EIS test of stainless steel// stainless steel symmetric cells for Gel-1% (G1), Gel-5% (G5) and Gel-10% (G10) show ion conductivity (5*10-5 S/cm). Li/G10/Li symmetric cells have stable stripping-plating cycling performance over 1300 hours continuously with the current density of 0.1 mA/cm2 at 25 oC, indicating a good interface contact and stable lithium-ion transport pathway through the composite electrolytes. LFP/G10/Li batteries have stable charge-discharge plateau, low polarization voltage of 0.07-volt, energy efficiency of 95% and coulombic efficiency of ~99% at current density of 26.3 mA/g at 25 oC for over 100 cycles.

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

Identification and segmentation of rock particles is very important in geology, mining, engineering construction, and environmental monitoring. Traditional methods for recognizing the rock particle characteristics are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and limited by the geographical scope of the sampling sites, which makes it more difficult to represent the spatial distribution of the rock particles accurately. Recent advancements in deep learning techniques offer promising solutions to automate this process. This study aims at utilizing state-of-the-art (SOTA) Mask R-CNN deep learning algorithm from the Detectron2 framework, to capture global features of rocks that will enable the recognition of rock particles more efficiently, just from having the rock images. These images are subject to image processing techniques such as a Gaussian filter, to denoise and smoothen the image, and an Illumination Adaptive Transformer (IAT) framework, to adjust the lighting exposure; all of which add to improve the quality of the image dataset. Afterward, the Mask R-CNN and Detectron2 models are utilized in training the images using transfer learning. Experimental results from evaluating the performance of the proposed algorithms showcase the effectiveness of the approach, thereby highlighting its potential to revolutionize rock particle segmentation across various domains.

(R)-(+)-3,5-Dinitro-N-(1-phenylethyl)benzothioamide 1 is a potential chiral solvating agent (CSA) for the spectral resolution of enantiomers by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The single enantiomer of 1 was synthesized from commercially (R)-(+)-a-methylbenzylamine 2 in two-steps with 85% yield.

We study certain function algebras and their operator algebra completions on r-discrete abelian groupoids, the corresponding conditional expectations, maximal abelian subalgebras (masa) and eigen-functionals.

Many papers in recent years have been devoted to estimating the per pixel proportions of three broad classes of materials (e.g. photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation and bare soil) using data from multispectral sensors. Many of these papers use estimation methods based on the linear mixture model. Very few of these papers assess the accuracy of their estimators. I show how to produce confidence intervals (CIs) and joint confidence regions (JCRs) for the proportions associated with various linear mixture models. There are two main models, both of which assume that the coefficients in the model are non-negative. The first model assumes that the coefficients sum to 1. The second does not, but uses rescaling of the estimated coefficients to produce estimated proportions. Three variants of these two models are also analysed. JCRs are shown to be particularly informative, because they are typically better at localising the information than CIs are. The methodology is illustrated using examples from Landsat Thematic Mapper data at 1169 locations across Australia, each of which has associated field observations. There is also discussion about the extent to which the methodology can be extended to hyperspectral data.

Cistanthe subspeciosa Hershk. (Cistanthe Spach sect. Cistanthe; Montiaceae) here is described as a herbaceous to suffruticose perennial from the vicinity of Copiapó, Chile. Its epithet is juxtaposed with its rank in order to highlight its subspecific aesthetic. In particular, the specioid is infrequent, locally restricted, and lacks unique diagnostic traits. Rather, it is diagnosed by a combination of traits characteristic of different Cistanthe species from the region, none of which can be identified as the referential species to which Cs. subspeciosa might be considered subspecific. The intersection between species nomenclature and species ontology thus is discussed. I hypothesize that Cs. subspeciosa is irrigated primarily by mountain runoff rather than localized precipitation, and that it might be both resistant to and dependent upon high substrate metal concentrations characteristic of the Copiapó region. The ornamental value of this and other Cistanthe species is discussed. Finally, additional historical details pertaining to Calandrinia spectabilis Otto & Dietr. and Cistanthe philhershkovitziana are provided.

Montiaceae (Portulacineae) comprise a clade of at least 270 species primarily of western America and Australia. This work uses existing phylogenetic metadata to elaborate a new cladistic taxonomic synthesis, and clarifies morphological circumscriptions of several poorly known species. A total of 21 taxa are validated, seven new and 14 necessary nomenclatural recombinations). Hypotheses of Montiaceae historical biogeography and phenotypic evolution are evaluated in light of recent metadata.

Symmetry concepts in parametrized dynamical systems may reduce the number of external parameters by a suitable normalization prescription. If, under the action of a symmetry group G, parameter space A becomes a (locally) trivial principal bundle, A ~ A/G x G, then the normalized dynamics only depends on the quotient A/G. In this way, the dynamics of fractional variables in homogeneous epidemic SI(R)S models, with standard incidence, absence of R-susceptibility and compartment independent birth and death rates, turns out to be isomorphic to (a marginally extended version of) Hethcote's classic endemic model, first presented in 1973. The paper studies a 10-parameter master model with constant and I -linear vaccination rates, vertical transmission and a vaccination rate for susceptible newborns. As recently shown by the author, all demographic parameters are redundant. After adjusting time scale, the remaining 5-parameter model admits a 3-dimensional abelian scaling symmetry. By normalization we end up with Hethcote's extended 2-parameter model. Thus, in view of symmetry concepts, reproving theorems on endemic bifurcation and stability in such models becomes needless.

Previous studies demonstrate the critical importance of non-coding RNAs interfacing with chromatin-modifying machinery resulting in promoter-enhancer-based gene regulation and raise the possibility that many other enhancer-like RNAs may operate via similar mechanisms. Critically, more than 80% of the disease-linked variations identified in genome-wide studies are located in the non-coding regions of genomes, especially non-coding RNA, suggesting non-coding RNAs are relevant to disease. Thus, a critical path forward for understanding non-coding RNAs' role, especially long non-coding RNAs, is to understand the genomic regions' transcriptional regulation, especially non-coding regions. Here, we developed a user-friendly R package called SomaGene for studying and identifying enhancer-like non-coding RNAs with enriched somatic mutations in the cancer genome. SomaGene accepts different genomic variants (whole genome/exome somatic point mutations, structural variations, copy number variations) to identify those RNAs that significantly mutated in diseases (e.g., cancer). It then uses multiple publicly available genomics and epigenetics datasets including ENCODE epigenomics annotations, FANTOM5 tissue-specific expression profiles, disease-associated genome-wide association SNPs, and tissue-specific eQTL pairs to identify those RNAs with potentially enhancer function. SomaGene, as a powerful R package, can provide the opportunity to cancer scientists to study the roles of non-coding RNAs in different cancer genomes.

The authors previously found a model of universal quantum computation by making use of the coset structure of subgroups of a free group $G$ with relations. A valid subgroup $H$ of index $d$ in $G$ leads to a \lq magic' state $\left|\psi\right\rangle$ in $d$-dimensional Hilbert space that encodes a minimal informationally complete quantum measurement (or MIC), possibly carrying a finite \lq contextual' geometry. In the present work, we choose $G$ as the fundamental group $\pi_1(V)$ of an exotic $4$-manifold $V$, more precisely a \lq small exotic' (space-time) $R^4$ (that is homeomorphic and isometric, but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean $\mathbb{R}^4$). Our selected example, due to to S. Akbulut and R.~E. Gompf, has two remarkable properties: (a) it shows the occurence of standard contextual geometries such as the Fano plane (at index $7$), Mermin's pentagram (at index $10$), the two-qubit commutation picture $GQ(2,2)$ (at index $15$) as well as the combinatorial Grassmannian Gr$(2,8)$ (at index $28$) , (b) it allows the interpretation of MICs measurements as arising from such exotic (space-time) $R^4$'s. Our new picture relating a topological quantum computing and exotic space-time is also intended to become an approach of \lq quantum gravity'.

Methionine oxidation to the sulfoxide form (MSox) is a poorly understood post-translational modification of proteins associated with nonspecific chemical oxidation from reactive oxygen species (ROS) whose chemistries are linked to various disease pathologies including neurodegeneration. Emerging evidence shows MSox site occupancy is in some cases under enzymatic regulatory control mediating cellular signaling including phosphorylation and/or calcium signaling, raising questions as to the speciation and functional nature of MSox across the proteome. The 5XFAD lineage of the C57BL/6 mouse has well-defined Alzheimer’s and aging states. Using this model, we analyzed age, sex and disease dependent MSox speciation in mouse hippocampus. In addition, we explore chemical stability and statistical variance of oxidized peptide signals to understand needed power for MSox based proteome studies. Our results identify mitochondrial and glycolytic pathway targets with increases in MSox with age as well as neuroinflammatory targets accumulating MSox with AD in proteome studies of mouse hippocampus. Further, the paper establishes a foundation for reproducible and rigorous experimental MSox-omics appropriate for biological discovery novel target identification, and biomarker analysis in ROS and other oxidation linked diseases.

In this article, we give a brief review of the origin of the neutrino mass in some interesting non-linear supersymmetric models with R-symmetry. These models are able to address and solve the most important problems of the particle physics and provide mechanisms for neutrino mass generation and their mixing parameters in agreement with the current experimental data. Their prediction could be experimentally tested in the near future by collider experiments.

This paper presents a script that classify spatial patterns of residential urban growth using a morpho-structural approach. The script performs a combination of variography analysis and morphological closings over buildings possessing a residential function in 2002 and 2017 within a region located in southern France named Centre-Var. The different bounding regions then allow classifying new residential buildings into different categories according to their degrees of clustering/scattering and to their locations regarding existing urban areas. Preliminary results show that this protocol is able to provide useful insights regarding the degree of contribution of each new residential building to different patterns of urban growth (clustered infill, scattered infill, clustered edge-expansion, scattered edge-expansion, clustered leapfrog and scattered leapfrog). Open-access to the script and to the test region data is provided.

Background: Fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) have been proposed as an alternative to traditional metal alloys for the realization of frameworks in full-arch implant supported prostheses. The aim of the present in vitro study was to evaluate the deflection under load of seven prostheses endowed with frameworks made of different materials, including different types of fiber reinforced composites (FRCs). Methods: A master cast with four implant analogues in correspondence of the two lateral incisors and the two first molars was used to create full-arch fixed prostheses with the same shape and different materials. Prostheses were made in different materials (framework+veneering material): gold alloy+resin (Au+R), titanium+resin (Ti+R), FRC with multi-directional carbon fibers+resin (ICFRC+R), FRC with unidirectional carbon fibers+composite (UCFRC+C), FRC with glass fibers+resin (GFRC+R), FRC with glass fibers+composite (GFRC+C), resin (R, full-acrylic prosthesis). Flexural tests were conducted using Zwick/Roell Z 0.5 machine and the deflection of the lower surface of the prosthesis was measured in order to obtain load/deflection graphs. Results: Greater rigidity and less deflection were recorded for UCFRC+C, GFRC+C, followed by Ti+R, and Au+R. The greatest deformations were observed for resin alone, ICFRC+R and GFRC+R. The results were slightly different in the incisal region probably due to the greater amount of veneering material in this area. Conclusions: When used to realize full-arch frameworks, Au and Ti allow a predictable mechanical behavior with gradual deformations with increasing load. UCFRC also demonstrated good outcomes and less deflection than ICFRCs when loaded. The GFRC full-arch framework may be a valid alternative, however showed greater deflections. Further studies are needed in order to evaluated how different prosthesis design and material thickness might affect the outcomes.

Dietary contaminants are often an over-looked factor in the health of zebrafish. Typically, water is considered to be the source for most contaminants, especially within an aquatic environment. For this reason, source water for zebrafish recirculating systems is highly regulated and monitored daily. Most facilities use reverse osmosis or de-ionized water filtration systems to purify incoming water to ensure that contaminants, as well as pathogens, do not enter their zebrafish housing units. However, diets are rarely tested for contaminants and, in the case of manufactured zebrafish feeds, since the product is marketed for aquaculture or aquarium use it is assumed that the feed is acceptable for animals used for research. The following provides examples as to how contaminants could lead to negative effects on development and behavior of developing zebrafish.

Telemedicine is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for clinical health care from a distance. The exchange of radiographic images and electronic patient health information/records (ePHI/R) for diagnostic purposes has the risk of confidentiality, ownership identity, and authenticity. In this paper, a data hiding technique for ePHI/R is proposed. The color information in the cover image is used for key generation, and stego-images are produced with ideal case. As a result, the whole stego-system is perfectly secure. This method includes the features of watermarking and steganography techniques. The method is applied to radiographic images. For the radiographic images, this method resembles watermarking, which is an ePHI/R data system. Experiments show promising results for the application of this method to radiographic images in ePHI/R for both transmission and storage purpose.

A facilitative transport system exists on the blood brain barrier (BBB) that has been tacitly assumed to be a path for glutamate entry to brain. But glutamate is a non-essential amino acid whose brain content is much greater than plasma, and studies in vivo show that glutamate does not enter brain in material quantities except in those small regions with fenestrated capillaries (circumventricular organs). The situation became understandable when luminal (blood facing) and abluminal (brain facing) membranes were isolated and studied separately. Facilitative transport of glutamate and glutamine exist only on the luminal membranes whereas Na+-dependent transport systems for glutamate, glutamine and some other amino acids are present only on the abluminal membrane. The Na+-dependent cotransporters of the abluminal membrane are in a position to actively transport amino acids from the extracellular fluid (ECF) into the endothelial cells of the BBB. These powerful secondary active transporters couple the energy of the Na+-gradient to move glutamate and glutamine into the ECF whereupon glutamate can exit to blood on the luminal facilitative glutamate transporter. Glutamine may also exit brain on a separate facilitative transport system that exists on the luminal membranes or glutamine can be hydrolyzed to glutamate within the BBB thereby releasing ammonia that is freely diffusible. The γ-glutamyl participate cycle participates indirectly by producing oxoproline (pyroglutamate) that stimulates almost all secondary active transporters yet discovered in the abluminal membranes of the BBB.

We investigate and discuss in detail the structure of the restricted singular value decomposition for a tensor triplet under t-product (T-RSVD). The algorithm is provided with a numerical example illustrating the main result. For applications, we consider color image watermarking processing with T-RSVD.

Molecular motors play a vital role in the transport of material within the cell. A family of motors of growing interest are burnt bridge ratchets (BBRs). BBRs rectify spatial fluctuations into directed motion by creating and destroying motor-substrate bonds. It has been shown that the motility of a BBR can be optimized as a function of the system parameters. However, the amount of energy input required to generate such motion and the resulting efficiency has been less well characterized. Here, using a deterministic model, we calculate the efficiency of a particular type of BBR, namely a polyvalent hub interacting with a surface of substrate. We find that there is an optimal burn rate and substrate concentration that leads to optimal efficiency. Additionally, the substrate turnover rate has important implications on motor efficiency. We also consider the effects of force-dependent unbinding on the efficiency and find that under certain conditions the motor works more efficiently when bond breaking is included. Our results provide guidance for how to optimize the efficiency of BBRs.

This study aimed to determine shifts in microbial populations regarding richness and diversity from the daily use of a popular over-the-counter nasal spray. In addition, the finding of nasal commensal bacterial species that overlap with the oral microbiome may prove to be potential probiotics for the “gateway microbiomes.” Nasal swab samples were obtained before and after using the most popular over-the-counter (OTC) nasal spray in 10 participants aged 18–48. All participants were healthy volunteers with no significant medical histories. The participants were randomly assigned a number by randomizing software and consisted of five men and five women. The sampling consisted of placing a nasal swab atraumatically into the nasal cavity. The samples were preserved and sent to Northwestern University Sequencing Center for whole-genome deep sequencing. After 21 days of OTC nasal spray use twice daily, the participants returned for further nasal microbiome sampling. The microbial analysis included all bacteria, archaea, viruses, molds, and yeasts via deep sequencing for species analysis. The Northwestern University Sequencing Center utilized artificial intelligence analysis to determine shifts in species and strains following nasal spray use that resulted in changes in diversity and richness.

A global revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) has occurred over the past few decades, emerging first in industrialized countries and then in developing countries. While researchers have examined many facets of the ICT revolution, relatively little work has systematically examined the degree to which ICT has reduced natural disaster vulnerability. In this article we use cross-country data over the 1980-2013 period to estimate the relationship between newly-emerging cell phone access/use and disaster-induced fatalities. Our estimates suggest that a one-standard-deviation increase in cell phone usage reduces disaster fatalities by nearly one half. The estimated effect increases to almost three quarters for geologic events where people are typically afflicted without warning. The largest marginal benefit from cell phones in terms of saving lives come from events where there is typically no warning, thus many are caught by surprise; cell phones are used to call for help and coordinate assistance.

Successful fertilization treatments targeted to improve stand productivity while reducing operational complexities and cost depend on a clear understanding of soil nutrient availability under varying environmental conditions. Soil nutrient data collected from 154 forest sites throughout the Inland Northwest, USA were analyzed to examine soil nutrient characteristics on different geologic soil parent materials and to rank soil fertility. Results show that soil parent material explains significant differences in soil nutrient availability. Soils developed from volcanic rocks have the highest CEC and are relatively high in P, K, S, Mg, Cu, Ca, and B, but generally poor in N. Forest soils developed from plutonic rocks exhibit the lowest CEC and are low in N, S, K, Mg, Cu, and Ca, but higher in P. Some soils located on mixed glacial till are low only in K, Cu, Mg, and Ca, but many glacial soils are relatively rich in other nutrients, albeit the second lowest CEC. Soils developed from metasedimentary and sedimentary rocks are among those with lowest soil nutrient availability for P and B. Sulfur was found to have the highest concentrations in metasedimentary influenced soils and the least in sedimentary derived soils. Our results should be useful in designing site-specific fertilizer and nutrient management prescriptions for forest stands growing on soils developed from these major geologies within the Inland Northwest region of the United States.

A monocular vision pose estimation and identification algorithm used on a small spacecraft for future orbital servicing is studied in this paper. A tracker spacecraft equipped with a short-range vision system is proposed to recover the 3D structural model of a space target in orbit and automatically identify its solar panels and main body using only visual information from an onboard camera. The proposed reconstruction and identification framework is tested using structure-from-motion and point cloud identification methods. The Efficient Perspective-n-Points (EPnP) descriptor is used for pose estimation. Triangulated points are used for component segmentation by means of orientation histogram descriptors. Experimental results based on laboratory images of a spacecraft model show the effectiveness and robustness of our approach.

A Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker space-time model with all curvatures k=0,±1 is explored in f(R,T) gravity. The solutions are obtained via the parametrization of the scale factor that leads to a model transiting from a decelerated universe to an accelerating one. The physical features of the model are discussed and analysed.

Single image deraining (SID) has shown its importance in many advanced computer vision tasks. Though many CNN based image deraining methods have been proposed, how to effectively remove raindrops while maintaining background structure remains a challenge that needs to be overcome. Most of the deraining work focuses on removing rain streaks, but in heavy rain images, the dense accumulation of rainwater or the rain curtain effect significantly interferes with the effective removal of rain streaks, and often introduces some artifacts that make the scene more blurry. In this paper, we propose a new network structure R-PReNet for single image deraining with good background structure maintaining. This framework fully utilizes the cyclic recursive structure of PReNet. Moreover, we introduce residual channel prior (RCP) and feature fusion modules for better deraining performance by focusing on background feature information. Compared with the previous methods, our method has significantly improvement effect on the rainstorm image with the artifacts removing and good visual detail restoring.

We analyze the behavior of relativistic spherical objects within the context of modified $f(R,T)$ gravity considering Tolman VI spacetime, where gravitational lagrangian is a function of Ricci scalar(R) and trace of energy momentum tensor(T) i.e,$ f(R,T)= R+ 2\beta T$, for some arbitrary constant $\beta$. For developing our model, we have chosen $\pounds_{m} = -p$, where $ \pounds_{m}$ represents matter lagrangian. For this investigation, we have chosen three compact stars namely PSR J1614-2230 [Mass=(1.97$\pm$ 0.4)M$_\odot$; Radius= 9.69$_{-0.02} ^{+0.02}$ Km] ,Vela X-1 [Mass=(1.77$\pm$ 0.08)M$_\odot$; Radius= 9.560$_{-0.08} ^{+0.08}$ Km] and 4U 1538-52 [Mass=(9.69)M$_\odot$; Radius= 1.97 Km]. In this theory the equation of pressure isotropy is identical to standard Einstein's theory. So all known metric potential solving Einstein's equations are also valid here. In this paper, we have investigated the effort of coupling parameter ($\beta$) on the local matter distribution. Sound of speed and adiabatic index are higher with grater values of $\beta$ while on contrary mass function and gravitational redshift are lower with higher values of $\beta$ . For supporting the theoretical results, graphical representation are also employed to analyze the physical viability of the compact stars.

The main contribution of this paper is to develop a graphical tool to evaluate the suitability of a candidate parametric model to fit a data set. The practical motivation is to check the adequacy of the so called SAINT model proposed in Jarner and Kryger (2011). This model has been implemented in practice by an important European pension fund concerned with setting annuity reserves for all current or former employees of Denmark. So, one particular relevant question is whether this mortality model is actually fitting old-age. Our graphical test can be described as follows. First we transform the data by means of the parametric model which is being evaluated. Should the model be correct, the transformed data will be in accordance with an Exponential distribution with rate 1. Then we construct a family of local linear hazard estimates based on the data on the transformed scale. Finally we use the statistical tool SiZer to assess the goodness-of-fit of the Exponential distribution to the data on the transformed scale. If the model is correct the SiZer map should not reveal any significant feature in the family of kernel estimates. Our method allow us to establish a diagnostic regarding the validity of the SAINT model when describing mortality patterns in four different countries.

Our paper examines the place of Pan-Africanism as an educational, political, and cultural movement which had a lasting impact on the on the relationship between liberation and people of African descent, in the continent of Africa and the Diaspora. We also show its evolution, beginning with formerly enslaved Africans in the Americas, to the colonial borders of the 1884 Berlin Conference, and conclude with the independence movements in Africa. For formerly enslaved Africans, Pan-Africanism was an idea that helped them see their commonalities as victims of racism. That is, they realized that they were enslaved because they came from the same continent and shared the same racial heritage. They associated the continent of Africa with freedom. The partitioning of Africa at the Berlin Conference (colonialism) created pseudo-nation states out of what was initially seen as an undivided continent. Pan-Africanism provided an ideology for rallying Africans at home and abroad against colonialism, and the creation of colonial nation-states did not erase the idea of a united Africa. As different African nations gained political independence, they took it upon themselves to support those countries fighting for their independence. The belief, then, was that as long as one African nation was not free, the continent could not be viewed as free. The existence of nation-states did not imply the negation of Pan-Africanism. The political ideas we examine include those of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, and Thabo Mbeki.

The overarching purpose of this review was to highlight the utility of different aerobic field tests in terms of the parameters they provide, with a specific focus on shuttle running and all-out testing. Various field tests are discussed in detail and are categorised according to linear continuous running tests (e.g. 12-minute Cooper Test, University of Montreal Track Test [UMTT], 1200/1600 m time trials, 3-minute all-out test for running [3MT]), intermittent shuttle running tests (e.g. yo-yo inter-mittent recovery test level 1 [YYIR1], 30-15 intermittent fitness test [IFT], and the intermittent all-out shuttle test [IAOST]), and continuous shuttle running tests (e.g. 1.2 km shuttle run test [1.2SRT], maximal multi-stage 20-m shuttle test [MSR], 25-m, 30 m and 50-m 3-minute all-out shuttle test [AOST]). Readers will be guided through the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the 3MT methodology, where the all-out testing methodology is stationed within the testing paradigm, and how to practically implement and interpret the results thereof.

The goal of the project was to understand how topography/bathymetry is imported and used in GeoFlood with an aim towards improving efficiency and computational cost of bathymetry handling in GeoFlood.GeoFlood is a software to simulate overland flooding basing on shallow water equations.Numerical methods and programming were used for this study.The GeoFlood was ran on a given data set (Malpasset data) and it was found out that indeed topography handling during simulations has to be improved to minimise the computational time and also improve the efficiency.Through this research, we also looked at the the shallow water equations, and the numerical techniques used to solve the equations

The metaphor of being touched by music is widespread and almost universal. The tactile experience, moreover, has received growing interest in recent years. There is, however, a need to go beyond a mere metaphorical use of the term, by positioning the tactile experience within the broader frame of embodied cognition and the experiential turn in cognitive science. This article explores the possible contribution of a science of touch by defining music as a vibrational art that impinges upon the body and the senses. It takes as a starting point the clinical findings on the psychological and physiological value of tender touch with a special focus on the method of kangaroo mother care, which is a method for holding the baby against the chest of the mother, skin-to-skin. It is seen as one of the most basic affiliative bonding with stimuli that elicit reward. Via an extensive review of the research literature, it is questioned to what extent this rationale can be translated to the realm of music. There are, in fact, many analogies, but a comprehensive theoretical framework is still lacking. This article aims at providing at least some preparatory groundwork to fuel more theorizing about listening and its relation to the sense of touch.

A silicified, thick-shelled, smooth-surfaced nuculanoid bivalve has been recovered by acid maceration of the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) strata of the Luning Formation, Nevada. Comparable modern nuculanoid clams inhabit water depths from 525-2,562 meters, and the living clam (an undescribed species of Pseudoneilonella from Caleta Sierra, Coquimbo, Chile) most similar to the fossil lives at 878-933 m. The Triassic nuculanoid clam (possibly a neilonellid) is inferred here to have inhabited marine waters at approximately 1000 m deep during deposition of the Shaly Limestone Member of the Luning Formation. This new fossil discovery falsifies hypotheses that the ichthyosaurs (Shonisaurus popularis) of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada, USA, were deposited, respectively, in either shoreline deposits or in strata that accumulated above storm wave base.

This paper presents an overview of tomography and different tomographic imaging modalities. The goal of this paper is to provide an understanding of various imaging modalities; in particular, how the imaging is performed, working principles, and applications. It was not intended to provide the in-depth mathematical principles of these imaging modalities, rather this paper focuses on providing the knowledge in an easy-to-grasp manner for the readers' benefit. Imaging modalities are categorized based on the physics behind image generation. First, the paper explains the general tomography principle. Then explains Ultrasound Imaging, Electrical Impedance Tomography, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Photoacoustic Tomography (PAT), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). In the end, the paper provides the fundamentals and review of two relatively new imagining modalities, Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) and functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS).

An evolutionary game is introduced which considers game-theoretic strategies in the context of non-linear population matrix models. This game considers the states and actions of the organisms of the evolving population, and a notion of dynamic equilibrium between strategies is described. The game’s formalism is expounded and a proof about equilibrium is given; specifically that any stable equilibrium can be described by proportions of pure strategies; particularly when population matrices are not defective.

Calandrinia compressa Schrad. ex DC (Prodr. 3: 359. 1828) is the name currently widely applied to a polymorphic annual species of Calandrinia sect. Calandrinia endemic to the Chilean Floristic Region. A total of ten validly published heterotypic names plus six horticultural designations (and orthographic variants thereof) have been considered at some point as taxonomically the same as C. compressa. Two additional heterotypic taxa and their synonyms and two other designations possibly refer to this species. Two other taxa sometimes referred to this species are excluded. I treat here a total of 77 distinct nomenclaturally valid names and invalid designations and variants thereof. The type of one of the valid and legitimate names, Calandrinia pilosiuscula DC (Rev. Portulac. 9. 1827), is judged here to be taxonomically the same as the type of C. compressa. Because of its chronological priority, Calandrinia pilosiuscula DC must be accepted as the correct name for Calandrinia compressa Schrad. ex DC when the two are considered taxonomic synonyms. Here, the taxonomic history of this taxon is articulated and, where possible, types are identified and/or designated. The natural and anthropogenic history of the species is summarized critically in a theoretical context.

We show how some concentration inequalities for sampling without replacement can be used for bounding future samples. This process can be extended to bound the sum of future samples from multiple populations, and we analyse an illustrative sample allocation problem.

Upper confidence bound multi-armed bandit algorithms (UCB) typically rely on concentration in- equalities (such as Hoeffding’s inequality) for the creation of the upper confidence bound. Intu- itively, the tighter the bound is, the more likely the respective arm is or isn’t judged appropriately for selection. Hence we derive and utilise an optimal inequality. Usually the sample mean (and sometimes the sample variance) of previous rewards are the information which are used in the bounds which drive the algorithm, but intuitively the more infor- mation that taken from the previous rewards, the tighter the bound could be. Hence our inequality explicitly considers the values of each and every past reward into the upper bound expression which drives the method. We show how this UCB method fits into the broader scope of other information theoretic UCB algorithms, but unlike them is free from assumptions about the distribution of the data, We conclude by reporting some already established regret information, and give some numerical simulations to demonstrate the method’s effectiveness.

The primary purpose of this investigation was to identify safety-oriented bicycling practices commonly used by adult riders in an urban setting (Brooklyn, New York), and to explore whether there are any differences between the safety-oriented practices of men and women riders. Methods: 24 adult riders (14 men, 10 women) in Brooklyn were interviewed concerning their perceptions of bicycling hazards and their safety-oriented practices. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through thematic analysis. Fisher’s Exact Test was employed to test for gender differences. Results: Participants identified a variety of hazards, mainly due to motor vehicles but also pedestrians and roadway conditions. The analysis distilled twenty-one bicycling practices to summarize prevalent views of the participants about safe riding practices. Related items were grouped under broader categories, generating seven safety-oriented bicycling strategies. Few differences based on gender were found in the analysis; however, women in this study were more likely than men to say that they felt disrespected by other road users. Conclusion: Seven strategies may be important for safe urban bicycling: minimizing exposure to other road users (especially motor vehicles) while riding, being vigilant and anticipating what others might do, riding in a predictable fashion, making one’s presence known to other road users, making sure it is safe before proceeding, obeying traffic rules, and riding at a safe speed. Future studies could develop these concepts further and test whether they are associated with involvement in traffic crashes.

Eight amniote genera (representing four clades) became aquatic during the Permian. The four clades were mesosaurids, tangasaurids, the neodiapsid Claudiosaurus, and the procolophonid Barasaurus. Two of eight genera survived the end-Permian mass extinction, but did not last long into the Mesozoic. A previously undescribed specimen of Claudiosaurus germaini, preserved in a lacustrine concretion from the Sakamena Formation, Madagascar, bears seventeen vertebrae that has been split along an approximate horizontal plane to reveal sections of neural canal casted in white calcite. Enlargement of the neural canal in the sacral region of this specimen of Claudiosaurus (vertebral segments 22-26) is more similar to that of Tupinambis (segments 24-28) than it is to Testudo (segments 16-23). Claudiosaurus skeletal anatomy provides evidence for swim propulsion by both hind limbs and by undulation of a dorsal-ventrally flattened tail. Evidence for the latter includes elongate transverse processes on distal tail vertebrae. Other Permian aquatic reptile genera (Mesosaurus, Hovasaurus, Barasaurus) used snake-like side-to-side tail undulation, whereas Claudiosaurus used cetacean-like up-down tail undulation in the vertical plane. It seems unlikely that any of these animals were particularly fast swimmers.

Scrutiny of online herbarium and social network images revealed at least three historical collections and one recent photograph of the recently described Cistanthe philhershkovitziana Hershk. (C. sect. Cistanthe). The herbarium specimens, dating to 1829, 1882, and 1905, corroborate, and extend slightly the species range estimated on the basis of unvouchered collections and observations C. grandiflora (Lindl.) Schlect.

A number of experimental tests of time orientability are described as well as clear experimental signatures from non time orientability (time reversal). Some tests are well known, while others are based on more recent theoretical work. Surprisingly, the results all suggest that time is not orientable at a microscopic level; even definitive tests are positive. At a microscopic level the direction of time can reverse and a consistent forward time direction cannot be defined. That is the conclusion supported by a range of well-known experiments. The conflict between quantum theory and local realism; electrodynamics with electric charges; and spin half transformation properties of fermions; can all be interpreted as evidence of time reversal. While particle-antiparticle annihilation provides a definitive test. It offers both a new view of space-time and an novel interpretation of quantum theory with the potential to unify classical and quantum theories.

This paper formulates the classic Monty Hall problem as a Bayesian game. Allowing Monty a small amount of freedom in his decisions facilitates a variety of solutions. The solution concept used is the Bayes Nash Equilibrium (BNE), and the set of BNE relies on Monty's motives and incentives. We endow Monty and the contestant with common prior probabilities (p) about the motives of Monty, and show that under certain conditions on p, the unique equilibrium is one where the contestant is indifferent between switching and not switching. This coincides and agrees with the typical responses and explanations by experimental subjects. Finally, we show that our formulation can explain the experimental results in Page (1998) [12]; that more people gradually choose switch as the number of doors in the problem increases.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide receptor 1 (PAC1-R) has a higher affinity for pituitary adenylate cyclase- activating polypeptide (PACAP) than for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). PACAP exerts its neuroprotective effects through PAC1-R. PAC1-R has become a target for drug development, and we targeted PAC1-R to screen small positive allosteric modulator 1 (SPAM1). SPAM1 has a neuroprotective effects, and in the D-galactose (D-gal) mouse model, SPAM1 improved the structure of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and restored the number of neurons. Compared with D-gal model mice, SPAM1 treatment upregulated the expression of Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) and Lamin B1, and downregulated the expression of YinYang 1 (YY1) and p16. Consistent with this, the same results were obtained in senescent RGC-5 cells. Meanwhile, SPAM1 was also found to up-regulate SIRT6 and down-regulate YY1 expression in normal RGC-5 cells. Then, we further explored the mechanism of SPAM1 neuroprotection by whole transcriptome sequencing and proteomic analysis, and found that SPAM is involved in the longevity regulating pathway, and confirmed the up-regulation of neurofilament light polypeptide and neurofilament medium polypeptide by western blot, thus laying a pharmacological foundation for SPAM1 as a therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases. polypeptide and neurofilament medium polypeptide. Thus, it lays a pharmacological foundation for SPAM1 as a therapeutic drug for neurodegenerative diseases.

Individual susceptibility to pulmonary oxygen toxicity (PO2tox) is highly variable and currently lacks a reliable biomarker for predicting pulmonary hyperoxic stress. As nitric oxide (NO) is involved in many respiratory system processes and functions, we aimed to determine if expired nitric oxide (FENO) levels can provide an indication of PO2tox susceptibility in humans. Eight U.S. Navy trained divers volunteered as subjects. The hyperoxic exposures consisted of six- and eight-hour hyperbaric chamber dives conducted on consecutive days in which subjects breathed 100% oxygen at 202.65 kPa. Subjects’ individual variability in pulmonary function and FENO was measured twice daily over five days and compared with their post-dive values to assess susceptibility to PO2tox. Only subjects who showed no decrements in pulmonary function following the six-hour exposure conducted the eight-hour dive. FENO decreased by 55% immediately following the six-hour oxygen exposure (n=8, p<0.0001) and by 63% following the eight-hour exposure (n=4, p<0.0001). Four subjects showed significant decreases in pulmonary function immediately following the six-hour exposure. These subjects had the lowest baseline FENO and the lowest post-dive FENO and had clinical symptoms of PO2tox. Individuals with low FENO were the first to develop PO2tox symptoms and deficits in pulmonary function from the hyperoxic exposures. These data suggest that endogenous levels of NO in the lung may protect against the development of PO2tox.

Telemedicine, telehealth, e-Health, and other related terms refer to the exchange of medical information or medical care from one site to another through electronic communication between a patient and healthcare provider. As telemedicine infrastructure has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, this review provides an overview of telemedicine use and effectiveness in cardiology, with emphasis on the post-pandemic context. Pre-pandemic studies tend to report statistically insignificant or modest improvements in cardiovascular disease outcome from telemedicine use to usual care. By contrast, post-pandemic studies tend to report positive outcomes or comparable acceptance of telemedicine use to usual care. Today, telemedicine can effectively replace in person follow-ups to produce comparable (but not necessarily superior) outcomes in cardiovascular disease management. A major benefit of telemedicine is the significant reduction in follow-up time or time-to-intervention which may lead to earlier detection and prevention of adverse events. Nonetheless, there remain barriers to effective telemedicine implementation in the post-pandemic context. Providing accuracy and ease-of-use of telemedicine devices, ensuring adherence to remote rehabilitation procedures, and implementing widespread telemedicine infrastructure are such examples. Current knowledge gaps include the true economic cost of telemedicine infrastructure, feasibility of use in specific cardiology contexts, and sex/gender differences of health outcomes through telemedicine use. Future telemedicine developments will need to address these concerns to achieve widespread acceptance as the new standard of care.

Testosterone (T), the principal androgen secreted by the testes, plays an essential role in male health. Male hypogonadism is diagnosed based on a combination of associated clinical signs and symptoms and laboratory confirmation of low circulating T levels. In this review we have highlighted factors, both biological and analytical, that introduce variation into the measurement of serum T concentrations in men; these need to be considered when requesting T levels and interpreting results. There is an ongoing need for analytical standardisation of T assays and harmonisation of pre- and post-analytical laboratory practices, particularly in relation to the laboratory reference intervals provided to clinicians. Further, there is a need to share with service users the most up-to-date and evidence-based action thresholds for serum T as recommended in the literature. Estimation of free testosterone may be helpful. Causes of secondary hypogonadism should be considered. A comprehensive approach is required in the management of male hypogonadism, including lifestyle modification, as well as medication where appropriate. The goal of treatment is resolution of symptoms as well as optimisation of metabolic, cardiovascular and bone health. The advice of an endocrinologist should be sought, where there is doubt about the cause and appropriate management of the hypogonadism.

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

Low-resource languages often face the problem of insufficient data, which leads to poor quality in machine translation. One approach to address this issue is data augmentation. Data augmentation involves creating new data by transforming existing data through methods such as flipping, cropping, rotating, and adding noise. Traditionally, pseudo-parallel corpora are generated by randomly replacing words in low-resource language machine translation. However, this method can introduce ambiguity as the same word may have different meanings in different contexts. This study proposes a new approach for low-resource language machine translation, which involves generating pseudo-parallel corpora by replacing phrases. The performance of this approach is compared with other data augmentation methods, and it is observed that combining it with other data augmentation methods further improves performance. To enhance the robustness of the model, R-Drop regularization is also used. R-Drop is an effective method for improving the quality of machine translation. The proposed method was tested on Chinese-Kazakh (Latin script) translation tasks, resulting in performance improvements of 4.99 and 7.7 for Chinese-to-Kazakh and Kazakh-to-Chinese translations, respectively.

Early detection of wildfires has been limited using the sun-synchronous orbit satellites due to their low temporal resolution and wildfires’ fast spread in the early stage. NOAA’s geostationary weather satellites GOES-R can acquire images every 15 minutes at 2km spatial resolution, and have been used for early fire detection. However, advanced processing algorithms are needed to provide timely and reliable detection of wildfires. In this research, a deep learning framework, based on Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), is proposed to detect wildfires at early stage using GOES-R dense time series data. GRU model maintains good performance on temporal modelling while keep a simple architecture, makes it suitable to efficiently process time-series data. 36 different wildfires in North and South America under the coverage of GOES-R satellites are selected to assess the effectiveness of the GRU method. The detection times based on GOES-R are compared with VIIRS active fire products at 375m resolution in NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS). The results show that GRU-based GOES-R detections of the wildfires are earlier than that of the VIIRS active fire products in most of the study areas. Also, results from proposed method offer more precise location on the active fire at early stage than GOES-R Active Fire Product in mid-latitude and low-latitude regions.

We present a methodology to enable users to interact with statistical information owned by an institution and stored in a cloud infrastructure. Mainly based on R, this approach was developed following the open-data philosophy. Also, since we use R, the implementation is mainly based on open-source software. R gives several advantages from the point of view of data management and acquisition, as it becomes a common framework that can be used to structure the processes involved in any statistical operation. This simplifies the access to the data and enable to use all the power of R in the cloud information. This methodology was applied successfully to develop a tool to manage the data of the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió, but it can be applied to other institutions to enable open access to its data. The infrastructure also was deployed to a cloud infrastructure, to assure the scalability and a 24/7 access.

Background: Multifunctional nanoparticles are known for their wide range of biomedical applications. Controlling the magnetic properties of these nanoparticles is imperative for various applications, including therapeutic angiogenesis. The study was performed to evaluate the magnetic properties and their control mechanisms by the external magnetic field. Methods: A 100nm magnetic nanoparticle was placed in the magnetic field, and parametrically the magnet field strength and distance was evaluated. Various models of magnetic strength and disposition were evaluated. Magnetic flux density, force/weight, and magnetic gradient strength were the parameters evaluated in electromagnetic computational software. Results: The seven-coil method with three centrally placed coils as Halbach array, and each coil with a flux density of 7 Tesla, and with a coil dimension of 20cmx20cm (square model) of each coil showed a good magnetic strength and force/weight parameters in a distance of 15cm from the centrally placed coil. The particles were then evaluated for their motion characteristics in saline. It showed good displacement and acceleration properties. After that, the particles were theoretically assessed in a similar mathematical model after parametrically correcting the drag force. After application of high drag forces, the particles showed adequate motion characteristics. When the particle size was reduced further, the motion characteristics were preserved even with high drag forces. Conclusion: There is potential for a novel method of controlling multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles using high magnetic fields. Further studies are required to evaluate the motion characteristics of these particles in-vivo and invitro.

This paper investigates the feasibility of a backend design for real-time, multiple-channel processing digital phased array system, particularly for high-performance embedded computing platforms constructed of using general purpose digital signal processors. Frist, we obtained the lab-scale backend performance benchmark from simulating beamforming, pulse compression, and Doppler filtering based on MicroTCA chassis using Serial RapidIO protocol in backplane communication. Next, a field-scale demonstrator of a multifunctional phased array radar is emulated by using the similar configuration. Interestingly, the performance of a barebone design is compared to that of emerging tools that systematically take advantage of parallelism and multicore capabilities, including Open Computing Language.

The malaria parasite resides within erythrocytes during one stage of its life cycle. During this intraerythrocytic period, the parasite ingests the erythrocyte cytoplasm and digests approximately two-thirds of the host cell hemoglobin. This digestion occurs within a lysosome-like organelle called the digestive vacuole. Several proteases are localized to the digestive vacuole and these proteases sequentially breakdown hemoglobin into small peptides, dipeptides, and amino acids. The peptides are exported into the host cytoplasm via the chloroquine-resistance transporter and an amino acid transporter has also been identified on the digestive vacuole membrane. The environment of the digestive vacuole also provides appropriate conditions for the biocrystallization of toxic heme into non-toxic hemozoin by a poorly understood process. Hemozoin formation is an attribute of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus and is not exhibited by other intraerythrocytic protozoan parasites. The efficient degradation of hemoglobin and detoxification of heme likely plays a major role in the high level of replication exhibited by malaria parasites within erythrocytes. Unique features of the digestive vacuole and the critical importance of nutrient acquisition provide therapeutic targets for the treatment of malaria.

This manuscript is aimed at encouraging those interested in biofilms and their effects on microbial communities to view the study of chronic airways disease as one of the most challenging and potentially rewarding areas to focus on. To do this it is necessary to review how we have reached 2023 having made so little progress. It is more than two hundred years ago since the term bronchitis was proposed to describe diseases affecting the airways rather than the respiratory zone of the lungs. The main histological features were described in Laennec’s text of 1819. By the mid C20th it was recognised that the two great drivers of chronic respiratory symptoms were inhaled toxins and chronic bacterial infections. The widespread availability of antibiotics in subsequent years had a dramatic impact on mortality from pneumonia, greatly reduced the prevalence of chronic symptoms after acute lower respiratory tract infections, transformed the lives of many with bronchiectasis and appeared to play a major role in the dramatic fall in prevalence of bronchiectasis. Unfortunately, during the following 70 years the importance of dealing with a chronic bacterial bronchitis was largely forgotten. While two artificial diseases ‘COPD’ and ‘bronchiectasis’ have been the subject of numerous guidelines, chronic bacterial bronchitis has been out in the cold. Antibiotics have in theory been reserved for those with established damage in the form of bronchiolitis and impaired lung function as defined by an arbitrary FEV1/FVC ratio and even then there is a disconnect with a minimum of 2 weeks being prescribed for exacerbations of bronchiectasis and the use of long term inhaled and oral macrolides frequently being advocated while a 5 day course is reserved for an exacerbation in a patient with COPD. The loss of focus on the role of antibiotics has a number of causes – a desire to ration antibiotic as part of ‘antibiotic stewardship’, the potential cost of treatment, the failure to ‘cure’ patients with chronic bronchitis and the difficulty in dealing with a disease whose morbidity at any given time can range from a mild cough and production of phlegm in the morning with no obvious impact on daily function to troublesome cough, sputum production and significant ill health. This was compounded by the vagaries of culture based diagnosis and the observation that more than one potential pathogen was often present. As a result chronic bacterial bronchitis was relegated to the ‘too hard to deal with’ box and many of the lessons of the past were forgotten. Revisiting the field from the perspective of current understanding of bacterial behaviour in biofilms and how these alter the resident microbiota of the airways should ensure that a chronic bacterial bronchitis returns to centre stage in order to minimise respiratory morbidity and mortality. This review charts the history of our understanding and mis-understanding of the role of chronic bacterial bronchitis in airways disease and the pernicious effect of language in helping to ensure that this common and important condition became the elephant in the room. Focusing on the nature of chronic bacterial bronchitis is essential if we are to find ways of identifying it accurately and treat it effectively – new approaches will be extremely slow unless we recognise its importance and the challenges it poses.

Proof of the Riemann hypothesis is obtained using the properties of the Gamma function, the Bernoulli function, and limitations imposed by the rational relations of the complex roots of the Riemann zeta function, and the rational relations of the complex Gamma functions.

The remarkable success of taxonomic discovery, powered by culturomics, genomics and metagenomics, creates a pressing need for new bacterial names, while holding a mirror up to the slow pace of change in bacterial nomenclature. Here, I take a fresh look at bacterial nomenclature, exploring how we might create a system fit for the age of genomics, playing to the strengths of current practice, while minimising difficulties. Adoption of linguistic pragmatism, obeying the rules while treating recommendations as merely optional will make it easier to create names derived from descriptions, from people or places or even arbitrarily. Simpler protologues and a relaxed approach to recommendations will also remove much of the need for expert linguistic quality control. Automated computer-based approaches will allow names to be created en masse before they are needed, while also relieving microbiologists of the need for competence in Latin. The result will be a system that is accessible, inclusive and digital, while also fully capable of naming the unnamed millions of bacteria.