The Eastern Kunlun Fault Zone (EKFZ) is located in a seismic blank area. This study investigates the hydrogeochemical characteristics of varied-temperature springs in the EKFZ to understand the relationship between fractures, fluids and earthquakes. It aids in establishing their induction mechanisms and assists in monitoring the earthquake precursors of the EKFZ. In this study, the main elements, trace elements, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and strontium isotopes of 23 varied-temperature springs in the EKFZ were analyzed. The results reveal the source of groundwater recharge, hydrochemical types, mineral saturation, and for a select few springs indicative of geothermal activity, collected geothermal reservoir temperatures. The study also explores the relationship between earthquakes and springs, identifying sensitive chemical indicators. Based on continuous monitoring at Maqu Station, we found that before the occurrence of the Maerkang Ms 6.0 earthquake, the concentration of Cl− rose by 2.9 times, and 46 days before the Gande earthquake (Ms = 4.7), the concentrations of Na+ and SO42− significantly increased. Finally, a conceptual model of the hydrogeochemistry of springs is presented to describe the groundwater circulation in the study area. This research is of great significance for the analysis of fluid geochemistry in this area and for assessing the seismic hazards of the EKFZ.

Exposure to traffic-related air pollution is linked with acute alterations in blood pressure (BP). We examined the cumulative short-term effect of black carbon (BC) exposure on systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP and assessed effect modification by participant characteristics. SBP and DBP were repeatedly measured on 152 traffic enforcers. Using a linear mixed-effects model with random intercepts, quadratic (QCDL) and cubic (CCDL) constrained distributed lag models were fitted to estimate the cumulative effect of BC concentration on SBP and DBP during the 10-hours (daily exposure) and 7-days (weekly exposure) before the BP measurement. Ambient BC was related to increased BP with QCDL models. An interquartile range change in BC cumulative during the 7-days before the BP measurement was associated with increased BP [1.2% change in mean SBP, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.1 to 2.3; and 0.5% change in mean DBP, 95% CI, –0.8 to 1.7]. Moreover, the association between the 10-hours cumulative BC exposure and SBP was stronger for females (4.0% change, 95% CI: 2.1–5.9) versus males, and for obese (2.9% change, 95% CI: 1.0–4.8) vs. non-obese traffic enforcers. Short-term cumulative exposure to ambient traffic-related BC could bring about cardiovascular diseases through mechanisms involving increased BP.

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

This paper presents a piezoresistive pressure sensor with a shield layer for improved stability. Compared with the conventional piezoresistive pressure sensors, p-type piezoresistors are covered by an n-type shield layer, which is formed by ion implantation. The proposed pressure sensors have been successfully fabricated by bulk micromachining techniques. The impact of electrical field on piezoresistors is studied by simulation. The temperature drift of the pressure sensor has been investigated by both simulation and experimental measurement. Characteristics of developed pressure sensors are tested from -40 C to 125 C. A sensitivity of 0.022 mV/V/KPa and a maximum non-linearity of 0.085% FS are measured for the fabricated sensor in a pressure range of 1 MPa. The temperature coefficients of resistance of shielded piezoresistors are found to be smaller than those of un-shielded ones. It is demonstrated that the shield layer is able to reduce the drift caused by electrical field and ambient temperature variation.

Recently Kawashima has reported that, when wetted with alkanes, several forms of graphite and single-layer graphene exhibit superconductor-like properties above room temperature under ambient pressure [AIP Adv. 2013, 3, 052132; arXiv:1612.05294; arXiv:1801.09376]. Under the assumption that these seemingly unlikely properties arise from the presence of paired electrons brought about by the alkane-wetting, we explored their implications to arrive at a probable mechanism for strong electron-pairing driven by Fermi surface nesting and acoustic phonon. This mechanism explains why alkane-wetting is essential for the graphene systems to become “superconductor-like” above room temperature and why the “T_c” of alkane-wetted pitch-based graphite fibers increases almost linearly from ~363 to ~504 K with increasing the molecular weight of alkane from heptane to hexadecane. It also provides a number of experimentally-verifiable predictions, the confirmation of which will provide a strong support for the superconductivity driven by Fermi surface nesting and acoustic phonon.

As of now, anthropogenic habitat injury via dissemination of manufactured chemicals is injuring the world’s ecosystems, but doctors have yet to recognize its consequences to humans. Recognition of overt toxicity due to chronic low-dose exposure will open the door to diagnosis, sequential elimination studies, and prescriptions for preventive cure that represent a first step in preventing escalating chronic diseases. This paper offers a diagnostic construct for such use: chronic ambient poisoning. Incorporating it into clinical practice can reduce misdiagnosis of gastro- and near-toxicity that doctors and patients presently suppress rather than remove, and reduce patient co-dependence with proton-pump inhibitors, anxiolytics, and antidepressants—and the thriving “alternative” health industry. This diagnostic elephant-in-the-room is presently missed for reasons of habit (when an ailment is not recognized, it cannot be included in the differential diagnosis) and of poor conduct and interpretation of non-clinical research studies that are taken to mean an absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Moreover, modern methods fail when: the exposure comprises a “daily cocktail” of poisons acting additively, interactively, and cumulatively over a lifetime; when there is no normal, unexposed comparison group; and when absence of a robust etiopathogenetic model disallows inapt statistics. Only patient-led, consultant-informed sequential elimination studies can “peel the onion” of toxicity and its recognition and “preventive cure”. Clinical use of the chronic ambient poisoning diagnosis can thus open the door to stemming and reversing anthropogenic epidemics.

The purpose of this study is to assess the concentration-response relations between conjunctivitis and exposure to ambient ozone. This retrospective study includes emergency department (ED) visits for conjunctivitis in Edmonton, Canada, for the period April 1992–March 2002. Daily average levels of ozone (range: 1.2–50.9, ppb), of temperature, and of relative humidity were estimated and used for the period of the study. For each of the considered exposure lags, (from 0 to 9 days), six different models were fitted to estimate the concentration-response function. The goodness of fit was assessed using the Akaike information criterion. During the period of the study, 17,211 ED visits for conjunctivitis were recorded and used. For all subjects together, a positive statistically significant association was obtained for the exposure lagged by 5 days. For female subjects, lags 1, 3, and 9 had positive statistically significant associations (lag 2 had negative associations). For male subjects, only lag 5 had a positive statistically significant association. The estimated non-linear concentration-response functions for the considered groups (all, males, females) and lags, revealed the associations along the exposure levels. The fitted shapes are described by algebraic functions and may have various forms. The estimated functions are useful to determine the risk associated with exposure to ground-level ozone.

Background: Several kinds of research say that adjuvant blood glucose and blood pressure are usual, but an efficient solution for medical application count remains. This review analyzes the pandemic blood pressure and blood glucose to identify the publications which tell about the clinical practices and research gaps in systematic research.Methods: A study guides to identify the research of Blood Pressure (BP) and Blood Glucose. In order to analyze the recent innovations and research on BP and Blood glucose, the relevant publications and literature from journals were identified.Results: Co-morbidity of BP and Blood glucose is reported as very high. The commonness of blood pressure is thrice as high in type I diabetes patients and almost two times higher in type II diabetes patients when compared to others without Diabetes. The pervasiveness of getting depression is more in the female when compared with men. A detailed study about the linkage of BP and blood glucose tells that the relationship between them is not exactly clear.Limitations: Nearly all reviews providing the linkage of BP and blood glucose are with some limitations and they are not providing any clear conclusion.Conclusions: Present research tells that people having high blood glucose will have a greater chance of getting high blood pressure. More research is needed to state the linkage between BP, blood glucose, and the growth of diabetes mellitus issues and to provide support for managing Diabetes.

Due to environmental concerns, natural refrigerants and their use in refrigeration and air conditioning systems are receiving more attention from manufacturers, end users and the scientific community. The study of heat transfer and pressure drop is essential for accurate design and more energy efficient cycles using natural refrigerants. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of the latest outcomes related to heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for ammonia, propane, isobutane and propylene and to investigate the current state of the art in terms of operating conditions. Available data on the existing correlations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop for natural refrigerants have been collected through a systematic search. Whenever possible, validity intervals are given for each correlation and the error is quantified. It is the intention of the authors that this could be a valuable support for researchers and an aid to design, with particular reference to heat pumps. A procedure based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was adopted, and the Scopus database was used to query the relevant literature. A total of 135 publications qualified for inclusion in the survey; 34 articles report experimental investigations for not usual geometric conditions. Of the 101 selected papers related to usual geometric conditions, N = 50 deal only with HTC, N = 16 deal only with pressure drop and the remainder (N = 35) analyse both HTC and pressure drop. Among the 85 HTC papers (N = 53) deal with the evaporating condition, N = 30 with condensation and only N = 2 with the heat transfer correlations under both conditions. Most of the 101 articles concern propane and isobutane. The high temperatures are less widely investigated.

In current transportation hubs, it is a common phenomenon that passengers travel with necessary wheeled-luggage or suitcases. Due to the fact that most luggage occupies certain space within dense passenger crowds with giant mass inertia, its abnormal motions, such as drifting, frequently trig unavoidable local disturbances and turbulence in surrounding pedestrian flows, further increasing security risk. While, current researches primarily concentrate on examining the impact of luggage on crowd evacuation efficiency through scenario-based experiments and analyzing the spatial characteristics of crowd distribution in surveillance videos. There still lacks of the dynamic disturbance mechanisms and crowd stability associated with the combined motion of passengers and luggage. Therefore, this study considers the luggage-laden passenger as a deformable particle, the resulting disturbance on surrounding non-luggage passengers is analyzed and quantified into a nonlinear pressure term. Subsequently, the disturbance propagation model of passenger-luggage is developed by adapting the classical Aw-Rascle traffic flow model with incorporation of the pressure term. Simulation experiments of disturbances caused by luggage drifting and retrograding validate that the proposed propagation model aligns with real-world situations in transportation hubs. Quantitively, when luggage-laden passenger drifted left, the disturbing force of left side crowd can reach a peak of 238N in the passenger density of 3.0 p/m2, and the maximum difference between the left and right sides disturbing force can reach 153N. Furthermore, it is recommended that the proposed model can be applied to crowd flow analysis and risk assessment.

Ecuador is an important center of biodiversity of the plant family Amaryllidaceae, specially the subfamily Amaryllidoideae, known as a source of important bioactive molecules. The aim of this study was to assess the chemical and biological potential of four different species of Amaryllidoideae collected in Ecuador: Urceolina formosa, Urceolina ruthiana, Clinanthus incarnatus, and Stenomesson aurantiacum. Sixteen alkaloids were identified in the bulb extract of these species by GC-MS, which the extract of S. aurantiacum exhibiting the greatest structural diversity. The potential of these three genera against Alzheimer’s disease was evaluated by measuring their AChE and BuChE inhibitory activity, revealing that C. incarnatus and U. formosa (from Sucumbíos province) showed the best results with IC50 values of 1.73 ± 0.25 and 30.56 ± 1.56 g·ml-1, respectively. Molecular dynamic assays were conducted to elucidate the possible interactions that occurs among 2-hydroxyanhydrolycorine and AChE enzyme, suggesting some similarity with those observed for galanthamine. This study enhances our understanding of the biodiversity of Amaryllidoideae species from Ecuador, highlighting their potential as a source of chemical compounds with pharmaceutical potential.

Nanoparticles (NP), Nanoaerosols (NA), ultrafine particles (UFP), and PM0.1 (particles with a diameter ≤ 0.1 µm or 100 nm) are interchangeably used in the field of atmospheric studies. PM0.1 are emitted from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The main emission sources of PM0.1 are combustion processes, including biomass and fossil fuel. Moreover, secondary formation via atmospheric photochemical reactions can also occur depending on meteorological conditions and the suspended pollutant species. Identifying the physical and chemical characteristics and spatial and temporal variations is vital in terms of understanding the effect of NPs on the environment, the global climate, and human health risks. This review article summarizes recent research on PM0.1 in Thailand. The review involves peer-reviewed papers from Scopus and the Web of Science databases, and includes the most recently published articles in the past ten years (2013-2022). UFPs mainly come from the combustion processes such as motor vehicles. The high mass concentration of PM0.1 that occurs during the dry season in which open fires depend on the specific region of Thailand. Particulate pollution from local and cross-border countries also needs to be considered in terms of the concentrations of ambient nanoparticles. The overall conclusions reached will likely have a beneficial long-term impact on achieving a blue sky over Thailand through the development of coherent policies and managing new air pollution challenges and sharing knowledge with a broader audience.

Objectives: To assess the short-term impact of a single global stretching session on plantar pressures and lumbar range of motion (RoM) over one week in sedentary university students. Design: A randomised controlled trial with two parallel groups. Participants: Sixty-four university students were randomly assigned to a stretching group or control group. The stretching group received a single session of global stretching and the control group remained seated for the same length of time as the stretching session. Main outcome measures: Lumbar RoM and plantar pressures were assessed before, immediately after, 48 hours after, and 7 days after intervention. Results: Group-by-time interaction was significant for lumbar lateral flexion (p = 0.044), right maximal pressure (p = 0.003), left maximal pressure (p = 0.008), right mean pressure (p = 0.025), left mean pressure (p = 0.002), and maximal pressure minus mean pressure in right foot (p = 0.007). The model with plantar pressures showed a significant difference for group-by-time interaction (p = 0.010).Conclusion: Global stretching seems to counteract the ill-effects of prolonged sitting up to seven days with respect to plantar pressure in standing without improving lumbar ROM

Purpose: The deterioration of oral function has been getting much attention as “Oral frailty”. This study evaluated the change in tongue pressure, one of the objective items of oral frailty, to examine the relationship between body position and tongue pressure. Methods: This study was prospective, observational study in a single-center. The participants were categorized by Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Tongue pressure was measured in the following positions: dorsal, sitting, and sitting with plantar grounding. Differences in tongue pressure between CFS and between body positions were statistically analyzed. Results: A significant decrease in tongue pressure was demonstrated in CFS4 compared to CFS3. Furthermore, in CFS5 and CFS6, tongue pressure decreased in the sitting po-sition compared to that in the dorsal position and recovered to the dorsal level with plantar grounding. Conclusions: Tongue pressure decreased as the progression of frailty. It decreased by sitting, and this decrease was alleviated by plantar grounding.

Ethylene Oxide (EtO) is a colorless, flammable gas at room temperature, produced by the catalytic oxidation of ethylene. EtO is widely used by medical sterilization facilities to clean medical supplies and equipment. Recent epidemiological studies showed that EtO is a more potent carcinogen than previously documented, leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update, in December 2016, the inhalation unit risk estimate for EtO. This resulted in the identification of EtO as a potential health concern in several areas across the US, including the state of Utah. The geography surrounding Salt Lake Valley creates a bowl; ideal for collecting air pollution emissions. The region often experiences inversion episodes which inhibit vertical mixing and cause an accumulation of air pollutants, leading to unhealthy pollution levels. Using the EPA's dispersion modeling software, AERMOD, this study estimated EtO concentrations through facility stack and fugitive emissions modeling results. These values were compared with those of canister-based concentrations from ambient air samples taken near a medical device sterilization facility in the Salt Lake Valley. Stainless steel, whole-air passivated canisters were used to collect 24-hour ambient concentration samples of EtO. Eight locations surrounding a Salt Lake Valley medical device sterilization facility and four background sites were chosen to measure the ambient concentrations. Accounting for potential atmospheric impacts on EtO, measurements were sampled in winter 2022 (January-March) and summer 2022 (July-September). The modeled EtO concentrations were adjusted to account for background values associated with the winter or summer data. Then the two methodologies were compared using a Wilcoxon Sign-ranked, paired test. The statistical analysis resulted in six of the eight sample locations surrounding the sterilization facility being significantly different when comparing canister-based measurements of ambient EtO to modeled estimates. Canister-based measurements taken at sites one, three, and four were statistically greater than the modeled estimates, while sites two, five, and seven were statistically less than the modeled estimates. Also, the summer background value calculated was almost 2.5 times greater than the winter. The results do not suggest whether one method is more or less conservative than the other. In conclusion, the five of the closest sites and site seven were statistically different when comparing measured and modeled ambient concentrations of EtO. The comparison results do not clearly indicate if a correction factor could be derived for future human exposure to cancer risk assessment modeling. However, it is reasonable that the closer to the sterilization facility, the more total EtO exposure will be realized.

The non-contact patient monitoring paradigm moves patient care into their homes and enables long-term patient studies. The challenge, however, is to make the system non-intrusive, privacy-preserving, and low-cost. To this end, we describe an open-source edge computing and ambient data capture system, developed using low-cost and readily available hardware. We describe five applications of our ambient data capture system. Namely: (a) Estimating occupancy and human activity phenotyping; (b) Medical equipment alarm classification; (c) Geolocation of humans in a built environment; (d) Ambient light logging; and (e) Ambient temperature and humidity logging. We obtained an accuracy of 94% for estimating occupancy from video. We stress-tested the alarm note classification in the absence and presence of speech and obtained micro averaged F1 scores of 0.98 and 0.93, respectively. The geolocation tracking provided a room-level accuracy of 98.7%. The root mean square error in the temperature sensor validation task was 0.3°C and for the humidity sensor, it was 1% Relative Humidity. The low-cost edge computing system presented here demonstrated the ability to capture and analyze a wide range of activities in a privacy-preserving manner in clinical and home environments and is able to provide key insights into the healthcare practices and patient behaviors.

Abstract: Mass spectrometry research laboratories reported multiple probes for ambient ionization in the last years. Combining them with a mechanical moving stage enables automated sampling and imaging applications. We developed a robotic platform, which is based on RepRap 3D-printer components, and therefore easy to reproduce and to adopt for custom prototypes. The minimal step width of the Open LabBot is 12.5 μm, and the sampling dimensions (x, y, z) are 18 × 15 × 20 cm. Adjustable rails in an aluminium frame construction facilitate the mounting of additional parts such as sensors, probes, or optical components. The Open LabBot uses industry-standard G-code for its control. The simple syntax facilitates the programming of the movement. We developed two programs: 1) LABI-Imaging, for direct control via a USB connection and the synchronization with MS data acquisition. 2) RmsiGUI, which integrates all steps of mass spectrometry imaging: The creation of G-code for robot control, the assembly of imzML files from raw data and the analysis of imzML files. We proved the functionality of the system by the automated sampling and classification of essential oils with a PlasmaChip probe. Further, we performed an ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging (AIMSI) experiment of a lime slice with laser desorption low-temperature plasma (LD-LTP) ionization, demonstrating the integration of the complete workflow in RmsiGUI. The design of the Open LabBot and the software are released under open licenses to promote their use and adoption in the instrument developers’ community.

Membrane-based sensors (MePSs) exhibit remarkable precision and sensitivity in detecting pressure changes. MePSs are commonly used to monitor catalytic reactions in solution, generating gas products crucial for signal amplification in bioassays. They also allow catalyst quantification by indirectly measuring the pressure generated by the gaseous products. This is particularly interesting to detect enzymes in biofluids associated with disease onset. To enhance the performance of a MePS, various structural factors influence membrane flexibility and response time, ultimately dictating the device's pressure sensitivity. In this study, we fabricated MePSs using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and investigated how structural modifications affect the Young's modulus (E) and residual stress (σ0) of the membranes. These modifications have a direct impact on the sensors' sensitivity to pressure variations, observed as a function of the volume of the chamber (Σ) or of the mechanical properties of the membrane itself (S). MePSs exhibiting the highest sensitivities were then employed to detect catalyst quantities inducing the dismutation of hydrogen peroxide, producing dioxygen as gaseous product. As a result, catalase enzyme was successfully detected using these optimized MePSs, achieving a remarkable sensitivity of (22.7 ± 1.2) µm/nM and a limit of detection (LoD) of 396 pM.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the validity of three alternative methods compared to the gold standard 24-h urine collection for estimating dietary sodium intake, a modifiable risk factor for hypertension, among middle-aged and older adults with elevated blood pressure. These included spot urine collection (using Kawasaki, Tanaka, and INTERSALT equations), 24-h dietary recall, and food frequency questionnaire responses, compared against 24-h urine collection in a subset of 65 participants (aged 50–75 years, 58.5 % women, 61.6 % hypertensive) from the DePEC-Nutrition trial. The validity of the methods was assessed using bias, Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman analysis. Among the alternative methods, spot urine collection using the Kawasaki equation showed the strongest correlation (SCC 0.238; ICC 0.119, 95 % CI -0.079 to 0.323) but it exhibited a significant bias (1414 mg/day, p-value < 0.001) relative to 24-h urine collection. Conversely, dietary surveys had a smaller bias but wider limits of agreement. These findings underscore the complexities of accurately estimating dietary sodium intake using spot urine collection or dietary surveys in this specific population, suggesting that a combination or refinement of existing methodologies might improve accuracy. Further research with larger samples is necessary to develop more reliable methods for assessing sodium intake in this high-risk group.

Nowadays a recognized need for accurate observations of atmospheric aerosols (AEs) and reactive gases (RGs) exists in the framework of regional, national and global near-surface networks based on permanent or mobile measurement stations. In this context, a paramount and not-trivial issue is related to the correct execution of continuous sampling of ambient air and its subsequent distribution to measurement analyzers hosted inside the stations. Sampling artifacts must be minimized for obtaining reliable pictures of ambient air composition. To respond to this need, a suite of novel “smart” and relatively low-cost systems for the continuous sampling of ambient air was developed in the framework of the Project I-AMICA (2012 – 2015, www.i-amica.eu). These systems were designed to execute AE and RG measurements according with WMO/GAW and ACTRIS recommendations and standard operation procedures. A particular attention was dedicated to the stabilization and control of the sampling flow rates and temperatures. The analysis of one full year of operations at the WMO/GAW regional station of Capo Granitola (GAW ID: CGR, Italy), allowed to conclude that these systems are effective in meeting the technical requirements for correct execution of AE and RG measurements

The use of artificial intelligence technologies may help companies obtain the optimal use of resources and accomplish more activities with an increase in productivity by 40%. With access to real-time data and the ability to learn from patterns and behaviors, AI can perform these routine tasks more efficiently. Ambient intelligence, Ami, is one of the applications of artificial intelligence, which is called artificial environmental intelligence, which is a concept that focuses on using technology to create an environment that is intelligent and responsive to the needs of its users. This technology has the potential to revolutionize disaster response and management, which in turn facilitates access to necessary information and resources. necessary vitality in the event of a crisis. It may use ambient intelligence to create a network of sensors that can detect and respond to changes in the environment. So that this network can be used to monitor the environment for potential disasters, such as floods, fires and earthquakes. Sensors can also be used to detect changes in temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors that may indicate a potential disaster. This information can then be used to alert emergency responders and provide them with the information needed to respond quickly and effectively. Ambient intelligence can also be used to create a comprehensive database of resources and information that can be accessed in times of crisis. This database may include information about the location of shelters, medical facilities, and other resources that can be used to assist those affected by a disaster. It may also provide information about the condition of roads, bridges, and other infrastructure that may be affected by a disaster. This information can be used to inform response and management decisions, helping to ensure that resources are used in the most efficient way possible. Ambient intelligence can be used to create a communication platform between emergency responders and those affected by a disaster. This platform can also be used to provide updates on the emergency situation, in addition to providing information about available resources to those affected. This can help ensure that those affected by a disaster can access the resources they need in a timely manner.

We examined whether the ambient illuminance during extended wakefulness modulates the homeostatic increase in human deep sleep [i.e. slow wave sleep (SWS) and electroencephalographic (EEG) slow-wave activity (SWA)] in healthy young and older volunteers. Thirty-eight young and older participants underwent 40 hours of extended wakefulness [i.e. sleep deprivation (SD)] once under dim light (DL: 8 lux, 2800K), and once under either white light (WL: 250 lux, 2800K) or blue-enriched white light (BL: 250 lux, 9000K) exposure. Subjective sleepiness was assessed hourly and polysomnography was quantified during the baseline night prior to the 40-h SD and during the subsequent recovery night. Both the young and older participants responded with a higher homeostatic sleep response to 40-h SD after WL and BL than after DL. This was indexed by a significantly faster intra-night accumulation of SWS and a significantly higher response in relative EEG SWA during the recovery night after WL and BL than after DL for both age groups. No significant differences were observed between the WL and BL condition for these two particular SWS and SWA measures. Subjective sleepiness ratings during the 40-h SD were significantly reduced under both WL and BL compared to DL, but were not significantly associated with markers of sleep homeostasis in both age groups. Our data indicate that not only the duration of prior wakefulness, but also the experienced illuminance during wakefulness affects homeostatic sleep regulation in humans. Thus, working extended hours under low illuminance may negatively impact subsequent sleep intensity in humans.

As the rapid development of communication industry, especially the 5G communication and IOT, there will be plenty of electromagnetic (EM) waves in the free space, which carry lots of energies. However, some of these energies are wasted in free space. To reuse these wasted energies, significantly growing interests are towards to the energy harvesting antennas. This paper is aimed to investigate a wearable antenna which can transfer RF energy from ambient sources to direct current by a soft and portable textile antenna. Among the numerous signals in mobile network, the GSM 1800, 3G, WiFi and 4G/5G will be chosen due to the city signal intensity distribution. Hence, a corresponding triple bands antenna has been designed to cover those frequency bands. The CST STUDIO SUITE is used in whole process of antenna design and simulation. The proposed antenna is a hooked dipole antenna with tuning bar (HATB) whose ends have small folded part in each side for better bandwidth performance. The presented antenna provides a wide operating band from 1.8 GHz to 2.5 GHz below -10 dB in return loss. And methods to overcome interference between antennas is found. Furthermore, using the corresponding rectifier to achieve the RF/DC conversion. The overall efficiency of whole rectifier is about 56.8 %, and output power level of the antenna system is 45.92nW. The experimental results could indicate that my textile hooked antenna harvester is a good choice for the charging system of personal wearable attachment, which could achieve low power absorbing for long distance anytime and anywhere.

High pressure crystallization technique has been successfully used to prepare an elusive form II of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Mefenamic acid. Single crystal of form II was grown at 0.3 GPa from an 4:1 methanol/ ethanol mixture as a solvent using Diamond Anvil Cell. Comparison of crystal structures show that the efficient packing of MA molecules in Form II results from the structural flexibility of MA acid molecules. Compression studies performed on the single crystal of form I resulted in 14 % decrease of unit cell volume up to 2.5 GPa. No phase transition was observed up to this pressure. A reconstructive phase transition is required to induce conformational changes in the structure, which is confirmed by crystallization at high pressure results.

Agaricus bisporus is one of the most popular mushroom species in the world; however, mushrooms are highly susceptible to browning due to the absence of a protective cuticle layer and high respiration rate. The molecular mechanism underlying the process of mushroom browningneeds to be explored. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomic and metabolomic data from A. bisporusat ambient temperature. Specifically, a total of 263 significantly changed metabolites and 4492 differentially expressed genes were identified. Lipid metabolites associated with cell membrane degradation were predominantly up-regulated during ambient storage. Transcriptomic data further revealed the alterations of the expression of membrane lipid metabolism-related enzymes. Additionally, energy metabolic processes and products such as glycolysis and linoleic acid changed significantly during ambient storage, indicating their potential roles in the quality deterioration of A. bisporus. These findings provide new insights into the underlyingl ipidmetabolic mechanism of A. bisporus during postharvest ambient storage and will provide values for mushroom preservation techniques.

This study investigates the effects of ambient illumination and negatively polarized text color on visual fatigue, exploring the issue of visual fatigue when using visual display terminals in low-illumination environments. The research methodology utilized an experimental design to collect data on changes in pupil accommodation and blink rate through an eye tracker. Partici-pants completed a reading task while exposed to various text colors and ambient light conditions to evaluate visual fatigue and cognitive performance. The study's findings suggest that text color significantly affects visual fatigue, with red text causing the highest level of visual fatigue and yellow text causing the lowest level of visual fatigue. Improvements in ambient lighting reduce visual fatigue, but the degree of improvement varies depending on the text color. Additionally, cognitive performance is better when using yellow and white text but worse when using red text. Yellow text is the most effective choice for reducing visual fatigue under negative polarity. In-creasing ambient lighting can also improve visual fatigue in low-illumination conditions. These findings will offer valuable guidance for designing visual terminal device interfaces, especially for low-illumination or night environments, to minimize visual fatigue and improve the user ex-perience.

Elaborate sound design, including background music, ambient sounds (sounds describing the game world), and character sounds (sounds generated by the character’s actions), plays a pivotal role in modern videogames. However, the influence of these different types of sound on the player experience has not been extensively researched. This study examines the influence of these sound types on immersion, avatar identification, fun and perceived competence. In two experiments, participants played League of Legends in four different sound conditions. The first experiment revealed a non-significant trend in the effect of character sound on avatar identification. Ambient sounds, however, were limited in this experiment because the task restricted participants’ movement across the game map. Consequently, we adapted the task to allow for a wider variety of ambient sounds in the second experiment. Here, a significant impact of character sounds on immersion, avatar identification, and fun, was observed, as well as an interaction effect of character sounds and ambient sounds on fun. Furthermore, we observed a trend, though not statistically significant, suggesting that ambient sounds may influence the player’s sense of flow. These findings underline the distinct effects of different sound types and we discuss implications for the design of sound in video games.

Findings from studies of prenatal exposure to pesticides and adverse birth outcomes have been equivocal so far. We examined prenatal exposure to agricultural pesticides in relation to preterm birth and term low birthweight, respectively, in children born between 1998 and 2010 randomly selected from California birth records. We estimated residential exposures to agriculturally applied pesticides within 2 km of residential addresses at birth by pregnancy trimester for 17 individual pesticides and 3 chemical classes (organophosphates, pyrethroids, and carbamates). Among maternal addresses located within 2 km of any agricultural pesticide application, we identified 24,693 preterm and 220,297 term births, and 4,412 term low birthweight and 194,732 term normal birthweight infants. First or second trimester exposures to individual pesticides (e.g., glyphosates, paraquat, imidacloprid) or exposures to 2+ pesticides in the three chemical classes were associated with small increases (3-7%) in risk for preterm birth; associations were stronger for female offspring. We did not find associations between term low birthweight and exposures to pesticides other than for myclobutanil (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.04-1.20) and possibly pyrethroids as a class. Our improved exposure assessment revealed that first and second trimester exposures to pesticides were associated with preterm delivery but few affected term low birthweight.

For paramagnetic and elastic materials in the presence of quasi-static magnetic field, there is correspondingly quasi-static magnetic pressure, in contrast to the radiational electromagnetic pressure associated with electromagnetic momentum density. A thermodynamic pressure demagnetization is demonstrated. For the elastic dielectrics in the presence of quasi-static electrical field, its dual effect can be easily obtained by variable transformation.

This study determined the temporal variation of PM2.5 in ambient air in Thohoyandou and further assessed the associated health risks. The levels of PM2.5 were quantified for a period of 1 year (April 2017-April 2018) using the gravimetric method. There was no significant difference (P-value = 0.18) in concentrations of both PM2.5 samples collected during weekdays (11.29 µg.m-3) and weekends (9.86 µg.m-3). However, higher concentrations of PM2.5 were measured in spring and the lowest was measured in summer. The cancer risk obtained for PM2.5 (2.21 × 10−5, 3 × 10-4, and 5 × 10-4 for infants, children, and adults respectively) in the outdoor air of Thohoyandou has exceeded the limit values by the USEPA and WHO, implying a significant risk for the whole population. For non-carcinogenic risks, the HQ values were 2.60, 4.81, and 2.60 for infants, children, and adults respectively. The HQ value &gt;1 indicates a non-carcinogenic risk to the residents in Thohoyandou and a higher risk to children. Moreover, PM2.5 in Thohoyandou is responsible for 0.15% and 0.13% of deaths resulting from cardiovascular disease and lung cancer respectively for adults above 30 years. PM2.5 is causing adverse health effects in Thohoyandou as deduced from the health risk assessment. Therefore, it is recommended that further epidemiological studies be conducted in Thohoyandou to estimate the burden of disease due to exposure to particulate matter and suitable controlling policies be arranged to reduce particulate matter.

With the widespread of embedded sensing capabilities of mobile devices, there has been unprecedented development of context-aware solutions. This allows the proliferation of various intelligent applications such as those for remote health and lifestyle monitoring, intelligent personalized services, etc. However, activity context recognition based on multivariate time series signals obtained from mobile devices in unconstrained conditions is naturally prone to imbalance class problems. This means that recognition models tend to predict classes with the majority number of samples whilst ignoring classes with the least number of samples, resulting in poor generalization. To address this problem, we propose to augment the time series signals from inertia sensors with signals from ambient sensing to train deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) models. DCNN provides the characteristics that capture local dependency and scale invariance of these combined sensor signals. Consequently, we developed a DCNN model using only inertial sensor signals and then developed another model that combined signals from both inertia and ambient sensors aiming to investigate the class imbalance problem by improving the performance of the recognition model. Evaluation and analysis of the proposed system using data with imbalanced classes show that the system achieved better recognition accuracy when data from inertial sensors are combined with those from ambient sensors such as environment noise level and illumination, with an overall improvement of 5.3% accuracy.

Temperature is a critical factor that influences the proliferation of pathogens in hosts. The impact of temperature on pathogens is commonly explored in controlled and constant temperatures. Experiments under varying environmental temperature are becoming more frequent, however, testing every temperature scenario à la carte is unachievable. One example of this is the human pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) in oysters. Here, a predictive model was developed for predicting the growth of Vp in oysters under varying ambient temperature. The model was fitted and evaluated against data from experiments studying growth and inactivation of Vp in oysters at eight constant temperatures. Once evaluated, Vp dynamics in oysters were estimated at different post-harvest varying temperature scenarios affected by water and air temperature, and different ice treatment timing. The model performed adequately under varying temperature, reflecting that (i) increasing temperature, particularly in hot summers, favors a rapid Vp growth in oysters, resulting in a very high risk of gastroenteritis in humans after consumption of a serving of raw oysters, (ii) pathogen inactivation due to day/night oscillations, and more evidently, due to ice treatments, (iii) ice treatment is much more effective limiting risk of illness when applied immediately onboard compared to dockside. The model results to be a promising tool for improving the understanding of the Vp-oyster system and support studies on public health impact of pathogenic Vp associated with raw oyster consumption. Although robust validation of the model predictions is needed, initial results and evaluation show the potential of the model to be easily modified to match similar systems where the temperature is a critical factor shaping the proliferation of pathogens in hosts.

The impact of cyclic heat stress (CHS) and lighting events on pig feeding behavior (FB) was investigated. The FB of 90 gilts was recorded in real time under two ambient temperatures (AT): thermoneutrality (TN, 22 °C) or CHS (22°/35 °C). The day was divided into four periods: PI (06-08 h); PII (08-18 h); PIII (18-20 h); and PIV (20-06 h). Automatic and Intelligent Precision Feeders recorded each feed event for each pig. An estimated meal criterion (49 minutes) was used to calculate the FB variables. Feed behavior in both ATs followed a circadian pattern. The CHS reduced the feed intake by 6.9%. Pigs prioritized feed intake during the coolest hours of the day; however, nocturnal cooling did not allow the pigs to compensate for the reduced meal size due to CHS. The highest meal size and most of the meals were observed during the lighting-on period. Pigs reduced their interval between meals during periods II and III. The lighting program increased the meal size when the lights were switched on and reduced the meal size when the lights were switched off. Thus, the dynamics of the FB were largely influenced by AT, while the meal size was affected by the lighting program.

Drivers of L3 automated vehicles (AVs) are not required to continuously monitor the AV system. However, they must be prepared to take over when requested. Therefore, it is necessary to design an in-vehicle environment that allows drivers to adapt their levels of preparedness to the likelihood of control transition. This study evaluates ambient in-vehicle lighting that continuously communicates the current level of AV reliability, specifically on how it could influence drivers' take-over performance and mental workload (MW). We conducted an experiment in a driving simulator with 42 participants who experienced 10 take-over requests (TORs). The experimental group experienced a four-stage ambient light display that communicated the current level of AV reliability, which was not provided to the control group. The experimental group demonstrated better take-over performance, based on lower vehicle jerks. Notably, perceived MW did not differ between the groups, and the EEG indices of MW (frontal theta power, parietal alpha power, Task-Load Index) did not differ between the groups. These findings suggest that communicating the current level of reliability using ambient light might help drivers be better prepared for TORs and perform better without increasing their MW.

In CCS projects, the transportation of CO₂ by ship can be an attractive alternative to transportation using a pipeline, particularly when the distance between source and disposal location is large. However, the energy consumption of the liquefaction process can be significant, making the selection of an energy-efficient design an important factor in the minimization of operating costs. Since the liquefaction process operates at low temperature, its energy consumption will vary with ambient temperature, which could be a factor that influences the trade-off point between pipelines and shipping in different geographic locations. A consistent set of data showing the relationship between energy consumption and cooling temperature is therefore potentially useful to CCS system modelling. This study compares the performance of a wide range of CO₂ liquefaction schemes. It applies a methodical approach to the optimization of process operating parameters and studies performance across a range of operating temperatures. A set of data for the minimum energy consumption cases is presented. The main findings are that open-cycle CO₂ processes often offer minimum energy consumption; NH₃ based schemes often offer better performance at higher ambient temperatures; and that for the cooling temperature range 15 to 50 °C, the energy consumption for the best performing liquefaction process rises by around 40%.

In hospitals and smart nursing homes, ambient-intelligent care rooms are equipped with many sensors. They can monitor environmental and body parameters, and detect wearable devices of patients and nurses. Hence, they continuously produce data streams. This offers the opportunity to collect, integrate and interpret this data in a context-aware manner, with a focus on reactivity and autonomy. However, doing this in real-time on huge data streams is a challenging task. In this context, cascading reasoning is an emerging research approach that exploits the trade-off between reasoning complexity and data velocity by constructing a processing hierarchy of reasoners. Therefore, a cascading reasoning framework is proposed in this paper. A generic architecture is presented allowing to create a pipeline of reasoning components hosted locally, in the edge of the network, and in the cloud. The architecture is implemented on a pervasive health use case, where medically diagnosed patients are constantly monitored, and alarming situations can be detected and reacted upon in a context-aware manner. A performance evaluation shows that the total system latency is mostly lower than 5 seconds, allowing for responsive intervention by a nurse in alarming situations. Using the evaluation results, the benefits of cascading reasoning for healthcare are analyzed.

The paper will analyze the pressures and vulnerabilities of the consolidated city from two perspectives: technical and social. Some design and pragmatic experiences conducted by the author in his teaching and research experience first at the Department of Urbanism of TUDelft in the Netherlands and currently at the PDTA Department of La Sapienza University of Rome will be introduced and analyzed. In the first research activity, whose case study is Rotterdam, all urban vulnerabilities related to climate change will be analyzed while in the second one, conducted in Viterbo, the vulnerability related to the hull of social inclusion, poor accessibility and psycho-social stress that plague our established cities will be treated. The two areas of study, different in size and spatial governance tools, are comparable because they allow deciphering the city's risks through lines of intervention that could serve as best practices and serve the urban planning disciplinary update also allowing to define a reflection on morphology and fabrics and on the shape of the city itself. Both teaching and research activities in which the author is involved allow the topic of urban vulnerability to be addressed with a broad exploratory scope that, in the final stage, hypothesizes design intervention on the neighborhood scale, identified as the most appropriate to provide plausible climate and social adaptation and mitigation responses.

Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) has received significant attention for capturing surface pressure in recent years. One major source of uncertainty in PSP measurements, temperature dependency, stems from the fundamental photophysical process that allows PSP to extract pressure information. The motion-capturing PSP method, which involves two luminophores, is introduced as a method to reduce the measurement uncertainty due to temperature dependency. A theoretical model for the pressure uncertainty due to temperature dependency is proposed and demonstrated using a static pressure measurement with an applied temperature gradient. The experimental validation of the proposed model shows that the motion-capturing PSP method reduces the temperature dependency by 37.7% compared to the conventional PSP method. The proposed model also proves that a PSP with zero temperature dependency is theoretically possible.

PM_0.1 (particles diameter ≤ 0.1 µm), nanoparticles (NPs), and ultrafine particles (UFPs), were interchangeably used in the scientific communities. PM_0.1 originated from both natural and human sources. However, investigations of PM_0.1 and its effects on the environment, visibility, and human health risk to understand the levels of air pollution, sources, and impacts in South East Asia (SEA) countries continue to be lacking. The concentration of PM_0.1 in most SEA countries are much worse than those in western countries environment. A further motivation of this reviewed article is to provide a critical synthesis of the current knowledge and study of ambient PM_0.1 in SEA cities. The main influence of characteristics of PM_0.1 appears to be local sources including biomass burning and motor vehicles. Continuous monitoring of PM_0.1 in terms of both mass and number concentration should be further understood. A critical review is of great importance to facilitating air pollution control policies and predicting the behavior of PM_0.1 in SEA.

Background: Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide with 25% of deaths due to lung cancer occurring in Europe. This study therefore sought to assess the burden of lung cancer by country and to evaluate the magnitude of fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and cigarette smoking by country in Europe. Methods: An ecological study nested on the World Health Organization air pollution database 2016 was conducted. We sampled 30 European Countries, with a total of 1625 mean annual samples of Particulate Matter (PM2.5) collected from 1625 designated sites (n = 1625). We further used the ‘World Health Disease Rankings’ database to extract Lung Cancer Morbidity and Mortality Rate by country. We used SAS version 9.4 to indicate the distribution of PM2.5 and Lung Cancer Mortality Rate. Results: Lung cancer Relative Risk (RR) was 1.0 in all never- smokers. RR for Ex-smokers for Adeno carcinoma was 3.5 in males and 1.1 in females, small cell carcinoma was 16.2 in males and 3.8 in females. RR for current smokers for Adeno carcinoma was 8.0 in males and 4.1 in females, small cell carcinoma was 57.9 in males and 18.2 in females. Mean annual PM2.5 by country ranged from 6.01 to 37.28µg/m3 whereas lung cancer mortality rate by country ranged from 19.67 to 54.26 deaths per 100,000 population. Conclusion: Cigarette smoking and exposure to both second hand smoke and high concentration of PM2.5 resulted into increased burden of lung cancer in Europe. Countries should re-strategize to reduce the burden of lung cancer in Europe.

Abstract: Metal-air batteries provide a most promising battery technology given their outstanding potential energy densities, which are desirable for both stationary and mobile applications in a ‘beyond lithium-ion’ battery market. Silicon- and iron-air batteries underwent less research and development compared to lithium- and zinc-air batteries. Nevertheless, in the recent past, the two also-ran battery systems made considerable progress and attracted rising research interest due to the excellent resource-efficiency of silicon and iron. Silicon and iron are among the top five of the most abundant elements in the earth’s crust, which ensures almost infinite material supply of the anode materials, even for large scale applications. Furthermore, primary silicon-air batteries are set to provide one of the highest energy densities among all batteries, while iron-air batteries are frequently considered as a highly rechargeable system with decent performance characteristics. Considering fundamental aspects for the anode materials, i.e., the metal electrodes, in this review, we will first outline the challenges, which explicitly apply to silicon- and iron-air batteries and prevented them from a broad implementation so far. Afterwards, we provide an extensive literature survey regarding state-of-the-art experimental approaches, which are set to resolve the aforementioned challenges and might enable the introduction of silicon- and iron-air batteries into the battery market in the future.

Controlling injection parameters is paramount when it comes to producing high-quality green parts using powder injection molding. This work combines experimental and numerical approaches to study the impact of injection parameters on mold in-cavity pressure and on the overall quality of green parts produced by low-pressure powder injection molding. The properties of two low-viscosity feedstocks (formulated from a water-atomized stainless-steel powder and wax-based binder system) were measured and implemented in an Autodesk Moldflow numerical model to quantify the molding pressures, which were finally validated using experimental real-scale injections. The results confirmed that an increase in mold temperature, an increase in feedstock temperature, and a decrease in solid loading decrease the mold in-cavity pressure, which was correlated with the feedstock viscosity. As a key result, real-scale injections confirmed that a minimum flow rate was required to avoid atypical high in-cavity pressure leading in several visual defects such as weld lines, flow marks, cracks, sinks, and incomplete filling. Due to differences in its thermal transfer properties, this flow rate threshold value decreases as the feedstock solid loading increases. For injection speeds higher than this value, the injection pressure measured experimentally was linearly correlated with the injection flow rate.

Abstract: Coal bed methane (CBM) reservoirs are complex systems whose properties differ from those of conventional reservoirs. Coal seams are dual-porosity systems that comprise the porosities of the matrix and cleat system. Gas in the coal seams can be stored as free gas in the cleat system and as adsorbed gas in the porous medium. The flow mechanisms of the natural gas through the formation include desorption, diffusion, and Darcy’s flow regimes. The permeability of CBM reservoirs is more sensitive to pressure variations than conventional gas reservoirs. To study the flow behavior of CBM reservoirs it is mandatory to use a model that considers their unique characteristics. The objective of this study was to propose a physical and mathematical model of production performance for horizontal wells in CBM reservoirs whose permeability is dependent on pressure. A solution for the model was obtained by applying Pedrosa´s transformation, perturbation theory, Laplace transformation, the point source method, and Sthefest´s algorithm. The solution to this problem was validated with previous work thoroughly. The type curves of the model were built and the pressure transient behavior of the model was analyzed and discussed. The effects of several parameters on pressure behavior were also discussed.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) has a high mortality, and few treatment options. Adaptive immune mediators of PH in mice challenged with antigen/particulate matter (antigen/PM) has been the focus of our prior work. We identified key roles of type 2 and type 17 responses in C57BL/6 mice. Here, we focused on type 2 response related cytokines, specifically Resistin-like-molecule (RELM)α, a critical mediator of hypoxia-induced PH. Because of strain differences in the immune responses to type 2 stimuli, we compared C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice. A model of intraperitoneal antigen sensitization with subsequent, intranasal challenges with antigen/PM (ovalbumin and urban ambient PM2.5) or saline was used in C57BL/6 and BALB/c wild type or RELMα-/- mice. Vascular remodeling was assessed by histology, right ventricular (RV) pressure, RV weights and cytokines were quantified. Upon challenge with antigen/PM2.5, both C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice developed pulmonary vascular remodeling; these changes were more prominent in the C57BL/6 strain. Compared to wild type mice, RELMα-/- had significantly reduced pulmonary vascular remodeling in BALB/c, but not in C57BL/6 mice. RV weights, RV IL-33 and RV ST2-IL-33-receptor were significantly increased in BALB/c wild type mice, but not in BALB/c-RELMα-/- or in C57BL/6-wild type or C57BL/6-RELMα-/- mice. RV systolic pressures (RVSP) were higher in BALB/c compared to C57BL/6J mice, and RELMα-/- were not different from their respective wild type controls. In BALB/c mice, RELMα was a key contributor to antigen/PM2.5 induced pulmonary vascular remodeling, RV thickening and RV cytokine responses, highlighting the significance of the genetic background. The RELMα-/- animals demonstrated significantly decreased expression of RELMβ and RELM which makes these mice comparable to a situation where human RELMα levels would be significantly modified, as humans only have one RELM molecule.

The previous studies on the diversion pipe of pumped storage power stations (PSPS) primarily focused on numerical simulations of pulsating pressure propagation within the pipe and its inducing factors. However, there was a lack of field monitoring and analysis of measured data to support surface ambient vibration, resulting in insufficient credibility and practicality of the numerical results. Based on ambient monitoring and data analysis, this paper examines the factors contributing to the ambient vibration of the water diversion pipeline in Changlongshan (CLS) PSPS. It is concluded that: (1) The primary source of vibration originates from units operation-induced ambient vibrations; (2) Vibration during pumping conditions exceeds that during power generation conditions; (3) The ground measuring point's vibration acceleration primarily depends on the distance from the vibration source; (4) Different types of units have varying effects on water diversion pipeline vibrations.

(1) Background: Environmental and public health research has given considerable attention to the impact of air quality on brain health, with systematic reviews widespread. No literature review has been done for cognitive frailty – a multidimensional syndrome combining physical frailty and cognitive impairment and their apparent co-dependence, linked to increased vulnerability and adverse health outcomes, including dementia. Instead, cognitive decline and frailty is implicitly explored through research on air quality and comorbid cognitive and physical decline in elderly populations. (2) Methods: A scoping review was conducted to explore the need for a systematic review. Combining Arksey and O’Malley [1] and PRISMA-ScR checklist [2], a scoping review of SCOPUS using ‘cogniti*’ + ‘resilience’ + ‘air quality’ or ‘cogniti*’ + ‘ageing’ + ‘air quality’ resulted in N=2503 articles, screened and reduced using inclusion and exclusion criteria, to N=16 articles. (3) Results: Air quality appears to be a critical risk factor for cognitive decline, even at air quality levels below WHO targets. Moderate long-term ambient air pollution appears linked to increased risk of cognitive frailty, suggesting earlier and more active interventions to protect older people. There are varied effects on cognition across the life course, with both emotional and functional impacts. Effects may be more detrimental to elderly people with existing conditions, including economic and health inequalities. Generalisation of results is limited due to the absence of a dose-response, variations in methods, controlling for comorbid effects, and variance across studies. (4) Conclusions: The findings support the need for more research and a more extensive summary of the literature.

For the first time, it is shown that inhaled ambient air-dust particles settled in the human lower respiratory tract induce lung calcification. Chemical- and mineral compositions of pulmonary calcium precipitates in the lung right lower-lobe (RLL) tissues of 12 individuals who lived in Upper Silesia Conurbation in Poland and who had died from causes not related to lung disorder were determined by transmission- and scanning electron microscopy. Whereas calcium salts in lungs are usually reported as phosphates, calcium salts precipitated in RLL are almost exclusively carbonates, i.e. Mg-calcite and calcite. These constitute 37% of 1652 mineral particles examined. Mg-calcite predominates in the submicron size range with the MgCO3 content up to 50 mol%. Magnesium plays a significant role in the lung mineralization, a fact so far overlooked. The calcium phosphate (hydroxyapatite) content in RLL is negligible. The predominance of carbonates is explained by increased CO2 fugacity in RLL. Carbonates enveloped inhaled mineral-dust particles, including uranium-bearing oxides, quartz, aluminosilicates, and metal sulfides. Three possible pathways for the carbonates precipitation on the dust particles are postulated: (1) precipitation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) followed by its transformation to calcite; (2) precipitation of Mg-ACC followed by its transformation to Mg-calcite; (3) precipitation of Mg-free ACC causing a localized relative enrichment in Mg ions and subsequent heterogeneous nucleation and crystal growth of Mg-calcite. The actual number of inhaled dust particles may be significantly greater than observed because of the masking effect of the carbonate coatings. There is no simple correlation between smoking habit and lung calcification.

Headache is considered to be one of the most common causes of medical treatment and evaluation worldwide in both acute and outpatient settings. It is the most common neurological symptom seen worldwide affecting all genders, ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic levels. It’s impact is noted in educational decline in school-aged children and decreased productivity through sick leave in adults. Its overall burden is well documented in well-resourced countries but limited data is seen low resourced countries. While many underlying causes bring about secondary headaches, primary headaches and more specifically migraines have been more widely explored. Migraines have a distinct criterion that is inclusive of one day duration (4 hours to 7 days, unilateral distribution, nausea and vomiting and disability as a few examples. However, migraines can vary and proper documentation through a migraine diary can help to guide treatment. Management of migraines can vary. Lifestyle modification is a key factor in the overall prevention and reduction of triggers in migraines. In addition to this, pharmacotherapy can be given in a tier-based approach based on overall severity and frequency of the migraine. Interventions have progressed from botox injection and have seen the advent of new medications such as nasal sprays to novel formulations of pre-existing drug formulations. Nonetheless, there is great room for further studies of headaches and migraines. Research specifically in low-resource countries can prove to beneficial.

The structural stability of γ-boron is investigated using Raman spectra under high pressures up to 126 GPa at ambient temperature. The pressure dependence of all the Raman-active modes of the γ-boron is reported. We also observe amusing changes within the B3g and B1g Raman-active vibrational modes, which results in the phenomenon of merging first and then separating of the Raman peaks. In addition to the Raman measurements, the changes in crystal structure and force constants are calculated to reasonably explain the discrepancy between the two Raman modes in response to pressure. The results of the continuous shifts for all Raman modes with increasing pressure indicate that γ-boron remains stable below this pressure value, with no changes in either symmetry or structure.

1) Introduction: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a frequently applied open abdomen (OA) treatment. There are only a few experimental data supporting this method and describing the optimal settings and pressure distribution in the abdominal cavity during this procedure. The aim of our study was to evaluate pressure values at different points of the abdominal cavity during NPWT in experimental abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) animal model. 2) Methods: In this study (permission Nr. 13/2014/UDCAR) 27 Hungahib pigs (15.4- 20.2 kg) were operated. ACS was generated by implanting a plastic bag in the abdomen through mini-laparotomy and filled with 2100- 3300 ml saline solution (37 C°) to an intraabdominal pressure (IAP) of 30 mmHg. After 3 hours, NPWT (Vivano Med ® Abdominal Kit, Paul Hartmann AG, Germany) or Bogota bag was applied. NPWT group was divided into -50, -100 and 150 mmHg suction group. Pressure distribution to the abdominal cavity was monitored at 6 different points of the abdomen via a multichannel pressure monitoring system. 3) Results: The absolute pressure levels were significantly higher above than below the layer. The values of the pressure were similar in the midline than laterally. Amongst the bowels, the pressure values changed periodically between 0 and -12 mmHg which might be caused by the peristaltic movements. 4) Conclusions: The porcine model of the present study seems to be well applicable for investigating ACS and NPWT. It was possible to provide valuable for clinicians. The pressure was well distributed by the protective layer to the lateral parts of the abdomen and this phenomenon did not change considerably during the therapy.

It has been suggested that the measured magnetic properties of hydrides under pressure claimed to be high temperature superconductors indicate that the materials are granular superconductors. Such materials will show reduced or no magnetic field expulsion under field cooling, and will trap magnetic fields when the external magnetic field is removed. They will also exhibit hysteretic behavior in magnetoresistance and other transport properties. Here we point out that hysteresis in transport properties has never been reported for hydrides under pressure. Its presence, with the expected features, would indicate that the materials trap magnetic flux, hence that they can sustain persistent currents without dissipation, something that all superconductors can do. Conversely, its absence would indicate that these materials are not superconductors.

Glucosamine is the most common nutrition supplement used in the United States. It is promoted not only as a pain reliever but also a therapy to slow osteoarthritis. Although studies with 3,800 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee or hip found that glucosamine was no better than placebo, it continues to be used for these two indications due to its perceived safety. However, reports of an increased intraocular pressure are alarming, especially in glaucoma. Glycosaminoglycans play a key role in the physiology of the cornea, conventional outflow of aqueous humor and the retina. In theory, long-term treatment with glucosamine could reach a concentration that impacts the morphology and function of ocular tissues. We recommend ophthalmologists counsel glaucoma patients about the potential risks of glucosamine and encourage cessation in uncontrolled intraocular pressure.

The new Internet of Things (IoT) applications are enabling the development of projects that help monitoring people with different diseases in their daily lives. Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects neurological functions and needs support to maintain maximum independence and security of patients during this stage of life, as the cure and reversal of symptoms have not yet been discovered. The IoT-based monitoring system provides the caregivers’ support in monitoring people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). This paper presents an ontology-based computational model which receives physiological data from external IoT applications, allowing to identify of potentially dangerous behaviors for patients with AD. The main scientific contribution of this work is the specification of a model focusing on Alzheimer’s disease using the analysis of Context Histories and Context Prediction, which considering the state of the art, it is the only one that uses analysis of Context Histories to perform predictions. The research also proposes a simulator to generate activities of the daily life of patients allowing the creation of datasets. These datasets were used to evaluate the contributions of the model and were generated according to the standardization of the ontology. The simulator generated 1025 scenarios applied to guide the predictions, which achieved average accurary of 97.44%. The experiments also allowed the learning of 20 relevant lessons on technological, medical and methodological aspects of DCARE that are recorded in this article.

Grazing incidence X-Ray Diffraction spectroscopy was employed to characterize crystallinity of Iron, Nickel, Copper and Tungsten, prepared by sparking discharge process in presence of 0.4 T magnetic field at ambient temperature 25 °C. Iron thin film preserved crystallinity even after one year of ageing. Nickel exhibit higher crystallinity when sparked in nitrogen gas flow from the one sparked in oxygen. Tungsten was successfully crystalized after just 40 minutes of sparking inside of magnetic field.

Continuous in-home monitoring of older adults living alone aims to improve their quality of life and independence, by detecting early signs of illness and functional decline or emergency conditions. To meet requirements for technology acceptance by seniors (unobtrusiveness, non-intrusiveness, privacy-preservation), this study presents and discusses a new smart sensor system for the detection of abnormalities during daily activities, based on ultra-wideband radar providing rich, not privacy-sensitive, information useful for sensing both cardiorespiratory and body movements, regardless of ambient lighting conditions and physical obstructions (through-wall sensing). The radar sensing is a very promising technology, enabling the measurement of vital signs and body movements at a distance, and thus meeting both requirements of unobtrusiveness and accuracy. In particular, impulse-radio ultra-wideband radar has attracted considerable attention in recent years thanks to many properties that make it useful for assisted living purposes. The proposed sensing system, evaluated in meaningful assisted living scenarios by involving 30 participants, exhibited the ability to detect vital signs, to discriminate among dangerous situations and activities of daily living, and to accommodate individual physical characteristics and habits. The reported results show that vital signs can be detected also while carrying out daily activities or after a fall event (post-fall phase), with accuracy varying according to the level of movements, reaching up to 95% and 91% in detecting respiration and heart rates, respectively. Similarly, good results were achieved in fall detection by using the micro-motion signature and unsupervised learning, with sensitivity and specificity greater than 97% and 90%, respectively.

The pressure exerted on the heart and blood vessels because of blood flow is considered as an important parameter for the cardiovascular function. It determines sufficient blood perfusion as well as transportation of nutrition, oxygen and other essential factors to every organ. Pressure in the primary arteries located near the heart and the brain, known as central blood pressure (CBP), while in peripheral arteries, known as peripheral blood pressure (PBP). Normally, CBP and PBP are correlated; however, cardiovascular disorders interfere their regulation and affect the blood flow in vital organs and accessory organs, differently. Therefore, understanding each of them in normal and disease conditions is essential for managing various cardiovascular disorders and increasing their treatment outcomes. In this review, we have described the control systems (neural, hormonal, osmotic and cellular) of the blood pressure and its regulation in hypovolemic shock using centhaquine (Lyfaquin®) as a resuscitative agent.

Worldwide emission standards are now required to cover engine operation under extreme ambient conditions, which affect the raw emissions and the efficiency of the exhaust aftertreatment systems. These regulations also target new combustion technologies for decarbonization, such as neat hydrogen (H2) combustion or dual-fuel strategies, which involve a challenge to the analysis of exhaust aftertreatment systems requirements and performance. This work addresses the impact of high altitude and low ambient temperature conditions on the reactivity of an oxidation catalyst in the presence of H2. A reaction mechanism is proposed to cover the main conversion paths of CO, HC, and H2, including the formation and consumption of high-energy surface reaction intermediates. The mechanism has been implemented into a faster-than-real-time reduced-order model for multi-layer washcoat honeycomb catalytic converters. The model was utilized to investigate the effect of H2 concentration on the reactivity of CO and HC within the catalyst under various operating and ambient conditions. By applying the model and examining the selectivity towards different reaction pathways in the presence H2, insights into surface intermediates and reactivity across different cross-sections of the monolith were obtained. This analysis discusses the underlying causes of reactivity changes promoted by H2 and its relative importance as a function of driving boundary conditions.

Chronic heat stress (CHS) has been exerting great pressure on the poultry industry due to the global warming. CHS-induced negative impacts deeply change the physiology, metabolism, egg production and meat quality of ducks. To reduce the increasing economic loss, different environmental strategies have been adopted. Here, we comprehensively compared three rearing modes for Cherry-Valley ducks (CVds) mainly by changing the environmental temperature. Plus, the transcriptome analysis and physiological anatomy were implied to investigate the underlying molecular biology and pneumonocyte dynamics. It turns out that the CVds affected by CHS have poor growth performance and bad carcass traits. In addition, the irreversible damage caused by CHS in the lung tissue of CVds was observed. Furthermore, several potential genes related to CHS have been found, such as HSPA8, IGF1, FGFR1, ACSL3, ACSL6, NR1H3 and GAPDH. This study strongly indicates the severe injury of CHS from the high-temperature environment and points out one of the adopting directions for duck rearing.

Several studies have identified a relationship between air pollution and depression, particularly in relation to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. However, the strength of this association appears to be moderated by variables such as age, gender, genetic vulnerability, physical activity and climatic conditions, and has not been assessed at a cross-national level to date. The current study examines the association between the prevalence of depression in each country, based on the most recent Global Burden of Disease Study data, and the average national level of PM2.5 based on the World Health Organization’s database. The observed associations were adjusted for age, gender, level of physical activity, income, education, population density, climate, and type of depression. It was observed that there was a modest but significant positive correlation between PM2.5 level and the prevalence of depression even after adjusting for the above confounders. This association was more marked above a certain threshold and applied chiefly to major depressive episodes. These findings are of significant public health importance in terms of preventive strategies aimed at reducing the population-level burden of depression.

In the investment casting process, the pattern made of wax is obtained in a die for further formation of shell mold. This work investigates commercial pattern waxes fluidity with a newly developed injection fluidity test. A good correlation between wax fluidity and its viscosity is observed, which is different from metallic alloys, where the solidification behavior is more critical. The difference in investigated filled waxes fluidity can be associated with the type and amount of filler.

Photonic sensors are innovative devices that leverage the principles of light-matter interaction to enable precise and efficient detection of various physical parameters. These sensors operate by exploiting the interaction between photons, the fundamental particles of light, and matter. The light propagates through an optical waveguide, and a portion of the electromagnetic field extends beyond the waveguide surface, forming the evanescent field. This evanescent field interacts with the surrounding medium, allowing for highly sensitive detection of changes in the refractive index or properties of nearby substances. The underlying concept involves the modulation of light properties, such as intensity, wavelength, or phase, when it interacts with a target substance or undergoes changes in the surrounding environment. The advancements in photonic sensor technology have paved the way for enhanced sensitivity, selectivity, and miniaturization, making them invaluable tools in diverse industries. The ability to harness light-matter interactions for sensing purposes not only facilitates highly sensitive measurements but also allows for non-intrusive and remote monitoring, contributing to the evolution of smart and connected systems. In this overview, the material platforms and waveguide structures are explored that can make highly sensitive photonic devices applied to gas and biosensing applications.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have gained prominence in addressing regression problems, offering versatile architectural designs that cater to various applications. In the field of earthquake engineering, seismic response prediction is a critical area of study. Simplified models such as single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) and multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems have traditionally provided valuable insights into structural behavior, known for their computational efficiency facilitating faster simulations. However, these models have notable limitations in capturing the nuanced nonlinear behavior of structures and the spatial variability of ground motions. This study focuses on leveraging ambient vibration (AV) measurements of buildings, combined with earthquake (EQ) time-history data, to create a predictive model using a neural network (NN) in image format. The primary objective is to predict a specific building's earthquake response accurately. The training dataset consists of 1,197 MDOF 2D shear models, generating a total of 32,319 training samples. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, termed MLPER (Machine Learning based Prediction of building structures' Earthquake Response), several metrics are employed. These include mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean deviation angle (MDA) for comparisons in the time domain. Additionally, we assess magnitude-squared coherence values and phase differences (Δφ) for comparisons in the frequency domain. This study underscores the potential of MLPER as a reliable tool for predicting building earthquake response, addressing the limitations of simplified models. By integrating AV measurements and EQ time-history data into a neural network framework, MLPER offers a promising avenue for enhancing our understanding of structural behavior during seismic events, ultimately contributing to improved earthquake resilience in building design and engineering.

The Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) matrix (MA) domain is involved in the highly regulated assembly process of the virus particles that occur at the host cell’s plasma membrane. High-resolution structures of the MA domain determined using cryo X-ray crystallography have provided initial insights into the possible steps in the viral assembly process. However, these structural studies have relied on large and frozen crystals in order to reduce radiation damage caused by the intense X-rays. Here, we report the first XFEL study of the HIV-1 MA domain’s interaction with inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), a phospholipid headgroup mimic. We also describe the purification, characterization and microcrystallization of two MA crystal forms obtained in the presence of IP6. In addition, we describe the capabilities of serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX) using X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to elucidate the diffraction data of MA-IP6 complex microcrystals in liquid suspension at ambient temperature. Two different microcrystal forms of MA-IP6 complex both diffracted to beyond 3.5 Å resolution, demonstrating the feasibility of using SFX to study the complexes of MA domain of HIV-1 Gag polyprotein with IP6 at near-physiological temperatures. Further optimization of the experimental and data analysis procedures will lead to better understanding of the MA domain of HIV-1 Gag and IP6 interaction at high resolution and provide basis for optimization of the lead compounds for efficient inhibition of the Gag protein recruitment to the plasma membrane prior to virion formation.

The ambient air quality data for particulate matter as well as criteria of gaseous pollutants were assembled during December 2013 to December 2015 from the Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAMS) located at Agrabad, Chittagong. The observation showed that during April- October, 24 hour average concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 were within the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) level but it increased occasionally by more than two and a half times during the whole non-monsoon period (November-March). The highest values found of PM2.5 were 321.1 µg/m³ in January, 2013 and 220.34 µg/m³ in December 2015. Whether, the highest alarming concentration of PM10 was reported as 474 µg/m3 in January 2007. The other gaseous pollutants such as SO₂, NO₂, O₃, CO and Hydrocarbons remain well within the permissible limit except dry non-monsoon period. The yearly average increase of Air Quality Index (AQI) value indicates the growth rate of air pollution in Chittagong city. The main responsible pollutant for air pollution is found PM_2.5.

Diagnostics and decomposition of atmospheric disturbances in a planar flow are considered and applied to numerical modeling results with the direct possibility to use in atmosphere monitoring especially in such strong events which follow magnetic storms. The study examines a situation in which the stationary equilibrium temperature of a gas may depend on a vertical coordinate, that seriously complicates the problem solution. The relations connecting perturbations for acoustic and entropy modes are analytically established and led to the solvable diagnostic equations. These perturbation structures, found as the equation solutions specify acoustic and entropy modes in an arbitrary stratified gas under the condition of stability. These time-independent diagnostic relations link gas perturbation variables of the acoustic and the entropy modes. Hence, they provide the ability to decompose the total vector of perturbations into acoustic and non-acoustic (entropy) parts uniquely at any instant within the all accessible heights range. As a prospective model, we consider the diagnostics at the height interval [120;180] km, where the equilibrium temperature of a gas depends linearly on the vertical coordinate. For such a heights range it is possible to proceed with analytical expressions for pressure and entropy perturbations of gas variables. Individual profiles of acoustic and entropy parts for some data, obtained by numerical experiment, are illustrated by the plots for the pure numerical data against ones obtained by the model. The total energy of a flow is determined for both approaches and its height profiles are compared.

At present more than 9 million people die of cancer every year. Simple and broad-spectrum drugs are still an urgent need for cancer patients. Recently, we proposed a new hypothesis that intracellular osmotic pressure (IOP) is the driving force of cell division, and abnormal tumor proliferation is the result of uncontrolled IOP in cells. On the one hand, aneuploidy and abnormal function of Na⁺/K⁺ pump lead to a faster rise of IOP in tumor cell than normal cells, on the other hand, abnormality of cytoskeleton assembly leads to the decrease of tolerance limit of cell membrane (TLCM) of tumor cells for resisting IOP. This hypothesis predicts: 1)Tumor cells were more intolerant to hypotonic stress than normal cells. 2) Maligancies may be sellectively killed by a suddenn increase of IOP and combined with decrease of the TLCM of tumors. Na⁺/K⁺ pump inhibitors can promotely increase the IOP of tumor cells and cytoskeleton inhibitors can dramatically lower the TLCM of tumor cells. Therefore, Na⁺/K⁺ pump and cytoskeleton inhibitors may have a synergetic effect to kill tumor cells. 3) Molecules regulating cell osmolality may be new targets for cancer treatment.

Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) is a non-conventional machining process that, unlike other methods, is deemed superior because of its applicability, versatility, and no heat-affected zones in the target material. The main objective of this paper was to develop a cheap, practical model for a low-pressure water jet cutting machine and provide some empirical test data for cutting delicate materials. Proper design calculations were performed and are included for both the water jet machine and the two-axis numerical control. Finite Element Analysis results validate the structural integrity of beams and columns in AWJM. Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis of the nozzle shows good agreement with the theoretical calculations regarding the pressure and velocity of the water-abrasive mixture exiting the nozzle. Modal analysis in ANSYS was done to mitigate potential failure due to resonance induced by vibrations. Limited testing on various thicknesses of polystyrene foam ranging from 1-5 mm thickness and rubber sheet of 1 mm thickness showed that even low pressure of 25-30 bar was sufficient to produce a kerf without any burr. However, extensive testing to report optimized parameters like nozzle transverse speed, standoff distance, abrasive flow rate, etc for working at low-pressure ranges is still a consideration for future investigation.

The structural, elastic, and electronic properties of orthorhombic Cd2SiO4 and Hg2GeO4 were examined under varying pressure conditions using first-principles calculations based on densi-ty-functional theory employing the projector augmented wave method. The obtained cell pa-rameters at 0 GPa were found to align well with existing experimental data. We delved into the pressure-dependence of normalized lattice parameters and elastic constants. In Cd2SiO4, all lat-tice constants decreased as pressure increased, whereas in Hg2GeO4, parameters a and b de-creased while parameter c increased under pressure. Employing the Hill average method, we calculated the elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio up to 10 GPa, noting an increase with pressure. Evaluation of ductility/brittleness under pressure indicated both compounds remained ductile throughout. We also estimated elastic anisotropy and Debye temperature under varying pres-sures. Cd2SiO4 and Hg2GeO4 were identified as indirect band gap insulators, with estimated band gaps of 3.34 eV and 2.09 eV, respectively. Interestingly, Cd2SiO4 exhibited a significant increase in band gap with increasing pressure, whereas the band gap of Hg2GeO4 decreased under pres-sure, revealing distinct structural and electronic responses despite their similar structures.

Abstract:High-pressure water jet technology has received extensive attention and application due to its high efficiency and environmental protection characteristics. The high-pressure water jet nozzle is its core component, and the research on the high-pressure water jet nozzle is conducive to improving the jet performance and improving the jet efficiency. This paper introduces the characteristics of water jet and the working principle of pure water jet, abrasive water jet, pulsed water jet and cavitation water jet, reviews the theoretical analysis and experiment of the predecessor's nozzle, briefly explains the application of high-pressure water jet and looks forward to the development trend of this technology.

This study investigates the suitability of the timestamp approach algorithm for predicting blood pressure (BP) using wearable and comfortable devices, showcasing its accuracy even with low-frequency sampled signals. Developed within the SINTEC European project, the algorithm utilizes Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors, demonstrating promising results in both laboratory and hospital settings. The research emphasizes the algorithm’s potential to transform continuous and non-invasive BP monitoring through wearable technology, offering frequent measurements with minimal discomfort. While the study shows promise, further exploration is needed, focusing on optimizing machine learning coefficients for long-term monitoring applications and addressing potential changes over time. Technological improvements, including the implementation of edge computing algorithms, hold the key to enhancing BP accuracy, denoising techniques, and integrating alarm systems for future wearable solutions. This study emphasizes the adaptability of the algorithm for diverse healthcare environments, paving the way for broader applications in convenient and reliable BP monitoring.

The surrounding rock during the coal mine excavation is prone to significant engineering disasters such as considerable deformation and rockbursts. Pressure release can improve the stress field of a deep rock mass and prevent the occurrence of dangers such as roadway collapse and coal and gas outbursts. This paper uses the ANSYS/LS-DYNA finite element software to simulate the crush area and fracture zone of a detonation charge with different diameters under in-situ stress. The stability of the surrounding rock was analyzed based on the impact stress and velocity, and was verified by field tests. The research results show that the blasting load primarily affects the damaged area near the borehole, while the in-situ stress affects the far-field crack propagation. The crack propagates in the direction of high surrounding rock pressure. When the uncoupling index is 1.5, the impact pressure of the 60 mm diameter cartridge is 8 times that of the 20 mm diameter cartridge. The impact speed can reach 2 times that of the 20 mm diameter cartridge. The high-energy event of the roof is transferred to the front of the working face, the distribution is no longer concentrated, and a better blasting pressure relief effect is achieved. The research results can help guide the prevention and control measures of rock bursts and other mining disasters.

Demolished concrete and plastic waste are two increasingly aggravating problems. In this study, a novel method was proposed to simultaneously recycle concrete and plastic wastes by compacting concrete and plastic powders together under pressure and temperature. The influence of compression pressure and temperature as well as the mixture proportion on the bending strength of specimens was investigated. The results showed that pressure and temperature had a positive effect on the specimen strength; however, the molding temperature should not exceed the melting temperature of plastic. The proportion of plastic had a minimal effect on the bending strength of the specimen when plastic accounted for 25%–75% of the overall mass of the test piece.

In reservoir engineering, one of the main sources of information for the characterization of reservoir and well parameters is well testing. Among the unconventional well testing methodologies, Harmonic Well Testing (HPT) is appealing from an economic standpoint because it could provide well performance and reservoir behavior monitoring without having to interrupt field production. Recorded pressure analysis is performed in the frequency domain by adopting a derivative approach similar to conventional well testing. To this end, pressure and rate data must be decomposed into harmonic components. Test interpretability can be significantly improved if pressure data are detrended prior to interpretation, filtering out non periodic events such as discontinuous production from neighboring wells and flow regime variations which did not respect the designed test periodicity. Therefore, detrending offers the possibility of overcoming the limitation of HPT applicability due to the difficulty of imposing a regularly pulsing rate for the whole test duration (typically lasting several days). This makes HPT attractive for well performance monitoring, especially in gas storage fields. In this paper, the application of different detrending methodologies to synthetic HPT pressure data generated in different reservoir and operational scenarios is presented and discussed. Moreover, a real case application is also presented.

The precipitation, flocculation, and deposition of asphaltene cause severe formation damage within a reservoir and shorten a well’s productive life. Pressure depletion is one factor that contributes to asphaltene precipitation during production; therefore, the first step in managing asphaltene is to determine the onset pressure of the precipitation. While there are numerous equation of state models that can be used to predict the onset pressure, these models are complex and heavily reliant on tuning parameters. Using multivariate linear regression, this work attempts to develop a simple and accurate thermodynamic model for predicting the upper precipitation onset pressure under pressure depletion above the bubble point pressure (Pb) at various temperatures. A total of 94 experimental data points from 37 published crude oil data sets were compiled from the literature. To develop the model, 59 experimental data points were used as training data and 35 experimental data points as testing data. According to the results of the multicollinearity test, the bubble point pressure, temperature, resins, and saturate-to-aromatic ratio were chosen as predictors. The upper onset pressure data with comparable trends were clustered, and unsupervised recognition of three distinct cluster groups was performed. For each cluster identified, a multivariate linear regression model was developed. The model was chosen based on Mallow’s coefficient of determination (Cp), adjusted R² (statistical measure of fit), and S (standard error of the regression slope). The developed model was tested using a data set, and the results showed an adjusted R² of 96.25%, with a mean absolute error of 4.1%. The model was randomly applied to 15 data points to compare it to perturbed-chain statistical associated fluid theory (PC SAFT) and the Peng-Robinson equation of state models and to the multivariate regression models of Fahim (2007) and Ameli et al. (2016). The results showed that the mean absolute error for predicting the asphaltene precipitation onset pressure was 2.82% using Peng-Robinson, 2.36% using the PC SAFT equation of state, 23.96% using the Fahim model, 24.80% using the model reported by Ameli et al., and 2.39% using the newly developed multivariate regression model. The developed multivariate model appears to be as accurate as the PC SAFT equation of state modeling with tuning parameters. The primary advantage of multivariate regression is that, unlike the PC SAFT equation of state model, it does not require saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SARA)-based characterization methodologies or rigorous parameter tuning. It is simple to use, quick, and it produces results in a short period of time.

Hydrogen used as an energy carrier can provide an important route to the decarbonization of energy supplies. However, realizing this opportunity requires a significant increase in both production and transportation capacity. Part of the increase in transportation capacity could be provided by the shipping of liquid hydrogen, but this introduces an energy-intensive liquefaction step into the supply-chain. The energy required for liquefaction can be reduced by developing improved process designs, but since all low-temperature processes are affected by the available heat-sink temperature, local ambient conditions will also affect the energy penalty. This work studies how the energy consumption associated with liquefaction varies with heat-sink temperature through the optimization of design parameters for a typical next-generation hydrogen liquefaction process. The results show that energy consumption increases by around 20%, across the cooling temperature range 5 to 50 °C. Considering just the range 20 to 30 °C there is a 5% increase, illustrating the significant impact ambient temperature can have on energy consumption.

Introduction: Ambient air pollution is major global health problem and commercial drivers are particularly exposed to it. No systematic assessment of the health risks associated with occupational exposure to ambient air pollution in this population has been carried out. Methods: We conducted a systematic review using a protocol-driven strategy. Papers published from inception to 20th April 2018 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, African journals online, Cochrane library, ISRCTN and WHO ICTRP databases were screened for inclusion by two independent reviewers. Original articles with at least an available abstract in English or French were included. Results: The initial search retrieved 1454 published articles of which 20 articles were included. 3 Studies reported a significant difference in white blood cells (106/L) among commercial motorcyclists compared to rural inhabitants (5.041±1.209 vs 5.900±1.213,p=0.001), an increased risk of lung cancer (RR=1.6, 95%CI 1.5-1.8) in bus drivers and an increased standardized mortality ratio (SMR) in bus drivers from Hodgkin’s lymphoma (SMR 2.17, 95%CI 1.19-3.87) compared to white collar workers. Other studies also found that drivers had more oxidative DNA damage and chromosome breaks. 4 papers failed to demonstrate that the drivers were more exposed to air pollution than the controls. 3 other studies also reported no significant difference in lung function parameters and respiratory symptoms. The genetic polymorphisms of detoxifying enzymes were not also homogeneously distributed compared to the controls. Conclusion: There is some evidence that occupational exposure to ambient air pollution among commercial drivers is associated with adverse health outcomes but the existing literature is limited with few studies of small sample size, methodological weaknesses and contradictory findings. Further research is recommended.

The purpose of this study is to characterize atmospheric pollution and its sources in two West African urban sites during the dry season (January 2009 in Bamako, Mali, and December 2009 in Dakar, Senegal). Particulate Matter (PM) source apportionment was performed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Carbonaceous components, water-soluble inorganic compounds, and trace elements were analyzed from PM (TSP, PM10, and PM2.5) samples. The measured PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were 5 to 10 times and 3 to 8 times higher than the 2005 WHO 24-hour standards, respectively. PCA and PMF analyses identify five sources in both cities. The sources contributing to aerosol concentrations (PM2.5 - PM10) in Bamako are motor vehicles (20-13%), solid fuel combustion (16-13%), crustal dust (24-30%), resuspended road dust (26-30%) and secondary aerosols (10-16%). During the sampling period in Bamako, dust was the most prevalent source, accounting for 63% of the total PM10 mass. In Dakar, the main identified sources were motor vehicles (28-19%), mineral dust (16-25%), industries and oil burn-ing (11-10%), sea salts (15-20%), and resuspended road particles (21-29%). The findings also indicate that anthropogenic emissions contribute significantly to the PM2.5 fraction, implying that populations are highly exposed to fine particles.

Falls, highly common in the constantly increasing global aging population, can have a variety of negative effects on their health, well-being, and quality of life, including restricting their capabilities to conduct Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), which are crucial for one’s sustenance. Timely assistance during falls is highly necessary, which involves tracking the indoor location of the elderly during their diverse navigational patterns associated with ADLs to detect the precise location of a fall. With the decreasing caregiver population on a global scale, it is important that the future of intelligent living environments can detect falls during ADL.s while being able to track the indoor location of the elderly in the real world. Prior works in these fields have several limitations, such as – the lack of functionalities to detect both falls and indoor locations, high cost of implementation, complicated design, the requirement of multiple hardware components for deployment, and the necessity to develop new hardware for implementation, which make the wide-scale deployment of such technologies challenging. To address these challenges, this work proposes a cost-effective and simplistic design paradigm for an Ambient Assisted Living system that can capture multimodal components of user behaviors during ADLs that are necessary for performing fall detection and indoor localization in a simultaneous manner in the real world. Proof of concept results from real-world experiments are presented to uphold the effective working of the system. The findings from two comparison studies with prior works in this field are also presented to uphold the novelty of this work. The first comparison study shows how the proposed system outperforms prior works in the areas of indoor localization and fall detection in terms of the effectiveness of its software design and hardware design. The second comparison study shows that the cost for the development of this system is the least as compared to prior works in these fields, which involved real-world development of the underlining systems, thereby upholding its cost-effective nature.

Urban cities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are faced with ambient air pollution. This is an important public health problem with models and limited monitoring data indicating high concentrations of pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Going through most global air quality index maps, however, information about ambient pollution from SSA is scarce. We evaluated the feasibility and practicality of longitudinal measurements of ambient PM_2.5 using low-cost air quality sensors (Purple Air-II-SD) across thirteen locations in seven countries in SSA. Devices were used to gather data over a 30-day period with the aim of assessing the efficiency of its data recovery rate and identifying challenges experienced by users in each location. The median data recovery rate was 94% (range: 72% to 100%). The mean 24-hour concentration measured across all sites was 38 µg/m³ with the highest PM_2.5 period average concentration of 91 µg/m³ measured in Kampala, Uganda and lowest concentrations of 15 µg/m³ measured in Faraja, The Gambia. Kampala-Uganda and Nnewi-Nigeria recorded the longest periods with concentrations>250µg/m³. Power outages, SD memory card issues, internet connectivity problems and device safety concerns were important challenges experienced when using Purple Air-II-SD sensors. Despite some operational challenges, this study demonstrated that it is reasonably practicable and feasible to establish a network of low-cost devices to provide data on local PM_2.5 concentrations in SSA countries. Such data are crucially needed to raise public-, societal and policymaker awareness about air pollution across SSA.

Air pollution is a leading cause of death in the United States, and is associated with adverse health outcomes, including increased vulnerability to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The AirBeam2 was used to measure particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5), to investigate differences between indoor and ambient levels at seven private homes in New York during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Measurements taken in 2020 winter, spring and fall and in fall 2022 showed that 90% of the time, indoor PM2.5 levels exceeded outdoor levels both during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, p = 0.03, and exceeded safety levels. Higher indoor PM2.5 levels attributed to little or no ventilation from cooking and smoke in the kitchen and basements, were significantly greater in fall than in winter. Higher ambient PM2.5 levels were attributed to vehicular traffic at a street-facing sampling site. PM2.5 sources identified in this study may help in devising control strategies to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), and consequently alleviate respiratory health effects. These findings may be used as a basis for in-house modifications including natural ventilation and use of air purifiers to reduce exposures, mitigate future risks, and prevent potential harm to vulnerable residents.

Chronic exposure to the nephrotoxic metal pollutant, cadmium (Cd), has been associated with the pathogenesis of hypertension, but so far, the mechanism has not been well defined. We hypothesize that exposure to Cd causes a decline in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which in turn, causes a rise in blood pressure. Data were collected from 447 Thai subjects with a mean age of 51.1 years, of which 48.8% had hypertension, 15.4% had diabetes and 6.9% had an estimated GFR (eGFR) below 60 mL/min/1.73m2 (low eGFR). The mean blood Cd and mean urinary Cd concentrations were 2.75 and 4.23 µg/L, respectively. Prevalence odds ratio (POR) for hypertension rose twofold in those with a medium Cd burden and blood Cd levels of 0.61-1.69 µg/L. In the hypertensive group, the eGFR was inversely associated with age (β =−0.517), the Cd excretion rate (β = −0.177), and diabetes (β = −0.175). Mean eGFR in those with hypertension was 7.5 mL/min/1.73m2 lower than those who were normotensive with the same Cd body burden. In addition, higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) values were associated with older age (β = 0.243), higher BMI (β = 0.113), lower eGFR (β = −0.106) and diabetes (β = 0.216). Mean SBP in those who had low eGFR and medium and heavy Cd body burden was 9.5 mmHg higher than those with the same Cd body burden and a normal eGFR. Thus, chronic environmental exposure to Cd that produces urinary and blood Cd levels of 0.57-0.61 µg/L, increases the risk of hypertension, and this could be mediated by a declining GFR.

This study examined the association between pressure injuries and complexity of abdominal temperature measured in residents of a nursing facility. The temperature served as a proxy measure for skin thermoregulation. Refined multiscale sample entropy and bubble entropy were used to measure the complexity of the temperature time series measured over two days at 1-minute intervals. Robust summary measures were derived for the multiscale entropies and used in predictive models for pressure injuries that were built with adaptive lasso regression and neural networks. Both types of entropies were lower in the group of participants with pressure injuries (n=11) relative to the group of non-injured participants (n=15). This was generally true at the longer temporal scales, with the effect peaking at scale τ=23 minutes. Predictive models for pressure injury on the basis of refined multiscale sample entropy and bubble entropy yielded 92% accuracy, outperforming predictions based on any single measure of entropy. Combining entropy measures with a widely used risk assessment score led to the best prediction accuracy. Complexity of abdominal temperature series could therefore serve as an indicator of risk of pressure injury.

Background: Morphological alterations in intracranial pressure pulse waveform (ICPPW) secondary to intracranial hypertension (ICP >20 mmHg) and reduction in intracranial compliance (ICC) are well known indicators of neurological severity. To date, no studies have documented the ICPPW modifications after intracranial hypertension resolution with decompressive craniectomy (DC). The present study aimed to assess the morphological alterations in ICPPW among neurocritical care patients with and without DC, by comparing the variations of ICPPW features according to elevations in mean ICP values. Methods: Patients requiring ICP monitoring because of severe traumatic or spontaneous conditions were included. Mean ICP values were compared with ICPPW features (P2/P1 ratio, TTP and pulse amplitude). Elevation in ICP was produced by means of ultrasound-guided manual internal jugular veins compression. Results were distributed for three groups: intact skull (exclusive burr hole for ICP monitoring), craniotomy/large fractures (group 2) or DC (group 3). Results: 57 patients were analyzed. 21 (36%) presented no skull defects, whereas 15 (26%) had DC. ICP was not significantly different between groups: ±13.59 for intact and ±17.66 mmHg for DC, with ICP induced elevation also similar between groups (p= 0.56). Significant elevation was observed for P2/P1 ratio for groups 1 and 2, whereas reduction was observed in group 3 (elevation of ±0.09 for groups 1 and 2, whereas reduction of 0.03 for group 3, p=0.01). Conclusion: In the present study, intracranial pressure pulse waveform analysis indicated that intracranial compliance was significantly more impaired among decompressive craniectomy patients, although ICPPW indicated DC to be protective for further influences of ICP elevations over the brain. Analysis of ICPPW seems to be an alternative to real time ICC assessment.

In this paper, a regression model between neutron star crust-core pressure and the symmetry energy characteristics was estimated using the Akaike information criterion and the adjusted coefficient of determination Radj2. Based on the obtained regression function, the most probable value of the transition density, which should characterize the crust-core environment of the sought physical neutron star model, was determined. An anti-correlation was found between this transition density and the main characteristic of the symmetry energy, i.e., its slope L.

Ankle joint flexion and extension exercises play an important role in the rehabilitation training of patients who have been injured or bedridden for a long time before and after surgery. Accurately guiding patients to perform ankle flexion and extension exercises can significantly reduce deep vein thromboembolism. Currently, most ankle rehabilitation devices focus on assisting patients with ankle flexion and extension movements, and there is a lack of devices for effectively monitoring these movements. In this study, we designed an ankle joint flexion and extension movement monitoring device based on a pressure sensor. It is composed of an STM32 microcontroller, a pressure sensor, an HX711A/D conversion chip, and an ESP8266 WiFi communication module. The value of force and effective number of ankle joint flexion and extension movements were obtained. An experimental device was designed to verify the accuracy of the system. The results showed that the device can effectively monitor and control ankle flexion and extension movements remotely, ultimately ensuring that the patient can effectively monitor and grasp the active ankle pump movement.

Background of the Study: We investigated the link between hypertension and cancer since it has been suggested that hypertension may raise the long-term risk of cancer. Previous large observational cohort studies found that greater blood pressure (BP) was related to a higher risk of cancer. Mendelian randomization (MR) was utilized to produce less confounded blood pressure estimates (BP) on overall and site-specific malignancies. The study aims to draw conclusions on the relationship between high blood pressure and cancer. Methods: Studies on high blood pressure and various malignancies are inconclusive, except for renal cell carcinoma. However, given that most meta-analyses only contained a limited number of trials, some relative risks had small to moderate magnitudes, and several may have been impacted by residual confounding, careful interpretation is necessary. The study was conducted using the meta-analysis technique. Cochran's Q test and I2 test were used to assess statistical heterogeneity between studies in the current investigation for research involving two or more cause and outcome combinations. Results: Positive correlations were also reported between high blood pressure and esophageal adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, liver, and squamous cell carcinoma. However, most studies lacked multivariable adjustments. Physical and numerical risk of cardiovascular disease is linked to bowel cancer but no other cancers. According to a meta-analysis, hypertensive persons could also be at increased danger of gastrointestinal and breast cancer. Most meta-analyses comprised several trials with moderate or mild hazard ratios.ConclusionDifferent types of cancers have been noted to be directly caused by hypertension. In addition, some treatments have also been associated with the side effects of cancer treatments to cause hypertension. Women facing hypertension have an increased risk of getting breast cancer. Although some cancers showed a real relationship with hypertension, others had no connection at all.

Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex (MAC) is one of the most critical subduction zones in the world. It is known that the region exhibits a continuous mass change (horizontal/vertical movements). This process is associated with the devastating and tragic earthquakes shaking the MAC for centuries. Here, we investigate the ocean bottom pressure (OBP) anomalies in the MAC derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow On (GRACE-FO) satellite missions. The OBP time series for the MAC comprises a decreasing trend in addition to 1-, 1.53-, 2.36-, 3.67-, and 9.17-year periodic components partially explained by the atmosphere, oceans, and hydrosphere (AOH) processes, and Earth's pole movement. We noticed that the OBP anomalies appear to link to a rising trend and periods in earthquakes' power time series. This finding sheds new light on the mechanisms controlling the most destructive natural hazard.

Purpose: To evaluate seasonal variation in intra-ocular pressure (IOP) with and without short tear break-up time (SBUT, BUT ≤ 5 s). Methods: This study enrolled 176 patients who visited one of six eye clinics in Japan for IOP measurement at every season. The mean patient age was 67.9 years, including 79 males. We compared the seasonal variation in IOP (mean ± SD) across spring (Mar-May), summer (Jun-Aug), fall (Sep-Nov), and winter (Dec-Feb). Results: The IOP (mmHg) in winter and summer, respectively, was 12.8 ± 3.7 and 12.8 ± 3.1 for non-glaucoma patients without SBUT (n = 47, P = 0.964), 14.8 ± 3.4 and 13.3 ± 3.4 for non-glaucoma patients with SBUT (n = 57, P < 0.001), 14.3 ± 3.2 and 14.1 ± 3.4 for glaucoma patients without SBUT (n = 36, P = 0.489), and 13.3 ± 3.0 and 11.6 ± 2.9 for glaucoma with SBUT (n = 36, P < 0.001). Seasonal variation was largest across the seasons in the glaucoma with SBUT group, and the magnitude of seasonal variation correlated with BUT (β = 0.228, P = 0.003). Conclusions: Seasonal variation tended to be larger in patients with SBUT than those without SBUT.

The concentration of total suspended particles (TSP) and nanoparticles (PM0.1) over Hat Yai city, Songkhla province, southern Thailand was measured in 2019. Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were evaluated by carbon aerosol analyzer (IMPROVE-TOR) method. Thirteen trace elements including Al, Ba, K, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Ti, Pb, and Zn were evaluated by ICP-OES. Annual average TSP and PM0.1 mass concentrations were determined to be 58.3 ± 7.8 and 10.4 ± 1.2 µg/m3, respectively. The highest levels of PM occurred in the wet season with the corresponding values for the dry seasons being lower. The annual average OC/EC ratio ranged from 3.8 - 4.2 (TSP) and 2.5 - 2.7 (PM0.1). The char to soot ratios were constantly less than 1.0 for both TSP and PM0.1, indicating that land transportation is the main emission source. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that road transportation, industry, and biomass burning are the key sources of these particles. However, PM arising from Indonesian peatland fires causes an increase in the carbon and trace element concentrations in southern Thailand. The findings make useful information for air quality management and strategies for controlling this problem, based on a source apportionment analysis.

This study evaluated the effects of high-temperature and high-pressure treatment on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of carrot extracts. The total polyphenol and flavonoid content of heated carrot extract increased as the heating temperature increased, with 403.93 mg GAE/100 g and 53.14 mg CE/100 g at 150°C. DPPH and ABTs radical scavenging activity (IC50) of heated carrot extract also increased as the heating temperature increased, with 4.65 mg/mL and 7.31 mg/mL, respectively, at 150°C. The reducing power increased with the heating temperature. Heated carrot extract did not exhibit any temperature- or concentration-dependent cytotoxicity. Nitric oxide (NO) generation was suppressed as the heating temperature and NO production increased. The heated carrot extract showed a decrease in the production of dose-dependent TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 compared to the control group. The above results show that heated carrot extract had effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

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

The purpose of this study is to determine the equilibrium conditions for the formation of a mixture of propane and normal butane hydrates including temperature, pressure and mole fraction. In order to prevent the formation of hydrates in the cooling path, it is necessary to examine the conditions of hydrate formation and provide solutions. Modeling of hydrate formation conditions was performed using Hydoff software and compared with experimental results in this field, which obtained an acceptable error percentage. The range of temperature is between 267-276 °C and the molar percentage of propane is 0.7,0.8 and 0.9 and the mathematical equation was presented to predict hydrate formation. By analyzing the results, it was found that by increasing the concentration of ethane in the presence of other compounds, hydrate growth increased and hydrates formed more stable, also by increasing the concentration of propane and normal butane the amount of equilibrium pressure will decrease.

In our previous papers, we demonstrated that inflammation and aging are the common roots of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In both diseases, there is an inhibition of the mitochondria. In cancer, the alkaline intracellular pH (pHi) is associated with cell proliferation; acidic pHi causes apoptosis in AD. This difference is because cancer feeds on chemically neutral glucose, while neurons feed on acidic lactic acid. Increased uptake of lactic acid is responsible for acidic pH and cell death. Similarly, to AD, inflammation is responsible for metabolic shifts in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In AD, there is hyperosmolarity responsible for increased lactic secretion by glial cells. Increased lactic secretion will cause neo-angiogenesis and neural cell death. Drugs increasing hyperosmolarity (Polyethylene Glycol) cause neo-angiogenesis and drusen-like structures in rodents. The link between AMD and inflammation is reinforced by the fact that treatments aiming at restoring mitochondrial activity, such as lipoic acid and/or methylene blue, have been experimentally shown to be effective in each set of diseases. The role of osmolarity has been demonstrated in the pathologies of the anterior segment of the eye, such as dry eye, corneal ulceration, cataracts, and glaucoma. The role of increased osmolarity in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been largely overlooked. We herein suggest that metabolic shift, inflammation, and hyperosmolarity are key players in the pathogenesis of AMD.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common degenerative disease which may cause blood pressure abnormalities due to autonomic dysfunction. Early morning rise of blood pressure which is called morning surge is found to be related with some cardiovascular diseases when it is exaggerated. We wanted to search the relation of Morning blood pressure surge (MBPS) and inflammation in PD. Method: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for 24 hours, fibrinogen to albumin ratio, hs-CRP are used in this retrospective study. Fifty idiopathic PD patients and 50 age and sex matched control cases were included. MBPS, it has been defined as the difference between morning BP (measured 2 hours after awakening) and the lowest night-time BP. Body mass index (BMI) is used as an independent variable. Results: Median value of MBPS for PD group (21,63) was significantly different from the control group values (18,63) (p

Electrification of society, increasing renewable energy sources and mobility charging lead to new loading patterns for power transformers. Dynamic load conditions induce enhanced mechanical stress on the transformers’ windings, potentially causing degradation of the solid insulation over time and compromising the transformer's short-circuit withstand capability. Thermal expansion of the windings, caused by losses in the copper conductors, occurring as the transformer is load-ed, increases the stress. Conversely, magnetic losses in the core and tie plate expansion contribute to a reduction in stress. This paper presents the effect of step changes in core losses and copper losses by on-line measurements of the clamping pressure, to better understand the mechanical stresses acting upon the solid insulation cellulose materials.

Background: Along with sarcopenia, delayed blood pressure (BP) recovery after standing and orthostatic hypotension (OH) are among key clinical challenges associated with ageing. Previous studies have reported an association between sarcopenia and delayed orthostatic BP recovery and OH. However, the haemodynamic mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Methods: 107 attendees to a falls and syncope clinic aged 50+ years underwent an active stand test with non-invasive beat-to-beat haemodynamic measurement. Hand grip strength and 5-chair stands time were measured. Muscle mass was estimated using bioelectrical impedance analysis, and participants were classified as non-sarcopenic and sarcopenic. Mixed effects models with linear splines were used to model the effect of sarcopenia status on Modelflow®-derived mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), stroke volume (SV) and heart rate (HR) after standing, while controlling for potential confounders. Results: Sarcopenia was associated with: attenuated recovery of MAP in the 10-20s period after standing (β -0.67, P<0.001); attenuated rise to peak (0-10s) and recovery from peak (10-20s) of CO (β -0.05, P<0.001; β 0.06, P<0.001); attenuated recovery (10-20s) of TPR from nadir (β -0.02, P<0.001) and attenuated recovery from peak (10-20s) of SV (β 0.54, P<0.001). HR was not significantly associated with sarcopenia status at any time interval after standing. Conclusion: The attenuated BP recovery after standing seen in sarcopenia appears to be driven by initial diminished peak of CO followed by attenuated recovery of CO from peak and TPR from nadir. The CO finding appears to be driven by SV rather than HR. Potential mechanisms for these findings include: cardio-sarcopenia, the effects of sarcopenia on the autonomic nervous system and/or the skeletal muscle pump.

Over the last two decades, microfluidics has received significant attention from both academia and industry, and researchers report thousands of new prototype devices each year for use in a broad range of environmental, pharmaceutical, and biomedical engineering applications. While lab-on-a-chip fabrication costs have continued to decrease, the hardware required for monitoring fluid flows within microfluidic devices themselves remains expensive and often cost prohibitive for researchers interested in starting a microfluidics project. As microfluidic devices become capable of handling complex fluidic systems, low-cost, precise and real time pressure and flow rate measurement capabilities has become increasingly important. While many labs use commercial platforms and sensor, these solutions can often cost thousands of dollars and can be too bulky for on-chip use. Here we present a new inexpensive and easy -to-use piezoresistive pressure and flow sensor that can be easily integrated into existing on-chip microfluidic channels. The sensor consists of PDMS-Carbon black conductive membranes and uses an impedance analyzer to measure impedance change due fluid pressure. The sensor costs several orders of magnitude less than existing commercial platforms and can monitor local fluid pressures and calculate flow rates based on pressure gradient.

A Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion has become a public health problem in the United State. Sports and recreational activities are major sources of concussions; with the most incidents connected to American football. Recently, many companies and research institutions have started studying concussions and introduced some means of protection and some alarming systems of strong jolts. The major detection and protection system currently available on the market is the electronic helmet (e-helmet) composed of measurement devices to record head impact acceleration. The most commonly used devices in e-helmets are accelerometers to measure linear acceleration and gyroscopes for rotational/angular acceleration. Using smart textiles for concussion detection is currently uncommon and limited due to the lack of literature studying their voltage related errors. Actually, there are few works that characterize some voltage-force related errors for such type of sensors but for small impact forces and under bench testing while the behavior of those sensors was not described for higher ranges of applied forces and in field situations. This paper previews some common techniques used in e-helmets for concussion detection and highlights electronic textiles and smart fabric sensors that could be very useful for these applications. It discusses and validates the general behavior of such type of sensors under high impact forces and on field testing instead of bench testing, and also it characterizes the effect of increasing the thickness of the sensing element layer on the sensor. A custom-made pressure sensor was created of some available fabrics to be embedded within the padding of a football helmet to quantify the impacting force to the head. The sensor is mainly composed a Semi Conductive Polymer Composite SCPC layer with modifiable thickness that was modified three times with 0.2, 0.4, and 1.6mm to characterize the general behavior of the sensor due to a high amount of impacts and correlated with the thickness. A pendulum system was built to test the pressure sensors, while a special camera and an open-source video analysis software, Tracker was used to track the pendulum bob. The speed and the acceleration of the pendulum bob were measured, then the impact force was calculated and a voltage-force response was obtained. The results showed that no meaningful improvement occurs by small increase in the thickness but better sensor behavior could be obtained by significant increment to observe any difference. Despite that at a very high impacts, the suggested sensor with Velostat layers is not giving the real voltage readings that reflect the actual applied forces but it gives a helpful information that illustrate the distribution of the force through identification the place of the highest and lowest voltage readings regardless of the exact values of those readings. However, the proposed smart textile pressure sensor could be applicable in future e-helmet designs with additional research-based improvements especially on the structure of the sensing element layer to be able to withstand such high impacts which in turns improves the overall sensor performance and accurately measures pressure in concussion-inducing ranges.

In this article, a novel hybrid welding process called plasma-TIG coupled arc welding was proposed to improve the efficiency and quality of welding by utilizing the full advantage of plasma and TIG welding processes. The two arcs of plasma and TIG were pulled into each other into one coupled arc under the effect of Lorentz force and plasma flow force during welding experiments. The arc behavior of coupled arc was studied by means of it’s arc profile, arc pressure and arc force conditions. The coupled arc pressure distribution measurements were performed. The effects of welding conditions on coupled arc pressure were evaluated and the maximum coupled arc pressure was improved compared with single-plasma arc and single-TIG arc. It was found that the maximum arc pressure was mainly determined by plasma arc current and plasma gas flow. According to the results, the proposed coupled arc welding process have both advantages of plasma arc and TIG method, and it has a broad application prospect.

An experimental study is carried out in a cavitation tunnel on a propeller operating downstream of a non-uniform wake. The goal of this work is to establish quantitative correlations between the near pressure field and the cavitation pattern that takes place on the propeller blades. The pressure field is measured at the walls of the test section and in the near wake of the propeller, and is combined with quantitative high-speed image recording of the cavitation pattern. Through simple harmonic analysis of the pressure data and image processing techniques that allow to retrieve the cavitation extension and volume, we discuss the potential sources that generate the pressure fluctuations. Time correlations are unambiguously established between pressure peak fluctuations and cavitation collapse events, based upon the Rayleigh collapse time. Finally, we design a model to predict the cavitation-induced pressure fluctuations from the derivation of the cavitation volume acceleration. This simple model demonstrates a remarkable agreement with the actual pressure field.