We propose a deep learning algorithm that directly compensates for luminance degradation owing to the deterioration of organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices to address the burn-in phenomenon of OLED displays. Conventional compensation circuits are encumbered by a high cost of development and manufacturing processes owing to their complexity. However, given that deep learning algorithms are typically mounted on a system on chip (SoC), the complexity of the circuit design is reduced, and the circuit can be reused by re-learning only the changed characteristics of the new pixel device. The proposed approach comprises deep feature generation and multi-stream self-attention, which decipher the importance of the variables, and the correlation between burn-in-related variables. It also utilizes a deep neural network that identifies the nonlinear relationship between the extracted features and luminance degradation. Thereafter, the luminance degradation is estimated from the burn-in-related variables, and the burn-in phenomenon can be addressed by compensating for the luminance degradation. The experimental results revealed that compensation was successfully achieved within an error range of 4.56%, and demonstrate the potential of a new approach that can mitigate the burn-in phenomenon by directly compensating for pixel-level luminance deviation.

In the present work report, the MgAl₂O₄and the Ag/MgAl₂O₄ samples were successfully synthesized by the modified hydrothermal and the isovolumetric impregnation methods, respectively. The structural properties of the prepared samples were systematically characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, DRS, XPS and et al techniques. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by the Ag/MgAl₂O₄ and MgAl₂O₄ samples was comparatively studied under UV lamp irradiation. The results revealed that the prepared Ag/MgAl₂O₄ (pH=6) samples were the most active among the samples in photocatalytic of methylene blue. Under UV lamp irradiation, the Ag/MgAl₂O₄ (pH=6) photodegradation of methylene blue reached to 89.6% within 120 min. And the Ag/MgAl₂O₄ (pH=6) complex photocatalysts displayed a high photochemical stability under repeated irradiation. Repeated irradiate the Ag/MgAl₂O₄ (pH=6) compound, which indicated it had a high photochemical stability.

Video segmentation is crucial in a variety of practical applications especially in computer visions. Most of recent works in video segmentation are focusing on Deep learning based video segmentation, there are rooms for improvement in respect of the evolutionary algorithms. This paper aims to propose the novel method to video segmentation by using the optimization of segmentation parameters based on ensemble-based random forest and gradient boosting decision tree. The experimental results show Pareto front of segmentation parameters (hue, brightness, luminance, and saturation). Our optimization model yields accuracy: 85% +/-8.85 % (micro average: 85.00 %), average class precision: 84.88%, and average class recall: 85%. We also show the video segmentation results based on our optimization method and compare our results with Kinect-based video segmentation.

Nanocomposites of TiO₂ Degussa P25 nanoparticles/activated carbon (TiO₂/AC ) were prepared at various mass ratios of (4:1), (3:2), (2:3), and (1:4) by a facile process. The effects of TiO₂/AC mass ratios on the structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties were systematically studied in comparison with bare TiO₂ and bare AC. TiO₂ nanoparticles exhibited dominant anatase and minor rutile phases, and a crystallite size of approximately 21 nm; while AC had XRD peaks of graphite and carbon, and a crystallite size of 49 nm. The composites exhibited tight decoration of TiO₂ nanoparticles on micron-/submicron AC particles, and uniform TiO₂/AC composites were obtained as evidenced by the uniform distribution of Ti, O, and C in an EDS mapping. Moreover, Raman spectra show the typical vibration modes of anatase TiO₂ (e.g., E_1g⁽¹⁾, B_1g⁽¹⁾, E_g⁽³⁾) and carbon materials with D and G bands. The TiO₂/AC with (4:1), (3:2), and (2:3) possessed higher reaction rate constants (k) in photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) than that of either TiO₂ or AC. Among the investigated materials, TiO₂/AC = 4:1 achieved the highest photocatalytic activity with a high k of 55.2×10^-3 min^-1 and an MB removal efficiency of 96.6% after 30 min treatment under UV-Vis irradiation (120 mW/cm²). The enhanced photocatalytic activity for TiO₂/AC is due to the synergistic effect of the high adsorption capability of AC and the high photocatalytic activity of TiO₂. Furthermore, TiO₂/AC promotes the separation of photoexcited electron/hole (e^-/h⁺) pairs to reduce their recombination rate and thus enhance photocatalytic activity. The optimal TiO₂/AC composite in this study can be used for treating industrial or household wastewater with organic pollutants.

Saikosaponin (SS) a is a compound with various pharmacological properties and easily degraded into SSb1 and SSg in acid condition. In present work another two new degradation products of SSa formed under acid hydrolytic condition were detected and isolated by analytical and semi-preparative liquid chromatography technology, furthermore their structures were characterized as hydroxyl-saikosaponin a and SSb2 by spectral analysis, which is not only essential in stability-indicating method development and validation but also could be used as a worst case to assess the analytical method performance of SSa. Moreover their structural transformation pathways were also proposed.

Healthcare professionals constantly face situations that reflect ecosystems’ degradation. These can negatively affect their mental health. Research suggests that hope and resilience can play an important role in this scenario, since they are related to/predict mental health in highly heterogeneous samples (considering geography, age, profession, health, etc.). In this context, the aims of the present study are: to characterize and explore the relationship between hope, resilient coping and mental health of Portuguese healthcare professionals. Using Google Forms, 276 healthcare professionals answered to the GHQ-28, the (adult) Trait Hope Scale, and the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (cross-sectional study). The minimum and maximum possible scores were reached, with the exception of the maximum score of GHQ-28-Total. Regarding Hope, 19.6% scored below the midpoint (M=43.46, SD=11.97); 29.3% revealed low resilience (M=14.93, SD=4.05); and the average of 4 of the 5 Mental Health scores (exception: Severe Depression) indicates the probability of a psychiatric case. Hope correlated with Social Dysfunction and GHQ-28-Total; resilient coping proved to be a (weak) predictor of 4 of the 5 GHQ-28 indicators (exception: Severe depression). The results support the need to promote the sample's mental health, hope and resilient coping. They also suggest that stimulating resilient coping may contribute to improving healthcare professionals’ mental health.

The European Union's recent decision to renew the authorization for the use of glyphosate until 15 December 2033 stimulates the scientific discussion all around the world regarding its toxicity or otherwise for humans. Glyphosate is a chemical used by millions of tons in the last 50 years worldwide to drying weeds in cultivated fields, greenhouses, roadsides. Concern has been raised in many quarters about the possible presence in the food chain and the consequent adverse effects on health: both aspects that argue in favor of toxicity and those that instead may indicate limited toxicity of glyphosate are here discussed. The great debate that has been generated requires further investigations and field measurements to understand its fate once dispersed in the environment and its concentration in the food chain. Hence the need for validated analytical methods that are available to analysts in the field. In the present review, methods for the analytical determination of glyphosate and its main metabolite, AMPA, are discussed, with a specific focus on chromatographic techniques applied to cereal products. The experimental procedures are explained in any detail, including cleanup, derivatization, and instrumental conditions to give the laboratories involved enough information to proceed with the implementation of this line of analysis. The prevalent chromatographic methods used are LC-MS/MS, GC-MS/SIM, and GC-MS/MS but sufficient indications are also given to those laboratories that wish to use the simpler HPLC-FLD, HPLC-UV, GC-NPD or GC-FPD techniques for screening purposes. Concentrations from literature measured in wheat, corn, barley, rye, oats, soybean, and cereal-based foods are reported together with the regulatory status in various parts of the world and the accumulation mechanism. As for the accumulation in cereals, available data show that glyphosate tends to accumulate more in wholemeal flours than in refined ones, that its concentration in the product strictly depends on the treatment period (the closer it is to the time of harvesting, the higher the concentration) and that in cold climates the herbicide tends to persist in the soil for a long time.

Underwater image often exhibit detail blurring and color distortion due to light scattering, impurities, and other influences, obscuring essential textures and details. This presents a challenge for existing super-resolution techniques in identifying and extracting effective features, making high-quality reconstruction difficult. This research aims to innovate underwater image super-resolution technology to tackle this challenge. Initially, an underwater image degradation model was created by integrating random subsampling, Gaussian blur, mixed noise, and suspended particle simulation to generate a highly realistic synthetic dataset, thereby training the network to adapt to various degradation factors. Subsequently, to enhance the network's capability to extract key features, improvements were made based on the symmetrically structured Blind Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (BSRGAN) model architecture. An attention mechanism based on energy functions was introduced within the generator to assess the importance of each pixel, and a weighted fusion strategy of adversarial loss, reconstruction loss, and perceptual loss was utilized to improve the quality of image reconstruction. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved significant improvements in Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Underwater Image Quality Measure (UIQM) by 0.85 dB and 0.19, respectively, significantly enhancing the visual perception quality and indicating its feasibility in super-resolution applications.

Although various atmospheric corrosion simulation models have been developed that give good results, industrial environments are still challenging. This paper aims to investigate the effect industrial atmospheres in Bor on the mechanical properties of structural steel S235JR and to create a constitutive model and also laboratory experimental conditions that will give the best results as an accelerated corrosion test. Atmospheric corrosion tests lasted six months, using sites close to the Electrolytic Refining Plant and Sulphuric Acid Plant, as well as air quality monitoring stations at a remote location in the city of Bor. The laboratory experiments included a salt chamber test lasting 120 h and 240 h and immersing the specimen in the electrolyte from the Electrolytic Refining Plant for 30 days. The results were compared with the standard specimens stored in the laboratory. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) method was used to identify the composition of corrosion products. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was applied to analyze the fracture surfaces of the specimens. The use of the Complete Gurson Model (CGM) described the tensile characteristics of the corroded specimens. The study has shown that an enhanced acceleration model and conditions could be developed using numerical analysis of the test results.

This review resumes published data on fungal diversity in and within monuments (e.g., religious and secular monuments, museums, and statues), covering a multidisciplinary investigation into the complex interactions between fungi and cultural heritage structures. Fungi represent remarkable adversaries to monuments, potentially compromising their structural integrity and aesthetic value. Based on a bibliographic search of manuscripts published, the knowledge of fungal communities colonizing monuments was comprehensively assessed. This work first describes the diverse fungal species implicated in the degradation of monument materials (e.g., stone, metal, and glass). It elucidates the factors governing fungal colonization and proliferation in and within these structures (e.g., environmental conditions, construction materials, and human interventions). Finally, the efficacy of preservation and restoration techniques to mitigate fungal threats and safeguard our cultural heritage is also discussed. This synthesis highlights the pivotal role of mycological research in heritage conservation, and a platform for future studies to address critical knowledge gaps is provided. Understanding fungal diversity in and within monuments is critical to preserving these invaluable cultural treasures, as it informs targeted conservation strategies and ensures their longevity in the face of fungal challenges.

(1) Background: Although diagnostic criteria for massive hemorrhage with organ dysfunction such as disseminated intravascular coagulation associated with delivery have been empirically established based on clinical findings, strict logic has yet to be used to establish numerical criteria. (2) Methods: A dataset of 107 deliveries with ≥2,000 g of blood loss, among 13,368 deliveries from nine national perinatal centers in Japan between 2020 and 2023 was obtained. Twenty-three patients had fibrinogen levels <170 mg/dl, which is the initiation of coagulation system failure per our previous reports. Three of these patients had hematuria. We used six machine learning methods to identify the borderline criteria dividing the fibrinogen/fibrin/fibrinogen degradation product (FDP) planes, using 15 coagulation fibrinolytic factors. (3) Results: The boundaries of hematuria development on a two-dimensional plane of fibrinogen and FDP were obtained. If the FDP–fibrinogen/3–60 (mg/dl) value is positive, this indicates hematuria; otherwise, the case is non-hematuria, as demonstrated by the support vector machine method that seemed the most appropriate. (4) Conclusions: The borderline criterion dividing the fibrinogen/FDP plane for patients with hematuria that could be considered organ dysfunction in massive hemorrhage during delivery was obtained using artificial intelligence, and this method seemed to be useful.

Climate warming is expected to have pronounced effects on Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems, especially regions underlain by discontinuous and relatively warm permafrost. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the vulnerability and dynamics of permafrost under climate warming across the various ecotypes in respect of ecosystem stability, socioeconomic impact, and for better understanding possible future environmental changes. We suggested the new version of the spatially distributed permafrost dynamics model (GIPL2-MPI), which is developed in the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks. This model is based on the ecosystem approach to simulate the permafrost dynamics, which we are discussing in this paper. We combined ground-based observations and numerical freeze/thaw modeling using climate-ecosystem-permafrost interactions to understand the physical processes and mechanisms controlling permafrost physical state. We predict the changes in permafrost conditions using output from two GCMs (NCAR-CCSM4 and GFDL-CM3) and Five-Model Average Ensemble for the RCP-4.5 and RCP-8.5 scaled down to 1 by 1 km spatial resolution (https://uaf-snap.org/) across entire Alaska. Our result shows that by the end of the current century widespread near-surface permafrost degradation could begin everywhere in Alaska southward of the Brooks Range as well as across some spots at the North Slope Alaska.

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) can use food by-products or residues as a growth substrate, and their use is considered a strategic solution to improve the sustainability and efficiency of animal production. BSFL need to be reared under controlled environmental conditions, as temperature can affect the welfare of the larvae and the efficiency of their bioconversion. The goal of this experiment was to test different diets: control, vegetable, carnivorous, omnivorous and to assess their effect on larval growth performance, chemical composition, and substrate temperature. BSFL (6-days-old) were randomly selected and allocated to one of the four diets for the entire experiment (8 days). The temperature in each container was measured twice daily using a thermal imaging camera. The vegetable diet led to significantly lower growth performance (p

Pharmaceutically active compounds and organic pollutants are becoming a major environmental dispute possessing serious threat to the water bodies and terrestrial ecosystem. Microorganisms are capable of the self-purification process, and hence the microbial degradation is considered a lucrative method to counteract the therapeutic and recalcitrant pollutants. Pharmaceutical toxicants in aquatic system can be treated by conventional wastewater treatment, but slow sludge settling, presence of mixture of pharmaceuticals and recalcitrant compounds often pose a potential ecological risk. Some microbial strains are very effective in reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and turbidity in pharmaceutical industrial wastewater treatment. The natural microbial community has a significant role in the ecological processes of pharmaceutical and organic compounds, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics, blood lipid regulators and other micropollutants. Specific bacterial isolates can act as biodegraders, and fungal treatment could offer protection to the ecosystem. These microorganisms use the pollutants as their sole carbon source and transform the contaminants by co-metabolic pathways. Natural attenuation by native microorganisms, biostimulation and bioaugmentation are the processes employed to degrade the target contaminant. Microorganisms may also be genetically engineered to improve the neutralization efficiency, which would assist in the mineralization of the pollutants. Thus, employing microorganisms to detoxify the pollutants probably enhances the sustainable potential biodegradability, improves water quality standards and ensures eco-friendly alternative bioremediation strategy.

Modern concepts in irreversible thermodynamics are applied to system transformation and degradation analyses. Phenomenological entropy generation (PEG) theorem is combined with the Degradation-Entropy Generation (DEG) theorem for instantaneous multi-disciplinary, multi-scale, multi-component system characterization. A Transformation-Phenomenological Entropy Generation (TPEG) theorem and space materialize with system and process defining elements and dimensions. The near-100% accurate, consistent results and features in recent publications demonstrating and applying the new TPEG methods to frictional wear, grease aging, electrochemical power systems cycling—including lithium-ion battery thermal runaway—metal fatigue loading and pump flow, are collated herein, demonstrating the practicality of the new and universal PEG theorem, and the predictive power of models that combine and utilize the PEG and DEG theorems. The methodology is useful for design, analysis, prognostics, diagnostics, maintenance and optimization.

Water pollution is the main problem in the current scenario which is being faced by mankind due to the industrial and commercial effects. Industrial effluents contain heavy metals and inorganic ions like nitrates and phosphate ions. These ions are being included in waterways through industrial runoff. When the concentration of these hazardous pollutants increases in aquatic flora and fauna causes severe health problems. So remediation of these toxicants from water reserves is of chief importance. Conventional processes along with modern processes are being used for the treatment of industrial wastes. Photo-degradation is a modern method used for the degradation of inorganic ions due to its environmentally friendly nature and cost-effectiveness. In a recent study Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized via a green approach at different pH by using Cymbopogan citratus (lemongrass) plant extract and these nanoparticles were used for the removal of inorganic ions from wastewater. The nanoparticles of different pH showed different % degradation of the inorganic ions in acidic medium removal of inorganic waste was less, in basic media % degradation was more as compared to acidic media but maximum % degradation was observed in neutral media like that average % degradation 91% and 81% was observed for nitrate and phosphate ions. The maximum absorbance occurred at 212nm and Al2O3 nanoparticles showed absorbance from 210nm-217nm. The R2 values of pseudo1st, 2nd, and BMG models were 0.956, 0.837, 0.7007 0.95, 0.896, and 0.756 for the nitrate and phosphate ions. Characterizations of synthesized particles were investigated by using UV-visible spectroscopy and other analytical methods like X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The statistical analyses were done using Simple Linear regression (SLR).

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

Mirrors are a subset of optical components essential for the success of current and future space missions. Most of the telescopes for space programs ranging from Earth Observation to Astrophysics and covering the whole electromagnetic spectrum from X-rays to Far-Infrared are based on reflective optics. Mirrors operate in diverse and harsh environments that range from Low-Earth Orbit, to interplanetary orbits and the deep space. The operational life of space observatories spans from minutes (sounding rockets) to decades (large observatories), and the performance of the mirrors within the mission lifetime is susceptible to degrade, which results in a drop of the instrument throughput, which in turn affects the scientific return. Therefore, the knowledge of potential degradation mechanisms, how they affect mirror performance, and how to prevent them is of paramount importance to ensure the long-term success of space telescopes. In this review we report an overview on current mirror technology for space missions with a focus on the importance of degradation and radiation resistance of the coating materials. A special attention will be given to degradation effects on mirrors for the far and extreme UV as in these ranges the degradation is enhanced by the strong absorption of most contaminants.

Zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs) open new opportunities for biomedical applications as a strategy against microbes and dye removal in an efficient way. The composite ZnNPs using Rhododendron arboreum (R. arboreum) stem bark were synthesized and characterized for UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The synthesized nanoparticles showed zones of inhibition of 23±0.09, 18±0.1 and 16±0.05 mm, against the Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values against K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, and E. coli were found to be 34±0.21 and 72.71±0.47, 47±0.11 and 94.86±0.84 and 94±0.18 and 185.43±0.16 µg/mL, respectively. The biosynthesized ZnNPs resulted in significant eradication of the outer and inner membranes of the bacterial cells. Likewise, the synthesized ZnNPs showed time-dependent photocatalytic degradation activity and revealed 65% methyl orange dye degradation with an irradiation period of 6 hours. The findings of this study suggest the suitability of the novel R. arboreum stem bark-based ZnNPs as an effective ameliorant against bactericidal activities and photocatalysts for the removal of hazardous water contaminants.

This study presents a preliminary analysis of the chemical and thermal fuel properties of Afuze (AFZ) coal extracted from coalfields in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The chemical properties of AFZ were examined by combined scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), whereas the thermal properties were deduced by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under flash (50 °C/min heating rate) oxidative (combustion) and non-oxidative (pyrolysis) conditions. The microstructure and morphology analysis of AFZ revealed has a compact structure comprising small-to-large, irregular shaped and exfoliated grains with a vitreous appearance typically ascribed to metal elements (Ti and Fe) kaolinite, quartz, and other clay minerals. Chemical analysis revealed carbon, oxygen, aluminium, silicon, sulphur, calcium, titanium, and iron in major and minor (trace) quantities. Thermal analysis under oxidative and non-oxidative conditions revealed degradation occurs in three stages, namely; drying or demineralisation, devolatilization or maceral degradation and the formation of char/coke or ash. Lastly, the findings showed that the temperature range for the oxidative thermal degradation process (338.58 - 756.76 °C) was higher than the non-oxidative process (378.43 - 615.34 °C). This observation can be explained by the exothermic nature of the oxidative (combustion) process, which ensures greater heat supply required to thermally soften or degrade the maceral coal components. Overall, the oxidative process yielded the residual mass (RM = 21.97%) and mass loss (ML = 78.03%). The lower ML (49.03%) but higher RM (50.97%) observed during non-oxidative degradation of AFZ could be ascribed to the largely endothermic nature of the process.

The photocatalytic degradation of two quinolone-type antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin) in aqueous solution was studied, using catalysts based on ZnO nanoparticles, which were synthesized by a thermal procedure. The efficiency of ZnO was subsequently optimized by incorporating different co-catalysts of gC3N4, reduced graphene oxide and nanoparticles of gold. The catalysts were fully characterized by electron microscopy (TEM and SEM), XPS, XRD, Raman, and BET surface area. The most efficient catalyst was 10%Au@ZnONPs-3%rGO-3%gC3N4, allowing to obtain degradations of both pollutants above 96%. This catalyst has the largest specific area, and its activity has been related to a synergistic effect, involving factors as relevant as the surface of the material and the ability to absorb radiation in the visible region, mainly produced by the incorporation of rGO and gC3N4 to the semiconductor. The use of different scavengers during the catalytic process, was used to establish the possible photodegradation mechanism of both antibiotics.

As a widely used plastic, the aging and degradation of polyethylene (PE) are inevitable problems, whether the goal is to prolong the life of PE products or address the issue of white pollution. Molecular simulation is a vital scientific tool in elucidating the mechanisms and processes of chemical reactions. To obtain the distribution and evolution process of PE's thermal oxidation products, this work employs the self-consistent charge density functional tight binding (SCC-DFTB) method to perform molecular simulations of the thermal oxidation of PE with different crystallinity and branched structures. We discovered that crystallinity does not affect the thermal oxidation mechanism of PE, but higher crystallinity makes PE more susceptible to cross-linking and carbon chain growth, reducing the degree of PE carbon chain breakage. The branched structure of PE results in differences in pore size between the carbon chains, with larger pores leading to a concentrated distribution of O2 and free radicals subsequently formed. The breakdown of PE is slowed down when free radicals are localized in low-density regions of the carbon chain. The specifics and mechanism of PE's thermal oxidation are clearly revealed in this paper, which is essential for understanding the process in-depth and for the development of anti-aging PE products.

Autophagy is a cellular mechanism that utilizes lysosomes to degrade its own components and is performed using Atg5 and other molecules originating from the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. On the other hand, we identified an alternative type of autophagy, namely, Golgi membrane-associated degradation (GOMED), which also utilizes lysosomes to degrade its own components, but does not use Atg5 originating from the Golgi membranes. The GOMED pathway involves Ulk1, Wipi3, Rab9 and other molecules, and plays crucial roles in a wide range of biological phenomena, such as the regulation of insulin secretion and neuronal maintenance. We here describe the overview of GOMED, the methods to detect autophagy and GOMED, and to distinguish GOMED from autophagy.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) represents an important co-monomer for obtaining polycarbonate, epoxy resins, flame retardants, in paint, and other chemicals products. Products containing BPA are widely used, and thus, we can find it in the environment: in the air, in the soil, in natural surface water and in sediments, underground water in landfills, and in wastewater. BPA disturbs human and animals’ health. This influences the enzymatic, androgenic, neurological, liver and reproductive systems at different stages of human life: like in fetal stage, children and adults’ stages. Taking these inconveniences into account, it is very important to remove BPA from water. Ultrasonic technology can be considered a verry sustainable and efficient method to remove BPA from water. The advantages of this method is easy to implement on existing water treatment and purification facilities, it does not produce residual compounds that produce sludge, the time required for degradation is of the order of 1-2 hours and the level of degradation is very high. In this work, we presented the studies on the efficiency of ultrasonics under air atmosphere on the degradation of BPA. The influence of the frequency and of some additional compounds such as carbon tetrachloride, FeSO4 7H2O (FS), and ethyl anthraquinone (EAC) was studied. Three different frequencies were used: 1146 KHz, 864 KHz, 580 KHz, at a power of 50 W. It was identified the efficiency of BPA degradation over a period of 60 minutes, with sampling every 15 minutes. Using the LC-MS/MS technique, the degradation compounds were identified that result from the application of ultrasound processes. Pathways of BPA degradation were also proposed.

The 2022-2023 Chilean summer showed increased temperatures and similar burned area, compared to the 2016-2017 season, where more than 500,000 hectares were compromised, mainly in the rural areas. After a brief review, it is revealed that the effects of forest fires on soil and hydrological properties are barely debated in Chile. Here, we showed a climatological analysis where temperature records in the 2016-2017 season were unusual, as well as another unexpected increase in the summer of 2022-2023, resulting in high-severity fires known as ‘mega-fires’ or “storm-fires”. Mega-fires affect forest plantations and native forests mainly from 33º S (Maule Region) to 39º S (Los Ríos Region) and they are expected to become frequent due to climate change, moving from the north to the south. We present an overview of the influence of wildfires on soil components in the most affected areas (inland, Coastal, and Andes ranges), their hydrological impacts, and potential erosion risk due to high winter precipitation. We propose several management practices that could help to prevent or mitigate these events, including pre-and post-fire interventions, such as afforestation and seeding, selective logging, mulching, erosion barriers, soil preparation, and dam monitoring. We argue that any effective plan in fire-prone and affected areas should include a combination of actions taken at the hillslope scale at integral ecosystem management, whose effectiveness should be monitored and verified regionally at the watershed scale.

Two once-through steam generators and a combination of a steam generator and a gas preheater for supplying feed gases to solid-oxide electrolysis stacks were evaluated for their carryover characteristics of contaminants from the feed-water into the steam phase. The concentrations of various trace impurities in the steam were determined by sampling the steam condensates and screening them with inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry for 19 elements and liquid ion chromatography and continuous flow analysis for chloride and ammonium. Steam soluble species like boric acid undergo complete volatilization and transfer into the steam phase. During unstable evaporation in the steam generators an extensive physical carryover of alloying metal species was observed. At realistic operation conditions for steam electrolysis, the gas preheater caused a considerable release of silicon into the steam phase. Two stack experiments were performed with common preheater temperatures and showed largely increased cell voltage degradation at higher operation temperatures. The post-test chemical analysis of cell samples revealed significant concentrations of silicon in the samples that are regarded as primary cause for increased degradation. These findings could partially explain the wide spread of degradation rates reported for solid-oxide steam electrolysis experiments.

Land degradation monitoring and assessment in the Sahel zone has relied substantially on temporal trends of remote sensing-based vegetation indices, which are proxies for the bioproductivity of the land. However, prior studies have shown that negative or positive trends in bioproductivity are not necessarily associated with degradation or improvement of land condition. In this short communication, while acknowledging the contributions of remote sensing-based indices and global-scale datasets to dismantling an outdated desertification narrative, we argue that local land users have much to contribute to our understanding of land degradation, and particularly to ensuring that scientific assessments of degradation capture variables relevant to them. We used the participatory photo elicitation method in three sites in the Senegalese Ferlo in order to elicit local pastoralists’ perspectives on land degradation and identify the indicators that they use to characterize pasture quality, while empowering them to lead the discussion. The discussion revealed indicators far beyond bioproductivity, including livestock performance as well as composition and quality of the herbaceous and woody vegetative cover, invasive species, soil quality and water availability. We found that the pastoralists’ knowledge and interest in the issue could potentially be harnessed more systematically, and at larger scales, in order to build a spatially explicit field-based knowledge base of land degradation complementary to remote sensing-based maps of trends in bioproductivity. Such a dataset could serve as a standalone product or as a reference dataset for development and validation of remote sensing-based indicators.

Sub-micron o/w emulsions coated with chitosan have been used for drug delivery, quorum sensing inhibition and vaccine development. To study interactions with biological systems, nanocapsules have been fluorescently labelled in previous works, but it is often difficult to distinguish the released label from intact nanocapsules. In this study, we present advanced labelling strategies based on FRET measurements for chitosan-coated nanocapsules and investigate their dissolution and degradation. We used FRET measurements of nanocapsules loaded with equimolar concentrations of two fluorescent dyes in their oily core and correlated them with DLS count rate measurement and absorbance measurements during their disintegration by dissolution. Using count rate measurements, we also investigated the enzymatic degradation of nanocapsules using pancreatin and how protein corona formation influences their degradation. Of note, nanocapsules dissolved in ethanol, where FRET decreased simultaneously with count rate, and absorbance caused by nanocapsule turbidity, indicating increased distance between dye molecules after their release. Nanocapsules were degradable by pancreatin in a dose dependent manner, and showed a delayed enzymatic degradation after protein corona formation. We present here novel labelling strategies for nanocapsules that allow us to judge their status and an in vitro method to study nanocapsule degradation and the influence of surface characteristics.

In "genome editing," a type of genetic engineering, DNA is added, taken away, or changed in an organism's genome. Biomedicine, biotechnology, and synthetic biology, just to name a few, have all gained a lot from how often this method is used. Before the editing process can start, a Double-Strand Breaks (DSB) must be made in the DNA at a specific gene. Researchers have made nucleases, which are sometimes called "molecular scissors," to fix this DSB. Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), and homing endonucleases are all examples of protein targets that have been studied and changed. The last part gave an overview of these study projects and explained how to make Cas12a for specific uses. The applications of Cas12a have been extensively studied in recent years, but the protein still holds a lot of promise as a treatment and screening tool. In order to give a quick review of CRISPR-Cas12a and its uses, we will briefly talk about the structure and function of the different parts of the reaction pathway that lead up to the catalysis of the target DNA. Cas12a uses a multistep process to make sure that it is selecting the right DNA. This is a good trait for a device that changes the DNA because it makes it less likely that something bad will happen. Even though data shows that a new CRISPR RNAs (crRNA) molecule can stop Cas12a from randomly destroying ssDNA, it may still hurt the host cell while trying to change the genome. The action of Cas12a catalysis, which is a powerful tool for changing the genome, needs to be changed so that it can be more easily controlled and managed. Using what we know about how Cas12a works, we have made mutants that are less active on ssDNA and more active on dsDNA. So far, only Cas9 and Cas12a, which are both part of the CRISPR family, have been used to change the genome. Because of how similar and different these two endonucleases are, CRISPR can now be used for multiple scientific purposes. Cas12a is better than Cas9 because it makes double-strand breaks (DSBs) that favor Homology-Directed Repair (HDR) over Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and can change more than one copy of the genome at the same time. Both Cas9 and Cas12a are being changed to make them better at detecting Protospacer Adjacent Motif (PAM) than they are in their natural state. This will make it possible to start focusing on more genes.

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are distributed and transferred among the four major environmental compartments (air, water, soil, and biota) and have been already found in humans, making crucial to develop remediation technologies to tackle this kind pollution. Photocatalysis can be used to eliminate MPs present in contaminated wastewater effluents before their discharge into waterbodies. In this work, several green TiO2-based semiconductors were prepared using the extrapallial fluid (EPF) of Mytilus edulis sea water mussels as doping precursor. The semiconductors were then used as films or powders to photocatalytically degrade polystyrene (PS) NPs and MPs and polyethylene (PE) MPs. It was found that the obtention of green TiO2-based semiconductors with good characteristics for photocatalytic purposes (anatase crystalline phase, presence of porosity, activity in visible light and high surface area) seems not enough to achieve high degradation efficiency. The operational conditions of the reaction system should be also taken into account. For instance, the convenience of using semiconductors in the form of films can be overcome by their limited exposed surface area or the null adsorption of the semiconductor in the MPs particles. Additionally, crystallinity of the semiconductor can be a more determinant factor to take into account when performing photocatalysis of MPs.

Copper-based nanoparticles were synthesized using the glycine–nitrate process (GNP) by using copper nitrate trihydrate [Cu(NO₃)₂‧3H₂O] as the main starting material and glycine [C₂H₅NO₂] as the complexing and incendiary agent. The as-prepared powders were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Using Cu(NO₃)₂.3H₂O as the oxidizer (N) and glycine as fuel (G), we obtained CuO, mixed-valence copper oxides (CuO + Cu₂O, G/N = 0.3–0.5), and metallic Cu (G/N = 0.7). The XRD and BET results indicated that increasing the glycine concentration (G/N = 0.7) and reducing particle surface area increased the yield of metallic Cu. The effects of varying reaction parameters such as catalyst activity, catalyst dose, and H₂O₂ concentration on nonylphenol-9-polyethoxylate (NP9EO) degradation were assessed. With a copper‐based catalyst in a heterogeneous system, the NP9EO and total organic carbon removal efficiencies were 83.1% and 70.6%, respectively, under optimum operating conditions (pH, 6.0; catalyst dose, 0.3 g/L; H₂O₂ concentration, 0.05 mM). The results suggested that removal efficiency increased with an increase in H₂O₂ concentration but decreased when the H₂O₂ concentration exceeded 0.0.5 mM. Furthermore, the trend of photocatalytic activity was as follows: G/N = 0.5 > G/N = 0.7 > G/N = 0.3. The G/N = 0.5 catalysts showed the highest photocatalytic activity and resulted in 94.6% NP9EO degradation in 600 min.

Butyl rubber-based composite (BRC) is one of the most popular materials for the fabrication of protective glove against chemical and mechanical risks. However, in many working places such as metal manufacturing or automotive mechanical services, its mechanical hazards usually appear together with metalworking fluids (MWFs). The presence of these contaminants, particularly at high temperature, could modify its properties due to the scission, the plasticization, the crosslinking of polymer network and thus led to severe modification of mechanical and physicochemical properties of material. This work aims to determine the effect of temperature and a metalworking fluid on mechanical behavior of butyl rubber composite dealing with crosslinking density, cohesion forces and elastic constant of BRC on the based on Mooney-Rivlin’s theory. The effect of temperature with and without MWFs on thermo dynamical properties and morphology of butyl membranes is also investigated. The prediction of service lifetime is then evaluated from extrapolation of Arrhenius plot at different temperatures.

Enzymatic degradation of organic pollutants is a new and promising remediation approach. Peroxidases are one of the most commonly used classes of enzymes to degrade organic pollutants. However, it is generally assumed that all peroxidases behave similarly and produce similar degradation products. In this study, we conducted detailed studies of the degradation of a model aromatic pollutant, Sulforhodamine B dye (SRB dye), using two peroxidases—soybean peroxidase (SBP) and chloroperoxidase (CPO). Our results show that these two related enzymes had different optimum conditions (pH, temperature, H₂O₂ concentration...etc.) for efficiently degrading SRB dye. High-performance liquid chromatography and LC-mass spectrometry analyses confirmed that both SBP and CPO transformed the SRB dye into low molecular weight intermediates. While most of the intermediates produced by the two enzymes were the same, the CPO treatment produced at least one different intermediate. Furthermore, toxicological evaluation using lettuce (Lactuca sativa) seeds demonstrated that the SBP-based treatment was able to eliminate the phytotoxicity of SRB dye, but the CPO-based treatment did not. Our results show, for the first time, that while both of these related enzymes can be used to efficiently degrade organic pollutants, they have different optimum reaction conditions and may not be equally efficient in detoxification of organic pollutants.

Experimental studies of degradation of two ribonucleosides (guanosine and uridine) were carried out by making use of mechanochemistry. Mechanochemical experiments reveal the decomposition of guanosine and uridine promoted by nickel(II) and carbonate ions into guanine and uracil, respectively which were identified by HPLC and 1H NMR spectroscopy (this applied only to uracil). Additionally, DFT methodologies were used to probe the energetic viability of several degradation pathways, including in the presence of the same ions. Three mechanisms were analysed via ribose ring-opening: dry, single molecule water- and metal-assisted, which confirmed the mechanochemical degradation of ribonucleosides, with nucleobase preservation. These results can be applied to interpret the organic content of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial samples after mechanochemical treatment.

The manuscript presents the comprehensive integrative theory of the etiology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease - the amyloid degradation toxicity hypothesis - and describes the logic that underlies it.The analysis of amyloid biomarkers and stable-isotope label kinetics (SILK) studies suggest that AD diagnosis is associated with higher cellular uptake of beta-amyloid. Uptake of beta-amyloid by cells is needed for its cytotoxicity, so the uptake rate should correlate with the rate of neurodegeneration. Also, the initial step in forming extracellular aggregates cannot occur in the interstitial fluid due to the extremely low concentration of beta-amyloid but can occur intralysosomally. Therefore, the density of extracellular aggregates should positively correlate with the rate of cellular amyloid uptake. The model, which considers that both cytotoxicity and aggregation of beta-amyloid are defined by cellular uptake, successfully reproduces the probability distribution of AD diagnosis in the population. Cellular uptake of beta-amyloid is mediated by endocytosis. Endocytosed beta-amyloid induces lysosomal permeabilization that occurs without plasma membrane damage. Lysosomal permeabilization explains ion disturbances, such as an accumulation of intracellular calcium, caused by cell exposure to extracellular beta-amyloid. Some amyloid fragments, produced from beta-amyloid by lysosomal proteases, can form membrane channels in lysosomal membranes, which are large enough to leak cathepsins to the cytoplasm. Appearance of proteases in the cytoplasm results in necrosis and/or initiation of apoptosis. If the cell survives, the damage of lysosomes leads to autophagy failure and slow recycling of mitochondria, promoting the production of reactive oxygen species and potentiating cell damage.Considering the above, the integrative theory of AD etiology and pathogenesis can be formulated. The etiology of AD is the membrane channel formation by amyloid fragments produced in lysosomes. The pathogenesis includes lysosomal permeabilization by giant membrane channels, which leak lysosomal proteases into the cytoplasm. The correlation between the density of amyloid aggregates and the probability of AD appears because the intensity of cellular uptake defines both aggregation rates in vivo and cytotoxicity of beta-amyloid.The amyloid degradation toxicity hypothesis is the integrative theory of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It successfully interprets multiple phenomena and paradoxes associated with AD pathobiology at various levels, from molecular and cellular to biomarkers. The hypothesis explains the limitations of currently used biomarkers of AD and proposes etiology-related parameters. These parameters could be measured in humans and become novel diagnostic and prognostic clinical tools. Based on the proposed framework, we foresee the development of effective medications to treat, stall the progression of, or prevent disease development.

Lithium-ion batteries with improved energy densities have made understanding the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) generation mechanisms that cause mechanical, thermal, and chemical failures more complicated. SEI processes reduce battery capacity and power. Thus, a review of this area's understanding is important. It is essential to know how batteries degrade in EVs to estimate battery lifespan as it goes, predict, and minimize losses, and determine the ideal time for a replacement. Lithium-ion batteries used in EVs mainly suffer two types of degradation: calendar degradation and cycling degradation. Despite the existence of several existing works in the literature, several aspects of battery degradation remain unclear or have not been analyzed in detail. This work presents a systematic review of existing works in the literature. The results of the present investigation provide insight into the complex relationships among various factors affecting battery degradation mechanisms. Specifically, this systematic review examined the effects of time, side reactions, temperature fluctuations, high charge/discharge rates, depth of discharge, mechanical stress, thermal stress, and the voltage relationship on battery performance and longevity. The results revealed that these factors interact in complex ways to influence the degradation mechanisms of batteries. For example, high charge currents and deep discharges were found to accelerate degradation, while low temperatures and moderate discharge depths were shown to be beneficial for battery longevity. Additionally, the results showed that the relationship between cell voltage and State-of-Charge (SOC) plays a critical role in determining the rate of degradation. Overall, these findings have important implications for the design and operation of battery systems, as they highlight the need to carefully manage a range of factors to maximize battery performance and longevity. The result is an analysis of the main articles published in this field in recent years. This work aims to present new knowledge about fault detection, diagnosis, and management of lithium-ion batteries based on battery degradation concepts. The new knowledge is presented and discussed in a structured and comprehensive way.

In this paper, we propose an unsupervised blind restoration model for images in hybrid degradation scenes. The proposed model encodes the content information and degradation information of images and then uses the attention module to disentangle the two kinds of information. It can improve the ability of disentangled presentation learning for a generative adversarial network (GAN) to restore the images in hybrid degradation scenes, enhance the detailed features of restored image and remove the artifact combining the adversarial loss, cycle-consistency loss, and perception loss. The experimental results on the DIV2K dataset and medical images show that the proposed method outperforms existing unsupervised image restoration algorithms in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity (SSIM), and subjective visual evaluation.

Steel reinforcement in concrete has the tendency to corrode and this process can lead to structural damage. FRP reinforcement represents a viable alternative for structures exposed to aggressive environments and has many possible applications where superior corrosion resistance properties are required. The use of FRP rebars as internal reinforcements for concrete, however, is limited to specific structural elements and does not yet extend to the whole structure. The reasons for this relate to the limited availability of curved or shaped reinforcing elements on the market and their reduced structural performance. Various studies, in fact, have shown that the mechanical performance of bent portions of composite bars is reduced significantly under a multiaxial combination of stresses and that the tensile strength can be as low as 25% of the maximum tensile strength that can be developed in the straight part. In a significant number of cases, the current design recommendations for concrete structures reinforced with FRP, however, were found to overestimate the bend capacity of FRP rebar. This paper presents the state-of-the art review of the research works on the strength degradation in curved FRP composites and highlighted the performance of exiting predictive models for the bend capacity of FRP reinforcement. Recent practical predictive model based on the Tsai-Hill failure criteria by considering the material at marcromechanical level is also discussed and highlighted. The review also identifies the challenges and highlights the future directions of research to explore the use of shaped FRP composites in civil engineering applications and the trends for future research in this area.

Over the years, scarcity of fresh potable water has increased the demand for clean water. Meanwhile, with the advent of nanotechnology, the use of nanomaterials for photocatalytic degradation of pollutants in wastewaters has increased. Herein, a new type of nanohybrids of La and Mn co-doped bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃) nanoparticles embedded into transition metal carbide sheets (MXene) were prepared by a low-cost double solvent sol-gel method, and investigated for their photocatalytic activity. The photoluminescence results showed that pure BFO has highest electron hole recombination rate as compared to all the co-doped BFO/MXene nanohybrids. The larger surface area and higher electron-hole pair generation rate provides suitable environment for fast photo-degradation of organic molecules. The band gap of the prepared nanohybrids was tuned to 1.96 eV having largest BiFeO₃ surface area (147 m²g⁻¹) reported till date. Moreover, the BLFO/MXene and BLFMO-5/Mxene degraded the 92% organic pollutant from water in dark and remaining in light spectrum as compare to undoped BFO/Mxene due to enhancement of the surface area and electron-hole recombination rate upon doping. Therefore, these synthesized nanohybrids could be a promising candidate for photocatalytic applications in future.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue malignancy in children and adolescents. Respecting the age of the patients and the tumor aggressiveness, investigation of the molecular mechanisms of RMS tumorigenesis is directed toward the identification of novel therapeutic targets. To contribute to a better understanding of the molecular pathology of RMS, we investigated ankyrin repeat domain 1 (ANKRD1), designated as a potential marker for differential diagnostics. In this study, we used three RMS cell lines (SJRH30, RD, and HS-729) to assess its expression profile, intracellular localization, and turnover. They express wild-type ANKRD1, as judged by the sequencing of the open reading frame. Each cell line expressed a different amount of ANKRD1 protein, although the transcript level was similar. According to Western blot analysis, ANKRD1 protein was expressed at detectable levels in the SJRH30 and RD cells (SJRH30>RD), but not in the HS-729, even after immunoprecipitation. Immunocytochemistry revealed nuclear and cytoplasmic localization of ANKRD1 in all examined cell lines. Moreover, the punctate pattern of ANKRD1 staining in the nuclei of RD and HS-729 cells overlapped with coilin, indicating its association with Cajal bodies. We have shown that RMS cells are not able to overexpress ANKRD1 protein, which can be attributed to its proteasomal degradation. The unsuccessful attempt to overexpress ANKRD1 in RMS cells indicates the possibility that its overexpression may be lethal for RMS cells and opens a window for therapeutic targeting.

Agricultural expansion is altering the provision of ecosystem services and seriously affecting the well-being of the indigenous communities still living in forests. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of forest loss and degradation on the indigenous forest dependent communities of Eastern Salta, Argentina, between 2001 and 2015. First, we identified the demand area of ten final ecosystem services for 202 indigenous communities using participatory mapping data. Second, we calculated the remaining usage area using a deforestation geodatabase based on Landsat images. Third, we analyzed the significance of trends in forest productivity processing vegetation spectral indices from MODIS products. By last, we detected changes in the growing season length by evaluating monthly trends in spectral indices. Our results show a reduction of 21% in the area used by indigenous communities for capturing final ecosystem services, and significant negative trends in forest productivity for the demand area of 64% of the communities, indicating that the area of use is not only being reduced, but also remnant forest area is being degraded and the growing season is being shortened. These aspects indicate an important loss in the provision of ecosystem services that deeply affects the wellbeing of indigenous communities.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which consist of low-molecular-weight PAHs (LMW-PAHs) and high-molecular-weight PAHs (HMW-PAHs), form an important class of pollutants. Pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) are the main pollutants belonging to HMW-PAHs, and their degradation by microorganisms remains an important strategy for their removal from the environments. Extensive studies have been carried out on the isolation and characterisation of microorganisms that actively degrade LMW-PAHs, and to a certain extent, the HMW-PAH pyrene. However, so far, limited work has been carried out on BaP biodegradation. BaP consists of five fused aromatic rings, which confers this compound a high stability, rendering it less amenable to biodegradation. The current review summarizes the emerging reports on BaP biodegradation. More specifically, work carried out on BaP bacterial degradation and current knowledge gaps that limit our understanding of BaP degradation are highlighted. Moreover, new avenues of research on BaP degradation are proposed, specifically in the context of the development of “omics” approaches

The effect of chemical degradation of a sodium alginate solution and the possibility of encapsulation of paprika oleoresin were investigated. To produce sodium alginate oligomers, a depolymerization process was performed using hydrogen peroxide as a decomposition factor. The characteristics of the samples were obtained by measuring the contact angle of the surface, the surface tension of solutions, as well as thermal decomposition in thermo - gravimetric analysis. The obtained solution of alginate oligomers served as the carrier material for immobilization of capsaicin. Capsules were prepared by ionic gelation using a calcium chloride solution as a crosslinking agent. In this way, capsules without and with the core (capsaicin) were prepared and their ability to scavenge free radicals (DPPH) and iron-reducing properties (FRAP) were determined. The stability of the capsules was examined under conditions of the gastric and small intestine. It was found that alginate oligomers can be used in the encapsulation of bioactive compounds and the efficiency is above 80%. Capsule production from alginate oligomers affected their thermal stability. The use of alginate derivatives as a carrier increases the antioxidant properties of the finished product, as well as its ability to reduce iron ions. The use of alginate oligomers as a coating material prevents the active substance from being released too early in the conditions of the small intestine, prolongs the stability of the capsules, and supports their durability in gastric conditions.

Targeted protein degradation is an attractive technology for cancer treatment due to its ability to overcome the unpredictability of small molecule inhibitors that cause resistance mutations. In recent years, various targeted protein degradation strategies have been developed based on the ubiquitin-proteasome system in the cytoplasm or the autophagy-lysosomal system during endocytosis. In this review, we describe and compare technologies for targeted inhibition and targeted degradation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), one of the major proteins responsible for the onset and progression of many types of cancer. In addition, we have developed an alternative strategy, called alloAUTO, based on the binding of new heterocyclic compounds to an allosteric site located in close proximity to the EGFR catalytic site. These compounds cause targeted degradation of the transmembrane receptor, simultaneously activating both systems of protein degradation in cells. Damage to EGFR signaling pathways promotes inactivation of Bim sensor protein phosphorylation, which leads to disintegration of the cytoskeleton, followed by detachment of cancer cells from the extracellular matrix and, ultimately, to cancer cell death. This hallmark of targeted cancer cell death suggests an advantage over other targeted protein degradation strategies, namely that the fewer cancer cells survive, the fewer chemotherapy-resistant mutants appear.

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are one of the most toxic compounds. Degradation of CWAs using decontamination agents is one of the few ways to protect human health against the harmful effects of CWAs. A ferrate Fe(VI) based potential chemical warfare agent decontaminant was studied for degradation of persistent nitrogen mustard (tris(2-chloroethyl)amine, HN3). By optimizing the reaction conditions, the complete degradation of HN3 was achieved in 4 minutes. The degradation products contained mostly reduced Fe species which confirmed the environmental friendliness of the proposed decontamination solution.

Plastics are extensively used due to their versatility, durability, and low cost. PET stands for Polyethylene terephthalate. PET plastic is widely used all over the world and has many applications ranging from water bottles to fabrics like polyester and many things in between. But its unrestrained use in every field is resulting in heaps and piles of non-biodegradable materials causing damage to the environment and causing pollution. The idea being proposed is to degrade the PET plastic biologically using different bacteria. The bacteria used in this process are Ideonella sakaiensis, Acetobacterium woodii, Pelotomaculum and Methanospirillum hungatei. PET plastic is degraded, yielding Terephthalic Acid (TPA) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) by the action of the bacterium I. sakaiensis. Degradation of EG by A. woodii results in the formation of acetate and ethanol. TPA is degraded by the action of the coculture of Pelotomaculum and M. hungatei thereby yielding methane and acetate. All these products formed have significant commercial uses in various industries. The complete process that is to be carried out can help in achieving sustainability by fulfilling various Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

Acrylamide (AA) present in food is considered a harmful compound for humans, but it exerts impact on microorganisms too. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of AA (at conc. 0-10 µg/mL) on the growth of bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5) and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces lactis var. lactis), which naturally occur in food products. Moreover, we decided to verify whether these microorganisms could decompose acrylamide. Our results proved that AA can stimulated the growth of L. acidophilus and K. lactis. We have also reported, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, that probiotic strain of bacteria L. acidophilus LA-5 is able to degrade AA by amidase production and hence can utilize AA as a source of carbon and nitrogen if they lack in the environment. The conducted Response Surface Methodology indicated that pH as well as incubation time and temperature significantly influenced the amount of ammonia released from acrylamide by the bacteria. Concluding, our studies suggest that some strains of bacteria present in milk fermented products can exert additional beneficial impact by acrylamide degradation and preventing against its harmful impact on human body and other members of intestinal microbiota.

Polymer flooding is an established enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method, still many aspects of polymer flooding are not well understood. This study investigates the influence of mechanical degradation on flow properties of polymers in porous media. Mechanical degradation due to high shear forces may occur in the injection well and at the entrance to the porous media. The polymers that give high viscosity yields at a sustainable economic cost are typically large, MW > 10 MDa, and have wide molecular weight distributions. Both MW and the distributions are altered by mechanical degradation, leading to changes in the flow rheology of the polymer. The polymer solutions were subjected to different degrees of pre-shearing and pre-filtering before injected into Bentheimer outcrop sandstone cores. Rheology studies of injected and produced polymer solutions were performed and interpreted together with in-situ rheology data. The core floods showed a predominant shear thickening behavior at high flow velocities which is due to successive contraction/expansion flow in pores. When pre-sheared, shear thickening was reduced but with no significant reduction in in-situ viscosity at lower flow rates. This may be explained by reduction in the extensional viscosity. Furthermore, the results show that successive degradation occurred which suggests that the assumption of the highest point of shear which determines mechanical degradation in a porous media does not hold for all field relevant conditions.

Our environment has been impacted by man-made pollutants mainly industries make substantial use of synthetic dyes which exhibit cytotoxicity and have significant environmental consequences. Effective photocatalyst-based approaches for degrading synthetic dyes into less toxic chemical are of great interest. Synthesizing NPs using biological approaches, particularly plant-based approaches offer advantages, decreasing the risk of NPs losing biocompatibility during synthesis, cost-effectiveness, and eco-friendliness. In this study, we employed a green synthesis method to produce manganese oxide nanoparticles (MnO NPs) utilizing leaf extract from the Lathyrus Aphaca plant. The synthesized MnOx NPs were characterized through various techniques; X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV–visible spectroscopy. XRD analysis showed distinct peaks, indicated the presence crystallographic planes within the MnO₂ nanoparticles, thus confirming their crystalline structure. SEM study highlighted closely packed configurations with average size of approximately ≥ 50-70 nm, with well-defined boundaries. EDX analysis showed the presence of elemental manganese (Mn) in the samples, with peaks corresponding to Mn detected at lower energy levels, predominantly represented by MnO. FTIR, showed the presence of the O-O stretching mode at a frequency of 719 cm^-1, the presence of MnO₆ oxides of manganese, and peak at 548 cm^-1 corresponded to the Mn-O stretching mode. Furthermore, the green-synthesized manganese oxide nanoparticles exhibited promising photocatalytic and adsorption capabilities against Methylene Blue (MB) dye, leading to approximately 93.21% degradation of MB when treated with the green-synthesized MnO nanoparticles derived from plant extract. This highlights the efficacy and potential of these nanoparticles in environmental remediation applications, particularly in the degradation of methylene blue contaminants.

Iron Doped TiO₂ nanoparticles (Fe-TiO₂) were synthesized and photocatalitically investigated under high and low fluence values of UV-radiation. The Fe-TiO₂ physical characterization was performed using X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS), and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) technique. The XPS evidenced that ferric ion (Fe³⁺) was in the lattice of TiO₂ and co-dopants no intentionally added were also present due to the precursors of the synthetic method. The Fe³⁺ concentration played a key role in the photocatalytic generation of hydroxyl radical (•OH) and estriol (E3) degradation. Fe-TiO₂ materials accomplished E3 degradation, and it was found that the catalyst with 0.3 at. % content of Fe (0.3 Fe-TiO₂) enhanced the photocatalytic activity under low UV-irradiation compared with no intentionally Fe-added TiO₂ (zero-iron TiO₂) and Aeroxide^® TiO₂ P25. Furthermore, the enhanced photocatalytic activity of 0.3 Fe-TiO₂ under low UV-irradiation may have applications when radiation intensity must be controlled, as in medical applications, or when strong UV absorbing species are present in water.

Mining for resources extraction may lead to several geological and associated environmental changes due to ground movements, collision with mining cavities and deformation of aquifers. Geological changes may continue in a reclaimed mine area, and the deformed aquifers may entail a breakdown of substrates and an increase in ground water tables, which may cause surface area inundation. Consequently, a reclaimed mine area may experience surface area collapse, i.e. subsidence, and degradation of vegetation health. Thus, monitoring short-term landscape dynamics in a reclaimed mine area may provide important information on the long-term geological and environmental impacts of mining activities. We studied landscape dynamics in Kirchheller Heide, Germany, which experienced extensive soil movement due to longwall mining without stowing, using Landsat imageries between 2013 and 2016. A Random Forest image classification technique was applied to analyse land-use and land-cover dynamics and the growth of wetland areas was assessed using a Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA). We also analyzed the changes in vegetation health using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We observed a 19.9% growth of wetland area within the four years with 87.2% of growth in the coverage of two major waterbodies in the reclaimed mine area. NDVI values indicate that 66.5% of the vegetation of the study area was degraded due to changes in ground water tables and surface flooding. Our results inform environmental management and mining reclamation authorities about the subsidence spots and priority mitigation areas from land surface and vegetation degradation in Kirchheller Heide.

In this review, we covered the recent advances in synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their uses in degradation of dyes. This study provides framework to develop a low cost, ecofriendly and highly efficient synthesis of gold nanoparticles. These synthetic methods do not produce any toxic byproduct. The present study is focus on removal of dyes by Au-NPs because gold nanoparticles act as good absorbent for dyes in short time. Synthesis of Au-NPs from plant extract e.g. marine alga, Scutellarin Barbata, A.nigra, Fruit peels, Bacillus marisflavi from raw silk cocoons, amylopectin and poly acrylic acid, L.asparagine, Grephene oxide, IPEI coated Au-NPs. The synthesizes Au-NPs were used further for removal of dyes like methylene blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RB) Degradation, methylene orange, acid red degradation, Congo red.

The biological synthesis of nanoparticles has been emerging as an environmentally benign and eco-friendly method owing to its cost-effectiveness and high efficiency. Recently, the biological synthesis of semiconductor and metal-doped semiconductor nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic degradation efficiency and anticancer and antibacterial properties have gained tremendous attention. In pursuit of this purpose, for the first time, we biosynthesized zinc oxide (ZnO) and silver/ZnO nanocomposites (NCs) as semiconductor and metal-doped semiconductor nanoparticles, respectively, using the cell-free filtrate (CFF) of Lysinibacillus sphaericus bacterium. The biosynthesized ZnO and Ag/ZnO were characterized by various techniques such as ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy, Field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photocatalytic degradation potential of these semiconductor/metal-semiconductor nanoparticles was evaluated against the degradation of azo dye methylene blue (MB) under simulated solar irradiation. Ag/ZnO showed 90.7 ± 0.91% photocatalytic degradation of MB, compared to 50.7 ± 0.53% by ZnO in 120 min. The cytotoxicity of ZnO and Ag/ZnO on human cervical HeLa cancer cells was determined using an MTT assay. Both nanomaterials exhibited cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner on HeLa cells. The antibacterial activity was also determined against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus). Compared to ZnO, Ag/ZnO NPs showed higher antibacterial activity. Hence, the biosynthesis of semiconductor nanoparticles could be a promising strategy for developing hybrid metal/semiconductor nanomaterials for different biomedical and environmental applications.

Field-effect transistor (FET)-based biosensors stand as powerful analytical tools for detecting trace-specific biomolecules in diverse sample matrices, especially in the realms of pandemics and infectious diseases. The primary concern in applying these biosensors is their stability, a factor directly impacting the accuracy and reliability of sensing over extended durations. The risk of biosensor degradation is substantial, potentially jeopardizing sensitivity and selectivity and leading to inaccurate readings, including the possibility of false positives or negatives. This paper delves into the documented degradation of silicon nanobelt FET (NBFET) biosensors induced by buffer solutions. The results highlight a positive correlation between immersion time and the threshold voltage of NBFET devices. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis demonstrates a gradual increase in sodium and potassium ion concentrations within the silicon as immersion days progress. This outcome is ascribed to the nanobelt's exposure to the buffer solution during the biosensing period, enabling ion penetration from the buffer into the silicon. The study emphasizes the critical need to address buffer solution-induced degradation to ensure the long-term stability and performance of FET-based biosensors in practical applications.

With the wide application of flow sensor, their reliability under extreme conditions has been concerned in recent years. The reliability of a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems flow sensor under temperature (Ts) is researched in this paper. Firstly, the Step-stress accelerated degradation test is designed. Because this flow sensor consists flow sensor chip and signal processing system, the accelerated degradation testing is implemented, respectively. While the results show that the biggest drift is 3.15% for flow sensor chips with 150℃ conditions, and 32.91% for this flowmeter. By analysis, it could be found that the attenuation of the signal processing system is significant to the degeneration of this flowmeter. The minimum drift of the signal processing system accounts for 82.01% of this flowmeter. Secondly, using the Coffin-Manson model, the relationship between cycle-index and Ts is established. And the lifetime with different Ts is estimated by the Arrhenius model. In addition, the Weibull distribution is applied to evaluate the lifetime distribution. Finally, the reliability function of the Weibull distribution is demonstrated, and the survival rate within one year is 87.69% with 85℃ conditions. Thus, by the application of accelerated degradation testing, the acquired results are innovative and original. This research illustrates the reliability research, which provides a relational database for the application of this flow sensor.

Fipronil is an insecticide widely used in the agricultural and veterinary sectors for its efficacy in pest control. The presence of fipronil in the environment is mainly due to agricultural and domestic practices and is frequently found in different types of environmental matrices in concentrations ranging from µg/L to mg/L and can be hazardous to non-target organisms due to its high toxicity. This study was carried out to obtain and characterize microorganisms from soil which are capable of biodegrading fipronil that could be of great biotechnological interest. For this purpose, a bioprospecting was carried out using fipronil (0.6 g/L) as the main source of carbon and nitrogen for growth. Once obtained, the strain was identified by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and the capacity to degrade fipronil was monitored by GC-MS. Our study showed the presence in soil samples of the strain identified as Enterobacter chengduensis, which was able to metabolize fipronil and its metabolites during the mineralization process. Enterobacter chengduensis was able to biodegrade fipronil (96%) and its metabolites fipronil-sulfone (92%) and fipronil-sulfide (79%) in 14 days. Overall, the results of this study provided a bacterium with great potential that could contribute to the degradation of fipronil in the environment.

The prevalence of antiviral drugs (AVTs) has seen a substantial increase in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to heightened concentrations of these pharmaceuticals in wastewater systems. The hydrophilic nature of AVTs has been identified as a significant factor contributing to the low degradation efficiency observed in wastewater treatment plants. This characteristic often necessitates the implementation of additional treatment steps to achieve complete degradation of AVTs. Semiconductor-based photocatalysis has garnered considerable attention due to its promising potential in achieving efficient degradation rates and subsequent mineralization of pollutants, leveraging the inexhaustible energy of sunlight. However, in recent years, there have been few comprehensive reports that have thoroughly summarized and analyzed the application of photocatalysis for the removal of AVTs. This review commences by summarizing the types and occurrence of AVTs. Furthermore, it places a significant emphasis on delivering a comprehensive summary and analysis of the characteristics pertaining to the photocatalytic elimination of AVTs. Ultimately, the review sheds light on the identified research gaps and key concerns, offering invaluable insights to steer future investigations in this field.

: The stability of semiconductor catalysts is a very important property in the field of catalytic reactions. Materials necessitate resistance to mechanical abrasion and chemical erosion for better overall performance. In this work, high crystallinity BiOCl nanosheets were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The photocatalysts demonstrate full UV light absorption ability and excellent photocatalytic norfloxacin degradation performance. 84 % of highly toxic norfloxacin were photocatalytically eliminated within 180 min. The internal structure and surface chemical state of BiOCl were analyzed by SEM, TEM, Raman, FTIR, UV-vis, XPS, and other techniques. Such high crystallinity makes BiOCl molecules closely arranged and the molecular chains strongly connected, thus exhibiting a high level of photocatalytic stability and recyclability.

This review focus on a critical analysis of nanocatalysts for Advanced Reductive Processes (ARP) and Oxidation Processes (AOP) designed for the degradation of poly/perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. Ozone, ultraviolet and photocatalyzed ARP and/or AOP will be the basic treatment technologies. Besides the review of the nanomaterials with greater potential as catalyst for advanced processes of PFAS in water, the perspectives for its future development considering sustainability considerations will be discussed. Moreover, a brief analysis of the current state of the art of the ARP and AOP for the treatment of PFAS in water will be presented.

Micro turbojets are used for propelling radio-controlled aircraft, aerial targets and personal air vehicles. When compared to full-scale engines, they are characterized by relatively low efficiency and durability. In this context, the degraded performance of gas path components could lead to an unacceptable reduction in the overall engine performance. In this work, a data-driven model based on a conventional Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and an extreme learning machine (ELM) was used for estimating the performance degradation of the micro turbojet. The training datasets containing the performance data of the engine with degraded components were generated using the validated GSP model and the Monte Carlo approach. In particular, compressor and turbine performance degradation were simulated for three different flight regimes. It was confirmed that component degradation had a similar impact in flight than at sea level. Finally, the datasets were used in the training and testing process of the ELM algorithm with four different input vectors. Two vectors had an extensive number of virtual sensors, and the other two were reduced to just fuel flow and Exhaust Gas Temperature. Even with the small number of sensors, the high prediction accuracy of ELM was maintained for takeoff and cruise but was slightly worse for variable flight conditions.

Novel model of biodegradable PHA copolymer films preparation was applied to evaluate biodegradability of various PHA copolymers and discuss its biomedical applicability. In this study, we illustrate the potential biomaterial degradation rate affectability by manipulation of monomer composition via controlling biosynthetic strategies. Within the experimental investigation, we have prepared two different copolymers of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 4-hydroxybutyrate – P(3HB-co-36 mol.% 4HB) and P(3HB-co-66 mol.% 4HB), by cultivating thermophilic bacterial strain Aneurinibacillus sp. H1 and further investigated its degradability in simulated body fluids (SBFs). Both copolymers revealed faster weight reduction in synthetic gastric juice (SGJ) and artificial colonic fluid (ACF) than simple homopolymer P3HB. In addition, degradation mechanisms differed across tested polymers, according to SEM micrographs. While incubated in SGJ, samples were fragmented due to fast hydrolysis sourcing from substantially low pH, which suggest abiotic degradation as the major degradation mechanism. On the contrary, ACF incubation indicated obvious enzymatic hydrolysis. Further, no cytotoxicity of the waste fluids was observed on CaCO-2 cell line. Based on these results in combination with high production flexibility, we suggest P(3HB-co-4HB) copolymers produced by Aneurinibacillus sp. H1 as very auspicious polymers for intestinal in vivo treatments.

Ofloxacin is a highly efficient and widely used antibiotic drug. It is classified as a refractory pollutant due to its poor biodegradability. Consequently, it is commonly found in water sources, requiring efficient methods for its removal. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) offer efficient alternatives since those yield complete degradation not achieved in adsorption or membrane processes. Previous studies suggest ofloxacin degradation follows a pseudo-first or -second order processes, whereas for full removal of refractory pollutants – lower pseudo-orders are required. Monitoring the actual “pseudo-order” degradation kinetics of ofloxacin is needed to evaluate any proposed AOP process. This study presents a simple procedure to evaluate pseudo-orders of AOPs. Photolysis of 20 mM ofloxacin solutions follow pseudo-zero order kinetics, with half-life times (t_1/2) of approx. 60 min. TiO₂ heterogenous catalyst show to have no influence at low concentration (0.2 mg L^-1) but a significant reduction of half-life time (t_1/2 = 20 min) and increase in pseudo-order (0.8) is measured at 2.0 mg L^-1. Similar results are obtained with homogenous catalysis by 2.0 mg L^-1 H₂O₂. The combination of H₂O₂ and TiO₂ catalysts shows additional reduction in half-time life with increase in the pseudo-order to 1.2. The conclusions are (1) heterogenous and homogenous photocatalysis can effectively degrade ofloxacin, (2) combined photocatalysis yields higher pseudo-order, being less prone to achieve full removal, (3) analysis of specific pseudo-orders in AOPs of refractory pollutants helps to further elucidate the efficiency of the processes.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and affects millions of people around the world. Neuronal death in AD is initiated by the toxic action of oligomeric amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides. The formation of membrane channels by Aβ is a primary molecular action and does not require any other proteins. Channels are formed by short amyloid fragments faster and more frequently than by full-length peptides. The channel formation is dependent on an electrostatic interaction between a positively charged peptide and a negatively charged membrane. Negative membranes can be found in several locations of a cell – the inner leaflet of plasma membrane, mitochondria, and lysosomes, which all are well-known cellular targets in AD. Considering that the amyloid enters a cell by endocytosis and is exposed to lysosomal enzymes, we propose the amyloid degradation toxicity hypothesis. Endopeptidases degrade the endocytosed peptide. Produced fragments form membrane channels, which can transfer various ions (including protons) and even relatively large compounds. The neutralization of lysosomal content inactivates enzymes, which fails the whole system of recycling cellular content, including autophagy. The permeabilization of lysosomes could also lead to cell death through necrotic and apoptotic mechanisms. We discuss several mechanisms that describe how amyloid degradation products reach plasma and mitochondrial membranes, and form membrane channels. The pathogenesis of AD is discussed at various levels in a context of how the primary molecular mechanism of membrane channel formation could progress into the disease state. The discussion starts at the molecular level and extends to why the development of a disease takes years and is closely associated with aging. The proposed hypothesis offers an interpretation to several clinical observations such as the involvement of iron metabolism and an inverse association between developing Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Predictions about potential biomarkers and effectiveness of future treatments are discussed.

Silicone RTV-based engineering rubber composite products have been widely used for several applications in various fields as a major component such as structure, automotive, and medical. In its application, the rubber composite product is placed in an open area that is directly exposed to sunlight and rain. It has a significant negative impact on changes in chemical and rheological properties, making the product life of rubber composite products shorter. Therefore, in this study, changes in the chemical and rheological properties of both isotropic and anisotropic magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) treated with accelerated weathering were studied compared to untreated specimens with specimens that had been treated. MRE specimens with 40% by weight CIP were prepared with no current excitation and another sample were made under 1.5 T of magnetic flux density. Each specimen was treated in an accelerated weathering machine Q-Sun Xe-1 Xenon Test Chamber with a UV light exposure cycle for 102 minutes and 18 minutes of UV light combined with water spray for 24 hours followed by a condensation cycle of 4 hours in a dark period. Material characterization was carried out using FTIR and Rheometer to determine the changes in chemical and rheological properties. The morphological analysis results showed that the surface was rough and more cavities occurred after being given weather treatment. Rheometer test results showed a decrease in storage modulus in each MRE specimen that had been treated compared to untreated MRE specimens. Meanwhile, FTIR testing showed a change in wave peak between untreated and treated MRE specimens.

Entangled metallic wire material (EMWM) can be utilized as a novel elastic element in vibration isolation devices for mechanical actuators. This paper presents a vibration experiment aimed at investigating the degradation behavior of mechanical performance in EMWM under cyclic compressive environment. An electric vibration testing system, coupled with an isolation structure, is employed to apply compressive loads to the EMWM specimens. Through visual observations and quasi-static compression tests, the variations in geometric morphology and mechanical properties are studied, considering different relative densities and stress amplitudes. The results incidate a significant reduction in the compressed dimension of the specimens as the number of cycles increases, without any wire fractures or wear. Moreover, the mechanical properties exhibit an increasing secant modulus and a decreasing loss factor. These variations ultimately lead to a gradual deviation of the vibration characteristics of the isolation structure from its design state. To predict the mechanical property degradation of EMWM, prediction models are proposed, incorporating dimension, modulus and damping by fitting the obtained results. This research provides valuable experimental data and presents an effective method to determine the operational lifetime of vibration isolators utilizing EMWM.

Aortic aneurysms (AA) occur in 4.8% of people causing 150,000 deaths annually. While endovascular aneurysm repairs reduce surgical morbidity, device-related failures (leak/displacement) are frequent highlighting the need for test models that better represent the mural geometry and compliance changes in human AAs. We aimed to develop and characterise an ex vivo porcine aortic model of AA. The optimal duration of tissue elastase exposure to emulate AA changes in elastin microstructure and content was determined using porcine aortic rings. Elastase-induced changes were quantified morphologically, and mechanical properties assessed via ring tensile testing. Subsequent experiments tested the potential for localised elastase treatment in a 1 cm segment of porcine aorta using a specially designed 3D printed test rig. The effect on pressure-diameter behaviour was investigated via inflation-extension testing. Elastase treatment produced time dependent decreases in elastin, resulting in an increased tensile modulus and circumferential length in the ring samples in the final phase of the J-shaped tissue stress-strain curves. In whole aortic segments, localised elastase-induced luminal degradation was successfully limited to a central region. The degree of elastin degradation achieved was sufficient to cause localised dilation with respect to controls under physiological pressures. Localised elastin degradation in porcine aortic segments is feasible and emulates the changes seen clinically in aortic aneurysms.

Abstract: Targeted ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation regulates various cellular pathways, and the discovery that CPT induced rapid proteasomal degradation of topoI is the primary mechanism of CPT resistance was novel and compelling. CPTs are used extensively to treat various solid tumors like colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, ovarian and small cell lung cancer. The response rate is low and the classical mechanisms of drug resistance are yet to be validated. Remarkably, CPT resistant cells degrade topoI rapidly by UPP and recently we’ve published the molecular determinants of this pathway. To further understand the UPP mediated CPT resistance mechanism we used targeted proteasome prohibition by ixazomib (MLN9708) to stabilize topoI and determine its impact on CPT resistance. CPT resistant and sensitive cancer lines were both treated with ixazomib in combination with CPT. The CPT induced rate of topoI degradation, and its stabilization by ixazomib, was visualized and estimated by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and immunoblotting assays, MTT and subG1 assays provided the drug sensitivity. Our results demonstrate that cells that degrade topoI rapidly are very resistant to CPT, and ixazomib significantly inhibits CPT induced topoI degradation. Notably, inhibition of proteasomal degradation by ixazomib overcomes the drug resistance and sensitizes the cells for CPTs.

A rapid and appropriate genetic and metabolic acclimation, which is crucial for plants’ survival in a changing environment, is maintained due to the coordinated action of plant hormones and cellular degradation mechanisms influencing proteostasis. The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) rapidly accumulates in plants in response to environmental stress and plays a pivotal role in the reaction to various stimuli. Increasing evidence demonstrates a significant role of autophagy in controlling ABA signaling. This field has been extensively investigated and new discoveries are constantly being provided. We present updated information on the components of the ABA signaling pathway, particularly on transcription factors modified by different E3 ligases. Then, we focus on the role of selective autophagy in ABA pathway control and review novel evidence on the involvement of autophagy in different parts of the ABA signaling pathway that are important for crosstalk with other hormones, particularly cytokinins and brassinosteroids.

Though innovations for sustainable management of natural resources have emerged over time, the rising demand for nature based health solutions and integration of endemic flora into global value chains could have adverse impacts on ecosystems. The ecological risks in the exploitation of wild medicinal plant resources are exacerbated by a myriad of agrotechnological risks and challenges that highly constrain their domestication. Successful exploitation and commercialization of medicinal plants thus require a clear understanding of their demand and production systems or value chain analysis. Accordingly there is need for innovative approaches towards their integration into global value chains. Since quality and safety, traceability, certification, as well as, consumer tastes and preferences are critical drivers in purchasing decisions by global consumers, they are inadvertently exploited to weaken Indigenous knowledge (IK), undermine common property rights and entrench value chains that favour a few elite buyers. This tend to create pervasive incentives for overexploitation of medicinal plant resources and environmental degradation. Potential solution lies in the recognition of drivers of vulnerability to environmental degradation and the innovative use of policy bricolage, feedback loops and interactions between knowledge, power and agency on one hand, and collective action and property rights institutions on the other hand. We conceptualise a framework that can mediate a transformational agenda and enhance systematic understanding of sustainability lenses in endemic medicinal plant resources value chains. This could in turn strengthen IK, enhance collective action and promote participation of local actors with positive impact on the utilisation and integration of endemic medicinal plant resources into global value chains.

Contamination of the environment by petroleum products is a growing concern worldwide, and strategies to remove these contaminants have been evaluated. One of these strategies is biodegradation, which consists of the use of microorganisms. Biodegradation is significantly improved by increasing the temperature of the milieu, thus, the use of thermophiles, microbes that thrive in high-temperature environments, will render this process more efficient. For instance, various thermophilic enzymes have been used in industrial biotechnology because of their unique catalytic properties. Biodegradation has been extensively studied in the context of mesophilic microbes, and the mechanisms of biodegradation of aliphatic and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons have been elucidated. However, in comparison, little work has been carried out on the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by thermophiles. In this paper, a detailed review of the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons (both aliphatic and aromatic) by thermophiles has been carried out. This work has identified the characteristics of thermophiles, and unravelled specific catabolic pathways of petroleum products that are only found in thermophiles. Gaps that limit our understanding of the activity of these microbes have also been highlighted, and finally, different strategies that can be used to improve the efficiency of degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by thermophiles have been proposed.

This study investigates the historical variability in annual average precipitation in the northwest region of Mexico, aiming to evaluate the cumulative impact of precipitation on soil degradation and associated risks posed by rainfall. Despite being known as "The Agricultural Heart of Mexico," the region's soil has experienced significant damage to its granulometric structure due to unpredictable rainfall patterns attributed to climate change. Sixteen historical series of average annual rainfall were analyzed as stationary stochastic processes for spectral analysis. The results revealed exponential decay curves in each radial spectrum, indicating a linear relationship between frequency and amplitude. These curves identified initial impulses correlated with moments of severity for structural damages caused by rainfall-induced degradation. The degradation process, exacerbated by water stress, accelerates, as evidenced by maps illustrating approximately 75% soil damage. In the context of climate change and the uncertainty surrounding soil responses to extreme meteorological events, understanding this phenomenon becomes crucial. Recognizing the dynamic nature of soil responses to environmental stressors is essential for effective soil management. Emphasizing the need to employ numerical processes tailored to new environmental considerations related to observed soil damages is crucial for sustainable soil management practices in any region.

The presented work studies the processes of synthesis of nitrogen-containing structures of ZnO using atmospheric pressure microwave nitrogen plasma and investigates their photocatalytic activity in the processes of degradation of 2,4-dinitrophenol and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin when irradiated with sunlight. The work proposes an effective method for formation of photosensitive ZnO powders. Due to the features of plasma treatment in the open atmosphere of zinc metal microparticles, ZnO structures are formed with sizes from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers with various micromorphologies. High photoactivity was demonstrated (rate constants 0.036 min-1 and 0.051 min-1) of synthesized ZnO structures during photo-degradation of 2,4-dinitrophenol and ciprofloxacin, respectively, when exposed to solar radiation. Photo-active structures of ZnO synthesized using microwave nitrogen plasma can find application in processes of mineralization of toxic organic compounds.

It is important to develop new antibacterial drugs since the emergence of bacterial resistance to available antibiotics. Metal nanoparticles have the potential to combat antibiotic resistance and are effective antibacterial agents. Here, we demonstrate the biogenic production of zinc nanoparticles using Rhododendron arboreum stem bark. The biosynthesized ZnNPs were characterized through different analytical techniques such as UV-vis, FTIR, EDX, SEM, and XRD. Clinical isolates such as E. coli, S. aureus, and K. pneumonia were used to check the antibacterial efficacy of the biosynthesized zinc nanoparticles. The MIC and MBC values against K. pneumonia, S. aureu, and E. coli were found to be 34±0.21 and 11.71±0.47, 47±0.11 and 23.86±0.84 and 94±0.18 and 40.43±0.16 µg/mL, respectively. It dramatically decreased the integrity of the cell membrane and markedly increased the permeability of both inner and outer membranes. The green synthesized ZnNPs have good catalytic activity. It degraded 65% of methyl orange dye within 6h when the mixture was kept in direct sunlight, thus demonstrating good photodegradation potential and can be employed as a good photocatalyst. According to these results, biosynthesized zinc nanoparticles could be a potential therapy option for controlling bacterial pathogenesis and an effective photocatalyst for the elimination of hazardous water contaminants.

In order to realize the performance degradation trend prediction accurately, a prediction method based on multi-domain features and temporal convolutional network (TCN) is proposed. Firstly, construct a high-dimensional feature set in the multi-domain of vibration signals, and use comprehensive evaluation indicators to preliminarily screen performance degradation indexes with good sensitivity and strong trend. Secondly, the kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) method is adopted to eliminate redundant information between multi-domain features, and construct a health index (HI) based on convolutional auto-encoder (CAE) network. Thirdly, a TCN-based performance degradation trend prediction model is constructed, and direct multi-step prediction is used to predict the performance degradation trend of the monitored object. On this basis, the validity of the proposed method is verified using the bearing public data, and it is successfully applied to performance degradation trend prediction of rolling contact fatigue specimen. The results show that the feature set can be reduced from 14 dimensions to 4 dimensions by using KPCA, while 98.33% of the information of the original feature set is retained. Furthermore, the method of constructing HI based on CAE network is effective. The change process of the HI constructed truly reflects the performance degradation process of the rolling contact fatigue specimen. Compared with the two commonly used HI construction methods, auto-encoding (AE) network and gaussian mixture model (GMM), this method has obvious advantages. At the same time, the prediction model based on TCN can accurately predict the performance degradation of the rolling contact fatigue specimen with the root mean square error 0.0146 and the mean absolute error 0.0105, which has better performance and higher prediction accuracy than the prediction model based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) network and the gated recurrent unit (GRU). This method has general significance and may be extended to the performance degradation prediction of other mechanical equipment/parts.

Photocatalytic degradation plays a crucial role in wastewater treatment, and the key to achieving high efficiency is to develop photocatalytic systems that possess excellent light absorption, carrier separation efficiency, and surface-active sites. Among various photocatalytic systems, S-type heterojunctions have shown remarkable potential for efficient degradation. This work delves into construction of S-type heterojunctions of ternary indium metal sulfide and bismuth ferrite nanofibers with introduction of sulfur vacancy defects and morphology modifications to enhance the photocatalytic degradation performance. Through the impregnation method, BiFeO₃/Zn₂S₄ heterojunction materials were synthesized and optimized30% BiFeO₃/Zn₂S₄ heterojunction exhibited superior photocatalytic performance with higher sulfur vacancy concentration than Zn₂S₄. The in-situ XPS results demonstrate that the electrons between Zn₂S₄ and BFO are transferred via S-Scheme, and after modification, Zn₂S₄ has a more favorable surface morphology for electron transport, and its flower-like structure interacts with the nanofibers of BFO, which has a further enhancement of the reaction efficiency for degrading pollutants. This exceptional material demonstrated a remarkable 99% degradation of Evans blue within 45 min and a significant 68% degradation of ciprofloxacin within 90 min. This work provides a feasible idea for developing photocatalysts to deal with the problem of polluted water resources under practical conditions.

The PII protein is an evolutionary highly conserved regulatory protein from bacteria to higher plants. In bacteria it modulates the activity of several enzymes, transporters and regulatory factors by interacting with them and thereby regulating important metabolic hubs like carbon/nitrogen homeostasis. More than two decades ago the PII protein was characterized for the first time in plants, but its physiological role is still not sufficiently resolved. To gain more insights into the function of this protein, we investigated the interaction behaviour of AtPII with candidate proteins by BiFC and FRET/FLIM in planta and with GFP/RFP traps in vitro. In the course of these studies we found that AtPII interacts in chloroplasts with itself as well as with known interactors like NAGK in dot-like aggregates, which we named PII foci. In these novel protein aggregates AtPII interacts also with yet unknown partners, which are known to be involved in plastidic protein degradation. Further studies revealed that the C-terminal part of AtPII is crucial for the formation of PII foci. Altogether, the presented results indicate a novel mode of interaction for PII proteins with other proteins in plants, which may be a new starting point for the elucidation of physiological functions of PII proteins in plants.

A bacterial strain that could effectively degrade DEHP was isolated from the activated sludge and identified as Bacillus sp. by DNA sequencing. The biochemical degradation pathway of DEHP was further analyzed by GC-MS, and the results showed that DEHP was first decomposed into phthalates (DBP). Diuretic sylycol (DEP) was then generated, and phthalates (PA) were generated by a continuous de-ehelateization reaction. Phthalic acid (PA) was oxidized, dehydrogenated, and decarboxylated into protocatechins. Protocatechins enter the TCA cycle through orthotopic ring opening.　To enhance DEHP degradation, sodium alginate and calcium chloride were used as embedding and cross-linking materials, and the strain was immobilized. The immobilization conditions were optimized via an orthogonal experiment, and the results showed that the optimal immobilization conditions were SA mass fraction of 4%, CaCl2 mass fraction of 5%, ratio of bacteria to SA of 1:1, and the crosslinking time of 6 hours. The immobilized bacteria agent was further applied to MBR systems. The results showed that the removal rate of DEHP (5mg/L) in the system by immobilized bacteria was 91.9%, which is significantly higher than that of free bacteria. The 3, 4-dioxygenase gene and microbial community dynamics were analyzed by q-PCR and Illumina Miseq sequencing. The q-PCR results showed that the number of copies of 3, 4-dioxygenase gene in the immobilized system was significantly higher than that of free bacteria. Illumina Miseq sequencing results showed that Micromonospora, Rhodococcus, Bacteroides and Pseudomonas were the dominant generas in the MBR system. The analysis of bacterial community structure indicated that immobilization technology had a positive impact on the system stability. The results implied that this immobilized technique had potential applications in DEHP wastewater treatment.

While deforestation rates decline globally they are rising in the Western Amazon. Artisanal-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a large cause of this deforestation and brings with it extensive environmental, social, governance, and public health impacts, including large carbon emissions and mercury pollution. Underlying ASGM is a broad network of factors that influence its growth, distribution, and practices such as poverty, flows of legal and illegal capital, conflicting governance, and global economic trends. Despite its central role in land use and land cover change in the Western Amazon and the severity of its social and environmental impacts, it is relatively poorly studied. While ASGM in Southeastern Peru has been quantified previously, doing so is difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of the resulting landscape. Using a novel approach to classify mining that relies on a fusion of CLASlite and the Global Forest Change dataset, two Landsat-based deforestation detection tools, we sought to quantify ASGM-caused deforestation in the period 1984–2017 in the southern Peruvian Amazon and examine trends in the geography, methods, and impacts of ASGM across that time. We identify nearly 100,000 ha of deforestation due to ASGM in the 34-year study period, an increase of 21% compared to previous estimates. Further, we find that 10% of that deforestation occurred in 2017, the highest annual amount of deforestation in the study period, with 53% occurring since 2011. Finally, we demonstrate that not all mining is created equal by examining key patterns and changes in ASGM activity and techniques through time and space. We discuss their connections with, and impacts on, socio-economic factors, such as land tenure, infrastructure, international markets, governance efforts, and social and environmental impacts.

As one of toxic Volatile Organic Pollutant (TVOCs), formaldehyde has a toxic effect on microorganisms, and then inhibits the biochemical process of formaldehyde wastewater treatment. Therefore, the selective degradation of formaldehyde is of great significance to achieve formaldehyde wastewater high-efficiency and low-cost treatment. This study constructed a heterogeneous Fe-ZSM-5/H2O2 Fenton system for selective degradation to target compounds. By bonding Fe3+ onto the surface of ZSM-5 molecular sieve, Fe-ZSM-5 was prepared successfully. XRD, BET and FT-IR spectral studies shown the prepared Fe-ZSM-5 was mainly composed of micropores. The influences of different variables on formaldehyde selective heterogeneous Fenton degradation performance were studied. The 93.72% formaldehyde degradation and the 98.15% selectivity of formaldehyde compared with glucose had demonstrated in the optimized Fenton system after 360 min. Notably, the resultant selective Fenton oxidation system had a wide range of pH suitability from 3.0 to 10.0. Also, the Fe-ZSM-5 was used in 5 consecutive cycles, while the degradation efficiency of formaldehyde did not drop dramatically. Using reactive oxygen species scavengers, hydroxyl radical was the main active substance to degrade formaldehyde. Furthermore, the great degradation performance of this system to high concentration of formaldehyde was acquired, and the degrading efficiency was more than 95%.

In urban Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) environments, buildings play a crucial role as they can act as obstacles that attenuate the transmission signal between vehicles. Quantifying the impact of buildings on the transmission quality is essential, especially in critical scenarios involving emergency vehicles, where reliable communication is of utmost importance. In this research, we propose a supervised learning approach based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) to develop a predictive model capable of estimating the level of signal degradation, represented by the bit error rate (BER), based on the obstacles perceived by moving emergency vehicles. By establishing a relationship between the level of signal degradation and the encountered obstacles, our proposed mechanism enables efficient routing decisions to be made prior to the transmission process. Consequently, data packets are routed through paths that exhibit the lowest BER. To gather the necessary training data, we employed SUMO and NS-3 simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that our developed model successfully learns and accurately estimates the BER for new data instances. Overall, our research contributes to enhancing the performance and reliability of communication in urban VANET environments, especially in critical scenarios involving emergency vehicles, by leveraging supervised learning and artificial neural networks to predict signal degradation levels and optimize routing decisions accordingly.

This work presents the electrochemical degradation of the herbicide Diuron by anodic oxidation on a Ti/Ru0.3Ti0.7O2 dimensionally stable anode (DSA) using sulfate as electrolyte. The study includes the influence of the Diuron concentration and the current density on the anodic oxidation. The results evidence a first-order degradation, with the highest degradation capacity achieved at 40 mA cm2 and an initial Diuron concentration of 38 mg L1. Nevertheless, in terms of efficiency and energy demand, the operation at 10 mA cm2 is favored due to the more efficient and less energy-consuming condition. To discern the optimum design and operation conditions, this work presents the results of a preliminary technical-economical analysis, demonstrating that, to minimize the total costs of the system, it is recommended to seek the most efficient conditions, i.e., the conditions demanding the lowest applied charges with the highest Diuron degradation. At the same time, attention must be given to the required cell voltage to not increase excessively the operating costs.

In this paper, a novel strategy is adopted in a degradation model to affect the implied lifetime distribution. The multiplicative degradation model is utilized as a postulate in the model. It will be established that the implied lifetime distribution forms a classical mixture model. In this mixture model, time-to-failure is lying with some probabilities between two first passage times of the degradation process to reach two specified levels. Stochastic comparisons in the model under a change in the probabilities are studied. Several examples are provided to highlight the applicability of the results in the cases when typical degradation models are candidate.

The metalloporphyrin heme acts as the oxygen-complexing prosthetic group of hemoglobin in blood. Heme has been noted to survive for many millions of years in fossils. Here we investigate its stability and degra-dation under various conditions expected to occur during fossilization. Oxidative, reductive, aerobic, and anaerobic conditions were studied at neutral and alkaline pH values. Elevated temperatures were applied to accelerate degradation. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrome-try (HPLC-MS/MS) identified four main degradation products. The vinyl residues are oxidized to formyl and further to carboxylate groups. In the presence of air or H2O2, cleavage of the tetrapyrrole ring occurs, and hematinic acid is formed. The highest stability of heme was observed under anaerobic reductive condi-tions (half-life 9.5 days), while the lowest stability was found in the presence of H2O2 (half-life 1 min). We confirmed that the iron cation plays a crucial role in degradation, since protoporphyrin IX, lacking iron, re-mained significantly more stable. Under anaerobic, reductive conditions, the above-mentioned degradation products were not observed, suggesting a different degradation pathway. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular taphonomy study on heme, which will be useful for understanding its fate during fossiliza-tion.

Up to 13 million tons of plastic waste are estimated to enter the oceans every year. A generally accepted picture based on an increasing number of environmental studies suggests that the largest fraction of it consists or is rapidly degraded into microplastics (MPs). Most of the analytical studies focused on MPs are based on the detection and identification of the polymers. On the other hand, plastic debris in the environment undergo chemical (mainly photoxidative) and physical degradation processes leading not only to fragmentation but also to the formation of leachable, soluble and/or volatile degradation products that are released in the environment. The formation of such low molecular weight species is generally neglected in the studies on MPs even if these compounds, released in the environment from the plastics debris, may pose even higher risks for the environment and for the biota than the MPs particles themselves, risks that are far from being understood and assessed. In this study we performed the analysis of reference MPs - polymer micropowders obtained by grinding a set of five polymer types down to final size in the 857-509 μm range, namely high- and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE, respectively), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The reference MPs were artificially aged in a Solar-Box and their degradation products were analyzed to investigate their degradation processes. In particular, a systematic and thorough characterization of the aged (photo-oxidized) MPs and of their low molecular weight and/or highly oxidized fraction extractable in polar organic solvents was performed. For this purpose, the artificially aged MPs were subjected to selective extraction with organic solvent that are non-solvents for the virgin polymers, targeting selective recovery of the low molecular weight fractions generated during the artificial aging. Analysis of both the extractable fractions and the residues was carried out by a multi-technique approach combining evolved gas analysis-mass spectrometry (EGA-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). Up to 18 wt% of newly extractable, low molecular weight fraction was recovered from the photo-aged MPs, depending on the polymer type. The results highlight the need for more extensive studies about the potential harmfulness of the oxidation products (molecular and oxidized oligomeric species) that may leach out from plastic debris during their permanence in the environment.

The aims of this work were to examine the new electrode, based on polymer bacteria modified aluminum electrode for simultaneous production of electricity and degradation of phenol. This electrode is based aluminum modified by bacteria inserted in the polymer matrix, developed in situ on the surface. This electrode, designated subsequently by bacteria-polymer-aluminum, Showed stable response and was characterized with voltametric methods, as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The experimental results revealed that the prepared electrode could be a feasible for degradation of hazardous phenol pollutants. The sensor was successfully applied to the determination of phenol in a real sample with satisfactory results.

The research objectives was to determine the plants vegetation profile in forest revegetation and Mount Arjuna springs. The method used was descriptive method. While based on the techniques and tools used to research, the author uses the survey method to obtain facts that occur in the research area, namely in the area around the springs of Arjuna mount, Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia. Data obtained in the field are then processed and analyzed using GIS, ArcView 3.3 and Google Earth programs. The results of the study explain the profile of plant vegetation, namely plant stratification, bird wealth, taxonomic wealth and plant density have a significant effect on forest revegetation and springs in Arjuna mount. The forest vegetation profile has a positive and significant effect on the preservation of springs. The better the profile of forest vegetation, the preservation of springs will be better, and vice versa.

Chamazulene (CA) is an intensely blue molecule with a wealth of biological properties. In cosmetics chamazulene is exploited as a natural coloring and soothing agent. CA is unstable and tends to spontaneous degradation accelerated by light. We studied the photodegradation of CA upon controlled exposure to UVB-UVA irradiation by multi-ple techniques, including GC-MS, UHPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS and by direct infusion in ESI-MSn, which were matched to in silico mass spectral simulations to identify degra-dation products. Seven byproducts formed upon UVA exposure for 3 h at 70mW/cm2 (blue-to-green color change) were identified, including CA dimers and CA benzenoid which were not found on extended 6 h irradiation (green-to-yellow fading). Photosta-bility tests with reduced irradiance conducted in various solvents in the pres-ence/absence of air indicated highest degradation in acetonitrile in the presence of ox-ygen, suggesting a photo-oxidative mechanism. Testing in the presence of antioxidants (tocopherol, ascorbyl palmitate, hydroxytyrosol, bakuchiol, γ-terpinene, TEMPO and their combinations) indicated highest protection by tocopherol and TEMPO. Sun-screens ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate and particularly Tinosorb® S (but not octo-crylene) showed good CA photoprotection. Thermal stability tests indicated no degra-dation of CA in acetonitrile at 50°C in the dark for 50 days; however, accelerated deg-radation occurred in the presence of ascrorbyl palmitate.

Modern engineering faces challenges in ensuring technical standards for service, durability, and sustainability. Political, administrative, and budgetary factors, coupled with climate change, pose tasks to structural integrity, affecting industries and economies. Marine infrastructures represent a strategic asset of the country as it handles a large part of the economic exchanges. This article analyzes five essential factors that play a fundamental role in the performance analysis of coastal structures: Chloride-induced corrosion, degradation models, maintenance strategies, monitoring, and climate change. Starting with reinforcement corrosion, considered as the main cause of distress, particularly in coastal zones for the long-term behavior of structures. Additional pressure from the influences of climate change is becoming evident and extreme, leading to reduction in capacity. To guarantee the lifespan, degradation models contribute by estimating the long-term performance of the asset as a strategic piece to the development of effective maintenance solutions. Additionally, quantifying the condition of the structure from monitoring data, plays a crucial part that provides information on the current situation of the structure. Finally, this review summarizes the challenges associated with the maintenance of aging marine structures considering aspects such as corrosion, monitoring, and the future challenges this area will face due to climate change.

Remote sensing (RS) as a landscape planning and management tool for socio-cultural diversity and inclusiveness in protected(reserved) areas through monitoring of the land-use changes, settlement/living patterns, predominant trades/socio-economic activities in the urban-rural locations, and the demography in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The eighteen federal governments recognized nature reserves in Nigeria being the giant of Africa because of their green landscapes, rich biodiversity, and human resources. This study aimed to explore the application of remote sensing to assess the extent of land degradation and encroachment in the 18 recognized national parks in Nigeria. A review of the protection of national parks using remote sensing and monitoring the trend of national park invasions which could either be natural or man-made. The study is in line with the United Nations SDG Goal 15: Life on Land- “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. Located in the West Africa subregion lying on Latitude: 9° 04' 39.90" N (9.077899) and Longitude: 8° 40' 38.84" E (8.677599), with an estimated population of over 220,000,000 people. This study through an intensive review of various literature adopted a mixed approach for the analysis and assessment of the geospatial data, the updated aerial photographs obtained through the Landsat imageries (Google Earth Pro, 2023), and the use of GIS for Geospatial analysis which enables the collection and analysis of spatial and geographic data gathering land use/land covers (LULC) maps, soil type, and elevation maps. While exploring the geophysical ecology and biodiversity conservation of some selected national parks in Nigeria, while also providing cost-effective alternatives for biodiversity monitoring and conservation strategy development. A review of national implementation strategies on biodiversity conservation with the deployment of remote sensing technologies, it is now feasible to obtain large details of the surface of the planet without conducting arduous field activities with the assistance of the availability of multi-date, multi-resolution, multi-sensor aerial information to help prevent for encroachment, loss, and degradation of the natural landscapes.

Engine oil degradation and tribological properties are strongly interrelated. Hence, understanding the chemical processes resulting in additive depletion and degradation products is necessary. In this study, in-service engine oils from petrol and diesel vehicles were analyzed with conventional and advanced methods (mass spectrometry). Additionally, the effect of the utilization profile (short- vs. long-range) was studied. Petrol engine oils generally showed accelerated antioxidant and antiwear degradation and higher oxidation, especially in case of a short-range utilization profile, which can be attributed to the higher air-to-fuel ratio (more rich combustion) compared to diesel engines. A detailed overview of oxidation and nitration products, as well as degradation products resulting from zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate and boron ester antiwear additives, diphenylamine antioxidants and salicylate detergents is given. A side-reaction between oxidation products (aromatic carboxylic acids) and the boron ester antiwear is highlighted. This reaction was only detected in the petrol engine oils, where the oxidation products were measured in a high abundance. However, no side reaction was found in the samples from the diesel vehicle, since there the aromatic carboxylic acids were largely absent due to lower oxidation.

The problem of health status prediction of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) gains a lot of attention in the field of health management of power electronic equipment. The performance degradation of IGBT gate oxide layer is one of the important failure modes. In view of failure mechanism analysis and easy implementation of monitoring circuit, this paper selects the gate leakage current of IGBT as the precursor parameter of gate oxide degradation, and uses time domain characteristic analysis, gray correlation degree, Mahalanobis distance, Kalman filter and other methods to carry out feature selection and fusion, and finally obtains a health indicator characterizing the degradation of IGBT gate oxide. Based on the Convolutional Neural Network and Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-LSTM) network, this paper constructs an IGBT gate oxide degradation prediction model, and performs experimental analysis on the dataset released by NASA-Ames Laboratory, and the average absolute error of performance degradation prediction is as low as 0.0216. Compared with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Support Vector Regression (SVR) and CNN-LSTM models, CNN-LSTM network has the highest prediction accuracy. These results show the feasibility of gate leakage current as a precursor parameter of IGBT gate oxide layer failure, as well as the accuracy and reliability of the CNN-LSTM prediction model.

Translation is spatiotemporally regulated and ER-associated mRNAs are generally in efficient translation. It is unclear whether the ER-associated mRNAs are deadenylated or degraded on the ER surface in situ or in the cytosol. Here, we showed that ER possessed active deadenylases, particularly the poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN), in common cell lines and mouse tissues. Consistently, purified recombinant PARN exhibited a strong ability to insert into the Langmuir monolayer and liposome. ER-anchored PARN was found to be able to reshape the poly(A) length profile of the ER-associated RNAs by suppressing long poly(A) tails without significantly influencing the cytosolic RNAs. The shortening of long poly(A) tails did not affect global translation efficiency, suggesting that the non-specific action of PARN towards long poly(A) tails was beyond the scope of translation regulation on the ER surface. Transcriptome sequencing analysis indicated that the ER-anchored PARN trigged the degradation of a small subset of ER-enriched transcripts. The ER-anchored PARN modulated the translation of its targets by redistributing ribosomes to heavy polysomes, suggesting that PARN may play a role in dynamic ribosome reallocation. During DNA damage response, MK2 phosphorylated PARN-Ser557 to modulate PARN translocation from the ER to cytosol. By promoting the decay of ER-associated MDM2 transcripts with low ribosome occupancy, the ER-anchored PARN modulated DNA damage response and thereby cell viability. These findings revealed that a highly regulated communication between mRNA degradation rate and translation efficiency is present on the ER surface in situ and that PARN may contribute to this communication by modulating the dynamic ribosome reallocation between transcripts with low and high ribosome occupancies.

Background: Rangeland degradation means that a reduction both in rank and status of general floral/ fauna composition, energy flow and biomass of a certain ecosystem. Objective: The review was conducted to assess rangeland degradation, cause and its impact on local livelihood in Yabello district and also suggests appropriate methods used to rehabilitate it. Methods: The data and literatures were collected from different both domestic and abroad researcher research result reviewed and internet sources. The research paper review mainly addresses concepts of rangeland degradation, major causes in tropics and Ethiopia particularly in Yabello rangelands, impacts of rangeland degradation, principles of rangeland restoration and common restoration techniques.Result: Based on those research papers and the current fact situations the major drivers leading to rangeland degradation includes climate change, overgrazing, bush encroachment, both human and livestock population pressure, drought, and government policy . Of all bush encroachment is becoming the major threat to Yabello rangelands. And this led to decline in rangeland condition, water potential, soil status, and animal performance, livestock holding at the household level and community become destitute and in the long run poverty. In spite of these impacts, the action of restoration techniques in the area is highly insufficient. Conclusion: Generally in order to address rangeland degradation problems, there is a strong need to coordination between the local community and the scientific community for sustainable land management trough post management techniques by applying reseeding technology.

Fourteen (14) rack-mounted polycrystalline modules installed on the concrete roof of the solar energy applications laboratory at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, a hot humid environment were assessed after 19 years of continuous outdoor expodure. The physical state of the modules was documented using a visual inspection checklist. They were further assessed by current-voltage (I-V) characterization and thermal imaging. The modules were found to be in good physical state, except some bubbles on front side and minor discolouration/corrosion at edge of the cells. Compared with reference values, the performance decline of the modules observed over the exposure period was: nominal power (P_nom), 21% to 35%; short circuit current (I_sc), 5.8% to 11.7%; open circuit voltage (V_oc) 3.6% to 5.6% and 11.9% to 25.7% for fill factor (FF). It is hoped that this study will provide some helpful information to project developers, manufacturers and the research community on the long-term performance of PV modules in Ghana.

This paper investigated reliability modeling for systems subject to dependent competing risks considering that the variation of failure threshold is not considered in most studies on competing failure reliability. Firstly, the variation of degradation quantity under shocks was analyzed, and the variation of threshold was considered on this basis. Secondly, the cumulative degradation under the influence of the random shock process was analyzed. The attractive property of copula is symmetry. Then, A linear Wiener process model is applied to model performance degradation failure, and a multi-performance-degradation correlated-competition model based on a Copula function is constructed, which considers the correlated competition between multiperformance degradation failures. Lastly, the micromotor system is used to analyze the applicability of the proposed model for bivariate instances. demonstrating the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed model.

Photocatalytic decomposition of ethylene was performed under UV-Led irradiation at the presence of nanocrystalline TiO2 (anatase, 15 nm) supported on the porous nickel foam. Process was carried out in the high temperature chamber with regulated temperature from ambient to 125°C under flow of reacted gas (ethylene in a synthetic air, 50 ppm) with simultaneous FTIR measurements of sample surface. Ethylene was decomposed with higher efficiency in elevated temperatures with maximum of 28% at 100-125°C. The nickel foam used as support for TiO2 allowed to enhance the ethylene decomposition at the temperature of 50°C. However, at 50°C the stability of ethylene decomposition was not retained within the following reaction run, but it was at 100°C. Performed photocatalytic measurements at the presence of some radicals scavengers indicated that higher efficiency of ethylene decomposition was obtained due to the improved separation of charge carriers and increased formation of superoxide anionic radicals, which were formed at the interface of thermally activated nickel foam and TiO2.

In this work Cu2O nanoparticles (NPs) were created in-situ on graphene functionalized with Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (G@TLL) where site-oriented supported TLL acted as template and binder in the presence of copper salt by tailorable synthesis under mild conditions, producing a heterogeneous catalyst. Cu2O NPs was confirmed by XRD and XPS. The TEM microscopy showed that the nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed over the G@TLL surface with sizes of 53 nm and 165nm. This G@TLL-Cu2O hybrid was successfully used in the degradation of toxic organic compounds such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and Rhodamine B (RhB). In the case of TCE, the hybrid presented a high catalytic capacity, degrading 60 ppm of product in 60 min in aqueous solution and room temperature without the formation of other toxic subproducts. In addition, a TOF value of 7.5 times higher than the unsupported counterpart (TLL-Cu2O) was obtained, demonstrating the improved catalytic efficiency of the system in the solid-phase. The hybrid also presented an excellent catalytic performance for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) obtaining a complete degradation (48ppm) in 50 min in in aqueous solution and room temperature and with the presence of a green oxidant as H2O2.

Magnesium-silver alloys are of high interest for the use as temporary bone implants due to their antibacterial properties in addition to biocompatibility and biodegradability. Thin wires in particular can be used for scaffolding, but the determination of their degradation rate and homogeneity using traditional methods is difficult. Therefore, we have employed 3D imaging using X-ray near-field holotomography with sub-micrometer resolution to study the degradation of thin (250 μm diameter) Mg-2Ag and Mg-6Ag wires. The wires were studied in two states, recrystallized and solution annealed to assess the influence of Ag content and precipitates on the degradation. Imaging was employed after degradation in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium and 10% fetal bovine serum after 1 to 7 days. At 3 days of immersion the degradation rates of both alloys in both states were similar, but at 7 days higher silver content and solution annealing lead to decreased degradation rates. The opposite was observed for the pitting factor. Overall, the standard deviation of the determined parameters was high, owing to the relatively small field of view during imaging and high degradation inhomogeneity of the samples. Nevertheless, Mg-6Ag in the solution annealed state emerges as a potential material for thin wire manufacturing for implants.

Current satellite remote sensing methods struggle to detect and map forest degradation, a critical issue as it is likely a major and growing source of carbon emissions and biodiveristy loss. TanDEM-X InSAR phase height (hϕ) is a promising variable for measuring forest disturbances, as it is closely related to mean canopy height, and thus should decrease if canopy trees are removed. However, previous research has focused on relatively flat terrain, despite the fact that much of the worlds’ remaining tropical forests are found in hilly areas, and this inevitably introduces artifacts in sideways imaging systems. In this paper, we find a relationship between hϕ and aboveground biomass change in four selectively logged plots in a hilly region of central Gabon. We show that minimising the level of multilooking in the interferometric processing chain strengthens this relationship, and that degradation estimates across steep slopes in the surrounding region are improved by selecting data from the most appropriate pass directions on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This shows that TanDEM-X InSAR can measure the magnitude of degradation, and that topographic effects can be mitigated if data from multiple SAR viewing geometries are available.

Microorganisms inhabiting subsurface petroleum reservoirs are key players in biochemical transformations. The interactions of microbial communities in these environments are highly complex and still poorly understood. This work aimed to assess publicly available metagenomes from oil reservoirs and implement a robust pipeline of genome-resolved metagenomics to deci-pher metabolic and taxonomic profiles of petroleum reservoirs worldwide. Analysis of 301,2 Gb of metagenomic information derived from heavily flooded petroleum reservoirs in China and Alaska to non-flooded petroleum reservoirs in Brazil enabled us to reconstruct 148 MAGs of high and medium quality. At the phylum level, 74% of MAGs belonged to bacteria and 26% to ar-chaea. The profiles of these MAGs were related to the physicochemical parameters and recovery management applied. The analysis of the potential functional core in the reservoirs showed that the microbiota was specialized for each site, with 31.7% of the total KEGG orthologies annotated as functions (1,690 genes) common to all oil fields, while 18% of the functions were site-specific, i.e., present only in one of the oil fields. The oil reservoirs with lower level of intervention were the most similar to the potential functional core, while the oil fields with longer history of water in-jection had greater variation in functional profile. These results show how key microorganisms and their functions respond to the distinct physicochemical parameters and interventions of the oil field operations such as water injection and expand the knowledge of biogeochemical trans-formations in these ecosystems.