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

Musculoskeletal injuries such as equine osteoarthritis, osteoarticular defects, tendonitis/desmitis, and muscular disorders are prevalent among sport horses, with a fair prognosis for returning to exercise or previous performance levels. The field of equine medicine has witnessed rapid and fruitful development, resulting in a diverse range of therapeutic options for musculoskeletal problems. Staying abreast of these advancements can be challenging, prompting the need for a comprehensive review of commonly used and recent treatments. The aim is to compile current therapeutic options for managing these injuries, spanning from simple to complex physiotherapy techniques, conservative treatments including steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hyaluronic acid, and polyacrylamides, to the promising regenerative therapies such as hemoderivatives and stem cell-based therapies. Each therapeutic modality is scrutinized for its benefits, limitations, and potential synergistic actions to facilitate their most effective application for intended healing/regeneration of the injured tissue/organ and subsequent patient recovery. While stem cell-based therapies emerge as particularly promising for equine musculoskeletal injuries, a multidisciplinary approach is underscored throughout the discussion, emphasizing the importance of considering various therapeutic modalities in tandem.

MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) radar provides much more flexibility than the traditional radar for its ability to realize far more observation channels than the actual number of T/R (transmit and receive) elements. Designing the array of MIMO imaging radar, the commonly used virtual array theory generally assumes that all elements are placed on the same line. However, due to the physical size of the antennas and coupling effect between T/R elements, a certain height difference between T/R arrays is essential, resulting in the defocusing of edge points of the scene. On the other hand, the virtual array theory implies far-field approximation, leading to inevitable high grating lobes in the imaging result of near-field edge points of the scene observed by common MIMO array. To tackle these problems, this paper derives the relationship between target’s PSF (point spread function) and pattern of T/R arrays, by which the design criterion of near-field imaging MIMO array is presented. Firstly, the proper height between T/R arrays is designed to focus the near-field edge points well. Secondly, the far-field array is modified to suppress the grating lobes in the near-field area. Finally, the validity of the proposed methods is verified by simulations and an experiment.

The rest-breaking agent, hydrogen cyanamide (HC), can substitute insufficient chill unit accumulation in Vitis vinifera and induce uniform bud-break; however, due to its toxicity it is being banned. In South Africa, red seedless grapes, including V. vinifera Crimson Seedless (CS), are the largest table grape export group; therefore, replacing HC in V. vinifera CS is crucial. This study aimed to confirm the molecular triggers induced by HC and assess the bud-break-enhancing abilities of commercial plant biostimulants. Forced bud-break assay experiments using V. vinifera CS single-node cuttings and a small-scale field trial were performed. Results demonstrated that increased chill unit accumulation (CUA), reduced HC efficacy. Bud-break started between 10 and 20 days after treatment, irrespective of final CUA. The small-scale field trial found that HC3 % resulted in a slightly delayed bud-break rate, whilst biostimulants were similar to the negative control. The treatment of dormant grapevine compound buds with nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hypoxia trigger dormancy-release to a certain extent, supporting the molecular models proposed for HC action. NO, H2O2, and hypoxia, in combination with PBs, may potentially replace HC; however, this needs to be confirmed in future experiments.

In this paper, we study the semilinear pseudo-parabolic equations $\displaystyle u_{t} - \triangle_{\mathbb{B}}u - \triangle_{\mathbb{B}}u_{t} = \left|u\right|^{p-1}u$ on a manifold with conical singularity, where $\triangle _{\mathbb{B}}$ is Fuchsian type Laplace operator investigated with totally characteristic degeneracy on the boundary $x_{1} = 0$. Firstly, we discuss the invariant sets and the vacuum isolating behavior of solutions with the help of a family of potential wells. Then, we derive a threshold result of existence and nonexistence of global weak solution: for the low initial energy $J(u_{0})<d$, the solution is global in time with $I(u_{0}) >0$ or $\displaystyle\Vert \nabla_{\mathbb{B}}u_{0}\Vert_{L_{2}^{\frac{n}{2}}(\mathbb{B})} = 0$ and blows up in finite time with $I(u_{0}) < 0$; for the critical initial energy $J(u_{0}) = d$, the solution is global in time with $I(u_{0}) \geq0$ and blows up in finite time with $I(u_{0}) < 0$. The decay estimate of the energy functional for the global solution and the estimates of the lifespan of local solution are also given.

Nowadays, the growing concern about improving thermal comfort in textiles, asphalt pavements and buildings has stimulated research into phase change materials (PCMs). However, the incorporation of PCMs directly causes mechanical impacts. Therefore, this study herein reported focuses on designing coaxial phase change fibres using commercial cellulose acetate (CA) or recycled CA obtained from cotton fabrics (CAt) as a coating and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 2000 as a core. The phase change fibres (PCF) were produced by wet spinning, varying the parameters: (i) CA concentration, molecular weight and source (virgin versus recycled); and (ii) PEG concentration and ejection. For phase change recycled fibres (PCFt), PEG concentration and ejection were varied. The fibres were assessed for their optical, chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. Bright-field microscopy images and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs proved the coaxial structure. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the presence of PEG in the core. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) proved the ability of PCFs to tolerate high temperatures. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) attested to the presence of PEG2000 peaks, since their melting points were close to those of virgin PEG2000, with a slight change in the PCFs and PCFts caused by the protective sheath of CA and CAt.

The relaxation process of lithium batteries caused by load variation is considered. It is shown that such processes have strong dependence on internal physical and chemical processes and battery technical conditions. Theoretical expressions of the relaxation process caused by a step-like load variation have been obtained for 1^st and 2^nd order equivalent electrical circuits. The experimental investigations show that the obtained models fit the real relaxation processes and the behavior of the identified parameters could be explained by specific features of physical and chemical processes within the lithium battery. It should be noted that the obtained results can be generalized for a different type of electrochemical power source. The proposed approach makes it possible to provide means for electrochemical power source characterization and diagnostic, the main advantages of which are good time localization of measurement procedures and inexpensive apparatus implementation.

We have recently presented a unified quantum gravity theory [1]. Here we extend on that work and present an even simpler version of that theory. For about hundred years, modern physics has not been able to build a bridge between quantum mechanics and gravity. However, a solution may be found here; we present our quantum gravity theory, which is rooted in indivisible particles where matter and gravity are related to collisions and can be described by collision space-time. In this paper, we also show that we can formulate a quantum wave equation rooted in collision space-time, which is equivalent to mass and energy.The beauty of our theory is that most of the main equations that currently exist in physics are not changed (in terms of predictions), except at the Planck scale. The Planck scale is directly linked to gravity and gravity is, surprisingly, actually a Lorentz symmetry as well as a form of Heisenberg uncertainty break down at the Planck scale. Our theory gives a dramatic simplification of many physics formulas without altering the output predictions. The relativistic wave equation, the relativistic energy momentum relation, and Minkowski space can all be represented by simpler equations when we understand mass at a deeper level. This not attained at a cost, but rather a reflection of the benefit in having gravity and electromagnetism unified under the same theory.

This study aims to spatially analyze the distribution characteristics of vacant homes in Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and understand the differences in factors causing vacant homes by type. We use a variety of statistical methods to examine these factors and identify key influencing factors such as the number of vacant stores, changes in overall population, land use complexity, and physical characteristics of land and buildings. The findings reveal that the factors contributing to the occurrence of vacant homes vary significantly by region and property type, highlighting the need for region-specific policies. For instance, in old town areas, small lot ratios and land use complexity are significant, while in rural village, the average number of floors and land use complexity play a major role. This study underscores the diversity of factors influencing vacant homes, suggesting that policies should be tailored to the unique characteristics of different regions to effectively address this issue.

Gender parity, is an important standard to be achieved by a society in which men and women are treated equally. The distinctions in the treatment may arise from psychology, biology, or cultural norms constructed by society. Studies show the different experiences of genders across many areas including health, education, personality, life expectancy, sports, interests, political empowerment, and careers. However, we are still far from reaching the objective, because there are conducts such as gender discrimination and expressions such as the purplewashing. In relation to feminism, purplewashing is used to define a diversity of marketing and political strategies intended at promoting people, companies, associations, and other organizations through an appeal to gender equality: they use only some of the feminist values at their convenience and in its actions, they are not really supportive of gender equality. In this opinion we aimed to address some of the reasons for inequality of opportunities based on gender; purplewashing is described as an expression that takes away the visibility of women's struggle. Additionally, we touch on some actions that promote gender equality in the family, educational, and work environments. Global leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to build gender-sensitive societies and economies. The challenges facing women today are essentially the same as they were a long time ago. It is time to break the bias.

The catastrophic failure of two dams in Libya in the night of 10th and 11th September 2023, resulted in a significant amount of water and debris destroying a large part of the city of Derna, which is located downstream of the two dams. The flood caused more than 6000 fatalities and the dis-placement of thousands of people from the city. The dams failed due to heavy rainfall caused by the Medicane Daniel, resulting in intense precipitation and the dams overspilling after reaching full capacity. This paper analyses the consequences of the dam breach by modelling the flow discharge and the flooding of the city of Derna. The analysis compares the computed quantities with the findings of the post-event satellite image analysis from UNOSAT and Copernicus, the field reports, and information gathered from the social media through AI detection. The results allows to better understand the dynamics of the dam breach, its initial parameters and an assessment of the accu-racy of the results.

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.

Censoring occurs when complete follow-up time information is unavailable for patients enrolled in a clinical study. The process is considered to be informative (nonignorable) if the likelihood function for the censoring model cannot be partitioned into a set of response parameters that are independent of the censoring parameters. In such cases, estimated survival time probabilities may be biased, prompting the need for special statistical methods to remedy the situation. The problem is especially salient when censoring is skewed toward the early phase of a study. In this paper, we describe a method to impute censored follow-up times using a counting process method.

Estimation of the potential consequences from events occurring downstream of a dam are part of the risk assessment needed during the installation phase of a new dam. In case of specific Natural or Man Made ongoing or prospected events, it may be also important to carry out fast computations that can provide information on the areas at risk either because the original design analyses are not available or because the parameters needed are different. This study is aimed to develop a procedure that strongly facilitates the preparation of the input deck and the derivation of the output quantities to allow a fast analysis of a dam break event using a shallow water model, NAMI DANCE, as the analysis tool.

We consider the financial planning problem of a retiree wishing to enter a retirement village at a future uncertain date. The date of entry is determined by the retiree's utility and bequest maximisation problem within the context of uncertain future health states. In addition, the retiree must choose optimal consumption, investment, bequest and purchase of insurance products prior to her full annuitisation on entry to the retirement village. A hyperbolic absolute risk-aversion (HARA) utility function is used to allow necessary consumption for basic living and medical costs. The retirement village will typically require an initial deposit upon entry. This threshold wealth requirement leads to exercising the replication of an American put option at the uncertain stopping time. From our numerical results, active insurance and annuity markets are shown to be a critical aspect in retirement planning.

Aim: To evaluate the panmacular subthreshold micropulse laser treatment results among patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and their correlation with functional and morphological parameters. Material and methods: The examined group included 10 non-treated and 41 treated patients with acute, recurrent, and chronic CSC (13 F, 38 M, mean age 44.11±6.5) and 14 healthy controls (6 F, 8 M, mean age 45±9.3). The BCVA examination, ophthalmoscopy, microp-erimetry, angio-OCT and OCT were performed. The medical history regarding chronic general disorders and known risk factors were recorded. Results: Complete resorption of SRF was obtained in 100% aCSC, 86.66% cCSC, and 63.63% r CSC. BCVA and RetSens significantly improved most of the patients treated in aCSC. The lowest BCVA and RetSens, but the largest pachyvessel and disease duration, were found in rCSC. A strong negative correlation between final BCVA and disease duration was found. No patient demonstrated laser lesions following treatment. Conclusions: The panmacular MPLT therapy leads to long-term enhancement of functional and morphological parameters in all CSC patients. The acute CSC patients showed the most significant improvement. The procedure is safe and could be considered a preferred treatment option for all active CSC cases. Timely treatment is crucial for beneficial outcomes.

In this follow-up study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of the “I do not smoke, I exercise”, anti-smoking preventive health education program. The program was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior supplemented with life-skills teaching and targeted at high school students. The intervention comprised ten one-hour online sessions, administered by physical education instructors. The study cohort comprised 222 students (109 boys, 113 girls) from 11 secondary schools, with an average age of 16.42 ± 1.36 years. Data collection involved pre- and post-intervention self-assessment questionnaires. The examined variables included attitudes towards smoking, intention to smoke, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (PBC), knowledge about smoking, smoking behavior, exercise behavior, attitudes toward the program's implementation, and satisfaction with the program. Separate paired samples t-test revealed a significant improvement in students' knowledge about smoking, perceived behavioral control, and overall program satisfaction following the intervention. However, no significant changes were observed in the remaining variables. These findings suggest that the health education smoking prevention intervention incorporates techniques and strategies that influence the Perceived Behavioral Control variable, emphasizing students' strong interest in educationally theorized programs integrating technology into their design. Future studies should consider further examination of tobacco control strategies within the high school context.

In this paper, we consider a fourth-order suspension bridge equation with nonlinear damping term |u_t|^m-2u_t and source term |u|^p-2u. We give necessary and sufficient condition for global existence and energy decay results without considering the relation between m and p. Moreover, when p>m, we give sufficient condition for finite time blow-up of solutions. The lower bound of the blow-up time T_max is also established. It worth to mention that our obtained results extend the recent results of Wang (J. Math. Anal. Appl., 2014) to the nonlinear damping case.

Aspalathin (ASP) can protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes against high glucose (HG)-induced shifts in myocardial substrate preference, oxidative stress and apoptosis. While the protective mechanism of aspalathin remains unknown, nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) has emerged as a key factor for intracellular responses against oxidative stress. Therefore, we hypothesized that aspalathin protects the myocardium against hyperglycemia-induced oxidative damage by up-regulating Nrf2 expression in H9c2 cardiomyocytes and diabetic (db/db) mice. Using an oxidative stress RT2 Profiler PCR array, ASP at a dose of 1 µM was demonstrated to protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes against HG-induced oxidative stress, but silencing of Nrf2 abolished this protective response of ASP and exacerbated cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Db/db mice and their non-diabetic (db/+) littermate controls were subsequently treated daily for 6 weeks with either a low (13 mg/kg) or high (130 mg/kg) ASP dose. Compared to nondiabetic mice the db/db mice presented increased cardiac remodeling and enlarged left ventricular wall that occurred concomitant to enhanced oxidative stress. Daily treatment of mice with ASP at a dose of 130 mg/kg for 6 weeks was more effective at reversing complications than both a low dose ASP or metformin, eliciting enhanced expression of Nrf2 and its downstream antioxidant genes. These results indicate that ASP maintains cellular homeostasis and protects the myocardium against hyperglycemia-induced stress through activation of Nrf2 and its downstream target genes.

The study of eco-evolutionary feedbacks is in clear recent expansion. However, most studies concern predator-prey and host-parasite interactions, while the analysis of eco-evolutionary feedbacks involving sexual interactions is lagging behind. This is at odds with the potential of these interactions to engage in such processes. Indeed, there is now ample evidence that sexual selection is affected by ecological change. There is also evidence that sexual selection traits evolve rapidly, which may modify the ecological context of species, and thus the selection pressures they will be exposed to. Here, we first set a clear distinction between processes in which ecology drives evolution and those in which the contemporary evolution of populations may change their ecology, depending on which traits act as drivers and objects of change. We then review evidence for these processes and discuss examples of closed eco-evolutionary feedbacks in an attempt to understand how we can tear this loop apart. We suggest that a better understanding of eco-evolutionary feedbacks of sexual selection may help us understand the effects of sexual selection on the rate of adaptation, speciation, and extinction, and thus foster future research in this area.

(1) Background: Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is when fertilized ovum implanted outside of uterine cavity. The incidence was 1.5% to 2.0% of all pregnancies [1, 2]. EP decreases fertility ability [3]. This study focused on the pregnancy rate after EP and various parameters influencing pregnancy. (2) Methods: The data was extracted from National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) during 2000-2013. The study group enrolled women with one EP history. Those who did not have EP was put into the control group. Chi-square/Fisher exact test was performed on category variable and t-test was used on continue variables. (3) Results: The EP group had a higher cumulative rate of conceive, 41.55% than control group, 37.14% and 1.16 times higher risk in developing pregnancy (P&lt;0.001). The conceiving rate was lower than the control group in the first 5 years, but higher than the control group in the 10th to 14th years. (4) Conclusions: The fecundability after EP is lower at the beginning, but regained after long term follow.

A new class of nano-cube core-shell heterostructures containing Ag coating on the top of WO₃ was fabricated. Physical vapor deposition was used to produce WO₃ based nano-heterostructures. All kind of wet toxic chemical process was avoided to make the process simple and contaminant free. Sputtering of WO₃ and a subsequent thermal annealing process was done to create nano-cubes of WO₃. After that, sputtering of Ag was performed to form the Ag-WO₃ core-shell nano-heterostructures (CSNH). The CSNHs were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The morphologies, elemental analysis, interfaces, crystallinity, phases, and chemical compositions were analyzed. The bottom-up growth of WO₃ nanocubes was studied using different time periods at 900°C. Ag coating was also studied before and after annealing. Finally, an optical property (band gap) was also analyzed using Tauc plot derive from absorption spectra. The tailoring the band gap of WO₃ from ~2.9eV to ~ 2.45 eV was observed while Ag-WO₃ CSNH formed.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are deleterious lesions that are generated in response to ionizing radiation or replication fork collapse that can lead to genomic instability and cancer. Eukaryotes have evolved two major pathways, namely homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) to repair DSBs. Whereas the roles of protein-DNA interactions in HR and NHEJ have been fairly well defined, the functions of small and long non-coding RNAs and RNA-DNA hybrids in the DNA damage response is just beginning to be elucidated. This review summarizes recent discoveries on the identification of non-coding RNAs and RNA-mediated regulation of DSB repair

The risk related to embankment dam breaches needs to be evaluated in order to prepare emergency action plans. The physical and hydrodynamic parameters of the flood wave generated from dam-failure event correspond to various breach parameters such as width, slope and formation time. This study aimed to simulate dam-breach failure scenario of Yabous dam (NE Algeria) and analyze its influence on areas (urban and natural environments) downstream the dam. The simulation was completed using the sensitivity analysis method in order to assess the impact of breach parameters on the dam-break scenario. The propagation of flood wave associated to dam-break was simulated using the one-dimensional HEC-RAS hydraulic model. This study ap-plied a sensitivity analysis of three breach parameters (slope, width, and formation time) in five sites selected downstream the embankment dam. The simulation showed that the maximum flow of the flood wave recorded at the level of the breach was 8768 m3/s, which gradually attenuated along the river course to reach 1579.2m3/s at about 8.5km downstream the dam. This study estab-lished the map of flood-prone areas that illustrated zones threatened with the flooding wave trig-gered by the dam failure due to extreme rainfall events. The sensitivity analysis showed that flood wave flow, height and width revealed positive and similar changes for the increase in adjustments (±25% and ±50%) of breach width and slope in the 5 sites. However, flood wave parameters of breach formation time showed significant trends that changed in the opposite direction compared to breach slope and width.

Sharding shows great potential for extending the blockchain. The current challenge facing sharded blockchain technology lies in addressing the extended transaction confirmation times caused by isolated states between shards and unbalanced transaction allocation strategies. These factors contribute to an increase in cross-shard transactions and disproportionate shard workload, ultimately resulting in indefinite confirmation delays for cross-shard transactions. A critical priority for sharded blockchain systems is to conduct a comprehensive qualitative analysis to better understand and mitigate the prolonged transaction confirmation times. We introduce a Product-Form Queue Network (PFQN) model to address the transaction confirmation time problem in sharded blockchains and incorporate a new confirmation queue to more accurately simulate the actual transaction confirmation process in the blockchain. In addition, we provide a detailed quantitative analysis of the relationship between network load, consensus efficiency, and security in sharded blockchains, laying a theoretical foundation for achieving robustness and efficiency in sharded blockchains. This research not only contributes to addressing the scalability issues in sharded blockchains but also offers a new perspective for future research directions.

The necessity for precise and current data concerning the dynamics of land cover change in Indonesia is crucial for efforts to reduce natural vegetation cover due to agricultural expansion. The functionality of monitoring systems that incorporate Terra-MODIS is currently compromised by the limited availability of data for the immediate future. This study seeks to assess the potential of VIIRS satellite imagery in developing an early warning system for monitoring vegetation cover change in Indonesia. The Normalized Differential Open Area Index (NDOAI) computed from the 8-day’ VIIRS data was employed to detect changes in vegetation cover based on pixel-by-pixel subtraction in the NDOAI data time series. Evaluating the pixel-level accuracy of change detection is complicated due to the fact that we evaluate a change map at a coarser resolution than the Landsat-based reference map. The results revealed that increasing the threshold percentage is associated with improved accuracy. In change detection, there is often a trade-off between accuracy and sensitivity. A threshold that is too low may result in false positives, while a threshold that is too high may lead to missed changes. This study demonstrates that when a threshold value of less than 20% is applied, Landsat can identify vegetation cover changes at an earlier stage. Conversely, when a threshold value greater than 20% is employed, VIIRS will detect the change 4.5 days earlier than Landsat. Additionally, VIIRS is capable of detecting changes 25.4 days and 54.8 days faster than Landsat, respectively, when using thresholds of 40% and 75%.

Introduction: Research studies have shown that workplace stress and physical immobility can have a multi-layered effect on the human body. It causes degrade our physical functioning, and also having negative effect on our performance. Yoga techniques have proved to be effective at various levels, including physical, mental, and emotional health. Objective: This study aimed to determine the efficacy of a short-term Yoga protocol – Y break, for improved well-being and resilience to stress. It is intended to working population at work to de-stress, refresh, and refocus. Methods: This study was conducted as a single-arm, multi-centric, experimental pilot trial. Prominent yoga institutes in six metropolitan cities were engaged in this study. Participants practised specific yoga techniques for 5 minutes, twice a day, for 15 days. Pre & post-intervention data was collected along with feedback about the protocol. A self-report questionnaire, based on the Pancha kosha parameters, was used to record pre- and post-data. Results: The Statistical data analysis shown significant improvement in every parameter selected for the study. Conclusion: A five-minute yoga break can do wonders for the health-related parameters of the working population; therefore, it should be introduced in all organizations to improve the quality of life and work.

Background/Objectives:The first attempts of posterior lumbar interbody fusion can be traced back to the 1940s, where their performance was marked by animosity due to high rates of failure. Nowadays, the use of interbody fusion involves a much more complicated consideration of factors such as global alignment, disc height, fusion rates, and operative risk, all combined at once.Our study aims to examine all these effects using Flarehawk 9 as a means of interbody fusion.Materials and methods: A total of 58 patients underwent open posterior lumbar surgery using Flarehawk 9 between September 2021 and February 2023 with a mean follow up of 1 year.The mean age was 59.8 years old ( range between 33 and 79 years old), 36 of them are males while 22 of them are females. The diagnostic groups included spinal canal stenosis (n=40), failed back surgery syndrome-revision surgery (n=5),spondylolisthesis with slip percentage 25% (n=4),recurrent herniated disc (n=7) and adjacent segment disease (n=2). Results: The majority of patients demonstrated remarkable improvement based on ODI scores.The rate of union varied based on the fused levels and whether the patients had previous surgery or not.The amount of lordosis postoperatively is increased by 2±0.4 degrees.Conclusions: Even though anterior approaches become more and more popular and advanced nowadays, posterior fusion with interbody cage still remains a safe and effective method to treat various spine surgical pathologies with optimal results.

This paper proposed an optimal tracking control scheme through adaptive dynamic programming(ADP) for a class of partially unknown discrete-time nonlinear systems based on radial basis function neural network(RBF-NN). In order to acquire the unknown system dynamics, we use two RBF-NNs, the one is used to construct the identifier, and the another is used to directly approximate the steady-state control input, where a novel adaptive law is proposed to update neural network weights. While the optimal feedback control and the cost function are derived via feedforward neural networks approximating, it is proposed to regulate the tracking error, the critic network and the actor network are then trained online to obtain the solution of the associated Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation being built under the ADP framework. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the optimal tracking control technique using the neural networks.

Quantum gravity theories rely on a minimal measurable length for their formulations, which clashes with the classical formulation of the uncertainty principle and with Lorentz invariance from general relativity. These incompatibilities led to the development of the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) from string theories and its various modifications. GUP and covariant formulations of the uncertainty principle are discussed, together with implications for space-time quantization.

In the field of railroad safety, effective detection of surface cracks is critical, necessitating reliable, high-speed non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. This study introduces a hybrid Eddy Current Testing (ECT) probe, specifically engineered for railroad inspection, to address the common issue of ’lift-off noise’ due to varying distances between the probe and test material. Unlike traditional ECT methods, this probe integrates transmit and differential receiver coils, aiming to enhance detection sensitivity and minimize lift-off impact. The study optimizes ECT probes employing different driver coils, emphasizing three main objectives: a) quantitatively evaluating each probe using signal- to-noise ratio (SNR) and outlining a real-time data processing algorithm based on SNR methodology; b) exploring the frequency range proximal to the electrical resonance of the receiver coil; c) examining sensitivity variations across varying lift-off distances. The experimental outcomes indicate that the newly designed probe with figure 8-shape driver coil significantly improves sensitivity in detecting surface cracks on railroads. It achieves an impressive SNR exceeding 100 for defects with minimal dimensions of 1 mm in width and depth. Simulation results closely align with experimental findings, validating the investigation of optimal operational frequency and lift-off distance for selected probe performance, determined to be 0.3 MHz and 0.5 mm, respectively. The realization of this project would lead to notable advancements in enhancing railroad safety by improving crack detection efficiency.

As the adoption of renewable energy sources grows, ensuring a stable power balance across various time frames has become a central challenge for modern power systems. In line with the "dual carbon" objectives and the seamless integration of renewable energy sources, harnessing the advantages of various energy storage resources and coordinating the operation of long-term and short-term storage have become pivotal directions for future energy storage deployment. To address the complexities arising from the coupling of different time scales in optimizing energy storage capacity, this paper proposes a method for energy storage planning that accounts for power imbalance risks across multiple time scales. Initially, the Seasonal and Trend decomposition using the Loess (STL) decomposition method is utilized to temporally decouple actual operational data. Subsequently, power balance computations are performed based on the obtained data at various time scales to optimize the allocation of different types of energy storage capacities and assess the associated imbalance risks. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through hourly applications using real-world data from a province in China over recent years.

Performing optimisation and scale-up studies of crystallisation systems requires accurate and computationally efficient mathematical models. The assumption of the ideal mixing conditions in batch reactors typically produce inaccurate results while the computational expense of CFD models is still prohibitively high. Therefore, in this work, a new intermediary approach is proposed that takes into account the non-ideal mixing conditions in the reactor and requires less computational resources than full CFD simulations. Starting with the Danckwerts concept of the intensity of segregation, an analogy between its application to chemical reactions and the kinetics of the crystallisation phenomena (such as nucleation and growth) has been made. As a result, the modified kinetics expressions have been derived which incorporate the effect of non-idealities present in stirred reactors. This way, based on the experimental measurements of the mixing time using the Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) technique, computationally more efficient mathematical models can be developed in two ways: (1) the accurate semi-empirical correlations are available for standard mixing configurations with the most often used types of impellers, (2) CFD simulations can be utilised for estimation of the mixing time; in this case it is necessary to simulate only the mixing process. The benefits offered by the LIF experimental technique have been demonstrated and some frequent problems in its application analysed. The mixing time results for configurations with and without baffles for three types of impellers and four different rotational speeds have been presented. The false shorter mixing times in the non-baffled configurations have been observed and this phenomena explained by the existence of two segregated zones in the reactor and confirmed by additional experiments. The precise measurements in these cases have been shown as difficult using the LIF technique, particularly for higher rpms. The experimental data has been compared to the preliminary simulation results obtained from the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method and the standard k-ε turbulence model with the modest success. The shortcomings of the SPH model have been recognized and the directions for the future work discussed.

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a major role in promoting ripening in sweet cherry, a non-climateric fruit. Exogenous application of ABA has been performed to study fruit ripening and cracking, but this growth regulator is not used for commercial production. To determine the potential of this growth regulator to improve sweet cherry fruit quality, ABA canopy spraying was assayed in four cultivars. Canopy spraying of S-ABA significantly: 1) enhanced sweet cherry fruit color in ‘Glenred’, ‘Lapins’ and 'Bing' cultivars, but not in ‘Royal Rainier’ (a bi-colored cultivar), and 2) decreased fruit size and firmness in ‘Lapins’, ‘Bing’ and ‘Royal Rainier’. Seasonally reproducible effects were seen in ‘Lapins’ (mid/late-maturing) but not in ‘Glenred’ (early-maturing). Canopy spraying of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) decreased color and increased fruit size in ‘Lapins’, but not in ‘Glenred’. Direct application of ABA on fruits attached to the tree, without application to the foliage, increased Lapins' fruit color without reducing size. These results suggest a localized fruit response to exogenous ABA application on fruit color development, but that a decrease in fruit size may be due to the effects of exogenous ABA on the tree canopy foliage.

In an effort to enhance the efficiency and safety of open-pit mines, this study explores the optimization of end slope road parameters and slope structures, specifically focusing on unmanned driving lanes.A significant aspect of the study is the development of a truck trajectory offset model, which considers the different reaction times between automated sensors and human drivers in adapting to environmental changes. To test these concepts, the study uses numerical simulations to confirm the stability of the proposed end slope designs. Using Victory West Mine No. 1 as a case study, the research determines the optimized width for unmanned driving lanes and the maximum angle for safe steepening of end slopes. The findings indicate that the optimized unmanned lane width for NTE240 mining dump trucks is 1743 mm, allowing for a 2-degree increase in the slope angle at the south end slope. This optimization leads to a steep mining stripping volume of 3.2735 million m³ and a coal output of 2.49628 million tons, maintaining a stripping ratio of 1.31m³/t. These results demonstrate that the unmanned driving road width optimization not only ensures slope safety but also significantly boosts the economic benefits of steep mining in open-pit mines.

Optimal control is a critical tool for mechanical robotic systems, facilitating precise manipulation of dynamic processes. These processes are described through differential equations governed by a control function, addressing a time-optimal problem with bilinear characteristics. Our study utilizes the classical approach complemented by Pontryagin's Maximum Principle (PMP) to explore this inverse optimal problem. The objective is to develop an exact piecewise control function that effectively manages trajectory control while considering the effects of viscous friction. Our simulations demonstrate that the proposed control law markedly diminishes oscillations induced by boundary conditions. This research not only aims to delineate the reachability set but also strives to determine the minimal time required for the process. The findings include an exact analytical solution for the stated control problem.

Injuries to the ligaments of the knee are extremely common among athletes who participate in high-risk sports, or any sport that requires frequent cutting motions, jumping, or contact. In order to determine the best way to heal these injuries, it is important to understand not just the pathology of the injury, but also the biomechanical factors that are affected, including stability and steadiness. While many studies have been done to examine the stability of healthy knees, there is little to no existing literature on stability of knees afflicted by injury. In order to surpass this obstacle, static steadiness and dynamic stability data was collected using the Lockhart Monitor phone application and Xsens accelerometers, respectively, both before and after completion of a course of physical therapy in a patient with a grade 2 medial collateral ligament (MCL) tear. These results were then used to determine the degree to which the prescribed physical therapy protocol was effective in healing the MCL, which can be useful for tweaking the individual protocol for future conservative treatment and management of the injury.

An irreparable rotator cuff tear is a challenging condition to treat, and various treatment modalities are being introduced. Medialization in the partial repair method has the limitation of exposing the tuberosity, while tension-free biologic interpositioning tuberoplasty using acellular dermal matrix (ADM) has the limitation of exposing the humeral head. The authors believe that by combining these two techniques, it is possible to complement each other's limitations. Therefore, they propose a surgical method that combines medialization and biologic interpositioning tuberoplasty for addressing these constraints.

In this paper, a proof similar to the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) theorem is given to prove that time in quantum theory is not epistemic but has ontological reality. For this, we first discuss how time can be encoded as an intrinsic property of a quantum system. We prepare a quantum state containing time as an intrinsic property and show by a PBR-type proof that time cannot be an epistemic notion. In fact, the PBR theorem implies an ontic notion of time. Indeed, if the quantum state is a physical property, then quantum state reduction is a physical process involving information destruction. In this case, quantum probabilities are intrinsic probabilities without epistemic origin, and they generate a genuinely new sequence of events. This novelty introduced by quantum probabilities can be interpreted as time.

The enormous growth in the penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), has laid the path to advancements in the charging infrastructure. Connectivity between charging stations is an essential prerequisite for future EV adoption to alleviate users’ “range anxiety”. The existing charging stations fail to adopt power provision allocation and scheduling management. To improve the existing charging infrastructure data based on real-time information and availability of reserves at charging stations could be uploaded to the users to help them locate the nearest charging station for an EV. This research article focuses on an a interactive user application developed through SQL and PHP platform to allocate the charging slots based on estimated battery parameters, which uses data communication with charging stations to receive the slot availability information. The proposed server-based real-time forecast charging infrastructure avoids waiting times and its scheduling management efficiently prevents the EV from halting on road due to battery drain out. The proposed model is implemented using a low-cost microcontroller and the system etiquette tested.

In this paper, we study a one-dimensional Bresse-Cattaneo system with infinite memories and time-dependent delay term (the coefficient of which is not necessarily positive) in the internal feedbacks. First, it is proved that the system is well-posed by means of the Hille-Yosida theorem under suitable assumptions on the relaxation functions. Then, without any restriction on the speeds of wave propagations, we establish the exponential or general decay result by introducing suitable energy and Lyapunov functionals.

Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) can enable a broad range of applications such as resource monitoring, disaster prevention, and navigation-assisted. It is especially relevant for sensor nodes location in UWSNs. Global Positioning System (GPS) is not suitable for using in UWSNs because of the underwater propagation problems. Hence some localization algorithms based on the precise time synchronization between sensor nodes have been proposed which are not feasible for UWSNs. In this paper, we propose a localization algorithm called Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm (TP-TSFLA). TP-TSFLA contains two phases, namely, range-based estimation phase and range-free evaluation phase. In the first phase, we address a time synchronization-free localization scheme base on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to decrease the localization error. In the second phase, we propose a Circle-based Range-Free Localization Algorithm (CRFLA) to locate the unlocalized sensor nodes which cannot obtain the location information through the first phase. In the second phase, sensor nodes which are localized in the first phase act as the new anchor nodes to help realize localization. Hence in this algorithm, we use a small number of mobile beacons to help achieve location without any other anchor nodes. Besides, to improve the precision of the range-free method, an extension of CRFLA by designing a coordinate adjustment scheme is updated. The simulation results show that TP-TSFLA can achieve a relative high localization ratio without time synchronization.

The cutter structure and layout scheme of PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) bits are important factors in improving efficiency. To further improve the drilling efficiency of PDC bits, axe, triangular prism, and cylindrical PDC cutters were used as research objects. Based on the measured granite data, a finite element model of non-homogeneous granite was established and verified by uniaxial compression simulation. The rock-breaking process of different cutter combination schemes was compared using the finite element method, and the parameters in the best scheme were optimized using the Box-Behnken response surface method. The results show that the constructed model of non-homogeneous granite is consistent with the stress-strain relationship of real granite and is reliable. The axe PDC cutter is more aggressive than the other two cutters and is more suitable for the front row of the bit blade tooth arrangement, while the triangular prism cutter is the second most aggressive and is suitable for the rear row of tooth arrangement, and the best combination scheme is the front row of axe cutter and the rear row of triangular prism cutter arranged alternately with the axe cutter. The optimal transverse and longitudinal distances of the optimized triangular prism cutter from the front axe cutter are 10mm and 7mm, and the optimal transverse and longitudinal distances of the rear axe cutter from the front cutter are 10.06mm and 7mm. The drilling speed is more stable during drilling and the PDC bit with mixed tooth arrangement has 16.8% and 16.6% higher rate of penetration(ROP) compared with the bit with single axe cutter and triangular prism cutter, and the drilling speed is more stable during working, which can effectively improve the rock breaking efficiency of the PDC bit. The field application proves that the bit with mixed cutter arrangement is easier to break the complex formations, with more stable ROP and better efficiency. The study can provide theoretical support for the cutter layout of the PDC bit.

This work introduces a new architecture for a time-domain feedback-based beamformer designed to meet real-time processing demands. The primary goal of this design is to locate reflective sources by estimating their direction of arrival (DOA) and signal range. Incorporating a feedback mechanism in this architecture is a unique aspect that refines localization precision. We conduct an in-depth analysis highlighting their respective benefits and limitations to compare the effectiveness of time-domain feedback beamforming against conventional time-domain methods. Our evaluation of the proposed architecture, based on critical performance indicators such as peak-to-sidelobe ratio, mainlobe width, and directivity factor, demonstrates its ability to improve beamformer effectiveness significantly.

This article develops a multi-perspective view on motivations and methods for tobamovirus purification through the ages, and presents a novel efficient, easy-to-use approach that can be well-adapted to different species of native and functionalized virions. We survey the various driving forces prompting researchers to enrich tobamoviruses: from the search for the causative agents of mosaic diseases in plants to their increasing recognition as versatile nanocarriers in biomedical and engineering applications. Best practice and also rarely applied options for the serial processing steps required for successful isolation of tobamoviruses are then reviewed. Adaptations for distinct particle species, pitfalls and 'forgotten' or underrepresented technologies are considered as well. The article is topped off with our own development of a method for virion preparation, rooted in historical protocols. It combines selective re-solubilization of polyethylene glycol (PEG) virion raw precipitates with density step gradient centrifugation in biocompatible iodixanol formulations, yielding ready-to-use particle suspensions. This newly established protocol and some considerations for perhaps worthwile further developments could serve as putative stepping stones towards preparation procedures appropriate for routine practical uses of the multivalent soft-matter nanorods.

The degree of ore rock fragmentation of mine blasting is an important index for evaluating the effect of engineering blasting. In order to study the effect of millisecond delayed blasting on the internal fragmentation of the ore rock, LS-DYNA numerical simulation software was used to obtain the damage characteristics of the ore rock in the blasting area using the RHT model. The Mohr-Coulomb strength damage criterion was applied to analyze the internal stress state of the ore rock, and the effects of 25ms, 50ms and 75ms delay time conditions on ore rock fragmentation were studied. The results show that, within a certain range of delay time, the degree of rock fragmentation increases with the increase of delay time. The stress state in the ore rock due to blasting is strengthened with the increase of delay time in the direction of the blast hole, which shows that the stress concentration is strengthened from the excavation face to the interior of the ore rock. The damage and the degree of fragmentation show a characteristic relationship of 25ms＜50ms＜75ms, which is verified by carrying out blasting experiments on site.

Structural health monitoring has been studied by a number of researchers as well as various industries to keep up with the increasing demand for preventive maintenance routines. This work presents a novel method for reconstruct prompt, informed strain/stress responses at the hot spots of the structures based on strain measurements at remote locations. The structural responses measured from usage monitoring system at available locations are decomposed into modal responses using empirical mode decomposition. Transformation equations based on finite element modeling are derived to extrapolate the modal responses from the measured locations to critical locations where direct sensor measurements are not available. Then, two numerical examples (a two-span beam and a 19956-degree of freedom simplified airfoil) are used to demonstrate the overall reconstruction method. Finally, the present work investigates the effectiveness and accuracy of the method through a set of experiments conducted on an aluminium alloy cantilever beam commonly used in air vehicle and spacecraft. The experiments collect the vibration strain signals of the beam via optical fiber sensors. Reconstruction results are compared with theoretical solutions and a detailed error analysis is also provided.

In this paper, the experimental study of heating in 2 h lunch mode of air-conditioned bed system is carried out. The results show that the power consumption of heat conduction heating is only 0.34 kW·h, and the average heat dissipation is 81.3 W, while the power consumption of convection heating is 1.43 kW·h, with an average heat dissipation of 748.7 W. Regardless of power consumption or heat dissipation, convection heating is significantly higher than heat conduction heating, resulting in the room air temperature of the former increased from 12.3 °C to 17.3 °C, while the latter only increased from 14.4 °C to 15.2 °C. The study found that the water temperature of heat conduction heating can meet the thermal comfort needs of the human body in the range of 38~40 °C, while convection heating requires a higher temperature range, In contrast, the grade of hot water required for heat conduction heating is lower. Through the experiment, it is also found that the temperature of convection heating rises fast, but it is easy to appear dry feeling after a long time, while heat conductive heating has a slow temperature rise. there is a cool feeling within 20 min after the heating starts, and then the thermal comfort is better. The air conditioning system in this paper is used for the heating experiment in the winter lunch break mode, compared with convection heating, the overall thermal comfort of heat conduction heating is better and more energy efficient. it is suggested to adopt heat conduction heating mode in the winter heating of this system.

JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is a human-specific polyomavirus that establishes a silent lifelong infection in multiple peripheral organs, predominantly those of the urinary tract, of immunocompetent individuals. In immunocompromised settings, however, JCPyV can infiltrate the central nervous system (CNS), where it causes several encephalopathies of high morbidity and mortality. JCPyV-induced progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a devastating demyelinating brain disease, was an AIDS-defining disease pre-antiretroviral therapy that has “reemerged” as a complication of immunomodulating and chemotherapeutic agents. No effective anti-polyomavirus therapeutics are currently available. How depressed immune status sets the stage for JCPyV resurgence in the urinary tract, how the virus evades pre-existing antiviral antibodies to become viremic, and where/how it enters the CNS are incompletely understood. Addressing these questions requires a tractable animal model of JCPyV CNS infection. Although no animal model can replicate all aspects of any human disease, mouse polyomavirus (MuPyV) in mice and JCPyV in humans share key features of peripheral and CNS infection and antiviral immunity. In this review, we will discuss evidence suggesting how JCPyV migrates from the periphery to the CNS, innate and adaptive immune responses to polyomavirus infection, and how the MuPyV-mouse model is providing insights into the pathogenesis of JCPyV CNS disease.

A new type of artificial block is proposed by modifying the traditional block. Based on the physical model experiment, the wave reflection and run-up characteristics of the new ecological blocks under regular waves were examined, and the influence of the height of the "planting trough" border on the hydrodynamic properties was analyzed. The results indicate that the wave reflection and run-up would decrease with a decrease in the breakwater slope. As wave height increases, wave run-up increases, and the reflection coefficient falls. Wave reflection and run-up increase with an increasing wave period. The relative depth of the water has a smaller impact on the wave reflection than the wave run-up. The reflection coefficient of the new ecological blocks is consistently lower than that of the conventional and continues to decrease as the border of the "planting trough" is raised. The raised borders prevent water loss in the trough, resulting in no significant improvement in the wave run-up performance of the new blocks. The reflection coefficient and the relative run-up R/H gradually increase with the average wave breaking parameter ξ increase. The crude permeability coefficients for the new blocks, New Heights 1 and New Heights 2, are 0.53, 0.53, and 0.54, respectively.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Blazepod technology when incorporated with various training regimens on the essential elements of physical fitness in volleyball, such as agility, speed, visual response time, and vertical leap. Thirty-six participants (age :17.33±0.48 y, height: 183.78±6.34 cm, weight: 77.14±5.16 kg) were in-volved in this study. In randomized design, three equal groups with two experimental groups and one control group were involved in the study over a period of six weeks: (GE1) used Blazepod technology to workout at a low level; (GE2) used Blazepod technology to workout at a higher intensity; (CG) did not employ Blazepod technology, but it adhered to the same fundamental training curriculum. We conducted agility, speed, reaction time, and vertical jump tests before, midway and after the study to determine optimal training volume, intensity, and frequency. A significant main effect of time (P0.01), and time×group interaction (P>0.001) were found for all tests. Post hoc test showed that the two experimental groups gadget significantly improved in all performance variables (P

We review time expansion wave theory and refine our model showing it to accurately match observed cosmological luminosity data. The theory augments general relativity to create a container within which quantum effects can be explained by treating time as an artefact of a fourth spatial dimension that we observe as the expansion of the universe. This leads us to explain mass creation, the speed of light limit, gravity, black holes without singularities and other macroscopic effects. Our model leads to an expansion velocity of 6.87 0.36 × 106 ms-1, which results in a Hubble expansion rate constant of 71.3 3.7 km/s/Mpc. Because of the finite window of time in which we exist, an extra a degree of freedom is available leading to interesting interpretations at the subatomic level. At this size range, then a spin is allowed within the time dimension explaining why wave particle duality occurs and explains the electromagnetic force and other quantum mechanical properties. It provides a solution to the double slit conundrum and can explain how quantum entangled partners can behave in a quantum way and pass seemingly time-defying information. The potential quantitative origin of the fine structure constant which governs the size of the electromagnetic force is also strongly indicated by this theory.

Radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy belong to the main treatment modalities for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and induce cancer cell death by generating DNA damage, including the most severe double strand breaks (DSBs). Alterations in DSB response and repair genes may affect individual DNA repair capacity and treatment sensitivity, contributing to therapy resistance and poor prognosis often observed in HNSCC. In this study, we investigated the association of a panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 20 DSB signaling and repair genes with therapy results and prognosis in 505 HNSCC patients treated non-surgically with DNA damage-inducing therapies. In the multivariate analysis, there were a total of 14 variants associated with overall, locoregional recurrence-free or metastasis-free survival. Moreover, we identified 10 of these SNPs as independent predictors of therapy failure and unfavorable prognosis in the whole group or in two treatment subgroups. They were MRE11A rs2155209, XRCC5 rs828907, RAD51 rs1801321, rs12593359, LIG4 rs1805388, CHEK1 rs558351, TP53 rs1042522, ATM rs1801516, XRCC6 rs2267437 and NBS1 rs2735383. Only CHEK1 rs558351 remained statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. These results suggest that specific germline variants related to DSB response and repair may be potential genetic modifiers of therapy effects and disease progression in HNSCC treated with radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemoradiation.

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of the sequential empirical process and the sequential empirical copula process, both constructed from residuals of multivariate stochastic volatility models. Applications for the detection of structural changes and specification tests of the distribution of innovations are discussed. It is also shown that if the stochastic volatility matrices are diagonal, which is the case if the univariate time series are estimated separately instead of being jointly estimated, then the empirical copula process behaves as if the innovations were observed; a remarkable property. As a by-product, one also obtains the asymptotic behavior of rank-based measures of dependence applied to residuals of these time series models.

A multiscale model that enables quantitative understanding and prediction of the size effect on scattering properties of micro- and nanostructures is crucial for the design of LED surface textures optimized for high light extraction efficiency (LEE). In this paper, a hybrid process for combining full-wave finite-difference time-domain simulation and a ray-tracing technique based on a bidirectional scattering distribution function model is proposed. We apply this method to study the influence of different pattern sizes of a patterned sapphire substrate on GaN-based LED light extraction from the microscale to the nanoscale. The results show that near-wavelength–scaled patterns with strong diffraction are not expected to enhance LEE. By contrast, microscaled patterns with optical diffusion behavior have the highest LEE at a specific aspect ratio, and subwavelength-scaled patterns that have antireflection properties show marked enhancement of LEE for a wide range of aspect ratios.

This paper proposes an innovative mechatronic piezo-actuated module to control vibrations in modern machine tools. Vibrations represent one of the main issues that compromise seriously the quality of the workpiece. The active vibration control (AVC) device is composed by a host part integrated with sensors and actuators synchronized by a regulator, able to make a self-assessment and adjust to the environmental alteration. This study presents the mechatronic model based on the kinematic and dynamic analysis of the AVC device. To ensure a real time performance, a H2-LQG controller has been developed and validated by simulations involving machine tool, PZT actuator and controller models. The Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) architecture is adopted to control and attenuate the vibrations. A set of experimental tests has been performed to validate the AVC module on a commercial machine tool. The feasibility of the real time vibration damping is demonstrated and the simulation accuracy is evaluated.

A time-sequential working, spatially multiplexed autostereoscopic 3D display design consisting of a fast switchable RGB-color filter array is presented. The wavelength-selective filter barrier emits the light from a display over a larger active area than common autostereoscopic barrier displays. An optical modelling of wavelength-selective barriers has been used for instance to calculate the light ray distribution properties of that arrangement. To find well working display designs, automated searches by simulation and computational evaluation has been proceeded. Wavelength-selective filter barrier arrangements exhibit characteristics different from common barrier displays with similar barrier pitch and ascent. In particular, these constructions show strong angular luminance dependency under barrier inclination specified by correspondent slant angle. In time-sequential implementation it is important to avoid that quick eye or eyelid movement lead to visible color artifacts. In the millisecond regime tunable liquid crystal Fabry-Pérot color filters for the colors red, green and blue are presented. They consist of a sub-micrometer thick nematic layer sandwiched between dielectric mirrors and ITO-electrodes. These cells shall switch narrow-banding light of red, green or blue. An array for a glasses-free 3D display has to be equipped with several thousand switchable filter elements having different color apertures. The newly introduced design is usable as a multi user display as well as a single user system with user adaptive control.

When dealing with limited sample sizes or missing values in time series data, achieving high accuracy in forecasting becomes challenging. This challenge is particularly common in wind energy forecasting, where many wind farms lack complete data. In this paper, we employ the widely-used ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) model for time series forecasting. To address the difficulties posed by limited sample sizes and missing values, we adopt a unique approach by utilizing multiple ARIMA models for different datasets. A key distinction from other multiple models methods for time series forecasting lies in each model within our approach using its own dataset, making the fusion process more intricate. To overcome this, we incorporate neural networks and two techniques for model fusion: direct fusion with a learning mechanism and compensation for missing data through training. For each ARIMA model, we introduce a noise estimation method to circumvent the white noise assumptions inherent in ARIMA models. Finally, we apply these methods to wind energy prediction, and our experimental results showcase a significant enhancement in forecasting accuracy.

This paper investigates the feasibility of a backend design for real-time, multiple-channel processing digital phased array system, particularly for high-performance embedded computing platforms constructed of using general purpose digital signal processors. Frist, we obtained the lab-scale backend performance benchmark from simulating beamforming, pulse compression, and Doppler filtering based on MicroTCA chassis using Serial RapidIO protocol in backplane communication. Next, a field-scale demonstrator of a multifunctional phased array radar is emulated by using the similar configuration. Interestingly, the performance of a barebone design is compared to that of emerging tools that systematically take advantage of parallelism and multicore capabilities, including Open Computing Language.

The last 50 years witnessed the emergence of various so called “hyperpolarization technologies” that allow generating large magnetizations of spin ensembles. This Editorial Essay provides a brief overview of the use of these technologies in various fields, including medicine, chemistry, and quantum sensing. It is concluded that critical questions still need to be addressed to harness benefits of nuclear hyperpolarization in clinical medical imaging while interdisciplinary innovation can unlock potential of novel (yet unexplored) methods. My hope is that this Editorial Essay provides valuable insights into the current state and future directions of spin technologies.

Types of DNA recombination include homologous recombination and nonhomologous recombination. Homologous DNA recombination is a general term that includes exchange of information between chromatids: (reciprocal) crossing-over, gene conversion, and post-meiotic segregation. Gene conversion is now thought to be a type of non-Mendelian segregation of heterozygous markers near the recombination initiation site. Thus, it includes both gene conversion and post-meiotic segregation previously described. DNA non-HR including transpositional recombination and site-specific recombination. Our understanding of the molecular mechanism by which DNA recombination occurs has significantly increased in the past decades. Currently The synthesis-dependent strand annealing model is now thought to give rise to most or all noncrossovers, with the double-strand-break repair model forming mainly crossovers. The Shapiro model proposed by Dr. J. Shapiro explains the molecular mechanism of transpositional recombination. Site-specific recombination results from another distinct model. We previously proposed a novel theory which can provide a more reasonable and simpler explanation accounting for DNA HR including the 3 classes of recombinogenic events described above. In the new supplementedly molecular model, DNA meiotic recombination can be initiated by a copy choice mechanism, that is, copying part of 1 single-stranded DNA template, followed by DNA polymerase switching to another single-stranded DNA template, and then resuming the following DNA synthesis along the new template. The current review suggests that transpositional recombination and site-specific recombination should be initiated by copy choice during DNA synthesis rather than break/join mechanism. The work indicates that review of DNA nonhomologous recombination are very necessary. The novel theory would challenge earlier models accounting for transpositional recombination and site-specific recombination and would be critical to the understanding of the mechanisms. We hope copy choice initiating DNA nonhomologous recombination will be one of the concepts that are explored. Proper and specific experiments are required to reconstruct the detailed mechanism described here.

Obesity poses significant challenges in rural communities worldwide due to limited resources and healthcare access. Practical, innovative, and culturally sensitive approaches are essential. Time-Restricted Eating (TRE), aligning food intake with circadian rhythms, emerges as a promising strategy. By restricting eating to specific time windows, TRE synchronizes with the body's internal clock, offering potential metabolic health benefits. This review examines TRE's potential in rural obesity management, highlighting its simplicity and scalability. While TRE may address rural health disparities, cultural considerations and challenges such as undernutrition must be acknowledged for effective implementation. Overall, TRE shows promise in improving metabolic health and well-being in rural populations.

Manganese porphyrins reportedly exhibit synergic effects when combined with irradiation. However, an in-depth understanding of intratumoral heterogeneity and immune pathways, as affected by Mn porphyrins, remains limited. Here, we explored the mechanisms underlying immunomodulation of a clinical candidate, MnTnBuOE-2-PyP5+ (BMX-001, MnBuOE), using single-cell analysis in murine carcinoma model. Mice bearing 4T1 tumors were divided into 4 groups: control, MnBuOE, radiotherapy (RT), combined MnBuOE and radiotherapy (MnBuOE/RT). In epithelial cells, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, TNF-α signaling via NF-кB, angiogenesis, and hypoxia-related genes were significantly downregulated in the MnBuOE/RT compared to the RT. All subtypes of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were clearly reduced in MnBuOE and MnBuOE/RT. Inhibitory receptor-ligand interactions, in which epithelial cells and CAFs interacted with CD8+ T cells, were significantly lower in the MnBuOE/RT than in the RT. Trajectory analysis showed that DC maturation-associated markers were increased in MnBuOE/RT. M1 macrophages were significantly increased in the MnBuOE/RT compared to the RT, whereas myeloid-derived suppressor cells were decreased. CellChat analysis showed that the number of cell-cell communications was the lowest in the MnBuOE/RT. Our study is the first to provide evidence for the combined radiotherapy with a novel Mn porphyrin clinical candidate, BMX-001 from the perspective of each cell-type within the tumor microenvironment.

No doubt pollution is a global problem which must be holistically tackled. In doing this, adequate knowledge of the sources of pollution is important, therefore the aim of this paper is to review source apportionment with reference to top-down and bottom-up methods. In this paper, dispersion modeling, emissions inventory, and sampling methods were discussed. Also, analytical methods involved in top-down source apportionment were mentioned. The two techniques are needed to evaluate pollutants and their sources. Based on these two approaches, pollution control strategy would be developed and decisions can be made in deciding the right approach to solve or reduce the pollution problems.

Traumatic nerve injuries are common lesions that affect several hundred thousand humans, as well as dogs and cats. The assessment of nerve regeneration trough animal models may provide information for translational research and future therapeutic options that can be applied mutually in veterinary and human medicine, in a one health perspective. This review offers a hands-on vision about the non-invasive and conservative approaches on peripheral nerve injury, focusing the role of neurorehabilitation in nerve repair and regeneration. The peripheral nerve injury may lead to hypersensitivity, allodynia and hyperalgesia, with the possibility of joint contractures, decreasing functionality and impairing the quality of life. The question remains regarding how to improve nerve repair with surgical possibilities, but also considering electrical stimulation modalities by modulating sensory feedback, upregulation BDNF, GFNF, TrKB and adenosine monophosphate, maintaining muscle mass and modulating fatigue. This could be improved by the positive synergetic effect of exercises and physical activity with locomotor training, and other physical modalities, such as low-level laser therapy and ultrasounds. In addition, the use of cell-based therapies is an innovative treatment tool in this field. These strategies may help avoiding situations of permanent monoplegic limbs that could lead to amputation.

A randomized control trial (clinicaltrial.gov identification NCT04521504) was conducted to test if the combination of a rehabilitative protocol with a kinematic visual biofeedback tool could improve the functional level of patients arthroscopically treated for rotator cuff tear, both in the short- and medium-term assessments. Forty patients (aged between 35 and 65 y.o., employed at the time of the enrollment) were randomly assigned to two groups: Control group (C, n°21 patients) and Biofeedback group (B, n°19 patients). The primary outcome used for the assessment of shoulder functional performances was the Scapula-Weighted Constant-Murley Score. Patients were assessed longitudinally: before surgery, 45 days after surgery, at time of return-to-work, and at a final follow-up between 6 and 12 months. Results showed no biases for the two groups before the administration of the experimental protocol; significantly higher scores for B compared to C were found only at time of return-to-work. Based on results, we could conclude that the biofeedback training allowed patients to return to work in a better functional condition. This trial was funded by the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL).

This work investigated the isothermal holding time dependence of the densification, microstructure, weight loss and tensile properties of Fe-Mn-Si powder compacts. Elemental Fe, Mn and Si powder mixtures with a nominal composition of Fe-28Mn-3Si (in weight percent) were ball milled for 5h and subsequently pressed under a uniaxial pressure of 400 MPa. The compacted Fe-Mn-Si powder mixtures were sintered at 1200 ℃ for 0, 1, 2 and 3 h, respectively. In general, the density, weight loss and tensile properties increased with the increase of isothermal holding time. A significant increase in density, weight loss and tensile properties occurred in the compacts isothermally holding for 1 h, as compared to those with no isothermal holding. However, further extension of isothermal holding time (2 and 3 h) only played a limited role in promoting the density and tensile properties. The weight loss of the sintered compacts was mianly caused by the sublimation of Mn in Mn depletion region on the surface layer of the sintered Fe-Mn-Si compacts. The length of the Mn depletion region increased as isothermal holding time increased. A single α-Fe phase was detected on the surface of all the sintered compacts, and the locations beyond the Mn depletion region were comprised of a dual dominant γ-austenite and minor ε-martensite.

This paper describes an $\sim {\cal O}(n)$ pre-compute technique to speed up the Karatsuba algorithm for multiplying two numbers.

(1) Background Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the primary cause of poor vision in young adults. Screening for DR is important but many patients do not attend; (2) Methods: We validated an algorithm for predicting DR and its progression by conducting a retrospective study of 11 children in a population of 120,389 T2DM (3) Results: By applying the algorithm to the population showed an AUC of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.92–0.94) for any-DR and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.89–0.91) for referable-DR(4) Conclusions: The algorithm is useful for predicting patients who could develop referable forms of DR and also for any-DR. This would allow a personalized screening plan to be drawn up for each patient.

Background: Patients with thromboembolic disease, prosthetic valves, or coagulation issues are commonly prescribed anticoagulants and antiplatelets. Although common professional oral hygiene might not represent a health concern for these patients, anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication might constitute a challenge for dentists and dental hygienists since possible prolonged bleeding might interfere with dental procedures. The aim of the present study was to investigate the bleeding time of different anticoagulants and antiplatelets during a professional hygiene session adapting the Ivy test to the oral environment; Methods: 93 consecutive patients undergoing professional oral hygiene were recruited. Debridement during oral hygiene was performed using ultrasonic mechanical instrumentation, and bleeding sites were assessed and treated with gentle pressure using sterile gauzes. The time for bleeding cessation was recorded. Patients were categorized into six groups based on their drug intake, Control: no anticoagulants or antiplatelets DTI: direct thrombin inhibitors (dabigatran) AntiXa: directa factor Xa inhibitors (endoxaban, apixaban, rivaroxaban) VKA: vitamin K antagonists (warfarin, acenocoumarol) SAPT: single anti-platelet therapy (acetylsalicylic acid or clopidogrel) DAPT: dual anti-platelet therapy (acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel). Bleeding time was measured in seconds and mean values were assessed among the different groups. Differences between groups were investigated with Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post-hoc correction for multiple comparisons or two-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett post-hoc; Results: Control patients presented the lowest bleeding time 50 sec, followed by AntiXa (98), SAPT (105), DTI (120), DAPT (190) and VKA (203). A statistically significant difference was present among control and DTI (p=0.004), VKA (p&lt;0.001), DAPT (p&lt;0.001). Conclusions: Based on the present outcomes, an increased risk of prolonged bleeding emerged in patients taking VKA and DAPT. However, bleeding did not interfere with the oral hygiene ses-sion The optimal period for dental treatment of these patients should be 2-3 hours before the next dose, without the need to temporarily suspend the medication.

This brief communication intends to develop critical thinking on the development at different levels that could be evaluated in the well-being of humans from the local development towards a global scale or planetary point of view. Therefore it was presented and discussed how Artificial Intelligence tools could provide important contributions and influence in the design of critical thinking to develop ideas and insights within Research as well as funding for technology transfer. In this context it should be highlighted that the generation of funding and economy for sustainability that it should be based on critical thinking and analysis of what is need it from the close surrounding towards longer distances as well as in the inversed direction. In this regard, the main axes that support it are based on the importance of entailment of individuals in their close surrounding as well as to longer physical distances and cultural differences. An in this context it should be highlighted the existence of large diversity and varied Multicultural differences. These factors could affect the developments of technology, education; level, and quality of life. Thus the Economical and development indexes could be largely varied and different between them. For this reason it should highlighted the local development within shortened times by interacting to receive or provide materials with aggregated value or non-tangible values. Therefore, it could be accelerated the process of improvement in a targeted field looking for average homogeneous development everywhere. And there, it is where the link-up and transfer strategies of technology and education by creation of varied strategies in communication media. As for example the communication plays an important role to transfer knowledge within the different social status and imagining the development of thinking that later it will be the basis for the next generation of technology. By this manner, it could be coupled different levels of educations degrees by a factor in common related with curiosity and open minds to learn, work, and live together in the context of developments of new smart manners of living where economy and new encrypted currency are involucred and provide by different manners sustainability. In these perspectives the development and education at the University and higher degrees taking into account the transmission of important factors such as; i) entailment , ii) development of knowledge, and iii) transference, is fundamental. Finally, it should be highlighted the particular need of good human relationships, emotional intelligence, and diplomacy to afford from the simplest challenges to the higher ones.

Myocardium transcriptomes of mouse left and right atria and ventricles were profiled separately to identify the differences that might be responsible for the distinct functional roles of the four heart chambers. In total, 16,886 distinct unigenes have been quantified in all 16 samples collected from four adult male mice from the same litter. 15.76% of the quantified genes on the left and 16.5% on the right exhibited differential expression between the corresponding atrium and ventricle of the same side, while 5.8% in atria and 1.2% in ventricles were differently expressed between the left and the right. Beyond the differentially expressed genes, the study revealed distinct expression control and coordination of ion channels and genes within the cardiac muscle contraction, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis/glucogenesis, calcium and adrenergic signaling pathways. Interestingly, while expression of Ank2 (encoding ankyrin-B) oscillates in phase with all its binding partners in the left ventricle, the percentage of synergistically expressed partners of Ank2 is 15% and 37% in the left and right atria and 74% in the right ventricle. The analysis revealed also the high interventricular synchrony of the expression of ion channels.

This paper presents the results of investigations into the pyrolysis of waste polypropylene in a laboratory fixed-bed batch reactor. The experiments were designed and verified in such a way as to allow the application of the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in the development of an empirical mathematical model that quantifies the impacts mentioned above. The influence of the mass of the raw material (50, 100 and 150 g), together with the reactor temperature (450, 475 and 500 °C) and the reaction time (45, 50 and 75 min) was examined. It has been shown that the mass of the raw material, i.e. the filling volume of the reactor, has a significant influence on the pyrolysis oil yield. This influence exceeds the influence of reactor temperature and reaction time. This was explained by observing the temperature change inside the reactor at three different spots at the bottom, middle and top of the reactor. Recorded temperature diagrams show that with greater masses of feedstock, local overheating occurs in the middle part of the reactor, which leads to overcracking of vapor products, and from there to an increased formation of non-condensable gases, i.e. reduced yield of pyrolytic oil.

Due to the long duration and high cost of traditional pumping tests, the response of well water level to seismic wave, earth tide, and barometric pressure provides a feasible method for determining continuous changes in aquifer hydraulic parameters. Aiming at the problem that the response phase shift of well BB water level to tidal tide M2 is greater than that of tide O1, this paper preferentially calculated the time series changes of S, Be, n and BKu based on the response mechanism of well water level to barometric pressure and earth tide and with the help of smooth moving method. Then by using the mixed flow model, the variation of transmissivity and leakage coefficient over time were simultaneously obtained, and the evolution process and characteristics of aquifer parameters near well BB caused by the Wenchuan earthquake were ultimately discussed. The calculation results are basically consistent with the previous pumping test, and have been verified and compared by using other scholars' methods. This solving process avoids the problems such as excessive dependence on initial values, multiple solutions, and unstable tide O1, which has a promoting effect on the study of the impact of seismic activity on aquifer systems.

Leishmaniasis is the third most common vector-borne disease and a very important protozoan infection. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most common types of leishmaniasis infectious diseases with up to 2 million occurrences of new cases each year worldwide. A dynamic transmission multivariate time series model was applied to the data to account for overdispersion and evaluate the effects of three environmental layers as well as seasonality in the data. Furthermore, ecological niche modeling was used to investigate the geographical suitable conditions for cutaneous leishmaniasis using temperature, precipitation and altitude as environmental layers, together with the leishmaniasis presence data. A retrospective analysis of the cutaneous leishmaniasis spatial data in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2009 indicates a steady increase from 2003 to 2007, a small decrease in 2008, then another increase in 2009. An upward trend and regularly repeating patterns of highs and lows was observed related to the months of the year which suggests seasonality effect in the data. Two peaks were observed in the disease occurrence-- January to March and September to December -- which coincide with the cold period. Ecological niche modelling indicates that precipitation has the greatest contribution to the potential distribution of leishmaniasis.

The recent developments in the delivery and design of transcription factors put their therapeutic applications within reach, exemplified by cell replacement, cancer differentiation and T-cell based cancer therapies. The success of such applications depends on the efficacy and precision in the action of transcription factors. The biophysical and genetic characterization of the paradigmatic prokaryotic repressors, LacI and TetR and the designer transcription factors, TALE and CRISPR-Cas9 revealed common rules, which can help the optimization of activators and repressors. Further studies will be required to analyze the linkage between dissociation constants and enzymatic activity, the role of phase separation and squelching in activation and repression, and the long-range interaction of transcription factors with epigenetic regulators in the context of the chromosomes. Understanding these mechanisms will help to tailor systematically optimized designer transcription factors to the needs of specific applications.

The study of precipitation amount at different time scales constitutes an important issue in climate research and risk assessment. When dealing with daily totals, a frequent but sometimes underestimated problem is at what time the observation day begins. The choice of different starting times may lead to incompatibility between stations and incorrect identification of extreme events. In this work, the problem of temporal misalignment between precipitation datasets characterized by different starting time of the observation day is analyzed. The most widely used adjustment methods (1day and uniform shift) and two methods based on reanalysis (NOAA and ERA5) are evaluated in terms of temporal alignment, precipitation statistics and percentile distributions. As test series, the precipitation amount collected from 9 a.m. local time (09 LT) on the previous day to 09 LT on the target day (9-9 datasets) of the Padua and nearby stations in the period 1993-2022 have been selected. Results show that the reanalysis-based methods, in particular ERA5, outperform the others in temporal alignment, regardless the station. But, for the periods in which reanalysis data are not available, “1day” method, which shifts the daily amount back one calendar day, and “unif” method, which distributes uniformly the daily total from a 2-day moving window surrounding the target date, can be considered valid alternatives. On the other side, concerning the precipitation statistics, the reanalysis-based methods are not the best option, as they increase the precipitation frequency and reduce the mean value over wet days, NOAA much more than ERA5. Nevertheless, the uniform method provides a larger deviation from the original daily series. The use of the series of a station nearby the target one, which is mandatory in case of missing data, gives similar or better results than applying any adjustment method to the 9-9 series. General conclusions can hardly be drawn as they depend on the method and station. For the Padua dataset, the analysis was repeated at monthly and seasonal resolution. In general, the adjustment series show the most relevant changes in the precipitation statistics in summer and less temporal alignment with the original series in summer and autumn, the two seasons mainly affected by heavy rains in Padua. Finally, the percentiles distribution, analyzed for all the methods and stations, indicates that any adjustment method underestimates the percentile values, except ERA5. Only Legnaro, the station most correlated with Padua, gives results like ERA5.

Dynamic virtual testing by Hardware in the Loop (HIL) real time simulation systems is common to minimize physical tests to validate and verify control algorithms, logics and software, under normal and emergency conditions. The accurate but costly HIL models setup activities could have an extended use to simulate faulty conditions that are seldom observable in the real system, yet they must be detected in advance and recognized. Data driven diagnostic methods have reached a mature development, in various sectors, proving effective in early detecting slowly varying deviations from nominal patterns of signals, even without a priori knowledge of their nature and behavior. These methods rely on vast amount of data logged from real systems that are ever and ever richer of monitoring telemetries that are worth being exploited. However, due to the usually reliable and safe systems being managed, it is often difficult to collect enough data on anomalous situations to validate fault detection and isolation and limit false positives. HIL model-based simulations allow generating and observing operational domains or transients rarely observed in real operations. This allows identifying the signals that are most correlated to faults and that could be selected to setup data-based diagnostic models of parts or subsystems, which are more suitable than the whole HIL model for online diagnostics, as well as to identify the features and trends that are most symptomatic of anomalous conditions.

Aims. In a male Italian cohort (initially aged 40-59, n=1712) followed-up during 61 years and reaching practical extinction, the natural history of major CVD mortality categories including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and other Heart Diseases of Uncertain Etiology (HDUE, including congestive heart failure) were studied along with their risk factor relationships. Methods and Results. Cox models were run with 12 covariates measured at entry as possible predictors. About 93% of all CVD deaths were covered by the 3 major groups selected here (N=751): 37.4% of them were diagnosed as CHD, 30.6% as stroke and 28.5 % as HDUE. CHD declined in the last 20 years of follow-up, while a sharp increase of HDUE mortality was seen. Baseline mean levels of serum cholesterol were 209.6, 204.2 and 198.0 mg/dl respectively for CHD, stroke and HDUE deaths: the multivariable coefficients of serum cholesterol were positive and significant for CHD (p<0.0001) and stroke (p=0.0203) and not significant for HDUE (p=0.3467). In Fine-Gray models, the algebraic signs of cholesterol coefficients were opposite for CHD versus the other mortality categories (t=3.13). The predictive performances of remaining risk factors were varied whereas that of Cox models was not very good, probably due to the attrition phenomenon and possible competing risks. Conclusion. Large differences in natural history and risk factors were found comparing the 3 CVD conditions, potentially indicating different etiologies and pointing to the need of not mixing them up in a grouped CVD category.

The neural system has limited resources to interact with the environment, and this is where attention comes into play. Attention is a complex process that provides numerous benefits, but there has been a longstanding debate about the mechanisms involved in attentional orientation. Two widely proposed mechanisms are top-down and bottom-up, which relate to the organism's current behavioral goal and the salience of environmental stimuli, respectively. However, distinguishing between these mechanisms can be challenging in both behavioral and neural studies. This review introduces a new conceptualization in which both top-down and bottom-up mechanisms are viewed as aspects of the same process. This unified approach aims to prepare the organism to face stimuli and events based on its prior experiences, immediate (the current task that he/she is aware of), and innate (to be alive) demands.

Article contents the analytical model of the drift of a separate ice field under action of wind and current, which velocities and directions can vary during time. Model takes into account the mass of ice, added mass of sea water and the effects of the wind and current on the ice field in form the friction on its upper and underwater surfaces and frontal resistance on its end (forward and backward) surfaces. Results of performed the steady wind drift of the ice fields modelling show the drift velocity exceeds considerable known velocity of a compact ice cover wind drift. Drifting ice field has the certain kinetic energy that should be released when collision with unmovable obstacle and spent on brittle breakdown of part of the ice field. Volume of formed small ice pieces (fragments of ice field) was estimated by comparison of the specific energy of the sea ice brittle destruction and the kinetic energy of drifting ice field. Article presents the results of estimation of possible volume of the ice pieces and the scales of formed piles as result of collision with an obstacle depending on initial dimensions of ice field and wind speed. Developed models and the results of computer modelling can be used to estimate the ice pile sizes near the stationary platforms and terminals on the Arctic seas.

Homelessness continues to be a pervasive public health problem throughout Canada. Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs) and inpatient wards have become a source of temporary care and shelter for homeless patients. Upon leaving the hospital, homeless patients are not more equipped than before to find permanent housing. The Bridge Healing Program in Edmonton, Alberta has emerged as a novel approach to addressing homelessness by providing transitional housing for those relying on repeated visits to the ED. This paper describes the three essential components to the Bridge Healing model: partnership between the ED and a Housing First community organization; facility design based on The Eden Alternative™ principles, and; grassroots community funding. This paper in conjunction with the current pilot project of the Bridge Healing facilities serves as a proof of concept for the model and can inform transitional housing approaches in other communities.

This paper studies the duration patterns of unemployment spells for immigrants and the determinants of unemployment’s completion into one of a number of studied labour market states in Finland. We estimate a duration model for unemployment with competing risks of its terminating into employment, labour market training or economic inactivity. Taking into account the wide period of observation and opportunities to analyse processes of labour market integration during various periods of economic development in Finland, in combination with the individualistic character of the labour careers of immigrants, this research is beneficial owing to the many various findings concerning labour market integration of immigrants. The approach undertaken in this research has a dualistic “descriptive-dynamic” character under which integration is understood as a never-ending process, which is conditioned by a time period of long-term existence and a context of solitary action. We find that transitions out of unemployment spells have a cyclical character; after every new “cycle” in unemployment, the probability of terminating unemployment decreases further. We also find that ascriptive factors make sense in the process of job-placement of immigrants from unemployment. Therefore, the gender, education and age of immigrants, as well as the effect of the period in which first unemployment occurred, potentially predict transitions out of unemployment and further labour market integration of immigrants.

The allosteric SERCA (Sarcoplasmic/Endoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+-ATPase) activator CDN1163 has been recently added to the group of pharmacological tools for probing SERCA function. We chose to investigate the effects of the compound on T lymphocyte Ca2+ stores, using the well-described Jurkat T lymphocyte as a reliable cell system for Ca2+ signaling pathways. Our study identified the lowest concentrations of the SERCA inhibitors thapsigargin (TG) and 2,5-di-(tert butyl)-1,4-benzohydroquinone (tBHQ) capable of releasing Ca2+, permitting the differentiation of the TG-sensitive SERCA 2b Ca2+ store from the tBHQ-sensitive SERCA 3 Ca2+ store. We proceeded to test the effects of CDN1163 on Ca2+ stores, examining specific actions on the SERCA 2b and SERCA 3 Ca2+ pools using our low dose SERCA blocker regimen. In contrast to previous work, we find CDN1163 exerts complex time-sensitive and SERCA isoform-specific actions on Ca2+ stores. Surprisingly, short-term exposure (0-30 minutes) to CDN1163 perturbs T cell Ca2+ stores by suppressing Ca2+ uptake with diminished Ca2+ release from the SERCA 2b-controlled store. Concomitantly, we find evidence for a SERCA-activating effect of CDN1163 on the SERCA 3 regulated store, given the observation of increased Ca2+ release inducible by low dose tBHQ. Intriguingly, longer-term (&gt;12 hours) CDN1163 exposure reversed this pattern, with increased Ca2+ release from SERCA 2b-regulated pools, yet decreased Ca2+ release responses from tBHQ-sensitive SERCA 3 pool. Our results reveal differential effects of CDN1163 on Ca2+ stores regulated by distinct SERCA isoforms, prompting the need for careful interpretation of the compound’s effects, particularly in cells expressing multiple SERCA isoforms.

Hox gene collinearity (HGC) is a multiscalar property of many animal phyla particularly important in embryogenesis. It relates entities and events occurring in Hox clusters inside the chromosome DNA and in embryonic tissues. These two entities differ in linear size by more than four orders of magnitude. HGC is observed as spatial collinearity (SC) where the Hox genes are located in the order (Hox1, Hox2, Hox3 …) along the 3’ to 5’ direction of DNA in the genome and a corresponding sequence of ontogenetic units (E1, E2, E3, …) located along the Anterior – Posterior axis of the embyo. Expression of Hox1 occurs in E1. Hox2 in E2, Hox3 in E3… Besides SC, a temporal collinearity (TC) has been also observed in many vertebrates. According to TC first is Hox1 expressed in E1, later is Hox2 expressed in E2, followed by Hox3 in E3,… Lately doubt has been raised whether TC really exists. A biophysical model (BM) was formulated and tested during the last twenty years. According to BM, physical forces are created which pull the Hox genes one after the other driving them to a transcription factory domain where they are transcribed. The existing experiments support this BM description. Symmetry is a physical-mathematical property of Matter that was explored in depth by Noether who formulated a ground-breaking theory that applies to all sizes of Matter. This theory applied to Biology can explain the origin of HGC as applied not only to animals developing along the A/P axis but also to animals with circular symmetry.

In theory and applications, it is often inevitable to work with projectors onto convex sets, where a linear transform is involved. In this article, a novel projector is presented, which generalizes previous results in that it admits a broader family of linear transforms, but on the other hand it is limited to box-type convex sets in the transformed domain. The new projector has an explicit formula and it can be interpreted within the framework of proximal optimization. The benefit of the new projector is demonstrated on an example from signal processing, where it was possible to speed up the convergence of a signal declipping algorithm by a factor of more than two.

The aim of this study is to analyze the characteristics of drought such as intensity, cumulative curves and trends, based on SPEI (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index) at 8 stations in Korea from 1981 to 2010. The traditional SPEI is based on Thornthwaite equation for estimating evapotranspiration; SPEI_th. However, a standard of agricultural water management in Korea suggests FAO Penman-Monteith equation; SPEI_pm. In this study, we analyzed the intensity and trends of drought using SPEI_th and SPEI_pm, respectively, and analyzed the relationship between them. Both of central and southern region, the SPEIs were below -1.0 (moderated drought) for the periods May-August in the representative drought year such as 1988, 2001, and 2008-09. The frequency of drought was higher in southern region than central region. In addition, SPEI_pm showed slightly more intensive drought rather than SPEI_th except for Chuncheon and Gwangju. In 5 stations except for Cheoncheon, Gwangju and Jinju, the cumulative probability that SPEI_pm is below -1.5 was significantly increased from 1981-1995 to 1996-2010. As the results of drought trends, the increasing trend of SPEIs was shown on fall season, and the cumulative probability that SPEI_pm is below -1.5 was also significantly increased.

We present a discussion and analysis regarding the benefits and limitations of open and non-anonymized peer review based on literature results and responses to a survey on the reviewing process of alt.chi, a more or less open-review track within the CHI conference, the predominant conference in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). This track currently is the only implementation of an open-peer-review process in the field of HCI while, with the recent increase in interest in open science practices, open review is now being considered and used in other fields. We collected 30 responses from alt.chi authors and reviewers and found that, while the benefits are quite clear and the system is generally well liked by alt.chi participants, they are reluctant to see it used in other venues. This concurs with a number of recent studies that suggest a divergence between support for a more open review process and its practical implementation. The data and scripts are available on https://osf.io/vuw7h/, and the figures and follow-up work on http://tiny.cc/OpenReviews.

How to build an optimal model where three terms “time, causality, and entropy” will be interrelated in a most correct way? This task has a semantic and physical aspect. We give in this article the solution that is based only on elementary perception. In physics, we experience time with our senses as the duration of material change running in space. This fact is the standpoint for our model where causality is only a principle, it is not a physical actuality and entropy runs only in space and not in time. Time is merely a duration of entropy increasing and is entering existence when measured by the observer.

Refractive surgery is an increasingly popular procedure to decrease spectacle or contact lens dependency. The two most commonly used surgical techniques to correct myopia is Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and Femtosecond- Lasik (FS-LASIK)There are few publications that gathers such a long term follow up of both surgical techniques (2) Methods It has been performed a retrospective non-randomized study 509 PRK eyes and 310 FS-LASIK surgeries were followed for 10 years for the treatment of myopia and compound myopic astigmatism. Patients were followed up three months, one year, 2 years, 5 and 10 years. The safety index of both procedures was defined as a quotient between the postoperative BCVA (Best Corrected Visual Acuity) and the preoperative BCVA. The predictability is calculated as difference between the expected spherical equivalent and the achieved spherical equivalent. The efficacy index was calculated as a quotient between postoperative UCVA divided by the preoperative BCVA (3) Results. The results were: a safety index higher than 100% (109%) and an efficacy index of 82.4% after 10 years of PRK surgery in both groups. FS-LASIK was the safest surgery after 10 years and the most efficacy technique although in this case there were no statistically significant differences (4) Conclusions. All these data demonstrated better indexes for FS-LASIK

Approximately 300 different types of blood groups are identified so far, the ABO and Rh antigens are still the clinically most significant and genetically most polymorphic of all human blood group systems to date. A total of 200 unrelated individuals from Uttar Pradesh were studied for the phenotype and allele frequency distribution of ABO and Rh (D) blood groups. In total 200 samples analyzed, phenotype B blood type has the highest frequency 36.5% (n=73), followed by O (34.5%; n=69), A (20.5%; n=41) and AB (8.5%; n=17). The O, A and B frequencies were 0.5849, 0.1571 and 0.2580 respectively. The overall phenotypic frequencies of ABO blood groups were B>O>A>AB. The variation in phenotypic frequencies between male and female might be due to small sample size of male sample. The allelic frequency of Rh-negative was 0.2.

Noninvasive brain stimulation technique can be used for modulation of motor behaviors such as reaction time (RT). The main aim of this study was to investigate whether RT during a sequential visual isometric pinch task (SVIPT) can be affected by anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over three different stimulation sites such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), primary motor cortex (M1) or posterior parietal cortex (PPC). We also aimed to assess if stimulation of these cortical sites affect the transfer of learning during SVIPT. A total of 48 right-handed healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of the four a-tDCS groups: 1) left M1, 2) left DLPFC, 3) left PPC and 4) sham. A-tDCS was applied concurrent with SVIPT in which the participants were precisely controlled their forces to reach seven different target forces from 10 to 40% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) presenting on a computer screen with right dominant hand. Four test blocks were randomly performed at baseline and 15 min after the intervention including sequence and random blocks with either hand. Our results showed significant differences between a-tDCS groups on ratio RT in the sequence blocks of both the right trained (P = .041) and left untrained hands (P = .023) for target forces of 15% and 30 % of MVC, respectively. In sequence blocks, M1 showed significant elongation in ratio RT for the target force of 15% and 30 % MVC compared to PPC and Sham groups in the right hand. In sequence blocks with left hand, this negative effect were found between M1-DLPFC and M1-Sham groups. In random blocks, no significant differences were found among four groups at each target forces for the left hand while there were significant differences for 15% (P =. 04) and 40% MVC (P =. 035) in the right hand. Our findings suggest that three different stimulation sites (DLPFC, M1 or PPC) were differentially affected by a single session of a-tDCS at some target forces during SVIPT. The effects of a-tDCS on ratio RT were transferred in the left untrained hand for sequence blocks but not random blocks. Further research is needed to understand fundamental aspects of these main areas of the brain on temporal processing in a precision control task such as SVIPT.

Clew Bay is an important aquaculture production area in Ireland. In this study, we focused on a high-resolution simulation of the Clew Bay region based on a Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS). Freshwater discharges from eight rivers are included in the model and a wetting-drying scheme has been implemented. The Clew Bay model simulation was validated and calibrated with available observations (e.g., Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), vertical salinity and temperature profiles and tide gauge) in the geographic area of the model domain. High correlations were found between the model outputs and observed temperature, salinity and tide gauge water levels along with small Root Mean Square Errors. This indicates that the model was able to reproduce the oceanographic phenomena in the study area. The Taylor diagram analysis showed a high correlation coefficient (R=0.99) between the ADCP bottom temperature in the Inner Bay and the Clew Bay model, along with a small Centered Root Mean Square Error (RMSD =0.5 ◦ C). High correlation coefficients (R &gt; 0.80) were found between the model and the two ADCPs for the zonal current component. There was a resemblance in structure between the model and the observed salinity profiles, indicating that freshwater was correctly implemented in the model. Moreover, the correlation coefficient between the model and the tidal sea surface height (SSH) was 0.99, with an RMSD of 0.09 m. We discovered that wind direction and speed have a significant impact on the bay's water inflow rate. The model outputs can be used to provide scientists, fishermen and decision-makers with hydrodynamic information on ocean conditions in the bay.

Secondary and tertiary prevention strategies targeting people with disabilities to improve their health and wellbeing is important. In Sweden, >95% of all children with cerebral palsy (CP) participate in a follow-up program, where one of the goals is the prevention of hip dislocations. We reviewed the incidence of hip dislocations from 2010 to 2019 and the number of children who underwent different types of hip surgeries. The number of hip dislocations was reduced from 8.8% before introduction of the program to 0.3-0.4% up to 2015, followed by a gradual increase to 0.8% in 2019. The proportion of children who underwent adductor-psoas lengthening as their primary preventive surgery decreased from 50% in 2017 to 37% in 2019 with a corresponding increase of children undergoing femoral osteotomy, indicating more children underwent surgery at a later stage. Reasons for the increased number of children with hip dislocation may be that more children have moved to Sweden in recent years without corresponding compensation in health care resources and increased waiting times for surgery due to, among other things, a shortage of nurses. The results highlight the importance of constantly monitoring follow-up programs.

Smart grids require flexible data driven forecasting methods. We propose clustering tools for bottom-up short-term load forecasting. We focus on individual consumption data analysis which plays a major role for energy management and electricity load forecasting. The two first sections are dedicated to the industrial context and a review of individual electrical data analysis. We are interested in hierarchical time-series for bottom-up forecasting. The idea is to disaggregate the signal in such a way that the sum of disaggregated forecasts improves the direct prediction. The 3-steps strategy defines numerous super-consumers by curve clustering, builds a hierarchy of partitions and selects the best one minimizing a forecast criterion. Using a nonparametric model to handle forecasting, and wavelets to define various notions of similarity between load curves, this disaggregation strategy applied to French individual consumers leads to a gain of 16\% in forecast accuracy. We then explore the upscaling capacity of this strategy facing massive data and implement proposals using R, the free software environment for statistical computing. The proposed solutions to make the algorithm scalable combines data storage, parallel computing and double clustering step to define the super-consumers.

A model of space-time is presented, whose origin is set before the appearance of any universe. It uses concepts of previous work, a central one being that the information about the laws of nature is stored locally everywhere in space such that all physical processes obey them. Since information storage is bound to matter or energy, space is assumed to consist of dark energy (DE), which thus assumes an importance far beyond its function as a stopgap for an energy deficit in our universe ( U ). The primordial state (PS) is a timeless and relatively large space of 3 dimensions described by a Wheeler DeWitt (WDW) equation, whose solution is interpreted as an arrangement of very many space quanta and possesses properties that remind of the time-honored concept of the unmoved mover. The comparison of WDW solutions belonging to different mass densities of the DE favors one in which the space quanta are mini black holes. This allows the space quanta to be imagined as mass points which are kept at a distance compatible with the quantum volume by the Pauli principle or something equivalent. Triggered by a dramatic increase in probability, the PS is followed by a time-controlled sequence of quantized expansion states (ES i ). The concomitant emergence of time occurs in a lightning huge crash, consuming almost all DE of the PS. The subsequent quantized ES i emerge from a WDW equation, novelly derived from a solution of the modified cosmic momentum equation, which classically describes an exponential space expansion (CS). The huge volme of the ES i is also used as size of the PS. Information is assumed to be geometrically stored in arrangements of space quanta similar to how genetic information is stored in DNA molecules. During the CS information must be transferred from already existing "information quanta" to new ones. This requires time, slows down the expansion and is taken into account by a friction term in the cosmological momentum equation thus modified. Since the Friedmann-Lemaître (FL) equation remains fully valid, the model is widely based on recognized equations, so that some results may be understood as interpretations.

We calculate energies of shallow donors confined in a rolled-up quantum well in the presence of the electric field by solving numerically the Schrödinger equation in natural curvilinear coordinates. It is found that the curves of density of states (DOS) are very sensitive to the variation of the donor position, the geometry of the spiral and the applied electric field value. Novel results for dependencies of donor’s dipole moment and its polarizability on the electric field strength and its orientation, for different donor positions are presented. Also, we found that anisotropic Stark effect of the first order provides in this structure a dependency of the polarizability on the external electric field in a spike-like shape, giving rise to a sharp variation of the dipole moment.

To improve the voltage gain of step-up converters, cascaded technique is considered as a possible solution in this paper. By considering the concept of cascading two Z-source networks in a conventional boost converter, the converter takes the advantages of both impedance source and cascaded converters. However, by applying some modifications, the proposed converter provides high voltage gain while the voltage stress of switch and diodes are still low. Moreover, the low input current ripple of the converter makes it absolutely appropriate for photovoltaic applications in order to expand the lifetime of PV panels. After analyzing the operation principles of the proposed converter, simulation and experimental results of a 100W prototype are presented to verify the proposed converter performance.

This research article describes the creation of a mock-up for a Smart Insole prototype that employs Force Sensitive Resistors (FSRs) and an ADXL345 accelerometer. The mock-up is an early step towards realising the concept and functionality of the planned Smart Insole system. The key factors in the mock-up's design, integration, and testing are highlighted, with a focus on the iterative refining and optimisation process. The mock-up, which was carefully planned and implemented, highlights the practicality and possible applications of Smart Insole technology in healthcare, sports performance measurement, and rehabilitation. The paper outlines the development process and implementation of a "Smart Insole" utilizing Force Sensitive Resistors (FSR) and the ADXL345 accelerometer. The project aims to create an innovative wearable technology solution for monitoring foot biomechanics and enhancing human performance. The Smart Insole prototype integrates FSRs strategically placed on the insole to capture pressure distribution across the foot, along with an ADXL345 accelerometer to track foot orientation and movement. Through a combination of hardware integration, firmware development using Arduino IDE, and visualization using Processing application, the Smart Insole offers real-time monitoring and analysis of gait dynamics, pressure distribution, and foot movement.

Methane is a greenhouse gas and identified as a key driver of near-term climate change. Bottom-up approaches estimate annual methane loss from US natural gas production and transport at 6 Tg, but recent studies suggest this may be an underestimate. To investigate this possibility, an equipment-based emissions inventory, using EPA emission factors, was developed to calculate methane emissions from oil and gas operations in the Delaware Basin, USA. Emission factors and activity data were then updated using contemporary and region-specific measurement data. The original inventory estimated emissions at 315 Gg CH4 y-1 (gas production-normalized rate of 0.6% loss), while the updated inventory estimated emissions of 1,500 Gg CH4 y-1 (2.8% loss). The largest changes resulted from large fugitive emissions from oil production (+430 Gg CH4 y-1), updating maintenance activity emissions (+214 Gg CH4 y-1), considering flaring inefficiency (+174 Gg CH4 y-1), and the inclusion of associated gas venting (+136 Gg CH4 y-1). This study suggests that a systematic underestimate probably exists in current bottom-up inventories and identifies sources currently missing or may be incorrect. We also strongly recommend that emission factors should be validated through direct comparison against measurement campaigns that include long-tail distributions typical of oil and gas activities.