DNA origami has emerged in recent years as a powerful technique for designing and building 2D and 3D nanostructures. While the breadth of structures that have been produced is impressive, one of the remaining challenges, especially for DNA origami structures intended to carry out useful biomedical tasks in vivo, is to endow them with the ability to detect and respond to molecules of interest. Target molecules may be disease indicators or cell surface receptors, and the responses may include conformational changes leading to release of therapeutically relevant cargo. Nucleic acid aptamers are ideally suited to this task and are beginning to be used in DNA origami designs. In this review we consider examples of uses of DNA aptamers in DNA origami structures and summarise what is currently understood regarding aptamer-origami integration. We review three major roles for aptamers in such applications: protein immobilisation, triggering of structural transformation, and cell targeting. Finally, we consider future perspectives for DNA aptamer integration with DNA origami.

14-Deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (deAND), a diterpenoid in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees, acts as a bioactive phytonutrient that can treat many diseases. To investigate the protective effects of deAND on reducing fatty liver disease, male mice were fed a high-fat and high-cholesterol (HFHC) diet without or with 0.05% and 0.1% deAND supplementation. Cholesterol accumulation, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in liver and liver injury were evaluated after deAND treatment. The results show that deAND treatment for 7 weeks reduced plasma alanine aminotransferase activity and lowered hepatic cholesterol accumulation, tumor nuclear factor-α, and histological lesions. 0.1% deAND treatment reduced HFHC diet-induced apoptosis by lowering the caspase 3/pro-caspase 3 ratio. After 11-weeks of deAND treatment, increased NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), capase-1, and interleukin-1β protein levels in liver were suppressed by deAND treatment. In addition, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) mRNA expression, heme oxygenase-1 protein expression, and the activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were increased in mice fed the HFHC diet. However, those activities of antioxidant enzymes or proteins were also upregulated by 0.1% deAND treatment. Furthermore, deAND treatment tended to lower hepatic lipid peroxides. Finally, deAND treatment reversed the depletion of hepatic glutamate level induced by HFHC diet. These results indicate that deAND may ameliorate HFHC diet-induced steatohepatitis and liver injury by increasing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Ensuring optimal performance and reliability in rotor-bearing systems is crucial for industrial applications. Imbalance and shaft bow in these systems can lead to decreased efficiency and increased vibrations. Early detection and mitigation of a rotor’s faults are essential, and model-based fault identification has gained much attention in the manufacturing industry for years. Over the past two decades, however, the development of fault diagnosis rules with data-driven and artificial intelligence (AI) has become a trend, and in the foreseeable future, AI combined with big data will become mainstream. Nevertheless, the critical role of rotating machinery in manufacturing introduces a challenge, as the availability of fault data is often insufficient. This limitation renders the establishment of diagnostic rules using data-driven methods and AI technologies impractical. In light of these challenges, this study proposes a novel hybrid approach, that combines a physical model with machine learning (ML) techniques for the diagnosis of multi-faults (imbalance and shaft-bow demonstrated) in a Jeffcott rotor. To overcome the lack of real-world faulted, labeled datasets, a physics-based Jeffcott rotor model is first derived and then used to generate abundant fault datasets for ML. Subsequently, simulated data are employed for the training of an artificial neural network (ANN), enabling the network to learn from and analyze the vast array of generated data. The results prove that a well-trained feed-forward neural network (FNN) can accurately isolate and diagnose the imbalance and shaft-bow faults using the simulated data and the real data from the Jeffcott rotor experiment. These physics-based and ML approaches prove effective particularly for multi-fault, offering new possibilities for advanced rotor system monitoring and maintenance strategies in industrial applications.

Information is uploaded and downloaded through the Internet day in and day out ever since we immersed ourselves in the Internet. Data security becomes an area demanding high attention and one of the efficient techniques to protect data is data hiding. Among various data hiding schemes, more applications prefer the schemes with reversibility. In recent reversible data hiding studies, the indices of a codebook can be reordered to hide secret bits. The hiding capacity of the codeword index reordering scheme increases when the size of the codebook gets larger. Since the codewords in the codebook are not modified, the visual performance of compressed images is retained. We propose a novel scheme making use of the fundamental principle of codeword index reordering technique to hide secret data in encrypted images. By observing our experimental results, the embedding capacity is significantly larger. Secret data can be extracted when a receiver owns a data hiding key and image can be recovered when a receiver owns an encryption key.

Blisks subjected to rough machining for channel creation must undergo finishing processes, and such processes must achieve the required tolerance limits. A high-quality surface finish and predictable long tool life are critical for the finish milling of blisks. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to optimize parameters for the finish machining of an Inconel 718 alloy monolithic blisk. Ball-cone mills were used to machine the blade surface at a constant depth. A sensory tool holder was used to collect cutting force signals during machining, and a digital microscope was used to examine tool wear. The surface texture measuring instrument was used to measure blisk blade surface roughness to evaluate processing quality. This study manipulated two cutting parameters, namely cutting speed and feed per tooth, and investigated their effects. The relationship between cutting conditions and machining efficiency was analyzed. According to the experimental results, we identified a set of optimal parameters for marginal tool wear and fast cutting speeds and then estimated the corresponding tool life by using the derived parameters.

This study encourages volunteer managers to innovate when enhancing volunteers' organizational commitment by adopting the new variable of psychological ownership, thus creating new management practices and systems. The findings indicate that psychological ownership significantly affects organizational commitment and can also enhance it through the partial mediating effect of volunteer motivation. Evidently, psychological ownership can become a major factor influencing volunteer retention. Consequently, two innovative management strategies are suggested to foster volunteer organizational commitment: Firstly, construct a diverse knowledge base for volunteer managers, facilitating a cognitive shift in leaders to enhance leadership, achieve better information sharing, and collaboration using diverse knowledge. Secondly, treat the organization's volunteers as a subsystem, develop psychological ownership as the foundation for system operations, integrate the volunteer system with the staff system through a decentralized decision-making structure, 'empower' the volunteer system, and stimulate members' sense of participation and responsibility, thereby fostering innovation and continuous improvement.

The NCO functional group of 3-isocyanatoproply triethoxysilane (IPTS) and the OH functional group of DOPO-BQ were used to conduct an addition reaction. Following completion of the reaction, triglycidyl isocyanurate (TGIC) was introduced to conduct a ring-opening reaction. Subsequently, a sol-gel method was used to take place a hydrolysis- condensation reaction on TGIC-IPTS-DOPO-BQ to form a hyperbranched nitrogen–phosphorous–silicon (HBNPSi) flame retardant. This flame retardant was incorporated into a polyurethane (PU) matrix to prepare a hybrid material. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limiting oxygen index (LOI), UV-VIS spectrophotometry, and Raman analysis were conducted to structure characterization and analyzed transparency, thermal stability, flame retardancy, and residual char to understand the flame retardant mechanism of prepared hybrid materials. After the flame retardant was added, the maximum degradation rate decreased from −36 wt%/min to −17 wt%/min, the integral procedure decomposition temperature (IPDT) increased from 348 ℃ to 488 ℃, and the char yield increased from 0.7 to 8.1 wt%. The aforementioned results verified that thermal stability of PU can be improved after adding HBNPSi. The LOI analysis indicated that the pristine PU was flammable because the LOI of pristine PU was only 19. When the content of added HBNPSi was 40%, the LOI value was 26; thus the PU hybrid became nonflammable.

Keywords: mHealth; peritoneal dialysis; functionality; usability

Depressive disorder in childhood and adolescence is a highly prevalent mood disorder that tends to recur throughout life. Untreated mood disorders can adversely impact a patient's quality of life and cause socioeconomic loss. Thus, an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment is crucial. However, until now, diagnoses and treatments are conducted according to clinical symptoms. Objective and biological validation are lacking. This may result in a poor outcome for patients with depressive disorder. Research has been conducted to identify the biomarkers that are related to depressive disorder. Cumulative evidence has revealed that certain immunologic biomarkers in-cluding brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and cytokines, gastrointestinal biomarkers, hormones, oxidative stress, and certain hypothalamus-pituitary axis biomarkers are associated with depressive disorder. This article reviews the biomarkers related to the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric depressive disorders. To date, clinical biomarker tests are not yet available for diagnosis or for the prediction of treatment prognosis. However, cytokines such as Interleukin-2, interfer-on-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and BDNF have shown significant results in previous studies of pediatric depressive disorder. These biomarkers have the potential to be used for diagnosis, prognostic assessment, and group screening for those at high risk.

We study the generalized χ and η cross helicities for non-ideal non-barotropic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). χ and η, the additional label translation symmetry group, have been used to generalize the cross helicity in ideal flows. Both new helicities are additional topological invariants of ideal MHD. To study there behaviour in non-ideal MHD, we derive the time derivative of both helicities using the non-ideal MHD equations taking viscosity, finite resistivity and heat conduction into account. Physical variables are divided into ideal and non-ideal quantities separately during the mathematical analysis for simplification. The analytical results indicate that χ and η cross helicities are not strict constant of motion in the non-ideal MHD and show the rate of dissipation which is compared to the dissipation of other topological constants of motion.

The quality of healthcare services is a very important indicator of social welfare in developed and emerging countries. Good quality levels are critical to ensuring patient safety, improving health outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction, optimizing resource utilization, and meeting regulatory requirements. The stable and sustainable operation of medical institutions urgently requires the establishment of a reliable and effective medical quality performance evaluation platform. However, the complexity of the evaluation process, involving numerous evaluators and the consideration of different subjective and objective criteria, poses significant challenges and essentially constitutes a group multi-criteria decision-making problem. This article uses the overall medical environment of the institution, medical service attitude, medical security, administrative service measures, etc. as measurement standards to deal with this challenge. It proposes a medical service quality measurement model suitable for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. In view of the heterogeneity of information, the two-tuple fuzzy language calculation method is introduced to enable evaluators to skillfully manage diverse information and effectively avoid potential information omission problems in the subjective evaluation integration process. The effectiveness and feasibility of the model were demonstrated by applying it to the operational framework of a medical institution in central Taiwan.

3D printing is a non-traditional additive manufacturing process. It is different from the traditional subtractive manufacturing process. It offers exceptional rapid prototyping capabilities and results that traditional subtractive manufacturing methods cannot attain, especially in applications involving curved or intricately shaped components. Despite its advantages, metal 3D printing will face porosity, warpage, and surface roughness issues. These issues will affect the future practical application of the parts indirectly, for example, the structural strength and the parts assembly ca-pability. Therefore, this study compares the qualities of the warpage, weight, and surface rough-ness after milling and grinding processes under the same materials (316L stainless steel) between general rolled steel and 3D additive steel. Experimental results show that 3D printing parts are approximately 13% to 14% lighter than the general rolled steel. The surface roughness performance of 3D printing steel is better than general rolled steel under the same material after milling or grinding processing. The hardness of the 3D printing steel is better than that of the gen-eral rolled steel. The research verifies that 3D additive manufacturing can use surface processing to optimize surface performance and achieve the functions of lightness and hardness.

Immune escape is observed with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (Pango lineage B.1.1.529), the predominant circulating strain worldwide. Booster dose was shown to restore immunity against Omicron infection, however, real world data comparing mRNA (BNT162b2; Comirnaty) and inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac; Sinovac) homologous and heterologous boosting is lacking. A retrospective study was performed to compare the rate and outcome of COVID-19 in healthcare workers (HCWs) with various vaccination regime during a territory-wide Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong. During the study period 1 Feb – 31 Mar 2022, 3167 HCWs were recruited, 871 HCWs reported 746 and 183 episodes of significant household and non-household close contact. 737 HCWs acquired COVID-19 which were all clinically mild. Time dependent Cox regression showed that, comparing with 2-dose vaccination, 3-dose vaccination reduced infection risk by 31.7% and 89.3% in household contact and non-household close contact respectively. Using 2-dose BNT162b2 as reference, 2-dose CoronaVac recipient had significantly higher risk of being infected (HR 1.69 P<0.0001). Three-dose BNT162b2 (HR 0.4778 P<0.0001) and 2-dose CoronaVac + BNT162b2 booster (HR 0.4862 P=0.0157) were associated with lower risk of infection. Three-dose CoronaVac and 2-dose BNT162b2 + CoronaVac booster were not significantly different from 2-dose BNT162b2. The mean time to achieve negative RT-PCR or E gene cycle threshold 31 or above was not affected by age, number of vaccine dose taken, vaccine type and timing of the last dose. In summary, we have demonstrated lower risk of breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs given BNT162b2 as booster after 2 doses of BNT162b2 or CoronaVac.

Machine learning (ML) has emerged as a critical tool for making sense of the growing amount of genetic and genomic data available because of its ability to find complex patterns in high dimensional and heterogeneous data. While the complexity of ML models is what makes them powerful, it also makes them difficult to interpret. Fortunately, recent efforts to develop approaches that make the inner workings of ML models understandable to humans have improved our ability to make novel biological insights using ML. Here we discuss the importance of interpretable ML, different strategies for interpreting ML models, and examples of how these strategies have been applied. Finally, we identify challenges and promising future directions for interpretable ML in genetics and genomics.

Some researchers in Taiwan argue that the current mechanism by which government subsidies are allocated for smart city demonstration projects warrants improvement. A comprehensive literature review determined that the development potential of smart cities should be prioritized in site selection for such demonstration projects. This study developed an evaluation framework on the basis of multi-criteria evaluation methods to enable the identification of suitable smart community demonstration sites. Evaluation criteria were first identified through the Delphi method. Next, the weights of each criterion were derived through the analytic hierarchy process. Furthermore, the capability of the proposed evaluation model was determined through simulation testing.

In urban area, one of the great problem is the rise of temperature, which leads to form the urban heat island effect. This paper refers to the trend of the urban surface temperature extracted from the Landsat images from which to consider changes in the formation of surface urban heat island for the north of Ho Chi Minh city in period 1995-2015. Research has identified land surface temperature from thermal infrared band, according to the ability of the surface emission based on characteristics of normalized difference vegetation index NDVI. The results showed that temperature fluctuated over the city with a growing trend and the gradual expansion of the area of the high-temperature zone towards the suburbs. Within 20 years, the trend of the formation of surface urban heat island with two typical locations showed a clear difference between the surface temperature of urban areas and rural areas with space expansion of heat island in 4 times in 2015 compared to 1995. An extreme heat island located in the inner city has an area of approximately 18% compared to the total area of the region. Since then, the solution to reduce the impact of urban heat island has been proposed, in order to protect the urban environment and the lives of residents in Ho Chi Minh City becoming better

Background: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has gradually come to be regarded as an effective therapy, but the hospital mortality rate after ECPR is still high and unpredictable. The present study tested whether age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (ACCI) can be used as an objective selection criterion to ensure the most efficient utilization of medical resources. Methods: Adult patients (age ³ 18 years) receiving ECPR at our institution between 2006 and 2015 were included. Data regarding ECPR events and ACCI characteristics were collected immediately after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) setup. Adverse events during hospitalization were also prospectively collected. The primary endpoint was survival to hospital discharge. The second endpoint was short-term (2-year) follow-up outcome. Results: A total of 461 patients included in the study were grouped into low ACCI (ACCI 0–3) (240, 52.1%) and high ACCI (ACCI 4–13) (221, 47.9%) groups. The median ACCI was 2 (IQR: 1–3) and 5 (IQR: 4–7) for the low and high ACCI groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-to-ECMO duration was comparable between the groups (42.1 ± 25.6 and 41.3 ± 20.7 min in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively; P = 0.754). Regarding hospital survival rate, 256 patients (55.5%) died on ECMO support. A total of 205 patients (44.5%) were successfully weaned off ECMO, but only 138 patients (29.9%) survived to hospital discharge (32.1% and 27.6% in low and high ACCI group, P = 0.291). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed CPR-to-ECMO duration and CPR cause of septic shock as significant risk factors for hospital survival after ECPR (P = 0.043 and 0.014, respectively), whereas age and ACCI were not (P = 0.334 and 0.164, respectively). The 2-year survival rate after hospital discharge for the 138 hospital survivors was 96% and 74% in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively (P = 0.002.)Conclusions: High ACCI before ECPR does not predict poor outcome of hospital survival. Therefore, ECPR should not be rejected solely due to high ACCI. However, high ACCI in hospital survivors is associated with a higher 2-year mortality rate than low ACCI, and patients with high ACCI should be closely followed up.

In fuzzy decision problems, the ordering of fuzzy numbers is the basic problem. Among which, the fuzzy preference relation is the reasonable one to represent preference relation by a fuzzy membership function. This paper studies the Nakamura’s and Kołodziejczyk’s preference relations. Eight cases of representing different level of overlapping between two triangular fuzzy numbers are considered. We analyze the ranking behaviors of all possible combinations of decomposition and intersection of two fuzzy numbers for the Nakamura’s and Kołodziejczyk’s preference relations of these test cases. The results indicate that the decomposition and intersection can affect the fuzzy preference relations, thereby the final total order relation of fuzzy numbers.

GaN ultraviolet photodetector with metal-semiconductor-metal structure is achieved by growing on a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Under 5-V reverse bias, the photodetector fabricated on such patterned sapphire substrate exhibits a lower dark current, a higher photocurrent, and a 476 % enhancement in the maximum responsivity as compare with those of the photodetector fabricated on conventional flat sapphire substrate. It is also found that the much larger UV-to-visible rejection ratio and the fact that responsivity drops in a smaller cut-off region are observed from photodetector fabricated by using a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate. These phenomena may all be attributed to the reduction of threading dislocation density and the improved quality of GaN film, as well as the internal reflection and/or scattering effect on the interface between GaN film and the periodic trapezoid column-shape pattern of the substrate.

The morphological and compositional complexities of keratinized components make feathers ingenious skin appendages adapted to diverse ecological needs. Frizzling feathers, characterized by their distinct curling phenotypes, offer a unique model to explore the intricate morphogenesis in developing a keratin-based bioarchitecture over a wide range of morphospace. Here, we investigated the heterogeneous allocation of α- and β-keratins in flight feather shafts of homozygous and heterozygous frizzle chickens by analyzing the medulla-cortex integrations using quantitative morphology characterizations across scales. Our results reveal intriguing construction of frizzling feather shaft through modified medulla development, leading to a perturbed balance of the internal biomechanics and, therefore, introducing the inherent natural frizzling compared to those from wild-type chickens. We elucidate how the localized developmental suppression of the α-keratin in the medulla interferes with the growth of the hierarchical keratin organization by changing the internal stress in the frizzling feather shaft. This research not only offers insights into the morphogenetic origin of the inherent bending of frizzling feathers but also facilitates our in-depth understanding of the developmental strategies toward the diverse integuments adapted for ecological needs.

Equality and incomparability multi-label ranking have not been introduced to learning before. This paper proposes new native ranker neural network to address the problem of multi-label ranking including incomparable preference orders using a new activation and error functions and new architecture. Preference Neural Network PNN solves the multi-label ranking problem, where labels may have indifference preference orders or subgroups which are equally ranked. PNN is a nondeep, multiple-value neuron, single middle layer and one or more output layers network. PNN uses a novel positive smooth staircase (PSS) or smooth staircase (SS) activation function and represents preference orders and Spearman ranking correlation as objective functions. It is introduced in two types, Type A is traditional NN architecture and Type B uses expanding architecture by introducing new type of hidden neuron has multiple activation function in middle layer and duplicated output layers to reinforce the ranking by increasing the number of weights. PNN accepts single data instance as inputs and output neurons represent the number of labels and output value represents the preference value. PNN is evaluated using a new preference mining data set that contains repeated label values which have not experimented on before. SS and PS speed-up the learning and PNN outperforms five previously proposed methods for strict label ranking in terms of accurate results with high computational efficiency.

Accuracy and computational cost are the main challenges of deep neural networks in image recognition. This paper proposes an efficient ranking reduction to binary classification approach using a new feed-forward network and feature selection based on ranking the image pixels. Preference net (PN) is a novel deep ranking learning approach based on Preference Neural Network (PNN), which uses new ranking objective function and positive smooth staircase (PSS) activation function to accelerate the image pixels’ ranking. PN has a new type of weighted kernel based on spearman ranking correlation instead of convolution to build the features matrix. The PN employs multiple kernels that have different sizes to partial rank image pixels’ in order to find the best features sequence. PN consists of multiple PNNs’ have shared output layer. Each ranker kernel has a separate PNN. The output results are converted to classification accuracy using the score function. PN has promising results comparing to the latest deep learning (DL) networks using the weighted average ensemble of each PN models for each kernel on CFAR-10 and Mnist-Fashion datasets in terms of accuracy and less computational cost.

In recent years, governments applied intelligent transportation system (ITS) technique to provide several convenience services (e.g., garbage truck app) for residents. This study proposes a garbage truck fleet management system (GTFMS) and data feature selection and data clustering methods for travel time prediction. A GTFMS includes mobile devices (MD), on-board units, fleet management server, and data analysis server (DAS). When user uses MD to request the arrival time of garbage truck, DAS can perform the procedure of data feature selection and data clustering methods to analyses travel time of garbage truck. The proposed methods can cluster the records of travel time and reduce variation for the improvement of travel time prediction. After predicting travel time and arrival time, the predicted information can be sent to user’s MD. In experimental environment, the results showed that the accuracies of previous method and proposed method are 16.73% and 85.97%, respectively. Therefore, the proposed data feature selection and data clustering methods can be used to predict stop-to-stop travel time of garbage truck.

In recent years, the application of Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) has experienced a significant increase in demand, with the aging of the world’s population and their changing lifestyles. While outdoor positioning systems, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), have significantly advanced over the years, indoor positioning has been restrained by the limitations of the employed technologies. This paper presents a hybrid wireless positioning system able to locate wearables indoor accurately. It is based on the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, by using trilateration to determine the position of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) wearable devices with an accuracy of up to 1.8 meters. A graphical user interface (GUI) was used to illustrate the performance of the proposed systems, by allowing users to visualize the captured data in two dimensions and three- dimensions in real-time.

In coastal areas around the world, seagrass meadows play a crucial ecological and economic role. A large amount of seagrass beds dominates primary production and contributes to the high secondary productivity of this ecosystem. The microbial loop (consuming bacterial biomass by grazers and using seagrass-derived detritus by bacteria) may be an important mechanism for transferring seagrass-derived organic matter to the aquatic food chain. This study aims to improve our understanding of how bacterial growth and mortality (grazing and viral lysis rates) differ in seagrass and adjacent unvegetated meadow habitats. We found that viral lysis and grazing caused similar mortality rates of bacteria in a seagrass environment during the summer. It has been found, however, that bacterial production is controlled by the availability of resources (bottom-up control) and is cycled within the bacteria-virus-DOC loop in adjacent unvegetated waters. Our study region may be affected by this shift in organic matter fate and cycling.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the most crowded city and economic hub of Viet Nam, has been experiencing land subsidence over the past decades. This effort aims to contribute the spatial distribution of subsidence in HCMC in its horizontal and vertical components using synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) time series. To this purpose, an advanced Persistent Scatterers and Distributed Scatterers (PSDS) InSAR technique was applied to two European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 datasets consisting of 96 ascending and 202 descending images, acquired from 2014 to 2020 over the HCMC area. A time series of 33 COSMO-SkyMed ascending images was also used for comparison. The combination of ascending and descending satellite passes is used to decompose the light of sight velocities into horizontal east-west and vertical components. Taking into account the presence of east-west horizontal motion, our findings indicate that the accuracy of the decomposed vertical velocity can be improved by up to 3 mm/year for Sentinel-1 data. The obtained results revealed that subsidence is most pronounced in the areas along the Sai Gon River, in the northwest-southeast axis, and in the southwest of the city, with a maximum value of 80 mm/yr, which is in accordance with the findings of the literature. The amplitude of east-west horizontal velocities is relatively small and large-scale eastward movement can be observed in the west of the city at a rate of 3-5 mm/yr. This confirmed that the displacement in Ho Chi Minh City area is mainly vertical downward. Together, these results reinforced the remarkable suitability of ESA's SAR Sentinel-1 for subsidence applications, even for non-European countries such as Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited disorder characterized by unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy, with or without left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. Single nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) of both obstructive and nonobstructive HCM patient samples have revealed alterations in communication between various cell types but a direct and integrated comparison between the two HCM phenotypes has not been reported. We performed a bioinformatic analysis of HCM snRNA-seq datasets from obstructive and nonobstructive patient samples to identify differentially expressed genes and distinctive patterns of intercellular communication. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 37 differentially expressed genes, predominantly in cardiomyocytes but also in other cell types, relevant to aging, muscle contraction, cell motility and the extracellular matrix. Intercellular communication was generally reduced in HCM, affecting the extracellular matrix, growth factor binding, integrin binding, PDGF binding and SMAD binding, but with increases in adenylate cyclase binding, calcium channel inhibitor activity, and serine-threonine kinase activity in nonobstructive HCM. Increases in neuron to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication, in fibroblast to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication and in endothelial cell communication to other cell types, largely through changes in expression of integrin-b1 and its cognate ligands, were also noted. These findings indicate both common and distinct physiological mechanisms affecting the pathogenesis of obstructive and nonobstructive HCM and provide opportunities for personalized management of different HCM phenotypes.

We discuss methods for calculation of critical indices and amplitudes from the perturbative expansions. Several important examples of the Stokes flow through 2D and 3D channels are brought up. Power series for the permeability derived for small values of amplitude are employed to calculation of various critical exponents in the regime of large amplitudes. Special nonlinear approximations valid for arbitrary values of the wave amplitude are derived from the expansions. The technique developed for critical phenomena is applied then for relaxation phenomena. The concept of time-translation invariance is discussed, its spontaneous violation and restoration considered. Emerging probabilistic patterns correspond to a local breakdown of time-translation invariance. Their evolution leads to the timetranslation symmetry complete (or partial) restoration. We estimate typical time extent, amplitude and direction for such restorative process. The new technique is based on explicit introduction of origin in time. After some transformations we come to the exponential and generalized, exponential-type solution with explicit finite time scale, which was only implicit in initial parametrization with polynomial approximation. The concept of crash as a relaxation phenomenon, consisting of time-translation invariance breaking and restoration, is put forward. COVID-19 related mini-crash in the time series for Shanghai Composite is discussed as an illustration.

Regulatory T cells are key immune cells to initiate tolerable immune responses. TGFβ is the key cytokine of regulatory T cells. TGFβ is also the master cytokine to stimulate tissue fibrosis. Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease related to overt organ fibrosis. Thus, systemic sclerosis is a disease related to regulatory T cell over-representation. Besides, many end stage organ failures including heart failure, liver cirrhosis, uremia, and pulmonary fibrosis also related to tissue fibrosis. Thus, TGFβ producing regulatory T cells are also involved in the pathogenesis of these end stage organ failure. Once we know the significance of TGFβ and it induced tolerable immune reactions in the pathophysiology of end organ failure, we can develop better prevention or therapeutic strategies to combat these detrimental disorders.

The Indus basin is considered as the one with the highest dependence on snowmelt runoff in High Mountain Asia. The recent High Mountain Asia snow reanalysis enables to go beyond previous studies by evaluating both snowmelt and snow sublimation at the basin scale. Over 2000-2016, basin-average snowmelt is 101 11 Gt.a^-1 (121 ± 13 mm.a^-1), which represents about 25-30% of basin-average annual precipitation. Snow sublimation accounts for 11% of the mean annual snow ablation, but with a large spatial variability across the basin.

We review extrapolation methods for calculation of critical points and indices from the perturbative expansions by means of Pad\'{e}-based techniques and their various post-Pad\'{e} extensions by means of root and factor approximants. Factor approximants are applied to finding critical points. Roots are employed within the context of finding critical index. Additive self-similar approximants are discussed and $DLog$ additive recursive approximants are introduced as their generalization. They are applied to the problem of interpolation.

Background: The link between nocturia and aging male symptoms (AMS) has not been scientifically established. This study aimed to measure the degree of severity of AMS that impact on the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) in adult males living with nocturia, and to determine the predictive values of nocturnal factors on AMS. Methods: It is an extended analysis of new data collected by using the Hong Kong Traditional AMS (HK-AMS) scale and Cantonese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in a recently published cross-sectional population-based survey. Results: Of the 781 respondents that have completed the set of questionnaires, 68% and 61% of men living with nocturia reported clinically significant (at moderate-to-severe levels) somato-vegetative and sexual AMS, whereas the prevalence and severity were increased with advancing nighttime voiding frequency. The nocturia-specific QoL (NQoL) score and nocturnal frequency were found to be significant predictive factors for composite, somato-vegetative and sexual AMS, in addition to age, global OSQI score, and certain metabolic diseases. Conclusions: Current findings suggested the inclusion of nocturia when measuring the male-specific HRQoL related to aging.

Predictions of crop production in the Chi basin are of major importance for decision support tools in countries such as Thailand, which aim to increase domestic income and global food security by implementing the appropriate policies. This research aims to establish a predictive model for predicting crop production for an internal crop growth season prior of harvest at the province scale for fourteen provinces in Thailand's Chi basin between 2011 and 2019. We provide approaches for reducing redundant variables and multicollinearity in remotely sensed (RS) and meteorological data to avoid overfitting models using correlation analysis (CA) and variance inflation factor (VIF). Temperature condition index (TCI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land surface temperature (LSTnight), and mean temperature (Tmean) were the resulting variables in the prediction model with a p-value &lt; 0.05 and a VIF &lt; 5. The baseline data (2011–2017: June to November) were used to train four regression models, which revealed that eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), and XGBoost achieved R2 values of 0.95, 0.94, and 0.93, respectively. In addition, the testing dataset (2018–2019) displayed a minimum root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.18 ton/ha for the optimal solution by integrating variables and applying the XGBoost model. Accordingly, it is estimated that between 2020 and 2022, the total crop production in the Chi basin region would be 7.88, 7.64, and 7.72 million tons, respectively. The results demonstrated that the proposed model is proficient at greatly improving crop yield prediction accuracy when compared to a conventional regression method and that it may be deployed in different regions to assist farmers and policymakers in making more informed decisions about agricultural practices and resource allocation.

The value of QuantiFERON in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and in the monitoring of the response to anti-tuberculosis treatment is unclear. The aims of this study were to evaluate the accuracy of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and in the monitoring of the response to anti-tuberculosis treatment in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Between January 2013 and December 2015, 128 cases with active PTB and 128 controls with no mycobacterial infection, matched by age (within 3 years) and by the week that they visited Tainan Chest Hospital, were enrolled in the study. Serial testing by QFT-GIT at baseline and after 2 and 6 months of treatment was performed. At these time points, a comparison of the performance of QFT-GIT with that of sputum culture status among study subjects was conducted. Compared to baseline, 116 (87.2%) cases showed a decreased response, whereas 17 (12.8%) showed persistent or stronger interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) responses at 2 months. Their IFN-γ responses declined significantly from baseline to 2 months (median, 6.32 vs. 4.12; P < 0.005). The sensitivity values of the QFT-GIT test for the detection of pulmonary tuberculosis at cut-off points of 0.35 IU/ml, 0.20 IU/ml, and 0.10 IU/ml were 74.4%, 78.2%, and 80.5%, respectively. The specificity values at cut-off points of 0.35 IU/ml, 0.20 IU/ml, and 0.10 IU/ml were 66.2%, 63.9%, and 57.1%, respectively. Our results support the QFT-GIT assay as a potential tool for diagnosing tuberculosis and for monitoring the efficacy of anti-tuberculosis treatment.

A simple bounded stochastic motion is employed for modelling equity price dynamics under shocks, where the prices are constrained to lie between two positive bounds. While the stochastic process has an inaccessible boundary, the other boundary is quasi-bounded, implying that the boundary can be breached if the probability leakage condition is met. The quasi-boundedness of the process at the boundary can thus provide an indicator of possible risk of equities under price shocks. Empirical calibration of model parameters of the proposed process for equities can be performed easily due to the availability of an analytically tractable probability density function which generates fat-tailed distributions consistent with empirical observations. The volatility and mean-reversion of the S&P500 dynamics calibrated by the process is positively and negatively co-integrated respectively with the VIX index representing the level of market distress. The process captures the high likelihood of Hertz’s default about two months earlier, using only information until that point, and before the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Empirical calibration of the process for GameStop’s stock price shows that the short squeeze of the stock occurred when the condition for breaching an upper boundary was met on 14 January 2021, i.e., about two weeks before major short sellers closed out their positions with significant losses. The trading volume of the stock was positively co-integrated with the probability leakage ratio.

The purpose of this study is to apply the convergence-confinement method (CCM) based on the assumption of hydrostatic stress to the surrounding rock excavated in a circular tunnel whose rock mass characteristics meet the requirements of the non-linear Hoek-Brown failure criterion. Based on a consistent and rigorous method of theoretical analysis, a closed-form analytical solution for the stress/displacement of the ground reaction induced by the advancing excavation of the tunnel, especially in the elastic and plastic regions, is derived and investigated under the condition of an isotropic stress state. By taking the value of a confinement loss as an explicit analysis process in an incremental manner, not only is the computationally executable analytical solution achieved, but it can also be performed using a simple spreadsheet. The validity of the analytical solution implemented by the incremental procedure was examined with published data to study the effect of nonlinear failure criteria on the ground reaction curve; in particular the mechanical behavior at the intrados of the tunnel, and the distribution of stress/displacement on the cross-section of the tunnel. A comparison between the published results and the solution proposed in this study, which interprets the closed-form by the incremental procedure, shows consistent and favorable trends.

The CoDRIVE solution builds on R&amp;D in the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). The mainstay of the system is a low-cost GNSS receiver integrated with a MEMS grade IMU powered with CoDRIVE algorithms and high precision data processing software. The solution integrates RFID (radio-frequency identification) localisation information derived from tags installed in the roads around the University of Nottingham. This aids the positioning solution by correcting the long-term drift of inertial navigation technology in the absence of GNSS. The solution is informed of obscuration of GNSS through city models of skyview and elevation masks derived from 360-degree photography. The results show that predictive intelligence of the denial of GNSS and RFID aiding realises significant benefits compared to the inertial only solution. According to the validation, inertial only solutions drift over time, with an overall RMS accuracy over a 300 metres section of GNSS outage of 10 to 20 metres. After deploying the RFID tags on the road, experiments show that the RFID aided algorithm is able to constrain the maximum error to within 3.76 metres, and with 93.9% of points constrained to 2 metres accuracy overall.

The mechanism of immune activation and de-activation is very important. Host should trigger effective immunity against pathogen infection. And, host cannot trigger immunity against self-antigens that will lead to detrimental autoimmune disorders. Spleen and liver have opposite roles in mediating immune responses. Spleen is the organ involving in immune activation, and liver is the organ involving in immune de-activation. Sympathetic nerve system and parasympathetic nerve system have opposite roles in mediating immune responses. Sympathetic nerve system is involving in pro-inflammatory, and parasympathetic nerve system is involving in anti-inflammatory. ACTH and glucocorticosteroid have opposite roles in mediating immune responses. ACTH is involving in activating adaptive immunity with inhibiting innate immunity, and glucocorticosteroid is involving in activating innate immunity with inhibiting adaptive immunity. The molecular chaperons, heat shock proteins, which are induced by fever, have the vital roles in immune activation. On the contrary, IgD B cells and gamma-delta T cells are causing immune de-activation via the mechanism of clonal anergy. These mechanism can help us the know the work of immunological pathways better for better control of infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.

Simulating the non-perturbative and non-Markovian dynamics of open quantum systems is a very challenging many body problem, due to the need to evolve both the system and its environments on an equal footing. Tensor network and matrix product states (MPS) have emerged as powerful tools for open system models, but the numerical resources required to treat finite temperature environments grow extremely rapidly and limit their applications. In this study we use time-dependent variational evolution of MPS to expore the striking theory of Tamescelli et al. that shows how finite temperture open dyanmics can be obtained from zero temperature, i.e. pure wave function, simulations. Using this approach, we produce a benchmark data set for the dynamics of the Ohmic spin-boson model across a wide range of coupling and temperatures, and also present detailed analysis of the numerical costs of simulating non-equilibrium steady states, such as those emerging from the non-perturbative coupling of a qubit to baths at different temperatures. Despite ever growing resource requirements, we find that converged non-perturbative results can be obtained, and we discuss a number of recent ideas and numerical techniques that should allow wide application of MPS to complex open quantum systems.

The ingestion of ethanol presents a significant global public health challenge. Chronic alcohol consumption is associated with the development of conditions such as cancer, cirrhosis, hepatic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, as well as neurological impairments that may predispose individuals to dementia, schizophrenia, and behavioral disorders such as violence and suicide. Alcohol-related fatalities constitute 5.3% of worldwide deaths annually, totaling approximately 3 million. Notably, alcohol consumption is implicated in 25% of cirrhosis-related deaths and 4.1% of cancer-related deaths. Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is a non-protein β-amino acid essential for cellular homeostasis, possessing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective properties crucial for life maintenance. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of taurine administration on hippocampal neurogenesis, neuronal preservation or reverse damage in rats exposed to forced ethanol consumption. Results demonstrated the neuroprotective effects of taurine on ethanol-treated rats, promoting tissue regeneration and suggesting its pivotal role in this process. However, this aminoacid failed to induce neurogenesis in the tissues of healthy rats, implying that its activity may be contingent upon post-injury stimuli.

There is limited information on Tamarind production, trade and value added products in Kenya. Of late, there is growing interest in the domestic and export markets due to its multiple uses. The objective of this paper is to review existing literature to identify the missing value chain links which may help catalyse the scaling up of production and commercialization of Tamarind. Selected literature and interviews with traders and extension staff in the Coastal Counties were used to collect information for this study. Tamarind fruits are mainly collected in the wild in semi-arid areas of the country and marketed through informal channels. Mombasa is the terminal market for tamarind from Kenya and Uganda, from where domestic consumers and exporters obtain their supplies. Globally, virtually every part of tamarind tree (pulp, seed, leaves, flowers, bark and roots) has either nutritional, industrial or medicinal value. Tamarind fruit contains substantial levels of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids making it potentially useful in addressing wide spread malnutrition. Its anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-diabetic properties gives tamarind wider application in conventional and traditional medicine. The findings suggest that scaling up the production and commercialization of tamarind in the country requires both public and private sector investment. The structure of this partnership should consist of the following value chain links: An efficient Seed / seedling system as a source of planting materials; production hubs by farmer associations, government institutions and private farms; aggregation centres for assurance of volumes and quality; processing, value addition and product diversification; an efficient distribution systems of wholesalers and retailers, particularly supermarkets; exporters and consumers. The agenda for further research should include breeding and availing early maturing cultivars demanded by the export market, quality management andvalue addition technologies.

To study the influence of Latin dance and Tai Chi on knee joint proprioception and balance. Method: All experiments were performed in the Beijing Normal University School of Physical Education and Sport Biomechanics Laboratory. An isokinetic test system (Biodex system 4, BS4) and a balance testing system (Biodex Balance System, BBS)from the United States Biodex medical system were used to test related indexes. Results: In the LOS test, the overall score of Latin group is much better than sedentary group. In the ASL test, Latin group have a better balance ability in anterior and posterior direction and overall score than sedentary group(p＜0.05); TAI CHI group have a better balance ability than sedentary group in anterior and posterior direction(p＜0.05)and right and left direction (p＜0.01). When the knee joint was at 15, 30, and 45degree positions, the Tai Chi exercise group was much better than sedentary group (P < 0.05), and the 45 degree position in the Tai Chi group was much better than that in the Latin dance group (P < 0.01).When the knee joint was at the 30 degree position, the quadriceps force sense was significantly better in the Tai Chi group than in the Latin dance and sedentary groups. In a test of the four angles, the hamstring force sense in the Tai Chi exercise group was obviously better than that in the sedentary group (P < 0.05); at the 15 degree position, the Tai Chi group was significantly better than the Latin group (P < 0.05); and at 30 degree position, the hamstring force sense of the Latin group was obviously better than that of the sedentary group (P < 0.05).

This paper comprehensively reviews sensors and sensing devices developed or/and proposed so far utilizing two smart materials: electrorheological fluids (ERFs) and magnetorheological materials (MRMs) whose rheological characteristics such as stiffness and damping can be controlled by external stimuli, an electrical voltage for ERFs and a magnetic field for MRMs, respectively. In this review article, the MRMs are classified into magnetorheological fluid (MRF), magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) and magnetorheological plastomer (MRP). To easily understand the history of sensing research using the two smart materials, the order of this review article is organized in a chronological manner of ERF sensors, MRF sensors, MRE sensors and MRP sensors. Among many sensors fabricated from each smart material, one or two sensors or sensing devices are adopted to discuss on the sensing configuration, working principle and specifications such as accuracy and sensitivity. Some sensors adopted in this article include force sensor, tactile device, strain sensor, wearable bending sensor, magnetometer, display device and flux measurement sensor. After briefly describing what have been reviewed in a conclusion, several challenging future works, which should be done for practical applications as sensors or sensing devices, are remarked in terms of new technologies such as artificial intelligence neural network in which several parameters affecting the sensor signals can be precisely tuned or controlled. It is sure that this review article is very helpful to make creative sensors using not only the proposed smart materials but also several different types of smart materials including shape memory alloys and active polymers.

Rose (Rosa spp.), especially R. hybrida, is one of the most popular ornamental plants in the world and the third largest cut flower crop in Taiwan. Rose mosaic disease (RMD), showing mosaic, line patterns and ringspots on leaves, is a common rose disease caused by complex infection of various viruses. Due to pests and diseases, the rose planting area in Taiwan has been decreasing since 2008; however, no rose virus disease has been reported in the past five decades. In the spring of 2020, rose samples showing RMD-like symptoms were observed at an organic farm in Chiayi, central Taiwan. The virome in the farm was analyzed by RNA-seq. Rose genomic sequences were filtered from the obtained reads. The remaining reads were de novo assembled to generate 294 contigs, 50 of which were annotated as viral sequences corresponding to 10 viruses. Through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction validation, a total of seven viruses were detected, including six known rose viruses, namely apple mosaic virus, prunus necrotic ringspot virus, rose partitivirus, apple stem grooving virus, rose spring dwarf-associated virus and rose cryptic virus 1, and a novel ilarvirus. After completing the whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis, the unknown ilarvirus was demonstrated as a new species, tentatively named rose ilarvirus 2. This is the first report of the rose viruses in Taiwan.

Previous research has paid little attention to the relationship between corporate governance and brand equity in the tourism industry. This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of corporate governance (CG) on the relationship between brand equity (BE) and corporate profit-ability (CP) with ten control variables including five company characteristics and five macroeconomic variables. Financial data is retrieved from the Taiwan Economics Journal Database (TEJ), covering a total of 196 records from 32 listed companies for 16 years. Results indicate that BE has a significantly positive impact on CP in Taiwanese-listed tourism companies, and that CG moderates the relationship between BE and CP. These findings could help management executives enhance profitability by deepening BE and CG in the tourism industry. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Current stock market forecasting methods encompass fundamental, technical, emotional, and bargaining factors. Predominantly, price prediction hinges on order volume and price, although correlating these two within existing models proves challenging. This study employs Cycle Generative Adversarial Network (Cycle GAN) to unravel the intricate price-volume relationship, combining it with Bollinger Bands for trading signal analysis, overcoming hurdles in short-term forecasting prevalent in numerical analysis and AI. Focusing on TSMC (2330.TW) stock price, the research leverages Cycle GAN in deep learning to master the price-volume nexus, juxtaposed with LSTM and RNN. Historical TSMC closing prices and transaction counts are model inputs, scrutinizing their interconnectedness for predictions. This innovative approach aligns stock price, volume, market value, taxes, and prior changes via system engineering. By intertwining Bollinger Bands with stock price forecasts, trading signals are distilled, factoring in extended index %b for a comprehensive market picture.

The study investigated the relationships between sarcopenia, frailty, and related factors in hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease. A prospective cross-sectional study with convenience sampling was conducted between August 2021 and February 2022 at a hospital-affiliated hemodialysis center. Ninety-six hemodialysis patients participated in the study. Quantitative data were collected with structured interviews. Sarcopenia was determined with a rapid screening tool. Frailty was determined with the Rockwood clinical frailty score. Descriptive analysis, Person Correlations, and Linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the associations between frailty, sarcopenia, and health-related factors in hemodialysis patients. The mean age of the participants was 65.4 11.5 years, with an average of 95.0 77.5 months of hemodialysis. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (72.9%), followed by diabetes mellitus (39.6%) and cardiovascular health problems (35.4%). A significant difference in frailty between sarcopenia patients and a healthy population (X2 =9.51, p &lt;.001) was identified. There was a strong negative correlation (r= −.853, p&lt;.001) between sarcopenia and frailty, while moderate correlations between sarcopenia and frailty in sarcopenia patients (r= −.66, p&lt;.001) and a healthy population (r= −.58, p&lt;.001) were observed. Age, body weight before dialysis, and hand grip strength were found to be potential predictors of sarcopenia and frailty. Left calf circumference was significantly associated with sarcopenia (ß= −.128, p = .049). Age, body weight before dialysis, and hand grip strength are potential predictors of sarcopenia and frailty in hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease. Comorbidities, which may be preventable, are common in this population.

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) may convey high current and sustain high breakdown voltages; it may provide high power control. In a sense, how IGBT demonstrates the capability of power control was not specifically described, and the equivalent bipolar junction transistors (BJT) activated by an applied bias to the insulated gate is intriguing. As seen in Figure 1, IGBT shows an equivalent circuit structure containing two types of BJT, (NPN-type Bipolar transistor and PNP-type Bipolar transistor), which can be modeled as diode-associated transistor. Apparently, as a bias applies to the controlling gate, the channel beneath the gate oxide gets strongly inversed and turns out to be conductive just like what happens on metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET), which provides necessary igniting currents to both BJTs and thus causes high current gain flowing through them-selves from the bottom. A proposed and renewed formula provides addressing the above scenario and successfully fitting the measured data that forms the characteristic curves. Some parameters in the proposed formula, which includes size and mobility associated constant, threshold voltage, and Early-Voltage-related lambda for MOSFET, explain and explore the underlying physics. IGBT thus enjoy high input impedance and high current gain due to MOSFET (Insulated Gate) and BJT, respectively. This formula combines both merits of MOSFET and BJT in order to fit the measured data. Indeed, the formula intimately fits IGBT electrical characteristic curves, and thus may be qualified and served as a model. The new model is then advisable for designing power integrated circuit to exactly achieve power saving, power control, and power efficiency.

A proportion of osteoarthritis (OA) patients are unsatisfied with post-operative outcomes following total joint replacement surgery (TJR), with insufficient pain relief or poor functional improvement. Predicting those will have poor outcomes would be beneficial for patients and clinicians. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between baseline anthropometric data and the concentration of pre-operative serum and peri-operative synovial fluid (SF) cytokines with 7-month post-operative outcomes in a cohort of knee and hip OA patients. 160 OA patients were recruited who were scheduled for TJR. The concentration of 24 cytokines were measured in blood and SF by multiplex assay. EQ5Dindex health status was assessed pre-operatively and at 7-months post-operatively. 13% of patients were identified as non-responders based on EQ5Dindex. Compared to responders, non-responders were of higher BMI, had greater waist and hip circumference and had higher levels of SF leptin but lower levels of SF Resistin (p&lt;0.05). Linear regression analysis found a significant relationship between pre-operative body weight and post-operative response (ΔEQ5Dindex; r=0.222, p=0.049). The combination of body weight with SF amphiregulin and SF IL-6 provided an improved predictive model of post-operative response (r=0.470, p=0.035).

Hyperuricemia (HC) was one of the important risk factors for gout, arteriosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies have shown that Lactobacillus plantarum can improve the microbiota, immune regulation, and inhibit the uric acid production. However, it was not clear whether L. plantarum can improve HC and intestinal microbiota. We used potassium oxonate (PO) to induce HC in male SD rats, and then treated L. plantarum TCI227 in a dose dependent (HC+LD, HC+MD, HC+HD) for 4 weeks, and examined weight organs, biochemical examination of blood and urine, and analyzed the intestinal microbiota in feces by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. In this study, TCI227 improved body weight, decreased creatinine, serum uric acid, and increased urine uric acid compared to the HC group. Furthermore, TCI227 increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In fecal microbiota (family), TCI227 increased the level of Lactobacillaceae, and then decreased the level of Deferribacteres and Prevotellaceae compared to the HC group. Finally, in fecal microbiota (genus), TCI227 decreased the level of Prevotella, and then increased the level of Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus compared to the HC group. This study suggested that TCI227 can improve HC and change the compositions of the intestinal microbiota in PO induced male HC SD rats.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG repeat expansion in the coding region of huntingtin (HTT) protein. The accumulation of mutant HTT (mHTT) contributes to neurotoxicity by causing autophagy defects and oxidative stress that ultimately lead to neuronal death. Interestingly, epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of type-2 diabetes, a metabolic disease mainly caused by defective insulin signaling, is higher in patients with HD than in healthy controls. Although the precise mechanisms of mHTT-mediated toxicity remain unclear, the blockade of brain insulin signaling may initiate or exacerbate mHTT-induced neurodegeneration. In this study, we used an in vitro HD model to investigate whether neuronal insulin signaling is involved in mHTT-mediated neurotoxicity. Our results demonstrated that mHTT overexpression significantly impairs insulin signaling and causes apoptosis in neuronal cells. However, treatment with liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, markedly restores insulin sensitivity and enhances cell viability. This neuroprotective effect may be attributed to the contribution of the upregulated expression of genes associated with endogenous antioxidant pathways to oxidative stress reduction. In addition, liraglutide stimulates autophagy through AMPK activation, which attenuates the accumulation of HTT aggregates within neuronal cells. Our findings collectively suggest that liraglutide can rescue impaired insulin signaling caused by mHTT and that GLP-1 may potentially reduce mHTT-induced neurotoxicity in the pathogenesis of HD.

The Vu Gia - Thu Bon River Basin (VG-TB) is confronting numerous challenges related to water security (WS), particularly in the face of the impacts of climate change. These challenges manifest in salinity intrusion, altered rainfall patterns, and reduced water supply in downstream areas. To assess the current state of water security in the basin, the study employed statistical analysis methods, Process Analysis Method (PAM), SMART, and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop a comprehensive Assessment Framework for Water Security (AFWS) in the VG-TB. The AFWS encompasses five key dimensions, 17 indicators, and 28 variables, aligning with the UN-Water definition of water security and addressing the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) criteria for global water sustainability. It also adheres to the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) approach to water security assessment as outlined in the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) reports. This allows for the computation of a comprehensive Water Security Index (WSI) for specific regions, serving as a foundation for decision-making and policy formulation aimed at enhancing water security in the context of climate change and facilitating sustainable basin development in the future.

As governments in various countries and regions issue tourism-friendly policies in the post-pandemic period, the voices for tourism consumption recovery and innovative transformation have attracted great attention. Many scholars, experts and industry professionals in the field of festivals are actively exploring efficient solutions for festival marketing and sustainability. It is worth rethinking tourists’ consumption psychology and perceived image toward exiting festival products as well as the antecedents that affect festival loyalty. The Qingdao International Beer Festival, as one of the most influential festivals in China, was selected as the research case for this study. The main goal of this study was to investigate festival consumption promotion mechanism by proposing a conceptual framework in which the associations from destination familiarity and product familiarity to loyal intentions (re-patronage and recommendation) were examined, with mediators of overall festival image, perceived value and overall satisfaction. Furthermore, the moderating role of visitor involvement in the proposed framework was also adequately demonstrated. The research findings are expected to provide a significant reference for the recovery and competitiveness improvement of the entire festival industry.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prevalent autoimmune condition, yet its alignment with a specific host immunological pathway remains unclear. The THαβ host immunological pathway, recognized for its defense against viruses and prions, has recently emerged as a response to DNA, RNA, and protein pathogens. SLE patients often produce anti-double strand DNA antibodies and anti-nuclear antibodies, suggesting a potential association with the THαβ host immune reaction. Throughout the course of SLE, elevated levels of type 1 interferons, type 3 interferons, interleukin-10, IgG1, and IgA1 are commonly observed. These cytokines and antibody isotypes are indicative of the THαβ host immunological pathway. Similarly, Myasthenia gravis, Grave’s disease, Graft versus host disease, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, immune thrombocytopenia, dermatomyositis, and Sjogren’s syndrome are also linked to THαβ-related type 2 hypersensitivities. Considering the potential association of these diseases with dysregulated THαβ immune responses, therapeutic strategies such as anti-interleukin-10 or anti-interferons α/β could be explored to manage these disorders effectively.

Currently, peptic ulcers are widely studied as an infectious disease caused by Helicobacter pylori primarily due to 3 supporting evidences, and this etiology may explain the other 3 observations, but cannot confront the challenges of the 15 major characteristics and the other 75 observations/phenomena of peptic ulcers. To address the challenges, a recently published Complex Causal Relationship with its accompanying methodologies was applied to analyze existing data. Peptic ulcers are identified as a psychosomatic disease triggered by psychological stress, where Helicobacter pylori plays a secondary role in only the late phase of ulceration. This new etiology elucidated all the 15 major characteristics and 81 observations/phenomena of peptic ulcers in a series of 6 articles. This sixth article focuses exclusively on the controversies surrounding the role of Helicobacter pylori in peptic ulcers. In-depth analyses find that all the 3 evidences supporting “peptic ulcers are an infectious disease caused by Helicobacter pylori” are deceiving, and 2 of the 3 explainable observations may have been misinterpreted. Meanwhile, the definitions of ‘etiological factor’ and ‘causality’ do not support ‘H. pylori infection is an etiological factor of peptic ulcers’, and existing literatures have presented a controversial view on the role of Helicobacter pylori in peptic ulcers. Interestingly, if “peptic ulcers are an infectious disease caused by Helicobacter pylori” is considered an illusion, all the characteristics of the disease, along with all the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory observations/phenomena, can be fully understood. This illusion has misguided peptic ulcer research over the past 36 years with little progress in the field, and that may represent a widespread situation in modern medical research, resulting in a direct interference with the true understanding of disease. Evidently, keeping the concept “illusion” in mind may help remove a huge obstacle that impedes medical advance, thereby facilitating the in-depth study of disease.

Phage, which is often used therapeutically, has begun to receive interest as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) to enhance chicken growth. Another option that has been extensively studied as a growth promoter in chicken is probiotics. However, there are no studies using phages and probiotics as prospective feed additives for broiler chickens. Therefore, this study demonstrated the effects of phage cocktail, probiotics and their combinations on growth performance and gut microbiota of broiler chickens. A total of 288 one-day-old male Cobb 500 broilers were randomly allotted to 1 of 6 treatments in a completely randomised design. The treatments were: (i) C (basal diet (BD) only), (ii) 1ɸ (BD + 0.1% phage cocktail), (iii) 2ɸ (BD + 0.2% phage cocktail), (iv) P (BD + 0.1% probiotic), (v) 1ɸP (BD + 0.1% phage cocktail + 0.1% probiotic), (vi) 2ɸP (BD + 0.2% phage cocktail + 0.1% probiotic). The 1ɸP treatment had significantly (P < 0.05) better BW (35 d), BWG (22 – 35 d, 1 – 35d), and FCR (1-21 d. 22-35 d, 1-35 d) compared to C. Unique gut microbiota diversity was also found between the ɸP (1ɸP and 2ɸP) and non-ɸP groups (C, 1ɸ, 2ɸ and P) in ilea, particularly in the 35 d chickens. Microorganisms associated with short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producers were significantly (P <0.05) present in the ɸP group than in the non- ɸP group. The carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism predicted genes were significantly upregulated in ɸP groups compared to non- ɸP groups. These genes were involved in the digestion and absorption of nutrients as well as the production of energy. Our findings showed that 1ɸP treatment could be a potential alternative to AGPs for poultry where growth performance was enhanced, and gut microbiota was positively modulated.

Many theoretical models of iron-based superconductors have been proposed but Tc calculations based on the models are usually missing. We have chosen two models of iron-based superconductors in the literature and then compute the Tc values accordingly: Recently two models have been announced which suggest that superconducting electron concentration involved in the pairing mechanism of iron-based superconductors may have been underestimated, and that the antiferromagnetism and the induced xy potential may even have a dramatic amplification effect on electron-phonon coupling. We use bulk FeSe, LiFeAs and NaFeAs data to calculate the Tc based on these models and test if the combined model can predict the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the nanostructured FeSe monolayer well. To substantiate the recently announced xy potential in the literature, we create a two-channel model to separately superimpose the dynamics of the electron in the upper and lower tetrahedral plane. The results of our two-channel model support the literature data. While scientists are still searching for a universal DFT functional that can describe the pairing mechanism of all iron-based superconductors, we base on the ARPES data to propose an empirical combination of DFT functional for revising the electron-phonon scattering matrix in the superconducting state, which ensures that all electrons involved in iron-based superconductivity are included in the computation. Our computational model takes into account this amplifying effect of antiferromagnetism and the correction of the electron-phonon scattering matrix together with the abnormal soft out-of-plane lattice vibration of the layered structure, which allows us to calculate theoretical Tc values of LiFeAs, NaFeAs and FeSe as a function of pressure that correspond reasonably well to the experimental values. More importantly, by taking into account the interfacial effect between an FeSe monolayer and its SrTiO3 substrate as an additional gain factor, our calculated Tc value is up to 91 K high, and provides evidence that the strong Tc enhancement recently observed in such monolayers with Tc reaching 100 K may be contributed from the electrons within the ARPES range.

Three new secoiridoid constituents Gonocarin A-C (1-3) and a new derivative Gonocarin A monoacetate (4), along with two known lignins pinoresinol (5) and paulownin (6) were isolated from the seed of Gonocaryum calleryanum (Baill.) Becc. The structures of the new metabolites were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, particularly mass spectroscopy and 2D NMR (1H–1H COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY) spectroscopy. When mouse macrophages RAW264.7 were treated with compounds 1-6 together with LPS -stimulated, a concentration-dependent inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) productions were detected. The results confirmed that the Gonocaryum calleryanumrrg could be a potential anti-inflammatory agent.

In Taiwan, colorectal cancer is ranked second and third in terms of mortality and cancer incidence, respectively. In addition, medical expenditures related to colorectal cancer are considered to be the third highest. While advances in treatment strategies have provided cancer patients with longer survival, potentially harmful second primary cancers can occur. Therefore, second primary colorectal cancer analysis is an important issue with regard to clinical management. In this study, a novel predictive scheme was developed for predicting the risk factors associated with second colorectal cancer in patients with colorectal cancer by integrating five data mining classification techniques, including support vector machine, random forest, multivariate adaptive regression splines, extreme learning machine, and extreme gradient boosting. In total, 4,287 patients in the datasets provided by three hospital tumor registries were used. Our empirical results revealed that this proposed predictive scheme provided promising classification results and the identification of important risk factors for predicting second colorectal cancer based on accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve metrics. Collectively, our clinical findings suggested that the most important risk factors were the combined stage, age at diagnosis, BMI, surgical margins of the primary site, tumor size, sex, regional lymph nodes positive, grade/differentiation, primary site, and drinking behavior. Accordingly, these risk factors should be monitored for the early detection of second primary tumors in order to improve treatment and intervention strategies.

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.

Due to their excellent physicochemical properties, fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), are used in a variety of applications, but they are potent greenhouse gases. Therefore, they have been blanketed into the list of phase-out under the international protocols or treaties. In this work, the updated statistics of the Taiwan’s national inventory report (NIR) were used to analyze the trends of F-gases (i.e., HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3) emissions during the period of 2000-2020. Furthermore, the regulatory strategies and measures for reducing the emissions of the four F-gases will be summarized to be in accordance with the national and international regulations. With the progressive efforts by the regulatory requirements and the industry’s voluntary reduction, the total F-gases emissions indicated a significant increase from 2,462 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) in 2000 to the peak value (i.e., 12,643 kilotons) of CO2eq in 2004, but sharply decreased from 10,284 kilotons of CO2eq in 2005 to 3,906 kilotons of CO2eq in 2020. It was also found that the most commonly used method for controlling the emissions of F-gases from the semiconductor and optoelectronic industries was based on the thermal destruction-local scrubbing technology.

Blockchain technology can achieve decentralization, multi-party verification, anti-tampering, anonymity, traceability of transactions, and the application of distributed ledger. Countries around the world continue to seek the blockchain business models, technologies and applications, and have different visions and policies for the development of blockchain. This study conducts a comparative policy framework of theoretical analysis of the blockchain technology between the USA and China. Using the innovative policy tools proposed by Rothwell and Zegveld, the above mentioned governments are analyzed from the viewpoint of twelve policy tools. The results show that the USA and China all prefer to use “Environmental-side” policy. The USA has paid more attention to “Legal and regulatory”, “Public services” and “Procurement”. China has the highest proportion of policies in “Political tools”, followed by “Legal & regulatory”, while “Scientific and technical”, “Education” and “Overseas agent” come in third . The blockchain technology has developed vigorously among industries and its applications have gradually diversified. The results are provided to various stakeholders as a reference for policy planning.

In Taiwan, farmers often apply excess compost to ensure adequate crop yield in highly frequent tillage, highly weathered, and lower fertility soils. The potential of biochar (BC) for diminishing soil C mineralization, and improving soil nutrient availability in compost over-fertilized soil is promising, but the study is still under-examined. To test the hypothesis, 434 days in vitro C mineralization kinetics of incubation experiment were conducted. Woody BC 0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% (w/w) made of lead tree (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de. Wit) were added to an Oxisols, and two Inceptisols of Taiwan. In each treatment, 5% swine manure compost (2 times recommended amount) was added and served as the over-fertilized soil. The results indicated that soil type strongly influenced the impact of BC addition on soil carbon mineralization potential. Respiration per unit of total organic carbon (total mineralization coefficient, TMC) of three studied soils significantly decreased with BC addition increased. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that for retaining more plant nutrients in addition to the effects of carbon sequestration, it is recommended that farmer could use locally produced biochars and composts in highly weathered and highly frequent tillage soil. Adding 0.5%-1% woody BC in soil should be reasonable and appropriate.

In Taiwan, farmers often apply excess compost to ensure adequate crop yield in highly frequent tillage, highly weathered, and lower fertility soils. The potential of biochar (BC) for diminishing soil C mineralization, and improving soil nutrient availability in compost over-fertilized soil is promising, but the study is still under-examined. To test the hypothesis, 434 days in vitro C mineralization kinetics of incubation experiment were conducted. Woody BC 0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% (w/w) made of lead tree (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de. Wit) were added to an Oxisols, and two Inceptisols of Taiwan. In each treatment, 5% swine manure compost (2 times recommended amount) was added and served as the over-fertilized soil. The results indicated that soil type strongly influenced the impact of BC addition on soil carbon mineralization potential. Respiration per unit of total organic carbon (total mineralization coefficient, TMC) of three studied soils significantly decreased with BC addition increased. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that for retaining more plant nutrients in addition to the effects of carbon sequestration, it is recommended that farmer could use locally produced biochars and composts in highly weathered and highly frequent tillage soil. Adding 0.5%-1% woody BC in soil should be reasonable and appropriate.

This study investigates the asymmetric impacts of oil price changes on inflation in Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria. Three different oil price data were applied in this study; the specific spot oil price of individual countries, the OPEC reference basket oil price and an average of the Brent, WTI and Dubai oil price. The dynamic panels ARDL were used to estimate the short and the long-run impacts. Also, this study partitioned the oil price into positive and negative changes to capture asymmetric impacts and found both positive and negative oil price changes positively influenced inflation. However, the impact was found to be more significant when oil prices dropped. The results from the study also found that money supply, the exchange rate and GDP are positively related to inflation while food production is negatively related to inflation. Accordingly, policymakers should be cautious in formulating policies between the positive and negative changes in oil prices as it was shown that inflation increased when the oil price dropped. Additionally, the use of contractionary monetary policy would help to reduce the inflation rate, and lastly, it is proposed that the government should encourage domestic food production both in quantity and quality to reduce inflation.

This paper proposes an approach for image data extraction and driving behavior analysis using geographic information and driving data. Information derived from geographic and global positioning systems was used for image data extraction. In addition, we used an onboard diagnostic II and a controller area network bus logger to record driving data for driving behavior analysis. Driving behavior was analyzed using sparse automatic encoders and data exploration to detect abnormal and aggressive behavior. A regression analysis was used to derive the relationship between aggressive driving behavior and road facilities. Several traffic improvements were proposed for specific intersections and roads. The results indicate that lane ratios without lane markings and with straight lane markings are important features that affect aggressive driving behaviors.

Multi- and hyper-spectral, multi-angular top-of-canopy reflectance data call for an efficient retrieval system which can improve the retrieval of standard canopy parameters (as albedo, LAI, fAPAR), and exploit the information to retrieve additional parameters (e.g. leaf pigments). Furthermore consistency between the retrieved parameters and quantification of uncertainties are required for many applications. % (2) methods We present a retrieval system for canopy and sub-canopy parameters (OptiSAIL), which is based on a model comprising SAIL, PROSPECT-D (leaf properties), TARTES (snow properties), a soil model (BRDF, moisture), and a cloud contamination model. The inversion is gradient based and uses codes % created by Automatic Differentiation. The full per pixel covariance-matrix of the retrieved parameters is computed. For this demonstration, single observation data from the Sentinel-3 SY_2_SYN (synergy) product is used. The results are compared with the MODIS 4-day LAI/fPAR product and PhenoCam site photography. OptiSAIL produces generally consistent and credible results, at least matching the quality of the technically quite different MODIS product. For most of the sites, the PhenoCam images support the OptiSAIL retrievals. The system is computationally efficient with a rate of 150 pixel per second (7 millisecond per pixel) for a single thread on a current desktop CPU using observations on 26 bands. Not all of the model parameters are well determined in all situations. Significant correlations between the parameters are found, which can change sign and magnitude over time. OptiSAIL appears to meet the design goals, puts real-time processing with this kind of system into reach, seamlessly extends to hyper-spectral and multi-sensor retrievals, and promises to be a good platform for sensitivity studies. The incorporated cloud and snow detection adds to the robustness of the system.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second common hematologic malignancy in children. The incidence of childhood AML is much lower than acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which makes the childhood AML a rare disease in children. The role of genetic abnormalities in AML classification, management and prognosis prediction is much more important than before. The WHO classification of myeloid neoplasms and the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) classification were both revised in 2022. The application of the new information in childhood AML will be upcoming in the next few years. The frequency of each genetic abnormality in adult and childhood AML is different, therefore, in this review we emphasize in well-known genetic subtypes in childhood AML, including Core-binding factor AML (CBF AML), KMT2Ar (KMT2A/11q23 rearrangement) AML, normal karyotypes AML with somatic mutations, unbalanced cytogenetic abnormalities AML, NUP98 11p15/NUP09 rearrangement AML and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Current risk group classification, management algorithm in childhood AML and novel treatment modalities, such as targeted therapy, immune therapy, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy are reviewed. Finally, the indications of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in AML are discussed.

The established classical method of treating oil refinery effluent is flotation followed by biological treatment. Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) offer more advanced treatment, producing a clarified and potentially reusable treated effluent, but demand robust pretreatment to remove oil and grease (O&amp;G) down to consistent, reliably low levels. An analysis of a full-scale conventional oil refinery ETP based on flotation alone, coupled with projected performance, energy consumption and costs associated with a downstream MBR, have demonstrated satisfactory performance of flotation-based pre-treatment. The flotation processes, comprising an API separator followed by dissolved air flotation (DAF), provided ~90% removal of both total suspended solids (TSS) and O&amp;G coupled with 75% COD removal. The relative energy consumption and cost of the pretreatment, normalised against both the volume treated and COD removed, was considerably less for the API-DAF sequence compared to the MBR. The combined flotation specific energy consumption in kWh was found to be almost an order of magnitude lower than for the MBR (0.091 vs 0.86 kWh per m3 effluent treated), and the total cost (in terms of the net present value) around one sixth that of the MBR. However, the nature of the respective waste streams generated and end disposal of waste solids differs significantly between the pretreatment and MBR stages.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited heart disorder complicated by left ventricle outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction, which can be treated with surgical myectomy. To date, no reliable biomarkers for LVOT obstruction exist. To determine whether metabolomic biomarkers for obstruction can be identified, we conducted metabolomic profiling on plasma samples of 18 HCM patients before and after undergoing surgical myectomy to measure changes in the plasma metabolome in the postoperative state. Plasma was collected approximately 4 weeks before surgery at the preoperative visit and approximately 3 months after the surgery at the postoperative visit. We found that 215 metabolites were altered in the postoperative state (p-value &lt; 0.05). Identified metabolites that were significantly reduced post-myectomy included metabolites of heme, such as bilirubin, and phenylacetylglutamine, a biomarker of urea cycle disorders, which suggests that liver and kidney function are improved in the postoperative state. Markers of arginine metabolism such as homoarginine and dimethylarginine are also decreased in the postoperative state, suggestive of reduction in nitric oxide production, inflammation and heart failure after surgery. 3-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) was also decreased, suggesting possible increased fatty acid utilization and a return to normal heart function. 12 of these metabolites were notably significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons (q-value &lt; 0.05), including bilirubin, PFOS, PFOA, 3,5-dichloro-2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 2-hydroxylaurate, trigonelline and 6 unidentified compounds, which support improved kidney and liver function and increased lean soft tissue mass. These findings suggest improved organ metabolic function after surgical relief of LVOT obstruction in HCM and further underscore the beneficial systemic effects of surgical myectomy.

Alpha-B-Crystallin, a member of the small heat shock family of proteins, has been implicated in a variety of cardiomyopathies and in normal cardiac homeostasis. It is known to function as a molecular chaperone, particularly for desmin, but also interacts with a wide variety of additional proteins. The molecular chaperone function is also enhanced by signal-dependent phosphorylation at specific residues under stress conditions. Naturally occurring mutations in CRYAB, the gene that encodes alpha-B-crystallin, have been suggested to alter ionic intermolecular interactions that affect dimerization and affect chaperone function. These mutations have been associated with myofibrillar myopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and promote pathological hypertrophy through different mechanisms such as desmin aggregation, increased reductive stress or activation of calcineurin-NFAT signaling. This review will discuss the known mechanisms by which alpha-B-crystallin functions in cardiac homeostasis and the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathies and provide insight into potential future areas of exploration.

Prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria has become a major challenge worldwide. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—a leading cause of infections—forms biofilms on polymeric medical devices and implants, increasing their resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic administration before biofilm formation is crucial. Raman spectroscopy was used to assess MRSA biofilm development on solid culture media from 0 to 48 h. Biofilm formation was monitored by measuring DNA/RNA-associated Raman peaks and protein/lipid-associated peaks. The search for an antimicrobial agent against MRSA biofilm revealed that Eugenol was a promising candidate as it showed significant potential for breaking down the biofilm. Eugenol was applied at different times to test the optimal time for inhibiting MRSA biofilms, and the Raman spectrum showed that the first 5 h of biofilm formation was the most antibiotic-sensitive time. This study investigated the performance of Raman spectroscopy coupled with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify planktonic bacteria from biofilm conglomerates. Raman analysis, microscopic observation, and quantification of the biofilm growth curve indicated early adhesion from 5 to 10 h of incubation time. Therefore, Raman spectroscopy can help in monitoring biofilm formation on a solid culture medium and performing rapid antibiofilm assessments with new antibiotics during the early stages of the procedure.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited cardiovascular disorder affecting 1 in 500 people in the general population. Although characterized by asymmetric left ventricular hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte disarray and cardiac fibrosis, HCM is in fact a highly complex disease with heterogenous clinical presentation, onset and complications. While HCM is generally accepted as a disease of the sarcomere, variable penetrance in families with identical genetic mutations challenges the monogenic origin of HCM and instead implies a multifactorial cause. Furthermore, large scale genome sequencing studies revealed that many genes previously reported as causative of HCM in fact have little or no evidence of disease association. These findings thus call for a re-evaluation of the sarcomere-centered view of HCM pathogenesis. Here, we summarize our current understanding of sarcomere-independent mechanisms of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, highlight the role of extracellular signals in cardiac fibrosis, and propose an alternative but integrated model of HCM pathogenesis.

Background: Most prevalence surveys on nocturia have focused on older populations. This study aimed to measure the nocturia prevalence across the full spectrum of male adults living in Hong Kong, where severity and associated quality-of-life (QoL) were also explored. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in men aged 18 or above using the ICIQ-NQoL Questionnaire. Results: With 1,239 respondents at age ranged 18-99, the overall nocturia prevalence were found to be 63.0% (ranged 41.6-84.6% at different age groups) and 31.2% (ranged 13.0-56.3% at different age groups), for ≥1 and ≥2 bedtime voiding episodes, respectively. The chance of nocturia was dramatically increased at age 60 or above while both prevalence and voiding frequency were increased with advancing age. About 83% of the nocturia men experienced 1-2 voiding episodes per night, but many of them had self-rated their QoL poor or very poor and indicated moderate-to-high bothersome. Younger men at age 18-39 were found to have high prevalence as 41.6% and almost 30% of them rated poor or very poor QoL. Conclusions: Nocturia was not only affecting the older populations but also caused significant bothersome and negative impacts on QoL in younger males.

By using 0.35-um CMOS process, this work achieves a design of analogous band-gap reference voltage circuit with low temperature coefficient. The proposed circuit operates at 3V and generates a reference current of 44 uA. The HSPICE simulation results show the temperature coefficient of this circuit is 23 ppm/℃ at range of -10 ℃ to 100 ℃, and the line regulation (the ratio of output current variation to supply voltage variation) is estimated as 1.95 uA/V from supply voltage variation of 3 V to 5 V. The experimental chip is fabricated and measured. The circuit provides adjustable capability for output voltage among temperature variation of -10 - 100 ℃. The chip area is 534 × 695 um^2. In this new design, the operational amplifier is not necessary. The chip design effort can be great reduced.

Excessive production, consumption and indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste cause an increasing plastic pollution with detrimental impacts on environment and human health. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards plastic pollution among Malaysians and evaluate the variation of plastic pollution related KAP among various socio-demographics. An online survey was conducted, and 294 valid responses was obtained. Descriptive statistics, KAP scoring and cross tabulation of responses were estimated. One-way analysis of variance, paired t-test and binary logistic regressions were carried out. Results showed that respondents had poor knowledge (mean 7.41 ± 1.80) and practice score (3.81 ± 1.39) across all socio-demographics. Compared to younger (18-30 years) respondents, older ones (>46 years) had higher knowledge (odds ratio, OR 4.304; p<0.01). However, middle aged (31-45 years) respondents reported significantly (p<0.01) higher attitude (OR 4.019) and practice (OR 4.056; p <0.05). Respondents with environmental related university education had showed higher odds about plastic pollution related knowledge (OR 10.343; p<0.01). Suggestions are made to undertake interventions such as environmental awareness creation, incorporating plastic pollution topics in formal and informal education, and providing recycling facilities nearby the localities for encouraging good practices towards minimizing plastic uses and pollution.

This paper examines the Business Model (BM) from a socioeconomic system perspective to discern key factors, and understand its interactions resulting in the Scaling of Social Impact (SSI) in Social Entrepreneurship (SE). Previously, studies have explained the importance of BM in relation to SE. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on how BM’s transitions through participation of various actors result in SSI. This research applies qualitative analysis on a single case study of a Japanese social startup, “mymizu”, the first water refill application platform in Japan. The findings show that collaboration amongst different stakeholders on the initial phase of the BM could increase awareness of responsible consumption, convert into actual users for sustainability, and change their behavior. Secondly, members of the society could take on dual roles, both as users and collaborators in the BM, which results in an exponential scaling effect of the social impact. This paper contributes towards adding a participatory stakeholder (PS) to the ecosystem of SSI and building a “regenerative” BM that is relevant in SE towards sustainability.

This paper presents a novel algorithm, the multi-objective nonlinear interval PageRank (MONIPR) Algorithm. This algorithm extends the conventional PageRank (PR) algorithm, integrating nonlinear interval computation and multi-objective considerations into the computation process. The MONIPR algorithm bridges a research gap in integrating nonlinear interval approaches and multi-objective problems into the PR algorithm, which were traditionally treated separately. In addition, this research adopts the constrained interval arithmetic proposed to address the limitations of the conventional PR algorithm, which tends to overlook uncertainties and results in deterministic outcomes. In addition, we use a numerical example to demonstrate the proposed algorithm, contrasting it with the conventional approaches. A numerical example demonstrates the algorithm's performance by comparing the rank intervals obtained with the traditional crisp Markov chain and PR algorithm. The results highlight the ability of the proposed algorithm to provide a range of possible rank intervals, considering both uncertainty and multi-objectives. The findings suggest potential applications in decision-making, uncertainty quantification, and systems analysis.

Because imbalanced power will cause the loss of the propulsion motor of the railway vehicle, and the increase in temperature will shorten the service life of the electric vehicle. Not only this, but also increase the cost of electricity and maintenance. In the past, the industry only focused on methods to improve power quality such as load capacity, relay setting, and harmonic resolution. Now, the consider of three-phase unbalance rate (TPUR) must be applied. I propose special transformers wiring (STW) to improve the three unbalance rates and provide different transformer wiring methods. According to the IEEE Committee, in the future, power companies will need to install balanced relay stations to improve three-phase unbalance rate. the internal regulations of Taipower must be less than 4.5% (voltage unbalance rate (NPSUR)of 2.5% and motor temperature rise of 12.5%). the derivation of the transformer "three-phase unbalance rate" model is the focus of the railway system. This research is based on the model derivation of different wiring methods to improve the hot problem caused by the three-phase imbalance and improve the service life of the train. And pointed out that Scott, Le-Blanc, Modified-Woodbridge three wiring methods can be applied to future railway system routes to improve the three-phase unbalance rate, in line with the IEEE standard of less than 2%.

(1) Background: Due to the high proportion of disadvantaged students in a rural school in Taiwan and the gap between students’ concepts and practices of environmental protection and sustainable energy, four science and mathematics teachers in this school planned an engineering-centered PjBL of sustainable energy curriculum in a Makers Club to enhance students’ creativity, engineering skills, practices of environmental protection and sustainable energy, and learning attitudes; (2) Methods: This study is four-year action research. Teachers and students initiated the idea from rebuilding an old fan in a classroom; (3) Results: The students in the Makers Club improved their engineering skills and created various green-power generation devices (evolved from ventilation ball generator, hydropower, ocean current power generators to tiny, 3D-printing wind power generators). They turned environmental protection and sustainable energy concepts into actions during practices and won awards from science and engineering fairs every year. This creative and supportive atmosphere spread from the club to the whole school and improved the students’ practices of environmental protection and learning attitudes after long-term implementation; (4) Conclusions: The design principles of the engineering-centered PjBL of sustainable energy curriculum played a critical role and were outlined at the end of the study.

This paper analyzes the representation behaviors of a comparison measure between two compared fuzzy sets. Three types of restrictions on two fuzzy sets are considered in this paper: the two disjoint union fuzzy sets, the two disjoint fuzzy sets and the two general fuzzy sets. Differences exist among the numbers of possible representations of a comparison measure for the three types of fuzzy sets restrictions. The value of comparison measure is constant for the two disjoint union fuzzy sets. There are 42 candidate representations of a comparison measure for the two disjoint fuzzy sets. Of which 13 candidate representations with one or two terms can be used to easily calculate and compare a comparison measure.

In fuzzy group decision making problems and fuzzy shortest path problems, the addition and subtraction are the basic problems. For the mixed normal fuzzy numbers and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, the addition and subtraction operations are approximated by the normal fuzzy numbers in this paper. The behaviors of approximated normal fuzzy numbers are the same as those of the normal distributions from the viewpoint of probability. An application of the addition and subtraction operations of mixed fuzzy numbers to the fuzzy sample mean is also proposed.

The multifarious internal workings of organisms are difficult to reconcile with a single feature defining a state of ‘being alive’. Indeed, definitions of life rely on emergent properties (growth, capacity to evolve, agency) only symptomatic of intrinsic functioning. Empirical studies demonstrate that biomolecules including ratcheting/rotating enzymes, ribozymes and pigment molecules undergo repetitive conformation state changes driven by energy absorption, excitation and relaxation. They exhibit disparate structures, but govern processes relying on directional physical motion (DNA transcription, translation, ATP synthesis, cytoskeleton transport, photosynthetic resonance energy transfer) and share the principle of repetitive uniplanar conformation changes driven by thermodynamic gradients, producing dependable unidirectional motion: ‘heat engines’ exploiting thermodynamic disequilibria to perform work. Recognition that disparate biological molecules share a heat engine principle governing directional motion, working in self-regulating networks, allows a mechanistic definition: life is a self-regulating process whereby matter undergoes cyclic, uniplanar conformation state changes that convert thermodynamic disequilibria into directed motion, performing work that locally reduces entropy. ‘Living things’ are structures including autonomous networks of units operating on the heat engine principle. Death is loss of integrated heat engine function. These principles are independent of any specific chemical environment, and can be applied to other biospheres.

The metal chelator PBT2 (5,7-dichloro-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-8-hydroxyquinoline) acts as a terdentate ligand capable of forming binary and ternary Cu2+ complexes. It was clinically trialed as an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapeutic but failed to progress beyond phase II. The β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide associated with AD was recently concluded to form a unique Cu(Aβ) complex that is inaccessible to PBT2. Herein, it is shown that the species ascribed to this binary Cu(Aβ) complex in fact corresponds to ternary Cu(PBT2)NIm[Aβ] complexes formed by anchoring of Cu(PBT2) on imine nitrogen (NIm) donors of His side chains. The primary site of ternary complex formation is His6, having a conditional stepwise formation constant at pH 7.4 (K [M−1] ) of log K = 6.4 ± 0.1, and a second site is supplied by His13 or His14 (log K = 4.4 ± 0.1). The stability of Cu(PBT2)NIm[H13/14] is comparable with that of the simplest ternary complexes involving free imidazole (log K = 4.22 ± 0.09) and histamine (log K = 4.00 ± 0.05). The 100-fold larger formation constant for Cu(PBT2)NIm[H6] indicates that outer-sphere ligand–peptide interactions strongly stabilize its structure. Despite the relatively high stability of Cu(PBT2)NImH6, PBT2 is a promiscuous Cu2+-binding ligand capable of forming a ternary Cu(PBT2)NIm complex with any ligand containing NIm donor. These ligands include histamine, L-His, and ubiquitous His side chains of peptides and proteins in the extracellular milieu, whose combined effect should outweigh that of a single Cu(PBT2)NIm[H6] complex regardless of its stability. We therefore conclude that PBT2 is capable of accessing Cu(Aβ) complexes with high stability but not specificity. The results have implications for future AD therapeutic strategies and understanding the role of PBT2 in the bulk transport of transition metal ions. Given the repurposing of PBT2 as a drug for breaking antibiotic resistance, ternary Cu(PBT2)NIm and analogous Zn(PBT2)NIm complexes may be relevant to its antimicrobial properties.

The aim of this work was to test polyamines as potential natural substrates of the Acinetobacter baumannii chlorhexidine efflux protein AceI using near-UV synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy. The Gram-negative bacterium A. Baumannii is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections and an important foodborne pathogen. A. Baumannii strains are becoming increasingly resistant to antimicrobial agents, including the synthetic antiseptic chlorhexidine. AceI was the founding member of the recently recognised PACE family of bacterial multidrug efflux proteins. Using the plasmid construct pTTQ18-aceI(His₆) containing the A. Baumannii aceI gene directly upstream from a His₆-tag coding sequence, expression of AceI(His₆) was amplified in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells. Near-UV (250-340 nm) SRCD measurements were performed on detergent-solubilised and purified AceI(His₆) at 20 °C. Sample and SRCD experimental conditions were identified that detected binding of the triamine spermidine to AceI(His₆). In a titration with spermidine (0-10 mM) this binding was saturable and fitting of the curve for the change in signal intensity produced an apparent binding affinity (K_D) of 3.97 +/- 0.45 mM. These SRCD results were the first experimental evidence obtained for polyamines as natural substrates of PACE proteins.

The art of representing source code is pivotal in numerous programming analysis applications. Recent strides in neural networks have marked notable successes in this realm. However, the peculiar structural characteristics inherent in programming languages have not been fully exploited in existing models. While neural models based on abstract syntax trees (ASTs) adeptly manage the tree-like nature of source codes, they fall short in discerning the diverse substructural nuances within programs. This paper introduces the Dynamic Syntax Tree Model (DSTM), an innovative approach that fuses various neural network modules into tree architectures tailored to the specific AST of the input. Distinct from preceding tree-based neural models, DSTM adeptly discerns the semantic variances across different AST substructures. We validate DSTM through rigorous testing in program classification and code clone detection, outperforming contemporary methods and demonstrating the benefits of harnessing intricate source code structures.

The three-dimensional printing of scaffolds is an interesting alternative to the traditional techniques of periodontal regeneration. This technique uses computer assisted design and manufacturing after CT scan. After 3D modelling, individualized scaffolds are printed by extrusion, selective laser sintering, stereolithography, or powder bed inkjet printing. These scaffolds can be made of one or several materials such as natural polymers, synthetic polymers, or bioceramics. They can be monophasic or multiphasic and tend to recreate the architectural structure of the periodontal tissue. In order to enhance the bioactivity and have a higher regeneration, the scaffolds can be embedded with stem cells and/or growth factors. This new technique could enhance a complete periodontal regeneration. This review summarizes the application of 3D printed scaffolds in periodontal regeneration. The process, the materials and designs, the key advantages and prospects of 3D bioprinting are highlighted, providing new ideas for tissue regeneration.

The post-2007 crisis-induced an agricultural expansion across Africa, but local level production and marketing experiences remain understudied. This study assesses the dynamics of agricultural expansion and small-scale farmers’ experiences in rural Zambia. Using a mixed research design, data were drawn from surveys, multi-level interviews, group discussions policy reviews and observations. Results show an agriculture expansion among small-scale farmers is underway due to favourable climatic conditions, land, and water availability, enabled by state subsidies, and an emerging market in commercial and supermarket outlets. However, farmers encounter production and marketing challenges related to poor tenure security, late delivery of inputs, and low financing. They face low and fluctuating prices, poor infrastructure, including low levels of mechanisation necessary to expand the production. Overall, despite an agricultural and land-use expansion taking shape, actual benefits for real transformation are largely missing – and currently over their heads. An argument is made that whilst policy actors continue to impress farmers to organise themselves to maximise benefits of an agricultural expansion, actual processes on how farmers can achieve this are missing in policy and practice. This necessitates a focus on multi-level processes aimed at addressing production, storage and marketing dynamics within a progressive coordination arrangement that centralizes small producers. Until that is addressed, the prospects for local development and poverty reduction for small-scale farmers under an agricultural expansion will be slender but continue to centrally reside in the state efforts to create enabling local and community environment that addresses real challenges. Overall, this study helps to extend the debate on diverse processes shaping rural transformation in Zambia and across sub-Saharan Africa, including the role and importance of agricultural expansion.

Inexpensive piezoelectric diaphragms can be used as sensors to facilitate both nozzle height setting and build platform leveling in FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers. Tests simulating nozzle contact are conducted to establish the available output and an output of greater than 8 Volts found at 20 ºC, a value which is readily detectable by simple electronic circuits. Tests are also conducted at a temperature of 80 ºC and, despite a reduction of greater than 80% in output voltage, this is still detectable. The reliability of piezoelectric diaphragms is investigated by mechanically stressing samples over 100,000 cycles at both 20 ºC and 80 ºC and little loss of output over the test duration is found. The development of a nozzle contact sensor using a single piezoelectric diaphragm is described.

This study is the first to investigate the asymmetric effects of oil price volatility on stock returns for the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE). We utilized weekly series of VN30-Index, WTI crude oil prices, geopolitical risks (GPR) index and gold prices spanning from 6 February 2012 to 31 December 2023 as data sources. Using a nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) bounds testing approach, we found that in the short-term, oil price volatility has negative asymmetric effects on the market returns. Specifically, in the short-term, a one percent increase in oil price volatility immediately leads to a 2,6868 percent decrease in the market returns while a similar magnitude decrease in oil price volatility is associated with 6.3180 percent increase in the market returns. In addition, the results obtained from the NARDL model indicated that, in the long-term, the negative and positive changes of oil price volatility have significantly negative effects on the market returns. Finally, the findings derived from the error correction model (ECM) show that 98.21 percent of the disequilibria from the previous week are converged and corrected back to the long-term equilibrium in the current week.

A sensitive electrochemical sensor based on AuPtPd trimetallic nanoparticles functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes coupled with chitosan modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE/CS/MWCNTs-AuPtPd) for the rapid detection of bisphenol A (BPA) was proposed. AuPtPd trimetallic nanoparticles were first assembled on MWCNTs to obtain MWCNTs-AuPtPd nanocomposite. Then the MWCNTs-AuPtPd was further dispersed on the surface of chitosan modified electrode surface to fabricate the GCE/CS/MWCNTs-AuPtPd sensor. Due to the superior catalytic properties of MWCNTs-AuPtPd and the good film formation of chitosan, the constructed sensor displayed good performances for BPA detection. The structural morphology of CS/MWCNTs-AuPtPd was characterized by many methods, such as SEM, UV-vis and TEM. Under the optimal conditions, the designed sensor showed a linear range from 0.05 to 100 µM for BPA detecting with a low detection limit of 1.4 nM. The designed sensor was further used to realize the determination of BPA in real samples and the recoveries ranged from 94.4% to 103.6%. The results demonstrated that the electrochemical sensor designed by CS/MWCNTs-AuPtPd nanocomposites was reliable and could be a useful tool for the monitoring of food safety.

In recent years, the demand for coffee has increased tremendously. During the production process, green coffee beans are traditionally screened manually for defective beans before they are packed into coffee bean packages; however, this method is not only time-consuming but also increases the rate of human error due to fatigue. Therefore, this paper proposed a lightweight deep convolutional neural network (LDCNN) for the quality detection system of green coffee beans, which combined depthwise separable convolution (DSC), squeeze-and-excite block (SE block), skip block, and other frameworks. To avoid the influence of low parameters of the lightweight model caused by the model training process, rectified Adam (RA), lookahead (LA), and gradient centralization (GC) were included to improve efficiency; the model was also put into the embedded system. Finally, the local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) model was employed to explain the predictions of the model. The experimental results indicated that the accuracy rate of the model could reach up to 98.38% and the F1 score could be as high as 98.24% when detecting the quality of green coffee beans. Hence, it can obtain higher accuracy, lower computing time, and lower parameters. Moreover, the interpretable model verified that the lightweight model in this work is reliable, providing the basis for screening personnel to understand the judgment through its interpretability, thereby improving the classification and prediction of the model.

The mobile payment has been emerging as an alternative to cash and credit cards and is rapidly evolving around the world. This study integrated the general model of innovation diffusion theory (IDT) with the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the impact of near-field-communication (NFC) mobile payment environment on the restaurant operating performance (ROP). This paper used convenience sampling to distribute questionnaires to restaurant owners and managers in order to investigate the impact of NFC mobile payment environment on ROP. A total of 279 valid questionnaires were collected. The empirical results show that sales growth, cost saving, flexibility, accessibility and trust &amp; safety had significantly positive impacts on ROP. After considering the restaurant size as a moderator for analysis, there are only two constructs- accessibility and trust &amp; safety had significant impacts on ROP. This empirical finding could provide restaurateurs with a reference to improve ROP by increasing the mobile payment environment.

This paper aims to quantify the effect of the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak on Chinese stock market performance. Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index and its component sector indices are examined in this study. The pandemic is represented by a lockdown dummy, new COVID-19 cases and a dummy for 3 February 2020. First, descriptive analysis is performed on these indices to compare their performances before and during the lockdown period. Next, regression analysis with Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity specification is estimated to quantify the pandemic effect on the Chinese stock market. This paper finds that health care, information technology and telecommunication services sectors were relatively more pandemic-resistant, while other sectors were more severely hurt by the pandemic outbreak. The extent to which each sector was affected by pandemic and sentiments in other financial and commodity markets were reported in details in this paper. The findings of this paper are resourceful for investors to avoid huge loss amid pandemic outburst and the China Securities Regulatory Commission in handling future pandemic occurrence to cool down excessive market sentiments.

his quantitative study investigates teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the correlation between these perceptions and the preservice training they received. The research addresses the cognitive connection between teachers' current self-efficacy, particularly their satisfaction with and appreciation of preservice lecturers. Utilizing a retrospective lens, the study reveals a significant correlation between teachers' evaluation of their preservice training, especially their appreciation of lecturers, and their present self-efficacy. The findings highlight that teachers, amidst the challenges of the pandemic, evaluated their self-efficacy at a remarkably high level. This underscores their resilience during a period of unprecedented uncertainty, demanding substantial personal and professional adaptability. The nuanced interplay observed suggests that teachers' sense of self-efficacy serves as a predictive variable of their mental and professional resilience when confronting uncertainty and navigating rapid and profound changes, as exemplified by the exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ever-burgeoning growth of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has demonstrated a promising platform for utilization in real-world applications. In particular, UAV equipped with a vision system could be leveraged for surveillance applications. This paper proposes a learning-based UAV system for achieving autonomous surveillance, in which the UAV can be of assistance in autonomously detecting, tracking, and following a target object without human intervention. Specifically, we adopted the YOLOv4-Tiny algorithm for semantic object detection and then consolidated it with a 3D object pose estimation method and Kalman Filter to enhance the perception performance. In addition, a back-end UAV path planning for surveillance maneuver is integrated to complete the fully autonomous system. The perception module is assessed on a quadrotor UAV, while the whole system is validated through flight experiments. The experiment results verified the robustness, effectiveness, and reliability of the autonomous object tracking UAV system in performing surveillance tasks. The source code is released to the research community for future reference.

Paraphrase generation is an important yet challenging task in NLP. Neural network-based approaches have achieved remarkable success in sequence-to-sequence(seq2seq) learning. Previous paraphrase generation work generally ignores syntactic information regardless of its availability, with the assumption that neural nets could learn such linguistic knowledge implicitly. In this work we make an endeavor to probe into the efficacy of explicit syntactic information for the task of paraphrase generation. Syntactic information can appear in the form of dependency trees which could be easily acquired from off-the-shelf syntactic parsers. Such tree structures could be conveniently encoded via graph convolutional networks(GCNs) to obtain more meaningful sentence representations, which could improve generated paraphrases. Through extensive experiments on four paraphrase datasets with different sizes and genres, we demonstrate the utility of syntactic information in neural paraphrase generation under the framework of seq2seq modeling. Specifically, our GCN-enhanced models consistently outperform their syntax-agnostic counterparts in multiple evaluation metrics.

The potential adverse effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations raise public concerns. Data from Taiwan’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) can provide valuable insights. This study analyzed preliminary application data for COVID-19 vaccine compensation in Taiwan’s VICP, focusing on applicants receiving vaccines between March 2021 and June 2022. Among the 2941 adverse events, 113 cases (3.8%) were deemed causally associated with vaccination, 313 (10.6%) were indeterminate, and 2515 (85.5%) had no causal association. Nearly half (47.6%) of applicants were over 60 years old, and 76.6% had a history of preexisting chronic dis-eases. Among the 426 vaccine-associated or indeterminate cases, the most common causes were hematological diseases and thrombosis. There were 920 mortality cases reported, and 97.4% were unassociated with vaccination. Only five deaths were judged to be associated with the COVID-19 vaccination, all involving the adenovirus vector vaccine and thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome. In conclusion, most compensation applications were not causally linked to vaccination. Compared to other countries, the number of applications in Taiwan’s VICP is relatively high. These findings may indicate a need to adjust the application requirements for compensation in Taiwan’s program.

High-methoxyl apple pectin (AP) derived from apple was employed as the main ingredient facilitating rheological modification features for developing dysphagia-friendly fluidized alimentary matrices. Xanthan gum (XG) was also included as a composite counterpart to modify the viscoelastic properties of the thickened system under different thermal processes. The results indicate that AP is extremely sensitive to thermal processing, and the viscosity is greatly depleted under a neutral pH level. Moreover, the inclusion of calcium ions echoed a modification effect on the rheological properties of AP, and both the elastic property and viscosity value are promoted after thermal processing. The modification effect of viscoelastic properties (Gʹ and Gʹʹ) is observed while XG is incorporated into the composite formula. By promoting the XG ratio from 7: 3 to 6: 4 (AP: XG), it triggers the rheological transformation from a liquid-like form to a solid-like state, and the viscosity value shows that the AP-XG composite system exhibits better thermal stability after thermal processing. The ambient modifiers of pH (pH &lt; 4) and calcium chloride concentration (7.5%) with an optimal AP-XG ratio of 7:3 lead to weak-gel-like behavior (Gʹʹ &lt; Gʹ), helping to maintain the texture properties of dysphagia-friendly features similar to those prior to the thermal processing.

Miniature sensors are key components for the applications in the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless sensor networks, autonomous vehicles, smart cities and smart manufacturing. As a miniature and self-powered magnetic sensor, Wiegand sensor possesses the advantageous traits including changing-rate-independent output, low cost, and remarkable repeatability and reliability. Typical Wiegand sensor requires hard magnetic pole pieces that provide external fields for triggering voltage outputs that are called Wiegand pulses. However, the wire-shaped sensing element of Wiegand sensor is the critical issue that limits the design, selection, and adoption of the external triggering magnets. Currently, the widely used pole piece materials are rare-earth magnets. However, adopting rare-earth magnets brings strong stray fields, causing electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem. In this study, patterned CoNiP hard magnets were electrodeposited on flexible substrates through microfabrication. Origami magnetization was utilized to control the resultant stray fields, and hence the pole piece of CoNiP magnets can successfully trigger the output of Wiegand pulse. In comparison, the output voltage of the triggered pulse acquired through the patterned CoNiP magnets is comparable to that by using the rare-earth magnets. Furthermore, both the volume (meanwhile the weight) of the Wiegand sensor and the EMI issue can be significantly reduced and mitigated by the CoNiP magnets.