This paper utilizes the 2020 financial data of A-share listed companies, both ST and non-ST, as the data sample. The model is constructed employing the Factor-Logistic fusion algorithm. Eight key indicator factors were selected from the frameworks of profitability, solvency, operating capacity, development potential, shareholder retained earnings, cash flow and asset growth. An independent indicator system was subsequently established to address the issue of collinearity among risk indicators. The results of model are presented in the form of probabilities, enhancing the interpretability of model. The weights of the features indicate the influence of different features on the final outcome. The model achieves a prediction accuracy of over 89%, with an AUC score exceeding 95%. Finally, by applying the principles of interval estimation theory in statistical hypothesis testing, the risk levels are categorized as A-level representing significant risk, B-level representing moderate risk, C-level representing minor risk and D-level representing no risk. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive definition of a universal financial risk management warning model for enterprises, applicable to all enterprises in China.

Segment Anything Model 2 (SAM 2) is a state-of-the-art development by Meta AI Research, designed to address the limitations of its predecessor, SAM, particularly in the realm of video segmentation. SAM 2 employs a transformer-based architecture enhanced with streaming memory, enabling real-time processing for both images and videos. This advancement is important given the exponential growth of multimedia content and the subsequent demand for efficient video analysis. Utilizing the SA-V dataset, SAM 2 excels in handling the intricate spatio-temporal dynamics inherent in video data, ensuring accurate and efficient segmentation. Key features of SAM 2 include its ability to provide real-time segmentation with minimal user interaction, maintaining robust performance even in dynamic and cluttered visual environments. This study provides a comprehensive overview of SAM 2, detailing its architecture, functionality, and diverse applications. It further explores the model's potential in improving practical implementations across various domains, emphasizing its significance in advancing real-time video analysis.

Background: The hub-and-spoke model (HSM), offers a framework for efficient healthcare service delivery. This scoping review seeks to establish the implementation and effectiveness of the HSM in Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) programs. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) reporting guideline was followed. A systematic search was conducted in four electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, Cochrane library and Google scholar) from inception until January 2024. Studies where the HSM was used for delivering any AMS activity, intervention or action, were included. No study specific filters were applied and all populations, study designs and health settings were included. Data screening and selection was achieved using Rayyan. Three authors independently screened studies, with conflicts resolved by a fourth author. Data were narratively synthesized. Standard appraisal tools were impractical; however, critically evaluation of data collection and outcome reporting was ensured. Results: Out of 1,438 articles, three were included in the scoping review. The primary interventions utilising the HSM in AMS involved reducing antibiotic misuse, training healthcare professionals, case-based learning, establishing AMS programs, developing antibiograms, and formulating policies or guidelines pertinent to AMS. The studies demonstrated significant clinical improvements in AMS. Clinical outcomes from the studies include a significant reduction in antimicrobial usage and improved antibiotic management, with a notable decrease in days on antimicrobial therapy and increased antibiotic de-escalation. Key facilitators for AMS program success: tailored education, collaborative learning, strong leadership, strategic practices, and data-driven decisions. Key barriers: leadership challenges, change resistance, knowledge gaps, inadequate data systems, resource limitations, and technological constraints. Conclusion: The review identified a literature gap in HSM use for AMS programs. Further studies are needed to assess HSM's effectiveness, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness in AMS contexts.

Laser-targeted weeding methods further enhance the sustainable development of green agriculture, with one key technology being the improvement of weed localization accuracy. Here, we propose an improved YOLOv8 instance segmentation based on bidirectional feature fusion and deformable convolution (BFFDC-YOLOv8-seg) to address the challenges of insufficient weed localization accuracy in complex environments with resource-limited laser weeding devices. Initially, by training on extensive datasets of plant images, the most appropriate model scale and training weights are determined, facilitating the development of a lightweight network. Subsequently, the introduction of the Bidirectional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN) during feature fusion effectively prevents the omission of weeds. Lastly, the use of Dynamic Snake Convolution (DSConv) to replace some convolutional kernels enhances flexibility, benefiting the segmentation of weeds with elongated stems and irregular edges. Experimental results indicate that the BFFDC-YOLOv8-seg model achieves a 4.9% increase in precision, an 8.1% increase in recall rate, and a 2.8% increase in mAP50 value to 98.8% on a vegetable weed dataset compared to the original model. It also shows improved mAP50 over other typical segmentation models such as Mask R-CNN, YOLOv5-seg, and YOLOv7-seg by 10.8%, 13.4%, and 1.8%, respectively. Furthermore, the model achieves a detection speed of 24.8 FPS on the Jetson Orin nano standalone device, with a model size of 6.8MB that balances between size and accuracy. The model meets the requirements for real-time precise weed segmentation, suitable for complex vegetable field environments and resource-limited laser weeding devices.

Selecting road networks in cartographic generalization has consistently posed formidable challenges, driving research towards the application of intelligent models. Despite previous efforts, the accuracy and connectivity preservation in these studies, particularly when dealing with road types of similar sample sizes, still warrant improvement. To address these shortcomings, we introduce a Heterogeneous Graph Attention Network (HAN) for road selection, where feature masking method is initially utilized to assess the significance of road features. Concentrating on the most relevant features, two meta-paths are introduced within the HAN framework: one for aggregating features of the same road type within the first-order neighborhood, emphasizing local connectivity, and another extending this aggregation to the second-order neighborhood, capturing a broader spatial context. For a comprehensive evaluation, we introduce a set of metrics considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the road network. Compared to traditional neural networks, our HAN model demonstrates superior accuracy and F1-score, particularly for road types with comparable samples. Additionally, it enhances the overall connectivity of the selected network. In summary, our HAN-based method provides an advanced solution for road network selection, surpassing previous approaches in terms of accuracy and connectivity preservation.

The key links of face recognition are digital image preprocessing, facial feature extraction and pattern recognition, this article aimed at the current problem of slow speed and low recognition accuracy of face recognition , from the above three key links, on the basic of analyzing the therories of Fractional Differential Masks Operator (FDMO), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), design a kind of FDMO+PVA+SVM coupling algorithm that applies to face recognition to improve the speed and accuracy of it. To realize FDMO+PCA+SVM coupling algorithm, first, we should apply FDMO to face image processing binary marginalization, the purpose is getting face contour; Then, we apply PCA to get the feature of face image which is disposed by binary marainalization. At last, we can apply One-Against All of the SVM classifier and LibSVM software package to realize face recognition. Beside, the article with nine different coupling algorithm design four groups of experimental reaults on the ORL face database verified by comparative analysic FDMO+PCA+SVM coupling algorithm in the superiority of face recognition accuracy and speed.

The emerging working mode of coordinated trucks and drones has demonstrated significant practical potential in various fields, including logistics and delivery, intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, area monitoring, and patrol. The seamless collaboration between trucks and drones is garnering widespread attention in academia and has emerged as a key technology for achieving efficient and secure transportation. This paper provides a comprehensive and in-depth review of the research status on the routing problem for coordinated trucks and drones, covering aspects such as application background, cooperative modes, configurations, issues have been taken into consideration, and solution methodologies.

The cement industry is a significant contributor (around 8 %) to CO2 global emissions. About 60 % of emissions come from limestone calcination, essential for clinker production, while 40 % result from fuel combustion. Reducing these emissions is challenging due to limestone’s role as the primary raw material for cement. Cement plants are required to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, as outlined in the 13th United Nations Sustainable Goals. One strategy to achieve this goal, involves Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). Among the options for CO2 utilisation, the Power-to-Liquid (PtL) strategy offers a means to mitigate CO2 emissions. In PtL, CO2 captured from cement industrial flue gas is combined with hydrogen generated by renewable electrolysis (green hydrogen) and catalytically converted into renewable methanol (e-MeOH). In this sense, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the worldwide existing pilot and demonstration units, and projects funded by EU across several industries. It specifically focuses on PtL technology worldwide within cement plants. This work covers 18 locations worldwide, detailing technology existent at plants of different capacities, location, and project partners. Finally, the review analyses techno-economic assessments related to e-MeOH production processes, highlighting the potential impact on achieving carbon neutrality in the cement industry.

Users with Autism Spectrum Disorder may find human-computer interaction (HCI) challenging due to a number of symptoms experienced, one of which is difficulty coping with change. Through capturing, comparing and statistically analysing the reactions of autistic and neurotypical users to seven individual design changes, it has been possible to identify the changes that cause significant difficulty in autistic users. These difficulty points were then used to form heuristics that can followed by HCI practitioners in the industry to reduce the negative impact of software interface design change on autistic users, hence making software updates more accessible.

Private Set Intersection (PSI) is a cryptographic method in secure multi-party computation that allows entities to identify common elements in their datasets without revealing their private data. Traditional approaches assume similar-sized datasets and equal computational power, overlooking practical imbalances. In real-world applications, dataset sizes and computational capacities often vary, particularly in the Internet of Things and mobile scenarios where device limitations restrict computational types. Traditional PSI protocols are inefficient here, as computational and communication complexities correlate with the size of larger datasets. Thus, adapting PSI protocols to these imbalances is crucial. This paper explores unbalanced PSI scenarios where one party (the receiver) has a relatively small dataset and limited computational power, while the other party (the sender) has a large amount of data and strong computational capabilities. It introduces three innovative solutions for unbalanced PSI: unbalanced PSI protocol based on Cuckoo filters, unbalanced PSI protocol based on single cloud assistance, and unbalanced PSI protocol based on dual cloud assistance, each addressing the shortcomings of the previous solution. These protocols primarily optimize database computational load, storage capacity, protocol execution time, and security. Depending on performance and security needs, different protocols can be employed for applications such as private contact discovery.

The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) poses a significant global public health concern, especially in Africa. Since its first isolation in Tanzania in 1953, CHIKV has caused recurrent outbreaks, challenging healthcare systems in low-resource settings. Recent outbreaks in Africa highlight the dynamic nature of CHIKV transmission and the challenges of underreporting and underdiagnosis. Here, we review literature and analyze publicly available cases, outbreaks, and genomic data providing insights into the epidemiology, genetic diversity, and transmission dynamics of CHIKV in Africa. Our analyses reveal the circulation of geographically distinct CHIKV genotypes, with certain regions experiencing a disproportionate burden of disease. Phylogenetic analysis of sporadic outbreaks in West Africa suggests repeated emergence of the virus through enzootic spillover, which is markedly different from inferred transmission dynamics in East Africa, where the virus is often introduced from Asian outbreaks, including the recent reintroduction of the Indian Ocean lineage from the Indian subcontinent to east Africa. Furthermore, there is limited evidence of viral movement between these two regions. Understanding the history and transmission dynamics of outbreaks is crucial for public health planning. Despite advances in surveillance and research, diagnostic and surveillance challenges persist. This review and secondary analysis highlight the importance of ongoing surveillance, research, and collaboration to mitigate the burden of CHIKV in Africa and improve public health outcomes.

Tackling the intricacies of network dismantling in complex systems poses significant challenges. This task has relevance across various practical domains, yet traditional approaches focus primarily on singular metrics, such as the number of nodes in the Giant Connected Component (GCC) or average pairwise connectivity. In contrast, we propose a unique metric that concurrently targets nodes with the highest degree and reduces the GCC size. Given the NP-hard nature of optimizing this metric, we introduce MaxShot, an innovative end-to-end solution that leverages graph representation learning and reinforcement learning. Through comprehensive evaluations on both synthetic and real-world datasets, our method consistently outperforms leading benchmarks in accuracy and efficiency. These results highlight MaxShot’s potential as a superior approach to address the network dismantling problem effectively.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated promising capabilities to solve complex tasks in critical sectors such as healthcare. However, LLMs are limited by their training data which is often outdated, the tendency to generate inaccurate ("hallucinated") content and a lack of transparency in the content they generate. To address these limitations, retrieval augmented generation (RAG) grounds the responses of LLMs by exposing them to external knowledge sources. However, in the healthcare domain there is currently a lack of systematic understanding of which datasets, RAG methodologies and evaluation frameworks are available. This review aims to bridge this gap by assessing RAG-based approaches employed by LLMs in healthcare, focusing on the different steps of retrieval, augmentation and generation. Additionally, we identify the limitations, strengths and gaps in the existing literature. Our synthesis shows that proprietary models such as GPT-3.5/4 are the most used for RAG applications in healthcare. Also, there is a lack of standardized evaluation frameworks for RAG-based applications. In addition, the majority of the studies do not assess or address ethical considerations related to RAG in healthcare. It is important to account for ethical challenges that are inherent when AI systems are implemented in the clinical setting. Lastly, we highlight the need for further research and development to ensure responsible and effective adoption of RAG in the medical domain.

Over the past decade and a half, dynamic functional imaging has revolutionized the neuroimaging field. Since 2009, it has revealed low dimensional brain connectivity measures, has identified potential common human spatial connectivity states, has tracked the transition patterns of these states, and has demonstrated meaningful alterations in these transition and spatial patterns in neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, and over the course of development. Recently, researchers have begun to analyze this data from the perspective of dynamic system and information theory in the hopes of understanding how these dynamics support less easily quantified processes, such as information processing, cortical hierarchy, and consciousness. Consciousness, in particular, appears to be strongly linked to entropy production in the brain. Little attention has been paid to the effects of psychiatric disease on entropy production in the human brain, however. Even disorders characterized by substantial changes in conscious experience have not been widely analyzed from this perspective. We begin to rectify this by examining the complexity of subject trajectories in state space through the lens of information theory. Specifically, we identify a basis for the dynamic functional connectivity state space and track subject trajectories through this space over the course of the scan. The dynamic complexity of these trajectories is assessed along each dimension of the proposed basis space. Using these estimates, we demonstrate that schizophrenia patients display substantially simpler trajectories than demographically matched healthy controls, and that this drop in complexity concentrates along specific dimensions. We also demonstrate that entropy generation in at least one of these dimensions is linked to cognitive performance. Overall, results suggest great value in applying dynamic systems theory to problems of neuroimaging and reveal a substantial drop in the complexity of schizophrenia patients’ brain function.

This research introduces a hybrid feature extraction approach that combines Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) methods to address the challenges of reducing feature vector dimensionality and accurately classifying smartphone-based human activities. Moreover, to refine activity classification accuracy, Support Vector Machine (SVM) optimization with Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) is employed. LDA, a statistical tool, is leveraged to derive a new feature space for data projection, enhancing class separation and test feature label prediction. The proposed approach, named LMSS, was evaluated using the UCI-HAR dataset and compared with state-of-the-art models. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperformed the best-performing method over this dataset. It achieved an accuracy rate of 99.52%, precision of 99.55%, recall of 99.53%, and an F1-score of 99.54%, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed method in accurately classifying the data.

The cement industry has significant environmental impacts, stemming from natural resources extraction and fossil fuels combustion. Notably, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a major concern associated with cement production. The cement industry emits 0.6 tons of CO2 per ton of cement production, which is around 8 % of the total CO2 emissions in the world. Meeting the 13th United Nations Sustainable Goals, cement plants aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, resulting from reduction in CO2 emissions (change in the composition of cementitious materials) and the adoption of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies. A promising approach involves converting CO₂ into valuable chemicals and fuels, such as methanol (MeOH) through the power-to-liquid (PtL) technologies. In this process, CO2 captured from cement industry flue gas with hydrogen generated from renewable sources through electrolysis of water, catalytically transformed into renewable methanol (e-MeOH), offering a sustainable solution. To achieve this, it is crucial to advance the development of novel, highly efficient catalysts specifically designed for direct CO2 hydrogenation. In this sense, this review discusses recent developments and improvements in CO2 catalytic conversion, emphasizing catalyst performance, selectivity, and stability.

In this paper, we first discuss the research status and application progress of the finite element method and the smoothed particle method. By analyzing the advantages of the smoothed particle method and the finite element method, a new coupling algorithm, namely FEM-SPH algorithm, is proposed. By the method of comparison, it shows that finite element method and SPH method in the simulation of large deformation problems each have advantages and disadvantages, the finite element method smoothed particle coupling algorithm is effective to achieve the performance of high computational efficiency and can naturally simulate large deformation problems across. In the process of calculation, the large deformation unit can be freely into an algorithm to facilitate the calculation accuracy and efficiency of three methods of numerical simulation. Through the study found, FEM-SPH algorithm not only overcome the defect of smooth particle tensile instability, but also overcomes the problem of low efficiency of finite element computation. To further test the FEM-SPH algorithm has advantages in the practical engineering, we have carried out the actual test to the example of the super high speed collision, concluded that, since the target of most of the computational domain is always finite element, smoothed particle focused only in contact with the projectile and target of local area, particle number is not much, the whole calculation process just ten minutes, computational efficiency has been greatly improved, at the same time in the simulation of large deformation, the advantage is very obvious .This provides a criterion for the actual project, depending on the specific material deformation mode and choose a more appropriate conversion algorithm.

Introduction: Known for its persistent blood-feeding behavior from dawn to dusk, Aedes albopictus is recognized as one of the most dangerous mosquito species due to its role as a vector for diseases such as dengue. Studies have demonstrated that Aedes albopictus thrives in micro-breeding sites predominantly located on private properties, including abandoned containers and manholes used for rainwater and irrigation. This study investigates an innovative methodology, the TombiniNet, to mitigate the proliferation of Aedes albopictus by engaging citizens in the active management of micro-breeding sites on their properties. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in Alessandria, a city with approximately 100,000 inhabitants, focusing on a sample of 200 houses and a population of about 5,000 people. Researchers conducted a comprehensive survey and analysis of micro-breeding sites for Aedes albopictus on both private and communal properties. The larval control measures were conducted from April to October, aligning with the peak mosquito breeding season. The study's sample included 51% of houses that allowed researchers access, and within these, 81% had Aedes albopictus larvae, often found in diverse water Containers holes of which basically manholes on villa garden floors. For monitoring the adult populations were used ovitraps that were not placed in private homes but in public areas to monitor and control the mosquito population. Results: The study identified that up to 70% of micro-breeding sites for Aedes albopictus in northern Alessandria were located on private properties. Citizen participation was critical to the success of the intervention, with a marked decrease in the number of adult tiger mosquitoes observed in areas where residents actively managed breeding sites using the TombiniNet. The TombiniNet was particularly effective in private areas, as it could be regularly maintained by residents, preventing debris accumulation that could hinder drainage. Discussion: The findings highlight the importance of engaging citizens in mosquito control programs to effectively manage Aedes albopictus populations in urban areas. The TombiniNet intervention demonstrated that a simple, cost-effective solution could significantly reduce mosquito breeding sites on private properties. By addressing both communal and private breeding sites, a comprehensive and sustainable approach to mosquito management can be achieved, thereby reducing the risk of disease transmission. Future studies should focus on long-term monitoring and the development of additional innovative solutions to enhance citizen participation and control measures. The study's success also pointed out the limitations of applying such interventions in public areas where debris could impede the net's effectiveness.

As previous study in many countries shown that stroke patient onsets are not distributed randomly, but associate with meteorological factors. However, the relationship between stroke occurence and meteorological factors remain unknown in mountain area in Guizhou China. This paper firstly introduces multi-source fusion data which is integrated by the mountain meteorological factor, geographic mapping elevation information data and stroke population monitoring of Guizhou province. Mainly elaborates from a few aspects, which concludes data collection, data sorting, data extraction, data cleaning and data production in detail. A completed and detailed meteorological stroke data set was successfully established and multi-source data fusion was realized by the use of Gbase and unified data service interface of Guizhou meteorological big data cloud platform. And we report the impact of meteorological variables in Guizhou mountain area climate on stroke. In this study, we performed a statistical fusion data between January 2017 and December 2020 about stroke incidence rate and meteorological factors respectively, for instance, concerning the mean (Mean), maximum (Max), minimum (Min), median (Median), standard deviation (Std) . We calculated stroke rates (date stroke occurence)/(year stroke occurence) and we investigated the distribution of days included in the label. Results: the distribution of the incidence rate basically conforms to the normal distribution with the label Max 0.007399, label Min 0.000204, label Mean 0.002738, label Median 0.002643, label Std 0.00076. We observed a positive significant correlation of stroke incidence rate directly proportional to the daily temperature difference (between 0 and 20 degrees Celsius), as the value of this factor exhibits variation larger, the incidence rate is gradually increasing. And we investigated from the Pearson correlation coefficients that stroke incidence increasing when meteorological factors at low humidity (less than 40% (RH 80%), temperature higher than 31℃); the 24-hour daily temperature difference varies between 6 and 10℃ (6

The ASEAN Community-based Tourism (CBT) Standard has been adopted by 10 ASEAN member states in 2016 in order to collectively promote ASEAN as a competitive community-based tourism destination. Among the ASEAN member states, Lao PDR (Laos), has a unique CBT development experience through collaboration with various international development agencies. Such history has brought about issues when ASEAN CBT Standard was implemented at to provincial and district levels in Laos, including concerns of related communities on the Standard being not easily applicable considering the state of tourism development. While the application of the regional standard is a significant issue to the tourism industries in the Member States, however, there has been a lack of studies regarding the dynamics of implementation of regional tourism standards at the national level. In order to fill the research gap, this study utilized in-depth interviews with seven executives with significant experiences from the government, international development agency, international organization, and the private sector. Interviewees projected a diversity of perspectives on enabling factors and challenges in implementing ASEAN Community-based Tourism Standard at the national level focusing on Laos, which showed the complexity of CBT dynamics. The results also revealed how regional standards can be further recognized and promoted to the key stakeholders of Laos, better accepted and utilized by end users, and possibly better customized according to the local circumstances. Findings of this study evidence that collaboration among key stakeholders and the expected role of these stakeholders are critical when implementing ASEAN CBT Standard.

Accurate diagnosis for the 400 million people with rare diseases is critical for healthcare decisions, prognosis, understanding disease mechanisms, and identification of treatments. Despite advances in genome sequencing, barriers such as high interpretation costs, diagnostic expertise, throughput associated delays, and uncertain variant classifications persist, with demand exceeding capacity. Many variant classification methods focus narrowly on specific consequences, leading to the use of complex integrative pipelines that often overlook transcript variability and lack prediction transparency. To overcome these limitations, we introduce DITTO. This transparent, transcript-aware machine-learning method demonstrates superior overall performance in accuracy, recall, and precision when compared to existing tools. DITTO is publicly available at https://github.com/uab-cgds-worthey/DITTO

Timely and accurate information on tree species is crucial for the sustainable management of natural resources, forest inventory, biodiversity detection, and carbon stock calculation. The advancement of remote sensing technology and artificial intelligence has facilitated the acquisition and analysis of remote sensing data, resulting in more precise and effective classification of tree species. Multimodal remote sensing data and deep learning seem to be the current tree species classification research mainstream, whether or not. The current review on the remote sensing data and deep learning tree species classification methods perspectives to analyze the unimodal and multimodal remote sensing data and classification methods in this realm is missing. To bridge the gap, we search for major trends in the remote sensing data and tree species classification methods, provide a detailed overview of classic deep learning-based methods for tree species classification, and discuss the limitations.

Increasing efforts have been devoted to promoting sustainable demolition waste management (DWM) from a life cycle-thinking perspective. To this end, facilitating sustainability-oriented de-cision-making for DWM planning requires a sustainability assessment framework for assessing multifaceted criteria. This study develops a BIM-based DWM sustainability assessment ap-proach to facilitate the life cycle assessment (LCA) and decision-making by coupling the enriched IFC model with hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Aiding (MCDA) methods using Dynamo visual scripting. To streamline the data-intensive LCA process, this study enriched the BIM properties and accommodated them into the LCA data template to enhance data interoperability, thus achieving seamless data transfer. Moreover, hybrid MCDA methods are integrated into the deci-sion-making workflow for DWM scenario ranking. A pilot study is employed to verify the ap-plicability of the decision-aiding framework. The results unveil that the sustainability score ascended with the recycling rate. The optimal DWM alternative with the highest recycling rate yields the highest sustainability score at 91.63. Conversely, a DWM alternative reflecting the ‘status quo’ in China’s recycling industry has the lowest score at 8.37, significantly lower than the baseline scenario with a 50% recycling rate. It is worth noting that the ‘growth curve’ of the sustainability score continuously flattens as the target recycling rate escalates. The increment in recycling rate from the “Australian standard” scenario to the optimal scenario is 18.4%, while the sustainability score merely increases by 2.3%, signal-ling that the former scenario arrived at an optimum point for maximising the cost-efficiency of DWM under the predefined framework and contexts.

This review explores the nuanced decision-making surrounding postoperative radiotherapy for diffuse low-grade glioma (DLGG) patients, emphasizing the need for personalized treatment to balance the benefits of tumor control with the risks of long-term side effects. Radiotherapy is a cornerstone of DLGG treatment, offering significant improvements in progression-free survival, but its potential for cognitive decline and vascular lesions necessitates careful consideration of individual patient factors. The review delves into the complexities of radiotherapy timing, revealing that while early radiotherapy enhances progression-free survival, it does not significantly impact overall survival and may lead to earlier onset of cognitive decline. Conversely, delayed radiotherapy may mitigate cognitive decline but may result in shorter progression-free survival and the onset of neurological symptoms. The review advocates for a patient-centered approach, emphasizing the importance of weighing individual risks and benefits, and highlights the potential of artificial intelligence in predicting cognitive decline and the need to revisit previous research findings in light of the 2021 WHO (World Health Organization) classification update, underscoring the evolving nature of DLGG treatment and the ongoing quest for optimal therapeutic strategies.

Our hypothesis that controlled ozone applications interfere into the redox balance of the biological organism (first published in 1998 with a preclinical trial on protecting the liver from CCl4 intoxication), has been verified over the last 2 decades in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced mitochondrial pathologies, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, aging processes, diabetes-2 and in prevention of intoxications. Low-dose ozone acts as a redox bioregulator: The restoration of the disturbed redox balance is comprehensible in a number of preclinical and clinical studies by a remarkable increase of the antioxidant repair markers, here mainly shown as glutathione increase and a reduction in oxidative stress markers, mainly malondialdehyde. The mechanism of action is shown, relevant data are displayed, evaluated and comprehensively discussed: The repair side of the equilibrium increases by 21% up to 140% compared to the non-ozone treated groups and depending on the indication; the stress markers are simultaneously reduced, the redox system regains its balance.

In this article, many experimental similarities between electromagnetic fields (which are applied in systems of electrons, atoms, and liquids) and strong interaction fields (which are applied in systems of quarks, nucleons, and nuclei) are reviewed. The currently accepted theories describing electromagnetic fields differ fundamentally from those describing strong fields. Therefore, the many similarities are quite surprising, and some are not adequately explained even today. Several such unexplained similarities are listed among the top open problems in particle physics, such as the “EMC effect,” the “proton spin crisis,” and the “strong CP problem.” This paper highlights, for the first time, the underlying common characteristics of these problems, potentially offering valuable contribution to future explanations.

Gene regulation is vital for cellular function and homeostasis, involving diverse mechanisms controlling specific gene products and contributing to tissue-specific gene expression. Dysregulation leads to diseases, emphasizing the need for understanding these mechanisms. Non-coding regions, notably enhancers and super-enhancers (SEs), act as crucial gene regulators, orchestrating transcriptional activity via transcription factors (TFs). SEs, with high activity, are pivotal in cell identity and disease progression. Current computational approaches focus on individual regulators like TFs and miRNAs, neglecting SE interactions. We emphasize incorporating SEs into models to enhance understanding. Experimental studies have recently linked miRNAs and TFs to SEs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-Seq) provides valuable SE information. In this review, we categorize computational methods leveraging TF and miRNA data into three areas and explore challenges integrating enhancers/SEs. These include unraveling indirect regulatory networks, identifying network motifs, and enriching pathway identification by dissecting gene regulators, including SEs. We hypothesize that addressing these challenges will enhance our understanding of gene regulation, aiding in identifying therapeutic targets and disease biomarkers. We believe that understanding the role of ChIP-Seq data in predicting the effect of miRNA on gene regulation is crucial to construct statistical/computational model that would tackle these challenges.

The global antibiotic resistance crisis, driven by antibiotic overuse and misuse, is multifaceted. This study aimed to assess the microbiological and genetic characteristics of raw retail pork meat, including the isolation, antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), whole genome sequencing (WGS) of selected indicator bacteria, antibiotic residue testing, and metagenomic sequencing. Samples were purchased from 10 randomly selected retail stores in Gauteng, South Africa. Samples were aseptically separated, with a portion sent to an external laboratory for isolating indicator bacteria and antibiotic residue testing. Identification of the isolated bacteria was reconfirmed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). AST was performed using the Microscan Walkaway system. WGS and metagenomic sequencing were performed using the Illumina NextSeq 550 instrument. The isolated E. coli and enterococci exhibited little phenotypic resistance, with WGS revealing tetracycline resistance genes. Isolated bacteria and meat samples all harboured tetracycline resistance genes, and the antibiotic residue concentrations were within acceptable limits for human consumption. In the metagenomic context, most identified bacteria were of food/meat spoilage and environmental origin, with the resistome analysis primarily indicating beta-lactam, tetracycline and multidrug resistance genes. Further research is needed to understand the broader implications of these findings on environmental health and antibiotic resistance.

The rapid development of specific-purpose Large Language Models (LLMs), such as Med-PaLM, MEDITRON-70B, and Med-Gemini, has significantly impacted healthcare, offering unprecedented capabilities in clinical decision support, diagnostics, and personalized health monitoring. This paper reviews the advancements in medicine-specific LLMs, the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and prompt engineering, and their applications in improving diagnostic accuracy and educational utility. Despite the potential, these technologies present challenges, including bias, hallucinations, and the need for robust safety protocols. The paper also discusses the regulatory and ethical considerations necessary for integrating these models into mainstream healthcare. By examining current studies and developments, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of LLMs in medicine and highlight the future directions for research and application. The study concludes that while LLMs hold immense potential, their safe and effective integration into clinical practice requires rigorous testing, ongoing evaluation, and continuous collaboration among stakeholders.

The raw material purchasing (RMP) problem is to determine the purchasing quantities of raw materials in given periods or cycles. Raw material purchasing optimization is crucial for large-scale steel plants because it is closely related to the supply of raw materials and cost savings. The raw material purchasing of large-scale steel enterprises is characterized by many varieties, large quantities, and high costs. The RMP objective is to minimize the total purchasing cost consisting of the price of raw materials, purchasing set-up costs, and inventory costs and meet product demand. We present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model and a column generation (CG) solution for the resulting optimization problem. The column generation algorithm is the generalization of the branch & bound algorithm with solving the linear programming (LP) relaxation of MILP using column generation (CG), and its advantage is to handle large-sized MILPs. Experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution.

Procurement plays a central and defining role in the efficiency of supply chains. In recent years, the understanding and practice of procurement management have changed significantly due to increasing emphasis on and demand for agility and sustainability within supply chain management systems. Meanwhile, traditional supply chain systems, characterized by siloed processes, limited visibility, and inefficiencies due to manual interventions, can no longer cope with the current dynamic market conditions. Besides, the increasing requirements of sustainability, ethical sourcing, and environmental impact have intensified, making more responsible, transparent, and traceable procurement practices unnegotiable requirements for modern systems. In this paper, we examine the potential of emerging technologies and innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in filling these gaps within the supply chain systems of enterprises in the US. The study employs a comprehensive review of relevant literature and case studies to discover and provide insights on how these technologies can improve procurement processes, optimize resource allocation and utilization, and improve sustainability. The findings of this study highlight the need for stakeholders to embrace technological advancements to effectively navigate the dynamic landscape of supply chain management.

Predictive factors associated with a decline in swallowing function after 2 years were examined in 3,409 Japanese older people aged ≥ 75 years who had undergone a dental checkup in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Participants with normal swallowing function in a baseline survey in April 2018 were followed for 2 years. Swallowing function was assessed by a repetitive saliva swallowing test. After 2 years, 429 participants (13%) who could not swallow at least three times in 30 seconds were diagnosed as having a decline in swallowing function. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed the decline in swallowing function after 2 years was associated with male gender (odds ratio [ORs]: 0.772; 95% confidence interval [CIs]: 0.615–0.969), age ≥ 81 years (presence; ORs: 1.523; 95% CIs: 1.224–1.895), support/care-need certification (presence; ORs: 1.815; 95% CIs: 1.361–2.394), periodontal pocket depth (PPD) ≥ 4 mm (presence; ORs: 1.469; 95% CIs: 1.163–1.856), difficulty in biting hard food (yes; ORs: 1.439; 95% CIs: 1.145–1.808), choking on tea and water (yes; ORs: 2.543; 95% CIs: 2.025–3.193), and dry mouth (yes; ORs: 1.316; 95% CIs: 1.052–1.646) at baseline. Therefore, the dental checkup items associated with a decline in swallowing function after 2 years were a PPD ≥ 4 mm, difficulty in biting hard food, choking on tea and water, and dry mouth. PPD status and confirming to the self-administered questionnaire about biting, choking, and dry mouth may be useful in predicting future decline in swallowing function.

With increasing air and sea temperatures, the thermodynamic environments over the oceans become more favourable for the development of intense tropical cyclones (TCs) with rapid intensification (RI). In fact, the number of TCs undergoing RI is rising (Zhao, et al., 2018; Bhatia, et al., 2019; Song, et al., 2020; Hong & Wu, 2021; Liu, et al., 2022). RI over coastal sea areas before landfalling is particularly impactful and threatening to coastal lives and properties. There have been studies showing that offshore areas within 400 km of the coastline have experienced a significant increase in RI events with the count tripling from 1980 to 2020 (Li et al., 2023). The south China coastal region consists of highly densely populated cities especially the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Intense TCs maintaining its strength or RI of TCs close to the coastal region presents substantial forecasting challenges. This study investigates the effect of sea surface and subsurface temperature and salinity on the intensification of five TCs, namely Super Typhoons Hato in 2017 and Mangkhut in 2018, Typhoon Talim, Super Typhoon Saola and Severe Typhoon Koinu in 2023, which significantly affected the south China coastal region and triggered high TC warning signals in Hong Kong. The analysis utilized the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) TC track and intensity data, along with the sea temperature and salinity profiles generated using the China Ocean ReAnalysis version 2 (CORA2) of the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS) of China. While high sea surface temperature (SST) of 30°C or above, low surface sea surface salinity (SSS) of 34 psu or below, and strong salinity stratification of at least 0.8 psu per 100 m depth may offer useful hints for predicting RI, they are part of a broader set of contributing factors. This study represents the initial documentation of sub-surface salinity's impact on intense TCs over the South China Sea (SCS) in recent years and will encourage further research to refine forecasting RI of TCs before making landfall near PRD taking into account the effect of freshwater from the Pearl River.

Cloud computing refers to applications delivered as services over the Internet. Cloud systems employ policies that are inherently dynamic in nature and that depend on temporal conditions defined in terms of external events, such as the measurement of bandwidth, use of hosts, intrusion detection or specific time events. In this paper, we investigate an optimized resource management scheme named v-Mapper. The basic premise of v-Mapper is to exploit application-awareness concepts using software-defined networking (SDN) features. This paper makes three key contributions to the field: (1) We propose a virtual machine (VM) placement scheme that can effectively mitigate the VM placement issues for data-intensive applications; (2) We propose a validation scheme that will ensure that a service is entertained only if there are sufficient resources available for its execution and (3) We present a scheduling policy that aims to eliminate network load constraints. An evaluation was carried out with various benchmarks and demonstrated that v-Mapper shows improved performance over other state-of-the-art approaches in terms of average task completion time, service delay time and bandwidth utilization. Given the growing importance of supporting large-scale data processing and analysis in datacentres, the v-Mapper system has the potential to make a positive impact in improving datacentre performance in the future.

Accurate power curve modelling is essential to continuously evaluate the performance of a wind turbine (WT). In this work, we characterize the wind power curves using SCADA data acquired at a frequency of 5 minutes in a wind farm (WF) consisting of 5 WTs. Regarding the non-parametric methods, we select artificial neural networks (ANNs) to make curve estimations. Given that, we have the curves provided by the manufacturer of the WTs given by some very precisely measured pair of wind speed and power points. We can evaluate the difference between the manufacturer characterization and the ones estimated with the data provided by the SCADA system. Before the estimation, we propose a method of filtering the anomalies based on the characteristics provided by the manufacturer. We use three-quarters of the available data for curve estimation and one-quarter for the test. One WT suffered a break in the test part, so we can check how the test estimates reflect this problem in its wind-power curve compared to the estimations obtained in the WTs that worked adequately.

This study explores fault-tolerant consensus in leader-following heterogeneous multi-agent systems, focusing on actuator failures in uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs). An optimization-based fault-tolerant consensus algorithm is proposed. The algorithm utilizes the Euler-Lagrange formula to ensure system consistency under actuator failures, with the Lyapunov stability theory proving the asymptotic stability of the consistency error. The algorithm is applied to heterogeneous multi-agent systems of UAVs and UGVs to derive optimal fault-tolerant consensus control laws for each vehicle type. Simulation experiments give evidence for the feasibility of the proposed control strategy.

Background: Many risk-modifying factors affect cancer incidence and mortality rates. Solar UVB reduces cancer risk by producing vitamin D, which has many mechanisms to reduce risk of cancer incidence, progression, and metastasis. Obesity increases cancer risk through several mechanisms, including increased inflammation. Method and Materials. We present an ecological study (a type of observational study) of incidence and/or mortality rates for cancers during 2007–2016 of 17 anatomical sites with respect to solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) doses and obesity prevalence. Data were averaged for 12 geographical regions. Results: Solar UVB doses were significantly inversely correlated with incidence rates for three types of cancer for males. They were inversely correlated with mortality rates for five cancers for males and four for females. Obesity prevalence was directly correlated with mortality rates for three cancers for males and seven for females. Discussion: The ecological approach has certain limitations, such as its sensitivity only to regional variations in relation to specific risk-modifying factors. In this study, these limitations include numerous factors influencing cancer risk and the fact that the data are averaged across entire regional populations, which may not reflect individual risks. Despite this, the study reveals important correlations. Specifically, it found that solar UVB exposure is linked to a lower risk of certain cancers, while obesity is associated with an increased risk of some cancers in France. These findings are consistent with results from a similar study in the United States on cancer rates between 2016 and 2020. The association between obesity and cancer risk aligns with other observational studies. However, it is uncertain to what extent higher solar UVB exposure or elevated serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels might mitigate the impact of obesity on cancer risk. Reducing cancer mortality in France may be achievable through vitamin D supplementation and efforts to lower obesity prevalence.

Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs) play crucial roles in signal transduction, cell differentiation, and transcriptional regulation. Many disrupted genes associated with mental disorders are identified as IDPs, and emerging evidence suggests the functional role of IDPs in neuropsychiatric disorders. However, few studies comprehensively explore the functional association between protein disorder properties and different mental diseases. To address this gap, we collected disrupted gene sets for seven mental diseases (MDD, SCZ, BP, ID, AD, ADHD, ASD) and a control gene set from normal brains using DisGeNET and GeneCards databases. The state-of-the-art predictor IUPred2A was then utilized to calculate the disorder properties , followed by a thorough comparison between the disordered proteins in mental diseases and healthy controls. Functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction networks were conducted to investigate the IDPs’ functional roles in psychiatric diseases. Additionally, we demonstrated the role of IDPs in protein binding formations through a case study of alpha-synuclein using protein docking. Our findings reveal that differentially expressed proteins in mental disorders, especially in ASD and ADHD, exhibit more IDPs than those in healthy controls. IDPs in psychiatric disorders are significantly enriched in neurodevelopmental pathways and play an important role in in gene expression regulation. Our results indicate distinct functional patterns of disorder proteins among mental diseases and healthy controls. When comparing the IDPs between ASD and ADHD, we observed that IDPs in ADHD are more likely linked to the synaptic signaling and regulation, while IDPs in ASD are more tendentiously related to diverse and complex biological processes. Our work offers valuable insights into the important functions of IDPs in psychiatric disorders, enhancing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in psychiatric disorders.

Northern Nigeria has had historically low antenatal care (ANC) utilization rates with poor health outcomes. Group antenatal care (gANC) improves ANC behavior and pregnancy outcomes. The gANC has been adopted in Kaduna and Kano states, Nigeria. This paper presents baseline findings from the evaluation of the implementation of the gANC program to support scaling in real-world setting. Baseline data were collected from a cohort of 1,269 and 1,200 pregnant women enrolled in gANC at health facilities in Kaduna and Kano states respectively from March to April 2024. Analyses of socio-demographic and pregnancy behavior data were done. Participants were mostly between ages 19-31 years, married or living with a partner, with over 50% having their own businesses. Over 62% and 34% had completed secondary or higher-level education with 60% and 80% living in urban areas in Kaduna and Kano States, respectively. In Kano State, >60% of the women had their last delivery at home with 41.6% not assisted by a skilled birth attendant. In Kaduna, >63% delivered in the hospital and >50% had skilled attendance during labor. Almost half had not used contraceptives previously. Subsequent longitudinal data will examine the impact of gANC utilization on perinatal outcomes.

For the purpose of improve the sustainability of products sold in the EU, Digital Product Passports is a mandatory solution. These passports would systematically gather information about products, such as detailing the materials involved to aid recycling and remanufacturing efforts, or recording the emissions produced throughout the manufacturing process. The overall goal is the establishment of a circular economy in the EU. Current research on Digital Product Passports is focused on collating content for sector-specific applications. However, achieving sustainability goals through Digital Product Passports will require new methods and technical solutions for digital collaboration between supply chain participants, especially in the manufacturing sector. Collaborative work on Digital Product Passports requires trust and traceability in data and access management to ensure privacy over the data contained. One way to enable this securely and confidentially is through the use of blockchain technology, in which stored data cannot be concealed, which is key to the traceability of digital product data documentation. This paper therefore presents a concept for the implementation of generically applicable cross-industry blockchain-based digital product passports. To this end, generic supply chain processes have been abstracted and condensed into the architecture of smart contracts. Great attention is paid to the establishment of traceability as well as privacy through the selection of the blockchain technology Secret Network in combination with Gaia-X functionalities. An illustrative use case for digital product passports in manufacturing is used to demonstrate the applicability of the presented concept. In this use case information about the digital nameplate and carbon footprint is exchanged securely and confidentially in a multi-tenant supply chain network based on the Industry 4.0 infomation model of the Asset Administration Shell.

Sentiment analysis has become an important tool for understanding public opinion across languages and domains. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of studies on sentiment analysis in low-resource languages such as Kazakh. This is important to ensure that modern text analysis technologies are accessible to all users, regardless of their language background. The aim of the study is to create a sentiment analysis model for analyzing texts in Kazakh. As part of this work, we aim to use fine-tuning techniques on our own dataset for already existing models, thus improving their accuracy and efficiency for analyzing Kazakh language texts. This paper presents a manually collected dataset "KazIntTelCom" from the city information service 2GIS, consisting of user reviews, manually annotated by the authors taking into account the polarity of sentiment (i.e. negative positive or neutral). This dataset was used to fine-tune two pre-trained multi-lingual Transformer-based sentiment analysis models taken from the HuggingFace platform. The distillBERT and XLM-RoBERTa models were used for tuning. Also, the models were tested on the dataset "KazSAnDRA". The results show that accurate tuning even on a relatively small dataset gives a significant increase in performance, which is confirmed by an increase in the accuracy index by 20%-30%. In addition, false misses and false detections are analyzed, which allows us to identify directions for further improvement of the models. The contribution of this work, in addition to the dataset, is the analysis of model errors, which will help future developers to make more accurate settings of hyperparameters of training for sentiment analysis in Kazakh. These results are important for natural language processing and their adaptation to low-resource languages, promoting more inclusive and equitable access to modern analytical tools. Thus, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of the Transformers architecture for sentiment analysis in Kazakh and opens new opportunities for further model improvement.

Precise monitoring of individual crop growth and health status is crucial for precision agriculture practices. However, traditional manual inspection methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and often lack the spatial resolution required for detailed analysis. This research addresses the need for efficient and high-resolution crop monitoring by leveraging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery and advanced computational techniques. The primary objective was to develop a methodology for precise identification, extraction, and monitoring of individual corn crops throughout their growth cycle. This was achieved by integrating UAV-derived data with image processing, computational geometry, and machine learning techniques. UAV imagery was ac-quired bi-weekly at altitudes of 40m and 70m, capturing the entire growth cycle of a corn crop from planting to harvest. A time-series Canopy Height Model (CHM) was generated by analyzing the differences between the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and the Digital Surface Model (DSM) derived from the UAV data. Local spatial analysis and image processing techniques were em-ployed to determine the local maximum height of each crop. Subsequently, a Voronoi data model was developed to delineate individual crop canopies, successfully identifying 13,000 out of 13,050 corn crops in the study area. For enhanced accuracy in canopy size delineation, vegetation indices were incorporated into the Voronoi model segmentation, refining the initial canopy area esti-mates by eliminating interference from soil and shadows. The proposed methodology enables precise estimation and monitoring of crop canopy size, height, biomass reduction, lodging, and stunted growth over time, providing valuable insights for precision agriculture practices. This work contributes to the scientific community by demonstrating the potential of integrating UAV technology, computational geometry, and machine learning for accurate and efficient crop mon-itoring at the individual plant level.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a public health problem exacerbated by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics and an inadequate capacity of laboratories to conduct AMR surveillance. This study assessed the capacity of laboratories in seven faith-based hospitals to conduct bacteriology, AMR testing and surveillance in Zambia. This multi-facility, cross-sectional exploratory study was conducted from February 2024 to April 2024. We collected and analysed data using the self-scoring Laboratory Assessment of Antibiotic Resistance Testing Capacity (LAARC) tool. This study found an overall score of 39%, indicating a low capacity of laboratories to conduct AMR surveillance. The highest capacity score was 47%, while the lowest was 25%. Only one hospital had full capacity (100%) to utilise a Laboratory Information System (LIS). Three hospitals had good capacity to perform data management with scores of 83%, 85%, and 95%. Only one hospital had full capacity (100%) to process specimens, and only one hospital had good safety requirements for a microbiology laboratory, with a score of 89%. This study demonstrates that all the assessed hospitals have a low capacity to conduct AMR surveillance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen the microbiology capacity of laboratories to enhance surveillance in faith-based hospitals in Zambia.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is key to reducing the probability of contracting COVID-19. The vaccine is generally known to prevent severe illness, death, and hospitalization as a result of the disease and for considerably reducing COVID-19 infection risk. Accordingly, this might significantly change an individual’s perceived risk of altering everyday behaviors. For instance, the proliferation of vaccination is anticipated to reduce preventive behaviors such as staying at home, handwashing, and wearing a mask. We corresponded with the same individuals monthly for 18 months from March 2020 (early stage of COVID-19) to September 2021 in Japan to independently construct large sample panel data (N=54,007), with a participation rate of 54.7 %. We used a fixed effects model, controlling for key confounders, to determine whether vaccination was associated with a change in preventive behaviors. The major findings are as follows. Contrary to the prediction, (1) based on the whole sample, being vaccinated against COVID-19 led people to stay at home; however, it did not change the habit of handwashing and wearing a mask. Especially after the second shot, respondents were likelier to stay at home by 0.107 (95% CIs: 0.059–0.154) points on a 5-point scale compared to before the vaccination. Dividing the entire sample into young and old, (2) those aged ≤ 40 years were more likely to go out after being vaccinated, and (3) people over 40 years of age were more likely to stay at home (similar to the first result). Preventive behaviors impact all individuals during the current pandemic. Informal social norms motivate people to increase or maintain preventive behaviors even after being vaccinated in societies where these behaviors are not enforced.

The Study proposes possible solution to enhance Password Authentication using Association Technique based on the Ecological theory of memory and data at the Presbyterian university College Ghana. The study used a deductive research approach and employed two empirical Studies using the non-probability sampling technique where few respondents were selected in categories out of the populace by means of openness in other to get similar categories of respondents with different age groups and education background. The two Empirical study also used a quasi-experimental approach which structure incorporate observation, experimental treatment and timing. The First empirical study carried out an investigation to identify existing Password authentication Technique used by End Users, as well as their behavior in password utilization through a self-completed questionnaires which was analyzed using SPSS version 21 . The Second empirical study was an experiment to compared three kinds of password constructions that is own set, modified dictionary, and association against one another to see which of them would be best meet the ecological theory of memory and data which aims at creating a secured password that is easy to recall. The computation and evaluation of password construction was done using My1login Password meter whiles Levenshtein Distance String Edit Software was also used to compute the memorability of all given password. Across-tabulation was then employed out of the experiment using SPSS version 21. The result from the analysis revealed that the majority of the respondents do have weak passwords and also have few passwords which they even end up sharing with families and friends and reuse it. This confirms statements made by researchers that human being is the weakest connection in information system securities. To maintain Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity of data, the study therefore recommended the use of the Association Password technique which makes it easier to develop a much secured password that is difficult to crack but easy remember.

(1) Background: Adolescent girls have increasingly faced mental health challenges. We examined prevalence trends and associated risk factors for depression among adolescent girls. (2) Methods: Data for girls aged 12 to 17 years (N=4346) from the 2021 cross-sectional National Survey on Drug Use and Health were analyzed. Factors associated with depression were examined using multiple regression analysis. (3) Results: Rates of severe depression were significantly higher (p<.001) in older girls (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.63, 1.61, those who did not have authoritative parents (AOR: 3.40), and those with negative school experiences (AOR: 4.03). Black and Asian/Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders were less likely to report severe depression than white girls. As previously reported, non-White girls were significantly less likely to receive treatment for depression (p<.05). Parents’ characteristics and school experiences had no effect on the likelihood of receiving mental health treatment. (4) Conclusion: Depression has become increasingly common among American adolescent girls, who are now three times as likely as adolescent boys to have had recent experiences with depression. Our results show that family structure, parenting style, and negative school experiences significantly contribute to the rate of depression and that treatment disparities exist with regard to race and ethnicity. The results of our research could be valuable for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and educators in developing specific preventative initiatives and support networks that effectively address these unique challenges.

In the process of climate change mitigation and adaptation, the focus on climate risk driven by transition innovations has received widespread attention from governments, regulators, and investors. Based on the identification of low-carbon patents through the Green and Low-carbon Technology Inventory in China, this study constructs low-carbon innovation measurements of listed firms in China from 2015 to 2021. Then, an empirical model is used to investigate the impact and mechanism of climate transition innovations on the default risk. The baseline regression model shows that low-carbon innovations can mitigate the default risk of listed firms. Moreover, our findings are supported by instrumental variable regressions that use the time costs of innovation. Finally, the mediation effect demonstrates that investor attention, total factor productivity, and technology spillovers are paths through which transition innovations can affect the default risk. This study reveals that low-carbon technological advances have a positive effect on climate transition risks.

Introduction: This study explores the stabilization and efficacy enhancement of Vitamin C in dermocosmetic formulations through its association with Poly-L-lysine dendrimers. Vitamin C, critical for collagen synthesis and skin hydration, faces challenges due to its instability and low bioavailability. The research aims to evaluate the liposolubility of Vitamin C in the presence of Poly-L-lysine vectors, assess its stability in both aqueous and emulsion media, and determine the moisturizing efficacy of second-generation Poly-L-lysine (diameter: 4.5 nm, PM: 8.6 kDa) and third-generation Poly-L-lysine (diameter: 7 nm, PM: 22 kDa). Methods : Methods included high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for concentration analysis, partition coefficient determination, and stability assessments under various conditions. Hydration potential and kinetics were evaluated on 11 volunteers using a corneometer. Results: The liposolubility of Vitamin C increased by over 300% with Poly-L-lysine, enhancing its stability. Emulsion stability tests confirmed that formulations with Poly-L-lysine maintained their physical and chemical properties under stress conditions. Physiological tests showed significant improvements in skin hydration with the Poly-L-lysine/Vitamin C formulations, achieving 66.2% hydration increase at T3h for third-generation dendrimers. Conclusion In conclusion, Poly-L-lysine vectors significantly enhance the stability and moisturizing efficacy of Vitamin C in dermocosmetic formulations. These findings suggest that Poly-L-lysine can mitigate Vitamin C's instability and improve its dermocosmetic benefits, offering a promising approach for advanced skincare solutions.

Objective: To analyse the association between maternal risk factors such as age, body mass index (BMI) and cigarette smoking, with perinatal outcomes. Materials and Methods: This a retrospective analysis from prospectively collected data performed at Hospital Universitario de Torrejón (Madrid, Spain), between September 2017 and December 2019. All pregnant women with singleton pregnancies and non-malformed live fetuses attending their routine ultrasound examination at 11+0 to 13+6 weeks' gestation were invited to participate. Association between preeclampsia, preterm birth, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), small for gestational age (SGA) or fetal growth restricted (FGR) neonates and type of delivery according to maternal age, BMI, and cigarrete smoking was studied. Logistic mixed models were used to analyze the data. Results: 1921 patients were included in the analysis. Women of 40 years old had a significantly higher risk of having GDM (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.61, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.08 to 2.36), and SGA neonates (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.37). Women with a BMI <18 had an increased rate of birth SGA and FGR neonates (OR 3.28, 95% CI 1.51 to 7.05, and OR 3.73, 95% CI 1.54 to 8.37, respectively), whereas women with a BMI ≥35 had a higher risk of GDM (OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.95 to 4.89). Smoking increased the risk of having SGA and FGR neonates (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.36 to 2.46, and OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.29 to 2.78). Conclusions: Advanced maternal age, low or high BMI, and smoking status are significant risk factors for pregnancy complications. Both clinicians and society should concentrate their efforts on addressing these factors to enhance reproductive health.

A simulation is performed to analyze the forces that arise in a conducting DNA-like double helix in the field of a microwave electromagnetic wave under half-wave resonance conditions. The helix is comprised of twenty-and-a-half turns and has geometric parameters proportional to the size of an actual DNA molecule. The forces acting on the strands of a double helix, both in the central region and at the edges of the helix, are investigated. It has been demonstrated that the afore-mentioned forces induce a change in the shape of the helix, specifically mutual repulsion of the strands, as well as their stretching and twisting in the field of electromagnetic waves. As opposed to a pair of parallel straight conductors, there is a radial repulsion of strands in all regions of a double DNA-like helix, including the center and the edges. This unique interaction of currents in a double DNA-like helix can be attributed to its pitch angle, a characteristic that has been estab-lished through empirical evidence. Consequently, exposure to an electromagnetic wave under half-wave resonance can damage the double helix. Conversely, the impact of electromagnetic waves has the potential to introduce novel avenues for controlling the shape of the double helix. These nonlinear effects must be considered for both actual DNA molecules and double DNA-like helices that serve as components of metamaterials and metasurfaces.

Linear regression is a basic tool in mobile robotics, since it enables accurate estimation of straight lines from range-bearing scans or in digital images, which is a prerequisite for reliable data association and sensor fusing in the context of feature-based SLAM. This paper discusses, extends and compares existing algorithms for line fitting applicable also in case of strong covariances between the coordinates at each single data point, which must not be neglected if range-bearing sensors are used. Besides, particularly the determination of the covariance matrix is considered, which is required for stochastic modeling. The main contribution is a new error model of straight lines in closed form for calculating fast and reliably the covariance matrix dependent on just a few comprehensible and easily obtainable parameters. The model can be applied widely in any case when a line is fitted from a number of distinct points also without a-priori knowledge of the specific measurement noise. By means of extensive simulations the performance and robustness of the new model in comparison to existing approaches is shown.

Causal language can be a powerful tool for media outlets to subtly influence public perception and reinforce specific narratives. Therefore, identifying these linguistic patterns can be helpful in assessing the level of bias present in media content. In this paper, we directly compare the prevalence of causal language in headlines pertaining to the coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war. We specifically look at the BBC and AlJazeera headlines covering the assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023. We use UniCausal, a model for causal text mining, in order to automatically extract the cause and effect of each headline. Our findings reveal that BBC headlines tend to avoid directly attributing causality to Israel for the violence in Gaza, whereas Al Jazeera headlines explicitly identify Israel as the responsible party. This differential use of causal language suggests a potential bias in media reporting.

In higher education, the cultivation of research competency is pivotal for students’ critical thinking development and their subsequent transition into the professional workforce. While statistics plays a fundamental role in supporting the completion of a research project, it is often perceived as challenging, particularly by students in majors outside mathematics or statistics. The connection between students’ statistical proficiency and their research competency remains unexplored despite its significance. To address this gap, we utilized the supervised machine learning approach to predict students’ research competency, as represented by their performance in a research methods class, with predictors of students’ proficiency in statistical topics. Predictors relating to students’ learning behavior in a statistics course such as assignment completion and academic dishonesty are also included as auxiliary variables. Results indicate that the three primary categories of statistical skills—namely, understanding of statistical concepts, proficiency in selecting appropriate statistical methods, and statistics interpretation skills— can be used to predict students’ research competency, as demonstrated by their final course scores and letter grades. This study advocates for strategic emphasis on the identified influential topics to enhance efficiency in developing students’ research competency. Findings could inform instructors in adopting a strategic approach to teaching the statistical component of research for enhanced efficiency.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, entailing several motor-related symptoms that contribute to a reduced quality of life in affected subjects. Recent advances in wearable technologies and computing resources have shown great potential for the assessment of PD-related symptoms. However, the potential applications (e.g., early diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring) and key features of digital biomarkers for motor symptoms of PD (DB-MS-PD) have not been comprehensively studied. This study aims to provide a state-of-the-art review of current digital biomarker definitions for PD, focusing on the use of wearable devices. This review systematically examines research articles from 2012 to 2024, focusing on key features and recent technologies in PD research. A total of 22 studies were included and thoroughly analyzed. Results indicate that DB-MS-PD can accurately distinguish patients with PD (PwPD) from healthy controls (HC), assess disease severity or treatment response, and detect motor symptoms. Large sample sizes, proper validation, non-invasive devices, and ecological monitoring make DB-MS-PD promising for improving PD management. Challenges include sample and method heterogeneity and lack of public datasets. Future studies can leverage evidence of the current literature to provide more effective and ready-to-use digital tools for monitoring PD.

This article systematically studied the A-optimal designs of a high-order mixture central polynomial model, which is an advancement of the research results for the A-optimal design of the most recent third-order mixture central polynomial model and a more accurate response surface model. This article is based on the simplex center design, obtaining measurement values at various design points, and verifying them through the A-optimal equivalence theorem. We also compare the A-efficiency of designs through examples, which can be applied to the A-optimal precise design of the fourth-order mixture model.

This review highlights the potential and limitations of mRNA vaccines with a particular focus on mucosal delivery as an alternative to parenteral administration. The strengths of mRNA vaccines are: a) Versatility: they can be adapted to target a wide range of pathogens; b) Faster development: designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines; c) High efficacy: effective in preventing severe disease, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current challenges: a) Delivery: current methods (mainly intramuscular injection) may not be optimal for inducing mucosal immunity; b) Stability: mRNA is fragile and needs to be protected from degradation; c) Safety: potential side effects, including myocarditis, blood clotting, allergic reactions need further investigation. Mucosal delivery could be more effective in preventing the transmission of pathogens and is generally better accepted by the population. Pros: offers the potential to induce local immunity at the site of pathogen entry, potentially providing broader protection; Cons: developing effective delivery systems and adjuvants for mucosal delivery is difficult. Extracellular vesicles as a mucosal delivery system are promising and offer a potentially safe, scalable, and needle-free approach. Future directions: a) Optimizing mRNA constructs: strategies like codon optimization and self-amplifying RNA can improve stability and translation efficiency; b) Rigorous pre-clinical studies are essential before human trials.

In this work, we explore the ability to dynamically group the Wind Turbine (WT) of a Wind Farm (WF) based on the behaviour of some of their Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) signals to detect the turbines that exhibit abnormal behaviour. We centre this study on a small WF of five WTs. We use the fact that the same signals from different turbines in the same WF coherently evolve temporally in a time domain, describing very similar waveforms. In this contribution, we use averaged signals from the SCADA system and omit maximums, minimums and standard deviations, focusing mainly on velocities and other slowly varying signals. For the temporal analysis, sliding windows of different temporal durations and overlapings are explored. The capability to automatically identify WTs whose signals differ from the group’s behaviour can alert and program preventive maintenance operations on such WTs before a major breakdown occurs.

Session-based recommendations which aim to predict subsequent user-item interaction based on historical user behavior during anonymous sessions can be challenging tasks. Two main challenges need to be addressed and improved: (1) How to analyze these sessions to accurately and completely capture users’ preferences, and (2) how to identify and eliminate any interference caused by noisy behavior. Existing methods have not adequately addressed these issues since they either neglected the valuable insight that can be gained from analyzing consecutive groups of items or failed to take these noisy data in sessions seriously and handled them properly, which can jointly impede recommendation systems from capturing users’ real intentions. To address these two problems, we designed a multi-order semantic denoising (MSD) model for session-based recommendations. Specifically, we grouped items of different lengths as varying multi-order semantic units to mine the user’s primary intention from multiple dimensions. Meanwhile, a novel denoising network was designed to alleviate the interference of noisy behavior and provide a more precise session representation. The result of extensive experiments on three real-world datasets demonstrated that the proposed MSD model exhibited improved performance compared with existing state-of-the-art methods in session-based recommendation.

Analysis of immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs in Rwanda aims to assess and quantify the economic and financial impacts of the pandemic during the lockdown and presents options adopted by SMEs to reopen their business opera-tions. It also seeks to recommend options for sustainable and resilient economic recovery from the scars of COVID-19. This analysis used data collected from nearly 220 SMEs located across the country and applied an Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) and multivariate linear regression models to measure the pandemic effects. The study revealed that firms downsized employment by 36.4 per cent, but data depict significant deviation within SMEs by their size. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a greater magni-tude of negative effects on sales levels among small businesses. Tax amounts were reduced amidst the crisis however, data do not show any significant variations among SMEs. Additionally, SMEs owners applied various coping mechanisms during re-opening. The study used firm-level data, providing detailed and reliable effects of the shocks on business performance. This analysis recommends establishing the medium-term financing and technical support for SMEs to ensure steady and sustainable recovery from pandemic effects as well as strengthening their resilience to any other socio-economics shocks.

The main problem in pursuing multiple extended targets tracking is distinguishing the origins of the measurements. The association of measurements to the possible origins within the target’s extent is difficult, especially for the occlusions or the detection blind zone which cause the intermittent measurements. To solve the problem, a hierarchical network-based tracklets data association algorithm is proposed. At the low level, the min cost network flow model is used to extract possible tracklets from the divided measurement set. At the high-level, the trajectories are estimated from the tracks produced by the previous low level network. The experimental results show that the hierarchical network-based tracklets data association algorithm outperforms the JPDA and RFS-based method when the measurement is intermittently unavailable.

Pharmacists must acquire the necessary knowledge to provide better drug therapy to patients. In other words, educational programs need to facilitate behavioral changes among pharmacists. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate how the behavior of pharmacists changed after attending a palliative care educational program. We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey examining the behavior of pharmacists regarding palliative care before participating in the program, two months after participating in the program, and eight months after participating in the program, to determine the behavior and changes over time. For all questions, scores were higher at two and eight months after attending the program than before attending the program (P <0.05). In addition, no significant difference was observed between two and eight months after attending the program for all questions (P =0.504-1.000). The knowledge gained from the educational program was used to repeatedly intervene with patients with cancer, to address the various symptoms they experienced and maintain their behavior. The proven effectiveness of this program serves as a stepping stone for a nationwide rollout across Japan’s 47 prefectures.

The emotion of disgust protects individuals against pathogens, and it has been found that during pregnancy, it is elevated. Physiological mechanisms discussed in relation to these changes include immune markers and progesterone levels. The aim of this study is to assess the association between steroids and disgust in pregnancy. In a sample of 179 pregnant women, we have analyzed blood serum steroid concentrations and measured disgust sensitivity by text-based questionnaires in the first and third trimester. We found positive correlations between disgust sensitivity and the levels of C19 steroids, including testosterone, but also its precursors in the Δ5 pathway (androstenediol, DHEA, and their sulfates) and the Δ4 pathway (androstenedione). Furthermore, positive correlations between disgust sensitivity and 5α/β-reduced C19 steroid metabolites were consistently present in both trimesters. In the first trimester, we found a positive association between disgust sensitivity and 17-hydroxypregnanolone as well as some estrogens. In the third trimester, we have observed positive associations between disgust sensitivity and cortisol as well as immunoprotective Δ5 C19 7α/β-hydroxy-steroids. Our study has thus shown that disgust sensitivity is positively correlated with immunomodulatory steroids, and in the third trimester, steroids may reflect potential maternal anxiety-related symptoms.

Callus induction (CI) is the critical trait for the transformation of desirable genes in plants. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis was conducted on the rice germplasm of 110 diverse indica rice accessions. Three tissue culture media, including B5, MS, and N6, were used for CI in those rice panels. Seven quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosomes 2, 6, 7, and 11 were found to confer a CI percentage in these three media. For the B5 medium, one QTL (qCI-B5-Chr6) was identified on the rice chromosome 6. For the MS medium, two QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 2 and 6 (qCI-MS-Chr2 and qCI-MS-Chr6, respectively). For the N6 medium, four QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 6, 7, and 11 (qCI-N6-Chr6.1, qCI-N6-Chr6.2, qCI-N6-Chr7, and qCI-N6-Chr11, respectively). Fifty-five genes were identified within the haplotype blocks corresponding to these QTLs. Thirty-one genes showed haplotypes associated with different CI in those media. The qCI-B5-Chr6 was located in the same region as the qCI-N6-Chr6.2. The caleosin-related family protein was identified in this region. Analysis of the gene-based haplotype reveals the association of this gene with different CI in both B5 and N6 media, suggesting that the gene may play a critical role in the CI mechanism. Moreover, several genes, including the beta-tubulin, the zinc finger proteins, the RNP-1 domain-containing protein, and the Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase, were associated with different CI in the N6 media. Results from this study provide insight into the potential QTLs and candidate genes for callus induction in rice that will fulfill the understanding of the physiological and biochemical processes involved in callus formation, which is an essential tool in the molecular breeding of rice.

Pepper leaf segmentation plays a crucial role in monitoring pepper leaf diseases in various backgrounds and ensuring the healthy growth of peppers. However, existing transformer-based segmentation methods suffer from computational inefficiency, excessive parameterization, and limited utilization of edge information. To tackle these challenges, we propose an adaptive multi-scale MLP framework, named AMS-MLP, which combines the multi-path aggregation module (MPAM) and the multi-scale context relation mask module (MCRD) to refine the object boundaries in pepper leaf segmentation. AMS-MLP consists of an encoder-based network, an adaptive multi-scale MLP (AM-MLP) module, and a decoder network. In the encoder network, the MPAM module effectively fuses five-scale features to generate a single-channel mask, improving the accuracy of pepper leaf boundary extraction. The AM-MLP module divides the input features into two branches: the global multi-scale MLP branch captures long-range dependencies between image information, while the local multi-scale MLP branch focuses on extracting local feature maps. Adaptive attention mechanism is designed to dynamically adjust the weights of global and local features. The decoder network incorporates the MCRD module into the convolutional layer, enhancing the extraction of boundary features. To verify the performance of the proposed method, we conducted extensive experiments on three pepper leaf datasets with different backgrounds. The results demonstrate mIoU scores of 97.39%, 96.91%, and 97.91%, as well as F1 scores of 98.29%, 97.86%, and 98.51%, respectively. Comparative analysis with U-Net and state-of-the-art models reveals that the proposed method dramatically improves the accuracy and efficiency of pepper leaf image segmentation.

This study aims to propose a method for constructing basic digital twin data in South Korea by adhering to international standards and utilizing publicly available data. Specifically, the study focuses on designing and proposing a digital twin data model for buildings, which are the most applicable among the basic digital twin data. To achieve this, the first section provides essential background information, introduces concepts and requirements related to digital twin basic data, and offers a brief overview of CityGML. The second section explains the methodology and data used in this study. The third section presents the main findings: the selection of public data (buildings) for constructing digital twin basic data, the mapping process using CityGML, and the creation of UML diagrams. The fourth section discusses these findings. Finally, the conclusion and suggestions for future research are provided. This approach enhances the accuracy of building-related digital twin data and supports the use of digital twin services in both public and private sectors by enabling various spatial analyses.

The Work Ability Index (WAI) is the most widely used questionnaire for the self-assessment of working ability. Because of its different applications, shorter versions, and widespread use in healthcare activities, it is worthwhile assessing its characteristics. The WAI was distributed online among the workers of a healthcare company; the results were compared with data contained in the workers' personal health records and with absence registers. 340 out of 575 workers (59.1%) participated; 6.5% of them reported poor work ability. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the one-factor version best described the characteristics of the WAI. The scores of the complete WAI, the shorter form without the list of diseases, and the minimal one-item version (WAS) had equal distribution and were significantly correlated. The WAI score was inversely related to age and significantly lower in women than in men, but it was higher in night workers than in colleagues due to the probable effect of selective factors. The WAI score was also correlated with absenteeism, but no differences were found between males and females in the average number of absences, suggesting that cultural or emotional factors influence the self-rating of the WAI. Workers tended to overreport illnesses in the online survey compared to data collected during occupational health checks. Musculoskeletal disorders were the most frequently reported illnesses (53%). Psychiatric illnesses affected 21% of workers and had the greatest impact on work ability. Multilevel ergonomic and human factor intervention seems to be needed to recover the working capacity of healthcare workers.

Since the beginning of the internet era, there has been an explosion of growth in structured data (such as numbers, symbols, and labels) as well as unstructured data (including images, videos, and text). Efficient and accurate mixed query of these two types of data is a key technology to achieve high-quality information retrieval, and it is also a major challenge that needs to be solved urgently in the industry. In this study, we employ an advanced Transformer model that combines strategies and fine-tuning techniques for multi-task learning. Specifically, the model is first pre-trained on a large-scale, general-purpose dataset to learn different types of data representations and basic language comprehension skills. After that, we fine-tuned the parameters of the model to better suit these specific data processing tasks for specific application scenarios, such as image annotation, video content analysis, and structured data query. At the heart of the model is the self-attention mechanism, which allows the model to automatically emphasize the important parts and ignore irrelevant information when processing the input data. In addition, we have introduced task-specific adaptation layers that are designed to add additional processing power to the original Transformer architecture, such as a semantic analysis layer for unstructured text data and a relational extraction layer for structured data. This combination of general pre-training and task-specific fine-tuning allows the model to flexibly process and integrate information from different data sources, improving processing efficiency and accuracy. Experimental results show that the model performs well in a variety of data processing tasks, significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of information retrieval, and verifies the strong potential and adaptability of large language models in processing mixed data types.

After approximately 6 months of age, term breastfed infants are increasingly depending on other sources of iron to avoid iron deficiency anemia. The appropriate complementary feeding must include a balance composition of foods containing an adequate amount of macro- and micronutrients to reduce the risk of iron deficiency anemia. This study aims to compare the anemia and growth status of infants receiving commercial fortified infant cereals (FIC) with infants not receiving them. We use all complete multiple Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) from 2005 to 2018 to understand global infant feeding patterns. To better control for the strong household wealth effect in nutritional choices and possibly health awareness, we use propensity score technique as applied in outcome research to better control the effect of covariates. After matching and controlling for confounders, we did find a significant association between reduced risk of anemia and consumption of FIC. After matching and adjusting for confounders the small but positive effects of consumption of FIC on Height for age z-score and Weight for Height Z-score are no longer statistically significant.

This research project aimed to address the growing concern about methane emissions from seaweed by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model capable of accurately predicting these emissions. The study used PANDAS to read and analyze the dataset, incorporating statistical measures like mean, median, and standard deviation to understand the dataset. The CNN model was trained using the ReLU activation function and mean absolute error as the loss function. Model performance was evaluated through MAPE graphs, comparing the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) between training and validation sets and between true and predicted emissions, and analyzing trends in yearly greenhouse gas emissions. The results demonstrated that the CNN model achieved a high level of accuracy in predicting methane emissions, with a low MAPE between the expected and actual values. This approach should enhance our understanding of methane emissions from Sargassum, contributing to more accurate environmental impact assessments and effective mitigation strategies.

(1) Background: better mechanistic understanding of desmosome disruption and acantholysis in Grover disease (GD) may improve management of this disease. Recent molecular studies highlighted promising pathways to be explored, by directly comparing GD and selected features of associated skin diseases. The association between GD and cutaneous keratinocyte carcinomas, the most prevalent non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC), is not completely characterized. (2) Objective: To review the medical literature regarding GD-associated cutaneous keratinocyte cancers, focusing on molecular features, pathophysiological mechanisms and disease associations, to help guide future research and patient management. (3) Result: GD has been associated with a variety of skin conditions, but its association with skin cancers has been rarely reported. Between 1983 and 2024 only 9 scientific papers presented data supporting this association. Interestingly, we found that GD may mimic multiple NMSCs, as few authors reported GD cases misdiagnosed as multiple cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas for more than 4 years, or the presence of superficial basal cell carcinoma–like areas associated with focal acantholysis. (4) Conclusions: (a) GD may be an imitator of multiple NMSCs and (b) the relationship between GD and NMSCs may reveal promising pathways for the mechanistic understanding of desmosome disruption and acantholysis in GD and may even lead to its reclassification as a distinctive syndrome.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of dementia, significantly influenced by the Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene and gender. This study aims to use machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict brain age and assess AD risk by considering the effects of APOE4 genotype and gender. Methods: We collected brain volumetric MRI data and medical records from 1100 cognitively unimpaired individuals and 602 AD patients. We applied three ML regression models—XGBoost, Random Forest (RF), and Linear Regression (LR)—to predict brain age. Additionally, we introduced two novel metrics, Brain Age Difference (BAD) and Integrated Difference (ID), to evaluate model performance and analyze the influence of APOE4 genotype and gender on brain aging. Results: AD patients displayed significantly older brain ages compared to their chronological ages, with BADs ranging from 6.5 to 10 years. The RF model outperformed both XGBoost and LR in terms of accuracy, delivering higher ID values and more precise predictions. Comparing APOE4 carriers with non-carriers, the models showed enhanced ID values and consistent brain age predictions, improving overall performance. Gender-specific analyses indicated slight enhancements, with models performing equally well on both genders. It indicates that APOE4 may be a more robust predictor of brain age than gender. Conclusion: Robust ML models for brain age prediction can be pivotal in the early detection of AD risk via MRI brain structural imaging, especially for APOE4 carriers. Such early identification may facilitate timely preventive interventions for AD.

Stueckelberg-Horwitz-Piron (SHP) electrodynamics formalizes the distinction between coordinate time (measured by laboratory clocks) and chronology (temporal ordering) by defining 4D spacetime events x^μ as functions of an external evolution parameter τ. Classical spacetime events x^μ (τ) evolve as τ grows monotonically, tracing out particle worldlines dynamically and inducing the five U(1) gauge potentials through which events interact. Since Lorentz invariance imposes time reversal symmetry on x⁰ but not τ, the formalism resolves grandfather paradoxes and related problems of irreversibility. The action involves standard first order field derivatives but includes a higher order τ derivative that while preserving gauge and Lorentz invariance removes certain singularities and makes the related QFT super-renormalizable. The resulting field equations are Maxwell-like but τ-dependent and sourced by a current that represents a statistical ensemble of instantaneous events distributed along the worldline. The width λ of this distribution defines a correlation time for the interactions and a mass spectrum for the photons that carry the interaction. As λ becomes very large, the photon mass goes to zero and the field equations become τ-independent Maxwell’s equations. Maxwell theory thus emerges as an equilibrium limit of SHP, in which λ is larger than any other relevant time scale. Particles and fields are not constrained to mass shells in SHP theory, and by exchanging mass may produce pair creation/annihilation processes at the classical level. On-shell evolution with fixed particle masses is restored through a self-interaction associated with the 5D wave equation.

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are a major public health concern due to their high incidence and potential for complications. Pharmacists often serve as the first point of contact for patients with URTIs. This study aims to develop and evaluate the RESP-8 tool to assist pharmacists in determining the need for medical evaluation. Methods: This prospective interventional cohort study was conducted over six months (October 2023 to March 2024) in community pharmacies. Participants included adults aged 18 years and older presenting with URTI symptoms. Pharmacists used the RESP-8 tool, which comprises eight criteria to assess the need for medical referral. Data on medical history, symptom duration, and progression were recorded. The primary outcome was the feasibility of implementing the RESP-8 tool. Secondary outcomes included the accuracy of the tool, the percentage of patients recommended for medical evaluation, and compliance with these recommendations. Results: A total of 64 participants were included, with an average age of 55.7 years. Pharmacists recommended medical evaluation for 75% (48/64) of patients using the RESP-8 tool. Among these, 70.83% (34/48) complied with the recommendation. The tool demonstrated high accuracy in identifying patients needing further medical evaluation, with only two noted errors. All compliant patients received appropriate treatment without complications. The tool was easy to implement, taking less than 5 minutes per patient. Discussion: The RESP-8 tool effectively guided pharmacists in recommending medical evaluations for URTI patients. The high compliance rate indicates patient trust in pharmacists' guidance. While the study's small sample size limits generalizability, the results are promising. Future studies with larger populations are necessary to validate these findings and further refine the tool. Conclusion: The RESP-8 tool shows potential in enhancing pharmacists' ability to make informed decisions about medical referrals for URTIs, ultimately improving patient outcomes and optimizing healthcare resource management.

Evaluation ecosystem service value (ESV) is critical for “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. However, the ESV estimation and spatial-temporal analysis for mountainous soil erosion area is rare, e.g., Changting county, China. In this study, we developed a remote sensing driven mountainous equivalent factor (RS-MEF) method to estimate the ESV of soil erosion area in subtropical mountain. It is a hybrid of a conventional equivalent factor framework and the remote sensing techniques for mountains, and achieves several highlights of spatial adjustment using carbon sink with vegetation canopy, improvement spatial resolution, and removal topographic effect. Using the RS-MEF method, we estimated that the ESV of Changting county was about 15.80 billion CNY in 2010 and 34.83 billion CNY in 2022. Specifically, the ESV per unit area of major soil erosion area (MSEA) in the county was less than that of non-major soil erosion area (n-MSEA), however, the ESV growth rate of MSEA from 2010 to 2022 was faster than that of n-MSEA. Therefore, the ESV gap between two areas was shortened from 28.99% in 2010 to 15.83% in 2022. Topographic gradient effect analysis illustrates that the area with high elevation and small slope is one control focus in the next step. Our study indicates that the ecological restoration in the county has made great achievements in the ESV perspective, with low ESV area shrank evidently in MSEA; and the achieved knowledge of the ESV growth and inherent factors is valuable and instructive for the next soil and water conservation.

Background: The Second Victim Phenomenon (SVP) significantly impacts the well-being of healthcare professionals and patient safety. While SVP has been explored in various healthcare settings, there is limited data on its prevalence and associated factors among nurses in Austria. This study investigates the prevalence, symptomatology, and preferred support measures for SVP among Austrian nurses. Methods: A nationwide, cross-sectional, anonymous online survey was conducted using the SeViD questionnaire (Second Victims in German-speaking Countries), which includes the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10). Statistical analyses included binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression using the bootstrapping, bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) method based on 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: 928 participants responded to the questionnaire. Among the respondents, 81.58% (744/912) identified as Second Victims (SVs). The primary cause of becoming a SV was aggressive behavior from patients or relatives. Females reported a higher symptom load than males, and higher agreeableness was linked to increased symptom severity. Notably, 92.47% of SVs who sought help preferred support from colleagues, and the most pronounced desire among participants was to process the event for better understanding. Conclusions: The prevalence of SVP among Austrian nurses is alarmingly high, with aggressive behavior identified as a significant trigger. The findings emphasize the necessity for tailored support strategies, including peer support and systematic organizational interventions to mitigate the impact of SVP on nurses and to improve overall patient care. Further research should focus on developing and implementing effective prevention and intervention programs for healthcare professionals in similar settings.

Wastewater-based surveillance has emerged as an important method for monitoring SARS-CoV-2. This study investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in Zambia. We conducted a longitudinal study in the Copperbelt and Eastern provinces of Zambia from October 2023 to December 2023 during which 155 wastewater samples were collected. The samples were subjected to three different concentration methods, namely bag-mediated filtration, skimmed milk flocculation, and polythene glycol-based concentration assays. Molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid was conducted using real-time PCR. Whole genome sequencing was conducted using Illumina COVIDSEQ assay. Of the 155 wastewater samples, 62 (40%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of these, 13 sequences of sufficient length to determine SARS-CoV-2 lineages were obtained and two sequences were phylogenetically analyzed. Various Omicron subvariants were detected in wastewater including BA.5, XBB.1.45, BA.2.86, and JN.1. Some of these subvariants have been detected in clinical cases in Zambia. Interestingly, phylogenetic analysis positioned a sequence from the Copperbelt Province in the B.1.1.529 clade, suggesting that earlier Omicron variants detected in late 2021 could still be circulating and may not have been wholly replaced by newer subvariants. This study stresses the need for integrating wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 into mainstream strategies for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 circulation in Zambia.

Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 mRNA binding Protein 1 (IGF2BP1) is a promising candidate gene for influencing economic traits in livestock and poultry. The second intronic region of IGF2BP1 is closely related to growth traits, although the exact mechanism remains unclear. The preliminary resequencing results of goats in our laboratory demonstrated that the IGF2BP1 gene region was subject to strong selection, then we selected multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify. Seven SNPs were located in the conserved region of the second intron, and their functions and relationship with growth traits require further clarification. This study selected 348 Nanjiang Yellow goats as experimental subjects, and chose Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (MALDI-TOF) as the main method. Our results showed that six SNPs were significantly correlated with the growth traits of the Nanjiang yellow goat by association analysis. Among them, the rs652062749(A>G) was identified as the primary locus affecting the later stage of growth traits of Nanjiang yellow goat. Moreover, there was a strong linkage among three SNPs, and the rs638185407 (T>A) mutant type was observed to increase the luciferase activity in H293T cells extremely significantly. The TTAACT, TTCCCC, and ATCACT combination genotypes were dominant combination genotypes, which provided theoretical references for further genetic co-breeding. The results of our study demonstrate the potential role of the IGF2BP1 gene as a functional genetic marker in the breeding programs of Nanjiang Yellow goats.

Early reporting of the introduction and establishment of exotic species is of paramount importance for successful management. Here we report the introduction and rapid spread of the Bare-eyed Pigeon, Patagioenas corensis, on the binational island of Saint-Martin, West Indies. This range-restricted species naturally occurs in the arid coastal areas of Columbia and Venezuela and nearby islands. Its introduction on Saint-Martin represents an expansion of about 1000 km beyond its established native range. Using observations recorded in e-bird and results from a recent field survey, we show that since its introduction, most probably between late 2012 and early 2013, the species is expanding fast in Saint-Martin and has recently broadened its habitat to include anthropized, built areas. The expansion of Bare-eyed Pigeon on Saint-Martin and the neighbouring Leeward Islands, possibly facilitated by climate change in the future, could be a threat to both native columbid species and other bird species, through competition for resources. We therefore recommend to local authorities and stakeholders to rapidly eradicate the species or at least prevent its further spread on Saint-Martin, possibly though listing it as a game species, while it is still possible to do so.

High hopes were associated with the new anti-angiogenic medicament, bevacizumab, which due to the possibility of binding to isoform A of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), inhibited the creation of new blood vessels. However, not only blood vessels are responsible for the tumor cells' spread. During the process of tumor growth, lymphangiogenesis is mediated by other isoforms of the VEGF family, specifically VEGF-C and VEGF-D, which are independent of the bevacizumab action. Therefore, based on the mechanism of bevacizumab action and the processes of angio- and lymphangiogenesis, we formed three hypotheses: 1) if the lymph nodes in the primary ovarian cancers are metastatic, the outcome of bevacizumab treatment is worsened; 2) concerning the second-line treatment, bevacizumab will act in a weakened manner if the recurrence occurs in lymph nodes compared to local recurrences; 3) patients treated by bevacizumab are more likely to have recurrences in lymph nodes. These hypotheses raise the issue of the existing gap of knowledge, which concerns the effect of bevacizumab on the metastatic lymph nodes.

Global coverage and scale up of interventions to reduce newborn mortality remains low, though progress has been achieved in improving newborn survival in many low-income settings. An important factor in the success of newborn health interventions, and moving to scale, is appropriate design of community-based programs and strategies for local implementation. We report the results of formative research undertaken to inform the design of a newborn health intervention in Cambodia. Information was gathered on newborn care practices over a period of three months using multiple qualitative methods of data collection in the primary health facility and home setting. Analysis of the data indicated important gaps, both at home and facility level, between recommended newborn care practices and those typical in the study area. The results of this formative research have informed strategies for behavior change and improving referral of sick infants in the subsequent implementation study. Collection and dissemination of data on newborn care practices from settings such as these can contribute to efforts to advance survival, growth and development of newborns for intervention research, and for future newborn health programming.

Apple-tree (Malus × domestica Borkh.) belongs to the genus Rosaceae. Due to its adaptability and tolerance to different soil and climatic conditions, it is cultivated worldwide for fresh consump-tion. Therefore, the priorities of apple growers are the high-quality of fruits and stable yield for high production. In total about 90 to 95 percent of fruits should fall or be eliminated from apple trees to avoid overcropping and poor-quality fruits. Several technologies such as handwork, me-chanically or chemical substances are used for fruit and bud elimination. The most profitable in commercial orchards is the use of chemicals for elimination, but due to the European Green Deal more environmentally sustainable solutions are required. Elimination of fruitlets is influenced by several factors. Additionally, the apple trees have the self-elimination mechanism. This is de-termined by apple genotype, physiological futures and genetics. This review focuses on the bio-logical factors and genetics mechanisms in apple yield self-regulation for better understanding the regulatory mechanism of fruitlets abscission for future breeding programs targeted on self-regulating yield apple varieties

Increasing concerns on animal welfare in commercial pig industry include aggression between pigs as it affects their health and growth. Early detection of aggressive behaviors is essential for optimizing their living environment. A major challenge for detection is that these behaviors are observed occasionally in normal conditions. Under this circumstance, a limited amount of aggressive behavior data will lead to class imbalance issue, making it difficult to develop an effective classification model for the detection of aggressive behaviors. To overcome this problem, we approach the aggressive behavior detection problem as a case of anomaly detection rather than classification and propose a model based on anomaly detection, which can better handle unbalanced class distribution and effectively detect the infrequent, aggressive episodes of pigs. The model consists of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a variational long short-term memory (LSTM) autoencoder. Additionally, we adopted a training method similar to weakly supervised anomaly detection and included a few aggressive behavior data in the training set for prior learning. To effectively utilize the aggressive behavior data, we created Reconstruction Loss Inversion, a novel objective function, to train the autoencoder-based model to increase the reconstruction error of aggressive behaviors by inverting the loss function. Our anomaly detection approach significantly outperforms traditional classification-based methods, effectively identifying aggressive behaviors in a natural farming environment. This method offers a robust solution for detecting aggressive animal behaviors and contributes to improving their welfare.

This paper discusses the application and advantages of artificial intelligence technology in digital media interactive product design. Firstly, the development background of artificial intelligence technology and its promoting effect on design innovation is introduced, and the application of new technologies, such as generative adversarial networks in art creation and design personalization, is definitely analyzed. It then explores in detail the ability of AI to break traditional constraints in interactive design, innovate design, and optimize user experience, especially in digital media. Finally, the case study of Microsoft Cortana shows the method of classifying and processing user queries by machine learning system and its experimental results. The research of this paper provides the theoretical basis and empirical support for the application of artificial intelligence technology in the future interactive design of digital media and has important academic and practical significance.

In this paper we describe a method which combines sentiment analysis with machine learning techniques and/or multivariate statistical analysis. By applying this methodology it is possible to classify a collection of texts into two or more groups or clusters. On the basis of a number of previously defined clusters, the novelty of the outlined approach is the use of the sentiment analysis results as input to the machine learning model or multivariate statistical analysis. Once the classifier has been obtained, we can assign a given text into one of the pre-established clusters. The groups or clusters can represent different time periods, classes of texts transcribed from different conversations, etc. The method is illustrated through an example taken from one of the two studies in which we have applied this methodology. In one of the studies, the method was used to classify press news of a volcanic eruption, while in the other study it was used to classify the conversations recorded between a chatbot with different kinds of speakers (humans or chatbots). This last study was the seminal work in which we introduced this methodology.

Background and Objectives Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1 MIM # 162200), also known as von Recklinghausen disease, is among the most common autosomal dominantly transmitted disorders characterized mainly by neurocutaneous manifestations such as café au lait spots, intertriginous freckling, various types of neurofibromas (cutaneous neurofibromas or plexiform tumors), neurological manifestations, and bone abnormalities. It occurs with an incidence of 1:3000–1:4000 cases. Cone-rod dystrophies belong to the large group of retinal dystrophies, a highly heterogeneous group of disorders clinically manifested mainly by damage to cone and rod cells and have a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. Many genes are involved in their etiology, with more than 100 currently identified, including the CRX gene responsible for the autosomal dominant form of cone-rod dystrophy (ad CORD). Materials and Methods: The authors present an intriguing case of a patient diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) as an infant and ocular involvement (myopia and astigmatism onset at age 15), which yielded a surprising molecular testing result. Results: Molecular DNA analysis identified a rare occurrence of two mutational variants, including a pathogenic variant in the NF1 gene, c.3871-2A, and a likely pathogenic variant in the CRX gene c.119G>A. Conclusions: The authors present this case to highlight the surprises offered by molecular testing in a condition where the diagnosis is usually based on clinical criteria, thus providing patients with competent genetic advice.

Background: Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) have a variable decline in cognitive function, while loneliness was associated with cognitive impairment and increased dementia risk. In the present study, we examined the associations of loneliness with functional and cognitive status in patients with minor (mild cognitive impairment) and major NCDs (dementia). Methods: We diagnosed mild NCD (n=42) and major NCD (n=164) through DSM-5 criteria on 206 participants aged>65 years using the UCLA 3-Item Loneliness Scale (UCLA-3) to evaluate loneliness, the activities of daily living (ADL) and the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scales to measure functional status, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess cognitive functions. Results: In a multivariate regression model, the effect of loneliness on cognitive functions was negative in major (=-1.05-p<.0001) and minor NCD (=-0.06-p<.01). In the fully-adjusted multivariate regression model (sex-age-education-multimorbidity-depressive symptoms-antidementia drug treatment), the effect of loneliness remained negative for major NCD and became positive for minor NCD (=0.09-p<.001). The effect of loneliness on IADL (=-0.26-p<.0001) and ADL (=-0.24-p<.001) showed a negative effect for major NCD across the different models, while for minor NCD, the effect was positive (IADL:=0.26-p<.0001-ADL:=0.05-p=0.01). Minor NCD displayed different levels of MMSE (=6.68-p<.001), but not ADL or IADL, compared to major NCD for the same levels of loneliness. MANOVA pill’s test suggested a statistically significant and different interactive effect of loneliness on functional and cognitive variables between minor and major NCDs. Conclusions: We confirmed the relationships between loneliness and cognitive and functional status in major NCD, observing a novel trend in minor NCD.

Buyer practices have changed as individuals are figuring out how to live with the new truth of COVID-19. Take-out and conveyance orders have expanded, and our customer has added new items to their menu because of new client inclinations. With every one of the continuous changes, the customer had numerous unanswered inquiries, for example, Smartbridge has broad involvement with café innovation development Café TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES :Are the most famous items as yet unchanged after COVID? :Which are the most sold item blends now? :What is the acknowledgment of new things? :What are clients purchasing alongside new things? :How have liquor deals changed? The customer previously had reports that followed item deals and operational measurements, notwithstanding, there was a need to get a more profound knowledge into item examination. The customer expected to recognize what items and introductions were being sold all the more frequently, measure the acknowledgment of new items, and figure out what items clients buy together to improve advertising efforts, advancements, and deals. he E-business industry is filling immensely in the Indian market. The modest 4G web bundles in India clearly gives a push to these ventures. Thus, as Covid19 first hit in Quite a while, individuals got terrified to go out from their homes in light of the fact that, in their mind, it's a dread of Covid. They even wonder whether or not to go out to purchase fundamental (FMCG) products. Frenzy purchasing additionally has seen and to stay away from this dread of COVID-19, individuals are offering inclinations to the E-Commerce destinations to purchase fundamental products and a few clients are new which joined to purchase fundamental merchandise during this Pandemic Lockdown period. Numerous clients are moving their purchasing conduct from disconnected retail locations to online stores. This paper examines the customer buying pattern during lockdown.

There are few longitudinal studies on the association between dietary vitamin C and sleep disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between dietary vitamin C intake and various types of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and insomnia, as well as recommended dietary intakes. A total of 68,221 participants from the UK Biobank were enrolled in the study. Dietary vitamin C intake was calculated by a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire. We used Cox regression model to assess the association between dietary vitamin C and sleep disorders and restricted cubic spline models to explore potential nonlinear relationships. Stratified analyses and sensitivity analyses were also performed to further test the results. The results showed that vitamin C intake at the Q4 level (132.88-191.51 mg/d) was significantly protective against sleep disorders with an HR (95% CI) of 0.78 (0.65-0.94), and against sleep apnea with an HR (95% CI) of 0.75 (0.62-0.92). The protective effect remained significant in stratified analyses of men and age ≤60 years, and the results were robust in sensitivity analyses. Adequate dietary vitamin C intake may have a protective effect in preventing sleep disorders.

Every individual at some point encounters the progressive biological process of aging which is considered one of the major risk factors for common diseases. The main drivers of aging are oxi-dative stress, senescence, and Reactive oxygen species (ROS). The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) includes several systematic processes for the regulation of blood pressure which is caused by an imbalance of electrolytes. During activation of RAAS, binding of angiotensin II (ANG II) to angiotensin II type I receptor (AGTR1) activates intracellular NADPH oxidase to generate superoxide anions and promote uncoupling of endothelial NO synthase, which in turn decreases NO availability and increases ROS production. Promoting oxidative stress and DNA damage mediated by ANG II is tightly regulated. Individuals with sodium deficiency-associated diseases such as Gitelman syndrome (GS) and Bartter syndrome (BS) show down-regulation of inflammation-related processes and have reduced oxidative stress and ROS. Additionally, the histone deacetylase-Sirtuin-1(SIRT1) has a significant impact on the aging process with reduced activity with age. However, GS/BS patients generally sustain higher levels of SIRT1 activity than aged-matched healthy individuals. In this review, we highlight the importance of the hallmarks of aging, inflammation, and the RAAS system in GS/BS patients and how this might impact healthy aging. We further propose fu-ture research directions for studying the etiology of GS/BS at the molecular level using pa-tient-derived renal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an important candidate gene in musculoskeletal phenotypes. Polymorphisms in VDR have been previously associated with several pathologies and muscular strength in athletes and elderly people, however literature reported contradictory results. The object of this research is to verify the association between the most studied VDR variants (rs2228570, rs7975232, and rs1544410) and the increase of muscle mass in elite young soccer players. A sample of 55 soccer players (15-18 years old) form a professional team was selected for this study. DNA was extracted by salting out method and polymorphisms were genotyped by PCR-RFLP, followed by 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. To test the effect of the three SNPs, logistic regression analysis was applied. Body composition was carried out through skinfold thickness method, and muscular area of arm and lower limb were calculated using Frisancho formulas. All three polymorphisms met Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p &gt; 0.05) and their frequencies fell within the worldwide variability. A significant correlation between rs1544410 and increase of calf muscle mass was observed. Individuals carrying A allele showed higher calf muscular mass than those carrying the G allele (p = 0.034). Moreover, haplotype analysis applied to the two SNPs in linkage disequilibrium (rs7975232 and rs1544410), showed that AG haplotype resulted negatively correlated to calf muscle area. In conclusion, we confirm an association between VDR polymorphisms and muscular mass that could encourage the genetic screening of VDR gene to identify a potential risk of injury and for individual nutritional interventions.

The human gastrointestinal gut contains about 100 trillion of microorganisms including up to 5000 different types of bacteria called the "gut microbiome". Alterations in the composition of gut microorganisms (dysbiosis) can cause threatening for life diseases. This present seeks to evaluate if finally diet and more specifically functional foods affect the intestinal microbiome, and if obesity and the metabolic syndrome (Mets) are associated with the intestinal microbiome. This systematic review was accomplished according to PRISMA guidelines mostly using the key words functional foods, microbiome, obesity, Mets, Mediterranean diet. The search was carried out of recent scien-tific articles from the databases Pubmed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The most studies discussed in this review showed a potential therapeutic effect of the Mediterranean diet rich in beneficial nutrients, on body weight, fat deposition, in correlation with modulation of the synthesis of gut microbiome. This literature review demonstrates a possible relationship between the metabolites of the microflora, the endotoxemia, obesity and Mets. The role of probiotics, prebiotics, and polyphe-nols in the prevention of obesity and Mets is of high importance in promoting healthy aging. The future challenge is to understand how different dietary patterns can regulate the composition of the gut microflora and whether these changes could be long-term.

Studies on the possible association between bacteria and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain inconclusive, largely due to methodological variations/limitations. The objective of this study was to characterize the species composition as well as functional attributes of the bacteriome associated with OSCC. DNA obtained from 20 fresh OSCC biopsies (cases) and 20 deep-epithelium swabs (matched control subjects) were sequenced for the V1-V3 region using Illumina’s 2x300 bp chemistry. High quality, non-chimeric merged reads were classified to species level using a prioritized BLASTN-algorithm. Downstream analyses were performed using QIIME, PICRUSt, and LEfSe. Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. polymorphum was the most significantly overrepresented species in the tumors followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Campylobacter sp. Oral taxon 44, while Streptococcus mitis, Rothia mucilaginosa and Haemophilus parainfluenzae were the most significantly abundant in the controls. Functionally, genes involved in bacterial mobility, flagellar assembly, bacterial chemotaxis and LPS synthesis were enriched in the tumors while those responsible for DNA repair and combination, purine metabolism, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, ribosome biogenesis and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis were significantly associated with the controls. This is the first epidemiological evidence for association of F. nucleatum and P. aeruginosa with OSCC. Functionally, an “inflammatory bacteriome” is enriched in OSSC.

Background/Objectives: Concurrent opioid (OPI) and benzodiazepine (BZD) use may exacerbate falls/fractures risk compared to no use or use alone. Yet, patients may need concurrent OPI-BZD use for co-occurring conditions (e.g., pain and anxiety). Therefore, we examined the association between longitudinal OPI-BZD dosing patterns and subsequent injurious falls risk. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study including non-cancer fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries initiating OPI and/or BZD in 2016-2018. We identified OPI-BZD use patterns during the 3 months following OPI and/or BZD initiation (i.e., trajectory period) using group-based multi-trajectory models. We estimated time to first injurious fall within 3 months post-trajectory period using inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighted Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Among 622,588 beneficiaries (age≥65=84.6%, female=58.1%, White=82.7%; having injurious falls=0.45%), we identified 13 distinct OPI-BZD trajectories: Group(A):Very-low OPI-only (early discontinuation)(44.9% of the cohort); (B):Low OPI-only (rapid decline)(15.1%); (C):Very-low OPI-only (late discontinuation)(7.7%); (D):Low OPI-only (gradual decline)(4.0%); (E):Moderate OPI-only (rapid decline)(2.3%); (F):Very-low BZD-only (late discontinuation)(11.5%); (G):Low BZD-only (rapid decline)(4.5%); (H):Low BZD-only (stable) (3.1%); (I):Moderate BZD-only (gradual decline)(2.1%); (J):Very-low OPI (rapid decline)/Very-low BZD (late discontinuation)(2.9%); (K):Very-low OPI (rapid decline)/Very-low BZD (increasing)(0.9%); (L):Very-low OPI (stable)/Low BZD (stable)(0.6%); and (M):Low OPI (gradual decline)/Low BZD (gradual decline)(0.6%). Compared with Group(A), 6 trajectories had increased 3-month injurious fall risks: (C): HR, 95%CI=1.78, 1.58-2.01; (D): 2.24, 1.93-2.59; (E): 2.60, 2.18-3.09; (H): 2.02, 1.70-2.40; (L): 2.73, 1.98-3.76; and (M): 1.96, 1.32-2.91. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that 3-month injurious fall risk varied across OPI-BZD trajectories, highlighting the importance of considering both dose and duration when assessing fall risks of OPI-BZD use among older adults.

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

Wheat is threatened by global warming. This study aimed to characterize based on DNA profile and identify heat-tolerant wheat genotypes. Fifteen wheat genotypes were sown in Nov 21 and Dec 21 and evaluated within 13 SSR markers. A dendrogram classified the genotypes into two main groups. The highest genetic distances (0.93) were drawn between BAW 1290 and BARI Gom 28, and the lowest one between Nadi 2 and BAW 1147. Heat susceptibility index (HSI) values for 1000-grain weight (TGW) and grain yield indicated moderate heat tolerance in Cluster I genotypes (HSI 0.50-1.00), closely matching Group A's Cluster II members. In Group B, Cluster III genotypes had higher HSI (1.04-1.23) and significant reductions in TGW and grain yield under heat stress, indicating heat susceptibility. The varieties BARI Gom 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 were identified as heat-stress tolerant. This research provides insights for future heat stress-molecular breeding programs.

Biodiversity loss and nature degradation are pressing issues with huge impacts on our society and economy. Businesses, investors, and regulators focus on corporate efforts to support biodiversity and nature positive actions. This review provides a comprehensive overview about the importance of biodiversity in businesses, the materiality of biodiversity and the role of mandatory and non-mandatory regulations on corporate environmental reporting and sustainability disclosure frameworks. The review also discusses descriptive information on the evolution of sustainability frameworks with a comparison of most prominent sustainability frameworks with a key focus on the materiality approach and biodiversity-related disclosure recommendations. Further, we provide suggestions for more holistic approaches to improve the future sustainability frameworks focusing on the biodiversity impact while showing the necessity of more focus on the decision-making paradigm. Further research on measuring biodiversity impact and innovative trends in sustainability reporting are required to better reflect nature-positive outcomes in corporate sector businesses.

(1) Background: Emotional resilience is defined as the capacity of individuals to cultivate positive emotions and effectively navigate through negative emotions in terms of stress or adversity. Recent research has focused on the significant impact of adolescents’ negative emotions, as opposed to positive emotions, on mental health. The examination of positive emotion provides a distinct viewpoint on the relationship between emotional resilience and mental health in adolescents. Consequently, the current research conducted two separate investigations to examine the impact of adolescent emotional resilience on mental health, as well as the mediating influence of positive emotion. (2) Methods: Study 1 comprised a cross-sectional analysis of 3086 Chinese adolescents, while Study 2 involved a longitudinal examination of 266 Chinese adolescents. (3) Results: Results indicated that emotional resilience was associated with enhanced levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and overall mental health, while also demonstrating a negative correlation with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Positive emotions were found to have a partial mediating effect on the relationship between emotional resilience and mental health. These results indicate that emotional resilience not only has a direct impact on mental health but also influences mental health indirectly through positive emotions. (4) Conclusions: The findings highlighted the role of emotional resilience in mitigating psychological problems and enhancing mental health in Chinese adolescents. The implications and limitations were discussed.

This work presents the results of optimizing the physicochemical properties of composite briquettes based on microsilica for metallurgical-grade silicon production. Microsilica, a waste product of silicon production, contains a sufficiently high amount of silicon dioxide (96-97%). This fact makes microsilica a promising composite material for metallurgical processing. However, its granulometric composition limits its direct use. The method of briquetting on an industrial briquetting press was used. The influence of the granulometric composition of the composite mixture on the heat tolerance and strength of the finished briquettes was studied. The methods of obtaining and testing the briquettes, their composition, and the briquetting and drying process are described. The obtained briquettes were tested for the smelting of metallurgical silicon. The silicon recovery rate in the metal with the standard charge was 71%, while the recovery rate with the briquetted monocharge was 85%. The results of silicon smelting from the briquettes demonstrated the high quality of the obtained metal, corresponding to the standards of metallurgical-grade silicon. The implementation of these technologies not only improves the quality of the final product but also addresses environmental issues related to the disposal of microsilica, reducing its accumulation and minimizing its impact on the environment.

Device to Device (D2D) is a pivotal technology in the next generation of communication, allowing for direct task offloading between mobile devices (MDs) to improve the efficient utilization of idle resources. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for dynamic task offloading between active MDs and idle MDs in the D2D-MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) system by deploying multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to minimize the long-term average delay of delay-sensitive tasks under deadline constraints. Our core innovation is a dynamic partitioning scheme for idle and active devices in the D2D-MEC system, accounting for stochastic task arrivals and multi-time-slot task execution, which has been insufficiently addressed in existing literature. We adopt a queue-based system to formulate a dynamic task offloading optimization problem. To address the challenges of large action space and coupling of actions across time slots, we model the problem as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and perform the multi-agent DRL through Multi-Agent Proximal Policy Optimization (MAPPO). We employ a centralized training with decentralized execution (CTDE) framework to enable each MD to make offloading decisions solely based on its local system state. Extensive simulations demonstrate the efficiency and fast convergence of our algorithm. In comparison with the existing sub-optimal results deploying single-agent DRL, our algorithm reduces the average task completion delay by 11.0% and the ratio of dropped tasks by 17.0%.

Multimodal remote sensing data classification can enhance the model’s ability to distinguish land features through multimodal data fusion. In this context, how to help models understand the relationship between multimodal data and target tasks is the focus of researchers. Inspired by human feedback learning mechanisms, causal reasoning mechanisms, and knowledge induction mechanisms, this paper integrates causal learning, reinforcement learning, and meta learning into a unified remote sensing data classification framework and proposed the causal meta-reinforcement learning (CMRL). First, based on feedback learning mechanisms, we have overcome the limitations of traditional implicit optimization of fusion features and customized a reinforcement learning environment for multimodal remote sensing data classification tasks. Through feedback interactive learning between agents and the environment, we help them understand the complex relationships between multimodal data and labels, thereby achieving full mining of multimodal complementary information. Second, based on the causal inference mechanism we designed causal distribution prediction action, classification reward, and causal intervention reward, capturing pure causal factors in multimodal data and cutting off false statistical associations between non-causal factors and class labels. Finally, based on the knowledge induction mechanism, we designed a bi-layer optimization mechanism based on meta-learning. By constructing a meta training task and meta validation task simulation model in the generalization scenario of unseen data, we helped the model induce cross-task shared knowledge, thereby improving its generalization ability for unseen multimodal data. The experimental results on multiple sets of multimodal datasets show that the proposed method achieved state-of-the-art performance in multimodal remote sensing data classification tasks.