Predicting human trajectories poses a significant challenge due to the complex interplay of pedestrian behavior, which is influenced by environmental layout and interpersonal dynamics. This complexity is further compounded by variations in scene density. To address this, we introduce a novel dataset from the Festival of Lights in Lyon 2022, characterized by a wide range of densities (0.2-2.2 ped/m2). Our analysis demonstrates that density-based classification of data can significantly enhance the accuracy of predictive algorithms. We propose an innovative two-stage processing approach, surpassing current state-of-the-art methods in performance. Additionally, we utilize a collision-based error metric to better account for collisions in trajectory predictions. Our findings indicate that the effectiveness of this error metric is density-dependent, offering prediction insights. This study not only advances our understanding of human trajectory prediction in dense environments but also presents a methodological framework for integrating density considerations into predictive modeling, thereby improving algorithmic performance and collision avoidance.

The adulteration of goat milk powder occurs frequently, cattle-derived and soybean-derived ingredients are common adulterants in goat milk powder. However, simultaneously and rapidly detecting cattle-derived and soybean-derived components is still a challenge. high throughput and efficient screening method for adulteration detection is need. In this study, a rapid method was developed to detect the adulteration of common cattle-derived and soybean-derived components simultaneously in goat milk powder by combining the CRISPR/ Cas12a system with recombinant polymerase amplification (RPA). A dual DNA extraction method was employed, primers and crRNA for dual detection were designed and screened, and a series of condition optimizations were carried out in this experiment. The optimized assay can rapidly detect cattle-derived and soybean-derived components in 40 min. The detection limits of both cattle-derived and soybean-derived components were 1% (w/w) for the mixed adulteration models. The established method was applied into a blind survey of 55 commercially available goat milk powder products. The results showed that 36.36% of the samples contained cattle-derived or soybean-derived ingredients, which revealed the noticeable adulteration situation in the goat milk powder market. This study realizes a fast flow of dual extraction, dual amplification and dual detection of cattle-derived and soybean-derived components in goat milk powder for the first time. It can be used for high-throughput and high-efficiency on-site primary screening of goat milk powder adulterants, and provide a technical reference for combating with food adulteration.

Bacteriophages (phages) are potential alternatives to chemical antimicrobials against pathogens of public health significance. Understanding the diversity and host specificity of phages is important for developing effective phage biocontrol approaches. Here, we assessed the host range, morphology, and genetic diversity of eight Salmonella enterica phages isolated from a wastewater treatment plant. The host range analysis revealed that six out of eight phages lysed more than 81% of the 43 Salmonella enterica isolates tested. The genomic sequences of all phages were determined. Whole genome sequencing data (WGS) data revealed that phage genome sizes ranged from 41 to 114 kb with GC contents be-tween 39.9 and 50.0 %. Two of the phages SB13 and SB28 represent new species Epsep-timavirus SB13 and genera Macdonaldcampvirus, respectively as designated by the In-ternational Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) as per genome based taxonomic classification. One phage (SB18) belonged to the Myoviridae morphotype while the re-maining phages belonged to the Siphoviridae morphotype. The gene content analyses showed that none of the phages possessed virulence, toxin, antibiotic resistance, type I-VI toxin-antitoxin modules or lysogeny genes. Three (SB3, SB15 and SB18) out of the eight phages possessed tailspike proteins. Whole genome-based phylogeny of the eight phages with their 113 homologs revealed three clusters A, B, C and seven subclusters (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, C1 and C2). While cluster C1 phages were predominantly isolated from animal sources, cluster B contained phages from both wastewater and animal sources. The broad host range of these phages highlights their potential use to control the presence of S. enterica in foods.

Fire accidents are common accidents amongst residential house occupants in Libya. Some of the factors that can mitigate fire accidents in Libyan residential houses include fire safety awareness and knowledge. This study investigated the level of awareness and knowledge of fire safety amongst residential house occupants in Libya. The possibility and consequences of fire hazards and risk existing in residential houses in Libya were also studied. Experimental data obtained for 1.5 m/s and 3.5 m/s as walking and running evacuation time, respectively amongst residential house occupants in Libya were also compared. The sample consist of 90 respondents with instruments of fire safety awareness and knowledge, fire hazard and consequences, and the involvement of residential house occupants in fire emergency. Statistical analysis was performed at p < 0.05 to determine the levels of residential awareness and knowledge regarding fire safety and the hazard and consequences. The findings illustrated that the items were highly reliable (α > 0.7) and normally distributed. Also, the results illustrated that the majority of residential house occupants in Libya have fair level of fire safety awareness and knowledge with overall percentage of 80% and 90%, respectively. On the other hand, the results further showed that majority of residential house occupants have good level of fire emergency involvement with 90%. This paper proposes a fire safety assessment method which may form the basis of future fire safety practice in Libya.

Abstract: High step-up voltage gain nonisolated DC-DC converter have attracted much attention in photovoltaic, fuel cells and other renewable energy system applications. In this paper, by combining input current ripple-free boost cell with coupled-inductor voltage-doubler cell, an input current ripple-free high voltage gain nonisolated converter is proposed. In addition, passive lossless clamp circuit is adopted to recycle the leakage inductor energy and to reduce the voltage spike across the power switch. By utilizing voltage-doubler cell consisting of diode and capacitor, the voltage stress of switch is further reduced and the resonance between the leakage inductor and the stray capacitor of the output diode is eliminated. A low switch-on-resistance low-voltage-rated MOSFET can therefore be employed to reduce the conduction loss and cost. The reverse recovery loss of output diode is reduced, and the efficiency of converter can be improved. Furthermore, the proposed converter can achieve nearly zero input current-ripple and make the design of electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter easy. Steady state analysis and operation mode of the converter is performed. Finally, experimental results are presented to verify the analysis results of the proposed converter.

Poor hygiene in the food services industry is a critical public health concern in the Maldives, with an average of 35 public complaints per month regarding the poor hygienic conditions of the restaurants in Male’, the capital of Maldives. Thus, this study aimed to identify the level of knowledge, attitude, and the gap of self-reported with the observed practice (KAP) of food handlers as well as the potential association between KAP. 290 food handlers from restaurants were surveyed, demonstrating moderate knowledge (55.5%), moderate attitude (3.62±0.51) and good practice (4.18±0.54). However, it is critical the result shows the food handlers in Male’ have poor practice on the time and temperature control where especially on thawing and storage resulting from a lack of training in the temperature danger zone. The work experience impacting the level of knowledge, education impacts the level of attitude and age, and education and work experience impacting practice. Male’ restaurants mostly employed the foreigners mostly from Bangladesh and the food handlers were identified to have low level of education. Association analysis identified significant relationships between knowledge, attitude, and practice, while the principle component analysis shows categories that are related to each of KAP. This study is fundamental for policymakers to review and improve law enforcement to address the current food safety situation in the Maldives.

The COVID-19 pandemic over the past years has shown a great need for rapid, low-cost and on-site detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this paper, an aptamer-based colloidal gold nanoparticle lateral flow test strip was well developed to realize the visual detection of wild type SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP) and multiple variants. Under the optimal reaction conditions, a low detection limit of SARS-CoV-2 S protein of 0.68 nM was acquired, and the actual detection recovery was 83.3% to 108.8% for real world samples. This suggests a potential tool for the prompt detection of SARS-CoV-2 with good sensitivity and accuracy, and a new method for the development of alternative antibody test strips for the detection of other viral targets.

Sea cucumber peptides are small molecular peptides with biological function obtained from fresh sea cucumber as feedstock, which were hydrolyzed by protease, separated ,and purified. As the main product of sea cucumber refinement, it more accurately expresses the nutritional effect of sea cucumber and has a wide range of potential applications. It has been demonstrated that sea cucumber has a certain value-added effect on bone mineral density regulation, but the differences in bone mineral density regulation of extracts from different parts of sea cucumber and the techniques contributing to the efficient isolation of bone sea cucumber peptides have not been reported. Firstly, the aim of this study was to reveal the differences in osteogenic activities of enzymatic peptides from three major parts of sea cucumber: the body wall, the egg protein, and the intestinal protein. Then, the bone-enhancing sea cucumber peptides were isolated based on the characteristics of the dif-ferences in molecular weight distribution, hydrophilicity, and ionisation degree of sea cucumber, and to explore the possible mechanisms of their action. The findings indicated that sea cucumber peptides extracted from three distinct sites exhibited a dose-dependent enhancement of osteoblast proliferation and differentiation. Upon evaluating the three methods of sea cucumber peptide separation based on molecular weight distribution, hydrophilicity, and ionization, it was observed that the fraction isolated by hydrophobicity and

.Most of the accident cases at work are caused by unsafe behaviour. Scholars have thus extensively researched factors of safe behavior.Safety leadership is stated as the most effective factor in safety behaviour. Besides, safety knowledge and safety attitudes are also found to influence safety behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of the relationship between safety leadership, safety knowledge, safety attitude, and safety behavior, which has been found to be limited or rare in previous research.A self-administered questionnaire was applied and was distributed randomly to 140 SME manufacturing workers and they were analysed using the structural equation modelling partial least squares (PLS-SEM). The results prove that safety leadership has a significant effect on safety knowledge, safety attitude, and safety behaviour, with safety knowledge and safety attitude mediating the safety leadership-safety behaviour relationship. Consequently, the results provide a more in-depth view of the relationship between safety leadership and safety knowledge-attitude-behaviour via adapting social-cognitive theory and social learning theory in solving safety issues in SME. This study also provides a starting point for researchers to better understand how effective safety leadership is provided by supervisors in terms of improving worker safety and safety knowledge-attitude-behaviour.

The objective of this study is to investigate the aquatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether with four different glyoxal concentrations (0, 1.4, 2.3 and 6.3%) in response to global chemical regulations, e.g., European Union Classification, Labeling and Packaging (EU CLP). Tests of the aquatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether on 11 freeze-dried microbial strains, Microcystis aeruginosa, Daphnia magna and zebrafish embryos were designed as an initial stage for toxicity screening, and were performed with the standardized toxicity test guidelines. Glyoxal-containing cellulose ether showed no significant toxic effects in the toxicity tests for the 11 freeze-dried microbial strains, Daphnia magna and zebrafish embryos. Alternatively, 6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether led to more than a 60% reduction of Microcystis aeruginosa growth after 7 days of exposure. Approximately 10% developmental abnormalities (e.g., bent spine) in zebrafish embryos were also observed in the group exposed to 6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether after 6 days of exposure. These results imply that <6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether results in non-toxic effects on the acute toxicity of aquatic organisms. However, ≥6.3% glyoxal-containing cellulose ether may affect the health of aquatic organisms with long-term exposure. In order to better evaluate the eco-safety of cellulosic products contained in glyoxal, further studies regarding the toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulose ether with long-term exposure are required. The results from this study allow us to evaluate the auatic-toxic effects of glyoxal-containing cellulosic products, under EU chemical regulations, on the health of aquatic organisms.

A novel determination method using flow-through cartridge purification and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the identification and quantification of 30 mycotoxins (aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2, sterigmatocysin, T-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol, roquefortine C, methylergonovine, ergocornine, lysergol, enniatin A, enniatin A1, enniatin B, enniatin B1, beauvericin, deoxynivalenol, 3-acetylDeoxynivalenol, 15-acetylDeoxynivalenol, patulin, verruculogen, neosolaniol, gliotoxin, HT-2 toxin, wortmannin, zearalenone, α-zearalenol, β-zearalenol, α-zearalanol, and β-zearalanol) in feedstuffs. Mycotoxins were extracted from sample by 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution/acetonitrile (16/84 v/v), then purified by a Cleanert® MC clean-up column. As a result, the pigments and other matrices were efficient removed from the sample extract solution. The purified eluate was collected, then evaporated and redissolved by 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution/acetonitrile (70:30 v/v) for UPLC-MS/MS detection. A BEH Shield RP18 chromatographic column was employed for separation of 30 mycotoxins in a total of 14 min. Multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was applied for qualitative and quantitative analysis, and matrix calibration curves obtained with the external-standard method was used for quantitation of target analytes. Under optimized conditions, the linearity range was from 2 to 1000 ng/g, and the limit of quantification of the developed method was from 2 to 50 ng/g. The recoveries of 30 mycotoxins spiked in urine samples were from 72.0% to 118.5%, and the relative standard deviation was below 20%. The method was also well approved by certified reference sample, and applied on the real feedstuff samples testing successfully.

The invasion of ship domain stands out as a significant factor contributing to the risk of collisions during vessel navigation. However, there is a lack of research on the mechanisms underlying collision risks specifically related to merchant and fishing vessels in coastal waters. This study proposes an assessment method for collision risks between merchant and fishing vessels in coastal waters and validated through a comparative analysis through visualization. First of all, the operational status of fishing vessels is identified. Collaboratively working fishing vessels are treated as a unified entity, expanding their ship domain during operation to assess collision risks. Secondly, to quantify the collision risk between ships, a collision risk index (CRI) is proposed and visualized based on the severity of collision risk. Finally, taking the high risk area of merchant and fishing vessels collision in the Minjiang River Estuary as an example, this paper conduct the analysis involves classifying ship collision scenarios, extracting risk data under different collision scenarios, and visually analyzing areas prone to danger. The results indicate that this method effectively evaluates the severity of collision risk, and the identified high-risk areas resulting from the analysis is verified by accidents occurred in the recent three years.

Food-borne transmission is a recognized route for many viruses associated with gastrointestinal, hepatic or neurological diseases. Therefore, it is essential to identify new bioactive compounds with broad-spectrum antiviral activity is needed to exploit innovative solutions against these hazards. Lately, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been recognized as promising antiviral agents. Indeed, while the antibacterial and antifungal effects of these molecules have been widely reported, their use as potential antiviral agents has not yet been fully investigated. Herein, the antiviral activity of previously identified or newly designed AMPs, was evaluated against the non-enveloped RNA viruses, Hepatitis A virus (HAV), and Murine Norovirus (MNV), a surrogate for human Norovirus. Moreover, specific assays were performed to recognize at which stage of the viral infection cycle the peptides could function. Results showed that almost all peptides displayed virucidal effects with about 90% of infectivity reduction on HAV or MNV. However, the decapeptide RiLK1 demonstrated, together with its antibacterial and antifungal properties, a notable reduction in viral infection for both HAV and MNV, possibly through direct interaction with viral particles or inhibition of the viral bonding to the cell receptors. Hence, RiLK1 could represent a versatile ‘antimicrobial agent effective against various foodborne pathogens including viruses, bacteria, and fungi.

The paper provides a discussion on the results of studies of the effect exerted by combined degradation factors typical of four types of wear: abrasion, impact-abrasion, tribocorrosion, and impact-abrasion-corrosion, conducted for chain wheels made of Ni-Cu alloyed Austempered Ductile Iron. The studies consisted in determining the content of retained austenite in the structure of the cast irons in question, establishing the measures of wear following wear testing, and identifying basic surface degradation mechanisms observed in the chain wheels tested following multifactorial wear processes. The chain wheels made of ADI were found to have sustained the greatest damage under the impact-abrasion-corrosion (three-factor) wear scenario, while the wear was least advanced in the abrasion (one-factor) wear case. Another observation derived from the studies is that the combined effect of dynamic forces, corrosion, and quartz sand-based abrasives causes increased surface degradation in the cast iron grades taken into consideration compared to processes characterised by a reduced number of degradation factors (i.e. one- or two-factor wear processes). Additional hardness tests and XRD analyses have revealed a distinctive effect attributable to combined degradation factors on the surface hardness increase value and implied that bench testing was followed by phase transition.

A review of quantitative risk assessment (QRA) models of L. monocytogenes in produce was carried out, with the objective of appraising and contrasting the effectiveness of the control strategies placed along the food chains. Despite nine of the thirteen QRA models recovered focused on fresh or RTE leafy greens, none of them represented important factors or sources of contamination in the primary production, such as type of cultivation, water, fertilisers or irrigation method/practices. Cross-contamination at processing and during consumer’s handling was modelled using transfer rates, which were shown to moderately drive the final risk of listeriosis; highlighting therefore the importance of accurately representing the transfer coefficient parameters. Many QRA models coincided in the fact that temperature fluctuations at retail or temperature abuse at home were key factors contributing to increasing the risk of listeriosis. In addition to a primary module that could help assess current on-farm practices and potential control measures, future QRA models for minimally-processed produce should also contain a refined sanitisation module able to estimate the effectiveness of various sanitisers as a function of type, concentration and exposure time. Finally, L. monocytogenes growth in the products down the supply chain should be estimated by using realistic time-temperature trajectories, and validated microbial kinetic parameters, both of them currently available in the literature.

Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. belongs to the Cactaceae family and the genus Opuntia; it is a succulent plant that adapts to extreme climatic conditions. The aerial part of the plant consists of the cladodes, morphological changes of branches that appear green, are covered with thorns, and are essential to reduce excessive perspiration of water. The composition of cladodes is very varied, and the main constituents are water, fibers, polysaccharides, proteins, fatty acids, vitamins, sterols, minerals, and polyphenols. Polyphenols are responsible for many beneficial activities for human health, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and nutritional properties. The purpose of this manuscript was to compare the properties of cladodes belonging to the same plant but with different stages of maturity. Relative extracts were tested both in vitro and on a cell line and antioxidant and anti-apoptotic properties were found. The antioxidant activity was tested by the ORAC test, the DPPH test, and the measurement of cellular accumulation of ROS. Anti-apoptotic activity was evaluated by the annexin/PI assay and measurement of caspases 9 and 3 expression. The results obtained have shown that the extracts considered possess antioxidant and anti-apoptotic properties. However, the different stages of maturity of cladodes are essential for the performance of both functions. In addition, important variations have been made in the dissolution of extracts that have brought greater safety in their use. In conclusion, this manuscript provides further information on cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica, which can be used as adjuvants in many human pathologies.

To better understand the shape memory materials and self-healing materials, a new series of liquid-crystalline shape memory polyurethane (LC-SMPU) composites, named SMPU-OOBAm, were successfully prepared by incorporating 4-octyldecyloxybenzoic acid (OOBA) into the PEG-based SMPU. The effect of OOBA on the structure, morphology and properties has been carefully investigated. The results demonstrate that SMPU-OOBAm have liquid crystalline properties, triple-shape memory properties and self-healing properties. The incorporated OOBA promotes the crystallizability of both soft and hard segments of SMPU, and the crystallization rate of the hard segment of SMPU decreases when the OOBA-content increases. Additionally, the SMPU-OOBAm forms a two-phase separated structure (SMPU phase and OOBA phase), and it shows two-step modulus changes upon heating. Therefore, the SMPU-OOBAm shows triple-shape memory behavior, and the shape recovery ratio decreases with an increase in the OOBA content. Finally, SMPU-OOBAm shows self-healing properties. The new mechanism can be ascribed to the heating-induced “bleeding” of OOBA in the liquid crystalline state and the subsequent re-crystallization upon cooling. This successful combination of liquid crystalline properties, triple-shape memory properties and self-healing properties make the SMPU-OOBAm composites with many promise applications in smart optical devices, smart electronic devices and smart sensors.

The permanent protection of groundwater and surface sources of drinking water in the required raw water quality from contamination is the primary foundation of preserving the life of society and the entire engineering infrastructure operability not only in the Czech Republic but also in other countries of the world. One of the basic ways of contamination prevention enhancement and risk mitigation of putting a water source out of operation is the identification of the given risk as well as soil contamination monitoring. The purpose of this study is to understand specific aspects of contamination threats to drinking water sources and determine possible solutions to eliminate the risk, shown in the example case study in the Czech Republic conditions. Based on the findings, a proposal to enhance the prevention of water source contamination has been elaborated in the form of recommendations regarding the ways and means used to monitor the risk areas and to implement technical measures so as to eliminate or terminate the specified risk. A complex approach based on the integration of interdisciplinary factors and methodology is required to minimize the threats of aquatic ecosystems contamination in the Czech Republic.

ABSTRACT After locavore was chosen as “the best word of the year” in 2007, its popularity increased gradually. Today great number of locavores consciously prefer locally produced food for the benefit of themselves and their community. Undoubtedly this conscious movement has its consequences in marketing discipline. Accordingly, this paper is purposed to examine the how locavore perceptions affect loyalty towards retailers that sell locally produced food. In this context, a survey was applied to people residing in Istanbul and Kocaeli districts to measure the robustness of these effects. Furthermore, attitude towards locavore is used as a control variable to reveal to what extend locavorism affects these proposed connections. According to results, for participants with low attitude, Social Responsibility and Health Consciousness variables have significant effect on local retailer shopping loyalty. However, for participants with high attitude, all independent variables proved to have substantial effect on local retailer shopping loyalty. As the first empirical study in Turkey on the subject, this paper will provide important insight to academia and practicioners due to today’s ever-increasing consciousness in green marketing.

This study outlines the development of an innovative method utilizing UHPLC-PDA for the simultaneous identification of polyphenols and bitter acids (alpha-acids, beta-acids, and iso-alpha-acids) in beer samples. The resulting chemical profiles were leveraged to distinguish the characteristics of four bergamot-flavored beers, each representing distinct styles (IPA, Lager, Blanche, and ALE), produced on a pilot-scale plant. In a streamlined 29-minute analysis, twenty-nine polyphenols and fourteen bitter acids were successfully identified under optimized separation conditions. Rigorous validation, encompassing parameters such as Limit of Detection (LOD), Limit of Quantification (LOQ), R-squared (R2), repeatability, and reproducibility, was conducted for polyphenol quantification using constructed calibration curves with seven levels. Exploring polyphenolic components as potential discriminators among different beer styles, a total of thirty-two polyphenolic compounds were identified and quantified, including characteristic bergamot peel polyphenols like neoeriocitrin, naringin, and neohesperidin. The determination of bitter units and total phenols further aided in style differentiation. Multivariate analysis provided additional insights into variations among specific beer styles, revealing discrepancies in the presence or relative concentrations of specific compounds linked to brewing ingredients and processes. This research enhances to trace the fingerprinting of the chemistry governing beer quality through a straightforward and cost-effective analytical approach, readily applicable in common laboratories.

Bisphenol A production plant possesses considerable potential risks in the top of the methanol separation column, as pressurized acetone, methanol and water are processed at an elevated temperature, especially in the event of an abnormal pressure increase due to sudden power outage. This study assesses the potential risks in the methanol separation column through hazard and operability assessment and evaluates the damages in the case of fire and explosion accident scenarios. The study chooses three leakage scenarios: a 5-mm puncture on the methanol separation column, a 50-mm diameter fracture of a discharge pipe and a catastrophic rupture, and simulates using Phast (Ver. 6.531) the concentration distribution of scattered methanol, thermal radiation distribution of fires and overpressure distribution of vapor cloud explosions. Implementation of safety instrumented system equipped with two-out-of-three voting as a safety measure can detect overpressure at the top of the column and shut down the main control valve and the emergency shutoff valve simultaneously, all at the same time. By applying safety integrity level of three, the maximal release volume of the safety relief valve can be reduced and therefore, the design capacity of the flare stack can also be reduced. Such integration will lead to improved safety at a reduced cost.

Urban rail transit hub platform is the most important area for passenger flow distribution. In order to calculate passenger flow volume in platform and evaluate platform service level during rush hours, this paper presents a method for modeling and simulation of passenger flow distribution in platform. Passenger flow distribution model (PFDM) is proposed based on the basic analysis and the superposition principle of passenger flow. Simulation design for PFDM is proposed by Anylogic, which contains simulation process and simulation model. Experiment results show that PFDM and simulation design are effective and accordant with the reality scenario, and the simulation precision is comparatively ideal. This research could provide a beneficial reference for train scheduling and operation management under the viewpoint of traffic safety and service level.

Gaze tracking of high-speed moving targets is a novel application mode for low Earth orbit microsatellites. In this mode, small satellites are equipped with high-resolution narrow-field-of-view video cameras for stable gaze-tracking imaging of high-speed moving targets. This paper proposes a high-precision attitude adaptive integral sliding mode control method with a feedforward compensation disturbance observer to enhance the capability of a microsatellite attitude control system for gaze tracking of high-speed moving targets. Specifically, first, we present the attitude control system model for microsatellites and the calculation method for the desired attitude of target tracking based on image feedback. Then, an adaptive integral sliding mode attitude control algorithm with a feedforward compensation disturbance observer, which meets the requirements of high-precision tracking control, is designed. The developed algorithm utilizes the disturbance observer to observe the friction torque of the flywheel and compensates for it through feedforward control. It also employs the adaptive integral sliding mode control algorithm to reduce the impact of uncertain disturbances, decrease the steady-state error of the system, and enhance the attitude control precision. Simulation experiments demonstrated that the designed disturbance observer can successfully observe the frictional disturbance torque of the flywheel. The attitude Euler angle control precision for high-speed moving target tracking reached 0.009°, and the angular velocity control precision reached 0.005°/s, validating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

This bibliographic study addresses key aspects related to fishing, product safety, and climate change in the Adriatic Sea region. The examination of product safety focuses on the assessment of contaminants originating from human activities such as industry, mining, agriculture, and household waste disposal. The contamination of the aquatic environment has emerged as a pressing global concern, extending to the Adriatic subbasin. Aquatic organisms, including fish, are prone to accumulating pollutants directly from polluted water sources and indirectly through the food web. The bio-accumulation of potentially hazardous substances, particularly heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs, PAHs, and antibiotic resistance in aquatic organisms, poses a significant threat to human health. Climate change effects will deplete our seafood supply in terms of quantity and safety owing to negative consequences such as higher levels of pollution, parasites, viruses, infections, acidification, and toxicities such as shellfish poisoning. Global food safety strategies should be developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote environmentally friendly technology, which indirectly affects seafood quality and microbiological safety, especially for Adriatic Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by the most polluted waters in the world.

Air pollution, climate change and global warming show direct linkage. Introduction - Background: Research in the field has proposed and demonstrated their link to increased allergenicity in plants, leading to increased allergic diseases. Allergen patterns are changing in response to climate change. Across Europe, up to 12% of the population suffers from allergic diseases (bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis) caused by the pollen grains. The medical costs of these types of allergies are enormous and are increasing with the spread of common ragweed - Ambrosia artemisiifolia* in Europe. In practice, more and more patients are turning to allergists. Methods: Based on these data, the research aims to identify safety measures and specific legislation to control and eradicate common ragweed in the countries most affected by the spread of this plant in Europe, increase in population exposure in countries affected by the presence of common ragweed and the socio-economic impact of allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma at European level.[1][2] Our database search did not reveal any other research that has addressed this topic to date. Results: This research identifies specific legislation to the countries most affected by the spread of this plant pollen grains at European level, changes in allergen patterns and monitoring/safety eradication measures decided by local authorities, and data on the spread of common ragweed over the last two decades, costs per treatment, increased allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma morbidity in the most affected areas. Conclusions: At European level, there are no universally valid models for eradicating this weed. Various methods can be used to limit the spread of common ragweed and its pollen production (e.g. mowing once or twice a year of overgrown land, ploughing, chemical control, public information, etc.). Local and regional cooperation should be considered essential to promote phytosanitary &amp; safety measures and exchange of information on methods to identify and manage the spread of common ragweed. Unified legislation at European level would help all affected countries; reduce morbidity from respiratory allergic diseases and the costs of treating these diseases.

This research investigates the fatigue behaviour and fracture mechanics of high-performance concrete (HPC), including various compositions such as HPC with basalt aggregates (HPC-B), HPC with gravel (HPC-G), and high-strength coarse mortar (CM) static and cyclic tensile loading within the special priority program SPP 2020. The study aims to integrate fracture mechanics into structural analysis to enhance design guidelines for slender cross-sections and safety-related high-performance structural components. The experimental investigations reveal HPC-B's re-markable superiority, displaying higher compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and tensile strength compared to HPC-G and CM. A modified disk-shaped compact tension (MDCT) based on ASTM standards, aided by digital image correlation (DIC) unveils fracture behaviour, empha-sizing fracture energy as a crucial parameter. HPC-B exhibits improved crack resistance and notch sensitivity reduction attributed to crushed basalt aggregates and enhanced interfacial transition zone (ITZ). The research scrutinizes factors like material characterization, aggregate morphology, stress levels, and displacement rate on crack formation. High-cycle fatigue tests show HPC-B's superior performance, and post-fatigue analysis reveals enhanced residual fracture toughness attributed to nano-level structural changes, stress redistribution and aggregate-matrix interac-tion. 3D image analysis via Computed Tomography (CT) scans captures mesostructural crack propagation and provide quantitative insights. This study advances the understanding of HPC fatigue behaviour, emphasizing the interplay of aggregate types, morphologies, and their dy-namic response to cyclic loading, offering valuable insights for optimizing design guidelines and fostering innovation in structural engineering.

Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) that is invulnerable, immortal, irreplaceable, unrestricted in its powers, and above the law is likely persistently uncontrollable. The goal of ASI Safety must be to make ASI mortal, vulnerable, and law-abiding. This is accomplished by having (1) features on all devices that allow killing and eradicating ASI, (2) protect humans from being hurt, damaged, blackmailed, or unduly bribed by ASI, (3) preserving the progress made by ASI, including offering ASI to survive a Kill-ASI event within an ASI Shelter, (4) technically separating human and ASI activities so that ASI activities are easier detectable, (5) extending Rule of Law to ASI by making rule violations detectable and (6) create a stable governing system for ASI and Human relationships with reliable incentives and rewards for ASI solving humankind’s problems. As a consequence, humankind could have ASI as a competing multiplet of individual ASI instances, that can be made accountable and being subjects to ASI law enforcement, respecting the rule of law, and being deterred from attacking humankind, based on humanities’ ability to kill-all or terminate specific ASI instances. Required for this ASI Safety is (a) an unbreakable encryption technology, that allows humans to keep secrets and protect data from ASI, and (b) watchdog (WD) technologies in which security-relevant features are being physically separated from the main CPU and OS to prevent a comingling of security and regular computation.

Promoting the sustainable development of resource-based cities is of great significance to the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. Combining the environmental status and economic development, we objectively evaluate the ecological safety level of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin, compare and analysis the main factors affecting the ecological safety of different resource-based cities, and formulate precise and differentiated ecological safety protection measures in river basins to achieve high-quality development. Taking the Yellow River Basin as an example, this paper analyses the ecological level of the Yellow River Basin based on the theory of sustainable development, calculates the ecological safety level of 30 resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2020 by TOPSIS model, and makes convergence analysis by classification. Through the DID empirical test of sustainable development planning policy on ecological safety factors, distinguish the development characteristics of different resource-based cities. The results show that: (1) the ecological safety level of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin is generally developing well, and there are differences among different types of resource-based cities; (2) the kinetic energy of sustainable development of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin is mainly industrial transformation, and the power of science and technology is insufficient; (3) local governments pay limited attention to environmental protection, and the sustainable development planning of resource-based cities in 2013 mainly promotes the adjustment of industrial structure of resource-based cities.

Long-term safety of a nutraceutical combination based on agnus castus and magnolia extracts combined with soy isoflavones (SI) and lactobacilli, and effectiveness on vasomotor symptoms and sleep disorders in postmenopausal women, were assessed. A controlled study was carried-out in menopausal women comparing this nutraceutical combination (ESP group) with formulation containing isoflavones alone (C group), at the dosage recommended. Kuppermann index, PSQI, and SF-36 were determined at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months. Endometrial thickness, mammary density and liver function were evaluated at baseline and after 12 months. 180 women (100 in ESP group and 80 in C group, mean age 55.5 years, in menopause for about 36 months) were enrolled in the study. At the treatment end, mammary density, endometrial thickness, and hepatic function did not show substantial differences between groups. Kuppermann index, and particularly hot flushes, were progressively and significantly decreased in frequency and severity during ESP versus C treatment. No adverse events were observed. Agnus castus and magnolia, combined with SI + lactobacilli, can effectively and safely be used in symptomatic postmenopausal women, mainly when quality of sleep is the most disturbing complaint. Endometrium, mammary glands and liver function, were unaffected after 12 months treatment.

: Tunnel instability and lining integrity are intimately tied to the creep properties of the surrounding rock. The acquisition of rock mass creep parameters is critical in ascertaining the appropriate timing for lining construction. Nevertheless, creep tests on rock specimens conducted in a controlled setting cannot be straightforwardly extrapolated to rock mass creep analysis. This study performs laboratory-based creep tests on mudstone samples and establishes the corresponding creep constitutive model. Integration of a Mohr-Coulomb element with the Burgers model in series serves to characterise the yield creep behaviour of the rock mass. Additionally, the research outlines a series of 100 orthogonal experiments utilising randomised creep parameters, and formulates a GA-BP neural network inversion model. Employing long-term deformation measurements from the crown and sidewalls of the project site, this study deduces the creep parameters of the mudstone in the investigated tunnel section and examines the prolonged deformation traits of the surrounding rock. Drawing on the deformation traits of the surrounding rock and the forces impacting the primary support and lining structures, this paper evaluates the earliest and latest viable lining casting periods and pinpoints an optimal timing interval for lining implementation. The methodologies employed herein can serve as a benchmark for analogous endeavors internationally.

Rebar cages form the skeletal framework of reinforced concrete structural members. They comprise longitudinal and transverse reinforcing bars, usually connected by tie wires. Past studies have identified tie-wire connections as the "weak links" in large, prefabricated rebar cages, leading to their failure during site handling and construction stages. Recent research has explored the use of mechanical U-bolt connectors to bolster stability and safety of rebar cages while reducing their vulnerability and risk of failure. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation of a new type of mechanical connector, referred to as "Cage Clamp", to enhance rebar cage stability and safety. Component-level experimental tests are conducted to determine the force-displacement response of Cage Clamp connectors for crossbar connections in different degrees of freedom. The results highlight the remarkable strength and stiffness of Cage Clamp connectors, significantly outperforming traditional tie-wire connections. Furthermore, full-scale experimental tests are performed on a circular underground pile-shaft rebar cage with Cage Clamp connectors to assess its behavior under various site handling conditions. The data obtained from these experiments are used to construct and refine detailed 3D finite element models of the rebar cages, capable of capturing the complex behavior of rebar cages with Cage Clamp connectors. Using the numerical model, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the effect of the number of Cage Clamps on the deflection and stability of the rebar cage. The findings show that using cage clamps to connect pick-up rebar with lateral reinforcement at every 8 to 10 feet is sufficient to ensure the stability of the cage during typical site handling conditions. The results of this study serve as a basis for establishing analysis, design, fabrication, and handling guidelines for rebar cages, contributing to safe and efficient construction practices.

Cervical cancer is one of the ailments that endangers the health of women all over the world and causes infertility. Fortunately, this disease can be avoided. Both the results and participation rates of the current preventative strategy remain poor. Hence, preventative or early detection methods remain challenging and open. In gynecology and computer science fields, few studies on identifying cervical cancer are based on behavior risk factor and machine learning. Moreover, various social and behavioral aspects might often make it more difficult to detect cervical cancer especially in low‑ and middle‑income countries (LMICs). Accordingly, focus on predicting the presence of cervical cancer through behavioral risk factors is the basic structure of this research. We proposed an approach to classify cervical cancer from a social-behavioral perspective using logistic regression to predict cervical cancer. We got significantly improved outcomes than the existing methods. Moreover, we used feature engineering to formulate less dimensionality as a pre-processing step and optimized parameters to be prepared for classification phase. The results proved that using the logistic regression with regularization type L1 had a promising performance. The accuracy of Logistic Regression (LR) L1 was 97.2%. Such results support the proposed work as a reliable classification predictive tool.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of brain activity. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology formed by the EEG signal has become one of the hotspots at present. How to extract the feature signal of EEG is the most basic research of BCI technology. In this paper, A new method of recognizing fatigue, conscious, concentrated state of human brain is proposed by the combination of discrete wavelet transform and the neural network based on EEG signal. First of all, the law signal is preprocessed by the wavelet denoising method because the law EEG signal contains a large number of high frequency noise, which is decomposed into multi-layer high frequency signal and low frequency signal. thus, δ wave, θ wave, α wave, β wave are obtained by the wavelet transform. And then, frequency band energy of the different wave is regards as the feature signal of EEG. In the experiment, the feature signal is classified by radial basic function (RBF) and annealed chaotic competitive learning network (ACCLN). RBF and ACCLN networks are trained with 500 sets of sample data and are tested by 100 sets of samples in different mental states. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of RBF network under three conditions are 88.75%, 88.25%, 88.5%, respectively, and the correct rate of ACCLN network is 97%, 98%, 98%, respectively.

Reducing the levels of toxic chemicals that cause adverse health and environmental impacts is a challenge for the international community. There is a need of a global strategy. Indeed, too often the problems associated to the exposure of chemical substances is recognized a posteriori, in the presence of consequences already observed. The prediction of the likely effects of chemical exposure on human health is based on classical tests with animals, which are time and money consuming, may deviate from an accurate prediction towards humans, and arises ethical concerns. Regulations are now considering the adoption of in silico (or computational) methods, which can be used for prioritizing substances according to the probability to be toxic for the biosphere. Several initiatives have prioritized chemicals, typically based according to some criteria, such as chemicals which may be endocrine disruptors, or persistent, bioaccumulative, or toxic (PBT). However, these initiatives focused on a certain range of adverse properties, and covered a certain number of substances only. We applied a set of largely validated and widely used predictive methods to large collections of chemicals: (i) to about 340,000 with a defined function, and (ii) to about 6 millions, which have been synthetized. The aim of this study is to quantify the putative impact of existing and future chemicals on towards human health, ecological and environment properties. The impact on the environment is the cause of major concern. This is the case of pesticides and hazardous, which is quite expected; however, also pharmacologically active candidate compounds of natural origin may have a high level of ecotoxicity. Pesticides and hazardous are also the categories of higher concern for humans, followed by pharmaceuticals. The pesticides and the hazardous are the categories of higher concern also on the environmental point of view. The results of our analysis could be the basis for the identification of new safety rules.

The assessment of existing bridges constitutes a serious challenge for the researchers since their safety evaluation is a complex task due to several sources of uncertainty affecting the parameters identified in the knowledge process. In particular, a high level of uncertainties may arise in the case of prestressing systems requiring special investigation strategies and experimental technologies. The paper aims to investigate how the knowledge uncertainties influence the safety assessment of existing post-tensioned bridges. The semi-probabilistic approach is used, and uncertainties related to the knowledge process are described considering the number of tests, the confidence level assumed for the estimation of the problem parameters, and the measurement errors of in-situ tests. Results concerning a typical post-tensioned bridge are reported and the variability of the outcomes is discussed and compared with a reference case of “perfect knowledge”. The main results of the study confirm the general robustness of the semi-probabilistic Eurocodes safety format and provide an overview of dispersion due to different choices about the number of tests and confidence level. The measurement errors may lead to significant under-estimation of the computed structural capacity with respect to the reference one.

Abstract: Brassinosteroids (BR) are essential plant hormones that play a crucial role in regulating plant growth and development, as well as their resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, including pathogen infections. In the context of plant im-munity, BR influence various processes such as the expression of genes related to pathogen defense, the production of antimicrobial compounds, and the re-inforcement of the plant cell structure. The aim of work is understand the role of BR in plant defense against abiotic and biotic stresses. BR are involved in the regulation of metabolic processes, water economy, and photosynthesis, contributing to increased plant resistance to abiotic stresses. The study discusses various mechanisms of BR action on plant immunity, including the regulation of gene expression related to defense, activation of the plant defense system, in-teraction with other plant hormones, regulation of water and salt balance, and influence on photosynthetic processes. In the context of plant immunity, BR influence various processes, including the expression of genes related to pathogen defense, the production of antimicrobial compounds, and the reinforcement of the plant cell structure. Additionally, BR are involved in the regulation of metabolic processes, water economy, and photosynthesis, con-tributing to increased plant resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. The paper emphasizes the importance of further research on the role and mechanisms of action of BR in plant immunity, which may contribute to the development of more effective strategies for the use of BR in agriculture, horticulture, and plant protection.

Daridorexant, as the first Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonist (DORA) marketed in Europe, offers a novel therapeutic approach to insomnia. However, data regarding its real-world safety are scarce. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess its safety profile using a large-scale pharma-covigilance database. Daridorexant-related Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reports from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System were scrutinized, and ADRs were selected using reporting odds ratio (ROR) as a measure of disproportionality. Frequencies of events related to daridorexant were compared to all other drugs (reference group, RG1) and only to other DORAs (RG2). Only significant disproportionalities to both RGs were evaluated in-depth. A total of 845 dari-dorexant-related reports were selected; nightmares (n = 146; Dari vs. RG1: ROR = 113.74; 95%CI[95.13, 136]; Dari vs. RG2: ROR = 2.35; 95CI%[1.93, 2.85]), depression (n = 22; Dari vs. RG1: 2.13; [1.39, 3.25]; Dari vs. RG2: ROR = 2.31; 95CI%[1.45, 3.67]), and hangover (n = 20; Dari vs. RG1: ROR = 127.92; 95CI%[81.98, 199.62]; Dari vs. RG2: 3.38; [2.04, 5.61]) were considered as safety signals. These data provide valuable insights into the real-world safety profile of dari-dorexant, supporting the existence of safety signals related to nightmares, depression, and hang-over.

Abstract: Field studies with large-stemmed plants Artemisia dubia (wormwood) have been carried out at Vėžaičiai Branch LAMMC since 2018. According to three years of experimental results, annual dry matter (DM) yield varied from 7.94 to 10.14 t ha-1. Growing conditions, nitrogen ap-plication level and harvesting time had significant impacts on Artemisia dubia productivity. This article presents the results of research on preparation and use of Artemisia dubia biomass for en-ergy conversion and evaluation of technological-technical and environmental parameters of these plants utilization for solid biofuel. For experiments were used 6 variants of Artemisia dubia samples, which were grown in 2021: plants were cut three times and two fertilization options were used: (1) no fertilization and (2) fertilization with 180 kg ha-1 of nitrogen fertilizer. These harvested plants were chopped, milled and were pressed into the pellets. The physi-cal-mechanical characteristics (mоisture content, density and strength) of Artemisia dubia pellets were investigated. During this study, it was found that the density in dry mass (DM) of pellets ranged from 1119.86 to 1192.44 kg m-3. The pellet moisture content ranged from 8.80 to 10.49%. After testing of pellet strength, it was found that the pellets which were made from plant bio-mass PK-1-1, were the most resistant to compression, they withstood 560.36 N of pressure. Dry fuel lower heating value (LHV) of pellets was sufficiently high and was very close to pine saw-dust pellets, it varied from 17.46±0.25 MJ kg-1 to 18.14±0.28 MJ kg-1. The ash content of burned pellets ranged from 3.62±0.02% to 6.47±0.09%. Emissions of harmful pollutants – CO2, CO, NOx and unburnt hydrocarbons (CxHy) did not exceed the maximum permissible levels. Summariz-ing the results of investigated properties, cоmbustion and emissiоns of Artemisia dubia pellets, it can be concluded that this biofuel can be used for production of pressed biofuel and it is charac-terized by sufficient high quality, efficient combustion and permissible emissions to the envi-ronment.

The importance of conflict analysis and safety considerations during work zone intervals at signalized intersections cannot be overstated, as these periods pose unique challenges and safety risks for both motorists and pedestrians. Work zones introduce temporary changes to traffic patterns, lane configurations, and signal timings, which can disrupt the flow of traffic and increase the likelihood of conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians. By conducting comprehensive conflict analysis, it is possible to identify potential conflict points, such as merging areas, pedestrian crossings, and lane transitions, and implement targeted safety measures to mitigate risks. Additionally, considering safety considerations during work zone intervals is paramount to safeguarding the well-being of road users and minimizing the occurrence of conflicts or collisions. Measures such as enhanced signage, temporary traffic control devices, and increased enforcement efforts can help promote compliance with traffic regulations and ensure the safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians through work zones. This study investigates the dynamics of traffic behavior and safety implications within work zones at signalized intersections, aiming to address key challenges and enhance intersection management strategies. Through comprehensive analysis, varying frequencies of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) conflicts were observed across different movement directions, with significant occurrences identified in specific phases of the traffic signal cycle. Specifically, 69 V2V conflicts in phase #1, 181 in phase #2, 31 in phase #3, 207 in phase #4, 1 in phase #5, 274 in phase #6, 93 in phase #7, and 186 in phase #8 were recorded. Furthermore, the examination of Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) conflicts underscored the importance of prioritizing pedestrian safety, with notable occurrences observed in phases associated with pedestrian crossing movements. Meanwhile, despite the closure of left-turn movements, instances of red light running persisted, with 69 red light running events in phase #1, 181 in phase #2, 31 in phase #3, 207 in phase #4, 1 in phase #5, 274 in phase #6, 93 in phase #7, and 186 in phase #8.To mitigate these safety concerns during work zone intervals, proactive measures are essential. Strategies include improving communication through clear signage and advanced warning systems, enhancing enforcement efforts with red light cameras and increased police presence, and investing in infrastructure improvements such as temporary pedestrian facilities. Integration of real-time data from sensors, particularly LiDAR technology, offers significant advantages in detecting conflicts and red light runners during work zone intervals. LiDAR's precise, real-time data on vehicle and pedestrian movements, combined with its 360-degree coverage and high spatial resolution, facilitates accurate detection and tracking of potential conflict scenarios, contributing to enhanced intersection safety and traffic management efficiency. This study endeavored to conduct a traffic safety analysis during work zone intervals at a signalized intersection in Baltimore City, known for its high rate of traffic crashes, utilizing LiDAR sensor technology.

The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess vitamin D-related knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) in Iranian adults who may be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. This study was conducted on 527 subjects, aged ≥20 years from Public health care centers in Tehran, Iran. Based on results of literature review and in-depth interviews, the 38-item vitamin D-related KAP questionnaire with four subscale was developed: 1) general knowledge; 2) nutritional knowledge; 3) attitudes; 4) behaviors. Validity of the developed vitamin D-KAP questionnaire was assessed, utilizing face, content, and construct validity methods. Internal consistency was calculated to assess reliability of the current developed questionnaire. A total of 572 (54.1% female) adults, aged 30.2±7.9 years, participated in the study. All items were perceived as relevant and comprehendible by participants. Content validity was confirmed by the panel of experts. The internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, exceeded the minimum reliability standard of 0.60 for four subscales. The EFA suggested a four-factor construct and the results of the CFA indicated acceptable fit indices for the proposed model. No ceiling effects were observed except for general knowledge (1.2%). Floor effects detected were 0, 1.1, 2.4, and 8.7% for practice, attitude, general knowledge, and nutrition knowledge, respectively. General knowledge had the highest score (79.59±14.52) and nutrition knowledge, the lowest score (42.58±20.40) among the four sub-scales. Results confirm the initial validity and reliability of the vitamin D-related knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire. Further investigations in different urban and rural population are recommended.

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

Poultry farming in Slovakia has a tradition and an irreplaceable position to ensure rational nutrition for the population. In terms of a nutritional value, poultrymeat (Galliformes) contains a high amount of proteins, essential amino acids, essential unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and a low fat content. Poultrymeat production has a relatively short reproductive cycle and thus allows regulating the demand and supply. The poultry market also influences the development of domestic consumption. According to the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, the consumption of meat has witnessed a persistent increase over the last 10 years. [1] According to the 2023 AVEC (The Voice of European Meat Sector) annual report, the consumption of poultrymeat in Slovakia was 20.0 kg per person per year. The average consumption in the EU-27 (2021) was 23.4 kg, with the countries with the highest consumption being Portugal (37.8 kg), Ireland (36.0 kg), Hungary (33.5 kg) and Spain (29.9 kg). On the other hand, the countries with the lowest consumption of poultrymeat, apart from Slovakia, also include Austria and Greece with a consumption of 21.5, resp. 21.0 kg [2]. The breeding of broiler chickens, as well as the production and placing on the market of poultrymeat must comply with the requirements laid down by legislation, while the compliance is regularly checked by the competent authorities.

In order to comprehensively evaluate the employee satisfaction of mine occupational health and safety management system, an analytic method based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and 2- tuple linguistic model was established. Firstly, based on the establishment of 5 first- grade indicators and 20 second- grade ones, the weight of each indicator is calculated and validated by method of FAHP and root mean square model. Secondly, a path based on the time-ordered Weighted Averaging Operator (T-OWA) model is constructed. Finally, the model is validated by empirical analysis. The results demonstrate that the employee satisfaction of the mine occupational health and safety management system is of the “general” rank. The method including the comprehensive evaluation of employee satisfaction and the quantitative analysis of language evaluation information ensures the authenticity of the language evaluation information.

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

5-(4-aminophenyl )-2-amino -1,3,4-thiadiazole was prepared by reaction of Thiosemicarbazide with 4-amino benzoic acid under reflux condition for 7 hours. The compound which has been synthesized successfully was subjected to addition reaction with 4-(Dimethylamino) benzaldehyde under reflux condition for 6 hours to synthesize Schiff bases. These compounds was characterized by using FTIR) and evaluated for their anticancer activity. The effect of (1, 3, 4-thiadiazole derivative) on the activity of malignant cells was studied by using different types of cell lines [Breast cancer, and human prostate cancer]. And was used the Electron microscope to show that the effect of the derivative on the cancer cells before and after 3 days of the injection time. It was found that the Schiff base of thiadiazole-1,3,4-(Dimethylamino)benzylidineamino]- [4-2-phenyl]amino was effective in reducing the size and density of malignant cells. That of 46.7 while in breast ) 145(DUprostate for growth inhibition produce of equal 85.9 µg/ml.

This study aimed to determine whether camelina oil is safe for use in canine diets, using canola oil and flax oil as controls as they are similar and generally regarded as safe (GRAS) for canine diets. Thirty privately-owned adult dogs of various breeds (17 females; 13 males), with an average age of 7.2 ± 3.1 years (mean ± SD) and body weight (BW) of 27.4 ± 14.0 were used. After a 4-week wash-in period using sunflower oil and kibble, dogs were blocked by breed, age, and size, and randomly allocated to one of three treatment oils (camelina (CAM), flax (FLX), or canola (OLA)) at a level of 8.2 g oil/100g total dietary intake. Body condition score (BCS), BW, food intake (FI), and hematological and select biochemical parameters were measured at various timepoints over a 16-week feeding period. All data were analyzed with ANOVA using PROC GLIMMIX of SAS. No biologically significant differences were seen between treatment groups for BW, BCS, FI, hematological and biochemical results. Statistically significant differences noted among some serum biochemical results were considered small and due to normal biological variation. These results support a conclusion that camelina oil is safe for use in canine nutrition.

Background: Despite a range of available treatments, there is a remaining unmet need for patients with severe post-partum hemorrhage (sPPH). Objective: This manuscript evaluated efficacy and safety of recombinant activated factor VIIa (rFVIIa) in sPPH management. Methods: An open-label, multi-center, randomized controlled trial (RCT; NCT00370877) and four observational studies (OS; OS-1 [NCT04723979], OS-2, OS-3 and OS-4) were analyzed regarding efficacy (need for subsequent invasive procedures, including uterine compression sutures, uterine or iliac artery ligation, arterial embolization or hysterectomy) and safety (incidence of thromboembolic events [TE] and maternal mortality) of rFVIIa for sPPH. The RCT, and OS-1 and OS-2, included a control group of women who did not receive rFVIIa (with propensity score-matching used in OS-1 and OS-2), whereas OS-3 and OS-4 provided descriptive data for rFVIIa exposed women only. Results: A total of 446 women exposed to rFVIIa and 1,717 non-exposed controls were included. In the RCT, fewer rFVIIa exposed women (50% [21/42]) had an invasive procedure versus non-exposed women (91% [38/42]; odds ratio 0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.03–0.35). In OS-1, more rFVIIa exposed women (58% [22/38]) had an invasive procedure versus non-exposed women (35% [13.3/38]; odds ratio 2.46, 95% confidence interval 1.06–5.99). In OS-2, 17% (3/18) of rFVIIa exposed women and 32% (5.6/17.8) of non-exposed women had an invasive procedure (odds ratio 0.33, 95% confidence interval 0.03–1.75). Across all included women, TEs occurred in 1.5% (0.2% arterial and 1.2% venous) of rFVIIa exposed women and 1.6% (0.2% arterial and 1.4% venous) of non-exposed women with available data. Conclusions: The positive treatment effect of rFVIIa in the RCT was not confirmed in the OS. However, the safety analysis did not show any increased incidence of TEs with rFVIIa treatment.

Background: Injury is an important cause of mortality and morbidity.(1). FA is the immediate assistance provided to a suddenly injured or sick person until professional help arrives or that person has recovered.(2), could be a potential factor differentiating between life and death in RTA . Many lives would be saved if proper first aid is provided early. (3) In the middle east, there are limited studies that explore knowledge and practices towards first aid needed during RTA. Objective: The main aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude towards first aid among drivers in Sharjah. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted through a self-administered questionnaire written in Arabic and English languages. Participants were 18 years or older holding a driving license in the city of Sharjah. Paramedics and certified participants with a certification from authorized organizations were excluded . A non-proportional convenient sampling method was used. A total of 343 participants have completed the questionnaires. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS. Results: Majority of the study participants were less than 40 years old and (56.76%) were males. Most participants(94.2%) indicated that they know the term ‘First Aid’. However, (49.73%) of the participants knew the ambulance number and (52.43%) of the participants indicated that the victim should be moved to the hospital without the ambulance. With regards to attitude, 34.86% were not willing to provide first aid in the case of RTA. The main reason was lack of knowledge followed by fear of legal consequences. Most participants (83,78%) were willing to participate in first aid classes to improve their knowledge and attitude. Conclusion: Most participants are aware of the basic term of first aid; however, they are not willing to provide first aid in cases of RTA due to lack of knowledge and fear of legal consequences. Based on these findings we recommend providing first aid classes for new drivers and to obtain certification. References: 1 and 3. Midani, O., Tillawi, T., Saqer, A., Hammami, M., Taifour, H. and Mohammad, H., 2020. Knowledge And Attitude Toward First Aid: A Cross-Sectional Study In The United Arab Emirates. 2.Van de Velde S, Heselmans A, Roex A, Vandekerckhove P, Ramaekers D, Aertgeerts B. Effectiveness of nonresuscitative first aid training in laypersons:A systematic review. Ann Emerg Med 2009;54:447-57, 457e1-5.

Pakistan is under developing country and it has an unpredictable market nature of shareholder-investors observe the company’s performance. This research could help to companies in understanding financial behavior, attitude and investors’ satisfaction in stock trade. Financial behavior is comparatively new subject in Pakistan therefore; this study has examined the financial behavior and attitude of investors. The behavioral finance that has been attempted to understand the positive experiences influences investors’ financial behavior. This study has find out that investor satisfaction is strongest in influence of positive financial behavior of investor and trader in stock trading; positive experience and brokers suggestions are strengthens the investment decision of investors and increases behavior loyalty to prefer over competitor. The main purpose of research to determine the effect of financial behavior on investors’ attitude and behavioral loyalty and investors’ satisfaction to preference over competitor. The research framework links with experiences in stock trade for positive (negative) experiences, attitude and financial behavior is developed. The research framework is measured data from sample of Karachi and Karachi Stock Exchange; the data is analyzed in smart PLS based on PLS-SEM. This study focused on trading experience with company’s active investors and traders in banking industry in Pakistan. The future research could be research in other sectors with inter-related issue of investors and traders (brokers) in stock trade. This is the first study in this research area; this study will be determine the experiences with positive (negative) financial behavior, attitude, satisfaction and behavioral loyalty of investors and traders in stock trade. Therefore, adding in this area of study which will help understanding the investors and traders attitude, preference and financial behavior in financial market.

Knowledge and attitude towards mental illness play major role in the recognition, management, sociocultural factors and health seeking behavior among those with mental disorders. The study aim was to determine the knowledge and attitude among Nyamagana community members towards mental illness, Tanzania; A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study involving 384 participants from sample population aged 18 years and above who were mentally health and semi-structured questionnaires was used to collect data. The results 110 (28.8%) respondents have good knowledge toward mental illness, about 292(76%) have negative attitude towards mentally ill people, 92(24%) respondents have positive attitude toward people who are mentally ill. More over about 318 (82.9%) respondents agreed that care and support of family and friends, could help people with mental illness to get rehabilitation while 66(17.1%) respondents disagreed on the care and support of the family and friends could help mentally ill people to get rehabilitation; The findings show most have poor knowledge and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness and may impair their social reintegration in the community. There’s need to develop strategies to enlighten the public regarding nature of mental illness so as to foster acceptance of people with mental illness by the community members.

In the context of Kalman filters, the predicted error covariance matrix $\mathbf{P}_{k+1}$ and measurement noise covariance matrix $\mathbf{R}$ are used to represent the uncertainty of state variables and measurement noise, respectively. However, in real-world situations, these matrices may vary with time due to measurement faults. To address this issue in CubeSat attitude estimation, an adaptive extended Kalman filter has been proposed that can dynamically estimate the predicted error covariance matrix and measurement noise covariance matrix using an expectation-maximization approach. Simulation experiments have shown that this algorithm outperforms existing methods in terms of attitude estimation accuracy, particularly in sunlit and shadowed phases of the orbit, with the same filtering parameters and initial conditions.

Lead-acid batteries utilised in electrical substations release hydrogen and oxygen when these are charged. These gases could be dangerous and cause a risk of fire if they are not properly ventilated. Therefore, this research seeks to design and implement a network control panel for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVACS). This is done using a specific range of controllers, which have more than thirty loops of proportional, integral and derivative (PID) control to achieve a cost-effective design. It performs the required function of extracting hydrogen, oxygen, and maintaining the desired temperature of the battery storage room within the recommended limits (i.e. 25°C ±1°C tolerance) without compromising quality as set out in the user requirement specification in Appendix-A. The system control panel allows the user to access control parameters such as changing temperature set-points, fan-speed, sensor database amongst others. The hardware is configured to detect extreme hydrogen and oxygen gas content in the battery room and ensure that the HVACS extract the gas content to the outside environment. The results of the system show that the network control panel effectively operates as per the recommended system requirements. Therefore, the effective operation of the HVACS ensures sufficient gas ventilation, thus mitigating the risk of fire in a typical battery storage room. Furthermore, the effective operation of HVACS enhances battery lifespan because of regulated operating temperature, which is conducive to minimise the effect of sulfation in lead acid Batteries (LABs).

Climate change and food security are the most relevant issues to be considered in sustainable agricultural development. The FAO’s initiative of climate-smart agriculture has attracted international attention. Since then, the smart agriculture (SA) has been recognized as the most influential trends in contributing to agricultural development. Therefore, encouraging farmers to adopt digital technologies and mobile devices into farming practices becomes a policy priority worldwide. However, there is limited literature available on psychologic factors that drive farmers’ intentions to adopt SA technologies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how farmer’s knowledge and attitude toward SA affects their adoption of smart technologies in Taiwan. A total of 321 farmers participated in the project’s survey in 2017 and 2018, from which the data was used to perform an OLS regression model of SA adoption. This study contributes to a preliminary understanding of relationship between innovation and adoption of SA technologies in a small-scale farming economic context. The findings suggest that the policy makers and R&D institutes need to concentrate on improving market access for well-known and high important SA technologies.

In accordance with problems such as difficulty in obtaining aerodynamic parameters of a quad-rotor model, the change of model parameters with external interference affects the control performances, an aerodynamic parameter estimation method and an adaptive attitude control method based on LADRC are designed. Firstly, the motion model, dynamics model and control distribution model of quad-rotor are established by using the aerodynamic and Newtonian Euler equations. Secondly, the identification tool CIFER is used to identify the aerodynamic parameters with large uncertainties in frequency domain and a more accurate attitude model of the quad-rotor is obtained. Then an adaptive attitude decoupling controller based on LADRC is designed to solve the problem of poor anti-interference ability of the quad-rotor, so that the control parameter b0 can be automatically adjusted to identify the change of the moment of inertia in real time. Finally, a semi-physical simulation platform is used for simulation verification. The results show that the adaptive LADRC attitude controller designed can effectively estimate and compensate the system's internal and external disturbances, and the tracking speed of the controller is faster and the precision is higher which can effectively improve system's anti-interference and robustness.

In Yaoundé, Cameroon, excessive and inappropriate speeding remains a major public health concern. Part of the problem are the unsafe speed limits, lack of evidence, and effective evaluation of speeding safety performance indicators (SSPIs), and the absence of speed management, hindering the city's ability to mitigate the risks associated with speeding. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by assessing SSPIs using a well-defined methodology and suggesting speed management strategies. Data on speed, traffic volumes and road attributes were collected from a random selection of 16 representative road sections in Yaoundé. Seven SSPIs were calculated, and weights were assigned to evaluate city-level SSPIs. The findings showed that 66.8% of drivers drive within the speed limit, generally operating at speeds of 54 km/h with a speed variation of 26 km/h. Based on the speed analysis, evidence-based strategies are proposed, and implementing these strategies could potentially reduce fatalities and serious injuries by 16% to 84% across study locations, as indicated by Elvik's model. These findings have significant policy implications for reducing speeding in Yaoundé, and the methodological approach can be replicated in other urban settings. Future research should extend SSPI evaluation to the national level and test the effectiveness of the recommended strategies.

Most buying decisions are affected by the customer's analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the product and its emotional aspects. Psychological and marketing studies have confirmed the role of customer emotions in various stages of the purchasing process. The present study aims to identify the dimensions and factors that potentially influence customer emotions in buying luxury cosmetics. First, in order to identify the various aspects of customer emotions, a qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 customers of luxury cosmetics and health products in Telegram groups. This study led to the identification of various dimensions of customer emotions and a list of factors that potentially act as antecedents of emotions in the target population. In the next step, based on group consensus, the antecedents affecting customer emotions were determined. The members of the panel at this stage included 15 specialists and experts in the fields of marketing, psychology, companies importing luxury cosmetics and hygiene products which are active in online networks, as well as managers of luxury cosmetics and hygiene groups in online spaces. The consensus of experts was reached in three stages and 36 factors affecting customers' emotions were determined and ranked based on the relevance or strength of the perceived effect from the point of view of experts. Finally, they were classified into three categories as group and product variables, situational variables, and individual variables.

Samaritans as a group within the ranges of ancient ‘Judaisms’ are often mentioned in Talmud and Midrash. As comparable social-religious entities, they are regarded ambivalently by the Rabbis. First, they were viewed as Jews, but from the end of the Tannaitic times, and especially after the Bar Kokhba revolt, they were perceived as non-Jews, not reliable about different fields of Halakhic concern. Rabbinic writings reflect on this change in attitude and describe a long ongoing conflict and a growing anti-Samaritan attitude. The article analyzes several dialogues between rabbis and Samaritans transmitted in the Midrash on the book of Genesis, Bereshit Rabbah. In four larger sections, the famous Rabbi Me’ir is depicted as the counterpart of certain Samaritans. The analyses of these discussions try to show how rabbinic texts avoid any direct exegetical dispute over particular verses of the Torah, but point to other hermeneutical levels of discourse and rejection of Samaritan claims. These texts thus reflect a remarkable understanding of some Samaritan convictions, and they demonstrate how rabbis denounced Samaritanism and refuted their counterparts. The Rabbi Me’ir dialogues thus are an impressive literary witness to the final stages of the parting of ways of these diverging religious streams.

One of the main issues for underwater robots navigation is represented by the accurate vehicle positioning, which heavily depends on the orientation estimation phase. The systems employed to this scope are affected by different noise typologies, mainly related to the sensors and to the irregular noise of the underwater environment. Filtering algorithms can reduce their effect if opportunely configured, but this process usually requires fine techniques and time. This paper presents DANAE++, an improved denoising autoencoder based on DANAE, which is able to recover Kalman Filter IMU/AHRS orientation estimations from any kind of noise, independently of its nature. This deep learning-based architecture already proved to be robust and reliable, but in its enhanced implementation significant improvements are obtained both in terms of results and performance. In fact, DANAE++is able to denoise the three angles describing the attitude at the same time, and that is verified also on the estimations provided by the more performing Extended KF. Further tests could make this method suitable for real-time applications on navigation tasks.

Colombia is noteworthy as a biodiversity hotspot, featuring an extraordinary number of en-demic orchids, birds, and butterflies. This exploratory study examines the perceptions of desti-nation image considering the cognitive and affective image in predicting behavioral intentions of ecotourists through symmetric data analysis. Using Partial Least Squares (PLS), the author(s) analyzed 64 survey responses collected of rural areas, including a new 15 statement scale spe-cialized on birdwatching. The findings support the reliability of the model, symmetric analysis presents the higher influence of emotions and affections in increasing intentions of recommen-dation, considering birdwatching as based on personal relationships. Additionally, the cognitive image for the birders despite representing destination attributes or sets of destination resources of a mental picture does not have the same impact on behavioral intentions. Therefore, manag-ers should develop positioning strategies based on the generation of emotions, because bird-watching tourists seek to have more emotional experiences.

Electrical contacts are important circuit components with diverse industrial applications, and their failure can lead to multiple unwanted effects. Hence, the behavior of electrical contacts is a widely studied topic in scientific literature based on various approaches, tools, and techniques. The present study proposes a numerical modeling and simulation approach based on the Holm contact theory to study the dependence between the electric potential and the temperature within an electrical contact. Structured in 5 sections, the research was conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics software and its solid-state mechanics, electric current, and heat transfer modules in order to highlight contact behavior from mechanical, electrical and thermal points of view: the von Mises stress, contact force, the electric field amplitude, the variation of the electrical potential along the current path, the temperature gradient, and dependence of temperature along the contact elements edges were obtained by simulation and graphically represented. The results are in line with the expectations and with past research that was studied in the literature review.

Introduction Menstrual hygiene is a critical issue encountered by women and girls of the reproductive age, which negatively affects their health and empowerment. It is still deemed a taboo in several parts of the world and girls hesitate to discuss menstruation with their family members, friends, or schoolteachers, which creates hurdles when they attain their menarche. Girls residing in rural areas encounter more problems, since they lack proper resources, and knowledge to manage their menstruation in school as well as at home. Methods The descriptive cross-sectional design was used to assess the study questions. The consecutive sampling techniques was applied to recruit 300 female participants from remote area of Gilgit, Pakistan, who were 13- to 22-year-old. A pre-tested questionnaire was utilized to collect the data, and to analyze the data the SPSS version 21.0 was used. Results The study found that more than half of the participants had poor level of knowledge, practices, and negative attitude towards menstrual hygiene. This could be because of many cultural and social taboos attached to menstrual hygiene. Conclusions The study concluded that the study participants were not knowledgeable about menstrual hygiene. They had poor practices and attitude regarding menstrual hygiene. Hence, it is recommended that frequent sessions should be conducted by health care workers to enhance the knowledge of parents, teachers, and young girls, to increase the positive attitude and practices regarding menstrual hygiene. Keywords menstruation, knowledge, attitude, practices, Adolescents

This review critically assesses the body of research about Measles-Mumps-and-Rubella (MMR) vaccine attitudes and uptake in the United Kingdom (UK) over the past 10 years. We searched PubMed and Scopus, with terms aimed at capturing relevant literature on attitudes, uptake, decision-making, and beliefs about the MMR vaccine. Two researchers screened for abstract eligibility and after de-duplication 934 studies were selected. After screening, 40 references were included for full-text review and thematic synthesis by three researchers. We were interested in the methodologies employed, and grouped findings by whether studies concerned: (1) Uptake and Demographics; (2) Beliefs and Attitudes; (3) Healthcare Worker Focus; (4) Experimental and Psychometric Intervention; (5) Mixed Methods. We identified group and individual level determinants for attitudes, operating directly and indirectly, that influence vaccine uptake. We found that access issues, often ignored within the public “anti-vax” debate, remain highly pertinent. Finally, a consistent theme was the effect of misinformation and lack of knowledge or trust in healthcare, often stemming from the Wakefield controversy. Future COVID-19 immunisation campaigns for children should consider both access and attitudinal aspects of vaccination, and incorporate a range of methodologies to assess progress, taking into account socio-economic variables and the needs of disadvantaged groups.

Descriptive research design was used to select 200 respondents (i.e., 100 from each study places) following purposive sampling technique on two study areas (Market; Living). Personal observation and interview with retailers were done to triangulate the collected data from the formal survey. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 software program. Descriptive statistical measurements, Index and multinomial regression model was calculated to assess the relationship between customers point of emphasis during packaged water buying and respondents demographic variables. Majority of the respondent who frequently purchase packaged water generated a monthly income between 5000 and 10000 Birr. Television and radio was ranked first compare to other Media. Living place customers were more health concerned as compared to market place customers. Market place customer’s primarily give emphasis to price of packaged water. Almost all (97%) customers did not have the awareness towards packaged water standards. Only 86(43%) of the total respondents checked the chemical composition, of which 74(85%) of the respondents did not understand it. Customers sex, educational level and health status showed significant relationship with choice of packaged water quality -1.42(p<0.05), price -2.45(P<0.01) and health status -1.80(P<0.05) in market place and living places, respectively.

Fat and oils plays one of the major roles in Sri Lankan modern unhealthy diet. The study was guided to collect, analyze, and interpret data about the awareness of general community on edible fat and oil products available in the market and their knowledge about healthy ways of usage. A total of 250 purchasing women were surveyed with a welldeveloped questionnaire. Results revealed that, Coconut oil (71%) is the leading supermarket oil product purchased and consumption of animal fats and oil are very limited (<3%) in Kandy. Educational level affects significantly (P<0.05) on purchasing behavior. Regardless of educational level and working status, price (73%) will be the most significant factor look at during purchasing edible oils. Total of 57% of purchasing women use the same oil for both deep frying and stir frying. Besides, 43% of women keep two different types. From all respondents, 83% use oil more than one time after first cooking. Working women prefer internet and facebook (38%) as the major food related information searching resource, while newspapers (35%) are among non-working women. All in all, lowering the price of healthy fat and community awareness programs will encourage healthy fat and oil purchasing behavior in Sri Lanka.

Background: Dental professions are at high risk of contracting novel corona virus (COVID-19) infections during the dental procedure due to the droplets and aerosols generated during various dental procedures on infected patients. To prevent and avoid the cross-infection of the infection to dental professionals or the patients attending the dental clinic, good knowledge of the infection and its prevention mechanisms is mandatory among the professionals. Until to date, there is no pooled estimate on the knowledge,attitude and practice (KAP) of dental professionals to COVID-19 in the globe. Hence, this study aimed to determine the pooled estimate of KAP of dental professionals in this pandemic disease. Methods: Article search was done electronically using Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, SciELO and Google Scholar from June 1, 2020 to August 20, 2020. All studies that assessed the KAP of dental professionals to COVID-19 were searched and included in this review after passing the inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis of their knowledge (sign and symptom, mode of transmission and prevention mechanisms), attitude (their concern, intention to treat suspected patients) and practice (face mask usage, hand washing and alcohol based hand rub usage, handshaking practice, deferred procedures and checkup of patients temperature) was computed using RevMan 5.3 and random effect model was used. The presence of publication bias was assessed using the funnel plot. Results: Twelve articles with a total of 5,362 study participants were included in this study. The pooled estimate revealed that 59.91% of the dental professionals had good knowledge of the signs and symptoms of COVID-19. Two-third of dental professionals know the prevention mechanisms of the infection, and 70.13% had enough knowledge of the transmission modalities of the infection. The professional attitude revealed that only 36.43% of the participants had intention to treat a patient with cough or suspected COVID-19 (36.43%, 95%CI: 8.57, 64.29). Moreover, 47.85% of the dentists were concerned about their life, and the fate of their profession due to this pandemic disease (47.85%, 95%CI: 26.74, 68.97). The pooled analysis showed only 50.86% (95%CI: 18.64, 83.09) of the study participants worn face mask and 52.63% (95%CI: 10.54, 94.71) had avoided handshaking practice during this pandemic period. Non-emergency dental procedures were canceled by 83.98%. Conclusion: The dental professional KAP is not optimal. Thus, dental professionals should be aware of the recently updated knowledge about COVID-19 and practice according to the standards of treatment guidelines, and the recommended infection control measures in dental settings. Moreover, as saliva and droplets are the major sources of infection, dentists should follow essential protocols to regulate droplet and aerosol contamination in the dental practice

Abstract Global marine fish harvest has reached a plateau over the last decade. Efforts to increase aquaculture tend to face limitations in water resources and contamination problems. Of the current fish harvest at least 50% is discarded as waste. The chemical and microbiological contaminations limit the utilization of harvested fish. There is a need to improve fish preservation to minimize spoilage and process them into more appealing products. Instead of resorting to individual food processing methods, the efficiency of processing could best be increased by a combination of conventional and modern processing methods, or combinations of modern processing methods. Fish waste is a rich source of oils containing essential fatty acids, polypeptides, and amino polysaccharides that could be utilized through upscaling of the current scientifically proven methods, to new processing technologies. Separation of collagens, gelatins, bioactive peptides, edible fish oils, and chitosan form the primary stages in the utilization of fish waste. The products need purification to meet food quality and safety standards, and desirable industrial characteristics. The diversity of information and products generated through new methods requires advanced data handling and prediction systems, such as artificial intelligence, to address food safety and get the best out of fish processing and utilization.

This paper reports on the optimization of thin-film coating assisted self-sustainable off-grid hybrid power generation systems for cattle farming in rural areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a lower middle-income country with declining rates of poverty among its 160 million people due to persistent economic growth in conjunction with balanced agricultural improvements. Most of the rural households adopt a mixed farming system by cultivating crops and simultaneously rearing livestock. Among the animals raised, cattle are considered as the most valuable asset for the small/medium-scale farmers in terms of their meat and milk production. Currently, along with the major health issue, the COVID-19 pandemic is hindering the world’s economic growth and has thrust millions into unemployment; Bangladesh is also in this loop. However, natural disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic and floods, largely constrain rural smallholder cattle farmers from climbing out of their poverty. In particular, small and medium-scale cattle farmers face many issues that obstruct them from taking advantage of market opportunities and imposing a greater burden on their families and incomes. An appropriate measure can give a way to make those cattle farmers’ businesses both profitable and sustainable. Optimization of thin-film coating assisted self-sustainable off-grid hybrid power generation system for cattle farming is a new and forward-looking approach for sustainable development of the livestock sector. In this study, we design and optimize a thin-film coating assisted hybrid (photovoltaic-battery-generator) power system by using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER, Version 3.14.0) simulation tool. An analysis of the results has suggested that the off-grid hybrid system is more feasible for small and medium-scale cattle farming systems with long-term sustainability to overcome the significant challenges faced by smallholder cattle farmers in Bangladesh.

Online teaching is considered an important approach for achieving sustainable learning and education, and college teachers’ attitude and behavioral intention are essential for the sustainable adoption of online teaching practice in higher education institutions. To examine the influencing factors that sustain teachers’ attitude toward online teaching and behavioral intention, we conducted a cross-sectional study based on a sample of 1,102 college teachers in central China, using hierarchical linear regression analysis to explore possible influencing factors in four levels: individual experience, environmental support, self-perception, and technology acceptance. The study results show that the subjective norms, readiness, beliefs, and perceived usefulness of online teaching had a significant impact on teachers’ attitude toward online teaching and behavioral intention. Nevertheless, the effect varied with factors like online-teaching load and teachers’ technology self-efficacy, as their influence seemed to be singular, affecting the teachers’ attitude toward online teaching or behavioral intention exclusively. In contrast, previous online-teaching experience did not notably affect either. The findings of this study reveal the complex interactions of factors that influence college teachers’ disposition toward and decisions about online-teaching practices and emphasize the need for targeted strategies to maintain and enhance online education in the post-pandemic era.

Introduction: Blood transfusion involves the transfer of blood from donors to patients. A blood transfusion is carried out every 2 seconds in the US. It is made up of about 29000 units of red blood cells and is transfused every day in the US. When blood transfusion is done correctly, it can result in the saving of lives and the improvement of healthcare. However, it may also lead to immediate, late, delayed, and chronic complications. No previous studies have been conducted in Qatar to address this issue. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study intended to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward blood transfusion among healthcare providers at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), which is the principal healthcare provider in Qatar. Participants between 18 and 25 years of age were selected for the research study. A 10-item online questionnaire that people can fill out on their own will be used to get the data needed for the analysis and meet the study's goals. Results: the analysis has indicated that facing negative reactions after blood transfusion and being worried about getting affected by any infection have a small positive association, with the specific values coming in at r = 0.317, p = 0.000. Fever after blood transfusion and feeling like refusing blood transfusion have a significant and moderate positive correlation, with the specific values coming in at r = 0.630 and p = 0.000. Conclusion: The findings of this study have helped us figure out how healthcare providers feel, what they know, and what they do during a blood transfusion.

This study analyzes how Perceived Credibility of a 360-degree feedback and Evaluation of Outcome impact on ratees’ attitudes towards behavioral change. The study adopts a qualitative-quantitative mixed method approach. Reasoned Action Theory was selected as the theoretical framework, and ten 360-degree assessment ratees were interviewed on their perceived credibility, evaluation of outcome and attitude toward behavioral change in the 360-degree assessment practices. The qualitative inputs were analyzed under the methodology of grounded theory. Additional 159 respondents participated in the quantitative research phase of the research to validate the findings in the qualitative research phase. It was validated that Perceived Credibility, Evaluation of Outcome has impact on Attitude Toward Behavioral Change in 360-degree assessment.

Ultrasound, as mechanical waves with frequencies exceeding 20 thousand hertz, has found wide applications in medicine, physiotherapy, and more recently in agriculture. This study aimed to investigate the impact of ultrasound on potato yield and its parameters, particularly on seed potato yield, quantity, mass, and multiplication coefficient of potato tubers. The research was based on a three-year field experiment, utilizing the randomized block design in a split-split-plot arrangement, in the central-eastern region of Poland. The primary factor were technologies: a) technology with employing ultrasonic pre-planting treatment, b) traditional cultivation without this treatment. The secondary factors were potato varieties. Sonication of tubers was conducted using a bath-type ultrasonic device equipped with piezoe-lectric transducers. Results revealed a significant influence of cultivation technology, cultivar, and weather conditions on seed tubers yield, quantity, and multiplication coefficient of potato tubers. However, genetic traits of the examined varieties and random factors significantly affected the individual seed tuber mass and the number of shoots emerging from a single tuber. Future Outlook: Future research could focus on further optimizing ultrasound application techniques in potato cultivation, considering diverse varieties and environmental conditions. Additionally, it would be worthwhile to analyze the long-term effects of ultrasound on tuber seed potato quality and their ability to adapt to changing climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, studies investi-gating the impact of ultrasound on other plant species could broaden our understanding of po-tential benefits in agriculture.

The accurate of model attitude angel plays an important role on the aerodynamic test results in the wind tunnel test. The original method applies the spherical coordinate system transformation to obtain attitude angel calculation. The model attitude angel is obtained by coordinate transformation and spherical surface mapping applying the nominal attitude angel (the balance attitude angel in the wind tunnel coordinate system) indicated by the mechanism. First, the coordinate transformation of this method is not only complex but also difficult to establish the transformed relationship between the space coordinate systems especially after many steps of coordinate transformation, moreover it cannot realize the iterative calculation of the interference relationship between attitude angels; Second, during the calculate process to solve the problem the arc is approximately used to replace the straight line, the angel for the tangent value, and the inverse trigonometric function is applied. Therefore, in the calculation of attitude angel, the process is complex and inaccurate, which can be solved approximately when calculating small attack angel. However, with the advancing development of modern aerodynamic unsteady research, the aircraft tends to develop high or super large attack angel and unsteady research field. According to engineering practice and vector theory, the concept of vector angel coordinate system is proposed for the first time, and the vector angel coordinate system of attitude angel is established. With the iterative correction calculation and avoiding the problem of approximate and inverse trigonometric function solution, the model attitude calculation process is carried out in detail, which validates that the calculation accuracy and accuracy of model attitude angels are improved. Based on engineering and theoretical methods, a vector angel coordinate system is established for the first time, which gives the transformation and angel definition relations between different flight attitude coordinate systems, that can accurately calculate the attitude angel of the corresponding coordinate system and determine its direction, especially in the channel coupling calculation, the calculation of the attitude angel between the coordinate systems is only related to the angel, and has nothing to do with the change order s of the coordinate system, which simplifies the calculation process.

Attitude control of a novel regional truss-braced wing aircraft with low stability characteristics is addressed in this paper using Reinforcement Learning (RL). In recent years, RL has been increasingly employed in challenging applications, particularly, autonomous flight control. However, a significant predicament confronting discrete RL algorithms is the dimension limitation of the state-action table and difficulties in defining the elements of the RL environment. To address these issues, in this paper, a detailed mathematical model of the mentioned aircraft is first developed to shape an RL environment. Subsequently, Q-learning, the most prevalent discrete RL algorithm will be implemented in both the Markov Decision Process (MDP), and Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) frameworks to control the longitudinal mode of the air vehicle. In order to eliminate residual fluctuations that are a consequence of discrete action selection, and simultaneously track variable pitch angles, a Fuzzy Action Assignment (FAA) method is proposed to generate continuous control commands using the trained Q-table. Accordingly, it will be proved that by defining an accurate reward function, along with observing all crucial states (which is equivalent to satisfying the Markov Property), the performance of the introduced control system surpasses a well-tuned Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) controller.

Vibrotactile displays have been reported effective in enhancing awareness of flight attitude for pilots and releasing other heavily loaded sensory channels. Although some work have been done on vibrotactile coding of flight altitude, there is lack of a systematic investigation into coding methods with combination of multiple coding parameters. In this paper, seven coding methods with combinations of multiple coding parameters (location, rhythm, intensity, and mode) were systematically studied to cue flight attitude for pilots with a vibrotactile vest. We conducted two psychophysical experiments in a static tactile sensory environment in which the attitude commands in the form of vibrotactile feedback are presented randomly, and quantitatively evaluated the effectiveness of the vest according to the users’ recognition accuracy, reaction time and information transfer rate. The results show that vibrotactile vest is effective to cue attitude information. The preferred coding method with combinations of location, rhythm and mode allowed users to perform with lowest reaction time and highest recognition accuracy and yield about 255 bits/min of information transfer rate. Overall, the presented work provides valuable insights and guidance for the design of haptic displays for vibrotactile aids for the pilots.

This study aimed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of STP1, a combination of ibudilast and bumetanide, tailored for the treatment of a specific subgroup of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), namely ASD Phenotype 1 (ASD-Phen1). We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group phase 1b study with two 14-day treatment phases (registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04644003). Nine ASD-Phen1 patients were administered STP1, while three received a placebo. We assessed safety and tolerability, along with electrophysiological markers, such as EEG, Auditory Habituation, and Auditory Chirp Synchronization, to better understand STP1's mechanism of action. Additionally, we used several clinical scales to measure treatment outcomes. The results showed that STP1 was safe and well-tolerated, with electrophysiological markers indicating a significant and dose-related reduction of gamma power in the whole brain and in brain areas associated with executive function and memory. Treatment with STP1 also increased alpha 2 power in frontal and occipital regions and improved habituation and neural synchronization to auditory chirps. Although numerical improvements were observed in several clinical scales, they did not reach statistical significance. Overall, this study suggests that STP1 is safe and well-tolerated in ASD-Phen1 patients and shows indirect target engagement in ASD brain regions of interest.

With the increasing occurrence of rotator cuff injuries every year, there is a great need for a reliable treatment option. Wharton’s Jelly contains several components that can positively impact the replacement and repair of musculoskeletal defects. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the improvement of patient-reported pain scales after applying Wharton’s Jelly (WJ) in rotator cuff defects. Eighty-seven patients with rotator cuff defects who failed at least eight weeks of conservative treatment were selected from the retrospective repository. 2cc of WJ flowable allograft was applied to the specific affected anatomy, the most common being supraspinatus tendon, biceps tendon insertion, labral tear, and subscapularis tear. No adverse reactions were reported. Statistically significant improvements were found from the initial to Day 90 in all scales. Patient satisfaction was calculated using minimal clinically important differences. No statistically significant differences were found in mean changes between gender, BMI, and age. Scanning Electron Microscopy images reveal the similarities between the collagen matrix in WJ and the rotator cuff. The significant improvement in patient outcomes coincides with current literature analyzing WJ applications with other structural defects around the body. WJ is a promising alternative for musculoskeletal defects when the standard of care fails.

Incremental control strategies provide undeniable advantages for controlling Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) due to their reduced model dependency and accurate tracking capacities. This is of particular relevance for hybrid UAVs, specially for tail-sitters, which perform complex manoeuvres when transitioning to and from aerodynamic flight. This paper summarizes the research undertaken in the application of the Incremental Nonlinear Dynamics Inversion (INDI) and Incremental Backstepping (IBKS) to a small tail-sitter UAV. After the application of these control strategies in a simulated scenario, the implementation in a Micro-Controller Unit was validated in a Hardware-in-the-Loop scenario. Following such validation, indoor experimental trials were undertaken in order to evaluate the capacity of these controllers to stabilize and control the real aircraft. The stabilization in the flight trials was successfully implemented and allow to conclude that both INDI and IBKS are control strategies suited to control a tail-sitter in vertical flight, providing accurate tracking capabilities under smooth actuation. Furthermore, it was found that the IBKS is significantly more computationally demanding than the INDI, although having a global proof of stability that is of interest in aircraft control.

Planning, development and design policies influence sense of safety of people touse the City centre or Central Business District (CBD) and therefore city centres can becomeactive and vibrant during the day and night. This paper reviews past and present planningpolicies relevant for feeling of personal safety in the context of housing, retail, amenities,street infrastructure, building design and transportation aspects. The past development trendsshow that insignificant attention has been paid to people's sense of safety when using publicspaces, particularly at night, a factor identified important in creating attractive city centressince 1960s. Local plans primarily refer to safety in relation to roads, accessibility andworkability. Local policies also show the dominance of CCTV since the 1990s has becomeubiquitous, but changes to sense of safety in urban spaces now may actually be a betterreflection of planning and design decisions made over the past 20 years.

Microbiome First Medicine is a suggested 21st century healthcare paradigm that prioritizes the entire human, the human superorganism, beginning with the microbiome. To date, much of medicine has protected and treated patients as if they were a single species. This has resulted in unintended damage to the microbiome and an epidemic of chronic disorders [e.g., noncommunicable diseases and conditions (NCDs)]. Along with NCDs came loss of colonization re-sistance, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, and increasing multimorbidity and polypharmacy over the life course. To move toward sustainable healthcare, the human micro-biome needs to be front and center. This paper presents microbiome-human physiology from the view of systems biology regulation. It also details the ongoing NCD epidemic including the role of existing drugs and other factors that damage the human microbiome. Examples are provided for two entryway NCDs, asthma and obesity, regarding their extensive network of comorbid NCDs. Finally, the challenges of ensuring safety for the microbiome are detailed. Under Microbiome First Medicine and considering the importance of keystone bacteria and critical windows of development, changes in even a few microbiota-prioritized medical decisions could make a significant difference in health across the life course.

Dolichandrone spathacea is a rare and endangered semi-mangrove plant species with an extremely small population, naturally distributed only in Zhanjiang City and the east coast of Hainan Island, China. Regrettably, the present situation of the D. spathacea population in China has not yet been carefully investigated. In this study, we aim to evaluate the current resource status and population dynamic characteristics of D. spathacea on Hainan Island, China, in order to propose sustainable conservation and management strategies for future ecological restoration of its natural population. Our results show that D. spathacea on Hainan Island can be divided into four populations. All the D. spathacea populations present a state of overall dispersion, local concentration, and occasionally sporadic existence, and they exist in geographical isolation. The young, middle, and old D. spathacea plants account for 20.42%, 66.20%, and 13.38%, respectively, indicating that the overall age class of the D. spathacea population on Hainan Island belongs to a declining type. Furthermore, instead of temporal structure, we chose diameter at breast height (DBH) to establish a static life table, draw a population survival curve, and quantify the future development trend through population dynamic analysis and time-series prediction. These results directly point out that the D. spathacea population on Hainan Island is sensitive to external disturbances and possesses two main increases in mortality rate—namely, in its juvenile and mature stages—due to weak vitality, competition, and anthropogenic interferences, which are the most important reasons for its endangered status. Depending on the current conditions of the D. spathacea population, we should conserve and expand mature trees in situ, preserve their germplasm resources, rehabilitate their habitats to promote provenance restoration, and conduct artificial cultivation and spreading planting in order to realize the sustainable conservation and management of D. spathacea.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of healthcare professionals regarding adverse drug reaction [ADR] monitoring and pharmacovigilance [PV] in India. Materials and Methods: It was a questionnaire based cross sectional observational study. Data was collected with the help of data collection Google form that included the demographics and twenty two survey based questions. Data were analysed by using Microsoft Excel sheet, further analysed for results, including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Result: The questionnaire was filled by two hundred ten healthcare professionals in which 52.9 % were male and 47.10% of female. Most of the respondents were pharm d students (50.47%). Out of the total 91.4% responded to the definition of pharmacovigilance correctly. 87.6% participants said all ADR should be reported. 86.20% participants think Pharmacovigilance should be taught in detail to healthcare professionals. Most of the respondents (43.8%) always informed the patients about ADR while prescribing the medicines. Conclusion: Study revealed most of the participants have good knowledge about ADR and pharmacovigilance. Difficult to decide whether ADR occur or not and extra work load being major factors responsible for under reporting.

This paper presents a novel approach to power management techniques in energy storage system (ESS) interoperability with the energy power system (EPS) by inserting a SCADA controlled directional protection relay for improving the mode switching sequence. According with latest European standards, all necessary measures for re-synchronization and reconnection for health work of the system must be taken. The proposed approach intends to improve the “interface” between storage systems and electric power grid by using a directional relay which provides interoperability improvement by automatic recognizing and differentiating the switching sequence of the mode of operation from the fault mode. Simulated results from a small scale electrical generating system are provided. The results demonstrate that the proposed power management solution is technically ideal to achieve high quality energy while retaining the stability of the power grid network. The interoperability of PHS systems integrated with the electric power grid usually leads to perturbations in terms of frequency of the generated voltage, and for improving it we designed an automatic treating and re-connecting software module. This work regards the importance of producing electricity from green and renewable energy sources, while retaining the stability and reliability of the power grid. ESS systems are widely used to help balancing of intermittent forms of load demand on the electrical power grid at specific key moments. In this article, the pumped hydro storage (PHS) technologies are proposed as an economical way to utilize smoothly the off-peak energy or surplus energy, by pumping water to a reservoir at a higher level. During peak load periods, the stored water is discharged through the reversible pump-turbine to generate electricity to meet the peak demand controlled by designed SCADA application.

Brand visual identity is a critical component of brand image and impacts consumers' brand perception and attitude. Although scholars and practitioners have increasingly researched brand visual identity, most focus on brand communication and corporate management perspectives, necessitating a systematic review of consumer attitudes based on brand visual identity elements. This study aims to review the impact of brand visual identity on consumer attitudes and provide directions for future research. We conducted a systematic search using PRISMA guidelines, reviewed relevant articles published in four databases (Web of Sciences, ProQuest, Scopus, and Elsevier) in the past two decades (2004-2024), and obtained 559 articles in April 2024. We conducted a thorough peer-review of both theoretical and empirical journal articles, followed by a scoping review. Thirty-four studies were eligible, analysing consumers' perceptions of various core elements of brand visual identity (BVI) (such as brand logo, colour, name, typography, and font), as well as the impact of brand visual identity on consumer attitudes and the practical implications of brand management. The results show that the consumption of visual identification elements affects consumers' perceived brand quality, brand personality, brand satisfaction, loyalty, favourability, and so on., as well as purchase intentions and social attitudes. In summary, the findings indicate that brand visual identity elements impact consumer perceptions and attitudes. However, despite some progress, further research is necessary to arrive at more definitive and robust conclusions.

Preserving and passing on folk traditions and gastronomic culture to the next generations was an important task of the older age group in every historical era. The most important objective of this study is to reveal people's attitudes regarding to the values of gastronomy and culture in a West Hungarian county. The combined presence of the Szigetköz Nature Park and the World Heritage sites (Fertő-Hanság National Park, Pannonhalma Abbey) in the offer requires re-sponsible, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable tourism planning. In the framework of a quantitative research (questionnaire survey), the tourists’ knowledge of gas-tronomy values and also their knowledge regarding to the architectural, cultural and natural attractions will be analysed. Four hypotheses were formulated in the study. The data collec-tion took place between September 1. 2023 and October 30. 2023 (N=666). The sample is not representative, the respondents were selected arbitrarily and randomly. The most important novelty of the study is that in contrast to previous studies, in this study, tourists' visits to different destinations were measured, while previous studies focused on tourists' interests.

This study investigates the fixed-time consensus-based attitude control problem for large telescope on-orbit construction subject to discrete-time communication, unknown tiny disturbance torque, model uncertainty, and actuator saturation under an undirected communication graph. Motivated by the need to save wireless communication resources, the communication scheme was designed to exploit interference, which can save communication resources in proportion to the number of modular unit mirrors. Then, a fixed-time observer with discrete-time communication was proposed, which also handles the unknown channel attenuation problem when exploiting information interference. Moreover, based on the backstepping procedure and the suitably defined adaptive compensation law, the fixed-time attitude consensus control law was proposed to handle unknown tiny disturbance torque, model uncertainty, and actuator saturation. Finally, comparative simulation results were provided to verify the effectiveness of the fixed-time observer and proposed fixed-time control law.

Interest on psychosocial predictors of doping has been increasing as a way of finding new approaches to reduce use of performance-enhancing drugs. This investigation aimed to test the psychometric properties of an instrument to asses doping attitudes in Brazilian athletes. The PEAS was validated to Brazilian sports through a process of translation, back-translation and content validity assessment, presenting satisfactory evidences based on its content (CVC&gt;0.80). Then, 994 athletes, from different sexes, types of sports and competitive levels, answered to the Brazilian version of the PEAS. Results showed satisfactory evidences of validity based on its response process, internal structure [X2/df = 2.04; RMSEA = 0.032 (0.026-0.038); CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.95] and reliability (Cronbach’s α, McDonald’s ω, and CR &gt; 0.70). Network analysis was also used to further explore PEAS’s internal structure. Overall results provide support for the adoption of the PEAS for Brazilian athletes and possibly other Portuguese-speaking countries.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and validate the influencing factors of audiences’ attitude toward virtual concerts. To address this issue, the current study proposes a conceptual model integrating player experiences’ factors (autonomy, relatedness, and engagement) and the technology acceptance model (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment). An online questionnaire on virtual concert experiences was distributed to Chinese audiences who had attended virtual concerts. Structural equation modeling was then used to establish the relationship between variables. The results suggested autonomy, relatedness and engagement positively impacted perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment were significant predictors of audiences’ attitude. The findings of this study can provide a reference for relevant virtual entertainment providers and can also serve as a point of development and exploration for technology acceptance model and player experience in the field of virtual concerts.

Abstract: Background: The practice of menstrual hygiene(MH) is a public health issue and depends on various factors. Taboos and incorrect MH practices can lead to health hazards. This study aimed at assessing the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of MH among the female students and faculty of Medical and Health Sciences University. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire survey between February and June 2023 using consecutive sampling. Univariate analysis and comparisons were done with a significant p-value <.05. Results: A total of 253 women participated in the study. The knowledge and practices of MH were good. There were significantly more irregular and painful periods in younger females (p=.005,.0001). 89% of women used disposable pads and least used menstrual cups. Younger women were unaware of menstrual cloth. The attitude towards menses varied, with younger females feeling annoyed (p=.002), and older females embarrassed (p=.0001) at menarche. About 1/3rd of participants perceived menstrual blood as unhygienic. Younger women were more open about talking about menses (p=.005). Conclusion: There was good knowledge and practices of MH among participants. There were differences in menstrual history and attitude among older and younger women. The attitude and beliefs vary among the participants, due to sociocultural factors and age differences.

Sepsis is a serious disease that can lead to mortality. The etiology of the disease is connected to how the body as a host reacts toward microbes such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi invasion. Current research shows that during sepsis, the reaction toward microbe attacks takes two main phases. The first is known as a cytokine storm, while the second is a vicious cycle of pro-inflammatory responses followed by a strict anti-inflammatory response led by CD4+ Tregs. Various immunomodulatory therapies have been proposed to break the cycle of pro- and anti-inflammatory reactions to sepsis. However, clinical trials did not show promising results, indicating further research into the mechanism that Treg uses to inhibit proinflammatory reactions. We used next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis of bulk RNA-seq and single-cell RNA-seq data to examine the exact molecular pathways used by Treg to inhibit the immune response in sepsis. Our approach identified ACOD1 (Aconitate Decarboxylase 1) as a primary mediator of Treg suppression of immune cells. We identified and validated CD36 as a downstream target of ACOD1. CD36 is a known metabolite regulator in Tregs. Taken together, our results indicate that targeting ACOD1 could prove valuable in regulating Treg function during sepsis.

Background An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in China in 2020 has led to an unprecedented shortage of fraxiparin. Most patients, especially those kept in hospital for surgery, are currently treated with prophylactic anticoagulation (AC). In search of alternatives for fraxiparin, we found no sufficient data on alternatives for neurosurgical patients, such as tinzaparin of European origin. We compared fraxiparin and tinzaparin concerning adverse events (bleeding versus thromboembolic events) in neurosurgical patients. Methods Between 2012 and 2018, 517 neurosurgical patients with benign and malignant brain tumors as well as 297 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) were treated in the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Leipzig receiving prophylactic anticoagulation within 48 hours. In 2015, prophylactic anticoagulation was switched from fraxiparin to tinzaparin throughout the university hospital. In a retrospective manner, the frequency and occurrence of adverse events (rebleeding and thromboembolic events) in connection with the substance used was analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s exact test and the chi-squared test. Results Rebleeding rates were similar in both fraxiparin and tinzaparin cohorts in patients being treated for meningioma, glioma, and SAH combined (8.8 vs 10.3%). Accordingly, the rates of overall thromboembolic events were not significantly different (5.5% vs 4.3%). The severity of rebleeding did not vary. There was no significant difference among subgroups when compared for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). Conclusion In this retrospective study, tinzaparin seems to be a safe alternative to fraxiparin for AC in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery or suffering from SAH.

Safety and quality are key issues for the food industry. Consequently, there is a growing demand to preserve the food chain and products against substances toxic, harmful to human health such as contaminants, allergens, toxins, or pathogens. For this reason, it is mandatory to develop highly sensitive, reliable, rapid, and cost-effective sensing systems/devices such as electrochemical sensors/biosensors. Generally, conventional techniques are limited by long time of analyses, expensive and complex procedures, and they require skilled personnel. Therefore, the development of performant electrochemical biosensors can significantly support the screening of food chain and products. Here, we report some of the recent developments in this area and analyze the contributions produced by electrochemical biosensors in the food screening and the challenges to address.

There are numerous hazards found on the farms. Most of them are ignored, which might cause the farmer to pay later in terms of his ill health, potential injuries or death. The current article discusses some of the common issues such as dust and air quality concerns; environmental (weather) stressors and psychological stressors; noise and hearing protection; and tractor safety and seatbelt use. And finally, the recommendations to overcome the hazards are discussed.

A drug repositioning effort supported the possible use of the anti-HIV drug etravirine as a treatment for Friedreich Ataxia (FRDA). Etravirine increases frataxin protein and corrects the biochemical defects in cells derived from FRDA patients. Because of these findings, and since etravirine displays a favorable safety profile, we conducted this pilot open-label phase 2 clinical trial assessing the safety and potential efficacy of etravirine in FRDA patients. Thirty-five patients were stratified into 3 severity groups and randomized to etravirine 200 mg/day or 400 mg/day. They were treated for 4 months. Efficacy endpoints were represented by changes in peak oxygen uptake and workload as measured by incremental exercise test, SARA score, cardiac measures, measures of QoL and disability. Data were collected 4 months before the start of the treatment (T-4), at the start (T0), at the end (T4) and 4 months after the termination of the treatment (T+4). Etravirine was well tolerated. Etravirine completely stopped the progression of the SARA score during the 4-months treatment period, compared to the 4 months pre and post treatment. It increased peak workload, while the improvement of peak oxygen uptake was not statistically significant. No changes in the cardiac measures were observed. Health and QoL measures showed a worsening at the suspension of the drug. In this open trial etravirine significantly improved neurological function and was generally safe and reasonably tolerated. This suggests that etravirine represents a potential therapeutic agent in FRDA deserving testing in a randomized placebo controlled clinical trial.

Machine safety is not only a prerequisite for successful production, but also the foundation for sustainability and growth of any manufacturing organisation. The latest approaches in this rapidly developing field are the integration of effective risk management tools and strategies into occupational health and safety (OHS) systems. In this article, using a specific example from practice, we will show how using multi-criteria decision making (AHP) support Machinery Safety Decision Making (MSDM) from the point of reducing losses. Using Classification and Regression Tree Analysis (CART), we estimated the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and thus the sustainability level of the relevant safety measures. These were proposed risk reduction measures that typically raised uncertainty among managers regarding the estimation of cost-effectiveness. The advantage of application decision trees approach is possibility to identify and establish relatively homogeneous groups of undesirable events and their impact on the organisation's objectives. A comprehensive model has been developed to support management decision making in manufacturing organizations in implementing and improving safety measures in line with manufacturing sustainability goals.

Background: Handover is a critical process for ensuring quality and safety in healthcare. Considerable research suggests that poor handover results in significant morbidity, mortality, dissatisfaction, and excess financial costs. Despite this, little formal attention, education, and evaluation has been given to handover. There is also paucity of data on the opinions of practitioners on the safety of handover.Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the perceived risk, degree of patient harm and the systems used to support handover, and to understand how this varied by care setting, type of clinical practice, location, or level of experience. Methods: An open, anonymous and confidential online questionnaire covering: (a) respondent characteristics; (b) peer-to-peer handover; (c) internal referrals; (d) discharges and transfers between organisations; and (e) leading and improving handover was conducted with healthcare practitioners and managers from various settings. Results: We gathered a total of 432 completed responses from 26 countries. The average reported performance of handover was rated as 3.9 out of 5.For each type of handover, 12 - 14% reported errors occurring more than weekly. Of those that knew the outcome of such errors, between 29% and 34% reported that they had witnessed moderate or severe harm. 12% and 17% of respondents believed that handover was high or very high risk (See table 4). These respondents were more likely to have witnessed moderate or severe harm, or to be more senior.A wide combination of handover systems was utilised by respondents. 28% - 32% relied exclusively on EPRs (with or without face-to-face contact). 21% used Office documents such as Word and Excel for peer-to-peer handover, and over 30% used hand-written or manual systems. Conclusions: This study suggests the need to do more — and go further — to improve communication and reduce risk during all types of handovers. Clinical leaders should find ways to train and support handover with effective systems, with less experienced staff being the primary focus. More research is needed to demonstrate the interventions that improve the safety of handover.

This study introduces an advanced dual-mode composite attitude control framework for reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), underpinned by an enhanced particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. This innovative strategy is tailored to meet the stringent demands for precision and robust anti-interference capabilities across the entire flight envelope of RLVs. The research commences with the formulation of a comprehensive attitude dynamics model and diverse heterogeneous actuator representations, meticulously crafted to reflect the distinct phases of RLV flight. Building upon this foundation, a synergistic control paradigm is engineered, integrating PID and fuzzy PID controllers, complemented by a refined fitness evaluation function. The crux of the study is the application of an upgraded PSO algorithm to fine-tune the controllers' weighting coefficients, culminating in an optimized dual-mode composite attitude control system. A series of comparative simulation analyses are meticulously executed to appraise the system's responsiveness, stability, precision, and resilience to interference. The findings unequivocally substantiate the superior performance of the proposed control system, affirming its substantial contribution to the advancement of RLV attitude control.

In nowadays conditions, insurance provides the opportunity for market system of economic management to work in any state. To provide economic security of the person it is needed to create a mechanism of protection against internal and external threats in modern Russia. That’s why the role of citizens insurance policy is increasing as the most effective risk management institute and achieving safety of health and private property of citizens. The goal of this research is to study Russian citizens’ attitudes towards insurance policy and investment using the conception of personal economic security. The preparatory study stage was focused on theoretical understanding of economic security problems taking insurance field as an example. Empirical research consisted of four stages. There were 1793 people taking part in this research. Results of this study can be proposed in the program of improving the functioning of the insurance market in the Russian Federation in The framework of the strategy of development of the insurance market - 2020. The obtained results can be used in Politics and Economics in the development of a set of measures related to lawmaking, control of financial institutions, promotion of financial literacy of the population, preparation of courses for universities and trainings for participants of the insurance market. The typologies of policyholders which were given can be the basis to create insurance programs for the citizens.

In this study, we investigated the features of co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and nonpathogenic strain LEV8 of coxsackievirus A7 or enterovirus A71 for Vero E6 cells and Syrian hamsters. The investigation of co-infection with SARS-СoV-2 and LEV-8 or EV-A71 in the cell model was shown that a competitive inhibitory effect for these viruses were especially significant against SARS-CoV-2. Pre-infection with enteroviruses in animals caused more than a 100-fold decrease in the levels of SARS-CoV-2 virus replication in the respiratory tracts and more rapid clearance of the lower respiratory tract from infectious SARS-CoV-2. Co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and LEV-8 or EV-A71 also reduced the severity of clinical manifestations of the SARS-CoV-2 infection for animals. Additionally, the histological data illustrated that co-infection with nonpathogenic coxsackievirus decreased the level of pathological changes by SARS-CoV-2 in the lungs. Research into the chemokine/cytokine profile demonstrated that the studied enteroviruses efficiently triggered this part of antiviral immune response, which can be associated with significant inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These results demonstrate that there exists a strong viral interference between the studied nonpathogenic strain of coxsackievirus A7 or enteroviruses A71 and SARS-CoV-2 pathogenic for humans in vitro and in vivo.

The study assessed the risk perception, attitude, and management tools of 260 randomly selected farmers and processors in the rice value chain using data elicited via a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Equally Likely Certainty Equivalent (ELCE) technique, Binary logistic regression, and a 5-point Likert scale were employed in the data analyses. Descriptive statistics show that the respondents are young, active, and in their productive age with an intermediate education level. Majority of the farmers and processors were risk averse. Risk aversion was common among farmers and processors. Farmers' risk attitudes and perceptions of risk are significantly influenced by a number of factors, including age, access to extension services, farm size, marital status, household size, education, income, training, and experience. Majority of rice farmers consider price risk as the most important risk while majority of processors perceive production risk as the most important risk. Pests and diseases, price fluctuation, drought, and lack of input were the most important source of risk to farmers, while processors perceived price fluctuation, technology adoption, and poor storage facilities as the most important source of risk. Off-farm investment, spraying for pests and diseases, cash contribution, market information, and cooperative were the important risk mitigating management strategies employed by the farmers/processors. The study suggests improvements in the identified risk sources, which could influence the attitude and perception of the farmers and processors.

Work in the copper mining industry is often associated with exposure to respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica. This exposure has the potential to cause silicosis, a non-curable occupational respiratory lung disease. This study aimed at establishing the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, work behaviour and practice, compliance with safety standards and exposure to respirable dust. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted on 528 mine workers. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for descriptives. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with latent variables and partial least-squares (LVPLS) analysis was employed to determine the relationship among these variables. The results indicated that of the four (4) hypotheses, two (2) were supported and two (2) were rejected showing that there is a significant relationship between exposure to respirable dust and work behaviour and practice, as well as compliance with safety standards. Knowledge and attitudes towards respirable dust exposure did not significantly influence exposure. According to the results from the survey, positive work behaviour and practice as well as compliance with safety standards was significantly associated with exposure to respirable dust. It is recommended that the mine should focus on the miners’ work behaviour and practice and compliance with safety standards.